"What... creature... is... this...?"

Euphemia stood frozen; her eyes rounded while watching the void bring out another giant limb. A sharp snout came out the next few moments, taking in air with gruff breathing while shaking the rest of its head out of the darkness. The rest of the creature's body followed suit; before the cleric and Rook was a huge, powerful entity whose snakelike tail whipped scuds of dust from the earth. Both of them saw that the creature's "tail" had a head for its tip. All three heads let out a chorus of cries; the monster proceeded to raise its paw and hammer the ground before stretching its frame to pounce. Both watched the monster ignore them and went straight for the mass of dead flesh. It brought the entire pile to its gut with little effort; a large patch of blood stained the ground where the meat was once placed.

The pile barely filled the monster's mass. A stare from the goat head went to the pair – little morsels that would help the monster's hunger even for a little. Rook did not stay behind the cleric and decided to take his own action. He ran up to the creature's right flank and took the air with one leap from the floor. Both revolvers were in his hands and emptied all their cylinders at the interrupted foe. None of the bullets managed to go through the creature's hide; its reply to Rook's pelting was a swing of a large serpentine tail to meet him in midair. He met the impact with the soles of his boots, using its force as leverage to tumble away from the monster.

"It's no use. My bullets can't hurt it..."

The creature was keen to focus on the lady whose arm began to glow. It turned around to face the pair, knocking down a few trees aside with the swing of its tail. The monster's feet dug the earth while keeping an open maw; Euphemia felt the air becoming slightly warmer. Both she and Rook were watching a bright redness gathering between its jaws. A surge of heat radiated out of its mouth – something that neither human expected from the monster. There was a red wave that spiraled from the creature until the energy parted from its owner. Euphemia found herself staring at a searing sphere closing in on her.

She broke out of her shock too late; the flaming ball struck to her left. Euphemia's barrier did not form well enough to dissolve the raging fireball. The blast made Rook's ears ring; a fountain of burnt earth and vegetation burst upward. The cleric screamed when the force of the impact took her off the ground; her body was thrown to a nearby clump of forest bush. She lay still; an open palm emerged from the pile of crushed plants.

"Eu-Euphemia!"

Rook rushed to the downed Euphemia, but the creature seemed to understand his intent and threw another ball of flame at him. He back-flipped out of the projectile's way; the blast made enough force to throw him even farther from the place of impact. He managed to land on both feet but knelt on one knee to stop the inertia from placing him even farther. The lion head looked up and gathered a flame that slithered past its teeth. It unleashed a cone of fire that whirled to where Rook stood. Stinging flames cut through the woods and left a line of burning trees after its surge.

The fires began dying out; hues of red and orange thinned away into a heavy gray smoke that distorted Rook's view of the massive creature out to kill them. No trace of its body was found in front of them; the whirr of something heavy coming from above was heard.

A warlike voice echoed inside Rook's mind. It had to be one of them.

"A monster. I have never seen the likes of such in centuries. This should be a good challenge."

It was a proud voice; someone who may have visited faraway lands to tell tales of adventures and misfortunes. Rook was reminded of the Altrecht incident upon sensing this entity inside of him.

"This is not the time to be impressed by something out to kill me."

"Now isn't the time for talk either. Jump out of its way."

Rook leapt sideways just in time to see the creature's paw crush the ground; its paw was buried for a few moments before it was pulled out. Dirt and moss clung onto claws the size of daggers. The monster's snake head shot out towards the boy. Rook rolled out of its path close enough to see a set of sharp and ruddy teeth.

"This monster is made to hunt. It will be difficult to catch it off-guard."

"You got anything that could kill it?" Rook was catching his breath in his attempts to jump over or lunge at the monster's paws. If only he hadn't emptied all of his guns at once.

"I have just the thing, Boy."

Rook's legs picked up their pace once more, somersaulting and sliding out of the monster's reach. He felt a surge coursing through his arm; something was being done by this "warrior" that resided in the boy's head. He managed to get enough distance from the creature to get one of his guns out and load its chambers. The boy could see a red glow emerging from both his hand and weapon.

"Now use your weapon and take aim. Let the power of Montu lead you to victory!"

He armed his right hand with the silver revolver and shot the monster's paw. The creature let out a roar and broke out of its pouncing stance. It leapt away from him and spewed a fan of fireballs towards Rook. He dodged the projectiles with well-timed jumps and watched the flaming spheres collide and consume an old tree in flames. The creature was again on his sights when something took Rook's attention from the beast.

A shadowy streak shot from the forest cover and hit the creature by its ribs; its impact threw the monster off-course. The dark bolt ricocheted to the ground; Rook couldn't make out his face, but the flames revealed a golden-haired man wielding what looked like a shadow solidified in the form of a sword. Rook stood in place and watched the man take on the huge beast that resorted to spewing fireballs from its mouth to fight him. Earth and ash erupted from where the man stood; the beast's flaming orbs kept track of the swordsman but the target seemed to be always a few steps ahead, keeping his feet away from where the projectiles struck.

The dark blade was closing in on the monster; claws were raised to meet the incoming attacks. A heavy whiff of air resulted from the man's weapon batted away by the beast's claws. His attack did not stop there when he paused and made a downward swing of the blade where the edge connected to the beast's right foreleg. Earth was kicked from underneath the creature's legs when it reeled from the long gash the man's weapon made. He was readying his sword for a second slash but the creature poised its hindquarters for something none of them anticipated.

A speedy whip of its serpentine tail came from the man's right. He managed to block the force of the blow with the flat of his blade, but it did not stop the creature from sending him crashing to a nearby cluster of trees.

Rustling leaves, snapping twigs, and the creaking of a slowly-falling trunk ended the efforts of the would-be-savior. The monster turned to Rook once more; its steps weren't as nimble as before, now that one of its legs was wounded by the shadowy swordsman. A stream of thick drool crawled out of its mouth; a good meal of two to three people would be a filling reward after this encounter with very difficult prey.

"So much for helping."

Who was that man? Was he still alive? The diversion did not prove too long, but it reduced much of the creature's mobility. It seemed to have enough sense to not move around with a dripping wound on its leg. Rook saw the goat and lion heads stretch out and gather fire on their mouths. He didn't need a clue – two heads would either try to burn him with fire cones or toast him with flaming balls. It resumed the attacks, reducing the ruins to flaming rubble and torching the trees that surrounded the Guilenfrau. The boy went on, jumping and rolling under fiery missiles while he tried to gain more distance from the creature.

"Try getting near the creature and break its throat," Montu's voice asserted itself amidst the noise.

He wasn't sure of what this entity was saying. It was more of a reflection of confusion – he was yet to master the capacity to keep focus even while one or more of the 'entities' talked inside of him. Rook willed for his eyes to see the same way they did during the Altrecht incident. A washed-out world of vibrant swirls where the creature's body was represented by spectral shades – just like the way it was during the Altrecht incident.

Montu was right after all; a stir of colors spun inside of the creature's mouth.

Rook turned around to face the monster once more. He saw the creature struggling to stand properly; much of its blood covered the wounded leg. He ran a ring around the beast; exploiting the monster's inability to keep up with him when he drew nearer. Rook went for the lion head, expecting a burst of fire to come out from its mouth.

He needed every muscle in his body to work well to pull off what he had in mind.

A burning red field was seen from its open mouth, but something held the creature from unleashing another flaming vortex at the boy. It lunged forward in an attempt to catch Rook between its jaws. The boy slid right under its chin and found a spot on its neck that was not protected by its mane. He aimed the revolver so close that he almost felt the tips of the monster's hair.

The monster must have sensed its 'prey's' intent to kill; it did something that neither Rook nor Montu failed to anticipate.

Drops of blood came before the shadow; the creature's wounded leg was poised and hammered down on the lying gunner. Rook mustered what strength he could get to roll away from what the monster was about to do. Three of the four claws slammed on the ground where he once lay, but one of them caught him by the left shoulder. The final claw bore through cloth, flesh and bone, rendering him under the beast's weight. He felt the scream come out of both lung and mouth; hot air and drops of blood shot upward. His arm held on to the claw and fought off the beast's force to plunge it further down; it would have presented a greater threat had it not receive the long gash inflicted by the swordsman. Rook's eyes were shaking, but he managed to keep his aim from faltering. The aura of his pistol guided him to where the monster's mane was at its thinnest.

Four bullets were brought to bear on the monster's throat; Rook saw blood trickling out of the wound. He rolled out of the monster's underbelly; the goat and serpent heads paid no attention to him. Blank eyes tried to fight off the loss of their vitality; the monster uttered its final groan before its weight brought it to the ground.

"Did we do it?"

"It should defeat the beast," Montu said. "Many a fire-breather's weaknesses are found at their throats."

"Beating the biggest head means death for the rest huh?" Rook placed his pistol back to his coat.

He tried to stand up, but the earth seemed to pull him back to his knees. Blood has stained his entire palm. Montu's voice had not lost its intensity when it spoke:

"Shouldn't you check on the lady? We also have the swordsman to thank for as well. I sense that he's alive."

"Wow. That man could really take a hit if you're not lying. I feel that Euphemia's still alive." Rook wiped out some of the blood that was on his cheek.

"We were careless during our battle. Your body's far from well."

"I guess you're right." Rook held on to the hole the monster tore open.

He looked around the ruins. Burning trees became his torches, but they also robbed him of good breathing air in the place. The scent of ash and soot became one with the forest air. Euphemia could not be seen, but a man was standing in front of him.

"You're okay?" he asked.

"Y-yeah." Rook couldn't keep his stare at the stranger. "I... I'll be fine."

"Are you looking for her?"

"Where... is she...?" Rook tried to stand up, but it legs would not obey him.

"She's safe. Come, I'll take you to her."

"Hah. I think..." Rook's tried breathing harder, but nothing else aside from smoke was coming to him. "...I'll pass out. For now. I'm sorry, Eu-"

Everything was bright, but the light could not help him see the stranger's face. Rook was being pulled to the ground; the last thing his eyes saw was the cracks from the earth before his senses fell into them.