Rematch

Cyrus sighs tiredly, leaning against a nearby building for support as he catches his breath.

Hannah and Darius are sitting beside him as he rests.

They all look exhausted as they catch their breaths.

"Man, we really got the short end of the stick on this one." Darius sighs as he looks up at the beast in the distance. "We did everything we could but the damn beast just wont go down."

"You don't have to remind me," Hannah replies sarcastically. "That thing was brutal."

Cyrus stands up straight and looks to the beast in the distance.

"But... I feel like there has to be something we can do about it. Nothings immortal."

The group watches as the beast roars angrily while continuing to rampage across the town.

"We need to figure out a way to take care of this thing. Before it gets even worse than it already is."

Darius nods in agreement. "We can't give up yet. We have to keep trying. That's what being a soldier is all about."

Hannah nods in agreement. "And if anyone can do it, it's us."

"Agreed." Cyrus says. "So let's get started. We're gonna take this bastard down."

The three comrades throw themselves at the beast once more with newly acquired motivation.

"Ahhhh, this is taking too long!" Hannah shouts. "I'm already losing my patience!"

Darius smiles. "Well, I'm not about to lose mine. I'm just getting warmed up!"

Cyrus nods in agreement. "Yeah, you got this."

Darius, Hannah, and Cyrus take on the beast with all their might.

***

After a few minutes of fighting the beast the group retreats in even worse shape than before.

"Damn. This beast is tough!" Cyrus says while he slaps the ground in frustration. "I think I'm starting to hate this creature!"

"I don't blame you, it is pretty nasty." Darius says as he wipes some sweat from his brow.

"I'm starting to feel it myself. This thing has been kicking our ass." Hannah agrees.

Cyrus looks over at the beast, wondering how much longer it will be until the sun rises. "I'm thinking we should retreat for now. It's almost dawn and we're all beat down. I doubt that we will be able to beat this guy tonight."

"I agree." Darius says. "Besides, we'll never win if we don't get ourselves patched up."

"True." Cyrus nods. "Plus I might have an idea."

The group gathers together and listens carefully as Cyrus explains his plan.

"Okay, so here's the deal." Cyrus begins. "We have to hit it when its weak right? Well I'm willing to gamble that the sun is its weakness, so why don't we follow it once the sun rises?"

The others mull over the idea for a few moments before nodding in agreement.

"Alright, sounds like a good plan to me." Darius says.

"Me too. I see nothing wrong with that." Hannah nods.

"Great, Then all we have to do is wait until it heads back to wherever it hides during the day. Once we find its lair, we can sneak in and take care of business. But before that we have to stay hidden."

"Sounds like a plan." Darius agrees.

"I'm going to use my shadows to move us in the dark, so the beast doesn't notice us see us." Cyrus explains.

"Alright, then I'll go ahead and cast some spells so that we can travel faster." Hannah explains.

Cyrus nods in approval. "Good," now all we have to do is wait for the sun to rise."

***

As the sun slowly begins to rise above the horizon, casting light upon the land.

"Guys. It's on the move," Darius calls out as Hannah and Cyrus begin to prepare for the mission, casting a variety of spells to increase their speed and stealth.

Once they were ready, The three of them teleport out of the city and begin to follow the beast.

The beast moves through the forest with great swiftness, making it difficult to catch up with it.

The group follows the beast into the thickest parts of the forest where the trees grow close together and block out most of the sunlight.

The beast continues to run through the forest as the group notices it slowing decreasing in size.

"What the hell?! Does it get smaller as it runs?" Hannah asks confused.

"I don't know, but it seems to be working in our favor." Cyrus says. "If it's getting smaller maybe that means its also getting weaker."

The group keeps moving deeper into the forest until they reach a small clearing in which the beast suddenly stops in front of a large tree.

At this point the beast is more human in form than wolf.

It stands about 4 feet tall and is covered in brown fur.

After standing still for a moment the beast begins to roar loudly.

As the beast roars the tree shakes violently revealing a large hole in the trunk.

The beast leaps down the hole and disappears into the darkness below.

"Let's go!" Darius exclaims.

"Wait a minute!" Cyrus says. "We cant just rush in there without preparing ourselves. You know were in no position to fight that beast again."

"But we're running out of time,"Darius complains.

"No, means no. Don't worry were just gonna head back and get ready. I promise we will be back before night falls. come on."

"But..." Darius starts to say, but Cyrus interrupts.

"Now come on!"

Darius frowns as he looks back at Hannah who looks at him smugly.

"Fine." Darius sighs.

The three of them run back to the city to rest and recover.

***

A few hours later the trio returns to the forest, having rested and recovered from their wounds thanks to Hannah.

Upon returning to the clearing where the beast disappeared, they find Hole beneath the tree make there way down into the depths.

the further they go the darker it gets until it becomes pitch black.

Stopping to create a light as the other two continue walking, Hannah can hear them scream as it slowly fades away. finishing her spell, Hannah notices a wide hole in front of her.

shaking her head, she jumps down the hole.

"OW. Get off me" Darius shouts as Hannah lands.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to land on you." Hannah apologizes.

"Its fine, but seriously, get off me!"

"How about BOTH of you, get off of me!" Cyrus demands. "You two are crushing me here."

"Don't worry, I can heal you." Hannah says stepping down from the pile.

"I don't need healing. I just need to breath!"

Hannah rolls her eyes at the two of them before she begins to search the area.

"Gross" Hannah says as she looks over the room. "This place is disgusting."

Cyrus grunts in agreement. "I know what your talking about."

"Well it looks like we've found the beast's lair at least." Hannah says.

"Someone definitely need to clean these floors." Darius says.

"I have to agree with you there. They are pretty gnarly. And kind of sticky." Cyrus adds.

"Alright then let's just hurry and get out of here," Hannah says pointing to an opening in the wall

The group travels through the hole and is met with long corridor, the walls and floor covered in a variety of bones and body parts.

"Man this place is a mess." Darius says disgusted.

"And a bit creepy," adds Hannah.

"Not helping you guys." Cyrus says rolling his eyes.

As they walk along, they are greeted with the occasional sound of a monster screeching.

"Sounds like the beast is getting closer," Darius says.

Cyrus nods in agreement. "We need to hurry and finish this."

Getting closer to the sound of the beast, the group comes to a large door made of stone.

Darius steps forward and attempts to open the door.

After a few moments of trying and failing, he gives up.

"It won't budge." Darius states.

"Maybe we should try another way." Cyrus suggests turning back when suddenly, the door slams open.

Startled, everyone turns to look through the doorway where the beast laid lying on the ground. Above the beast however was another figure.

"Well well well. What do we have here?" The figure asks as it takes a step towards the group. revealing a woman with blue hair and a red dress.

"So, this is the group that has been sent to save that poor town," the girl says looking at the group. "You must be very brave to come here."

"Who are you?" Darius asks curiously.

"I am the one who has been tasked with bringing about the end of this dull world. You may call me Akuji, and I guess you could say I'm a demon."

"Akuji?" Cyrus repeats.

"Well, I'm not quite sure what else to call myself. I've been called many things but this is the first time someone has actually asked for my name." She answers.

"Why would you want to destroy this world?" Darius asks.

"I'm not the kind of person to care about they why's. I just do as i'm told." Akuji says with a shrug.

"Hey! You can't just do whatever you please!" Cyrus says annoyed.

"I can do anything I wish, child. If you don't like it, how about you do something about it." Akuji says.

"That's enough!" Darius shouts.

"No need to shout." Akuji laughs. "Do you really think you three will make a difference? No one is capable of restraining the will of my master."

"I don't believe that for a second." Hannah says. "And I don't think anyone else does either. If what you say is the truth than you wouldn't be hiding out in some gross tree."

Akuji chuckles. "I am not hiding out in a tree. This is simply where I've chosen to run my little experiment."

"Experiment?" Darius asks.

Akuji nods as she flicks her wrist, followed by a loud thud.

"Oh shit!" Hannah shouts as the group turns to look behind them.

The door had been slammed shut.

"I think its about time to run a little test." Akuji says smirking.

pointing her finger at the beast laying dormant, she begins to chant.

Suddenly the beast begins to roar as it stands up, shaking the entire room.

"Lets see how well my little pet fares during its weakest moment. She says before vanishing from the room with a laugh.

The beast charges at the group with its fur blazing, forcing the group to scatter in every direction.

As the beast closes the distance towards Hannah, Cyrus uses his shadows to trip the beast.

missing its mark the beast, falls down hard onto its side.

"Nice shot." Hannah cheers. "Now its my turn."

Taking aim she fires off a couple of bolts from her staff

Each of them hit their target, But the beast shakes them off without much effort.

"Come on!" Cyrus says frustrated.

Hannah frowns as she continues to fire off bolts.

The beast ignores each bolt, and continues to charge towards Hannah.

"What?!" Hannah shouts as her bolts fail to harm the beast.

The beast swipes at Hannah as Darius steps in to block the blow.

But as it connects, Darius is sent flying across the room knocking over a nearby table.

Breathing heavily, Darius gets up and dusts himself off.

Turning around to face the beast once more, he sees it charging right at him.

"For such a small guy, you sure hit hard." Darius says.

Darius raises his blade, preparing for the attack.

Just as the beast is about to strike, Darius dodges and slides his blade through the beast's throat.

Blood pours out as the beast stumbles backwards. slowly the wound begins to heal as the beast stands up and looks up at Darius.

"You're not so tough now are you shorty?" Darius taunts.

The beast howls in anger as it rushes at Darius.

Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Cyrus stabs the beast chest with his blade.

"Your mine now!" Darius shouts as he Stabs his blade through the beast as well.

blood gushes from both wounds as the beast is held in place.

The beast begins to shake uncontrollably as blood drips from its wounds.

"It's over!" Cyrus yells as he begins to envelop the beast in a dark mist.

A few seconds later, The beast begins to let out an agonizing groan that grew louder by the second.

Finally the beasts cry's end as it had been fully melted by the mist.

"Well that wasn't too bad." Cyrus says as he holsters his blade

"I know right?" Darius agrees as he wipes his sword. "It was much more manageable than when it was rampaging through town.

Looking at the beast which had become nothing but a pile of mushy flesh and bone, Cyrus sighs.

Appearing beside Cyrus Akuji begins clapping.

"A job well done kids!" Akuji cheers. "I never expected you three to be able to deal with a task like that so easily."

"That was child's play, We've seen worse," Cyrus claims before turning his blade on her. "And as you can see we're still standing. So don't ever underestimate us again!"

Akuji stares down at Cyrus before letting out a chuckle. "Heh, I see. I suppose I shouldn't have underestimated you after all."

As much as i would like to personally test that bravado of yours, I'm going to have to take my leave. I have a few more tasks to perform.

After hearing her words, Darius' expression turns serious.

"Wait, what do you mean you have more work to do?" Darius asks.

"Oh, you don't be so impatient. You will see what I have in store soon enough. You three are going to be very useful in my plan." Akuji says in amusement before vanishing.

The group looks at each other, unsure of what to do next.

"Well at least the beast has been taken care of." Darius says.

"Yeah but now we have even bigger problems to deal with now," Cyrus adds.

"I wasn't really planning to attract the interest of a demon today." Hannah complains with a sigh.

"I guess we should head back to the town and tell them about everything." Cyrus says.

Hannah nods in agreement.

***

Hannah and Darius wait outside the mayor's house while Cyrus enters and tells them the news.

"The beast is gone and no longer a threat," Cyrus says as he sits down.

"Thank goodness, although I'm surprised you were able to beat it." she comments

"Well it did get a bit dicey, as you probably saw, we were no match for it during the night. Luckily the beast was much less capable during the day. We managed to defeat it pretty quickly."

"That's good to hear," She replies. "Although I'm curious as to where you fought the beast. No one else knows where its lair is located. At least as far as I know."

Cyrus explains the situation with the tree and the demon inside.

"That's quite concerning. Do you have any idea what her plan is?"

"I honestly don't know." Cyrus says shaking his head.

"Well, if she's a true demon as you claim she is, then I don't doubt that her intentions are impure.

"What will you do about the townspeople?" Cyrus asks.

"For now we need to focus our efforts on rebuilding our home. There is no need to cause any more distress with this news. I know its not right to withhold this kind of info from the residents but I don't think they could take another tragedy. Especially not so soon after last nights."

"I agree. It's best to keep this quiet for now." Cyrus says.

"Alright then, I'll try to put together a plan for the town. I thank you for all the work you've done for my town."

Cyrus stands up and bows before leaving to meet with the others.