For their survival

***********

(Just few minutes ago) 

The center of the once-peaceful town was in chaos.

Buildings burned, remains was scattered everywhere in the streets, and the air was thick with the stinging smell of blood and smoke. 

The captain of the town's guard, watched with a complicated look on his face as the massive Milhichural, chased someone away from the crumbling town outskirts. 

'Why is this huge beast leaving the town?' the captain thought, raising his brow in confusion. 

"I don't know why it's abandoning the town, but this is our chance," he shouted, turning to address his exhausted troops. "We must take advantage of this opportunity!"

Raising his voice to a powerful, commanding tone, he roared, "Brave soldiers, brace yourselves! Reinforcements will be here soon. We just need to hold them off a little longer."

"Hold your ground! Don't let any more of these foul creatures roam our town!"

"Ah-oo-ah-oo!"

The guards responded with guttural war cries, their voices joining together in a raw, primal chorus. 

They clashed once more against the swarming beasts, fighting with all their strength. 

But even as they killed one monster, more seemed to take its place in an endless wave. They were severely outnumbered by the enemy forces.

"This is bad. We need more soldiers on the front lines now!" the guard captain said while gritting his teeth, beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he watched the endless cycle of the beasts.

Elsewhere in the battered town, a young boy who seemed to be no more than nine years old was running for his life while a two-headed beast that looked like deerhound which seems too came from the depths of nightmare was chasing him. 

The two headed beast had purposefully slowed down its speed.

It was toying with its helpless prey before delivering the killing blow and feasting on the child's tragedy.

The boy's foot tripped on a broken piece of rubble, sending him dropping face-first to the ground. 

The beast watched with gray, maniacal eyes, enjoying the moment as it drew closer. 

Tears were streaming down the on boy's dirt-streaked cheeks as he desperately scrambled backwards; trying in vain to get away from the beast whose saliva was drooling from its cavernous mouth.

The beast was way faster than him while he was running.

How? How the hell did the boy think that he would keep a safe distance while sitting on his butt and scrambling backwards, well that was just his final, futile attempt, born out of pure fear of death.

It seemed the hideous two headed creature had finally tired of its sadistic game. 

It tensed, coiling its powerful legs to pounce on the prone, defenseless child. But just before it could strike, a shout rang out.

"Stay away from him!"

A handsome young man, despite the stain on his face, who seemed to be in his early 20's, slashed his sword at the two-headed eyesore in a scorching arc. 

With blinding speed, the beast twisted in midair, the glowing blade passing within a hair's extent of its matted fur. 

As it landed a short distance away, a shiver ran down its spine, as if sensing a much deadlier threat than the man who had saved the helpless child.

Before it could even react, a man who seemed to be in his earl-mid-eh? Or perhaps a young old fart swung his wicked mace, hitting on of its head, the tremendous force sent the body of the beast flying and tumbling through the wall of a nearby house.

As the dazed beast tried to regain its feet, hail of arrows fell upon it, forcing it to leap and twist agilely to avoid being stabbed. 

But in that same instant, a sword flashed in from its right side, the beast turned—but, 

*Swish*

*Thud*

But it was too late, and both its heads thudded to the ground, quickly followed by its lifeless body.

It may have seemed like much more time had passed in a desperate, drawn-out battle, but the truth was that barely five seconds had passed from the initial shout until the final blow. 

These battle hardened warriors had slain that fearsome monster in just a few heartbeats through lethal coordination.

A lithe woman in her mid-twenties dropped from a nearby rooftop, her beautiful features hardened with resolve. 

She rushed to the boy's side where he remained frozen, tears streaking his face. 

"Did you hurt your butt?" she asked, a warm smile softening the intensity of the recent events. 

The boy shook his head, wiping his eyes, and pointed to a deep gash on his knee oozing blood.

"Oh! Don't worry, you'll be okay," the woman soothed. Placing one hand over the wound, she began an intricate chant under her breath. A green light blossomed from her palm, and the torn flesh began knitting back together at an shocking rate.

"Good work, Missey," the young swordsman called out who had admiration in his warm brown eyes beneath his messy, spiky black hair and was wearing a red color bandana. 

"Yeah, I know," Missey replied with a proud toss of her long orange hair. Her piercing green eyes sparkled with amusement. "Thanks to me, this boy is safe now."

"What did you say?" The swordsman's voice took on a frustrated tone as he turned to face her. "It was me who killed that beast!"

Missey rolled her eyes, raising her voice to be heard over the ongoing battle around them. "Stop daydreaming, Shash. If I hadn't shot my arrows to distract it, it would have killed you for sure."

"You ugly witch!" Shash shouted angrily. "You were just scared, standing useless on that roof while I was the one fighting it in the heavy danger!"

Missey's face flushed red with fury as she shot back, "I was making sure that wouldn't be the end of you, you ungrateful loser!"

The old timer whose grey colored hair, cropped short, and had blue eyes walked over, somehow appearing unflustered despite the chaos all around.

"Calm down, both of you," he scolded with a sweet smile. "There's no need to fight like little kids, haha!"

Missey and Shash both turned on him, glaring at him as they yelled together with disdain, "Shut up, you old fart!" 

The man's mouth twitched in irritation at their lack of respect. The young boy suddenly spoke up, his eyes wide with excitement. Clutching his fists to his chest, he asked in an awed voice, "A-Aren't you Mr. Zoak?"

Zoak chuckled amusingly at the child's recognition. "Oh, you know me?" 

The boy nodded energetically. "How can I not know the best beast poet in the whole kingdom?" Despite the insults, Zoak smiled, looking pleased at the praise. "Well then, let's get you to safety first, young friend."

The boy nodded obediently and followed as Zoak led the way to a more sheltered location away from the raging conflict. 

"Let's show these bastards who we are!" Shash suddenly roared, rallying those still able to fight. Men and women gathered near him, raising weapons as they unleashed a unified roar of defiance. 

"Yaaaaaah!"

All the able-bodied townsfolk, be they farmers, shopkeepers or hunters, had taken up arms to fight for the survival of their families/loved ones who were in escaping towards the shelter. 

Who were basically those who can't fight, children and the old ones- expect for a certain old timer.

While those were unable to fight and were escorted to safety, this newly formed territorial army was prepared to risk their lives to hold back the onslaught.

The deafening roars of human and beast shook the ruined town as the two forces clashed once more. Smoke flowed as the decisive battle for the fate of the people raged, the ringing of steel against claw and fang echoing through the streets.