Hell Fire Tempest:Desperate Gambits

"Don't rush me, I'm just getting into the zone!"

"Really!"

"Yeah! Really!"

Edward flips him over and has Zahad's body cushion his fall before they crash. Upon impact, Edward jumps off of Zahads's body and lands a few feet away.

Zahad gets up and out of the dust and rocks. Edward throws his dagger into his left shoulder and pierces his flesh. He struggles to get the knife out of his shoulder, but while he struggles Edward rushes at him with the katana in hand. Zahad swings with his left arm and to avoid the attack, Edward dodges by going under his arm. Zahad tries the same swing again and Edward avoids it by dodging the same way.

"Come on Zahad, Try and be original!"

Edward uses his backhand to smack Zahad, dislocating his jaw. Following up his attack, he breaks Zahad's left leg by stepping into his knee, and cuts off his right leg with his Katana. Edward grabs Zahad by the throat while he falls

"You made beating you sound like it would be so difficult, like you had some unbeatable power. Yet, here you are at my mercy. I'm disappointed Nathan, or Zahad, or whatever you call yourself"

Zahad's jaw starts to regenerate and he starts to talk

"I know. I'm sorry. I just wasn't expecting my new form to have grown so much further from my old one. I'm still not used to this form"

"What?"

"I was just having so much fun with my abilities that I had completely forgotten to take this fight even the tiniest bit seriously. Now that I know what I'm capable of, the fight takes off from here"

A burning brown glow starts to shine in Zahad's eyes as his body starts to change form.

Edward senses danger and retreats a few feet away from Zahad. Zahad's face starts to harden and his mouth and nose disappear. He grows a second horn on the top of his head and regenerates his legs. His tail, his arms, and his legs change color from a pale skin tone to purple. Every part of his body besides his feet and hand harden, and he grows in size

"What!? You mean you weren't in your true demon form then?"

"Not at all. I wasn't complete. I still bleed, I still have flesh. In order to change form and become a true demon, I must shed flesh and become spirit. Only then can I become a true demon. I've changed my form for the third time now and still I'm not completed"

"What!? You mean?"

"That's right. This isn't even my final form! But don't worry, you'll get to see it. because you will be the one who takes me to that level"

"Tsk!"

"Now, Shall we start the real fight?" Claws extend from his hand

"Sure, I mean…why not?" Edward takes an inside stance with his Katana

The two then rush at each other, and the second round of their battle begins

Meanwhile. Back at the city ruins

"Ethan! Ethan! Ethan?! Ethan!!!!"

Maya searched for Ethan frantically after her battle with Vejoko, calling out for him in hopes to meet up with him and Isabel. Maya could have simply searched for Ethan using his energy signal as a bacon to reach him, but Ethan and Isabel's signatures were so low, that Maya had to start screaming their names in hopes of getting a response. There was no way she could track them anymore

"Ethan!... Isabel!"

Maya had continued to call out almost ready to give up. But just before she did, she mustered up some faith and called out one more time

"Isabel! Ethan! Are you here!"

"Over here!" A barely audible voice screamed. Finally, Maya gave a sigh of relief as her faith was finally rewarded. She ran over to where she heard the voice call her, and when she had reached her destination, she found a hand waving out from under a pile of rubble that was blocking the entrance to the building. The windows were also boarded up and the only entrance into the building in sight was the whole the hand was waving from

"Ethan! Isabel! Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me Ethan, but reduce your voice"

"Why? And why are you hiding under that pile of rubble?"

"I'll explain. Just get inside and turn down your aura! Quickly! If you don't they'll find us"

"Who will find us?"

The earth began to rumble suddenly and the buildings began to collapse around them

"What the? What is going on!"

"There's no time Maya! Get in quick!"

Maya no longer questioned Ethan and immediately followed him into the hole. Once she got in they both stood by the boarded-up windows and peeked through the small spaces to see what was going on outside. They were surprised when they saw

A humanoid giant with grey skin, covered in rag like clothes dyed in heavy red wine. Its head was completely shaven, its mouth hanging open as though its jaws had been dislocated permanently, sharp rows of teeth that seemed to go on forever in its mouth, its fingernails sharp long and stained with all manner of things, his toe nails were exactly the same, its eyes white, dead, and dull, completely void of life and color. But the creature didn't come alone.

At its feet were hundreds…maybe even thousands, of black winged chimera running in packs. Some where similar to the ones at the first death games while others had more of a dog and wolf like feature. The beasts were black eyed, like a night sky without a single star. These beasts were moving fast, drawn by the smell of blood and by their desire to consume and destroy, they mowed over everything in their path

"Wait…aren't those?"

"I recognize these beasts… they're the chimera that were released at the start of the games!"

"But that's impossible! We have at least four or five days before they would be able to reach us! There's no way they could have gotten to us this fast!"

"Damn it! How did they get here this fast!"

Suddenly, Ethan remembered the thing the green demon mentioned to them at the beginning of the second games

"That's it! That was it…that's how they did it. it must have been one of the shortcuts that demon mentioned. That's how they made it to the lower floors this quickly!"

"If they could move monsters like that this whole time through smaller gates between floors…then this is the worst possible thing that could happen to us"

Isabel walks down a flight of stairs, saying

"Really? Because I can assure you it gets worse"

"Isabel?" Maya asked

"What do you mean?" Ethan went straight at her

"I just checked and behind the giant monster and the chimeras, there is a small army behind them capable of wiping out a small country. They haven't all made it through yet, and they aren't moving from the looks of it…but if they make it through were capitally screwed"

"This is…"

"You think that would be the worst part but somehow it isn't. That giant over there? Yeah, he is the icing on the cake. Not only will escaping with him around be difficult, but if we choose to stay and fight it would take too much time…that's if we even win"

"What makes you say that" Asked Maya

"Because that giant has just as much energy as the demon you just finished facing. And even if we win we won't be able to outrun or fight our way out of the hundreds of chimera around his feet…I'm afraid no matter how we do this or how we look at it were screwed"

Ethan stepped away from the window "So…your saying…that if we fight were screwed? If we run were screwed? And if we win were screwed?"

"Yeah…afraid so. No matter how you run the math, it will just be a miracle if we all can make it out of here without even losing a limb or partner. Cause even if we do beat all those odds, there's still the army behind them that might choose to move once the giants dead. And if that happens there's no way we can survive this"

"Outnumbered if we choose to fight…and outmanned if we choose to run. Damn! Can't really say I like how this is turning out"

"We could use our full energy to fight. We stand better odds with that though"

"Yeah but Cayafaz told us not to use it in case we had to battle the guardian of the gate. we will be to tired and drained to boost past it" Ethan yelled

"Well if we don't use it there wont even be a fight with the guardian!" Isabel responded, yelling as well

"Aaaaarrrrrrrrrgh! Damn it! how can this be!? How could we have been backed up into such a corner!? We don't even have a choice because were screwed no matter what!" Ethan cried out as he banged his fist against the wall and sobbed

Isabel walked to him and held his shoulder, saying

"Don't beat yourself about it, Eth. No one made a mistake, no one did anything wrong. Even with all of Cayafaz meticulous planning I doubt he had prepared for something like this. Even if we have no choice, even if we stand face to face with death… at least let's bitch about with our fists and weapons knowing we gave it all we had… so at least we die with no regrets"

Ethan backed away from the wall and grabbed Isabel's hand softly

"Your right. At least we can do that…even with no options left"

"No, that isn't true. We still have one more option…one more thing we haven't tried"

Maya spoke out with a confidence, but not wanting to be given false hope, Isabel quickly asked

"What plan could that possibly be? What couldn't we have already thought up? Didn't we just run through every option we had and hit a dead end?"

"I know we did, but listen. If we can get to Edward and Cayafaz, we might just stand a better chance together. Our strongest fighter and our most tactical fighter together? There's no how Cayafaz won't be able to come up with a plan. And if Cayafaz isn't, then we can rely on Edward to bulldoze our way through, can't we? There's still hope"

"Tsk! Damn it. I'm starting to have sparks of hope! Aren't they in the middle of a fight right now? If they still are that means their opponent is just that strong, even if they beat whatever it is their facing, will they even have the energy to fight through this?"

"I'm going to get Cayafaz and Edward. While you to make a break for the gate. If they're still fighting like you said they are, I'll offer my assistance and help them end the fight. Once I do that, ill head with them for the gate as well. From there we can push whatever is in our way and get through to the other side. All you guys have to do is cover my escape while you escape to"

Ethan walks to the boarded-up window and casually leans on it

"With the way you say it, you make it sound so easy…can't say I don't feel the fire to try it, but I just want to know one thing… Are you sure we can do this?"

"Hmph! I'm absolutely"

"Well that's it. I'm sold. What about you Isabel"

"Ugh! Urgh! Arrrrrrggg! Fine! Damn it! There are so many holes in this plan. This better work Maya!"

"I can't promise its 100 full proof. But I can at least guarantee that this way no one dies"

"Well. What can you say Iss? Its better than nothing, right?'

"Fine. But you have one hour! If you aren't at the gate once the rimes up were ditching you. Got it?"

"Got it!"

Isabel goes stand at the other boarded window and looks outside to assess the situation

"So, Iss, what's our game plan?"

"Simple, were doing a hit and run. We can't afford to draw the giant's attention. It seems stationary for now so let's not agro it. We shoot the chimera headed this way first to draw their attention, then we shoot the others around its feet just in case they catch a wiff of Maya"

"Copy!"

"Maya. When we fire? That's your que to burst open that door. Were gonna fire 7 shots, enough to cover to make some noise"

"Alright!"

"Okay then. Ethan, Let's get into position"

The two set up their guns in-between the space of the window

"We fire on my mark. Ready"

Maya clutches her fist and axe in hand as she prepares to burst through

"Aim"

Ethan puts in all the focus he can muster for this shot

"Fire!"

All seven chimera went down in an instant, and at the same time, Maya, burst through the rubble blocking the front entrance and began making her way to Edward and Cayafaz. The chimera that noticed the sounds started to approach the area. To convince them to chase in their direction rather than Maya's Isabel fired another shot at them once more. The chimera head towards Isabel and Ethan's location

"Come on Eth! Let's go!"

"Coming!"

The two left the building and made their escape. Now the dogs hunt after an enemy they don't know and Maya seeks allies that she hasn't seen. In hopes that their stories do not end abruptly

"Edward! Cayafaz! Please be alright. The team needs you right now more than ever. I just hope that wherever you are…or whatever battle you might still be facing… we can win!"

MEANWHILE: BACK AT THE VALLEY

"Huff, Huff, Huff" Goes Edward with a broken dagger in his right hand

"Yes…this is it…Finally…finally! The flesh dies"