With every pulse of the monster’s beating heart, a spurt of blood came out of it’s tail, and nded in a long, dark streaks across offices, apartments, and streets.

  Johnny, so filled with rage, wasn’t thinking of the consequences of his giant battle, and shook his blood covered hands, trying to get some of it off. It sprayed in all directions, covering more buildings, and spraying his teammates again.

  “I think I’m gonna hurl,” Tetsuya said.

  They were covered head to toe in Hurio’s blood, dry heaving in the dark, wishing victory weren’t so disgusting. Most of them got it in their mouths, and Amy cried quietly, leaving streaks on her face.

  Fenton saw their auras turn purple from fright, tinged with yellow from embarrassment, but Ace’s was a pale green.

  The color of being pleasantly surprised.

  He smacked his lips a few times, and then abruptly stopped once Fenton’s eyes met his.

  “Dude, c’mon,” Fenton said.

  “It’ s pretty good,” Ace replied.

  Amy’s sobs became louder when she attempted to rub it out off her eyes, but made the problem worse because her hands were already coated in the exotic blood. Sasha tried to console her with a hug, but it didn’t help because he was covered in it is well, causing her to wail even louder.

  “Can’t get worse,” Sasha assured her.

  It could, and it did.

  Johnny carried the writhing, angry monster off into the local harbor, far away from the hospital, and for a few moments, everything was quiet. The air became cold again, and light snow started to fall. Awkwardly they used some of the snow on the rooftop to wipe off the blood from their bodies.

  While wiping his hands on a fire escape rail, Fenton flinched and felt a disturbance.

  “What’s wrong,” Ace asked.

  “My premonition is going off like crazy. It’s never felt this sudden before. Something is coming,” Fenton said.

  Ace leaned over the rooftop, overseeing the carnage, and couldn’t discern anything out of the ordinary.

  “There’s nothing here,” Ace said.

  “Incorrect,” Sasha replied. “Clean man.”

  He pointed to the right, and everyone turned to look at the only living person on the street not covered in goo.

  The man was ridiculously tall, pale, and had jet bck hair that draped his body like a cloak. He was standing underneath a flickering light pole, with an apathetic look on his face. His clothes stood out, not because he was clean, but because they were all bck- an odd choice in the regur heat of Atan.

  Atop his head sat a crown made of iron with a gem in the center.

  Suddenly, he abruptly looked upwards, seeing them on the top of the rooftop, his bright blue eyes no longer bored, but filled with malice.

  “It’s the blue eyed monster,” Oz said. “I can feel the evil in what it calls a soul, all the way from here.”

  “Let’s kill it and then give it that stupid lizard, and be done with this. I don’t want it coming back,” Ace said.

  “Hey now, what if it’s just some random, lucky man that got lucky in all this mess,” Amy replied.

  “So you were cool with sacrificing me but not some random dude,” Ace shouted.

  The group broke out into an argument and by the time they were done, the strange man had disappeared from his spot underneath the broken light. By the time they noticed he was gone, it was too te.

  “Where did he go,” Ace asked.

  He was on the rooftop next to them, and with inhuman strength, he ran, and then leaped right over to them, catching them by surprise. Tetsuya ran towards him, but was smacked down, mid transformation. With a swipe of the man’s hand, an oblong miasma, looking just like Oz’s, flew out from his body, and wrapped around Tetsuya, pinning him down.

  “I’ve got you, Tetsuya,” Oz shouted.

  Using Hurio’s blood and pain, Oz was magnificently stronger. He smeared it on the ground in the shape of three small triangles, forming one rge triangle, and stepped in the middle. The blood glowed bck and green, and the triangles floated up off the rooftop, encircling Oz.

  “Masaka”.

  A giant green beam shot out from the giant triangle, cutting the tendrils holding down Tetsuya. It sizzled and screamed, frightening them all that the miasma was alive.

  “Why do you py games with these dogs, my son,” the man asked him in Ionadian. “Stop this.”

  Oz merely gnced at him, and the triangle turned toward him.

  “Masaka.”

  The man snickered.

  “Akasam.”

  The triangle fizzled as quickly as it formed, the battle quickly lost.

  “I came to get my stuff,” the man said, pointing at Ace. “I have no problem with you, but if you continue I’ll take you as well.”

  The man continued monologuing, assuming Oz could understand him, his deep accent simir to Ace’s.

  “What the fuck is he saying,” Oz asked Ace in exasperation.

  “He said he’ll spare the town if I come quietly and tell him where the other one is,” Ace said. “I have no idea why he thinks I know who the other one is.”

  “Tell him what he wants to hear if it will save the town,” Oz replied.

  “Don’t,” Fenton warned him.

  Ace did what he thought was best.

  He told the truth.

  “I don’t know where he is.”

  But the truth wasn’t enough for the man.

  “A born liar through and through,” the Ionadian said. “Don’t worry. I’ll find a use for you.”

  The crown on his head glowed brightly, and Ace swore under his breath.

  “It’s another one of those damn things,” Ace shouted. “Run away!”

  “No! We’re not backing down! Enough people have died,” Fenton argued. “We can take him down!”

  Ace and Oz ran straight into danger, and danger had easily caught them. The green and bck miasma turned into two long tentacles and grabbed the both of them, chocking the air out of their lungs.

  “I’m going to-“

  They disappeared before he could get anymore words out of his mouth, leaving the rest of them on the rooftop, Ace teleporting them all away from danger.

  “What now,” Sasha asked.

  “I have a feeling who the other one is,” Fenton said. “Let’s get cleaned up and we’ll find him and Ace.”