I was walking down the narrow farm road with my trusty cart in tow. As I neared the edge of the forest I dropped my cart in shock. On the side of the road an academy guard lay still in the mud. As I approached, I noticed he lay in a pool of blood with a trail leading into the forest. Though I had little hope that the man was still alive, I still went and checked. I rolled the man over and had to hold back from vomiting. The guard who hours before had exuded an air of confidence lay dead in the mud. His brown eyes no longer show any signs of life. Claw marks covered his whole body and face.

  My mind raced as I tried to figure out what had happened here. This couldn’t have been a wolf, it would’ve had to be much bigger. Maybe a bear? No the man would’ve never made it this far out of the forest if it had been one. It felt as if there was no animal instinct behind this man's death. Instead it felt as if whatever had caused this, strategized this murder. Whatever had killed this guard was strong and smart. In the kingdom Amerus’s guards were known for their strength in battle. One guard could easily take out 10 men on his own. So whoever had caused this was much stronger than me. If I chose to proceed into the forest where the murderer resided, I would certainly die.

  I decided that before thinking of what to do I should check what I had with me to fight if I needed to. I still had several bullets left, my bayonet was present and so was my flare pistol.

  If I ran back now and alerted the guards at the academy they’d rush to the scene. However something bugged me, this guard was here dead alone. There was supposed to be a whole class of students here doing a combat examination. For a guard to die, must mean that something went very wrong.

  Then it suddenly struck me, the guy who some hours earlier had stared at me with his inhuman eyes… A shiver ran down my spine as I realized that, if I went into that forest, that gloomy guy with his amazing hearing was highly likely to find me. If he did find me, he would kill me. The temptation to run away back to the military academy was very high. But before I could properly think over the idea I heard it. A loud growl came from the forest, it sounded otherworldly. This growl was quickly followed up by a high pitched scream and the breaking of wood. In the distance, far into the forest I could see snow fly up and one of the old pine trees fall. I watched in awe, because I knew that to cut one of those trees, old man Gary would take at least 2 or 3 days. But this man, no this demon had just cut one down in an instant.

  However, I knew that there could only be one reason for this demon to launch another violent attack… There were still people alive in that forest, and they were fighting for their lives. As I realized this unnerving fact I started walking toward the forest. Even if my chances of killing the demon with my rifle were practically zero. I still felt a weird sensation that told me I had to try until the last bullet left the barrel of my rifle and the last drop of blood left my body. That was the moment I first felt it, the strong desire to protect. While slowly picking up the pace, I realized what I had to do. So I grabbed a long purple blade from my bag. It was the bayonet, made out of Arcana steel that could stop a demon's healing. I mounted it onto the rifle as I started to recite an old family prayer. Though I was no religious man, as many do in times of war and violence I turned my eyes up towards the gods.

  “May the Gods of War bless my opponents as they raise their blades, for it will be the last time they do so. May the Gods of Peace comfort my opponents as they cry tears of blood while they lay dying in mud. May the Gods of The Harvest bless my opponent's family. For their children who raised their weapons against me will never return home.”

  As the prayer ended I cocked back the hammer of my rifle. This caused the revolving magazine to rotate one of the 4 bullets in line with the barrel. The whole mechanism was set into place with a mechanical “clunk”. The rifle was now ready to be used in its intended role: To kill, mane, or otherwise hurt the demon in that forest.

  Though the fear gripped and told me to turn back, the adrenaline told me to move forward. So I ran into the forest. As I did, a wailing scream echoed through the forest. The scream sent a chill down my spine. It sounded like someone had just witnessed the death of a loved one. WIth this in mind I ran and I ran, leaving the cart and the dead guard far behind me. As I ran the forest returned to its unnatural dead silence, no bird chirped, no animal dared to show itself in the fight between demon and man.

  In the dead silence the only thing I could hear was my own footsteps. As I ran I caught glimpses of dead bodies in blue uniforms to my left and right. Some had their guts laying in the red soaked snow. Others had their heads separated from their shoulders. The sound of my own footsteps and breathing soon made place for the sound of steel hitting wood. The loud bangs became louder and louder as I entered a clearing.

  Finally I stopped running as I looked in awe of what I saw before me. 2 entities were exchanging blows at a rate I couldn't follow with my eyes. One was clad in a gold yellow energy and every time the giant club came down sparks flew. On the other side there was a figure clad in a black fog moving as if dancing. At first it looked like the black figure was on the defence, but after looking closer I realized that it was just toying with the figure in gold yellow. Then with a giant crash the demon in black attacked pushing the yellow figure back with immense force

  Then the battle suddenly stopped. The dark skinned girl stood in front with her massive club at the ready. Meanwhile in her offhand she held the massive shield that protected her archer friend. As she breathed heavily with a face contorted from pain, she let out a powerful shout

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  “Is that all you’ve got you filthy traitor!”

  The demon, answered gleefully.

  “My dear friend Tiana, rest easy. You do not have the strength to fight, let alone kill me. So sit back and relax while I kill Rose and have her screams echo through the forest. Just like I did with poor George”

  When those horrible words left his mouth I could see the eyes of the girl open wide as a large great sword flew into the demon's hands. The sword had come from a large bloodied figure that was slumped against a tree. The only recognisable part of the mauled face was a pluck of orange hair… When my eyes snapped back to the demon that was slowly approaching the girl who’d cursed at him earlier but then he suddenly stopped.

  As I raised my rifle to shoot the back of the demon's head, said head slowly began turning in my direction. In the distance I heard a girl shouting and I saw multiple arrows flying right by the demon's head. However as I stared into the demon's eyes the only thing I could focus on was his threatening voice. As if toying with me he spoke.

  “Did you really think I wouldn't notice you approaching from all the way outside the forest? Since you are not my target, let's make a deal. If you drop that long metal spear looking thing, then I'll let you go. However, raise your magicless hands against me, and you will endure a thousand years of pain.”

  I was frightened and stunned by his words. Then however my adrenaline took over once more, turning the fear into hate. With the rifle now raised fully I took aim at the foul creature in front of me. When I zeroed in on my target I pulled the trigger, this set in motion a chain of events that would decide the rest of my life.

  The trigger being pulled caused the firing pin to slam into the back of the percussion cap, igniting the powder within the chamber and propelling the bullet down the barrel. The bullet flew out of the barrel and was accompanied by an earth shattering noise that could be heard for kilometers. As the bullet flew closer and closer to the demon's skull he instinctively evaded the shot.

  I had missed.

  However the muzzle flash and deafening sound that accompanied the bullet at this close range rattled the demon and he staggered. It was clear this demon had never encountered a gun before. His sensitive hearing was overwhelmed by the loud sound at close range. I questioned how such a powerful demon could be stunned by a sound that must’ve been decently common on the battlefield. However I decided that was a question for later.

  Before I could make my next move Tiana pressed the advantage, shooting forward towards the staggered demon. As her giant club hit the demon square in the chest the black mana stones embedded in her weapon glowed yellow. Then a second later a giant lightning bolt hit the demon at the exact spot where she’d hit his chest. The demon flew back into one of the large trees behind him. As he hit the tree a volley of arrows impacted the demon through the kicked up snow.

  To kill this wicked creature the only thing we had to do was hit him directly in the heart. As soon as his heart stopped beating the demon would die. The snow that’d been kicked up by all the action slowly cleared. Realizing something was up I quickly cocked back the hammer of my gun. The snow that’d been kicked up was now fully gone, and so was the demon. As the mechanism once again set into place with a mechanical “clunk”. I looked around to see where the demon would have disappeared so fast. Then I heard a terrified scream from the archer called Rose that had shot the powerful arrows earlier. The look on her face was one of pure terror as she screamed “Watch out, above you!”

  As I looked up and saw the demon descending on me from above, his face contorted in a hateful smile, his eyes locked on to me with intent to kill. I raised my rifle, but I quickly realized that it’d be futile. The demon was descending faster than I could raise my gun to meet him. As I closed my eyes as if accepting my death there was a loud crash as the demons claws bit into wood. Tiana with her large shield stood in front of me and blocked the demon's killing blow. I staggered back for a bit out of shock, but as soon as I realized that this wasn’t the afterlife yet I raised my gun once more and took aim.

  Now that theTiana had blocked the blow that was meant to kill me, it meant that her bow wielding friend was now left without defence. The demon realizing this jumped back off the shield and sped towards Rose. Tiana sped after him but she was too slow. As I took aim it almost felt as if the demon was slower than before. I took aim a bit in front of the demon's speeding figure. As my sights aligned I pulled the trigger once more. The second bullet flew down the barrel and past Tiana toward the demon. The bullet steadily approached the demon as he sped towards the archer.

  15 meters

  10 meters

  and finally at 5 meters

  Before the archer was to be impaled by the demon, the bullet finally hit. The demon's skull shattered as he took a lead bullet straight to the skull. It was no killing blow, but as the blood flew from his cracked skull he fell over and slid through the snow, leaving a bloody red trail behind him.

  The demon's healing factor instantly set in. However before he could recover from the headshot 3 arrows found their mark. The first arrow went through the demon's right shoulder, the second one through his guts. The last one penetrated through his slowly recovering skull.

  The 3 arrows came from Rose that had almost been impaled seconds before. She had a cold and aggressive look in her green glowing eyes. However, the green glow and anger started to fade from her face and the archer stumbled backward shortly before falling into the blanket of snow that lay on the ground.

  She’d burned through an immense amount of mana in a short time and had passed out. The demon now growling and trying to get up was hit directly in the spine by the huge club that Tiana wielded. Just like her last solid hit the moment the giant club made contact, mana stones embedded into the club started glowing. A lightning strike descended from the heavens striking the demon in the heart. As the lighting hit and the thunder echoed the demon screamed out in pain before going silent. Now that the foul demon had finally been killed Tiana leaned on her giant club before also collapsing into the snow.

  As the adrenaline wore off I tried to collect myself as I stumbled over to where the 2 academy students lay in the snow. My task here wasn’t done yet, the demon was seemingly dead, but if the wounded students in front of me didn’t have their wounds treated they’d still die. And if their wounds didn’t get them, the freezing cold would. I kneeled near the blond archer that had lost consciousness first. As I did I heard a faint growling, and before I could get to treating the wounded I got up again. The demon was staring directly at me with his big cat-like eyes. Though barely gripping to life, the demon was still alive and still very much angry.

  I acted quickly and put my boot on the demon's head pushing it into the snow before planting the Arcana steel bayonet squarely in the demon's heart. the growling slowly stopped as the charred body of the demon stopped resisting my boot. Now that the demon was finally dealt with I could finally turn my attention to the wounded. Behind me I heard groaning as I turned around Rose the archer was trying to get up, her face covered in blood and contorted in pain.