Casey heard his heart beating. There were screams around him, and also car alarms.

  He took in his breaths and white frost formed in the air.

  The creature paused the attack. A human head pushed out of the swarm of insects. A pale, rotting color, with horns and sharp teeth like an animal.

  His breath grew a little louder. The flies drones became frenzied.

  Casey watched as Rico snuck down the street and around a dark corner. He let out a small sigh. His friend had always boasted about his beast lineage, and how it made him strong. He was happy that he didn’t try anything stupid. He knew the layout of the area, and so he knew where he was headed.

  The traffic in that direction became thicker. Some people already left their cars. Most of them had ran away. But a few fools actually came closer to record the battle. Fulltube had become a part of life. They could probably make a fortune from something like tonight. And they were willing to risk their lives.

  Casey shifted his attention back to the creature, before flooding his body with composite mana. He felt his muscles wrapping too tightly around his bones causing him to hiss. He’d led it away from the crowded street. The creature smiled before letting the swarm swallow its head. It made black arms out of the bugs.

  Casey jumped high, breaking the concrete walkway. The creature’s black arm tore through the wall at the front of the barber shop, causing concrete fragments to break windshields and set off another alarm.

  Casey landed on the roof of the building. The wind blew hard against him, but didn’t shift his body. He saw the creature fly towards him with a angry expression. The head was held up by the swarm and led the makeshift body towards him.

  He let out a breath of cold mana in its direction, but it was caught by a swarm of flies. Casey watched as the head popped out at another position.

  The creatures arms glowed orange, as fire sprung to life, coursing between each fly. He saw flies breaking off into ashes and embers. As they swung down onto him, he crossed his arms.

  The fiery blow sent him through the roof, the apartment below it, onto the tiled floor of the barbershop.

  Casey groaned. There were flashes of white in his eyes and a ringing in his ears. He wiped the blood off his face and rolled to stand up. The creature sent it’s arm in through the hole and yanked him through.

  The wind whistled and felt cold. The sky was clear. He could see stars bright enough to make there surroundings a little blue.

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  He hovered for a second before falling. The sensation of his stomach turning jolted him from his daze. His heart raced because of his fear of heights. He flailed.

  The creature made a hand appear above him, and it came crashing onto him.

  Casey quickly drew in a breath and used air mana to propel himself out of the path. He landed on a slope between the buildings.

  The blow struck the floor hard enough the ground caved in. Water burst through the hole, spraying the flies. Steam rose from its shifting mass as it’s fire was soaked, and smothered away.

  A couple nearby left their car. They were only harassed by a few flies, the creature seemed deadly focused on him.

  Casey felt a stinging feeling in his feet. His shoes were long gone, he moved his toes trying to get rid of the feeling, also subconsciously checking to see if anything was broken.

  The creature waved away the steam.

  Casey gritted his teeth. He felt pain over most of his body. This creature was trying really damn hard to kill him, he knew he really had to do the same. Focusing despite, the cramps starting, he decided to finish the creature off.

  It lunged at him, like a rolling ball of black wind. A foggy arm glowing red hurtled towards him. Casey swung a backhanded wave. The wave left a blurry effect for several feet. As the hand made contact with the blur it exploded, blowing flies lose; they burned into ashes. The creature swung from another direction and Casey deflected another blow. He walked backwards. The third was ducked under. It landed on a blue building. Destroying the insides.

  Casey turned and ran up the hill. There was a yellow rusted gate up ahead. It blocked the road works quarry field. Casey jumped over the ten foot obstacle. He landed on quarry rocks, that crunched from his fall.

  The creature quickly followed. The head flew over the gate and the flies found their path through it.

  The moon light bounced on the white rock causing the area to be silvery. The quarry mine was only about forty feet deep. Fog rolled at its bottom, and that made it hard to see the mines end.

  Casey went down the slope with the creature close behind him. It formed a red blade and swung it at Casey’s head from the right. He rolled under, and jumped off the edge. The fall was something he could take without mana reinforcement.

  Casey shrunk himself closer to the floor, there the mist was so thick it made it hard to see clearly. The moon light made it into a loose white ocean. The monster popped it’s head from the swarm, and began to rotate it in place. Time slowly went by as it’s huge collection shifted about the quarry. Frustration grew visible on its visage. It grew a hand, the biggest so far, and began to shoo the mist away.

  Casey was far enough that it didn’t matter to him at all.

  ‘This should be enough to end it.’ Casey put his hands together and channeled a vacuum. The mist around the quarry mine moved up and down like a white sea. As the process developed the area thinned of mist.

  As soon as the creature saw him it smiled. The hideous teeth almost poked through it’s own eyes.

  “You remind me of someone I hate. I can’t wait to taste you. I am legion. Give me your name, so that I can remember you.”

  Casey’s eyes tore open. He’d never heard of an aberration speaking before. He knew that they were usually creatures that came through the void to their world. This caused him to waver for a second, wondering if he should really kill the creature.

  “I wouldn’t have killed you if you hadn’t said that.”

  Casey held up a blue ball of fog to his face. He took in a breath which made the remaining fog swirl towards his mouth. He released a stream. The cold mana then became a wall of rolling white cumulous clouds. It had the impact of snow, and a movement similar to a avalanche’s rush. The flies were all covered. The white wall flooded everything near the quarry’s entrance.