The demon's sword swings towards the ground, slicing the carriage in half and pushing us all into the carriage walls. I kick the man next to me toward Hilt and push myself forward past the demon with air magic. She quickly turns towards me, her sword sshing the air. The sheer force of her sword slice sends me flying from multiple feet away. I crash into the ground, scraping my arms and legs.

  I have to protect them. I won't let anyone die here, not like this! As I stumble onto my feet, she stands over me. She ughs but... I can't hear it, my ears must've been injured. She raises her sword above my head, sharp side pointing away from me. My ears ring loudly, but the sound slowly disappears.

  The demon grabs my colr and lifts me into the air.

  "I said! Where the tall one!" She yells.

  "What tall one?" I mumble.

  "You're useless!" She screams, throwing me towards the carriage.

  My back sms into the carriage, the shape makes it feel like being sshed. The boar walks in front of me, facing the demon. His sword is drawn, I grab onto his belt and lift myself up.

  "I'd recommend standing back." He scoffs.

  I lift my staff into the air, the gem points at the demon dy. She stands still, just staring at us. My mana flows through my body, a bright light appearing at the tip of my staff. A small, bright ball of fmes bursts from the tip. I step forward, swinging my staff above my head. The fireball slings forward as the staff whips back down. The demon's smile grows as the fireball flies at her. The collision lets out a loud boom, as the fireball bursts into a huge area of fmes. The red ground glows with an orange light.

  Smoke fills the air and shockwaves fly back towards us. The boar man stands in awe, his sword just barely hanging from his hand.

  "You can just do that?" He asks.

  "Yeah, it's pretty simple." I chuckle.

  Suddenly, the demon- once non-visible, seemingly teleports right in front of us. She sms her hand into the boar man and grips his stomach with her cws. She lifts him into the air, making the size difference even more noticeable. Hilt flies into the air, stepping on the boar's head. She swings her sword down, slicing the demon's eye.

  The demon, in an instant, chucks the boar to the side and grabs Hilt's leg. I pull some dirt from the ground and shape it into a rectangel before smming it into the demon's legs. The demon trips, throwing Hilt on top of the boar, and it's face sms into the carriage. I summon a rge rock over he head and sm it down. The impact causes her head to crash into the floor and a loud squash sound to ring out.

  The air still smells of smoke, and my ears continue to ring uncontrolbly. Did I do it? Is she dead? I slowly reach my staff out, tapping her arm. She doesn't react, she must be dead. I did it! Really though, I thought I was I gonna die there to be honest...

  "Is it... gone?" The human guy asks.

  "I think." I sigh.

  Some rumbling comes from the demon's corpse. I look back over and the rock slings up into the air. The demon screams before rising onto it's feet.

  "Damn humans..." It grumbles.

  I sling a rock towards the demons face, causing it to flinch slightly. I kick some dirt up into the air and morph the particles into more small rocks. The rocks hit her all over her body, each one just fast enough for to flinch. She stumbles back slightly, I use the extra second to create some rger rocks. These ones push her further and further. Her foot slides next to Hilt just before Hilt jumps up and swings her sword. The ssh cuts straight through the demon's torso, cutting it completely in half. I form the rest of the dust around me into a rge square rock and hurl it straight towards the demon, sending her top half severalfeet away.

  Hilt quickly thrusts her sword straight towards the demon's face, stabbing straight through it's head. Everyone around stands still for a few moments.

  "Is she... dead?" The human man asks.

  "Hopefully." The boar jokes.

  Hilt slides her sword out of the demon's face. It's covered in a dark liquid, darker than human blood. Her hand slowly reaches down and touches the demon's neck. A few seconds ter, she pulls her hand away and turns back to us.

  "She's dead. No heartbeat." She tells us.

  "How do we know if she even has one in the first pce?" The human man asks.

  "We'll just have to pray." Hilt says.

  Our victory leaves an uncomfortable silence. We did kill a demon, but it feels kind of... Unfulfilling. This honestly just raises more questions, like why would she attack us like that? She knew Cole, but how? We have to get to the bottom of this! The carriage is completely destroyed. There's nothing left. Speaking of carriage, where is the driver. Hopefully he got away from here. I walk around the carriage, on the drivers seat is the driver. His whole body was cut in half vertically. The demon must've killed him with that first attack. With no carriage or guide... I believe we're lost.

  "What happened?" Teir asks, peeking her head over the carriage ruins.

  She stares at me for a second before glimpsing down at the driver. Her innocent grin quickly fades and turns into more of a shocked expression.

  "What... What." She gasps, before slipping back behind the carriage.

  I can hear slight noises of hyper ventiting.

  "Shame. I like him." Hilt sighs.

  "What should we do now?" I ask Hilt, "We have no way of navigating this pce.

  "We've got two demon territory citizens right there." Hilt points over to the boar man, who's currently groping the demon's body.

  "Those guys won't help at all. They're morons." I say.

  "It's worth a shot." She shrugs.