“An Owl did this?” Zell asked swallowing hard, looking at the savaged sailor’s corpse on the pyre.

“An owl in name only.” Agitha answered. “It’s a four winged humanoid with arms ending in sharp bone blades. It’s name comes from its huge eyes, horns, and beak. It’s big enough to swallow a man whole after tearing the arms off at the shoulder. It dives at great speed in absolute silence and removes the arms of its prey and crushes the skull with a single snap of the beak. It hunts exclusively humanoids and is normally found much further south on the border of the great desert where it picks off caravans. In short, it shouldn’t be here.”

The gathered sailors looked grim and fearful at the explanation.

“What should we do?” Captain Fargis asked after a moment of reflection.

“I’m a monster hunter.” Agitha let that be her explanation. “Training is on hold. Some serious prey has appeared and it isn’t done with us.”

Her confidence had a settling effect on the group, and the conversation turned toward establishing new guidelines for safety around camp.

“They don’t hunt during the day so go about your business while the sun is out. No one goes anywhere alone after dark. Groups of three are the magic number to discourage ambush predators. Bait and I will set up a trap. We need to figure out a net to catch it mid dive so that I can give it a clean dispatch with no collateral damage.” Agitha’s words were met with bobbing heads and determined looks.

Zell had an idea brewing in his head and excused himself to his room. He sat down across from Goggles with a bucket of his favorite snake meat at hand. With his typical determination he began communicating with all of his magical might.

“I got it!” Zell announced a few hours later to Agitha as he burst out of his room holding a strange white object out before him.

“You got what?” Agitha asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I taught Goggles to make web on command. It’s super strong and sticky!” He swelled with pride at his own words.

“Are you serious?” Agitha jumped to her feet and rushed over to inspect the sticky ball of spider silk. “Doppelganger silk! I take back everything I ever said about dirty druid magic, this is a seriously valuable ingredient Bait. We’ll need more though.” She smiled a huge toothy smile, undeniably impressed with Zell’s ingenuity.

“As long as I keep feeding him snake meat, I think he’ll be happy to make more.” Zell replied matching her excitement and thrilled with the praise.

“Get as much as you can by tomorrow night.” She bade him. “We don’t know when the bastard will make another move. One more thing though, give Merc some attention he’s acting all mopey lately. I’m pretty sure he misses you.” She patted Zell on the back before she walked over to converse with captain Fargis.

Zell thought about it and suddenly felt awful, he had indeed been neglecting his dear friend lately. He vowed that after he set Goggles to making silk with plenty of food he would play with the dire wolf as much as he could.

He decided the best way was to set up two parallel poles suspended above the floor which Goggles could weave back and forth. The feeling he got from communicating with the spider is that he actually enjoyed weaving webs. It sated an instinctive compulsion that wasn’t being fulfilled before with the free access to food. Once the spider began weaving, he behaved much like Zell at a repetitive task. Thanks to the mana rich food and the pent up energy Goggles was soon spinning webs at a surprising pace.

Zell left the huge colorful spider to its work and found Merc just outside as though he knew it was his turn for attention. Zell found a good sized stick for throwing and walked down to the sandy beach below the bluff that housed base camp. He spent a solid hour just throwing the stick as far as he could while Merc loved every minute of the game of fetch. After that they play wrestled and ran up and down the beach until Merc was fully played out and content. Zell paused to take a long look around at the sparkling ocean, white sands, and emerald green forest. For all the violence and horror he had found here and as much as he missed his people in Vinia City, he would miss this cove when the time came to leave. Even now with the threat of a terrible monster hanging over them, Zell felt more alive than he ever had. In that moment he understood the reason for being a hunter. Everything was significant and beautiful with a blade hanging over one’s head.

The rest of the day passed with Zell encouraging Goggles’ efforts and harvesting the completed silk. Agitha then began to expertly roll the strands into thicker threads which could be woven within a frame of heavy rope. The silk was truly a miraculous material. Handling it required a light touch, for once it began to cling it was nearly impossible to break free. With diligence and patience, Agitha assembled her doppelganger silk net between the trees above the clearing in her designated kill zone. By nightfall it was complete.

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Zell took his position as bait, as was his station in the world of hunters. He tuned his senses above. Agitha was nearby but as usual her stealth was perfection and even if Zell knew her location spotting her was next to impossible. Merc crouched in the cover of the brush nearby but Zell never felt more vulnerable. The image of the poor savaged body of Polson being consumed by the flames of his pyre stuck in his mind. He battled his terror. He needed to trust in Agitha and the webs of his spider. The moon was high and shone with strength on the small clearing. Zell had never felt so exposed.

He began to sweat, his developing warrior’s sixth sense was flooding his body with adrenaline. His blood rushed in his ears and suddenly the clearing went dark.

The twelve foot wingspan of the four winged humanoid blotted out the moon. Zell’s eyes saw the silhouette hovering high above. Eyes glowing yellow popped from the blackness and locked with Zell’s own terrified gaze. Just like with the python, Zell saw his certain death in those eyes. Zell would have run like a scared bunny, but Bait held firm. Bait gripped his blade firmly and held his buckler high, bracing for the terrible impact.

The scythe owl’s dive would make the fastest falcon envious. In the last second, it flared its deadly bladed arms wide preparing to disarm and crush its helpless prey. It was an apex predator that had known only certainty and supremacy over its long life. This was a kill it had executed a thousand times and more.

The moment it impacted the nearly invisible net, it flailed violently. Zell didn’t quite leap free of the falling beast and became entangled with the creature within the unyielding webbing. It was a moment of pure horrifying confusion. The raw power of the creature wouldn’t be held long, however. The razor sharp beak and arms were quickly slicing through the net and before Zell could bring his buckler in line, a killing stroke of a long bladed arm came slicing in. From just out of sight Agitha’s voice spoke a familiar word.

“Onigoro.” Agitha said as the beast presented its wide back to her, about to slice Zell in half.

As usual, time stopped around her and the world took on a black and white muted appearance. She stood outside of her physical body, holding a spectral copy of Onigoro, the legendary elven blade that housed the soul of the devil of the same name. She willed herself forward with lightning speed and slashed the spectral weapon through the birdlike neck of the fearsome creature, to be safe she also slashed through both of its deadly arms. She then waited patiently for the effects of the power to expire and the cuts to take effect. A voice spoke then, in a dated elven dialect she recognized as belonging to the spirit of the weapon itself.

“A thrice spake name of a devil invites him to join you at your level. Prepare yourself Defaria Agitha I have craved the touch of your skilled hands since first we met.” The chilling voice and message drifted with several echoes through her mind as the world faded back into color.

The second she was back in her body Agitha noted that the sword was gone from her hands, and a strange energy was building in the air about her.

The scythe owl’s corpse went limp, blood spraying wildly from its severed limbs and neck. Bait shouted and groaned like a wounded animal as he tried to extract himself from the webs.

Agitha’s heart pounded. Something terrible was about to happen, she felt it in her core. She rushed to Bait’s side and cut through the silk with one of her keen demon bone longswords. The second he was extracted enough to move she locked her eyes onto his.

“Run. Flee to the camp, get the others and get to the rendezvous point.” She was using her commander voice which Zell had only heard once before. He knew better than to ask questions.

He hadn’t taken two steps when some force paralyzed him. It lifted him from his feet and turned him around to face the clearing where something was materializing. He floated back to the edge of the clearing but could not will himself to move.

“A grand duel demands audience young Balfonse Zell.” The voice was not in their minds. It was real. It cracked like a great sheet of ice and assaulted the ears with discordant notes.

The Devil of Ten Thousand Arms himself, Onigoro had come. His form materialized from the inside out. First a seven foot tall skeleton seemed to knit itself together from nothingness. Then muscles and organs followed, finally coal black skin, cracked with lava like red lines completed the oddly beautiful form. Spiraling ram horns grew from the devil’s temples and a long mane of white hair grew down his back. His ears were long and pointed even more so than an elf’s. Glowing blood covered chainmail appeared over his nakedness and his own sword, though a much larger version of it appeared in his huge clawed hand.

His majesty was striking and his malevolent glow overpowered the bright light of the moon.

“What is this!?” The devil suddenly demanded as he attempted to take a step. He appeared to be struggling mightily against some incredible force. His body vibrated violently and he growled.

Agitha, who was now holding her twin demon bone blades at the ready cocked her own head in confusion. Suddenly she tilted her head back and began roaring with laughter.

“You’re a devil! A member of the ruling class in the hells, with nearly infinite mana in the one place in this world where mana has weight.” She walked up to the fearsome otherworldly being with confidence. “How long do you have?” She asked him.

“Blast and bother.” Onigoro cursed. “This submission duel had me more excited than any battle I’ve had in centuries.” The expression on Onigoro’s face was remarkably like a pouting child.

“So every three times you’re invoked you are allowed to challenge your master for dominance?” Agitha guessed.

“Indeed. You must survive my attacks for a turn of the hourglass to retain my service lest I may drag you into my realm to battle me for eternity. I believe you would not hate such an existence, I am not such terrible company.” The demon offered.

“Well bad luck for you to be invoked in The Tear then.” Agitha said almost apologetically. She had a sudden exciting thought then. “Don’t devils have a bit of a fetish for deals?” She asked the still pouting Onigoro.

“Eh?” The devil prodded.

“How about this. If you promise to not drag me to hell, I will promise to give you regular battles on this plane. I’m sure the training would be of incredible value for me, and you never have to stay lonely or bored in hell for such long stretches.” Agitha crossed her arms as she presented the bargain.

Onigoro’s face screwed up in a mix of confusion and intrigue. After a moment a sharp toothed smile split his straining face.

“There is no rule against such a bargain. I love it! Every one of your mortal months invoke me to this plane but not this damnable place! We shall battle to our heart’s content. Do so and I shall swear upon my own name that your soul will not be dragged to my realm.” Onigoro struggled with a shaking arm to bring his blade to his palm where he sliced himself to draw blood.

Agitha similarly drew blood on her own palm and extended her small hand toward the imposing devil. They shook hands and a moment later Onigoro retreated from the crushing pressure of the tear back to his throne in the hells.

Zell abruptly collapsed as the spell holding him was canceled.

He was drenched head to toe in scythe owl blood, his adrenaline was still firing at full steam, and he was shaking too bad to even form a sentence. Agitha helped him to his feet.

“Sheesh it’s like you’ve never been sprayed with blood and had a devil appear, paralyze you, and make a pact with your master before. Grow up Bait.” She said in mock seriousness.

Zell plopped down into the dirt, and with no other real course available he began to chuckle, which became a long belly laugh over the absurdity of it all and Agitha’s well timed joke. After his laughter finally settled, he wiped the blood from his face and stood up.

“I’m ready to go home.” Zell said in a thoroughly exhausted tone.