Magnum ran around the huge walls of the camp. He passed the gate at the back and a strong odor of decay and waste lingered. It was so bad he had to cough it out. He looked to his left and saw dead bodies of mercs and civilians were being feasted on by insects and worms. One important detail caught his attention, an arm without the oath.

The demon looked a lot bigger and bigger as he got closer. He slowed down a bit as barricades of squires were formed within a safe distance away from the fighting. Over the crowd, everyone can see the head and back of the wolf covered by dark thick scales. It was running and jumping around with its long spear-like claws and sharp teeth.

Magnum stealthly ran past the squires who were busy looking at the demon.

"You are not allowed here merc!" one squire said. He pointed his sword towards Magnum. Some of the squires tried to follow but they were stopped by their commanders as they were under strict orders to not join the fight.

Magnum started to feel the rhythm of galloping horses. Fires were crackling and the steps of the gigantic demon shook the ground. The mother demon was a wolf, the rumors were true, and he could see its face now through the trees and ruins. He could also see that someone was keeping it busy, a lance-wielding knight was on a horse running around the demon while another knight kept its attention towards his own.

Magnum proceeded to join the fight. He hid in one of the old houses in the ruins. On his left were destroyed trees and old walls from an abandoned old town. He was trying to get close moving from tree to tree, wall to wall. Finally, he showed himself to the demon and threw some marbles on its face. The knights were shocked.

“Get out of here!” one of them said. Magnum didn't hear but even if he did he would still join.

The marbles exploded but did not do much damage to the face. Magnum was expecting it. Those were the remains of his old original recipe. He threw the new ones. The explosions were louder and the impact hit harder. The mother demon shook its face and the dark scales flew out exposing its burned-red skin.

“Good!” he said. He now ran and hid in one of the walls to wait for the mother demon to come close to him.

“I’ll kill you and prove how worthless the knights are!”

Magnum could feel every careful step the mother demon took to get closer. It was aware that he was hiding behind the walls. It opened its mouth and voices started to invade Magnum’s ears. The Knights watch, curious of what Magnum would do.

A woman’s voice? A man? A child? A name? A place? Long ago, everyone thought it was some gibberish noise of animals trying to imitate human speech. It was already haunting back then but more so now that it was known as the language from hell, the language of demons. Those with weak will would collapse in fear at the slightest hint of it. Who would not when hundreds if not thousands of voices whispered to your ears as if it was beside you. But the voices were just the start of the spell much more known as the “Demon’s Call”.

The Mother Demon closed its mouth and focused on the wall where Magnum was hiding. Magnum closed his eyes and braced himself. What's next was far more sinister, “The Vision”. It's a special ability of Mother Demons to cast a vision to everything near it. Magnum experienced it firsthand when he was a kid, the time when a mother demon wrecked his hometown. “The Vision” was a place of darkness, and corruption, and of fire, and most of all, of death. He had nightmares about it growing up, he only learned to accept it, and the nightmare still visits him every now and then in his sleep.

The Vision finally stopped and he felt the demon closer. He opened his eyes and ran to another wall just before the mother demon destroyed the previous wall he was hiding on. Magnum looked around trying to find the highest position that he could climb. The only one he found was a wall from the third floor of a destroyed house. He went to it, jumped from one broken wall to another, then climbed up.

The whole ruins came into his view. It can be separated into two areas; the other half was an open area where the knights were keeping the demon and the one where he’s hiding now where there were old houses destroyed by time.

"No critter demons. But why is this big guy still alive? It's two knights!" he said.

Magnum saw one of the knights take the attention of the mother demon away from him. The lance wielder at times would thrust one of the demon's limbs producing sparks of blue sprites every time it hit but the damage was superficial, it quickly healed. The other knight carried a huge war hammer, a two-hander but he was using only one hand. This knight wasn't doing much. Sometimes he would charge back and forth as if playing with the demon but he never used his weapon.

"Huh! Can't even do their job properly."

"Hey!" Magnum shouted.

The two knights heard him but the demon did not. He waved at the knights, "Bring it to me!" he shouted.

Matrina, the knight holding a lance shook her head and proceeded to run away, the demon was following her. Garvin, the other knight inspected Magnum from afar. This knight's armor was more intricate than the other knight and there’s an aura of confidence oozing out of him. Garvin smirked and charged at the demon to get its attention. He was successful and then he ran straight to Magnum.

"You want this merc! You get it!" he said with a smirking face.

Seeing Garvin’s white teeth in between the spaces of his helmet, Magnum smirked back. He then took out three marbles from his bag as the knight and the demon were coming in fast. The ground shook and the walls where Magnum was standing on wiggled its tempo.

Magnum threw the marbles. It passed Garvin and hit the ground exploding at the demon's feet. The demon crashed. Its face carved the ground as it slid forward but it quickly stood up. Magnum jumped as the demon was close enough to him. In midair, he made a horizontal swing using both hands. Then he hit the trigger of his gunblade with abandon causing explosions upon explosions. It caused him to spin like a whirlwind. He hit the demon right on its neck followed by another set of explosions. Shocked were the knights and the squires. This was the first time they had seen an attack like that. The head of the demon was gone while the body stood motionless. Everyone was silent.

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"Whirlwind Explosion! Yes, it's my special attack!"

"Ah stupid merc!" Garvin said calming his horse as it panicked and jumped around due to the explosions.

"Stupid? I saved your ass! Dumbass!" Magnum said standing up and looking at the knight.

Magnum heard a horse closing on him from behind.

"Move! It's healing already!" Matrina said.

She kicked Magnum from her horse and Magnum tumbled over. As Magnum looked back, his mouth fell seeing the demon start to form another head right in front of him.

"It should be dead!" he said in disbelief.

He watched the head of the mother demon regrow in shock. It set its eyes on Magnum. It growled letting out a gust of foul smell and a force that pushed him down to his knees. Along with it, were red dust that flew past him.

“There’s only one way I can kill it...” Memories of his father's death flashed in his mind in a series of large explosions.

Meanwhile, Garvin’s right brow went up when he saw the living demon dust fly around Magnum never touching him not even once. Squires and Knights have magical protection against it but for a mercenary not connected to any guild, it's rare. It was interesting to him how Magnum was able to discover this being a lone mercenary.

Magnum’s necklace vibrated like never before as the demon dust surrounded him. He stood up and the large face of the demon met him. From his right Matrina appeared and poked the demon’s head with her lance. The hit sparked out blue sprites again. The enchanted weapon mystified Magnum. It had carvings of white intricate symbols with swirls accentuated by its glow. But he smirked, as the damage was trivial. The demon tried to bite Matrina but she was able to evade.

"Let’s go!" Garvin shouted to Matrina from afar. His horse had calmed now.

"Leaving him?" she said.

"Yes!"

Magnum positioned himself, ready to attack. "You can leave now. Don’t worry, I still have a few tricks left!" he said but Matrina did not listen.

The demon turned to Matrina trying to catch her but she was adept at horse riding and the mother demon could never hit her. Magnum took this chance to attack. He severed both hind legs of the demon in two quick strikes while its back was turned on him. The demon’s rear fell to the ground but it was still roaring at Matrina.

Magnum ran up the demon's back. "If your core is not in the head, then you're at the heart!" he said.

Magnum struck the demon's back thinking he could carve his way inside through it. But the back of the wolf was covered with large scales. His weapon alone can’t pierce it. He couldn't press the triggers in his current position, his legs would be blown too.

“Wrong move!” Magnum said.

Garvin watched the events unfold in a safe distance, "Dumbass!" he said.

The demon finally noticed Magnum and it shook its body while it was healing its legs. Magnum tried to hold on to its fur but he was thrown to a broken wall. The hit broke some bones on his left shoulder and rib. His weapon was out of reach but still he pushed himself to stand.

The demon was fully healed now. It lunged at him, its teeth were ready to munch him.

Magnum smirked, "You're wide open demon!" he said.

He drew five marbles from his bag and quickly threw them in the demon's mouth. A tower of blood-red smoke and flame formed. The knights and squires watched it with contempt, this raw power looked dirty to them. Demonish.

“Interesting,” Garvin whispered with his right eyebrow still raised.

Half of the demon’s body remained after the explosion and in the remaining half, a red crystal can be seen. It was a wolf, a normal-sized wolf but crystallized and unmoving.

"There you are!" Magnum said running to his weapon. His body hurt in every move he made. He let out a loud cry to boost his mind to negate the pain.

"Ballsy! But it's time to stop this nonsense," Garvin galloped to the fight.

The demon had started rebuilding its chest and Magnum threw more marbles intending to destroy the core but the crystal wasn't damaged.

"Shit! I need to strike it!" he said. He ran forward but Garvin arrived and blocked his path.

"Show's over Merc!" The knight said pointing his hammer at Magnum's face. The hammer glowed on his face. Radiating. It gave off a foreign sound that came in waves, like a heartbeat. The stories were true, they do glow with a sacred white light that felt like no darkness can breach.

The mother demon's head started to regenerate. Alarmed, Matrina rushed to the front. A whirring sound started from her lance. It started spinning and glowing. Her horse jumped and she pierced the head of the wolf. Together with her strike was a beam of light exploding as her lance hit. The whirring sound became louder and the tip of the lance remained drilling into the head of the wolf, It shattered the demon's face and neck and then it exposed the chest and the core again.

"They can do that?" Magnum said.

The damage this time was significant. The demon's core cracked but the glow on Matrina's weapon was gone.

"Take him and let's go!" That's all that I have!" she said galloping away.

Garvin looked at Magnum, "Still got balls?"

"More than you could ever have!" Magnum rolled under Garvin's horse and ran to the demon. He jumped, and with all his might, swung his gunblade hitting the crystal. Several explosions followed and Magnum fell to the ground, body first.

"He'll die!" Matrina said looking from afar as Garvin left the Magnum. The crystal wolf remained and only with some additional cracks.

"If he's head, then he's dead," Garvin said.

Magnum crawled away as the demon's head grew back. Matrina ran back to Magnum.

"Training’s over! Kill it and let's go!" Garvin said.

The demon's eyes glowed in angry-red. It went close to Magnum and swung one of its paws.

Matrina still on her horse blocked the attack with her lance, “I can't. You kill it!” she said to Garvin.

“Oh you’re out of radiance,” Garvin noticed her weapon. He then threw his Hammer towards the mother demon but another demon appeared and tossed Garvin’s weapon away. It was another wolf just a little bit smaller than the mother demon.

“Oh shit! I’m also out of radiance!” Garvin ran towards the new mother demon while calling his Hammer. “Luna!” he shouted and it flew back towards him. He hammered the head of the new demon, flattening its head to the ground. It stood up and started recreating its head.

“Hey! Give me a charged weapon!” Garvin shouted at the squires as he casually stood right in front of the demon.

Meanwhile, Matrina was still defending Magnum from the attacks of the first mother demon.

Magnum stood. "Go away knight. I can handle this!" he said. He took off the bag from his waist full of his bombs and showed it to the demon.

“Sit down Merc!” she said galloping around him.

“Get out of the way!” He walked forward and under Matrina’s horse.

“I’m sorry Father. It looks like this is my limit…” he said holding his bag and walking towards the demon.

“Shame. I thought I could be better than you. But it looks like we’ll both die at the feet of a mother demon!”