“A bank! An abandoned bank!"

The night was silent and Magnum was seeing himself swimming in silver but he sighed because it was impossible. There should be no money there. Looters took it already, like many of the towns he visited. The good thing was, there was always something to scavenge and his wagon was full of those things he could sell. Some noble clothes, jewelry, and instruments. But he could not stop thinking about it, the possibility of finding riches. And he already listed in his mind the weapon parts and armor that he could buy when he finds the mercenary city.

A man was running on the grey brick road. It faintly glowed reflecting the light from the moon, good enough to show the main road to everyone who needed to travel at night.

"Hey!" the man shouted at the top of his tired lungs.

The man was hugging a bag. He was out of breath but he wouldn’t stop running even against the strong breeze that kept pushing his long hair south. His knees finally buckled and he rolled over and scattered the precious stones that he was carrying.

Magnum ran passing the loot. "What’s after you?" he asked but the chaser appeared before the man could even speak. A ravaging demon boar about the size of a regular domesticated one. It was obvious on its dark bleeding eyes that shone brighter against the dim light bricks. Dark scales covered its neck and back. Its transformation was also apparent not just on the body but also on its longer then usual teeth.

“This one got infected just several hours ago but already looked like an armored war hog,” Magnum said.

“Yes! It's from our town!” the man said while trying to stand holding onto Magnum’s arms.

The Vicar’s influence made the people call these monstrosities demons but in full transformation, they had been always more dragon-like, a dragon without wings. The demon hog stopped a few meters away from Magnum. It opened its long mouth full of blood-red teeth to its throat; it snorted or roared, trying to mimic human speech.

The man squealed in terror, trying to stand up. "It's coming for me!" he said hiding behind Magnum.

The demon jumped at them, aiming its overgrown teeth, itching to bite. Magnum was expecting this so he picked something from one of his pockets. A gray marble. He threw it at the demon while it was still in mid-air. It hit the demon's head then it bounced a little upward, exploding. The blast threw the demon to the ground away from them.

”Are you okay there?" Magnum said without looking behind.

Still groggy, the demon stood and growled, ready for another attack.

"Y-yes! Thank you! Thank you for saving me!"

"You're not saved yet! Move!"

The man held on to a bruised knee and hid behind the wagon. Now, Magnum gripped his weapon and drew it.

"What about you?” the man said looking at the road away and then back at the treasures he spilled. He was puzzled at Magnum's confidence and also at the sight of the sword that had triggers and holes.

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"Don't worry about me,” Magnum said.

The demon jumped up and down then it leaped again towards Magnum. He swung his weapon and hit the head. The demon fell to the ground again, closer to him, but it was still on its feet shaking its head.

"It's still alive!" the man said ready to run away.

"Yes! I can see it," Magnum said. He looked at his right arm. Their neighbors had always said that he was like his mother, slender but fierce.

"I need to be stronger," he whispered.

The demon attacked again.

"Goodbye," Magnum said. He swung his weapon and just before hitting the head again he pressed one of the triggers on the hilt of his gunblade. Two shots thundered and it sent the demon down, smoking and burned, and now without its head.

"You did it! That weapon is amazing!" the man said jumping like he won the lottery.

Magnum’s eyes sparkled upon hearing the praise for his weapon. "Oh, this! This is a creation of mine, my gunblade," he said with a smirk of victory.

"Ah? A gunblade I’ve heard of it but never seen one," the man said as he nodded in amazement picking up the jewels and silver on the road.

"You looted after everyone left? You could have died!" Magnum said.

"I'm sorry but without silvers. I'll be dead too soon!" the man said. "I'm so lucky you're here."

"Yes, you are!" Magnum said as he placed his sword on his back.

"Here! Take half of this!" the man said.

"No," Magnum said.

"Please! Take it!" the man opened his bag showing the shiny things inside. The full bag could probably buy a huge house on a good piece of land. For Magnum, it could be life-saving quality armor and parts but no, accepting it felt like a payment to him.

"There's a large group of people ahead of you, use that on them," he said.

“They… They were mostly like the owners of these… but yes!” the man said ashamed of what he had done.

A long howl pierced the silence between them and the two looked at each other, bewildered.

"Wolves? You have wolves here?" Magnum said.

The man started to fix himself, "No. They're not from here. Weirdly, some animals that I’ve only seen in books were now here. I heard that one of the wolves was the mother demon and they say it's huge!"

"Start walking. You can still catch up to the caravan,” Magnum said going to the dead demon.

The man pointed left of the road where patches of smoke can be seen. “There's our town!” he said. "You sure you don't want this?”

"Stop asking!" Magnum said looking away.

“Well, if you don’t want it. Thank you again for saving me. I’m Vastro, what's your name?” the man said.

“Hmm? The name’s Magnum,” he said.

“I’ll call you, “Magnum the Hero” then,” Vastro said.

Magnum smiled and looked at Vastro, “Sounds good to me! And tell those useless knights to pack and leave!”

Vastro smiled back, “Goodbye!”. He bowed his head and started walking away.

Magnum twisted the bag in his waist to the front and took out a white cloth. He crouched in front of the demon and then took out the necklace that he was wearing; a red, inch-long glittering crystal. He put the necklace inside the cloth and hovered it above the corpse and started to chant.

“Samenub, keyun mage, nemitu se ikun”

“Samenub, keyun mage, nemitu se ikun”

The red crystal faintly glowed at his chants.

“Samenub, keyun mage, nemitu se ikun”

On the third chant, blood-red dust from the dead body flew up to the cloth like a magnet. He then turned the cloth inside out to capture all the dust inside and put it in his bag. The crystal stopped glowing as soon as he stopped the chant and then he wore his necklace again.

“A mother demon? Maybe it's time that I fight it," he said going back to his wagon and looking at the smoke colored by fire.