Magnum looked out of the glass window of the compartment he was in, but all he could see was sand. His lone companion was a sniper on the compartment on the other side of the wing. It has been an hour since the beetles dug under the sand and they’ve been rummaging since then.

“Travelling under. This is genius! The Talon guys are good.”

He looked at his feet where Cerberus was laid, “No comment?” he said.

“What? I thought you like us to shut up?” Askel said.

“Wow! I can't even remember when I said that. Were you hurt?”

“Hurt? What are you talking about stupid human? We do not feel hurt."

“Oh really?”

“Really!”

“That’s good then, I envy you.”

“Wow, so much human drama.”

The beetle started to rise. It took several minutes before the sand slowly dropped down which made the dark sky visible again on the window.

The sniper was the first to come out of the apartment. He looked around and then crawled to the other side of the beetle wing and knocked on the compartment door where Magnum was in, "We’re here. Good luck and Strike true!” the sniper whispered.

“Strike T-True!” Bunta said.

They found themselves at the top of the highest dune. The harbor view was great and It looked as detailed on what they saw during the mission briefing. The number of guards and their position was also on point. Magnum crawled down the beetle as the sniper positioned himself atop the beetle.

“We're in a good position. I can see the whole harbor here.”

“Human, I don’t sense the person they’re talking about. The Don guy,” Askel said.

“Maybe they’re hiding him. He is a high-profile guy after all. Let’s wait as planned. My goal is her, not him anyway.”

Magnum and Cerberus watched as Garza’s team crawled closer to the harbor. They were almost invisible on the sand with the camouflage and special shoe accessories they wore. It was a simple dowel that helped them not leave footprints and it worked because If he didn’t know where to look, he wouldn’t notice their movements at all. They crossed several meters and arrived at a huge rock. They hid and then removed the sand camo and shoes. Now they will blend in the night with their black talon uniform. They took the guards around the area and started to surround the warehouse.

Magnum looked around, “Notice anything?”

“No, nothing. Except for the few people inside the warehouse.” Askel said.

“It's so quiet. They are either gone or there's a trap waiting for us."

“I'm leaning on the trap side," Askel said.

Garza and his team prepared to storm the warehouse. They went in quick and silent. No shots were heard. The door opened and Garza was about to come out. The ground shook. The warehouse exploded in fire and rocks. Vines sprouted and impaled everything inside.

Magnum stood up, “No!”

"Hmmm, stupid humans!" Askel said.

Garza and a few members of his team jumped out of the warehouse. They were burning and coughing. The others were unlucky. A horn sounded from above. It was from their scout flying above and the rider pointed to the mountain nearby.

Magnum was the first to look and then the sniper behind him.

“There she is!” the sniper said looking through his lens. The beautiful witch with super long, black hair in a dark green garb and black trousers. She stood on a wagon followed by mercenaries on horse and foot.

Magnum was already running when the sniper looked at him. Cerberus followed him, growing in size until it was big enough for him to ride on. Magnum jumped and held on to Cerberus' thick black hair.

“You won’t escape this time!” he said.

Garza looked at the mountains. He saw the wagon on the mountain range followed by a group of mercs, "Tsk! We got outplayed!” He then saw Magnum riding on Cerberus rushing towards the mountain.

“No, he’ll be in trouble!" He took two steps to follow him but stopped to check on his wounded comrades.

"Sorry, I'll catch up with you later." He said.

“We got them,” the witch said as she sat back down and whipped the horses to make them run faster. The ones on horseback followed suit while the ones on foot started shooting Magnum from afar.

“What's this huge demon!” shocked were the mercs on foot at the sight of a three-headed dog running at them. Magnum blew them into pieces with his grenade launcher and then he ran over the remaining ones. He easily caught up with his enemy.

The witch stood up and smiled, “You again!” she said while conjuring some pikes on her right hand made from vines and waiving them to fly to Magnum.

Cerberus evaded spikes and then smiled, “Bahaha! I can feel your hatred on this one, human! That’s good! I’ll help you get your revenge!” Askel said.

“Good! And I will help you on yours too!”

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“Bahaha! Let’s do it!’

The mercs on horseback have pistols and spears. They blocked the path to the witch and started shooting at Magnum.

“Get out of my way!” he said.

Cerberus jumped over their heads and Magnum swung his gunblade under him to blast their heads off.

“Woah! T-that was b-brutal!” Bunta said.

The witch's face turned serious. She conjured more spikes to send to Magnum while driving faster and maneuvering on the rocky terrain. In defense, Magnum hit and blasted the spikes to pieces with his gunblade.

Cerberus jumped at the top of the wagon. It collapsed at their weight, instantly destroying it. But the witch jumped out and was already riding a huge falcon made of vines.

“Shit! She’s too high!”

“Shoot her,” Carzi said.

Magnum converted his gunblade to its rifle form and started shooting. Shot after shot, he kept on missing. The falcon was too fast and agile.

“I can’t hit her! But don’t stop following!”

“I know, but running on mountain tops isn’t my forte but don’t worry we won’t lose her unless she flies too high and we can’t see her.” Askel said.

“Y-yes! She won’t escape us!” Bunta said.

"I know, I don't think that fake bird can fly high that high too."

“More spikes incoming,” Carzi said.

At the foot of the mountain, Garza and another merc were riding a beetle trying to catch up with the witch and Magnum but they were too slow.

“Where they could be going?” Garza said as he traced their direction, “To the dark clouds of the Grand Demon! No!”

“Captain! Look into the sea!” his companion pointed out to a huge boat sailing away.

“We were so slow. This was a huge failure! We must keep Magnum safe at least! Follow them!” Garza said.

Magnum and Cerberus continued to follow the witch over the difficult terrain. Dark mist started to surround them which made it even harder for Magnum to see.

“Evade!” Carsi said but it was too late. Three spikes came flying from their right. One grazed Magnum’s nose but another hit Cerberu’s chest.

“You’re hit!” Magnum said.

“No problem. small wound but I ate it already! You want to throw it back at her?” Bunta said.

“Yes!”

The spike materialized on Magnum’s hand.

“Wait. I can’t see her on this mist! Did she escape?”

“She won’t escape! She wants to finish you as well. I can feel it!” Askel said.

“So where is she?”

“Here’ I’ll let you borrow my eye,” Carzi said.

Magnum started to see something in the mist. A black light, a convolution of energy flying in front of them surrounded by the mist.

“This is her! Her spirit!”

Magnum threw the spike to the witch. It's going! I can see the spike’s spirit!”

“No way!” he said as the spikes went back to him along with more spikes, “Evade!”

“Bahaha! Stupid human!” Askel said.

They were both able to evade but there was now a big distance between them.

“I have no choice but to shoot her,” he said.

“No! Human! She’s not that high now. We can jump at her!”

“What? You can jump that high?”

“Bunta! Carzi! You know what to do!”

“Let’s do it!” they both said.

“I don’t what you’re planning but if it will let me get to her, I’m in!”

Cerberus continued to pursue while evading spikes. Cerberus jumped.

“Hold on to me!” Askel said.

Magnum held on to Cerberus’ hair and then it jumped again.

“What?” He saw Cerberus lose a head and then it jumped again. Cerberus lost another head leaving two dogs under him. He found himself now at an arm's length from the giant bird. He saw her looking surprised.

“Got you!” he landed at the falcon’s body exactly behind the witch and then rolled a grenade to the tail. The witch tried to jump out of the bird but Magnum caught her arm and pulled her back down to the falcon. A knife appeared on her right hand and she started to stab Magnum but he was able to evade and catch her hand.

The grenades exploded at the tail of the falcon and it threw both of them off. They pushed and pulled as they fell down the sky. She uttered a few words and green spikes grew on her hands and all over her body piercing Magnum. He coughed blood on her face.

“Still won’t let go huh?” she smiled. She then uttered the same words and a huge spike started to grow on her chest. Magnum had to let go of her hand to evade but continued to hold on to her arm.

Her arm wriggled like it lost its bones. It turned into a vine and Magnum's hands started to slip down. He held on by wrapping the vine on his wrist so he wouldn’t get separated from her.

“Get off me! You shit” she said as the mountain started to appear below them. They will hit the ground in several seconds.

“Human! Let go! We’ll catch you!”

“No!’

She started kicking and punching him but he still won’t let go.

“I won’t let go! Let’s die together witch!” Magnum smiled looking at her.

“Stupid merc!” she said as a pair of wings suddenly grew out of her back. She started gliding and then she tried to stab Magnum’s wrist multiple times.

He saw how the witch’s knife couldn’t pierce all the way through his armor except for its tip, “It's a good armor,” he said.

“Now let’s see if you will keep on holding on!” the witch said. She glided through several huge stones intending to ram him on them. He used his feet to evade and jumped over the rocks but he couldn’t evade them all.

“We’re coming! You can let go!” Carzi said as three of them ran after him over the side of the mountain.

“No! Attack her!”

“Good thinking!” Askel jumped and caught the witch which made them fall to the ground and roll on the mountainside down to its feet.

“You’re dying already and she barely has any wounds!” Askel said, “Bunta, try to heal the wounds!”

"Heal? We could not! We can only stop making it worse!" Bunta answered back.

"That's healing to me!" Askel said.

“No keep on attacking her!” Magnum said.

“Stupid human! I need you alive after this!”

“Then, don’t let her fly!”

Carzi and Askel surrounded her as she was trying to stand.

“So you found a black spirit to help you?” she said.

Magnum stood up, “Yes, So I can finally put an end to all of this!”

“End to all of this?” she started laughing uncontrollably, “You got a little bit of luck staying alive and now you want to end to all of this?”

“Wrong! You’re going down now! Look around you!” he said.

“Three dogs and a human? That won’t do! Especially on the ground, where I can use my abilities at full!”

The colors of her eyes changed to orange and many rock columns started forming around her. She assumed an attacking position and then an armor made of rock started covering her full body.

“Let’s end this!” she said.