Dillon’s thrust was batted aside by Ira’s massive left hand and immediately countered with a jab from his right. As their fight only just began, the clash of swords and yells could still be heard raging on somewhere behind Ira’s mountain of muscle. He was too big to get around even if he presented an opening.

“Tara, this way! We have our own job to do!” I called Tara as I willed the earth to part, creating a tunnel that lead around the battle of sin and virtue. Sending out a mana-pulse to see the battle’s position, I find a group of 9 men holding at a narrow point in the cave. Three men shoulder to shoulder were holding the passage, and were switching out with each other frequently at set intervals, like a well-oiled machine.

Ira’s forces which consisted of 11 men were hard-pressed to attack Dillon’s unit. Though Ira’s men were more heavily armored than Dillon’s unit, who wore leather armor, their bulkiness hindered their movements. In addition to that, the narrow space of the cave prevented anyone from utilizing their sword to their full extent.

I opened the tunnel behind Dillon’s unit and collapsed it as soon as Tara had exited in order to avoid any unwanted flanking maneuvers. The six soldiers who were resting jumped at our appearance and pointed their blades at us.

“W-who are you? Are you with Ira?” One of the scouts asked.

“We came with Lord Gran to help you. I am Tara, this is Veloth.” Tara answered for the both of us. At Dillon’s name, the scouts seemed to relax and dropped the point of their swords.

“So Lord Gran survived, thank the gods. Where is he?” The scouts are just now noticing he is not with us.

“Currently fighting Ira. Move aside, let me handle Ira’s troops. I am the best suited to close combat in this situation.” I claimed as I released my shapeshift.

The scouts panicked for a moment at my new appearance and quickly sided away from the passage, as if they sought to hide behind Tara. As the scouts blocking the passage retreated, two of Ira’s men squeezed in behind them, swords already thrusting at the backs of the scouts. I retaliated by diverting the sword’s points with telekinesis to impale the floor of the cavern instead.

The scouts now clear of my path, I lunged forward and swiped at both foes before me, my claws rending through their armor and flesh as though they were made of soggy paper. The strike was fatal, as they fell, one of them making a gruesome gurgling sound. Nine remained, and I am impatient to aid Dillon. I will the earth of the tunnel to form earthen spikes. Ira’s remaining forces screamed in agony and died as the earthen spikes impaled them all, giving the cave an appearance as though they were inside the maw of a great beast.

The cave rumbled, and somewhere deeper into the cave stone could be heard crumbling. That wasn’t safe, I caused a cave-in. Well, whatever, it did the trick and the only casualties were Ira’s men.

“Tara, you look after Dillon’s men, I will go help with Ira.”

“Mmmm.” Tara nodded.

I dashed forward and found Ira’s back blocking the passage. He was vulnerable. I thrust my right claw towards the location of Ira’s heart, and pierced… very shallowly. The muscles were so insanely dense that even a piercing strike from me only just broke the skin.

“GRAAH!” Ira roared at the sudden prick in his back, and turned his back to the wall so he could keep an eye on me and Dillon. As he saw me, his face of pure rage abruptly became one of understanding.

“Hah! No wonder Zavus was pissing and moaning about his missing toy. So you’re the one he summoned right?” Oh, I didn’t expect a brute like him to be capable of conversation in the midst of battle.

“Zavus? Is he a demon with a very gaudy appearance? I owe that bastard a personal hell for what he did to me.” As I said this, Tara and Dillon’s units caught up, and the cave trembled once more.

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“Is that right? How about you join us instead of these humans? I can’t promise you Zavus’ head, but I can help you with that.” It was a tempting offer, and it ultimately felt like I was being asked to ‘join the dark side’…

“Haaaaahh…” I sighed. The cave trembled again. It was probably going to collapse very soon, and Ira would be very difficult to kill. Even Dillon was heaving profusely, and he looked battered. Shit. Ah! An idea occurred to me.

“Tell you what, Ira, I will join you, on two conditions.”

“What are you saying!?” “Why did you help us if you were just going to turn against us?” The scouts behind me voiced their surprise and dissensions behind me.

“You guys don’t know me well enough yet, but I need my revenge on that guy. He took from me the one chance I had…”

I couldn’t finish my sentence. I was not about to tell these guys my life story. About how my single mother gave birth to me, and died for it. About how I had no relatives to take me in. About how even amongst the orphanage I was singled out for not having had ever known my parent’s existence. How I grew up completely isolated from any form of friendship because I happened to get into fights and was labeled a trouble child by others who did not understand.

So your parents died? So what? At least you knew your parents. At least you had someone to love you. The first person to show me love like that, and I was separated from her before I could even speak to her. So what do you know?

Rage was trying to take over again. Rage I often felt when reading stories and comics with their cliché happy endings, even though the protagonist so often had a difficult life like me, they were the ones to get the happy ending. Fuck that.

I could see one person who immediately understood, if not my situation, then my desire for revenge. I didn’t tell her my situation, and I didn’t ask for hers, but I could feel that understanding. Tara, you’re a good woman after all huh?

“So what’s your conditions then?” Ira asked expectantly.

“First, you help me deal with Zavus as I see fit, like you offered before. Second, we leave this cave, and everyone unharmed. No one will win if we continue fighting here. There will be a cave-in soon. Even with your massive defense, Ira, you will not survive being buried under a mountain, I’ll bet.” As if to illustrate my point, another portion of the cave further on could be heard collapsing.

“Fine… I’ll agree to your terms…” Ira gritted his teeth.

“No! I won’t let you go so easily! Without you, the demon army will be severely weakened. Even if I go down with you Ira, you at least will not leave this place!” Dillon roared and lunged at Ira.

Before Ira could even move to defend himself, I tried another new spell. I willed the gravity around Dillon’s plate armor to grow to two times as much as earth’s normal gravity. Dillon dropped like a lead weight, unable to move.

“Sorry Dillon, but this is the best option. I’ll release you once we are away so that you can escape the cave-in.” I said to him as we stepped over his body, making for the cave’s exit.

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