Chaos.

Everything was going downhill so fast.

"Freki, help Devon," I ordered.

Freki dived into the shadow realm, and I ran for the backroom. My heartbeat began to pick up, and another rumble shook the walls.

"Cain!" Alice yelled.

I turned just as a large piece of stone arced through the air. Grabbing my cloak and bracing for impact, but a force ball smashed it aside and detonated upon contact. The blast sent my shoulder into the wall sending a jolt of pain down my arm.

"Damn you, girl!" Hanse raged.

Devon jumped to the giant's side and slammed his claws through his stomach before being kicked away. As his claws were torn out, they came away with a large J-shaped sack that he crushed before tossing it aside.

Hanse ignored the werewolf and grabbed one of the burnt corpses on the ground. "Suffer, witch!"

With his arm rocketed forward, the corpse hit Alice's shoulder and then exploded into a pink mist.

Alice!

The nobles would have to wait. I raised my arm and let the mana rampage through my limb before condensing it down into a single point at the center of my palm. Flames erupted, but they didn't overtake my hand.

Hanse turned around and raised his club, but Freki appeared. The wolf bit down on his wrist and yanked him to the floor. Hanse resisted, but I only needed the second he was distracted. My familiar's form sank into the ground, and I released the incantation.

The fireball zipped through the air. Hanse raised his arm and tanked it with his shoulder. Flames exploded out of the ball and across his head, even as he pulled away.

I looked for Devon, but all I saw was his shadow rushing into the mist.

Turning back to the giant, my jaw slipped as a flare of green light sprouted from his chest. Like banded cords, his muscles split and skin parted while blood cascaded upwards. It drenched the flames while the muscles bulged and constricted. For a moment, he looked like half an anatomy model with parts of his body exposed. Then, the skin covered the cords like a sheet and stretched tight. When he opened his eyes, more of the roots had sprouted across his body and turned his face a mask of green.

He opened his mouth and roared.

The mountain shook, and Freki appeared to stabilize me. Power. I felt power itch at my skin and rise up from beneath my feet. Red threads tightened around my shoulders, and I heard Freki growl through. His shadow sprouted licks of fire that blanketed the ground and cut the invasive energy away.

What is the guy?!

The man no longer had human flesh. The green had covered his skin so completely there was nothing of his original pale skin across his shirtless body. His eyes began to glow gold, and his hair spilled down till it reached his lower back.

As he spoke, it sounded like the mountain itself had come to life. "Your bones will be broth after I fuck your corpse."

I held up my arm and began backing away. He took a step, and the vibrations crawled up my legs. A massive green foot came down and crushed the corpses underneath. Burnt flakes meshed with powdered bones and red goo that seeped between his toes.

The flames pooled, and my core flared, rocketing the explosive into the giant's chest. His skin crisped and cracked into black particles that seeped with golden blood.

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It smelled deliciously sweet.

Skin began to bubble and melt, but he flexed and extinguished the flames before they could spread.

"Tales of Grimms have haunted my childhood; be good or they'll snatch you away. Yet here you are, a cowering meat bag."

He swung his club, and the air forced me to squint. With a single kick, he sent another corpse flying toward me. I rolled, and Freki appeared to yank me further out of the way, just barely avoiding the projectile.

The explosion sent bits of bone raining against my cloak, and I scrambled to stand up. He opened his mouth, and green light seeped through his teeth. His chest expanded and sprouted emerald fog. It flowed down and over his raised hand. The stone club began to drip with an acrid slime from the tip of its spikes.

Freki appeared and guarded my front, even as Hanse swung and splattered the wall beside me with sizzling drops.

I continued to move even as I sent out another fireball. This one, he swatted away. He took two more steps, and I aimed for his feet. His muscles split and then crushed the flames beneath them.

"Cain."

Hanse stopped and turned, only for a wolf's head to tear into the back of his neck. Blood sprayed out and stopped as Hanse twisted around.

Devon jumped over his shoulder and pushed both claws into his eyes. I cringed as the wet squlech filled my ears.

The green energy flared up, and Devon jumped, sliding across the ground with his claws sparking against the stone.

"Devon. Alice. She okay?"

"Cain. Help the captain free the nobles," Devon grumbled.

"Are you kidding me? Do you see him?"

Devon sucked in air as his eyes stayed glued to the giant rubbing at his face. "I'm fine. This isn't last time."

He literally threw you through a wall!

I wanted to argue, but then I felt something new. Devon's eyes brightened, and his fur began to stand up. From the tip of his claws and up his arms until it spread across the rest of his body, his fur took on a metallic sheen. It emerged from his skin and rolled over much like Hanse' tatoos. By the end, he looked like a statue of iron that breathed through metal fangs.

"Back off."

Hanse moved first and crossed the distance between us with a single step. He swung his club downward, and Devon met it with an open palm. The club pushed him to a knee, but the giant's arms shook as he leaned into the strike.

Freki tugged at my pants, and I moved while staring at the two monsters going toe to toe. While Hanse had the size and the mysterious power that made my skin itch, Devon used his metal appendages to eviscerate the giant's skin.

Claws cut notches into bones that healed within seconds. A heavy punch spiraled into Devon's side, and I heard metal screech. Blood dripped down the iron muzzle, and the werewolf continued his assault. I knew Devon ordered me to run, but I stared transfixed as slabs of flesh sloughed off and dropped to the floor. Blood gushed like an endless fountain that pooled beneath their feet.

"Enough!"

Hanse slammed the club down and Devon stepped away. Swinging with his left, Hanse sent a haymaker that Devon met with a punch of his own. The collision made me bite my tongue as the sharp ringing hit my ears.

The green giant flinched as his fingers cracked while Devon dropped his arm, clearly broken at the wrist.

Pack!

The thought slammed into my head, and I glanced at Freki. My wolf stared up with burning embers, and I pointed.

While Devon used his feet to slice the back of Hanse's ankle, Freki sank into his shadow and reappeared on the other side to crunch down on his opposite leg.

The crash brought the knee onto a corpse's face, and bits of skull crunched beneath him. Claws met muscles, and won. Freki's teeth clamped onto the side of the giant's face, and I felt mana flow from my core into the connection as freshly cooked pork filled the air.

Hanse screamed and punched, destroying Freki's back half. But his head remained whole, and the jaw continued to vice-grip into his eye and nose. Flames poured from his throat and into Hanse's eye socket.

Devon punched through the giant's chest and pulled. A massive heart five times its normal size came out in shreds as the metal sliced through the red meat.

Freki jerked away, and a loud crunch echoed through the room as a single swipe of Devon's arm tore out the giant's vocal cords.

Already, the energy pulsed again, and my cloak constricted as Hanse's body began to regenerate.

"Remember what I told you about the Erlking. Force them to run out of their regeneration, wear them down," Devon growled.

He reached up and gripped the side of the giant's skull. One thumb plunged into the healing eye socket, while the other dug into the temple.

I watched metal strain as he squeezed. Bone caved first, and pink mush gushed out.

The energy sputtered, and the green started to fade from Hanse's skin.

"Cut enough meat, destroy the organs needed to stay alive, and you'll win." Devon released the skull and once more plunged his arm deep into the chest cavity to rip out a misshapen mound of tissue before tossing it to the ground. "One of the first things I should have taught you… was how to kill a Grimm."