The morning sun climbed up the side of the horizon.

Gabriel woke up. He raised his eyelids once, then twice, then before he could have done it again, a great impact shook the room.

“Huh?!” He sat up from the bed when something broke through the wall.

It was a gigantic, blue tentacle.

Gabriel reached to grab his rapier, but the tentacle wrapped around his arms and pulled him out of the room. Before he could have reacted in any way, the tentacle bashed him into the neighboring house once, then twice, and finally thrice, before breaking through the wall.

Gabriel took notable damage.

[ HP: 26/28 ] –> [ HP: 16/28 ]

In the blink of an eye, he was almost half dead. His Sigil let him know that too, flickering with bright red in the right corner of his vision.

The aggressor at hand was a small, but vicious blob of sentient liquid. Skulls, bones, and various human remains swam inside the jelly, which seemed to be hell-bent on causing as much violence as possible.

Two guards appeared rushing on one end of the street. As they turned and saw the giant monster, they recoiled in clear distress.

However, one of the guards quickly snapped out of it. Gritting his teeth and grabbing the handle of his sword, he charged the monster while roaring at the top of his lungs.

“In the name of the law––“

Before he could’ve done anything meaningful, the blob grew another tentacle arm and retaliated against his attack. The massive liquid came smashing down on the guard, who would’ve been squashed like a bug, be it not for his steel armor.

Gabriel was horrified by the damage done to the guard. He needed to act now or the monster might take someone’s life.

Thankfully, he was a quick thinker.

Raising a hand to his bleeding nose, Gabriel quickly formed three large needles out of his blood. He grabbed one between each finger, then sent them flying like a barrage of darts.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

Three darts penetrated the blob.

As precise as this attack was, the blob did not seem to suffer any damage.

Fortunately, that’s not what Gabriel was aiming for. He wanted to take away the blob’s attention and it worked.

The blob pulled its tentacle away from the guard and faced Gabriel. The skulls in its core turned towards the demon, observing him with silent intent.

Gabriel smiled confidently.

“Those needles I made out of blood weren’t solid at all. They are still liquid, even if bent to a certain shape. I wonder what happens when it mixes with your goo…”

The needles returned into liquid, tainting the monster’s insides like a batch of rotten glair. As that happened, the monster lost a tremendous amount of force.

His tentacles lowered to the ground and began pouring a goo-like rain. Gabriel slipped out of the monster’s grasp, and when it tried to catch him again, he easily evaded the attack.

“Interesting. You’re like the wonderchild of a jellyfish and an octopus. I’d wager you’re also an elemental, but that would be rather suspicious. After all, the only bodies of water here are a few brooks, right?”

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His last question was not aimed towards the blob. Instead, he looked up to the sky, searching the clouds for anything that might resemble a humanoid.

“There, I can see you! Or perhaps you’re behind that other cloud? Maybe that’s just my imagination…”

Footsteps rang behind Gabriel. When he turned around, he saw Naomi with a book ready in his hand.

“Am I late?” He asked in a hurry.

“Kinda, I pretty much took care of it.”

As Gabriel skimmed over Naomi, he noticed a pair of dark circles around his eyes. His skin was also much paler and his hair messier than usual.

“Are you alright?” Asked Gabriel.

Naomi nodded. He also said “Yeah” and “Why are you asking”, but he spoke too quietly for Gabriel to hear. Even Gabriel’s elevated senses could not help him hear his companion over to the deep growling sound that resonated within the blob.

The monster’s body trembled violently, before exploding into a dozen giant tentacles. They wailed around aimlessly with brutal force, destroying everything in their path.

This already ferocious enemy turned into something worse, the worst form of chaos incarnate.

An unyielding, all-out offense of deconstruction!

One of the tentacles flung towards the two. Naomi was a moment too late to realize this attack, but Gabriel quickly grabbed and pulled him to the ground.

Woosh!

The tentacles flew above the two, crashing through the pet shop and shattering the walls. A dust cloud grew at the point of impact that animals ran through as they broke free from their broken cages.

Following them ran Echidna with a mug of tea in her hands.

“No!” She yelled. “My babies! Somebody stop them!”

As the tentacles danced around, one of them flew towards Echidna. The old woman did not see this attack, and as it approached, all Naomi could do was shout at the top of his lungs.

“Get down!” He yelled, but Echidna was too focused on her animals.

Suddenly, Gabriel reached for one of the scattered cages and threw it at full force towards Echidna.

The cage rattled as it hit the old woman!

Echidna crashed down to the ground, avoiding the tentacle’s attack only by an inch.

“What are you doing?!” Naomi yelled and grabbed Gabriel’s wrist.

“If I would not have hit her with that cage, her whole being would have been squashed like a bug!”

“That’s not…” But Naomi bit down his tongue and forced his words to a halt.

Gabriel rushed to Echidna, who was still shaken by the fall. She groaned with pain as Gabriel reached under her shoulders and pulled her back into safety.

“Oh, Johnny…” She yowled and grabbed Gabriel’s hand.

“Don’t worry! We’ll get you to a doctor and gather your animals, just stay put!”

Naomi held up Echidna’s hand and helped them move into the backdoor area. They went into the kitchen, where they seated Echidna and left, but not before reassuring her once more.

“Everything will be alright, okay? Just don’t move!”

Echidna still groaned from pain, but nodded affirmatively.

Naomi ran out of the shop while readying a spell. Gabriel followed him too, which surprised the tired mage.

“Where is your weapon?” Naomi asked while casting his spell.

“Water behaves like energy. It has no form which to cut and no weak points to abuse.” Pulling up the sleeves of his suit, he continued. “It’s the worst kind of opponent.”

“Fricking sweet; then how are we supposed to defeat it?!”

“The flow of energy can be manipulated, if not stopped. There’s always a way to tame the forces of the universe. This is no exception! Think, Naomi, and focus on the key to this puzzle! Remember what I’ve taught and use that accordingly!”

Naomi gritted his teeth. He did not want to remember yesterday or anything for that matter. He wanted to defeat this opponent and get as far away from Gabriel as possible.

“You talk highly for someone oozing from dog shampoo.” Naomi thought as he readied his spell.

Three flying disks appeared beside his head, each of them spinning so fast that they appeared nearly standing still.

These were Tectonic Birds, Naomi’s favorite ability.

However, there was a twist to them this time.

Suddenly, as he would have finished casting this spell, Naomi slapped down on his hand. This was a move not written down in the book and the tectonic birds trembled as it happened. Slowly, they equipped a white color as Naomi began casting another spell.

“Witness the apex of spellcasting! I combined my ‘Tectonic Birds’ with the elemental spell ‘Ice Shard’ to create fast-moving, freezing projectiles!”

Gabriel stomped towards him with a frown.

“Quit talking and focus! We need to kill this thing before more people get hurt!”

Naomi gave a glance at him, then scoffed.

“So now you care...”

“What?” Gabriel asked, confused.

Naomi did not elaborate any further. After he finished casting his spell, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then fired while roaring like a ferocious lion.

And what a sound that was!

Like a stretched-out rubber band finally tearing apart, he poured all his frustration into one attack. His anger, his pain, his loss of trust, everything he felt packed into one spell.

And that did not come without an effect.

As his Tectonic Birds fired, more appeared in his barrage. Though lacking in size and elemental effect, they were still as deadly as a normal Tectonic Bird, which now there were at least nine of, flying right towards the monster.