"—Crunch, Crunch, Crunch ..."

In a matter of mere seconds, the man standing next to him had been engulfed in the gaping darkness of the monstrosity before him.

With no way to escape this damn reality, Jin needed to do something about it, even if it was the last thing he tried.

Maintaining eye contact with the abomination but retreating as fast as he could, he needed to gain space. Any gap that he could work with. For a simple reason, he assumed he wasn't fast enough to react to attacks in close proximity, but as long as he managed to keep his distance, the possibility of dodging was not yet impossible.

After acquiring enough space not to be trampled by the scorpion or grabbed, he felt that he had put himself in a defensive position that was reasonable.

However besides the distance that could have been shortened, something else worried him.

The same poisonous tail that came out of the creature's back was no longer occupied with Faust, and now it would focus his attention entirely on him. With a sticky appearance - now covered in human blood - the tail could be seen rising higher and higher in an idle posture again to attack offensively against Jin.

In a last moment of despair, Jin remembered the girl with red eyes who had visited him in his dreams always when everything seemed lost.

So why then did he find himself thinking about her now?

Such a topic brought by himself were hardly a matter of coincidence, no.

More than Jin's mind looking for an outlet - his subconscious was trying to remember the pact that they had formed in the past. She had promised him power.

And he needed it. It was a matter of survival.

There had been no communication between the two of them for more than two weeks, and for an obvious reason. Jin had not fulfilled his part of the agreement, he still did not know what her name was. Therefore he was not able to bring forth her strength to his aid.

Not knowing her name made the source of elemental unattainable, nor prayers could help him.

And now Jin would pay for it, humanity's ignorance would be his downfall.

"— —"

A gust of frantic wind instantly swept across the village's main street, splitting the air in half. Whizzing by his ear, a projectile at amazing speed had been fired.

Not once, but twice.

『Genos - Nail Shot』

A fearful scream followed the shots in sequence. Completely taken by surprise, the demonic beast groaned in pain. The two shots had truly hit the beast's torso, right above the mouth. His two arms were writhing desperately in response, trying to deal with the immense pain that hit him directly.

Jin had never been hit by an arrow before, but he could easily assume that the pain caused by an arrow like that was unusual. From the speed and effect they had on the route to their target, it seemed clear to him that elemental energy had been impregnated in each of the accurate shots.

Jin had no doubts, he had seen that attack before.

"Eliza!"

“Jin, are you okay? I'm sorry for taking so long, “She replied, her voice weakened in concern.

"Where are the others?"

“Tristan and Viktoria are evacuating the other villagers, hopefully far away from here by now, somewhere sa—”

Before she could finish her sentence, the monster moved quickly towards them. Marching fast with its six thin legs fearlessly, the tail eagerly aimed at the girl in a threatening stance.

Stretching from the monster's back, meters and meters of the tail began to emerge, in seconds doubling the width and reach of its venomous edge. Its blood-soaked deadly tip pounced at high speed towards its next unprepared victim.

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"Not again!" Jin shouted as he made a move.

Placing his own body between the monster and his friend, Jin pulled his blade with all the strength he could muster and went down towards the tail that kept charging at high speed.

Making contact with the sticky skin, the cold blade came down sharply against the grotesque tail that protruded, cutting it in half.

The blue-eyed girl widened her eyes in astonishment.

In front of her, a young man with dark hair, panting, continued to fight—clinging to his steel devoid of divine aid.

“The tail, it has no bones,” He managed to whisper in between breaths— “The sharp end of it is venomous, never take your eyes off of it. I’ve seen people make that mistake, and I don’t want it to happen twice. Do you understand?”

Still in shock, Eliza quickly nodded.

"G- Got it!"

As she pulled another arrow out of her quiver, another loud screech could be heard from the demonic beast before them, pure hatred making itself heard once more. The tail that seconds ago had been cut in two, now began to grow at the same speed that it had been cut. Twitching sideways as it increased in size, piece by piece the composure was brought back together. Regenerating faster than any scorpion or human Jin had the knowledge of existing.

The leaking black liquid was now replaced by a new sharp tip, poison dripping from its brand-new sharp end.

Descending on the battlefield from the top of a tall building was a figure that exuded power — with gray hair and yellow eyes— focused on the accursed monster ahead.

"... Vendrick, huh?"

“Yeah, Jin. It’s been a little while hasn’t It? I'm sorry I'm late.”

Vendrick looked ahead with a careless gesture and looked at the six-feet tall loathsome figure who was throwing hostility at him.

Slowly, his yellow eyes narrowed at the unfolding approach.

Impossible.

“A Devourer? Not even a full strength cadre of Sentinel-Rank warlocks could hope to control it." Vendrick said, "so then who anchored you to purpose? Zagath's host is no more."

Growling in response, the monstrosity was completely rooted with its most animalistic instincts. Nothing led Jin to believe that such a creature was capable of any kind of intelligent communication - devoid of a human head and most likely a brain - that corrupted being standing before them was certainly not interested in engaging in conversation.

The creature's unhuman back began to squirm again, and history repeated itself. Widening to the heavens, the tail darted in the direction of Vendrick — cutting through the air with such speed that Jin's eyes could only barely follow.

Breathless Jin couldn’t stand the sight, Vendrick was completely defenseless.

He did not pull out his spear to defend himself, nor did he even try to take evasive action.

"— —!"

As the tail swung out, Jin saw a vision of Vendrick’s head being blown off. A spray of blood erupted, and Vendrick’s head fell with a delay to everyone’s shock.

He had a vision of such a scene. But—

“I don’t want to be a mood killer, but…”

In a gentlemanly manner, Vendrick prefaced his speech by lowering the tone of his voice. And then.

"Excuse me."

The floor exploded beneath his feet, and the kick blasted the Devourer so hard that it created a shockwave.

What appeared to be an indefinite frontal kick produced a wind that shook the earth shortly after its power. Jin couldn't believe that a single kick could cause so much destructive power against such a fierce beast.

"I'm not sure what just happened, but I'm going to say it."

The word “genius” has been used many times in the past, but Jin is now convinced for the first time that these definitions were completely wrong.

The word “genius” is really for the handsome man in front of him, the one who was everything he wanted to become.

“You are as good as they say…, or better than they say, aren’t you?”

With his back still turned as the dust started to settle in the battlefield, he gazed back at Jin.

“I don’t know if I can live up to your expectations, my dear brother. Don't think too highly of me or I’m afraid you’ll be setting yourself up for disappointment.”

Vendrick was everything he wanted to be and more. Since his father Alaric adopted him, there was no person more incredible than his older brother, companion for all the troubles that Jin got into. Always with a light and relaxed smile, they couldn't be more different from each other.

Vendrick averted his gaze and fixed his eyes on the wreckage at the end of the main street. From the distance — emerging from the broken bricks and destroyed furnitures — was the Devourer. Its headless body slowly regaining its upright posture at the top, his structure visibly still stunned from the shockwave.

But this time something else was going on with his body. Above his neck, skin was being developed. And little by little, when the creature got closer they were able to distinguish features that terribly tried to imitate human ones.

It had eyes, mouth and nose but it couldn't look more wrong, corrupted. Sketched on his face were the same expression that Jin had seen the last time—before that feature faded into darkness.

That sight made Jin's stomach twist in absolute disgust, he couldn't take it.

"Faust?"

It was all he could say, before externalizing all the sensation outside of him, on his knees throwing up on the dusty ground.

"Let it all out Jin." Whispered Eliza as she tightly held his head up close.

With a distorted tone of voice - inhuman - the monster used its newly formed tongue to gather elemental energy for its extremities in a short amount of time.

『Ignis - Estus Blade』

Both palms of the monster's hands caught on fire as soon as it was cast. Incandescent strips were projected from the palms of the hands that illuminated the main street of Ferris Village. At the same speed as the palms of the hands burned the monster itself and engulfed it in flames, more fingers took its place. Swinging them both in quick succession, brandishing the flaming swords that enlightened the night—brighter than the sun.

The battle at Ferris Village had been raging for the entire afternoon, and now it was finally at its final stage.