The Dinotar is what I'm now calling the monster. It stood on four legs, all of which ended in blades that dug through the ground with every steps. The monster was large, bigger than a car, and its jet black dinosaur head looked menacing, bloodied white fangs visible with every roar and snap of its jaw.

The creature's flesh wasn't actually sticky, or even a liquid. It just looked like it. Though it does seem to be a tad rubbery, more helpful against blunt blows. Not that its perfect, as its legs were already full of small and tiny cuts, ruptured, bent, and broken in many places.

Just like the many corpses I saw on the way here. Oh. My. Fucking. God.

They're the ones responsible for it.

The knight stepped forward, and the Dinotar responded by swiping down with its front legs, like a spider pouncing against prey.

An audible ring of metal striking metal, the loud crunch of a club splattering flesh. For at the same moment, Flaze had gotten under the monster, and smacked its leg while the bladed ends were distracted.

Now it was hanging limp.

A tank above her level. At least that part of her hasn't changed.

They continued this dance, the knight recklessly going after the monster while Flaze weaved in between its legs and body, striking whenever the opportunity arises. A few of those shockwave slashes were given from afar while waiting for an opening, the same attack that was used to wound me earlier.

Their coordination was perfect, Flaze always in position to attack whenever the Dinotar was too focused on the knight to react. The knight in turn didn't hesitate, her role performed no matter the detriment. Rabid and furious with no regard to her life, the blood she'd spilled so plentiful you'd question if it should have even fit inside of her body. Granted she's very slightly ethereal, and so is her blood.

I turned towards Flaze, her as well reveling in battle, the violence and the carnage, a flurry of strikes that just seems to get even stronger as time passes by. I wondered for a brief moment if she didn't care, her comrade so close to death. And then it happened, my jaw dropped as the knight's skull was lopped off, her helmet flying free. The severed head soared through the sky as the monster's bladed limb continued on its arc, towards Flaze who'd narrowly avoided the disaster.

The head landed on the ground, it rolled lazily across the dirt. It stopped just long enough for me to see, the lifeless eyes that remained open, a frenzied look of satisfaction.

It registered for but a split second, Flaze's familiar visage, a face nostalgic, now beheaded. Her lifeless eyes stared at me, her skin still ethereal and see-through, until it faded away in its entirety. Vanished from existence, both the head and the armored body that had crumpled to the ground, now gone.

I found myself screaming, sheer confusion and terror.

But how can this be? Flaze is right there! She's in the attire of a squire, with a single broken arm. She's not this knight, that looks almost like an illusion, the complexion of a ghost.

So why do they look so alike!?

I looked over towards the original Flaze, pleading, only for my confusion to be fanned even further.

For there were now two of her. Flaze and Flaze. The same person in squire's leather, both bloodied and broken,sporting all the same injuries.

Only, one was ethereal just like the knight once was, the maddened bliss their entire beings projected entirely identical.

There was a reassured sigh as they charged back into battle. A breath that I didn't realize I was holding.

I finally understood, what had just happened. What Flaze had become, how she'd interpreted magic. The glorious manifestion of her Skills and Classes.

And here I thought I had a shot at beating her.

Ridiculous.

The two Flazes ran at the same time, not away from the dangerous half-beaten monster, but towards it. The ethereal one trailed first, giving a loud smack on to the monster's head, wood against flesh and bone resounding. The Dinotar roared and retaliated, sharp fangs showing as it opened its massive jaws. Another crash came, this time from the side as the original Flaze had struck the monster at its cheek. Disorientation followed, its front scythe legs slicing from both sides like a hug.

The two women quickly reacted, slapping the scythes away with their wooden swords before they fell back. They circled around as the monster continued to thrash, a few of those projectile slashes made like the one that attuerly destroyed my shoulder. The Dinotar gave one kick too many and lost its balance, the opening not lost on the two Flazes as they immediately jumped on the singular opening.

A slice to its behind, the retaliatory slices evaded by both combatants, but a leg nearly hit the original as the monster stumbled back, prevented only by see-through Flaze jumping on the way and cushioning the blow. Both combatants were still flung back.

They quickly got up before the monster could capitalize, continuing to find openings while ethereal Flaze took the vanguard to front all the damage. An arrangement much like with the knight before, but she could only counter with a single wooden sword. No option to block, specially with her arm also being broken, the injury carried over from the original.

I observed the battle, thinking of ways I could butt in if and when it gets really dangerous. I noticed just how fast and strong the two Flazes were, but more than that, they were getting stronger. It wasn't just a mere illusion in the heat of combat, when I thought that the Dinotar was taking more and more damage for every attack. It was a reality that as the fight goes on, Flaze was becoming more powerful, albeit her injuries aren't healing. Not in an acceptable rate.

A particularly bad slash was countered by the original Flaze, and I saw then another layer to this battle. The scythe was repelled by the wooden sword, and then it shot even further back and cracked, as if acted upon by an invisible force.

She's casting the shockwave in melee!

More efficient that tossing it out from afar, higher damage and extra knockback. The full power shown in point-blank.

Ethereal Flaze quickly capitalized on this opportunity, running right up to the broken leg blade, her blade held aloft by both hands, heedless of how broken and mangled her left arm may be.

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She swung down, hard, from above, and the blade shattered into pieces. Ethereal Flaze quickly landed as the monster let out a mournful wail, but she wasn't fast enough to dodge the incoming bite. Her entire lower half entered the monster's mouth, the rest of her body carried with it and into the air.

Not dead yet. I could almost hear her say. Bones cracked and crunched audibly, but she can still last just a few more seconds, the grip on her wooden sword has not been lost. Ethereal Flaze began smashing into the monster's skull over and over from her position, taking out an eye, opening previous wounds, shattering both flesh and bone.

The real Flaze also joined in this final struggle, piling on the assault on the monster's head as the both of them sought to burst it open like a watermelon.

The Dinotar wheezed, unwilling to open its mouth and let its prey go. It started thrashing now, the mouth working through ethreal Flaze before finally swallowing her whole.

A sacrifice that will not be wasted, as the real Flaze still stood, standing on the creature's blind spot, a broken leg and missing eye. She moved along with the creature's every step, so difficult to reach, a one-sided beatdown as Flaze managed to keep herself away from the monster's still-functional legs.

The Dinotar had grown lethargic now and in a final form of struggle, it stood on its hind legs and turned, the remaining schyte limb shearing through the air. Flaze narrowly avoided getting her head split open by it, but the attack went to her shoulder instead, drawing a line of red from it, and towards the side of her stomach.

Flaze stumbled, her eyes glazed over, nothing reflected against those teary sufaces. But then they widened as she gave one final horrific roar, a challenge to the gods.

It was a beautiful leap, the climax of an epic. Her last ounce of strength, expressed through one final strike. The wood of her sword, against the bone of its skull.

I heard then, a strange cracking sound that connected every single dent and damage she'd dealt onto the creature's head. The second impact that followed made it collapse and explode like a watermelon that's been shot.

Blood sprayed out, red still despite the monster's abominable appearance

Flaze knelt from her victory, torso split open. She was drenched in blood both her own, her clone's, and that of her foe. I saw a fleeting smile on her face, somewhat melacholic, just before she collapsed. Her squire outfit disappeared, replaced by an unbroken T-shirt, and jogging pants.

Amazing.

I would pay to watch that again.

...Wait. No!

She's about to fucking die. What the fuck am I doing just gawking!?

I ran over to her collapsed form, immediately building up my heal. She had lost her squire outfit and was wearing a jersey and some jogging pants, clothes quickly soaking in blood as her wounds had not yet healed. Although her body was clearly trying, a slow but visible effort by both flesh and bone, regrowing missing pieces, and mending ruptured parts.

I stopped only when I was right next to her, and that's when my skill finally took hold.

[Blessed Heal]!

Her flesh writhed harder upon my first cast, they began to stitch together with the next. She coughed as I built a better image of the human anatomy and snapped another heal on her form. The slash wound finally closed, one more heal removed any and all possible marks left behind.

Her eyes snapped open, a single twitch and she got all the way up.

I breathed a sigh of relief , that turned into terror when I saw her change into the knight's outfit I'd seen just earlier, her sword pointed straight at me.

I had a brief moment of realization then, I questioned the specifics of how her ability worked, but I had no time to dwell on it. I quickly turned my self around, pointed my ass at her, and started wiggling my horse butt.

My horse cheeks burned, it'd turn red if it could. This was so fucking stupid. But Flaze was indeed far too bewildered to attack. Gone was her earlier frenzy, though it's still a far cry from her usual self. Calm, cool, collected, driven, and with a penchant for the driest of humor.

Then again. In such times, perhaps those who can go on like normal are the ones truly insane.

I jumped and faced her again, stepping back. I moved slowly, showing that I mean her no harm. She still had her sword out, she was ready to cut me apart at any moment, but I'm honestly quite comfortable with my ability to at the very least escape this situation.

[Tank - Lvl 38]

Even with her added levels, I'm still confident.

I looked around myself, thinking of a way to say that I am Jackal. Flaze's eyes followed my every move, and much as she's a dear friend, I'm not going to let her kill me.

My eyes wandered over to the dead boss, the asphalt riddled with cracks. The monster's blood was spilling, gushing out of ma.y wounds.

I went over to it, maintaining eye-contact with Flaze. No sudden movements. My hooves were coated in the vile red blood, dipped inside the creature's skull.

Flaze tensed, sword raised, and I immediately took out my foot and showed that nothing was happening.

She narrowed her eyes, and then spoke. "Are you... sapient."

Oh! She's getting it!

I bobbed my horse head, giving my best approximation of a nod. Her shoulders loosened a tad at that, though she was still ready to fight at a single moment's notice.

I didn't waste my chance as I ran over to a clearer part of the road. She followed warily, and I began drawing on the asphalt. For whoever decided that horse cannot write?

J A C K A L

I wrote out the name with my hooves, and I saw surprise color her face. Her eyes glistened, and it looked like she was about to run over at me and drop her sword, but she suddenly paused.

"Jackal? Really?" Flaze had a thoughtful look on her face, staring hard into the letters I'd written out in monster blood.

Fucking Metal.

I neighed in approval.

"That... would be amazing if true. But I would need more proof than your words. Or well... whatever that is."

I thought about it, and remembered my phone. But before I could point to it, she snapped her fingers and said, "I got it! I'll ask you some questions only Jackal will know the answer to."

I shrugged. A gesture give by a horse. Sure, why not.

"Highschool, freshman. You had a crush on two people, upperclassmen. Classmates of mine actually. What was it you called them? Senpai?"

Oh my fucking god. Kill me. Kill me. Stop. STAHP!

Just remembering the bullshit I did back then makes me want to Horsekick Gambit myself. And she knows all about it because I roped her into helping me back then.

AAAAAHHHHHHHH!

"What were their names again? I'm sure Jackal would never forget them..."

It was a mistake. A mistake that I agreed to this bullshit.

I started pointing frantically at the bag hanging over my neck like a necklace. Where my phone should be. The phone should be here. That should be more than enough proof of my person.

"Hmm? What is it?" She peered over and took out the phone inside. It was an android that had an illustrated case. That of a woman clad in ash armor, beating up a dragon.

See? Now you know it's me for certain! I neighed.

"This is indeed Jackal's phone. You can tell by the weeb shit on it."

It's not! It is not weeb shit!

"But you could be impersonating him. How would I know you're not? I'll only know if you can answer the question. If not..." She twirled her sword, looking at it and then me, a cruel smile on her face.

Fuck. Her reasoning isn't wrong. It's not wrong... But she's totally just fucking with me now!

SIGH.

I gave up and hung my head, defeated. I wrote down the names on the ground, drawn with the blood of a literal monster. But I don't feel metal as fuck about this one.

A E L I      L I L I T H

She peered at it, a look of confusion painting over her face.

"Hmm... I think that was their names," she said, and I already dreaded what comes next, "But something... Something is missing. I'm sure Jackal would remember what it is. Unless if you're... not him?"

Fuck. Have I not suffered enough?

It sucks that I knew exactly what she was talking about. So I just got it over with, and just wrote what she wanted me to write.

A E L I   X   L I L I T H

There. Done. Happy?

I would just like to say, in my defense, that Flaze totally helped me and even egged me on back then. Actually, it was all her idea. I was the one strung along. So, whatever cringe I'm to be arrested for, she's also implicated!

I looked at the perpetrator in question, and she had a big smile on her face now, as if she hadn't just confessed to her own crimes. The knight armor was gone, replaced by her casual clothing.

"I almost didn't recognize you, Jackal. What a fucking glow up you've had!"

That was all she managed to say, before she devolved into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.