It was the next day, and I was feeling pumped. Today, for certain, we'll make it to where we think Darkvoid is. And if he's someplace else, then at least we'll be out of here.

I miss running in the open roads, even if there are crashed cars everywhere.

Goddamn. I'm really a fucking horse

I climbed up the stairs, with Flaze Clone riding on my back, the original nowhere to be seen. That's by design.

I took one single step into the 16th floor, and instantly I heard the elephant roar through its nose.

I ran. Not away, certainly not towards, but to the side.

I galloped through the narrow hallways, as I immediately felt the monster following behind me, the ground shaking with its every step.

Dust fell from the ceiling, and I could tell, that the enemy was drawing closer.

"IT'S ON US!!" Flaze Clone yelled through all the chaos, the dust falling from the ceiling signaling that the creature was close.

I sped up, feeling a disturbance in the air. A soft but shrill sound, the approach of an attack,a large mass parting the stale winds.

I dodged, veering off to the side, but still I felt the impact. It was muffled, it was softened, and Flaze Clone's shield now lay bent.

"A glancing blow," she said, "And already that much damage!"

The elephant roared again, keeping chase of us. Flaze Clone's taunt worked properly to bring this calamity to our position.

Was this the best idea? I briefly questioned. But there are no room for doubts on the battlefield. Only action. Kill all those baby civilians, no question!

"Jackal, I don't know what you're thinking right now, but DODGE!"

I know! I neighed, sidestepping another punch, as I turned another corner. The Elephant crashed against a wall, leaving a large hole in it as the debris showered the monster. I was hopeful, for a second, but the impact barely slowed the fiend, and it was on us again in mere moments.

I looked at the monster's face as it extended his hands, grasping. I noticed then that, well, more than an elephant, its face was more akin to a boar, only with a big fat trunk.

Weird.

I focused on the fight, and pulled further ahead of the creature. It tried to smash us with its large fists, just like the last time, but I already saw his swing missing before I even moved to evade.

The elephant boar suddenly stumbled into a blood curdling scream. There was an armored woman by his legs, the garb of a samurai.

It was Flaze, the True Flaze, that had engineered his downfall. I saw how her new form functioned, she shot off like a bullet from afar, and then carved apart the elephant's heel in one strokee, a single draw of her sword. A katana. It wasn't deep enough of course, the enemy being multiple levels above her, but she stayed there as the monster raged, piling on a dozen more cuts in mere moments.

I smirked.

[Hellish Fireball]!

I blasted the creature's face with explosions, hellfire burning much of his head and the long trunk hanging from his nose. He screamed in fury, as all of us fell back, not wishing to give a falling beast the chance to retaliate, like we'd once done to a much lower leveled golem.

A crash resounded, the elephant crashed to the floor with an explosion of dust, like a tree toppled down.

I ran. Forward and fast, navigating through the world of dull greys. I reached my target, I heard the honking of the monster from right beside my ears, nearly making me stumble. But I didn't stop, I made it right up to the creature's face, and then I attacked.

[Horsekick Gambit].

Bright blinding light erupted, banishing the flickering dust away. The elephant flinched, the light searing into his senses as he reeled away, his perceptions now fully in disarray.

[Hellish Fireball]!

I gave him no time to recover, the creature roared to through his nose as the explosions blanketed his head. Flaze too brokered no mercy, changing out of her samurai costume into that of a squire.

She got on top of the creature's back, and struck it from the back of the head. Her remaining clone had rushed ahead, to distract the monster's long nose and hands from reaching for the both of us.

The lessons of our last battle, applied.

Some attacks still came our way, but we nimbly dodged past them as we worked on cracking the elephant's skull open. Bright lights and scalding fire erupted from my hooves at every strike, meanwhile Flaze's strike always counted as two, her double impacts rattling the creature's head, sending it into a semi-permanent daze.

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There was acracking sound, of bone breaking apart. The elephant was only thrashing wildly now, his eyes having long fallen out. Cheekbones were dislodged, jaws were unhinged. Skin was flayed and burnt away.

Flaze's knight clone had long gotten caught and ripped apart, and she'd summoned a new one, an empowered squire.

The new copy did not distract the elephant as the prior one did, instead tasked to keep the wounds on his legs open. We could see it as well in the creature's mending face, a minor healing factor, but very annoying for a nut so hard to crack.

The hands and nose of the monster had now been freed to go after us, a distinct lack of a clone to deviate its attention. It threw a tantrum, striking at everything nearby, crashing the walls and smashing the floor below, worrying me of a collapse. But it was no trouble as we were now fighting an entirely blinding foe, aimlessly grabbing for where we might be. Only, we're never where he thinks we are, our positions forever shifting, our guards never let down.

Cracks on top of more cracks, the elephant's flesh so battered, until even its long nose couldn't move anymore, much less muster its annoying honking. The white bone was completely exposed, even the blood evaporated away from the constant bursts of hellfire that came from my hooves. An idea struck me, and I stuffed fireballs inside its eyes and mouth. They exploded consecutively, showering both me and Flaze in burning pieces of gore.

Brain matter leaked out, of the elephant's every orifice. The creature had finally gone limp.

[You have defeated a Level 80 Warrior!]

[You have reached Level 45!]

[You have reached Level 46!]

Crack.

I was just about to celebrate, our magnificent victory, when all of a sudden, an earthquake hit. My eyes were drawn to the floor, more and more cracks running along the concrete, it buckled underneath the dead creature's weight.

Flaze shouted something, and I saw her transform back into a samurai. She took a stance, braced her legs like a spring, and then sailed away like a speeding train with a single bound.

"RUN!" Her words finally registered, and I activated my Longstrider. I jumped off the behemoth that we'd just felled, just before the ground collapsed and sunk into the next story down.

My footing missed, I began falling into the freshly created hole. I screamed and neighed, staring at Flaze as she drew further and further away.

"Jackal!" she shouted, extending her hands but unable to reach for my hooves.

The last thing I saw was her worried face, before I fell to my doom.

~~~

"Well, that was embarrassing." Faze said, earning an awkward chuckle for myself.

I fell all of one story down, despite us acting like I plummeted to my death.

It was nice to see how Flaze would react if I really were abut to die. Not that I didn't already know. But still, it's nice. It's good feeling.

...Ugh, enough sap. Good thing I can only neigh. No more running my mouth.

I for sure would've just blurted that out without thinking and made everything even more awkward.

Thanks. I whined, and Flaze just grunted her assent.

"Damn." She said, looking at the big hole on the ceiling above us. "I'm not paying for that."

I laughed.

Before myself was the corpse of the monster, laying on top of a bed of rubble and debris. The floor of this level had also cracked from the weight of the many things that had crashed from above, and I feared that it too would give out and then the floor after that, stopping only once the ground level is reached.

A domino effect, a never-ending chain reaction.

It might seriously topple the entire building.

Oh well. Best get our business done now.

We went on our way, finally, to our actual destination. I heard another crash, of something falling down

It's probably nothing.

"It's probably nothing."

That's what I said!

In sync. Goddamn.

We both laughed.

I don't know why this is so funny. We're insane.

~~~

"Darkvoid!" Flaze shouted.

Darkvoid! I neighed his name.

We had just reached the seventeenth floor where his girlfriend lived. He hadn't come home to his actual apartment, so he was probably staying here. That's why we were shouting, because he just loves hearing his own name. A moniker he'd given himself.

"OOORRRAAAHHH!!' A sniveling orc answered our call, not the response we were looking for. We killed it and I sighed, continuing down the corridors and checking every room we came across.

The monsters weren't actually as numerous as the previous floors, I felt, typical for somewhere with a very strong beast that had killed them all already--But it also would be the case if there a competent person living there, culling their numbers. Just like with Steven, though it was hardly prominent since he was a lot more reactive, and he didn't like using his goblin family to fight because they'd get themselves killed.

And he isn't wrong, but... Even if they can come back, they won't be able to do that if he dies.

Not that I care. It's just stupid.

"I think it's here." Flaze said, while I rummaged through the neighboring unit. "I still don't get it. How could you not remember already? We were just here last week!"

I shrugged. Darkvoid brought us to a different place the week prior.

Flaze shook her head. "We met Keyfa. She seemed cool. I think this one would last."

I scoffed. Really now? What's next, the world will suddenly fucking end?

"Okay, maybe it won't last. But, it could... have..." She trailed off, looking sadly at the door smeared in soot and blood.

Okay, okay. Don't get pessimistic. That's just me. I neighed. Maybe they're both alive, just fucking in the bed or something. I humped the air as a horse.

Flaze chuckled. "Maybe..."

Her clone stepped forward and pushed the door all the way open. We entered the room, not finding the endless orgy we expected. Instead we saw a large window cracked and shattered, the living area a mess of broken furniture and vases. There was a large painting of a hellish forest in the living area, right above the couch. Maybe the scratches and torn canvas is part of the aesthetic, but somehow I doubted it.

I exchanged a look with Flaze, and the two of us gulped as we continued forward. Three, actually, her clone too looked nervous.

A spacious kitchen for an apartment, a bathroom that had gone stale. No signs of life yet, which there should have been, if someone was staying here.

We reached the final room to be inspected, the bedroom doors slightly ajar.

Flaze Clone trailed ahead, and she opened the wooden door.

We entered the bedroom, seeing black-painted walls, and tastefully placed posters of random movies and bands. Everything was in the same constant disrepair of the apocalypse.

I paused then, when I saw. A man laid prone on the ground, instead of on the bed just beside.

Except, he was no man, for his head was that of a goat. A demonic imagery came to mind, specially with his attire. A black leather jacket, spiked belt, tattoos depicting taboo symbols, and assorted jewelry on his hands and fingers with many demonically intricate carvings.

He had a single necklace, golden with a skull in the middle. A lamb, eating an unborn fetus.

It all looked so familiar, because it was. I knew someone who dresses exactly like that.

Darkvoid.