Bark jutted from broken skin, a wall to keep from any more damage. It forced the demon’s talons out of his flesh while protecting himself from losing blood. Taiga funneled magic through him, shaping it into needles which drove from his arm in the form of thorns.
The thorns wrapped over the talons and drove between the demon’s knuckles. They cracked as he forced them apart, ripping the joints from their sockets. He drove magic through him, beckoning the grasses support, which they showed by driving sharpened blades through the demon’s feet.
It yelped, scrambling back and releasing Taiga, who accepted the retreat gratefully. He grabbed his arm, pulling it to him and checking the damage. Mouse flung around Taiga, swinging his sword and making the demon click in an almost hiss while backing off some more.
“Taiga, let me see.” Mouse grimaced at the blood. The pain dulled, though that was only thanks to his armor’s emergency reaction. Or adrenaline. Maybe both.
How it disappeared, and reappeared unharmed went beyond anything he understood about demons or magic. From his knowledge, though it was limited, he didn’t know anything possible of that.
Mouse stepped forward, attacking the demon while Taiga’s arm fixed itself. He turned, searching on the grass for the tongue, and found it limp and flattening some of the longer stalks of wild grass. It was at least half a meter in length, and blue steam rose from the torn ends.
He studied it a moment, catching sight of lighter blue magic fragments rising as well. They were small, scattered bits of broken magic dissipating into the air. He turned, watching similar blue magic rise from the demon Mouse fought.
This demon’s magic would be the same, but the tongue may not if it somehow healed in the moment it was invisible. Mouse smacked the demon as it paced around him, licking its damaged talons.
The magic of the renewed tongue matched that of the demon. He looked back to the limp piece on the grass. Something was different, but what was it? How could the demon heal so quickly?
The demon took off, fleeing after Mouse stabbed his sword in between its injured knuckles. It clicked, yelping as it fled from them.
Then, again, it vanished.
It reappeared a dozen meters ahead as Mouse gave chase.
And again, the demon healed its wounds. Or…
Taiga turned back to the tongue, then to the blood spilled from the demon’s feet. The shattered magic rose in a higher density than that of the tongue’s. Taiga’s heart froze.
The demon didn’t heal.
“Mouse!” Taiga hollered, catching sight of his friend further ahead, chasing the demon. “Mouse!!”
He sprinted off, barreling down a small decline. He called again, but Mouse continued onward, attacking the demon at any opportunity while running further through the field.
Over the top of a hill, Taiga barely made out the roof of an abandoned barn. The demon headed straight for it, with Mouse in tow. He yelled Mouse’s name again to no avail, and pushed his feet beneath him, whispering to the grasses to help him fly.
The wind pressed against Taiga’s back, the grasses pushing him forward with any momentum they could muster. Deep magic clung to the soles of his boots as he passed, splashing with every step and soaking back into the earth.
What made impact swam through the threads of his boots, between stretched socks, and to his feet, surging him on. He pulled the magic up, through his left shoulder and to the tips of his fingers.
“Mouse!” He watched as his friend passed through the entrance of the dilapidated barn. “I know you can hear me!”
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He cursed under his breath, running the last stretch to the barn. He pulled bark over his arm, melding it into the pummel of his sword, over the base, and down to the tip. He sharpened it with ebbs of magic, slowing as he caught sight of Mouse in the barn.
Mouse stood, with only the light pouring through broken roof tiles and crumbling brick. Taiga took a quick glance around, but even the grasses already told him there were no demons there.
“I’m guessing you knew there was a trap?” Mouse chuckled, “Is that why you called me?”
Taiga paused, “no. I was going to tell you each blink was a different demon.”
Mouse’s head leaned back, “ah. Well, uh, it’s also a trap.”
Taiga followed his gaze, yanking it back down as dozens of blue eyes stared back at them from the rafters. “An ambush?”
“I didn’t think they were smart enough for that. But I’d say so.” Mouse tightened his grip on his sword, the ripples on it reflecting the light from the broken roof. “Not sure what they’re waiting for.”
Taiga looked down, only a few paces from the barn’s entrance. “For me, most likely.”
Mouse laughed, “so, ready then?”
He ventured another glance up. One demon about a meter in height, the same that led Mouse to the barn. The rest, he’d guess five or six of them, were smaller, much like the ones they’d fought with the merchants. He breathed, then stepped into the barn as the demons descended upon the two of them.
“Just so you know Mouse, I really wish I had a metal sword right now.” Taiga pierced the edge of his sword through the soft belly of a demon as if fell atop him.
“Are you still on about that?” Mouse continued laughing, swinging wildly and catching a demon by the blunt edge of his sword and flinging it into stone. “They’ll grow!”
“When? Before I die? Or just before I get both arms chewed off?” He bickered back, stiffening his arm, melding it to the sword, and rolling out from another demon.
“Ideally before then,” Mouse tapered off, hopping onto the demon and slamming it into the ground.
“Ideally?” Taiga sighed, cleaning off another demon which took to the tactic of biting into his armored sword.
When the larger of the demons dropped from the rafters, Mouse took to jumping on its back. Taiga managed the smaller demons, to keep at least distractions off Mouse as he wrangled the larger demon. These were still small compared to those summoned at a Guardians death, but it would be folly to underestimate them.
Afterall, it only took one demon for things to end badly.
At the fall of the larger demon, the remaining two smaller demons took flight, fleeing out the back of the barn and towards the woods. Mouse took to following them, but Taiga yanked on the back of his tunic.
“Are you sane? We are not following them after they led us into a trap.”
“Ah. Yeah, okay. That makes sense.” Mouse nodded with reason, his eyes following the two demons as they escaped into the trees. “Where are they going?”
“Probably back to the Beyond.” Taiga took a moment to sweep the area around them. The barn had likely seen better days, yet it was a perfect place to ambush. And ambushes required plans, which lower demons simply couldn’t make.
The larger one, maybe, but unlikely by its inability to counter anything Mouse threw at it. So something else. He didn’t know. But the Beyond was a bigger problem now anyways.
“The… Beyond?” Mouse stared at him, his eyes dropping any hint of play they held throughout the fight. “What are you talking about?”
“The demon you tore the tongue out of? How it disappeared, then reappeared all healed?” Taiga sighed, wandering to the closest fallen demon, and inspecting it. “Demons can’t do that. At least not from my knowledge. Definitely can’t heal itself. And that’s because it didn’t.”
“Taiga,” Mouse whined, “I’m not smart enough for this right now.”
“The magics of all demons are the same at first glance. But if I look closely, I can see the subtle differences in the way the magic flows and breaks. The tongue you tore out, and the blood from the demon that reappeared are different. They were different demons.”
Mouse stared at him, looked to the larger demon he’d pursued into the barn, then back to Taiga. “So this one?”
“Is not the same demon as the other two,” Taiga nodded. “So next, how did the other demon completely disappear? And another one show up in its place?”
Mouse put up his hand, “no. The only entrance to the Beyond is in Monx.”
“Mouse—”
“No,” he snapped, then recoiled at his tone. “There are no other entrances to the Beyond.”
“I’m talking about a rip. Something small, that leaks just enough corruption allowing minor demons to linger in the plains, but not enough to ruin life. Something I wouldn’t pick up.” Taiga put his hand to the chest of the dead demon as it melted into the ground, leaving a small blue, unpolished stone on the rubble floor.
Mouse’s jaw set, his eyes preoccupied and unsure. Taiga calmed his voice, “It’s likely caused by the magic imbalance. Once something messes up, chaos erupts. Which means we can fix it.”
His eyes locked onto Taiga’s, “how?”
Taiga weighed his head from side to side, “I don’t know yet. But we’ll find out.”