In a clearway, walled off by various piles of stone, Hikaru and the long-mouthed beast prepare for their deathmatch.

Both Hikaru and the beast locked gazes. Or what you’d assume since the long-mouthed beast didn’t look like it had eyes.

“How am I supposed to know where it’s looking? Is it blind? If so then I’m gonna end up feeling bad… It’s like the time where I accidentally tripped a blind homeless man and he fell down a flight of stairs. Hikaru cringed.

A strange silence surrounded them, one that’d be similar to a classroom on test-day.

“So tell me beast, between you and those other pain-in-the-asses, who is stro-”

“Who is stronger? Who… Is… Stronger? OF COURSE I AM! THOSE PIPSQUEAKS CAN DO NOTHING AGAINST ME!” It screamed, its lack of composure showed Hikaru all he needed to know.

“Hm, that was easy enough to drag out I guess”, He tapped his foot and sighed, “ah yet again I get the weakest ones… You know beast, the loudest ones are always lacking in skill”.

The beast clenched its “fists”. “You bastard”.

“I wonder if the Captain and Mia have already killed those two… I’d like to finish this soon and save Nomi… I’d look like a hero…” An uncomfortably creepy smile went across his face. For a bit longer he ran through scenarios in his head in which Nomi wouldn’t be put off from him.

“Human… You stand there… Cocky, believing yourself to be stronger than me… Humans should know better than to- UNDERESTIMATE US BEASTS!” It lunged towards Hikaru with its mouth wide open.

“Oh shit”, Hikaru said as he backstepped, dodging the attack by a hair. Whilst the beast attacked him he got a good look inside its mouth, and what was resting in the back of its throat were two small spheres… It’s eyes.

The beast relentless chomped at Hikaru, it’s bite force made ripples in the air.

“Damn… You got one hell of a bite for a lowly mutt!” Shouted while reaching into his coat. He pulled out his blutklinge, its hungry blade gleaming in the light. “Hell I doubt I'll even need to use my blade for this but I can’t have Nomi seeing me covered in blood!’

The beast continued its assault, “Don’t think all your dodging will work human!”

It paused. And ceased its attack. “Heh heh… HAHA!” It began laughing maniacally, “you continue to underestimate me human… But after this I doubt you’ll be able to underestimate anyone ever again!”

Hikaru jumped back, landing on a broken piece of roof, “I have a bad feeling…”

The beast snickered and bent down, placing both of its claws on the ground and grasping the earth tightly, it continued to open its mouth widely, so wide in fact that you could look all the way down its esophagus.

Suddenly, a green energy began pouring into the center of its mouth, right in front of its eyes. It began forming a ball, one that leaked destructive power.

“Shit it’s gonna fire a doom blast!” Hikaru held his blutklinge in front of him, “shit if it fires it here the villagers will get involved… Dammit!”

The energy continued to swirl around and within a moment it stopped. The beast arched its back.

“Devour; Hungry Devil!”

He held his released blutklinge in front of him, “Damn I hope this works!”

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For an instant everything went silent, almost as if time stopped.

VvvvvvvvWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWW!

It shot out, a massive green blast of energy exited the beast's mouth quickly approaching Hikaru, picking up and incinerating the ground between them in the process.

“Shit!”

Hikaru’s blutklinge opened its mouth as wide as possible, trying to contain the massive blast.

It kept on coming, such destructive energy was wrapping around the area, destroying the terrain.

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”

The doom blast enveloped Hikaru.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!

The vicinity erupted in a massive explosion, taking him with it.

Smoke rose from the beast's mouth, “that’s what you get lowly huntsman. All of you always view us as weak, but you should save those words for the lesser beasts. Us evolved beasts have surpassed those weaklings”.

“Ahh, ahh, ahh”, a slight sound of heavy breathing came from the cloud of smoke where Hikaru once stood.

“Who-d of tho-ought… that a piss-ant like you… could pull off a doom… blast of that caliber. Hell, I assumed you to be some weak piece of trash… But I guess I was wrong”.

The smoke began to clear, leaving a silhouette in the mix.

“Damn… I didn’t want to take this much damage… But I guess it’s worth it to protect those villagers”.

The smoke completely left the area, leaving a disturbing visual of Hikaru. He stood there, breathing heavily, covered in blood.

“Heh, heh, poor human, you look quite out of it. Maybe I'll just kill you now and end your suffering”, it snickered and began walking towards Hikaru.

“Beast. You’re laughing because you think you won? Don’t be silly… I only took on that doom blast for two reasons”. Hikaru smiled, though in his state it would be hard for anyone to take it seriously.

The beast stopped in its tracks.

“Reason number one: If I dodged it then your doom blast would’ve totaled the village, and as a huntsman I can’t allow that. Reason number two: To kill you”.

The beast arched its head back and forth, “to kill me? HAHAHA! My doom blast must’ve done a number on your puny brain”.

“Maybe so, but! You see the large mouth coming out of the hilt of my sword? It has a wonderful ability of gaining the attributes of what it’s eaten. The only downside is that it forgets about things it’s eaten after a while… But in this case that doesn’t really matter. Beast, by consuming a portion of your doom blast and the bits of rubble picked up with it, I was able to get some fun stuff”.

“The hell are you talking about human?”

“Oh and before I continue, I find it very rude for you to call me that. My name is Hikaru Shiki, Lieutenant of division two. We’re the division in charge of special combat. In simpler terms… We’re the ass-kickers of the huntsmen covenant”.

Hikaru proceeded to raise his blutklinge above his head, “come forth my new pet, and get rid of this pesky monster”.

The blutklinge opened its mouth and shot out a blast of smoke, within that smoke would be something rather intriguing.

SLUUUUUUUUUUUU! Hikaru’s blutklinge began sucking up the smoke, leaving “it” behind.

“I bring you… Drum roll please… My doom blast golem!” Hikaru clapped with excitement.

It stood three meters tall, covered in rock armor from head-to-toe.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Hikaru shot the beast a condescending smile, “With this spells your defeat beast!”

“Damn human. Damn human. Damn human. DAMN HUMAN! TO THINK I”D HAVE TO USE THIS ON A PIECE OF GARBAGE LIKE YOU!”

“Oh, so you’ve got an ace up your non-existent sleeve huh? I doubt it’s anything special”.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAA!” The beast began to grow, its muscles became larger and its fangs sharper. “THIS IS MY POWER HUMAN! I’LL SACRIFICE EVERYTHING TO INCREASE MY STRENGTH! NOW DIE!”

It lunged at hikaru with its massive jaw wide open.

“So you traded everything for pure strength huh? I’ve seen that in the past… So disappointing”.

Hikaru looked at the beast and put out his hand… “It’s over you long-mouthed freak”.

Hikaru’s doom blast golem stretched its arm and a green energy enveloped it. The golem took a step forward and assumed a boxing stance.

The beast furiously charged at the golem… but it was too late.

WAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!

With a clean right hook the golem shot its energy-charged fist towards the beast, making direct contact with its head.

VOOOOOOOOSSHHH!

The punch detonated and the beast's head became engulfed in smoke… Finally, it went limp. Its legs fell and the rest of his body went with it. The upper half of the beast's head was completely gone, leaving its lower jaw behind.

“Vanish”.

The golem began to fade into nothing, and within seconds it was gone.

“That’s what you get for underestimating me. Woo, I should get back to Mia… Whoa… Shit”.

He collapsed.