Mia and Hikaru stood at the ready with their blutklinge drawn. The air around them was tense. The leader of the beasts that were extorting this peaceful village was finally in their sights.

Now was the time to take action, now was the time to show the beast what huntsmen are capable of.

–

“What are you waiting for lowly humans?” The beast took an intimidating stance, with its body bent forwards and its arms stretched out. The beast's claws curled and gripped the air.

It lunged forward, mouth opened wide. The monstrosity shot forwards, aiming to devour Mia and Hikaru whole.

“BOOOOOMKKKRASSSH!

Its huge body landed in their direction, crashing through some structures and causing a wide explosion.

“Aha! Just as I expected! Normal humans or huntsmen, it does not matter. You pests bleed just as easily”.

The beast got to his feet and looked to the ground, expecting to see the crushed corpses of the two huntsmen.

But it was mistaken.

“What the?” The beast looked around, its body language showing confusion.

A moment later it looked over to where it flung Nomi’s mother. Standing by the bushes were Mia and Hikaru, completely unharmed.

“I guess even insects can run”, it croaked.

“Insects? How rude! We may be small in comparison to your fat ass but we’re not insects”, Mia yelled as Hikaru shooed off Nomi and her mother.

Now, with the child and her mother out of harm's way, the true fight can commence.

“Oi, Hikaru. How are we gonna take on something so big? Are you gonna use that spell you used against the hypnosis beast? Like, slowly blast him so he looks like a weird block of cheese?” She asked.

Mia crossed her arms in thought. She wondered about ways to take down such a large opponent.

“For now Mia, we’ll work together to take him out. I think our best bet is to flank him. You go from the left and I’ll go from the right”.

“What are you runts whispering about? Have a plan to take me down? HAHAHAHAHA! Go on, entertain me”. The beast widened its malicious smile, clearly mocking the two huntsmen.

Mia and Hikaru began to enact their plan. They both banked on its success for two major reasons. To save the village, and to improve their abilities against such a mountainous foe.

They separated.

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Mia began running to the left side of the beast, being sure to maneuver around debris and other obstacles.

“Ahhh, this better work”, she thought. She continued her way around the beast and eventually stopped. “Damn, it’s so much uglier up close”. She looked at it’s heavyset body, specifically watching its stumpy legs as well as the tentacle-like tendrils stemming from its lower back.

“Ugh, those tentacles are gonna be a problem… Though if it doesn’t notice us I think we could manage to get rid of them…” Mia thought, “if Hikaru can distract him, I can get in there and slice a few of them off… Then his overall attack power would severely diminish”. Mia smiled at her idea, “now to figure out how to signal Hikaru”.

On the other side, moments earlier, Hikaru thinks back to the past. His mind wanders.

“Hm, this seems all too familiar”, he thought. “A pincer attack at the enemy. It was one of the key attack strategies Alli taught me”. He thought back to the rigorous training he received from Alli so many years ago. “Why do I always think about the past when I’m in battle? Is this a sense of fear?”

He arrived at his position.

“Alright, well, I’m thinking that Mia has the same idea about this guy’s tentacles… I think if I manage to take off one then she’ll get the idea”.

Throughout the whole thing, the beast stood still, during the huntsmen discussing their plan, them running to either side of it. The beast made no movements… It just waited, intrigued by their efforts. Though to the beast, any efforts that Mia and hikaru would work towards seemed pointless.

“Ah, caging me in are you? It’s as if two mice were to stand around a lion!” The beast looked at both Mia and Hikaru, his expression unchanged, still dawning that evil smile.

It paid more attention to Hikaru, who it sensed had more experience than Mia. It clenched its fist, “go on human, go for it… Show me what a little pissant like you can do”.

Hikaru just looked at him and said nothing, his voice silent, his full focus directed on the beast’s tentacles.

A moment of pure silence.

Both huntsmen stayed still.

A single droplet of sweat dribbled down from their foreheads.

“Devour; Hungry Devil!”

The beast looked down at Hikaru, peering at his blutklinge, “What’s this? The human transforms his weapon into a beast to kill another beast? How interesting!”

“NOW MIA!” Hikaru yelled, signaling his partner.

On the other side, Mia receives his message.

“Now or never I guess!”

She jumps up to the beast, gripping her blutklinge tightly and fiercely.

With eyes filled with determination and a burning rage inside of her she slams down her blade on one of the beast's tentacles… The impact reverberated through her, jostling her bones.

“Shit! They’re so hard. Dammit!” She fell back down to the ground, panting.

“I guess that plan was a dud”, she thought.

On the other side.

Hikaru watched as Mia failed in her attempt to cleave off the beast's tendril. “Shit! Ahhh, I was hoping that with Mia’s strength that one of those tentacles would be done in”. He stomped his foot in anger. “Well, might as well give mine a shot”.

Just like earlier, Hikaru’s blutklinge took the form of a golem combined with the long-mouthed beast's doom blast.

“BLAST IT AWAY!” He yelled.

VvvvvvvvWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWW!

The golem released a doom blast right towards one of the beast's giant tentacles. The ground shook in awe at the doom blast's raw power.

“Did that do anything? I can’t see anything with this smoke in the way”.

The smoke and dust soon began to clear up out of the area. A giant looming shadow in front of him remained.

“So you stole my subordinates' doom blast huh? Not too bad, human.”

The dust cleared fully and revealed the completely unharmed beast.

“As if an underling's doom blast could harm me. Both of you rodents planned to cut off my tentacles too, how distasteful. I’ll have you know that my tentacles won’t be severed by the likes of you… Heh, JUST THINK OF THEM AS GIANT IRON ARMS!”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” The beast roared with laughter, greatly pleased by its own magnificence. It went on to enjoy its own power for several minutes.

Remaining in their positions, Mia and Hikaru had the same thought.

“Shit”.