"It's a fucking minotaur!" Benzo's eyes widened with fear.

The minotaur reared and charged forward with alarming speed. Sakura let an arrow fly before the thing was upon them. The arrow hit the crown of its head, right where its left horn formed, and ricocheted harmlessly away. The beast came right at Benzo, attempting to gore him with its blood-toned horns. Benzo deftly dodged, getting in an uppercut with his quarterstaff. The monster staggered back, but quickly regained its composure. It hefted the axe and swung a blow, one-handed, at the team.

Taki ducked and swung at the thing with his maces, attempting to smash its skull, but it deflected his blows with the axe and counterattacked, causing him to backpedal away. The minotaur advanced upon him, readying its axe.

Natsuki cut across, intercepting the great beast mid-step. She skidded to a stop, katana extended gracefully. For a moment, Taki thought she had missed. Then the blood started, a crimson spray from the creature's abdomen. The girl deftly backed away, never lowering her sword. the beast cried out in pain and rage. Before anyone could relax, it charged again, this time at Natsuki. Benzo tried to interrupt its charge, but this time it held aloft the axe, breaking off his attempt at an attack.

Natsuki braced herself. The thing was not slowing down. With a wound that grievous, it should have been slowing down. If anything, it seemed to have gained strength through its rage and pain. It aimed a crushing blow, both hands slamming the axe down at the girl. She rolled out of the way at the last minute.

ZIP! Another arrow, courtesy of Sakura, flew through the air. This one connected, catching the minotaur in its left eye. It screamed and threw the axe down, more out of apparent reflex than anything else. Benzo yelled in pain - the heavy had landed pommel-down on his leg.

The minotaur flailed about, attempting to remove the arrow from its ruined eye socket. Blood dripped down its face, a mask of pain and rage. Natsuki took advantage of the stun, making a long lateral slice across its legs. The creature screamed, now hobbled. It clutched at the arrow, ripping it out in an arc of blood. Delirious and rampaging, bowed its head and went for the nearest assailant it could: Benzo, writhing on the ground, his leg bent at an odd angle.

The beast bore down on the boy, determined to impale him with its horns. Taki, finally in a position to strike, attempted to intercept it and hopefully break its skull with a single strike. The minotaur saw him coming and ducked just before the blow could land. It regarded him as one would regard a low branch in the woods - in the way, but not dangerous. Taki felt himself twist, off balance, and stumble.

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This didn't look good.

One week earlier

Taki rapped against the glass of the soda machine with his fist. "Stuck in there, huh?"

oh well. that was the kind of day he was having. He picked up his bike and kept walking down the street. A blonde girl, pretty and petite was waiting at the corner. Her school uniform was identical to his, except for the skirt of course.

"Hey Natsuki!" Taki waved and smiled.

"Hi yourself," She crossed her arms and turned up her nose. "It's not like I was waiting for you or anything, idiot."

"You want a ride?" It was the same way they went to school every day and it never really changed.

Natsuki shrugged and hopped onto the front of his bike, sitting on the basket. Her platinum hair flew in the wind as they rode along the narrow streets to Saki Machi high school. She wasn't always this cold towards Taki, of course. Deep down, he knew she liked him. They had known each other since they were little. He had even been her first kiss (she had made him swear to never tell anyone).

Taki was thinking about that first kiss when the explosion hit.

BOOM!!!!!

The two were thrown from the bike. Screams came from every direction. Was it a bomb? An air raid, like in the old days?

Then he saw it - a monster. It was huge, but sinewy like it was made of rubber. Glowing green eyes narrowed on him before turning to a limp form on the ground. Natsuki! he yelled, but she didn't move.

"Alright then, Taki exclaimed, "I'll just have to defend you." He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and ran towards the monster as it advanced on his friend.

Right as he reached the monster, it swept a massive hand back and smacked him. BAM! Taki fell back several feet and hit a wall. His head was aching and something was trickling out of the hairline. Blood? He tried to get up but fell down as his vision began to fade. The monster had turned around and was lumbering toward Natsuki again. Taki tried to fight the darkness closing in around him. "I have to save her," he tried to yell, but it was barely a whisper. "I have to..."

Darkness closed around him just as he heard Natsuki scream.

"WAKE UP," a voice he didn't recognize called.

Taki sat up. He was still in the street, the bike twisted and thrown to the side. Beyond, he saw Natsuki now standing and breathing heavily, blood all over her. The monster lay on the ground in front of her, dead.

In the middle of his vision, a text box came into focus:

Congratulations!

You have reached Level 2.