Tina didn’t wait for Tristan to answer her question before she charged forward, channeling her spirit energy through her limbs and out into the ropes. She swung the right rope through the air and it thudded against the ground, hard. She felt her spirit energy spread through the ground. She watched as the deer like creatures jumped aside, feeling the sting of her energy. She smirked before she pushed away the small surge of victory she felt and focused the deer like creatures, waiting.

One of the deer like creatures ran at her. She turned to face the deer like creatures; noticing the shirt, the lack of a rack, the large Battle Axe; as the doe swung her weapon over her right shoulder. Tina tensed, pushing her spirit energy to strengthened her legs, planning to jump up to avoid the Battle Axe, but a wave of pain race up her spine. She gasped as she felt the rough backing of her hiking bag rub against her back. A tear slipped out of her eye as her knees buckled. Her eyes widened as the Battle Axe sliced through the air and she bent over. Tina felt the Axe cut the space where her head would have been, but her head felt lighter for some reason. Her hands slapped against the ground as she caught herself. She watched as strains of her red hair fell to the ground.

Tina growled. She couldn’t take the time to check if the doe actually cut her hair or cut some loose strains of it, even though the evidence suggested that the doe did. She jerked on the rope tied to her right arm as she directed her spirit energy back to protect her back from further injury. The rope slid across the ground until one of the deer like creatures stepped on it, a buck, sending her a smirk. She jerked hard on the trapped rope. It didn’t budge under the weight of the deer like creature.

She allowed the rope she held in her other hand drop to the ground as she shoved herself back onto her feet. She twisted around on her right foot and brought up her left leg, kicking the doe in her side. The doe stumbled back, staying upon her hoof like feet.

Tina cursed softly. She couldn’t put her spirit energy into the attack without putting the risk of injuring her back more. Once upon a time ago, an attack like that would have sent her enemy back several feet. She felt the rope tied her right wrist jerked hard as it attempted to pull her toward the Buck. She shifted her weight, planted her feet hard against the ground as she brought up her right arm, and tensed her arm, bringing it up across her chest as her left foot shifted back to act as a counteract weight. She turned her attention to another deer like creature rushing at her. She swung her left arm back, causing the rope and the handle attached to it swing back behind her before she snapped her left arm forward, sending enough spiritual energy down the rope. The rope took on a yellow glow as it whip through the air. The handle flew in a wide path, hitting a couple of the deer like creature who were not fast enough to leap out of its path. The deer like creatures that were hit fell backwards. One of them fell onto their rear ends as another one stumbled back and a third that got hit in the side of the head fell like a dead weight.

‘One down, only three dozen more to go,’ Tina thought grimly. She panted as she swung her left arm back before she raised her right arm and twirled beneath it, jerking her left arm around as she pulled her right arm down. She heard a startled oof as she managed to free her right arm. She saw Tristan digging through the weapon pile as fast as he could before she finished her twirl and brought both of her arms down, sharply as she kept streaming her spirit energy down the ropes. The handles followed the path her arms created, slamming against the ground with a dull bang. The deer creatures that stood nearby where the ropes landed were forced to either jump aside or be hit as Tina’s spirit energy leaped out of the ropes like lightening bolts leaping from storm clouds.

Tristan cursed as he dug through the weapons pile. What the hell were the Fawns planning with these many weapons? He found at least four dozen swords, six dozen bows, one dozen small hand-sized cannons, and he had lost count of the quivers of arrows and arrow bundles. He smelt something fishy going on here and it wasn’t coming from the dinner table, a dozen or so yard behind him. He wished he could take the time to search the village and figure out what they were planning, but he didn’t have that luxury. Tina was counting on him to find their weapons before they get out of the Fawn Village.

A familiar looking sheath caught his eye and he paused, briefly, before he reached down and grabbed it, pulling it out of the weapon pile. The red sheath and the curve of the guard over the hilt informed him that it was Tina’s. He spotted her bow not far from where he pulled out her rapier. He glanced over his shoulder, checking on Tina.

Tristan’s breath caught in his throat as he watched Tina fight the Fawns. Firelight danced upon her features, illuminating the pleased smile on her lips. Her eyes glowed with determination, a hunger he was familiar with, and a spark of the thrill of the fight. She brought her arms down, causing the ropes slammed against the ground, yellow sparks leapt out the nearby Fawns. He blinked as he witness the Fawn’s fur stand on end. He felt a shiver race up his spine.

He shook his head. This was not the time to gawk at the woman…no matter how she looked while she was fighting. He turned away and dug through the pile, ignoring the cries of pain, war cries. His eyes lit up when he spotted his own sword when a howl broke through the choas. He immediately looked toward the woods, feeling a sense of dread he hadn’t felt in a long while. The sounds of battle behind him fell silent.

Tristan remembered the various stories he had heard about the Dead End Forest. The forest earned that name because it dead ended in a tree barrier, but there were spots where there were breaks in the barrier and creatures not of this world were able to slip into this one. According to the peoples who have seen the creatures, they were a humanoid with animal features, looking far more beautiful then the Queens of Camelot, and just one of them was far more dangerous then any of the Armies of the Kingdoms. To the rumors, the creatures were known as demons.

Another howl broke the eerie silence before a third howl joined the second one, a fourth joined in until the howling echoed through the woods. Tristan turned in a circle, slowly, and stared at the darken woods, his eyes trying to see if the rumors were true. He spotted the yellow eyes of canines, but he didn’t know if they were the ones who inspired the rumors or not.

Tina froze when the first howl echoed. Her spiritual sense immediately verified the blood red auras of the demons. Her eyes flickered toward the center of the village where the aura of the strongest demon approached. She gulped as she realized the demon was stronger then her, at least High B class. Whoever the demon was, he or she didn’t hold back on their demonic energy.

When Tina was in Japan, she fought along side a few demons in a tournament and she grew used to sensing demon energy. Her great Aunt had explained there was a ranking class for demons. She couldn’t help compare it to the American grade system when she first heard it: the higher letter grade, the stronger the demon. Her demon friends were middle B class when she last saw them.

Tina shivered as she took a step back, pushing down her spiritual presence as she shrugged off her hiking bag. She knew she couldn’t take on the strong demon, not while she was in the condition she was in. She jolted as a thought darted through her mind.

Blood.

She didn’t know if her back was still bleeding or not, the scent of fresh blood hung in the air. Either way, her back was the dinner bell to the demons. She had to get away from the demons. She already posed a threat to them because she was stronger then the humans with spiritual powers and a lot stronger then the average human without any spiritual powers.

Tina took another step back. Her hiking bag slipped down her arms and she shifted the bag to one hand as she slowly turned away from the Fawn Warriors. She watched some of the warriors look between her and the center of the village, looking torn.

“Who proses a bigger threat to your people?” Tina asked, softly. One of the Fawn Warriors looked at her, “These demons or two humans? We are trying to escape away, however, the demons are preparing to attack. Choose who is a bigger threat.”

Tina took another step back before taking another one. One of the Fawn Warriors raised a sword toward her. From the looks of the vest he wore, he held a high rank within the Fawn Warriors. He spoke in an even voice, “Leave and do not come back. If you do come back in our territory, I will not be as merciful as I am now.”

Tina nodded, understanding. She watched the Fawn Warrior turned to the rest and barked out, “Get back to the center! Protect the Princess!”

The Fawns darted back away from Tina and Tristan. Tina relaxed, slightly before she turned to Tristan and approached him, seeing that he managed to find their weapons.

“Well,” Tristan met her eyes, “That was unexpected.”

“Yes,” Tina agreed, “But we are not of the woods just yet. We are surrounded, by the way.”

“I can see that from the eyes,” Tristan raised an eyebrow at her.

Tina blinked as she repeated, “Eyes?” He gestured to the woods and she turned her attention to see firelight reflecting back in dozens pairs of eyes. “Shit,” she breathed. She knew from the auras she had sensed there were demons nearby, but these were not demons. The eyes watching them had to be the animals that demons formed a pack with. She couldn’t help thinking the ally her great aunt had introduced her to when she last visited, a dog demon who lived with his pack in the forest nearby her temple. He had explained that some demons like himself took in strays or already had their animal counterparts in the pack, safety in numbers and tried to create a stronger pack.

They needed a major distraction to avoid for the animal counterparts from following them…but what? Tina slowly turned to back to the center of the village, her eyes roaming over the huts and the nearby touches. An idea slowly formed in her head before she spotted a stack of barrels, sitting beside a hut with big red letters ‘BLACK POWDER’. She frowned, noticing it was only a dozen or so yards away.

“Hey, Tristan, what is black powder?” She asked, over her shoulder.

“Black Powder?” He questioned before he went on, “ We use it for the cannons to fire the cannon balls.”

Tina turned to him and stated, “It goes boom-boom.”

Tristan turned to her and stared at her as she felt a manic grin cross her face before he nodded. She knew what to do.

“Hand me my bow, please,” Tina held out her hand, “And you might want to cover your ears or start running.”

“I am not running away,” Tristan glared at her, “No matter what you are planning to do.” He handed her the bow and an arrow. “In fact, I will be helping you.” Tina shrugged and explained her plan. “That is insane,” he stated in disbelief.

“Insane enough, it will work,” Tina shot back with a grin, “Now, if you are going to help, grab an arrow and lit it up.” She notched her arrow against the string of her bow. She rolled her shoulders. This was going to hurt her back. She sucked in a breath, preparing herself for the pain, and she glanced over at Tristan. “Ready?”

“Ready as I will ever be,” he replied.

“Relax,” Tina commented with a gleeful note, “If we fail at this death, there is a good chance we will die.”

“That is reassuring,” He grumbled, loudly, “If we succeed at this, there is a good chance we will die from the blast.”

“Na, I don’t think so,” she said, “If anything, we will be blown back.” She paused as she voiced the thought she just had, “I hope I don’t injury my back further.”

“I think it is a bit too late for that kind of thinking,” the Knight of Camelot drawled out as he notched the arrow to his bow. “The fighting you did earlier should have you on the ground, screaming out in pain.”

“I have high pain tolerance, thanks to my Great Aunt,” Tina half-lied through her teeth, “That fucking Mechanist.” While she did have a high pain tolerance from the training her great aunt put her through when she was a teenager, her back threatened to cause her to black out. She couldn’t do something like that when she couldn’t trust Tristan to get her to safety. Not yet, at least.

“You shouldn’t be talking about your great aunt like that,” Tristan replied, “It is disrespectful.”

“It is not disrespectful if she agrees with me,” she said, “Get ready to fire, would ya?! I want to get to a safe place before it becomes more dark.”

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“Yeah,” the Knight agreed, “The forest is known to be filled with monsters after nightfall.”

“Lovely,” Tina said. She brought up her bow and pulled back on the string, holding the arrow between her thumb and index finger. Her back screamed in pain. Darkness filled her vision. She sucked in a deep breath through clenched teeth. She reached for her spiritual power. Her fingers holding the arrow felt warm as she pushed the spiritual power in to the arrow. The arrow took on a soft yellow glow and the glow became brighter and brighter. She blinked. The only thing she could see was the arrow and the glow. She exhaled and inhaled, sensing the demonic energy shifting. She released the arrow.

Tina sensed more then she saw the arrow slicing through the air, leaving a trail of her spiritual energy before the empowered arrow slammed into the stack of black powder barrels.

BOOM!

Tina’s eyes widened as she watched the barrels disappeared into the blooming flower of red, orange, yellow. Her gaze followed the flower as it reached into the sky before she felt the heat wash over her. At first, it was a sensation of a warm sunny day then it turned into the feeling of stepping under a too hot shower, before it transformation to the ‘Holy shit! That’s Hot!’ feeling and finally, Tina felt the burning feeling of standing too close to a open flame.

The shock wave came next. Tina already braced herself, bending her knees, lending forward, as the heated wind blew into her. She gritted her teeth together, trying to stay on her feet, knowing if she fell back, she could land on her back and get further injured. However, she heard a secondary boom. The shock wave that came from the secondary boom sent her stumbling back. She spun on the balls of her feet and hurried away from the secondary blooming flower. She glanced at Tristan and smirked as he sat up. She felt the hum of her spiritual power under her skin and knew the reason why she was able to stand against the first shock wave and only stumbled back during the second wave.

Tina sensed Tristan approaching and she turned to him. He looked a big singe and he had spot of scoot on his cheek. He ran his eyes over her and opened his mouth, “Let’s get going. Give me your bag.”

Tina nodded as she handed her hiking bag over to him, panting slightly. She had not used this much spiritual power in a long time, not since the end of that tournament. “Where are we —don’t answer that. Too many ears,” She said, wondering what was Tristan’s plan.

“This way,” Tristan spun to the forest and set the pace, running through the forest. Tina sucked in a breath and reached a bit more spiritual power as she grabbed a couple quivers of arrows, sending her power to her legs before she followed.

Tina released a sigh as she rushed away from the deer like creatures’ village and the demons. The crisp evening air felt cool against her heated skin. Tristan led the way through the forest, following trails that he was obviously familiar with and they were able to create more distance between them and the village.

Tina kept her spiritual senses expand, feeling the demonic auras behind her scatter through the forest. She turned her attention to in front of them and her eyes widened in horror as she sensed a fast approaching demon aura. She grabbed her bow and notched an arrow. Some of her spiritual power flowed in to the arrow before she aimed and fired in the darkness of the trees. The glow of her arrow pieced the darkness. Tina spotted the demon before the demon managed to dodged the arrow, disappearing back into the dark.

“Tristan, we got company,” she called out, turning her attention to the Knight. He slowed to a stop and Tina followed his example. Her chest heaved as she panted. Her lungs burnt with the effect to keep breathing. Her back screamed in pain. Her legs trembled with the effect of standing. She doubted she would be able to take the demon on.

“I know,” Tristan said. His hand fell onto her shoulder, “Stand back. It’s my turn.”

Tina stared at him. She didn’t know if he was strong enough to be able to survive any of the demon’s attacks, but what choice did she have? She didn’t have one at the moment. She would have to rely - again - on someone else. She knew if she tried to go toe to toe with this demon, she wouldn’t survive the fight.

A dark chuckle rang through her mind, before the words drifted up, “Deal with it. You are weak, and you will always be.”

Tina closed her eyes and took a breath, trying to stay calm. She nodded. Tristan stepped forward and withdrew his broadsword.

Tristan meet Tina’s eyes as he withdrew his broadsword, seeing the conflict in her eyes. She didn’t want to rely on him to protect her. She was most definitely a different type of woman from the women he was used to. He felt a sense of an emotion he couldn’t identify. She would be one hell of a woman for any Knight to pledge to love.

A loud thud echoed nearby and Tristan snapped his attention to the source. A humanoid creature with a black tail shushing behind the creature, a pair of black pointed ears, and icy blue eyes narrowed in anger at him and Tina. Tristan watched as the creature growled, loudly, barring his pointed canines.

“Which one of you cause that explosion?” Tristan heard the creature asked through the growling.

Tina shifted and Tristan spoke before the mysterious red head could answer, “I did.” He felt Tina’s eyes on his back, glaring.

“Don’t lie, human,” the creature appeared in front of Tristan. The knight jerked back, his eyes widened, and he sucked in a breath as the creature continued, “I can smell your lie.”

A step behind Tristan, Tina did something that cause the creature to turn his attention to her and she stated, calmly, “It was my idea to cause that boom-boom.” She paused as the creature studied her, before she added, in an afterthought tone, “I thought it was pretty impressive.”

“That explosion killed several of my brothers!” The creature yelled at her.

“Why don’t you go lick your wounds, Ookami,” Tina suggested. The wolf demon swung his fist back before he tried to deliver it into Tina. Tristan snapped up his right hand and cupped the fist, reminding the demon that the Knight was there.

The Wolf demon brought up a knee, slamming it into Tristan’s middle. Tristan grunted as his feet left the ground and flew back a few feet. Pain rippled from his middle and he gritted his teeth together. He shook off the pain and glared at the Wolf Demon who approached Tina. He noticed Tina tried to hide the fact her knees shook slightly under her weight. Tristan didn’t know if it was from fear or exhaustion started to catch up to her as she stared down the wolf demon with a heat expression. The wolf demon snapped his arm out and wrapped his clawed hand around Tina’s neck before he lifted her up from the ground.

Tina’s hands flew up, grabbing the wolf demon’s arm. Her legs swung back then forth. The wolf demon laughed as he caught Tina’s leg before he announced, “Now, you will died, you pathetic woman!” Tina’s face went red and her other leg tried to kicked the wolf demon in his midsection, but he slapped the kicking leg out of the way.

Tristan ran at the wolf demon. The demon turned and gave him a fanged grin before he threw Tina at him. The Knight cursed under his breath as he dropped his sword and shifted his weight before he caught Tina in his arms. Tina’s face was red, a hand raised to her neck, and her eyes held a wild, panicked, pained look. He bent his knees, the arm holding Tina’s legs dropped her legs as he put her back on to her feet. His left arm felt cool as Tina stood on shaky legs. He glanced down at his arm to see Tina’s blood covering it.

“Stay behind me, Tina,” Tristan ordered and cupped one of her shoulders, pushing her to stand behind him. She met his gaze and nodded before she moved to a nearby tree. He watched her go, as she walked on unsteady legs. He turned to the wolf demon and stated, “You will face me.”

“I don’t care who I kill first,” the Wolf Demon growled. The whites of his eyes slowly disappeared behind red. “Both of you will die for killing my pack mates.”

“We will see,” Tristan commented before he bent over to grab his sword and heard the wolf demon crossed the space between them. He stood up and held the broadsword in a defensive position. The demon stepped to the right. His left arm swung. His fingers curled into claws. Tristan shifted his sword and blocked the attack. A loud clanging sound echoed.

Tristan and the Wolf Demon glared at each other, pushing with their weapons before they backed off. Tristan darted forward, swinging his broadsword in a wide arc. The wolf demon jumped back before he crunched then swung his claws at Tristan, in a blur.

Tristan blinked as he felt something ripped at his chest. His back arched away from the pain. A groan slipped past his lips. His knees bent.

“Tristan,” a boy with an orange hat spoke up from the depts of his memory, appearing in his mind’s eye, “No matter what happens, no matter what we face, we have to promise if we ever fall in battle, not to fall onto our knees.” The boy turned to him with a grin, “What do you say?”

Tina felt her knees gave out from under her and she placed her hands in front of her as she landed on her lower legs. She squeezed her eyes closed and a couple tears escaped, rolling down her cheeks. She fought against the pain radiating from her back. She hated feeling vulnerable, useless…

“Like you always are?” the familiar voice sneaked it ways up from the back of her mind, “It is one of the reasons why he left you, pathetic creature.”

‘No, I am not a pathetic creature,’ Tina shot back, ‘I am allowed to be weak sometimes.’

“No, you are not, girlie,” the voice growled back, “Look how that handsome knight is fighting that wolf demon. He is struggling.” The dark voice chuckled, “You should be the one fighting, not him. This proves how weak you are, little girl.”

Tina opened her eyes, turning her head. She watched Tristan pushed forward against the Wolf Demon, but the way the canine humanoid danced backwards in a way that informed her that the Wolf demon was just playing with the Knight. The Wolf Demon grinned brightly before he darted forward. Tina’s eyes widened as blood flew from Tristan’s front and Tina shoved herself to her feet, trying to ignore the pain rippling from her back.

Tristan’s knees buckled from under him as his back arched and he started to fall to his knees. He shoved a foot forward, catching himself before he landed on his knees. The Wolf demon attacked, again. This time, Tristan managed to block the attack before the wolf demon swung his other arm around and knocked the blade out of Tristan’s hand. The sword flipped through the air before impaling into a nearby tree. Tina’s eyes followed it and saw how the sword shook when it landed in the tree.

A loud thump caught her attention and she snapped her head over to it. Tristan laid on his side, his back facing her, just a yard away. Her eyes darted between Tristan and the Wolf demon as the wolf demon strolled over and a black and white butterfly flew over to her. She frowned in confusion at the yin-yang butterfly before she dismissed the small creature. Her attention flew back to the Wolf demon as he stopped back the tree where Tristan’s broadsword stuck out and he grabbed the hilt before he flexed his arm and pulled the blade out.

“Tina,” Tristan said. She didn’t look at him as she mentally prepared herself.

“You are going to lose, girlie,” the voice snark.

‘Shut the fuck up and find someone else to fucking bug,’ Tina shouted at the voice before she replied to Tristan, “I am not leaving you behind.”

“You should,” Tristan shot back. She ignored what else he said as the black and white butterfly drifted through her vision. A wing brushed against her cheek before it landed on the top of her ear. A voice drifted from the butterfly. It was a familiar voice and Tina felt her right eye twitched in annoyance.

“You might want to get out of the way, toots, or figure out a way to block the sun.”

Ralph. The bastard who in a way put her in this situation. If she didn’t leave home with him, she would not be facing down a demon stronger then herself. Now, the ninja wants her to move out of his way. Tina fought her raising temper as her spiritual power reacted to what she was feeling.

The Wolf demon stopped when he was a three yards away from Tristan and Tina. Tina watched as his blue eyes darted back and forth between Tristan and herself. A cautious gleam entered his eyes. A red, yellow, and orange ball of fire appeared from the left of the wolf demon. Tina’s eyes narrowed in anger, remembering the attack from Ralph. She growled and a yellow dome appeared, protecting her and Tristan.

The Wolf demon twisted on his feet and stared at the ball of fire as Tina shoved Tristan, hissing, “Tristan, get up, now.” She glanced up between the wolf demon and the ball of fire. “This is our chance to leave.”

Tristan rolled over and used his arms to pushed himself up into a kneeling position before he climbed to his feet. Tina ran her eyes over his chest. It was sliced up. She didn’t know how bad the cuts were, but she saw how it affect Tristan. He held out a hand to her. She grabbed it and allowed him to help her to her feet. Tina turned her attention to the wolf demon before Tristan pulled on her arm, slightly. She stepped toward the forest and Tristan led the way through the forest, following trails he was familiar with.

The howl of the wolf demon echoed through the forest, sending a shiver down Tina’s spine as a loud boom sounded. The ground shook slightly as the forest lit up, bright as if it was middle of the day instead of early evening. Tina’s foot caught on an upright right and she started to fall. Tristan twisted and slipped an arm under her torso, catching her. She regained her footing and nodded at him before they spirited through the forest, Tina’s hiking bag bouncing on Tristan’s bag.

Meanwhile in Camelot, Genesis ate his supper meal, listening to the conversation floating through the air of the barracks. After the day he had of planning with the Knights, the Ruling Family, and just dealing with the Head Knight of the King’s Guard, Lord Jack; he wanted to relax with his men and learn what they had been up to when the first boom sounded.

The Barracks fell silent. Genesis slowly stood up and stepped away from the table he sat at when the alarm bells started to ring. He slipped into his General Mode as Reno called it and turned to the men, “Get to the Wall, now!”

His men leaped to their feet and chorused, “Yes, Sir,” before they ran out of the dinning hall. He stormed after them, heading to the wall himself to see what the hell was going on before he started issuing orders.

On the Wall, he gapped as he spotted the blooming flower raising above the Dead End Forest.

“GENESIS SON OF BARDOCK!” a roar echoed from the castle grounds. He half-turned to raise an eyebrow at Merlin as he stormed across the grounds, his robes billowing out in a soft wind. “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?”

‘Leave it to the Ruling Family to send the Battle Mage when they could have came out themselves,’ Genesis thought as he rolled his eyes and turned away from the Battle Mage in time to watch a second flower bloom into exist.

“Well,” Reno commented, “I think we found where that shipment of Black Power Barrels disappeared to.”

“Yup,” Genesis agreed, “And it is my ass taking that heat.”

Reno smirked, “But we no longer have to figure out that shipment disappeared to,” Genesis’ second clapped a hand onto his shoulder, continuing, “Look on the bright side of things, Gen.”

Genesis looked at his fellow red head out of the corner of his eyes. Sure, Genesis would look on the bright side. He turned his gaze back to the forest, trying to hid his smirk. Reno can be the deliver the update on the missing barrels to the Council. That should teach him a lesson about being a smartass toward his commanding officer.

“What?” Reno asked, knowing Genesis’ vindictive streak.

“Nothing,” Genesis replied, “There is a bright side to this,” he agreed. When Reno shot him a look, he explained, “We won’t be getting sleep tonight.”

Reno opened his mouth then his eyes drifted to the fire in the Dead End Forest and groaned in defeat, commenting, “We will have go out there to put out the fires, right?”

“Yup,” Genesis threw his arm upon Reno’s shoulders and drag him around with him as they turned to the tunnel staircase, walking to meet Merlin, “Let’s go see what Merlin wants. Axel,” He called out to the third in commander, “Start gathering the men to go out to combat that fire.”

“Yes, sir,” Axel saluted before he turned away from the General and the Second in Commander. The General led the way down the tunnel and met Merlin in the courtyard.