Some may say I am built for battle. And though I may agree, I like to think of myself as a supporting role. I serve the function of an artillery piece, very powerful and very useless unless someone is protecting me.

I don’t like getting my hands dirty. Close-Quarter Combat may not be my weakness, but when we’re talking about a huge demon, I don’t think my knowledge of CQC will suffice to bring the beast down.

The rumbling of the ground grows more noticeable by the moments. The demon will soon be here and all I’ve got is my trusty self. No wands. No staff. No rocks. No Tedet’s potions. Yet, even if I had those I’d still be at a massive disadvantage. But there was nothing else I could do. I had to distract the demon as best as I could. Gain enough time to save two people.

The time was nigh, the demon was no longer just dashes of movement through the trunks beyond me, but now I could see its figure between the trees.

A massive, long-legged best, with a rugged – but unblemished – skin of a maroon so dark it looked black under the shadow. It had no visible teeth from the outside, as most would seem to have in our fantasies.

It came approaching me in a straight line. If this were any other foe, I’d use my fire to blow it into ash, but as a demon, normal fire could not hurt it. It would require some incredible heat that I could not reproduce. My strongest fire would only slightly burn it, like when you touch the hot surface of metal before it turns red – painful, but far from being dangerous to it.

My wind would be completely useless. The worst thing my wind could do is mess up its hair, if it had any. And lastly, my earth magic could be used well for defending, until it learns how to circumvent my walls, and I doubt my spears of earth could penetrate its outer tough skin.

I thought back to Tedet and his railguns. Those things might be able to penetrate and damage it, but he’s not here and I didn’t have any of his guns with me. Mortal weapons seem to be somewhat of a weakness to the supernatural, but you still need the right kind of weapon – a knife would simply penetrate it a little, like how cactus spines would stick to our skin.

I was running out of time to think. My few seconds of light-speed thinking were almost over. I had instinctually gathered my will in preparation for anything I could do. But seeing my options being crossed out one by one until there was nothing left, made me waver.

There was nothing else I could do. I could only act and my first instinct was to use as much of its force against it.

My will gathered beyond my hand and I uttered the spell at the last reasonable second.

“Spada!” I shouted.

The beast, running like a truck, towered over me in the span of a second, and just as it approached me with its frontal claws pulled up, ready for a swing. Just as it was about to run over me, the earth before me erupted into a spike that shot out like a piston, impaling itself into the demon.

My spike shattered almost instantly under the weight and speed of the demon, both forces were transmitted to each other. My earth thorn functioned as a vaulting pole, and the demon was launched upwards, flying over and beyond me, into the forest behind.

I swore I saw it happening in slow motion. The many rocks that flew, shot out like bullets, landing everywhere; some hitting my face, and others ricocheting directly into me. Meanwhile, the airborne demon swatted the air desperately, like a cat in midair, trying to hold onto something or maybe someone.

Small trees and thick branches snapped, and the demon broke through them like twigs, slamming into the forest floor causing a small tremor. The rumbling of the ground made me waver; my feet slipped on the layers of leaves. For the small instant after the fall, there was no sound. A small moment of peace, a calm before the storm.

“What now?” I whispered to myself.

Stay and fight? I will not be able to do anything to it with my magic. Once it kills me, it will just run back towards Misa. Run? It will just catch up to me. But I could try the same trick on it again. Is there a way to distract it before I try running? No, there’s nothing I can do. I only had two options and only one made sense.

The demon reincorporated itself in a snap. Yellow eyes in a long snout face – like a deformed horse or an ancestral proto-equine – looked deep into me. I could almost feel the hate, the raw savagery, but behind them, there was also intelligence. Those eyes analyzed me. As soon as I felt like it was about to move, I made a run for it.

My feet glided me through the forest. I felt the stomping of the demon as it burst into a sprint as well. Prey and predator. I felt the adrenaline rush, feeling like a herbivore being chased by a carnivore. I swore I could feel its breath and fangs behind my neck.

It took me a couple of seconds to gather my courage to turn and look at the figure chasing me. Only to find it running in the opposite direction.

“No,” I claimed in despair. “No, no, no.”

Idiot! I thought. How could I be so stupid! Why did I think it would chase me?!

The demon was after Misa, not me. There was no reason why it would want to attack me or be distracted by me. The only reason it felt like it was going for me was that Misa and I were running in the same direction. I simply assumed that any of us three could become its target.

Stupidity. Wishful thinking. Conceitedness. Whatever you could call it, I simply thought it would go for me, because that’s how things have been, recently. But of course, this was different. A demon did not care for anything else. It had an objective, and it would not stop for anything.

The tables had turned, but not in a good way. I was the one chasing the demon, but not because it was scared of me.

Before I had to think of a way to stop him from reaching and killing me, now I had to think of a way to stop it from escaping me and reaching them. Misa and Yand-Una could be far away, there is a possibility they could have left us in the dust when only a few seconds had passed.

The demon was losing me, and I was trying my best to catch up. I am out of form, all I do is work at a mechanic shop; I could never catch up, I’m not as fast as it is. Even if I could, I’d run out of breath quickly. I gasped for air and I finally realized I was reaching my limit.

If I could no longer go on, what about Misa and Yand-Una?

I gulped air and shouted a spell as fast as I could before the demon was out of my range.

“Scutum!”

A wall of rock erupted less than a meter from the demon, it barely managed to come up before the demon tripped on it, breaking it. The rest of the wall erupted as the demon moved above it, flinging it from its feet and crumbling soon after.

The moment I saw the demon tumble on my shield and crash to the ground, my feet gave up. I found myself tasting the floor of the forest. Leaves were stuck on my face and I did my best to clean myself up and stand up as fast as I could.

The demon was about to stand up when I reached out to it, my will extended to my fingertips.

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“Scutum,” I barely managed to speak.

A new wall erupted, this time slanted, over the demon. The heavy weight of the wall made itself break on its base and fell on top of the demon.

The creature roared as the wall forced it to the ground. It clawed into the ground to pull itself off from under the rock.

I was running out of power, just like I was running out of breath. But I did not stop and created a second slanted wall that fell on top of the first one.

My knees buckled and my walk became staggered. I no longer feared for my life, so I kept approaching the demon.

I had trapped it by chance, but what would I do now? The demon will not become exhausted and will eventually claw itself out from under that much weight. I could not kill it; I no longer had the power to produce a flame strong enough to kill it.

I came closer to it and saw its snarling face. The mouth at the tip of its snout opened up like the upper jaw had a joint, its teeth were human, even to the canines and molars, with the exception that it had double the set for every type of tooth – the dental formula was 4:2:4:6, a total of sixty-four teeth. The claw marks on the ground were so deep it had dug a hole. The demon kept scraping for dirt as it tried pulling itself off and, with each swipe, the dirt became more compact, harder to scrape away.

Soon the demon would be able to pull itself from under my walls with its strength. My only solace was that it would take such a long time to do it that by the time it finally does, Misa would be somewhere safe.

I walked past it and tried picking up the pace to a trot. The roaring made me flinch when I walked near, I felt the ground vibrate whenever it scrapped it. I might even be able to get somewhere safe before it even comes out.

I felt somewhat proud of myself for trapping the demon.

“Mr. Ed!” I heard a call.

There is no way…

“Mr. Ed!” Misa screamed from meters away in the forest.

“Come back!” Yand-Una called from further in.

No, you have to keep going!

The demon roared louder, and my walls screeched as they scrapped on each other. It was coming out.

The demon was about to come free and Misa was running back.

“Mr. Ed!” I saw her screaming.

“Misa! Run! Don’t come over!” I ordered.

“Are you alright?!”

“DON’T COME! KEEP RUNNING!”

I ran towards Misa as fast as I could.

“MISA!” Yand-Una called again.

“I can’t leave you behind,” she said. “I can’t leave you to die for me.”

“You idiot! You wasted your chance!”

I grabbed her hand and pulled her with me, away from the demon. My feet were weak, but I pushed myself to run.

“Where is the demon?” asked Misa, like she was ready to throw hands with it.

A roar called out like it was answering the question.

“I trapped it, but it’s coming out. You should’ve kept running, you would’ve been safe. Why did you turn back?”

“I didn’t want to leave you on your own. I couldn’t simply let you die.”

“Avarez!”

“Yand-Una, take her! Take her and run.”

“The demon,” Yand-Una looked past us. “You trapped it.”

“We don’t have time! We need to go!”

“Quick!” she commanded. “Help me seal it off.”

“What?”

“A circle! Make a circle around it. Misa, you too!”

I couldn’t believe what she was saying but I felt drawn by her orders. I was already on my way toward the demon before I could try defying her. That was too late. Misa and I were close to the demon when Yand-Una started drawing, dragging her feet on the soil.

“Make a circle close to it. I’ll do something else.”

I dragged my feet and started encircling the demon. Misa started from the same spot and walked in the opposite direction. We didn’t have much time.

“YOU,” the demon spoke. “YOU WON’T SEAL ME AWAY.”

Its heavy deep voice rumbled through the air. Its mouth flapped as it spoke, not matching the words it said, and it looked like it was being badly dubbed over. You could hear its voice in your ears and chest. There was magic in its voice that commanded fear. I felt a pang of nauseousness when it talked. The dark and horrid magic that seeped from its mouth, like bad breath, made me want to puke.

Sweet Mother Mary!

“It's speaking!” Misa yelped and jumped away from it.

“I WILL TAKE YOU. YOU WILL BE MINE.”

“Don’t stop, Misa! Keep drawing!”

“YOUR SOUL IS MINE. MISA ALMEIDA RENSTAD, COME TO ME.”

We were three-quarters of the way done when Misa stopped moving and turned to look at the demon blank-eyed but fearful. She gritted her teeth and wailed softly.

“No…”

“COME TO ME, MISA ALMEIDA RENSTAD. APPROACH ME.”

“Misa!” I shouted, trying to continue drawing the circle.

The demon spoke her real name. It wasn’t just her name, but her real name. The name by which she is truly called. Names have power, and if you know a name to its perfection, including tone and inflection, you could control someone. Demons are known for having the power and skill to do it flawlessly, but they need to hear the name first to use it.

I could not understand where the demon found out her real name, but it had used it to command her and forced her to approach it.

Misa began stepping in closer. She was not mind-controlled or hypnotized, she still was aware of what was happening, but something pulled her into the demon. Like she was falling, sliding down a steep slope, she fell and rolled over. Her hands began clutching the ground and pulling towards the demon.

“What’s happening?!” she screamed. “What am I doing?!”

“Misa!” I screamed her name to call her attention. “Misa! Hang in there!”

“Ed! Help me! Please! Help me! Ed! Ed!”

Her voice scraped her voice box with both questions. In her voice, there was desperation, confusion, and, most of all, terror. Deep, heart-wrenching terror. People are scared when something goes wrong in their lives and they lose control of a situation, that sensation multiplied when Misa lost control of her own body and watched as her body, against her will, sought and approached death.

I dragged my feet quickly, but I could no longer continue when I saw her hand reach the edge of the hole the demon had dug.

“Don’t stop, Avarez! She still has time!”

I ran for it. I ran to grab onto Misa.

“Nooooo!” she screamed. “Let me go!”

“It’s me! It’s Ed!”

“Nooooooooo!”

She could no longer understand her surroundings. My face was grabbed, punched, and slapped. I felt my eyelid beings scrapped. One fist found the side of my face and hit me hard near my forehead. I was knocked back, while Misa tried lifting herself off.

“Yand-Una!” I screamed.

I held onto Misa’s leg and pulled her to me before she could get any closer. She tripped and fell, but I quickly dragged her before the demon could snap her in two with its claws.

“Ed! Aaaaaaah!”

A shriek of terror, of pain. She thought death was inevitable as it she put her last effort into the only other thing she could do freely at this point: make noise.

“Finish the circle!” I shouted.

Two hands grabbed Misa and we quickly lifted her from her hands and legs away from the demon.

“GIVE HER TO ME!”

“I’ll hold her down. Keep drawing the circle.”

“EDWHITE AVAREZ! HAND HER OVER!”

My sight went dark for a moment. Before me, I saw Misa struggling while I held her down. It was like a movie. She wasn’t really in front of me, but on a screen. The dark screen and I felt detached from reality. I tried holding her down and I saw my hands doing what I asked, but it didn’t feel like it was me. Someone else had taken over my body and was doing what I wanted to do.

I heard Misa’s shrieks like a far away echo, muffled behind a wall. I saw her mouth wide open and her contorted face that resembled a crying infant. I had never felt so helplessly in need to help and console her like she was my very own child.

“GIVE HER TO ME, EDWHITE AVAREZ.”

The second time I felt it like a hit.

I was hit. Yand-Una had punched me and was currently holding on to Misa, but she was looking at me wide-eyed.

“KILL HER! KILL THE WIZARD, EDWHITE AVAREZ! KILL HER!”

My head throbbed. Yand-Una held onto Misa and was looking pale. Almost like she was looking at a monster she locked eyes with me.

“Avarez,” she spoke. “Don’t do it.”

I saw her and my arms reached out to her. Her mouth twisted back and bared her teeth. She squinted her eyes and drew her head down into her shoulder, bracing for my attack.

But I grabbed unto Misa’s shoulders.

“Go,” I spoke, my head hurting. “Finish the circle – it doesn’t know my real name. But it’s hard to think.”

Yand-Una fell backward and visibly saw a weight slide off her shoulders when she exhaled. She nodded, surprise still painted on her face but with new resolve peering through it.

Misa screamed below me, kicking and punching me. I still felt distant from reality, most of the images coming to me from her seemed either slow or fast, and the sounds were slightly muffled or echoey.

My head ached every time the demon spoke my name and Misa squealed when it spoke hers. I had no idea what it must have been seen from the outside. If it had been in the middle of the street, it would seem like I was assaulting her.

Hang in there, Misa. It’s almost over.

Before I knew it, after a myriad of headaches. I was thrown back to myself. There was no loud sound, no gradual absorption of myself. It was more like I had skipped time. One moment I was not there, and the next I was there.

I was confused, and so was Misa.

“Wizard!” The demon screamed, but this time, its voice was like that of a human. Deep and aloud, but nothing else. “Give me the woman!”

I saw Misa. She was immobile. Her arms were dirty with mud, her hair had pieces of plant matter and dirt. Her face was wet with tears and saliva. And finally, I felt a warm and wet sensation under me, where I was sitting. Misa had wet herself and drenched me with her.

I exhaled exhausted and laughed. My way to cope.

Misa began crying.

This was the first time I saw her weak. That spark of bravery I always see in her was completely gone.