As Taura and Assad talked, Mya stood near the vehicle.

  She hadn't shifted her position since Shuren went inside.

  The mansion rose before her, a decaying corpse feigning sleep, and every instinct in her body told her that she was making a mistake by approaching it. She wanted to go in, to join the fun time that Assad and Taura were currently having but her fear was the reason she couldn't.

  Mya took a deep breath, as she kept telling herself that the mansion was weird and terrifying but she needed to save her sisters. As Shuren said, her sisters might be inside that very mansion and in order to at least see their faces she had to step through the gates.

  So she took her first step almost as if she was taking her first steps as a baby but before she entered the gate, she felt something that made her rethink her decisions.

  Mya's breath caught.

  The air felt thick near the mansion, as though the night was being pressed aside. Her hands shook as she gazed at the darkness near the building.

  A figure slowly emerged as if it was a zombie coming from resurrection. Assad and Taura did not even feel or hear the incoming monstrous figure that was slowly approaching them. Their bonding session was too peaceful and filled with fun, for them to even sense the danger that was slowly coming to them.

  The figure stepped forward, and by the small light that shined, it was shown to be the same human abomination used in Shuren's illusion.

  Mya finally comprehended that if she did not do anything, Assad and Taura would perish right there.

  "ASSAD.LOOK OUT!" She screamed until her lungs burned.

  Assad heard Mya's cry and wondered why she was suddenly screaming without any warning. That was until he heard Taura call out his name which he asked what was the matter? Taura didn't say anything and just stared up, making Assad do the same and as he rose his head slowly. He was met with hollow faces that were screaming and other body parts.

  The thing was already looking at them.

  The monster didn't waste any time it moved, a massive shape surged forward, and something like an arm swung through the air. Taura didn't think, just lunged.

  "MOVE

  She slammed into Assad's side, throwing him out of the way, as the blow hit where they might have been standing just a second before

  Taura didn't hesitate. Her hand shot to her side, her fingers closing around the knife, and a faint orange glow illuminated.

  The blade started to hum.

  Energy flowed down Taura's arm and over the blade of the knife like molten lightning. Heat touched her palm as the metal cried out in protest and changed shape. The dull steel bowed, grew, and changed completely.

  A massive cleaver came into being in her hand, its cutting edge glowing faintly as the fierce visage of a roaring lion was carved deeply into the blade. Taura stepped forward and made her attack. The space closed in a heartbeat as she swung her cleaver with savage, brutal intent.

  A reaction occurred.

  The cleaver was swung aside as if it were made of nothing. A force beyond all measure struck Taura, sending her flying back through the air. She landed against the ground, sliding to a stop as the weapon was ripped loose in her hand, clattering away.

  The creature stood up and threw back its head, opened its maw, and let out a roar that echoed across the night like a shockwave, causing the ground to tremble beneath the pair's feet.

  Taura forced herself back to her feet and attacked again. The cleaver came down in a blazing arc, and the monster slapped her aside like an insect.

  She fell to the ground, rolled, and didn't stop.

  Taura sprinted, boots pounding on stone as she ran straight for the mansion wall. Kicking against it launched her upward with the momentum carrying her straight toward the creature's head.

  'One clean stab'

  The monster cocked its head. Its jaws clicked shut.

  Crunch.

  The cleaver disappeared between rows of serrated teeth. Taura's breath caught. The creature chomped down, then threw her away with a powerful jerk of its head. She landed hard on the ground, pain shearing through her ribs as she slid over the gravel.

  She looked up just in time to see it chewing. Metal groaned as the glowing blade cracked, bent and disappeared down its throat.

  Taura's eyes went wide.

  'It… ate it?'

  Real doubt crept in for the first time. Her weapon was gone, The monster just stood there, unruffled, satisfied. Silence stretched. Taura exhaled.

  "…No."

  Her hands moved, her movements fast and precisive. Fingers blurred through a sequence of signs, sharp, deliberate motions burned into muscle memory.

  Slice Dice.

  Nothing happened. The monster took a step forward. Then it stopped. A sound followed, soft, wet, wrong.

  A clean line tore itself open across the creature's abdomen, as if reality had been cut. The wound flapped wide without blood or mess, just raw force carving through flesh.

  The monster stumbled backward, roaring in confusion. A flash of orange light burst from inside it. The cleaver exploded out, spinning through the air before slamming perfectly back into Taura's outstretched hand.

  She caught it.

  The blade hummed, brighter than before. Taura stood up slowly, focusing on the creature.

  'Did you really think that by swallowing it, it would stop me?' she said quietly.

  The flesh, once sliced open, knitted back together into place, muscles retracting like time itself had been rewound. The sharp edge Taura created was gone, now replaced by distorted, convulsing flesh.

  The monster straightened. Then it looked at her.

  Its many eyes fixed on Taura at once, then inflated its chest. It let out a roar, a sound not filled with pain, but with rage, offended that something as small as Taura would dare to injure it.

  Taura felt it in her bones but she still lunged again.

  The cleaver sang as she moved, her orange light blazing more vividly as she threw herself into the swing. Her aim was on joints and weak spots where they ought to break. Her footwork was quick. Her timing was precise.

  Nothing mattered anyway.The monster faced her head-on.

  A massive hand swatted her aside mid-swing. The blow smashed the air from her lungs and sent her sliding over the ground, armor scraping, teeth clenching to keep from crying out.

  She rolled, sat up, and struck again.

  In the distance, across the clearing, Assad struggled to one knee. His head was ringing. He tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

  'What. is that thing?'

  He saw Taura charge again, saw her get hit to the ground in the dirt, saw her struggle up with trembling legs and blood on her mouth—and then charge in again.

  His fingers dug into the gravel.

  'Why is she still moving?'

  She did not look like a woman who felt confident, not even like a fearless woman and also she did not even look like a confident woman. But then what was the reason for her actions?

  'Is it some kind of technique, some kind of mindset? Is she forcing herself through pain? Is it just more of that stupid "never give up" crap?

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  Another impact caused Taura to fall to the ground.'

  She coughed. She spat blood. She stood up anyway. Assad felt his chest constrict

  Taura was on her way to meet her death and yet, she fought.

  Her body was battered, her stance frayed, and the floor under her boots was slippery with blood and debris, yet she did not retreat. Every strike she threw was like that, the same weight: desperate, relentless, and defiant, even. But desperate, as if she hoped to somehow emerge victorious, she did not.

  The monster had regenerated before her eyes.

  Flesh knit together and the torn abdomen sealed itself as if it had never been wounded. Then it lifted its head and roared, a sound that crushed the air and rattled the ruins around them.

  Taura replied with a gesture.

  She surged forward again.

  But behind her, still on one knee, Assad gazed upon her charging, with something uncomfortably twisting in his chest.

  He had many questions in his mind. How was she moving forward? Where was her spirit, which compelled her to move forward like a warrior?

  That was until Assad recalled her previous words.

  'Half the time it turns into clean up of people who should be handling this stuff but don't'

  With these words alone, by the way, Assad wondered if Taura was talking in a form of sacrifice, but when it comes to that, who would have installed such a mindset onto them?

  Assad clamped his teeth together. He couldn't continue to admire it.

  He had to stop.

  If he remained in his place, watching, thinking, and waiting, then Taura would die before him, and he would be left with that memory for the rest of his life in this world.

  Slowly, he pushed himself up from the ground.

  Assad breathed slowly and steadily.

  His glare remained fixed on the battle, raging before him – Taura charging, striking, being flung aside, yet rising again. He saw it clearly. She had struck the monster open, yet it healed itself.

  That meant one thing.

  'There's a weak point.'

  His eyes traveled over it as it moved. The stitched flesh. The misshapen torso. The arms that swung with cruel force. All irrelevant as long as the heart remained spared.

  Then something surfaced in his mind. What if he referred the monster to a demon?

  And demons, at least in every story worth remembering, always shared one truth.

  The head.

  Assad's eyes lifted suddenly.

  The grotesque, misshapen face, the fused mouth, screaming with expression permanently embedded in its skull. This would be where, if there was any core, any center, any reason for its existence, it would be found.

  Or at least that was his hope. His guesses may not have been true.

  But staying stationary was a guarantee of only one thing.

  Now comes the harder question. How the hell was he supposed to test that?

  He had no monstrous strength. He lacked any kind of Qi techniques flowing through veins. His only power available to him in that moment was himself, or so he thought, in a battlefield that did not discriminate.

  His grip tightened, his eyes constricting as Taura is once again sent skidding across the ground.

  He saw Taura strike again, just as hard and precise, equally failing. He realized power was not the answer. She needed time, just a second.

  He needed to do something, and that something was to freeze it in place, even if just for a moment. He touched the back of his hand to the ground. Leaves. Dry, brittle, unremarkable.

  Assad broke eye contact with the monster, not because of fear, but because of focus. He took in a deep breath, trying to steady his breathing, focusing on a single aspect of reality.

  "Nauseous."

  The two leaves rose.

  They did not burn, glow, nor shatter reality. They simply moved, and they moved as if driven by something unseen. They shot forward, slicing through the air before circling the monster's head in tight, uneven spirals.

  The creature froze for a moment. The enormity of its body was swaying. The stitched flesh was trembling. The steps of the creature were faltering, as if the ground had tilted sideways from under it. A confused growling sound came out of its throat.

  Suddenly, Taura noticed that there was no movement from the monster anymore and was really perplexed.

  "What?" she muttered, her eyes narrowing.

  Then she heard Assad's voice, sharp and urgent, cutting through the chaos.

  "TAURA!"

  She whipped her head toward him.

  "GO FOR THE HEAD…OR THE NECK!" he yelled.

  "DO IT NOW!"

  The leaves continued their orbit, and Taura moved.

  She launched herself forward, every ounce of strength in her body behind the blow. The cleaver flashed, the orange light slicing through the dark in a single, decisive arc.

  The head of the monster had been cleanly severed from its body.

  Nothing happened for a heartbeat and then the abomination fell.

  Its immense body struck the earth with a hollow thud, and the stitched flesh disintegrated almost immediately. The thing did not bleed, nor did it struggle. Instead, it withered, and the flesh of the humans deteriorated to nothing more than dry gray specks scattered across the gravel.

  The threat was gone.

  Taura stumbled forward, the cleaver disappearing back into its original form as a knife as it lost power. Finally, her legs gave way, and she fell flat on her back.

  Assad followed not a second later, landing on one knee… then the other… then sitting there, panting heavily. For a moment, neither of them said a word. Then Taura suddenly sat up.

  "WOAH. YEAH, YEAH," she said, throwing her arms up weakly, then letting them drop back down.

  Assad stared at her.

  "…Are you serious right now?"

  She grinned, breathless but alive, and glanced over at him.

  "Nice one, seriously. How'd you even know the weak spot was its head?" she asked.

  "Guessing maybe.I don't know," he said

  Taura looked at him skeptically, but before she could push on, Assad took note of her state.

  "Hey, don't move around so much, you're pretty badly messed up."he said hurriedly.

  Taura waved him off lazily.

  "It's cool

  She put her hand into her pocket and took something out.

  A small emerald. It was glowing soft and steady green, not bright but more like warm green. She popped it into her mouth like candy and bit down.

  The emerald broke silently.

  The green color raced through her body, pure green, spreading through her veins. Her bruises smoothed out, healing. Tears stopped, and her breathing steadied. Her pain vanished, as if it had never been.

  Assad watched and was stunned to say the least.

  "You just ate a healing item."

  Taura swallowed and wiped her mouth.

  "Yep

  She stretched her arms and rolled her shoulders. She was perfectly fine now.

  "Emergency stash, you never leave home without one." she said casually.

  Her eyes met his to behold a softer smile from her.

  "But hey… good call back there."