Taiga sprinted after the beast, wading through the rain now up to his shins. The demons hung back, observing the beast and them. He kept them in mind and drove his sword back into his belt. They would strike the moment victory could be at hand.

  Mouse ran past him, the water barely slowing him down. The splashing and drumming of the rain made it hard to hear what he said as he passed, and Taiga called out to him to repeat it. Mouse kept his eyes forward, overtaking Taiga and making quick work of the distance between the fleeing beast and them.

  The orange fog bellowed from the feathers and quills of the beast, sliding over the water and dispersing around the rain. His legs drew him down, and it took all of Taiga’s focus to keep them moving, forcing them ahead.

  “Turn back! Mouse yelled, latching onto the leg of the beast. He scaled it, disappearing into the fog and fur.

  The beast drew further from Taiga. He sunk his magic to his feet, hammering it into the ground with every step. His feet beneath the water shimmered with green, the bones in his feet crackling.

  Beneath the road and earth, he pulled for anything and everything. The magic spoke his commands, crawling across spent roots. Something found him, answering his call with glee. He pulled the magic up, and the ground split ahead of the beast.

  It reeled, flinching at the sudden breaking of earth and rubble. Forgotten tubers left to sleep for the coming winter. They bulked with Taiga’s magic, tendrils striking tall and fast. The beast roared, backing away.

  He caught up, releasing his magic and running around the beast. He clung to a feather of its neck, heaving himself up. He dug deep with his fingers and feet, his sense of touch limited unless he damaged himself.

  The beast twisted around, nipping at him, though it couldn’t get the leverage for his position. Mouse stretched a hand from its back, which Taiga accepted. Atop the beast, they kept low and steady as the beast thrashed in its attempt to dismount them.

  “We’re close to the mercenaries.” Taiga checked around them, barely making out a house he’d inspected earlier.

  “They’ve moved out a bit. Three are still standing.” Mouse focused his ears away, shutting his eyes briefly to listen.

  “Three out of four,” Taiga mumbled. The loss of fighting force would wreck the remainder soon, depending on the number of demons they fought back. “We have to finish this, now.”

  “I can save them.”

  “Mouse, Look at it!” Taiga tried to feign calm, keeping his tone in check. “It is beyond saving.”

  Mouse said nothing, gritting down and looking away. He crawled to the Guardian’s head, hanging over and hushing the beast as it cried out again. The great body shook and trembled beneath them.

  Taiga split the fur ahead of him, barely seeing Mouse’s back as they moved on ahead. He pressed a numb hand to the scales of the beast. He felt nothing from it, and focused on the magics within.

  Pinks and oranges clashed, the pink ravaging small bits of blues and purples, ripping through anything in its wake. The moment a speck of magic appeared, the pink would overwhelm it, forcing it into submission or it would simply disintegrate.

  Taiga pulled back. The magics and corruption overpowered anything it touched. It tore the beast’s body from within, twisting and squeezing, ripping and laughing in its glory.

  There was no saving it. For there was nothing left to save.

  The gentle waves of magic swirling in harmony he’d felt from Guardian Spirits in the past no longer existed here. What could they do then, to push the magics into check? What could Mouse do against something they understood so little of?

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  He pressed against the scales, pink oozing between the seams. He knew so little in regards to the fundamentals of magic, the knowledge of his people long lost after the massacre. And even if he could, would even the elder have come across something like this in her life?

  The magic of agony and terror wriggled the insides of such ancient of beings. This level of corruption was not something of nature. Nothing he knew of the magics could wreak such chaos.

  “Mouse, listen to—”

  The tail whipped around, smacking Mouse off and pounding him into the ground. The beast turned to the crumpled body, pounding its arms into him. Blood splattered from Mouse, who lay motionless against the breaking earth.

  Talons ripped into him, shredding his arm and shoulder. It raised its tail, flicking quills at its prey. Two quills stabbed through him, one nicking his thigh and the other in his stomach. His hands moved to one of the quills, face scrunched in pain. But the beast gave him no time, pounding a paw against him. It took all Taiga had to not get knocked off in the struggle. But he had to do something… Anything.

  Mouse laid back, his breath as unsteady as his eyes. Taiga leapt forward. He climbed to the top of the beast’s head, and dropped to the teetering edge of the white mask. He caught its attention, and it swatted at him.

  He slid down, pulling up just as the beast slapped both paws over its face. It shook off the confusion, struggling to find him. Taiga settled his boots on the rim at the top of the mask. Fur sprouting around the mask’s edge kept him in place, grasped tight in his fingers.

  The beast swiveled its head around in its search. Its foot and talons crashed beside Mouse, and Taiga summoned the tubers to his aid, their great leaves rolling Mouse away from the beast. It didn’t notice, all its attention shifted to Taiga.

  He couldn’t let the beast go any further. Much more, and it would kill Mouse. Then, it would move onto the mercenaries. No, it needed to fall here. If none of Mouse’s attempts worked, then slaying the crazed and corrupted Guardian was Taiga’s only option.

  He flexed his fingers, the static and split skin pinching through the numbness. Grabbing his sword from his belt, thorns and vines still tight over it, he stood. The beast stilled, and he steadied his feet, one on the rim and the other on the beast’s head. He brought his sword up, gripping the handle with both hands, before driving it between where the mask and head met.

  The beast howled in pain, whipping its head around and thrashing. He held tight, burying the sword deeper and spurting pink blood over his leg and arms. They sizzled, steam rising.

  Taiga bit through the pain, smothering a moan and keeping his fingers tight over the handle to keep from flying off in the beast’s rampage. When it calmed a moment, he jerked the sword outward, pulling the mask from its face.

  Pink blood oozed from its eyes as it cried, and it clawed at its face. A talon snagged his boot, pulling him down with it. He hung onto the sword, and when his boot flew free of him, he caught onto the edge of the mask with his toes and heaved himself back up.

  The beast shook his head violently and the sword broke free. Taiga caught himself by his fingertips wedged onto the mask’s brim. He forced his fingers into wooden claws, hooking onto the edge while the rest of him flailed about while the beast thrashed.

  He gripped his sword, dangling over one eye hole, occasionally thumping against the side and burning from the ooze dripping over the mask. When he swung back, he raised his sword. Once he began back towards the mask, he drove the tip of his sword into the eyehole.

  The beast cried and roared. The voice buzzed his ears, vibrating the entirety of his being. Taiga’s fingers fell loose, and he dropped, leaving the sword stuck in its eye. Beneath, Mouse broke his fall. Pain snapped his hand, bark protruding from it to protect from a broken wrist.

  “Are you okay?” Mouse’s voice trembled. The front of his tunic soaked with his blood. He cradled an arm, keeping it close to his stomach. His hair matted to his face in the rain and blood, and Taiga pushed it back to see the pain and confusion in his eyes.

  “Good enough.” He breathed, turning and picking his sword off the ground. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know. They shut me out. I don’t think…” Mouse trailed off.

  The beast screamed, shaking the rain and air. Taiga looked it over as it clawed at its own face, ripping at the mask and causing more damage to itself. He took Mouse’s sword from his hip. “I’m sorry, Mouse.”

  “No, I can—”

  Taiga bolted, snapping a yell and drawing the beast’s attention. It cried at him, spitting pink blood. Speckles of acid flew over his face. Pain sizzled until the rain washed it down his neck.

  The beast brought its hands up, before smashing them down over him. He side-stepped, stumbling in the water. Taiga caught himself, ran at the soft of the beast’s throat, and punctured the metal tip of his sword into it.

  A short cry of surprise, a moan and a final sob. The beast trembled over him, turning and stumbling a few meters in an attempt to flee before dropping hard into the water.

  As the beast’s body dropped, groaning once more, the rain vanished and silence flooded in around them in its stead.