The Plague Beast shrieked. Its eyes rolled back into its head as a malevolent violet aura filled them and spread throughout its body and out in thick tendrils. The beast readied to charge, but a familiar figure wrapped in a blue aura leapt from the trees, ramming against one of the creature’s ragged limbs, snapping the long appendage in half and causing the Plague Beast to stumble sideways.

The Plague Beast screeched at the blue figure as another limb quickly replaced the broken one, cutting off the dead appendage at the base. The creature used this new limb to swipe at the blue figure, connecting with a hard thwack, throwing him towards the caravan and into the trees behind the wagons.

I watched as Damian slowly trudged out from the trees, carrying a thick tree branch as a weapon. Slowly, the man’s aura crept up the wooden club until it wrapped it completely, as it did his own body. He stopped for a moment and turned to Jaime who stood nearby.

“Normally, I wouldn’t use a weapon since my fists are more reliable, but sometimes you need that extra reach.” He rushed out in a single moment then sucked in a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

Damian and the Plague Beast charged at the same once, colliding in a flash of violet and blue.

Astrid hurried over to where the mages that were with the caravan had gathered. There were four of them in total, each one with a purple aura emanating from their eyes. Astrid commanded each of them with a vicious tone that would be more at home on the front lines. I’d never seen anyone with such a commanding nature during my time in the war. Even Sir Duncan seemed to have given up any ideas of leading the battle.

Each of the mages that had gathered placed a hand on Astrid’s back, channeling their mana into her. The blue aura from her seemed to grow more dense as the moments passed until one by one, each of the mages’ auras faded and they stumbled away. Astrid, however, looked to be more energetic than I had ever seen her.

“Hamil, how do you kill something if it heals faster than you can hurt it?” Astrid asked, turning to her protege, excitement filling her face.

“Kill it faster.” Hamil immediately blurted out.

The boy had Bark in his arms. He had grabbed the wooden dog just as the Plague Beast showed itself. He clutched it tightly to his chest as he watched the battle between Damian and the creature.

“And what if that doesn’t work?” She quizzed him once more.

“Hurt it until it can’t heal anymore.”

“And how do we decide?”

“Whichever comes first.”

A bright smile spread across Astrid’s face as she heard Hamil’s words, “That’s what a Freelancer needs: determination. The determination to see a fight through ‘till the end.”

Astrid rose both palms toward the Plague Beast as the aura from her eyes flared more brilliantly. Two magic rings materialized in front of her hands. The rings slowly began to change as the aura flowed more strongly from her hands and soon, the normally pale rings had become blood red. Quickly, Astrid began to etch into the rings simultaneously, both emitting a high-pitched whistle.

From what I could tell, the etchings on both rings were identical in every way.

“Hamil!” Astrid shouted, her face strained. “If performing a spell backwards erases it, what do you think happens when you overlap two identical ones?”

The look on the boy’s face gradually changed from one of confusion, to one of surprise as both blood red rings started to move, overlapping each other and syncing perfectly. What remained was much darker of a red color with an even louder whistle emanating from it.

Damian had grown visibly exhausted from his struggle against the Plague Beast. His attacks had become slower and his aura thinner. The creature, however, suddenly turned towards the group of mages and Astrid who stood with her menacing magic ring, ready to fire. The creature quickly dashed towards the woman, though not quick enough. The blood red ring flashed a brilliant light as an enormous ball of flames rocketed towards the beast, exploding on impact. The explosion expanded out, absorbing the entirety of the Plague beast, a good portion of the guard post and a large amount of the ground. The explosion faded fast, leaving nothing behind besides smoldering rock and dirt.

Seeing that the Plague Beast had been defeated, everyone in the caravan, even Sir Duncan, began to cheer. Even I would have, given the chance. Damian raised both fists to the sky, then fell flat on his back as his already thinned aura faded. Bark took this opportunity to leap from Hamil’s arms and run to the exhausted man. Anyone could tell that the man dreaded what the wooden dog would do, but it simply curled up beside him. Astrid nearly collapsed as her aura quickly dissipated. Luckily, she caught her footing and was able to keep herself upright.

“What you just did was incredibly dangerous.” Pert spoke in a low, cold tone. “You could have easily burned through your own heart.”

“Lighten… Lighten up, old man.” Astrid replied snidely, taking time to catch her breath. “I didn’t see you fighting out there. And what do you know about magic?”

Pert didn’t reply, but turned towards the crater that had been left behind.