41 — Tigebat, I

Iaomai runs towards Anneliese to heal her. Lorelai goes to the other side of the Tigebat after being blessed by Agnes, while Louise runs away from the beast. Smart girl.

Joezand thrusts his rapier towards the Tigebat, and the creature dodges rather easily. It does a full turn quickly, slapping the prince with its tail and turning to Lorelai to claw at her armor. Joezand tumbles to the side as he feels the sting on his cheek. Lorelai stands her ground, narrowly missing a cut at the creature's limb. Luckily she isn't unprotected like Anneliese, but it does do a fair amount of damage to the iron. More than a sword would.

Tigebat tries to bite at Lorelai, who puts her sword in front of herself, holding it with two hands. The creature still gnaws at the steel, as Lorelai has to step back. Joezand gets up, cutting at the beast's back legs. Pink blood gushes out as the beast groans and Lorelai removes her weapon from its maw. Tigebat turns back around and swipes at Joezand. He's able to parry the claws, but the impact still sends him flying like a ragdoll. He expected the demon to be strong, but...

The beast licks its lips, eyeing Iaomai as it grumbles something unintelligible. That's probably speech of some kind, but nothing that he can understand. It tries pouncing on the kneeling butler, but he stops healing Anneliese for a bit to roll out of the way.

"Crap..." Iaomai says. "I need more time to close her wounds."

"Let me buy you some." Lorelai rushes forward to protect the two, as Iaomai drags Anneliese out of harm's way. Joezand gets up, and the sight of his maid trailing blood on the floor makes him sick, as he rushes to deal with the Tigebat again. Instead of flanking him from the front and back, now the prince and the knight are facing the demon side by side.

Tigebat tries to bite Joezand and swipe at Lorelai. Lorelai parries and counter-attacks to a cut to its paw. Joezand waits for it to approach with its maw open, as he uses the opportunity to thrust the rapier at the back of its throat. It coughs up a good amount of blood, as Lorelai takes the opportunity to deliver a large cut to the creature's muzzle, which makes it bleed even more. It tries to bite again, but...

A rock hits its head.

It looks to the side with a scornful expression, as the pebble lands next to its back leg.

They glance to the side, seeing... Louise. With a pile of rocks on her hand. Agnes is by her side.

They then gaze back at the rock, seeing it glow. They both jump back as it explodes, one of the creature's limbs blowing up into bright pink. It screeches in pain, until an arrow passes by Joezand's ear and hits the Tigebat above the eye socket. He glances back and sees Iaomai, bow at the ready, while Anneliese's back seems to have been partially healed. He can't help but sigh in relief.

"Gruh... GRUAHHHHHHHH!" The beast's bellow recaptures his attention, as the ground rumbles with the sound. The wings on its back spread out, as it starts flying through the air. Iaomai tries to shoot at one of the wings, but misses as the Tigebat maneuvers out of the way.

It dives close to the ground and glides towards Iaomai at high speed. He tries jumping out of the way again, but the beast's claws slice his arm deeply, as he falls to the ground. His bow is thrown to the ground, while his arrows roll across all sides of the room. He quickly puts his palm on his own wound, as the Tigebat takes flight again.

"I-Iaomai!" Agnes looks up, seeing that the Tigebat is looking at Louise. "Crap." It moves faster than Lorelai or Joezand can react, flying towards the child. Agnes lets go of one of her crutches as she pulls the kid away from the creature. The animal bites at air as both of them fall to the ground, Agnes being unable to move. The Tigebat goes up again, now eyeing Lorelai.

"We can't do anything against him." Lorelai says. "I should've brought my own bow, then—"

"Watch out!" Joezand says as the beast sinks low again, trying for a direct hit against Lorelai. Joezand tries to cut at the creature's wings as it flies towards Lorelai, barely missing as it cuts deep into it's side, at least. Lorelai uses her sword to hit the muzzle again as it crashes into her. The knight is sent flying, as she hits her entire body on the cave's wall. Her eyes close immediately, as her body ragdolls to the ground. The tiger then looks at him.

He glances at his companions. Iaomai's almost passing out due to the blood loss on his arm, barely clinging on to heal himself. Anneliese is still apparently out of commission. Lorelai's probably unconscious. Agnes is unable to stand up. Even Louise is trembling in fear.

The only one who can beat the demon is him.

'Sunnaria?' Joezand thinks, nervously. 'Would be a really good time for that thing we talked about. I really need the boost.'

'Okay. I'll focus all the energy of the souls inside the ring at the combat function. I'll turn off the communication function for now.' Sunnaria says. 'Good luck. And don't you dare die.'

'Wouldn't dream of it.'

He starts feeling a spring in his step, as his body seems to cool off. He grips his rapier and dagger, looking deep into the Tigebat's eyes. The purple glow of the room fades as his ring's bright blue light fills the antechamber up.

"Let's dance, then." He says, determined.

As he runs towards Tigebat.