42 — Tigebat, II

Tigebat doesn't even have time to react.

And Joezand's already in front of it.

The demon tries to swipe at him, but he dodges easily. Joezand attacks, cutting deep against the beast's neck. He can't quite decapitate it, but his blade is coated in the creature's pink blood. Tigebat takes the opportunity to bite down on Joezand's forearm, but the prince doesn't even feel any pain as his arm drips crimson. He simply stabs the demon in the throat with his dagger, again and again, until it lets go.

The beast jumps back, as it looks at Joezand.

Its pupils are contracted. Its eyes are wide.

It is afraid.

The creature spreads its wings once more. It glances towards the exit for a bit, but shakes its head. It looks at Joezand and dives down, buzzing close to the ground as it tries to claw at him. Joezand sidesteps and cuts at one of the wings. It flies off the demon's body, as it loses control and its entire body starts to spin, before ramming head-first into a wall.

It has no time to recover before Joezand runs towards it again and jumps on its back. Tigebat is able to shake the prince off, but not before sustaining a few thrusts and cuts to the torso. There's blood gushing out of the demon's very wound, and it seems to be slightly out of it. Finally getting weaker. It looks at the exit again, but refocuses on the prince.

The beast tries to attack Joezand, but he parries and counter-attacks. More blood gushes. The creature looks more and more tired. The swipes and bites get slower and easier to dodge, while the cuts seem to draw more and more blood. The prince himself is starting to feel a bit of exhaustion, as he glances back at the ring. The brightness seems to have slightly faded, but Tigebat's still in a worse position than he is.

Joezand takes the opportunity to look at his companions. Agnes is trying to keep Louise quiet, looking at Joezand with bewilderment as he fights against the beast like one himself. Iaomai passed out after healing himself enough to not die, and Lorelai's still unconscious. He sees Anneliese's fingers twitch slightly, as her hand grabs one of Iaomai's discarded arrows, seemingly by reflex.

He turns back to the creature, thrusting against its eye. It narrowly misses, as Tigebat is able to pounce at him. Joezand tries for another thrust, to the chest this time, but the beast jumps off rather quickly. Instead, it starts to run.

Towards Anneliese.

Sunnaria was right. This demon is a total coward. It somehow understood that Anneliese was the most important to him.

Joezand runs after the beast, but feels the lethargy on his body. The ring's light gets dimmer and dimmer as he starts to feel the exhaustion and pain. The creature raises its paw, ready to attack the helpless Anneliese...

Who seems to wake up.

She grips the arrow on her hand tightly and shoves it on Tigebat's forearm, as its attack stops. It screeches out in pain and tries for another swipe, but Joezand arrives just in time to parry it. Anneliese gets up slowly, hand on her head.

"W-What happened?" She asks.

"Too much." Joezand says as he keeps his eyes on the beast, waiting for it to attack. "Find your hammer and give me a hand here."

"Y-Yes, Prince Joezand!" She starts running around, looking for her weapon.

The Tigebat tries to rush for Anneliese again as she moves away, but Joezand moves to block its path.

"You're not going to kill her." Joezand says. "And you're not going to leave, either."

He thrusts towards the beast's eyes, puncturing one and taking it off cleanly this time, as it slowly rolls out of his rapier. The creature's remaining eye looks at the exit again in desperation.

And even though it's a demon... Joezand's starting to feel bad for it. While it hasn't said anything, they still have their own language and thoughts. They can communicate. Just like the changeling and the bandits, they all could think. They had aspirations, lives, dreams.

He feels like he's been bullying this creature. It could barely fight back for the last couple of minutes.

But then he looks at the blood across the room. Not the pink, the red. Blood from his friends. His own blood.

It didn't hesitate when it tried to kill Anneliese before they even attacked it. It didn't hesitate when it kidnapped Louise.

So why should he?

Tigebat tries to move towards the exit, ignoring Joezand, Anneliese, and everyone else.

But the prince can't allow that.

Joezand thrusts at the creature's side, going deep enough to puncture organs. That traps it for long enough for Anneliese to find her weapon and run towards the Tigebat. She raises her hammer and pummels its head with the blunt side of her warhammer. The beast falls to the ground, as Anneliese keeps beating it until the demon's head is nothing but viscera painting the ground.

Joezand immediately falls to the ground, lying on his back, panting heavily.

He sees the purplish energy coming out from the Tigebat's body, and he just stretches his hand next to it, as his ring immediately absorbs the soul. His accessory starts glowing again.

'You were reckless.' Sunnaria comments. 'You nearly used up all of the ring's energy!'

'I know.' He replies.

'And violent too!' Sunnaria says. 'I didn't know you had that in you.'

'I don't really want to think about that.' He sighs. 'God, I'm just... so tired."

'Fine, fine. I'll leave you to rest.' Sunnaria replies.

"Hey, Anneliese?" Joezand calls out to her.

"Yes, Prince Joezand?" She replies, panting from her exertion.

"Can you... please check on the others? I need to rest for a bit."

"Alright!" She replies and runs off to the side.

He keeps staring at the dark cave ceiling, the cold floor against his back.

The exhaustion really caught up to him.

Not just from the fight. But from everything. His death. The whole month spent training to fight Pult. The rocky trip to Kivul. The fight against the bandits and Florian's changeling.

It's extremely tiring. But it also feels... pretty good?

Weird. It's like he just completed the world's biggest workout. This is pure... what's it called again? Endorphins?

He sighs, satisfied, as he takes this moment to catch his breath.