27. Survival

Haruka's hands were full of blue sparks as she prepared to fight the Hachimorph. Kazuki stood by her side, his hand already with a flickering flame. When the deviant heard and turned towards them, Kazuki had already released a fire stream. The flames made the deviant flinch and shriek, quickly extending its right tentacles to dash towards the left side of the storeroom. Haruka dashed forward and prepared her lightning. Despite that, the deviant reacted and extended two tentacles curled up as maces to strike at her. She was forced to evade the attacks. Next Kazuki released another wave of flames, which the Hachimorph counter attacked with a water stream. Kazuki had to stop his magic and crouch behind a container.

Hearing a powerful swooshing sound, Kazuki rolled to the side. One tentacle came crashing down and split the container in half. Haruka used the chance to launch lightning at the deviant, which extended one tentacle: its middle section touched the ground and its tip received the lightning attack. The Hachimorph got hurt, but only on that tentacle, allowing it to quickly hurl two other appendages towards Haruka who dashed behind it. Despite that, the deviant quickly prepared more tentacles to attack her, when Kazuki sent a concentrated ice stream towards its eyes. Feeling the shards on its eyes, the Hachimorph flailed and both Kazuki and Haruka retreated farther from it, on opposite sides.

The three of them took a breath. Kazuki used his right hand to send fire towards the Hachimorph. When the deviant committed on its evasion, he used his left hand to flame it. The monster screamed in pain and sent four tentacles towards Kazuki, who started running around. Haruka saw that and used her lightning towards the roof to cause a thunder which drew the deviant's attention. It turned towards Haruka while she hid behind a red container. The deviant caused another swoosh and sent its tentacle crashing on top of the container. As it crashed, however, the Hachimorph was electrocuted, because Haruka charged the container as much as she could with her electromancy.

The deviant was stunned and Haruka had to take a breath. Meanwhile, Kazuki used his ice on the four tentacles closer to him. The tentacles shrunk with the cold and would be unable to move for a minute or two. Seeing the Hachimorph weakened, Kazuki got closer and prepared a large fireball to try and finish the deviant. He bent his knees, and used both his hands to channel his fire. He slowly pulled back his hands as the fireball grew in size and heat. When it was the size of his head, he prepared his right hand to launch it. It was then that he noticed the deviant's four now spear-shaped tentacles opposite to him hurling towards him. Instinctively, Kazuki held his fireball in front of him as protection.

Kazuki felt a powerful push on his right side and then an impact on his left. He was on the floor, looking up as his fireball spread towards the roof, disappearing. When he looked to the side, he saw the origin of the push, Haruka. She was standing up in front of him, with her hands filled with a blue sparking light. Kazuki got up and the deviant attacked Haruka with its tentacles. To each tentacle, she responded with lightning, keeping each at bay. She defended one, two, three, four tentacles. Then another four. At each hit, the monster was hurt with lightning. Then, the next two attacks got Haruka on her left leg and right side, even though the deviant was eletrocuted.

- "Are you alright?" - shouted Kazuki.
- "Yes, we need to continue." - Haruka replied. Kazuki finally returned to he fight, with two fire streams, to each side. Haruka released lightning in the middle, forcing the deviant to jump away from them. Kazuki saw blood in Haruka's clothes.
- "Stop! I can fight alone." - he said.
- "I'm just grazed, I will stand my ground" - Haruka's confident face hid her pain. - "freeze this bastard!" - Kazuki was startled, but complied, he jumped forward and sent a powerful ice stream towards the deviant and yet again it was stunned. Haruka jumped towards the other side to electrocute the Hachimorph. It used two tentacles to defend itself and the shocks didn't reach its head. Kazuki sent intense flames to the deviant's head, who was burned.

Haruka and Kazuki stopped their magic to observe and recompose. The deviant was standing still and had fire burns on its head, and smoke from the lightning and ice shards on a few of its tentacles. Much to their dismay, it was not long before the Hachimorph shrieked and used its tentacles to try and strike at them. Both agents reacted quickly and dodged the attacks. However, this time, they had to continue running to avoid more and more tentacle attacks, which alternated between trying to impale and strike at them. Kazuki ran observing the environment and sent an icy wind towards the roof, hitting a large rectangular metal structure with long lamps, supported by steel cords. Haruka sent lightning towards the Hachimorph, which was forced to defend. At the same time, Kazuki prepared and released a wave of flames towards the same metal structure. The thermal shock made the steel give in and the structure fell on the deviant's head.

Again, Haruka and Kazuki tried to catch a break. The Hachimorph was seeming defeated, when it used four tentacles to remove the structure and throw it away. Both agents crouched behind containers to avoid the object. A scream filled the storeroom as the deviant started flailing its tentacles. It also moved around and destroyed containers in its wake.

- "It is berserk." - said Haruka.
- "I have and idea. Distract it. I will attack. You approach it. When I shout you use all lightning power you can muster."
- "Alright."

Haruka jumped away from the container and started releasing lightning towards its tentacles. The deviant continued flailing and moved towards Haruka, even though it was continuously electrocuted. Kazuki also got up. He took a breath and prepared a powerful flame stream. His hands shone with a bright red. He moved his body like he was launching a baseball and released a blazing fire towards the Hachimorph. The monster burned and in response spit a high pressure water stream. Instead of avoiding it, Kazuki used all his might to hold the water with the power of the fire. His entire body was tense, his eyes were red and he extended both of his hands which released the fire. The monster stopped flailing and mustered all its power on its water stream. Due to that, slowly, the water was getting closer to Kazuki. He pushed and pushed, but the monster was overwhelming him. When he was at his absolute limit he shouted:

- "Now!" - Haruka had sneaked right beside the deviant's mouth and released her lightning directly on the water stream. She was tense and used all the power she could channel. The deviant was thoroughly electrocuted and flailed around. The water stream got weaker and Kazuki jumped to the side. Haruka's eyes were of a bright blue and she continued her lightning until the water stream stopped and the monster gave in. All its tentacles were loose, and its eyes closed. The Hachimorph was dead.