SMASH!
The blur hurtled past Bie, the boy narrowly avoiding the rapidly approaching onslaught the creature saw fit to give. A withered tree limply fell over, its bodice laced with cracks, and the creature slowly got up and whipped its own frame around, as if it was finally gauging its opponents.
Minutes passed, the two sides thoroughly examining one another. This gave the squad ample time to view the creature, who seemed oddly composed compared to its feral looking nature.
This demon was a beast on all fours, its fur wreathed in gold, dotted with blackened circles, and sharp like steel needles. On its neck was a red necklace of prayer beads, and it wore ripped strands of Buddhist style robes. Its head was completely covered from the neck up in a red, crystalline helm, and heavy breathing as well as slavering drool could be heard from it. Peeking out of the cracks of the helm, two metallic horns with the appearance of deer branches shone with a pale sheen.
Spit hit the ground, and the demon charged. Simultaneously, Casmere dashed forward. signaling Lulac to take the front and Bie to attack the flank with his free hand. Gyuho's blunt weaponry wouldn't be as effective due to the nature of the demon's fur, so he figured he would have to go for the head.
Wanxi stepped back and gathered her Ink, focusing on the Component she wished to integrate in order to form a spell. With the image of the spell in mind and words to guide the description, she slowly began to "communicate" with the component with a series of gestures reminiscent of the spell she wished to cast.
"Gyu, take the front, kay?" Bie uttered as he slid underneath the swinging paws of the demon and hewed at the hind leg. Ekulech glanced off, proving that the demon's hide was quite sturdy, and that he would have to put a lot more strength into his strikes.
"Purple Mansion: Sting!" Lulac gathered his own Ink and executed the technique, pointing his beam saber towards one of the demon's joints with the intent to pierce. The heat emitted from the saber sizzled the fur as it advanced, and Lulac succeeded in making a small, singed, hole.
"GRAAAORRRORRR!" This pissed off the Foul Clothed Trestbeast, however, and it smashed its frame to the side and sent Lulac tumbling a couple meters in the air. Bie jumped up and arrived on its back, increasing his weight greatly in the hopes of smashing some of the demon's bones, as well as keeping it restrained. To his surprise, the beast's fur gleamed with a green haze, and it was able to keep upright despite the cumbersome weight atop its spine!
The deer horns took on a deep verdant tint as similarly green particles gathered around the "mouth" of the helm, and the demon let out a massive shockwave as it dispersed the collected energy! Seeing this, Wanxi hurriedly changed the image in her head and casted something else, while Gyuho stepped into his own shadow.
"Ram Shield!" A transparent, white shield formed out of crackling arcs of lightning appeared before her and reduced the impact of the shockwave to nothingness. The energy consumed to create it began to wane, however, and it started to fade. Though, it still had a bit of energy left, so it simply stood in front of Wanxi's frame as she began another spell.
Casmere wasn't so lucky though, his body crashing into a tree as his wheel glowed. The cloth around his face became wet with scarlet liquid, and he could feel his skin tearing on the rough bark. The glow of the wheel alleviated some pain, however, as it diffused a shimmering light onto his body. He stood up, shrug his shoulders, and picked up his pick before running towards the demon once again.
Bie's increased weight prevented him from being flung around, though his skin had to bear the full force of the strength of the attack. Thin lines pelted his visible skin as black blood seeped through the wounds, and he spat out some more. His blood began pumping though, his body gradually heating up as he started to take rhythmic breaths.
He ground his heel into the beast's furred flesh, the imprint of a smiling maw hanging behind his lower back as he sported a sinister smile in turn. Ekulech began to float as his pupils turned into white healing signs, his iris filled with falling white crosses. From his bag he withdrew two bone spears, and he jumped up, disrupting the beast's swings due to the sudden removal of weight.'
Where his feet were, two sharpened blades took their place. Bie increased the weight of his arms specifically, aiding it with suppressive force as he dug the spear up to one third of its pole into the demon. Cracks were quickly forming along the length of the weapons, but Bie's eyes glimmered and formed two crescent moons as he had another idea.
Directing the suppressive force, he cloaked the weapons with it before willing it to "hold" it together. Even if the weapon broke, it would temporarily be forced into his shape as long as he could direct the force correctly, though as he did this, he discovered that it was putting a lot of strain on his brain. A dull headache began to protest as he wrestled with his suppressive force, though he got it to do what he wanted.
"You guys should concentrate on attacking it together, now!" Bie's strained voice was barely above a whisper, but the four could pick up on his meaning as he directed his eyes towards each and every one of them and inclined his head downwards. And if that wasn't enough, he hurriedly raised a hand to perform a slitting gesture on his neck, before putting it back down on the blade.
Ekulech's other body materialized beneath the floating hand axe, running down the side of the demon as it swiped it legs around. Dim, greyish white particles surrounded its claws before turning black, and it was able to rake across the demon's flesh. Green blood fell onto the ground for the first time in the fight.
Casmere arrived back at the demon and jumped, the pick pointed out towards a crack in the helm as his legs were held tightly to the right side of his body. With a soft shunk, the pick was covered in green liquid, and he glided back up into the sky with a decisive jump before unleashing a series of gestures as his wheel began spinning intensely.
Surround the beast, seven phantasmic humanoids, with ghostly weapons shaped like the pick, held a hand behind their back as they lunged forward and pierced it from all sides. Lulac's waxen wing carried him to the flank, and he drew a smoking crevice on the side of its hide right above the legs.
"Ram Shot!" Energy condensed on the tip of the flag, compressing before a beam of crackling thunder was released. Wanxi's spell landed exactly on the wound Lulac had left, burning that spot of the fur black as the crackling energy teared at the demon's muscles. As it attempted to strike in retaliation, Bie pulled on one of the spears and caused it to falter due to the pain.
Gyuho slowly approached the beast, bat held in hand as he was about to begin pummeling its helmet enclosed skull. But before he could do so, the demon seemed to be gaining a second wind...