The sun above the forest was now beginning to set, and the light from the sunset was peeking through the leaves of the treeline above.
On the forest floor below the Ape's soulless eyes bore into the Ḥāmin that was facing off against it.
The Ḥāmin was evidently locked in it's gaze, and Draco could see the man falter and sway in whatever trance he was stuck in.
Draco recalled how the Ape had previously done the same thing to him, and he shuddered realizing that he would have definitely been dead if the Ape hadn't gotten distracted by different prey.
Draco expected to promptly see the Ḥāmin get pulverized under the Ape's giant fists, but he was surprised to see the man snap out of his reverie!
The Ḥāmin's head snapped back into awareness, and he quickly jumped out of the way of the Ape.
He was just in time, for the Ape slammed into the ground where the man was, leaving a small crater that threw around waves of dirt and rocks.
Seeing that it had missed its prey, the Ape screeched in anger. Draco gulped when heard the creature's bellow, for its wrath was palpable.
The Ape then turned back to the man and was already poised to strike again.
Draco doubted the Ḥāmin could hold off against a creature this powerful for long.
However, what happened next shocked him, for the man executed a technique he had previously seen in the Ḥāmin tower.
The man took a few steps forward, and it looked like he was climbing the air! With each footstep golden light would appear beneath his feet, and he used this gold light as a staircase of sorts to climb into the air.
In a few quick movements the Ḥāmin was already above the Ape, and he got airborne in just enough time to avoid being tackled by the creature as it came barreling into his previous position.
Draco watched in amazement as the Ḥāmin jumped from a golden platform to land a sharp heel-kick on the Ape's head.
The force of the kick sent wind blasting around it from the pressure, and it sent the Ḥāmin flying back upwards. He caught himself with another platform, and skipped around the air as he began to circle the Ape.
The massive creature seemed unphased by the Ḥāmin's attack though, and if anything Draco thought that it just looked angrier.
The Ape followed the circling Ḥāmin's figure with its bloodshot eyes, but the Ḥāmin was extremely nimble and could leap to a position on the Ape's blindspot almost instantly.
Whenever he would see an opportunity the Ḥāmin would send out a punch or a kick towards the Ape that would land with thunderous impact.
Unfortunately, these hits were evidently doing little more than pissing the Ape off.
Draco looked at Demetri and saw that he was seemingly lost in thought.
"What do we do? Should we make a run for it while the Ape is distracted?" he asked
Demetri turned to Draco and shook his head, "I don't think that would be smart, the monkey will definitely hunt us down at this rate."
He pointed at the fight below them, "The Ḥāmin down there is putting up the biggest fight I've seen so far, this might be our chance."
Draco was confused, "Our chance? What possible chance do we have against that thing?"
Demetri chuckled darkly, "Alone the Ḥāmin might not be able to take the monkey out, but the three of us? Maybe."
Hearing this, Draco didn't know whether or not he should laugh or cry.
"I didn't know you had a death wish, Demetri." Draco said.
However, instead of replying Demetri just jumped down from his branch and began to travel towards the battle below.
Cursing his bad luck, Draco began to follow Demetri, but he kept his distance to see how things would play out first.
He was tempted to simply leave Demetri there and make a run for it, but Draco wasn't the type of person to leave a friend behind.
Abandoning a stranger was one thing, but Draco had grown fond of Demetri in the day they had spent together.
Leaving Demetri behind would definitely leave a sour taste in his mouth, so Draco simply sucked it up and followed Demetri down the tree.
Demetri landed a hundred or so feet above the Ḥāmin, who was currently unaware of Demetri's presence since he was engaged in a life or death battle with the deadly ape-creature.
Demetri waited until the Ḥāmin was in the air above the ape in between attacks, and then loudly cleared his throat.
"Ḥāmin, you look to be in dire straights. Would you like some assistance?" he shouted, looking below him with an arrogance that Draco found almost comical.
Demetri's sudden appearance surprised the Ḥāmin, and he nearly stumbled off of his golden platform as he turned to identify the source of the voice.
The Ḥāmin began to jump into the air to gain some distance from the Ape, making a staircase of golden light as he worked his way upwards towards Demetri.
Once he was within a dozen feet of distance from Demetri he began to move his hands and fingers, attempting to speak to Demetri with sign language.
Seeing this, Demetri could only shrug.
"I can't read sign language, my friend. But I'll help you on one condition. After the monkey is defeated you must swear upon your honor to take no hostile action against me." he asked.
The Ḥāmin thought it over for a few tense seconds before nodding his head solemnly, doing some kind of motion with his hands that Draco couldn't understand.
Draco thought with amusement that it looked almost like the man was throwing up a gang sign.
Once the man had finished he turned back to look down at the Ape who was rampaging below.
The creature was now beginning to climb up after him, and its speed meant that it would reach them in maybe half a minute.
Draco could tell that the Ape had also spotted Demetri. Seeing that he had to act, Draco jumped down from his tree branch to land above Demetri.
Draco's appearance surprised the Ḥāmin even further, putting him on guard.
"Easy, easy. He's with me." Demetri said, causing the Ḥāmin to relax a little.
The three of them then turned to watch the Ape who was growing increasingly closer with each moment.
It was climbing up the tree by gripping its base with its powerful hands, and every time it moved it would fly upwards several feet at a time.
Draco began to worry when he saw that the Ape would be upon them soon, he wondered what they were going to do to stop the creature.
Demetri's voice could be heard below Draco, "Mr. Ḥāmin, if you could so kindly distract the Ape for us before it reaches our position."
The Ḥāmin looked at Demetri for a quick moment, perhaps wondering if this was a trap or not, before realizing that he had no choice.
The Ḥāmin was still standing in mid-air atop a golden platform of light, and upon Demetri's request he began to descend downwards until he was level with the Ape.
Although he was probably twenty feet across from the Ape, he had undoubtedly caught the creature's attention.
While still grabbing onto the tree trunk the Ape turned its head to howl at the Ḥāmin.
The Ḥāmin was unphased by the Ape's provocation though, and he launched himself towards the Ape using a golden platform he had created directly behind him.
The Ḥāmin shot towards the Ape like a bullet, and by the time he reached the creature he struck it with a force that shook the entire base of the tree.
He landed on the Ape's head with both of his feet, and the impact finally seemed to affect the Ape.
The Ape's blood-red eyes glazed over for a moment, and it lost its grip from the tree and began to slide down its length.
Draco watched in amazement as the creature went tumbling off of the tree and broke through numerous branches on its way down.
When Draco and Demetri saw that the Ape was already on the ground, they took this chance to descend as well. It took them only a short minute to reach where the Ape was, but it was already standing at this point and bellowing out with anger.
They quickly reached the forest floor and spread out around the Ape, and the Ḥāmin dropped down to stand a few feet above it.
Draco saw the bloodied corpse of the unfortunate girl from earlier just a few feet away from him, quickly putting it out of his mind to focus on the current battle.
He wondered what they could possibly do to take down such a creature. He didn't have any weapons or special abilities like the man Demetri and him had fought earlier.
Draco was certainly above average strength for a Ḥāmin, but in the world of powered beings he was still nothing more than a foot soldier in comparison to everything else.
He recalled Demetri talking about a "Body Art" earlier, seemingly in reference to the other man's ability to wield the wind as if it was a weapon.
Draco wondered why Amira had never taught him anything like that, and standing off against this frightening monster that could tear him limb for limb, he would do anything to just be by her side again.
While Draco was lost in thought though, the battle had already begun!
The Ape seemed to have lost patience being circled around like it was prey. It beat its fist against its chested and launched itself upwards towards the floating Ḥāmin with frightening speed!
The Ḥāmin tried to climb upwards to avoid being grabbed, but he wasn't quite fast enough.
The Ape grabbed the man's legs and roughly slammed him towards the ground. The Ḥāmin became a white blur as his body was flung towards the forest floor, but a bright flash of golden light suddenly appeared between his body and the floor.
The Ḥāmin had quickly created a golden platform between himself and the ground moments before he slammed into it, and upon the impact the platform shattered into hundreds of golden fragments.
The Ḥāmin's quick thinking had allowed him to disperse the majority of the force before he made contact with the ground, saving him from being crushed into a bloody paste.
However, the impact still knocked the wind out of his lungs and caused him to cough out a mouthful of blood. This was not to mention the fact that the Ape still had a hold of his leg!
Seeing that the Ḥāmin was already about to be taken out, Demetri acted fast and removed the bandage that was wrapped around his arm.
As soon as the bandage was removed blood began to drip down his arm, for the wound was still relatively fresh.
Demetri held his injured arm out towards the Ape, and just when Draco was about to ask what he was planning on doing, the words got stuck in his throat.
This was because Draco was seeing something unthinkable!
The blood from Demetri's wound began to seep out at a faster pace, and it soon coalesced into a solid form!
Demetri's blood had continued to form until it resembled a long spear.
The spear was a crimson red, and it occasionally dripped blood as it shimmered from the light peeking through the leaves of the forest.
Draco shivered as he saw the bloody spear pointing at the Ape, for it was connected to Demetri's arm as if it was an extension of his own body.
'I hope Demetri doesn't have some type of STD, I wouldn't want to be stabbed by that thing.' Draco thought, only half-way joking.