The Great Demon tore free from the collapsing wall of sand in a shower of stone and dust, its colossal frame dragging trenches through the earth with every movement. What had once looked like a wave was merely the wake of its advance.
It had not appreciated being robbed.
Its cavernous jaws opened again, releasing a roar so deep the dunes shuddered and folded inward.
Upon a closer look, Mahoraga realized the Great Demon was a grotesque fusion of bat and hedgehog — a colossal abomination with a bloated, leathery body, vast membranous wings folded along its sides, and countless obsidian quills jutting from its spine like a forest of spears.
Its face was worse.
The elongated snout of some burrowing beast split open into a cavernous maw lined with grinding teeth, while its ears rose high and ragged, twitching to every vibration in the desert. Its eyes were milky eyes and blind, staring at nothing.
"Dharma, can't you lure something stronger here to kill this thing?" Mahoraga asked with an exhausted gasp.
"Oh, certainly. I'll kill this beast with a stronger beast, then kill that one with an even stronger beast, then that one with another stronger beast. Tell me, is that exhibitive noggin of yours still functioning?"
The Demon shrieked.
The sound hit the dunes in concentric ripples, and the sand itself jumped. A probing scream that raced across the battlefield and returned with everything it touched.
Mahoraga felt it skim across his skin.
"It hunts by sound," he muttered.
"And vibrations, captain obvious," Dharma added. "Meaning your heavy-footed stomping is basically ringing a dinner bell."
Mahoraga clicked his tongue and changed direction sharply.
Behind them, the Great Demon adjusted instantly, its head snapping toward their new path before its monstrous body followed. Despite its size, it moved with terrifying precision.
Its wings spread.
And the desert dimmed beneath their shadow.
"Oh, now it can fly?" Mahoraga barked dryly.
"It's a bat, you dimwitted twat."
With one thunderous beat, the creature launched itself skyward. Sand blasted outward in a crater as its bulk rose, then dove toward them, launching a spray of sharp quills at them like a tornado.
Mahoraga's face immediately darkened, Not good.
Without a moment to waste, he placed his hand on the ground — reaching into the ruined vine network, he vanished along with Dharma a second before the impact.
Mahoraga reappeared atop a distant ridge, breathing harder than before.
Normally, anything shaped through an Aspect would fade once its wielder died. Floreen's power was an exception. Her plants were not mere constructs, but genuine lifeforms brought into being. She had not been summoning imitations — she had been creating life itself, and life itself did not vanish easily.
Dharma squinted at him.
"You do realize teleporting leaves vibrations at both ends, right?"
Mahoraga went still.
"…Why didn't you say that sooner?"
"Because watching you learn under pressure is funny… obviously because I didn't know you were going to teleport!"
Mahoraga spared him a glance, "You don't have to be so rude you know, your personality is a piece of work."
Dharma bared his tiny fangs. "My oh my, that's rich coming from you, you apathetic bastard! Since you clearly lack the wit to realize it, allow me to enlighten you — we're connected on a very deep level. Soul-deep, in fact. So let me tell—"
"What the fuck." Mahoraga interrupted, clearly disgusted, "Is this some weird sex bond thing?"
"What?! No! This is a perfectly normal, master and familiar bond that will let me feel what you feel."
Mahoraga stared at him in revulsion.
"That somehow made it worse… whatever I don't care."
Mahoraga turned his attention back to the Demon who had been lured away by the chaos of the war.
Spears of stone burst from the earth, only to be annihilated a beat later beneath a descending arc of blue flame. Across the battlefield, powers collided in violent flashes.
Then the Great Demon descended.
Men and beasts alike vanished beneath its shadow. A moment later, screams followed — humans, monsters, impossible to distinguish.
An entire cluster of soldiers, still locked in combat with one another, were swallowed whole along with sand and blood. The grinding snap of its teeth drowned out their final cries.
It did not distinguish friend from foe, human from monster.
Everything was meat to it.
"We need to kill it," Mahoraga concluded.
Dharma blinked at him.
"We?"
"Yes, we."
"There is no we here," Dharma shook his head. "There is you making catastrophically poor decisions, and me suffering proximity damage."
"Could you be helpful for once!"
Mahoraga finally snapped, the rage he had been bottling over the past few months boiled over all at once.
"All you ever do is sneer, make snide little comments, and criticize everything I do instead of actually helping! You call yourself my familiar, yet every time I need something, all I get is sarcasm and useless observations!"
Dharma recoiled and growled.
"My oh my, forgive me for not applauding your every suicidal impulse," he shot back. "You hurl yourself at anything stronger than you, improvise, then bank on me to clean up the disaster. Hell, you jumped face first into the Second Nightmare as a Sleeper for God's sake!"
"At least I do something!"
"And at least I think before acting!"
Mahoraga's eyes twitched.
"Oh, you think?" he barked back. "Could've fooled me. From where I'm standing, all you do is complain."
Dharma clicked his tongue. "What exactly is your problem?"
"My problem," Mahoraga said, "is that you act like a commentator. "I didn't ask for someone to sit on my shoulder and catalogue every mistake I make in real time. I asked for a partner."
He looked at the dragon directly. "And what I got was something that belittles me, complains all the time, and makes fun of me."
Dharma's ears flattened slightly.
"And my problem," he shot back, "is that you keep throwing yourself into things you don't fully understand, then act surprised when it goes wrong. I don't correct you for fun — I do it because someone has to stop you from dying stupidly."
"Then say that," Mahoraga said, after a moment. "Just — say that. Instead of wrapping it in insults every single time."
"The insults come naturally."
"I know. Try your best to avoid being an ass."
Dharma held his gaze for a while before shaking his head in dismay and sighing, "Fine, fine. From now onwards no commentary, no sniping. Alright?"
"Alright."
Dharma stretched his neck, "So… let's break down what we've gathered."
Mahoraga nodded.
"It reacts to vibration, sound, and disturbances — similar to me. It's got sharp quills and a really furry body!"
Dharma paused, running the information through his mind, then let out a short, almost disbelieving chuckle.
"Sound… vibration…" he muttered, licking his lips. "I can't believe I missed that." He tilted his head toward Mahoraga, his eyes sharpening with a sudden gleam.
"Care to explain for the idiots of the class?"
"The Demon senses through its ears, like how you rely on your wings to read the air. Take that away, and it's just a massive target flailing in place." His voice dropped. "And then we put it down."
"That's all well and good," Mahoraga said, "but how exactly does one kill a Great Demon?"
"Simple really," he said casually. "We need something big, something destructive, something explosive… a bomb. Yes, a bomb should suffice."
As Mahoraga mulled it over, small fractures began to form in Dharma's reasoning.
"How do we build a bomb in a desert?" Mahoraga said with a frown. "And even if we did, a mundane explosive barely rattles a Dormant Beast — how is that supposed to kill a Great Demon?"
Dharma shook his head, visibly disappointed.
"I'm not talking about a mundane bomb," he said, his eyes sharpening. "Listen closely, pay attention…"
Mahoraga's frown remained. But as Dharma spoke, his expression slowly crumbled, the skepticism left his face all at once — and instead, a wide, unmistakable grin replaced it.
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A/N - Sorry for not uploading in these past few days guys, I got really sick and had to get admitted to a hospital, just got discharged today lol.