One after another, their blades collided with the cocoon. The sound of metal clashed against an impenetrable armor. Flames scorched fourth, followed by blows of hammer after hammer. 

 

The apparatus showed no sign of weakening. They had attempted to test out the limits of damage it could take, see if there was any weakness, or try and identify gaps in its defense. There was none unfortunately.

 

All of their attacks seemed to do nothing short of fail. At the end of their barrage of assaults, both fire, wind and metal, there seemed to be no definitive change to the structure. The mark that Flinn had pierced through earlier also seemed to disappear. 

 

“Damn. This is one tough carapace.”

 

Meil concluded as well. “It may be better to focus all of our attacks at one single point. Flinn, do you still have the ability to utilize “Sacrificial Rage?”

 

Flinn nodded. “Luckily, I was stopped from using it earlier to its full extent. I can probably sacrifice 30 percent of HP. But if ya want me to fight as well, I can’t be doin no more than that.”

 

Meil nodded. “Very well. That will do.”

 

“Kobul, Rein, you all stand-by. The moment Flinn finishes his technique, that’s when you guys come in. Wedge the wound.”

 

With this, Meil put both of his hands out and began preparing a spell. Flames emerged from his left hand, while a gale of wind appeared in the palms of his right. “Get ready.”

 

Flinn quickly got into his stance. Crouched lower than the ground itself, he finally sprung forth. The burst of speed had him close in the distance quicker than the eye could see. His blade cut through the side the middle of the creature in a side swipe. Then, before even drawing the blade back to reposition the next attack, he carved into the wall. His sword had already gotten in, now was just a matter of leaving a space wide enough to utilize. 

 

As he drew back and all the energy left his body, there, the fruits of his labor stood for all to be seen. A sloppy shaped hole maybe a foot and a half in circumference. It had sustained enough damage. However, just as quickly as before, it began to close up. Immediately Kobul and Rein sprung to action.

 

Jamming his hammer in between the hole, prevented the wound from closing. The thick head of his strong hammer was quickly encompassed by the chitin-like apparatus. With that, Rein stuck her two daggers in the slit end of the cocoon and ran her blades around the circumference of it. 

“Perfect. Don’t let it be easy for it to recover.”

 

“Kobul!” 

 

The giant man grunted and pulled his hammer out of the hole, immediately dodging the next blast to come. With one quick push, a stream of flames filled the hole. An immediate shriek filled the forest. So loud was the shriek that the vibrations could be felt throughout your body. 

 

Unperturbed, Meil continued to walk forward, issuing a stream of flames continuously into the creature’s sanctuary. Finally, he was now just a single foot away from the creature. “And now, you’re finished.” The gale of wind that he was holding in his left hand took the shape of an orb. With the orb at the center, everything around it  was being pushed away in all directions. He launched the orb into the hole and immediately hopped back. Everyone else also retreated at the action. 

 

Within the cocoon, the orb of condensed wind expanded. He was sealing in wind from the atmosphere and condensing it into one tiny little ball. Now that the orb was at the right location, it no longer needed to be held. What occurred next could only be described as a firefighter’s worst nightmare. 

 

The sudden burst of wind escaped into the cocoon in all directions, feeding the flames faster than the flames could eat until suddenly, the flames could no longer hold the pressure. The flames exploded out in all directions. Backdraft. So loud was the explosion, that the force itself knocked everyone off of their feet. 

 

Dust and smoke kicked up along with intense heat. Everyone covered their eyes, no longer able to see anything before them. The sounds of crackling flames could be heard. Nothing else. Silence. The tremors could still be felt coursing through them. 

 

Flinn got up coughing from the inhalation of smoke. “Ah- heh.. Meil you… crazy motherfucker.” He laughed, but quickly came to a cough. “That brain of yours is seriously something dangerous.”

 

Kobul groaned and stretched, crackicking his neck. “Yeah. You might want to tell me about something like that next time you have me launch my hammer.” The force of the explosion had launched his hammer into his breastplate. The dent was huge, and the wound could hardly be called light.  

 

“Ah c;mon Kobul. You’re a big guy. You’ll probably just end up walking it off.” Flinn smeared. 

 

Meil nodded. “I’m sorry. I did not factor that in. I will heal you tomorrow, once I’ve regained my strength.”

 

“In any case, we’re  not  quite done with everything yet.”

 

“We’re not?”

 

“There’s the imposter Kagami.”

 

Meil thought about it. “It could be something else. This may very well be the same Kagami. Perhaps he bumped his head. I’ve heard of cases like that…”

 

“Ah stuff it.” Flinn curled his lip. “There’s just no way. He was fine after the fight. It was only until the red comet.” He stretched his arms. “Besides, there’s no way that man could sustain serious damage like that. You already know his ability.”

 

Meil pondered on it for a little bit. “Yeah yeah, the absolute fortitude.” It was a special passive trait that ran within his family lineage. Though a very uncommon one, there were only a few handfuls in history that described having the ability. Immediately after being hit or making contact with someone, their stats rapidly fall, while his increase. Their speed increases, their fortitude, strength, etc. 

 

“Yeah… Well, it does have it’s weaknesses. It’s only active while he is in contact with them. Whatever happens next, is not part of it. So if he was to be punched and smash his head against a rock for instance. Or if that flame explosion had gotten ahold of him.”

 

Rein chimed in for the first time yet. “You know… there was something strange with what he did earlier. I’ve felt his ability before in spars… this time it was applied long before we reached his body.”

 

“An advancement huh…” Meil sighed. “In any case-” He pushed himself to his feet. “We’ll worry about all of that later. We still have quite enough strength to take him if it’s necess-....”

 

“.....No way…-”

 

“Hm? What is it Mei-...”

 

Standing before them was the creature. Undoubtedly, it was what they had intended to destroy.  The giant creature awaited silently, its multiple lensed eyes watching the group. The smoke had yet to clear, so its visage wasn’t yet visible. It’s wings slowly opened up and closed again. It was stretching them.

 

As the smoke cleared up with each flap of its wings, one could see the creature was relatively unhurt. It was…. A butterfly?

 

The fiend was over 15 meters in size, with the wing span easily encompassing up to 30 meters at its furthest length. With each flap of its wings, dust kicked out. The flames still burned the trees around it, but it was rather unperturbed by this. Instead, its eyes focused on the four individuals that had disturbed it's morphing. 

 

The creature simply continued stretching its wings, while they stared the beast down. They were not quite disturbed by the size of it at all. Rather, they were disturbed by the fact that it had taken no damage. As their eyes scanned the being, not a single scratch was presented. The black wings of the moth held ominous white spots within them. At the very ends of each segment in the wing were hardened thorns. Each the size of a full grown man. 

 

Some areas of the creature looked weaker than others, but aside from that, it appeared to be fully armored. This was definitely not just an abnormally huge insect. A sense of danger was quickly filling the hearts of the beholders. 

 

Kobul got up and held his hammer straight. He was the first to steel himself, boosting the moral of all the others. They too grabbed their weapons and got ready for combat. 

 

The moment the group all got into position, the creature stopped moving. It was entirely still. Not a single muscle dare twitched. This was what one might call a fatal standoff. There was energy being built up between both parties. The first time one of them makes a move, will be when they could no longer turn back. 

 

“C’mon guys. We can easily take this thing down!” Flinn shouted, utilizing his ability yet again. He boosted his energy for the last reserves of health left. If he kept it down to just 10 percent remaining, and maintained the amount of energy he had over a longer period of time, he could easily come out of this one with only a coma for a week or so. 

 

He dashed forward before any of them could react. “No! Flinn, don’t act on your own!” The creature seemed to have recognized Finn's energy. It was the thing that was disturbing his sleep. It immediately flapped its wings just once. A gale of sharp piercing winds flew forward towards the group. Meil immediately set up a perimeter and blocked all of the attacks aimed at the group with a shield of wind.

 

As the wind shield fell apart, blood dotted the currents. Droplets pelted him and everyone else around him like rain. There was a moment of confusion as Meil tried to wonder where the liquid was coming from, but as he observed his surroundings, he found nothing. No, there was something. Near the moth’s face, was just a pair of feet. They were Flinn’s shoes. A giant splatter of blood painted the ground underneath them. Just like that, he was killed as if an insignificant insect.

 

It was then, that they knew… they’ve committed a terrible mistake.

 

A sound began to fill the atmosphere. It was the sound of screams… no… groaning and moaning. They were moans of one that was being tortured over and over. Weeping, and stifled screams continued to fill the atmosphere. The voices ranged from children, to elderly, men, to women, dogs, cats, babies. The conglomeration of noise was so loud it felt as if one's head was going to explode. It was the sound of masses of people dying slowly. 

 

Meil clutched his head and slowly stepped back. “W-what… is this.” He fortified his mind to make sure it wasn’t illusion magic, yet the noises still persisted. As he finally opened his eyes and saw the creature. It was beginning to fly.

 

It was no illusion. He was actually just hearing the sound of the creature’s wings… It shrieked once more before, flapping its wings at them. Wind shot fourth and he immediately put up his defense again, believing it to be the same slicing attack as before. Yet nothing happened. It was simply the force exerted from flying.

 

“Wings that sound like death…. What kind of creature is that…”

 

Kobul glared at the being in the sky. 

 

Tears flowed down Rein’s face. “Flinn’s really gone… like that?... that- that… idiot.” Whatever feelings she had, she did not have the time to express them. Against this monster which absolutely defied everything, they couldn’t help but feel only fear.

 

“We should have listened to Kagami…” she gritted her teeth.

 

“That may be so… but now is not the time to revise what we should have done.” 

 

Meil charged up his flames and prepared for the same strategy as before. The flames blasted fourth at the creature, who only remained hovering over them. Immediately he launched an orb of wind into the fray. The explosion was not as big as before, but it was certainly still powerful.

 

The sounds of death persisted to fill everyone’s ears. Then before the wind could clear up, Rein began to convulse vehemently. Foaming at the mouth as tremors took over her entire body.

 

Meil immediately stopped his onslaught and ran over to Rein. “Rein!? Rein!!” He ran over to her and grabbed her body, placing her on the ground and immediately beginning to cast a healing spell. “What in--.... What in the world is going on. What happened to you?? Are you okay!?” 

 

Blood began to pour out of her ears, her eyes, and her nose. As she tried to speak, her throat refused to work. Eventually the white foam around her mouth also became stained with red as blood filled her throat and trailed down her mouth.

 

“W-what… what is this-”

 

“Kobul! We h-...” 

 

Kobul too was also dying. Gushed from his nose and his eyes began to bleed. His hammer dropped to the floor. “I- I’m… Meil… get out of here.” He coughed blood. “Now!-- T-tell Kagami… I’m sor..” His throat also began to fail him. It felt as if he was being strangled from inside out. His eyes strained as he clutched onto his throat. “ee..” He forced the rest of the words out before his life finally gave out. He died standing up.

 

Meil got up and took several steps back. “What the hell is this!?? What did you do?!”

 

He charged up all the mana he could muster, blasting several balls of flame at the creature. It was doing nothing, yet, that was all he could do now. He kept on firing. Firing at its eyes, firing at its wings, firing at its face. Nothing. After each hit it simply took no damage. Suddenly his body began feeling weak. The creature then landed back onto the ground and observed Meil. It made no further attack against him.

 

The feeling of his body beginning to shut off overtook him. Almost as if he was dehydrated, his vision began to darken. “Poison?..b-but how?” He focused mana to his eyes and strengthened his visual prowess. There was no poison mist. This didn’t make any sense…. What was this creature doing. 

 

His body began shaking as he fell to his knees, struggling to keep himself up. Eventually, his hands also touched the ground and he lay himself flat on the ground. Panting heavily. The bug remained watching him. “You’re enjoying this aren’t you….” every part of his body felt tremendous pain. “What the hell even are you…. A moth of death huh….. Death moth… getting done in by a wraith is an embarrassing way to go.” He coughed. “I’m a damn fool…” 

 

Blood began to seep from his eyes as his hearing began to fade. It was finally silent. There was no longer the sound of a thousand groans filling the skies. Then he saw it.

 

Tiny specks of dust flying around the atmosphere. Little white dust…. The kind that rubs off of a moth’s wings when you touch it. “I...see… that’s what it was. I’m a damn fool….”

 

With that, he heaved violently before throwing up obscene amounts of blood. This was the end.