Dirssi, Liam, and Haklo (EliteCommander, Frettzo, and WitchChild)

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The masked demon's blade seemed destined for Dirssi, but moments before it would have made impact, she disappeared into the shadows, allowing the blade to sail harmlessly through the air. An instant later, she reappeared in the beast's own shadow behind it. Using her wings to help propel her, she jumped up onto its back and attempted to stab her dagger into its flesh so she could get a better grip. Unfortunately, it had a hide like steel, so the blade slid harmlessly across its skin. She fell back down to the ground in time to see the demon turning with its blade in full swing. After a quick, evasive roll to move herself out of the way, she glanced around for a moment to find another likely looking shadow, then disappeared once more. 

The demon's first reaction was to turn around, as she had appeared behind it last time, but she was not there. Instead, she had reappeared high up in one of the shadows the moon cast on the side of the nearest building. Flying just high enough to not immediately be seen, she sheathed her dagger, then dove down once more onto its back. With her wings to keep her stable, she grabbed onto it with her empty hand and allowed her decay magic to weaken its iron-like skin. It tried to reach behind it and grab her off of its back, but before it could, she stabbed her shortsword successfully into the weakened area, and the flesh underneath. It did manage to wrap its hand around her body, and tried to crush her and toss her to the ground in front of it, but by the time its hand was back in its own field of view, it was empty. 

Dirssi stepped out from nearby shadows and once again stared down the masked demon. It was far from dead, but she had hurt it, so that meant she could kill it.

Meanwhile, the two fox men were patting each other's shoulders nervously, listening to the sounds of battle that raged on outside of their small, broken shelter. 

What were they supposed to do? They both were scared to death, as evidenced by their shaking hands and voices. Were they to fight a huge demon, which could pretty much just transform them into mashed sannids? Luna, the short foxman, peeked over the wooden edge of the stall. 

"Fuck me." Luna said with eyes wide open.

"No thanks, I only like females." Liam mentioned, and was promptly ignored. 

"The dragon woman hurt the thing!"

Liam perked up and turned his head toward Luna, then peeked out as well. He raised both of his eyebrows in surprise when he noticed the wound, and spoke, "I bet you five copper that she'll live, maybe even hurt the demon again." 

"I bet you five that she'll get brutally murdered." Luna replied, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips.

Haklo watched as his arrow pierced the demon's mask and he couldn't help but smile with satisfaction. He drew another arrow and let it fly before he looked around and saw a banner just slightly away from the balcony. He didn't see if the arrow had hit it's mark but he jumped up onto the railing and then launched himself at the banner, grabbing it and let himself slide down all the way to the end. There was a bit of a drop after he reached the end of the banner which forced him to roll which he used to grab another arrow from his hip quiver and fire at the masked demon. 

Haklo's glowing visor was locked on the demon but his eyes studied everything that he could see. The demon was injured from the attacks of the Esyrie that he noticed slightly but not enough to get a proper profile.

Haklo then took a wild gander and decided to use his magic in proper combat. Although still a novice, Haklo threw psycho magic at the demon. His attack was based on the senses, alerting them unnecessarily to confuse and keep the demon guessing on what was and wasn't an attacker at any of the peripheral vision of all the masks' eyes.

Dirssi watched with interest when she saw an arrow pierce through one of the creature's masks. Her sword could not so much as even pierce its hide before, and even after decaying its skin, the damage she did was minimal. It seemed like the wound was not even there anymore. However, his arrow had destroyed the mask unassisted, so perhaps they were not as strong as the rest of its body. The demon seemed confused at the moment, so she knew how to capitalize on the opportunity. With the light of the moon at its back, shadows were at its front. Traveling through said shadows, Dirssi suddenly appeared directly in front of the beast. She grabbed on to a mask with one hand, letting her decay magic spread through the area, while stabbing at more masks with her blade. Overall, she destroyed three before the demon was able to respond. As confused as its senses were, it was quite obvious to it where she was. 

The Esyire attempted to use her wings to push her away at the last moment, but the demon managed to grab a hold of her before she could. It grabbed her around her mid-section and started to apply pressure to crush her in its grasp. However, the solid grasp it had on her only allowe her more direct contact with its flesh. She looked into the eyes of one of the creature's masks with an expression that showed an unbroken will, despite her situation. A slight smirk crept across her reptilian face as she allowed the magic to flow from her. She spread decay out from her in all directions, rotting through its skin and flesh. By the time it released her, one of its fingers had separated completely from its hand, with another hanging on by only a thread. 

Now free of its clutches, Dirssi picked up her sword from the ground and backed away. There were not too many more masks remaining on the wounded and obviously angered beast. Shooting a glance to the archer nearby, she spoke in a tone which showed not an ounce of fear or doubt. "Aim for its masks and we will end it shortly."

Haklo heard the Esyrie's word and it was evident that the warrior was a woman. He acknowledged her words moreso as he watched the demon's dismembered fingers grow back yet the masks remained broken and bleeding. His psycho attacks also seemed to be working to an extent and the next arrow he shot managed to pierce another mask, causing the demon to howl in miserable pain. The demon then charged at him as it had enough of his arrows. Haklo was forced to jump out of the way but also ditch the finely crafted oaken bow, the weapon splintering underneath the demon's foot. Haklo drew his black sword then and got out of the way before sending another barrage of psychomantic attacks. His attacks were intended to further distract the demon. Sending mental voices that seemed to come from everywhere, shade illusions so that it seemed that more attackers were getting into place but when focused on, there would be nothing. Distracting images of memory that Haklo wasn't even trying to make fit but hoping that the barrage would be disorienting enough so that the demon wouldn't take too much notice in his approach. The demon flailed about, howling in anger as Haklo stayed away from its reach to find a good vantage point to get onto its back and stab another mask. 

The demon then swung its massive arm in a backhand and hit Haklo's side. The armor managed to hold up and not get him crushed and he managed to wrap his own arm around the demon's forearm. With the momentum allowed Hako to swing himself onto the demon's back and reach one of it's remaining masks, the very sharp blade plunging into the demon. Haklo was on the demon as it started to try and shake him off and so the noble was thrown off but was able to get his sword out before he was sent rolling on the courtyard ground. 

While the Human attacked from one side and drew its attention, Dirssi struck from the other. She used the opportunity to destroy a few of the masks while it was distracted, and she was sure the Human had done the same. Unfortunately, a swing from the beast's sizable arm eventually ended up sending the Human rolling away, leaving it to concentrate on her. She backed away from the demon into a corner, with walls on three sides of her. She stared into its many eyes, still unrelenting in her resolve. "Come, you miserable wretch. Fight me..." She taunted, to which the demon was all too happy to oblige. It charged at her, raising its sword high for a swing.

"...in the shadows." When the beast was nearly upon her, she collected the shadows around herself and blended completely into the background. After she teleported out of the way of the swing, the demon could not see her, no matter how many eyes it had with which to look. Witht he area enveloped in shadow, she was free to teleport at will, each time sinking her blade into another mask. The creature swung its sword in a wide arc to cover as much area as it could, but with her being Esyire, she was not constrained to the ground and could appear anywhere around it. One after another, the masks fell until only two remained. The demon could not so much as see its opponent, so it knew enough to know that it should flee from the shadows and into the moonlight at the center of the courtyard. Nevertheless, Dirssi managed to sink her blade into the remaining mask on its back, leaving only one on its front to contend with. 

Once the demon was in the light, it turned around while swinging its blade, predicting that the Esyire would have followed. It was correct, but with the thrust from her wings, she leaped over the sword and plunged her own blade into the final mask. The massive demon fell to its back while Dirssi quickly removed her blade and dashed away from the body. It was easy to tell that the masks were its weakness, but she did not actually know what would happen once all were destroyed.