Thud

Why had the aesh kept fighting despite being riddled with wounds and having his heart punctured through?

It was simple. An aesh had, among other things, two hearts, while also having a contradictory lack of reliance on oxygen and other things the blood brought.

They still needed it, of course, but these hardy demons could hold their breath for hours and could survive for up to an hour while emptied of blood.

In other words, the aesh would've fallen from blood loss long after he butchered all of his opponents, hence his confidence in being able to purge the city before his death.

But now, not only had his remaining hand and his last heart been destroyed, but the energy didn't stop there.

After sinking into his hand and obliterating it from the inside out, it traveled up his arm and wreaked havoc on his insides, shredding his organs just as his second heart had been.

The aesh roared in pain and anger. His fist exploding had been painful, but the shock of what had happened had stopped him from registering the pain until now, as he felt like someone had set fire to his insides.

In his manic state, he brought his arms up and slammed down on Venden's head with all the power he could bring to bear, but Venden rolled out of the way seconds before the telegraphed move even connected.

The pain drove the aesh mad, blood and spittle flying from his lips as his roar lowered several octaves. He became a raving beast, slamming and smashing down with reckless abandon, leaving craters and cracks wherever he struck.

He dug his hands into the ground, tearing a chunk of stone as big as he was out of the ground and hurling it at Kravoss, who was charging a water beam.

Kravoss flapped aside and unleashed his Breath, but the aesh stepped back and tanked the blow, another bloody hole gracing his chest.

The Mages and Pospo made their move as the aesh took a step back, attacking from all sides as the Kaleido cat leaped for the demon's eyes and started clawing them out.

The aesh's roar deepened further, becoming a pitch so low and gravelly that it made one's throat hurt by proxy.

He tried to take the cat off of his face as four swords stabbed into his flesh over and over again, but with one hand gone and the other limp, he could only slam the stump of his left arm against his face.

Pospo only scurried out of the way, causing the aesh's stump to slam into his own face, stunning him and making him reel back.

Without a word, the humans and Kravoss sunk into a routine, aiming to kill the aesh the same way they had killed the ones before.

If a beast couldn't bleed out, the next solution was to destroy each and everything they could inside of him.

Hearts, kidneys, lungs, the stomach, anything that could cause his body to shut down, they hacked their way through flesh to get through and ran through with their swords.

The aesh, even in his blind rage, was far too aware of his weaknesses to leave his head exposed and refused to let arrows or Kravoss' Breath land on it. Pospo was an annoyance, but only that.

This method was long and brutal, however, as a single mistake could mean the humans' death.

Fate's sword arm numbed fast. He couldn't feel the blade connect with the aesh's flesh, instead having to rely on his eyes to confirm that he had harmed the demon.

Venden was in the same shape he was, Samantha was still unconscious, and Cait and the Adept had started to tire as well.

Kravoss' wings felt like they were on fire, but he stayed airborne, knowing it was safer and allowed him better shots at the aesh.

The fight dragged on for a full ten minutes after the Master Guard's Skill went off, the aesh's roars of pain having been replaced by heavy breaths that expelled hot red mist from his lips.

His fast strikes had stopped. Either the bracers had run out of juice or he had emptied all of his Mana. Regardless, that made his attacks slow, to the point the humans didn't need a foresight Skill like Venden to see the strikes coming.

Whenever an arm or kick came their way, they simply held their swords in the way, allowing the aesh to do the work for them.

Since the aesh's bracers didn't work anymore, he couldn't stop or redirect his blows before they landed, and could only snarl angrily as his time shortened with every second.

With a final, earth-shaking roar, he turned and barreled toward Fate with his head down, aiming to skewer the Journeyman before his untimely demise.

Fate took a deep breath and turned intangible, thanking his lucky stars as the demon passed through him.

The demon continued his charge until his mangled foot gave out, whereupon he fell to his knees, tilting his head up at the sky.

Within seconds, his knees were drenched in a puddle of his own blood, every inch of his skin a shade or two darker from all the blood on it.

"So this is how it ends…" The demon laughed, which turned into a violent cough as chunks of blood and flesh flew from his lips. "A shame. I was hoping I'd live long enough to see Aishka and Xrykt tear this city apart.

"Oh, well…" He tilted his head, menacing yellow eyes looking back at the humans that had brought him to this state. "See you in hell, humans."

The aesh closed his eyes, his body going limp as he fell to his side.

His body thumped against the stone, expanding the pool of blood underneath him to one that extended for five feet in every direction.

With a final sigh, the aesh died.

Venden collapsed to his knees, all of his adrenaline leaving him at once.

"We did it," he smiled. "Thank the Ascended, we did it!"

"Don't…" The Adept Guard sucked in a breath, trying to steady his breathing. "Don't go celebrating yet. This night is far from over."