"Wh... What is this...?"

"Dude..."

"*whine*..."

"Oh my gosh..."

"Holy..."

The group was in disbelief at the chaos that they were forced to look upon. The whole fields near Halure was completely stained with blood, fallen or wounded soldiers, and the corpses of all but one monster. The wind blowing was a chilly omen to how bloodthirsty this was.

"Freaking damn... this is a massacre!" Tai said, out loud and a bit terrified from the blood.

"What in the world happened here?" Yuri said, wide-eyed about the terror he saw.

"This doesn't seem like a simple cleanin' up to me," Raven said, looking around the field and at the massive monster he just saw, "And I'm guessin' that beast is responsible for this."

The group looked at the huge monster in question. The was a dripping, wet black monster that was on four legs. It had two heads: one being a lion's head, and the second being a group of cobra snakes. Its tail was shaped like a dagger, and its hind legs were in a shape of a zig zag pattern, like a lightning streak. Its claws and fangs were all stained red in blood, but it was different colors as well, meaning this monster also took the liberty of killing the other monsters.

"Wh... what is that thing...?" Estelle shuddered in fear.

"That THING killed not only soldiers, but monsters alike?" Tai said, breathing a bit fearfully.

Even Repede lowered his ears a bit and growled nervously. His head was leaning towards his blade, just in case he needed to immediately. Yuri noticed this and looked back at that monster, on how ferocious it was as it roared angrily.

"Damn... even Repede is afraid of this thing..." he muttered out loud, "And I've never seen a kind of monster like that."

"L-Lemme try a Magic Lense," Raven said, his voice trembling for a second and then pulling it out to examine the beast.

The group crowded all around him to see that the monster's details soon were visible for them to see.

"Orochiberus?" Estelle asked to no one.

"Whoa... this monster's got one heck of a health and strength number, and it's resistant to all magic types," Yuri said, gritting his teeth.

As they kept looking at the description, Tai looked back at it. It was then doing a double-take, he blinked and pointed towards the area.

"Hey, isn't that the Flynn character we met at Deidon Hold?" he asked unsure of his assumption.

Everyone soon widened their eyes at the horror of his question and glared onto the fields in front of the monster. Sure enough, there was the Commandant, holding his left rib, but still standing strong with minor injuries. The group gasped and rushed over, leaving the teen behind. Sort of expecting this, he sighed and then run after them.

Flynn was panting and gritting his teeth at the fiend as it snarled a bit at him. Gripping his sword tightly and holding his imperial shield, he breathed heavily as a bit of blood streaked into his left eye, causing him to close it with a flinch. He suddenly heard something that made his heard pound faster.

"Flynn!" Estelle's voice rang out loud and clear to him.

Turning his head to see the group running over, he got a bit furious at them as he yelled, "NO! What are you doing here!?"

"We're bringin' in the calvary, Commandant," Raven said, pulling his Divine Cannon bow out.

"I thought I sent a message for you to stay clear from here!" he shouted, calming down a bit.

"What, and leave you here by yourself to fight this creepy thing?" Yuri said, as he unsheathed his blade, the Claiomh Solais and Repede his Murakumo dagger.

Estelle took out her Hero's Sword and readied her shield, healing the commandant as Flynn said tiredly, "This monster has already killed the majority of my men, and the rest have been stretched to protect the pathways to places where innocent people are."

"Flynn, if this monster did all of this to your men and the monsters, odds are that those knights barricading the paths aren't going to stand a chance," Yuri said as he gripped his sword tightly and Tai just got over to the group.

"What? You mean we gotta fight that thing?" the teen said, barely out of gasping air.

"We've got no choice. It's either we kill it, or it kills us and everyone it can find," Yuri said getting into his stance.

"I'll fight too; it's for the honor of my men who've died here today. I won't let their sacrifice be in vain!" Flynn roared and readied.

With a sigh and the shadows covering his face, he remained silent for a bit. His fists clenched a bit and Estelle knew it. She turned back worried, so sad that they constantly dragged him into situation after situation. She slowly shifted her way back to him.

"Tai... I-"

"It was supposed to be just a simple visit to see Flynn... and now I gotta fight this demon from hell..." he muttered under his hood.

She felt said and horrible for him, until he slowly reached for his bat and dropping into his stance, saying with a blank yet positive face, "Oh well, life happens. Let's kill this thing."

She smiled as the group readied themselves, for the beast roared his battle threat and advanced towards the group!

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Flynn joined the party.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Orochiberus raised its front paw and began to stomp onto the ground. It caused the group to struggle to stay on their feet and back up. Yuri bravely charged at it with Repede by his side and slashed at the monster's feet. Slicing it near the ankles, the two kept targeting the feet. Roaring at the pain, the monster stood onto its hind legs, causing the duo to realize they needed to move. Coming down, Orochiberus nearly squashed the both of them if they hadn't rolled underneath the beast.

"Yuri! Repede!" Estelle called out in fear as she began to ready a spell.

Yuri grunted as he struggled to his feet from his roll. Looking up quickly, he noticed the tail menacingly come underneath its body and towards them. With Repede noticing, the man brought his sword forward as it came at him. Both smashed into each other, causing the clashing of metal to be heard.

As the two fought underneath it, Raven aimed and shot an arrow at it swiftly.

"Rain!"

The arrow ended up clipping the lion head's head, causing a scar on the top of it to be made. It slowly growled and turned his gaze at the archer. A huge sweatdrop came down his head as he nervously giggled a bit. Seeing the snakes breath in, they soon sent a huge tornado-style attack at him. Raven quickly sprinted a bit to the left, having to dive onto the ground in order to dodge it. As he skidded, Tai took a deep breath.

"Oh my freaking..." he muttered as he rushed at it head-on.

Seeing his comrade charge at it, Raven (still skidding) pulled more arrows out and fired them towards the monster before it could notice him. The arrows striking it in the face again, Tai decided since he didn't want to risk his artes seen, he would do this the hard way. He jumped up as high as he could and struck it several times. Getting about eight successful hits in, he noticed he really set the monster's attention to him. The lion's head snarled as fire started to appear in its mouth. Tai landed and as it spit the fire out, Tai did an interesting series of dodging. He cartwheeled to the right with only one hand, then backwards with a back-flip that didn't required him to use his hands. Yuri and Flynn, only for a second, noticed this and managed to start some offense.

The commandant quickly charged up a spell and used it quickly, as Estelle kept charging and Raven had stood up and fired more arrows.

"O divine spear, run my enemy through! Holy Lance!"

The same attack Tai saw Estelle do, Flynn had summoned several spears of light that smashed into Orochiberus. But since the commandant wasn't aware of its resistance, the beast was injured, but not hurt as much as intended.

"What? Fine, then, I'll come to it!" he said as he rushed at the monster and helped Tai with offense, able to slash at its ankles from the front while the teen handled the heads.

Meanwhile, Yuri and Repede had been successful for the most part on stopping the tail from killing them. A few slash marks on Yuri's face and arms and Repede's body, but they were all right. Quickly jumping a bit, Repede growled as he used Demon Dog. Hitting the tail, it caused Yuri to get an opening and use several slashes in succession. He used a combination of Cerberus Strike, Dragon Swarm, Lone Wolf Charge, and then finished with Tiger Blade. As he finished, the tail was cut off and fell from the monster's body and the fight. Orochiberus roared in pain as for a brief second, it flailed in frustration. It twirled itself in a 360 degree motion, causing Yuri and Repede to be smashed with its humungous body and sent flying out from underneath him. Both landed hard far away from the fight, heavily injured. They struggled to even move.

"Yuri!" Flynn said as he just blocked the massive attempt with his shield.

"Hold on, you two! I'll heal you!" Estelle said, charging up a healing spell.

But before she even had time to react, the snakes had done another tornado attack right at her. Seeing it come too late, it rammed into Estelle, causing her to be spun multiple times around up into the air. A scream came from her as she landed hard on the ground.

"ESTELLE!" Yuri and Flynn yelled worried for her.

Raven quickly ran to her aid and covered her as she slowly stood up. Taking three arrows out, he quickly fired them up into the air.

"Who loves ya, baby?" he said quickly.

The arrows soon followed over to the injured fighters. Quickly hitting the three, they were immediately healed of any injuries. Yuri and Repede stood up immediately and began to make their way over to the fight.

Meanwhile, Flynn and Tai kept battling the monster nonstop. Orochiberus actually stooped its heads towards the two as if to bite them. Both swiftly dodged, but the snakes had gone after Tai and the lion after the commandant. It managed to somehow catch Flynn's shield in its teeth as it tried to bite at him. He grunted in surprise as he was flung up into the air for holding onto his shield tightly.

Everyone stared in horror as Yuri screamed, "FLYNN!"

The blond-haired knight gritted his teeth as the lion opened its jaws wide to crush him. Quickly, he hid his body in a ball form behind his shield, causing him to be knocked back instead of flying. Seeing he was going to land hard, Raven thus ran towards the area Flynn smashed hard into the ground. Letting a yell of pain, the commandant gasped in shock upon looking up to see the giant foot coming down near him. Suddenly, the old man appeared like a blur and shot several arrows at the foot. They sunk deep into the flesh, causing Orochiberus to roar in pain. In frustration, it swung the stump from where its tail used to be. Raven flinched as he braced for impact. Quickly thinking, Flynn got in front of him, using his shield to protect the two. Despite them not getting horribly injured, the monster smashing into them was very impactful, causing the two to yell a bit and go rolling on the ground.

Estelle gasped, "Flynn!" and quickly used First Aid on both of them.

"Raven!" Tai called in worry, but soon tuned back into the fight.

The monster had heard the teen's voice, and slowly turned its full attention at him. A soft growl came from it as Tai widened his eyes at the horror that came to him.

"...Oh... sh-"

Suddenly, the snakes all lashed out at him. Doing the best he could, he deflected the minority of the heads from biting him, but he had to roll a bit to the side. As Yuri and Repede got relatively close, the monster roared as the snakes all raised their heads in the air and shrieked. Catching everyone by surprise, a huge whirlwind was made around Tai, forcing the teen up into the air and cutting him several times. Grunting and shielding himself the best he could, the teen winced in pain, right before a huge smashing blow from the monster caused him to smash so hard into the ground stomach first, he bounced. Closing his eyes in pain, Tai was helpless as Orochiberus turned around and then used its hind legs to kick him. This massive blow sent Tai flying EXTREMELY far away from the fight.

"TAI!" Estelle shrieked in fear, forgetting there was a battle going and started to run after the teen before he even landed.

"Estelle! We need you!" Yuri shouted to her, slashing at the monster's ankles and causing it to roar and turn around.

"But Tai! He's going to need medical attention!" she pleaded back.

"Urgh... let me take care of him!" Raven said, thus rushing off to Tai, "You stay here and give them healin' when they need it!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

As the boy started to descend towards the ground, Tai gasped and braced for impact. The huge thud of his body smashed into the ground, causing him to gasp in severe pain. He had landed on his shoulders and head and then proceeded to roll and skid across the ground. A strangled yell came out of him as he stopped and his head landed on the ground. Grunting in pain, the boy felt severe pain on his head, his stomach, his neck and shoulders, and his leg.

He twitched a few times as he groaned consistently, trying to get to his knees at least. Using his arms to keep him up, his teeth visible clenched together. He was bleeding, but he could see Raven running to him.

"Hold on, Tai! I'm comin'!" he yelled to him.

Soon there in a matter of seconds, he crouched down and helped him sit up, so Tai could eat the two apple gels he had. He could tell the teen was visible injured by the various rips in his clothing and the stains of red in parts of his clothing.

"Dang it, you're pretty badly banged up," he said.

"R-Raven... I need you... to stand me up," Tai struggled to say.

"Ya kiddin'? Your right leg's totaled; ya sure ya wanna be standin'?" Raven questioned, worriedly.

"Those guys can't see my glove..." Tai grunted, Raven then getting the vibe, "I can use my artes... without them seeing..."

"All right, but once you're done, you're sittin' back down," Raven said.

He lifted Tai's right arm over his neck, and very gently lifted him to his feet. Grunting from the pain of his leg and body, Tai shook a bit but slowly lifted his glove and it began to glow.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Just releasing her Holy Rain spell in the beast, Estelle backed up and used an orange gel given to her by Yuri. The group was tired and although the attacks were minor, the monster was too. Repede finished his Hell Hound arte and landed next to Yuri with a whimper. Flynn panted a bit as he wiped sweat from his face and stood by Yuri's side.

"Damn it... what's it going to take to finish that thing!?" Yuri yelled in frustration.

"This beast is so tough... nothing seems to be working," Flynn agreed.

"But we can't give up!" Estelle said, readying another spell, "So many people are counting on us!"

"Woof woof!" Repede barked, signaling their attention to Orochiberus.

"Get ready! Here it comes!" Yuri gave a heads-up to everybody.

But just as it was charging, a dark substance suddenly swallowed its legs and trapped it. It was a dark black and green liquid. Suddenly, it became solid and trapped the monster right where it stood.

"What the? What is that stuff?" Yuri asked, astounded as Repede tilted his head in awe.

"I've never seen it before..." Flynn answered.

Estelle gasped and suddenly knew who it was. Turning her head briefly to look, she could see Tai from a long way being assisted by Raven to stand up as he grunted. The teen growled a bit as he then took his opened glove-covered hand and closed it into a fist.

"Shadow Burial!"

The energy soon collapsed on the monster's feet, completely severing them and destroying its legs. Orochiberus let out a shriek of pain as it was forced to collapse on its stomach.

"Whoa!" Yuri said aloud as the group was astounded by the sudden help and damage done.

Tai slowly grinned and lowered his arm as it stopped glowing, being put down by Raven as he said, "Haha... There we go.."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Great!

Secret Mission 1: Tai used an arte without Yuri, Flynn, and Repede seeing him do it.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Well, whatever that stuff is, I'm taking the advantage!" Flynn said as he activated his over limit, "Yuri! Let's do it!"

"Right! I'll blow you away!" Yuri yelled as he activate over limit.

Both ran at the injured Orochiberus and went on both side of it. Soon, each dug their sword into the ground and a white circle pattern was formed beneath it. It caused several huge amounts of damage to be done to it. Quickly pulling their swords out, they slashed it right through the middle and both jumped into the air. With Yuri on the right and Flynn on the left, both jumped into the air and readied their swords.

"Twin God Wave!"

After shouting the mystic arte name, both swung their swords and out came two huge white beams of light the spiraled together, soon forming a huge singular beam at Orochiberus. Once it touched, the monster was killed on impact, soon evaporating from how much power was put into it. Finally, the battle was over. As the duo landed, all were thankful they defeated that thing.

"That bastard was tough..." Yuri said, sheathing his blade.

"But that was no ordinary monster," Flynn said, "Where on earth did that come from?"

"Tai!" they both heard the princess yell, and turned to see her running towards the two far away.

As the four began to run to them, Tai coughed and soon fell to the ground. Raven quickly rolled him onto his back.

"Tai! Com' on, don't fade on ol' Raven!" the old man said, but it was inevitable; Tai soon was unconscious.

"Hold on, I can heal him!" Estelle said, gasping for air as she then soon did First Aid on him.

"With all due respect and urgency, it's gonna take more than a healin' spell to help him after what he just took," Raven said to her.

"And I know we're not in the best of shape either, but... damn; no one deserves that kind of hit," Yuri said, flinching at the injuries Tai has.

With Repede lowering his ears a bit, Flynn ordered, "We need to get him to a place where he can recover! Now!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Tai, Estelle, and Repede left the party.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

How's that? My very first boss battle fight scene. I really would love some criticism. Too short/long? Not enough action/ good/ too much? Lemme know. And let's hope Tai recovers!