Creatures bound towards the party, their mangled dark flesh a contrast to the beach sand.

  Without preamble, the minotaur charges to meet them.

  “Ten gold for the most kills, Zac!” He shouted.

  “Easy money,” the swordsman yelled back.

  Slamming the heavy hammer against his shield, a shockwave of sound emanated from the bull. Above his head appears the word; ”Taunt” before fading away. The alien beasts notice him then, transfixed by the ring of metal on metal. He leaps into the air, runes aglow from his armor, soaring meters before crashing down. “Seismic Leap.” The words are not spoken, but felt. Earth quakes from the point of impact, causing a dozen nearby beasts to be momentarily knocked up. The minotaur roars in defiance as monsters lunge at him, effortlessly swatting them out of the air.

  Now among the fray, a cat burglar weaves between confused creatures. She avoids tackles, talons and teeth, leaving paper talismans in her wake. Each ofuda attaches to passing foes and begin to burn from their bottom. Her hands come together, creating a dozen hand gestured mudras.

  “Katon: Ichi” “Ni” “San”

  Talismans begins to erupt in sequence, leaving a wake of fiery chaos as monsters cry out.

  The swordsman readies himself with a deep breath, placing both hands on the hilt at his side while lowering his stance. The crude sword sharpens instantaneously as “Heart Steel” appeared above the man. His weapon shone with a newfound edge, cased in a crimson red hue. Energy radiated off him as white minuscule stars began to manifest and connect.

  Nearby, the saint chanted a spell, and the words “Echo Soul” emerged. The stars surrounding the swordsman barreled into him. Lifting his gaze as creatures strayed from the main fray, a brilliant white blaze erupted beneath as he bulleted forth. He slashed once, and two beasts fell. The swordsman then seemingly split in two, as surprised monsters failed to react. Zac and an ethereal white copy of himself dashed in opposite directions. The pair cut approaching beasts down as a minority still made a bee-line for the town.

  One monster had thrown itself against the barrier. Spacial magic bent as a web of stars caught the thing in an embrace. Starred constellations stuck to its body as it pulled away, before bursting into flame.

  Creatures fell by the dozen before their Raid leader arrived. A large hulking variation of the cancerous beasts charged forth, its size more than triple its brethren. This boss monster trampled its kind in a rapid approach. Above its head read the words, “Rampage.” The minotaur threw his weapons aside as he leaped in front of it, “Intercept."

  A contest of strength began between the two. All the while, the feline danced through monsters before sliding beneath this boss monster. She placed Ofuda cards along its undercarriage, following another series of hand gestures. “Jubaku: Ichi, Ni, San.” The large creature slowed to a crawl, still pushing against the bull. Electrical sparks shimmered from its underside as its body went rigid. Now paralyzed, eyes wild though not with fear, but with reckless abandon. The minotaur stared into its large cancerous face, desperate to find some semblance of life, emotion, anything. He shook his head in dismay.

  Cleaving through the remaining enemies, the swordsman approaching the two warring behemoths and positioned himself by the neck of the alien creature.

  Raising his sword, the blade increased in size.

  “Giantslayer.”

  As he reared back, the cat-lady tossed magical cards towards the blade, causing it to erupt with power.

  “Enflame.”

  The minotaur continued to gaze into the enraged eyes of his opponent, shaking his head with sadness.

  “Taunt.”

  The priestess chanted once more, and stars that lingered on the battlefield as well as the Echo Soul, poured themselves into the swordsman’s blade. It grew to ten times its normal length, flames churning from red to radiant white hues.

  He let the blade fall, decapitating the beast.

  The only sound that remains were waves as they crashed upon the shore.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  The fighting ended and the wall of stars dissolved.

  Six children ran into the streets, cheering and leaping towards the heroes. Zac was already striking a pose, flexing as kids mimicked some of their favorite moments of the battle. Townsfolk peered through crude shelters of wood and stone.

  Soon citizens of the outskirts begin to clean up the street, though not much destruction this time around. Others began to bring out their wares while the smells of street food soon spiced the air.

  “Yoo~hoo, Oskar!” The feline woman called out, drenched with false niceties.

  “Be a dear and gather up the bodies for me?”

  “For you Katrina? No, I don’t think I will.” The minotaur smiled as her surprise transitioned to pouting. The bull proceeded to pick up the multitude of corpses as Katrina raised a brow at him.

  “I’m well aware you’d rather count the coin,” he spoke, “…and I do this for the folks of Ferncliff, not you. No offense, Kat. ”

  She scoffed, “Well, my feelings are hurt and my day is ruined.” The minotaur chuckled. “Buy you a milk at Driftwood’s later.” She perked up at the thought, “I’ll allow it.”

  Oskar continued to pick through the two dozen or so bodies. They seemed to disappear at his touch, though any watching would notice the bodies shrink as they vacuumed into an arm bracelet. Each of the four heroes had such an accessory.

  Katrina had been swiping an idle hand in the air. She studied a small screen with the title “Treasure Pool” hovering before her. Clawed fingers drag-and-dropped items and boxes on the list. Featured in a second column was their “Party Roster” of four names; Zac, whom had a crown next to his name, Oskar, Katrina, and Seruna.

  The cat-lady mumbled some mental calculations while organizing boxes listed under “Recent.” She divided a “Gold” reward evenly among the four names.

  “Tsk. How difficult it is to give up money so easily spent.” Katrina complained, “Don’t you realize how much my talismans cost?”

  “You can have mine, “ Zac said with a wry smile.

  “For a kiss.” He winked and tapped the side of this face.

  Katrina paused, peering over the menu at him.

  “Disgusting. Besides, what would your girlfriend say.“

  “Well hopefully she’d get jealous…. She may or may not be mad at me.”

  “Hmph. She’ll forgive you, it’s clear as day she loves you.” There was envy in her voice.

  “Buy her something nice, like flowers.”

  Kat made a gesture of drag and dropping an item on the screen before her. “I trust you can find a buyer for these?”

  The once glowing sacs appeared before Zac in his own menus. “Yah, yah, I know a guy. Unless you care to claim them priestess?“ The woman in question had her head bowed over in prayer before one of the deceased beasts. “They are not of interest to the church this day, thank you.”

  No more than a few steps away, Oskar was puppeteering one of the bodies to the amusement of the children.

  Zac selected one sac from the Treasure Pool, tossed it up in the air and caught it. “Wonder what use we could get out of them. They’re about the size of a dodgeball…”

  “Dodgeball? “ Oskar asked, his curiosity piqued.

  “Catch!” Zac tossed the fleshy orb at the minotaur, whom palmed it with a squish. Holding it up to his ear he listened for a moment. “This dodgeball sounds like the ocean.”

  Zac laughed as he pulled another of the cancer sacs out of their shared Treasure Pool. “It’s something you throw, in a competitive sport sort-a way. You would toss a dodgeball at an opposing team player. If it hit them, they were out of the game.“

  Oskar threw his cancer baseball at Zac. It pelted him in shoulder, bursting like a balloon of viscous green and yellow goo. “Ow! Hahah there’s more rules to it then that!” he shouted before he threw another at Oskar, which ignited a back and forth of throwing the pustules at one another, much to the amusement of onlookers.

  Zac threw up his hands into a T-like shape causing Oskar to pause. “If you can catch the dodgeball, instead the thrower would be out.” He raised his hands in a show of surrender as he moved. Zac dragged a foot in the coarse sand, “And this is the line you can’t cross, as it wouldn’t be fair if you tried to hit me from up close.”

  “May I play the Dodgeball''? This look quite fun.” Seruna said, her smile beaming. She disrobed her ritual-like attire, revealing a half-dress and shorts beneath more suited for physical play. The youngest child was offered the starry robe in a show of trust. She gleefully took robe and began to try it on.

  “Alrighty then, you’re on my team Seruna. Oi Kat!” He called out, though Katrina was already beside Oskar.

  She prepared to pelt a sac directly at Zac. "Well? Start the game!"