Author's Note:

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The ground quaked and quivered and shook all five down to their teeth. It reminded Tegu of the first day this all started, when the demon came from the ground in a rock container. She looked down at her hand and noticed it had begun to glow.

"Guys," she said fearfully, "I think we're dealing with the Earth Demon."

The other four nodded and got ready to fight.

Suddenly, the large boulder in front of them began to move. It broke apart into different pieces that were still connected and stood up to its full size. It was the same color as the dark black, brown and grey scenery around them except for its two glowing white eyes, gargoyle shaped head, and dead plants covering its arms.

"It's a golem-gargoyle," Sam said.

"Yeah, but one from the demon world," said Tegu.

There was the sound of creaking stone as the demon opened its mouth to speak. "You'd be surprised at what I can do. So you better beware."

Kale rolled her eyes. "Why are all the demons this cocky?"

The golem creature let out a roar and began running toward them at a breakneck pace.

Tegu was the first one to make contact with it. She hit its arm with her sword and sparks went flying as she struggled against it. The Earth Demon pushed forward, surprised at the warrior's strength. Its white eyes widened and it lunged backward, making Tegu fall forward.

"Very good, warrior, very good," it growled. The golem crouched as the others ran for it and the demon's legs changed shape to fit its body on all fours. A long stone tail grew from it, the Earth Demon grew claws to match its gargoyle head but with the bulky build of a golem. It then began charging at full speed.

Ral and Sam were knocked back as if hit by a speeding train and went flying through the air because they lacked strength and dexterity. Lion and Kale were shoved back, leaving marks in the dirt but managed to stay standing while Tegu took it head on. The warrior grunted as she managed to wedge her sword in between the neck and chest of the demon before being knocked backwards.

Lion leapt up on top of the stone monster's head and jabbed his dagger into the rock, making a noticeable crack. He yanked it out and stuck another one in the groove between the head and the neck.

Ral came running forward, a bit disoriented from the fall but otherwise fine, and fired a magic claw at Lion's dagger. Sam came shortly afterward and followed suit. There was a horrible creaking noise as the head leaned downward, disconnected from its neck at the top. Kale leapt at it with a running start and kicked Tegu's sword in deeper. There was a louder crack and the stone head fell away from the rest of the body.

"Yeah! Alright, we did it!" cheered Sam.

"I don't know," Ral said warily. "Didn't that just feel too easy?"

"Yes," agreed Tegu. "I know what you mean."

Their eyes widened when they saw the head of the stone creature laughing.

"Yup," groaned Lion, "I knew it was too easy."

With the sound of cracking stone the head slowly began to change shape into a lucida. When the change was complete the stone lucida suddenly became a real one while the body of the demon turned into a commander skeleton.

Kale shot an arrow at the lucida but at the moment of impact the front half of the monster turned to stone so that the arrow harmlessly bounced off. With a vicious smile, the lucida turned back into flesh.

"Okay then, how are we going to stop it?" the huntress asked.

Before anyone could say anything the commander skeleton barked an order to its undead horse and the creature charged forward, connecting directly into Lion. He swung his dagger angrily at it but his weapon only met hard stone.

"Come on, Tegu," said Ral while using magic claw against the charging demons. "What are your weaknesses?"

Tegu shrugged. "I'm not very fast."

"Okay then," Sam said. "How can we use that against the demon?"

"If we tire it out, then do you think it won't be able to change to stone as quickly?" asked Kale.

Lion took another jab at the lucida only to watch it turn to stone and block the blow. "It's worth a shot," he said.

"But speed doesn't seem to be an issue with this demon," said Ral. "I understand how it is slow when it's made of stone, but now the Earth Demon is entirely flesh and bone."

"So all we have to do is make it turn into stone, which will tire it out, so it can't change from flesh to stone as quickly, right?" Sam asked.

Kale had a very confused expression on her face.

Lion smiled. "Easy enough."

Tegu looked down at her armor and fingered the chain mail on her skirt. "Okay then, let's do this!"

--

The five stood in a line, directly before the two demons.

The commander skeleton's horse snorted what looked like black smoke and pawed the ground with a bony hoof. The lucida glared and dropped into a crouch.

Tegu narrowed her eyes. "Charge."

On cue, everyone started running as fast as they could and the demons quickly chased after them. Being the fastest, Lion and Kale took the lead, followed by the magicians and lastly, Tegu. The lucida and commander skeleton showed no signs of weakness in speed as they ran forward tirelessly after their victims.

"FIRE!" cried Tegu, like a military officer giving a command.

Kale, having a wonderful lead in front of the demons (while the demons were inches away from reaching Tegu) began rapidly firing arrows at the two demons. The Earth Demons began flashing from living to stone and back and forth in a blur, unable to keep up with Kale's arrows. When Ral and Sam caught up because the demons were slowing and could risk running backwards they soon followed suit and shot claws and bolts at the demons. The lucida and commander skeleton Earth Demon were clearly slowing as they changed from rock to ordinary faster than subliminal messages on T.V. However, they were still gaining ground on Tegu. As she literally ran for her life, she remembered her fight with Aspen that seemed so long ago. Tegu smiled and faced the demons.

Just when they were about to crush her she slid out of her armor and ran as fast as she could. Instantly she felt lighter and that she could run miles on end.

The lucida let out a startled sort of bugle sound and ran forward with a fire in its eyes. However, the magic claws and arrows continued to pelt it and the skeleton, showing a gradual decrease in their speed.

"I think they are getting tired!" Ral cried excitedly.

"Okay then," Sam said. "Now what?"

"Well, they can't change that fast from flesh to stone forever, especially if they're getting tired." The four turned to see Tegu running surprisingly fast… and wearing only her underclothes.

The others looked away from Tegu and turned their attention to the demons. Sure enough, they had a few arrows sticking out of them that didn't come out even as they changed to stone and back. The magic attacks had to have done some damage to them as well.

"Perfect," growled Lion. "It's time to finish them off."

He ran forward to face the demons head on as Tegu finally caught up with the others. Lion chose the lucida as his target as he slid underneath the running demon. As the monster ran above him, Lion jabbed his dagger into its stomach. He made a rather long gash on the creature but still it continued running. Dark purplish blood oozed from its wound and a magic claw from Sam made it stop in its tracks and fall over. The lucida turned to stone and crumbled away.

"Yeah!" cheered Kale. "One down, one to go!" She knocked an arrow into her bow and fired it at the commander skeleton.

The other demon was a different problem. Even though it did not have time to turn to stone at the impact of the arrow, it still bounced harmlessly off the bone.

Ral looked at a few other arrows lodged in it. "Maybe you just have to find its weak spots," he said.

"But when hunting, these things fall apart all the time," Tegu said.

Sam prepared for another attack. "Yeah, but this is a demon."

"Good point," said Tegu. "Weak spots it is." She ran forward back to the skeleton demon and threw her sword into the groove of its vertebrate. "Just like the rock gargoyle," she said quietly to herself. Feeling horribly exposed without her armor she grabbed her slightly dented outfit and pulled it on, ready to face the demon.

The horns of the undead horse hooked into her side but thankfully she had her armor on as Tegu twisted around while hanging from the horns so that she now sat on the head of the horse. It gave a pathetic whinny and the head fell off underneath her weight, despite the fact that it turned to rock. The skeleton rider gave an angry bark as he tried to trample her with the decapitated horse's hooves but Lion leapt forward and twisted Tegu's sword (which was still lodged in the skeleton's backbone). The demon turned to brownish gray stone at the impact but it did not stop it from falling apart.

Tegu grabbed her sword out from the skeleton and watched it crumble to pieces.

Kale, Ral and Sam ran up to Tegu and Lion as the looked at the Earth Demon's remains.

"Is it dead?" Sam asked.

As if in response the last rocky remnants of the two demons began to move together.

Lion groaned. "It's reassembling."

However, the pieces were not very big. When the process was done, there was a fairly small snaky worm on the ground.

The five began to laugh. The Earth Demon looked around fearfully and slithered into a hole in the ground.

"Well, I guess that means that we've won," Tegu said ginning.

At that, a large stone hand shot up from the ground and grabbed the nearest victim by their ankle.

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