"Fourteen!" Isak yelled out, sliding across the sand, and pulling on the ground with his hand. "Fourteen bone limbs!"

The two looked up at Ennyou, extending some of the bones towards the demons, as well as the cart behind them.

"Fifteen," Leopold muttered, throwing the shield to Isak. "Or sixteen, if you count that thing in the middle."

Isak squinted his eye, trying to make out that distant shape. Yet, his attempts were quickly interrupted by a dune forcing its way over. One pull of the shield, and he negated the force of the attack.

A second later, and one glance up led to Isak discovering that Leopold was already on his merry way towards the target. "Damn it, can't be weaker!"

The blood that spilt out transformed into this sort of strange goo, covering Isak from head to toe. When he started running, it rubbed itself against his skin, turning him completely invisible.

Ennyou immediately noticed, however. With a thin prediction, he struck right where he last spotted the shield, which was followed by a large metallic sound permeating the area.

Leopold bounced off the top, swinging his hammer forward and toward the Tributal.

One glance towards the enemy, and a massive, black fire appeared out of Ennyou's eye, pushing Leopold away. The demon tumbled to the ground, only to be caught by the invisible Isak, who let go of the shield, leaping forward onto the bones right below the main cocoon.

One sharp tug, and there he was, almost at the top again. Yet, the flame angrily seethed, covering this area. Isak's blood dropped, revealing his position, but Ennyou instead struck at Leopold again, who barely managed to run towards the shield, covering the hit.

The impact almost buried him below the sand, but with one swift kick of his legs, a dune caused him and the item to flow out. With the hammer barely connecting at the bone, it made way for more airtime and a clear outlook.

Isak let go of his invisibility, pressuring a wound that was soon to disappear. He turned towards Leopold, slightly curious.

"If this skeletal thing isn't a demon, then what the hell is it supposed to be?!" Isak thought, angrily furrowing one brow. "...and why is it bloody against us?"

Leopold's eye gleamed for a moment, before he willingly dived downwards, with the bones following right behind. He managed to bounce off, at the very last moment, hastily grabbing Isak and throwing him forwards, with the shield in hand.

The two rolled on the sand, a few inches away from where the legs created a massive dome. These bones were much harder to break, which even a glance would suggest. Yet, when Ennyou spotted the two, they immediately started moving.

It gave them enough time to latch onto the side, holding tightly.

"A fucking Tributal?" Isak finally yelled out, as the limb above let the two stare at Ennyou. "Since when can they do that?"

"It must be a demon," Leopold uttered.

"A demon?!" Isak asked. "It can't wound me, smartass!"

"What else, then?"

Ennyou held the limb up for a second, glancing around.

"I'd be more inclined to believe that a human would fight two random demons he found in the desert, and not another one of our kind!" Isak turned to Leopold. "My-"

"We can't defeat it," Leopold muttered.

"Are you implying that a Tributal is stronger than us?"

"Whatever it is." Leopold shook his head. "We have more important things to focus on."

Then, as if Ennyou caught on, a smile appeared on his face. The limb moved down, shifting slightly to the left.

"What the hell is happening out there?!" Ingo yelled out. "What on Errarion are the two of you doing?!" he started banging on the cart's bars with his hands.

Then, a deep, bassy, brooding sound made sure of its presence.

Isak halted his breath, right as the bone crashed near where the cart stood.

It didn't take much of Ennyou's power to rip it in two, revealing the tied Morians, now shockingly staring at the Tributal, who only squinted his eyes.

Leopold slid down, running towards the three, grabbing Ingo by the shoulders.

The Morians stared in complete, utter shock.

They were sure of it. Something that at least resembled a human stared back. Ingo quickly grew to furrow his brows, however.

He wasn't to fight it but found yet another reason to get angry.

"The Shaiti Temple, huh?" Ennyou uttered, almost chuckling. "I've heard of its story beforehand. I never could understand why someone would be inclined to believe a witchtale."

Isak followed right after, wrapping one arm around Morio and Genni, pulling the two away from the bone, which found itself raised again. Ennyou's body fully turned.

"For such gullible people, you're quite strong. Not strong enough, though. You're not the one."

"Huh?!" Isak yelled out. "What are you talking about?"

"I need to prove a point and make ends meet. My strongest opponent, because the other one only acted as if they were a force to be reckoned with." Ennyou shook his head. "You two, on the other hand, can only attempt to hurt me." he giggled.

"Bastard..." Isak bellowed, stepping forward, leaving the shield behind by the time Ennyou had begun moving forward. "Come on then, round two!"

"I'd just be wasting more of my time," Ennyou spoke.

"Isak!" Leopold uttered, squeezing around Ingo's throat tightly.

"NO, COME ON! BRING IT ON IF YOU'RE EVER SO CONFIDENT! WE'LL SEE WHO SETTLES THIS, HAND IN HAND, FIST TO FIST!"

Ennyou ignored him, all up until Isak's fist punched one of the frailer bones of the structure.

Almost as if retaliating, it immediately kicked the demon back, sending him crashing against the cart. A few coughs of blood later, and he found himself back on his feet again.

He ran forward, screaming out. "FIGHT ME!"

Isak struck at the thicker bone. Ennyou immediately turned, sleazy, sharp eyes meeting Isak's one.

Then, three of the thick bones reached out of the ground, all heading towards the demon.

"Isak!" Leopold let go of Ingo, running towards the demon, who only smiled in confidence, watching as the enemy headed his way.

Leopold jumped, pushing him out, and pointing the shield up towards the bones.

When they struck, Leopold was buried. Although, not for long, just as last time. The metallic sound it made created some sort of implosion.

The dunes thrashed the Morians, as well as Isak right up into the sky, leaving Leopold's body on the other side of the conflict.

The sandy ground beneath Ennyou started forming into this massive rift, revealing a long, dark canyon spreading right across the desert. It burst out hot air from beneath the surface, which pushed the Morians further along the line, with Ingo flailing towards a different direction.

Genni tried reaching her tied hands out, only for Ingo's body to be covered with the flying sand, disappearing in the distance.

Ennyou raised his foot again, grabbing Leopold's body, and catching Ingo with his other bony grip.

"What did your friend want to prove anyway?" he uttered, squeezing them tightly. "Just pests."

Ennyou loosened some of his grip. When his eyes met Leopold's, his limbs moved at incredible speeds. One simple toss, one burst of the black flames out of his eye, and the two had disappeared with the wind.

Isak stood still, holding onto the ground. The hot air let go of the two Morians, as they tumbled onto the nearby sand, while the tornado of the earlier grains spun around Ennyou's body, before settling down.

Revealing nothing.

Just as it came out of nowhere, it disappeared the very next second, followed by a few bone rumblings in the canyon.

Ingo and Leopold were nowhere to be seen.

Genni started breathing heavily, crawling on her knees. "I-Ingo!"

Morio sat still, paralyzed. So much had happened in the past few minutes, that he wasn't sure how to feel with the outcome.

One thing was certain, though. He turned to the demon, who observed the dunes in just as much shock as he did.

Isak clenched his fists, and eventually walked over to the Morians, grabbing them by their hands and throwing them back into the half of what the cart once was.

He turned to the desert, huffing out. "Only cowards run." Isak glanced back at the two Morians. "...and I'm done chasing."

***

A few cicadas made sure of their presence, flying from acacia to acacia before settling near a rooftop.

Koyote stared into the night sky, stomping around, almost trying to catch every star she could spot. One wrong step back, however, and she crashed, right onto her father's lap.

He chuckled. "Watch out, Oxy!"

"Did you see, papa?" she raised her hand.

"Yes." he smiled. "We can see them every year."

"Every year! That's such a long time!" she kicked her legs. "I want to see them every day!"

"The stars?"

"No, not the stars! The people up there! Mister Dakarai told me!"

"Are you sure it's not just a witchtale?"

Koyote's mama, Jane, sighed, standing in the doorway of the entrance to their rooftop, with a cold cup of uphona wine. "Told you, Merry."

Merry giggled again. "What did he say, then?"

Koyote squinted her eyes, staring intensely. "There, can you see it?" she pointed.

The two looked up, with Jane shrugging.

"There are stars behind stars! That's where they live!"

"Who lives there?" Merry asked.

"The mulpantons!"

Jane laughed out loud, stepping back inside. "Witchtale, Oxy!"

"Oxy..." Merry muttered. "Do you want to know something more interesting about those stars you're looking at?"

"Hm?" she turned.

"The sight of lights appearing behind gleams is us reaching towards the distant cosmos. Where no one in this world knows what could be hiding there. We can only see them when the sun shines on the exact opposite side of where we live."

"Huh! Wait, so it's day somewhere else?"

"For at least half of this world! In Herbes, we call it the equinox."

"Equinox," Koyote repeated. "Do the mulpantons live on that equinox?!" she smiled.

"That's..." Merry thought for a bit, before beaming. "Yeah, they do."

"Yay!" Koyote raised both hands. "We'll visit them one day, okay?"

Merry sighed, blinking. "Promise."

"Promise!"