Beast Soul

"Ugh…" The girl, who was still alive, groaned on the floor as blood began to drip out of the monster's mouth, and the boyfriend's body finally went limb.

Crunch! Crunch!

The sound of bones and meat getting crushed within the monster's enormous mouth was heard ringing all across the room.

Crunch! Crunch!

The monster chomped on the boyfriend's body for a few more seconds before turning around and heading towards the body of the young girl, who was lying right next to the bookshelf, half awake and with no clear idea of what was going on.

"Ja- Jacob?" The girl asked nervously as she clutched her head. It seemed like she couldn't see or hear properly because of the impact of the attack, and the monster quickened its steps and dashed towards the girl, its mouth wide open and ready to devour.

BAM!

Right then, a loud crashing noise reverberated all around the building, which made the monster suddenly stop moving and halt its steps. 

"GRRRR…" It turned around and began looking at its surroundings, trying to identify the source of the noise that it just heard. Its gaze then stuck onto the window that was right behind the bookshelf, and within seconds, the monster had already dashed towards it, aiming for its potential next target.

TAP! TAP! TAP!

The monster moved inside the room with incredible speed and crashed right through the window, exiting out the building and on to the ground, where Clarice was lying, completely immobilised.

Whoosh!

The monster stretched out its wings and flung it backwards, its head pointed at the direction of the ground as it shot down with the speed of lightning, striking the ground with a loud noise.

BAM!

The impact was so powerful that it broke the concrete below its feet, causing bits and pieces to fly all over the place.

A few particles even rained down on Clarice's body. She could see the projectiles that were moving in her direction, but unfortunately, she couldn't do anything to protect herself.

Clarice, whose vision was now almost completely gone, could still see the projectiles that flung across her body, striking her hands and her legs, and even scratching her face.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The projectiles were small in size, so it wasn't that serious. However, they did make small wounds on Clarice's body, which made her feel pain everywhere.

However, she had no time to think about her wounds. What she was more worried about was the terrifying monster that had landed just a few metres away from her.

'Ah, I guess this is it, huh..' Although she hadn't seen the monster that had arrived next to her, she certainly heard the loud impact on the ground and the subsequent shaking of the earth.

She had accepted her death, which she considered to be inevitable. After all, who was going to help her escape from the hands of a literal monster?

Tap! Tap! Tap!

The monster stretched out its winged claws and began walking towards the still immobilised Clarice, who had no hope of living anymore.

"GRRRR…" The monster growled as it reached near the body of Clarice, and stared at her face. Her eyes were fixed on the monster's terrifying expression, and the two of them made eye contact for the second time.

Sniff! Sniff!

All of a sudden, the monster lowered its head and began to sniff Clarice's body, as though it wasn't sure if she was actually his prey.

Right then!

"Leave innocent people alone!" A loud shout distracted the monster from Clarice, and the creature, now alert, raised its head up and looked in the direction of the voice, and was met with a fist, which struck right at the monster's nose!

BAM!

The strike sounded so powerful that one could see the ripples of the sound waves in the air as the punch connected perfectly with its target.

Whoosh!

With a loud roar, the monster was flung backwards and collided into the building that was right behind it.

'Wha- what the hell?' Clarice, who couldn't see properly, saw only the monster get thrown backwards like garbage, which shocked her as she didn't think that was even possible. 'Who the hell did that?' She was intrigued as to who - or what - was behind the sudden attack. Was it a friend or a foe? 

"I actually landed a good strike this time," Clarice watched as a masked figure appeared into her view, and her eyes widened with surprise. 

'Tha- That's a human?!' She was flabbergasted. She didn't expect the thing that flung the terrifying monster back multiple steps was another human.

Was this person a superhero? She wondered. He had punched and sent the monster with such ease that it almost seemed too good to be true. And yet, it happened right in front of her eyes.

"Whew! I didn't expect my punch to actually work so well.." Noah, who was wearing a proper mask this time around, was relieved. Since he didn't have another blackout and was still in control, he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to fight properly against another monster, but it seemed as though he had gotten stronger than last time.

"Maybe the merging stuff that my doppelganger was talking about isn't all that bad…" He said to himself in a joking manner and playfully waved his fist around before noticing the sharp gaze of Clarice staring straight at his face, and he immediately stopped moving.

'Ah, sh*t!' He cursed in his mind. He had thought that the girl was unconscious. After all, she didn't move even an inch when the monster approached her. But to his surprise, she was still conscious. 'That was embarrassing…' He squinted his eyebrows as he kneeled down in front of the girl.

"Miss, are you alright?" He asked with a serious expression. Clarice stared at his face, but she couldn't move any muscles on her body, which meant that she couldn't speak a single word.

"Mmgh…" Soft groans began to escape from her mouth, which made Noah squint his eyebrows and rubbed his chin with a questioning expression.

"Don't tell me you can't move…" Noah murmured softly to himself and was about to check her body in order to find out what the problem was, when all of a sudden, his senses began to tingle rapidly, as though it was altering him of something dangerous.

"F*ck!" Noah cursed loudly as he immediately stood up and swung his fist straight up as a large shadowy figure appeared in front of him with the speed of lightning, and the following impact sent them both in the opposite directions, and the air between them shook violently. 

Whoosh!

Noah, who was flung backwards, tumbled on the ground multiple times before striking against a large tree which helped him to stop moving. 

Tak! Tak! Tak!

On the other hand, the monster, which was the shadowy figure that attacked him right now, was only pushed back a couple of metres, landing with perfection, it's gaze stuck on Noah. 

"Alright, alright… I'll admit, I underestimated you…" Noah murmured under his breath as he slowly got up from the ground, his eyes now gleaming with anger and excitement, which also surprised him a little bit. 

After all, he didn't remember being capable of feeling as well as projecting such an intense amount of anger in his life.

"GRRRRRAR!" The monster screeched loudly as it tapped its feet on the ground, making it shake lightly. It then stretched out its clawed wings, making the translucent wings completely visible to its opponent, and flapped it with full power, causing wind to burst out from underneath its wings as it shot forward with incredible speed.

"Bring it on, you dumb bird!" Noah screamed loudly in response as he grinned and stretched forward both his hands. 

Whoosh!

He too, shot forward, and the two supernatural beings collided with each other once again, causing another loud explosion before the two were flung up into the air, with the monster slightly overpowering Noah as the tussle went on.

As this was going on, the group of young boys had appeared right next to the apartment complex, their eyes staring right at the sky, which was now completely enveloped in rain clouds.

Max, Gerald, Harold and Alphonso all looked at the fight that was happening in the sky with wonder and awe in their eyes. They couldn't believe what they were seeing, even though they had seen some crazy things happening only recently.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I think he'll be handling the monster problem for us.." Alphonso whispered softly and the rest of the group nodded their heads in unison.

"We should probably try to help the innocent people…" Max said in a hushed tone as he pointed at the immobilised Clarice who was lying on the ground, and the group of boys cautiously moved forward, heading towards her.

Clarice watched as a group of young boys surrounded her, all with curious expressions, and one of them asked, "Are you alright, miss?"