Joya a beautiful country filled with wonders and mystery. There were a lot of things that he had not explored in this country. Still, today was not a day for exploration. Yuurei had come here because he had a job to do. It would seem like an important person from Joya had sent a letter to Paradise Dawn, and they would need their help. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but he figured that he would take it and see where it would go. The weather is much nicer here than it was in Fiore and the people were vibrant with colors.

Of course, the Nephilim weren’t alone. He had brought along one of his closest friends and his right-hand man. Brone would assist him on this because he figured it would be for the best. He had met with the officials, and they were surprised to see two Paradise members here. They only expected Yuurei to show up with the strange cat of his. They didn’t care because, in the end, they needed them to deal with something that needed taken care of.

When the two of them got there, they would be told what they were hunting and where to go. Yuurei was surprised to hear about a Kubikajiri, and apparently, it was causing chaos around planes that people traveled through to get to their destination. When he heard what it did, he was grossed out, but now they knew what to look for.

A headless beast that stunk of blood. Apparently, it would eat the heads of its victim where the head should be. He wasn't sure how that worked, but he figured they would find out.

“Be prepared for anything. I’ve never fought something called a Kubikajiri, so I don’t know what to expect from it. Still, it seems like a nasty creature to be honest.” He said to Brone as Renji was on his shoulder.

“I guess we will find it when we see it, but you two should be fine.” He said to them as they were walking through the fields that they were told to go to.

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Brone Heavyaxe was excited to be approached by Yuurei with a job. The two of them together meant they would spend time together on a quest, though taking on a job that required two of the strongest in the guild meant the job may be dangerous; the dwarf  didn't worry, but was actually excited for such a thrill. So he donned his full armor and mounted his tempest wolf, Geri. He rode along side the guild master who ran without the need of a mount, heading to Joya.

When they arrived in Joya, they went to speak with the client who personally contacted the guild for the quest. They explained the monster to be a Kubikajiri, a creature Brone never heard of, and as it was explained and described, disgust was shown on his face. "I guess we'll have to kill it fast" Brone said, hoping the kill would be quick so he wouldn't have to stare at it longer than he should.

"Yeh, I never heard of such a thing" the dwarf told his friend as they made their way towards the place they heard the most sightings were taken place, the graveyard, which was adjacent to one of the living districts, which proved to be a problem. From what the two have heard, the Kubikajiri had been seen eating the heads of corpses that were recently buried in the graveyard, but it had attacked a handful of people, which made this an issue, and it became a serious issue when two guards were sent to dispatch of it, but when they didn't return, the quest was made and the request was sent, now Brone and Yuurei arrived, determined to rid the region of such a monster.

"If the rumor is true, and it doesn't have a head, how does it eat? How does it think? How does it see?" these questions bothered the dwarf, not understanding how such a thing was possible, even magic had to have some kind of sense, but to have a head was the most basic thing in life, all animals had heads, Do they? Now Brone began to wonder what animals are there without heads. This quest was already becoming trouble for the two visitors.

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Yuurei would move with Brone as they were getting closer to their destination. The graveyard was a creepy place and honestly, he felt like something would jump at them at any time. Still, he heard his friend, and he would rub his chin as he was thinking about it.

“That’s a good question, but maybe it thinks and sees with its stomach? I’m assuming a toxin from our brain attracts the Kubikajiri.” He said to Brone as he was looking around.

He was wondering where it could be. Still, one question was never answered, and it was how it ate. Renji thought about that, and he would bring an answer to the two of them.

“Maybe it has teeth around where the head is supposed to be.” He suggested this, which would bring Yuurei to shiver when he heard it.

Their eyes were focused as they were looking around the place. There was no sign of this Kubikajiri; he was pretty sure they weren’t lying about it. He would keep moving and soon enough he would see something rummaging into the ground. He wasn’t sure what it was, but when he got close, he would see it.

The monster’s stench filled up the place, and it was battered up and naked. He would move around it as it took a corpse and started eating the head. He was shocked to see this and it made him want to puke. It wouldn’t take long for the Kubikajiri to notice that they were there, and it would drop the body. It would look at the two of them as if it had eyes and two magic circles would appear in front of them.

“Renji.” He would say as his friend would open his bag.

Yuurei would swing his left arm as blood would come out of the magic circle. He would disperse the spell without a problem as he would jump back from the creature. The second spell would head over to Brone.  

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Brone listened to Yuurei's theories, and though the dwarf nodded, he couldn't imagine any of these suggested theories to work; if the monster could see with it's stomach, then would it have eyes on it's belly? It seemed so weird, Brone had to dismiss the thought process because it was starting to give him a headache, "Nevermind it, we'll see it when we see it" he grunted as he continued onward.

When they reached the graveyard, the dwarf searched about him, though oddly enough, there seem to be a light fog, keeping his range of sight limited. Even though he was moving through a graveyard, he wasn't bothered by it, given that he's previously walked through battlefields of corpses.

The sound of crunching caught the dwarf's attention. When he looked in the direction of the sound, he spotted Yuurei just a few meters and saw his friend was donned in full armor; the guild master was facing the direction of the sound as well; A humanoid, naked and headless, it's bony hands holding up the colorless body of a person who had been laid to rest recently. The headless neck of the monster neared the head of the corpse and as it an invisible mouth was there biting into it's meal, the corpse's head was breaking apart, slowly vanishing.

"Gross!" Brone couldn't hold back his reaction, the sight was disturbing. He has seem death of many kinds given his experience as an adventurer, but such an unnatural sight brought his iron stomach to desiring to vomit. He didn't know if his outburst was the factor that drew the creature's attention or not, but it mattered not now; the creature conjured what looked like tendrils or blades made of blood that flew across the graveyard to the visitors. Yuurei negated the attack that went for him and as for Brone, he drew his green battle axe and sliced at the blood that neared him, negating the spell as well.

The dwarf ran forward, heading to engage with the monster while drawing his black axe, though because of his own speed, he doubted he would reach the monster because Yuurei made his first move.

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Yuurei would see that Brone had rushed to the monster. It was time to go on the offense, and he would do the same thing. He would transform into a half-Nephilim as he would only have two wings, and his left eye would change to a golden color. He would run straight to the monster; the monster would look at them both and his attention would move to Yuurei. He would create more blood tendrils and this time it had come from the ground. When Yuurei saw this, he would fly higher in the air and avoid the attacks.

He used his necklace to help him with sensing the danger. His eyes focused straight on the creature, and he would swing his right hand at the monster. His eye focused on the creature, making it weak to Yuurei’s attack. The Nephilim would land his hit, but the monster would grab his arm at the same time and swing Yuurei to the ground. It would roar as it would inch closer to Yuurei as it was trying to eat his head.

The berserker would hit the ground and he would cough out blood as this thing was strong even though it looked weak. He would pick himself up and he would lunge away from the monster. Renji was surprised that the guild master hadn’t dodged it, but it seemed like the creature was resistant to physical damage. It would take them time to take it out, but they were going to get the job done.

Yuurei would wipe the blood off his lips after spitting blood out of his mouth. The monster would turn to Brone as it could sense the man getting closer.

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Brone watched as Yuurei, in partial Nephilim form, flew ahead a great speed, though the monster attacked with more blood tendril. Yuurei dodged before striking at the creature, and though the punch connected, it seems as if the monster wasn't affected by it, not even flinching. The dwarf hurried as fast as he could, but so much was happening between the angel and headless monster.

Seeing Yuurei being slammed onto the ground with great force, Brone began to get concerned; how powerful was this thing that it was able to withstand a hit from an angel and deliver a powerful blow back?

When Yuurei managed to lunge away from the monster, free from it's reach for the moment, the creature adjusted itself and even though it didn't have a head, Brone could tell that it's attention was on him, so he readied himself as he was finally closing the distance.

The dwarf thought of a quick plan: If brute strength won't work on the monster, then there has to be another way to defeat it, so it was time to cycle through his equipment and see what would work.

The Kubikajiri raised it's boney arm, preparing to swing at the incoming dwarf. Even though the arm resembled that of a frail human's arm, Brone knew well that it's strength must rival that of a god, so as he finally got within a meter of the monster, his green axe vanished into this air, the monster's arm came swinging downward onto the dwarf, then in an instant, the arm collided with the golden shield that appeared in Brone's hand. Even though the shield was magically indestructible and Brone was so sturdy, he wasn't able to be pushed away, the force of the attack was so great, Brone's feet dug into the ground, causing the pavement pathway to crack then soon destroyed.

Brone then took the chance and swung his black axe, Dhuraindarin, if the body of the monster was considered non-living, or maybe if it wore some kind of armor that resembled a naked body, then his axe would destroy it instantly. As the black blade slammed into the creature's midsection, there was no flinch nor break of skin.

The creature then growled, which confused Brone, "How can you growl if-?" the dwarf began to ask as he hid beneath the shield, but he was interrupted by the sight of a dozen blood spike appeared levitating all about him and the Kubikajiri, "...Ye don't have a head?" he finished his question, though his tone dropped as he was concerned about the spikes.

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Yuurei would see his friend defending himself from the attack. It would seem like he was doing his best to make sure that this creature couldn’t get to him. This was good, but it also meant that he had to step it up. He was sure he hurt the Kubikajiri, but it didn’t look like it. He was interested in this and needed to find a way to take it out. He would take a deep breath as he could see Brone was doing his best, and that was all he needed to do.

He would see the spikes levitating all around them, which would be a bad thing. Yuurei would fly toward the Kubikajiri, but some of the levitating spikes would fly straight toward the Nephilim. He would see this and dodge them as he wasn’t going to let them hit him. He had been caught off guard by how weak the monster had looked before. Still, it would seem like it was proving difficult to get close to what it was doing.

“Why are you annoying? Just die and rest easy.” He said as he would look at the Kubikajiri.

It was then it would shoot some of the spikes toward Brone in every direction. Yuurei would see this, and he would fly straight to them with the spikes somehow missing Yuurei. He would swing at it; this time through the Kubikajiri would grab Yuurei’s arm before he could hit, and he would feel himself being swung again. He would kick the creature in the back of his neck while he felt himself going over the monster and he would slam into the ground once again. The bounce would bring him to fly away, but the damage was done.

Yuurei would cough up blood as he would crack his neck as he felt the pain from this monster.

“This thing can fight. No wonder it’s dangerous.” He said to Brone as he was ready to keep going.

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Brone conjured a layer of ice that coated his golden breastplate armor just as a number of the blood-made spikes shot towards him. Some of them were blocked by the golden shield, some were negated by the sudden appearance of Spellcleaver, the green axe, which now had switched places with Dhuraindarin. Three spikes had hit the back of Brone's armor, which shattered the layer of ice and cracked the golden armor beneath.

It was astounding that the monster was able to attack both him and Yuurei at the exact same time. As the dwarf looked towards his foe, he spotted Yuurei getting slammed into the ground again. This monster was the smallest, most unintimidating creature they had ever faced, and yet it was beginning to look as if it posed a greater threat then the god-like dragon they had faced.

As the monster released Yuurei, allowing the nephilim to fly away, gaining distance, Brone took the advantage of the monster not focusing on him, by striking at it from behind with the spellcleaver, but as the blade slammed into the midsection of it's naked body, the same effect happened as before, nothing; confirming to the dwarf that it's skins wasn't magically protected. Brone cursed as the Kubikajiri swung it's arm, trying to backhand the dwarf, but Brone blocked it with his shield. "Not only that! But it doesn't have armor or any magical protection!" He called out to Yuurei in answer just as he blocked another swing from the monster's arms.

"Ye got any plans, guild master!?" Brone asked just as blocked a blood tendril that was conjured from another magical circle.

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Yuurei would chuckle when he heard Brone’s words. He would spit some of the blood that was in his mouth again. They were going to make sure that they took it out without dying. The Nephilim would hear Brone asking him a question and he would look at the creature.

“It’s taking damage, but we just can’t tell how much. It doesn’t have a face that gives me an expression of how much pain it is in. If I had to say we keep bashing at it. I will be the decoy and you will be the attacker. I have things that can stop me from being tossed around like a doll.” He said to Yuurei.

The berserker would get to work, but before he could do that, the creature had attacked once again. It would shoot out more of its blood tendril at them. The light mage would be quick to dodge the attacks as he really wondered how this thing had come to existence, to begin with.

Yuurei would fly straight to the Kubikajiri and he would swing his right hand and it would stretch the remainder of the meters that were between the two. It would hit the monster and it would be ready to grab Yuurei’s arm but he would pull his arm back quickly.

The Nephilim would move to it, and he would try to launch a second punch with his left arm, but he would use his precognition spell to see that if he did this he would be grabbed again. When the Kubikajiri had gotten to do that, Yuurei would move back and would dodge it. He would flap his wings as the monster would shoot more blood spikes at Yuurei. He would dodge them as he would hope this was enough for Brone to do something.

“Why aren’t you using your magic?” He asked Yuurei.

“I don’t want to hurt Brone in the process.” He said to Renji, but the Exceed knew he had other magic he could use.

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As Brone blocked more blood tendrils, he heard Yuurei give his analysis of the situation, which didn't provide any comfort. There was no supernatural invulnerability that had some sort of weakness, the monster was simply highly durable, "Fine then we'll just wither it down!" the dwarf said as he blocked a blood spike that was shot at him.

After Yuurei gave the plan, the nephilim dove in for an attack which proved rather difficult. Brone had his own trouble trying to land a hit on the speedy guild master, but seeing his friend trying his best to be as cautious as possible reminded the dwarf of how dangerous this Kubikajiri was.

As the monster was distracted, Brone pulled back on his green axe, he was preparing for an attack, but before he began to swing, the axe switched places with the golden axe; as he yelled at the top of his lungs, the golden axe activated a spell that surged power through the dwarf, increasing his strength, then the axe quadrupled in size. The giant blade slammed into the midsection of the monster, the same spot that he hit before. For a moment, he wondered if the blade had finally dug in. Then the Kubikajiri swung it's right arm back, but Brone blocked it in time with his shield. The force of the backhand attack was powerful enough to send back an elite guard, but the dwarf was a well sturdy being and held his ground.

It was surprising that the monster was able to send out numerous blood tendrils while also strike at the dwarf as well. Brone took notice that Yuurei was overly cautious, but he knew well that between the two of them, the guild master was the strongest of the two, so while the monster turned to face the dwarf, he blocked it's heavy arm attacks with his shield while he called out , "Yuurei! Take yer shots! We'll take turns drawing it's attention!"

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Yuurei would watch Brone take his attacks to the Kubikajiri and it was still amazing to see that axe changing size before striking. Still, he wasn’t going to stop there as he needed to continue with the attack. When he saw that his friend had the attention of the monster, he would start flying to it. He would hear Brone’s words and he had a smirk on his face. That was basically the plan, and he was happy that his friend had realized it.

He would get closer to the demon, and he would swing his left arm down. A magic circle would appear in front of him, and a light energy slash would fly straight to the demon. It would hit him as it would roar from the hit, and he would swing his right arm as well. Of course, he wasn’t close to him, and the arm would stretch to close the distance between the two of them. It would hit the Kubikajiri once again as it was not happy with being attacked back-to-back. It would look over to Yuurei and it would be very angry.

He couldn’t see the monster's face because it wasn’t there, but he could tell how angry it was. It was then that it would shoot out multiple spikes and tendrils at the man with the wings. The Kubikajiri could tell he was truly strong, so the monster decided to throw everything at Yuurei.

He would see this as he was moving around now. It would seem like this thing was not happy with how things were going. Still, Yuurei knew what he was going to do next. He was going to make sure that it couldn’t do anything for a second. It would be enough for the two of them to be able to take it out before it could do anything to them.

The Nephilim’s bandages would move straight to the monster and would start wrapping around the monster’s body. It would look around confusingly, but they couldn’t see if that thing truly had a face. It was then it would be held in place for them to attack without hesitating.

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As the monster slammed a fist into the dwarf's indestructible shield, a blast of light slammed onto the monster's back, drawing it's attention. As it was distracted by the angelic being, Brone peeked from behind the shield to see Yuurei darting around in the air like a mosquito, striking at the Kubikajiri repeatedly with his stretching arms, trying to keep it's distance

The monster wanted to hit the flying elf, but it was simply out of reach; it screeched, not entirely sure how without a head, in anger and before he could decide on what to do, it was entangled by the wrappings coming from Yuurei's arms, "Chance!" Brone said as he positioned himself for his next attack; he pulled back on his golden axe, in an instant, the axe quadrupled in size again, then a snow flurry encircled the blade, readying another spell. The Kubikajiri struggled against the binding, but couldn't tear itself free, it must have known what might be coming next, but it didn't matter to the dwarf, for he continued to build up the attack.

"Hold it still, Yuurei!" Brone called as he brought down the giant axe while yelling his battle cry, increasing his strength once more. As the giant blade came slamming down upon the Kubikajiri, an explosion of snow and ice erupted from the collision. Then the explosion became a dome of swirling ice and snow with the monster and Brone inside.

"You'll either die from being chopped up, beaten to a pulp, or frozen solid! Pick one!" Brone called to the monster who was struggling more with the bandages now that it's body was slowing, parts of it's body was beginning to freeze over. The dwarf decided to take advantage of this and ready his golden axe which returned back to normal size again. Suddenly a wave of blood tendrils lashed out from where the Kubikajiri was, but the dwarf was quick enough to switch out the golden axe with the green axe and with one swing from Spellcleaver, the wave of blood vanished. The dwarf got annoyed at the monster, it seemed smarter than the standard beast.

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Yuurei had stopped it from physically attacking them, and it would seem like Brone would take advantage of that. He would see his friend using all his moves all at once. It would seem like he was going all out, and he would. He would see the Kubikajiri be attacked by so many things that he was happy that Brone was able to do something like this. Still, it seemed to have been taken quite the damage from everything that happened. It was freezing up from Brone’s attack, which made Yuurei feel like he should shatter it to pieces with a punch from him. He would soar straight to the creature as Brone would stop its blood tendrils from going everywhere. He would end up next to the Kubikajiri and he would just punch it with everything he had.

It was enough to stop the monster from struggling out of the bandages, and soon enough it would shatter from the coldness it was feeling. The bandages would unwrap the area and return to Yuurei’s arm. He would look at Brone with a thumbs up as if they had done what they needed to do.

“Alright let’s go tell them what we did and get rewarded.” He said to Brone as he would turn and started making his way back to the place.

He would run this time as he was making his way to their destination quickly. He figured that he didn’t have to worry about the dwarf as he would travel by wolf. He had brought a piece of the monster’s arm as proof.

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[exit]

Brone faced the monster, his shield and axe in his hands. As he took a step toward it, blood tendrils would lash out, to which the dwarf blocked with his shield and if the tendrils began to overtake him, he would cut it down and negate the spell with his spellcleaver, but the constant attack kept the dwarf at bay, but then Yuurei flew in from the top of the blizzard and landed beside the monster. The creature tried to react and turn to face the nephilim, but it was slowed to the point he didn't have time to react to the incoming attack. Yuurei slammed a powerful fist into the creature, causing it to shatter into many piece.

Seeing the monster fall away, Brone dropped the spell, causing the blizzard to die away, leaving just him and Yuurei standing in the middle of the graveyard. The guild master picked up one of the monster's frozen arms and ran the way they originally came. The dwarf caught his breath before he burst out laughing. A wolf's bark caught his attention and when he looked, he spotted Geri the wolf being led by two ravens.

"I didn't know ye two were around" Brone said to Huginn and Muninn just as the wolf arrived and the ravens perched on his shoulders.

"We got curious" Huginn said.

"He got worried" Muninn added before Huginn flapped an aggressive wing at him.

Brone laughed as he mounted Geri. Soon enough the wolf took off, running after Yuurei, though the elf was already nearly out of sight. The ravens took to the sky to make sure Yuurei was still in sight so the dwarf wouldn't lose his way in a city he was unfamiliar with. Eventually they reached the quest giver and reported the defeat of the monster. The sigh of relief was always enjoyable to see for the monster hunters, though for Yuurei, the true beautiful sight was the reward money that was provided to them. The dwarf shrugged, but happily took the reward in hand, he then mounted Geri again and the rest of the them took to the road, heading home. Another quest was done now.

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