"I'm bored!" Azid yelled out, letting out a loud, dramatic sigh as he abruptly dropped to the ground, casually sitting cross-legged right in the middle of an active battlefield.
"What!? What do you mean you're bored!?" Mark screamed back, violently twisting his torso to dodge the metal blades of a drakorath trying to skewer him.
"Exactly what it sounds like! I'm bored!" Azid replied. Shifting his weight, he dropped from a seated position to lazily lay out on his side in the dirt.
Hoshikang cleanly decapitated a screeching reylf before bringing his blade up just in time to block the curved sword of an advancing sharaykthun. "While I find your lighthearted nature endearing most of the time, this is not one of those times, Azid," the older man said. His voice remained perfectly calm, though the physical strain of holding back the demon's blade showed in his tensed shoulders.
"It's just that we've been doing the exact same thing over and over again for a whole month," Azid complained. He propped his head up on his palm, using his free index finger to idly draw meaningless shapes in the bloody dirt like a bored child. "Fighting demons was fun at the start, but it's getting repetitive. Only fighting the occasional ones with names and horns is actually fun anymore."
"Still, j-just help us win this f-fight, and then w-we can find something more fun to do!" Yuna called out. She backstepped the sweeping claws of two imps, frantically rolling away to dodge a volley of attacks from a swarm of hovering veinblood cherubs overhead.
Azid rolled his eyes heavily. Grabbing his iron spear, he pushed himself up from the dirt and lazily strolled back into the fray. Without breaking his stride, he hurled his weapon. The heavy iron projectile flew with terrifying force, cleanly piercing through the thick chests of two overlapping drakoraths.
Deciding he didn't want to drag the tedious battle out any longer, Azid shifted. His humanoid body rapidly expanded and mutated, seamlessly tearing into his massive war form. Within seconds, he stood as a towering, fifteen-foot-tall black panther, resembling some primeval apex predator from a forgotten age.
He plunged into the remaining demonic horde. He ripped, gnawed, clawed, shattered, and crushed everything in his path. He didn't fight with the desperate fury of a warrior in battle; he methodically slaughtered the demons with the dull, annoyed precision of someone performing a tedious chore.
"Jesus, I always forget just how damn big you are when you transform into that," Mark panted, stepping back from the carnage to nurse his bruised knuckles after punching armored demons for the last half hour.
"H-honestly, I think I can handle t-this much better. He just looks like a b-big cat, not a demon," Yuna stuttered, her trembling hands finally relaxing enough to sheathe her katana.
Hoshikang let out a small, weary sigh before offering a gentle smile. "Good job, Azid. I know you aren't having fun doing this right now, but I thank you for doing it anyway."
Azid's massive panther frame shrank and shifted, seamlessly melting back into his standard humanoid form. He stretched his shoulders, rolling his neck until it popped, and let out a long, heavy sigh.
"Come on, let's go back. Maybe there's something fun to do in town," he casually threw over his shoulder. Without waiting for a response, he immediately turned his back on the slaughtered demons and began strolling away.
The remaining three stood amidst the gore, watching him go in dead silence. After a long moment, they slowly turned to exchange deeply worried glances.
"This... might become a big problem," Mark remarked, nervously rubbing the back of his neck as he stared at Azid's retreating back.
"Yes. It can definitely become an issue," Hoshikang agreed, his usual tranquil demeanor strained by a heavy frown.
Yuna swallowed hard, her grip tightening instinctively around her sheathed katana. "Should we d-do something?" she asked quietly.
Hoshikang took a slow, measured breath to center himself. "First, let's go back. Then we'll discuss it," he decided.
Mark and Yuna gave hesitant nods. Together, they began the trek back to town, trailing a safe distance behind the bored demon. A heavy, unspoken dread hung over the trio. They could only hope that Azid would eventually just snap back to his usual self—and that they wouldn't be forced to take drastic action against the person they now truly considered a friend.