"Fintan, you managed to kill the Hell Hound. But in this Guild, no, in this world, there is no room to pause. I didn’t want to say it, but these Hell Hounds are different. Not a good different. They are much larger, much faster and much more ferocious. Your demon had to fend off a Hound three times his size until you could get a hold of yourself. If I had set you up with any of the other members, you would have been dead. I know you may be scared, but you can’t let it hold you back. Let it propel you. Another thing. Did you see how I froze the Hound’s head? I want you to concentrate on setting a blaze without setting the forest on fire.” Cathal criticized, giving Fintan possibly the scariest glare he'd ever seen. It was kind of strange hearing a voice so calm come out of a mouth that scowled so coldly. Fintan's ear burned red with shame, looking over his shoulder at Vergil who acted like he hadn't done anything at all, trying to make Fintan feel better, but all it did was give the Keeper the impression that he had messed up the most basic of rules. Which he essentially had.
Cathal was absolutely right, he couldn't hesitate for any amount of time, not anymore. He wouldn't have as much time for shenanigans or hiding in the shadows anymore. If he wanted to survive he needed to take this more seriously so he wouldn't be left behind in the dust.
"Get ready," Cathal warned, breaking through Fintan's thoughts before the Guild Master instantly killed three more of the hellhounds, dragging Vergil and him into a sort of huddle. Giant spikes of ice cracked through the soft earth of the forest floor and rose above their heads, glittering like lethal diamonds.
“Alright kid. Time to get to work. Don’t sweat it, I’ve got your back. Just kill them when you see them.” Cathal encouraged before removing his arms from around the two. Fintan realized that was the closest he was going to get to a pep talk and he faced the trees, peering through the distorted images of the ice, his ears pricking up to every rustle of leaves or hush of wind. Fintan's biggest dilemma at the moment was how he was going to defeat the hounds. How could he destroy the hounds without burning the forest? As he waited a moment, the Keeper's arm brushed Vergil's bare elbow and the demon flinched away, hissing out a growl of pain as Vergil grabbed at the skin that was turning red.
"Ow, man! Jeez, it must be your body heat. It must elevate when you use your powers," the demon reasoned, trying to observe the skin by stretching it, but to no avail. Fintan blinked vacantly at Vergil for a moment, his brain whirring as fast as a computer hard drive. Body heat. That was the answer! As soon as he had made this connection, the spikes sank back into the ground and three more hounds burst out of the trees. Vergil moved to step in front of Fintan, but the Keeper held out a blazing hand, keeping him behind him.
"Stay back. I can do it," Fintan pleaded, sounding a little rude, but him demon understood and retreated, not even bothering to hide his reluctance. Splaying his fingers out in front of him like a sorcerer about to recite some incantation, determination swimming in his blue eyes. As the hounds charged towards him, Fintan held his ground, undeterred. He hardly even realized that the wind was starting to pick up rather violently. When no change was occurring in the hounds, Fintan swallowed hard and swept his hand out and shot tiny darts of flame in two of the dogs' eyes, but the third dodged the tiny darts and ran even faster until he was less than ten feet from the boy. Fintan's heart rate picked up and he clenched his fists, panicking when the hounds suddenly began to steam and slowed its pace, panting heavily. Its face was contorted in pain as its vermillion eyes locked on Fintan's frightened look. Then, the hound burst into flames, bursting like a ripe blackberry.
The Keeper's eyes widened comically, but he didn't feel like laughing, more like vomiting as the corpse's blood and guts dribbled towards them. The other hounds were beginning to recover and had seen what Finny had done to their comrade, appearing even angrier than before. Fintan swallowed the bile that had launched into the back of his throat and clenched his teeth, squeezing his fists together even tighter and the two dogs exploded much like the first, one after the other. The rough wind tugged at him, pushing him to the side, but he couldn't remove his gaze from the carcasses, stumbling back towards his mentor.
"Done," he squeaked out, paling considerably before the ripping wind took hold of his attention and his eyes fell on a massive tornado extruding from the middle of the forest.
"There aren't usually tornadoes in New Jersey, are there?" Vergil asked weakly, unable to look away from the funnel of destruction. Fintan's brain searched for an explanation, turning to Cathal.
"It must be the others! They must be in trouble!" Fintan insisted, starting to run the the direction against the wind before remembering Cathal, looking back at him to see if it was alright for them to go, taking small steps that way anyways. However, as the wind tugged harder and harder, it became obvious that they wouldn't be able to withstand something so powerful.
"Never mind anymore, we have to find cover!" Fintan shouted at the top of his lungs! over the wind.