Azrael continued to pace forward, eyes darting around, as if it could see and scrap of purple fur or a flash of bright green. It would be better to know where it was, so this time he put more effort into the spell, casting out his senses for the telltale sign of a nearby heartbeat.

He was a ways away from Beta so caught the heartbeats of a number of other creatures nearby, but it wasn't hard to pinpoint which one was his quarry. It wasn't moving and it was larger then the others. He snorted. Of course, waiting for him to come to it. He quickened his pace, now making a beeline directly for the heartbeat. When he got close, that's when he would hide.

Beta growled with frusteration. As far as it knew, the beast could be right on top of it! It needed to know where it was, but obviously its magic didn't feel like working. So it hauled itself out from the shadow of the boulder and began to sneak, following each patch of shadow, hidden behind structures and boulders, peaking around the corners to see if he was there and continuing on if he wasn't.

It's scent was dampened, its pawsteps were light, it was almost invisible. Beta had really been working to become this good at sneaking...seems its practice was paying off.

The heartbeat was moving now. It was crawling along the side of Polaris. Azrael wondered if the beast knew where he was, if it had the same detection spell that he did. Either way, it was too dangerous to be out in the open now. As he ran towards the place where the Beta was hiding, he opened his arms, darkness spreading from his body and encompassing the world around him. Thick, heady darkness that completely hid him from sight as he got close to the heartbeat that was now fading from his senses.

He slowed down now, creeping along as he got close to the place he had last seen the heartbeat. He would win this - he was the darkness.

The sudden darkness that encompassed Beta took it by surprise. Eyes widened as it crouched back, completely blinded by the spell. Shit, he was close wasn't he? He probably knew exactly where he was. It needed to know, it needed to know now where he was.

And as its desperation got the better of it, the beast's heartbeat became obvious - he was close. Only a few feet away and getting closer. It silently grit its teeth and turned, bouncing away to get out of range of whatever spell he was planning.

Even Azrael could not see in this darkness, but its affects would not last long. He needed to strike now, before it slipped away. Perhaps it was hasty, perhaps it was stupid, but that's who Azrael was - bold, ferocious, never holding back. So with a roar, he leaped into the air with a powerful swing of his wings and sucked in a great breath.

Jaws opened wide and hot flame burst from his mouth, immediately casting away the darkness that it touched. Azrael swung his head around to bathe the whole area in blazing hot flame. He was careful not to direct it too much at the ground, so that the ruby didn't burn to death - at worse, it would be singed and the game would be won.

Whatever Beta had been expecting, it sure wasn't the demon leaping into the air like that and just blasting fire everywhere! It tried not to make a sound as it attempted to scramble out of the way of the torrent of flame.

It wasn't fast enough, though, and it felt blazing heat sear across its back, setting fire to a number of its quills. It hissed with pain as it went alight and fell to the ground, rolling over to get the fire out.

Azrael saw him immediately as the darkness faded away. The fire passed harmlessly over the stones, but in one spot, it stayed, little candleflames quickly being snuffed out by the beast. Azrael pumped his wings one more time before diving, heading straight for Beta.

Well, not quite straight. As he flared out his wings to break his fall, he found himself sliding to the left, but he still swung out and arm to bring the beast down to the ground.

It could hear him behind. The flap of the wings and the rush of the wind as he came soaring down. It needed to get out of the way or this game was up and, once again, it would mark itself down as a failure - again.

Already on its stomach, Beta rolled to the side, just in time to avoid Azrael's attack. It felt its arm swing right by its head and scrambled away, trying to step back into the shadows. It wasn't going to give up!

He didn't feel the attack connect, his arm missing as he swung. The beast must have gotten out of the way before he managed to land his hit, but he didn't let it stop him. As soon as he landed, sliding a bit on the hard stone, he whipped around, using his momentum to push himself forward. "YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE ME!"

Two arms reached forward to grab the beast and hold it to the ground, hopefully this time it would actually hit and the damn game would be up.

It couldn't dodge this one, there wasn't enough time. So, instead, it formulated a plan to get out of this situation, get out and slip back into the darkness. It wasn't beat until it was caught.

So as soon as the demon grabbed its shoulders and forced it to the ground, Beta tried to scrape some of the ash scattered by the fire right into his eyes. If not to blind him, then to stun him long enough to let it go.