Ruby twisted on the sand beneath her, about to release another wave at Azoth. However, she got dangerously close to them, and in a reckless motion, Joe met her with the axe in a full downward swing. Ruby caught the weapon between her fisticuffs, the force sending a shiver up the pommel and into Joe's arms. He wrenched the axe from her and swung again, and received a swift kick in the gut.  Joe fell back towards Aamu, and Ruby smiled.<br/><br/>"Going to have to do better than that," she said as she bashed her fisticuffs together again, generating more sand. Aamu bristled, her entire form shifting as though she was made of static energy. She lunged and Ruby countered with two blasts of sand, which zipped through Aamu as though the black demon was nothing but air. However, the sand blasts continued on their path towards Azoth and Joe.  Aamu swept Ruby off her feet with her tail, leaving herself tangible, and with just enough of an opening for Ruby to punch her in her big face. Aamu reeled and her eyes moved around in her mask, which was switching colors at a dizzying pace. Ruby took the chance to run towards Azoth and with one big sand propelled jump, closed her fist and braced for impact.<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>Kazarn might have been thinking that maybe he shouldn't have taunted Solomon, but at the moment he was too busy figuring out how to avoid the gargoyle's blows. He twisted out of the way of the initial attack, but the quick movement left his underbelly exposed, which Solomon was able to tear through as though it were butter. Kazarn made a high pitched shrieking noise, and fired a jet of sand from its mouth at both Solomon and Salem. He counted his lucky stars that they were together so close, and he wondered if he could perhaps get two birds with one stone.<br/><br/>Black demon blood dripped from Kazarn's insectoid midsection, and he seemed to quiver in anger. He followed up with a large slash of his tail, the sharp point at the tip glistening in the light. He whipped it a few times at Salem, to see whether the boy could get out of the way in time. If he couldn't, he was sure his work he would be done very shortly.