Leonine chased and fought Hydra through the oasis . Hydra had been shot twice by snipers and had tasted his brother’s poisoned knife . He was weak, too weak to fight .

But he kept running .

Leonine kept chasing .

They kept it up for over an hour .

Leonine hacked at Hydra with his sword, fierce and angry . Hydra juked to the side and met the hysterical attack with his dagger . The two weapons collided and neither budged .

Hydra was in a sorry state . Half of his body was soaked in fresh blood, and the loss had turned him pale and weak . His breath was quick, haggard – he was in no condition to defend himself . He was only still standing because he was ten times stronger than a normal man .

The outpost leader was more ferocious than ever, and he glared at Leonine through his glowing red eye . Face twisted, he growled at him through gritted teeth . “You think you can kill me, you piece of garbage?”

 Leonine heaved his strength into his sword, slowly pressing it closer to Hydra’s throat and worsening his wounds . He growled back . “Your plan is ruined, Hydra . The Outpost is finished . You are finished!”

“The outpost is mine! No one can take it from me . No one!” He was so filled with rage his whole body shook . The veins in his head and neck stood out red and throbbing like earthworms . He summoned a burst of strength and pushed Leonine away . “f.u.c.k off!”

Leonine stumbled back and caught himself by burying his sword in the ground . He was shocked Hydra still had the strength to fight back! The outpost leader’s wounds were beyond severe, and after an hour of racing through the oasis they’d only gotten worse . He’d lost a lot of blood . But Leonine underestimated Hydra, he had to be stronger than ten men . He wasn’t going to fully recover from his injuries, but they weren’t fatal yet . Snaketooth’s poison was already starting to run its course so he was regaining some measure of strength .

Leonine grit his teeth and heaved his saber . It kicked up a cloud of soil as it was wrenched free of the earth that pummeled Hydra . He used it as cover to rush forward and hack at Hydra’s head .

Too slow!

Hydra saw every grain of sand, every spot of soil and where it would land . Behind them he saw the nuances of Leonine’s every movement and their weakest points . He took half a step to the side, enough to have the slaver’s blade sweep harmlessly past his face . Meanwhile his dagger darted out and struck his broadsword in just the right spot . The metal rattled as Leonine’s weapon was knocked aside . An opening in his form revealed itself to Hydra’s snake-like eye .

Leonine was a battle-hardened veteran and used the rebound force of his sword striking a tree to bring it back around for another wild slice . Leaves and shrubs rustled in its pa.s.sage .

Hydra’s daggers rotated, flipping backward in his grip .

He deflected the blow while das.h.i.+ng forward, his daggers grinding against the sword and sending sparks flying everywhere as he advanced Hydra ducked, the slaver’s sword pa.s.sing by inches overhead .  He spun his daggers, completing a full rotation while springing back up . He gripped the hilts, bringing the daggers swift and fierce down against Leonine’s chest . They cut through two thick layers of armor and embedded themselves in Leonine’s body .

The slaver’s broadsword hit the ground with a thud .  

Leonine’s eyes were wide as saucers .  He couldn’t believe what he saw . He clung to Hydra’s wrists, too late to stop him from digging the daggers in deeper, inch by inch .

“Do you feel… despair? Terror? Rage?” Hydra was soaked in sweat, a twisted and insane grin on his face . “This isn’t enough . Not nearly enough!”

Hydra yanked his daggers free, and as Leonine stumbled forward he swept around behind . One dagger severed both of his Achilles’ tendons and sent Leonine to his knees .

“It’s my custom to cut traitors apart, piece by piece . But I don’t want to kill you today . Do you know why?” Hydra’s chest heaved like a mad bull, he could hardly stand straight . In the midst of his madness he was never more like a demon . “Because that would be letting you off too easily . I want you to learn – what real pain is . What real despair is . ”

“No… no!”

 Leonine understood . He watched Hydra’s hideous grinning face disappear into the jungles . His right leg was already useless and when he tried to pull himself by his sword the slaver collapsed back to the ground .

“Hydra, you motherf.u.c.ker, get back here! Fight me!”

He wailed into the trees, a scream full of fury and anguish that echoed through the oasis like the cry of an impotent beast . He pulled himself step by agonizing step toward the outpost .

If he could choose, he would’ve chosen to die with Hydra . He would’ve chosen to end his own life rather than risk theirs . But now… now, there was nothing he could do! 

With the image of Hydra’s psychotic face in his eyes, Leonine struggled for fifteen minutes before exhaustion overcame him . There was rustling from the undergrowth . Glossy green eyes stared at him .

These were dangerous wilds, where mutant leopards hunted . They had jutting fangs sharp as swords like saber-toothed tigers, and now they were circling a wounded prey waiting for the moment to pounce .

Suddenly a dagger whistled through the air and planted itself into one of the creatures’ eyes .  

The other leopards roared in anger and threw themselves toward where the sneak attack had come from . When they plowed through the jungle they were met with an enormous melon-shaped hammer which smashed one of them into pulp . Suddenly their foe was too dangerous to bother with and the creatures bounded off into the distance .

The last four people he’d ever imagining seeing appeared before him .

Cloudhawk had fallen unconscious and was slung over Mantis’ back . He had several obvious wounds on him that had already been sutured closed . Artemis staggered on a wounded left leg and carried her hammer in her left hand to favor an injured right shoulder . Both had only been bandaged . As for the Queen, she had broken one of her arms and several ribs . Although she could walk she was completely spent .

 Mantis was in the best condition .  However, towards the end he had to face over a dozen sweepers in close combat, which wasn’t his forte; in fact, he wasn’t even as capable as Leonine in this regard . Four or five patches of his body were clearly covered in blood .

They actually survived? This had to mean they’d beaten the sweepers!

Leonine couldn’t understand how the mutants could have lost . Their appearance drained the last little bit of hope out of him . It meant they hadn’t taken the outpost, that Hydra could return to his territory safely as the one and true ruler .

“What are you doing here?” Artemis gave him a queer look . “Where’s Hydra!”

Leonine hurriedly cried out, “Take me back to the outpost . Bring me back there!”

The outpost’s forces had suffered a huge blow by this struggle for power . Most of their best men and elite troops were dead .  

When its leader returned his first order of business was not to see to his wounds . Instead he pulled out three people and tortured them with every method he knew . In the end one large and two small savagely brutalized corpses were nailed to the outer wall, flaunting his handy work .

When they got back to the outpost and Leonine saw the scene, he let loose an unhuman wail . The slaver shoved off Artemis and flung himself at the base of the walls, holding out his ten mutilated fingers pleadingly like a beaten vagrant . He threw his head against the ground again and again until blood was flowing freely .

This stoic, powerful man completely lost his mind . Everything important to him, all of his hopes, his reason for living – they were pinned to that wall .

Artemis shook her head when she understood what had happened . “Poor b.a.s.t.a.r.d . ”

Suddenly a group of soldiers rushed out from the outpost and tried to drag him inside . He fought them off with the last of his strength and staggered back toward the others like a man grasping at his final straw .

“Help me kill him . Help me kill Hydra! HELP ME KILL THAT b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

Half a dozen soldiers pulled him away . He flailed against them and his mangled fingers clawed trenches in the ground .  He clawed until there was little more than bone, screaming for help as they disappeared from sight . His voice rang through the air, insane and savage . “Help me kill Hydra!”

Mantis watched all this happen with his customarily impa.s.sive face .  Artemis, however, had a mocking smile on her face . “He really is an absolute dumbf.u.c.k . ”

The Queen was most conflicted . She raised her head and looked at the grizzly result of Hydra’s anger . Her eyes watered as she looked at these bodies, tortured so badly they didn’t even look human . “G.o.ds,” she whispered to herself . “Please forgive me!”

Hydra had injected himself with a syringe of panacea . His wounds were slowly healing . The outpost leader had been preparing to fight those sweeper b.a.s.t.a.r.ds to the death so when the four people appeared before his eyes he could hardly believe it .

“Ah-hahaha!” He bounded over to them grinning broadly . “Never woulda thought . I never woulda thought you’d make it when it all went t.i.ts up . I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to know you killed those three a.s.sholes . Without them the demon’s power throughout the wastelands takes a big hit . We’re gonna kill that b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

Hydra felt like he was walking with the blessings of the G.o.ds themselves .  

He survived betrayal from the one person he trusted most, then he took care of the slaver that tried to hunt him down . Then in this precarious moment he finds that the demonhunter – a gift from the elysian lands – had dealt with the sweepers . Indeed the outpost had suffered for it, but any cost was worth killing those three lapdogs .

“I imagine the b.a.s.t.a.r.d will hear the news soon . He’ll definitely show up now, he has to . We’ve gotta prepare . ” Hydra clapped his hands and a group of handmaidens gingerly scampered in . “Look after your wounds .  Feel free to take whatever you need . Starting now we have to be battle ready . ”

This demonhunter was something else! With her by his side he couldn’t lose!

Her cold voice rasped through the air . “I need two syringes of panacea . ”

He winced slightly when he heard her . “Why two?”

Her eyes looked toward Cloudhawk who was still unconscious, Hydra knew what she meant, but the kid was hardly worth his salt . Even if he lived to the final fight he wasn’t any use .

So his voice turned distant as he answered, “He’s too badly hurt . He’s lost so much blood even panacea won’t save him . We’ve only got two of the precious stuff left and it’d be better to save ‘em for when they’re needed most, right?”

The Bloodsoaked Queen tepidly responded, “Fine . Then I want something else from you . ”

Hydra had planned to give a little push back, but when he saw her abandon the request he relaxed . It looked like this kid wasn’t all that important to her after all . “Anything for the mighty demon slayer! Say the word . ”

 Her hoa.r.s.e and sinister voice crackled from the mask: “I want your life . ”

Before he could react she was in front of him with her hand on his chest . Frightened, he tried to shove her away but it was too late . He was filled with a wave of heat that swept through every inch of him like a burning train car of coal .

“Aaaahhhh!”

Hydra was turned into a statue of solid black carbon . The last thought running through his mind before it all burned away was why she’d want to kill him .

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