Chapter 11: The Demonic Beast

With the flesh-eating karungies surrounding their back and prisoners for the feast, Burr stands in the center of the karungy homeland ready to fight not only for his life, but to test his strength against the foul, unknown creatures. Paul and his comrades stand helpless to aid Burr as stands against Ku Kane and the entire karungies. Just from behind Ku's back, Balkan and Kulak emerge standing at his left and right side.

Burr says, "Well, nice to see you both back again. I see you didn't get enough of the beating. I am glad you came back. Now I can finish you off and see this monster."

Balkan and Kulak look to one another; the duo karungy jump to the center field in front of Burr ready to attack.

Balkan says, "We may have underestimated you, but that won't happen this time around."

Kulak also says, "This time…our 3rd…brother…will join us. We will crush you…once we join forces."

Burr looks to the top once again to see yet another karungy come from the side of Ku; however, the karungy is smaller than all the others. The little creature jumps down to the bottom with his brethren drooling at its mouth. The three mighty karungy warriors stand firm and ready to battle Burr.

The small karungy says, "I see why I am called into action with my brethren. You have proven to be an annoying sight for us. You won't be able to escape my eyes now that I am here. Nothing escapes my sight. All of you moves and are already easy for me to see. I can't wait to see you fall before my very eyes. My name is Raga."

Burr scoffs at the karungy trio. Raga, Balkan, and Kulak uses the aggressive stance.

The trio cry, "Waaagh!"

All eyes fall in the karungy trio. In a matter of seconds, the bodies of Balkan, Raga, and Kulak quickly increase in muscle size. The arms, the legs, and the body of each karungy expanded to a muscular form. Burr raises an eyebrow as he takes the defensive posture. The three karungies charge at Burr, moving at an incredible speed. Once close, Balkan begins the assault on Burr. Kulak follows closely behind with Raga jumping in the frenzy all around Burr's head. Burr fought against the three karungies barely stopping their attacks. Balkan charges into Burr from behind his back; Burr takes a nasty fall to the ground face first. The karungies jump and cheer for their mighty brethren. Burr stands back to his feet, struggling to breathe. He dusts himself off and adjusts his clothes.

Burr says, "Most impressive. I see now that you all cooperate well when it is three against one."

Raga replies, "We only used a small amount of what we can do. Now it is time for us to use our full force. I doubt you can survive it."

With the last word spoken, Balkan, Kulak, and Raga take the aggressive stance once more. The karungy trio begins groaning as they put their body under intense strain.

Balkan shouts, "Power!"

Kulak screams, "Speed!"

Raga roars, "Sight!"

Burr waits eagerly to see what they karungy trio would do. In seconds, Balkan's muscles increase by inches. The legs of Kulak also increase in size, but not nearly as much as Balkan's muscles do. Lastly, Raga's eyes crack with veins pulsating around his face and outer eye shape. The trio karungy stands firm and ready to brawl once again. Burr waits for the first move to be made. In the blink of an eye, Kulak moves from view and attacks Burr all around. Burr puts up a guard and tries to counter each attack made on his body; however, Kulak moves too fast for him to follow or keep up. Surprisingly, Burr grabs hold of Kulak and drags him to the soil. Before Burr could crush his face in, Balkan stops Burr by grabbing him in a bear hug. Balkan swings Burr into the air, and Kulak quickly leaps into the air. Burr is kicked in his lower back by Kulak. Burr crashes onto the soil of the ground. The karungies cheer joyfully at the wondrous surprise attack on Burr. Even Ku manages to smile at how well the trio karungy of Balkan, Kulak, and Raga performed against Burr.

Burr struggles to his feet. He is weakening from the hits given to him.

Burr weakly says, "How is it possible?"

Ku replies, "Individually, they are strong and can mange against weaker foes. When they join together, they act as a single fighter. Balkan has enhanced strength. This allows him to be the strongest being on earth. Kulak moves faster than anything alive and can damage his foes with his powerful kicks, and Raga eyes can see which parts of the human body will move first before even being made. Give up; you don't stand a chance against them."

The karungy trio chuckle under their breath. After Burr stands to his feet, he begins to laugh loudly. Everyone looks at Burr with great wonder as to why he was laughing.

He says, "I find this most impressive that the three of you operate as a single fighter would; however, each of you lacks certain areas of that give away your weakness. Since you have given me such a good challenge, I will now show you my best."

As Burr strains his body before their eyes, his roar is long and powerful. Ku, the karungies, Paul, and the other rifle squad members see Burr slowly change before their eyes. The body size grows, and his finger nails become razor sharp. The eye color changes to red-orange and the same color hair grows out from his back side. With his transformation complete, Burr roars loudly into the air. As everyone looks upon Burr, they marvel and gasp at his man-animal look.

Balkan says, "Well, looks like eating this one may give us more than just a full belly."

Raga adds, "The…power…will make us…more than strong enough…once we feast on…his flesh."

The karungy trio takes their usual stance again. Burr calmly waits for them to make a move. Kulak advances first. As he closes in on his target, Burr moves from his sight. Raga tries to track Burr with his eyes, but even he could not locate where he went. Ku shouts at Balkan and Raga to look behind their back. Before the duo could look behind their backs, Burr kicks Balkan upside his head. Raga gets punched in the eyes, blinding him temporary. With Raga out of the fight, it came down to Kulak and Balkan.

Kulak roars, "I shall show you just how easily it is to catch you!"

Before Kulak could move, Burr surprises everyone by ramming his fist into the belly of the tall, skinny karungy. Kulak falls to the earth, gasping for air.

Balkan tightens his fist and shouts, "I shall crush the life out of you!"

Balkan attacks Burr, but due to his muscular form, all his attacks could be seen coming before he could make them. Burr stops one of his punches. Balkan becomes very frighten by the sheer strength Burr possessed. As Balkan backs off, Burr takes the offensive stance and readies himself. Burr charges at Balkan and punches away at his body. Every hit brought Balkan down to his knees. Burr finishes his assault off with one, hard thunderous fist. Although Balkan tried to block the punch, the impact from Burr's fist sent the toned Balkan into the landscape. Paul and the others were shocked by the results of Burr's change. The karungies begin to back away from the area and move behind the large cave. Ku begins to clap his hands for Burr's display of skill and power.

He says, "Marvelous, simply marvelous. I have never seen such a powerful performance in all my years of magic study. And this form you have changed into cannot be expressed by words; however, I do believe that we can find some way of giving you a real fight."

Burr shouts, "And what do you mean, 'A real fight'? I hope you do not think you have what it takes to stand up to me."

Ku replies, "Oh no, I didn't mean myself at all. Allow the karungies to call forth a more powerful foe than Balkan, Kulak, and Raga."

At the end of his speech, the karungies gather in the high rock terrain. They all begin to screech loudly into the air. The sound of their battle cry is loud and eerie; in fact, the noise irritated Paul and his followers highly. The karungies begin to quiet down their hollowing. Within moments, a much louder, deeper noise is made. Burr and the others look to the dark opening of the large cave to see a pair of red eyes. Paul swallows hard at the sight of the red eyes.

He thought, "After all those years and coming so close to eliminating these foul demons, the beast still lives within the cave. I hope Burr can handle this as easily as he toppled over the others."

The ground shakes slightly as the beast within the cave slowly comes out. Burr backs away from the cave and waits eagerly to see this new monster emerge. First, a large, massive skull head comes out first with eyes as red as blood. As more of the creature comes out from the darkness, Burr sees the horrifying appearance of the monster. The skull head was actually the right hand of the beast. The beast had a huge rag of cloth wrapped around its waist; the color of its skin was light green with yellowish hair on the monster's back and head. The left hand of the monster only had three fingers. Lastly, the creature only had one eye in the center of its face atop of its body. Upon exiting the cave, the beast stood over 15 feet tall and roars loudly. The karungies jump and cheer for their powerful ally. As Burr stands on guard against the massive beast, Ku laughs proudly from high above.

He says, "It is amazing how you are the first and only person to have never run in fear of the demonic beast. Anyone else would have fled upon even looking into the eye of this wonderful pet. I do hope you are able to keep yourself alive. It would shame the creature if you were to die so easily."

Burr roars with his half animal half human cry.

Burr says, "I will not run from your demon of hell! I will rain down fire on this beast and crush him into dust!"

The karungies begin to cheer joyfully over the demonic beast. Burr stands firmly and ready as the humongous monster comes slowly towards him drooling at the mouth. The creature takes a swing at Burr, but he moves out of the way before the beast could touch him. Burr jumps high over the beast and lands on the far side away from it. The creature quickly follows up with a swing and tries to crush Burr under its foot. Using his agility, Burr jolts away from the monster. Burr uses the aggressive stance and readies his hand with a small fire sphere burning lightly in his palm. Just as the demonic beast turns to face him, Burr launches the small fire sphere. The fire sphere collides into the eye of the demonic beast. The creature staggers around the area, falling into the rock mountain side.

Burr says, "I see the monster can take such abuse from even a much smaller opponent. I hope he can still recover from such a small burn to the eye."

Ku shouts back, "The Demonic Beast is more than enough for you. Just because you burn the eye of the beast, does not mean it will suffer from being stun."

The demonic beast widens its eye with rage. It looks down at Burr and roars loudly within the karungy homeland. Burr readies himself as the beast comes charging at him. Although Burr jumps away, the demonic beast follows him ever so closely. With each attack coming closer to him, Burr was kept on edge as the demonic beast tries to crush Burr into the soil. After several attempts, Burr feels the full force from the hand of the demonic beast slapping him to the ground hard. Burr quickly recovers from the slap, but the demonic beast stays close to his heels. Despite the size of the massive beast, Burr never knew such a monster could move as quickly as he ran. Every step he makes, the demonic beast followed closely just a foot away from hitting him.

With another escape attempt failed, Burr falls to the ground. The top of his torso is banged up with bruises here and there. Various parts of his clothes are ripped. He struggles to stand to his feet barely being able to keep his balance. The demonic beast comes charging at full speed. Burr tries to move out of the way, but he feels the full force from the left fist of the demonic beast. Burr falls across the landscape slamming into the hillside of the rock land. Paul and the others call out to Burr; the karungies cheer and jump joyfully for the demonic beast. The massive monster howls into the air. Beneath the rubble of rocks, Burr shoves them out of the way. Everyone turns their eyes to the movement and see Burr emerge from the rock pile. The right shoulder of Burr bleeds freely as he tries to stand and hold his balance. Paul and the others held prisoner could not believe the fierce determination Burr showed. The mighty warriors slowly walks from the rubble weaken from his wounds.

Ku laughs joyfully, "I cannot believe how well you are still standing after getting slammed into the soil. Anyone else would have dead or even a pile of flesh for the karungy to eat."

The demonic beast approaches Burr drooling at the mouth. Paul shouts for him to move, but receives a hard punch to his side. Burr still stands in the same spot as the beast stops in front of him. The monster snatches up Burr and begins to squeeze him in its left hand. Burr tries to struggle free from the grip, but his body is too worn out. In a blink of his eyes, Burr found himself immobilized and hanging from a high place. Near death and left for dead, Burr looks to his left and right to see his arms tied up with barbwire. He looks at his body and sees many scars everywhere. As he tries to free himself, Burr begins to bleed more and more with every minute passing him by. Burr looks up to the sky and hears a voice calling to him.

The voice says, "This is not your end."

As the demonic beast continues to crush Burr, the creature stops and looks at him. There is no look of pain, suffering, or hurt on the face of Burr. Even the karungies take notice to Burr. Paul, Ku, and the other prisoners look on with interest. Suddenly, Burr breaks free of the demonic beast. He lands far away from his opponent and stands upon a solid rock. He looks up with blood on his face and hatred in his eyes.

Burr says, "I have suffered at the hands of bandits who wanted to crucify me and leave me for dead on a rock. My whole body hurts from the pain, but I will not allow you weak fools to bring me any suffering."

Every eye falls on Burr as he starts to strain his body under intense pressure. The very eyes of Burr disappear as everyone wonders what happen to them. The area around Burr shakes violently; his teeth become sharper than ever. Next, Burr's body hair changes colors to a bright white with the tip of the hair becoming red-orange. Burr lifts his head up to the sky and roars loudly again. A bright light covers him body and all. No one could say what is happening to him. Paul and his comrades call out to Burr, but no respond is made. After the light clears, Burr stands before all who could not help but be amazed at his new form. No longer wearing a shirt, Burr bears his strong chest out; in fact, the color of his hair is all white with red-orange tips at the edge. Every muscle on his body is more toned than ever. Burr lifts up his head and no longer was his face any human form. The new face of Burr is more of a lion than human.

Balkan stutters, "What…what is…this?"

Even Ku becomes very intrigued at the sight of Burr. Raga and Kulak widen their eyes at the new form of Burr as does many of the karungies. Paul could not even form words to the new form that now Burr has become.

Burr replies, "I have achieved a new form of chaos. Allow me to show you why I am more dangerous than your demonic pet."

The demonic beast tries to crush Burr under its hand, but misses. Ku shouts and points at the top of the cave. Everyone looks up to see Burr in the aggressive stance. He leaps high into the air, and comes falling down upon the demonic beast. Burr slams his fist into the head of the creature. The impact is so strong that the beast falls on its back. Burr jumps back high into the air again. As the demonic beast tries to stand back up, it sees Burr come hurling down with his fist crashing hard into its face. Upon impact, the force from Burr's fist causes the ground under the back of the demonic beast to crack before shattering. The demonic beast and Burr fall through the karungy landscape. All eyes of karungies and humans alike widen with shock and amazement. No one could have ever thought it possible for just a living being to cause such horrific damage to the demonic beast. With the karungy guards not paying any mind, Paul easily breaks loose from his captors. He dives for the side and grabs one of the rifles. Paul quickly turns and fires at the first karungy he sees. The creature falls over dead. The other karungy try to attack Paul, but the remaining prisoners break free from their captors. Each man takes on a karungy bare hand giving Paul time to grab another rifle. He shoots towards the brawling creatures, forcing them to flee. Paul hands each of his squad members a rifle.

Just below the karungy homeland, the demonic beast removes the heavy boulders and stones from around its body. The creature looks around its surroundings to see what new place it has found. Beneath the landscape above, the lower section of the land is wide all around for miles. Nothing but small cracks of light brightens up the underground land. The demonic beast turns back to see Burr waiting on the other side. The creature roars at him, but Burr is unshaken by it.

He says, "I have seen what you can do. I am not impressed. Let me send you on your way back to the underworld that you have been summoned from."

Burr aims his right palm forward at the demonic beast. The creature slowly runs towards him ready to kill. The ground beneath Burr shakes softly as the monster comes closer with every stomp. With a rush of wind coming from his hand, Burr stuns the demonic beast in the left leg. The creature falls down to its knee. Burr brings his right arm back behind his head and throws his arm forward. A power gust of wind slams into the right side of the demonic beast. The pressure from the attack is so strong that it cracks the skin of the monster's head. The demonic beast roars loudly from the pain. Burr smiles at his new found power.

He thinks, "This is it. This is the power that I was in need of. With it, I shall be more than strong enough to crush anyone who opposes my might."

The demonic beast looks back at Burr. It aims the skull head at him. With fire blazing out from the eyes, a wave of flames shoots from its mouth. The flames cover the entire area, burning everything down living. The creature stops to see what is left; however, Burr still remains standing strong with only a few black spots on his body. He chuckles at the feeble attack of the monster. After aiming his right hand back at the demonic beast, Burr sends another gust of wind at the creature. The wind slams hard into the skull head of the creature and destroys the entire head completely. The demonic beast staggers backwards, weaken from the damage. Burr smiles coldly at how much damage he can do. After clapping his hands together, Burr raises his hands to the sky behind his head. With one swift motion, he throws his arms forward. A powerful force of wind comes crashing into the left leg of the demonic beast. The monster falls down to its knee. It roars weakly at Burr.

Burr shouts, "I am now the bringer of your death. You may have struck fear and terror in the eyes of the people, but now it is your turn to experience pain and defeat."

Burr takes an offense stand as the demonic beast slowly gets up. He strains his body. Burr holds his hands to the sky above his head and the omega claw forms. The ghostly lion paw grows large and causes strong winds to whirl about the area. The debris around the land tosses rocks, boulders, dead trees, and leaves in the air. The force of the omega claw shakes the land violently as Burr holds it over his head; in fact, Burr falls to his knee from straining so hard to keep the attack under his control. He looks to the demonic beast one last time.

He shouts proudly, "Now, feel the power of the Omega Lion Claw!"

Burr throws his arms forward again. The omega claw flies into the demonic beast. The impact upon the creature devastates the landscape. Rocks, trees, and stone fly everywhere and smash into the ground. Burr looks on as the winds slow down and dust clears away. When he saw what was left of the demonic beast, he marvels at his own power. All that remain of the monster was giant chunks of flesh. The limbs of the demonic beast lay here and there. Burr walks over to the scattered body parts and finds the head of the creature. The face is twisted, the eye is cracked, and blood runs from the bottom opening of the head. Burr lifts the head up and roars loudly with an inhuman lion roar. He looks at the area around him and stares back at the head.

Burr thought, "The power I have achieved is great, but this is only the beginning."

Back at top, Paul and his gun squad continue to fight off the karungies. Although they put up a hard battle, the overwhelming numbers of the karungies left them all weak and injured. Paul looks ahead to see Ku Kane, the mystic, walking to him. He lifts up Paul by his shirt. As Ku uses fire from his hand to burn at Paul, he whispers to him the coming events.

He says, "It was a great sight to see how well your new friend battled against the demonic beast, but I'm afraid it is too late. Your town will belong to me once my demonic beast returns from the lower lands. I have advised the karungies to attack Graviton in full force. Everyone you know is going to die. And you will die along with them once I allow you to see what remains of your village."

Paul's eyes widen with shock and surprise. As Ku let him fall to the earth, he instructs the remaining karungy to take Paul and his men as prisoners. The karungies move in to take them by their arms, but an inhuman roar comes from behind their back. The karungies look back to see Burr alive. The eyes of Burr glow brightly orange. From behind his back, Burr tosses the head of the demonic beast before everyone. The karungies, Paul, Ku, and the wounded gunmen all could not believe that the beast was now dead. Burr raises his head and looks at Ku.

Burr says, "I see your demonic beast could not give me what I wanted. Maybe if I kill you and your karungy friends, you will satisfy my appetite."

Ku smiles and replies, "You may kill them, but you won't lay a finger on me."

With quick reaction from Burr and Ku, a bright light flashes before the eyes of Paul and his gun squad. When the light clears, Paul only saw Burr standing. The karungy that stood around them had also disappeared from their eyes. Paul and his squad stand to their feet and collect their belongings. As the riflemen ready their guns and wrap their wounds, Paul approaches Burr only to be snatched off the ground. The rifle squad turns about and aims their weapons at Burr ready to fire. Paul pleads with Burr. The grip of Burr tightly squeezes Paul's throat. The rifle squad clicks the trigger on the guns. Paul shouts for them to hold fire.

He weakly says, "It is me, Burr. You need not kill me. You have done it. You have defeated the karungy."

Burr slowly loosens his grip. He replies, "I am sorry for that. I have been through so much and changed."

After loosening his grip on Paul, Burr adjusts his clothes and walks towards the hole at the center of the karungy homeland. The rifle men tend to Paul's wounds. One of them looks at Burr and sees the head of the demonic beast. He points and shouts for his fellows to look also. They could not believe their eyes. The very head of the demonic beast shocked them all. The rifle men rush over to Burr congratulating him on slaying the beast. Paul walks over slowly and holds the head by its ears. He turns to Burr.

Paul says, "I can't believe you did it. You killed it. The demonic beast is finally dead after so many years of living here. I don't know what to say."

Burr steps back from his followers and slowly changes. He reverts back into his human form.

He says, "This monster was indeed a challenge for me, but now it is dead. You may do what you like with the head. I have no more use of being here in this area."

Paul protests, "It is not over. We still need your help. Ku Kane and the rest of the karungies have gone to Graviton. The siege has probably taken a toll on our city walls. We must go back to Graviton as quickly as we can, but we need your strength to do it. And we will need the head of the demonic beast. It will be our symbol to rally others."

Burr smiles at Paul and laughs proudly. He pats Paul on his left shoulder.

He says, "Your strength alone will be more than enough to shatter the morale of the karungies. Ku Kane may be there, but he is only a caster, not a person for battle. A few gun shots at him will make him flee from your sight. The head of the demonic beast is a good idea to bring. With the creature dead and its' head in your possession, the people will more than rally to your side. It will give them a reason of washing away their fear. It will cause their courage to double by ten. Mostly, it brings hope to see that the impossible is not impossible. I will assist you with the head of the demonic beast, but your own power lies within you. We will also need that cart to take the head back to Graviton. It is stable enough to carry it back."

Burr guides everyone's eyes to the cart at the opening of the cave where the demonic beast once dwelled. As Paul, Burr and the squad started working, war and battle occurred elsewhere. With the large gate of Graviton broken down, the karungies run violently in the village. They jump from landscapes and use the gravity within the city to occupy critical points that weaken the defenses further. The vast majority of defenders in Graviton are taken as prisoners or meat for the bellies of the karungies. Two dozen karungies scratch, claw, bite, and kick at the door of the council chamber where the inhabitants stay locked within. As the remaining gun squad and rifle units keep their weapons pointed at the door, Sarah tries her best to gain support from the people who listen to the word war of the four talkers at center.

The 1st talker says, "Our foe is here, and it won't be long before our door is broken down. Our only solution is to attack and beat them back before the demonic beast joins them. We cannot wait any longer."

The 2nd speaker replies, "It is a fool's journey you take down that path. Our chamber is strong. The doors of this holy sanctum will not be breached. We can out last them till they are weakened. We must fortify our walls."

The 3rd talker shouts, "Attacking them is the wrong path, but staying inside is a death trap. We must repel our walls and lure them inside to ambush them. We have no time to waste, and the karungies will soon have beaten down our door."

The 4th person was too terrified to speak up. Sarah did all that she could do to make preparations where they need be made. The noise at the door becomes louder and louder with every hit the karungy made on it. With the villagers of Graviton in danger, all hope had gone from their heart. Many people begin to pray. People started picking one of the three options that were available. In the midst of all the confusion, Paul and his rifle squad step forward after emerging from a hidden path that lay under the council chamber. As the rifle men brought in the cart, they kept the head of the demonic beast covered and journey to the center of the chamber. The rifle men under Sarah continue to reinforce the door. Paul walks up to the top of the fourth podium. He shouts as loud as he can. Everyone turns and look upon him.

Paul says, "Listen to me. The moment is now on us to strike back at the enemy. We can beat the entire karungy army back from our village and out of our lands."

The 1st speaker interrupts and says, "Your absence from here shows your weakness. You dare send the people in a war they can't win?"

The 3rd speaker icily adds, "Our village militia captain comes back only to be speaking of plans of failure and disaster. Let us remove him from our sight before he sends us to our deaths."

In the moment of madness, a gunshot goes off and the people turn to see Sarah.

She shouts, "Now is not the time for us to place favoritism over reason. Paul may have been not around when the attack on Graviton occurred, but he is here now. We need a solid plan than various random ones spoken from those who have interest in saving their own face or making their name known."

With Sarah's voice silencing all others, she steps down from the center and leaves everyone's eyes focusing on Paul. The whole of the council chamber waits with eager faces of fear, despair, and sorrow. Paul swallows hard and instructs his rifle men to bring the cart up near the podium.

Paul says, "It has been long enough since we've seen the karungy in force. Last time, they had us on the brink of defeat. We changed that around. Even now, as they bite, scratch, and claw at our door, we do what we need to send them running in fear. They may have numbers, but we all know that the karungies have a weakness. They use to gather around a symbol that represents the fear they placed in our hearts. Well, no more shall they use this fear against us. I have found the symbol that gives them power and brings us fear. And here it is."

Paul removes the cloth from the cart and reveals the head of the demonic beast. The crowd of people was baffled. Even the speakers of the council chamber could not form words as to why Paul had the head. Dart and Sara come rushing from behind Sarah and begin to beat on the head of the creature. The people laugh at their childish brutality.

Paul adds, "With this head of the demonic beast, we shall crush our foes and send them from our sight. This is the day that we correct the mistakes of the last battle we endured. This is the moment our hope recovers from the collapse of our dead brothers and sisters."

Paul takes his sword in hand. With a fierce battle cry, he screams, "People of Graviton! We take the fight to the karungy!"

As the karungies outside the doors back away, they hear movement within the building. One of the karungies goes to the door and puts his ear to it. The creature hears clicking noises. Suddenly, a blast flings the karungy away from the doors. The others move in and more shots come through the doors. Each bullet breaks and shatters the flesh and bone of the karungies. The doors swing wide open. Paul and Sarah lead the attack on the karungy, roaring loudly at the wave of karungy. Elsewhere, Burr walks to the south part of the land in the direction of his jeep. Suddenly, he stops walking. Using his heighten man-animal senses, he hears the karungies screeching as they flee from the crowds of Graviton. The sound of gun fire and victory cheers of the people brought much satisfaction to Burr.

He thought, "They have done well. The enemy they once feared is now feeling the power they have always had."

As Burr leaves the area of Graviton behind, he looks towards the east to see his next great challenge await him.