Before we get to the rest of my story, may I first say that flying through glass hurts. You see everyone do it in movies and on television and they just get up like it was as easy as falling through a wall of water or something. Well, they're lying to you. Imagine tiny, clear, sharp pieces lodged everywhere into you and there is no way in hell you're going to get them all out and besides, you now have to fight with glass being shot out of you in every direction and your healing factor going crazy. Just saying. It's not fun.

The one upside to our little tumble was that Creed took most of the hit, and therefore, most of the shards, including three very large pieces that forced their way through his creepy trench coat and into his hairy back. He didn't like that very much. So while he was cursing and sputtering I seized the opportunity to kick him even further away from the window. I didn't have to yell for the other's to run. Unlike most people they had the good common sense to sprint off the minute they saw us go through the glass. I could hear Kioni yelling; sounded like she was evacuating the whole damn building. Which could be good or bad. If I won, everyone would be safe. If I lost, well, Creed would have more prey. And he's the kind of asshole who likes to play with his food before he eats it.

There was only one thing to do, then. Win.

Which was admittedly easier said then done. Creed's a tough SOB. Yeah, I managed to kick him about ten meters past the window. But he got up, landing on all fours like some sort of great cat and snarled at me. Not human snarled either. He pulled back his teeth, his hackles (which I didn't even know humans had) went up, his claws (again…not a typical human feature) came out and he growled. I was willing to bet if you scratched him behind the ears or rubbed his belly he would purr. I didn't much feel like testing my theory though. If I was going to scratch him with anything, it would be swords, and I doubt it would tickle.

In my peripherals, I saw villagers running as fast as they could away from the battle. Luckily they were staying together, but I say 'Gary', the one built like a beach ball, go by. He wasn't doing too good. Unfortunately, Creed saw him too. He gave me this look, an evil look, and I knew immediately what he was going to do. I may have had him in skill, but Creed had me in brute strength, and he knew that it wasn't just my own back I had to watch, but everyone else's too. Naturally, the bastard took advantage. Not cool.

He went sprinting after 'Gary' like a lion on all fours and I heard chubby let out a scream. If I had time to check, I probably would have found out that he wet himself. He was running as fast as he could, but of course in typical horror-movie style, he tripped. And he did roll! But there was no time to dwell on the satisfaction of seeing a large man rolling around like beached whale. I leapt forward, blades swinging and put myself between him and Creed. This hurt more than the glass did. I took ten, razor sharp, dirty claws to the chest as Creed hurled me like a rag doll over his shoulder. I used my blade to swing around him, cutting him across the chest and over the shoulder in the process, landing on his back and pushing him to the ground. Now, this would have more than killed a normal guy. But, you guessed it, Creed was far from normal. He roared and reached behind him, ignoring the blood that was gushing out of his dislocated and rapidly healing arm, and pulled me down off of him before I could finish what I started, namely decapitating him. I folded in a ball as he threw me, landing gracefully over his head. The minute I touched down, I started swinging again.

I should probably explain that if you were watching this fight with the naked eye, you would be lost. You needed to slow it down. We both move too fast. For instance, I swung for Creed's jugular, he dodged, popped his arm back in and swung for me again all in the space of about three seconds. The battle went on like that for several minutes, swinging, blocking, moving, growling, occasionally someone landed a blow. The ground was covered in blood, but you wouldn't know who it came from by looking at us. Our skin was splitting and resealing itself faster and faster as more adrenaline pumped through us. A nasty gash across my abdomen that almost gutted me looked more like a scrape now, and a huge chunk that I took off of Creed's meaty neck was growing back like a sped up video of a Chia Pet.

Long story short, we were getting nowhere fast. I needed a new strategy. Trouble is, it's hard to think about more than surviving when a giant cat-man is trying to kill you and everyone else. I elbowed Creed in the face to buy me more time, but he just reared upward, threw me through a hut a few yards away and came pouncing back. I leapt up but got slammed down again, this time through table in the hut. A table made of stone. I saw spots for just a second, but I knew that was too long. Creed could win.

Then Creed did something I never would have suspected. He grabbed his head in pain, like something was trying to burst out of it. It gave me time to pull myself together, but Creed shook off what was bothering him and moved toward me. Again, he grabbed his head a second before he reached me, and I kicked him through the other side of the hut, making a mental note to reimburse whoever owned the place. I ran outside to finish him off, watching as he writhed in pain on the ground, still clutching his head.

Now there is a time for chivalry, when men shake hands, or decide not to fight an unarmed man.

This was not it.

I lunged forward and hauled into him. Creed was putting up a feeble fight, but I was too quick. My katanas were spinning, Creed was screaming and I was a second away from severing his head from his neck and punting it like a football when suddenly my limbs froze and I dropped to the ground. I couldn't move.

What the hell was going on?

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