"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Dark Character Speech"

'Dark Character Thoughts'

Chapter 4: Speed Kills

As soon as Kabal had left the castle and very quickly also the city he began to make his way northwest just like the paper had said and he was already looking forward to this job.

He hadn't had a good fight in some time, or really just a challenge for that matter. So the thought of fighting and killing not one, but five large and dangerous targets? He found himself actually excited for this kind of work.

There was however the question of his employer and how much he could trust her at face value.

From what she had been telling him Maia was a former Black Dog and was still in good relations with them, so there's a chance she might sell him out to them if they offered her more manpower. She did say that they were hurting in that department so it isn't too much of a stretch to say that she'd sacrifice one new piece to gather a large amount of pawns for her guild.

But at the same time she was a public figure from what he had heard about. She was a Shield Princess after all meaning that the whole realm looked at her and took interest in what she did or ordered, since it was essentially one of their leaders. Meaning that if she just casually threw away a promising candidate it might hurt her own group's status as a whole. Something she couldn't have if they wanted to grow at relevant rate.

So for the most part he was looking at about an even fifty fifty split, either she kept her end of the bargain, pay him, and let him into her guild so he can become a regular for her. Or she tries to turn him in to gain a favor from a larger group but the public hears about it and she looses out of other people seeking to join..

Not that anyone they send is a real chance against him, but still it's the principal behind it all.

So Kabal ran towards his general destination with thoughts of his situation still fresh in his mind he decided to focus on the job at hand.

'So five monsters, all of them supposedly the same kind, minotaurs. I learned about these things back when I was still in school, damn who'd of thought that shit would come in handy? Shouldn't be too hard not like some of the other monster I heard about. Big, strong, but possibly slow or not that agile so it's gonna be a hit and run game. Problem is with five it's gonna be a risk staying close for too long, because if one hits me with something big I'm right and well fucked when the others catch up. Best to probably split them up, take them down one at a time and look for anyone else after I finish them.' He says in his head thinking about how to go about the upcoming and inevitable fight.

He then sees something out of the corner of his eye and he slows down to get a better look at whatever it was.

And for the most part it looked like a small group of houses on a lake, or at least they were houses at one point. Whatever happened here turned them more into ruins if anything.

Running to the center of the small cluster of homes Kabal began to look around for any signs of his targets or clues as to lead him to what might've done this if it wasn't the group of minotaurs.

He started with the street in the center of the building cluster and began to look at the tracks on the ground. They were large and deep, meaning that something big and heavy made them. So a good start, even if it was kinda obvious.

The houses themselves looked as if they had a bulldozer run through it with huge gaping holes in the walls and everything on the inside just being tossed around without a real care in the world.

He stepped into the first house and began walking around looking at the thrown about furniture, to the broken glass, and shattered wooden pieces on the ground.

Looking around he also found a body. Male and he looked to be kinda older in age once he looked past the blood that had pooled around his body from the large open puncture wound in his chest.

Dressed in well made and brightly colored clothes he guessed that this was maybe the land owner or a merchant it this was a trade stop. Which wasn't too bad of a bet considering Ken was relatively close to where he is.

Standing up from looking at the body Kabal starts to walk around again and sees more of the same things. Destroyed interiors, smashed walls, and heavy footsteps in the dirt and mud around the property.

But only one body? Either they took everyone else or some people were able to get away from them.

He walks over to the wall of the house he was in and began to knock around listening for anything off about the walls.

He continues to knock on seemingly random parts of the wall until he hears the distinct sound of hallow space behind one of the sections.

"Bingo." He says with a smirk as he found what he was looking for.

Removing his hook swords Kabal places his curved ends of his blades into the wall and quickly swung downward hooking into the wall. He then grunts with a bit of effort and beings prying the wall open piece by piece until he saw what looked like a small hidden room leading downward.

Opening the small door and looking into the small room from his place above the floor he sees a figure slumped against the the wall on the opposite end of the room.

He quietly dropped down to the floor and looked around, large amounts of dried meat and what looked like either wine or liquor stored on a shelf to his left. And to his right he looked at the small pouches of gold with a map of Eostia hanging above it.

He continues walking forward and looks to the four empty beds that were laid out in the center of the room each with neatly made sheets and looking as if they had never actually been used.

He then found himself in front of sleeping figure that he had first seen. And as he looked a bit closer it was here that he saw it was a sleeping woman.

She looked rather young maybe early twenties at most with tanned sun-kissed skin, a bright shade of blond hair, and a rather expensive looking summer dress on her with bits of jewelry as well. So if he were to guess either daughter or wife of the corpse from upstairs.

Sighing knowing he had to wake her up to figure out what had happened here he began to gently shake her and few times. He then stood back and waited for the woman to fully wake up. Which didn't take long as soon after he watched as she began to mumble and then slowly move until her eyes began to flutter open adjusting to light in the secret room.

She then locks onto Kabal and his intimidating appearance, and promptly opens her mouth to scream.

Or at least she would've if her mouth hadn't been covered by his gloved palm.

"Please don't do that, I'm not really wanting to hear how noise echos in a tiny room like this. Now here's the rundown, I'm someone from the Rose Order her to find and kill a few monsters. You mind telling me what happened here? I'm guessing that from the damage and front prints that minotaurs were to blame for this, right?" He stares into her eyes with his own masked ones and slowly backed away giving her some much needed space.

It was deafly quiet for a few moments before the woman suddenly began to cry a steady steam of tears as she put her head in her hands leaving Kabal to just awkwardly stare at her.

"Uh ok then. So I'll take that as a yes." He says out loud making her look to him and then to his hook swords.

And without any warning she just throws herself at him still crying and desperately trying to cling to his coat, "Please save them! They took them, please save my family!"

Kabal just sighed and lazily patted her on the shoulder, "Ok, ok just take a deep breath and tell me what happened here. I'll find them and any others that they took, but I need to know where they went. So tell me what you know."

She sniveled and then weakly whimpers before slowly backing away from him and wiping away her tears. "They….They came at dusk, five of them. We could see them long before they got here, but we knew that we'd never outrun them so my father and mother tried to gather our maids and cook and try to fit all of us into this room. But, those monsters were faster than we thought. I was already in here when I heard the first crash, one had destroyed our kitchen and quickly took our cook. She was only here a month. She was so nice and so good at what she did it….it's not right, why?"

Kabal snaps his fingers, " Hey I need you to focus here. After the first one took your cook what happened after that?"

She nods and takes a deep breath, "After they took her two more attacked the main house where my family was trying to shuffle to our hidden room, but they were knocked away from the one that crashed into our home. I don't know much about what happened after that, one of the maids closed me in here when she realized they were already in the house. I…I could hear them screaming as they were taken, I don't how long I just sat here waiting for this to all just be a bad dream. I think it's already been over a day since that happened." She says before finally just sinking to the floor.

"They're gone. Why? Why us we always were safe, we didn't do anything to anyone?" She says becoming more delirious.

Kabal walks up to her then pats her on the shoulder with his gloves hand, "It doesn't matter why. You'll never know why, all you can do now is figure out how you're gonna fix this." He says with a more tired but wise tone.

"Besides that's why I'm here. To kill monsters and get everyone back, well at least that's what the job is. So do you remember where they came from, so I can give them a proper ass kicking." He finishes with a more snarky tone to try and distance himself from that more tender moment.

The woman looks at him a sort of mesmerized expression as she looked into his masked eyes. She slowly then stood up and turned her body to face one of the walls trying to recall. "They came from the mountains to the north, we know because the first thing we saw of them were the dust trails they kicked up when running here."

Kabal nods now having another lead to the target's location turned to leave but the woman grabbed ahold of his jacket, "Wait, my family if you see them I have a father, mother, and older sister I know you already said that you were going to rescue them, but please bring them back to me. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I lost them. And our maids, they're my friends I know it may sound selfish, but when you rescue them can you bring them here. So I know they're safe, please sir?"

Kabal looked to her then he remembered the corpse outside and knew that she'd already lost a father, but a part of him kept quiet and didn't tell her that. "Yeah I can do that. After I'm done with the monsters everyone from here will be brought back. But you should know that the houses above us are all pretty busted up, not really a place you'd want to come back to."

She doesn't say anything to him after hearing that but Kabal continues, "That being said you'd probably have luck in Ken or whatever town is nearby. Just being honest here, this place isn't too safe for anyone now."

She hears this and nods to him with small smile and a stare. And while Kabal isn't sure she even acknowledged what he said he'd burn this bridge when he comes to it, for now he's heading north.

He walks towards the entrance to the small hidden room and climbs the small ladder that was there to make his way back to the outside world. But before he was fully out he took one last glance at the woman who had a hopeful look on her face as she watched him leave.

And for the life of him Kabal just couldn't resist smiling under his mask, 'Maybe being a cop did rub off a bit. Can't say I'd make a promise like that as a Dragon member.'

Once out onto the surface of the outside world Kabal faced north and knew his next stop. But a part of him knew there was something else he could do here. And then he remembered the body of what he now knew was the girl's father.

He looked over and paused seeing the expression on his face and the gaping hole in his chest that had dried and semi fresh blood pooled around his corpse.

'Yeah the cop in me is still alive, can't just leave him like that.' Kabal goes over to a window and rips off the curtain and then lowers himself to the man's level and began to drape the cloth over his body and he calmly just stood and stared at the corpse.

"For what's its worth, I hope you're at peace. Can't say I was a family man, but I guess I can see the perks. And don't worry about the others, I'll get them back. A job's a job after all." He says with an odd mixture of both mirth and actual sympathy towards the corpse or maybe it was more for the girl in the secret room. Either way after saying his piece he sped off heading north.

Later

As he continues to run Kabal found more and more evidence of the minotaur's presence in the area. From crushed trees and beaten up roads, to what looked like a wrecked wagon, and destroyed equipment scattered about.

Then finally he came to what seemed like the end of the forest and the beginning of a mountain range.

Scanning around he made his way up to the top of the nearest peak, 'Well I'm getting close that's for sure. Just have to narrow it down a little further and I should be right on top of them.'

He stays there for a few more moments before he hears the sound of heavy footsteps on the other side of the mountain. Speeding over to the sounds he finds tracks and what looked like drag makes leading into a large open cave in the base of the rock.

"When I said right on top I didn't mean literally." He says to himself before carefully beginning to walk inside.

It was here that he noticed the sunlight began to fade extremely quickly after only a few minutes of walking forcing him to reach up and press a small adjustment piece of the side of his mask. And with the press of a button the whole world lit up in a bright shade of green.

'As much as I call Kano a bastard, he was definitely a resourceful and clever one. Seems he really thought a lot when he made this stuff, guess he really was desperate for old blood to come back?' Kabal shakes his head at the thought, not like it mattered now at any rate.

He continued his way deeper still when he heard low and grunted breathing coming from a space up ahead.

Turning the corner he quickly deactivated his night vision as it was an open area with a massive open roof allowing plenty of sunlight into the area, however it wasn't exactly a pretty site.

He looked out and saw in one corner were three of the five minotaurs sleeping on beds of rocks and leaves with what looked like small collections of bones next to each of their beds.

To the center stood the fourth one who had their head down into a small pool of water drinking away without a care in the world. And finally off the side Kabal could only see shadows, but those shadows painted a grim tale.

It was the final one and it looked as if it were pinning something beneath its massive body and viciously thrusting its hips down on to it. All the while Kabal could hear the rough grunts of the monster as well as small whimpers and muffled screams of the poor soul beneath it.

Kabal clenched his knuckles in preparation and reached back his respirator, and turned the valve allowing him to take a much larger breath than usual. Breathing deep and long Kabal had a new fire in his as he readied to fight.

He then slowly grabbed the hook swords from his back and began to carefully and quietly stalk up to the monster in the center of the cavern still drinking water.

And after getting closer Kabal was able to get a much better look at the creatures he'd been hunting.

The minotaur was big, very big he'd guess at least anywhere from eight to ten feet tall with huge bulking muscles along its entire body along with thick brown fur around its torso mostly the chest. It wore nothing resembling clothes to speak of and the head was huge like the rest of its body with side facing eyes and giant curved horns that came out and around the creatures head ending with both points facing forward.

Aside from that they looked as if a cow just decided to stand up, take some steroids, and become a monster. Not really too much to say besides that.

But he knew the dangers now, strong frame and dense muscles meant powerful blows from the fists and hoofed feet and a thick strong neck and shoulders meant grabbing the bull by the horns was a guaranteed death trap.

Kabal kept looking at it from a distance trying to find more vulnerable spots and so far all he had to go on was the neck and face since most of its organs were no doubt well protected by its muscle and hide. He could get to them with enough cuts, but that took time and that meant he had to slow down.

Slowing down leaves him open.

And an opening meant him learning just how strong they are first hand.

So with a plan set for his attack Kabal felt his legs tighten and his blades tense as he used his speed to appear to the side of the monster.

The burst of speed resonating with a small boom and a loud swish of air immediately alerted the minotaur to the new presence, and it turned to him to try and knock him away. But it just received two deadly hooked blades into the side of its neck from the attempt.

Roaring in pain the monster wakes the others and gets the final one to leave its victim as they rush to aid their brother.

Meanwhile the one being attacked began to thrash about trying to grab the burned man, but Kabal had twisted his body and began cutting into the monsters meaty neck as he swung himself on its back.

With a grunt of effort Kabal began digging the hooks deeper into the muscle as the blades cut through and eventually became hooked into bone. The monster beneath him roared again with what almost sounded like choking as it claws at its own throat.

"If only that Texas prick could see me now! I got myself a monster sized rodeo in here!" Kabal shouts in a taunt to the beast before he bends down to give another heave of strength severing the monster's trachea and splintering bone as the swords ripped out through the sides.

Kabal then leaps off and watches as the rapidly dying monster turns and with a desperate last effort swung at him with its massive fist. But unluckily for it Kabal simply dodged it and followed up by putting his hook through the beast's cheek and ripping a good portion of its face off, speeding up the bleeding.

He then turned and sent both blades spinning across the ground at the monster's feet. And the dying beast had no time to react as the two spinning blades reached its legs and began ripping the flesh clean off the bone and slicing through everything else but said bone.

The beast fell to its hands and knees with huge crash landing in front of the man who's blades had returned to him. The once mighty beast now didn't even have enough strength to lift its head to look at him, rather if just moved it's eyes and saw the masked face of its killer.

And for the most part Kabal really didn't care how this thing saw him, but he did see fear in its eyes. Good he can work with fear.

And he smiled at the site, as the monster finally collapsed into a heap on the ground letting out it last few breaths.

Kabal then just stepped on the corpse of the now dead monster as the other four made their way to him each snarling and roaring with rage at the death.

"Well that was interesting. Let's hope you all go down just as quick. Otherwise I'll get bored over here. Now let's see what you're made of!" He yells as a battle cry and twirl of his bloody blades for emphasis.

He then used his magic to instantly gain forward momentum and appear at the legs of the lone monster that had come from the other side. And was already in position to strike as he lashed out with a duel bladed slash to the beast's calf, cutting clean and deep.

The minotaur let out a roar in agony at the two new wounds and immediately tried to swipe at the smaller target. Kabal though easily avoided the swipe and the next attempt to kill him being a hammer fist from the same one. He did though take notice of the cracks in the rock from where the fist impacted.

He then moves around and hooks one sword into the back of the beast and pulled on his magic to pick up momentum and swing himself atop the beast hooking into its back. Leaving it screaming in agony.

Though he was forced abandon his attack as the others had run up to him and were all in the motion of either grabbing him or trying to swat him off their comrade.

So seeing this as a good time to book it Kabal kicks off the horn of his victim and easily slides the blade out of its back by straightening it. But he wasn't giving up the attack just yet and spun around to connect his blades together and with their extended reach he was able to cleanly slice out one's eye.

Hearing another roar of pain Kabal decided to wear them down a bit and ran backwards to gain distance. He then felt his magic flow into his blades and he launched them with instant terminal velocity like spinning cyclones of pain and death.

They soared through the air before connecting with the closest one's back cutting into muscle and almost to bone leaving large grinding slashes in the center of its back.

The four monsters then all roar with rage as they drop to all fours and charge at him with relentless pace.

Kabal though just decided to humor them and stood still for a time till they got no less than an arms length away.

With a horn closing in he used his magic and sped around them, leaving the monsters to skid and claw themselves to stop and find their target. But he had already appeared beside them and slashed into the hoofed foot of the last one, that one being his initial target. So now with one crippled from a cut calf and ankle Kabal dashed away, taking what he could get in the small window.

"Come on now, I thought this was supposed to be big game here? I feel more like a butcher than a fighter at this point." He says with a cruel laugh at the struggling monster and it's half blind and bloody brothers.

The sole monster left uninjured at this point decided to try for something different when attacking the masked man and gripped onto a large stalagmite. And with a loud roar or effort ripped the rock out of the ground and held it like a spear.

Kabal sees this and rather than fear or worry smirks at the challenge, he had an idea for this one.

The monster again roses in rage as it hurls the spear through the air and toward the burned man. But Kabal runs along side it and uses it as a base to launch himself in the air and allow him to throw his two swords once again both aiming for the spear thrower.

And like homing rockets they connect one into its chest the other its face. The one to the chest grinding his muscle to bloody ribbons and it's fur was sliced through with ease, but it didn't make it to any of the vital organs. It was though held in place rather than returning to its weirder. As for the head level blade it sliced through the monster's nose and cheek leaving it screaming in pain as it's face was cut to bloody chunks.

Landing on the ground Kabal speeds to his victim and leaps up to its chest and uses his own blade to launch up into the air and to the ceiling of the cave, bringing his weapon back to him with magic.

He then found what he was looking for, stalactites.

And with two mighty kicks and two thrown blades Kabal watched as the ceiling bound block of calcium began to fall straight toward the still thrashing monster below.

Flipping backwards and kicking of another rock Kabal lands near the water pool with a roll. And using his magic stopped all momentum so he could watch his little idea unfold.

The falling rock fell right into the beast's shoulder impaling it through and emerging from the hip. Kabal grinned as the thing's cries of pain became gargles of blood as its organs were all but crushed in its chest, or leaking onto the floor.

"Two down, three to go. And I'm not slowing down yet." He says with a casual crack of his knuckles before speeding towards them.

He goes for the monster missing an eye first knowing that the first one had to crawl everywhere since his legs were both injured. And the other one while it had two huge open wounds, they weren't lethal levels of blood loss at least not yet.

So moving into the monster's blind spot Kabal connects his swords and swings them in a wide upward arch cutting deep into minotaur's chest and arm pit with the dagger like end to his blade.

Kabal then moved to its front when the inevitable blind swing came from its close arm. And with a prediction as to where the blow will land Kabal swung again with a blade in each hand and was able to completely remove the monster's own.

However Kabal didn't have time to celebrate the dismemberment as the other two had caught up. Forcing him to weave between high blows from the standing monster and attacks from below by the minotaur that had been forced to crawl at him.

Smirking under his mask at the attempts to harm him he dodges the two attempts, not even using his speed magic and then lands a brutal back kick to the crawling one's jaw. Landing after the kick he laughed at their struggle, "Come on you overgrown bovines, you're moving way to slow. Can't even touch me."

He then vanishes and appears next to the mostly uninjured one with the gashes in its back. He cuts out the ankles of the monster and then hooks the blades into its shoulders.

Kabal then flips over the monster and lands in front of it pulling his hooks deeper into the muscle and out the tops of its massive deltoids.

The monster already on its knees from the its wounds before could do nothing but support itself with its hands as Kabal put constant weight into the hooks holding it in place.

He then looks to the other two who are now seeing absolute red with rage at the mere thought of him. And flashes his eyes red, just to emphasize a point.

And it was definitely made as the only standing monster lowered its head and charged. It had abandoned what little reason it had for the sole purpose of killing the human in front of it. It wanted nothing more than to kill the pest that had killed two of its kind already.

And looking back Kabal knew that too, and smiled under his mask again.

He then back flipped onto the other monster's shoulders and ripped his blades free, and enjoyed the view.

The sprinting monster didn't even slow down as it rammed one of its long curved horns straight through the other's chest with no resistance whatsoever.

A weak whimper was heard by one as it hung limp on its own brother's horn dying from its wounds in a matter of moments.

But Kabal wasn't going to waste a golden opportunity like this though and slid down the corps and grabbed hold of the living one's horns at maximum velocity and with both his speed, mass, and the dead weight of its dead sibling the living monster could do nothing but roar as it was slammed head first into the ground with its brother's weight holding it in place.

Kabal now seeing that two were taken care of turns to final one crawling toward them.

"Yeah this is just sad at this point. Crawling at me? I'm doing you a favor putting you down." He then appears on top of its shoulders just like the first and hooks deep into the neck muscle.

"Only seems fitting to end the fight the way it began." He chuckles before pulling upward digging through and ripping its muscle out and exposing its more vital areas. Jumping in front of it Kabal just casually slashed twice and severs both trachea and carotid. He then watches with a blank bored expression as the monster bled out. It didn't even have enough will to whimper or groan, it just laid there and died.

Kabal shakes his head and then turns to the last living one, "Now what to do with you? Can't leave you alive you'd find a way out, I mean you're bound to figure it out once that hand stops hurting." He says while staring down the outstretched and only good hand it had left.

The minotaur would rather reach for him then push the corpse off its horn and be free.

The man could shake his head at the things stupidity or just plain stubbornness, either way time to to finish this thing.

Kabal walks to its side and lines up a clear shot to its neck and lets one of his blades fly into the flesh and bone, cutting deep into the side. He repeats the same thing on he other side and then finally jumps above the monster and tosses both blades into the the front having them slam deep into the remaining bone and cartilage, with the handles, ends, and guards facing up.

Then using a small part of his magic and natural gravity Kabal drops landing onto the curved portions of his guards. And the result of it was instant, cleanly slicing through the rest of the monster's neck Kabal kicks up the blades and calmly puts them on his back.

He then picks up the severed head and stares into its sole remaining eye.

"Well that was the hard part done. Now just to find the girls." He then looks over to where one had come from, the darker corner of the cave where it had been just before he got here.

He calmly walks over and rounds the corner to be met with a site that actually had him a bit stunned.

In his years as a criminal doing all kinds of the worst things that you could think of a human being doing. Drug trafficking, gun running, blackmail, murder, organized hits, hell even making deals just to kill people at the table.

And though it wasn't as all long his time as a cop being on the other end, junkies, grieving families, and victims of all kinds.

This was something new to him.

Women in cages, some them looking malnourished and sick to the point of no coming back. Some looked terrified of his shadow and began crying and crawling back towards the cage walls. Worst of it all are the ones that looked at him like he was a piece of meat, like rabid dogs looking at a bone.

Then he saw one poor soul in the center of the room. He made his way too her and was stopped in his tracks when he got close.

First thing he noticed was that the woman was stark naked. Not the first time he'd seen a woman bare, or even one this attractive before considering the woman looked like one of those super models, and he's been with a few of those.

Second thing and the more disturbing thing he noticed was that she had been raped, brutally, if the state of her crotch and bloated stomach was any guess. By what he could only guess was the minotaur that had been back here. He really didn't want to look too long but hell just the smell of it was bothering him even through his mask. So it was pretty damn hard to ignore.

Leaning down next to her he saw her twitching in what he guessed was cold, so he looked to the side and noticed the assortment of discarded and shredded clothes. He quickly ran over and grabbed what looked like a cloak and approached her and sat her to cover her.

He then waited for her to calm down and looked back over to the other cages of women who are either crying in the corners or leaning against the bars drooling at the site of him.

"What the fuck is wrong with them?" He asks out loud getting the woman next to him to turn towards the voice.

Time seemed to stop for a moment before the woman smiled at him and began to get closer him.

He noticed this and immediately was on guard, something wasn't right.

"Hey you ok? I'm here to get you out of here, those things are dead, it's gonna be ok." He says in a calm but firm voice trying to break through to the woman.

And like a switch was flipped she just throws herself on him, "Oh my rescuer has come to take me away, thank the goddess. Now I can live in a house as his mistress, fucking him everyday."

That part caught him off guard, "What? I'm sorry but what, like what the fuck? Did, no what?" He stammers completely lost as to what just came out of her mouth.

"Oh so not a mistress, then perhaps your slave? Do you like it rough? Or are you one who likes to be on bottom, I can do both. I can be anything you want me to be." She says now dropping and cloak and trying to grind her body against his.

Though she quickly fell backwards when there suddenly wasn't anything to support her.

She turns to see Kabal and his red glowing eyes narrowed dangerously at her. "Listen bitch, I'm not here to find a mistress or a slave, or a whatever the hell else you can think of! I came here to kill monsters and bring you all home."

She doesn't seem to get the message and just giggles, "Oh you're funny. I like that in a man, I like laughing almost as much as I love cumming." She says with a sultry tone at the end as she crawled towards him with an agonizingly slow pace, all the while swaying her hips and chest.

Kabal though was not in the mood for anything like that.

"You know what, fuck this. I promised to bring you home, but I don't know if you're with Ken or one of the lake people. And now I don't care, because while I promised to bring home those who had been kidnapped, that doesn't mean all of you. I could just kill you here and say to died from wounds." He says with a deadly tone change, as he puts her head into one of his hooks.

The woman seeing and hearing the change in tone looks into those killer unflinching masked eyes then swallows the lump in her throat and feels, really feels the blade around her neck. It was sharp, razor sharp and it smelled of blood, and was covered in fur and gore all of which she knew came from the monsters that had been using her and the other women in the cages. Day in and day out.

She slowly regains her senses from all the feelings around her and the suffocating feeling of potential death that the man in front of her promised.

She then locks eyes with him again and still sees those uncaring unflinching red eyes. And she begins to shake under their gaze, "P-Please."

Kabal snorts at her tone, "Looks like somebody's thinking straight again. Now how about we try this again. I already killed everything not human in this place, and now I'm here to rescue everyone that is. So if you could get the others and make sure I don't have to do this with them then that would be great."

He then takes and the blade away and she drops to her back breathing so fast she was almost to the point of passing out and tears began to pour out of her eyes as the memories of what they did to her and the others caught up. She then goes back to the cloak and drapes it over her and looks to the masked man that had saved them.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me." She says trying to apologize in a dignified manner to the man.

"Look I know being here is probably the worst thing to ever happen to you, I get that been through some pretty life changing stuff myself here recently. That being said we need to move, this many people at night with only me to protect them all? Yeah that's a bad idea. So if you would help me get them all under control so we can get out of here. Otherwise I'm leaving some of you behind." He says annoyed but she wasn't crazy at least.

She turns to look at the others and sees the look in their eyes, "It was those monsters. They did this to them." She says with bitter anger in her voice.

Kabal though just shrugs, "Ok I figured that part out. So how the hell do I stop them from tying to rip my clothes off?"

She looks to them and thinks, "It's a curse it leaves them in a crazed pleasure filled state. It happens when monsters or servants of the dark…when they force pleasure onto or into a victim. From there it leaves them desperate for that kind of pleasure again, and they will do it with anything that they believe with give them that pleasure again."

Kabal tilted his head, "So what rape and sex are like drugs in this place? Jeez that's some weird shit right there, like a bunch of junkies looking for their next fix. Well then only question I got left is how to fix it?" He asks wondering.

The woman just looks around to all of them then to him, "I don't know. I've heard of healers in Ken and Feoh at the church being able to heal those affected by the monsters. But other than that I don't know." She says with a hopeless expression.

"Well then why're you better? All I did was threaten to kill you and suddenly you're better, got to be something to do with that?" Kabal says just throwing out ideas so they could get moving.

She just stare at him blank not knowing what to do, "I don't know, when I looked at you all I could think was fear. Fear of death of knowing that you were able to kill those minotaurs it must've snapped me out of the curse?"

Kabal grunted still very skeptical, but he was running out of options. "Alright, well here's goes nothing."

He then disappeared in a burst of speed and the sound of metal striking metal could be heard multiple times as all the locks on the cages were snapped from the force behind his blades.

And like moths to a flame all of the crazed lust cursed woman began to make their way towards him all of them with that broken look in their eyes.

When they all began to basically surround him Kabal reaches back to his respirator. "Hope y'all don't get nightmares."

Then a thick black cloud of smoke came from his lower back and mask every time he breathed and he allowed them to get oh so close basically rubbing themselves all over him as they greedily breathed in his scent. And his magic.

And it was an almost instant reaction.

One began to scream then crawl away from him, then two more then another until eventually everyone in the cave looked at him as if he were the devil himself who had crawled straight from hell.

He looks around at the terrified and astounded women that had yet to leave the cages. "Alright then! My name is Kabal and I'm on a job from the Rose Order mercenary guild to save you. Now that introduction over we can all leave. So grab what you can from the clothes pile and whatever food you can. We're making a stop by the lake, there's a young woman there waiting for some of you. After that to Ken, from there I don't care where you go. Go to Feoh, stay in Ken, kill yourselves I really don't. So in short you are being rescued, and please don't resist."

He says casually before waking off to give them some privacy and a little time to collect themselves.

He then spent the next fifteen minutes listening to shuffle of clothes and the occasional sniffle as the group got ready to move.

"Alright lets go."

From there it was a trudge back to the lake at a pace that Kabal found absolutely insufferable. But when they got there and after watching the girl hug and cry over a few of them including the first one which had been her mother, Kabal felt honestly a bit better.

He also watched them morn the man who they called father and husband and kept his his distance and silence. He was cold but not a total bastard, that was Kano's forte.

He then got them all moving again taking supplies from the underground room the girl had been in and he gave them all pieces of dried meat or water to help raise their strength.

Later

By the time he reached Ken darkness had fallen over the kingdom and he was tired beyond all hell. All the running, fighting, and dealing with a group of barely clothed and emotionally traumatized women took it out of him.

So with feet almost like lead he made his way up to Maia's part of the castle in Ken and slapped the job posting and part of a horn and an eye on the table.

"Job's done." He says simply to the wide eyed redhead as she stared at him in shock as she thought the walk there and back alone would be over a day.

"And the women they took?" She asks skeptical of him.

"Safe here in Ken, yeah I know I made them walk for a while. But you can go ahead and bite me, they got rest and food. They wanted to be gone much more than I did, also get them to a doctor, or priest, probably both. They'll need all the help they can get." He says with a low and tired tone to his voice remembering their tear stricken and panicked faces and how they turned into tears of joy seeing Ken.

"Well, can't say I can complain about your results, your methods maybe, but you got the job done. Minotaurs are no easy monster to kill, and you took down five? That's pretty damn impressive I'm still shocked I've never heard of you though. Guy with your kind of abilities and skills, thought you'd be famous by now?" She asks jokingly at the mysterious man before her.

Kabal shakes his head, "More like infamous, but I'll take what I can get. So let's get down to business, my pay first of all for a the job. You and I both said this was the type of job not many if any could pull off, and here I am. So how much am I looking?"

Maia rolls her eyes, "Straight to the point huh. I can appreciate that."

She then walks over to a counter and unlocks a small safe in the wall, "The job was posted by the royal military so we already have the gold. Most jobs you take posted by villages or single people may not have it ready when you get there. As for your amount you're looking at a pretty solid two hundred and thirty gold coins." She says with an emphasis before dropping a few on the table one by one.

Kabal's eyes were absolutely glued to the metal coins as she counted and then piled them into the bag. She then walks over to him with a grin and tosses him the bag.

Catching it on reflex Kabal grinned at the weight, legit gold. He could live with this.

"Ok now two more things. First do I really have to go through some stupid initiation to get in or are we good? Second you mentioned quarters last time, do I have to pay for them?" He asks her while tightly holding onto the bag and watching her closely.

Maia smirks, "Well as for quarters you're more than welcome to stay here or you can rent a room down in the city, doesn't really matter to me. And yeah you're a member here, we don't do "ceremonies" that's not really our thing. So you don't really have to show up other than getting jobs or grabbing food and some booze."

She then stares at Kabal who just shrugged at the thought, "Well I'm here now might as well crash on a spare for the night. I'll think about where I'll permanently stay tomorrow, for now I'm beat."

He then walks away to find himself a bed and for the first time since he got here, or really since he got burned, Kabal closed his eyes and went to sleep.

And Done

Ok so that's another chapter in the bag. I'm having fun writing again so I'll try to keep it up for my time here.

Other than that please Read and Review it always helps to see what y'all think of the story and I enjoy reading them.

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