Author's Note: Remember what I said about the last chapter being the bloodiest? Well, this one gives it a run for its money so again, consider yourselves warned. This chapter took a lot of work, but I like the end result, so please read and review! Thanks!
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In the years that followed, what happened next would become an Ohu legend, becoming perhaps as well known as Gin's defeat of the demon bear Akakabuto. Fighting below, Akame, Kurotura, George, Kyoushiro, Rocket, and Joe, who had been holding their ground against Scimitar's forces, looked up just in time to see it begin. Jerome and Gin did as well, having just arrived back from the river to help, and Tesshin and Sasuke, who had stumbled out of the burning forest only moments before, saw what happened clearly in the light from the fire.
High above, on the top of Gajou, they saw Weed lunge at Scimitar faster than anyone had ever seen him move, looking more like his grandfather Riki in his rage than himself, and tackle the warlord head on, biting hard into his neck and shoulder as they flew backwards off their perch. Then the two leaders tumbled down the side of the great rock fortress in a snarling tangle of limbs, bouncing off boulders as they went, and landed at the bottom in a thrashing heap, throwing each other off as soon as they'd regained their senses. Almost instantly, Weed was at Scimitar's throat again. He slashed at his opponent left and right with his fangs as hard and fast as he could, landing only a few glancing hits as Scimitar dodged back and forth, dancing and weaving from side to side and making his opponent's jaws close on empty air. Still, Weed didn't let up for a second. He barely remembered even attacking the warlord. All he knew was that he wanted to make the monstrous wolf pay for what he had done…once and for all.
For one of the first times in his life, Weed wanted another dog to die. He had killed others in the past by necessity, but had usually regretted it afterwards, wondering if they could've changed had they been shown kindness and mercy in place of violence and death. But Scimitar was different. He had never once shown any remorse for the lives he'd taken, the families he'd ruined. On the contrary, he had seemed from the start to derive great enjoyment out of watching the suffering of others, whether they were male or female, pup or elder, big or small. It had never mattered to him. And unlike others Weed had faced, such as Hougen and Victor, who had committed their crimes out of a selfish need for power and control, Scimitar had committed his for no other reason than his own pleasure, his own sadistic need to stain the earth beneath him with the blood of dogs that had never done him wrong. Even when he had come after Ohu out of revenge, retaliating for an act that Weed and his pack had had no part of to begin with, he had still made sure that every move he made was designed to make his victims suffer as much as possible, simply so he could enjoy watching every waking moment of their pain. Now, after all of it, he had robbed Weed of one of the greatest friends he'd ever known. The last thing he deserved was mercy.
'This time,' Weed swore, 'I'm going to make sure that he's gone…permanently.
Despite his determination, however, Scimitar fought him back with equal intensity, seemingly hell-bent on at least killing him if he couldn't have his friends, and soon the two combatants were covered with small scratches and slashes from each other's fangs and claws, new ones appearing by the second as they whirled and twisted around each other in a bloody dance of death. Weed kept his full attention on Scimitar, feeling the wolf's fangs snapping dangerously close to his face, and grew more and more frustrated by the second when, despite utilizing every bit of speed he could muster, his attacks achieved the same result. For a second, he thought he saw George fighting off to his left, and realized quickly that they had fought their way into the battling mass of dogs in front of Gajou. He didn't look to see any more, however, for at that moment, he finally managed to land a hard blow, clawing Scimitar across the face with his front leg after faking a bite and sending him sprawling to the ground next to a rock that had fallen off of Gajou during the battle. Then the enraged Akita grabbed the wolf by the neck before he could recover and began slamming his head into the rock again and again as hard as he could, grunting with the force of each impact as it happened.
"YOU *smack* FUCKING *smack* SICK *smack* PIECE OF *smack* SHIT!!" he screamed hoarsely, nearly in a frenzy and sounding nothing like the Weed everyone knew and cared for.
Suddenly, Scimitar twisted out of his grasp and, with blood streaming down his face, grabbed the nearest dog in his jaws as Weed slashed at him again. Then he held it up in front of him like a shield and a shriek of pain was heard as the Ohu leader's fangs took the dog's entire throat out, exposing his spine with a spray of blood as he fell down dead, twitching for a moment before laying still. It was only then that Weed saw to his horror that it was one of his own dogs, a Koga ninja friend of his named Kazemusha. Scimitar looked up at him, licking his lips.
"Now look what you've gone and done." he taunted with a smirk and head-butted Weed hard between the eyes, splitting his forehead open before grabbing him by the muzzle and throwing him hard into a group of fighting dogs, sending them all flying from the impact.
Then suddenly, as he moved in for another attack, the wolf coughed violently, doubling over as blood spewed out of his mouth and spattered on the ground beneath them, and Weed looked up just in time to see Scimitar turn and run towards the burning forest on their right with a growl of frustration, weaving deftly in between the struggling forms around them and vanishing seconds later. Weed growled as well and, leaping to his paws, chased after him, swearing silently to himself that under no circumstances was the dangerous warlord going to escape his punishment this time. Not if he had anything to say about it.
Ken growled as he stared out the cave entrance. He was feeling both useless and in pain, and although the latter was being dimmed a little by the gentle touch of Lydia's tongue on his broken leg as she licked it, the former was almost unbearable. He could barely stand without immediately having to lie down again, let alone fight, so if anything happened to his friends and they needed help, he would be unable to give it. As a result, he wasn't sure what hurt more, his leg or his honor. Ken looked over at Kagetora's body and then looked back outside again, occasionally seeing the thrashing forms of the fighting dogs as they moved quickly by.
'I'll see this through.' he told himself determinedly. 'I'm the son of Ben of Ohu. A broken leg won't stop me from doing my part. I'll protect the leaders' mates if I have to.'
Ken winced as Lydia licked a particularly sensitive part of his leg and she stopped, sensing his distress.
"I'm sorry." she said, "Do you want me to stop?"
"No." he answered, shaking his head. "Thank you. It helps. I'm sorry you have to do this."
"Yeah, well, I'll do it just this once." she teased and then went back to her work when she saw that he wasn't in the mood for jokes.
Ken glanced at her, then nodded down at her bulging midsection.
"Have you thought of any names yet?" he asked and she looked up.
"We're still talking about it." she responded, clearly wondering if this was the right time to be having the discussion. "I personally like 'Damien'. Jerome seems to like 'James'. Or 'Duke'. He's not sure."
Ken smirked despite himself.
"What if it's a female?" he asked and she rolled her eyes.
"Don't even get me started." Lydia answered and the Great Dane shook his head.
Then she looked at him again.
"What would you name a pup?" she asked "If you had one."
Ken gave her a startled look.
"Me?" he asked, caught off guard. "I – uh…I never really thought about it."
"Come on. Humor me."
Ken felt very uncomfortable at the turn the conversation had taken and he could feel her eyes on him as he tried to think fast. After a minute, she went back to licking his leg, thinking that he didn't want to answer, and they were silent again.
"Kage."
She looked up at him startled and he fidgeted slightly as he shifted his weight to the other side of his body, his eyes looking down at the cave's stone floor.
"I'd name him 'Kage'." Ken said quietly and Lydia was silent, not even knowing how to respond.
After a few seconds, though, he added in a sarcastic voice:
"Or 'Sen'. Just to keep up my family's tradition."
She laughed, but then a low whine sounded from the back of the cave and they both looked back at Koyuki, who lay next to Reika by the wall out of the light.
"Are you all right?" Lydia asked, standing up and walking over to her as Ken turned slightly to get a better look at the other female.
Koyuki looked up at her from her prone position and Lydia immediately could tell that something was wrong.
"What is it?" she asked again.
The other dog panted shallowly.
"Their coming." she answered. "I think my pups are coming."
Lydia froze in her tracks and Ken let out a grunt of shock.
"Now?!" he barked. "You can't be serious!"
After studying her for a moment, Lydia glanced over at him.
"She's serious." she responded and Ken swore under his breath.
Suddenly, the light from outside dimmed, and they all looked just in time to see one of Scimitar's subordinates, who was already ripped half to shreds and had a bloodthirsty look on his face, standing in the entrance panting. When he saw the females, he let out a battle snarl and charged at them, causing Lydia to leap in front of Koyuki protectively as Ken suddenly jumped up, using his 3 good legs to do so, and barreled into him, sending him flying into the rock wall on the other side of the cave with a painful crash. But then the Great Dane landed on his bad leg and collapsed with a howl of pain, leaving Lydia alone as the dog rolled to his paws and charged again. When he got close enough, Lydia bit down on his neck and held her jaws there, but with her agility limited because of her pregnancy, she could do little else. The dog growled and, swinging around, smacked her to the ground hard, pinning her with a paw once he had.
"Now – " he started to say gruffly, but suddenly Koyuki reached over and bit his hind leg as hard as she could, causing him to let out a yelp of pain and release his pin on Lydia.
Snarling in fury, the attacker whirled around and aimed for the helpless Kishu's face with his sharp fangs, intending to kill her first, but then Ken leapt at him once more and this time managed to sink his teeth deep into the dog's unprotected throat, knocking him completely off his paws and biting down until he heard a sickening 'CRUNCH'. He felt blood gush into his muzzle and after a moment, the dog stopped thrashing and lay still. When he was sure the attacker was dead, Ken released his hold and looked over at Lydia, seeing in a glance that Koyuki was uninjured.
"Are you okay?" he asked, looking now like he was in extreme pain because of his leg.
The German Shepard nodded at him, rolling to her paws and looking back Koyuki.
"I'm fine," she said. "But we obviously have a problem."
Ken looked down at the other female, who was breathing even more shallowly then before and was now unable to stand. Then he glanced out the entrance to the cave to see if there was anyone within earshot that could help them somehow. There was no one. The Great Dane growled, seeing more and more smoke from the fire coming into the entrance by the second as he watched.
"Of all the shit timing!" he said irritatedly, standing up slowly and biting his tongue to stop from yelping in pain.
Then he looked back at Lydia with a determined expression on his face.
"Lydia," he growled. "Help her! I'll guard the entrance!"
The female nodded and turned back to Koyuki as Ken limped over to the cave entrance and got in the best fighting stance he could manage.
'I hope you guys can finish this fight soon.' he thought. 'Because this just got more complicated than you know.'
Joe let out a grunt of frustration as he killed another attacker, crushing his jugular between his jaws before tossing him aside and moving on to another. There was just no end to them! He had seen his father and Jerome return from the river minutes before, leaping into the battle immediately to aid their friends, and Tesshin had joined the effort as well, fighting despite the wounds he had already received, but Scimitar's subordinates were stubbornly refusing to surrender. To Joe, the battle seemed like the ocean's tide. Whenever it seemed to be pushed away from where it was, it would come rebounding back with equal intensity. This cycle had repeated a few times now, and he could already tell that his companions were beginning to get tired and just as frustrated as he was. Still, complaining wouldn't solve anything, and giving up wasn't an option.
He had seen Weed engage Scimitar and knew that the others had as well, so they had to soldier on. As long as the warlord was alive, his subordinates wouldn't surrender…so neither could they. At the moment, they were right in the middle of a powerful counterattack against them, and he was having to use every fighting technique he knew just to stay on his feet. Looking to his left, he saw Kyoushiro get knocked onto his side by a group of 5 dogs and get bitten and slashed all over his body, his legs kicking out desperately in every direction to try and get them off him. Leaping over, Joe arrived at the same time as Akame, and they both knocked the dogs aside, grabbing and ripping anything their fangs could get a hold of. By the time Kyoushiro rolled to his feet again, all 5 of them lay dead in pools of their own blood, one missing a leg and another lacking the entire top of his head. Kyoushiro looked over at him as the three males stood in a circle to cover each other.
"We should drive them towards the fire Akame-san!" he yelled. "Away from Gajou!"
"We don't know where everyone is!" Joe answered before Akame could. "We might end up pushing our own comrades into the flames if we do that!"
"So what do you suggest?" the elder Kishu shouted above the din. "We can't keep doing this forever!"
"Flank them!" Joe yelled back as Jerome, Gin, Tesshin, and George fought their way over to them as well. "We're beginning to outnumber them! If we can get in the right positions and encircle them, we might be able to force their surrender!"
Akame looked impressed as he met his gaze.
"It might work." he said to Gin. "If we work together."
Gin looked at his older son with a tired but proud smile as George killed a dog that was lunging for his back.
"Will you be leading this counterattack?" he asked and Joe nodded.
"Yes, father." he said. "I will be."
Gin nodded, giving his approval in Weed's absence, and Joe turned to his comrades.
"Everyone!" he called. "Follow me!"
They all nodded in support and leapt after the Akita as he took off running through the fighting dogs around them, all of them hoping that the maneuver could end the bloodshed once and for all.
Weed pumped his legs as fast as he could make them move. He was just at the edge of the main Gajou battlefield and could see Scimitar a couple hundred yards ahead of him, about to enter the tree line where Tesshin had fought against Takeshi, where the fire was the fiercest. Being faster, he was closing in on the warlord, but worried that he did not have the space left to catch up. Depending on the ferocity of the fire, Scimitar could slip away into the burning trees and disappear forever as the Ohu Army tried to regroup and find him. This thought made him run faster, and seconds later, Weed found himself entering the burning inferno that used to be their beloved home. It only took him a second to realize that he had indeed lost sight of Scimitar, and he skidded to a halt and whipped his head around, looking for any sign of movement with his keen blue eyes. There was nothing. Weed panted, feeling the heat assaulting his whole body.
"Come out and fight, you coward!" he shouted, and almost immediately heard a disembodied laugh.
"Coward am I?" came the voice. "You're the last person who should talk about being a coward. Remind me again who it was who let Ronin live because he was too much of a little bitch to kill him. And who was it that allowed Takeshi to keep his pitiful life, knowing full well that he wanted one of your closest friends dead at any cost? Think of all the innocent dogs that have died because of you and your mercy…think of dear Kagetora."
Weed trembled in anger, listening for any clue to the wolf's whereabouts. The noise from the fire around him, though, was too intense, and he heard nothing. Scimitar went on.
"You know what astounds me most about your pack, Weed?" he said, his voice cold and taunting. "The fact that those dogs out there follow you, trust you with their lives. They wander around in your wake like loyal little slaves, following your every command like you have all the answers, every one of them giving you respect you don't deserve. You may be a powerful fighter, but you're so naïve it's sick. That 'love-thy-neighbor' bullshit you flaunt in everyone's face is just a mask to cover up how little you really know about this world. Kindness is a tool for the weak, for those too scared to use aggression. No one truly respects you when you're kind. They only respect you when they fear you. Show them true fear, and they'll remember you forever. Show them kindness, and they'll walk on you forever."
"I don't believe that." Weed snarled and Scimitar snorted from wherever he was.
"Then you only prove my point, boy." he rasped. "And for your foolishness, you will die, even if I do first. Contrary to popular opinion, none of you Ohu mutts are invincible. By now, you should know that all too well. Your friends are just dogs, and you…you're just a pathetic, worthless, little false messiah. You're about as immortal as I am. And if I can end…so can you."
Suddenly, Weed's senses went wild and he quickly leapt sideways, but before he could land, he was hit hard from above and almost immediately found himself landing face first in the dirt clear across the clearing he was in. Then Scimitar was on him. Weed felt teeth dig deeply into his neck and then he was shaken back and forth, flesh ripping savagely as the wolf smashed him repeatedly into burning trees and nearby rocks. Then he was thrown to the ground again and Weed felt a splitting pain in his side as Scimitar drove his fangs into it and then jerked his head sideways, slashing open a deep, gushing wound. He yelped in pain but managed to throw the wolf off and wound him back, kicking him in the face and reopening the wound that Kagetora had slashed in his eye. Scimitar stumbled back, but recovering quickly, lunged at him again.
Rearing up on their hind legs, the two combatants wrapped their jaws around each others' necks and began ripping and tearing anything their fangs touched, and soon, they were both bleeding profusely from numerous deep wounds. Both refused to surrender, though, and as Scimitar deepened the wound in the Akita's side with his claws, Weed tore off one of the wolf's ears with a wet ripping sound and then threw him backwards into a burning tree as he yelled in pain, making it explode apart and send splintered wood and branches everywhere. When Weed lunged at him again, though, fangs bared and ready to strike, he noticed too late that his opponent had regained his footing with something between his jaws. Weed saw that it was a sharp tree branch only seconds before the warlord whirled around and threw it at him hard. Before he could dodge, the branch speared Weed right in the face and two things happened simultaneously: he felt pain the like of which he'd never felt before hit him, and all light in his left eye snuffed out at once…and didn't come back on.
Falling to the ground with a painful 'THUD', Weed howled in agony as he tried to pull the branch out of his eye with his paws, sensing Scimitar advancing on him as he did so. At the last possible second, he gave a hard pull and the branch popped free, and then Scimitar kicked him hard in the side, sending him skidding and rolling backwards away from him. Head spinning, Weed didn't even get a chance to stand up before the warlord grabbed him by the tail and threw him up into the air. Then he was being ripped and torn from all sides as Scimitar leapt back and forth through the air, cutting him again and again with his teeth and claws and making blood spatter into the flames with every hit, causing them to hiss as they burned the precious red liquid into nonexistence. Desperately, barely conscious, Weed twisted in midair and, after dodging Scimitar's slash, kicked him hard into a burning bush before falling to the ground, hearing the wolf's yelp of pain as the red-hot embers pressed into his wounds. Regaining his feet shakily, Weed stood and faced the warlord, seeing that he had picked up another broken branch, this one on fire, and now held it in his jaws like a weapon, the smoke and heat from the rest of the inferno becoming too intense for them both.
Suddenly, as they squared off again, both panting exhaustedly, Weed heard a popping noise in the distance. It had come from through the trees, away from Gajou, and it was followed immediately by more popping noises, each one getting marginally louder by the second. Confused and in pain, Weed glared over at Scimitar, and saw a strange look on his face, a look that Weed could only describe as fear mixed with triumph and surprise. Then, just as suddenly, the wolf turned and ran again, this time heading back for Gajou as he did. Blood streaming down his face, Weed leapt after him, his acute senses compensating for his blinded eye even as his whole body screamed in protest at being forced to move once again.
He felt the heat diminishing slightly as they left the burning forest behind, and as they came back out onto the Gajou battlefield, he saw something that astonished him. The battle was virtually gone. Only a handful of Scimitar's subordinates were still struggling, and they were surrounded by a legion of Ohu soldiers who were slowly forcing them into surrender, or if they refused, death by their fangs. Up ahead, Weed saw Scimitar skid to a halt, his ripped and bloody face looking positively dumbstruck.
"What –?" he sputtered, at a loss for words for one of the first times since Weed had met him. "How the fuck –?"
Looking over, Weed saw Joe barking orders at low and high ranking soldiers alike as they fought, a proud, satisfied look on his face as he did so, and the young leader of Ohu smiled proudly as he realized what had happened. But then, with a snarl of frustration, Scimitar turned and ran towards the edge of the cliff that led down into the river canyon, and Weed bolted forward and shot up the side of Gajou to get higher ground.
Scimitar growled as he ran, his wounds throbbing and his vision getting blurry. He could barely feel anything in his limbs anymore, and feeling the numbness spreading, knew that the poison's infiltration of his system was nearly complete. Soon, his body would begin to shut down entirely, and he would be unable to even move, which would leave him at the mercy of the Ohu Army.
'If I can only get to the cliff,' he thought, 'Then I can leap off and end my own life! It'll kill those Ohu mutts if they don't get their vengeance. Besides…everything's already in motion that needs to be. My work here is done.'
As he was passing Gajou's entrance, however, the cliff edge getting closer and closer with each step, something grabbed him by the hind leg and sent him crashing unceremoniously to the ground, his wounds flaring painfully as he fell on them. Pushing himself to his paws, he looked back furiously…and saw the Great Dane, Ken, biting hard into his hind leg, holding him in place. The big, brown-furred dog glared back at him.
"This is for Kagetora." Ken growled.
Then, before he could kick him off, teeth closed around his other hind leg as well. When he whirled to find their source, Scimitar saw a young, newly battle-scarred golden retriever.
"…and Hook." Mel said.
He was grabbed by his front leg.
"…and Musashi." said Kurotura.
Suddenly, his other front leg was held as well, rendering him completely immobile. When he looked towards the source, Scimitar the Kinslayer found himself staring into the furious, determined eyes of Gin of Ohu.
"…and every other innocent dog you've ever murdered." the elder Akita finished, then looked up above him behind his back.
When Scimitar followed his gaze, he froze in shock. Weed had run up the side of Gajou and leapt off a high rock way above their heads, his powerful legs giving him incredible height in his jump despite his wounds. As Scimitar watched, the Akita pitched forward in midair…and began to spin end-over-end like a blade.
"ZETSU TENROU BATTOUGA!!" he thundered, his powerful voice echoing off every corner of the battlefield, and Scimitar could only stand and watch in wide-eyed surprise as his opponent flew right at him, spinning faster and faster until he was nothing but a blur.
Suddenly, everyone holding him leapt away in different directions, but he had no time to even move. CRUNCH!
Every dog on the battlefield stopped whatever they were doing and turned to look as contact was made. Weed had buried his fangs right into the top of Scimitar's head between his ears, and sent them both flying backwards towards the cliff edge, a morbid geyser of blood exploding from the impact point as they did. After a second, they both landed hard on their sides, and lay still. Everything was silent for all of 5 seconds, then Weed pushed himself shakily to his paws, hearing cries of "Scimitar-sama!" coming from the dogs that were still struggling, and "Weed!" from his friends that were near them. Wounds throbbing and streaming blood, he began walking unsteadily towards the unmoving Scimitar, nearly collapsing as he did. Suddenly, Weed felt Gin come up on his right and steady him as he walked, Kurotura supporting him on his left.
"Weed!" Gin cried, gasping at his missing eye. "Are you all right?"
Weed nodded, and Kurotura laughed.
"You did it, Weed!" he shouted joyously, and Weed turned to respond.
Before he could though, Weed saw Scimitar stirring from his position on the ground and he tensed. Then Weed gently pushed past Kurotura and his father and walked up to Scimitar, who had somehow pushed himself up until he was lying on his stomach, his skull crushed in partially at the bloody impact point of Weed's fangs. Truth be told, Weed was stunned that the wolf was still alive, let alone conscious, but as the Akita approached, Scimitar met his gaze with his blood red, hazy eyes. Around them, Akame, Jerome, Tesshin, Joe and the others slowly walked up, having ended the battle moments before, and moved in silently until they stood in a circle around the mortally wounded Scimitar, none of them making a sound. Then Scimitar broke the silence.
"Wh-Where did you l-learn that…?" he slurred, his voice barely audible as he looked at Weed.
"My grandfather learned it from a wolf." Weed responded, no sympathy in his voice whatsoever. "Ironic isn't it? Your own kind gave us what we needed to bring you down."
Scimitar let out a low, almost cough-like laugh.
"So they did." he said, looking away. "I'm impressed, Weed. You actually lived up to your reputation. You and your friends are f-formidable opponents."
Weed was surprised by the compliment and glanced at Jerome, who had a similar expression on his face. Then Scimitar laughed again and looked back at him.
"Too bad you're all still going to die." he whispered smugly and Weed looked hard at him.
"This war is over, Scimitar." he said in a cold voice. "You've lost. These dogs are my family, my friends, and we will always be here to protect each other. Those of us that died died with honor, and it's their sacrifice that will keep us going. There's nothing more you can do to us."
Dogs around Weed nodded in approval and Scimitar's smile turned into a grin, blood seeping from between his fangs as he looked up at Weed weakly.
"I don't have to do a thing." Scimitar responded. "My last, greatest ally will see to it that you all join me when I die."
Weed stared down into the wolf's nearly unrecognizable face, seeing an almost triumphant look on it. Something was wrong.
"Takeshi's dead." Tesshin spoke up, glaring down at the wolf brutally. "Ronin's dead. Your subordinates are all subdued or defeated. You have no allies left, Scimitar."
Scimitar didn't take his eyes off Weed's.
"Didn't you hear them?" he asked in a near whisper, blood streaming from the corner of his mouth as his badly ravaged body began to shut down.
"Hear what?" the Akita asked.
"In the forest," came the response. "Right before I ran. Didn't you hear the guns?"
Weed froze. So that's what the popping had been! Scimitar saw his hesitation instantly. He smiled.
"Didn't you all wonder," he grinned malevolently. "Why I attacked Oroshi in the first place?"
Weed paused. He felt very uneasy, and judging by their expressions, so did the others.
"To get your revenge." he said. "To provoke us by hurting innocents instead of fighting us directly like a real male."
Scimitar shook his head, ignoring the insult.
"No…" he said. "If I had wanted to do that, I would've just killed your allies instead. When I attacked that place, and made it burn, the only ones I was trying to provoke…were the humans."
Weed's breath caught in his throat. He looked down at the warlord in horror as Scimitar sneered at him.
"Oh, you didn't think I had a backup plan." he taunted. "How stupid of you."
"You're bluffing." George spat from where he stood and the warlord looked over at him.
"I found out a long time ago that humans are the most dependable creatures in this world," he growled quietly. "Give them the right motivation and they'll always do exactly what you think they will. All I had to do was get them angry enough, and then wait for them to come running and end all our lives together. Then, dead or alive, I'd still get exactly what I wanted from the very beginning."
Weed's eyes widened with every word that came out of Scimitar's mouth. There was no way that could have worked. It was impossible. Impossible…
"My only regret is that I won't live long enough to see it happen." Scimitar said maliciously. "You think I'm a monster? Get them riled and humans are the biggest monsters of all. What I've done…is nothing compared to what they'll do when they arrive here. And they will, I promise you that."
He nodded his head toward the flames still leaping off their forest.
"With that fire burning," he said, "They'll come straight here. And they won't leave until they wipe every…last…one of you all off the world. Truthfully, I don't know how they were led back here, because they didn't follow me from Oroshi like I wanted them to, but I guess they figured it out somehow…and there's nothing you can do about it, boy."
Weed was at a total loss for words. He tried to speak but no sound came out and Scimitar continued to smile triumphantly up at him, looking with every passing moment like his strength was waning fast. Weed trembled in fury as he stared back, the others around him looking equally as shocked and livid.
"You bastard…" he growled shakily, his voice slowly turning into a shout. "You bastard, we were innocent! I'm going to be a father! I'm gonna have a son! A SON!!"
Scimitar smirked.
"Not anymore." he responded and Weed stiffened visibly.
Then, a very faint gunshot sounded from the burning forest and Scimitar tilted his head towards it as their gazes met again.
"What do you know?" he said smugly. "I win."
Weed turned and walked a few paces towards Gajou, picking up the still burning branch that Scimitar had had in his jaws when he'd run from the forest, and had dropped when he'd been grabbed by Ken and the others. Then he walked back over to the warlord, the eyes of everyone there on him. Scimitar looked him in the face.
"What are you doing?" he rasped.
Weed looked at him murderously.
"Giving you back your fire." he responded and with one swift movement, stabbed the branch into the wolf's throat as hard as he could, the sharp end coming clean out the back of his neck once he had.
Scimitar's eyes went wide, and he let out a gargling, strangled choking noise as blood spurted from the wound. Then, the fire leaping off the branch ignited his black fur with a 'WHOOSH' and Scimitar the Kinslayer burst into flames, becoming a burning, thrashing pyre in the darkening night, his throat not even having the breath left to let out a scream. Frightened, and deeply sickened with himself, Weed turned away, his legs feeling heavy as he walked slowly through his silent companions, who turned and followed him loyally as he headed for Gajou, only a few of them looking back. The war was over.
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