Chapter Nineteen: Clawing At The Heart

As the confrontation between the best of friends began, the indigo raven glanced back to see numerous G.U.N agents on his tail. The elder bird shook his head in disappointment, firing off a silver wave of energy that forced his enemies back. From the shadows, two Blackheart scorpions leaped from the trees, attempting to capture the martial arts master. However it turned into a bad situation for them as the godfather jumped towards them, hitting them in precise areas. Like a ton of bricks, the minions feel to the ground paralyzed.

"Come on, where is Lia?" the raven asked himself, increasing his rate of speed.

Sadly, a barricade of Blackheart and G.U.N soldiers blocked his way and right behind them, Lia was outnumbered against the beige coyote and a few of his soldiers. There was an easier way that would avoid the conflict all together however Donatello had to take care of these enemies now. Summoning a staff from within his cloak, he jumped into the air and slammed the end of it into the ground. The result was snowflake energy erupting from underneath the villains and sending them into the trees.

"That was easier done than said." the raven chuckled softly before walking over to Lia's area.

The area consisted of a serene pond right by a soft and serene waterfall, a good number of boulders and plant life surrounding the water source. A few giant lily pads wadded through the water, supporting the characters from falling into the water. The ebony jackal flipped back as one of the scorpions tried to dive into her before backhanding another that tried to attack from behind.

"Damn it! Can't you foolish beasts do anything right?" the coyote roared as he watched the battle away from the pond.

"It's not my fault that you hired bad help, now is it Carnage?" the Redclaw leader smiled before kicking one of his soldiers into a tree forcefully.

"Don't get cocky now dear jackal. Arrogance will be your downfall as it will be for your vermillion friend." Carnage sneered, an explosion from the distance helping to prove his claim.

"Oh no, Damien can take care of himself with his powers but I would be more worried about your minions." Donatello stated, sending up ivory columns of energy to hit each of Carnage's scorpion friends into unconsciousness.

The chestnut colored canine's forest green eyes glanced at each of his agents of death, their bodies limp as he was the only one remaining to fight off against both Lia and Donatello. Although this proved the odds were stacked against him, he did nothing but laugh at the moment. The duo of heroes were slightly confused at the actions of the coyote.

"You two really did a number on my army but I'm more stronger than any of them so how will you both fare against me?"

"Well it's two against one so I can pretty much say that you're in for a world of pain." the jackal roared in confidence.

A hand rested on her shoulder as she glanced back at her ally, a serious look on his face.

"I'm sorry but just as Damien's battles with Mario and Darius are to be on his own, so must this one. You two are eternal rivals and now you must defeat him. Besides, I'm not really cut out for this hero stuff. When this battle is done, meet me by the cliff outside of the forest and give the message to Damien as well." Donatello explained.

Lia slightly frowned before nodding in determination, attaching her Tri-Claw gauntlet onto her wrist.

"No problem, I'll make sure to take care of this disgrace to the Areno tribes down quickly." the female assured with a solemn face.

With that, the raven disappeared in a flash, dashing off into the distance leaving the two fighters to settle the score once and for all. The Blackheart Leader withdrew his Desert Sun claymore, remaining at the side of the pond while the Redclaw Leader took a fighting stance on one of the giant lily pads.

"Think fast!" the villain screamed, firing off his dual chain blades from his weapon at the jackal.

Instinctively, the jackal ducked to avoid the deadly blades before grabbing the golden links which was all part of the beast's plan. He retracted the chain back as Lia's forehead collided with the metallic hilt, causing a momentary lapse of dizziness. Carnage grabbed her hand, tying his chain around her wrist and skipping her across the pond like she was a rock. Once again, the hound withdrew his chain back, striking the jackal repeatedly.

Finally, the jackal crushed her foot into the knee of her opponent before landing a clean uppercut onto his chin that sent him reeling back. The beige male leaned against a boulder before putting it in front of him to deflect a high kick from his female rival.

"Oh come on! Fight like a true warrior Carnage!"

"True warriors know when they must try something else, am I not right?"

Activating another feature on his tactile weapon, the claymore ejected its blades into dual axes as Carnage swiped for his opponent. Lia back flipped away from the attack and landed safely upon a lily pad though the boulder that her rival used was coming along with her. She rolled out of the way as the rock displaced the water in the pond in a large wave.

For the first time since the battle started, the male character jumped onto one of the lily pads on the pond, using his new senses of vision to try and spot Lia. He switched to regular vision and spotted Lia, swimming onto another lily pad. Reverting his weapon back to its original form, he fired off the chain feature again to indent his blades into two boulders.

"Prepare to be crushed you weakling!" the coyote screamed, beginning to rotate in place as the boulders became his weapons.

The boulders began to increase in speed quickly thus Lia took a deep breath and dived into the water, swimming towards the other combatant in secrecy. When in range, she jumped out of the pond like a shark though Carnage saw her using his skeletal vision. Up in the air, he brought the boulders towards each other in an attempt to crush the jackal to death.

I'm guessing he wants to crush me literally!

It was as if time slowed down as the boulders crushed each other into little chunks and Lia curled into a ball to avoid as much pain as possible. As he descended, the Blackheart Leader twirled around in the air in a whirlwind of blades. One of his blades were able to nick her in the left arm, blood seeping out as he switched to blood vision to track her even if she were to go underwater.

Lia was quick to strike back though as she jumped and landed a double kick to the face before kicking him away with a roundhouse. The larger dog fell into the cold water and desperately tried to reach a lily pad in time. Lia wondered why the coyote tried so desperately to reach the lily pad though she didn't have time to. Like a boomerang, the Desert Sun sliced through the air like a pair of scissors through paper.

"Holy shit!"

She leaned back fast enough to avoid the bladed boomerang though it wasn't the girl that Carnage aimed at. From behind, a tree began to collapse though the jackal barrel rolled out of the way before splashing water into the eyes of Carnage.

"Did you forget from our last battle? Irritation doesn't work on my eyes so stop with the little tricks and actually do something spectacular." the coyote said angrily, slicing through the water to hit Lia.

"I'm not going to hold back then you low life." the jackal fired back.

She leaped from lily pad to lily pad to reach Carnage who used his chain feature to grab and hurl an entire pad at his opponent who grabbed onto the bottom with her Tri-Claw. She ripped her Tri-Claw out and pounced on the male who was left vulnerable as they fell into the water. With no lily pad near him, the khaki colored character leaped out of the water and onto the rocky cliff near the water fall. He used his dual axe feature to begin scaling the wall.

"Not on my watch."

Lia began to scale the wall on the other side of the waterfall to make sure she got there before Carnage, the two leaders fighting against each other well. The coyote hurled one of his axes at the jackal to slow her down though she dodged and continued to keep up the pace. They both reached the top of the cliff and charged towards each other in a clash of metal sparks.

"Just give up already Lia! I've defeated your tribe, taken your land and now I'm the true ruler of the deserts. There's nothing you can do about it. You just don't understand why I've done this!" the male exclaimed in anger and determination, his forest eyes quivering at the sight of amber ones.

"Never! I won't give up because my tribe would never give up on me. I intend to regain my land, tribe and pride back from you damn Blackhearts. I don't care why you do it so just go down!" the female answered back, pushing the coyote away.

With a battle cry, she pounced onto the chest of the hound as they skyrocketed towards the pond, their crash creating more waves of displacement. They both rose from the depths of the water, Lia's remaining in the water while Carnage pulled himself out. Extending the chains from his claymore, he swung downwards as the weapon created a whirlpool to form underneath it.

"My Desert Sun claymore is the ultimate weapon, so many uses for it and so many different variations that it's hard to remember them all." the Blackheart cackled.

The Redclaw attempted to get away from the typhoon however its current was too strong to swim away from and she was swallowed within the water. It was like she was in a washing machine, she was unaware where she would be lashed out to. So surprise was on her side right now, the jackal identifying where she was as soon as she escaped the trap. She swam near the lily pad Carnage stood upon and hit the edge as if it were a see-saw.

The water near the waterfall was thankfully less deep than the water in the pond so Carnage had less to worry about. Although it wasn't as deep, it actually became colder here than where he once was. His body began to tremble and he had to escape the water quickly before it was too late for him.

Damn it! If she's able to find out my weakness, then it might be over for me. She has the complete advantage over me in this area but an advantage does not guarantee her victory.

Firing off one of his blades near a tree on the mainland, the leader pulled himself towards it to escape the freezing conditions he had once been in. Unfortunately, Lia took one of his earlier tactics and sliced the tree down enough for it to fall. Carnage and Lia landed right back near the waterfall, charging once again on top of the wooden foundation. The beastly male swung his claymore where Lia rolled under his attack and kicked him lightly in the back.

The coyote began to get annoyed and summoned his chains to extend the range of his blades, twirling his claymore between his fingers. He brought the weapon upwards as it ripped tree bark into the air as Lia back stepped to avoid the attack. She grabbed and jerked the chain towards her, crushing her fist into the jaw of her opponent as he staggered back.

"Damn, you just love attacking my jaw!" Carnage growled, retracting his blades back into his claymore.

"Yeah, it's fun to see you stop blabbering your damn mouth!"

This didn't help her situation anymore as the male tried to backhand her though the female jumped out of the way. Alas, her aerial position didn't allow her to dodge the blade that flew towards her as it seemed to embed into her chest.

"And that's all she wrote."

Luckily for the girl, it was her right arm that had been stabbed into though now her best arm was injured. The chestnut brown character pulled the ebony one back and didn't anticipate the slice that she would give onto his chest. Three vertical marks leaked wine from his chest as Lia ripped her arm out. She used her left arm to flip Carnage over before punching him into the water. Like a ghost, she dived into the water and disappeared.

"Damn she is getting on my nerves and she must die now!"

Shaking his head to clear out all the cobwebs, Carnage changed to blood vision to see if he could spot her blood from underwater. A few feet away, a puddle of blood was right in front of him as he jumped over for the kill. Sadly, he reverted to regular vision to spot no one and it was then that it came to him. It was his own blood and so much exposure to coldness began to slow down his body functions.

"And that's why you don't like staying in cold areas. Your body becomes immobile easily when exposed to cold temperatures. Good because mines doesn't." the jackal said, walking over to him from behind.

She lifted him up easily and began to barrage him with fist after fist, forcing him to drop his claymore to the water. With that, she grabbed the claymore and charged towards the waterfall, slamming the Blackheart Leader's body into the rocky cliff. This exposed him to more cold water than ever before as it rained down on him.

"Time to end this battle it seems."

With a few more punches, she stabbed her Tri-Claw into his chest before stabbing his own Desert Sun claymore into his wrist as he hissed rather loudly. Lia took back her weapon and fell down to the floor as the victor though Carnage wasn't satisfied.

"You won. Congratulations. Now it's up to you to finish the job. As the victor, you've earned the right to kill me." the coyote stated slowly, his blood mixing with the waterfall's purity.

Lia looked at him before shaking her head in disappointment.

"I'm not going to do that because I'm not like you. I'm honorable to the ways of fighting and killing you would just prove that I'm a monster such as yourself. Your minions will pick you up but don't you ever try to take my land or tribe or pride again." the jackal explained before falling into the arms of Damien, the golden dog looking at the fallen hounds.

"That makes two out of three. Only one remains. Darius, be prepared for the battle of a lifetime." the hound stated to no one as he carried Lia off into the forest.

To be continued…


A/N: And now comes the defeat of Carnage the Coyote to Lia the Jackal. She sure did get a lucky break with the water being there though.

Anyway, this is what we've all been waiting for. The finale of Shades of Night, the three part battle between Damien and Darius. Be prepared to learn what Darius and Damien have learned since their last battle. What will the Moonlight Form be like? What is the true history between these brothers? And most importantly, who will win this final battle?

Glad to have gotten this out the way so leave your comments and theories and questions. Review! Thanks! Bye.

P.S: I do reccommend people to read stories by my great friend and reviewer Blue Kaous. I would not do this if he wasn't an amazing writer. Check his stories out please. :)