Blazing Glory Ch. 12

"Kali, is it?" The human laughed as he straightened himself up to tower above her. His feral grin split his face as he casually hefted the large sword over his shoulder before shrugging his shoulder arrogantly. "Name is Jubal. Let's see if you can tear this prey up, pussycat."

The corners of her lips turned upwards into her familiar smile of bloodlust as she dropped low into a ready stance with her staff, "Alright then, Jubal. Let's get it on, you son of bitch!"

Jubal smirked before he roared his battle cry and brought his sword down towards the much smaller catwoman. Kali spun aside as she whipped her staff around and upwards towards his head. Her blood hungered for the sight of splitting his skull wide open in the moments to come. She was shocked when he raised his left arm swiftly to intercept the blow. Her arms shuddered with the resounding impact as it felt like she had taken a swing at solid metal post. She gasped as the corner of her vision caught the glint of the oncoming blade from the side.

The nimble catwoman dove aside before being cut in half just like its previous victim. She hadn't expected he could swing such a large blade one-handed with the ease he had just displayed. Stopping her staff's force in what normally broke bones only further verified his monstrous strength.

"Good!" she laughed as she rose to her feet again. That smile of bloodlust on her face grew even further as she readied herself again. "It would have been more insulting to Dio's memory if he had been killed by a wimp that simply got a lucky blow in."

Jubal simply turned towards her as he shook his arm slightly. Her golden eyes narrowed as she noted his subtle attempt to shake off the pain. He wasn't completely invulnerable as she had initially feared. Whipping her staff around, Kali moved to block his stab at her with it before recognizing the feint in time. His arms bulged as his arms twisted to redirect the blade from below in a diagonal upward slash. Kali sidestepped in time to feel the wind of the blade pass by her.

The sharp whistle filled the air followed by a sharp crack as she took advantage of his over swinging attack to bring her staff into the side of his knee. Jubal cried out in both shock and pain as he stumbled before being abruptly silenced by the follow up strike upwards into his face. His nose was shattered instantly and blood sprayed into the air as he crashed onto his back on the ground. She heard a few cheers from lycans nearby who witnessed their leader deliver such a blow before they continued fighting the barbarian horde around them.

"Come on, Jubal! I know that didn't kill you. Get up so I can make you suffer some more," the nimble catwoman laughed as she danced backwards away from his fallen form instead of finishing him off. Her golden eyes were alight with more than bloodlust as madness for revenge filled her being. She had truly meant what she had said despite a voice in the back of her mind screaming at her to finish him off while she had him down.

Kali instead circled her prey as he slowly began to get back up. Jubal staggered to his feet and the look she got from him sent chills up her spine. His face was covered in his blood and it dripped steadily from his chin in multiple places. His smile was nowhere to found. Her breath left her in a hiss of satisfaction that he was no longer enjoying this battle.

The Hellcat saw his eyes dart briefly to where his sword had fallen a few feet from him. Eager to hear his pain vocalized further she instantly sprung forward with her staff swinging as Jubal leapt for his blade. Her metal weapon slammed into his midsection with enough impact to delight her ears with his grunt of pain. She looked up as she began to move into another attack before her mind froze in horror as she saw his bloody smirk.

His attempt to get to his sword had only been a ruse! He had purposefully taken the blow to draw her in to him. Her bloodlust had blinded her from this and led her right into his trap. She screamed in pain as his hand seized her ponytail and yanked her completely off the ground. Jubal took advantage of this shock loosening her grip to rip her staff out of her hands and toss it aside.

"You bastard!" she screamed as she frantically reached up to try and claw at the hand holding her by her hair. His fist crushed into her stomach with every bit of force from his large muscles behind it. The air left her lungs to silence any more words from her and knock her body limp from the pain.

"Time to pay for the pain you have caused me," he growled before that smile crept back to his face as he held the helpless catwoman in the air. He was going to enjoy taking his time with dealing out her punishment.

Her golden eyes could only weakly glare back at him before her vision went white with excruciating pain as his meaty fist punched her face. She cried out in pain before another punch silenced her into a whimper as his laughter grew louder in contrast. Her blood sprayed with the next blow that felt like it shattered her face completely. Over and over he beat her with savage closed fists to where she was as bloody a mess as he was with her left eye swelling shut. From glimpses past him between the punches she could see Kaiman and other lycans witnessing her situation and frantically fighting to get to her as more human barbarians intercepted them. A pained sob escaped from her as her only protest to the brutal bashing as her vision tunneled into near unconsciousness.

"Don't pass out yet, kitty. I want you to feel your death come painfully as I slowly spear you through on my sword," he muttered before spitting into her face with disgust. Holding her up in the air by her hair still, Jubal walked over to his sword and began to kneel for his weapon before a choked gargle escaped from her.

With a smirk growing on his face, he stood back up and turned her to face him. He always enjoyed hearing his victims beg for their lives pathetically. Jubal intended to enjoy her pleas before he eventually killed her.

"What was that, pussycat?"

Her one golden eye opened to look at him as her mouth opened to speak the blood frothed words.

"Fuck you," she hissed as a sharp click filled the air. His eyes widened as she reared her body up to raise her legs. Sharp claws, having extended moments before from her feet, sank into the flesh of his chest from her kick. Kali ripped her claws down his torso to open up great gashes. The human roared in agony before dropping her to get away from any further claw attacks. Both injured warriors desperately staggered to retrieve their weapons.

Jubal reached his greatsword first moments before Kali staggered to her staff. He turned around as he raised it high over his head with the hungering intent to bring it down and split her in half. She cried out in panic as she could only manage to raise her staff above her in defense. Sparks flew as his sword sliced through her weapon. Her one good eye blinked wide in surprise when the pain did not fill her being. The dirt at her feet shot into the air where his blade impacted instead. Her prized possession had deflected the force of his swing just enough to where it missed cutting her torso wide open.

Tears stung her eyes as she saw her two hands holding the separated pieces of the staff she had journeyed so far to the renowned blacksmith in the Quinlan capitol to have made for her. She had worked so hard to find the money to pay him to make the best staff he had ever accomplished in his career. Kali always treasured it as a symbol of her pride in herself which she refused to let be broken. How much more would this bastard take from her?

Kali's blood curdling scream of rage left her throat as she dropped her broken weapon and leapt forward into the exposed and weakened Jubal. Her fangs sank into his jugular as her body tackled him to ground. Her claws on her hands and feet sank into his flesh to lock her onto him as she pinned him down. His hoarse scream of pain barely registered her as she fought his attempts to get her off by biting down harder as the blood poured into her mouth.

She wouldn't drink his filth though and let it drain out of her mouth onto him and the ground they were on. Her fangs remained locked into his throat until she felt the last breath escape from his body and the blood from his body stilled. Leaning up from her kill she spat his blood out of her mouth before wiping her lips with her forearm.

Cheers went up from lycans nearby as panicked cries spread out from the humans that Jubal had been killed. Kali gasped as powerful arms scooped her up before she noticed they were Kaiman's as he quickly carried her away.

"Kaiman.. stop.." she protested weakly.

"Count this as the one time I am not going to follow your orders because you need medical attention," he muttered as he looked down to her. That long gator snout broke into a fanged grin. "That was a jugular kill Dio would have been proud of."

Her eyes became wet again at the immense praise he had just given to her. She nearly buried her face into his chest to becoming a sobbing mess but held it back as now was not the time. Once back far enough into their forces, Kaiman stopped a nearby rhinocerosman and ordered him to take her to the medical teams that had been moved back to the beaches.

"Kaiman, you better come back to me," she muttered weakly as he passed her from his arms to the other.

"I will always honor my old friend by staying alive to protect the one who meant the most to him," he spoke with a grin as he turned about. He called back over his shoulder as he ran off to lead their lycan army. "Nor do I intend to give a new friend a reason to grieve again."

Her eye stared after him with those words ringing in her ears long after her new protector carried her quickly away from the field of battle. Thankfully he was respectful in saying nothing as she cried into his chest.

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Panic seized the barbarian forces as word spread rapidly of Jubal's death. Many of the humans turned to flee and allowed the lycans to push deep into the continuing tide of evil towards them. A majority of the humans still came forward out of fear of displeasing an evil goddess more so than fear of those able to kill their savage leader.

The other forces of Roselei's army were not fairing as well despite their inspired passion Blaze and his friends had given them. Their charge had been ferocious enough to stop the beast of a horde dead in its tracks. They even began to push them back to an extent. However, within the passage of a few hours they were once again being pushed backwards gradually by the greater numbers they faced. By midday the forces of Koas were trampling their encampment under their feet. They were now pushed back into the coastal grasslands that signaled their backs were soon to be up against the sea.

Blaze's muscles screamed at him with burning desire to simply stop moving. But the adrenaline continued to pump through his veins to give him the strength to keep on fighting. He could not afford to let his body quit now that a surge of orcs cut through the elven ranks behind both him and Kendra. Stranded in a sea of orcs, the two of them pressed on as they had been all day in a dance of death.

Twin blades covered in blood slashed through the air to cut both arms off the torso of one orc before he kicked the screaming vermin back into the others behind to create space. Kendra gave a warning shout by his side. His vision caught the orc to his side heaving a battle axe towards him. The young warrior quickly leapt aside to let it fly past him and bury itself into the chest of another orc. Kendra's hand seized his shirt and yanked him aside to intercept another coming at his back. Her free hand reared back in a tight fist before she lashed out. Powered by her demon strength, the succubus' fist exploded through the skull of the orc before the headless body's forward momentum sent it careening into others.

"Blaze! Get down NOW!" Kendra yelled as her eyes took on a green glow.

Blaze dropped down low into a defensive crouch without question. Her wings expanded suddenly into their incredible size that he remembered before hundreds of tendrils of black and red hellfire shot out of their abyssal darkness. Much like her red leather whip, these coiled ropes of fire lashed out and tore hundreds of orcs surrounding them into burning pieces. With a quick inhale they all retreated back into the dark depths of her wings as quickly before her hand thrust forward to unleash an explosive column of that same hellfire which easily dwarfed Rae's fire earlier.

Cheers went up behind them as thousands more of orcs and goblins were incinerated. Elves poured past them with this break in the enemy's line.

"That was incredible!" Blaze laughed as he rose to his feet with a smile. He looked to Kendra before his smile faltered slightly. "Kendra?"

The beautiful dancer's face held a maleficent look that gave him chills as her tongue hungrily ran along her elongated fangs. The earth beneath his feet gave a violent leaping shudder in a brief earthquake that caused many to stumble and fall on both sides of this battle. Swaying on his feet, he saw Kendra become startled at the quaking earth as much as everyone else before the glow in her eyes disappeared. Her body visibly shuddered as if she was trying to contain herself. However, the demoness only gave him a silent reassuring smile when she saw his worried expression.

"Kendra, what..." he began to ask before loud horns in the distance from army of Koas silenced him.

Looking past the elves streaming past them to the west Blaze could only feel the hopelessness of one staring death in the face would experience. Coming from rapidly from the west and towering above their comrades were massive giants. His eyes quickly estimated there must have been over three hundred of them thundering towards them with their long strides. Each carried massive clubs that could easily crush up to a dozen victims in a single blow. The earth shuddered as they crushed any that did not get out of the way quickly enough.

Blaze surmised these must have been the part of Koas's forces for busting sieges to prevent from long-lasting holdouts from occurring. The leaders of the goddess's army must have been fed up with any more resistance and were moving their trump card in to deliver the finishing blow. He felt Kendra's arm wrap around his to hold onto him tight as the frustration of the apparent futility now threatened to overwhelm him. Damn it! The first giant to reach the front line of the elves raised its club to begin the final crushing of resistance.

A brilliant flash lit the clear blue sky before thunder silenced many in shock. Lightning tore through the chest of the giant and set it on fire. Blaze could only gawk as a large shadow passed over him with a roar before the blue dragon crashed into the dying giant. Drisanna's talons sank into flesh as she used the force of her momentum to send the large corpse through the air to crush dozens of the dark goddess's forces unable to get away in time.

Blaze and Kendra looked up into the sky as more shadows passed over them. Hundreds of dragons in a myriad of colors filled the sky with their roars of dragon rage before swooping down upon the contingent of giants. A nearby giant stunned as much as everyone seeing the dragons grunted as his back exploded into a bloody spray from the hole having appeared in his chest.

Those not yet to the front lines of combat had their gazes drawn to the east by the unusual sound of a distant explosion rolling past their hearing. Blaze could only look in dismay once more before joy welled up to replace the helplessness that had been there moments before.

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Looking through her scope, a fanged smirk grew on her face before Marissa looked to her sister Clarissa. "It looks like we've made our introduction will a bloody damn good shot!"

"Aye!" Clarissa laughed before turning to one of her men. "Time to make that whore of a goddess pay for crossing us. Signal that the distance is good for that angle and beyond to the rest."

"Yes Cap'n Red!"

Clarissa looked back to her sister with that same smile they always shared as pirates ready to have a rowdy good time. "Take from them everything they have..."

"...and give them nothing but hell!" Marissa finished the old pirate saying with a laugh. They both looked to the coastline and bellowed the only word necessary now.

"FIRE!!!"

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Kendra's arm tightened around his as she gave a shout of joy as more than a dozen ships in the distance just off the coast waved the notorious flags of Captain Red. Dozens of smoke tendrils appeared from the broadside of each vessel before the cannon fire screamed overhead to tearing into the horde of Koas with explosions.

"Blaze! Look!" Kendra cried out with further joy as warships were visible to the north and south of Captain Red's fleet and filled the horizon. The ships to the north bore the flag of Quinlan and the while the ships south had the colors of the Shoushan nation. The first of many landing ships were already upon the beach and he could see both Quinlan knights and Shoushan samurai thundering towards them roaring their battle cries. Tears stung his eyes as he yelled at the top of his lungs at the sight. His people were finally here!

Both human cavalries crashed into each flank of the dark army and cut deep swaths as dragons fought savagely with the large giants. Repeated volleys of cannon fire rained down deep behind enemy lines as agile and observant Valorians joined the dragons, whom were strafing the dark army with their breath weapons, in aerial supremacy with accurate arrow fire from above.

Blaze and Kendra moved to join the front line of combat as the tide of battle changed in their favor. His blades cut through the orcs with renewed vigor. A much larger orc than the rest appeared to his left and came down upon him with a powerful swing from his warhammer. He raised his blades to stop the blow and his aching muscles nearly failed in doing so.

"So you are the one she warned us about," the orc growled angrily. The orc pushed back away from him to avoid the cracking whip from Kendra. When the demoness yanked her whip backwards, the orc moved with surprising swiftness for his size and kicked her in the stomach hard enough to send the demoness flying backwards into another group of orcs. The orcs hadn't seen her coming and they all went down in a heap of bodies.

Blaze angrily lashed out with his swords in retaliation for the cheap shot to his lover. The orc used the long handle of his warhammer to catch the blades and thrust their momentum aside.

"Who the hell are you?" Blaze cried out amid the din of war around them as he backed quickly out of the long reach of the larger weapon.

"General Zohar," the green skinned behemoth responded with a scowl. "Koas had her informants tell me about the remote possibility of you showing up. Now I'm going to make sure you die by my hands to win further favor with the Mistress of Discord."

An orc screamed as his body flew between them. Kendra dropped a lifeless orc from her grasp as she walked ominously towards Zohar with her eyes glowing bright green. The pissed off demoness clutched her whip tightly as she raised her arm to unleash it upon the orc.

"The hell you will," she hissed.

Agony tore through Blaze's body as the world went dark before Kendra could finish the orc off. The world went dark as a moonless night as an oppressive weight threw him into the ground. His consciousness nearly went black as well while he struggled against this weight. Confusion filled him as he could feel that there wasn't anything physically on his back.

"Found you," a voice from the darkness.