The birds reached the horses. They chirped frantically. The horses neighed—and bolted toward Natalie's house.
———
"Get him!" Natalie shouted.
The tiger lunged. The tall flame on Nick's palm turned into a fireball, which was then thrown to the approaching tiger.
The blast engulfed the tiger's head and everything else around it in flames, the momentum of the fireball hurled the tiger's body into the wall, leaving a crater on impact.
Alexander's sword caught fire too. He cursed and quickly shook it off.
The house, half wooden, ignited rapidly.
Natalie stepped back. The animals sensed their owner's discomfort. The bear moved first.
ROOOOOOAR!
Its massive claws struck nothing but air—Nick had already moved, in such terrifying speed that it looked as if he teleported. In a spinning blur, he cleaved the bear's head clean off.
Flames spilled from the severed parts.
"NO!" Natalie screamed as Thomas raised his axe protectively in front of her.
"I told you I didn't want to do this," Nick muttered, swinging again and spreading more fire.
The wolf. The birds. The cats. The dogs. Even the rabbits—burning, screaming, but still attacking through the pain. One by one, Nick cut them down.
The room filled with the squeals of dying creatures, the splash of blood, the roar and crackle of fire—
**WHOOSH. WHOOSH.**
Each swing was violent, powerful. But eventually, Nick was still overwhelmed by strength in numbers. A wolf leapt onto Nick, knocking him back.
"Stop. Fuckin'—"
He casually cursed, then drove his blade into the wolf's skull.
Natalie watched, frozen in horror.
"Get on!" Thomas yelled, shoving her onto her horse. "Get the fuck outta here!" he barked at the animal, which somehow understood and charged into the underground tunnel.
A bull stormed into the room. Nick met its charge with his flaming sword. The impact pushed him back slightly, but he held firm.
"Ugh..." He growled, now in a strength contest with the beast. He was winning. Flames surged from the bull's horn all across it's body.
But Nick was occupied by the bull, he couldn't stop the lion coming from the side.
At that moment, at least ten black-clad guards burst through the windows. Swords drawn. Silent as shadows. One pierced the lion's heart, the beast clamped its jaws around his head before dying—dragging the man down with it.
The guards kept slaughtering the animals in the burning house without mercy.
With a savage scream, Nick lifted his sword high and brought it down, splitting the bull's skull in half.
"HA! WHO'S NE—" His cocky comment was cut off by one very bright sword coming at him.
He blocked in time—but Alexander's cold, unrelenting eyes still sent a chill down his spine.
"Y'ALL ARE FUCKIN' DICKS!" Thomas yelled, cutting down a guard. But another struck from behind.
Thomas barely reacted in time, the blade tearing his shirt.
Meanwhile, Natalie's horse carried her deeper into the tunnel—past Wilhelm who was hiding there the second Nick's sword was drawn. Wilhelm curled into a ball, clutching his head.
A big house burning vigorously, with guttural yells and swords clanking coming from inside. It attracted quite the crowd, including Hawthorne himself.
**WHOOSH. WHOOSH. WHOOSH.**
Alexander's strikes were fast, precise, heavy, lethal.
Nick's defense slowly crumbled after taking multiple hits. He began dodging instead.
**CRACK.**
One missed strike shattered a pillar.
**CRACK. CRACK.**
Two more fell, Alexander sliced through them like nothing.
"Who the fuck is this guy?!" Nick thought.
He waited. He dodged. He looked for an opening for a painfully long time. Found one. He went in for a stab. And received a vicious kick to the gut.
"Ugh..." Nick collapsed to his knees.
Two guards tried to intercept Alexander—both didn't live long enough to see the next minute.
Thomas wasn't faring as well. A heavy blow knocked him down. He crawled backward, flailing his axe desperately.
"GET THE FUCK AWAY, GODDAMN IT!"
Just before the finishing blow landed, Alexander's diamond sword flew straight through the guard's head, pinning it to a pillar.
**CRACK.**
The weakened pillar gave way.
**CREAK. CRACK.**
"This house is collapsing," Alexander said, scooping up Thomas and his sword as three horses burst into the room.
"The fuck?" Nick hissed.
**CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.**
More unpleasant noises coming from the ceiling that's begging to fall.
"ARGHHH. FUCK IT, GUYS, GET THE HELL OUT!" Nick shouted.
Alexander, Thomas, and the horses dove into the tunnel. Nick and the guards escaped through the windows just as the house caved in.
The burning structure collapsed in a fiery heap, sparks dancing into the sky.
Nick lay back flat on the ground in front of it, panting, drenched in sweat.
"What the fuck…" he whispered, eyes wide in disbelief.
"Get on. GET ON." Alexander barked, pulling Thomas and Wilhelm onto horses.
"Thank you, Carl," he said to his horse, stroking its chin, then looking back over to the other two, "He's gonna fall!"
"Oh god, alright!" Thomas scrambled to hold Wilhelm up.
"...Oh my god... oh my god..." Wilhelm muttered, shaking.
The usually confident and reckless Thomas trembled too, every movement clumsy with fear. "Let's go," Alexander ordered, leading them through the tunnel.
Thomas checked his pocket.
———
Hawthorne stepped into Nick's view.
"Yo, you're blocking the stars."
"You failed."
Nick laughed bitterly. "You...You didn't fuckin' tell me who I was up against."
Farther down the street, Philip watched everything unfold in silence. Worried, he sprinted for his horse.
———
Moonlight poured in at the end of the tunnel—the edge of New Angeles.
A silhouette blocked it. Natalie. She had dismounted and was running back. Her horse neighed behind her, as if trying to convince her to get on it and escape.
"What are you doing?" Alexander snapped. "Get on your horse!"
"I can't just let them die!" Natalie cried gutturally, her face streaked with tears. She trembled violently, on the verge of collapse.
Alexander grabbed her and lifted her onto Carl behind him. "They're already dead," he said.
He turned to her horse. "Follow us?"
It nodded.
"Where are we going now?" Thomas asked, voice quivering as they rode away.
"Away."