Advent Of A Gunslinger

“Sumbitch--literally,” Axel muttered as he laid eyes on Kolasi who now sported a much more fiery exterior with her skull alight with green flames.

“You’re gonna have to do better than that if you wanna get rid of me for good,” she chuckled as she opened her paw to reveal more green flames that she appeared to be able to control at will. “You ain’t gettin’ past me.”

Fleche and Axel grit their teeth as they stared her down. Meanwhile, Mio and Rosenne were a bit confused as they had never made contact with this individual before.

“...You know her?” Mio asked.

“...Somethin’ like that,” Axel replied as his left claw twitched towards his holstered weapons.

Chk-chk!

“Don’t care,” Roseanne grumbled as she readied her shotgun, and took aim at the hellish diamond dog, “Whether or not who knows who is plum unrelevant. You standin’ in our way, bitch.”

“You killed loads of my fellow dog-folk,” Kolasi went on in a confident tone, seemingly unfazed by the fact that she was outnumbered, “Ya’ll gonna hafta pay for that.”

Fleche couldn’t hold her tongue back any further. “Oi! Ye were sellin’ and tradin’ ponies for feckin’ body parts and gold! I don’t think ye have nary room’ta talk ya feckin’ munty!” she screamed with veins bulging on her neck.

The hellhound stared blankly at the green pony who screamed rather random obscenities for a moment. “...I have no idea what you just said.”

“Dhh! Lemme keelhaul her arse!” she grumbled once more, only to be halted by her brother’s claw that he extended in front of her.

“Hang on now,” he warned, “We ain’t got no clue as to what she can do in this here state.”

Roseanne huffed with smoke coming from her nostrils. “Just shoot her cotton pickin’ ass. Ain’t nobody can outsmart no goddamn bullet.”

Meanwhile, Mio remained silent and used his keen ears to listen closely to his surroundings…

“...”

Then, his ear flicked involuntarily.

BANG!

CHING!

Mio turned around in an instant--the metal plating he wore caused the bullet fired from a building above to ricochet off of his body as he retaliated with a shot from his own revolver. “It was a diversion! Open fire!”

“Goddammit!” Rose groaned and immediately raised her shotgun, firing off two shots in quick succession in Kolasi’s direction.

Unfortunately, the hellhound avoided them with ease as she dashed out of the way in a serpentine formation.

Axel would retaliate with a spread of bullets from his machine pistol as he flew forward in order to stop her charge.

Meanwhile, Fleche had flown into the air with a knife in between her teeth. “I’ll give ye feckers a nice trip’ta hell ya won’t soon forget.”

A few meters behind them…

Spitha had set fire to most of the buildings near the front of the city in order to flush out any of their enemies that were still in hiding. Given that they were made of metal, they wouldn’t burn for very long--just long enough to increase the internal temperature of these buildings in order to make their enemies abandon their cover.

And you know what? She was right.

“Got one right here!” she shouted as she watched a few Klugetowners with rifles and shotguns vacate a building--all of which were part of Zula’s gang.

BANG!

SLASH!

And in quick succession, a few bullets from Chang’s rifle and a quick cut from Kora’s claws took them out like clockwork.

“Masterfully done, Lord Chang,” Kora complimented the prince’s efforts as she shook the blood off of her claws. “I have a feeling we’re getting closer to the end.”

With a thud, Chang landed on the ground next to her with his rifle raised. “Ah--this is just my usual work. I’m more worried for you. Don’t try to make use of that spellbook if you can’t handle it, Ms. Kora.”

“Relax, my prince,” Kora replied as she got down on all fours, “I’ll only make use of it if I absolutely have to.”

From above, they’d hear Spitha call out again. “This way! More stragglers are trying to escape!”

Back with Axel and the others…

Everyone was all over the place. Their formation had been perfectly split apart by Kolasi and the remaining Klugetowners that sought to stop Axel from reaching Zula.

Mio had made himself busy by engaging the various animal-folk who were shooting at them from behind. “We’re wasting time--Zula’s probably going to be long gone by the time we finally reach her!” he called out as he fired off another bullet or three.

Meanwhile, the group’s minotaur was busy taking on Kolasi herself.

“HYA--DAH!” Roseanne shouted as she stopped the hellhound in her tracks with a hefty swing of her shotgun, striking Kolasi with the stock and sending her tumbling backwards. “Axel, git on! We can handle this bitch ourselves!” She took aim and fired a few shots.

Kolasi narrowly dodged those bullets--and even managed to avoid Axel’s gunfire as well. Her speed was unmatched by anyone they had faced up to this point, and it was difficult to keep track of her.

“Ya’ll sure about that?” Axel called out, “Wouldn’t it be more helpful if I stayed here’ta help ya’ll?”

“There’s no guarantee that Zula will stay put for much longer!” Mio shouted, “Just go! We’ll handle all of this here! You and your sister should be the ones to earn the payback for your family after all--isn’t that why you came out here?!”

There wasn’t much time to debate. Axel had no choice.

“...Fleche! C’mon!”

“Right behind ye, dear brother!”