The Severed Exile

Location: Ghastly Gorge
Time: Midnight

Rend and Ponce circled Kaffir threateningly as he stood, ready and waiting, his glaive hefted into the air, the blade pivoted, sharp and ready to spill blood. Lionotus sat casually near his son Leonir and another older lion, Kragath, the 3 watching the event casually from a distance. Kaffir kept his eyes forward, his ears pivoted, following the 2 lions' paw-steps.

Ponce had maneuvered himself behind Kaffir, and immediately upon realizing that Kaffir wasn't moving, lowered his front half and hunkered down, ready to pounce. "...rrrrrrrrRRHAH!" he suddenly roared out as his powerful hind legs propelled him forward, sending him flying through the air toward Kaffir, his front paws extended, claws extended, ready to tear into him-

THOK

Ponce was immediately side-swiped by the tail-end of Kaffir's glaive as he turned about almost at the last possible moment, catching the blunt tip of the pole-arm just beneath Ponce's jawbone. Before Ponce could land, Kaffir pivoted the pole-arm up and back over himself, dragging Ponce's airborne body with it and slamming him into the ground hard, causing the lion to pant out, every last bit of air being forced out of his lungs, causing him to cough and gasp from the impact.

"Hey! Nobody slams my buddies into the ground but me!" Rend suddenly roars out as he rushes into the fray, he leaping off the ground and twisting his body back to swipe down hard into Kaffir but this left his side open and vulnerable, which Kaffir took full advantage of, pivoting on his hind-hooves, he twirled his body about and slams the side of pole-arm straight into Rend's kidney, causing the lion to recoil over in pain. Kaffir side-steps out the leaping lion, him hitting the ground like a rag doll and rolling a good ways before doubling over and grumbling.

"Damn you idiots, stop playing with the food and take it out!" Lionotus roared out as Ponce recovered finally, rolling onto his paws and dashing forward toward Kaffir. Kaffir turned and swiped his blade toward Ponce but he deftly ducks beneath to swipe and moves forward, rising up on his hind paws and beginning to swipe at Kaffir viciously. Kaffir held his pole-arm before him, deflecting one swipe before bending backward to dodge another. He stepped back and twisted his body, twirling about quickly, his pole-arm sweeping down and taking Ponces paws right from underneath him, he hitting the ground hard once more, panting as Kaffir leaped back, readying himself once more.

Rend recovered, he rising up onto his paws but barely in time for Kaffir to go on the offensive now, the zebra stepping toward the injured lion and swiping the blunt end of his pole-arm toward him and slamming it into the side of his maw, knocking him over once more. "HAH!" Kaffir screamed out as he raised the pole-arm blade high into the air and swings downward, intending to slash into Rend but he rolled away just in time, causing Kaffir's blade to become stuck into the grassy earth.

Ponce took this opportunity while Kaffir struggled with his pole-arm to rush up and tackle Kaffir to the ground, his arms locking around him as the two slide a good distance toward the canyon's edge. Ponce rose him from him and raised a paw into the air. "Time ta go night-night, zebbah!" he snarled with a cackle before swiping down, only to have his swipe deflected by Kaffir's fore-hoof. He immediately delivered a sharp jab straight into Ponce's snout, the hard, cleft hoof causing the lion's nose to break immediately from the blunt force of the blow, the lion rearing back and clutching his snout, roaring out in pain as blood spilled copiously from his nostrils.

Kaffir rolled over and bucked hard, tossing Ponce from on top of him as he scrambled back up onto his hind hooves. Before the lion could recover from the blow, he turned and performed a strong side-kick with his hind leg, his hoof careening into the side of the lions skull, cracking it slightly as it sent him rolling a good ways. Kaffir shuffled toward him slowly as the lion tried to lift himself from the floor, dazed, his eyes bloodshot as blood poured from his nostrils like a running faucet. Kaffir rose himself once again in front of Ponce, the lion looking up at him, completely at Kaffir's mercy. In the very next moment, Kaffir turned his body once again, twirling around and kicking his hind-leg out at Ponce again using the momentum of his turn, kicking him into the side of the head once more, sending the injured lion tumbling right off the edge into the gorge.

Ponce screamed as he plummeted toward the grey, jagged earth below, but before he fell too far, tunnel worms shot out the large holes in the gorge's sides.. One of them chomps down on Ponce's lower half, the other biting down around his upper, jagged teeth sinking in and through the lion's body, blood gushing everywhere. "AGGGGHHHH!!!" The lion gave a blood-curdling scream that echo'd throughout the canyon before there was an equally as grotesque fleshy rip heard as the serpents tore the lion in half in a mist of deep crimson before retracting back into their holes which they came to enjoy their meal.

"Ponce!? Nooo!!" Rend roared out as he scrabbled onto his paws and began to charge at Kaffir. "When I'm done with you, I'll wear your face like a condom!" Rend snarled, his mouth foaming as he leaps into the air, Kaffir turning about and sending a side kick into Rend mid-air. However, Rend catches the zebras hind-hoof into his paws, his claws digging into Kaffir's thigh and flank, blood drooling out from where his claws punctured.

"Agggh!" Kaffir wails out as Rend takes his leg and throws him away from the canyon's edge, Kaffir rolling across the ground like a rag doll. Rend began to charge toward Kaffir again, the zebra moving himself up onto his hooves once more, though a little weakly as blood drizzled down his hind-leg. He watched as Rend charged toward him before looking to his side, noticing his glaive nearby.

"LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M CHARGING AT YOU!" Rend roars out, panting and huffing audibly in a freakish nature as he rushed toward Kaffir. He leaps once more, his body twisted back to swipe down hard into Kaffir, but the zebra simply rolls out of the way, forcing Rend to miss as he slides away, whipping himself around for another charge. As he did that, Kaffir moved toward his glaive and grabbed it once more, doing his best to pull it out the earth. "They told me to bring a pail lunch...YOU LOOK PALE ENOUGH TO ME!" Rend roared once more in a maniacal psycho manner and he began to charge.

Rend jumps into the air once more as Kaffir struggled with the glaive. At the last possible moment, the glaive jerks free as Kaffir twisted his body, the large blade arcing through the air and cutting through Rend's recklessly exposed midsection, a gout of blood splashing through the air as Rend's body twisted mid-air, flying past Kaffir and landing on the ground. He pants and growled, but as he got up, his intestines and entrails began to spill out of the open wound, causing him to stop and attempt to scoop them back up inside of himself in a horrific display. "Ha! Hahaha! Y-you can't kill me! I'm already dead tommorow!" Rend cackled as he tried to stuff himself, but once he looked up, Kaffir was standing before him, brandishing his glaive.

In one twist and swoop, his blade slices through Rend's thickly-maned neck, lopping the lion's head clean from his body as it twirled in the air and landing with a hard thud on the grassy earth. A gout a blood spewed from the headless disemboweled body, it twitching and squirming against the ground for a moment before laying lifelessly finally.

"NO!" Lionotus roared out as he rose to his feet, growling in frustration. "This isn't over, grinder! Kragath! End this foolish meat-wad. NOW!"

"With pleasure, Pride-master." Kragath said as he rose up onto his paws and jumped into the fray. He was older, but he appeared armored in comparison to the rest, a plate protecting his chest and guards protecting his fore- and hind-legs, each paw covered in a clawed metal protector. He stalked toward Kaffir head on and rose onto his hind-paws, shuffling into a combat stance, ready to strike. "You should have just laid down when we gave you the chance. I won't be so forgiving, meat."

"Hmph." Kaffir scoffed as he brandished his glaive and jabbed it toward Kragath, the armored lion stepping to the side and grabbing the spear as it thrusts forward. Taking an armored paw, he slams it into the pole-arm, snapping the wooden haft into two before quickly pulling his paw back up and swinging it backward, backhanding Kaffir across the muzzle, causing him to grunt as he toppled back onto his back, dropping the broken glaive onto the ground as blood spilled from his nose from the metal-reinforced blow. Kragath stalked over to the zebra and grabbed him by his dreaded mane, his metal claw raised into the air, ready to swipe down.

As Kragath swiped down, Kaffir raised a foreleg to block, but it was barely enough, the force of the swipe knocking Kaffir's leg downward, the block barely stopping the metal claws from digging into Kaffir's face, however one of them pierces into Kaffir's eye deeply, causing him to scream in out pain. In retaliation, Kaffir knocked the paw away and sent a hoof-punch into Kragath, just below his breastplate, causing him to cough out as the air was knocked form his lungs. The zebra tugs himself away from Kragath's grip and readied himself once more, only this time with a bloody snout and a bleeding, now blind eye left eye.

Kragath recoiled and lunged a swipe toward Kaffir, he dodging out the way expertly like a boxer. The lions swiped at him again and again and again, each time Kaffir dipping, ducking and dodging nimbly. He continued this, stepping back until he felt his hind-hoof nearly slip off the ledge into the canyon. In that moment, Kragath pounced toward Kaffir in an attempt to knock him backwards, but instead Kaffir side-stepped and lifted a hoof, swiftly kicking Kragath in the stomach, causing him to spit up a little blood from the force of the blow.

The lion recoiled quickly and tried to grab the zebras leg, but Kaffir pulled it back before he could, causing him to stumble forward into yet another upward kick, his hindleg careening into the lion's jaw and causing him to stand upright fully. He responded with a few swift jabs into the sternum, the lion doubling over only to be finished off with a powerful uppercut, sending him tumbling backwards and slamming into the ground with a deep thud.

Kaffir took the moment of repose to stumble back toward his broken glaive, his vision a little blurred as he tried to readjust to only being able to see out of one eye, though amid his staggering, he felt himself suddenly being tackled to the ground. Landing hard, he looked up and realized that Kragath had recovered very quickly and his metal paw was raised into the air, coming down toward his head viciously. He cranes it to one side just in time for the claws of it to sink into the grassy earth, the lion struggling to get his claw back out. He leaned up and head-butted Kragath squarely in the maw, the lion recoiling back with a roar as the zebra scrabbled a hoof out to grab anything he could. As Kragath recovered from the blow, Kaffir felt something in his hoof and grabbed it, quickly using it to his advantage

SCHNICK

Kragath stopped as he felt the cold sensation of a large blade being driven into his side, blood pooling from his maw as Kaffir sighed a little in relief. The zebra pulled the glaive blade back out of his aggressor and bucked, the weakened lion tumbling onto his side and curling up, trying to clutch the grievous wound. "Enough!' Lionotus suddenly called out as he rose to his paws. "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!"

The pride-master charged into the fray now, though not as recklessly as the others. Kaffir rolled away from Kragath to ready himself, Leonir immediately getting up to check on his fallen comrade. Lionotus rose up on his hind-paws and roared before swiping down at Kaffir, the zebra ducking out the way with practiced ease and takes the broken glaive and jabbed it toward Lionotus.

"Nope!" Lionotus barked as he grabbed the short bladed stick and pulled it, causing Kaffir to stumble forward. He lifted his hind-leg and delivered a knee into Kaffir's midsection, causing the zebra to double over and recoil back, clutching himself. Before Kaffir could react further, Lionotus turned and roared out, swiping his claws toward Kaffir, the sharp digits digging into the zebra's flesh and ripping a hefty portion from him in a spray of crimson.

"AGGGHH!" Kaffir screamed out as he hit the ground, shivering from the burning pain, a deep, wide chunk of his side and chest flayed away in one foul swoop. Lionotus shook his clawed paw, the strip of furred flesh hitting the grassy ground with a splat as he began to lick the blood from his paw, smirking coyly as he approaches his prey.

"If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself..." Lionotus said as he casts a side-ward glare toward Kragath, Leonir busying himself trying to dress and nurse the grievous wound in the armored lion's side. Lionotus turns his attention back to a shivering Kaffir, padding up and grabbing the zebra by his mane and lifting him into the air high. "You had a chance, meat-wad. I would've took a chunk out of your throat and been done with it, but no. You had to be a cheeky little bastard, didn't you!?" Lionotus said as he balled his paw up and punched Kaffir into the stomach, causing the zebra to spit out a wad of blood. "Hmph, look at you now. Now you're going to die very, very slowly, just like your mom did, like your dad, your best friend, like everyone you ever knew in your short, miserable, pointless life! I'm going to make sure you're still live and kicking, begging for mercy while I eat your entrails. Any last words, you pathetic lump of flesh!?"

"....fuck....you...." Kaffir said in a strained quiet snarl.

"...come again?" Lionotus leaned a little closer as he quirked a brow.

Kaffir suddenly looks up at his aggressor, his entire single eye glowing a bright orange as he gritted his teeth, veins suddenly beginning to bulge out of his body as he shook with an almost unrelenting, unrestrainable rage.

"FUCK YOU!!!11!1one"

POW (Critical!)

Kaffir slams his head forward into Lionotus's skull with enough force to cause it to crack obscenely. Lionotus suddenly releases Kaffir, the zebra slumping to the ground as the lion stumbles backward in a daze, blood spilling from his nose from the skull fracture. Kaffir rose to his hooves, snarling viciously as he charged toward and plowed his head into Lionotus's sternum, sending the pride-master flying backward into the ground. "That...is for my people..."

Kaffir scrambled on top of Lionotus and lifted a hoof into the air, pinning the lion with his other hoof as he shook with a beserker's rage. "This is for my father!" he growled out as he slammed his clefted hoof into Lionotus's face. "This is for my mother!" he roared as he delivered another merciless blow. "This is for my sister!" Yet another blow. "This is for my best friend!" Yet another blow. "This is for the years!" Hit. "...and years!" Hit. "...of torment!" Hit. "... oppression!" Hit. "...fear!" Hit. "...that you made us suffer!!" Hit. "This!" Hit. "Ends!" Hit. "NOW!!"

Before Kaffir slammed his hoof down again, he had finally realized that he was pounding into a mushy red pulp by now, Lionotus's face completely imploded, blood and brain-matter spilling from any and every orifice of his crushed, shattered skull. He panted and huffed, looking up toward Leonir and Kragath, the young lion's eyes wide at the grotesque scene before him. "FATHER!!" he screamed then snarled as he leaped over Kragath and attempted to charge at Kaffir but was stopped before he could go, the old armored lion grabbing Leonir by his tail and holding on like a vice, keeping the adolescent cub in his place. "What are you doing!? LET ME GO!"

"It is not worth it anymore...just let him go..." Kragath growled out in pain as he held a struggling Leonir by his tail.

Kaffir rose from Lionotus's body and offered one last feral glare toward the two still living lions before charging off toward the dense forest, disappearing into it quickly. Kragath finally let Leonir go as he charged after Kaffir a short distance before stopping. He roared out in frustration before looking back at Kragath, murder in his crimson eyes..,

Kaffir dashed through the forest with agility and determination, despite the grievous, profusely bleeding wound in his side and his missing eye. The blood coursed through him rigorously as he did his best to pace through the dark, gloomy forest to the best of his ability. After several minutes of running, he sees a large river ahead of himself. He narrowed his glowing eye as he charged forward in a powerful gallop. Seeing no other way to cross the river, he knew there was only one option. He gallops forward, and timed his approach.

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