Legends of Amacia Heart of Darkness

Forty minutes later, Hanna found herself in the center of the Arena. The circular Arena spanned six hundred feet across with a forty-foot wall around it. Above the walls lay row upon row of seats like the Coliseum of Rome. The walls were unassailable without ropes and grapples. Three different gates lined the wall, all of which were closed and guarded with guards. On one side of the Arena sat what could be considered the royal box, where the Emperor and his closest aids could watch the fights. Brilliant floodlights illuminated the whole Arena. The ground consisted of several inches of sand on a solid base. Numerous poles with shackles hanging on them lay scattered around the Arena. Human bones, disjointed and splintered, lay strewn in the sand. As the guards brought Hanna forward, she could sense Selina was near, so she turned toward the royal box as she was ungagged and unchained. The jailer looked her in the eye and said softly, “Best of luck to you, missy.”

Hanna nodded, rubbing her wrists as the guards and jailer left the Arena. The Emperor stepped forward in the royal box, calling out to her, “Welcome to my Arena, Beowulf.” Hanna looked up, seeing the Emperor, and then Kronos. A few seconds later, she saw Hades and General Gulez.

Gulez stared at Hanna in her cup-less crotchless leather teddy and leggings. “Is that Beowulf?” he asked, stupefied by Hannibal’s forced sex change. Despite his hatred, Gulez felt a perverse attraction to Hanna because of her shapely form and scandalous attire.

“It is, General,” the Emperor crowed. “I robbed him of his manhood as punishment for his defiance of me. Isn’t it a deliciously humiliating punishment?”

A hideous smile crossed Gulez’s face. “I underestimated you, you majesty,” he replied. “This is even better than just killing him outright. I hope you made him suffer in that body.”

“I certainly did,” the Emperor replied. “But he still resists my dominion and has to pay for his crimes against you and me. Now, he has to defend himself as a woman who has half the strength he had as a man.”

Hades saw Hanna and cackled madly, “Bravo, my Emperor; bravo! You actually did it! You reduced him to a quivering bitch!” Yet, Hades ignored the fact Hanna stood there rock solid with an incredibly peaceful look on her face, not a muscle quivering as something primal stirred deep within her.

Ignoring Hades’ jeer, Gulez remembered the humiliation Hannibal gave him as he looked back at Hanna with vengeance in his eyes.

“Why General…what brings you to this infernal pit?” Hanna called out to Gulez pleasantly.

Gulez’s hate oozed out of him as he replied venomously, “Why you, you bitch assassin. Changing your sex still isn’t enough. I’ll see you dead this day for what you did to me!”

Hanna shook her head, saying, “Tisk, tisk General; that’s not the nicest of things to say about someone you know.”

“You made me look a fool in front of my men. Now, you’ll die for that arrogance, bitch!” the General roared.

The Emperor chuckled at Gulez’s outburst. “Now, now, General...all in due time,” he chided, “She will indeed die this day, but first, she’ll suffer many things beyond what I’ve already done to her. Wouldn’t seeing her suffer be better?”

The General grinned wickedly and crowed, “Yes! Make her suffer as she made me suffer!”

The Emperor smiled and said, “That we will.”

“General, do you remember what I told you when we caught you?” Hanna called out.

“Yes, bitch. You said that if I followed you, I’d surely die,” Gulez replied viciously. “Looks like you’re the one who’s going to die, not me.”

Hanna looked Gulez in the face and declared, “I wasn’t lying. Your friend there will kill you the moment you’re no longer an asset to him. You’ll die as will all of us if he continues to be in charge.”

“Enough of this prattle,” Hades hissed, “Bring it to her; time for her to die!”

“Spill her blood now!” Gulez shouted in agreement, “She will die now, even if I have to do it!”

The Emperor held out arms in a restraining way, saying, “Now, now friends. Don’t be so impatient. There’s something else that I want her to see first. Bring the cat out and chain her to wall at the edge of the Arena so she can see everything.” The guards brought Selina forward, still locked in her leather restraining cocoon to the edge of the Arena, and chained her to the wall right next to the Emperor’s seat.

Hanna looked up at her and was smitten to her heart as the Emperor stood beside Selina, holding her up by the arm in an iron grip. The Emperor looked down at Selina and said to Hanna, “You have chosen very well for your mate, Beowulf. She’s fiery and intelligent, but she’s mine now and there’s nothing you can do about it. I hold her and her fate in the palm of my hand.”

The statement was meant as a taunt. Don’t let him rattle you, my love, Selina said telepathically to Hanna. I will always be yours, even in death.

Hanna smiled wryly and called out to the Emperor, “I didn’t choose her. The great Ancient of Days chose for me. He gives and He takes away...just as when He made me a man and then had you take that away from me. I’ll not curse Him to his face for what’s happened to me no matter what you do to me. Blessed be the name of the Lord my God. So do your worst, fiend. Selina and I are bound in ways you can’t even imagine by the power of the Almighty. We’re one in all ways, so she will never be yours, even if I’m dead. Our souls are intertwined and cannot be parted because they’re in the hands of our God, so you cannot touch them. Therefore, do your worst, you demon prick. We’ll now find out which god is the more powerful: you, or my God.”

Hanna’s words thoroughly enraged the Emperor. The Emperor flung Selina down next to his seat and hissed, “It’s that arrogance that’ll cause your death, worm. Let’s just see how your brainless impotent god helps you now. Send them in, all of them!”

The three doors around the Arena opened and the armed gladiators emerged...five humans, three Zarukars, and two Xenians. They made a forty-foot perimeter around Hanna with her in the middle. Hanna’s face steeled as she sized up her opponents. Hades and Gulez were impressed. “Oh, this should be good,” Hades cackled. A concerned Selina looked on as Kronos sighed with sad indifference. The gladiators stood there, awaiting the Emperor’s order.

“Let’s see how you fare against ten of my best fighters unarmed, you arrogant mutated bitch,” the Emperor snarled. As he spoke, Hanna didn’t pay him any attention as she looked over her adversaries, sizing them up. The human gladiators were armed with swords, spears and axes as well as being armored. The Zarukars were likewise armored and wielded swords and clubs. One Xenian was a reptile and the other was a spider with both of them being armored and armed with swords and axes.

“I don’t want to fight you,” Hanna told them, particularly the human gladiators. “We don’t have to do this. But I’ll defend myself if I have to.”

One of the Zarukar hissed and replied, “You seem confident, bitch. I think I’ll fuck you to death and then pick my teeth with your ribs after I eat you.”

Hanna turned to the ugly beast and replied coldly, “I think not, handsome. None of you know who the hell you’re messing with.”

“Have at the bitch! Bring me her head,” the Emperor ordered, pointing at Hanna.

At that point, the talking was over. Hanna moved with lightning speed at the weakest link...one of the human gladiators with a sword. Time seemed to slow for Hanna, just as it did for Hannibal when he fought Zebek. It surprised her. She rushed the man, picking up a splintered femur in route, and plunging the sharp end of the bone through the suprasternal notch in the neck, severing the jugular and aorta with the strike; killing him instantly. A fountain of blood drenched Hanna as she snatched his sword while throwing him at two human gladiators charging from the left. The gladiator’s corpse crashed into his comrades, stunning them as it knocked them to the ground.

Half a second later, Hanna hurled the sword at the spider as it rushed forward to remove her head; its large pincers opened wide. The sword pierced the spider’s armor and rammed in the monster’s chest up to the hilt. It screamed and fell dead, sliding to a stop on the sand with the sword run through its heart.

Another second passed and two more gladiators fell dead, killed by each other’s weapons when they lunged at Hanna, who stood between them. She dove aside and they perished on each other’s weapons. However, she took some moderate cuts to her legs and right side as she dodged. The wounds inflamed Hanna’s rage. She procured two swords from the fallen gladiators and went on the offensive. By this time, the berserker rage Hannibal fought constantly to contain all his life erupted explosively from Hanna, moving her with the speed and viciousness of a tiger while amplifying her strength and speed four-fold. Her frenzy, viciousness, strength, and speed caught her adversaries off guard, causing them to hesitate and giving Hanna the advantage.

The reptilian Xenian came at her with its weapons raised to strike. Hanna’s eye turned to the reptile with its four arms and she growled like a tiger. A white aura suddenly swirled around her as her eyes turned white. When the reptilian Xenian came within ten feet of Hanna, she pounced, moving so fast she was nothing but a blur. The Xenian’s arms went flying as Hanna’s twin blades flashed like lasers through them. The sound of rending metal and flesh echoed through the Arena as Hanna struck at the Xenian’s chest and neck with a shout. Its head went flying as its torso suddenly flopped off its hips in an explosion of blood and entrails. Hanna skidded to a halt just past the beast with her blades crossed in front of her. Blood and gore dripped from her swords as one of the three Zarukars rushed her from the left.

Seeing the movement out of the corner of her eye, Hanna turned to the attack and instantly counterattacked. With a roar, the Zarukar swiped at her vertically with its meat-cleaver style sword meaning to split her in two from crown to crotch. Hanna quickly advanced, sidestepping the attack and counterattacked while the beast-man’s sword remained high in the air. Her swords crashed through her opponent’s armored belly one after another, gutting the huge beast-man. Its guts spilled out as it dropped to its knees. Hanna pivoted and took her adversary’s head with a single stroke of her right-hand blade. The Zarukar’s head seemed to jump off its neck in a fountain of blood. Kicking the beast-man’s corpse over, she heard another Zarukar on the attack from behind her.

Hanna turned, seeing the Zarukar threatening her at the beginning of the battle charging like a mad bull, battle-axe in hand. Seeing its charge, Hanna turned to the beast-man, throwing her left-hand sword like a bola. The blade whistled as it spun through the air cleaving the Zarukar’s head clean off before it could react. Its head went flying with a fountain of blood as the Zarukar’s body took five steps, swiping with its axe before falling to the ground. Hanna quickly retrieved the Zarukar’s axe as the last of the three Zarukars attacked. The beast-man threw its spear at Hanna, which she easily dodged by rolling beneath it and towards her attacker. She rose to her feet as it drew its massive sword, throwing the massive battle-axe with great accuracy with her left hand. Before the Zarukar could react, the axe split its skull to the chin. The force of the blow killed the beast-man instantly, sending its corpse flying back ten feet with the axe sticking out of its head. By now, Hanna’s eyes burned with bloodlust and fury from the ever-increasing level of her berserker rage. She quickly pilfered another sword for her left hand.

The remaining two human gladiators Hanna knocked down in the initial fray finally got their wits back and rushed Hanna as she dispatched the last Zarukar with a single stroke. The sheer skill, strength, and utter brutality of Hanna’s attacks astonished the Emperor, Hades, Gulez, and the two remaining gladiators. However, the gladiators feared the Emperor’s wrath more than Hanna did so they charged her with their weapons ready to destroy her. She turned from her kill to see the two gladiators advancing quickly, her blood lust boiling dangerously high.

In a twinkling of an eye as she turned to the advancing fighters, her eyes turned yellow as the air shimmered around briefly, her hair floating as if gravity had been suspended. A swirling yellow aura surrounded her briefly. “DIE! MY ENEMIES DIE!” Hanna roared as the two closed in. Before they reached her, the ground beneath their feet exploded in a lethal spray of fire and razor-sharp rock shards, ripping them to pieces. Their gory remains rained down on the ground over a twenty-foot radius, with the head of one rolling up to Hanna’s feet. After the instinctual magical assault, Hanna sighed heavily, the berserker rage having subsided somewhat with the primal elemental attack. In less than two minutes, she had slain every one of them, without receiving any mortal wounds, though she was cut up badly. She stood amidst the pile of Zarukar and human corpses with her swords crossed, hissing, “I warned them; I warned everyone! They just didn’t know who the fuck they were messing with; no one ever does!”

The Emperor looked on in disbelief. The cream of his gladiator school obliterated in less than two minutes by a single, unarmed mutated woman. Gulez looked on in shock and fear of the speed, skill, and sheer utter ruthlessness of Hanna. “My god; she ripped them apart by just looking at them!” Gulez breathed. “How can she do such a thing?”

Hades looked at Hanna grimly, very impressed by the speed and cruelty with which she had dispatched all of her foes. “Were you not paying attention, General? Beowulf is a dark wizard and warrior of the highest order,” Hades replied. “You should’ve considered yourself lucky she didn’t do that to you when you attacked her the first time at the airfield.”

Gulez trembled at the thought as Selina cheered, “Bravo! Bravo, Hanna; looks like things are not going like you expected them to, eh Emperor?”

The Emperor’s eyes flashed and he slapped her down, saying viciously, “You dare to speak to me like that, little cat? You will learn your place!”

Hanna saw the slap and rushed the royal box, shouting vehemently, “Come down here and fight me, you goddamned coward! You do well against helpless chained Lynxians. Why not try a real challenge?” Hanna hurled one of her swords at the Emperor, who turned and caught it in midair by the blade when it came within reach.

“You dare to challenge me, you fucking mutated bitch? I am eternal, a god in the flesh!” the Emperor roared in rage, hurling the blade right back at Hanna, aimed directly for her heart.

In one sweeping motion, Hanna sidestepped and spun around as the blade came within her reach, grabbing it by the handle, letting it spin her around completely. Once she had the sword firmly in her grasp, she looked up at the Emperor, mocking, “You missed, your highness. What do you have planned for the second course? I’m still hungry for blood and your fucking head, you lousy demon shit!”

“You want seconds, bitch? Then try this on for size,” the Emperor hissed evilly. “Send in the saber cats!”

Hanna readied herself as she heard a rumble from one of the doors. In a few seconds, two giant saber-toothed tigers weighing sixteen hundred pounds each stalked out of the doors. The guards at each of the doors fled, closing the doors behind them, leaving Hanna to the cats. She eyed the cats cautiously as they approached. It was obvious they hadn’t been fed for they were abnormally thin with their ribcages showing through their skin. For just a moment, fear rose in Hanna, which she quickly mastered. She looked at the cats directly in the eye and they growled, grimacing. Those in the stands watched as instead of fleeing from the cats, Hanna approached them. Selina kept her mind on Hanna, reminding her about the tiger at the Tiamat, the saber cat at Xavier Singh’s tower, and in the dreams through her telepathic fusion with Hanna.

Hanna and the cats slowly came together, stopping about twenty feet from her, with her standing between them. Hades watched on the edge of his seat as the tigers circled. Suddenly, one of them lunged at Hanna. She dove aside and underneath the cat, running the great cat through the heart with her sword, killing it instantly. Rolling to her feet twenty feet from the other cat, Hanna stood on guard as the second cat looked at its dead compatriot, and then at Hanna. It growled and Hanna growled back, stabbing the point of her other sword in the sand so it stood on its own. The cat roared and Hanna roared in response. Her eyes stared into the huge cat’s eyes and they seemed to communicate as the cat slowly approached. Then to the amazement of everyone present, Hanna picked up her sword and walked to the cat, squatting down in front of it in a submissive manner. She held out her hand to the great cat and it moaned, sniffing the blood-soaked hand. It then turned to look at the Emperor, and roared fiercely. Hanna stood, moving next to it, stroking the cat’s back, which stood nearly five feet high.

“I don’t believe what I’m seeing!” Gulez exclaimed. “She’s talking to the cat! Wasn’t the cat supposed to eat her?” Selina clapped and cheered for Hanna softly because she was feeling the pain from her wounds, and more importantly not to incur another strike from the Emperor.

Hanna looked up at the Emperor and shouted, “Missed again, your highness, and now, I have a new friend to watch my back. What’s next; your whole goddamned army? I need a challenge, damn you, a challenge!”

The Emperor’s face contorted with deadly rage, face turning beet-red. “A challenge you shall have! Guards; have at her! Bring me her head!” he bellowed.

A group a thirty-five guards suddenly flooded the Arena with thirty more standing in reserve. Hanna looked at her new partner and said, “Time to eat, my friend. Get them and feast.” The saber cat looked at Hanna, growling. It then charged the guards. Hanna fell in right beside the cat. The saber cat ripped the guards to pieces with its claws and teeth. Hanna found herself surrounded yet again by enemies and waded into them with as much brutality as the saber cat, taking heads and killing with single hits while taking mild to moderate hits in the melee.

Once again, long dormant skills surfaced as five rushed her at once. She crossed her two swords, taking an attack stance as her eyes glowed white. The air shimmered around her again for a moment with streamers of white energy swirling around her, causing her hair to float. Then Hanna seemed to vanish in a flash of light with the advancing guards. The sound of steel on steel, flesh, and bone rang out of the ball of light. When the flash dissipated, only one remained standing…Hanna while the five guards lay hacked to bits on the Arena floor. A pang of fear struck the Emperor when he saw Hanna’s savage elemental-laced assault. For the first time, the thought entered the Emperor’s mind that Hanna may actually prevail and it enraged him. As Hanna waded into more guards, the Emperor shouted furiously, “Send in the Beast and lock the Arena! Let it feast on her flesh!”

An ear-piercing reptilian roar rumbled throughout the Arena as a thirty-foot metal gate in the Arena wall rose. The noise caused everyone on the Arena floor, including the saber cat to pause and look towards the massive rising portcullis. The reserve guards tried to flee, only to find themselves trapped in the Arena with Hanna and the saber cat by the locked gates. They all backed away from the opening as a twenty-five foot tall tarok sixty feet long lumbered into the Arena, attacking the guards closest to it. The portcullis dropped after the tarok entered. It trampled three guards and swallowed one guard completely before bellowing so loud it shook the seats surrounding the Arena. Selina looked on in horror as the beast’s eye fell on Hanna.

Gulez stared in legitimate terror at the monster, never having seen a tarok before. “What the hell is that?” he breathed fearfully. “It looks like a living Tyrannosaur! That’s impossible! They’re extinct.”

“Not in this land,” Kronos declared. “The Emperor and his Cadre resurrected them long ago in the 1st Age to do his bidding. They’ve been around ever since.”

“Now the bitch is going to die,” the Emperor crowed, not paying attention to the conversation between Gulez and Kronos. “The tarok is an alpha predator of this land. It never fails me.”

The giant reptile lumbered forward, eyeing the guards, saber cat, and Hanna with savage hunger as the guards fled behind Hanna in terror. They no longer were worried about Hanna’s fierce brutality or the saber cat’s viciousness, but feared a much more formidable predator. Hanna glanced at the remaining guards and called out, “See how your Emperor rewards your loyalty! He sends you to your death without a thought. I am not your enemy. Stand with me and we can slay this beast!”

The tarok looked down at Hanna with a rumbling growl...bloody drool dripping from its huge maw filled with seven-inch razor-sharp teeth. Hanna made eye contact with it, showing no fear because of her berserker rage. The beast roared and Hanna roared back at it. In an instant, the tarok charged Hanna and those standing around her. Hanna counterattacked, picking up a sword from the fallen around her as she charged the beast. The saber cat roared and attacked the giant reptile, seeing it as a natural enemy. Realizing their only hope for survival was to join Hanna and the saber cat in taking down the tarok, the guards followed Hanna in, attacking the prehistoric reptile with their swords and spears.

The saber cat reached the giant reptile first, pouncing on its back, sinking its huge teeth into the tarok’s back while mauling it with its claws. The tarok reared up with a roar, thrashing about trying to throw the cat. It eventually grabbed the cat by its hind end in its jaws, crushing its spine and rupturing its belly. The cat howled in mortal agony as everyone heard its bones crushing in the tarok’s jaws. The tarok threw the cat at the guards, which had made a partial perimeter around it with Hanna, crushing ten guards with the body of the saber cat. The beast then rampaged forward, slaughtering and crushing fifteen more in a killing frenzy.

Hanna saw the saber cat die in the jaws of the tarok and she cried out in rage-filled dismay, charging the beast as it snapped up two guards at once in its jaws, killing and eating them. Flailing her swords in a maniacal rage, she dodged its jaws, getting between its feet and slashing at the creature’s lower legs and ankles, trying to hamstring it. It shrieked and stomped around trying to crush Hanna, who broke one of her swords on its tough legs. It leaned down and snapped at her as she raced out from beneath its tail. The beast turned and hit Hanna with its tail, sending her flying fifty feet. She landed in heap, stunned from the hit. The tarok reared up and roared, charging Hanna. Several more guards got between it and Hanna, drawing it off.

Shaking off the stun, Hanna rose to her feet after a few moments and saw the last guard in the Arena fleeing the beast in terror. Her rage exploded and the white aura with streamers surrounded her again for a second. “ENOUGH!” she shrieked, charging forward so fast she was a blur. While coming in, she threw her sword with lethal accuracy at the creature’s eye. The blade punctured the tarok’s eye with such force it penetrated its brain. The tarok bellowed, rearing up in pain as Hanna reached the guard, quickly throwing him out of reach of the beast. The guard tumbled fifty feet from her hard throw and looked up to see Hanna standing in front of the monster with a strange yellow glow swirling around her. The beast thrashed its head, bellowing in pain as Hanna snatched up a large spear wielded by one of the dead Zarukars. She threw the spear, shouting furiously, “Die already, you goddamned monster!” The spear pierced the tarok’s chest as the floor of the Arena suddenly buckled with giant shards of razor-sharp rock thirty feet long exploding from beneath the beast, impaling it through the belly, chest, heart, and head. The beast’s guts spilled out with blood spraying everywhere as the rock shards picked up the dinosaur off the floor. The grizzled remains of the guards spilled from its stomach as its guts splattered over the rock spikes. It slumped with a groan as Hanna staggered back, falling to her knees in exhaustion.

The guard Hanna saved rushed to her side, falling to his knees beside her. “Are you all right?” he asked sincerely.

“I don’t know,” Hanna moaned. “How’d I do that?”

“I have no idea,” the guard replied. “But you saved my life. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Hanna said with a weary smile.

The Emperor, Kronos, Hades, and Gulez stared with their mouths hanging open; utterly flabbergasted at the mayhem and the brutal demonstration of Hanna’s emerging elemental powers. Rage filled the Emperor as he jumped to his feet when his pet tarok fell to Hanna’s powerful elemental assault. Seeing the last guard helping Hanna to her feet instead of killing her, the Emperor bellowed, “Kill her this instant, maggot!”

“No,” the guard replied rebelliously. “She saved my life. I can’t kill her.”

The Emperor’s face turned red with fury. The veins in his neck protruded as he shrieked, “Kill her now or I’ll kill you, worm!”

“Run,” Hanna told the guard, who bolted from Hanna heading for cover behind the fallen tarok. Turning to the Emperor as he stretched out his hand against the guard, Hanna shouted, “You leave him alone, you goddamned malignant demon shit! Your fight is with me, not him!”

Hanna’s insult was enough of a diversion to allow the guard to take cover behind the massive tarok’s corpse. It caused the Emperor to forget about the guard, turning his wrath on Hanna. “No one defies me, you little bitch maggot!” the Emperor raged. “Now, I’ll teach you the meaning of pain!” Energy bolts sprang from his outstretched hand, crossing the distance between him and Hanna in a fraction of a second. The energy bolt hit Hanna in the chest, throwing her one hundred feet while electrocuting her. She landed against the body of her saber cat friend with a scream.

“No!” Selina shouted, feeling the electrocution along with Hanna’s injuries. Adrenaline rushed through her and she kicked the Emperor with her bound legs, sweeping his feet out from beneath him despite her broken leg. He came crashing down hard, breaking the circuit between him and Hanna.

“Stupid little feline bitch!” the Emperor roared as he grabbed Selina around the throat and shocking her with his power. “No one interferes with me; not even you! Do that again and I’ll make a doll out of you!”

Selina’s eyes rolled back in her head and a shriek escaped her lips as the Emperor electrocuted her briefly. She started foaming from the mouth as she writhed in pain.

“Let her go, you malignant demon fuck!” Hanna shouted from the floor of the Arena.

Hanna’s shout attracted the Emperor’s attention and he roughly released Selina, slamming her down while standing back up. He gawked, seeing Hanna standing next to the saber cat killed by the tarok, sword in hand, but badly injured. Trembling and bloody from her terrible injuries, Hanna staggered towards the royal box with her sword in a defensive position. “How dare you!” the Emperor hissed. “No one commands me! I’m eternal!”

“Oh, just shut up, you lousy shit-faced demon fuck,” Hanna swore, her berserker rage and adrenaline having been supercharged by the electrocution. She continued staggering towards the Emperor with her eyes burning with lethal fury. “Is that all you’ve got? Is it? If I was able to do all this in spite of what you did to me, then my statement that your days were numbered is true,” Hanna wheezed, standing ready despite her utter fatigue and exhaustion. “I still think you’re too chicken-shit to come down here and face me like a man! Yes, that’s what you are...the greatest chicken-shit bully to ever arise from the depths of the Abyss! Face me like a man, you stupid, shit-eating demon coward! And don’t tell me no one speaks to you like that. I’m fucking tired of hearing how great and eternal you are, you goddamned demon fuck. You’re no god, nor the incarnation of the deepest Darkness of the Abyss! You’re just another pestilent demon shit whose gotten too big for his britches, so just shut the fuck up! I’m not going to put up with that shit anymore.” The Emperor’s eyes glowed with rage as Hanna...a woman mangled, bleeding, and burned from the fights, stood there in brazen defiance. Electricity crackled around the Emperor’s closed fists as his rage built like a volcano ready to erupt.

Seeing his chance for ultimate revenge, Hades rose and said to the Emperor, “Let me finish her, my Lord Emperor. Please, let me uphold your honor.”

“He has no honor, Hades!” Hanna shouted, hearing Hades’ request. “He never has. The demon shit doesn’t understand the meaning of it!” She suddenly lowered her sword and leaned on it because of her fatigue.

The Emperor pointed and bellowed, “Do it. Finish her! Bring me her head, Lord Hades or I’ll have yours!”

“Yes, my Lord Emperor,” Hades crowed moving to the Arena wall. He jumped from the wall, landing with one knee down in the Arena. Rising and moving toward Hanna, Hades pulled the blade that he’d taken from Hannibal during his capture. Hanna leaned on her sword, using it as a cane as Hades approached. Before engaging in combat, Hades said jealously, “Beowulf, your reputation is truly deserved. I have never seen anything like what I’ve just seen here. Even trapped in a mutated woman’s body, you still exhibit such phenomenal power. It’s a pity that such talent and power was wasted on you. I’ll be sure to put that power to good use when I rip it and your soul from your charred corpse.”

Hanna looked at Hades with a face contorted with anger and pain, saying pointedly, “You’re lying, Hades. You’ve never respected me and always wanted a piece of me because of my ability. With me gone, there would be no match for you, save Zeus and the Emperor. So let’s finish what we started earlier in Cush and see who’s the best, you fucking prick.”

Hades’ face grew stern and cold, saying, “You fool...you’re willing to die for your God? He’s not going to save you from me!”

Hanna raised her blade into a classic hasso samurai defensive stance and said coldly, “We shall see, hell-spawn bastard.” They circled for a few moments, and then they clashed. Hades had the speed, but Hanna had the power in her strokes, pulling on her berserker rage and adrenaline rush for strength to defend her very soul. For nearly ten minutes, they dueled, fire flying from the ringing blades. Despite her fatigue, Hanna slowly began to get the better of Hades because she was the better swordswoman.

Finally, in a single desperate act to finish the duel before the fatigue shut her down completely, Hanna shouted as she clashed with Hades, hitting with such force that it threw him back nearly ten feet, knocking the sword far from his grasp as he landed on his back. In an instant, Hanna pounced on him, pushing the point of her sword in the hollow of Hades’ throat with enough pressure he could feel it. “I think it is time for you to yield, Hades. You’re beaten. Don’t make me kill you,” she wheezed heavily while leaning over him; the blood from her cut-up face dripping off her nose onto Hades’ face.

“Go on, finish it,” Hades taunted; his face twisted in rage at being beaten by a mutated woman.

Hanna looked up at the Emperor, who despite his anger, finally began to understand what Hannibal was truly capable of in spite of being turned into a woman. “Finish him!” the Emperor ordered hatefully.

Hanna snarled and lunged, nicking Hades’ throat, drawing a tiny bit of blood, and then backed off while delivering a punishing kick to Hades’ groin to stun him. Hades howled in pain, grasping his groin while curling up into a fetal position. Hanna stepped away from Hades, turning to the Emperor with a glare of righteous indignation as she threw the sword away in rebellion to the Emperor’s order.

“No, I’ll not kill him,” Hanna replied coldly to the Emperor as she slowly limped away from Hades, moving toward the dead saber cat who’d fought alongside her. “I do not kill unarmed helpless enemies. That’s your thing, not mine, you goddamned festering piece of demon filth!” This total defiance of the Emperor utterly infuriated him.

“Finish Him!” the Emperor shrieked maniacally.

“I will not!” Hanna cried out defiantly as she stopped at her dead feline ally and stroked its fur. Her reserves were exhausted and she could barely stand. Yet, she abruptly turned to the Emperor and pointed right at him, declaring in a stone-cold tone that dripped with great authority, “I am not yours to command! I bow to no man! Only the Almighty God has the right to command me! I will gladly bow to Him and do His will! But you’re not Him! You have utterly failed your most un-royal majesty! I will never be turned! Never! Makes no difference if you make me a woman or even an animal like this poor cat here, I’ll never yield to your fucking insanity nor go back into the Darkness, ever! It looks like my god is the winner here, you lousy shit-eating prick!” The Emperor’s jaw wagged open at Hanna’s brazenness, confidence, and utter contempt for him, leaving him speechless.

While Hanna viciously rebuked the Emperor, Hades recovered and stood, summoning his infernal power generating, and then hurling a hellfire fireball at Hanna while her back was turned to him. Selina saw the underhanded move and warned Hanna telepathically. Hanna abruptly grabbed a sword from one of the guards crushed by the dead cat, throwing the sword with a shout and lethal precision at Hades. The sword passed through the fireball and rammed into his chest while he was generating a second fireball, cleaving his sternum in two. Hades screamed and the second fireball forming between his hands instantly flashed from one foot in diameter to twenty-five feet, completely swallowing him as his shriek echoed throughout the arena. The infernal fireball exploded with a blinding flash and a potent concussive blast, incinerated everything within that perimeter and leaving a dense pall of smoke in its wake. Charred pieces of the dark wizard flew in all directions with the explosion.

Hades’ initial fireball struck Hanna square in the chest at the same moment Hanna’s sword penetrated Hades’ chest. The first fireball’s impact threw Hanna thirty-five feet, searing and cauterizing the wounds she had on her chest, charring and melting the leather teddy she wore. She howled in agony before passing out just in front of one of the doors that exited the Arena. Unknown to her or anyone else, the feline Xenian laid waiting in the shadows. When Hades exploded, the resulting flash and smoke provided enough of a cover for the feline Xenian to move into action. He rushed out to Hanna, putting the fire out that continued to burn her, scooped her up, and flitting away with her like a ghost.

When the final confrontation with Hades occurred, the flash and resulting explosion temporarily blinded everyone. Selina cried out and collapsed in searing pain when the fireball struck Hanna. When the smoke cleared, the Emperor looked around and didn’t see Hanna anywhere, but saw bits and pieces of bone, carbonized flesh, and the bloody, charred skull of Hades scattered across the Arena floor. Then he saw Selina bawling in agony and believed the worst about Hanna; that she was dead, blown to steaming bits by the infernal fireballs unleashed by Hades. “At last; I’m free of that pestilent shit!” the Emperor shouted victoriously. “The last hindrance removed! Kronos, take the cat back to the Harem. With Beowulf incinerated, she’s now truly mine. I’ll deal with her later. Have the Arena combed for his remains. I want the skull for a trophy.”

“Very good, sire,” Kronos replied. He motioned for the guards to unhook Selina, which they did. A second set of guards entered the Arena and began a painstaking search for Hanna’s remains.