with his sheath, blocking many of cesnis attacks.

marduk snuck in from behind and

kicked the sheath out of leon s hand before quickly sweeping him off his feet and
landing another hard kick to the midsection before leon could even hit the ground,
sending him sprawling him accross the street. ivee jumped in like she was
possessed. she had leon s sword and brought it down with the intention of ending
the fight once and for all. just before the moment leon could be done in by his own
sword, ivee was abruptly stopped .in midair as the blade met with another that
instantly materialized into existance in brust of black ink, held by atall, slender
man in a cape and black body armor made of leather. his long, straight black hair
partially covered his face. the myrmidons froze in terror. "nibiru!" marduk said in
shock. with little effort, nibiru flicked his sword, causing ivee to twist in
midair. "no!" ivee pleaded, as she barely blocked nibiru s next stick that sent her
screaming through the air and l;anding with a thud. "leave," nibiru calmly said,
with the myrmidons doing just that. he turned to ;leon . "marduk s right. you ve
gotten sloppy." exhausted, leon struggled back to his feet and cradled his wrist.
"how do you like the new team?" leon remained silent; nibiru spoke as he walked
away. "you can t win this, leon. my offer still stands if you want to join me." she
s gone . "sara barely clung to life. leon knelt beside her. "sara, can you hear
me?" he asked, with no response. "open her mouth," he told nedim pinched sara s
nose and squeezed her cheeks as leon held his bloody wrist over her mouth for
several drops of blood to fall in. "eww!" janah cried. leon clasped sara s mouth,
forcing her to drink the blood. it took a second for sara s eyes to shoot wide
open. she quickly stood up, looking around. "what happened?" she asked, poking at
where the now healed wound was. "i had to give you some of my blood," leon said
before rolling over on his side. "what?!" "there was no other way," caycee said,
kneeling by leon. she pulled a blood marble from her pocket. "here, take this. i
can t belive you didn t bringany." after eating the blood marble, leon instantly
regenerated a new hand. "thanks," he said standing up. " your blood healed me?"
sara asked. "yeah," leon ansered. "you ll also have my abilities for a short while.
" sara s eyes briefly turned completely black as she tested her vesuvian powers.
looking down, she gasped with the realization kamala had passed. :og, no." she
said. "i take it you weren t successful," lilith said walking towards the group
with arloff close behind her. gillan stood, angry with tears in his eyes. "in case
you can t tell - we just got our asses kicked!" "are you game to try again?" lilith
asked. "not right now," leon answered. "we aren t prepared, and with the losses we
took i don t think some of ther group wants to go back." "what do you mean? arloff
is just fine, and the friendsyou lost are heading this way right now," lilith
pointed . "see?" leon spotted darek, kamala and doradus. "yeah, but they re dead."
"so! they can still fight." "not like before!" lilith sighed. "what now then?" she
asked, standing nearly nose-to-nose with leon. " we go back to rhea. sara has to go
back. i can t risk losing her." "why? you love her?" leom suddenly flienched in
disbelief. "she has to report back to her leaders." lilith looked suspiciously at
leon. "fine." " well, this salts," doradus mildly complained. hurok held his friend
s shoulder. "be proud. you fought bravely and died fighting, the way all fenrir
should." "could be worse,"darek said. "least now we re immortal." kamala crossed
her arms. "well i don t see it that way," she said, tears welling in her eyes upon
seeing her lifeless body. "i have a family back home. my husband is going to be "
kamala, i am so sorry," said sara. gillan took hold of kamala s hand. " don t
worry, they ll understand. we all knew this could darek waved. "oy! thanks for
gettin my back, leon" several of the people around laughed. "sorry, bud." darek
playfully hit leon s arm. "you know i m kiddin." leon noticed kamala was depressed.
"i know it s a stupid question, but are you going to be alright?" he asked. " i ll
be fine," kamala said, fighting back tears. leon shook hands with her and nodded.
stig suddenly came through the portal. "i did it!" "it will be safe in our city,"
arloff said to leon. "the fighting has stopped." " the fenrir are still there,"
stig said. "but they won t attack. that s the best i could do." "even if they
attack, they ll answer to me," hurok said . sara asked. "why not open a portal near
vesuvia, or another city?" "because i don t know what s on the other side," lilith
answered. "usually that s not a problem, but since youre not dead i wouldn t
recommend it." " i see." "leon," lilith called. "i can hold out for some time, but
don t keep me waiting." "speaking of time, what time is it in rhea?" caycee asked.
stig shrugged. "the sun was just setting when i left." leon looked to sara.
"ready?" everyone, alive, passed through the portal to the promethean capital.
several fenrir and prometheans were just cleaning or hanging arround. "janah and i
will go back to hegira." nedim said. " my people will likely send emissaries to
help organize some counterattack. farewell." "see you later," leon said. "gillan,
you comeing?" "no," gillan answered. "my people need