EBC: The Raid Pt. 6

+30 EP

LAST FREAKING ONE OMG FINALLY.

The sketches depict the last crucial moments of the Lightning vs Bounty Hunter battle. Abiola is finally seized and held in place by Thanatos and Pallis, causing him to scream out in pain. The outcry helps Cynthia regain consciousness, but she's horrified at the sight before her.

The lynx-leader, Scaeden, then drags Abiola out into the middle of the clearing. There are some last words exchanged between them before the Lightning Leader is finally murdered before his Empire's eyes.

Characters Included

Abiola
Thanatos
Pallis
Cynthia
Scaeden
Sugarra
Iota
Furie
Juno
Maia
Roxanne
Troy
Nisip
Accalia
Kallen
Cheino
Mako
Viatrix

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^{(( Last Excerpts ))}
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There was a scream.

A horrible, bloodcurling scream.

With a soft, whispered moan, the yearling blinked open her soft blue eyes, her vision dancing with stars, blurred and dizzy. There was a throbbing pain in her head, and numbed stings smarted all over her body. She couldn't really pinpoint where, anymore.

What's going on...?

She stretched out a tentative paw, her foreclaws trembling as she gripped the earth tightly to drag herself forward. She didn't know if this was the right thing to do; just that it was something. She hoped it was the right thing, that she was going the right way, wherever she was going.

Fuzzy shapes danced in front of her, a golden cheetah, a black jaguar, a silver tiger. They were... holding him. Tearing him. Another cat was walking toward them, a bobcat, or maybe a lynx, one with a dirty brown coat and a cloak of blackness. He was approaching them slowly, and Cynthia instantly knew he was an enemy.

She also... remembered the cheetah.

Abiola.

Lightning's leader.

Her leader.

And the lynx? She knew him simply from the stories, the kit-tales, the shadows of her nightmare.

It was Scaeden the Hunter, himself.

And he was eyeing Abiola.

He was walking toward Abiola.

What was he going to do?

Cynthia shivered and with a will driven by fear and apprehension, she forced her head up by straightening her trembling forelegs.

"A-... A-abiola..."

Her senses snapped to clarity when Scaeden grabbed the leader's neck.

Cynthia was just barely aware of her own strangled gasp of terror as the Bounty Hunter dragged Abiola into the center of the clearing, the dried blood of his muzzle now coated in the blood of the cheetah's wounds. She was awestruck by the sight. After seeing him fight so angrily, so valiantly against the hunters who had caused this all, it was strange to see him so limp... so... lifeless, in another cat's jaws. The caracal trembled as she swallowed dried spit, bewildered, frightened, no, terrified. A small part of her, a little cub's cry, told her that she shouldn't fear what happened next. That Abiola would rise to defeat Scaeden at just the last moment, just like in the stories. Just like every imaginary hero she'd ever been told of. And he would rescue everyone here and lead them home again, the way stories were supposed to end.

But that was just the thing...

This wasn't a story.

She was not the only one in the clearing to cry out as Abiola was flung to the ground with a thump, smokey dust floating eerily under the light of the stars as his goggles rolled ominously away from the two leaders. Yet... she was not the only one in the clearing to feel just a trickle of hope when the cheetah raised his proud head once more, eyes locking with that of Scaeden's murderous green gaze for one last time.

"I reckon you plan to kill me... But however many leaders you kill, the Empires will never die."

Just like in the stories.

Guilt clenched Cynthia's heart like thorns when she heard Abiola's defiant voice. Her memories went back to the many things she had heard of the leader; his cowardice, his neglect, his abandonement, and she thought to herself, could this be the same cat before them? This cheetah who faced death with nothing but defiance glowing in his eyes? Had their judgment of him been so wrong? Had hers?

Had hers?

"Abiola," the caracal whispered through a tightened throat as tears began to blur her vision.

The lynx turned away from him.

"Don't you see? Our kind are not meant to survive out here. We are too weak, too insignificant and small. The only reason we, the Hunters, are this strong is because we have the aid of the humans.

"What I don't get about you is this; are you all really this stupid? I mean...you've seen us. You've seen how strong we are and how easily we can take you down. Yet...you stay out here, fighting for your precious freedom. Call me crazy, but I've never envisioned freedom to be like this. You hide out on the outskirts of your old life. You try to hide yourselves as best you can, in fear that you might end up like that."

She did not follow his gesture. She already knew what lay there, and she couldn't bear to look at Meka again. So many thoughts were running through her mind; she could see her mentor, Viatrix staring quietly at the scene before her, Nisip struggling to stay awake through her wounds, Cheino and Roxanne being held by large and powerful jaws, and a violent jolt of fear went through her for them all, enough to make her tremble all over, enough to tempt her to collapse again onto the grass. But she couldn't.

No, her thoughts cried suddenly against Scaeden. No, you're wrong! You're wrong you're wrong you're wrong you're wro--

"You think you are surviving, but is that really the case? Or is that just temporary? You can't survive out here. You aren't meant to. None of us are.

"...And to prove my point, and to punish you for your utter stupidity, I'm going to show you exactly what your 'freedom' is."

She knew. She knew almost instantly what he was going to do.

And she was powerless to stop it.

With a flash, it was over, and Abiola fell limp to the ground as a pool of blood flowed freely from the bite that had killed him.

She wanted to scream.

She wanted to scream.

But she was too tired to scream anymore.

All the same, she could hear the yowling, the wailing in her head just as clearly. It was over. Her nightmares had come true.

For all their efforts, for all their bravery... The leader of Lightning Empire had fallen.

In all her terror, in all her despair, Cynthia at first didn't see that two of her fellow Empire-mates were making their way to Scaeden. But when she did, her heart sank to her stomach as her blood went cold.

The cheetah cub was alive.

And Accalia was rushing to protect him.
(I know that's not the case that's just cyn's interpretation)

She didn't even have time to warn her, to yell out 'no!' before the great lynx pinned Accalia down.

No no no no no no no.

No no no no no.

He was going to kill her.

He was going to kill her...

Not Accalia...

She didn't know her well. Not even well enough to call her an acquaintance. But Cynthia still at least knew who she was. She knew that others in her empire didn't trust the strange caracal, while others still were willing to give her a chance. All Cyn did know was that Accalia was just a wandering stranger looking for a home, and her empire had mercifully taken her in. She wasn't a trouble-maker, even with the fact that she'd escaped Bounty Hunter ranks, even with the attitude that others sometimes complained about. Rather, she was kindhearted and had somehow managed to make friends with much of the caracals here. And who could doubt her loyalty after tonight? The wounds on her pelt and face were testament to that, and now...

Now she was going to die.

"But you must not think I'm your superior, do you, traitor?" Scaeden then said loudly. "You're just as good as me, aren't you?" He laughed again, clearly taking pleasure in the torture and pain he had caused tonight. "You see this cat? This cat that you all harbored and treated as one of your own? She's the reason there is so much death littered across your territory tonight. She's the reason we're here, the reason we killed and took so many of your own. We are a disease to you idiots. You let one of us in, thinking you can cure us, we'll spread like wildfire before you know what has happened."

Through her own pains, Cynthia couldn't help a snarl. No, no he was wrong! He was wrong! None of what happened tonight was Accalia's fault! She'd been standing and fighting and getting hurt just like everyone else. If the Bounty Hunters chose to give in to the awful bloodlust that had wounded her Empire tonight, that was no cat's fault. They never took any blame for anything. It was always the Empires who were wrong for wanting freedom.

Freedom...

It suddenly occured to the little caracal that the Bounty Hunters were leaving, and they were leaving with prisoners. She could recognize the faces of friends, acquaintances, and in her desperation she stood to her feet, staggering after them for a couple steps forward. "N... No... No..." she called out weakly, fatigued from the battle as well as weakened by the things she had seen tonight. "Please... somebody... do something. Y-you can't... they can't....!"

Stabs of pain through her sides, pain from Maia's injuries from earlier, was what finally made Cynthia's legs give way. She caught herself in a lopsided sitting position, sobbing quietly to herself as she felt her spirit finally break.