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Fire to Fire

"(Artios, we are ready)," said one of the hellhounds to the heavily augmented hellhound. Artios, a cyborg, led the ambush to Arbal, the same town where he managed to defeat his rival. His purpose there was the same. It was to give Rhynsa more despair, and to take back what was taken from him.

"(Let's see. Ah...Arbal. It's a place said to be the hope of so many refugee hellhounds, but then...we cannot be sure if that is the case...)"

Suddenly there was an explosion from inside Arbal, and Artios, with magnifying glasses, saw how the hellhounds by the gate frantically tried to find the source of the fire. He then could see some hellhounds climbed to the nearby tower and made a signal. While the rest of the company thought it was a signal to start advancing, Artios halted his comrades and said, "(He said 'wait'. I can see why. Arbal may be small, but it had managed to hold out from skirmishes and things alike. It was possibly because of the leader in that town, Rhynsa Vantwork)."

"(Is he actually that notorious?)"

"(I was once his subordinate, and I know what to do. He must've seen us before we are close. Here is what we are going to do...)"

Artios asked some hellhounds to split from the group and followed him. They obliged. He then commanded the rest of the hellhound company to attack the wall. They charged towards the wall, commanded by Artios's second in command, Jelk.

Artios ran sideways and looked through his scope and saw the carnage inside the place. His spies, now were the most ordinary and very much undetected, were wreaking havoc behind the wall. He was so sure about it that he practically found an opening where the guards were not even trying to defend due to the commotion inside the walled town. But then, he knew he was not supposed to be so easy to think that it would be an easy win. He knew Rhynsa had something up his sleeve.

Just as he approached the wall, a surge of electricity caused his augmentation to glitch, alongside the apparatus from his soldiers, which were earpieces linked to him. The group with him could not use the earpieces; they broke off after getting hit by the surge.

"(They got fucking EMPs installed here!)" exclaimed one of the hellhounds.

"(Well, I'll be surprised if there isn't any)," said Artios while rebooting his mechanisms. "(He must've gotten some from the nearby encampment. It is completely wiped out)."

Hearing this made some of the hellhounds shudder, thinking how horrible this Rhynsa hound was. Artios noticed this and said, "(Don't worry, my friends. He may be a dangerous hound, but I've made sure he won't walk for a long time. Without his legs, he is not as versatile, and hard to move around)."

Artios wanted to wait for his augmentations to reboot. A courtesy of the sixth circle of Hell, he wanted to try everything he could with the new body given to him.

The hellhound knew that Rhynsa was still distracted by the commotion, and he tried to sneak from the part with the EMP. Artios, despite of still rebooting the systems in his body, was a trained sharpshooter himself before he used augmentations. He knew that whatever happened, when it came time to fight Rhynsa and his group of misfits, he would be ready to slaughter them all with the new body he had.

Artios reached the base of the wall and avoided most of the EMP mines, which his fellow hellhounds followed. He had specifically hand-picked the hellhound who would launch a back attack, knowing that they were not typical grunts, but reliable soldiers. He could communicate the best with them, especially in situations like this.

He beckoned one of the hellhounds and made gestures to the others. They understood and started planting dynamites to the sides of the massive wooden gate. They moved away as the dynamite exploded, destroying the hinges and let the door came down. Of course, Artios suspected an ambush, so he ordered them to stop and let him come in first.

But when he came in, while he had anticipated it, he could not be more surprised. Rhynsa was waiting for him, sniper ready and laying down on a nearby building. The bat-hound shot Artios at his suit, causing him to be pushed by the unexpected high-caliber bullet coming from one of the buildings. He was given yet another surprise when a human jumped down and ran towards him. It would look like a suicide run, but in this case, that human brandished a spectral blade similar to other possessed humans. He managed to guard himself before the blow cut his head off.

"That's some serious augmentation there, hellhound," said Kghron towards the hellhound. "I bet those prideful bitches know where to look."

"Never have thought Rhynsa could recruit another goddamn wrath demon to his steed. That tricky son of a bitch. (Hey, Rhynsa! Come down and fight me! Are you scared of...)"

Another shot hit Artios, but he was ready this time. He managed to mitigate the force somewhat by moving backwards, but it was also the same as before. He knew Rhynsa's prized rifle, the one he broke in their previous fight. A wooden chambered rifle like that would not be able to house a high-caliber bullet. He might had finally changed his rifle to something with far more potential. Rifle like that could pierce through three human's heads with the bullet, judging from the force he got hit.

Rhynsa did not relent. He shot another bullet, this time to Artios's head. But now, Artios had anticipated it, just as his body had finished rebooting. He found Rhynsa's heat signature and, ignoring Kghron, throw a grenade towards where Rhynsa was. Of course, Rhynsa tried to dodge, but again, he could not move much, and that grenade got Rhynsa. Still, he survived.

"(He got sheltered by the nest)," commented Artios. He turned around and said, "(All of you...take care of this goat)."

"Are you sure that's how you want to end this fight?"

"If I were you I would not underestimate them. I specifically chose 12 hellhounds here. Why? They are strong enough to gang up on one of you."

Kghron realized Artios knew his weakness. When a circle demon possessed a human, they sacrificed their true strength and body to take on a human host, so as to not broke the treaty imposed on them. Wrath demons were known to be a danger to the demons due to their warmonger lifestyle (even though many parts of the Outer Ring were similar to them), which betrayed their caprine appearance. They were all warriors, fighting to survive the harsh Sin of Wrath Circle. If they burned their host body, they would be sent back to hell and immediately imprisoned for breaking the treaty.

Just then, Rhynsa called him from the earpiece, telling him of something that not only made him sigh in relief, but becoming excited as a result. He just needed to kill the 12 hellhounds in front of him and all would be over.

One of them lunged forward, followed by the rest of the company. They were fast enough that Kghron's spectral shield could not hold, and he was thrown towards an empty house. He tried to stop Artios from reaching Rhynsa, but one of the hellhounds grabbed him by his throat and started to stab him. Luckily for him, rage instinct natural to all goat demons helped him predict where the knife would land. He moved away from the knife and tried to counter, but the hellhound, somehow anticipating this, lunged towards him and bite his neck. If he was a goat demon, it would hurt, though it did not impair him. Yet, he was still in his host body, and a hellhound's bite could potentially shatter this human's body.

He let go, his neck bleeding and a chunk of the meat had been torn off. He tried to move his left shoulder. It could still move, but was clearly failing. He did not have time to wait before he was attacked by the rest of them. He managed to counter and injure some of them, but again, he was at a disadvantage. His only option was to ditch his host and went out as a true goat demon. Yet again, despite Rhynsa's claim, he wasn't sure. All he wanted was to find a new place to fight, but he got pulled into meaningless politics while there was a worse problem at hand.

Again, Rhynsa assured him that it was alright, yet added that he mustn't 'use any fire ability'. He was not sure about it, thinking it was practically impossible to not use fire after getting out of the host. Not to mention, even if he was able to break free from his host, he still need to fight 12 hellhounds. His predictions would have to suffice. When he turned into a goat demon, he would kill two with ease when they were surprised, but the rest ten would try to gang up on him when he was distracted, even for a moment, by the two hellhounds he would kill. The black-furred and the red stripes would do first, seeing that they were not as skilled as the rest of the gang.

"Fuck...it's all for nothing!" exclaimed Kghron while his body was engulfed by flame.

Meanwhile, on Rhynsa's side...

"(Come on, old pal, get out and meet your old friend!)" said Artios sarcastically while moving away ruined furniture. "(Stop hiding. I'll find you!)"

Rhynsa did not anticipate the sudden use of a concealed grenade launcher on his arm. "(Artios...just what part of you is still there?)" thought Rhynsa while trying to think of a way to find a counter to the unexpected attack. With his legs not properly healed and he fell from the second floor with the rubble, he was completely in a pinch.

The bat-hound fell behind a cabinet covering him, but also some of the dust and rubble from the ceiling. Normally he would try to jump Artios and find any weakness of his mechanized body, but he was at the disadvantage. Not only that, he could not find his rifle.

"(Get out, wherever you are, Rhynsa)," said Artios with a smooth voice, akin to someone playing hide and seek with a psychotic killer. In Rhynsa's mind, he was thinking of the irony of the situation, given how in this case, both of them could kill each other easily. Rhynsa did not want to risk fighting Artios head-on. True, he had superior hand-to-hand combat, but Artios was no longer a hellhound. He could not risk getting his ass kicked because he did not know Artios's surprise. Not only that, even _after_revealing his body, he still could hold a high-caliber rifle shot from a distance of 500 meters.

Artios's voice started approaching Rhynsa's position. He kept thinking of any strategy. He successfully did one of them, but he could not bear to see himself as a sacrificial animal. He still had to see Ifrit one more time, or survive long enough to see his future on the surface world with that werewolf-hellhound hybrid. Right at that moment, strategy and logic did not work; luck was the only thing that determine his fate.

He could hear Artios's voice coming closer to him. Any seconds now, and it would happen. But then, luck was actually on Rhynsa's side all the time, yet he did not know about it.

Tyrall, an unexpected hellhound that came from the enemy base, made a roar, distracting Artios long enough for Rhynsa to crawl silently. He did not find his rifle, but he still had one more rifle he could use....

Tyrall came running towards the back door of Arbal to see if Rhynsa actually succeeded in his strategy. It was far from successful, and he knew Rhynsa miscalculated the strength of the infiltrator. Rhynsa was not a true strategist, despite of utilizing guerilla tactics. Tyrall heard this from Rhynsa, where he said that his plans 'works only for himself'. He took the job as that small town's guardian simply because he had not regained his ability to walk yet.

The miscalculation proved to be something that could ended up fatal, as the grey hellhound knew who Artios was. While he was not fully affiliated with the hellhound rebels, stating that he was serving the 'higher-ups' (presumably Ensalder Winsel, the instigator of the whole civil war), he could see that by each month, every time Artios came to his camp, the hellhound slowly became more machine than hound. It felt as if he was constantly upgrading himself to the point he literally became an automatic weapon.

"(So, you are one of the camp's second-in-command)," said Artios, pointing his grenade weapon to Tyrall. "(Your presence here proved that you betrayed everyone in that camp. Bold move...for a traitor)."

"(You won't gonna believe what I saw in that camp)," said Tyrall while preparing to fight. "(I doubt you care, either)."

Suddenly, Artios made a smile and surprised Tyrall by saying, "(Oh...but you haven't seen nothing yet)."

Tyrall did not see Artios's movement, who moved like a speed of light towards the hellhound. Thanks to a demonic reflex he had, Tyrall managed to stop the attack, yet he was thrown away by the force. Tyrall tried to stand up and defend himself, but as he did that, he was again hit by the full force of a metallic punch that not only throw him away, but also broke some of his ribs. He coughed out blood after he landed, luckily not around dangerous splinters that could kill him, though he could not move.

"(Are you saying that...my friends are killed...because of you?!)"

"(Me? Think, you unimaginative mutt! How can I transport hounds back in time?!)" said Artios like someone pissed off. "(That is why hellhounds never can go down to the circles of hell!)"

"(Is that...why you take this path?)"

"(Isn't it fucking obvious? This path will ensure that I will become a higher demon than you mutts will ever be. Demons have level of commands. You are under the impression that the monarchs oppressed you but you are the lowest level of demons that are expendable. Me? I've become something far more than what you have never imagined! If it not because of him, I would still be stuck in a world of illusion!)"

"(You fucking asshole...)"

"(Say what you want about me, Tyrall Bhane)." Artios put the grenade in front of the hellhound. "(I'm no longer of your level)."

Suddenly, a figure came down and kicked Artios's grenade hand away, causing him to failed his aiming and the grenade hit the house where Rhynsa was trapped in. The figure was a black-furred goat, with red horizontal slit eyes and black curved horn. Artios noticed that the goat demon was different from his host's body. Unlike the host, this one was muscular, as if he had seen battle many times. On top of that, he was scarred.

"(You! If you are here, then...)"

"Like you said earlier, hellhounds are merely mutts," said Kghron while readying his blade. "As much as you have changed your body, Artios, you are still a hellhound."

"You are a fool, wrath demon. I am no longer a hellhound. I am something so much more."

"Yes...so much more, yet so much less."

Kghron quickly jumped towards Artios, who grabbed Kghron and stopped him by his path. He canceled his specter blade and moved his hand away. He quickly formed another blade and stab the hellhound's mechanical side with it. Artios's face of excitement of battle turned into shock and anger when he realized what Kghron had done.

"Pride demons may have been more technologically advanced than us, but we are the warriors, not them," said Kghron after jumping away. "Specter blades are far sharper than conjured weapons, and your design has a lot of open weakness."

Without warning, though, Artios swung his arm and some blades came out of it. Kghron managed to dodge it, but when he tried catching one, he felt a scorching heat burning his hand and he had to let go. He looked at the blade and the rest of them lodged at the wooden house behind him. It quickly caught fire.

"Damn, I forgot about the fire intensity," said Kghron.

"Damn right you are. You may be a warrior race, but if fire comes to fire, you lose," said Artios while rearming the knives. Kghron readied himself to fight, and he jumped forward. Artios did just that, and they clashed.

In Tyrall's eyes, both were unwilling to let each other to land a punch against another, while at the same time trying to land an attack to each other. Both of their fights were so fast Tyrall only able to see blurs. Their fights started to involve some of the houses, with many of them being breached and destroyed by their attacks. Sometimes he could see either one of them were being thrown to a wall, then they resumed fighting.

Tyrall looked at the fight like a boy watching an intense theatrical play, but he was surprised by Rhynsa, who came crawling towards the hellhound.

"(Rhynsa! I thought you...)"

"(I never thought I am that lucky myself. Artios's bomb freed me from the rubble. Anyway, Tyrall, can you still get away?)"

"(My ribs are busted, but I can still move)."

"(Nice...look, I still have one thing left that can penetrate that armor. All you gotta do is find my other rifle. I stashed it in a chest near the base of the tower. I want you to get it)."

"(Can you describe the rifle)."

"(Simply said, it has a lot of contraption on it. I'm sure you can carry it. Now go, while he is distracted)."

Tyral did just that, running towards the wall while the two monsters fight. When he had finally reached the wall, he could see the rest of the plan was in motion, due to Rhynsa's engineering. Despite of his miscalculation at the part he was involved, he did this part perfectly.

The rest of the hellhounds that attacked the front door were taken by surprise when they broke the gate. Not only did they meet with the defenders of the town ready to blast them off to the sky, but they were tricked by the smoke. The fire and the smoke came from a big bonfire in the town's square, which was made to look like as if it took the wooden houses around the square. To get out with the 'commotion', the hellhounds pretended to be civilians, shouting in surface languages while pretending to try to put the fire out. They were actually regrouping and getting ready to ambush the hellhounds. Many of those hellhounds had been killed by many of the gate's guards (Rhynsa chose specific hellhounds that could kill a lot of their kinds), and when they finally breached the wall, they were met by silence, before they were ambushed by the people living in the town. Rhynsa had also engineered some able refugees to fight the attackers.

Lilac ran up to the tower to give a signal to the soldiers, after learning it from Rhynsa, who also learned about it from spies he had captured. Being a manipulative character by heart, Rhynsa threatened the two hellhound spies so they would compile, but in the end he both punished and humiliated them when they were casted into the bonfire, which ironically was one of the panicked voices. While hellhounds would not be able to be killed by the fire, their clothes would burn, which was a humiliation fitting to them.

Tyrall saw the fight had already ended by their point with the surviving hellhound enemies surrendering, yet he had no time contemplating with the situation. He needed to get the rifle back to Rhynsa. He found the chest, hidden beneath some bushes, and opened it. He let out a gasp.

"(What the fuck, Rhynsa?!)" he exclaimed while pulling out the heavy weapon. "(You are planning to kill him with this?)"

Meanwhile, Kghron and Artios managed to fight to a standstill, while Rhynsa watched, hoping that Kghron could finish that hellhound...for Rhynsa. Khgron could not gain the upper hand because of Artios's mechanized body, and he realized that, even if they could fight each other forever, Kghron would be the one who would lose in the end. Demons may had a great stamina, but if the enemy was using artificial power, Kghron would not keep up. Even at that time, he had been using up more than he usually did, and he was panting, heart racing. He was getting tired.

Artios, too, had sustained a lot of damage because of his fight with a wrath demon. His earlier composure had started to fade away as his attack became more frantic and far more aggressive than before. He could not believe that, even as much as he had augmented himself, he still could not defeat a fifth circle demon. It was the first time he had ever fought to a standstill. It was not right. He was supposed to win!

"Why won't you die?!" exclaimed Artios while punching Kghron directly at his stomach. The wrath demon coughed and threw up. While it wasn't enough to make him fly or break some ribs, that attack took out the air inside him. He was fortunate he had a strong grip, otherwise he would lose his footing and got hit by another punch from the left. He dodged it and let himself fall. With his strong hooved legs, he kicked the cyborg hellhound while throwing him over. Artios managed to recover, rolling as he landed. That was when he saw Rhynsa watching them. He quickly ran towards where Rhynsa was, with the latter tried to scramble away. The bat-hound failed to escape with his broken legs, and was quickly caught by Artios, held up by the neck.

"(I should've known you won't die that easily)," said Artios. Rhynsa tried his best to struggle free, but Artios's artificial body was stronger. He threw the bat-hound away, hurtling him towards a horizontal beam. Rhynsa was not able to defend himself as his back landed on that beam with such a force that it broke. Just then, he felt a paralyzing sensation on his body, numbing his body. Not only that, he felt a sharp pain on his back. By instinct, he tried to move from Artios, but to his horror, he couldn't feel his legs.

Artios casually walked towards him, but he was distracted by Kghron. The wrath demon managed to get his attention by breaking most part of his body, to which he looked away from Rhynsa's body. Tyrall came towards him at this moment, carrying the weapon.

"(I don't know what are you planning to do with this shit, but this thing will throw you away! I've seen contraptions like these in development in abandoned factories, but...)"

"(I made it myself. Come on, we've got no time to waste!)"

Tyrall helped Rhynsa to move so he was in a prone position. The bat-hound tried not to think much about the sensation that was lost. He concentrated on the mobility of the rest of his body. He may not be able to stand or walk, but considering how the recoil of this gun worked, it was at his advantage.

"(Luckily I put the gas in it before this fight. Now, Tyrall, stand behind me. This weapon is far more powerful than the high-caliber rifle)."

Using his natural ability of sniping, he could pinpoint Artios's movement. He was still distracted by Kghron. Rhynsa was waiting for a moment when Artios stopped moving. He knew that if Artios was not distracted, he would not be able to have the time to discharge the bullet.

Kghron, out of stamina, lost his footing and slipped. Artios stopped at that split second, preparing a final blow towards the wrath demon. That was when Rhynsa got his aim, and pulled the trigger.

High pressure gas escaped from the valves of the wooden rifle, creating a voice like a kettle with a boiling water. Along with the spring inside the rifle. It made a very great discharge speed that was far more powerful than a high-caliber rifle. The bullet came out not long after, went through the muzzle with a bang. That took Artios's attention, but he was too slow to realize the bullet's deadly velocity.

In a matter of second, the bullet pierced through Artios's heart. The hellhound cyborg stopped dead in his path, before he fell beside Kghron. Rhynsa exhaled, looked at his rifle, and said, "(This is one hell of a gun I made)."