Leon had always wondered how a cornered beast felt when it realized that it was going to die. Despair. Rage. Confusion. All of these emotions swirled in his head as he held the shattered remains of his trusty spear, Spartan. To his left, a duo of Luo Garou sized him up, their shaggy black fur glistening in the moon light. Scarlet blood, the blood of Leon's fallen teammates dripped from their fangs. To his right, a large silver cobra coiled around the corpse of another one of Leon's teammates. The cold, golden eyes of the prime predator stared into him searching for weaknesses. Finding many, the king of snakes hissed a cruel sound, one that rattled and rasped so that it sounded similar to a laugh.

And finally, the figure of a black cloaked man stood directly in front of Leon, a mere ten meters away. If Leon were in his prime, this was a distance he could cover in half a second. But as he was now, he was unsure just how much longer he could even stand. The cloaked man wore a white half mask that covered his eyes and nose. His mouth was left exposed, unsettlingly bright pearly white teeth exposed in a wide, gleefully sadistic grin. He was also stood with his legs bent for a reason that Leon couldn't quite comprehend. After staring at Leon for several seconds, his teeth parted and he began to speak.

"Look at you. A high level executioner team like yours, defeated by one man and eight monsters. How far has your group fallen?" He said with a voice steeped in shear depraved joy. Leon shuddered at the man's voice. It enraged him that a man this foul and depraved would finally be the one to kill him. The masked man spoke again.

"You're covered in your own blood. And your spear is broken. What a sorry state. What ever will you do?"

The man's taunt cut at Leon's already wavering resolve. It was true. Leon, who normally stood tall, his crimson hair pulled back in a thin pony tail. His skin was tanned from many years training in the sun and he had a lean and muscular figure. His face was kind and many would describe him as handsome, much like a hero from an old legend. His clothing consisted of a tight fitting bronze chest plate, black pants, boots and a long scarlet coat.

Now, Leon stood slumped, nursing many small wounds in his abdomen. His hair had been ripped and torn, and his ponytail had been cut off. His skin -and flesh for that matter- had been torn off in patches of varying size. His face was now streaked with blood, and several cuts and bruises now covered up his once handsome face. With his spear broken in two, and his armor mostly destroyed, Leon hated just how true his attacker's words were.

What would he do? Leon looked at the monsters again, saw the blood again, and slowly and ever so painfully began to force himself to stand up. With each vertebra of his spine that straightened, a dagger of agony jabbed into him. Even so, he forced himself up, wincing with each movement. As he moved, the man in the mask began to giggle hysterically, his laughter intensifying with each of Leon's winces. Now, as Leon finished standing up, he quit laughing and spoke again.

"What ''are'' you doing?! Still trying to fight? I must say, I really thought you'd lost your resolve. But to see you like this, driven by delusional bravado and foolish heroism, I must ask you this. Why do you stand? Why, when your teammates are dead, and you're in such horrid shape must you keep fighting? Wouldn't it be easier to just let us kill you?" The man's voice was playful. Leon's eyes narrowed. His head cleared more and more with each of the man's questions. With the last question asked, Leon prepared his answer.  

"I stand because no one else can. You took my friend's lives from them, and you seem to think that you'll be able to put that behind you carelessly. I'm standing here to make sure you can't do that. Yeah, I'm in terrible shape. I can barely see, and I'm certain that I'll die from blood loss within the hour. But for as long as I have left, be that seconds, minutes or even half an hour, I'll use that time to make a memory. That memory will be yours, and it will be of the man who made you pay for killing his friends." As Leon spoke, waves of red energy began to pulsate from the broken halves of his polearm. These waves, light in color and short in length pulsated faster and faster as Leon pushed the broken halves of his spear together. When the splintered ends met, the waves stopped, instead transforming into thin lines that lashed the ends of the spear together. The light quickly wrapped around the broken area and pulled itself tight, tying it back together.

Leon pointed his now whole polearm at the man in the mask and flashed him a grin. This smile did not show any happiness. No, when paired with the burning rage in Leon's scarlet eyes, it was actually quite the fierce expression. The masked man chuckled and reached into his cloak with one of his boney hands and withdrew a rapier from a scabbard that he held in his other hand. The blade was long and wide at the base, as well as being shiny silver in color, likely a meter and a half in length, and a silver skull with gleaming ruby eyes adorned the cross guard, grinning evilly at whoever faced the blade point first. 

"En garde!" He said, his tone ripe with anticipative glee.

A tense second passed between Leon and his opponents, a silence so thin that merely breathing would break it. As that second passed, hell began to break loose. Crimson light shimmered as Leon stepped forwards, his various wounds spurting blood as he moved. The Lou Garou snarled and attacked, claws flashing and jaws snapping. Slobber and blood flew through the air as they bore down on Leon, who turned in a tenth of a second and thrust his spear through the first Lou Garou's abdomen. The beast's scarlet eyes fading to a dull maroon as blood spurted from the wound. Red energy pooled around the tip of Leon's polearm, and burst forwards, out of the beast's body. A gaping hole the size of a small table now where the massive monster's chest had once been, the Lou Garou fell backwards and hit the ground with a thud. Just as the other realized that it's comrade was dead, Leon's spear tore through that one's chest as well. The same sequence of actions repeated, The beast's eyes faded red energy pooled and then exploded, another massive hole replaced the other Lou Garou's chest. As the Lou Garou fell, the silver cobra struck at Leon, hissing as it struck. These specific type of cobra could strike nearly as fast as the muzzle velocity of some fire arms, and yet Leon still turned and blocked the monster's strike with a twirl of his spear!

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The cobra struck again, and Leon parried the strike, dancing backwards on his left foot and avoiding another strike. The cobra swung it's tail at Leon's legs, and just before the tail could strike him, Leon jumped over it, thrusting his spear downwards and striking the cobra's tail. Sparks flew, and the smell of ozone filled the air as the spear's point glanced off of the cobra's scales. The silver king cobra's scales are resistant to most any form of attack, but this was something that Leon was well aware of. The cobra suddenly screamed in pain and darted back as the area Leon had stabbed flopped about uselessly. Leon's stab had failed to break the beasts scales, this much was true. However, it had managed to break several of the snake's more delicate bones, ones that allowed for quick movements and sudden turns. The king cobra struck once more, but the battle was already over. With it's mobility damaged, it wasn't long before one of Leon's spear thrusts ripped through the cobra's throat. With the silvery snake deceased, that left one target for Leon to fight.

The masked man. With a flick of his blade, the masked man dashed at Leon and attacked with a quick thrust, the air igniting from the sheer speed of his strike. Leon blocked the flaming sword with a quick spin of his spear, and then sprung back a couple of meters. The cloaked man crossed the new distance in an instant, striking with another jab and when Leon parried that blow, he struck with a slash. Leon swept the haft of his spear to the side, and narrowly missed his opponent, who ducked under his attack at the last possible fraction of a second. The masked man skipped back, and Leon did as well. Now with a full twelve meters to work with, Leon and his anonyms assailant rushed each other, both disappearing into blurs. Jabs from the masked man's rapier flew at Leon like a hail storm, and Leon weathered the attacks with skillful ducks, leaps and side steps. Blood spurted from each of Leon's wounds with each step, soaking the earth and grass. 

Leon's time was running out. He felt his movements begin to slow, and his vision became hazier than before. It seems his first assessment of his condition had been right. He'd only had a few dozen seconds. His opponent also seemed to notice this. The masked man bore down even harder now, striking and slashing furiously with deadly grace and precision. Leon's movements slowed even more. The masked man thrust his blade to the right, and as Leon twisted his lance to parry, he was blindsided and struck to the ground by an exceptionally powerful kick. As Leon lay there, his attacker loomed over him and raised his sword again. This time, his foe meant to kill him.

The masked man giggled. Leon tried to force himself up as he slowly approached, raising his rapier higher and higher with each step. Now, he licked his lips. In a few seconds, one of the greatest Executioners of all time would be dead. The kicker was that it would be by ''his'' hand. The hand of a man everyone rejected. One that everyone hated. Look at him now, seconds away from murdering a man that everyone loved. That everyone wanted to be like. He imagined the look on all their faces, and he laughed louder than he ever had before. The masked man stopped walking. He was now right in front of Leon, who had managed to force himself onto one knee. The energy that bound Leon's spear had dispelled, and the broken halves of Leon's spear now stood embedded in the ground.

"What's this? No more brave threats or foolish dreams of victory? How sad. You even failed to give me a memorable fight." The masked man chuckled and his sword quivered as his hand shook with anticipated ecstasy. Leon raised his head, blood dripping from his forehead. The blood leaked into his eye, causing the Executioner to wince. The masked man's smile grew wider as Leon glared up at him, his defiant expression still etched onto his face.

"That look... even now, you are still able to hold your head as high as you are able. It would seem that your bravado wasn't delusional at all. I've changed my mind, Executioner. I'll remember this moment forever." The masked man drew his rapier back to strike the killing blow, but froze when Leon spoke.

"You sure will." Leon said in a barely audible voice.

"Excuse me? Could you repeat that?" The masked man asked, leaning down so that he could hear Leon.

"I said, You sure will remember this!" Leon shouted as loud as he could muster, and ripped the pointed head of his spear from the ground and thrust upwards, the point of the spear shattering the mask and ripping into the masked man's face. The unmasked man howled in agony as red energy pooled at the point of Leon's spear. With another defiant shout, a shimmering scarlet beam burst from the tip of the spear. Leon's attacker's face was burned by the attack, his skin charring and flesh melting from his face as he wailed in agony. The masked man fell backwards, and hit the ground with a meaty thud. Smoke poured from the man's face, and the acrid stench of burned meat filled the air. Using both halves of his spear as canes, Leon lifted himself to his feet. Leon began to walk away from the cloaked man, who whimpered and covered his face with his misshapen and boney hands.

Using the very last of his energy, Leon left the clearing with a dash. He leapt over the tree line and into the forest, landing in a grove that sat just under a large oak tree. Leon propped himself up against the tree, and coughed up more blood. Leon looked up. Leon had never really cared for scenery, but as the moon and the stars shone down on him, he found them to be the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on. As he gazed at the night sky, his mind wandered. He thought of his home. Of his family. And of his girlfriend, Bianca. With a final sign shortly followed by a penultimate breath, Leon Hoplin Kopis closed his eyes and lay still.

"Oh dear, what a unfortunate state."

Fate was on the side of this Executioner, for tonight, a savior appeared before him.