"Took you long enough."

Okay, so I kinda forgot! Whatever.

"This was your plan," sighed Sentenza.

Yeah, and that dang clown was cutting up my shirt again. Death complained as he waddled behind Sentenza.

Sentenza held his hand out to stop Death. The fog was especially thick around them, but there was something else. A feeling of decay hung around them. It was as if they had stepped into an ancient graveyard with millions of corpses lying just below the surface.

Why'd you stop?

Sentenza motioned over to the side with his head but didn't say anything. Death leaned over him to look where he was pointing, but the mist was just too thick.

I can't see anything, what...

BANG!

Sentenza pulled his gun out and fired off to the side. That made Death jump back and look around them.

Whoa! What was that? Are we under attack? Is it that crazy clown!?!

Sentenza waved his empty hand to motion Death to follow him as he held his pistol out in front. The skeletal Death slowly walked behind the assassin.

What? Are you giving me the silent treatment now? Is this because I wouldn't show you that cool kickflip? I told you I just need a... Death stopped short as the thing Sentenza shot at finally came into view.

Lying against the side of a wooden building was a vaguely humanoid creature. It looked like a withered, male corpse. Flesh had grown over where his eyes should have been, and his mouth was full of crooked, yellow teeth. Next to his head was a smoking hole from where Sentenza's bullet had gone. He had nothing but a loincloth to protect his modesty. The cloth had clearly been bright red at one point, but time seemed to have stripped away everything but the faintest hint of its former color. His right arm was covered in small bumps and thin black lines. Almost like a bunch of rocks had been haphazardly pushed inside by someone in a hurry. On the pinky of his right hand was a single tarnished silver ring, with a cracked black stone set in it.

Sentenza pointed his gun at the corpse's face. He glanced back at Death, and then towards the strange form lying before them.

What? Do you want something?

Sentenza nodded.

What?

Sentenza motioned his head towards the figure, and then froze in place. Sentenza's eyes went down and locked on a massive black sword. The hilt was tarnished silver with an ornate rose as its pommel, and on the crossguard there was a clear place for a large gem, but it was empty. The sword looked heavy enough that even Trizel might need two hands to wield it properly. It also gave off a strange feeling, like of a diamond shattered in the mud.

Sentenza glanced from the sword back up to the creature, and carefully kicked away the sword. As soon as the sword moved, the creature's face perked up, and began to chitter his teeth as he looked towards the sword. Sentenza carefully backed away as the corpse fell onto its side and crawled towards the weapon. It was like watching a marionette trying to move with half of its strings cut. Each limb jumped and jittered as he pulled himself towards the blade.

That thing's alive! Death exclaimed in surprise as he jumped up.

His bones made a rattling noise, and the creature quickly turned its head towards Death. He let out an unearthly howl as the lines on his arm all split open to reveal dozens of different eyes peering around. He grabbed the hilt of the sword and a white spirit seemed to burst out of him, but not everywhere. Along his left arm a second arm made of white lines seemed to spring forth to hold the sword. The left side of his chest and the left side of his face also seemed to have a spirit burst forth, with pale, see through, and quite regal armor standing in front of his chest and a young, handsomely beaded, human face with a slim crown atop his head springing out a few inches from the desiccated face of the original. It was almost like a sort of mask.

Sentenza fired his gun at the creature's forehead, but it just bounced off. The assassin started to back up as he sent another shot at an eye on the creature's left arm. It landed with a squelch, and quickly closed again. This made the beast roar again, but this time there were two voices coming from it. Slowly it stood up, but the sword seemed too heavy for it, as it dragged it behind on the ground.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Guess that's our cue to run." said Sentenza as he dashed past Death.

Hey! Wait for me!

Now that he had been disturbed, the monster wasn't quiet at all. With roars of anger and the constant sound of a massive sword dragging along the ground.

What was all that back there? Asked Death as he struggled to keep up with Sentenza. Why wouldn't you say anything?

"When it didn't move after I fired at it, I figured it was better safe than sorry. Especially when I saw it didn't have any eyes." Sentenza said as he reloaded his pistol. "You don't really speak out loud, so I figured there was no harm in that. Seems I was right."

But it did have eyes! A ton of them all over its arm! Death's bones rattled as he wrapped his arms around himself. It freaks me out just thinking about it.

Sentenza quickly came to a stop and spun around to tackle Death. In front of them, the monster was bringing his sword down onto a tent they were just about to pass by. The massive blade slammed into the ground so hard, for a few seconds the mist was pushed away. As Sentenza pushed the two of them back, he turned around and started to fire his gun at more of the eyes on the monster's arm. He managed to get three shots off before the beast moved again.

"Come on," snarled Sentenza as he grabbed Death by his shirt and yanked him to his feet. "We've got to go."

I...he's... Death's voice was practically trembling. I shouldn't. I shouldn't know him, but I do. It's like all of the dead reapers cry out like a chorus from his shattered spirit. He's a blight that demands to be fixed. It pulls me in, but that's just what he wants.

Sentenza kept pulled Death forward, as the skeleton still seemed too stunned to move on his own. "Why'd it take you until now to see it? You got a good eyeful of him earlier, didn't you?"

Death seemed to ignore Sentenza as he kept rattling on. Mileaer the undying. The accursed one. Ulairi the phantom. Zutaagon the betrayer. The hollow king...

Sentenza rolled his eyes as Death kept rattling of names and titles for the creature. "Pick a name and stick to it. I'm not going to rattle off a list, so you know who I'm talking about."

Illskamaurzer. Radash the greedy. The killer of death...

Sentenza shook Death by his shirt. "If you don't want him to get you, you had better get your head on straight." Sentenza looked up, scowled, and shoved Death as far away from him as he could before he dove backwards himself. He covered his face with one hand, while he aimed and fired his pistol with his other.

The hollow king brought down his sword between the two of them. It split through the wooden stand next to them and sent out a cascade of splinters as the wood shattered under the weight of the blade. The sword crashed through into the ground itself and sent chunks of rock as well.

Sentenza managed to hit one more eye, but the barrage of debris forced him to bring his arm up to try and protect himself. "Get to my wagon!" he yelled out as most of the splinters failed to pierce his leather coat. "My rifle might be strong enough to get through his thick skin."

As Sentenza yelled, the hollow king turned his head towards him. His phantom face seemed to stare right at Sentenza, and for a moment, Sentenza stared back. Sentenza licked his lips as he lied on his back with his gun pointed at the scrawny man.

That won't help, Death said as he seemed to get ahold of himself at last. When the mist cleared, my whole essence started to scream at me that his soul needs to be taken now. Like I was a librarian and had stumbled on a library book that's been missing for centuries. It's saying, "Hey! Vacation's over! You need to get to work now!" But he feeds off of Death like me. It's a wicked, half existence that makes me want to vomit.

Sentenza glared at the hollow king, and he glared right back. Slowly, Sentenza stood up and the hollow king turned to face him with his entire body. The massive sword was still in the ground and didn't move an inch as he turned his body. Sentenza popped out the chamber of his pistol and reloaded it all while he kept his eyes transfixed with the monster's ethereal one.

"Get going then." Sentenza said in an eerily calm voice. "Grab the others, flee for your life, I don't care. I can't let a gaze like that get off scot-free."

What are you talking about? He'll kill you! Trust me, I'd know.

"Go!" said Sentenza as he smiled cruelly. "You're just a distraction for me now. Besides, who'll set everything up for the big event if this guy takes both of us out."

Death looked up at the hollow king. His bones rattled in fear, but then he made a small fist in one hand as he adjusted his tiny sunglasses. His bones didn't stop rattling, but he stood up and grit his teeth together.

But, with the mist, neither of them could see the other. The hollow king was, after all, just the size of a regular man, even if his sword was massive. Sentenza lifted his gun towards the man, while Death reached under his shirt, and up into his own ribcage.

The hollow king let out a low moan as he started to lift his giant sword. Sentenza let out a quick series of six shots as soon as he started to move. All of them were aimed for his hand that was holding the sword.

As the shots rang out, Death leaped forward with his battle cry of Cowabunga! He pulled his hand out from under his ribcage, and in it was his scythe. It came out cleanly, but the blade caught on the bottom of his shirt, splitting it down the middle and almost turning it into more of a vest than a shirt. With exceptional speed, he swung the glittering blade around to behead the hollow king.

The bullets each hit one of the hollow king's fingers with the finally one hitting the hilt. Each one bounced off of his flesh, but the force of their impact pushed his hand each time. When the sixth shot hit the sword's handle, the weapon bounced out of his hand. Before he could grab it again, Death's scythe slammed into the ethereal mask over his neck. It seemed to have been stopped short, but a thin line began to spread across his neck from where the scythe was touching his neck.

As Sentenza quickly reloaded, the hollow king lifted up his right arm towards the assassin and held open his palm to reveal a completely round eye surrounded by an ornate golden inlay that took up the entire center of his hand. He pointed the eye directly at Sentenza, and for the first time, he struggled to reload his pistol. His hands shook and bullets seemed to bounce away from the chambers as he tried to load them in. Sentenza coughed, and a small spurt of blood flew from his mouth as his eyes started to turn red.

While his right hand was pointed at Sentenza, the hollow king spun his left hand back towards Death. As his right arm stayed completely still, with its many eyes staring at Sentenza, the rest of his body spun around, and his left arm slammed into Death and sent the skeleton flying. His arm stayed behind still holding his scythe as the blade seemed embedded in the spectral neck of the hollow king.

A monstrous growl rang out as the hollow king tried to pull the scythe off of him, but it wouldn't budge. Finally, he moved his right arm away from Sentenza to try and pull the weapon out. Sentenza immediately collapsed onto the ground and began to cough uncontrollably. Finally, he managed to control himself, and swallowed the blood in his mouth as he grabbed his pistol from off of the ground. He looked up at the hollow king and saw him struggle. As he tried to stand, he stumbled, but managed to catch himself against the side of a tent. However, he couldn't manage to keep his feet, and slowly sunk down onto the ground again.

Death tugged on Sentenza's arm as he crawled out next to him. Sorry bro. He said, It's this dang fog. If I could just move more freely, I'm sure we'd be doing better.

Sentenza nodded. "Can you grab that sword?" he managed to cough out. "His right arm is trouble, but if you can distract him long enough, I think I can take out that eye in his hand. As long as he isn't swinging that sword around, we might have a chance."

No way! It's freaking massive, and I have literally zero muscle.

"Hey, what are we whispering about?"

The two of them nearly jumped as Pockets popped her nose out from under the tent. That was quickly followed by the rest of her head.

Sentenza sputtered a bit but managed to swallow everything again. He looked down at her and asked, "Can you grab that sword over there?"

As the hollow king finally managed to pull out the scythe and toss it far into the distance, Pockets said, "You mean this one?" She reached into her oversized shorts, and started to pull out the hollow king's sword, starting with the rose pommel.