As ferret-Scourge kept trying to attack me, I managed to pull my sword out and give them a few souvenirs in return. I wasn't able to cut any of them deep enough that they backed off for a bit but I did manage to cut the claws off of one's paw. it may have been an accident but I didn't care, and neither did it since it kept trying to slash me with that same paw.

"I recommend that you prepare to release your shield," Cai told me.

"Why?" I demanded as I swung the Scourge I still had my arm in around to block another swipe from its buddies.

"I calculate that it is coming to the point of suffocation that it will be unconcious," Cai answered. "When that happens its body will go totally limp and you will likely be unable to move about so easily."

"Dead weight, gotcha," I said, starting to spin myself around and extending my Scourge like a whip out from me.

As I spun I managed to hit at least two more of the attacking Scourge with their friend which made them all back up and group together. That was perfect for what I had in mind. As I swung around one last time, I let go of whatever I was holding inside the Scourge's throat and watched it fly outward.

My aim could have been better but the other Scourge were distracted by the sight of their screaming, heaving friend flying through the air past them that I was able to get closer and cut the head off one and a few feet off the others.

As soon as my sword cut through the first foot, they noticed me and remembered that I was their real target. Spitting and hissing, the two I had injured tried to climb me like their friend had and ended up tangling themselves together. I had learned with the Hellhounds not to hesitate when things like this happened, so I closed what little distance had opened up between us and thrust my sword into their wriggling mass at least four times. I didn't hit anything vital enough for a quick kill since they both untangled themselves quickly after I began to stab them.

Before I could back up or charge them, the Scourge I had thrown a moment ago crashed into me, and it was as angry as my last ex when I wore a tuxedo shirt to dinner with her parents. Claws scraping along my armor, and teeth gnashing toward my face, the Scourge took full advantage of the opprotunity it had and worked to maul me in revenge for what I had done to it.

It was either more wounded than I thought or I hit something important because when I managed to stab my sword into this Scourge it fought on for a bit before simply falling over and pinning me to the ground. I did my best to wrggle out from under it but I didn't succeed before one of the other Scourge hooked me with a claw and dragged me out from beneath their dead friend. I was glad that I kept my grip on my sword because as soon as I was free enough I swung my blade around and cut off another paw from this one, forcing it to drop me and to lose its frontmost legs and be unable to walk easily.

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While the other was suddenly writhing on the ground trying to stand and bite at me, the last Scourge was methodically stalking toward me and preparing to bite out my throat. I pulled myself to my feet quick enough that I was able to meet its pounce with another slash of my sword and cleave its face in half. Scourge brain sprayed all over me and my helmet, blocking my vision, with no time to wipe it off and unable to see where I was going to run to, I ripped my helmet off and threw it to the side.

Now, the planet I had been put on had a similar atmosphere to Earth I was told. Close to seventy percent nitrogen and nearly twenty-five percent oxygen, Cai had assured me that it was safe to breathe soon after I woke up and so I had kept my suit's life support system on minimal which meant that it was scanning for harmful substances but it wasn't actively filtering anything and I was breathing the planet's atmosphere almost constantly. I guess the taste of it was different, but if I had insisted my suit filter it all I would have suffocated after the first day since the Wardens had been stingy with this suit and made it one that didn't have a refillable power charge to keep the life support running at full bore for as long as needed. All this is just to say that I was fine and could breathe well enough after getting rid of my helmet.

Now able to see and feeling just a little too exposed for my taste, I pulled my sword up to my shoulder in a ready stance and faced the last Scourge alive. It was still flopping around a little trying to support its weight with one full set of legs at the back of it and missing the rest of one side and the frontmost one on the other side. It looked kind of pathetic and made me feel a little bad about cutting all its legs off but I didn't have time to leave it alive. As soon as it was able to stand on its remaining legs, it would come for me even if I wasn't here anymore. I had to kill it and do it quickly.

Easily, so as not to make it suddenly lunge at me, I moved around it to its backside, and as quietly as, I could approached it. Past the legs still trying to support it, past the wounds that spread across its body, I made my way to its head. As I approached, it stopped moving and turned its head to look up at me. This was the first time I was able to study the eyes that Scourge had and I found it a little freaky.

The pupil was slitted like a cat's but it lay on its side rather than going up and down. The iris it had was red and filled the rest of the visible orb like a dogs did so that no white showed through. The worst part was the emotion I saw inside of it. There wasn't pain in its gaze, nor acceptance or even anger or sadness. It was all hate, this thing hated me and everything I represented, life itself.

Before it could open its mouth to snap at me, I was raising my sword and plunging it into the Scourge's head, destroying the brain and ending what felt like the most difficult fight I'd had up to this point.

"Cai," I said, out of breath, "please be a little more on the ball with warning me about walking into Scourge nests. Please."

"I will strive to do better Rickshaw," he promised.