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was swinging the sword like his arms were made of rubber and wheezing as if his lungs were about to explode. The debris of the slaughter was piling up around them like cords of wood. The new legions of dead troops climbed over their dismembered comrades like Pickett's men storming the ramparts of Little Round Topand their fate was the same as Pickett's. To avoid being buried under an avalanche of skulls and rib cages, the Dark Man and his goateed apprentice had to keep scrambling higher and higher up the pile, until finally they found themselves standing alone atop an eight-foot mountain of bones. The Dark Man raised his sword over his head and let out a blood-chilling howl, "You'll never beat me! No one can beat me!" |
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In the midst of his moment of triumph, the mound of bodies began to sway. Skulls rolled down the sides like bowling balls, only to shatter like eggshells at the bottom. The Dark Man lost his grip on the knife when he instinctively threw out his arms to maintain his balance. "What the" |
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Cyrus erupted from the hiding place the dead had prepared for him underneath their own bodiesa pocket they had formed in their midst and shielded from the dark fiend's probing mind with a wall of psychic white noise. Before the mad witch doctor could even blink, Cyrus ripped the talisman from the man's neck and hurled it away into the darkest corner of the cavern. Then he grabbed the Dark Man by his shoulders and lifted him straight upup into the baleful glare of his yellow eyes. His transformation had begun. And the werewolf didn't care much for what it saw. |
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For the first time since the desert, Cyrus completely relinquished control. |
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Go ahead, he thought as he let his mind retreat, just this once. Make him pay. |
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And his mind was swept away by a tidal wave of primitive blood-lust. It was like watching a train wreck in freeze-frame. The lower part of his jaw unhinged like the mouth of a snake and he sank his fangs into the Dark Man's cheek, piercing the man's right eye like a rotten grape. The witch doctor's scream |
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