Passive Aggressive

The sister finally catches up and witnesses the battle between her brother and Cordayl.

She is amazed watching Cordayl battle her brother on even grounds, as he is one of the mightiest in their kingdom. As the fight gets more ferocious, she decides to intervene.

"Stop!" She yells, running towards the battle.

Cordayl and the brother see her sprinting towards them and shout in unison, "Stay out of this!" Their words halt her approach, and she stands there motionless.

Now upset, the sister walks away from the battle and stomps through the forest, furious. In her anger, she trips over a thick tree root.

"Allow me, " a deep and random voice says, placing his hand down to help her up.

The sister accepts it and looks into the face of a man wearing a face mask and a cowboy hat.

"Glad to finally catch up to you." The gentleman says. "I'll leave you to my associates while I check up on that brother of yours," The Cowboy says, tilting his hat.

As he walks past her, the cowboy's gang snickers, as they smile at the easy catch.

Cordayl and the brother match blow for blow as they continue to fight. As they disengage once again, the cowboy walks into the scene.

"My, you boys are some fierce fighters. I reckon an old fart like me might be outmatched. But then again, I've had that thought before and been wrong every time." The cowboy says while removing his hat and rolling up his sleeves.

"Hope you don't mind me jumping in," the cowboy says, cracking his neck, "But I'm here to collect the bounty on this prince's head. And I will be collecting tonight." The cowboy states.

"Jump in this fight, and you'll be jumping into your grave," Cordayl says in unison with the voice.

The cowboy laughs at hearing this threat. "Son, I've been dancing with the devil for decades. I doubt you're ready for the spotlight on this dance floor."

"Funny because everyone calls me the Diablo. I hope you can keep up," Cordayl remarks.

"The Diablo!" the cowboy exclaims, finally recognizing Cordayl. Now smiling, the cowboy says, "Well shoot, you just made this night a hell of a lot more beneficial. The reward plus the notoriety will do me wonders. Hell, I might keep your head as a trophy."

"Everyone wants to have my head." Cordayl shakes his head as he walks to the side, giving him even distance between the cowboy and the twin.

The three stare at each other before they rush into a three-way battle of mortal combat.

The cowboy is a very experienced fighter and holds his own against Cordayl and the Prince.

Cordayl fights with the cowboy, who dodges a lethal elbow from Cordayl. The elbow is so strong and sharp that it splits his mask in half. Cordayl follows with another punch that sends the cowboy skidding away, but then Cordayl is hit by the Prince.

The Cowboy spits out blood before showing a crooked smile. "You sure can tango, Diablo. But let's see you really dance!" The Cowboy shouts before pointing his fingers and shooting energy bullets at his opponents.

Cordayl and the twin duck and dodge bullets that seem to never end. But Cordayl notices that the Cowboy briefly pauses to drink some liquid. Figuring this is how he reloads, Cordayl knows he has to bide his time until he sees another window.

The Prince decides to rush in. The Cowboy sees him and starts to shoot, retreating until he finishes his gulping down more of his beverage.

Cordayl shakes his head at the prince's lack of patience, and moves to jump in because he still needs him alive, but a sudden shake of the ground stops him as his attention is drawn to the forest.

Realizing that the sister might be in trouble, Cordayl sprints toward the noise, hoping the brother is strong enough to fend for himself for a little bit.

The sister dodges heavy attacks from this large brute, swinging the handle of a giant pistol around like a bludgeon while also attacking and defending against the other cowboys in the gang.

She is defending herself well, but she isn't nearly as battle-experienced as her brother, and the numbers of the gang slowly start to overwhelm her.

She gets caught off guard and is hit with a combination attack that ends with her getting smacked with the giant pistol. The hit sends her flying and crashing through the forest, smashing into the rugged bark of a giant tree.

The sister can only sit there in pain as she listens to the giant footsteps approach her. She tries her hardest to stand, but her body doesn't have the strength, and she falls forward onto her hands and knees.

The giant cowboy comes into view and lets out a sinister chuckle as he slowly walks to capture the sister.

"I just love the sight of a woman on her knees, " the giant says as he stomps closer and closer. The sister gets angry, but she knows there isn't much she can do.

Then the footsteps stop.

The cocky cowboy is now grunting and stopped in his tracks. The sister looks up to see the giant of a man sweating and gritting his teeth just a few yards away.

Confused about what is happening, the girl winces when she feels an invisible pressure drop onto the man, sending him crashing to his knees.

The girl looks in amazement at this colossal human being restrained by some unknown force.

Then she hears Cordayl's voice, but it sounds different. It was a lot colder than it was ten minutes ago.

"Where are your manners, big man? She is royalty, and you are scum. Lower than scum for hitting a woman. You should be on your face, begging her forgiveness," Cordayl says, magnifying the pressure around him a third time.

The ground around the giant cracks under the force of gravity and the giant is forced to eat dirt as the strain becomes too much for him to bear.

As the giant's head smushes into the ground, the sister sees Cordayl standing behind him, a minacious, dark aura clouding him. The look in his eyes pure hellfire, as he stares at the man being crushed before him.

"Cordayl?" The sister whispers in confusion and fear. Seeing Cordayl's pure black aura has her scared to even move.

Hearing his name, Cordayl looks up and sees the fear in her eyes and releases the gravity.

Cordayl walks past the unconscious giant and walks to check on the sister.

Helping her stand, Cordayl apologizes, "Sorry, I'm still pretty hungry," he explains. "Are you okay?"

The girl can't deny what she just saw. Just a brief glimps of the Diablo's power is enough to shake a mountain, but seeing the kindness returned to his eyes, the sister can't help but jump into his arms.

Cordayl is mildly shocked at her reaction, but feeling her trembling body, Cordayl embraces her to let her know she is safe.

The two conclude the hug, and she wipes her eyes. "Thank y-" she tries to say, but then pure terror enters her body as she sees what is behind Cordayl.

The giant has risen. With eyes white with rage, and his huge pistol aimed directly at Cordayl's dome. Cordayl casually turns his head to the side, not phased by his presence at all.

The gun explodes in his face. And the sound rips through the forest, waking the snoring Esquimo out of his sleep.

Looking around the campsite, Esquimo sees no one in their sleeping bags and quickly grabs his sword and trots through the forest. "This is why the lad is always grumpy. He never gets any sleep." Esquimo mumbles as he races to join Cordayl.

The giant is yards away as the impact of the recoil sent him backward. Breathing hard, the giant curses himself. "Damn it, the boss is gonna take my cut for killing the girl."

"No, he won't," the giant hears a voice say through the smoke cloud. "Dead men don't get paid," Cordayl states, only his silhouette visible through the smoke.

The giant cowboy can't believe it and throws the pistol into his other hand. Cocking it back and aiming it at the smoke cloud, he pulls the trigger.

Before the bullet can leave the barrel, Cordayl teleports across the distance and crushes the barrel of the gun.

The giant bullet explodes within the piece and blows the cowboy's hand clean off. As the giant is wincing in pain, Cordayl knees the giant in the mouth before he can scream.

The giant falls backward, but Cordayl reverses gravity, pulling him into the air. Cordayl punches the giant harder and harder, forcing his body to bounce off the earth and float back to him as if he were angrily dribbling a giant basketball with his fist.

Returning to the ground, Cordayl allows the beaten giant to float higher into the air.

Reversing gravity, Cordayl sends him crashing back down to the earth, but not before hitting him with a spinning axe kick that shatters the back of his skull, implanting the giant goon elbow deep into the earth.

As Cordayl walks out of the cloud of dust, with his skin hidden by his aura, he tells the sister to wait there. He fades away into the shadowy forest to check on her brother.

The chill she gets when he walks past her makes her pray for her brother's safety.

The brother and the cowboy are still fighting, but the brother has managed to close the distance. Even while close, the brother finds it impossible to strike a lethal cut.

The cowboy manages to land a solid kick to the brother's abdomen, creating enough space for him to resume open fire at him.

The brother speeds around the field, avoiding every energy bullet. Slicing his hand into the earth, he erupts a large brown cloud to conceal his next move.

The distraction works as the brother manages to close the distance by sneaking behind the cowboy, but this is what the Cowboy wants as he points his finger at the incoming prince.

The twin predicts this and dodges the shot, grabbing the cowboy by the wrist. The cowboy is shocked by the move and tries to swing his free arm around to shoot the prince in the face.

The prince reacts perfectly and catches the cowboy's other arm. Smiling, the prince goes to work, kneeing and kicking the cowboy within their close range.

The cowboy tries his best to counter the leg attacks, but the prince is getting the better of him within the clinch.

The prince gets too cocky, though, and tries to head butt the cowboy. The cowboy smiles, as this was what he was waiting for. Opening his jaws, a light shines in his mouth as he is about to deliver an energy blast straight through the prince's forehead.

The prince realizes his fatal mistake too late. Accepting his loss, he commits to the head butt, hoping he can hit the cowboy in the mouth before he can let off the shot.

An explosion erupts. As the dust settles, the cowboy and the prince are shocked to see Cordayl's hand between them.

The prince grows angry at both the interference and Cordayl saving his life and directs his next attack at him. Cordayl easily blocks the attack, and the prince gets a glimpse of the real Diablo before he is hit in the stomach and pushed out of the scene by Cordayl.

The cowboy is shocked at how easily Cordayl has just KO'd the prince but refuses to admit defeat. Distancing himself, the cowboy squares up with Cordayl. "I'll admit you ain't no slouch, Diablo. But there isn't a bounty in this world that I haven't collected. I'll be damned some young buck like you stands between me and a heavenly reward!" the cowboy shouts, shooting at Cordayl as he runs toward him.

Cordayl doesn't bother dodging as he sprints to meet the cowboy. The two go blow for blow in the center. The cowboy is fighting his hardest, but it is doomed attempt.

The cowboy throws a jab that Cordayl eagerly matches. The cowboy screams in pain, as his hand breaks like glass against Cordayl's fist.

Cordayl quickly grabs the cowboy's other hand, crushing it within his grip as he yanks the bandit toward him and knees him in the chest, dislocation his shoulder.

Delivering a beautiful jumping spin sidekick to the cowboys chest, sending him flying away.

Cordayl approaches the defeated cowboy, who is on his ass trying to catch his breath. "Boy, you sure are one tough youngin'. But you're already marked for death. Guess it won't be by my hands, but mark my words, boy, you might as well be walking with a tombstone around your neck.

"If I were you, I'd take note of these white gloves. Our society runs deeper than you think. Just a little boon for your victory." The cowboy says, laughing hysterically before the prince comes and decapitates him.

Breathing hard, the prince stands face-to-face with Cordayl. "Now that he is out the way, we conclude our bat-" The prince's sentence is cut short by an Austin Power's judo chop from Cordayl, who appeared behind him.

Esquimo is pouring the twin sister some tea when he sees Cordayl carrying the twin. "Ahh, lad! How would you like some tea?"

"I would love some," Cordayl says, dropping the brother on his sleeping bag and accepting the cup offered to him.

Sitting next to the sister, she snuggles up beside him and sips from her cup.