Vol. 14 - Chapter 9: Coyote´s Last Stand

Part 1 – Uriel and Coyote vs. Darius

Coyote looks at Uriel and says: "Well boy, it was fun but I still don't like you, because you are the apprentice of Juan de la Trinidad."

"Wait you know him?" Uriel asks with shock. Coyote laughs and replies: "Of course, we go way back, but that is a story I don't like to tell to other people."

Cassidy hugs Uriel and gives her goodbyes. She also hugs Johanna saying Thank you to her. Coyote and Cassidy begin to walk away to the other direction as Coyote screams: "GOODBYE CHARRO, WE WILL MEET AGAIN"

Coyote stands on top of a building; Uriel slowly looks up and sees Coyote pointing a gun on Darius. "DARIUS, YOU SURE HAVE FALLEN LOW AS TO BEAT UP A KID!"

"HAHA, YOU TREAT THIS BOY AS A KID BUT HE IS A HORSEMAN REMEMBER. I RECALL YOU BEAT HIM UP TOO, IN FACT I PAYED YOU FOR THAT!" Coyote throws his lasso to a light post. He begins o fall and swings himself and lands standing in front of Uriel.

"Come on kid, stand up, you showed more enthusiasm when we fought." Coyote points his gun at Darius, Uriel with a clueless expression asks:

"Why are you here Coyote and where is Cassidy?"

"Look kid, you ask too many questions. Listen, Cassidy was taken away from me by Darius´son, and as for me, I was held captive in a prison that this man had below his mansion."

Uriel makes a fist and presses it with force as he says; "Aleister again, that monster" Uriel stands up with a furious expression as he looks at Coyote, Coyote smiles and says:

"Perfect, that´s the expression I want, now then, times to beat this bastard."

"Right" Uriel takes out his gun as well, Darius makes a demonic smile and says; "So it´s 2 vs. 1 ehh, I like those odds."

"Hey kid, remember your mother´s wind." Coyote says in a low tone, Uriel remembers his duel with Coyote and replies; "I understand"

"Let´s do this" Coyote begins to fire his gun, Uriel steps back and begins to gather manna. Darius stands still as he looks at the bullets pass through him. Coyote runs straight at him and whips his lasso trying to connect, Darius evades the attack. Darius jumps back ward and creates a portal.

Coyote stops moving and fires one more time directly to the portal, Darius notices and closes the portal; Coyote sees the opportunity and swings his lasso. He manages to wrap Darius, Coyote smiles and screams:

���I GOT YOU!"

Darius smiles and makes a portal appear below him causing him to fall. He appears behind Coyote preparing to punch him. "Viento Divino; Impacto" (Divine Wind; Impact)

A wind vortex hits Darius in the back; Coyote uses the opportunity and punches Darius. Darius gets free of the lasso and kicks Coyote sending him flying towards Uriel. Coyote breathes heavily and asks; "Did you notice that kid?"

Uriel nods in agreement, Darius touches his cheek and laughs; "Was that a punch? How weak, I guess you really are an Old Man, right Coyote?"

"Hey Uriel, is everything set?" Coyote looks at Uriel, Uriel nods in agreement, "Perfect now for round two."

(Piu, Piu)

Coyote fires two bullets, Darius with no effort dodges the bullets, "Is that the strategy you had, pathetic." However, a bullets passes next to his arm; Darius looks at his arm that was cut and thinks; "What was that? I know I dodge them."

(PIU,PIU)

Coyote fires one more time, Darius tries to jump however he can´t move. "What´s happening, I can´t move!" He looks down and sees a circle of ashes below his feet. "Ash, when did he?"

"So you notice Darius, that holy ash is a seal that prevents you from moving, I knew that you wouldn't dodge me so I spill a little of it. Now you cant move and you cant create portal below your feet. Take a look at this…"

(PIU)

Coyote shots one bullet to the right, the bullet goes and takes a curve, of what it seems to be from a wind tube. The bullet gets faster and goes to another corner; the other corner has a wind tube as well and makes the bullet go faster. The bullet heads to towards Darius, Darius smiles and creates a portal behind him, and opens a portal in front of him, the bullet heads towards Coyote and Uriel but the bullet takes another direction.

"I see, so you created air currents similar to a ventilation system am I right?"

"That´s right, and all the tunnels point at you Darius" Uriel replies as he points his gun to the left, Uriel snaps his fingers making the air current visible. Coyote smiles and says; "You see, Uriel is a genius, he knew I was decoy in order for him to create this. Now you have nowhere to go Darius."

(PIU, PIU, PIU, PIU, PIU, PIU)

Uriel and Coyote fire multiple times to the air tunnels. The bullets travel to various tunnels from every direction trying to confuse Darius, Darius looks up and down with a nervous look. He creates portals from multiple directions summoning golems; the bullets destroy the golems in an instant. Coyote and Uriel continue to fire, and the bullets keep multiplying, Darius makes portals from the four directions and one above. The bullets begin attack Darius, over a thousand bullets pass through the portals and return to the tunnels in a multiple sequence.

"There is no end to them, at this rate I will run out of manna…Damn it!" Darius changes his expression with a smile; he stops creating portal and lowers his arms. Every bullet in the tunnel hits Darius, Darius received over a thousand bullets, his body is covered in blood and holes.

"It´s over Darius" Coyote says with confidence. Darius begins to laugh and looks at Coyote:

"You think it´s over? I let myself get hit by this in order to wake me up because I was feeling sleepy." Darius´ body begins to regenerate, the holes in his body begin to seal themselves, and his blood disappears leaving nothing in there. Uriel looks at him with shock asking:

"I don't get it, what the hell are you?"

"I´m a monster just like you" Darius begins to charge manna while laughing. "Allow me to formally present myself; I am Darius Salome Lucifugus, one of the knights of hell. I am the Tenth Hour of the organization that will illuminate this world; The Enlightened."

"The Enlightened, did you say Enlightened? Uriel this guys is dangerous, even more dangerous than I thought." Coyote says with a frightened expression, Uriel looks at him and asks;

"Do you know them?"

Coyote nods in agreement and replies; "I only encounter one of them, in my life time I only lost two times; the one was with you and the other time was with one of them, tell me Darius; Is Henrietta still alive?"

Darius gets angrier and replies; "Don´t mention the Second Hour to me, I despise her." Darius begins to release a large amount of manna, the ground begins to shake, the sky begins to form thunderclouds once more, and wind blows faster.

"I HATE THEM, I HATE EVERYTHING!"

(BBBBBOOOOMMMM)

The tornado destroys the buildings surrounding the area as a tornado blows away everything in sight. Coyote covers Uriel, but a rod passes through him in the stomach.

The storm ends, Uriel holds Coyote who throws up blood. "Coyote are you alright?"

Coyote laughs and replies; "It´s ironic, but I never felt so alive, for 100 years I never bled or got drunk and tonight I experience both."

The buildings are in crumbles, Darius walks slowly towards Uriel and sees both of them in bad condition; "Is that all you have, it's a two vs. one situation and yet you´re the ones on the ground."

"Damn it, he is too powerful" Uriel sayswith agitation, Coyote grabs his shoulder and says; "Don´t worry, who ever said it was two- on- one"

(BBBBOOOMM)

A missile hits Darius, Uriel turns around and sees many people on top of the houses and buildings, Coyote takes out the rod and his eye patch, he begins to scream; "Darius, this are the prisoners that you tortured for all those years, now it payback time boys, let's take him down."

"YYEEEAAAHHHH!!!!" The prisoners scream, along with some survivors from the river. They begin to run towards Darius firing gun with guns and throwing rocks, among them, Officer Herrera and Sergeant Hill attack with their guns as well. Coyote begins to throw up blood, "Are you okay? Coyote don't do this…" Uriel says to Coyote who only hears an echo as he begins to remember his past.

Part 2 – Coyote´s life

Born in Hawikuh on 1810, he grew up in a small ranch where learned the life of the Cowboy. During his teenage years, he met Josie and the married and had a boy named Butch Bill. During his days of youth, Coyote became a cowboy and worked as a sheriff in Hawikuh. With the annexation of the lands to the United States, the Anglo´s invaded the land and took over it taking everyone's possessions. He joined a group of Bandits named "Las Gorras Blancas" (The White Caps) in 1850 in order to protect their lands. The White Caps became famous and manage to get back their lands. On a starry night, Coyote shares a drink with his son and grandson:

"Hey father? What do you plan to do after we take back our land?" Butch Bill asks, Butch Bill was a young man around his 40´s, he had a son named Clyde Bill who was the father of Cassidy. He had brown hair, brown eyes and was always dressed like a cowboy.

Clyde Bill (20) had blonde hair, brown eyes and was also a cowboy.

"HAHAHA, I DON´T KNOW BUT AS LONG AS I HAVE YOU EVERYTHING´S FINE."

One night, on 1885, a great fire erupted in Hawikuh, their targets were the White Caps and they manage to kill everyone including Butch and his family with Clyde and his wife.

"NOOOO!" Coyote screams holding his son´s body, Clyde who was still alive goes and whispers, "Grandfather, please… you must save my daughter, Cassidy, she is in that house… please"

Clyde also dies, Coyote runs into the house covered in flames, he quickly climbs the stairs as he hears the cry of girl. He goes to the room and sees Cassidy, with only 10 years old. Coyote manages to rescue her before the house collapsing. As Coyote lies in the ground he finds himself surrounded by men in suits, he looks up and sees a little girl with black hair and a long dress around the age of 10 is walking towards him.

Coyote with rage charges towards the girl but the men stop him. "WHY DID YOU KILL EVERYONE, WHY!!"

"Because you were interfering with our plans, I cannot permit you to these any more. I will let you live in order for you to live with suffering as punishment." The girl replies leaving Coyote paralyzed, the girl walks towards and rips his left eye out crushing it completely.

"AAAHHHH" Coyote screams with pain, the girl and the men begin to walk away, "You should feel grateful that I, Henrietta from the Enlightened let you live. Have a good night."

Coyote grabs his eye and passes out. He regains consciousness and sees the chief of the village next to him. "Where am I?"

"You´re in our village, I ´sorry but, you are the only survivors from that catastrophe."

Coyote begins to remember everything, he begins to cry and scream, later that night, Coyote walks alone in the plains, the chief comes next to him and says:

"I take it your calmer now right?"

Coyote does not say a word, the chief gives him a drink and says:

"I didn't explain you this, but in order to save you, I implanted you and Cassidy with a seed of a plant known as "Eternal Life", now I don't know how much time will you live but rest assure that you are safe. A drawback will be that you won't age anymore"

"I see, well, I´m old already, thank you very much, I am forever in your debt." Coyote shakes hand with the Chief. He goes to where Cassidy is and sees that she is awake. With tears in his eyes, Coyote hugs her saying:

"I´m sorry girl, I was too weak and for that everyone is gone, but don't worry, I will protect you with my life, just don't leave my side."

Cassidy, not knowing what he was saying, hugs him and says; "Great grandpa, I will always be with you…"

Coyote and Cassidy decided to travel the world, and for fifteen years, they traveled around South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania and Asia. In order to make money, Coyote became a bounty hunter, he hunted during the nights when Cassidy was asleep, he replaced his missing eye with a coyote´s earning his nickname. They visited Japan and stayed there for over 10 years. Until one day, Coyote had a vision where a white ghost proposed him something he wanted.

"Return to Hawikuh, I will return everyone with you forever and break that curse."

"Who are you? Answer me!" Coyote asks the ghost as it disappears, the ghosts replies;

"I am Alexandria"

Coyote and Cassidy returned to Hawikuh, and with the the curse of the Golden Key and Alexandria, their wish was granted bringing everyone back to life, however a battle broke lose:

(BBBBOOOMMM, CCCRRRAAASSSHHH)

Cannons, fire and warriors fighting in the lake, the temple got destroyed. In the top of the pyramid, a key stands in the middle of the altar. Sundance stands in the top, the ghost of a white woman stands behind him, the chief of the tribe is lying dead.

"Grab the key and give it to me." The white ghost says to Sundance, he grabs the key and holds it in his hands.

"What are you going to do with the key?" Sundance asks the ghost. The ghost begins to stretch her arms and replies: "I needed to come back to life."

Sundance begins to stretch his arm towards her, and asks; "I cannot die nor age, how will I break this curse?"

"When I resuscitate I will take away your immortality." The ghost replies to Sundance, he changes his mind, and lets go of the key. The key hits the ground and kicks it to the leader of the tribe who was still alive. The leader of the tribe falls to the water and escapes.

"NOOOOO, what did you do, you betrayed me." The ghost says to Sundance with a furious tone, Sundance smiles and replies:

"I never trusted you, this eternal life is a curse, and I will break it my own way you witch."

Sundance takes out dynamite and lights it with his cigarette, he throws it and jumps into the water.

(BBBBOOOOMMMM)

The golden temple collapses and the ghost begins to disappear saying: "Curse you Sundance, but you will live forever, that is your curse."

In the morning, Sundance and the chief stand in the chore. The chief has the key and says:

"Sundance you need to destroy this key in order to break the curse. Here you go old friend" The chief hands over the key, Sundance refuses the key and says:

"No thank you, you need to seal that thing in the temple before the ghost returns, I will live on with my Granddaughter, this area will remain separated from time thanks to that key, and I don't want to die just yet."

The chief laughs and says; "Well I will die soon Sundance, please be safe and I hope you don't regret this decision."

"I know I will but that is my price to pay for making deals with a demon." Sundance replies smoking a cigarette, the sun begins to rise.

In the present, Coyote stands up and lights a cigarette, he begins to smoke as he sees that everyone who attack Darius was killed. He smiles and says;

"Well, I think this is the end for me."