The beautiful new cover is by @cloudland but I've posted the other one here as well so you can look at it and marvel. It's very pretty isn't it? I hope you enjoy this chapter. 

Leonidas attended. But he slunk quietly while the violence raged around him. He was not really the warrior type, but he was no stranger to war either. He knew, the moment he felt the currents shifting. He tasted blood.

The city pulsated under his pattering feet. He had not appreciated this light before. This energy that surrounded him since his time began in the in-between. He loved it now. It made him randy and in-heat. He danced from sidewalk to alleyway in search of the prey they were all out for. He wasn't any more successful than the next cat and he didn't hope for success, but he was out. Doing his job. Pitching in to arrive at the end they were all hurtling to, like comets in space.

He could appreciate work. He could understand that simple pleasure.

So he worked.

xxx

The city was exploding. Monsters came from far and wide. Strange psychedelic concoctions of sinew and blood, cyborg familiars of mad gods. They paced the place, ignoring the living denizens, setting fire to the edifices. Destroying.

They did not surprise the cats and the other half things that roamed the streets in search of the rotting thing.

The unexplained was, after all, the norm here.

Tall, beastly tall. A tentacle of metal stuck out from its back. Like a dentist's probe. Exactly like a dentist's probe. Six arms- an ape's, a lion's, a tiger's, a goat's and a man's arms. Limbs struck out at odd angles from all corners of the body. The face of a woman, soft featured and lovely. Fangs like a snake.

The lady with the rotting teeth stood in front of it, her arms stretched out.

The monster looked down at her.

"Me?" It asked, voice soft like dew.

"You and me." The lady told her.

The monster picked her up and put her on its shoulder.

"What about us?"

"We're the same."

xxx

Leonidas sought out Death. She was surprisingly easy to find, for such a reputedly elusive ethereal being. She was sitting on top of the carcass of a building, stroking her head. Her head looked surprisingly similar to Leonidas'.

He purred next to her.

"Hello, little cat thing." she said.

Leonidas said nothing. He waited, still and breathing quietly.

"You don't want to talk?" she asked.

"I do."

She giggled. "Well, what do you want to talk about?"

"I can't find the rotting thing."

"No matter. Somebody'll find it eventually."

"But I should do my part, shouldn't I?"

"To bring about the end. You should, really. It's a team effort, and all that."

"It is. So, do you know."

"It's with the guardian."

"And where is she?" he asked.

"She's found herself."

xxx

It took a long while before the lady astride the behemoth was finally observed.

Leonidas found her, eventually. He knew he would.

She was behind the thing, where metal met flesh, holding on to its hair. She was on the move. She was hiding. She was looking for a way to destroy it. Or to finish her job.

That wasn't Leonidas' problem.

He spotted her from the ground, a few miles away and he pounced off in the opposite direction.

He found the girl conducting her own search a few miles away. Her dress as ripped to shreds. Her hair was flat and dingy.

She was disgusting. But also rather beautiful.

Leonidas screeched to a halt before her.

"I've found it."

The girl coughed. "Where?"

"Astride one of the monsters."

She blanched.

"Which one?"

xxx

The lady huddled close and whispered into the giant's ear. "You should know where it is."

"I don't ." it said. "Maybe underground."

"No. I've searched there already. It isn't there."

"Will it even work if you put it in? The next one's already here. It isn't even your job."

"It is. It was always my job. And now I have to finish it."

The giant said nothing. There was no beauty in it. It was a hideous mass of appendages that clung to its torso at obscene, eldritch angles. Things flapped from it. A foul stench clung to the air around it. It juddered as it moved.

The lady held on for dear life.

"What am I?" it asked her.

"You are me."

"Whatever."

xxx

Leonidas pointed with his paw. "That one. Over there."

"Oh." the girl said.

"What is it?"

"My mother."

The cat stayed silent.

"How do we get to her?" she asked.

"I suggest you follow it. It might find the way to the place where you...you know."

"I know."

"Then come."

xxx

"Something's tailing us." it said.

"How do you know?" the lady asked.

"I can feel it. It feels familiar."

"It should."

"I want to kill it."

"You should."

xxx

They followed the pair in front, keeping a close eye on them. The girl and the cat.

The cat stopped. "What do you plan to do, once you find out what you want?"

"It'll want to kill me." she said.

"Oh. So you'll have to..."

"I'll have to grab the tail and get it over with."

"Alright. so, you don't have any specific plan?"

"No."

"No." he repeated.

xxx

The lady and the monster pushed forwards, through the blasted landscape around it.

"I think I might have an idea where it is." the lady said.

"Do you?" the monster replied.

"I do."

"Where?"

"The ocean."

"The ocean?"

"I look for the ocean, but the ocean doesn't look for me."

The behemoth changed course. "What about them?"

"Do what you need to do."

xxx

A large, looming metallic claw emerged from the face of the sea. Another one. A chassis. Two legs. A gun turret.

The Yakuza were ready. 

Oh gosh. Five chapters left and five interludes left. I feel....I don't know. A bit morose.

Let me know if you liked this one.