Sagging forward still, I slogged onward, my blade carving a thin line in the earth at my back, sparks grinding from its ragged yet dangerously keen edge. The hound regarded me curiously, perhaps unsure what to make of my sudden revival.

My jaws snapped open, and from my parched throat burst a deafening cry. I lunged, my fist catching it beneath the chin, clacking its flaming teeth together and driving the monster to its knees. No sooner had its body slammed heavily against the earth, than my fingers of iron were crunching through its chest, ripping forth a quivering mass of the foulness that lay beyond. Now, it roared, yet this time it was not in challenge, but in equal parts fear and agony.

It retreated, yet I had not a dreg of mercy left in my drained soul. Dust rasped beneath my sole as I pivoted around it, keeping its flanks before me and its muzzle hopelessly far. My iron fist crashed against its hip, once more toppling the beast, rolling it onto its back and baring its soft belly. Its eyes widened in shock as I vaulted atop its thrashing form, and battered by its slashing paws, rocked by the quaking of its body, I knelt, stake-driver poised over the bloodied flesh where its heart lurked. This time, my strike was true, blasting through its body with such force that the stones beneath shattered, and its blood gushed like a sundered dike.

No more did its wails assail me, for its breath had erupted from its shattered form. Mute, it looked upon me with plaintive eyes that dimmed even as I met their confused stare. I knelt, resting my bloodied hand upon its brow, and there I remained, holding the beast's gaze until Death took it mercifully in his dark arms.