"Perhaps you should follow his example," the smiling man chuckled. "He always did have a good head on his shoulders."

BANG!

Before anyone could say anything, Sentenza shot him again. One bullet above his mouth between where his eyes would be. The smiling man's head flung back, and he stumbled back against the front door.

"Narissa, lead the way." Sentenza commanded.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!." The smiling man slowly brought his head back and began to laugh again. "It's all so tiring. Do you actually think you stand anything close to resembling a chance here? I'll..."

BANG!

Sentenza shot him again, but the figure so wrapped in mystery, didn't seem quite as affected this time. The bullet ripped into his head again, but he didn't even stumble back, and his head only moved back slightly.

"You're not even going to let me finish? How..."

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Sentenza fired off his last four shots. Each one gave the smiling man a moment of pause, but even combined, they did not manage to move him back an inch. The westerner's face gave no hint of his thoughts as it remained completely emotionless.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk." scolded the man as he wagged his finger back and forth and his smile turned more and more malicious. As Sentenza flipped open his pistol to reload, the smiling man suddenly appeared right in front of him and placed his shadowy hand over his gun. "Seems even with that, all you can do is irritate me. Too bad you..."

Trizel, Lulu, and Bakade lunged forward towards him.

All of his pent-up anger and frustration came through in every strike from Trizel. Each punch carried the full brunt of his emotions as he threw powerful blows at the smiling man. Each strike was more than strong enough to shatter bone and crack steel.

Bakade seemed like she was back to her old self they had encountered deep in the pine forest. The aura of an unfeeling predator surrounded her as her claws tried to tear at his flesh. She bounced off of the very walls to rush at the smiling man and strike towards his core. Like a pinball shooting around the room at increasing speeds.

Lulu had grabbed a stick from somewhere and with practiced motions, tried to trip up the smiling man's legs. With the coldness of a bouncer throwing out a rowdy customer, she swung her stick around at any vital point she could see.

For his part, Sentenza pulled out his other pistol with his free hand and began to shoot at him. But those bullets seemed to be easier for him to handle, and he managed to dodge out of the way, as they all slammed into the wood and ceiling behind him.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The smiling man laughed like a madman. His body twisted and shifted around as he raised his off hand to occasionally block as he dodged Trizel and Bakade. It still seemed all too easy for him as he kept his hand on Sentenza's gun the entire time. "How brazen of you all," he mocked. "Afraid of what I have to say?"

Just then, Nugget leaped over Sentenza's head. Her talons came crashing down towards the smiling man's hand that was resting on Sentenza's gun. The man carefully twisted his hand away just in time to avoid the hen's clawed foot. However, Nugget used her other leg to grab onto Sentenza's forearm, and then threw a peck towards the smiling man's hand. Again, he twisted it out of the way just in time.

The smiling man continued to laugh as his hand danced away from Nugget's attacks while he avoided Trizel, Sentenza, Lulu, and Bakade's attacks. With Nugget attacking as well, he was now also blocking a few of Trizel's powerful blows with a leg or his free arm instead of dodging out of the way.

Narissa stumbled back away from the fight and glanced off towards the door that was still flung wide open. A bead of sweat dropped down her forehead as she glanced back at the fight. She reached down and grabbed the knife on her hip. She held it between her and the fight as her eyes danced around and seemed to be trying to keep track of the fast movements of everyone involved.

As the fight went on, Sid ran back behind the bar. He grabbed the barrel of high proof rum and lifted it up against his chest. "Grab a match!" he called out.

The smiling man seemed to hear him and tried to tilt his head past Sentenza to see what Sid was up to. But his attempt was interrupted as a low growl came out from the doorway, and the hollow king leaped towards the smiling man with his sword raised up. All of their attacks seemed to sink up. Bakade, Sentenza, Lulu, Trizel, Nugget, and the hollow king. With attacks coming from so many different angles, the smiling man let go of Sentenza's gun at last as he disappeared from in between all of them. Their attacks all hit air as a few stray bullets slammed into the hollow king, but he didn''t seem to even notice.

"Afraid to join in yourself?" the smiling man cooed as he thrust his hand through Sid's chest. The barrel against his chest started to leak down as the smiling man's hand cracked through the side.

Sid reached behind himself and grabbed onto the smiling man's hand to hold it there as he lifted the barrel up over his head. "I will keep him immobilized! Do it now!"

With a grunt, Sid slammed the barrel down over the smiling man's head. Or at least he tried to. The smiling man shifted to the side with a mocking grin on his face, but as the barrel moved down, Sid used shoved his body away and free from the smiling man's hand. While keeping his wrist held, Sid twisted his body around and kicked the barrel back up and into the smiling man's chest. It burst open covering both of them in gallons of high proof rum while also splashing against the walls and other barrels nearby.

Narissa held a hand out towards Sentenza as soon as Sid called out. Sentenza nodded as he reached down into his boot and pulled out a matchbook he flung at Narissa. She caught it and rushed towards the smiling man. She pulled out a single match, and struggled to light it as the smiling man grabbed Sid by the throat and threw him across the room. She ducked down as he flew past her head. She still couldn't get the match to light, and in her irritation, she pressed her fingers over the rest of the matches as she tossed the single one away. She winced as smoke started to rise up from her fingers, and then pulled her hand away and shook it as the matches all lit on fire together.

The smiling man grabbed a piece of wood as he turned towards her, but as he lifted his arm, six gunshots rang out. Each one made him pause a moment and gave Narissa enough time to throw the matchbook at him. Before it even reached him, the alcoholic vapors around him ignited. Almost immediately, both he and the bar behind him was lit on fire.

Lulu went over and picked up Sid. She put his arm over her shoulder and lifted him up. "If we're going to go, now's the time," she said. "I mean, I doubt that'll be enough to stop him."

"Oh, how right you are." The words came from right behind Lulu as an oppressive heat suddenly lapped at her back.

The smiling man thrust out his hand towards the girl's heart, but he quickly pulled it back as the hollow king's sword came crashing down inches from Lulu. Trizel and Bakade quickly backed him up as the three of them fought with all they had.

Nugget looked back at the bar as black smoke started to fill the room. She grabbed Sentenza's pant leg with her beak and pulled it towards the door.

"We've got to go." Narissa called out. "The fire's only going to get worse, and the door is finally clear."

Sentenza glanced over towards the fight as he held a pistol in each hand. His face stayed emotionless as his knuckles turned white from how tightly he started to grasp his guns. Without a word, he rushed out of the front door. Narissa, Nugget, and Lulu with Sid followed right behind him. The smiling man turned his enflamed head towards them as they left, but the three fighters managed to keep him too distracted to pursue the others right away.

Sword, claw, and fist all came in a flurry towards the smiling man as flames lapped at him. Without him holding onto anything, it was easier for him to simply dodge out of the way, but their skill in combat made it impossible for him to really strike back without opening himself up for getting hit by them. As Lulu disappeared out of the door and black smoke completely covered the ceiling above them, the smiling man's face twitched, and almost turned into a frown.

Bakade's claw pierced through his thigh as Trizel's fist found purchase against his chin, as the hollow king's sword thrust through his burning torso. As they all landed their blow, the smiling man grabbed a chair from behind him and with a quick, and powerful swing, hit all three of them in their heads. Bakade, Trizel, and the hollow king were flung back as the smiling man fell down to a knee. He grabbed the metal rose sticking out of his chest, and with a grunt, ripped the sword free as drops of liquid covered in fire sprayed out and covered the ground.

He dropped the sword before any of them had a chance to recover as he said, "Not that this isn't fun, but I can't just let them walk away."

Just like that, he disappeared as the fire quickly spread from the now burning sword and splattered liquid across the floor.

"We've got to hurry," Trizel managed to eke out as a trickle of blood poured from his head where the chair hit him.

Bakade's crack had grown even more. She nodded, and was the first to rush out of the burning building and into the mist.

Without a word, the hollow king limped forward and grabbed his sword. The fire lapped at his arm, but as his spectral body flexed, a burst of energy seemed to pulse through the blade that extinguished all the flames on it. With it in hand he slowly limped his way outside.

Trizel had a murderous look in his eyes as he looked at the hollow king while he picked himself up. His eyes glanced out towards the open door as the black smoke filled more and more of the room. He grit his teeth and rushed out the door as he clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white. "I will not stop you if you plan to help, but hurt one of my friends, and I will rip your head from your shoulders. Understand?"

The hollow king made no noise, or motion that showed he understood. He just pressed forward towards the open door. Although each step he took seemed to be just a little quicker than the last one.

Trizel shook his head. "Just remember that I warned you. King to king, I gave you that much at least." Without waiting for his emaciated ally, Trizel flew out the door himself. The problem now would be finding the others in time.