The shout blanks me out for a moment, which Ollie uses to get nicely perched on the carcasses of the dead horses. Twisting his head in the familiar manner from my memories, he locks his eyes on me, and begins talking with the raspy voice he's left after the transformation:

"Ah, I was going to use 'there's Johnny' for more accurate representation of the situation, but I wasn't sure if you would get the reference. Well, the direct quote I used still technically works out, as one would say 'here it is' when they find something they have been searching for. But enough of the introductions for my side, how have you been Johnny?"

"Buwha?"

"Ah yes, exactly the kind of well articulated and thoughtful answer I expected from a person, who has proven himself well versed in the art of philosophy, that you shown yourself to be in our debates about morals. Truly an eyeopening and thought provoking reply, the insight you show to how my inner workings work is just too much for me to argue against."

Gathering my wits while he monologues about my faults proves successful enough to work, and time consuming enough not to waste on replying to him. The streets have cleared and no city guard has made it to the scene, so civilians are safe for now. With that confirmed, I try to nudge out my machete, only to notice that combined weight of me and the corpse laid on me will bring the back wall down if I try to move too much, which would give Ollie a moment to strike. This is not a good situation to be in.

"Oh, from the way you're wondering whose or whats corpse this is?" Ollie says, gesturing with his right hand at the corpse on top of me. "Well, this is the third of us, of the possessed people of course!" He shouts out with a glee.

"What? How... Shouldn't he still be trapped by the forbidden zone..."

"And how did you exactly find your way to the capital?"

That felt like a kick to the gut. I found here by relaying on the sense that pointed me towards the third. So only thing Ollie had to do to get to him was follow the signal till he reached the third, and then avoid being trapped in the forbidden zone by following my signal all the way till the capital, which is probably how he figured that I was in the carriage. But why couldn't I see him coming? Does the signal not translate distance, only directions?

"Now, killing him wasn't easy, as first I had to trick him into trusting me so I could get him out of that infernal sea where I was at disadvantage, and when we got far enough inland, actually find a way to kill us without causing us to transform further. As you can see from his more serpentine features, I failed at that. Well, I did always think that destroying our heads or cutting them off was the smartest way to kill us, but it proved very troublesome, for the reason of him resisting me for trying to kill him. Who would have thought?"

He caps his last words with the closest thing he can twitch his face to remind a smile and nods his head towards his left hand. As I guide my head towards it, I notice that he was holding something in it, and I can guess what. Lifting his hand high enough between us and slightly opening his fingers the head of the third comes in the full view of both of us. The head no longer reminds that of a human, with the face flattened to snake like and being covered in the white scales. The large mouth hangs open, jaw broken, revealing nest of needle like teeth and long, thin and forked tongue. The hair on his head has combined with the scales into a something in between hair and scale, in a shape of cobra's hood.

"Don't worry; I already tested if the head can reattach itself. It can't."

He says and lops the head in my direction, which thanks to the torso I can't avoid, and I end getting hit by a severed head. Not pleasant. Ollie begins talking once more:

"Did you know that because of you I lost the loyalty of my men? When they saw what I become, they didn't feel like following me anymore, leaving my plans to expand my criminal empire completely busted. Ridiculous if you ask me, I mean those people were thieves and killers and rapists from all corners of the map, but serving a demon is 'just too much'. Heh, it is kinda fun..."

While talking he suddenly strikes his right arm forth, reaching for my neck with his talons. I barely have time to mumble my apology for the third as I use his corpse as a shield. The talons pierce into his back with ease, but the impact it has pushes me through the back wall and sends me rolling down the street, which I use to further the distance from him. I use the final roll to rise on my feet on a crouching position and pull out my machete with the same move.

Ollie looks at me from his vantage point on the horses and says:

"I was really hoping that I would distract you enough with talking to finish this without you having even the change transform, but... Ah, who cares, the wounds gained fighting the snake-guy have made me strong enough to kill you without trickery."

He finishes his speech and throws the corpse to block my vision just before making his lunge at me. So much for not resorting in trickery I guess, but I haven't really believed anything he has said... Well ever. But I don't sidestep the flying torso, nor cut it; I instead kick it with full strength back at Ollie, and use the cover it gives me to slice at him, which he evades by flying upwards into the air. My response is run to the nearest narrow alley I can find, making it impossible for him to attack me without tearing through at least one house.

Catching my breath and trying to come up with a working strategy in the safety of the narrow alley is interrupted by a thundering noise that makes me think that Ollie is actually tearing through the building to get to me, but the next noise I hear proves me wrong, a scream of fear and desperation. Ollie yells out loud enough to cover that scream:

"Johnny, come out and play or I have to be satisfied with playing with these civilians!"

I walk out between the buildings and look at Ollie, standing next to smashed wall of brick building, holding in his left hand another head, this time still attached. The woman in his hand is still kicking and screaming, so I can't just ignore her as a casualty.

"Knew it! Take one woman hostage and the hero comes running with the tail between his legs."

Ollie moves the grip of his hand so that the thumb and little finger cover her throat with enough force applied to stop her from screaming, while other three fingers are sprawled on the sides and the top of her head.

"It would be really easy to crush her head from this position, so how about throw the sword away and I let her go?"

I walk out in the open so that Ollie is directly in front of me, ten yards ahead and slam the machete in the ground with enough force for the tip to sink in far enough for the machete stays standing.

"Really, Johnny? When I tell you to throw it away, I mean to throw it away. Do you want me to kill this woman?"

I start walking backwards from my machete before Ollie has time to apply the threat by squeezing little harder.

"Isn't it better this way? If I throw it, I can still get it to stick upwards or vertically from a wall, or throw it in a convenient place for me to get it, but now it is between us, so if I want to make a dash for it, I have to run towards you."

Ollie tilts his head while staring at me and the machete, before starting to sift his gaze on all spots of the surrounding area, trying to figure out my trick. Which exactly is my trick; having him get a slow start because of being wary of traps is the only thing I can do in this situation.

"Fine, the sword stays there and I let the woman go."

Ollie says after having checked the surrounding area and gently puts the woman on the ground and gets on the runner's stance. But I shouldn't be tricked, he already used the "I played sports so I use sport stances" trick on me once, he is probably getting ready to take flight, so I should prepare to strike upwards...

As the woman is making her way away from Ollie's side, Ollie suddenly backhands her hard enough for me to hear the spine crack, causing me to yell out a curse while stunned in place, which Ollie uses to close the distance and smash me to the ground, before stepping on me with his right foot and pressing down.

"Yeah, you didn't follow the deal with the sword, so neither did I with the 'letting the woman go' part."