Survival, A [ Kidge ] Tale, Book Two

49. Poison

There was a loud silence that took over the room immediately. Keith blankly turned to the person responsible for the tense silence, but Katie was now unconscious against the broken wall. He wanted to check to see if she was still alive, but they had to take the opportunity to attack the galra king now while he was distracted.

Keith was surprised as well when Katie completely broke his armor off of him but knew it must've been the empress' poison doing. If anything, it was thanks to Katie's surprise attack that they could now strike the large Galra's body.

"Now!" The empress yelled and Keith jumped into action, striking the back of the king who was still stuck over Katie's words.

Zarkon immediately responded to the attack, growling as Keith striked into his flesh and turned back around, attempting to attack him back.

"Vile humans!" He shouted, not even a sign of pain in his voice. Katie's sudden statement must've surprised him at first, but now he was angry.

"I need you to strike him again." The empress gritted through her teeth as Keith drew back into the protection of her shield, "Only one shot of poison isn't enough to paralyze him."

Glancing back at Zarkon who was angrily trying to break their shield, Keith's eyes drew to a different area on his body he could strike. His neck seemed to be a good spot, but that would be difficult when the galra was especially careful to protect his neck and above. If all this strike was doing was to spread poison in his blood, Keith could even choose just to give him a small paper cut, but he wanted it to be more painful. 

After everything Zarkon and Honerva caused in their country, Keith wanted them to pay for it.

"Remember, we want to capture them alive. Not dead." The empress warned after seeing the bloodlust in his eyes, "Someone else wants to kill him much more than you do."

Keith supposed she was talking about the current kings of the other kingdoms who went through worse times. He couldn't imagine the measures they had to take to ban Zarkon to a different dimension to repent.

"Fine." Keith gruffed out as he watched the shield slowly crack. Once it fully broke, that was his cue to cut open Zarkon's thick skin.

...3...2...1

CRACK

The shield dissipated with a loud sound and both their swords moved with unbelievable speed.

Keith's blade met Zarkon's blade with a loud metal sound ringing through the room. He just needed to cut a little bit of his skin, but it was already turning out to be difficult with the galra's strength. If he moved just a bit wrong, he would be the one bleeding out on the ground.

"Lotor was a fool to lower his guard and die to you humans." Zarkon laughed, no sign of grief or remorse in his voice, "The only useful feat he did in his short life was releasing us."

Keith couldn't believe he would ever feel pity for the mentioned now deceased prince until now. His own father was heartless, referring to him as a fool even in death although Lotor had worked his entire life to earn the approval of his true parents.

"..That's harsh." Keith said as he harshly kicked the shin of the galra, hoping it would knock him off balance and injure him.

It didn't.

It only made Keith's strength from his feet falter, and he was nearly knocked off his position.

"You're an abomination to our species." Zarkon guffawed, amused by his attempt which only made Keith feel more humiliated, "It's a shame your mother married a human."

"Do not speak of my father." Keith clenched his jaw, feeling more strength in his aching muscles to hold off the galra's blade.

He felt the presence of the beast within him, but there was still something holding him back. Was it because he was in a fight against the King of the Galra?

'Would you rather I die instead?'

He questioned in his mind, barely holding against Zarkon. He couldn't do this forever, and his muscles were starting to give out.

'Help me protect my country.'

He called out again as his eyes fell to the fallen Katie, whose chest was barely rising and falling. She was also fighting hard to stay alive so he had to make sure she would wake up again in a safe place. In order for that to happen, he needed to hurry and get her out of here.

'Help me protect her....Please.'

His final attempt felt wasted as he saw his sword cracking from the large force against it. It felt as if time stopped when his sword finally shattered into pieces, and his senses became heightened. He could hear every little breath from the people in the room and smell spilt metallic blood from miles away while his body grew almost as large as the galra king in front of him.

His beast form was finally back.

"There's no point in transforming if you have no control over it." Zarkon said, but Keith did not care about his words anymore. They were of equal strength and equal power now.

"Just one cut." The empress reminded him from behind quietly, handing him a small knife to make up for his sword before making her way towards Katie with her new shield covering her.

He turned back to Zarkon to find that he was raising his sword towards him. He was glad for his heightened abilities because he was now able to fully avoid the attack hastily without any injuries.

He had missed his beastly abilities.

Perhaps it was because Zarkon was now getting old, but Keith found it much too simple to avoid his attacks. Now that he was on the same level as him, his attacks were slower and sloppier than he thought. Or it was because of the first dose of poison in his back. Either way, Keith knew now that they finally had a chance to defeat him.

Once it was clear to Keith that Zarkon was getting more tired, he blocked Zarkon's attack with his hand, ignoring the pain that followed after in his palm, and slit the galra's fingertip open with the poisoned blade.

He screeched in pain, recoiling back as the poison spread through his bloodstream and painful boils formed on his skin.

"You're going to die for this." The galra said as his legs gave away, and his body toppled onto the ground.

Keith watched him writhe on the ground, knowing that the worst was far from over.

"No, but you're going to pay for your crimes."