With words accented by the limp fumblings of a loose jaw gummed up with muscle and sinew, Han Long began to speak. "I suppose even after four thousand years, this world is still holds surprises."
Without delay, Leopold tore the right small, rectangular litzen tab from his collar and held it to his forehead, as far up as his visor cap would allow. With his free hand, he pointed at the tab, directing the young woman's focus toward it. Though momentarily perplexed, her eyes clearly lit up when she realized the meaning of Leopold's display. In response, she hastily stuck out her tongue and pointed both of her index fingers at it. To the legendary veteran of many hundred battles, the message was clear.
The talisman that granted Han Long his mobility was attached to his tongue.
Leopold wasn't the only one who had made sense of the girl's charade, however. Out of fear that the source of his supposed immortality had been unveiled, Han Long took drastic action. Letting our chattering laughter through blood-coated teeth, the vampire stood triumphantly. He slowly opened his mouth to reveal the sanguine stump of his tongue.
"I see that you're tenacious, jiangshi. However, a man confident in his superiority would seldom resort to such desperate tactics." Leopold said calmly.
A long, almost serpentine tongue sprouted from the fiend's bloody mouth before promptly rolling back into his jaw, allowing him to properly speak once more. "You bark very much but have little to say, imperialist."
"Then perhaps I can better explain my assertion through different means," Leopold replied, balling his gloved right hand into a tight fist.
After quickly looking over the broken pistol in his hand, Han Long tossed it aside and took the famous tiger claw stance of Chinese kung fu. "For once, we're in agreement."
With similarly impressive speed, the two combatants dashed toward each other, meeting halfway. Han Long delivered a barrage of swift, precise strikes to Leopold's chest and abdomen, but they seemed to have no effect. The titanic westerner had made no effort to dodge, instead leaving himself in the perfect position to land a brutal blow on his adversary's jaw. Fragments of Han Long's disintegrated teeth and jawbone were projected several meters as enough torque was delivered to his head to crack his neck audibly. The vampire staggered, giving Leopold the chance to follow up with two vicious hooks to the left and right side of his torso. Ribs crushed, Han Long gasped and heaved before receiving a pulverizing knee to the chest, driving his fractured sternum up and into his throat. Body crippled and mobility failing, he dropped to his hands and knees and began to vomit blood and dislodged innards through his broken, gaping maw.
Leopold stood tall over his brutalized opponent and flicked his wrist with such speed that the blood was purged from his right glove, leaving it spotless. "Credit where it is due, it is impressive that you're still in one piece. Strikes similar in strength to the one you first received reduced tanks to little more than rivets and scrap metal during the Great War."
Without warning, Han Long leaped back up and thrust his hand toward Leopold's Jaw.
Unfazed, Leopold continued to speak as his attacker's fingerbones shattered against his mandible. "I do wonder how long your enhanced durability will persist once I've removed that hexed talisman from your stomach."
The vampire shrieked in pain and stumbled back before falling on his rear. He grasped at his twisted jaw, wailing in pain as it was slowly set back into place.
"Damn your mother!" Han Long cried, pushing himself away from the slowly approaching German with his feet, "May your dead mother be cursed in-"
His crude rantings were suddenly cut short by Leopold's massive hand closing around his throat and lifting him into the air.
"Fuck you, dog knight!" Han Long choked as he spit blood down into the giant's face.
Leopold's only response to the man's provocations was the slam his fist through the Communist's stomach, effortlessly impaling him. Han Long howled as Leopold then roughly stirred his insides, seeking the talisman. In short order, the German retracted his arm, revealing the blood-soaked talisman clutched firmly between his index and middle fingers.
"That takes care of that." said Leopold nonchalantly before tossing his maimed and defeated opponent to the ground with a thud.
Now apparently unable to regenerate, Han Long clambered to his hands and knees before rearing up and exposing the crimson cavern left in his abdomen.
"Y-you..." the Communist rebel gurgled as he struggled to form words with his broken jaw and collapsed lungs, "It doesn't h-hurt... I can't feel anything..."
"Rest, Han Long the Immortal. You've no doubt seen many battles, but this will have been your last. Your death was delayed for four thousand years, but delayed it will be no longer."
The defeated Han Long panted grotesquely as he desperately clung to what little air his lungs could gather, attempting to speak. "I... s-surrender..."
"What?" Leopold inquired suspiciously.
"T-take me to Nanjing's m-mystics... they'll r-repair my b-body and I'll tell you about the-" Han Long choked on his words and erupted into a coughing fit.
Stepping closer to the broken vampire, Leopold pressed on. "The what?"
"T-the Soviets! Heroes in S-Spain!" Han Long exclaimed before tearing some sort of bundled wire from his exposed innards. "I s-surrender... I'll tell you e-everything..."
Leopold glared down at Han Long, his mustache-adorned face cold with scorn.
"Truthfully, I'm relieved."
Hearing this, the Communist forced a crooked smile as best he could, considering his current state.
"I'm relieved," Leopold continued, "because I was under orders to leave no survivors. Despite that, I would never slay a prisoner. However, your perfidy has resolved that issue."
Han Long's dark eyes quickly widened in shock as he began to sputter frantically. "Y-you can't kill me, Hurricane!"
"Can I not?" Leopold replied calmly, revealing the second talisman he had hidden behind his ring and little fingers. "Did you think the additional charm behind your heart was safe?"
"Monster!" cried Han Long, "Let me speak! Listen to my words, bastard!"
Looming over the fiend, Leopold Sturm looked like death himself in the eyes of his beaten adversary.
"It wasn't any more well-hidden than those grenades tucked up under your ribs, my friend. Goodbye." Leopold said coldly.
Before Han Long could issue another protest, Leopold launched him into the air with a kick so powerful that a small shockwave rippled from the impact point. Careening into the air at blinding speed, the vampire's screeching gradually became fainter with distance until the grenades in his chest cavity detonated. Han Long's ancient body, several hundred meters in the air, was torn apart by a substantial fireball, giving way to a thick black smoke. Leopold Sturm took in the sight before unsheathing his greatsword and planting it firmly in the earth beneath him. He then knelt and said a silent prayer for his fallen opponent. Regardless of the circumstances, Leopold Sturm was a man of God, through and through.
"And as for your other loose end, brother?"
Spurred by the same disembodied voice that had earlier invaded his consciousness, Leopold Sturm turned to see the young Japanese woman sitting up on her knees, in awe of the destruction that had unfolded before her. She tilted her head slightly as Leopold approached, his expression having turned grim.
"For the sake of our alliance's stability, surely you know what must be done."
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