I do not own Dark Souls or Claymore

Surprise, surprise I'm actually updating this story. And yeah I know that it's been too long, but that ends now. Nothing's dead until I give it permission to die.

But jokes aside I want to thank DMD Hanafin- Even though it maybe wasn't your intension to get me off my lazy ass and update. I saw your review and it was kinda like a jump start.

Anyway just finished The Ringed City and good God I wanted to kick a baby through a window dealing with those fucking angels! But the final boss was a blast to fight.

But moving on it actually gave me a few ideas with the story so as they say, take the good with the bad.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Dark Character Speech"

'Dark Character Thoughts'

Chapter 7: New Goals

Some time has passed since the Organization had sent four of their top warriors to execute Teresa for her crimes of taking human lives. And since the titanic battle between the general of Anor Londo and the now awakened Pricilla and in that time the small group consisting of Ornstein, Teresa, Clare, and now Victor had formed a somewhat strange family with Clare now fully accepting both the former number one and the Dragon Slayer as her parents or guardians rather with Victor being somewhat of a polite and caring sibling figure.

It has been a little over three years since the day that Ornstein wounded the monster known and Pricilla, and for now things were peaceful. However all three fighters among the group knew that the Organization wasn't done with them. They would create warriors to replace the ones they lost, they always did.

But until that day came both Teresa and Ornstein threw themselves into training, trying to hone their skills to perfection. And now even Clare was beginning to fight for herself.

This is where they stand today, next to a small series of cliffs to the western side of the island that all of them called home.

"Again. And this time put more of your weight into it, and try to control the sword's momentum."

Ornstein instructed to his young trainee. While he stood proud and relaxed without his armor overlooking a roughed up and dirty Clare. But all he got was tired look with a pleading meaning behind it asking the former Captain to take it easier on her. "Sorry Clare, but you asked me to train you while Teresa is sparring with Victor."

Clare only sighs, "Yes, but could we take a small break? I've been at this for hours." The now teenage Clare asks her father figure. The knight sighs before laughing a bit, "Fine you have and hour, but then you will be practicing till nightfall, or else Teresa is going to hear about you wandering into that brothel at the last town we were in." This makes the almost sixteen-year-old Clare grow a blush that completely covered her face and left her a stuttering mess.

Ornstein merely laughs at the girl's reaction and motions for her to follow him towards the cliff. Where she began to hear the sounds of metal hitting against metal, and sure enough the close to the edge she came the louder the sounds became.

Looking over to where Ornstein was he chose to stand with his arms crossed a small grin on his lips as he could twitching with excitement, call it his nature as a Dragon Slayer or his history for training under a War God, but the sounds of battle excited him.

And looking down onto one of Gwyn's elite knights sparring with the best the Organization had ever produced it was enough to get his blood pumping just watching.

With the Combatants

Teresa herself was no different at the moment she somewhat hated to admit it but she was like Ornstein when it came to fighting. Neither of them could ignore a good fight when it is presented to them. And now was no different.

She ducks under Victor's blade and goes for his legs only to have her sword stopped by the knight's shield and she was forced to jump back to reassess her bought with the archer.

It was always fun to the woman to face new kinds of opponents, from her first mission to kill a Yoma, to fighting an Awakened Being for the first time every variation in the battle made her all the more interested in the fight.

But now fighting characters like Ornstein and Victor they were different in so many ways than she was used to she couldn't help but dawn her famous smile. They fought without Yoki, they fought with powers beyond anything she could imagine. Using lightning the forces of nature themselves to aid them in combat it put a whole new twist on her sparring sessions with them.

From Ornstein with his incredible speed, precision, physical strength that even rivaled hers, and most dangerous of all his ability to command and control lightning itself turning cities into nothing and wounding the greatest awakened being she'd ever seen. He was aggressive, using his speed to overwhelm and then overpower. And if he knew they would be more resilient to certain attacks he would simply switch up his approach and before they knew it he would be there in their guard running them through. And he always kept people on their toes with plenty of tricks in his back pockets as surprises for some of his more interesting fights.

And then there was Victor, an archer by nature, but not exactly a slouch when it came to swordsmanship. And he was quite different then how his former captain fought he preferred to be on the defensive letting his opponent reveal their position, footwork, and technique. He would then learn and overcome them with superior placement and precision as was his job as an archer he applied it to his swordplay as well.

But she'd come back to that later, she had a knight to defeat. "You seem distracted Teresa." Victor says to her waving his sword and getting into a guard waiting for the woman to come at him.

"Yes well just thinking is all." She before using her strength and leapt into the and left two small implants in the ground where she jumped.

They collided with Teresa bringing her claymore down onto Victor's shield hard enough to create a small shockwave, but the knight held firm. He then goes to retaliate by bringing his blade down onto her shoulder, but using her momentum from the first strike she was able to throw her weight over his shield arm's shoulder and kick the taller fighter in the back with both feet sending him stumbling forwards.

Quickly recovering and then going after her Victor goes for a wide swing across the belly and forces the warrior to move back less she be bisected, but his follow up of using said swing's momentum he turns his whole frame around with it and goes for a long reaching thrust of his sword, landing a glancing blow to Teresa's waist.

Clicking her tongue at the small and most likely already healed wound she goes low again and attempts to sweep his feet from under him. Victor seeing it coming drops his blade to stop hers and goes in for a shield bash.

However Teresa counters by actually dropping her blade and leaping above him to land yet another kick onto his back forcing him to catch himself with his shield and turn to meet her.

But the second he makes eye contact with his opponent he was forced to roll out of the way from a head level horizontal swipe that easily could've slashed through solid rock. Recovering from his roll the knight springs to his feet and crosses swords with her follow up.

He then tries for another shield bash with a vertical slash as a follow up attack in order to try and prevent any kind of airborne movement from the more feminine of the two fighters, but seeing that the attack was coming Teresa goes to his right side towards his sword arm and strikes the flat side of blade sending it off course.

She was surprised however when Victor brought his shield around and smashed the edge into her hip sending her flying off her feet.

Seeing that she was already in the process of correcting her balance in the air the black knight gives chase and brings his sword down with a mighty war cry in order to finish the fight then and there.

But Teresa's smile gave away that she had a plan for the unusually aggressive play by the archer of the group. Twisting in the air she brings her blade around to defend her side, but was unable to stop her own descent towards the ground as the strength from the blow and because of this was still slammed into the ground.

Victor brought out the portion of his own divine power and cast the Emit Force miracle into the small crater that Teresa had created with her landing. But as the dust began to settle he stood on guard with his shield and his sword raised to protect his flank, he knew she was out there it was only a matter of time when she shows her face.

And show her face she did. Turning Victor was completely blindsided by the woman who smashed the flat side of her blade into the archer's helm stunning him and thus leaving him wide open for the follow-through of her next strike.

After the sword met its mark she brings it around again and then repeatedly slams both her own weight from kicks as well as her sword into the knight's ribs sending him further and further towards the Cliffside.

Seeing that he was on the ropes Victor cast a quick Force miracle, "Well looks like I've got to use my preferred method of combat." He says calmly removing his helm and wipes blood from his mouth, before putting away his sword and shield and instead holds in his hands his dragon slayer greatbow and a series of arrows was at the ready at his waist.

"Seems as if the battle has changed hasn't it?" He asks the woman who merely shakes her head in amusement at him. He then draws an arrow and lines up the shot onto the nonmoving Teresa.

"It'd be best to move my Lady." Teresa actually deadpanned at hearing that, "I'm not really what one would call a Lady Victor." She says resting her sword on her shoulder. Now if the knight heard her she's not sure, all she heard was the sound of a drawstring and she was back focused on the fight before her and with that she disappeared in a burst of speed.

Victor not openly being intimidated by the speed darts his eyes around and jumps into the narrowly avoiding Teresa's brutal horizontal swipe at his legs, and while in the air he lets the large spear-like arrow fly before quickly and rapidly drawing three more and launching them in predicted patterns towards his opponent.

Teresa following the arrow's path darts around on the ground avoiding the arrows that would easily pin her to the ground if hit by them. As she made her way to Victor she was able to see his silhouette in the distance, and yet again he had a number of arrows at the ready.

Letting them loose Teresa goes under the first, over the second and was forced to block the last with her sword as the only thing between her and impalement. Taking the time to look beyond her sword's guard she sees the archer drawing for a third volley and decided to put her foot down.

Kicking up the last arrow from the pervious volley the former number one grabs a hold of it with her free hand and charges the archer using both her sword and newly acquired arrow to swat aside the arrows that she was unable to dodge as she made her way to the knight.

Seeing that she was closing the distance rather quickly Victor stabs his bow into the ground and channeling a bit of power to the muscles in his back, shoulders, and arms he draws back one final arrow in attempt to halt her progress.

Drawing the string back until the entire weapon groaned in protest Victor knew she didn't have the speed to cleanly dodge an arrow with this much power behind it.

Letting it fly Victor grins under his slightly damaged helm watching as the arrow soared through the air at speeds capable of piercing a dragon's hide. Now with Teresa on the other hand she glared at the spear-like projectile as it sped towards her, but she had a plan. Bringing the arrow she'd picked up from earlier she brought it out in front of her chest and position it directly where the other would strike.

And for her idea she was rewarded with the two arrows colliding and with one being stuck in the other. Seeing this as her chance to get in close again the woman increases the amount of Yoki in her legs and before Victor could react he felt a blade resting against his throat, and a smiling Teresa holding the grip, the clear winner of the mock battle.

Sighing he drops his bow, "I yield. It seems as if you win again, my lady."

Teresa only rolls her eyes at that before she smacked him on the head with her sword, "Stop calling me that." She then looks to the small crowd with Clare giving her a small round of applause at watching the performance, or at least what she could follow with her being far away and lacking in the perception needed to follow some of the more fast paced parts of the fight.

Ornstein on the other hand merely laughed at the display between the knight and the hybrid it was good to see that after all was said and done they remanded comrades.

Walking up to the two of them Teresa messes with Clare's slightly longer hair and catches an apple tossed to her by Ornstein, "Best to eat now, wouldn't want your muscles cramping up on you when we march on after this. Besides Clare still needs to practice." He says making the girl's smile drop a bit hearing that she had yet to be forgotten, not that she was too surprised.

Teresa grins a bit wider watching the pseudo father and daughter talk among themselves, 'It has been rather nice not having to worry about the Organization too much since our last encounter. From what Irene last told me they've placed kill orders of her as well as Noel and Sophia since they abandoned their titles. Fools really, still if Ornstein has taught me anything surprises could still happen at anytime. And chancing the life of Clare is not something any of us are willing to do.' She then looks over to Ornstein who had a bit of a far off look in his eyes, before they widened and before any of them knew what was going on his attire shifted from traveling clothes to his Dragon Slayer armor he took off to the north in a burst of lightning and speed.

Teresa quickly looks to the shell-shocked Victor and Clare as the looked from the small crater Ornstein had left behind then to his quickly vanishing form as he sped off northbound. "Victor, watch over Clare!" She shouts but as she was about to jump she saw a look very similar to Ornstein's just before he took off.

"It can't be…" He says to himself with Clare becoming incredibly worried and Teresa beginning to have sinking feeling deep within her gut, she wasn't lost to the irony of her last thoughts.

Taking off after Ornstein a million thoughts began to race through her mind as she trailed his lightning coated form. As she followed him she actually found herself using over ten percent of her Yoki just to keep up with the now bright yellow and thickly covered Ornstein. And the fact that he was using so much power to only increase his speed set off warning bells in her head.

And then suddenly he stopped.

Appearing next to him Teresa widened her eyes at what the two of them were looking at. A town they'd passed through no less than two days ago, completely empty and silent, as if everyone who lived there had vanished.

"What happened here?" She asks her companion as his eyes dart around the town with weapon in hand as he scanned the doors and windows.

"Something horrible. Clear the town, we'll meet in the town square. But if you run into trouble flare your Yoki." She looks to him while drawing her sword from its sheath, "What aren't you telling me Ornstein?" She asks knowing something was spooking the knight into a state of near panic.

Ornstein only goes over to a corpse of the ground, and gently closed the woman's frightened eyes as a sign of respect, "There are many horrible things that you don't know about Teresa. Some are probably hidden carefully across your land, and then there are the dangers of my land. A land of monsters, gods, and sorcery, but by far the worst thing to ever appear in my home is curse that has caused my home to fall from glory and kill so many across my land." She takes a step towards him but the sounds of wood being smashed and what sounded like the scream of a child filled the air causing Ornstein to stand and slide into a low stance with his spear gripped just behind the cross shaped guard.

"And now it seems as if this curse has followed me."

Once the screaming stopped the two of them waiting for whatever it was to show itself. And they did not wait long as the sounds of metal plated footsteps filled the air, but what had both them tensing was the fact that it wasn't one set of footsteps it was a small group of them probably around four in total.

Teresa then saw a figure slowly make its way into the light. The figure was tall, almost reaching the heights of Ornstein and Victor as all of them stood at a solid 6'3, none of their facial features were showing as they were covered by armored and hooded masks in the shape of a skull with the eyes seemingly pitch black and empty, almost as if she were looking into a soulless void.

Moving to the armor it did nothing to really make the warrior's guard lower, it was pitch black like the helm with grey rib-like protrusions on the chest and branching segments extended from the shoulders all of them twisting and turning in different directions. Towards the arms the armor began to layer over itself giving the shoulders more protection with the same black and grey mix as the chest and back. This pattern continued when looking downward closer to the waist and even the thighs of the skeletal warriors, and on both the arms and legs the armor ended with claw tipped fingers and toes.

In their hands they all held a large and thick double-edged straight sword that gave away to a small gap in between the blade and the guard. What was a bit more concerning to Teresa though was focused on the fact that she could feel a very strange power emanating from their left hand and it felt much, much darker then Yoki.

All was quite for a moment as the four skeletal warriors looked to both Ornstein and Teresa each of them breathing ever so loudly. Then like a switch was thrown the lead one let loose an ear piercing low shriek as before all four of them charged the two warriors with reckless abandonment.

Ornstein was the first to engage them with his spear still in a low guard he aimed his spear to pierce the chest of the lead one, but they seemed to be both stronger and faster than Teresa thought as they brought their sword to block the incoming thrust from the Leo knight.

From there the lead one engaged Ornstein in a small contest of arms with a second one sprinting around to the knight's flank. Teresa decided to stop this and in a burst of speed appeared in front of the second skeletal knight and brought her sword to its legs causing the fiend like warrior to be removed from the ground for a split second before Teresa ever so gently reacquainted him to the dirt with a Yoki enhanced hammer fist to the thing's back.

Feeling a presence to her side Teresa brought up her guard just in time to block another's vicious slash onto her back. Bring her attention to the one attacking her back now Teresa swings wide and forces the black clad rouge to lock swords allowing her to use her Yoki in order to shift the balance of her opponent and land a glancing blow onto the armored chest and send the thing flying away from her.

Circling back Teresa keeps and eye on the two regrouping skull faced figures and looks over to Ornstein. While all of that was going on with her Ornstein seemed to be fighting at a much different pace than her.

The moment he went in for the first lunge attack the second fighter of the two had to intervene almost immediately in order to prevent the first from being impale onto the spear of the Dragon Slayer. But even with the narrow save Ornstein wasn't letting up on the attack and spun his spear from a low guard into a high stance with a twist of fluid motion and brought the blade back down onto the second one's shoulder snapping the grey branch-like metal protrusions and was rewarded with a loud crunch of the shoulder being broken.

Twisting his body around once again he brings both his foot and a spinning back fist into the chest of the first one who tried to go towards his left side. The black clad opponent had his sword misdirected with the tail end of the Leo knight's spear and was knocked back into one of the now vacant houses with a fist to stun it and a solid kick to the ribs to knock it away.

Hearing a low growl come from the second one Ornstein gives his spear a small and intimidating twirl before locking his gaze onto his other opponent.

"Well then, come at me Wraith. I've been waiting for you appear now don't disappoint me!" He says before lightning coated his spear and he vanished from sight appearing to the side of the wraith in blinding speed with his spear poised to remove one of its legs.

Turning towards his now empowered foe the skull faced fighter turns and using its left hand casts a red glowing shied of light stopping the spear almost entirely in its tracks.

But the lightning coated weapon continued to push through breaking the poise of the one trying to block and thus lead to him receiving a godly punch to the chest sending it flying towards the same house its partner went flying into.

"I'm not done with you yet!" Ornstein shouts as he gives chase to them.

Leaping into the air the knight of Gwyn summons a large spear of bright yellow lightning and with the force of a thunderstorm slams the bolt into the earth where the two wraiths were stationed.

Both he and Teresa smile as the as when the dust settles it appeared as if at least one had died in the explosion, as one could be seen missing an arm and a significant portion of its chest.

The second one though leapt into the air to meet Ornstein its hand now glowing an ominous mixture of pink, white, and some purple.

Ornstein widened his eyes as he snatched the wrist of the offending appendage in an iron-like grip and redirected the attack downwards sending both him and the wraith to the ground. After the hard landing the two were once again up on their feet with Ornstein avoiding the left hand of the being at all costs and the second figure alternating using what Teresa could only guess was magic in the form of a red see through shield and that glowing grapple type attack along with its straight sword.

But in her curiosity she saw out of the corner of her eye her own opponents slowly stalking towards not her but Ornstein and their apparent leader. Appearing in front of the two she was greeted by two low growls from the two of them, "We're not done yet."

In response the two of them raised their left hands and sure enough like the other a small dome of red magic began to encompass their arms, "It seems as everyone I meet now has a few tricks to show me." She says her grin slightly widening.

They then slowly begin to walk towards her but as they get closer they begin to increase in speed before all out sprinting towards her each of them growling that low ringing noise she assumed to be them communicating between one another.

Going in between the two of them Teresa uses her sword to swipe at one's legs and forces it to bring down its barrier while swinging downwards with its sword and the second one came at her with its sword in a thrust.

Seeing that the two of them were already gunning she knew it would be similar to fighting Victor in the fact that she would need to bypass the shields, worry about the swords, then scores a blow or two onto their weak points.

Already getting a few ideas in her head Teresa leaps upwards and split kicks the two of them, but they seemed to not really be bothered and only seemed to flinch at the force behind the kick, which would've killed any regular human and some Yoma with the force she placed into it.

Going for a new approach she begins to sprint circles around the two and looks for openings to attack, and it didn't take too long for a hole in their defense to be spotted. Darting to one while it was turning to adjust for her position she swings her claymore at its kneecaps and was rewarded with the second having to compensate for the others lack of foresight and using this she turned as was able to turn herself behind the second and land a large slashing blow onto its back causing it to spill pitch black blood.

'Now that's interesting?' She thinks to herself as now a small hit and run campaign had begun between her and the skull-faced fighters. Going in and out rapidly she was starting to see the fruits of her labor as the two were now much bloodier than when she'd began.

The one she'd slashed on the back had to use its sword for support as she had cut out one of its ankles, its left arm was now missing large chunks of both armor and flesh, and to top off the she'd landed a large laceration onto its left hip.

The other wasn't in the best of shape either had Teresa had removed its sword arm entirely, so at the moment it was only able to use that strange magic she'd seen. But if Ornstein's reaction to the glowing attack were anything to go by she'd best avoid it.

Deciding to end them quickly and join her companion Teresa slowly walked towards them, but when one looked to the other she saw them nod to one another before they closed the distance on one another.

Then in a strange turn of events the one missing the arm turned its attack onto it brethren, and Teresa watched in strange fascination as the armless one grabbed hold of the other with that special attack and she saw as what she could describe as life be transferred from one to another.

It latched onto its downed teammate and began to drain him of life as it emerged from one in a bright white and began to circulate around the other until it rested on pitch black with a white outline. It then swirled around the missing arm and before her very eyes the arm had been replaced, just without armor. It then bends down to pick up its comrade's sword with its wrinkled grey arm and holds it in a different and new type of guard. It then points to Teresa with its left arm and motions for her to come at it. "Come." It says in a deep yet somehow deadly silent and soft tone of voice.

Happily obliging Teresa goes towards it in at a blazing pace and readies her sword to finish the fight. She was surprised thought to find that yes indeed along with it arm and creature had regained all of its strength as it was completely and fully healed.

Knowing this Teresa could off in the distance that Ornstein's fight had ended meaning she needed to wrap this up now. "Sorry, but I'm cutting this little meeting short. I've a friend to meet up with. And I now need some answers as to what you are. But I doubt you'll simply answer me now would you?"

The being said nothing but charged at her again with an unshaken resolve. Teresa though was telling the truth though, this fight was over.

Channeling her Yoki she feels her eyes changing in color before using her increase in power to appear behind the renewed wraith. Not giving it any time to react runs her sword through the skeletal warrior and faster than the eye could see she removed her blade from its chest and then quickly removed the head of her opponent.

"Well now this certainly raised more questions than answers. Just what happened here?" She says looking around at the ruined town and the slew of corpses that littered the both the streets and remained uncounted in the homes.

With Ornstein

A few moments earlier the Leo knight was still locked in combat with the wraith that now had him furious just thinking all the ramifications of them simply existing in this world. A world full of living humans, and full of creatures that preyed upon them, just another problem in paradise he supposed.

Back to his own battle he knew he was going to win, he'd killed dozens of wraiths at points all across his long time as Captain of Anor Londo, but if he broke out any stronger spells he might accidentally kill some survivors, if there were any left that the wraiths missed. But even then a small part of his pride refused to use such techniques against such a lowly creature of the dark.

At the moment though he knew that Teresa must be wrapping up her own fight, and he knew he was destined to get some kind of speech from the woman about keeping secrets once she knew about the Red-Eye he still had.

But enough about the future he still had a wraith to kill. Going once again on the offense Ornstein could see that the wraith had given up on using his hand like a shield and chose instead to using only the offense half of the Dark Hand.

So while Ornstein was able to manage the sword easily, since he'd been fighting nothing but sword users the entire time he'd been here in this world it was of no difficulty to fight against one. The Dark Hand on the other hand was a different story, he remembered just how dangerous that thing could be to anyone, be they human or not.

So deciding it was time to end this little fiasco Ornstein puts some power into his legs before lunging towards the wraith using his superior range to full effect as even when the wraith narrowly dodged the lightning tipped spear it was unable to avoid the follow up attack of wide aiming horizontal slash Ornstein brought across after putting the back end under his arm and swinging his spear like a halberd.

Ornstein was pleased to hear the sound of metal cutting through armor and flesh as the wraith recoiled in shock rather than pain as its left arm from the elbow down was completely removed from the slash.

Ornstein seeing the wraith simply shrug off the now missing appendage knew he'd just have to go for the killing blow and end the fight right then and there.

Charging the Dragon Slayer the wraith brings his sword up high to have a bit extra power behind the swing, but in doing so left his guard open for Ornstein to lodge his spear deep into the black-clad fighters cranium killing it instantly and making it go limp on the spear before Ornstein unceremoniously rips the spear out of the skull of by placing his foot onto its chest and pushing his now dead opponent into the dirt.

Looking over to his right he sees Teresa with her weapon already sheathed and her arms crossed, "So what were those things?"

Ornstein sighs knowing that this question was coming the moment he felt their souls. "Creatures from my homeland, they're known as Darkwraiths servants of the Darkstalker of New Londo. But that is a story for another day, right now I'm more concerned about the bodies they left behind. We need to find them all and check to see if the corpses have begun to hallow." Hearing the term Teresa raises an eyebrow but none-the-less helps her companion search the small town and to her surprise all the bodies found had begun to dry up as if they were becoming mummified.

Ornstein shows her where to put the bodes and as they begin to lay them all to rest she looks over and sees that Ornstein seems to be reminiscing about something, "What are you thinking about?" She asks him seriously wondering what was going through the knight's mind as they completed the morbid task of collecting the bodies and piling them up into the center of the town.

"This curse is what destroyed my land once. Many things happened during my time as Captain of Anor Londo and of all the horrible things that I've seen, all the things I was forced to confront this curse is cause of almost all of our trouble. The curse of the Dark Soul." He says somberly before his hands ignited in lightning and before Teresa could blink the bodies were disintegrated into dust.

"What happened? When this curse began to spread?" She asks honestly knowing that it might already be on its way to spreading throughout the land.

"We tried all that we could, but in all honesty we saw the problems of Izalith and Oolacile as much greater priorities at the time. After all what threat is a simple curse when there are demons and the Abyss to be dealt with. But that's the problem with curses, they are so similar to disease in the fact that they spread without anyone knowing and just as everyone takes notice and sees the real problem and threat its become, its far too late to contain and destroy."

This did nothing to comfort Teresa as she didn't like the idea of some curse destroying a world where beings such as Ornstein and Victor were somewhat commonplace to be found.

"So what now?" She asks as the two of them turn to leave watching as the heat from the ashes of Ornstein's miracle began to light fires across the town.

"Now?" Ornstein asks as he looked to the sun clinging to life in the sky.

"Now we take the fight to them. I will not see this world burn like mine did I will stop this, and this time I will not stop until I know for certain that every single trace of this curse and those affected by it are dealt with. I wish to see this plague eradicated from the face of the earth." He says with a fire in his voice and with a fist clenched in remembrance of his home.

"Now Teresa, we go hunting." He says making the woman smirk at the thought of the two of them going out across the land teaching Clare how to survive and in the meantime hunting down some rather interesting foes.

And for the life of her Teresa just couldn't help but feel excited when she thought about doing it all with the man who stood proudly next to her.

Further to the South

Days after the incident involving Ornstein and Teresa and a few now deceased Darkwraiths duo of knight and unofficial squire could be seen exploring a town looking for supplies in order to restock before continuing west to follow something that the knight had sensed earlier that week.

"Gehrman did you get the supplies I asked for?" The glaive wielding knight Reden asked the now sixteen-year-old apprentice.

Gehrman reaching into the bag tosses the knight a small stripe of dried pork, "Yeah I got the jerky and some bread along with the fruits, don't see why you wanted so much pork the beef was cheaper anyways." Gehrman complains a bit to the grinning knight as he happily began to chew on the stripe of dried pork.

"We've plenty of money my oh so annoying apprentice. It's about quality not quantity mind you."

Gehrman only rolls his eyes at the easygoing knight as the two of them walked out of the city and began making their ways northwest towards whatever it was that Reden had sensed a few days ago.

'All he told me was that we should be able to meet his Captain. And if this is the same Captain he kept telling me stories about then I think we're in for a treat?' Gehrman wonders in his mind as the two of them kept walking.

It was a comfortable silence for sometime, but Gehrman knew it wouldn't last long as Reden didn't like things being too quite for too long it seemed to bug him a lot more than it should, but Gehrman was never one to pry when it comes to his master's past.

"Say Gehrman you did get your spear fixed right?" Reden asks as he looks to the wooden handle on Gehrman's back. His student nods before removing it from its holster and gives it a small twirl over his shoulder and holds it with most of the hilt pointed to the sky.

Reden looks it over and nods, at the weapon. While it wasn't anything as fancy as his glaive it serves its purpose well as a simple polearm with a moderately sized double edged tip at the end and a decent length for a still growing teen Gehrman. Reden was actually amazed that Gehrman took to his training as well as he did.

If he kept this up he might actually knight the boy in a few years time. Damn the kind of ruckus he would've caused if they were in Anor Londo with that. Almost made him laugh just thinking about it.

And so they kept walking with the two now close friends as well as master and student keeping themselves busy with small talk about anything they happened to pass.

From the blooming flowers of spring to even the occasional traveler, but it wasn't until they passed one traveler in particular that made Reden stop dead in his tracks.

A young beautiful woman passed by them with long brown hair pale skin and wearing a wonderfully crafted dress with jewelry hanging from both her neck and ears. And while Gehrman himself couldn't help but glance at her rather voluptuous bosom and try to steal a glance at her backside as she passed by them. Reden tensed and glanced backward in her direction.

"Wow, now that's something you don't see everyday? Right Sir?" He asks his teacher, but stops dead in his tracks as his teacher's cold steel grey eyes were now locked onto her back.

"You do know that it's rather rude to stare at a woman, right?" She asks without turning back around. Gehrman at this point began to understand what was going on and slowly began to grab hold of his spear before Reden put his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't, she's way above your level. Maybe even a bit too much for me." He says honestly while taking out his shield and glaive while at the same time his black knight helm appeared onto his head signaling to his student that he was more than ready for combat.

"And to answer your question, yes I've heard it's rude to stare at a lady. But in this case I think its necessary to keep your eyes on the monster in front of you." He brings his glaive into a balanced stance and they both watch as the woman's face was revealed to have potent glowing yellow eyes, marking her as a Yoma.

"Oh now you're going to hurt my feelings. Seems as if my bodyguard will have to deal with you then." Reden scuffs at hearing that.

"Too afraid to fight a proper knight? Is that it then?" Hearing this actually makes the woman let out a small laugh. "Ignoring your little insult, I'll answer why. I only want to see which knight is better? You or my own knight?"

Hearing this Reden perks up as he felt a familiar presence behind him and picking up his apprentice he leapt to the side to avoid a colossal downward swing from the figure that had appeared above him and Gehrman.

When the dust had cleared Gehrman widened his eyes in shock as he was staring at a knight in armor the same as his master, only wielding a greataxe instead of a glaive. And most surprisingly to the teen was that this new knight stood a full head taller than Reden making his teacher look somewhat small next to the man.

It also served as a bit of comedy to Reden who laughed seeing a very familiar face next to the much shorter Yoma behind him.

"Are you alright my lady?" He asks in a deep baritone voice to the woman who seemed to be smiling even wider revealing her razor-like teeth to the world. "Me, oh I'm perfectly fine. But it seems as if we have a problem now, this man threatened me just now. And I know as my bodyguard you're not willing to let that go so easily. So if you would?" She says motioning towards Reden who was now glaring at the axe wielding former comrade.

Standing to his full height Meinen points his axe towards the shorter of the two black knights. "You wear the same armor as I do. Answer this for me, please. Are there others and, were we at one point friends?" He asks seriously with a bit of a pleading undertone in his words.

Reden felt his body tense at that, "Yes there are others. Two more like us and of course our Captain, but now I do not know how many are left though, I do know the Captain is alive though. And yes we were friends, we were once very good friends." He tells him honestly while meeting his gaze.

He then went on to ask his own questions, "What happened to you Meinen? Why do this?" Reden asks looking for any kind of reason to not fight his once good friend.

"I fight for my lady. That is my purpose, but if what you say is true then I'm sure you will not die here. And when my lady ends this contest, maybe we will find the others someday together." He says before bringing his own weapon to rest over his shoulder as the two began to charge one another.

"You know, this reminds me a bit of my first meeting with my sister after my awakening." Gehrman hears from his left and turns to see the woman who this new knight insisted of calling 'his lady' casually watching while sitting on top of a rock watching as the two warriors circle each other sizing up their opponent.

"Can't imagine why?" Gehrman says with a bit of venom in his voice as he looked upon the woman who still had her golden eyes proudly on display.

"Its simple really, even if you forget a person's face…"

Then before anyone could react the two knights began their duel as greataxe met glaive as weapons and wills began to clash in the heart of a duel between former servants of the sun.

"…you never forget their will."

And Done!

Well it feels good to be back on this story, sorry for not updating in so long. But now I'm back to this and hopefully will be able to balance it out with my other story "Pain Killer."

But yeah just finished the Ringed City and I'm still trying to climb in SR on Overwatch so that's been eating up time and then school and work took my free time and put it into a blender. But y'all don't want to hear excuses.

Anyway please Read and Review they always help me.

Stay Cool