"Yharnam style?" Jackie asked, somewhat perplexed.

"Mmhm."

The teen gave it some thought. She had already learned how to hunt a vast multitude of creatures that dwelt within Hekapoo's dimension and the beasts in which Eclipsa had a career in slaying seemed to pale in comparison.

"I dunno." Jackie scratched the back of her head. "I mean, do I really have to?"

"Dear, let me ask you this: out of every moment of combat you've ever experienced, how much of them relied solely on the element of surprise?"

She took a moment to ponder. "Almost all of 'em, I guess. Not a huge fan of direct approaches and I don't kill as often as you'd expect from the kinda training I got. And when I did, I made sure they didn't see me coming and it was as quick as possible. Don't like draggin' out a fight for more than a few minutes and if that happened, I usually just leave without a trace."

"I see." Eclipsa nodded in understanding. "While that may have served you well during your sixteen-year excursion and your work with us thus far, I believe you'll find that the effectiveness of stealth and subterfuge may diminish at a certain point."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, so far your adversaries have consisted of nothing but bandits, other assassins, rebelling soldiers, and whatever wildlife inhabited Hekapoo's dimension correct?"

"Uh-huh?"

"So considering how beneath you they all have been, wouldn't you need to innovate your technique for an opponent such as say... Star Butterfly?"

Jackie couldn't contain her frown when the name bit against her psyche. She hadn't really given the former princess any space in her mind since some point during her Hekapoo hunting session, but now that she heard it again, she was reminded why she took up the assassin's blade in the first place. To fell that which endangered not only Marco, but everyone around her the longer she allowed the darkness within to fester. However, as time went on, her animosity towards the girl diminished as she busied herself with bigger, more important schemes. While she would've agreed a long time ago, the lessons she learned and the people she met along the way conflicted with the goals and methods she had in mind initially.

"But, what about Tom?"

"If he's truly your friend, then he'll surely understand the necessity of your actions."

"I guess... but why learn how to hunt beasts the way you've been taught? And what does that have to do with fighting Star?"

Eclipsa smiled, evoking the involuntary stiffening of Jackie's body. "It will make sense in due time. But what is your answer, my dear?"

"I uh... you know what? Sure. I mean, I guess I haven't been doing much for a while and learning a new skill would be a better use of my time."

"Excellent." Eclipsa said as she clapped her hands together. "Ah, but first, we must take a slight detour."

With a slow, methodical wave of her hand, the courtyard and everything around it began to blur and erode. Jackie was completely taken aback by the effect and struggled to keep a steady foot as the ground beneath her undulated and molded into something completely different and the colors in her vision mixed and melted into those that were entirely different.

The next thing she knew, she was standing at the base of a rounded hill. Branching dirt paths cut through various plots of grass, white flowers, graves, and nearly barren trees. A line of considerably taller, more distinct graves flanked one side of the gray stone steps at a higher section of the hill. At the very top of said steps was a rectangular, two-story mansion built in a Victorian-era style. Above them were several red clouds among several white ones scattered across a dark-blue sky. Presiding over the entire area was a full moon that floated closer than it should.

The area as a whole appeared to be some island in the sky. Beyond the metal fences that marked its boundaries was an endless sea of thick gray mist and towers that jutted out of said mist which spanned beyond the blurry horizon.

There was a woman standing at the base of the gray stone steps leading up to the house. She wore a delicate coat colored in dark pinks, black, with a bit of white that looked to be sewn and crafted with great care. Upon her head was one of those hats that babies and dolls wore during an era in which the house's fashion was commonplace.

"Ah, Lady Eclipsa, good to see you again after so long." Spoke the woman as the two visitors walked by. Jackie found her voice and her face to be shockingly familiar.

"Wait, Maria?" Jackie stopped dead in her tracks, her attention taken hostage by the woman standing before her. She recalled the aforementioned maiden's appearance from the playback of one of Eclipsa's memories using that Past Variant of the All-Seeing Eye. "But I thought you were-"

"That is absolutely not Maria." Eclipsa's tone held a noticeable tinge of bitterness. "That is a life-sized wooden Doll meticulously crafted and given sentience by my former teacher. Now please, come inside."

Jackie gave a brief, pitiful look at the "doll" before running up the steps and following her apparent teacher. The house was significantly smaller than she had thought given its size. The interior was composed of a single rectangular room, with three entrances leading into it. Multiple workshop tables and shelves with diverse arrays of tools lined against each of the waxed wooden walls and stacks of dusty, worn books (most of which were copies of one called "How to Pick Up Fair Maidens") were haphazardly spread across the hard wood floor.

Eclipsa began perusing a large storage chest that laid against the wall near the door they entered from.

"Let's see... we'll need this." She pulled out a flintlock pistol, which Jackie recalled seeing a similar model in an American history textbook.

"Aren't you like, a goddess, Eclipsa?" The girl asked, confused. "Why do you need a gun? And a super old one at that?"

The Dark Queen shrugged as she picked up a box labeled "Quicksilver Bullets". "In your case, it's a vital part of the craft. And in my case, for nostalgia's sake. Besides, what fun is it to hunt beasts if you can disintegrate them with a mere thought?"

Jackie shrugged. "Fair enough, I guess."

Eclipsa pulled out another pistol and handed it to her would-be pupil before diving right back into the seemingly bottomless container.

"You don't happen to have a Glock or an AK in there, do you?" Jackie sheepishly quipped as she inspected the gun.

"Pardon me?"

"Ehh, never mind."

With a roll of her eyes, Eclipsa continued browsing the storage. With faint, repetitive mutterings of "this and this" she brought out more items which included, but not limited to, two distinct sets of bottles containing red liquid, a long, brownish femur, handfuls of tiny somethings wrapped in yellow paper, and last, but not least, another weapon. It was a long purple lance, with swirls of lighter shades of its primary color winding up to the tip and fin-like protrusions at the flared base of its long, cone-shaped head. At the butt-end of its thick, black handle was an ornate golden grip divided by a horizontal hilt. She slung the lance over her shoulder and let it hang from her back.

"So what is this place exactly?" Jackie inquired as her eyes glazed over every nook and cranny of the building.

"A personal Interstice that I've taken ownership of called the Hunter's Dream." Eclipsa spoke as she walked up to one of the workshop tables. "Hunters were once commonly bound to this place during the Night of the Hunt until I managed to put a stop to it all. Now the only occupant is the Doll and myself from time to time, though I have not stepped foot here since I became a member of the God Hand. Before then, I only came here to regularly maintain the condition of Maria's Rakuyo among... other things. Speaking of which, may I see it for just a few moments?"

"Uh, sure." Jackie obliged, to which Eclipsa gently placed it lengthwise across the table. She opened a small latch on the grip of the blade, revealing a little compartment that stored three gems, two of which were shaped like multi-pointed stars and one being a crescent moon. Eclipsa then swung open a nearby box on the table which held many gems of similar size and diverse hues, some with the same shapes and some that were triangular and spherical.

"What do you prefer, my dear?" The veteran hunter asked as her hand hovered over the box. "Would you like to sharpen the tip of the blade or its edges? Or lace it with poison? How about augmenting it with some fire, electricity, or magical energy? Perhaps you'd like to alter its weight in some way?"

"Um." Jackie was overwhelmed by the amount of choices laid out for her. She never had to deal with that sort of thing in Hekapoo's dimension. She was taught that a weapon was only as good as its user and never bothered with any such fancy enhancements.

Eclipsa took note of her indecisiveness and closed the compartment. "If nothing else, the gems that Maria has already inserted makes her weapon significantly lighter and sharper in order to ensure faster and more fluid motions. I assumed you might've wanted something different."

"No thanks, I think I'll stick to those."

Eclipsa shrugged. "Suit yourself. Would you like to keep a few of them just in case you decide to change your mind?"

"Sure, why not?"

Eclipsa took several out of the box and handed them to Jackie, who promptly placed them into one of her many pockets.

"This is a secret known only to scarce few, but you can augment weapons with those gems without the need to place them into their containment units. Simply melt the gems and thoroughly coat the blade in their liquid remains. This offers a more permanent enhancement, but doing so will negate the effectiveness of the gems placed in the compartments. You can also only do this with one gem, so effects will not stack if you melt multiple at once and doing so would render their original effects null."

"Why not just do that to begin with?"

"Hunters prefer switching augments often to suit whatever needs may arise. Now then, shall we?"

Jackie took her new weapon back and tucked her pistol into her pocket. "Yeah, I'm good to go."

Once they were well equipped, the two departed the building from whence they came. Eclipsa halted before a grave closest to the entrance. Upon further inspection, there was a long list of words carved onto the solid surface, of which were names of locations.

"This may seem a tad strange, but I need you to take my hand, dear." Eclipsa reached out an open palm to her apprentice. With a hesitant nod, Jackie held onto it.

Eclipsa then gently touched a finger upon one that read "Yharnam Bridge" and the indented words were immediately filled in with glowing white. Once again, the area around them melted into a completely different locale within moments.

They were now in what appeared to be a city, its towering buildings built in the same archaic fashion as the mansion they had just left. They were standing upon a platform at the end of a broad, long bridge, rife with blood, corpses, and piles of debris that comprised of either scattered carriage parts or cobblestone.

"Whoa... where are we now?" Jackie asked as she took in the rather macabre sight that closely resembled a gothic painting or a heavy metal album cover. Janna would've totally dug this place, she thought.

"Central Yharnam." Eclipsa simply answered. "Or at least a facsimile of it. The real Yharnam is relatively safe and free of the beast scourge currently. I made sure of that. This is but a replica born from the memories of my career as a Hunter. I used to come here to, for lack of a better term, blow off steam."

"So... this is all fake?"

"Yes and no. Take heed that whatever damage you incur is real and can potentially be fatal, so I urge you to treat this as if you were genuinely fighting for your life. Let us begin, shall we?"

The two commenced walking towards a large archway leading to the rest of the bridge. Near the archway was a group of three dog-sized crows lazily laying their black feathered bodies flat against the stone and darting their twitchy heads every which way.

As soon as the two women drew near, the birds immediately began screeching and leaping into the air, flapping their wings and thrusting their beaks at the intruders incessantly.

However, no sooner than they took flight did Eclipsa pull a thin blade out of her lance's handle and bisected all three in a single swing, leaving their bloodied, severed halves to splat onto the ground and their floating feathers slowly raining down.

"Whoa..." Jackie whispered beneath her breath in awe.

"Don't be so easily impressed, they were merely birds." Eclipsa apathetically spoke as she wiped the blood off her blade and holstered it.

"No, I mean... that lance is just a sheathe for that rapier?"

"It is not just a sheathe, my dear. Much like the Rakuyo, my Liberator's Lance and its accompanying Estoc are two parts of the same weapon. That is what Hunter weaponry is. Arms that can switch seamlessly between two states to encourage more flexible and versatile combat. The Hunter must reflect that in order to prevent stagnation as one-trick ponies and hold an edge over strong, yet single-minded beasts."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

Up ahead, just a few yards away was a tall ogre of a man holding a large brick and wearing a desolate combination of tattered rags and bloodstained bandages, some of which wrapped around his head and gave him the appearance of a mummy. Some gray fur poked through little gaps of his clothing.

"Yo, I thought we'd be fighting beasts." Jackie pointed towards the man ahead. "That's clearly a dude. A big dude, but still a dude."

"For you." Eclipsa remarked with a knowing smile. "You'll find that every civilian here is affected by the plague and, while their partly human appearances may say otherwise, they are definitely no different from the actual beasts they shall inevitably become. In fact, one might even say that the line between beast and man often blurs naturally, lycanthropic disease or no."

"Hm." Jackie shifted her mouth to the side.

"And besides, I've mentioned that this is a dream dimension. And every being we see here are merely echoes of a Hunt long passed."

Eclipsa proceeded to inch closer to the man, with only her gun drawn. Alerted to her presence, the brute lumbered towards her with his brick raised high. Right as his "weapon" lowered even the slightest, the Master Hunter blasted him with a shot from her flintlock pistol, causing him to stagger and stumble to his knee. Eclipsa wasted no time thrusting her hand into his heart and tearing it from his bulky body, causing him to topple over and spew forth a wide spray of blood from the hole in his chest. His body briefly spasmed before slumping over and ceasing to move.

"Did your school teach you how to do that?" Eclipsa turned to face Jackie. The pristine paleness of her skin and the vibrant violet of her spades were lost beneath the layer of blood that stained her and Jackie couldn't help but faintly shudder at the sight.

"They taught me where all the vitals are, but they didn't teach me that."

"Hm, I thought so." A smile was drawn across Eclipsa's bloody face as she holstered her pistol. "That is what the Workshop calls a Visceral Attack or a Visceral Finisher. A fatal strike that is meant to kill in one, decisive motion. It is a rather difficult technique to master, as it requires the utmost of precision and timing. Though I am confident that your prior training will make learning it considerably easier."

"Man, that's pretty brutal, though." Jackie remarked, still shaken by the gruesome act. "I dunno if I'd be willing to pull a move like that. Heck, I never really liked stabbing dudes, much less tear someone's heart out."

"How did you normally deal with the multitude of attackers seeking to cash in on your exorbitant bounty?"

Jackie pulled out a whitish blue marble from her pocket. "I just freeze 'em with this and just leave 'em there while I get away. I try not to kill so much unless they get waayy too stubborn or if they were the absolute worst type of people."

"Ah, so you were rather passive in your approach to combat."

"Pretty much. Only reason I even attended a school that taught me how to be a ninja was because the old dude who runs it told me it would help me find Hekapoo."

"Well unfortunately, you'll find that reconnaissance and espionage will do very little to help you here and henceforth. To combat beasts, you must display a degree of ferocity that rivals theirs, yet you must also take great heed as to not become them. The key word is 'display', Ms. Thomas."

"Gotcha. I mean, it's hard for me to lose my cool unless you give me a good reason that I should."

Further down the bridge was a pair of massive, wolf-like creatures. The aspects that distinguished themselves from regular wolves was that their limbs were prehensile and resemble those belonging to humans rather than canines. Glowing red eyes and gleaming white fangs and claws cut through the dense darkness of their fur. They seem to be on a patrol of sorts, walking a circular path within a small area of the bridge.

"I'm sure you're well aware of this trick as it is merely common sense, but pay attention regardless."

Eclipsa reached into her coat and pulled out one of those bottles filled with red liquid. She tossed it just a trivial distance from the pair of beasts, its contents forming a red puddle sprinkled with shards of glass. One of them perked up and directed its snout towards said puddle, then proceeded to speed its way towards the spot and lap its tongue against the moist, red ground.

"So I'm guessing blood was in that?"

Eclipsa nodded. "Would you believe me if I said that blood is more plentiful and coveted than alcohol around these parts?"

"Yeesh, this place is insane. A different kind of insane than what I'm used to."

"Yes, such an addiction to the sanguine nectar is what caused the plague of beasts to begin with."

Seemingly finished with its meal, the lycan perked its ears as it took notice of the two women's presence. With great haste and hunger, it bolted towards them, savagely roaring as it did so.

"Watch and learn, young pupil."

Eclipsa merely stood there as the beast ran within range and allowed it the privilege of swinging its massive claws across her torso. While it was abundantly clear that she had just taken considerable damage, the Old Hunter endured it without so much as the slightest twitch. The lycan saw the inactivity as an opportunity for another strike, with which it took without hesitation.

This time, Eclipsa did not allow its desires to come into fruition, and, before Jackie knew it, the Queen's Lance pushed the monster back and kept it at weapon's length as it feebly swung its claws and snapped its maw.

"Now then,"

Eclipsa took her weapon in both hands and mercilessly drove it into its chest, showering her body in more crimson fluid. Jackie noticed that, the moment the weapon dug into the lycan's torso, a faint, orange glow flashed from the core of her teacher's body. Soon, the lycan's growls faded into squealing whimpers and its arms sluggishly swiped at the Hunter before its entire body went limp and silent.

Eclipsa proceeded to push the creature off her weapon with her foot and its corpse fell to the ground with a dull, squishy thud. She inhaled deeply with her nostrils and heaved a relieved, almost gratified sigh. She involuntarily licked her lips, wiping off some of the red stains around her mouth and creating a pale island among the sea of red on her face.

"Even ascended, I can still hear it singing to me." Eclipsa whispered longingly.

"Come again?"

"Nothing." Eclipsa dismissed, hurriedly. "Any questions?"

"Yeah. What was that little flash o' light there when you killed that thing?"

"Oh right. Almost neglected to address that. What you saw there was an effect called the Hunter's Rally. See, when you incur damage and you retaliate immediately afterwards rather than dodge or retreat, you are able to quickly mend the wounds you were just inflicted with. An alternative method to healing oneself if one cannot find the time nor chance to do so properly. And once again, I cannot stress enough that aggression is of vital importance when it comes to being a Hunter, in addition to versatility."

"And uh, how does that wor-"

Jackie was cut off by the rapidly impending approach of the other beast, its intent to feast aimed towards Eclipsa.

Right as it rose on its lower legs to attack, Jackie blinked past her teacher and halted its advances with an impaling thrust to its jugular, penetrating bone and muscle with ease.

However, the beast's superior strength overpowered Jackie and she ended up with her back to the ground and her prey-turned-predator looming over her. Her blade dug deeper into the beast's flesh as its snapping, growling maw drew closer. At the same time, the Rakuyo's dagger hung over Jackie's chest, threatening to pierce her heart at the slightest slip of the hand.

Eclipsa merely stood there, watching her student struggle with her first enemy with great indifference that slowly grew to shame the longer it went on. She began shaking her head and sighing but still refrained from lifting a finger.

Jackie became keenly aware of the pistol at her hip and made a pricey gamble by removing one hand from her sword's handle. As a result, the creature as well as the dagger fell just slightly so that the latter began grazing her vest. Her arm remained rigid and erect by the combination of adrenaline and self-preservation flowing through her veins and bolstering her muscles.

Channeling her inner gunslinger, the downed teen drew her gun and pulled the trigger no later than after, the Quicksilver bullet hitting it right between the eyes. The beast shuddered before growing still and its extended limbs went slack.

With as much strength as she could muster, the girl tossed the corpse to the side, freeing herself from beneath the heavy mass of fur and flesh. As she staggered to her feet, she pulled out a solid blue marble and crushed it in her hands, allowing the following explosion of water to wash away the stains of her botched kill.

"Not the biggest lifter in the gym are you?" Eclipsa joked.

"I, uh..." Jackie forced her breaths and her words out of her throat. "I told you... I'm not a fan of... direct approaches. I expected that thing to go down in, like, a second. Didn't think it'd have one over me like that."

"Hmph. Typical Dexterity builds."

Jackie heard the quiet uttering that time but didn't bother to comment. "You didn't see or... hear him coming?"

"Who says that I didn't?"

"Wha- ohh..." Jackie's sea-green eyes widened in realization.

"Yes, I'm sure you learned your lessons the same way. Also, you could have succeeded had you possessed the strength to take advantage of the position you placed yourself in."

"Guess I'm getting a bit rusty." The apprentice stated as she stretched her arms. "Haven't really got into any huge fights since Tom and I fought that Skull Knight dude and that anime-looking chick."

"What about not very long ago when that Ludo fellow made a foolish attempt to storm the gates of the Kingdom with an army of rats?"

"That wasn't a fight, that was just playing Exterminator for an hour. I doubt you or Toffee would consider that a fight, either."

"You're not wrong. I guess even a swarm of vermin, no matter how large, isn't sufficient enough to maintain the quality of your skills."

"Yeah and all I do nowadays is just help Time-out Guy hunt and capture dudes and send 'em off to his prison. And even then, I just toss a marble and boom: job's done. Not a lotta improvement to be had there."

"That's what we're here for, young Hunter-to-be." Eclipsa gestured towards the end of the bridge with a presenting wave of her arms. "Shall we continue?"

Jackie gently nodded. "Lead the way."

Traveling further into the city, Jackie and Eclipsa ran through more beasts, as well as the afflicted locals, who weren't quite beasts yet, but their severely hairy appearances, elongated limbs and inclination towards attacking strangers were enough to warrant retaliation and turning them into fodder for Jackie's training.

The two eventually ended up at an elevated floor overlooking a wide-open town square of sorts, swarming with more of the locals, some of which were clustered together in small roving mobs no bigger than five. A few of them were by their lonesome, three of which were equipped with bolt-action rifles prepared to open fire on anyone that wasn't covered in fur or drab, dreary clothing. In the middle of the clearing was a bonfire with a beast corpse bound to a crucifix as it continued to scorch from the flames below.

Seeing as how the two were clearly outnumbered, Jackie pulled out a marble, completely different from the three she normally used, that held within it a cloudy gray vortex.

"Ah, ah, ah." Eclipsa chided with a waggle of her finger. "You cannot alter the weather in this place, so you cannot use that one rain technique you're so fond of when dispatching groups."

"Aww, man." Jackie disappointingly remarked as she pushed the marble back into her pocket. "Oh wait, better idea."

She remembered that one of her marbles had a gaseous explosion which expanded when thrown against highly heated surfaces. As soon as she brought it up, Eclipsa immediately snatched it away.

"Hey!"

"At this moment, you are not using tactics that tread beyond the realm of our craft. You are going to git gud and face every foe in this area the way I did it."

"But, if we're supposed to do it the way it's intended, then how come you didn't respawn the boss that you said was supposed to be at the area we started at?"

"Because I have yet to shift this dimension to the next cycle."

"The heck does that mean?"

"Never mind that, just eliminate every single person on the premises. And leave not one left standing. Break a leg, Ms. Thomas."

With a resigned sigh, the young rookie bolted forward, quickly cutting down a group of three locals that had just walked up the stairs leading to the elevation. To her left was a rifleman standing atop a wagon, taking aim. Jackie closed the distance before he could pull the trigger and downed him with a slash at his throat.

A nearby guard dog was alerted to the girl's presence and commenced barking its lungs out. Immediately, every other local in the area had their sights on the young girl and the ones with their crude melee weapons and torches shambled her way towards her. Across from Jackie near an elevation similar to where she started, the two remaining riflemen loaded their guns and took aim. One stood at the top of the elevation while the other stood at the base of the steps leading up to it.

With no time to think, Jackie brought forth the femur given and had its functions explained to her by Eclipsa and poured all her focus into it. By doing so, the quickening energy of the severed bone surrounded her in a pale-green aura and significantly lightened her body. With a quick leap forward, Jackie narrowly dodged the shots coming her way as her body momentarily disappeared in mid fall.

She then found herself plunging both pieces of her Rakuyo into the skull of the dog below, silencing it for good. She leapt forward once again, putting herself behind the burning crucifix and concealing herself from the remaining gunmen.

However, Jackie nearly didn't notice a local right behind her as he charged her with a pitchfork. Saved by her heightened reflexes, she jammed the edge of her saber between the prongs of his farming tool. She jerked it to the side and followed up with a thrust into his stomach, then raised her dagger up to the base of his neck, effectively disemboweling the man and letting him fall with his insides hanging out.

A sharp stab of pain assailed the back of her right knee when a bullet lodged itself in her leg, tearing one of her hamstrings and fracturing her kneecap. The blow evoked a wince and a whispered swear, but that's as much time as she spent dwelling on the damage before seeing a group of five fast approaching her. She didn't even get to process the shrapnel and bone shards cutting her muscle and tendons even further with each movement.

She quickly converged her blades and drew her pistol. Taking aim, she let loose a shot that hit one of them square in the forehead. However, other than ceasing his movement for about half a second, it did little to nothing.

"What!?" She yelled incredulously as all her time spent watching zombie movies and her sense of realism clashed with what just transpired.

One of them with a hacksaw readied a swing that aimed to split Jackie's head, but she recovered from her bafflement just fast enough to shoot him to a staggered state, with which she took the opportunity to riposte with her saber and push him off with her foot, his then-corpse bowling over the four that accompanied him.

While they were doubling over, Jackie, with the femur's effects still active, jumped forward, vanishing in mid flight and landing behind all of them with both blades in hand.

With her back facing them, all four fell over, their throats slashed open as spurts of blood escaped their wounds.

Jackie wasted no time rounding around the bonfire and rolling forward just before the gunman pulled the trigger. Upon recovering from her roll, she drove both blades into his stomach and directed his back towards the other gunman as he accidentally shot his fellow infected in the head. Tossing the corpse off her blades, her well-tempered agility brought her to the top of the stair's safety railing in one bound, and with a final invisible jump, she bound over the railings in front of the gunman and instantly slayed him with a swift plunge into his throat.

Two other locals burst out of the shadows of the nearby buildings on either side of her. Jackie flipped the Rakuyo's dagger so the tip of its blade was kept between two fingers and she quickly flung it into the throat of one enemy, then immediately shot the other with her pistol as he readied a strike, bringing him to his knee and his hairy face into the hilt of her blade.

And finally, the entire town square was cleared out. With a tired sigh, Jackie leaned and sat against the door of a nearby building. The searing pain on her knee from her earlier wound shot to the surface of her nerves as all the adrenaline dissipated from her body. She cupped the still-bleeding spot in her hand as she hissed and grimaced in agony, pieces of the bullet and the bones it shattered lodged deep into her ligament and tendons. Not the worst injury she's ever had, but it certainly hurt like Tom's kingdom. She could barely move her leg as the shrapnel began to liquefy and slowly spread throughout the rest of her limb.

"When I said 'break a leg' I did not mean it literally." Eclipsa quipped as she brought herself level with Jackie's face. "Though I must admit, that was quite a show you put on there."

Jackie clicked her tongue as her Sensei's attempt at humor hurt more than the damage she was dealt with. "Very funny."

"Hm. I try" Eclipsa tersely responded with a smile. She dug into her coat, then pulled out a small vial of red liquid, presumably blood again. It differed from the other bottle in that a needle stuck out of the cork that plugged its mouth.

"Here, jab it into your calf."

"My calf?" Jackie narrowed her eyes at the bottle with great apprehension. "Also, no thanks. I'm not into getting HIV or something from some random blood."

"HIV?"

"Right. Forgot you guys don't do the modern medicine thing."

"Oh, that reminds me," Eclipsa said as she put the vial back into her coat. "I should probably administer for you a transfusion at some point. It'll make you immune from the beast-altering effects of the blood you must heal yourself with as you progress in your training. Almost little to no Blood Ministers exist today compared to the Yharnam of ages ago, so it's fortunate that I still have the knowledge of an almost long-forgotten art."

"How come that didn't help a lot of these people if you've had guys nearby that could do just that?"

"They became rather... scarce and elusive as the years went on. I was just fortunate enough to attend a school with its own designated Ministers. A luxury not many Yharnamites could readily afford nor find as you can see."

"Also, can you tell me why those guys can survive shots to the head? That's freakin' impossible."

"Pardon my mentioning this after the fact, but Quicksilver bullets aren't exactly utilized for their damage potential. The only reason the beast on the bridge and that one fellow just moments ago were shot dead was because you brought them close enough for the bullets to finish them off. And if you wanted to use your gun as a means to inflict damage rather than parry, then you should've used the Bone Marrow Ash I gave you."

"Oh," Jackie brought her eyes to the ground in slight shame. "Guess I forgot about those. But I still can't believe they can just shrug off a headshot like that."

"Are you familiar with the quote 'He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man'?"

"Samuel Jackson. Not to be confused with the dude from Pulp Fiction."

"Which pulp fiction? I've read a myriad during my younger days which comprised of mostly horror and erotica. Sometimes both at once."

"What? No, I'm talking about the movie."

"What is a movie?"

"Look, can you please just heal me or something? I can't feel my leg anymore."

"Hmm." The instructor ponderously rubbed her chin. "You know what? I have a better idea."

Eclipsa proceeded to hoist Jackie onto her shoulder and then dug into her coat once again. She pulled forth a torn piece of yellow parchment paper drawn with a symbol in black ink.

"Hm." Eclipsa remarked to herself as she took a close look at the paper in hand. "I just realized how much this would closely resemble the Brand of Sacrifice if you add a diamond to it."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Anyways, we shall depart shortly."

With the parchment paper glowing a blinding white, the whole of the environment blurred and undulated until it shifted into the Hunter's Dream, returning the two directly in front of the Doll.

"Welcome back, Lady Eclipsa. Good Hunter." She politely bowed to each of them. Jackie merely waved back as her carrier ignored the maiden's greeting and hurriedly trudged up the steps to the Workshop. With her telekinetic abilities, Eclipsa brought one of the tables to the center of the room and gently laid the teen girl upon its wooden surface.

"So you claim you can no longer feel your leg?" Eclipsa asked, her words coated with a tinge of anticipation that Jackie failed to notice.

"Uh no, not at all. I hope it's not completely busted or anything. Not too cool with the idea of rolling around in a different set of wheels, y'know? You can just fix it right up, right? Make it as good as new?"

"I think I'll do far more than that, my Good Hunter." Eclipsa said, flashing that vexing, predatory smile of hers. With a quick flick of her wrist, Jackie's limbs, neck, and forehead were bound by tight, yet harmless ropes of green electricity.

"Oh god, what are you thinking?" Jackie meant to keep that to herself, but the fear forced her thoughts to become vocal. Alarms blared in her head that shouted at her to get the hell of there as soon as possible, but her ethereal restraints prevented any smallest possibility of doing so.

"What ever do you mean, my dear?" The queen softly spoke as she magically lifted the femur from Jackie's person. She then unwound the belt around Jackie's waistline and followed by shifting her pants to her ankles, baring her lightly tanned and faintly scarred legs and undergarments to the elements.

"Eclipsaaa?" Jackie's dread grew further alongside discomfort. "I'm uhh... not so sure what you're doing is ri-ah!"

Her teacher proceeded to gently glide a hand from her bare knee all the way up to her thigh, sending ticklish waves surging through her nerves with each slow, steady drag of the fingers. She slid her digits to Jackie's inner thigh, slowly inching dangerously close to a line that should never be crossed.

"Ara Ara." Eclipsa remarked, avarice gliding off her tongue with each spoken syllable as she sensually licked her lips. "Despite how active you've been recently, you remain to be quite soft and... shapely."

"Uh, what are you doiiing?" Jackie's eyes went wild as boundaries were being pushed to their limits. Her body shivered and convulsed as her addled mind ignored the futility of her actions.

"Oh nothing in particular. I'm. Simply..." Her words trailed off as her errant hand and lecherous eyes trailed from the teen's exposed inner thigh up to her chest. Eclipsa's palm stopped on Jackie's breast for a few fleeting moments before sliding up her neck and cupping her soft, freckled cheek.

"This isn't funny. C'mon dude, cut it out!" Jackie had no idea where Eclipsa's other hand was nor could she feel it on any part of her person, making her ignorance to its whereabouts and whatdoings worse than if she was aware of it. Slowly and steadily, the lecherous queen's pallid, spade-drawn face inched ever closer to Jackie's, the latter's sea-foam eyes locked in an unwitting dance with the former's dull gray.

"You really do remind me of Griffith... The boy did as well." Eclipsa muttered in hushed, sensual tones. Jackie could feel warm puffs of air on her lips after each word. "Your youthful, feminine visage... your delicate, yet toned figure... Even your hair... Why wouldn't he accept me...?"

"What? What are you ta... c-c'mon Eclipsa, I have a boyfriend! This is so wrong! Stop"

Eclipsa slowly licked her lips while maintaining the hair's length distance between her face and her student's. Jackie almost swore that she felt a tongue graze the narrow gap in her tightly shut mouth. She felt something being done to her right leg but didn't give any more thought to it as all of her focus was diverted to resist her so-called teacher's advances.

"Alright now! The procedure is over." Eclipsa beamed as she immediately withdrew from Jackie's face and straightened her posture. With a wave of her hand, all of Jackie's restraints instantly vanished and her pants returned to their normal, fastened state.

"Huhwha!?" Was all the young Hunter could find among her jumbled mess of a mind.

"Mm-hm," Eclipsa hummed with a satisfied smile. "Your leg should be fine. More than that, to be precise. But I recommend you stay off of it and simply lay down and rest for a few hours. Let things settle before putting it to use."

"Uhh..." Jackie could only stare in slack-jawed perplexity at her teacher before vigorously shaking her head to unscramble her mind. "So what the heck was that... creepy stuff all about?"

"Simple, my dear. It was merely a distraction for the surgery I was performing on your leg."

Jackie quickly sat straight and pulled up her right pant leg. She saw that her limb remained roughly the same, no evidence of anything being done to it. She moved it around for a bit and took note that it felt mildly lighter than before.

"Did you have to keep my mind off it like that, though? Couldn't you have just- I dunno, put me under with anesthesia or something?"

"I thought it'd be more amusing to distract you with a level of discomfort that exceeds what you would've felt had you been aware of the procedure."

"Man you have a sick sense of humor, you know that? And not in a good way, either."

"So I've been told. Now then," Eclipsa spawned a purple rift in space. "do give yourself some rest. You'll find that time has not yet passed in Mewni while we were here, so as far as anyone knows, we haven't even left the courtyard."

"Alright um." Jackie slowly landed upon the floor, a faint, dull pain surging through her right leg. The awkwardness from their prior interaction still buzzed uncomfortably throughout her nerves. Despite her teacher's efforts to assuage her justified concerns, it didn't lessen how gross she still felt. "Guess I'll see you around."

"Yes, I'll seek you later to continue your training."

"Sure." Jackie tersely spoke as she immersed herself in the portal and departed the Hunter's Dream.

Releasing a sigh she didn't even realize she was holding, Eclipsa hastily made her way to the front entrance.

"Doll!" She shouted with great authority.

"Yes, m'lady?" She answered complacently, tilting her head and gazing curiously at Eclipsa with her soft, glass eyes.

"I request your presence immediately." She coldly demanded.

"Oh." She softly muttered as she bashfully averted her gaze. "Are we doing... 'that' again, m'lady?"

"Of course. I thought I would be above such trifles, but it would seem the need has arisen. Now, come forth right this instant."

"Yes, m'lady."

After a quick curtsy, the Doll wasted no time climbing the steps. As soon as she entered the mansion, all three entrances slammed shut and locked tight.