Chapter 26: Blood for Blood
"Crap like that doesn't interest me. But your swan song will."
-Dante (Devil May Cry 2)
Helsing lunged forward and brought his scythe down into the floor, generating a blast of black flames around himself. His opponents jumped back into a defensive stance. Susie rushed in and swung her halberd at him. He blocked her attack and hooked his blade around her weapon, pulling it from her hands.
"I'm getting real sick of people always pulling this trick," she sighed.
He lashed her across the face with his tendrils. "Blame yourself for letting it happen every time."
She ducked under a swing of his scythe and countered with a swift uppercut. While he was left reeling, one of the defectors stabbed at him with her sword. Before she could follow up, he faded into the shadows and reappeared behind her, beheading her with a single slash.
"I wish the rest of you were so easy to cut down," he sneered.
Susie reclaimed her weapon. "You should've thought about that before you killed Kris, you bastard."
Noelle fired a shot at Helsing. His tendrils caught the projectile mid-flight and tossed it aside. "So single-minded. Think of something other than your dead friend." He delivered an overhead strike with his weapon.
Frisk stepped in front of the attack with a barrier raised. "Like you're one to talk about single-mindedness?"
Helsing's tendrils flared out at the sight of her. "You're confusing single-mindedness with a sense of duty. Don't compare me to lowly worms like yourselves."
"Hey, only Rouxls Kaard can call us worms!" Ralsei sent a fiery barrage at him.
Helsing skittered away from the flames. "Ah, yes, Rouxls Kaard. Traitorous scum. I'll mount his head on the wall after I'm done with you."
He spun around and raised his scythe to block a strike from Asriel's chaos sabers. He leaned back and dissolved into the shadows, allowing Asriel to fall to the floor. Helsing rematerialized beside him, leaping into the air and stomping down on his back.
Susie blindsided Helsing with a heavy strike. She thrust her weapon at him, and he evaded by stepping to the side. He countered with his scythe, burying its blade in her shoulder.
Ralsei healed Asriel and helped him stand up. The two of them unleashed a surge of fire and lightning in Helsing's direction. Noticing their attack, and with his weapon still embedded in Susie's shoulder, he swiveled around and used her to shield himself from them. He pulled his weapon free and slunk back, vanishing into the darkness.
"Hey, watch it!" Susie dropped to one knee.
"Sorry!" Ralsei ran to her side and began to heal her.
Frisk cast a barrier around them. "Where'd Helsing go?"
A scream caught her attention. She turned to see Helsing viciously slicing into one of the defectors and bisecting him. He ran another through, and chopped down yet another.
Noelle loosed another bolt, this one hitting Helsing in the back. He spun around to face her, and was promptly struck from behind by one of the remaining defectors. Seething, he spun around once again, wrapped his tendrils around the defector's throat, and tossed him into Noelle, sending both tumbling to the ground.
He took to the shadows and slithered toward them. He leapt into the air and brought his scythe down upon them, only to cross blades with Susie. Ralsei helped Noelle and the defector recuperate.
Helsing kicked Susie in the chest and skittered back, disgorging bolts of darkness from his mutated hand. She grimaced as they flew past her, slitting her skin.
"That's new," she said. "Kinda gross, too."
"Excuse me for not caring enough to give you a pleasant death," he sneered. He charged at her, still firing projectiles from his tendrils, and swung his scythe.
A sudden impulse knocked him off his feet. When he recovered, he saw Frisk standing beside Susie with a barrier raised. Noelle took up a position behind her and fired a shot at him, but he caught it with his tendrils.
A pair of defectors charged Helsing from either side. He jumped up and grabbed onto an overhead light fixture, kicking one defector in the face and swinging his scythe at the other. They both fell to the ground, and he dropped into one to finish him off.
The other one thrust at him with a spear, but he deflected the attack and countered with a blast of darkness from his hand. He followed up by plunging his blade into her chest, ending her life.
"This is the help you brought?" he laughed. "How did you ever get this far?"
"Easy. Your soldiers were all thoroughly incompetent." Asriel slashed at him with his chaos sabers.
Helsing dissolved into the shadows and slithered behind him, striking with his scythe. "Yes, I suppose that's true."
Helsing skittered back to avoid Asriel's retaliation, and threw his scythe at him. The weapon embedded itself in his chest, nearly knocking him off his feet. Helsing darted behind him and pulled the weapon free. Asriel sunk to his knees, clutching at the freshly bleeding wound.
Ralsei sent a torrent of flames Helsing's way, causing him to retreat. Susie rushed at him and brought her halberd down upon him. He blocked her attack, but still nearly lost his footing. He snaked his tendrils around her wrist, forcibly pulled her weapon aside, and buried his blade in her shoulder.
She hissed in pain, but powered through the injury and delivered a swift punch to the gut. She pulled the blade from her shoulder and stepped back, allowing Frisk to stand in front of her with a barrier raised.
Helsing took a swing at Frisk, nearly shattering her barrier in a single strike. She discharged the last of its energy and sent him stumbling back. Asriel lunged at him with his chaos sabers. While they dueled, Ralsei stepped up to heal Susie.
Helsing snaked his tendrils around Asriel's ankle and tripped him. Before he could follow up, Susie impaled him with the spike atop her weapon's blade. He retaliated by striking the ground, sending a wave of darkness her way. He jumped back and faded into the shadows.
"I will not fall to the likes of you!" He encircled the group, surrounding them with a wall of black flames.
"This again…" Noelle's grip on her crossbow tightened.
Ralsei conjured a flame in his hand. "Show yourself!"
"No, I don't think I will." Helsing rushed out of the darkness and slashed him across the back, then vanished once again.
Frisk moved to shield Ralsei. Helsing appeared behind her and wrapped his tendrils around her neck. He pulled violently, slamming her head into the floor.
"Frisk…!" Ralsei ignored his own injury to heal her.
Helsing emerged behind him, raising his scythe overhead. Susie took notice, and promptly buried her halberd in Helsing's shoulder.
"You're a little bitch, you know," she taunted. She pulled her weapon free with a spray of viscous black blood.
He whirled around, slashing at her. "Why, because I won't stand and die like your friend did?"
Susie's eyes flashed with hatred. "Don't even mention him! I'll strangle your ass with those tentacles of yours!"
"I'd love to see you try."
"Gladly."
She raised her weapon, but made no move to attack him. He struck, and she stepped to the side to evade. Noelle and a few of the remaining defectors opened fire on him. Susie then thrust at him, catching him in the side.
Asriel rushed in and delivered a powerful shock. Helsing hissed in pain and backpedaled. He drove his blade into the ground, creating a network of glowing cracks in the floor. They erupted in a blast of darkness, knocking much of the Fun Gang's force off their feet.
Helsing charged and hit one of the defectors with a rising slash, launching her into the air. He leapt up after her, fatally slicing her across the chest. Still airborne, he used his tendrils to pull another defector close enough for him to bury his scythe in his skull.
Susie and Helsing lunged at each other and crossed blades. He kicked her back and hit her with a burst of darkness from his afflicted hand. He drove his scythe into her abdomen, tearing it free in a bloody display. He swiveled around her and whacked her with the snath of his weapon, causing her to drop to her knees.
"Stay away from her!" Ralsei attacked him with a stream of flames. Noelle supported him with a few shots of her own. Helsing crept back and countered with a wave of black flame.
"I got you now!" Asriel impaled him from behind with his chaos sabers. Helsing screamed when he pulled them free, following up with a blast of lightning.
Helsing faded into the shadows and retreated. He rematerialized near the dark fountain, leaning on his scythe for support.
"I would be lying if I said I didn't expect a close fight," he said, vainly attempting to nurse his wound.
"Can you really call this close?" Frisk wondered. "Things are going pretty well for us, all things considered."
Helsing chuckled humorlessly. "Don't expect that to last much longer. It's clear to me now that, in order to win, I'll need to fully submit myself to the dark." He turned to the fountain. "And I'm willing to do whatever it takes."
Ralsei reached for him. "Wait, stop!"
Helsing plunged his hand into the fountain. A wave of intense pain racked his body. He screamed in agony as the fountain's energy surged through his veins. The blood flowing from his wound coagulated, and shortly after, a series of writhing tendrils burst forth from it.
"What the hell…?" Susie stood as Ralsei healed her.
The remaining defectors charged at Helsing. His new tendrils hardened and shot out at each of them, skewering them through the chest. He let out a frenzied battle cry and spun around, brutally hacking one apart. He snapped another's neck, and decapitated the last.
He stared at the Fun Gang, his eyes now glowing a mottled white. Whatever level of composure and sophistication he had was gone; in its place was an almost primal combat stance, and a deranged expression.
"You…" he breathed heavily. "…I'll kill you. I'll kill you all!"
"Weren't you already going to do that?" Asriel deadpanned.
Helsing let out another scream of rage, his tendrils billowing out around him. He rushed back into battle with his scythe raised.
"Die!"