"HHHHHHHHAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGG!"

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Theseus screamed in agony and pain to the point where it clouded his senses to make it difficult to tell his current surroundings. He could only barely remember being tossed through some kind of portal of sorts, feeling a temporary sense of weightlessness, before gravity took hold of him several seconds later and a final hard crash into hard ground. A faint prickling sensation reminded him of grass too. Add all this up, and it would seem like he had found himself within some kind of forest, though not like any forest or even jungle that Theseus had ever experienced. For one, it looked too green and was free of pollution from the humans… it almost like the forest itself was more 'alive' than anything he had ever seen.

But right now, none of that was important for him as the pain started making his vision turn red, or maybe it was something else he couldn't tell anymore. Instead, Theseus gritted his teeth and groaned in pain while he hung his head, trying to endure the great pain inflicted upon him by Set. Seconds passed, and all he could feel was the pain getting worse as the unnatural divinity kept on battling the curse... but at the same time trying to transform Theseus.

Blood spread everywhere across his body as it began its transformation. Groans and grunts kept escaping his vocal chords while his body started to swell in terms of size, enlarging itself in a slow, gradual speed. This process happened till it reached about 40 feet in height. From his sides, two arms burst out whilst all four started shifting from skin to a more exoskeleton-like appearance, turning an orangish red color. Black carapace began forming over his legs that abruptly contorted and twisted in on itself, becoming a pair of reverse jointed legs while his feet changed into some 3 toed talons instead. More of the carapace formed over his back, four large pipe-like extensions bursting out. His head elongated and reshaped itself, losing any trace of human flesh or features and gaining a long black carapace over the back of the head, with a couple serrated horns protruding out the top. His mouth twisted into a completely fang-filled maw with 2 long curved talons protruding out either side of his face. While this happened, the entire torso broke free from the skin that had once contained it, transforming it into a massive skeleton version of itself similar to an insect's while it also extended downwards into a long tail that split near the end, forming two ends tipped with pincers. (Hunter: Think of the Tyranid Swarmlord)

The transformation complete, the monster that Theseus had become opened its eyes once more, showing nothing but a white sclera as well as showing it the sight of it being surrounded by unknown creatures, creatures of a multitude of appearances. They consisted of: a group of some kind of centipede that more looks like it came from hell itself looking somewhat like a many-limbed earthen scorpion or centipede, an unnatural dinosaur that looked more hideous and almost had a human head had not for the animalistic features, a group of snakes with some looking like they were flying around, a medium-sized snake and a black snake that looked almost similar to a mixture of a black mamba and a king cobra. All of these creatures had been drawn here by the smell of Theseus' blood, the smell far too intoxicating for their primitive instincts to resist. However, by the time they had all gathered before him, expecting an easy meal for them to devour, what stood before them was a monstrous Theseus finished with his transformation.

Slowly, the monster glanced around at the beings surrounding it, faint growls emitting from its throat while it assessed the situation it had found itself in. With the massive height difference between them, it saw them as nothing but bugs, ants to be squashed under its talon-clad feet. Initially, its eyes fell onto the form of a Trident impaled into the ground nearby, seemingly staring at it for a moment in a mesmerized manner. However, judging by the size it didn't see the weapon as anything useful, no it needed something bigger, something STRONGER.

To that end, the creature growled again, this time a bit louder and with a more threatening tone to it, while it flexed all four of its hands out in an X shape. Each hand's palm then grew cracks along their centres, like eyes trying to open. In the following seconds, the thin arms vibrated visibly before a substance which resembled liquid somewhat, burst out from the cracks and started spreading outwards, eventually the liquid solidified itself, forming 4 large weapons that it grasped by their organic shafts, these shafts being shaped like swords made from solid bone. These swords had semicircular guards around the hilts with spikes protruding out from them, as well as somewhat of a crystalline structure at their cores which protruded somewhat out from their blades. Each blade resembled a Cleaver in shape, with spikes protruding out their edges near the ends to increase their cutting efficiency, while the blades ALL crackled with electricity over their forms which resulted in the entire beast having this twisted, animalistic yet downright DEMONIC appearance to it.

One could not fault the creatures for being somewhat intimidated as evident from the way some of them shook and trembled like little children moments from being smacked by their abusive parents. Regardless, the majority still stood strong against this hulking monstrosity, of which one of them, a Centipede/scorpion hybrid, screeched out a loud war cry that signaled the battle's beginning. That signal served as a rallying cry for the others, who repeated the gesture before breaking off into mad sprints towards their enemy, resembling more like gnashing mouths and claws than anything coherent.

Not like the monster had any fear of this savage army as it instead broke into a sprint of its own, roaring as it charged right back into the enemy horde. That is… until a few steps when it closed the distance between them, smashing into the hoard like a rugby player breaching a defensive line or a battering ram breaking open a fortified gate.

SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING-SCHWING!

In an instant, the beast started swinging its 4 Swords about like a mad lunatic, howling and roaring into the atmosphere around it as blood, guts and limbs flew in every direction. The swords, moving so fast that no openings could be seen nor their massive forms for that matter, tore through all opposition before them with little difficulty nor any resistance, where it be the thick hides from the scorpion/centipede hybrids or the massive dinosaurs which often got beheaded for their efforts in trying to get close to the massive hulking behemoth. Some of the Serpentine monsters did manage to get through though, albeit after sacrificing many of their comrades though all of them were simply united under the same goal hence not really comrades, the monster's defence to try and bite down on its hide. However not only was the carapace WAY too thick for their fangs to penetrate, but the exposed hides had similar qualities meaning that none of the beasts' attacks could get through.

In some cases, a reptilian-looking creature with a massive bulbous middle area, managed to get through to the beast's rear only to get grabbed by the back of the neck from above by one of the pincer tips from the beast's double-ended tail. The other pincer would then stab into it after the prey had been lifted into the air and then promptly rip out its heart, throwing the lifeless corpse into some of its brethren.

By the time about 10 minutes had passed, all of the creatures had been successfully annihilated by the massive beast, which now had the majority of its lower body covered in the blood of its enemies. Not only that, but the entire clearing it had formed within had been turned red with the blood of the slain, with massive body parts and innards spread all over the place like an organic-colored junkyard. Bones, guts, muscles, flesh, limbs, the works could be seen from all over the place, really making the surroundings look like a picture from the Christian bible regarding Hell. Seeing the destruction it had caused, the beast reared its head back and howled into the skies above, howling in victory and triumph while its Swords crackled with violent-looking lightning over their blades.

"God in heaven, what a monstrosity you are." a deep and powerful voice suddenly spoke, silencing the creature's victorious howling. It took a few sniffs of the surrounding air, smelling another scent amidst all the metallic iron from the blood of the slain, which could only come from a new incoming opponent. Thus, it turned around, its feet creating mini earthquakes until it stopped in the direction of the scent to which it saw a man walking out from the wilderness.

A man who wore some… very futuristic-looking, bulky black armor with the symbol of Maltese cross on both of the shoulder plates, his hair a dark blonde with a patrician face, his face was only marred by a scar from under his right eye that ran down his cheek all the way to his jawline. His eyes were colored a bright, sapphire blue that matched the colour of the ocean. On one hand, he had a large black helmet with crimson lenses, whereas on the other he had a long black sword that looked like a crusader from ancient times in his hands while he made his way forwards, stopping about 8 feet away from the towering behemoth. "What kind of abomination are you? A God's mistake?" The man questioned, having come to investigate when he had sensed a mysterious divinity that he'd never felt before, something no one had ever come to possess.

Yet, when he arrived at the location, his eyes beheld the user who had possessed this unnatural divinity: a monster he had never seen in the jungle during his time within it. He deduced it must have been an experiment from the other gods that created this monstrosity.

Whatever it was, he cannot allow it to live any longer, who knows what this beast would do if it ever managed to escape back to the human world. Though from what he was seeing, the man could tell this fight would not be an easy one. Mentally steeling himself, the man pulled out a cross from within his Armor, then put it near his face and kneeled down, praying to his god. "In the name of the Almighty God, give me the strength to slay this abomination so it won't roam around civilization and cause chaos throughout the world, Amen." he finished his prayer, put on his helmet, and made a stance.

Seeing the stance, the beast growled and panted, its 4 swords crackling with dangerous lightning. In the following seconds, it let out a loud explosive roar that shook the very atmosphere around them, breaking off into a mad sprint towards the enemy while swinging its lower left blade towards the man's midsection.

As a result, the man responded to this by flipping over it and then sidestepping the lower right arm when it thrust its sword down to where he had landed. Being quick to counter the attack, the man raced forwards and struck against the lower right hand, slashing down and cutting through the wrist where a gap in its insectoid armor. He ignored the pained grunts from the beast while jumping onto its arm and running up to the elbow, then used it as a springboard to jump up to the right arm and try to sever it.

However, the beast did the same as its opponent by ignoring the pain in its wrist in favor of twisting its body around to avoid the swing of that sword, before swiping at him with its double-ended Tail. This attempt to counterattack ended up failing somewhat however, when the man not only deflected one of the Tail's pincers, but also grabbed onto it just before it could thwack him resulting in him holding onto it like a heavy person holding down an elevator. Fury raged through its form as the beast howled, raising its Tail and smacking it down into the ground in an attempt to flatten the man along with it.

Just before he could implant the ground, the man kicked off the Tail and flipped backward, landing in a crouching posture while sliding to a halt, creating a long skid mark across the blood-covered dirt. 'From that engagement, I can tell this beast is strong, strong enough to give the monsters of the supernatural world a run for their money. Yet, its power feels… new, like a baby. It must have been only born recently, meaning that it isn't used to what it could potentially do in the future.' the man thought critically, quickly sidestepping to avoid another overhead strike from that double-ended Tail of its. From what he could see, this beast seemed to be mostly fighting on instinct, no sense of style or technique despite wielding its blades, something he had seen many times by now. Monsters created by Gods tend to take a while to create their own intelligence, by which point they become much more dangerous compared to their mindless, berserker-like selves. A rampaging enemy would be easy to exploit, but a trained and disciplined enemy? Not so much. 'I'll wait for the perfect opportunity, then I'll strike the beast down with a clean cut to the head.'

With that thought in mind, the man readied his sword once more, good thing too since the beast had already struck down with both the lower arms, their swords releasing deadly-looking grey lightning streaks into their surroundings. The man managed to block these strikes by holding his sword diagonally above his head, the lightning surging through his armor unimpeded. However, he didn't let his body get consumed by the pain the lightning brought upon him, a discipline born from years of combat experience in life-or-death situations. He would wait for his opportunity, wait for his chance to land a fatal blow on this mindless beast, then the world would have one less threat to worry about.

Just when he began to push his sword upwards into a deflecting arc away from him, however…

"Hm?"

All of a sudden, the strength of the beast pinning him down to the point where the ground had buckled under the combined wait, suddenly vanished for the most part. His eyes widened briefly in surprise at this development, as he saw the beast start to stumble backward, something which made him start to charge at it with the intent of delivering the final blow. However, a sight on the creature's fanged face stopped him in his tracks:

Eyes.

Two HUMAN eyes which had taken the place of the formerly hollow white sclera.

This wasn't the only peculiarity either, for the bloodlust the creature radiated as naturally as one breathed air abruptly vanished too, which got followed by the creature… shrinking? Yeah, that's it, the creature shrunk from its 20+ feet to about the size of an average human, the beast undergoing a transformation of sorts. Hide became flesh, 2 arms sunk back inwards to leave 2 behind, while the tail completely retracted inside the backside. Everything that seemed non-human, changed to that of a human's to the point where, by the time that everything finished, instead of a massive hulking behemoth, the man beheld the sight… of an unconscious young male, completely bare to the elements. The human lay face-first on the ground, surrounded by a small crater that had several small trails of smoke rising up to the airspace above.

"Well, this is a surprise." The unknown man muttered under his breath, all the while walking to the naked, unconscious Theseus. Seeing that the beast form had been vanquished, for the time being, the man saw no need to immediately execute the male for the time being, but that could change in the future. The man had experience with monsters shifting into humans for deceptive purposes, many of those times have taken the lives of precious comrades and family members.

Upon standing above the unconscious male, he knelt down and put two fingers on his neck to check for a pulse, winding up finding out something he never expected to be.

"Sweet lord." he gasped in surprise, standing up and beholding the boy in his entirety like he had just found something rarer than the rarest metal in the world.

The reason why? Simple, he had just checked the divinity in the boy and sensed it was currently in the process of combining with a new type of power, the one he sensed while fighting him in that beastial form. It must've been a curse that had been trying to take over the boy, one cast likely by an angry God, but instead it fought back against the curse like an immune system fighting a virus.

It seemed that it would take a bit longer for him to gain control of it, but when he fought his bestial form it must've used the curse power as a reserve. The divinity took this chance to overpower the curse, resulting in it beating it into a submissive state to allow it to absorb the curse and turn it into this new power, this new form. The most apparent sign of this was the symbol he could see, its size spanning across the boy's entire back.

The unknown man can't help but feel amazed by the boy's power, it was like a new generation god coming, yet he could still sense mortality within the boy's being. "You are a curious individual, indeed. I wonder…" he stopped his thoughts for a moment before making a decision, one that he might regret it but at least he now had company to speak with. Well, company that he wouldn't have to kill on sight necessarily. He grabbed the boy by wrapping an arm around him from behind, then lifted him onto his shoulder and carried him like a bag of potatoes as he carried Theseus to his cabin.

Just as he was about to leave he sees an incoming attack that looks similar to a bow releasing an arrow.

SCCCCHHHHIIIINNNNGGGG!

Fortunately, he just caught the incoming weapon that was close to his head and had not for his experience before seeing the weapon was not an arrow but instead a Trident.

"Interesting." the unknown man said with interest, he can see that this weapon acts like a loyal dog who is always close to its master or owner. Seemed that this boy just keeps getting more and more interesting by the minute.


Later

Theseus was starting to wake up a bit as his eye groggy opened before groaning. "Ugh, what happened?" Theseus muttered, feeling like he had been hit by a horse on a full gallop. He had personal experience with that thanks to during one of his many Hellsing missions where a Vampire had reanimated a pair of horses and had them pull a roman-style carriage. That vampire and two of his buddies also dressed like scantily clad bodybuilders with the occasional posing, putting many soyboys, simps and incels to shame.

As he put his hand on his head while trying to get rid of that annoying ass headache, it wasn;t long before he glanced down at himself, noticing that his clothes were different compared to his usual ones. "Huh?" A shocked gasp escaped at the sight to the point where he almost fell over had he not regained his balance. Instead, Theseus quickly got out of the straw bed he had apparently been lying on, and examined himself. Turned out that instead of his usual badass, edgy clothing, he now wore what looked to have been a dress of sorts made from animal skin, with similar boots that covered his feet entirely and some pants made from the same material. Essentially, his form remained completely covered from the neck down, just not in the stuff he was used to "What the hell happened to my clothes?!" Theseus shouted in confusion, before hearing a bunch of heavy-sounding footsteps.

Glancing to the source, Theseus watched in light awe as an unknown man he had never seen before, entered into the room he was in through a wooden door. This also allowed him to figure out that he must have been inside some form of cabin, whereas while this happened the man raised his head and looked at the now awake Theseus. IMMEDIATELY, Theseus became cautious at the sight of the man, as he can sense an overwhelming light power within him akin to an Angel's… only, much more intense than what he had experienced with himself.

"Ah, I see your awake young man. Now I won't have to worry about when you will wake up." The man said with a bit of excitement.

Theseus narrowed his eyes at him, still not trusting the old man. "Who the fuck are you?" he commanded his Trident to come, to which it promptly flew to Theseus' hand (suspiciously with a little more zeal than normal) as he was ready for combat, the man put his hand up showing he was unarmed.

"Now let's not get into a violent state rather than being in a conflict first. If you would be so kind as to lower your weapon, I promise to not betray the trust." the man assured him in a placating manner.

On the other hand, Theseus stood quiet for a minute before lowering his weapon down to his side, since he could see that the man looked to be a rather peaceful person... Yet, judging by the muscle and power on the other hand, a different story could be seen. Odds were, this guy was a formidable, trained warrior and right now he didn't feel like his strength had fully returned, so even if they wound up fighting Theseus felt he would be at a disadvantage.

Seeing that the boy had complied with him, the man nodded with a placating look on his face, already turning on his heels to head towards the wooden door once again. "Thank you, now please come outside, and I'll answer some of your questions. I'm sure you have a few regarding your situation." the man stated while he glanced behind him at the younger male. He also gestured to the outside of the cabin before exiting it, glancing behind him again with an expectant look in his eyes.

Over with the younger male, Theseus stood there thinking of whether this was either a trap to make his guard down or this man telling the truth. One could never know what would happen if they tried to lower their guard for even a minute in the supernatural world, it was the first rule of the supernatural essentially: always be on guard for every second, or else one would wind up dead in a matter of minutes.

But, what choice did he have? From what he could tell, Theseus had found himself in a place he had never seen before, he'd lost his phone again and didn't even know what jungle he was in right now. His options needless to say, were quite limited at the moment.

In the end, Theseus decided to risk it and follow the older man out of the cabin, though he still had his guard up for any signs of betrayal. After exiting it and closing the cabin's doors, the fresh air from the forest greeted his nostrils which invited it inside his body, resulting in a pleased sigh escaping his lips which wasn;t something Theseus did very often. Afterwards, Theseus returned to reality and looked for the old man, soon finding him sitting on a log, by a fire as he looks like he's cooking up with some kind of meal. "Please sit." he gestured at a log in front of him.

Looking and seeing little in the way of traps, Theseus slowly went to the log and sat on it, not letting go of his Trident which rested on his lap. After a few moments of silence, he decided to ask this unknown man for his identity, as well as the reason why he was brought here. "Who are you? I doubt that you would help me out of kindness."

"Would you believe me when I say that it's been so long since I've had company? It has been a thousand years since I had a guest." This made Theseus a bit surprised but only a little, because he saw many immortals that are far older than he was like Alucard or vampires. Still the man continued that he realized something he had forgotten. "Oh! Forgive me for that, I have not introduced myself. I am Sigismund, a former crusader of god."

Now THAT got the Sacred Gear user's attention. "A crusader? You mean, the catholic soldiers under king Richard who took over the holy land of muslim?" Theseus questioned thoughtfully, shock coursing through him especially when he sensed no deceit within the man's could remember a bit of history since he had to have some education from Hellsing in order for him to know some important past events.

However it appeared that he didn't know nearly as much as he believed, since he saw Sigismund look rather down at those words. "I see, guess some old events don't go away." he sadly said, looking down into the flames. Theseus could detect some regret in his voice, which sent his thoughts reeling. Did something happen to him when he was during the crusader time? Does he have PTSD or was he banished? Sigismund shook his head before facing Theseus. "And for the reason why I helped you, it was rather I was going to kill you."

"...explain."

"Now don't get any bad intentions, you see you've must've turned into a monster, a beast of some kind. I don't know the specifics, but it must have been a curse from an evil god, wasn't it?" This made Theseus calm down a bit since he can't blame him for that, he would've killed anyone who transformed into a beast, wait there is one thing he is confused about.

"Wait, were you the one who freed me from my curse?" he asked Sigismund, who shook his head negatively.

"No, rather your... divinity? You have that to thank." Theseus was confused about what he meant by that, the former crusader pointed his finger at him. "You see, you have an unnatural divinity in you, and from what I can gather it was fighting against the curse inflicted upon you for a while. That fight was what caused you to transform into a monster, one with all brawn and a LOT of it but no brain to actually utilize it. After I sensed you and came to investigate, finding you surrounded by blood and corpses, thus I fought against you while thinking you were a beast that I needed to slay." For a moment, Sigismund took a pause to ponder his next words carefully, as well as to let Theseus digest what he had just been told. Judging from the contemplative look on his face, he wasn't as distrusting of him. "While I prepared for the finishing blow, you managed to regain control over your mind and revert back to your human form… albeit without any clothes since the transformation destroyed them. it seems that your other form was using the curse's reserve power as an energy source of sorts, before it got too low to be feasible any longer. This wound up resulting in your divinity taking this chance to overpower the curse, resulting in it absorbing the curse to turn it into that form. Proof of this is the mark on your back."

Upon getting gestured to look at said body part, Theseus waved his hand to make a ball of water appear while taking his upper clothes out before making it into a makeshift mirror. Angling it in a specific way allowed him to see his back, as well as the mark on his back that Sigismund had been talking about that spread across the entirety of it from what he could see. "My divinity….did this?" he whispered in shock, eyeing the symbol from various angles. To be honest, he found it kind of cool once he got past the revelations about its origins.

"Yes, you have the ability to transform into that monster form of yours now, but I recommend training first before you actually bring it to the field." Theseus nods at his suggestion. "And my guess is that you are a curse free person. No matter what curse has inflicted you, it will never work as your divinity will fight back against it."

"Huh, another ability of my divinity I've discovered, what are the odds of it?" Theseus chuckled at the explanation of another ability he discovered.

"Indeed, young man." With that said, Sigismund then got up from his log before throwing him a stick of meat to eat. "When you're done eating, find me at the training center behind my cabin, we'll need to start training."

Once Theseus caught it, the male asked one more question before taking a bite from the meat. It tasted pretty good to him, actually. "Training? Why would I need to train with you?" Theseus said with confusion on why he would need training. The former crusader turned his back while facing him.

"Because you have gained more power than expected, not many can teach you how to wield it correctly. You might be a master of your own combat style, but you don't have the experience of fighting someone who you could least expect to defeat. You can decline that is fine, I am not forcing you to. Just remember that even with the great power you have, you would be beaten by someone else who has more experience than you." With that said he turned around and walked away from Theseus' sight.

After this happened, the male became silent for the moment, pondering on the old warrior's words. What Sigismund said was true after all, all the years of hunting vampires and supernatural creatures, Theseus remembered them all and made a startling revelation about himself: he had became a bit arrogant with all type of power he had, but back then it hadn't been much of an issue for him. He hadn't come across many things that could challenge him save for Alucard, and thanks to Integra always sending him on hunting missions (plus a lot of them had Vali and Kuroh tagging along as backup) Theseus had gotten a bit overconfident in his status within the power system in the supernatural world.

However, at the fight of the egyptian god, that arrogance finally reared its ugly head and had gotten used against him by Set. He had exposed Theseus's arrogance to the point where he had failed to finish the Evil God off by using his Secret Name, something which would have ended the fight before it could have escalated so badly. had made him realize that it wasn't just power he needed to survive, it was the experience he had to have with it. He had to earn that kind of experience in order to survive against strong opponents which was what Alucard used everytime he hunted stray vampires. Therefore he made the decision of eating his meal, before standing from the log heading to the direction that Sigismund had gone off in, hoping to arrive at this so-called 'training center'.


Timeskip 2 months

BOOM!

"Focus on your whole body more than your arms! The arms are not only used for wielding weapons, they also can gain more strength when you put your entire body to it!" Sigismund shouted to Theseus, who currently had a layer of sweat across his entire body while he kept lifting many logs in one place. He grit his teeth in exhaustion and pain from the arduous task he had been attempting, but ignored it and continued lifting.

As for his makeshift instructor, Sigismund stood at the side while observing him. "You will need the strength to survive in the Catachan Forest if you want to continue to go further to training."

Hearing the name of the forest they were stuck on, if what he guessed was accurate, caught Theseus's interest despite his stressed situation. This was the first time he heard the name of this place, and he didn't know why but the name itself invoked some kind of dreadful feeling within his gut. "What…is…..the…..Catachan…... Forest?" Theseus questioned, panting while lifting the logs without breaking his concentration.

Sigismund stood silent before gesturing the forest around them. "Catachan Forest is the place where we reside. This place is chock full of so many different dangers, not even a god can survive one day down here. Why might this be, you might ask? You see, the entire ecosystem seems consciously hostile towards all foreign life. Each and every element of the native flora and fauna of the planet, including things like bacteria and other microscopic beings, represents a real danger to any beings. It's a perfect place to train while learning how to survive and adapt to this place. You learn how to fight here, then other environments won't make you even bat an eye." He then faced Theseus with a hard expression. "Tomorrow, you will be given a lesson of each animal that resides here in the Catachan Forest and how to kill them. That way, you will know how to not only handle a jungle but also gain the advantage over your enemies when they are in similar situations."

With that Sigismund gestured his hands, marking the end of Theseus' current exercise as he had long since learned. Upon hearing that, the lad heaved a sigh as he let go of the ropes, which resulted in the logs falling down to the ground.


Timeskip - 5 hours later

Theseus conjured a rock wall upon his mentor's instruction, which would serve as the perfect board for Sigismund to explain about the copious amounts of different creatures there were within the Catachan Forest. Judging from the Rock wall's proportions, Theseus had predicted that there would be a LOT to learn within this short amount of time.

He would soon be proven right.

With skill that could only come from decades worth of experience, the man drew a bunch of diagrams with his combat rock knife. He then proceeded to explain about the Catachan flore first. "You see, there are many types of beings that can kill you, including the plants. For now, let's start on what I would dub as the 'Catachan Flora'.

Brain Leaf - a vegetative carnivore that's not particularly conspicuous on Catachan, but is able to attach its tendrils to the spine and brain of any animal, taking control over their body.

Spiker - another deadly plant, fires its spikes into its victims' bodies, which contain the Spiker's DNA and unleash a series of mutative chemical reactions which literally transforms the person into another Spiker.

Venus Mantrap - a carnivorous plant that resembles a classic Venus Flytrap for which it is named, but far larger and not stationary. It moves its leaves to attack and consume its prey. The Mantrap consists of a number of mobile leaves attached to a single immobile stem.

Spore Tree - a Plant which has Branches that hold dangling flowers which launch a cloud of spores when they detect something moving close by, to carry their seeds to other fertile areas. The spore cloud is so dense that the creature which disturbed the tree often chokes and dies. This is also useful for the Spore Tree as its victim's decaying body will enrich the ground around its roots.

Strangler Plant - a plant that prefers shady spots to grow in, where its distinctive tube-like trunk is hidden from view. When it detects the air disturbance caused by a passing animal, its long, highly adhesive stamen uncoils, wrapping itself around the prey and dragging them back to die of dehydration.

Canak Floater - a bizarre and deadly plant like all Catachan Flora, filled with lighter-than-air gases. it drifts across the dimension with the vagaries of the wind. It has sensitive feeler tentacles, which detects warmth and moisture above the normal local levels. This is usually to uncover streams, hot springs and other sources of water, but unfortunately is also sensitive enough to detect the temperature of and moisture changes caused by Humans when I attempt to cook something before discovering it. When it finds such a place, the floater explodes, scattering its seed pods over a wide area. These seed pods have a diamond-hard outer casing with razor sharp edges, and will scythe through anything within range.

Miral Catcher - a ground-hugging vegetation which has roots that are extremely sensitive to vibrations in the ground, such as might be caused by an animal wandering past. It looks innocuous enough when dormant, but when it attacks, huge tentacles whip from its many frilled maws and lash out. They carry a paralysing toxin, which acts almost instantaneously upon the prey.

Sucker Tree - a plant that is fairly innocuous looking to the untrained eye; but do not be fooled. It is simply a fungal-like growth on top of a seemingly normal trunk. However, the trunk can twist and turn when it detects prey, bending over to drop its suckers on top of the heads of its victims. It quickly drains them of their life fluids and then flings the corpse away to ensure that future victims are not made suspicious by a pile of bodies.

Spitting Cactus - a deadly form of jungle cacti, and is able to fire toxin-coated spines directly at nearby prey.

And finally the Catachan Mantrap - a plant which, while having a similar name to the Venus Mantrap, uses a much more aggressive hunting technique. It can move its leaves around, actively searching out prey and clamping its jaw-like leaves around its victims."

After hearing all of this, even during the lecture, Theseus' eyes grew wide enough for them to almost pop out of their sockets at the entire explanation of the dangers of the plant life in Catachan. "Holy shit and fuck my life! The plants here are so dangerous... and the forest's predators?" He can see that Alucard will have a bit of trouble here since his regeneration is off the limits but still he can be killed many times over when just looking at simple flowers.

Yet at the mention of the wildlife, the grim look on Sigismund's face worsened. "The animals here too are of the same danger level as you, but in your monster form you managed to kill a lot of them when they smelled the sight of your blood. But now that you are not in that form, I will explain what they are. I call them the 'Catachan Fauna'" he gestured at the other side of the rock wall while pointing at each creature.

"Catachan Devil - a voracious insectoid predator, looking somewhat like a many-limbed earthen scorpion or centipede. They can vary in length, but are very bulky and slow-moving, which means that escape is possible for the unlucky beings who confront one.

Grox - Animals shaped like lizards but with the size of a human and a large bulbous centre. Heavily prized for their highly nutritious and tasty meat, something I found out myself. The Grox serve as my livestock since I first found myself here. The Grox when untamed are deadly predators, however.

Shambling Mamorphs - tough fighters and put up a good fight even against the Catachan Devil.

There are also many types of reptiloid serpents on Catachan, including the Flying Swamp Mamba, the Coiling Death Cobra and the Catachan Black Viper, and all are deadly to most living beings. Some have toxins that are so powerful they can kill a being in seconds.

Great Barking Toads - although appearing benign and harmless, are literally volatile creatures: the creature is easily startled, and anything it finds threatening is liable to cause it to explode in a cloud of toxins which kills anything within a very wide (one-kilometer) area, including the Barking Toad itself. The Barking Toad toxin is virulent enough that even respirators and sealed suits such as my armour offer no protection, and no other known substance can halt its destruction. They are known as the most toxic creatures in the entire forest

Blood Wasps - swarms of small, deadly insects that are known to eat their prey alive, stripping them to the bone in under an hour.

Heretic-Ants - named on the account that they always attack their prey's feet first. One bite from these insects will put a fully grown man in the infirmary for a month, two bites will give them around a day to find treatment before dying, and three will simply kill them outright.

Vein Worms - Worms that secrete an ooze that numbs their prey when they bite, so that they cannot feel a thing. The Worms then dig their way under their prey's skin and into the bloodstream to lay their eggs. The eggs will spread all around the host's body, and when the larvae hatch they will eat their way through the host's brain, heart and bones. There is no known cure for Vein Worms once they have entered the bloodstream.

Drakebats - Ogre-sized, winged, pseudo-reptiles that lurk amongst the upper forest canopies, descending from the treetops to ambush and devour unsuspecting prey.

Death Flies

Catachan Water-drakes

Catachan Bloodflies

Catachan Pusworms

And Spinebore Leeches."

Now this place had the potential to kill any beings who enter the dimension if they so stupid enough to do so. In his opinion, Alucard will have a very hard time before he would lose his temper and activate his full power and destroy this place. With all this information now in his mind, Theseus had one thing to say. "This is going to be a nightmare."

And he meant it, LITERALLY.

Sigismund looked at him before giving a laugh. "Hah! You think that's worse, here is another fact of why this place is forbidden. The threat of disease is also a constant hazard on Catachan, as there are many varieties of poxes and fevers that can kill a man within a few solar hours due to the forest's fecund micro biosphere. Many of the dimension's native insects also carry virulent diseases on top of being poisonous, meaning that a single bite can be lethal in more ways than one. The dimension does not just breed diseases in its fauna. Most of the more virulent microbes cannot be seen at all, floating through the air until they find a host and enter their bloodstream. There are lethal swamps where a single breath of the fog will burn an intruder's lungs out, causing a long and agonising death. Even the water on Catachan can prove fatal to drink as diseases and poisons flow through it. Foot Rot can occur after just a few weeks within the jungle, where the rotten feet will detach from the host's legs, producing a vomit-inducing stench. As such, consider disease to be the greatest enemy to battle during training than any beast or man-eating plant." he explained… all too cheerily at that.

...Never mind that, Theseus took it back. This was gonna be literal HELL to survive in this dimension, and now he had one thing to say. "Fuck."


Timeskip - 2 months

"Alright, let's go with that beast form of yours as you call it." Sigismund called out to Theseus while the latter sat in the lotus position in a small clearing, surrounded by the corpses of multiple Catachan Devils. The white haired male had very few injuries from the whole ordeal, having grown used to their movements and the tactics his mentor had drilled into him for taking these guys down, however that wasn't what he was focusing on at the moment.

Nope, Theseus had been doing something else: trying to master the use of his Beast Form, as he called it just like Sigismund had said.

After hearing his mentor's words, a bead of sweat formed on the male's brow as he opened his eyes, having kept them closed during a period of meditation to clear his mind, something which he had learned helped to prepare him for this training. "... I think I'll start with partial transformation training for now, Sir." Theseus stated to Sigismund who nodded in understanding, having had ample experience in fighting that massive monstrosity.

The Beast Form, that form which he had been in back when he had first entered this forbidden realm post confronting and fighting Set. That form he'd managed to gain from his Divinity fusing the curse within it to grant him it, had been one of the most difficult things to control for him so far. Harder than his Sacred Gear actually, which spoke volumes considering controlling his Sacred Gear had been as difficult as taming a raging thunderstorm… and that was understating the effort required.

If Zenith Tempest was like a thunderstorm, then the Beast Form was that amplified to Godzilla size. The moment that the transformation started, Theseus would start sling himself to that form's raging instincts, following a single decree of rip, tear and shredding through all forms of life around it without discrimination, nor hesitation. That form would then make him go absolutely BERSERK, levelling entire sections of the Catachan Forest during his rampages which were suppressed all the time by Sigismund, who had grown used to the frantic fighting style that Theseus adopted when losing control. Fortunately, he would manage to pull himself back into reality and return to human form after about 5 minutes or so, though the time got shorter the more he trained with it.

It had been like this for the first month he had started training in it, with the first 2 months mostly consisting of basic training and Sigismund teaching him the ways to survive in this hazardous Jungle.

After those 2 months, the next 2 had been focused solely on his Beast Form, since a rampaging power like that needed to be trained for use before being put to the test on the actual battlefield. Theseus refused to rely on an unmastered, uncontrollable power anyways, hence another reason to train in it. He wasn't some wimp afraid of something he possessed, like it or not that form was a part of him, and as such he needed to learn everything he could about it. To do otherwise would not only be absolutely stupid, but incredibly naive, nobody was truly born equal to another with proof being how some people were good at music while others were good at dancing. Hence to Theseus, being afraid of something one possessed was one of the things he tolerated the LEAST.


(Back in the Human world, a black haired Hybrid and a certain Loli Neko sneezed, and felt like they were being insulted)


He'd been SO glad that Vali had already accepted his Devil side by the time they had first met, Theseus probably would have smashed him to the ground on sheer principle. If he himself had been afraid of his twisted divinity or Zenith Tempest, then Theseus probably would have died at many points on his solo journey before coming to Hellsing, another reason why he saw such actions as rejecting parts of oneself as stupid.

But back to the Beast Form… boy, did he and Sigismund underestimate the potential for this thing.

Temporarily breaking from his internal monologuing, Theseus looked up to his mentor once again. "Is your armor still functioning, sir?" he questioned, remembering the last time he's transformed into that monstrosity.

Sigismund nodded his head, smirking right now since he didn't have his helmet (which was currently tucked under his armpit). "Indeed, this bad boy's served me well for many years now." he replied, slapping his armor's abdomen section. Being what looked like a mix between cables, gears and armor plating, the thing truly did look like something out of a sci-fi universe, though its utility spoke volumes of its effectiveness.

The male gave a relieved and understanding nod, closing his eyes and once again starting to draw out the Beast within. Throughout the many attempts at harnessing its power, Theseus had managed to learn a bunch about that form, one such fact being that it somewhat had a bit of partial sentience to it, for it had a small presence within the back of his mind that he could sense after a few transformation attempts. Usually that presence remained eerily silent as if being dormant, however once danger would register it would alert him through hisses and growls, as well as respond to his emotional state as proven during a few conversations with Sigismund whenever Theseus got frustrated in them. It was almost like he had a beast companion with him who could sense his emotions.

Swell.

In addition to that, there were a multitude of abilities that form could use beyond just simply swinging its oversized swords around like a mad bastard. Abilities that had slowly shown themselves over the last 2 months. These abilities had gotten put into several distinct categories for Theseus by Sigismund: Biomancy, Divination, Pyromancy, Telekinesis and Telepathy.

Biomancy dealt with manipulating biological energy and processes with the power of the mind. Apparently, when transformed Theseus's brain was altered for these abilities to be put to use at their full power, so while he could potentially use these powers outside that form they wouldn't be as effective. So far, the abilities he could use from this category were:

Smite - Lethal bolts of bio-lightning that leapt from the fingertips, tearing foes apart.

Iron Arm - By transmuting his flesh into living metal, Theseus could wade through enemy attacks unscathed and pulp skulls with just that form's bare claws.

Endurance - Reaching into the essence of other beings with the mind, Theseus could knit together bones, heal flesh and banish fatigue, something Sigismund grew much appreciative for once he'd figured out how to use it outside his Beast Form

Life Leech - With a twist of his gnarled hands, Theseus could take the life force from his enemies, hoarding the stolen essence and using it to reinvigorate and restore his own injured body. Not a skill Theseus particularly liked, but he could still see the use for.

Warp Speed - Through mental thought processing increasing the body's functional capacity, Theseus could heighten his speed beyond supernatural levels, becoming a blur around the battlefield.

Divination seemed to deal with gleaning information by predicting future events in a multitude of ways. These abilities had been KEY to Theseus escaping multiple ambushes set up by the indiginous wildlife, as well as helping him avoid areas where he would have either died due to disease or gotten caught by flora, resulting in these being the more honed abilities. However, there were only a few abilities he found that fell into this category, while these ones elied more on either mental calculations than out right psychic attributes. These abilities were as follows:

Prescience - Using advanced mental calculations, this ability let Theseus effortlessly predict the paths of enemy claws and fangs, even Sigismund's strikes to some extent. By focussing this 'sight' even more, he theorized that he could potentially guide his allies' aim, bringing a swift and merciless death to their foes. Though Theseus hadn't tested this possibility yet.

Misfortune - With a click of his fingers, Theseus could twist the very essence of fate itself so that his comrades' blows punch through the weakest points in their opponents' armour. Sadly this ability seemed to be ONLY available in his Beast Form, his brain unable to comprehend it when in human form.

Scrier's Gaze - This ability let Theseus see the battlefield clearly through his mind's eye from the vantage point of a hunting hawk and the precision of a laser. The to and fro of even the tiniest insect was but the scurrying of ants beneath his nigh-omniscient gaze. Thus the male could direct exactly when and where one was most needed, leaving no clue behind as to how this trickery was achieved. This ability was one of the ones at its strongest when he was in Beast Form though, whereas its effectiveness dropped considerably when he was in human form.

Pyromancy seemed to be what its name implied, for it dealt with fire and flame, much like the flames from his Sacred Gear. Combine this type of flame with those from Zenith Tempest, and Theseus theorized that he could potentially create searing infernos out of thin air. Pyromancy seemed to be one of the most spectacular and destructive forms of this psychic ability that his Beast Form had, with the abilities to match it:

Molten Beam - clapping his hands together and turning them outward, Theseus could fire white-hot beams of blazing energy bursts from his palms. They showed themselves to melt through Catachan Devil armour to slag and vaporise flesh, leaving only ghastly shadows in its wake.

Flame Breath - From his Beast Form's eyes and mouth, a torrent of psychically-generated flames pour forth, engulfing the target.

Fiery Form - A more defensive ability, it rendered most ranged attacks ineffective since bullets and shells passed straight through Theseus when it was active, as he transforms into an incandescent being of living fire, striking out at his foes and setting their souls ablaze. Aside from this soul destroying attribute, this ability drained energy ravenously, hence Theseus didn't want to use it for too long. It drained his energy far slower in Beast Form though.

Fire Shield - With a sweep of his arms, Theseus could throw up a towering wall of flame to protect his allies. The size of this wall depended on which form he was in, however, a human sized one for his said form, and the 20+ feet one for his Beast Form.

Telekinesis seemed to be similar to Pyromancy in that basically detailed exactly what it was named after. In that it dealt with manipulating the material world with the power of the mind, translating sheer mental power into physical force. These abilities being:

Assail - Using nothing but the power of his mind, Theseus could lift unpinned objects from the ground and hurl them at the foe. Though in Beast Form even things like Trees which were rooted in could be uplifted.

Crush - By reaching out his arm and clenching his fist, Theseus could entrap his foe in a choking and crushing mass of psychic force. Through extra effort, the male and Sigismund theorized that he could potentially crush flesh, armour and bone alike to powder, the ability being much more effective in Beast Form.

Shockwave - Theseus could slam his palms together and the noise would be magnified a hundredfold, releasing a shockwave that snapped bones and knocked foes off their feet. The power output varied between forms.

Telekine Dome - Bullets bounce off of thin air and are deflected alarmingly towards friendly forces thanks to Theseus erecting a barrier of shimmering psychic energy about himself. The barriers strength, endurance and power usage varied between forms though.

Finally, Telepathy. This one dealt with contacting and controlling the minds of others. Theseus attributed it to like debuffing an enemy in a video game, something he'd learned from Kuroka who liked playing RPGs as well as Otome Games (girl was thirsty, damnit). These abilities influenced the minds of his enemies in various ways, although it seemed that those with stronger wills like Sigismund's weren't as affected as much plus the energy consumed would be greater with people like him. Their effectiveness also varies between his forms too. These abilities were:

Mental Fortitude - Despair would be turned into fresh hope and courage into insane heroism when Theseus projected inspirational thoughts of victory into the minds of his allies.

Puppet Master - With this ability, Theseus could possess his victim's mind, controlling their movements, their aim and their trigger fingers as if they were marionettes. The male could potentially see this as a way to not only capture but also to interrogate his targets into revealing the truth of certain matters.

Terrify - True to its name, this ability let Theseus assault his foes' minds with images from their own darkest and most dreadful nightmares. This ability didn't work too well on the more primitive minds of the flora or fauna in Catachan, but Sigismund had helped him identify it by advising him to show those creatures images of their own deaths at his own hands. It worked much better than they thought it would.

Invisibility - Reaching into the minds of his foes, Theseus could hide himself and his allies from the enemy's visual line of sight. It was how one time they had stumbled on a nest of Drakebats, and thus the male had to use this ability in conjunction with others to help both him and Sigismund to escape.

Hallucination - Paranoia, confusion and panic are heightened to a debilitating degree as Theseus altered his foes' perceptions of reality, creating fearful visions, confusing or befuddling the enemy, or even generating the belief that their fellows are the true enemy. This ability's effectiveness again, depended on either which form he was in as well as the mental wills of his enemies.

… So yeah, this Beast form could be seen as a MAJOR powerup for him, and what was MORE interesting to the user was that even up till this current point of time he STILL felt like there was more this form could offer him. Even after THOUSANDS of transformation attempts that either went wrong instantly, or he managed to maintain his sanity for a small time frame before going berserk. So far, Theseus had managed to hold on for about 5 minutes in this form, which was pathetic for him right now since Vali could hold his Sacred Gear's Balance Breaker for a couple weeks, even 4 weeks if he wasn't fighting with it.

Essentially, it had a LOT of potential as a weapon for his use, but there was STILL a lot of work to be done for it.

One such thing would be the partial transformation thing Theseus had mentioned. It was inspired by tales he'd heard of Yokai from the Shinto Faction or other mythological monsters only partially transforming their bodies into their more hideous true forms to either catch someone off guard or to move with greater ease than in their full monster forms within certain environments. It sounded like a pretty neat trick in his eyes, and Theseus believed that if he could gain different body parts from his Beast Form, then he would be a good ways forward along the path to mastering it.

'Alright, enough monologuing Theseus. Sigismund said that monologuing helps keep the mind focused, but now it's time.' The male thought, putting his monologue to the back of his mind and starting to draw the Beast within to the surface. In an instant he felt it respond to his will, rearing its head within the depths of his mind, and in that moment he swore he thought he would lose it and pull the Beast out entirely. A stretching feeling spread out through his gut as he felt the beast growl and warn him, but Theseus remained undaunted, furrowing his brows tightly while gritting his teeth. He almost felt veins bulging on his temple from the strain of keeping the Beast under control, the said being resisting him fiercely like the chaotic construct that it was.

Yet, after what felt like an eternity of struggling with it, he briefly felt a flurry of rippling waves across his being, to which Theseus opened his eyes to see if his efforts had born any fruit. As a result, he looked behind him… to see the additional 2 arms of his Beast Form protruding out from his back. His eyes widened at the sight and a grin of victory spread across his lips. "Aw, hell yeah! I did it!" he exclaimed, mentally trying to control the arms. Like everything though, the downside soon presented itself when he found that he could hardly control the arms that well, with HARDLY the same level of ease that his Beast Form had. 'Ugh… looks like this one will require a bit of work…'

Observing his student's progress, Sigismund nodded to himself in silent approval. After thousands of attempts, this amount of progress had to be expected from him. It seemed that for all the physical benefits it brought him, that Curse that brought the Beast form to him seemed to specialize more in the psychic category, considering the plethora of abilities that this form granted him both in and outside of it with varying results. 'He's come far… but there is still more to be done.' The man thought, stepping up towards Theseus while he struggled to make the arms do what he wanted them to. "While you have succeeded in drawing them out, we have learned two avenues to be explored: one, your partial transformation takes too long, you took about 4 minutes to get them out and in battle, one's life can end in seconds. Two, controlling the transformation itself seems just as difficult as transforming completely, probably due to the process altering your brain a bit so the transformation can properly function."

Theseus looked back to his mentor, nodding in agreement while he let the arms hang behind him like a pair of coat tails hanging from his shoulders. "Yup. Think I'll keep them out for practice, sir. What should we do next.?" he asked.

To which, Sigismund thought for a bit… before a large, sadistic smile spread across his face. "Well…"

Something told Theseus he would regret asking that, and soon into the afternoon he felt he was right.

Why were all the strong types super sadistic in training?


Timeskip another 2 months = 6 months in total

After another two months of hard cruel tortu-well training with his mentor, Theseus finally managed to control his transformation into his Beast Form... Well, actually it wasn't long before Theseus had figured to name it something else, since Beast Form sounded boring. Hence, he decided to call it his 'Beast Of Earth' (BOE for short). The reason why he had chosen this name had been because Sigismund had a book of the bible with him, an old one but it was a rare one which looked like it could have cost him a fortune: the Book of Revelation. It spoke of a beast, a beast of earth, one that spoke like a dragon commanding the people of the Earth to make an image of the Beast that was wounded by a sword. It was declared that anyone who did not worship the Beast or its image, would be killed. The lamb-horned beast from the earth also caused all people to receive the 'mark of the beast' on their right hands or on their foreheads.

Guess it fit the description well, Theseus mused, since he had a mark on his entire back instead of his forehead or his right hand, commanding people into worshiping him like mind control. What were the odds of him not being one of the Beasts at this point? Thanks to constant training with it, Theseus had increased the time limit he had with using it before going crazy to 48 hours, although that wasn't as much as he'd hoped it was still better than literal minutes. Time could fly after all, plus he had managed to master the partial transformation technique through the use of the additional 2 arms… as well as the double-ended Tail tipped with pincers. He really felt like he could deal some damage wielding his Trident, two of those 'Boneswords' that he named the weapons those limbs created, and his Tail.

Ruining someone's day with these sounded like a lot of fun.

Anyways, not only that but apparently Theseus had gotten interested in swordsmanship thanks to seeing Sigismund battling beasts with one for so long. He'd once thought that swords were overrated hence why he stuck to the less common Trident, but seeing his mentor wield one like a badass showed him just why they had so much love. They just had the bite to go with their bark as long as they were in slashing distance, combined with their variations and versatility. Hence, Theseus inevitably got intrigued by the idea of wielding one… the fact that his BOE Form could use 4 Boneswords was another reason.

From what he had seen, Sigismund used a simple black sword he had kept over the many centuries of his imprisonment within this realm, and always beat him with pure skill with it. Theseus always used a trident because it was his primary weapon ever since he… unlocked it during that time.

During one of their battles, Sigismund had noticed the expression on Theseus's face and he knew what it was, the face of a broken man. He knew this because he had seen a few of his good friends get reduced to those states because of various enemies. It hadn't taken him long to figure out what kind of enemy had plagued Theseus to the degree that he had seen, and once Sigismund had that he told the male about the demons, and how they differed from Devils. Unlike the Devils who lived in the Underworld, their realm was the Umbral plains, also known as the 'true hell' where the scum of the earth go to be tortured for eternity. If they got fully consumed by the corruption of the Umbral plains, then those souls would turn into Demons, with some of their appearances related to what they are, and mostly there were lots of rapists who were sent down there, which explained all their…. Personifications. As well as their desires and 'fetishes' for lack of a better term. Most of them retained their intelligence over the years which could mean they were hiding anywhere in the human world, too, according to the former Crusader.

Once Theseus heard about this, boiling white hot rage overtook him, and as such he looked up to the skies with eyes blazing with rage. He vowed right then and there, to hunt them down until none of them exist anymore, extinct race.

Rip and tear until it's done.

Upon hearing that, his mentor hid a smile of approval behind his Helmet so that Theseus didn't see it. Sigismund admired his goal, it honestly reminded him of himself when he was younger, back in his prime when things… were much simpler, more enjoyable. He remembered the times he fought alongside trusted brothers whom he respected, met and sparred with many fine women who had been hardened by the horrors of war. Those days… he missed them.

Which brought them to where they are at, now.

It was night time and they were eating a grox meat by the fire and Theseus gots to admit, it actually tasted delicious in his opinion.

Looking back up at his mentor, a thought crossed his mind. 'Huh… now that I think about it, my mentor's been so helpful to me in learning how to better control my new powers/skills, but other than that I don't really know him too well…' the male mused internally. It was true though, he truly didn't know all that much about Sigismund, even after all their weeks of training and fighting together. By no means was that stuff useless, since aside from growing stronger it had helped him to trust and bond with the older warrior more. There were things only fighting alongside one another as comrades on the battlefield could tell, things which could put life in a different perspective. To Theseus, he began to see something, something which he had also been starting to see since he first met Vali and began fighting alongside his bros: that if he could trust them on the battlefield, trusting them off it would be much easier in comparison.

"Curious about me, are we lad?"

"... Are you sure you aren't some kind of psychic as well?"

A small chuckle escaped the older warrior when Theseus asked that question, with the deadest fish eye stare as he could possibly make. It was a hearty, fulfilled kind of laugh, the laugh one could only make around close comrades… something which Theseus began to feel for the grizzled warrior. "Don't worry about it, I can see it written all over your face. You think I wouldn't pick up on your quirks after so long?" he mused with an easygoing smile.

One which despite himself, Theseus mirrored with a look of mirth in his eyes. How long had it been since he last felt this… content? With anyone outside his bros? He never expected this to happen, usually as much as those guys annoyed the heck out of him, Theseus would have chosen their company over anyone else's. Yet now, he felt like another could be added to the list. "True, true…" he muttered, much to the older man's amusement.

A few chuckles later, and Sigismund decided to adhere to that unasked query. "Alright then, let me tell you a bit of myself since you've done so well these last 6 months. When I was young, I grew up in a noble house where I would sometimes go out and spend time with two great friends… no, I'd rather call them brothers. We dreamed about becoming soldiers of god, where we could become his servant in heaven and please the lord with gratitude. So, we trained, trained, trained… we trained all our lives until we reached adulthood." Sigismund stopped for a moment as he remembered the good times he had long ago. "I would sometimes hear a voice of an unknown man where I thought he was an imaginary friend until the time goes by he stops speaking to me. I always knew that he was not a fake person, when we joined the crusaders in King Richard's command into retaking the holy land. It was at this moment that light shone upon me, upon battle against the soldiers of Saladdin I was near in death when I was cornered, I thought to myself this was the end of myself…. That is until a light shined upon me realized that the mysterious voice was not an ordinary being…. It was god himself." Theseus' eyes grew wide at his story, that would explain why he had a massive amount of holy energy inside of him and how he was able to so easily defeat him.

He was blessed by the god of the bible.

"He named me his champion in his honor to help me on the journey of purging the heretics and demons who roamed across the world. He personally gave me a powerful blade he himself had crafted called the 'Black Sword' - a legendary sword that could cut stone and metal without effort or mar to the blade. In my hands many warlords, devils, tyrants and demons fell upon my blade. I thought to myself that I was doing the right thing by serving the lord, helping other people from their suffering…" Taking a moment to pause, Theseus immediately noticed a change in Sigismund's mood. His form slouched and a wave of regret, sombreness and frustration washed over the man. He looked so much older than he truly should be at this moment, to the point where if he was still standing then Theseus would have taken a few steps back at the unnerving sight. "… that is, until the day of the third crusade."

He stopped for the moment, taking a deep breath before finally continuing. "We conquered Jerusalem, King Richard assigned me and my friends Dante and Francisco to keep a group of Saracen prisoners safe so King Richard could obtain a holy relic from Saladin. My friend Dante grew tired of keeping the Saracen as prisoners instead of purging them like heretics, I always reminded them that not everyone were heretics because they worship a different god. He grew mad and frustrated because of this, it wasn't long until….."

At that point, Sigismund stopped as if he did not want to remember that time. However, it didn't matter since Theseus could figure out where this was going on his own, so he answered them with a grim tone, already aware of the inevitable answer. "He…. slaughtered the people there, didn't he?"

Sigismund closed his eyes and, after an almost agonizingly slow silence, nodded his head. "...Yes, yes he did. I discovered this when I saw the blood on the floors, and needless to say I was horrified at what he had done. Before things could escalate, King Richard arrived on the scene and demanded who was responsible. Not wanting his friend to be blamed for their deaths, Francisco took the blame for Dante, and because of this King Richard hanged Francisco for the false of the crimes he did not commit. As you might have guessed, I grew angry at Dante for what he had done, but soon after this incident I discovered other things that he did: sleeping with a slave girl who had offered her body to him, among others. That was enough for me as I ended my friendship with him the moment he began these atrocities."

Whilst Theseus digested this information, hanging his head while gazing down into the flames, Sigismund put his hand on his head as a quick scene played his mind. The scene showed himself, standing upon a kneeling man with his sword pointed at him. "Of course it did not end there. It wasn't long, about several months I think, when I was approached by a demon who called himself Mephisto Pheles. He told me the truth of this whole crusade, that it was all a flaw. God did not say there was a holy war, our cause was nothing but the greed of the higher-ranking nobles who wanted more lands for themselves, they wanted all the treasures Jerusalem possessed. I was tricked and manipulated to do all things that I've done, all the people I've slaughtered in the name of God was all for naught."

At this point, Sigismund made a fist, one which trembled as he grew increasingly angry at the memories passing through his mind. All of it culminated within his violently trembling fist, before he slammed it into a nearby tree.

BOOM!

C-C-C-C-CCRRRREEEEEEE!

THUD!

The amount of force he put on his fist was powerful enough to destroy a tree behind him. He calmed down before making a downed face. "After I saw the truth from the devil Mephisto Pheles, I asked him what was the reason why he showed me the truth, he told me that I was a good and fair man and that I didn't deserve to be deceived. He disappeared after I left him, and after a few days of thinking I made a choice of exiling myself from the crusaders, leaving behind my Black Sword with the intention of searching for a place where no man or god can find me. No longer could I believe in any of their so-called 'righteous' causes, my faith had been irreversibly shattered beyond repair, I still pray to god though, so the only thing left for me to do would be to seek my own refuge, my own paradise in a nightmarish world. After a few months of journeying across the world, I came across this place, discovering the natural horrors were easily capable of keeping outsiders away. Therefore, I decided to make this place, the Catachan Forest, my home not only to redeem the sins I've caused, but to also seek forgiveness on the souls I have slaughtered."

Theseus grew silent at Sigismund's story, witnessing the heavy regrets and agony being expressed on his mentor's face. He didn't really know what to say for a while, before Theseus realized that he didn't need to say anything. It had been made readily apparent that his mentor had it rough for being manipulated into thinking he was doing god's work in reclaiming the so-called 'holy-place', when in actuality all he was doing was simply slaughtering innocent people. Not to mention the betrayal of his friends, with one being a horny asshole who got the other killed so he could walk on scott free. He must have had great willpower in him, since from Theseus's own experiences all those things could have made a man take the big plunge and commit suicide, yet here he was still alive and icking (likely because of the blessing). Still, even now he felt regret after all these centuries staying within this literal deathtrap of a place.

He couldn't even BEGIN to imagine what that was like.

Still, from what he had heard it would seem that much time had passed for this man, he had stayed here for so long that while his deeds may not be forgotten, the people who would have hunted him down for deserting them had long since passed. Really, it was only his own guilt for his sins that kept him here, since as far as Theseus was concerned this guy could survive in this forest no problem. Therefore, there wasn't much reason why he couldn't just leave, although perhaps the scope of how things have changed would likely affect him greatly, he figured. Nevertheless, he still wanted to know his viewpoint from his own mouth, hence why he asked the following question. "If you had the chance to get out of this place when you feel redeemed, would you take it?"

His old mentor briefly tensed up within his armor at the question, as if he hadn't expected his student to suddenly ask him about that. Instead of immediately answering and rejecting such a notion however, Sigismund instead went silent for a moment, before finally giving his answer. "Maybe." It was a vague response, sure, but it soon got elaborated on while the man stared into the flames, a forlorn and lost expression forming on his face while he put his hands together over his knees. "It's been so long since I've been here that I've grown used to living in the Catachan forest. I don't know how long it has been since I've exiled myself. I don't know if the Christians have gotten better or worse yet. I guess you could say that I do not wish to be manipulated into thinking I am doing god's work again."

Taking a momentary pause, Sigismund pulled out what looked like an old smoking pipe before making a tiny lighting flare. He then proceeded to take a big inhale and exhaled a lot of smoke from his mouth. "Sometimes I wonder to myself if I've ever felt like enough was enough. That I've been absolved of my sins by god." he closed his eyes as his smoking pipe was letting out smoke. "But in the end, nothing was changed about me. I never felt anything from him for so long now, so maybe this was all pointless. Nobody can know for sure."

Theseus stares at him before looking at the fire. "You know, sometimes it's not on who can know whether they have redeemed themselves." Sigismund looked at Theseus as he pulled out a picture of himself when he was a kid, he had his friends by his side making bunny ears, his parents behind him looking happy and Josh's parents too with his older brother. A solemn, sad look crossed onto his face at that moment, replaying memories of better times in his mind, times where things had been much simpler. "When I was little, I sometimes would go to Sunday church with my parents to pray to God in worshiping the Lord as he watches over us and absolves us from our sins. One time, I asked the priest 'how can God absorb our sins if he's absorbing all the darkness?'" Theseus closed his eyes at the memory of the time he was at the church. He then opened them and looked straight towards Sigismund. "The priest told me that it's because he cares for us as we were made from clay of Adam. He told me that even when you were hit by someone else, he already forgives himself for it. I asked him why he forgives himself for that and his answer was that 'If we understand what sin is, we'll understand why we need God's forgiveness and know how we can forgive ourselves.'"

Like his Mentor before him, Theseus took a momentary pause in his speech. He put his hand up as he stared at them before clenching it. "I never knew what that meant, for a long time…. But I do have my own definition of it. We never always needed God's forgiveness, we can forgive ourselves and understand our sins."

Sigismund looked in shock at Theseus' for his explanation before putting his head down, reminiscing the memories of his own childhood, when he'd been living a much simpler life with his friends as they held each other's hands and ran to the sunlight. That memory, instead of causing him guilt and grief like it had before, actually caused him to let out a small smile. "I think…..I think you may be on to something there, Theseus. The future generations have always surprised me, even now. It may be for a while until I can understand my sins and know when I can forgive myself." He remarked with a smile, but his eyes held something greater. A look one could only have if there had been a huge weight lifted from their shoulders.

A small smirk made its way onto Theseus's lips at the change he saw within the old warrior. He felt glad inside, glad that his words had the intended effect of helping him through something difficult. He wasn't the most emotionally intelligent guy around, that was more Kuroka's thing, but even he could recognize when a good deed had been done. "Who knows it could be another hundred years?" He remarked in a joking manner which made him and his mentor laugh a bit, almost like a grandfather spending time with his grandson.

But like all good things, reality usually had to end them at some point, Right now wasn;t any different, for moments after the two settled into comfortable and warm silence, his ears twitched as Theseus sensed a familiar aura he hadn't felt for about six months since he had arrived here. Briefly, his eyes widened at the feeling, almost recognizing it as something alien, before he let out a small smirk that gradually turned into a full blown smile that stretched across his face. "Took a while for them to arrive..." he whispered under his breath.

Hearing his student mention this, as well as feeling the same aura he did, Sigismund looked at the direction of where the energy was coming from. Looked like some new arrivals had entered the forest, and briefly the man wondered who they were… that is, before glancing back at his student and seeing Theseus smile, that meant he must know the participants who came. "Companion of yours?" He asked him which Theseus nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah, I knew there was nothing that could stop them from finding me." he got up from his seat which Sigismund stared at before sighing sadly.

Looked like the time for their parting had arrived, the man internally mused. "(SIGH) welp, I'm not stopping you young man. You've learned a lot from me in this place."

Theseus nodded his head in gratitude, his smile fading a little. He could tell that the old man likely would miss his company judging by the look on his face, this was his first time talking to someone in centuries after all. He must not like the thought of being alone in this forest again. "Thanks for everything….. Old man. I'll never forget this, I won't be away forever, I'll come back soon and this time I promise to bring something you would least suspect." he told him seriously, putting a hand into a fist over his chest where his heart was. "Of that, you have my word."

Sigismund smiled at Theseus' declaration, his sadness being somewhat uplifted from such words. It had been a long time since he had heard such things from anyone, and hearing them come from Theseus brought back memories of his time sparring with his fellow crusaders. "I'll be hoping for that, now go on young man before this forest will kill them." Sigismund waved at him which Theseus laughed at before looking at the picture he had.

He stares at it for a while before throwing it to the fire. "My past may be something holding me back but now….. I feel like no shackle can ever chain me anymore." Within his mind, Theseus imagined that a chain had been holding him for years, butas of this moment that chain had started cracking… before finally shattering, as if freeing him for the first time. He then commenced his journey and walked out from Sigismund sight.

The old man stared out towards where Theseus had gone, before his figure was no longer seen anymore. He then looks at the burning picture. "You may bring something no one has ever thought….. Hope."

Soon enough, the picture burned away entirely, leaving Theseus' happy face for last before it too became a smouldering pile of ashes.


AN:

Hunter here, and welcome to a new chapter. Here we go, Theseus went through something that could have DEFINITELY been his end if he hadn't had one of the most BADASS warriors around to guide him and learn from. Hope you liked his debut, and for those who don't know, look up Sigismund from the Black Templars in Warhammer. The dude is an absolute beast. Now that Theseus is going to go back to his comrades, he made a promise to the old warrior, a promise he intended to keep. What that promise is, you'll have to wait and see. Hope you liked the chap, and look forward to the next one.

PEACE OUT!