Chapter 5
"Hey Shirou! Over here! Look!" called Violet to the red head boy, pointing to a stall in the market they were in.
It had been a month since he had encountered the Henryk-Gascoigne duo and had been all but adopted by them ever since. The family had easily taken him in, giving him a place to stay in Henryk's house, every time he asked if he was bothering them they all would laughed.
"Nonsense boy, you're a fine young lad and do us no harm staying here. If anything you're a blessing! Oedeon knows my place is a lot cleaner with you around." Henryk would say.
And so here he was, keeping a watch over Violet as she enjoyed herself in the vibrant market, all while dragging along Shirou.
"Coming, coming." Shirou responded to Violets calls, walking towards the stall she had pointed out. This is what she had been doing for the past couple of hours, they would walk around until Violet found something interesting and would pull Shirou towards it so he could see.
He had been given money by Viola for if something caught their eye and had told him that he was in charge of the buying as he was the more responsible and mature one out of the duo no matter how much Violet claimed otherwise.
"See? Look at how cool this is!" exclaimed Violet, what she was referring to was this small chain necklace with a peculiar looking pendant that akin to a blood vial, but instead where the vial would be there was a bright, saturated, red jewel.
"That's a lovely pendant Violet but how much does it cost?" Asked Shirou. Violet looked uncertain before replying "A-a lot?" she stuttered "But it looks so cool, please I promise I won't ask for anything ever again!" she pleaded.
Chuckling, Shirou said "You know what, alright. You can have it, but you have to say thank you to your parents, it's their money and this will be the last thing we buy from the market today. Agreed?"
"Yes! And I won't buy anything from the market ever again!" Violet exclaimed as she donned the pendant giddily.
Shirou shook his head as they walked away from the market, back to the place he had begun to call home, amused by her antics and said "Don't make promises you can't keep."
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Fuck!" Shouted Shirou as he dodged and weaved through three grotesquely malformed huntsmen; two wielded spears while the other used a plough of all things.
Bringing up his saw spear, he deflected the huntsman's spear posed to strike his heart and brought up his hunter's pistol to the bottom of its head before pulling the trigger.
The bullet blasted through the top of the skull, instantly killing the huntsman. Shirou had little time to celebrate though as the other spear user struck him in the back.
Grunting through clenched teeth, he held back the pain as he jumped away to get some distance. Recovering some energy before parrying another attack by the spear wielder, he countered with a trick attack that crushed the Huntsman's side.
The Huntsman howled in pain, Shirou cocked his weapon for the finishing blow but was interrupted as the third huntsman attacked him.
Unable to defend against the onslaught of attacks by the plough wielding huntsman, he backed off waiting for an opening to strike.
The half-beast became exhausted from his flurry of attacks, which Shirou capitalised on by tricking his weapon back into a saw to deliver a sickening blow to the throat of the beast.
The Huntsman gargle as blood pulsed out of his throat wound, yet despite being mortally wounded the beast kept on going.
"Wonders of the blood." Shirou muttered frostily, most things would be dead by that blow but the blood twisted the body to survive even when it shouldn't.
Knowing that if this kept going for any longer he would perish, Shirou used his magecraft to reinforce the saw spear and himself.
Know fuelled with new energy he raced forward catching the huntsman off guard before striking its heart with its spear form, killing it immediately.
Ripping out the spear from the corpse with a bloody squelch, he turned to the final huntsman with the wounded side and brought up his firearm to deliver the final blow.
The gunshot echoed in the alleys of Yharnam, scaring off a couple of crows.
Shirou didn't bother wiping off the blood from his covered face despite the smell and itch that it brought, he had done so before only to get more blood on his face.
It had led to a spiralling effect where Shirou kept trying rid the blood from his face which simultaneously added more blood to his face.
Needless to say Henryk and Gascoigne found it hilarious and did not step in to help. Were these the same people that raised the kind, warm people that were Violet and Viola? Really?
Shirou sighed as he looked out across the grand city of Yharnam and it's incredibly putrid sewers, while all the same checking on his supplies as well as his health condition.
This was the first time since he had met Gascoigne and Henryk he had hunted alone, so technically his first ever official hunt.
He had been taught the ways of the hunter, learning how to properly slaughter beast with tricks and techniques which had form over the years.
It had taken time to fully get used to all of it but now, he could say that he was ready for anything The Hunt would have in store for him.
"Soon I'll figure this all out and defeat this bloody plague and figure out what happened that night. I'm so close I can feel I-"
Shirou's little speech to himself was interrupted by a giant bellowing roar which came he estimated to come from central Yharnam.
Switching back into gear, he raced towards the source, eager to slaughter- Shirou caught himself. Had he always been thinking that darkly? No. doesn't matter. Beast first. Sanity later.
With that he sprinted forward with renewed strength.
On his arrival at central he saw the monstrosity that had bellowed out the roar. A giant beast with wolf like features similar to that of the fully turned man-beast which had fought against many time before.
Only difference was that they were a fifth of this thing size and that it had a significantly larger left claw than the right which screamed death in over thirty eight languages.
It seemed to have killed a hunter with the way it look slightly damaged and the misty substance that signifies the death of a hunter.
It screeched its war-cry to the sky like a wolf to the moon. Than it stopped began sniffing the air, twisting its head in each direction.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that it was searching for something. But it did take Shirou a little too long to figure that it might have been him who it was searching for in his stunned state.
Suddenly it stopped before rounding on the place where Shirou stood. Its eyes a furious molten yellow staring into shocked amber eyes of a boy realising he was way out of his league.
They stared at each other for a while. Before beast began to growl, slowly approaching Shirou.
Shirou knew what he had to do.
He had to run.
