A/N: Nothing to say here. Let's just get on with it.

I awoke sometime around six or seven in the morning. It was cloudy, so the amount of available light was... less than optimal. Honestly, it looked like it was about storm. I wouldn't have been surprised if we had a flood, considering the sheer amount of rain we'd had in the past weeks.

Lazily, I slumped out of bed. Not even bothering to change clothes, I stepped out into the hallway. I could hear Yuri cooking in the kitchen, so I quietly trudged in that direction.

My head didn't feel nearly as hot as it did the day before, so my fever was definitely getting better. Hopefully, we could get back to training soon. I couldn't just sit around and do nothing, because I would very quickly go insane.

I sat down at the table, quietly waving at Yuri. She nodded briefly in acknowledgment, before returning to what she was doing.

"So, how are you feeling?" She asked, not really focusing on me.

"Better, I suppose." I responded. "I'd like to start training again today."

Yuri hummed, pausing for a moment to add some salt to the food she was making, before looking back at me.

"Well, I'm okay with that, as long as you're up to it." Yuri shrugged. "Just don't push yourself."

With that, she went back to her cooking. There wasn't really anything for me to do but wait, so I just leaned back into my chair, and let my thoughts overtake me.

That... incident with Micaela was still fresh in my mind. I knew now that she was just trying to spook me, but at the time, I'd really thought that I was about to die. I'm going to be plenty honest with you. Nearly dying isn't fun. Of course, I'd been horrifically injured before (twice now!), but at those times, I'd at least thought that I had a pretty good chance of survival. Yesterday with Micaela was the first time where I knew that my chances were pretty much nonexistent.

So, the point to take away from that whole issue is simply this: Fuck Micaela. With a tennis racket.

Yuri snapped me out of my musings by sliding a bowl of soup in front of me. It looked good, despite the fact that I had no earthly idea what was in it. Whatever, I didn't really care. It smelled heavenly, so I gulped it down without a care. It was delicious, as expected. As I've said many times before, Yuri is a cooking wizard.

As I sat my now empty bowl down, I glanced over to Yuri. Her bowl was still more than half-full. She was looking at me strangely, like she wasn't quite sure what to say.

"...That was fast." She eventually said, one eyebrow raised.

I responded with a loud, thundering BURP, which seemed to shake the very foundation of the house. Yuri blinked, before shaking her head, and going back to her soup. It seemed like she wasn't even going to deign my glorious belch with a response.

An uncomfortable silence seemed to wash over the room. I was quietly wishing for her to start talking, because I really didn't have anything to say. I wasn't much of a conversationalist, so long, awkward periods of nothing were common for me. Still, that didn't mean I enjoyed it. It made me feel uneasy.

"So, I wanted to talk to you about the other day." Yuri muttered, shattering the tense quiet.

I looked over to her, and tilted my head. She seemed... pensive. It was obvious that this wasn't a conversation she wanted to have. Of course, that made me curious. Just what was she wanting to talk about?

"Alright." I grunted, stifling another burp as I did so. "What did you want to talk about?"

Yuri sighed. You know, she did that a lot, it seemed. Like, usually, the most expressive thing she'd do is just sigh. Didn't matter if she was frustrated, sad, or angry. She'd only shout when she was truly enraged. I mean, she also smiled occasionally, but she just didn't emote all that much. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I think it's nice, actually. She's quiet, but still very menacing. It was kind of admirable, really. When I got mad, I roared and screamed and stomped around. If she was yelling, then you'd done something very, very wrong.

"The other day, when you killed those men... How did it make you feel?" Yuri asked, her tone decidedly cautious. "Be honest with me. I won't judge."

I winced. That felt like a loaded question. But... Yuri was probably the most understanding person I could talk to about this.

"Well," I began. "I didn't specifically enjoy killing them. I liked the thrill of dodging and running, and I won't lie, I loved when they sprayed the red everywhere. It felt wonderful, like I'd achieved something, you know?"

Yuri grimaced at my words, her discomfort written clearly on her face. I felt my heart sink a bit when she groaned quietly. She didn't like what I'd said. I mean, I expected that, but I at least expected her to be sympathetic.

"Alex..." She trailed off. "I'm not disgusted by your words. They just remind me of my younger self, and that isn't really something I like to think about."

Oh. That's not really what I expected to hear, but okay. That's better than pure disgust, so I'll take what I can get.

"Heh. I thought for a second that you were a little grossed out." I chuckled, feeling a little relieved. "You get what I'm talking about. Most everyone else doesn't seem to understand, but I figured you would."

Yuri sighed again, rubbing her temples.

"I do understand." She said tiredly. "But I just wanted to make sure you were okay after killing those... individuals. I didn't expect you to feel bad, but I just wanted to make sure."

I shrugged.

"Well, they were trying to kill me." I deadpanned. "I don't really feel guilty."

Yuri shook her head.

"And that's not really normal." She countered. "I'm not saying it's bad that you don't feel remorse, but keep in mind that others definitely won't see it that way."

...Did she think I would just tell people about that? I mean, I did tell Micaela, but that doesn't count because she basically interrogated me. I'm not just gonna walk up to some random dude and go "Hi! I like killing things!". I'd end up dead or in an institution within seconds.

"Why are you acting like I'm gonna go shout in the streets?" I asked, feeling just a tad bit hurt that she didn't trust me. "I'm not a complete fool, despite what you may believe."

Yuri facepalmed.

"I wasn't implying that you were going to do that." Yuri growled, a little irritation seeping into her voice. "I was just saying that you need to be careful how you act around others."

She stopped suddenly, looking over to the front door. It was nearly silent, but I could just barely hear the sounds of a commotion outside.

Yuri quietly got up from her chair, and stalked over to the door. After a moment of listening, she cracked it open, and peered out. I wasn't sure what was going on, Yuri's muffled cursing made it clear that it wasn't good. Quickly, she sprinted back to her room, emerging minutes later with two short-swords. She handed one to me, muttering to herself as she did so.

"That was supposed to be a gift for when you finished your training." She sighed, gesturing to the weapon in my hands. "Oh, whatever. Stay here. If anyone comes in that isn't me or Micaela, use that."

I blinked in surprise. What the hell was happening outside? Whatever it was, apparently Yuri deemed it dangerous enough to bring her sword. That meant it couldn't be good.

"What's wrong?" I asked, more than a little confused.

Yuri frowned, her expression turning cold as she looked back outside.

"It seems that we're being attacked." She quietly muttered. "These fools have no idea what they've just done."

...Oh shit. Of all the things for her to say, I was not expecting that. I mean, in hindsight, I probably should've. Those heroes had been creeping closer and closer to the village. Still, our camouflage had been pretty good, so how did they spot the village?

"Well how did they find us? We'd hidden the-" I began to ask, but she walked out before I could finish talking. "And she's gone. Fuck."

Well, I wanted to get involved. Still, as much as I lusted after seeing the red again, I feared Yuri's retribution far more. So, I did what I was told, and sat towards the door, short-sword in hand. If any fool came in here, I'd be ready to cut them in two. Honestly, a small, devious part of me wanted someone to walk in, just so I could skewer them. I'd get to paint the floor red. I'd bask in the presence of that glorious color, feeling all my worries disappear as my eyes took in true beauty. Oh, I can just pi-

Nope. I have to stay focused. It wouldn't do to be caught off-guard by a hero. That would just be a pathetic end to my life. I could fantasize about the red later, just not now.

Still, I wondered what was going on out there...

*LINEBREAK*

Yuri grunted as she twisted her body to the side, the blade missing her by mere centimeters. She retaliated with a vicious throat slash, which her opponent quickly deflected, before pushing her backwards with his free hand.

She glared at the red-haired man in front of her. He glared back with equal intensity, his eyes focusing entirely on her. They circled each other for a moment, before Yuri leapt in for a quick thrust into his chest. The man leapt backwards, grunting as it still grazed his ribs, drawing a small amount of blood.

Yuri wasn't sure where this human had come from. He was definitely much more powerful than the fodder she'd been slaughtering before he arrived. The man had just arrived suddenly, swinging at her with impressive speed. What was more impressive was that his weapon was a great-sword, one that he was wielding one-handed. Even then, he was still just as fast as her.

Also, he looked like Alex. There was no denying that. Perhaps he was related? Yuri could sense monster blood in the man's veins. It felt similar to what flowed through Alex's. So, it was more than likely that they were related.

She'd have to ask him about that after she cut his arms off.

She followed her thrust up with a diagonal slash, aiming to completely destroy his shoulder. The man blocked, and retaliated with a headbutt, sending her stumbling back, desperately blinking the stars out of her eyes.

"You know..." The man muttered, hopping a few feet away from her to gain some distance. "Your face is familiar. I'm not sure where I've seen it before..."

This was getting really stupid. This human was powerful, and it was starting to really piss her off. She just wanted to kill him and be done with it. She still had to train Alex today.

But... a small, but ever-so-influential part of her was enjoying this. It had been quite a long time since she'd had a proper challenge. Why, the last time she'd fought someone who wasn't complete trash was when she was being chased off Sentora. That had been years ago...

Yuri could feel her heart pounding. There was a throbbing feeling beneath her skin, and she could her her blood roaring in her ears. God, she missed this. She used to love slaughtering equal opponents. It was so difficult, but wonderfully satisfying. It scratched the itch way better than butchering some random nobodies.

Feeling a sudden burst of energy, she rushed towards him yet again, raining a flurry of slashes and thrusts down upon him. He dodged most of them, but every now and then, she'd get a few nicks in. They were never anything major. Usually, they were only flesh wounds, or other small cuts. Still, every successful hit made fireworks pop off in her heart.

Eventually, the man got tired of this. With a roar, he brought his great-sword up into the air, and then swung it down on the top of her head. She had no time to dodge, so she brought up her short-sword to block it as best she could.

The impact sent her skidding across the ground, stray rocks scraping against her back. As soon as she could, she rolled to her feet, her grip on the sword never waning. Her arm felt numb from the blow, but it would be a cold day in hell before she let go of her weapon mid-battle.

It had been many years since someone knocked her down like that! Oh, this was getting exciting! She could feel the adrenaline forcing her body into overdrive. She relished the sensation, a savage, manic grin splitting open across her face.

The man looked at her, his eyes widening in recognition.

"Oh, You're Yuri Aera!" He exclaimed, his shock giving way to quiet, yet murderous rage. "You've killed a lot of good men and women, you filthy butcher."

The man suddenly sprinted towards her, swinging his sword in a wide arc. Yuri rolled under it, briefly crossing behind his back. She didn't miss her opportunity, flicking her sword across his spine. To her dismay, he managed to jump forwards at the last second, turning a potentially fatal wound into yet another minor scratch.

"I can see why they had such a hard time catching you." He stated. "You're quite fast. I wonder how much the guild in San Ilia will pay me when I bring them your severed head."

She responded with a bold stab at his heart. He blocked it, as well as the follow-up slash. However, he didn't block the knee that she rammed into his balls. He coughed, teetering off balance slightly. She rammed her shoulder into his gut, toppling him over. As soon as he landed on his back, she slammed her sword down, aiming to pierce his stomach directly. He blocked with his great-sword, swiping at her legs with his blade. She stepped back, not too keen on getting her feet cut off.

Quickly, the man forced himself back up, settling into a charging stance. Yuri's eyes widened as she felt his energy surge. With an earth-shattering scream, he bolted towards her, almost too fast for her to react. She brought up her sword to block his swing. Fortunately, it prevented her from being completely bisected. Unfortunately, it sent her flying once again, much further than before. She cried out as she slammed into a tree, feeling her entire body rattle as she endured the equivalent of being hit by a boulder. If he'd hit a human, they would be nothing but paste after that.

Where had all that power come from? His attack just now was completely different than all of his previous ones. If she hadn't blocked, or her short-sword had just been a little bit crappier, she'd be in multiple pieces. Okay, maybe it was time to stop enjoying this fight. She couldn't die here. She had to look after Alex, for fuck's sake!

She heard him screech out another war-cry, looking up in time to see him less than ten feet away from her. She dived to the right, barely avoiding his frenzied assault. She heard the distinct sound of snapping wood, and with some amazement, realized that he had charged through the tree. The mighty oak fell with a crash, its massive weight causing the ground to rumble beneath it.

She got up as quickly as she could, wincing at the needles of pain which lanced through her body. This was already the hardest fight she'd ever been in. Never before had she seen a mere human on this man's level. It would've been impressive, had she not been the target of his rage.

She observed the man as he got back to his feet. His arms were shaking, and he was breathing heavily. The energy he'd been giving off was starting to wane. He couldn't keep that up forever, it seemed. It made sense, she supposed. Human bodies weren't meant to handle that level of stress. How he hadn't torn a muscle, she had no clue.

He spun around, readying his sword for one final attack. She cursed, realizing that she had no room to dodge this one. She'd have to tank it.

He rushed forward, letting out a thunderous roar as he thrust the sword directly into her torso.

The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow-motion. She brought up her sword to block, bracing herself to be flung yet again. However, this time, a large crack suddenly appeared in her short-sword. Her eyes widened as it gave way, allowing the great-sword to plunge into her stomach.

The force of the attack sent her flying away from his blade, blood spilling through the clear morning air. She slammed into the ground, yelping out a high-pitched screech as she saw (and felt) part of her intestines poke through the hole.

Pain flooded her torso, and she cried out in agony. She fought to keep tears out of her eyes, but the pain was just too much. It felt almost exactly like the pain from the... incident.

Suddenly, the memories of that day flooded her mind, hitting her like a freight train. To Yuri, the person standing above her, with their sword raised up high, was not the red-haired man. Instead, it was that bald bastard with the ruined teeth.

Her own scream of terror was drowned out by a much louder, childish screech of pure, unadulterated rage.

"YURIIIIIIII!"

*LINEBREAK*

A few minutes ago...

I peered outside, swearing as I saw the chaos happening outside. Dead bodies littered the road. Most of them were human, but there were still a considerable amount of elves. There was a large group fighting in the middle of town. However, I could see smaller groups of heroes wandering around. They were attacking buildings, ransacking them and setting them on fire. One of those groups was getting kind of close, actually...

I didn't fancy burning alive in a building, thank you very much. That was actually one of my worst fears. I also didn't like the idea of my home getting destroyed, so it seemed like I'd have to deal with these bastards myself.

I gripped my short-sword the way Yuri had taught me, stepping outside to deal with those filthy vandals. I mean, this was all a flimsy excuse for me to see more red, and I think we all knew that.

They noticed me pretty quickly as I stalked towards them, scrambling for their weapons as they did so. One of them had a long-sword, and one of them had spear. All in all, they didn't look like much. I mean, they were just regular humans. I was surprised that they hadn't already been picked off.

As I grew within attacking range, the man with the spear tried to skewer me with a boring, easily-telegraphed thrust. I grabbed it just below the blade, and thrusted my sword into his throat. The red sprayed all over me, sending shivers of bliss running down my spine. Before the other man could bring up his long-sword to block, I rammed the spear into his gut, before twisting it to the side. He collapsed, screaming in agony as he did so. It was annoying, so I stabbed my sword into his forehead. It required a little more force than I was used to, but I eventually managed to stab right through his brain. It created a loud squelch, which made me chuckle.

I could see a large group of heroes fighting most of the townspeople. The heroes were losing, but it was close. Far too close for comfort, in my opinion. Internally, I debated whether or not I should intervene. After a moment, I decided against it. The battle looked confusing and disjointed, and I didn't want to get involved. Besides, the heroes would probably lose. We had Yuri on our side, and I wasn't sure if there was a human currently alive that could hurt her.

Speaking of which, where was Yuri...? I couldn't see her in the crowd, and I didn't think she'd be satisfied by picking off random fools that strayed too far. There wasn't any other large battle that I could see, so where did she go?

I crept along the sides of buildings, stealthily searching for any sign of her. Normally, I'd be noticed immediately, as stealth wasn't really my thing. However, everyone seemed to be preoccupied with other things, so I was virtually invisible. This allowed me to easily pass by the groups of people, completely unbothered by anyone or anything.

I reached the outskirts of town, before turning around. Yuri certainly wouldn't have left the village. Still, where could she have gone?

Perhaps she was on the other side of town. I hadn't checked there yet, so Yuri was probably somewhere around there.

As I traversed the village, it dawned on me that I really didn't have a reason to be looking for her. Wherever she was, she probably didn't need my help. Still, there was a strange feeling in the back of my mind, and I couldn't disregard it no matter how hard I tried.

Besides, there wasn't really a downside to finding Yuri. Sure, she'd be mad about me leaving the house, but after explaining why I left, she'd probably understand.

I spotted another lone fool. This one was already injured, with an arrow ran straight through his leg. He was crawling away from the battle, cursing in pain as he dragged the useless limb across the ground. I shrugged, figuring that now was as perfect a time as any to gather information. I just needed to... persuade him to talk.

I looked around for a moment, scanning the area for anybody else. Thankfully, the guy had seemingly managed to separate himself from everyone else. I was just lucky to find him.

Harshly, I grabbed him the back of his shirt, pulling him behind a house before he could make a commotion. Once he was out of sight, I slammed him onto the ground, putting my sword to his throat.

"If you scream, I'll slash your throat and leave you to die." I growled quietly, glaring down at the man. "Now, I've got a couple questions for you."

The man looked up at me, eyes widened with fear.

"H-Hey man, just let me go." He squeaked out, his voice cracking in terror. "I didn't realize what I was getting into when I signed up for this."

He was far too wordy for his own good. I pressed the sword against his neck just hard enough to draw a small amount of blood, signaling for him to shut the fuck up.

"How did you find us?" I snarled, fighting the desire to just kill him right then and there. "We were hiding pretty well, so how did you fuckers figure out where we were?"

He gulped, hyperventilating slightly. It was clear that he was on the verge of a panic attack. I slapped him across the face, hoping to knock some sense into him.

"I-I-I don't know, man!" He exclaimed, shaking slightly. "Our boss just led us here, like he sensed y'all or something."

That sentence definitely had some implications. If what he was saying was true, then that meant one of two things. Either their boss really did sense us, or he had inside information. If the latter was the case, then how did he get said info?

"Who's your boss?" I asked. "I'm still in the dark on that one."

The man hesitated, and I briefly thought that he wouldn't answer. However, after a moment, the man spoke.

"His n-name is Edward. Edward Vincenzo." The man stuttered out, looking like he was about to piss his pants. "H-He's an incredibly famous hero from Sentora."

That name didn't ring a bell to me. That wasn't really surprising, because this village had basically been my whole world for over a year now. I was sheltered, to say the least.

"And this guy was famous enough to get a whole group of morons to attack a peaceful village?" I asked, my tone flat. "That doesn't sound very heroic to me."

He cursed, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"Look, I didn't realize what we'd be doing. All we were told was that we were going to go fight in the name of Ilias." He murmured nervously. "By the time I realized that what we were doing was wrong, it was too late to jump ship."

I rolled my eyes. What did he think they were going to do? Ilias hated monsters, and that was pretty fuckin' obvious. They were just doing what their piece-of-shit goddess wanted.

"God, the things we did to some of those monsters..." He continued. "Nobody deserves that. I didn't say anything, because I was scared they'd kill me too."

...This sounds suspiciously like the "Just Following Orders" defense.*

"Spineless bastard." I grunted, feeling an unexpected dash of anger wash over me. "You could've left in the night, or somethin'. If you didn't like it, you should've ran away."

The man shook his head violently, trying to convince me that he wasn't scum. Before he could get any words out, I forced the blade down as hard as I could, abruptly cutting off his pitiful excuse.

The red sprayed across my face, causing me to jump back in surprise. Some of it ended up in my mouth, which caused me to freeze as the taste overwhelmed my senses. It was coppery, and gross. Yet, something about it made my tongue tingle in delight. I felt my cheeks heat somewhat, and I suddenly felt giddy. I wanted more!

I was snapped out of my trance by a loud scream. It sounded like a battle-cry, but it was... almost feral, in a way. I decided to go check it out. I could experiment more with the red later. Though, it did pain me to just leave all of it there. Drinking it just felt so good.

I walked carefully towards the source of the strange noise. I was curious as to who the hell made that noise, because it didn't sound like a woman's voice, but it didn't sound quite human either. Honestly, it sounded more like a bob cat, or a mountain lion.

As I got closer, I heard the distinct sounds of combat. The ringing of steel against steel would occasionally ring out. It seemed that someone was really going at it.

When I rounded the corner, I stopped, not quite believing what I saw. Yuri lay sprawled out over the ground, with a considerable wound in her gut. A tall, red-haired man stood over her. He was huffing loudly, and shaking somewhat. Still, he held his sword out, ready skewer her with his blade.

It felt like time slowed to a crawl as a strange feeling began to pulse under my skin, dancing throughout my body like millions upon millions of ants. However, as bizarre as the feeling was, I just couldn't focus on it right then, because I felt something far more powerful.

Unfiltered, mind-numbing hatred.

Who was this guy, who thought he could just lay a hand on her like that? That was Yuri! Nobody was allowed to do that! Fucking hell, that woman took me into her own home, fed me, clothed me, and otherwise cared for me, and this... this shithead had the audacity to try and kill her?

As his sword started to slowly swing down, I felt myself start to move. I wasn't really in control of myself, but at that moment, it didn't matter. I had to stop him. I wanted, no, needed to kill him. I was gonna split him open, and take his red for myself. But, more than that, I wanted to make sure Yuri was okay.

The desperate shriek of "YURIIIIIIII!" tore itself from my throat as I bore down upon the man, my sword poised to strike his heart directly. He looked a little like me, which was odd, but unimportant. I would kill him. I had to.

Of course, you might be wondering how I planned to defeat someone who beat Yuri. Well, to be honest, I didn't have a plan. If I had been thinking rationally, I wouldn't have just rushed in like that. However, at the time, I had gone somewhat feral. I wanted him dead, so I would try my damndest to make it happen. That was all there was to it.

He turned, eyes wide in surprise, swiftly, he blocked my attack, grunting somewhat as sparks flew from our crossing blades. He looked at me for a moment, before his mouth curled into a shaky smile. That was odd, but I didn't really care at the time. If he was distracted, then that was just another chance to strike. I slashed at his gut, aiming to spill as much red as possible. He jumped back with a yelp, clearly not expecting it.

He looked at me again, this time seeing the hatred in my eyes. He frowned, and held up his sword in a defensive position.

"...Is that really you, Caleb?" The man asked, a very small hint of awe in his voice. "I thought you were dead..."

That single sentence cut right through my anger, stopping me in my tracks. Well, no, that wasn't entirely accurate. I still wanted him dead, but what he'd said had given me pause. Just who the hell was Caleb?

"...My name is Alex." I growled, continuing to glare at him warily. "Who the fuck are you talking about?"

The man wilted at my reaction, looking... actually pretty sad. I didn't feel any sympathy for him, but now I was curious.

"Caleb, it's me!" He exclaimed, his voice becoming desperate. "It's your dad! Don't you recognize me?"

...Well, I'm not sure what I expected, honestly. I mean, I did look a lot like him. Still, this was, of course, undeniable proof that this wasn't my body. At the time of that realization, I didn't give a shit. I had more to worry about, after all. Still, that was probably gonna keep me up at night.

"I'm not Caleb." I ground out, staring him directly in the eye. "My name's Alex, and that woman you just assaulted is my fucking mother."

I'm not sure why I said that last part. Just slipped out, I suppose. Whatever, that's something to ponder later.

He blinked, looking over at her suddenly, his expression suddenly growing more hateful.

"...You really don't remember me, do you?" He asked quietly, his voice barely restraining the anger that just spontaneously appeared. "What did she do to you?"

...I really don't like what he just implied there. That was Yuri he was talking about. I decided to cut the conversation short, because he was making me grind my teeth so hard that I feared they would shatter. I darted forwards, bringing a diagonal slash down on his shoulder. He blocked again, naturally, which annoyed me. I could feel the hatred surge once more, making me forget most of my logic. As far as my brain was concerned, there was just me, and him. Specifically, there was me, and the red which sloshed about within his body. I just had to get to it.

I could hear Yuri screaming at me to run away, but I didn't register those words. They were meaningless. All I could hear was the pounding of my heart, beating like a loud, massive drum that shook me to my very core.

The man was still panting somewhat, still exhausted from his bout with Yuri. That was good. Maybe he'd die faster then. Just the thought of ripping him open, and drinking that sweet, sweet red brought a smile to my face. Ever since I tasted some of that fodder's red a few minutes ago, I'd felt a strange, clawing sensation at the back of my throat. I would have it. There was no question of that.

I felt the strange feeling in my body multiply tenfold, gathering in my legs as I prepared to dash after him.

The man seemed to notice that something was off, his eyes widening yet again.

"What the- A blood-rage?" He muttered to himself, unconsciously bracing himself for my attack. "But he's so young..."

His words were meaningless to me. Why would I give any regard to the words of a dead man? I readied my sword, intent on cleaving him apart. The fact that he was much bigger and stronger still wasn't relevant. It was irrational, and in hindsight, I realize that I'd just gone a little insane at the time. However, right then, common sense was thrown out the window. My thoughts were basically nonexistent. I wanted his red, so I would have it. End of discussion.

I dashed over to him, intent in bringing my sword down into his chest. (I would've aimed for his head, but he was over two feet taller than me.) He slipped to the left, barely avoiding my attack. My sword dug into the ground, forcing dirt to explode outwards. Normally, it would've taken quite the effort for me to dislodge it, but for some reason, it came away with little effort required.

I turned and slashed at him again, once again hitting nothing but his stupid fucking great-sword. Man, I needed to get rid of that thing. Still, something was off. He seemed a bit slower than he was before. Was he tiring out? No, that couldn't be it. From my perspective, everything was moving a bit more slowly. That was odd, but hey, I wasn't complaining.

I continued trying to slash and stab at him, trying my hardest to interlock my attacks so that instead of a random flurry of blows, it was one, fluid motion. He dodged the first swipe, blocked the second, and deflected the third. Finally, the fourth found purchase in his belly, causing him to swear loudly as he jumped backwards. It wasn't even close to a fatal wound, but it probably hurt.

Speaking of hurting, there was a horrible, throbbing pain slowly spreading throughout my entire body. Every move I made seemed to increase the pain, causing tears to spring forth from my eyes. I ignored it. Pain was irrelevant to my current goal. The man had to die. Once more, I stepped forward-

-And immediately felt my legs give way, causing me to fall right on my back. I tried to get up, but my limbs felt like they were made of lead. A strange tiredness swept through me, and I fought just to keep my eyes open.

Every muscle in my body hurt, as if I'd been fighting for days. It was agonizing, and for some reason, the pain started to make me feel ill. Like, I might've been about to throw up.

The man stood over me, a look of resigned disappointment on his face.

"I don't know how you tapped into a blood-rage, but that doesn't matter right now. I'm guessing you can't move, since the amount of stress you put your body through is, quite frankly, insane for a child to handle." He said, crossing his arms. "Caleb, we're going to have a long, serious talk after this. I know you might not remember me, but you will in time."

I growled weakly at him, causing him to sigh.

"I'm not your fucking kid!" I snarled, trying (and failing) to weakly raise my arm so I could at least slap him. "Look, man, my name is ALEX! ALEX SMITH!"

He visibly sagged, sighing quietly.

"Whatever that fiend has done to you, I'll reverse it. That I promise." He stated. "Speaking of that fiend, I still haven't killed her yet."

I weakly looked over to where Yuri was, only to see that she was gone. What the hell?! Had she abandoned me?

No, that wasn't right! Yuri would never do that! So... Where did she go?

"Oh, it seems she left." He grumbled to himself. "Do you see, Caleb? Do you see how little she cares for you? You were never anything more than her toy. Come on, Caleb, you know I love you."

I spat at him, refusing to listen to his words. Yuri loved me, and I loved her. Surely, she planned to come back, right?

...Right?

"...It seems I'll have to do this the hard way, then." The man sighed, crouching down to pick me up. I struggled against him as he hoisted me up in his arms, but I was far to weak to really do anything.

Slowly, he turned back to the forest, and began walking.

"That's quite enough!" A loud, authoritative voice rang out, stopping the man in his tracks. "Don't take another step, lest you wish to cross blades with me."

...That was Micaela's voice! Had she come to save me?

The man turned back to her, never letting go of me. He inspected her for a moment, before scoffing. Yuri and Micaela stood side-by-side, the former's eyes filled with murderous rage.

"...Who are you?" The red-haired bastard asked, raising an eyebrow. "And how has that fiend already recovered from her wounds?"

Micaela glowered at the man, her eyes like chips of ice. Her mouth was drawn in a tight frown, and she had one hand on a sword that I'd never seen her wield before.

"You have no right to know who I am." She stated angrily. "You've attacked my village, and killed my townspeople. I cannot allow you to get away with your crimes."

She was well and truly angry. However, the man didn't seem nearly as terrified as he should be. Of course, that made sense, considering that he probably didn't know just how dangerous she was.

I knew, but that was cheating, since I'd literally seen events that wouldn't happen until well into the future. Having game knowledge does have its perks.

"Oh? I've committed crimes?" The man spat, glaring back at her. "What about all the innocent humans that get preyed upon by monsters? I'm just doing this to make the world a safer place, and to get my son back."

Oh, for fuck's sake, they were just gonna keep talking and talking. I had to say something, or else this would go on for way longer than it deserved to.

"Hey, this conversation is nice and all," I cut in, causing everyone to focus on me. "But we don't really have much time here. Could you guys just fight already?"

Micaela made to take a step, but hesitated. Her eyes were watching the sky, with a distinct frown on her face. What could she be looking at?

...Wait a minute. There was only one thing in the sky that would give Micaela pause. Ilias was watching us, wasn't she? More likely, it was probably one of her lackeys. So we had an audience, huh?

That was just plain odd. Anyways, Micaela didn't move, so that meant it was up to Yuri. I didn't think she'd lose this time. After all, the man was not in top condition, while Yuri had probably been healed by Micaela, judging by her lack of wounds.

I mean, Yuri's sudden disappearance made sense now, I guess. While I was fighting with the red-haired, bastard, she'd managed to crawl back to the village, and seek help from Micaela. It probably wasn't a great idea for her to leave me alone, but hey, what choice did she have? From what she'd likely overheard before getting away, she probably knew that the man didn't really want to hurt me. That still wasn't a comforting thought, but hey, all was probably going to be resolved within the next five minutes or so.

"Your men have been defeated." Micaela announced. "If you surrender, you will be tried fairly. If you don't..."

Yuri stepped up with another short-sword. This one was of a much worse quality, having looked like she picked it up off of one of the dead heroes. Still, it would probably get the job done.

The man laughed, full of arrogance.

"Oh, I already beat Yuri!" He exclaimed. "I could certainly do it once again."

I raised an eyebrow, slightly confused as to where all this bravado was coming from. Did he have a plan of some sort? He must've had some kind of ace, because the situation looked pretty grim, and seemingly everyone except him had realized that he was a dead man walking.

"You're tired, and injured from two previous fights." I deadpanned. "Buddy, you're fucked."

The smile he gave me was ominous.

Gently, he placed me down against a tree. I still couldn't move, so I could do nothing but watch the fight as it unfolded. I felt a small bit of unease creep into my gut, but I was about eighty or ninety percent sure that Yuri would win.

I felt a little less sure when he suddenly screeched, practically deafening me and whoever else heard it. Strangely, his muscles seemed to bulk up somewhat. That was... odd. I mean, this dude just did a fuckin' Dragon Ball Z kinda powerup, except, instead of taking an entire episode, it took like half a second.

With a feral roar, he charged after her like a bat out of hell, wildly waving his great-sword with a single hand. Yuri narrowly dodged to the side, having only been able to avoid the attack because it had such a long wind-up. As he passed by, she lanced her short-sword out, catching him on the arm. It drew blood, but did little else.

The red-haired bastard turned on one heel, and charged at her again, swinging his sword down upon her with all of his might. She jumped to the left, using her sword to brace herself as she couldn't completely avoid the blow. She slammed into the ground with a loud thump, making me cringe. That sounded painful.

To her credit, she recovered almost immediately, rolling onto her feet with her sword in hand. It was badly cracked, from what I could see. It couldn't take another one of those. I could see my sword a couple yards away from them. No doubt Yuri saw it too, because she did something that, normally, would've been considered suicidal during the midst of battle. She chucked that fuckin' sword right at the bastard's face. He blocked, but was too caught off-guard to stop her from picking up my sword.

This time, before he could charge after her again, she went on the offensive. With one hand, she thrusted her sword at his gut. Simultaneously, she slammed her fist into his throat. He blocked the sword, leaving him vulnerable to the punch. He staggered back, coughing violently. Before he could recover, she delivered another punch, this time to his face, before dodging to the side. She was just in time, too. Had she been even a fraction of a second late, his sword would've slammed down onto her head.

Since she was behind him, she took an opportunity to try and stab him in the back. He anticipated the move, twisting to the side to avoid the blade. He didn't expect the fist that found itself colliding with his spine, knocking him forwards.

"That is ENOUGH!" The man roared, swiftly turning around and delivering a powerful haymaker into Yuri's face. She flopped backwards, rolling across the ground for a few yards. Quickly, she came to a stop, pulling herself back on her feet.

He charged at her yet again, his great-sword ready to completely cut her in half.

"DIE, FOUL CREATURE!" He screamed, swinging for her once again. She blocked as best she could, but was still sent skidding into a tree. For a moment, she stumbled, trying desperately not to fall over. After about a second, she regained her footing, shaking slightly more than before.

The red-haired bastard was also shaking. His breathing was loud, ragged, and slightly watery. Dozens and dozens of tiny cuts littered his arms, face, and torso. They were all only bleeding a slight amount, but when you added all of that up, that was a significant amount of blood lost.

Neither of them looked good. That last attack had clearly hurt both of them. Now, it was just a question of who could outlast the other. This wasn't really a fight anymore, as much as it was a contest of wills. Not gonna lie, it was pretty badass.

Micaela watched from the sidelines, arms folded tightly. I could tell that she badly wanted to intervene, but apparently we were being observed by... something, so she just didn't move.

Yuri took a step forwards. The man mirrored her movements, dragging his great-sword across the ground. Yuri swayed back and forth as she took another step, coughing as she did so. The man advanced again, a thin trail of red beginning to pour from his mouth. Now they were less then five feet apart.

Yuri swung her sword at the man, trying to get a hit in. The man blocked, grunting as he struggled to pull up his great-sword. They glared at each other for a moment, before going back at it.

Okay, as the fight went on, it started getting less and less badass, and more and more pathetic. Both of them were barely standing. I couldn't imagine that last attack Yuri had endured was good on her body. Even if she blocked it, she'd still taken most of the blunt force that came with it.

On the other hand, the man was also in a bad way. He'd put everything into that attack, and now he was paying the price for using such power. It put great strain on the body, it seemed. Not even he could handle it forever.

Though, was what he had done just a more refined version of my little... let's just call it an episode, for lack of a better term. Anyways, when I fought him, I felt really powerful. However, every movement I made had just put more and more pressure on my body. Now, because of that, I was out of commission, able to do nothing but sit on the sideline and watch. It was an interesting ability, one I'd have to look into later. I assumed it was hereditary, because I could do it, and the biological father of this body could also do it.

But what was it? That was the real question. What was this technique, and why did it hurt so much? I didn't even realize I was doing it. It just sort of happened.

Idly, I tried to move my leg. I found a little success. I couldn't get up, but I could make it twitch a little bit. That was cool, I supposed.

Yuri tiredly leaned back to avoid a lazy swipe from the great-sword, retaliating with a kick to his shin. The man winced, but held his ground, attacking again.

Okay, this was going on for much, much longer than I thought it would. I was starting to worry for Yuri. I didn't want her to fall first. That would put her in danger, and quite frankly, I was too fond of her to let that happen.

With as much mental force as I could muster, I willed myself to move. For a while, it seemed that no matter how hard I tried, I wouldn't be able to do anything other than twitch and fidget. However, slowly, my leg began to move. Then my other one. Pain shot through my body as I continued, but I did the best I could to ignore it. It hurt so much, which probably meant that something was very wrong. I'd ask Micaela to take a look later, once she was no longer being watched.

Finally, after an incredible amount of effort, I was on my own two feet. My body was in agony, electricity seeming to buzz through every nerve. Now, I just had to get over to them...

The first step was an inconvenience. The second was a problem. By the third, I was realizing that this pain would only grow worse, the more I moved. Still, the battle wasn't over yet, so my goal remained unchanged.

It felt like every foot took an hour to traverse. The only thing keeping me going was the thought of helping Yuri. Also, imagining the red-haired bastard's corpse didn't exactly hurt, either.

There came a point where I was less than ten feet away from them. The man had his back to me, still entirely focused on fighting Yuri. She was also too engrossed in combat to notice my approach, which was good. I wanted her to focus on the task at hand. It was dangerous to get distracted during a fight.

At around this time, it occurred to me that I didn't have a weapon handy. What the hell was I going to do? I could just knock him off balance, but that had about a fifty-fifty chance of backfiring horribly.

Suddenly, and idea came to my mind. It was one that I'd normally disregard, being so ridiculous and disgusting that I'd normally disregard it. Though, now I saw it as I viable strategy. Maybe this was just my thirst for the red talking, but it didn't seem like a bad plan.

Basically, I was gonna hop onto his back, and try to rip his throat out with my teeth. I could see one of his arteries bulging from stress. It was so vulnerable. How could I not do it?

Part of me warned that this was really, really fucking stupid, but my thirst was too great. I needed his red, and I needed it right then and there.

So, once I was close enough, I hopped upwards, snaring my arms around his neck. Then, with a lot of effort (and pain), I pulled myself up, and bit down as hard as I could. My teeth closed around his throat, letting out a loud SQUELCH as I bit through skin and muscle. It hurt my jaw, but the reward was too sweet for me to care.

The red practically sprayed into my mouth, causing me to nearly choke as I was unprepared for the sheer volume of liquid that came rushing from the man's neck. Steadily, I gulped it down, savoring the warm, tingly feeling that started to permeate my body. Strangely, I was starting to hurt less and less as I kept drinking the wonderful liquid. It was almost as if it was healing me, or, at the very least, numbing the pain somewhat.

The man fell over backwards, practically crushing me under his weight as he tried his hardest to get me off. Still, I remained firmly attached, taking all of his red for myself.

His gurgles echoed throughout the forest, but I didn't listen to him. I wasn't really paying attention to anything, now that I think about it. The red was all that mattered. I felt my head get a little cloudy as I continued, feeling almost like I was drunk.

After around a minute or so, the flow stopped. I was sad, but that moment had been nothing but pure bliss for me. With surprisingly little effort, I pushed the body off of me, and got to my feet. I was just so full of energy. It was odd, but I wasn't complaining. All of my aches and pains had seemingly disappeared as well, which brought a smile to my face.

I looked over to Yuri, who was collapsed on the ground. She'd apparently fallen unconscious while I was... enjoying the red. I couldn't blame her. She looked exhausted, so maybe it was best to let her sleep.

I turned over to Micaela, who wore a deeply disturbed expression on her face.

"Alex... Can we talk about what just happened?" She asked me, her tone making it sound more like an order.

I had a bad feeling about this...

*LINEBREAK*

Micaela had, up to this point, been wondering just what kind of monster was Alex related to. It was never an important question, just something that floated around occasionally within her head. Well now, without a shadow of a doubt, she knew.

Alex had the blood of a vampire.

After witnessing that... display, that was the only conclusion that she could come up with. She hadn't ever delved too deeply in the subject of how monster blood affected men. After all, it was so rare for it to even affect them in such a way. Usually, monster blood just made them stronger. The chance of it causing additional side-effects was so miniscule that there were less than ten recorded cases in history of abnormal behavior caused by monster blood. (Of course, that was just specifically talking about males.)

It certainly explained his fixation. Though, the fact that his monster blood had caused him to act this way was... concerning, to say the least. What would happen if he was exposed to a particularly powerful blast of dark magic?

He wouldn't just turn into a monster, at least. Micaela didn't know the specifics of the transformation process, but she did know that it was a hell of a lot more complicated than just exposing something to dark magic until it grew boobs.

No, if anything, a high dose of dark energy would simply drive him further into madness. He would probably just go feral. It could probably be cured given time, but that was a worrying thought nonetheless. It would almost certainly be best to keep him away from anything like that.

She shook her head. She could speculate on that later. There were more important things to think about.

When he'd bitten into that man's throat, it wasn't like a regular vampire bite. Those were dainty, careful, and... pleasurable. He had just savagely tore into it, and it was clear that the man had felt nothing but agony in his final moments. That was to be expected, because he wasn't a monster. He was human, no matter how animalistic he acted sometimes.

Another thought popped into her head. Was he immune to blood diseases? Vampires were, considering their diet. It was definitely possible, but that wasn't something she wanted to guess about. Blood diseases could be serious, and often fatal, if not properly medicated.

He'd just have to have a checkup in the coming days, then. If he had it, then it could probably be remedied. If he was clean, then that was that. Of course, the man he'd just killed might not even have a disease like that. Those weren't really common illnesses (at least to her knowledge. She was an angel, so she didn't have to deal with that.), so Alex was probably fine. Still, she didn't want to take chances.

As she walked over to them, she noticed that Yuri had fallen passed out. That was... concerning, to say the least. Still, she couldn't really heal her right now. Not with that angel that was currently watching from the sky. Micaela was most certainly unrecognizable to her, but that Cupid would recognize holy magic immediately.

She was invisible to the naked eye, but Micaela could sense her all the same. She considered just killing her right there, as it was just a lowly cupid. However, Ilias would almost certainly grow suspicious. Micaela had been hiding in this area for years, and she wasn't about to throw that all away.

So, she stayed her hand. Had it been a more cunning or powerful angel, such as a Valkyrie, Micaela would've acted immediately, killing her without a thought. However, Cupids were... kind of dumb, so it was fine. They wouldn't notice her in particular.

Anyways, back to the task at hand. She turned to Alex, looking over at him with a small amount of caution. His eyes seemed a little cloudy, but other than that, he seemed fine. He had a goofy smile on his face, as if he wasn't aware that he had just torn someone's throat out and drank their blood.

"Alex... Can we talk about what just happened?" She asked rather forcefully, crossing her arms. He winced, which made sense when she thought about it. He was probably still scared of her after she'd taught him that... lesson.

He shrugged, and gestured over to Yuri.

"I mean, later sure." He said sheepishly. "But I don't want to leave her out here."

Micaela rolled her eyes, and scooped up Yuri's unconscious form. She barely stirred, groaning a little bit, but otherwise doing nothing. Micaela chuckled as she heard her quietly snore. Yuri was tired, it seemed.

Well, she'd ignored her duties long enough. As she walked back to the village with Alex, Micaela sighed as she realized the mountain of paperwork she'd likely have to do. There would be multiple funerals in the coming days, as well as trials for the few men they'd managed to capture alive. They would almost certainly all be guilty, but it was up to the people to decide their fate. Micaela didn't want to really be part of that, because she knew just what would happen to those men.

There were still plenty of thirsty monsters in the village...

However, there wasn't really a dedicated judge in town, so she would have to preside over the court. It was a waste of time, but still, the laws must be upheld. They'd get a fair trial, but they were 100% guilty.

Then she had to oversee the building of new houses, as there were more than a few that burned down. That wouldn't be so bad, if it didn't involve so much paperwork. When she had first established the village, she hadn't realized how complicated running a town would be. At least it was a small one...

This was going to be a busy next couple of weeks. But before any of that, she'd have to have a serious conversation with Yuri and Alex.

A/N: There's ten thousand words for you. Enjoy.

Normally, I don't write such large chapters, because I start to run out of steam, as was probably the case here. Also, they're a bitch and a half to edit, so excuse me if there were any mistakes I'd missed.

So, many questions remain about Alex and Edward. How did Edward find the village? Who was His parent? How the hell did Alex tap into such a bullshit power so early?

All of these questions will (probably) be answered in due time. I mean, we're not even at the main plot yet. There will be a large time skip next chapter though, so hopefully that will start soon.

Sorry if the last section was a little sloppy. I'm very tired of this section, and if I have to look at this chapter again, I'm going to fall asleep and never wake up.

*If you're somehow unaware, that was the defense a lot of Nazis used to escape punishment.