Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night or Highschool DxD, any of its characters, and make no money off this.
The package was set.
All that was left was for him to find it.
This location was still a risk.
The tunnels had to be closed.
I can only hope the people inside will leave before it's too late.
Chapter 19:
Winners and losers.
A soft humming sound could be heard echoing through the corridors. Within the dark passages, one lone bat was flying towards the melody. As it made its way to the source, it entered a room through a small open window and sat itself on a nearby sink. It's red eyes focusing carefully on the woman that was taking a bath in there.
The vampire known as Andreea appeared rather relaxed, carefree, and in an overall good mood as she played with the foam that covered the bathtub.
"Yesss~!" She moaned as she arched her back while stretching out her shapely limbs. Water splashed from the tub, spreading all over the floor, not that she minded it. "I'm glad I installed a bathtub here."
Truly, a great idea.
This place was so rancid, that before the addition of the bathroom, the smell of the area would stick to her skin and hair for hours. Not even the strongest of perfumes could cover it up and the gagging coughs she would overhear from others… enough was enough. Even if it was both time consuming and difficult to set up, at last she can come and go from these tunnels without smelling like an unflushed toilet.
After all, just because she was hatching some shady projects in the sewers didn't mean she enjoyed smelling like one.
"Hmm?" The woman kept washing her body until she took notice of the small bat watching her. She extended her hand and invited it over to sit on her arm, which the bat obliged. "Hey there Greg." An amused smile formed on her lips as she scratched the bat behind the ears, earning a soft purr from the small mammal. "Did you have a good flight?"
The bat squeaked in response as it's eyes glowed red.
"A report?" the woman tilted her head as the bat kept on squeaking in a panic. "Intruders?"
This certainly was quite an interesting bit of news to her. The woman moved her head directly in front of the familiar and gazed deeply into its eyes. "Show them to me will you dear?"
There was a pulsating glow as her pet relayed what it saw to its mistress. Showing her the images of the church forces that were currently roaming the sewers, along with their encounter with two mysterious men, and their interactions with each other. A flat look was present on her face as she saw two men along with one of the churches exorcists start to bicker; and not even a second later the floor beneath them gave in. "...They certainly aren't the brightest bunch if they literally came crashing in like that."
Her familiar Greg was smart enough to keep track of them and luckily for her the intruders did not notice him. Which wasn't really surprising since Greg wasn't magical in any way, just your run of the mill bat that she simply raised and trained. He was perfect in bypassing people with magical locating or sensory skills. Even if Greg was noticed, he would most likely be disregarded due to being a normal bat.
Well it wasn't like they could sense anything in these passages anyway. The special concoction she made and smeared along the tunnels made it so any heightened senses or sort of magical tracking would be hampered for the former and ineffective for the latter. Sure it was incredibly foul, difficult to brew, and smelled like the inside of a dead horse's anus but it did its job.
Still.. watching the images supplied by her pet, the trio that Greg followed sure didn't seem to be on the best of terms with each other. The apparent animosity between some of them and negative body language was quite apparent. Andreea's eyes narrowed at one of the men, her pupils glowing dangerously as she looked at him. "This is odd…" She muttered as she closed her eyes, trying to understand what it was that bothered her. When she opened them again her features softened as she saw the look of concern on Greg's face. With a soft pat on his head she reassured her familiar. "It's nothing sweety, I can't really put my finger on it, but I feel like I saw one of those men before."
"In any case, if I leave them alone they might just ruin my little surprise for the city and besides." Andreea hummed as she rose from the bathtub, the water streaming down her curvaceous figure while patches of foam clung to and protected her modesty. "What else can I do as host but go and greet my guests."
It wouldn't due to let them interfere now could she? Her little plan was just about ready and it would be such a waste of time, resources, and human lives to let it all go to ruin. Also in all honesty with the amount of work it took, she didn't want to go through the effort of doing it all over again if it failed.
"But first." she declared coldly, a deadly serious expression present of her face as she turned around and picked up a towel. "I need to dry my hair."
"Ghouls…" I muttered slowly, my hands tightening around the handles of my twin blades.
The foul looking abominations had already begun moving and growling as they took notice of us, eyes gleaming with a mad hunger for flesh.
This was the first time I had ever faced such creatures.
I couldn't help but feel on the edge. Undead beings weren't among the subjects I had yet gotten to study in depth. As such I had very little knowledge of the habits of ghouls and their abilities.
Rudimentary as it was however, I did recall that most undead did possess one common weakness. I drew my blades backwards and leapt forward. Murky dark liquid sprayed in the air as the heads of two ghouls rolled across the floor.
That weakness being decapitation.
… Though in hindsight, decapitation in general would probably kill most creatures living or otherwise.
A grey blur rushed past me and rammed into a group of approaching ghouls. Loup Garou let out a toothy grin as his fists burst forth knocking off the heads of five ghouls, their bodies igniting in flames and turning into ashes. "Better not slow us down!"
It all happened so quickly.
No wonder I couldn't track him down when I was looking for him in the city before. With speed like that, shaking me off his trail was all too easy for him. However, his speed wasn't the only thing that surprised me as I also noted something else. His hands were on fire.
Literally.
Bright flames were dancing around his fists yet they did not harm him at all, only the rotting corpses that came in contact with them suffered damage. Sona did mention one of his parents was a magician, so I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising that Loup Garou also knew a bit of magic himself.
"I'll try to keep up!" I roared back in response and threw my blades towards the incoming enemies coming at me from the sides as I traced another set in my hands.
As I was about to slash at another pair, I felt something hot rush past me. A bullet passed by me and hit an approaching ghoul right in between the eyes, instantly killing it in its tracks. Griselda stepped forward to my side; a blade of light in one hand and her still smoking gun in the other. The nun gave me a cheeky smile. "You gentlemen look like you could use an extra hand."
My eyes narrowed as I shifted my guard and positioned myself right next to the female exorcist, standing back to back with her. "Thought you didn't trust me."
My remark did not seem to bother her, in fact it made the woman even chuckle. "I don't, but I'm not exactly in any position to be picky at the moment."
I nodded and readied my blades, pivoting my left leg forward and decapitating the incoming undead around us. Holding my ground I began slashing and bisecting any enemy that was foolish enough to approach, rotten flesh and blood scattering in the air with every swing. At my back Griselda was shooting at them with her high caliber gun. Whenever a ghoul got too close to shoot she would use her light blade to slash them apart. It was quite impressive how she was able to skillfully handle each weapon with a single hand. Using a sword with one hand wasn't unheard off, but doing so with a gun of such caliber in the other was insane.
While I wasn't an expert with firearms by any means, aunt Maiya certainly was and I did learn a thing or two about them from her. Like the fact that there is a recoil whenever you shoot a bullet, the bigger the calibre of the weapon the stronger the recoil for it. It may look cool in movies when someone uses a big gun with one hand, but it's not a very accurate portrayal in real life. Using a gun with a single hand was possible of course, but usually done with lower calibre, also without having a proper hold of the weapon will often cause the recoil to hurt the user, even possibly break something if worst comes to worst. Plus even if you can handle it, there is also the strain of prolonged use from firing multiple rounds to account for as well.
Thus despite looking like a frail woman, considering her current performance, Griselda Quarta was most certainly not one. She must have trained her body in ways that I can't imagine in order to make herself strong enough to handle such a gun, yet still have such precise aim and control with one hand alone.
Seeing her eviscerate her way through hordes of undead was... strangely alluring to me.
Sadly, the ghouls didn't feel like I did and were getting more and more relentless as time passed on. The nun let out a grunt as her sword got stuck inside the ribs of one of the ghouls, its blade probably started to get dull from the blood and rotting fat. I spun Kanshou around in my hand and threw it backwards, penetrating the throat of a ghoul that was steps away from biting her. The woman did seem surprised at first but quickly composed herself and took hold of the black sword I threw, yanking the blade off the ghoul it was embedded in together with its head.
It was quite obvious from her stance that Kanshou was a bit heavier than she was used to, but she was able to adapt and quickly dismember the other undead. The smile she had as she did so might have been considered charming, if not for the blood splatters on her face. "These are quite the beautiful blades you have."
I traced a new pair and sent them spinning through the air, killing another six ghouls, as another one closed in to bite me. I quickly smashed my elbow in its face, the reinforcement spell doing its job strengthening me and helping me to pulverize its jaw as I sent it flying away. "Thanks, I guess?"
Chatting like this in the middle of the fight was really weird for me. Still the battle continued as we proceeded to take down more ghouls. I took note of my current partners handling of her new weapon. In spite of Kanshou being a sword of different design compared to her previous weapon, the nun showed off her proficiency in swordplay. Becoming more skillful with her strikes as she became more familiar with the weapon in her hand. If anything, I would say it even looked like she was having fun using it. Seeming to appreciate both the grip and cutting ability of the blade.
"Sadly my current sword isn't quite as exquisite." She stated, even letting out a wistful sigh while saying so.
An undead grabbed onto my leg, trying to bite me, before I could react a bullet blew its brains out killing it on the spot. I couldn't help but give a dry remark to the woman that just helped me again. "I think the gun makes up for it."
She responded with a sweet chuckle at this. "It does, sometimes."
A rather large ghoul began approaching, taking the initiative I used Kanshou and Bakuya to sever its head before it could take advantage of its larger frame to charge us. When its head fell down the view up ahead cleared a bit, and I got to see how Loup Garou was faring in the distance. The man was fighting the waves of monsters alone, not even bothering to try to come over to us and work together. However, while the combination of his close quarter combat skills and fire spells were effective in destroying the undead, the sheer number of enemies surrounding the area didn't seem to lower in spite of how many we had killed already.
It wasn't long before one of the ghouls got lucky. Attacking in the brawlers blindspot and pouncing onto the man's back. The grisly deformed corpse clung onto him like a vice, breaking him out of his rhythm. He tried to pull it off him but the moment he put his hands on it, another two seized the brief opening grabbing onto his arms trying to keep him at bay.
It wasn't long before he was swarmed and surrounded by countless bodies. They immediately dog piled on him, pulling him down onto the floor where they would likely soon rip him apart limb from limb if nothing was done soon. "Loup Garou!" I yelled as I tried to go over and help him, but was held in check by both a wall of ghouls before me and a firm hand holding me by the shoulder. "Griselda-san let go, he needs help!"
The woman wasn't fazed at all by my panic and simply pointed behind me as she stabbed another ghoul. "Look."
I quickly shredded through the ghouls in front of me and did as the nun told me. The ghouls had piled up all over Loup Garou burying his figure completely and even now more were still trying to get at him. However, there was a glow appearing from between the gaps of the ghouls that were on top of him that kept increasing in power. A flash of light soon exploded from the heap of bodies, the undead around him were scattered and sent flying all over.
At the very source of the light, there Loup Garou stood. Where once was a man, now stood a beast. His body had grown in both height and girth, ash grey fur covered him from head to toe. A long tail now visible behind his back. Steam was oozing from the canine snout between his white steel like fangs. His pale yellow eyes glowing eerily in the dark. One didn't have to be aware of the supernatural to know what this creature was, for it was often used in both media and literature.
A beast with equal fame and reputation to a vampire and arguably its natural enemy.
A werewolf...
An angry werewolf that began ripping apart any nearby ghouls with extreme prejudice and bloodlust at that. It was like an image ripped straight out of a horror movie. Even the ghouls that surrounded me seemed to react to him, like something from within them was screaming danger in response to the now fully transformed Loup Garou.
I felt something press on my back, with the corner of my eye I saw the fabric of the nun's robe. "First time seeing a werewolf in action?"
My position wasn't good so I shifted it to match that of the nuns, my swords ready to strike the ghouls that still appeared intimidated by the werewolves appearance. "Yeah…"
We were slowly circling in our spot, it didn't take much effort to realize what the woman behind me wanted. The monsters around us right now seemed to become less confused from the werewolves appearance. Attacking them now will most likely make them break out of that daze. So the best option was to take our time and try to figure something out while we had the luxury of not having a horde of undead aiming to eat us at every corner, while also conserving our stamina. "I would advise you get used to it since I think we will be here for a while."
She may have said that but I still had my doubts and curiosities. "I thought they only transformed on a full moon.''
"That isn't wrong but not exactly accurate, werewolves can transform at any time they wish, but on a night where the moon is full they are forced to transform and are unable to turn back until daybreak."
"Is he in control?" While it may have been rude of me to ask that. I had no guarantee the man would not lash out at us in that form.
"Considering that he's still ignoring us and is only going wild on the other side of the room, then yes, I'm sure he is in control."
If the tone of her voice was any indication, I was fairly sure the woman rolled her eyes at my question.
"Any ideas how to get rid of the ghouls around us?" I asked carefully while weighing my own options. A broken phantasm was out of the question, we were far too close to the enemy and the damage to the surrounding area may make the ceiling collapse down on us.
The woman shifted behind me, the soft ruffling of her clothes was heard as if she just took something out of her robe. "Let's hope you're as human as you claim."
I raised a skeptical eyebrow to this, there was click like sound and something fell down in between my feet. My sweat ran cold when I recognized the needle like object. It was a grenade pin. In a panic I turned around to see just what crazy plan the female exorcist was executing. To both my surprise and confusion I saw her throw a grenade of peculiar design not at the ghouls but up in the air above us.
When it was up high some sort of mechanism must have triggered as the grenade began spreading a vapor of some kind, particles began to quickly descend all around the area. When they touched me I didn't feel any sort of pain so it wasn't acid, nor did I feel any taste or scent from it so it probably wasn't poison.
An inhuman screech was soon let out and fire began igniting all around us. The ghouls, any of the undead that made contact with the vapor were down on the floor squirming in pain, many of them quickly igniting on fire the moment they seemed to reach their limit.
I quickly connected the dots to what might have been inside of that grenade. "A holy water grenade?"
"An experimental holy water grenade, yes." If the phrase 'smug nun' was in the dictionary, this woman's picture would have been right next to it. Fortunately, it didn't seem to last long and she was back to serious business. "Not very efficient it seems.''
I could see what see was referring to. Its range wasn't very big, and the vapor wasn't as fast as regular holy water would have been. There were many ghouls still alive albeit struggling to recover.
It got rid of a big number of the ghouls around us but there were still many left. I wiped the holy water particles from my brow, a sudden realization hitting me. "... If I were a devil that would've either killed me or gave me third degree burns."
The nun took no insult to my accusation, she simply gave me a sweet smile. "Then aren't we both glad you aren't one."
I was glad alright… and will be so glad when all of this is over and I'm far away from this woman. The two of us both dashed forward and began fighting the ghouls once more. A whirlwind of blades and body parts were dancing in the air as we pushed on. Our fighting styles were different, but surprisingly worked well together as we fought side by side. Her gun ran out of bullets and a ghoul was dangerously close by. Perhaps it was planned or just a spontaneous idea, but the nun smacked the ghoul across the face with guns handle, the blessed silver plating causing the ghouls flesh to burn and singe.
With no time to change clips she discarded her gun and pulled another light blade from her robe. The female exorcist truly was not wasting any time lingering on useless things in spite of the rather casual chats she was having with me mid fight. I guess it showed just how used she got to this kind of environment that it didn't bother her anymore. Copies of Kanshou and Bakuya spun in the air as I moved forward. I couldn't just let a lady do all the work alone now could I?
How peculiar…
As I pushed on and kept fighting without a moment to spare my senses felt like they were getting polished.
I was in an unstoppable rhythm. Not wasting even a moment on idle thoughts or planning ahead. Against a single opponent I could take my time and figure things out but in this particular instance I lacked that luxury. The very moment I took out an enemy, two or three more would quickly take its place. At this pace I literally did not have the time to think, my only option was to rely on my instincts and reactions. It was like a cumulation of my senses were working to their utter limit to guide my every move; almost like a brand new sense was awakening and growing the more I fought.
My eye of the mind.
True as that may be, it did not stop the never ending horde of enemies coming at me. Wave after wave they came as I cut them apart. A few managing to get closer to me than I liked, causing me to narrowly dodge their gnashing teeth at times as well as shaking off others that tried to grab me. There was something that cling to my leg. I turned around and brought my blade to eliminate the threat.
I froze in my tracks.
The ghoul that was holding on my leg… It was a child, yet that wasn't the part that made me black out.
I recognized this child.
He… he was that thief from yesterday, the child that tried to mug me and Laeticia stopped.
He was now a ghoul.
Something in my mind seemed to break at that moment.
That's right…
Ghouls were formerly people.
And I have been murdering them left and right all this time without even taking a single moment to consider it.
It didn't make sense.
The moment I laid my eyes on them I automatically deemed them beyond saving and proceeded to slaughter them all without any sort of hesitation.
...
How?
How could I even do that?
It was wrong.
Nothing seemed to make sense anymore.
It felt like I wasn't the one making the decisions only thing that brought me out of my shell shocked state was the sight of child ghouls head getting ripped off by a grey blur.
A shadow loomed above me. I looked up, gazing at the wall of grey fur and muscle in front of me. He grabbed me by the shirt with his clawed hand, pulling me close to him. Those eerie glowing eyes glaring dangerously at me while baring his fangs at me.
"Now is not the time to be spacing out!''
Loup Garou was pissed. The way I seemingly zoned out in the middle of the fight most certainly rubbed him the wrong way.
With an annoyed huff he threw me towards Griselda, the latter who at least had the courtesy to stop my fall.
The werewolf gave me one last annoyed glare before he resumed his undead killing frenzy.
I looked over at the nun and to my surprise her eyes weren't as cold as I presumed, in fact they held a bit of sympathy in them. "Lost your cool?"
A grim nod was my response as I tried to pick myself up and recover my focus. "I recognized that child, I saw him yesterday… he was still human."
There was a heavy sigh from the woman. "I see."
I traced another pair of swords, yet my hands didn't seem to hold onto them the way they were supposed to. "... Is there any way to turn them back?"
"...None." her tone was cold, but there was very subtle hint of pity present in it. "The only thing we can do is put them to rest."
I already knew it.
Though briefly, the undead was one of the subjects I researched together with Sella. I didn't go in depth, there so many things I most certainly lacked in my knowledge, but there was one universal rule I was taught.
Once you become undead, that's it.
There was no turning back.
There were cases of different forms of undead that were able to preserve or recover their reason and judgement, but that was it. They could never go back to being human nor live as ones.
"Dammit!"
I roared as I traced multiple copies of my twin blades, throwing them without a moment to spare. My frustration cutting deep into me just like the blades that I threw at the ghouls slashed into them.
This was all I could do.
The only way to save them was to kill them.
That very contradiction and the sheer unfairness of it all made my stomach churn and boil.
I didn't understand it anymore… there was something that I didn't realize, but I just couldn't fathom it at the moment.
All I could do was make swords.
It wasn't stopping.
I gritted my teeth from the heat and tension building up in my body. The strain of tracing so many copies of the twin blades and maintaining my reinforcement was slowly building up.
At this point I wasn't sure which would give out first, my prana or my stamina. Yet there were still so many of them left. I thought about the weapons in my hands.
Kanshou and Bakuya can easily cut their way through them, but killing each ghoul individually took both too much of a time and consumed too much stamina. Throwing the swords also wasn't all that efficient in the long run. While their sharpness was more than sufficient, they need force behind them in order to actually cut through them. When I threw a pair they will lose momentum with every enemy they shred through. They can make their way through three targets, but ultimately get stuck in the forth ghoul.
Using my bow was an option, but it was far too risky considering these sheer numbers. There was no vantage point I could use to snipe and give support to others. I might have been able to still use it even from my spot, but that was under the condition If Loup Garou or Griselda would watch my back. However from the looks of it, they're each too busy doing their own thing. Guess this is what happens when people who don't trust each other are forced to fight together. Though to be fair the ghouls constantly breaking us up apart didn't really help matters either.
My building frustration was probably reaching its breaking point, making me voice out my concerns. "They're too many, we can't keep fighting like this!''
"I'm open to suggestions." The way the nun snarled showed that she also had just about enough of this seemingly never ending horde of enemies.
Truth be told I was short on new good ideas. "I don't suppose you have another one of those grenades do you?"
"If I had I would have used it already."
There was a thunderous clash near us and the nearby ghouls were sent scattered about, in the middle of it Loup Garou was panting in his werewolf form, eyes fixed on Griselda-san. "Hey exorcist!''
Perhaps it was because of the rude way that the werewolf growled that she seemed annoyed. "What?''
The Frenchmen sneered as he knocked off the head of another ghoul. "You're an exorcist aren't you, can't you do anything about these things?''
The nun seemed to take offense to that. "Don't just presume that you know-"
"Can you or not?!" I immediately cut her off, now was not the time to argue amongst ourselves.
She still seemed slightly annoyed by this but managed to compose herself and further explain. "I may know of a way, but I don't have the right conditions and equipment!"
"Great, just great!" The snark Loup Garou certainly did not help.
I took a deep breath and tried to focus, this wasn't going anywhere. "What are they?"
"I doesn't matter, they just aren't avai-"
At this point I was losing all of my patience. "Just humor me!"
Luckily for me, the nun did not rebuke me and decided to go with my request. "First of all, I need a strong sacramental item, something infused with holy power.''
"... Sacramental huh?" I muttered as I began focusing.
"Yes, but unfortunately I don't have my holy sword on me. I had it sent in for maintenance."
If she didn't have one, then I will make one myself.
Search start.
I need a weapon, one that could be used in sacramental rites.
Searching…
It didn't have to be a strong weapon, all that mattered was it's affinity with exorcism rites.
Searching…
One that would purify and liberate the tormented souls bound by the unholy!
Match found.
"Trace on!"
An image flashed in my mind and blueprints were revealed. I tightened my fists and the tracing was underway, manifesting in the form of small handles held in between my fingers. When they were complete I sent a surge of prana into each of them, causing long thin blades to materialize from them. With how I held the blades in between my fingers, I was certain it made me resemble a certain comic book hero from the states. "Would these do?"
The nun took a moment and gazed at the weapons I just made, her eyes widening as she probably felt the power from them. "H-How did you-"
Sadly this wasn't the time to show off. "Will they work?!"
She took a moment and seemed to contemplate about it, looking over at the ghouls, then at the weapons, and finally at the ground underneath us. "... Yes, their most suitable."
That was good, now all that was left was to actually put everything in motion. "Is there anything else you need?"
"Time." The nun stated as she carved a circle on the ground with the very blades that I gave her, kneeling in the middle of it. "I will need a distraction to perform the rite, once I start I cannot stop to fight, you will have to keep the monsters busy."
"Then I will protect you." I stated as I readied myself, but I couldn't take any risks so I called out to the one man that was acting on his own. ''Loup Garou! If you want to end this we have to work together.''
"Tsk." The werewolf clicked his fangs and leapt over next to me, the snarl present on his canine face would have intimidated a weaker willed man. "This better work."
"It has to." I muttered while tracing new pairs of the black keys. As the ghouls enclosed on us Loup Garou and I circled around Griselda, making sure no undead will reach her. While the two of us intercepted the undead enemies, the catholic nun began her exorcism rite. She had stabbed the black keys around the circle she drew, taking out a bottle of holy water and began pouring its contents on the blades.
With all the preparations done she clasped her hands around the rosario around her neck and began chanting.
"I believe in One God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible."
Her tone was soft and solemn, one that any man would appreciate to hear. That wasn't the same case for the ghouls, the moment they heard the prayer begin they all started getting restless and growling in a frenzy.
"And in One Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, the only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages."
An ethereal light began coating her body, warm and welcoming, making her stand like a lone candle in a dark room.
"Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one essence with the Father, through whom all things were made."
The ghouls were desperate to stop her, at this point they stopped trying to kill Loup Garou and I, instead they tried to go past us and reach out to Griselda.
"Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became Man."
Without any words Loup Garou and I were in sync, we will not let any of them reach her. As such we hold the line, Loup Garou ripping them to pieces while I used the black key as improvised dirks.
"And was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried."
It was quite strange, the keys didn't inflict the same amount of physical damage that Kanshou and Bakuya were capable of, each blade getting stuck in the ghoul they hit, yet they seemed more effective for some reason.
"And on the third day He rose according to the Scriptures."
The moment the black keys stabbed or cut the ghouls the wounds began burning and sizzling as if acid was poured directly on them. If the ghouls didn't seem to respond to pain before, now it was all too obvious that the keys were causing them excruciating agony. When the purification of the keys was done their bodies would ignite on fire and turn to ash.
"And ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father."
Kanshou and Bakuya could easily dismember the ghouls, their anti-monster properties making them effective against them, but that was the issue. The swords were good at cutting through them, but not outright killing them if I didn't manage to deliver a killing blow to the head. Getting their limbs torn apart or their bodies impaled by swords wasn't enough. In contrast with the black keys any strike would show an effect.
"And He shall come again with glory, to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end."
It was quite the perplexing case. Kanshou and Bakuya were noble phantasms, the black keys on the other hand were sacramental tools more along the lines of mystic codes. Logic dictated that the twin blades are stronger in almost all scenarios compared to the black keys, and yet here they were doing a better job than my go-to blades. At an even cheaper prana cost no less.
"And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets."
We were reaching our limit. Loup Garou was winded and didn't seem able to produce those fire spell anymore, his moves now strained and sluggish. I wasn't faring any better, I could feel my circuits burn from the constant tracing.
"In one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins."
I clicked my tongue in annoyance as we kept getting pushed back. In a desperate attempt I traced dozens of copies of the black keys and threw them around us, creating a makeshift barricade to keep the ghouls at bay. Sadly it will not hold for long, the ghouls were pushing each others against it and while the first ones that were in contact with them were getting damaged, the ones behind them were not and kept pushing forward.
"I look for the resurrection of the dead."
As the ghouls pushed on we both backed away and put ourselves right next to the nun. At this point killing the front ghouls didn't matter anymore, it would not slow down the ones in the back row at all. I gritted my teeth and focused on my tracing, deciding to shift from offense to defense. I traced the shield noble phantasm I used during the Zepar incident and instantly deployed it. "Scatter and protect the eternal city! Ancile!" The jewel within the shield glowed brightly as its eleven copies manifested around us.
In spite of feeling the burn from tracing and invoking this noble phantasm, I tried to endure the pain and focus on the shields power, shifting them around us and equipping a copy on my free arm. Loup Garou seemed surprised by the shields that I put in front of him but he got over it, quickly understanding what I was going for. He equipped two shields and used them to help hold the line.
"And the life of the world to come."
With the shields on our arms and around our sides we formed a dome around the nun. The ghouls repeatedly clashed against them and tried to swallow us, their rotting arms reaching through the small openings in between each copy, trying to claw their way in.
I wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer.
The copies of the shield could be controlled and float according to where I wanted them, but that caused a substantial amount of mental strain. That was just for moving them around, keeping them fixed in one place and unmovable was even more consuming.
Blood gushed from my nose as I tried to endure it, I felt my back hit against something hot, with the corner of my eye I saw that I was right next to Griselda, the ghouls having pushed us right next to her.
I gave the nun one brief glance but to my surprise she wasn't scared. She actually had a cocky smirk as her eyes opened and shouted.
"Amen."
With the final line done, the light around the nun grew and scattered all over us. Infernal screams echoed in the room as the light washed over the ghouls, all now falling to the ground in utter pain, contorting and twisting their bodies as they were set on fire by the sacred light.
Hundreds of fires were ignited in the room, lights made by the now burning corpses of the undead.
So this was the power of the One God's followers. A form of blessing or intervention made for those who offer their faith to Him.
A holy light that burns away the inhuman abominations.
Slowly, one by one, the ghouls burnt away by the power of the holy light, undead bodies turned to ashes, the bound souls, put to rest.I laid down my shields and scanned the room, ash piles in the hundreds were scattered everywhere but fortunately no ghoul remained.
As a sense of ease began to wash over me as I dismissed all of my traced weapons, no use in keeping them manifested. With a deep exhale I fell on my rear and tried to catch my breath. Fighting one strong opponent was one thing, but fighting dozens of weaker opponents nonstop for a long period of time was equally if not even more draining.
"Phew…'' a strained breath escaped my lips as I looked over at the other two occupants in the room. Both of them seemed just as winded as I was. "You guys ok?"
In spite of doing the least physically straining part the nun was sweating bullets, the whole exorcism rite she performed no doubt involved more than just reciting the verses. It must have also required a deep amount of mental concentration in order to use. "Give me a minute, I just need to catch my breath."
"Finally something we can agree on." Loup Garou growled from his side, the man splattered on his back. To my surprised his body was shrinking and the fur covering him appeared to fade away from his skin.
In about a minute, all of his wolf like features had vanished and he was back to his human form.
Now that all that fur was gone I got to see that he was just as tired as the rest of us. His clothes were damp with sweat, his chest rapidly going up and down as he tried to catch his breath.
Not that I could blame him, he did fight and kill more ghouls than Griselda and I did.
… Though technically, if I consider all of the ghouls that got killed a minute ago by the nun's exorcism rite, I'd have to say she had the biggest kill count among the three of us.
Well, not that it mattered, this isn't some contest over who got the most kills. "I'm so glad that worked." I muttered tiredly as I lifted my upper half and ran a hand through my hair.
"Yeah…" the Frenchmen growled in annoyance. "Speaking of which, what was that exorcist?"
"The christian-ortodox baptism rite." The nun replied like it was common knowledge.
That really got me curious. "Why would that work on them like that?"
I wasn't a christian of any kind so I didn't really know much about their rites or the meanings behind them. As such I failed to see how a baptism rite would have such power over ghouls.
"It's a matter of spiritual link and symbolism.'' she slowly explained with a huff, still busy catching her breath. "The baptism rite in itself is viewed by many as a cleansing of the parents sins. Ghouls are like children to a vampire and by performing the baptism rite on them you sever and purify them from their masters. Our reports state the vampire is christian-orthodox so it was the most efficient baptism rite to use."
I nodded as it actually made sense from a more spiritual standpoint, yet there was one thing that I was curious about. "What if they were wrong and she wasn't?"
"..." The nun did not reply and just gave a blank stare.
"... Oh." I muttered as I connected the dots.
"Yes."
Well that made things awkward. Knowing that we might have survived out of sheer luck wasn't the best of feelings. The three of us continued to stay in silence as we recovered our strength. I do not know how exhausted they were, but I most certainly needed time to cool my body off after that. Utilizing magic circuits constantly heated up the body as you used them. That combined with how my body temperature naturally grew due to my exertion in battle, my body temperature was currently very hot.
In addition, I also needed to take some time and recover my Od. Unlike mana that was abundant in the very air I breathed, Od was a source that needed time to replenish itself once it gets consumed. Prana was a mixture of both, I couldn't generate any of it with just one of those two energy sources. "So, what do we do from here?" I asked the others as I lifted my head.
Loup Garou ignored me but at least Griselda-san was willing to chat. "Given the number of ghouls here we at least have confirmation that the vampire is here, such a large pack wouldn't be able to stay put without their masters control."
That was good to know... while it meant that we had to most certainly find and fight her, at least it meant that we will get to stop her. "Feel like filling me in about this?"
The nun seemed to take a moment and consider this but eventually sighed in defeat. "... Considering how involved you are now in this, I believe you deserve to know what's going on, but first tell me what's your knowledge about vampires mister Emiya?"
I scratched the back of my head feeling a bit awkward. "... Not much to be honest. Unless you count stuff from movies."
"While most movies take a lot of liberties with vampires, some of them even believing they sparkle of all things, a good deal of the common weaknesses they showcase do work." the nun elaborated, strangely her eye twitched when she said the sparkling bit. "Direct exposure to sunlight burns their flesh and could outright kill them if left unchecked."
"Too bad its the middle of the night and were down here…" I couldn't help but give that dry remark. "Anything else?"
"The weaknesses of devils also apply to them, light or holy element infused weapons will be most effective against them."
"That's good to know." I made a mental note to keep relying on the black keys should she appear, as they previously proved incredibly effective against the undead. "Anything else I should know?"
"Her powers are what you can expect from most vampires, enhanced physical strength, creation and manipulation of fog, shadows and darkness, and as you noticed creation of minions like ghouls." she further elaborated until a frown formed on her face. "However, the personality and motives of the target are hard to pinpoint."
The last part confused me. "What do you mean by that?"
"While most vampires feed via blood bags procured from more secure and less noticeable sources, there are still many of them that prefer to indulge in 'fresh' food. With those kind, they in most cases have a pattern when it comes to choosing their feeding victims, usually going for a certain type of person that they find to possess the most delectable blood."
I nodded and gestured her to go on. "The people we have identified as this vampire's victims vary far too much in comparison. Gender, age, nationality, occupation, physical condition, and blood types are all so diverse that it makes narrowing her possible targets difficult. What is more confusing is the autopsy reports we received from each victim we were able to recover."
"The reports?"
"Yes, most vampire victims die from having all of their blood drained, hers on the other hand were killed first then drained."
I took a moment to think about it but I couldn't see the point in this factor. "Does that matter when she still kills them in the end?"
"To a vampire, blood is a gourmet dish of the highest delicacy that can be easily offset by many factors. The flavor of the blood gets ruined when the victim dies." The werewolf in the room spat from his place in annoyance. "Reason why a lot of vampires hate blood bags is because the taste isn't that great."
I guess since Loup Garou was apparently an expert on tracking vampires it was pretty logical that he knew stuff like this. Understanding how the enemy thinks is the most efficient path towards defeating them as aunt Maiya would say.
If what both the nun and werewolf said were indeed true, it only raised more questions and was making me draw some nasty conclusions behind the vampiresses motives. "... So she kills her victims for fun?"
"That is one of the confusing parts." she wiped away the sweat from her brow and went on. "Most of them had signs of torture, but the wounds were far too inconsistent. Some were subjected to long periods of rigorous torture while others were killed with the least painful ways possible. The details and facts don't add up, appearing almost random in nature."
This wasn't good at all, if the people who had info on the vampire didn't have much to work with it only increased my concern.
"In any case this vampire has been on our blacklist for a long time, while she hasn't attempted anything big before she has quite a number of bodies behind her, many consisting of church officials and bounty hunters."
Well at least I know why the church was after her in the first place. "... Any idea how strong she is?"
"The full extent of her powers and abilities aren't known, but we know she is at the very least on the level of a high class devil."
I nodded and inwardly sighed, first Kurosaiga, then Segrif, now this vampire. I would have made a snide remark about this but I just wasn't in the mood. "... I see."
"She's a pain the ass that's what she is." Loup Garou replied clearly annoyed by this conversation. "Was what you did against the ghouls all you could do?"
"... I still have a couple of tricks left up my sleeve." At this point it wasn't safe to explain the full extent of my powers to them. "I also fought against a couple of high class devils before so I might prove useful."
The nun and werewolf both gave a nod in confirmation and seemed to contemplate further on the matter. It was Griselda-san that eventually broke the silence.
"As it stands we need all the help we can get. If there are other rooms in these tunnels with a similar number of ghouls we are way over our heads even if we regroup with my squad."
I didn't think about that.
Just this one room alone tired us to this extent. If we encounter two or more of them like this, we would have been done for. And that was under the condition that Griselda-san could use that exorcism rite again, which I doubt given how exhausting it seemed to perform she could pull off multiple times.
As it stands it's pretty clear we have to be extra careful and work together properly. I wasn't any good at it, but I should at least try to diffuse the tension between the three of us. "I might not be anything special, but I will do my best to help out."
While the werewolf only grumbled in response, the nun on the other hand gave me a neutral sigh. "In this situation, having a man with a weapon creation sacred gear will be most welcomed."
Her belief of me having a sacred gear wasn't new. The others of the Sitri team also had that impression when they first saw my tracing, and it saves me having to explain or coming up with a cover up for my abilities to.
I couldn't help but give a small remark at this. "I think having someone like Griselda-san is more important, you did take care of those ghouls after all. Speaking of which, I want to apologize." It seemed that my sudden apologizing surprised the nun more than my praise did. "I was kinda having some doubts how strong you were Griselda-san."
My last remark made the woman smile. No, it wasn't a sweet smile, it was the kind of smile that my mother would give whenever she had one of her genius plans. The kind that makes you want to run away and not look back. "Let me guess, you thought that just because I'm a woman I wouldn't be much of a fighter?"
I swallowed nervously and tried not to stutter. "Actually that wasn't it."
"Then what was it?" The glint she had in her eyes were telling me that I was treading on very thin ice at the moment. Well… at this point I already dug my own grave so I had to bullshit my way out of not falling into it.
"The first time we met you were kinda... touchy and up close which I don't believe is good idea when cornering an enemy." How I didn't stutter was beyond me, it also didn't help that mentioning that made me recall that little robe incident we had when we crashed on the lower levels a while back. To my surprise the nun didn't seem bothered by my remark at all.
"Oh, that, that was simply a means to throw you off your game.'' she explained offhandedly as if she was talking about the weather. "With the risk of sounding obscene, I will just say it as it is, men think with their dicks."
As much as I wanted to rebuke her… she wasn't wrong. Having her press up against me the way she did with her… assets really threw me off my game. If it wasn't for my training with Leysritt I would have fallen prey to it and means my mother was right. My brain froze… Iri must never learn of this.
"... I see." I replied while avoiding her eyes.
"Indeed, the moment a remotely attractive woman gets close and there's a little contact going on they suddenly become loose tongued or aroused.''
Why did hearing her say all of that made me all the more uncomfortable around her… maybe it was because I was hearing this stuff from a nun of all people. "O-Oh… is that so?"
The nun merely stared, obviously confused by my sudden skittish reactions, a perplexed look soon forming on her face. "Wait, did you honestly think there was more to it?"
"N-No!" I tried my best to appear calm but I was sure I was failing. Her reaction to this took me off guard.
I was expecting her to be revolted, disgusted, or maybe even a little pissed, but she instead began laughing loudly in amusement. Her laughing fit lasted for about a minute before she calmed down and wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye. "My apologies, as flattering I find it, I have taken an oath of chastity.''
That reply made my face burn from the implication, I quickly tried to shift the direction of the talk. "I-I was concerned about how risky it is, that's all, an enemy with a fast strike or proper spell could easily wound you from a point black range like that.''
"True.'' she nodded in between small chuckles, then proceeded to pull up the sleeve of her left arm and lifting it up for all of us to see. "Though I do have insurance for such an instance."
On her forearm there lied a strange mark, and judging from the odd scent that I was getting from it I knew it was magical in nature. "What's that?''
"A fifth tier immobilizing charm." she traced the fingers of her opposite arm over the marks, the letters glowing eerily as the skin brushed against them. "Long story short it can turn my hand into a magical stun gun, enough to instantly knock out could even a high class devil."
That… was pretty neat to have and now I understood her confidence when she approached me, forget about a gun or sword, at the smallest misstep she could've knocked me out before I even realized it. It was somewhat reassuring that she wasn't just going in recklessly.
The sudden revelation of the woman's literal ace up her sleeve elicited a sneer from the rooms resident werewolf. "You had something like that literally on hand and you didn't use it?"
"Unfortunately, it has a recharge time between each usage. Once used I won't be able to use it for another twenty-four hours.'' her dejected sigh made it seem like she was bummed she couldn't use it as much as she wanted. "That being said, I keep it on hand for a most dire situation."
The grey haired man only narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Not so useful when we have hundreds of ghouls to deal with."
"As much as I would love to retort to that, you do raise an important point. The number of ghouls present is very concerning…" With her sleeve pulled back down she cupped her chin and appeared to contemplate on the matter. "Most vampires have a couple of them around, but not in the hundreds like this…"
"They don't?"
Surprisingly Loup Garou threw in his own knowledge on the subject. "Yeah, they usually don't go ham like this. The more ghouls they make, the harder it is to control and coordinate all of them. Also if you go past a certain number they will eventually lose all control and will act on their own accord like a mindless beast. Vampires only gather them in the hundreds when they are planning something big like fighting over turf or preparing for an attack on or from enemies."
I pondered about this for a bit, while I couldn't know how a vampire would think, I could at least try to deduce things from a logical point. "Maybe this vampire found out you guys were after it and decided to build some forces?"
The werewolf shook his head. "That may be, but you can't raise an army of ghouls overnight without attracting attention. Ghouls are former humans after all, people would notice if there's been sudden disappearances in the masses."
"Then what about the ghouls we fought?" Griselda-san further inquired. "How did she rally such a force without drawing too much attention?"
That was an important question.
It wouldn't have gone unnoticed if hundreds of people suddenly disappeared. A couple of them may not raise much attention but the number we faced was an entirely different case.
So many men and women of varying ages, even childre-
…
A cold pit formed in my stomach as I recalled the time I froze in the middle of the battle.
With a cast down stare and strained tone I slowly spoke. "... I might have an idea."
"Do you now, care to share?" The skeptical look the werewolf gave me did not bother me and I simply went on.
"One of the ghouls we killed... " I pointed to the area it took place. "I saw him a day ago, when he was still human. He was begging and pick pocketing in the streets, someone told me he was part of an immigrant family that settled in the city.''
Both the nun and the werewolf were affected differently by this statement and the implication of it. Loup Garou maintained a stoic facade but I could see he was clenching his fists while Griselda allowed herself a moment of empathy for the damned.
"... I see, the homeless, the immigrants and the ones that are unwanted." In spite of appearing collected, the layer of pity in her tone could be noticed. "When they go away most people won't stop to question it, let alone try to report it."
The silent growl from the werewolf would have made any weak hearted man run away. "France does have a lot of illegal immigrants and beggars... give a vampire a few months and these sewers would be crawling full of ghouls.''
There was a part of me that felt like it was seething in anger while another felt such pity for what happened to all those innocent people. No matter what they did or what background they had they did not deserve to be turned into mindless undead. "It's wrong…"
"It's the way the world works kid, get used to it." No matter how harsh he made himself appear, I was certain that the Frenchmen was just as frustrated as I was, if not even more so. "Anyways, some of my connections tipped me off that the vampiric bitch has been doing some shady dealing with some guys in the underground transport business. I never managed to find out what she was transporting, but I'm starting to get an idea about what the cargo was. There's a big chance these ghouls we fought aren't just from Paris, but from all over the country and she has been bringing them all here.''
This was making my blood boil, treating people like cattle… no, this was so much worse.
A cold realization hit me as I further put the pieces together.
"... Wait, then there might still be a lot more of them lurking around." There was no guarantee that those were the only ones here.
"If that is truly the case, it only raises more questions." The female exorcist rubbed her temple in frustration. "For what reason is she building such a force?"
"Well, isn't that the million dollar question?" Loup Garou said, as he spat off to the side.
I couldn't help but try and mull it over in my head before bringing myself to focus on the current situation. The reason behind it… sooner or later we will find out, my only hope is that it's not something that we cannot stop.
A sudden shift in our surroundings happened, and I felt a shiver run down my spine. "Is it me or did it just get colder here?" The air itself felt as if it was drained of warmth, the temperature dropping down by the second. Before I could comment further on this my nose twitched.
This scent…
Something was approaching us, something supernatural in nature.
I got up and raised my guard, shifting my gaze towards the source of the smell. To my surprise Loup Garou had jumped up at the same time as I did, the difference between us though was that while I was on guard the Frenchmen looked like the was ready to rip someone in half with how his eyes burned with anger. The nun noticing our reactions, immediately got up and brandished her weapons. A soft click-clack sound could be heard echoing in the room, the kind you might hear from high heels. In the dark corner of the corridor, there were two small red lights that approached glowing in the darkness. The lights in question eventually reached the illuminated section of the room, revealing that they were in fact the eyes of a woman.
Light seemed to reflect on her pale white skin, her long brown hair flowed and waved at her back as she was casually making her way towards us. If I wasn't in the midst of enemy territory right now I would have presumed the woman was going to a party or some kind of gala event. She was dressed up elegantly, wearing a long black Halter dress, enough to allure a good majority of men who saw her. The dress had a large slit on the right side revealing one of her long shapely legs as well as a diamond cut up top showing an ample amount of her cleavage.
Though her outfit was definitely eye catching, she wasn't dressed obscenely or anything, but she was quite a sight to behold. If there wasn't such a large chance she was the enemy I might have even blushed at her beauty. Still while unlikely, there was a small chance that perhaps this woman was simply an innocent victim lost in these tunnels. I did not want to jump the gun and coming to conclusions before I had confirmation.
However, with how Loup Garou was silently growling in addition to his teeth growing sharper. The odds on that possibility didn't look too good. She looked over at us and while she did seem to register the werewolves hostility, didn't seem particularly bothered by it. In fact, her overall presence was jovial and even welcoming. "My, my, to think I had guests over yet didn't have a chance to tidy up the place. How rude of me,'' There was no hint of malice in her, if anything she seemed somewhat excited that she was seeing us, sweet sounding words brushing by the noticeable sharp fangs behind her lips. "Good evening, to what do I owe this late visit?"
At this point, any possible doubt I had vanished, it didn't take a genius to realize that she was the target. With her right in front of us it put me on edge. It all came down to how we would handle her. But before Griselda-san or I could open our mouths to speak on this, a grey blur instantly rushed past us towards the woman in front of us. The sound of claws ripping through the air echoed all around us.
Loup Garous had cleaved into her side with extreme bloodlust and the utmost prejudice.
The words that followed from the vampiress were not the ones that I expected to hear. "... That was rather rude. Do you always try to push a woman down first thing you meet her, or am I just special?"
I blinked in astonishment as the woman wasn't phased at all by the vicious strike.
Her response on the other hand only appeared to make Loup Garou seethe in anger. "... Special enough to make my blood boil."
There was no fear from her over the threats he gave, rather it only made the woman smile bashfully. "How charming, I do enjoy having a man offer me so much attention.''
I took a moment to shake off my disbelief and rubbed my eyes, something was wrong here.
I'm certain of it, the attack did in fact connect. But no matter how much I stared at the area Loup Garou hit there just wasn't anything to look at.
There was no wound… not even a nick on her dress.
While I was concerned about this, the possible implications that it involved, Loup Garou appeared to heed it of no importance and proceeded to attack her again. With clawed hands ignited in magical flames, the man rushed at her and began delivering a powerful barrage of punches towards the female vampire.
What followed next was akin to a game of cat and mouse from the two participants. The werewolf furiously trying to land a hit on his nimble prey, while said prey moved as if skipping, a playful smile never leaving her face. However, much to my own confusion that puzzling scene continued to happen again and again. Some of the attacks looked like they connected, and yet the next moment the area was revealed to be completely unscathed.
Could she perhaps make herself intangible by any chance?
No… if her body truly could do that there would be no point in her moving around to dodge. There was more to this than it led on. Loup Garou didn't seem to notice what I did and just kept going at her, clearly blinded by his rage. And it was that very rage and his eagerness to rip her apart that was creating several openings in his usually solid guard causing him to overextend himself.
The beautiful vampire took advantage of the openings and proceeded to kick Loup Garou across the face with her high heel, sending him tumbling to the floor. With her opponent temporarily out of focus she used the opportunity to put some distance between them. Feral growls and blood dripped from the werewolves mouth, as he got up and glared at his opponent, not giving the wound on his face much importance. But what was most strange to me was the fact that in spite of getting kicked across the face, he also had finger like cuts running over it.
Perhaps it was because of the violent impact to his head that the werewolf seemed to calm down, put some order in his thoughts, not instantly go back pouncing on the enemy before him instead, and taking his time to analyze the situation.
The air grew tense as the two figures stared at one another. Loup Garou gnashing his teeth while she narrowed her gaze at him. All the while the two began to circle around one another. Surprisingly, the vampire seemed to tilt her head visibly realizing something as she looked at him. "You seem familiar… have we met?"
That remark right there instantly caused something to snap in the man's mind. He let out a beastly howl and began morphing into his werewolf form, glowing pale eyes staring at her with burning rage. "... You crippled my mother."
Her red eyes blinked a couple of times before she let out a surprised gasp. "Ohhhhhhh, now everything makes sense."
Her reaction was strangely casual, as if she was talking about some random small past event and not the act of crippling of a person. Yet, there was no taunting or malice in her voice, if anything she seemed almost… awkward about it?
"Now, I get that your angry, trust me I do, but it's not like I intended to make her like that." She explained as if embarrassed. "It was your mother that was hunting me and tried to burn me alive. What was I supposed to do, sit there and let her turn me to flambe a la Andreea?"
A loud ferocious howl reverberated throughout the room. The pain and fury within it was palpable as it shook me to my core. Immediately after, he rushed towards her becoming a grey and red blur. The man turned beast once again started attacking her, no doubt intent of ripping her to pieces.
In spite of trying to defend herself while dodging Loup Garou relentless assault, the woman did not stop talking. "Try to look at it this way, I had the chance to kill her but I refrained. Doesn't that earn me some gratitude?"
His response was to lunge immediately while attempting to bite off her head; an attack she only narrowly avoided.
"Of course it doesn't, go figure."
What's going on…?
Multiple times it looked as if Loup Garou's strikes most certainly connected, yet why is she standing there like nothing happened at wasn't looking too good, fighting blinded by rage will only dull his judgement as he continues to overextend himself. I had to do something. A hard click got my attention, I looked on the side and saw the nun reload her gun, silently nodding to me to go on and help him, gesturing that she will offer cover fire.
That just gave me an idea.
"Trace on." I manifested my bow and assumed the position. With a mental command I traced one of the many arrows I had copied from the elf woman from Segrif Zepar's peerage. Many of those arrows had various powers and enchantments, sadly most of them had a radius effect. With how close Loup Garou was due to constantly rushing her, I couldn't risk using most of them due to the chance of him getting caught in the blast.
As such I looked for something that wasn't too destructive in nature but also had a kick to it. That being said I traced a Shock Arrow, a seemingly normal looking arrow with an interesting trick to it. The moment it hits its target, the arrow would unleash a powerful electrical surge.
My concern was if the surge would be strong enough to knock the vampire out.
I took aim and waited for the right moment, their speed making it incredibly difficult to lock on. I emptied my mind and focused, visualizing the process.
Wait… wait… wait… Now!
I let go and the arrow took flight, shredding its way through the air towards the target's exposed back. It was perfect, the female vampire was focused entirely on the werewolf and didn't notice when I shot my arrow.
The arrow will hit its target.
…
Or at least that was what was supposed to happen.
As the arrow was about to hit her she caught it, while still facing forward. Somehow without even looking she was able to know where it was coming from and without even turning around she had caught it by the shaft. Then in one fluid motion, with the arrow in her hand. She dodged another blow from the Frenchmen, getting in close to him, stabbing him in the shoulder with it. What followed was a loud crackling sound and pain filled howls as the arrow's unleashed its charge in the werewolf. It lasted for all of five seconds before it was finally over, the hulking man crashing to his knees, smoke rising from his body from the burn patches it now had.
My mind went blank when I processed what had just happened. My own attack… used by the enemy. Dammit! How could I be so reckless, it was already risky enough to shoot while Loup Garou was near her, not to mention keeping track as they constantly shifted position while fighting, I never once considered the thought she could just catch my arrow like that and use it against him.
"Oh my." While I was berating myself about what just happened, the vampiress was looking quite surprised at the state of her would be hunter was in. She turned around and gave me a curious look. "I only intended to simply stab him with the arrow, nothing more, imagine my surprise when it shocked him to such an extent. It's quite the intriguing move nonetheless, even if it was used on the wrong person."
"Such a shame our bout was cut short, I would have enjoyed to chat a little more before that." The Frenchmen was out cold, as such the vampire paid him little attention and shifted her gaze, slowly strolling towards me.
With a small click of my tongue I dismissed my bow and instead traced three black keys for each hand, holding them in between my fingers. Now that I had my weapons ready I began taking slow steps towards the approaching dangerous beauty. Our footsteps echoed in the room, there was a lingering tension present in the air as we got closer to each other.
"You on the other hand don't look familiar at all." Her arms spread to her sides, fingernails growing long and sharp to resemble blades. "Are you new in the hunting business?"
"... Not quite." I muttered as I dashed towards her, throwing the black keys I held. Blades and claws clashes, sparks scattering in the air as she deflected the first wave of black keys. As I got closer I traced new copies and tried to stab her with them but she managed to block my attack and hold her position.
"Well, you certainly didn't seem to know what was going on here." The woman remarked with a chuckle, her red eyes staring into mine, our faces dangerous close to each other, The clashing weapons keeping us locked in place with each other. "I'm Andreea by the way, a pleasure to meet you."
"..." I honestly had no idea how to respond to this.
"Not going to introduce yourself, that's rather rude of you. Hasn't your mother taught you proper manners?" My silence made the vampire pout in genuine disappointment.
There was something about her that didn't seem quite right with me. It was the look she had in her eyes. Her playful and casual nature about all of this was reminding me of Kurosaiga Ichirou, but there was still something else different about her.
Kurosaiga had a certain battle frenzy in his eyes when we crossed blades. This woman named Andreea had no trace of that, the only thing I saw was an analytical stare, as if she was eagerly looking at a puzzle and trying to figure out just where each piece will fall into place. Whatever her deal was, it definitely wasn't the joy of battle. It made me curious, but I didn't have the luxury of chit chatting with her in the middle of a fight.
With a grunt I pushed forward and broke the deadlock, aiming to pin her down with the black keys. Andreea most certainly disagreed, blocking and deflecting any strike I aimed at her.
Whatever she did to her nails they were now stronger than steel. Since the keys were sacramental they would most likely cause her great damage if they injured her, but that was only if they hit her. Something she was keen on making rather difficult with her reaction time.
Something was very odd here.
The more I exchanged blows with her, the more accustomed to her battle style I became as I gauged her overall battle prowess. That right there was what confused me.
I, despite being human, was faster and stronger than her. Yet despite it all, I was unable to land a single strike on her. This wasn't a matter of skill either, it was as if she was able to adapt at the very last second in some unknown way before my blades would touch her. In some ways it was reminiscent of my own battle style, yet there were some noticeable differences.
She seemed to do it out of necessity, as a spontaneous reaction rather than careful planning like in my case.
But even so… there was something wrong here, with how her body moved, the nagging feeling it caused was really bothering me, as such I tried to end this as quickly as I could. I stepped in deep and took focus on her incoming nails. With my left hand I used the black keys to crosslock the nails from her right hand. There was a brief struggle as we both had one arm held in place, but that didn't stop either of us. We both used our free arms to attack with our respective weapons.
Blade like nails rushed past my face and dangerously close to my eyes. Luckily, I managed to move to the side, her nails only cutting some of my hair away.
This was it.
Both her arms were out of the way and my right hand moving fast to strike at her exposed torso. There was no way for her to dodge my attack this time. A mushy sound was heard as blades penetrated flesh, followed by the sound of blood dripping onto the floor.
"Gah!"
Pain screamed in my abdomen as my eyes looked down, the vampire's nails dug deep in my flesh. I tried to understand what how it happened but I just couldn't. I followed those nails all the way back at the hand that was still held in place by my blades. What I saw was not something I expected.
Her fingernails growing longer was something I might have expected from her, I was prepared to dodge if she would have tried to extend them. Much to my own confusion, her fingernails bent themselves in perfect ninety degrees angles from several areas, making them resemble a very edgy root pattern.
I couldn't move… No… I was physically capable of moving but that would be deadly. Her nails didn't pierce any of my organs but they were dangerously close to them. Two in particular were a flick of the wrist away from cutting my heart.
Backing away would have been an option but to much of my own bad luck she had me right in front of a wall, leaving me with no place to go. I was effectively nailed down, literally in this case.
As it stood I couldn't move no matter how great the pain, I was completely at her mercy. Perhaps that was the reason why the vampire had such an amused smile on her face. She could have ended me at any moment and yet she simply stared into my eyes, as if she was waiting for something from me. She brought her face closer mine, her luscious lips slowly whispering in my ear with a soft purr. "Well, aren't you a big brave boy, most people would have already begged me for their lives by now. Would you perhaps like me to be rougher with you?"
I gritted my teeth at that remark, if seeing me break was what she wanted then I wasn't going to give it to her. Just as I was about to give her a piece of my mind I saw something shine behind her. Gunshots echoed in the room and the vampire's face morphed in her the nun's gun let out a whips of smoke as she emptied her clip in the vampire's back. That caused her to take her focus away from me for a brief moment. I took advantage of that opening and kicked her in the navel, sending her stumbling backwards, her nails fortunately yanked out of my abdomen in a quick smooth motion without damaging any of my organs.
The vampire took a moment to process everything, however she took notice of the shadow lurking over her. She literally threw herself to the side at the last moment and avoided the light blade that came from above her head.
As she stumbled away as the church warrior let out an annoyed 'tsk', clearly irritated that she just missed out on a great opportunity to impale the female undead. The nun took a moment and took a good look at my wounds. With a tired sigh she pulled out a small vial and threw it at me.
In a panic, I grabbed it before it hit the floor. I looked at the vial, then at the nun, she held a neutral look on her face. "It's ointment for your wounds, to stop your bleeding."
I blinked a couple of times before I gave her a nod in appreciation. These puncture wounds I had were relatively small in size but they were still bleeding out, if left unattended it would be quite bad. Without wasting anymore time I flipped the vial's top off and applied the salve. It was a strange substance that's for sure, it was pale green in color with the consistency of a thick mayonnaise with grains of sugar in it. The scent was also very pungent, just having it on my chest and abdomen felt like I was sniffing a bottle of vinegar.
Well, beggars can't be choosers.
With that out of the way I shifted my attention back to the deadly beauty on the floor. Her body struggling, as smoke was rising from her back, her pain filled hisses echoed as she tried to pick herself up. She was standing with her back towards us, allowing me to see the many gun wounds that the nun inflicted on her. With the caliber of those bullets, added along with the blessing they should deal some real damage to her and help hamper her as they continue to purify her while lodged inside her.
But something happened that made my eyes widen in surprise. The flesh on her back seemed to… ripple? It was like her skin became waves of restless water, bullet wounds were expanding and contacting. A wet, squishy sound could be heard as something was getting pushed out from the gaping wounds. The injured flesh was pushed out from the inside, spit down on the floor together with the bullets that were burning her from within. Discarded flesh sizzled away to dust from purification done by the bullets, yet the undead that they were previously inside did not seem to be affected.
"So the rumors were true…" I heard the nun speak as she joined me, a concerned look present. "She has the Nightmare Flesh sacred gear."
That name alone raised some red flags in my mind. "What's that?"
"A sacred gear that gives the user the power of manipulating the anatomy and physiology of their body." She explained with steel in her voice. "The users can literally reshape and shapeshift their bodies however they want."
As I took this in, everything began making sense.
How she was able to keep up with Loup Garou and I in spite of being at a physical disadvantage, the way her body seemed off whenever she dodged our attacks, and not to mention the trick she just pulled in front of us. She wasn't dodging at all, she was sucking in her flesh and bones inside of her body right before an attack was about to connect.
That also could explain how she could extent and bend her fingernails the way she did.
Finally things were making sense.
There was a part of me that couldn't help and snark at this. "You knew and you didn't mention this?"
If the woman was bothered by my remark she certainly didn't show it. "Like I said, they were only rumors, we didn't have any confirmation about it."
"Still would have been nice to mention it."
"... We had other six sacred gears we speculated she could possess." She remarked dryly.
The vampire was still standing with her back to us and it gave me an eerie feeling. Even more so when her head slowly turned to see us… at a complete one hundred eighty degrees.
That would have killed a normal person, and yet here she was staring at us backwards. She took a moment and looked down at where she was previously shot, wounds having closed and yet she seemed to have grown annoyed.
"You know, I really liked this dress." she sighed with a small pout noting the holes in it while giving the nun beside me the stink eye. "I know you're a nun and all, but even you should know how hard it is to find good clothes."
The female exorcist didn't bother to verbally reply, she did what I never expected to see from a nun and instead flipped the vampire off.
Said vampire didn't seem to mind the un-nun like behavior from her and instead extended her arms, her body twisted itself around like a piece of elastic until her body was now properly facing us.
"A shame our little religious devotee butted in, I was just getting to know you better." She retracted her nails back to a normal size, my blood still coating them. The woman stared intensely at it for a bit before she sniffed, there was a heavy pause before she brought the hand close to her mouth, running her tongue over one of her nails.
The moment her tongue came into contact with my blood her expression morphed into a stunned one. Her eyes started pulsing in bright red as her breath seemed to become haggard. Something seemed to have snapped in her and she began sensually licking her other fingers one by one, her tongue caressing them as it went over every nook and cranny she could find. Eventually leading to her sucking on them like they were some untold exquisite delicacy, her lustful gaze and sweet moans were something you would've seen straight out of an adult movie. When there wasn't anything left she appeared to have broken out her hunger daze, clearly disappointed of it being over and very perplexed.
Red eyes focused on me and pulsed with a mesmerizing light. "Such flavor… I've never been much of a gourmet, but you, you are most exquisite." Her eyes looked me over from top to bottom. "Yes… quite tasty indeed."
The intense look she gave me as she sensually licked her lips made me feel like some kind of piece of meat. "Okay… I'm starting to feel uncomfortable. Anybody else feeling uncomfortable?"
Griselda-san on the other hand looked quite annoyed by the vampires antics. "Quite... it seems she is thirsty for you Mister Emiya, perhaps in more ways than one."
"Eh?" that last remark left me confused and in a slight panic. What else could she possibly want to suck out of me besides my blood?!
She checked her gun and gave a small scowl when she saw it was empty. Without anymore bullets she discarded the gun. "In any case, now that we know she possesses that particular sacred gear we have to find a way past it."
I shook my head and tried to put my mind in order. "Okay, then do you have any ideas how to stop her?"
"That's the tricky part, she can freely reshape her body and relocate any of her vital organs." she further elaborated. "Even blessed weapons won't do the trick as she can simply discard the parts of flesh that get affected."
That definitely was troublesome, if she could discard any flesh that was burning away then it didn't matter how many times she was cut. There was however something amiss there.
"Won't she run out of flesh at that rate?"
"From what I gather that sacred gear also allows for the user to also regenerate flesh."
So she could potentially recover what she discards… that made things even more difficult.
Perhaps a more extreme approach might do the trick. "What if we strike something more vital that she can't afford to discard, like the heart or brain?"
The nun pondered for a bit before giving a small nod. "It would have to be a big wound."
I traced a new pair of black keys and offered her one. "We'll have to manage."
Her blue eyes studied the weapon I was holding out, she carefully picked it up and ran her fingers along the dull part of the blade. "We will have words once we are done here." The nun clearly had much to ask about it but refrained, no doubt she could tell that the black key that I gave her is a sacramental weapon. The fact that I could make them most certainly raised many questions for the nun.
Both of us prepared ourselves as the vampire was recovering from her blood daze, the glow in her eyes was toning down now. Without any other option left we both charged at the vampire, blades screaming for her blood. I threw one of the black keys at her abdomen as we approached. This time the vampire didn't brandish her nails and instead stood still. Flesh was split apart right where the blade was heading for, mushy wet insides were revealed as the blade passed through the opening without damaging the body.
I was one step away from freezing in place to stare but I gritted my teeth and pushed on. We reached her and began attacking her, from both sides.
A new frustrating game soon began.
Just as Griselda said she was able to manipulate her body's structure as she pleased. When we tried to stab or slash her she would suck in her flesh to narrowly avoid cuts from our weapons.
Her appendages were also now deadly weapons in their own right. Before she would only change the shape of her nails but now she manipulated her arms as well, extending and using them like fleshy whips. I narrowly dodged an arm whip from her while trying to stab the arm itself. Pain surged in my shoulder as something cut through it. From the inside of her arm a bone spike erupted and grazed me. Others followed and I was forced to back away, but my opponent wasn't having any of that. Her arm bent at the elbow and its direction changed once again, the fist morphing in a mallet of flesh and bone.
The moment of surprise wasn't wasted by her and she proceeded to bash me in the chest with it. My body screamed in pain as my rib cage felt like it was pushed in, the force of the impact sending me crashing into a wall, the wall breaking upon my arrival. My head was in disarray, everything was spinning around me. I tried to hold my head in place in an attempt to stop the chaos in it but to no avail, it took me about a minute before everything sat back in place.
"Ahhh…!" I growled in pain as I reached for anything that could act as a support for me. If my body wasn't reinforced that attacked would have shattered my ribcage, and if not that then the breakthrough of the wall would have definitely done more than a simple concussion to me. My fingers wrapped around what I presumed was a chair arm as I slowly lifted myself up, the pieces of broken wall that were on me falling down as I tried to discern where exactly I ended up. "What is this place?"
My mind was still in haze but slowly managed to get a hold of myself. It was a small room, no bigger than a broom closet but it instead of cleaning utensils it was filled with papers and large books. "A storage… Magic tomes?" While I am no expert on the mystic arts, it was obvious from some of the scattered books on the ground that whoever lived here studied just that. In any other circumstances, I would have been thrilled to find a secret stash of magic books but I really didn't have that luxury at the moment. "Tsk, no time to idle around."
I yanked myself up and tried to make my way out, using the wall as support. With a bit of a struggle I got out through the same hole that I made when I was sent crashing in. When I was out I took a moment to see the current state of the battlefield and I was anything but fine with it.
Loup Garou was still out cold and the nun didn't seem to be faring any better, she was struck by the vampires whip like arm and was sent stumbling back in my direction. I narrowly managed to catch her mid way before she hit the ground.
She was momentarily surprised by my rescue but didn't bother to thank me for it, not that I blamed her. The flow of this battle clearly annoyed the both of us. "That sacred gear is truly annoying."
That was an understatement.
Even as we stood there the approaching enemy was shifting her body in number of disturbing ways, as if to mock us. Sacred gears truly came in all kinds of shapes and sizes.
The one wielded by Shahnaz was truly perplexing, but this one was also dangerous in its own way. I still found it hard to believe that God created so many of them as a gift to humanity.
It was at that moment that a realization hit me.
"Wait… only humans are supposed to have sacred gears right?" I asked the nun. "How does she have one if she's a vampire?"
My question seemed to catch her off guard, my statement making her eyes go wide. "... Either she had someone with the proper tools to remove it and implant it in her, or she-"
"Or she was born with it." Andreea's voice cut us off from behind, but that didn't make sense, she was still in front of us. I slowly turned my head and was instantly disturbed by what I saw, from the ground a flesh like appendage had sprout up, most likely a leg. What truly creeped me out that the vampire's face that was present on the sole of the foot. "And that would make me a halfbreed, or if you prefer the politically correct term, a hybrid."
Griselda didn't waste any time in speaking instead trying to cut her up, but she managed to dodge and retreat back under ground. We shifted back just in time to see her pull her foot out of the ground, witnessing in morbid fascination as her face was crawling up along her body, making its way back to its rightful place.
When everything was properly back in place she opened her mouth and moved her jaw a couple of times left and right. "Funny as that is to do, it does give me a stiff jaw afterwards."
Her red eyes focused on the nun, giving her a sweet smile as she began speaking. "Excuse me dear, but would you mind if you give me and your friend some time alone?"
The person in question was not amused. "In the middle of the fight?"
"I would personally prefer to do it over a cup of coffee, but something tells me your friend would turn me down." She gestured to me with a wink, a shiver ran down my spine at this. "However, since you don't want to give us any space. I might as well keep you busy."
Right on cue there were loud bashing sounds around the room, eerie growls were growing stronger, which I already recognized being more familiar with the noise than I would like.. "More ghouls?"
The female exorcist readied herself, weapons up and prepared for battle. There was a pause and a grim look formed on her face. But it instantly turned to shock when she saw what was before her. "Wait… those are…"
When those ghouls came to light I understood instantly the nuns sudden change in demeanor. I recognized the ghouls, but more importantly, Griselda knew them personally. Her legs trembled and threatened to give out on her, looking like she was one push away from breaking down. "Ezio… Ricardo… Fabrizio… everyone…"
"Unlike you lot your little friends here didn't fare so well against the ghouls that they encountered." Andreea's red eyes glowing as she kept monologuing, but in spite of how overbearing her words may have appeared, the tone of her voice lacked any real trace of malice. "They fought valiantly, truly upholding their duty and devotion as the church's warriors. Even making quite a dent in my forces, but as you can see, in the end they all joined me."
She began walking casually to us, the ghouls around her responding and rushing towards us. But the undead former church warriors seemed to focus only on the nun alone. "Now I'm curious, how will you react when facing your own comrades?"
Cold sweat ran down my face as I understood what the vampire was trying to do to the nun. I placed a hand on her shoulder to help her get a grip but she was unresponsive. "Griselda-san?"
Her head was down, a shadow covering her eyes as she spoke. "... Mister Emiya, either help me or take care of the vampire, your choice."
"..." I didn't know what to say, the nun taking a step forward, brushing my hand aside.
I tried to stop her but it was too late for two of the ghouls had already reached her. Blood was sprayed in the air and two bodies hit the ground, turning to ashes. The nuns eyes were burning with anger as she started fighting her former comrades. As this was taking place the vampire was strolling around with a bemused smile on her face.
"Oh my, how cruel of you, in spite of being your own friends you didn't hesitate at all to kill them. Did they matter so little to you?"
She was trying to break her, get in her mind and then shatter it. That was her plan, but it instead only added more wood to the blazing fire burning in the nun's heart.
"... It's the other way around you bitch." She roared as she decapitated another one of the ghouls, blood and tears scattering in the air as she moved to the next one. "It's because I cared for them that I will put them out of their misery with my own hands rather than let them suffer as your slaves!"
The vampire only scoffed at this. "Oh please, they knew what they were getting into when they became the church's lap dogs. They knew from the start they could die in the most gruesome manner, and yet they still chose to follow this path. It's equally inspiring as it is foolish."
"You know nothing of us! Of me!"
"Don't I?" She purred as she rushed at the nun, arm stretching and catching her by the throat when she was too busy with the ghouls to spot her. Fangs glinted in the dark as she brought her close to her eyes. "Didn't you imagine yourself when you were a young and innocent maiden that you would one day fight in the name of God, protecting people and teaching His word?" Her nails tightened around her throat. "But then reality hit and you realized that you aren't some protector, just a hypocrite with a licence to kill."
I tried to rush at them and stop her but the ghouls stood blocking me serving as a wall between us. The vampire throwing me a bemused smirk, the nails around the nuns throat digging deeply in it, fresh blood being drawn. "Sorry dear boy, but you will have to wait for a bit."
She had me at bay, her intentions were crystal clear, the moment I tried anything funny she would kill her. The ghouls in front of me weren't even attacking me, I could see the hunger in their eyes but their master was keeping them put. Whatever Andreea was planing she didn't want me to interfere, yet also wanted me to see it myself uninterrupted.
The sweet smirk she had when she saw my hesitation only made me gnash my teeth in frustration. Her eyes shifted back to her hostage who was seething. "Does the truth hurt?"
"There's no truth in your words!"
She denied it, but I could feel in her voice, the vampire was getting under her skin, her words were clearly affecting her.
"Sorry to disappoint you my dear, but I do not believe in lying. No matter how messy, brutal, or deviant the truth may be I will always be true to myself and tell it with a smile." She pivoted on her right leg and threw the arm she was holding the nun with forward, slamming her against a nearby wall. "Completely unlike your so called house of God that instantly casts off their followers the moment become a liability."
The impact took the air out the nun but she it didn't seem to be hurt that much. "Y-You know nothing!"
The refusal to give in to her words didn't bother the woman, she simply retracted her arm and brought the nun back to her eye line.
"Maybe I don't personally, but I have a lot of connections in oh so many places." Andreea hummed as her steel like nails brushed against the nun's throat. "What was it again, that scandal that took place just recently in the church?"
There was a visible change in the nun demeanor at that remark, her eyes widening and shaking.
"Oh right." Her attention shifted to me, the look the deadly beauty showed that she was going enjoy what she was about to do. "Better listen to it my dear boy, because it's quite the tear jerker. There was once a holy sister, one said to be a true devotee in both spirit and faith, with a kindness so pure that even the Seraphim would feel humbled. Yet that very sister that the church exalted and worshiped was excommunicated and branded as a heretic." Her smile was ever present on her face, but venom and scorn was laced in her words as she went on. "She was blessed with a sacred gear that could heal and save one from even the most grievous of wounds, with it she healed the followers in suffering and those on their deathbeds. Truly a divine gift meant for a follower of God."
Red orbs began to glow as she began gazing into the nun's blue ones.
"However the gentle sister was unable to only reserve that gift for those the church deemed worthy of its grace. On a day like any other she somehow stumbled upon a dying devil, now most church followers would either get help to deal with it or kill it themselves, but not this sister. She discarded the duty she had and upheld her own sense of morals, healing and saving the injured devil. Truly the picture of compassion, kindness, and mercy… all traits supposedly exalted according to the good book's teaching I believe."
"Be quiet..." Griselda gasped as she stared at her captor desperately but unbothered Andreea went on.
"But when the church found out, all of the admiration and reverence they once had for her instantly turned into scorn and disgust. She chose to save a life at the cost of everything she was. Last thing I heard she was banished and left to fend for herself in this cold cruel world that consumes kind and foolish people like her." She brought Griselda-san close to her, to make sure she looked her dead in the eyes, "Now tell me woman, what kind of house of God discards its members for choosing to be human instead of blind drones?"
Something in me felt it snapped, unable to keep myself silent. I traced six black keys and eviscerated the ghouls in front of me. "Don't listen to her dammit!"
"A bit too late for that." The vampire chuckled to herself as she let Griselda go, letting her crash on her knees, her eyes were dull and unresponsive. "Sadly, that holy sister was just one of the many victims of your hypocritical organisation. You all go on about how fallen angels and devils are the evil that corrupts humanity, but at the very least they are honest about it and don't hide behind hollow words."
"..." She didn't answer, yet her hands balled into fists.
The vampires long nails found themselves under her chin, slowly lifting her head up so she could look her in the eyes. "Can you tell me that I'm wrong?"
There was a heavy pause as the nun opened her mouth, the words taking their time to come forth.
"... I won't deny any of that." The nun spoke slowly, something igniting in her eyes as she stared at the enemy. "However, that doesn't change my oath. What I believe in and fight for aren't the teachings of the church, but those of The Almighty One. Whether my actions were a mistake or not it's up to HIM to judge."
The smile on the vampires face had gone away, all that was left was a dull flat expression.
"... Another one of those faith driven fools." She sighed clearly dejected by blue eyed woman's choice of words. "How boring."
Without a warning the vampire stomped on the nuns ankle, a loud crack was heard followed by the nun's scream. "Gahh!"
"Griselda-san!" I called out in rage as I saw how the woman was squirming on the ground in pain. I couldn't take anymore of this so I threw my blades at the vampire, but it was useless, she simply bent her body at such disturbing angles that the blades merely passed her by not hitting her. This was bad, I had to do something before she hurt Griselda any further. My only option was to distract her somehow. "What are you planning vampire!?"
"Pardon?" she asked me as if confused.
"What's the point of all of this?!" I tried to hold myself from doing anything that would set her off, keeping even my voice under a restricted tone. "For what reason are you even gathering that many ghouls?!"
Fortunately, the vampire responded in a rather cordial way. "Well that's a kind of intimate question don't you think?"
What was unfortunate was how blase she was about this, it really got under my skin. "Answer me!"
"Well~ if you insist." She hummed as her focus shifted completely at me, choosing to ignore the struggling nun right next to her. "I guess I'm trying to start a little ghoul outbreak in the city. Though little may not be the right word. The ghouls I have are somewhere around the thousand mark, and one good bite from a ghoul will turn you into one."
The sound of her heels echoed as she began walking towards me. "When you take into account that tonight there is a concert downtown and will be quite a number of people outside," a smile spread across her large lips. "Yes, I believe by the next day most if not all of the city will get infected."
My fists tightened as the scenario began forming in my head, the grim outcomes that could arise making my eyes throb in anger as I desperately struggled to keep my cool. "Why…?" I muttered as I tried to understand, but failed, it only made me seethe in anger. "What's the point of all of this?!"
She didn't stop walking, but her smile was all gone, only an uninterested impassive stare was left. "To get vengeance on humanity for killing my family?"
Those words were a like a blow that took the wind out of my sails. My emotions began going into conflict as I started to see the bigger picture.
The glow in her eyes faded as she got closer. "Would that be a satisfying answer?"
It was like a bucket of cold water was poured on me, that remark truly confused me.
What?
"If not that, how about for constantly hunting and killing my kind for simply trying to survive?" There was something off with the way she spoke, it wasn't like she was messing with me, but it felt wrong. She looked at me, a small smile on her face. "Would that suffice?"
The vampire stopped in her tracks and opened her arms as she continued to speak.
"Would giving you a deep reason justify my actions?" Her head tilted ever so slightly as her red eyes stared deeply into mine. She didn't wait for my answer and shook her head. "No, it won't, no matter how tragic and fucked up my reason may be it won't excuse what I want to do."
Small chuckles followed, but they lacked any amusement in them, they were tired and strained. "Its quite sad that people believe I need some kind of grandiose or justified reason for what I'm doing."
Dammit… my mind felt like it was surrounded by a thick fog. There was something about her that wasn't adding up. The way she spoke, they way she held herself… it felt too normal. Ignoring the abstraction of her powers and how the way she fought, there was something oddly pleasant about her. She had a certain way with words just got to you. It was like I could understand her… but at the same time I couldn't.
"Then why are you doing it?" Strangely, the rage in my voice had faded away, all that was left was cold confusion.
"I'm curious." She simply stated
"Curious…?" I mechanically repeated what she said.
"Yes, you see, life has this way of throwing unexpected tragedies at people, some of them can end up scarring their mind, I was one of those. Ever since then I questioned my very existence and that of the very nature of people."
She began walking towards me once again, the sounds of her heels echoed in synch with her voice. "I tried to understand it… the reasoning behind people's actions. As such I tried to replicate that experience I went through, but sadly even if I did everything down to a T it did not resurface. That being said I started doing different scenarios that played with what drove people. There were times I was impressed and many times I was disappointed and yet I did not relive that experience that marked me."
One of her hands reached for her face and she began pulling the skin, what was disturbing was how much she was able to stretch it due to her sacred gear. "So I wondered, how deeply etched are the masks we wear?" She let go and her face quickly returned back to its proper form, a sweet smile spreading on her lips as she approached me. "I want to see what lies hidden beneath those masks of reason and self imposed rule that people have. So what better way than to make them go through something that forces them to shed their masks in order to survive, after all people only show their true selves when they face certain death."
Her eyes flowed in anticipation. "And what they show is more often than naught utterly disappointing."
I did not realize it at first, but all this time I was slowly backing away from her as she approached. "You're insane…"
My remark did not seem to offend her, quite the opposite it made her chuckle eagerly.
"Close, but not exactly, I'm just ahead of the curve." She was right in front of me, her fingers making their way and touching my cheek. "Disturbed may be a good description though."
Goosebumps formed on my skin when I hit something behind me, I swallowed nervously as I realized that I unconsciously walked backwards till I hit a wall, leaving me without any more space to retreat.
I turned back at the vampire and saw red, that of her eyes, glowing with excitement. "That being said, I'm really curious what's underneath your mask."
Out of sheer panic I traced my twin blades and tried to drive her back, but much to my own shock my body didn't budge.
"Uh-uh-uh." The insane woman waved her finger playfully in front of me. "Let's keep those hands at home for now."
My eyes quickly scanned my body, teeth grinding when I saw the source of my sudden lack of mobility. All of my joints and my upper body were held in place by some kind of wire that erupted from the wall behind me.
"Hair is such an interesting thing isn't it?" She chuckled as she turned around, allowing me to see the cascade of hair reaching all the way to the floor and digging in the ground. It took me a moment to understand what happened, she must have used her sacred gear to expand her hair and make it dig its way underground all the way behind me, and when I was up against the wall I got caught in her trap. I struggled to break free but I couldn't even budge, I was literally pinned against the wall. "A few strands can't do much, but if you use enough of it you can substitute it for rope or chains."
In spite of what she said I didn't stop struggling to break free. I tried to use the blades I held to cut the strands but the vampiress took notice of this, stabbing my hands with her steel like nails, forcing me to drop my weapons.
With those out of the way she cupped my chin and forced me to look her in the eyes.
"I just don't get why all the anger you've shown." she whispered slowly. "I've been watching you all since you got here, you have no previous relationship to any of them and yet you show so much passion over the death of strangers."
She turned my head to the left. "Are you one of those men driven by faith, those that believe what they do is in the name of God?"
There was a brief pause as she studied me.
"No, it's not that, one of those driven by justice perhaps?" She turned my head to the right. "Hmm… not quite that either, at least not fully I think."
She turned my back to face her directly, a bemused smile present, one that could've made any man's heart flutter from sweet it appeared.
"Why do struggle so much?" She purred as she pulled me closer, gazing deeply into my eyes. "What's your secret?"
There was no reason for me to answer, no, that was exactly what she wanted from me. The moment I broke and played her game it would be over for me.
The best strategy that I could have done was ignore her for as long as I could, avoid as much as I could not playing by her rules.
That was the logical answer.
Yet, I was unable to uphold it.
I did not know why, but something inside me snapped and I screamed.
"Because I don't want to see anyone die in front of me when I could have done something!" she wasn't fazed by my sudden outburst and I went on. "I don't care who they were, they didn't deserve that! I couldn't save them but I will not allow any other innocents to die for your twisted plans."
"Even if you get hurt?"
"I will endure it!"
"Even if your body breaks?"
"I will push through and fight another day!"
"Even if you die in the process?"
"I don't care if i die!"
I was panting, the shouting was over and I felt winded, like I forced the answers out of myself with utmost difficulty. As I tried to catch my breath the vampire stared silently at me, and much to my own confusion she seemed surprised.
"... I see."
It was gone.
The playfulness of her voice.
It was like someone else entirely in front of me, the change in her tone, in her demeanor, the very way she looked at me, it was completely different from what she had shown up until now.
If anything… she seemed… sad? The claws that were previously poking my skin slowly retracted and her soft fingers brushed gently against my face. She ran a hand through my hair and pulled me close to her. I wanted to trace a weapon in my mouth and slash at her but that idea died as I felt it.
Warmth.
Of all the things that the vampire could have done, she hugged me. A series of conflicted emotions ran through me as I tried to understand what was going on anymore. Nothing made sense anymore. I could have understood if she pulled me closer to bite my throat, taunt me, or anything along the lines of what an enemy would typically do to their captured prey.
But this… this just blew me away.
"Oh, you poor, poor thing." The vampire, Andreea, whispered gently, slowly lifting herself on the tips of her toes, planting a soft kiss on my forehead. As I stood there stunned she pulled away, her eyes closed while a large smile was beaming on her face.
It was beautiful… yet twisted.
"You're just as messed up as I am."
I tried to speak, yet no words would come out.
What had truly silenced me wasn't her actions, it was her words. The logical side of me was screaming not to listen to her, that it must have been some kind of messed up plan on her side. A trick or something to mess with my head. The two of us we were nothing alike, and she was only talking nonsense. No matter how I look at it, I shouldn't listen to anything she said.
And yet…
There was something…
A small part of me… that didn't disagree with her.
Why…?
I couldn't accept what she did… I couldn't accept what she was planning… I had all the reason to despise her... and yet… I… I couldn't completely deny her.
It was the opposite.
A part of me emphasized with her.
Everything came to a pause as a grey blur flashed before my eyes. It rushed and impacted with Andreea, sending her flying several feet away.
I slowly lifted my head and gazed at the werewolf, his pale yellow eyes burning in anger. What surprised me wasn't the hostility he displayed but the fact that he was back up so soon from the Shock Arrow. The attack did cause a real nasty number on him when the vampire used it against him. Looking carefully, he had used the sleeve of his shirt as a makeshift bandage to stop the bleeding. That unfortunately didn't solve much past that, even without inspecting it I could tell that the flesh from the wound got burnt very badly, bits of blackened skin were around the patch and I could only imagine how the flesh looked beneath it.
His lips parted and his words came out as a cold hiss. "Don't let her get in your head…"
"Loup Garou…?" I simply muttered his name, my mind was still trying to make sense of the chaos raging through it, even after the vampire was knocked aside I still felt completely out of tune.
My lack of response didn't sit well with the werewolf. He grabbed me by the shirt and headbutted me, very hard, I might add. "... Next time you let her get in your head I will punch you back to your senses, you hear me kid?!"
All I could do was nod, it didn't really help but it seemed to calm him down a little. With a firm nod he brought forth his claws and slash me with them. Sadly the hair bindings he aimed for didn't easily break from one slash, said attack only managing to give my right hand more space to move and it was still very much held in place. That man clicked his teeth and prepared to repeat the process. Much to both of our annoyance however he was forced to turn around and block an incoming appendage, the attack pushing him away from me.
As her arm retracted and took back its original shape Andreea gave the Frenchmen a dry glare. "You just had to ruin the mood didn't you?"
As expected the vampire's personality was like salt of wound for the werewolf. "I will ruin more than your mood bitch."
With a beastly howl the man transformed back into his werewolf form, body glowing in power.
He burst forth once again even faster than before rushing past the vampire. Blood erupted in the air together with the vampires severed arm.
For a moment I thought that Loup Garou did it, that he actually dealt a lethal wound to the vampire but it all vanished when I saw the large strands of muscle erupting from both the severed arm and the original body, the lines of flesh reaching for each other and connecting. The very next moment the severed arm was pulled back to the body, reattaching itself in its entirety. Andreea smirked as she flexed her returned limb. Just in time to morph it into a flat shield like form to block a new attack from the werewolf. They stared at each other's eyes for one brief moment, both letting out their battle cries as they began a violent exchange blows.
Loup Garou was showing such a fierce fighting style, one that I don't believe I could've kept up with. That was the case with me… Against the vampire though… It didn't matter. Nothing had changed from how it was earlier. Power and speed didn't matter against this woman, she could adjust her body in so many ways that she couldn't be fatally injured, let alone killed. In all honesty, I didn't know how he could win against her.
Wait…
My blood ran cold as I saw who was slowly crawling her way to the two fighters. In spite of having her ankle crushed Griselda wasn't out of the game and she was proving this by quite literally crawl her way to the enemy. I tried to understand what she was planning to do in that condition but only realized her plan when I saw the glowing mark on her hand. A heavy lump formed in my throat as I realized what she planned, it was far too risky but it was probably one of the only ways left to defeat our opponent.
It would only work if she reached her unaware, however should the Andreea notice her before she reaches her it will be all over. Worse, Griselda could very well die, especially since the vampiress had made it clear that she had lost all interest in her.
"Dammit!" I could only lament myself for getting trapped and struggle to break free.
I paused as something stood in front of me, or it was more precise to say that it was someone.
"That won't work."
Seeing Archer stand in front of me with such a pity filled expression only made me struggle even more to prove him wrong. "Shut up! I refuse to stay and do nothing while the others are fighting."
"Doing it like that won't help." The red clad warrior deadpanned as he crossed his arms.
"Don't you think that I don't already know that?!" I shouted and struggled, the wire like hair strands were already cutting into my skin, the blood that was drawn further hindering me.
"Then stop complaining about it and use your head!" He all but snapped as he got closer to me, steel like eyes piercing me with their stare. "You have all the tools you need but you can't see them because you're letting your emotions blind you."
"Then what can I do?!" I honestly hated this quirk of his, he did it all the time, giving me advice but never including actual context. And much like the other times he just scoffed at my demands.
"Think back, there was a time where your weapons were not limited to your reach." The bowman mentally flicked me on the forehead, a painful one at that, there was no actual physical contact but the pain was there nonetheless. "Figure that out and you will be able to help them."
With that he vanished and left me to my own accords once more. It did not help, all it did was make me panic as I realized how much time I just wasted. Looking up ahead Loup Garou was at his wits end, his opponent had injured his knee and he could barely keep himself standing straight anymore, let alone run around the enemy. Griselda was almost there as well but if she was spotted it was over.
Dammit!
I traced another black key in my loose hand and tried to use it to free myself.
Think Emiya, think!
The blade wouldn't reach my bindings, the position was just too complicated with how my wrists were being held against the wall. No matter what direction I aimed it, the blade just wouldn't had to be something I could do. If I could only hinder her for a single moment so Griselda-san can catch her off guard.
A glint bothered my left eye and quickly checked it out, it was from the black key, some of the light made by the flames thrown around by the werewolf was reflecting their light in its blade.
For some reason I was drawn to the weapon for the briefest of moments. Something seemed to echo in my mind as I gazed at the blade. An image flashed before me, followed by static, so short I could barely make it up. From what I could discern it showed a girl dressed in nun garbs, similar yet different to the ones worn by Griselda-san. She was wielding the very same black keys that I used, but there seemed to be something different with how she used them.
…
Of course… it finally dawned on me.
I was so focused with using the black keys as mere killing weapons that I ignored the other functions they could be used for. Black keys were sacramental items that could be used in a number of ways, besides just swinging and throwing them around.
There was a way to put an end to this, but it all came down to whenever or not the vampire would get close enough to me. My focus shifted back at the battle as I readied myself.
She delivered a powerful kick to the werewolves ribs, sending him tumbling a few meters away. It pained me to say this but she did well, as now the Frenchmen was closer to me and she slowly was getting closer to him to finish the job.
Loup Garou spit out a mouth full of blood as he tried to get up, the last attack had done quite a number of him.
Closer, closer.
Andreea on the other hand seemed fine overall, her clothes having suffered the most damage in all the altercations. As rips and tears were scattered throughout showing more of her skin and further exposing her figure. However, now that I looked closer at her she was panting and covered in sweat.
Come on.
Oh the irony, even though we couldn't injure her by normal means an option we never considered was exhausting would have been an actual viable method and yet I never even realized it. Not that it mattered at this point considering my present circumstances. I couldn't break free to do so, my only option that remained was my current plan that was all but reliant on luck.
Do it.
Her hand morphed into blade like appendage as she towered over the werewolf, ready to proceed with his execution.
She was in place… I had one chance, I had to make it count.
Now!
I reinforced my arm to its utmost limit and threw the black key at the vampire.
This didn't go unnoticed, she saw it coming and bent her leg at an impossible angle, letting the blade pass her by.
It didn't strike the vampire's flesh.
All it did was merely stab itself in the ground next to her.
Right into her shadow.
A smirk crept on my face.
Bullseye.
There was a pause and the vampires eyes widened in shock as her body stood motionless. "...I can't move?"
The black keys despite paling in comparison to a noble phantasm, had their own little of the ways they could be used, one of them was for incapacitation. By stabbing a person's shadow with it, one could pin its owner where they trapped vampiress was already trying to break free, desperately trying to shift her body and regain her freedom. It wasn't a permanent solution, given enough time a person could figure out a way to escape its binding.
But, what mattered was that it worked right now.
Right in time for the other woman in the room to make her move. Cold sweat trailed down on the vampire's brow, her eyes drifting down at woman holding her by the ankle. Griselda Quarta had a shit eating grin present on her face. "Missed me?"
The markings on her hand glowing violently as she activated her charm she told me about earlier. "Release!"
The light ignited, and the pain soon followed.
"Gahhhhhh!" Her screams echoed as purple energy surged straight into her body, akin to getting struck by lightning, the ground itself crackling and shattering by the force generated from the mark. Loup Garou also got pushed back by the sudden surge of power, but luckily for him he managed to bring his guard up and brace himself for what followed. Flesh boiled and swollen like air balloons all over the vampire's body, bursting with blood when they reached the limit. Hair getting singed from the heat, clothes getting further destroyed, and eyes rolling in the back of her head.
The screams eventually lost their strength and ended up as weak hisses, just as the energy began dying down. When it was gone, all that was left still smoking and unresponsive body of the fried Andreea. The nun breathing haggardly as she let go of the vampire, her body splattering on the floor from exhaustion. I now understood why she didn't want to use this charm unless absolutely necessary, not only did it seem to drain her of most of her strength but it also was dangerous to use around other people, even herself as the caster was not spared, for the hand that she used for it was now severely burned.
My head fell down in similar exhaustion, I could feel my own heart begin finally calm down.
Finally… it was finally ove-
Badum~
My blood ran cold as I felt something. It was like a pulse of some kind, and it came from the downed vampiress. I tried to call out to the nun but it was too late. The vampire's eyes rolled back down, bloodshot and filled with rage.
"You bitch!" The hoarse shriek that followed was probably registered by the nun at the same time that the vampire's kick made contact with her head, knocking her against the floor.
"Griselda-san!" All I could do was call her out but to no avail, the female exorcist lay unconscious on the floor.
Dammit!
No matter how weakened Andreea currently was it did nothing to weaken the bonds that held me. As I struggled to break free I kept track of the recently electrified vampire and much to my own surprise her movements were just as strained as my own.
Her body… it wasn't moving properly. Much more than that it seemed to have lost control of her sacred gear, her body kept shifting randomly without any sort of direction.
The shock must have been the source.
It may have failed to knock her out but her nervous system must have been sent in complete disarray, making her unable to manipulate her body the same way she did before.
Great as that might have been, it probably won't be long before it fully wears off.
Think Emiya!
Griselda got knocked out by the last attack and Loup is still having troubles with his leg. They had no means of stopping her the moment she recovered. I had to do something right now!
Try to figure what Archer said earlier.
Remember it!
That sensation when fighting Segrif, the move that made me launch dozens of blades at him from where I impulse… think… what could cause the weapons to burst forward like that?
Dammit!
Not only was I wasting time like this but I wasn't doing well with prana either.
…
Wait…
Prana…
Think back, there was a time where your weapons were not limited to your reach.
The words of Archer replayed in my mind over and over again and realization finally hit me. The pieces were finally together and were unraveled to me.
My weapons… The weapons were made out of prana and they were connected to me even if they weren't in contact with me.
That's it!
I traced a black key in my free hand and focused, building my prana right behind the hilt, visualizing it like a sphere of air. I left the sphere burst and the weapon shoot out of my hand violently. My teeth gritted from the pain that followed. Perhaps holding the weapon while using this move was a stupid idea. Something definitely cracked or broke in my hand from that little stunt. Whatever the case may be, I had to ignore it and focus on my current task.
I closed my eyes and visualized, body and mind on autopilot, no more time left to be wasted. Blades flashed through my mind, circuits flaring as new weapons were getting traced.
When I my opened I didn't bother to inspect my weapons and directed all my attention to what followed. The vampire was recovering her balance and getting back up. Channel and compress it. Focus it all right behind the weapons hilt, let it all build until it reaches the limit.
Her head twisted itself towards the woman that caused her the most inconvenience and pain.
Then I let in explode forward.
A single blade shot towards the vampire. Impaling her in the back. There a pause followed by a new pain filled shriek.
There was no time...
I had to risk it before it was too late!
"Loup Garou! Take Griselda-san and get out of the way right now!" I screamed on top of my lungs as the barrage of blades began rushing.
The werewolf was clearly confused by what is going on but managed to respond. He flashed a magic seal behind himself and jumped right in it, the seal flashing and propelling him like a slingshot. Whatever it was it clearly wasn't meant to be used like that, the moment of contact was more akin to an explosion, which clearly damaged his back. Dangerous as it may have been, it did the job. The werewolf had managed to grab onto the nun mid air and drag her away with him, right as the barrage of blades began descending upon the area. There were ten blades that were launched, but not all reached. Three of them lost velocity on the way, two missed the target by a large margin, another two barely grazed the target while only three actually stabbed her.
Reload!
Don't stop!
Ten new blades were traced and shoot.
No, not enough. Stabilize it, make it burst forward like an arrow.
More!
Faster! Gotta go faster!
My roar echoed as the blade flowed like a raging wave of steel. The pain that surged through me felt like it was burning me from the inside out but I held on to my job.
Something snapped in my mind.
Neon lights flickered in my guiding hand and the barrage was put to a halt, arm falling limply to the side. The sensation was still there but my arm refused to get up, just as my breath refused to calm down. I could only hope that what it managed to do was enough. Slowly, I shook my head and tried to look at the target.
What I saw before me was a vampire pincushion.
So many swords were stabbed in her body that I doubt she could have avoided a critical injury even with her sacred gear. And even if the blades didn't cut any vital organs, her blood was now draining and forming in a pool beneath her feet. If she were a human, no not even a high class devil would have survived from that many injuries, and yet she was still alive.
The struggle to even move her head and look at me seemed excruciating for her, in all honesty I felt pity for her as she stared at me with those pain filled eyes. "N… No… Not like this… I refuse to let it end like this!"
All I could do was sigh in contempt. "... I'm not the one that will kill you."
"...What are you-" her question was cut short as a pair of large clawed hands wrapped around her head. A snap sound filled the room followed by her body falling limply on the floor.
Loup Garou stared coldly at the woman he just broke the neck off. "... I am."
The bandana around his head was loose and the last sprint towards the vampire had completely untied the knot it had. As the vampire stared with its tired eyes the werewolf's bandana slipped off, his front bangs falling over his forehead. The expression on the vampires face had shifted from pain into one of pure astonishment as she looked upon her executioner's face.
"... I see." She muttered weakly as a smile spread across her lips. "I remember now… The boy that couldn't kill the girl in the closet."
Loup Garou initially didn't react to her words but slowly some grim realization must have hit him, all of the hostility he previously shown towards her had vanished as his features morphed into one of complete shock.
"... No wonder you looked familiar." The smile grew to her ears and she burst into mad laughter. "The boy that ignored the little girl in the closet. Oh the irony… To think you would be the one to end me… it's utterly hilarious."
Badumb~
I felt something echo inside as I witnessed the deranged woman's mad crackle, it was like a pulse reacting to her… to her powers.
Flickers of light began erupting from all over her body.
Something was wrong.
Loup Garou was still in shock that he wasn't even reacting to the vortex of energy forming in front of him. I could feel it down to my very core, it was her sacred gear.
It was powering up.
No… it was worse than that… it was changing... no... it was evolving!
"And it finally makes sense!" The last crackle escaped her mouth as her eyes flashed malevolently with power. "Balance breaker!"
I felt it, the peaking of the power. The error within a greater system. Contrary to what I expected, the energy she generated didn't burst outwards. It was the exact opposite, all of that energy that built around her was absorbed into her body. What followed made me question if I was still seeing things right, her body was merging with the ground itself. Flesh and bone blending itself together with floor until there was no trace of her body left.
"How intriguing." her voice echoed in amusement from every direction and yet I couldn't locate her at all. "My sacred gear allowed me to manipulate and reshape my body's structure at will. Now this balance breaker lets me fuse my body with my surroundings. I guess I will call this Nightmare Flesh house."
My loose hand punched the wall behind me in frustration. "Dammit… this battle isn't over."
"That's where you're wrong." I froze as I felt something warm and wet brush against my cheek. My eyes trembled as they drifted to the source, my heart beating wildly as I saw Andreea's face pushing its way from the wall itself, her tongue lapping up the blood dripping on my face. "I had enough fun for one night."
With that she retracted her tongue and gave me a light peck on the cheek before sinking back into the wall. This was truly the last thing I expected of her. "You're running away?!"
"I don't think your in any position to complain, I'm sure you realize what will happen if I chose to fight you in your current condition." I wanted to refute her but held myself back, as much as I did not want to admit it she was right. I, no, we all were in no condition to keep this fight going, especially since she had seemingly awakened this new power of hers. The only choice I had was to keep silent.
"I thought so." Her face slowly got sucked back into wall, the amused chuckles echoing as she quickly vanished. "This was enough fun for one night. Savor this victory, and take solace that you stopped my little ambition."
As the final trace of flesh was gone I was left here to seethe in my own inner turmoil. I refused to let my guard down, after everything that happened I couldn't be at ease until I knew that everything was truly over.
All I could do was stand strapped against the wall, brooding at my own inability to help. Loup Garou wasn't any better, it was a good five minutes before he finally broke out of his daze. Each step he took seemed heavy and lifeless, even picking up and putting his bandana back on appeared a monumental task for the man. His pale yellow eyes took notice of me, sighing in exhaustion he walked over and brandished his claws. With a few swift swings he cut the strands that bound me.
I fell to my knees, blood finally flowing properly in my cold limbs. They were numb, but I didn't stand in place and stubbornly made my way to the injured and unconscious nun. After checking her vitals I took a breath of relief, the last attack only knocked her out but she will be fine if she got medical attention. I guess the fact that the three of us were still alive was the only solace I could take after failing so miserably at stopping Andreea.
The enemy was gone but night wasn't over.
There were still many things left to be dealt with.
I picked Griselda-san and put her on my back, making sure she was properly positioned as best I could until we got her help. As I began walking I passed the werewolf who was silently staring at the floor the vampire vanished in.
In spite of knowing better, I still went on and asked him. "... You okay?"
The reply wasn't instant, it took a bit before he registered me and finally spoke.
"... No." he was done, whatever bloodlust he'd previously shown to the vampire had faded away. I could tell he was feeling just as, if not even more affected by this turn of events. "Let's go… It's been a long night."
No more words were exchanged as we walked was a bitter pill to swallow.
This was not a victory.
"You're just as messed up as I am."
And the her words refused to leave me alone.
Omake: The adventures of the Emiya house
Kiritsugu Emiya yawned tiredly as he made his way through the dark halls of his house. The middle aged man had woken up for a late night trip to the toilet but much to his confusion his wife wasn't in bed when he awoke. After his business in the bathroom was done (it was a real emergency and his prostate wasn't what it used to be), he began searching for Irisviel in the house. His search was a short one as he soon heard her voice, and checked the room from where it came from.
It was his from his son, Shirou's room.
Silently the elder Emiya peeked through the slightly cracked door and felt his face go stiff at what he witnessed.
Iri was in Shirou's bed holding the boy tight in her arms. The look the woman had on her face as she tried to calm the child down was one that Kiritsugu did not want to see. "It will be alright Shirou, the nightmare is over, the pain has passed. Mama is here with you."
She was doing her best, desperately trying to calm the boy from his nightmare but the Emiya patriarch wasn't sure how much of a difference it made. The boy was soaked from head to toe with sweat and the expression he had on his face only highlighted how bad his dream must have been.
He didn't dare to intrude on her and instead chose to go out on the veranda for a cigarette. It's been almost a year since the incident and they all more or less managed to settle down here in Kuoh pretty well, but there were still old scars that refused to heal.
Shirou being the prime victim.
The boy's nightmares were troubling, not that Kiritsugu wasn't surprised given what happened and he understood from his own experiences how hard it is to get over the darker parts of life.
Sadly, his wife wasn't cut off the same cloth as him.
Seeing Shirou like this truly broke her heart. She would always have such a radiant smile during the day, but when the night fell and the nightmares began, she would also feel the pain they brought him.
There was no blood ties between them, and yet Irisviel loved Shirou as her own son in spite of that.
Kiritsugu took a long puff out of his cigarette and let it all out.
It won't be easy, with everything that happened to all of them a long road of trials and challenges were certainly waiting for them.
And yet the man wasn't afraid.
He, no, they all were not alone anymore, they were a family and will make it through together.
Author notes:
'Sup guys. Not dead, shocker i know. Final year of collage, graduation shit is killing me, life sucks, yadda, yadda, you get the drill. Enough said.
So it's 2020… time sure flies doesn't it?
Kinda late to say this but i hope you guys had a good Christmas and New Years, I know I did. My liver felt like it was punched by Saitama from all the holiday food and drinks, guess I need to lay low for a while. I guess this arc is kinda done. All I need is the next chapter for the aftermath then it's back to Kuoh.
Originally I had a different idea for this chapter, it was supposed to end with the vampires death and the good guys winning, you know the classic cliche ending, but then I realized, what if shirou doesn't win all the time? Wouldn't that be more interesting?
So I had to scrap a lot of stuff and had to start over on a lot of things, plus there were a bit of issues on my beta's side of the spectrum, hence why it took so long. In all honesty this was supposed to be out two or three weeks ago.
Next chapter should wrap up things and you guys can be happy that this arc is over. While it may have seemed like a waste of time to some of you, it's meant to set up some changes, also it helped Shirou awaken his eye of the mind and sword barrage, so that's a thing. So in honor of all the times I rolled those damn keys in the gatcha I used them a lot this chapter Speaking of gatcha, my luck had turned really weird recently. Think about it this way, it took me about a year to gather just 5 SSR's (none of them GSSR's), and since the last update I gathered 6 new ones.
Shocking I know, especially when you consider my F2P policy and shit luck. But lol and behold my roster had grown, I managed to get Munenori, Medusa lancer, Herc, Tomoe, Enkidu, Ozzy, Gramps, Gilgamesh, Abby (1 yolo ticket WTF?!), Okita (GSSR). But alas my luck is still bad when it matters, failed the new years banners and the jalter one.
Guess I will have to hope of rolling the edge lord waifu in the GSSR
In any case, hope I can make next chapter drop quicker next time since there is no damn battle scenes that i need to write... I hope...
Don't forget to review... no seriously review; I could use some constructive criticism.
