There was a shift in Bell's mindset after Caroline's death.
He no longer hesitated when it came to putting down beasts. In fact, it was at this point that he actually started to resent the beasts and feel some sort of satisfaction after claiming their lives.
Following Gilbert's recommendation, Bell spawned back in Oedon Chapel and set out in search of the healing church. It was there in the back of a church that he met Alfred. Alfred was a hunter and member of the Executioners, a group of Zealot hunters that had connections to the healing church and were sworn enemies of the vilebloods. Despite being a zealot, he was friendly to the young hunter and even offered his help to Bell. After forming an alliance, Bell and Alfred slayed the Blood Starved Beast and the Darkbeast Paarl. After saying farewell to Alfred, he made his way to the Grand Cathedral and encountered Vicar Amelia, a head of the healing church turned beast. After her transformation and eventual disembowelment, Bell learned a phrase that his intuition was telling him was important.
Fear the Old Blood.
His intuition was proven to be correct when those words allowed him passage through an enclosed door that was guarded by a deadman. The door granted him access to the Forbidden Woods, a forest on the outskirts of Yharnam. It was there in the Forbidden Woods that Bell, after slaying countless vermin hosts and vipers of various sizes, discovered Byrgenwerth, a place of education involved in the research of the cosmos and the Great Ones.
Although the 'education' involved experiencing multiple deaths such as being burned alive by fireball spewing centipedes or literally having his brain sucked out of his body, Byrgenwerth provided him with a plethora of information and knowledge. He learned about the Great Ones which were a group of multidimensional beings that can exist across multiple planes of existences. In addition, he came across two mysterious notes:
When the red moon hangs low, the line between man and beast is blurred. And when the Great Ones descend, a womb will be blessed with a child.'
The spider hides all manner of rituals, certain to reveal nothing, for true enlightenment need not be shared.
The notes didn't make sense to the young hunter until he encountered Rom the Vacuous Spider. Rom, despite being given the name 'Vacuous Spider,' didn't resemble a spider at all. Infact, she resembled more of a gigantic pillbug rather than a spider.
Slaying Rom the Vacuous Spider, Byrgenwerth's attempt at creating their own 'Great One,' lifted a veil that was placed over the world.
The "true enlightenment" the spider was hiding was the Red Moon, a massive moon that covered the majority of the night sky. It was a nightmare that brought profound changes to the world.
The beasts became more savage, the citizens that were still sane succumbed to beasthood or madness, previously invisible less amygdala now visible to the world, the subtle but neverending sound of a baby crying that nearly drove the young hunter mad. Although he still had Gehrman, the doll, and the occasional fellow hunter, Bell never felt so alone in his entire life.
But perhaps the most profound change the Red Moon brought were what Bell eventually referred to as "invaders."
At random times throughout the hunt, he would hear a sinister bell echo in his surroundings, signaling to him that a hunter drunk on blood has "invaded" his world where a game of cat and mouse commenced.
Each encounter with an invader was different because every invader was unique in their own way. They used different weapons, had different fighting styles, different levels of experience, and different strengths and weaknesses.
Although these fights were always the most unpredictable, they thoroughly increased Bell's skills as a hunter as he was able to test out various weapons, different tactics, and a plethora of hunter tools he had collected throughout his journey as a hunter.
Nightmarish rituals crave a newborn. Find one, and silence its harrowing cry.
Those were the words that echoed in Bell's mind sometime after exploring the Unseen village. Although it did explain the subtle but constant crying he heard in his consciousness, he didn't know what to think of it. So he did what he always did when he needed guidance; he went to the doll.
Although Gehrman would occasionally give advice on how to use the various weapons and hunter tools he accumulated during the hunt; he mostly went to the doll for guidance.
Not only was Eve, which was the name that Bell decided to give to the doll, his anchor that prevented him from drifting into madness, but she was also an unexpected but certainly welcomed insightful listener. When Bell came to her seeking guidance, she always provided advice that was certainly helpful. It was through her suggestion of seeking out the lecture building that Bell discovered more clues that revealed some of the true nature of the hunt.
Hunt the Great Ones, Hunt the Great Ones.
The nameless moon presence beckoned by Laurence and his associates. Paleblood.
Three third cords.
Hunt the Great Ones? Does he have to hunt the Great Ones to escape?
And Paleblood… Paleblood Paleblood Paleblood… where did he hear that word from?
It only took Bell a couple of seconds for his eyes to widen in recognition. He recalled the very first note he found when he first entered Central Yharnam.
Could this 'Moon Presence' be the very same Paleblood that the note was talking about? If that was the case, this would be his very first major breakthrough.
But still, the three notes brought forth two questions that needed to be answered.
What was the Moon Presence? And what were these 'three third cords?'
Bell once again sought out Eve for counseling. Her eyes widened slightly upon hearing that he found the note about the 'three third cords' for a second before returning back to her usual emotionless countenance. Bell noticed this but didn't question it. She then theorized that the Moon Presence could be a Great One and he had to kill it to escape the dream.
The only problem was that Bell had nothing to go off of besides the fact that the Moon Presence was possibly a Great One. Because of that, he decided he was going to kill any Great One he encountered.
And so, the young hunter threw himself headfirst into the hunt with a new sense of purpose as he scoured the land for the Great Ones. His journey took him to Yahar'Gul the unseen village, the Nightmare Frontier, where he slew the Amygdala, and the Nightmare of Menis. However, he had to retreat when a bright light coming from the center of a massive building threatened to boil his blood and drive him insane.
Even after eviscerating Ebiertas, Daughter of the Cosmos, and even some "kin" Great Ones such as the Celestial Emissary (after experiencing countless deaths), Bell was still trapped in this dream.
After informing Eve of his kills, she tasked him with finding an umbilical cord of a Great One. He didn't know where to start looking so he decided to go back and look through all of the areas he had visited.
He found the first one completely by accident. While retracing his steps in the Cathedral Ward, he slipped off a ledge. Bell, expecting to plummet to his death, closed his eyes and awaited the inevitable darkness. However, instead, his back slammed against an old but sturdy cold surface. When Bell realized he actually didn't die, he stood up and his eyes landed upon an old door. When he walked through the door, he encountered what remained of a workshop that was identical to the one located in the Hunter's Dream. Not only did the good hunter find the umbilical cord on the altar, but he also found a comb latched in the hair of a physical doll laying against the wall.
When the young hunter gave this to Eve, she actually shed tears at the sight of it, once again reminding Bell that Eve is more human than she claims to be.
When he searched the Forbidden Forest with a fine-toothed comb, he was surprised to find a tunnel that led all the way back to Central Yharnam. It was there that he found another entrance to the very same medical clinic he spawned in all of those presumed to be years ago. Because there was never a time when the sun rose, the concept of time was nonexistent. He soon met Iosefka, or, more accurately, her imposter. A madwoman that has been experimenting on humans and impregnated by a Great One, which disgusted the hunter immensely.
After plunging his hand into the imposter's chest and relieving her of her heart, Bell was surprised to find an invitation to Castle Cainhurst with his name on it. He recalled the information that Emma provided him. Castle Cainhurst was home to an ancient noble family who were just as knowledgeable on the ways of blood as the healing church before being massacred by the Executioners. Curious as to what awaited him, the hunter boarded the carriage that was waiting for him in Hemwick Charnel Lane and began his trip.
When he arrived, he couldn't help but gawk at the sheer size of the castle. The castle easily rivaled the size and scale of Yharnam. Bell then made his debut at the castle.
The castle was littered with gargoyles, ghostly women, and flea-like bloodsuckers. They were hardly worth killing, but Bell had learned from his previous mistakes of sparing potential enemies so he slaughtered them without question.
After drastically decreasing the population of Cainhurst Castle and scaling the edge of a massive tower, Bell encountered a large man with a massive crown on his head wielding a sword and spear. It was Martyr Logarious, the leader of executioners and the one responsible for carrying out the genocide of the nobles of Cainhurst. The hunter didn't know why Logarius was guarding the last noble he was tasked to kill, but he was in his way and had to be dealt with.
After "relieving" Logarius of his guard post, he put the crown on his head, revealing a massive tower that appeared out of thin air.
It was there that Bell met Queen Analise, the sole survivor of the Vilebloods and a person blessed with long life. Prior to his meeting with Queen Analise, he encountered a massive library that contained books rich in knowledge. Because of that and various other advantages, the good hunter pledged himself to Queen Analise, offering to be her knight and bring her the blood dregs that she desperately wanted. The queen agreed and after drinking her blood, he became a vileblood. Bell donned his new Cainhurst knight set and started his job as her knight.
Becoming a vileblood and Queen Analise's knight had a plethora of benefits. He had access to the library, got a nice set of Cainhurst armor, the Evelyn which was a beautiful gun, and the Chikage, a katana that quickly became one of Bell's favorite weapons. In addition, the queen herself provided him benefits that although he thought were irrelevant, would certainly benefit him in the future. He was taught to do what the long-deceased nobles do. He was taught how to dance, and how to control his emotions when dealing with stressful social situations such as interacting with someone he despised and rebuilding his social skills. Throughout the hunt, the hunter didn't have many opportunities to talk to people other than Gherman, Emma, and fellow hunters that haven't lost their minds yet. Because of this, his social skills were next to nonexistent. The queen's teaching rebuilt his social skills to an acceptable level.
But perhaps the biggest benefit was that the new blood that flowed through his veins allowed him to use the ability called Bloodtinge, the manipulation of blood. Bloodtinge was a powerful high risk high reward ability. At the cost of a constant drain of his life essence, the manipulation of his blood allowed him to imbue his weapons with blood that increased their strength to an exceptionally deadly degree. It was essentially a double-edged sword.
Bell served as the queen's knight for a long time, slaying the invaders of his world and giving the blood dregs to his queen. He continued to do this until he found out the reason as to why she tasked him with collecting blood dregs. She wanted to bear a child of blood, the next vileblood heir. Bell didn't want to be part of her madness anymore and decided to leave her service.
But the young hunter knew he couldn't leave her like this. Despite her madness, he had grown to care for her. She was delighted when Bell offered her his service, finally finding a glimmer of hope of bearing a child of blood. He knew she would be distraught when he would leave her service. Her distraught would turn into depression and be exacerbated by her long immortal life. There was also the fact that, because he slew Logarius and lifted the veil that protected her, she was helpless and vulnerable. With no one to guard her, he knew it was only a matter of time before she would be found and killed by the Executioners. If the Executioners found her, he knew the queen would suffer a fate far worse than death.
Perhaps the once innocent 14-year-old boy would have stayed to avoid breaking the Queen's heart, but that boy was gone. So instead, Bell decided to send her to the afterlife, decapitating her in one smooth motion with his Chikage. It was a painless death, a much better alternative to the horrors the Executioners would subject her to. It was a sad moment for him, but he believed he did the right thing.
And so, after looking at the Castle of Cainhurst one last time, he left and returned to the Hunter's dream.