Chapter 11: Final Stands

Blood was dripping into Ludwig's right eye, which he couldn't keep open; his breath was irregular, but his two-handed grip felt true. He could hear it: the Sword of Moonlight telling him he could win… he WOULD win. Ludwig knew this was his final opportunity. Staring straight at Janus' eyes, he knew he felt the same way. There were no taunts; no jests, just two men and their last attacks before they each succumbed to their wounds and fatigue.

Janus had long lost his glasses and his composure. Come to think of it, Ludwig thought Janus had probably not taken a single direct hit during the fight, which meant this Blood Puppeteering of his must exert an extremely heavy toll. Sure, Janus had dodged a bunch of attacks, but this made Ludwig confident he could end it all in one accurate final attack. As for Janus, he created four tentacles of Blood coming out of his torso, picking up the discarded weapons of his dead comrades alongside a few sharp bones. It couldn't have been easy to control so much stuff once again, Ludwig thought: "He must be desperate to end this now too."

A sound echoed throughout the streets and the two launched in each other's direction: Janus brandishing his Threaded Cane in its cane version, Ludwig charging his Moonlight Greatsword with as much power as he could muster. It was a fast end, as Ludwig held his sword low, baiting a mistake from Janus, betting on his lack of melee experience. The Cainhurst Hunter jumped, stabbing Ludwig with his cane and all the weapons from his "tentacles", but that was Ludwig's plan, to endure the pain and be face to face with Janus, as he had made him be face to face with Ayla's dead body. Hurling his sword up with all his might and adrenaline, Ludwig slashed Janus and shot him up with a blast of Moonlight, dispersing his tentacles and propelling him more than five metres above the ground. As he came down, the Yharnam Hunter stabbed up and impaled him on his sword, killing Janus and ending the fight for good.

Ludwig's strength was over though, so he fell to the floor, finally letting go of his treasured sword that fell on his side with Janus still impaled in it, dead. He glanced at the sword as the attunement left it and it returned to its original greyish colour and hoped he did well by his weapon "companion". His body pierced by a sword, a cane, a knife and two bones, Ludwig was bleeding out and it wasn't long before he too passed out, taking one last glance at Amelia's inert body and wondering if she was still alive.

As the rain pestered the bodies and washed the blood off the streets and back to the sewers, the only people left fighting were Maria and the Bloody Crow, no longer evenly matched in speed, but brought a little closer due to the Crow's increased range, attack power and defense. The Crow kept defending Maria's attacks but was no longer able to attempt to get any hits on her. He was cornered beyond any of his expectations.

Maria kept trying to finish off the Bloody Crow in one strike, but he always seemed to be able to read her enough to defend or soften the blow with his armour. Her newfound speed had strained her legs for far too long, so she felt herself getting slower with each new step. She couldn't figure out why the man kept trying to get away from her instead of attacking. "What is he planning?" was all she could ask herself. By then, they were fighting on the moonlit waterfront back were Amelia was supposed to have been standing guard.

It was then her sword was finally able to wound the man again, cutting the muscle under his left arm, loosening his armour there and rendering the arm unusable. It was a very incapacitating injury for a warrior and something he just couldn't brush off. He dropped his sword and lifted his right hand which prompted Maria to stop before the next blow.

"I'm sorry, that's enough. I surrender!" pleads the Crow.

Maria stared incredulous. This was the last thing she expected of this vile man. "You think I'll just let you go?!" she asked, her mind made up on eliminating her former companion.

In the blink of an eye, the Bloody Crow grabbed a pot and threw it at the floor in front of Maria, while backstepping. She backstepped too, not knowing what to expect of the move, but he then pulls out his gun and shoots the liquid that was inside the pot, now sitting on the ground. It was oil, and it catches on fire as the Crow shoots it, creating a wall of fire in front of Maria and him. The wall of fire covered the narrow street preventing her from seeing him clearly and dashing towards him, physically separating the two.

Maria didn't hesitate, though, the traitorous Crow needed to die that day. As she jumped to the nearest roof, she ran along it, dashing in the direction of her enemy, who was also running away at ground level. She yelled at him "Come back you honourless cur!" before she heard it. A whistling noise like something tearing through the air at high velocity, she knew whatever it was, it was probably coming for her. Jumping high in the air and spinning around to look at the source of the noise, she noticed a cannonball, but it was too late. The sound of rain had masked the sound of the cannon firing and its shot was only heard when it was already too close.

Fortunately, it wasn't a very accurate shot, probably due to how far away the boat that fired on the harbour was, but Maria knew the fire from that throwable pot was the signal that started it. She felt the first explosion hit close to the fire, propelling debris into the air and hitting her as she was on her way back down from her jump, hurting her on her head. She landed on her feet, on the street behind the waterfront, losing sight of the Crow and feeling the warm sensation of blood running down her face. More worryingly, her ears were ringing which meant she wouldn't be able to perceive the sound again if more cannonballs were headed to shore... And they were.

The next explosion was further away, destroying a building on the waterfront she had passed a while back. Maria had to keep moving. With unsure steps she started running again, jumping back onto the roof of the nearby building so she could see the man she was pursuing and the entire waterfront again, but as she landed on the roof of the two-story building she saw a salvo of cannonballs heading to shore she was standing on. In a last ditch attempt to avoid being hit by either cannonfire or the resulting debris, she slid down the roof's tiles and jumped straight ahead in the direction of the barrage, slicing a cannonball headed straight for her in two with millimetric precision and diving in the water in one swift move. Immediately after the two halves of the ball passed her they exploded, still propelling her jump even further, hurting her again right before she hit the water.

Feeling the pain of all her wounds, Maria tried to swim back up, gasping for air as she held onto her life. The lake water was agitated in the falling rain and some cannonballs who didn't manage to reach the shore were sinking. Completely out of breath, Maria surfaced and gasped loudly. The barrage continued around her, as the entire coastline was reduced to rubble. She looked ahead in the direction the Crow escaped in a saw him get on dingy boat that carried two other people dressed like Hunters. "I can't believe he's escaping with his life!" she frustratedly thought as the barrage slowly subsided. Maria had succeeded in preventing the kidnapping of the Scholars, but what of her companions? Had they all perished in the fighting and the cannonfire? What of the Bloody Crow? He'd be alive to fight another day, to gloat at her once again, and to once again desecrate the memory of her friend and mentor.

As she reached the pier, her strength was giving out and she felt herself start to fall asleep, she couldn't let it happen. The elevated pier meant she couldn't just reach to grab it and get to land. Reaching for a Blood Vial, she stabbed it on her leg and used the ecstasy of the Blood to keep herself afloat and awake, looking for a place to climb back to solid ground. She found a rope tied to the pier and lifted herself up using all her strength, her swords weighing heavily in their scabbards at her hip. She finally pulled herself up completely, in a struggle that would normally take her almost no time, and rolled on the floor, laying on her back. Her cap lost to the waves, the incessant rain pestered her face while she tried to steady her breath.

Taking deep breaths, Maria sat herself and looked ahead to the big Cainhurst sailing boat that was now closer to shore. The small dingy boat was almost reaching it, but only one person was aboard. This made her heart race; it wasn't over. Two more people had disembarked and were either looking for her or the Scholars. She knew it had to be the Crow who ran away; that arm wasn't going to heal anytime soon and he had already shown his cowardice. Therefore, the new arrivals were fresh faces who were joining the fray right as her body was too tired to move.

Maria forced herself up, looking around to try to spot the invaders and injecting herself with her very last Blood Vial. It had been a long time since she had been pushed this far.

It was then she heard new whistles in the wind and looked towards the big boat, startled. Her tired body was reacting slower than normal, but she didn't see a single cannonball flying her way. That's when she realized the sound was coming from land, right as she was hit by an arrow, piercing her left shoulder. Another arrow flew past her head, just as she moved to the side to avoid it. A few seconds more and she would have been killed.

Darting towards the cover of the nearest building, she hid behind a wall that was almost entirely turned to rubble. In fact, calling anything a building that close to the waterfront was a big stretch at that point. She heard crying. Could there still be people living here? Could they be buried under the rubble; victims of her failure in killing the Bloody Crow once again?

Wasting no time, Maria broke the arrow that pierced her and zigzagged through the streets, the sharp movements putting an added strain on her battered legs. It was then she noticed two more arrows flying towards her, but this time she dodged with little effort, running towards the direction they came from and spotting her new enemies.

In the pier in front of her were a male and a female Hunters. The man had two small crossbows he was dual wielding, bandages on his arms and a tattered outfit that looked distinctly like a pirate's complemented with a small Crowfeather cape. The woman showed off a beautiful silver hair under her Hunter's Cap and dressed with a long coat, like a regular Hunter; she used a giant crossbow, much like Lucca's. The two paused as they realized they couldn't snipe Maria, with the man dropping one of his crossbows and removing a knife from its place at his belt. The woman backstepped further away, next to some rubble and aimed back at Maria, while crouching for a steadier aim.

Maria couldn't drag the fight any longer than what was extremely necessary, so she charged at the man in front of her, who slid on the floor under her attack; an attack much slower than any she had performed that night. Being able to anticipate her moves, since they saw her coming from almost a mile away, the Hunters worked very well together: the man shot at Maria as he was sliding under her, wounding her in the abdomen, while the woman shot straight at where the man was standing, hoping to land a finishing blow on Maria. The Lady of the Astral Clocktower realized what they planned as she saw the man sliding under her attack, and used his body to jump up at the same time as his arrow hit her, managing to avoid the hit from the big crossbow and jumping to a nearby half-standing ruin.

The man got kicked to the floor with Maria's whole strength, but got up relatively fast. He talked while the woman reloaded, trying to gain some time. Time Maria also needed.

"It's an honour to face the Lady Maria in battle. Your reputation precedes you!" says the male Hunter respectfully.

"Save it!" barks the wounded Maria, "Where is your master, dog?"

"Outch! You wound me with that kind of talk! I'm trying to be respectful here!" says the man.

"Did he turn tail and run back to the ship? Are you here to die in his stead?" provokes Maria.

"Die?!" laughs the woman, who was finished reloading, "From where I'm standing, you're the only one that looks about to die!"

"How rude we are!" says the man, "I'm Jacke; I'm the leader of the mercenary group with the Bloody Crow, and this is Nelhah, my first lieutenant! I'm sorry we had to run into you in such a sorry state. A fight with you at full power would have certainly been exhilarating!"

"I don't care!" mutters Maria as she gets up, joining her Rakuyo blades at the hilt, taking pressure off her left arm.

Maria can see Nelhah has her in her sights, and is just waiting for the moment she feels her arrow won't be dodged. It's up to Jacke to create that opening; an opening Maria won't let him create. Reaching inside her pouch Maria feels a wet smoke bomb, probably no longer usable. It would have been a perfect decoy, but alas, improvise she would… again.

Kicking down on the broken wall she was on, Maria caused it to collapse a little more, distracting both Hunters as she flung herself behind the wall. This hid her from sight and allowed her to reposition fast, dashing around many pieces of rubble as she flanked Jacke.

"Watch it! I lost her!" yelled Nelhah, but the warning came too late.

All Nelhah saw was Jacke's crossbow arm flying off, still holding onto to its weapon, leaving a trail of red blood behind it as Maria dashed through Jacke's figure. The man couldn't react; he just screamed in pain, dropping his knife and grabbing his shoulder as it bled profusely.

"You're lucky I'm this tired!" whispered Maria as she cut off Jacke's head clean off with an horizontal swipe of her double bladed weapon, leaving a shower of blood as his lifeless body tumbled to the ground. It was then Nelhah fired her loaded shot, but Maria slashed it out of the air, as she disconnected her blades. Nelhah couldn't believe her eyes.

The Cainhurst Hunter started shaking as she saw Maria stare her down. She knew she had no chance, Jacke really was her only hope of landing a shot on such an opponent. Throwing her crossbow away, she drew a knife from her waist and held it with both hands in the direction of Maria, pleading for her life.

"Wait! Let me go! I promise I won't fight you anymore! I won't fight you ever again!" claims Nelhah while her face revealed the true extent of her fear.

"Guess we'll never know!" whispers a new male voice from behind Nelhah.

She is then grabbed from behind by innumerous tentacles who squeeze and constrict her, making the woman scream, before breaking her body entirely. Nelhah's painful screams could probably be heard on the big sailing boat off shore now that the rain itself was subsiding. When her head finally dropped down lifeless, the tentacles threw her away to the lake waters and recoiled back into a man's sleeve. It was one of the hostage Scholars, with a blood-stained cloak and broken chains on his hands and feet.

"Micolash!" yelled Maria as she dropped to one knee, relieved.

"Not looking good dear Maria, I'm sorry I gave you so much trouble, but I'll be taking over and killing these filthy Vilebloods!" yells Micolash as he raises his hands to the sky, creating a black vortex of sorts, from where many stars shoot from, flying in the direction of the big ship.