Disclaimer in first chapter.

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Part II: Lies Aren't Golden; Blood is Red

Shirou and Caren were not doing well. It wasn't because they had been sent out on another mission so soon after returning to their branch of the DWMA's headquarters. It also wasn't because her father had decided to treat them to curry at his restaurant or Shirou's family antics getting out of control for the nth time.

"Kintarō misses mother; Kintarō ain't gonna lie. Lies aren't golden, you know." The blonde man standing before them spoke like a child trying to play the part of a street punk. Despite the tone and his outrageous appearance - notably a white shirt flared out at the collar and cuffs with golden necklaces, rings, and belts contrasting with black slacks - the monstrous golden axe in his hands was dangerous. He held it low to the ground now and slumped his shoulders forward and shook like he was crying. For all they knew, he very well might be.

Shirou had only barely managed to block the bone-breaking swing from the weapon by partial transformation, left with ragged breath as he held his arm to his chest. The "teeth" that had formed from his Weapon form had been broken in an instant, and it felt like his arm was going to crack. Caren had only managed to dodge due to her Soul Perception. Even then a spike had broken through her skin and was causing her pain and trouble in movement, most likely induced by the, assumed, Kishin Egg in front of them.

"Mother wasn't bad, she just wanted to get food. You two…you slaughtered her like some kind of pig!" He was staring at them from behind sunglasses, eyes glaring and teeth grinding. His voice had turned from a pitiful whine to a tiger's roar in a split second. His Soul Wavelength spiked, sending shockwaves through the street. A red aura danced about him, at once like flame and another like lightning.

"Shirou-!" Caren called abruptly and grasped at one of his hands.

"Already on it." In a glow of silver mixed with red and black, he transformed. Now both Weapon and Meister were at the ready. The golden man charged forward, his weapon swung back all the way. 'We have Resonance at 45% Caren! We need to buy time!'

'Got it; I believe I can dodge with how much he is telegraphing. Just try to keep me aware of the surroundings.' Her combined Soul Perception and Soul Menace helped her dodge and parry attacks from Witches and Kishin Eggs better than most, but…they had never fought anything like this one before.

One moment the axe was hefted back, the next it was biting into the ground like a razor-fanged behemoth, the impact forming cracks like lightning across the ground below. That wasn't even the end to the effects the blow brought, because even as Caren stepped down from her backwards leap, the ground began to shake and crumble into a crater.

She stumbled upon the debris, while the man dragged he axe-head out of the epicenter. Caren had little time to readjust her footing before another strike was prepared.

'Caren, we need to get out of here! This guy is off the scale for anything we've fought before, and we still don't know what he really is. I don't think we can take even one strike from that axe of his.'

She knew that; why did Shirou have to state the obvious so often? 'Are we able to use Soul Resonance?'

'Yes, we're able to, but-!' His protests were cut off quickly.

'…just do it, Shirou. If nothing else, we can possibly get him to back off…or use that technique.' Silence was her reply, but she had faith that he would cooperate on this. In unison, they called out, "Soul Resonance!" Their own aura alighted; her ignored the thought of their shared pain and brought Shirou's Weapon form to bare, prepared with a defensive stance.

Leaping forward at a decent speed, Kintarou sent the next swipe diagonally, aiming to shatter Shirou and bifurcate Caren in a single blow. But Meister and Weapon were synchronized and their skillful parry and hopping dodge meant the axe met the earth once more. Twirling in the air, Caren and Shirou lashed out like a striking viper, going straight for the throat.

But instead of the blow meeting its target, the man locked in a tantrum brought the forearm of his free arm to block. Red blood dripped down from the wound.

It wasn't enough, a hollow victory. The wound, certainly not the gash the duo had aimed for, hadn't gone deep at all. "That hurt, you-!" They had misjudged his reach!

He held the weapon like it weighed the same as a wooden sword, gripping the very end of its pole, and swung out like swatting a fly. The only saving grace was the fact that only the flat of the blade struck Caren.

Fragments of metal and droplets of blood fell to the broken ground. The tall shadow loomed over them. Neither could hear one another, but their thoughts were numb. Caren's vision blurred as her eyes closed, but both she and her partner heard one thing before crumbling into unconsciousness: a laugh.

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They both knew who had laughed. It was a memory of fear and embarrassment for the both of them. Caren's father had sent them out on a mission to investigate a series of kidnappings and rumors of a haunted castle.

Elizabeth Barthory, countess of blood and dragon-blooded witch, made it clear to them that they were in over their heads – and the witch decided to play with them. In the bloodied castle of Cathice, they fled before her as she flew upon dragon wings behind them, singing a haunting melody of pleasure and pain.

In essence, Elizabeth remained Caren's natural and worst enemy and, by proxy, Shirou's. Elizabeth's love of torturing and bleeding out beautiful girls and women and Caren's conflicted sadism and masochism left Shirou suck between a rock and a hard place. It did not help that their Soul Resonance caused them both pain.

Early on in the encounter, they tried to fight back without Soul Resonance, relying mostly on Caren's strong Soul Menace and Shirou's weapon form's adaptability. But Elizabeth wasn't any Witch. The blood countess knew how to fight in all ranges and had both a weapon and magic at her disposal to attack them. It was strange in their mind that the weapon wasn't a partner Demon Weapon - they had heard of Witches with ally Demon Weapons, but that wasn't the case.

Neither was Elizabeth an untrained, haughty noble. She had obviously had training and being from a dragon-slaying line, the Barthory knew well how to use a variety of weapons. Whoever had trained her knew all to well how to control a polearm, because Elizabeth would never drive the prongs of her weapon all the way through Caren. It was all knicks and small cuts in places that cause pain and blood to blossom.

It was upon that realization that they knew they were being toyed with and that Caren was likely the worst possible match-up against the blood countess. She who reveled in pain and pleasure as both met in a pool of blood saw Caren as entertaining prey. Certainly prey with larger claws than any she had gone against, but with the number of bloodbaths that boosted her magic, those claws barely made a dent.

Running away was their only option.

But how was she here now, standing before them and facing off against the man with the golden axe? She was supposed to be trapped within her castle and the surrounding area. Had they unleashed her upon the world by raising her interest?

"W-what are you doing here, Elizabeth!?" Meister and Weapon called weakly.

"Oh, I just decided to make my debut in front of the ones that got away. It got lonely after you left and none of the girls I played with interested me like you did. Let me sing you a song. You Meisters and Weapons are all about resonance, right? I've been told my singing voice is to die for.~"

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I decided to go ahead and post part II. Still need to work on action sequences, which I wanted to add in with revising this, but in the end I opted out of doing so.
For now.
Please enjoy!