Martyr:"Ok, well somebody has to protect Kaylie while we get her to the church." Avenger:"Matt. Could you protect the girl while we fight off the rot? Firing projectiles of any kind would help." Matt:"Death will meet me, before any harm meets Kaylie." Kaylie was clinging to Martyr's left leg, shaking with fear. Defender used her maternal instincts to calm the small child, assuring her that Matt was a good guy, despite his appearance. Judge adds that the appearance was the polar opposite of his personality; essentially, he told her that he was a holy person, despite his demonic looks. At this, Kaylie relaxes and goes over to Matt. She embraces his left leg. Now that Kaylie was used to her temporary guardian of sorts, the group headed through the playground of the school and into the awaiting cemetery.


The cemetery was short walk from the school. On the way to the cemetery, the Hunters told Matt about the events leading up to this night. The four of them met by chance in the penitentiary of Ashcroft. The prison of Ashcroft was where the dead first originated from, the previous year. The four of them met at the execution of the convicted serial killer, Nathaniel Arkady. Judge's duties as a priest required him to read the killer his final blessing as well as witness his suffering. Martyr was visiting the father of a friend. Defender also had little choice in the matter; she was on the police force. Avenger on the other hand was the first to witness the supernatural evil at work. He followed someone that he thought he killed twenty years earlier into the prison. The man disappeared and Avenger found his way into the execution viewing room.

When the police guard inside pulled the lever, all hell broke loose. The vengeful dead began to use the bodies of men like puppets and started to kill everything in sight! At that exact moment, they were "imbued" with not just the knowledge of the vengeful dead, but with the power to do something about them! Using this knowledge and power, they were able to fight back against the undead; killing them and sending them to rest once again. As for Cornelius, the man Avenger followed, he was discovered to be a vampire! With little hesitation, the Hunters used their new found powers to kill him and push the vengeful dead back. After they reached the exit to the prison, they gathered all the materials that they could and sealed the door to the prison.

Hopefully, nobody would ever have to disturb them again. But...that was anything but the case. On the one year anniversary of Nathaniel Arkady's execution, a large group of foolish teenagers threw the all night rave. The load music and human intrusion reawakened the evil spirits, who released their anger on the entire town. Upon hearing of the riots at Ashcroft, the Hunters returned. Their normal lives were over; now all they do...is hunt!


The cemetery was dark and dimly lit by street lights hanging above. At first there appeared to be nothing amiss, but Matt's Power Sensing ability told him differently. Soon, every angry spirit inhabiting the cemetery rose up from their graves and attacked! On sight, the Hunters charged at the onslaught of undead monsters. Hacking and slashing the monsters into pieces and thus giving their souls at least temporary peace. As for Matt, he watched the carnage; looking for any zombies who escaped the Hunters' eyes. Kaylie hid her face with Matt's cape, her childish eyes couldn't stand the sight before her. Within a few minutes, all the zombies that had appeared a few moments before were killed and the group continued forward.

When they went past another burial site, more zombies appeared. Out of the burial site itself, malevolent ghosts appeared! The ghosts started to fire balls of energy, capable of physically harming any living person. The ghosts saw the Hunters destroying the zombies and were about to attack them; but then they caught sight of the terrified little girl! They also saw Matt, whose demonic looks confused them into thinking that he was on their side! They fired their balls of energy, which were quickly and effectively deflected by Matt. Matt, in turn, fired a Mini Necro Blade Dragon at each of the evil spirits. Upon contact, the ghosts screeched with pain and disintegrated into green flames! As for the Hunters, they were having some trouble with the zombies; there were more than three hundred of them! Matt:"[Inner] Uh oh! [Audible] Necro Blade Dragon!" The fully powered beam plowed forward and eliminated several of the further behind zombies and even a few that were very close to the Hunters. As they finished killing some and looked onward, they saw the dragon surging forward and swallowing its prey! The powerless zombies then disintegrated into the green flames and disappeared.

Judge:"My God! What was that?" The Hunters were unaware that their new friend was the one releasing the bright green beast. Matt and Kaylie walked closer to the others. Matt:"I guess you could call that an `Edge'. My Necro Blade Dragon attack can instantly destroy any zombie or ghost that it touches." Defender:"Fantastic!" Matt looked down at Kaylie; she seemed to be even more frightened than before. That was when Matt heard really raspy breathing coming from behind him! Matt extended his Adamantium Blades and in one swift motion, spun around and decapitated the zombie! This was followed by a slash to the scoundrel's torso, which killed it. Avenger:"Come on. We better get moving. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better."

So, they pressed forward and managed to go past a few grave sights without being attacked. Soon, however, the group came to a steep hill. When they reached the top, they saw a massive army of undead. There were more than 400 zombies and ghosts within it! Matt was lagging behind because Kaylie was nowhere near a quick as any of the adults. He did, however, sense the huge army of zombies!

When Matt reached the top of the hill, he saw that the Hunters were doing just fine. The Hunters had pulled out all the stops; they were using their magical powers, or `Edges', that they received with their knowledge to lay a serious smackdown on the zombies. Avenger was using his Cleave Edge. The edge caused his Battle Axe to burn with supernatural power, which dramatically increased the amount of damage he could do. Martyr had used her Demand Edge. It made her not only move at superhuman speeds, but it slightly increase how much physical damage she could do with a hack of her daggers. Judge had an edge that was quite similar to Matt's Necro Blade Dragon. Judge's Word Of Power Edge focused the powers of light and purity and fired a tiny beam out of each of Judge's fingers. The beam(s) didn't do near as much damage to a zombie or ghost as Matt's dragon, but it got the job done. As for Defender, she used her Ward Edge. This power formed a barrier of pure energy around her and the other Hunters. The weaker enemies died upon touching it; the stronger ones who were foolish enough to brave the barrier, took heavy amounts of damage when they did.

Matt was impressed and took a spectator's position on the hill. He didn't just stand there, though. He fired tens upon tens of Fortress Beams at the zombies that were further away. The beams decapitated and/or killed several of them. The Hunters were familiar with the beams and didn't question their source. In the meantime, they continued to hack away at the undead creatures that stood before them. Despite the really unfair odds, the Hunters and Matt were victorious over the massive army, but not without a few scratches. Among all the dead bodies, they saw a shining object. Judge went over to pick it up. When he did, everyone discovered that it was a key. Judge:"What do you suppose a deadman was carrying this for?" Matt:"Perhaps it is to open that gate." He pointed toward a huge iron gate a few meters away. When Judge inserted the key, the gate few open wide!

When he did, more zombies appeared, as did a few ghosts. The zombies were pretty far away, so the Hunters switched to their ranged weapons and started to blast away. As for the ghosts, they went straight for Kaylie and became a dragon's meal. With the approaching zombies destroyed, the group pressed on, deeper in to the haunted cemetery. After they made a turn along the path and came to a central area in the road. The road was near several grave sites. Out of each of the five grave sites, ten zombies and five ghosts emerged!

The Hunters knew that Matt could better eliminate the ghosts, so they went straight for the zombies and charged into the fray. As for Matt, he used his cape to shield Kaylie's eyes and fired a Mini Necro Blade Dragon out of each hand. The beams took out two ghosts at once and continued in a straight line, eliminating more ghosts the further left or right the beams moved. Before they were killed, however, the final sixteen fired off their blasts. Since Matt was focusing on firing his beams, he couldn't deflect the blasts! All sixteen of the blasts struck him in the same place on his chest, creating a huge, gapping wound! The ghosts, quickly paid the price afterwards.

Defender:"Oh my God! Here! I'll use my Rejuvenate Edge to heal you!" Matt:"Don't bother. [His wound heals up before their eyes] I heal real quick." Defender used her Rejuvenate Edge anyway; when she was in close proximity to the other Hunters, she could heal them as well. The Hunters were doing the front lines work while Matt protected Kaylie, so they were taking quite a beating.

In amongst all the blood and mangled limps, Matt and the Hunters saw another key. The key was to another gate, a fair distance away. That gate was, of course, guarded by many more rotting corpses. But, the Hunters were ready. Matt figured that he'd let them go to work. Kaylie was frightened out of her wits, and Matt didn't want her to see any more carnage than she had to. So, a few hacks and slashes later, the Hunters had cleared a path to the gate. With a turn of the key, the gate shot open, revealing more cemetery.

After a steep incline, the group was met by a few ghosts, and plenty of rot. At this, Avenger unleashed his Smite Edge. The Edge sent out a radial blast of Fire Magic, which obliterated every rot in range. Following this, Judge used his Burden Edge. This sent out a radial blast of pure, blue energy. Any rot caught within range of it, was frozen in time, burdened by the weight of its sins! This allowed the others to kill the rot at their leisure with little to worry about. Matt was firing Fortress Beams at the ones further back, eliminating quite a few of them. As for the ghosts, Martyr and Defender were taking care of them. Despite their ability to pass through objects, the ghosts were unable to dodge the Hunters' blades. After a few slashes, the ghosts disintegrated into blue fire balls. When everyone was finished with their enemies, they continued forward.

After a short walk, they could see another gate in the distance, but they had no key. That was, of course, until a zombie tried to jump Judge from a burial area and was punched out of the air by Avenger. Avenger then hacked the monster's head off, finishing it. From within the beast's body, a key emerged. With it in hand, they continued forward, fighting any rot that got in their way.

In front of the gate, there were two gargoyle statues. The group went right in front of the statues and nothing happened, so they figured that the statues were lifeless. They were...until they went through the gate. When they went through the gate, the ghosts possessing the statues sprang into action. Matt sensed their Life Force, but by then it was too late. One jumped him, tackling him to the ground and slashing him repeatedly. The other, went straight for the defenceless little girl! The others heard Matt go down and spun around in time to rush the evil gargoyle going for Kaylie. They all got a few good hacks on it, but it used its stone tail to knock them all away; hard. They landed fifteen feet away. Now the gargoyle was free to attack the frightened little girl. She was so scared, that she couldn't run; she stood there, like a deer caught in the headlights!

After taking about thirty slashes to the head and chest, Matt extended his Adamantium Blades and stabbed the statue through its head and decapitated it. When the statue "died", the ghost possessing it died as well! The Hunters had just gotten up and ran for Kaylie. The gargoyle was about to pounce on her, when suddenly the Hunters saw another dragon. The only difference was, this one was golden. Matt fired a Dragon Chain, which wrapped around the terrified Kaylie and pulled her to safety. Now, the Hunters were free to release their anger on the gargoyle; and they did it in spades! They hacked and slashed the evil creature with such intensity, that it died in a matter of moments and the ghost faded away. After a bit of Rejuvenation, the Hunters were completely healed and ready to roll.

After the gargoyles, there were more rot to deal with. But, they were child's play compared with the stone beasts. After they easily killed the rot, they went up three flights of stairs and went toward the church entrance. There were two more gargoyle statues in front of that door! Matt was able to sense Life Force in those statues before anything bad happened this time. Matt went behind the far one. When the statues came to life, Matt fired a single Fortress Beam, which drilled through one statue, then the other, killing them both! Martyr:"Hey! We're anything but powerless here!" Martyr was only nineteen, so her getting smart with Matt came as little surprise to him. Matt:"I know that. But, I want to get the girl inside as quickly as possible. She's scared out of her mind!"

Martyr couldn't argue with that. When they tried the door to the church, it was locked from the inside. Judge:"Of all the doors to lock! Oh well. We shall have to find a key to the door. If our luck continues, perhaps one of the rot is holding it." So, the group split up. Avenger and Martyr went around the left side of the church, while Judge and Defender went to the right. Matt followed Judge and Defender. There was a few headstones on that side of the church and Matt could sense some gargoyles on the rooftop.

Avenger and Martyr found only a few rot on their side of the church. One of them was holding the long lost key to the church! When they found the key, two gargoyles dropped off of the roof behind them. Martyr activated her Demand Edge and went charging forward and rushed the first one. While she was doing that, Avenger focused and his Axe went ablaze with power, through the magic of Cleave. With his powered up axe, Avenger was able to take down the other gargoyle with just seven swings! When he finished killing his, Martyr was finishing her's. The pair of Hunters then went back towards the door of the church to wait for the others.

One hundred rot met Matt and the others on the right side of the church! To make matters worse, two gargoyles leaped down from the roof on this side as well, making the battle difficult for them. Matt fired a Mini Necro Blade Dragon out of each hand and was slowly but surely killing the rot, one creature at a time! As for Judge and Defender, they each went after a gargoyle. By using his Burden Edge, Judge was able to paralyse the one he was fighting, enabling him to defeat it with ease. Defender focused her Ward Edge. The magic was keeping the foal beast at bay while she attacked, the barrier damaging it just as much as she was. In the end, the Hunters and Matt were victorious, but with no key. Defender:"Deuce and Kassandra probably found it. Lets head back to the entrance." When the two groups rejoined one another, Matt and his group discovered that Avenger and Martyr had in fact found the key they needed. Without further hesitation, they went inside the holy building. Besides getting Kaylie to her parents, they hoped to get a little rest before continuing their fight against the evil forces of the supernatural!