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Bloodborne belongs to FromSoftware, Horizon Zero Dawn belongs to Guerrilla Games

Chapter 18: Blood in the Embrace

LOG: Musings in a Dream: Data Uncorrupted

Cyrus Bishop: It's a strange world we find ourselves in, Doll.

Doll: How do you mean Good Hunter?

Cyrus Bishop: The waking world faces its ultimate destruction. There is an almost nonexistent chance that life will continue on. Humanity faces extinction at their own hand.

Doll: You speak as if you won't join them? Has your plan changed?

Cyrus Bishop: No. It hasn't. I told you, I'll hunt until the end, then I'll keep hunting. After all, I am a Hunter…

Doll: And a Hunter must Hunt. I will be here when you return.

Cyrus Bishop: I know.

…/…

The smell of destruction and smoke reached the two Hunters as they neared the Nora Sacred Land.

"The Embrace!" Aloy exclaimed as they neared the gate.

The main Embrace gate they had passed through was gone. Blasted into smoking splinters. Aloy pulled her Charger to a stop and dismounted the machine. She drew a bow and slowly crept towards the gate. Cyrus was quick to follow.

Surprisingly, despite the evidence of machines and Eclipse, there were no bodies anywhere. There were some blood splotches, discarded clothes, and weapons though. Cyrus knelt down next to one of the piles.

"Cyrus?" Aloy asked.

"Blood Wasps." Cyrus muttered. "Doesn't look like things ended well."

"I'll head to All-Mother Mountain, then. You hunt the Blood Wasp." Aloy said.

"Sounds good to me." Cyrus stated. "However, if you happen to come across a Blood Wasp, run."

Aloy and Cyrus both entered the Embrace. Aloy took off towards the mountain, while Cyrus began hunting for tracks. It didn't take him long to find the tell-tale six legged tracks of a Khopesh unit. There was the possibility that it wasn't the Blood Wasp, but that didn't matter. Cyrus mounted his Charger and followed the tracks deeper into Embrace. Soon enough, he could hear the all too familiar beeping of a Khopesh.

Cyrus followed the sound. The beeping was coming from the ruins of a settlement. Cyrus saw a crimson Khopesh patrolling the area. With a growl the Good Hunter unsheathed Ludwig's Holy Moonlight Blade and gave a quick prayer. With the blade now glowing an ethereal blue, he leapt from behind the rock.

The Khopesh turned its attention to him instantly. The light on its front turned red. The Khopesh immediately unleashed its biomass converter at Cyrus. The Hunter dashed to the side and fired his own pistol at the machine. The Blood Wasp turned and fired upon the Hunter. Cyrus strafed around the side of the Khopesh as the missiles missed. He neared the machine and swung the glowing Holy Moonlight Sword through one of the machine's legs.

The Khopesh stumbled as it rotated about to face the Hunter. Cyrus grinned as he slashed again, and another leg fell off. He was about to slice through a third when two things happened almost simultaneously. The first was the familiar excruciating pain of the biomass conversion system eating away at his flesh. The second was a large rock slamming into him and launching him away from the damaged Khopesh. The rock laid him out on the road a short distance from the machines. Despite the pain Cyrus got up, glanced down, then looked back at the machine he was fighting.

His leg was glowing red and bleeding profusely as the biomass conversion tore away at his flesh and bone. He slammed a couple blood vials into his leg and the flesh began to knit itself back together. He glanced up. The Khopesh he was fighting was joined by another and two Scarabs.

"Brilliant." Cyrus growled as he stood up and ran at the machines.

He could feel the pain of the biomass conversion system continue to eat away at his flesh. He willed for the Holy Moonlight Blade to begin gathering energy. He slammed the blade onto the ground in front of him. Waves of Eldritch light burst forth from the ground and threw one of the approaching Scarabs into the air.

Cyrus quickly dove forward into the moonlit shockwaves. He knew it would hurt as another pulse sent him flying back as well. However, the Eldritch power did kill the biomass conversion happening to his body. The Scarab that was blasted back by Eldritch power lay sparking on the side. It wasn't dead.

Cyrus dashed towards the downed machine and stabbed Ludwig's Blade into the eye. It fell still. The other Scarab and two Khopeshes fired at the Hunter. Cyrus leapt back as the projectiles finished destroying the machine. Cyrus landed with heavy breath. The fight was starting to wear him down. Unfortunately for him, his pause led to his disarming. The remaining Scarab had been running towards him while it shot. Cyrus, somewhat winded when he landed, was quickly bodied by the Scarab. It's tail slashing through his arm as it shot past.

He grit his teeth in pain as his right arm and Holy Moonlight Sword were tossed away from the battle by the Scarab.

"One arm is all I need." Cyrus muttered, as he quickly tied off the sleeve of his coat over the bleeding stump on his right arm.

The Khopeshes began firing at him again. Cyrus slammed a blood vial into his leg once more and grasped the Old Hunter's Bone attached at his waist. He stepped to the side and briefly vanished from view. The machines soon lost sight of him as he quickly vanished and stepped around and out of their visual range. He smirked as he neared the back of the Scarab. The machine was searching for him. Cyrus grabbed a small arcane phantasm from his belt. He grasped it and threw his hand forward.

A series of tentacles appeared from a cosmic portal in his hand. The three tentacles from the Augur of Ebrietas slammed into the Scarab. Cyrus grabbed his empty phantasm shell and coated the stump of his right arm in arcane energy. The Scarab fell to the ground, briefly stunned. Cyrus dashed up to it, slammed his stump into the machine and swiped through it in an oil spilling visceral attack. The machine fell dead.

Cyrus turned towards the new barrage of missiles from the Khopeshes. He brought one of the tools to his mouth and unleashed a Beast Roar. The force was enough to scatter the Khopesh projectiles. He ran between the two Khopeshes and brought another phantasm glowing with the power of the stars. He knelt down and brought his stump and the fist clutching the phantasm together.

A portal to the cosmos opened around him and white beams of starlight burst forth. The Call Beyond impacted with the two Khopeshes, destroying the one that Cyrus had already damaged and severely damaging the other.

The remaining Khopesh turned towards Cyrus and unleashed the biomass conversion once more. Cyrus rolled to the side and stabbed his leg to create a few blood bullets. He injected another blood vial and jumped at the remaining Khopesh. He climbed on top and brought a whistle to his lips. The sharp trill echoed across the battlefield, and across the Nightmares. The Khopesh tried to throw Cyrus off of it, but it was too late. A blood portal appeared on the ground underneath the machine. Cyrus grinned as he leapt off the Khopesh. A massive snake's head burst from the ground and devoured the Khopesh. The serpent sank back into the ground.

Cyrus breathed deeply and lay down on the ground for a minute.

"Ouch." he finally said after a second.

He slowly sat up, pain echoing throughout his body. He turned towards the foggy forest. Dimly, he could see the still glowing Holy Moonlight Blade. He got up and walked towards it. He chuckled when he finally reached the blade. His severed hand still held it tightly.

"That's going to leave a mark." Cyrus muttered as the light dissipated from the sword. He sheathed the blade once more, grabbed his severed hand and began focusing on the Hunter's Mark rune etched in his mind. All feeling faded away as the world slowly grew black.

…/…

Aloy sprinted into the remains of Mother's Watch. She could hear the sounds of a Thunderjaw in the distance. The explosions from the disk launchers were concerning.

Aloy rounded the corner and saw a corrupted Thunderjaw laying siege to the mountain. Aloy drew her bow and knocked three fire arrows. With a speed, born from years of practice, Aloy shot arrow after arrow into the corrupted machine. She smirked slightly as the machine caught fire.

The shouts of Eclipse alerted Aloy to the fact that they were now aware of her presence. The burning Thunderjaw turned its gaze to Aloy. The huntress switched out her bow for the Bowblade. She stabbed an end into an Eclipse that drew near before firing an ethereal arcane arrow at the Thunderjaw. The arrow slammed through one of the machine's disk launchers, severing the weapon from the machine. The Thunderjaw groaned at the sudden change of weight.

"IT'S ALOY! BRAVES TO ALOY'S SIDE! DEFEND THE MOUNTAIN!" She heard the command of Sona.

A number of Nora braves, War Chief Sona, and her son Varl ran out of the mountain and fell upon the invading Eclipse. Aloy smiled as the braves fought back against the Eclipse. Aloy ran towards the Thunderjaw. She slid under the machine as its tail swept over her. She found herself by the fallen disk launcher. Arrows impacted next to her as she stood up with the disk launcher in hand.

She took aim and fired the disks at the Thunderjaw. Each disk impacted and blasted apart parts of the machine and its armor. Aloy cried out in pain as an arrow impacted her arm. She turned and fired the last disk at the Eclipse soldier who shot her. The man was thrown back from the explosion.

The Thunderjaw turned and began firing at Aloy. She dropped the heavy weapon and rolled to the side to avoid the bolts. Aloy came to a stop behind a rock. She gritted her teeth and pulled the arrow out of her arm. She drew back and fired another arrow from the Bowblade into the eyes of the Thunderjaw. The large machine fell dead.

The last man of the Eclipse turned and ran. He made it to the corner when a familiar blade slashed out from around the bend. Aloy smiled as Cyrus casually decapitated the last man. A cheer ran up from the gathered braves. The worry in Aloy's mind was finally bleeding off. The Corrupted Thunderjaw and invading Eclipse soldiers were all dead. The Embrace was safe for the time being. Aloy sighed in relief.

"Glad to see you're ok." Aloy said as Cyrus approached.

"Only had to deal with a few Blood Wasps." Cyrus replied.

"Aloy, you saved us!" Varl said as he ran up to her.

"There are still more machines scattered throughout the Embrace." Sona said as she joined the group. "And who knows how many more Eclipse."

"You'll find that most of the remaining machines have been dealt with." Cyrus stated.

"You again?" Sona asked. "I half expected you to have left at the first chance you got."

"I live to surprise." Cyrus answered. "Now, Aloy, I do believe we have a date with destiny. You have the registry?"

"Yep. Time to enter the mountain." Aloy responded.

Aloy and Cyrus turned and began to walk into the mountain. Varl and Sona followed them.

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Data Log TEH-018 If nothing else, I am consistently inconsistent. Thank you to all who read this, your feedback and views are much appreciated.

Goodbye viewer; Fare thee well.

End Log S.T.K.