I do not own neither Bloodborne or Danmachi, this is all fanfiction.
Weeks have passed since the girl's death, the hunter spent more time in the dream, training, reassembling his weapons or talking with Gherman or the doll, than in the waking world, Gherman would say that he needed to continue the hunt, but even the veteran hunter could understand that the boy was no coldblooded killer, no man who should become a hunter, trapped by the whims of a cruel moon.
The time he spent outside the dream was not so bad, talking to the dweller, they became good friends, he was delighted to have someone to talk to and the hunter was happy to learn more about cathedral ward, when exploring the place, he met a few beasts in the flesh of man, and felt a weird presence when near the chapel, still he explored a bit more of the district after a few days and found a gate who he could not open from the side he was in and an old abandoned looking chapel, there he met Alfred, a church hunter of vilebloods, men and women who partake in blood forbidden by the church, Bell took great interest in the stories he told, and Alfred was surprised that, for once, someone had taken interest in his master, the martyr Logarius.
"Hunter, i must thank you, none have listened to the wisdom of my master, you would be a fine executioner in my order."
"I would have to pass your offer, i am not looking to stay in Yarnham for long."
"Ha, cannot say i blame you, still i will offer my helping hand, what do you think of cooperating, at least while you are here hunter?"
"Oh thank you then, if i find anything about these vilebloods you will be the first to know."
"Well then that's great knews, may the good blood guide your way hunter."
"Yours too, executioner, yours too."
Working for the church... it doesn't seem like a bad idea... still i am not here to settle down. The hunter was deep in thoughts, he was honestly lost, he could not find a way to pass through the gate and he was sure he was not going to find another way, it wasn't untill the hunt forced him to buy more vials of blood, that he saw an item being sold by the messenger, the emblem of the hunter's chief, in the better times of the church's hunters, their leader would come to the gate with the emblem signifying the end of the hunt, perhaps there is stil something out there that would open that gate.
And so that is what the boy did, he showed the emblem to the gate emblem after buying it for a high price, and the mechanism started to move, this more than startled the hunter who was scared after seeing a lever move without anyone pulling it.
When exploring what lied behind the gate he encountered two giant beasts that wore the clothes of the church, lucky for him they did not attack him at the same time so that helped him when getting rid of the giant beasts. I am getting better with the sword huh, the hunter was in fact getting better, almost always using the sword unless the saw cleaver or hammer form provided him with any significant advantage, exploring the old streets he found himself in front of a large cathedral, after defeating a few more of the townsfolk who were now beasts, he open the heavy doors with some struggle and went inside it, there was a single crying lady in front of an altar, she seemed desperate and afraid, but upon getting closer...
"Hello?, lady do you need help?"
*Crack* the sound of bones breaking filled the room, together with flesh ripping apart and the hideous beast that the lady had become, unprepared for such a battle, the boy tried to stick around to see her moves, wether he wanted or not he would help her. "There is more than one to help people, one of them is by granting them mercy." That was something that the doll had told him when preparing to fight Gascoigne and something he thought much about, is death such a bad ending, perhaps not, in some cases it is the only good one we have.
Dodging the attacks of the beast and punishing her missed swings by stabbing with his sword, the hunter took a safer approach for this fight, he needed to scout his opponent's abilties and when prepared he would come back to kill it, that was going smoothly untill a series of dodges backed him up into a corner where he was snatched up from the ground and devoured whole, truly a dangerous adversary.
He was about to go back to the cathedral to continue to scout the beast when a familiar voice surprises him, Eileen was there.
"Hello there, perfect timing i must warn you not to go near Oedon tomb, Henryk, an old hunter has gone mad, and he is my mark."
"H-Henryk you say..." The dweller had told him about henryk, he was Gascoigne's old hunting partner, surely he must be there to take revenge on the man who killed Gascoigne.
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I cannot allow her to fight him, this is my mess to clean.
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And so, the hunter made his way into Oedon tomb, the place he freed Gascoigne and now as about to fight another hunter...
Henryk was mad... mad with blood only a few words were spoken and his bloodlust was easy to feel, truly, a sad end many hunters face.
The hunter ran to his prey like any other fight, except this time he was not killing beasts but saving a man who could only be granted the mercy of death, still the man did not make it easy to defeat him, with each sword swing and stab, there was a dodge and parry attempt, truly he was not fighting a mindless beast but a trained hunter, one that would kill him if given the chance.
About halfway in the fight a new figure appeared, Eileen who was as surprised as the hunter was, he wanted to clean his mess before Eileen came to pick her mark, still he intended on finishing what he started. While Eileen dashed to one side hoping to catch the hunter off guard, Bell continued attacking, preventing Henryk from dodging or blocking, either he would dodge Bell and get hit by Eileen or the reverse was true, they made an impressive duo, even if an improvised one.
After a bad stab from the blades of mercy the hunter collapsed forward, only to be finished by the kirkh hammer's sword, the fight was brutal, even for two hunters, it was clear that without one's help the other may had died by the hands of the mad veteran.
"That wasn't necessary of ya, but you're not bad at all, you have my thanks."
"It was, this is all because of me... i had to clean up my mess."
"You must have killed Gascoigne as well then."
"Yes i did..."
"He was falling apart, i'm sure it had to be done."
"I know, but at least now he is in a better place... even if tragic there is a silver linning."
"Yes, but please try to keep your hands clean, a hunter should hunt beasts... leave the hunting of hunter to me, hehe."
"Well then, i should get going, thank you Ms. Eileen."
"Ha, i should be the one thanking you, either way, goodbye hunter."
The two of them went on their separate paths, after a while the hunter finally reached the beast in the church, and the "battle" went almost the same, he would stay passive and focus on dodging attacks, he discovered that the hundreds of lives spent at Gascoigne was a luxury he would not be given when in the real world. His practice was an interesting coincidence, he was not the first one of his family to realise the importance of analyzing the opponent's moves and weaknesses, an ability that he would be quite proud of in the future.
So the hunter began to practice dodging and parrying, he new that his fight with Henryk was not going to end well without Eileen, so he needed to be ready for his next encounters be it beast or man, he realised also, that he is going to need a little more firepower to take down the beast at the cathedral, maybe he could speak with others who know a thing or two about hunting, Gilbert said something about fire, maybe i should see him.
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*cough*cough* The hunter, now near Gilbert's house could hear his coughs, his sickness seems to have progressed, he had a weird deja vu when hearing this sound, almost like a cloudy memory about his grandpa and someone, he was talking to him about some sort of disease, he could not remember why though or who was the one with him, all he could remember was a head of greyish hair.
"Mr. Gilbert, are you alright, do you need help?"
"Do not concern yourself with me, i'm afraid i'm of little help now but... before i... take this..." He hands him a weird container, he could hear a liquid splashing inside, "Hunter, this is the flamesprayer, i got no use for it, perhaps you do, *cough*cough*, what inflicted me is incurable, but this town and it's strange blood gave me hope... *cough* i was most fortunate, unharmed by the plague of beasts... i can even die a human."
"Thank you Mr. Gilbert, for all you did for me." The boy realised there was nothing he could do to help him, the familiar sound of coughing was heard after the boy finished speaking, he again had a weird feeling of doing something like this before, but who was sick? was it only one person? it did not matter now, so the boy ignored the feeling, but what he cannot recall was something important, even if he forgot it.
Gilbert then asked to be alone for a moment, the hunter went back to the dream, he was going to stock up on quicksilver bullets and see what the flamesprayer could do, after that he had a plan to put down a horrific beast on the cathedral. So this exit here throws the liquid and it burns thanks to the flame under it... smart, really smart, the hunter after using a few bloodstone shards on the weapon was ready to fight the horrific beast.
Truly he was prepared, this pragmatic side of the hunt could help in the dungeon, but first, he would need to go back to his grandpa, he missed the peacefull village his grandfather's company.
Entering the fog covered archway into the cathedral he prepared to dodge the first few strikes, he was sure he could punish them with a strong attack or anything like that, but his strategy depended in prolonged contact, and if he was being interrupted by the beasts attacks he was not going to get the easy kill he expected.
The dance of dodges and punishments continued, his stratgy had to adapt as the flamesprayer could not stagger enemies, so he decided to use blood bullets to continue using the weapon after sidestepping attack combos, the beast was still feral in nature so even if the hunter was long gone, the beast would still attack, giving Bell the perfect window to unload the flamesprayer, launching fire at the beast and setting it's fur ablaze, when not thinking about what beasts used to be, hunters are surprisingly cruel with elimination methods, while most look for quick and efficient ways to kill, even if those are not always the least painfull, sometimes the hunt required certain methods, that cannot be called humane, even if their target was the opposite of humanity.
After being sent to the wall by a desperate and unpredictable attack, the hunter watches as the old vicar, or the beast in it's place, put it's hands together in a praying pose. "What are you even doing?" Lesson learned, never let an opponent do ANYTHING which you do not recognise as a threat, the beast, to the hunters dismay, threw away all his carefull planning by healing it's wounds almost fully before stopped by the hunter.
Bell was raging, he went berserk on the beast, using his hammer to break the beast's legs and once a slight stagger happened he would put it to good use, by using the rest of the fire paper alfred gave him, he used a giant burning hammer to smash the limbs of the creature, this helped the hunter get back at the beast, even if he had wasted a few vials and all his bullets.
Let's see you healing now! the sight of a hunt is never a pretty one, still what the boy did to the beast is nothing short of cruel, he was staggering the beast and forcing it down each time it tried to get up, this was not the analytical and tatical side of the hunt, it was the wild and bloody face that it showed to any bystander, after a few gruesome and destructive hits, the beast fell towards the ground one last time, as the hunter raised his hammer, and brought it down on the beast smashing it's skull.
A peacefull silence filled the room, it was the sign that no beast was near, and the bloodshed is over, the hunter started appreciating these moments when no screams filled the air, when the sound of claws was not ringing out for everyone to hear. What is that altar? the hunter, approached an altar at the cathedral, there, the skull of a beast was on display, touching it out of a weird curiosity the hunter saw a vision, of a student and his master, a betrayal and an important sentence to the church's origin...
"Fear the old blood"
Many questions surrounded the hunter, most importantly... How does that skull thing even work? he knows magic does not exist in this place, atleast not as a widespread ability, he had found human skulls in the sewers but decided to not pick them up, Who knows... maybe they too hold secrets...
But as the weird vision gave him answers, he realised he did not have the right questions to put them to any use, Gherman could know something about it... The hunter went back to the dream, he wanted answers and Gherman was the only one who could answer him, Alfred the executioner probably had heard of it, but he wanted to speak to Gherman first.
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"Hmmmm... i can recall this... it is the adage of the old healing church, still how did you heard of this?" Gherman had responded to the boy with a question, truly this knowledge was forbidden by Laurence, how could he have discovered it... The boy aproaches secrets that should be left hidden, perhaps a distraction should come in handy...
"The moon is close. It will be a long hunt tonight. If the beasts loom large, and threaten to crush your spirits, seek a holy chalice to reveal the tomb of the gods...
where hunters partake in communion."
"Tomb of the gods, can gods even die?" the hunter was confused, as this information threatened all his knowledge about the gods he had from his world...
"Most of the chalices lie deep within the underground labyrinth... the tomb of the gods... the chalice dungeons..."
"Dungeons?" the eyes of the hunter lit up, were this dungeons similar to the one in his world, could he become an adventurer... even in this horrible hunter's dream...
"Yes, but even the few that made it out were lost by the hands of men..." That instantly disspointed the hunter, "However, if the old hunter tales remain true... then you may find one being worshipped in the old valley hamlet... however the town is long abandoned, burned to the ground and ridden with beasts... a perfect place for a hunter don't you think?"
"Seriously? then i will be going. thank you Mr. Gehrman!" the enthusiasm of the boy was almost infectious... such childish wonder does not befit a hunter, still he was chosen all the same...
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Now with a new objective, the hunter sets off in his goal to enter these so called chalice dungeons... after all... is it wrong to be an adventurer even in another world?
He found himself in the small chapel building where he found alfred for the first time, exploring the inside of it he discovers the passage to the barren streets of old Yarnham, lighting a lamp that could take him to the dream should he need it, he prepares to go into the hamlet to find the so called holy chalice.
Opening the door reveals a distopian sight, the town is burned, ruined and most of all ridde with beasts just as Gehrman had told him, and even worse was that steps after leaving the relative safety of the entrance to the old district, he was confronted by another hunter atop a tower, using something to make his voice hear even when in the distance.
"You there hunter... did you not see the warnings? Turn back at once!"
"Eh! Who are you? Show yourself."
"Old Yarnham, burned and abandoned by men, is now home only to beasts, They are of no harm to those above, turn back... or the hunter will face the hunt."
"Hello? i don't want to hunt them!, i am just searching for the holy chalice." He is not hearing me, perhaps i need to climb up his tower...
And so the hunter started his small journey to the tower, one marked by climbing down buildings and avoiding machine gun fire from the tower.
"... You are a skilled hunter..."
"... Adept, merciless and half-cut with blood, as the best ones are..."
"... Which is why i must stop you!"
The one thing he wanted to know now is why was there a maniac in the rooftops with such firepower, but then again, Yarnham is full of unpleasant surprises. He was getting closer to the tower, almost at it's base when another hunter appeared between him and the madman at the tower, Bell had only fought 2 hunters and while somewhat proficient at killing beasts, he had a clear lack of talent when it comes to fighting hunters.
Dodge to the side... his left is exposed. The hunter, despite his lack of expertise when engaging other hunters, was still very resourcefull in his fights, he should be using a vial now, he is too low on health *BANG* shooting his pistol right on the hunters leg, stopping him from using the vial while closing the distance between them, preparing a transform attack, Bell aims at his right while sweeping with the transformed cleaver, Jumping back to avoid the attack, the enemy prepares to counter the next move, but is surprised when the young hunter switches his weapons, now using a faster and lighter sword, with the full intention of not giving him any time to attack in a brutal onslaught of stabs, slashes and the ocasional hammer strike.
The plan worked, as his opponent was pinned against the railing of a rooftop while continuing the fight, his more strategic side was his best trick, after the fight, finishing off his opponent, he picked up the weird saw spear his opponent wielded before disspearing in the familiar mist of the dream, he picked up a few attacks with it from his fight, a rather impressive feat, but considering the family members he never truly knew... it pales in comparison.
Climbing the ladder to the tower he was met by the old hunter who shot at him with his giant gatling gun, the man was clearly a veteran of the hunt, wounded, scarred and carried himself like a true hunter, no openings or blindspots whatsoever, still Bell's objective was not to best him in a fight, it was to reason with him...
"So you hunter ignored my warnings... and chose to prey on harmless people afflicted by old ashen blood and beastly scourge alike."
"Please, i don-" The boy's plead was interrupted by the old hunter.
"Silence! You blood thirsty hunter, you will face the hunt yourself!" The man said with anger overflowing him. Stake driver in hand, he prepared to attack the boy, who readied hia blade in anticipation, still he was quickly defeated after a parry and visceral made by Djura, the old hunter.
But before he was able to end the scum before him, he saw his red pleading eyes, ones that could not belong to any blood drunk killer, but a poor victim of the hunt, dropping his weapon, the hunter spoke.
"If you are not here to hunt, then why did you come here?"
"I heard rumors... of a holy chalice... in a church nearby."
"And why would you need it?"
"All i want is to go home, but to do so i will need it."
"Then why become a hunter in the first place?" Seriously, this boy puzzles me every second... he is a good fighter, i can tell that much, but also has a complete lack of expertise in the more brutal part of the hunt, it reminded him too much of another kid he once helped, almost in an uncanny way.
The two began talking and after a while, Djura the hunter began to understand the complete enigma in front of him, hunter from the outside, but just a lost kid at the end of the day, eventually they both part ways after Bell promissed to not hunt the beast of old Yarnham.
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Now in the dirty streets of the hamlet, and back on his path to the church of the good chalice, Djura had pointed him towards the location of the holy chalice, wishing him good luck on his journey home.
After sneaking around a few werewolves and using a few blood cocktails he found on the street, the hunter entered an old church ruined beyond repair and inside found a beast larger than normal, although not enough to be in the same league as the cleric beast or old vicar found in the cathedral.
"So this is my next prey eh?" The hunter had a pretty good plan, flame paper and the sprayer could take care of it fairly quickly, and a few viscerals should do the trick. As the battle started, the boy wa surprised by the speed of the beast, clearly abnormal for it's size, after having set ablaze his sword and quickly prepared for the fight, the hunter close in on the beast and struck it's legs, intending on not letting it use them, still not enough, for the beast quickly retaliated and dashed across the church in an attempt to hit the hunter with it's claws, distracting his enemy with a cocktail, the hunter threw everything he had at the beast, be it flames or slashes and struck down it's health to less than half.
But then the old ashen blood still coursing through the beast had taken over, and with e every attack came a slow poison but still a lethal one, failing a dodge might spell disaster for the boy, but his movements are light and agile allowing him to dodge the attacks even if he cannot afford to choose where he is dodging to. The beast raised it's claw and as it was swinging it around the hunter realised the flaw in his positioning, reckless dodges and unnecessary movements were leading him into a corner where he could not dodge anything, getting hit by the claw and having to waste a cocktail to regain health using the vials of blood, that was bad, i didn't refill my vials before going here, i can't afford more wounds... specially with the poison on it's claws...
The battle had dragged on for quite a while thanks to the hunter's mistake, the pressure of having to heal and cure poison with few antidotes is immense and highly favourable for the beast, still the hunter held on and began hatching a plan to end his prey, as the beast started to wildly attack, the hunter shot at it's eye in an attempt to blind it, followed by a blood cocktail to confuse it's sense of smell, after being essentially invisible to the creature the hunter sneaked around the beast and struck it down from behind, following with a visceral attack plunging his hand straight through the beast and ripping off it's heart.
An astounding victory for the hunter, untill the adrenaline in his body left him, and he saw the bloody mess on the floor... he was enjoying the victory, the thrill of the fight, but it did scare him seeing the remains of the beast, not because of the blood and guts spilled, but because he could feel his smile and happiness, he enjoyed fighting, but this was not soemthing a hero would do, enjoying the bloodshed he himself caused, he would speak with the doll once he got the chalice, inspecting the altar at the end of the church, he found a simple golden goblet. Is this it? the chalice mr.Gehrman mentioned?
As he was grabbing the chalice, he felt a sharp pain on his side, a wound he had not previously discovered, as he felt his vision getting darker, probably because of the poisonous ashen blood, he lit up the lamp that appeared after the death of the bloodstarved beast and finally died by the poison.
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A few weeks after that or at least the time that a week went by, the hunter was exploring the chalice dungeons, and while his expeditions have been increasingly more succesfull, he was a bit dissapointed, sure there are many labyrinths to explore full of powerfull foes, but the progression of the labyrinth was certainly confusing, instead of hundreds of floors there were thousands of smaller labyrinths available through the tombstone altars at the dream. He asked German about it but the old man only responded "And what did you thought dungeons were like? a massive one with hundreds of floors? don't be ridiculous..." still it was nice having a near infinite source of foes, he was begining to enjoy fighting and even training in the garden near the workshop. He did at least stockpile some bloodgems and various other trinkets even some "Carryl runes" but he still was clueless on how to use them...
He decided to take trip around Yarnham, more especifically cathedral ward, he wanted to look for any survivors who still had their minds in place, he was kinda feeling guilty since basically forgetting his promise to the chapel dweller, who had assured him that he should still do his hunter duties and not to put the safety of others above his own, it was in these streets where he met an interesting woman... to say the least.
"Hello? anyone one there?" he knocked on one of the only doors still protected by the incense on that street.
"Oh my! what queer scent... but i'd take it over the stench of beasts any day. So what is it? im off during the hunt, so if that's what you are here for..."
"Oh no, i am hunter, looking for survivors to send to the chapel, a safer place than these streets."
"Well thank you dear, i've been running low on incense so might as well take your offer."
"Well then i will see you there, miss?"
"Arianna, my name is Arriana."
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author notes: Sorry for the wait as i wanted to publish this chapter way earlier but wanted to plan out a few things before publishing it, so i thought, why not ask you guys for some suggestions and answer some questions:
so to answer John kenneth berces, who had a few comments about the ch1: First of all, Bell has interactions with his world before Yarnham, but those will be revealed later in the story, i am also planning on revealing the story of how Bell got in Yarnham on the PoV of another character, as i want to make it more lore friendly to how the protagonist of bloodborne founds himself in the hunt, instead of just dying and being isekaid after death, also the reason he uses the hammer is more for the sword than anything else, he will use other more dexterity based weapons but that will come later. The plan is to keep the story in Yarnham for a while since his experiences will affect his relationships in his world as well since there are really similar characters on both sides (Arianna and haruhime for example who are both prostitutes who come from nobility).
Also, I'd like to ask you guys, what familia would you like to see bell in, this is not a vote but more of a suggestion so remember this if you wanna comment.