If anyone is wondering if the Hunter went to the other rings, I can confirm that he did not since he has no easy way to enter, and no reason to go. We'll eventually create a side story that dedicates his one singular trip into a different ring, and by complete accident.

Now then, let's resume the story.

A Hunter's Guide for Running a Hotel

XIV

Sparrin' N' Relaxin'

Eight-Six Day until the Next Extermination Day

Six days had gone by since the Hunter had begun training I.M.P for the grisly life of a Hunter. It had been a gruelling week (especially for Loona's hair and Moxxie's sanity). Yet, they manage to persevere due to them developing their teamwork (even if they still bickered between each other, they used it to relay information during the witty comments and scathing remarks), their reflexes (They could dodge or catch anything that wasn't a bullet at point blank, which Blitzø abused by tossing his paperwork at them that they instinctively caught, falling for Rule 2 : Whoever touches paperwork second has to fill it out, and their individual strengths.

Loona was suffering from some of these, having cracked her phone's screen by texting too hard. She felt better after she broke a particularly handsy Sinner in half (literally), making all onlookers suddenly allergic to her gaze. It made it even better when the guy came back with friends that she also snapped into pieces and tossed in a dumpster.

Millie was thriving from all of these. She was now strong enough to crush their garbage into shape instead of using a compactor and could catch up to the speeding car to remind them that it wasn't nice to speed off after almost accidentally hitting her on the sidewalk. She had also lost weight, which was the greatest benefit of all.

Moxxie liked some of these, but not all of them. Aside from the aforementioned paperwork (That Blitzø always threw at him, no matter who else was in the room with him), his strength had gotten to the point where he could comfortably 'jog' alongside his wife during her morning runs at a speed that left most athletes in the dust. No way in hell could he keep up to her running, but this was good enough for both of them. The more eh… tasty part was now she could play a bit more rough with him, which their already busted furniture (and neighbors) really appreciated.

The other end of the coin wasn't as great. He could see and hear anything in a mile unaided. At all times. In the most active part of Hell. It sucked hearing gunshots from the other side of the Ring while he was trying to sleep, and it also sucked reacting to random attacks coming from an alleyway two blocks away. He'll need to ask the Hunter how he managed all of the noise when he gets the chance.

The Hunter wasn't present when they woke up after the weirdest individual dreams of a headless corpse teaching them weapon maintenance, and a corpseless head teaching them tax fraud. But he had, however, left a note saying that he 'hath decided to reward them for their hard work and inspiring diligence, yet it shall take time to manufacture and procure the required materials'. (Old English. Of course. Moxxie would bet that somewhere in those pouches was a feather quill and ink pot.) Millie had noticed that her axe was missing and had nearly torn the office apart (literally) looking for it but was informed that he was making adjustments to do it that she would like. While slightly bummed about it, she had seen the way he had easily dismantled it on the fly, who knows what he could do with some preparation. So, to kill time, they decided to use this opportunity to train themselves until he comes back. And to also (Euugh) fix their dieting (in much to Loona and Blitzø's displeasure).

Over the next four days, they have developed their skills using the stuff he had left behind for them as some kind of 'homework'. There was the basic shit, like running a few miles without stopping, climbing up a few thousand stairs backwards or scaling a building with no ledges. Those may have sounded fucking insane in any level in athletics, but they were nothing compared to the tougher shit. Throw knives for an hour. Didn't sound hard, right? Wrong! 300 pounds minimum weights while constantly sidestepping. Take multiple hits in a row without flinching. Just a simple punch in the gut, right? Wrong! The Hunter had made what Moxxie liked to call in his head the 'Shit-Fucker-Upper 3000', which was a kind word for the bars of metal that would beat down at them from multiple angles with enough force to shatter bones. Shatter, not break, because Blitzø had tossed a full femur in to see what would have happened to a normal person, and it was dust in 5 seconds. And I.M.P's all-time favorite exercise, "Dodge". Why Dodge? Because it was simple. You had a hallway you had to get to the end of. At the end was a shit ton of crossbows, flintlocks, flamethrowers, rock catapults, and things that just chucked heavy metal objects covered in spikes. Somehow, all the shit reloaded itself without anyone being there, so it was always on if someone was in the hallway. So all you had to do was dodge the shit. Simple easy, and hair-tearingly frustrating because it never stops fucking attacking and I don't get a fucking chance to do anything other than FUCKING DODGE! This was the rage that I.M.P had felt towards this exercise and vowed to never insult the Hunter's dodging capabilities again, if this was the shit he thought was easy enough to learn in a day. IMP persevered, and over the next few days, the results made themselves known.

Blitzø, who still belittled his colleagues for minor or non-existent mistakes, had improved his reflexes, acrobatics, and athleticism. Thanks to those courses the Hunter had set up for them, he's now better than ever at getting a feel for where his subordinates are. He was also freakishly dextrous, and he could squeeze himself into even more ridiculous spots than his employee's fridge, which he abused by hiding in their microwave instead. Even his marksmanship had improved somewhat, but it was nothing compared to his subordinate's.

Moxxie was an impossible shot. Ever since he started training with Evelyn, there were significant changes in both his reaction speed and accuracy. His draw time went from 0.724 seconds to a tenth of a second, his hands becoming invisible to the naked eye. He could shoot up to seventy-five meters with it and still nail a headshot due to constant practicing. He could actually hold his own in a melee brawl, with a technique he'd never actually learned before. And his sniping was unmatched. Even with the shittiest scope they could find on the shittiest gun they owned, Moxxie could not miss. Not only could he see the individual pores on a Demon's face from half a mile away, it felt like his shots were being guided somehow.

Loona had the second most significant improvements in terms of physical capabilities. Somewhat in part of her Hellhound nature giving her abilities that her colleagues lacked, her reflexes (including her quickstep, dodges, and deflecting questions aimed at her) improved drastically, as well as her strength. She could now move fast enough to blur if she was putting her heart into it. While her strength came with downsides of having to be more careful with her phone, she could slack off twice as hard and still get the work done in a quarter of the time, meaning she technically did more, meaning she got paid more. Also she enjoyed being able to open a beer with just her thumb, though she had to be careful not to flick the top off too, as she had accidentally ruined a few of her favorite tops before getting it right.

Out of the four of I.M.P, Millie was in the spotlight. Her strength had multiplied seemingly overnight, her speed was unmatched on foot (and in some particularly crappy cars), and her reflexes couldn't be beat even when an entire gang tried to attack her (She broke them all. She didn't even break a sweat. While cathartic to snap their bones and crush their spirits, mayyybe she should take that anger management class that Moxxie had mentioned.) She actually caught on quite well to the Hunter's recommendations and training techniques. But she still felt tingly at letting someone that wasn't her husband or coworker hold her baby (even though she knows the Hunter has no ill intention with her axe).

That is how the previous 3 days had ended. On the final day, they awakened in the early hours of the day, and each began their morning routine before heading to the office. Millie and Moxxie woke up beside each other, kissed, started making out, it got sloppier, the rest of their clothes came off, you get the picture (HH : Crimson's holding my nonexistent pay hostage until I make the story lemon-free). They finished up, Millie untied Moxxie from the rocking horse and removed her cowboy outfit, and they began their morning properly. Quick breakfast of bacon and eggs, tossing the fork that Millie bit the tines off into the scrap heap with the rest, and off to work. Blitzø woke up by his alarm blaring directly into his ear hole, causing him to tumble off the couch he was plastered to, onto the floor next to some of the beer bottles from last night. After waking up Loona (and being kicked across their shared living room) they had their breakfast of beer and last night's pizza that he and Loona didn't tell the others about, for fear of being put on an actual diet. Then, they were off to work.

They met in the office and did whatever jobs they got that day. A man with a grudge wanted his landlord's family erased? They finished in three hours. Murdered girl wanted her abuser to die painfully and publically? They took their time, but still managed to finish in a little over one hour. Grandma died, but her inheritance went to the slimy lawyer that wrote the deeds instead of her sickly grandson? Done and done in thirty. When they finished up, they closed down the office, ribbed Moxxie a bit, and headed to their normal spot in the fields for some 'light' workouts.

As they reached the training ground (which was what they called the huge area where the grass had recently burned away), they were surprised to see their missing coworker, who was leaning against the tree of their usual spot in his usual attire. "Hey there you are! I wondered what you've been up to, check out our progress!" Blitzø greeted him. With this, IMP (minus Loona, who was embarrassed and didn't want to) began showing off their stuff.

Blitzø twisted himself into a pretzel, then untwisted himself to immediately begin sidestepping so fast he blurred. He then did five somersaults and fifteen backflips before ending in a perfect split (A single tear rolled down his face).

Millie squatted into a sumo stance, lifted her left leg high above her head, then brought it down so hard the earth shook and cracked below her. She then flipped over and started doing alternating one-handed handstand pushups at a speed that made Olympic athletes quiver in fear.

Moxxie didn't really do much, due to his preferred affinities, but was still able to show off. He tossed a rock high above his head, then shot it without looking, then caught all the pieces also without looking. He then flourished his pistol, blew the smoke of of it, then tucked it into his belt.

After their individual skills were shown, they each began flexing and posing, showing off all of their hard-earned muscles and scars. Blitzø was an allrounder, with steel cord-like muscles giving him his unnatural flexibility and strength. Moxxie was as lean and mean as a whip, capable of supernatural reflexes while being able to hold himself perfectly still, not even twitching when he pulled the trigger. Millie took the cake in terms of bodily strength, however. While her physical size hadn't changed much, the effects of her extra gruelling personal workouts made their marks. Every visible muscle was like chiselled stone, and her abs were forged steel. She could grate cheese on her back muscles if she wanted to (which Moxxie had done late one night).

To this display of sheer power his coworkers had cultivated, the Hunter had a single response. "Good work," he said, while nodding his head. "I am proud of your progress."

After the glow of the Hunter's pride washed off, Moxxie spotted that he had a different weapon next to him, some kind of long curved sword. Naturally (fearing for it being some kind of terror weapon that spewed fire or launched spikes or something), he asked him. "Hunter, what's that weird sword on your back?"

The Hunter looked to the Beasthunter Saif next to him. While not his most practiced weapon, it would serve as a temporary replacement to his Modified Angelic-Steel Saw Cleaver. He didn't want them dead after all. And the next fight wasn't meant to be skewed in his favor anyways, so this was the closest he could do to even the odds without touching garbage like the…Uugh…Wheel. 'How was that ever considered a weapon of any measure?' Shaking away the terrible memories, the Hunter responded. "This is for later." And I.M.P dreaded for what was to come. "For now however, I believe your rewards are in order."

That caught them off guard. Rewards? They thought it'd be another day of pain, but now he was rewarding them? Something was fishy. Before any of them could open their mouths, they Hunter briskly straightened up, then walked behind the tree, appearing a moment later carrying four large boxes, 'Where the fuck did they come from? Those weren't there before!' Once more, Moxxie feared for his sanity.

"Here. Your rewards are right inside." He gave each box to the member of IMP that it belonged to. Once each had their box, he stepped back, and gave his words. "For your hard work and diligence, you have earned these. Now, you can all open it."

It was like Christmas for I.M.P. Weapons and guns! From the looks of them, the Hunter had broken into what might have been his personal collection, since none of them had ever seen the likes of these before. As they inspected their presents, the Hunter explained each one's purpose in turn.

Loona opened hers, finding a claw and a long gun. "That claw is chiseled bone from a rather tough Beast. Its intended use is to rip beings apart, and stab at close range. It is not a weapon meant for graceful hands, so it fits in yours perfectly." Ignoring the (rather scathing) jab, she held it up to inspect it. It was bone, but at the same time, there was something else just under the surface. He was right about it fitting in her hands, it felt like a part of her body, instead of an extension of her. Blinking away the weird feelings, she held up what she thought was a rifle. It was not "This blunderbuss is simple in its utility, yet deadly at close range. Meant to stagger larger enemies, or to disperse a crowd. Range is not something I see you excelling at, so your tools will help with closer enemies instead."

Moxxie opened his gift, which was much bigger and heavier than the others. After opening it, he was in shock at what lay before him. Two huge guns, neither of which could have been held by him before this week. But now? He lifted up the guns by their handles, absentmindedly noticing that these beasts were meant to be fired one handed. Still in a state of shock, he looked to the Hunter, as if begging for an explanation, which he received. "The Cannon and Gatling gun are similar in that they are big, bulky, and powerful at medium range. Range that you possess, should the enemy be too close for comfort. These are meant for any that are unfortunate enough to be in your path, from single fighters to large crowds. As a sniper, if the enemies are close enough for you to shoot with these, then something has gone horribly wrong. These will rectify that. Also, you may keep the pistol. It has grown on you, I believe." And the Hunter was right. Evelyn was now a part of him, as much as his horns and tail were. It felt wrong if he was in the field and it wasn't safely tucked away on his person. He's never had to use it, but he wondered about the day that he would have to.

Blitzø opened his gift, and immediately dissolved into manic cackling. Two of the best things in existence lay before his eyes, excluding sex, pizza, beer, his daughter, etc. Three if you considered that one of these was a pair, which he pulled out to look at. They were a bulky set of guns, with twin barrels and chunky bodies made of solid metal. Each had a wheel on its side, likely for fast reloading. "The repeating pistol is intended for quick and efficient kills, firing twice in a single shot. If modified, I believe you could fire the entire supply of bullets at once. This is a risk, given the ammo intensive nature of them. Which is where your next weapon comes in-"

VVVVVRRRRRRRRRR

"WAHAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHA-HA!"

I.M.P had PTSD from this noise. Moxxie ducked under his cannon while whipping out Evelyn, fearing for his life. Loona had hit the ground, covering her newly grown hair in an attempt to spare its life. Millie, sure she could take it, jumped in front of the others in an attempt to save them. None of this mattered. Because Blitzø had just found his second toy.

"HAHAHA! THIS IS SO MUCH FUUUN!" In a surprising act of charity (or lack of foresight, considering Blitzø's sanity), the Hunter had gifted the same weapon he tormented them with that first day, what felt like years ago. They still remembered what it could do. And now, as I.M.P warily stared at their boss waving around the oversized saw on a pole with reckless abandon, they felt as though the Hunter had given them a fate worse than death.

"The Whirligig Saw," The Hunter began, somehow still being heard despite the wheel of death spinning a foot from his head, "is meant for any and all engagements. It is used to terrorize, to tear, to torture, and to kill. Single opponents of any size cannot escape its teeth, and crowds of any size will melt before it. The only way to survive it, is to run away, or to stagger the wielder. As I'm sure you already know."

As he finished speaking, Blitzø stopped holding down the trigger, and turned to the Hunter. "WHAT?!" he yelled, deafened by his exposure to his new plaything.

Millie opened her box, confused by its insides. A… big chunk of metal? With finger holes? It looked like a really chunky set of Brass Knuckles in her opinion. As she slipped it on, getting a feel for its nonexistent weight (to her, not to whoever's skull she'd be crushing with it), the Hunter spoke up. "The Fist of Gratia is a brutal tool. Closest range possible, meant to crush bones and stagger opponents in place of a firearm. In your hands however, I imagine it will do a bit more than stagger opponents. If any survive it, I suppose what I give you next will help fix that."

With that, the Hunter straightened up, into a pose that seemed to radiate authority.

"I have seen, held, and tasted the lash of many weapons in my days. Many have been insufficient, some were worth further inspection, few have truly given me pause. The weapon you yourself have crafted has somehow managed all of these. It was unreliable, unwieldy, and it would have been best to have been tossed aside for any other weapon. However, you have managed to gravely wound me once with it, and once without. You have gone above and beyond what I expected of any of your caliber. You have proven yourself to be truly worthy of my attention, and therefore, this." With this, the Hunter raised his hand, where a blue pool shimmered into existence.

While Millie was confused about this, several strange, small beings presented her with- "My axe!" And indeed it was. But it wasn't the same as before. It used to be made out of a regular spare axe and some junk metal, whereas now it was almost an entirely different weapon altogether. The handle between the head and the grip had changed, becoming chunkier and had more complex bits around the seam where the head disconnected. The head had been made larger, and the edge was now Angelic Steel. But… the clamp was gone. So was the crank. What did it do now? Confused, she picked it up from the strange creature's hands, which sank back into the pool, which disappeared. As she held her axe, a rush of information assaulted her brain. Suddenly, she knew how to use this, like she had been practicing for years.

She turned away from the group towards a nearby tree. She then planted her left foot down, swung the axe horizontally from right to left, and twisted the grip. The head exploded from the handle, shooting out to at least twenty feet before reaching the limit of what had used to be a chain but was now segmented steel. Each segment was threaded together, making it seem like a rigid object when she held it in front of her to inspect it. As to turn it back… She abruptly turned it over and slammed it into the ground, connecting all of the segments and resetting the trigger mechanism. This also was the final push the tree she had sliced perfectly in half needed to actually fall over, revealing a paper-smooth surface on both ends. Technically it was intended that she just twist the grip the other way, but this worked faster. And was way, way cooler.

She turned back to the group. All of them had dropped their jaws, and Blitzø's eyes were bugged out. No way that junky thing had been made into this! The Hunter could seemingly pull miracles straight from his asshole apparently, as there was more to come.

"And with this gift, comes another. Millie Knolastname (and that caused her to straighten up because holy shit this was serious now), you have created a weapon worthy of the Workshop's attention, excelled at every physical trial presented, and have managed to mark me twice. With these in mind, I grant you this."

And then he handed her something that caused tears to sprout in her eyes. A hat. Rather, his hat. The hat he had doffed, revealing his medium length, graying black hair, then held out in front of him, beckoning Millie to take it. Which she did, but she just held it, wondering just why he was doing this. As all of I.M.P looked on in shock and confusion, he continued. "You have proven yourself to be worthy of much more than just praise. Rather, you have proven yourself to be better. You have proven yourself to be a Hunter, in all but blood. As such, I grant you access to the Workshop, should you ever need it."

With this, he handed her a small piece of leather with a bunch of scribbles on it. At this Millie broke, but she was just barely able to take the piece of leather through the tears. The Hunter then turned to address the rest.

"Hunters you too shall become, should you complete this final task." The Hunter turned away, towards the burned patch of grass. "Meet me at the field when you are prepared." With that, he walked away, grabbing the Saif as he went along. I.M.P looked at one another, before looking at the gifts they received. Perhaps they should practice first. Once Millie stopped crying, and Moxxie stopped retching after looking at the 'leather'.

-Scene Change-

I.M.P spent an interesting hour of 'practicing' with their new equipment. Blitzø nearly chopped off a lot more than the tips of Loona's hair again, much to her horror, then rage, which she retaliated by flinging him across the field with her Blunderbuss. Millie was able to pull herself together enough to properly mess with her new toys, discovering even more fun ways to kill with them. Moxxie tried to fire the cannon and gatling gun at the same time, which wasn't exactly a good idea as he was sent flying backwards. They even figured out how to reload their guns, with the weird Quicksilver bullets that he had given them a bunch of. When they were finished, they all marched to where the Hunter was waiting.

He stood facing East, where the sun would have been topside. Hell's day and night cycle was weird, because instead of having an easily trackable orbit, the pentagram instead grew brighter and dimmer as the day went on. Right now it was late morning, so the sky was slowly lighting up bloody red, accenting the Hunter's still form. His weapons were in his hands, consisting of the strange, curved sword, and his personal pistol. His absent hat had been replaced with a similar tricorn, with it being eerily similar to his original one except it was made out of leather.

The Hunter heard their footsteps and turned to face them. The eyes of the three Imps and Hellhound told him they thought they were now ready for their final test. They were not, but neither was he. He had never been a teacher before; he was always the student. Maybe they would both learn something new today. "I hope all of you are prepared. Because everything I have put you through and all you have been preparing for has led to this moment." Saying this, he exchanged his pistol for a particularly old bone, attaching it to his waist before drawing his pistol again. Unsure of what its purpose was, I.M.P tensed up even further.

"Which is why I give one final proposal to you." That grabbed their interest, and they kept silent to allow him to continue. "If you win, you shall each receive one additional tool from my collection. If I win, however, you shall never see me again." His intention was clear. He was not holding back this time and wanted to see them fight. "Now…" He widened his stance, tensing his legs as if he was about to leap at them. "Come then, students of mine. Dance with me, and B̶̨̮͔̄̊͝l̶̢͓̳̄̄̃̚͝ẻ̴̢̡̛͚̻͛̕ḛ̴͔̣̰́̎̊̓̈̈͝ḑ̷̛̠̤̫̹̠͙́̑͒̚͘ͅ" And the Hunt was on.

Insert Bloodborne OST: Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower (Jaden-Core Music Version)

Wind blew past him, causing his coat to snap and flutter as he watched I.M.P immediately plan their first move for the fight. Each member firmly held their grip on their weapons. Internally going over attacks and counter attacks at a speed most couldn't even think. Though as they are about to make the first move, the Hunter beat them to it. With a single step forward, and a tensing in his legs, the Hunter vanished from where he stood, suddenly moving faster than he had any right to, heading straight for them. I.M.P sprang into action.

Blitzø gave a simple command. "Scatter! Show him what we're good for!" His colleagues and daughter nodded at him, then split into four directions, Moxxie and his boss going to the left and right while Loona and Millie closed the distance.

The Hunter took note of their tactic and quickstepped to the side, narrowly avoiding several wild swings from Loona's Beast Claws, which whistled at the speed they were moving. He lashed out with the saif, scoring a gash on her arm and forcing her to disengage. In the same moment, he had to duck under the axe that nearly split him in half again, but instead whistled over his head. He then had to sidestep again when it suddenly snapped down from where it had been returning to Millie, who had figured out another few tricks to fighting with essentially a fifty-pound chain. A few bullets whizzed past him as he narrowly moved between each one, the Old Hunter's Bone doing its best to keep him alive. Blitzø had seen where he was going to move and had aimed accordingly. Not bad, but it was his turn now. As he started to swing the short version of the Saif downwards towards Millie's exposed head, he didn't have time to react when a Quicksilver bullet struck his left side. The Sniper had expertly fired a shot that staggered him, causing him to fall on one knee in a temporary daze. Seeing him being temporarily down, he looked at his boss. "Now, Sir!"

"Don't need me to be told twice, dipshit!" He joked, rushing in while raising the Whirligig Saw up in the air.

Shaking his head, the Hunter saw what Blitzø was about to do, and quickly stood up just to barely dash out of the way of the attack. He then had to avoid another attack, this time from Millie's segmented Axe that lightly grazed his right shoulder. Already, he figured out what their plan was. "One attacker, and one distraction? A very successful tactic when fighting Beasts. However…" He transformed his Beasthunter Saif into its longer form. "They should switch their tactics now–" He was caught off guard when he felt a cloud of bullets impacting his chest.

This time, it was Loona who had fired her Blunderbuss while covering the wound the Hunter had inflicted on her. "Hey, idiot! Don't get sidetracked by your thoughts!" He let out a chuckle while somehow still out of breath. Of course, his student has to remind him of that.

"If you say so," He casually thought before he quickly dashed towards Loona with his extended Beasthunter Saif, dodging the Sniper's third attempt to headshot him, only to feel a heavy iron weight crush into him, before Millie tried launching him back towards Blitzø, who eagerly held up the saw in an attempt to (play with his toy even more) end the fight quick. The Hunter had seen this one coming, having done it alongside other Hunters once. The easiest way to get out of this was to remind them that he wasn't armed with merely one weapon.

Blitzø almost didn't feel the bullet until it had completely pushed his sternum inwards, propelling all the air from his lungs. As he collapsed to his knees, fighting for breath, the Hunter turned to the biggest problem. Moxxie felt a chill down his spine as the Hunter towards him, then vanished again, leaving the perfect headshot he had made with his rifle miss entirely. "Loona help me!" As she was the closest to him at the moment, he hoped that she would be able to do something to assist. She wasn't much help.

"I can't! This fucker won't stay still!" She bellowed, as the Hunter seemingly phased through her next shot, still approaching way too rapidly for comfort. The Hunter had never been this fast before! Yeah he was a slippery little shit, but not to this extent! He had dodged through some of those swings, and he had managed to move out of the way of most of the bullets they had sent his way. 'Something's up here but what could it be? That weapon? The hat? The-' "The bone! It's the bone! Whatever that bone is doing is making him faster!"

"Loona!"

"On it!" With these three exchanges, the plan had changed. Now the first goal wasn't to pin him down, it was to cut his speed so that they could then pin him down and rip him apart. Millie, understanding what they were up to, helped out by throwing as many wild swings in a row at the Hunter, so as to throw him off whenever Loona got in close. The Hunter wasn't deaf, and knew what they were planning now. He'd play along only until he could get one of them close enough to throw at Moxxie, then rush him while his vision was obscured. He was honestly lucky Moxxie hadn't decided to pull out the big guns early, as all of this dodging could be a lot harder if he was having to evade cannon balls and streams of bullets at the same time. He'd have to rectify that mistake. As Loona drew in close, the Hunter prepared himself to grab her to throw at Moxxie, and then shoot Millie to give him a chance to breathe. This didn't come to pass, due to Blitzø having got his breath back. His grab was cancelled when the entire ammo capacity of each repeating pistol dug into his back, getting him close enough for her to yank the bone from his belt, causing his speed to drop drastically. Another swing from Millie managed to connect, ripping down his front with a spray of blood.

This almost ended the fight. It didn't. The Hunter hadn't survived this long by letting things happen as they did, and Loona was still in range. Having expected the Hunter to still be rattled by the bullets in his back, Loona didn't expect him to suddenly lash out, carving into her side with that wicked blade, then kicking her hard enough to fling her towards Moxxie, who was so startled he barely caught her in time. Both fell over in a tumble of limbs and heavy metal, putting both out of the fight for the time being.

Two were momentarily down. Two remained. The Hunter slammed a Blood Vial into his right thigh, feeling the depleted energy coming back to him, and his flesh knitting together. The tables had turned. Now, he eyed Millie and Blitzø as if they were his prey. Rushing to them while regaining his momentum and ducking under Millie's swing, he swung the Beasthunter Saif across the front of the imp, leaving a large cut on her chest as he also used this time to sidestep Blitzø's thrust, grab him around the throat, and fling him towards his female colleague. Seeing all of them down for at least a few moments, he used this time to catch his breath. This fight thus far was very fun to partake in. Unlike the hunts of Yharnam, there was little chance of death or dismemberment. He now felt like a Beast that had been beset by particularly green Hunters. Looking back at the group that was shakily getting to their feet, he noticed that Moxxie was missing. Before he could wonder–

*BOOM*

A cannonball exploded at his feet, sending the Hunter flying backwards and landing very heavily on his back first a few meters away. Getting up from the ground, he turned to see where it came from. On the sidelines, he saw the missing Sniper, now holding the cannon and Gatling gun on each hand, pointing the latter on him. Seems he remembered he had them. 'Just what I needed.'

Moxxie held down the trigger on his Gatling gun, forcing the Hunter to quickstep repeatedly to dodge the hail of bullets hurling towards him. There were too many, some managed to graze him, slowing him down. It was during this he eyed his wife and Hellhound (despite being so hurt from the Hunter's vicious attacks), who all managed to formulate a rough plan using gestures, face cues, and mouthed words. Moxxie let off the trigger, to begin the next part that partly utilized the bone Loona had stolen.

As the gatling Gun no longer fired bullets, the Hunter used this opportunity to throw himself at the Sniper. If he didn't put him down now, he would be torn apart when they got their bearings. Getting closer, he was about to cut into the Imp when he got tackled by the Hellhound, whose red eyes glowed as she growled at him. In retaliation for ruining her clothes and making her bleed all over her new pants, she repeatedly stabbed him in the sides, ribs, and gut with her Claws. "How do you like that, shithead!?" She yelled in rage.

She got a response in the form of a kick from him, sending her tumbling backwards a bit. The Hunter got up and slammed another blood vial into his leg. A few seconds later, the wound was closed shut and despite being literally covered by his own blood, as well as I.M.P, he could still fight. "I have tasted far worse than that."

He was about to in fact. The second part of the plan had just begun. As the Hunter faced Moxxie and Loona, who stood in front of a still recovering Blitzø (who's lungs had been nearly crushed for the second time today), he failed to notice that one was missing. And then she drop kicked him from behind. Having a Imp made of pure muscle carrying a fifty pound axe would have been enough to send him flying, but this Imp was traveling faster than she had any right to, thanks to the bone clenched between her teeth. It tasted wrong on every level, and she could feel her energy being sapped, but she powered through it. Straight into the Hunter's back, which snapped.

The Hunter, who couldn't dodge thanks to his severed spinal column, could only brace himself as the final member of I.M.P recovered enough to raise his weapon and turn it on. It didn't do much, considering he was partially ground into mince, but the worst was yet to come. As the weapon turned off, and he slumped to the ground, he knew that I.M.P wouldn't be satisfied with just damaging him. They had seen how he could recover. He knew what they would do, given how many times he had done it himself. The Hunts he had been on that had progressed like this could only ever end in one way. The Imps had gathered their weapons, all shiny teeth and steely eyes, and the Hellhound's bones were creaking from how hard she was clenching her fists. As he lay there, stunned, injured, and broken, I.M.P gathered around his form, raised their weapons…

And slaughtered him.

And thus, the Hunt was over.

Bloodborne OST Ends

HOLY SHIT, THAT WAS A BATTLE! I Never knew the Hunter would (semi-intentionally) let I.M.P win in the fight. Now for their rewards.

Crimson Soldat: Yeah. Just wait for the next chapter. They'll get their bonus reward for being the first people (in Hell, damn you Maria) to even kill him four times now! Now, all I can say is that they are officially the first batch of Hell's Hunters!

HalfWitHillbilly: Aye, and what a way to go. The previous times we could handwave it away by having him survive as pieces but this? Ehhh… I'll figure it out. And hey! I.M.P actually learned teamwork before it bit them on the ass. And the Hunter's not really dead dead, just kind of… separated from his fleshy body. He'll get better.

CS: As for the next, we're going to make it very short. Three scenes in fact. Like, We have good plans. And, all I can say is the Hazbin Hotel Staff are going to return pretty much next chapter. We're gonna make it heartfelt.

HH: We have okay plans, but great aspirations. We'll see what they've been up to while the Hunter was bullying people. And you might even recognize a few of the new guys we introduce.

Damn right you will!

Comment down below what you want to see in future chapters? Don't worry, we got something in stock for the Hazbin Hotel since they've been gone for about three chapters now.

With that said, we'll see you in the next update!