I started this the moment ch3 was out. Kinda as a reward for my creative writing teacher liking my less fanfic writing. Who knew writing fanfic would make my writing skill improve?

Not beta-read, if you find any confusing ways of wording or misused words (EX: tails and tales) please tell me! I'm also writing this as a love letter to bloodborne itself. So be ready for some graphic scenes!

—

Izuku was kinda surprised when all of the mob were back to life as he traveled to the Cleric Beast. But the extra length and serration of the whip allowed him to shred through the hordes of half-transformed beasts with ease. His higher skill made combat seem slow against the mob. It increased his reflexes and control over his body. Though the mind-splitting headache coming from each kill made it hard to focus at times.

Looking at the moon, Izuku noticed it was still at the same point it was when he first got out of the clinic. The god's power that brought him to this land being used to seemingly freeze time was both worrying and scary to see.

When he walked under the arch separating him from Cleric Beast, it noticed him instantly. Its size did not portray its speed. With a simple jump, it closed the distance between itself and Izuku in seconds. Izuku, with his perception, slotted higher than ever dived under the Cleric Beast as it hit the ground. His body rolled on the pool of blood that was left of him from the first fight and he felt a surge of bloodlust. Quickly clicking the cane into whip mode, he swung at the monster's Achilles tendon, digging deep and causing a horrid roar of hate to bellow from the beast. With a quick rip, the whip came out of the leg and sprayed Izuku with blood. The frenzy he was going into went to eleven as he stabbed the cane into the beast's kneecap as it turned to face him. And with a rough push, a shard of bone broke from the beast's femur. As Izuku went for his cane's whip form again, he was raked across the chest as the beast's claws, as it jumped back in pain. The pain of the swipe pushed the boy over the edge as he went in again, this time while jabbing the blood vial into an artery on his leg and dumping more cursed blood into his veins. Closing his wounds in hardly a second, he whipped the beast's face with the whip twice in quick succession. Unlike the neck, the eyes were still vulnerable on the beast's boney head.

Izuku had to jump back as the beast barreled to where he was, cracking the pavement and letting out an ear-shattering roar as it wiped at him through bloodied vision. All he needed was a quick moment to attack, and he could hit its limbs to hopefully break them. Lifting his gun, he fired six rounds in succession into the beast's maw, cracking its skull and making it fall to its knees cradling its head.

Izuku, not one to waste an opportunity to hurt this beast, ran to its head and stabbed his cane through its jaw, and wrenched it out at an odd angle. The area around Izuku and Izuku himself was painted in blood and small chunks of flesh from force and angle caused the beast's jaw to crack in half and rip from the sinuous flesh of its head. Izuku's triumph of the wound he had inflicted on the beast caused him to not notice the Cleric Beast's claw swiping at him. The attack threw his small body across the bridge and into one of the walls. Shattering his vertebrae and most of his ribs.

Rule 1 of fighting Greater Beasts. ALWAYS focus on survival. Do not get greedy attack where you can without putting yourself in harm.

Izuku kept rushing the beast, anger at his failure the second time fueling him. Only the blind swinging of the whip and cane causes his third, fourth and, fifth death. So he went back to strategy. The book spoke of the much more breakable limbs of the Cleric Beast being its head and arms. Fighting the beast again and again taught him where to hit to cause the most damage.

In his twentieth attempt on the beast's life, he opened the fight with a Molotov to the beast's face. Instantly causing it to cradle its face, Izuku rushed in and jabbed his cane into one of its eye sockets and slammed his foot down on the handle, causing the beast's eye and parts of its head to come cracking from its skull. The sight of the beast brought more anger and disgust as he sliced ligaments and arteries on the beast. His once green hair that peeked from his hat was sodden and red. His eyes burned as sweat and blood trickled into his eyes, but he kept them open. A single blink and The Cleric Beast would be on him ripping his lungs out of his chest and cleaning his bones of meat. He swung the whip around the beast's larger arm and pulled the serrated blades dug as the whip pulled back to its master, only for the beast to grab the whip to try to keep him from pulling the meat off ITS bones. In response, Izuku drew his gun and fired all twenty shots into the beast's head. The bloodsoaked bullets shredded through the soft meaty inner tissue his cane had shown him earlier. Silencing the beast's final roar. It was… anticlimactic for Izuku. He wanted to have it live long enough to be just a skeleton held together by only small slivers of muscle and skin.

Then the bloodlust washed out faster than ever before, the sight, the smell of the organs of the beast being bear to the world, and chunks of both their flesh littering the once clean bridge brought nausea and, in some portion, regret. He had the mind to kill it fast and with mercy and yet… and yet he tortured the beast. Then the memories from the other tries flooded back to his head, drowning his regret. His skin being pulled off his muscles, being eaten alive or left drowning, in his own blood. The most painful one was where a vial had caused bleeding out impossible. He only had one arm and half a leg left… and one bullet.

The lack of regret did not stop the vile stomach acid from creeping up his throat and make his vision spin with nausea. What could he have done differently, though? Brutality was the only successful path through the fight. But what if he had died a few more times? Given it some more thought? Some more time studying the beast and, maybe, he could have killed it humanly, but… The pain of dying over and over again, a constant feeling of his heart slowing, or his blood draining.…...

Each death seemed to make something resonate further in his head. In this world, he could kill the beasts or be slaughtered over and over again. And truth be told… he did not want to die anymore.

—

Through the fight with the Cleric Beast, Izuku had gained a new badge. Through it, a few of the more rambling texts seemed to align. Through this, Izuku could deduce that the badges made the text readable to whoever holds one. A failsafe to keep the schematics safe from those who should not have the trick weapons. With a quick look at the book's new entries, he headed off to the more unexplored region of Yharnam.

He had fought through an alley full of caged dogs; it was not necessarily hard… but slaughtering something that could not fight back felt sickening. He had heard the cries of an old woman as he got past the cages. Outside of a house, a dog was trying to break into it. It barked and scratched at the wooden door. It had made a sizable couple cleaves through the bottom of the wood and seemed to not notice Izuku as he got closer. With a precise swing of the whip, the head of the beast was gone.

As he walked towards the door, the woman spoke, "Oh, you're a hunter, aren't ya? If you hunters got off your arses, we wouldn't be in this mess. You're obligated to help me, you hear? So what'll it be? Are you gonna tell me if there is a safe place, or not?" Izuku did not know how to respond to that. There were safe places in this town? Did people know of safe areas and not tell this old lady and left her here alone?

"Ah. N-No maim, I-I'm new to this town and if I find a safe place I will tell you! Alright?" He spoke softly, as to not startle the lady on the other side.

"I should have known. Ya good-for-nothing... No respect for the elderly is what that is; especially you youngins! Yeah, fat lot of good you outsiders do. Go on, admit it, you think we're all mad, don't ya? Well, go and stuff it! I know all yer tricks!" She shouted, outraged by his answer. The malice that laced her tone made Izuku hurry off. Once he found someplace safe, he'd tell her. At least he would be one person's hero tonight.

As he ran off, he came down a staircase into a large room. It wasn't massive or anything. But if he continued forward, he would go down another flight of stairs, but before he could head down, something caught his eye. Behind a large stack of boxes and barrels was a broken window, hidden almost perfectly. So taking the time to break the debris, Izuku found a nice wooden walking path situated above the warehouse-looking building's ground floor.

Slipping lightly onto the rickety flooring Izuku, slowly walked the circumference to one of the middle bridges. He had scavenged from the crates and boxes along the path some blood vials and more bullets. The bridges themselves felt as safe as some wood being suspended in the air could, so he took it slow. On his right was a corps being hung upside down by its legs. He was going to cut it down and let it fall until he saw the bloodstone shards tucked in the body's pocket. So with a bit of careful maneuvering. He had managed to bring the body over to himself with his cane and snatched the stones. He quickly finished walking the rest of the bridge and headed to the other. With this corpse, he did the same thing. The difference was that this man had a saw weapon strapped to his back.

It was a bit harder, but he got that weapon and quickly tied it to his back. The last thing of interest on the dangerous scaffolding was another path that led off, thankfully instead of another broken window, it was a door. How anyone would get to it normally was a glaring issue in this building's architecture. He had managed to get through the door and headed out into the night air again. Izuku's eyes were easily brought to a figure standing by the fence.

The figure stood tall… well tall in comparison to him. They wore a black feathered cloak and black flowing clothes. As he approached, he was met with the bleached white mask that took the shape of a bird. He had once read about how people a long time ago during the black plague would wear masks like this to keep out the bubonic plague.

"U- Hi?" His voice came out with a tinge of fear. If this was another crazed citizen, then he needed to be careful about what he does.

"Oh well, aren't you a bit young to be out durnin a hunt?" her voice came out stern but more concerned than anything. "By those clothes and weapons… you're a hunter, aren't ya? And most likely an outsider, am I wrong? What a mess you've been caught up in. And tonight, of all nights." She let out a heavy sigh and gestured for him to come over to her.

"Here, to welcome the new hunter." She said as she gave him four yellow slips of paper, "These are Bold Hunter's Marks. As long as your Moon Touched they should help you."

"H-How did you know I was m-moon touched? I didn't think it was obvious?" He asked her, Izuku couldn't understand how people could tell.

"Hunters that are Moon Touched give off a soft moonlight glow. But prepare yourself for the worst youngin. There are no humans left. They're all flesh-hungry beasts, now. No matter how much they look like a human." She gave Izuku a pat on the back and turned away… But Izuku REALLY wanted to sit there a bit longer. To soak up the feeling of being human that being with another person gave him.

"Still lingering about? What's wrong? A hunter, unnerved by a few beasts? Heh heh... No matter. Without fear in our hearts, we're little different from the beasts themselves." She turned to him and grabbed his shoulders, and stared him dead in the eyes. The black voids of the mask boar into his soul as she spoke, "Shake off your cape and keep huntin kid. You'll learn to stop trembling in your boots as time passes... A hunter must hunt." And with the final declaration, she pushed him back lightly. This lady… Her speech wasn't extravagant like a hero, but it was what he needed.

The last couple of hours had hurt Izuku the most.

He had lost his humanity for mere seconds against the Cleric Beast, but it was enough to unnerve him. He had let his anger and hate control the bloodlust he had been feeling. But what was the bloodlust but a tool to a hunter? They hunt beasts and, the more ferocious they are, the faster the beast goes down.

If he could control the rush he got through the battle, then he could do the hunting his way without losing himself to the blood in his veins.

The straightening of his posture and a tightening grip on his weapons pushed back his anxiety. A quick nod at the crow lady and he was off. What better way to control the bloodlust than through trial and error?

—

He had found a mad man's knowledge hidden in a sewer behind some giant fucking rats. Okay, so maybe he hadn't gotten that good of control of the bloodlust yet. But he was getting better as he waded through the sewer and through some… living corpses? He felt he was beginning to get desensitized to the odd looks of the beasts. But the killing still made his stomach recoil in disgust at what he was doing.

He had gone back to the dream on a couple occasions, whether planned or not. It took some finagling but, he managed to make the pistol slightly better. It was not a great upgrade, but the extended barrel he had added onto it made it easier to hit his shots with. He had also made his physicality slightly better with the help of the doll. With every breath, his lungs drew in more air than before and, his heart pumped the blood through him better than ever. He also felt less fatigue with every upgrade from the doll. Like whatever the first transfusion did to him was finally settling down.

He had also found a small girl… It pissed him off that people would leave their children alone in this city… but he agreed to find the girl's mother anyway. And considering what the little girl told him about the music box's music and what it did for her dad. He needed to find them fast.

But at the moment, he was heading down the smallest part of the sewer. It was dark and smelled worse than any other part of the city so far. The only evidence something alive was down there was the shuffling in the water.

A sudden horrid screech bellowed from the darkest part of the sewer as something massive shoved itself down the long sewer. Izuku had only gotten a glimpse before he was thrown back by the beast's massive head. The pain barely registered as he got up from the murky water in the sewer to dodge the beast's massive head. It was a pig, about the size of a truck if not more, and the stench from its mouth made Izuku's vision swim.

A swift, practiced click rang through the sewer as a whip carved through the pig's face. The pig's deep, almost black blood fell fast as it charged at Izuku again. But the extra room from this part of the sewer let him dodge it easily. Another barrage of whip strikes allowed him to completely shred the beast's hind legs into minced meat. And with another click, the cane found purchase in the skull of the beast.

Its carcass was massive. Which meant that inside of it was either a treasure trove or nothing. So Izuku got to gutting the pig.

It was… kinda worth it getting covered in the pig's entrails. Izuku had found six blood vials which topped off his supply. But he also smelled worse than he had any right to.

Deciding to try and ignore the foul odor that covered him, Izuku headed down the sewer again. Where the pig had come from was a larger space, there were two corpses in the area. One had a few more blood vials, while the other had the saw badge. He had most of the saw badge's information unlocked but, It seemed there was more for it to tell.

He slipped the badge into one of his pockets as he headed out of the sewer. Specifically through a door near the sewers drop. And proceeded to climb a ladder up to a place he had yet to go. At the top were a hunchback and some of the mob. As well as a giant ball of tinder. A quick swipe of the whip and the wooden shield mob member was down. The shield man's fallen torch fell onto the tinder ball and, it lit up. And the hunchback, surprised by the sudden burst of flames, pushed the ball of tinder. The rest of the mob making rounds on the bridge did not even have time to dodge as the ball ran them over.

The hunchback was burned by the ball and in pain. It didn't take long to finish off. Izuku headed onto the bridge to collect vials and bullets of the mob and found an elevator. Which was… confusing. It reminded Izuku of the old elevators in some of the movies he and his mom would watch when they had time. He hasn't seen them in years.

The short trip in the elevator led him back to an area near where Gilbert's house was.

Hell YA! A Short Cut!

—

"A small music box received from a young Yharnam girl. It plays a song shared by her mother and father. Inside the lid is a small scrap of paper, perhaps an old message. Two names can be made out, however faintly, Viola and Gascoigne."

Izuku was nauseous at the sight of the church-clothed man. The men's clothes were stained in both the blood of beasts… And some of the most human-looking people Izuku had seen yet. An unwavering sense of dread seemed to emanate from the graveyard that Izuku had found himself in. The heavy breaths from the man were the only sound… Other than his axe cleaving through the corpse of a man.

"...Beasts all over the shop... You'll be one of them, sooner or later..." The sheer bloodlust flowing from the man shook Izuku to his core. The slime villain? The Cleric Beast? None had any contention with the intense murderous intent flowing from the man's Large form.

Before Izuku could comprehend the situation, the other man was changing at him, a fierce swing and pain bloomed from Izuku's left arm… or lack thereof. A gunshot rang out as Izuku tried to roll out of the way. The blunderbuss in the man's hand shot. Shearing through his legs caused him to fail and crash onto the gravelly floor of the cemetery. Consciousness faded fast.

With a gasp, Izuku shot up in the dream. His body ached painfully, especially where he had been hurt. Whoever that man was, he was merciless. A hunter in every respect, but he had lost himself to his bloodlust. But who else but the little girl's father was a hunter out tonight? The crow, himself, and that man.

"Good hunter? Why are you just sitting there? Is it some sort of game?" The Doll's voice brought him back to the dream. Away from his brain's constant flutter of information and back to reality.

"No. I uh. I was thinking… I need to speak with Gehrman. Do- Do you know where he is?"

"I believe he is in the workshop at the moment, Farewell, good hunter. May you find your worth in the waking world."

"T-Thank you doll."

Gehrman was… irritated with his scouring of the books during conversations… It was understandable, but there was so much information hidden in the dream. Though the book How To Pick Up Fair Maidens seems useless at the moment. Izuku has found some old notes left by some of the old hunters. Some spoke of weaknesses of even greater creatures than the Cleric Beast. Some about the chalices and what they hold. One held stories of a hunter that used the beast hood to destroy beasts the sizes of mountains. And a few spoke of old arts hunters used to implore when the hunt had first begun.

One art stood out to Izuku, hidden between bloodletting on a weapon to increase its damage (Blood Sheathing) and ways to force elements to aid you (Arcane Elements). Was the art of Quickening, by awakening one's blood and in turn their body to the full brunt of the old blood, a hunter could phase in between a false reality and reality to dodge attacks. Some of the oldest hunters could increase a foot of movement into twenty feet. The art allowed hunters to take monsters down with efficiency.

All of the older arts took training from an old hunter to achieve. As well as all of one's blood to be replaced with the old blood. Izuku had one of those happen to him already. All he needed was a teacher.

"And that is why you do not try and ride a dark beast… got that boy? It never ends well."

"I- why would you even try that?"

"It was my youth… when the hunts first started we saw them as games at first."

"I- I guess that is understandable… to a point... But. Gehrman? Can I ask a favor?"

"What is it kid? You've read nearly everything in this bloody workshop… what could you possibly want to know?"

"Can you teach me quickening? I've found it in one of the old books… Y-you don't have to teach me b-but I would love instruction on how it works! I-its so interesting…" Izuku asked, unsure of the answer he would receive.

The question seemed to shock Gehrman as if he never expected to hear that question. "Ah. yes, the old art of quickening… I suppose I could give you the basics… Only if you promise to never ask for any more arts. Figure them out for yourself… just never ask for another." Gehrman's serious tone sent shivers down Izuku's spine. He had only heard the old man speak in either a teasing or jovial tone in the days he had been researching in the dream. (if the clock on the wall was right)

"T-thank you! Gehrman!"

—

The first time actually achieving quickening, it threw Izuku off the edge of the hunter's Dream. He fell for a solid half an hour before hitting something and dying. And by the time he got back to the hunter's workshop, Gehrman was STILL laughing… At least the old man has a sense of humor though, The Doll disliked seeing him fall off the edge and scolded him as his mother used to…

The road to learning quickening took… by clock time… eight days. Every time Izuku left the Dream, the Moon was still in the sky at the same point. The beasts fought the same. The loot he found, however, varied. Sometimes loads of bullets and vials dropped from the Mob, but other times nothing at all. Izuku, in his spare time, while not training to use the whip more precisely, or trying to do quickening, found himself clearing Yharnam over and over again. It got soothing after a while; the constant amount of beasts to kill kept him sane as he taught himself. It kept his mind away from how much time was passing in his world. It kept his mind from convincing himself that he was a murderer now.

At least he would be ready to fight that hunter soon.

Eventually, both Gehrman and the Doll noticed how drastically one upgrade affected him in any state. One upgrade to his strength was equal to two for a normal hunter. It was unnatural… well, everything in Yharnam was unnatural. But Izuku's reception to the power old blood gave had never been seen before by the duo. Nor the speed at which he learned from the hunter books. It was like he was a sponge, soaking up all the knowledge and power the Dream could impart.

For The Doll, he reminded her of a younger, wiser Gehrman. Or maybe some of the Powder Kegs that had come to the Dream. Always inventing a new piece of equipment to help him on his quest to go home. Mumbling as he wrote complex blueprints for weapons and upgrades to some. It was captivating in a way to the Doll. Most hunters gave in. Most gave themselves to the chaos of the hunt, to the will of the Moon. But it seemed that the Moon was intrigued by its new catch. Gehrman's nightmares had lessened while the kid kept him busy. And even her own thoughts had lightened. The Moon seemed to believe this child their ace. If the increased strength of the child said anything.

For Gehrman, it was like when he had his first students. Years ago… They wished to know more about the adversaries they fought. The attentiveness to every little stupid story he told, just to grasp at straws for a meaning. He had only meant to teach the boy Quickening... only quickening. But how was he supposed to say no when the kid's smile lit up the Dream? No hunter had enthralled the Dream to its whim. But… Gehrman had found a few action figures of colorful men in spandex that had NOT been there before.

—

Allergies have shut down my existence so writing took longer than I wanted.

Thank you to:

Randomsumofagum (AO3)

Arcanfy (AO3)

Tit_for_Tat (AO3)

Zaturious (AO3)

Strugglingactor45 (AO3)

Jaxson_147 (AO3)

Maxanime (AO3)

Sir_ShipsALot (AO3)

KronaMorrigan (AO3)

DiabhalMayCry0 (AO3) Hello from the Hollow hero fic!

MyOwn2Cents (AO3)

Randomsumofagum (AO3)

Lil_hal_9000 (AO3)

Joesgood (AO3)

Chuckleberry (AO3) Your in the discord!

nightowl (AO3)

Satanael90812 (AO3)

Emiya-excalibur (FF)

Wizardwolf 1020 (FF)

Dvd3 (FF)

Nobody Foot Soldier (FF)

Evinco (FF)

Ghostcraft9 (FF)

mallardj4th (FF)

And the quest! (FF)

Thanks for voting/ commenting on the last chapters! It means a lot to me. If you are in the discord tell me and ill be saying hello from the end of chapters! And thanks for the ideas from MyOwn2Cents about the Eldritch sorcerer spell ideas and just the energy in the comment was great. Those who hold conversations it's like when an author releases a new chapter for me. It's really fun to talk to you all!

And yes, I do like to use higher vocabulary words for the shits and giggles. Ads flavor don't you think?

Have a nice day/night and I hope you will consider joining my discord!

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Also if you do see a part that makes no sense in the way it's written please tell me. Sinuses are killing me and I think I might have messed up on something! - Author!

Ps. if you want more of the fights with Gascan than what I did with cleric tell me!