Chaos Born: Destiny Undone

by I LIKE FEAR 1-2

Cast into the shadows, and captured by Evil, the Boy-Who-Lived suffered in agony. Twisted, mutated, and mutilated, what happens when he escapes back into the world and learns a terrible truth. Blessed by darkness, guided by death, the world's savior has been lost. A nightmare has been born with only two goals in mind; survive and prosper. (Warnings/Cliches inside)

21. Chapter 21

Alrighty here's part two for you.

Chaos Born: Destiny Undone

Chapter 21: Fourth Ascension: Part Two

Time began to bleed together as days turned to weeks, weeks into months, months into years. It took only five years for Daphne to learn quite literally everything that Harry knew of magic. Everything he had learned from Voldemort, and the other magicals he'd consumed, all of it. She knew of the skills he'd learned in the First World. She could generate the yellow lightning spears that he'd learned from Gwyn's knights, she could harness the pyromancy of the Witches of Izalith. Every spell, every incantation, every ritual, or magical factoid, that he knew, she now knew as well. She was now as proficient as he was at magic, arguably better if you were to ask him. He possessed greater power, due to a number of factors, but not so much so that he outclassed her. Were the two to fight with only their magic, it was probably down to a sixty, forty split in Harry's favor. A victory he just barely edged out due to greater combat experience and possession of the Elder Wand. Her fleshy staff was a far more powerful magical conduit than a normal wand, but it didn't quite reach the ability of the Death crafted Elder Wand. Harry would say, without a shadow of doubt that if he placed Daphne in a magical dual with the likes of Voldemort, she would likely best him seventy-five percent of the time, again only his greater experience would give him a chance against her now.

Upon their final lesson, the two began the next stage of their magical growth. Upon becoming his literal equal in terms of magical knowledge, the two turned their collective attention to evolving and developing new forms of magic, as well as continuing their study into the art of 'Memory Runes' which is how they coined the new magical school that they worked on expanding and testing.

Taking to various areas of study, the two began to design and craft spells, and rituals. One of the first spells that Daphne devised was Sanguis ad Acidum. A vile curse that turned blood into acid. Given how almost all living things required blood of some sort, she found it only logical to turn that biological need against them.

Oh how the monsters and beasts would scream as the flesh melted from their bodies.

The next spell that came down the pipeline was Oculus Rumpitur, the Eye Bursting Curse, which, as the name implied, if it struck an organic being, would cause their eyes to immediately explode from a rush of cursed magic, causing near permanent blindness.

This had been one of Harry's ideas, just an attempt to try and one up Daphne in terms of cruelty.

Instead of taking the challenge and again trying to surpass him, she instead went into a new direction. Creating Petrificus Totalus Maximus, a spell that released a wave of energy, placing a full-body bind on all those struck by it. It allowed Daphne, with a tap of her staff to paralyze rooms full of people.

These were just some of magical spells the two devised in the years following the completion of Daphne's training. During that time Harry also devised plasmids to help augment Daphne's abilities. These included the Telekinesis Plasmid allowing her to mentally throw objects around. The Hologram Plasmid which allowed her to project images of herself at various places to act as distractions, and the Scout Plasmid which allowed her a limited form of Astral projection which let her spirit hop out of her body for a moment to take a quick look around.

It was that latter one though that Daphne eventually uncovered an additional use for, as she learned that she could take her projecting spirit and place it into the bodies of the dead, reanimating them and controlling them remotely. She couldn't yet do this with the living, but she was certainly interested in finding a way too.

When it came to the Memory runes, the duo made many advancements into adapting it for magical use.

By incorporating Occlumency and mind magic, a person could segment part of their brain into thinking and focusing on specific runes constantly, keeping the effects active without needing to consciously think about. For a normal human, even one well trained in the mental arts, they couldn't do this more than a dozen times or so, as it would begin to noticeably affect their mind, their problem solving, their focus, even their ability to access their memory. About nine or ten times was about the limit for a human being.

For Daphne and Harry though, those limits were much higher. As Daphne was a Daemon, and Harry had the brain of a MindFlayer, both had far more complex brains than a regular human.

They hadn't yet found the limit for how many active runes they could inscribe, but they kept from going crazy with it, sticking to around the human limit of twelve for now.

Harry and Daphne both used the Fortify rune, to help increase their physical durability. It was Daphne though who made an interesting discovery. She actually used three Fortify runes. Each one doubled her physical durability from it's base. Meaning her body was six times more resilient to damage. While useful, Daphne questioned if it was possible to amplify the effects by chaining the runes together like you would in a runic formula or diagram. So she attempted it, and much to her pleasure, found that it worked. By chaining three Fortify runes together in her mind, it didn't just raise her durability by six times, but rather eight times. By linking the runes together, the effects increased based on the amplified amount. So if one rune doubled her durability, the second rune in the chain would then double her durability from that heightened number, and then the third one would go off of that number to double it again. This was how goblins crafted a lot of their works, making goblin forged silver nearly indestructible as they carved very similar runic schemes into their works.

It truly was fascinating the more they discovered. Another rune they both used was the Protection Rune, which reduced incoming damage by allowing the rune to absorb a part of it. The basic rune absorbed about ten percent of incoming physical damage, so that, coupled with the Fortify Rune made them a lot more resilient to damage.

Then there was the Caryll Runes as well, ones already established but based off the inhuman utterings of the Great Ones. These included the Anti-Clockwise Metamorphosis Rune which increased stamina. The Arcane Lack Rune which increased magical resistance.

There were runes that reduced specific types of damage like fire, or lightning, or poison. There was the Great Deep Sea rune which negated all types of elemental damage, which both Harry and Daphne employed. There was the Great Lake rune which reduced all incoming damage by a flat rate, and that stacked with the protection rune. So a ten percent decrease added to a three percent decrease.

The possibility with runes and runic schemes was near limitless, and the duo spent a great deal of time and effort designing sets of runes to enhance their abilities with the full intention of diving into studies of runes upon their return to Hogwarts to learn even more. Their primary focus being in learning more about runes surrounding enchantments as those same enchantments could be imbued into the body for incredible effects. It truly was incredible this new area of study.

At around thirteen years in this place, four years after the completion of Daphne's training and the start of their own exploration and development of new magic, the duo found themselves at the upper echelons of the Church. Daphne had basically reached the number three rank, behind only the leader of the Choir, and the Vicar of the Church. During these years she worked with the church into further studies of the Cosmos. She used manipulation, cunning and magic to maneuver higher and higher within the Choir, elevating herself with each passing day. Being here allowed her the chance to truly learn how to navigate a political and ideological field and climb it's heights.

She would enter into communion with Ebrietas who was always quite animated in Daphne's presence, finding her intriguing. Though the Great One was often quite helpful, it remained aloof and mysterious, even to the Daemon of Tzeentch.

During these studies more Augur's of Ebrietas were acquired, and granted to high-ranking members of the Choir and the School of Mensis, allowing those same members to call upon a small fraction of Ebrietas' power to aid them in battle.

Further studies led by Daphne led to the creation of A Call Beyond. Through studies of various phantasms of the Great Ones, and attempts to use those artifacts to make contact with the cosmos, A Call Beyond was created. A special type of phantasm that when filled with magic would generate a small exploding fractal of light, that would then erupt into a cluster of burning lights that would chase down and impact one or more targets. These lights were searing hot, almost to the point of turning organic matter to ash on contact.

These mutated phantasms quickly became a powerful and deadly part of the Choir's arsenal, a weapon that further elevated their power within the church.

Another such experiment, this time using Harry, involved attempting to bond the arcane power of one of the phantasms to his human eye. The end result led to the creation of a new magical artifact. If one were to gaze deep into the darkness of Harry's emerald eye they would see the movement of twinkling light. Like objects streaking about in the interior of his eye, reflecting the light of the outside world, almost like one would expect to find, staring up at the night sky. Upon further study, Harry and Daphne learned that the light in his eyes were in fact small meteorites, his eye, having in fact bonded to the arcane power of the phantasms, as they had hoped, becoming something like a portal to another dimension or reality that contained these objects. The process did nothing to affect his vision in that eye.

With focus, he could actually unleash these meteorites from his eye onto the focal point of his vision. Almost like an ocular rifle of sorts. By just focusing his gaze, one of the meteorites in his eye would come racing out of his eye, straight at the target. These meteorites were tiny, no bigger than pebbles but they traveled at hypersonic speeds, thus hitting with the force of a high-caliber bullet. They were also bathed in heat, and arcane magic, delivering both onto the target alongside the kinetic damage of the speeding projectile.

This was a powerful upgrade to Harry's arsenal, the only downsides being it took a moment of focus to conjure forth one of the meteors, and that when he did so, his slitted pupil would become round, so an opponent that recognized these two facts, might see it coming and know to dodge or shield themselves.

While Daphne continued her studies into the Arcane and the Cosmos, Harry meanwhile had become the Church's greatest weapon, a master hunter who not only rivaled the first Hunter, old Gehrman, and the greats like Ludwig, but surpassed them.

His skills in fighting were second to none, but he had also developed great skills as a tracker. He learned to read the signs of the beasts and stalk them through the city. He took time to learn acrobatics and parkour, to assist him in traversing the city quickly and striking his target with pinpoint strikes. His long years as a hunter had transformed him into a killing machine. His occasional bouts of blood drunkenness were handled by Daphne, who would draw him into their chambers and fuck him, using his lust to overwhelm his thirst. It was certainly effective, and kept him from having too many aggravated episodes.

As a hunter Harry would lead hunts throughout the city whenever the beast plague grew worse. When the plague died down for a time, he and Daphne would lead expeditions into the Catacombs and dungeons beneath the city. Deeper and deeper the two delved, often returning with rare, or esoteric artifacts from the lost kingdom of Pthumeria.

The amount of blood he spilled on these hunts led to his ever growing power. Thanks to his gift from Khorne he continued to grow in physical ability with every drop of blood spilled in a kill. Being a hunter meant that a great deal of blood was shed on every one of his hunts. Harry's physical abilities were constantly growing, constantly expanding due to this, even if it was a slow process, the amount of blood being shed, was still causing noticeable growths in his strength.

Now well into adulthood, Harry and Daphne's bond had deepened to otherworldly levels. Though a difficult process, Daphne learned how to mimic Harry's telepathic gifts. Allowing her to read thoughts, sense emotions and even project her thoughts into other's minds, communicating with them telepathically. Because of this, she was left with an almost ever present resting bitch-face, as Harry liked to call it. She almost never showed emotion on her face. Even the days when she'd light up at Harry's presence were fewer and more difficult to elicit outside of privacy. Despite her outward appearance becoming even colder, to the point where the Ice Queen motif was once more a staple of her character, in the privacy of their home, and within their own minds, she fawned over Harry with deep affection and love.

The two were constantly in each other's heads, talking, communicating, discussing. It was in these private spaces that Daphne was happy to proclaim her love and affection for him, and where he returned those feelings in earnest. Daphne by her nature, was a private person. Far from embarrassed about her feelings, her need for secrecy was tied to her feelings of protectiveness over him.

She didn't want people to know their business, to know how deep her feelings for him ran, how infatuated and in love she was with him.

She never shied away from saying these things for him, affectionately referring to him as 'my love' when they communicated.

Their sex life hadn't dulled either. The two pretty much had sex once a day, usually in the morning after waking up. Though sometimes they'd have sex at night too, but morning sex was basically routine for the two as they'd often wake up from dreams involving threesomes with Luna, feeling incredibly horny.

Despite her icy exterior, Harry had no doubts in his mind about placing Daphne at the number two spot when it came to the promiscuity of his partners. While she wasn't as spontaneous as Olivia, she was certainly raunchier. Roughly half of their morning routine involved oral and vaginal, though about a fourth of the time, Harry took her in all four holes before the two left bed. Yes four. As an experimental attempt one day, revealed that her serpent head gave remarkably good blowjobs. With the snake being able to retract it's teeth, it became a great addition to Daphne's sexual arsenal.

And though she was less spontaneous with sex than Olivia or Fleur, the fact that she was perfectly willing to give him a blow job in the middle of their studies, elevated her to the number two spot. Those blowjobs though, came in the form of her serpent head, slithering under his robes to blow him while the two studied at a table. Harry was left fighting for his life to avoid drawing attention to himself while Daphne sat next to, or across from him, reading a book, or studying a manuscript, barely hiding her lustful grin.

He got his revenge though, never willing to just accept the blowjob and leave it at that, he'd usually quickly drag her somewhere out of sight take off all of her clothes, forcing her to be completely naked, and take her roughly. Of course they both threw up spells to ensure no one actually found them or noticed them, but the idea of being caught was enough to enhance the act to a higher level.

More time passed. Years upon years, drained by. It had been over fifty years since the duo had arrived here in Yharnam, their time and studies spent in endless pursuits of the truth. Fifty long years in Yharnam.

Times change, slowly but steadily. A half century with one another, led the two to a level of closeness that Harry had yet to achieve with anyone else. They knew everything about one another, and trusted each other implicitly. They knew each other so well that often no words were needed to understand the actions of the other. Daphne now led the Choir in it's research, while Harry continued his hunts.

Both continued with their pursuits of knowledge and understanding the greater mysteries of this place, and the Great Ones. Life, as it was, continued on. While Harry's life changed very little, continuing his hunts as he always did, Daphne was constantly in the middle of something. Her experiments into the unknown, the things she did, a mad scientist that one. Being led by an actual Daemon, turned the Choir down darker, more depraved routes, as they were guided deeper and deeper into the unknown.

By continuing the work of those that came before her she progressed the Church's research into the cosmos, even leading the Choir to take over such research and take it in new directions, leading to the successful ascension of a human into a Great One. The Celestial Emissary. A towering blue humanoid with a gelatinous bobbling head. This being proved to the Choir that it was possible to ascend, and that lining the brain with eyes, as Master Willem hypothesized, seemed to be the correct avenue into ascension.

Her work was truly barbaric though it never seemed to phase her. Her pursuit expanded her knowledge, revealing that the depths of the complexities of reality, and how other universes, other dimensions weren't some distant far off places, but rather, right next to us, right above and below us, well within reach if one knew how. Driven by a pursuit of knowledge, she continued her work. That is until one day, news reached Daphne's ears about preparations being made down in the Unseen village. One of her spies in the School of Mensis had gotten a message out of the village letting the Choir know that the School and it's leader Micolash were on the verge of some sort of ritual.

So she contacted Harry, who returned early from another of his expeditions into the catacombs of Ailing Loran, to offer his assistance. The two, along with a troop of ministers made for the Unseen village to confront Micolash and figure out what he was up too.

They were passing through the street towards the School's headquarters when a stillness passed through the air.

A sudden feeling of dread descended upon everyone save for Harry and Daphne who felt the aura descend around them but it did not pierce their minds.

"Seems they've already begun." Harry spoke.

Daphne nodded and the two proceeded forward.

They made it only a few feet before the air rippled, and panic washed through the people on the streets.

Hundreds were sent scrambling away, screaming in terror from an unseen horror descending around them.

Within moments their bodies began to fill with light, a light so intense in burned through them, charring their corpses black and freezing them in their final agonized moments.

Daphne and Harry could do nothing as this happened, only watch. Suddenly, an audible hum caught their ears, and their eyes turned towards the School's headquarters. There, hanging low in the sky was a blood red moon.

The air vibrated once more, but before the two could react, they felt a whiteness crawl over their visions, as their bodies were pulled away from the ritual site.

Darkness fell over them, a crushing darkness that seemed to trap them in it's embrace. From the darkness, a blood soaked beast emerged. It stalked towards them inviting them into it's madness. Inviting them to succumb to the sickness of the scourge. Neither felt the need to embrace that insanity. The beast was consumed by fire, and from around them, their darkened visions filled with these crawling creatures. These pale white figures that swarmed around their vision.

The final event of this confusion were soft words that rang in their ears.

"Ah… so you've found yourselves another hunter."

Both awakened simultaneously, stretched out on gurneys in a darkened room.

They sat up with annoyed grunts and began scanning their surroundings.

"Something intervened and pulled us away from whatever ritual the School was performing." Daphne surmised as she got to her feet, still looking around.

"This is Iosefka's Clinic." Harry noted as he joined her in looking around, recognizing it from his many long years in the city. It was quiet. Too quiet. The clinic should be alive with activity. Iosefka and her attendants should be about helping people. Instead, everything was quiet.

The two shared a long look before turning to depart from this place. The putrid stench of blood assaulted their noses as they made their way through the clinic towards the exit. As they moved both caught sight of small pale creatures hiding in the darkness, watching from a distance. Creatures eerily similar to the ones from their dream.

These creatures appeared humanoid though were barely a foot in height. Small and thin, with distorted twisted faces that lacked many of the features you'd find on a human being. They were pale white and made little noise other than to observe the duo as they passed through the clinic.

The two were about at the entrance when a frightening sight halted them.

There right before the entryway was a massive scourge beast. One of the most werewolf like beasts that could usually be formed by the beastly scourge.

Harry was momentarily surprised as seeing one here. He knew from his many long years in Yharnam that Iosefka's clinic wasn't far off the beaten path. Beasts like this didn't usually wander this close to heavily traveled areas.

The beast was busy feasting upon a corpse, ripping bloody chunks free with gnashing powerful bites.

A few moments of observation passed before Harry drew his favored weapon forth from the Arsenal. One of Ludwig's holy blade. The blade was currently sheathed within it's scabbard which allowed the trick weapon to act as a massive great sword.

Despite being almost as large as Harry was, he carried it with ease in one hand. His superhuman strength making the already deadly weapon even more frightening in his hands.

He advanced on the beast which lifted it's gaze to him, and let out a hellish snarl.

It charged, and upon receiving a swift acrobatic slice, met it's end.

Harry rose to his feet and rolled his shoulders as he stared down at the split corpse of the beast.

"What are you doing here?" He questioned aloud.

"Let's go, see if we can't figure out what happened." Daphne suggested. Harry nodded and the two headed out of the clinic. It was evening outside, the sun slowly starting to set in the sky. They probably had two or three hours before nightfall.

The sight of daylight meant that the two had likely been out of it for nearly a full day, since it was just past nightfall when they'd gone to the Unseen Village.

Both of them immediately noticed something was off. An unnatural aura hung in the air, something foreboding but ever present.

The two shared a look of concern before continuing on. Just outside the clinic they encountered a small group of citizens. These people were immediately hostile. Their skin was pale, eyes murky, showing obvious signs of infection with the beastly scourge.

Harry cut them down without hesitance, stopping only after they were dead to voice his concern over the presence of the infection.

"We need to get to the Cathedral." Daphne stated, knowing immediately that things were far worse than they appeared.

Harry nodded, and the two apparated, intent on reaching the Grand Cathedral. A moment later they arrived at their destination, only to find themselves standing where they had just left.

Both shared a look with one another, and attempted to apparate again, only to again end up where they'd left. Harry attempted to phase shift to the Cathedral again ending up back where he started.

"Something is keeping us here, keeping us from teleporting." Daphne stated.

"Damn. Alright, I guess we're going on foot." Harry stated with annoyance.

She nodded and the two proceeded onward. It wasn't long at all before they found themselves standing before a strange sight. A lantern had been embedded into the ground via a stick, the light emerging from it was a dim purple glow, and surrounding the lantern were those same pale white pygmy creatures that had been shadowing the two since they awoke.

The two again shared a look, Daphne noting the magic that seemed to roil off of the lantern.

The pale little pygmies seemed to beckon the two to touch the lantern. The two shared a look with one another before deciding the hell with it. Both knelt and reached out to touch the lantern.

The moment they did, their visions went white. A few cloudy moments passed before their eyes cleared and they found themselves standing in a garden at the steps of a small building. Filling the garden was numerous graves, many of them ancient and overgrown. Surrounding some of the gravestones were those pygmies which seemed to be paying the stones reverence of some kind.

A large pale moon hung low in the sky, lighting the area in twilight. Standing at the base of the staircase was a doll, an animate construct that curiously acknowledged their presence with a slight tilt of the head. She was dressed in a comforting and conservative dress and bonnet. Long white hair framed her ghostly pale face. The prosthetic hands gave away that despite her appearance this entity was not human.

Moving about, seemingly with their own tasks were ghostly images of people. Their garbs marked them as hunters though through his human eye Harry could barely make them out as translucent white figures. Daphne though, saw them much more clearly, closer to the ghosts they were familiar with at Hogwarts. Looking through his Basilisk/Beholder eye allowed Harry to see them in a similar way. These figures moved about, with their own purpose, signaling to the duo that they were not just ghosts but something else entirely.

"Welcome, dear hunters. I am a doll, here in this dream to keep watch over you. Honorable hunters, seek the beasts and the hunt them, and should you need it, I will be here to nourish you in times of loneliness and despair. If you require guidance, please speak with Gehrman. He was a hunter long ago, he remains here, as an adviser now. Such is his purpose now." The doll spoke to them, it's tone soft and comforting, gentle even.

"The old hunter Gehrman is here?" Harry asked with surprise, remembering how the man had vanished years ago, long before their arrival in Yharnam.

"Yes. He rests above, in the workshop." The doll responded, gesturing up the nearby stairs leading to the small building.

"Yes… the workshop…" Harry repeated, lifting his gaze to the building. It was familiar to him. He'd seen depictions of it before, the Old Hunter's Workshop which had been abandoned and lost some time ago.

"We will go and speak to him. Before we go, do you know what these creatures are?" Daphne inquired, gesturing towards the pale white figures that surrounded some of the gravestones.

"Ahh, the little ones. Inhabitants of the dream. They find hunters, like yourselves, and worship and serve them. They do not speak in words, yet they are sweet, are they not?" The doll responded.

Harry and Daphne shared another glance with one another as they headed up the stairs and into the workshop. There they found a small interior lined with tools and books, and crafting tables. A cozy replication of the no doubt long decrepit workshop.

Sitting within the workshop in a wheelchair, was an old man with shoulder-length white hair. He was dressed in drab old clothing and a fanciful top hat.

The two approached the man, and he spoke up upon their approach.

"Well now, you've got the ripe scent of blood on you. Welcome… to the Hunter's Dream. This will be your home for the time being. I am… Gehrman, a friend to you hunters. I gather that you might be a bit confused, minds in a bit of a haze. Worry not. Just go out there and kill a few beasts. That should help clear things up." The old man spoke to the two, a soft grin touching at his lips as he stared at them.

"The First Hunter… what are you doing here?" Harry asked him.

"Oh I've been here a right long time now. It's my role now, to guide you hunters. I sense you've both got a good head on your shoulders, so this should be easy. If you require anything, feel free to use whatever is available here. This place use to be a workshop for the hunters, a place to craft and enhance their weapons, to focus their minds and bodies in preparation for the hunt. Use what remains to your heart's content. Some tools are missing, but I'm sure you'll make due with what remains." The old hunter answered back.

Harry and Daphne both shared a look with one another. Through Daphne's eyes she could see the magic roiling around this man. A powerful force of energy surrounded him, though for what reason she didn't know. All she did know for certain was that it had to with the Great Ones, as the energy that surrounded him, was eerily similar to that of Ebrietas.

"How do we leave this place?" Harry asked after a moment.

"Check with the tombstones lining the stairs. They may help you remember your way back to the places you've been. And when you wish to return, seek the comforting light of the lanterns. This place is a respite and a sanctuary for you. Use it to your hearts content, all of it's facilities are available for you, even the doll, should it please you." Gehrman answered, finishing with a lecherous little chuckle to himself.

Both Harry and Daphne made a face but chose not to comment on the lewd suggestion.

The two briefly scanned the room, finding a few interesting tools on offer, but beyond that, little of current value.

The two traversed the area, walking around the outside of the workshop, to see just how large this place was.

While having a gentle sort of beauty to it, this place was quite confined. A few pathways through the garden of tombstones that circled back on themselves. A large flower-filled field sitting just behind the workshop at the base of a large tree. Not much more than that. At the boundaries of the area was a metal fence, and beyond, a sudden drop into nothingness.

"So this place… a dream world… that's interesting." Harry hummed as they walked.

"Yeah. Almost like a mindscape but the question is, who made it?" Daphne responded.

"That's a good question. I'm not sure. I sense the Great Ones have something to do with this." Harry suggested.

"I agree. It seems we've both been recruited as hunters. The Old Hunter is encouraging us to go out and kill beasts. I suspect we aren't the only ones recruited for this mission." Daphne noted, her eyes briefly passing over some of the ghostly figures wandering about.

"Seems that way. So how bout it. Ready to go on a hunt?" Harry inquired.

"Absolutely. Let's see what we've gotten ourselves into." Daphne agreed.

The two traveled back to the gravestones lining the stairs, and focused on one of them. In their minds eye they could begin to picture the lantern they had found. With a bit more focus they felt themselves pulled from this Hunter's Dream and back into Yharnam.

The two manifested around the lantern that they'd earlier departed from. Now armed with some sense of purpose, and a bit more understanding then before, the two proceeded onward into town. They still had the goal of reaching the Cathedral, so for now, that's what they'd focus on.

Their travels took them through the streets of Central Yharnam which were crawling with those half-mad from the bestial scourge. They attacked everything that wasn't one of them, often shouting 'death to the minister.' in response to seeing Daphne in her Choir Robes.

The duo made short work of them, Harry cut them down with his remarkable strength and speed, and Daphne washed them away with spells.

As the two progressed they found a number of locked doors and dead ends. While the doors could be broken down, the blocked pathways couldn't be easily traversed. It was strange. Harry and Daphne both had the ability to use magic to fly, but neither could fly over the buildings or beyond blocked passages. The same unseen magical force that kept them from teleporting interfered with such actions. If they attempted to fly over buildings they'd immediately find themselves turned around upon striking the boundaries that kept them contained. It was the same with blocked passages or sealed doors. If the magic that was keeping them here didn't want them taking a certain path then they couldn't. If they broke a locked door down, and tried to walk through the opening, they'd find themselves walking right back out the door.

It was strange, and Daphne noted during several tests of this, that the magic that was keeping them from going out of bounds was alien, like that of the Great Ones, but it was different. Signifying a separate Great One that was trying to keep them contained. It was weird. It almost seemed like two or more greater powers were at work her. One was trying to keep them contained, while the other was trying to force a path for them to go forward. This led the world around them to function oddly. Many paths and shortcuts that the two knew of were cut off or blocked off, while others were only open because they curved back onto the beaten path.

It forced them onto a track, for now that track seemed to lead forward, so they begrudgingly walked it.

Their first attempt to reach the Great Cathedral was to take the Great Bridge which connected Central Yharnam to Cathedral Ward.

They traveled up to the bridge and across it, but upon reaching the entrance to Cathedral Ward found the path barred with great gates, and waiting in ambush, a towering beast of fur and flesh.

Harry and Daphne both recognized the colossal creature, a Cleric Beast. The corrupted Blood of the Healing Church caused the Beastly Scourge, this the two of them knew well. They also knew that those who imbibed much larger quantities of blood, like Church Clerics, ran the risk of turning into much larger and more powerful beasts such as this.

The Cleric Beast wasted no time in lumbering towards them. A towering creature that was a mixture of wolf, man, and deer. It's fur was pale white, and one of it's arms was heavily overgrown. Upon both hands were large twisted nails meant for sheering away flesh in mighty swipes.

The Cleric Beasts were few and far between, but they were deadly adversaries. Fighting one alone was dangerous, however Harry had done so before. He knew how they were, and how they fought. He also had Daphne here with him. This fight would be a breeze.

Taking flight, Harry flew through the air, driving his greatsword into the beast's eye. It reared back, letting out a teeth rattling shriek.

As it did, Daphne advanced sending forth a wave of fire that washed over the long fur of the creature. As the fire crawled up the beast's body. Harry tore his sword free and leaped off of it. He landed atop one of the abandoned carriages and drew his wand.

The beast shrieked and clawed at itself as it burned. It was unable to regain it's focus while consumed in flame.

In simultaneous fashion both of them unleashed a reducto curse that slammed into the beast's chest, causing a massive explosion of blood as two large holes were opened in it's torso.

One final gurgling shriek escaped the beast's mouth before it collapsed.

"Swift and efficient. I should bring you on more hunts." Harry offered her praise, hopping down beside her.

Daphne merely offered him a smirk and continued with him to the end of the bridge. Both stood before the gates to the Cathedral Ward, checking to make sure they were completely locked. Once they were sure this path was blocked, the two moved to leave the bridge to find a way around. As they departed they noticed a lantern now resting near the gates signaling a mean of returning to this place from the Hunter's Dream, if they needed to.

They continued through Central Yharnam, stopping only briefly upon meeting a special type of Hunter. A woman named Eileen whom Harry recognized as an outsider. A hunter who dedicated her life to hunting down those hunters who'd been driven mad by the beastly scourge and their own bloodlust.

She recognized him, and greeted him warmly, the two having worked together once or twice in the past to deal with blood drunk hunters.

"Seems I'm to be quite busy this night. The beasts are out in force, and I get the sense that not all is right with the coming night. See to your business, and try to keep your nose clean. A hunter should hunt beasts, leave the hunting of hunters to me." She offered to Harry upon their departure. He gifted her a smirk but nodded in agreement. Such was her duty, and he'd leave her to it.

The two continued onward, eventually making their way to another bridge to cross. They made their way across, killing a number of infected yharnamites along the way, until eventually reaching the Tomb of Oedon. As they entered they caught sight of a hunter, viciously hacking the body of a beast apart.

Harry recognized the man.

"Gascoigne!" Harry called out to him, drawing the man's gaze towards them. Both could tell, even from this distance, that the man was heavily afflicted with the bestial scourge.

"Beasts all over the shop… You'll be one of them, sooner or later." The man uttered.

He then charged at them.

Harry moved forward to fight back, seeing that his old comrade had lost himself to the scourge.

The two traded blows for a moment before Harry grabbed the man and threw him through some of the gravestones that dotted the tomb.

He pulled himself to his feet, all the while clutching at his head.

Harry advanced on the old hunter, as he let out a bestial roar, his body viciously transforming into a werewolf-like beast.

Gasciogne shot forward, his weapons forgotten, his mind now lost to the beastly scourge. He clawed at Harry, who dropped beneath his swipe and drove his greatsword deep into the beast's chest.

He forced the transformed man back, who stumbled to his knees clutching at the massive chest wound. He moved to attack again with a vicious snarl when he was struck by a powerful surge of lightning. Gasciogne collapsed to the ground unmoving, having taken the full brunt of the electrical attack from Daphne.

Harry signed as he saw his old comrade go down. He moved over to the body, quickly examining it to make sure he was dead.

"Even hunters are falling pray to the scourge now. The infection must have evolved if it's gone this far." Daphne noted.

"Yeah…" Harry offered his agreement as he took one last long look at Gasciogne's body.

He'd known the man for years, hunted beside him a few times. He was a father, a husband. Harry couldn't escape the pang of sadness at seeing such a longtime comrade fall to such depths. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed another pale purple lantern appear, again signaling a marker in this world.

He and Daphne continued onward, they made it up to the gates, stopping only for a moment as Harry caught the scent of blood that was very distinctly human.

He stepped away for a moment, over to a nearby ledge, and there below, he spotted the body of a woman. He stared at her for a long moment, recognizing her.

"I guess that makes sense." Harry sighed.

"You knew her?" Daphne asked, stepping up beside him.

"His wife." Harry nodded back towards Gasciogne's body, before letting out another sigh and moving to continue on.

They made their way into the underbelly of Oeden Chapel which they knew wasn't far from the Cathedral.

As they made their way up into the chapel, the intense scent of incense struck their noses. For Harry it was an annoying scent, and a nauseating one, but he'd long grown use to it. One of the best ways of keeping the beasts away was by burning a special incense that irritated them. He wasn't sure what it was about him that was repelled by the scent, his best assumption was his lycanthropy, as it was the closest relation to the bestial transformations.

They stopped briefly to loot a few chests, finding some strange tools that upon their discovery were immediately grabbed by the strange pale creatures from the Hunter's Dream and taken away. The two shared a confused look at that but carried on.

The two entered into the chapel, both of their eyes drawn towards a hunched figure, covered in a long hood, knelt near to the back entrance.

The two approached the figure who didn't react to their presence until they were practically right on top of them.

"Oh, is that a hunter. Sorry, the incense must've masked your scent. I'm happy that your here, I've actually been waiting for someone like you to come by." The figure spoke in a soft man's tone. He was heavily disfigured with dark purple, blotchy skin, his legs appeared to not work, his arms were much longer than they should be, his eyes were a pale milky white. Abominable in appearance yet neither sensed anything treacherous about this grotesque figure. In fact, Harry sensed a gentleness from this man, and a kindness as well.

"Did you set up these incense candles?" Harry inquired as he knelt in front of the figure.

"Ah, yes I did. I came here hoping to find the clerics, but they'd all gone. No idea where though. So I gathered the candles and made sure they was lit. The hunt is on tonight as I'm sure you know all too well, and I get the feeling this is worse than it's ever been. Everyone's locked inside, waiting for morning to come. Thankfully it always does, but I think this night's gonna be worse than any other. Some of the people in their homes are going bad. You can hear the womenfolk screamin', beasts snarling, scent of blood everywhere. Yharnam's done for, I tell ya." The man spoke with worry.

"We're headed for the Cathedral, stay here and stay safe. It's like you said, morning will eventually come." Harry said, rising back to his feet.

"Ah, before you go, um, maybe I shouldn't be asking but, this is a safe place. If people aren't safe in their homes, than at least they can be safe here. If you find anyone with their wits still about them, tell em about this place, will ya. Just in case. I'll keep the incense burning until morning comes, so if they run out, or they don't feel safe, they can try and make it through here." The man asked.

Harry gave him a long look, again sensing nothing but a genuine kindness from this strange and unnatural looking man. Still, Harry had never really been one to judge off of appearances so he offered a smile, and his agreement.

"If we find anyone, we'll let them know. Stay safe alright." Harry agreed.

"You as well, mister hunter. You and your friend there. It's gonna be a long night I can tell, but the morning always comes." The man offered as the two made it forward, passing briefly by a blue glowing lantern which sat conspicuously in the middle of the chapel.

The two tried the short way up to the Cathedral but found the path blocked, so they took the long way around. It was as they passed out through the main path towards the cathedral that Harry felt a chill run up his spine.

It was a type of genuine fear that he hadn't truly felt in years.

He glanced about, before turning around to face the chapel. His eyes drifting upwards, and with his beholder eye, he spotted something. A great swelling of alien magic surrounded it. A towering creature clung to the roof of the chapel. A great, multi-limbed thing. It's flesh was dark, and pulled taught over a bony body. It's torso was thin and narrow leading to a spindly tail. The head of this creature was almost like that of an octopus, but without eyes, and made of dark, latticed bone, almost like some kind of exoskeleton that covered a visible fleshy inside. From it's front was a sea of swishing tendrils, it had eight limbs, two were legs, with six long triple jointed arms that ended in six fingered hands.

This creature was truly an alien to Harry's mind.

"Daph…" Harry spoke as she sensed his fear and surprise and turned to follow his gaze.

"A Great One…" Daphne spoke in amazement.

"What is it doing here?" Harry questioned.

"I have no idea, but it seems ambivalent to us passing by. We suspected their involvement with this chaos descending upon the city. Now we find one poised atop Oeden Chapel." Daphne responded.

The two stared up at the creature for many long moments before they shared a long look and moved on their way. Neither knew what the creature was doing there, though neither was interested in stirring up any activity from it.

The two continued on their way, passing up through Cathedral Ward towards the gate that led to the Grand Cathedral. Upon their approach they found the gate barred, both let out sighs of annoyance and turned around once more. Now left with now direct route to the Grand Cathedral they were left to walk the only paths left available to them.

Following a route down towards Old Yharnam they stopped briefly when they encountered a man, this one they both recognized. Alfred, a member of the Executioners. An elite fighting force within the Church that had been formed shortly after the two had arrived. The Executioners duty was to hunt down and kill the Vilebloods, a sect of local nobles who once ruled these lands before the Church came to power. The Vilebloods were known to practice blood sorcery, and managed to get their hands on the church's special blood. It caused a beastly scourge to tear through their ranks so in order to hide the truth about the blood and get rid of the old nobles, the Church established the Executioners, and sent them to wipe out the Vilebloods.

That mission had been a success, and since then, the Executioners had fallen into obscurity, their purpose no longer needed. Alfred was one of the last living members, having been only a child when that old battle was fought.

Much like Eileen, he greeted them warmly, recognizing them. They spoke briefly on the state of things, but Alfred could offer them very little in the way of help or guidance so they left him to his own tasks, and continued towards Old Yharnam, again because it was the only path left available to them.

They descended downward and broke the seals around the burned village. Proceeding inside they were greeted with a warning from an unseen foe.

He called them trespassers and warned them to retreat, but neither of them intended to turn back, seeing as they'd already tried almost every path available to them.

They had to fight their way through several hordes of beasts, only for the unknown voice to declare that their skills were indeed great, but he couldn't allow them to progress any further.

From atop a nearby roof, a barrage of bullets came tearing down at them. The unknown hunter had placed a Gatling gun atop the roof and was using it to try and mow them down.

The two were forced to move stealthily through the ruins of the village until they got to a good vantage point. Once at a good position Harry was able to charge up a lightning spear, and hurl it up towards the gun emplacement. A large explosion soon put an end to their unknown assailant allowing the two to progress further into the ruins unmolested. That is until they ran into yet another hunter who also seemed mad with bloodlust. He immediately attacked the two, and was swiftly put down with the killing curse from Daphne.

Further and further the two went, traveling down into the ruins, taking the path available to them. They arrived at an old church at the very bottom of the valley beneath the city where they found a vicious poisoned beast waiting for them. The two fought the beast for several long minutes, leaving it a burning carcass at the end.

With it's death they found themselves at a dead end. Though upon the beast's death another lantern appeared.

So the two used it to return to the Hunter's Dream to try and get some idea of just where in the hell they were supposed to go.

Old Gehrman was of very little help, telling them instead about the tools that the messengers had taken from them from the chest they'd opened in Oeden Chapel. Those tools were originally devised by the hunters of Gehrman's time. They were used to enhance weapons with the power of blood. Blood stones were a common occurrence in the body of beasts. When a beast died, the shock of it's death sometimes caused a bloodstone to form somewhere in it's body. These stones were basically coagulated blood that hardened into a small hardened crystal. These crystals were imperceptible to normal humans, but hunters could see them. They were only about an inch and a half long, and Harry had encountered thousands of them over his years as a hunter, but he'd never had a use for them, only hearing stories from older hunters that there was once a way to utilize them but it had been lost with the old workshop.

Basically, they learned that by taking a blood stone and fusing it to a weapon, that weapon's abilities were improved. It became more durable, and inflicted more damage. The idea was that a bloodstone was like a crystallization of the magic and soul of the dead beast. Blood stones actually had the chance to form in all magical beings upon death, but again, only hunters or those gifted with magical sight could actually see them, so almost no one knew that they existed.

Blood stones came in four unique variety. A blood stone shard, twin blood stone shards, which were two shards fused together. A blood stone chunk which was between fifteen and thirty shards fused together, and a blood rock, which was fifty or more shards fused together. The latter two types almost never appeared, even in the most powerful of beasts, but it was known that they existed. Gehrman explained to them that the improvements were quite simply, mathematically speaking. There was no limit to how many times you could improve a weapon with a blood stone shard and every single weapon, not matter it's type, could be improved. A single shard improved the weapon by about one percent of it's original stats. Meaning a steal sword enhanced with a single blood stone shard was one percent more durable and cut and pierced one percent better, basically doing one percent more damage with the same amount of force behind a swing.

It was basically a means of imbuing magic into a weapon, through a very slow process. The better a weapon was crafted from the stark, the greater the enhancement was. A one percent increase didn't mean much when you were wielding a wooden plant, but it certainly meant something in castle-forged steel.

Twin bloodstones didn't just offer a two percent increase, but actually around a five percent increase. A chunk was around twenty percent, and a blood rock a full one hundred percent. It was unknown how these improvements would work on a magically forged weapon and how they'd interact with runes, or the use of magical metals like goblin silver, so Harry and Daphne would need to test those things in time.

Still, having this tool now available to them, it would certainly be fun to play with, at least for Harry since he used more weapons than Daphne did.

After that, the two returned to Central Yharnam, deciding to explore around a bit to try and find any pathways they might have missed. They encountered a crotchety old woman being harassed by a wild dog and after saving her, told her about the safe place in Oedon Chapel. They then carried on, passing back through Oedon tomb where they encountered another blood crazed hunter, Henryk.

Harry knew the man. He was Gascoigne's longtime partner and friend, and rumored to be the father of Gascoigne's wife, making him the man's father-in-law. They found him standing over Gascoigne's body. The moment he saw them, he immediately fired a shot, and charged at them. The two fought back, dealing with him quickly. Moments after putting him down, Eileen appeared out of nowhere.

"Tragedy this one. He fought for so long, only to end up like this. You must have put down Gascoigne as well then? He was falling apart I'm sure it had to be done. Had I known you were coming down this way I would have warned you. Seems you dealt with it just fine though." She offered to the two.

"Yeah. We've been looking for a way to the Grand Cathedral but all passages are shut tight." Harry spoke.

"Hmm… troublesome that. Did you try finding a way through the Church Workshop?" Eileen asked him.

"No, the doorway leading up to it was shut." Daphne responded.

"Well it's not anymore." Eileen responded with a chuckle. "I passed it on my way down here."

Harry and Daphne shared a look with one another and offered her their thanks. They then headed back up through Oeden chapel only to find the doorway she had spoken of, now strangely open.

Again the two shared a look before taking the elevated up to the Church Workshop. A part of them began to wonder if the route to the Choir's orphanage was still open. If it was, than they'd indeed have a means of reaching the Cathedral.

The two headed upwards, fighting through a few more crazed citizens and blood drenched beasts, stopping at each beast to feel for blood stones to harvest before continuing onward.

The Workshop was largely empty, save for the crazies. Eventually the two made it to the sealed doors leading to the orphanage. Daphne used her key to open the door, and miraculously, it sprung open, allowing the two entrance.

Happily, the two proceeded forward, not having a means of reaching the Grand Cathedral. The orphanage sat above the Cathedral itself so all they had to do was to hop down to reach it.

They passed across a small bridge and arrived at the entrance to the orphanage. Crawling across the ground were these disfigured creatures. Blackened and misshapen they dragged themselves about seemingly without noticing the duo.

The main entrance was sealed so they had to take the side entrance. Inside they found no signs of people, only beasts, and surprisingly, brainsuckers.

The presence of living kin within the orphanage was disturbing to say the least. The two fought their way through, searching the place top to bottom, before finding their way back outside. They passed around to the back of the orphanage and towards the lumenflower garden. As they approached they came upon a troubling sight. There standing among the flowers was a group of Celestial mobs.

The blue skinned, bulbous headed kin were clustered together. Seeing so many of them here greatly diminished their hopes of finding anyone alive who could help them.

It was as they approached that Daphne telepathically wondered to Harry, where the Celestial Emissary was. The human made great one, was kept here in the orphanage, but they hadn't seen it yet. Upon noticing them, the mob of aliens turned and collectively charged towards them.

The two immediately set to work cutting through them, though with each one that fell, another rose from the garden. After a few moments Daphne took notice that one of the mobs was staying back, watching from a distance, watching her specifically. She knew instantly that something more was at play here. She sent a bolt of lightning arcing towards the distant mob. The creature was knocked back by the bolt, but quickly rose to it's feet. Magic coursed around it, and soon it transformed, taking on the appearance of the towering Celestial Emissary.

"There you are." Daphne smirked, sending more magic at it.

While Harry did battle against the horde of mobs rushing at him, Daphne dueled it out with the towering great one. The two traded magical spells with one another, with Daphne using the various pillars and structures as cover between spells. Normally she'd try and apparate around the creature but with such means disabled she was left with her standard mobility.

The great one was powerful, but it was not made for and experienced in battle. The torrents of magic it through at her had little focus or direction, allowing her to dodge incoming attacks and throw back precise counters with ease.

Once Harry had cut through enough of the mobs to make an opening he rushed into help her take on the Choir's greatest creation.

He passed through it's legs slicing them with his Holy Blade. The lumbering Great One fell to the ground, where Daphne finished it off with a powerful Killing Curse.

In an explosion of magic and cosmic energy the creature died, the moment it did, all of the mobs simultaneously died as well.

"That was fun." Harry sighed as he rolled his shoulders.

"Didn't think it would die that easily. Hmm." Daphne responded staring at where the Great One she'd helped to create had fallen.

"You need a moment, or should we continue?" Harry asked her.

"Let's go." She agreed with him. The two heading towards a window that led to a secret path a walkway over the Grand Cathedral. Now though, neither of them were confident they'd find any greater direction down there.

They hopped down onto the walkway and spotted a person down below. They were knelt before the alter in prayer.

The two tried to call out to them, but got no response.

Harry let out a sigh and hopped over the railing to reach the area below, only to vanish in the air, and appear back at the lantern that had appeared after they killed the Emissary.

Daphne blinked at the sight of him vanishing and nearly let out a yelp when he hopped down next to her from the path they just came through.

"What the fuck." He uttered in annoyance.

He rolled his shoulders, and this time took a running leap over the railing. Again he vanished, and again he reappeared back at the lantern.

He came trudging up beside her and leaned on the railing, letting out a frustrated groan as he did.

"The place we've been trying to reach all damn day is literally right there, and we can't hop down to reach it because some mysterious force says so. That pisses me off." Harry growled.

"I understand your frustration." Daphne patted his back before following the overhand out towards an elevator on the far side of the room.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked her.

"To seek audience with Ebrietas. Maybe she can tell us what is going on." Daphne answered, causing Harry to quickly move to follow her.

The two headed over to the elevator and took it down to the secret chamber below the Grand Cathedral where the Great One resided.

The duo approached the towering figure, who slowly turned to them as they approached.

"The time has come." A voice spoke into both their minds, causing them to react with surprise.

"What?" Harry responded with confusion.

"What do you mean? Are you saying it's time for you to depart?" Daphne questioned.

"The Cosmos has descended upon the world. The time for this one to depart has arrived. I require your aid now. Will you fulfill your promise?" The voiceless Great One spoke into their minds.

"I will, but there is something I must ask first. I must know what is happening around us. What has befallen Yharnam? Why have your kin returned, why are they directly influencing the world again?" Daphne questioned the Great One.

"A new child has been born. A dream has descended upon reality. All would pass by as little more than a nightmare if not for the one who hunts the newborn. A predator has come, and it has sent forth it's agents to hunt. It's will presses into the dream, forging a path through this nightmare." Ebrietas answered her.

"The great one that created the Hunter's Dream, the one who's power influences old Gehrman. So that's why we can't get around easily. Yharnam has been overtaken by a dream, and it keeps us away from the newborn. But something else has come about to hunt this newborn. Another Great One which seeks the child's death. That's why some paths are open while others are not. The Great One that hunts the child is carving a path through Yharnam, allowing the hunters forward. I see." Harry recognized, his explanation earning a nod of agreement from Daphne.

"So in order to escape, we must find and kill the newborn." Daphne surmised.

"Yes. Seek the newborn and destroy it. Only then will you be allowed to escape this nightmare. Will that be your desire though? I cannot say for certain." Ebrietas responded.

The duo once more shared a long look with one another before, finally Harry drew his wand, while Daphne readied her staff.

"Thank you, for all that you've done. Go now, Great Ebrietas, find your place amongst the stars." Daphne offered to the Great One.

The two felt gratitude emanate from the ancient beast, as they both unleashed a power killing curse. Their combined efforts were enough. The sickly green energy danced across the body of the Great One, before fading away. A rush of energy, visible to both of their magical eyes came rushing out of Ebrietas' body, it's soul and consciousness departing from this mortal plane, escaping into the greater cosmos.

It's body swiftly erupted into beads of light that danced through the air before fading out of existence.

Within moments, it was over, leaving them alone in the cold empty chamber.

"So… I guess we go hunting. If we want to escape this nightmare, or put an end to it, we need to find this child." Harry stated.

"Yeah. Lets head back and try to find our way to the Grand Cathedral. Someone is still there, so it might be helpful to try and reach them." Daphne agreed, putting forth her suggestion.

"Sounds like a plan to me. Let's go." Harry nodded, and the two headed out.

The two proceeded back through the orphanage and towards the church workshop. They were on their way down, exploring as they went when Harry spotted a part of the walkway around the outer part of the workshop that was broken, leading to a lower floor. Curiously he moved to drop down, hoping that the powers that be would let him, and much to his joy, they did. Daphne followed him down and the two found a doorway leading into the spire beneath the church workshop. They stepped inside to find pitch blackness, though Harry could clearly see thanks to his beholder eye.

"Hey… I know where this is. This spire connects to Cathedral ward down at the bottom. If we follow that route it'll dump us out behind the gates that were blocking us earlier, leading to the Grand Cathedral." Harry stated.

"Let's just hope we're allowed forward." Daphne offered. The two glanced about, looking for a place to drop down to, before deciding to fly.

They dropped down, landing on a small broken platform. Harry was about to jump the rest of the way down when Daphne stopped him and gestured towards a doorway that connected to the broken platform.

"Think that leads anywhere?" She asked him.

"No idea, give it a try. This place has been broken down and abandoned for years. There's nothing but a lot of junk down below where people toss their garbage." Harry suggested, neither noticed at that point that their marks of Tzeentch were glowing.

Nodding her head, Daphne moved to open the door, and to her surprise it gave way, opening up to allow them passage.

The duo shared a look before proceeding inside. They followed a short path that led them to an incredible sight. There, sat before them, was the Hunter's Workshop. The true workshop that had been lost some years ago.

"Wow." Harry surmised both of their feelings as they got a look at the inspiration for the shop in the hunter's dream.

The two advanced, stepping inside the small building to explore. Leaned against the far wall was the body of the doll. Long abandoned, and inactive. The real doll, nothing more than that, a doll.

The two gave the place a brief once over before stopping together before the memory alter, where once the old hunters would inscribe runes into their thoughts. Sitting there was this shriveled piece of flesh that radiated an aura of powerful magic. It was long and thing, like a strand of flesh that had long been exposed to the elements. It was covered in eyes, the only part of it, not completely desiccated. The magic that poured off of it was quite obviously the magic of the old ones. Both could tell from their magic-seeing eyes.

In a moment of extreme curiosity, Harry reached out, picked it up, and ate it. It was only a moment after he swallowed that he blinked and realized what he'd just done. He glanced at Daphne who was staring at him, mouth agape.

"Why did you do that?" She questioned in disbelief.

"I have no idea. I just felt the overwhelming desire to." Harry answered. His eyes focused on his hand, the one he'd used to grab the piece of flesh where he could see the mark of Tzeentch blazing.

"I think a certain someone wanted to take that intrusive thought and smack you upside the head with it." Daphne noted, drawing forth the black book as she did.

She then quickly inscribed a question, asking the book what that was.

"A piece of an umbilical cord." Daphne read out the answer.

"Who's?" Harry asked, making a face as he did.

"No answer." Daphne replied to him.

"What does eating it do?" Daphne asked the book.

"Bring one closer to them." Was the answer given.

"I'm assuming he means the Great Ones. Still, nothing happened. I devoured it, but no changes appear to have occurred." Harry surmised.

"Strange. Well there was some reason behind it. Not sure what. Then again, there is this story passed around the Choir that the umbilical cord of an infant Great One is said to be used as an augur of communion. Able to facilitate contact with the cosmos." Daphne said in response.

"Doesn't explain why I had to eat it, but ya know what, it doesn't matter. There doesn't seem to be anything else here, so lets head back." Harry suggested.

"Wait, think about it, if that story is true, could it be that this was the tool Gehrman used to make contact with the Great One that created the Hunter's Dream. The Hunter's Workshop was basically his home if memory serves me right. It would make sense that he performed the ritual here, used that piece of an umbilical cord to make contact with a Great One. No idea where he found it though." Daphne put forth, causing Harry to blink and turn thoughtful for a moment before nodding in agreement with her idea.

"That sounds plausible. Still doesn't explain why I had to eat it, but I guess we'll figure that out later." Harry said to her.

"Yeah, let's go." Daphne responded, the two moving to depart from the decrepit workshop, and continued their journey.

They dropped down to the bottom of the spire, and found a lone beast guarding the exit. It was a beast that Harry was familiar with from his times in the Pthumerian catacombs though he'd never seen one up on the surface before.

The beast had it's back to them, so Harry stealthily snuck up behind it and cleaved it in two with his greatsword. Not that he was overly worried about a fight with it, but this particular kind of beast could throw fireballs and he didn't want to risk setting the tower or local town on fire, risk he and Daphne burning to death. Burning alive was an absolute shit way to die, from Harry's experience.

With the beast dealt with they exited the tower, finding themselves once more on the streets of Yharnam. They traveled about, eventually making it to an elevator that brought them up to Cathedral Ward and dumped them out behind the sealed gates, just as Harry had proclaimed earlier.

From there it was an easy walk to the Cathedral but the two decided to search the area first, just to see what other paths were open to them, in the event they didn't find anything of use at the Cathedral.

Even in sealed off areas like this, the Beasts and infected stalked the streets. They opened any of the gates they came across just to allow them ease of travel in case they needed to backtrack.

They passed through some back streets, cutting down enemies as they went, stopping only for a moment when Harry sensed the minds of rationale people in some nearby buildings, and remembering the request of the Oeden Chapel Dweller, stopped to extend the offer of sanctuary to them.

The first, a prostitute, recognized Harry through his work, and was more than happy to accept her suggestion for sanctuary. The other, was an incredibly skeptical man who at first, didn't buy what Harry was selling, but the moment Daphne backed him up, he agreed, claiming that a saint of the church would certainly know.

Harry and Daphne payed it no mind, the people of Yharnam were like that. Uniquely quirky and they'd long grown used to their particular charm.

The duo progressed further and further through the back alleys and streets, following the paths available to them. Though it offered them no new direction it thankfully dumped them out where they intended to go, at the foot of the Great Cathedral.

They climbed the steps and entered into it, moving forward until they entered into the great chamber. The place they'd seen from above earlier.

The chamber itself was largely empty, as they had seen from before and it appeared as if no new traffic had come through since then. The only figure within was a woman, knelt on the far side of the chamber before the ancient skull of a beast.

The two could hear her praying to herself, her words stumbling into each other as she recited some prayer for unknown reasons.

"Amelia?" Daphne recognized the woman as they grew closer. The current Vicar, and leader of the Church.

Her words suddenly stopped, filling the room with an eerie silence.

Suddenly her body began to twitch violently, and her cries filled the room. Her skin stretched and split, her limbs grew, her body expanded, until a towering beast was left standing in her place.

Harry and Daphne both let out curses of annoyance, the towering bestial form of their former boss turning towards them with vicious hunger.

"Things really have gone to shit." Harry hummed, a smirk of excitement dancing it's way onto his face.

"Always eager for a fight, aren't you." Daphne responded as Harry stepped forward, ready to face the oncoming beast.

"Always." Harry responded, his blood already pumping.

Though a frightening entity, the battle lasted no more than a minute. Harry moved about the beasts legs, long broad strikes hacking huge bleeding wounds into it's body, while Daphne held back, bombarding the beast with spells. Within a minute, the body of the newly transformed Vicar was horrifically mutilated, and dropped to the ground.

The beast let out a deep heaving breath as it breathed it's last breath.

"So even the church has fallen. I think we've reached a tipping point, the beastly scourge has gone out of control. I doubt Yharnam will survive till morning." Daphne surmised as she joined Harry in standing over their dead former boss.

"Yeah. I doubt it too. If we don't find and kill the infant Great One, I'm guessing this nightmare is going to keep on going. A night that never ends. A hellish scourge that goes on forever." Harry stated, letting out a sigh of annoyance as he did.

"Alright, let's try and make it the Unseen Village then. We know that's where this all started. It's likely the School of Mensis is responsible for this. The infant Great One might be there." Daphne suggested.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Harry agreed.

The two headed out and down towards the Unseen Village, taking note that the sun had finally set, bathing the city in darkness. They fought through several more beasts and mentally warped hunters, stopping only to use diagnostic spells to reveal if they had bloodstone shards on them, which some did. After collecting them, they continued on, eventually finding themselves before the doors to the Unseen Village which were sealed tight. Hanging above the doors was another of those Great Ones, the twisted multi-limbed, tentacle-faced things that were perched above Oedon Chapel.

"You think if we kill that thing, the door will open?" Harry asked with annoyance at once more finding their pathway blocked.

Daphne sighed and withdrew the Black Book and promptly asked that same question. The answer she got, caused her to sigh in annoyance.

"Try it."

"Ya know it's remarkable that ninety-five percent of the time when he doesn't want to answer or we don't have enough energy to trade for an answer, we just get nothing, and the other five percent of the time he says shit like this. I swear, I can only imagine your patron on the other side of that damn book giggling like a schoolgirl." Harry noted upon reading the answer.

Daphne again sighed and closed the book. She then turned around, to which Harry proceeded to follow, neither risking a battle with a true Great One, if it ultimately didn't get them anywhere. The Celestial Emissary may have been a Great One but it was human made and incredibly young. They had no idea how powerful these ones were so best not to take chances if they didn't have to.

Daphne led them back to the Oeden Chapel where they stopped to talk to everyone. Nothing much changed, save for the prostitute complaining about feeling sick. She waved off their concern however so the two let her be. They used the lamppost to travel back to the Hunter's Dream.

There they approached Gehrman again, hoping he'd have some direction for them.

"Lost are you?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Yep. Everywhere we try to go is cut off. Any idea of a way forward?" Harry asked the old hunter.

"The night is long I feel. Dark secrets surround this hunt. Mayhaps you might find some wisdom in those who came before? Head back, to where it all began." Gehrman suggested.

"Byrgenwerth? That's where you're referring to. The old college." Daphne guessed, earning a polite nod from the old man.

"That's deep in the forbidden woods. It'll be quite the trek, but I don't see why we shouldn't try. Got no other direction to go." Harry offered his consent to the idea.

So with that, the two returned to Oedon Chapel. There they found the old lady they'd rescue, the prostitute and the overly suspicious man. The Chapel dweller thanked them for finding so many people and encouraged them to send anyone else they found. The people there were obviously nervous around the strange-looking dweller, but simply kept their distance. The old lady was crotchety and unhelpful. The suspicious man didn't trust Harry, but happily provided his limited insights to Daphne, mostly his judgments on the other people they'd saved, and the prostitute who was kind and even offered them a vial of her blood, which had been mixed with the healing blood the church usually employed. It was said such mixtures had unique affects, and she wished to offer them some form of repayment.

Once done meeting everything the two headed back out to Cathedral Ward. They traveled over to a path they knew led down to the Forbidden Woods but it was usually locked off. The two reached it and naturally found the door sealed. Harry tried to open it, but the moment it didn't budge he nearly let out a curse, as they weren't left with many other options to reach the Forbidden woods.

Before he could however, a sickly voice asked from behind the door.

"What's the password?"

The two shared a glance before reciting the adage of the church.

"Fear the Old Blood." A moment passed and they heard the door unlock.

Opening it, they found a decrepit skeleton waiting on the other side. The person looking like they'd been dead for ages.

The two shared a curious look with each other but carried on without question. Was far from the strangest thing they'd seen today.

The two spent hours fighting their way through the Forbidden Woods. Despite the fact that it was forbidden by the Church to come here, there was a remarkable number of people living down here, alongside the various beasts.

For hours they traversed the paths set before them, stopping only to harvest bloodstone shards of varying rarities from their kills.

Eventually the two found themselves fighting through a group of cloaked beings that they recognized as Pthumerians. Neither knew why the trio of Shadows was present but they needed past them, so fighting was the only option.

These shadows were powerful, able to throw fireballs and summon giant snakes from the ground to attack the two. They had to stay light on their feet and split the attacking group apart.

One went down, then another, and finally the third.

"You think this path leads to Byrgenwerth?" Harry inquired.

"They were guarding it for some reason, let's check for ourselves." Daphne replied.

Nodding Harry followed along with her, deeper into the woods.

A short while later the forest began to break revealing a lake, and sat there on it's banks was the old institute of Byrgenwerth, the place where all of this research into the Cosmos began. The birth place of the Healing Church.

Beasts and kin were present here, the two had to fight their way inside. Within the building they found another person, also driven mad. They weren't a hunter, more so likely a last student of this decrepit place.

They met their end from a curse from Daphne.

Aside from another creature hiding up at the top of the building, they didn't find anyone else inside. The two searched around, and while both were immensely intrigued by the wealth of knowledge contained within the library of this ancient institution neither found any signs of a means to progress their quest.

"Didn't we see a balcony outside?" Daphne questioned.

"Yeah, last place we haven't checked." Harry nodded towards a door that presumably led out onto the balcony. Neither knew what they'd find but they were running out of options.

They stepped out onto the balcony and much to their surprise found a man sitting out there in a rocking chair, staring out over the lake and at the low hanging moon.

"Provost Willem?" Daphne recognized the man, having seen depictions of him in books before.

The old man was in a poor state. He was pale as a ghost, and heavily aged. He'd be well over a hundred by now. Growing from the back of his head were glowing, fungal-like stalks, signaling his beginning transformation into something more than human.

At the sound of her voice, the man moved, slowly gesturing with the staff he held clutched in his hand towards the lake.

It was the only reaction they could get out of the man.

"What do you think we should do?" Harry inquired, staring at the old man.

"Not sure. I'm not getting much of anything from him mentally. It's like his mind is blank. Empty. We should have sensed his thoughts out here on the balcony, but there's nothing." Daphne remarked.

"It's like he's already dead." Harry continued with her line of thought. She was right, standing before the old scholar, he couldn't feel anything from him either.

"You wanna put him out of his misery?" Daphne asked.

"Yeah, I will. Maybe figure out what about the lake is so special while I'm at it." Harry remarked.

He stepped towards the old man, his mouth opening wide as he did. From his throat his proboscis erupted, arcing through the air to lance down into the old man's skull. His body reacted, but even in his final moments, Harry didn't feel any emotions or thoughts echoing in his mind. It was difficult to understand.

Daphne watched as Harry drank down the scholars brain, taking the opportunity to collect all of that knowledge and wisdom and preserve it, before the duo continued on their journey.

It took several seconds to completely devour the man's brain, but upon completion, Willem's body shuddered, and suddenly began to break apart, crumbling into twinkling starlight, similarly to the bodies of the Great Ones when they died.

Harry stepped back as this happened, retracting his proboscis.

"Harry?" Daphne questioned him, eyeing her partner curiously.

He blinked several times as he took in the mind of the ancient scholar at the century worth of knowledge and study of the cosmos.

"The Spider is hiding in the lake. Hiding the reality of the world from us. We need to kill it to break through the illusion." Harry said to her.

"What spider?" Daphne questioned.

"Rom. A being much like the Celestial Emissary. A human ascendant into a Great One. She was placed in the lake to cast an illusion over the world, to keep us from seeing what's really going on around us. Whatever happened in the Unseen Village is causing this beastly outbreak, but we can't see it because Rom's illusion it obscuring everything. We kill it, we bring down the illusion, and hopefully our path towards the infant will finally open." Harry told her.

"Alright, into the lake then." Daphne nodded in acceptance. The two headed towards the lake, stopping at the edge of the balcony that hung over the waters below. White churning water could be seen slowly moving. The two shared a look and then joined hands. They then stepped forward off the edge, dropping down into the water below.

For a second, they felt themselves pierce the water, and drift downward, slowly sinking as they did. The darkness around then grew heavier and heavier, until suddenly it began to brighten. Light filled the space around them, and the feeling of being underwater fled as well. The two found themselves lowered onto the glassy surface of a flat field of water.

Around them was a vast expanse stretching out as far as the eye could see.

The only object of any note, was the large body of their pray, waiting thirty yards away.

Rom was an interesting creature. Despite being called a spider, it had the body more akin to a pillbug. It had the tails of a silverfish, and upon it's round back was a garden of glowing white flowers. It's head was round and clumpy and gray. It was covered in pitch black eyes, with a gaping, sinking mouth, like with rows of teeth.

Sixteen short legs in total lined it's round body, making the creature honestly looked like a great decrepit potato. It was reasonably large, measuring probably forty feet long, and probably fifteen feet high.

It was frightening in appearance, but goofy in shape. Were it not for the torrents of magic billowing off of the powerful creature, the two would feel less intimidated. This Great One was much stronger than the Celestial Emissary, though a far cry from Ebrietas.

Still, they needed to kill it, if they wanted to progress.

"Ready?" Harry inquired.

"Yeah." Daphne answered.

The creature seemingly didn't react to their presence, but it ultimately would when they began launching their attack.

Harry rushed in to deliver a few powerful blows with his sword, while Daphne began dropping spells on it.

The creature quickly reacted by teleporting away.

It appeared a short distance away and as they turned to chase after it, a small army of spider-like creatures sharing a remarkable resemblance to Rom appeared between them.

The spiders held back, defensively encircling Rom, forcing the duo to continue their offensive.

While they targeted the horde with spells, Rom responded, by opening rifts with her magic and allowing arcane meteors to come raining out of them.

Rom repeated this attack, one of her only forms of offense as Harry and Daphne cleared away the first horde of spiders and began attacking her once more.

She soon retreated again, teleporting away and again summoning another horde of spider, this time twice as many as the first time.

Daphne, in response, summoned form a wall of Fiendfyre that went rushing forward to wash away the army of spiderlings.

Harry meanwhile used the moment of distraction to circle to the side of Rom and launch a fully charged lightning spear into the Great Ones body.

An explosive outpouring of electricity sparked through the air, and Rom was forced to turn her attention towards Harry.

She once more tore open a rift and unleashed a shower of arcane meteors at him.

He was forced to dodge the incoming storm while Daphne continued her offensive, adjusting her storm of Fiendfyre to rush forward and consume the Great One.

They heard a monstrous roar of pain as the ancient beast was consumed by the cursed magical flames.

Daphne kept the fire concentrate on Rom, honing her focus and drawing in the storm tighter and tighter around the creature until suddenly an explosion of magic occurred, blasting away the Fiendfyre and filling the air with explosions of light that twinkled out of existence.

The act reminded the two of Willem's death, signaling to them that they were victorious and had brought down the Great One.

Daphne glanced over towards Harry who tossed her a thumbs up of approval as he made his way towards her, only to stop and stare off at something nearby.

She turned her gaze to follow him and spotted what he was staring at. There, standing nearby, was a woman in a long white dress. She was much taller then them, and ghostly pale. Her front was stained with blood at about the waist line, which was a curious sight.

She wasn't looking at them, instead she was staring off at something in the distance. The two turned to see what she was looking at, and found the moon, now blood red, hanging low in the sky.

In their ears, the sound of a baby crying, began to bleed into their senses, and a loud ringing began to accompany it. Both recoiled in pain as the sound grew more intense, and their vision bled white.

Within moments, the sound began to fade, and the bright light dimmed.

The two found themselves standing on the beach beside Byrgenwerth.

"That was strange." Harry remarked.

"All of this is strange. Still, let's see what's happened. We should head back to town, see what we can make of things." Daphne suggested.

"Alright." Harry agreed. The two headed away from the old institute and back through the Forbidden Woods. The Red Moon now hung low, and the skies themselves were filled with purple clouds.

Whispering could be heard at the edge of hearing, indicating to the both of them, that the barriers concealing the truth of what actually was going on, had indeed fallen with Rom's death.

Those infected with the beastly scourge that still retained parts of their humanity, shuddered at the exposure, clutching at their heads or shying away from the sky to hide indoors. The two traveled through the woods, making it almost back to it's entrance before proceeding down a different path.

Harry wanted to check and see if a shortcut was opened. He remembered there was a locked gate outside of Iosefka's clinic where they'd begun this journey, and he knew that right next to that gate was access to an underground cave that led into the forbidden woods.

The two traveled that path and found it open, much to Harry's growing amusement.

It eventually dumped them out, right where he said it would. Harry opened the gate leading back into central Yharnam, and the two were about to head onward when he heard a familiar sound.

He turned back and gestured for Daphne to follow him. He led her down a back alley behind the clinic and they spotted a Brain Sucker waiting near a latter that led to the roofs. Finding a Brain sucker just wandering the streets was a strange sight.

Out of curiosity the two continued along the path, just to see where it led. Knowing what they knew about this place, knowing that a path was being forcibly carved out for them by the Great One who had sent them here, it meant there had to be something of worth, waiting ahead.

The path led them onto the roofs and into a hole onto the second floor of Iosefka's clinic. The two wandered about, finding a Celestial Mob strangely inside, which they quickly dispatched before continuing their search. Eventually the two caught the sounds of moans and groans. A mixture of pain and pleasure. It was coming from a loft above them. They took the stairs up to the third floor, and entered into an office of sorts. They found a woman in white robes, on her hands and knees within, settling onto a gurney in the room.

Daphne recognized the woman in a heartbeat. A member of the Choir, one who'd been basically an outsider for the last several years. She had been pursuing her own research outside of Daphne's direction.

"Eylia?" Daphne questioned her.

"Ah… ooh… so its… you…" The woman groaned in response. Her skin was pale with a sheen of sweat, and she seemed to writhe in disturbing motions.

"What is happening to you?" Daphne questioned, approaching and circling the woman, with her magic-seeing eyes she could clearly see the power roiling off of the woman. Focused specifically on her womb. While she didn't appear pregnant, it was obvious to both Harry and Daphne that something was inside of her, something powerful, something that had very similar magic to the Great One's they'd encountered.

"God, I'm nauseous… Have you ever felt something like this? Did you feel it when you ascended Mistress? It's progressing in me now. I'm seeing things more clearly. I knew it. I always knew it. I'm different, special. Just like you. Can you see, how they writhe, writhe inside my head… it's so… rapturous." Elyia responded, her eyes manic, almost to the point of being bloodshot.

Daphne and Harry observed her for a moment, seeing the energy beginning to build. Something was using her, attempting to come into reality through her. Daphne shared a glance with Harry. In her eyes spoke a realization that he too shared. Whatever it was within her, they couldn't let it out.

Harry drew his pistol and approached the woman, who's manic eyes remained locked with Daphne's, even as she began to cackle and laugh.

Without hesitating, Harry pulled the trigger. A quicksilver bullet tore through the side of her head, and her body began to collapse. In the brief moment following the shot and her death, her body began to break apart. Exploding into light, much the same as Willem.

Nothing was left of her at the end, nothing save for thin strand of dried flesh. One that looked remarkably familiar to them. A dried umbilical cord.

The two stared at it for a long moment and again, Harry was reminded of how his curiosity got kicked into overdrive the last time he saw one, so much so that his intrusive thoughts won out without even thinking. He could feel it happening again, as he reached out towards it. Daphne said, nothing, merely watching curiously, as he picked it up, eyed it for a long moment, before glancing at her.

"I still have no idea what's happening when you eat those, but if nothing else, it removes them from the world so we don't have to worry about others using them as augurs to contact the Great Ones. Go ahead." She encouraged him, sensing his desire to consume this one as well.

"Willem believed that these were the umbilical cords of infant Great Ones, and that they could be used to make contact with higher beings, or 'line the brain with eyes' in order to process and view the cosmos. I'm not sure how it all works, but I feel the need to do this. The Changer is flooding me with curiosity, encouraging my wonder. I guess… nothing ventured, nothing gained."

He consumed it, using her reasoning to convince him it was a good idea, despite not knowing ultimately what it would lead too.

After devouring the desecrated piece of flesh he took a step back and observed the room.

"What do you think was happening to her?" Harry inquired.

"It is said that all Great One's yearn for a child, and when they inevitably lose theirs, they seek a surrogate. Perhaps she was in the opening stages of that cycle. She used that umbilical cord to try and make contact with a Great One, and ended up with her affliction. Maybe she was pregnant, maybe something was attempting come through her as a medium. I don't know. Regardless, it's good we put a stop to it. This nightmare has gone on long enough." Daphne explained in response.

"You're right. Let's keep going, see if the doors to the Unseen Village have opened." Harry suggested.

Daphne nodded, and the two left the clinic. They traveled back through the streets, having a much easier time traversing it now, since most of those who still had their humanity were driven to madness by the descent of the Blood Moon, and the reveal of what was happening all around them.

The two arrived at Oeden Chapel some time later, passing into the incense-filled interior to find the four survivors absolutely terrified. The two paid them little mind, save for the prostitute who seemed to be growing ever more pale.

This was a cause for concern, but they hoped by putting an end to this, it would alleviate the pain and madness around them.

The two headed up towards the Grand Cathedral and were about to turn off on the path that led to the Unseen Village when they heard the groans of someone in pain. At the top of the steps leading into the Cathedral they spotted Eileen, who was laying against the rails at the top of the stairs, she was heavily injured, bleeding profusely from a recent battle.

The two approached the dying hunter.

"Ah, seems you two are still about. That's good." Eileen hummed at them, her voice tired and gargled.

"You're hurt." Harry noted.

"Aye, I'm afraid I've made a bit of a blunder. I'm just needing a short rest. Don't worry about me, I'll be alright. Took enough healing blood to save an old woman like me." She offered in response with a tired laugh.

"That thing still lies in wait though. I have to finish this. Turn back, this is my score to settle." Eileen implored them, as Harry turned his gaze into the Cathedral.

He rose to his feet and began heading in that direction.

"See to her, Daphne. I'll go and deal with this." Harry instructed.

"This is not the work of a hunter. This should not fall to you. Leave it to me." Eileen spoke out to him.

"This is what a hunter does, madam. We hunt." Harry countered with a smirk, as Daphne knelt over the woman and began using her magic to heal her.

"Troublesome, that husband of yours." Eileen sighed as Harry made his way into the Cathedral to deal with whatever deranged person was inside.

"Aye, but with a certain nobility." Daphne agreed with a small smile.

Inside, Harry found someone waiting for him.

A hunter, draped in the garbs of Cainhurts, but with the same crowfeather cloak that Eileen wore.

Through his pointed helm, Harry could sense the madness and bloodlust of this deranged hunter, who wasted no time in charging towards him.

On the open floor of the main chamber, the two had plenty of room to duel.

Harry drew his Great sword but removed the small blade from it's over-sized scabbard.

His duel with this foes, was a dance of speed. The two clashing blades, and firing shots.

His foes was armed with a Chikage, a fabled weapon, rumored to be wielded by the royal guards of the Cainhurst nobility. It was an intricately designed, katana-like weapon. Ornate, intricate, beautifully crafted.

The legends of the weapon proved true as his foe began soaking the blade in his own blood from the wounds sustained by his duel. The blood encased the blade like crystal making it longer, thicker, and wider. Slashes of the blade would break off the blood, sending the fragments forward before they liquefied again.

Despite being crazed, this warrior was immensely skilled, and kept the fight going despite heavy injuries.

The final move of their dance, came just as Daphne and Eileen came up the stairs, the former having finished healing the latter's injuries.

Harry dodged under a swipe from the mad hunter, and grabbed his wrists. He twisted the Chikage out of his hands, slicing him across the legs with the blade.

The mad hunter let out a shriek and dropped to his knees, Harry now standing over him, armed with his own blade.

He held the blade overhead for a single brief moment, before dropping it down to behead the man.

With the mad hunter dead, Harry gave the blade a curious look, and decided to keep it with him. As a vampire, a blade that used blood to enhance it, sounded like the perfect tool for him.

"Hmph… seems it's done. I don't seem to be apt for this life anymore, my glory days are long gone now…" Eileen noted, with a distant stoicism.

"There's no shame in it. Time is the eternal killer. None can truly escape it." Harry said to her.

"You're right. Go now, Hunter, and bring an end to this long night. And deal with any who have gone mad. Even be they your own. For that is a hunters duty as well. A burden you may choose to carry. I should find a place to rest… this night has been long indeed." Eileen offered to him, before giving Daphne her thanks and turned to head out. The two stared after her for a minute before Harry took a moment to collect the sheath of the Chikage and strap it to his belt. The two then headed down to the Unseen village, where they found the doors open, much to their enjoyment.

The spider-like creature still hung above the doors, but did nothing as they ran through them and into the Unseen Village.

It was clear almost immediately that they were right in their earlier assumption that this was the focal point of all this madness.

The surviving villagers that were driven completely mad, continued to be ressurected as they were cut down. The beasts they encountered were less beasts, and more so fusions of limbs in the shapes of beasts.

More of the monstrous spider-like Great Ones, clung to the roofs, though these attempted to halt their advance, firing energy beasts to try and keep the two pinned.

The duo fought on, eager to reach the School of Mensis where they knew the heart of this lay.

They continued, further and further, arriving before the school itself.

The red moon hanged low in the sky, and as they approached, the sound of bell ringing filled their ears. Magic gathered in the sky above them, and a portal opened over the moon. From the blackness of the portal, a great thing came flooding out.

A grotesque thing of blood and limbs, fused together to form this giant lumbering abomination.

No doubt a final guardian to stop their advance, Harry and Daphne shared a look as they creature pulled itself upright.

"Fuck that…" Harry uttered as the creature rose up to tower almost two dozen meters above them.

Deciding not to waste time on a long drawn out battle, the two first opened with the killing curse. Their spells struck the creature dead center. Nothing happened, and it began to drag itself towards them, intent on crushing the two.

The fact that the killing curse did nothing at all, revealed to the two, that this creature either had no soul, or was undead.

Regardless of which it was, they both moved to their second option. Fiendfyre.

Both unleashed a winding whip of flame that rushed forward and consumed the towering creature.

It thrashed and attempted to reach them, but the two held the flames onto the beast, burning it away in a storm of cursed flames.

It was able to unleash at least one attempt at retaliation, casting a spell that opened small portal in the sky above them that caused blood and body parts to rain from above.

This forced them to keep on the move to avoid the torrent, both circling the titanic creature as it burned, making their way towards the doors to the school of Mensis. They made it to the doors, right as the creature die, finally collapsing as it was further consumed by the flames.

The two entered into the school, eager to find those responsible for this mess and put an end to this long nightmare.

They pushed open the doors, and found inside the bodies of each and every member of the School of Mensis, including their leader, Micolash himself. Each body was long rotted away, and wore an iron cage around it's head.

They were all splayed out in the debate hall, as if they had gathered there in preparation for this ritual of theirs.

Despite being long dead, with no physical signs of anything of value, the two could clearly see magic everywhere, and Daphne could directed them to the body of Micolash where it seemed to be centered.

The two approached the corpse and after sharing a long look, they reached out to touch his body.

Their visions went white as they were drawn away from the Unseen Village. The two found themselves within a strange building, a place almost like a lecture hall of sorts, as their were large libraries, and large halls meant for holding class.

Inside were disfigured entities, that looked like living slime. Again the duo was forced to fight their way through them, finding any sort of purpose or meaning to this strange place. Eventually they found themselves at a set of double doors that opened out into darkness.

The two again shared a long look before venturing through it, and again finding themselves transported to a new place, this time it was a cave.

The two emerged from the cave to find themselves standing under the moonlit sky.

Magic flooded every fiber of this place. It wasn't just flowing through the air, but permeated through the rocks and grass.

As the two progressed, they found earthen stones with twisted faces lining them, all along the path. Their was no signs of the city of Yharnam, and when looking out from the edges of the cliffs they were on, below was a heavy cloud cover, almost like a dense fog, that obscured most everything from sight save for the odd end poking through it.

They continued to walk, encountering the occasional beast, these were strange, the kinds that Harry had only ever seen in the Labyrinths beneath Yharnam.

Eventually they came upon an interesting sight.

Before them sat a towering castle, one of great size. Two towering buildings, connected to a central tower.

In the middle of the central tower were great pillars, illuminated by an eerie orange light.

The two stared at the light for a moment before finding their minds viciously assaulted by psychic images.

The two quickly pealed back, and out of sight of the light, which caused the attack to cease.

"One final guard it would seem." Harry growled.

"Yeah. Let's stay low, and make it into the castle." Daphne agreed.

Harry nodded and the two began their advance. Moving quickly and darting between large rocks to avoid and limit their time in view of the orange light.

They used magic to wash away the beasts that occupied their path, eventually making their way into the left building of the castle.

Inside the first floor of that building was a nest of giant spiders, including a massive overgrown spider, larger than any the two had ever seen.

They were forced to fight their through them, making it past the spider horde and further into the building.

They eventually managed to reach the bridge that connected to two main structures and as they crossed it, they came upon a curious sight. A man was waiting there for them, one that Daphne instantly recognized.

"Edgar?" She questioned upon seeing him. The man was a member of Choir Intelligence. He was the spy who Daphne had sent to keep an eye on the School of Mensis. He was the one who'd warned her about the ritual, leading them to heading there that fateful day.

He wore a grim smile and upon seeing them, instantly attacked.

No doubt having been driven mad by being forcibly drawn into this nightmarish place.

Harry held back and allowed Daphne to deal with her follower, which she did with a swift snake bite, that caused him to immediately explode.

"Let's make it through this place, and bring an end to this." Daphne stated.

Harry agreed, and the two continued on. Further and further they went, ascending the castle until they finally entered into a maze-like library.

A familiar voice permeated the area. It was Micolash, the leader of the School of Mensis, and an old rival to Daphne.

The two went hunting, searching through the library to find and kill him.

Within the library, he summoned puppet-like dolls to attack them, to keep them from reaching him, but upon cornering him, Daphne wasted no time in ending his life with a killing curse.

He dropped dead, without word, a manic grin still frozen on his face.

Unfortunately, nothing happened with his death, they still had the infant Great One to find and kill.

They looted a key from his body and continued up the building, eventually passing by another lantern.

As they passed it, Daphne felt her mind flood with images of Arianna. For some reason, she felt her focus drawn towards the prostitute left waiting at Oeden Chapel.

Her mark of Tzeentch glowed brightly, signaling to her, that it was her patron trying to tell her something.

Deciding it was best not to ignore this, if the Changer of Ways was directly reaching out to his emissary, the two used the lantern to travel to the Hunter's Dream, and then from there, to Oeden Chapel.

They arrived to find blood staining the ground around where Arianna usually sat. Blood trailed away and towards the tombs below the chapel so the two followed after it. Just below they spotted Arianna weeping madly and incoherently, blood staining her dress from her waist down, at her feet was an infantile creature. An alien lifeform that radiated the power of the Great Ones.

"An infant Great One." Daphne noted with surprise.

Harry blinked, realizing this might be the one they've been looking for. He drew his the Chikage and advanced. He stood over the creature this pink, fleshy, alien thing that stared up at it's mother.

Harry drove the blade down into the infant, spearing it through the head, and killing it instantly.

The moment it died, it began to break apart into fractals of light. At the moment he stabbed the creature, the woman herself convulsed, seized and then fell back against the wall, lifeless.

Harry reacted with surprise, seeing her die like that. It was like her life force was tied to this entity, and with it's death, she too died.

He sighed in regret, lowering his gaze to where the infant once was. There, within the water, was yet another piece of an umbilical cord.

As he had twice prior, he picked it up, and consumed it. Not even bothering to wait for the feeling to overtake him.

The two offered the dead woman a moment of silence for the fate she suffered but then returned up to the chapel, eager to see if their mission was accomplished. Unfortunately, they found things unchanged, meaning that this infant Great One, was not in fact the target they'd been looking for, though in fairness, neither truly thought it would be, only that they couldn't risk it not being the one.

So they traveled back to the castle, and continued their ascent.

Eventually the two arrived at a curious sight. Standing before an elevator, with the sound of a baby crying, ringing in their ears, the two spotted the woman in white. The figure that appeared after killing Rom. She stood, staring up at the upper loft, where presumably their target was waiting.

The two eyed her as they passed, taking note of how her hands were chained together, and how the blood stain on her dress was a bit higher on her body, indicating that she may have had a c-section at some point.

They also identified her as a Pthumerian. She had their features, most assuredly, as well as their height.

She didn't react to their presence, allowing the two to pass, and take the elevator up.

They stepped out into an open chamber, with a clear view of the moonlit sky. Both could see the swelling of magic that surrounded this place, a torrent of energy that focused in on a crib sitting in the center of this arena.

The audible cries of a baby rung in their ears, and as the two approached, they both took note that there was nothing physically in the crib. Yet both could see with their magical eyes, the way power flowed and twisted around something within.

The two shared a glance with one another before retreating as something massive fell from the sky, surrounding the crib with it's bulk.

Before them stood this towering, multi-armed thing. It was draped in dark purple hooded robes, that revealed a vast nothingness beneath them.

The magic it gave off, identified to them that it was another Great One, one that seemed ready to fight them in order to protect the child.

In it's multiple arms, it drew several curved swords, and unfolded it's black wings.

"Ready?" Harry spoke.

"Ready." Daphne replied.

The two unleashed their magic at the beast as it began advancing on them.

Though slow, it had the power to teleport and summon a shadowy mist that allowed it to produce copies of itself. It attacked them with it's many blades, seeking to slice and cut them apart.

It's assault was continuous as the duo danced around the battlefield, launching spells to counter it's assault. The arena shook and rumbled, filling the air with the intensity of the battle.

The fight came to a sudden end when the Great One appeared behind Daphne and brought it's blades down to cut her to ribbons.

In a burst of speed, Harry was at her back, parrying the strikes with a magical shield.

Trusting Harry to protect her, Daphne wasted no time in her counterattack. She gathered powerful magic into her staff and launched it at the attacking Great One with a thrust.

The blast of magic struck high in the creature's chest, ripping it apart, sending it's arms and head flying through the air to break apart and explode in fractals of light.

Harry was left breathless, and Daphne let out a held breath.

The crying of the infant Great One began to touch at their ears once more, lasting for several seconds before fading away.

The two approached the now broken crib that lay in the center of the arena, finding no source of the infant, as it's magic faded away. All that remained was a fragment of an umbilical cord, lined with eyes.

Harry picked it up, gave it a long look before consuming it, making that the fourth he'd consumed.

"Do you think that was it?" Daphne asked, glancing around as the magic of the Great One's dissipated.

"I guess we should return to the Hunter's Dream and speak to Gehrman and find out." Harry suggested.

"Yeah, sounds good to me." Daphne offered her agreement. The two headed down from the loft, stopping briefly before the woman in white who gifted the two a bow of respect before fading away into nothingness.

Her reasoning for doing so wasn't immediately clear, but the two were offered nothing more to go off of, so they chose to simply continue on.

They made it back to a lantern and traveled to the Hunter's Dream, arriving to a curious sight.

The workshop was in flames, burning heavily, and the darkened moonlit sky was giving way to dawn. The Doll stood before them, telling them that Gehrman awaited them out in the field behind the workshop.

The two circled out to the field and found the old man waiting there in his wheelchair.

"How magnificently the flames burn. Good Hunters, you've done well, the night is near it's end. Now I will show you mercy. You will die, forget the dream, and awake under the morning sun. You will be freed from this terrible Hunter's Dream." Gehrman declared.

"The long night is almost over, and so too is your service, old Hunter. After all that I've seen, I've grown tired of the influence of these Great One's on the world. I don't appreciate being forced to do someone's bidding. I decide my own path. I go where I wish, I do what I want. I've played this game through to it's end, but now it's time to do things my way. It is time to put an end to this nightmare, for all out sakes." Harry countered, earning a dark smile from the old man.

"You think yourself the first to try, good hunter? Many have tried, all have failed. Even if you were to succeed, what then? Flora will simply return from the moon, and the dreams will begin again. Perhaps you think it noble, perhaps you think it right, perhaps you seeks something within this dream of blood and death. I know not, nor does it matter. It always comes down to the Hunter's helper to clean up after these sorts of messes. Tonight, Gehrman joins the hunt." The Old man began to rise from his wheelchair as he spoke, regaining his lost vigor as he did. Upon his back he withdrew and legendary trick weapon of the First Hunter, the Burial blade. In one form, a curved sword, and a folding staff, but when joined, the two formed into a brutal scythe.

Despite no visible changes, with a single action as rising to his feet, the man transformed into an intimidating threat.

Harry was quick to draw the Chikage, and in a moment the two rushed at one another, beginning to trade blows, Daphne moved back, allowing the two hunters to duel. Despite not having asked it, she recognized that Harry wanted to do this, wanted to put an end to the Old Hunter's service to the Great Ones, and also put an end to this dream as well.

So long as Gehrman lived, this would eventually happen again.

Gehrman was indeed a master of his craft, using all the tools and tricks of a hunter, he moved with otherworldly speed and precision. Harry too was a master of those skills, having spent fifty years learning the arts of the Hunters.

Their blades sung as they traded blows, and dodged gunshots from each other.

It was a dance, one of beauty, and elegance, and it ended all too quickly. With a shot from his pistol, Harry parried a strike from the old man, landing a shot in his shoulder that caused him to reel backwards. With a spinning downward slash, Harry slammed his blade down into Gehrman's shoulder, cutting all the way to the heart before stopping.

In an instant it was over. Gehrman dropped to his knees and offered a bloody smile.

"The dream… the hunt… it was long… indeed." The man spoke before collapsing.

"Rest now, old hunter. Your time is finally done." Harry spoke, offering the old man the respect of one hunter to another.

"Well fought." Daphne offered to him, stepping up beside him.

Harry nodded, deep in thought as he wondered what was next. He then felt an ominous presence wash over him, and his eyes turned towards the sky.

There, filling his view was the massive blood moon, and descending before it, a darkened, alien figure.

"It comes." Harry spoke, as Daphne too turned her attention towards the approaching Great One.

This was the Great One who had set them on this hunt, who'd dispatched them after the infant. Now it stood before them, no doubt intending on either avenging the death of it's servant, or replacing him.

The creature was large, many times the size of a person. It had a human shaped body, and a twisted, malformed head that lacked many features, it's skin was black and oily. From it's head flowed a sea of long tentacles, and it sported a multi-pronged tail. It's chest and stomach were open, revealing it's ribs and organs.

It landed before them, it's focus distinctly on Harry.

Harry felt the magic of this being, it's cosmic power was incredible. It was debatably the strongest of the Great Ones they'd faced so far.

He could feel it's magic attempting to wrap around him, to draw him in. He felt it link to him, attempting to dominate him.

As a show of defiance towards it's attempt at whatever it was doing, Harry dispelled an electrical discharge from his body, and then created a lightning spear that he lanced towards the Great One, which dodged away from the strike.

The Great being retreated and let out an ear-piercing roar, one that rattled tooth and bone.

The duo immediately began to attack the Great One, both eager to put an end to this convoluted nightmare an all the players therein.

This Great One had very straight forward attacks, mainly fighting with claws and tail strikes. It was fast, and agile, dodging away from their assaults before moving in quickly with strike of it's own.

Both were forced to use magic often to defend themselves, especially as it deployed it's primary magical attack, which seemed to be a power that drained life out of the area around it.

When activated everything within a vicinity of the beast would die, the flowers and grass, and if they were caught within it, without a shield up, they too would be killed. Harry had one of his arms rot off, and Daphne lost half of the tentacles on her back when this happened the first time.

Throughout the battle, Harry felt his link to the creature remain. He felt in his soul that if he lost this fight, the creature would once again attempt to dominate him, and enslave him to it's will, just as it had done to Gehrman.

The duo fought as one unit, Harry attacking, Daphne defending. Whenever either took an injury they retreated and the other distracted or held off the Great One while the other healed.

The battle came to an end when Harry lanced a lightning spear through it's head. He held the beast there, pumping as much magic through the spear and into the creature as he could, Daphne aided him by sending a swarm of spells to bombard the creature's body while it was held it place. With one final roar of pain and defiance the Great One died. An explosion of light filled the area, sending them both stumbling back.

Daphne arose just in time to see the magic of this place begin to pour into Harry's body.

It was almost like it was attempting to possess him as it's final act.

As this occurred the world around them began to fall apart. This dream had been forged by the power of this Great One, and with it's death this place also began to fall to pieces.

He felt the will of the Great One, once again press against his mind, angrily he threw it back with all his might, keeping it from accomplishing it's final act.

He opened his eyes to see the world collapsing around them, all of the magic around them was collapsing into his frame, he glanced around in pain and confusion, not sure what was happening, his eyes met with Daphne's, but before she could call out to him, his body exploded in a flash of light, that knocked her senseless, bleeding her gaze with it's brightness, as the Dream fully collapsed.

An indeterminate amount of time passed, before her vision returned to her, she opened her eyes to find herself laying in a familiar room, it was hers and Harry's bed chambers.

She didn't immediately spot Harry, but she could clearly see his magic churning throughout the world around her.

"Ahh, you're back. I was worried." Daphne heard Luna speak into her mind.

"Luna?" Daphne blinked, realizing that they hadn't heard from Luna at all while they were within that nightmare.

"I lost connection to you for a time. I thought something terrible had happened. Are you alright? Is something wrong with Harry? He feels different?" Luna inquired.

"Harry?" Daphne repeated, glancing around the room. Her eyes settled on her husband, standing in the center of the room. Immediately she noticed something different about him.

With her magical eyes she could see him radiating power. Harry had always been strong, especially in magic, but the way power churned around him, boiling off of him with such intensity, it reminded her of the Great Ones. His normal magic appeared to be changed, evolving to a higher level. It was much like theirs now, older, eldritch, unknowable. The darkened radiance of his spirit also shined through. It was like a visible shadow dancing off of him at the core of his heart. She'd seen it in flashes of heightened emotion before, how the power of the Dark Soul would permeate through him. This was different though, it was stronger, so much stronger. The radiance of his soul was immense, it made her fearful, almost awestruck.

She could understand why Luna seemed concerned. Something had definitely happened to him. He stood naked now, perhaps signaling that he had died and been revived.

There was something different though, about his body. About him. She couldn't fully place it. It was almost like the weight of his soul now shined through, bleeding his magic, and the physical realm.

She felt it clearly when he turned his gaze towards her and she felt almost like her own spirit wanted to leap out of her body and flee.

The weight of his gaze was several orders of magnitude greater than it had ever been. Though not to the same level of intensity, it was comparable to the moment she was placed before her patron, and felt the sheer weight of his power and the scope of his existence.

This wasn't to that level, nowhere close, and yet, despite that, the fact that in this moment, she could even compare that moment to this one, was telling in regards to Harry.

"Harry?" She repeated, concern and confusion dancing across her face.

"Daph… what's wrong?" He asked her.

"Something seems… different about you." She responded, cautiously approaching him as she did, an act that concerned him.

"She is right. Whatever happened to you, it has caused the whole of your spirit to rush into your body." Luna offered.

"Luna? Huh… I was wondering why you were so quiet. Were you not aware of any of that?" Harry questioned her.

"No. I felt you pulled away from Yharnam, into another realm, but it wasn't to return here, so I had to try and find you again. I guess you weren't there long enough for me to locate you. I'm starting to see some of what happened, but still, I'm unsure why this has come to pass. As your mother said, it should have taken centuries for the full of your soul to finally and fully settle into your body, but something you did, caused it to all come rushing together. It's filled you up, making you shine much brighter then before." Luna offered.

"Is that why you're acting so weird?" He asked Daphne, who'd been privy to their conversation.

"Yeah… power is seemingly radiating off of you. Like a sort of shining brilliance. It happened right after we defeated that last Great One. I think we've returned home. Daphne answered, glancing around their bedroom curiously.

Harry turned his gaze around, examining the room. He then lowered his eyes to his hands, and felt himself chuckle.

"What?" Daphne inquired, glancing at him.

"It's nothing… I feel… different. Whole. I never realized just how much of myself was missing. Why did this happen though? Something has happened to my eyes as well, I can see things, movements in the air, currents almost. It's different from magic, it's like another form of energy all together. When I look to you, I see an influx of this energy, changing it, warping it into something much darker. You're affecting it, but you're not it's source." Harry responded, turning his gaze back to her, his eye carrying so much more weight behind them than ever before.

"When that Great One appeared it tried to claim you as it's own. When it died, I saw it's power pull towards you, and I think in the moments before your body was destroyed, your own body fundamentally changed. Something about it was altered, allowing it to more easily carry your soul. As a result when you were reborn, your soul fully settled into your body, leading to what we have now. As for your sight, I'm not sure why that's happened, it could be a result of your soul fully fusing with your body. In which case the energy you're likely seeing is warp energy. Your mother did say that you were immensely powerful in the warp, and that you'd gain fuller access to your powers once your soul fully settled." Daphne expressed her theory.

"That's a possible answer, I mean it makes sense." Harry hummed thoughtfully.

"You have another theory?" Daphne inquired curiously.

"Maybe. I mean at least in regards to why this happened, I'm pretty sure you're right about what I'm seeing. If the dream we were in was basically an alternate dimension, one my entire soul was inhabiting, then when it collapsed, maybe the resulting collapse simply forced it into my body, which is what killed me, but when I died and revived, it was back at peak health, meaning having my full soul." Harry put forth, causing Daphne to contemplate that possibility as well.

Regardless of the answer, the full breath of Harry's soul now resided within his body, and the results were obvious.

The two were left to face this new evolution of his. Settling back into their lives, they were left to pick up the pieces as a result of this dreadful hunt and the Ritual of Mensis.

The city of Yharnam became mostly abandoned after this, as most of the population had been killed during the long night. The church was in ruins, with Daphne as the highest ranking remaining member, not that she had much in the way of followers. No, Yharnam was a loss, but that didn't mean the two were without opportunities.

Turning their combined attention to the ancient catacombs and dungeons beneath the city, the duo carried out further exploration. Between their endeavors Harry would sit down with Daphne and explain to her all of the things he'd learned from Provost Willem. The two learned and discussed their newest discoveries continuing to unlock greater secrets of the Cosmos and the multiple dimensions that made up reality.

Aside from simply continuing their explorations Harry also worked on methods of shielding his presence from prying eyes. Despite being heavily magically attuned, even those without magic had their gazes drawn towards him whenever he passed by.

They would often describe it like being in the presence of a deity, of something far greater then themselves. They felt smaller, they felt in awe. It truly was incredible, and it resonated deeply with them.

And though a part of Daphne would concede that he shouldn't have to hide just how incredible he was, she did stress that it was probably a good idea to learn a way to hide it, just to avoid unnecessary attention.

Harry agreed. He had no real care for the people at Hogwarts, or in Britain, but until he completed the Triwizard Tournament and was no longer bound to a magical contract, he was stuck there, so best make his life easier, and avoid drawing further attention from the student body. So he practiced different methods, learning to try and devise a method of hiding his newfound aura.

Aside from those pursuits, and his newfound ability to now see the currents of Warp energy within reality, matching Daphne's own ability, the two used their time in the labyrinth to explore Harry's psychic awakening as well as allow Daphne to begin tapping into her own daemonic power, which she had avoided up to this point, instead learning to master the magics of their reality.

In Daphne, channeling the powers of the warp, opened her mind to two forms of intense psychic phenomena, a number that Harry matched. The first and most direct was a gift in Cryomancy. She found that when she shaped warp energy outside of her body, it often molded and formed into luminescent or multi-colored ice, and she developed a form of divination through her ability to generate ice and water, known as Hydromancy. It was basically a skill that allowed her to read events, divine understanding, and even gain insight by channeling warp magic into water and essentially reading it.

She learned through practice with this skill that she could use water as a medium for a number of divination-type magics. Including farseeing, and foresight, scrying, she could also use water as a medium to link her to the mind of a chosen target, giving her the ability to speak telepathically with basically anyone in the world, if she knew how to locate them and direct this magic towards them, forming the temporary link.

Offensively, she learned to generate multiple forms of attack through her Cryomancy. At first starting with generating balls of solid ice to throw at opponents pelting them with painful ranged blows, though as her control grew, she began shaping these attacks into shards meant for slicing and piercing her opponents. Soon she learned to make multiple shards at the same time, and accelerate them with mind-numbing speed. As the years went by, generating ice in a multitude of forms became almost second-nature for Daphne. This warp-energy infused ice was resistant to heat, and far more dense than regular ice, able to easily repel blows from larger beasts. As a means of aiding Harry in combat and honing her control over these powers, she'd often summon poles of dense ice to rise from the ground at Harry's flanks while he rushed forward to attack, allowing incoming swipes from enemies to bounce off the ice while Harry struck a killing blow. Only magical fire seemed to touch at the ice and cause it to begin melting, and a monstrous level of strength was needed to break the ice, making it an incredible offensive and defensive tool.

Harry meanwhile aligned with three schools of power that he was already familiar with, Telepathy and Telekinesis were the first two, and kind of walked hand in hand. He found that he could use the warp easily to amplify and enhance his mind powers to absurd new heights. It took a great deal of focus and it strained him greatly to learn to control such powers but using warp magics as fuel for his psionics greatly empowered them. The third school of warp-based power that he found he had a knack for, was the ability to create and somewhat control warp-created electricity.

That power also came to him naturally, learning to generate multi-colored warp lighting that he could launch from his hands, or generate from his body. Again it too years for Harry to begin performing higher level spells with this power, but with Daphne's help, he began to grasp it, eventually learning to create one of his most powerful attacks, a Warp Lightning Spear. Much like the typical lightning spear, and the Blue lightning spear, this version was made of warp-born lightning shaped into a spear that he could throw at enemies for devastating effect.

The thing that made these spells so powerful, for both of them was that warp based magic attacked on three levels, physical, magical, and spiritual. Meaning getting hit with their warp-based powers could disrupt an enemies normal magic, and even damage their souls.

Learning to use the raw power of the warp was difficult for Harry, but much easier for Daphne. Neither had an actual teacher so they were left to learn on their own and consult the Black Book with any questions or clarifications. As time progressed they learned that by shaping warp energy as they would spells, they could actually use it as a fuel for their basic spellcraft to remarkable effects. There were dangers of course. Warp energy was not like regular magic. It was wild and difficult to control. Using it at all had them treating it with the same level of care they would for Fiendfyre.

Years would pass as the two continued training, spending most of their time down in the dungeons and catacombs. Yharnam quickly fell into ruin, the city degrading as no one was really left to repair or maintain it. The two paid it little mind, concluding that they'd learned all they could from the Church and taken all they could from the city, so best to focus their efforts where more could be gained.

The two spent a lot of time learning and studying and practicing with their powers. After each kill, Harry would search the bodies for bloodstones which he used endlessly to empower his various weapons. He knew he wouldn't be able to take these stones with him, so there was no point hoarding them on his person when they could return at any moment.

Another ten years went by, before it finally happened. Ten long years before randomly, without warning or buildup, Daphne suddenly collapsed, like a puppet with the strings cut. Before Harry could turn and ask her what was wrong, he felt a weakness overtake his body.

He felt himself smile, knowing that it was finally over. Sixty long years they'd spent in this place, well over twice as long as any other journey. Harry was over one-hundred-and-forty-seven now, while Daphne was around half his age at seventy-four. Sixty long years here in this place, but it was finally done. Finally time to return home. Seemed fitting that there was no great story beat, or major event to end things on. For the Changer of Ways, and the world he'd chosen to ascend his chosen servant in, it was no surprise at all that they persisted past every major event, to end it all on some random day of the week, with nothing really going on.

He had to wonder, as the light overtook his vision, if the Tzeentch chosen how long they'd stay at the very beginning of their journey, or just sent them back whenever he felt like?

Certainly questions for another time. For now, it was time to return to Hogwarts, to his lovers, to where he could finally put his focus towards the future, his future, and all the great mysteries that lay within.

-To Be Continued-

And done! Finally finished with the ascensions arks. I know that it took a while, and annoyed some people, a part of me considered spreading them out, but another part of me thought it might break up the story to much having two chapters for each major ascension. This way, they are all done, and Harry will be returning to Hogwarts with a quartet of daemons by his side. What kind of trouble will he get into with them I wonder. Can't wait to find out.