Rain splinters down around Marcus in a constant tapping around him. His body slowly losing strength. The rain splashes off of the cobblestones, forming puddles around him. The rain seems to be coming down heavier throughout the night. No it wasn’t only rain but blood. Blood, it was his blood raining down around him! This bitch cut him and is absorbing his own vitality and is using it against him! He tries to stand up, but the cut is hemorrhaging blood onto the ground. Elvira, cackles as she licks her hand clean of Marcus blood. “What delicious blood you have.” She looms over him. “I can’t wait until I get some more. … Sooooo why don’t you just die!” She raises a hand above Marcus head and as her hand descends to remove his head, Marcus’s raises his blade up to block her hand. The Vampire's fingernails extend into what can only be described as knives. He tries to push back against her, but her strength starts to over power him, slowly pushing him back towards the ground. Marcus suddenly stops pushing back against her and allows her to over power his for a second. When he stops pushing against her. She stumbles forwards a step before she regains her footing. In the brief moment she stumbles forward, Marcus takes his free hand holding his wound and takes her extended hand, pulling her towards him. He then falls backwards while placing his boot into her stomach. As he rolls backwards, he kicks her into the air and into the orb of blood that was hanging above them. His roll pushes him onto his back as he looks up at her. She hits the orb of blood, causing the mass of blood to ripple outward. As she hits the orb, Marcus can make out her smiling at him before she is fully engulfed by the blood orb. He struggles to stand, but manages to push himself up from the ground. He shakily rises from his knees to look at his surroundings, a town made out of stone and wood, yet painted in blood of the townsfolk, the innocent! The pelting rain surrounds him as the night continues, drowning out everything but his thoughts. The streets are running red with the blood of the towns people, slowly washing away into the fields that will now lay silent with no one to work them. Nothing is moving around him besides the orb of blood that is above him as it undulates. He puts a hand to the wound that the Vampire gave him. It cut through his chain mail, biting into his flesh. It’s not too deep but makes it painful to move around. He doesn’t say anything but stares at the orb. It seems to be getting smaller, he thinks to himself. He raises his sword in challenge to the orb. “Are you waiting for me” says Elvira in a sickly sweet tone. “Awwww, you shouldn’t of have.” She lunges forwards from the orb down toward her prey. Two dripping wings sprout from her back made of blood. The flapping of leathery wings sounds out as she moves closers to her prey. As she descends towards her prey, he readies himself for his last stand. He shifts into his combat stance, his sword and breathing is steady. He has already died today when he first saw the state of this town. There is no one here to witness his death. There will be no grand story about how he will defeat this fiend. Holding his sword, it hisses with the powerful enchantments that have been inlaid long ago. He knows his duty, as he watches the Vampire's approach through the rain. She lands in front of him at a run as the wings morphs into a claw of a praying mantis, dripping and eager for more blood. They lash out at his. He blocks the first with the flat of his blade, knocking it off course, and dodges the second. The second claw scores across his back as it returns to the Vampire. His armor seems to have saved him from an injury. She moves closer towards him, covering the distant between them in the time it took to attack. She thrusts her hand out again, trying to knock him off balance. He ducks low to dodge and strike against her. His blade cuts into her flesh for the first time since they met. A shallow cut to her abdomen doing nothing more than scoring her flesh. They twirl around each other, standing where their opponent once stood facing one another. “You think that little cut will do anything to me?” says Elvira. Marcus does say anything but readies his sword once more. “See look it's already healed” she says, blood continues to pour from the small cut he had made. “WHAT? HOW?” she yells, at him. He does not flinch in the face of her vitriol. His calm demeanor irritates her further, he faces her without saying anything, but his eyes burn with determination. She narrows her eyes and takes a closer look at his sword, “It’s that sword, isn’t it?” she hisses out. Marcus advances on her. She lashes out with the two claws that are protruding from her back. Instead of defending against the attacks, he lashes out with the sword. As it meets the dripping claw, it shatters on impact, crystallized blood is sent flying across the road. The second claw tries to snake around him and attack him from the back. As it is poised to strike against him, he slashes towards the strike. He misses, and the claw sinks into him hip, tearing away most of the meat on his hip, leaving little but bone. Marcus grunts in pain from the attack but stills manages to destroy the bloody limb in the process. His eyes fill with tears from the pain of his wounds. He drags himself forwards with his good leg. The other one, not able to withstand his own weight. He moves closer to her, he can see the terror in her eyes as she finally recognizes the sword. She wants to flee, but he will not allow her. Determination flares in his eyes as he limps towards her. 

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She takes flight to gain distance from him, to escape from this man. Seeing this, he finally empowers the rune on his blade. The runes light up with power as he infuses his mana into the blade. The mana lights up his surrounding. Turning this drab and dark village vibrant with light once again. The blade emits a yellow glow like a candle lighting up a dark room on a stormy night. The blade swirls with power as he slashes towards her fleeing figure. She does not get far, having less than a second to try and escape from this man. As he slashes downwards and a wave of yellow light flows forth from the blade. It’s propels forwards towards her, cutting deep into her wing. She tumbles out of the sky, having gained height, trying to escape from this man. He has been pursuing her since she has awoken, relentless in his hunt. What kind of monsters are they producing in this era? She thinks to herself as she falls from the sky. She falls towards the ground and is unable to soften her landing. “CRUNCH” rings out as she falls from the sky and hits the ground. He takes a shambling step forwards as his over leg drags behind him. He finally gets to her prone body, he is breathing heavily. The rain has started to come down stronger. The rhythmic tapping of the rain grows louder in his ears, blocking out all sound besides his own steady heart beat. ‘Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump’ he raises his sword to end the life of this fiend. His blade still hums with his powers and the powers of the runes. He finally opens his mouth to say the first word of this entire engagement, “Perish Elvira the Bloodletter.” His voice is deep and gravely. His words lead an air of judgement as he places his blade over her heart. Elvira looks up at the man still on her back. Blood seeps out of her body, pooling around her. The man's face is pale from blood loss, but the determination burns in his eyes. Their eyes meet each other, and the calmness of the moment has broken in a flurry of violence. The blood explodes into motion around her. She manipulates the reaching tendrils of blood into claws to drag that man down to her. She feels the blade slice into her body and into her heart. ‘Thump, thump, thump, thump’. Her own heart tears itself to shreds against his blade. The claws rip into the flesh of Marcus back as he is dragged down towards her. He is unable to stand against the strengths of the tendrils claws, and his weak leg finally gives out. He collapses onto his knee barely a foot above her, only kneeling because of the blade that is penetrating her body. She grabs the sword with both hands and pulls herself up the blade. Her hands are cut deeply as she rises to sink her teeth into his neck. Startled by her movements, he tries to pull away but is held in place by her tendrils of blood. She sinks her fang and tears out his throat. Blood erupts out of his neck and splashes down onto her face.  ‘Thump, thump, thump.’ Shock finally crosses the man's face, he frantically goes to clasp at his throat to stop the bleeding. She swallows the chunk of flesh and licks her lips, tasting his blood for the last time. ‘Thump, thump.’ He collapses next to her, his blade sticking out of her body as he claps his throat with both of his hands. The shock of her action and her final desperate act to drag him to the afterlife with her, he did not expect. ‘Thump.’ He watches her take her final breath. Her chest stops rising with a beat. He looks at the sword still in Elvira body, humming with the powers of the ancient runes. He had avenged the village and the sword will be pa ‘...’.

The End