The room was flooded with crimson blood, the main chamber around it a deep dark grey colour.

Hecate faced the group as they approached. "Welcome everyone! Let's get straight to the reason why you're here."

Hecate paced around the room. "Question one, why did I bring you all here specifically? Any guesses?"

Mirage sighed. "I assume it's due to this place allowing you to fight at an advantage?"

Hecate giggled and shook her head. "Wrong answer silly. I don't care about advantages, I'll win anyway. I brought you all here because this place is special, it's where I'll revive The Monarch!"

Hecate extended her hand outwards and put two fingers up. "Question two!" She pointed at the Limiters that adorned the heroes' shoulders. "What are those things? You all wear one so they must be important, right?"

Blaze nodded towards Hecate. "Humanity's greatest minds created these, they enhance our powers whilst also preventing them destroying us, allowing us to fight at our fullest without needing to worry about the strain on our bodies. They're also a beacon of hope and pride for humanity!"

Hecate placed a finger on her chin and glanced upwards, deep in thought about whether or not these Limiters were a good or bad thing for her. "Oh, that's right, humans can't survive their own powers, pathetic really. Who decided you become the dominant species anyway?"

Hecate paced around and kicked her leg out, blood splashed from the blood soaked floor.

"It's not fair, you guys are clearly the inferior species, and yet, Abyssal monsters are the ones who are shunned, made out as bad guys in your legends and fairy tales."

Hecate sighed. "The Monarch was different to other humans, he understood that the Abyss was superior... he showed me the reason why I exist... the reason why I fight... Yes he's the bad guy, and I'll happily stand by his side, villains together until the end, just to eradicate your species, because then, I'll be the hero!"

Her mind wandered as memories of her time with The Monarch flooded through.

Hecate grinned at the group, a smile that didn't quite look real. "Okay, enough of that, being mopey is what my other self is for, time for the third and final question!"

She extended her hand, putting three fingers up. "Alright, what are your names? I wanna know just in case, on the highly unlikely chance that you impress me with your combat skills I wanna know who you are so I can remember you."

"Remember us?"

Hecate nodded excitedly. "Mmhmm, like Draven, he was somebody I fought forty years ago, he's been on my mind lately, I wonder who inherited his power?"

Mirage paced around in a small circle, thinking to himself about the situation and how much information he should give away.

Blood from the floor sloshed around as he walked. "We have a Draven currently, he's the top ranked hero in the Organisation."

Hecate stared at him and tilted her head curiously. "Really? There's a new Draven? Ooh, I wanna meet him! He'll have inherited the power!" Hecate clapped her hands and jumped up and down. "Lemme meet him! Come on!"

Blaze stepped towards Hecate and shrugged. "He's busy these days, if you want to see him you'll have to catch his attention yourself."

Hecate stopped and pouted. "Awww, that's not fair! Fine, I'll wait. For now what matters is that I know your names, so, names!"

Blaze decided to speak first. "My name is Blaze Hunter, pleasure to properly meet you Lieutenant Hecate"

Hecate looked at him. "You know proper respect, that's good. Blaze Hunter? That's a strange name... it's cool, you're cool." Hecate approached him excitedly and began observing the revolver holsters on his hips.

"Hey, are they real? What are they for? Are they related to your power? Are you a cowboy? Why do you have that blindfold on?... is that too many questions? Sorry, I'll stop, you've got plenty of time to answer later!"

Hecate walked towards Mirage next.

"What's your name Mr I'mBetterThanEveryoneElse!, At least that's the vibe I get from you."

Mirage glared at Hecate, annoyed at her comment. "My name is Mirage, Ivory Mirage."

Hecate shook her head. "Don't be silly, Mirage isn't a real name."

Mirage sighed. "Oh, but Blaze Hunter is?"

Hecate nodded. "Yep... I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be..."

Mirage sighed and glared at Hecate. "The name Mirage was given to me, like how the name Hecate was given to you by The Monarch."

Hecate nodded as she began to understand.

"Ohhh, right I see, that makes sense, thanks for clearing that up."

"Okay, next is... you!" Hecate turned and pointed at Michael.

Michael grudgingly spoke. "Michael Falkirk."

Hecate's face dropped in shock. "Falkirk? As in the one I failed to kill forty years ago?... I see, this must be fate! I'm still annoyed that I slaughtered your entire town with one of my buddies, yet somehow you managed to hide from me. Time to rectify that mistake!"

Michael nodded. "Yes, I agree, let's end this once and for all, you die today Hecate, you'll pay for murdering my family!"

Hecate smiled. "Good, let's do this, no more stalling! First though, let's even the odds a little, three against one is hardly fair."

Suddenly the pool of blood began to ripple, out from its depths shot two streams of blood, they took shape, forming two blood red coloured versions of Hecate, each faced one of the heroes.

"Falkirk, I wanna fight you myself, I'm sure you share the same sentiment, so let's do this!"

Blood dripped down Hecate's arm. Her blood clones charged at Mirage and Blaze.

Hecate's blood from her arm transformed into a series of sharp blades on the ends of her fingers.

She charged at Michael, the blood beneath her feet splattered all over the room behind her.

Michael swiftly ducked and grabbed Hecate's arm, he pulled her towards him then threw her over.

Hecate landed with a small splash.

She quickly jumped to her feet and stared at Michael. "You're faster than I expected. Looks like I'll have to try just a little."

Hecate ran at Michael and slashed her blood claws at him, he sidestepped attack after attack, his expression neutral.

"How are you doing that? I don't understand!"

Hecate's blood claws shaped into swords, she ran at Michael and jumped into the air, bringing the blades down at full force onto him. "Dodge this!"

Michael grabbed both blades in his hands, they dug into his skin, causing blood to seep out from the puncture wounds. He gripped the blades tightly, holding Hecate in the air.

"Fool, some of my blood has gotten inside you, if I ignite these blades now you're dead!"

Michael glared at her. "If I feared death I wouldn't be in the Regent Family's employment. I came here today to kill you, or to die trying!"

Hecate's expression shifted from anger to surprise, to excitement. "A human who doesn't fear death? Even knowing I could take your soul and leave you in the void, without an afterlife?. I get to have some fun after all!"

Michael stared at Hecate, his eyes full of hatred. "Don't underestimate the will of a man who's lost everything, your death would benefit everyone, not just satisfy my vengeance, I'll gladly lay my life down for that!"

He threw Hecate to the side, her blades dislodged from his hands, he grabbed one of them firmly. Hecate held onto the other.

He pointed the blade at her.

Hecate slashed at him again and he sidestepped.

"I get it now, your power, your body can read my attacks, if I use the same attack twice it won't hit, no matter what I do, right?"

Michael stood in front of her, the blade pointed directly at her, he didn't say a word.

"I get it, you don't wanna reveal your ace, I'll let you keep the sword, makes things more fun!"

Hecate's blood blade ignited on fire and she drew it back then flicked it forwards at Michael.

He blocked her attack and swung back at her with the same level of proficiency, as if he'd been trained how to wield a sword by Hecate herself.

The two clashed swords over and over, each perfectly mirroring the other's attacks, both of the same skill level, despite the fact Michael had never used a sword before.

"You're surprisingly good at this. Almost annoyingly so."

Meanwhile Mirage fought one of the blood clones.

He readied his mirror shards in the air around him. The clone began to walk towards him, it's hand morphed into an elongated whip which dragged along the blood soaked floor.

Mirage shot a light beam at the blood clone, it dissolved and reformed seconds later.

The blood clone splattered blood over Mirage's mirror shards, it obscured the light reflections on them. "You're a pain, clearly you possess the fighting prowess of the real Hecate."

Meanwhile Blaze fired his bullets at the blood clone, they went straight through it and disappeared into the bloody floor.

The blood clones hit Mirage and Blaze, blood pooled around them and fired into a pillar, it solidified around their bodies, rendering them immobile.

Hecate smiled. "Two down, just you left Falkirk."

She jumped into the air, spattering blood disks at Michael.

The disks cut through his arms as he blocked. Hecate spun around in the air and fell towards Michael. Her blood blades covered her body.

Hecate landed into a roll nearby, she fired a torrent of blood at Michael, he responded by holding his arms in front of him to protect his face from the blood.

Michael cut through Hecate's defences, breaking her sword and causing it to turn back intro liquid blood.

Hecate giggled. "You're really good at this, you must really hate me huh? I'm honoured to be hated so much by somebody like you!"

Hecate launched herself into the air using a pillar of blood she created. From her bloody arm extended a long spear of blood.

She threw it like a javelin at Michael, as it flew through the air, Michael scraped the sword against it to change it's course, it landed just beside him, before sinking into a pool of blood.

Hecate tried to land safely but Michael glared at her and took aim.

Michael hit Hecate with his blade, cutting into her and making her fall to the ground beside him.

Hecate smiled. "You're good, So this is the power of a vengeful soul, it's amazing!"

Michael glared at her. "You haven't used your fire... you're not trying to kill me."

Hecate giggled. "That's right, you're just bait. Now, it's time to end things here!"

A pillar of blood shot through him from behind, catching him by surprise, solidifying into a pillar.

Hecate smiled. "All three subdued. Perfect. Now I wait for their friend to arrive... let's hope he makes it in time... in about an hour the blood red eclipse ends... I'm gonna gradually fill the room with Abyssal Energy, by the time the Blood Red Eclipse ends, it'll have reached fatal levels."

Meanwhile somewhere within the red fog outside. Claude wandered through the fog.

"Where are the others? I haven't been able to hear their voices for quite a while."

The fog began to dissipate as he wandered through a charred field, the blood red light from the eclipse shone down. Suddenly something clicked in Claude's mind.

A fleeting memory, he caught that memory in his mind, it came flooding back. A battlefield, monsters and humans fighting, struggling, dying. Claude was present on that battlefield... the conflict felt... good... exhilarating.

He didn't know how or why he felt this way, or even which side he was on, all he knew was that the battle here a long time ago had some significance. He felt somehow like he knew Hecate, like he'd met her before somewhere, he struggled to keep the memory in his mind, it left many unanswered questions.

Then as quickly as it arrived, the memory faded and disappeared.

"What was that? I... I remember this place? Just who was I?"

A stream of blood shot into the air a distance away, covering the eclipsed moon. Claude was being called to, beckoned over by a mysterious force. He decided to follow, hoping to find his missing allies.