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Author's guide:
This is narration
This is a character's thoughts
"This is a character speaking"
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June 24, 1789
In a dilapidated factory within the confines of Eichenheim's industrial district, a four legged Anomaly stood on top of pipes of human corpses, it awaited the return of its sisters. Not a minute later, multiple entities similar to it arrived through the factory's broken down wall, carrying many corpses on their backs.
The Anomalies laid down the corpses onto the concrete and begun a process called 'weaving', a process were Anomalies known as 'Weavers' gather human remains in a single location and stitch them together, creating what could only be described as a nest that has been created using human blood and flesh.
The Weavers weave a nest for their kin with expertise, each action is methodical. Yet their work would be halted when a man cuts drops down from the ceiling. He wielded a silver sword, cutting one of the Weaver in half.
The beasts gazed at the man with intention the kill, but to the man, the feeling was mutual.
Eight directly in front, three to the right and one to the left. That makes it 12 in total.
A woman's voice echoed in the man's mind, her words were: "Doesn't thou enjoy it Ijin?, the power?"
"You've asked that question many times now, I would advise you to shut up, you're getting on my nerves Sierra", Ijin said with frustration in his voice.
The Weaver to the left lunged towards Ijin with intention to slaughter. In response, Ijin performs an upward slash, cutting the Anomaly's head in half, Ijin quickly followed up with a stab that pierced through the Anomaly's heart.
"Behind you", Sierra warned Ijin.
Ijin spun his body around and cut the Anomaly as it got within range, Ijin attempts to jump on top of the Anomaly when he is interrupted by the other Weavers who attempt to attack him, forcing him to retreat to a safer distance.
Four at the front and eleven to my right. I'm going to get surrounded at this ra-
Ijin's train of thought is cut off when a Weaver lunges at him with an unbelievable speed, much faster than the rest. Ijin just barely dodges to the right, the beast managing to scrape his prosthetic.
Crap, I moved into the direction of the Weavers.
The Weavers lunge at Ijin, time slows to a crawl and Ijin says: "Sierra, do your thing"
"Happily", Sierra responded before Ijin's eyes turned into an abyss-like black as he performed a whirlwind spinning attack, cutting at fhe surrounding Weavers and killing a few.
The Weavers staggered backward and begun healing themselves. Ijin followed up on his Whirlwind spinning attack with a powerful stab that pierced the heart of a Weaver.
Ijin's eyes returned to normal, looking around he begun to think.
Seven left, I think I can kill them without Sierra's help.
Ijin lunges toward a Weaver to his right and plunges his sword into its heart. The Weavers begin to crowd around him when he performs another Whirlwind spinning attack, much weaker than the first but still enough to kill.
And so Weaver's numbers dropped from seven to one. There was only one left. The Weaver lunges at Ijin with great speed, Ijin reacts in time, managing to dodge the attack.
This thing is abnormal, Weavers aren't supposed to be this fast.
The Weaver lunges once more, missing once again giving Ijin the opportunity to cut its front legs, making it fall to the ground. The Weaver begins its healing process as Ijin begins to walk towards it with his bloodied silver blade.
Ijin's eyes, didn't show any mercy as he raised his blade.
"Don't hesitate", Sierra said with enthusiasm in the tone of her voice.
"I won't", Ijin responded as he performed a downward cut.
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Relentless Slaughter
Chapter 10: Do not hesitate
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June 24, 1789
7:58 PM
Two Black Heart hunters spoke as they walked the streets of Eichenheim's industrial district. One was a man who seemed to be approaching an old age, he wielded a Silver scythe and wore an all black attire with a top hat. The other was a relatively young woman who wielded a shotgun.
Their conversation would be interrupted when a horde of beasts surrounded them from all directions.
"Hannah, prepare yourself", the older man said as he grabbed his scythe tightly.
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"Of course, master Horus", Hannah said, preparing herself for combat.
The horde of beasts lunged at them with intention to kill. Hannah jumped into the horde with her shotgun, not even hesitating. Horus spun his Scythe around, preventing any beast to get close.
The two Black Heart hunters perform a dance of death with the beasts for some time until the horde's numbers drop to a point where they are forced to retreat.
Hannah and Horus stand beneath the moon, bathed in the blood of beasts. The two hunters looked around to find only the corpses of beasts in sight, the concrete road was had been completely covered in blood.
Horus chuckled, "What a mess we have created, this was supposed to be a scouting mission was it not?"
"It can't be helped", Hannah said as she reloaded her shotgun.
Horus looked at Hannah and inquired, "Do you still have enough ammunition?"
"Yeah, I mostly used my bayonet"
Horus smiled at Hannah as he begun to clean the blood off of his scythe, suddenly, a thought comes into Hannah's mind.
"Isn't it strange how a horde just knew where we were?", she said.
"There must be a nest nearby if they're this alert", Horus responded.
"That soundsb like a reasonable explanation, should we report it back to camp?"
"I thought you'd be asking me to destroy it right now by yourself"
Hannah chuckled at the thought, "Well then... can I destroy it now, by myself?"
Horus put his scythe on his back and wiped the blood off his clothes, "Well, it would be a shame if you died out there, I think I should come along"
Hannah smiled, "You're never gonna let me be a hero are you?"
...
Horus and Hannah search for the Anomaly nest for an hour until they come across an old dilapidated factory, a blood trail leading inside.
"Could it be more obvious?", Hannah asked.
Horus chuckled as he grabbed his scythe tightly. The two Black Heart hunters walked inside to find corpses weaved together. No doubt, it was most certainly an Anomaly nest. The two walked inside, anticipating a Weaver or two to appear only to find a lone man inside who wielded a silver sword, surrounded by Weaver corpses.
Horus prepares for a fight as Hannah walks towards the man with countless thoughts running through her head.
He seems to be a Black Heart hunter, he managed to either sneak his way past the horde of beasts or fight them head on. Whoever this is, he is quite good. Could it him?
"You there!", Hannah called out to the man.
The man turned his head slightly, his face somewhat visible but not completely.
"Are you the one responsible for this?", Hannah asked pointing to the Weaver's corpses.
The man spun around and lunged at Hannah with his silver sword with an inhuman speed. Horus parried the attack with his scythe, saving Hannah from her death.
Hannah stumbled back as she got to see the man's face, it didn't have one; It's 'face' appeared to be nothing, it was like an abyss.
"It's a mimic", Horus said as he kicked it away.
"What's wrong with its face?", Hannah pondered as she aimed at the mimic.
"It must have failed to copy its target's face for some reason"
Hannah fired her shotgun at the mimic, it reacted by parrying the bullets fired from Hannah's shotgun.
"That was a buckshot, what the hell?", Hannah exclaimed as she pumped her shotgun
"The person that thing is mimicking, he must be quite good", Horus said before lunging at the mimic with his scythe.
Horus cuts at the mimic, his cut is parried and he is pushed back. Hannah charges in and fires at the mimic which missed.
The mimic performs a devastating spinning attack that damages Horus and Hannah as they botched their attempts to parry the attack.
"Retreat to a safer distance", Horus said.
"The hell do we do against it?"
"Strike it simultaneously"
The two hunters began their attack simultaneously. Hannah jumped and fired her shotgun while Horus ducked down and cut at the mimic. The mimic kicked Horus away, preventing him for attacking properly while it parried Hannah's buck shot.
"AGAIN!'", Horus exclaimed.
The two hunters attempted another assault on the mimic when it would strike them both in the blink of an eye.
Hannah looked to her stomach to see it bleeding slightly.
Dammit, probably should've reported back to camp. Well... no backing up now.
The mimic would take turns exchanging blows with the two hunters; it would launch a flurry of attacks aimed at Hannah before kicking away, turning to Horus and repeating the process.
The two hunters begun to tire out after not making any progress with the mimic. The mimic stood firm and proud and lunged towards Hannah.
"Hannah, move!"
Hannah is cut but manages fire her shotgun, hitting the mimic in its incomplete face. The mimic staggers backward and Horus takes this opportunity to launch an attack which managed to be successful, cutting the mimic in half and destroying its heart im the process.
The two hunters breath a heavy sigh and look at each other.
"Let's find the nest's core and leave", Horus said
"Agreed", Hannah responded.
The two hunters searched the nest up and down until they found the core; the heart of the nest which kept it from decaying over time...
...
It was destroyed...
The nest's core had been destroyed by the time they had arrived.
"What the hell?", Hannah said as she approached the destroyed core. In disbelief, she said: "This looks to have been cut open with a sword"
Horus pondered at the situation as Hannah did the same.
"Could it have been the mimic?", Hannah asked.
"I doubt it, a hunter probably did it and a nearby mimic decided to copy the hunter", Horus theorised.
"We came all the way here for nothing?"
"Yeah"
Horus and Hannah turn to the exit to leave the Anomaly nest...
...
Hannah and Horus walk through the industrial district as they talked.
"Did you meet anyone interesting?", Horus asked Hannah.
Hannah thinks for a moment, "There's this man named Ijin Yu"
"I think I've heard of him, he's a rank 8 Hunter isn't he? The one responsible for ending the Solderheim massacre?"
"You know of him?"
"I helped trained him, it seemed like he was... special"
"Special?"
"When he first came through the training camps doors, I expected him to be just decent since he was just a thug, but..."
"But?"
"He could beat experienced Black Heart hunters, even before he took performance enhancing drugs, he could take down experienced Black Heart hunters who did take PEDs"
"Really?"
"I can't imagine what he is like nowadays, that experience paired with PEDs of Black Heart hunters and his superior instincts"
As the two conversed, they would be interrupted when another horde of beasts surround them.
"Again?", Hannah muttered.
The two hunters proceeded to slaughter the horde of beasts that appeared before them. When they were finished, Hannah was out of bullets, her bayonet was now dull and Horus had a scythe completely covered in crimson.
The two look around, the entire street was covered in blood and the corpses of Anomalies, it was completely silent...
"Something is wrong", Horus said.
"Why do you think so?"
"A gut feeling"
Suddenly, a loud roar echoed throughout the district. It was animalistic and visceral, seemingly from something loud.
"That must be the reason why", Hannah said.
"I think we should run", Horus said with complete seriousness in his voice. Hannah is unnerved at his reaction and she begins to think.
Is Horus afraid?, if even Horus is afraid... What the hell is that thing?
...
Within the industrial district, a large beast-type Anomaly is marching with a large horde of demi-human beast-type Anomalies.
Ijin Yu watches the scene unfold from the rooftops, his blade readied.
"Will thou avenge the fallen Silverbloods?", Sierra's words echoed in his mind.
Ijin falls silent for a moment before speaking his mind.
"That thing... it shall die"
"Do not hesitate"
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Relentless Slaughter
Chapter 10: Do not hesitate
Chapter end
To be continued