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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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Red candles set alight as the moon shines down with its light
A crowd of believers chant out loud
"May the non-believers cry out loud, may they weep and bleed as our father plants his seed"
The moonlight shines upon their robes of crimson red. A man will come and bring a lie, making existence an entangled thread.
His voice, full of pride
"No longer shall thee be lost for I am thy guide
...
Ijin Yu awakens upon a pile of debris within the Industrial district of Eichenheim.
"Awoken from your slumber?", Sierra speaks, the smugness could be heard from the tone of her voice.
"What did you do?", Ijin asked, his voice, full of anger and uncertainty. From the tone of his voice, it felt as if Sierra had a physical body, he would surely butcher it.
"I helped you Ijin"
"What happened?"
"I killed that thing for you, be more thankful, will you?"
Ijin looks at his own body to find covered in dried blood.
"Some of it is yours but most of it is from our kin"
"I'm not like you Sierra, don't talk like I'm one of you"
"Sure you aren't," Sieraa said sarcastically.
Ijin pulled on his hair, as he paced in circles, his thoughts were heavy, bone crushing even.
"You didn't do anything else?", Ijin asked.
"No"
"You better have not"
"Trust me, we had a deal and I will honor it"
"You're better telling the truth"
"I am..."
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Relentless Slaughter:
Chapter 12: Heaven's tears
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The rain pours down heavily on the morning of June 25, 1789. The morning breeze was cold to the touch.
Ijin Yu welcomed the cold rain upon his bloodied body, attempting to wash it all away.
This probably isn't gonna be washed off easily any time soon.
Ijin looks to his prosthetic arm to and realised that it had dents all over.
It's difficult to move, not surprising since I was crushed by a literal building.
Ijin journeys to where the Silverbloods first arrived as the rain pours heavily, as the fog sets in and as the slaughter continues...
...
Fredrick prays alone in a church within Eichenheim's residential district. He assumes a kneeling position and puts his hands together as his eyes are shut.
"I did not know you were a religious person," Henry said as he walked through the churches wooden doors.
"God is my reason for living," Fredrick said as Henry sat down beside him.
"Doc said Kanako is still out"
"She's still unconscious and that thing is still out there"
Fredrick stands up, his metal armor clanking even with the smallest of movements.
"What's the time?", Fredrick asks.
Henry looks to his timepiece and replied: "7 o'clock"
"We should get moving"
The two Black Heart hunters walk out into the cold pouring rain. Fredrick adjusts his armor as he walks down the church's steps.
"Why the armor?" Henry asks
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"Father wanted me to be a knight, I failed but I kept the armor," Fredrick explained.
"Isn't it heavy?"
"You get used to it after the years go on"
...
Henry and Fred arrive to a large apartment complex within Eichenheim's residential district. Heading inside the concrete structure, they find corpses of Black Heart hunters scattered all over the place, blood dripped from the ceiling. The faces of the dead hunters, full of terror, their eyes wide open.
"What the hell?" Fredrick remarked with horror in his eyes.
The two hunters tread through the bloody building, climbing up the stairs up to the 3rd floor where they find the hunting party commander, dead, his eyes removed from the sockets.
"A demon perhaps?" Henry suggests.
"Sadism reeks all over this place, there's a good chance" Fredrick replied.
Henry searches the bodies of the dead hunters and find nothing, not even weapons. It was almost as if they had all been taken by something.
Laughing would be heard a few minutes later, masked by the heavy rain.
"Did you hear that?" Henry asked, unsheathing his dagger.
"Barely" Fredrick replied.
The laughter was unnatural, there was something about it that made it seem rather inhuman, it's voice and pitch didn't sound right, it seemed more like an imitation of laughter by an inhuman creature rather than a genuine human laugh.
Henry shuts his eyes and listens carefully, entering a state of meditation, focusing all his energy onto the laughter. The sound of the rain moves further away, the laughter drowning it all out.
Henry opens his eyes, darting towards a window that overlooked the streets below where he sees a silhouette of a humanoid with horns.
"There!" Henry charges towards the silhouette which climbs up the building.
The two hunters look up to find the demon using its claws to cling to the concrete as it climbed upwards.
Henry did not waste a moment. Climbing out the window, he grabbed a nearby pipe and used it climb up towards the demon.
"You take the stairs!" Henry said to Fredrick.
Fredrick put his helmet on his head and bolted towards the stairs, heading up to the rooftops.
Henry struggled on, using nearby windows, pipes and whatever else he could grab to climb the building. The heavy rain causing him great discomfort, making him slip at times.
Henry looked up at the demon which had almost reached the rooftop. He quickened his pace, launching himself up the building.
Finally reaching the rooftop, he he charged towards the demon with his dagger which sat and waited for him with a smug look on its disgusting dark red face.
The demon smirked and dodged the attack with great speed. Henry's eyes darted around, looking for the demon.
"Red candles set alight as the moon shines down with its light," The demon said with its distorted voice.
Henry's eyes darted towards the source of the voice and found the demon sitting on the edge of the rooftop, its horns stood with pride.
Henry readied himself before charging with his dagger once more. This time, managing to make a small cut on the demon's face. The thing smiled before grabbing Henry and pinning him to the wet concrete just before the edge of the rooftop.
The thing squeezed tightly on Henry's neck, putting him in a stranglehold, cutting off his oxygen.
Henry whimpered slightly as he felt his eyes growing heavy, the rain dropping down on his face. He looked up at the demon's eyes, they were obsidian dark, without a soul. He glared with defiant eyes, attempting to struggle against the demon's strength before seeing a large man wearing black armor looming over the demon with his greatsword.
With a single swing, Fredrick cut the demon in half, destroying its heart in the process.
Henry immediately sat up and began breathing heavily, attempting to regain his composure.
"You need patience," Fredrick said as he set his greatsword on his shoulder.
"I'm a hunter, I do have patience," Henry said as he held his neck, feeling the marks of the demon's hands.
"Not enough patience it seems"
"Thank you, anyway..." Henry sighed and stood up, looking over the edge of the rooftop.
Laughter rings out once more. The hunters' eyes dart around to find several demons standing on the rooftop of an adjacent taller building.
"It just keeps getting better doesn't it?" Henrh remarked.
"I should've expected more, how dare I believe one demon could kill an entire party" Fredrick said as he prepared his greatsword.
...
Ijin walks through the stormy streets of the industrial district, only accompanied by the sound of thunder and rain. His clothes and body still soaked in crimson that could not be washed off by the tears of heaven.
Ijin heads inside a large abandoned factory and finds many of the Silverbloods who welcomed him inside.
"Sir, welcome back," Boseda said with his southern accent.
"Is Aiko awake?" Ijin asked.
"Not yet" Mason appeared from the crowd of Silverbloods. Ijin's face filled with disappointment as he heard Mason's words.
Ijin headed for a room in the corner of the building. Opening the door and welcoming himself insidez he finds the unconscious Aiko who laid on a makeshift bed and the exhausted Adelaide who sat on a chair some distance away.
"Ijin... you're back" Adelaide said with tired eyes.
"Adelaide... you should get some sleep" Ijin said, closing the door behind him.
"No thanks" She said with a yawn.
Ijin stand over the unconscious Aiko who now had a massive scar on her face. Adelaide looked at Ijin's blood soaked body with concern and slight disgust.
"It's not mine" Ijin said in a monotone voice.
"That's not what I'm concerned about"
"Ah... right, I'll change" Ijin said before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.
Around half an hour later, Ijin walks back into the room in clean clothes. He welcomed himself inside once more and sees that Adelaide was now slumped over, sleeping soundly.
Ijin looks at Aiko for a moment and touches her forehead before leaving the room.
"Ijin" Riro called out.
"Riro... need something?"
"Well... I don't know honestly, but there is something I want to talk about"
"What is it then?"
...
In the residential district, Henry was stabbing a demon in the chest repeatedly until his hands trembled from exhaustion. Fredrick stood proudly, shielding Henry with his body. The corpses of six demons laid in front of the heavily armored hunter.
"Impressive work" A demon said, clapping her hands loudly with a wide grin on her face.
The two hunters looked up at the demon. Gripping their weapons tightly.
"You're the leader I pressume" Fredrick said.
The demon drops down from the adjacent building down to their level, her followers of six do the same after a few moments.
"I am indee-" The demon was about to say before being cut in half by Fredrick's greatsword.
Her followers raged at the realisation that their leader had died and charged towards Fredrick.
Fredrick swung his greatsword around his body and cutting four out of the six demons in half and killing them. Henry lunged at a demon and stabbed it in the heart before kicking the other towards a wall. Fredrick and Henry shared glances before Fredrick lunged at the last remaining demon and stabbed it in the heart.
"If you think this is over, I feel sorry for you, for you were born as an idiot" The female demon's head said.
The two hunters look to the demon's head with confusion.
How the hell is she still alive?, Fredrick wondered.
The demon's head generated a body and stood proud before the two hunters with a wide grin.
"May the non-believers cry out loud, may they weep and bleed as our father plants his seed" The demon said as Fredrick swung at her, cutting her in half once more as she laughed manically.
"It hurts! It hurts! Oh! iT HURTS SO MUCH!!" The demon said as she laughed.
Fredrick stomped on the head of the demon with his heavy boots repeatedly until her head was only jelly and mush.
"Go back to hell!" Fredrick said, stomping on her head one last time...
The two hunters sigh heavily before leaving the building. Descending the bloody stairs until the reached the streets below where they find a living Black Heart hunter.
Henry and Fredrick look to the lone hunter who was soaked in blood before running towards him.
"What happened?", Fredrick asked as he looked at the man's shell shocked face.
"They slaughtered everyone" The man said, staring into nothingness, his voice trembling, his body cold to the touch as he shivered.
"Who? What?" Fredrick asked.
"Everyone is dead" The man repeated.
"Who is dead?" Fredrick asked again.
"The hunters, soldiers, knights and civilians, all of them..." The man said before falling to his knees and breaking down.
Henry and Fredrick look at each other, confusion and concern etched onto their faces as their minds race with a thousand thoughts. Heaven's tears continued to drop as they picked the man up travelled to the refugee camp.
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Relentless Slaughter
Chapter 12: Heaven's tears
Chapter end
To be continued