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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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December 7th, 1782...
Black Heart Hunter Johan Braun, hunting party leader of 40 elite hunters sits on the corpse of a demon, awaiting for his hunters to return. He scattered them across this particular region of the city just an hour or two ago, ordering them to intercept demons that roamed all over the brick streets.
One by one, his hunters returned and soon enough they were all standing before him. Some were covered in blood, their clothes turning a crimson red as it shined in the moonlight. And yet, something was wrong, one hunter was missing. Johan looks to a tall and burly man to his right and looked at him in the eyes.
"Where's the easterner?" Johan asked.
"I do not know sir Johan," The man said bluntly.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"You see sir... we had to split up, the two demons we sought to hunt seperated into different directions and he volunteered to take one out while the three of us took the other," The man explained.
"You expect one man to kill a demon like these?" Johan said, pointing his rapier to the head of the dead demon.
"I thought he was capable enough,"
"Are you an idiot, Malik?"
"Sir, I apologise"
Johan sighed deeply and began cursing to himself. He paced himself back and forth just as lightning sounded out. He looked up at the night sky and a drop of rain fell onto his right eye.
Johan was startled and immediately wiped his right eye with his hand before composing himself.
"This is a problem... tsk... ugh..."
"Sir?" Malik called out to his commander.
"We ought to keep moving!"
The hunters begna murmuring amongst themselves quietly, looking at each other before looking to their leader, waiting for his orders.
...
Ijin Yu walks through the alleyways of Solderheim, the rain pouring down on his face. He looks down, adjusting his hat in an attempt to shield his face from the rain.
Ijin looks ahead, seeing a trail of blood leading him across the roads and into a building; a bank. Ijin unsheathes his blade before approaching the bank's shattered doors.
Ijin walks inside, seeing a mauled corpse of a woman.
Her face is half gone, is that bone? I think I can see her skull...
Ijin looks around, seeing a piece of flesh to his right.
Is that... her tongue? What sadism... I expected no less from demonic filth. God will punish these bastards once I'm done with them.
Ijin hears giggling coming from his rear. He spun around, blade in hand and saw a demon which lunged at him with its sharp claws. With only a fraction of a second to react, Ijin somehow manages to cut away at the demon. Amputating its arm, causing it to stumble and tumble onto its knees, its amputated arm burned hot due to the touch of silver.
"Filth like you will never be see victory," Ijin said, walking towards the demon slowly.
The demon screeched loudly, an ear bleeding sound echoed out throughout the building. Ijin winced and covered his ears just before the demon lunged at him once more.
Ijin dodged right, barely dodging the attack, his cheek being grazed by the demon's assault.
"The only filth here is thou!" The demon screeched in broken common tongue.
"You are a plague to this world, do not dare speak our tongue, you do not deserve such greatness!" Ijin screamed as he pulled out a pistol and fired upon the demon, aiming for its head.
The hell spawn sidesteps and attached itself to a wall before jumping onto the ceiling.
"Your god won't save you!" The demon said.
"And your false god will die!" Ijin fired upon the demon twice, a bullet hit a chandelier, causing it to fall to the floorboards below, causing dust to fly in the air.
The demon lunged once more, regenerating its amputated arm whilst mid air and aimed it to Ijin's face. Ijin struck the demon in the face with his boot, sending it flying towards a wooden table.
"Impressive for an insolent slave!" The demon said mockingly, getting up and hurling a piece of broken table to Ijin's face.
Ijin could not dodge, only managing to block the piece of wood in time with his arm. The impact of the object caused Ijin great pain as the wood shattered into pieces.
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"Damm you!" Ijin said with anger as he fired another shot at the demon, this time managing to land a hit on the thing's eye.
The demonic filth made a loud and pained screech as its eye emitted smoke, burnt by the silver bullet. It looked at Ijin with its darkened eye, full of hatred and malice. Ijin could feel it, it was almost painful, it felt like the thousand flames of hell that burned brightly.
"Insolence!" The demon lunged at Ijin, closing the distance within a moment.
Ijin and the demon exchanged strikes, cuts, slashes and blows until Ijin would parry one of the demon's strikes giving him an edge. The demon stumbled back and Ijin hacked away at the demon's face, cutting it into two.
"Your hideous face will be gone!" Ijin said as he continued to his attack, blood splattering onto his face as he continued his assault.
The demon stumbled back, falling on its back. It was screaming in agony, its face burning at the touch of Ijin's silver blade. Ijin raised his blade above his head, aiming for the demon's heart.
"You are no man," the demon muttered before the tip of Ijin's silver blade landed on its flesh and pierced its heart.
Ijin sighed deeply, wiping the blood off of his face. He looked at himself. His clothes were torn open and many open scratches, scars and bruises covered his figure.
Perhaps the holy father is willing to forgive you. Although I doubt a traitorous son of his would be forgiven so easily. May he bring you forgiveness... somehow...
Ijin turns his back on the bloody scene, heading for the designated location where the party was supposed to regroup. After an hour of running through the evacuated streets, he found himself where the team of hunters had agreed to meet. And yet, no one was there, only the sound of the pouring rain accompanied Ijin.
Where the hell are they?
Ijin cursed himself for arriving late, the raindrops which poured into his eyes only making his frustrations worse with each passing moment.
I guess I ought to find my way back to the city HQ then.
Ijin walked through the evacuated brick streets of Solderheim, the empty streets emitting a haunting and foreboding atmosphere.
Not even an hour had passed and yet Ijin had already encountered something that caught his attention.
A dying Black Heart hunter, a young man who was slumped over on a staircase, his left arm was amputated, cleanly, almost as if done with a blade. Ijin approached cautiously before kneeling down with an expression of concern.
"You're one of the people in my hunting party, aren't you? You're with Johan Braun?" Ijin asked.
"G-Gerfardo s-street..." the hunter whispered before fading into unconsciousness, his breathing halting a mere few seconds later.
"May your next life be more merciful, comrade" Ijin whispered before running towards the location the dead hunter spoke of.
Ijin ran through the wet brick streets of Solderheim, the screams of the civilians who couldn't be evacuated echoing thrthroughout the cold and rainy night.
Ijin arrives at Gerfardo street and finds the place devoid of any life. Many dead corpses of civilians were scattered about. The roads and walls were coated with the blood of the innocents.
Ijin treads carefully, blade in hand and eyes full of determination.
And then...
Ijin finds a statue of the national hero; Emilia Shakespeare, she was in a gesture of embrace, her figure looked holy and a sign of hope whilst completely coated in crimson. And in the surrounding area were the bodies of his dead comrades.
And standing before the statue was two figures. One was a demon, the other was Johan...
The demon placed its hand on Johan's forehead. Johan was kneeling, his eyes were shut and his hands were in held tightly together. It looked like he was begging the demon for mercy, perhaps even worshipping it.
"I have done what thou had wished" Johan said.
"The father will be proud of thee," the demon replied.
"Praise the father!" Johan chanted.
Ijin dashed towards the demon, blade in hand. He sliced the demon's head clean off before stabbin it in the heart in swift motion.
Ijin looked at Johan, his face was a mix of confusion shock and horror. He looked at Ijin with wide open eyes, attempting to speak but he stumbled on his own words.
"Sir... Johan... what the hell was that about?"
"I- I can explain... it isn't what yoh think..."
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Relentless Slaughter
Chapter 15: Johan
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"Give me one reason why I shouldn't behead you right this instance!" Ijin screamed out, his hands gripping his blade tightly.
"I- Listen! I was f-forced to kill them! I didn't want to do this!" Johan pleaded.
"Why? Why were you forced to kill your comrades?"
"If I didn't, this city would burn!" Johan stammered.
"How so?" Ijin asked as he tried to hold himself together.
"I- I had to make a deal with a demon back then! I had to sacrifice five hundred people, if I didn't... they'd burn this city and kill everyone"
"And I'm supposed to believe you?" Ijin asked in disbelief.
Before Ijin could do anything, another Black Heart hunter appeared from the shadows. A woman who held a small machine gun in her arms.
"W-What is happening here?" Rheanna asked as she walked into the scene.
"T-Tell this man to-" Johan tried to speak before being cut off by Ijin.
"This man sacrificed hundreds of people to the demonic filth! He deserves to die!" Ijin explained.
Rheanna fidgeted, clearly unsure of what to do or how to handle a situation such as this. Black Heart hunters are typically not used to dealing with infighting.
Another Black Heart hunter appeared from behind Rheanna, an older man who held a scythe in his arms.
"Ahhh Johan! What did you do this time?" Horus Han asked.
"This... is a misunderstanding, tell this man to let me go" Johan said.
"Son... let him go" Horus told Ijin.
"But... he sacrificed our comrades" Ijin protested.
"We don't know that" Horus said.
"But I saw it!" Ijin stammered.
"Drop your blade!" Horus said, forcing Ijin to point his blade downward.
"But..."
"We have a policy of innocent until proven guilty, I can't allow you to kill him" Horus said, flashing anger in his eyes.
"I... I... I understand..." Ijin said reluctantly.
"Good choice" Horus looked at the dead demon Ijin killed.
"That's a demon priest, you killed that? Good job son! I'll be sure to tell everyone you're the hero who ended this slaughter. In return, let me handle Johan while you." Horus whispered into Ijin's ear before taking Johan away.
"Are you okay?" Rheanna asked Ijin.
"I'm sure god and the court will find him guilty" Ijin said.
...
Ijin sipped on hot coffee stored in a food can as he sat beside the unconscious Rheanna.
"So... how'd you feel after they let him go?" Hunter K. asked Ijin.
"I was furious, I wanted to kill him, but overtime, I had been gaslighted by others and myself. Perhaps I should've, but Horus' actions and words just wouldn't let me, it was like I was enthralled," Ijin explained.
"I need to leave" Ijin said as he stood up and gathered his equipment.
"Right now?" Hunter K. was baffled to a certain extent.
"I have to go to the residential district, take care of Rheanna. I will be back, I swear" Ijin said as he walked towards the exit.
"Stay safe then!" Hunter K. said before Ijin left for the residential district.
Ijin climbed up onto the rooftops once more. Ijin parkoured through the buildings for minutes before reaching a gap too big.
"You'll have to trudge through filth it seems" Sierra mocked.
"Stop making this harder for me" Ijin mumbled to himself before scaling down the building nad trudging through the bloody red flood.
After what felt like an eternity of trudging through chest high water, Ijin would find himself in what used to be known as the residential district of Eichenheim.
Tall flesh and bone-like structures that were not there before towered over the district. The tallest of these structures seemed to be in the center of the district, towering over the rest of the massive otherworldly structures, seemingly tall enough to reach the dark clouds which hovered above.
Ijin looked down to find the flood was no longer bloodied water but now just blood. Pale skinned creatures swam in the flood of blood, shrieking as they saw Ijin before rushing towards him.
"Sierra... explain... what the hell is this?" Ijin asked as he readied his blade.
"It is hell... demons brought hell to your world" Sierra whispered into Ijin's mind.
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Relentless Slaughter
Chapter 15: Johan
Chapter end
To be continued...