Inside Salazar, a 14-year-old Aaron walks down the rusty, swirling iron stairs with his senior, Shroud, leading to a dark secluded section of the prison: The juvenile detention center. Host to groups of vamplings detained for interrogation before beheading, the guards spare less of their time tending to the young vampires in fear of their more rabid, aggressive nature. One would say that surviving even a night in there would be a miracle, and not for the faint of heart.
But Shroud had other stuff in mind. Aaron’s Eisenwald is one of the heaviest armaments on the roster. Knowing the kid wouldn’t fare even against an imp without the proper training, he made a hard decision for the young hunter’s near future.
They reach a caged, shut steel door. Sending a signal to the guards inside from a reinforced window to the left, steam is released as the door unlocks and the cell bars retract.
Aaron: Is this really the only way I can train?
Shroud: Honestly, kiddo…It’s the only, it’s the best and it’s the one I don’t want but have to give ya’…
Aaron: But Beryl didn’t have to fight bats when you trained him. Why do I get to?
Shroud: Beryl and you ain’t the same…
Aaron sulks. Fear runs through his veins as screams and screams of young vampires are heard from the other end of the doorway.
Shroud: I’ll be back to get ya in the evenin’. Damn, when I did this, at least I had yer dad coverin’ for me…
Aaron: Yeah, I guess it was a peach and a half…
Shroud looks over the sulking Aaron. He hands him a top hat, the same he wears today…
Aaron: Is that-
Shroud: Yer father’s. Might not be the same thing as another hunter, but he’ll be with ya’ somehow through all this…
Shroud turns back and leaves.
Shroud: I’ll pick ya’ up in the evenin’!
Aaron: How do you know I won’t be dead, you drunk!?
Shroud… Nah, you’re his son. You’ll manage.
Images flash away. In dark corridors, in a damaged mess hall, and in dirty toilets, Aaron is sometimes beaten, other times he’s kicked around, assaulted with rains of pebbles, stones, and any other object the bats can find around. But as the pictures progress, Aaron starts planning. He adapts to the assaults. He figures out their moves, dodges their strikes, and escapes their plans. Arriving at one fatal noon, where 17-year-old Aaron is surrounded by bruised vampires. Eisenwald sits idle, pierced through a dead vampling’s chest. Covered in blood, he breathes in and out, seemingly detached from his surroundings. One vampire, Danno, is lying in front of the hunter, beaten, bruised, and scared out of his life. Eyes trembling with fear, he silently whines as the boy regains consciousness and walks away…
Aaron relapses to reality again. He stares at Danno, whose smile has reached his ears, his teeth grit from the rush.
Danno: You sure are one motherfucker, Willheart.
Aaron: Huh?!
Danno: Acting like you are a hero to your comrades. The magnificent Aaron, our chief would never torture a vampire. You have them for fools…
Aaron: Again, spouting nonsense.
Danno: What nonsense!!?? After years and years of your fists up my teeth, I couldn’t wait for death to come and get me!! Remember how you beat us up, because we didn’t want to eat your shitty rations that wouldn’t fill a rat?
Aaron: I remember beating you up because you spat the rations back at me as I was leaving.
Danno: The day you woke us up by beating the cell bars with a metal bat?!
Aaron: You mean after the night you tried to bite a guard because he wanted to give you better rations?
Danno: How about when you screwed us over and left open the sunlight windows for a whole day in every room!?
Aaron: Because you beat up a passing nun who wanted to treat the dependent group. The ones YOU made!
Danno: And let’s not forget. The mess hall!! When you choose to show your filthy, human side. When you chose to just kill us like roaches in a sewer pipe! All because we tried to fight back-
Aaron: Do you even listen to the shit that’s coming out of your mouth??!!
The bat startles. Aaron’s eyes clench with anger as he presses on…
Aaron: I didn’t want this. I never wanted to watch your mugs for 3 years straight! But you guys tortured me! You beat me, you spat on me, you drank me dry before I’d leave for home. And you’d laugh at me for trying to get out, for trying to hit you. And when I started fighting back, you thought you were the victims!?
Aaron picks up his sword with one hand and dips it in the ground in anger.
Aaron: I should have known it was you, fuck. Every bat we chopped, the ones that killed and turned people for you and the Ripper, they had the same shitty excuse you have now: They did nothing wrong.
He lifts his sword and puts it over his shoulders.
Danno: You are still the same brat that murdered my pals. I’m glad I survived because now I get to take my just revenge!!!
Aaron: Come over, you fuck!! I’ll get your head before I chop the Ripper!!!
Danno rolls his sleeves once again. He pumps his fists together. Electricity starts running through his forearms as they transform into a veiny, more muscular, reddish form.
Aaron: When did a bum like you learn spellcraft?!
Danno: The Ripper showed me a few tricks. He showed me my lineage’s true power, Willheart. This cult, my role in all of this…You are about to see the power of an aristocrat!!
Aaron: You?! A noble?! Guess humor really is a great cope for death scenarios…
The two clash. Aaron lunges with a downward swing, gripping his sword as hard as possible to cleave the vampire with all of his might. Danno protracts his wings for support and blocks the attack by holding back the blade. The silver burns his skin but doesn’t cut through the flesh. Danno smiles throughout the whole ordeal, announcing to his foe that the next fight will not be over as fast as he wishes.
As they struggle for control, Danno grabs the blade’s edges. Ignoring the bleeding, he dips his legs in and smashes the floor. Aaron is lifted up in the air and thrown with Eisenwald away to a nearby wall when Danno swings them around, laughing maniacally.
Danno: I’ll never cry at your expense ever again, you fuck!!!
Surprisingly, Aaron falls from the wall, unscathed. Other than a few tattered clothes, he seems to have tanked the hit. However, the fight isn’t over. Danno tries to corner him, and Aaron pushes forward to avoid a disadvantageous spot. He swings left and right and uses the sword’s length to put a distance between the two of them, allowing him to dodge through his fists and change positions, no longer fearing a trap in the wall. Danno, however, manages to sneak in a punch to the kidney as Aaron tries to get back in the fighting position.
While the punch itself hurts, what hurts Aaron more is a sudden surge of electricity running from the monster’s fist to his skin and then his nerves. Staggering him, Danno takes the opportunity to hit him with a flurry of fists, each one sending surges of lightning to the hunter’s body.
Danno: See this, hunter?! This is my noble blood’s power. My “Virtue”!!!
Aaron: (Aaaah!!, What the fuck?!)
Danno kicks him back a few meters, and Aaron dips his sword to the ground to remain standing. Danno jumps forward, aided by his wings to reach a longer height, and lunges down at the hunter with a pummeling fist full of lightning. Aaron rolls sideways, barely dodging the hammering smite.
Danno: You could say I’m smiting you, Willheart. “You are getting your due punishment!!” like that nun you brought us said!!
Aaron gets up. He lapses back into a fighting position, sword at the front, waiting for Danno’s next move.
Danno: What was her name again…Aah yeah, Vanessa!! I met her once I got out again. Had my lackey turn her over and starve her away until she went to the hospital. She sure was tasty…
Aaron: You fuck…
Aaron charges once again. Swinging his sword left, blocking the bat’s fists on the right, sidestepping back, and stabbing him forward, Eisenwald goes all directions to find contact with the vampire’s limbs, lifting up dust and pebbles along the way. Only slightly grazing him, the vampire sees through a move and tries to hit the hunter’s open face.
Aaron: Got you!!
He grabs the vampire’s arm once again. But this time, Danno laughs…
Danno: Idiot!!
Smiling with a smug, Aaron is electrified again. The shock from the surge breaks down his posture, allowing Danno to punch him hard enough in the face and send him rolling back.
Danno: Like my “Virtue”, Willheart? The reddish skin in my arms produces lightning currents, and I transfer them to everything I touch, at will.
Aaron shakes his head to get a grip. He quickly stands back up.
Danno: Leading to stuff like this!!
He plunges his palms to the ground. Lightning starts running through the ground, violently surging through the stone floor to Aaron, shocking him again. Danno flies quickly to him and lunges with another fist…
Briefly checking on the escaping party, Cassie and Lau batter Url with questions…
Lau: How did the brute manage to block that punch? No hunter I know can do that!
Cassie: Given the bossman’s strange relationship with the vampire, I’m obliged to believe in a “half-vampire hunter” scenario. Will killing bossman be necessary?
Url: Let’s not rush to murder, now! Aaron’s a Titan…
The girls gasp in shock…
Cassie and Lau: Titan?!!
Lau: That forgotten project to make bat-strong hunters?! I thought it was scrapped because 1 to 5 people could barely survive the training!
Url: Scrapped, not forbidden. Shroud’s a Titan, so he had to teach Aaron the only way he knew…
The Titan project. At the cost of a lesser connection with the Sun Lord’s grace, and thus delayed development in incantations, Titans are submitted to more drug trials and hellish resistance training, in the hopes of surpassing the limit on a hunter’s physical capacity, allowing the Titan to engage vampires in more physically demanding combat than usual. As of today, it is unknown how many Titans are left. Most of the subjects couldn’t survive the trials. Even though a hunter can manage a close-quarter fight against a bat, Titans can fight them like almost regular humans.
Lau: That’s why the brute has that much strength in him…
Url: Miss Nightingale. When I told you Aaron can handle him…I really meant it…
To Danno’s surprise, Aaron powers through and manages to slug him in his tracks before the attack lands, sending him sideways to the floor, while our hunter kneels once again, sword in hand for support.
Danno stands up, spitting out a few teeth that quickly regenerate. Even if the punch was strong enough, only silver and the Lord’s light can kill a vampire…
Danno: I’d always remember those hooks. Swung them left and right without a care in the world…
Aaron: They were going right at you, fuck. Of course, I didn’t care…
They get up and clash once again. Getting the hang of the fight, Aaron manages to dodge some of Danno’s hits and returns the favor with a few slashes of his own. Fist and blade clash, each one looking to kill the other. Danno’s eyes, filled with a rush of anger and excitement, stare at the enraged hunter, once trying to find an opening through his tough guard, and once enjoying the sight of the human he so longs to kill, struggling to gain the advantage of the fight. Aaron’s swings turn more violent, more reckless, as he swings and swings with anguish and hatred, slowly realizing that the entire misadventure of the past week has been the doing of one vampire, and that vampire is right in front of him.
Danno: You think swinging around that lump of silver will do you any good now?!
The vampire steps through some swings and throws a fist flurry up Aaron’s torso. Like jellyfish, the stinging punches irritate Aaron enough to break his stance. Danno wants to pursue an even more violent combo but notices Aaron’s ready fist in case that happens. He instead takes the opportunity to disengage. He sprouts his wings and flies back to the small balcony. Up that compartment, the vampire has stacked away spears, knives, swords, and all kinds of blade weapons, sitting idle for someone to use them…
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Aaron: Get back here, you coward!!!
Danno: Who are you calling a coward?! I’m just giving myself a handicap! I don’t have a weapon like you!!
Danno picks up a knife. The lightning surge starts from his forearms and quickly reaches up to the knife’s edge, vibrating the blade. He strengthens his arm and throws it at the hunter with force.
The dagger flies at high speeds, making a horrid vibrating sound as it grazes Aaron’s skin, but manages to smash a part of the floor once it reaches the ground, leaving only its shards and the floor’s pebbles…
Aaron: What was that!?
Danno: A miss…Remember dodgeball, fuckass?! How about we play it one last time!!
Danno starts throwing every weapon his arm can grab in the same brutal manner. Aaron barely evades the rocket-like projectiles raining from above…
Aaron: Why are these things flying that fast!? And they do way too much damage!!
A knife manages to strike the hunter, piercing through the flesh of his left arm and pushing him back. The hunter writhes in pain…
Danno: Do you like it, Willheart!? My vampiric strength and the force accumulated from the electric surge make these weapons fly like bullets!
Aaron tries to push forward, hoping to close the distance between the vampire and him. But with no means of getting upstairs, the hunter only walks in a hail of railgun knives and swords shredding through his skin.
Danno: I can’t believe it! You are really going to die because you CAN’T get up?!
The vampire laughs at the human’s most pitiful situation. In a struggle for perseverance, Aaron tries to stand straight and not succumb to his injuries. He tries to use one of Url’s stimulants, but Danno’s knife shoots his hand, knocking out the vial and shredding his palm.
Aaron: (That fucking coward!! I have to get to him fast, or he’ll turn me to cheese with those attacks!!)
Aaron takes the opportunity at the vampire’s pause to gloat over his upcoming victory. He desperately looks around for stairs, ladders, faulty pillars, anything to bring down Danno from the height he’s put himself onto.
Aaron: (Think, Aaron, think! Damn, if Url was here, he would have already thought of a plan to bring him down. Lau would dash through the knives like it was nothing. And Suiga would have probably already cut him down before he flew up the balcony…)
Aaron starts sulking. The thought of his comrade’s possible performances starts to weigh down on him as he realizes his current weakness…
Aaron: (Who am I kidding…)
Danno: What’s wrong, Willheart?! Do you think the fight’s over, yet?!
Aaron snaps out of the thought cycle once he hears the crackling sound of a sword being ejected towards him. He barely escapes the impact.
Danno: You are weak, hunter!! You thought I’d be the same weak vampire you picked on!!!
Another sword flies away, and Aaron gets grazed…
Aaron: (I’m not cut out for this…)
Danno: Give up and die, fuckass!!!
Danno throws a whole spear. Aaron barely blocks it, being pushed back further away by the impact…
Aaron: (Why the fuck am I dealing with this, with him…)
Danno: Once I’m finished with you, I’ll go upstairs and kill that plague doctor. I’ll hang his corpse in Barelan with the rest of his disgusting kin.
Another spear flies away, Aaron rolls over but the weapon shreds through his skin once again…
Danno: The noble girl, I’ll skewer her alive with her rapier, and send her sacked up body to the Lecourt scum.
A flurry of knives shoots through Aaron’s limbs as they catch him unexpectedly and leave him grasping on his sword for assistance.
Danno: The samurai…I’ll make Jack turn him into a vampire, and train him to be my guard…
One final spear manages to pierce a recovering Aaron’s leg, locking him in place…
Aaron: (No…now I remember…)
Danno: I don’t know what I’ll do with the weirdo girl…Maybe I’ll make her my dependent wife after I choke her with her own bowstring!
Aaron’s sulking face slowly turns into one of relief. Like he figured out a solution to all his problems all at once…
Danno: Why are you relieved? Never had you for the death accepting one.
Aaron: I accept death when it’s the vampire’s I’m hunting…
Danno starts laughing…
Danno: Seriously!? Do you still think you are going to win?!
Aaron: You are still shit-for-brains if you thought at any point that I’m “losing”.
Danno’s lighting starts going rampant from his rage…
Aaron: (If I avoid the lightning strikes, I can give him a good beatdown… but I have to bring him down if I want to win…)
He grabs the hot spear and manages to rip it out of his leg. The blood gushing out of the wound reflects Aaron’s surge of emotion as he stares up at the sarcastic bat looking down at him…
Aaron: You talk about killing me, but you don’t even have the guts to come stab me yourself. Ever since the prison, even now, you always hide behind others who’ll do the dirty job for you!
Danno: What was that, fuck?!
Aaron: Took me one punch to send you hiding in a balcony, throwing me refined cutlery like some old hag!!
Danno: You’re really going to talk while bleeding your guts out by the second? You got one foot in the grave, Willheart!!
The boy reaches out to the last stimulant in his belt, next to the mysterious syringe handed by Url. The medicine manages to close the wound for the remainder of the fight…
Aaron: I wonder what that killer freak saw in you. Must have thought no better pawn than some whining bat still crying cause a human beat his ass day and night.
Danno: Shut up…
Aaron: And in the end, like master like a student, both of you hide behind your lackeys because you don’t have the balls to come up close to a hunter!
Danno: I almost killed ya’, fuckhead!!
Aaron: And yet I’m still here!! So how about you cut the crap and try to kill me like a true vampire!!?? Show me you really are a noble piece of crap!!!
The bat grabs a spear and sends a constant electrical surge from tip to base. It descends to the ground and attacks the hunter viciously…
Danno: Shut up!! Shut up!! You don’t get to talk, bastard!!!
The words can’t seem to take form. Danno’s irritation has reached its limits. The spear clashes with Aaron’s sword… Sparks fly out and about, and screams of the vampires fill out the room. He violently assaults the hunter with flurries of lightning-fused strikes.
Aaron: You got an upgrade?! I can do that too, fucker!!
The hunter blocks a charging rush from the flying adversary with his sword dipped in the ground. He chants out the prayer, and his sword is infused with the Lord’s grace…
Danno: You think your bastard god is gonna help you against ME?!
Aaron: Don’t need to…
Danno charges the spear with all his might, screaming his guts out trying to push through the sword with the same force he mastered before.
Eisenwald has the secret enchantement, Wolf’s Bane. Famed to be a werewolf as an excuse for his mysterious strength, the first user was able to amass great strength in times of despair. Cleaving a horde of vampires in one sweep, piercing through clusters of imps, the sword was said to grant the power of the beast to its owner for one decisive attack, as a gift for every fool who thought of trying to hold up the giant mass of silver…
Wolf’s Bane gives Aaron the ability to make one enhanced move, stronger and enhanced with the Lord’s holy light. The drawback, other than the occasional prayer for every moveset, is the augmented weight…
Aaron: I just want him to have first-row seat to me beating you…
The hunter’s enchanted sword has enough weight and resilience to withstand the forcing spear’s push. Aaron waits patiently, then pulls the sword out with all of his might. Using the weight, he swings sideways, letting the vampire pass through and fall to a wall.
Aaron: Dumbass.
Danno’s spear rests damaged and stuck to the stone wall. He pulls out the broken edge and holds it like a knife. As he turns around, he watches Aaron swing his sword. A slash of light flies to the vampire, which he barely dodges, slicing clean part of his right wing and arm…
Danno: Damn it!! Glad I have this…
Danno pulls out a severed hand from his jacket. Munching, his limbs sprout back in no time…
The hunter follows with his assault, now slicing left and right with his lighter sword. Danno now tries to dodge, but without the spear, he rests on the defensive. He charges the broken edge. Flapping his winds, he staggers the hunter with the dusty wind and dives for a backstab kill.
Aaron: Wolf’s Bane!!
His broken edge seems to strike Eisenwald once again as the smoke clears. The enchantment falters as it sends the blade back in pieces.
The boy turns around, swinging the greatsword and acrobatically spinning towards Danno. With each acrobatic spin, each swing is ambiguous, managing to find its way to the confused monster’s body and chop off pieces of its flesh and wings.
Aaron: Thank you, Danno,: For reminding me why fucks like you are the reason I carry around this stupid sword!
Danno: Screw you, Willheart!!
Danno charges his fist and hits Aaron, staggering him with electricity and escaping his assault. His wounds recuperate, but the silver has rendered the regeneration slow and faulty, meaning Aaron’s hits have started to bring him closer to victory…
Danno: See Willheart!!? Even that silver isn’t enough to stop a noble!!
Aaron: (He starts falling…But he’s right. As slow as it is, he can fix up his wounds. I don’t have any other stimulants…And his regeneration’s a lot stronger than the other starved bats…)
Danno slowly approaches, clouded by rage and irritation…
Aaron: Guess I’ll have to chop him down with one hit…
Danno’s fists cast out enormous amounts of lightning…Aaron takes out the last syringe and plunges it into his right arm. The limb starts growing, gaining mass, and turning into a vascular, muscular human hand…
Danno: More strength. That’s all you’ll ever amount to, trashcan!! Every trouble you find, you try to punch your way through it!
Aaron: Hey, it’s gotten me this far!!!
Danno’s patience runs dry. Clouded with emotion, he notices the hunter isn’t moving an inch…
Aaron: What?! Afraid to come close!! Go hide on that balcony if you wanna kill me! Like you did with your friends back in the mess hall…
Danno: SHUT UP!!!!!!!
The vampire rushes, flying towards the hunter. Aaron prepares to land a haymaker. The monster halts his dash and touches the ground, sending large amounts of lightning to the young boy. Aaron writhes in pain…
Danno flies again, and lifts Aaron from behind, taking advantage of his opening. The beast flies and smashes the hunter into walls, floors, fences, and thrones out of anger, screaming and screaming…
Danno: I’m not a coward!! I’m not a coward!!! I didn’t hide from you!! I didn’t hide behind them!!! It’s your fault, you bastard!!!
The vampire continues with the assault, finishing on the stone fences of the balcony. He grabs the hunter and lands him on the table. He grabs one remaining knife and charges it with lightning. He trembles as he holds the knife’s edge to the hunter’s beaten throat. Aaron, despite the beatdown, remains calm and powers through the pain…
Danno: What about now?! Huh?! I won! I won! You’ll die, Willheart!! You’ll die!! Who’s stronger than you now!!!? Who’s stronger than-
Suddenly, the vampire’s knife is grappled by an enlarged arm. Too shocked to react, Aaron grabs the knife in the vampire’s confusion and throws it away, then grabs the bat’s throat…
Aaron:…
He slowly gets up, trying to save his remaining strength for the last attack. He pushes Danno back before he tries to stagger him with his virtue again. He takes advantage of the granted strength and swiftly chops away the bat’s hands and wings, while keeping him on his toes with fists and kicks to stop him from regenerating. He then rushes and punches the helpless Danno off the balcony.
As Danno falls, he sees one thing, helpless and unable to dodge. Aaron chants Wolf’s Bane, and jumps after him, preparing to drop down a large swing, backed down by the sword’s weight, the Lord’s grace flowing through the blade, and all the hunter’s might…
Aaron: Wolf’s Bane: White Cleaver!!
The hunter slashes through the vampire, now with enough power to destroy the vampire’s natural defenses and land a clean, fatal hit. The two smash down the stone floor. Smoke clearing up, a barely standing Aaron looks down at a cut, bleeding, dying Danno, who struggles to regenerate the left part of his body…
Danno: No…not like this…
Aaron: It wasn’t going to be any prettier, freak…You deserve even worse…
He pulls out the blade, blood gushing out the vampire’s wound. The halt of his regeneration means that the hit has landed fatal damage…
Danno: I let you win…Fuckass…
Aaron: Shut up!! Shut up!! Even in your last minutes, you still wanna talk smack with me!!?? You don’t deserve to win, Danno!!
Aaron’s face turns red, and the veins on his forehead pop out as he pushes out screams in the bat’s bloody face. The vampire’s innate superiority complex is the driving point behind a hunter’s disdain for the species…
Aaron: You think I wanted to be your day guard, Danno?! You think I wanted to be stuck every day of my life, looking out for knives in my back?! For teeth on my neck!!?? You think my dream was to rush through a shitty sewer, to worry about a bunch of asshats I just met??!!
The vampire remains silent, though his angry disagreement is well noticed. An aristocrat’s body is much more durable, so he’s forced to listen through the hunter’s rant as his body waits to be put out like cattle on celebration days…
Aaron: But it’s you…I hated every second of Salazar, I hate that Shroud put me in charge of a bunch of nutsacks, I hate this sword, I hate this job, I hate this life!!! But there’s nothing more I hate most than shitty vampires like you!! And if all these help me kill every one of you, then I’ll gladly suffer!!!
Danno: You miserable fuck!! The Ripper will come for you!!! Do you think he’ll let this slide!!! Just try to stop him!! I dare you!!! Vampires will win in the end, hunter!!! You human fucks will kneel to the-
Aaron starts pummeling Eisenwald’s tip inside Danno’s half-dead body dozens of times, slowly gushing out his rage as he screams and screams over the vampire’s pleas for help…Blood covers Eisenwald and spills onto the boy’s face. He stares down at his creation, a bloody, diced, and chopped vampire corpse, innard remains flowing out with the blood and fluids down the rumble…
Aaron: Hah…Hah…I’ll suffer, so no other kid ever will…
He tries to wipe off the blood, but his clothes are soaked and dirty enough to add more to his rough texture. The vampire’s lifeless, mangled body looks up at the dusty ceiling. The crimson eye that would project his burning hatred on the hunter now rests emotionless. His vascular, red arm starts to falter, and the surges of lightning turn weaker and weaker as whatever twisted soul was hosting the bat’s body dissipates…
Aaron stares at his enlarged arm. Faltering all the same, he struggles to move it around…
Aaron: (Url’s steroid blasts. Last time I used them, my hand almost burst from the transformation. Still, he’s gonna be pissed my arm’s like this.)
As soon as his comrade’s name comes up, he flashes on his breakdown during the fight. The hate and disdain of his life as a hunter runs through his mind, Shroud putting him through hell, vampires chasing him, his heavy sword weighing him down with every swing, his comrade’s shortcomings, all of it. Just before he breaks down once again, before shouts escape his busted lips, his comrades flash before his eyes…
Cassandra calling him bossman and offering to help him find his teammates.
Lau teasing him during their meetings
Url serving him breakfast, laughing through his dirty, ominous mask…
Suiga comforting him before Wutsworth…
A scene then plays out in his head. After his final day in Salazar, Shroud takes him out of the prison. Tired, right after finally laying waste upon his tormentors, he barely walks. Instead, he sluggishly moves forward while looking down the bridge’s stone floor. Eyes full open and bloodshot. Shroud notices this and picks the kid up. For the hulking Titan, lifting a 17-year-old like a burlap sack is no hard feat…He continues to walk, and the boy starts drifting off as his body realizes no other movement is longer needed…
Shroud: Proud of ya’, kid. I told ya ya’d manage…
His eyes drop a few tears. He wipes them off, again soiling his face with vampire blood.
Aaron: (Heh…Like I’d feel that sa-)
A sudden, brief, painful sting on the hunter’s nape shocks him. Vision blurs fast, his hasty thoughts silence themselves as he falls. His ears being the last instrument to fall, he hears hasty footsteps coming from the entrance to the room…The drawbacks of excess use of the Lord’s Grace in a fight…
Aaron rests on the ground, next to the rotting vampire corpse…