While the three fronts were taken care of, Aaron and Suiga strolled around the corridor, awaiting the vampire charged with bringing home the strange black chest peacefully gathering dust on its podium inside the bank. Fiddling with the artifacts in display...
Aaron: Suiga?
Suiga: Yes, chief?
Aaron: It’s not chief, and I was wondering...
Suiga: You were wondering, yes...
Aaron: The plan was to bait a vampire inside right?
Suiga: I believe so, yes.
Aaron: Thus to do that, one would need a so-called “bait”, right?
Suiga: I agree wholeheartedly.
Aaron: So, did, by any chance, our seniors tell us HOW EXACTLY ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BRING A BAT INSIDE THE DAMN BANK??!!!
Throwing artifacts around, he screams and huffs while Suiga tries to clean up the mess of his wake...
Suiga: Ugh, I was in thought about this too. We can’t really bait anyone while we’re stuck in here.
Aaron: And going outside would leave the corridor empty, and let a bat slip away...
Suiga: Thus, we await...
Aaron: I’ll die of boredom. Or hunger. Or both.
Suiga: Now that we brought this to the table, I do have some provisions in my bag...
Aaron: Does a rotisserie chicken happen to be somewhere along those provisions?
Suiga: Chief, I can’t decide if your preference for that food stems from addiction or lack of diversity in taste buds.
Aaron: You can say that all you want, but I remember two assholes last night finishing the last four in the pantry.
Suiga: Lady Cassandra sure does have an appetite...
Aaron: And what are these provisions you’ve brought?
With a small beat in his steps, he goes and brings his leather bag. Opening wide, he reveals a vast assortissement of foods, from rice balls to crackers, to condiments and garlic bread...
The hungry Landenian rests dumb-founded with his partner’s innovation...
Aaron: The hell is this?! That’s 2 times our pantry!!
Suiga: I go to the market after all of our morning runs!!
As his eyes wandered along the food-colored universe of Suiga’s bag, one detail did not leave him indifferent. Small rotisserie chicken wings, nicely cooked, golden brown, and perfectly packed away so that the hunter’s drools don’t reach their skin...
Suiga: Everything alright?
Aaron: Where the hell did you find that...
Suiga: Just next to the rotisserie chicken?
Aaron: So you do admit you like it?
Suiga: Well it’s not my favorite food, but I don’t deny its satisfactory taste-
Aaron: Satisfactory?! Juicy, tender, and enriched by the mixture of spices and condiments that bring about the golden coloring of its chewy skin!!
Suiga: Chief, your vocabulary has enrichened all of a sudden.
Aaron: It is divine!! How are your crackers and pig roasts better than that!!?
Suiga: I just happen to find more love in pork!!
Aaron: Well, I devour a pig roast too, but come on!!
Suiga: Pig roast burger is the epitome of culinary perfection, I stand by it!!
Aaron: Oh, you really-
Bursting from a nearby window, flew two individuals. Spreading their wings, they glided slowly through the falling debris and onto the marble floor.
As the soles of their boots crushed the glass, Aaron and Suiga quickly had their hands ready to draw.
One of the vampires, dressed in a tight black overshirt and a white button shirt, well stuck onto his defined physique. The buttons were all the way gold, until the engraved button of his purple small cape. With a leather jean and boots to fill out the ensemble, his hair was a slightly red, spiky, and slick back. Unlike other vampires, his teeth were well-shown outside his upper lip...
Vampire: Will you shut up??!!! You make me wanna pull my ears off !!!
He screamed with the most brutish, cackling voice the boys have heard yet. Young looking, yet the mannerisms of a 45-year-old man, scratching his back and belly and picking his teeth while talking…
Vampire: Name’s Cain! Now where’s the thing?
Aaron: The what?
Cain: The black chest thingy that holds-
His partner, a vampire with slick grey hair, dressed like some sort of forest adventurer, with brown leather armor and a dark green cape, pulled out a sword from his hilt and smacked him on the head with its handle.
Vampire: Don’t go revealing our secrets, numbskull
Cain: Oy, Klaus! Who asked you to talk !?
Klaus: Will you please withdraw from opening your mouth like that before you start talking? It’s wildly disgusting.
Cain: Like I give a shit! Wait, you just told me not to talk ever!!
Klaus: Shits are the only thing you give…
Cain: What wassat?
Two kunai coming their way, each intended for one. Klaus quickly blocked with his sword while Cain let it stick to his forearm, then pulled it out like a toothpick…
Suiga: Guess I got their attention…
Klaus: What my partner would like to know, as do I, is where our property is being hidden away.
Aaron: Your property?
Klaus: Yes, I believe your livestock kin is more than familiar with that term, right? Now, just let us inside, we’ll grab the chest and be on our way.
Aaron looked at Suiga quickly. Both saw this as their chance.
Aaron: Aren't you going to kill us?
Cain: Aren’t we?
Klaus: No! Cain…Master told us to be quick about this, remember?
Cain: You’ve talked to him, lately? You think the Ripper would ever agree to letting a human go?
Klaus: I don’t care. Now, can we avoid any useless fights and just grab that thing and leave?
Suiga: What do you think chief?
Aaron: Hmm…Tell us what’s inside that chest.
Cain : Huh ? No way !!
Klaus : That’s absurd ?
Suiga : You said the Ripper was your master. He’s been causing havoc for the past few weeks so that chest must be pretty important to him. What’s inside ?
Cain : Let’s just tell’em, like they’d know anything about it !
Klaus : Hmm…Alright, then.
Shocked by how well this stupid plan was working out, the boys spread their ears to listen in…
Klaus : It’s Ripper’s last family heirloom. A pair of glasses. You probably know how important trinkets are to the vampiric race…
The two ponder at the chances that the last weeks of chaos were in the name of a simple trinket…
Klaus : So, please. Enough useless blood was splattered. We’re tired too. Can we just grab this and go ?
Aaron : Hmm…Alright, follow us.
Suiga : Leader !!!
Aaron : Come on, he’s right ! Do you really want us to risk our lives here while the bosses are out drinking ?! Let’s just give him the chest. Worst case we get suspended !
Suiga :….
Aaron : Stop playing the nice boy and live a little !!
Suiga : Hah…Fine.
Aaron signals the two to follow him. With their back turned the two boys reach for the first door leading to the stairs down…
Inside the silence of the corridor, with only their own footsteps to hear, the boys suddenly turned around. Aaron drew his sword and blocked the two vampires flying towards them leg first’, ready to pounce on the hunters with all they’ve got…
Aaron : Shit, these two are strong, huh ?
Backing, they dusted off their clothes and prepared for another strike…
Aaron : Like I’ll ever hear a vampire letting humans go.
Klaus : That was the most disgusting 5 minutes of conversation I ever had to play out…
Aaron : Well, that acting left a lot to be desired.
Suiga : Aren’t you here for a chest ? What will our own lives help you achieve ?
Klaus held his silence. Cain started to point and laugh with one hand caressing his tight abdomen, at his opponents, despite their confused looks…
Cain : Fuck ! Didn’t you hear us? The Ripper’s disciples !!!
Have your lightning ray through my veins!!!
Surges of velvet purple lightning ran their courses throughout his forearms, which took a veiny, muscular form with the same color skin. The gushing blood from the bite wounds stopped dropping to the ground and traveled on his flesh, darkening more and more as it formed into a malevolent tattoo…
Suiga : Aaron, that’s-
Aaron: Yeah…I did not expect that…
Claus only drew his sword with his right, uncovered hand, a light, long greatsword with a dark gold hilt resembling some sort of church shotel…
Klaus : Do me a huge favor, don’t mess this place up.
Cain : Why do you care?!
Aaron: Guess we can’t wait on that fight, now can we?
Suiga : Bring it on, bats! I’ve got a new katana brought in just for this occasion-
Suiga tried to draw out a nodachi brought in from the VHC’s personal forge, now armed with the Wutsworth leftover machinery. The katana he ordered, along with Beryl’s charismatic negotiations and Luca’s insightful tips was tailored to adapt to Suiga’s precise, strict swordsmanship, preferring patient, strategic parrying and precise, firm counterstrikes, the results of training under the Akira elder ways with the sword…
Cain:…I’m not a judge of blades, but isn’t there supposed to be a blade attached to that hilt?
The beautiful, long nodachi, made to give our hero access to his usual old battle style, was nowhere to be seen. The lightness of the draw and the absence of the silver armament in the clear air reminded Suiga of his sparring with Luca before this predicament, especially those moments where the sword dancer’s movements would be too fast for the samurai to witness with a naked eye and his refined reflexes…
Suiga: That tea-drinking assh-
Aaron: Stand back!!!
Time slowed down for Aaron bringing his enhanced glowing Eisenwald in front of the two foes lunging themselves onto them. Suiga tried to follow, forced to draw out the black katana.
Cain : I’m gonna make this more interesting!!!
Smashing the marble floor with his lightning fists, the hunters fell down with a rumble to the second floor, while the vampires glided down peacefully. Suiga’s dexterity allowed him to jump off some of the rubble and finely tumble down the ground with neglecting damage, while Aaron just landed down with his knee on the ground and Eisenwald smashing the floor.
The second floor was less long, yet much more wide, a somber square room with only a few wall chandeliers spewing out flames of purple, held by gargoyles, to light the space, that and the large manhole Cain chose to make. Other than that, the room looked a lot like the West District after Tragoedia’s visit, minus the blood and gore of tens of victims…
Aaron dusted off his clothes as he stood up, greatsword in hand, spinning it around like a sack of potatoes…
Aaron: Suiga, how do we play this?
Suiga: I believe you want to have a chat with that Danno copycat?
Aaron: You sure read my mind.
Suiga: I’ll hold off the other for you.
Klaus: Seems they are going for a divide and conquer. Cain, we should probably stick together and-
Cain: Screw you!!! Let’s fucking do this!!!!
The hot-headed youth ran to his clash with Aaron’s blade while Claus rested disappointed, although not for long, with Suiga at his tail.
Aaron waved his sword around, while Cain dodged and escaped the heavy strikes of Eisenwald. One lucky sidestep and Cain stopped the weapon in its tracks with his two palms, not without difficulty though…
Cain: You like my trap, now?
Before Cain followed his original source and coursed his electric current to Aaron through the blade, the hunter pushed his sword forward…
Aaron : Wolf’s Bane : White Pounce!!
Even if Cain’s reflexes let him backstep and avoid the sword’s edge, the following wave of piercing light was fast enough to hit him and strong enough to knock him back screaming in pain…
Aaron rushed to continue his assault with a downward slash, but the vampire spread its wings and rolled sideways, then floated in mid-air.
Aaron : (I’ll activate Wolf’s bane and throw a slash at him-)
Cain: Thunder Bullet!!!
Clapping his velvet, veiny palms, a small condensed orb of lightning formed and flew out of the tip of his conjoined fingers pointing at the hunter. Aaron’s shoulder was hit and the resulting pain from it was enough of a window for Cain to dive in and land of a few knockback hits on the hunter, punches, and a finishing kick…
The boy stood his ground and used his sword to halt the pushback, like always. But something was different…
Aaron: (The fuck!! That lightning’s 4-no-5 times stronger than Danno’s!!!)
Cain stepped on the floor, wings still flapping away, and clapped at the hunter’s efforts, each clap stroking out a cluster of thunder…
Cain: Congrats! Never seen a rookie silverhead stand up after my punches, like this!
Aaron: I had my fair share of thunder up my flesh…
The vampire’s crimson eyes squinted at his last remark…Cain’s brain seemed rather slow, but it was well developed to start putting the dots together…
Aaron: Hey, tell me! You know a bat named Danno?
Cain: You are kidding me; you are the one who killed him?!
Aaron: Lemme guess, you’re the big brother who’s out for blood, huh?
A fair statement, a fair reasoning. Yet, Cain did not express an ounce of anger…
Cain: Out for what? For that little piece of shit?! I’d rather eat goat shit!
Talking it out with a vampire is a classic. Playing on their superiority complex, their arrogant nature, and the resulting conviction that fights do not require any ounce of concentration or even effort, so why not hear out what the livestock can spew with its mouth. Hunters would do that to recuperate and think of their next tactic…
Cain : Like that fourth-rate noble would be my brother. He was some uncle’s far-forgotten seed, sprouted on the wrong side of history.
Aaron: You sure are a good relative.
Cain: Danno was a prick. Almost makes me puke that I share Virtue with that dead vampire…But still...
Velvet purple and meaty as a bull’s legs, his forearms would have volts of lightning gush out of his skin while he put his arms in a fighting stance...
Cain: Whoever killed him must be worth the fight!!
Aaron: Then you don’t really value those breaths of yours...
To the other side of the room, Suiga has drawn out the ominous blade, while Klaus’s remains sheathed...
Opposite to their hot-headed partners, they hadn’t initiated further contact yet. They instead chose to stare each other down, waiting for one side to commit the grave mistake of starting the fight...
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Suiga: Awfully calm, aren’t you?
Klaus : Disappointed at my partner’s bloodlust...I was hoping to avoid bloodshed today...
Suiga: The moment you stepped inside the building, you dug your own grave. The only blood that will be spilled in these halls, is yours.
Klaus: God, you’re hopeless...
The calm vampire draws out his long, thick blade, and dashes to the samurai.
While Suiga could manage to stand his ground, the bat’s swordsmanship took him by surprise. Even better than the vampires claiming to be sons of swordsmen hailed by the world, Klaus actually had skill with the sword, surpassing even Danno’s subordinate.
The vampire had a strange combination of elegant, peaceful strikes, waiving the sword around with his right hand, while keeping the rest of his body at a distance. If he found an opening, he would calmly dash in the rhythm of his strike, using the weight of his moving body to attack and position himself at the same time.
Thanks to that flexibility, the samurai could not rely on his parrying to land a hit. Suiga would try to take advantage of those opportunistic dashes, trying to back sideways to then slash away on Klau’s exposed back, but the vampire proved fast enough to catch up to him.
One try ended in Klaus timing his sword block to parry Suiga’s heavy hit, staggering him long enough for the bat to dash and pierce the samurai’s shoulder with all of his might, then slide out his sword, spin and kick away Suiga in a spontaneous combination of strikes...
Suiga got up quickly, rolling away from Klau’s attempt to plunge his blade into his torso.
Then, calling out flames, he sent a wobbling whirlwind slash that failed to hit the vampire at all, but gave the boy enough time to rebound into a defensive stance again...
Klaus : Blight...
Suiga was distraught. Klaus was definitely trained, and probably had enough experience to incorporate foreign movements to his style.
Klaus chose to retaliate. He chased the hunter around, waiving around the shotel-like blade like an adventurer, cutting away the leaves in his path with a machete in search of the hidden temple.
The blade was long, yet just thick enough to have Suiga going for dodges instead of blocking. One hit was enough for him to get a grasp of the blade’s weight and potential damage...
Klaus would waive the sword around, yet even those risky slashes would be coordinated. Suiga saw a lot of openings. Open armpits in his upward slashes, exposed back after every push, and legs in the open after a jump.
Suiga: He’s baiting me.
Yet the samurai had not lost his reason just yet. Enough lessons in swordsmanship helped him discover the opponent’s attempt at drawing him in. One attempt to attack through, and Suiga would be receiving beatings worse than the one before...
As his shoulder was bleeding, Suiga thought to himself. About the vampire before him, the exact opposite of its partner, whose strikes couldn’t have been less instinctive, bound by force and luck...
Cain : Shock Jab!
A fist full of lighting landed on the greatsword’s blade.
Cain: Shock Cross!
A harder fist full of lightning landed on the blade.
Cain : Shock Haymaker!
An even harder fist full of-
Aaron: For God’s sake, stop naming everything!!!
Aaron struggled through the shock of each hit, and brought Eisenwald down on the vampire, only to hit the stone floor as his foe sidestepped and hit him more than twice before retreating...
Suiga : Maybe if I help Aaron...
Klaus: You won’t be doing that, now...
Engaging him once again, Klaus became slightly more aggressive, barely letting the boy breathe between clashes of their swords...Suiga ate some of the shotel blade hits, slowly faltering...
Klaus : Good, I can finally finish this...
Bringing down his blade on the samurai, Suiga grit his teeth, grabbed the blade as hard as possible, calling out the maximum amount of fire he could at the moment, and blocked the sword strike while his wound bled out...
Then, between the vampire’s stagger, he spun around, and dashed aside, while slashing the vampire with his flaming blade, ripping at his torso...
He tried to follow with another slash at his back, but his wounds stopped him and let Klaus retreat...
The vampire squinted his eyes while the flames ate at his flesh...Dipping his sword down the ground, he grabbed human remains out of his pocket. His flaming wounds drifted away as he munched on the fingers and eyes...
Suiga: Disgusting.
Klaus: Look who’s talking...Waiving my own kin right in my face…
Suiga: Then look who’s talking…
Cain took a peak at the samurai’s flames growing stronger...
Cain: Hah!! Now there’s something worth fighting!!
As the vampire tried to lunge, Aaron grabbed his forearm and held it tight. Cain tried to shock him, but Aaron remained unfazed by his attempt...
Cain : Huh?!
Aaron: I’ve been fighting lightning freaks for too long...
Pulling him, he brought the vampire’s carcass down to the ground, then dipped Eisenwald with force on his leg...
Aaron : Matter of time before I become thunder resistant...
Cain: Danno lost to you, huh...
Preparing another Thunder Bullet, he brought his palms and fingers together as more and more lightning coursed from his forearms to the tip of his fingers.
Aaron : Nice try, fuck.
Cain: Not what you’d think!!
He opened his palms, and instead of a bullet, came out a current of lightning as large as a small man. Aaron quickly chanted the sacred words and blocked the strike, but its sheer force was enough to send him back...
Cain floated up and stared as the hunter picked up Eisenwald and came at him again...
Cain: I’m insulted, really.
Aaron: Don’t care.
Aaron rushed and hacked away in all directions, with his greatsword smashing the air while chasing the fleeing vampire’s flesh with hunger...
Cain : You can’t mean you took out Danno while fighting like this!
Aaron : If it’s enough to kill you, I’m just fine!
Cain : You’re a wuss!!!
He toyed with Aaron’s slashes, barely taking them seriously, all the while beating him with his fists full of thunder...
Cain : You haven’t really come at me, now, have ya? That’s not how you killed Danno. And that brat didn’t even deserve your best.
He flew over Aaron, grabbed his fists together and smashed him in the head.
Cain : So come on!! I dare ya!! Come at me like you mean it!!!
Aaron : You fuck...
Cain: You are gonna die if you don’t, you know...Your partner ain’t gonna save ya this time...
Aaron: I don’t...need him...to get you.
Cain: Huh? Can’t hear ya, through the crying-
Aaron gritted his teeth and turned around, sending a white light slash towards Cain as he scratched the floor and raised his sword in the air along with rubble and dust…
Cain: The hell is this? Did ya’ run outta fuel that quick-
The attack was weak, but the resulting dust was enough to cover Aaron’s movements. Cain knew where it was coming from, hearing steps and vibrations in the air, but yet he couldn’t avoid the flying greatsword stabbing his shoulder and pinning him to the nearest wall…
He tried to pull out the humongous blade off his shoulder, to no avail, because the hunter had already approached and plunged it further inside his flesh. And the more he struggled, the more he grew wary of the hunter’s hidden strength. He tried to shock him, but the brat powered through the forceful sparks.
He held the bat in place by punching his head violently against the wall before he could rip himself out of the sword. Klaus could hear the stone walls crumbling from the impacts, but could bear no attention to the fight, as Suiga’s sword had grown in strength and could rival his blade…
Aaron : Now, what the hell’s inside that chest?!
Cain: Phht! Screw ya!!
Aaron: You want more, asshole?!! It’s not like you are getting out of here alive, might as well start spitting it out!!
Klaus : Don’t say a word-
Suiga : Keep your eyes on me!!!
Suiga finally parried the bat and slashed his belly in retaliation.
Cain: Go suck a cock , assface!! I ain’t spitting anything!!
Aaron wailed on him again and again…
Aaron : You know, I killed Danno the same way I have you right now. Do you wanna meet the same fate as that loser?
Cain couldn’t budge an inch, but wouldn’t stop resisting against the hunter’s hold. The fists weren’t enough to destroy his skin, but the sheer force behind the blows was more than enough to keep him immobilized. He slowly pushed his palms against the floor, sacrificing moments of pain from the blade’s edge entering the flesh. With all his might, he let floods of lightning run through the floor…
Cain : I’m not weak, fuckface !!!
The hunter’s hate was large, yet not enough to dull his reflexes. Pulling out the great sword, he jumped up and backward before the vampire blasted the whole area, only escaping with a few scratches…
Cain on the other hand, slowly regenerated from his own suicidal escape attempt, while twitching from the volts of electric aura damaging his body…
Aaron : You need a minute ?
Cain : To rip out your guts ?! Less !
Cain chased the vampire hunter, finally engaging in an equal exchange of slashes and pounds, with Aaron waiving around Eisenwald while sidestepping around Cain ‘s flailing thunder punches…
Klaus’s unpredictable combinations could not break through the samurai anymore. He started defending himself, with every cinder grazing his eye, also tensing his muscles and drawing out his fear…
Klaus : To use blight against me…what sort of weak hunter are you?
Suiga: Watch the fight, freak!! I’m not as weak as you claim!!
Noticing Suiga’s left was open, he spun his sword around and prepared to crouch and dash to him with a horizontal slash. Last minute, he sprouted his wings and gained momentum, almost blinking away from the samurai’s vision…
He slashed, aiming to devastate the boy’s ribs and then continue assaulting him, he thought to himself.
But Suiga would not bat an eye. Not a reaction to his assailant, he brushed him aside at the last minute, as if he knew what the vampire would do, and rushed to his teammate’s aide.
Cain was too focused on the fight, waiving his thunder fists as fast and as hard as possible on the hunter. Hooks, crosses, haymakers, combined with an enormous amount of sudden, mid-air body twists and somersaults to evade the greatsword’s humongous blade and give an oompf of strength behind his strikes…
All this time, he would look right down Aaron’s eyes, fixating on the silver pupils staring down his own…
Enough to not notice Suiga bringing in his own, large, flaming sword from the left. The samurai ground the sharp tip of his blade on the ground while moving towards the floating Cain, as Klaus was still behind …
The more the tip ground on the stone floor, the sparks would mix with the hellish cinders, and create a chaotic, fire cloud engulfing the sword and almost Suiga himself…
Suiga : “Berserker Uproar!!”
Once close, he screamed at Aaron to back off, formalities off the table, and send off from the weapon a fiery hell, a demon jumping upwards like a fish, opening its horned mouth for the upcoming feast, and towards the unsuspecting vampire, devouring him whole, sending him off the air and into a nearby wall to burn…
The flames would spread farther away, hitting even Aaron…
Aaron: Damn it Suiga, watch it!!
Suiga: We got ‘im!! Keep attacking!!!
Aaron : (So that’s the blight…)
Aaron would look over his teammate while the burns would eat away at his flesh. The Suiga before would have prostrated, even demanded suicide. But the sword was slowly sealing those actions away the more its flames would feast upon flesh, vampire or human…
Suiga kept on attacking. The fire was strong, but not enough to have Cain kneel just yet. He soldiered through and changed his target to the samurai…Suiga accepted the challenge with no hesitation, slashing away while the sword emitted black and red fire in its wake to contrast Cain’s velvet thunder….
Aaron’s burns subsided. To the corner of his eye, he noticed Klaus approaching Suiga, who just as his opponent, barely noticed the vampire ready to backstab him and end the fight. He rushed in, pushed Suiga and slammed his sword to the ground, parrying Klau’s strike.
Unfortunately, that move had its repercussions, as Suiga halted his combo and left both the boys open for Cain to send two bullets their way, stunning them and letting him and Klaus give them a combined beatdown of punches, kicks and sword slashes…
The prince bit his lip and tried to rush in again, only for Aaron to stop him in his tracks.
Aaron: The hell are you doing?!
Suiga: Tchk! Leave me!! Don’t wear me down!!
Suiga tried to move, but Aaron’s hand on his shoulder was more than enough to put him in place, at least physically…
Aaron: I thought I said no suicides on my watch.
Suiga: I said beat it!!
Pound!!! Aaron’s fist ran through his jaw like butter before he could finish his insult. Sword or not, Suiga suddenly came back to some of his senses…
Aaron: Watch it, prince. Don’t make me kill two bats and a jackass today…
Suiga :...Aaron...
The two bats fly around them like vultures in the desert…
Suiga touched his cheek, red and swelling from the impact…
Aaron: Suiga, keep your wits, they still ain’t down-
Aaron’s rough body was sliced from torso to collarbone, by a sudden black lash that sent him back and rolling on the floor. He tried to get up, and wasted a healing syringe to prevent the aftermath of the black flames…
As he struggled with the needle piercing his skin, his squinty eyes witnessed Suiga’s sword, like a painting from the old times, with the old stone walls and the prince’s traditional attire, almost engulfing him in a hellish fire.
The vampires dared not approach just yet. They only chose to look as Suiga would stare around in the unknown, his pupils running up and down, right and left…
Klaus: Cain, don’t try and-
Cain: I ain’t that stupid, Klaus! Brat’s blighted…
Klaus: We might have to evacuate…
Cain: What?! Are you kidding me?! This is our chance!
Klaus: Are you nuts?-
Cain: Do you trust me?!
Klaus would grit his teeth to hold back his anger towards Cain…but that moment of withdrawal was enough to have him convinced of Cain’s stubborn decision…
Klaus: Tchk! What do you want!?
Cain: You saw that brat can’t move good when his sword gets all flame-like!! Find an opening, strike him with all we got, then kill the Titan while he’s down!!!
Klaus:…You first.
Cain smiled. Pounding his fists, thunder gushed out of his forearms. He rushed to go fight the brat before he managed to take ahold of his sword…
Suiga : (Stop…I didn’t want to do that…Aaron I’m sorry…Stop…Stop, please stop…)
All the noise in the world was shut away. Suiga could only hear the raging cinders burning around him…And between those sparks, small screeches could be made out, if listened carefully without any other distraction.
Small, distinct screeches, of women, men, children, cats and dogs, as if they were being tortured, boiled in the deepest, hottest cauldrons of Hell. A choir of suffering, hidden between the flames of the Arsonist bat…
The more Suiga listened, the more the monstrous fire would start taking the forms of those people…running, falling, dispersing into nothingness and restarting that cycle over and over, as the flames grew stronger, the screeches grew louder, and Cain’s lightning fists approached him…
The bat’s attack prepared to land, and one last voice could be heard, rising from a faint whisper to an alerting siren…
Aaron: Suiga, get the hell out of there!!!
The samurai’s eyes dilated. Snapping out of the cycle, he backstepped away from the hit. Then, without an ounce of technique, simply as if he was saluting a friend from afar, like a morning stretch, he raised the sword towards the two vampires…
Along with it, a ravaging wall of flames rose from the ground and engulfed parts of the room, hitting rubble, smashing lanterns and pictures, and hitting the vampires as they obliged to dodge away…
Aaron rolled over, and struggled through as he chased Suiga…
Aaron: (I have to calm him down, or he’ll kill us along with them!!)
Suiga : Get back here, you dog.
Suiga gave pursuit, attacking both Cain and Klaus. The two tried to overcome his assaults, but the enlarged hellfire proved too much of a blockade and a dangerous risk for both. Even Suiga couldn’t see where he was attacking…
Not that he cared…Inside his head, Cain and Klau’s heads floated, bleeding from below along with the rest of their burned, cut limbs…
Cain: You think that torch you got is all ya gonna need?!
That comment backfired, as Cain’s hands were the first to be touched by the blade’s wrath. Cain screamed in pain…
Klaus: Watch it, you dumb-
His words halted, as he crossed swords with the samurai when the latter grabbed his weapon with both hands and tried to bring it down the vampire with all of his might…
Klaus looked into his eyes, void of any thought or reason, other than the growing feeling of hate…
Klaus: That’s the Arsonist’s blaze, then…
Suiga: You called me weak…but your head is all I see rolling down the floor…
Klaus spread his wings, despite the fact they caught fire from the surrounding hell. He fell flat to the ground, bringing Suiga off balance, then kicked him to the belly and up in the air…
Klaus : Cain, now!!
The other bat grabbed the samurai and dunked him to the ground. He started whaling on him, while his partner tried to recover from his wounds…
Cain: Huh?! How you like that!!? Can’t burn us now, can we?!
He punched and punched, hurting Suiga before he could even act. But the blade would only grow bigger and bigger…
Cain: Wanna know something nice about this?! That flame belonged to a nasty bat, Kunishiro!! And just like you, he burned! He’d burn men, women, even his own if it meant getting what he wanted!!! Your country wouldn’t be here if that hunter hadn’t done ‘im in!!!
Cain grabbed his fists together and prepared to smash the poor samurai’s face into smithereens!!
Cain : He was a ruthless bastard!!! And you carrying that sword doesn’t make you any better!!! So you can just go and die!!!
The two fists broke up before the attack could even land. Aaron’s charging fist smashed the bat’s face and sent him backward…
Klaus lifted his partner , and then rushed to attack the hunter, but the difference in their sword’s weight and size was too big. Klaus would jump around, trying to slice the hunter where the sword couldn’t find its way, but his proficiency with that slump of silver was enough for him to block most of the strikes, then cut his left arm with an upward slash when Klaus tried to grab ahold of the boy’s cloak and maneuver his way closer to the chest…
The bat flew back to his partner. Aaron helped his teammate up…
Suiga would not utter a word, no matter how Aaron looked at him…Except for a few words…
Suiga: Weak…the flames…I can’t beat them…
Aaron slapped his teammate…Then grabbed him by the shirt and brought their foreheads together…
Aaron: You remember what Beryl said?! You remember those words right!? Is “weak and can’t beat them” what you’re gonna say to him when all of this is over!!? Hah!?
Suiga’s flames would slowly calm…Clapping of the palms was heard from across the room…
Cain : Nice sob story, but tell me, Willheart! When are ya’ really gonna ditch the weakling!!?
Aaron:…What?
The vampire walked but did not approach… Cain was stubborn, but he knew better than to take both a Titan’s fist and Kunishiro’s flames head-on together…
Cain: He’s weak. Those flames are all his got, and he can’t even keep those in check! He almost did the job for us and did you in!
Aaron:…
Cain : I’d kill this shit in a second if he ever kept me back! Hell, I’d even kill my master, my father, anyone who’d had the balls for brains to stand in my way! You are good, Willheart! You don’t wanna show it, but you got a killer in ya’! So, shove a knife down that corpse’s throat, and let’s finish up our match like man and livestock!!
Aaron looked over his opponent, his elated, smug smile, his rubbing palms, his charred scars and cuts still feeding Suiga’s blade with power…
Aaron : You said you ain’t like Danno. Yet you have one good thing in common
Cain : Huh?
Aaron: I hate you both.
The boy searched in his pockets, grabbed one last syringe, and shoved it down Suiga’s flesh, slowly healing a chunk of his injuries…
Aaron : I didn’t ask for this guy, I admit it. But he’s been having my back ever since he stepped out of that train. He, and the rest of the assholes I have to look out for…
He raised his great sword and pointed it toward the two bats…
Aaron: Unlike blood-sucking freaks, I don’t throw my comrades down the trashcan!!
Klaus: My heart almost puked. Let’s finish them off, before Kunishiro’s spawn starts burning the room again!!
Cain: Right behind you on that!!!
The vampires rushed at high speed. Just as they attempted to plunge their claws down the hunter’s flesh, a spiral of flames rose from the stone floor to crisp their already burnt limbs…
They backed off in caution, as they saw the samurai spinning his heavy katana and taking his usual fighting stance, protecting his partner…
Suiga: You saved me once again…I AM weak…
Aaron : And I’ll keep doing it…unless you keep calling yourself that, where then I’ll just let that sword eat you alive…
Suiga: And about that trashcan thing, Lecourt wouldn’t agree that much…
Aaron : Well, the shrimp ain’t here, now, is she?
Klaus: Fuck. The burns won’t heal…
Cain : Let’s just wait it out, he’ll go berserk again!
Suiga: I don’t plan on doing that. Your heads rolling down the floor as you fail is a memory that’ll I cherish…
Klaus: Hunters like you…God I hate them…
Suiga: Hmm…
Klaus: Righteous, glorified, self-called heroes…You think cutting down vampires will ever make up for that abomination in your right arm? You think killing us makes you some warrior of justice?
Suiga : No.
The bat was thrown off, awaiting a vicious “yes”, rather than a bizarre agreement to his own statement. Aaron was confused too, but chose to listen out to his comrade…
Suiga : No, cutting down vampires won’t make up for the danger I put myself, and so many others, including my own teammates, and neither will it make me some sort of hero. But that’s not what I’m doing.
He spun his sword again, twisting the flames around and then pointing it at the bats…
Suiga: Killing freaks who want to hurt my own kin, that’s what I’m doing, and that’s what makes me a hunter. I don’t hunt vampires because I want to. I hunt them because I have to. And if Kunishiro’s flames help me, then I don’t mind being called a ruthless monster.
Klaus gritted his sharpened teeth while clenching the hilt of his sword as hard as his inhumane body let him…
Klaus: Cain…When we are done with them, leave the blight guy to me…
Cain: Fine, I’ll skin the Titan and make his hide my punching bag!!
Aaron: Bold words from two bats that had their asses handed by a blight torch and a muscle ball…
Suiga: The fight isn’t over, but it’s about to be.
Klaus: On that account, you are right, blighted…
A faint, ringing, constant noise hit both the hunters before they could even move an inch, let alone realize what was happening. With blood gushing out of their back as a hand ripped apart their lower backs, they fell to the ground, losing all consciousness as they stared into each other, begging for help…
Cain: Took ya long enough!
Klaus: We thought you were already dead.
Cain: Like he’d be dead!! He’s master, now isn’t he?... Huh, oh yeah he’s still inside? Let’s wait for ‘im then…
Eyelids shut down, and only the slow steps against the bloody stone floor could be heard, direction unknown…