They stood in the street, their exposed forms poised to strike. As safety reared its ugly head, they lowered their guard for a brief instant. Rena however kept her gaze fixated on their surroundings.

“They're oddly unorganized. Aside from the unexplained incident with Stolzer, their efforts are found wanting.” Rena commented after a short pause.

Scurrying across the street forced them to establish a mental link hastily. Her presence in his mind was comforting, yet filled with a sense of despair. She turned about to face the oncoming threat, but her eyes widened as she spotted a young man.

A man bearing the Templarate uniform, shining plate mail emblazoned with the symbol of the Blessed Star, bolted toward them as his gaze fixated on them. His maw frothed as he drank in their forms, their fear illuminating them like fireflies.

Rena and Gelehrter leaped over a massive swipe from his weapon, a scarlet blood-stained sickle which feasted upon its master. Within the handle, liquid hissed and formed into needle-like spines which extended out as he waited for them to land.

Their boots found purchase onto the cobblestone ground. Rena raised her hand and the air around it coalesced as the next swipe circled around. Dust rose into the air as the blow connected with the barrier, the pair of Justicar gritting their teeth as the strength of the blow forced them to their knees.

“This isn't good. He's been turned and got a hold of some enchanted weapon.” Gelehrter's thought struck Rena and she grimaced, unsure of the strength of their connection.

“Perhaps we can overpower him.” She surmised and rose to her feet. After she bolted forward to avoid another blow, metallic needles assailed her form. Their fingers attempted to penetrate the miniature barrier created by the Blessed Star, bruises forming at the points of impact.

The man maneuvered to their rear and the spines within the handle returned.

“Focus his attention. I will try to break his mind.” Gelehrter severed their connection and grimaced as he forced his way through the man's skull with a telekinetic wave. As his consciousness melded with the crazed vampiric man, the sickle slammed into the shield surrounding his body. He spiraled away and kept the connection, losing himself in the broken individual's brain.

He sauntered forth, grimacing as the void encapsulated him. Gelehrter focused on the individual ahead of him, his legs wading across to the man. He was hunched forward in a pathetic fetal position. Tears cascaded down his cheeks as he focused onto the Justicar nearby. His sword hissed as he allowed it to breathe, the man's eyes widening in horror. In an instant, screens erupted into life all around him as events from the man's existence replayed all at once.

From the light of his birth to the very end. Through his eyes he witnessed Rena's onslaught on his body. His enchanted weapon would break her sword if she attempted to parry, but her magic flowed forth relentlessly. Sparks of electricity weaved about him which spiraled into wreaths of flame. His vision blurred as he suffered a blow to the stomach. Platemail crushed his ribs as it suffered another kick to his side. The grip on his dark weapon faltered for an instant but he held fast.

Gelehrter, within his mind, raised his steel overhead and gripped the handle in both hands. His weapon relieved the man of his skull. As the head sank into the water, the liquid rising to encase the frame. Around him, the screens shattered into millions of pieces—Gelehrter sheathed his blade and was enveloped in a torrent of prismatic pixel boxes—while the waters were absorbed into the earth underneath.

His dark eyes opened moments later and the man wielding the dark weapon halted mid-swing. Rena seized the moment and her shield arm was surrounded in flame. As she drove her fingers toward the vampire's heart, the metal melted and pressurized around her digits. Her hand drove through the man's heart, his innards melting instantaneously. He fell forward and she elegantly stepped aside.

Gelehrter rose to his feet and shook his head. His legs wobbled as he tried to reach Rena.

“You're hurt, you idiot...” She shook her head as she rushed to his side, whispering to him.

“Y-Yes, but we took him down, right?” He scowled as she reached for a small pouch near her belt. “What the--”

“Silence.” Her command was obeyed reluctantly. She removed two small pills and rested it in his palm. Gelehrter tossed them into his mouth and as he swallowed them, his strength returned.

He stood upright and strode over to the massive scythe whose dark energies seemed to recede at his approach.

The weapon in question writhed as he knelt beside it, the blade cooing to him.

“We should destroy this.” He surmised. The sickle was wedged in between a Holy Cross, the blade extending in one direction. Its sinister edge stained with countless victims, the handle extended until it appeared to reach with a singular claw onto an orb. The crimson orb seemed to focus on his every movement as he drank in the peculiar nature of the weapon.

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“Aye, we should.” Rena, although perplexed, agreed. Even just the sight of this thing caused her skin to crawl.

As he raised his hand to release a quick incantation of fire, a shadow leaped into view and the weapon vanished before his very eyes. He turned about in alarm and darted toward the direction of the shadow. Rena followed close behind, abandoning the body of their victim in the street. Their frames poised to strike, the silhouette vanished into an alleyway.

Casting a quick fire spell which dissipated into the air around him, the air around his boots grew hot and he was lifted above onto the rooftop of a nearby building. Rena continued her pursuit through the alleyway behind the figure.

They knocked aside several crates left behind by the Templarate, the official symbol of Sanctuary crashing against the cobblestone floor. Rena effortlessly hopped over it, appearing to soar over the boxes.

Above, Gelehrter heated the air with magic to keep apace from roof to roof. His dark eyes darting from the figure to the path ahead.

In an instant, the figure turned a corner and was met with a wall. Instead of leaping down to meet them, he scanned the area while Rena apprehended their adversary.

“You've nowhere to run. That weapon is now property of her Holiness, Ovelia. Our Sanguine Overlord will turn kindly should you hand it over.” Her voice echoed, though barely audible to him.

The figure merely grasped the handle of the dark weapon.

“Come quietly and there will be no more bloodshed.” Rena spoke plain. From her disposition and the instant he had shared a mental link, he felt the need to assist her.

Once his mouth opened to speak, the figure gripped the handle of the dark sickle firmly. They spun about and lodged the blade into the wall. Dust kicked into Rena's visage and she instinctively covered her face while the silhouette muttered a few arcane words. Needles from within the handle formed into quivering appendages which latched onto the stone. They sliced through the stonework like butter as the needles lifted them onto the roof.

Gelehrter grimaced and he narrowly avoided being lobbed in two. Rena was carried by hot air shortly after and they readied their weapons.

His mind shot several waves of energy to distract the figure before them, but to no avail. The figure hopped onto the handle of their weapon and retaliated with several spines aimed toward their hearts.

The Blessed Star held fast, Rena and Gelehrter's conviction barring the needle's passage. A shock wave pulsed from their bodies as their will forced the projectile to return to its master.

“This is your final chance. Return the weapon into our custody or face death.” Gelehrter warned as he adjusted the grip on his sword.

The shadow spurned their attempts at peace and more needles rushed to their position. They both allowed it to pass by them with a swift step, the pair sheathing their weapons.

Rena established another mental link and grimaced. “This one seems more alive than the other.”

“And less mad. I cannot invade their mind. I'm unsure if we can overpower this one.” He simply observed the specimen before him. The figure was garbed in a peculiar cloak which seemed to mimic the wielder's movements and allow them full movement. Other cloaks would hinder the wearer in some manner, yet this one seemed to be enchanted as well. The cloth shimmered from the moonlight overhead and he glimpsed a faint inkling of unnaturally pale skin hidden by the hood.

They're wearing gloves, I'd warrant. Perhaps this thing is far too dangerous without it. How the other master lasted so long is beyond me. Gelehrter shook his head.

“They're watching us.” Rena shifted her weight to her right foot nervously, feigning her interest to strike.

The figure moved as they did. They parted ways, the spines would grow in number to encompass them and vice versa.

They're a trained fighter as well. Gelehrter assumed and tapped his foot habitually. He took a few steps forward and the figure's strange apparatus retreated.

“You can speak our tongue, can you not?” He tried conversation again.

No response.

“What about Lycanthrope? You've some inkling of it, I'd wager.” A guttural central Lycanthrope dialect escaped him.

“I've some knowledge of it.” They responded. “This weapon is an abomination, but must be studied.”

“It belongs to her Holiness, Ovelia Mortem.” His words were slow and deliberate, as if to drive home the importance.

“You know Lycan?”

“Don't you?”

Rena's link filled him with a sense of alien frustration.

“If our Overlord wishes this weapon in her custody, she must fetch it herself.” The figure removed the hood reveal a pale visage, the supple skin graced with elegant features. A pair of studious silver eyes which drank in their forms. “You are her lapdogs. Tonight is unusually long, perhaps the vampire scum you are hunting are not worth the effort.”

“We were given orders.”

“Dogs do not think for themselves. I readily forget. This dark weapon, named Darksworn, must be studied by us. We will allow for you to retrieve it at later date, should you survive this purgatory.” In the instant the guttural language escaped him, he was enveloped by the very cloak he wore and he faded from view.

They growled under their breath almost in unison. Gelehrter raised his head to the heavens, the moon greeting him wistfully.

“It feels like we've been hunting for an age...” He complained finally after a brief silence.