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Getting up, Hiroshi wiped some blood from his mouth and stared at the inquisitor with dead eyes. They shifted to the armored men.
One of the guards was battling a turned one; another lay on the floor lifeless, a small pool of blood surrounding him.
Three knights stood with their blades drawn at Hiroshi.
One of them began to shout as he charged forward.
“Crusader’s Pierce!” his blade glowed a yellow color as he sped up.
Hiroshi stepped to the side slightly, the blade missing his stomach inches away.
He grabbed the knight by his neck and lifted him into the air, his other hand clasping the glowing blade tightly with his bare hands, squeezing it harder and harder until it began to crack.
“M-monster!” he barely shouted out as he began to choke.
Hiroshi’s hand burned from the holy light surrounding the blade; a faint plume of smoke escaped as the burn hissed.
The knight jerked his body in the air, trying to free himself.
Other knights began to charge towards them; Hiroshi’s eyes hadn’t shifted to them yet.
His grip was so strong that the armor began to bend inward and dig into the knight’s neck until a loud crunch escaped.
“Damn you, monster!” one of them shouted as the body in Hiroshi’s hand went limp.
The light around the blade faded as it cracked in half. Hiroshi tossed the body to the ground and, with a swift motion, launched the broken blade at one of them, where it ricocheted.
Another produced the same spell and thrust toward Hiroshi. It pierced Hiroshi’s side. The guard grinned behind his helmet.
“Heh, got you now.” He confidently stated.
Hiroshi didn’t even react. He simply turned and threw a punch so hard it sent the knight sliding a few paces back on the ground, leaving his sword embedded in Hiroshi.
The helmet caved in. Blood spilled out through the knight’s helmet grills while he struggled to get up.
Furiously swinging, the second knight missed every swing as Hiroshi stepped side to side.
“Just… die already!” He shouted at the vampire.
He raised his blade up high, completely exposing himself.
Before he could bring down his blade with another strike, he slowly looked down.
Hiroshi’s hand had pierced clean through his chest.
The knight managed to get back on his feet; his whole vision was red.
His eyes locked onto his colleague, who had a hand impaled through him. The blade in his hands began to tremble.
Scanning the surroundings, his eyes stopped on another dead colleague, who laid on the floor in a pool of blood, stabbed to death by his own colleague.
Next, his eyes landed on the two knights fighting each other, one of them turned by the vampire.
All of this was too much. He began to shout as he threw his blade to the ground and tried to flee.
The inquisitor noticed his subordinate running.
With a quick flick of his hand, his whip extended and wrapped around the running knight’s neck. With a firm yank, a crunch escaped, and his body fell to the floor.
The whip snapped back into place a moment after.
Hiroshi tossed the dead body to the ground. A hole was left in the knight’s chest where his hand had been.
His eyes gazed over to the last two knights, who were fighting each other.
The last knight managed to restrain his turned comrade and looked over at the inquisitor.
“Sire, help! Luicien has lost his mind, you must purify him!” he shouted out desperately, just barely holding him back.
“Plea—”
A beam of light from the sky engulfed them both, glowing with a radiant fire. The last knight screamed in pain as both of them were scorched by holy light until they were reduced to skeletons.
Hiroshi’s eyes locked back onto the inquisitor, who had his hand stretched out at the burn pile of bones.
He let out a laugh.
“I did as they asked, I purified them,” he began to walk sideways, not looking at Hiroshi.
“Do you know… how to kill a vampire?” he stopped and looked at him.
Hiroshi stared at the inquisitor with dead eyes then suddenly his body hunched over and began to cough out blood.
“Holy attribute,” he stated coldly.
More blood spewed onto the floor from Hiroshi’s mouth, his breathing a little raspy.
Dark clouds gathered overhead.
“You see, what happens when you light the corner of a paper on fire?”
He continued to walk around Hiroshi.
“That’s right. It spreads, and engulfs the entire paper in flame.”
He chuckled as he looked up at the dark clouds, hands stretched out, palms up.
“You, are the paper. I, am the fire.”
His chuckle turned into a full maniac laugh.
“I’ve already won,” he tilted his head to the side to look at Hiroshi, hands still stretched out.
Rain began to trickle down on them, then poured.
The inquisitor dropped his hands to the sides; his voice was calm.
“I’m surprised you’ve defeated our little bear-snake.”
Hiroshi’s eyes widened, realizing they were indeed behind it. He had a hunch, but this confirmed it.
He continued to walk, slowly.
“It’s amazing when you corner a beast, what it will do to survive. Like a pup, surrounded by snakes.”
Stopping, he turned his head to the sky. Rainwater trickled down his face.
“Realizing it has nowhere to run, it will… fight.”
The inquisitor looked back down towards Hiroshi. Three of him stood there.
A wide smile appeared on his face. “Like that.”
The three of them began their sprint at the same time: one in the center and one on each flank.
They all attacked at the same time.
With a flick of his hand, the whip shot out and wrapped itself around Hiroshi’s body.
“Found you,” the inquisitor let out a slight crazed chuckle.
A grunt escaped as he turned his body, sending Hiroshi flying through the wooden stake wall.
He began to step toward the hole in the wall when the sound of clanking armor caught his attention.
The dead knights began to rise up, two of them were skeletons.
The inquisitor hadn’t looked behind him. He could feel them being raised.
“Interesting,” he said, his smile not fading.
“Oihter’s Blessing,” he stated, then his body pulsed a golden color.
With a single twisting motion, the inquisitor sent out a long curved golden light which gently faded as it flew out, setting the undead on fire.
They continued to run towards the inquisitor.
With his back now turned on the hole Hiroshi flew through, he held out his hand and began to chant.
“Oh grand Oihter, receive these souls unto thy lap and grant them everlasting life in the halls of grandness,” a short pause followed, his voice got serious.
“Mass Purification.”
A single, massive golden circle expanded over the undead, glowing with strange markings in between each ring.
The undead knights turned to ash before their weapons could reach the inquisitor.
He stood there, watching the ash scatter in the wind.
On instinct he reached his hand to the side, just as Hiroshi appeared behind him, catching his kick.
He sent Hiroshi flying ahead of him, his body scraping through the mud before coming to a stop.
Walking forward, he began to chant the same spell again.
A small golden ring appeared in his palm.
The inquisitor knelt over Hiroshi who was barely conscious.
“I believe this is the end, Lilith,” he smiled, moving this palm with the prepared spell over her head.
“This time, you will die for real, I will make sure of that.”
His hand nudged closer to Hiroshi’s face, the golden circle almost touching him. The pebbles on the ground began to vibrate, then shake.
“Oh grand Oihter, receive this soul unto thy lap and grant them everla—”
The inquisitor shifted his head backwards just in time as a massive blade whooshed past, forcing him to leap back a few paces.
The skeleton knight kicked the ground in front, sending large stones and small rocks flying towards the inquisitor, buying a few seconds.
It leaned down and picked Hiroshi up to his feet.
He barely stood upright, one hand leaning against his skeleton knight.
Most of the rocks missed the inquisitor, but a few had scraped him.
Wiping a small amount of blood from his cheek, he locked his eyes back onto Hiroshi.
“You are not Lilith,” his voice was serious, eyes drifting to the skeleton knight.
“Who are you?”
Hiroshi wiped the rain from his eyes, stood upright, and replied.
“Your end.”
The inquisitor blinked, Hiroshi was gone and the skeleton knight had begun to charge.
“I’ve seen this before,” he shouted out.
He turned his body and deflected Hiroshi’s claw strike. The skeleton knight had caught up and swung its giant blade.
With a swift motion, he grabbed Hiroshi’s wrist and threw him towards the skeleton knight’s strike. It failed to stop in time, blasting Hiroshi into the ground.
With his hand out towards the skeleton, he quickly chanted some words and shouted out.
“Turn Undead.”
The skeleton burst into flames which the rain had no effect upon. The knight fell to the ground, beginning to dissolve.
Hiroshi was barely conscious, everything was ringing, vision was blurry. The only thing he could feel right now was the rain against his skin.
After walking over, the inquisitor leaned down right next to Hiroshi’s ear.
“Hmm? All finished now?”
The only thing Hiroshi was looking at was Gobu’s head on the flower patch ahead of him.
Noticing, the inquisitor smiled and whispered into Hiroshi’s ear.
“You should’ve seen the look on his face. How he begged and begged for his life.”
Hiroshi barely grunted.
“You are so weak you can’t protect anyone you love,” he let out a small laugh.
“Are you ready to join him?” He grabbed Hiroshi by the hair and stood up, beginning to drag him toward Gobu’s head.
The inquisitor’s crooked laugh reached Hiroshi’s ears as he was dragged slowly closer and closer.
“I’m…” Hiroshi barely spoke out.
He stopped dragging the vampire by its hair.
“Huh?”
“Not…” it was so quiet, the old robed man had to lean in to hear what Hiroshi was saying.
“Alone…” Hiroshi barely cracked a smile.
The inquisitor’s eyes widened as he shot up, his head snapping to the tree line.
Just as his head finished turning, a huge bolt of lightning connected with the inquisitor, shocking everything near him, the electricity diverged around Hiroshi this time.
He spasmed as the lightning continued, until it died out.
The arc of lightning faded from the treeline, flickering a few times before going out.
Feodra was running full speed through the rain toward a presence she had always known.
She could see a faint, dark flame in the distance through the wall. She was heading towards it. Another flame was next to it, burning in a golden color.
Rain hammered Feodra as she ran forward.
Three blue balls of flames appeared in front of her.
One launched into the air, screeching as it arced over the wall and towards the golden flame.
Hiroshi pushed himself to the side, rolling once, and grabbed a wet plank, placing it on top of him.
The inquisitor let out a grunt, as he looked down at Hiroshi, behind a plank.
“Damn y—”
The blue ball of flame landed right next to the robed man and exploded.
Everything within a few-meter radius was turned to ash. The inquisitor was launched away from the impact site; his robes caught a blue fire.
Hiroshi was shoved further into the wreck of a collapsed hut.
The goblins watched from the treeline as a bright blue explosion erupted at the camp. They whispered between themselves.
Feodra had finally arrived at the scene of the explosion, and her eyes locked onto the collapsed hut. She could see Hiroshi’s inner flame slowly going out.
With a few barks she wedged herself between the rubble and found Hiroshi. He was out cold.
Feodra barked and licked at Hiroshi, but he remained unconscious.
Feeling a presence behind her, she left Hiroshi beneath the rubble of the hut.
Looking back once more at Hiroshi’s fading flame, she began to walk towards the inquisitor, who was crookedly walking forward, still putting out some blue flames.
Feodra’s body began to glow, as she began to shift into a different form until two bare feet walked forward.