After following the trail, Blackstone and Lionheart found the werewolf. Blackstone, upon seeing the beast, recognized that it ascended to a hellhound.
The hellound was feasting on a deer corpse the heat from his mouth roasting the meat with every bite this was normal for fallen but something else was off. The hellhound had a circular emblem adorned with gems in the pattern of a six-pointed star in his hand.
" wait, what's in his hand?" Blackstone asked himself as he observed the wolf from a distance behind the foliage.
Lionheart's blood was boiling with rage. All he could remember while looking at the beast was his soldier's screams for mercy. He grabbed Blackstone's rifle and took aim" Give me the word Blackstone and I'll shoot you can handle him up close I'll cover you from here"
Blackstone held the rifle by its barrel and lowered it "Wait when I attack only shot if things are getting dire alright"
Lionheart nodded his head in agreement. They both released that if the hellhound caught sight of Lionheart, he would be killed before Blackstone could save him.
Blackstone, not wasting any time, jumped out of the bushes while throwing a bottle of highly dangerous poison at the hellhound. The bottle broke on impact with its back, spilling the poison all over the hellhound's body, infecting him and searing into its skin.
The hellhound was enraged by the pain the poison caused. Its eye darted around, looking for what attacked it, but it wasn't able to smell or see anyone. The potion the duo had taken earlier was working wonders.
Taking advantage of this Blackstone hacked into the hellhound's leg. His clever got stuck in its flesh.
Not able to pull the clever out of the hellhound's leg, he let go and dashed back, narrowly avoiding its claw slashing at him.
The hellhound, realizing that whatever was attacking it was masking its presence, so decided that it would be easier to just destroy everything in the surrounding area.
It took a deep breath its body began combustion into flames radiating so much heat that it boiled both Blackstone and Lionheart's blood, causing Lionheart to scream in pain and disrupting the invisibility potions,making the duo now easily detected.
The wolf, finally seeing the duo, uttered, "So you decided to show your face?" Blackstone was shocked to hear it speak. In the thirty years he's hunted, he'd never heard a fallen speak before.
Blackstone screamed "LIONHEART RUN!!!"
The hellhound immediately released its breath, causing a shock wave of flames. Incinerating everything in a 50-kilometer radius.
Leaving Blackstone with severe burns and Reducing Lionheart to ash.
Blackstone was disoriented. His blood was still boiling causing him to vomit blood and bleed from his nose. The hellhound slowly walked towards him with a devilish grin on its face. "Oh, you're still alive. You must be one of those hunters, quite pitiful, really. I thought your kind would be strong, but of course, this is all you humans have to offer, " the hellhound said with a look of disappointment his tone giving off a sense of superiority.
The closer the hellhound got to Blackstone the more his blood boiled not able to take any more he whispered under his breath with the little strength he had left "Water arcana burst of the accent flood"
A burst of water rushed from Blackstone's mouth, pushing both him and the hellhound far away from each other buying him some time.
Blackstone grabbed a healing potion from his bag, chugging it as he ran away, trying to buy some more time.
The hellhound, while being pushed back by the water, grabbed onto a tree and then leaped forward, jumping from tree to tree as it chased Blackstone down.
As the hellhound made his way closer, Blackstone grabbed a smoke bomb from his bag, throwing it at the hellhound, but it was smart enough to slap it away and dive at Blackstone, tackling him to the ground.
" you really think you could escape from me with your cheap trick," the hellhound said as it held Blackstone down with one claw.
" To be honest with you, I never expected you to be so cunning, and since I can't escape how both we have little dance, you mangy mutt air arcana gayle burst, " Blackstone shouted as a burst of wind knocked the hellhound back into a tree.
Blackstone jumped to his feet and pulled out three dagger from his back pocket, throwing them at the hellhound before it had any time to dodge.
The daggers burst into flames upon contact with the hellhound. The heat from its body created a barrier, incinerating anything that came in contact with it.
" oh fuck of course that didn't work" Blackstone was sick and tired of this back and forth he shouted " water arcana deep sea prison" as a giant bubble of water surrounded the hellhound its extreme body heat causing it to boil
Blackstone reached his hand out, his eyes glowing orange, and his voice echoed as he spoke, "Thunder arcana wrath of thousand storms." A barrage of lightning bolts radiated from his hand, shocking the water, electrocuting the hellhound, cussing it to scream in pain, leaving it barely able to move.
Blackstone fell on his ass, barely able to stand up. He continued to vomit blood.
His organs were slightly damaged from the hellhound's radiation.
Blackstone was ready to kill the hellhound. He was going to question it about why it could talk, but after what just happened, he didn't want to risk it buying itself time to find a way to escape.
Blackstone pulled a Pistols from his waist ready to fire it directly through the hellhound's eye but before he could fire the hellhound crushed the emblem in his hand and screamed " BREAK THE SEAL AND USE MY BODY AS TRIBUTE"
A golden dagger was thrown by a hooded figure from the top of one of the surrounding trees stabbing the hellhound in the chest.
The dagger began to glow as red glowing roots burst from the hellhound's body, twisting around itself until it formed what looked like winding branches coming together in the shape of a dead tree with a fruit shaped like a lotus emanating a dark red and black flame hanging from one of its branches.
" what the hell is this?" Blackstone replied, looking at the tree in astonishment, completely confused about what was going on.
Then the hooded figure dashed towards the tree, grabbed the fruits, and ran away.
Blackstone sprang to his feet shouting " WAIT STOP RIGHT THERE"
The hooded figure was too fast to follow, so instead of directly chasing after it, Blackstone decided to use another invisibility potion and a homing crystal.
The hooded figure ran until it reached a clearing where an army of fallen of different types all gathered to gather.
Blackstone, after following the hooded figure, watched from a distance as the hooded figure discarded the hood, revealing its pale humanoid bat-like figure. It was a vampire.
" what the hell? There's an army of them, but I've never seen them gather in groups this large before," Blackstone said to himself, confused about this strange behavior. The first one talked, and now this. Something was wrong extremely wrong.
The vampire carried the fruit to the center of the crowd of fallen and began to speak "Brothers and sisters long have we been locked out of the cities of man by those pesky barriers of fog, burning us to Ash before we could feast upon their flesh and satisfy our hunger, but now thanks to the sacrifice of our brother infecting himself with the blood mist virus from the emblem of RH and laying his life down to bloom is fruit we will be able to break through and lay there city's to waste"
The crowd of fallen all cheered as another werewolf and ghoul walked up to the vampire from the crowd. They each broke off part of the fruit and consumed it.
Then roots burst out of their bodies, blood spilling blood all over the crowd as they rapped and twisted around the three fallen.
The three fallen scream as their bodies brook and reform, completely changing their form into something Eldridge in nature.
The vampire sprouted two extra wings, which it used to rap around itself like A cloak; it gained four more eyes, all pitch black; its head was adorned with a headpiece made of roots all jotting outwards like spikes, and its body grew from 6 to 10 feet tall.
The werewolf furr changed from gray to white, it gained an extra pair of red glowing eyes, it stood up straight like a man with four arms, two legs, a snake as a tail rapping around its neck like a scarf, and it grew from 7 to 12 feet tall.
The ghoul had the strangest transformation. It merely turned into a flesh-covered egg.
The newly transformed vampire picked up the egg holding it up like a father holding a new born "Hhaaa my brother it seems your transformation will go even further when you hatch I'm sure your form will be magnificent but until then rest" the vampire said before he held the egg close covering it with his wings.
Blackstone Stone, from a distance, watched in horror. He had never seen anything like this before. He didn't know exactly what was going on but hearing that they could now break the mist barriers sent a chill down his spine. He knelt down and began paying hoping that this was all a bad dream.
The vampire began speaking again," From now on, brothers, you shall refer to us as the imperial, and we shall be the ones who lead you as your kings. Now join us as we celebrate our Ascension by reducing the city of Regalia to a bloody mess".
Blackstone, upon hearing their words, froze in fear for a second. He remembered his wife and daughter, who were both still at the shop in Regalia.
He immediately began running back to Regalia, the army of fallen rushing past, not noticing him thanks to the invisibility potion he took earlier. The fallen were all far faster than him, reaching the city barriers within minutes, leaving Blackstone in the forest trying to make his way to the city as quickly as possible.
At the barrier, the vampire Imperial held out this hand as roots burst out from his entire arm surrounding the barrier before bursting into black and red flames, burning the mist barrier away and leaving the city completely vulnerable.
"Now, my brethren, feast, satisfy your hunger, and ascend to your form," the vampire Imperial announced as he pointed towards the city.
The arm of fallen ravages the city, destroying buildings and staining the remains of the city with the blood of its people, leaving it in ruins.
Blackstone arrived at the city after its distraction, his invisibility potion running out by the time he entered the city.
He immediately rushed towards the remains of his shop, hiding behind the rubble to avoid the remaining fallen as he made his way to his wife and daughter.
Finally reaching the shop, all he could see was rubble "No, no, no, they've got to be here somewhere," Blackstone whispered under his breath as he began digging through the rubble until he found the body of his wife, lifeless with her guts splatter under the rubble.
Blackstone was devastated. Tears ran down his cheek while he grabbed his mouth, unable to cry out loud since that would alert the other fallen. All he could do was wipe his tears and search for his daughter.
After clearing some more rubble, Blackstone located a trap door that led to the cellar.
Entering the cellar, he found his daughter curled up in a corner. He walked towards his daughter, telling her, "Everything is going to be ok".
But as he approached her, a large shadow formed behind him as a long skinny arm stabbed him in his back, exiting through his abdomen, blood leaking out his mouth as everything went dark.