(Sorry for delay.)
(I was debating if I wanna add Leo's interaction and relationship with the Hunters or just go straight into the fight because I guess people might like action more. But I'm indecisive. So, I put both.)
Appearing in the street of Yharnam, Leo looked around in surprise. He hadn't been here for quite some while. It's been two week since and time isn't exactly a tangible concept because the day night cycle is absent with the silvery white moon constantly hanging above the sky of Yharnam.
The street is cleaned without carriage and other barricades cluttering the street, the corpses and trash cleaned and all the blood washed away. Instead of mad townsfolk sprawling the street, there's people. All former Hunters from the conception till his arrival.
They are moving around lively. Some were doing carpentry work repairing buildings, some were carrying crates and processed planks, etc.
"Oye, ain't that the Good Hunter?" One of the Hunter working at the roof noticed Leo looking around.
"Stop trying to make excuses, Ethan. I'm not buying any of you shit. Not after all you did." Another one working with him scolds and tells him to get back to work.
"I'm not joking, Ethan. Look!" He grabs his friend's head and twists in Leo's direction.
"Wait, you're not joking?" Ethan said in disbelief that his friend isn't pulling words out of his ass.
"The Good Hunter is here!" Ethan quickly shouted and informed everyone nearby. If possible, the whole city.
Immediately shouts after shouts echo across the city informing about Leo's return. People drop everything in their hand and rush toward Leo.
"Fuck! That's why I hate coming back here." Leo uses Quickening and flees before he gets stomped by a stampede of Hunters coming for him.
These people are too passionate to thank him. He remembers the time when they got revived. Everyone wants to shake his hands which he didn't mind and some even want to get a feel of his body, mostly younger Hunters that are basically teenagers which see him as an idol.
Thankfully only Leo gets the privilege of spamming Quickening while the others don't and also the fact most Hunters can't use Quickening as he quickly our runned them. Then he hides somewhere before taking out his Beckoning Bell. He rang it and only aimed for a few specific people who he actually wanted to meet.
Few minutes later a few Hunters arrived. First is Father Gascoigne along with Henryk who represent the common Hunters. Next is the bucket head Hunter, Valtr, Master of the League confederates. The third is Eileen, the Hunter of Hunter. Fourth is Djura of the Powder Keg, strapped with heavy weaponry on his body yet moved unimpeded. Fifth is Lady Maria, the student of Gehrman and she represents the Old Hunters, Sixth is Ludwig who represents the Healing Church. Finally, the seventh is a Cainhurst Hunter whose name he didn't know but represents the Cainhurst Vilebloods that serve the undying Queen Annalise who survived the night all the way to the end.
All seven Hunters represent certain factions or covenants except Eileen since Hunter of Hunter didn't really have big numbers. Instead, they are just a dozen or two people forming a small group.
"Welcome back, Leo." Father Gascoigne greeted him with fondness.
Most greeted Leo except the Cainhurst Hunter who simply nodded and listened. Leo would probably assume he's a mute if he didn't hear him talk before when he conveys Queen Annalise's words.
Thinking about Queen Annalise brings a shudder to his spine considering he is now a Great One. The Cainhurst Knights and Hunters cease attacking the populace of Yharnam and a truce with the Healing Church is due to Leo. The Queen has realized the Blood Dreg is useless to her because Odeon didn't favor her and consuming more is basically pointless. Instead, her crosshair now aimed at Leo's head.
"Anyway, why did you call for us?" Djura asked. "I thought you already forgot about Yharnam after you left for a very long time."
Leo scanned his eyes through everyone before he exhaled and said, "I have a favor to ask."
Everyone listened carefully and none interrupted him.
"There will be a battle soon in the Waking World and there might be numerous enemies. I know this is selfish of me to ask since I am the one inviting trouble but please help me fight them."
Djura was the first to speak. Leo assumed Djura was against this request because the old guy didn't really like him that much when he accidentally stumbled upon Old Yharnam.
"Heh, the hero is bowing his head and asking for a favor. I would laugh if it's funny." The veteran Hunter said.
Then Ludwig gives Djura a light smack on his back and says, "He is misinterpreting your words." Before he turned to Leo.
"But Djura is right. We will of course help. You have done us a great favor that we cannot even dream of repaying. It's obvious we will definitely help." The hero smiled and agreed.
"He is indeed right. I still hadn't thank you for putting me down when I got drunk with bloodlust. Not just that, you also brought back my wife, Viola. Although sadly our daughters cannot be saved. We are still very grateful to you." Father Gascoigne said and would bow to him if Leo didn't stop him.
When Father Gascoigne spoke of his daughters, Leo felt immensely guilty. Both can be saved if not for his carelessness. Yet both died due to him. He threw up and went into a rampage when he saw her corpse feasted by a swinular bastard. He got PTSD later and involuntarily lost control and will slaughter any swine on sight. Then the other one went mad and committed suicide.
"We, the Old Hunters also owe you a debt for freeing us from the Hunter's Nightmare." Lady Maria pitched in and everyone died except for the Cainhurst Hunter.
Leo didn't need to hear what he had to say. He already knows what they want and he will not provide them.
"Thank you everyone." Leo expressed his deepest gratitude to them before they went into the discussion of preparation.
"I don't suppose you have a lot of gunpowder and quicksilver to spare?" Djura asked. "There isn't much left to scrape for around Yharnam and material is really scarce."
"I will acquire them for you later." Leo replied.
"What about Healing Blood?" Others asked and turned to Ludwig who represented the Healing Church and the producer of the said blood.
"Unfortunately, the Church lacked the critical ingredient to manufacture Healing Blood because the source they relied on had been slain." Ludwig shrugged his shoulders and stared at the perpetrator, Leo who killed Ebrietas.
Leo sighed.
"How much blood do I need to donate?"
"A barrel or two if we are going to supply everyone for the upcoming battle." He made a rough guess on the amount needed.
"Barrels?!" Leo exclaimed.
They might as well drain all his blood and still wouldn't be able to get a full barrel.
"Do I look like I have barrels of blood to donate?" Leo felt speechless because they were looking at him, expecting him to magically make it happen.
Anyway, after the discussion is done. Leo returns to the real world trying to acquire gunpowder, mercury, etc for the Hunters.
———
(Fuck this part was hard. I don't even remember how many times I rewrote this part and delayed the release. Sorry)
A week passed since the Devils and the girls went to the Underworld. The Devils send their troops to be stationed in Kuoh Academy. Other than that, nothing happened yet.
But Leo can feel they are indeed coming. His heart felt more and more restless as time passed. It's not just from the beast-like instinct inside him, but also from his racial ability as the Great One, Eldritch Sense.
At 7 am, Leo took out a magic tool which Ravel gave him. It's basically a magic mirror that allows video calls over great distances and even crossing worlds. He routinely keeps in contact with Mittelt and Ravel.
Leo activates the tool and waits for the other person to also do the same to connect the mirror. However, 10 minutes passed and still nothing happened as he stared at the mirror reflecting his face.
"Odd… They are never late." Leo mutters as he continues to wait for another twenty minutes.
Still no response.
*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*
He was thinking about possible reasons why the two still hadn't connected the mirror. His anxiety grew as he felt his heart palpating and suddenly raced.
It's a sign of bad omen!
Speaking of the Devil, a powerful wave of aura washed past him. One that carries clear killing intent.
"Ophis!" Leo brought Ophis out from the Hunter's Dream and quickly woke her up.
Ophis opens her eyes with an irritated frown to be disturbed until she notices who is waking her up.
"Enemies." Leo said and Ophis immediately understood as she became fully awake.
It was just an instant before the sound of battle raging reached him. He reached the window and looked out to Kuoh Academy. He saw bright flashes and explosions from magic and also people flying around. Two different groups in their own uniforms, fighting on both ground and air.
Instead of going there to help, Leo stayed put and his mind was thinking about other things.
Their attack force is small and only consists of Old Satan Faction soldiers. Where are the others? Is it related to why Mittelt and Ravel are not responding? Could it be, this is just a distraction and the real attack is …
*Boom!*
Leo caught a glimpse of an object similar to a warhead that hit the wall near the window before a powerful explosion destroyed his apartment and he would be severely injured if Ophis didn't step forward to shield him with her magic.
"Hero Factions! Cao Cao!" Leo growls hoarsely as he coughs out the debris that found its way into his mouth.
"Yo, Leonis Ashford. Been quite a while since we've met." Cao Cao floats in the air and looks at Leo with the same usual smile he has when meeting other people. "Ah! Of course, Lady Ophis too."
"What are you people here for? For revenge?" Leo asked Cao Cao while staring into his eyes.
"Revenge? Not really." Cao Cao shrugs and is willing to satisfy Leo's curiosity. "It's part of it. The real reason is because the Boss man wants you dead and I am here just to stall for time."
Suddenly, a purple fog spread around the area and isolated everyone in a special dimension. In this special dimension, Leo saw a male Fallen Angel with a lower body of a serpentine dragon, crucifixed to a cross.
"Devour her, Samael." Cao Cao ordered.
"Wait. Samael?" It took a moment to realize why the name sounded familiar.
Ophis is used to being strong and unrivaled her whole life. Whatever attacks that are aimed at her, she will simply block it instead of avoiding it. It's the same this time.
"Ophis, no! Dodge!"
Leo tried to warn her but it's too late for her to dodge and Leo made a split second decision to risk it and block the attack with his body. He uses Quickening to arrive in front of Ophis and kicks her away as a desperate means to keep her away from the attack.
Although Samael's poison is meant to be Anti-Dragon and Anti-Serpent. When Leo gets hit, he can feel his strength degrade by a big margin and his body becomes very weak and slow.
"Leo!" Ophis cried out in shock, showing a very big reaction never seen before.
"Oh, that's unexpected. It seems you indeed know something about the secret plan. It's a shame I didn't kill you when I had the opportunity. Regardless, you can't stop me this time." Cao Cao feels great because Leo now is not in a state to fight and Ophis is defenseless against Samael.
Or so he thought.
While Cao Cao and the Hero Faction dismissed Leo as a cripple after receiving Samael's poison, Leo himself is gradually and rapidly recovering. The special features of his eldritch blood are healing after all and considering even the heavily diluted Great Ones blood can bring someone from near death to life and partially diluted one can create immortal beings like Queen Annalise, it's not a stretch for Leo to recover from the poisoning.
While Cao Cao didn't notice Leo had recovered, he took this opportunity to sneak attack Cao Cao with a well placed shot from his Hunter Pistol. The self proclaimed hero noticed it too late after the shot was already fired.
*Thump*
Leo didn't let the opportunity go to waste as he flickered in front of Cao Cao with his right arm turned into a beast-like claw and plunged into his gut, clawing and grabbing whatever he could before ripping out his visceral with a gush of warm blood bathed Leo's body.
'I failed to grab his heart!' Leo immediately told himself that he failed to kill Cao Cao and prepare himself for a follow up attack.
"Ophis! Attacks distract them!" Leo ordered after taking a quick glimpse at the rest of the shocked Hero faction, preparing to stop him.
Thankfully Samael cannot act without being ordered by Cao Cao and Leo with Ophis still have a chance to win.
Ophis nods and attacks the rest of the Hero faction while Leo looks at Cao Cao.
Cao Cao is a human. There is no way he can walk off this kind of injury unaffected. Blood filled his lungs and spit out a mouthful when Leo stomped on his chest.
"It's arrogance that brings forth your downfall." Leo said with an impassive tone. He bear no hate to this man and it's his fault to become Leo's enemy.
"T-True L-Longi- AAGH!" Cao Cao tried to summon his Sacred Gear again but Leo simply amputated both his arms mercilessly to prevent him from resisting.
"Now speak. Who is ordering you? Who is that Boss Man? Rizevim?" Leo interrogates Cao Cao.
"Hehe… Hahahahaha! Rizevim? No, that old fossil had been killed." Cao Cao suddenly became crazy as he stared at Leo defiantly. "As if I will let you savor your victory. He already went for you women in the Underworld and he will soon kill you."
"Samael! Release all restraint!" Cao Cao howled in madness to deny Leo any victory.
The half dragon Fallen Angel shook and trembled as all the seals, restraints and nail vibrated before undone from the Fallen Angel, releasing it from its restraints.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Cao Cao lost his sanity as blood bleeds out all his orifices before a familiar red centipede-like creature drenched in blood burst out his eye socket.
"Vermin?" Leo recognised that creature which reminds him of Valtr and the League.
"Could it be…" The image of his killer instantly flashes through his mind because he is the only other person that looks like a Hunter outside the Hunter's Dream and Yharnam.
"Dragon!" The Fallen Angel saw Ophis and immediately lost all reasoning into rage despite showing slight intelligence shown in his eyes a moment ago when he was unsealed.
'This is not the time to be distracted.' Leo reminds himself and uses Quickening to reach Ophis.
Leo appeared next behind Ophis and swooped her into his embrace and fled.
"Can you force us out from here?" Leo asked Ophis. She nods confidently which made Leo relieved. "Teleport us to the Underworld immediately."
Ophis uses her power and shatters the artificial dimension made by the Dimension Lost and opens a wormhole into the Underworld.
"Please be alright, Mittelt, Ravel." Leo mutters as he jumps into the wormhole with Ophis.
—————
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