Orion stared down at the vampire weapon he now held in his grasp, the once dull blade pulsating with a crimson glow that seemed to dance along its edges. It felt alive in his hand.
Orion could feel the power coursing through it, a power that hungered for blood, for the life force of its victims.
As he examined the blade more closely, Orion noticed subtle changes in its appearance. The metal seemed to shift and flow, as if it were alive, adapting to the wielder's grip. The once broken tip had now reformed into a deadly point, sharp enough to easily pierce through the toughest armor.
But it was the aura surrounding the weapon that truly intrigued Orion. It pulsed with a malevolent energy, a darkness that seemed to seep into his very soul. "You wish to use me? Prove your worth then, let the blood flow!" Sang the sword.
"Don't worry, child. Your noble heart can't be corrupted by this... thing. Continue to be brave, just as you are now, and you will prevail!" The voice inside Orion's mind was soothing. As he heard these words, his usually cold expression softened for a moment, almost returning to his usual meek one. "How can I be brave, father? I'm afraid..."
"It's completely normal to be afraid my child." Said the soothing voice, and before Orion knew it, his gift activated on his own, the voice that he heard from the voice was heard again as it screamed in his mind, "What are you doing you miserable worm?!"
The scream of the sword died down almost instantly, fading to nothing. As the vampire blade began glowing in a blinding white light, its appearance changed again.
The vampire blade transformed under the white light, its once crimson glow replaced by a brilliant luminescence.
As the vampire blade transformed, it shifted into a pristine white material, far sturdier than any metal known to man. At the base of the blade, a pointed white spike emerged giving the option to deal damage with the handle of the blade. Flanking the blade were two elegant spikes that ascended along the handle's sides, adding to its majestic appearance.
"Go forth, my child!" Said the sooting voice before Orion felt a strange feeling, akin to being shaken. "Orion!" Shouted Thorn while shaking Orion, her voice was full of worry.
"Finally, the moment you beheaded the bastard, you looked like you dozed off for a minute, there are still more of them so stay with me!" Said Thorn, yet again, her string in her hand, holding back some of the hunters that rushed at them with maddened expression.
Derek just stared at Orion with mouth agape, words not leaving his mouth, he then looked down at James, his head rolling on the uneven surface of the dead, dried-out soil.
"J… James… James!" Screamed Derek in terror as he stared at his twin brothers rolling head with wide eyes.
Without saying another word, the elite hunter, mad with grief charged blindly at the two gifted. He grasped his daggers, then cut his own hands, feeding the dagger his own blood.
"Orion! Watch out!" Shouted Thorn, her fingers began their dance once more, surrounding both of them with invisible strings, and while this was enough against most of the hunters, against Derek, it was nothing, his eyes seen through the strings while his blades cut through them.
A sweet sensation could be felt by Thorn as she began to cough up a mouthful of blood. "Pull them back!" Shouted Orion in worry then stood in front of the wounded elf girl while grasping his white sword.
The other hunters stood back, their faces etched with a mixture of fear and respect as they watched Derek, their elite comrade, grapple with the weight of his grief. This hunt, originally assigned by their superiors, had morphed into a deeply personal vendetta for Derek, driven by the loss of his twin brother.
They understood the intensity of his emotions, the burning desire for vengeance that fueled his every move, every hunter lost comrades, brothers in their fight against the gifted. With silent reverence, they waited, knowing that interfering in Derek's pursuit of justice would only serve to incur his wrath. And so, they remained on the sidelines, silently rooting for their fellow brother.
They did not even go toward the still-unconscious Aria. Not that they could achieve that feat without trouble as Thorn covered the surroundings of Aria's unconscious body with her invisible threads.
With the same movement that James executed against Thorn, Orion rotated his body and unleashed a swing that had every bit of his momentum behind it. Derek evaded the same way Thorn did, but instead of simply ducking down, he began to slide, something that shouldn't be possible on the soil that they were standing on, his boots emitted a strange light.
Yet, this wasn't a fight one-on-one, this was far from an honorable battle, before Derek could cut Orion in his blind spot, Thorn jumped beside Orion, her daggers cutting toward the grieving hunter.
Derek reacted in a split second, one of his daggers already blocking both of Thorn's daggers while the other one went straight at Orion.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, Talon, enveloping most of their area in a crimson fog, hastened to Quinn's side. Quinn, appearing to have lost hope, had no choice but to remain motionless, his injured leg continuing to bleed profusely while his face was ashen white from the blood loss.
"Don't you dare give up, you bastard!" Talon screamed as he sprinted at full speed, feeling the strain on his legs. Inside the fog, his physical abilities were doubled, but the pain still gnawed at him.
Quinn stared blankly at Talon, then shifted his gaze to the grey bear that had teleported beside him, its teeth mere moments away from his neck. "I'm sorry, mother. I can't protect Ori anymore..." he muttered to himself, his consciousness slipping away. Casting another glance towards Talon and then to Rokara in the distance, he whispered, "Maybe... maybe he will be in good hands." Murmured Quinn to no one but himself as he came to terms with his own death.
He slowly felt the moist breath of the wild grey bear on his neck, waiting for the pain to arrive. But it never came.
"I said don't you dare give up, so what do you think you are doing?!" Talon shouted, his red spear buried deep in the neck of the grey bear. With a tighter grip on the spear's handle, the heat emanating from the spear intensified, searing the bear from the inside. Quinn stared at Talon in disbelief at the sight.
The bear roared in agony, struggling to free itself from the burning spear. It knew that if the spear were removed from its body, it could teleport away once more.
Talon's grip on his spear only intensified as he planted his feet firmly into the ground. The bear fought back with all its remaining strength, now cornered, baring its fangs in a display of defiance.
The beast shook its body left and right, its hands trying to claw at Talon at a chance to push the boy away, but Talon did not let himself lose against the beast either.
"My chest still hurts, you bastard! I don't care about anything else, but you are going down!" shouted Talon, his spear erupting in flames. The heat intensified as he drove it deeper into the bear's neck. Its tough hide couldn't withstand the searing heat of the flaming spear, let alone resist the high-quality craftsmanship of the yellow beast gear it was crafted from. Its rank matched that of the bear it was embedded in.
"Die already!" Shouted Talon, his voice filled with desperation as he felt himself nearing his limit. The flames from his spear seared his hands, causing unbearable pain, but Talon fought through it, pushing himself to the brink. With a fierce determination, he initiated the activation of Flame Surge, aiming to obliterate the bear's head in one swift blow.
"Die!" Screamed the boy as the flames erupted into a fiery explosion, engulfing him in the process. Talon stood there, his gaze unwavering as the flames seared his skin once more. With a calm determination, he activated his ring, the soothing energy beginning to lessen his pain and regenerate his burned skin.
After what felt like an eternity, Talon's wounds had healed enough for him to move again. 'I should conserve more energy from the ring.' he thought, glancing down at it. He noticed small cracks appearing on most of its surface, a sign of the strain it had endured.
Then he looked down at the fallen bear, its head obliterated, nothing remaining but a lifeless body. He had emerged victorious, yet he felt no joy in his triumph. "Damn it all..." he muttered, a sense of weariness weighing heavily upon him.
Talon took the ring from his finger and gave it to Quinn in a hurry, as the boy put it on with shaking hands, his wounds began to heal on their own almost instantaneously, color returning to his face once more.
"Thanks…" Muttered Quinn, and before Talon could even say anything, both of them heard a familiar voice shouting at them. "Help! I don't know how much longer I can hold it back!"
As Talon and Quinn turned to look, they saw Rokara locked in a desperate struggle, holding back the bear that threatened to tear her apart. With no other option, she strained to keep the beast at bay with her hands, but it was clear she had long surpassed her limits.
"It's only yellow-rated. I'm going to shoot at it. If it's truly able to control metal, it can easily take your spear away. But if it's concentrating on my arrow first, you can stab it!" said Quinn, his arrow already nocked in his bow, aimed directly at the bear's neck.
Quinn's back muscles tensed as he released the arrow from his bow, his strategy proving effective as the bear shifted its focus from Rokara to the arrow suspended in the air before changing its direction toward Quinn.
With staggering speed, it flew straight at him, but Quinn, having anticipated the attack, easily evaded it for the third time.
Meanwhile, the bear was so focused on Quinn that it didn't notice Talon, who suddenly leaped onto its back. Holding his spear downward, Talon stabbed it straight at the beast's neck.
With a despairing roar, the beast attempted to focus its gift on Talon's spear, but it was already deeply embedded in its neck. Suddenly, the heat of the spear intensified before erupting into a fiery explosion. The scarred bear had no chance to fight back as the explosion blew its head clean off, ending the struggle once and for all.