Erisha's entier body froze as a wave of emotions swept through her.
Fear, panic, terror, anger, all combined in to one and giving birth to hopelesness.
With every seacond she wasted standing still she could have tried to help her brother yet she couldn't move an inch.
Suddenly red chains appeared at her feet and tied around her body, not that she cared.
"You asked me why I am doing this right?"
Curt slowely began to circle around her as he began his tale.
"You see my kind is not nativ to this world, but instead a realm called Hell. About 75 years ago a war raged on between us and humanity. It was a long and bloody war that lasted for more then a hundred years. I won't bother you with the details, but what you need to know is that-
He then stopped right beside Erisha and whispered in to her ear.
we were winning!"
He then continued his stroll towards Cain.
"But as we were about to demolish humanity and claim this realm for ourselfs the gateways we used to travel our armies, supplyes and weapons from Hell suddenly closed trapping us in this accursed world. The shock and panic that followed after this gave the humans the advantage they needed to turn the tide and win."
Once besides Cain he set his eyes upon him, closely inspecting his body.
"After awhile we found out that the humans called upon the power of The Abyss to seal the gateways. And this is where you come in. What we want to do is create a being that can rip through the seal on the gateways and allow them to work again. Since the abyss'es power was used to make the seals a being who wields the same power can rip right through it. For that to happen we need someone who is fully embreces the darkness, but can stay sane in the process. The problem right now is that you are resisting it."
He then kicked Cain over revealing the large wound on the boy's body.
Then to both of their surprise Cain began to cough up blood.
He was still alive.
"Altough I was ordered to bring the two of you back alive I think I might skip all of that. If I torture this brat in front of you, eventually you will give in to the curse right?"
A wicked wide smile appeared across Curt's face.
From the moment he was born Curt felt the world around him strange, alien even.
It was like the realm was rejecting them.
Plants that were food for any other was like poison to them, common ores that were used as simple currency burnt their skin on contact.
Even the the two balls of fire that lit up during the day burnt them to nothingness if their rays shone upon them.
Due to this his kind was forced to live in the shadows and away from their main food source, the humans.
As he grew up he came to despise every race that could walk free without restraint or fear.
When he became an adult by vampire standerds he became a scout.
From there he made his way up the ladder and was appointed as a squad leader by the vampire noble he served.
To prove his worth he was given this misson, to capture the cursed elf alive.
Only the cursed one mattered, the other was not necessary.
After seeing his brother still somewhat alive, strenght returned to Erisha's body.
She suddenly fell in to the ground, escaping the chains.
She then reappeared near Curt and charged him with the fury of loving sister.
"NO MORE!" She screamed
Curt hurriedly raised his blade, barely reacting to Erisha's attack.
Much to his surprise the blow pushed him back several meters.
Erisha didn't give him time as she spun her body around and followed up with a kick.
However Curt quickly backed up a few steps just out of reach.
Then just as Curt was about to retialiate a blast of darkness left Erishas foot and burried itself in to Curt's stomach.
"-Ough!"
Air left his lungs as the blast blew him off the ground and sent him flying in to a nearby tree.
Erisha pulled her leg back with a shocked expression.
She didn't know she could do that.
"What the *cough* hell was that!?" Curt asked with a pained voice as he slowely got up.
But instead of answearing him Erisha spun around and kicked the air with her other leg.
Just like before she could feel a strange energy flow inside her body as it travelled through her leg and shot out of her feet.
The blast traveled through the air leaving a black trail behind.
It was fast just like the last, but now Curt was prepeared for it as he dodged to the side.
The blast made contact with the tree behind him and it blew a hole through it making it fall.
"So you still have cards up your sleeve, huh! Then what about this!?"
Curt once again cut his hand and allowed the blood to coat his blade.
Erisha recognising the attack almost moved out of the way only to realise that once again Cain was behind her laying helpless in the snow.
She clenched her teeth and looked back at Curt with eyes that could kill.
Curt was raising his blade by then and Erisha did not have the time to move her brother out of the way.
Her mind raced as she tried to come up with a way to save her brother while avoiding the attack.
Her barrier proved useless against the attack as it cut right through it before.
She could not pick her brother up and move to safety since the slash would be much more faster then she is.
The only way out of this was to meet the attack head on with a strike just as powerful.
Suddenly Erisha had an idea.
She lowered her sword and placed it right beside her hip.
She then sidened her stance and bent forward.
She relaxed all her muscles and slowely exhaled as her eyes closed.
She began to tap in to the dark energy inside of her, trying to draw streanght from it.
The skin near her eyes began to crack and they began to glow with a dim black color.
Then she opened her void like eyes.
Dark energy flowed from them and began coating her blade.
Curt was baffled by her actions as he soon realised she was trying to imitate him, but instead of blood she used her darkness.
"You think your cheap fucking knock off will- *CRUCK*
Erisha's eyes became wide as an unsettleing sight formed before her.
Curt's body became limp as he dropped his sword to the ground.
Blood trailed down from his lips as he began to caugh violantly.
Curt looked down with a shaky head to examine his body only to find his very heart right in front of himself.
Then suddenly before his very eyes it was crushed.
Blood and bits of his heart landed on to his face coloring his pale white skin, red.
Shakingly he looked back.
He saw a man with jet black hair and cold black eyes that held no pity for him.
"Yo- you bastard!" Curt shouted as he drew what little strenght he had left and began manipulating his own blood.
His blood formed in to a large spike that shot towards Dawn's stomach from below.
Dawn in response pulled his hand out of Curt and stepped back.
Without Dawns arm to support him Curt's legs soon gave up and he fell to his knees.
Weakly he tried to look up only to see a leg flying towards him.
The leg made contact with his face and caved it in.
The kick was powerful enough to send his entier body flying back in to a nearby tree.
Erisha screamed as her face distorted with rage.
Arms of darkness manifested from the trees shadow trapping Curt in place.
When Curt looked up he saw Erisha charging at him with her hands covered with a dark energy.
The energy formed in to large claws on her hands that tore in to Curt's flesh.
She tore at his chest, arms, legs and face making Curt shout in agony.
Dawn looked at the scene before him with annoyance.
They needed Curt alive, atleast for a litzle longer.
He then moved in and grabbed her from behind and pulled her off of Curt.
Once Dawn looked back he saw the vampires body ripped to shreds.
His right eye and arm were missing while his guts were ripped out.
Erisha began to struggle against Dawn.
She moved her body from side to side trying to escape his grasp like a wild animal.
"Get a hold of yourself, woman!" Dawn called out to her, however it did nothing.
As a surprising turn of events Erisha slipped through Dawn's arms and reappeared near Curt.
Dawn has had enough.
Using his powerful legs Dawn dashed forward and grabbed Erisha's right hand.
He then pulled her back and in to his fist.
The blow to her stomach made Erisha throw up and instantly faint.
He then carefully laid her limp body in to zhe snow.
Dawn then turned his gaze to the child that barely clung to life.
He hurriedly went to his side and knelt down.
Even tough he looked calm and collected in his mind he was going crazy.
Both of the elfs suffered critical injuries, but Cain was clearly the worst.
With no better option Dawn carefully placed Cains guts back inside him.
It has been some time since he has done this, but this was the only thing he could think of.
Dawn closed his eyes and steadied his breathing.
Suddenly the familiar crimson smoke began surrounding him.
Once he opened his eyes they were bloodshot.
Dawn then reached out and forcefully began closing the wound.
Dawn held on firmly as the red smoke began to seep in to Cains body
Not even a minute after that Cains body began to shake uncontrollably.
Nonetheless Dawn did not let go until it stopped.
Back in the laier when Erisha untied her pouch to cure Cain of his illness Dawn immidiatly sensed it.
Pure, unaltered life energy given physical form.
He was dumbfounded and it showed on his face.
To his knowlage something like that was impossible.
To mask his emotions from Erisha he asked what it was and sparked a conversation when in reality he knew from the very start.
While it can be thought very few can feel life force and even fewer can interact with it.
However the legion that was lead by the 7th Legion that was led by the 7th General of the Empier had an unusual amount of them.
During the war it became apperant not only that the 7th was born with the ability to sense it.
While the other generals could wield mana the 7th could not.
This made him fundamentally differant from the rest.
Instead he used his own life force to fuel his powers.
Later on he created a technique that became essential to increasing his own power and his legions aswell.
The technique was called Devour.
Through making contact with another living or recently deceased being the user can either give his life force or take anothers away.
However only a select few could learn the technique due to its risks and how painful the learning process was.
Those who could formed a special company within the Barbarian Legion.
The Berserkers.
Dawn grit his teeth as the pain of moving his own life force in to Cains body struck him.
His eyes became even more red and veins began showing on his face and neck.
On the otherhand Cains body lit up with a warm red light as the large wound began to slowly close.
His gusts that were scattered throughout his body returned to their original places while bone, muscle and skin grew on top of them.
At the last moment Dawn pulled out his hand, allowing the wound to heal on its own.
With Cain's condition stabelized and the pain from devour gone Dawn sighed.
For a moment he dropped down and laid his back against a nearby tree, cold snow crunching under him.
In every sense of the word he was exhausted.
Dealing with the vampires and ghouls alone proved more difficult then he thought.
Although he could distinguish one from the other their tactics were well planned.
They used the ghouls effectively, but the glaring fault in their strategy was that they themselfs were weak.
Thus after catching one off guard they were easily dealt with.
Dawn then turned his attention to the bleeding undead whose body was mangled to shreds.
Getting a grip of himself Dawn stood up and approached him and crouched down.
"I know you are still alive. Although you are hurt, your core is intact."
Hearing those words Curt opened his remaining eye.
He glared at Dawn with conempt and spite.
"You think you've won? I am only the first they sent after you. Once they realise I am dead they will send more and then you will feel the pain and humiliation I have suffered!"
"You talk too much."
Dawn reached out his hand in the blink of an eye and grabbed Curt's mouth.
With a swift and decisive motion he ripped his jaw off.
Curt screamed in agony as blood flowed out of the wound.
Dawn then reached for his throat next and with a similar motion tore a large chunk off.
The chunk contained Curt's vocal cords aswell.
Curt's screams turned in to a strange sound of aggressive breathing in and out.
Dawn then grabbed him by the hair and forced him to face him
"I encountered your kind before. I know about your core and where it is located."
Vampires were undead creatures that survived off of the blood and life force of other beings.
Unlike other undead, they were able to maintain a human like appearance and did not go insane.
It was all thanks to their core.
A core is formed when a large amout of blood is consumed and the body has no capacity to hold it within its veins.
Depending on the individual the core can be located in differant places within a body, but once it is destroyed the vampire will slowly loose their sanity and turn in to husks of their former selfs.
"I do not care who will come next. I do not care if the vampire king himself comes. Anyone who stands in my way will die."
Dawn then picked up Curt's sword that layed in the snow and inspected it.
He cut his hand and let his blood flow out and in to Curts wounds.
Almost immidietly the wounds began closing and regenerating.
It was mich slower due to ther severity.
Then suddenly he stabbed Curt in the stomach and twisted it.
The aggressive breathing intensified.
"You will not die today. But you will wish that you did."
And with that Dawn put his hand on Curt's face and began to use Devour, sucking the life force out of the vampire while he tried to scream in agony.