The Wolf and the Hunter - The Bloodfiend War Chapter 4(content warning: gore)

The rain fell steadily over the neon-lit streets of Las Vegas, casting a silver sheen that reflected the city's electric glow. In this futuristic metropolis, the usual buzz of nightlife was subdued, replaced with an eerie stillness. The air was thick with a tension that hinted at unseen dangers lurking in the shadows, promising an unforgettable night of intrigue and peril.
Naturally, it wasn't the same Las Vegas of a thousand years ago; it was bigger, brighter, and gained even more poor souls. The city had evolved into a sprawling megalopolis adorned with towering holograms and shimmering glass-clad skyscrapers, each pulsating with vibrant lights that reflected the ever-expanding skyline. Street corners housed kiosks run by androids, conversing with inquisitive tourists drawn in by the promise of extravagant entertainment. The social fabric of Las Vegas had shifted into a mosaic of cultures. Despite the technological advancements, the allure of quick fortunes still pulled in hopefuls, not changing the city’s reputation from what it once was.
The governor of the state at the time had called for a meeting to discuss the recent reports.
“There have been countless sightings of red-eyed men walking around with a letter, and giving it to other red-eyed men,” stated a stern, authoritative figure, his voice commanding attention. The room fell silent as they awaited his next words.

Another voice chimed in with the weight of experience, "Bloodfiends... They have been appearing all around the world." The respect in the air was palpable as the group acknowledged the captain of defense without needing formal titles.
Another added, “Two days ago, they first appeared in Florida, then in China, and today in the UK. All of them were preceded by various sightings of bloodfiends delivering letters. Apart from today.”
“We need to know the content of the letters! We need to know, they may be lists of names, or instructions, valuable information!” said another.
“Calm down… We do know the content of the letters, since we have caught one.”
Said the governor
​

A soldier walked to the table and put some files in front of the governor.
“In this lies the content of the letter, written by hand in a calligraphy that closely resembles that of the French, of about 2000 years ago.
It reads:
–Dear sister ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜, known as the Boss, these are the instructions for the course of action for the next days.
Kill all heads of power in your country, starting from your state.
Retrieve useful humans and imprison them for future transformation.
Attempt not to kill bystanders, we do not want to reduce our food, do we?
​
Dear regards, Princess Carmilla–”
​
“The name of this figure, called ‘The Boss’ is torn out, an attempt from the Bloodfiend carrying it to sabotage any of our intent of finding this individual.”
Added the Governor
“They want to kill us? All of us?-”
“Sir!” Someone yelled, bursting into the room.
“Sir, a group of bloodfiends has been spotted coming from an underground casino; they are approaching this building! They are about 5 miles from here!”
​
Meanwhile, in the aforementioned entrance to the casino, the Boss emerged, with 13 bodyguards behind her, carrying knives of blood.
“Up north, about 5 miles from here,” one of the bodyguards said.
“Oh, we have some company boys…~”
Suddenly, riot cars and other police forces arrived, pointing their weapons towards them.
“Drop all weapons, get on your knees with your hands behind your head!” One of them said.
The Boss grinned and slowly raised her hands, and then flicked them, throwing shards of blood into multiple of the riot men.
She was shot at, but she deflected the bullets and swiped her hand upwards, a spiked hill of blood shot up from the ground, flipping a car and throwing multiple people into the air.
She then created a solid barrier of blood to block further bullets, while her men rushed out to kill the riot men.
​
“Alright then… Release my son. Put him on the defense of our headquarters,” commanded the governor.
His command was followed by many agreements and people rushing around.

Meanwhile, the 14th bodyguard, who had stayed behind to secure the safety of the Boss’ daughters, brought the girls to his home, where he took care of them. He was an old man, a very old man; he had small lines of red in his hair, his eyes of such a dim red that they seemed brown.
His name was Beowulf; he was largely considered the strongest of the team, but many thought he was a fraud, since no one ever saw him fight. And to add to the allegations, he was so old that the thought of him going anywhere near 10km/h was just unheard of.
“I wonder how she’s doing…” Beowulf said in a low, hoarse voice, while cooking omelets for the girls, who were all watching TV. There were 10 of them, ranging from 5 years old to 16.
The two youngest were fighting over what movie to watch, but the oldest, Ealdwulf, snatched the remote from them and put on a Dracula-themed movie.

Back on the streets, the bloodfiend bodyguards were fighting law enforcement; they shot spikes of blood from the ground, which the humans surprisingly deflected.
One of the bodyguards was fighting fiercely with a human, clashing their weapons with a mighty force. Then the bodyguard knocked the human back with a powerful clash of their weapons, making him stumble, and then the bodyguard stepped back and lifted his hand to about face height and slashed it with his knife, making a huge laceration. Blood started to whirl around his hand and transfer to his weapon as he prepared to rush the human, but the stunned and stumbling target regained ground and blocked with his own weapon just as the bodyguard clashed into him. That clash sent the human back into his stumbling, but he again regained footing. The bodyguard rushed again from the opposite side, clashing once more with their weapons, but still the human regained his footing. The bodyguard rushed once more, but holding his knife in reverse and slashing upwards, clashing weapons, but this time the human’s dagger flew into the air. He stumbled and staggered backwards. The bodyguard, now having a clear window for attack, took position and ran at the human while blood coagulated next to him into a spear-like shape, and then he slashed the human, the spear following by impaling him.

He then slid, turned around, and ran at him again, creating another spear and repeating his attack.
The human, now impaled twice, struggled to breathe, unable to move. The bodyguard turned around once more, but this time jumped high into the air and slashed downwards, creating a large opening in the human's chest, and then a large column shot upwards through the ground impaling the human further.
The cut on the bodyguard’s hand had completely healed.
The Boss was supporting her subordinates by shooting spears of blood quickly made by the blood from the dead.
By keeping this up, they quickly advanced through the streets, but around halfway…

“Sir, they're getting closer. Our troops can’t hold them back.”
“... Well… We were fighting rats with rats…”
A guard jumped in, “A more accurate description would be that we were fighting rats with mice.”
“Then send out the cats,” responded the Governor.

And that’s when the bloodfiends found themselves with a big obstacle.
These humans were biomechanically enhanced, produced to be a weapon, and not to be set back by any human weakness.
That's when the bloodfiends started to lose their footing; most of the bodyguards were killed.
Fortunately, reinforcements came as the fourth Kin of The Boss, which were about 20.
The Boss was on the ground, exhausted and injured, when a subordinate came along to help her up.
“I-I can’t do this… I’m not anywhere near as strong as him… What did I think…?” she monologued before facing the subordinate.
“Call my father.” That voice was so commanding that the subordinate stuttered before talking
“W-Who is your father, miss?”
“Beowulf, call him now! And give him this letter!”
The subordinate grabbed the letter, bowed their head for respect, and ran as fast as they could to the house where Beowulf was said to be at.

An exhausted knock was heard on the front door of Beowulf’s house, and as one of the girls went to open it, Beowulf stepped in and opened it first.
“What is it” He said, coughing.
The subordinate took a moment to catch their breath and responded, “The Boss has sent me to request your aid…! And have this,” he gave over the letter.
“Hmmm…” Beowulf grunted and grumbled while reading the letter.
“Stay here and look after the girls,” Then he pulled him close, “If even a scratch is on them, I will personally take action towards you,” he threatened with a low and hoarse voice that sounded like thunder.
“Y-Y-Yes sir!! I won't le-”

Beowulf brushed him aside and walked to a shed. Inside was a great hall, with a giant skeleton of what seemed like a dragon held by strings in the middle of it.
He grabbed a large chest and picked out some old, ragged clothes, quickly changing into them. His physique, although very expired, was quite fit for his age.
Then, once put away the chest, he approached the giant dragon skeleton, placing a ladder to reach its leg.
He grabbed its femur, infusing it with a spiraling red mist, then ripped it off and jumped down.
The blood circling around the large bone shaped it into a rather big greatsword, then it solidified, giving it serrated edges.
He then walked out of the shed, and the subordinate was calling for backup to take care of the girls.

Meanwhile, one human stood out from everyone else; he had a fiery temper and a strong will power. With his strength alone, he was able to push through multiple attacks from the bloodfiends and started killing multiple of them, slowly creeping close to the Boss.
The Boss noticed and started barraging him with dozens of blood spears while backing away. This determined human slashed away all the spears with his sword, getting even closer, and when the Boss was open, he hit her with the pommel of his sword.
She fell to the ground, holding her cheek, while the human lifted his sword to deliver a final blow.

​Then suddenly, echoing through the night, a low, hoarse voice spoke.
“When the wolf’s shadow falls across your path, when you hear the wolf’s tread and the rumble of his hunger…”
​
Right before the human stabbed the Boss, his sword was slashed into pieces by a brownish blur.
A familiar foot slid across the ground, sliding a sword on it as well, and placing it on its shoulders.
“The hunt… has already begun.”
Beowulf lifted his head, his right eye briefly glowing blue before being replaced by a deep red glow.
He walked towards the human, his way of approaching similar to a wolf ready to pounce on its prey.
“I killed one dragon,”
His steps quickened as he slid the sword across the floor.
“How many more must I bury…!”
In the blink of an eye, he covered an impossible distance, slashing the human with such force that he exploded into a pulp, followed by a red mist.
“...Before you stay dead?” he said while holding his greatsword to the side.

He approached his daughter, the Boss, and helped her up.
“My Val… Please go home,” Beowulf said calmly.
“Home? Dad I can’t leave you or my-!”
“Valencia.” He interrupted, stunning the Boss.
“Go. Home. This is not your battle.” His voice was deep and commanding; it would have taken a strong heart not to burst out crying when hearing it.
The Boss reluctantly called 2 bodyguards to her and ran away.
Beowulf, known long ago as The Hunter, turned to face the chaos in front of him and sighed. Then he rushed through the street, slashing the humans apart, leaving clumps of flesh and red mist.
With this new leader guiding the pack, the bloodfiends pushed through until they were about half a mile away from the headquarters of the Governor.
​
Beowulf left the others to fend for themselves while he rushed through to reach the headquarters.
He was met by a single human, buff, towering, holding what seemed like a white wrench-like mechanical weapon.
This human had various bio-mechanical enhancements, white colored large mechanical components, vials running down his arm, a white mask covering his mouth and nose with various tubes connected to it. On his right shoulder, there was a large circular component with a cylinder slowly spinning.
“Mmh,” Beowulf grumbled, looking at the man.
Upon closer inspection, Beowulf’s eyes were different from the average bloodfiend.
His right iris was divided in half, one half a dark red and the other a deep blue.
In his eye was the reflected image of the man before him. He contemplated a little longer, giving out a few more grumbles, and then, preparing his sword to the side, rushed at the human.
Their weapons clashed, the human blocked fairly easily, and was unfazed.
Beowulf jumped back and rushed again with his weapon, but was blocked again.
He jumped back once more and swung his sword, and again, and again, and again, but was blocked each time.
Although the human was losing his footing and was starting to step back. In that moment, the small cylindrical component on his shoulder spun around, started glowing with fire inside, and pressed down into the component it was sitting on.
Suddenly, all those tubes, cavities, and his weapon as well started to produce the same glow, and he hit Beowulf away, pushing him quite far back.
The human’s weapon was vomiting fire through the little cavities placed along its front side; it seems like the human and the weapon are connected in some way.

Beowulf jumped back into action, swinging his sword violently, but the human kept on blocking.
Beowulf was unable to land a single hit, but the human, on the other hand, landed more than expected. Beowulf’s clothes were made with the hide of a dragon, and coated in a protective resin gained from the bone marrow of another large beast, so it offered great protection against blunt attacks, but also swords.
The human knocked Beowulf far away, recoiling his hand back, while his weapon started glowing even brighter. He then swung his wrench-like fire-infused weapon forward, shooting a massive fireball.
Beowulf slowly and confidently recomposed himself and sliced the approaching fireball in half, exploding it to his sides.
In an instant, he rushed at the human, who didn't expect the attack and blocked with his hand, slicing a cut on it.
Beowulf retreated, the blood from the human hand following him and twirling around his sword.
“How is this single human so strong… I’m unable to hit him once, how can I ever make him bleed…” he thought.
The cylindrical component on the human’s shoulder had risen again, spun around, and changed color to a pale grey, producing a cold mist and then pressed down into the component below, infusing all the human's tubes and cavities, replacing the red fiery glow with a flow of mist. His weapon also changed.
Beowulf and the humans both rushed at each other, clashing their weapons violently, the humans' wrench producing blocks of ice at each clash.
By the end of their flurry of attacks, Beowulf’s bear had little bits of ice in it, which he shook away.
They clashed again, this time knocking Beowulf off his balance, but he responded with his own attack, pushing both back.

They both stared at each other for a while, while the ice-cold flow in the human tubes was slowly fading out. Then the cylinder on the human’s shoulder had risen, spun around once more, and changed color to yellow, producing numerous sparks of electricity, then pressed down, filling all his components with a flow of electricity.
The human started swinging their sword violently, shooting out strikes of electricity towards Beowulf, which he barely dodged.
He rushed to close the distance, and they clashed weapons again, producing sparks of electricity, then Beowulf knocked him away and tried to go for a thrust, but the human jumped away, somersaulting behind him.

The human’s weapon started vibrating and crackling with electricity. Beowulf had just enough time to turn around when a massive strike of thunder shot at him, which he blocked with the tip of his greatsword.
Then he deflected it away, making the human lose their stance, and rushed around, hitting the human in the head.
Damage was minimal, but the mask and surrounding headgear snapped off, sliding across the floor.
​
On his knee, the human breathed carefully and deeply while the cylinder on his shoulder started spinning violently.
“....”
“......”
“Beep,” the mechanical parts on his shoulder started making strange noises due to friction with each other, and producing steady beeps.
Suddenly, the cylinder stopped spinning, changed to a deep red, emitting a red energy, and slammed down into the component below.
For a moment, the components around the human’s body sparked with red, and then a large scream burst out, alongside a wave of red energy twirling around him.
Beowulf wasted no time and rushed to slash the human, but he blocked and hit even harder than before. Beowulf stumbled backwards, but the human rushed at him, swinging his mechanical wrench, now infused with red energy, downwards, which Beowulf dodged.
The ground cracked and collapsed under the power of the slam, sending rocks in the air and making the surrounding buildings collapse. They were relatively far away from the Headquarters, so no damage was dealt to that building.
The components changed to fire once again, and he rushed at Beowulf, swinging his wrench with murderous intent.
Beowulf blocked most of the attacks, although his beard caught fire, but then the human’s components changed to electricity, and the shock struck Beowulf to his core. But he fought through and hit the human with a powerful punch, sending him far back.
The human got back up and his components changed to ice, and he ran as fast as humanly possible, slid down across the floor, and froze Beowulf’s feet to the ground, then turned around, his components changing back to that red energy, and jumped high and slammed on Beowulf, which blocked with his greatsword at the last second.
The hit made Beowulf sink into the ground, but the human was not done, and jumped off, his components spinning faster, and hit the distracted Beowulf in the face, sending him flying away.

He slid across the floor, stabbing his sword to the ground to stop his motion.
He kneeled down and took deep breaths.
“No cuts… No bleeding… No blood… I can’t even hit this guy… I knew I should have stretched more in my eighties…” he said under his breath.
“There must be something I missed… Something I forgot… Some artifact I found…”
​
In that moment, he received a flashback.
It was when he was young, in the location where he defeated a dragon long ago.
He was fighting a silver-haired man with red eyes. And was being overpowered. He tried ripping out a bone from the dragon’s skeleton and using it as a sword, but it did him little good.
He saw himself in his same position, exhausted and out of ideas…
“Wait…” his younger self pondered.
“That malevolent spirit I captured…! That would help me! But what was its name… You needed its name to summon it…”
He grumbled, trying to remember.
“OH!”
​
And returning to the present.
Beowulf grinned.
The human started approaching, talking for the first time, “Cat got your tongue, old man?
Heh… I thought this would have been fun… Sending me out, I actually thought I would have gone against a true fighter, not some cranky old man. My name is Roderick, it’s the least I can tell you before you die.”
Beowulf simply chuckled and said in a creepy, hoarse tone, “Oh Dullahan…~!”
Suddenly, a dark twirling energy appeared from below Beowulf. He slowly got up while saying, “Oh, Dullahan… Ride from the shadows, oh Dullahan!”
The twirling darkness, the tendrils, grew more intense while a dark fog started forming behind Beowulf as he resumed, “Accompany me! So that you may, once again, bring them to their demise! Oh, Dullahan!!!” With that last call, the darkness exploded from under Beowulf. A dark fog formed around the area where Beowulf and Roderick were fighting.
And then, from the fog a hoof emerged, and then another, and then a body… with no head.
Beowulf rode the headless horse called Dullahan, which had several dark tendrils swaying in the wind, emerging from its legs and where its head should be, with his sword held to the side, and whispered to no ears, “Oh Dullahan…” his voice crawling with regret “...how long I’ve missed you… Forgive me”
And then the Dullahan started galloping towards Roderick and stomped its feet at him.
Roderick barely dodged, but Beowulf wasn't finished. He rushed with Dullahan and slashed in front of him, hitting Roderick into a wall.

Roderick ran back to the street, dodging other attacks, but then Dullahan rammed its side into him, knocking him away.

Roderick got up, his components glowing red, and rushed at Beowulf.
The roles had changed; it was now Roderick who was clashing mindlessly, trying to land a hit, but eventually it was his downfall.
The Dullahan rammed again into Roderick, pushing him back.
Then, a mix of red and dark tendrils swirled around him and chained him together, and then pulled Roderick up into the air in front of Dullahan, which turned to the side.
Beowulf slashed him once. Twice. And then, with the air itself becoming dark, slashed him once more, Roderick exploding away, having turned into a red pulp with bits of white here and there.
Beowulf and Dullahan galloped through the streets to reach the Headquarters, and once they arrived, Beowulf dismounted, petting Dullahan.
He looked up the building in front of him, the Governor was at the very top, protected by a forcefield.
He put his hand on Dullahan's hide, holding out his greatsword to the opposite side. Dullahan’s darkness crept onto Beowulf’s arm, slowly absorbing the horse and transferring it to the sword.
The sword was surrounded by a dark around, which itself then became surrounded by a deep red one, one of blood, and by another, thinner aura of a deep blue.
Beowulf struggled to hold the greatsword and swung it back, looking straight ahead at the building.
Then he jumped back and slashed upwards diagonally, the building sparkled with light particles, then he slashed diagonally downwards in the opposite direction, forming an X shape. The building sparkled again. Then he swung up his sword vertically, the building sparkling again, and then…
A huge gust of wind rushed through the city, and the building was gone, in three different directions a flat plain of destroyed buildings.
Dullahan reappeared behind Beowulf, and he turned around to pet him.
He pulled out a rotten apple from his coat, “Saved this one for you, boy,” he said, and offered it to the dark tendrils where the horse’s mouth would be.
It slowly darkened and turned to a black dust.
Then Beowulf got on Dullahan, tired, and put his sword behind his back, kept attached with dark tendrils, and rode down the empty streets towards the still fighting bloodfiends and humans.

Me like gore ≡)

Awesome sauce

DULLAHAN!!!

Writing so fire, seriously, this was a good read! Kinda inspired me to start a little series 😱🔥