C101: End to it all Pt8, Great Cleansing
9/15/26
------------------------------------------------------------
SLICK Thump
Another body falls as I pull my hand out. A 3D glass mural crumbles to ash in hands. Another watches some distance away as they sigh at the sight. Hands bound together in prayer, in hopes that the creatures would never be reborn. Never have to suffer again. Never die again.
I slowly make my way back to the gun tower of Old Yharnam as I sit down beside my adoptive brother Djura as we wait. And wait. And wait but the beast patient whose soul I shattered does reappear again. I even ask if he wants me to trigger the effect of the dream which he nods.
Some time later, I come back and Djura has a serene expression on his face. Though it is mellowed out by sitting beside him and seeing tears on his face.
With his lip quivering he slowly mutters, "you did it little brother. You did" He grabs my shoulder and rocks it a bit.
"Yea" I utter as we lock eyes. Djura looks away as he releases me. He looks out into the dark and decrepit surroundings of Old Yharnam. A place he had defended for years against other hunters. Even losing his own partner to madness. He had been one of the first I had 'released' for Djura.
We then 'released' the remaining beasts in this part of the city, one by one, waiting, triggering the dream to see if they revive. Yet, not one did, this continued until the whole population was now eradicated.
"Okay, im ready" Djura states with a firmness in his voice as he is about to take off his hat and jacket. "Keep them on. I have a copy already" I flash him with the ashen hunter hat, aka the grey wolf cap, and the rest of the burnt hunters set unique to him that I got from the insight store.
"Haa, okay" Djura pulls me into a hug. "Sweet Dreams Brother" He says and I reciprocate the hug. "Sweet Dreams"
SCHWIP-squelch SNAP
I stab my hand through his chest and pull out his heart and soul in one go. Granting him a…quick and merciful death. At least I hope it was. I know from experience that visceral attacks hurt quite a bit and the agony is greater with the soul damage but I hope that truly won't be hurt anymore.
Swish, FWOOOM
High atop the gun tower, I set up a burial mound for him made out of various wooden chairs I got my hands on , resting him on the very top of the chair fort before summoning a fire and setting it ablaze. I offer my dear brother a prayer before waiting it out for everything to turn to ash before taking some that I was able to recognize as 'his' ashes and put them in a bag, a memento. It's something we had done for our other siblings. I buried all of mine back at the original hunters workshop shortly before heading out to the hamlet alongside the church.
I've recently collected them again to keep with me. I then went on my rampage across all of Yharnam, at least what I could.
Starting in Central Yharnam, I cleared out the sewers and even used chaos on both the dogs and birds to wipe out their souls too. With the dogs, I had to at least do it gently, out of respect, they were originally good boys and girls and turning into beasts wasn't their fault. But I'm totally faulting the crows for their bullshit.
From there, I entered the chapel, or at least tried to. In the sewers of the church, I found something. Well, rather than sewers, it's the water boarded storage room underneath the chapel. I found the prostitute Arianna. She has a terrified expression on her face as an umbilical cord connects her to a malformed baby which is lying down in the water, releasing breathless wails that target the soul, akin to frenzy.
I've already dropped my insight down to the mid 40s by buying everything I could from the insight store. The cuties certainly were happy to see me shop with them after i've avoided this group this whole time due to not having a limit on my insight.
Regardless, I have a few options before me here. With my presence here now, I remember Arriana's original fate. If I had gotten here earlier, maybe around the time I took down the old man when he killed the nun. I would have spared the prostitute her fate by trying to do some crazy magic surgery to save her but at this point. Death is actually the mercy here as she has long lost her mind.
Arianna is stuck in a loop of regret and misery, even as I stand before her with my cleaver raised. I swipe down and sever the cord. The prostitute freezes and with a trembling gaze, she looks down at her mutated 'child' and finds it dead. She looks up at me with a confused expression as someone like her knows that she should be dead here too.
I coated my blade in chaos corruption and struck the mental and physical connection between her and the eldritch baby, letting her live. I take out a sedative and feed it to her.
"I…I.. what?" She asks in confusion, she briefly mutters after being force fed the sedative that allows her to regain her mentality, even if only for a brief moment. Her body still trembles, the memory of what she experienced still there but momentarily pushed to the back as her whole attention is smothered in the bloody scent of all those I had killed as well as the remnant beastly scent potently coming off me.
"Blood scented lord, why have you saved me?" As she speaks, I recall how she had shown interest in me early on when I was in the same physique state that I am now back then. I recall the dress I was given by the maidens of the Cainhurst castle and how she was wearing the same one.
"Did you know Maria, back in Cainhurst?" I ask her one simple question. She freezes at the mention of Cainhurst but seeing that I haven't outright killed her even though she can tell I know. She ponders for a few moments, her hands tremble before speaking.
"I….I did not. Only stories of the huntress who betrayed us. A vile blood noble lady who was once the queen's own relative running away from the land they owned. Only returning later to be one amongst many hunters, though tied to a truly disgusting man by the name of Gehrman before disappearing a few years ago" She recounts all she can but her own sources end a few years ago when she too left Cainhurst and chose to mingle amongst the 'rabble' to heal and bed others for protection.
Her head quickly begins to droop as if heavily sleepy. I can tell the sedative is starting to wear off and thus stab my hand into her chest and tear out her soul too.[1]
With her body fading away like all others, i made my return to cathedral ward. I check on to the final two, still half sane members here. Iosefka and the church dweller. Neither looks to be in good condition. The dweller is practically lying prone on the floor rather than kneeling like he was before.
"How are you two holding up? I question them both. The dweller cant move to even speak and Iosefka is slow to lift her head but she has a triumphant look on her face. The wide grin is a monument to all her hard work. I can hear her muttering. "I did it. I did it." I look down at her hand where she loosely holds a vial in her hand.
I pick it up and examine it.
[Vialed cure to Beasthood: a shimmering concoction of minerals that undermine effects of beasthood to the point of curing minor effects and granting higher resistance to further effects of beasthood]
"Wow. good work. Granted everyone is going crazy now, but congratulations, your own achievements shall be acknowledged by all that remain." I use the back of my hand to rub away a tear that drips down her face as a portion of clarity returns to her face.
"I…didnt…do this…for…uh. Recognition. I was …too slow. I couldn't…. save more. Haaaah haaaah" Her breathing grows ragged as she finishes speaking, I see her smile become greatly more maddened as her fingernails dig into her own flesh, causing deep stabs and blood to flood out from the wound.
The chapel dweller still says nothing and so I grant them both a reprieve from all this suffering, forever more.
I then climbed up the healing church tower before I returned to the old workshop, got those ashes of fallen siblings and friends before I then dropped to the bottom of the broken tower where I cleared out all the remaining hunters, kidnappers and positively mutilated the tentacle bitch in that one corner.
There is also the upper cathedral ward which I haven't touched yet but honestly, im just gonna leave Ebrietas be. She isn't harming anyone or anything. If I had any reason to go there, it would be to let the children be released and put down the rest of the church folk like the dogs they are.
Though that's for later, for now, I finish my rounds of central Yharnam and while there are the other remnants leading to the other areas. I'll handle those in time. Otherwise speaking, this has fulfilled the all clear of Cathedral Ward.
It was at this time that I made my way back to Old Yharnam to fulfill my promise to my brother in ending the suffering of the beasts of Old Yharnam. You already know how that went.
I slowly make my way up the stairs back to the cathedral ward when a blade comes at my face upon exiting the crypt-like tunnel. As if in slow motion, I see the blade swiping towards me, I simply lean forward, holding my hat closer to myself as the blade passes barely an inch above my neck but leaving me untouched.
"Good to see you again Alfred. Have you been well?" I lift my head as I fully exit the path up and turn to look at the church hunter, student of Martyr Logarius who had initially helped me against the Blood Starved Beast, which later became Gerald.
"Indeed it is to you as well. I was hoping to run into you at some point so that I could kill you." Fury is apparent on his face as he snaps his weapon in his sheathe and changes it's trick state into the full force Kirkhammer.
"Oh? And why do you say that?" I say with a slightly musing tone.
"I had my suspicions back when you called for my aid against that beast locked within the chapel of Old Yharnam. I had to purview the old records but in time, I realized what you were. You hid yourself well but your time of reckoning is at hand, putrid Vileblood."
"Uhuh, cool story bud. To be fair, I didn't choose this power myself. My sister who used to be a healing church nun was the one who had given the vial of vile-blood to the doctor that administered it to me when I was in a years long coma" I go out of my way to explain, not for a sense of redemption but rather to show that people are set by circumstances born of choices by other people. Not always our own.
"Hmmph, I'm sure she must have died a grueling and painful death and if she hasnt then ill do it myself" As he finishes speaking, he feels a strong gust of wind blow over him, sending him sliding away by 10 whole feet. I still land my hand on his shoulder with a tight grip as a feral grin crosses my face.
"You see, that's the shit that doesnt fly around here. You never threaten a man's family, even if they have already died or not. Though I do have to thank you for reminding me that I still have to take down the original church hunter turned Cleric Beast that's out there, best for last as they say." I beat him up heavily with my pure fists before tearing out his soul.
With all that sorted out, I continue on as before, I make my way to Hemwick Charnel Lane. Previously I used to avoid this place like the plague after 'creating' the sweet young hemwick witch and 'being gently persuaded' by her to use my corpse as a sex doll.
"Quick question. Does seeing me as I am now spark some sort of interest in you? Just as it did when we first met and you relieved yourself on my Rigor Mortus onset corpse?"
"Some. you tasted good back then and im sure you still will now" I speak out randomly. Mostly because I can tell by this point, I can tell that regularly follows me as one of the only things to actually catch her attention. I'm sure she could even show up in the dream if she wanted to but doesnt because of ... .reasons.
She speaks out, appearing on a tombstone in my path, licking her lips. Her solar flare patterned eyes watch my every move as if appreciating a work of art, or perhaps a cake being made.
"Sorry lady, but im married now" I tell her, waving the wedding band on my hand.
"Hmm, yes, shame. Anyways, Widow looks good on you. Delectable even." She says with her persistent sultry tone and I activate my chaos barrier only for her to disappear in that very same moment.
"Huh, interesting" I simply say in response to her reaction before I get to work on clearing out all the villagers, birds and executioners. I even stop by cainhurst for a bit and clear them out too before standing before the cainhurst queen.
"Oh? Welcome back darling, I didn't notice you coming in over the sound of my maids and guardians screaming in agony. Truly, you have the heart of a hunter in the end. Have you come to finish me off too?"
"I know you have some form of immortality, I know that If your body was crushed here, I could take a chunk and bring it somewhere else where you could resurrect. So instead" I bring out a wooden chair from my inventory, setting it down and then sitting on it myself.
"How about you tell me a story?" I make a request.
"This is quite the elaborate ruse you are using, dear moon scented hunter….or would you be a beastly hunter now?"
"Doesnt matter what you refer to me. I'm simply me, and no, this is not a ruse. I simply want to hear a story, a story about a certain person and their time here."
"Asking a woman to tell you about another woman? Quite heartless you are." The queen states but a hint of amusement is apparent on her body movements.
"Yes, I am. Now, I want to hear what Maria was like growing up. Tell me all you can."
-----------------------------------------------------------
Word Count = 2744
[1] Technically with the whole Arrianna situation. Early on in the story, I had thought out the whole situation of how I was gonna operate on the umbilical cord of an 'invisible' baby that was causing her agony to try to save her. I made these details to such a degree that as I was writing this, I had to backtrack to see if I actually did do anything describing her in this situation but couldn't find it so I got sad and the magic operation I mention during this section is a homage to that memory.