From a Pool of Blood

Hunter blinks and slowly opened his eyes. In front of him was Circe who had untied her loose braid such that her hair flowed down to her shoulders and was wearing a red dress, holding a red longsword.

The sprite looked around, his hands were in a bind behind his back and they were both standing in a large pool of what looked to be blood.

"You've finally awakened," she said. "I feared I might have killed you with that strike," she added.

"Where are we?" Hunter asked.

"Where the prophecy would be completed; where the Dark Majesty would return as stated in the scriptures: 'He would return in a cave where magic works not, from a pool of blood where he'd be welcomed back to the world by his priestess who would be wearing a dress that looks the same as the pool and the blade'," she stated.

Hunter looked around the cave to see that there were magic negation crystals in the walls of the cave.

"This is the place Hunter and this blade ..." She raised the sword high, "... would be the catalyst for his return ... After months of experiments on werewolves and hybrids, I perfected the spell to bring him back," Circe said. "Once I kill you with this sword, the Dark Majesty would finally return."

"You're crazy!" Hunter said.

"I'm a believer," she countered. "You don't understand the gravity of the situation. The greatest man who lived and will ever live is about to return to create heaven for all mystics ... A shame you wouldn't be alive to see it," she added.

"How are you even still alive? I watched you die right before my eyes," said Hunter.

"That's true but then I came back. It doesn't matter how many times you kill me, I'll come back every single time," Circe stated.

[I see. I should have noticed sooner]

'What is it?'

[Circe bonded her essence to your body, as long as you're alive, she too will remain in this world]

'When did she do that?'

[It's a spell that can only be done while mimicking a life-producing act]

'So basically you're saying --'

[She cannot be killed]

"We'll see about that."

Suddenly Sasha appears in front of Circe and attempts to slice her neck with a dagger, the yellow-eyed woman's eyes widen in surprise but she manages to turn her body before the blade reaches her, the ecru-haired girl only managing to cut Circe on the shoulder. The purple-eyed lady did not appear as a blue figure, rather she looked like a real person, dressed in a peplum-like black blazer, shorts, and thigh-high grey socks of uneven length on both sides of her legs.

Sasha did not attack anymore, jumping backward and cutting the chains around Hunter's wrist. The sprite then outstretched his hand and the purple-eyed girl hands the dagger to Hunter before disappearing.

"You don't understand Hunter, you can't kill me," she warned.

"Watch me."

The sprite charges forward and Circe frowns, clearly irritated with Hunter's persistence before tightening her grip on her longsword and charging at the teal green-eyed boy.

Circe raises the blade above her head before swinging it at the sprite who moved to the side avoiding the attack. He spins the blade in his hand, adjusting his grip to attack but the light red-haired woman swings her longsword furiously aiming for the sprite's head, Hunter bends backward and the sword flies over his head.

The sprite then attempts to stab the dark mystic but she blocks it with the hilt of her longsword. Hunter quickly moved to the side before she acts, the teal green-eyed boy then thrust forward but Circe also moves to the side avoiding him. He doesn't waste any time though, swinging sideways and forcing her to duck.

Circe moves to the front of the dark-haired boy, throwing her longsword to her left hand and swinging it towards him, the tan-skinned boy throws his head back and watched as it flew just inches away from his eyes.

Hunter frowns, spins the blade around his hands, and thrust forward but Circe grabbed him by the wrist stopping the attack.

The both of them tried pulling but neither would budge. Hunter released the blade from his hand, the sprite then forced his way out of the yellow-eyed woman's claws then grabbed the sword before it falls, and slash the light red-haired woman's wrist.

Circe withdrew and groaned in pain and took a glance at the damage the sprite had caused, she swing the sword at Hunter who simply moves back to avoid it, the yellow-eyed woman quickly followed her attack with another; a kick to the head of the sprite but a creature appeared between them and blocked it.

The creature was pastel purple in color and had a humanlike figure. He was more than seven feet tall, had long fangs that were visible despite his mouth being closed, wings on his back, ram-like horns, fish-like scales around his shoulders, midriff, and some part of the legs. Additionally, he had a small lavender-colored crystal in the middle of his forehead.

The creature was a demon, one of the many of its kind Merlin and Joseph managed to take during their soul-snatching run. It was like the creature was actually there and he blocked the attack with his left forearm, using his right hand to steady the arm.

Hunter moved to attack but Circe added more force to her attack and hit the demon away.

Two more demons form behind the sprite, one of them looked like a human from the waist up but the rest of her body was snakelike and she wielded a trident; the other demon was scarlet-haired, with legs similar to that of a cheetah and wielded a dadao.

The demon with the trident slithered forward and thrust her weapon at Circe, the yellow-eyed dark mystic spun and avoided the attack before attempting to cut Hunter with her longsword but the sprite blocks it with his dagger.

Circe jumps back as the demon with the cheetah legs moved to attack her, the snake demon meanwhile turned and swung her spear at the light red-haired woman forcing the latter to block while still propelling herself backward.

Sparks fly each time their weapons would meet but none of them would stop. Circe charges forward and both demons moved to the opposite side while Circe attacks the sprite. He twists and jumps and turns as he blocks her attacks before pushing her backward and charging at her with the cheetah demon by his side.

Circe stepped away from the two and quickly noticed that the third demon is missing, she turned to see the snake demon behind her, thrusting her spear at her, the light red-haired woman quickly spun but before she could block the attack with her longsword, the demon uses her trident to cut Circe's back, making a long wound along the light red-haired woman's spine. Circe quickly pushes the demon away before she could do any more damage while Hunter swiftly tries to take advantage of the distraction, stepping forward to stab the yellow-eyed woman.

Circe parried and the two exchanged sides such that were each standing in the other's starting position. However, before the former could do anything, the cheetah demon moved swiftly and cut the side of the dark mystic's stomach.

Circe does not scream or groan from the pain, she turns quickly and blocks the snake demon's attack then turned again to parry the cheetah demon's attack but the latter follows her attack with two more attacks that proved too fast for the yellow-eyed woman, the last attack catching Circe on the neck.

The light red-haired dark mystic exclaimed before raising her left leg for a kick while planting her right leg on the ground, and performing a 360 spin hitting away the two demons, the move caused the blood in the pool to splash everywhere. Hunter raised his hand to stop the blood from getting to his face.

Circe races towards the sprite with renewed vigor and increased speed, dashing forward and catching the teal green-eyed boy by surprise. She wields the sword with both hands and swings it upwards and towards his head.

The demon from earlier, the one with the pastel purple skin appeared behind the sprite to block the attack, using his left forearm to stop the blade from reaching Hunter's face and his right hand to grab the blade towards its end, the demon's blood spilling from grabbing the sharp edge. Hunter also managed to move, using his dagger to stop the longsword from reaching his neck, the dagger glowing red as he does so.

Hunter's blade began cutting through Circe's longsword, the dark-haired boy notice this and increased the force behind his attack but Circe's strength overpowers his when she pushed him and his demon backward. The yellow-eyed woman then attempts her 360 spin kick again but both men avoid it, Hunter using his dagger to stab the dark mystic just above the calf.

Circe frowns and swings her longsword at Hunter who ducks and slides away from her, placing his hand on the ground to turn and stop the continuous contact.

Circe balances her body on her legs before charging forward, Hunter races forward at top speed and the two meet in the middle with a thunderous 'clang'.

They followed their attack with more of the same; each parrying the other's attack. Circe eventually jumps away from the boy before dashing forward with increased speed, the sprite managed to move at the last minute, barely avoiding her.

Circe turns and rushes the sprite but a Demon appeared between them and blocks the attack with a spear but the yellow-eyed dark mystic's speed and power causes the longsword to cut through the spear and divide the demon into two.

The yellow-eyed woman propels herself into the air, spinning, and launching her blade at Hunter. The pastel purple-skinned demon appears and blocks the attack by crossing his forearm while Circe was still in the air.

Hunter spins from between the two of them and as the director of the public safety and demon control agency falls, he twists and turns and drives his glowing dagger into the side of the light red-haired woman's stomach.

Circe staggered backward, swinging her blade aimlessly as she placed her other hand on the wound from which blood had already begun flowing.

Hunter felt pity for the dark mystic and just as he was about to stand down and throw down his weapon, the image of Zoe dying in his arms flashed in his eyes and the sprite's eyebrows furrowed. He formed more demons and other classes of mystical beings using the souls he took from Merlin.

As the creatures approached her, Circe took the little time she had to catch her breath before holding her longsword with both hands and began furiously cutting and slicing her attackers. When they surrounded her, Circe attempted her 360 spin attack using her longsword instead of her leg as the weapon of attack.

Hunter who was also in the range of the yellow-eyed woman's offensive quickly raised his hands high in the sky, the pastel purple-skinned demon who was flying backward grabbed the sprite's hand and takes him away as Circe slaughtered all the creatures around her.

The pastel purple-skinned demon set Hunter down several feet away from the light red-haired dark mystic. Bodies of the creatures she had slashed and slaughtered fly about and into the pool of blood.

Circe's breathing was now very much audible as she struggled to catch her breath. Hunter formed more creatures using the souls he had taken from Merlin. The creatures appear in tens then they were up to a hundred surrounding the yellow-eyed woman.

"You can prolong it all you want but you cannot stop destiny. It is my destiny to bring the Dark Majesty back to life just as it is yours to die so he can live again."

The sprite notices the yellow-eyed woman's body was now glowing a reddish orange-gold fiery color.

The pastel purple demon quickly moved to protect the sprite, wrapping his huge wings around the dark-haired boy.

The action proves useless when the light red-haired woman explodes, blowing away all the demons and leaving the sprite on the floor with third-degree burns all over his body.

'I - I'm not healing ... Waleed, I'm not healing.' The sprite started losing consciousness. "Wa ..."

Waleed sighs before taking over the injured body of Hunter.

[What a nuisance]

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