The wind screamed through the ruined cathedral square, swirling ash and blood into the air as Joshua crouched on all fours, breath ragged, eyes blazing green like wildfire. The twisted bodies of knights littered the ground behind him, limbs severed, faces torn, armor bent and stained dark.
He didn't care.
He was still in that place of rage. Still in that place where thought was overpowered by instinct. Where names didn't matter. Where all that existed was threat and survival.
And in front of him, two threats.
Raphael, standing tall, golden eyes glowing like twin suns, hand gripping the hilt of a massive claymore strapped across his back.
And Jack, shirtless now, muscles taut, brown wolf ears rising from his scalp, tail flicking behind him. His red eyes glinted with fury as he dropped two massive weights from his wrists and ankles, each crashing into the blood-slick stone with the force of falling anvils. Then he drew his curved scimitar with a sharp shing, its edge polished and eager for blood.
Joshua growled low and deep.
Then launched.
A blur of black and green, claws streaking through the air, Joshua moved first, straight for Raphael.
CLANG!!
Raphael met the beast mid-air, drawing his claymore in a smooth upward arc. Steel met claw, sparks exploded as Joshua's momentum drove them both backward. Raphael skidded across the stone, heels digging in, sword locked against Joshua's claw.
"Too slow!" Jack snarled from the side.
SHT-CHAK!!
Jack was already in motion, a blur of brown fur and silver steel, scimitar slashing across Joshua's ribs. Blood spurted. Joshua howled, twisting and throwing a kick at Jack's chest. Jack ducked low, spun, and delivered a powerful sweep kick that caught Joshua's leg, sending him off-balance.
Raphael roared, spinning his claymore overhead and slamming it down like a thunderbolt.
BOOM!
Joshua barely dodged, the blade striking the ground where his skull had been a second ago, splintering the stone with the impact.
He retaliated, claws flashing.
One slash aimed at Jack's throat, blocked with the flat of the scimitar.
Another aimed at Raphael's side, met with a steel parry that rang like a bell.
The three danced in a whirlwind of death.
Joshua's claws raked through the air in savage arcs, but the duo was too fast now.
Jack moved like lightning, darting in and out, every slash of his curved blade aimed at tendon, throat, or spine. His wolf tail lashed, balancing him mid-spin as he flipped over Joshua's sweeping tail and landed behind him.
He jabbed forward.
SSSCHK!
The scimitar pierced Joshua's shoulder.
Joshua roared, spun, and backhanded Jack with a bone-cracking thud, sending him flying into a wall.
But Raphael was already there.
"Divine Flash!" he shouted, golden energy exploding along the length of his blade.
WHOOOSH!
The claymore struck like a beam of sunlight, crashing into Joshua's chest and sending him sprawling across the courtyard, his body skipping like a stone.
Joshua rolled to his feet, blood dripping from his mouth, ribs cracked. He dashed again, this time with a blood-curdling scream, claws outstretched.
Jack rejoined the fight, eyes glowing like twin rubies. He met Joshua's dash with a full spin, scimitar moving like a silver blur.
CLANG! CLANG! SCHINK!
Blades and claws clashed.
Joshua lunged, Jack dodged under his arm, slashing the beast's abdomen.
Raphael attacked from above, Joshua blocked with crossed arms but the force drove him to one knee.
"You nothing but a monster, Joshua!" Raphael shouted. "I am going to put you down!"
"I… am stronger than both of you!" Joshua bellowed, blood flying from his jaws.
Jack circled, breathing hard. "You were our friend once... now you're just another animal who needs to be put down."
Joshua lunged again, this time a flurry of claw slashes too fast to see.
Jack blocked one, dodged two, then took a slash across his chest. Blood splattered.
Raphael intercepted the next claw, locking blades.
"Now die," he said quietly, then smashed his forehead into Joshua's face.
Joshua reeled.
Then Raphael's claymore plunged into his thigh.
"AGHHHHH!!" Joshua screamed, crumpling.
He swiped wildly, catching Jack on the shoulder. Jack winced, staggered, but slashed across Joshua's back in retaliation.
The beast was now on all fours again, heaving, bleeding from dozens of wounds. His fur was slick with gore. His tail drooped. Even his glowing eyes seemed dimmer.
Still he rose.
Still he growled.
Still he prepared to fight.
Jack and Raphael stood side by side now, swords raised.
"On three. We end this." Raphael said.
"Together." Jack said.
Raphael nodded."One..."
"Two..." Jack focused his eyes.
Both shouted in unison."THREE!"
They moved as one.
SHING!
SWOOSH!
Their blades carved twin arcs in the air, glowing with sacred and bestial power, slashing down toward Joshua's neck from opposite sides.
Joshua stared up at them.
Time slowed.
Twin blades screamed down from either side, Raphael's silver claymore and Jack's gleaming scimitar, both aimed with perfect, brutal precision toward Joshua's exposed neck.
But just before they struck...
CLANG!!
A monstrous shockwave exploded through the air as both blades came to a dead halt.
Held.
Each blade locked in the claws of a boy who hadn't been there a second before.
Rowdy.
The young teenage vampire stood between them, shoulders trembling, his crimson eyes glowing like twin embers in the darkness. The force of the two blades pushed into his palms, slicing deep, the edge of Raphael's claymore grinding through tendon, Jack's scimitar biting into bone.
Blood sprayed from both hands, but Rowdy didn't flinch.
"...He's not dying today," Rowdy growled, voice like gravel soaked in fire.
Jack's eyes widened. "ROWDY...?! What the hell are you..."
WHAM!!
Rowdy moved faster than anyone could blink. His leg snapped out in a blinding roundhouse kick.
Raphael tried to raise his blade in time.
CRACK!!!
The impact sent Raphael flying, smashing into Jack mid-dash, the force bowling them both across the courtyard. They hit the ground hard, skidding across the blood-drenched flagstones.
Raphael coughed and rolled to his feet, eyes still wide with shock. Jack caught himself in a low crouch, lips curling into a growl.
"What the hell, Rowdy?!" he barked. "That thing just massacred twenty men!"
But Rowdy wasn't listening.
He was turned toward Joshua now.
The monster was still on all fours, growling low, shoulders twitching with tension, green eyes dimmed but wild. Blood soaked his hair. His breath came in ragged bursts.
Rowdy walked slowly to him.
"...Joshua."
A low, warning snarl came from the beast's throat.
Rowdy knelt beside him, ignoring the blood gushing from his palms.
"I'm here. It's okay now."
Joshua's claws dug into the ground. His tail flicked with uncertainty. But something in Rowdy's tone, the calm, the authority, cut through the fog in his brain.
Rowdy reached out and gently placed a bloodied hand on Joshua's trembling head.
"I won't let them lay another finger on you."
Joshua's breath caught.
The growling stopped.
His glowing green eyes flickered, then faded back to dull silver. His body relaxed slightly. Then he collapsed to his knees, face streaked with blood and shame.
"I'm sorry…" Joshua whispered, voice hoarse. "I… I didn't want to… I lost control. I killed them all."
Rowdy caught him as he slumped forward, unconscious.
"I know," Rowdy said softly, laying him gently on the ground, like one would a sleeping child. "You're safe now."
Footsteps echoed across the stone.
Sam.
She had arrived at last, dressed in a white cloak now stained with red. Her hands covered her mouth in horror as she took in the scene, the broken bodies, severed limbs, crushed skulls, blood-soaked stone. The silence of the dead.
She shook her head, staggering back.
"Oh gods… what happened here?"
Raphael pointed his blade toward Rowdy, fury boiling in his golden eyes.
"You're protecting that?! That monster butchered an entire squad of holy knights! Look at what he did!"
Jack joined him. "Are you seriously defending him? After all this?"
Rowdy didn't even turn to face them.
He simply stood there, one hand still protectively hovering over Joshua's unconscious body, his crimson eyes unreadable.
"I told you," he said quietly. "No one is touching him again."
"You're insane," Raphael hissed.
But then...
CLINK.
A sword scraped across stone.
All eyes turned.
Grace.
She was on her feet, somehow, body broken, face smeared in blood, one eye swollen shut. Her armor hung off her in pieces, drenched in gore. And yet, she stood. Her hand clutched the hilt of a damaged, jagged sword.
She limped forward, step by step, dragging her ruined body toward Joshua.
"He's a monster…" she whispered. "He has to die… It's our duty. It's justice..."
Jack stepped forward. "Grace, stop. You're not in any shape to..."
"I DON'T CARE!!" she screamed, stumbling closer. "I'll kill him… I'll kill him with my own hands!"
She moved past Raphael. Past Jack. Past Sam, who could only watch in frozen disbelief.
She reached Joshua's body.
Her blade rose.
Her hand shook but it rose.
"Die, monster."
But before the blade could fall...
SHLICK!!!
Grace froze.
Rowdy's hand was embedded in her skull.
His clawed fingers had driven straight through her face, bursting out the other side in a spray of blood and brain matter.
She didn't even scream.
Just twitched once. Twice.
Then collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.
Rowdy let go.
Her body fell beside Joshua's with a sickening thud.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then screams.
"ROWDY!!!" Jack shouted.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Raphael roared.
Sam gasped, a hand flying to her mouth in horror. "She was… she was already down…"
But Rowdy just stood there, clawed hand dripping with Grace's blood, red eyes locked on the trio with a calm, cold stillness.
"I said…"
He raised his arm again, blood cascading from his claws.
"No one lays another finger on Joshua."
Jack, Raphael, and Sam stared at him in disbelief. In silence.
The only sound was the drip… drip… drip… of blood on stone.
The courtyard had gone from a battlefield...
... to an execution ground.
And Rowdy had drawn the final line.