Chapter 32 - Clash of Blood 

It was difficult in the dim light to make out the shapes that hung from the ceiling, but as their eyes adjusted to the darkness they saw the limp forms of hands and feet dangling from above. Nearly a dozen human corpses hung suspended from the ceiling from thick black vines. The entire ceiling was covered in a black mass of vines and frond-like leaves that oscillated in an unseen wind. A forest of disembodied eyeballs hung down from the ends of fronds, all of them focused on the blood filled altar below as they swayed back and forth.

Directly above the altar, hanging upside down from the highest point in the ceiling was a man with bedraggled black hair that obscured his bearded face. He was so tightly wrapped in a cocoon of vines that only his head could be seen. He hung completely still, blood slowly seeping out of his body before dripping drop by drop into the bowl below.

Hakuya could not tell if the man was still alive, but what he guessed was that the constant drip of blood into the bowl kept the ritual alive by acting as a continuous supply of aetheric energy. This was an extremely primitive and savage way of harvesting aether - by siphoning it directly out of the blood of humans.

As the blood dripped into the bowl, the aetheric energy of the man was corrupted into the Demonic domain. Each drop of blood pulsed at Hakuya’s spiritual intuition, like a slow, foreboding heart beat.

Reid glanced over at Hakuya, making a gesture to suggest toppling the altar. Hakuya shook his head. Without knowing the nature of the ritual, disrupting it in such a direct matter could have disastrous consequences. It could even bring the wrath of a God down upon them.

Although he was not familiar with ancient or demonic ritual practices in particular, the basic foundation of every ritual was the same. Rituals at a minimum required a focus, a source of aetheric energy and a conduit. The focus was usually a spiritual item made of a material associated with the ritual’s domain. Hakuya’s brass bowl was his focus for potion making. He was certain that the large bone bowl on the altar was the focus for the ritual. The source of aetheric energy was fresh human blood. As for the conduit - that was the person holding the ritual. 

Given that the ritual was currently underway, that person must be nearby!

“Ah-“ 

The voice of a young man caused Hakuya to jerk his head to the side. Out of one of the side room’s doors emerged a young man with short blond hair, sunken eyes and thin lips. He was wearing a set of dark maroon hooded monk’s robes tied at the waist with a heavy braided cord. From what Hakuya could tell he did not carry a weapon on him. Nor was there any corruptive aura emanating from him. His hood was down, and he had an expression of concern on his face as he stepped out into the room. Hakuya estimated that he was no older than twenty years of age.

“Excuse me! You can’t be here.” He called out, as if they had trespassed onto a perfectly normal scene.

“Why not?” Reid asked calmly. He had deftly held his revolver behind his back so that it remained hidden from the lad’s view.

“I’m watching over a very important process. I’m afraid you’ll have to leave.”

“What process is that?” Reid asked, maintaining an overtly leisure tone.

Hakuya was almost taken aback by how normal the conversation was continuing, given that they were standing underneath the corpses of bodies that had had their blood drained into a bowl carved from bone. A quick glance at Reid’s eyes told him that the hunter was deadly serious beneath the friendly facade. 

He realized that the Hunter was currently subduing the emotions of the boy, preventing him from panicking or feeling danger. Reid had deliberately hidden his weapon once the boy entered to prevent it from causing an unwanted reaction - No, Reid had been using Hunter’s Soothe since the start of their approach. This is why he initially only casually held his weapon, to avoid the appearance of aggression as much as possible.

“Sorry, I’m not allowed to tell - You really need to go.” The boy looked agitated as he stepped forward decisively to put himself between them and the altar.

“Who told you not to tell?” Reid asked. There was a hint of sharpness in his voice as he increased his focus to prevent the young man’s emotions from escalating.

“It’s my Master, he should be back soon, he’s the-“ The boy suddenly cut off as his eyes looked away.

Reid and Hakuya’s spiritual perception triggered as they sensed the presence of another person in the room.

“Master?” The young man looked around, as if he had heard a voice. “No, I don’t know who these people are-“

Reid did not hesitate as he raised his revolver and fired it at the young man. The sudden action startled the boy as he dodged the shot with exceptional speed. Had Reid aimed for his head, he would certainly have successfully evaded the attack. However Reid expected this and instead aimed for the boy’s chest. The bullet penetrated the boy’s arm and splintered upon impact, mincing his flesh just below the left shoulder as a spray of blood exploded into the air.

“Augh!” The boy collapsed to the floor, clutching at his arm.

Reid took a step forward, the barrel of his gun glinting in the light of the candles as he raised it towards the boy’s head and pulled the trigger.

At the split second that the shot was fired, Hakuya saw a blade of white steel fly out from the ground out of the splatters of the boy’s blood. It flew straight up and sliced the bullet with a shrill metallic ring. The glowing white blade launched out of the blood followed by the hilt, hand and the rest of a tall figure with flowing dark maroon robes. He landed gracefully in front of the boy, with several meters between him and the duo. They sized each other up in the blink of an eye.

The monk’s face was hidden by a dark hood that was full of an impenetrable shadow. All that could be seen were grim, pale lips and a pointed chin with a long thin beard. A demonic aura radiated from his body as he held the sword straight up in front of him with both hands on the hilt.

“Reid! Watch out!” Hakuya exclaimed as energy suddenly congealed within the sword. It flashed briefly before the monk slashed the white blade diagonally. Both men dove in separate directions, the crash of wood and furniture erupting as the air was cleaved through their original spots through to the wall behind them.

Reid fired twice as he dove to the side. The monk expected this attack and began to dodge with superhuman speed, but he failed! As Hakuya ducked the blade’s ranged strike he reached out with his hand and activated his Disciple power - Stasis! Time came to a complete, abrupt stop for the monk as the bullets tore through his head, blasting blood and gray matter out of the back of his hood. His body hung in the air for a brief second before collapsing in a heap. 

“No!” The young man screamed.

Reid and Hakuya rose to their feet as they took a step towards the boy, but immediately they felt that something was wrong.

A thousand whispers erupted in the air around them as a blood mist began rising from the ground. Reid fired the last two shots in his revolver into the  monk but the body suddenly liquefied into a thick bloody pool along with its robes and the white sword.

“Now can I break the altar?!” Reid’s cool composure suddenly broke as he drew his sword from the sheath on his back and sheathed his gun in a single motion.

“Do it!” Hakuya yelled.

An eruption of blood spewed from the corpses on the ceiling as Reid shot his hand forward. A screaming eruption of fireworks flew out of his hand as they spread out and exploded across the room. The whole room began to shake and sway as red and orange flames burst against the furniture and mass of corpses and eyes on the ceiling. 

The robed body of the monk suddenly materialized in the center of the room, parrying the brunt of the attack against the altar with his luminous blade. 

Hakuya and Reid were already dashing out of the door as the rain of blood spewed forward after them. Their clothes and flesh sizzled and smoked where the corrupted blood landed. Their minds erupted in pain as they flew out of the cabin and tumbled onto the dirt path.

Hakuya wrenched himself off the ground, pulling off his straw hat, which was stained black and looked like half of it had been eaten away by acid. Luckily, it had taken most of the spray that would have landed on his head. He tossed it to the ground and ran to the Hunter as explosions continued to shake the walls from within the cabin. Reid was screaming in agony, clawing at his eyes as Hakuya half guided, half dragged him away.

When they had reached the edge of the fence Hakuya thrust his hand against Reid’s bleeding eyes and channeled his energy through his palm. Cleric of Yuima’s Purify! The caustic nature of the corrupted blood subsided as it returned to a normal state.

“Can you see?” Hakuya asked.

The Hunter opened his eyes through sheer force of will. They were black and full of blood.

“No- Shuma’s ashes!” He cursed. “It’s all black.”

“Grab hold. Follow me.” Hakuya grunted as he hoisted the hunter’s arm over his shoulder. He cast a quick glance back at the cabin. He didn’t sense that any force was coming after them - protecting and stabilizing the ritual was probably of utmost importance to the blood monk.

He could only hope that Reid had bought them enough time to escape.

~

Inside the cabin, a low roar filled the room as the ground beneath the monk and the young man began to tremble. The bodies suspending from the ceiling began to sway as the monk raised his hands, pulling in the blood from the surroundings. The blood mist settled as he focused his spiritual energy into the ritual’s focus - the stained vessel carved from the femur of a bone dragon. He felt a violent tug on his spirit body as the vessel began siphoning away his energy. It took him several moments to stabilize the ritual and stop it from draining his spirituality to nothing.

The young blond man lay on the floor, his body limp and face pale as he watched his master work. Blood continued to spew from the ruptured artery in his arm as he felt his life drain away.

“Master..” He muttered weakly.

The monk turned to look at him, the left half of his face still completely blown off with a wound that looked like it could only belong to a corpse. It regenerated quickly even as he knelt down to the dying boy. The monk reached his hand forward and touched the boy on the arm. The flesh began to bulge and squirm as the congealed blood around him slurped up into the wound. The boy groaned in pain as several bullet shards pierced through his flesh and clinked to the ground. After several minutes, the mutated flesh began to subside and smoothen out until the boy’s arm was completely healed.

He opened his eyes weakly, his face pale and eyes sunken as he smiled. “Thank you, Master. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize they were our enemies.”

The monk, whose ears were each pierced with seven silver rings and whose silvery white hair tied into a bun, had completely recovered from his injuries by this point. With a reassuring smile, he patted the boy on the shoulder.

“It was not your fault, Luke. They were both Disciples, far beyond your ability to deal with as a Candidate. They had influenced you with their powers and prevented you from acting rationally.”

“I... I saw you die. I can’t believe you survived.” Luke Kent said, his face contorted in grief.

“Only just.” The monk said with a smile. “If it weren’t for the energies of Life permeating this room, it may have been the end for your old Master.”

He stood up and looked out the front door. The landscape outside shone glaringly bright in the afternoon sun.

“Stay here and rest for a moment.” He said.

He pulled his bloodied hood over his head, concealing his face as he walked outside. Congealed blood coated the slightly melted floor and walls of the cabin. Outside, two trails of blood and dirt led to the edge of the fence, and from there beyond into the woods.

The monk knelt down to pick up the half eroded conical straw hat that had been left behind.

“A man from Huan...” He muttered to himself, turning the hat over in his hand. 

He frowned as he looked towards where the two Exalted had escaped. He had coincidentally arrived just in time to save his student. If only he had come a little earlier, he likely could have used the element of surprise and home advantage to take out both of them without a fight.

Without having those advantages, he was lucky enough as it was to come out alive in a solo battle against two other Disciples.

“Praise be to Lord Deka.” He murmured, drawing a line down from his forehead to his lips with his finger in prayer.

Now that this location was discovered, the plan would have to be changed. 

“Perhaps if I had used the boy as a distraction, I could have won the fight.” He muttered under his breath.

With a sigh he dismissed the thought as he turned back towards the cabin.