Curse of the Black Blood: Rufus attacks Death City? (Complete)

Rufus looked off into the distance at Death City. He slicked his hair back to try and distract himself of his intense hatred of it for a moment as he turned around twords the Warlock brothers behind him. One was cloaked in solid black robes with a hood on his head and three white masks on different parts of it. Each mask identical to the others with no way of knowing which was his true face. The other Warlock stood wearing a red robe over his body in silence, intently glaring at the city behieth the expressionless white 'eyes' of his own mask, but showing not a single sign of his real eyes or vision.

"There." The black-robed Warlock, Ebony, started. "They are the ones responsible for the death of your mother, Gremweld the Witc-"

"I already know!" Rufus snapped at Ebony... trying to control his rage. Uncontrollably, the black veins in his eyes pulsated as his entire body twitched with anger. His imperfect Black Blood, Gilgamesh, anxiously trying to force its way out. "We... we know........" Hanging his head slightly, Rufus spoke in a more depressed tone now. "And you'll get me out when I'm done, right?"

"Exactly." Ebony took a few steps twords the city, the moon smirking above it at the slaughter that was to come. "Your cause has had a good deal of fortune, young fighter. I can tell my plan with Wren's fledgeling children is succeeding. I approached the traitor Witch asking for her magic gem in exchange for a certain child I had cursed. The gem means nothing to me, but it allowed us to decieve her of our true goal. Thanks to the curse spreading, we only need around 27 more souls until this is all over."

Archeron, the red-robed Warlock, silently followed Ebony until he was at his side. Then, Ebony continued... "Who would have thought that one little girl would be such a great conduit for magic."

"Conduit fo- you don't mean!" Rufus's eyes bulged open in shock as he ran forward and grabbed the black robed Warlock by the collar. They wouldn't have... no, they couldn't have used her! But it was the only thing he could think that would fit. "What have you done with her?!" He had heard Ebony found her, but he never took it seriously! "What did you do to my SISTER!!!"

"Small sacrifices, Rufus. She'll be fine. A little discomfort is no large price to pay for what you seek. Soon, that damned shrimp will make sure that you'll be reunited with your mother. Then, the three of you can go right back to the way things used to be. No meisters pestering you to fight, no more jobs murdering people for their souls or Kishin wanting to abuse your gifts. It'll be exactly like you wish it to be."

Rufus let go of the Warlock, gritting his teeth in aggrivation. "I left Reaver academy for this crap. If you decide to screw us on this, I'll spill everything about your little plan to the DWMA! The kidnapping, murder of a Death Scythe, slaughtering orphans... EVERYTHING. We will hunt you down, take Etta back, and your schemes will be done!"

With a slight nod, the black robed Warlock said all that needed to be said as Rufus ran off twords Death City. Wielding nothing but his imperfect Black Blood and a hook attatched to a cable.... Ready to avenge his mother's death....

*Several minutes later*

Rufus finally arrived in Death City. The night covered the streets with thick shadows. Some of them seemed to flicker slightly as he walked through the streets, shifting to keep his movement in their sights. Ebony would be keeping a close eye on him.

While he wanted to spill the beans about the Warlock's plan if things got too bad, it suddenly occured to him that he might not be able to.... The Warlock brothers could just kill him as soon as he tried to sell them out. No... nothing about that mattered anymore! All that he needed to do was focus on fighting and let fate take care of what happened!

As a random couple walked past him, Rufus decided to act. Instinctivly, he took the hook out and dug it into the woman's stomach while she was distracted. Blood spilled out on the ground as she died almost instantly, her friend starting to run away in fear. But, before he could get far, Rufus caught up to the man and killed him as he let loose a scream.

"Two down. Now, we just need the other 25........"

Rufus panted heavilly as he looked at the newest group of people he just killed. Another 10 dead by his hand... their bodies lining the street as he stood with his arms and pant legs soaked in their blood. It was such dirty work.... He wasn't used to this. He always only protected his mother from attacking meisters but to kill so many people without them even knowing why was an entirely different thing.

The night air chilled his soul as he brushed some of his hair out of the way of his face, accidently leaving some blood stroaked along his forehead. "That makes 12... we're almost halfway there.... And yet none of them have been a challenge!" Rufus shouted to himself, unsure why no one had tried to stop him yet. Did people just not care? Or... was it something else. Something that damned Warlock had done....

The wielder of imperfect Black Blood walked over and leaned on one of the buildings nearby. Leaving a bloody handprint as he waited for the next few people to come by and be slaughtered.

"Soul Purge!" Rufus shouted as another man fell over. At this point, he had stopped waiting for someone to come to him and, instead, started walking around Death City activly looking for people to slaughter. Leaving a trail of blood and corpses in his wake.

"17.... We just need 10 more until...." His voice shook as he started gasping for air. This was getting tiring and tedious. More like chopping firewood than harvesting souls....

A scream echoed through the streets as Rufus's hook jabbed through the back of another victem's neck. The point at the end sticking out of their neck as Rufus shoved the hook completly through them by pushing them with his foot. More blood squirted at him as the distinctive sound of their neck bone snapping rung through his ears.

"Only 7 left..." Rufus repeated to himself, almost as if he was in a trance. "Only 7 left....." Something in his mind clicked, some long lost spark in his brain that was waiting to recognize some deeper meaning of it all. They weren't like him. Their red blood... smelled so bad, just got over everything. Disgusting! He could not imagine a more hideous color than their filthy red!!!

He wanted to wipe them all out for himself........ Wipe them out so he would never be forced to see that shade of red again.

Four more people died at his hands. Rufus felt himself giving into some kind of long lost primal instinct. The desire to hunt and kill. As he walked out of the allyway coated in dried blood from head to toe, he stepped on the lifeless face of one of his victems. Only 3 people left. He couldn't wait... his growing Madness wouldn't allow him to wait as his imperfect Black Blood only acted to amplify his impulses.

He felt no regret. Soon, his Witch Mother would return to life.

Rufus grabbed his head in pain. His Black Blood was really getting out of control, trying to force itself out and steal the souls of the people he's killed. The souls that belonged to his mother. Just one left... just one left.... One more and he'd be done with it all!

Thankfully no one tried to stop him so far. Those Warlocks really knew what they were doing! After tonight, he could finally be at peace.

Finally, Rufus left Death City. Unsure exactly what just happened. Whatever it was, he killed them. All 27 of the filthy redbloods were dead.... It was finally time to get what he needed. He approached the Warlock brothers on the outskirts of town.

"You did well...." Ebony started, keeping a casual tone. "How did you enjoy your slaughter? I hope it didn't wear you down too badly but, as you know, it's a sacrifice that had to be made."

The blood-soaked man glared at the black robed warlock, resentful of how he had been treated. "I should have died there...."

"Fair enough!" The warlock chuckled, failing to hide his ammusement at the turn of events. "Fair enough... in fact, I expected this to be a test of your abilities more than anything else. I purposefully chose a day where there were a heavilly limited number of Meisters and Weapons in Death City due to how many missions were going on at once. I wanted to see if you could take out a Weapon Meister duo on your own and assess how far your Black Blood had progressed without putting you at too high of a risk and, unfortunatly, none showed up."

"Whatever....." Rufus huffed back, shrugging off everything that had just happened. "Just give me my sister. Now."

"Such a short temper. It's a shame, I thought you'd be more impressed with how much effort went into timing your little adventure." With a wave of his hand, Ebony commanded the shadows around him to swirl open as a little girl came out. The shadows sweeping over her body as she exited before returning to the ground and letting her stand by her own power.... Although, something felt off. She kept her head down as her face seemed as if it was in a trance. Expressionless.

Without thinking, Rufus ran up to her and hugged her as tightly as he could! Tears filled his eyes as he started to lose himself in his own emotions. Nothing mattered anymore. Not the lives he wasted, nor the blood he was spreading on her outfit, or even the shadowy Warlocks he was forced to associate himself with. Etta was finally safe. At least... he thought she was........

A horrible chill swept through him as he suddenly felt unnaturally tired. A horrible sensation that shot through Rufus's verry soul and pierced his mind.

"You really should pay more attention. I already told you she was cursed by Archeron, remember?"

Rufus felt his body go numb. Within an instant he lost control and fell to the ground, forced to stare at the Warlock's robe-covered legs as he tried desperatly to escape what was happening. "You two faced-" was all he could manage to shout as his mouth stopped following the words he wished it to.

"Actually, I only have one face and three masks." Ebony corrected his pawn. Not for the sake of letting Rufus know, but just to get on his nerves. He wanted this person to suffer as much as possible before he died! "Strix would just love to get his hands on you, wouldn't he? But don't worry. I'm better at managing what I have. Don't worry, your efforts won't go to waste... in fact, it's just enough for Strix's little pet project. Well, as soon as you die, it'll be enough.... Unfortunatly it's unable to opperate without the souls of an increadibly close Weapon and Meister. And what could be closer than a man and his own blood?"

With a passing groan, Rufus finally was forced to close his eyes as he gave in to the power of the Warlocks.

"Erase his memory. We can probably get 20 more souls out of him if we repeat the process again. Then, we'll just have to find the girl a Meister and see how well they bond.... That should be enough to allow the Golem to resist that pathetic shrimp! We don't want him to get TOO powerful now, do we?"