The Hunter gave the knight, who just spoke, a smirk that accompanied his lacerated and blood-covered face, making the knight take another step back with his back clanking against the already deformed wall. The knight wielding the double-sided axe that first entered the room, took a step forwards, treading on the bits of flesh and blood that covered the room, without giving it a second glance. After giving the Hunter a one-armed salute, with his fist over his heart, he lifted the faceplate of his helmet. Revealing an older man's heavy brow and thick black and pepper moustache. "May your blade always strike true, sir. I'm Sentinel Donald and this is Sentinel James. Would you be Mr. Grimstone?" A gruff voice rang out of the open plate in question.
The Hunter didn't reply straight away and instead made his way over to Loch's unconscious body. Just as he was about to kneel, to check the boy's condition, the Hunter almost toppled forwards, but caught himself in time and instead sat down next to the boy. His whole body shook as he gritted his teeth for several seconds. Black veins crawled up the Hunter's neck, as if ink was being bumped through his system. The veins crawled up his jaw and close to his mouth before stopping. The knights watching the Hunter clutched their weapons, and with the moustache totting, Donald even took several steps to the side, so he was closer to the Hunter's back.
A muffled groan soon leaked out of the Hunter's gritted teeth, making the knights flinch before they both relaxed their grips at the following sight. The black veins receded down the hunter's neck and disappeared down his shirt after several more seconds, bringing a sigh out of the Hunter's mouth. Before Sentinel Donald could reposition himself, the Hunter's hawklike eyes snapped to him as he said, "Don't worry Sentinel Donald, I'm not twisting yet. It was just a backfire from over using my Inner-Fiend, nothing I haven't dealt with before."
Sentinel Donald gave a small nod in reply before moving again, so he was facing the Hunter in his seated position. The Hunter retrieved a packet of closed paper from within his jacket. After tearing the top off the packet, he then poured the contents into his mouth and chewed for a couple of seconds. Within seconds, several deep gashes on his body visibly healed, and color returned to his pale face.
"Ah, much better." The Hunter muttered. With his now human hands, he looked over Loch's head, parting the boy's blood-matted hair to inspect his wound. "And. To answer your question before, I am Tobias Grimstone. Just call me Tobias, though, and catch." The Hunter, Tobias, said before he retrieved a badge from within his torn-up waistcoat and tossed it to the axe-wielding knight. The knight caught the badge and looked as if he was about to protest the Hunter's action, when Tobias cut the man off, "Don't say anything. You should be examining my credentials in this situation, anyway. Especially considering we're dealing with a Knight-level Twisted, who… I am quite confident… has ties to the Vlad family."
After hearing the Hunter's words, the knight gave a small start, while his eyes appeared to shake for a moment. He looked at the badge before hardening again, as he said internally, 'Deathstalker. I should have known.' "You're correct, sir. James, check the badge." Sentinel Donald said as he handed the badge to the knight behind him. If Loch was awake to witness the scene above him, he would have been deeply confused. The badge Tobias had passed over to the knights wasn't the silver one he had seen earlier in the day. This badge was black except for a smattering of blood staining it. Engraved on the front was a silver colored human skull.
Sentinel James sheathed his broadsword and took the badge from his superior. He froze, staring at the black badge in his hand, as a sliver of sweat trickled down his forehead. For a moment, it looked as if the room was stained with blood before going back to normal. Sentinel James passed the badge back towards Sentinel Donald while stuttering, "It's… confirmed… sir." The older knight gave him a stern glare, which made the younger sounding knight tremble even more. With a grunt, Sentinel Donald turned back to Tobias and returned the badge, who was wrapping a white bandage around the crown of Loch's head. After retrieving his badge and tying off the bandage so it held in place, Tobias couldn't help but let out a groan as he stood back up.
"Now that we've clarified that. Can you two tell me where in the blessed Earth you've been? I was told the Cabin had pre-warned you about my bounty and you were ready in case you needed it. I can safely say that I was in full damned need! If it wasn't for this little runt here, I would have been that beast's latest meal." Tobias asked. His voice didn't rise from a normal level, but both knights felt as if a volcano was threatening to erupt in front of them.
"I apologise, sir. However, I can confidently report it wasn't because of negligence. Our original mission, the reason why we were stationed in the Shambles in the first place, had an unexpected development. It was something we had to report to the church immediately." Sentinel Donald replied with calm eyes.
"Development? I was told your little group has been stationed here for many years with next to no action. How could there be a sudden development on the same night a silver badged Hunter was ambushed by a Knight-Level Twisted? What kind of tainted luck is that?" Tobias replied. Besides his eye twitching, his tone remained unchanged.
"I swear on the Earth that what I said is nothing but the truth. Maybe something connects them, but I doubt it. I can't give you exact details in regard to our mission, but it has to do with a certain person who has been living in the Shambles for an unknown reason. I'm sure a man of your status and… pedigree should have heard the rumors before." Sentinel Donald replied, he felt he might have revealed a little too much of his mission than he should but he felt it was necessary. Even though the Hunter before him appeared calm, the many years serving on cleansing teams and on the walls had given the Sentinel a certain sense for potential life-threatening danger. And the man before him was giving him a feeling as if he was seconds away from getting a knife in the neck.
Tobias' straight back posture slumped as he replied, "Ah, I see. I've heard the rumors, but like most people from the Crown and Stem district, I thought it was nonsense. I guess that illustrious lady was actually slumming it in the Shambles. Interesting indeed." Tobias looked back over at the still leaking lipless creature on the floor with an odd twist to his mouth for a couple of seconds. He then walked around the smashed-up room and started to sift through the several broken crates and drums that lined the walls while he talked to the two knights. "If you didn't hear my Aura call, then how did you know to come here?"
While Tobias's back was turned, Sentinel Donald glanced down at the unconscious form of Loch with a peculiar look, scanning the boy from head to toe. Hearing the sound of a nailed down lid being torn off a barrel, Donald turned back to the Hunter and replied, "That was actually quite easy, sir. On our return to the Shambles, we saw some scared looking residents talking to the gate guards. After that, we simply followed the roars. I currently have the guard outside keeping the residents at bay and telling them it was a beast who got loose. Whether they buy that or not."
"Ah ha! My sweetie!" Tobias's voice almost shook the room, as he retrieved something from one of the half-broken crates and gripped it firmly. When Tobias turned around and walked back over to Loch's unconscious body, the object he retrieved was revealed to the knights. A dark grey metal cane, with a head shaped like the crown of a tree. The cane also had grid-like patterns running down its length, as if it was made of several individual squares that appeared to pulse in a deep black back and forth. Sentinel Donald's bushy eyebrows rose at the sight of the cane, but he showed no other reaction, whilst the knight behind him couldn't help remark in a whisper, "A Dyad."
The knight in the back appeared as if he was about to ask a question when the soft sound of a gurgled cough rang out from Loch's unconscious form. The Hunter who appeared to be walking around in a calm state even after being on the precipice of death at least twice that night, suddenly paled at the sight of Loch's coughing form and the black watery substance leaking from the boy's mouth. With the sound of cracking floorboards, Tobias appeared at the boy's side along with a gust of wind that made the heavily armored Sentinel lean back in resistance to the sudden pressure. Tobias crouched down next to Loch and placed his hand on the boy's navel, while he closed his eyes. The frown on his face appeared to get deeper after a few seconds.
The feeling of danger came back to Sentinel Donald the moment Tobias's eyes opened, and they matched stares. Despite his battle experience, the sudden pressure change caused him to sweat and grip his axe tighter. Tobias, either not noticing the reaction or not caring, returned his sight back down to the boy. Attaching his cane to a special clip behind his jacket, the Hunter then tucked his arms under Loch's body. Lifting the boy effortlessly, with one arm under his legs and the other under his bandaged head. Turning to the knights, Tobias plainly asked, "I heard there was a Maiden of life working at the local orphanage. Do you know if she's still there?"
This time it was the knight at the back who answered, with his voice even cracking at the start, "Yes. Her name is Mother Leanne. She's the one in charge of the Orphanage. It's just at the end of this street."
Sentinel Donald frowned at the other knight speaking out of turn, but he stopped his explanation, as the feeling of an axe hanging over his head had lessened significantly when the younger knight affirmed the Hunter's question. "Actually, she isn't Maiden of lif..." Just as Sentinel Donald was about to add some information, he thought the Hunter should know. The sound of wood cracking ran out again in the room, halting him. Before either knight could respond, the Hunter had disappeared entirely, plunging the area into abrupt silence.
After a frustrated grunt, Sentinel Donald lowered his head in thought for a minute, before the sound of the knight behind him, deliberately coughing, made him turn around to face him. "What is it, James?" The younger Sentinel pointed to the floor on the other knight's left and asked, "Um, sir, where has the body gone?" Sentinel Douglas snapped his head to the left and saw that the oversized monster, which was just before lying there, leaking its lifeblood silently, had now disappeared. "Soil it. Bloody greedy Hunters." After another loud sigh, Sentinel Douglas just waved his hand in the air before he continued, "Forget about the body for now. We will search the premises for any more information and report back to the Church. It's especially important if the Vlad family is related to that monster. Don't touch anything though, The Cabin will soon send their own investigation team, considering Mr. Grimstone clearly has more important things to attend to right now and won't be here."
Whilst Sentinel James gave a knight's salute and began to search the room, Sentinel Douglas looked over to where the Hunter and boy were previously standing and couldn't help but think over the recent events. 'That boy was odd. I don't know many children his age who've already awakened their Inner-Fiend, and how was his morph still activated while he was unconscious? Another odd thing was the infamous cold-hearted Tobias Grimstone's actions towards the boy. What's their relationship? Apprentice? Kin? Should I tell the Bishop? Ah, I should just forget it. Hunters are all weirdos.'