[hr][hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/2kbsDNC.png[/img][/center][hr][hr][center][h2][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJcNeQcZRnw&list=PLpV28ONBH95SsjGpQEVhLeLhBFn7MZ95a&index=4]♫[/url][/h2][/center][hr][hr][center][color=808080][i][b]Present:[/b] Dorothea [@jasbraq] &  Qasem [@YummyYummy][/i][/color][/center][hr][hr][center][h1][color=9e0b0f]Ethos[/color][/h1][/center]

[color=C0C0C0]Manfred had been left behind by whatever was going on closer to the town and he was left with mixed feelings. They would need his help there. There was a purposefulness to the animals' attacks this time, as if his allies were being corralled. On the other hand, that Darhannic - a man who'd claimed to be relaxed and decent-natured - had turned out to be just another religious extremist, like that vile nun from Warlisz. Manfred should've disposed of him on the spot. Now, further corrupted by the wildblood virus, he was trying to murder Manfred's beloved. 

For a moment, as he put a volley of bullets through the head of an onrushing wildblood, it struck him how callous he'd become - how like the men he had hated as a youth of fourteen. To take life so... He stopped himself. There was a job to do. Someone was trying to kill the woman he loved in cold blood. Fuck 'mercy'. He lined up another shot, pumped it into the chest of a small beast, and rushed forward towards where he [i]knew[/i] that religious hypocrite would be hiding.

He was running, now, close to the cabin, and it was occupied. He could feel the energies swirling within. [color=000000]"I thought our friendship meant more,"[/color] came Ismette's voice, disappointed and exasperated, and it set Manfred's nerves alight. [color=000000]"But very well."[/color] 

[color=86608E]"Our friendship [i]does[/i] mean a lot!"[/color] Dory cried in response. [color=86608E]"Why does waiting a longer hurt you so? I still trust you."[/color]

Manfred rushed to the doorway and, rifle pointed at Qasem, entered. That was the clear enemy: the one he [i]knew[/i]. The yasoi witch was a less certain quantity. [color=000000]"Manfred,"[/color] she entreated, as soon as he entered, [color=000000]"The crown. You know it's unnatural, how she wears it. It's a demonic artifact. I asked her to give it up to you since she wouldn't trust me with it."[/color] Her eyes were large and pained. [color=000000]"This is Qasem now. He's infected. He's trying to hold onto his reason. I can cover him if he loses it."[/color] So she was with Qasem. Manfred barely moved.

[color=2E8B57]"Is there any truth to her words, Dory? Do I trust this witch?"[/color] His eyes darted the witch's way, and then Dory's before settling back on Qasem. He was prepared to act, they could tell. He kept his distance and kept in ready position, brimming with energy.

[color=86608E]"I wanted to give it to you because Ismette wanted me to take it off,"[/color] came Dory's much-distressed response. She held a shaking hand above the crown. [color=86608E]"I trust Ismette, Manny... However, she's been acting weird."[/color] a saddened expression took over her face as she looked towards Manfred. He remained expressionless but, inside, he was afire. [color=2E8B57][i]Just like it was then - before. Just like [b]she[/b] was.[/i][/color] memories of another life, another [i]world[/i] and the cataclysm that had befallen it came fresh to mind, and the face begging him to attack his loved one, to get her to remove the demonic crown, was the one that had worn it then - that had been responsible for it all.

In a single, smooth motion, Manfred trained his rifle on Ismette. [color=2E8B57]"My love, she is right that the crown has a demon in it and that you need take that thing off, but -"[/color] His eyes flashed about, paranoid. [color=2E8B57]"- not now. Not in her presence. Your instincts are right: this is not Ismette. It's something else wearing her skin." [i][b]Leluun.[/b][/i][/color] With that, Leluun's face fell. [color=000000]"You fucking idiot. You lovestruck idiot,"[/color] she hissed. [color=000000]"You've doomed us all."[/color]

The presence of Manfred expedited the growing desire for violence that had clearly been bubbling inside Qasem. Manfred could see his stance change. His spear raised. He could see the man's warped muscles tense in preparation for a quick, horizontal slash aimed right at Dory's head. It was at that very moment, of course, that her fingers brushed the crown. The world slowed to a crawl. Manfred raised his gun but he would be too slow. She would be - 

There was no more young woman named Dorothea standing in the space that Qasem's spearpoint passed through. Instead, there was only the hungering darkness. The tip of it was removed from reality, cleanly severed as if it had never been there in the first place. Dory reappeared somewhere nearby, only... she wasn't Dory anymore. She looked like herself, but she carried herself differently, moved differently, and used magic that the others could not quite fathom. She reached out to commune with the void.

Then, there was another flash of darkness, as paradoxical as it may have been, and Leluun disappeared. Manfred's eyes darted around wildly, and he tried to reach out and sense her.

Nothing.

She reappeared in front of Dory. [color=000000]"You were warned."[/color] Her hand shot out, a bullet from a rifle, straight for the girl's face. The speed of it was absurd, but so were this [i]enhanced[/i] Dorothea's reflexes. The bulletlike punch grazed her cheek, scoring it deeply and raising a bleeding welt. Instead, it smashed into the wall behind her with enough force to punch a perfectly clean hole through it. There were no splinters - no mess - to speak of. Then, Leluun was gone again.

Without hesitation, Manfred snapped off a volley of five shots at her when she reappeared. A wall of shadow ate them all. [color=000000]"I recognize your [i]reek[/i], Vedil!"[/color] the yasoi screamed. Then, a void portal opened over Dory's head. The bullets came screaming back out at her, only to be stopped midair. They clattered to the ground, thumping on the worn wooden floor of the cabin that had become a battleground. [color=000000]"Your presence is not required here, Manfred. Desist or die."[/color]
 
[color=000000]"And I, yours, High Devil."[/color] Vedil was in control of Dory's body, and she attacked.

With that, matters descended into chaos. Binding magic restored Qasem's spear while blood magic began to compromise the foundations of the cabin. The half-transformed wolfman aggressively drew to bolster the size and sharpness of his weapon before thrusting its venomous tip towards the possessed Dorothea's chest. Once again, her defense was effortless, and he was hurled away and nearly broken. A warning prickle began to take root along the back of Manfred's neck. This [i]couldn't[/i] be it! It couldn't [i]end[/i] like this! They didn't have to [i]kill[/i] her, for the love of Oraff! This, then, was Leluun: she wanted the demon for herself. That [i]had[/i] to be it: just like in the world he had come from. 

The yasoi witch tore from the VOID willingly and eagerly, then, hurling a bolt of pure anti-reality at her target. It would've overwhelmed Dory, too, but Manfred would not let it. Seeing Leluun try to harm his beloved, he ripped a chunk of brick from the fireplace and hurled it into the path of the dark bolt, using every magic at his disposal in the effort. The bricks disappeared into nothingness, and so did the bolt. The [i]thing[/i] that controlled Dorothea did not waste the opportunity. For all that Leluun tore from the VOID, she pulled far more power and her reprisal happened so quickly that the yasoi had not even fully registered her failure.

A dark bolt materialized out of an enveloping nothingness. It flew and struck Leluun and cleaved right through her and then she was gone. Just like that: [i]erased[/i]. Manfred's mind reeled. He felt sick to his stomach. He looked at Dory. She was not his Dory. There was not an [i]ounce[/i] of remorse. In fact... there was a [i]smile[/i]. A sick, wicked little grin wormed its way onto her face and it was the most disgusting thing he could recall seeing. He swayed where he stood. What had he done!? His heart pounded and he could feel his pulse in his ears.

It wasn't that Ismette had died. She was a vile and worthless thing in her own right. It was the coldblooded ruthlessness of it - it was the twisted [i]enjoyment[/i]. This was not Dory. It was an ancient evil in her place. Manfred turned his rifle. He knew his duty.

He fired.

It was a desperate gambit. He knew how these demons worked. He had spent hours upon hours studying their foul nature by candlelight. Much as it pained him, Manfred needed to wound his beloved mortally. Then, the demon would leave. Then, he could heal her. Then, he could save her. She was busy with the slavering beast that had been Qasem and, like any good magusjaeger, he took advantage. Two shots to distract the creature: four aimed straight for the chest of his beloved. Two punched through her. She let out a cry of pain, stumbled forward, and coughed up a thick dark gob of blood. The crown fell from her head and clattered before her. Instinctively, despite the unbelievable pain and spreading coldness, she reached out and clutched it, eyes bugged out in terror and disbelief. [color=86608E]"Why?!"[/color] she screamed, eyes searching, and it twisted Manfred's heart. This was her, again. He started to rush forward, but then Qasem - that foul thing - was there instead. He lunged forward and attempted to smash the headpiece with his massive palm.

Manfred was not fast to react. The world felt faint and fuzzy and his pulse hammered through his ears. Fortunately, Dory, even with the blood soaking through her dress, had the wherewithal to blast the wildblood's hand with coldfire and force it to retract. It was a reminder that this was still within reach. Manfred could do it. He knew his beloved. She was tough and, free of this evil relic's grasp, she was good. He could not bear to see her suffer, even less because he had been the one to cause it. He just needed to [i]kill[/i] a beast, and killing beasts was what Manfred Hohenfelter von Meckelin-Thadau did.

The thing that Qasem had become was a pitiful sight, flailing to put out the coldfire, but it left him open. Manfred regarded the thing that the 'truthseeker' had become with imperious coldness masking hellish fury. [color=2E8B57]"I never liked you anyways."[/color]

He rolled to the side, pulled upon Magnetic magics, and arced the bullets right into the werewolf's stomach and back. It was the spine. It would heal, of course, but it would buy him time and time was what Manfred needed most. It was what Dory needed. As the magusjaeger's shots usually did, these ones struck true. There were roars of pain as Manfred closed the distance to Dory, ready to ignore the downed menace, but Qasem just WOULD. NOT. GO. AWAY. He gurgled and growled and began to try drawing from both his new target and Dory via blood magic, trying to heal himself in the exact same vile manner that Casii had. While he tore nothing more than some of Manfred's clothes and hair, he still healed with [i]freakish[/i] speed. Manfred seized the opportunity to go for the crown and tried, with all his might, to rip it from Dory's hands, but it was not enough. Even leaking her life into the ground below, she maintained a deathgrip on it, dazed and driven purely by the instinct of a cornered animal.

Manfred pulled as much as he could manage but Dory's strength was inhuman, and he knew it for the demon. [color=2E8B57]"Let it go!"[/color] he bellowed. [color=2E8B57]"Let [i]her[/i] go, you fiend!!!"[/color] He could not pry it loose. It was, at this juncture, clearly the most precious thing in the world to her. Again, the werewolf lunged and there was nothing else Manfred could do. If he couldn't take the crown from Dory, he'd just move it with her attached to it.

As Qasem closed in, the magusjaeger slacked off in his pulling such that what had to be Vedil relaxed in its struggle. Then, at the last second possible, Manfred yanked suddenly upward. The solid metal object caught the malformed wildblood beneath its snout and sent it sprawling backwards.

Qasem roared and redoubled, almost entirely consumed. He had only one focus. A ball of condensed flame formed on his palm from the matter of the cabin he had siphoned via blood magic earlier in the fight. It became a sphere of molten matter, a fusion of blood, chemical and kinetic. It was sloppy with his fur beginning to burn, but it was potent. If he couldn't get the crown, he'd destroy everything in his way and everything around the wicked object.

The wolfman put everything he had into it but, now, it was Manfred's turn. He called upon the power he had learned from Volto Nero when he had made the man a promise. It was time to keep his word.

A Hohenfelter [i]always[/i] keeps his word.[/color]

[hr][hr][center][h1][color=9e0b0f]Pathos[/color][/h1][hr][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVII6kUfcQ0]♫[/url][/center][hr][hr]

[color=808080]It was not an act of mercy, though some might've construed it that way. It was an execution: an act of the purest hatred. Qasem fell, a bullet hole through his head and another through his throat. No wildblood resilience or healing factor could undo [i]those[/i].

Manfred rushed over to Dory's side. He had done it! He had slain the beast and now he would heal her. He reached out with his senses, both mundane and magical, praying at once to Ipte, Oraff and Dami as he started to gather what he needed to bind.

She wasn't moving.

There was no heartbeat.

For a moment, he would swear, his own stopped. [color=2E8B57]"Meine liebe!"[/color] He knelt there, holding the woman he'd loved, her stiffening hand still clenched around that accursed relic in what was now [i]truly[/i] a deathgrip. [color=2E8B57]"Meine liebe..."[/color] His hands shook, then, of their own accord. They shook and the inside of Manfred became a dead, painful, hollow thing. His mind thought no thoughts and the sound that he released was an animal thing. He screamed. He hammered his hands into his face and wept bitter, cruel tears. He had done this. It had been [i]him[/i], not the crown and the devil in it.

His hands fell away and, even amid the endless of suffering of a small Kerreman town called Mandelein, there was no soul more bereft, more [i]stricken[/i] than that of Manfred Hohenfelter. [color=2E8B57][i]Nothing.[/i][/color] It had all been for nothing. He had been torn from Dory - [i]his[/i] Dory, with her sweet, loving voice and her freshly baked cookies on Victendes mornings. So [i]much[/i] had he suffered. So much had he fought, against the dark sorceress Leluun. He had watched friends fall: Penny, Desmond, Ashon, and the paradigm himself, Hugo Hunghorasz. Yet, they had prevailed. Then, he'd been torn from those who had lived. Torn and brought here. The tears came thicker and faster. They thought he was dead! They were [i]his[/i] people and they thought he was dead!

But... perhaps it was for the better. What an [i]animal[/i] he'd become! He'd conspired to murder. He'd [i]shot[/i] his beloved, even if she wasn't exactly [i]his[/i]. He'd come to a sort of happiness with her but, now, even that was gone. This Ismette wasn't even evil. She'd been an ally and he'd been instrumental in her death. He'd killed Qasem: a good - if misguided - man. He'd killed elders and children. He'd spilled blood for this stupid, ungrateful town. He'd... Manfred looked up at the sky through the collapsed roof and ruins. Four of the five were up there tonight, all except for Dami, but he knew that he was being judged. There was no way he could [i]not[/i] be. Desperately, the weak man that he was beneath all of his swagger and bravado, Manfred seized upon the object of his hatred - that [i]fell[/i] thing still clutched in dear dead Dory's hand. He could do one thing, at least, hollow though it was: he could [i]destroy[/i] it. 

He hesitated for only a second before his hard darted out, clawlike, to grab it. No sooner did his fingers touch the warm metal - wet with the blood of the woman he'd been trying to save - than he felt a voice inside of his head. [color=000000]"Hello, Manfred."[/color]

[color=2E8B57]"Get out of my head!!! Get [i]out,[/i] vile thing! You [i]killed[/i] her!"[/color]

There was a pause and he dared to believe that he was rid of it. He was wrong. [color=000000]"No, Manfred. [i]You[/i] did. You did and they will see the bullet wounds in her and in Qasem and in Ismette. These people who have already shown what they think of you. Who already react to good will with fear and suspicion."[/color]

If he hesitated, it was only for the barest of moments. [color=2E8B57]"You will not find me so easily swayed by your sweet poison, [i]demon[/i]. I would die to stop myself from becoming your vessel."[/color]
.
[color=000000]"Oh, I [i]know,[/i]"[/color] came the reply, [color=000000]"You are not a man afraid of suffering to do what he thinks is right."[/color] Vedil's devilish voice was almost... sympathetic. [color=000000]"That is why I would not even dream of making such an offer."[/color] 

[color=2E8B57]"Whatever it is, I am not interested. You end [i]here[/i]."[/color] He gathered every bit of heat that he could and began filling the evil crown with it. He cared little for the burning flesh of his hand. 

[color=000000]"I can take you back!"[/color] the voice pleaded, with no little measure of urgency. [color=000000]"I can take you back to them! To where you belong! You and I will never see each other again. My counterpart in your reality was defeated."[/color]

[color=2E8B57]"But you will remain,"[/color] Manfred replied. [color=2E8B57]"[i]Here[/i], you will remain."[/color]

[color=000000]"One does not make an offer without some recompense, and that is what I do for you now, Manfred Hohenfelter, twice killed, twice a killer."[/color] Vedil had been rushing but, now, his voice calmed. The heat that had threatened to melt his reliquary was cooling. [color=000000]"I only ask that you wash your hands of this place so that I may wash my hands of you. You shall remember nothing if you wish. You may return, in fact, to the very moment of your supposed 'death' in your true world. It will be as if all of this never happened, for you and for your loved ones."[/color]

[color=2E8B57]"And you will work your evils anew."[/color]

[color=000000]"This is not your world, though the Dorothea here was callous enough to rip you from it and bring you here. She was never yours. She was [i]mine[/i] and her unwillingness to let me go, to part with me when it would've ended the entire threat to herself and everybody else here, stands as evidence. I ask you, Manfred Hohenfelter: Why should you care?"[/color][/color]

[hr][hr][center][h1][color=9e0b0f]Logos[/color][/h1][hr][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtQiVkoGu1w]♫[/url][/center][hr][hr]

[color=D3D3D3]It was the end of rezain and, back home, Manfred knew that the leaves were turning colours and falling. Ersand'Enise was a good deal warmer and there was no such display to be seen. It had taken some time to recover from the effects of the previous year's calamity, but life would always find a way. On the surface, at least, there were no signs of the scars it had left behind, save for the missing people, the wonderings of what could've been, and a few new memorials. Sometimes, it bothered Manfred how replaceable it had all seemed.

Yet, Dorothea, his true love, and Marceline, the precious and precocious younger sister he had worked so hard to free, out there in the shifting sands of Torragon, were irreplaceable. He walked arm in arm with the former down the pathways of the Arboretum, the latter skipping out ahead, regaling them with tales of some recent moneymaking scheme of hers. Birds chirped and tittered in the trees and the late afternoon sun burned heavy and golden in the skies. It had seemed an emotional choice at the moment but, in the end, had proven the rational one - the [i]right[/i] one, even. This was his place. these were his people, and he was happy. Manfred teased Marci about something or other and Dory flicked him teasingly on the side of the head. They continued in easy silence for a little bit.

[color=86608E]"You know, darling,"[/color] Dory began, 

[color=2E8B57]"I find I often know little, my spratzmuffin."[/color]

Dory's cheeks turned red. [color=86608E]"I'll find something, someday, just as annoying to call you!"[/color]

[color=2E8B57]"I eagerly await that day,"[/color] he replied with a smug helping of skepticism. She snorted. [color=2E8B57]"Anyhow, what was it you wanted to say?"[/color]

She waved a hand dismissively. [color=86608E]"No. Nevermind. It would be a mood killer."[/color]

[color=2E8B57]"Well, now you have me [i]intrigued[/i]."[/color]

She groaned, and Marci turned and began paying attention, walking backwards as she did so. He never could've imagined her moving so freely five months ago. [color=598527]"I second my brother's curiosity!"[/color]

Dory shrugged. [color=86608E]"Very well. You [i]asked[/i] for it."[/color] Her face sunk and turned pensive. [color=86608E]"I just..."[/color] She trailed off and shook her head tightly, lips pursed. [color=86608E]"I had the strangest dream: a disturbing one, really, and I couldn't help but think how in contrast to everything here it is."[/color]

Marci glanced downwards. [color=598527]"I think what happened on Bloody Victendes has left all of us with scars,"[/color] she commiserated.

[color=2E8B57]"Visible or not,"[/color] Manfred agreed, as his sister reached out and squeezed the free hand of his fiancée. 

Reassured, Dory continued. [color=86608E]"I dreamed that you died during that titan sanguinaire incident,"[/color] she admitted, distinctly uncomfortable. Instinctively, he planted a small kiss on her head and felt a thankful squeeze of his hand in return. [color=86608E]"Here's where it gets strange: I was wearing the demon crown - Leluun's crown - and it offered me a deal to bring you back, but I refused."[/color] She seemed to shrink a couple of sizes, pending further scrutiny. [color=86608E]"We all know how dangerous that thing was, but it still bothered me how I just let you die."[/color]

[color=2E8B57]"In the dream."[/color]

[color=86608E]"Yes, in the dream,"[/color] she agreed. [color=86608E]"I know it was just a dream, but I'm wary. You..."[/color] She blushed in embarrassment at the irrationality of it all. [color=86608E]"You... don't think that it means anything, [i]do[/i] you?"[/color] Her voice rose in some tempered urgency. [color=86608E]"That we ought to tell someone or at least be careful?"[/color] her eyes flicked between Marceline's and Manfred's, and the siblings regarded each other for a moment.[color=86608E]"Maybe he's trying to sneak back into the world somehow? Maybe he's not totally gone?"[/color] 

[color=598527]"Vedil is dead,"[/color] the younger one assured her sister-in-law, walking backwards once more. [color=598527]"Thank Eshi."[/color] She made the sign of the Pentad momentarily. [color=598527]"I know it doesn't feel like it sometimes, but we're safe now, [i]truly[/i]."[/color]

Dory took a deep breath and released it into the warm evening air. Butterflies and fluttered between leaves and flower petals and cicadas hummed among the grasses and trees. Manfred had gone silent and the two women looked his way. He smiled reassuringly from beneath his moustache. He reached for Marci's hand and she took his. They walked arm in arm in arm down the shaded pathway. [color=2E8B57]"Marci's right, my love."[/color] He picked up the pace and glanced down at her fondly. [color=2E8B57]"It was just a dream."[/color][/color]

[hr][hr]
[center][h1]Fin.[/h1][/center]