Nightmare System

Hell was in the middle of the laboratory grounds; he was away from the tables the studies seemed to be piled up on. This floor was an immensely large room used for practice matches before Virgil started working here as he couldn't be bothered going to his lab which was a floor down. If one looked carefully, one could still see some dried-up blood marks on parts of the floor.

"Anton and Furcas, close in on him, I and Marco will flank him and strike as long as you create an opening. Nero and Slinora, exploit the possible opening created once he reacts to us. Jack, protect Aurus," he quickly gave the orders. "And Aurus?" he added as he walked toward Hell. "Shoot to kill. If you can get a good hit in, cut his arm holding the sword! That will be our main goal! Move!" Virgil said quickly and everyone listened to him with keen ears.

Each one of them began moving according to the plan, and even though Hell could hear them, his crazed state suggested a berserker mentality that would ignore any intelligent speech. Anton still seemed to be hurt, but he seemed to be as dangerous as he was hurt, for some reason, his muscles bulging. Furcas closed in on Hell with a defensive stance. Hell was simply awaiting them to get close with a faint roaring heard from him. He could hear Player Killer speaking through the sword.

"I thought you wouldn't be devoured by that sword. Disappointing."

Furcas was the first one to get in Hell's attacking range as the large sword was swung again, which was barely deflected by the already prepared Furcas and his rapier-like sword. The sword seemed to be a cross between a two-handed sword and a rapier. Anton then followed by swinging his claws one after another, immensely hurting and bloodying Hell. Virgil had already boosted his abilities and lunged forward along with Marco. The second swing of Hell destroyed Furcas' armour as he was unable to deflect it a second time, the sword was too heavy just by itself; it chopped one of Anton's hands. Consecutively being hit by Marco while he was busy with others, he lost his balance as Virgil managed to slash down vertically with all his force, drawing an arc of white in the air, severing Hell's arm holding the sword. As soon as their objective was complete, all vampires stood back with a sigh of relief after seeing Hell standing there, under Virgil's leadership, they were back on track with being an invincible force.

"Stay cautious, don't let your guard down!" Virgil yelled as they watched Hell's eyes completely blackened, crying blood; it seemed Hell could summon the Sword of Blood as well, it suddenly appeared in his other hand this time.

"Damn it!" Virgil yelled. He didn't think such a thing would occur with the guy who was said -albeit by himself- to have complete immunity against mental attacks. If he was right, this was something different altogether, and they may not be able to fix it if things were worse than they imagined. "Don't attack, only defend and stand back!" Virgil yelled this time, the slower member Anton reattaching his hand and backing off. Hell was crazily attacking them as soon as he got the sword on his hand again. Even with all their experience under their belt, they weren't as fast, to say the least, not after Hell received that boost.

"Hell, listen!" Virgil yelled, drawing his attention and becoming the target meanwhile. "You have to snap out of it!"

It was of no use, they couldn't reach Hell after all. Virgil then sent Marco to fetch Hell's friends. They weren't far, but this place could be said to be sound-proof. He hoped his friends could reach him. Aurus and Jack would support him with their ranged attacks from time to time while Virgil kept the attention on himself. He could afford the sword cutting himself as long as no part of his was chopped off, his healing would take care of it in mere moments.

They went on sparring for another minute as Leila, Theperes, Leon and even Vaun arrived in a hurry. They were slowly briefed on the way about what had happened. Leon thought of taking the sword away using his telekinesis, but it was impossible for him at this moment with Hell's speed. He would have to stay in one place for a few moments at least, he was unable to use his power on him otherwise. Theperes was anxious seeing the events transpiring before her. She thought although a tad childish, this was a man with a king's disposition. She had high hopes. Theperes yelled for her king, unfortunately receiving no response.

Seeing his friends also unable to reach him after another minute of fighting, Virgil gave up on the idea. He currently had the phantom pain of tens of cuts of various sizes on him and more followed as he continued keeping the attention on himself. One good hit to his brain, and it was very likely Hell could no longer heal. He, however, heard him slightly pay attention to something said by Theperes just now, moments before he gave the order of Hell's execution. He would hold onto any hope as long as it existed. This man in front of him was a potentially valuable ally.

"Is a mere sword enough to whip you down?" She said. "Is the man I chose that weak?" Theperes said, her heart aching as she thought the future she imagined was slipping away.

Virgil was flabbergasted, to say the least. Hell had suddenly lost all interest for him. Heading for his own party now. "Stop him from attacking the others at all costs!" he yelled.

Just as everyone was about to attack him, Hell stopped 5 metres from the horrified Theperes who saw her death approaching. She was smart, but physically weak, at least at the moment.

"Me?" Hell spoke. His voice somehow echoed out twice in an odd manner as if the voice was transmitted like Hell was speaking from inside a cave along with some other unhuman creature. There seemed to be two separate voices overlapping one another. Hell genuinely looked surprised, bleeding from all his joints so much that he was covered in red, washed with his own blood. The only reason he could survive was because of his healing, which he has done so again, stopping the bleeding once more. His speed would not have helped him this much otherwise.

"A-Are you so easily controlled by a weapon? I thought you despised such weaknesses?" Theperes would silently congratulate herself later for being able to spill those words out at this moment. She felt as if she was standing before the personification of war, the horseman, who was reeking of blood, sweat and had a dominating presence.

"No. Weapon. Can control me?" Hell found himself asking.

"Yes!" Leon said. "Don't you remember what you said while chatting in the jungle? You are Helleborus Reeveman!"

"Yes," Hell said. "No!" He then yelled. "Puny. Weapon." Hell slowly got the words out again and he stood trembling. Everyone else was watching and just as Anton reached to take his weapon away from Hell, wishing to make use of his stupefied state; Virgil told him not to. "Don't do it!" He yelled. It was unlikely he would die, but it at least helped Anton save himself being hit by that sword again. Not dying aside, the sword did hurt them, the pain was also more than what would they feel if they were cut by something else. They silently wondered if that was also a feature of the weapon or an ability of Hell himself. After swinging the weapon again, Hell went back to his passive state. He was still very confused, would only attack anything that got close.

"Stay vigilant," commanded Virgil as they waited.

"So, a mortal dares to call me puny and even go to such lengths of trying to use me?" A gargantuan demon said, seen by Hell in his mind's eye, having six wings and 4 horns. The demon looked mostly human otherwise, with black flames of Hell surrounding him completely. The figure seemed human, at least.

"Aye," Hell said and woke himself up. "Do your best outside." Hell had practised waking himself up many nights as he was being tortured in his dreams. As soon as he came to himself, he clearly felt the surge of power he had at that moment thanks to the sword, as well as the pain pulsating in every fibre of his being. He yelled with all his might and fended off the attack of the demonic creature that tried to control his mind again. He was hit by a sneak attack by the creature before, there was no way Hell would otherwise be controlled. At least that's what he was thinking.

"Puny weapon." Hell murmured again as he put it back in his inventory. The demonic creature was surprised beyond belief, but it also swore it would try next time, as Hell let go of it.

"I apologize," Hell yelled with a smiling but apologetic look, finally casting relief into the hearts of everyone. "I guess I caused a bit of trouble for you guys."

Leon was the first one to approach, followed by Leila. Leon tapped Hell's shoulder. "You did give us quite the scare, man. What the hell was that?"

Hell sat on the floor, exhausted. He explained what happened and they listened. In the middle of his short story, he locked eyes with Theperes and silently thanked her and she received it with a nod. Theperes knew the pride and the principles of such men would be of utmost importance to them. Especially to Hell who was very vocal about it. She also still remembered the scare when even for a moment that she thought Hell targeted herself. It truly did feel like war, the horseman himself was approaching to induce his judgement. After they all chatted for a few moments, Hell asked for a new set of clothes if they had one, he was mostly wearing rags which, even before these events, were stained with the blood of Hell, beasts and greenskins. It was a disgusting sight to Aurus who was a thorough gentleman.

Virgil was still cautious. After being controlled by that mysterious sword, just being aware of it was enough for Hell to suppress it? Hell, to ensure them, took out the sword again, bled on it and looked rather unfazed this time, aside from an aura of war surrounding him.

"So," Hell said. "Are you convinced of my strength at least?"

"You don't know how to fight," said Marco, the fist-fighter.

"You seem to have gotten your asses kicked by me as well," Hell smiled.

"Only after you turned absolutely berserk with that sword. But still, that was brute strength," Furcas said, upset that his armour was half-destroyed in the fight. "That's not the way a warrior should conduct himself in battles."

"F.u.c.k the way of the warrior," he replied. "If I get a bit stronger, none of you would be able to take me on even with all your techniques. Pure power is the greatest form of strength."

"That's a dangerous way of thinking, but I suppose, as long as our interests collide," Virgil said.

"Can I get some new clothes now? I doubt you can call this clothing anymore." Hell said as he showed his clothes. He was mostly n.a.k.e.d by this point, whatever else he had left was so bloodstained that it seemed like the drying blood and the rags were intertwined.

"Yes, Aurus will get you something proper. You seem to have the same build." Virgil replied and motioned at him and Hell followed, he was already uncomfortable with his clothes being torn all-around before, but this was ridiculous.

After a few minutes, they arrived in front of Aurus' room. It was a large room, without much in it aside from clothes and some essentials.

"You sure seem like a fun dude." Hell sarcastically said.

"I don't need fun as long as I can be of use to Lord Virgil."

"You need to get that stick out of your bum, mate. You'll live a better life that way."

"What stick are you talking about?" Aurus inquired and threw Hell a suit.

"A suit?"

"Why? You don't know how to dress where you come from?" Aurus this time added with a sarcastic tone.

"I'll look like a butler," Hell said. He loved suits, but he would really not rather fight in them. He was thinking it would feel weird to do so.

"Good, you would be at least at the level of a butler, rather than looking like a savage from uncivilized lands."

Hell grunted and was slightly annoyed, but he wore the clothes and Aurus escorted him to his room. Virgil had given Hell a very large room, but he was likely to be unaware of the distinguished service he was getting.

"If you wish for anything, ring this bell," Aurus said and rang the bell as a butler immediately appeared and asked. "Do sirs require anything?"

"Thanks, Zachariah. That'll be all for now." Aurus said as the butler vanished into the shadows again.

"That trick looks pretty cool," Hell said. "How do you-"

Aurus cut Hell off as he stepped forward and held him from his collar. "Do you not dare, ever, betray Lord Virgil. I'll kill everyone you have ever said "hi" to if that happens. Meet his expectations."

Hell could feel this knock-off version of Virgil was a devout follower of his. He understood his standpoint and let him do as he wished this time.

"No worries," Hell said. "I always hold my end of a bargain."