The scene was utter chaos. Six of the strongest Masters in the world were taking on a Princess of Song. Silent Stalker was exceedingly dangerous, and possessed nigh unmatched raw firepower with her bow. Even killing Great Beasts with a single blow was not out of the question.
She wasn't built for direct confrontation, but that didn't mean she couldn't thrive in it. Her Transcendent form offered incredible defenses and close combat capabilities. Her speed was also top tier.
Still, she was thrown off.
How many damn traps did that bastard set!?
Stalker let out a bestial growl as a sonic explosion sounded. She was bleeding from her ears now, those attacks were the most effective on her since her senses were so throttled.
If the adrenaline and battle-state would allow her to have a cognizant thought, it would surely be one of shame.
Silent Stalker was not being outplayed exactly. She didn't suffer any actual injuries except for her ears. However, there was real danger here, more than she cared to admit. The only thing remotely comparable to the risk she was currently under was the nests of those centipedes in the Burned Forest.
However, at that time she had been backed up by Gehrman and her sisters. Now she was alone and in the belly of the beast.
That was another thing, she shouldn't be alone. Yet the Masters of the New Workshop appeared powerful enough to at least hold off the newly Transcended Saints of Song.
Stalker still had some of her mothers blood in reserve, but the attack would be much more potent if she could just snag the Citadel first, thus allowing her to express her Will at a much higher level.
The likelihood of her actually getting to the Gate and being able to take it over (which would take longer than normal since someone had already claimed it) was supposed to be a secret maneuver. But that brat had halted that strategy in its tracks.
In the back of her mind, the major issue was the Stake Drivers. They were potent, highly augmented Memories that were almost Spelltech. She suspected the exact designs were brought to life thanks to a combination of Gehrman and Eye of Bedlam's Aspects.
Whatever the case, they were dangerous. From what she gathered, it took the Master who used it completely out of the fight, draining their Essence wholly to power up the attack and then shattering after use.
Ostensibly, it was a nuclear option.
The kid who marked all of them had undoubtedly drained massive amounts of his reserves and therefore was off the table. Eye of Bedlam was the cornerstone of their attack and thus needed to preserve Essence as well. That left 4 other young Masters to potentially spring that attack on her.
In all likelihood, it would obliterate this part of the Citadel, but there was no way they wouldn't be fine sacrificing that.
Still, if she could get rid of Eye of Bedlam, their whole formation would fall apart.
Silent Stalker rocketed forward like a black blur, the Transcendent Panther claws tearing apart everything she stepped on. It was odd that the buildings were holding up this well under her pressure. They must have been developed using the Citadel's Component, a few Aspects, and science to mass produce this unusually sturdy brick-like material.
In any case it worked out better for her, she could push off and not have to worry about losing the platform she was on.
Several more attacks came, that strange invisible one was rather tedious, but otherwise everything was straight forward.
At times she took the opening to slash out at some of the other Masters, but they would invariably step back into the range of one of Eye of Bedlam's traps, thus giving them the opportunity to flee.
The tides turned once she finally made it up to the haunting castle of New Yharnam. Easily shattering a window, she slid inside.
A spray of bullets immediately met her.
Dangerous.
Instead of just taking the hit, Silent Stalker transformed into her Human form and dropped flat to the floor, dodging the projectiles.
Eye of Bedlam looked at her through strange goggles, holding that Supreme Memory from before at her.
The gnawing hunger came back with a vengeance. It was deeper than just starvation, as it also seemed to incite hunger for non-physical things.
It was a truly odious Enchantment, but it was also an aura-effect, meaning Eye of Bedlam was dealing with the same pains as her.
The strange weapon appeared to be a rifle or some other gun with a sharp bayonet at the end. A piercing weapon that must have been a nightmare to handle. Still, in this narrow hallway, it would shine.
Several parts of his body started to glow as he augmented his physical ability with his Aspect. The other Masters also moved in, crashing through other windows. The one who played a support role appeared behind the older man, offering him another enhancement.
A swirl of green-tinted wind also kicked up coating Eye of Bedlam like invisible armor.
Silent Stalker's eyes narrowed.
It's that damn painter kid again. What an absurdly versatile Aspect, how did we miss him during scouting?
It was a miracle that he was able to cast even this buff, as Stalker was fairly confident he was running on empty after those two big moves.
The possibility of an auxiliary Essence supply occurred to her. He certainly wasn't a Divine Aspect user with multiple Soul Cores, she could tell that much easily. However, it was possible something else was restoring his Essence.
First things first. These kid Masters need to die. The threat of the Stake Drivers are too real.
The darkness of the thought did not register in Silent Stalker's mind. She was a born killer, after all. When she was in a situation like this, hesitation was not a luxury she could afford.
However, she didn't get the chance to move on to the other Masters.
Eye of Bedlam lunged, the Trick Weapon's blade stabbing forward. There was a potential lethality in that weapon, one that Silent Stalker couldn't afford to ignore. The exact danger was unclear, but as a Supreme Memory she didn't want to find out what other Enchantments it had.
She parried the blade, pushing the weapon aside and delivering a powerful blow to his stomach. Ordinarily her fist would have gone straight through a Master without a defensive Aspect, but he was heavily augmented, so the punch just left a deep bruise.
To his credit, he did not fold over, instead raising his palm and unleashing a volatile explosion.
It was direct and narrowed, shooting like a laser. It might have even been able to injure her if it hit. Silent Stalker weaved, dodging more perfectly placed projectiles from the other Masters. Eye of Bedlam was spending a lot of his "Components" using the most powerful ones that had been harvested from the strongest of creatures the New Workshop had slain.
Still, that gave him the unique power to actually damage her.
Combined with the skill and ferocity of a man who had lived through the Outskirts and truly hellish training, he was a true force. Not only him, the other young ones were also undeniably skilled. It was hard to believe that they had only started their training a couple of years ago, as they had already reached the level of Legacy Vassals of the same Rank.
All of them were orchestrating a dance that would put her in an impossible position, one that would likely leave her open to a blow from a Stake Driver.
It was without flaw, but that didn't mean Silent Stalker couldn't create one.
Twin blades that looked like fangs appeared in a shower of sparks. She grasped the swords and rushed in a purely aggressive assault.
The Supreme Memory held against her blows. Though Eye of Bedlam couldn't easily follow her movements, he was semi-accurately able to predict his weakest points, and thus where to block.
Up close though, the sheer difference in physical ability pushed him back. Of course, the other Masters still interfered, but she took their attacks without stopping.
They managed to singe her hair and carve open small scratches, but nothing serious. The invisible attack did more than most, twisting her arm and slowing her attack.
Still, it did not make a difference. The smallest opening was made and as she held off the Supreme weapon with one blade, she threw the other forward with terrible force.
The support-type Master had a hole torn through her side as the fang embedded itself in the wall behind her. She stumbled, her death near, but a blazing glow of energy engulfed the womb, and suddenly the hole was repaired.
She fell to the floor, passing out, the bright red new skin seemed to tremble, barely holding together.
It surprised Silent Stalker that a Master could come back from a wound like that. Her Aspect wasn't just support then, she could also heal.
She was reminded then that each of these Masters likely had Ascended or even Transcended Aspects thanks to Gehrman's training.
That millisecond of distraction cost her. In a moment, the Trick Weapon's blade met the skin on her forearm, piercing it with ease.
What followed was a truly egregious experience. The weapon greedily sucked out the blood in her arm. In a mere moment, she felt she had lost a gallon or two of blood. The light-headedness and sick feeling immediately shocked her.
Going off instincts, she flipped, kicking the weapon aside and using her other sword to slit the throat of Eye of Bedlam.
She had to take a second to gather herself. During that time, 2 other attacks from the other Masters hit her. The damage should have been minor, but her injured arm was targeted, giving her a fresh dose of pain.
Eye of Bedlam slammed his hand to his throat, clutching it as blood poured out. A glow spread throughout the hallway as he spent another powerful Component to stave off death. His body went totally pale and a horrific grimace took over his face. Still, he stood.
Silent Stalker turned and shot too many arrows as the other Masters. One smashed the Master out the window, the other passed through an invisible man. The exact damage she did to the ghost was unclear, but it should be enough to put him out.
Keeping momentum, she smashed through the nearby wall with more effort than she would have liked.
Bolting, she opened her senses to feel the pressure of the Gate. It wasn't hard to find, so she took a direct approach. Smashing through walls and floor. They would need to gather themselves for another attack. During that time she could get a start on stealing the Citadel.
Breaking into the final room, the twisted hole in space was laid out before her. She reached forward, her Transcendent presence starting to vie for ownership of New Yharnam.
Then there was darkness.
A totally empty shell of black encircled her.
What?
Her thoughts went immediately to Revel, her sister who wielded True Darkness. Indeed, that's what this was. Not an imitation, but the real thing had been summoned.
The exceedingly rare element shut off her senses, giving her pause. However, the shell was exceedingly thin and weak.
The damn painter boy again? He can summon actual true elements too?
If he wasn't out of Essence before, he definitely was now. The meager shell was so weak that even a mundane person could push through it.
However, in that moment she was caught off guard, she was vulnerable.
The second she was out of it, a harrowing and dull click sound reached her damaged ears.
The invisible one had been behind her the whole time. He had either figured out how she was sensing him or gotten extremely lucky and dodged. She had been able to briefly sense his rough location before, given the fact he completely slipped past her this time, he had probably adapted to her sensing him.
He wielded a Stake Driver, arm already cocked back.
The young man came into full view as his Essence supply was rapidly and totally drained by the insane weapon he wielded.
Silent Stalker did not have time to dodge before he brought his arm forward. The direct explosion was an overwhelming, raw crushing force.
It might not have killed her if she was at her best, but she had a slew of mostly minor wounds.
"Shi-"
The Stake Driver's mechanism was released, and a good chunk of New Yharnam's castle was blown away in an instant.
…
Oskar tried to gasp, but was met with only sharp pain. His throat had been torn through, and though he had used a Component in time and managed not to pass out. That was just a stop-gap, not true regeneration.
It was essentially a splint.
Still, he moved forward, chasing after Silent Stalker. Both of the enchantments he had enjoyed were gone now, and the risk of death had never been higher.
In the next moment though, a deafening explosion tore throughout the castle. That would also be the signal to all the other Masters of New Yharnam to use the Stake Drivers they had to finish off the Song Saints.
They should have been able to wear them down a bit to ensure that the attack actually connected.
Oskar hopped into the Gate room just in time to see Bitz collapse. Using the Stake Driver was supposed to leave you with enough energy to run away for a bit, but he had already used some Essence, so he was completely out.
All of them were down for the count, only he remained.
As the smoke cleared, his eyes darkened and his heart sunk.
In the middle of the obliteration was a bubble of red, the aura it exuded was crushing and foul.
The blood of Ki Song dissipated, cracking and fading after taking the full force of the Stake Driver.
Silent Stalker was on the floor, gasping for air and clearly haggard. She wasn't doing so hot, but at this point the battle was over.
Oskar had a few more Components that could damage her, but without any augmentations she would kill him before he could react.
"Fuck."
Oskar groaned like an old man as he slowly sat down. His gaze became tired as the rage and vengeance in them faded.
Silent Stalker's predatory sight met his, and a mutual respect passed between them. They had given it their all and fought well.
Silent Stalker turned, leaving Oskar alone for a short while as she reached out to the Gate. Oskar felt the pull in his Soul as his control over New Yharnam started to get wrenched from him.
She turned back to him, brandishing her bow and aiming it at his skull.
"You fought well. I will remember you, Eye of Bedlam."
Oskar said nothing for a while, averting his gaze and mumbling something.
Silent Stalker's eyes narrowed. Ordinarily she could easily make out the words, but her ears were so shot that it was impossible to make out.
"What?"
When the man's eyes met hers again, the exhaustion was still evident, but there was something else gleaming there as well.
A chill ran down her spine.
"Right back at you," his nasally voice scratched at her nerves and her hair stood on end.
In the next moment, a blade was at her neck. A trickle of blood slowly dripped down, its heat causing her to shiver.
"You seem to have made quite the mess, Stalker," the easy and arrogant voice gave her no small amount of despair.
She gritted her teeth.
"Honor Fell, tell me…how is it that you have returned from a Category 4 Gate in mere minutes?"
She couldn't see his face, but she could tell the man was smirking.
"It was a mere Great Devil; did you really expect it to take longer?"
Silent Stalker sighed.
"Will you kill me now then?"
There was a long pause. The Princess of Song got the feeling the man was just forcing her to stew in anxiety as a form of punishment for the attack.
"...No." The blade fell from her neck, causing her to take a sharp breath as the cold metal left her. She turned, her eyes wide and confused, but what he said next shocked her even more than this strange turn of events.
"Your sister made a good point when we were talking earlier. We need all the Saints we can get at the moment." He brought his blade up and placed it casually on his shoulder. "With the Dreamspawn back, the life of every Saint could be the difference between humanity's continuation or total annihilation."