Trigger Warning: It's kinda a spoiler but it's really damn gross. Since this is a Bloodborne fic it's obviously gonna have gore but this is on another level of inhuman. Think of the worst thing you can do to another human being and imagine that (not the word that rhymes with grape).
Gehrman looked at the new string of runes listed under his other Memories.
He felt Frenzy built up within him as he read the title of the new enchanted item he had been gifted for killing Gairm.
[Crow's Vow].
…There was no prefix that indicated Greed.
Of course, he had realized that receiving a Memory did not guarantee it to be of the Sin series. He had gained a little under two dozen Memories during this Nightmare. Though the vast majority of them were useless to him, the fact remained that the Sin Memories were often granted after several other Memories were gifted.
The current night had gifted him several Sin Memories in a row due to many of his prey embodying those Sins.
And though Gairm's actions could be considered Greedy, his final moments and core philosophy was actually charitable and selfless. He threw himself into extraordinary danger and suffered immense pain in order to save the world (in his mind at least).
Gehrman shivered as he reigned his thoughts back in.
He had still received a Transcendent Memory, his very first.
Gunlaug was able to dominate an entire city of Sleepers with an Echo of the same Rank. His power was only matched by those Nephis, who wielded a Divine Aspect, incredible skill, and a cunning strategy.
Gehrman turned his gaze upward.
Even though he was now over a kilometer away from the throne room, he could faintly hear the battle taking place.
Until that battle ended, he doubted the Nightmare would end.
"Almost there," he muttered.
Gehrman took a moment to stretch before starting the long climb back up to the roof.
As he did, he summoned the description of his new Memory. It would undoubtedly be a great resource to him if he had to be near two combating Transcendents.
Memory: [Crows Vow].
Memory Rank: Transcendent
Memory Tier: I
Memory Type: Charm
Memory Description:
[A strife-filled Crow looked upon the creation of a blasphemous Church. He steeled his resolve and made a solemn vow to never allow its horror to spread.
This vow cost him his life.]
Memory Enchantments: [Deadly Vow]
[Deadly Vow]
Enchantment Description: [The wearer of this Charm must make a promise to themselves that binds their soul. The more restrictive the promise the greater power this Memory grants. Those who break this promise will immediately die. Removing the Memory will result in its breaking.]
As expected of a Transcendent Memory, it was truly exceptional.
It was his second Charm Memory. The only other one was the [Red Messenger Ribbon] which had a very niche purpose. This one would likely be far more powerful, especially if the vow Gehrman made was restrictive…
But he felt a deep sense of dread when thinking of such a thing. Gehrman's strength was his adaptability and versatility, if he swore off certain weapons, methods, or behaviors it would be truly devastating.
Still, it felt like a waste to leave such a Memory untouched.
For now, I'll leave it as a last resort. In an emergency, I can make a vow that is appropriate for the situation.
As Gehrman came to this conclusion, he reached the roof of Cainhurst Castle once more.
The howling wind had stilled, but the morning sun was hidden behind clouds and fog. Biting cold still encompassed the area, but it felt more hollow.
Gehrman looked around the bloodied rooftops and cringed at the destruction. Destruction that had a large part in perpetuating.
Though his talk with Gairm had helped his sanity find footing, he still felt the silent, insidious call of Bliss under each of his actions. The remorse he had felt fake. It was as if he simply performed guilt like a habit.
Nevertheless he continued to approach the loud clash of Transcendents.
Miraculously, the Vileblood Queen's Throne Room held strong. It was made out of even older and tougher material than the rest of the ancient castle.
As he noted this, there was a sudden stop to the sound of devastating battle.
It had ended in mere minutes.
Gehrman wasn't too surprised. Though Annalise was a master of blood manipulation, the progenitor of bloodflame, and could use the Arcane Crown of Illusions, she wasn't a fighter.
The Queen never left her chambers, never wanted for anything, and never had a fight with an equal opponent.
On top of that, Logarius had a tool that was a perfect counter to her abilities. He could disconnect her Blood, and some of the Vermin bonded to her with the Mask.
However, these separated Vermin did not die, they merely slept.
Annalise had thousands upon thousands of Vermin making up her body. Each offering and Blood Dreg she received strengthened the Vermin inside her. By now, their independence and ability to support their host had become incalculable.
Her regeneration could not be quantified. There was only one word that could be used to describe her.
Immortal.
Gehrman opened the heavy doors to the chambers and immediately felt like throwing up. Hundreds of corpses lined the walls of the throne room. Their blood and guts splattered against the walls, creating a tapestry of horror and indifferent malice.
All the Royal Guards had left to face the Executioners, the only people here were common servants and concubines.
And Logarius had slaughtered them all before going up to Annalise.
Gehrman pressed his eyes closed and tried to block out the scene surrounding him. The blood and gore was not unfamiliar, but the simple disregard for human life was appalling.
If he has enough injuries from the fight…I think I'm going to try and kill him.
Gehrman knew it was suicede, but he had lives to spare at this point. He was in no real danger so long as he kept his mind and soul in check.
Unfortunately, when he reached the top, the daunting figure of the Executioner Leader was almost untouched.
He breathed heavily, but that was more due to mania than anything else.
"It won't die. Why won't it die?" Logarius asked in a dangerously low voice.
Gehrman continued to walk forward until he stood at Logarius's side
He looked down at what was Annalise and had a flashback. He was stricken by the similarities between the mutilated, wiggling flesh before him and the very same meat that had been left over when Alfred had butchered her during Johann's night of the hunt.
Her blood clotted together, refusing to spill. Despite this unholy state, she was undoubtedly still alive. Such was the nature of the Annalise, Immortal Queen of the Vilebloods.
Wordlessly, Gehrman switched his Oath Rune back to Impurity, just to be sure of what was really happening.
As he expected, thousands of Vermin squirmed, they existed in each muscle, bone, and vein. All were connected to the same host, and even when she was destroyed like this, they did not lose cohesion.
"Why won't the Arcane Mask work?" Logarius's eyes now struck Gehrman like swords. The hate in them completely betrayed the man's true nature.
"It's hard to explain, but essentially it can only seal so much. It can halt the use of Annalise's powers. It can even paralyze her. But it can't stop her regeneration. She is immortal in the truest sense of the word," Geherman drawled.
Logarius took a step toward Gehrman. Despite the First Hunter's build being tall and lithe, the Executioner still towered over him, built with far more muscle and weight.
"Then you don't know how to kill her either? I am beginning to think you aren't truly Gehrman. The Hunter I know wouldn't settle for this. He wouldn't allow me to treat him this way either."
Gehrman was surprised that this man also sensed the wrongness of his state. Of course, it made sense that the Transcendents (who could bend reality more to their will) would be able to sense something amiss.
It was also shocking to hear him admit that he had treated the First Hunter without proper respect. This was likely due to his adrenaline and manic thoughts.
"Who said I couldn't kill her?" Gehrman gave Logarius a sidelong glance and smirked. "She has caused the death of so many of my pitiful students. This so-called Queen has been my prey for a long time."
Gehrman embellished his righteous fury to further appeal to Logarius. Though he wanted to kill the man, he had to take advantage of the current situation.
Because the final secret of this Nightmare, the one set up since the very beginning, was directly connected to killing the immortal.
"I am the First Hunter, you can be damn sure that my prey will always fall, even if they are immortal."
Gehrman stepped toward the pile of Queenly Flesh and grimaced slightly. This next part was not something that he looked forward to, but it would undoubtedly be worth it. After all, killing another Transcendent carried with it the possibility of another Transcendent Memory. And that was something he sorely needed if he wanted to last more than a second against Logarius.
And he could kill Annalise. The method was simple, but it was only something he could do. Or more accurately, it was only something a person wearing his current Charm could do.
He reached up to his chest where the small [Red Messenger Ribbon] hung. It pulsed a quiet purity.
Memory Enchantments: [Nascent Purity]
[Nascent Purity]
Enchantment Description: [The wearer of this ribbon receives an immunity to a certain poison and high resistance to all others].
Back when he was fighting with Valtr, an idea had struck him. It was something so obvious that he was surprised he hadn't realized it yet.
Up to that point, he had wondered what "certain poison" this Memory granted immunity too. After all, he had encountered plenty of poisons in this Nightmare, and while he was able to resist them, he wasn't immune to any…or so he thought.
A theory had come into his mind on what that "certain poison" truly was.
Valtr had kept talking about filth and impurity when describing Vermin. Gehrman had assumed that this was due to the poisonous properties that a high concentration of Vermin would result in.
But he was wrong.
The Corruption Rune he swore was supposed to give him Vileblood regeneration and their blood manipulation to a degree. But the regeneration did not work. And although it wasn't obvious due to his [Blood Control] Aspect Ability, it didn't grant him their blood manipulation either.
Both of these things did not work because he had no Vermin inside of him. But this was not because he was a Sleeper, an outsider to this fabricated reality.
It was because the true nature of Vermin…was poison.
They didn't just create it, they were poison.
A unique poison that was created by a Great One. A type of being that was neither Kin of the Cosmos, beast, nor human.
It was simply a poison.
And it was this very poison that the [Red Messenger Ribbon] killed.
When he drank from Annalise's blood and swore the Corruption Oath, he should have been filled with Vermin. No doubt they were lesser Vermin, not the ones that made up Annalise, but a weaker, newer kind that was born from the Oath.
Annalise did not really give out her Vermin to her followers, the blood she let them drink was a purified kind that was simply for show.
…But what would happen if Gehrman did consume all of her Vermin with the Memory equipped?
The answer was obvious.
He would kill an immortal.
"What I am about to do is blasphemous and horrific, but it will erase the Vileblood Queen for good. Do you understand?" Gehrman asked.
"...Yes," Logarius responded. He seemed unsure of what Gehrman could possibly do to "erase" the Queen so completely.
But when he saw Gehrman take the Queenly Flesh into his mouth he understood, and he was horrified.
The strong, malicious, manipulative Logarius had not felt fear for as long as he could remember. But the act the First Hunter was currently committing filled him with such aversion and disgust that he felt bile rise in his throat.
He quickly reminded himself that this was for the elimination of the last Vileblood, that this was worth it.
Fortunately for Gehrman, Logarius's single minded hatred was stronger than his revulsion.
And so Gehrman continued to partake in the raw, bloody body of the Queen. With the Impurity rune equipped, he could feel the Vermin clog his throat before sliding down into his stomach. His Innate Ability slowly disintegrated the Transcendent Flesh. Offering no boons for the unholy act.
Gehrman did his best to convince himself that this was no different than consuming a beast…he did his best to not accept that Annalise was a human.
That he was eating a human.
Gehrman gagged at the thought and the repugnant taste.
This in itself felt like its own form of madness. The Agony of this act was wholly internal. Though the discomfort was all-encompassing, he felt no physical pain…
But then he did.
Despite the [Red Messenger Ribbon] assaulting the Vermin with its purity, these Vermin were each individually much stronger than the normal kind. In fact, they were more similar to the fully formed Vermin that were found in Bloodlickers and other physical manifestations of the creatures.
…Wait. If they are that strong, then would they be considered-
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Queenly Vermin.]
Gehrman's eyes widened.
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Queenly Vermin.]
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Queenly Vermin.]
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Queenly Vermin.]
There were thousands upon thousands of Vermin in the Queen. Thousands upon thousands of beasts he now consumed.
As he took the last piece of flesh in his mouth and swallowed, he realized that he miscalculated.
Each Dormant Beast was of the same Rank as him. Though they were from a lower class, they still granted a singular Blood Fragment each.
But there were thousands of them.
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Queenly Vermin.]
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Queenly Vermin.]
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Queenly Vermin.]
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Queenly Vermin.]
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Queenly Vermin.]
The messages began to arrive so quickly and so rapidly that it overloaded Gehrman's mind in less than a second. Frenzy just as pure as when he learned the truth overtook him.
Without noticing, he found himself in his Soul Sea.
The Fourth Moon glowed and its pleasing patterns pulsed lightly.
The Truth was demanded of Gehrman, but he had already given it. The Soul Core fully formed and the fourth truth was accepted.
Then the splitting, tearing, and hellish pain of a new Soul Core forming hit him.
And he was still receiving hundreds of those notifications every second.
In the real world, Gehrman was letting out a bestial scream. His body poured off waves of thick Madness.
And in his Soul Sea, a fifth moon formed and it rapidly developed.
In its center, the core of the moon was far more condensed than any other blood moon in his Soul Sea.
The mantle and crust of the moon formed in uniform blocks. Each was of the exact same size and they spread evenly throughout the moon. This blood moon had shallow lines carved throughout it, but they were entirely different from the painful crevices of the Agony Moon or the vein-like divots of the Frenzy Moon.
The blocks pulsed in and out, moving like a machine. The Moon seemed to grow and shrink in size as the blocks were controlled by the darker, more malicious core of the moon.
Then the fifth core was fully formed.
It demanded a Truth.
But Gehrman did not know the truth. He had seen this madness only once before, in other Tyrants that he had fought. But he had never tried to dissect it or understand it.
He assumed he had time to after he had become a Tyrant himself.
Without the Truth, Gehrman felt the full force of this new Madness. It was crushing and debilitating. He felt like he was having an out of body experience, that his body wasn't truly his own.
But at the same time, he lusted for the same thing. The power to make others submit. The feverish desire to hold the world in the palm of his hands.
Then his mind broke.
In the Throne Room, Logarius looked on as Gehrman continued to let out inhuman screams. A painful and dangerous aura emanated from him, and the great Executioner felt a deep, striking sense of alarm.
Then, Gehrman's body exploded.
His head went first, his brain cracking the inside of his skull before flying out in all directions. And then, similar explosions occurred in his throat, arms, legs, and chest. In mere seconds he had entirely been destroyed.
…But just as Gehrman died, a price was exacted for his rebirth. Even in this state, Paleblood still initiated the revival of its host.
The price was immediately refilled.
The messages did not stop.
A sixth moon formed in the sky.
This seemed normal at first, but as more and more Blood Fragments poured into his body the image of an eye began to form.
It was massive and heavy in its weight, but more strikingly it was unpleasantly focused. The pupils dilated and lines indicating the eye being bloodshot appeared with immaculate detail.
By the time the moon was fully formed, it looked no different than Gehrman's own eye, it was simply magnified millions of times over.
Then another Truth was demanded.
And once again Gehrman had no answer.
This Madness was singular in nature. It felt like his brain was being pressed in on all sides by walls. It squeezed his mind. Pulled at his eyes and pushed everything he was into a singular point.
A lamp glowing pale and purple grew swiftly in the Throne Room.
Gehrman appeared.
He exploded again.
This time, his body contracted in on itself, crushing his ribs and organs until there was nothing left.
…The messages still did not stop.
A seventh soul core formed.
The pain of this one wasn't even felt, as Gehrman couldn't comprehend any other sensation other than Madness.
He was completely lost in it.
Still, more and more Blood Fragments poured into him.
The final moon, the moon representing the Class of Titan's formed.
It was entirely different from the others. While it still bore the shape of a blood moon, it was more akin to a black hole.
An event horizon formed around the red, illusory moon. It seemed as if space-time bent around this blood moon, and its outline became hazy and tough to understand.
More and more blood fragments were pulled, nourishing the final Soul Core, making it ache with unknowable power.
Then, finally, the notifications stopped.
For there was no more Blood Fragments to be added.
Blood Fragments: [7,000/7,000]
In that instant. In that single horrific, blasphemous act. Gehrman had killed over a hundred thousand Vermin.
A hundred thousand Dormant Beasts.
He had enough Blood Fragments to create and saturate all seven Soul Cores nearly four times over.
But there was no place for the rest of the Blood Fragments to go. Without any space left, they dissipated into nothingness.
…The final truth was demanded.
Gehrman was not ready. He was still being split and shattered by the truths of the last two Soul Cores.
But Madness did not wait nor heed commands.
Gehrman felt crushing nothingness.
He felt the glory of everything.
All things were and weren't at the same time and that sensation was so overwhelming and overstimulating that it broke Gehrman several times over.
Gehrman died.
He died again.
He died again.
He died again.
He died again.