Conquering Blood

"I'm sorry, kid." Kanon knelt to the ground as he caressed Leon's hair. The expression of grief and despair ate him up. "Commander, what's about to happen to him?" Sanya asked just to make sure.

Kanon turned his back towards Leon to make sure that he did not hear what was about to be his fate. "His red glowing veins would start popping out of his body, the odds of a human being able to contain a Lunaseeker's blood is out of the question. There have been no instances of it so far." Kanon said regrettably.

Reno carried both Damian and Kyro on each respective shoulder. "I-I see." Sanya could not help but let her tears show. Something that she had never done before, rather none of them had seen so far. But in this situation, it was the only thing left to do.

In what would have been a walk in the park for the Umbra Knights, what ended up in their enlistment process was hell on earth. The nimbus cloud casted by the Commander started to rain down and pour on them, washing the blood of the recruits into the obscurity of the lush woods.

Reno pointed towards Leon, who now had fainted from the stress the blood placed on his body. Kanon and Sanya turned around and saw that the red glowing veins of his dimmed down, as well as his fatally wounded part that was bitten by the wolf – it had completely been sealed shut by his own muscles and cells now.

Kanon was too stunned to speak for a whole minute, before trying to feel Leon's pulse if his heart was still beating. And to his surprise, it was. Leon Vergil had overcome the blood of the Lunaseeker and was now fully healed. But there was still one problem, one thing left unspoken that none of them would find the courage to utter out.

It was the fact that a human who has survived drinking a Lunaseeker's blood would be put to death, as that human would turn into an amalgamation of both human and Lunaseeker combined. Those were the rules that were engrained in the code of the Umbra Knights, but this was the first time that they had seen someone survive the ordeal.

Both Sanya and Reno bowed their heads to the Kanon as a means of apology. "This is because of us, sir. Our inadequacy and that we could not beat the masked Lunaseeker. That is the sole reason which lead up to this. I will accept full responsibility for this tragedy, you may demote me or get rid of me altogether, it would still be deserved." Sanya uttered to the Commander.

Kanon sighed heavily. "Very well. I will punish both you and Reno." The two gulped as they helped carry the three recruits who were all unconscious. "The punishment would be one thing, and one thing only. I want you to keep whatever happened to Leon a secret. Who knows that the higher ups might decide if its out in the open, that's all." Kanon said. Both Sanya and Reno let out a grunt of relief after hearing what the punishment was.

"But sir, he's a Lunaseeker now." Sanya said as she stared with hopelessness in her eyes at Leon Vergil. "You are wrong, Sanya. He's nothing more than a child. A mindless kid who just charges in with no thought at all – for now, at least. These three are the newest addition to the Umbra Knights, they have more than qualified for whatever they were meant to do during the enlistment. These recruits have seen hell with their own two eyes already." Kanon uttered.

While the two were slowly getting up and walking back to Solstice, Kanon requested that he would stay behind for a while. He said he wanted to give the fallen recruits a proper burial.

"Don't worry, I will send out the other Umbra Knights here once we get back." Sanya and Reno saluted Kanon before making themselves scarce. "Yeah. That would be good."

The bodies buried that night would lay the foundation for what the Umbra Knights would set out to do – total annihilation of the Lunaseekers. Kanon Sokolov would make sure of it himself.