Shadow Traps

The guts were scattered on the ground, stretching across the turbulent expanse, where the torchlights danced with the shadows of terror and fear. A strange, fleeting, yet decisive moment.

Silence prevailed for a few moments, as if everyone was trying to comprehend what had just happened. Then, Janemba broke it with a hoarse voice, after having remained silent throughout those tense minutes:

"F... Father, are you okay?"

Raiv, despite his wounds—which he didn't need to announce—looked at his son, then sighed slowly, as if catching his breath after an exhausting battle.

"This is new to you, isn't it?" he said calmly, while wiping the scattered blood off his scythe.

His eyes were steady, but the pain was evident in his movements, in the way he tightened his grip on his weapon, in the way he stood firm despite the wounds that were beginning to make their presence known on his body. He knew it wasn't over yet.

Alucard, at that moment, couldn't process what was happening. He couldn't comprehend the scene before him. Not just because the battle had ended so quickly, but because reality itself seemed unable to explain what was going on. Something was beyond logic, beyond the limits of his understanding of what could be real.

But there was no time to rest.

Suddenly, a sound pierced the air. It wasn't like the sound of the previous beast, not a heavy roar or a thirsty gurgle, but something entirely different.

A sharp sound. Strange. Unfamiliar.

Klaus stood upright, gripping his scythe, his face scowling with clear anger, but in his eyes, there was something else... tension? No, it wasn't tension, but a full awareness of what was coming.

"It's my turn now, Father."

He said it sharply, stepping forward, raising the flame in front of him, sparks flying from the blade of his weapon, as if his very soul was preparing to face its fate.

The sound repeated, growing louder with each second, intensifying like waves crashing against the ear with force, but it was ambiguous, spatially irregular, moving through the air as if emanating from every direction, yet it carried a strange rhythm, a rhythm that was almost orderly despite its chaos.

The three of them stopped in their tracks at the same moment. The atmosphere was charged, and the darkness around them grew heavier.

"Shadow traps."

Janemba said it, and Klaus followed without hesitation. They had fallen into the trap, and they had to overcome it.

Raiv tightened his grip on his shutgun, aiming it into the darkness, his eyes scanning the void before him with deadly focus. "Let me see it now."

Alucard, on the other hand, was the complete opposite.

His knees were glued to the ground, his hand clutching the bags, as if they were the only thing keeping him in this world. He didn't say anything, didn't even try to get up, just stayed there, his face covered by his messy white hair, and the only thing that could be heard from him was:

The chattering of his teeth.

He wasn't capable of speaking. He wasn't even fully aware of what was happening around him.

But they didn't have time to pay attention to him.

"It's there!! By the boy!"

Janemba shouted, raising his scythe.

"Damn it... impossible!"

The bird appeared suddenly, from the pitch-black darkness, heading straight for Alucard!

The creature was enormous, its claws extended forward, pouncing on the boy clutching the bags as if he were helpless prey, and Alucard, in the midst of his trembling, wasn't even able to comprehend that he was the target. It happened so fast.

Janemba and Klaus moved immediately, their fear turning into immense anger. One moment was all it took for the trap to work perfectly.

Alucard turned, not to resist, but to face death head-on!

The bird, with its mouth wide open, saliva flying in the air, was about to tear his neck apart. Alucard did something no one would have believed.

He punched it.

A desperate punch, but he punched it!

A quick strike, filled with panic, aimed at the back of the bird's open jaw!

"Rrrrraaahhh!!"

A hoarse roar escaped the boy's throat, not a war cry, but a cry of survival, a cry of someone caught between life and death, someone striking with all their might without thinking!

But it was a strong punch, strong enough to send the bird backward for a moment, strong enough to make everyone freeze for a moment, staring at the scene with wide eyes.

It flew back, letting out a cry that sounded like a child wailing, a distorted sound, mixed with the screams of women in the darkness.

Then came the explosion.

Raiv, who only needed a moment, pulled the trigger of his shutgun.

"Boom!"

The bird's guts exploded into the air, its wings torn apart in the darkness of the night, as its body fell, charred, tainted by the earth, convulsing for a few moments before going still.

Raiv suddenly shouted, startling all three of them in an instant.

"The donkey! It's gone!"

They all turned quickly, searching the darkness, but there was no trace of it.

"Damn those birds!"

"Damn it! Curse them!" Janemba and Klaus shouted through clenched teeth, cursing everything about those cursed birds.

Raiv stood for a moment, breathing slowly, his thoughts racing, before whispering in a low but anger-filled voice:

""They have exploited beast, And used our distraction to increase our anxiety, distort their sounds so we couldn't pinpoint their source... then it pounced on the weakest among us and used him to quietly steal our donkey. And now it's increasing our tension by taking it."

"Or maybe it killed it first. All it's doing is messing with our minds!"

Then he shouted with all his might:

"So that's how it is? Fine! It's war!"

He gripped his Shutgun tightly and began scanning the dark surroundings. There was no room for mercy now, no more hesitation.

Klaus: "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

In a fleeting moment, in record time, without any familiar sound, without any warning, without even the usual traps they had always been warned about, those creatures emerged from every corner of the darkness, like ghosts lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to pounce on their four prey. Everything happened at an immense speed, as if the world had suddenly accelerated. They moved with a sweeping ferocity, perhaps knowing exactly how to deal with them.

Klaus moved, shouting loudly as he swung his wide scythe, his strike was strong, sharp, and direct, hitting one of those creatures on its side, slicing through its strange black skin, but before he could recover his weapon's blade, another one pounced on him from behind with unnatural speed, as if it knew the location of his previous injury, and struck him precisely on his wounded back, as if it enjoyed his suffering, as if it intended to increase his pain rather than kill him outright.

Klaus gasped in pain, his knee almost giving out, but he clung to the ground, not allowing his body to fall. He turned quickly, swinging his weapon to fend it off, but it was faster than him, retreating before the strike could hit, and began watching him with empty eyes, as if it fully understood the extent of his pain.

Janemba, on the other hand, was a raging whirlwind. His entire body was in constant motion, leaving no space untouched. His scythe moved in every direction, his grip was a weapon in itself. Every time one of those creatures approached, he would push it back with a punch or a blade strike, but they weren't fools. In a fleeting moment, two of them pounced on him at once, grabbing his arm. His grip was tight on his scythe, but he couldn't resist the overwhelming force pressing against him. The two creatures worked together, as if they were one being with two heads. They pulled his scythe away, dropped it to the ground, and lunged to pin him down.

"Damn youuuuuuuuuuuu!"

But he didn't need his scythe. He didn't need any weapon.

His entire body was a weapon.

He grabbed one of the creatures by its neck, his iron grip almost crushing its bones. He pressed down with force until it began making ominous gurgling sounds, as if its soul was being torn out, while the other creature tried to strike him, but it was also trapped...

Raiv, on the other side, wasn't moving recklessly. He moved with steadiness and balance, as if his mind was analyzing every step before he took it.

Every shot from his gun was calculated, every strike from his scythe was precise, every movement of his body was deliberate. He wasn't fighting recklessly or in anger, but with the skill of a professional hunter, with the style of a man who had faced stronger enemies than these before.

And in the midst of this chaos, they all suddenly realized that one of them was missing.

Alucard.

"Alucard?!"

Raiv quickly looked around, his eyes darting frantically through the darkness, searching for the boy...

Four strong legs of those giant birds were carrying him away, their claws embedded in his body. They were flying him upward, while his body hung limp, completely unconscious.

He had met his end...

The three of them shouted in furious anger, cursing those creatures with all their might, attacking them in a frenzy, with all the bitterness in their hearts, with all the pent-up rage in their souls, as if their screams alone could burn these creatures with the intensity of the hatred boiling in their chests.

Even Raiv, who was always calm and composed, who analyzed everything before moving, completely lost his composure. There was no more room for planning, no more time for calculations.

He had lost control.

He pounced on each one of them with murderous frenzy, using every means of killing at his disposal. Every muscle in his body was working toward one goal only: to destroy everything in front of him. His gun emptied everything it had, his scythe was torn from overuse, and even his fists became deadly weapons, crushing the skulls of those creatures without hesitation.

As for Klaus and Janemba, they were in perfect harmony as they always were, never straying too far from each other, moving in deadly sync, forming an unstoppable duo. No matter the number of enemies, no matter how chaotic the scene, no matter how outnumbered they were, they fought as one, complementing each other in their attacks, in their defense, in every step they took.

Klaus was as precise as death itself, his scythe moving with confidence, with extreme skill, cutting through those hideous black skins without hesitation, without error, without mercy, as if he was born for this very scene.

Janemba, on the other hand, was the complete opposite.

He didn't know precision. He didn't need it.

All he knew was strength, brutality, raw violence. His fists were like steel hammers, his scythe was merely an extension of his powerful body, crushing, smashing, trampling, annihilating, as if his entire body was a machine of destruction that couldn't be stopped, as if he was a beast not fighting for survival, but for the pleasure of crushing his enemies.

They roared in anger, fighting as if they didn't feel exhaustion, as if every blow they received meant nothing to them, as if their bodies weren't made to fall, as if they were struggling against death itself, which surrounded them from every angle, refusing to give them any chance to escape.

But, amidst all of this, there was something different about Raiv.

He wasn't just angry.

He was broken.

While Klaus and Janemba fought with fiery spirits, he... moved differently, as if a heavy shadow was weighing on his heart, as if his anger wasn't just anger, but pure pain.

He was afraid.

The boy he had vowed to bring, to protect, the boy who had been taken right before his eyes.

He didn't give himself even a shred of confidence that the boy had survived.

He wasn't just fighting to survive, he was punishing himself, lashing out at himself with every strike he delivered, as if his soul was screaming inside him, blaming him, reminding him that he had failed.

But, despite that, they continued.

They kept crushing those giant birds, their numbers dwindling rapidly, their bodies falling one after another, purple blood covering the ground around them, and the massacre was nearing its end.