My guiding moonlight

Fear. It is what separates men from the beasts. Fear allows us to reason, and to choose our own path. Fear drives us to hide, or to fight. Whether it be fear of harm, or fear for one’s loved ones, fear plagues the heart of all men, and it allows them to think. The first weapons were made In fear of the creatures that hunted the cavemen, and the first farms were created in fear of foraging producing no more results. But once a man loses their fear, they no longer need their minds. After all, why think, when you don’t even care about survival anymore?

No longer are decisions necessary for self preservation, as they fear nothing. No need for morals, as they no longer fear of what they do is right or wrong. And no longer do they fear the taboo, as why fear what others would think of one who no longer cares? And thus, as their instincts take more control, and they use their minds less and less, they begin to change. Bones splinter as they grow to unnatural lengths, and flesh stretches and tears to make room for the muscle growing within.

Some embrace the change, relishing in the pain, and enjoying the loss of their humanity. But others … others fight the corruption. Many hunters, and many more clerics, refuse to fall to the tantalizingly sweet blood. So They pray, and hunt, and experiment, all to delay the inevitable. And the longer they resist, the more restless the beast inside becomes.

As time goes on, more blood is used, strengthening the inner beast slowly. Until eventually, the repressed beasthood finally wears down their minds enough to destroy what little humanity they cling on to. And as it is, clerics often turn into the most hideous beasts.

These clerics oft grew to sized unlike any other, towering over even the hulking executioners of Yharnam. The cleric beasts became one of the most feared types of beasts, as it showed that even the church was not immune, and when they fell, they become more destructive than any other beast. And as the screams grow louder as we approach, the silhouette of the massive, antlered beast comes into view, and I fear we may be too late.

As we near the gates of the city, something flys past us and slams into a nearby tree. Quickly looking over, I notice it is half of a pony adorned in golden armor, still alive somehow. However, the beast appears to be much deeper in the city. It slowly lifts it head, before uttering one word.
“Run.”
As the words escape its lips, what little life that is in its eyes fades, and its head goes limp. I close his eyelids, and we begin to traverse into the city. But with how far this beast was able to launch that poor pony, we know time is of the essence.

The further we go into the city, the more carnage we come across. However, there are few corpses thankfully. Eventually we make it to the beasts current location, only to be stopped at spearpoint.
“STAY BACK!”
As I ready for a fight, a second, taller pony walks up.
“Thats enough sergeant. It’s Laurence.”
“But the creature looks like him! He could be behind it!”
“I said enough sergeant. Laurence is trustworthy.”
As the guard slowly lowers his spear, the second equine begins to walk towards us.

“Im glad you finally made it back Laurence. As you can see while you were gone an… incident began. I assume the pony with you is whom you were searching for? ”
“You assume correctly princess. This is the old friend of mine. First hunter of the church, founder of the holy blades, and protector of the innocent: Ludwig, the holy blade.”
“Greetings your majesty. While it is a pleasure to meet you, we have no time for pleasantries. What is the status of the defense?”

“We have managed to evacuate the city into the castle, leaving most of my royal guard to ensure they remain safe. The lunar guard and about 500 braver royal guards have managed to herd the creature into this area, but other than that, we are doing nothing but angering it further.”
“What are the Current casualties, and how many active troops are deployed?”
“Most of my royal guards not stationed at the castle have fallen already. Only anbout 10 remain. About 50 lunar guards have been severely injured, and 100 more have been slain. We still have over 1,050 lunar guards left, as well as the 1,500 of my guard we left at the castle.”
“What is the current strategy being used?”
“Hit and run tactics. It struggles to hit aerial creatures, and the pegasi and thestrals are using that to their advantage. However it does little damage to the beast.”

As the information is given to me, a plan starts to form in my mind.
“While much safer, hit and run tactics alone will do little to a beast of this magnitude. The spears and bolts do not have enough heft to them in order to puncture the hide. However, they also provide a much needed distraction for any ground units to move in and wound the beast.”
“Are you suggesting I send in ground units for a suicide mission?!”
Not at all. I suggest your aerial units continue their bombardment, while Laurence and I deal with the beast.”

As I finish laying out my plan, she looks at me, as if I was insane.
“What?! That’s insane! I trust Laurence with my life, but to send only the 2 of you into battle with the beast is absolutely mad!”
Before I can retort, a new voice begins to speak.
“They will not be alone. We shall fight alongside them on the ground.”
I turn around, and lay my eyes upon what I can only describe as the personification of the moon itself.
“You must be princess Luna.”

“Greetings honorable warrior. We have been told a great deal about you from our friend Laurence. And we believe your plan might work.”
“Luna, no. You can’t, it’s too dangerous! We can find another method, please, all three of you, don’t throw your lives away like this!”
You fear too much sister. Laurence has shown to be exceptionally strong, and due to his size much more maneuverable. I believe his similarities to the creature could help us to confuse it, and allow us to take it down. Besides, it would be much less of a risk to have three skilled warriors than just two. ”

“Fine. But if any of you fall, I may never forgive myself.”
As the princess turns and walks away, I begin to discuss further strategy with Laurence and the princess.
“ I have dealt with one of these beasts before. They are much more deadly than other beasts, as they have consumed much more blood. However, they have one major weakness: their size makes their bones brittle. Attacking the limbs first will allow us to cripple it, but only temporarily, as the blood allows their bones to heal much faster.”

“Speaking from experience, The legs also become weaker as they become more injured, causing them to stumble more often. This allows larger windows of opportunity for attacking them after one of its attacks. However, they also attack more often, so when that period is closed, we need to begin to move. ”
“ staying mobile throughout the entire fight is necessary to ensure success, as a moving target is harder to hit. So equip your strongest, yet lightest armor. And make sure your weapon is heavy enough to harm it, but light enough that you remain nimble.”

“And finally, the most crucial part to taking them down: stick close to the rear. While it may seem strange, most of their attacks are unable to reach the area directly behind them, making it the safest place to be. ”
“Understood. We shall go arm ourselves, and shall join you in but a moment.”
She then popped out of existence, before reappearing after a couple of moments.

That was quick.
“And quite impressive. Are you ready?”
I quickly look over her gear. She was wearing chainmail, with leather on top. Light, yet effective. Her weapon is what impressed me the most. It was a twin blade, and it flowed with the power of the moon.
“Quite. Let us put this beast in the ground where it belongs.”
With her confirmation, I draw my blade, and channel the lunar energy through me and into the blade. She looks at me, as if surprised I use lunar magic, as I begin to speak once more.
“foul beast, who dares to plague this world. Today you threaten innocent lives. And for that, today you shall fall. nulla ferae vim lune sustinere potest! HIC FINIT TUI VISIO NOCTURNA! ” And with one final cry, we charge.

Laurence quickly gets to the beast, before leaping onto the creatures arm and biting down. The cleric beast screams in pain, and tries in vain to pry him off. All the while, Laurence is slashing at the beast with his razor sharp claws. Laura quickly dashes to his left leg, and begins to slash at its legs as if she were a whirlwind in pony form. However, the beast uses its free arm to swipe her away. As quickly as she is thrown back, I rush in, and jump into the air, before I begin to charge my blade.

The beast finally manages to fling Laurence off, and as it does, my blade finishes charging, and I begin to descend. As I grow closer to the beast, I unleash a slash directly into the already wounded arm of the beast, going straight through. The cleric beats screams in pain, before slashing me using its good arm. I manage to back step just in time, as Luna begins to rush towards the legs agin. It attempts to stop her, but she is too nimble for it to hit. She managed to get to its legs again, and begins to slash her blades while sliding underneath the beast.

As soon as she’s out from under the creature, she recovers back to her feet and begins to run again. As it attempts to attack her for harming its legs, Laurence rushes in again, now somehow fully ablaze, and begins jumps at its chest. He tears into the cleric beasts soft belly, setting it ablaze in the process. And before the beast can ever react, he jumps off of the beast. I quickly dash towards its rear, and swing my blade, aiming for its spine.

My blade strikes true, and cleaves the beasts lower half off. I notice Laurence wince out of the corner of my eye for some reason, before continuing my assault. I charge my blade again, before thrusting it deep into the beasts chest. The shockwave blows its heart and many other entrails straight out of its chest, but it’s not done yet. As the beast nears it’s end, it become even more desperate. It attempts to swipe at Luna, but before it even finishes winding up she has sliced the arm clean off.

As the beast lies limbless, it still snaps at us with its mouth. All three of us walk up to its head, before plunging our weapons into its head. As the beast goes limp, we can hear the guards celebrating the beasts demise.”You are quite the warrior Sir Ludwig. Not only that, but a skilled lunar mage, with a rare conduit blade.”
“You are an impressive warrior as well. If we were in my home, I would think you to be one of my hunters.”
“Many thanks. Before we begin the cleanup, we shall humbly offer you the opportunity to join our guard. Of course, you will still need to go through the recruitment process, as is procedure, but we are sure you shall be one of our best guards.”

A position in the lunar guard. A disciplined and skilled fighting force, whose duty is to serve the moon, and to protect the innocent. This was what I have sough for most of my life. What I attempted to turn the church hunters into. What many called me mad for. What my guiding moonlight has always led me to.
“For my entire life, I have searched for ways to serve the moon that guided me, and to protect the innocent. After years of denigration and failure I had lost almost all hope. But even in the darkest of nights, I saw the moonlight, and it guided me down the right path. And now, Finally, I can achieve my purpose. I would be honored to join the lunar guard.”