Chapter 35 : The Second Hunt - Part 3
I couldn't stand. The stimulant's aftermath held me pinned to the concrete, every muscle trembling, every nerve screaming protest. The world swam in and out of focus, sounds arriving delayed like echoes across a canyon.
Der Richter's scythe gleamed in the moonlight filtering through the factory's broken skylights.
"Three hundred years." His voice cracked. "Three hundred years, we hunted together. Every Grimm. Every monster. Every threat to the natural order. And you—" He stopped three feet away, tears streaming down his face. "You ended him with magic and deception."
"He would have killed me otherwise."
"YES!" The word exploded from him, raw and broken. "That was the POINT! Grimms die! It's what they DO! It's what they DESERVE!"
He raised the scythe, and I knew I couldn't stop him.
Monroe hit him from the left—wounded, bleeding, but still fighting. The Blutbad's claws raked across der Richter's back, drawing blood for the first time in the battle. The Reaper spun, blade sweeping in an arc that would have decapitated Monroe if he hadn't ducked.
"Stay down!" Monroe shouted at me. "We've got this!"
He didn't have it. Der Richter's grief had transformed into something beyond rage—a killing fury that made his earlier precision look gentle. His scythe moved in patterns that left no openings, no weaknesses.
Monroe took a cut across his chest that sent him sprawling.
Angelina emerged from the wreckage of the wall she'd been thrown through, chains dragging behind her. Her face was bloody, her movements unsteady, but her woge was complete and her eyes burned with Blutbad fury.
"Hey, asshole!" She whipped the chains at der Richter's legs, trying to tangle him. "Remember me?"
He caught the chains, yanked, and sent her tumbling across the factory floor.
[ALLY STATUS: MONROE - CRITICAL]
[ALLY STATUS: ANGELINA - CRITICAL]
[PERSONAL STATUS: INCAPACITATED - STIMULANT AFTERMATH]
[SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 4.2%]
Der Richter turned back to me. The grief had settled into something colder now—the look of someone who'd decided that revenge was worth any price.
"Your allies tried. I'll give them that." He stepped over Monroe's groaning form. "But in the end, it's always the same. Grimms die alone."
The scythe rose.
Hexenbiest magic slammed into der Richter from behind.
The impact threw him forward, his concentration shattered by power that shouldn't have been possible in this fight. He stumbled, caught himself, spun toward the new threat.
Adalind stood in the factory entrance.
Her face had shifted into true Hexenbiest form—the rotted visage, the corpse-like features, the terrible beauty of something ancient and dangerous. Power crackled around her fingers like visible lightning.
"Honor is for people who can afford it." Her voice carried across the factory, echoing off rusted metal and broken concrete. "The rest of us do whatever it takes."
Der Richter's expression shifted—calculation replacing rage as he assessed this new variable. A Hexenbiest at full power was dangerous, even to a Senior Reaper.
"You're the Schade woman." His voice steadied. "Royal blood. Royal training. What interest do you have in protecting a Grimm?"
"He's mine." Adalind advanced, magic building with each step. "And nobody takes what's mine."
She couldn't beat him in a straight fight. I knew it. She knew it. Der Richter probably knew it too. But she didn't need to beat him.
She needed to buy seconds.
Her first spell—a wave of telekinetic force—drove der Richter backward three steps. He blocked the second spell with his scythe, ancient metal absorbing magical energy it had been designed to withstand. The third spell missed entirely as he sidestepped with inhuman grace.
But those spells bought time.
Time for Monroe to find his feet, bleeding but mobile.
Time for Angelina to recover her chains, battered but furious.
Time for me to push through the stimulant's aftermath and rise.
[STATUS UPDATE: COMBAT CAPABILITY - MARGINAL]
[PACK COORDINATION: AVAILABLE]
[TACTICAL RECOMMENDATION: COMBINED ASSAULT]
We attacked together.
Not coordinated like a military unit. Not elegant like trained warriors. Just four people who'd decided they weren't dying tonight, hitting one enemy from every direction at once.
Monroe went low, claws raking at der Richter's legs. Angelina's chains wrapped around his scythe arm, fouling his weapon. Adalind's magic created a barrier behind him, cutting off retreat.
And I drove my sword into his back.
The blade went deep—through muscle, between ribs, into organs that even a Reaper needed to survive. Der Richter gasped, his body arching, his grip on the scythe finally loosening.
"Not... possible..." He turned his head, finding my eyes. "You're nothing. A month-old awakening. A child playing at—"
"I'm not playing." I twisted the blade. "And I'm not alone."
Der Richter collapsed.
[KILL REGISTERED: DER RICHTER (SENIOR REAPER)]
[XP GAINED: +500]
[QUEST COMPLETE: SURVIVE THE REAPERS]
[BONUS: BOTH SENIOR REAPERS ELIMINATED]
[LEVEL UP: 14 → 15]
[ABILITY EXTRACTION: AVAILABLE - ACCEPT? Y/N]
I accepted the second extraction. This one was different—not combat instinct, but something subtler. Knowledge. Strategy. Centuries of tactical wisdom compressed into biological data.
[ABILITY ACQUIRED: TACTICAL ANALYSIS (PASSIVE)]
[EFFECT: ENHANCED STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT, PATTERN RECOGNITION +30%]
[NOTE: FULL INTEGRATION REQUIRES RECOVERY PERIOD]
The factory fell silent.
Two Senior Reapers lay dead on the concrete—legends, nightmares, the bogeymen that Wesen parents used to frighten children. They'd killed forty-seven Grimm bloodlines between them.
They wouldn't kill anyone else.
I started laughing.
The sound hurt—everything hurt—but I couldn't stop. The absurdity of it, the impossibility, the fact that we'd actually survived.
"Cross?" Monroe's voice was concerned. "You okay?"
"No." The laughter kept coming, mixed with something that might have been sobs. "I'm definitely not okay. But we won."
Angelina collapsed against a support beam, her woge receding. "That was the stupidest thing I've ever been part of."
"Agreed." Adalind let her Hexenbiest form fade, human beauty reasserting itself. "Completely, utterly stupid."
"But it worked."
"It worked." She moved to my side, steadying me as my legs threatened to buckle again. "Against all logic and probability, it worked."
Monroe stared at the two bodies, his expression cycling through emotions I couldn't read. "What now? The European Reapers will respond. This isn't over."
"No." I found my footing, leaned on Adalind's shoulder, looked at the scythes lying beside their former owners. "It's not over. But we're going to send a message."
"Another message?" Monroe groaned. "Your messages keep almost getting us killed."
"Last one for a while." I smiled—and this time it felt real. "I promise."
MORE POWER STONES And REVIEWS== MORE CHAPTERS
To supporting Me in Pateron .
with exclusive access to more chapters (based on tiers more chapters for each tiers) on my Patreon, you get more chapters if you ask for more (in few days), plus new fanfic every week! Your support starting at just $6/month helps me keep crafting the stories you love across epic universes like [ In The Witcher With Avatar Powers,In The Vikings With Deja Vu System,Stranger Things Demogorgon Tamer ...].
By joining, you're not just getting more chapters—you're helping me bring new worlds, twists, and adventures to life. Every pledge makes a huge difference!
👉 Join now at patreon.com/TheFinex5 and start reading today!