Elucard, Kyzo, and Bruce hiked through the jungle-like morass until it broke into a series of cliff faces. Tall, wild trees grew by their sides and a swampy pond sat at its base.

“If I were the third mage, I’d be up there to keep a wide survey of this forest,” huffed Bruce as he bent his back to take a gander at the tallest of the cliffs.

“I think you’re right, Brawnwood,” agreed Elucard.

Elucard leaned on a large tree whose vines wrapped up and down the rockface. He leaped up to the nearest branch. “You two stay down here, I'll signal If I see any trouble.”

Elucard waited for his apprentice and the harekin to give a nod of approval before scurrying up the tree.

Upon reaching the top, Elucard kept low to the ground and entered the shadows of a small brush. He crept silently as he approached a lone figure in golden robes. It had to be the enemy Tuner, Ursula. Elucard grinned wickedly as he slid out a thin dagger.

With no wasted movement, he cupped his hand over the figure’s mouth and slit her throat.

Elucard stood motionless, confused, and alone. He looked at his hands and saw no blood. He frantically scanned the area.

What happened? He was sure as dusk brought the moon he had killed the Tuner. Yet no body lay at his feet.

“Elucard Freevind,” a voice echoed all around him, “as skilled as you are, you are veak vith your mind.”

Elucard sheathed his knife, drew his sword, and palmed a shuriken, ready to sink it into any stranger that approached him.

“Where are you? Show yourself!” Elucard commanded.

“It seems I am not the first to touch your mind…”

“Wha- Arrrgh!” Elucard dropped his weapons and reached for his head as he cried out in crippling pain. It felt like a drill to his skull, burrowing into his head, festering in his mind. He could not control it. He could not stop it. All he could do was listen… and obey.

“Your blade, pick it up,” the voice told the assassin.

Elucard’s eyes turned a dim gold as he grabbed his sword from the grass.

The sound of rocks bouncing down the cliff came from behind Elucard.

“Master, did you find her?” Kyzo grunted as he and Bruce pulled themselves up to the cliff’s ledge.

Elucard turned his head, his mind completely blank except for a small voice piercing his thoughts. Pulling his strings, conducting his movements. Like a dangerous puppet with a cruel master.

They are veak. You are strong. You do not need them. Kill them, Elucard.

Elucard narrowed his eyes and rushed at Kyzo, sword sheening in the light. Thirsting for blood.

Elucard drew nearer to Kyzo, but before he could decapitate his student, Bruce parried the ninjato with his own cutlass and kicked Elucard backwards.

“Lad, the Tuner has Elucard’s mind!” shouted Bruce.

Kyzo stumbled backwards, stopping just shy of the cliff’s edge. “H-How do you know? How can we be sure?”

Bruce clenched his fist cracking his knuckles. “His eyes, lad, they glow gold, just like my mother’s before she killed my father. They blamed his death on Ma, but I knew better!"

A ghastly smile carved across Elucard’s face. “So you have dealt vith my kind before?”

“Ignore her, Kyzo. We have to render Elucard unconscious without killing him. Once we do, we’ll see our Tuner,” Bruce said.

“Right!” agreed Kyzo.

Together they launched into their attacks. Kyzo went low, sweeping at Elucard’s feet, while Bruce sent a flurry of punches.

Elucard sidestepped Kyzo and deflected Bruce, thrusting a heavy knee into the harekin, grabbing his cloak, and shoulder throwing him, slamming Bruce face first onto the ground.

Not done with Kyzo yet, Elucard roared, slashing a wide arc at his student. Kyzo dodged backwards, missing the physical attack, but the blade was so fast and fierce that the wind sliced into Kyzo’s chest.

The boy lost his footing and rolled to the edge of the cliff. He shook with fear as he struggled to stand. Elucard grabbed him by his collar and dangled him over the deep ravine.

“He has a connection to you, boy,” spoke the Tuner through Elucard. “I can see his memories. You remind him of his childhood before these Black Rabbits.”

Kyzo gurgled and choked, clawing at Elucard.

“Innocent, pure, full of life.” smiled Elucard. “Vell, no more.”

A sudden strike from the back of Elucard’s head knocked out the elf. Bruce dove to catch Kyzo’s hand just as the boy fell. Bruce grunted as he pulled Kyzo back from the ledge.

Bruce growled as he snapped his head around. He came face to face with a gold robed woman. Her face was withered and pruned like a dried apple. Silver stranded hair draped over her shoulders. Her eyes caught his attention most. Soulless, golden eyes. No pupils, no irises, just gold.

She began to clap. “I never thought a harekin vould be strong enough to slay me. I assumed I vould have traveled the outer-reaches of this universe and become one vith the great Un’Draago’s mind.”

“Who?” asked Bruce.

The Tuner approached the harekin. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing ever does.” She tried to caress Bruce’s cheek, but he snatched her hand. “You are more strong villed than those that came before you.”

Bruce bared his teeth. “I have spent a lifetime preparing to kill the Tuner that tore my family apart.”

The Tuner groaned in pain as Bruce twisted her wrist.

“I never caught him, but you’ll have to do.” Bruce drove his cutlass through the golden mage, but her form vanished before his eyes.

“Your eyes are blinded by your own hatred, rabbit!” the voice echoed around him. “So easily they deceive you.”

Bruce swerved his head left and right, enraged, but in control. “You can not take me, Tuner! I have honed my mind to one day fight one of you!”

“I see that, yes,” whispered the Tuner. “But it is not you I seek.”

Elucard rose to his feet and drew a twin set of daggers in each hand. “This body shall be mine forever. A youthful form for my shriveled self.” Ursula spoke through Elucard’s voice.

Elucard is mine… Echoed a new voice from the assassin’s lips. A gruffer, more sinister voice. Darker than the Tuner’s.

“Vhat is this?” Elucard stopped in his tracks. He turned his head. “Who are you? I command you to tell me who else is here!”

You are powerful, old one. But I am older and possess the power you will never fathom in ten lifetimes.

Bruce and Kyzo crept closer to the Elucard, weapons drawn waiting for the appearance of the second being.

“This—this can not be? I am Ursula the Mindtrapper! I refuse to be—Arrrgh!!!”

Ursula’s high pitched scream shrieked in agony as she apparated before Bruce and Kyzo. She clenched her head and her eyes blazed with a golden light.

This is no longer your domain, Ursula the Mindtrapper!

Elucard collapsed once more and Ursula’s nose and ears began to stream blood. Dark cracks fractured her face and her jaw stretched and unhinged as she continued to scream. A wave of psychic energy exploded from her, rendering Bruce and Kyzo into excruciating pain. They groaned as sharp pain pulsed in their heads.

Kyzo fell to the ground, squirming in utter anguish, while Bruce slowly shuffled and swayed, dipping in out of consciousness. He growled as his arm struggled to lift his sword. In an all out roar he lopped off the Tuner’s head and collapsed in exhaustion.

***

“Bruce.”

Bruce blinked weakly, slowly opening his eyes to see Kyzo shaking him awake.

“Bruce, thank the Angels you are alive,” Kyzo sighed with relief.

The young elf helped the harekin sit up. To his surprise the moon now hung in the sky and night had found its way on his shoulders.

“How long have I been out?” asked Bruce, still weary from his encounter with the Tuner.

“I don’t know, I just woke up myself. It must have been a few hours.”

Bruce felt his head. It still ached. “I had a dream of a black wolf… I-I…”

“I had a similar dream; I only remember darkness and what looked like a lycanthrope. He scared me half to death, then nothing… I remember nothing after that,” said Kyzo.

Bruce looked over to the unconscious body of Elucard. “What happened to him?”

Kyzo looked to his master. “H-he…” Kyzo scratched his head. “He was like that when I woke up.”

Bruce turned his attention to the golden mage’s headless body. “The Tuner… did we…” he spotted his bloody cutlass on the dusty ground. “Did I kill her?”

Kyzo crossed his legs and sat back. “I really can’t remember, Bruce. I would assume so. Clearly the Tuner did a number on us when she died.”

Bruce climbed to his feet and lifted Elucard over his shoulder. “Come on, let’s count ourselves lucky that we survived a Tuner and touch bases with the others.”