The Wild Hunt (before battle)
A perfected Identity...?
... Who is he talking about?
He's... coming back.
Heathcliff... now fully primed...
<…!>
Yes. I have returned.
I, whose existence itself has become a sin... have returned to put an end to us all.
... You...
…!
... You accursed beast...! Infernal demon... you've finally come to take our manor, 'ave you...?
Mistress, I shall not let that interloper... who dared to stain the honour of our manor...
Gah, kaugh...!
HAHAHAHAHA!
Every Wuthering Heights, at the end of all things in every world, eventually became mine!
Every single death Hindley and Linton suffered was pathetic and writhing. And that shall be an immutable truth for all eternity to come.
Thus Josephine, it is only right that you are mine as well.
You are bound to heed my commands.
M-Mistress, this vagabond... he's...!
I tire of your ramblings of your 'Mistress'. She is nothing but a rotting corpse, her flesh decayed and bones desiccated.
…….
Josephine fell limp and motionless in Heathcliff's grasp.
Ah! Josephine, Hindley, Linton! All of their pitiful souls tangled and fettered to this accursed destiny in every world! I have seen you far too many times in far too many worlds.
I shall take you away from here, you pitiful souls who remain bound to Wuthering Heights even in death.
The husks of dead Peccatula, Lintons, Hindleys, Josephines... all began to materialize and rise. They begin to form a procession.
The countless bodies, husks, the wailing things in their wake...
... all join the march.
Thus approaches the final chapter of this tale.
The other Heathcliff stands on the vanguard of the march, and lifts Catherine's Coffin onto his back.
You... you can't do that to Catherine - !
Fine. I suppose we could play a game. It has been a while, hasn't it?
Remember? We used to play games with Catherine on the rooftop of this manor. Why not reminisce upon that sweet memory, hm?
If you wish to join us, pursue me. Pursue me and rise through the stairwell until your strength fails, Heathcliff.
Heathcliff takes a step forward to seize him, but...
... the endless march stands in his way.
Oh, but it will not be that easy. Nor should it be.
Your heart toward Catherine shan't be realized so painlessly.
You must suffer more. Let desperation consume you. Become frenzied in your pursuit.
<The rooftop... >
Indeed, the roof houses the Golden Bough. When the two Golden Boughs come into physical contact with one another, they...
... I can think of a thousand different outcomes.
I don't know what he's planning to do with Catherine, but...
We have to stop him... we have to...!
Our retreat's been cut off. No way forward, no way back.
<Are they... Hindley, Linton, and Josephine from other worlds?>
They appear to be imperfect Identities, summoned from worlds chosen at random. It is the fate that awaits all those who become thralls to that Heathcliff.
A phenomenon in which a Mirror World entity wreaks havoc across the dimensions in pursuit of every Heathcliff... In other words, the 'Wild Hunt'.
Like the Nocturnal March of a Hundred Demons.
<So... there's no end to them?>
He is the conduit that has brought them all to this world. He leads this army at its vanguard, as its Erlkönig... or the Erlking.
This army will never stop until the Erlking's orders are withdrawn.
A brutal tempest... descends...