The Van Helsing family was a family known as the vampire hunters.
Back then, when the witch-hunting and witch-burning were still practiced across Europe, they were active worldwide. Hunting the vampires that roamed across the land. Humans in the previous centuries were far more powerful than modern humans. The mythical beings and legends weren't fictional. Their traces could be found throughout history.
If human beings were so powerful? How powerful were the vampires who hunted humans as their prey?
Thinking about the terrifying family known as vampire hunters, now things have changed. Everything had become a legend written in storybooks. Except that the only being that could hunt down vampires were the same monster as vampires!
Lucius tensed up. Van Helsing's oppression aura pressured him. Even when facing the S-ranked Esper Su Wuye, he didn't feel the pressure on him. He only worried about how to kill his prey.
But this aura made it difficult to breathe.
"You know what?" Van Helsing took the cross on his chest, holding it in his hand, he crushed the golden cross with tremendous strength. Turning it into a metal scrap and falling into the ground with a clattering sound. "The Van Helsing family has always been the best hunters. As the best hunter, of course, I should hunt the best prey."
"Ah… does that mean I've become your prey?" Lucius had been treating humans with the same attitude for a long time. He was no longer a stranger to the term.
The battle between the last vampire hunter who had been exterminating vampires for centuries, and the last vampire. They were nemesis.
"No, you're not good enough." Van Helsing subconsciously tried to find a cigarette to smoke. He recalled he had put the cigarette, along with the silver-plated revolver into his hat and tossed it aside.
"I'm not? Is this one of the Van Helsing family's vanities? Or do you think that I, a demon who had killed billions of humans, were inferior to the weak vampires you killed?" Lucius believed his bloodline was absolutely excellent! If vampires with Dead River ability were found all over Europe back then, then the world will be ruled by vampires. Thus, the vampires won't be just mere legend, but rather it was the humans that had become a myth.
"Weak vampires...you know what? A hundred years ago, the Van Helsing family launched a final hunt towards the vampire species." Van Helsing touched his other azure eye with his finger, instead of touching flesh, a sound like tapping on the glass was heard when he tapped his eye.
"It was a battle to decide the fate of both races. Vampire hunters and our family did our best, exerting all our strength in vampires' weakness. Sharpening all wood into nails to pierce the vampire's heart, soaking all crossbows in holy water. And in the end, the Van Helsing family finally prevailed, because that day of the final battle was a rare full moon that only showed up once in a century! The vampire's defenses were breached, the crossbows dipped in holy water scorched. These dark little bats, they crumbled and were defeated. Our family thought we could finally wipe out all vampires from existence. But this hope was crushed the moment 'it' appeared!"
Lucius quietly listened to Van Helsing's retelling of the past, which might lead to the reason why he was all alone in the world.
And Van Helsing's azure eye... wasn't a real one. It was a rare sapphire, a master craftsman product that was polished to look like a real eyeball. But a gem is only a gem. It cannot replace the human eye. This gem could only be sold for a sky-high price at the world's top luxury auction.
That's why Van Helsing was blind to the world for so many years.
A blind sharpshooter? That's ridiculous!
But Lucius knew it better. Even though he was blind, he could 'see' much more than an ordinary human. Because… this guy wasn't human!"
"Just like you, Junior." There was a sudden vicissitude in his words. With an old mans' scruffy appearance, he should have lit a cigarette and sat under a streetlight, reminiscing about his past. It suited him too well, but now, it's different. Van Helsing was like a sheathed blade, ready to decapitate his enemy's head with his eyes revealed.
"The army of the dead from the Dead River killed all of my kin, the Van Helsings! None of them survived, and it really doesn't fit with a creature like a vampire. But I can't describe it with other words other than a vampire. But 'it' my cold blood boils for a long time. That man's name was 'Alucard'... If I could choose, I would prefer dying in that fight rather than survived at the cost of my eye."
"But now, it's possible!" Van Helsing looked straight at Lucius. "After wandering the world for hundreds of years, I finally found the last vampire that bears that man's last name. And you know what, Junior? When I first met you huddled in the abbey's corner, my heart was beating so fast it almost killed me!"
"Weak as you were. That time, you were far from strong as that man, far from being the best prey! But now you've grown! You've trampled humans under your feet just like that man. But you're the one who caused all of this!"
Connecting everything, Lucius could imagine that if he hadn't followed this scruffy old man around the world, hadn't learned how to shoot a gun, or even met him from the very beginning!
Maybe…
Just maybe…. His sister won't have to die.
They could just live in that abbey forever. Inherit that abbey, praying to God every day before going to bed, thank God for their meals, exactly just like that annoying nun had told them to do. There will be no demon, no virus, the fate of this world will develop in a different direction!
…Until this man came along and burdened Lucius' heart with hatred, taught Lucius how to kill someone, taught Lucius to fight, and how to take revenge with his own hands!
"That's right." The shadow beneath Van Helsing was growing. "I'm the one who created the monster you are! I'm the one who killed your sister! Draw your sword, Junior! You've plunged the whole world into hell and cut off everything for this very moment, right? For the unfinished battle a hundred years ago, kill me! Lucius F. Alucard! For the sake of the Van Helsing family! Kill me, vampire!"
The moment Van Helsing's words fell, the space around Van Helsing's body was covered with a dazzling azure glow! The Yamato Blade, infused with blood power, recklessly strangled the space around the man, shattering it like a glass! Scorching red emerged on the blade, as scarlet as Lucius' eyes.
Held the hilt with both hands, he maintained his posture, unable to take a single step forward at all.
What a joke! The blade that could cut through time and space, an unstoppable divine blade that could even cut the border between the human and demon worlds, was resisted by the flesh!
But the creature in front of Lucius could resist the blade.
Tall shadows haunted Lucius. Behind the shadow, the abnormally round moon shone.
The Yamato Blade flickered slightly, finally reflecting the monster that had blocked Lucius' attack with just one hand!
What a monster!
An otherworldly force with grey-black fur covering its body, serrated fangs, sharp claws, a keen sense of smell and hearing…. It was a creature specifically made to hunt!!
One of its claws held the Yamato Blade, and the other one slapped heavily on Lucius' abdomen with a crisp boom!
Lucius barely had the time to react! As a result, he was slammed back through several buildings before he could finally stop… Suffering from the pain he hadn't experienced for so long, Lucius leaned on the Yamato Blade to stand up. And finally saw the creature as a whole!
A monster that was the nemesis of vampires in Europe!
Werewolves!
Behind its tall body, the bright moon was the best stage for this creature. Its huge body seemed to envelop the moon as if it was the lord of the moon.
Finally broke free after being restrained for so long. It howled loudly at the sky. Its voice broke through the silent night as if a sound wave swept through the city, making the dust fly.
Just like Lucius' bloodline, this creature was top notch!