"All flesh is like grass. All human glory is like flowers. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord endures forever."
A male's voice can be hear spoken as it echoed throughout the silent lands, the one who spoke those lines stabbed Alucard with a wooden stake where his heart was, the latter coughed out blood as he slowly opened his eyes to see the man who stabbed him was the great Abraham Van Hellsing himself, the ancestor of Integra and where the hellsing family blood line started.
Currently, the two were in a graveyard, surrounded by a land of death.
"Am I... defeated?"
"Yes, you are defeated," Van Hellsing confirmed, "There is no such thing as a never ending nightmare as you lay upon ze blood-soaked dirt of your ruined land. Castles plundered... dominions in ruin... servants destroyed, all to end ze hellfire wis which you sought to cover ze world."
He continued as his voice raised, "A bloody conquest having consumed hundreds of thousands, countless villages razed to ze ground, and over 20,000 impaled and prostrated by you and you alone to strike terror into the hearts of mortal men! Vhat say you, monster, demon, devil conceived by the bleakest womb?! WHAT SAY YOU NOW?!"
"...the Aristocrats."
In the midst of silence, all he received was a few words from Alucard. With an annoyed look, Van Hellsing slammed his fist on the stake, driving it further into Alucards chest and heart, causing the vampire king to slump backwards, but Van Hellsing immediately grasped the collar of his coat and brought him closer to himself.
"Count, you have nothing, you are a pathetic No-life king, you have nothing... nothing!"
With his vision blurred, Alucard's eyes gradually closed as everything went dark.
——————————————————————
Jolting his eyes open, Alucard immediately woke up and saw himself laying in his chair, and another thing he noticed was that he was crying red tears. Unbothered by it, he looked around and noticed there was a small table next to him with a wine bottle, two wine glasses, and his own orange colored shades that he usually wears on them.
"A dream," Alucard groans, "Utter nonsense."
"Mister Alucard?"
A familiar voice was heard from Alucard's side. Turning around, he was confronted by none other than Lady Alcina Dimitrescu, standing near the entrance of the basement.
Alucard chuckles, "And I expected your daughters to find this place and come here out of childish curiosity, as you would expect from a child."
"Sorry, Integra told me, Rodeo, the other four lords and my daughters to be hidden for now due to the meeting she is having with the conference of twelve as she called them," Alcina said, a frown appeared on her face, "I didn't feel like staying in my room, so I decided to explore the areas where we weren't allowed to go in the manor in order to kill some time, followed by a very strong blood scent from my mutant abilities, and... found you~" she added with a smirk.
"I see, it seems like I underestimated you in terms of enhanced senses."
"Perhaps," Alcina remarked, her expression shifted upon seeing tears in his eyes, "Are you crying?"
"N-No, just had something in my eyes." Alucard answered with his smile remaining on his face.
"That is the oldest excuse you can make, Alucard," Alcina snarled as she planted her hands on her hips, "Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm... fine." Alucard tries to disguise his disappointment, but he eventually glances down.
Frowning upon seeing his behavior, Alcina approached Alucard and brought out a napkin to wipe his tears away, Alucard slowly glanced away from Alcina, not wanting her to wipe away his tears.
"Alcina, you don't have to."
Before Alucard knew, Alcina gently held his face, forcing him to look back at her.
"Don't be such a child, Alucard." Alcina said with a smile.
Alucard scoffs, "If you truly knew what I was, you would fear me."
"But you haven't yet," Alcina responded with an elegant smile, "For now, be a good real fucking vampire and let me wipe those tears off of yours."
"Alright, tall vampire lady." Alucard said sarcastically.
"Great, now you're coming up with nicknames," Alcina giggles, "I'll allow it."
Alucard laughs in response as he watches the tall, beautiful woman wipe away his tears with the napkin, such a scene could make Markiplier envious.
"Feeling better?" Alcina asked.
"...A little."
"...Do you want to talk about it? I mean, what are you feeling right now?"
"It was... just a dream I had which was related to my past," Alucard explained, his voice lowered, "My past is something only my master knows about it as well as Walter. I... don't like talking about it with others."
"It's alright, Alucard. I understand, you don't need to talk about it."
Smiling at her response, Alucard shifted back into a distress, "...Do I really have anything, Lady Dimitrescu?"
"I mean you have Integra, Walter and that girl Seras, what more can you have?"
"My immortality is a curse to me, while it has its benefits, it's something that must be earned, the way I achieved it wasn't right by any means and now I'm just a monster."
"...Then why shed tears if you're a monster? That only shows you have some humanity in you."
Alucard paused for a moment after hearing the words from Alcina before responding.
"...Perhaps."
As soon as he said it, he rose up from his chair and put on his glasses and hat.
"I'm gonna go check on Police girl."
"Want me to follow?"
Alucard slightly shook his head, "No, stay here for now and enjoy the wine on the table, it has a nice taste to it, I'll come back later."
"Oh, I see." Alcina grinned, "You want to have a chat with me more, right? Vampire to vampire?"
"Maybe, but look, at the end of the day my hate for supernatural monsters will never wither away, and while you're a monster, at least your humanity is still there, much like mine, and you respect my feelings of not talking about my past." Alucard said as he began to step forward, "Consider it as a sign of respect from my side, if you want to see it that way."
Walking past her, Alucard simply walked into the wall and fazed right through it, leaving Alcina in the sub-basement alone as she began to wonder.
"Wonder what the rest are doing?'
——————————————————————
Meanwhile in Rodeo's room, the latter himself was currently playing Quake on his new PC with his high tech armor on, which Walter and Karl finished adding modifications this morning so that he is totally prepared, because he knew full well what's about to happen next.
Standing up from his chair, Rodeo switched off his PC and headed for everyone else's room.
"Show time."
——————————————————————
In Karl Heisenberg's room, the man himself was currently asleep in his bed, muttering in his sleep.
"Zzzzzzzzzz... I'm an engineer... zzzzzzzzzz... I build things... zzzzzzzzzz…"
Bam!
With a loud bang, Rodeo kicked his room door open as he shouted.
"Wake the hell up, engineer!"
"I'm awake!" Heisenberg exclaimed as he woke up from his sleep with an annoyed look upon realizing it was Rodeo, "What you want, boy!?"
"No time! We have an extremely important job to deal with!"
Standing up firmly, Karl stretched his arms and legs before raising his hand, causing his hammer and electro uber backpack in the table to hover and went into Karl's grasp before putting on his hat and glasses.
Once he is finished, Rodeo gestures to follow him and Karl does.
"This better be good, kid."
"Just follow me."
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In another room, Donna and Angie were casually humming a tune while watering the two hallucination flowers they had brought with them during their fight with the Forsaken in the last couple of chapters.
Just then, they were nearly startled when the door of their room burst open and they saw Rodeo and Karl walked in.
"Hello Rodeo!" Angie yells.
Instead of responding to her, Rodeo plunged right into the point, "No time for morning greetings, Angie, we've got a job to do."
"Hm?" The two were puzzled by his words.
"Just follow me, and bring the flowers with you."
Donna and Angie both exchanged glances, at the next second, they all nodded and took the flowers with them, following Rodeo without questioning why since they trusted him.
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In Moreau's room, he was watching a movie on his new 1999 model TV. Despite its terrible quality, he is having a great time watching it, especially watching those things called Cartoons.
"This movie is perfect."
Just as he continued to enjoy his viewing without interruption till his room's door opened to reveal Rodeo entering his room.
"You're coming with me, Moreau." Rodeo said sternly, "We might get into trouble soon, so turn the TV off and follow me... now.
"Okay," Moreau sadly responded, turning off the TV and following Rodeo.
——————————————————————
In the room of the witch herself, Miranda, she was sitting on a chair, reading a book in a peaceful and silent atmosphere, but it was not peaceful and silent when she began to have thoughts of her daughter.
Ever since this strange being Rodeo appeared in the village nearly a week ago, he somehow managed to make a huge impact not only on the whole village, but also on herself, influencing her thoughts and reflecting her actions to the point where she started to realize she doesn't feel like herself when thinking about it.
And after hearing what Rodeo had said earlier, she started to think if his words were truly right about everything.
'...I think he's right about fate having some role.'
Clink!
Interrupting her thoughts is when she heard the door open and turned around to see it was Rodeo who had opened it.
"Let me guess, trouble is coming?"
"Yeah."
Miranda puts down the book and stands up, "Lead the way then." she said calmly.
Rodeo let out a nod before walking out of the room as Miranda followed him.
——————————————————————
Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela were just resting on their beds, wearing black pajamas with their main clothes in the wardrobe as they are sleeping like kitties with nice and elegant dream, mostly of torturing a person with their sickels, watching him scream in agony without any escaping as they laugh maniacally.
Dreaming about it makes their lips curve up into a smile.
Until then, the three were awake when they heard Rodeo enter their room.
"Morning, Rodeo, what brings you here?" Bela asked, wiping her eyes as Cassandra yawned to her side.
"Get your sickles ready, we've got trouble coming our way." Rodeo replied with a serious voice.
"How do you know?" Daniela wondered.
"I just know, come on."
The three exchanged looks at one another before deciding to follow Rodeo's advice, they quickly transformed into a swarm of flies and flying towards the wardrobe. At the next instant, they went out and transformed back, revealing them to wear their usual dark robes and wielding their sickles.
Rodeo whistled in astonishment, "Okay, not bad."
Now knowing they were prepared, the three Dimitrescu daughters followed Rodeo outside.
——————————————————————
After he had got the Dimitrescu daughters from their sleep, Rodeo and the rest entered Alcina's room, but found her missing.
"Well, she ain't here," Karl noted, turning to face Rodeo and asking, "So now what?"
Rodeo frowned, "...We'll go without her for now, because there's not much time left."
"Not much time for what?" Donna asked.
"For an attack, let's go!"
Widening their eyes, everyone hurriedly headed for the ground floor of the manor.
'Just hope there is no meddling from another party.'
——————————————————————
In the meeting room on the third floor of the manor, Integra was discussing with the conference of twelve members regarding the vampire and ghoul attacks that have been occurring lately as well as the metal chip made by some unknown group that was attached to them as a way to keep track or perhaps control them in some way. This shocked and stunned the conference of twelve, particularly Sir Penwood and Sir Hugh Irons, who were also present.
"What does it all mean?" Sir Irons inquired.
Integra responded, "It means that whoever is pulling the strings behind this knows about vampires and ghouls... just like us."
A heavy silence falls in the room, everyone present exchanges glances and are about to say something until Integra breaks the silence.
"However, that's not the only unusual thing we found."
"There's more?"
"That's right," Integra nods as she explained, "Yesterday night we found some... unique yet bizarre individuals who claim to be from another universe, and surprisingly they're not vampires this time, they are just something else entirely."
"What?!" Sir Penwood exclaimed.
"Then why weren't we, or in fact anyone was informed about this before being called here!?" Sir Irons demanded Integra for answers as he and everyone else had the same expression.
"I wanted to confirm whether they were a threat or not to us, but they weren't and mean good, especially the young man." Integra said with a sharp gaze, "Unlike all of the monsters we've known in our records, he is one of the only ones who believes in justice and wanting others to stay safe, and ready to risk his own life judging by what he has told me and the rest in his stories."
"And where is this boy and these individuals right now?" Sir Irons asked.
"They are currently in the lower levels."
"I see, I would like to meet them after this meeting is over."
"I'll see to it that you meet them personally."
——————————————————————
"Walter... what is this?" Seras asked with a deep frown.
Lying on the floor and in the middle of Seras's room was a wooden coffin.
"What is it? It's a coffin." Walter simply answered.
"..."
With a complicated look on her face, Seras approaches Walter and stares furiously at his face.
"Why... Why is this in my room?"
"It was by order of Sir Integra herself, 'You can't have a vampire who doesn't sleep in a coffin.' Or so she said."
"And my bed?"
Walter stood in attention and quickly moved a few meters away from Seras and bows.
"I disposed of it, naturally."
"..."
"..."
"NO!" Seras yelled so loud that the entire manor shook in a comical anime fashion. The next thing Walter knew, Seras started crying anime tears and grinding her teeth fiercely, while he could only look at her sobering face.
"Walter!" Seras cried.
[IMAGES]
"Why, Mr. Alucard ordered it as well." Walter added.
"Master?" Seras blinks away her tears and stops crying.
"Yes, you haven't taken a taste of blood ever since you became a vampire, so if you don't sleep in a coffin made out of the earth from your birthplace, you will continue to grow weaker as a vampire."
Seras then lowered her gaze, prompting Walter to ask, "Is it something you don't feel comfortable doing yet?"
"..."
"You imbecile."
Just then, the two noticed Alucard through the open door upon turning their gaze at it.
"Master…"
"You chose the night, you've turned your back on the sun and started to walk at night, there's no turning back to the light of day." Alucard said.
"..."
Alucard then began approaching them, prompting Walter to bow and head for a desk in the room that had a metal briefcase on it.
"Mister Alucard, I was hoping to deliver this to you just now."
Alucard approached the briefcase Walter held and opened it to reveal a black-colored pistol along with its magazine in it, which were kept separately in the case.
"What have we here?" Alucard asks as he smiles in interest, picking the pistol up as Walter begins to explain regarding the weapon itself.
"An anti-Midian combat uses a 13-millimeter pistol, the Jackal. It's the first pistol to use its own custom bullets, not the converted 454 Casull shells we've been using up until now. Thirty nine centimeters in length, ten kilos in weight, and holds six rounds, not something the human race is able to handle anymore."
"Custom bullets?"
"Exploding steel shells, 13mm."
"The casings?"
"Pure Macedonian processed silver casings."
"And the bullet itself, exploding type or mercury type?" Alucard inquired as he inserted the magazine in the jackal.
"Mercury bullets that have undergone all the proper rites."
"It's perfect, Walter."
Walter bows and says, "Much obliged."
Alucard grinned viciously, "I could even kill Anderson with this thing."
"Wow, it's amazing." Seras exclaimed, her gaze darting from left to right at Alucard's new weapon with interest and excitement.
"Miss Seras, your weapon has also been newly made." Walter added.
"Huh?"
Confused at what Walter meant, Seras soon sees him carrying a weapon that appeared similar to an anti-tank rifle, but unlike all of the known ones, it was incredibly massive, or should I say as tall or taller than Walter himself. In fact, it's far too big of a weapon actually.
"A 30mm anti-Midian cannon. The Hallconnen. It uses two kinds of shells: Depleted uranium and exploding steel incendiary shells. With the exception of tanks, it destroys all ground or air weaponry."
Seras's reaction to the weapon was well... this.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING?!?" Seras screams in delight as the entire manor shook once more in a comical anime way.
——————————————————————
Rodeo, Miranda, Donna & Angie, the Dimitrescu daughters, Karl and Moreau were all standing in a hallway on the ground floor of the manor.
"Okay people look, an enemy is gonna strike at the entrance gates of the manor," Rodeo stated, "So the plan is simple, we take them out, but if we can't, any two of us will go inform Integra and Alucard before taking them out for good."
"Okay, but how do you know they'll attack for sure?" Karl asked in curiosity.
"Believe me, I know."
With a confident tone from the words he spoke, Rodeo turns to face the hallway that leads to the main door of the manor, only to find something at the end of the hallway.
A Dark Aether Portal.
"...Oh no."
The moment the portal appears out of nowhere, it is followed by an all too familiar voice coming from the other side.
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[Fetch me their souls!]
Rushing out of the portal were a pack of Flame Hounds.
[IMAGES]
The flame hound pack charges towards the group. Expecting this, Karl immediately sends his hammer flying towards the pack using his magnetic abilities. In mere seconds, the hammer slams onto each of the flame hounds at frightening speeds, resulting in them exploding in a fiery flame with the flames immediately extinguishing.
As the hammer came flying back into Karl's hands, everyone noticed that following the flame hounds were a horde of dark aether zombies and a few Manglers as they emerged from the portal and heading in their direction.
"Damn it!" Rodeo shouted as he drew out his dual shotguns, "Kill them all!"
Then they started attacking the zombie horde.