Holding on to Sheer Heart Attack 2.0, Rodeo was in the air looking down to watch the undead army slaughtering the four armies despite their best effort to decrease the number of undead monsters significantly by bombarding them with every weapon they had at their disposal.
Looking to his right, Rodeo could see the mutated Karl, perched atop of a structure, was bringing the Vatican helicopters and the Reich's Horten ho 229 Jet fighters from the skies with his magnetic powers.
But there is something worrying him…
"Something ain't right, the Reich forces had less machines and men on their side, they could be just an invading force, which means that…"
With his eyes widened, a sudden thought formed on Rodeo's mind as he realized something.
"They might call reinforcements and a bigger army soon, and maybe the Ausmerzer if Irene is still alive in the timeline that is. Hard to say." Rodeo contemplated his thoughts, but was interrupted when he spotted Integra and the rest on the roof of a building. So he drops himself by calling back the Sub-Stand to his hand, and lands next to them.
"You're late, and you disobeyed orders as well." Integra said to him the moment he arrived.
"Sorry, but look I had doubts on the Forsaken on what he might do next and I didn't want the people to be caught in the crossfire of Millennium's onslaught."
Integra sighs, "It doesn't matter now. Your back and that's what matters, and basically we are winning at the moment right now."
A few feet from Integra, Alcina can be seen watching the chaos below where the sound of gunshots, explosions, and the countless rails of the undead familiars with a solemn gaze.
"So... this is restraint level zero, huh?
Integra nodded, "Yes, when Alucard takes the blood of his enemies or victims he's not only taking their blood but also their souls, memories and sometimes even powers when he does so," she explained, "Blood is an important part of nature, Alcina. And it is the very medium that defines who we are and serves as the currency of all life."
Rodeo added, "...You know in Bloodborne there is a character by the name of Willem who had a statement regarding blood. It went something like this, "We are born by the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes have yet to be opened. Fear the old blood.""
"Interesting."
Turning to Miranda, Moreau and Donna and Angie, Rodeo proceeds to ask, "The people of the city?"
"We... got only half of the people out of the city before and even after Millennium's attack, the other half weren't so lucky, we tried our best." Miranda answered.
It only took a fraction of a second to see Rodeo's hands trembling before stopping altogether.
"...The Wild geese?"
"Half of them are alive, the rest are dead... Bernadotte was one of them." Seras explained, glancing down in sadness the moment she mentioned Pip.
"Damn it." Rodeo sighed, but no matter. He already knew where Pip will end up, therefore he had nothing to worry even if he died.
"Integra, give the remaining mercenaries who are still alive their payment for their job once this is all over, they've earned it." Alcina told Integra, to which she nodded in response.
"I will. But for now let's meet up with the count."
——————————————————————
"All remaining forces, form up and protect your Neo-Pope!" Maxwell commanded loudly to his forces as he watched the remaining of the helicopters continue to gun all of the undead familiars in the sea of blood below. Despite their best efforts, the enemies below were completely endless.
Until then, Maxwell soon spotted two of his army's helicopters suddenly exploded by metal shrapnel being hurled from Karl, who noticed Maxwell within a glass box on the truck's rear that was being carried by a helicopter.
[Oh Maxwell!]
"Oh no…" Maxwell mumbles, his face turning pale.
[GET DUNKED ON!]
As soon as he shouted those words, Karl proceeded to launch a tank shell against the helicopter that was carrying Maxwell. Immediately after, the helicopter entourage was destroyed causing both aircraft and the truck to crash down onto a street. Fortunately, the box he was in was still intact and he was lucky enough to be alive.
Groaning in pain, Maxwell tries to get on his feet when he hears growls and gazes upwards to see an endless number of Alucard's undead familiars heading for him and screams in fear. The undead familiars attempt to reach him by breaking and clawing their way through the glass box but they are unsuccessful.
Maxwell smiles in relief and says, "Fools! This is reinforced tektite glass. You can't just claw your way through it."
As if god has a sense of humor, a bayonet comes flying from the heavens and pierces the box, millimeters away from piercing Maxwell's face, who's smile instantly shifts into a face of horror as the glass box shatters from the force. Before long, he soon grasped at the sight of Anderson staring at him from across the street.
"ANDERSON! PORRR QUÉÉÉÉ?!"
"We are the soldiers of Iscariot and are the instruments of God's wrath on earth. Together we march one step to shatter the dreams of the unrighteous. Farwell, my friend."
With a terrified whimper, Maxwell was soon being dragged by the undead familiars and brought him out of the box as he kept on yelling Anderson's name hoping he would help him but it was in vain. In the end, Maxwell was savagely impaled by multiple spears from his back simultaneously, ending his life.
After slaughtering all of the undead familiars surrounding Maxwell's corpse without any effort, Anderson walked up to sit next to his lifeless body, beginning on remembering the day when he brought in Maxwell to an orphanage as a child and raised him but the inner desire for retribution against everyone who wronged him was still lingered in his heart. Back then Anderson said nothing but seeing him right now at this moment using power to drive him mad he knew he needed to stop Maxwell.
"You were such a fool."
Closing Maxwell's eyes, Anderson stood up and used an earpiece radio to call Heinkel and the other paladins and commanded, "Calling all paladins, this is Anderson. All of you fall back to the Vatican."
[You can't be serious!?]
"This is not your place to die. Dawn is approaching and the dream is over and the knights have been wiped out. Return back home. As for me, I'll stay back. I will fight back both Alucard and the Forsaken if needed."
[Anderson! What do you think is gonna happen if you face them?!]
"It's now or never. Alucard has released all of his restraints. He is now in a form in which I can harm him easily and all the souls he has are now free. At last, I can face a single vampire, Dracula, on his own. This was that mad Major's scheme and he was fully aware that I would be present there. Farewell, and may we meet again in Limbo."
As soon as he finished speaking those words, he removed his earpiece radio and thought about what the Forsaken said earlier, about... deviations.
"He said he wants an instant victory and that he needs a major event in our universe to change and exploit with his cosmic powers. What could he mean by that…"
After minutes of contemplation, it finally clicked to Anderson.
"Oh no…"
The answer became more obvious to Anderson, and he knew what it is, or rather, 'who' it is...
Rodeo.
"Of course, the boy will undoubtedly attempt to dissuade Alucard and I from our battle and work to stop the Forsaken. If my battle with Alucard is prevented and using Helena's Nail against him and focus solely on the Forsaken. The timelines will branch and he will exploit that to alter the course of this universe's chronology in some way, or better yet... shatter it completely."
After learning this, Anderson couldn't help but sigh, "I'll have to take my chances carefully here." he murmured before he was surrounded by Bible pages and disappeared a moment later.
——————————————————————
Standing on top of a chimney, Fritz, the advanced Robot Soldat, watched as the undead familiar army surrounded the city streets and was fortunate enough to escape the area when the army emerged along with the Captain, whom Fritz does not know where he is at this time.
[Hmm…]
Using his mechanical eyes to view everything in his vicinity and kilometers away, he soon spotted two people who he knew were standing on the rooftop of a building.
[General. Herr Otto.]
Seeing his creator and her partner, Fritz heads for them while leaping from rooftop to rooftop.
——————————————————————
Lina and Otto, who remained on the rooftop, were shocked that their men were instantly shredded by the undead army and Karls mutated form like paper. Lina was the most affected by this given these Reich forces were commanded by her only to be slaughtered instantly was too much of a shock to witness and the fact this was a large-scale mission she did for the first time... She felt guilty and responsible for their death, but that's how war is.
"50.000 Soldaten... alle weg, und ich konnte ihnen nicht helfen, Otto (50,000 soldiers... all gone, and I couldn't help them, Otto)"
Otto places a comforting hand on her shoulder and says, "Es gab nichts, was wir hätten tun können (There was nothing we could have done)"
Just then, the two noticed Fritz jump off a rooftop and landed in front of them.
"Fritz!"
[Herr Otto, General, Ihr zwei in Ordnung?(Otto, General, you two alright?)]
Otto nods, but Fritz notices the depressed face of Lina, which he said to her, [Wir werden später um sie trauern. Jetzt müssen wir diesen Krieg gewinnen(We will mourn for them later. Right now we need to win this war)]
Lina glanced at Fritz and then at Otto, who gave out a nod. Looking back at the undead army still roaming the streets, she uttered.
"Ja, du hast Recht. Kontaktieren Sie Irene und Rudol. Es ist Zeit für unseren Gegenangriff (Yes, you are right. Contact Irene and Rudol. It's time for our counterattack)
As Fritz and Otto nodded their heads, a dark aether portal appeared next to them and a Dark Aether Tempest emerged out with a large rectangular box in its hands. The tempest gave the box to Lina in which she opened it to see it was the power suit she requested.
"Perfect," she said with a smile before facing the Tempest, "Listen, I need you to give a message back to the base in our universe and give them the orders that I'm going to tell you right now."
The Tempest nodded and listened to her carefully.
————————————————————
In the middle of the city, numerous spears bearing the impaled corpses of Papal Knights, Millennium and Reich soldiers and dark aether zombies stood tall around the area as Dracula and Integra were facing each other while Rodeo and the rest observed the two from afar. Rip, meanwhile, was hiding behind a chimney, observing the group from afar without them knowing for now at least.
"My count. You have returned." Integra spoke.
Dracula bows in front of her as a friendly response, "At your pleasure, my lady."
Seras, at that moment, walked over the two and nervously said, "Umm... Welcome back master."
"..."
Like a timid kitten beneath that evil appearance, Seras hides behind Integra and mumbled, "You've seem to have grown a mustache, master."
"..."
":3 A mustache…"
"Oh my God, this stupidity talk of hers is gonna give me a headache." Karl Heisenberg muttered in annoyance while hearing their conversation.
Seras yelped the moment Dracula stood up and raised his hand towards her direction. As Seras closed her eyes, he surprisingly gave a gentle pat on her head with a gentle smile on his face.
"Ah, good! It varms this long dead heart of mine to see you so grown up... Marinette... Victoria.... Seras Victoria."
As Dracula watched Seras squeal from his response, he saw Alcina approaching him.
"Lady Dimitrescu."
"Alucard, or are you Dracula now?"
"You may call me who you want but I'm still the same person underneath this form. How have you been?"
"With this war... awful, but seeing you alright and well..." Alcina smiled a moment later, "Great."
Dracula smiles in return, "It's also great to see you as well, Alcina."
At that moment, the two gazed into each other's eyes and lost in their own world once more. As the world moved at a slower pace, the two most formidable vampires on the planet moved their faces closer to one another and closed their eyes.
…That is, until the moment was ruined by a loud cry that came from the skies.
"ALUUUUUCARD!!!"
"OH COME ON!"
Alcina shrieked in rage as she and Dracula gazed up to see Anderson materialize in a swirl of bible pages, bayonets drawn as he prepared to strike them down. Dracula pushed Alcina out of the way and brandished his sword and both of their blades soon clashed momentarily. With his increased strength, Dracula used his sword to push Anderson a few meters away from himself and glared at him from a distance.
"Nicely done, my nemesis." Dracula said with a smile.
Rodeo stepped in, "Anderson! You don't need to…"
Without hesitation, Anderson throwed a couple of bayonets next to Rodeo's feet, missing it by a hair's breadth.
"Woah!"
"Do not stop me, boy! This is between me and the vampire!" Anderson said as he immediately brought out another set of bayonets and charged at Alucard, when...
"We have a problem." Daniela interrupts with her eyes widened in the direction she's staring.
Upon following her line of sight, everyone witnessed the opening of a dark aether portal in the sky and the descent of a massive flying fortress-type ship. Its size dwarfed both of the three Millennium Zeppelins altogether, scaling comparable to an enormous football stadium and had every arsenal of weapons perfect for crushing its enemies.
The Ausmerzer.
[IMAGES]
"That is a big ship. Not gonna lie." Seras remarked.
Rodeo, on the other hand, has his face turn pale as he muses, "Oh no. If that thing is here then that means... She's here."
Integra managed to hear Rodeo's words, causing to narrowed her eyes and ask, "Who?"
"...Irene Engel."