As soon as Rodeo appeared and interrupted their fight, Anderson couldn't help but gritted his teeth and cried out.
"Boy, you have no right to stop me!"
"No! He has the right to stop you!" Alucard said as his face twisted in anger, "Do you have any idea what that nail will do to you? It will distort your very body and soul! It will turn you into one of God's monsters! Maintain your humanity! Don't succumb to power! Either side, it amounts to the same deal. Whether in the name of the divine or the demonic, you're still a monster in the end! Do you intend to use that scrap of miracle to become nothing more than a scrap of miracle yourself? This duel between us... Would you really push it this far? Into the borders that lie beyond humanity? A lowly creature such as myself, a pathetic shell of a man who couldn't even bear the weight of his human life, who chose to become a demonic monster and abandon everything I believed in for survival. If a monster such as myself is to be defeated, it must be by a man and a man alone! Not a dog or a monster, it must be a man with the bravery of one thousand knights."
Alucard's face twisted back into regular shape, and his eyes softened. Anderson almost stuttered back by what he saw in this vampire's eyes...
Plea.
From the spectating field outside of the battle, Seras, Integra, and everyone else were watching this duel with seriousness and concern. But more importantly, everyone was unnerved by the look in his eyes. Their view on him had slightly changed when they had seen him with that sort of emotion which they've never seen, nor any sort of sadness in his eyes.
Only Integra, Rodeo, and Alcina were already aware of this.
"Don't do it, human. Don't become a monster. A monster like me."
Anderson slightly dropped his arm in hesitance, but his face still remained a stone wall until he heard Rodeo's voice again.
"Anderson, Alucard. I need you two to stop this fight," Rodeo proclaimed as he interrupted the drama once more, "We both need to stop the Forsaken and I need your help to have a fighting chance whether you use your powerful weapons or not."
"Rodeo! That is what the Forsaken wants! You divert us from our written fates and you will shatter this timeline!"
"What?"
"The deviations he mentioned, it all made sense now. I've read many books during my times when I'm not on duty and one of them involved the theories of how the universe works. The Forsaken seeks an easy victory by creating multiple cracks in this universe's timeline and creating that universal phenomenon known as..."
"...A paradox." Alucard concluded.
"Who gives a damn?! We will figure something ou-"
Anderson interjected as he stepped in front of him, "Rodeo, I'm sorry but for this universe to not meet its end, you must let me and Alucard fight. The Forsaken is a walking disaster of cosmic proportions that needs one fracture to make his victory possible. A major event. You divert us from this event, this very fight that we are doing right now... it will be all over and that monster wins. I'm sorry, but you must let history and our destinies take its course rather than divert it."
But Anderson's words fell on deaf's ears as an aura filled with a tremendous amount of negative emotions erupted from Rodeo's body like a volcano, such an amount of frustrations and emotions not only made both Anderson and Alucard shudder but felt their souls grasped for a mere split second.
"ANDERSOOOOOOOON! I'VE SEEN ENOUGH DEATH ON MULTIPLE UNIVERSES AND NOW THIS DAMN DARK AETHER AND TWO DIFFERENT NAZIS KILLED A SHIT TON OF PEOPLE IN THIS CITY WITHOUT MERCY! AND NOW THIS UNIVERSE IS DEPENDING ON ME TO SAVE IT'S EXISTENCE FROM THE HANDS OF THESE DICKBAGS! AND YOU THINK ME AND MY ALLIES WILL BE ENOUGH TO GO UP AGAINST THE FORSAKEN BECAUSE THE LAST TIME WE DID WE COULDN'T EVEN SCRATCH AND ONLY SURVIVED BY SHEER LUCK! THAT'S WHY I NEED ALL THE HELP WE CAN GET AND NOW YOU TWO REFUSE TO HELP BECAUSE OF SOME SPIDERVERSE BULLSHIT?!?"
Rodeo yelled with his eyes blazing blood red with anger and rage fuelling his mind, seemingly fed up with everything that was happening.
The vortex of negative energy from Rodeo seemed to grow larger by the passing second, and Anderson was near the eye of the storm, yet he managed to endure himself from it.
"...You fear death. Not your own, but the death of kind souls who you couldn't help in your eyes. You got to see that taste of Death of those people first hand... and as things started getting worse and the death of those people became more and more it started to change you. You push yourself to improve, which you did, but you are also letting a darker side of yourself slowly seep out which was made by your suffering and the countless deaths you witnessed, that rage in your eyes is that side you are letting lose slowly but are preventing it at the same time. The insanity."
"I am fine!"
Lowering his gaze, Anderson stepped forward and did something that even made Alucard, the Iscariot Paladins, Heinkel and Yumie's surprise. Only a moment ago, the battle maniac in him was replaced by a kind, fatherly figure as he hugs Rodeo warmly.
He is also a generous Catholic priest after all.
"My boy, the world is cruel and death is a common thing of this world because it is a part of nature. You can't see death as something to fear but something that is part of the cycle. Your motivations for doing this I can understand and appreciate but when you know very well the enemy knows how you work, you just can't let them see your weaknesses. That's what the Forsaken desires. You stop us because you fear this world and its people will end, and I understand, but you can't save everyone and alter the destiny of all people. Only you have the power to alter your own circumstances and save only those who you… can."
".....I...don't know if me and the rest are strong enough to stop him, Anderson. He's a cosmic being. We are just mortals who have powers, yes, but not enough to destroy a being of that caliber. What should we do?"
"You just have to believe in yourself. In your allies and even the fate that was written for you and them. My fate and Alucards is sealed. But yours... is something else," Anderson said with a genuine smile, a very generous person you can see in Churches, "You're one of the most kindest soul I met in this cruel world filled with madness," he continued, "Despite the shortness of our meeting, I can sense that you are a strong and capable person who is willing to go against great odds and have great people on your side, and for that you have my deepest of respects. Now you must let me go, Rodeo."
With a bit of tears leaking from his indifferent face, Rodeo managed to keep himself both physically and mentally as he declared, "I promise you that me and the rest will stop them. The Forsaken and these Nazi fucks will be defeated with these fists of Justice and with the iron will in our hearts, we will destroy the darkness and let the light shine on this world so that it can see a new tomorrow."
Anderson released him and chuckled, "That's the spirit, my boy." he said with a gentle smile.
Reverting back to his determined look upon focusing his gaze at Alucard, Anderson proclaimed, "I want nothing more than to be a weapon of divine punishment and judgment. A weapon wielded by the Lord Almighty to conduct his heavenly work down below his glorious kingdom. I would have loved to be born as a natural disaster, a storm, a mighty hurricane created by God. Without pity, without regret, and without emotion. And if this relic in my hand can transform me into such a thing, then I, Alexander Anderson, are willing to abandon my humanity in the name of God."
With all of the passion, fury, and love for god flowing through him, Anderson screamed and stabbed the Nail of Helena straight into his heart. Alucard flinched when he heard the sound of the nail piercing through his chest.
Only drops of blood dripped out of the wound. From the nail, thorns began to grow, spreading throughout the former human's body and infecting him with its holy power. He did it. Alexander Anderson had actually abandoned his humanity, making the same fateful mistake Alucard once made 500 years ago in a time long forgotten. Once God's assassin, the bayonet priest had turned himself into the Monster of God, a demon of holiness.
Alucard was clenching his teeth so hard they could break from the pressure building. "You fool..." Alucard began walking from his spot on the ledge toward Anderson until he was standing directly over the crouched priest. Letting his rage take command of him, Alucard pointed his pistol straight for Anderson's head.
"YOU BLOODY FOOL!" But before he could pull the trigger, Anderson moved at speeds in which Alucard couldn't calculate, causing his arm and his head to be sliced off from his body by Anderson's bayonet. But such wounds were trivial for a vampire like himself. In retaliation, Alucard fired his Jackal, which ripped off the right side of Anderson's face, and broke his spectacles in the process. Blood was pouring out of both of them like water fountains.
Both monsters staggered back from the blows. On one side, the demonic matter of the familiars regenerated the vampire's body, and on the other side, the thorns of the Nail of Helena were reforming Anderson's splintered face.
"It's thorns... All thorns..." said Yumie in a state of bewilderment at what had happened to her teacher, whose body was corrupted by what appears to be bloody vines, already spreading out to his body with his facial structure being nothing but nightmare fuel.
Alongside her, Heinkel was just as shocked as she was. "Anderson, what in God's name have you done to yourself?"
Alucard watched Anderson's regeneration with pure rage. "His body is no longer that of a human. The only way either of us will return to dust is if we have it gouged out of us: the sickness in our hearts."
The battle between the monsters of heaven and hell raged on, and Father Anderson was only getting stronger as he adapted to his new body.
"What has he become, Integra?" asked Alcina with a deep frown on her face.
Integra stood with a serious gaze. "He has become neither a man, nor a demon. He is neither day, nor night. He is just a monster, nothing more, and nothing less."
Rodeo, on the other hand, could do nothing but rewatch the entire thing. If Anderson's words held true, then there is nothing he can change the outcome.
Father Anderson jumped up into the air, and from his body expanded more and more vines until a cross was formed behind him numbering tens of thousands, with Anderson at the center.
"Through the ministry of the church. May God have pardoned you and peace. And I absolve you from your sins. In the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy spirit…"
.
.
.
.
.
"...Amen."
Alucard aimed his Jackal at Anderson and was going to fire, but it was too late. Anderson's bayonet fired at speeds even faster than Alucard's reflexes could anticipate. The bayonet cracked through his skull and into his brain. Now enchanted with the magic of the Nail of Helena, from the bayonet grew more thorns, spreading into Alucard's brain and through his chest.
Alucard's familiars suddenly burst into flames. With their master's life force draining and the pyro-kinetic abilities gained through the nail, Alucard's familiars finally returned to the dust from which they came. The flames spread and enveloped Alucard, weakening him and scorching all of his organs. The vampire's eyes were slowly closing. Death was closing in on him.
[This can't be good.] Karl remarked as he watched the undead army burn.
"...Alucard." Alcina whispered in great concern.
At that moment, Karl and Alcina both noticed Seras quickly sprinted to her master's aid, for she knew he was in mortal danger.
[Moreau! Bela, Cassandra, Daniela! Keep the monitor distracted with Miranda!] Karl addressed the four he mentioned.
"We are going for Alucard!" Alcina added.
"Right!" Bela nodded as she watched Karl and her mother follow Seras ahead.
——————————————————————
Lina, Otto and Fritz along with two Manglers watched as the undead army were slowly burning to ashes. Lina, meanwhile, felt very satisfied upon seeing their death as she had her power suit on.
"No. Paradoxes?" Said one of the Manglers.
"Da. It. Is. Sad. Day. For. Getting. An. Easy. Victory. For. The. Dark. Aether."
"But phase 2 is still in process from the Forsaken so we'll be good." Otto said to the two Manglers.
"I. Do. Want. To. Ask. Though. How. Did. You. Get. The. Monitor. Back. Online?"
Lina explained, "It was simple. After the Monitor's defeat by BJ and his crew, they were going off radar after the destruction of Wilhelm's compound. I secretly helped the war council in moving it to a new secure location where we would rebuild and improve it slowly but surely. With the help of recycling and reusing old and new metal from our destroyed robots we got it back running and thanks to my previous experience as an engineer I was able to get operational without BJ and his crew figuring it out. Additionally, after we made our deal with your leader, the Forsaken, and obtained additional materials and resources from him, the Monitor reached operational speed far faster than we anticipated."
"...Very. Good!"
"Yes!"
Both Manglers said and gave thumbs up to Lina, behaving like a certain red and blue Russian duo.
Ignoring their strange behavior, Lina proceeded to continue observing the battle unfold in front of her when the Ausmerzer effortlessly shot down the last gray Millennium Zeppelin with its heavy armaments and sent it crashing down, although they didn't attack the Deus ex Machina Zeppelin, not yet at least.
"This is nice."