Alucard stepped forward into the throne room and saw Richter standing across from him. He stopped moving around twenty-five feet from Richter and neither spoke for a few seconds.
"I've been waiting for you," Richter said with a small laugh under his voice. His hand rested on his Vampire Killer, ready to wield it at a second's notice.
"Answer
me," Alucard said, "why is a Belmont planning the resurrection of
Count Dracula?"
Richter stared for a moment, then turned and
looked at throne for a moment. "Count Dracula rises once every
century, and my role is over. But if I resurrect him, then the war
will last for eternity!" Richter added emphasis to the word
eternity and Alucard took note of it.
"If these are your true feelings, then so be it!" Alucard shouted as he pulled out the Bekatowa from its hilt. But even as he made this movement, Richter jumped into the air and unleashed the power of the cross.
Alucard dropped the sword and shifted into his mist state as the blinding beam of light washed over him. As he shifted back to human, Richter was already moving forward toward Alucard, whip in hand. When Alucard completed the shift, Richter flicked the Vampire Killer at Alucard.
He rolled out of the way, scooping up the Bekatowa, charging forward and striking at Richter. He used his masterful reflexes to step out of the way and thrust the whip at Alucard again. Alucard parried it away and stabbed at Richter with his sword.
Richter backed up as Alucard straightened up and readied himself. They looked at each other with a gaze that would have melted lead, then charged once again. But when Richter got close to Alucard he did a back flip and threw a dagger at Alucard.
The ultra-sharp blade dug into Alucard's shoulder with a spurt of blood. With a gasp of pain, he pulled it out and threw it back blindly. It missed by several feet and Richter didn't even seem to notice it. Instead, while Alucard was busy pressing a cloth into the wound, he struck him again with the Vampire Killer.
The spiked ball dug into Alucard's forehead, firmly lodging itself in the skin. Alucard shouted in pain but grabbed the chain and gave it a powerful tug, causing Richter to stumble for a split-second. As this happened Alucard ripped the ball out of his head, taking a small chunk of skin with it, and charged forward toward Richter.
He stabbed forward with the Bekatowa, but Richter regained just enough poise to dodge the lethal blow. Instead the sword just clipped his arm a little bit, causing a minor cut. Richter looked up and saw the blood pouring down Alucard's head, a look of bemusement crossing his face.
"So," Richter said slyly, "you're a vampire. That means this should be difficult for you!" As he said this, he reached to his back pocket and pulled out a small flask of holy water. As the skin on Alucard's head began to reform, Richter hurled the flask at Alucard.
The flask his square on Alucard's forehead mainly in the open wound on his head. Searing pain flew through Alucard's head and seemed to pierce his skull. He yelled in pain as Richter whirled the Vampire Killer above his head and struck forward with it.
Alucard looked through the haze of his vision and raised the Bekatowa up, causing the whip to wrap around the blade. Alucard used this to his advantage and yanked the whip out of Richter's hand and threw both whip and sword aside.
"Remarkable!" Richter said as he positioned himself in a close combat stance. "You avoided my whip, but now face my unbridled wraith!" Alucard charged at Richter, crouched down and swept his leg in circle, hoping to knock Richter off his feet.
Richter jumped over Alucard's leg and as he fell, he struck Alucard in the neck with a wicked hand-sword thrust. Alucard rolled out of his range and tried to uppercut Richter, but he just stepped out of the way.
The fight had now deteriorated into a fistfight, a brawl for lack of a better phrase. Each man was launching attack after attack just to have it blocked or parried away. The two vampire hunters were evenly matched, but then Richter threw a move not even he expected.
The two were locked in a grapple that Alucard was clearly winning when Richter suddenly threw Alucard off of him. The throw sent him sprawling a few feet away and when Alucard stood up he saw that Richter had the Vampire Killer in hand again.
"Now, vampire," Richter said as he moved the hand with the whip in an X pattern, "feel the true fury of the Belmont's!" He muttered a few words and the Vampire Killer lit up in flames.
"You claim to be a Belmont, but your actions say otherwise," Alucard said as he took his hand and swept it over his head. When he finished the movement an aura of red light began to surround Alucard and his Dark Metamorphosis was complete.
Alucard
looked around and saw the Bekatowa laying very near to where Richter
was standing. He couldn't even try to reach it without Richter
noticing and attacking, so he had to think of a new plan.
Alucard
let Richter get very close to him before he leapt into the air over
Richter's head. The movements propelled Alucard right next to his
Bekatowa and he immediately scooped up the weapon. He raised it just
in time to stave off Richter's fire whip.
"Now I realize it," Richter said as he thrust the whip forward, Alucard leaping aside. "You're powers are beyond other vampires. You're the son of Count Dracula. His blood flows through your veins so richly you can taste it."
Alucard said nothing as he jumped aside from another whip strike. It was almost hopeless for Alucard as the whip had more range than the sword. 'But, if I can get up these stairs he'll have a harder shot at hitting me.'
He put his plan into action almost immediately, leaping onto the second step up to the throne. Richter only laughed as he yelled out, "Hydro Storm!" and sent a rain of holy water through the room. The water stormed through the small throne room, but this water wasn't even effecting Alucard at all.
"What," Richter said as the rain stopped and Alucard stood sopping wet. "That should have killed you! You should be nothing now!"
The only reason your holy water hurt me before was because it touched my blood. But as you can see, my head has healed." Alucard was very right as not even a scratch remained on his forehead. Richter only stared before throwing a bible behind him.
The
bible split into eight and began to spin very fast, so fast you
couldn't see it. After a half second a brilliant beam shot out of
the bible-circle and struck Alucard. The blast shocked Alucard up the
stairs and onto the throne. As Alucard slumped down, he felt
something press against his chest.
"The glasses," Alucard
muttered weakly as he pulled them out of his tunic. He put them on
and saw a green sphere floating around Richter.
Alucard leaped off the throne and landed behind Richter. Before he could do anything, Alucard raised the Bekatowa and stabbed at the green sphere. The sphere shattered and a little transparent man in purple sat floating in the air.
"You've defeated me," the little man Alucard recognized as Shaft said, "but all is not yet lost. The resurrection of Count Dracula is at hand!" Shaft disappeared as Alucard noticed a light coming from outside.