It was official.
The Scarlet Devil Mansion trumped the design and size of the Hellsing Mansion by a landslide. The hallway's were neat and symmetrical. Every painting, statue, and door was spaced perfectly. If Alucard had a reflection, he would be able to see it in the floor. The staffing, however, was a different story.
Alucard had gotten lost in the maze of hallways for around an hour. During that time, he had not seen a single guard, maid, butler, or any other sort of staff member besides Sakuya. It seems a bit far fetched to think that a single person could keep a place as big as this so clean.
So Alucard was surprised when he turned a corner to find a ruined, dirty, and decrepit stone hallway. Small scratch marks and moss covered everything, and a draft came in from a medium sized hole in the wall. Moonlight shone through the hole, and illuminated a staircase leading downwards, as if pointing the way. Alucard walked to the stairwell and smiled wildly.
There was a distinct smell coming from this place. Something that the rest of the mansion was sorely lacking. The smell of blood, death, and ashes. This place was a Vampire's lair. As Alucard walked down the stone steps into the darkness below, he couldn't help but be reminded of his own basement home. The only real difference so far was that the stairs were much older and well worn.
At the very bottom, he spotted a saw that there was an old, beaten, wooden door. Alucard reached inside of his coat and pulled out both of his guns, preparing for battle. Once he opened that door, he would exterminate his target and be on his merry way.
Alucard kicked, knocking the wooden door off it's hinges and sending it flying into the space beyond. He thrust his weapons forward, preparing to obliterate anything that moved. Yet instead of being presented with a Vampire to shoot, he instead found himself in front of another door.
Instead of wood, this one was a massive, hulking, pure iron door. On the front of it was an Occult symbol Alucard had never seen before. An arrow snaked up through a circle, turning in random directions until it reached the center, then ended in a slight down bend. To its sides were twigg like lines that turned upwards. Each had eight diamond hanging from them, giving them a the vague shape of wings.
Alucard studied the door closely. He found other various symbols strewn around the edge, all of them either barrier or alarm spells. After a few minutes of trying to figure out how to open the door, he realized, to his embarrassment, that the door had been de-activated and wasn't currently functioning. He mentaly bashed himself for his amiture mistake, then reached for the smooth, cold door handles.
It swung open with ease, not making a sound. Light flooded out onto Alucard's face, and illuminated the well lit circular room. It was large. Not as large as the ballroom, but large. The floor, like most of the mansion, was a crimson carpet. The walls were decorated with various pictures, ranging from sunny landscapes and fluffy white clouds, to dark castles and tall mountains. There were also portraits of various people. Alucard recognized one of Sakuya, but the others were a mystery to him.
The thing that really caught Alucard's attention, however, was the shiny black coffin sitting upright on a small pyramid of stairs. The same symbol on the door was engraved into it. Just by looking at it, however, Alucard was able to deduce that no-one was sleeping in it. He turned to see that one of the portraits on the very end of the line had been knocked down. Alucard walked over to it, picking it up and turning it over.
It was a portrait of Meiling. Unlike most of the others, it wasn't a painting but a photo. She was sitting outside of the SDM gate smiling politely with her arms crossed. Through the gate, the mansion was bright and happy, illuminated by the sun. There was even a yellow haired girl wearing a black witch hat, black dress, and carrying multiple books while riding a broomstick in the background. She was smiling smugly at the camera, intentionally photobombing. The thing that disturbed Alucard, however, was not the painting itself, but what had been done to it. Right in the middle of Meiling's chest, exactly where Alucard had shot her, someone had punched a hole right through the picture, casting an ominous feeling over the room.
"What are you playing at Remilia? Trying to scare me?" Alucard dropped the picture, chuckling to himself a little, and turned towards the door. His target was not in this room.
Back at the top of the stairs, Alucard continued his walk into the depths of the mansion. Every time he used his third eye in an attempt to track Remilia, he only turned up with mental static. This meant he had to explore every room in the mansion one by one. Considering how large this building was, it would be well into the next day before he finished. He needed to cover more ground. And fast.
Alucard ditched his hat and sunglasses, letting them fall to the ground. His black hair flowed out and started to glow a fiery orange. "Releasing Control Art Restriction System 6… 5… Approval of situation C recognized. Commencing the Cromwell invocation. Ability restrictions lifted for limited use until the target has been found."
Six, red, slitted eyes appeared on Alucard's hair, which was now squirming, as if trying to get away. Three giant shadowy forms erupted from his head and landed on the floor in front of him. After a few moments of squiggling around like jelly, they took the shape of giant dire-wolfs. Each gave off a dark aura, and raspily panted. Their eye's shook with cruel, merciless bloodlust.
With the speed of a sportscar, each took off down the hallway, branching off and exploring the mansion. They zipped up and down stairwells, through room after room, until finally, after many minutes, one of them stopped just outside a room labeled 'Library'. It stuck up it's nose and sniffed, smelling food on the other side of the over decorated, book themed double doors.
"Perfect." Alucard hissed.
The wolf melted down into the floor, making a black puddle. From it, Alucard slowly rose from the shadow to stand in it's place.
He placed his gloved hands on the doors and slowly pushed them open. The room beyond was breathtakingly massive, easily dwarfing the ballroom. Organized bookshelves, standing at least three stories each, neatly lined the majority of floor space and extended far into the distance. The walls were also covered in bookshelves, reaching all the way up to the golden domed ceiling. Candle lit chandeliers hung down and illuminated the room in a relaxing yellow light.
"Impressive isn't it?" Alucard's eyes landed on Sakuya, who had spontaneously appeared in front of him. She looked calm and collected, and met his gaze without wavering. "9,456,601,434,500. That's how many books are stored here. It was a real pain to install, but it fit's Lady Patchouli's needs perfectly. There isn't a single greater amount of knowledge in existence. And if you take one more step forward, it will be your grave."
Alucard smiled, and took out his black gun. "This is the Jackal. It has a length of 39cm, a weight of 16kg, and fires blessed, Macedonian silver, 13mm hollow point bullets. It was designed to kill Alexander Anderson, a Vampire Hunter simular to yourself. Nothing I shoot get's back up again.
Knives flashed into Sakuya's hands as she took a fighting stance. "I assure you Dracula. There is no one like me."
"Please." Alucard said, leveling the Jackal at Sakuya's head. "Call me Alucard."
Sakuya's knives flew, scoring the first couple hits, sizzling into Alucard's chest and forehead. Alucard lazily stumbled backwards, firing the Jackal just once. The bullet was easily dodged by Sakuya, who disappeared and reappeared on top of one of the bookshelves, and flew off into the depths of the library.
"You insult me Alucard. And here I thought we were going to actually fight. Stop holding back!" Sakuya shouted.
"Very well." Alucard took out the Casull and jumped, flying well above the bookshelves. His coat whirled as he turned upside down and pointed both of his guns at Sakuya. As Alucard started to fall, he fired both weapons rapidly.
Explosions and bullets tore Sakuya's location to shreds, sending paper and wood-chips everywhere. This time, Sakuya didn't disappear, instead she leaped to the side, flinching as shrapnel flew past her face. Alucard landed on the bookshelf opposite to Sakuya's, and both of them started to run deeper into the library.
Knives and bullets filled the space between them. Sakuya disappeared every time a bullet came close to hitting her, then reappeared a few feet forward with a fresh set of knives to throw. Alucard was using his superior speed to dodge most of her attacks, only having a few slashes here and there.
"Extraordinary! Not only has your speed and skill improved, but I can't predict any of your moves!" Alucard complemented happily as he fired.
"Save me your battle fetish blabbering!" Sakuya appeared in front of Alucard and held out a knife, making him impale himself on it. She then used her free hand to slice at his neck.
Alucard dodged her strike and jumped to the other side of Sakuya, getting out of melee range, and fired several shots from the Casull. Sakuya rushed him and threw several knives into the oncoming bullets, stopping them and shattering her blades in the process.
When she reached him, Sakuya struck downwards slicing off the arm holding the Casull and sending it over the edge of the bookshelf. She then slashed Alucards midsection, cutting him in half.
The Jackal fired again, but this time instead of Sakuya, it was pointing at their feet. Both combatants were engulfed by flame as the bullet exploded, ripping the entire bookshelf in two, which then proceeded to collapse in on itself scattering a river of books across the floor.
For a moment, everything was still. All across the isle, papers from destroyed books fluttered around like confused birds. More than a couple other bookshelves had also collapsed, making the biggest, book related mess anyone had ever seen. The chandeliers swung lightly from side to side. One of them supported a Chupacabra with bat wings attached to it's back.
Alucard erupted outwards, sending books flying in all directions. His arm and leg had re-attached themselves to his body. The Jackal was held in his left hand, but to Alucard's concern, the Casull was nowhere to be seen. He searched through the books, looking for any sign of anything that wasn't paper. Suddenly, knifes appeared, surrounding Alucard on all sides. They punctured through him with such force they rivaled bullets, splattering the books below with a ton of blood. Alucard knelt to the floor, wincing in pain from the amount of silver now in him.
Sakuya was standing a few yards away with Alucard's heavy gun in both hands. Besides a few bruises, she was virtually untouched. "Let's see how effective this thing REALLY is against Vampires." She taunted.
A tide of bullets slammed into Alucard's defenceless form. They pummeled his body, making so many holes in him that he was shredded into a red paste. The Casull continued to fire obliterating even the blood. By the time it ran out of ammo all that remained was a small crater in the floor with the Jackal sitting in the middle of it.
Sakuya chucked the Casull to the side like she would a piece of trash, then equipped her knives and started to slowly back up. She knew full well that it take even more than that to put Alucard down permanently. The only thing she'd succeeded at was buying herself some time.
Only thirty seconds had passed before a cold chill went through the room. The candles on the chandeliers were snuffed out, plunging the room into darkness. An eairy mist flowed from the piles of books, covering the ground. Alucards deep laughter echoed around her.
"I finally figured it out!" Alucard laughed.
"Figured what out?!" Sakuya shouted at the nearest bookshelf.
"I haven't been confused in centuries! You were able to teleport at will, but if it were truly teleportation I would be able to predict your movements! You were able to throw your knives in ridiculous quantity and precision! Not only that, but they just materialized out of this air! You really had me going there Sakuya Izayoi!" Alucard paused to laugh some more, making Sakuya feel uncomfortable. "But then you decided to use my gun." He continued. "Handguns, no matter how good, or who is using them, don't fire faster than a mini-gun. Sakuya. You do not have super speed or teleportation at your disposal, but something much more powerful. Something even I cannot do. Time manipulation."
Sakuya smirked and reached into a pocket on her chest. She whipped out a long, golden chain, making it circling around her for a couple seconds before she stopped it with both hands. At the very end of the chain, swinging from side to side in front of her face, was a large golden pocket watch.
"As I said. There is no one else like me. Since this world has the Spell Card Rules I've always held back. Never truly allowed to use my full power. Now, since we've thrown those rules out the window, I finally get a rare opportunity to cut loose. If you think you have the slightest chance in Hell to win, you don't. I'll just cut you down until you stay dead monster!" Sakuya glared threateningly around her, daring for Alucard to attack.
A shadow darker than the black around her appeared a little ways down the aisle. Alucard's glowing red eye's were the only distinguishable feature, even as he started to walk slowly towards Sakuya. "Come on then. Show me more! Throw your knives, slash my flesh, crush my bones and pierce my heart. Only a Human can destroy a monster. Only a Human could dare hope to."
Sakuya could now hear the clank of armor coming from Alucard's step's. She tensed, telling herself that she was ready for anything he threw at her. But as Alucard stepped into full view, Sakuya realized that she really wasn't.
Instead of Alucard's armored Dracula form, like she expected, he took the form of a paladin. Shiny, pure silver, plate armor covered the entirety of his muscular body. His hair was long and brown, his skin was tan, and his eyes were grey. A familiar, thin scar ran from the top right of his face to the bottom left. Alucard drew two silver short swords and brought them up to his eye level, rearing one downwards, and one to the side, making a Holy Cross.
"Those are the exact words I said to this man before I fought and devoured him." Alucard said in a more upbeat voice that made Sakuya quiver.
"You… You son of a bitch…" Sakuya managed to whisper.
Alucard smiled wickedly. "Now Sakuya…" He twisted one of the blades, causing it to scrape against the other, creating sparks. "Let's see how your new abilities compare to your fathers!"