Before we get started with this chapter, I just wanted to personally thank each person who either reads, reviews, or favorites Castlevania: Rebirth of Destiny. Each time I see the numbers grow, the more excited I get to deliver the next chapter. Without your support, this project wouldn't exist. I also want to say that I'm still considering myself a new Castlevania fan as I only really got into the series after Simon and Richter were announced for Smash in august. Since the reveal, I've gone onto playing five games in the series being Castlevania (NES), Simon's Quest, Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Circle of the Moon with my favorite being Portrait of Ruin. Hopefully many more memories are going to be made with this series.
I want to reiterate, thanks for reading my story so far and I hope you stick around until the very end. But enough talk, let's find out what happens next.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The orange glow of the setting sun is the only calming thing on the trek towards the Order of the Dragon's castle. The foreboding Black Mountains reach high into the sky to seemingly try and kill the sunlight. Distant rumbles of thunder seem to get louder as the they near the castle. It is not a pleasant walk along the winding mountain path as droves of monsters oppose the heroes; doing everything they can to buy time for Khronus to complete the plan.
"This is intense! It seems they're really intent now on taking us out." Francisca says as she lodges her daggers into the head of a witch.
"We cannot give up now, too much is at stake!" Alucard says as he slashes through several gargoyles.
A Stone Golem dislodges itself from the cliffside and jumps down into the heroes' path. Haru blasts icy wind at it and freezes the rock body and Ezra throws his cross boomerang and shatters it into pebbles. From high atop on mountain top, the last Zodiac general watches them.
"I can't believe it, no matter how much we throw at them; they don't stop. I can't allow them to continue any further!" the general says as he jumps off the top of the mountain towards his soon to be foes.
The sun soon fades and is replaced by a starless night with he only light being provided by a full moon shrouded by dark clouds. The fighting doesn't stop though as even more beasts of the night are burned into ash or cut down leaving a bloody path. After nearly four hours of non-stop fighting, the monsters wear thin and dwindle off as the path nears to an end. At last, the pathway ends leading to a natural rock bridge across a giant chasm. In front of them is a massive castle piercing the sky. The darkness it radiates would chill any person to the bone. It is highly reminiscent of Dracula's Castle.
"We're finally here. Alright everyone, there's no turning back." Alucard says.
"And you will not be going forward either." A voice says.
A massive boulder is flung at the vampire. Alucard barely avoids it and jumps back and redraws his blade. A massive person jumps in the way almost like a wall. He has bulging muscles and he wears tall military boots with black pants. Two rocky bracers cover his wrists as massive hands clench with power and his long blonde hair billows in the wind like smoke. His red eyes peer at the heroes and pulse with rage.
"You all have gone far enough. You'll never reach the castle, for in your way stands the Zodiac General…Taurus!" the general shouts.
"You're the last one. We've already defeated five of you. Will you stand in our way knowing our power?" Ezra says.
"Of course, my only purpose is to protect Lord Khronus and make sure the plan succeeds." Taurus says.
The general screams in rage and rips a ton of rock out of the ground and throws it like it was weightless. The boulder forces the heroes to scatter. Francisca runs and jumps at the general; sinking one dagger into his back. Taurus barely seems fazed by this as he grabs Francisca and throws her away from him. She lands next to Haru who breaks her fall with an air cushion. The young Belnades summons a ring of fire around the general, who watches it fade after Taurus stomps on the ground and dust smothers the flames.
"You'll never beat me if that's all you got!" Taurus says
The general jumps in the air and slams back down causing the ground to shake violently making everyone lose their balance and stumble around. Taurus takes the opportunity to move at surprisingly high speed and strike at his opponent. He smashes Alucard into the ground, he throws Haru and Francisca into mountain walls. The immense force of the blows leaves them stunned and unable to move. Ezra is the only one who manages to escape the onslaught; leaving him to face the titanic foe alone.
"Some power you all possess. Look at them Belmont, your friends can't fight back. Will you submit to the order?" Taurus says.
"Never! I won't submit to the likes of you!" Ezra says as he activates the thunder mode of the Arcana Whip.
"Such foolishness. I guess your bloodline will end here amongst rubble!" Taurus says as he runs at the young Belmont.
Ezra grabs a vial of holy water from his pocket and throws it at the ground. A wall of flame forces Taurus to shield his face as he runs through the blaze and delivers a strong punch, but nothing is there. He looks around and then feels a sharp pain hit his shoulder. Lodged in it is an axe dripping with blood. Ezra stands behind the general and strikes at the axe and shocks him with immense lightning.
"You little bastard!" Taurus yells as he rips the axe from his shoulder and smashes the ground.
The ground opens fissures and explodes towards the young Belmont. Ezra jumps over the blasts and flings his whip forward and it wraps around Taurus's neck. The general grabs it and tries to wring it off but can't as immense flames burn his face. Ezra runs at the general and jumps onto his back and uses his daggers to slice at his legs; forcing him to the ground. The young Belmont grabs the other end of the whip and pulls at it. Alucard sees the vicious brutality Ezra is doing to the opponent. Even though the other generals were killed, they weren't killed in a way as brutal as this. It was almost as if Ezra was trying to make Taurus suffer. The face of the general turns blue as he desperately tries to get himself free, but it only makes the whip tighter as Ezra's face shows the rage within and pulls harder. Eventually, the general stops struggling, and his once flailing arms fall to the ground limply. Ezra removes the whip and walks towards his now recovered teammates.
"That's the last of them. Now only Khronus remains." Ezra says.
"I've never seen such a display of power from you before, or any Belmont for that matter." Alucard says.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm mostly doing this because I wish to end the battles quickly, so I don't have to do this anymore." Ezra says.
Even though he was greatly disturbed by the act, Alucard shrugs it off as the four heroes walk toward the entrance of the castle. The doors open to invite them in. It was clear that they were wanted inside by Khronus.
"It seems that he's issuing a challenge." Haru says
"Okay everyone, let's go. It's finally time to end this." Alucard says.
Upon entering, the group is swarmed by demons from everywhere. Haru summons thunder and strikes multiple enemies at once, and Francisca goes on a hit and run spree; striking enemies in their weak points. Alucard incinerates some with hellfire, and Ezra hits multiple foes with his whip blazing with flames. As quickly as they arrived, they run up the stairs to try and reach the top. The path to the throne room seemed almost too simple. Eventually the enemies dwindled down to almost nothing. The sounds of demons roaring, and grunting was soon no more as they entered a long hallway with many stained-glass windows. At the end, they could see humongous doors with an intense feeling of darkness emanating from behind them.
"The throne room is right there. Soma and Khronus must be there." Francisca says.
"Yes, but why is there so little opposition now?" Haru says.
"I think we may have spoken too soon. Look at the windows." Alucard says.
The heroes look at the windows. The glass had morphed into images resembling that of familiar faces. The illusions jumped out of the windows; shattering them as thunder boomed and lightning crashed outside. The four glass phantoms stood in front of the four heroes. Ezra was challenged by Phantom Trevor, Haru was challenged by Phantom Sypha, Francisca was challenged by Phantom Grant, and Alucard was challenged by Phantom Alucard.
"Everyone defend yourself. It looks like they're going to try and divide us!" Alucard shouts.
The heroes charge at the phantoms who also do the same. Intense fighting soon takes place as the heroes take on a separate illusion. Ezra's Arcana Whip collides with Phantom Trevor's Vampire Killer.
"You may have the form of my ancestor, but you are nowhere near as strong as he was!" Ezra says.
The young Belmont throws a cross boomerang who has it met with an axe. Phantom Trevor slides across the ground and knocks Ezra off his feet before striking him with its whip. Haru is also not having a great time with Phantom Sypha. The fake sorceress manages to counter the magic of the young Belnades perfectly, and summons lightning to chase Haru down. Francisca throws her daggers at Phantom Grant who dodges effortlessly and strikes her with its own daggers to try and gradually weaken her. Alucard transforms into a bat to dodge the hellfire attack from Phantom Alucard.
"It seems that the Phantoms are figuring out our every move." Francisca says.
"We got to try and see if we can outsmart them. What if we try to fight others to mix it up a bit?" Haru says.
Easier said than done. Haru tries to throw icicles at Phantom Trevor, only to see them melted by a wall of flame created by Phantom Sypha. Phantom Grant attacks Alucard with daggers and strikes him, causing him to fall into a fireball from Phantom Alucard. Ezra manages to break the near perfect defense and throws an axe at Phantom Grant. The illusion screams in pain as it shatters into shards and falls to the ground.
"Keep at it everyone, we can do this!" Ezra says as he strikes at Phantom Sypha with his whip.
Phantom Trevor blocks the attack by throwing a dagger which knocks the strike away from its ally. It retaliates by throwing a vial of holy water at the young Belmont. Something unexpected happens however, the holy water hits Ezra in his lower leg and it burns. He immediately grabs his leg in extreme pain as the burning sensation rockets through his body. Alucard notices this and runs at Phantom Trevor. Phantom Alucard tries to catch up, but an intense wall of flame from Haru cuts it off, forcing the illusion to try and jump over it. It meets its end when Francisca jumps as well and smashes it with a well-placed dagger. Phantom Sypha tries desperately tries to hit Alucard with a blast of cold wind, but the vampire is too quick and launches three fire balls at it. The illusion isn't quick enough to evade, and the fireballs incinerate the phantom into ashes. Phantom Trevor is the final one, but even the illusion of the legendary hero can't stand up to a combined attack from Haru and Francisca who cut into many pieces and melted by a blast of flames. Alucard gets to Ezra and sees a nasty burn from where the holy water had struck him.
"This shouldn't be. Holy Water shouldn't do this to you." Alucard says.
"I don't know why, but it hurts!" Ezra says.
Haru runs over to him and grabs the young Belmont's wound. Ice radiates from his hand and covers it in a cooling embrace. Ezra sighs as he feels relief.
"Thanks, Haru." Ezra say.
"It will take some time to fully heal. Give it a few minutes to work, and it should be good as new." Haru says.
"Haru, Francisca; can I talk to you both for a second? Ezra, why don't you get a little rest before we move one."
Ezra limps to one of the walls and sits down. Meanwhile, the other three group up. At once, they can tell that something is troubling Alucard greatly.
"What's wrong Alucard? You don't usually seem to be worried about most things, so it must be serious." Francisca says.
"I'll be honest. Has Ezra seemed a little bit strange since we've gotten closer to Khronus?" Alucard says.
"I've noticed it a little. When we were in the ruins, he knew how close we were to the Crimson Stone despite having never set foot in the place. And if he's of divine blood, why did Holy Water burn him? I know that it was a copy, but still it acts like the real thing." Haru says.
"His actions were different. When in battle, he would take care of enemies quickly, but now he seems to deliberately try to make enemies suffer. He killed Taurus brutally and slowly, and he appeared to enjoy it." Alucard says.
"Do you think that the intense darkness it starting to affect him?" Francisca says
"Maybe it might be best that we take on Khronus ourselves without Ezra. I fear that the darkness might cause him to act even more strangely and do something regrettable." Alucard says.
With the last of the Zodiac Generals defeated and the last line of the defense defeated, the only obstacle in the way of saving Soma is Khronus himself. But what is going on Ezra. With and unknown change occurring in the young Belmont, will the warnings Alucard has been receiving come forth, or will they be wrong and Ezra pull through and finish the mission and prevail like his ancestors against the darkness before him.
