The structure seemed to extend out to more foes, but Alexander was musing on the fact that all they had faced were armors and skeletons, not much variety to the monsters as they pressed on before stopping to the passage that would lead onto a bridge, where they were faced with a violet-skinned woman whose smile gleamed with sharp fangs. Alexander raised his brow as he stepped forward and spoke, Christopher not moving to attack despite what his blood called with the rest of the party. "Do tell me, what's a highly-regarded creature of the night doing at the passage of the castle instead of near her ruler?"
"You are fairly perceptive, little human." The vampiric woman smiled as she conjured a bat and stroked it. "However, my duty is to my lord, you will not sway me over so quickly, human."
"Are you saying that I am trying to change your mind on our passage?" Alexander sighed as he spoke again, now realizing that Blackmore was trying to use manners to get the female monster to yield, reining him in for a bit. "It is never that easy, time, trust, and belief have long been damaged by the foolish actions of people similar to myself, we fear what we don't understand and fear what shadows often conceal, we hurt each other for sin and pain, I am not telling you to yield, I am sharing my mind with another, if it is just the members behind me or the being that is addressing me as well."
"Oh, such a sweet tongue and words you carry..." The Lady Bat smiled as the bat disappeared and she floated over, the cape the only article she wore as she continued, the party a bit unnerved of how the creature was starting to circle Alexander, its feet barely even touching the tile. "...But, I can not let any of you slip on by without some amusement for the road." She paused as a hand gripped her skull when she looked at the party and quickly glanced to the cloaked figure who had the grip, but... it was not violent, it lacked hatred or spite.
"Then, let's start with the mind, you have secrets inside that you don't want anyone to know about, so we play the game... on my terms..." Suddenly, a flash of violet filled the area and the party covered their faces before it settled down to see that Alexander was still standing, but the vampiress was in shock and letting out a silent screech, red eyes rolled back. Christopher nearly moved to kill with the whip, but he paused, gripping the handle as Shanoa spoke.
"So that's what he's doing, he is entering her mind... he is exploiting everything in her life that had lead up to this moment." The Glyph-bound warrior spoke as she stared at the pair. "We have to wait, he could be a bit..." Kenmur nodded as he gripped Sapphire's shoulder and shook his head as she agreed as well, Christopher left to watch the scene before with furrowed brow...
...Whatever Alex was playing with, it was too powerful to be a mere flame, more like a bonfire...
The Lady Bat quickly got up as she found herself in a familiar setting, fear filling up as she heard the sounds of day, gripping herself in horror as she knew where she was, spotting the little girl as well as she stumbled backward and started to curl up before she screamed. "STOP IT!" Suddenly, the world froze but her as she looked about to the birds in midflight, to the swayed flowers, and the trees shifting as the shadows yielded to the young man stepping out as she quickly got to her feet and screamed. "Why have you brought me here, you can't be doing this to me!?" She grimaced as she summoned a swarm of bats to attack. "Leave me alone!" The bats flew straight and into the young man, yet all it did was halt him as his cloak was shredded a bit as the Lady Bat glanced between the ways, trapped with the man and the sun in the frozen world as she tried to yell again when the man spoke.
"So what does beat is a human heart..." He stepped closer as she tried to blast him back, but her shockwaves and bats barely touched him as her eyes started to fill with tears, her undead nature breaking as he towered over her before reaching out. She flinched before she felt those hands encircle her and pull her in, the man continuing. "You poor soul, you never asked for this, but you were forced into this."
"Why...?" She started to cry again as she gripped into the tunic beneath. "Why are you doing this, I don't want to remember... to remember the pain, the angst, I just want to fight, why are you doing this to me!?"
"To ease your heart and mind..." Her eyes opened wide as the red started to form pupils in surprise, the grip holding tight as she listened. "Tragedy is an old companion of mine, but we only speak when it comes to be, I never actively seek to destroy another's hopes and dreams, only when their own lives are ruined without remorse do I appear to help..." He looked out to the plains beyond, to the small cottage that sat in the distance as he continued. "Is this your past...?"
She pulled herself from the man and looked out, to the field that nestled between the cottage and the forest. "...Yes, when I was just a child..." She fell to the ground, kneeing on the ground as the tears returned. "I loved it, loved it all, but this... was the last time I ever saw my parents alive..." She lifted her head and stared, lip trembling as she continued to cry. "We were attacked the following night, my father died trying to save us from the monsters, but my mother... she was quick in running up the trail to the town, but it was not enough as I... was forced into this place of darkness... just to end up in the hands of some sadistic vampire that used me as a maiden... waited for me to be of age before he turned me and... made me his..." The forest continued to be filled by the silent sobs as the man just listened. "I don't want this... please take me out of here, I don't want this..." The young man walked over and placed a hand on the shoulder under the cape and suddenly, the scene changed to a war-torn landscape, the Lady Bat watching in shock as it all transpired before the human spoke.
"This battle and many others that followed... were by my hand..." The flames filled the sky as the skirmish continued across the parts of land. "I followed the words of a dark agenda and stained the hands in blood, didn't matter if it was innocent or guilty, I was a murderer for the word of the Light, a corrupted vision that didn't care for good or evil, just for blood..." He released and she was left gasping for breath as she curled on the ground in the frozen past, his footsteps walking away. "Don't be shy to reflect on what you have and what you have gained, you are not weak anymore so make it mean something in the end..." The shadows hid him again as the Lady Bat, filled with emotion and pain, cried for a bit before she started to pace herself and stood up, the scene before her... happy now that she saw it more clearly.
"...Maybe... I have been dwelling in my fear for too long..." She floated up and the scene moved once more as she watched it for the first time since forever. "This feeling... this feeling of strength... I want that more than anything else... to be... strong..." Tears dripped to the ground before she turned to the shadows and embraced them once more as she felt someone's hand on her jaw.
"And where are you going, little bat?"
"Away from you, you monster." She pushed past as the figure made a grab for her.
"Run if you wish, you will forever belong to me and your loyalty will not save you..." The figure changed as it raged in anger. "No, impossible... my mark..."
"It is gone..." The Lady Bat turned in midair as she spoke. "You had your fun, now I am free, your 'pitiful' mark no longer has a hold on me." The figure scowled before it leapt at her, her bracing in fear coming up when the young man appeared and swung a blade through the wraith, shattering it to pieces as the man spoke.
"Playtime's over, get in line and follow my lead." The Lady Bat only curled into the man's body, feeling safety in his arms as the realm started to fade away as their voices remained. "I am Alexander, what is yours?"
"I'm Reka, my power and will is yours now." She leaned her head as he returned the gesture, tapping their foreheads with each other as a sigh of trust formed in the depths of the minds...
Christopher dropped for a short bit to sleep when he watched as the vampire's body was... shining, her face changing to smile before the body turned to stone and it crumbled to the ground, Alexander straightened up as the event woke up everyone. "What are we waiting for... we have a count to bring down, don't we?"
"Wait, Alex..." Shanoa's voice called and he turned back to her as she dashed over. "What happened to the vampire?" What none were expecting, let alone Shanoa, was Alexander pulling her into a hug as he spoke, running a hand through the hair under the hood and speaking.
"I freed her from a lifetime of sorrow and pain, her past was faced and she came back to face the future." He released and turned back to the passage, Shanoa secretly mourning the loss of warmth. "Even with that, I will have to find time to train her abilities, let's move out." They all agreed as they headed toward the main castle, being quick in fighting the monsters that stood in their path and avoiding falling to the abyss below before they made it into the castle and searched for a way through when they did as they confronted the mighty Golem and struck at its core, Alexander was a bit puzzled though as it did feel like the soul was taken, but it didn't replace any of the souls within him as they took a moment to breathe as the Golem's attacks were more troubling as moving strikes and its little minions made it slightly harder at striking the core. They pressed on through the domain of the castle as they searched for a way upward which they did, but the way turned from a nice décor to a clock tower interior, forcing them to jump among gears and cogs as they continued on to the next foe that could stand in their path than the armors and skeletons before they enter an empty chamber, albeit a sole figure in a monk's robe that slowly moved toward them before Christopher spoke, his whip lashing free as he spoke.
"Who are you and what are you doing here!?"
"Ugh...ummm... Rah." A gribble of words came out instead and tipped the party off as Kenmur pulled his new blade free and shouted.
"That trail of word made no sense and why are you hiding your body, reveal it to us!" The figure grunted before extending out its hands, green and a few stitches fixing across the stretched limbs with steel manacles fixed to the wrists, as electricity surged about the hands before it clapped and an orb of lightning blasted at them, they dodging to the sides as Sapphire screeched.
"What the heck is that thing, it's like..."
"A patchwork human being of a large caliber." Kenmur mused as he spoke. "Is that thing the very thing that... I think it is, Alex?"
"No doubt, it's the Creature..." Alexander stood up with Shanoa slowly getting up as well as she caught a brief touch of the lightning. "Life created through science, through picking through graves and assembling viable pieces to create a life, stitched and patched together and given that spark through electricity." The thing groaned and moaned as Alexander continued. "...It is incomplete..."
"What do you mean 'incomplete'?" Christopher inquired as the monster continued its rant.
"It's robes... they are keeping it alive... it's in eternal torment under there." Alexander frowned his brow as the thought scared him... if not disturbed him. "Normally you would expect some form of speech, but the way it groans and moans tells that the robe is enchanted to stabilize this creature, it can't live without it for the electricity must be ripping apart the creature from the inside."
"Then let us free this creature from its eternal torment." The party charged as the hood slid off, revealing a green, shaven head of bolts, stitches, and emotionless eyes as more massive electrical orbs and shockwaves of the element blasted toward them as they dodged and struck before Kenmur slashed through the robe and the exposed flesh erupted in power and blood as the monster dropped to the side, Kenmur grimacing as he spoke. "Okay, I thought you were lying about that, I didn't think it could ACTUALLY happen!"
"Believe it..." Alexander strode over to the now-dead thing as the clock tower flooring was dyed in red. "Sometimes, mad science tries too hard and it creates something like this, a life in eternal torment, the only mercy we can grant is a swift death."
Christopher returned his whip as his face read... with concern, but was it for the knowledge or for Alexander's slight grief. "We should keep going, there is no sense in lingering here, Dracula is not bound to kill over anytime soon." They agreed as they continued on, the Creature bursting into flames, with their path after Dracula, entering the domain of architecture that filled the clock tower as they ascended up, getting glimpses of the numerous clock towers that stood silent in the night as they landed on swinging pendulums and moving large clock pieces before they entered another wide chamber, overlooking a grand clock tower when a build of power filled the air and a skeletal figure formed before it glanced at the party before... shock filled its features and suddenly unleashed a maelstrom of sickles at the party, they all dodging from the storm as it shouted, pointing at Alexander.
"YOU ARE NOT MEANT TO BE HERE, ELMENDAN!"
"Sorry, Death, he is not open for discussion, you are dealing with his blood." The figure howled in rage as a scythe appeared and Death snatched it from the air as he rushed Alexander, forcing the young man to fend for himself with his conjured blade, the party getting up from the shock of the sudden attack and attempted to help out as Death blasted them away in anger, the calm composure lost from the being.
"This doesn't concern you, foolish mortals!"
"And you shouldn't bother with them if you were more focused than that." Alexander slid under and focused his power, time slowly down to the naked eye as energy formed around Alexander's blade before he leapt into the air, cleaving Death's body and scythe as he cried out.
"How did I..." He let out a hushed groan before Alexander landed back down, panting as his attack was a bit too draining, the party gathering around him as they helped him up.
"Sorry, guys, that last attack just drained me, I didn't think I put too much power into it." They all nodded as they turned to the final approach, the last way that also meant that Dracula waited for them and that his eternal night would soon give rise to the dawn...