"Where do you think this will lead us to?"

"How would I know?"

"You could guess."

"Little prince, we do not have time to play guessing games."

Kamui groaned and looked up, growing slightly dizzy by the spiral stairs that seemed to reach the top of the tower they were inside. He was still recovering from the disorienting travel, so looking at the spiraling stairs and spinning cogs at the center of the tower didn't do him any favors. He wished he could turn around and try to return to Richter, but the bridge connecting the tower to the part of the castle he was in was obstructed by a strange golden barrier.

Their only option was to go upwards and hope that it would take them somewhere. Kamui saw Bayonetta walk ahead of him and hurried to not be left behind. The clock tower was extensive and it would take a while to reach the top, so it was for the best that they walked and preserved whatever energy they had in them. One could never know when they were going to be ambushed or not. The first few seconds of climbing were pure silence from both of them, each lost in their own thoughts as they continued to listen to the mechanical sound of the turning cogs. Kamui hoped that their journey to the top wouldn't be fruitless. He remembered Laura insisting that she would take him to Corrin, so he rationalized that whatever she did to him brought him closer to where Corrin was being held. However, Laura also had the tendency to lie to his face more than she told the truth, as the very few interactions he had with her showed him. She could very well had pulled his leg and sent him to someplace to die so he would never find his sister again.

He turned his attention to Bayonetta, who walked by his side but refused to look at him. For some odd reason, she was there with him because she got in the way of that vampire's spell. The last thing he remembered before finding himself facing the entrance to the massive clock tower was of her lunging towards him and grabbing his arm, letting herself be transported alongside him. That certainly was strange from her part, Kamui couldn't deny that. If it was Richter who grabbed his arm, that would be one thing, but Bayonetta?

He looked once up once again and saw how much it would take them to reach the top. He certainly had time to ask one question.

"Why did you do this?"

Bayonetta finally turned her attention to him. "Did what?" she asked.

"Why did you grab my arm?" he asked. "You know that I was in trouble, so why risk getting yourself caught in Laura's spell?"

"I tried to activate Witch Time and pull you out of that smoke," she said, adjusting her glasses. "But I must confess that it was more of an impulse rather than a calculated action. Thinking back, even if I managed to pull off the perfect dodge, I don't think my time powers would have affected a space warping spell."

"But why go through the effort to try to save me?"

"Why wouldn't I? Do you think that I would just abandon you?"

"Why wouldn't you? You don't like me… or Corrin for that matter."

"Little prince, no matter how much I hate you, which, for the record, I do not, that is not enough reason to simply not do anything when you are in danger," she huffed.

"I still don't understand why the concern," Kamui said. "I know that you are here because Crazy Hand obligated you to hunt for Laura and Carmilla, but I still don't understand."

"What exactly is that you don't understand?"

"Back in the hotel, you seemed genuinely worried about Corrin. You kept asking all of those questions and for a moment I thought that you cared about her. Then I see you acting aloof all the way here, but you still tried to understand what was going on with me back in the guest room. And now... this."

"I did not know that you paid so much attention to me, little prince. It is almost flattering."

"Stop trying to change the subject," he groaned. "Corrin constantly complained about that to me, you are always deflecting serious talk with sarcasm!"

Bayonetta did not answer at first and simply looked up. They still had a long way to go. "Oh, how bothersome," she grumbled.

"What?"

"Little prince, unlike what you or your sister think, I don't hate her," Bayonetta said. "The falling out we had was due to different expectations in our relationship, that is all."

"Hard to believe."

"I don't know what kind of version of the story she told you, but it is true," she paused for a moment. "Though I suppose I could have been a bit clearer with what I actually wanted back then."

"And what was it?"

"...I don't know," Bayonetta confessed. "After all this time, I don't know. At the time, I had just woken up in this world and was dealing with the realization that I could never go back to the life I once had."

Kamui knew exactly that feeling, though he supposed every smasher had to go through the process of coming to terms with their new life. It was a manner on how each dealt with their feelings regarding the matter.

"Your sister was the first one to approach me in this world," she said. "Despite her smile, she looked as lost as I was. I guess it was inevitable that we hit it off."

"So you grew close to her to feel less lost?"

"Not… consciously, but I suppose this could have been a factor. Funnily enough, the closer I got to her, the more lost I got."

"How so?"

"Little prince, I've spent five hundred years of my life alone, without a single memory of who I was," she explained, earning a shocked look from him. "I got better."

"You can't just drop this information on me and expect me to not be surprised!" he exclaimed.

"My point is that I have spent great part of my life alone while I tried to figure it out who I was," she said. "So when I got into the Smash world and started growing close to Corrin, I got… well, I supposed confused could better describe it. I avoided forming bonds back in my world due to my extended lifespan and distrust, so to have everything change here..."

"It scared you?"

"When you say it that way, you make me sound like a confused little girl."

"What? Isn't it true?"

"Hmph."

They kept walking the rest of the way in silence, both avoiding eye contact. It was only when they reached the top of the tower, where they saw a door that lead to the outside, that Bayonetta decided to break the silence between them.

"Look, Kamui," Bayonetta said. "Whatever feelings your sister still has regarding our… falling out, I still care for her, but she clearly has issues that she needs to solve and I am not the right person to help her with that."

"I don't know what to say," Kamui answered. "I really didn't expected to-"

"Anyway, looks like this door will lead us outside," she said, carefully passing by the turning cogs and reaching the door.

Kamui decided that it wouldn't be worth it to call out the fact that Bayonetta was ready to drop the conversation by deflecting the topic. Instead, he just followed her and found himself standing at the end of a bridge that connected the tower to another part of the castle. He remembered Simon saying something about the structure of the castle being unusual on their way to it, but he couldn't help being impressed with the weird choice of connecting the clock tower to another part of the castle.

Bayonetta walked ahead and Kamui followed her suit. The open bridge offered a clear view of the area where the castle was located and Kamui could see the faint city lights in the horizon. They were way up higher than he expected, he could see the entire pine tree forest from where they were, it was rather overwhelming, Kamui did not under any circumstance wanted to look down.

They crossed the bridge without being ambushed or encountering any other minion from Carmilla. While that was a moment of relief for both of them, it also made them wonder what kind of trap could be in store for them. They reached the other side and went up the straight stairways that would take them to the throne room. Bayonetta place her hand on the handle and hesitated for a moment.

"Kamui," she said.

"Yes?"

"If Carmilla is at the other side of this door, I need you to remember that we are at a huge disadvantage if we are forced to face her."

"Yeah, I know," he replied, bitterly. "Both Simon and Richter were forced to stay behind and they had the Vampire Killer."

"I don't know how long it will take for them to defeat the other monsters in order to reach us, so keep in mind that we are not going to face against her to defeat or even capture her," Bayonetta said. "We are going to stall for time until either Richter or Simon can catch up, understood? Don't do anything reckless."

"I won't."

"Stay… still!"

Laura giggled as she avoided another crack of the Vampire Killer, which only made Richter even more furious. It certainly didn't help that him wanting to end that fight quickly so he could focus on finding Kamui and Bayonetta was also a factor that took away his concentration. He took a bottle of holy water and threw at her, only to then swing the Vampire Killer at the opposite direction, hoping to catch her when she dodged the bottle to the side. Laura simply rolled to another direction and avoided both attacks. She then quickly got back to her feet and managed to deliver a kick to his sides.

Richter groaned and tried to hit her by throwing his ax, but just like every other try, Laura dodged. They kept at it for a while, with Richter missing and Laura dodging and kicking whenever she found an opening, until he was left out of breath.

"Richter, Richter," she said. "You are rusty, you know that?"

"Shut up!"

Before he could brace himself, Laura ran towards him and gave him a kick to the stomach, quickly jumping backwards as she saw him curl up in agonizing pain. Laura was not as powerful as her mistress, but she had a few tricks up her sleeve. Seeing that despicable man writhing in pain certainly brought her satisfaction and boosted her confidence. She got to capture two smashers and was winning against one of Dracula's mortal enemies, her night couldn't have been better.

"How does it feel knowing that you won't be able to save both Corrin?"

"Why the sudden interest in Kamui?" he asked, still curled up.

"You know that both Corrin and Kamui are people with powerful dragon blood," Laura said, walking towards him. "At first, we were just going to sacrifice Corrin to revive our Master Dracula, however..."

"You changed targets?"

"We simply thought that why settle for one," she said, her face now close to his. "When we could get Kamui's blood and have Corrin serve us?"

At that, Richter quickly drew his last bottle of holy war and smashed it right on Laura's face. The woman shrieked in agonizing pain and immediately backed away, the skin of the left side of her face boiling from the contact and bleeding from the broken glass. Her arrogance made her drop her guard and take the bait.

"Y-you..."

"I won't let you turn Corrin into a monster!"

At that, Laura laughed. If it was out of despair or contempt, Richter could not know, but she made no effort to escape once she realized that he had the advantage. "Oh, Richter," she taunted. "But she is already one of us!"

Richter whipped the Vampire Killer and silenced the creature that he had been hunting for so long. He stared at Laura's body, unsure if she was truly defeated or if she was trying to trick him again. He couldn't see her breathing, but he couldn't be so sure. Had he been in his home world, the sure way that he killed her would be if her body disintegrated, but since she was one of Crazy Hand's creations, he wasn't sure. He still needed to make sure that, were she to get up, she would not attack him or run away.

He looked around and saw the slab with the shackles attached to it. That would do the job. Richter dragged her body through the room and chained her wrists to the shackles. The vampire hunter checked once more if Laura wasn't breathing or showed any signs of faking her death and left the room once he realized that he didn't have to worry too much. He was still sore from all the kicking he received, but letting himself open for those attacks proved to be worth it in the end.

"Good grief..."

Despite not knowing where Kamui and Bayoentta were thrown at, he had a good guess where they could be at that moment. If what Laura said about taking Kamui to Corrin was true, Richter's best bet was to head towards the throne room. All he could do as he ran through the large castle halls was to pray that both his friends held on for long enough until he arrived and for Corrin's safety.

"You are here, I can't believe it."

Kamui's jaw dropped at sight before him. Standing by the side of the luxurious throne placed at the end of the room was Corrin, though he found it difficult to believe that it was really her standing there, glaring at him as if she was ready to lunge at him at any moment. Her skin had gone from a soft peach tone to a cold gray and instead of wearing her usual silver armor, she now wore a black leotard with golden trims and black thigh highs, as well as a navy blue cape that looked like it was scorched by flames at the end. However, what really caught his attention were the two antlers on her head, the same ones that usually showed when both she and he half shifted into their dragons form in the middle of the battle.

He placed his hand on the hilt of the Yato as he saw Corrin take a couple of steps forward and stand in front of the throne. Bayonetta also drew her guns and pointed them at the girl in front of them, who didn't flinch at the sight of the weapons.

"Kamui, you shouldn't have come," Corrin said. "You should have left me to rot here and die. Now look at what I've become."

"D-Don't say things like that, Corrin!" Kamui stuttered. "Just… come with us and-"

Corrin shook her head and looked up. Confused, both Kamui and Bayonetta looked up as well, only for Bayonetta to gasp and Kamui almost fall back as they saw a terrifying, grinning mask descend from the ceiling. The mask had a thin stream of blood pouring from one of its eyes and mouth, blood that Kamui could only pray that didn't belong to his sister, who watched the mask descend in an eerily quiet manner.

"Corrin, how considerate of your friends to pay you a visit one last time," Carmilla said.

"Carmilla..." Bayonetta said, gritting her teeth.

"Let go of her!" Kamui demanded.

"I have no use for the witch, so focus only on… how do you call him? Kamui?" she said. "Beat him to near death if necessary, but do not kill him before the time is right."

At Carmilla's command, Corrin unsheathed the rapier she was given by her new mistress and ran towards Kamui, her eyes now showing a distinct thirst for Kamui's blood. He unsheathed his Yato and managed to parry a blow to his sides at the right moment, swinging his blade in a manner that forced Corrin to retreat. Bayonetta continued to point her gun at her, but hesitated to shoot, as she was afraid that her magic bullets could cause irreversible damage on Corrin. Despite her magic not being very effective against the creatures in that god forsaken castle, she was not certain if that would extend to the princess turned vampire.

She decided to switch targets as she saw Carmilla approaching the siblings. Unlike with Corrin, she certainly was not afraid of what kind of damage her magic could cause on scum like Carmilla. The throne room soon became a split battlefield, with Corrin and Kamui exchanging blows with their blades and Carmilla and Bayonetta trying to hit each other with their respective magic attacks. For Kamui, the battle was less of a battle more like a struggle against his sister, as he barely tried to attack and was more focused on defending and parring her attacks. That proved to be a difficult task as the seconds passed by, since Corrin was fighting like an unhinged beast, wildly swinging her rapier and switching between slashing and transforming her arm into a dragon mouth, aiming for Kamui's shoulders and chest with its sharp fangs.

If he didn't do something, Corrin would overwhelm him. She kept on swinging the rapier, each swing faster and more powerful, until Kamui's parries became so sluggish and slow that she managed to disarm him. The prince gasped as the Yato flew a couple of feet away from him and tried to recover it, but was forced to transform his arm into a spear to block another swing of the rapier that aimed for his chest. He grunted in pain as the blade cut his tough silver scales and held on to that position.

"C-Corrin..." Kamui pleaded. "Please… please snap out of it! I don't want..."

"Grr..."

"I don't want to fight you! I can't..."

In an act of desperation, Kamui twisted his arm and got the rapier's blade out of the way. In a swift motion, he kicked Corrin in the stomach with enough strength to make her drop her sword and back away from him, giving him space to recompose himself. He could feel the beads of sweat trickling down his neck all the way to his back, the mixture of physical and emotional exhaustion taking a tool on his concentration and stamina.

He remembered being that situation numerous times in his past life, but one painful time came back to his mind at the worst moment possible. Kamui saw Corrin straighten herself up, regaining her posture as if she was not tired at all, the same way his brother, Xander, stood before him as he challenged him to their last duel. Both Xander's and Corrin's glare showed a determination to defeat him that tightened his chest and weakened his resolve.

Despite them being the same person, it was clear that the fight was unbalanced in her favor. Just like with Xander, all those years ago.

"Corrin, please listen to me!" he pleaded once again. "You're stronger than Carmilla's control, you're-"

"Do not bother, prince! Her free will is no more!" Carmilla shouted.

Kamui turned his head towards where he heard Carmilla's voice and saw a ball of fire flying towards his direction. He ducked in an act of reflex and escaped being hit by the fire spell. As the spell hit near a stone pillar, Bayonetta quickly brought Carmilla's attention back to her, however, Corrin took the chance that her opponent laid on the floor to tackle his body and pin him down. Her face was contorted in what he could see was pure hatred, showing her fangs as she snarled at him and changed her arm into her dragon fang, aiming for his neck, while her face began to be entirely covered by a thick layer of blue scales, giving the impression that her face was now covered by a helmet with antlers

Seeing no other way, Kamui also saw himself forced to transform more parts of his body in order to have any chance of maintaining any kind of struggle. He used his spear-like arm to keep Corrin's dragon fang at bay and also covered his face in the same manner as his sister, making their faces look identical to each other at that moment. He headbutted Corrin in hopes of getting her off from him, but she simply flinched and continued to pin him down.

"Please, please..." he whimpered.

His exhaustion reached a point where he couldn't keep his transformation and was forced to revert his body back to normal. Once the dragon mask was off, Corrin could see his flushed face and swollen eyes overflowing with desperate tears. She raised her deformed hand, ready to strike him down, yet couldn't bring her fangs down on him. Kamui breathed heavily as he saw the fangs at mere inches from his face, gazing into inside the hungry mouth that craved to rip his flesh, but trembled frantically as the girl over him fought against the urge to bring it down on him.

"K-Kamui… Kamui..." she said, her voice raspy. "I want… to hurt you so much..."

"Do you hate me this much?" he asked. "Have you always hated me, Corrin?"

"No! I don't..." Corrin groaned. "I love you, Kamui! You are everything I should have been! But… I want… I need to hurt you!"

Her entire body trembled, it was clear that whatever consciousness that still lingered on Corrin's mind was fighting against Carmilla's control. He could see the hungry mouth charging a magical blast of water, though it charged slowly and against her own will. Kamui laid still, one false move could be enough for her to loose control and blast him.

"Everything you should have been?" he asked.

"You are the better version of us."

"That's not true..."

"I've hurt so many people… and for what? Those voices… those visions… they were right all along."

At that, Kamui raised his hand and gently placed it on her cheek. "Corrin, I'm so sorry," he said. "You were hurting all this time and I refused to see it. We should have talked."

"Ka… mui…?"

Behind them, Carmilla shot another powerful fiery tear of blood towards their direction. Just before the magic fire could hit them, however, Bayonetta got in the way and dodged the attack at just the right moment, activating Witch Time in the process. As time and the world around them slowed down, the witch yanked Corrin away from her brother and pulled Kamui up by his arms. As time resumed to its natural flow, Bayonetta had gained a considerable distant between them and Corrin and Carmilla.

"Thank you, Bayonetta," Kamui said.

"Don't thank me yet."

Corrin got up from the floor and retrieved the rapier. Whatever resistance she had against Carmilla's control was gone, her sharp eyes now showing a coldblooded glare. She approached them with the intend to kill and was followed by a rather impatient Carmilla. The mask started to crack and shatter, giving place to an intimidating floating skull. The image of an unnaturally pale maiden with flaming blue hair wearing a mask appeared resting atop the skull, Carmilla's true image.

"Corrin, focus on Bayonetta," she ordered. "I will take care of Kamui."

At her command, Corrin ran towards Bayonetta and thrust her rapier at her, forcing her to jump backwards and get away from Kamui, who in turn began dodging the fiery tears of blood that Carmilla started throwing at him. Due to his fatigue, Kamui could only concentrate in dodging the attacks, which proved to be a difficult task as she kept switching between shooting and zooming in on him. There was a moment where he got careless and the vampire managed to scratch his face with her sharp nails, but barely escaping being rammed into a pillar by the skull.

It was clear that she was trying to take him away, as she made it clear that she couldn't have him killed at that moment. His real concern was towards Bayonetta, who, like him, was concentrating on deflecting and avoiding Corrin's attacks.

"You irritating little vermin!" Carmilla exclaimed. "Stop with this pointless struggle and accept your fate!"

Kamui didn't answer and swung his Yato to deflect another fiery tear of blood. He was so tired, he couldn't focus on anything else except protecting himself and quickly checking on the other fight occurring a few meters away from them. The prince eventually was hit by Carmilla's floating skull and pinned to a nearby pillar. He dropped his Yato and struggled to get the skull off of him. He could feel the air escaping from his lungs, the pressure of the skull slowly, but steadily crushing him.

"I will take immense satisfaction in draining every single drop of your blood," Carmilla sneered, her face close to his. "I get to keep my new servant and revive my master, this couldn't get any better!"

"N-no… I w-won't let..."

He was interrupted by loud, cracking noise coming from the skull that pinned him. Letting out a loud and agonizing shriek, Carmilla let go of Kamui and turned around. It was only then that Kamui noticed the chain on the ground and spiked metal ball responsible for cracking the skull from behind. He let out a weak smile as he saw the chain retreating and returning to the hands of Richter Belmont.

"Begone," he shouted, preparing the Vampire Killer. "You don't belong in this world, Carmilla!"

Before Carmilla could react, Richter swung the Vampire Killer once again and made a clean hit on her face. Kamui covered her ears as the vampire let out a bone chilling scream, only for that scream to be silenced by a third lashing. Carmilla's limp body fell on the ground, the skull that she was so attached to shattering into pieces. Her body began to disintegrate and the remains disappear, until only just the mask that she was wearing remained. The vampire who had been tormenting them was no more.

"Is she dead?" Kamui asked.

"Yes, or at least, I think she is," Richter said, walking towards the mask and grabbing it. "But we need to make sure that she doesn't return."

"Ah, Corrin!" he exclaimed. "Where is she?!"

"Over here."

Bayonetta approached them with an unconscious Corrin cradled in her arms. Kamui noticed the her antlers were gone and that her skin was returning to its normal color. He stumbled towards them, yet hesitated once he was close enough.

"How is she?" he asked, fearing the worst.

"She's breathing and appears to be stable," Bayonetta said. "She fell asleep the moment Carmilla was defeated."

"Let's gather everyone and get out of here," Richter said, showing the mask in his hand. "We need to find Crazy Hand and make him undo the mess he created."

The three Smashers turned around and left the throne room.

I like to think that Richter got the idea of letting himself open to lure Laura in and hit her from his time in Smash and the opponents he faced. Sometimes you just gotta let yourself be hit and charge that FS meter, you know? By the way, I totally made art of vampire Corrin while I wrote these last two chapters, because thinking up her design was fun.

See you guys on the last chapter!