The spanning realm was known as the Garden of Madness, and there was a slight bit of doubt about the overgrowth, the excess of life, and the actual roles of the monsters had there. Still, the small party moved along with encounters of Skeleton Farmers, Apes, and some random skeleton foe called Yorick whose dislodged head was its weapon, along with Corpseweeds, Mandragoras, and Unes.
They were not as challenging as the Rycuda thunder birds or the skeletons with boomerangs called Skelerangs, but even the mighty Treant was of little doubt as they kept going until they entered the Dark Chapel and moved on through, Alexander taking a moment to ponder before he spoke. "You know, that always confused me, to be fair."
"What?" Shanoa asked as Alex turned to her after they took a break with dealing out a few Mini Devils and a Witch in the entrance to the Chapel as he spoke, Mist riding a Catoblepas with Soma watching with slight confusion as to how a young girl was able to summon a large beast that could turn people to stone with its breath.
"The Witches." Alex spoke as Shanoa listened as he continued. "What exactly is the purpose behind their attire?" Shanoa blinked as Alex continued. "It doesn't enhance their powers, it doesn't serve any form of improvement, so is it just... sex appeal?" Shanoa opened her mouth to speak before she thought about it and answered.
"Good heavens... it is just sex appeal..." Both blinked before sighing as Alexander rubbed his temples.
"Food for thought, I guess." He got up and helped her up as Mist and Soma noticed the shift. "Let's get going, we are wasting time with lingering here a bit." The two nodded as they continued on to fight angelic Valkyries and Amalaric Snipers, the Ghost Dancers, and a few Great Armors before they arrived to another room, sealed with the second seal before entering to find Dmitrii taking the blast of a Malachi before blasting the demon with the same skill before he turned to their arrival and spoke.
"Oh, excuse me for that rather uncouth scene."
"You're one of the dark lord candidates..." The man bowed with an introduction.
"Dmitrii Blinov." Alexander crossed his arms as he spoke.
"You were fighting a demon just then. Doing stuff like that would give the wrong impression, so were you fighting it to forsake Celia, or is it because of your ability?" Dmitrii straightened up as he answered.
"You would be correct in my testing of abilities. After all, this is merely a ritual to gain power."
"A ritual?" Soma inquired as Dmitrii spoke.
"You witnessed it, yes? Unless you are as dim as Dario, you should have discerned my ability." Soma quickly puzzled it out as he spoke.
"So, that's what it is. The ability to copy magic attacks..."
"Ah, how observant of you. Now, since there is no one else to disrupt us..." Soma spoke again with trying to get some details out.
"Hold it. I don't have any reason to fight you. Do you have any reason for going along with Celia's scheme?"
"None whatsoever."
"Well, then!"
"However, I have this power. I wish to know the meaning of it, its significance. Is that not a natural desire?" Soma understood the notion actually, at first, he didn't want to know or care about the power he now held, but over time and brief moments of training with Alex had yielded a different insight on the power and what he could do with it.
"And for that, you want to become the dark lord?"
"Is that so wrong? Refining my power will finally provide me with answers. Let us begin." The fight began and Soma worked quick as he knew that the Malachi was a big blast, so he hit Dmitrii with the bone of a Skeleton and that converted Dmitrii's attack to the bone toss, the look of angst there for a moment before it returned to calm smugness as they fought, but it was clear that the change to Dmitrii's attacks had crippled him and somehow, both Alex's blade and Shanoa's rapiers were not able to be copied, despite the fact that Shanoa's powers were based on magical glyphs while Alex's were conjured from the souls he had collected and used before Soma dealt a crippling wound to Dmitrii as he exclaimed.
"It's over!"
"Tch, I came up short, it seems..." Soma spoke as he stood away from the man.
"I won't take your life. Just give up."
"You dare pity me? Soon, you shall be the one that will be pitied upon. Gwaah!" He toppled to the floor, but the shift was enough as he must have pressed something in deep to rupture something as Soma quickly exclaimed.
"What? Dead? That can't be?!" A black essence surged out and slammed into Soma before either could grab it as grimaced. "Unh! What was that? Did I gain dominance over a human soul?" They looked to him as he relaxed before he flexed his hands in trying to figure it out. "No, I gained no power... But...what was that light?"
"A question that we will have to investigate later, Soma." Alex voiced as he was certain to get to the root of what just happened to his pupil. "For now, we should try and find out where the other candidate and Celia are." Soma nodded with Shanoa glancing back to Alex, but a subtle nod and she returned before Alex asked. "That wasn't the usual Dominance, was it?"
"No, my lord." Alphonso formed behind him and bowed with Rusalka doing the same as she took over.
"Dmitrii willingly separated his soul from his mortal body to latch onto Soma, namely his power of Dominance, Dmitrii's power of absorbing magical properties has now latched onto Dominance to copy it."
"However, we need not worry." Alex glanced to the armored soldier as he continued. "Even if he manages to return to the mortal coil, his body will always be subpar, he will not be as durable or capable of mustering the power that the Lord Dracula once wielded, instead it will tear him apart and sunder his soul."
"Still, what are the chances...?"
"Slim, Milord." Rusalka voiced as Alex nodded as he spoke again.
"Thank you." Both nodded before slipping back into the shadows and Alex headed in following, the symbol being done once more as they faced Malphas, the Lord of Ravens and they bouted against his ravens and dark powers before slaying him, sealing him with the Seal of a Gothic Light fixture, that no one could really understand is real, and earning back Soma's ability to double jump while Alex was empowered with a better soul of Malphas over the one he had kept since the time they helped Alucard free Trevor, the soul greeting him back.
"I am at your service, Milord." Now, it would have been okay if he replied in the mindscape, but when Malphas formed behind them, they were a bit more tense as Mist had conjured a Sword Lord swiftly, Shanoa had Vol Lumos in hand, and Soma had a Falchion drawn still, but Alex's reaction was to form a blade of water in the shape of the Gravedigger's shovel before he relaxed.
"Shouldn't you have been in the scape BEFORE you greeted me like such?"
"Your power is the strongest than ever, so I took the chance to introduce myself proper." Alex sighed as the shovel vanished as he spoke, the others calming down as well.
"Next time, do it in the mind, not out in the open, we were a tad more jumpy after a powerful foe to fight." The being nodded before slipping into the darkness of his shadow before Alex turned to the members. "This is not my fault."
"No, it is not..." Shanoa relaxed before walking over and giving a peck on the lips. "We can work it out, just keep focused." He nodded as Soma came over as well.
"I can't say that I didn't see that coming, but I have to admit... you do know your stuff."
"Just part of the job, Soma Cuz, just part of the job." Mist was lifted up by the Sword Lord and Alex turned to her. "That said, we should squeeze in a bit more training for all of us, something tells me that we are going to need it." They all nodded as they backtracked to the Garden of Madness...
Shanoa's and Mist's summons had grown stronger to provided companions without the cost of too much of their magical power and Alex worked with Malphas to further his own abilities, but Soma had to face the crash course into his powers again, the first being how to separate his thoughts from the main portion of his mind, Alex had a feeling that whatever Dmitrii was trying to do, it wouldn't do to have that nosy whelp get a grasp of what Soma and the rest were capable of, so Alex worked fast in drilling Soma to clear his mind, divide his thoughts, and seal those up to keep them secret, an untapped reserve that only he could draw upon as they headed up and fought more of the Skeleton Apes, the Treants, even a giant slug thing before they confronted the second candidate of the Dark Lord.
And Dario Bossi was seeping anger as he exclaimed. "Here at last! You really stepped outta bounds, punk!"
"Huh?" Dario spoke with the same angered tone he had when they met prior, the party ready for a fight.
"Dmitrii. I'm talking about Dmitrii."
"I didn't mean to kill your friend. I didn't finish-"
"Hunh? Whaddaya sayin'?" Dario huffed as he slammed a fist into his palm as he continued. "I wanted to pummel that uppity jerk myself!" Soma drew back before he spoke back for clarity.
"Doesn't your friend's death mean anything to you?"
"Him? Ha! You gotta be jokin'." He loosened up as he exclaimed. "Ah, let's get on with this already."
"Why do you want to become the dark lord anyway?"
"Why? Look at this power!" Dario then unleashed a maelstrom of fire into the room and the party guarded against it as the lush foliage around them were torched and only ashes remained as Dario exclaimed with flames blazing across his body. "Can you imagine how crazy it'll be with even more power?!" Soma growled as Dario was completely not right to be human, more like he lost himself in the depths of power given to him.
"You're insane..."
"And you yap way too much! Come on, punk! I'll roast ya to a cinder!" Soma made to guard when Dario blasted a firebolt at him, but Alex stepped in and extended a palm, the firebolt slamming into his hand, but in clearing, his was completely fine as he spoke form under the brim of his fedora.
"You underestimate me as well, Bossi, and I will teach you what happens when any one does."
"Come get so-!" Dario's words faded as Alex suddenly warped, his eyes widening as Alex's leg slammed into his face and flung him as he staggered. "Wha' the-!" He barely got up before a fist slammed into his gut, followed by a combo of kicks peppering his body before he was launched again, slamming into the stone with a grunt as he fell to the charred tile as Alex spoke.
"There is a difference between a power gained and a power earned, you play with powers beyond your imagination, Dario, and I earned the right to wield them as I see fit, you are a child with a toy, I am a man with resolve." The other three were in awe of what just happened in a one-sided beatdown of Dario. "I earned the right, you were merely given the power."
"Ugh...!" Dario groaned as he pushed himself up, blood dripping from his mouth before he wiped it away. "You got bigger guts than the runt..." He got into stance as he spoke. "But I say otherwise, I EARNED this power, and nothin' you can do will rid me of that, I'll show you what I got!" Alex chuckled as he spoke.
"Crude and dangerous..." He slid a feet across the tile in stance and his feet started to shimmer like water. "Reminds me of someone I fought alongside, but words are not enough here, actions talk louder." Both stared off before both bolted, clashing with a fist and a kick before the blast erupted, sending the others back as Soma exclaimed.
"We got to do something, he's...!" Shaona and Mist held him back as he exclaimed. "Let go, I need to-!"
"Don't try it." Shanoa voiced as the conflict erupted in fire pillars, more firebolts, and fire waves against kicks of aquatic blasts, shockwaves, and combos. "Alex knows what he is doing and I can see it as well." Soma listened with looking at her as she kept her eyes on the fight. "Dario is one of those types of people who thinks the world is his for the taking, Alex is testing him, to see if he can be redeemed or put down, he has done it before and he will do it again." Dario dodged a shockwave before he were slammed hard in the gut again and he groaned as Alex spoke.
"I will admit, you got skill, but that is less in comparison to me, you got a tad bit more potential than my other students, not counting the current one." Dario rolled over and stood up as he held a hand to his side as he spoke.
"There's a big difference between us, I got it..." He breathed as he raised a hand. "But I ain't lettin' you walk out of this one just yet." He started to charge up another powerful spell before a voice called out.
"Dario, enough." Celia rushed in with members of the cult behind her as Dario spoke.
"Celia... Don't try to stop me! A man's got his pride!"
"I know that." Celia spoke as she lightly raised her hands with power in them. "But I am not prepared to lose the last candidate. We'll pull back for now. I have another plan..." Alex jumped over as the aura blast erupted from her hands and slammed into Dario who then warped away with a yelp as she turned her attention to the members still in the room, her members ready to continue the fight that Dario had been a part of. "I underestimated you. But this game isn't over yet." She pointed upwards as she continued. "I shall be waiting on the uppermost floor. Come if you dare!" With that she warped away, her members also vanishing as Soma huffed in disbelief.
"That was a bit too close."
"Numbers they might have had, but training is slim." Alex voiced as he crossed his arms with the party joining him as he spoke. "Besides, I just found my unruly student, I will enjoy training him properly." Shanoa facepalmed with a playful huff while Mist chuckled to Soma's confusion.
"Alexander Helmsmith, no~"
"Alexander Helmsmith, yes~" He beamed before he continued. "Let's keep moving, it seems like Celia wants us at the top of this created castle."
"Somehow, this was not how I thought this day was going to be..." Soma voiced as they pressed on and soon arrived to the Demon Guest House, the entrance into the castle itself, if they had gotten in the same way as Julius Belmont.
