Within a week, the house had been completed. Foundation, flooring, walls, paint, roofing, shingles, trophy room, bedroom, center garden, etc. This includes furnishing. For furniture, the castle itself has had quite a lot of furniture appear in its many renditions. Who knew that one of the versions had a complete model of the Clock Tower? In the trophy room, I decided to showcase every single enemy I, my father, my father's father, and further on had fought. It was off putting how easy it was for the altar to create replicas of these entities. The models of myself were extremely accurate. It had two versions: Pre-Shaft and Shaft Controlled. Pre-Shaft was me reaching my prime. It's easy to tell once you look at the face. Shaft Controlled version had more Gothic apparel and longer hair. Not a bad look, but still. Just doesn't fit my personality. No Post-Shaft. That will probably appear when I die, if I die. I honestly don't know if I'll be somehow sent into another timeline. I'm not assuming anything anymore. I'm honestly glad that some of the creatures we had to fight didn't come with the altar. Dracula, Shaft, and Beezelbub to name a few. I still don't have a definite answer as to why a few creatures have been left out. Maybe the one's with truly evil spirits were left behind. That would make sense, hopefully. I still worry that one of these days, I'm going to be wandering and Dracula is going to be there. Sure, I can kick his ass, but I don't want to think of him being part of this social ecosystem.
My living situation was somewhat shoddy, to be honest. By my own doing, of course. I ate, slept, and breathed work until the house was finished. Occasional breaks were something I allowed. By occasional, I mean one. Ever. Sure, this worried several of my "co-workers". However, I'm not really worried by that. What worried me was the sheer amount of times Sans came by. I get the feeling that he was being sent by Toriel. Speaking of which, I'll have to visit her sometime. Such a nice family. The occasional visits by the Fire Warg were more welcomed though. No fucking way I'll tell her that though. Despite my better judgement, I've decided to call her Ember. She didn't bring up any quarrels with the name and I couldn't be any more glad. Again, not telling her that. She reminded me of one of the hounds I had while training. I used to have to track him through the forest to test my abilities.
Banishing the last of the buckets of paint, I finally decided to rest. Now thinking about it, I haven't eaten in a few days. Checking my status bar, I finally noticed my exhaustion. I was at quarter-health. My limbs were sore, my eyesight was shot, and I was mentally tired. Maybe after a decent rest I'll go to one of the town's diners. I think Sans had mentioned Grillbys once. Never heard of it, but it must be a decent place for him to actually mention it. I've heard he can be a bit picky when it came to eating.
The front yard was going to need some cleaning. Planks of wood and several stacks of bricks were scattered throughout the yard. The Venus Weeds were going to pitch a fit. I'll clean that later. It won't be of too much importance since they were most likely busy with the house's center garden. With Ember gone doing...something, I just decided to rest on the porch. Rocking Chairs were a must when it came to furniture. Good thing the Librarian had a few hundred of them. Sitting down, I finally realized that I had actually missed relaxation. I'll just close my eyes for a few seconds. Shouldn't take too much time.
I was suddenly falling. Wait, I'm falling? Why am I falling? The ground was coming towards my face quickly. Thinking fast, I flipped myself so I would hit the ground feet first. I hope this isn't going to break my legs. Landing gracefully on some sort of brick surface covered in red carpet, I looked around me. WHERE WAS I? It looked like the Castle Keep. Looking down, I was wearing my "hunting" tunic: my Vampire Hunting Tunic. I had switched that out after I started building. Looking behind me, I suddenly froze. A cold chill ran down my spine.
It was the moon, the Clock Tower partially blocking. I was back here. Based off of the look of things, this was my first time I had fought Dracula. Well, this nightmare will be over when I kill him again. There is now way I was back here again in the flesh. I must have fallen asleep or something. Running into the room and vaulting myself over the table, I initiated my Push Slide, launching myself into a jump kick to break the standing candles. I've always enjoyed the feeling of doing that. When I had done it the first time, I thought it would intimidate Dracula. Hah, was I wrong. I guess I have another chance now.
Recovering from the kick, I turn towards the throne, ready to shout out some useless words. However, Dracula wasn't there. Someone else had taken his place on the throne. It can't be! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!
"Hello, Richter. I've been looking forward to this for a long time. I would never pass an opportunity to fight a Vampire Hunter as skilled as myself."
Richter was sitting on the throne, smiling deviously. Oh no, this wasn't going to be good. I hated doppelgangers.
Adept Dashing off the throne steps, he landed mere feet in front of me.
"You know, from what I heard, you were a master of your trade. Yet, you stand here shaking in your boots. Why? You must've fought monsters that looked worse than me. Probably more intimidating than I, for sure."
Oh Christ, I was actually going to fight myself. Such a strange sentence. I've fought my doppelganger several times. Comes with the job. I've killed a doppelganger of Trevor Belmont and his friends, Sipha and Grant. I've even fought a strange doppelganger of Alucard and Alucard himself. Now thinking about it, I wasn't really fighting him. I was somehow able to stop myself from killing him when we fought. Due to Shaft not knowing of all of my abilities, I was able to halt myself from kicking his human ass. Well, I think he was human. That's not my point however. Fighting me, the actual me, is going to be incredibly hard. That's if this was actually me. Doppelgangers are incredible liars. It must be based off of me in some way. However, if this is the Shaft version, then it should be easier. Shaft didn't know how to utilize most of my abilities. I asked, being a bit blunt,
"So, do you run this castle? Are you planning on resurrecting Dracula so you can fight him?"
"Of course not! That would be pointless. I've had to fight my way up here, much like yourself. Dracula just isn't here though. You will do though. You see, the monsters here aren't really much of a challenge. I need a real fight to prove my prowess."
Oh no. This isn't the Shaft Controlled Version of me. This is Pre-Shaft me. This is before I had even fought Shaft. How did Pre-Shaft me get up here without fighting Shaft? In fact, how was "I" in such good condition? I was bleeding heavily the first time I got to Dracula. I remember swearing to kill every bat I saw after that shitty bridge.
"NO MORE DELAYS! PREPARE YOURSELF!"
With that, Richter had taken a quick strike at my chest with the Vampire Killer. Doing a back-flip, I prepared to conjure a few axes. Landing quickly rewarded me to the sight of him initiating an Item Crash. This was about to get ugly really fast. However, I knew this was the best time to strike. Throwing the axes, I Ultimate Uppercut-ted to the ceiling behind him as Richter had launched an endless horde of daggers at my previous position. As I expected, he couldn't dodge the axes. There goes half of his health. I guess that's one of my larger flaws: I can't really take many hits before I'm down. He must know that I'm immune to some of his Holy attacks, or he would have used Hydro Storm. Thousand Blade Edge was an excellent choice for an attack against one who isn't affected by Holy Items and Spells, but that requires me to stand still.
Pulling out of the Crash, he quickly turned around and Dashed at me. Thinking quickly, I had no choice but to Dash back at him. The Dash made me invulnerable for a few seconds and did damage on contact, so this won't hurt either of us if we are both Dashing. Going through each other, we both turned around and attempted a quick swing with the Flail-Whip. Direct hit on both of us. Pushed back slightly by the attack, I decided to risk something. I Slide Kicked my way over his head, only to be Ultimate Uppercut-ted. It was at this moment I realized that I had just screwed up epically. There went the majority of my health. No way to save face here after such a failure. There was only one thing I could do that would destroy him, but it would probably knock me out from exhaustion afterward. It'll be worth it just to rid myself of this problem; that being myself somehow.
Pulling myself out of a mid-air tumble, I began the Holy Book Item Crash. Taking this time to prepare something, he began another Crash as well. However, he wasn't using any specific item. I then realized what he was doing. He was empowering the Vampire Killer with fire. I would be down in one hit if he used that as his main method of attack. That's if he survives this crash. As the Holy Books formed a 2-Dimensional Circle around me, a multicolored beam of light slowly connected each book. Richter had finished the empowerment initiation and started his Dash, just in time to be hit by the large energy beam emitting from the circle. This must've killed him. The Beam, while somewhat Holy, still was hot as the depths of Hell. There is no way he could've Dashed long enough for him to neglect all of the damage. Dropping to the ground after such an attack, I frantically searched for him.
I had managed to blow a hole into the wall of the tower, showing the endless twilight that seemingly wrapped itself around the castle. No articles of clothing, no blood. I just couldn't find any signs of him. Maybe I had truly destroyed him. No need to worry about any meaning to that, for it was only a dream. Then again, if it was a dream, why am I still here? Looking up at my status bar, I saw that I had only a few points left. It would have been a do or die situation if I hadn't initiated such a tiring but devastating move. Dusting myself off, I turned around only to find Richter there. Something was different here.
This was the Shaft Controlled version of me. Longer attire and hair, he radiated a sense of commanding. No doubt he was in control of this castle. It was if someone had taken all of the traits of a monarch and infused them with a powerful soldier. Gesturing by widely spreading his arms as if to welcome a hug, he said,
"Hah, that was too easy. You look to be on your last leg and yet, I'm doing fine! This is the power of being the ultimate hunter. You have to be willing to give in to the power to be unstoppable. Guess you don't deserve such a challenge as myself!"
He had stopped talking and ending up nearly keeling over from laughter. I hope I wasn't this arrogant and stupid now. Just being mocked pissed me off to such a degree that I launched a dagger in his direction. It probably would've worked, but a Guardian appeared in-front of him and blocked the dagger with ease. Two more Guardians appeared soon after.
"Tis not fair to take advantage of someone while they are laughing. For that, you truly must die!"
With that, he walked up to the throne. Was he really just going to leave me here to deal with these three minions? This won't be going well. I should've been less reckless. I just didn't have to health to gamble. Twas a flaw that all Belmont's shared. We just learned to think carefully and to dodge more than we swing.
The Guardian in-front of me swung overhead, his target being my left shoulder. Only having a second to react, I rolled to the right; only to meet an uppercut from hell. I found myself in the air as the heavy gauntlet connected with my skull, tumbling through the hole in the wall. My head throbbed with a fierce pain and everything was strangely white a few moments after being hit. I expected to land on one of the battlements, but I never hit the ground. I slowly lost consciousness as I saw the hole in the wall quickly distance itself from me.
Jolting up, I found myself in the rocking chair I had sat on earlier. Looking over myself, I found no noticeable sign of injury. I was wearing my construction uniform: simple overalls covering a basic tunic without sleeves. No one was around me, but it was at night. This was odd, I expected someone to wake me for questions. The dream suddenly hit me. As all of the details came in, I grimaced. Such a terrible show of prowess. Even if it was a dream, I should've been more careful. That would've been the end of me if I had actually found myself there.
Massaging my face, I realized that I had been sweating. Looking up at my status bar, I had seemingly lost health. Was the dream real? No, that would've been impossible. I was here with no noticeable signs of injury. Shaking these thoughts out of my head, I got up. No point in thinking of such trivial things if the truth was in front of me. I wasn't going to accomplish anything if I just sat here debating if the situation was real or not. Nothing to do about my now sour mood though. Maybe, just maybe, a trip out to the town could lighten my spirits.