Author's Note:

So first of, I want to apologise for the lateness in the updating of this story. Many things have been happening, the biggest 2 being:

1) Work suddenly piled on, and it became extremely hard to actually put focus into writing this

2) The more I wrote this chapter, the more ideas just kept popping into my head. What I originally planned for ended up becoming twice as much. However, I had to for the sake of introducing certain elements, one of which is finally having Mortis Kraven have a more personal hand in this story instead of just observing everything from the shadows

I will endeavor to bring out the next chapter on time since I don't foresee having much to write on that end. But please bear with me till then.

Jdbl00d

He sighed in annoyance as he walked through the halls. When he was told to keep an eye for the Kraven clan's facilities, he did not think he'd actually be running around across the world just trying to find one problematic facility. Granted, he acknowledged that this place was a problem. After all, he just had to kill over ten of those Paragon beasts. Those monsters gave even his troops a difficult time. He was going to have a lengthy report with Arthur soon enough regarding the casualty count; a very unappealing task.

He scratched his head as he made his way deeper into the facility, doing his best to drown out the blaring alarms and flashing red lights. As soon as he reached the end of the corridor, blackness covered his vision. He looked up uninterestingly as soon realized he was unable to see anything except his own hands. He sighed, turning to face the man he had heard so much about. "James Ridley yeah?"

"I'm honoured that you know of me." James smirked. "Then again, who could not? Especially with that Kuran queen pulling strings. But enough of me, what of you? Surely you can't consider it fair to know all about me, with me knowing nothing about you?"

"Seriously, I'm not doing that shit." The man groaned. "It's such a damn pain to do that."

"Oh come now Richard Dwight." James said, causing the man to freeze. "I was so hoping to learn more about you."

The man; Richard, now sighed, heavier than before as he looked up toward James. One could now see that the indifferent look in his face had disappeared. In its place was a cold, hard gaze, devoid of any conscience or mercy. "Well, that's a bummer. I was hoping no one would know much about me."

"And it was a marvelous effort you did, hiding everything about you and your involvement with Helsing." James nodded. "I must say, I was quite impressed with how well you hid your tracks. Never did I think I would stand before the 'Accursed Gunslinger'. You've put down many a vampire in your old Hunter days."

"To think you'd even know that name…" Richard groaned as he reached into his leather trench coat, pulling out a small pistol. The barrel was unnaturally elongated and grossly crooked and the metal the colour of ash. However, reddish lines ran upon it, reminiscent of blood veins. "Well, whatever. I don't make it a point to kill everyone who knows about me. But if you intend to stall me here, then I hope at least you are ready to die."

"A warrior takes the field knowing that death awaits him." James smiled as he drew his blade.

"Guess you did learn something admirable from those Vampire Knights after all." Richard nodded as he raised the pistol. Suddenly, the metal of the barrel split apart, revealing tendrils with a tooth-like appendage at the end. The tendrils dug into Richard's arm, sinking through his skin and causing him to grimace in pain. As soon as this occurred, the red lines on the barrel glowed brighter. Quickly, Richard raised the weapon and fired a single shot. James quickly ducked as the round landed in the spot where his head was before.

"Please, just let me kill you already." Richard sighed. "It'll mean that at least I can get out of this crappy cold weather faster."

"Apologies." James smirked as he dodged the bullets while raising his sword to deflect another. He looked at the round that was fired at him, some sort of pulsing red bone-like projectile. James frowned as the projectile clattered to the floor. "I really wonder what you had to go through to get it looking like that…"

"Use your imagination." Richard frowned as he fired more of those spines.

James now wove shadows around him, creating a barrier that blocked the shots from Richard. However, he quickly moved away from the initial one and toward another; the puncturing of the old barrier by the rapid fire of Bloodbane projectiles a testament to how dangerous this Executor was. Quickly he send a shadow spike right at Richard. The Executor caught the tendril with his right arm, blasting away at it and dispersing it immediately. James took that instant to rush at him, his sword outstretched for a kill. However, Richard was still fast. He immediately reached out and batted away the sword by the flat of the blade, aiming the gun connected to his left arm at James.

Instantly the vampire twisted away just as a whole salvo of Bloodbane projectiles fired at him. As he did, his eyes caught the shape of those projectiles. They were no longer the same. Unlike the ones previously, these were smaller. James backed away immediately, keeping on the defensive. "How remarkable. Your instinct, your judgement, your awareness. I can hardly find something to critique about. You certainly live up to the name."

"Thanks, I guess." Richard breathed. "Though you are just as worthy for those compliments."

"I wonder why someone like you is stuck with the moniker of Sixth Executor?" James asked as he twirled his blade. "Your skills are remarkable, too remarkable to simply be the sixth."

"I'll put it this way…" Richard answered as he aimed once more. "Sometimes, you meet people who just have that little spark, the spark that will always mean they are better. As to why, who the hell actually knows? I guess some people are made special that way. Same can be said for you right?"

"I suppose I cannot rebut." James nodded. "But as much as I respect you, it still doesn't change the fact that we are enemies."

"So, going to let me kill you now?" Richard asked. "It would definitely save me time."

"If only life was so kind as to give us our desires." James smiled.

"Tch…" Richard clicked his tongue. "Ain't that the truth…"

"HRRRRAAAAAAAGGGH!" Sergei roared as he brought the hammer down upon Ganju. Ganju pushed himself away as the massive weapon smashed into the floor, cracking the steel.

Hell, he is strong… Ganju thought. The minute the fight began, he had attempted to reach the spiked flail he saw. However, Sergei's size belied his speed. While obviously not the fastest opponent he had met, the juggernaut of a man was still quick. More than once he had barely avoided the massive hammer; the head missing him by inches.

Blocked off once more, Ganju struck the ground with his fists, causing a burst of stalagmites from the ground. Sergei however smashed them apart as he advanced on Ganju, once more driving the young knight back.

"Pathetic…" Sergei snorted. "I thought Vampire Knights stronger than this!"

Ganju panted, realizing at once that his stamina was starting to falter. Any further delay against Sergei would merely bring about his death. I really hoped to save this, but it seems I have no choice. Ganju grunted as he placed his hands on the ground again.

"If you will not fight, then I shall end this!" Sergei bellowed as he charged in again. Ganju immediately raised his focus to the peak, creating stony barriers before Sergei.

"Useless!" Sergei roared as he smashed apart the rocky wall in his path. However, the Executor jumped back instinctively as another wall sprung up in front of him. "Stop being coward and fight!" He shouted as he smashed down the new wall. However, his frustration simply increased as another wall popped up, and another, and another beyond that.

"STOP HIDING!" Sergei roared as he smashed the hammer into the ground, sending a frontal shockwave forward that decimated the next few barriers. Through the dust, Sergei could now see a figure kneeling upon the ground. Confirming that it was his opponent, he rushed forward, swinging the hammer down with both hands. As the hammer struck, Sergei's eyes widened. Something about the impact did not feel right; there was too much resistance…

"Well, I guess I need to work on getting that up faster." Came Ganju's voice. As the dust cleared, Sergei now registered the young knight he was fighting, astonishment crossing his face as he did.

Ganju's frame was now clad in stone. The rocks had formed itself into armour around his body; with pauldrons and gloves on his arms and stony boots upon his legs while his torso was encased in a stony plate. Ganju now grasped the hammer and pushed, sending the Executor back and away from him. He stood up as Sergei recovered, a stony axe now forming in his hand.

"Finally ready to fight?" Sergei smirked, an expression of what could be considered joy crossing his features.

"Sorry it took so long." Ganju said as he hefted the weapon. "But I was hoping I didn't need to use this."

"Don't apologise." Sergei replied. "Only means you cannot hold back, da? Now, we have fight!"

Some feet away, Henry fought against Hugo, both of them trying their best to ignore the rumbling from the other battle taking place nearby.

"Apologies." Hugo said. "Sergei is rather, inelegant."

"That's quite the understatement." Henry breathed. "I'm amazed we aren't collateral yet…"

"Then that speaks of your skill, non?" Hugo said as he brandished his lance, the pulsing red tip pointed toward Henry.

"Well, not that I have much to offer in brute force." Henry said as he brandished both katanas. "I'm not that special compared to Ganju and the rest…"

"And yet here you stand before me." Hugo answered. "So why bother holding back? Surely even you are capable of something impressive, yes?"

Henry didn't answer. He merely readied his swords, preparing for another bout. Hugo smirked as he raised his lance again. "So, I am correct, yes?"

"I didn't think you'd come all this way for a simple talk." Henry said.

"True." Hugo nodded. "Well then, shall we continue?" Without warning, Hugo rushed in, his lance aimed straight for Henry. Henry side-stepped, avoiding the spear and then raising his blades to strike at Hugo. However, what he had come to learn was that the Executor was well-versed in how to use his weapon. The instant he saw his strike get dodged, Hugo had already twisted around and brought his weapon up for defense. The Executor pushed him off, immediately charging forward to deliver an overhead strike. Henry crossed both blades, blocking the lance tip as he came face-to-face with Hugo again.

"Why do I get the feeling you are just toying with me?" Henry frowned.

"It was not my intent." Hugo remarked. "However, I just believe against a foe such as yourself, the fight will not be settled with a single blow."

"Strangely makes it sound like you just love to play around with your kill." Henry grunted as he kept Hugo's weapon at bay.

"Well… it would not be inaccurate to say I try to enjoy my fights as much as possible." Hugo nodded. "Yet, it makes sense non? After all, why try to rush a fight quickly when you know it is pointless to do so?"

"You should know that I heard about what a Bloodbane weapon can do from Rodin." Henry said. "If you went all out, I doubt I'd stand a chance."

"That form… we call it Blood Drive. The Bloodbane weapons inhabit our very bodies, using it as fuel and extending their strength."

"So like some sort of overclocking huh?" Henry surmised as he broke the lock and distanced himself. "But I wonder, how much damage would that do to you? I heard Bloodbane weapons are somewhat similar to a ravenous beast; they don't discriminate as long as they have blood. That includes yours, yes?"

"C'est la Vie." Hugo explained. "Such was the choice I made when I decided to eliminate your kind."

"Any hopes that you'd change your mind on that subject?" Henry asked.

Hugo raised the spear again, the tip glowing an eerie red. "What do you think?"

The battle within the shadows raged as slivers of darkness and destructive red spikes were fired all over. The two within showed no signs of letting up, each bout between them seeming to have no effect on the others rate of survival.

James warped the shadows around him into serrated blades, sending them toward Richard as he himself charged in, his sword poised for the strike. Richard merely fired round after round, dispelling the shadows before he twisted away, avoiding James's thrust. James quickly twisted again, aiming the sword at Richard's head. However, despite his choice of weapon, Richard was an accomplished close combat fighter. Quickly he ducked, pushing the blade away before thrusting his elbow towards James's face.

James moved to catch the elbow with his free hand. However, he instantly saw Richard twist to the right, throwing out a back kick in the process that caught him square in the chest. James was pushed back, immediately throwing up a barrier in response as Richard pointed the weapon at him again.

"Honestly, this is really going nowhere." Richard sighed as he fired another rapid salvo of Bloodbane bullets. "Seriously, I'm actually getting bored of this already."

"Well, I suppose we don't share everything." James smiled as he released his shadow shield, letting the spikes clatter to the ground. "Then again, to each his own as they say."

"Though, the better question would be what is taking those two so long?" Richard frowned. "It's not like them to delay this badly."

"You'd let on that more Executors are here?" James asked. "Not to be patronizing, but that sounds like a lapse in judgement."

"You'd probably have figured it out by now anyways. So why bother?" Richard groaned. "Anyways, I suppose this fight is starting to take a while. So perhaps I ought to speed things up now."

James watched as the tendrils extending from the pistol into Richard's arm glowed. Instantly, black vein-like protrusions spread themselves over Richard's arm, covering the pistol in the process. He watched on as it seemed that the weapon itself began to fuse with the Executor's arm. No, perhaps it already had since the beginning of the fight. While he was clearly interested in these Bloodbane weapons, James knew he couldn't let his guard down. After all, the state of many of the Kraven clan's soldiers was testament to the power these weapons possessed. Soon enough, Richard hefted his right hand that now resembled a blackened gun that glowed with sickly red veins.

"So that is the infamous Blood Drive…" James frowned. "Well, not the most charming thing now, is it?"

"Spare me your point of view." Richard sighed. "Now then, let's finish this." Quickly, he fired again, only this time the salvo was unrelenting. James had no choice but to bunker down in a shadow barrier as the barrage lasted.

"Come on now Ridley." Richard said. "Don't tell me that is all you are capable of?"

"Spare me your criticism." James said from behind his protective barrier.

"You know, I thought you'd actually put up more of a fight than this." Richard frowned. "Was drinking from that Kraven princess really just for show? I really wondered what it was that regular vamps seek from a Pureblood."

"The Blood Siren's power is not mine to take." James responded. "As for what I have gained, well let's just say I'd prefer to leave things close to the vest."

"Well, I guess even I understand that." Richard nodded. "So, exactly what are you going to do to me from behind there?"

"Perhaps you ought to be worried about me sneaking around you?" James wondered. "In case you haven't noticed, I have you surrounded since the start."

"And in case you haven't noticed, I don't especially care." Richard replied. The veins on the arm now glowed a bright red, all of them concentrating upon the barrel of the weapon that had fused itself into Richard's arm. Within the barrel, a reddish glow was seen, casting its light upon the shadows all around him. "Now then, I typically don't do this, but I feel that I have wasted enough time with this fooling around. So, let's get down to pure destruction, shall we?"

Richard now aimed above him and the weapon fired a single shot. The round glowed eerily as it sailed above. At the same time, Richard now pulled the trench coat over himself, squatting down so that it covered his entire frame. The round now exploded, showering the area in Bloodbane rounds. While Richard's coat was specifically designed to repel such rounds, the same wasn't said for the shadows that James had brought up. As they were pelted by Richard's attacks, they began to fracture and writhe, signifying their weakening. It was soon apparent they could take no more, and instantly they dissolved away. James himself was finally struck by hundreds of Bloodbane fragmentation rounds, shock registering on his face as he beheld his wounds.

"Well then…" Richard said as he observed the shadowy landscape around him vanish. "I guess that's that. Time then to finish the job."

"Well…" James coughed. "I didn't think I'd die in this manner…"

"We never do, do we?" Richard said as the blackness receded from his arms and the tendrils snaked back into the gun. "Now then, any final words?"

"Perhaps this…" James groaned as he sat upright. "Lord Kraven's power is beyond anything you can imagine. The Death Lord shall rise once more…"

Richard didn't comment further. He aimed at the vampire's head, putting a single round through it. As soon as James's head slumped backwards, Richard realized something was amiss. He wasn't disintegrating like all other vampires. Rather, he appeared to be… melting. Melting into blackness, something akin to oil.

"Shit…" Richard growled as he realized he had been duped. James must have snuck away as he prepared that volley. And while James obviously did not win the fight, he had been able to buy time to ensure at least that Helsing would fail here. Regaining his orientation of the place, Richard ran down the halls, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

Ganju panted as he pushed himself off the ground, the rocky armour on his left hand fragmenting as he did so. While the armour was effective at holding back the Russian Executor, he hadn't acquired full mastery over it yet. It strained the very limits of his physical prowess with every second. And admittedly, it still wasn't strong enough to withstand the Executor's blows.

Sergei panted, tired but obviously impressed. "I must say vampire, I'm impressed. Not many force me to fight hard."

"Well, I'll accept that compliment." Ganju nodded. As he said this, Henry was blown right to his side, panting as he recovered.

"I would not be so hard on yourselves." Hugo replied as he raised his spear. "You fought admirably. However, it is time to close the curtain on this act. We have wasted too much time with you. Rejoice, we have seen it fit to use this upon you at this time. Consider it a sign of our respect for your bravery."

Now, the knights watched as the Bloodbane weapons flashed red. Upon their handles, blackish red tendrils extended to their arms, piercing their flesh. Sergei and Hugo groaned in pain as the weapons now fed off their very bodies. The two of them watched as their arms became covered in the blackness, similar to what Anju had described in her fight with Cliff. Yet, unlike that fight, it did not appear that the blackness had covered their body. Rather, it seemed only to extend to their arms. However, the weapons definitely underwent a change, the hammer growing spikes upon its head while the lance's shape distorted, becoming more curved and wicked.

"I'm fairly certain your Blood Drive looks way more fearsome than that. I've heard what Executor Cliff could do." Henry frowned. "Still holding back? I thought you respected us?"

"Cliff is not one to actually know restraint. Once he loses his cool, he starts causing more problems than he can fix." Hugo replied. "Still, we would never consider using this on you. Be grateful at the very least."

"I dunno about that…" Ganju panted as his armour finally came off, exhaustion hitting him completely.

"Hugo, enough." Sergei grunted. "End this. Carry on with mission."

"As my colleague says." Hugo nodded as he hefted the spear. "Au revoir."

Just as the Executors prepared themselves, explosions rocked the facility. Hugo and Sergei looked around as the lights flickered and dust fell from the ceiling. "That was not us…" The French Executor replied before turning his gaze back to the two vampires. "What did you do?"

"Well, I must say, they have impeccable timing." Henry grinned.

"You were waiting for reinforcements…" Hugo nodded, understanding it immediately.

"Honestly though, we didn't think we'd have to deal with you." Henry replied. "But just in case we ran into hidden snags, the Hunter Association was more than happy to provide us with quite the backup."

"You think you can escape us so easily?" Hugo glowered. "You are exhausted, incapable of running. How will you even run?"

"Who says it's us you need to be concerned with?" Henry asked. As he said this, a huge flock of ravens immediately descended from above, through the same hole Sergei had made through the roof when he entered. The ravens swarmed around the two Executors, pecking and striking at them. Sergei roared as he swung his hammer, yet the ravens were unfazed.

"Certainly took your time!" Henry said as a figure descended, raven wings sprouting from his back.

"Apologies." Akira said. "But it took us a while to get through with that snowstorm above. Can you two still walk?"

"I might manage with a slight limp." Henry nodded.

"How lame can you get?" Ganju frowned.

"Whatever the case, mind telling me what you two were doing here?" Akira asked.

"We were tracking something." Henry quickly reported. "They are transporting something, a Secimen A-001 in hangar 4. I believe it to be the Alucard specimen!"

Alarm flashed on Akira's face. "Alright, get there immediately! We cannot allow that specimen to leave this place!"

"On it!" Henry said, scrambling to his feet along with Ganju and running to the hangar.

"Rrrragh!" Sergei roared as he smashed his hammer into the ground, releasing a shockwave that took out Akira's summons. Akira now turned to the two Executors as his friends ran away. Slowly, he unsheathed his sword, readying himself for the fight.

"The infamous Kuran prince." Hugo smiled. "Perhaps now we will have a fight."

"Finally, Pureblood!" Sergei growled.

"It is unfortunate that we cannot come to an understanding." Akira said. "We share a common enemy in Mortis Kraven, so I had hoped we could at least make an alliance. However, my reports from my friends tell me otherwise. It is such a shame…"

"Think what you will Akira Kuran." Hugo nodded. "As for us, we have long made that choice. You will die here, like all the others in due time."

Akira's eyes flashed red. "We'll see about that."

Romanoff watched impatiently as the staff heaved the massive cylindrical container to the landing pad. When the shocks – a telltale sign of an assault, had sounded he had immediately commanded his staff to destroy all forms of data. It was truly the height of prudence that Lord Kraven had commanded a regular backup of all their research.

"Hurry it up!" He said. "We must evacuate immediately!" Shadows coiled around a corner of the room. Romanoff turned to see James appear, though he looked exhausted. "What happened Mr. Ridley?"

"Complications." He replied. "Can we get a move on now? Soon enough we'll have…"

An explosion cut off his sentence. James squinted past the smoke to see a figure come through.

"Can't you just give up?" Richard asked, annoyance flashing across his face.

"And let slip my chance to correct this world?" James asked as he stepped forward. "I think not."

"You know, I learned plenty about you." Richard said as he aimed his gun. "I know exactly the kind of man you are; that you feel the notion of coexistence is just folly; that it should be vampires who rule this world simply because you believed that your kind are so much greater."

"And pray tell, is that the same reason you are here now?" James asked.

"I just want to see all of you monsters die." Richard said as he aimed his gun. "Simple as that."

"And I wonder when that changed from wanting to put vampires to justice?" James frowned, and for the first time Richard was given pause.

"Oh, the fact is that I know a good amount about you, 'Accursed Gunslinger'." James smiled. "I know how you became a Hunter once so that you could enact justice upon vampires; upon those that hid their crimes so well. And you did a very impressive job with that. Many a vampire died at your hands, all in secret of course, considering that a Hunter going around killing with no proof would cause a public relations nightmare. So how? How did someone such as yourself become so consumed with merely killing now? How did you come to being such a lowly murderer?"

Richard remained silent, his eyes dropping to the Bloodbane weapon in his hands. The vampires in the room observed as he appeared to mull over something. However, that moment lasted only for another second before her aimed the gun, firing a salvo of spines. James and Romanoff immediately ducked, avoiding the projectiles. Others however were not so lucky, the spines hitting them in the arms or directly in the head.

"I think you made him angry, Ridley." Romanoff said as the volley continued. "How am I supposed to evacuate with something like that going on?"

"Let me deal with that." James replied amidst the shots being fired. With a flourish of his hands, shadows around him warped and writhed, extending into sharpened blades that sliced toward Richard. The Executor dodged every single one, firing toward James' position in the process.

"Well, so much for that!" Romanoff growled, ducking amid a volley of Bloodbane rounds. "Are you trying to get me killed as well?"

James rolled his eyes, slowly becoming more and more annoyed by Romanoff's complaints. Truly, he was starting to feel pressured by the whole situation.

Well then, it seems you two are in a pickle…

James and Romanoff instantly snapped their heads upward. It was impossible to not know who owned this dark voice. "Master?" Romanoff blinked.

"Master, you should not expend more power like this!" James protested. "You must save your strength!"

Fret not James. I have made this decision with all due consideration. A loss here would be of further disadvantage to me and you. Therefore, I believe it is time for these insolent humans to learn why they should fear me…

At once, the shadows around them began to writhe. Richard stopped firing as soon as he spotted it, how the darkness unnaturally collected into a pool right near the landing pad. All of them watched as black smoke rose from the shadows like steam, like a cloud of dread.

"Come on Henry!" Ganju panted as he ran down the hallway. "We have to hurry or we'll miss it!"

"I… am…!" Henry panted, trying to ignore the pain of his wounds.

"If that thing is really the Alucard project of the Kraven clan, we absolutely cannot fail in this!" Ganju said. "But I do expect it to be heavily guarded. I wouldn't be surprised if even Ridley is there."

"But judging by the destruction here, I think we may have another Executor around." Henry remarked. "I mean, have you seen the corpses of the Paragon creatures? Those spikes in their bodies are unnatural…"

"We'll just have to stop them from leaving! I'll bring the whole room down if I have to!" Ganju said.

As they neared the hangar, a violent rumbling was felt by them both. "What was that now?" Henry frowned. "It didn't feel like an explosive."

"We can worry about that later!" Ganju said as he turned the corner and beheld the door to Hangar 4. "We should just focus on getting to the Alucard and-" He barely finished before the Hangar door was flung at him. Ganju instantly turned around and slammed Henry into an open door. Henry found himself get launched into a room just in time to see Ganju get slammed away. At the same time, his eyes widened at the sight of some black skeletal shape now rushing through the corridor. A sickening crunch sounded and the shape now stopped.

"GANJU!" Henry yelled, dreading what had happened to him. The shape now retracted, and he watched as a clawed, skeletal hand withdraw toward the direction of the hangar. Unsure if it was even safe, Henry rushed outside. His face paled the minute he saw Ganju's body, crushed against the far wall. "No, dammit no!" He cursed as he ran to Ganju, attempting to pry him off. He had obviously been hurt, the amount of blood testifying to that. "Dammit, it wasn't supposed to go like this!"

"Gah, shut it…" Ganju groaned, coughing up blood. "I'm trying to recover myself here? The least you could do is leave me alone while that is going on…"

"Wha…" Henry sputtered, unsure of how to respond. To this, Ganju glared back.

"Well?" Ganju grimaced past the pain. "Weren't you going to get to that specimen? You know, that thing you said was important?"

Henry gritted his teeth, knowing that Ganju was right. He had a greater mission to accomplish. There was no time to waste. He turned and now headed to the hangar where the specimen was being loaded. As he entered, he ducked behind a few mangled storage crates. Peeking around his hiding spot, he stared in shock at what he saw.

The first was obviously a Helsing Executor, judging by how his body was covered in a strange black substance that was reminiscent of what the intruder named Cliff did back at the festival. He was firing red spines at vampires – among them Ridley – who were now pushing a large cylinder to a landing pad where a Chinook helicopter was waiting. But most of his attention was focused on the shadowy… monster before them. Its body was skeletal, yet it barely looked human considering the sharp claws, the jagged shape of its ribcage and the fangs that protruded from its skeletal head.

"What the hell?" Henry frowned as the monster fought with the Executor, smashing apart everything around it. It roared as the Executor retaliated with a few shots, but the creature remained unfazed.

"Seriously…" He spoke, gritting his teeth in frustration. "The hell kind of power is this?"

"Don't worry Richard Dwight!" Came the voice of James Ridley. "Very few can muster up the sort of strength to match our master's. I'd count myself lucky to have lasted this long!"

Wait, that is a construct by Mortis Kraven?! Henry blinked. He had heard of Purebloods being able to create shadowy familiars, but nothing like this. Henry shook the thoughts from his mind. Pondering this power could come later, he had to get to the cargo first!

No, there would be no point. The rational side of him said. The cargo was already moving, and with that monstrous construct in the way he'd just get himself killed. As he thought of what to do next, he heard groaning beside him. He turned to see a vampire, wounded with a spike in his arm, no doubt caused by the Executor. While the wound appeared to be decaying his arm, he was still alive. He'll have to do! Henry said as he grabbed the man, hauling him to the door and away from the chaos.

A massive explosion sounded. Henry turned to see the Executor on his knees, the gun barrel that appeared fused into his hand smoking as he panted. Slowly, the black on his body receded and his hand returned to normal. The shadow monster however seemed to have been mortally wounded. A massive hole was blown through its head. The construct writhed and snarled, but it was apparent that was a fatal blow. The behemoth now fizzled away, melting into shadow again.

C'mon, hurry up! Henry grunted as he hauled the scientist away, taking no care that now he was being pursued by the remaining vampires in the room. He spared a glance at the Executor, but it appeared he had been burnt out by the effect of his weapon. Still, he was in no position to handle the vampires coming for him. Then, a hail of bullets cut through the air, mowing down the attacking vampires. Henry looked up to see a team of Hunters clad in full combat gear.

"C'mon, we have to go now! We have confirmed reinforcements on the way!" The unit commander said. "We've already gotten that other guy out! Let's go!"

"You have my gratitude!" Henry said as he fell behind the Hunters, who led him to the designated extraction point.

Akira breathed heavily as he sheathed his sword. He was fortunate that the Executors he faced had decided to withdraw owing to them being called away. Still he wasn't sure if he was feeling any better about it. He had felt it, a roiling mass of power that shook the very air around him. It was something far greater than anything he had experienced thus far. He could only guess by the magnitude of it all that Mortis had become somewhat involved in today's battle. And if he were to factor in Mortis's current state of weakness.

"Kuran, are you there?" Came his radio.

"I am. How are things on your end?" Akira answered the Hunter.

"We are extricating now. We have found your friends. One is terribly injured while the other has a prisoner. He also says that they have escaped with the specimen they believe to be the Alucard."

Akira's gaze darkened. "I see. Get medical attention to them immediately. I will join you soon. I can only hope this prisoner gives us a fighting chance against whatever Mortis will soon bring into his fold…"