(Chapter 30: The end of heartache)
It didn't take long for Ryan and the Duke to finally arrive back at the battlefield. The ex-marine scrambled out of the back of the stagecoach and rushed to the top of a hill to witness what was going down, he noticed the mutated Heisenberg and Dimitrescu tag teaming the gigantic insectoid behemoth.
As mutated Dimitrescu flown overhead, mutated Barlow unleashed a ginormous amount of acidic vomit towards her, the flesh-eating liquids sank deep into her wings and forced a shriek of pain out of her as she went falling into a nearby lake, mutated Dimitrescu growled ferociously and lunged from the lake again, flying towards mutated Barlow from behind as mutated Heisenberg took a swipe at the ribcage of the insectoid giant.
Before the two mutated lords could attack this menace, a blinding flash of light rocked the entire valley, the ground shook as a fireball was seen climbing into the skies! Dust particles and dirt was sent flying everywhere one could look, and Ryan fell flat on his ass. The Dimitrescu daughters fell as well as they took shelter within the castle, the walls trembled violently.
The megamycete had been destroyed by a bomb, and now the osprey was lowering down to pick up Chris who was waiting at a safe distance away from where the device had been detonated, anything smaller than the castle or factory was now flattened, except for Donna's estate.
When the smoke cleared, Ryan stood back up and noticed that mutated Dimitrescu was standing next to him on shaky legs, groaning in agony, parts of her had slightly calcified, indicating heavy damage. Ryan investigated the distance to see that mutated Barlow had rammed his scorpion stinger right through the chest area, piercing through the left side near the neck area, the steel behemoth howled in agony as he was then knocked on his side by mutated Barlow, who roared in victory.
Following mutated Heisenberg's scream of pain, as well as his apparent defeat, mutated Dimitrescu stood all the way up on wobbly legs before slowly glancing back at Ryan who looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown, tears were streaming down his face.
"Barlow, stop this!" Ryan pleaded, but the mutated bastard wasn't listening as he rained down blow after blow with his claw arms.
"Ryan..." Mutated Dimitrescu groaned, catching his attention. The humanoid form that was sitting base on the back of the dragon had tears falling from the eyes.
"Alcina?" The ex-marine asked, his voice soft.
"I want you to do something for me that I can't." She replied, her voice weak and in agony.
Ryan didn't have a chance to ask a question or leave a response for his lover who immediately continued speaking.
"Pl-please...protect my daughters..."
"Alcina, what are you doing? What are yo-" He couldn't finish his sentence as the mutated Dimitrescu took flight with a groan, her partially burnt wing giving her trouble as she flew as fast as she could towards mutated Barlow who now focused on taking her down as well.
The ex-marine could feel his heart jump into his throat when he saw the scorpion tail slash her down from the sky, the large stinger streaking across her abdomen, forcing a terrible cry of agony from the dragon before it was sent spiraling to a lake, where it seemed to disappear.
Then, deep down within Ryan Miles, something snapped.
He could feel a change start to overtake him as well as feelings of intense grief and unholy rage, his fists clenched together so tightly that they turned red and were shaking, his eyes went bloodshot as he growled through his bared teeth, the pupils of his eyes also went a crimson color and glowed like car lights as dark vein like growths started to rapidly spread all over his body.
He wanted nothing more than to destroy and punish mutated Barlow now, and he would stop at nothing to do the deed as he reared his head back and let out a ruthless cry into the early morning sky as an explosion of mold burst from the ground beneath his feet and quickly coiled him up, encircling the ex-marine until every part of him had been obscured. The mold towered into the sky and with an explosive boom, all fell away to reveal who was under it.
Ryan Miles had mutated.
He now stood at a total height of twenty five feet, nearly the same height as mutated Heisenberg, mutated Barlow still towered over the man, but it seemed that mutated Ryan didn't care as he glared towards his opposition, his victim.
His entire body was composed of twisted mold that formed a human body, his short beard was now mold tendrils that dangled down and swayed when he moved, there was even mold growths that resembled his spiky hair. His eyes were the only thing that was a different color than his dark body, they were glowing a bright red like car tail lights. He stood there, just watching mutated Barlow coldly with only cruel intentions in his mind.
"Sunshine, you've finally become the child that Miranda saw within you! Welcome home!" Mutated Barlow congratulated from afar, but mutated Ryan didn't respond in a way that his enemy expected him to.
"To hell with Miranda." The mutated ex-marine said, his voice had changed to a raspy growl that had deep distortion that echoed across the valley.
This lit a fire within mutated Barlow and with a roar of fury, he charged at his former partner with unrivaled speed before puncturing him with his insectoid arm!
It didn't phase the mutated ex-marine a bit, who just kept staring at the insectoid beast with a blank expression.
"Is that all you've got?" Were the words that came out of mutated Ryan's mouth as the hole in his body regenerated within seconds, mutated Barlow looked astounded and his expression showed that of shock.
"Okay, I guess it's my turn then." Mutated Ryan continued before grabbing hold of the insectoid arm and performing a Judo throw of epic proportions, smashing the giant body into the ground which shook and cracked under the mega-ton weight, the mutated ex-marine let out a scream of wrath as he done so.
Mutated Barlow scrambled back to his feet and flew back with his massive wings, putting some distance between him and his former partner.
"Wh-what the hell have you become?" He asked mutated Ryan as he continued to just stand there, watching him like a hawk.
"Your worst nightmare..."
Mutated Barlow growled as Ryan spoke those words and revealed his scorpion tail before rushing in to attack his former ally, looking to pierce the stinger right through the chest, only to have it grabbed at the right time. The mass of mold that made up Ryan's new face seemed to contort into that of a psychotic, sadistic grin.
Mutated Barlow howled in agony as he felt his tail get crushed within the hands of his enemy, the pressure forcing his stinger to pop out of his tail, which mutated Ryan caught within the air with one hand, snagging it from the sky before ramming it through mutated Barlow, delivering the final blow but his intention was not to kill him, he pierced it through his body so that it didn't connect with any vital organs, but it would still take him out of the fight and potentially reduce him back to his normal form.
Mutated Barlow let out a weak groan before shrinking, collapsing onto his back with a loud thud as the sun finally started to shine on the valley as the dawn of a new day arrived, giving light to what remained of the village.
Around an hour later, Ryan woke up with his clothing just barely hanging onto his body, the same could be said for Barlow who was laying against a pile of rubble, groaning in pain.
"You are beaten, Barlow. Now surrender or face final death." Ryan said sternly as he loomed over the downed Man in Black.
"Me? Surrender? Who th-the hell d-do you th-think I am?" Barlow groaned as he tried to make it back to his feet only to have Ryan's boot slam down into his sternum, pinning him against the pile of rubble.
"You should be grateful that I spared your life when you were at my mercy, I punctured your weapon just so that it wouldn't kill you, but the pain would reduce you back to your weakest, most pathetic state possible. You're lucky that I still feel forgiving even after what I went through not too long ago."
The defeated sigh that Barlow let out told Ryan everything, it told him that the Man in Black had finally gave up and knew that the fight was over.
The ex-marine heard footsteps coming up behind him, and when he glanced over his shoulder he would see Heisenberg, Lady Dimitrescu, and her daughters making their way towards him to see what was going on. He then turned his attention back to Barlow.
"I won't kill you, but no bad deed goes unpunished...I heard that you and Miranda were scheming against my friends, that you viewed each and every one of them as disposable and worthless..."
The next thing Barlow heard following Ryan's sentence was the psychotic giggling of the Dimitrescu daughters...
"I just hope they're as kind and forgiving to you as I was..."
Just then, sickle blades pierced into the sides of Barlow's legs, forcing a cry of agony from the Man in Black as he pleaded for mercy before being dragged away, his arms flailing and his mouth crying for forgiveness, but it fell on deaf ears as his cries faded away as he was dragged back towards the castle.
Now Heisenberg and Lady Dimitrescu approached Ryan, and the first thing that went down was the countess scooping the ex-marine up and the two engaging in a deep, long kiss that lasted for several seconds up to a minute as Heisenberg watched with a roll of his eyes.
"You saved us all, my love. It almost feels like a dream..." She said with tears of joy forming in her eyes.
"My Alcina, if it was to be a dream, then I would have you never awaken." Ryan replied sweetly before the two engaged in yet another kiss.
"Oh get a room for fuck's sake!" Heisenberg growled, turning the attentions of the two fellow lords to him.
"Heisenberg! You played a big role in taking our enemies down, you should be thanked just as much." Ryan said happily as he approached the magnetic man.
"I don't need to be thanked, I knew we would get the job done since the day I started planning things out. If anything, you need to be the one that gets thanked, but I'm not going to kiss your ass like Alcina does."
"Very well then." Ryan replied as he heard another voice shout from behind him.
"Ryan Miles!" The voice of Chris Redfield boomed with pride, causing the ex-marine to turn around and face the boulder punching man himself.
"Gotta say, I'm impressed that you went through hell and back and you're still standing like all of us. Any normal man would fold under the pressure within a moment's notice." He continued as he extended his hand to shake Ryan's, who accepted it.
"My whole life has been that way, but now all of the stressful events are behind me. We have a bright future ahead of us now." Ryan replied.
Chris chuckled at this sentence.
"There's never a bright future, Ryan, at least for us anyway. This here was part of a three year campaign, but there's still work to be done."
"I guess I should be thankful for your fight against bio-terrorism, if things got out of hand with that megamycete, there could have been a thousand battles just like the one that just reached a conclusion.
"Damn right, this victory only gets us closer to ridding the world of bio-terrorism for good, here's to looking on the bright side."
"Everything seems to be smooth sailing from here, Chris. I wish you luck in whatever you do next."
"Same to you, Ryan. Happy trails, until we cross paths again."
Chris then look his leave, rounding a corner before the sounds of rotary blades were heard. Ryan looked up and watched as the osprey that they had flew in on traveled in the direction of the sun, the aircraft's silhouette getting smaller and smaller until it went out of sight completely.
"If he's splitting, then I'm splitting too." Heisenberg said, breaking the silence.
"What do you mean?" Ryan asked.
"Barlow's done for, and Miranda is gone. They have no hold over us anymore, we're free now, and I'm damn sure going to take advantage of my freedom, and get the hell out of this village. I'm setting up to move to the United States." Heisenberg revealed, coming as a surprise to Lady Dimitrescu and Ryan Miles.
"When are you leaving?" The countess asked.
"Of course you'd be the one to ask that...heh, sometime around noon. Considering it is nine in the morning now, I don't have that much time to lollygag. I'll probably clean myself before heading out."
Following those words, Heisenberg headed for his factory for one final time, leaving Ryan and Lady Dimitrescu alone, who headed for the castle.
Later on that morning, Lady Dimitrescu and Ryan were looking out over the balcony at the remains of the village with a calm mind, it felt as though great weights had been lifted off of their chests and stress would no longer be common in their lives. Ryan's stresses were completely gone, and the burden of taking lives seemed to have faded away from her and her daughters.
Ryan examined the remains of the village that were mostly charred ruins at this point and he turned his head up to face the countess.
"There's going to be lots of cleaning up to do, and without Heisenberg and his telepathic powers, that is going to be next to impossible." Ryan said, Lady Dimitrescu stifled a little laugh.
"Let the ruins sit there, let the past days of this village die and only the houses of the lords standing. Our castle will last longer than anything in this valley anyway." She replied.
"Our castle you say?" Ryan asked with a smirk on his face, a sweet smile came to the face of the matriarch as the newfound patriarch stood by her side.
"A queen cannot thrive without her king, my dearest man-thing. When you first arrived you were only prey, but when you started protecting us all from Barlow and exposed the lies of Miranda, I saw something else within you. I saw leadership qualities, and I knew I could make you into another lord of the village." Lady Dimitrescu explained before sighing.
"With Donna gone, we'll be in need of another lord anyway." She finished, Ryan nodded his head in understanding.
"Hey! You two lovebirds up there, I'm finally fucking leaving!" Heisenberg called out from down below them, the two looked over the balcony to see the magnetic man climbing into the back of a stagecoach.
"Going to America!?" Ryan called out from above.
"Yes sir! I'm taking my leave to the Budapest Airport and then getting the fuck out of here, deuces!" Heisenberg cried out before slamming the doors shut, and with the crack of the reigns against the horses behinds, the coach began to move down a path.
Lady Dimitrescu and Ryan watched as the stagecoach got smaller and smaller as it traveled into the distance and eventually around a corner, fading away, out of sight.
Change was coming to the village, two lords were gone with one of them being dead. Even if the village was to be left to rot, there was still loads of things left to be cleaned up, that would be left for Barlow to pick up as a form of punishment.
For the foreseeable future for the lives of the lords that remained, including Ryan Miles, everything seemed to be peaceful. Peaceful at last.
(THE END)
A/N: Well, it has been an entire year in the making for this story. I knew it would be popular but my goodness, the views this story has just blows A03 out of the freaking water! Wow! This story here has by far been my most popular story with the amount of views, followers, and favorites it has garnered. I would like to thank everyone who took the time out of their day to read this story and I hope all of you Dimitrescu and RE Village fans enjoyed it from start to finish!
I would also like to thank the reviewers who left behind constructive criticism, you will be a big help moving forward as I continue to write on this site. In terms of a romance story, I think I really missed the mark. I'm so used to writing action heavy stories, lol, and I believe it really showed. Next story won't focus on romance at all, it will be more of an action/adventure heavy story with all of the favorite RE characters and some new OC characters thrown into the mix, I won't write the sequel right away, as I have some other projects I want to complete on this site that have been in the making for quite some time. Until then, I hope all of you enjoyed this story. Be on the lookout for it's future sequel! Once again I thank all of you who gave me criticism and also left behind a favorite or follow. It means everything to me- KaijuCrazy02