Damn. Walter was impressed. He pulled himself out of the trench Alucard had tossed him into before the artillery hit. She had gone back her precious Last Domain before the building went the way of all things – just a bit faster than usual.

Nothing remained. The hijacked cannon had done its job just as had been arranged.

"That's it?" he asked Alucard as he climbed out to stand next to her. "Did we get all of them?"

"Nothing lives or moves in the rubble. I sent the hounds to sniff out survivors, and there are none." Walter could see the hounds nosing through the rubble, and one gnawing on something that had to have been human once.

He whistled softly and dug a cadged cigarette out of his waistcoat. Lighting it, he winced, reminded of the broken bones in his face. He'd be feeling that tomorrow.

"So why this?" he asked, gesturing at Alucard. He eyed the fuzzy white hat in particular. "Did you want to them to show up at the gates of Hell completely embarrassed by who had sent them there?"

Alucard laughed and turned away from contemplating the destruction to favor Walter with a sharp smile. "What I showed them is no more who I am than the hellhound or the man you think you know."