I do not own Hellsing Ultimate or any of the characters.
Monsters
Angel narrowed his eyes as he watched Anderson. He refused to give up. Even with one arm nearly detached, he was holding it in his mouth by the sleeve, holding a bayonet in it, and then holding one in his good hand, using them to shred his way through Alucard's Familiars. And he was no longer alone. The rest of Iscariot had arrived to help. Every time a member of Iscariot was caught or wounded fatally, they detonated a bomb strapped to their chests. But it was enough. After jumping through the smoke of one explosion, Anderson landed before Alucard, allowing his ruined arm to fall limp.
"You stand before me," Alucard mused. "I'm impressed. I'm impressed, Iscariot! Show me more, Alexander Anderson!"
Anderson pulled out a long box wrapped in ancient cloth. "You are not the only one who carries a mighty weapon, Vampire."
"So is this the toy that's going to beat me?" Alucard asked.
Anderson allowed the cloth to fall away and squeezed the box until it shattered, leaving a single, ancient nail.
"A nail?" Alucard asked, seeming momentarily confused. "The shroud of Turin, the Holy Grail. The Lance of Longinus. Should I assume that you're threatening me with the last of the Holy Artifacts of Rome?"
"It still smells of blood and miracle," Alucard narrowed his eyes. "The Nail of Helena."
"Prepare!" Anderson shouted, moving to impale himself.
"ANDERSON! ! !" Alucard roared. "STOP IT! ! ! Do you know what that thing will do to you? You'll become one of God's monsters! Maintain your humanity! Don't succumb to power! Either side, it amounts to the same deal! Whether in the name of the Divine or Demonic, you're still a monster in the end! Do you intend to use that scrap of miracle to become a scrap of miracle yourself? This duel...between us...would you really push it this far? Into the realm between life? A monster such as myself, a creature of such weakness that I could not bare a human life, if I am to be defeated it must be by a human! Don't so it, human. Don't become a monster. A monster like me."
"I want nothing more than to be a bayonet," Anderson said. "A bayonet wielded by the hand of God. I would have been happy to be born a storm, or a divine threat. A mighty explosion or even a terrible hurricane. A divine force of nature without a heart or pity. And if this relic can transform me into such a thing, then I am happy to abandon my humanity."
He fell to his knees, shouting in determination and preparation for pain, then drove the nail into his heart. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, red and white vines covered in huge thorns began to squirm out around the nail, spreading over his torso, writhing like worms. Alucard walked forward, raising his Callus to Anderson's head and shouting in rage, denouncing Anderson as a fool, only for Anderson's previously wounded arm to slash a bayonet, taking Alucard's arm off at the elbow and removing his head. Alucard's other arm snapped up, the Jackal firing and blasting the upper left half of Anderson's head into paste. Except, both caught themselves, regenerating. Alucard did so with his shadows as the same type of thorns writhed from the severed section of Anderson's head. As Alucard raised his pistols, Anderson moved a pair of bayonets to form a cross, Alucard using his guns to form an inverted one. Then, both moved to strike. Alucard's bullets ripped through Anderson, only for the thorns to instantly stitch his body closed again, his skin mending itself. He stabbed Alucard in the abdomen, so Alucard shot out his elbow again. Both healed. Alucard sent out an arm of darkness to grab Anderson by the arm and thorns ripped the darkness apart. Alucard shot Helena's Nail with the Jackal, only for the bullet to stop against it, spinning in place for a moment before falling. Then, Anderson leapt into the air, thorns shooting out to form a cross behind him, suspending him in the air. The bundles of thorns began to unwind, separating and spreading into a wall before Alucard.
"What's...happening?" Seras asked. "What is he?"
"He's a monster, but one polar opposite to us," Angel said. "I don't know if he's even aware anymore."
Just as Angel returned his eyes to the battle, it ended. As Alucard aimed up at Anderson, a bayonet stabbed down through his forehead. He fell to his knees just as vines began to writhe around the blade, Alucard's pistol falling to the ground. The thorns spread, wrapping around Alucard and squeezing, continuing to grow. Then, flames erupted over Alucard's body as his Familiars were all incinerated.
"Master!" Angel shouted, forming his scythe as he exploded forward.
"Sir!" Seras shrieked, half a foot behind him.
"Get that bayonet out of him and the thorns off of him!" Angel shouted to her. "Don't touch the fire too long, and don't let the thorns burrow too deep!"
Seras nodded, heading for Alucard while Angel shot toward Anderson and slashed, taking his head off from behind and signing his own death warrant. Thorns lashed out at him and he leapt backward, helicoptering his scythe and shredding them. Anderson launched himself at Angel, slashing rapidly, but Angel deflected the strikes one after another. He spun, splitting Anderson's side, only for Anderson to pivot, splitting him in half. His blood stitched him back together, and darkness exploded from his coat, stabbing and lashing out at Anderson. Thorns writhed as they restored the damage. Then, Anderson shot forward, stabbing at Angel. He stepped around it, allowing Anderson's other blade to once again bisect him in order for his scythe to do the same to Anderson. Anderson regenerated again, turning on Angel as he was halfway reconnected, but as Anderson pulled his arm back to strike, Alucard's hand drove itself through Anderson's chest then withdrew, ripping Anderson's heart out. Thorns latched on, struggling to keep it from being ripped free, but Angel's scythe severed them and Anderson's body went limp, pitching backward and crashing to the ground. Alucard crushed Anderson's heart in his hand, allowing the nail to fall to the ground. As he did, Angel walked over to Anderson and knelt.
"What do you think you're doing?" Anderson asked, his entire body, clothes included, fading of color like a withering plant.
"You're Catholic," Angel said. "I was going to give you your last right, for what little good it would do."
"There's hardly time for that," Anderson said as everything below his waist disintegrated.
"I'm sure God will understand it being just the Prayer of Commendation for the sake of time constraints," Angel said.
"Last Rights from a heathen vampire bastard," Anderson snorted. "What a disgrace. The Prayer of Commendation will be good enough. Better than I earned."
Angel shook his head, then bowed it, closing his eyes and placing his palms together. "Alexander Anderson, child of God,
our companion in faith and brother in Christ," his body began to smoke, and he grimaced, but continued. "Go forth, Christian soul, from this world in the love of God the almighty Father,
who created you," he grit his teeth, sucking in a pained breath through them as flames spread over his body, though his regeneration was keeping up, for the moment, "in the mercy of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who suffered and died for you, in the power of the Holy Spirit, who was poured out upon you, and strengthens you, at one with all the faithful, living and departed." The flames began to win out over his regeneration. "Go forth, faithful Christian. May you rest in peace and rise in the glory of your eternal home, forever in the paradise of God, where grief and misery are banished,
and light and joy abide. Amen."
"Amen," Anderson smiled.
"Amen," the Iscariot members who were still alive said, heads also bowed, a few muttering other Catholic prayers.
"Amen," Alucard and Seras both said.
Angel grit his teeth, pulling in an agonized breath, only to sense a change. Suddenly, his regeneration was winning. It wasn't that it had grown stronger, or gotten used to countering the flames, or anything of that nature. Instead, it was that the flames were dwindling. Losing their heat. And then, they were simply gone. Angel sighed in relief, looking down at Anderson, seeing his entire body had withered, and his eyes had shattered, but a contented smile remained on his face.
"Amen?" a cocky voice scoffed, just before a foot crashed into Angel's chest, hurling him backward before smashing Anderson's head.
At the same time, monofilament wire shot outward, slicing through the buildings around them like hot butter, leaving entire pieces of buildings, sometimes as much as the top half, to fall away and shatter on the ground.
Angel's jaw dropped, his hand, which was once again holding his scythe, went limp, the scythe stabbing into the ground. Behind them, Integra's cigar fell out of her mouth. Before them stood Walter. He had on a shiny black vest, a charcoal shirt, black pants, silver chain bracelets, a silver chain loop hanging from his pants on the right side, fingerless black gloves, and his head was tipped back as though to watch the sky. He raised a pack of cigarettes to his mouth before dropping his head, revealing a far more youthful face than he'd had before obviously defecting.
"You son of a bitch," Angel snarled. "You? Of all people?"
"WALTER!?" Integra seethed. "Is that you!?"
"Trash," Walter said, setting his foot on Anderson's chest. "The dead are nothing but refuse, and there is no need for anyone to mourn for them. Isn't that right, Integra?"
"Walter," Integra growled.
"Alucard, he's mine," Angel snarled. "Walter will be my first."
"There couldn't be a better option," Alucard said. "But you can't fight him alone."
"I know," Angel said. "Seras, stay back."
"Be careful Master, sir," Seras pleaded.
"We will," Angel said.
Just then, the brunette with the katana charged, transforming into blue smoke for a moment to pass him before spinning and slashing. However, instead of him being harmed, her entire body was sliced cleanly into bits. The blonde moved to shoot Walter, only for the Nazi Captain to place the excessively long barrel of his pistol to her head, then fire.
Angel swore harshly. "Wolf!"
The Captain eyed him silently for a moment.
"There's nothing you can do to stop me," Walter said. "And no one will stand in the way of my treasons."
Angel glanced at the blonde, seeing her cheeks were ruined, but she was alive. The Captain shook his head, then stowed his pistol and tossed her a medkit. Then, he jumped, leaping from building to building as he left. Angel turned his eyes back to Walter, blood flowing from him to form a couple dozen daggers and playing cards in the air around him as he knelt and picked up his scythe.
"It's time, Alucard," Angel said. "It's time to kill the Angel of Death."
Alucard grinned wickedly and nodded. "Angel of Death. Weren't you the one that said English men looked forward to getting old? You seem to have abandoned your maturity. Truly such a shame. You were such a lovely old man. It pains me to see how wretched and ugly you've become. Your body and soul corrupted. A dark reaper to the very core."
"Yes, this world is, after all, a violent, fleeting dream," Walter said. "And as the dawn breaks, I shall be ready to reap the Earth."
"I don't think so," Angel growled. "We've talked enough. He's a traitor, he's always been a traitor, now let's kill him."
"Master?" Alucard asked, looking to Integra.
Integra raised a new cigar to her mouth, lighting it.
"Integra!" Walter shouted. "Say it! Say the words!"
Integra's hand clenched, snapping the cigar. "Search and destroy! Search and destroy! Servant, you have your standing orders! Annihilate all forces who dare oppose us! Crush all obstacles that stand before you and push forward! Regardless of what it is! Regardless of who it is!" Her face morphed into a mask of pain. "Destroy...anyone...in your way."
"Yes, my master!" Alucard hissed, darkness writhing around him.
"Yes!" Walter grinned. "You are a master worthy of my years of service!"
"However this happened to you, I no longer care," Integra said as Alucard turned to Walter. "You are nothing but my enemy now. You are Hellsing's enemy. You are Britain's enemy. You are nothing but a traitor. It is my pleasure to defeat you. To destroy you!"
"Vell said, Integra Fairbrook Vingates Hellsing!" the Major cheered from his zeppelin's loud speaker. "To sink I called you an Alucard! It appears I owe you an apology! At long last, you have become worzy of zis battle! You are now my lovely, enormously dangerous arch enemy, who I must defeat at all costs!"
The zeppelin began to descend, breaking through buildings as it drifted down the street. It slammed into the ground, ripping through the street for two blocks before stopping.
"Fate has dealt our hand," the Major continued as the front of the zeppelin opened. "Now come. I call your bet."
At the door, there was only the same werecat as had been used as a messenger to declare war on Britain, Schrödinger. He said something in German and Integra turned, walking calmly toward the zeppelin.
"Go on," Alucard said. "Go to him and put an end to this!"
"Yes," Integra nodded. "It's about time."
"Master?" Seras asked, looking to Angel.
"Go with her," Angel said. "I'll come find you as soon as we're done here."
Seras nodded and Angel turned to her, kissing her.
"Be careful, Seras," Angel said telepathically.
"And you, Master," Seras responded in kind. "Walter...I know this is odd to say, under the circumstances, but...well...thank you for everything you've done for me. Take care."
Walter's eyes widened in surprise before closing. Then, he smiled. "You as well."
"Come along!" Integra snapped.
"Y-Yes!" Seras stammered.
Integra paused, drawing her sword. "Farewell Walter. Farewell, and may we never meet again." Then, she and Seras continued into the zeppelin.
"Ladies, velcome!" Schrödinger said, only for Integra to shoot him in the head without even looking.
"Obnoxious jokers," Integra said. "I've had enough. Call your bet, indeed."
"Remarkable women, don't you think?" Alucard asked, then laughed. "They are mine, now. Mine and Angel's alone. My dear master, to whom I belong. My darling Seras, Angel's master and chosen mate. They are lost to you forever."
Just then, thousands of bats began to shriek swarm around Alucard. Then, Walter charged, shredding his way through the bats as Angel and Alucard moved to meet his charge. Angel fired his cloud of projectiles, using the bats to mask their trajectories. The daggers flew straight, but at oddly-timed intervals, whole the cards ricocheted off of the city around them, attacking all at once from odd angles. At the same time as the daggers reached Walter, Alucard stabbed his hand at Walter's face. However, Walter's wires blocked the daggers and wound around Alucard's arm, then ripped it to shreds. Then, the cards all deflected off wires as well. Just as Angel moved to close in on Walter while Alucard grew a new arm, Walter spun, swinging Alucard around into Angel, both bouncing away while the wired behind Walter blocked a barrage of blood cards, seemingly of their own accord.
"I knew there was a reason I didn't want to fight Walter," Angel growled, standing and lifting his scythe as tendrils of darkness extended from under his coat.
"Because you can't beat him," Alucard said simply.
"You once told me, Alucard, that true immortals don't exist," Walter said as Angel pulled all of the blood projectiles lying around them back to himself. "You might be onto something. Let's put it to the test. Let's keep killing you until you stay down!"
Alucard's arm snapped up, firing the Jackal, only for Walter's wires to weave themselves into a screen, deflecting bullet after bullet.
"Really?" Walter asked, just as Alucard's darkness swelled, unleashing a massive, black, Hellhound.
"Baskerville!" Angel spat. "And here I was hoping he burned up with the others."
"Fortunately no," Alucard said, just as Walter's cables split the hound in half vertically.
Angel sighed. "My turn, then."
He shot forward, dodging to the right as Walter's wires tore along the ground toward him. However, just as Angel prepared to send out his darkness, his lower body all but exploded. He swore, driving the base of his scythe's shaft into the ground, his blood reforming his legs as he hurled himself into the air, wires shattering the scythe. Then, a dozen tendrils of darkness lashed outward, shattering the ground and forcing Walter to leap away. He pulled a hand backward, wires shredding the tendrils, only for the remains of the scythe to explode into a swarm of dozens of daggers and playing cards, scattering toward Walter. He swiped his hands rapidly, his wires quickly knocking the projectiles out of the air, only for the cards to deflect into arcs, circling around toward him from the back and sides just as Angel's darkness formed a massive set of jaws, clamping down on the wires and twisting sharply, tangling the wires around itself. Walter made an irritated noise, leaping toward the darkness as he shredded it, then spun, his wires swinging around to block the cards. As he did, Alucard rose from the darkness seeping out of the Baskerville Hound's corpse, aiming the Jackal at Walter, only for it to explode as he fired, blasting Alucard's hand to bits.
"Did you forget who made you that gun, Alucard?" Walter asked. "It was made to defeat Anderson, and I'm no Anderson."
Then, the blood projectiles Walter was standing among erupted into spikes, only for Walter to leap over them, then swipe a hand, shredding them. Angel pulled the blood back to himself just as one side of the Baskerville Hound's corpse shifted. From inside of it, someone with long, blonde hair and a white suit began to push himself up. All three turned to look at him in surprise.
"That guy?" Angel asked, raising an eyebrow. "One of those two asshats that attacked the mansion, right?"
"Yes," Alucard nodded.
"What is this!?" the man gaped, looking around. "What's happened to me? What the Hell's goin on here!?"
Suddenly, Walter's wires flashed over, driving themselves into the man's body and burrowing under his skin.
"I certainly didn't expect to see you again, Luke Valentine," Walter said. "Excellent. One can always find use for a spare Nazi Vampire."
Then, he began to control both Luke Valentine and the half of the Baskerville Hound he was still partially stuck in like puppets. He forced them to attack Alucard, who was bleeding from his eyes, nose, and mouth while gasping for breath, but Alucard leapt away from them.
"You're back!" Alucard grinned.
Walter sent them at Angel, and he launched himself forward before his entire body exploded into blood, then condenced and sharpened into a set of curved blades, spinning into a blurred disk, and shredded his way through the macabre puppet before retaking his normal form on the other side. Just as he did, Walter began to cough hard, falling to the ground and pulling away a hand coated in blood.
"Game's over," Angel said.
"Yes, it is," Walter agreed, then yanked his left arm outward.
Instantly, wires Angel hadn't even noticed tightened around both of his arms and legs, ripping his limbs apart and splattering his blood over the area around him. As soon as he did, however, he doubled over, gasping and panting for breath.
"Is that it?" Angel asked, tendrils of darkness lifting him like spider legs. "I guess I didn't need that insurance policy after all.
"Insurance..." Walter trailed off, then looked down seeing he was in a pool of blood beside the Baskerville Hound from when Walter killed it.
Just as he looked down, however, spikes of blood erupted up from the blood Angel had mixed into it, impaling Walter dozens of times over, ending the fight. Angel finished regenerating his limbs and walked over with Alucard, who was now in a female body with long black hair, black shoes, white pants, a white coat, a white scarf, and a fuzzy white cap.
"Whatever you did to turn yourself into this doesn't seem too reliable," Alucard said, his voice unchanged despite his appearance. "You burned through the height of you power. Even without Angel's trap, you wouldn't be able to hold that form much longer. I mean, just look at you. You're not regenerating, you were just wearing that body down to nothing." He cast a glance over Walter's now teenaged body, which was still growing younger. "So where would you have gone from here? Back to the old man? Or maybe you'd have continued to slip backward into childhood. Either way, it doesn't matter now. He's all yours, Angel. I'm going to be recharging."
"Enjoy your feast," Angel said, walking over to Walter. "I'll settle for one, perfect dish."
Walter began to raise a hand, so Angel snapped it at the forearm with a quick twist of his wrist. Then, he bit into Walter's neck. Walter's blood flooded from his body, and any outside of it either flooded back into it, or flowed into Angel through his skin. After a few seconds, Angel sat back, sighing silently before grinning.
"My, my, Walter," Angel grinned. "You really were a master vampire hunter. You knew things about vampires even I didn't know. And even after draining you dry, I'd only be able to use monofilament wire at barely half your skill. Most impressive."
"Should I be thanking you?" Walter asked from inside Angel's head.
Angel extended an arm, blood flowing from his wrist and forming into a silhouette before shifting into Walter, exactly as he had been at the beginning of their fight. "Welcome back, Walter. How do you feel?"
Walter stared down at his body before flexing and stretching this way and that. "I'm formed from you blood, aren't I?"
"You are," Angel nodded.
"I'm surprised you have enough," Walter noted, stretching out his monofilament wire and inspecting it. "Is it as strong as my actual wire?"
"Stronger," Angel said. "And I have enough blood stored up inside my body to make twelve of you and still have my own body's worth plus my scythe. Every time I form something using my blood, my regenerative abilities replace the blood, making whatever I reabsorb from my constructs extra." He reached into Walter's corpse's pocket, pulling out a silver cross necklace. "You still had the spare."
"I simply neglected to throw it away," Walter said.
Angel smirked, then pulled the necklace on, instantly noticing a distinct lack of pain or burning flesh. "So, being my Familiar comes with certain perks. For example, since your body is formed from my blood, you'll be bulletproof, ageless, pain free, and have physical abilities on par with my own. However, my blood isn't a one-way street. It serves as both sword and armor, but also as both cage and shackles. Even without suppressing your will, I can control your body with a thought. If I so choose, I could simply will your head to fall off and send you to Hell."
"So I'm as much your slave as your ultimate weapon," Walter said.
"Yes," Angel nodded. "Starting now, you will adopt the same personality as you had while serving Integra, and will be retaking the position of butler. You will act like a proper English gentleman again, and you will faithfully, and loyally, serve the Hellsing organization until I instruct otherwise."
Walter sighed. "I don't really have much of a choice in the matter. You could simply suppress my will to make me, or you could control me like a marionette to make me. It will be easier for everyone if I simply agree. Besides, being that I will no longer grow old, I rather think this arrangement is quite suitable."
"Good," Angel nodded. "Now let's go help Seras."
Walter nodded and they both turned, running into the zeppelin.
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