Chapter 7
Akiko and Alucard returned to the Hellsing Manor and immediately walked to Sir Integra's office. The Lady Knight was waiting for them along with Seras. "What troubles you, my Master?" Alucard asked as his black suit transformed into his usual red outfit. "Something is happening in the North, in the borders between England and Scotland. A small village called Vinsex has, apparently, been completely abandoned. There has been no traffic going outside of it for over a week, and what little social media has been outgoing from it has stopped as well. Calls made to Vinsex have yielded no results, and the regular authorities that investigated the village have not returned. Something is going on there, and we need to see what it is. I want the three of you to go to Vinsex and investigate what is happening. If a vampire is involved, eradicate it. Understood?"
Alucard took off his large fedora and put it over his heart before bowing, "It shall be done, my Master." "Itto," Sir Integra addressed Akiko, "Change into your uniform, the helicopter takes off in fifteen minutes." Akiko nodded and took off her heels before running to her room and quickly changing into her yellow Hellsing uniform and getting her Churchill rifle and Montgomery handgun, making sure they were loaded, and she had plenty of ammo on her. As she left her room, she saw Seras, lugging around two humongous cannons with her left shoulder and holding a large metal container in her right hand. Akiko stared at the cannons and Seras shrugged, "Integra said to be ready for anything." Akiko blurted out, "What are you expecting? GOJIRA!?"
"Thirty years ago, I shot down a bunch of missiles fired from a zeppelin piloted by Nazi vampires," Seras bluntly stated as they walked out of the dungeons. "Just make sure you're close to me or Master Alucard, and you'll be fine," the Draculina told the kitsune as they made their way to the helicopter pad, Alucard already waiting and holding two silver guns. "That looks new," Seras said as she strapped in. Alucard displayed his new gun and said, "Apparently, firearms had improved in the last thirty years. Master said this beauty will pack the same punch as my old Jackal with half the weight. It's called Silver Wolf. I can't wait to see it in action." The older vampire had a massive smile on his face as his eyes glowed with bloodlust while the helicopter took off.
The three hunters were silent as the helicopter flew through the air, all of them focused on the task at hand. Akiko's stomach was twisting in knots, although she was keeping her face neutral. She thought back to her last mission, and all the ghouls that she had to destroy, and that was with herself and Alucard. Now, they were breaking out the literal big guns and it made her wonder, what new horrors would they face. "Calm down, Miss Itto," Alucard told her, "Worrying about 'what might happen' will only distract you from what is in front of you." Akiko nodded and took a few slow, deep breaths to calm herself. Alucard nodded and Seras put her regular arm on Akiko's shoulder, "Nothing will happen to you, not with us here." Their assurances helped, and when the helicopter stopped over Vinsex, Akiko was in a much better mood. "Happy hunting, ladies," Alucard said, and jumped out of the helicopter, his red duster flying around in the wind.
Seras held her Harkonnen Cannons and ammo in her shadow arm and grabbed Akiko's waist while Akiko held on tightly to her and Seras jumped off, slowing their descent to land safely. I'm already thirty meters to the North, I've detected no signs of ghouls or vampires. Most interesting, Alucard telepathically communicated to them. Akiko checked her guns one more time and started running north while Seras led the way with her Cannons ready to fire. They entered the small village of Vinsex and immediately sensed something wrong. "I can't hear anyone," Akiko said, her hairs standing on end. The illusion she used to hide her kitsune features was gone, she had to focus on more important things now.
They found Alucard exiting a house. He reported, "No one inside but some pet turtles." He sniffed the air and the women did the same. "The villagers all left, and headed in that direction, if their scents are anything to go by," Alucard said, pointing with his Casull to the Southwest. He had both his guns out and closed his eyes as he led them Southwest. "Something involving some kind of psychic power was involved here, but it doesn't have the same taint as a vampire's influence. It feels familiar however," Alucard said. Akiko opened her mind, and stopped dead, she recognized this psychic signature. "Akira-nii-san," she whispered.
"Who?" Seras asked. Akiko swallowed, "One of my elder brothers, he was born about seventy years before me. He's very powerful, and his control over the fox fire is the third greatest in our family, only our oldest brother and our Mother are more powerful in it." Alucard smiled at this as he looked at Akiko over his shoulder, "A strong enemy, eh? This will be fun." Alucard's fedora flew off his head as he ran even faster to the Southwest. Akiko and Seras ran after him, only for the sound of gunfire to tear through the air. Akiko immediately ducked and got her rifle ready to fire, but then saw that it wasn't ghouls shooting at them.
"Oh no," she whispered as Alucard, already shot up so much one of his arms fell off, returned fire. Ten shots from his guns rang out, killing their attackers. "Oh God," Seras said, "Master, these are all humans!" Alucard's bloody injuries healed as he said, "They were in our way, and they were expecting us. Those bullets were silver, any other vampire would be dead now." Seras turned to Akiko, "Is your brother behind this?" Akiko nodded, "Akira-nii-san was very skilled in illusions. He could be controlling everyone in the village for all we know. We can't kill all of them. We need to break his spell."
"How?" Seras asked. Akiko answered, "I know the theory behind it, but I lack the raw power necessary. I think if Alucard joins his mind with mine, then I might have enough power." Alucard nodded but then said, "I think we should find our prey first. Do you think you could make an illusion to hide us from the villagers?" Akiko took a minute to think, "Yes, I think I can. I just hope that Akira-nii-san is only using an illusion on them. If his mind is connected to them, then more could be on the way. I need some paper, let's go into one of the houses." The three of them quickly got inside, all of the houses were unlocked, although they locked the door behind them, just in case.
Akiko made her way through the house and got into a child's room and found some watercolor paint and brush along with paper. She tore three pieces of paper out and then focused, making herself salivate more. The kitsune put the brush in her mouth to wet it and then mixed it with the paint and quickly painted the kanji for invisible, fukashi, on the papers. She clapped her hands together and chanted, "Mienaku naru kamo shiremasen. Mienaku naru kamo shiremasen. Mienaku naru kamo shiremasen." May we become invisible.
The spell worked, and the three makeshift paper charms glowed faintly with power. Akiko turned to the vampires and said, "I'll set these on us. I have no idea how long they'll last though, so we need to act fast." Akiko licked the back of her charms and stuck them to Alucard and Seras' foreheads before applying one to herself. "Let's go," Alucard said, and they quickly left the house. Akiko sniffed the air and found her brother's scent. "This way," she said and took the lead. They soon ran into a group of five villagers carrying shotguns. They stopped and watched as the villagers walked right past them. "Yatta," Akiko exclaimed, "Follow me."
Akiko led the vampires through the village, every time they passed villagers, the villagers outright ignored them and kept on looking elsewhere. Steadily, with their weapons ever ready, the trio made their way through Vinsex until they reached a large mansion surrounded by the villagers that didn't go looking for them. Silently, Seras, Akiko, and Alucard passed these villagers, and headed inside. They entered an opulent entrance hall leading to a magnificent staircase, at the top of which lounged a male kitsune who greatly resembled Akiko down to his red hair and green eyes.
Akira Itto was wearing a simple red bath robe on his person and was idly twirling a shuriken on his left index finger. "Ah, is that you, Imouto? I was wondering why I smelled filth, I was worried that my slaves forgot how to clean themselves up," Akira Itto said. He then tossed the shuriken with pinpoint precision right into Alucard's forehead. Akiko's older brother snapped his fingers, and just like that, the invisibility spell was gone. "So, this is Hellsing. O-nii-san talked about you, said you shouldn't be underestimated," Akira said as he started walking down the steps.
"Akira-nii-san, you need to let the villagers go, now," Akiko said while Alucard pulled the shuriken out of his head. Akira ignored her and focused on Seras. Akira smiled at her and said, "Oh for the lovely women of England. I was wondering when I would find such a…fully blossomed English Rose such as you." Seras responded by pointing one of her Harkonnen Cannons at him and said, "Keep your eyes up, buster. And don't try anything funny with me." Akira smiled at this, it was a smile that resembled Alucard's before the vampire started a fight, "Go ahead, shoot me, the only question is…" A bright flash of light filled the room, and there were a hundred Akira's now and they all said, "Which one is the right one?"
"These tricks won't help you!" Alucard loudly bellowed before his eyes glowed red, and suddenly all of the copies of Akira were gone, but just as the copies disappeared, Akira threw a dozen shuriken at the trio. Akiko ducked just in time, but Alucard was hit by four more shuriken, two to his eyes and two to his chest, while Seras took all four in her stomach, making her stumble. "Are you alright!?" Akiko yelled as she looked and spotted her older brother taking aim at her. She quickly fired at him with her Churchill rifle, making him dodge.
He threw three shuriken as he dodged her gunfire, Akiko barely moved fast enough to avoid losing her eyes, she took two deep cuts to her right cheek instead. Seras recovered from her wounds and tried to aim with her Harkonnen Cannons, but stopped, "Damn it, there are civilians everywhere, if I fire it'll be a slaughter! We need to get them out of here!" Akiko yelled, "Alucard, join your mind with me! Stretch out with your mind and connect it to mine!" Alucard nodded and fired several shots at Akira to keep him occupied before Akiko felt his mind join hers.
It was overwhelming, like being enfolded into the night, while she was but a flickering candle. Akiko focused, and opened her mind to detect the spells Akira had over the villagers. She focused her mind and yelled out, "OIHARAU! OIHARAU! OIHARAU!" In an instant, with Alucard's power backing her up, the spells enslaving the villagers were dispelled. "Fire into the air, scare them to get out of the building!" Akiko yelled as she started firing her rifle into the ceiling. Alucard did likewise and the air was filled with the sounds of men, women, and children screaming. "Seras," Alucard ordered, "Go after him! We'll evacuate the humans!" Akiko and Alucard ran throughout the mansion, using their Third Eyes to find humans and get them to run away.
All was chaos, but after ten minutes, the civilians were all outside and away from immediate danger. Alucard and Akiko met back at the front of the mansion in time to see Seras fighting with Akira. Akira was now armed with a yari spear. Seras blocked with her Harkonnens and dodged as best she could, but the Cannons weren't meant to be used as personal weapons and she was on the defensive. "Seras! Move!" Akiko yelled as she started firing with her rifle at Akira. Seras jumped back just in time to avoid Akiko and Alucard's shots, but then Akira changed, turning into a small red fox with two tails. The fox was an even harder target to hit and dodged all their gunfire.
They all got an even bigger surprise as a wall of ice appeared in front of the fox, and a woman walked through the ice wall. She was a tall woman, almost six feet tall, with striking black hair and dark blue lips, contrasted with her pure white skin and icy blue eyes. She wore a disheveled red kimono that showed off her impressive cleavage and legs as well. "A yuki-onna!?" Akiko yelled. "Akira-chan, you were checking out the busty blonde, weren't you?" Akira jumped up on the top of the ice wall in his human form and said, "Maybe a little. Can you blame me? Her tits are almost as big as yours, Oyuki-chan." Alucard laughed, "So, another demon of the East comes to do battle, oh, this will be fun!" The yuki-onna, Oyuki quickly lifted her hands, and a fog covered the area. Alucard, Seras, and Akiko all grouped up back to back, ready to fire away.
Akira's voice echoed through their minds, Consider this a declaration of war, Hellsing. Soon, this island will be the realm of the Yokai-gumi. I hope you are as challenging as legend has it. The fog was dispersed, Akira and Oyuki were both gone with it. "This is bad, this is bad! This is so bad!" Akiko yelled as she clutched her head. "What did he mean by 'Yokai-gumi'?" Alucard asked. "Well, Master," Seras said, "Unless those anime translations I've read were wrong, a 'Yokai' is a spirit native to Japan, there are hundreds of different kinds of them. And 'gumi' means group. Meaning, the Yokai have joined forces!" Akiko nodded, "We could be facing an entire army!" All this gave Alucard pause, but then he smiled as his hair seemed to writhe around him, "I was worried that the world would be safer now than it was thirty years ago. Now I know otherwise, and it's a relief. Let them come, let their legions of demons all come! We will slaughter them all!"
The vampire's laughter echoed through the mansion, and Akiko could only wonder if it was based on the thrill of battle, confidence in his power, sheer madness, or all three combined.