Soma Cruz is content with the way life turns out to be for him.

After graduating from his high school in Japan, Soma decides to pursue higher education by applying on a university in Romania. Although admittedly his decision to apply specifically on Romania wasn't entirely motivated by his own desire but by several other factors as well. While Soma is mostly your usual 'average' young man, he harbors a dark secret that can either make people shiver in fear… or laugh aloud while calling him crazy.

He is the reincarnation of lord of darkness, Dracula…

Yup, Dracula as in that Dracula, the lord of vampires and all of that. He used to think Dracula as nothing but fictional character since who will believe such creature actually exists during this time and age… apparently a lot of people believed in the existence of Dracula and even knew that Dracula once existed.

Anyway, his life has become full of complications and adventures afterward, ranging from him fighting against the embodiment of Death, defeating the representation of humans' negativity in form of Chaos, and turning into a woman with wings… yeah, he has seen and experienced a lot of things upon realizing who he truly is a year ago. However, what now is a constant in his life is the appearance of cults that either want to turn him into Dracula or to kill him so a new lord of darkness will rise.

It starts with a cult named With Light which he managed to defeat several months ago, and when he thinks that now he finally can live in peace again, another cult showed up, each with the same ridiculous name as With Light. At first, he thought it would eventually end… nope; every time he takes down one, more will show up.

It gets to the point that Soma starts to fear the safety of those around him and this contributes to his decision in continuing his education oversea, away from those he loved and cared.

However, he chooses Romania specifically due to a suggestion from a friend, said friend also happens to be working for the church that has existed for centuries and fought Dracula and his army of demons too during those centuries. Since the church doesn't want the rise of Dracula again as much as him, they decide to keep close eye on him and what better way to have a close eye on him rather than having him living in the area that can be considered as their domain? Soma has no problem in being watched, in fact he is used to it, but as long as the church can keep all those insane cults off his back then he is fine with it.

While he is away, another friend of his who works for a Japanese secret agency promised to look after his families and friends to ensure nothing will happen to them while he finishes his education oversea.

Of course, there is also matter of what he will do once he graduated but Soma has a plan for his future and he has no problem in actually living in Romania for the rest of his life, Japan has became a little too crowded for him anyway.

Currently, in this beautiful night, Soma has decided to take a little stroll on a park near his apartment with a can of coffee in one hand and his Smartphone on the other hand. He has missed the basketball match between his university's team and another university due to the need of taking a remedial exam today. He is glad that his university's team won and promised that he will show up on the next match though he can't help but sigh at the thought of his remedial exam.

Does this mean that he needs to study more? …. Nah, he probably only failed because of lack of sleep; nothing to be concerned about.

Now, he has a whole night ahead of him to do whatever he likes since tomorrow is Saturday, meaning no class, and Soma intends to spend the night peacefully…

Until the appearance of a portal a few meters in front of him immediately tells him that fate has another plan for him.

Soma immediately puts his coffee can on the nearest bench and puts his phone into his jeans' pocket before he prepares himself for whatever that will happen next. If this is another cult's doing, he swears he will give them more than a few bruises.

He has expected a lot of things in his mind when he sees the portal, a monster, an army of robbed figures, and even a vampire but he surely doesn't expect a woman with long black hair to come out from the portal, doing a backflip while wielding what he identifies as a pair of crimson rapiers. Once she lands on the ground, the woman immediately straightens up her posture and assumes a fighting stance.

Experienced warrior; that is what Soma feels regarding the woman the moment she assumes a fighting stance. But before he can say anything to the woman who seems hasn't noticed his presence yet something else catches his attention.

Monsters, some he recognizes, some he don't, start to come out from the portal. Ax Armor, Bone Scimitar, and strange flying octopuses with one eye. Soma first instinct upon seeing these monsters are to look up at the Heaven and shout 'give me a break!' as loud as he can… but he decides to simply pulls something out from within his signature white coat.

The woman immediately charges toward the group of monsters, easily avoiding an ax that is thrown by an Ax Armor by leaping over it and stabbing the head of the monster before landing back on the ground. The woman then immediately parries an attack from a Bone Scimitar with her left hand before delivering three stabs on the bone with her right hand though the monster manages to block her strike by raising its shield.

Afterward, the woman immediately leaps backward to avoid a counterattack by the Bone Scimitar before she quickly raises her rapier to stab one of the flying octopuses that threaten to wrap its tentacles around her body. She about to deal with two more flying octopuses that come to her direction when…

BANG

BANG

The woman can't hide her surprise when two silver bullets pierce the two flying octopuses, turning them into paste of meat and prompting her to turn around briefly to notice a white haired man with a silver gun.

"Focus on the monsters on the ground; I will handle the flying ones" Soma stated when he sees the woman glances at his direction. He doesn't know who the woman is but the fact that she fights these monsters with ease must mean that she is either has connection to the supernatural or maybe worked for the church, still something about her feels off to him but he decides to put it aside for now.

Soma quickly takes aim and pulls the trigger of his silver gun twice, successfully killing two of those flying octopuses. He then quickly charges forward, leaps into the air, and dropkicks a Bone Scimitar that about to attack the black haired lady from behind. Once Soma lands on the ground, he quickly fires the Bone Scimitar who manages to block his silver bullets with its shield.

"Try this!" Soma exclaimed as he summons a spear on his left hand through the soul of Armor Knight and thrusts it toward the Bone Scimitar. The spear immediately shots forward, increasing in length, and pierces the Bone Scimitar's shield as well as its head.

Dismissing the spear, Soma immediately summons demonic cards in the spear's place through the soul of Killer Clown and throws the cards toward the incoming octopuses. Soma glances at the woman behind him to see how she is doing and greets by the sight of the woman knocks an incoming thrown ax with a spear on her left hand before she launches a fireball through her right hand that hits the head of an Ax Armor.

Magic, Soma concludes before he fires several bullets toward the incoming octopuses.

The black haired woman then dismisses the spear on her hand before she quickly drops to her knee and places both her hands on the ground, sending a wave of ice that freezes three Ax Armors and two Bone Scimitars in front of her. Seeing this, Soma immediately acts by turning around and throwing his demonic cards toward the frozen monsters, shattering those monsters on impact. The lady, in the meantime, immediately materializes a hammer on her right hand and moves behind Soma to smash the incoming Bone Scimitar away.

One Bone Scimitar manages to get close to them before leaping toward their direction, but Soma immediately counters it by summoning the head of a phantom white wolf through the soul of Warg to tear apart the incoming monster. Simultaneously, the black haired lady immediately materializes a pair of daggers on her hands and throws them toward the last Ax Armor.

One dagger manages to hit the ax thrown by the monster, preventing it from reaching them, while the other dagger manages to hit the monster on its shoulder before Soma immediately kills it by firing a silver bullet through its head.

Scanning the area briefly, Soma realizes that the Ax Armor was the last monster around the area. Soma about to let out a sigh of relief when the woman next to him immediately pulls him downward by grabbing his coat just as a boulder flies pass them, telling Soma that he would have been hit by that rock if the lady hasn't pulled him down.

When he stands back on his feet, Soma finally eyes who has the courage to throw a boulder at him. A golem but this one is much bigger than what Soma usually needs to deal with but not big enough to be comparable to what he needed to deal with on the Abyss.

Soma aims his gun to the golem's head and fires three silver bullets; only for his bullets to bounce off the golem's rocky skin without making any scratch at all. His bullets seem to only success in angering it as the golem raises both its large arms and slams them toward where Soma and the lady stood, prompting them to immediately leap backward.

As if the two of them are thinking of the same thing, both Soma and the black haired woman immediately throw a large fireball and icicle respectively toward the golem. The golem stumbles a little when the two projectiles hit it, giving Soma and the woman a chance to prepare their next attack after they land back on the ground.

Again, as if they are thinking of the same thing, the woman raises both her hands and materializes a giant ax at the same time as when he summons a giant ax through the soul of Great Ax Armor. Simultaneously, the two of them swing their respective ax downward and cut the arms of the golem, causing it to take a few steps back.

Not wanting to give the rocky monster a chance to recover, Soma immediately calls the power of lightning through the soul of Rycuda, causing electrical energy to spark between his fingers. Unsurprisingly, the woman next to him also has the same thought as him since he can see electrical energy crackles between her fingers. A quick exchange of glance between them is all they need to tell each other that they should fire their lightning magic simultaneously.

"Rycuda!"

"Vol Fulgur!"

Two blue lightning bolts immediately pierce the golem's body, leaving a hole at the center of its torso. The golem immediately freezes after being hit by the lightning bolts before its body starts to fall apart, signaling its defeat.

Soma lets out a silent sigh of relief… until he notices that the portal where the monster came from has disappeared. When? When they were fighting the golem? Why has it closed? Does it matter? Of course, it does. Where those monsters come from… then again, where does this woman come from?

"Who are you?"

Speaking of the devil…

Soma shifts his attention to the woman and notices that she has summoned her crimson rapier on her right hand while her left hand is surrounded by electrical energy that crackles angrily. She hasn't pointed her rapier at him yet which he will take at least for now as a good sign. Her voice is stern and demanding, and for a few seconds he wonders if she knows about his real identity.

"And why do I feel the presence of Count Dracula within you"

Yup, she definitely knows. However, this confirms the fact that she isn't with the church since most of its members already know of his true identity or at least most of its prominent members. There is no way that someone as skilled as her won't be a prominent members of the church like his friends if she was part of that organization.

However, now that he actually has time to regard her and carefully inspects her… he finally finds out what has bothered him earlier.

"Funny since I do can sense a bit of Dracula's power within you too"

"Do not change the subject"

"I am not. If you want to know who I am then at least tell me who you are. Are you with the church? No of course not, if you are then you supposedly already knew who I am"

His words seem to pique her interest if the way she raises one of her eyebrows is any indication. Soma silently considers his options; either tells this woman of his story or runs away as fast as he can, with the power of Black Panther he can probably get away from her which means he can call his friends from the church for aid. But his gut tells him that she probably can catch up to him and will immediately attack him if he tries to do so. Unnecessary violence isn't his cup of tea so he will consider the safer option first especially since she has given him a chance to explain himself instead of immediately attacking him upon realizing the presence of Dracula within him.

"Alright, so I will explain who I am but I want you to listen carefully and only ask question after I finished but in return I want to know who you are and about that portal, deal?" he hopes she isn't unreasonable. His friend from Japan secret agency has warned him of telling strangers of his real identity but this woman feels different, she has saved him, that's a fact, and she also hosts power of Dracula within her, he can sense it. Yet her tone makes it clear she hates the count… this woman is an enigma, one that piques his interest.

The woman keeps her eyes on him but the way she narrows her eyes a bit tells him that she considers his offer which he will take as a good sign too. After a few seconds, the woman finally makes her decision and declares…

"Very well, starts talking"

Thanks God…

"My name is Soma Cruz and yes, you are right in sensing the presence of Dracula within me… as I am his reincarnation. It all started back in 1999 when…"

Soma then starts his story, from how Dracula was destroyed for good in 1999 by Julius Belmont, who now happens to be one of his trusted allies, and how Dracula was reincarnated into him who born on 2017. He also told her of the incident on 2035 when he was trapped in Castlevania inside the eclipse and learned of his destiny.

"After defeating Chaos and destroying Castlevania, I was teleported back to the Hakuba shrine, freed from my fate to become the lord of darkness. But many still believe that I need to take Dracula's throne and still hunt me down until now which is why I am here in Romania, under the church's observation and protection so no cults will success in reviving Dracula through me" Soma stated, finishing his story. To his surprise, the woman in front of him looks confused and lost after hearing his story before she quickly looks around her surroundings, as if she just realizes where she truly is now.

"Dracula… destroyed for good in 1999… and his reincarnation born in 2017… but I am…"

Soma silently observes the woman as she keeps mumbling to herself while shaking her head twice before she looks around her surroundings again but this time she stops to watch a skyscraper on the background, the only one visible from where they are right now.

"If you knew Dracula shouldn't you already know about this information?" Soma asked since it seems like any people who knew the true existence of Dracula at least aware of what happened to the lord of vampires in 1999. Heck, even those cults who were after him knew about it and they weren't part of the church.

"I… I do not know… I defeated Dracula… but 1999? 2035?" the woman seems to be more confused than everything but what she just said immediately causes both Soma's silver eyes to widen in surprise. She defeated Dracula… She just said she defeated him…

Now, it might just because he watched too much of Doctor Who, one of his favorite shows despite how old the show was, or might be because he read too much manga, being half-Japanese and all… but his gut tells him that his intuition might be right…

"Hang on… it might sound weird but what year do you think it is now?" Soma asked, hoping to any Deities that might listened to him to make his intuition wrong; that this woman just confused or suffered amnesia or something…

"Around mid 1800s" the woman answered, seemingly unsure of the year herself but her answer does prove that his institution is right… that portal isn't like the portal he knows where it usually connects two different places for easier travel, nope that portal is a freaking time portal, a hole that connects two different eras.

Oh boy…

"I… I am afraid I need to point out that we are no longer in the 1800s, now is 2036. You are in the future" Soma said, not wanting to delay the inevitable any longer. One way or another, she will learn that she is no longer in her own time and he thinks it is better to tell her outright rather than to have her figure it out on her own.

"I also need to point out I don't know who did all of this as I am as confused as you, I have no involvement in this whatsoever. I even thought you were member of the church I haven't met yet earlier" Soma quickly explained when she gives him a glare that he figures mean she thinks he is responsible for this.

"I figure…" she admitted as the rapier on her right hand disappears.

"Look, I will contact my friends from the church and see if they can help us with this since this is literally the first time I even know that time travel is possible" Soma offered, feeling that perhaps his friends from the church can help her with this whole time travel problem.

The woman seems to consider her options with a thoughtful expression, making Soma decides to store back his silver gun within his coat and waits for the woman to make her decision. Though to be honest, he doesn't think she has any other logical choices than accepting his help.

After a few of minutes of silence, the woman finally gives him a tiny nod yet it doesn't stop her from looking at him warily though he admits he can understand why. If she is like the Belmonts, the legendary vampire hunters, then being wary of the reincarnation of their mortal enemy is justified. But now that makes him wonder… is she a Belmont? The legendary Sonia Belmont perhaps?

"Can I get your name?" Soma asked, prompting her to stare at him suspiciously again. Soma decides to remain silent as he waits for her answer, making sure that his hands are visible so she doesn't think he will pull any trick by hiding his hands. After several seconds, the woman finally gives him her name…

"Shanoa… my name is Shanoa"