Despite his… less than ordinary situation, there are things that Soma is thankful for. He is thankful for the fact that he still can enjoy life despite being the reincarnation of the lord of darkness. He is thankful for the fact that he has such dependable allies like Yoko and Arikado that he can count on whenever he needs help. He is thankful for the fact that Starbucks make such great coffees that he can enjoy almost every day. But at the moment, he is really thankful for the fact that he has such good memories…
It really helps him in his exam.
Soma smiles in satisfaction once he finished rechecking his answers for the third time. There are no unanswered questions and the answers he has put on his answer sheet doesn't make him nervous, in fact, he is pretty sure that he will get a good score for this exam. Since he has finished his exam earlier and has rechecked his answers three times already, Soma technically is allowed to leave but decides not to. After all, he enjoys the view that the window next to him offered plus sitting on an air conditioned classroom is better than sitting on a un-air conditioned area. Today's temperature is higher than usual after all.
If Shanoa still lives in his apartment then he might decides to come home immediately but since there is no one waiting for him back at his apartment, Soma feels no rush to get out this classroom. He needs a few days to get used to the fact that whenever he comes home, there will be no more a black haired lady who is waiting for him but he manages to get used to it pretty fast thanks to the fact that he has lived on his own for several months before Shanoa's arrival.
He hasn't visited her since the starts of this week mainly because of his exam but he still occasionally texts her just to check up how she is doing. Soma doesn't exactly know why but he just feels… comfortable around her. Maybe it is because he thinks she can understand him? She was willing to give him a chance to explain himself the first time they met and with Shanoa, he has nothing much to hide. Unlike his friends here, Shanoa knows completely who he is and seems to be okay about it… sure, he knows that she has mixed feeling about him at first; everyone who fought Dracula will have a mixed feeling about him, no doubt about that.
But as time went on, Soma started to notice the subtle change in her behavior. She hasn't given him anymore suspicious look, she doesn't tense up whenever he comes closer to her, and she looked more comfortable around him as time went on, especially after their visit to Julius's cabin. However, Soma is well aware that their friendship won't last long; as soon as they find a way to send her back to her own time, Soma will need to say goodbye to her.
That is why he tries his best to not get too attached to her… and he knows he is failing miserably at that.
After what happened, or what nearly happened, on Celia's castle, Soma has made a vow to not get too attached to other people. He knew Celia used underhanded tactic but that doesn't mean he has the right to actually almost… almost allow himself to be corrupted by the darkness… no matter how much he cares about her…
If it really happens… if he really completely consumed by the darkness then what will become of the world? What will she think? What will the people that have put their trust and faith on him think about it? It was only through a charm and a timely interruption from Arikado that Soma managed to regain himself and start to actively reject the darkness again…
He can't allow himself to do the same thing again… which leads to his current decision…
Soma lets out a heavy sigh and crosses his arms as he leans against his seat. He shouldn't be thinking these kinds of stuff inside the classroom, besides he has accepted that his friendship with Shanoa won't last long. No matter what he feels, if Shanoa wishes to return home then she won't hearing any complain from him. Plus even if Shanoa actually starts to become comfortable here doesn't mean she is happy with being here for the rest of her life, in a time where she actually doesn't belong to.
When Soma closes his eyes in order to take a short nap to wait until the time for the test is over, he immediately opens both his silver eyes when he feels a surge of dark energy that comes from somewhere, somewhere far from where he is now. Soma forces himself to act calm as not to disturb his classmates and scans the scenery outside of the window.
It doesn't take long for Soma to find where the dark energy probably comes from considering the unnatural black clouds around a certain area but when he realizes just where the dark energy comes from, Soma narrows his silver eyes.
"Mr. Cruz, are you finished?" the professor who assigned to supervise the exam asked the moment Soma stands up, wears his coat, and walks toward her to hand his answer and question sheets.
"I am" Soma replied simply as he puts the exam papers on her desk before he quickly leaves the classroom without waiting the teacher's reply.
As soon as Soma is out of the classroom, he immediately breaks into a full sprint in order to head toward the roof of this building. Once he is on the top of the building, Soma doesn't hesitate to run toward the edge before he transforms into a white bat by calling forth the power of Bat Company.
Knowing that even flying in his bat form won't get him there faster than riding his motorcycle that he left on the university's parking ground, Soma calls forth the power of Black Panther and flies toward the church's direction in high speed… he also can't help but wince every time he breaks windows when he flies pass a building… that will be in news alright…
But he can deal with that later, at the moment he has a job to do.
It takes roughly 5 minutes for Soma to reach the church's ground… and the sight that greets him makes him narrow his eyes. While the cathedral is fine, the monastery behind it can't be described as fine. Monsters are everywhere as far as he can see. Some hunters are busy dealing with them while some hunters are busy evacuating the non-combat personnel of the church. But what catches his attention the most is the big symbol on the sky… is that a glyph? It does look similar to the glyph Shanoa showed him once before.
Soma has the urge to get down and helps the members of the church… but something else, his gut instinct, tells him to find Shanoa first as Soma has a feeling that the cult who wants Shanoa is responsible for this. Soma deactivates Black Panther's soul in order to slow himself down so he can see the area better, he only sees blur when he moves in high speed. However, instead of him finding Shanoa through his vision, it is her scream of pain that manages to find him and attract his attention.
"Shanoa!" Soma shouted when he spots her falling to her knees, her body is shaking in pain, after she absorbs the huge glyph on the sky.
Soma immediately flies toward her and instantly summons a large number of scythes around him through the soul of Death when he notices a cloaked figure and a black werewolf approach her shaking form. Soma wastes no time in launching one of the scythes toward the werewolf when it grabs Shanoa by the hair, resulting in the werewolf dropping Shanoa when the scythe manages to impale its right shoulder.
"Get the hell away from her!" Soma shouted in anger before he launches all the scythes around him toward the two members of the cult.
The cloaked figure, which he immediately recognizes as Shards, instantly puts up a barrier to defend herself and the werewolf from the incoming scythes before responding to his assault by summoning some magic circles that fire magic bullets toward him.
Thanks to his experience in journeying through two different monsters filled castles, Soma has more than enough skills in moving through the air in his bat form. This allows him to easily dodge the magic bullets that come toward him while he counterattacks by firing a large fireball from his mouth rapidly through the use of Flame Demon's soul.
But Soma doesn't expect the werewolf to let out a sonic blast that manages to stun him which in turn allows some of Shards's magic bullets to hit him, cancelling his transformation. Even though Soma manages to regain his bearing before crashing on the roof and manages to land on his feet, by the time he looks up both Shards and the werewolf are already halfway into the portal.
He knows he won't make it in time even with the Black Panther's soul… and if her gaze to him means anything, it seems Shanoa is also well aware of it…
But Soma hasn't run out of trick yet.
"Time be still!"
On his command, time itself instantly stops moving; leaving the world frozen in black and white. Soma lets out a deep sigh before he starts to walk toward the portal; he has a few minutes to spare after all. Both Shards and the werewolf are already entering the portal but the portal itself hasn't fully closed yet meaning that he might capable to get into the portal too.
But before Soma enters the portal, he decides to pulls some of the magazines that host silver bullets on his coat and puts them on his jeans' pocket. After pulling out his silver gun too, Soma removes his coat, infuses it with a bit of his magic, and throws it toward the garden below. Shanoa's words about not doing everything himself still echoes clear in his head which becomes the main motivation behind his action.
He knows Yoko knew a tracking spell and he also knows that for the spell to work, Yoko needs a possession of what she tracks or at least an object that her target has used before. By infusing his coat with a bit of his magic, he hopes it can help Yoko to find him once she returns because he has no doubt that the church has called her as soon as these monsters show up.
Just to be prepared, Soma also activates his phone's GPS.
Deciding that he has left enough trails, Soma immediately enters the portal and he is thankful for the fact that wherever they are now, time also stops moving here. The first thing he notices about the place that the portal leads him to is the off sensation about the place… like this place doesn't belong to Earth or something. Second is the fact that there are many crystalline structures which have various odd shapes.
He ignores it for now since he can feel that time will soon move again. Deciding that prying Shanoa off the werewolf's grip will take too much time, Soma simply grabs Shards's cloak and prepares himself for doing something that he knows has little chance of success.
As soon as time moves again, Soma immediately throws Shards into the portal and roundhouse kicks her to ensure that she will pass through the portal before it closes, sending her back to the monastery.
"W-What?" before the werewolf can comprehend the situation, Soma immediately slams the bottom of his silver gun onto the wolf's lower jaw hard enough to cause it to stumble backward and release its grip on Shanoa who falls on the ground after the werewolf releases her.
Not wanting to give the werewolf a chance to recover, Soma calls forth the power of Balore to gather red energy around his left fist before he lets all the gathered energy explodes the moment he punches the werewolf's on the solar plexus, making sure to call forth the power of Golem too to increase his strength. It causes the ground beneath them to shatter and causes the werewolf flies away in high speed, crashing through several purple crystalline structures in the process.
After letting out a sigh, Soma immediately stores his silver gun into his pocket before he crouches down to gently lift Shanoa to his arms.
"S-S-So-ma" Soma can't help but wish he can do something to help her after hearing the pain in her voice and feeling how much her body is shaking in pain. He has souls that give him regeneration and immunity to all sorts of ailments but he can't exactly extend his abilities to other people. If only he knows a healing spell like Yoko…
"Hang in there, I will get you a help as soon as we leave this place" Soma promised before he stands back on his feet with Shanoa in his arms. Now the question is how exactly he leaves this place… and where in the world are they now?
"I did not expect that you would come too Dracula"
Soma instantly checks his surrounding when a booming, demonic voice that seems to be coming from every direction reaches his ears.
"Who are you?!" Soma demanded as he prepares to unleash some of the souls in his possession.
"Why do you even care for a forgotten part of history like her? It is all has nothing to do with you"
"You don't get to decide what has and has nothing to do with me" Soma replied while he narrows his eyes, looking at every direction to determine where the source of the voice comes from; he even has activated the power of Peeping Eye just in case he misses something that he can't see with his eyes alone.
"Or perhaps you wish to continue where you left off before she slain you? I precisely remembered that you almost manage to sink your fangs to her neck"
Soma decides to ignore the voice this time as he unconsciously tightens his grips on Shanoa slightly. Falling for the voice's taunt and acting on his anger will only spell trouble for not only him but also for the woman in his arms, he has learned his lesson.
"Why did you drag her to this time? What do you want from her?" while it was clear that the owner of the voice probably wants Dominus but Soma prefers to hear the answer out of this entity's mouth.
"Are you sure that is what you wish to know? Don't you wish to know more about the method which I use to get her here?"
Soma doesn't want to admit it aloud to the voice but that is what he wants to know the most, how the entity brought Shanoa here so hopefully they can figure out a way to send Shanoa back home.
"You should already aware that this is a one way trip Dracula; there is no sending her back"
What?
"What do you mean?!" Soma demanded as he once again tries to find where the voice comes from. He can't be sure whether the voice is lying or not but he hopes that it does because if it is true then they need to figure out on their own how to send Shanoa back to her own time… and he has a feeling that the church will not permit any research regarding time travel.
"Exactly what I mean; she is trapped in the present. I wouldn't be foolish enough to allow the prey I lured to possess a way to escape my grasp"
As much as Soma wants to deny it, what the voice said actually makes sense… but he decides that for now that isn't what he should be concerned about. However, before he even can think of a way to escape this place, which by now he sure is a pocket dimension, a large number of black portals instantly appear all around him; surrounding him completely.
"Since you are here, it will be rude of me if I don't welcome you properly Dracula" the voice stated in mock politeness as hooded figures start to rise from the portals. Soma simply narrows his eyes as he observes his surroundings, noticing how the hooded figures either pull a weapon, prepare a spell, or transform into a beast.
Seeing that he has no other choice since they are completely surrounding him, Soma gives Shanoa, who seems still in a lot of pain, a reassuring smile before he closes his eyes briefly. When he opens his eyes, his silver eyes briefly change into crimson before his familiars start to materialize.
Gaibon, Alura Une, Alastor, Harpy, Mini Devil, Homunculus, Hellhounds, Amalaric Sniper, Quetzalcoatl, and a horde of zombies appear on his sides, each ready to strike the members of the cult that surround their master.
"If it is a fight you all are looking for" Soma started to speak as he hands the shaking woman in his hands to Alura Une who holds her gently in protective manner before he summons a spear on his right hand through Knight Armor's soul and a javelin on his left hand through Slogra's soul.
"Then I hope you all are prepared!" Soma shouted before he points his spear forward, prompting his familiars to begin their assault.
Alastor instantly stabs a man who transformed into a minotaur on its shoulder, causing the beast to roar in pain, while Harpy grabs the nearest weapon user and immediately throws him away before it flaps its wings to fire several of its feathers to the other members of the cult. Mini Devil flies around while keep firing sonic waves to the magic users to inflict curse on them that will prevent them from casting their magic. The Hellhounds bite anyone on their path, be it magic user, weapon user, or a beast, damaging limbs as much as they can do, while Quetzalcoatl support them from the air, smacking away anyone who is too difficult for the zombie dogs on the face. Gaibon, Amalaric Sniper, and Alura Une stay by their master's side, providing long range support for the other familiars while the horde of zombies form a wall around their master to ensure Soma won't be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of his opponents.
Soma throws his javelin to the incoming griffin with enough force to tear its left wing and make it fall to the ground, allowing Homunculus to leap to its head and start to punch the beast's skull. Soma then uses his spear to cut an incoming huge fireball in two before he thrusts his spear forward, causing the spear to increase in length, and pierce the caster's left shoulder; prompting the woman to scream in pain. Not stopping there, Soma immediately uses the long spear to smack the woman to the man next to her, giving a Hellhound a chance to leap on top of him and start to tear apart his right hand.
Soma tries his best to not murder anyone here but he isn't that naïve to hope that he won't kill anyone, because whether he likes it or not there are just too many people here and he isn't sure he can incapacitate them all without killing them. He just hopes there won't be any incident similar to what happened on Celia's castle when he thought he killed a human being and gained dominance over his soul.
Soma summons an ax on his free hand with the Ax Armor's soul before he throws it toward the incoming wereboar, successfully hitting the beast on its shoulder. Afterward, Soma uses the Black Panther's soul to immediately disappear and reappear in front of boar with the purpose of touching it and electrocuting it with the power of Rycuda.
Once he deals with the wereboar, Soma leans backward slightly to avoid a rapier that is about to stab his face before he simply grabs the blade of the rapier and electrocutes its wielder. It might be a magic weapon but its blade is still made of steel thus still conduct electricity. After kicking the rapier wielder away with enough force to send him flying backward, Soma quickly uses Black Panther's soul to immediately move near Alura Une, mainly to ensure Shanoa is still okay.
Honestly, Shanoa still looks to be so much in pain but at the moment most of Soma's attention is focused on getting both of them alive, he might be able to defeat all of them much sooner if they are demons or monsters… but humans are another case entirely.
Gaibon lets out a roar as it immediately flies to the sky to face the incoming werebat while Soma faces off against three magic users and one weapon user.
Despite the intense pain that assault almost every part of her body, Shanoa still manages to keep her consciousness and has been listening the whole time. Painfully, Shanoa keeps her eyes open to see Soma block an attack from a man who wield a lightning ax with his spear before a scorpion tail grows from Soma's rear and stabs the man on the thigh, allowing Soma to push the man away and turn around to slice an incoming ball of plasma into two with his spear before he thrusts his spear forward, causing the length of the spear to grow, and stabs one of the casters that fired plasma ball on the shoulder.
Shanoa wishes she can join him and support him but the pain that she experienced makes moving her body becomes extremely difficult, she even has focused most of her concentration to use two of her glyphs, Fides Fio and Refectio, to both give her resistance against the glyph that puts her in this state as well as to help herself fighting off the pain that she feels.
Soma tilts his head to the right to avoid a poisonous dagger that is aimed to his face before he catches his assailant's arm, breaks it with ease, and sends the woman flying with a kick on her chest. Soma then quickly turns around to parry several incoming light orbs by summoning a knife on his right hand with the soul of Ripper and throws the knife to the caster, successfully hitting her on the shoulder, before he pulls out his silver gun and fires the woman's on her other shoulder twice. A moment later, Soma immediately jumps onto the air to avoid a werebear that about to ambush him from behind. Soma manages to land on werebear's shoulder before he grabs the beast's head and activates Frozen Shade's soul to fully encase the werebear in ice.
Soma then jumps back to the ground before he calls forth the soul of Golem to increase his strength so he can lift the frozen beast and throw it toward the nearest group of the members of the cult. Three spell casters work together by casting a powerful magic in form of a huge lightning bolt that comes toward him but Soma doesn't bother to dodge the magic and simply summons a magic vacuum through Persephone's soul to absorb the incoming lightning bolt.
Once the lightning bolt has been fully absorbed by the vacuum, Soma quickly responds the attack by calling forth Witch's soul and firing several magical orbs that home toward the three spell casters. When he observes his surroundings to determine the situation, Soma finally realizes that the number of the members of the cult that still standing have significantly decreased; now their number are small enough that Soma sure he can finish this battle in one move.
"Aguni!" Soma shouted, calling forth the power of the demon described as the embodiment of fire, by raising his hand. A moment later, a huge ball of scorching fire materializes above Soma which prompts Soma to immediately clench his raised hand. The huge ball of fire responses Soma's non-verbal command by splitting itself into a large number of smaller yet still scorching hot balls of fire that immediately fly toward the direction of each of the still standing members of the cult.
In only matter of seconds, each ball manage to hit their targets, which leaves Soma as the only one who is still standing in the end.
"Impressive but I expect nothing less from the infamous lord of darkness" the voice spoke, finally appearing again after becoming silent once the members of the cult show up.
"Are you finally ready to show yourself?" Soma challenged, not the best idea he needs to admit but if this voice has authority over this place then maybe defeating the owner of the voice will get him some answers and a way to get out of here.
"I am afraid now isn't the time yet… besides, the welcoming party is far from over" as soon the voice said that, several black lightning immediately comes down from the red sky, each hitting the unconscious or fallen members of the cult. Soma's silver eyes widen when the lightning causes the fallen and unconscious members of the cult to get up again and heals all their wounds, gash starts to close up, broken bone starts to right itself, and missing limb instantly grow back. In only matter of seconds, all the members of the cult are fully healed and look ready for another round.
Soma needs to suppress the urge to yell out 'Oh c'mon!' at the sky.
"And for added bonus"
Purple lightning bolts descent from the sky and hit each beast, causing them to roar as their size grows five times bigger than before.
… This is cheating.
"S-So-m-ma"
Soma quickly turns around when he hears Shanoa's voice, filled with pain, only to see her already standing and leaving Alura Une's embrace, even if she struggles to do so.
"What are you-" as much as he wants to hear a verbal answer, just from seeing her blue eyes, filled with determination, Soma already can guess what she wants him to do. Truthfully, he wants to tell her to stay put and let him handle this but her words, about not doing anything himself, causes him to stop and considers his options. He can trust Yoko, Julius, Arikado, and even Hammer… he definitely can trust Shanoa too, besides, like what he said before, she is an A-grade badass in his book and a fighter too.
Soma gives her a quick nod before he turns around when he hears a roar comes closer.
When he sees a giant werejaguar has almost reached their spot, Soma dismisses most of his familiars except Mini Devil, Alura Une, and Amalaric Sniper before he lets out a roar as he activates another soul under his possession.
Before the werejaguar can do anything, a giant arm made of iron immediately grabs its head, crushing it slightly, before it immediately throws the giant werejaguar toward the giant griffin, causing both to crash onto the ground. Standing on Soma's place is a giant golem made of iron, the Iron Golem, one of the transformations that Soma owns.
If Shanoa isn't in her current state, she might expresses surprise after seeing Soma transforms into such creature since he hasn't mentioned that he has this ability. But at the moment, she needs to focus herself to perform a Glyph Union that will get them out of here and Shanoa hopes the Union she chooses to do it will manage to get them out of here. Soma is powerful, there is no doubt about that, but he is mostly human, as he admitted himself, so his stamina and energy is limited. Shanoa doesn't know whether whoever the owner of the voice is can keep rejuvenating and resurrecting the members of the cult but if they can then there is a chance they can beat Soma once he is exhausted enough.
She just needs to concentrate enough…
While Shanoa is struggling to cast a Union Glyph, Soma is struggling, or rather fighting, against all the giant beasts while tanking all the spells and projectiles thrown at him. He punches an incoming wererhino quite hard that he sure he breaks its jaws before Soma throws the beast toward the incoming werebear. He then turns around and uses his arm to block a bite attack from a giant werehyena before Soma smacks the top of the beast's head while its mouth still bites his arms, resulting in several tooth of the werehyena to break.
After throwing the werehyena away, Soma is ambushed by a giant werebat from the sky who pins both his arms while snarling at him. Soma simply fires a stream of fire from his mouth which manages to get the werebat off him and partially burn its face. But before the werebat can fly, Soma catches both its wings, rips them apart with ease, and kicks the giant beast away.
When he sees that several weapons user have came closer while dodging the sonic waves of Mini Devil and the arrows of Amalaric Sniper, Soma immediately fires a stream of fire from his mouth to prevent them from reaching his spot, or to be more precise to prevent them from reaching Shanoa.
Shanoa pants really hard as she tries to suppress the intense pain that assaults her as she slowly lifts her hands above her head. Moving is really difficult but fully concentrating proven to be much harder. Yet as she watches continue to fight, ensuring that none of the cult's members can reach her, Shanoa harden her resolve as she tries to summon two specific glyphs within her. Closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, Shanoa tries harder to reach within her to bring out two specific glyphs; this causes the runes on her shoulders and back to start to glow dimly.
A red lightning bolt instantly descent from the sky and head directly toward Shanoa the moment the runes on her body start to glow. Shanoa can sense it, feel it will strike her, but even if she wants to do something about it, her body won't react in time. If she is fighting alone like how she used to then she might try to come out with a solution to avoid getting strike… but now… now…
She trusts Soma.
Soma wastes no time in protecting Shanoa by using his body without hesitation when he spots a red lightning bolt come toward her. To his surprise, he actually can feel pain despite still being in Iron Golem form which is something that never happened before, he never can feel a thing in Iron Golem form, not even cold or heat. But pain is an old friend by now for him so even if he admits the lightning does hurt him, he prefers it that way than it hurts Shanoa… she in a lot of pain already.
Soon enough, the lightning isn't the only thing that wants to harm Shanoa as the other beasts who recovered immediately try to get him away from her, causing Soma to growl in irritation and deciding to unleash another soul. An image of beautiful blonde woman in white robe appears above Soma before the woman spreads her arms and white wings…
And create a huge holy explosion. Erinys's soul always comes in handy when he needs to make a quick room to breathe.
"Soma turns back into human!" Shanoa commanded, her voice sounds stronger now. Soma immediately follows her command without complain, deactivating the Iron Golem's soul, just as Shanoa opens both her eyes which now are glowing with power as the runes on her body start to glow brightly in blue.
"Universitas!"
Soma is shocked when he senses time has been forcefully stopped before huge cracks appear above Shanoa. He knows that Shanoa's Union Glyph supposed to be powerful, it is her trump card after all, but he never knew that she has one this powerful, one that is enough to shake the very fabric of space and time.
Then the cracks finally shatter apart, creating a huge hole on the fabric of space. The last thing Soma knows before everything is enveloped by bright light is that he runs toward Shanoa to catch her when she starts to collapse.
When the light disappears and his senses return to him, Soma is relieved to see no red sky, no weird crystalline formations, and no cloaked figures as far as he can see; in fact, they are now in a dark jungle. Soma looks down at the woman in his arms, noticing how despite already losing her consciousness her body still shakes occasionally as a whimper comes out from her mouth.
"Hang in there Shanoa" Soma muttered softly as he stands back on his feet while carrying Shanoa in bridal style before he immediately activates Black Panther's soul and starts to run toward the direction that he hopes will lead them to a civilization.
He might don't know how to fully help Shanoa but now he has an idea how to, hopefully, suppress her pain…
As much as she hates to admit it… Shanoa has become familiar with all of these…
His laughter mixes with Barlowe's laughter, taunting her, telling her how it is all her fault, and mocking her effort to try to stay alive instead of joining them in death, a fate that she deserves.
She wants to do a lot of things, screaming, running, defending herself, asking them all to go away… or begging for forgiveness. Yet she can do none of those as her limbs always feel restrained by unknown force while her mouth is sealed, preventing her from doing anything but watching and listening as the scene in that manor, under that manor, plays over and over again.
Her rapier stabs him through his chest, making him curse at her as he falls… or worse, causing him to look up at her in shock and betrayal as he falls. Sometimes, he will appear on her side, still with a hole on his chest, as the scene plays out, sometimes even he will still able to talk even when she stabs him with a rapier.
He will curse her for running his life… curse her for blindly following Barlowe… curse her for not realizing what happened with the Dominus… curse her for breaking a promise she made to him… and curse her for staying alive instead of joining him...
Sometimes, Barlowe will appear alongside him, taunting her too especially at how foolish she was for simply following his order and killed her own brother in the name of order from him.
But that is not all…
Sometimes… she will also feel those sensations again… being crushed by Goliath's hand, being squeezed by Nominon's tentacles, being drowned by Rusalka's water, being punched by Giant Skeleton, and many more, all those sensations, all those time she was caught off of guard… it all come back to her but this time, she is unable to break free, allowing her to see how she dies in many ways, in the clutch of different monsters…
It gets to the point where she won't only see herself dies but also see how the villagers of the Wygol village die. Father Nikolai, Laura, Monica, Irina, Jacob, George, and even the children, Serge and Anna… they all die in front of her eyes without her being able to do anything to stop it from happening…
And the nightmare usually ends in two ways… either Death will finish her off… or he will shoot her…
But this time… this time, it was different…
Instead of seeing the burning Wygol village, instead of seeing the villagers die, instead of seeing herself die… she sees a light… no, she sees a figure who is surrounded by a white light… a light that drown out the noise of their taunt, a light that frees her limbs, a light that… that chases away Barlowe and him.
The figure, which Shanoa can't really identify because of the light around them, offers their hand to her… and when Shanoa accepts it, she finally can see the face of a familiar man…
When she opens her eyes, the first thing she notices is the fact that she is lying on a bed… and the fact that while she still feels sore… the intense pain from before hasn't assaulted her body. She also notices how she isn't panting or breathing heavily despite the fact that she just has another nightmare…
The thought of her nightmare makes Shanoa shuts her eyes as she clenches her hands into fist… only to realize that her left palm is squeezing something instead of clenching into a fist. Shanoa opens her eyes and glances at her left to see an exhausted-looking Soma Cruz… predictably with a cup of coffee on his left hand since his right hand is firmly yet gently holding her left hand.
Soma doesn't say anything; he simply smiles reassuringly at her while squeezing her hand gently. Slowly, Shanoa forces herself to sit up before she winces when she feels a pain, painful yet bearable, assaults her whole body.
"I only manage to suppress the pain; I don't know how to permanently remove it. Don't worry though, I have contacted Yoko, she will be here soon enough" Soma informed her before he takes a sip from his cup.
Shanoa remains silent as her mind tries to comprehend the situation. After casting Universitas, a Union Glyph resulted from combining Vol Luminato and Vol Umbra, Shanoa remembered that she passed out which means Soma must have carried her to this place… but where are they?
"We, strangely, are in Germany now. When you casted that Union Glyph, we ended up in Black Forest before I brought you here, in this inn. We are lucky part of Black Forest has become a tourist place or I might end up collapsing in the middle of nowhere though honestly I am surprised that the receptionist hasn't called the police yet especially since I came in with an unconscious woman in my arms" Soma told her, as if already knows what she wants to ask.
"… I am sorry" Shanoa said after a few more seconds of silence. Soma remains silent after hearing her apology before he simply takes a sip from his cup.
"I still don't have the full picture yet. Can you tell me how they manage to infiltrate the church?" Soma asked instead as he gives her hand a reassuring squeeze, reminding Shanoa that he hasn't let go of her hand yet.
Shanoa gives him a small nod before she starts to tell him about her battle against Shards and Howl, and how she fell for their trap by absorbing the glyph to prevent the glyph from destroying the monastery.
"… and when they about to bring me toward the portal, that was where you came… I thought you would not make it… there was too much distance between us… how did you-"
"Manage to reach you? I stopped time" Soma said, interrupting Shanoa before she can finish her question, before he takes another sip from his coffee.
Shanoa blinks her eyes twice after hearing his responses, causing an amused smile to form on his lips.
"I don't do it often since it drains quite a lot of my stamina but yeah, I can stop time" Soma clarified in amusement. Shanoa simply stares at him for a few seconds after hearing his explanation before her eyes widen slightly in realization.
"And then you fought all those people… and then carry me all the way here… have you taken a sleep yet?" Shanoa asked, now starting to understand why he looks so exhausted now.
"One of us need to remain awake to keep an eye for the cult… at least until Yoko arrived"
That confirms it.
"I am awake now; you can take your rest" Shanoa stated before she winces a little when another shot of pain assaults her whole body.
"No, you can't use your glyph now. I can suppress your pain because I seal your power with Magic Seal, if you try to use a glyph then the seal will break and you will feel the pain again" Soma explained with a shake of his head. Despite his exhaustion, Shanoa still can see the strictness in his eyes.
"Then I will simply need to wake you up if something happens. My ability to sense magic is not tied to my glyphs; I can still sense magic and energy just fine. Additionally, will it not hinder your performance if you are sleep deprived? You are currently the only one who can fight between the two of us" Shanoa countered, hoping that he will see her point in this. He can't just push himself, he might be Dracula reincarnation but he also a human at the same time, rest is important for him as it is for her.
"Fine, slap me on the face several times to wake me up immediately" Soma stated with a sigh as he puts his cup on the nightstand next to the bed and lets go of her hand before leaning against his chair, intending to sleep on the chair.
Shanoa already knows his intention and decides that arguing further with him will do nothing but waste Soma's energy. She might be still tired… and sore… but she isn't as exhausted as Soma, thus in one swift motion, Shanoa manages to grabs his turtleneck shirt and drags him onto the bed that should be big enough for the two of them.
"What the-"
"No arguing, sleep Soma"
Soma looks about ready to protest but in the end simply lets out a resigned sigh before he makes himself comfortable but after putting a small space between himself and Shanoa. Once Soma stays quiet, Shanoa can't help but clenching her hands into fist when words that the voice said return to her mind… specifically how the voice mentioned that there is no way for her to return…
Is she… is she really trapped here?
One month ago, that thought would have greatly disturb her and probably scare her… she is in the future, in the land she never visited before, with no people she knew present to offer their aid… but now… now…
Shanoa is slightly surprised when she feels something grabs her left hand. A quick glance to the left tells her that it was Soma's hand with the man himself already stares at her with tired yet reassuring eyes.
"I am here"
Despite how tired he sounds, there are determination and reassurance in his voice. As far as she remembers, only her brother has reassured her in such away, telling her that everything will be fine just because he was by her side. As she grew up, she started to forget how it feels and when she started her mission to retrieve Dominus… there is no one else but her own mind to reassure herself.
"I… don't know whether it is true or not… about you being unable to return to your own time... but even if it is, we will figure something out. I am with you the whole way"
Her nightmare used to include her battle against Dracula… where he would grab her in his icy grip and sink his fangs on her neck…
But after sorting her feeling for Soma… Dracula is no longer part of her nightmare…
"I know" Shanoa said with a small smile as she gives his hand a slight squeeze, an instinctual response.
Because he has become a part of her life… and now, the prospect of living here, in the future, away from those she knew and fond of…
The prospect is a little less frightening… because she has someone she trusted on her side.