Chapter 22 "Then Why Do You Save Them?"
Author Note: Sorry about how long it is taking me to write these chapters. I'm mostly just lazy, thinking of where I'm going with this story rather than the here and now. Things should run smoother now, though. Thank all of you for reading. Both those that have been around for a while or are newer readers. It means a lot to me. Sorry about any typos.
On the Road to the Hellsing Estate
After another twenty minutes or so of roof hopping, I jumped to the muddy ground on the outskirts of the woods surrounding Hellsing Manor. "Damn it…" I cursed as I yanked my boot from the smelly muck with a disgusted face. "I like rain but this place is ridiculous." I said as I looked up only to see thunderclouds collecting over the massive Pedunculate oak trees. I would've liked to use chakra to prevent my feet from sinking in the mud and move faster but that'd be a waste.
I took a step forward and suppressed a cringe as the cool feeling of my boot being submerged in swampy water before I started a hard run for the stone path in the woods.
Outside the Last Millennium Zeppelin, on a Nearby Roof
"Aha~!" The strange boy with cat ears said in his feminine voice. "Would your idiot happen to be that boy with the strange powers that Hellsing has on a leash?" He asked as he dodged another of my strikes. I let out a small growl of frustration as I tried one again to disable the boy by feinting a slash to his ribs before I slammed my boot down towards his heel, intending to break it. At the last second, the pushed off my shoulder with his open hand and spun out of my path of destruction.
"Not talkative? Oh, I forgot it is a custom of your people to have proper introductions, yes?" He said before he jumped out of the range of my peripheral vision, I smelled that he was still there, though. I pivoted and tossed a shuriken where his diaphragm should have been between his ribs. However, the projectile just ended up embedded concrete of the building. "My, my, that was pretty far off!" I heard the boy say behind me.
I turned and brought my kunai up in a defensive posture. Confused. "Like I was going to say before you just swung out at nothing." He said, putting more emphasis on that I "missed" than most would. My eyes narrowed in response. "I am Warrant Officer Schrodinger, a member of Millennium and follower of the Major's will." He exclaims as he played with the dagger in his hands, the moonlight's glow reflecting off its steel finished blade. I adjusted the grip I had on my kunai in my hands. "I am Katsuye Manda…I serve Kirisuto Uzumaki. I am his summon, I do as he wishes…but not because he is my summoner." I stated, emphasizing the difference between this Schrodinger and I. He laughed as he charged me.
I met his blows with my own, nearly killing him again, only for him to escape my sight and get carefully away again. As I turned to fully faced him I grit my teeth in pain, a fine but deep cut became visible on my abdomen. "You wear the collar and the leash of another yet claim they don't play into why you follow at all?" He asked aloud before he drew a pistol with a thick magazine but an extremely thin barrel and fired.
I tensed and subconsciously used a minuscule amount of chakra as I darted to my right, tossing shuriken. My goal being to throw him off his game, making him run to dodge the projectiles or at least throw off his aim. The shuriken was a bit sloppily thrown so it ended up accidentally hit him dead center. I held no doubt that his lungs were punctured, maybe even his heart and his ribcage was cleanly sliced. I felt a tinge of regret, since the boy was quite young, before shoving down the emotion as I sprinted forward to finish him.
As soon as I approached I sliced his throat open, specifically, I slashed through the right side of his neck. He'd bleed out in seconds. I slowed down once I passed him and let out a soft exhale, not sure if I was I was feeling relief for the flutter of shame in my gut. "Katsuye, do you always act so forward with boys you just met?" I heard in my ear, I turned in time to see Schrodinger slam his dagger in my side. He didn't have a drop of blood on him as he grinned sickly.
Outside the Last Millennium Zeppelin, on the Ground
"I hope Katsuye is alright…" I whispered aloud as I leaned around the corner of a building nearby. In my arms, I held Kiri's fox, Miso. He looked to me with what appeared to be a grin, reassurance in his crimson eyes. I wondered if my own resembled his much, not having time to glance into a mirror since I became a fully fledged vampire. I set down the fox and cracked my knuckles.
"That damned girl…going off and surprising me along with those bastards with her magic." I grumbled. All this "Jutsu" stuff was useful but it was hard to get used to. I saw Kiri mostly use things involving fire or wind or that ball thing that ate through people like a buzzsaw. So seeing Katsuye throw a damn dragon of light at those bastards was pretty shocking. Though I suppose it shouldn't be. Kirisuto did become a damned giant glowing fox for a few moments back there…while Master became a knight in plate armor. I looked to Miso with a sigh. "Life really likes throwing me for a loop." Miso looked at me sympathetically before his eyes widened.
The next few seconds went by very slowly for me. I saw Miso's friendly visage warp into a terrifying snarl as his hair stood straighter and he grew larger. I turned in time to see as long leg flying towards my face. I kicked off the wall as I threw myself to the ground. A large crack sounded as I slid across the side of the road to safety. I rose to a crouch as Miso hopped back to my side having grown to the size of a large dog. I looked to where my attacker was to see the large Millennium man that stood by the zeppelin. "You don't look like the type to stand down if I ask." I said and he just stared back in response. His eyes were the same bright red as any other vampire but his were different.
The man's eyes lacked the arrogant glimmer present in all other vampires' eyes to varying degrees. This man's red orbs were cold and primal but deadset on a goal that wasn't survival instinct. A small sinister smile graced my features as I reared back my arm, ready to strike and put forward a foot to push off quickly. "You are no vampire...I think you are an attack dog for Millenium." I declared as I bolted forward. I was on him in less than a second. I fingers lock in a gesture as If I was going to rake them through sand. My eyes felt so focused on the man's face that I had tunnel vision.
When I finally reached the man I slammed my hand into his cheek, my fingers easily pried through skin, muscle, and bone. I thought he would recoil in pain, perhaps even move to get distance as well but the man looked to me in an aloof manner with his rabid eyes. Then I saw his eyes harden in amusement. I scowled and gripped the insides of his face and ripped my hand free. His hand shot up and gripped my outstretched arm before his ripped flesh started to light up in a blue glow.
Luminescent fibers of muscles grew from his exposed flesh and reformed the side of his face. I struggled and slammed is elbow with my arm made of shadows, which had become large and less concentrated in my panic. His joint popped and his grip loosened enough for me to wrench free and jump back a few feet...then I noticed my arm hurt. My arm made of shadow hurt... The edges of some of the flame-like limb faded from pure black to nothingness. I looked up in time to see bright white fur grow from half of the man's face while his lips, jaw, and gums contorted to accommodate huge canine teeth.
"H-Hey…I was just kidding…" I joked with a slight stutter before I feinted a punch with my organic arm before doing a flip backward, pushing my feet off of a street lamp before heading a nearby roof. I looked down at the werewolf to give a small nervous smile, "Hm…why don't you stay down there? I'll promise to not go and interrupt our bosses' meet!" I said in a voice dripping with sickly sweet sarcasm. He let out the smallest of huffs before he ripped off his jacket, wearing an olive tank top underneath that was torn to shreds quickly. He shifted form into a large wolf with white fur, emanating a light blue glow and standing about the same height…on all fours. The wolf had to be at least 400 pounds of muscle and his mouth looked wide enough to easily swallow my leg. Miso suddenly bounded up the side of the building and grew to a size comparable to the wolf, he let out savage growls.
I got in a fighting stance and let my arm of shadows concentrate until the shape was nearly as solid and of similar size of my real one. The werewolf quickly hopped on the street lamp and scurried up, gunning for me. I jumped in the air and fell into a double leg kick. His eyes widened as he curled his lip and tried to snake his body around me to come around my side and bite me at the waist. Suddenly, Miso fell down the side of the building and seized the wolf by his throat.
Then we all hit the ground hard, slightly irritated but ready to shed more blood.
Edge of the Millennium Estate Woods
I let out a little disgusted scoff as I did my best to rid the side of my boot of muck. It wasn't even mud, it was a mixture of dying leaves, algae, mud and probably bugs. "I know I killed a ton of people and talk shit but there's no reason this had to be a forest with a sewer floor, god. Or world turtle. Whatever you are." I groaned aloud as I clean most of my boot. The shoe no longer had anywhere close to an aesthetically pleasing color, the once shiny black was now covered in olive and reddish-brown stains. After a few hard stomps to clear the muck in my boot's heel I kept walking.
The stone path near the beginning of the wood was overrun near the center of it. I didn't blame the groundskeeper, though, who wants to go out and clear gunk from some old rocks every few weeks? I kept sighing as I walked. Why the hell was it taking so long to get there? "I knew those car things were fast but not this fast. Actually…I didn't remember taking long to get there a few hours ago with Integra…I wonder ho-…" I said aloud before stopping in my tracks. I grabbed the bridge of my nose and let out a hushed frustrated groan. I'm a damn idiot. I closed my eyes and reached out with my chakra and immediately found out the Hiraishin seal on my bedsheets was still active and had enough chakra for me to teleport. So…every single step I took was worthless. "Fuck a duck!" I exclaimed before making the handseal to activate the Jutsu.
In an instant I was once again collapsed in my bed in Hellsing Manor, the worse part was that it felt so fucking good to lay down after running around all day. I looked down then let out a hard sigh when I saw that my muddy pants and boots were still on and were ruining my sheets. I was a pretty lazy human being but I despised uncleanliness. I got out of bed even though my body protested heavily and started to kick off my boots. I looked to my side, a small candle that the maid always lit after cleaning my room was still on, keeping the heavy darkness at bay. "Maybe that's why they haven't found me." I pondered aloud in a small whisper. I then took off my shirt and wiped off the little bit of mud that found its way past my boots and clung to my skin.
Finally clean, I removed my socks and replaced them with dry ones before I pulled on some gray pants that had a bit more slack in them so I had greater mobility. Then I tapped seals on my arm to unseal a brand new mesh armor top, my light gray urban camouflage ROOT ANBU combat vest and a long-sleeve black shirt. I slipped on the mesh armor quickly with practiced ease, it was basically some armor mostly used for bracing during impacts rather than protection from penetration like knives, shuriken or bullets. A few moments later and I had the long-sleeved shirt on and the combat vest over it. The vest was preloaded with ammunition for my shotgun and repeater, I didn't have either, and for the standard issue revolver carried by ANBU, which I also lost. However, the vest did have a pair of shoulder holsters that I attached to it myself, which carried the standard ANBU revolvers. Revolvers had been around for a while, at least a decade, but were already close to being phased out in the majority of the military branches of the Empire due to the advent of the semi-automatic pistol. The first revolvers made were crude and unreliable but now they packed a greater punch than the newer pistols and were far more accurate. But that rate of fire aspect really helped sell them.
I shook my head with a grunt, no time to be distracted by firearms, I counted the round in my vest. I had five rounds per pistol when I first summoned them, they could hold six rounds but I kept a chamber free for the hammer to rest with no chance of an accidental shot when the guns were holstered. After loading the last round into each gun I had an extra 42 rounds remaining. More than enough for most situations since I could use Jutsu but I had so little chakra here. "Earlier they didn't react to normal Jutsu anyway, remember?" Kurama said with a groan. I smiled. "I thought you passed out after I made that huge tailed beast cloak and fought Alucard?" I questioned before I sat on the bed, after tossing aside the muddy sheets, and meditated to enter my inner world.
"The closer we get to those creatures, the denser chakra becomes in the vicinity. They may be creatures made of chakra just like me." Kurama said as he rose from the great ocean surrounding the misty island I always appeared in when I "entered" the seal. The large tailed beast walked over past the sandy beaches, looking at how the sand clung to his paws with disdain, before lazily resting on a grassy hillside. "And thus you can convert it to your own form of chakra for strength…why am I unable to mold it into chakra then?" I asked as I walked over to the edge of the grass and sat. "I don't study the nature of chakra or experiment with its composition like humans do. I'd say that maybe it's just too much for you to handle in volume." My eyes opened slightly at that. I was the offspring of an Uzumaki and an Uchiha, which were both bloodlines famous for the amount of chakra they contained, and a Jinchuriki. By all accounts, I should be able to contain more chakra than any other human born in the last millennia. "That's worrying, I know." Kurama added, his deep voice carrying some concern. I simply nodded as I closed my eyes and tried to gather nature chakra to enter Sage Mode when I left my Inner World.
I definitely remembered that only a Sage chakra, Senjutsu, enhanced rasengan had an effect on the creatures. Kurama looked at me with intrigue in his eye. "You're dawdling quite a bit, Kirisuto. I thought you were angry at these creatures, wanted to avenge those that were killed?" He asked. I chuckled as I felt the chakra finally start to pour into me, having a moment of peace really helped me stock up. "I want to kill them but I need to take it slow. Since I've got here I've been thrown into every fight I came across really. This time I got time to prepare and these creatures may be the most dangerous thing we came across." I explained before I performed the Shadow Clone Jutsu without a seal, nature chakra and the fact that I wasn't being attacked helped with that. The clone was hard at work draining chakra and making more clones while Kurama spoke up. "I forget sometimes how smart you are…you really did turn out to be a great Shinobi. Just like you swore to everyone when you were weak and ill." He said with a faraway glance to the cloudless amber heavens.
"I think I became a good Shinobi but a terrible person. I failed everyone and I continue to do so…Seras liked Pip. Like…I can tell she went through stuff like we have and she found somebody…and I let him die. I let his whole team die." I said as I grit my teeth before I released all tension in it. Looking down with green eyes, slitted pupils, and a blank expression. "You aren't all powerful. You can't save everyone and the deck has been stacked against you from your birth. Yet you survive. I know you wish you didn't at times, I feel the same way at times, to be honest, but you were strong enough to survive. You help, you just don't see what you've done when you are faced with what you couldn't." He replied simply. I stood, having made three clones to continuously gather nature chakra while I was full of nature chakra, enough to make up for my lack of regular chakra. "I guess…I still don't feel a single bit better, though. I don't care about saving the random trash on the street when I can't save anyone close." I said with a sense of finality as I exited my inner world. The nine-tailed fox chuckled, "then why do you save them?" He muttered before napping again. He trusted Kiri to deal with this foe like any other.
I got off the bed with a small sigh, knowing that that whole conversation took place in a couple of seconds at the most. I gently rubbed at the rough green scales along my cheekbone that flowed from around my eyes, down my neck and came to a stop near my shoulder blades. No doubt the large horns that grew on my head were also apparent, a result of me mastering Snake Sage Mode but not letting go of deep-seated dark emotions according to the old snake that taught me. I adjusted my pants since sitting had caused them to ride up a bit before I made towards the door. "When I recall you be ready to use the Shadow Clone Explosion." I said before walking out. I heard a chorus of grunts to the affirmative before I walked out.
The hallway was pitched black but I knew the way to the largest room in the house, the ballroom. After grabbing the candle from my room and shielding it with my hand, I used Shunshin to arrive there in a few moments. I only entered this wing of the manner to eat in the dining room but was shown the expansive room when I first arrived by Walter. I don't care for dancing and it seemed Integra doesn't either as, while it wasn't covered in dust due to the staff's best efforts, it had a flat, lifeless smell to it. It lacked the lived-in scent of the hallways. When I came to a stop I held up the candle and observed the room, kicking back a table that was a little too close to the center of the room for my liking. I'd need the space. I walked over to the back of the room and sat the candle down. I took a deep breath before walking to the edge of where the light almost disappeared completely. "No more hiding! Face me." I yelled, ready to fight. The sound of multiple disembodied voices answered in so many languages that I couldn't process all the noise.
I looked forward and saw a mass of bodies of varying height in front of me. They didn't move an inch but I felt their eyes attempt to wrench past the light and dominate my mind. I focused chakra to my eyes and activated my Sharingan, the tomoe that surrounded my eye appeared and my slitted pupil contracted to give it room to revolve around it. The hazy feeling of my senses being assaulted subsided and I threw a hand forward, slamming the creatures with pure wind chakra that was augmented by nature energy. In an instant, the creatures disappeared and I felt lighter. I immediately started to step forward and walked down the hallway. As I turned I saw one of the creatures pointing in a direction before disappearing.
I wanted to choose my own place to fight but lacked the ability to trap the black-eyed creatures so I was forced to follow. I walked further and further down unfamiliar hallways being directed by creatures that would point the way before disappearing before I could respond in any way. Finally, after way too much time for my taste, I came upon an open room that lead to a greenhouse of sorts. I could see many of the dark-eyed creatures lingering along the walls and looking towards the greenhouse door. As I approached the door, I could see that a few of the beings were in a circle, speaking in a strange mismatch of sounds that didn't seem to fit one language. As I opened the door, all but one dissipated, along with the majority of the beings behind me. A few dozen were left. I scowled, "why bring me out here when we could meet anywhere." I spat out. The being turned to me.
It resembled a female with a small frame, straight black hair that came to her shoulder blades and ended in wild tapered ends. "To help you realize your futility." She responded before she stood. "Then you will die."
Chapter End
Author Note: Feel free to review if you have anything to say!