A/N: Hello and welcome to the (bloody) conclusion of this story! This has been the most difficult chapter to write so far. What to get all the foreshadowing right, trying to find a perfect balance between show-and-tell, to make sure I don't deus-ex-machina everyone out of the story, but it's here in all its (bloody) glory. Hopefully you enjoyed your ride/stay and I will meet y'all one last time in the epilogue!
Because of this chapter's sheer length (the original script was 14 thousand words long), I truncated it into two parts. The second part has already been written, I just need the extra time to proofread it. So don't worry. I shall not torment you with cliffhangers.
Doubt suffocated him not so dissimilar to a wire whorled about his neck.
Did he do the right thing? Did he do the right thing by choosing to stay indifferent? By letting the Demon seize its quarry? Were the elder's words of repentance heeded? Gabriel breathed out, and a shiver prickled his skin. How could such an unsophisticated action cause so much discomfort?
"Please," he muttered under his breath. "Please, let this work. Please, my God."
An indignant outcry punctured the air like a bullet. With his lips pursed, the archangel glared downward – Alucard. From his lofty vantage-ground, the paragon could see the haunted expression now playing across the younger vampire's features. Jaw stiff, a wolf's gaze glistening with scarcely-contained anger, hands rolled into fists; Gabriel was familiar with such stance, though to witness it overwhelm the levelheaded Trevor was something to behold. It was... disconcerting.
"Traitor!" the Wolf roared at the top of his lungs. "He trusted you. He trusted you! And you let the Fiend get him!"
Ire is the source of impetuosity.
He recognized what would happen next in a flash.
"Grab him!" the angel all but requested the Forgotten One to step in.
The colossal archfiend let out a bellow – one of the enraged hollers the Sovereign was so fond of! – and stomped toward the warrior, disregarding any blood thrall that happened to be beneath his heel.
Still, this time his method could not brag of the same success; Alucard leapfrogged over the daemon's outstretched palm and chopped at his shell-clad leg. Crissaegrim bounced off of the armor with a frustrated poing! and the Wolf's nostrils flared in annoyance. And although Gabriel had never confronted Ikayiel head-on – well, sort of – he knew that slicing at the archfiend's armor was just as unproductive as trying to cut stone with water. His porous shell was too thick.
Yet, the warrior mulishly continued to rap the blade against the ridge-like plates. The Forgotten One froze and snorted, clearly savoring the swordsman's ineffectual efforts. Gabriel scowled. Rightfully, his daemonic affiliate's hauteur rivaled only that of Lucifer's. Could the Firstborn not learn? They had much more important issues at hand than this... this meaningless squabble! This conflict among themselves!
But it seems Alucard was not keen on going down without a fight. He was bouncing, sidestepping, darting, evading all of the daemon's slothful attacks. Such a stubborn young man whose... whose love and devotion to his true family knew no bounds. He engaged one of the archangels – the Almighty's divine agents of retribution! – merely because he called the paragon's actions into question. Such commitment was admirable.
Yet they did not have time for this, and, just as the Forgotten One perked to look at his superior, Gabriel gave him the slightest nod of his head. They had to finish what they began.
And at once, too. 'Twas the moment when Alucard had pulled his face into a grimace, pivoted in spot, and drove his Igneas rapier through Ikayiel's sponge-like carapace and into the pulp underneath it. The Sovereign's chuckle readily ripened into a feral snarl of pain, and before Gabriel could even bat an eye, his massive fist came down and spiked the warrior's frame against the sidewalk. The crackle of the Lieutenant's platemail caving in reached out for the saint's ears.
A strident rumbling roused the castle's demonic crowd. In the next second, an enormous hook-like appendage walloped the archfiend across his side and sent him tumbling off his feet like a measly doll. The Fiend's avatar let out an unmistakably human-like growl and twirled its sinuous extremity as though... As though it was a whip! There, as if compelled, packs of malformed thralls raced toward the daemon and started to scale his downed frame, at the same time probing his carapace for any opening or weakness.
In spite of levitating, the archangel managed to lurch back in disorientation. What the- Swearing, Gabriel folded his wings and swept down. As his feet grazed against the pebbled ground, a deranged roar rose the hairs on the nape of the angel's neck. Hewing his way through the swarm, – not a single of the lackeys paid attention to him! – his head jerked to see what was happening.
With his beady eyes agleam, the Forgotten One climbed to his feet. In a single swift motion, he yanked Alucard's blade out of his haunch and squeezed it in his fist. Hairline cracks ran down the sword's fuller and cross-guard-
Crunch! Crissaegrim's fractured shards slipped out the archfiend's grasp. Gabriel breathed in and doubled the pace; he had to get to Trevor before anything else.
By good fortune, – could it be fortune, the saint questioned, or was it choice? – the castle's creatures appeared to be avoiding Alucard altogether, preferring to go around him as though he were Cain himself. The paragon dived headlong through the last host of monsters, sending several of them sprawling, and stooped beside the boy. The younger vampire was half-comatose and clearly hurt – the jagged pieces of the Lieutenant's armor carved and bloodied his flesh, and crimson had already filled the fissures in the ground.
Holding his breath, the angel grabbed onto the largest fragment of the abyssal carapace and pulled. The plackart detached with a nauseating squelch, and Alucard's lips parted in a hiss. Gabriel carried on, digging out and removing the smaller pieces with the tapered tips of his gauntlets. In the background, pandemonium raged on, its hellish cacophony of snarls, shrieks, and shouts prompting the herald to sacrifice diligence for speed. This moment of odd respite would not last forever.
"Alucard!" He rapped his hand against the warrior's cheek. "I know you're wounded, but, come, I need you on your feet! Your vampiric regeneration will help you recover, but you need to move!"
"Ngh..." A gout of blood drooled out of the Wolf's mouth.
"On your feet, soldier!" the archangel boomed, mimicking the overbearing manner of a Brotherhood commanding officer. He could hope that the boy recalled his drills still... "This is an order!"
"SIR, YES SIR!" Alucard propelled himself upward, adeptly headbutting the unsuspecting trumpeter in the nose.
A squirt of iridescent blood trickled down Gabriel's chin – the faint aftertaste of cooper on his tongue nearly made the angel throw up. Recoiling, he wiped his mouth with the edge of his cloak.
Alucard watched him, a distrustful glint in his gold eyes. "What do you want?" he demanded. "Why should I listen to anything you have to say after you-?!"
"I'm not your enemy! 'Twas my brother's decision, Trevor," the paragon snapped brusquely. "I couldn't do anything to change it!" He gathered the dented pieces of Alucard's platemail and etched a rune into the bloodstained plackart. At once, all fragments surged upward and fused together into its original exoskeleton-like form with a dry chink.
"What?! You were there!" Was the outraged answer. "You chose not to take action!"
Fed up with the accusations, Gabriel all but lobbed the reconstructed chestplate at the Wolf. "Then you should perchance stop trying to avenge those who do not wish to be avenged," he forced through gnashed teeth and motioned with his hand. "Now get out of here!"
"I'm not going anywhere!"
"This no longer concerns you, Alucard!"
"This concerns me even more than you!"
The archangel spun on his heels. "No, it does not. This is where His soldiers step in to resolve the conflict, and you are not a part of this conglomerate, boy. We're grateful for everything you've done, but this is where you lay down your weapon." Without even glancing at Trevor, he took off and zipped toward the roof of the nearby structure – one of few still standing amidst this bedlam. Breathing raggedly, Gabriel darted toward the parapet.
The castle's avatar was rocking slackly back and forth on its strings, oblivious to the situation unfolding around it. Likewise, all of its servants, be that a many-armed blood thrall or the reanimated bones of what once was a human, were frozen in stasis, unresponsive even as the Forgotten One – in one piece, thankfully – kept cutting them down like grass. Rust-brown blood coursed once again.
A shiver of unease prickled the angel's skin, and Gabriel squinted. From this lookout point he could see the faint quirk of the Fiend's many lips. That... smirk disconcerted the saint even more than the idleness of the its forces. It was waiting for something.
The fluttering of many leathery wings reached out for his ears, and he pivoted to see Alucard's inexorable expression. "If you think that I'll just lounge about then you are a cretin," he snarled.
"Stop this, Alucard." The archangel grimaced. "Your Crissaegrim is destroyed. You cannot help us!"
"Do you think I give a damn?!" The younger vampire stabbed his finger at the paragon. "My Father is the only family I've left, and I'll not let this abomination lay its foul mitts on hi-"
An ethereal chuckle cut him off. "It is too late for that, oh pitiful scion." The avatar jerked its head up and bared its teeth in a wide, fine-toothed grin. Its whole frame began to throb and convulse, each quiver melting more and more of its pulpy tissue into blood. Growing more and more amorphous with each passing second, the beast let out its last, hair-raising scream and folded like a stack of cards. With a rallying cry, the castle's minions rushed toward the boiling lake and flung themselves into its depths without reservation. Their flesh and bone dissolved with a sizzle, and the water's surface simmered down.
The stone parapet popped beneath Gabriel's hands as though it was plywood, and the saint hung his head in defeat. "I've made up for my wrongdoings centuries ago. I deserve forgiveness, don't I?" he murmured. "Or will I be joining my brother no matter what?" He pressed his palm against the blazon of a cross carved into his chestplate. "No. I have lost faith once. I will not repeat the same mistake again... Ikayiel!" he yelled as he swooped down to join forces with the concerned archangel of wisdom. The rustle of wings pursued him. "How can we fix this?!"
"How do you suggest we fix this?" the Forgotten One answered in a deadpan voice and gave Alucard a distrustful leer. The warrior responded with a straight-out hostile glower.
The trumpeter could feel the blood drain from his face. "You mean you don't know? But- but you must know! If you identify something as possible-"
The archfiend shook his crowned head. "Nothing on this earth is more powerful than the Fiend's malevolent will, for it is the product of a hatred that dwarfs my own. It will possess its host in the end. This... this is where you come in to achieve your objective. To put an end to his existence."
Gabriel winced – did the archfiend use that pronoun on purpose? "But what about its erratic behavior? It made a move only when you provoked it! When you caused Alucard harm! It must be related to all this somehow!"
Suddenly, the crimson pool rippled and expelled a sizable glob of... of some glutinous red matter. The sludgy residue crept without aim along the ground for a bit until eventually four boneless extremities shot out of its sides, – arms and legs, the archangel understood to his horror – and it clumsily heaved itself upward. From there, it quickly began to change... become more defined, detailed. A head jutted out shortly after the limbs, its hands grew fingers, and muscles streaked its otherwise supple frame. The humanoid shambled in the angels' direction, its movements spasmodic and choppy, almost as if the creature was fending off the desire to hunch over and continue on all fours. But as it drew closer, its gait grew more steady and firm even as familiar features bubbled into view and the blood mottling its flesh retreated. Out of the corner of his eye, the paragon could see the lake behind the wight evaporate into a thick scarlet fog.
Gabriel folded his arms to subdue the cramp set in his muscles. Aside from his healed eye and the somewhat longer than average version of his embroidered coat, Dracul appeared... normal? As a matter of fact, he looked almost... almost bored. And yet the saint's instincts told him to dismiss the Demon's gratuitous façade.
The vampire yawned and stretched. "Ah," he said after a pause, clawed hands rising to tousle his damp hair. "Well, that was... certainly a riveting experience, but I'd rather not go through it again."
The party exchanged a brief look, and Gabriel's mouth puckered. "Don't," he whispered and rested his hand against Alucard's shoulder. "It's no longer him."
"Father? Are you alright?" To his credit, Alucard did not rush forward as he had feared, but the saint could still heed the distinct concern present in the warrior's voice.
Dracul – nay, the Bernhard's Demon – focused his gaze on the troubled boy, and the herald could see now just how utterly inhuman his eyes appeared. "I admit, he put up quite of a fight." He shrugged nonchalantly. "I did not expect that, and for a moment there he seized control of my avatar. All but used it to destroy the thing which harassed him the most. Intriguing, isn't it?" He paused, waiting for a reply.
Alucard drew his mouth back in a snarl. "Creature, what have you done with him?!"
"You feeble, loathsome whelp." The Beast laughed. "I am Dracul's one and only true offspring. You are nothing but an imposter who had risen against his own blood!" A furrow knotted his brow. "Should have ripped you to gory shreds when I saw you stride through those doors centuries ago. Your very existence is what had caused my Prince to revolt!"
"I bet that was upsetting." The corners of the Wolf's lips crinkled in a gleeful smirk.
From Gabriel's point of view, the Fiend did not flinch a muscle, yet he could sense something alien tunnel through the rock underneath their feet. Guided on by his gut feeling, the archangel sprung back, and in the nick of time, too. A dozen of ropy tentacles burst from the ground and looped about the unsuspecting vampire's legs and torso. Alucard let out a startled bark and tried to wriggle out of their fleshy embrace, but a few more lassoed him before he could call forth his bats or his spectral familiar.
The Forgotten One, in spite of his colossal size, managed to dodge the more than half of those clingy appendages, yet several of them – almost as thrice as thick – caught hold of him all the same. As the giant was yanked to his knees, a hundred or so more of meaty tendrils burgeoned forth and coiled around his entire frame like rootstock. The daemon begun to thresh about, stretching and tearing the sinewy outgrowths, but to little avail. The more he struggled the more they tightened about his body.
For something so mediocre to incapacitate both his brother's firstborn and the eons-old archangel in one fell swoop? Was this some bloody joke? The tentacles did not even attempt to entangle him, but this did not make the paragon let his guard down in the slightest.
"Much better." The Fiend waved his hand. "The interference was trying my patience."
Gabriel's grip around the Vampire Killer grew white-knuckled. "Let them go."
The elder's examined the angel's helpless allies, and a scowl flicked across his face. "It's not in my best interest to hurt them. I just wish to talk face-to-face."
"Let them go and we will talk."
"And further tolerate their insolence? No-no, this wouldn't do at all." His mouth twitched. "Heed what I say, paragon. I do not desire to spend any more of my time on this wretched plane. Anywhere... is better than here."
"Leave this domain behind? You?"
"I've been bound to that damn boulder of a castle ever since those Bernhard yokels had first summoned me," the Demon spat out. "And almost two millennia later, I finally, finally-" He curled his fingers into a fist. "I have the means to return to whence I came! Homesickness is such an atrocious thing. Even creatures such as myself can become nostalgic."
A surprisingly solemn glint reflected in his hellish eyes. "Yet... yet I believe that you will not stand idly. I am an abomination in your eyes, am I not? An abomination that puppeteers your vampiric sibling's body." The elder looked away. "The truth is- is that I do not wish to fight. Killing one destroys the other, that's the harsh truth. So... let us take our separate paths and I promise, you will never see me again."
"It is my divine duty to exterminate you," Gabriel informed.
"Aye, I know that. But we both understand that it is... unproductive." Bernhard's eyes twinkled with mirth. "Admit it, Gabriel, you never truly sympathized with your cursed twin. Never really cared for Dracul's fate. In your mind's eye, he's a liability that keeps dragging you down. That keeps you away from your happy ending."
"No, no, no, NO!" the archangel yelled, a hysterical note creeping into his voice. "What was that imbecile thinking?! That he'd be able to defeat him?! A mortal against Bernhard's, Laura's and Ikayiel's joined power?!"
"Calm yourself, Gabriel," Michael intoned, frowning. "Trevor was just doing what he's been told."
"Marie did not desire to be avenged! It was an excuse! A pretext!" The trumpeter gave his associate a cross-eyed glare. "And myself! Ugh! The allusions were obvious, and I- he failed to acknowledge them! Is he that daft?"
Zobek's heavenly half heaved a sigh. "It is unfair to blame our dark sides; they're all but programmed to make poor decisions. And besides, you didn't know about Trevor prior your ascension, too."
"Erm, Gabe, y'might wanna see this..." From the other side of the alcove, Uriel beckoned.
"What now?" He trudged toward the rest of the angelic troupe.
He could see Eliana's mouth pinch even as her hand flew up to her face to mask it. "He's- he's trying to revive him. With his blood."
Deafening silence swallowed the chamber. Then everyone, from the mournful Raphael and to the flabbergasted Azrael, flashed a slow, full of hesitation glance in the archangels' direction. "What must be done, Michael?" the psychopomp finally asked. "Should I escort Trevor's soul or leave him alone and let the change consume him?"
Michael squinched his face up. "Dracul will need a guide, someone to assist him when Lucifer returns to the world. I cannot think of anyone better suited for the task than his son. Leave him, Azrael. When Alucard wakes up, he's going to be the only person Gabriel's sibling will trust implicitly."
"You wish to excommunicate not one but two members of the bloodline?" Eliana rounded her eyes.
"They will persevere," the Right Hand replied. "Dracul will take care of Satan for us. In the meantime, we can focus on the Bernhard's Demon."
Gabriel was listening to the ongoing conversation with half an ear, secretly thankful that it did not involve him. It was futile to argue with God's representative in Eden anyway... "If anything, these trials and tribulations for him mean a decade or so of happiness for me and Marie," he mumbled to himself.
Marie.
"I'd be lying if I tried to deny it," the archangel uttered quietly. "The only reason I've taken measures was because Marie had risen up. Without her I would have stayed idle and... and fall."
He paused and grounded his teeth in a snarl. "But it doesn't mean I enjoyed seeing the suffering he- I had to go through! After all the injustices, all the deceit and manipulation, I had every right to be angry at humanity and the tribunal standing behind it! But you! You envision yourself to be better than them. You believe you deserve mercy, but in reality, you're just a leech, a parasitic gnat who had wormed into my head to preserve its own lousy hide! And you're going to die here for thi-"
"Hggn-" Ikay's muffled wheeze reached out for his ears. "W-grraaaugh! Wi-wings..."
Gabriel broke off mid-sentence and turned his head. Patches of familiar ruby-red dyed his wings, spreading like cancer... The taint lived on still. Most of the time, this would frighten the angel. For wrath was a poison for someone who was born into this world without the power to feel it. Anger was something that hurt him. Already spasms were crawling up his muscles and blood pounded in his temples. He just wanted to regain composure...
He pushed the painful yearning aside and let his lips quirk in a grim smile. Such a raw, primal sensation this was. Last time it caused the death of a righteous martyr, but now... he couldn't care less. He'd destroy the Demon that has claimed so many lives even if it involved driving the Vampire Killer through his brother's chest.
Fear flashed in the Fiend's eyes even as he took a step backwards. The possessed vampire twitched and doubled over as if he was just jabbed in the gut. "Begone!" An amalgamation of genderless screams echoed in his chest. Crimson rivulets – tears...? – began pour down his cheeks. "No! I've done your bidding for centuries! I earned my reward! I s-shall not surrender this bo- bo- ngh, get out of my HEAD, you savage! I will not be your meat-puppet!"
The saint startled. Was that- was Dracul resisting? Gabriel canted his head, sensing as a fraction of his rage ebbed away in favor of confusion. Instantly, his sibling's stifled ramblings died out, and he began to sway back and forth. His irises, so alive and full of apprehension there for a moment, darkened and once more grew dull and muted. The fleshy vines round them once more tightened their grip.
"Argh-" A rasping groan fled the Demon's throat. "Wha-" Fury curled the corners of his mouth down. "I've complete control, you traitorous lizard! I shall not surrender it!"
Curiosity overwhelmed the angel. Perhaps there's still a way to save themselves. Alucard's words – you've to transfer the hatred! – and Ikayiel's, too – if cut off from if its only source of sustenance, the Bernhard's Demon would die! – rang through his skull. Gabriel's free hand furled into a fist. He understood what he needed to do.
The angel pivoted and launched his attack. The Vampire Killer sung its deadly tune, almost as if it was ecstatic to be in use, and then its knob smashed the elder in the jaw. The Fiend lurched back, cheek torn and a murderous gleam in his black eyes.
"Fight me, monster," Gabriel demanded to the rattle of the chain retreating.
"Killing me will kill you, too, paragon," the Demon protested.
"I'm not planning on it." He eased himself into a combat stance. "What I am intending to do is to make you regret you ever chose to don the skin of my brother."
"That is unlikely!" the doppelgänger hissed. "He is me and I am him! We're inseparable!"
The herald did not waste breath trying to counter that claim. It was well beyond that. Instead, he stretched out his scarlet-stained wings and shot up. Spikes of light began to dance around his arm, solidifying and growing more define with each passing moment. With bated breath, Gabriel gesticulated. Two dozen of the dagger-like nails scudded toward the vampire-
-and dug into the stone with a hollow thump. The Fiend yanked the smoggy particles back into his humanoid form and let fire loop around his wrists. He pointed his finger at the hovering saint, and the air shimmered. A sphere of liquid flames tumefied to Gabriel's side, and the angel pulled back on instinct. The bubble continued to swell in size, engulfing everything it found on its path. Rock and concrete cracked under the heat. Gabriel backed off a tad more, not understanding what Bernhard was trying to do.
The Demon's outstretched hands started to shake and his lips parted in an enraged roar. The blazing growth ruptured along its circumference and plasma poured out of its jagged "mouth." Its matter splashed against the ground and encircled the party like a moat. The... whatever this thing was... leaned its lumbering, bloated body against the one of the buildings and gnawed at the stone. But as it grew, fragments of soot and ember began to crop up along its form.
Scales, Gabriel recognized. 'Twas the lithe torso of Dracul's Dragon Form, but why would... how... what has the Demon done to it? Eyeless and invertebrate, it writhed in a puddle of its own plasma, absorbing all matter it stumbled across. What kind of abomination had the Fiend given birth to? The angel bombarded the creature with his daggers, hoping it would halt its growth. Yet as soon as they brushed against its roughening hide they fizzled out like snow over a fire. How could this be possible? How could something shrug off a hail of blessed knives as though they were toothpicks?
Baffled and dithering, he cast his gaze down onto the battleground. The heat radiating from the slug – he couldn't think of a more appropriate comparison – had scorched the tentacles that tied his allies. With a bellow, the Forgotten One tore at the dried out tendons and heaved himself to his feet. There, he sprang towards Alucard and severed the outgrowths that bound the Wolf as well. The warrior rewarded the archfiend with a skeptical glare, but climbed up his arm all the same. In a single bound, the daemon leaped out of the blazing ring. Good, so they were safe now.
The Fiend himself did not seem to be bothered by the two escaping his clutches. He gesticulated, and a second line zigzagged the scaled beast. It cracked open its sawtooth maw and breathed a shriek so loud it had thrown everyone backward by the blast. Forelimbs and hind legs bulged out its sides and grew birdlike claws. The serpent hauled itself upright, black as tar eyes scanning everyone in the vicinity and billows of orange smog fleeing its throat. That empty glare made the angel's skin prickle with horror.
The Demon flung his hands up in glee. "At last!" He laughed, and the beast mimicked him. "I know what you attempted to do there, paragon. To sap me of my strength. To weaken me so my... Lord could reclaim control." He kept on chuckling even as the herald touched down in a foot's distance from him. "Yet we both understand that you're far too selfish to release your life, Gabriel." Bernhard's gaze was steadfast. "You wouldn't kill me. You've everything: a home, a circle of acquaintances, a committed wife..." He squinted. "Hm, that reminds me. As a gesture of goodwill-" The Fiend wreathed his arms about himself and retched.
A gout of blood drooled out of his mouth, brilliant crimson in color. The archangel arched his brow – it was so unlike the castle's usual brownish! The Demon flexed his fingers, and the puddle slithered in-between the gaps of a rock mound not far from them. Another gesture, and a dozen of sinuous vines lugged the stones to the side. The azure dress captured Gabriel's attention. His nostrils flared as the blood oozed past the Justicar's clenched teeth.
The shriveled husk twitched, her wrinkles smoothing out, wounds healing and blush returning to her cheeks. Marie's eyelids fluttered, and she sat up, hacking and coughing. Unable to hold himself back, Gabriel ran up to her. "Marie, d-don't worry," he stuttered, hand pressed against the small of her back. "Everything will be all right, I promise."
"Ah-ha, G-" Marie fixed her eyes on him, gaze clouded. "G-Gabriel? Is that... r-really you?"
He nodded. "Aye."
"Oh my- If you're here, on Earth...?" She uttered a tinkling laugh. "Then- then this means you're not going to fall from grace! We won!"
A wry grimace twisted Gabriel's features. "Beloved..."
"Wha-" Marie stretched out her neck to look over his shoulder. Seconds later, beads of sweat began to dot her forehead, and she shrank back with a soft 'no.'
"I've given back what Dracul had wrongfully taken from you, paragon," the Fiend's distorted voice echoed behind his back. "And in return I simply ask for you to grant me the right to leave your plane."
"You mean turn a blind eye to your transgressions?" Gabriel corrected through gnashed teeth.
"Well," the elder said with a soft snigger, "Ikayiel had expressed it himself. Fury, disgust, rage. All of them are standard human emotions. I did not come to personify them out of nothingness. Did not come to savor the souls of those who fell prey to my Lord's whip, fang, claw or blade. He is a vessel, a carcass that holds your evil side. He is a byproduct of your ascension."
The archangel swiveled on his heels. "But 'twas you who'd inflated his hatred towards humankind! All so you could gobble up his personality and eventually occupy his body!"
"You can't blame me for being a trifle opportunistic." The Demon shrugged and gestured to the gargantuan beast behind him. "Becoming angry won't help here, too, Gabriel. You'll just poison yourself. Now, the Wyrm is the outside source of my hatred, something you are not linked to. Why a Wyrm?" He offered the couple a tender smile. "I'm not an ungrateful being. This is my way to pay my progenitor – and you! – my tribute. Hah, without you and your, ah, God's war with Lucifer none of this would have happened!"
Bernhard's grin grew wider. "So, saint, what do you say? It is impossible for you to fulfill your duty without meeting death. I do not wish to oppose you or the Governing Paragons any longer. I even brought your Marie back. And all you have to do is to let me go and you can resume your carefree existence in Heaven. Just let... me... go..."
A slimy glob climbed up the archangel's throat, forcing him to swallow. "If I allow this, what's my guarantee that you will not return to wreak havoc?"
The Fiend bowed. "You have my word."
And it would break it. Regardless of how many solemn promises it may hand out. For it had already had a taste of this power. A power that could call forth hellbeasts, bring back the dead and tear open portals to other realms, yet it had to be sustained. The body it inhabited was undead. Lifeblood was its fuel. Without it, it would wither, it would wane and it would die. Sooner or later, it would come back for a fresh batch... and slaughter everyone just to sate its ravenous thirst for gore. Why was it denoting not to be interested in claiming his essence? Because it did not desire to die, plain and simple.
And Alucard with Marie... He couldn't let them perish because of his frenzied – egocentric! – desire to survive. To once again be happy. He could not let the boy fall. If not for himself, then for Dracul and Marie's sake.
But what could he do? The Demon has countered his every attempt to weaken its hold around his brother's mind. And this misshapen thing that made the Forgotten One look like a midget! What could possibly defeat a millennia-old monster with the combined potential his vampiric evil side, a fallen archangel, and over a million of human lives? Nothing on this Earth was stronger than its cursed influence.
Gabriel holstered the Vampire Killer in a single swift movement and waved in Ikayiel's direction. The daemon approached with Alucard perched upon his shoulder still. "Justicar!" the Sovereign proclaimed, fear apparent in his voice. "Uh, no ill feelings, my lady. I only did what was necessary, even if the end result is not what we've intended."
"It's fine, Ikay." Marie gave him a patient smile. "Though your lance did catch me off-guard."
"Mother!" The Wolf leaped down, his eyes wide as saucers. "I thought- thought that you- are you alright? After what happened-!"
"I'm okay, thank you for the concern, Trevor. But it's not me you should be worried about." She gave the doppelgänger a resolute glare. "Don't worry, Gabriel, I'll get that parasite out of you."
"We. We'll get that parasite out of you. I have sworn to protect my family, and this is what I'm going to do." Alucard brandished a serrated blade. Violet crackled around it like lightning. "The Forgotten One might have broken my Crissaegrim, but I still have my Masamune."
The daemon in question cracked his knuckles. "You've made a great mistake, mongrel. You just gave these two very determined individuals a reason to fight. Next time, check whenever it is wise to be altruistic. If there's going to be a next time, that is."
"Aye. I'm going make certain there isn't." The archangel took a bold step forward. "Death did not stop me from exorcising Lucifer, and if you assume it is enough to stop me from doing what is right then you would be wrong, monster."
"YOU IMBECILES!" The Fiend shrieked, fury twisting his features into something truly nightmarish. Its façade crumbled. The Wyrm started to inflate like a balloon, its sides expanding as it breathed in. "He is gone! Now there is only me! The Prince of Darkness! THE KING OF DEATH!" He stabbed his finger at the party. "Understand this as you die, ever pathetic, ever FOOLS!"
Gabriel cracked a smile and pulled both Alucard and Marie closer. Well, 'twas a life well lived, he told himself. It had its ups and downs, its vicissitudes of fate... But in the end it did not really matter. Just like the three Brotherhood Founders, he had committed an error of judgment. In a high-minded effort to resolve everything in one go, he had buckled under his imperfections. Were he human, he'd start questioning the motives of the Heavenly Father. Was there a point to all this sacrifice? Was this pain and suffering unavoidable? But he had promised Marie to remain steadfast. He wouldn't dream of breaking that promise.
If this was the will of Yahweh, then so be it. He would stand up to the outcome of his mistake.
And besides, with his demise, the Demon would follow soon after... Good will triumph and no Evil will be born in its wake. Not again.
"Come," murmured Gabriel. "Now we end this, once and for all."
The Wyrm exhaled.
Heat, blistering heat stroked his cheeks. Singed his hair and charred his feathers, but pain was something he could endure. For he had swaddled the two most important people in this world in his wings, shielding them from the creature's ire. Letting them go would be to condemn them. But at the same time, a nagging thought refused to leave his mind. If this was indeed wrath and resentment given life, shouldn't it incinerate them all? Level the entire city to the ground and leave a smoldering crater?
Slowly, the inferno died out, scorching heat giving way to humid air. With a baffled sniff, Gabriel folded his wings and rose. After a quick review – just a few burns, nothing life-threatening – he pivoted... and froze. Oh, just how precise he turned out to be.
To his left, to his right, buildings were disintegrated. No debris, no destruction, just smooth sandpapered stone coated with a layer of dust. Only in far, far distance he could see some of metropolis' business premises still standing. Cold sweat trickled down Gabriel's spine.
Behind the angel, the Forgotten One tsked. "Now this is what I envision when I paint the picture of a world reduced to ashes. I can appreciate the scenery."
"How are we even alive?" Fear notched Marie's voice.
Instead of answering, Gabriel gazed where he had last seen the Demon. Aye, still there, undaunted and unfaltering. However, now... one more character loomed between himself and the possessed vampire.
It was a slender humanoid figure. Clad in a carapace of glistening brassy armor, bald, with spiderlike pattern running down its entire frame. Its face was blank, barring a pair of brilliant teal eyes and a furrow where a human's mouth would be. Smoke danced around its form almost as if... almost as if the being just faced the burning onslaught of the Fiend's attack and survived. And not just survived, but protected them all from annihilation. The mysterious being straightened up, and Gabriel could see that it was around his height. Perhaps a bit taller.
"You..." There was a throaty, seething growl as both the Fiend and his Wyrm bore their stares into the being's skull. "You!"
"That is enough," the traveler spoke, tone soft yet inexorable.
"You caused all of this, You miserable whoreson!" the Demon bellowed, a familiar genderless palette distorting his voice once more. "You abandoned me! Abandoned me when I needed You the most!" With foam at his mouth and claws outstretched, he lunged toward the creature. The fact that the Demon stooped as low as a full-on melee surprised the archangel.
"Look upon yourself," the being rebuked as it effortlessly caught the Fiend's clenched fists into its own hands. "You cannot even control the body you have stolen. You chose to represent My Champion's rancor, and that is your ruin."
The wight floundered in the being's grip, spittle flying in every direction. "I will make You pay! I will crush Your neck between my jaws and savor Your blood! Blight! Waste!"
The traveler remained unperturbed. "Begone, impious spawn! Return that what is not yours!"
Gabriel could not help but marvel the bizarre and bewildering spectacle. Marvel as the being shoved the possessed vampire away from itself and swung its fist. The clout whacked the Fiend on the head, forcing him to back down, reeling. The armor-clad humanoid strode forth, parried what fumbling attack the Demon had tried, and pushed its hand against Bernhard's face. Oily, black-and-red ooze gushed out of the Fiend's mouth. It freckled the being's featureless face and chest, but it did not appear to be bothered by it. Instead, it pressed its thumb against the elder's forehead and muttered something. Fumes began to seep through its fingers, and the castle gurgled a shriek. After a few seconds that seemed like an eternity, the vampire choked and coughed up something. It writhed on the ground like an earthworm after a rain, squealing and peeping.
Without a second thought, Gabriel approached and scooped up the swollen, misshapen leech. It hissed, but that fizzle was silenced when the archangel stiffened his grip. Heaving a shaky breath, he fell to his knees. "My Lord-"
"Oh, don't grovel, Gabriel." The Being lifted the half-comatose Dracul upright and threw his arm over His shoulder. "It is genuinely upsetting to see My messenger demean himself like that." He titled His head toward the squirming slug in the paragon's hand. "You hold onto that. Our task is not yet complete."
"B-but... how?" Gabriel climbed to his feet. "How are You here? I hadn't played the Trumpet yet!"
"True, you weren't the one to summon Me." God pointed at the vampire. "He was."