Author's Note: I wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy new year! I can't believe I was actually able to post! The final battle has arrived, not in the tallest tower during a tempest, nor in the center of the castle, but instead in the deepest catacombs that none but the castle's master have ever set foot in before. Anyway, you're not here to read me rambling, so I'll just get on with it. Also, did you know that the human head survives for an average of five seconds without a body?
Chapter XXIII
Nocturne of Ruin
Adrian Fahrenheits Tepes was beyond astonished. He would never have guessed that more than fifteen hundred years after his father became the King of Darkness, his predecessor would return not only still seeking vengeance, but also bearing the knowledge necessary to steal the source of his father's power.
The potential for disaster here was greater than any threat his father had posed. Despite being a particularly cruel vampire, Dracula lacked the sheer depraved mindset that Walter possessed. Having read about his father's predecessor, he knew about how Walter worked, about how he would kidnap young girls or children to lure other people in. How he would summon monsters for the express purpose of letting the humans kill them to work up their confidence only to have their children or lovers confront them at the very end, already having been turned into vampires. If the newly turned vampires were too strong-willed to kill their relatives or lover, or just couldn't bring themselves to kill them even after having fought them, Walter just slaughtered all parties involved.
Dracula might have been a mass murderer, but he was direct about it. The only thing worse than committing those murders would be to turn them into his own little game. While Dracula killed for a goal, Walter killed for entertainment.
His life had to end here and now.
He charged, sword drawn, bringing it down on Walter's head. The vampire caught the Alucard Sword with his own blade and with a flick of his wrist he managed to knock Alucard into a wall. The dhampir was prepared for impact and used the momentum to leap off of the wall, heirloom sword raised high.
"You cannot be allowed to exist a minute longer! In the name of my mother, I shall put an end to your lunacy without hesitation!"
Jonathan, Charlotte and Death all nodded. Neither of the humans were truly prepared to cooperate with the spirit, but what Alucard had said did strike a chord. The blond hunter was the next to move, charging at the vampire, whip poised to strike.
Walter moved fast, though Jonathan was almost ready to laugh when he grabbed the whip as he swung it, just like Alastor. However unlike Alastor, Walter ignored the pain and yanked hard on the end of the whip, pulling Jonathan off his feet and sending him flying into the ceiling.
"I'm okay!" Jonathan shouted from the human shaped indentation, managing to climb his way out and then tumbling gracelessly to the floor. "Waugh!—Oof!…Still okay!" He didn't get up immediately though.
Charlotte had made herself busy with shooting off a volley of Ice Needles. It had appeared to work until Walter raised his hand out between his body and the attacks and began to absorb the spells. A blue glow surrounded the vampire's hand and he shouted an incantation.
"Cocytus!"
A terrible frost cloud began to slowly spread toward her, coating the earthen floor with ice.
"What!? How the hell did he manage that!?"
"Miss Aulin," Death said in his constant rasp, "you can use the Book of Binding to absorb spells. You should have realized that by now."
"Oh…Hmm, that makes sen—wait! Why didn't you tell us that before!?"
"I simply assumed that a girl of your prodigious magical aptitude would learn the specifics of the tome on her own. Perhaps you're not as intelligent as you think you are."
"I'll make you eat those words so that they pour out of your skeletal throat and onto the floor!" Charlotte retorted. She faced the approaching spell head on and opened up the book to a blank set of pages, holding it out in front of her. "You're more stupid than I thought, using magic against the best witch the world has seen in a century! Let's see how you like this." No one bothered trying to slow down her racing ego, even considering that she didn't know that she could do what she was doing until a moment prior.
The frozen cloud was sucked into the Book's pages and Charlotte snapped it shut, locking it in.
"Now, I'll show you what that spell's supposed to look like: Cocytus!"
The same massive frost cloud sprung from the book as she reopened it, but unlike the slow rolling vapor that had poured from Walter's hand this cloud billowed toward the vampire at an alarmingly fast pace. Within seconds, Walter was encased in ice; a handicap that Alucard and Death both took advantage of immediately. A whirl of a sword and a scythe, and the ice shattered leaving a battered vampire kneeling on the floor. Unfortunately for the hunters, he healed his wounds almost immediately.
"You'll have to try harder than that, foolish humans! Oh, I'm sorry. I nearly forgot to mention the half-breed."
"I won't take it personally," Alucard hissed grimly, "After all, you won't live to regret saying it!"
The horrific abomination lurched toward Maria, a mass of bones and rotting flesh in the twisted image of a gigantic human. She nearly threw up at the mere sight of it, especially after it had torn the body of its host open.
"What is that thing?" she whimpered, taking a few steps back, one hand gripping a soft tuft of fur on her loyal tiger's back for comfort.
Oliver appeared to be lost in thought for a moment despite the circumstances before he responded. "It's an amalgamation of demons. They were fused together using some form of ritual but the person who was trying to control them clearly couldn't handle their power. Thus, the body tore open and released this thing. You have to get rid of it."
There was a groan from the back seat of the car.
"N-no…she can't…she's afraid of blood and guts," A groggy, and dizzy Stella tried to sit up, tilting herself up using her left hand.
"Stella!" Oliver exclaimed, "Please, just lay back down, you're hurt. Really badly, and I don't actually have any more potions to give you. You need a doctor."
"I have to help—Ahh!" the pain in her right side suddenly registered in her brain and she collapsed, wincing and breathing through her teeth.
"I can't do this!" Maria choked, tears coming to her eyes as she began hyperventilating. "I can't do this! I don't want to die!"
'Of course you don't.'
"I'm too scared!"
'I know you are. So please, I need you to trust me.'
"Is that you, Maria?" she asked the voice in her head, "How are we supposed to beat that?"
'We aren't, but if you can trust me for a while, I'll do it for you.'
The world around Maria faded to black and she saw her double standing before her once again for the second time that night.
"What do you mean?" she asked her predecessor.
"There's a spell that dark wizards use to take control of bodies that their spirits invade. It doesn't require a body to cast."
"Wait, are you saying your going to possess me?"
"Not quite. Being your body's previous soul, I'm already possessing you in a way. I just can't access your body's functions. To be perfectly honest, what I'm going to do is more like stealing your body from you"
"What!? No way! Did you actually expect me to agree to this!?"
"Of course not! I only learned the spell in case a dark wizard tried to use it on me. It nearly happened to me when I was a child! Dracula's deranged servant, the Dark Priest Shaft was trying to copy his conscience into me when I was a child so that he could manipulate my powers. Even as a little girl I had the potential to become an extraordinary witch. Ironically, it's thanks to him that I became one. But when Shaft possessed my brother-in-law, Richter, I decided I needed to learn a countermeasure to avoid having my body stolen from me. I—"
"And now you want to use it on me?" Mariabella interrupted.
"Aw, don't interrupt me when I'm almost finished telling a story. I poured through a lot of books of dark magic searching for an appropriate spell, and after testing it by having Alucard's ghost familiar possess me a few times, I was able to cast it. The only problem is that if I use this spell, I can't voluntarily give you control of your body back without vanishing completely, and I'm not giving my second life up."
"Obviously, the answer is still no! I mean what'll happen to me when you cast it on me?"
"You'll become to me what I am to you right now. A potentially loud voice in my head watching the world through my eyes."
"You can't be serious. I mean you just told me that you knew I would never agree to this! Why would you even bother asking?"
"I'll answer your question with one of my own: How do you think I knew you'd disagree to the idea?"
"How should I know?!" Mariabella screamed, "Just give me a straight answer!"
"I'll tell you then: I bothered to ask because I want to save your life. This is the only way for me to do that. I can speak through your mouth, and I can use some of my power, but I can't override your soul or personality. And I think you know how I knew you'd hate the idea."
"Because…I'm…just like you," she said shakily.
"I'm making you a promise: I'm going to teach you the spell so that you can take your body back from me. You will be able to get your body back from me." Maria Renard said with kind resolve, "For lack of my own life, I'll swear it on my heart. You're my reincarnation, and I care about you. But right now I want you to let me use it."
"How long will it take for me to learn the spell?" Mariabella said, tears escaping from her eyes despite her attempts to blink them away.
"I can't say for certain," the noblewoman looked away, unable to meet her descendant's gaze.
"Well, how long did it take for you to learn it?
"About four months of a few hours of study a day. I guess with you in my subconscious, it may take a little longer. I'm so sorry, but this is the only way I can think of to save you. And don't you have two of your friends to protect?"
"Y-Yes," Mariabella hiccupped, tears still flowing from her eyes, "You'd better make sure that nothing happened to them!"
"I promise. You're extremely brave for doing this you know." Maria put her arms around her successor in a comforting embrace. "I'm proud to call you my reincarnation."
"Th-thank you…I g-guess." Mariabella shut her eyes, not having the heart to return the hug.
"Well, here I go," Maria stepped away and closed her eyes. She began to fade away, leaving behind a shining outline in the dark expanse of her mind that began to spread across Mariabella's field of vision, even as she felt herself fading into the remaining darkness that closed in around her as her predecessor's light enveloped her. She felt herself vanishing. Her thoughts turned to her parents who lived in Ithaca just off of he university campus, and her sister who was studying abroad in Europe. She thought about how she might never see them again through her own eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Mom. Daddy…Anne…" one last tear rolled down her cheek. And then she was gone.
Maria Renard flexed her new fingers as the freakish monstrosity continued advancing toward her.
"Maria? Are you alright?" Oliver called over to her, "You looked like you spaced out for a few seconds there."
"I'm just fine," Maria replied, sparing him a glance before facing the abomination again, "and you," she said, pointing at it, "have made a very…big…mistake!"
Death put himself between Walter and the coffin as the vampire made a dive at it.
"You will not pass me. I will defend my master," Death hissed.
"I'll be your master in a few short moments and then neither of us will have to worry about the corpse in the sarcophagus."
"We'll see," Death replied, slamming his scythe down on the vampire, only to be blocked by the Damascus Sword. The scythe came around again from Walter's right this time, hooking around his body, and unfortunately not impaling him. It did however build up a lot of momentum as Death swung him in a circle and tossed him directly at Jonathan…who happened to be carrying exactly the wrong weapon for the moment.
Whips tended to do a poor job of blocking objects after all, especially ones moving at high velocity. His legs felt rooted to the spot as he thought crossed his mind.
Thinking fast, he tossed his throwing axes at the vampire. They hit Walter directly in the chest, but were obviously not enough to knock him back, and the Vampire landed on top of him. He was grabbed by the throat, lifted toward Walter's body, and kicked into the ground as Walter used his body like a springboard, and all in the time it took before he slammed into the ground and skidded to the edge of the room. Walter arced around in the air, transforming into his flock of bats and landing directly in front of the coffin. Death's scythe whirled around, lifting him into the air and slamming him back down to earth a safe distance away form the coffin.
Charlotte had been busy throughout this whole exchange. She had prepared Sanctuary again under the possibility that Walter might not be able to defend against it if he couldn't focus on it. The explosion of light engulfed everything in the room. Cries of pain were heard from several places. Walter and Death were obviously hurt, but Charlotte didn't expect Alucard to topple over.
"What happened? Alucard!" Jonathan shouted even as he slashed at the prone Walter with the Vampire Killer. He was almost immediately blasted off of his feet as the vampire jumped to his feet and slashed at him in an upward diagonal arc charged with negative energy.
"Are you alright?" Charlotte asked, hurrying over to the dhampir's side.
"My apologies, however I cannot withstand another casting of your Sanctuary spells. Holy energy can hurt me quite easily you see."
"I've used it around you before. How come you never told me before?"
"I have a very high tolerance to physical pain," he groaned, pushing himself to his feet, "However, Walter has forced me to expend too much energy. I have precious little endurance left."
"So, I can't use Sanctuary again?"
"I'd be grateful if you refrained from doing so."
"All right. Back to Piercing Beam then I guess," Charlotte shot several blasts of the aforementioned spell at the vampire. He wasn't hurt substantially but it gave Jonathan openings that he exploited quickly and efficiently.
Suddenly, the air in the room began to distort unevenly as vicious-looking sickles started to melt into existence.
"Oh no…" Jonathan groaned as he saw them appearing around him, "I hate these things."
"You never know, Jonathan!" Charlotte called him out, "You may find you like them a bit more when they're on your side."
"You're not in a position that would be caught in friendly fire!" Jonathan shouted back, "Why do they call it that anyway?" he muttered under his breath.
The sickles converged on Walter. Every time he dodged one it would appear somewhere else in the room and start whirling in on his position again. Death didn't wait around either. He continued keeping guard over Dracula's coffin and delivered a brutal slash as Walter once again made a move to get near it.
"Curse you, spirit! Stay out of my way!"
"I'll disappear only if you destroy my body," Death said grimly.
"That doesn't really reassure us very much you know," Charlotte announced, "I mean the Belmonts have wiped the floor with you each time you encountered them and even several other people were able to defeat you, my ancestor Sypha included."
"Silence!" Death roared. The sickles spun faster and continued to home in on Walter. The scythe crashed against the Damascus Sword several more times until—
—CRACK—
As the scythe collided with the Damascus Sword, Jonathan had hit it with the Balmung and Alucard had slammed Ascalon down on top of it as well, which was strange considering that Jonathan vividly remembered it being tossed out of the clock tower's clock. However, what all three parties were paying attention to was not the reappearance of the primary Dragon Slaying Sword, but the Damascus Sword, which now had a deep crack in its black metal.
"Break it!" Jonathan shouted excitedly, "By the way, when did you get that sword back?" he asked curiously.
"I found it while this scum was leading me pointlessly around the castle. I'll review the details later."
"Walter, not one to be insulted or spoken of as though he were elsewhere, snarled and slashed at the hunter and the dhampir respectively with a flurry of blows that sent them staggering back, but only momentarily. The sight of the crack had built up their fervor and they were going to snap that sword in two. They both leaped into the air and slammed their swords down on Walter at the same time, cleanly trisecting his head.
Or would have, had he not blocked them with his sword. He managed to toss them away while they were still in the air.
—CRACK—
Jonathan looked up victoriously to see the Damascus Sword. Still intact. It had cracks spider webbing along the length of its blade, but it still held together.
"That's a really well-made sword you've got there, I'll give you that," Jonathan said, exasperated.
"I have much more than this sword in store for you, hunter!" he drew the last word out as he charged at him. Jonathan forgot to prepare himself and hadn't raised his sword in time to block. And the Damascus Sword struck.
"Jonathan!" Charlotte cried, but it was too late.
He felt the sword cutting into his head! He really was going to—
—CRUNCH—
The sword shattered.
Jonathan breathed a heavy sigh of relief, equaled only by Charlotte's.
Walter stared, dumbstruck, at the hilt of his sword, the only part that had remained intact, however, he grinned at the two hunters, "My abilities aren't so limited as to be confined to the way of the sword," he laughed maliciously, "Do you have any idea—!"
Blood sprayed from his mouth like a burst from a misting fountain.
He looked down to see the Alucard Sword protruding from his chest.
"Y-You…You filthy son…of Cronqvist!" he choked, coughing up blood again.
"Die here Walter, kneeling at the grave of your equally foolish enemy, and his time, don't bother trying to return."
"This is definitely not over yet…" Jonathan said worriedly.
"I have a feeling you're right," Charlotte grimaced.
Suddenly the floor began to shake. Rocks started to fall from the ceiling and the room seemed to grow in size by a significant degree.
Charlotte felt the Book of Binding pulse. She opened it up and noticed that she had retrieved another spell.
"Hey, I've got Rock Riot back."
"Uh, we've got more important things to deal with. You might want to take a quick look at Walter."
She lifted her eyes from the Book's pages.
"Shit!" she swore, much to the dismay of all others present in the room.
'So how are you planning on beating this…thing?' Mariabella asked the girl now controlling her body.
"Well, it's poorly constructed, so it's vulnerable to anything. I'll just start by targeting what looks like it'll fall off easiest…" She gave the creature a once-over, "…Like that gut-launcher sprouting from its left arm."
'Gut launcher?'
"It shoots the internal and external organs of some of its creator-demons—"
'Please stop explaining it!' Maria would have retched, had she still been in control of her body.
"Okay, let's do this!" she shouted with powerful determination, a winged staff seeming to stretch out from her palm. With a simple thought both her dragon and her phoenix appeared on either side of her.
Without a moment's hesitation, she hopped onto the dragon's back and took off, aiming straight for the abomination's head. The dragon unleashed a jet of fire that began melting pieces off of the skull-like face, falling to the ground and vanishing in puffs of smoke.
"Phoenix! Get the head-things on its knees!" Maria ordered, pointing to a pair of hideous faces like horrific porcelain dolls, expressions twisted in agony. The firebird immediately spiraled high into the sky and then dived like a falcon, swooping down into the left knee, incinerating the first face causing the creature to scream in agony, oddly and horrifically enough managing to sound like a child being tortured.
Raising its left arm, it pointed the aforementioned gut launcher and fired several…things…at the phoenix, which it dodged easily. Seeming to grow frustrated, the monster changed its focus to the dragon attempting to burn its head, which was futile considering that the twisted skull was just a shield for its real face. It fired its gut launcher three more times.
Maria found herself falling from her dragon's back covered in what appeared to be intestines covered in spikes. They appeared to be slithering over her body of their own volition.
"Sorry, I'm not into that!" she hissed, absolutely disgusted.
With a quick blast of fire, the phoenix destroyed the freakish organs attempting to violate her. Landing on her feet, Maria summoned another animal; her tiger that had been dispelled when she had taken control of her successor's body. It roared and leaped at the other porcelain doll's face on its other knee, literally tearing it off with its claws. The gut launcher suddenly crashed to the ground and disappeared as her dragon destroyed the tendrils of flesh keeping it connected to the monster's arm. Once again, the repulsive colossus screamed its high-pitched shriek, and another face appeared out of its torso. Unlike the others, it didn't look at all like a porcelain doll. It was a gigantic, rotting, fleshy growth shaped like a skull. This time, Maria did retch.
Just as the dragon was about to make another pass at the monster's head, it raised its arm and swatted the dragon into the ground right beside its master. Maria didn't hesitate to climb onto its back and continue her attack from the air.
Until her dragon vanished right out from under her and she once again went into freefall. She looked around for her phoenix and her tiger, just caching glimpses of them as they all faded out of reality. She realized what had happened. To be quite honest with herself, she was rather ashamed that she hadn't seen it coming.
'I'm out of energy!?'
As if sensing the imminent danger, the Gaibon replica attempted to fly away, only to have the freakish colossus extend its skull-like head and chomp down on it, killing it instantly.
Walter was changing. Drastically. His armor had melded with his skin giving him a sturdy black carapace, and his cape and arms seemed to be fusing into gigantic wings. Unlike any wings any of them had ever seen though, these seemed to have ten fingers on each appendage, an entire clawed hand protruding from where one would typically expect to see a bat's thumb-claw. His violent red hair had spread down his back, and his jaws were extending, gruesomely exposing his fangs and a set of razor sharp teeth. His head, with elongated features, large ears, and an upturned heart shaped nose had begun to resemble that of a vampire bat, as did the rest of his body. Though this was like no bat they'd ever seen before. He had sturdy looking legs similar to the hind legs of a feline; ram-like horns now protruded from the sides of his head, and his powerful, clawed wings had completely replaced his arms, though they had working hands on them where the thumb-claws would normally be. And the black fur covered carapace that had once been his armor just completed the destructive, demonic package.
Before Alucard had time to recover, Walter had snatched him up in his claws and flung him head first into the earthen wall, his head striking a rock, knocking him unconscious. Death met a similar fate, as the demonic vampire opened his mouth and spewed a jet of fire at him, burning the spirit's corporeal form to a pile of blackened cinders.
It was just the vampire and the two partners left now. They readied their weapons and prepared for what they knew would be a brutal deathmatch.
"Humans are weak, pathetic creatures, and you've just witnessed me destroy Death himself," Walter gloated in a significantly deeper voice, though it was still obviously his own, "What hope do you believe you could possibly have?"
"Actually, I don't know if I can beat you," Jonathan responded honestly, a sneer spreading across his face, "But I'd feel pretty lame if I defeated Dracula, only to be taken down by his inferior predecessor."
"You'll die for saying that!" he quite literally roared, "I am far greater than that bastard, Cronqvist could ever hope to be. I am the true King of the Night, and I will not let something so pathetically insignificant as a pair of human children stop me from achieving the ambitions I've had for more than a millennium! Don't bother praying to God. He'll never hear you over the noise of your own screaming!" and with that, he slammed a fist down in front of them, unleashing a fiery shockwave that knocked both hunters off of their feet. He towered over them, snatching Charlotte up in his right hand, while Jonathan managed to roll out of his grasp. He ran behind the demonic vampire, slid between Walter's legs and struck with the Vampire Killer, wrapping it around his right arm. A struggling Charlotte toppled to the floor, landing on her hands and knees as Jonathan distracted their opponent with the whip, thrashing the monster across the chest. Recovering quickly, Charlotte shot off a volley of fireballs forcing the vampire back a few steps, but not far enough. Reaching out with his left arm, he flattened Jonathan under his wing.
Or at least, that was how it looked. In reality, Jonathan had just taken a knife out of his boot and was getting ready to rip through Walter's wing and pull his way out.
"Stop struggling. It will be easier for you," Walter hissed. In one swift motion, Jonathan stabbed his knife through Walter's wing membrane and tore open a hole just big enough for him to clime through. Or would have, had Walter's sable carapace not been in the way.
"Charlotte! A little help here!" he shouted as loud as he could.
"On it! Summon Medusa!"
Medusa's gaze immediately petrified Walter, though only his wing was actually encased in stone due to his sheer size. However, it was enough to make Walter flail it about to try and free himself, giving Jonathan more than enough time to get to a safer distance. Walter tried to slam his free wing down on him but failed to land a hit.
"Rock Riot!"
He was further impeded as a rockslide came out of nowhere, dumping boulders of various sizes onto his head.
"Don't you dare toy with me!" he howled.
"Fine, I'll get serious;" Charlotte relented, "Explosion!"
Walter was immediately shrouded by a thick veil of fire as explosions were set off around his body. What the hunters noticed when the flames receded was more than a little encouraging:
Walter's armor had cracked. Right down the center, a jagged crack had appeared in the demon's carapace, and he had noticed it.
"Nice going, Charlotte!" Jonathan shouted over Walter's roars encouragingly, though in retrospect he knew that the last thing Charlotte needed was an ego boost. Not that he was one to talk either.
With a roar, Walter lashed out at Charlotte, intent on not letting her cast another spell, giving Jonathan all the time he needed to sneak around him and jump onto his back. Not wasting any time, he swung the Vampire Killer around Walter's neck. He couldn't help but notice that the fearful aura that the Vampire Killer had been radiating seemed to be growing more confident. Unable to shake him off, Walter took to slamming his back into the wall, which as Jonathan quickly discovered was a very effective and painful way to dislodge a smaller person from your body. He yanked on the whip, letting it go slack and ducked out of the way as Walter attempted to slam him again.
"Explosion!" Charlotte shouted. Jonathan's diversion had worked perfectly. The crack in Walter's armor spiderwebbed across the entirety of his body, but it held. It wouldn't last very long though no matter what hit it. Just for good measure, Jonathan wound up his whip and hefted the Balmung over his head, slamming it down on Walter's back. He was pleased that at least once over the course of their whole escapade in Castlevania, his attack achieved the desired result. Walter's armor shattered. He was exposed, and despite his great power, his body wasn't defended significantly better than the body of most other large demons.
Jonathan immediately returned the whip to his hand and swung it wildly, lashing the vampire repeatedly, bringing him to his knees, his wings folding at his sides as his arms hit the ground.
"Time to end this," Charlotte said calmly, approaching her massive opponent. She raised her arm, ready to set off one last explosion.
She never saw it coming.
Maria had managed to get into a blind spot, constantly staying behind the horrific colossus. She was almost ready, she could feel it, but she had to hold off for another few minutes.
"This wouldn't have happened in my old body," she muttered.
'Well, I'm so-o-orry that my body isn't as magically tuned-up as yours was, or whatever,' Mariabella internally retorted, 'How was I supposed to know that this would happen?'
"Point taken, but still, I'd prefer to have finished this by now."
The horror turned slightly, and raised its leg.
'I think it's found us,' Mariabella squeaked.
"Yeah, this is bad. No romantic after-party with Mr. Tall, Broody, and Handsome if I don't get you out of the way."
'That's what you're thinking about!' Mariabella shrieked inside her head, 'You wanted to spend time with Alucard so you hijacked my body and now I'm gonna die because of that!? Is that it!?'
"I swear, it's not! But…I still don't think there's any way out of this. I know you'll never forgive me, but if it helps even a bit, I'm truly sorry for this."
'I'd say it's been a pleasure, but honestly, you've gotten me killed, so maybe saying that it's been a shame would be more accurate.'
"Well, actually, if you were paying more attention, you might have noticed that we've been talking far longer than it should have taken for this colossal freak show to stomp on us and turned us into bloody Maria flapjacks. Check out our big friend over here!" She looked up at the beast using its head to keep the monster's foot from falling on them.
'Isn't that the thing that Charlotte let out of the monster zoo thing?'
"Yep. I never forget a face."
'You call that thing's mug a face?' Mariabella asked skeptically.
"Now, now, don't be mean."
With a roar, Gergoth heaved its head up, knocking the gargantuan monster off balance. Inhaling deeply, it unleashed a massive energy beam from its mouth, incinerating the menace's elbow joint, severing its right forearm. It stumbled back, roaring in agony and clutching the oozing stump that had once held the rest of its arm. Gergoth sidestepped as a massive footmade to stomp on it. The benevolent beast moved slowly, but was still just agile enough to maneuver its bulk out of the way of the giant's attacks. Once again it inhaled, but instead of an energy beam however, it exhaled a cloud of dull green gas. As the cloud made contact with the monster's flesh, it began to dissolve, the face in its stomach howled as tendrils connecting it to the rest of its body began melting grotesquely down its abdomen.
"That thing has a corrosive breath weapon!" Maria shouted with excitement, "Excellent! We've got an opening!"
Striding into the gigantic monster's line of sight, she raised her hands.
"I summon thee, Dragon of the Zodiac!"
Her dragon's Zodiac form erupted from its symbol and she scrambled up onto its head. It was over in an instant. They burst right through the hideous face in the monster's chest. The creature's shrieks grew so loud that Maria had to cover her ears to prevent her eardrums from bursting. She had to stop herself from cheering for herself for fear of jumping and then slipping from her dragon's head. As she made for one last pass she saw the head's jaw hanging open limply, exposing the abomination's last face. Her dragon breathed an intense jet of fire straight into its open mouth, broiling it. With one last shriek, the abomination fell apart piece by haphazard piece before the remains dissolved leaving behind nothing but the torn and empty body of its host.
"You're done. Rest in peace," Maria said grimly, dismounting from her dragon's head and letting it vanish. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have someone to find." She made her way to the castle doors and with no lack of confidence, threw them both open, kicking a zombie aside as it tried to bite her.
'That is so gross! Why would you make me touch that!?' Mariabella shuddered.
"We both have something—scratch that—someone much more important to worry about right now. And we have to hurry. I'm already late."
One moment Charlotte had stood on the earthen floor of the tomb, the next, Walter's head had shot out and had grabbed her in his mouth. She wasn't worried about contracting vampirism. She wouldn't survive nearly long enough for the change to occur. She had felt most of her ribs snap as Walter began slowly closing his jaws, clearly intending to make her death as painful as possible.
Her senses were failing her. She was vaguely aware of Jonathan shouting her name, but was in too much pain to work out exactly what was happening. Her world was one of fear and agony. It was difficult for her to breathe. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears. Suddenly she felt a loud crack, and then the world just vanished.
"Charlotte! Charlotte! Put her down you sick, filthy parasite!" Jonathan screamed at the top of his lungs. This only elicited a dark chuckle from the vampire.
"I said let her go, you bastard!" Jonathan was beyond furious now, but more than that he was terrified. He'd said only minutes earlier that it'd be lame if he survived Dracula only to be killed by Walter. This wasn't fair. It didn't make sense! This was— "Not happening!" he bellowed ferociously. Jonathan flung the whip behind him and yanked it back with all his might before lashing out, wrapping the Vampire Killer around Walter's neck and pulling it as tight as he could manage.
The vampire choked and released Charlotte from his jaws.
"You're going to pay for this if it's the last thing I do! And don't worry, I'll make it hurt!" Jonathan emphasized his last word by giving the Vampire Killer a sharp tug and snapping the monstrous Walter's head back.
"You shouldn't bother with that…" Walter croaked out through his constricted throat, she died before I even released her."
"No! You lying bastard!"
Ignoring the pain, Walter managed to wrench the whip's chord up and over his head and took a few unsteady steps back, "You can go over and see for yourself," he snarled, a deranged grin spreading across his bat-like features. Jonathan ran over to Charlotte's unmoving form, not taking his eyes off of the demon for even a moment. Upon seeing her however, he could see that Walter had been telling the truth. She was white as a ghost, wasn't breathing, and he couldn't feel her heart beating. He pressed both hands down on her chest, then placed his ear over it, and still, no sign of a pulse.
"No…" Jonathan whispered.
Walter's awful grin spread further across his elongated, animalistic features.
"No!" he shouted this time.
Walter let out a bout of diabolical laughter, almost too theatrical to be taken seriously. But under the circumstances, there was no reason to laugh over anything.
"No!" Jonathan howled, his cry no less dramatic than Walter's laugh. It was the kind of "No!" that he heard in bad high school performances during dramatic scenes. He never thought he'd be the one shouting it.
Death suddenly rematerialized shocking both combatants. Ignoring them completely, he drifted over to the stone coffin and reached straight through the lid. Said lid immediately got tossed off with enough force to leave a large dent in a thick titanium wall. And it happened to fly directly into Walter's stomach, setting off a huge spray of blood from his mouth. The red glow from the coffin grew brighter than ever. But the man Jonathan saw step out of the coffin wasn't nearly the man he had expected. When he and Charlotte had encountered Dracula he'd looked like he had on the cover of Charlotte's copy of Bram Stoker's novel. This man was had shoulder-length white hair with only a few traces of black and an elegantly trimmed beard. No signs of a sharp receding hairline. While the Dracula they'd fought had looked malicious and conniving, this man's face had an heir of regalia above anything else. The only similarity in fact, was the gaunt form and the red trimmed cape.
"Good to see you again, Lord Bernhard." Dracula drawled coolly.
Charlotte opened her eyes. Even that most simple action was painful. It hurt to breathe and her mouth was dry. Despite not finding fangs upon licking her teeth, she felt a faint part of her mind lusting for blood. Terrified, she began casting Sanctuary, mouthing the words and successfully casting the spell, only for the magic to die on her fingertips.
'I guess it can't be cast by a vampire…' she thought miserably, 'It's impossible for me to cure myself.'
She turned her head to look up in hate at Walter's demonic form, smiling at the terror in his eyes following their gaze to an unfamiliar man. Though he did look similar to Alucard. 'That must somehow be Dracula.' she deduced. She couldn't heal herself, but there was one thing that she knew she could still do.
"…Jonathan," she choked out through her parched lips. He was at her side the very next second.
"Charlotte, you're alive! Oh, thank The Lord! Wha—"
"All be still!" she whispered, but without the aid of the material scroll she only succeeded freezing time around the two of them, "I'm not…alive…" she coughed out, "Not the same way you are…" she gasped for breath for a few seconds before continuing, "I've been…turned…into a vampire. You saw it happen. When this is over…I want you to kill me."
"What! I—How—You can't ask me to do that!"
"If you don't, what do you think will happen?" she whispered, her voice gentle as she offered him a soft smile, "I'll tell you, you stupid boy, I'd end up becoming the next Carmilla or Elizabeth Báthory. If Leon could do it, so can you. And you're twice as incredible as any Belmont. You don't have to do it right now though. Besides, I can still help you kill the one who did this to me."
"I won't do it!" Jonathan shook his head, "I'll find a way to stop it; I'll save you!"
"You can't do anything. I'm sorry. But I know you can live without me. Just hurry up, and take that joker down."
The time suspension ended and Jonathan stood up, his head downcast and his bangs falling over his eyes. He moved slowly, barely lifting his legs and swaying as though he were intoxicated. Nevertheless, he stood between Walter and Dracula in only a few moments. With immense effort, Charlotte raised her hand, reaching toward the ceiling.
"Warriors, revive!"
Although both partners had recited the incantation, Charlotte was barely audible. That didn't stop Jonathan from being loud though. The spell was recited as a demand. The Vampire Killer's memory of the Belmont Clan would attack, price or not price. His life was over anyway, he could afford to use an ability that could drain upwards of a year from him.
"You think you can revive the dead? Have you grown delirious from exhaustion, hunters?"
"I'm afraid you're no better informed than the pawn you are, Bernhard," Dracula stated casually, getting a hiss out of Walter, "I happen to be unhappily familiar with what they two hunters are doing. You shall indeed return to the other world on this night."
Walter made to lunge at Dracula but found himself frozen where he stood, only his head remaining movable, doing him no good whatsoever.
"What have you done?! I demand that you explain this to me!"
"It is the second to last act in this performance," Dracula hissed.
"You might want to stay in your coffin next time," came a strong voice as the familiar face of Richter Belmont appeared. He whirled the Vampire Killer in a sharp circle and charged straight through Walter, vanishing as he stood up only for another man to stand in his place, he had long silver hair and wore an elegant, red Victorian coat.
"Insipid creature," he muttered, suddenly breaking into a run and becoming all but a blur as he too slashed through Walter. Just as with Richter, Juste seemed to be replaced by the next Belmont, positions identical. The next warrior was a muscle-bound man with wild red hair, dressed like a barbarian, his sparse clothing consisting of leathers and furs.
"Die, accursed beast!" roared Simon in his deeply masculine voice, slamming the whip down in a brutal vertical arc leaving a very noticeable gash across Walter's demonic body.
Simon was gone even as he straightened up, now possessing straight brown hair and handsome features, but every inch of his leather armor was covered in all manner of weaponry, and coupled with his smirk, he was immensely intimidating.
"Not even a challenge," Trevor whirled the Vampire Killer in front of him and charged, cutting Walter like a buzzsaw and flipping away nimbly only once the whip had lost all of its momentum.
As the last Belmont set foot on the ground where Trevor would have landed Walter's eyes, widened.
"No! Not you! Anyone but you!" he gasped hysterically.
Leon Belmont, his blond hair neat as ever, and his red and white armor pristine, looked up at Walter's demonic face with disgust. The Vampire Killer in his hands burst into flame as the first Belmont to ever hunt vampires swept it up toward Walter's throat. Leon slowly began to fade and the spell ended.
Suddenly able to move again, Walter collapsed. He was grievously injured and had begun reverting to his human form.
But he had survived.
"I'll not die this time!" he wheezed, his eyes fixed on the Crimson Stone, glowing from its place on a chain around Dracula's neck. "I will be the new King of the Night!" he shrieked. With one last burst of strength, he charged at the Dark Lord and grabbed the Stone.
He roared in victory.
He had won.
"Vengeance is mine!"
He had defeated that vile, usurping worm, Mathias Cronqvist.
"Prepare to meet your destiny, Cronqvist!"
He had—
"Goodbye."
—SRRRKHH—
He had neglected to step away from his nemesis.
And it quite literally cost him his head. The true Dark Lord drew his hand back to his side from its outstretched position just above Walter's neck. The hand clutching the Crimson Stone slipped away as the rest of Walter's body collapsed.
"Re…venge…" Walter's head croaked; a hollow and pathetic sound.
"Foolish pawn," Dracula drawled before setting himself down on the edge of his coffin. He almost looked…tired.
"Finish him while you have the chance," Charlotte ordered, hoping that her soft voice still had an air of authority about it. To her delight, Jonathan immediately advanced on the other vampire.
"Wait! Not yet."
Jonathan whirled around and Charlotte turned her head to see someone they had not expected to be there.
At that moment several things happened at once.
Alucard stirred, suddenly pitching forward and leaping to his feet, his mind still tuned for battle.
Someone threw open the chamber doors and rushed inside.
The translucent form of Leon Belmont began advancing toward Dracula.
And Charlotte screamed.
Author's Note: I have left off here at an awful cliffhanger haven't I? Well, I'm not telling you what's going on because he scene coming up is one of the main reasons I wrote this fic. However…I feel as though I may have rushed through that last scene. I'll probably come back to edit it later when I'm less anxious to see it finished.
I'll see you all in mid-January! Merry Christmas! Happy belated Hannukah! Happy Holidays to everyone!