Tharanis turned towards Asuka as she rushed forward, brandishing her preferred weapons of dual sickles. Like a rabid animal she lashed and struck and slashed with all her strength but each attack was stopped by a skillful burst of electrical energy from Tharanis which traveled up Asuka's arms. In time the feeling of the electricity started to be bothersome, like a thousand insects crawling up her arms. As her strength began to wane again, her adrenaline spent, Tharanis slammed her with his warhammer sending her into the same wall she was sent earlier. The pain spread quickly, and Asuka's red sight went away. Now in utter agony, she cried out realizing she was beaten.
"Now young sacrifice," Tharanis began as he approached closer. "It's time to take you to the keep where you can perform your part in the resurrection of our lord.
Asuka's mind reeled, she tried to push the shock from her body but it was hard to remove. She heard his footsteps draw closer. In mere moments, he would shock her hard and put her out. She knows that when she awakens, she will be well and truly fucked.
"Lights out, child," Tharanis said, as he prepared to release his power into her.
VII: Grasp the Thread, Part II
Tharanis released a massive burst of electirical energy, but watched as it slammed into the shield created by Asuka. She was using the combined glyph to hold the power at bay, but it was causing her pain anyway to block the attack.
"You're only delaying the inevitable," Tharanis boasted. "Why not just relax and allow yourself to serve your role in the resurrection of our lord?"
"He's not my lord," Asuka grunted as he eyes closed. Her back glyph shifted again and this time, when her eyes opened, they were red and looked like those of a wolf.
"What?" Tharanis managed as suddenly he was thrust back by the shield. As he recovered from being thrown back nearly a dozen feet, he watched Asuka stand up and begin to growl like an animal. "Impossible! Where did this power come from?!"
"My birth mother taught me the value of persevering when all was against you. Even though I barely remember anything about her, I know she was the one who taught me how to survive… at least before she went insane." Asuka breathed hard and as she let the breath go, her shoulders dropped. At that moment, a minor shockwave, like a stiff and sudden breeze radiated around her throwing dust and light debris around her. It made Tharanis back up further.
"But my second mother taught me how to turn weakness into a strength," Asuka continued. "How to become the cornered animal, ready to fight fiercely for its very survival. But it's not my own survival for which I fight now… it's also the survival of my friends, and all the innocents of the world. Dracula's resurrection would set all that on fire. I cannot allow that."
Asuka stepped forward as Tharanis threw another bolt of electricity. The attack hit Asuka dead on but didn't throw her back, she groaned but kept pushing forward, suddenly seeming to draw strength from her own pain.
"And so now I draw upon that one glyph I always hoped I wouldn't need," Asuka concluded. Her lip curled into a snear as the brief image of a wolf appeared superimposed over her for a brief moment. "Arma Custos!"
Tharanis threw another bolt of lightning towards Asuka, but this time she dodged the attack and rushed forward as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn't seem to be holding a weapon this time which worried the Cultist all the more.
"Back off!" he yelled throwing a torrent of electricity forward. Asuka pushed forward, weathering the torrent and roaring like a beast as she did. He threw both of his hands up to intensify the effect and watched as Asuka pulled her right arm back. Suddenly the arm seemed to grow, tearing itself opened into a massive wolf's head as she did so. The effect almost sickened the cultist. He managed to start screaming even before the head grabbed onto his arm and tore it from its socket. Asuka's other arm likewise transformed and tore into his opposite shoulder. With a scream Asuka pulled in two directions tearing the cultist's body apart.
She deactivated all three of the Custos glyphs and collapsed onto her back almost instantly. Her arms having returned to normal. She laid there for a moment, letting it finally hit her that for the second time in her life, she lost her mother. She dragged herself over to the window where Selina was thrown and looked out into the darkness. Only the sharp rocks and churning waves below greeted her eyes.
"Why," Asuka whispered as she cried. "Why did she have to die?"
"Momma! I did it! I'm gonna be a pilot!"
The sound of a child's voice tore her from her sadness. She looked down the hall, seeing a little girl in red hair and a red dress running towards her. Asuka barely registered that the scenery had started to change into a hospital.
"No…" Asuka whispered as she watched the girl run to a specific door. "No don't open that door!" Asuka managed to get to her feet, but it was too late… The little girl opened the door and stood in shock at what she saw beyond. Asuka already knew what she would see but she stared though the opened door anyway.
Kyoko, Asuka's mother was hanging in the middle of the room. Her face was purple and her eyes bulging as she didn't break her neck cleanly when she dropped but rather suffocated to death.
"Tragedy is perfect," came a somewhat familiar voice. She had heard it in the cave when the Salem Witch confronted her. "It will make her the perfect glyph barer."
Asuka turned but she couldn't see where the voices where coming from. It had become dark around her, but the smells of blood and incense were all too familiar.
"How many times must we complete this ritual?" another voice, this one male and with a slightly Eastern European accent.
"As many as it takes, until we have what we all want… We'll use her for the next stage."
"It has been decided," came another even more powerful sounding voice. "She is perfect. Begin the inscription. She shall bare the marks of the master."
"Dominus dicit sacrificium…"
All at once, the castle came back to full view; all of the apparitions were gone, replaced by the gothic scenery, the ruined hallway, and a raging thunderstorm outside.
"What is it?!" Asuka screamed. "What is my mind trying to tell me?!" Tears rolled down her face again as she struggled with what she knew. Nothing made sense to her anymore. All she knew now was what she had to do. But will it be enough?
Closing her eyes tight, she called upon Refecto again to heal her wounds somewhat. She wasn't sure how much more she could use the glyph before her body was just too damaged to heal, but she hoped she had enough… enough at least to claim vengeance and complete her mission. Her death might be required, but she didn't focus on that for now.
"Momma… I will avenge you," she whispered as she summoned her twin blades and rushed though the door towards the final path.
Bursting though the doors she found herself on the outside portion of the outer wall. A small army of Cultists had been gathering here, likely since word got out that the castle had been breached. Zombies were summoned, skeletons lined up, and cultists with a variety of deadly weaponry stood at the ready.
"I don't have time for this," Asuka growled though her teeth. Activating Rapidus Fio along with her best sword glyphs, Melio Secare, she launched herself forward, moving quickly from the platform to the bridge leading to the pinnacle. The army rushed forward to meet her and the massacre quickly began. Asuka lashed out at everything that moved, shambled, rattled, or crawled. She sliced though zombies and men in quick succession, smashing skeletons with swift strikes, and made a mockery of the army before her. Blood began to pour from the bridge as men and monsters met their fates at the hands of the pissed off redhead. Leaping into the air, she switched both arms to Melio Macir, her hammer glyph, and slammed down upon the bridge with a massive double handed warhammer. The force of the shockwave released threw men from their feet and even the larger skeletal abominations were unable to keep their footing.
Switching into Melio Falcis, her favorites again, she began reaping the bodies of the wicked with her massive scythe. It was then that she realized just how surrounded she was becoming. With a wide spin she threw many of the targets around her aside and took stock of just how much further she had to go.
"Not stopping now, better call for some reinforcements," Asuka decided. "Fidelis Alate!"
Suddenly, she wasn't alone. Winged skeletons armed with spears and shields began to drop from above striking cultists and abominations with equal fervor. With her enemies distracted she quickly advanced to the end of the bridge.
One last small tower platform greeted her and she exited this to reach a staircase that lead up to the top section of the pinnacle.
"At last," she whispered, and then ran up the stairs. The storm broke to her right and she idly noticed the full moon glaring through like some ominous beacon. To her left the rest of the castle spread out in her view, and even here the screams of the damned could be heard. Ahead she saw a set of double doors with gargoyle knockers. Kicked them opened and entered the final chamber.
The room was massive; easily the size of a lecture hall. The stone here was seemingly darker than in other parts of the castle. Four massive columuns of stone held up the ceiling arches which revealed only the cone shaped roof above. A huge chandeliner hung from the center of the room, lit by what seemed like a thousand candles. Braziers stood at the right side where the carpet took a T-Shape leading to a staircase, that in turn lead to the throne platform. The throne was exquisite, adorned with brass arms, soft red cushions, a large sweeping back, and a pair of demonic wings stretching across the back wall behind it to give the impression it was made for the king of hell. The path leading to the throne was adorned with long stemmed candelabras of great value, ending in 3 candles each. Though there were plenty of light sources in the room, the place seemed dark just the same, as if the evil palor that had come over this place was stealing away the light itself.
The carpet continued forward to a far off platform near the window. Only a few steps raised it from the floor and a large window was behind it. Upon the platform were two large braziers, and behind those stood the cultist she assumed was Decius himself. Behind him, standing on an angle was a black lacquered coffin adorned with the cult's symbol, the demon winged inverted cross.
"Welcome Asuka," Decius spake in his accented tongue. "I was beginning to think you weren't going to show."
"You…" Asuka growled. "You stole my life from me. I want it back!"
"I'm afraid it's far too late for that. The final ceremony has already begun. All we need to do now is sacrifice you, who bares the mark of the master, and the candidate within this coffin will become Dracula himself."
"You think you can just kill me?!" Asuka roared in protest. "I've come too far and lost too much to give up now. I will kill you Decius."
"You are welcome to try." Decius began to float in the air as he said this. "You may possess glyphs, but words are my power." A ring of books appeared around him. With a motion the books turned to flames and one by one launched themselves at her. Asuka dodged the attacks looking for an opening, and he suddenly flew to the right summoning another book. This one seemed to turn blue and fall from his hand. She watched as it fell towards the ground and wisely decided not to be on the ground when it landed.
Using her leap stone she stayed in the air as the ground froze over for a few seconds. She used her forward momentum to try to get to him only to be rebuked by a powerful shield. A field of energy surrounded him as a large opened book appeared below him and then above him. With a sadistic laugh he flew forward, using his shielded body as a projectile. Asuka barely managed to dodge both of his passes as she summoned a glyph she seldom used; Melio Arcus.
Decius had to suddenly keep moving as his position was literally rained upon with a stream of arrows summoned from two spectral bows at Asuka's sides.
"You're not the only one who can play the range game, Decius!" Asuka taunted.
"And you are not the only master of close quarters combat," Decius retorted as he blinked out. Asuka was suddenly cut in a fly by attack in her back. She gasped and stepped forward into another slash, then another, each time coming from another angle. Just when she thought she had the direction, the last hit threw her to the wall. Now bleeding, she growled and got back up.
"Now I have you!" Decius yelled as he blinked out again.
Asuka closed her eyes, concentrated on the energy around her and suddenly turned, grabbing Decius's hand as he attempt to strike her again and placed two fingers on his heart.
Decius froze for a second from the shock of having Asuka counter his action so easily and that was all she needed to strike the killing blow.
"Melio Hasta," Asuka whispered and a blade of metal shot though him, cleaving his heart nearly in two. Decius looked down seeing that the blade extended from the tips of her fingers.
"Probably the most basic of attack glyphs I have, the first I learned how to use," Asuka explained. "Seems fitting that someone so vile should be destroyed by my weakest attack." Asuka pulled her fingers back, allowing Decius's body to fall to the ground. Blood pooled around him.
Decius pushed himself up a little. "My mistress will fulfill my task," he warned.
"Mistress?" Asuka questioned.
"Did… you think I was… the one to lead this rabble?"
Asuka watched as he breathed his last and fell limply on the ground.
"He wasn't the leader?" she whispered. "Then…" She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I have to finish this." She knew she had to before the real leader came to finish the job. Decius was tough enough to fight on his own. He didn't want to know who his Mistress was. She took a step and instantly felt the pain rip though her back. Blood poured from the wound inflicted there a short time ago by the dead cultist.
"Fuck," she whispered. "Decius must have hit a vessel." She got her breath back and kept going forward. The rest of the cult would also likely be there soon, and if she didn't kill the candidate by the time they got to her, this would have all been for nothing.
Summoning her sickles again she slammed them into the rim of the lid and ripped the lid off the coffin. She stepped back instantly as she recognized the person within.
"No," she whispered. "It… it can't be…"
Inside the coffin was Shinji, sleeping seemingly peacefully despite his predicament. He was tied into the coffin but looked the same as when she left him days ago.
"No! Damn it no! Baka! Why?! Why does it have to be you?!" Tears streamed from her eyes as she saw the sleeping figure. "The last person I love that's still alive in the world, and I have to kill him!" She dropped to her knees sobbing as she felt the blood continue to slowly drip from the wound on her back.
"I'm cursed," Asuka decided. "I'm not allowed to be happy… I finally have what I want in this world and now I have to destroy it because if I don't, the world ends! This is beyond unfair!"
Crying softly, she pulled herself back to her feet. "But I have no choice. I must do this…" She switched her glyphs to the ones she was told never to use; Dominus Hated, Dominus Anger, and upon her back Dominus Agony. "It has to end here…"
As she closed her eyes and prepared to cast the Glyph Union she heard his voice.
"Asuka! Stop!"
And stop she did. Dropping her hair and releasing her concentration.
"Shinji!"
"Asuka, don't," he said again, this time in a lower voice.
"Don't listen to him, child!" came a familiar voice.
"Mama?!" Asuka turned towards the door and saw that indeed Selina was miraculously alive. Oddly, none the worse for wear either. In fact, she looked pretty refreshed. "But…"
"You must finish this," Selina said again. "And hurry! The rest of the cult will be here soon!"
"Your voice is familiar, Selina," Shinji said, getting Asuka's attention. "I'm pretty sure I heard it at some point after I was put in this coffin."
Asuka's heart skipped a beat. What was going on here? "Is it true?" she asked.
"Of course not!" Selina countered. "He's trying to confuse you! He wants to become the Dark Lord! He was always so weak and pathetic all his life, now he has a shot at real power, do you really think he'd give that up?"
"He was never weak!" Asuka shouted back. "You don't know a thing about him!"
"Neither do you, child," Selina noted. "What memories do you really have of him?"
"Why do you want her to kill me so badly, Selina?" Shinji asked. "If she uses Dominus on me, it will just move the power elsewhere, and she'll die for nothing." Asuka turned towards Shinji, shocked again. "Didn't she tell you? No mortal can channel the power of Dominus and survive the effects. Dominus takes your soul as payment for its power."
"Shut your mouth!" Selina snapped. "You can't delay the inevitable!"
"Nothing is inevitable, Selina. I thought you would have already learned that lesson. I believe I heard Decius tell you as much…"
"Silence! You are not worthy of the power of Dracula!"
It was at that moment that reality slammed into Asuka like runaway truck. The hallucinations given to her by the Salem Witch suddenly rang in her ears once more, awoken by Selina's words. The realization took her breath away and made her realize that once again she was being used.
"You're the Mistress that Decius spoke of," Asuka concluded. "You're the leader of the cult!"
Selina stood for a moment, expressionless and emotionless but after a few more moments, she sighed. "You really are too smart for your own good, you know that."
Asuka shuddered, both from the gaping wound in her back and from the reality of it all sinking in. She was never in charge of her own destiny; not when she was a pilot, not when she was an operative, and not even now. She switched to Refecto and started closing her wound, realizing she was likely going to have to fight again.
"I suppose you disserve to know the truth of it," Selina stated calmly as she walked further into the room. "You've earned that much. Lord Dracula was defeated in the year 1999. His castle, his remains, and even his very essence where sealed away by a powerful spell that required a great ritual. The result was that the castle would be sealed beyond the ethereal veil, the barrier between the real world and the metaphysical one. This was done in order to prevent Dracula's inevitable resurrection which happens every 100 years.
"Such measures would have actually worked, had it not been for Second Impact a year later. The event caused by the contact experiment with Adam managed to rip the fabric of reality asunder. This perfect Metaphysical rift allowed Dracula's Spirit to return. It rode the ethereal rift created by the impact event which granted children born after this point to become supernaturally aligned. In theory this should mean that anyone born around the time of Second Impact should be a candidate for the power of the Dark Lord. However we haven't figured out the reason for this, but not all children born during this time did became candidates. The ones that did, had become special in some way shape or form.
"You see Asuka, the EVAs had souls of their own. The Supernatural power the children had been imbued with allowed children to become pilots, able to synchronize with the soul within the beast. My theory as to why Shinji was always a better pilot than you was because of the fact that he was a candidate for the Dark Lord. In fact, He may control the purest form of the power of Dominus itself."
"That being," Asuka asked with anger in her voice.
"The power to rule," Shinji stated.
"Exactly," Selina continued. "Dracula had control over all the dark souls within his purview. Monster, human, it didn't matter. They all belonged to him. If Shinji carries this potential part of the Dark Lord's Legacy, it would explain why he was such a good pilot. The EVA simply did as it was told because Dominus would allow nothing less."
"Well that's all well and good," Asuka noted. "But it still doesn't explain what you're doing here."
"Put simply, Asuka, in order to figure out who will ultimately be the Dark Lord, all the other candidates must be removed. There are two ways to do it. The first is for a candidate of the Dark Lord to kill another one. This causes the powers of the candidate that was destroyed to join the missing piece of itself within the winner. But as we have yet to control any of the major candidates yet, just minor ones, we had to use the more… elaborate method. That being the Dominus Glyphs."
"I don't understand," Asuka noted.
"See, if a candidate of the Dark Lord is killed off by a mortal, the power goes back into the ethereal veil to reside for a year and day, after which time it finds a new host. But a candidate that has been killed by Dominus will have its power drawn within a prepared vessel. This allows us to control who gets the power."
"So you wish to control who becomes the Dark Lord," Shinji noted. "Which means you want a Dark Lord you can control."
"You of all people should appreciate how control works by now," Selina replied. "You and the rest of the EVA pilots were tools. So I just used you again."
"Of course if you manage to gather all of the Dark Lord's shards into a prepared vessel and then use Domius on it again, Dracula himself will be resurrected. I imagine this is what Decius and the rest of the cult were counting on. Perhaps even Shaft himself."
"They had their agenda. Mine is better."
"It's not going to happen," Asuka growled, allowing her sickles to appear in her hands. "I'll kill you first."
"My, my," Selina replied. "Still have some fight left in you after everything you've been through so far. You are quite the little soldier." Selina let the flames of her power begin to dance around her hands. "Alright child, I'll humor you."
Asuka immediately activated Rapidus Fio to close the distance, realizing even though she stopped the bleeding, she likely didn't have much time before her body gave out. The next thing she knew she was throw back across the floor by a sound strike to the mid section from Selina's staff. She reeled from the hit suddenly forced to roll away and dodge bolts of electrical power thrown from the witch.
As she got back to her feet, she realized Selina wasn't there anymore and turned in time to get nailed again, this time by a mass of light energy that hurt like hell, ironically enough. Dazed, she lifted herself off the ground a bit and looked back, noticing that Selina was throwing aside her shawl and her cloak, that was now torn apart as if burst by a great force.
"Foolish girl," she started. "Why did you think I could teach you how to use the Glyphs if I didn't already possess them myself?"
"I should have guessed," Asuka admitted as she got to her feet.
"Indeed. In fact, I was the original holder of the Dominus Glyphs."
"What?! That's impossible. How could you have kept your memories?"
Selina laughed. "Dominus didn't take your memories child, I did!"
"You bitch," Asuka hissed dangerously. "You turned me into a tabula rasa just so you could throw the burden of sacrifice upon me."
Wings ripped from the back of Selina as she activated the Arma Chiroptera Glyph, transforming herself into a creature akin to a succubus. "Of course I did." Her clothing seemed to disintegrate and her figure became more youthful. A black corset closed around her but left her breasts free. Other than the black boots that stopped at mid thigh, her body was fully bared and she stood unabashed in her demonic perfection. "I will become the new Dark Lord. Once I have collected all of the shards of Dracula, I will enact a ritual to bind them to myself. I will become as a goddess over all that is evil!"
Her wings began to slowly flap raising her slightly off the ground. A demonic tail, ending in a black barbed tip swung around from behind her. Black gloves without fingers covered her arms up to just past her elbows. Her lips seemed as if they were the color of blood, and her complexion pale.
"Until then, this is the closest I can be to the Dark Lord." Selina dove at Asuka, and the girl couldn't get out of the way in time. She was grabbed, slammed into one of the columns of the room, then thrown down to ground level again. Asuka tried to get up only to have Selina land on top of her. Having a half naked demon on top of her was not her idea of a picnic, especially when said demon slammed its claws into her shoulders. Asuka screamed, and Shinji began to fight with his restraints.
"Pathetic child, you barely understood what power you possessed. I will tear you apart and take back Dominus from your corpse. Then I'll find someone else I can use. Your death will be without meaning!"
Asuka kicked her off, switching to her sword glyphs. She kipped up to her feet like a martial artist and started to launch into a series of attacks. Selina however, was better than she at this kind of combat and kept blocking her attacks with her own claws, eventually stabbing Asuka in the stomach with her tail then throwing her across the room with it.
Asuka threw up some blood as she got back to her feet. She saw the hole in her stomach but simply cauterized the wound with a bit of fire before going back at Selina again. She threw axes, knives, summoned flames, and kept the pressure on, but couldn't even so much as land a hit against the madwoman. After getting nailed again with the back of a wing, she tried lunging in with her twin lances only to be clawed across the face and thrown back at the coffin.
"Useless," Selina countered. "In this form I am unstoppable. Even if you could hurt me, I would simply feed off of your life essence to replenish mine.
Asuka, still with a knife in hand stealthily cut one of the binds on Shinji's coffin before getting back to her feet.
"Asuka," Shinji whispered worriedly. "You can't keep this up."
"I'm sorry, Shinji," Asuka replied. Then turned back towards Selina.
"Sorry for what?" the boy asked worriedly.
"I can still kill you… and deny your future. And I will."
"Petulant child, haven't you figured out yet that you are powerless before me?"
"I still have one weapon left to me," Asuka noted sadly. "And I'm not afraid to use it."
"Asuka! No!" Shinji yelled as he pulled his binds free. He watched as the three Dominus Glyphs on her back became active.
"Goodbye, my love." Asuka focused on Selina at that moment and the demoness suddenly realized what was about to happen. She dove towards Asuka but without the ability to access Rapidus Fio in that form, she wasn't fast enough to get to Asuka in time."
"Melio… DOMINUS!"
Just as Selina was within a few feet of Asuka, a rift of energy opened at the level of the center of the redhead's chest. The explosion of energy that tore forth was unlike anything either girl had ever witnessed. The flash of it hurt causing Asuka to close her eyes as she continued channeling the power. Selina's eyes burned out of her head instantly and she screamed as the energy began to disintegrate her body.
Shinji had managed to get loose and touched the center glyph on her back, hoping he could stop this before it was too late. Instead the radiant power of Dominus filled him as well. He reeled from the energy as he realized it wasn't destroying him, nor was it shunting anything of him away… it was waking something up with him. And in that moment, an inspiration struck him. It could have been a whisper from the Dark Lord himself, but he didn't care… he knew in that moment that he had the power to save Asuka, and he knew how to do it.
Asuka's eyes adjusted to the power and she watched in cold satisfaction as Selina's body was destroyed, along with all of her evil power and ambitions. In the midst of the energy, she watched a ball of darkness pull from the remains and begin to float away. Suddenly, as if caught in a current it turned around and flew right at her. Unable to move, the ball hit her and phased into her chest as Dominus finally ended.
The world faded out and she thought she had died. The toll paid.
"You must be Selina," a Romanian voice spoke. Asuka turned, realizing she was suddenly inside Selina's memories.
"That's right," a young Selina replied. "And you are?"
"Decius," the man replied. "I am the man who was asking for you. I was told you were an expert on written magic."
"Glyphic actually," Selina replied. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Do you too crave the night?"
Selina knew exactly what that meant. She had finally found another kindred spirit, one who could help fulfill her plans.
Everything became cloudy at that point, and another scene opened before her. She couldn't see where it was happening, just as before.
"It's time," Rastur stated bluntly. "Are you sure you can go through with this?"
"Don't worry," Selina replied. "The girl is perfect for our uses. She'll do her duty…"
Out of the haze Selina herself appeared, naked again, and this time not in a demonic form. Even now, she was beautiful, and Asuka could appreciate such beauty.
"What am I doing here?" Selina asked. Asuka didn't respond as a massive dark hand with long fingernails seemed to reach out for Selina. It closed around the witch, nails digging into flesh and blood spraying everywhere. Selina screamed in agony as she was torn away from Asuka, the sheer terror on her face betraying that this was no ordinary death for Selina.
Asuka could feel herself starting to awaken. The pain was gone, but she still felt weak.
"Back with us now?" She heard Shinji ask.
"Where are we?" Asuka asked weakly, still unable to open her eyes.
"We're still in the ceremony room of the castle," Shinji replied. "You passed out for a few minutes there."
"How… how am I alive?" her eyes finally opened and she froze instantly. She was lying down with her head propped up on Shinji's lap. He had a hand over her stomach which was no longer bleeding, and one behind her head which was keeping her neck straight. His eyes, though… they were red, and glowing. His hair was disheveled and his features were slightly more feral.
"That was my doing," Shinji replied. As he spoke Asuka noted he had fangs like a vampire. "It seems Selina was right about what shard of the Dark Lord I possessed. Apparently, Dominus was my gift, but not the Glyph. Truly the power to rule, and that rule is enforced by control over souls. Specifically the souls of the dark and evil. I thought at first the way she described it, it was only over Dracula's minions, but when the power woke up within me… I realized that was a limitation that didn't actually exist. While I couldn't control an evil entity not part of Dracula's retinue while it was alive, once its soul had been released from its body, it was mine to do with as I pleased.
"Realizing that, I took control over Selina's soul at the moment she died, and shoved it into you, hoping that Dominus would take her soul instead of yours. It appears to have worked."
"You… saved me… someone who is in a way designed to try to stop you."
"Asuka… I'm still Shinji." Those words gave her hope. "It's just now I have this dark power within me. It doesn't control me though; I control it, and It can do nothing without my consent. So I have decided to subsume this power within myself."
"How long have you known you were a candidate?"
Shinji sighed. "Since before you returned to me," he admitted. "I had drempt of it before, and I suspected what the dreams could mean. So when I saw the Dominus Glyphs on your back, I was afraid you were the one that would destroy me. Even I had no idea that Selina was behind everything until it was far too late. The power started waking up after you came back. Remember when I found you at the club? I didn't use my contacts at the local law enforcement agency, I tracked you by scent."
"Are you actually a vampire now?"
"No, not entirely. I seem to have some of the advantages but not all, nor do I have the array of powers I probably should."
Asuka was about to ask something else when the room started to shake. She was confused as to what was happening but remembered what Selina had said about how the cult changes things.
"I think we better leave," she said instead.
"What's happening?"
"The cult has been here a while," Asuka noted. "Their influence on this building has hit the foundation. With the cult gone, the influence is gone, but the displaced matter is also gone. The building is now unstable!"
"Right, good night for a run then."
It took several precious minutes but at last they left the castle. From a safe distance both Shinji and Asuka watched as the castle crumbled under its own weight, with huge chunks of it falling into the sea, the rest forming a pile of rubble at the site. The last of the cult's influence was gone, and Asuka could see that the sun would be rising very soon.
"So ends the plot," Asuka noted.
"Ends? This isn't over, Asuka," Shinji noted. "The cult of Shaft is far from the only cult looking to resurrect Count Dracula. Other mages and witches exist with the desire to see the Dark Lord returned, to see the world shrouded in darkness once more."
Asuka sighed. Then squeaked as she was pulled into a loving embrace by Shinji. She looked up to see that his eyes had returned to normal and his disheveled and feral appearance was gone.
"Will it ever end?" Asuka asked. Though she already knew the answer.
The sun rose above the hills to the east beyond the ruins seeming to set the world around them alight. Asuka felt the warmth and it soothed her aching body.
"No," Shinji replied, as he also enjoyed the return of the light. "Pandora's box has been opened, and there is no closing it. We'll never be truly safe. But I think we can find ourselves some happiness in this darkness."
Asuka sighed… content to be back in the arms of the boy she loved.
"I'd like that…" she whispered.
It would take more time for her to get her memories back. And she knew she may never restore all of them. But now, she had the power to make new ones. Just as soon as she was healed, she knew exactly what memories she wanted to make next.
Credits
Castlevania and related properties, property of Konami
Neon Genesis Evangelion is property of GAINAX
Story by Archdruid Sephiroth
With Ideas by Wolfpackersson09
Special Thanks
Wolfpackersson09
Orionpax09
"The Supernatural takes many forms. The werewolf… the vampire… the mage. In time I would learn of all of them. Asuka turned out to be only the first in a long list of powerful female warriors who would eventually join my cause. The next to come to me was Mari… and she was as close to me as any could come…"- Shinji Ikari
Next Story: Tragic Princess