Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

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Loretta floated closer to the table and felt a frown deepen the corners of her mouth. It appeared that the man was sewing the butchered Dark Children into this... mess. It was a Frankenstein monster on the table, but the limbs and parts were moving independently. Given what she had seen outside it was probable that the pieces were moving because they wanted to go back to their proper assigned bodies.

'Practicing on Dark children versus practicing on humans, either way at this point would be most unacceptable...' she thought as she left the room. Reporting her findings to the others with all the quiet poise of reporting the weather.

"So he's basically trying to make a creature? Or is he trying to... No, no, I do not want to imagine or theorize what fresh coat of hell he could be concocting." John announced as he turned to let the living know.

It wasn't hard to be around the kidnap victims and see a very real possible threat looming over them. Whoever this branch of the crazy treat this cultist was, if he was stitching the monsters and experimenting on the servants. Would that mean the humans would have been next? Start with the easier to disassemble undead then move on to the 'you only get one shot' living humans?

"The garden is semi safe. We could get them there and then move them to the front of the castle once we know what's going on outside of the castle." Sam suggested as he looked at the rest of the group.

Several of the prisoners had gravitated towards the door leading out of the lab. Sure the room wasn't terrible to look at now that they could 'see' it. But the uncertainty made them want to leave quickly.

"Is it just me or is it getting warm?" The room in question had bore a slight chill to it at entry, what with all the stone and no real fires. Yet it was hard to ignore the warmth that was seeping into the air from that direction.

"Think its safe?" A teenage girl asked as one of the older men approached the door. It was probably one of the weirder aspects of the 'doors' they had seen. No knobs to twist, some she found had handles for pushing and pulling, but there were also doors like these. They didn't slide inward or outward rather they rose up into the air.

It wasn't hard to think of the door the way that sliding doors worked only going up and down rather parting open. But this was a medieval castle right? When she first saw it she tried to convince herself that it was some type of VR world. It would have made it very reasonable to have doors do that. But she didn't sleep in her rig, and it wasn't even in the same room as her bedroom to start with. So it couldn't be VR...

"JESUS!" the man had opened the door only to jerk back as a roar of heat and light cast an orange glow into the room.

There was a brown haired woman standing in the doorway, fist sized flames dancing about her. She had her arms crossed and with a sour expression before she shouted, "Fredric you asshole, how did you manage to use up all the glue in the..."

She stood there a little lost as she stared at the man staring back at her. She was in a pair of slacks and a light a camisole, given that she had fire floating about her, it wasn't like she could get cold.

If not the fire it would have been understandable to think she was a normal human, but the flames sent the man back peddling out of growing alarm.

"What happened?!" one of the men who had been releasing them from their restraints called out in alarm as he ran over to join them.

Alexs' head whipped about to look at the source of the shout. He could see the woman and the presence of fire made him think of the woman back down below who had been hurling fire at them. 'Could it be the same woman as before who was using fire?'

"Brother?" Alexis called out in concern as she joined him as the people backed away from the door in concern. 'The noise may have reached the cultist in here, and now we can't just have them wait outside. Did the woman know we came here?' she pondered.

"Well I guess we can't really have them wait someplace else while we deal with the cultist here..." Max noted as Sam looked around.

The civilians backed away from the doorway their expressions understandably alarmed. Several of them were starting to huddle closer while others began looking around for maybe a way out.

"And without knowing how the lab is set up, we can't just have people go above as a safe space when the fight starts." Sam noted as he also looked about at the numerous platforms above and around them. "With the servants out of commission as well we can't even get them to tell us anything about the room."

"Well its not like we can call them..." Alexis pointed out with a sigh. "What do we do? They can't even reach the hallway with her in the way."

"You know any fire cultists?" Sam asked Alexis as the woman walked into the room.

"How did you get off the tables? And..." Her gaze swept the room and fell on the Freelance Police and LeCardes. "I know you! You're the ones that killed Milly!" She accused as the flames about her burst into larger flames.

"Question answered." Sam muttered.

"Trish?"

Stella started as she heard the standing shelf creak as it slid open, the other spirits turning to see a man walk out. Blood flowed out as a wave to the ground painting the clear pale floors in blood borne black as the man looked around in confusion. "He's stepped out of the room!"

Fredric walked out in confusion, the chill of the room sent shivers down his spine after his time confined in the closed off room working. "Who let my guests loose?"

"That's the guy! He's the one who strapped us to those tables!" one young teen told Max quietly as he caught sight of the man from the ground floor. The bottom of the man's pants were soaked in blood clear up to his mid thighs. His hands were also stained pink in dried blood that smeared its way up his elbow to his rolled up sleeves.

"They're hunters! There's hunters in the Castle!" Trish called out and began cycling the flames she commanded around her.

"Milly?" Max squeaked in glee. "You called him 'Milly'?! You guys don't even take yourselves seriously! I love it!"

"Who names their kid 'Milford'?" Trish retorted before shaking her head. "Fredric we can't let them leave you know."

"Yes, yes, damn it, I was so close..." He griped as he looked about the room, his gaze missing the ghosts around him. He kicked the scattered pieces of the undead, setting them back to square one in trying to reconnect their bodies. He walked to the wall on his right and placed his blood stained fingers upon it. 'Now I have to round up new human body parts...'

He thought to himself as he charged the walls with the sigils he had drawn about the room when he originally claimed the area. Soon the walls, ceiling and floor were pulsing with blackening shades of color.

"Portals... we've got portals!" Max called out as flames from Trish arched and began to trace the sigils.

"Hey idiot! Be careful! We got actual trouble among the sheeple!" She snarked and shook her head.

"Like there's anything you can do to stop us!" Max taunted. 'Well I can say that, they're a pair of casters but is the woman a portal opener as well? And what type of sigil user is this 'Freddy'? We got a room of people who need to get out if either are portal openers they can just drop the floor out from under them. Its too bad they can't see our dead fam. We'd be able to leave them with them then, or maybe now they would listen to the zombies?'

The markings were on the walls and floor, suggesting that the man couldn't fly or float, keeping him grounded. But sigils were tricky, the meaning important to the person who crafted them and could be easily misread or misunderstood by the hunters. More over the Freelance and LeCardes were being identified as 'hunters'.

"Alexis! Move!" Stella shouted, but it was already too late. By the time she realized that an entrapping type of spell was forming below Alexis. It had already shot up and held her captive in it.

'I remember you, you're a lower rank but you have magic. I guess I know why now...' Fredric observed, letting his gaze drift over the other hunters. 'Oh and she has a twin brother...' he noted as he saw the man with near identical aura rush over. They had been warned of the Hunters of course, the ones who were the most experienced with the Castle.

But there had been uncertainty regarding how the Hunters would behave regarding the Castles' return. Given that they had taken up a new role of safe guarding and protecting the reincarnated Dark Lord. Now it seemed like they were holding true to the preservation of the Dark Lord, though Fredric had yet to hear of said Dark Lord. At least in any context that would warn of continued hostility.

'The clans employ the monsters obviously, after all they have the Dark Lords' son counted among their numbers...' he mused before he went back to the shelf that blocked the door to his room.

Upon the shelf were numerous books, but there were also a couple of bottles tucked against the back for safety. In case one of his pet projects tried to escape through the door.

"What do you thinks in those bottles?" John asked, leaning over to Eric in concern as Fredric went about pouring some of the contents into a small vial.

"Given how he's so calm about being disturbed? It could really be anything, but he recognizes Alexis and that doesn't bode well." Eric replied with a frown of concern for his kin.

"I wouldn't say he is 'calm' father, rather he is more prepared than the others. So perhaps he is of a higher rank in their particular cult?" Loretta theorized as she hovered there in concern.

Alexis didn't have the same rank, what was shared with her was part of the reason why she was unaware of Alucards' presence in the mock church. "I'm going to see if Lord Alucard has returned," Stella began when John made an observation that caused her to pause.

"So these people are supposedly turned into Dark Children right? So how come they can't see us? The servants see us, Alucard can see us now that he's in the Castle but could only hear our voices when he was outside... So shouldn't these cultists see us?"

"Good question..." Charlotte noted. 'Sure Alucard is half human and that might have restricted his visual ability to perceive us. But if the cultists have turned into Dark Children as well, they should be able to see us.'

Fredric passed the vial into the sigil that he had drawn into the wall, and the vial and his hand disappeared. In the magical cell he created for Alexis he poured the vial onto the floor before pulling back his hand. It was a small puddle but her brother noticed his actions and she immediately moved from where she was standing to avoid it.

"Trish, ignite the lamps in the room would you?" He called out as he moved to the front of the platform he had been standing on.

"The lamps?" Jonathan echoed in confusion. True the room sported a number of lamps, but they weren't naked to the open air, modern in design. Only for the thought to strike him as he looked down at the zombies on the floor. If the man had access to the Holy Water or Holy Oils, had he used them to subjugate the Undead in the Lab? "Everyone look alive, he may have access to some of the holy items!"

It wouldn't bother Sam and Max if they were exposed to the oils. The weight of the Belnades blood in the clan was balanced with the Belmonts' blood negating any serious threat to Max. At least that's what Jonathan told himself. Given that the holy power of the Belmont clan 'itself' was formed from a curse rather than a power given from on High.

While the LeCardes were Dark Children in alliance with the clans, meaning the oils would affect the pair.

"Oh wow... is that like a cage?" One of the released prisoners asked in concern as she observed the strangely pink hued light that surrounded Alexis.

"Sister?" Alex beat on the light only for it to be as solid as a wall. While his twin blinked and was staring down at the oils that had been spilled at her feet.

"So I don't suppose you're going to explain what the hell you were planning to do in here?" Sam asked as he gripped his whips' handle.

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The dining hall and kitchen area of the castle was rather... interesting... by Lydia's point of view. Both rooms were massive, with table space for days, that made one think of grand balls where food must be ready on a moment's notice. It reminded Lydia a great deal of Kazu's own kitchen though on a much, much grander scale. Among her the living were taken by the kitchen as well, and somehow of all things one of the cultists had managed to win them over!

The young woman had been sealed in this region of the castle along with group of kidnapped prisoners. But she had been amazingly gracious about the whole thing, and even took in two of the transformed cult members who had turned into monstrous werewolves. Even now as she stood in the kitchen the young woman, Reba, was learning some recipes along with a small group of zombies from a pleasant robust woman.

'I wouldn't mind trying this recipe out, were I still alive...' Lydia thought to herself with a small smile on her lips. There was this growing pile of buns that everyone was making, though granted the zombies were all wearing gloves.

Reba was interesting in her demeanor, she was quite cheery, almost as hungry for the companionship that she found. She was a little on the unhealthy thin side, her hair a bit flat, and that desperation for companionship clear in her eyes. Even her clothes hung off her body as though there was just not enough of her to fill it out.

While Lydia was busy watching and observing, Maxim was hovering about the door between the two areas and Soleli was in the massive dining room. Both men were unable to feel that Reba was a real threat. Perhaps that was why she managed to take the two cultists who had changed. Soleli was forced to look up to see the face of the werewolves who were curled up next to the fireplace in the dining room.

Said dining room was the old traditional stonework affair of a castle, with stone work floor and thick rugs. Roaring flames to keep the room warm in the cool fall and winter months while banners hung from the walls around the room. The table was long, oak, thick and solidly crafted as were the chairs. Both weres' were curled up before the fireplace soaking in the heat as they slept.

As large as the Wargs, the beastmen were sable furred with black claws all of which gave the slight sheen of blue in the light. They hadn't transformed back even now that they slept and Soleli wasn't sure if they would when the sun returned to the sky...

'Hold on, what's that light...'

Below each Were a strange pink light appeared and the pair sank down into the pools of light. The sudden strange bloom of light seemed to rouse them from their slumber as their bright blue eyes snapped open and they began looking about. Rumbling growls of displeasure rumbled from their throats and chests before they disappeared completely leaving Soleli alone in the room.

"But the area is sealed... how can someone or something be teleported out?" Soleli asked the room. Half expecting a possible answer, given mimics existed, coffins and tables were known to move on their own.

"What? Where are Reba's puppies?" Maxim asked as he approached the hunter.

"Where indeed?" Soleli asked quietly.