Chapter 61: Ancient Legends

"625!" Shouted 626 in disbelief as her friend, who had been fine just a moment ago, immediately grew fangs and started attempting to bite her.

"626! Get away from her!" Shouted 624, which leads to 626 pushing her friend away.

"Haaahhh…. Haahhhh… Thirsty… burning up inside….! Please…. Give me your blood, 626!" The now vampiric 625 shouted as she jumped towards 626, who are too shocked to react before she was dragged away by 624.

"Snap out of it, 626!" Shouted 624.

"But… she's…."

"I know! I want to help her too! But we shouldn't let ourselves fall prey to her!" 624 said.

"What should we do!?"

"We restrain her and bring her back to our base. Maybe we can find a way to heal her." 624 suggested.

"An amusing plan. Please do try to do that so she can bring the rest of your comrades right into my hands." Said Alucard who suddenly appeared behind them.

"You…!" Shouted 624 as she angrily charged at Alucard with her sword, which he blocked with his cape.

"What!?" 624 was bewildered as she saw his black cape moved like their slime suit to shield him from her sword.

She then jumped back to dodge several spikes that emerged from his cape.

"What is that!?"

"This is simple shapeshifting. Nothing special, really." Explained Alucard as he extends his sharp nails to attack her. The nails grazed her cheek as she barely dodged them.

He then retracted his long nails back to its regular length and began licking the blood from it.

"Hm… As I thought. Shadow Garden blood is the sweetest of them all." He said while grinning.

"If you think I'll just let you-" 624 said but was cut off by Alucard who appeared behind her instantly without her noticing.

"No. You'll let me. Just like now." He whispered in her elven ears before he grabbed her shoulders and starts biting her neck.

"Aghh!" 624 was unable to respond as he drained her of all her blood, leaving her as a dried corpse.

"Oh dear. Your blood is so sweet that I overdid it. No matter. I have another meal." Said Alucard as he turned his attention towards 626 who is currently warding off the vampiric 625.

"625! It's me! 626!" Shouted 626, trying to get her friend to remember her.

"Thirsty…. Blood…! Give me your blood!" The vampiric 625 ignored her and continued attempting to bite her friend.

"625…" Suddenly 626 stopped moving, allowing 625 to pounce on her.

626 stared at her friend's desperate face, listened to how heavy her breath is, how pained her expression is.

"If you're suffering… and if my blood can help…" Muttered 626 as she offered her neck to 625.

"Honestly… you're too self sacrificing… 626." 625 said.

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry for always being so mean to you… Especially about your father. Even though you've saved my life countless times…" 625 said while tearing up.

"625…!" 626 said as she also began tearing up.

"Thank you for being my friend, 626… no… Millia." 624 said as she stood up and began facing Alucard. 626 can only gasp after hearing her former name.

"Impressive. To think you can resist your own bloodlust. Also, wonderful performance. I almost shed a tear." Said Alucard mockingly while clapping.

"Dieee!" Shouted 625 while attacking Alucard with her newfound claws, only to be impaled by a spike that emerged from Alucard's cape.

"624!" Shouted 626 as she saw her friend being impaled in the heart.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Alucard laughed as he watched life leaving 625's eyes. He then proceeded to throw her away and began walking towards 626.

"You bastard!" 626 shouted as she charged with her sword.

"Good." Said Alucard as he sent his spikes after her.

*CLANG*

His spikes and 626's sword was blocked by Zeta, who appeared at high speed.

"It seems like I'm late. How could I let a bunch of weaklings delay me?" Muttered Zeta as she pushed both Alucard and 626 back.

As she landed on the floor, she looked at 624 and 625's corpses and muttered a silent apology before facing their killer.

"Lady Zeta!" Shouted 626.

"Stand back, 626! This is not a foe you can face." Ordered Zeta.

"Finally a higher up came. If I recall correctly, you're one of the Seven." Alucard said while grinning.

"You know so much about us, and yet we know next to nothing about you. A bit unfair, don't you think?" Said Zeta while pointing her sword on him and glaring at him hatefully.

"Then allow me to introduce myself. I am Alucard, a Vampire King of ancient times." Alucard said while mockingly bowing his head.

"Zeta of the Seven Shades. You say you're a vampire king? I've never heard of you." Zeta said without bowing her head.

"There are many legends that have been lost to time, like that of the Necromancer's." Alucard replied. The dreadful name escaping his lips did not escape Zeta's notice.

"So you're one of his minions, then?" Zeta said while her expression gets grimmer.

"I consider him more of a rival. But even I can't deny his absolute power." Alucard said.

"What do you mean?" Zeta asked.

"As I said, there are many legends that have been forgotten, lost to time. Mine included. Do you know why that is?"

"The war… the end of an age…!" Zeta muttered as she recalls the Necromancer's words from the reports she read about the incident in Midgar capital.

"Correct! The end of age has started again… and many forgotten old legends which have slumbered since then started to resurface once again. Me included."

"You mean there are more monsters like you and him out there!?" Exclaimed Zeta, horrified at the idea of more monsters like the Necromancer lurking out there.

"Indeed. Fascinating, isn't it?" Alucard confirmed.

"Hmph. Then I should just put you back to sleep right here!" Zeta was about to charge forth before stopping herself as she sensed another presence approaching.

"Fascinating story, indeed. You don't mind telling me more about it, do you, Mr. Alucard? Perhaps over a cup of tea or in an interrogation room." Said a man with purple hair wearing white armor who suddenly appeared in the great hall, walking leisurely towards both of them.

"You are?" Alucard said.

"Knight Beyond Men and 9th Seat of the Rounds, Mordred. We, the Cult of Diablos, might seem like youngsters compared to you old relics but we are the current rulers of this age. Even your old friend Necromancer has joined us." The man, Mordred, answered smugly.

"Ah yes. I've heard of you." Said Alucard while grinning.

"I'm sure you have." Mordred said before turning his attention to Zeta.

"And you… I assume you're one of the Seven Shades too?" Mordred said as he addressed Zeta.

"Too?" Zeta said.

"Yes. I've recently met one of you." Mordred said as he retrieved a few strands of hair from his pocket and showed it to her.

"T-That's…!" Exclaimed Zeta in complete shock as she stared at the strands of hair in Mordred's hand. Even Alucard is frowning as he did that.

"She was… quite enjoyable." Mordred taunted while grinning.

"Where is she!?" Zeta asked while glaring at him hatefully.

"Who knows? Perhaps she is already in our lab, having her blood extracted for our research. You should join her, Lilim." Mordred taunted, calling her by her former name.

"That name…" Muttered Zeta after hearing her old name.

"Of course I know. Petos is still searching for you after all. I'm tempted to deliver you to him but… Since you're one of the Seven, I don't think I'll be handing you to anyone."

"I don't think so!" Zeta refused. At her refusal Mordred turned his attention back to Alucard.

"Mr. Alucard. Are you interested in becoming my subordinate? You could have all the power that you could ever want. All the blood that you-" Mordred addressed Alucard before being cut off.

"I refuse." Alucard said while frowning at Mordred.

"Oh? I assume my offer is insulting to you? Forgive me. But since you refused, I'm going to have to kill you. The Cult's law demands that I leave no witnesses. Even old relics like you. Rest assured that your samples will be fully utilized by the Cult along with the Seven Shades." Mordred said as he brandished his sword and unleashed an invisible slash at Alucard, who dodged it effortlessly. The slash left a huge mark on the wall behind him.

"Impressive. To think you could-" Mordred said calmly before Alucard—

— Before I moved to punch him in the face, sending him crashing against the wall. Zeta and the girl, Millia if I recall, can only watch in bewilderment as she saw me ignoring them.

Damn that Mordred. He totally ruined my villainous drip and stole my thunder. But I gotta say, well played, Mordred. Well played. Using something personal against the heroes certainly draws their ire more than a universal threat. Heroes are, in the end, selfish too.

Yes, I am Claude the Necromancer, but at the same time, I am the vampire Alucard. When I heard of that Van Helsing, I certainly must become a Dracula for him, especially with a vampire event that is about to start.

How did I become a vampire you ask?

I synthesized Carmilla's blood to create a pill similar to the Cult's Red Pills to temporarily induce vampirism, all because I wanted to gain the power of shapeshifting derived from the vampire's blood magic and mist form ability and because I wanna try becoming Dracula-esque villain once in a while. The result is a huge success and I lured those unsuspecting cultists and workers into this death trap in order to test my new powers.

But this does not make me a true undead like Carmilla. It is only a temporary vampirism after all. Even the Shadow Garden member I turned into a vampire would turn back to normal in time even if she drinks blood. To cover that flaw, I killed her quickly. The ghouls were truly undead though, made with my necromancy than with vampirism.

I expected Shadow Garden would interfere but never thought Mordred would personally come as well. Though I suppose he should be suspicious about Perv's dealings with me. That's fine. He shall assist me in my tests too. Heh heh heh.

"You insolent fool…! How dare you!" Mordred stood up and walked back to face us while wiping his nosebleed. He's pissed. But so am I. Now, let the three way battle begin.

Author's Note:

KnightBeyondMenMordred has joined the server. He was done dirty in LN and anime, even the manga version (with the generic design) didn't show him being beaten that badly by Beta and Epsilon, though it is understandable since he fought two of them and didn't have the advantage of surprise attack.

But can he remain Chad forever? He was getting too serious and you're not supposed to take the Eminence in Shadow too seriously after all.

The Eminence in Shadow anime season 2 episode 12 was fire and I'm excited for the movie.

Imboredlmao11: Cids being best right now it seem when it comes to alter egos

Answer: Claude also follows suit.

Wholesome07: And the ep 12 shows that Shadow-sama can nuke even at space.

Answer: Yeah. It was fire.

WC93: And just when they're growing on me too

Also the anime really beef up Cid/Shadow to planetary level

Wonder how Necromancer would take on that vision of him

Answer: I've become an evil author who introduced new characters, make them have character development (though it's pretty short) and making you care for them before killing them in the next few chapters. :)

Yeah. The anime was awesome. I wonder if Shadow VS Necromancer will become more of a DBZ fight than it already is in the future. XD