Replies to my Reviews
Luckenhaft: Alucard? Ok. Let it be stated that all problems related to the Zombie Apocalypse currently occuring in Roanapur... is totally Verrocchio's fault. Not Shirou's.
Ariadne Venegas: Rock's unlucky. That's all. Time for the finale. There is another way to defeat the ancestor without him replacing anyone.
Chapter 9: Anything Goes in Roanapur IV
Dutch hummed as he rubbed the back of his head with his gun while looking down on the sobbing vampire before him.
Behind him, Revy (a.k.a. Rebecca Lee) kept a nervous eye on Rock while still fingering the cut on her cheek.
A little ways behind, Benny nervously peeked out of the hatch, keeping a shaky stare-off with an amused Gretel who had crouched right in front of him.
Hansel, the only other person still smiling, idly rubbed Rock's back as he had fallen over into a fetal pose, still quietly crying. "It's not all bad, Mr. Rock. If you don't think you can control yourself, let's just go find someone you hate."
"I don't want to kill anyone!" Rock snapped as he turned to glare at Hansel before lowering his head as his neck and teeth throbbed. "Urgh... I... I'm not okay... My throat hurts... I feel so strong but so weak..."
"Mr. Rock... That agony you're currently feeling is simply 'starvation'." Hansel explained with a cheer in his demeanor that didn't match his words. "You feel strong because your physiology has changed into one far superior to your former one, but you also feel weak because you haven't been able to maintain it's sustenance. Just like how a starving man or animal will slowly go mad from hunger and be forced into a primal state in order to prevent death by procuring a meal out of the nearest digestible substance, you will basically devolve into a ghoul-like behavior and do exactly that, except that the nearest 'digestible substance' for creatures like us is pretty much anyone with a human shape."
"Like us?" Benny shakily asked.
"Yes." Gretel clarified with a sharp grin. "Like you."
Rock flinched nervously, before he looked down, trying to think of a solution. As his gaze landed on {Kienai Shinkou}, Rock's fear slowly disappeared as he took on a pensive look on his face before standing up and looking Dutch in the eye. "Dutch, I have a final favor to ask before leaving the Lagoon Delivery Company. Take me there."
Dutch frowned in confusion as Rock pointed far off to the other side of the city, meaning that they would have to sail around in order to avoid the zombies. "What's over there, Rock?"
"Verrocchio." Rock narrowed his eyes, unaware of the increasing crimson glow in them that unsettled his coworkers. "I need you to take me there. His continued existence is what's allowing those zombies to keep moving."
Dutch frowned further. Rock didn't seem to be lying but he could easily see that Rock was trying to distract himself from his increasingly obvious inhumanity. "Rock, I'll get the engine started. In the meanwhile, you and Revy tell me everything about why you're like... this. Also, you're the only one who these twins are listening to so keep them in line. I don't like how that girl's looking at Benny like he's a piece of meat."
"And not the fun kind!" Benny added, hastily closing the hatch between him and Gretel when she started to chuckle.
Leraje tilted his shadowy skull as Shirou Emiya slowly stood up and started to growl. Except the growls didn't sound like something a human should be able to make. The sickening sound of bones crunching and snapping grew as burning smoke obscured Shirou's form.
As Leraje watched in curious trepidation similar to how a human might be rivetted by an impending car crash, the Divinity he had been worried about grew to astounding but unstable levels, making him wonder if he had come across an unbalanced demigod.
Leraje hummed as Shirou's facial structure snapped and elongated into a snout, his maw drooling curses and his large fangs growing to resemble magma in terms of composition. Those yellow eyes were gone and had become crimson orbs of malice on his smoky lupine head.
"Ah. There's the Divinity I sensed in you." Leraje stoically observed as glowing Zoroastrian runes started to appear all over the Beast's form. The Beast slowly opened it's jaws, as if to roar.
"AAARRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
A wall of pure concussive sound slammed into Leraje, blasting him off the roof and shattering every glass and ceramic for fifty meters.
Caren Hortensia and Laeticia fell down as Leraje's control was ripped away, the latter instantly returning to unconsciousness while the former struggled against it.
"Sh... Shirou..." Caren struggled to get up but ultimately failed as her psychic ability worked against her with the two extremely malevolent creatures present, causing her immense pain until she fainted.
The Beast was uncaring as it only glared at Leraje. Leraje chuckled from the hole in the wall he had slammed into in the next building. "Ah, making progress it would seem. It's still unrefined and primal. Then again, I hardly expected you to be a descendant of one of the gods of old. My guess is neither did you because with how sensible you seemed, you would have used this power right from the start. That earlier punch and that water sword attack must have been forced from instinct."
Indeed, the Beast radiated Divinity, pulsing and swelling with crimson radiant heat. Crimson which represented visceral, primordial power. This was the power of a (False) Divine Spirit.
Leraje easily leapt forward, slamming down before the Beast. The Beast growled again before suddenly lunging at the Dead Apostle Ancestor. Faster than the eye could see, it tore past Leraje and through his shadow shield. There was the sound of screeching steel and then silence.
The Beast moved so fast, it could hardly stop itself. And when it had, it was almost ten feet behind Leraje with it's bare exposed back to him.
Leraje calmly raised his left arm and examined it. Across his metal gauntlet, there were three deep claw marks that had torn completely through it and a fourth that had grazed across the surface.
Let it be known that normally, Angra Mainyu is a weak entity to non-humans.
Normally.
In a universe where Heroic Servants found peace in daily lives, Angra Mainyu existed on his lonesome as a weak combatant against them but a very effective killing machine against humans.
In a universe where Zouken Matou was especially proactive, Angra Mainyu existed through a heavily abused girl and was linked to a near endless supply of Mana, turning her Magecraft into eldritch horrors through sheer saturation, including the girl herself.
In this universe, a piece of Angra Mainyu existed in Shirou Emiya, a combatant who not only possessed far more compatibility with him than any Einzbern homunculus barring the Original, but also possessed a Reality Marble and did not believe in the concept of 'Give Up'.
This unique combo meant that for the first time, Angra Mainyu was in possession of a boy who not only likely to survive even a full possession but could also control it due to his Personal Reality.
"Very good, Argonaut." Leraje said before ripping off the damaged gauntlet. "But this is merely the awakening, not mastery. You've tapped into the power but you can hardly command it."
The Beast spun around, baring it's teeth and once more growling at the Dead Apostle Ancestor.
With a snappy roar, it unhinged it's jaw, revealing a glowing crimson light that seemed to grow brighter in a few seconds... before it's fist suddenly slammed into it's own snout.
Leraje, who had nearly raised up a shadowy shield, lowered it in intrigue.
"Knock... it... off..."
The Beast snarled, grabbing it's face in rage and shock.
"Who do you... think you're aiming at... with my body...?!"
The Beast's claws sunk into it's nose, causing it to bleed curses that burnt through the roof it stood on.
"My priority is to save Laeticia, with Caren by proxy! A Beast who doesn't care to save others shouldn't be allowed free reign in my body!"
A new explosion of power rung out, this time being felt by every supernatural in the city. This time, Shirou's Divinity emanated calmness and domination of his newfound power. Compared to the Beast, the power was more controlled and peaceful. Instead of a red hot raging inferno that wildly incinerated everything in it's reach, it was now like a jet propulsion engine, burning with flames that displayed more purpose than just burning away.
Shirou had returned to his previous appearance but with some new additions. Glowing Zoroastrian markings were all over his skin and clothes, along with claws, a wolf tail and a pair of wolf ears atop his head.
"Now then," Shirou raised his hands, manifesting a pair of reverse grip weapons fashioned in the shape of a mix between a beast's fangs and claws. "let's properly continue this time."
"Row, row, row your boat.
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily.
Life is but a dream."
Rock idly sat above the boat as they headed for their destination, with the twins at his sides singing rhymes to pass the time.
Gretel nodded along as Hansel finished before suddenly clearing her throat. "Now for parodies!"
"Shoot, shoot, shoot your gun!
Kill them all now!
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Life is but a dream!
Gretel finished to Hansel's cheering and Rock's polite applause before both twins turned to the salaryman expectantly.
"Huh?! Me too?" Rock flinched back in surprise before pondering for a bit. "Alright then, here goes."
"Work, eat, drink and sleep.
That's a day back home.
Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.
Life is but a routin-?!"
"That's fucking depressing!" Revy yelled as her fist smacked the back of Rock's head. She idly noted that unlike the usual, her hand throbbed from the impact while Rock's head had barely shifted from the hit. "Man, am I glad we dragged you away from that shit!"
"Mr. Rock's life really used to be like that?" Gretel hummed as she pondered Rock's past life as Rokuro Okajima and Revy's sudden appearance before breaking into a wide grin. "Fratele Meu, let's go ahead!"
"Hmm?" Hansel questioned before shrugging and going along with it. "Alright, Sora Mea."
With a raised middle finger to physics, the twins leapt off the speeding boat, twirled through the air with inhuman elegance and shot towards the city faster than the boat could move, easily running across the water with enough force to kick off waves.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!"
Rock chuckled slightly as Dutch yelled while trying to make sure that the boat didn't capsize. "I guess something got their attention-"
Rock suddenly stood up, staring at the direction the twins left as a pillar of crimson flames shot into the dark sky.
"Something tells me that's not Sis's doing." Revy muttered as she fingered one of her guns.
"...no." Rock replied as his body started to react to the strange energy he was feeling from afar. Thankfully, it was far enough that he could fight it off. "Hansel and Gretel probably ran off to observe..."
"Right..." Revy awkwardly tapped a boot as Rock sat down again, which happened to be beside her now. She didn't make the slightest gesture to move away, compared to before. "So... You being a vampire, now..."
Revy felt a void in her chest build as she observed Rock's saddened state. In the past few months, he'd become the closest friend she'd ever had and seeing him this way slowly started to affect her too. And now with his despaired decision of leaving their group after the crisis past...
Revy racked her brain searching for something that might at least snap him out of it. He owed her too much!
(She owed him just as much, if not more. Revy never believed that she might have ever met a man as bright as he was.)
"Want to take a bite?" Revy suddenly rushed out, pulling her tank top low enough to nearly expose one of her breasts.
Rock, too shocked to even feel hunger or arousal at the sight, tilted his head disbelievingly. "Huh?"
Revy blushed furiously before pushing Rock over to land on his back, allowing the gunwoman to straddle him. "Look, you wanna go fight Verrocchio with that sword, right? Even without all this zombie bullshit happening, Verrocchio's still a fucking mob boss. And if you need blood, you can... you can take mine-?!"
The world shifted as Revy was suddenly slammed onto her back, with a sudden shaking of the boat disguising the sound it made. The woman herself blushed and shivered at the intense look Rock sent her from above.
Before, it had unsettled her, now it just made her really, really hot despite the cool air.
"Are you sure?" Rock still asked despite the clear hunger in his eyes. Revy could've groaned and punched him if not for the fact that he held her wrists again, easily holding her down.
"Have I ever been a shitty second guesser?!" Revy growled as she nearly bit at Rock herself. "I'll be fucking fine! You may be a vampire, but you're still you! You're still the idiot who let himself get hurt when some kids in front of him would've suffered it if you hadn't. You're the man who gave me a reason to look forward to something beyond just money and killing every new day. So stop your whining and feed. Like a REAL FUCKING VAMPIRE!"
Rock blinked before smiling down on her. Revy only had a second to push down that weird fluttering in her chest before Rock suddenly descended towards her exposed neck, preemptively slapping a hand on her mouth when a strangled yell/moan rushed out as fangs gently pierced skin.
A muffled moan came from Revy's blocked mouth as Rock drank her lifeblood and her arms stretched to the sky, grasping at nothing before clasping to his back, not in an effort to push him away, but keep him near her.
Revy had always wondered why in some trashy films she had watched, vampire victims would stop struggling after a vampire bit into them. Now, she damn well knew why. Those fuckers had natural aphrodisiacs in their teeth!
Revy felt her eyes slowly shut as she was pushed down harder against the metal ground, panting as Rock kept drinking, moving her hands to his hair and grabbing two fistholds, and Rock couldn't help but grind his hips against her thighs.
After a bit, he gently left Revy's neck and slowly suckled the holes he had bitten into her, unknowingly healing them.
The two gasped out as they teased their crotches through their clothing, but instead of backing off or adjusting himself, Rock felt his body take command, and began rutting into the woman as the vampire raised his head to look down on Revy flushed face.
For a moment, Revy stared upwards at Rock's glowing eyes underneath the night sky, gazing down at her with lust (both bloody and sexual) when an explosion ripped through the air.
The two flinched apart to see a series of explosions over the water in the distance.
"Hey, Revy! Rock! You two see that?!" Dutch's voice cut through Revy's now activated comms. "You think that's Verrocchio?"
"It is him." Rock spoke clearly and deeper. Even now, Revy could see strength returning to his limbs as paleness left his face. "Don't know how but I can feel it right in my blood."
"Right, that vampire bloodline stuff I read about might actually apply to you now." Benny's voice chimed in. "If all of Verrocchio's ghouls die off after he dies, won't that apply to you?"
"It was already unlikely the moment I kept my sense of self unlike the others bitten." Rock wiped off a bit of Revy's blood of his lips and slowly licked it off, unaware of what the sight did to Revy as she blushed and trembled. "I really feel like it won't be a problem now. Just get me close, Dutch. Fujimura's doing his part in dealing with that guy that created the twins and started this whole mess. Verrocchio needs to be dealt with as well."
Rock slowly drew {Kienai Shinkou}'s blade out of it's sheath, revealing Sunfire that illuminated the darkness surrounding the torpedo boat.
However, tinges of it were slowly turning blue...
Verrocchio breathed in heavily as he raised the body of his latest victim and crushed it in his grip, allowing the squeezed out blood to seep into his wide maw. Then he dropped the whole thing down his throat.
In the warehouse he was currently in, Verrocchio was surrounded by the corpses and ghouls of his former subordinates. After he had sent out a phone call to trick all his remaining subordinates into converging in one convenient location.
Now after having fed on over sixty men, he had tripled in size and his tusks had doubled in size and numbers while becoming reddish brown in color.
As he walked out of the warehouse to face the sea, he wasn't surprised to see the boats full of {Hotel Moscow}'s soldiers all heading towards him. In fact, Verrocchio personally believed that they'd be shaming their previous occupations as Soviet Army paratroopers if they couldn't do that, at least.
Meat. Charge. Tear. Devour.
"No problem." Verrocchio muttered out loud, either to himself or the vampire instinct within him. Grabbing one of his own tusks and following the instinct further, he ripped it out. While the injured area of the ripped out tusk repaired itself and recreated a new tusk, the ripped out tusk in Verrocchio's hand morphed into a great axe/cleaver hybrid made out of bone tissue.
With a mighty stomp of his foot, Verrocchio charged forward with enough speed to actually run across the water, a wide grin on his bloody jaws.
"Verrocchio sighted!"
"Fire! Shoot him down!"
Verrocchio kept moving, uncaring for the bullets that bounced off his thick hide. With a mighty swing, he swung his weapon right through three boats at once, easily ripping through flesh, bone and steel with one movement.
"He tore though three units with just one hit?!"
"Bullets are ineffective!"
"Keep your distance and switch to high calibers and explosives!"
With a roaring cackle, Verrocchio held his weapon forward and charged again, tearing through another ship fast enough to rival a shot bullet, causing it to explode loudly.
"Hey there, human. Are you really satisfied with cutting such weak beings?"
Verrocchio grunted a bit as three missiles hit him as several were fired at his location, before raising his weapon high to hack one of the offending boats into the depths.
"If you really want to flex your power, why don't you wait for the salaryman to come? And when that's over, you can try and take over the entire Italian Mafia of the world."
'The entire Italian Mafia? Yes...' Verrocchio grunted as he swung through another boat, causing any soldier who hadn't been ripped through to be thrown into the bloody froth. 'No more need to follow orders from above. I'll just take everything-?!'
Verrocchio grunted as his body suddenly pulsed, his flesh distorting as it bulged and swelled. It seemed that his improper way of transforming was finally catching up to him, causing to land back on the roof of the warehouse he had left and fall over in pain.
"You have finally become worthy of my full interest, Argonaut." Leraje leered towards Shirou in a twisted visage of approval. "Once I have your divine blood, I shall ascend through the ranks!"
Leaving a trail of crimson flames behind, he dashed into Leraje, getting right under his body with unmatched speed. He drew an upwards arc, but the Dead Apostle Ancestor brought down a manifested sword, and the two clashed in a spectacle of fiery and shadowy sparks.
"You may have achieved a way to mimic a Divine Spirit, but your powers are no match to two centuries of combat experience." Leraje said before lunging with his blade once again.
"My Divine Spirit's far older than you!" Like he controlled the winds, Shirou opened his arms wide and let himself fall backward, avoiding the attack, and then defied the laws of gravity to twist his body around and get himself in a standing position.
Leraje shrieked like a wraith and raised his free fist. Shirou quickly moved his tail, enlarging it to match his body size. Not a second too late, it deflected two shadow spires that tried to impale him from behind.
Shirou breathed out then started to rapidly suck in air, actually blowing up his cheeks a bit. Then with a glare at Leraje, he roared out, unleashing a concentrated beam of crimson energy at Leraje, hitting him right in the chest and pushing him away from the battlefield.
With few seconds to spare, he ran towards Caren and Laeticia, a quick touch from him being enough to rouse the psychic exorcist.
"Caren!" Shirou yelled, and all the confidence he had against Leraje vanished, replaced by fear. "Are you and Laeticia alright?!"
"We'll be fine." Caren struggled to stand up but stumbled into Shirou's arms, groaning as her headache spiked.
"Whatever he used to control you isn't going to vanish so easily it seems." Shirou fretted, idly hoping Shirou Alter's power wasn't worsening her condition.
"Shirou…" She said, not answering, and instead just nuzzling her head against his chest, as the power she felt from him was far better than before. "Thank you… but... you should get away... Don't give Leraje what he wants..."
He knelt next to Caren and ever-so-gently placed a hand over her head. He closed his eyes, and a newfound innate understanding of his powers washed over him. He focused his divine energy, and his hand glowed.
He let the warmth flow from him to her, and for a moment, he felt like their souls touched. They melted into a metaphysical embrace, and with his eyes closed, he found it hard to remember where he ended and where she began.
Shirou felt her pain, quickly subsiding, but he felt more, much more. Her anxiety, her fear of almost dying without assuring her friend's safety, her determination to save Laeticia, him and everybody from the mess that Leraje had caused. Above everything else, however, he felt her profoundly distorted mentality.
It was warped from her psychic ability and had been utilized so sparsely but honestly that Caren herself couldn't tell if it was her natural personality when not distracted by her genuine worship of God or if it was a defense mechanism born from her constant pains.
It confused Shirou as well, in all honesty.
(Hypocrite.)
It gave him a new perspective on what he knew about Caren, and it didn't seem to match what he'd initially thought that she was. He couldn't wrap his head around it, he couldn't put it into words. And, soon enough, he didn't bother to keep trying to understand it. All he cared about was knowing that even though he hadn't seen any of her memories, he now knew Caren Hortensia on a deep level.
"Endless blades..." And now he was sure that Caren had gotten as much insight on him as he had on her. His power finished its work, and Shirou that her headache was gone.
Caren sighed, her body melding against him as he slithered his hand over the side of her frame, up to her shoulder, and little hesitation, to the side of her neck, gently cupping her cheek. They stared into each other's eyes, vibrant crimson meeting lemon yellow.
"You need to defeat him." Caren spoke, shaking her head to try to gain focus. "He won't focus on Laeticia or I anymore."
Shirou snapped his hand away from her face, suddenly embarrassed at his moment of vulnerability and unexpected susceptibility. He'd almost forgotten they were in the middle of a battle against a Dead Apostle Ancestor.
He tried to move forward, but her hand shot to grip his wrist. He turned to look at the Exorcist.
"Be careful." Caren said, her hand moving down to quickly grab his.
He gripped it tight. "I will."
She let him go, watching the magus and the vampire approaching each other, and realized he truly looked like a Hero. Just like the Ideal that rang through the World she had glimpsed within him.
"A Hero with the power of a Demon God at his call..."
As he made his way towards Leraje, Shirou didn't look back at Caren, no matter how tempting it felt. He was Leraje's current goal, the one he wanted, so he should be able to keep himself as the bait and give Caren all the time she needed to escape with Laeticia, uninterrupted.
They stopped about forty yards from each other, their hands on their weapons as Divine Spirit and Dead Apostle Ancestor stared each other down.
Neither wasted any more time with words.
Shirou charged forward like a human fireball.
Leraje manifested wings of shadow and flew to meet him halfway, and their weapons clashed in a majestic spectacle of light. Shirou's arm felt the knockback from the impact, and his muscles ached to hold his ground.
He bounced off and threw another swing that Leraje managed to dodge. The Dead Apostle Ancestor then surprised him by attacking with the sharp end of a shadow tendril, but Shirou ducked out of the way just in time. He then threw a horizontal swipe to try to rake through the skeleton's chest. Leraje closed his wings to gain some height and spun parallel to the weapon, dancing right over Shirou's strike, before spreading them once again to stop his momentum and try to impale the magus with his sword.
Shirou jumped back, barely avoiding the end of the blade.
He threw a hit to the side of the skeleton, who managed to block it with some difficulty. When their weapons bounced, Shirou threw another hit, and then another, and another one. Even as Leraje's combat experience and immense Mana were the reasons he was able to contain Shirou's strikes, the black-haired boy continued to gain terrain, one step at a time, simply due to the fact that his current Divinity slowly but surely eroded Leraje's shadows away.
As Leraje leapt backwards to try and get some distance, Shirou readied his left weapon.
The Left Fang Grinder
"[Tawrich!]"
Shirou threw the throwing dagger, watching it spin through the air until it sunk into Leraje's shoulder.
The Right Fang Grinder
"[Zarich!]"
The runic markings on Shirou's right weapon glowed, resonating with the left weapon still embedded in Leraje's shoulder and causing it, and Leraje by extension, to be dragged towards Shirou.
As soon as {Tawrich} was back in Shirou's grip, he stabbed {Zarich} as well into Leraje and ripped through the Dead Apostle Ancestor as he dragged downwards.
As Leraje unexpectedly screamed in pain, it left him vulnerable to Shirou grasping his neck before he could get away.
Shirou cocked a flaming fist as his spare had choked the skeleton. "Die."
Before he could anything, a large tentacle of shadow matter stabbed through Leraje's chest first.
And it hadn't been from anyone from Roanapur, the Church or Japan.
In the background, a pillar of golden Sunfire rose into the sky.
Rock landed on the opposite end of the bridge, getting Verrocchio's attention.
"You..." Verrocchio slowly stood as Rock drew {Kienai Shinkou}, revealing a blade wreathed in flourishing Sunfire and azure flames.
"To be honest, I can't deny that I've actually hated your guts a bit, Verrocchio." Rock stated as his eyes glowed. "Every time I saw one of your own goons injured or dead from your actions, it reminded me a bit too much of my old boss. In fact, Kageyama-sama was actually better than you. Compared to a cruel asshole like you, he was simply didn't care unless it benefited him. Seriously, how the fuck are you worse than my old boss and all the other Mafia Bosses here?!"
"You watch your mouth, Jap!" Verrocchio roared as he charged forward, slamming his axe against Rock's sword. The impact of their clash blew a shockwave which cracked the roof beneath them.
"Did you come here to die, Jap?!" Verrocchio taunted as he towered over Rock, hiding his shock at his immense strength being matched by the man before him. "That's perfectly fine! As that Ivan bitch's allies, I was gonna kill all of you Lagoon Company shits anyway! You may be a monster like me now but you still ain't shit!"
"Interesting choice of words." Rock growled back. "I actually feel great right now. You, on the other hand, look like your flesh wants to rip itself off your bones. You reacting to something?"
Verrocchio snarled and punched Rock with a fist that was bigger than his face. Withstanding the blow, Rock forced Verrocchio backwards, causing him to jump back as the monster felt his wrist break.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Verrocchio displayed his knuckles, which had blood from Rock's bleeding nose. "You're bleeding, Jap."
His hand suddenly split apart, revealing a cut which suddenly burned from Rock's flames.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Rock threw Verrocchio's words back at him. "You're bleeding, Guido."
Verrocchio, growling as Rock used Balalaika's insult to get at him, roared before suddenly charging.
"You're late, Mr Chang." Balalaika (a.k.a. Sofiya Pavlovna) called out as Mr Chang approached her. They were currently on a safe balcony, watching the battle going on while her forces below annihilated the ghouls roaming about the area. "Did you know that Rock could use a sword so well?"
Mr Chang silently observed as Rock was forced back and pushed to defend as Verrocchio constantly charged him like a high speed tank hoping to steamroll him. "I heard that he got bitten by Verrocchio directly."
"Da." Balalaika replied with dead eyes fixed on Rock. "My comrade soldiers were transformed into monsters that had to be put down but Rock somehow retained his mind. I have reports that he's been helping out wherever he could as he headed here."
"Speaking of monsters, Verrocchio sure took the top spot, huh?" Chang lighted a fresh cigarette. "I can't believe that after all those times you called him a pig, he went and became one for real."
Balalaika suddenly threw her head back and laughed wildly. Chang stood silently as her cackles did nothing to interrupt the battles, merely staying at her side as her utterly humorless laughter betrayed the crumbling sense of the world she believed that she had known.
A loud crash got their attention as someone was smashed into a wall.
"Well, Rock lasted unexpectedly long at leas-?!" Mr Chang choked on his words as it was Verrocchio instead who stumbled from the hole. Looking to the side, his eyes widened as he saw Rock stumbling forward, his hand clutching a wound on his chest.
Verrocchio charged forward again with a wide swing, but Rock dodged his axe as soon as he got close, making sure to either dodge and block every one of his attacks without going for the offensive in that bout.
As the battle went on longer, Rock's past experience as a Kendo practitioner slowly resurfaced as he got better used to the movements and his new abilities.
"So that's how it is..." A figure in red observed from up high in the air, unseen by everyone other than his fledgling. "In the midst of an extreme fight to the death, the memories of past battles lying dormant deep in his body would obviously awaken."
The figure burst into a fanged grin as Rock took advantage of Verrocchio's wide swing and immense size to grab unto the swinging arm, ready himself and stab the flaming sword into the limb, unleashing Sunfire directly into the limb. "Look at him go at it! Like a REAL FUCKING VAMPIRE!"
"Impossible..." Verrocchio growled as he clutched his burnt and unresponsive limb, glaring at Rock as he jumped back to a safe distance. "I'm losing to a damn Jap like you?!"
Verrocchio suddenly fell forward, screaming in pain as his body distorted painfully.
"Huh?!" Rock recoiled before flinching and suddenly jumping several meters towards Balalaika and Chang, grabbing both of them to escape the area.
Two seconds later, the area was crushed as a formless mash of flesh suddenly overtook and devoured the area.
"What the fuck is that?!" Mr Chang yelled as the monstrous flesh grew several meters in height and distance.
"I don't why but Verrocchio was slowly and visibly destabilizing during our fight." Rock hastily explained after he landed in a far away safe spot. Unfortunately, a couple of both Balalaika and Chang's subordinates weren't as lucky as a good number were consumed in their efforts to run away.
As Verrocchio grew, his form changed, transforming again into something abominable. He had become a gigantic creature with several crimson eyes, 6 arms of shapeless flesh and atop its head were tusks arranged like a crown.
"Rock."
Rock's face was gripped and turned to look Balalaika right in the eye. "Can you kill Verrocchio?"
"I… Well… I'm not sure. Right now, I'm just going along with my instincts here." Rock admitted, sweating under Balalaika's dead-eyed glare. "Maybe I can. Maybe I can't. I don't know. I don't feel I can risk giving an irresponsible answer."
"Ah, yes. My apologies." Balalaika said cheerfully. "I asked the wrong question."
The smile dropped and her tone became far more authoritative, levelling Rock with what was the most terrifying look he had ever been given in his entire life. He was a vampire now! Why was Balalaika scarier than the giant monster nearby?! "Will you do it or not?"
Rock fell silent for a few seconds before replying in a determined tone. "I'll do it. I'll do it! I don't whether I can kill him or not, but I'll do it!"
The flames on his sword surged in intensity along with his will, gaining their attention.
"Where did you get this?" Chang immediately questioned.
"From the guy fighting over there." Rock avoided saying Shirou's name and pointed to a far off building, where they could see figures causing flames and shadows all over its roof. "He told me that it can kill vampires."
"I see..." Balalaika mused before suddenly patting Rock's back. "Do something about that."
Verrocchio roared, a deep bellow that echoed across the entire city before glaring down on Rock, Chang Balalaika. All in one convenient spot.
"Oh crap." Chang cursed as he realized.
Balalaika pointed upwards to Verrocchio's gargantuan fist about to slam down on them!
Rock punched upwards with a yell, unleashing a gigantic flaming fist of his own, which incinerated Verrocchio's limb into ashes. As he did so, Rock entered a pose.
"[Okajima-ryu: Ni no Kata: Moeru Mikadzuki(Okajima Style: 2nd Stance: Flaring Crescent)!]"
Rock swung his blade towards Verrocchio, unleashing a massive crescent shaped wave of Sunfire that slammed into Verrocchio and ignited his entire body. As Verrocchio's pain-filled screams echoed about, Rock panted softly from the exertion.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Chang spoke. "Get going and end this nightmare."
Rock looked at him for a bit before nodding and leaping off, easily clearing several meters. As he approached Verrocchio, he cut several patches of flesh, igniting them as he did so and causing more pain as well as stopping his advancement, bit by bit.
"Hmm..." The unseen figure above hummed as he looked up to observe the Bounded Field after hearing a crack. "Looks like Leraje's Bounded Field is weakening thanks to his near defeat. That guy was always such a pussy for wanting to work my shaft every time we met."
Rock continued to struggle against Verrocchio as the latter regenerated and got the bright idea of keeping Rock away with massive tentacles of flesh slamming down on him.
[How pathetic! Are you really the guy my Creator passed me to?!]
Rock stilled as {Kienai Shinkou} glowed brightly before releasing a giant bird-like figure of golden flames behind him.
"Wh- What the?!" Rock stumbled back in shock. "A demon?"
The bird-like creature scoffed.
[Demon? Regardless of your non-magical origin, I do not wish to bear such a misclassification from you, Rokuro Okajima!]
Rock's eyes widened at the fact that this strange creature knew his full name.
[The real question is just how compatible you are with my flames, Dead Apostle. No, not dead. You possess the characteristics of a bloodsucker but you are no Dead Apostle. What are you? My fire is derived from the golden flames of the Sun. But where did these blue flames come from other than you as a Dead Apostle usually holds domain over elements connected to darkness?]
The flaming bird paused as it noticed Rock's overwhelmed confusion before sighing.
[I am the Sword of Inextinguishable Faith, {Kienai Shinkou}! My domain involves the element of the Sun! Form a Pact with me, Rokuro Okajima, so that we may defeat this foe! If you would accept, I will teach you how to harness and control the flames that are running chaotically through you.]
"I... don't really understand," Rock's brows furrowed in confusion before looking forward. "but go ahead, {Kienai Shinkou}!"
[Very well.]
{Kienai Shinkou} burst into flames which returned to the blade.
"Oh?" The observing figure raised a brow of intrigue as Rock's flames turned completely gold and snuffed out the encroaching azure, meaning that {Kienai Shinkou} had chosen to utilize it's power instead of Rock's own.
[It's been instinctual up till now but you've been slowly implementing your new powers into the near forgotten sword techniques you were trained in years ago. This time, you will do so deliberately, with your most powerful one!]
"Wh-What are you trying to do?!" Rock questioned as he felt his energy skyrocket.
[We shall obliterate the Dead Apostle!]
"Well, I'll be! A vampire with a talking Holy Sword!" The floating figure marveled at the living impossibility below him. "This was an unexpected twist, but it's entertaining all the same!"
[If I were to combine our flames, we shall be able to cleanse the entire city of Dead Apostle Verrocchio and his ghouls.]
"W-Wait just a minute!" Rock cried out in alarm. "What do you mean by 'cleanse'?! There's a lot of people in Roanapur!"
[What of it? That's of no consequence.]
"HUH?!"
[A Dead Apostle will regenerate again from it's death if even one of it's ghouls escapes scrutiny! You may have escaped that fate due to your mutation, but all others must be cleansed without exception!]
"St-Still!" Rock tried to protest some more before suddenly being aware of one of the massive tentacles. With a leap, Rock dodged the attack as it crushed the building he had been on.
'There's no time to doubt.' Rock thought as he landed on another building's roof. 'I have to try to kill just the ghouls without burning everyone else!'
[There is no more time to dawdle! Let us begin!]
"Right. Control your breath. Unleash the Final Form!" With that, Rock charged forward and started slashing every flesh tentacle that attacked him as he built up power with each rotating swing.
"[Okajima-ryu: Ju no Kata: Nichiryu no Totsugeki(Okajima Style: 10th Stance: Sun Dragon's Charge)!]"
As he charged, a large serpentine dragon composed of golden Sunfire manifested at Rock's side, roaring as it followed the swing of his blade and burned through everything in their path.
In almost no time, Rock scaled Verrocchio's massive form and reached his head.
[Now, release the attack!]
"BURN!" Rock swung his sword, slamming the Sun Dragon into Verrocchio's face directly.
A pillar of golden flames shot into the sky, shattering the weakened Bounded Field above the city and illuminating the entirety of Roanapur.
From within the flames, Rock gritted his teeth in pain as he fed the flames while Verrocchio thrashed and resisted against his cremation.
[What's happening? Why do you hesitate? Pour more power into it!]
"I-If I put any more power into it-" Rock flinched as burns started to appear on his face and arms. 'I feel like I'm the one who's being burned to ashes!'
Caren panted as she ran through the streets while piggybacking the still unconscious Laeticia, swiftly killing any ghouls she ran across.
Suddenly two ghouls rushed at Caren too fast for her to deal with.
'No!' Caren twisted her body to hopefully shield her friend. Then suddenly-
*RATATATATA!*
*SCHAK!*
-the first ghoul was blasted through with bullets and the other was gruesomely bisected by Hansel's axe.
"Hello!" Gretel waved cheerily as she hefted her BAR onto her shoulder.
"You need some help, pretty nun?" Hansel idly shook ghoul bits of his axe. "We know a safe place."
The three suddenly stared as Rock's attack sent a pillar of flames. Gretel whistled in approval at the sight.
"Mr Rock sure knows how to go big, huh?"
"Hey, is that Rock?" Benny, Revy and Dutch watched from the safety of their torpedo boat in the ocean, staring at the gigantic pillar of golden flames. "What a crazy night, huh..."
"Things are gonna change from tonight, Benny-boy." Dutch took a deep drag of his lit cigarette. "The problem is I don't whether it'll be for the better or worse."
"If Rock doesn't live through this and get his dumb ass back to us," Revy idly rubbed the area she had been bitten. "it'll definitely be for worse."
"Plus, he's not human anymore." Benny pointed put. "He's not going to last long since every power in Roanapur is going to be gunning for him for his abilities after this."
From Revy's grimace, she very well knew that.
[How could Shirou-sama entrust me to such a weak-willed man?]
{Kienai Shinkou}'s flames swelled and threatened to burst into a gargantuan explosion while Rock struggled to hold it in.
"Listen to me!" Rock's voice couldn't be heard over the flames.
[I already have the location of Shirou-sama, Caren and Laeticia. With you here directly, I can permanently rid the world of this rotting city and it's inhabitants.]
"Please listen to me!" Rock yelled louder against the stubborn sword.
[Do not worry about yourself. Despite your vampirism, you seem to be just about the only morally sound resident of this city. I shall make sure to save you as well.]
What?
Did that mean that Kienai Shinkou... was really going to kill everyone else along with Verrocchio just to be thorough?!
"WILL YOU FUCKING LISTEN TO ME, ALREADY?!"
The golden flames actually seemed to choke a bit at Rock's sudden order.
"I will... burn only what I want to be burned." Rock resolutely declared as his azure flames slowly added to the golden flames. He looked down to {Kienai Shinkou} in his hands as it continued to spew their flames. "So let's do this properly."
With his new resolve, Rock calmly unleashed as much power as he could into the sword, causing the pillar of golden flames to transform and spread all over Roanapur as waves of brilliant azure flames with hints of golden Sunfire.
"Fucking awesome!" The floating figure cheered as the gold tinged azure flames blanketed the entire city and it's borders, having an effect of lighting up the area far more than Roanapur could ever do with it's lights. "An excellent debut for our new vampire! Ghahahahaha! Welcome to the fucking big leagues, Living Apostle! Wait, that name sucks worse than Walter's Balls. Damnit, I can do better than this... Let's see now..."
As the flames approached, the mobsters and paratroopers took cover as quickly as they could, with Balalaika and Chang being the only ones to do so in a completely calm manner.
"The zombies... They're burning up!"
Nobody knew who shouted that out but extra attention was suddenly paid to the ghouls. While the rapidly spreading flames hadn't done any damage to the city or it's residents, the ghouls however were rapidly burning up in seconds.
Soon enough, there weren't any left. Throughout the city, the survivors started to celebrate, their cries ringing through the air.
"Looks like Rock did it." Balalaika huffed through her cigarette. "My men didn't fall in vain."
"You look sad that you didn't fall with them." Chang chimed in before suddenly leaving. "Well, time to go. When the End of the World doesn't happen when it threatens to, life still goes on, regardless. I've got stuff to do and subordinates to plan funerals for."
Balalaika stared at Chang's retreating back before reaching for her phone. "Sergeant, how many of our comrades fell tonight?"
"Game over, Leraje."
Shirou blinked as Leraje was hurled away from the area by a what seemed to be another vampire.
"Are you alright, kid?" The speaker was an attractive young woman with platinum blonde hair cut into a flare cut and glowing red eyes. She had a fairly broad-shouldered torso, yet maintained a very voluptuous and buxom figure, which was further accentuated by her short stature. She was dressed in a blood red military uniform with a matching mini skirt, long white stockings, ankle fold brown boots, and brown gloves.
The most attention grabbing thing that Shirou had noticed however, was her left arm which was composed of black and orange eldritch matter and had been used to toss Leraje away before reverting back to normal.
"You know, I never thought that there'd be more humans taking on Divine power to beat up troublesome vampires while irreversibly fucking themselves up like Father Anderson. Still, good job protecting everyone." The woman patted Shirou between his wolf ears, unsettling him due to her speed, as he hadn't even seen her move at all. "It's a miracle how you haven't let the power go to your head. Which is why I'm really sorry about this."
The woman's last words were punctuated with an apologetic smile as she slammed her fist into Shirou's gut, breaking his transformation and instantly knocking the magus out.
As she gently laid him down, Leraje returned, his usually calm demeanor replaced with a raging and somewhat panicked one.
"The Crimson Fucker's police bitch. You and your master a bit far from England, aren't you?" Leraje snarled while keeping an eye out for the aforementioned 'fucker'.
"It's Police 'Girl'. Or Seras Victoria. Please get the name right, skeleton." Seras Victoria cracked her neck as a man popped out of her shadow to carry Shirou away from the battle. "As for why we're here, Master just felt like killing time."
Leraje growled as his own words were used against him unknowingly. "Do you think that a bitch like you who isn't even on the Ancestor ranks can hold a candle to me?"
"Let's find out." Seras entered a combat pose, causing Leraje to mimic her. "Hey, you seen that new Mortal Kombat movie, yet?"
The tension temporarirly broke at that sudden change of subject.
"Is this a joke- gah?!" Leraje's deadpanned look switched to a pain-filled one as two blades of eldritch matter stabbed through his chest from behind. "What the?!"
"Guess not." Seras simply smiled from behind him as the Seras in front of Leraje faded into eldritch matter.
As she ripped out her tentacles arms and allowed Leraje to stumble forward, Seras then proceeded to pummel the undead shit out of Leraje with her bare fists. After a strike that sent Leraje back a few meters away, Seras rushed forward, spun about thrice to build up power and landed a sideways twin punch on Leraje's midsection, shattering his ribs and sending into a wall.
With a swift yank, she summoned thin, serrated eldritch whips to pierce through Leraje's arms, allowing her to brutally rip them off.
As Leraje screamed in pain, Seras created a pointed chain out of eldritch matter and threw it forward, impaling Leraje's chest and breaking through his spine.
"GET OVER HERE!"
Seras reeled Leraje in and grabbed his throat as soon as he was in reach.
"Y-You fucking bitch..."
"What does that make the one dying to the fucking bitch?"
"FINISH HIM!" Ah, her Master had arrived.
With a roar, Seras threw Leraje upwards into the sky. As Leraje began to fall backwards to the ground, a gigantic thing of eldritch matter with too many eyes and a large fanged mouth, burst out of Seras's left arm and gobbled Leraje whole.
"Flawless Victory." Alucard clapped slowly in approval. "Well done, Seras. How's the brat?"
"Safe. I dropped the lad next to his Church ladies and those twins." Pip replied as he returned and entered back into Seras's shadow.
"Splendid." Alucard spied Leraje's arms which had started to twitch and move on their own. With zero hesitation, he pulled out one of his guns and shot them to charred bits. "Now that you're the 25th Dead Apostle Ancestor by Right of Death Match, let's get going. A lot of those losers are gonna kick up a fuss. Let's get going and leave the clean up to that Church girl after I check up on something."
"Will we back for him?" Seras looked towards where Rock had been. "He's..."
"Not to worry." Alucard waved her concerns away. "Salary boy has a good head on his shoulders just like you. Plus, with those vampire brats he's gonna adopt, he'll be too busy to even think of infesting the world. Besides, his story's just barely begun. The Author might make a spinoff for him so you'll probably run into him again."
Seras blinked at her Master's strange words. Once again, who was this 'Author' he referred to occasionally? "Very well, Master."
KingVessel: Done! Please review! And also, I need a good nickname for Rock so I'll be accepting suggestions.