The crunch of glass echoed though the upper floor of the office building. Mana Kirishima Belmont stood amongst the ruins, finding a few dead cultists and several destroyed zombies. Her senses were whispering to her, telling her a powerful vampire was still nearby, but with all the destruction she had only come to a single conclusion.

"Shinji is here," she whispered. "Guess I'll get another crack at him after all."

Inside the building, she found more of the same; cultists lying dead from blade wounds, some were burned to death, others seemed to have simply dropped dead. Circular burns appeared in places where cultists had summoned monsters to defend them, only to have them destroyed. Many of the summoners died close to these circles.

"If he's causing this much damage, is he really the enemy?"

Mana was starting to believe that Shinji was actually not the enemy, even if everything in her being and all the knowledge she accumulated from the church was telling her she couldn't trust him. The more she thought about it the more it seemed like him being evil was the truth, but her feelings were telling her a different story and she could not reconcile this. She had to push on and stay the course for now, but what if that was also the wrong call?

Inside a large room, she found a hidden door, already opened, and a staircase leading down.

"Guess I'm going to find out soon enough."

Mana had no idea then that she was right… for the wrong reasons…

III: The Wheel

More proof that cultists were here surrounded her; bodies lay in different states of dismemberment, remnants of summoning circles stood out among the fancy wooden floors, weapons no longer possessing owners were everywhere, and the air smelled faintly of sulfur. Through a set of fancy wooden double-doors she finally reached the library, where she came across her first living individual.

She hadn't seen someone like him before, his clothing seemed to be closer to what someone would wear if they were a 15th century nobleman, complete with neckerchief. A long black cape with a red inside lining draped over his back, and a cascade of long dirty-blonde hair adorned him. His eyes held a piercing coldness, and his skin was pale. She had no doubt this was a vampire… but his appearance awoke an ancient memory… she knew who he was.

"You must be the last heir to the Belmont Legacy," he concluded, his voice smooth and almost comforting despite the undercurrent of darkness.

No wonder they're all dead… they'd stand no chance against someone like him…

"I know who you are," Mana replied. "You're Adrian Tepes."

"I prefer to go by the name Alucard," he corrected. "But you are correct. I see the memory of me still resides within the Belmont line."

"You assisted my ancestor, Trevor, in defeating Dracula centuries ago… and it's even been said that you rescued Richter Belmont, and went on to defeat your father."

He nodded. "That was a long time ago… I only wished I could have stopped him before he went on his mad quest for revenge in the first place."

"Revenge?" Mana questioned. "Revenge for what?"

Alucard seemed hesitant to answer. "You'll learn soon enough. What brings you here?"

"The church wants to know why the Brotherhood of Blood is looking for the Crucible of Blood. Certainly, an artefact such as that would interest them on its own, but they only recently started to really push to locate it, and their order is as ancient as the vampires themselves. We need to know why they are suddenly so interested… And if possible, clues to its whereabouts."

"I see," Alucard replied. "I've been down here only a short time, but I can point you in the direction of which bookshelf you will find what you seek. Down that direction, the third set of shelves from the wall. There is a book about the crucible there on the right about half way down at roughly eye level for you. It has a red spine and is the only book on that shelf to possess such."

"Thank you. I would have you lend your strength to my cause, if you are able."

Alucard took only a moment to answer. "I cannot. Unfortunately, the church's aims and my own are at odds, though we are not enemies."

"I see. I suppose that was too much to hope for." Mana began to approach the shelf, as she got close to Alucard, he got her attention again.

"A moment, Lady Belmont."

She stopped, turning to face him. It felt strange being so close to legend, especially one that has been alive for over half of a millennium, and even stranger for him to use the respected title of 'Lady'.

"There is something you should know, but it would mean more if you learned it yourself. There resides a book in a display case between the second and third set of shelves going back towards the far end of the library. It is entitled the Koji Manuscript. It was written by a Japanese scholar during the 18th century. It details information that the church has been trying for centuries to fully suppress. When I learned of the manuscript, I brought it here nearly a century ago."

"So, this place wasn't always a cult library? I was told it belonged to the church though."

"No," he confirmed. "It was never owned by the church. This archive was created and owned by an organization known as The Circle of Truth. They were sages who were descended from another ancestor of yours, Sypha Belenades. They wanted to preserve what the church was trying to destroy, believing all knowledge was important… especially inconvenient truths. There are things inside you must know. But I must warn you that knowledge isn't the only thing you will find within its pages."

Mana's heart beat faster. "What else will I find?"

Alucard picked up a book from the nearby table with a black binding and silver embossing in a beautiful recessed pattern. Without looking at her he began to leave, saying only one last word before he was outside of whisper range.

"Misery."

Now thoroughly concerned, she immediately moved to the display in question, finding it. It was a fancy book display, designed to show books opened to a particular passage. This one did not have any kind of cover on it. She double checked the front cover, finding the words "The Koji Manuscript" embossed in gold on the cover. Like the book Alucard took, it was a smooth black cover otherwise. Reopening the book she began to skim, being something of a champion speed reader.

She reached the half way point and immediately regretted ever picking it up… The passages here detailed the events that rocked Walachia in the mid 1400's including the trial of Lisa Tepes, which declared her excommunicated and condemned to burn as a witch. This was despite her use of science not sorcery to treat the sick. The archbishop decided if she could heal better than the church, it must be witchcraft.

On the night of the execution, Dracula had returned from wandering the earth as a man as Lisa herself suggested he do, but too late to stop it. His response to his wife being burned at the stake was to threaten all of Walachia with death. One year later, he began to follow through with his threat, beginning his war against humanity.

The war lasted less than a year and Dracula was defeated by Trevor Belmont. Though he had been defeated multiple times in the past by members of the Belmont family, he always managed to escape in the end. This time, Trevor defeated him once and for all… or so it was thought.

Mana's heart fell through the floor as she learned of the Church losing members within 20 years after the death of Dracula, and the plan to "save" the souls of the lost sheep… by binding Dracula's soul to the celestial process known as Chaos. With their devil dead they needed a new one… "For God to be good, The Devil must be evil". The rituals were discovered by the Archbishop Lazarus sometime in the 1550's. By 1570, the process was ready to begin. When it was over five years later, the binding of Dracula to Chaos itself was completed, and Castlevania reformed itself. Dracula had returned…

From that point forward, Dracula would resurrect like clockwork every 100 years… and each time, a member of the Belmont Clan would face Dracula and defeat him, showing the world that the Church would forever protect them from darkness and evil.

Mana dropped the book onto the table as she had to steady herself. Tears welled up in her eyes as realization hit her harder than a stone golem's fist. All these centuries, the church itself had been responsible for the constant resurrection cycle of Dracula. It felt like a horrible joke, and Mana herself had been on the receiving end of it. All that death… all that destruction… all that suffering… all the fault of the church.

"How could they?"

Her tears fell without pause; Her whole life, minus what she had dedicated to the T-RIDEN-T project had been spent training herself for a war the church itself had started and perpetuated.

"Why?! What's it all for?!"

Her anguish and betrayal were unleashed; she felt horrible, she felt lost… Who else knew about this? Did Shinji know? Did Yoko, the girl who sent her here? Her lineage built this place so she must have known that, what else did Yoko know?

"And what do I do now?"

Mana sighed. She would have to do her duty… but this would be the end of it, she promised herself. After this mission, she is quitting the church, and not having any children that the church can exploit like she was exploited. The Belmont Bloodline would die with her.

But could she really do that? She wanted kids of her own someday, and if the pattern was eternal now, didn't that mean that the Belmont Clan needed to continue existing?

Then another thought came to her… unbidden… How much more had she been lied to?

I heard from God today,

And She sounded just like me,

"What have I done…

"And who have I become…"

I saw the Devil today,

And He looked a lot like me,

I looked away

I turned away

"How could no one have leaned of this? Why didn't the Circle reveal what they had learned? And how can I continue to fight, now that I know the truth…"

Next Chapter: Relics

A/N: The Koji Manuscript was named for Koji Igarashi, who was the Assistant Director working on the Playstation game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.