Mana stirred in her sleep, slowly coming back to consciousness. Her body was sore from last night's exertion, but she was still feeling the afterglow. It wasn't the only thing she felt though. There was a connection now, she felt it strongly with the young man she was currently using as a bed, but she also felt the links forming between her and eight others. She realized immediately it was the rest of the harem. The feeling of it was like being surrounded by a gentle warmth, like intrinsically knowing she was now part of a tight knit group of warriors who would have her back no matter what.

She felt Shinji's hand trace down her bare back, and nuzzled into his chest in response.

"Good morning, my girlfriend of steel," he greeted.

"Is it morning?" she questioned. "My sleep schedule is all messed up with everything that's been going on."

"More or less," Shinji noted. "Not quite ten o'clock yet."

Mana made an "mmm" sound in response. "So, what is the plan?"

"Find Rebus and destroy the crucible," he said matter-of-factly.

"I wish I could help you…"

Shinji hugged her. "What if you could?" Mana looked up to him, seeing his beautiful face always gave her joy… this time she felt a bit of hope. "What if you could have your powers back?"

VI: Heart of Fire, Part I

Kodama opened a dark tome, skimming though the pages quickly, and found the passage she was looking for. She turned the book towards the person on the other side of her table. That person was Mana. Now fully clothed in her normal ensemble, she read the passage while Shinji stood near her. It was a passage that detailed the process of dark pacts.

"Seriously?" Mana asked, more curiously than anything else.

"After the last candidates I've absorbed, I have that power now," Shinji noted. "I, like the devils and demons of Castlevania, can make pacts and deals… granting power to those who would pledge themselves to me. Of course, in this case, the pact would be little more than a formality."

Mana looked back at him. "Because I'm linked to you already."

"You felt it, didn't you?" Mana nodded. "Last night, that link changed."

"How?"

"With you becoming the ninth and final bride, the prophecy has been fulfilled. Now that link we share has been strengthened. While we can't partake of each other's abilities per se, we share power now. And we instinctively know when one of our own is in danger. This is especially useful for someone like Maya, who has the ability to effectively instantaneously teleport anywhere, using the land of the dead."

"I see." Mana thought a moment. "Easy choice really… I refuse to stay idle while the world falls apart."

"I was hoping you would say that," a new voice replied. Mana turned to see a young woman dressed in a style that would look appropriate alongside Alucard himself, with light armor added. She was holding a wooden box with a handle in one hand. Her eyes seemed alight with power, and a fairy in a white dress floated next to her, above her shoulder. Mana instantly felt this woman was part of their circle.

"Mana," Shinji began, "I want you to me our Quartermaster. The Devil Forgemistress, Ritsuko. She's Maya's other half, as it were, and was formerly in charge of everything EVA."

"I seem to remember you being a little older," Mana pointed out.

"The Forge has a way of bringing out the best in people," she explained. "After I started really playing with turning demonic souls into weapons of justice, I was de-aged and have been getting stronger with each Innocent Devil I create. Speaking of which, this is Ahri." Ritsuko gestured to the fairy floating near her. "She was the first Innocent Devil I created, and remains my stalwart and dauntless companion."

"Mistress, you flatter me," Ahri protested, blushing almost profusely. Mana found it adorable.

"A pleasure to meet both of you," Mana replied, earning a bright smile from the Fairy and a polite bow from Ritsuko.

"So… you ready?" Shinji asked.

Mana nodded, turning back to him. "What do I do?"

Shinji stood in front of her, placing his right hand in the middle of her chest. "Did I ever tell you I love the fact that you have the body of a dancer?"

"Here I thought you would be disappointed with what I had on offer. I haven't changed much since school, just got slightly taller."

"Please," Ritsuko nearly laughed. "If you're self-conscious about your lack of a chest, you should know that he beds my Maya almost as much as I do."

Mana looked at Shinji a little shocked.

"Heh… All Breasts Matter?" Even Kodama was laughing at his quip. "Alright, joking aside. Let's begin." Mana relaxed feeling warmth now coming from his hand. "As a member of my brides, I grant you the power of Castlevania… As you once were a warrior of the church, you now are a warrior of the night. You shall be granted the power to protect what you love, to bring justice to those who threaten the new order, secure peace for the future, and destroy the enemies of Castlevania. Concede hanc animam potentiam noctis in eternum!" [Grant this soul the power of the night, for all eternity]

A column of dark energy erupted around Mana, filling her with heat. She cried out at the feel of it, arching her back, while Shinji's hand never left her chest. She felt the energy seep into her veins and course through them like a torrent. It felt the same when the Church unlocked her powers when she agreed to become their warrior.

Within moments, it was over. Shinji stepped back as mana looked at her hands. She summoned her holy dagger again to her left hand, noting it had changed, having a cross shaped pommel, black metal and silvered edge, perfect for slaying any supernatural threat. Despite its color, she was shocked to realize the energy of it was still holy in nature.

Ritsuko put her box on the table and carefully opened it. "I hope it fits your requirements," she said stepping back from the box.

Mana approached, finding the inside was mostly foam but in the center was a coiled chain whip, tipped with a silver edge blade. The metal gleamed with power, though it quickly returned to a more subdued metallic color. The hilt was simple though the pommel and guard were more intricate with the guard resembling a pair of small bat wings, and the pommel adorned with a smooth and spherical white gem. Mana noted, cutouts for more gems lay on the right side of the case with Red, Icy Blue, Yellow, Black, and Sapphire Blue stones in the cutouts.

"The whip is designed to channel energy in the same way as your old leather whip. This time, you have choices on how to use the whip. The stone it carries in the pommel allows you to change the energy channeled. The stone currently set channels Radiant Holy Energy, the kind you're used to using normally. The other gems can channel fire, cold, lightning, and darkness respectively. The Sapphire gem simply creates a strong physical force instead of channeling energy when it strikes… good for dealing with foes that aren't particularly susceptible to one energy type or another. Easy to swap, but they won't fall out no matter how rough you are."

"Seems you thought of everything," Mana noted, removing the whip from its confines. Holding the hilt with her right, she wrapped some of the chain around her left, then snapped it taunt, feeling the strength of it.

"It's not Vampire Killer," Ritsuko noted.

"No… that relic was lost when my grandfather died sealing the castle," Mana replied sadly. "But this is a worthy successor."

"It is named, Ultor."

"Latin for 'Avenger', or 'Punisher'," Kodama noted.

Mana coiled it at her side, suddenly earning an unexpected hug from the blonde woman. Mana chuckled slightly and returned the gesture, noting the girl smelled like a cross between jasmine and sandalwood ashes.

"Welcome to the family," Ritsuko whispered.

Mana smiled replying, "Thank you."

On the streets of Kyoto, near the ruins of a large apartment complex, a beam of moonlight shined down. Where it met the street, a swarm of shadowy bats seemed to gather forming into the shape of two figures holding each other before the color faded into them, and the beam of light faded away. Shinji released Mana, allowing her to stand next to him. Nearby two girls approached.

"Nice to have backup," Mana noted. Then realized who one of them was. "Oh God, it's you!" Her last words said with amused drama attached.

"Yup," Asuka replied, tightening her bracers. "And you can call me 'Head Bitch'. Your part of the family now… and like it or not, I'm in charge if Shinji's not around."

"I can live with that," Mana replied.

Asuka blinked. "Wow, settling into your role so easily?"

"I'm just glad to be part of something again," she replied. "And this time, I can make a difference." Mana looked over to the other girl as said azured haired angel spread her wings and stretched, before settling down with her left arm folded behind her, as was a customary pose for her. "Rei… it's good to see you again."

Rei smiled softly. "Hello, Mana. It has been a while. I'm glad you are with us again."

"Surprising considering all the trouble I caused last time."

"More a fault of circumstances," Rei noted. "Now, no such barriers exist. We find ourselves facing a common enemy once more. Are you ready?"

"Always!"

"Good to hear," Asuka noted as she turned towards Shinji. "So, what's the plan?"

Shinji drew Laevatain flipping the blade around as it ignited. "Kill every low-level cultist, find who's in charge, and make them tell us were Rebus and the Crucible are."

"Simple, direct, effective," Mana noted as she switched out the white gem for the red one. "Let's do this."

Inside the hall of the apartment building, cultists gathered, conversing on their current assignments, and oblivious to the death that came for them. This complex had a large and wide hallway with many rooms lining both sides. While it didn't appear to be designed that way on the outside, the cult had been here for some time, and their magic had long since warped the building's interior space. So much space was made between the rooms on either side of the hallway that the hall had to be further supported by gothic columns in two rows down the center. A red carpet marked the center of the hall, and numerous tapestries adorned the walls as well as braziers set every 10 meters or so to provide light.

Suddenly, the door blew off its hinges, causing the small army of cultist to turn towards the door. The two closest cultists were shot though with arrows, one of which turned its victim to ice before the body shattered. Asuka rushed right as soon as she was in, firing off additional arrows from her Rune Bow, while Rei took to the air and rained frozen arrows from above. Axe Lords appeared in beams of moonlight and began marching forward as Mana rushed past them to take point.

As the ceiling was quite high, Mana leapt three meters into the air before launching an attack from her whip. Ultor ignited near the wing cross guard and the fire quickly raced up the entire chain as it lashed, creating an almost fire-wave effect as it struck the two cultists directly in front. The others quickly drew weapons, but the battle had already claimed four of their own in half as many seconds. Before she touched down, Mana swung her left arm in a wide swipe to her right causing her to twist landing with her left side facing the enemy. The rushing cultist suddenly found themselves burning in radiant blue flames as three fiery explosions sent waves of blue flame though their ranks, preceded by the sounds of shattering glass.

Asuka launched a few more arrows into the cultists before switching to her sickles and reveling in the slaughter up close and personal. She moved like a blur from target to target, sometimes bringing her weapons together to swipe with a huge scythe before switching back to her dual sickle combat style. Shinji meanwhile walked calmly forward as his girls slaughtered all before him, his black shield from Final Guard forming over his left arm. As Mana broke slightly right, he dashed left using his vampiric speed and went on full offense, slaughtering his way through cultists of his own.

More men entered from the double doors at the end of the hall, but they faltered as they noted the sheer volume of dead. In less than 30 seconds, dozens of cultists were already dead, slain with fire, ice, and holy power. The Axe Lords continued to march forward, cutting down any who dared try to get past them with viscous shield bashes or thrown boomerang axes. Beyond the doors, the head cultist sat on his throne watching as his men were walking into their deaths. His demeanor was neutral.

As the last of the cultists were defeated, the Axe Lords were dismissed and the four warriors entered the last chamber. It was large… larger than it should have been.

"You must be the man in charge," Shinji noted.

"Hello, Ikari," the man replied. "I've been waiting for you."

Asuka tightened the grip on her sickles. "You must be pretty confident if you're not even concerned about our presence here. I don't sense much power from you though."

"Oh… I'm not the one you have to worry about," the cultist replied, then pointed up. "He is."

On cue, the four looked up, seeing a giant dark shape hanging upside-down from the ceiling. Its massive wings opened, revealing an enormous bat with a humanoid shape. Shinji estimated the monster must have been at least four meters tall, easily able to tower over the four of them. It dropped from the ceiling and landed on the ground before the quartet of heroes and began inhaling strongly.

Asuka, Rei, and Shinji all reflexively summoned or hid behind their shields. Mana backflipped over Shinji landing behind him and hunkered down as the monster unleashed a sonic wave from its mouth. The air seemed to ripple as the wave passed over them. As soon as it ended, the four launched their attack. The monster quickly taking wing again, and avoiding their attacks, only being hit by Mana's whip a single time. It shrieked before circling back around and bombarding their position with fireballs as it went, causing them to scatter.

The head cultists tried to cast a teleportation spell as he rose from his chair only to get slammed back and pined to it by a holy throwing dagger from Mana. The pain making spellcasting impossible. He watched as the four tried to coordinate their attacks against the monster, but it kept adapting to their attacks.

Rei managed to get above it and started raining arrows from above, but it was able to quickly dodge. It was hit instead by a series of fireballs launched from Gaibon, who Shinji had quickly summoned to the battle. Rei coordinated her strikes with the demon minion. Mana managed a few direct hits with her knifes but noted they were having little effect. Summoning her thrown axes instead she kicked off the wall and chucked one hard, managing to hit the bat in the middle of the back. Expecting to finally ground it, she was shocked as its body suddenly broke apart into a swarm of bats.

"The hell?!" Mana yelled as she watched the swarm suddenly coordinate, forming a massive hand that tried to grab her out of the air. Gaibon's fireballs distracted the swarm long enough for Mana to reach the ground. The swarm then spiraled around the room and started to divebomb all of them. Gaibon quickly succumbed to the assault, fading from existence once its injuries became too much.

"Damn it," Shinji yelled. "I don't have anything with enough range to take all of them out at once."

"Me neither," Asuka noted. "I'm not good against something like this!"

Mana summoned her Cross Boomerang and ran towards the center of the room, a large line of bats following her. She spun throwing the boomerang and cutting through several, though more appeared to form from those that were nearby. It hit a few more on the way back, and the entire swarm seemed to take notice.

"That's it," Mana called out. "To me you fiends!"

"The hell are you doing?" Asuka yelled, now backed to a wall.

"Dealing with this thing," Mana yelled back as she tightened her grip on the cross, crushing it. Her body was suddenly enveloped in holy energy. "Time to end this! Grand Cross!" Her last words echoed with supernatural power.

The bats suddenly realized they were being vacuumed towards Mana as she floated off the ground arms out to her side curled in a gesture of power with balled up fists. Their individually light weight unable to resist the pull, as the energy around Mana intensified. With a scream she unleashed the power creating a massive cross shaped blaze of white fire that began incinerating the bats. Their shrieks echoed across the room as they were being consumed by the holy flames faster than they could replenish their numbers.

Mana's body slowly rotated around, catching every bat in the room with the flames. Chunks of the ceiling broke loose and fell around her. Finally, after 12 seconds of sustained holy devastation, she dropped back to her feet on the ground, her cross-boomerang reforming in her left hand, and the ashes of countless dead bats rained down. A red orb flew from a seemingly random point in the burned out swarm, and Shinji stood still, absorbing it as it reached him.

The head cultist appeared terrified of her display of might. "Is… this the power of a Belmont?!" he questioned fearfully. He was suddenly grabbed roughly by the front of his robes by Asuka.

"Where is the Crucible?" she demanded. "Where is count Rebus?"

"The… the Crucible was moved to another location in the east of the city… the old bus complex. Re… Rebus is in his manor at the top of the mountain north west of here."

"Damn," Rei noted. "Two different places."

"And not enough time to hit both," Mana noted. "Looks like we have to split up."

"Agreed," Asuka replied.

Shinji finally recovered from the soul absorption. "Mana and I will find Rebus. You two go after the crucible."

"No offense master," Rei protested, "But you can't fly yet."

Shinji suddenly transformed into a large black bat, his wings and fur the same color as his trencher. Then shifted back a moment later. "You were saying?"

"You got that from the soul?" Asuka asked.

"No… I'm a vampire," Shinji replied. "I got this from the soul." His aura glowed blue for a second before a group of three bats the size of eagles appeared behind him, flying in a lazy circle while all facing the same way he was looking. He then gestured towards the cultist still pinned to the throne, and all three bats flew at the cultist. The man screamed as the bats quickly tore into him, ending his life quickly.

Asuka watched that with a little mute horror. "Shinji… remind me never to piss you off."

"You can carry me in that form?" Mana asked, earning a nod. "Then let's get Rebus."

"Why her?" Asuka questioned, sounding a little disappointed.

"I'm still a Belmont, Mistress," Mana replied, using the title out of respect. "Killing vampires is kind of my forte. Plus, if he's a candidate, Shinji needs to be there to gather his essence."

Asuka was less angry now that her ego was smoothed over by her old rival refering to her as her Mistress. "Well since you put it that way…"

"Let's go," Shinji commanded. "We finish this tonight."

Arms wide opened,

I stand alone

I'm no hero,

And I'm not made of stone

Right or wrong,

I can hardly tell,

I'm on the wrong side of heaven,

And the righteous side of hell

I'm on the wrong side of heaven,

And the righteous side, the righteous side of hell…

"This is our last chance… I hope Asuka and Rei are able to destroy the Crucible. Rebus has been my mortal enemy through all of this, and I have yet to even meet him. Let's see how he fairs against the combined power of Castlevania and the Belmont Clan!"

Next Chapter: The conclusion of "Last Heir"