A/N: Epilogue / Stinger at the end.

A knocking could be heard on the double doors of a massive home. One of the servants, a skeletal waiter, approached the doors. Just as he reached them, they were kicked open, sending the bag of bones flying apart through the entry hall. Mana walked in first, whip ready for whatever awaited them, with Shinji just behind. As he entered, he summoned a pair of Guardians, Sword Lords armed with golden armor and lacking the rampart pauldrons of their larger cousins. They were among the most powerful of Shinji's souls, with the most visually elaborate armor.

"Bigger on the inside," Mana noted. "This seems to be a recurring theme with these cults."

"Maybe they watch too much British Sci-Fi," Shinji mused. "In either case, if the pattern is followed, our target will be on the upper level."

The sounds of many running feet reverberated through the hall as the guardians of the manor rushed to do battle with the trespassers.

"Well then," Mana began, snapping her whip taunt between her hands. "Once more into the breach…"

VII: Heart of Fire, Part II

The halls echoed with the sounds of battle; snapping chain whip, lashing flame blade, and massive heavy footfalls of armored constructs as they slaughtered their way through the lower levels of the expansive dimensional construct that was Rebus Manor. Many of the foes they faced, Mana noted were of the undead variant; various skeletal warriors from pikemen to skelerangs, and a seemingly endless parade of zombies.

"Am I alone in thinking this is too easy?" Mana asked and she lashed another group of zombies.

"He's trying to wear us down," Shinji noted. "We need to hurry. He's probably preparing an escape route."

Quickly slaughtering their way though the undead, they were suddenly both divebombed by new targets. Mana avoided the attack in time to see a winged female wearing only a corset, and laughing seductively. A similar daemoness was also attacking Shinji.

"Demons and undead," Mana noted. "Must be my lucky day." Mana dodged the next attempt at slicing her with a bladed wing, and chucked her cross boomerang just above the target where it couldn't see. Predicably it flew up and took a direct hit to its left wing, causing it to cry out and fall to the ground. Mana quickly moved in for the kill, but had to dodge a series of bladed tendrils that formed from the demon's still functional right wing. She backflipped out of the way of the attack, catching her cross while inverted.

As she landed, she switched to throwing knives and threw a series at the succubus, who was charging, using its tendrils to deflect the blades but took a couple to the body anyway.

"You're mine," it hissed as it leapt forward. Mana was already advancing and slid under the grasp of the succubus narrowly avoiding her, then spun and lashed it across the back with her flaming whip. The demoness screamed in pain and fell forward onto her hands and knees.

"I imagine you're used to that position," Mana taunted as she switched gems on her whip.

Now supremely pissed, the demon got back to its feet and rushed only to take another direct hit with the whip, this time glowing white with radiant power. The hit was instantly fatal slicing the succubus in half.

As this took place, Shinji blocked several attacks from the tendrils of the succubus while using final guard. He summoned a pair of Salem Witches which began to wind up their spells. The succubus tried to switch targets, but Shinji went airborne with a jump, meeting it with a viscous slash from his flaming sword. The succubus immediately responded with a series of tendril strikes, two of which hit home, but Shinji bit down the pain and pulled as he fell. As the succubus was being dragged down, the triple casted holy flames from both witches ended it as it had no chance to dodge.

Mana immediately went to him as he landed. "Are you alright?"

Shinji absorbed the souls of the succubi with a single outstretched hand. "No worries. I've had worse. Let's keep moving."

The pair continued to slaughter their way through waves of undead which presented less than a speed bump in their advancement though the gaudy lair. Quickly disintegrating bones and ashing flesh were all that remained of the defenders as the pair continued to slaughter their way to the main room.

Finally kicking opened the last door, the pair entered a large throne room, lined on both sides with tapestries and braziers. A man sat in on the steely throne cross legged and holding a goblet full of blood, sipping calmly as he watched the pair enter.

"So… you must be Count Rebus," Shinji greeted.

"In the undead flesh," the man replied. He stood up, wearing an evening suit that would not have looked out of place in Victorian London. I have to say, you've made quite a mess of things… but as expected for a candidate of such power!"

Mana readied herself. "You seem to think yourself as Dracula," Mana noted. "This throne room certainly seems like something out of Castlevania itself."

"I'm flattered you think so!" Rebus replied. "I've done a lot to make it as authentic as possible. Sadly, I don't have nearly the wealth to make it look the part as I'd like. Afterall… I'm not Dracula. And should I fall here, I won't ever have that pleasure. But the future is not yet written… and though I face not just a powerful candidate but a Belmont as well, I'm not willing to concede just yet. I'm quite powerful myself you know… certainly you feel it, don't you Ikari?"

Mana nervously looked in Shinji's direction as he spoke. "I sense it… your power is greater than mine, and your more focused as well. I was warned about you."

"Were you? Who let that particular feline out of the satchel I wonder?" He tossed away the goblet, the neglected glass thing shattering off to Rebus's left somewhere, no one in the room observed its destruction. "No matter. This is going to be interesting."

A black energy enveloped Rebus, and a cage of bone surrounded him dragging him into the ground. Shinji and Mana went back-to-back immediately. Off to the left, the cage shot from the ground back to ground level in less than a second breaking apart in the process. Rebus made an outward gesture with his hand sending several spears made of bone in their direction, their speed so quick they left wakes of energy behind. The pair dashed in two directions to avoid the attacks, Mana launching several throwing blades at him as she went. A shield of spinning bone surrounded Rebus, blocking the attacks as he continued firing on Shinji's position with larger individual spears of bone. Shinji tried to block the incoming attacks with Final Guard, but it only took two direct hits to shatter his defense, forcing him to dodge the rest.

Mana bombed his position with Holy water, shattering his guard and setting him on fire briefly. He was quickly dragged back into the ground again where the holy flames were extinguished. He came back up far away, launching a wave of dagger like projectiles that resembled vampire fangs. Mana managed to jump over them and threw her cross boomerang, the attack glancing Rebus but getting him to cry out, before he dropped into the ground again.

"What is it with Vampires using teleportation in their battle tactics?!" Mana yelled, now very annoyed.

"I usually don't," Shinji pointed out, then dodged as another bone spear nearly impaled him.

Mana landed but just as she was about to attack again, she was beset by more zombies. She quickly took them out at close range with her dagger held in a reverse grip, only to see Rebus make a gesture and she instantly sensed power coming from the falling corpse. Executing a quick back-dash, she managed to barely get clear as the corpse of the zombie exploded into a shower of razor-sharp bone fragments and poisonous gas.

"You're both doing quite well," Rebus commented as he created an expanding cloud of poisonous gas around him before dropping back into the ground again.

"He's going to booby trap this entire room at this rate," Shinji noted.

Suddenly he was struck with a bone spear through the shoulder. Crying out, he nearly fell from his feet.

"Shinji!" Mana cried out as Rebus laughed maniacally. "Bastard!"

"Don't worry," Rebus replied as he dodged several thrown axes headed his way. "I won't kill Ikari… not until after I make him watch you die."

Mana growled internally. He just said the wrong thing to her, as now her determination to win was absolute. She no longer cared if she had to die, she was taking this bastard with her. Upon landing she dashed forward lashing out with her whip. The first strike managed to shatter his forming bone shield, the follow up hit him directly, sending blood flying in one direction and causing Rebus to cry out in pain, though he managed to survive the holy energy shock that resulted from the hit.

"That was naughty!" he yelled as he dragged his hand upwards, causing several nearby zombie corpses to break apart into smaller bone spikes that flew into the air. With a gesture he sent them towards Mana at a high rate of speed. "Eat this!"

Mana quickly dodged back and forth, rolling forward at the end then executing her dashing attack, passing just to the left of Rebus. Another cry of pain issued as a slice appeared across his face on that side.

"You don't know when to quit do you?!" Rebus yelled.

"I never quit, fiend," Mana shot back spinning into another diagonal lash, catching Rebus across the chest. He quickly dropped back underground. Mana waited until the last moment, sensing out where he would appear then lashed her whip in that direction. Rebus appeared just in time to have his neck wrapped in a holy infused chain whip.

Rebus gasped, trying to pull himself free of the whip, only to have Mana pull, and wrap the chain around her arm. As soon as he was close enough, Mana flipped over him, wrapping one more pass around the neck and pinning one of his hands under it, then kicked him hard in the back causing him to start to fall forward. Mana pulled back on the chain, forcing her foot into his back and pulled with everything she had. Rebus struggled only to feel his fingers break and then become severed. Blood poured from his neck as he made one last desperate gasp. With a horrendous crack, the chain severed his head from his body, and Mana moved away as the body burst into flames leaving little more than ash behind.

Shinji finally ripped the bone spear out of his shoulder, watching the shaft turn to dust as he did so. Mana went to check on him when suddenly a mass of dark energy ripped from the ashes of Rebus and entered Shinji's body. So much power was pushed into him he cried out in pain and nearly fell over when it was over. Mana caught him and let him down to a sideways sitting position easy.

"Fuck… me," Shinji whispered.

"Now is definitely not the time," Mana quipped, earning a chuckle from the weakened Vampire Lord. His wound now closing rapidly and leaking ashes. "Better?"

Shinji nodded and got back to his feet. "Damn, he wasn't kidding… that was one hell of a power spike."

"The way up is there," Mana noted, pointing. "Let's go."

The pair reached the roof of the manor where they found another vampire waiting for them. Both stood with weapons ready, but Shinji relaxed a moment later.

"I see you both survived your battle," the Vampire began, his voice raspy and ancient. "I wasn't sure you could defeat Count Rebus. It seems you continue to surprise us."

"And you are," Mana asked with a twinge of anger.

The vampire bowed in a flourish. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Count Olrox."

"You lead the Brotherhood of Blood," Shinji noted. "So you've been behind all of this."

"Indeed. I needed to know your strength, and now I do. I must congratulate you for finally accepting your role in all of this. However, despite the power and your willingness to use it, my old friend seems absent from you."

Shinji straightened up. "You were close with Vlad Tepes?"

"Indeed, I shared his house. He had a section of the castle set aside for me. I enjoyed the talks we had together. I thought we finally were seeing eye to eye when he met that mortal Lisa… Her death was the catalyst to bring out the real Dracula."

"I disagree."

"Oh?" Olrox questioned. "Is that why you have chosen to ally behind humanity still?"

"If Lisa hadn't been killed by superstitious idiots, he would have eventually been a perfect ruler. He started to see the best in humanity, just as I do. They're not perfect, by any metric, but they are not the slovenly beasts Vlad thought them after Lisa was executed. I plan to be a fair and just ruler after all this is over… if there is anything my brides have given me beyond assistance and companionship, it is the realization that despite being a monster, my soul remains human."

"How sad," Olrox replied. "My disappointment knows no bounds."

"Why aren't we attacking him?" Mana asked.

"Because he's not even here," Shinji noted. "This is an illusion, similar to the one Hikari saw back in Tokyo-2."

"How observant," Olrox praised. "You will become a great ruler should you win the coming war. But I feel I must warn you. Though you defeated Count Rebus, there is another far more powerful than you… and he has a much stronger claim to the title of Dark Lord than you do."

Shinji blinked. "I thought Rebus was the one I was warned about."

"Oh no… I know the identity of the other candidates, including the one who has the greatest claim to the power. Your greatest battles are yet to come my young Prince of Darkness. I look forward to seeing how you fair."

With that, the illusion disappeared. The manor began to shake with instability, prompting Shinji to return to bat form and take both him and Mana away from the collapsing building.

Shini and Mana entered into the back door of the safehouse. There, Asuka and Rei waited… neither looked happy.

"I take it your mission was a wash," Shinji noted sadly.

"The cult was two steps ahead of us," Asuka admitted in anger in her voice. "The crucible was gone by the time we arrived. By now, it's in the hands of Count Olrox."

"Now nothing can stop Castlevania's return," Rei noted sadly.

"And my grandfather died for nothing," Mana noted sadly.

Shinji held her from behind as the girls both moved to her front, surrounding her in a small group hug.

"Perhaps this was inevitable," Shinji noted. "I don't know how long it will take to complete the ritual, or even if they have to do it a specific time. We may yet have another chance in the near future. Let's not give up hope just yet."

Mana nodded. Leaning back against Shinji as Asuka brought her face next to Mana's and Rei set hers on the Vampire Killer's other shoulder.

"It's time for us to go to our true home in the forest, and plan our next moves," Shinji concluded. "Try to look at this from another angle, and come up with a plan."

"The cults need to be destroyed," Asuka declared.

"The angels are likely not done with us yet," Rei noted.

"And our enemies are truly legion," Mana added.

"It doesn't matter," Shinji concluded. "We must keep fighting no matter what. I'll send out the order for everyone to return to our home. One way or another, we will get through this."

The girls nodded in agreement. Mana sighed softly before speaking, "Let's go home."

"Until now, all we've been doing is putting out fires… trying in vain to save what was left of the old world… but we realized this was playing right into their hands. We were wasting our time and our strength on an impossible task. The world is too big. If we're going to win this war we need to take the fight to the cults themselves… find their leaders, and destroy them utterly. I have no choice but to follow this path now.

"For the longest time, I resisted becoming Dracula… now I will become a true king of the night. I have the power to protect that which is most important to me … but one day, I will claim the power to protect everything good and pure in the world, even if I appear to be the very thing that should be destroying it. With my brides, I am unstoppable, and it's time my enemies learn this…"

Series One Credits

Writer: Archdruid Sephiroth

Idea: Wolfpackersson09

Special Thanks to

Wolfpackersson09

Z.L.C Genesmith

Jam-Man 265

Mike Kromer

Very Special Thanks to

Orionpax09 for getting me involved in fanfiction. Your light was extinguished far too soon.

RIP my friend…

Epilogue: Dark Dawn

A massive crowd stood outside the new NERV Headquarters in the city of Morioka. This city, far to the north side of Honshu stood as one of the few remaining bastions that have never been successfully breached by the cults. On the upper level, a man in a dark outfit wearing rose tinted glass stood upon the balcony. His white gloved hands taking hold of the banister.

"Greetings people of Japan," the voice of man carried. "I am Supreme Commander Gendo Ikari, Head of NERV, and now Supreme Commander of the JSSDF. As you know, in the last 48 hours, we've seen many members of the Diet murdered, and the power of the government collapse, just as many cities before have. This is a terrible tragedy, and it cannot be overstated."

He paused taking in the silent crowd. "But we cannot live in the past, and must move forward into the future if we are to survive. As of this moment, the military is in complete control over all aspects of government, making me the de facto Prime Minister of Japan. I promise to do everything within my power to make every city as safe as the city of Morioka! To this end, I plan to greatly increase the support of Dark Light, bringing their technology and training up to the level necessary to combat the evil they were meant to defeat.

"Together, we can secure a bright, safe, and secure future for all Japanese everywhere!"

Cries and cheers of approval rose from the crowd. They knew this city was safe, and if all remaining cities were to be saved as well, that meant that the suffering of the people will finally be over. That this security would likely mean the loss of much of their freedom never entered their minds. Gendo knew that people would always choose security over freedom. Anarchy was dangerous after all, and the more order there was, the safer they were.

Inwardly he smiled. He had slowly built his powerbase behind the scenes, waiting until the cults had reached their apex. And now that the whole world was in a state of chaos, it was time to take his place at its head.

He adjusted his glasses in his usual manner, with a single finger. At this range, no one noticed the red gleam in his eyes. Subcommander Makoto Hyûga stood to his right, and to his left, another man in a business suit watched the crowd impassively.

No one there would have noticed the odd resemblance this man had to the Cult Leader known to Shinji and his team as Rastur…