A Song of Fire, Ice and Hearts

by Jebest4781

Venturing outside of the Heart of his Somebody, a Nobody enters a World where it's at the brink of self destruction. Will he be able to handle and survive the Game of Thrones. Rated M for language, violence, etc. Pairings hidden at current time. KHXGoT/ASoIaF CoWritten by free man writer. Cover Image by Carlos M. Please leave reviews.

20. Storm the Castle

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Disney, Square-Enix, Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire or anything else. They rightfully belong to their respective owners.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Writing/Singing

"Foreign Language/Flashback"

-Scene Shift-

Chapter 20: Storm the Castle

Browsing through another section of the massive underground museum library, Sypha was quickly pulling out books left and right, doing quick reads before putting them back into place and repeating the same process over and over. Some seemed longer to take to continue for some form of interest, but was not what she intended to find. Yet she did mentally catalogue the specific tomes, books and volumes to look back into later.

Upon pulling out another piece of reading material from a bookcase, she heard Alucard speak beside her. "You know, for coming from an oral, memory-based culture, you're very good with books."

The wayward Speaker pried her eyes away from the pages as she hautly smiled at the dhampir. "It would have been a poor education if we hadn't been taught to read things to add to our memory stores."

Alucard nodded in understanding, blindly pulling out a book from a nearby shelf and gazed upon its contents.

"But I am coming to the conclusion that my people are idiots and we should have written everything down."

Hearing this particular sentence being spoken directly from Sypha, a Speaker, with clear and willing admittance halted Alucard's action. He looked back at his female companion with hidden surprise in his yellow eyes, not that Sypha bothered looking back at him. For the briefest of moments, the dhampir thought he was imagining it. But in actuality it was very much real.

"Everything? For certain?" He asked with controlling composure.

"Yes. All the things." Sypha said with loud admittance, waving her arm towards the entirety of the Belmont Hold. "Look at this. There's more in this room than a million Speakers could carry across two generations. This is insane." Alucard shook his head in humored disbelief as he continued hearing Sypha out. "And the sheer breadth of information about the Castle is staggering."

Alucard nodded as he did come across some books of research upon his father's castle in the underground library. Some Belmonts who had gone inside in the past in hopes of vanquishing Dracula had studied and written out the layout. Yet this would prove to be partially a waste of time with his father telling him -in his youth- he often changed the layout every so often through magic just to mess with any trespassers and the like.

"But how much of it is useful?" Alucard asked her, putting the book in his grasp back in its resting place. "The library, I mean."

"Well, I do have questions about Trevor's ancestors."

"Go on."

"I… discovered an entire box of spells mostly about… penises."

Oh this was very good. Very good, indeed. These were the words swimming through Alucard's head at the moment as he got a humored kick out of this.

"You're certain it was one of his ancestors?" The dhampir walked away from the current bookcase and decided to go towards another. "You didn't find it under his childhood bed?"

He was jesting, of course, given the estate on the surface was utterly destroyed with no possible way anything would have survived over the years.

Sypha released a tired groan soon after. "Stop testing him, Alucard. It's starting to get rather old."

Alucard was silent for some moments, eyes browsing across the tome and book titles. "I am concerned I have thrown my lot in with a demented infant."

"I imagine he has similar concerns about you." Was her remark, flipping through some pages.

"I am also concerned that you enjoy him too much."

This halted her reading process, prompting her to glance away from the dhampir. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

Alucard soon listed off his reasons. "He is unreliable, emotionally damaged, and apparently very distracting to you while you should be focused on the task at hand."

This started to test her mood. "Oh? Am I not working hard enough?" She then gave him a bland, stern look. "Hello Lord Kettle, this is Ms. Pot, we aren't so different after all."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I seemed to notice that you weren't working hard enough as well. You accuse me of Trevor distracting me, yet you seemed distracted with Roxas."

...Okay, she can be right on that one.

"I have my reasons."

"Like?"

"Thinking over how things have changed with his presence with us. For one example, what happened recently with that Moogle."

Sypha nodded as her left thumb brushed over the Wisdom Ring resting on her left index finger. Said hand soon went up to her right arm where the Mythril Armlet rested. And she didn't have to bring her hand towards the Moon Amulet hanging from her neck.

These items worn on her person were some of the few she had acquired from the Moogle Roxas seemingly knows of. There were many more she obtained; such as a Reinforced Staff, a Mythril Rod and a Bladed Staff on top of all sorts of Potions, Ethers and other goods she wanted to study and learn about at a later time. Presently, they were good equipment to have, hopefully giving her the extra edge in their upcoming fight towards Dracula and his forces as they helped increase her defenses -both normal and magical means- along with magical enhancements.

Putting that detail aside, Sypha had considered it quite odd for her to wear such… trinkets. Speakers never really wear such items as they go with the simplistic approach in their appearances and she was truly fine with that. If the ones she presently wore never had any practical uses, she would never waste money on obtaining them in the first place; only using it for food and supplies and nothing else.

Practicality over gaudiness as to what her teammates unanimously agreed to. And luckily for her, Roxas paid for these items and she was thankful for it. Through normal means, such things would be truly hard to find and come across.

As for the staves she recently obtained, Sypha honestly admits it would take time for her to properly adapt working through them. The staves were magical conduits, helping enhance her spell casting. But for years, she was more used to spellcasting without a medium to work through as they would merely hamper her fighting capabilities. Yet this might change as she might have to research fighting styles in order to adapt with her newly acquired weapons.

Taking her focus away from herself, she gazed at her dhampir companion; but more towards the newly added items he wore. An Astral Cuff bracelet placed on his right wrist, a Celestriad Pin placed on his coat's collar and a pair of Platinum Earring studs. From there, Sypha's eyes wandered towards Alucard's silver longsword as it seemed slightly different in appearance now that she realized it.

She was previously told by the black coat wearing Moogle that not only did he sell magical items, weapons, supplies and ingredients; but his kind was able to upgrade and reinforce any pieces of armor, accessories and weapons as long as one provided the necessary funds and items for the process to work. The Speaker was curious about this, but honestly didn't know any big changes at all given she had nothing to compare them to.

Her male teammates on the other hand, did. And boy did they use the opportunity to improve whatever items and weapons they had both on their person and anything they procured in the underground museum.

By the time she came out of her thoughts, Sypha ended up realizing Alucard came back and continued on with his rant on the Belmont. "-And he's a drunk and he's self-destructive and anybody trying to hold on to him may well simply be dragged down with him."

Sypha snorted, voicing some rational thought on Alucard's current action. "You're afraid. You worry that you might have made the wrong choice." She pulled out a book and walked away. "So you're trying to make him prove himself again and again by constantly provoking him." She pondered about the Belmont on their team before gazing back at the book in her grasp. "You forget, Alucard. Trevor didn't get to finish out his childhood properly. He is not the man here who may not have grown up."

Alucard hummed, pulling out a book beside him and opened the cover with hardly any care in his voice. "Well, that's ridiculous."

"And if we don't get this done, then we're all failing. Aren't we?"

Alucard's eyes hardened and so did the grip of his hands. "We can't fail."

Silence reigned over the two as they read without uttering out anything further. They were too preoccupied with their reading as both wanted to get back to their task at hand.

After some manner of minutes, the Speaker seemed to become a bit more focused into the book within her grasp. As she read, her blue eyes started to take on a curious feel to them.

"Alucard." She said, getting him to momentarily break away from his reading. "Get me that volume back there. With the red spine."

The dhampir rose a brow as he looked over to where Sypha was pointing towards. When he headed over there to retrieve the requested volume, he recognized the tone of voice she used. "What have you found?"

"I'm… not sure. The ritual language it's written in has forked a couple of times over the years."

When he came back with the volume with the red covering, Alucard gazed into the pages of the book Sypha carried. He didn't recognize anything that was written in there at all. "Can you read it?"

"Not without that book." She clarified. "It's based on Adamic. I recognize the roots." The Speaker briefly touched the volume in Alucard's possession. "Now, that book here claimed to be written in a language called High Rememberance, which I've heard of. This one holds the Ademical roots and some of the structure of High Rememberance, I think. Give."

"I haven't heard of Ademic." He admitted, handing over the book as requested.

"Well take a look."

The simple give soon became an exchange of hands. Once fully in his possession, Alucard flipped a few pages back and seemed to recognize something more than what he previously saw. "Interesting." He voiced. "I see threads of Chaldaic in it."

"You're rather well-read yourself."

Alucard accepted the compliment quite well before admitting to part of his education. "I had entirely different books under my childhood bed, you know, unlike Belmont." He didn't have to look over to see Sypha roll her eyes in annoyance. "My father was a polymath, my mother was a doctor, and I grew up very fast."

Sypha pried her eyes away from the pages as a cautious and curious look came across her features. "What does that mean?"

She wondered that despite his kind mother present as he grew up, Sypha wondered if his education was… rough under the guise of Dracula himself. Granted she was being biased on the horrific tales she grew up learning of the Vampiric Lord of the Night as it outweighed the ones spoken by Alucard before the events of last year at Targoviste. Could Dracula have made his very own son grow up too quickly mentally with all the learning crammed into his head, pressuring him to excel at everything? It could help explain part of his personality.

Fortunately for her, Alucard lifted away her worries with what he said next. "I'm being literal. I aged very quickly."

Surprise took over her, soon laughing to release the odd bubble of stress welling in her chest. Calming down, she thought things through on the bit of revelation. "That may explain something."

"What?"

Looking back into the book, a coy smirk graced Sypha's lips. "Perhaps you're just an angry teenager in an adult's body."

Alucard couldn't have whipped his head around quick enough for a possible whiplash. And the look he gave her practically screamed 'I beg your pardon?!'

Coming over his moment of surprise, Alucard was about to refute when he ended up thinking of their far younger teammate. They believed Roxas was merely 14-15 years old, but in reality, he was over a year old. With him being considered an infant, the Keybearer was very mature for his age.

Alucard then thought back to the discussion he had with his young teammate. A discussion which made him rethink the Keyblader differently as both he and him were more similar than he would've realized.

For Roxas wasn't really human but in fact a Nobody, a creature that was never meant to exist. Only being conceived when a person's will is strong enough after their heart is taken by the darkness and/or Heartless. Their body -their shell- would become animated and take on a life of its own, having all the memories of who they once were with the inability to feel anything. No emotion of happiness, anger, sadness, joy… none of that. Only the memory of it all.

Alucard thought differently with Roxas' claims as he clearly expressed such emotions given the time he's known of him thus far. And this was further discussed with Roxas' status as a Greater Nobody as he was once part of Organization XIII, a group filled with individuals like him as they hoped to become whole once more.

It was from there did Alucard learn about Roxas' task in the Organization he defected from, destroying the Heartless across many lands, many Worlds. And yes, the dhampir had questioned this detail; which was further explained far later once Trevor and Sypha properly went back to their intended slumber while he and Roxas made their own respective purchases from the Moogle.

By the end of this particular discussion, the son of Dracula could feel some bit of connection with him. Roxas wanted to trust him with the truth of his origins first before telling their human companions. Hopefully before or after Dracula is slain, this might be possible as they'll accept Roxas for what he is. They did with Alucard, so why not the Keybearer as well.

Shaking his head from the thoughts, Alucard moved elsewhere to properly continue his investigative research.

-Above Ground-

Roxas and Trevor were carefully circling one another weapons out with the two about several feet apart.

The two had grown bored of reading books these past few days and had decided that they needed to let off some steam. Being cooped up underground for so long was making them stir crazy and they needed some well deserved physical activities.

Trevor also wanted to test out his enhanced equipment which had been bought by his new friend from the strange creature called the Moogle.

Roxas and Trevor gazed at each other as they circled around the impromptu battle ground for their next clash.

Trevor seemed to have changed in some manner than when they first fought together back in Gresit. Now the Belmont seemed a bit better in some aspects. Either it was from the journey so far or on what he recently procured since arriving in the Hold. And Trevor wasn't going to clearly answer him on that.

On his person, Trevor's appearance changed in some details here and there. A few minor ones were some items he purchased from the Moogle from the Studded Brace and Force Ring on his right wrist and index finger to the Acrisius Chain wrapped around his waist as an adjusted holster. But what was clearly different on his appearance were the longsword strapped to his right side next to the Morningstar whip, the silver cross boomerang on the other, the Hunter Whip holstered in the back, the silver knives sheathed on his chest straps and a silver vambrace-like fingerless gauntlet worn on his left arm.

Some of the items Roxas already knew about, given Trevor's profession. The longsword and gauntlet, on the other hand, were something else entirely. When asking about them, Trevor stated they belonged to his ancestor Leon Belmont, as he found them while digging deeper into the Hold on whatever else he could find. He already planned on using his ancestral longsword in the coming fights, but not the gauntlet.

When asked why, it was simplified to two things. For one, Trevor lacked the magical skills in order to properly use the abilities of Leon's Gauntlet. And two… it was literally too big, clunky and cumbersome for him to properly wear.

Trevor was no doubt thankful when Moogle offered to reinforce and upgrade his current arsenal and his ancestor's gear. By the end of it, Leon's longsword, the Hunter Whip and the Morningstar became far stronger and more durable than previously. Said chain-whip also got an added bonus on properly recoiling back without much hassle to the user; much to Trevor's appreciation. And the silver gauntlet got a complete cosmetic change up into its current appearance; fitting like a literal comfortable glove than before.

Yet there was still a problem with Leon's Gauntlet as Trevor wouldn't be able to use it's full capabilities at the current time. He needed a long training process to access and use magic before properly accessing the gauntlet's power. Until then, the only magic he could use from it was helping him cast some healing spells like the Cure variants; which Roxas was fine with teaching him.

The Keybearer, on the other hand, didn't seem all that different in the Belmont's eyes. The young kid was still an impressive fighter as his experience on the field helped forge everything he needed to live through. Asides from that, it was rather hard to see any changes on Roxas' appearance given what accessories he purchased from the Moogle were hiding away in parts from his black leather coat. From an Iron Maiden bracer on his right wrist, some gold/silver ribbon tied on his right forearm underneath the coat's sleeve while a Gothic Bangle was worn on the left.

With Roxas' Keyblades, they were given a well needed upgrade. They look no different at all, but with the Moogle's help, the magic swords became far stronger.

Without any warning, Trevor whirled his chain-whip directly at Roxas; who rolled out of the way. Coming from the recovery, Roxas shot and came in close with his Keyblades posed to hit him. Yet the Belmont ducked from the swings, kicked his opponent away and recalled the whip back in order to whirl it out once more.

"Hey Trevor, I need to ask you something." Roxas said with a grunt, deflecting the Morningstar tip.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Ever had an arranged marriage?"

This made Belmont freeze in midstep, causing the Morningstar to crash into a decrepit wall, leaving a decent size hole in it. "I beg your pardon?"

"Arranged marriage." Roxas repeated. "Did you ever have one?"

Belmont had actually stopped moving overall and gazed questioningly at the Nobody.

"Er, no, can't say I have considering the state of my life up to this point." Trevor remarked. "Don't think my family ever had one for me to begin with."

"Huh…" Roxas was silent, Keyblades hanging down by his sides.

"What brought on all this?" Belmont asked. "What, you got a lady waiting at home?"

"Something along those lines." Roxas said offhandedly, laughing nervously. "It was… the reason how I first met you in Gresit." Roxas partially admitted. "I needed to get away and think about the situation I was thrown into."

"Thrown into it you say?" Trevor said with a curious brow. "So you didn't want it?"

"Not really." Roxas stated. "It was out of the blue and really… I don't want it at all."

"Well did you get a second opinion on the matter?" Belmont asked.

"Not from the girl." Roxas stated. "From her father."

"Her father you say?" Belmont scratched his chin. "Is it the Lord your friends with?"

"No."

"Then who?"

"The Lord's friend… who just so happens to be a king."

Trevor blinked on the surprise bit of information before releasing a snort.

"A king you say?" Trevor said in slight disbelief while chuckling. "So you're marrying a princess, then."

"Yeah, pretty much." Roxas said sheepishly.

"Prince Roxas." Trevor said with a chortle and a dramatic bow.

"Please don't." Roxas said with a groan with Trevor laughing now.

"At least tell me the princess is decent looking."

"She is and is rather quite nice."

"But…"

"I… just don't have any interests in marrying her."

"C'mon," Trevor drolled out, "you should be ecstatic in marrying into royalty. Any right lad should think so."

"Not me, apparently."

"Well then, you're a man in ten thousand lad." Trevor said. "But honestly, what's your real take on all this?"

Roxas hesitated, thinking on the matter for a brief moment.

"I… eventually grew to like the court I was in for months now. It was relatively simple and hardly any problems at all. I would've actually enjoyed it for the rest of my days. But now… now I'm betrothed to a princess and I'm gonna be dealing with so many political messes from now on."

Trevor hummed in thought. "Hope you're not alone in cleaning all that up."

"I hope so. I can take all the offered help I can get. Especially with the family I'm marrying into."

Trevor wore a quizzical look on his face, seeing the bits of stress surfacing in the Keybearer's form. "How bad can your upcoming in-laws be, anyways?"

Roxas was quick to answer. "The king is an obese drunk who constantly sleeps with any woman who's not his wife, who I honestly feel bad for as she's like an older version of the princess. The crown prince is an utterly spoiled brat who thinks he's the next ruler of the world. The younger prince, though, isn't all that bad. Same with the uncle, who's a dwarf."

"A little person or an actual dwarf?" Trevor quickly cut in with a joking tone. "If it's an actual dwarf then I would like to know that story."

"He's a little person." Roxas clarified before continuing. "And the other uncle… I don't know what's going on with him. Like he is being far more protective over the princess than he's supposed to be, despite him being a royal bodyguard, while giving me this odd look that's hard to describe."

Trevor merely nodded as he gave him quite the pity stare.

"Seems not all royal engagements are ideal as most stories go." Muttered out the Vampire Hunter. "All sunshine and unicorns shatting out rainbows."

"Shatting out rainbows?"

"A fart while shitting-"

"I already get the concept, Trevor. I'm just curious-"

"Forget it, kid." Trevor sighed, feeling the want to fight all but leave him. "Still, what're you gonna do about this whole betrothal when you go back?"

"That's the thing, I have no clue at all."

"You have my pity mate." Trevor said, walking over to Roxas and patting him on the shoulder.

Roxas only gave him an appreciative smile.

"So you're not interested in this princess?"

Roxas shook his head.

"Don't you have anyone else tickling your fancy?"

Roxas was silent for some moments. He first questioned what was asked before soon getting the gist of the meaning. He just doesn't really know what he exactly wants in a significant other as the concept seemed alien for him to properly handle and understand.

"No, but do you?"

The rebounded question got Trevor to think back to the wenches and bar maids he slept with in the past as none of them gave him any interests further than a lone night of accompaniment. But then he thought of Sypha, for some reason.

It was strange how quickly the Speaker came to mind. Trevor only shrugged, remaining silent. He had wanted to speak on the matter but right now, didn't really feel like speaking on it.

"I… don't know." Trevor stated with Roxas gazing at him, expression blank.

"Well enough dilly dallying, kid. I'd rather keep sparing while I'm up here before going back into the Hold."

Roxas nodded as the two quickly moved and clashed against each other once more.

-Castle Dracula-

The fire crackled before him, goblet of blood in hand. His eyes had yet to gaze away at the fire with his expression forlorn as it had been since the death of his beloved wife.

Sitting in front of his fireplace, Dracula swirled his goblet in the smallest of movements. The blood inside of the drinkable vessel swished and churned ever so slightly before the Vampiric Lord consumed most of it. As it got near its end, he refilled his goblet with the chilled blood from storage.

Turning back to the fire, he slumped further into his chair with a rather aggravated sigh.

Things were supposed to be simple. He gave the reins of planning out his war to Hector and Isaac, the only two humans in his court who are bound by loyalty and intellect instead of the many vampires he summoned.

While Isaac was mature in many ways, Hector seemed to be the opposite. It wasn't outright annoying, thank Chaos, but the Greecian Devil Forgemaster was a gentle soul and was like a wayward child seeking out the most pacifistic approaches to any conflicts. While Isaac was easily accepted into joining Dracula's genocidal plan of the human race, who no doubt shares his views on the matter, Hector had to be… lied to.

Hector, like many of the vampire generals in his court, was led to believe the humans will be culled like proper livestock and killed off in a slow, controlled manner. But this was not the case as the Vampiric Dark Lord wants to outright destroy all sentient life on the planet. And it didn't matter if it was mortal or immortal, they all had to go before taking his own life.

Speaking of… some vampires were starting to question his endgame, such as Godbrand from the Scandinavian territories, who was the most outspoken of them all. He voiced their displeasure on not being more "active" in his war. Dracula had let them go through feeding raids whenever he teleported his castle elsewhere. But that still wasn't enough, as the Dark Lord felt they were starting to turn against him.

Even Hector seems to look at him as if he no longer recognizes him.

One problem was already taken care of recently as Godbrand is… no longer with them. He wasn't let go, per say, but merely slain by Isaac's hands given the vampiric viking stepped far out of bounds.

"One small issue is done and over with." Softly said Dracula. "More to come and soon, the world will be forever silent."

Standing beside his seated form, Isaac voiced his yearned anticipation. "God, yes. Listening to Hector made me wish for a lifeless world all on his own."

Dracula chuckled, refilling his goblet with more blood. "I find myself wishing you two were better friends than mere acquaintances."

"As I said to him, making human friends seems a little pointless, given our current crusade."

"True. But, at the end, there will be only you and him."

"...Presumably."

Dracula nodded, taking another sip of blood. "And what of the court?"

"The generals are doing what they must but Carmilla…" Isaac left the statement unfinished with Dracula snorting.

"Is she still going on about Braila?"

"She is." Isaac replied plainly.

Dracula shook his head, rolling his eyes as he thought on the young ambitious vampiric lord, Carmilla of Styria.

He knows her story very well. A young innocent woman taken in by some region ruling vampire, who Dracula never bothered learning the name of. He promised her the world as per agreement of turning her. Yet he failed his end of the bargain as he grew old, weak and cruel. It got to the point Carmilla slew her former master and took over Styria with three other vampire ladies governing the land.

Carmilla's current objective sometime after coming to assist in his war was having Dracula move his castle to Braila, which is the biggest river port town in the immediate region. If they cut off the Wallacians there, their best means of escape is closed off from the river to the sea. They would be forced to venture through the mountains and dense forestation, where they would be easy pickings.

The idea is good and all, but Dracula wanted to be careful of a city built on top of a large source of running water. And if they weren't quick enough, many priests and possibly a bishop could rush towards the river, blessing and concentrating the flowing water and making it utterly deadly towards their forces.

"Carmilla has the court whipped up. Discord is loud and it bothers Hector greatly." Isaac reported. "All he wants is for them to no longer fight amongst each other and focus on the task at hand."

"...Is he still loyal?"

"Oh, I think so." Said the Forgemaster. "There's betrayal abroad in the court, but Hector is a simpler creature than that. He just doesn't like the arguing."

Dracula set his goblet down soon after. "So the generals are going to betray me."

The Vampiric Lord of the Castle went to stand up and take care of them when Isaac stopped him. "No." Dracula halted his action and listened to his most trusted ally. "If anyone actually approached the verge of that, they would be taken care of without ever finding out about it, my lord."

"Like what you've done with Godbrand?"

"Precisely." Isaac released a breath of air welling up in his chest. "It is simply in the air because they are frustrated."

"So if I let them go to Braila, they'll stop scheming and whining."

"...I think so. It will give Carmilla some power, but that's not a bad thing."

"No, it's not. They will speak to you and Hector in one voice instead of a dozen. It will at least quiet Hector down with his complaints as well."

"Indeed." The Forgemaster then voiced an inquiry. "What of these Heartless? They are appearing frequently as of late."

"Yes, they have." Dracula drawled, drinking more blood from his goblet. "And disposed of just as quickly."

"The boy?"

Dracula only nodded. "He is skilled to a degree that I have not seen in quite some time."

"Those Keyblades as you called them, I have been unable to find proper knowledge of them within your collection." Isaac admitted. "Only references and vague descriptions of them with what I was able to dig up."

"No surprises, Isaac." Dracula stated, eyes gazing at the fireplace once more. "They are a rare breed to say the least. Not many of them left with this boy who is travelling with that Belmont and my son being proof of such a matter. Knowledge on them is limited as of right now."

Isaac hummed aloud to himself. "And the Heartless? What shall we make of them?"

"For now, they'll be useful, but at arm's length." Dracula drawled. "They are instinctual, it seems. Respecting the strong over the intelligent."

"But you are both, my Lord." Isaac remarked earning a small huff of an amused chuckle out of Dracula.

There was a brief lull of silence between them both.

"What news of the Belmont?" Dracula asked, sipping his goblet of blood.

"There were several roaming bands that had been destroyed recently by Belmont and those he traveled with. All within the trajectory of the ancestral seat of the Belmonts within Wallachia."

Dracula frowned for a moment. The Belmont Hold… now there was a name and location he had not heard in some time now. "Hmm… I see."

"What shall be done?"

"I'll see to it that some Heartless and night creatures will be sent towards the ancestral Belmont home. Hopefully the added strength will be enough to take care of them."

"If not?"

"If not… then I'll see to it we'll go there next after Braila."

A rapping on the chamber door was soon heard. From there, it swung open with Carmilla and Hector walking in.

Hector wore an outfit similarly designed like Isaac's but with a few minor details with the more prominent detail being the white leather elbow-length glove on his right arm. Holstered around his waist was a unique looking smithing hammer with archaic writings along the surface. He was of Greecian descent with slightly wavy silver-grey hair reaching towards his chin, framing his light-bronze skin and blue-green eyes.

Carmilla bore the appearance of a deathly pale woman with crimson red lips, icy blue eyes and long straight white hair reaching past her shoulders. Although her face is mostly round, she has a pointy chin, making it look like she was naturally wearing a mask. Her attire was of a black and crimson red ombre dress, sporting golden shoulder plates, matching heels and golden arm bands.

"Isaac, we were just looking for you." Spoke the Styrian vampiress.

"I was discussing matters with our Lord."

Carmilla didn't say anything else to him before greeting her Lord this day. "My lord, Dracula."

"My lord-"

"Yes, yes, we all know who we are." Dracula interrupted his second Devil Forgemaster. "What do you all want?" He said rhetorically, knowing what they exactly want.

Dracula didn't have to look back and see Carmilla's face, knowing the seductive, manipulative and selfish woman glaring at his seated form. He could practically taste the feeling she radiated in wanting to strike him down, if it weren't the case that he can easily overpower her and kill her where she stood.

Carmilla, at first, decided not to voice her reason being her. Instead she ushered Hector to do so as he was more trustworthy than herself.

"We would ask you to consider moving the castle to Braila," Hector began the request. "To conduct a full-scale destructive attack on the port."

"To what end?" He questioned, humoring the two a little on what he already knows.

"To seal it," said Carmilla, "and discourage escape by river to the sea. Then we turn inland, having land-locked the humans and turn their very country into a prison."

Dracula looked over to see Isaac's opinion on this matter. "I agree. They make a good case." Said Issac. "It unites the court. It lets us move forward."

Turning away, Dracula swirled his goblet and drank its contents once more before speaking. "I had planned Braila to be done at a later time," he revealed. "But since it means so much to you both, I'll push it forward once the sun sets. Until then, amuse yourselves."

"That is all we ask, my Lord." Carmilla said politely as she and Hector vacated the room, leaving Dracula and Issac behind.

"So long as they all die." Said Dracula, staring into the fireplace again. "That's all that matters. They all have to die… for my love."

-Hours Later, Belmont Hold-

Sypha currently sat on the floor with her back against a bookcase. Her eyes roaming the pages of a particular book from a pile beside her. It was rather large some time ago from her right side as it eventually shrunk while the left grew to "discard" and put away later. Closing the one book in her hands, she placed it down on the left and grabbed the lone book remaining on the right. Opening it up and flipping through the pages, she soon stopped with something catching her eye. Flipping back to what caught her eye, she deeply read the details.

After some minutes, she abruptly stood up from her spot, ran towards the railing and spotted Trevor not far away on the lower floor. "Trevor."

"What?" He tiredly said.

"I have something!"

Trevor looked up with a meagerly bored expression. "Uh, when I say 'what', that doesn't mean 'I would like to ask even more questions'."

The Speaker soon grumbled under her breath. "Oh, you are the most annoying…" She glared at him from up high and shouted. "Just stop and come up here!"

Sighing to himself, he did as he was told and made his way towards her location.

"What got you so excited, Sypha?" Roxas questioned, walking in from another end of the museum floor with Alucard coming in from a higher level.

"I think I've found a locking spell." She said before gazing back into the book in her possession. "Listen. The Belmonts have an entire literature here about the castle. They tried for centuries to eliminate it's main advantage: transporting itself through magical means."

Ascending the stairs, Trevor commented on this fact. "Right. So you can't attack it if it just jumps somewhere else."

"All that time, effort and prep wasted for nothing when it moves elsewhere at a moment's notice." Roxas said with a shake of his head.

"Yes. So some clever Belmont eventually formulated most of a locking spell. A method to catch the castle and lock it down to a single location so that it can be invaded."

Roxas pondered on this recently given information. He then had to question one thing. "What did you mean by 'most of it'?"

"I can finish the final clauses of it myself." Stated the Speaker. "It's all based on Adamical structures."

"Adamical what now?"

Alucard, remembering his conversation with her earlier, couldn't help but want to know more details. "You keep saying that word."

Sypha nodded as she wanted to possibly include her other two teammates in on the explanation. "Adamic is the original human language." She began once the rest soon came up to her. "The one spoken by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The one that was split into all other languages at the Tower of Babel by God to prevent human cooperation."

Roxas tilted his head while crossing his arms. He doesn't know of these people and places Sypha mentioned, but figured they were rather important to this Adamical language or whatever.

Alucard merely gave her a quizzical look. "Is that how you understand that story?"

"Oh, yes. The Speakers are the enemy of God." Came her proclamation. "We live in cooperation and hide our stories inside ourselves so he cannot strike them down in jealousy."

Roxas was about to ask her further on what Sypha meant by this-

*BOOOOOOOM*

-when a quakish noise was briefly heard throughout the entirety of the Belmont Hold. Everyone present widened their eyes on what just happened.

"See? God hates me."

*BOOOOOOOM*

*BOOOOOOOM*

*BOOOOOOOM*

With each resounding quake, the noise got louder and louder. It seemed to come in rather quickly with heavy amounts of dust falling down from the rafters and ceiling… just to really show how dirty the underground museum is. As these bits of tremors progressed, rather loose and lightly weighted objects fell off shelves like glass jars for small examples. Even to the point of the one skeletal display of a leviathan being hung from the ceiling was swaying back and forth.

With this progression, Trevor instinctively grabbed the handle of his Morningstar whip; especially upon hearing an all too familiar sound.

"RWRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHRRR!"

Alucard was the one to state the obvious. "That's probably not God."

"Seems we'll need to jump ahead of our schedule a whole lot now." Said the Belmont. "But how can we find and lock Dracula's castle down immediately with those monsters upstairs."

Roxas thought for a moment before an idea formed. "The mirror. We could use that to find the castle and use the spell Sypha found to make it work."

"Better idea than nothing right now."

With this set, the four quickly went to work. Alucard and Roxas jumped down from the higher level and rushed over to retrieve the transmission mirror by the charm section of the Hold. Sypha grabbed what dozen books she had on her and walked as fast as she could. And Trevor assisted her so they could speed things up. By the time they made it to the lectern on the main floor, Alucard and Roxas finally brought over the magical device.

The Belmont gazed upon the cracked surface and faded frame before he voiced his concern. "Can we get that magic mirror working?"

"I think so." Sypha quickly said, opening up all of the books and started flipping through the pages to find whatever information she needed to complete the spell. "But I can't do two things at once here."

"I know some Chaldaic." Informed the dhampir. "I know how to operate a distance mirror. What should I do?"

It was a rhetorical question aimed at Trevor, knowing that Alucard could help assist taking care of the opposition invading from the surface. Yet with some pressure on him, given the present event, Trevor stumbled on his words. "Mmm, uh… I can't do either of those things."

"Same here, I'm afraid." Roxas stated, summoning the Vampire Killer Keyblade into his grasp. "I suggest that Trevor and I hold them off while you two fix the mirror and complete the spell."

Trevor liked that plan before telling Roxas to meet him by the door to this chamber. Roxas nodded before leaping into the air and made way towards his destination. Trevor then turned over to Alucard. "Can you get the mirror working right away, Alucard? Give us force numbers, species, and weapon count."

Alucard pulled off the leather glove on his right hand before extending a fingernail into a fine sharp point as he started getting to work on the faded out glyphs. The spacious underground chamber kept shaking as he spoke. "I think we're going to see the size and disposition of the attacking force fairly quickly with our own eyes, Belmont."

"I'm forced to agree." Trevor said, quickly strapping his ancestral family longsword to his side. "Do you have a further suggestion?"

"Are you asking for my advice?"

"We're working together, Alucard." Said the Belmont. "You're still a bastard, but you're the bastard I chose to fight alongside back in Gresit. Do you have a problem with any of that?"

Alucard looked away from his current carving work and gave Trevor a stern look. It then softened with a small smile gracing his lips. "None at all."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Following through Roxas' suggestion by finding Dracula's castle." Was the dhampir's response as the Hold kept on rumbling. "We're trapped in a box down here. We will eventually be overwhelmed, unless we change the nature of the battle."

"Agreed." Unholstering the Morningstar whip, he called out to his Speaker companion. "Sypha!"

"I'm close to getting it." She called out, flipping through more pages in a frantic pace.

"Roxas and I will protect you for as long as we can."

"I know."

Trevor then ran off, hoping to catch up to Roxas on the upper level in time before the bastards on the surface forcefully got past the Hearthstone entrance. Reaching at some point of the stairs, the Hunter whirled out his chain-whip and launched it towards the leading bridge right towards the underground meusuem's entrance. The chain encircled part of the wooden railing and with a firm tug, Trevor swung and spun in the air before landing on the bridge in a crouching position. With the built up momentum, he bolted and went towards his Keyblade wielding companion not far away.

Yet he soon lost his footing when the underground cavern violently shook one final time. He fell over through a broken railing and was about to plummet towards the floor down below. But his arm was firmly grasped by Roxas, who quickly came over.

"Thanks, kid."

"No problem."

Roxas hoisted him up from the broken bridge and back onto his feet. From there the two made their way back towards the entrance of the underground chamber.

"I'm just wondering, but could you magically seal the door with your Keyblade?"

"I could, but I don't know if that'll do any good." Responded his young companion. "Whatever's coming here will find another way to breach through into here. Like the walls beside the door, for example."

Trevor released a sigh of frustration, knowing what Roxas said was probably true. Pushing past the door, the pair entered the area with the spiraling staircase before making their way up to intercept the coming threat.

Back with Alucard, he finished taking care of carving out and fixing the glyphs along the enchanted mirror's frame. He soon focused on the cracked surface on the image of his childhood home in order to locate it. And it didn't take long for Castle Dracula to appear before him as it was currently located in a forested area somewhere.

"There you are."

Yet him finding the castle was too easy to locate as suddenly the ancient, dark structure seemed to quickly light up and flicker across the mirror's surface.

"Dammit!"

Momentarily looking away from the books, Sypha saw this happen. "What's going on? Is the mirror not fully fixed?"

"It's my father. He's already moving the castle elsewhere."

Sure enough, Castle Dracula soon disappeared in a pillar of blue light with a torrent of wind following it's departure.

"I need to relocate it and hopefully it won't change locations again anytime soon." Was all Alucard said as he refocused on the task at hand. After several moments, the mirror revealed to him where his old home was now located. The dhampir quickly saw the more notable landmarks and realized what city he was looking at. "Isn't that Braila?"

In the stairwell, Roxas and Trevor reached a certain point when they heard loud crashes coming from above. Looking up, they saw many of the overpassing bridges seemingly exploding at an accelerated rate. Either large forces were speeding straight down from the bypassed entrance on the surface… or it was a singular being which was massive.

Trevor soon muttered in frustration. "Oh, for God's sake."

Sure enough, it was the latter as the one bridge directly above the two, revealing a massive Minotaur roaring as it fell through the broken structure. Coming down fast, the pair jumped out of the way from being crushed by the creature's hooves. It wasn't long after landing on a walkway not far away did it collapse due to the Minotaur's recent crash.

Not wanting to plummet down with the night creature, Trevor whirled the Morningstar towards a broken support beam to keep him in the higher area. Roxas merely dived, bringing down his Vampire Killer Keyblade onto the Minotaur's back. It roared in pain from the recent blow as the blade dug in deep. It thrashed around and tried to remove the young opponent off of its body. Said person flailed, holding on tight onto his handle for dear life as if he was riding a mechanical bull cranked up to eleven.

"STOP THIS CRAZY THAYAYAYAYAYANG!"

Seeing his comrade in quite the predicament, Trevor unsheathed his ancestral longsword and tugged his own chain-whip, having it unfurl from the broken support beam to let him freefall. Aiming carefully, Trevor poised his longsword down onto the minotaur's head. The creature saw this and moved away from the coming blow. When he dropped past the head, he reached out his arm to Roxas, who recently stabilized himself. Acting quickly, the Keybearer grasped the limb and whirled him back in order for Trevor to mount the Minotaur's neck. Once holstering the Morningstar, the Vampire Hunter brought his longsword to the front of the monster's neck and started carving into it.

The massive night creature felt the blade intruding through it's furred flesh. With the enchanted weapon sawing through, the Minotaur thrashed a whole lot more. In the process, Roxas was thrown off the beast's back and struck the wall nearby. And when the Minotaur thrashed it's back towards the walkway behind it, Trevor was struck from behind and fell off. Upon seeing the Belmont falling down, the massive creature swung it's arm and struck Trevor, who flew towards the far off wall and crashed into some building debris.

Trevor groaned as his back felt incredibly sore. Bringing up his ancestral gauntlet, he closed his fist and was able to cast the Cure spell upon himself. A green aura encompassed him as his body was quickly feeling better. Just in time too when the Minotaur stomped it's way towards him.

Before it got remotely close, a massive bolt of lightning came down from the opening above and struck the Keyblade still embedded into the monstrous creature's back. It was soon electrocuted, sending jolts throughout it's nervous system and spine with the key-shaped blade barely grazing the bone structure. And with the enchanted longsword dug into its throat added more pain through the conducting materials.

Looking over, Trevor saw Roxas up on his feet with his arm reaching towards the heavens while staring directly at their present opponent. It didn't take much on to realize what the Keybearer is currently doing with the continuous stream of lightning, but the Vampire Hunter wasn't complaining. Seeing the opening of the spasming monster, Trevor slid in between the Minotaur's legs before throwing his silver cross boomerang right at his embedded weapon. The religious icon struck his ancestral sword, freeing it and letting it fall free as his silver cross came back to him.

By the time it fell, the lightning current ceased as the gigantic monster collapsed onto the walkway. The impact caused it to break, having Trevor fall down to the bottom of the staircase chamber alongside the beast.

As the minotaur tried to pick itself back up, it soon felt a massive sting on it's heel before collapsing once more. It didn't take much for it to realize that the Belmont sliced through it's achilles tendon and basically disabling it. And before it could try to retaliate, the beast felt a weight landing on it's back.

"Oh no you don't." Roxas growled out, ripping the Vampire Killer out of its spine. Running towards the head, the Keybearer dropped down and swung his weapon right into the massive cut Trevor made into its throat.

With the added blow from the powerful weapon, the cut finally went through as blood shot out as the Minotaur flailed once more in hopes of killing it's opponents. Yet it failed, fully collapsing onto the cavern's floor, blood spreading out at an exponential rate.

The two fighters looked at each other with firm nods, ready to head up to attack whatever else was coming their way. Yet they didn't have to move at all, given a night creature jumped down from a higher level and were ready to skewer either of them.

The pair had to jump back from being impaled from the surprise attack. As they did, the creature struck the floor with some resounding blast that rippled the flowing life essence outward. In its bit of momentum, the beast swung its body around and kicked the airborne Belmont before the Keyblader as both fell back into the bloodied ground.

As they briefly lied there, they saw what other night creatures were coming down from the wrecked surface entrance. Before they could get a good look at them, they quickly remembered their current opponent, a humanoid demon with wraps on its head weilding a bone-like stave, was still there as it soon swung it's weapon right at Trevor.

The Belmont quickly flipped backed onto his feet and used his longsword to parry and counterattack. Roxas came in and swung the Vampire Killer Keyblade to strike it's blind spot. Unfortunately, the attack was blocked by the blindfolded demon. His weapon was knocked out of the way before swinging back to intercept another thrust from the Belmont's sword.

Roxas was quick to recover, bringing his free hand out and casting a quick Fire spell to knock their opponent off its feet. The attack was knocked away by the boney stave, but gave Trevor some time to strike back. But his upcoming attack soon ended as his sword was knocked out of his grasp and fell into the bloodied floor.

Not being deterred, Trevor upholstered his Morningstar and hurled it forward. The stave wielding demon blocked the attack, holding its ground before rushing forward to deliver a deadly thrust. The Belmont maneuvered away from the blow as Roxas soon parried the incoming attack. The Keybearer delivered a spartan kick at it's midsection, causing it to stumble back before it was pulled down into the bloodied floor. Looking down, it saw both it's right arm and leg were ensnared by the chain-whip before the Hunter's foot stomped into its chest to keep him in place.

As Roxas moved to assist Trevor, he was suddenly blown back by a powerful gust of wind, making him fall and tumble through the large pool of blood on the ground.

"Yeah, that's not at all disgusting." Roxas said to himself, quickly pushing himself off the ground and up to face his oncoming foe.

Roxas glanced up at the flying demon with the beaked head, grunting as he called upon Oblivion. Spinning it about he used the destroyed winding staircases as platforms, jumping upwards to the feathered night creature. The demon let out a shrieking challenge which Roxas answered with a spinning dual Keyblade strike, the metal blades clashing with its bony face. Ears slightly ringing, Roxas pressed on with his attack performing a front spinning series of slashes upon the avian demon. The creature let out a cry of agony from the series of cuts, attempting to fly away from the Keyblade Wielder.

Trevor all the while continued combatting his blindfolded opponent, it heard a reptilian growl coming from up above. Looking at the source, he soon took note of what's coming right towards them. And one massive clue were the bright flames welling up in it's chest.

"Firedrake." Trevor said in a bland and annoyed tone. "Just what I needed in an underground hold full of paper."

The demonic firedrake inhaled deeply, gathering flames within itself. Belmont however quickly whipped Morningstar straight into its face, smashing it right across the cheek. The added power from both the Morningstar and the build up flames within itself was too much for it to handle as it soon welled up like a balloon and exploded in a massive blast.

The combined fireball descended down to the floor below with Roxas having stood upon a higher level of the staircases while he still combated the crow demon.

*KABOOOOOM*

"TREVOR!" Roxas cried aloud, seeing his friend get blown out back towards the Belmont Hold interior while he was thrown back a little by the blast.

The Keybearer soon recovered as he had to maneuver away from an incoming attack from the crow demon, whose feathers were scorched by the recent explosion. Oblivion transitioned to Winter's Howl with Roxas swinging the Keyblade across it's boney face, breaking the beak off to reveal the muscled interior. Before it retaliated, Aerora was cast, sending the avian demon away. It tried to recover while airborne, but it was soon knocked down by it's opponent, who quickly appeared behind it and casted Firaga at point blank, sending the beast flying right into a large pile of debris.

Once landing, Roxas was about to rush out of the bloodied and wrecked stairway chamber when he felt this strange feeling coming from behind him. When he turned around, he quickly brought up his Keyblades in order to intercept a downward slash. Roxas skidded back on the bloodied floor, gazing upon his new opponent.

It was muscularly human in shape, possessing black skin and an embellished heart-shaped hole in the torso. A pair of sharp purple and blue horns were situated on top of the head, forming the outline of a curved heart. A pair of small blue bat-like wings were seen on the back, gold-tipped feathered wings coming out of the forearms, and bluish-purple fireballs under the two clawed feet; assisting them to hover above the ground. The scaly tail was long and at the tip was a sharp, crescent-shaped blade. And the weapon in its grasp was a scalloped, blue-bladed sword, which appears blunted but no doubt can unleash powerful physical blows with (硬核) etched near the sword's hilt.

'Oh great.' Roxas growled internally as he clashed with the Heartless once more, locking into a stalemate. "What the hell is an Invisible doing here?" He gritted out, forcing the pureblood Heartless away. The time of relief was quite brief with him bringing his Keyblades back up to intercept and parry the coming series of swings left and right; skidding back with each blow.

Wanting to be on the offensive this time, he reacted quickly and slid behind the Invisible. In its brief blindspot, Roxas unleashed a series of swings as his weapons clashed against it's form. In retaliation, the Invisible unleashed several black fireballs right at him. Roxas maneuvered away from them with some somewhat extinguishing on the flowing blood while others collided against the Minotaur's corpse and lit parts of the fur ablaze.

"Oh that's not going to smell well later-AHHHHH!"

His momentary distraction cost him as he was soon struck multiple times by the Invisible's sword, which it seemingly moved on it's own. But the Nobody knew better as it's wiedler was merely appearing as its namesake by turning "invisible". From the onslaught, Roxas knocked the sword away in order to hopefully land a proper hit on his opponent.

Channeling lighting through his Keyblades, Roxas performed a Thunder Raid onto the pureblood Heartless. Some throws were unsuccessful as they seemingly missed, but the last few met their marks as No. XIII saw the "invisible" form have sparks of electricity entrapping it's form. With it's position revealed, Roxas rushed forward and delivered a series of swings and thrusts at the Heartless before it became visible once more. No longer wanting to deal with anymore strikes, it recalled it's sword and blocked a number of Roxas' attacks.

Soon enough, the Heartless' sword was brought down to the bloodied floor, unleashing a ring of fire in the immediate area. Roxas leaped into the air, avoiding the cursed flames before spinning, charging and bringing his Keyblades down upon the pureblood Heartless.

Heartless barely managed to get its sword up in time to defend itself yet it was all for naught. With both Keyblades being swung at full power, the weapons shattered the Invisibles' own blade and Roxas destroyed the Heartless with one final swing.

Roxas took a deep breath, knowing the fight wasn't over yet.

Turning around, Roxas slid into his stance as he saw five rings of fire appear with five more Invisibles' take the place of the fire and holding their swords before them. And swooping in soon after was the scorched avian/crow demon he fought earlier.

Roxas clenched his teeth yet he held a hint of a smirk.

"Come on you bastards, let's see what you can do." Roxas declared, charging head first into his next set of opponents.

Earlier with Trevor, he was sprawled out past the entrance of the Hold itself with blood fully spread out on the bricked floor.

"Probably just as well I didn't get to play with the whip when I was a kid." He muttered out, before seeing the stave demon rushing towards him. "Oh, you're still alive."

He quickly noticed the Morningstar lying within arms length of him. He reached out and was about to grasp the leather handle when the boney stave struck near his hand. Trevor tried to reach once more, but his appendage was almost impaled before the demon hit the chain-whip away as it fell through the railing not far away.

Trevor soon had to improvise, swinging his body around while on the floor and bringing his legs up to kick the demon's head before using them to ensnare the boney stave. Bringing them together quickly, he snapped the weapon in half before grabbing both halves and rushing forward. Thrusting one broken stave piece, the Belmont soon impaled the blindfolded demon through the center of it's chest and pierced it all the way through the back.

It gurgled and coughed up blood, soon dying with Trevor growling right at it. "When you get back to whatever steaming underworld shithold you came from, you tell them there are still Belmonts up here."

With this said, he pulled out a broken stave out of the demon as it collapsed onto the floor and bled out to death.

Soon the sound of growling met his ears with feet paddling across the ground. Looking back, he had little time to properly defend himself from a bat-lion looking chimera demon. It soon collided against him and knocked him over the railing. Trevor landed on a walkway down below with the chimera demon landing not far away from him.

Quickly maneuvering back onto his feet, he looked upon the night creature with a half-lidded glare. "Oh, you're an evil looking bastard, aren't you?" Trevor taunted, unfazed by the beast that stands before him. "Well I'm armed with-" Trevor holds up his current weapon. "A stick, Hmmm? Now, I won't blame ya if you choose to surrender."

This did not help at all, having the night creature charge right at him once more as Trevor was forced to back away.

From one part of the library, Sypha was combing through many volumes she had to look for in order to complete the locking spell. When opening up the upteenth book, she furled through the pages before finally finding what she was looking for.

"That's it." She said with utmost relief. Inserting a drawn out diagram into the book, she closed it up, rushed out and made her way back towards the lectern at the bottom.

Her action was soon halted as a bat-lion chimera crashed into a nearby bookcase from up above. It soon recovered, but it was harshly moved aside once Trevor came in and delivered a dynamic kick at it's side. The force of the blow sent it flying into a far off bookcase. He soon went after it, giving Sypha room to resume running back down below.

Once reacting to the lectern, she saw Alucard was adjusting and carving in more runes and glyphs into the enchanted mirror's frame.

"Do you see the castle?" She quickly asked.

Alucard moved over slightly, giving Sypha enough room to see what he's currently seeing through the cracked surface. Baring witness to what seemed to be Dracula's castle with his forces commencing the attack on Braila, it was all she needed now.

"Good. Keep focus on it." She ordered, placing down the final book to complete the locking spell. "I need to be able to see it in order to put my intent on it."

"Your intent?"

Opening up the book to the bookmarked page, she read back it's contents with the diagram sheet of paper in one hand before grabbing her Reinforced Staff with the other; which was placed not far away. "That's all magic is, Alucard. Changing things in accordance with my intent." Whirling around, she marched towards the enchanted mirror. "And my intent is to drag that grotesque thing here."

Tightening both of her hands, she brought the now crumbled up diagram with the now complete magical formula present in her mind. She channeled her magic through both the paper diagram and her Reinforced Staff as the spell was starting to activate. The diagram soon burst into an orange flame before turning blue. Directing the flame towards the mirror, her Reinforced Staff sparked with blue lightning as it soon struck the flame and the mirror. Pulling back, she soon struggled a little before an ethereal twenty-sided polyhedron came out from the cracked surface. It floated towards her, prompting her to bring both hands up to cup it before starting to ensnare the object.

From his spot, Alucard started to see Castle Dracula seem to have sparks of blue lightning dancing across its surface. Flashing and flickering at every other moment as he heard Sypha grunting. He momentarily broke away from his gaze when he was almost knocked down by the Speaker, who thrashed in her spot. She had to soon hold her ground, using her Reinforced Staff for support.

"It's… fighting me." She struggled out. "It's like… I'm pulling against an anchor… and a water wheel… all at once."

"He moves the castle using an engine. That's what's acting against you." He informed the Speaker before overhearing the fighting going on above them.

Trevor has been fighting his chimera like demon with both halves of the stick he got from that blind-folded demon for a few minutes now….

And frankly, he'd like Morningstar back right about now.

It was right there. Right behind the big hulking mass of an asshole that this demon presented itself to be. Gritting his teeth, Belmont went on the offensive with the furry bastard charging right back at him in turn.

The beast had pounced straight at him but that's where Belmont saw his opportunity. Jumping slightly off the ground he fell into a slide going right under the demon. With a roll forward, he snatched his metal whip back and spun round with the chain already flying towards his opponent.

The spiked tip struck the beast dead center in its forehead with the affect being instantaneous. Bulging about before blowing up in a display of fire and blood.

Hearing a loud clanging sound, Trevor looked up in time to see Roxas fly out over the railings from one of the higher staircases and begin falling with several Invisible Heartless's pursuing after him.

Narrowing his eyes, Belmont whipped around Morningstar and spun it overhead once with the tip striking an Invisible dead on in the face. The effect was momentarily delayed but a moment later, the Invisible Heartless burst with black wisps in its wake. Jumping upon the nearby rail, he dropped down as the other two Invisibles fell with Roxas recalling Vampire Killer with only Winter's Howl being held with both hands. The Keyblade began to glow a pure white light with a blue tint before dispersing into five separate pieces.

Flinging the Morningstar forward, Trevor latched both Invisibles' with his chain and brought them close together.

Roxas all the while had his wolf helm, clawed gauntlets and greaves with him calling upon its affinity for ice. Conjuring an ice platform beneath him, Roxas spun round landing on the platform before launching himself forward. Eyes ablaze with his claws glowing, Roxas let out a fierce cry before he cut straight through both Invisible Heartless and sent them back into nothingness.

Grabbing Belmont by the arm, the two landed just a few flights above with the two glancing back down a moment later to see Sypha and Alucard standing before the mirror with the former of the two having magical energy crackle all around her.

"Is that all of them?" Belmont asked, Roxas looking up in time to see one more Invisible and the avian demon flying right for them.

"No." Roxas said plainly.

"Oh for Fuck's sake."

Trevor sent his whip out once more with Roxas using the railing in front of him as a means of leverage as he pounced forward.

Belmonts chain snagged the Invisible around the neck whilst Roxas tackled the avian demon down, the two plummeting towards the ground.

Reeling in his catch, Trevor managed to make the whip move around with it detaching slightly from the neck with the flail tip maneuvering around and striking the Invisibles' open heart shaped chest right at the top of its right curve. The Heartless only had a second to register its killing blow, exploding a moment later.

Roxas in the meantime had been slashing as if he were indeed part wolf, shredding and clawing into the avian demon. It cried out in pain once again, struggling to free itself from the brutal assault when Roxas grabbed its cracked boney head. Applying some power, the boney exterior gave way with Roxas crushing the head in an instant.

Sypha focused everything she had right now. Encircling her arm around her staff, she used both of her hands to properly entrap the ethereal polyhedron, representing the main control of the castle's engine. Blut sparks flew all over her form as sweat profusely formed all over her flesh.

"Do… as… you're.. TOLD!"

Gazing back into the mirror, Alucard saw more and more blue lightning encompassing his childhood home. And in an instant, the castle flickered away before reappearing right where it originally stood. Before long, it soon danced across the mirrored scene before him and the Speaker.

With one final flash, Castle Dracula disappeared from Braila all together with a small tornado forming where it once was placed.

Nothing really happened right there and then. But this momentary piece quickly ended as the underground hold violently shook to the point where the enchanted mirror almost fell over. If it weren't for his fast reflexes, the mirrored surface would break and become utterly useless. And the dhampir wouldn't know if the glass plane would merely need replacing to make it usable once more or not.

Once he propped the enchanted item back up, he heard Sypha give out a long laugh as a means of relieving herself from such a stressful task.

"HA! I did it!" She exclaimed.

Coming right towards them, Trevor and Roxas were a tired mess from the fight they recently went through, despite the used Mega Potion and Ether administered. They seemed to show some bits of relief when they saw their Speaker comrade was successful in her given task. Yet something seemed… wrong, given what utterly shocked expression Alucard currently wore as he gazed back into the mirror. It was as if he was trying to see if he wasn't seeing things… on where the castle was now located.

"Where did you land the castle, Sypha?" Inquired the dhampir.

"Right on top of us!" Sypha declared, happily clapping at her success.

…..

…..

…..

"Speaker said what!?" Roxas yelled out. And Trevor wasn't any better in showing his shared reaction.

Sypha now begins to realize the implications of what she had just done.

"Oh… Yes right on top of us with a ceiling that is only being held up by wood and dirt." Sypha said in self-deprecation.

The ceiling, in fact the entire hold began shaking with dust and dirt trailing down from above.

"Your ancestors really did a good job in the architecture, Trevor." Commented the Nobody. "If not… we'd all be dead by now."

Trevor merely nodded with a twitch in his eye.

"We should get going." Sypha plainly said, running off leaving Alucard and Roxas to stare at her running away with the two sharing a look a moment later. Belmont let out a haggard sigh as the Hold continued to shake about until it stopped.

"Huh…" Belmont waited a moment. "Thought it was about to collapse on us."

"Don't bloody jinx it." Alucard said, gazing up at the ceiling as if waiting for the castle to come crashing down atop them.

It didn't thankfully. But it didn't settle their nerves as they ran as fast as their legs could muster to reach the stairs in order to get back to the stairwell.

The moment they entered the bloodied stairwell chamber, they were soon met with a large waterfall pouring down from the wrecked opening from the surface. Not wanting any of them to get hurt, Roxas quickly casted Barrier around them as the water crashed on top of them. Once it all died down, they looked at their surroundings on how much damage happened in the present chamber.

"Staircase is an utter wreck." Trevor said, stating the obvious. "We're not getting up there without ropes. So start looking."

Roxas could probably speed up that process with his skills by running up the walls and tying said intended ropes at the top so the others can climb out. Well more like Sypha and Trevor as Alucard could probably just float his way up.

"Damn… this is gonna be hard." Muttered out the Hunter.

Sypha, on the other hand, had other ideas. "We don't need ropes."

Channeling magic through her Reinforced Staff, she soon had all the water and blood poured down into the wrecked chamber and part of the Hold behind them collected right underneath them. The team of four was soon risen a little as the blood/water composition froze over and soon extended into a large platform.

"Here we go."

Slamming her staff into the ice, the structure soon expanded and rose them all up slowly towards the top.

As this occured, Trevor's eyes soon met with the painting of his ancestor, Leon Belmont. The Hunter soon felt both his gauntlet, longsword and chain whip shake a little as his sights were utterly focused onto the painting. It was as if he was having Leon giving him his blessing for the upcoming confrontation.

The moment they reached the top, they were all met with a red light. Confused, they looked onward and saw what lied before them.

Roxas had his eyes fixed at the foreboding and ominous gothic castle that he and his friends stood before. To say that it was imposing was to be putting it mildly. From the dark, grotesque structure to the super full blood moon shining in the background.

The Keybearer turned to his comrades with Alucard and Belmont in particular gazing at Dracula's castle with an equal degree of intensity. Both for different yet also similar reasons. Both were here to put an end to Dracula's madness but both had distinctly different motives. Alucard knew his father had to be stopped at all cost after a year-long hibernation. Not just to protect humanity but for the memory of his mother above all else.

Trevor was here to do the same however the last part was for him to restore the Belmont name and practices. Be the vanguards of humanity, to protect the innocent from the beasts and creatures at night to assure the rest of this country they can rest easy knowing they're safe.

And Sypha… well it was nice to know the Speakers have a representative here to aid in humanities survival.

As for Roxas. Fists clenching tightly, he could feel the taint and darkness radiating off the castle. Closing his eyes, he thought upon the weapon that he wielded.

He didn't ask for it. As a matter of fact, Sora didn't either. But they have the Keyblade. And with it comes a duty, a responsibility to all the worlds. To help keep balance and allow for people to live out their lives without the threat of losing everything they held dear.

Stepping off of the icy platform and onto the damp earth, Sypha swung her Reinforced Staff towards a far off location. The others wondered what she was doing. It was soon answered with the ice platform shot out of the hole and rocketed towards the nearby mountains.

Having everyone looking at her now, she gave her reasons. "Well, I didn't want to leave it in there to melt and ruin all of your beautiful books and artifacts."

"It seems damp enough out here as it is." Roxas commented. "But hey, Sypha did it. She indeed brought the castle here… and not entirely on top of the Hold."

"Indeed." She softly said as she kept staring at Castle Dracula. "Reading about it… Hearing the tales and seeing it up close… It's something else entirely." She soon snorted and turned towards her companions. "I'm pretty good right?"

"The best." Chuckled out the Hunter. He then turned towards the dhampir. "Alucard… Are you ready for this?"

Alucard held his gaze up at the castle that was once his home, eyes shifting down for a moment. "No." He admitted without hesitation. Grasping the hilt of his silver longsword a second later, Alucard's gaze became intense once again. "But it's time we put an end to this anyway."

The four began their walk towards the castle, walking single file with only a foot apart from each other. Up ahead, the castle doors are opened with the telltale signs of a battle of some kind occurring from within.

They climbed up the stairs, entered the front chamber of Dracula's Castle and the fighting stopped in an instant. All stood stock frozen with eyes slowly beginning to turn and acknowledge the presence of four very much unexpected guests within the Castle.

The party of four stood before the mixed bag of forces who now had their attention focused only on them. The first group were entirely Heartless, composed of all sorts of Emblems and Purebloods. One group of vampires wore black, silver and white armor. And other wore red and black cloaks. The last were an assortment of different ethnicities from around the world given their present attires; which Alucard quickly assumed to be the generals: a male and female pair appeared to originate from India, one came from the Germanic regions, another from Slavic and the last from the Asian countries.

Sypha held her hands up, conjuring fireballs.

Belmont grasps morningstar.

Alucard telekinetically levitates his longsword.

Roxas whips out his hands with Oathkeeper and Oblivion. He clashes them together and in a flash, both have changed into Winter's Howl and Vampire Killer.

-Insert Castlevania Netflix: Bloody Tears-

"I terrify them, Sypha disorients them, Roxas keeps them from teaming up and Alucard goes over the top with our support." Trevor quickly listed off instructions as he got into a ready stance.

"Yes." Sypha said, hands raised.

"Let's do it." Roxas widened his legs and got into his dual Keyblade stance.

Unsheathing his blade, Alucard has it pivot about before floating over his right shoulder.

"Begin." Alucard says calmly.

The trio of Trevor, Sypha and Roxas rush forward as Alucard lagged behind.

The vampire generals, foot soldiers and the assembled Heartless all charge right for them.

Belmont flung the Morningstar whip forward at full speed, the flail tip piercing right through the abdomen of a vampire footsoldier. The explosion sent out a small shockwave with the foot soldiers all halting in their charge giving the Hunter the ample opportunity in taking out several more soldiers.

Roxas had let himself fall forward, going into a glide with his Keyblades grinding against the ground. Heading into a cluster of Vampires and Heartless, he threw his foot down to the ground and used his strength to propel himself forward.

Keyblades reared back horizontally, Roxas plowed through the cluster of enemies some getting sliced through or disintegrated with others scattering away from the Keybearer.

Sypha quickly created a barrier of fire around the party of four with Alucard now going on the offensive.

Leaping through the fire without being harmed, the fires momentarily obscured the Dhampirs' form before he jumped out the other side transformed into a White Wolf.

'Ghost?' He thought briefly before realizing the "direwolf" was not the one he was quite familiar with. Instead of red eyes, the creature before him bore yellow eyes.

The wolf bounded across the chamber, jumping forward and having his teeth sink into the neck of an armored vampire and tearing it out before spinning about and tossing the soldier into a wall.

"Alucard." Roxas called out to the hybrid, running towards him.

The hybrid merely reverted back into his human form and called upon his blade, both having gusts of wind swirling around their forms. Sending his Vampire Killer Keyblade back, Roxas clashed his handle against Alucards blade handle with both applying a torrent of wind magic.

The two blades began spinning rapidly with a small tornado forming. Several of the vampires and Heartless nearby felt themselves begin to get sucked in with only a few managing to clamp down to the ground. However, they didn't last as Roxas, Alucard and Belmont went about knocking them into the growing twister.

Sypha all the while channeled her own magic and waited as their opponents were knocked into the tornado one by one until she unleashed her own flurry of flames that engulfed the winds and became an inferno twister.

The Heartless and vampires were all buffeted by the slicing winds and scorching flames when Trevor directed his whip into the center of the tornado where Roxas' and Alucards' weapons were still spinning in the center.

The flail struck the two weapons and the effect was instantaneous. The explosion that engulfed the foes within the fiery twister were soon turned to either ash or wisps of darkness.

Alucard hummed to himself, his sword returning to his hand. "I was unaware that we could pull off such a display."

"It's something which happens with companions of Keybearers, Alucard." Came Roxas' response, firing off a Blizzaga towards a cluster of Heartless. They were either frozen in place or skewered. He rushed towards the spot and cleaved through the lot before the dhampir resumed his fighting.

Any opponents that were not caught up into the inferno twister were soon met by Trevor. Rushing into some of their opponents, the Hunter threw out the occasional silver knife their way, piercing either their throats or hearts. And soon enough, the Belmont whirled out his silver cross boomerang as it buzzed through the air and cleaved through the occasional limbs. With those maimed vampires, Trevor drew in close and smashed a bottle of holy water into their faces, causing them to scream with blue flames burning away their flesh. Drawing out his ancestral sword, Trevor parried an offending vampire before using his Morningstar whip to ensnare his opponent, bringing him down and stabbing him through the head.

Pulling out his blade, he soon leapt over a Darkball Heartless and kicked the Morningstar's flail-head into the open mouth. He performed a drop kick on it's head, causing it to close shut. The heat quickly built up within the darkened creature with a glow appearing from within. Hurling with all his might, Trevor swung the Pureblood Heartless into a bunch of enemies as they were soon met with an impromptu bomb.

Landing on the ground, he looked over to see Sypha swinging her Reinforced Staff, blocking and parrying the vampire's bladed weapons. She struggled but fended them off as best as she could. Trevor rushed towards her side and swept the coming vampires off their feet. Sypha used the opening by slamming her staff into one opponent's mouth and casting some magical flames to roast them from the inside out. Prying her weapon from the charred corpse, she focused on the nearby shards of ice on the ground and manipulated them to shoot at the nearby vampires and Heartless.

"This is gonna take some getting used to."

"Well it's your first time fighting with it." Trevor said with a small smile, twirling his chain whip around part of his right arm while still holding his longsword in his left hand. "You'll do fine."

She nodded, conjuring more ice spears from both the remains not far away to pulling water from the air. As they all gathered around her, she fired them off in rapid succession. Many vampire soldiers were quickly shot down while a pair of vampire generals avoided such attacks. Sypha and Trevor exchanged looks before they nodded and went to fend off against their respective opponent.

When the male Indian vampire came in close with his scimitars, Sypha shot out several of her manipulated ice spears. Yet they were quickly rendered useless with her opponent's dual swords. On instinct, she twirled her Reinforced Staff to block the thrusts and swings while focusing on shooting out the last of her frozen arsenal.

As it was knocked out of the way, Sypha swung her staff up, quickly forming a thin column of thin ice and shot it several feet high. The vampire barely avoided the surprise attack, but then had to dash back as the Speaker manipulated the ice to grow and extend towards him. The vampiric general jumped over and landed on the thin strip of ice before rushing along the length towards the Speaker. Sypha waited for her opponent to get close before she flipped the ice construct upwards. It was too quick for the Indian vampire to move out of the way, falling back as he was soon bisected with both halves falling to the ground.

The germanic general swung his hailberd at the Belmont, who ducked under the offending weapon. Trevor blocked and parried the halberd with both his longsword and gauntlet at every other moment. When he got the opportunity, the Vampire Hunter swung out the Morningstar in rapid succession before calling it back. The germanic vampire avoided each incoming hit before having to block a few with his weapon.

At some point in their confrontation, Trevor was able to completely ensnare his vampiric target with a few chain manipulations. With the flail-end flying overhead, glowing with scorching hot embers, the Belmont came in close and forcefully slammed it into the vampire's fanged mouth with the pommel of his longsword. The flail started overheating soon after with the general trying to free himself from his confinement. Trevor wouldn't have any of that, spinning around and kicking him away as the vampire landed near a handful of Heartless and soldiers before the coming explosion took them all out.

Looking over the battlefield, Alucard and Roxas searched for any other surviving opponents to take care of. The entrance hall was littered with dead corpses with glowing hearts fading away towards the ceiling. Though it wouldn't take long for an unnatural mist to appear around the pair. And from overhead, the female asian vampiric general reformed herself from the mist and poised to attack the pair with a conjured cloud of poison.

Yet she wasn't able to properly reach them as Alucard sped away while Roxas casted Aerora, dissipating the poisonous cloud away. Her bit of surprise left her open for Alucard to appear behind her, swiping his longsword through her head. But instead of dying, her body soon reverted back into mist.

From the rafters above, the female Indian general came falling down screaming as she planned on spearing Alucard through him with her sharpened claws. The dhampir let go of his enchanted sword, let it fly freely and intercept the attack from his exposed side. As this happened, the Slavic general flew in and delivered a powered punch towards Alucard's head, sending him right towards a far off pillar as his bladed weapon fell clanging onto the floor.

Prying himself off the floor, Alucard saw a torrent of mist surrounding him as a form soon appeared through enchanted air. The asian general was just about to attack the dhampir when a large torrent of frosted air hit her misted form. She barely had enough time to look over to see it was the Speaker-Magician's work before she was turned into a grotesque ice statue. And not long after, Roxas came flying in and slammed his Keyblades down from up above and destroyed the vampiric general in one fell swoop.

Looking into the air, Sypha saw the two remaining generals airborne as they were ready to attack them. With her Belmont teammate rushing in, she gave him some assistance, forming an ice platform before rocketing him into the air. Alucard recalled his weapon back into his hand before leaping towards the generals with Roxas following suit.

Whirling out his chain-whip, Trevor's attack missed at first before Roxas kicked the flail back towards the intended targets. Trevor used the opportunity and maneuvered his arm in such a way so the chain can wrap around and ensnare the Slavic generals' legs together. The Indian vampire tried to attack either the Belmont or Keyblader, but she didn't have enough time to get out of the way from Alucard's sword, cleaving through her neck as her corpse plummeted from the air.

Swinging in the air, Trevor hurled his weight as hard as he could to send the Slavic general towards the ground. Seeing his comrade needing assistance, Roxas slammed his Keyblades across the man's back to send him crashing down. The vampire tried to get back up and free himself, but wasn't able to see the Speaker-Magician rushing towards him and slamming her outstretched palm onto his head. The moment they connected, a large torrent of flames shot out and roasted the final general as he soon became a charred skeleton.

With the current opposition currently dead all around them, Sypha rejoined her comrades. Once together, Roxas used a Mega Ether on them all to help replenish their reserves. And just in time too when they heard a massive roar behind them. Looking towards the upper level, the four saw a good number of Heartless and night creatures rushing towards them.

It was time to resume their hunt as the four rushed at their new opposition.

-Main Hall-

Bodies littered the chamber left and right as Isaac fended off against the attackers with both his dagger and spiked whip. Both were bloodied as he defended Dracula, who ascended the stairs.

Isaac soon jumped back as a vampiric soldier in black, silver and white armor came rushing in with his drawn sword. The Forgemaster blocked the first few attacks before ducking under a powered swing. Spinning his dagger into a different position, he delivered a series of stabs, which were avoided before clashing with the offending sword several times. Ducking away from another sword thrust, Isaac used his spiked whip to ensnare the sword and rip it out of his opponent's grasp. He momentarily let go of his one weapon before catching the sword and thrusted it into the vampire's heart and killing him right then and there.

Releasing the handle, Isaac picked back up his spiked whip and rushed towards his Lord's study. He needed to protect Dracula at all cost with what recently occured.

Everything seemed fine and simple as his vampiric lord transported the castle to Braila. Dracula's forces with Hector and the other generals were sent out to take the port town in order to stop the Wallacian's from fleeing to the sea. And once many of their numbers were crossing the main bridge… things started going downhill.

From what was reported by Dracula's men once they returned back into the castle, Carmilla's army -who he soon learned sometime later- had appeared and destroyed the bridge, sending a number of vampires into the consecrated river below and killing anyone touching it. Upon the retreat, Carmilla's army started making their way here with the intent of a coup.

Thus the reveal of Carmilla's treachery.

With him informed of this, Isaac had to organize a resistant force to combat the incoming threat. The remainder of Dracula's vampiric soldiers with his night creatures, they might stand a fighting chance. More so with the Heartless his vampiric lord had summoned. The moment the main entrance was breached, Isaac did all he could to assist his allies before falling back to inform Dracula of Carmilla's actions.

It was then something happened to the castle upon him and Dracula going down to kill off their opposition: the enchanted, mechanical fortress was being taken magically. They didn't know how it was possible or by who, but it was too late as they suddenly appeared elsewhere while carrying a large amount of consecrated water with them.

After their recent "jump", Isaac assisted his vampiric master in getting him to safety, which led to present moments.

Along the way, he questioned what became of Hector. Is he still alive back in Braila? Is he dead? Captured? It matters not now as Isaac had more important things to worry about.

Especially now as he felt a mental connection from one of his night creatures, informing him of Alucard and his companions are seen within the castle. With them here, Dracula's life is potentially doomed.

Rushing towards Dracula's study, Isaac saw him impale one of Carmilla's men through the chest and pull out his heart. With one quick crush, blood and flesh covered Dracula's hand as Heartless surrounded him.

"My lord." Said Isaac. "Your son is here." Dracula looked towards him with a sharp look. "So is the Belmont, the Speaker-Magician and the Keybearer. We must retreat towards your study." Once Dracula entered the fire lit chamber, Isaac moved in a defensive position behind the doorway with the Heartless littering the hall to "guard" their summoner. "Behind me, Dracula. They will not reach you while I live."

Looking upon the Forgemaster, Dracula was curious about his companion's actions. "You would give your mortal life to preserve my immortal one?"

"To save your genius, your knowledge, and your will?" Isaac breathed out. "Without question." He looked back and stared at him with utmost loyalty. "I am just a Forgemaster. Yours is the wisdom of ages."

Dracula softly smiled at the level of loyalty Isaac bore for him. "You are the greatest of your people, Isaac. You have a soul, I think." He said, channeling magic towards the Carpathian mirror shards at the study's corner to become active and form into a singular piece. "Perhaps that is more valuable to the world to come than a dusty collection of books and apparatus. Or perhaps you simply deserve a better fate than to die instead of me."

As he guarded his lord, Isaac felt touched and rather moved upon hearing Dracula's sincerity onto him. But he couldn't lower himself right now with Dracula currently at risk of death. "I chose my death as I chose my life."

Dracula briefly gazed back to the Carpathian mirror to see an image of a desert form on its surface. It soon stabilized for Dracula's current intention.

"Then I regret only that I have taken a choice for you."

Isaac wondered what his master meant before a hand firmly grasped his shoulder. In a flash, the Forgemaster was thrown through the enchanted mirror and landed in the sandy desert on the other side. After a tumble, he rushed towards the conjured portal with desperation overwhelming him.

"Dracula! NOOOO!"

As it soon faded away, Isaac saw the look of sadness upon Dracula's gaze. The last thing he will no doubt see of him… alive.

Back within Dracula's study, the vampiric lord had the Carpathian mirror retreat back into its box before looking towards the roaring flame of the fireplace. With a silent command, the vampiric dark lord sent the "guarding" Heartless away to go after what remained of the opposing opposition were within the castle.

He will wait now for his traitorous son and his three compatriots. He will wait to defeat them by his own hands, if they can survive the trip getting up here, that is.

-With Roxas and Co-

The four fighters rushed through the hallways as they fended off against all sorts of night creatures and Heartless. It was becoming a strenuous task with each having to quickly cleave, slice and power their way through each incoming threat.

"Would you know where your father might be at?" Roxas asked, slicing through what appeared to be a floating severed head of a woman with snake-like hair.

"He'll probably be in his study." Came Alucard's response, conjuring several Hellfire orbs and blasting some Gargoyle Heartless. "Past the Main Hall and Throne Room."

Trevor grunted, whirling the Morningstar into a Trick Ghost Heartless as the flail entered its mouth and eventually blew up. "Of course he'd have a bloody Throne Room."

"Do you have to judge him for that, Trevor?" Sypha questioned, swinging her staff and knocking away a couple of Shadow Heartless trying to come up on her.

"Why yes I do."

Alucard rolled his eyes as the four entered a large chamber in which a massive clock was hung on the nearby wall reading 7 o'clock. He noticed some of it's metal parts seemed to have melted and no longer hearing any gears moving, making him wonder how this happened. But he'll no doubt look into this once this is all over.

The dhampir soon used his sword to point towards the doors on the far end. "Past there is the Main Hall. We must move quickly."

It was when the four made it halfway through the chamber did the doors abruptly shut themselves. And the doors from behind followed suit as indigo flames soon covered both sides of the room.

"Is this one of your father's defenses?" Sypha asked, holding her Reinforced Staff close.

Alucard narrowed his eyes, feeling the foul darkness coming from the flames. "No, it's not."

Recognizing them, Roxas went into a defensive position. "Be careful. Something is coming."

"What is?" Trevor asked.

Suddenly, a massive gust of wind entered the chamber as any and all loose objects within it started flying all over. The team had to hold their ground from the strong current while trying to avoid the incoming objects. And it was through this storm did they hear sounds of wailing and screaming as dark shadows were soon brought together to form before a flash of light went off to reveal something familiar yet different for the Keybearer.

The entity before them was quite large and wore a long, tattered white cloak with long black sleeves decorated by a flame-like pattern. There doesn't seem to be a body, let alone a face underneath the long, pointed hood, but there were six clawed skeletal hands that were quite visible coming out from the sleeves. And the Heartless emblem is displayed on it's back.

-Insert Final Fantasy VII Remake: Ghoul-

"Oh you gotta be kidding me." Roxas growled out, aiming the Vampire Killer Keyblade at the new arrival. "We don't have time for this!"

"Please tell me you know what that particular Heartless is." Said the Hunter, who quickly saw the emblem.

"Somewhat." Roxas simply said, eying the Phantom Heartless before him. "Looks different, but hopefully is somewhat the same from the last one."

"Then we'll follow your lead." Said the dhampir.

Without warning, the Phantom waved it's skeletal hands towards the massive clock as indigo flames appeared in front of each of the Roman numbers. And from the clock did a light shootout and quickly struck Sypha's form. She yelped from the seemingly painful hit, but didn't feel anything at all.

"Oh that's not good." Roxas stressed out.

Hearing this directed towards her, she voiced her curiosity. "What's wrong?"

Roxas pointed towards an ethereal '12' hovering over her head, to which the others quickly noticed. "We need to stop the Heartless before the number on your head reaches zero or else you're dead. And each hit you get has the number climbing down."

Sypha paled with Trevor and Alucard feeling tense as Roxas rushed towards the clock and leapt into the air. The Phantom tried to stop him, but he quickly disappeared from view for the briefest of moments. Reappearing right on top of the minute hand, the Keybearer cried out a spell. "STOP!"

Suddenly a miniature ethereal clock formed right in front of the larger one. The moment this happened, the indigo flames turned into whitish-blue. The Heartless roared before sailing across the room to strike down Roxas, but he moved out of the way from getting hit.

"What did you do?" Sypha inquired.

"Stopped time to some degree." He said. "It won't last long, so we need to act quickly."

"Then what do we do?"

The Phantom roared once again, flying across the room and used telekinesis to send any loose items right towards it's opponents. Trevor quickly used his whip to smack away some while Roxas and Alucard cleaved through others.

It was from there did Roxas see an orb with a glowing white heart appear within it's cloak, causing him to yell out his instructions. "Use normal physical attacks when the orb you see is white. If it's any other color, then we need to use the corresponding magic attacks: yellow for thunder, red for fire and blue for ice."

"Right." Chorused the others, quickly getting to work.

The Phantom screeched as the room seemed to darken, highlighting the present flames a bit more prominently. The Heartless disappeared with the wind picking up to some degree, causing the group to avoid the surrounding debrie.

Alucard was the first to notice the orb within the Heartless glow a mighty red. Acting quickly, he conjured several Hellfire orbs and shot them towards their present foe. With each hit, the Phantom screeched before turning its attention towards him. Leaping out of the way, he avoided an incoming series of claw swipes onto his person. He retaliated with a swipe of his sword while the orb still glowed red, but the attack merely went through as if hitting nothing but air.

From it's skeletal hands, indigo flames appeared before they were shot towards them all. Trevor quickly brought up his gauntlet as it was able to hold off most of the blow while being sent back. Alucard disbursed into a cloud of bats and fluttered around to avoid being hit by the ghastly flame. Roxas was quick to knock the flame away before seeing the one going towards the Speaker-Magician; who hadn't noticed one coming towards her blindspot. Rushing towards her side, Roxas casted Aerora, forming a wind barrier around the two as the flame bounced away from them.

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Trevor rushed in, throwing several holy water bottles at the Heartless the moment the orb appeared blue. The water seemed to work as the glass bottles broke apart, given ice is derived from water. With the Phantom roaring in pain, Trevor uncorked the last bottle he had on him and poured the contents onto his chain-whip. As it was still wet, Trevor hurled the Morningstar at his opponent as he was able to land several hits before a Blizzara spell -courtesy of Roxas- collided against the Heartless.

It wasn't until a moment later when the flames at the clock went back from whitish-blue to indigo did Roxas have to act quickly.

Running alongside him, Sypha saw a number of indigo flames shooting out from the darkness as they went right towards them. Alucard and Trevor saw this and went to intercept the attacks to protect their comrades. Once the flames hit them, the Phantom appeared and swiped it's claws at the pair. They were sent flying through the air and collided against the wall.

Once Roxas reapplied the Stop spell onto the gigantic clock, he was met by a surprise attack from the Phantom and was sent flying away. With this happening, Sypha was seemingly left alone as the Heartless fired off more fire attacks onto her.

"I gotta do something." Sypha whispered out, rushing away from the trailing flames.

During her run, she moved and leapt out of many pieces of debris so the flames could crash into them. Yet one crashed into her back, causing her to stumble onto the floor. She hissed from the hit and could tell the ethereal number above her head went down a little.

Despite the odds being against her now, Sypha had to pull her weight and prove herself even more.

When she saw the Phantom appear from the darkness, she saw the orb inside glowing a mighty yellow. Focusing on her magics, she twirled her Reinforced Staff and casted off several lightning spells and thrusted everything she had towards the Heartless. The creature of darkness screeched from the continued onslaught from the Speaker-Magician. Once the attacks ended, it was about to rush in and attack the Speaker when she started running off once more.

As the chase commenced, the orb within the Heartless turned white. And from the darkness did Sypha's teammates come charging in as they attacked their opponent with all their might. Upon seeing them attack the Heartless, she soon casted the Haste spell in order to help speed up their movements so they can deliver more attacks onto it.

It wouldn't be long before a final blow was struck did the Heartless shriek into the darkness, spasming and flailing with it's form disbursed into darkened vapors. From there the massive glowing heart floating and fading away before the indigo flames surrounding the doors and on the gigantic clock went out. And with them gone, so did the ethereal number hanging over the Speaker's head.

"Well that was fun." Sypha muttered out. "Let's not do that again."

"You don't have to tell me twice." Trevor said as he pulled out the respective healing items to replenish himself with the others following suit.

"We can't waste anymore time here." Roxas said, rushing towards the far side of the room, kicking the doors wide open to reveal the Throne Room.

"Agreed." Said the dhampir as he and the others ran out of the chamber.

When getting to the next room, they saw bodies littering the area. By the looks of this, they were almost there.

"Huh, nice throne." Roxas briefly commented, eying the twelve foot tall gothic throne.

"Don't know if Dracula is compensating for something." Trevor said in response, rushing up the one flight of stairs before reaching the spiraling one with corpses temporarily blocking their way.

When reaching the top, they soon found one final dead body as it was not far away from an opened chamber. Alucard went ahead first as he soon walked into the study; where he soon stood before his father, gaze solemn and unwavering. Vladimir Dracula Tepes stared back, eyes blood red yet intentions unidentifiable.

The two were silent with eyes unwavering from one another.

"Father." Alucard said after several moments of silence.

"Son." Dracula said in turn.

Alucard's eyes narrowed slightly. "Your war is at an end."

Dracula smirked in clear amusement. "Because you say so?"

The Son of the Vampire Lord's head tilted down. "It ends… in the name of my mother."

"It endures in the name of your mother." Dracula said sharply.

"That is a petty excuse and you know it." Alucard fired back. "I told you before, I won't let you do it. I won't let you commit genocide. I grieve with you, I do. She is my mother and your wife. But going about this madness?"

"And how are you going to stop me, boy." Dracula said challengingly. "Alone? You were unable to stop me before."

Alucard frowned for a moment before smirking slightly.

From behind, Roxas, Trevor and Sypha stepped into the study with their eyes firmly on the Vampire Lord.

"I was alone before." Alucard declared, smirking proudly at having his new friends by his side.

Dracula gazed upon the three newcomers with an intense, analytical gaze.

He remembered seeing his son's companions through his Carpathian mirror some days ago. The Belmont, the Speaker-Magician and the Keybearer. They certainly held off well on their own, more so now upon seeing them in person.

-Insert Death Battle: The Dark Lords-

Dracula had no further time in dwelling on the matter as Alucard burst forward, sword raised in an attempt at impaling the Vampiric Lord.

The two crashed into the fireplace with Alucard struggling.

Dracula held back the tip of Alucard's sword with only his two fingers and thumb, barely breaking a sweat in holding back his son's blade. He casually shoved it away before backhanding his son with a powerful strike that sent him crashing down.

Belmont and Roxas ran forward weapons drawn yet they halted as Dracula pounced in a burst of speed that far outclassed his dhampir son.

Both halted in slight surprise which proved to be a mistake as Dracula tackled them both out from the study and into the hallway.

Backs smashing into the wall, Roxas and Trevor both coughed up blood as they fell to the ground.

Dracula felt a sudden spike of heat from behind him, prompting him to raise his cloak up to defend himself from a torrent of fire that Sypha was directing towards him. She circled around him yet the cloak appeared immune to her fire.

"Speaker-Magician." Dracula growled out, sweeping his cape out to disperse the flames.

Charging at Sypha, she threw up an ice shield in an attempt at defending herself yet Dracula easily smashed through it and cut her arm while sending her careening in the air.

"Sypha!" Trevor cried out, him and Roxas struggling to get back to their feet.

The Belmont got to the vampiric lord first, pulling him around to face him while punching Dracula in the face to no avail; both barefisted and gauntlet.

"Hello there, Belmont." Dracula greeted with a harsh tone.

Trevor reared his fist back to strike only to have Dracula bash him straight into his stomach with a powerful uppercut. The scarred man was in the air for a moment until he was grabbed by the neck by Dracula who held him up with one hand while the other was raised with its sharp claws aimed directly at the man's heart.

"It is time to end your line for good." Dracula declared when both arms were suddenly impaled by Alucard's sword.

Dracula grunted in slight pain which turned into a genuine shout as the Keybearer dove forward and struck him with an X slash to the chest.

Sypha was now standing before Dracula with her index and pinky finger raised while her other hand held onto her staff. She let out a stream of fire right in the Vampire Lords face with him hissing in pain.

Spinning about in a powerful force, Dracula sent the four scattering away.

Trevor however was not one to be deterred. Still on his feet, Trevor spun about his bony stick that he had held on since the Hold and stabbed the Vampire straight into his side. Dracula hissed aloud in pain as Belmont dug the spike deeper into the Lord.

He had swiped several times at Trevor who deftly dodged each swing.

Roxas used Vampire Killer to raise himself to stand, Alucard rubbing his eyes whilst Sypha tore away the cloth on her arm to reveal four slash marks upon her arm. Without hesitating, Sypha ignited her hand and placed it over her cuts to cauterize her wounds. Casting a Cure spell a moment later, the Speaker let out a sigh of relief as the pain subsided slightly.

The Hunter continued to fight on against Dracula alone, swinging his weapons while dodging the vampire's own attacks.

Roxas had held up Vampire Killer and ran forward. Dracula saw this out of the corner of his eyes and knew he had to get the Belmont out of his way. The Speaker Magician had also recuperated and aimed her magic at him.

Grabbing the Belmont's wrist that was moving to impale him again, he spun the human around and tossed him at Roxas.

Roxas stopped in his run and managed to catch the Vampire Hunter in midair. Grunting a bit from the weight of the man, Roxas remained standing and set Trevor down.

"Thanks for that, Roxas." Trevor panted, patting the Nobody's shoulder.

By this point, Alucard had already dashed past them and rammed right into his father. He sent the older immortal into a wall further down the corridor and the collision they both had against the stone caused multiple cracks to appear.

Dracula remained unaffected by this attack, simply raising his hands over his head and clasping them together. He swung down hard and struck his son with such force, more cracks appeared along the floor and walls. Yet Alucard remained standing, swatting away his father's arms and chopping his neck with both hands.

Dracula let out a strangled choking sound, one hand going up to clasp around his throat while the other let out such a forceful palm strike to his son that it let out a shockwave of wind that whipped up in the hallway.

Roxas had Winter's Howl and Vampire Killer up to block the buffeting winds, Alucard screeching to a halt beside him.

Sypha in the meantime had recuperated and threw her hand up. Ice shot up around Dracula's foot, encasing and impaling him to prevent mobility.

The vampire hissed, looking up to see a flail attached to a chain coming right at him. Striking him dead in the chest, the concentration of magic gathered within Dracula's chest before exploding in a violent manner with the elder Vampire being sent flying back at the end of the corridor.

Smoke engulfed the hallway, blinding all fighters for a brief moment until it subsided seconds later to reveal a virtually unscathed Dracula who stood tall and proud.

Yet a moment later, he fell to his knees gasping while his claws dug into the ground.

"The Morningstar Whip." Dracula snarled as he panted, getting back up to his feet. "Well played, Belmont. The bane of Vampire kind. But I am no ordinary Vampire to be killed by your human magics."

He stood tall once more. "I am Vlad Dracula Tepes." He declared aloud while crossing his arms. "And I have had enough!"

Throwing his hands out with his cape opening out entirely as a literal molten ball of magma appeared right in front of the Vampire Lord in an instant.

All four blanched at the fireball that Dracula sent hurtling towards them.

In an instant, Sypha threw her hands up and sent out a gale of wind that only slowed the magma sphere down as it still drew closer.

She was beginning to get pushed back until Trevor got behind her and placed his back upon hers to support her whilst Roxas jumped in front of them.

Winters Howl and Vampire Killer within his hands, he clashed his Keyblades together in an X and a hexagonal dome appeared around them completely stopping the trio from moving back any further.

This gave Alucard the chance to appear before them and call upon his sword.

Standing before the oncoming fiery sphere, Alucard jabbed his blade into it and felt his muscles tense as he pushed back against it.

He began to slowly push it back however he didn't have to do it alone as Sypha felt a surge of power and thrust her hands forward.

The combined push from Sypha and Alucards strength made the Dhamphir fly forward with his sword pushing the magma sphere back towards its sender.

Dracula only growled defiantly, throwing up his hands and stopping the sphere entering into a brief contest with his son.

Roxas, not one to sit idly by, had the barrier around him, Sypha and Trevor disperse with the Nobody proceeding to jump and glide forward at full speed.

Having his Keyblades crash into the sphere gave Alucard and Roxas the leverage needed in creating an explosion that sent Dracula down throughout the castle with the two hybrids pursuing after him.

Trevor and Sypha had already ran forward in hopes of catching up and moved to take the nearby stairwell.

Coming out from the other end, Roxas came into what he realized was a several floored library. Shards of an enchanted mirror floated about with Alucard in the middle of it. And kneeling on the floor was Dracula with murderous intent in his features. With a roar, he shot into the air with his fist reared back with Alucard following suit. Both father and son clashed in the air with the enchanted mirror shards being knocked back from the constant shockwaves. At one point of their little brawl, Alucard was knocked down for the count and about to be fully struck down by his father.

Wanting to give Alucard some much well deserved assistance, Roxas focused on Winter's Howl and had it shift into its armored form. With the helmet, gauntlets and boots forming on his body, Roxas leapt into action and struck Dracula from behind.

The Vampiric Lord hotly glared at the Keybearer as he soon sent a series of punches at the boy. Acting quickly, Roxas maneuvered away from the blows before delivering ones of his own. The ice started to build up on the vampire's clothes, but did little to affect the towering man. Roxas didn't care at the moment as he dropped and slid around Dracula's form before delivering an upward kick to the man's face.

Alucard soon regained his bearings and saw Roxas was combating against his father. The armored Keybearer was struck towards a nearby bookcase before retaliating with a knee strike once ducking from a powered punch towards the face. From there, Dracula brought both of his fists together and slammed them hard onto Roxas' back to send him dropping towards the floor as his Keyblade form disbursed and went back to it's normal appearance.

Without thinking, Alucard rushed forward and tackled his father away from Roxas as they both soon became airborne. Slamming him into the railing on the higher level, the dhampir sent a series of blows at his father's torso and face. He meant to to continue, but the vampiric lord snatched an offending fist and held it tight. With no means of escape, Dracula soon smacked his son's head a couple of times before throwing him through the library's ceiling.

By the time Roxas got back up onto his feet, he saw Alucard's father fly through the hole in the ceiling. Casting a Curaga upon himself, Roxas bounded his way up through said hole and saw Alucard scrambling away from his father with a piece of debris in his hand as a makeshift stake. Upon his arrival, Dracula was quick to act by grasping the greater Nobody's arm, spun him around and slammed him down to the ground before kicking him away as his form collided against some furniture.

Taking care of the Keybearer for the time being, Dracula looked over towards his son and properly saw what was in his possession. "You mean to stake me?" He laughed out.

"You want me to."

"What?"

"You didn't kill me before. And you're not going to kill me now." Alucard glared upon his towering father. "You want this to end as much as I do."

Quickly bringing his foot down for a powered stomp, Dracula ended up missing crushing his son's chest. "Do I?!"

Coming up from a recovery roll near Roxas' position, Alucard spoke his reason. "You died when my mother died. You know you did." Roxas soon got back up onto his feet as the dhampir continued. "This entire catastrophe has been nothing but history's longest suicide note!"

Alucard rushed forward with stake in hand, which Dracula was quick to counter. Seeing assistance was needed, Roxas zoomed across the room and rebounded against the wall. Swinging his Keyblades against Dracula's back, the force and power behind it was enough to help get Alucard the opening he needed. And with one upward thrust, the dhampir staked his father.

Both Roxas and Alucard wondered if this was the end of it. But it seemed too good to be true with Dracula roughly grasped onto Alucard's wrist. "Not… quite… close… enough."

With a herlucian throw, Dracula tossed his son through the wall. Roxas swung his Keyblades at the vampiric lord before he ended up missing as he met nothing but air. Before he knew it, he was kicked away with Dracula speeding out of the wrecked room to continue the fight on his terms.

Rushing through the corridors, Sypha and Trevor searched for where their comrades were currently located. They could still tell they were currently fighting against Dracula, given the rumbles they are feeling echoing throughout the castle.

Rounding one particular corner did they quickly bolt back as they almost collided against a Dusk Nobody.

"The hell is this doing here?" Trevor growled out, having his whip ready to strike it down.

"I don't know." Responded the Speaker, tightening her hand on her staff. "But I don't want to be near it."

The two went to attack it as the Dusk quickly maneuvered out of the way. It twirled around the two humans and flew in the air and down the corridor. The two ended up giving chase as they quickly maneuvered through hallway after hallway, stairwell by stairwell. Along the way, they shot out attacks and spells -respectively- in hopes of destroying the creature. But their attacks were being constantly dodged by the airborne Nobody.

It was at one point that they saw the Dusk Nobody disburse in white and silver vapors, leaving the two humans by themselves in the corridor.

"Where do you think it went off to?"

"I have no idea." Was Trevor's response before he soon heard loud crashes nearby. "Sypha, this way."

Picking up on the sounds, the Speaker soon followed in order to assist their comrades.

If they were to look back behind them, they would see the Dusk they were chasing reappear itself in the hallway. It stared down their forms as they went to assist their liege. It did all it could to help provide the assistance, even if not directly. And before long, it disappeared in silver and white vapors as if it never existed in the first place.

Bouncing off the walls, both the dhampir and Nobody sped away from the charging vampire, who broke many walls from the swipe of his claws. When he soon caught up to them, he smacked Roxas into a room before speeding in to deliver quite a beating. Alucard would come in and help assist his comrade with a few strikes. He would then be smacked through the walls and end up in another room before Dracula started assaulting him with Roxas coming in to his aid.

Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat in a vice versa like manner between the two allies against Dracula. This went on through many rooms before ending up in one particular room with many gears were overheated and melted all over the place. And by the large window over yonder lay a pedestal with a floating polyhydron-like device as it absent mindedly kept on spinning in a slow manner.

With Roxas and Alucard having some space away from their shared adversary, they shared a look with each other and seemingly communicated. They both crouched down and focused a lot of power for what they needed to do. Without warning, they rushed and zoomed across the floor, striking Dracula with either punches and kicks from Alucard or with swings and thrusts from Roxas' Keyblades.

Throughout these constant hits upon his person, Dracula was focusing on his opponents' movements. He was waiting for the right time to act to catch them off guard. And in a blur, he quickly ensnared one of them by their throat. Looking upon his captured prey, he saw it was the Keybearer; who struggled within his grasp.

Not wanting to see what may become of him soon, Roxas focused on his weapons and casted Thundaga. Mighty bolts of lightning shot down from the ceiling and crashed onto both Roxas and Dracula. An explosion soon went off with Dracula releasing his hold on the Nobody as he was sent flying back.

Coming in from the other side of the room, Alucard came flying in with his fist encompassed by Hellfire flames. With a roar, the dhampir delivered a powered uppercut, sending his father flying towards the ceiling. Along the way, Dracula saw the Keyblader was airborne with the Vampire Killer Keyblade aimed at him with an orb of light being concentrated at it's top. It was soon released with a volley of ethereal crosses charged in to crash into him. Dracula was about to counter when a swarm of bats appeared behind him, reforming back into his son before being kicked. This resulted in him colliding with the ethereal crosses as he roared in utmost pain.

Dracula fell onto the ground with both Roxas and Alucard landing some distance away from the Vampiric Lord. Said man soon recovered, staggering back onto his feet as he glared upon both his son and the Keybearer. Neither moved soon after, each calculating and figuring out what their next move shall be.

For Roxas, he could tell that he had managed to inflict some good amount of damage upon Dracula, but it wasn't enough. Not even close to enough. Roxas needed to up the ante and he needed it now.

His eyes briefly darted down to his Winter's Howl Keyblade and was reminded of the secret power that he inadvertently tapped into back at the Twins in Westeros.

Looking over to his newest Keyblade, Roxas grit his teeth.

"Alucard, buy me some time."

Alucard quirked his brow at his ally who sent Winter's Howl away and seemingly concentrated on the one Keyblade in his hands.

Rather than question the request, Alucard merely nodded, moving to engage his father once more.

Roxas held his Keyblade before him and concentrated. Each Keyblade was unique and different with every one of them containing a special ability or trait that added to the users combat capabilities.

"Come on." Roxas grasped the Keyblade tightly and focused on his power and connection to his newest weapon.

He felt a brief updraft which subsided a moment later. Shaking his head, Roxas was surrounded by an aura of light which was then channeled straight into his Keyblade.

The Keyblade's form brightened with a white aura before the blade's length seemed to stretch to set loose the chain within it. The rainguard surrounding his hand broke apart as it reconfigured and shorted along the sides. Soon after, the blade and chain seemed to retreat back towards the handle. By the end of it, his Keyblade appeared more of a Combat Cross than anything else

As soon as the Keyblades transformation was done, Roxas let out a series of swings and out from the rainguard of his weapon shot out a bladed whip. With each swing, the bladed whip shot out, retracting back into his Keyblade to come out after another swing and rinse and repeat.

With a final swing, the bladed whip was sent forward and struck an unsuspecting Dracula in the jaw. The Vampire blinked with a slight wince, rubbing his jaw. He looked at Roxas in time to see the boy's weapon retract back entirely into his weapons rainguard with the boy now holding it by his side.

Alucard snorted, despite the situation. "If I wouldn't know any better, I would say you're a Belmont imposter."

"Let's find out." Roxas said with a grin.

The Greater Nobody jumped forward at Dracula with the Vampire already rearing his hand back for an attack. Roxas thrust his Keyblade down, with the blade coming out and pushing off against the ground. The added boost allowed Roxas to flip right over Dracula and land right behind him.

He began with a left horizontal swing, his Key-whip bursting out to strike Dracula across the chest. Roxas followed the attack up with a right horizontal swing before throwing his arm over his head in a circular motion with his Key-whip following in its trajectory.

Dracula hissed in pain, moving back yet Roxas was now relentless.

Whirling the Key-whip around, the blade twirled over his head as some hits landed on the vampire before arcing his arm while spinning around caused the blade to fastly turn in a saw-like manner. The rapid slices and strikes upon Dracula caused the vampire to receive a series of cuts along his flesh and clothing.

With a burst of energy surrounding his form, Roxas channeled a lot of magic into his Key-whip while avoiding Dracula swiping his claws at him. Even when firing off miniature magma balls right at him by jumping into the air. As he fell down towards the floor, Roxas slammed his changed Keyblade into the surface.

The moment Trevor and Sypha ran into the room, they both felt a small rumble before parts of the tiled floor burst open as pillars of light shot towards the ceiling. The power coming from the attack burned the vampiric lord as he was forced to retreat back to a safe area of the present room.

"Holy hell…" Trevor muttered out. "What did we just miss?"

From nearby, Alucard smirked a little. "Not much. Just Roxas discovering a new means of kicking my fathers' ass."

"Oh." Trevor hummed aloud. "That's good, all things considered."

"Come on you two." Sypha said, grasping her staff. "Roxas can't fight him alone."

Wordlessly nodding, the Hunter grasped the Morningstar as he ran forward to aid Roxas with Alucard jumping up into the air with sword in hand.

Now surrounded by three enemies, Dracula snarled, throwing his arms out. With his cape billowing around him and palms pointed down to the ground, Dracula called upon his knowledge of the arcane lore.

He was surrounded by fiery circles which then imploded into large pillars of fire that acted as a barrier for him.

Alucard just managed to pull the Belmont out of harm's way as he was closest to him yet Roxas got struck hard by the fiery wall.

"Roxas!" Sypha cried out.

"I'm ok." He gritted out. "Focus on Dracula."

Nodding reluctantly, Sypha thrust her staff forward to unleash a powerful gale which she reinforced with a hint of ice after slamming her staff down to the ground a moment later. The icy winds dispersed the fiery pillars, yet Dracula was nonplussed by the display.

Hearing the sounds of rattling chains, Dracula deftly ducked beneath the Morningstar flail and zipped over to its own with his hand held up in a manner meaning to decapitate.

He was then violently struck back by his son who delivered a powerful boot to his chest. Dracula careened back through the air when something metallic was wrapped around his neck. Fanged teeth clenched, Dracula looked over to see Roxas with his arm out holding his enhanced Keyblade and pulling him towards the blond.

With a corkscrew in the air, Dracula landed back onto his feet and grabbed the metallic whip. With a tug of his arm, Dracula's superior strength overpowered Roxas' own having the Nobody sail straight towards him.

Roxas flailed slightly in the air as he flew right into the outstretched hand of Tepes who had it grip his neck tightly.

Gasping for breath, it didn't take long for the others to help in getting Roxas out of Dracula's death grip.

Sypha had ran up to the elder vampire, rearing her electrified staff back yet Dracula swatted her away.

Alucard attempted to divebomb his father yet he was met with a powerful open palm strike to the chest.

"Well this is certainly not working." Trevor said aloud. Roxas had jumped over to him, standing by the Belmonts side.

"We keep attacking him one at a time." Roxas said.

"When we've done our most damage together." Stated the Belmont, holding up Morningstar.

Roxas only readied his own keyblade as Dracula turned to face them. He was sneering at the duo who held their weapons aloft.

They sprinted forth, with both sending out their respective whips directly at the Vampire Lord.

Dracula merely shifted his head back to avoid the oncoming whips before bursting forward in a display of speed similar to the one he used when he first caught them off guard. The two, however, were more than ready for it this time as they jumped apart in time to avoid Dracula's form from crashing up against them.

They both sent their whips out once more with the Vampire simply spinning in midair. Nobody and Belmont then shot their free arms up to ensnare their whips and change course. Eyes widening, Dracula could do nothing but get struck by the two weapons in the shoulder and arm.

One had stung him greatly while the other caused the typical explosive response it would have when striking the being that it was meant to kill.

Suddenly, both Roxas and Trevor had a glint in their eyes as they momentarily exchanged glances.

A sort of spark was shared as they cocked their weapons back with them both pausing at the same time…

Then, all at once, the duo began rapidly swinging about their respective whips right at the Vampire Lord.

While to some, it may seem like a cacophony of disorganized and random blurry swings if one utilizes a trained eye they would be able to see that every swing was timed and swung with a direction in mind.

The Belmont's strikes were explosive with every hit while Roxas's were more cutting, slashing into Dracula's cloak and skin. However, an odd and unpredicted occurrence happened with Roxas' recent strike.

Dracula felt a greater degree of impact. An explosive impact for that matter. With his eyes widening, The vampire soon noticed that the Nobody's Key-whip was glowing with a reddish white aura that only glowed brighter upon every other strike. Dracula gathered up power within himself, feeling parts of his body shift as he tried to shift into a swarm of bats in hopes of evading the next attack.

Yet with the recent onslaught, he was too slow with what his current opponents accomplished. Roxas and Trevor's arms became a complete blur as they began to increase the frequency of their attacks. Explosions were constantly about to go off only for them to quite literally get forced down with the duo's prolonged dual attack with the kinetic force building within Dracula's body until…

Both reared back with arms outstretched fully with both their weapons aglow radiating with energy and power. A second ticked by until they both swung down at full force towards the Vampire.

*TINK-KABOOM*

The direct impact with the Morningstar whip and Roxas' Keyblade transformation was too much while Dracula tried channeling his Chaotic powers as means of defending himself. In the process of trying to shift form right as he was hit by the respective weapons made him shift into something else. His exposed brain was soon surrounded by obscure bone and flesh, constantly shifting into all sorts of faces to represent each and every victim he devoured over the centuries. And the blood dripping from the eyes, mouths, nostrils and ears were quite acidic; given the resulting steam from the melting floor and debris. The wails and screams could be heard from each of those mouths as it unsettled Dracula's opponents significantly.

"What the fuck is this?" Exclaimed the Belmont in bewilderment.

"He's transformed." Alucard said aloud with his teeth clenched. "Though I think this one was an unintended purpose."

Seeing the agony on each of the faces within the floating mass, Sypha let out a shivered response. "I-I don't know i-if that pain is co-coming from himself o-or…"

"Less talking, more fighting." Trevor said, whirling his whip and cracking part of the shifting faces.

"Aim for the faces." Alucard said, twirling his sword around.

"Really? The faces?" Trevor drawled out. "Obviously. So glad of you to point that out."

"I know it was stupid, stop making such a fucking fuss about it. It just came out."

"Boys." Sypha said exasperatedly, making them shut up.

Already in action, Roxas sped around the floating distortion as he fired off several Blizzard and Fire spells left and right. Sypha was already giving the Keybearer her support by whirling her staff to send out some magical blasts. She did have to jump and hop out of the way from some loogies the disformed head was spewing out from its many faces.

Said loogies that struck stone and ground began to sizzle, dissolving the rocks in an instant.

"What the hell, he could do that?!" Roxas cried out, bug eyed at seeing the melting stone.

"AH." Trevor cried out. "The fuck is the acid spit for?!"

"Do you even want to ask?" Sypha said rhetorically.

"No." The Belmont rolled out of the way from the incoming acid shots. "This looks worse than being puked on."

"It's far worse than that, Trevor!" Roxas exclaimed, jumping into the air and cleaving through one of the faces. Upon landing on the ground, he and the others saw the flesh fall off to reveal the ghastly skull underneath with veins pulsing along the surface. And said face soon bubbled onto the floor with it evaporating soon after. "Ew~"

No one else bothered commenting from there, focusing more on avoiding the hits and landing ones of their own.

Trevor whirled his whip around, cracking against the shifting faces as more acidic blood came pouring out. Alucard flew in and jabbed in a face with his sword before backing off while shooting a Hellfire blast. Roxas had to occasionally dive in front of either of his human companions and quickly cast a Barrier around them to protect from an incoming acid loogie. In retaliation, the Keybearer casted Balloonra, sending the multi-colored orb straight at the distorted mass with quick explosions.

The amalgamation of heads roared in pain as it soon began to rapidly spin about with acidic spit flying about everywhere.

"Oh crap!" Trevor, Roxas and Alucard all dove to whatever cover they could find whilst Sypha threw up her hand to create an ice wall that absorbed the acidic spit.

Sypha pressed her hands together with her staff in between, focusing on her magic. Finally feeling charged up, she grasped her weapon and slammed the bottom of it down to the ground.

Pillars of ice exploded across the area from both the ground and the floor. Some bashed into the heads while others provided more cover as well as a means of more maneuverability.

"It's on you." Sypha muttered, her form glowing as she casted Haste. Her three companions suddenly had the same brief glow as well, feeling a surge of energy from within.

Grinning, Belmont rushed out of his cover and used his whip as a means of swinging around to get in close to the deformed Dracula and landing a quick several successful strikes to the heads with each one bursting.

Alucard zipped in between the pillars, the multi-headed form spewing out acidic spit in all directions. Diving right beneath the form, Alucard merely held his sword aloft and cut right through the bulbous mass.

Shifting into his Winter's Howl armor, Roxas focused on the surrounding pillars. Crouching his legs and building up tension within them, he soon sprang forth. He rebounded against many of the ice pillars as he had to quickly fire off some more Fire and Blizzard spells.

Eventually after the continuous onslaught, the three men jumped high into the air and delivered a crushing blow onto the floating, distorted mass from the brain on top. The mass bellowed out in pain as it came crashing down to the ground.

"SYPHA." Roxas called out to her.

Nodding, the Speaker ran towards the Wolf armored Keybearer with his hand shooting out to grab her staff.

With a spin, Roxas tossed her up into the air, Sypha spinning while letting a flurry of fire barrage the deformed Dracula.

While she had done so, Roxas ran forward before altering down onto all fours sprinting towards his enemy in a wolf-like manner. Speeding up, Roxas became a blur as he struck Dracula repeatedly at an uncountable amount of time before jumping up to Sypha who was glowing a golden aura.

Reaching her, he pivoted about where his feet met hers with the two changing around positions. Both utilizing their own leg strength, Roxas pushed Sypha downward as she propelled herself forward.

Gritting her teeth as her magic literally permeated around her form, Sypha raised her staff above her head before slamming an ethereal orb that she had conjured at the tip at the center of the multi-headed vampire. A giant lightning bolt descended down, yet Sypha wasn't finished.

Using the body as momentum, Sypha front flipped forward and fell on her knee while slamming the bottom of the staff down on the ground with her back facing her foe.

A dozen more lightning bolts burst from the ethereal orb, the orb vanishing.

*KRAAA-KROOOOOOMMM*

The smoldering form that had just suffered the torrent of icy claws followed by a barrage of thunder lay unmoving.

Roxas landed right next to the Speaker who was getting back up with a slight wobble.

"That was fun." Sypha rasped out with a small smile on her face.

"Sure was."

Trevor chuckled a little. Alucard, however, didn't as he gazed upon his father's current form with a narrowed glance.

"It's not over yet."

His companions looked over and saw what appeared to be a glow coming from a pair of eye sockets. And soon after, a distorted voice was heard from the bleeding mass of bone and charred flesh.

"YOu thINk tHaT yOu CAn so eASily beST ME in such a rEgARd?" Dracula questioned, voice raspy but no less powerful. "HaVE YoU foRgoTTen my earlier sTATemEnt aLREady? I am nO oRDinAry VamPire, YOU FOOLS!"

After overcoming the combined pain of his interrupted transformation from earlier, Dracula's was able to recollect himself and shift his distorted form into something else in finishing this fight. The mass of bone, flesh and acidic blood was soon encompassed by a whirlwind of chaotic darkness. After some moments, a singular pair of red eyes were shown within the dark torrent as they towered over the four combatants, with the owner bellowing out a demonic laugh.

"Now suffer in despair!"

The dark wind dissipated, revealing Dracula's current form. It no doubt towered over them by practically doubling over their height as it resembled a teal skinned, muscular reptilian-bat demon. It's yellow horns curved upward from the back. The claws and teeth were no doubt razor sharp and the wings were not shown on the back but were placed between the space of the arms and thighs. And the massive tail behind it slammed down onto the floor, leaving massive cracks from the impact.

"Oh…" The Belmont remarked blankly. "Well… was not aware he could do that."

"What the hell." Roxas murmured. "Alucard, what do we do?"

"We can't do anything but wittle him down." Alucard said frustratedly.

"We've only got a few Potions and Ethers left." Sypha brought up. This battle had been going on for far longer than they had thought. They had sustained damage repeatedly during the fight and were still feeling the effects of a few stronger hits they had barely survived.

In the back of their minds, the Wallachian natives were silently grateful for their most recent upgrades in charms and equipment courtesy of Roxas and the Moogle. They had provided ample boosts in their strength, speed and stamina as well as their fortitude.

Now the four stood together once more, facing off against Dracula's latest form. They were ready to fight but they were unsure if they were truly prepared to combat this behemoth of a form.

They needed an even playing field.

Roxas suddenly felt a warmth emanating around his chest. Blinking, Roxas glanced down and saw a small light shining out from beneath his shirt. Reaching beneath it, he pulled out the fiery charm that he had gotten back in Gresit. It was glowing a reddish-white light, calling out to him.

Eyes widening, Roxas closed his eyes and closed his hand around the Ifrit summoning charm and channeled his magic through it. He felt the heat starting to build up from within as if wanting to be finally released.

"We need you."

Light and fiery wisps began emanating around the charm and Roxas's hand more brightly as he held it close to his chest.

"Give me strength."

With the call made, a large orb of light appeared over Roxas' form. Glyphs and runes circled around it before both they and the orb disappeared. Soon after, a large being landed on the ground, causing everyone present to witness the new arrival.

Like what Alucard's group knew beforehand, the summon was a fire elemental. The massive, muscular djinn had flaming cracks flowing over it's yellow skin with large jagged horns curving over the black hair streaming from the head. There were black straps on the arms and legs while the only pieces of armor it wore were the wrist and ankle bands with an armored loin cloth with some hooped earrings as the only pieces of jewelry. And it wore an expression of utmost rage as it's stark white eyes hotly bore into the Vampiric Dark Lord before it.

Without warning, Ifrit shot forward with a mighty roar and delivered a powered punch across Dracula's demonic face, sending him flying some feet away.

"Holy shit." Trevor muttered out.

"We have our chance." Alucard declared, breaking out of his shock. "Let's go."

Sypha spun her staff around, lightning crackling about on both tips.

The Belmont began spinning the Morningstar whip about while running forward. Roxas was by his side, focusing much power to initiate both of his two Keyblades' secondary forms. The wolf-like armor of Winter's Howl and Vampire Killer retracting into itself for it's Combat Cross form.

Alucard's eyes merely glowed a golden hue with his sword floating over his shoulder as he bolted forward.

Up ahead, Dracula bashed his fist into Ifrit's face yet the summoned beast only roared defiantly at the transformed Vampire. He headbutted Dracula in retaliation leaving a scorch mark that disappeared a second later. And it seemed to grow with each incoming strike from the fire elemental.

Dracula growled savagely when he felt a pressure surrounding him. Demonic red eyes widening momentarily, Dracula watched as Ifrit jumped away.

He barely reacted in time, throwing his arms up around his form the demonic vampire was buffeted by a literal thunder storm upon him. The bolts struck his entire body with Dracula growling in slight pain at the stinging bolts.

Dracula suddenly felt a powerful fist strike his arms, making him slide back. Lowering his arms, he saw Alucard floating there with the Belmont and Roxas sprinting right for him. His red eyes then spotted the fiery summon that was aiding his opponents barrel right towards him.

Grunting, Dracula crossed his arms before swinging them both out horizontally to dispel a shockwave of chaotic energy.

Roxas, upon reflex, hovered momentarily off the ground and threw his hands up above him casting a Reflect spell to protect both him and Trevor as the shockwave washed over the two yet was held back by the barrier.

The Ifrit however charged right through, regardless of the burn marks he received. And as it barreled right at the monster, a trail of flames followed as they were contained yet grew exponentially in heat. After a number of passes, the djinn leapt into the air and let out a bellowing roar. Flames exploded from it's form as every bit of fire and heat seemed to disappear from the summon and the surrounding area.

Roxas and his companions wondered what was to become of this before the temperature skyrocketed. Like a bomb, Dracula's form exploded as a large torrent of flames shot out from underneath him. More and more appeared around the monstrous vampire as Ifrit landed not far away. With a final roar, all the flames merged together into a Hellfire Inferno.

Once the spectacle ceased, the summon disappeared in wisps of flames and light.

Drawing their eyes away from where the summon vacated the premises, they saw the beastial, demonic form of Dracula was still standing… before he fell onto all fours with multiple burns across his body from Ifrits destructively fiery attack before it disappeared.

"We have our chance." Alucard said aloud.

Roxas ran first, reverting both Keyblades back to Oblivion and Oathkeeper as he fell into a glide. His form glowed a brilliant white light with his keyblades grinding against the floor as he drew closer to Dracula.

Within his wake, thirteen pillars of light formed and surrounded Roxas; slowly spinning with their speed climbing faster and faster.

Sypha all the while began to call upon her magic once again, repeatedly striking the air around her with spheres of red, blue and yellow forming. With a backswing, Sypha propelled herself forward towards Dracula.

Alucard was already hovering above his father whilst Trevor was spinning his Morningstar whip faster and faster with the flail radiating with contained power.

And then, all four went in at the same time.

Roxas began unleashing his thirteen pillars of light and Keyblades all at once. He began with an upward strike with his Oblivion and Oathkeeper, several pillars of light following in his wake.

Following it up with a thrust from Oblivion and an overhead Oathkeeper slash to keep the barrage going, Roxas pivoted about as he felt someone else's back against his. Alucard slashed his sword diagonally across his father's chest with a thrust into the shoulder followed by a flip kick to the chin with the Dhamphir going up and over Roxas who charged in and bashed his Keyblades with them being crossed together right into Dracula's chest. Pushing himself away, Roxas flung Oblivion towards Trevor who ensnared it with his Morningstar for a makeshift chain dart.

Sypha in the meantime arrived before Dracula and simply passed by, tapping the transformed Vampire on the chest with the tip of her staff.

Immediately, the elemental spheres attached themselves to the vampiric lord as Trevor at long last finished charging up Morningstar.

With a final wide overhead twirl of his metal whip with Oblivion at the end, Belmont gathered several Roxas's pillars of lights before flinging it directly at Dracula.

The Monstrous Vampire could only gape as the Keyblade/Morningstar flail drew near and hit him dead center.

Dracula's eyes widened as all at once, the elemental spheres attached to his body went off, the pillars of lights burst and the Morningstar/Oblivion combo planted the explosive reaction right at his heart.

*KRAK-KABOOOOOOM*

The party all shielded their eyes in time just as everything went off.

By the end of it all, the four were met by an exploding, blinding light. Those who were airborne landed back on the ruined floor near Sypha's position. Each and every one of them were in an exhausted state with how they put everything into this latest attack. When they regained their bearings, they saw Dracula had returned to normal as he was lying face down on the ground. He was no longer moving, much from what they could visually gather.

"Did… Did we finally get him?" Sypha questioned.

"I don't know." Was Roxas' response, stepping closer to the vampiric lord's prone form.

Alucard was about to speak when he saw his father shift in his position for the briefest of moments. Eyes widening, Alucard rushed over to his companion as they were soon bashed out of the room by a black blur. For Sypha and Trevor, they called out their names as they realized Dracula got the jump on them.

"We need to find them, quick!" Sypha yelled, running out of the room and chasing after the sounds of crashes in the distance.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Spoke the Belmont, following right after her. "Jesus fuck after all that, the fucker is still going."

Dracula's form was haggard. It had multiple cuts, bruises, burns and other indescribable injuries riddling his entire body. Yet he still remained standing.

Despite reverting back to his base form, which was drained of much of his chaotic power, Dracula still had enough strength to deal with both Alucard and Roxas. Both stumbled back in the hallway, trying to give themselves some space away from the vampiric dark lord. Roxas was about to use a Mega Ether or even a Mega Potion to help replenish their reserves when Dracula zoomed in and punched them both into yet another room.

The pair of non-humans tumbled across the floor before colliding against something hard. Both groaned out of discomfort, yet had to hold on for their comrades to make it back by their side to hopefully end the fight in their favor… instead of the other way around.

Collecting their barings, Alucard and Roxas were about to continue the fight when they heard Dracula let out a gasp. They were curious as to what was going on, especially seeing the vampire's face no longer held any rage, but out of shock and despair.

"It's your room."

Hearing this caused the two team members to snap their heads towards their side and saw the interior of the room they were presently in. Behind them was a twin sized bed with a bookcase on it's left with a nightstand on the right. Above was a mural of constellations and shooting stars. On the left side of the room was a desk with all sorts of books and art supplies beside and on top of it with a decent sized mirror nearby. And on the far off corner were an assortment of toys from stuffed animals to some other contraptions.

As Roxas drank in the significance of what was revealed to be Alucard's childhood bedroom, both father and son realized the deep ramifications on what they were about to do in here. More so for the former.

"My boy…" Roxas looked over to see Dracula holding onto himself as he seemed to shake in utmost horror. "I'm-I… I'm killing my boy." The dark vampire lord soon walked over to the nearby wall where a family portrait was hung in between a pair of windows with a little dresser underneath it. "Lisa… I'm killing our boy."

Peering over towards the artwork, Roxas saw a happy couple as they wore their best outfit for the occasion. Dracula bore a genuine kind smile as he wore a pristine suit. And the woman beside him, who Roxas realized was Lisa, held an infant Alucard… Adrian… within her arms as she wore the most elegant dress.

"We painted this room. We made these toys." Dracula spoke towards the portrait, grief filling his voice. "It's our boy, Lisa. Your greatest gift to me… and I'm killing him."

As this went on, Alucard grabbed onto part of his broken childhood bed and broke off a piece of the bedpost. The dhampir slowly walked over towards his father with a new stake in his grasp. Once Alucard was right in front of Dracula, both he and Roxas saw the vampire's eyes were no longer inverted red, but to its normal state with tears running down his cheeks.

"I must already be dead."

From his seated position, Roxas saw the vampire was no longer moving at all. He merely looked towards his son with saddened eyes. He briefly looked down towards the stake in Alucard's hand before looking back up, never making any retaliating move for what is about to happen.

In an instant, the dhampir thrusted the stake through his father's chest and pierced his heart. Dracula gasped out of pain as blood started pouring out from the wound.

"Son…" Whispered out Dracula.

"F-Father." Alucard stumbled out.

The moment Roxas climbed back onto his feet, he saw the dhampir push the stake deeper into the chest, having it fully go through the vampire's back. The moment this happened, Roxas heard the nearby windows and mirror crack. He momentarily looked over to see how damaged they suddenly got before looking back; jumping in his spot upon seeing Dracula's skin turning from pale white to a deep grey before black as he seemed to shrivel up.

Dark sand started pouring down from the vampire's body as Alucard started walking back. This gave Roxas enough room to see the flesh and muscle seep away to reveal the bone underneath it all. With some last bits of strength, the dying vampire reached out towards his son for one final time. What Roxas doesn't know is the expression the dhampir currently wore as he was frightened beyond imagination.

It was at this moment did Roxas hear a series of hurried steps coming towards the bedroom.

Crossing through the doorway, Trevor and Sypha witnessed what was currently happening. Acting quickly in case Dracula was trying anything, the Belmont unsheathed his ancestral sword. With one quick strong swing, he cleaved through Dracula's neck as the rotting head fell onto the floor before the body.

After this action, Trevor soon became shocked with what he just accomplished. He couldn't say anything, merely staring at the bleeding rotting corpse lying on the ruined carpet.

Walking past Trevor, Sypha looked at the corpse before eying their dhampir and Keybearer companions. She wondered what exactly was roaming through their minds, but chose to put it aside as they needed to finish the job.

"Alucard, Roxas, stand back." She said, holding her staff with her free hand glowing with an orange light. "Let me finish this."

The two non-humans complied with the request as they soon stopped at the edge of the bed. From there, they looked upon the body which is now just a blackened skeleton within a pool of blood and the black cloak covering it all.

In his final moments of life, Dracula had grasped onto what humanity he had left so he may be killed as a man… instead of a monster.

A stream of fire was released from Sypha's hand, impacting Dracula's remains. It quickly consumed it all as the flames soon spun around in place. It grew hotter and hotter whie wider and taller with each passing second. And from within the fire did the four hear an otherworldly shriek.

Trevor quickly pulled Sypha away while Roxas went in front of Alucard, protecting them respectively as blackened smoke quickly shot towards the ceiling. The flames soon disappeared as a great whirling darkness filled the room as it seeked a means of escape. It soon found it by exiting through the bedroom's doorway and the cracked windows by the family portrait. Opening his eyes, Roxas saw all sorts of silhouetted faces shrieking out within the darkness as he sought its way out.

After several long seconds, the darkness was no longer present. With nothing remained of Dracula… all except for something shining on the ruined floor. Crouching down, he inspected it and saw it was a silver wedding band.

He heard groans coming from the others. Looking around, Roxas saw they were on the ground as they shakily got back up onto their feet.

"Is… Is that it?" Asked the Speaker.

"Alucard." Trevor addressed. "Did… Did we do it?"

"We did." Said the dhampir. Roxas walked over and placed the ring into Alucard's hand. Looking upon it for several moments, he closed it as Alucard choked a little. "I… killed my father."

"You ended a war on humankind." Said the Vampire Hunter as he sheathed his sword. "Don't get wheepy about it."

Roxas was about to tell Trevor off with what he just witnessed before their arrival when Sypha spoke up. He hoped she would speak some reasoning to help soften Alucard's present feelings, but that wasn't entirely the case. "Trevor's right." She said, surprising both Trevor and Roxas. "You've saved countless lives. But… it's alright to mourn the man you once knew, too."

Roxas breathed out a little sigh of relief on hearing Sypha's recovery statement.

All the dhampir did was gaze upon his family portrait of a life that once was. "He died a long time ago."

With that said, Alucard moved his way out of his childhood bedroom. Trevor and Sypha hanged back for a little while longer before following after Alucard, leaving Roxas all alone.

With this little bit of privacy, Roxas walked over to closely look at the Tepes family portrait. He wanted to see the people Alucard once knew when they were both alive.

It was strange to see Dracula all sincere and happy in the portrait as all he saw before was a rampaging monster. But it was good the man rose from the beast, even for a short period of time.

Upon gazing at Lisa, Roxas couldn't help but wonder how great of a woman she was before everything went downhill last year on this World. He heard great things about her with hardly any faults from her dhampir son. Being not only an excellent doctor, but also a great and loving wife and mother.

He didn't know how long he stared at the portrait as hints of morning light started seeping through the vacant windows. They slowly hit the nearby mirror on the other side of the room and reflected back towards the family portrait.

As it did, Roxas saw something revealing within the portrait. Something all too familiar to the Nobody as he gazed upon an odd imprint… of a Keyhole?

Without notice, the Vampire Killer Keyblade flashed within his hand as he instinctively jumped back. An odd sensation of muscle memory kicked in as he twirled the Keyblade in his hand before pointing directly at the Keyhole hiding within the family portrait. Light gathered towards the tip before shooting out and connecting with it as the Keyhole to this World glowed brightly as the morning sun.

As both met, a loud click was heard as it seemed to reverberate within the room. And before long, the light faded away and disappeared from the Tepes family portrait.

"Did… Did I just find a Keyhole?" Roxas muttered out with a surprise blink of the eye. He laughed to himself before exiting the room in order to catch up with the others.

It was relatively quick as his teammates were walking at a slow pace. No one spoke a word as they made their way back out of the castle. Neither even noticed Roxas' arrival as they were more focused on themselves. And rightfully so as each were trying to fully digest on what they managed to pull off. Not to mention with everyone exhausted from the long marathon of fighting.

Eventually reaching the entrance hall, the early morning light started crawling into the castle. Any vampire corpses touched by the sunlight were soon burned into ash and smoke and it will continue until the last of them are taken care of.

Coming to a stop in the middle of the present room, Alucard merely looked on with all sorts of thoughts and emotions filling his very being. He was brought out of them upon feeling a hand grasping onto his shoulder. Looking over, he saw Sypha giving him a small smile before she reached out and grasped Trevor's arm before going towards his hand in order to give him one as well. Alucard then gazed over when he felt Roxas playfully jab him a little with his elbow before giving him a reassuring smile.

The four fighters looked upon each other before walking through the castle's entrance as they were fully greeted by the beautiful early morning sun.

A new day was upon them. A new tomorrow for the World as a great evil was slain. And as one journey has ended, one begins while another continues on.

But first… they all were gonna rest for a while. A long, long while.

-End Chapter-

AN:

Boy… this was quite a long chapter with how it turned out. Quite the task done here as it hopefully pleases you all. Almost wrapping up the rest of Castlevania Season 2 here. Yet that shall be done in the next chapter as we transition back to Game of Thrones events.

So… I keep getting requests from a few readers for Roxas to go visit the world of Kuroinu: Kedakaki Seijo wa Hakudaku ni Somaru. For those who don't know that, it's a hentai game turned anime (or h-game and h-anime respectively for short) which is extremely dark and graphic. I'm pretty much going to say this now that I am NOT doing that World. Free Man Writer and I have already made a list of Worlds for Roxas to visit in this story and will not be putting in any more at this time given if we insert too much it would divert away from the main story elements of this crossover. Not to mention Kuroinu wouldn't exactly fit with the themes we already discussed.

Then here it is again, I repeat there will be no Kuroinu World being visited… EVER!

Asides from that bit… man… Star Wars: Clone Wars has finally ended in such a bitter sweet send off. Such an impactful series which changed fandom in so many ways.

Free Man Writer: Just everything about that ending. From the intense action to the last five minutes of wordless storytelling. The graveyard of the Clones to Vader finding the Lightsaber he gave to Ahsoka some years later. That's just perfection right there. God, what I wouldn't give to see EVERYTHING that Filoni and crew had planned out for the entirety of Clone Wars. But what we got was pretty damn amazing.

Jeb: Here's hoping their next projects will run smoothly and gloriously. From the next installment of Mandalorian to the supposed Rebels sequel series to whatever else for our enjoyment.

FMW: Indeed, so yeah, here's to hoping for more good shit. Also piggy backing off of what J said earlier, a lot of our Worlds if not all of them have basically been planned out and all. So unless you bring an A-Game level and I mean Half-Life 2 levels of detailed descriptions as to why you want to see a certain World, we're not taking your suggestions unfortunately due to the extensive planning that has gone into this story. So, sorry guys.

Anyways, be sure to review this story guys! Would like the criticisms. Please and thank you!

R&R