The Twilight Spear

  The final door stands before us - the last enemy to be defeated tonight is finally within our grasp. The Umbra Venatores have fulfilled their mission; 45 of them have lost their lives in this escort duty, all to protect a handful of hunters for this moment.

  Valerious Van Helsing checks his weapon one last time. I can see the strange glass grenades on his belt - the safety pins are loose; he will use them in this battle. Heinrich Lecarde has calmed down after the loss of his daughter - perhaps too much. His gaze is fixed, cold, and death undoubtedly lurks in his eyes, a stark contrast to the brutal grief of a father. I can understand that he is now completely consumed by his thirst for revenge. His other daughter, Lucy, uses her stick to help her walk. She says nothing, but her condition is terrible. But her father seems to see her only as a burden - or an enemy. What is happening between them?

  Alejandro del Toro and Sakura are on the other side. They talk to each other in secret, thinking they are being discreet, but I can easily see the conspiracy they are plotting. Their eyes try to measure my every move, the way I fight. The real joke is on them - they have only seen what I have allowed them to see.

  Sebastian Belmont has begged to be allowed to fight. For honour, to avenge his father and his ancestors, he has been granted permission. I hope he is able to survive this trial. Personally, I believe he will surprise us with what is to come.

  Tiberius Blackthorn will stay behind with the rest of his clan to guard the entrance and protect our unexpected guests, like Mitsuki - or my sister.

  "Are you really going in alone?" Tamamo asked, surprised at my request.

  "These guys have no idea what they're playing with."

  "I have to make sure that what has happened within these walls stays within these walls."

  "Besides, you've had enough betrayals in your life - let me handle this one."

  "Just take care of my sister and the others."

  "Understood. I will eagerly await the return of my beloved Goshujin-sama from the battle against his enemies," the goddess said with a formal bow.

  I turned my eyes to Maria's shadow. For a brief moment, I noticed it moving unnaturally - a sign from Lisa, her way of letting me know she was aware and watching.

  "Hey, is your friend really not going to fight Dracula?"

  "We need all the help we can get!" Van Helsing said when he heard the news.

  "That's right. Her help won't be necessary."

  "I trust my own abilities enough - it won't be a problem."

  "It will be as easy as snapping my fingers."

  "No, that's not the plan!"

  "You, come here! You're going in to fight with us - that's an order!" the veteran hunter ordered.

  "Huh? You? And who decided that you get to give orders over me?"

  "As far as I remember, we're participating as unaffiliated fighters."

  "We help fight Dracula, but we don't answer to anyone. That was the deal," I cut him off sharply.

  "You two are coming with us to fight in that chamber, even if I have to drag you there by force," he threatened.

  "Go ahead. Do it."

  "I'm not afraid to start by taking out one less Inquisitor," I said, reaching for the pistol on my belt.

  "Stop it, Van Helsing. Not yet."

  "The fight will come after we pass through that door - you'll have your hunt later," Henry Lecarde said coldly, his eyes filled with disgust. Did he blame me for his daughter's death?

  Those bastards didn't even try to hide it anymore. They knew I knew. We were just keeping up appearances for those who were still unaware of what was really happening.

  The door was in front of us. Everyone was ready. If this was going to get out of hand, I wanted to be the one to start it.

  I pushed the door open with all my might and stepped into the darkness without fear or hesitation. There were still people to die today.

  The air was thick, filled with the stale smell of damp stone and death. My boots echoed on the marble floor, each step a sound swallowed by the vastness of the throne room. Only a few flickering torches clung to the walls, casting distorted shadows of fallen warriors - nameless martyrs.

  And there he was.

  Sitting on a throne of blackened stone, his arms resting on armrests carved with figures of tortured beasts. His red cloak draped around him like the curtain of a theatre not yet fully risen. His face was pale as the moon, his eyes two burning embers, smoldering with a mixture of contempt and amusement. With a slow, deliberate movement, the Lord of the Night rose.

  "Welcome." His voice was an echo, a whisper, echoing in every corner of the room.

  "You have come to challenge the King of the Night in his own domain. How admirable..."

  "I wonder, what is it you truly seek? Glory? Vengeance? Or simply the satisfaction of one last act of arrogance?"

  "All I hear is some emo who gets his ass kicked every time he shows up."

  "Don't worry, tonight's your last. I'll put you out of your misery." I said to him.

  "Has fear rotted your soul to the point of madness?"

  "Fear? Hahaha. Brother, I've been dealing all night with a bunch of idiots who don't even understand the ground they're walking on."

  "You're not so special, bro. Come on, drop the theatrics and move."

  The other hunters came in after that, still near the door, advancing cautiously. With my ears, I could hear them preparing their weapons. Sakura glanced at Alejandro del Toro for a second, then at the other two - they all nodded at the same time. Sebastián didn't quite understand what their actions meant, but I did. Lucy, on the other hand, seemed frightened for some reason.

  Seeing the enemy group, the vampire rose from his throne and vanished into a cloud of dust and shadows. Only a few metres away, Dracula reappeared like a living storm. His hands outstretched, spears of coagulated blood shot from the ground and sliced through the air towards us. I dodged one and rolled to my left. At the same moment, I caught the silver glint of a dagger flying towards my neck. I barely blocked it with my hands, but not without injury.

  Looking down at the blade embedded in my body, I was lucky enough to see its shape - a cross, which marked it as something not belonging to the Dark Lord. Instead, I knew it belonged to Alejandro, and that it hadn't been aimed at Dracula.

  And in that second of distraction, a dark claw grazed my shoulder, tearing the fabric and leaving a searing cold burn. Dracula smiled, as if enjoying the spectacle.

  "Cover Elise!" Van Helsing roared, clumsily hurling one of his glass grenades between the vampire and me.

  The explosion filled the air with sharp fragments and a glowing liquid that burned Dracula's skin... but it also splashed onto Lucy, who screamed as she fell to her knees. Heinrich didn't even look at her.

  "Idiots," I muttered to myself.

  The air around me shifted. A shiver ran down my spine as I felt the vampire's presence behind me, its speed barely perceptible even to my reflexes. Before I could react, a blast of icy wind hit me, knocking me to the side.

  The hunters moved in unison. Van Helsing fired his crossbow, silver arrows cutting through the air with deadly precision. Lecarde lunged forward with a swift thrust of his blessed sword, while Alejandro and Sakura spread out, trying to surround the Lord of the Night.

  But something was wrong.

  I saw Dracula vanish just before Lecarde's thrust found its mark. His sword, instead of piercing the vampire's flesh, twisted at the last moment... towards me. I leapt back, narrowly avoiding the blade as it sought my throat. A flash of light illuminated the room as Van Helsing's glass grenades detonated, spreading a holy radiance that forced Dracula to recoil for a moment. But instead of using the opening, Sakura threw a kunai... not at him, but at me. I dodged on instinct, feeling the blade pass dangerously close to my cheek.

  Our eyes met. There was no hesitation in her expression. She knew exactly what she was doing.

  Motherfucking bastards.

  The others attacked Dracula with fury, unleashing their weapons upon him, but now I saw it clearly - every blow was conveniently deflected, every movement directed towards a single outcome. I was the real target and Dracula noticed it too ,the amusement in his eyes changed to something far more dangerous. His smile widened.

  "Oh... I see."

  "So you're another one like me. Another betrayed one," the vampire sneered.

  "But that still won't save you."

  "Hell beasts must die together," Henry growled.

  The poor man grabbed his sword and raised it - but not to strike me this time. Instead, he turned it on Lucy, his own daughter, and struck the medallion she wore. Lecarde's blade gleamed in the magical light, but it wasn't the sight of his sword that made my blood freeze - it was Lucy's piercing scream. Her hands were clutching her head, her fingers twisting horribly under an ancient curse. Her skin paled until it was translucent, black veins emerging beneath the surface as her body arched in a grotesque transformation.

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  "Father, please...!" her voice cracked, turning into a slithering hiss.

  "I can't control it...!"

  "What's happening to me?"

  Heinrich didn't even blink. He pulled a medallion from his chest, engraved with runes that glowed in blood-red light.

  "Sanguis meus, voluntas mea," he murmured, and the pendant burst into black flame.

  Lucy screamed, but the sound turned into a hiss. Her legs fused together, her skin covered in pink scales like her clothes, and her eyes became feline pupils, glowing like poisoned daggers. Half snake, half woman, a huge and fierce lamia. Dracula laughed from the shadows, his voice booming like thunder in the storm.

  "What delicious irony.

  "The hunters feed on monsters... until they have to create their own!"

  Lucy growled, her features contorted between horror and obedience. And then she lunged at me.

  I rolled just in time to avoid her claws tearing into my neck. She moved with demonic speed, her body a blur of scales and taut muscles. I felt the edge of her nails brush against my jacket as I dodged the next blow.

  "Lucy, stop!" I shouted, but her body didn't respond to my words, only to her father's voice.

  "Shut up, food!" The snake said strangely.

  Another attack. I managed to block it with my arm, but the force sent me flying back several metres, crashing into a stone pillar. I saw its mouth open, its fangs ready to sink into my flesh. But then, for a second, her eyes were Lucy's again.

  "Kill me!" she whispered, black tears streaming down her cheeks.

  "Before he...!"

  A bolt of dark energy struck her from behind. Heinrich held the smoking medallion, his face a mask of hate.

  "Finish her!"

  Dracula seized the chaos. With a wave of his hand, the ground cracked and shadowy tentacles emerged, wrapping around the hunters. Alejandro and Sakura jumped back, but their movements were too calculated, too... coordinated. A shuriken from Sakura flew towards me, hidden in the shadows. I deflected it with the barrel of my gun, but the Lamia was already on top of me again, its jaws wide open.

  "Lucy, if you bite me, I swear I'll rip those fangs out!" I growled, pinning her against the stone throne.

  Lucy fought back, raised her staff and launched an attack. With courage, she tried to strike at the Dark Lord, even though she had become one. She tried to tell an ignored story of how she fought for an ending where everyone would forget her. But the serpent's cruel nature awoke in her again, and she lunged for the attack. In a strange movement, she activated new magic and a weapon was summoned from the ground.

  "Kthal'gatha mneiros... Yth'mordis thal'kran!" said the animal serpent.

  And then the spear appeared.

  It was not a weapon. It was an omen.

  The floor tiles exploded and an elongated silhouette emerged, rising from the depths like a frozen bolt of lightning. Its shaft, carved from obsidian and Atlantean silver, glowed with runes that told the tale of fallen gods. The blade, a spiral of orichalcum forged in the core of dead stars, emitted a dull hum as if the fabric of space were tearing around it. The hilt, carved from the bones of creatures even the gods had forgotten, echoed with the sound of a thousand battles long lost in Atlantis. At its base, etched in the tongue of Titans, was the name of its last bearer: Gaenbald, the Abyss Walker, the Atlantean who pierced the heavens. Lucy shattered the tiles with a flick of her tail, and the weapon fell before her with a thunderous crash that shook the very foundations of the castle. The Twilight Spear, the weapon with which the great field general had fought a million dragons.

  The serpent wrapped itself around the spear, trying to wield it with its body.

  "Where did you get that?"

  "Where was this weapon?"

  Instead, only the snake's hiss answered me. It tried to attack, but the spear buried in the ground increased its weight to infinity, trapping the creature in place. I smiled, knowing that my move had worked; she didn't know that she had just given me another card to ensure my victory. Taking advantage of the Lamia's moment of doubt, I grabbed her head and slammed it down hard, knocking her out instantly. I didn't kill her because I needed her alive now. That was the priority.

  Dracula didn't waste any time. With a roar, he lunged at me, but as I dodged, he revealed his true plan: he grabbed Lucy by the neck and lifted her like a trophy, using her as a shield after realizing that I had hesitated for a second to attack the Lamia rather than kill her outright.

  "Do you think your sacrifice changes anything?" he spat as the Lamia writhed in his grip.

  "You're all the same! Hungry for power, willing to sell yourself... or others!"

  In front of me stood the powerful vampire with his hostage, and behind me the traitorous hunters raised their weapons in the name of what was just and right, but aimed at me instead of the real enemy. Sebastian Belmont was the only one who had chosen the vampire as the true enemy, confused by the actions of the others, but with no time to question it in the fight to the death.

  The air grew even thicker as I decided to take the reins of destiny with a harsh, mocking laugh. I walked slowly across the room, each step echoing on the cold marble, and looked scornfully at those who had become entangled in their own treachery.

  "Hahaha!"

  "What a spectacular night! So full of irony, so full of ignorance!"

  "It's a pleasure to witness such a pile of shit in one place."

  "So much corruption to clean up in one fell swoop."

  "Watch and learn!" I shouted with a mixture of mockery and arrogance.

  "You are the cowards, the ones who have lived in fear of an easy enemy!"

  "It is me you should fear, not some simple vampire hiding behind shadows and clown tricks!"

  "Surrender already! You won't win against all of us!"

  "The game is over! It's the end of the road for you!" Van Helsing told me, sealing his own fate with these words.

  "Ha! None of that, I'm hardly even trying."

  "All this is nothing, this will be easy, barely an inconvenience"

  "I'm just holding back, playing the loser."

  "But the game is over now, I'm tired of all this shit and I have serious things to do.

  "It's time to end this night, now it's my turn to attack."

  "I would just call this a difficulty tweak."

  "You will learn to fear the name Vlad Tepes Dracul, insolent one!" The vampire replied, annoyed at not being the centre of attention.

  But it was the perfect moment to make my move.

  "Idiot, Dracula is just another word for dragon."

  "I'll show you the power of a True Dragon!"

  "You don't have the guts to kill yourself out of sadness, but don't worry, I'll help you."

  "All hail your emperor."

  "As your master, I order you to take your own life!"

  "Obey your master!"

  Just a single snap was the sound in the room.

  The dark lord was still listening, baffled by my words, by my authority as the True Dragon. The mocking smile and confusion remained on his face, but it all stopped when he saw his own hand obeying my command, no longer under the will of its master. His own fist pierced his throat, and he tore at the rope from his entrails, ripping apart the only source that had given him life. He thought his regenerative powers would save him, but suddenly nothing happened when his body refused to heal, for that was his Emperor's command.

  The other hunters looked at me in surprise and fear. Their best plan had crumbled to dust; their idea of trapping me in the crossfire between the vampire and the hunters, trying to stage a friendly fire accident. Now they would have to face me directly. Even if they had the numerical advantage, they would all lose against me.

  Dracula's corpse was still smoldering on the ground, his red cloak turned to an ashen shroud. But the real dance was just beginning. The hunters, now exposed, exchanged looks of panic and hatred. Van Helsing was the first to break the silence, his crossbow aimed at my chest, trembling with fear.

  "Now finish him!" he roared, throwing a glass grenade right at my feet.

  But before I could pull the trigger, another weapon made its presence known, just as I smiled and bowed slightly in a gesture of respect for the already dead enemy. Avalon, my trusty sword, fell from the ceiling at the perfect angle to separate his head from his shoulders - the third Atlantean weapon to enter the tragic Waltz Hall. His head rolled across the marble floor, his eyes still shining with disbelief as he looked at his fellow hunters in panic.

  Then Heinrich Lecarde charged, his blessed sword whistling with the fury of a father who had twice sold his soul.

  "Murderer! Demon! My daughter was pure until you corrupted her!" he shouted, each thrust more desperate than the last.

  "She's dead because you showed up!"

  "You've ruined our lives! If only you'd never shown up!"

  I dodged his blows with a smile, letting exhaustion consume him. When his breathing became ragged, I drove my knee into his stomach, bringing him to his knees in front of Lucy's remains.

  "Pure, you say..."

  "Look what you did to her, Heinrich."

  "You're no saint either."

  "You're the only monster left here."

  His scream of rage was drowned in blood as my sword cleanly severed his head. The control medallion over Lucy shattered into a thousand pieces, and for a moment I saw her human eyes one last time before her life faded.

  Alejandro del Toro tried to take advantage of the distraction, his silent daggers seeking my back. What a surprise he got when he buried his weapons and found no organs, just the friction of the water I was now made of, having left my humanity behind.

  "Were you looking for something?"

  "I'll show you what a real ambush is," I said, turning, grabbing his right arm and twisting it until the bone shattered.

  He screamed, but the sound turned into a gag as I drove his own dagger into his throat.

  "That..." he coughed, blood bubbling from his lips.

  "...wasn't part of the deal..."

  "Deals are for those with honour," I spat, throwing his body to the ground with the others.

  Then Sakura jumped, her katana drawing a deadly arc towards my neck. The steel sang as it struck my sword, but I saw something else in her eyes: not hatred, but resignation.

  "You know you can't win," I said, blocking each blow with millimetre precision.

  "Why do you fight?"

  "Honour? Glory?"

  "What is it you're really after?"

  But in return I found no answer, only a frightened and confused girl who raised her sword badly in front of me, more fear than anger towards her enemy.

  "You don't even know what you're looking for."

  "Just stop and go home, at least you still have people waiting for you."

  Confused by what was happening, by the ease with which her comrades had fallen, she didn't realise that I was giving her the chance to retreat with life and dignity. She lunged with a scream and ran straight at me, not realising the huge mistake in her plan.

  "Akazetsu no Yaiba, it's time to return to your master," I said and held out my hand.

  The katana itself jumped out of Sakura's hands and spun in the air, only to fall gently into my palm, its blade facing the one who had just been its owner. Sakura looked at me, her eyes wide open, stunned by what had just happened, yet incredulous at her own pathetic defeat. I lifted my foot and kicked her in the head, another person knocked unconscious in battle. Her life would have been easy to take, all I had to do was swing my arm, but I refrained from doing so, simply out of respect for Mitsuki and her mother.

  Sebastian, still holding his whip, pondered his next move, impressed and frightened. He knew he was facing a battle he would never win. The boy had finally experienced the true terror of a strong and capable enemy, a challenge that seemed insurmountable. But I also knew that he only wanted to do the right thing, to survive that terrible night and honour his family name.

  "Boy, you don't have to do this.

  "Just go and come back the way you came. You have people waiting for you at home as well."

  "For my pride as Emperor, I swear I won't attack without provocation," I said as I put the katana back in its sheath.

  The boy looked at me, almost in tears, and walked back through the door to safety. I respected his decision. Walter Bernhard, the last remaining hunter, did the same, claiming he didn't know what the others were planning. I let him go; I still needed someone to testify to what had happened in Dracula's throne room, to prove who the victims had been and who the monsters of the night were.

  By the end of the battle, I had three Atlantean weapons in my hands: Avalon, the Final and Guardian Sword; the Twilight Spear, the Dragon Hunter; and the beautiful Akazetsu no Yaiba, one of the four Eternal Katanas of Nanami. Alongside them were three decapitated bodies of the traitors, a pile of questions, and perhaps the only clue I needed in the sleeping Lamia.