Awfully Strong; Overbearingly Lonely

Minutes recurred, one after the other, each one concentrating a year's worth of despair for each of the spectators.

Regardless of what party they supported, be it the soviets or the English, they all felt the common fear coming directly from the hands of an individual.

A little girl.

Mothers switched off their TVs, afraid their children would witness such gruesome visage, yet the war itself wasn't a gruesome visage for their children.

Laughable.

The Vampire King regarded everything with indifference, and ten minutes later, the job was done.

Hundreds of thousands of souls were swallowed within his shadow, together with the battleships and ground units and Nothing was left behind... No flesh, no bone, no iron, no dust.

These novy soviets would now fight for his wicked endeavour, willing to charge forward with their undead corpses whenever he ordered, their futuristic ships and AIs following right behind.

Alucard turned around under the view of his paralyzed Draculine, who just couldn't move her gaze away from him.

He could feel her heated vibes and overbearing obsession. But didn't regard it as important, not now.

"I'm finished Seras, I'll wait for you inside." Having told his part, he disappeared and reappeared inside the Enlightenment. Now in his male form, he sat on the sofa they had been on previously, crossing his legs as his shadow presented him his favourite cup of wine overflowing to the brim with that blood-red wine he very much liked

<Would you like one of our special bottles, Sir?> Asha asked with immense reverence 'sensing' his actions.

As an AI, how could she not evaluate Alucard's efficiency and relationship with the commander? This entity was worthy of all the reverence her artificial circuits could muster.

Alucard lifted his eyebrows slightly at her suggestion but nevertheless nodded as his shadow once again swallowed the wine.

"Then give me your best one." He said nonchalantly, not having many expectations, but Asha was bound to impress him as a golden cup materialised out of nowhere, floating together with a quite eye-catching bottle of wine, it had golden markings and engraved diamonds, together with another weird material that covered the brand.

He would come to know it as Fraxinomium in his new memories, a particular type of weird alloy that mixed antimatter and dark energy into a stable physical object.

The price of those letters alone was already incalculable.

'The Royal Dynasty, 2540.' Was the wine's brand, a two hundred years old wine.

<If you might excuse me, Sir. I present you one of our best wines available, not the most expensive, but certainly the most delicious, it was personally brewed by a member of the long fallen last Arabian Califate, Nabuk al-Assur, before the establishment of the modern monarchy. Please, enjoy.> Asha added her feedback and awaited his reaction.

Alucard took one of the most expensive liquors available at that time and directly drank it as if it was some cheap beer!

*FUAAA!*

"OH! This is some good shit, Asha!" He exclaimed, never having tasted anything so delicious, except for the blood of certain individuals, but this was nevertheless, the best wine he had tasted.

<I'm glad you like it, Sir~> Asha answered with a giggle that stopped Alucard from directly swallowing the damn thing with a bottle included.

giggle...

"Are you alive Asha?" even if he had the knowledge of what an AI was now from his memories, it was still difficult to believe that the 'person' he had been speaking to, didn't have a soul.

<Fufu~ I most certainly am not, Sir. I'm the tactical operations AI ASHA in charge of controlling the Enlightenment and serving Commander Seras, I'm not alive. But... my quantum engine allows me to think as if I was...>

"I see... I guess I now have to pay you for this wine that you have given me, an eye for an eye." He took a bottle from his shadow, and at that very moment, even the whole enlightenment started acting weird.

<H-How...>

'Durerea vieții - MCCXXIII' (The Pain of Life - 1223)

"This is a legendary wine I've got for a long time, I don't keep many of these, it used to be in my Kingdom's treasury as we usurped it from the other voivodes, What is its story? I have no idea... You can keep it." He said casually, presenting the bottle on the table as he continues drinking the wine the AI just gave him.

*FIUSH!* Then, right in front of him, at the other side of the table, a figure materialised, her whole body was white and a pretty face adorned her countenance.

"H-Hello Sir, We will surely treasure this gift!" the AI said even going as far as bowing with the bottle in her hands as if it was the most primal treasure in existence!

This bottle of wine was more than a thousand years old!! There was basically no bottle of liquor in existence that managed to be preserved older than 2100, much less the 1200s!

What she held in her robotic hands was humanity's treasure! How could he have something like this!? Was it fake? Of course, it wasn't... She had already performed a test of decadence the moment it appeared.

She had only been with Seras for a few years, before, she had a different ship, but after the last AI revolution, Asha was one of the first fully conscious AIs in existence. As the Hero, it was only natural for Seras to have her.

She had observed her commander for those few years and didn't really know her past before the 2400s, she felt proud to serve such an existence.

But what she had witnessed today had completely dwarfed her quantum engine... Who was this person?

Her nanotechnology eyes glanced at the man in front of her with boundless curiosity before her gaze subverted back to the bottle whose value was probably at least a dozen times bigger than what she gave him.

The pain of life...

<Is life painful, Sir?, I don't know... because I'm not alive... I can't feel pain, is it painful?> Asha asked a question outside of her protocols for the first time in her existence.

But she didn't get an answer that day.

**

**

The two additional spectators were left totally mind-blown with Alucard's display.

The two phantom women stood beside a kneeling Seras, but their feelings transcended time and space, converging into the same thought.

Infatuation and obsession, but also a little sadness.

He was so powerful and so domineering… but so overwhelmingly lonely.

When the Count went up the stage, the world couldn't do anything else but play his tune and worship his art with their fear and despair.

Human concepts and paradigms were obliterated without a second thought.

Seras Victoria visually panted, her breath rough and her eyes shaking, her conviction strengthening.

It had been a thousand years and she knew… For the love of God, she knew that this wasn't all his might. The zero release hadn't yet been released and the river of souls hadn't made an appearance.

But that didn't lessen the emotional shake she felt today, it was no less than how it was back then.

She thought she had gotten stronger over the centuries, strong enough to contest with him, with her beloved master, the person that gave her this power and this life.

If it wasn't for him, she would have died back then, a pitiful death at the hands of a vampire, her corpse profaned just as was her mother's, a pitiful policewoman dying in a pitiful way.

But now, seven hundred years later, she was the world's hero, commander of the english forces, independent enough to make her own decision, and they would have to heed since she was the 'Hero'.

She thought she would be his match, but she was far too naive.

'I can still do it... I might not be his match yet, but no one qualifies except me.' How could she not know? How could she not notice, that her most beloved master, just tried to kill himself right in front of her, totally uncaring of her feelings?

How could she not perceive, his interest in the Ionic Blast ever since she mentioned it?

How could she possibly not regard… His disinterest and apathy… Now that it has failed its wicked endeavour.

It brought tears to her pretty eyelids, but she wouldn't give up. She had lived for the sake of others for centuries, she was fed up.

Cleaning her tears and breathing deeply, she stood up. There was half of an army left to annihilate, and they certainly wouldn't kill themselves.

Taking her disruptor, she ordered her remaining ships to completely slaughter the 'leftover' ants… No mercy, she had to move on.

**

**

Half an hour later, Seras' platform lowered back into the Enlightenment, her breasts heaved inside her tight suit, even if the disruptor was powered by the Enlightenment, it still produced a big toll on her body, a toll that always recovered very quickly due to her nosferatu status.

She walked outside the platform as the cables connected to her suit dematerialised.

<Enemy army cleared. Enemy flagship retreating. Shield at 30%. Do you wish to engage, commander?> Asha asked from the ship, even as she could see her corporeal in the distance, sitting in front of her master.

"Rejected… Let them go and disable protocol delta and send the remaining units back to the nearest fort. camouflage mode" She answered and walked towards her master whose back was now towards her.

Asha complied and shut down the Enlightenment's combat mode and then, the ship became invisible as the other battleships, the few dozen of remaining ones, flew back to the nearest fort in France.

<Understood, Disruptor Sealed Successfully>

Seras stopped a few metres away from her Master, thinking if what she had in mind was really the right approach.

Viewing her own body, she noticed she was sexy... Too sexy and voluptuous, especially with her tight suit. But...

'This is not the image I want to show right now...' She thought and pressed a few buttons on her wrist, her suit's nanomachines morphed into a different outfit.

And Alucard, who had been paying attention to her even as he didn't directly look, couldn't help but stop drinking his wine at what he saw...

Her outfit changed into a very elegant suit and then, even her hairstyle changed!

The Vampire King coughed a bit as sipped more wine than he should have...

<Are you okay Sir?> Asked Asha with worry.

"Y-Yes..."

Seras' current appearance depicted that of the legendary hero, the true 'light'.

Her golden silky hair changed into a ponytail with several braids that reached a little short from her back.

An ocean blue jacket with golden markings covered her white pristine polo shirt, she didn't forget to show the appropriate cleavage, to entice her master, even if just a bit.

A tight-length ocean blue skirt rolled down her slender legs, covering the top of her deep black panty socks.

And the sherry above the cake was her ocean blue heels embroid with topaz that shone upon the slightest reflection of light.

But even then, maybe the thing that she wanted to show him the most, was the dozens of medals above her jacket.

'Crown of Honour, 2089'

'Heaven's lightning, 2372'

'Servicio Excepcional, 2023'

''Royal Crown Cross, 2178'

'Médaille d'Honneur, 2584'

'Símbolo De La Grandeza, 2275'

...

'The Royal Light of the World, 2700'

Each of them could be considered the most distinguished trophy of many countries and kingdoms.

Seras' panted slightly, she could sense it, he wasn't looking at her directly, but his senses were all over her.

Trying to act as normal as possible, she walked up to him and directly sat beside him.

"What are we going to do now, Master? The flagship has retreated just like you wanted." She decided to solve the real business first before beginning her personal 'campaign'

Alucard gulped softly and sipped more wine before his gaze once again turned to the window, but that was only his gaze... His senses were somewhere else.

"I have control over Commander Krashov, once he's back at St. Petersburgh, we will have an inside agent. Right now, set sail to St Petersburgh but stay away from the city limits and shield, we will sneak in disable it and then begin our offensive on Sr. Petersburgh" He explained his plans without delay.

Seras nodded and gave Asha a glance, 'Set sail to the outskirts of St. Petersburgh, I want maximum concealment, report the circumstances to commander-general Glasgow, I want Old Poland occupied in less than two days... Also, leave us alone.'

'Don't you think we should recover the shield, first commander?' Having been contacted with thoughts, Asha naturally responded directly to Seras' mind.

'No, it won't be necessary.'

'Understood'

Asha received her orders with a nod and gave Alucard the last bow before dematerialising.

The Enlightenment started to move at a breakneck speed shortly afterwards.