Beyond the Ends of Reality

So, this is it.

The final battle.

As Andras threw the huge weapons straight to the heroes, Estes and Saber conjured static shields just in time, absorbing the void energy consisting the blades and repelling the force back. The Dark Lord covers his arms to block the ricocheting energy, which provided enough time for everyone else to charge simultaneously.

Layla and Gord unleash beams of radiant light against Andras as soon as the spirit lowered his arms, the lasers hitting straight to the helmet and onto Andras' eyes. He lifts his hands again as he grunts from the pain received. Alucard zooms through and kicks Andras square on the chest like Chou possessed, sending him literally flying dozens of meters off from the citadel and onto the ground.

"Everyone, push Andras back to the battlefield!" Estes warns, no longer summoning healing runes, but rather, offensive combat runes that dangerously floated around, zooming and piercing through the clamoring demons like interceptors. "We need to fight him on the corruption!"

"Isn't that the opposite of what we should do?! The corruption is blanketing the whole place!" Gatotkaca yelled, leaping high into the air to knock Andras back down and to prevent the Dark Lord from recovering.

"If you want to beat Andras, then make him fight harder!" Argus replies, his cyan silhouette extensively illuminated. "I have been able to make him overwork when I fought him, it expends too much of his energy! What we need to do is to expel his spirit!"

"But his armor keeps regenerating, we'd have to keep the assault constant!" Johnson reminds before transforming into a car, bringing Cyclops, Nana and Harley. "And we are just ghosts, we can only fight him and not his demons!"

"Just get to Andras immediately! If you can't fight the demons, then they can't touch you, not one bit," Alucard suggests, his wings extending. "I'll clear off as many as I can before I get back to all of you! Don't let Andras breathe!"

"Consider it done!" Kaja swoops down and notices that the Dark Lord has already phased out of Gatotkaca's grip, his obsidian armor suffering multiple dents as he conjures more blades. Johnson revs from the stairs of the citadel and crashes onto the huge knight. The cyborg still speeds up as Andras gets caught on the spiked front bumper. Harley teleports outside with his hat and throws flaming cards at Andras, some of them wedging through the armor and incinerating the spirit.

"That's for killing my big sister!" Harley shouts. Andras tries to grab the mage, but Cyclops throws waves of stardust at the spirit. Andras ejects himself by expending a bit of his aura, breaking free from the car. A Wretch bursts through the infrastructure, attempting to ram on the side of Johnson, but the demon simply passes through the apparition, stumbling on the demolished avenue.

Hylos conjures a pathway, helping the heroes speed up and chase to Andras faster. Yun Zhao bursts into flames (now blue instead of yellow-orange) and sprints through the crazed demons that tries to break their formation.

"Wait, where's Alucard?!"

"If he doesn't handle the demons, we won't be able to defeat Andras," Clint responds. Fanny zips through the streets with her cables, easily catching up with Johnson, Kaja and Hylos.

"Clint's right. We're going to have to keep Andras on his toes," Gossen says, running alongside Zhao as he grins mischievously. "I think our hero will be alright."

As soon as he said it, the sky suddenly darkening, with bright flashes of light temporarily illuminating the air in some moments. Sounds of crackling thunder and warping energy sounded as a small pillar of light began to emanate from the sky to the citadel. Alpha turns behind him and sees streaks of blue light bursting from the ruins, which were fragments of Alucard's greatsword. They traveled around the kingdom, weaving and carving through the demons that blanketed the roads and buildings. One of the segments of the blades burst through the building, coated in the blood of Reapers. Alucard himself hovered in the air and forcibly flaps his wings, some of the white plumes falling and turning into white-hot daggers, following the same random interception-based behavior as the sword's fragments.

"Badass," Lolita remarks, smirking. "Absolute badass."

"Yeah, don't get mesmerized, Andras still needs to cover a few miles more!" Karrie interrupts. "Gord and Eudora, they're pushing him back a lot further. We need more firepower."

Saber responds by applying more thrust in his flight systems and transforming back to his regular form, slamming his feet onto Andras as soon as the Dark Lord manages to get up from Eudora's wave of lightning. Andras rolls and skids roughly on the ground as the marksmen kept on shooting him, never letting him recover from the knockback.

"I killed all of you once… then I can do it again!" Andras concentrates his energy and releases a wormhole made of void matter, throwing it to the apparitions of the heroes.

"Crap, watch out!" Fanny shouts as she latches tightly onto the wall, the wormhole's immense gravity nearly pulling her in. The others grabbed onto the walls and stopped as the wormhole completely destroyed their fast-break momentum. Using this chance, Andras summons black chains of dark energy, lashing at the heroes that stayed still. The chains easily tore through the infrastructure, creating rough gashes on the frames of the buildings.

"ALUCARD!" Minotaur bellows.

Seemingly in response, a blue streak swooped down and began to accelerate through the whole avenue, reaching near-supersonic speed. Another white streak followed it, zooming faster and somewhat absorbing the energy of the wormhole. Andras charges his chains and lashed forward, attempting to wrap them around the hunter and prevent him from making contact. Suddenly, the streak blinks out from sight and reappears forward, completely dodging the black chains. Alucard punches Andras through his helmet, creating a huge inward dent on the metal. Andras crashes through the main walls, the boulders and debris flying off with him, and he rolls on the black corruption, covering the ground like some sort of infestation. Alucard grips Testament and releases a black fission wave, accented with cyan and white light, pushing Andras back farther.

The heroes managed to make a linear formation, the corruption somewhat ineffective in terms of hindering their movements, but it has boosted Andras' capabilities.

"I'm beginning to regret this plan, you know that?" Miya tells Estes. "Just what are we going to do?"

"No matter how much we try destroying that armor, it will keep repairing," Alucard explains, the five segments of the Testament greatsword flying back to him and slowly reforming. "But if we aim for his actual essence, his spirit, he will do everything he can to regain his momentum, so it's best we try and expose his weak spots."

"We're going to have to find the chinks in the armor fast, because he's growing more pissed by the minute!" Bruno warns. "Alucard, some of us will distract the edgelord while a few will put him in place. Anyone who's not doing anything besides that can expose the joints of his armor."

"You won't let me take the big one?"

"Dude, you can still die. We're just holograms, but if you die, all of this would be for nothing!"

"Then let's make our shot count! Argus!"

The angel leads the charge along with Kaja, Uranus, Johnson, Alpha, Saber and Fanny. Andras was now fully upright, and dozens of blades were formed by the corruption. The flyers dodged and weaved around the weapons as Kaja lashes at the Dark Lord with his whip. It coils around the neck armor and the Nazar commands the weapon to electrocute.

"GRRAAAAHHH!" Andras then yanks Kaja, but he lets go of the whip and suddenly descends, clawing at his helmet as Beta rides along to provide more focused fire on Andras' helmet. The Dark Lord becomes preoccupied as Saber begins to carve through the lower sections of the armor with Argus. Fanny latches her cables around the legs in order to try and restrain Andras, while Johnson does the same through winches from the bumpers of the car. The black spirit manages to separate his legs, causing the plan to foil. He swats away Kaja, who manages to fly off alongside the others as Andras unleashes his dark aura in a larger radius than before. Gord charges up spheres of mystic energy and throws them at Andras, exploding like impact grenades upon contact. Because of this, Andras shrinks back to regular size and charges at the mage with four swords trailing by. Aurora steps in and casts a sheet of crystalline ice, and the black swords break upon impact. Minotaur then slams his hammer to the Dark Lord, throwing the spirit off into the air. He then casts large spears resembling tungsten rods and throws them down to the ground. Rafaela, Estes, Gatot, Freya, Argus and Eudora kick down and disintegrate the black rods before they could impact the ground.

"You may have been reborn… but this is a fight that I will win!"

"Then come down and prove it, hotshot!" Hayabusa taunts, dashing up in the air as a shadow. He manages to hack and push Andras back down, forcing him to create copies of himself. Hayabusa then focuses on the clones as Andras desperately aims downward to finish the ninja, but Nana throws her boomerang (seemingly enlarged) which hits Andras on the head. The melee fighters began to charge again at the Dark Lord, but Andras makes several clones, amounting to ten.

"Alucard, you know where the real one is, so get him!" Balmond barks as he swings his axe to a clone, dematerializing it.

The hunter hovers and slowly covers himself with his wings, charging up his energy. A low, warped hum began to echo around the field as he began to glow. In a flash, Alucard releases the charge, allowing hundreds of silver blades from his wings to scatter around the field in a mile-wide radius, extinguishing the Dark Lord's clones. The spare daggers returned back to Alucard's wings as plumes of feathers. Andras was now around twenty meters from the closest hero, several white daggers puncturing his armor. Estes began to notice the aura of Andras slowly diminishing, the cyan wisps of energy slowly being snuffed out by the black void matter. Bits and chunks of obsidian armor were sprawled out in front of Andras, disintegrating.

"Tell me this is it," Alucard asked the king. "This is where we win?"

"We'll have to stick long enough to find out!"

"Fine… then I'll deal with Andras himself. Take care of the clones, they're now rising from the corruption we are all stepping on!"

More and more silhouettes identical to Andras' figure did appear from the corrupted ground, conjuring more and more swords, axes and spears.

"I guess I'm taking orders to a kid, then?" Estes joked, enhancing his offensive runes.

"Don't get used to it, don't want to say goodbye to you in that state!"

Alucard unlocks Testament, causing the fragments to separate from each other as he zooms straight to Andras. The Dark Lord attempts to counter, using blades, tendrils and blasts of dark energy to force the hunter back. Alucard corkscrews, using his wings and Testament's fragments as shields and defensive sentries before expanding his wings wide again, grabbing Andras' face in mid-air and slamming it to the corrupted ground. The greatsword fragments swirl and hover as they slash at Andras one by one. Alucard spins around, using the feathers of his wings as both sword and shield, cleaving through Andras' armor while blocking the incoming void blades and projectiles simultaneously. The Dark Lord shoots up to the air to gain leverage, but Alucard simply stops spinning and thrusts his wings downward, now eye-level with Andras.

"Perhaps I was wrong…" Andras began, six of his clones beginning to hover around with him, preparing their offensive strategy. "She chose perfectly."

"You won't utter her name because you're afraid of her… and now, I'll make you become afraid of us," Alucard replies, Testament's fragments hovering next to him. "Your demons have scattered and fled… it's now just you and me."

"Just imagine if the seraphim didn't find you in that cave, battered and broken!"

"I'm glad he did… For I now have the privilege to end the bastard behind all of this mess…" The Child of the Fall yelled, his blue aura burning. "Bring it on, Andras!"

Meanwhile…

"Tigreal, gimme a lift!"

The knight turns and genuflects, raising his shield over his head. Natalia sprints and jumps up to Tigreal's shield, using it as a bouncing pad to slice through one of Andras' clones in the air, while the knight stabs another.

"Didn't think… we'd be now fighting like this," Tigreal blurts out, spreading his arms around, motioning. "I mean-"

"Sudden, yeah?" a voice interrupts. Franco throws his hook on one of the clones, trying to keep it tethered. "S-Sometimes… Rrrgggh… LITTLE HELP HERE!"

In response, a swarm of indigo butterflies fluttered swiftly through the tethered clone and slashed and struck at it, the projection's essence dissipating. Miya manifests from the indigo butterflies and nocks arrows of light, shooting three clones at the same time, forcing them to blink or dematerialize. She manages to overpower one, dodging its swords by simply twisting and angling her body around before shooting its head, causing the clone to disintegrate. The other two begin their retaliation, but Freya flies and bashes her shield to one of them, causing the clone to fly off backward and hit the other clone behind him. Argus comes from behind and slashes through both of them, the clones finally dissipating.

The two suddenly get forced with their backs on each other, five clones concentrating their beams of black energy towards them. Both Argus and Freya strengthened their auras, which were blue due to their apparitions' standard cyan color, and relieved themselves of the lasers.

"They're too many… and new batches of demons are approaching," Freya informs, noticing the presence of hordes of Wretches and Reapers. "Let's give Alu some breathing room."

"Sure," the angel replies. "Let's bring Zhao and Miya, let Karina take down the clones herself, she can handle it." He points to the elven assassin, easily slicing through the clones in a delicate dance of death, her blades resonating.

"No mention about before?"

"If we do this, then we'll talk about it. Up for it?"

"Hey, you two literal lovebirds quit frolicking around, there's the scumbag to handle!" Bane shouts from below, jamming his crab claw within one of the clones and repeatedly shoots from within. "Let Alucard clear off the demons!"

"Wait… did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

They turn around and see a winged figure suddenly appear, wagging its tail. Alucard covers himself with his wings and the greatsword's fragments in order to shield against Andras' blasts of void energy, as well as his clones'. He glances behind him and somersaults, releasing himself from the blasts. The protodrake exhales waves of blue fire, the heat burning Andras' armor and the winds pushing him backwards from the air. The beast roars in defiance, extending its wings into the sky.

Alucard rode on the protodrake's back as the reptile turned its head towards him, somewhat cooing. "Yeah, we missed you too, buddy. Let's give them hell!"

He hops out of the reptile and lets it fly above the demons, spraying its fiery breath around the field. Despite the protodrake being a mere apparition, the fire was also manifesting in a physical state, incinerating the demons into ash and cinders.

Andras zooms towards Alucard with his greatsword raised. The hunter grabs Testament and their blades meet, locked in a stalemate. Sparks of yellow burst through as their swords make contact.

"Did you know how I slaughtered them all… your friends?!" Andras taunted, more of his clones appearing and clashing at Alucard with a flurry of melee attacks. "Then I will do the same to you… hundreds of times over if I need to!"

"Then they will be more than obliged to return the favor!" Alucard blinks out before the multiple spirits could pierce him simultaneously, and he kicks Andras back down to the ground, the sudden trajectory making him go dizzy.

"He's all yours!"

Ruby, Lapu-Lapu, Hilda, Irithel, Gossen, Roger and Chou quickly travelled to where Andras landed. The Dark Lord attempts to flee, but Ruby yanks him back from the air towards her, slashing and spinning with her scythe. Hilda slides and strikes Andras' shin armor, ripping them off. Lapu and Gossen stab their blades behind Andras, and the assassin casts his swords through Andras' obsidian armor, forcing large chunks of metal to drop or burst off. The Dark Lord unleashes his aura and throws the heroes off. Irithel charges her crossbow and shoots at Andras from elevated ground, the projectiles exploding upon impact. However, this actually served as more of a distraction than an actual attack in order for Roger to charge as a werewolf, pouncing on Andras and shredding off his armor. Around half of the armor integrity was completely destroyed as Roger used both of his claws and teeth removing more chunks of the obsidian armor.

"Grrraaaahhh! Putrid beast!" Andras throws one of his swords, but Roger simply dodges it by dislodging one of his arms. He grips both of his claws and completely rips out one of the arms of Andras' armor, chewing on it mercilessly. Andras expends his aura in order to escape, but Chou kicks Andras on the back, sending him flying as well. Roger returns back to his human form and punches his mechanical glove at the spirit's chest, giving Franco enough time to land his hook to Andras. He swings it back to Chou in order for him to force a kick, more chunks of obsidian flying off. Franco lets go of Andras as Kaja follows up, using his whip to coil around Andras' waist and slams him to the ground. The spirit's armor bounces off once on the ground, and Hayabusa and Kagura come in contact and activate their soul energy, pushing Andras back a few dozen meters. The spirit's armor was in a state of disrepair, and it was enough for the heroes.

"Urgh… I will not… accept defeat!"

Dozens more of his clones began to materialize around the heroes, quickly approaching and conjuring blades and spears.

"Alucard, can you take those out?"

Rafaela had to look at Alucard, as the hunter was responsive, but he had one of his arms raised, signaling a pause. The heroes were puzzled.

"Wait, why aren't we attacking?" Nana asked.

"I've got something HUGE appearing on the radar!" Saber warns. "Hold on… is that…"

Small earthquakes shook the earth as the Dark Lord's clones charged… and spontaneously dematerialized, some of them being knocked to the side by a large, unknown force. The other heroes didn't know what was happening until they heard a familiar voice.

"BASH BLACK ANTS WITH HUGE TOWER! AVENGE GROCK'S FRIENDS!"

The gargantuan, real-scale apparition of the stone titan appeared, lugging around his huge tower. Andras yells in frustration and conjures large black swords and spears and throws them toward the titan. Grock covers himself with his arms, and he barely gets hurt, as the swords were like pinpricks. Andras zooms above to challenge Grock, but a figure jumps from his shoulder and throws a spear of unmatched power, piercing Andras and pushing him back to the ground. Moskov's apparition lands on the ground and repeatedly throws his spears from afar, restraining Andras in a prison of javelins.

"Why act so surprised? Finish off Andras!" the marksman said.

Some of the heroes followed suit and decided to race for it before Andras could break free.

Alucard landed on the corrupted ground. "Moskov, there are still some clones left unattended. I'll take the left while you and the few others take the right."

Moskov nods as Alucard dashes onto the left side of the battlefield, taking down Andras' clones by himself. The marksman runs to the opposite direction, noticing Uranus, Clint, Yi Sun Shin, Hylos, Sun and Yun Zhao take care of the clones, but Moskov knew they would be overwhelmed by the minute.

"EVERYONE, CLEAR OFF!"

The group turn their heads and notices Moskov charge his spear with his arm. They veer off to the sides as Moskov throws his Spear of Destruction. The projectile suddenly splits in mid-air, raining black spears that fall and pierce through the clones.

"The others need more help to put Andras down," Yun Zhao said, pointing to the center of the chaos unravelling. "I got this."

"Then don't leave me out here behind," Moskov responds, teleporting right next to Zhao. "You know you won't be able to take the clones all out alone."

"But Andras' attention is divided-"

"No one wants to risk it… Anyway, good to see you."

"Yeah, you too- Wait, how-"

"Lunox told me there was no more harbinger of Dark... She appointed me."

Yun Zhao nods, slightly confused. "Makes sense. Anything else you can do?"

"Well, I can fly." Moskov slowly transformed his physique, growing large, back horns with multiple armored plates, hints of purple energy glowing on the tips. His own face was slowly covered by a mask. A pair of black bat wings unfurled from his back, a devilish purple overlay coating the skin on the wings. A rough, fur collar materialized, wrapped around his neck as his own hands was then covered by abyssal gauntlets. His spear grew more refined in detail, now with two tips akin to a pitchfork, with a pair of small bat wings resting below the head.

"Well then, I guess we're even?"

"Sure," Moskov answers, raising his own spear. The clones began to appear again, trailed by dozens of hovering swords and axes. "Ready to relive some memories?"

"Ready?" Yun Zhao chuckles, bursting into flames. "I've been wanting to do this ever since!"

Meanwhile…

Sun throws one of his cudgels towards Andras, spawning one of his clones. The Dark Lord swings his sword to the original Sun, but the monkey king ducks before slamming the end of his staff downward, causing Andras' helmet to crack.

"How's that for predictable now, putz?!"

Andras unleashes his dark aura and throws Sun off before he could get overwhelmed. Kaja catches Sun and helps him land safely. The Nazar had Ruby holding on to his other arm, and he throws her directly to Andras, her scythe raised. Andras throws swords of darkness, and Ruby swats them away with her weapon, digging her scythe onto Andras' armor. She yanks the metal off, ripping a huge chunk.

"Glasya-Labolas, cease!"

"Just you and me," Ruby snickered. "I don't need him anymore!"

Freya charges from the back and slams her shoulder onto Andras and pushing him closer to Ruby. Ruby rotates her scythe and slashes upwards, the blade snagging onto Andras' whole armor. The Dark Lord attempts to flee, but Miya materializes from a swarm of butterflies, shooting down Andras' legs and pinning him shut.

"Not enough, more cover fire!"

"Sniper ready!" Lesley hopped onto Johnson's roof and crouched, shooting high-caliber bullets onto the weak points of Andras' armor. The projectiles made moderate-sized holes on the sides of the armor, helping Ruby pull off the whole front completely. Andras was surprised to see that he had now been completely exposed. He attempts to break the holds using his aura, but Estes generates a static bubble around the Dark Lord, causing the energy to ricochet and backfire completely back to him, now around ninety percent of his armor stripped off. The king collapses the static bubble inward, ensnaring Andras in moonlight energy.

"It didn't have to be this way!" Estes began. "You've broken the balance!"

Eudora, Aurora, Gord, Rafaela and the other mages now circled around Andras, focusing their magic and energies towards the Dark Lord. Hayabusa and Kagura concentrated their volatile soul energy and enshrouded Andras with it, the void matter of the spirit slowly numbing down. The other heroes noticed that shards of obsidian and tendrils of corruption emerged from the ground, aiding Andras, which forced them to take care of the rising situation before the Dark Lord would regain the upper hand.

"Don't let them near Andras!" Fanny yells, slicing down the growing tendrils that begun to reach out to her friends. "If he gains back his armor, we're toast!"

Gatot manages to punch a chunk of obsidian away before being knocked by a larger piece of black metal. The obsidian travels to Andras and slowly morphs into a huge greatsword. Andras grabs it in desperation and swings around frantically, near ending Eudora then and there. The force waves push the apparitions off, sending them in a daze. Uranus ducks in and concentrates his celestial energy towards the Dark Lord as links of yellow lock down Andras again. Grock stomps forward on the field and begins to slam his tower onto Andras.

"BASH BLACK BUG WITH TOWER! GROCK AVENGE FRIENDS!"

To his disappointment, the tower slowly began chipping away as Andras was taking the blows painfully (but successfully). He conjures large weapons from the corrupted ground and throws them at Grock, piercing through the titan. Though not dead, Grock recoils from the pain, trying to pull the swords and spears off of his chest. Argus flies in, throws his claw and pulls himself forward, stabbing through Andras' armor, trying to leech away as much of the void energy as he can.

"GRRRAAAAAHHHH! ARGUS! YOU… WILL NOT-"

Andras was interrupted by Argus' headbutt, the Dark Lord's helmet shattering into several pieces.

"Everyone, tether, NOW!"

"Coming in hot!" Franco yells, landing his hook onto the black, ethereal wisp. "We need more!"

"What? More hooks, more magic, more what?!" Hilda asked, striking down one of the Dark Lord's clones.

"ANYTHING, FOR THE LOVE OF ODIN, ANYTHING!"

Freya responds by piercing her sword through Andras. The spirit yells in agony as more and more heroes began to arrive, using their weapons to hold Andras back in place. Hayabusa stabs Andras and holds hands with Kagura, redirecting their energies towards the Dark Lord. Uranus gets assisted by Kaja and Rafaela as the other marksmen began to stop firing at the clones and onto Andras.

"We need more!" Sun said, spawning more of his clones and using their cudgels to lock Andras' limbs in place. The Dark Lord began to grow in size. "I SAID, WE NEED MORE!"

"ALUCARD'S NOT DONE!" Lolita shouts, whacking Andras with her hammer. "Where are the cyborgs?!"

"We're already here!" Alpha says, pointing at Andras with his spear. Beta began to shoot bullets onto the spirit. Argus, Freya, Bane, Franco, Uranus, Estes…

"Any more?!" Karrie asks. "Not enough!"

"Karrie! Step back."

The marksman turns to see two familiar faces begin to appear out of the blue, literally.

"Odette, now!"

Lancelot charges through the corrupted field, slashing and puncturing the clones that began to emerge near Andras. He stabs his fencing sword through what is presumably the Dark Lord's forehead. Odette runs and hovers, releasing her own magic as the sound waves stresses down on Andras, slowing down his size increase.

"What about Zhao and Moskov?!"

As soon as Odette spoke her warning, the duo appeared, sprinting towards the mass of confusion. "HOLD ON!"

Moskov stops and charges his spear in case Andras breaks free. He assesses the desperate lockdown. "Zhao… Andras isn't fully restrained…"

"What?" The spearman asked, halting on his tracks.

Miya scrunched her eyebrows. "Zhao, come on!"

Moskov panicked. "HIS ARM! GET HIS ARM!"

It was too late. Andras throws a dagger towards Zhao, piercing through his shoulder. He falls to the ground, clutching the wound. The Dark Lord abruptly increased in size as the heroes struggled to keep him in place. Argus began to lift off into the air, using his wings as thrust.

"Hold on!"

Grock, fully recovered, raised his tower in order to strike the Dark Lord. "GROCK HELPS FRIENDS!"

A spark of blue light began to emerge from afar. Alucard zooms through with his greatsword, daggers of silver trailing by him.

"End of the line… Andras!"

"Foolish… to think… YOU CAN BEST ME?!"

Andras concentrates the dark energy within him and the restraints suddenly nullify. It bursts around his vicinity, causing everyone to scatter off. The area suddenly gets shrouded by a thick cloud of gray smoke as the heroes that tried to lock down the Dark Lord lay exhausted on the ground.

Chou wafted the air off, coughing. "G-Guys… Andras…"

Estes recovers and uses one of his spells to clear off the thick smoke. He sees Miya, Karina, Roger and the others trying to regain their footing…

"I will not be bested… by these mortals!"

Multiple clones of Andras hovered above the downed heroes, prepared to stab them with his swords.

"And this world of yours… WILL FALL!"

As Andras' clones raised their swords, silver blades pierced through them, easily dematerializing them. Alucard flies low and tucks his wings, slicing on Andras' heel as the other daggers sliced down the remaining clones. The hunter jumps high into the air and unfurls his wings back, channeling Testament's energy.

Time slowed as Andras quickly conjured a greatsword above him to shield Alucard's strike. The Child of the Fall closed his eyes…

"VOLO PRO VERITAS!"

He arced and swung downward, carving through the entirety of Andras' sword, from the tip to the pommel, before extending his arms and slashing through the Dark Lord's ethereal body. Alucard lands and spins around due to the force of the fall before stopping to face Andras, a severe cut matted in a mixture of white and black energy. The spirit slowly began to succumb to the aftermath, Andras' energy and aura beginning to dissipate.

"This should be it… come on…"

"Tell me this is it…" Natalia muttered. "Please…"

The heroes watched as Andras writhed in pain, clutching and somewhat clawing away at the wound on the spirit. Alucard could see the struggle in Andras' eyes, the wisps flaring and dulling at random intervals. The Dark Lord won't stop.

"It's not it… Not it," Alucard says, fixing his position while Testament begins to separate again. "This is not it!"

"Alu…"

He turns to see Bruno's apparition slowly blinking out. "Bruno, what's wrong?"

"I don't know, I'm… I'm disappeari-"

He suddenly disappeared into air before he could finish.

"Alucard, defeat Andras!" Lancelot warns, trying to rush to the hunter, but he too, fades like a shadow. Odette was deeply concerned, only to see herself dissipate as well.

"Guys," Zhao began, his arms disappearing. "Andras…"

"What do you even know…" Andras began, the clouds slowly turning the bright sky gray and dark. The landscape suddenly became enshrouded with black mist, as if the whole atmosphere was painted matte black. "What do you know about it all?!"

"Andras, stop!" Alucard yells. In the corner of his eye, Aurora and Bane has dissipated. "What is this?!"

"The corruption has consumed the world… and your friends are no longer welcome! The only trespasser left to eradicate… IS YOU!"

"Alucard, defeat Andras! You need to-"

"Hold on… No, no, no," Lesley stammers. "Oh, no…"

"Funny feeling in Grock… not good for Grock…"

Estes warns before fading, trying to reach out. "Alucard! Take away his-"

"Alu, you need to-"

"Guys?! GUYS!" Alucard calls out as his vision slowly darkens. "Damn it!" He intensifies his blue flame aura in order to be able to see in the dark. The hunter feels the ground below him slowly disappearing. The apparitions of Harley, Kaja, Balmond, Alpha, and the others slowly began blinking and fading away, trying to find at least somebody near them, somebody to cling. He could feel boulders, blades and tendrils of black energy surrounding the whole atmosphere. He could hear the large crashing and clashing of rocks around him, as if the whole landscape was tearing apart…

"Andras… what did you do?!"

"I am doing what needs to be done… WIPING YOU OUT OF GAIUS!"

Alucard releases dozens of silver daggers from his wings around the whole zero-G space, using the glint of the blades to see. Andras was far away, the distance between the two barely discernible. He was hurling swords, spears, boulders and concentrated beams of dark void energy. The hunter uses his wings for thrust and soars through the dark airspace, trying to reach Andras. He throws his greatsword onto a humongous boulder looming down on him and the weapon causes the rock to splinter into multiple pieces. Andras fires a beam of energy in the middle of the debris and hits Alucard square on the chest. Alucard gets pushed back to a gigantic chunk of land, but Andras doesn't stop with the assault, forcing Alucard through the whole floating landmass and the rough soil beneath the formation. The hunter had to use his wings to regain control, but the void weapons have responded quickly, trying to cut them off their frames. Testament splits and intercepts the swords as Alucard veers to the side, trying to find a proper vantage point against the Dark Lord.

"Gaius… tearing itself apart… just the way things need to be!"

"Don't give me anymore reasons to stop you!" Alucard threatens, slowly flying forward through the interstellar field as small blinking lights could be found around the space. "You question why your own brothers plotted against you, but the answer is right here in front of your very eyes!"

"Yes… and so is the end of all things… The ultimatum!" Andras roars, his spirit slowly growing in density and size. Some of the debris that floated and moved towards Andras were swallowed by the growing darkness like fish food. The Dark Lords converts some of this mass into weapons of the void, aimlessly homing around to search for Alucard. "This world is perfect… but it has you in it, the only obstacle to overcome!"

"Lunox foresaw this world if no one is to stop you anymore… she has lingered within a replica of it, Andras, and it is a lifeless world that no one will cherish in the end!"

Alucard flies above the spirit and zooms downward, striking Testament on Andras' front. The spirit grunts in pain as Alucard teleports towards the lodged greatsword and pulling it downward with him, creating a more lethal wound on Andras' ethereal body. He dislodges himself and flies away, the silver shards around his body protecting him from the black weapons that trailed behind the hunter. Andras conjures large tendrils from the void and attempts to wrap them around the hunter. Alucard sees this and maneuvers through the scape in a random flying pattern, seeking to disorient Andras. He ducks to dodge a long, black tendril and grips his greatsword, cutting the tentacle off. However, the other tendril manages to curl around Alucard's leg. A few of the white daggers quickly slice and scissor down the tendril just before a bunch of black axes and spears eviscerate Alucard.

"Can't fight him physically… how can I do this?!"

"You're just an ant to someone like me, Alucard, and you cannot hide!"

A mass of weapons burst through a huge landmass, catching Alucard off-guard. The Child of the Fall reacts by shielding himself with his wings, hardening the plumes into silver daggers. Some of the weapons disintegrated due to the blue aura Alucard possessed, but the larger and tougher weapons mercilessly tries to carve the wings out. Alucard swoops down to break free, but a stray blast of void energy hits one of his wings.

"Argh! I can't get close!"

A miniature clone of Andras' spirit appeared, seemingly responsible for the attack. Alucard checks his wing, which has already weakened, barely even stretching.

"One's almost dead…"

He charges towards the clone and slashes at it, before encountering two more in the corner of his eye. Alucard throws his greatsword and it easily wipes out the pair of shadows. The hunter attacks frantically, trying to clear off the field around him as more and more black weapons and projectiles homed towards him. He stops suddenly, noticing that a large group of Andras' clones have begun to circle around him as they threw more and more attacks.

"Gaius, falling apart as I tear off the roots, giving the salvation it solely deserves! And if needs must, I will rip every part, every fabric, every brick, EVERY ATOM OF THIS UNIVERSE AS I DO THE SAME TO YOU, ALUCARD! And no one will remember what has occurred, as we delve further… BEYOND THE ENDS OF REALITY!"

Alucard tries to find an exit from the situation he's in, but he was completely locked down. It won't be long before the clones begin to pierce through his wings, or make the flaming aura suffocate. Andras spawns more tendrils from the interstellar void, the stars in Alucard's peripheral vision slowly fading out. Numerous galaxies that spanned across for light-years began to fade out into existence, the sace growing cold.

"You aren't content… this is not enough for you, is it? You're not going to stop…"

The clones manage to dispel the blue aura enveloping Alucard as his wings served as his only defense. Most of the dark blades focused on tearing off the white, armored plumes while the others have already cut and stabbed through Alucard. The weapons that did easily dissipated into nothingness, but the hunter was hurting from the wounds. Instead of blood or ichor, cosmic light and stellar fluid poured from his wounds, as if a universe was bleeding out. Testament appears from the far side of the void, the fragments racing towards Alucard.

"You will learn… I'm sick of hard-headed, glorified nutcases!"

The greatsword's segments cut through the clones that were focused on tearing apart Alucard. Instead of merging back, they remained in this way, accelerating at a constant, but shocking rate.

"This is the price to pay for gladness?! You should know what you've truly done… AND YOU WILL GET… WHAT YOU DESERVE!"

Alucard unleashes the pent-up cosmic energy within his body and spirit, eradicating all of the void-based weapons, disintegrating the tendrils, and breaking the debris into smaller chunks. He concentrates the energy again and releases another supernova of light, blinding Andras as the cosmic starlight slowly snuffs away the dark energy within the spirit.

The hunter attempts to zoom through the debris-filled zone towards Andras as more and more stars and galaxies began to disappear from his vision, darkening the whole space. He manages to punch Andras' spirit back to a large concrete structure, the blocks of the building scattering off into the unknown. Andras regains control and travels in near light speed, his and Alucard's arms locking onto each other as the two unstoppable forces struggle to overpower their opponent.

The Dark Lord summons more clones in the vicinity, making them conjure weapons. Alucard pushes himself away from the clash and dodges the blades and javelins. Andras summons half a dozen tendrils of void matter and one of them snags onto Alucard, keeping him in place.

"Damn it, no!"

"We've gone far enough, boy… and this is the end for you… and her fruitless crusade!"

The clones float up to the restrained hunter and empty their projectiles onto him, while some of them launch beams of dark energy onto Alucard, seeking to extinguish his existence away. He struggles against the grips of the tendrils, but it was no use. Testament hovers in to break Alucard free, successfully taking down some of the clones and disorienting Andras' focus. Unfortunately, a few spare tendrils and clones managed to cling to the blades and restrain them as well, using either physical force or chaos magic. The metal of the blades easily bent and crushed due to Andras' rage fueling the dark energy. Alucard's body was already disappearing as his wings were clipped off, and only stumps were left on his back. His physical essence was being torn apart, but his spirit still remained, almost unwavering.

"I can't beat him… he's too much for anyone… I should've-"

Andras yells in anger as he focuses more fire onto Alucard, his body already gone. "Your body crumbles before your spirit… it will take long before I am done with you!"

"Physical prowess cannot do anything… he'll always come back!"

Andras releases his grip from Alucard and clutches the glowing soul of the hunter before throwing it off forward, the apparition crashing onto the debris.

"I'm sorry, guys… everyone… I couldn't-"

"Alucard!"

He opens his eyes and he found himself in an empty, black world, but there was no debris, no Andras, no threat… nothing. But Alucard could hear a voice in his mind, no… two voices, slowly turning into three, building up into a unified chorus.

"Kiddo, wake up! Shake your head! This fight's not over!"

"F-Franco?"

"He's right! We have one more trick up our sleeve, but you need to reach us now!"

"Uranus! G-Guys, where are you?!" Alucard shouts from the void. "I can't-"

"Behind you!" Layla's voice cries out.

The hunter turns to his back and sees a white-blue spectre of Lunox floating dozens of meters away. Her left arm was outstretched, and minor constellations appeared on her body.

"Only through affection… this is the final option," the goddess of Twilight said, her voice ringing in Alucard's mind. "Alucard, everything is at hand!"

Alucard squints his eyes, his vision blurry. Rumbling sounds of impact echoed around the nothingness, and he could see white cracks around the space, as if they were inside a sphere of blackness.

"Hurry! You need to take their hands!"

He blinks and sees Ruby, Lolita, Hayabusa and Clint with one of their arms outstretched, just behind Lunox. Every time Alucard blinks as he tries to push himself through the dark, more and more apparitions of his friends and the other heroes appeared, formed like an endless pyramid with no bottom, with Lunox on top.

"Alucard, go!" Fanny urges. More and more voices began to cry out, pushing Alucard even more as the cracks in the black space grew and grew.

"C'mon, lad! A bit more wriggling, COME ON!"

"This is it, our final push! Don't give up!"

"You know what this is for, Alucard! It's for everything!"

"Come one, come on!" the hunter tells himself. "GODDAMNIT, COME ON!"

"Push harder! You're almost there, take out hands!" Saber vocalizes. "This is for everything we've been through!"

"The fight's not over!"

"Alucard, hurry!"

The fabric of nothingness began to deteriorate, as if there was still something from nothing. Alucard was a few feet away from Lunox' outstretched arm. He utters a guttural cry of desperation as he nearly slips from his trajectory. More and more people came into view, all of the civilians, the other soldiers, the other fallen, their hands outstretched to him.

"ONE. MORE. PUSH!"

"FOR EVERYONE WHO FOUGHT!"

"ALUCARD!"

"FOR THE TRUTH… FOR THE TRUTH THAT WILL SET US FREE!"

Alucard's gauntlet clutches Lunox' hand and he pulls himself towards them, closing his eyes as soon as the nothingness breaks apart…

Andras turned his back, somewhat relieved from the clash that ensued. The galaxies and stars have now completely disappeared

"No more… I have done it… All… has been fulfilled."

He turns back to see the aftermath, and notices something peculiar. Beyond the path of destruction caused by his flinging of Alucard's spirit into the vast blackness of the new, corrupted universe, a small, twinkling light was in front, and the rays slowly grew.

"What…"

Andras could feel something terrible emerging from the light as he could see chunks of debris and landmasses breaking off. It was no light. It was a hypernova of unparalleled proportions. The Dark Lord shields himself with his dark aura, and the waves of the explosion hit Andras. He couldn't hold his position and soon enough, he was flung by the insane gusts of the blast, the light crowding his vision. Andras was blinded by the sheer light as he skids and rolls around the scape, which is appalling, because there was no more ground to traverse. He opens his eyes and notices that he was lying on his stomach on the ground, his dark aura slowly dissipating.

"N-No! What is this illusion?"

"Illusion?" A voice rang around the white, and Andras couldn't discern who the speaker was. "This is no illusion… This is it."

The blinding light slowly fades out as Andras clearly sees where he is with his own eyes. He was back into Gaius, most specifically, the barren, corrupted ground. The whole planet was somewhat intact, and he was stepping onto the everlasting plains. There was no mountain, nor sea, nor tree in sight. The sky, however, was not gloomy, but bright, as the sun was resting on the horizon, the late afternoon passing.

"This is what you spoke of, Andras… the ultimatum."

The Dark Lord tries to find the speaker, and he sees a forming apparition, around fifty meters away from him. As the cyan light slowly forms the walking figure of Alucard from the legs to the head, the hunter outstretches his right arm. Testament was not in sight, nor any weapon at all. Andras conjures a sword from the ground and throws it at the specter, but it simply passed through Alucard's spirit, his figure untouched.

"NO! I had it in my hands, and you still took it away from me… YOU CURSED WRETCHES!"

He tries to summon more of his clones or his weapons, but it doesn't work, as the black soil slowly turned into a thriving green, the grass shining brightly as the sun's warmth coated the landscape. Andras turns back to determine Alucard's position, and he notices more and more figures appearing behind and around himself. The heroes slowly reformed back through the cyan light, their arms also outstretched. Slow, wavering wisps and tongues of cosmic light trailed around like smoke, travelling towards Andras.

"NO! I WILL NOT DESIST!"

"I'm tired of fighting anymore… don't give me another one of those million reasons," Alucard voiced. "And now, we'll bring you down along with us."

Andras yells, but deep inside, he was afraid. He concentrates the dark energy within his hands and sprays them around the apparitions, seeking to dematerialize them. He manages to wipe away half of the apparitions that consisted the heroes, but they slowly reformed back again, nearing Andras. Specters of the fallen soldiers and the civilians and citizens of the Land of Dawn began to appear as well. Men, women and children, everyone, crowding around Andras.

"The truth has set us free… Now it's time for you to stop as well… Stop this madness, and embrace the peace…"

"NO! NOOOOOOO!" Andras unleashes his dark aura, the black void energy resonating through the whole field. It eradicates all of the specters, but Alucard's still remained, his image barely flickering. As he reached out to touch Andras' spirit, his essence slowly balled up in a concentrated mass of defiance itself. The energy clouded over Andras, the tendrils of energy burning right within the dark matter and slowly expelling or engulfing it, one way or another.

"Andras…"

"You see one side of the coin, you reject to discover the other end."

"NO! NO! THIS… C-CANNOT BE!" Andras stumbles down on the ground as the apparitions that slowly reformed huddled and surrounded the Dark Lord, their light essences fusing with the void energy.

"I think we should stop, okay? It's over. No need to fight endlessly anymore… endless chaos without sense… the deeds are done."

"NO! SPARE ME! P-PLEASE! I BEG OF YOU! NO!" Andras begged, but it was no use. The whole scape was slowly deteriorating again as reality begins to break apart due to the merging of light and dark, slowly, bit by bit, destroying the balance, the only truth of the universe.

"We're going now, and we'll let everyone else mend, okay? I think we've done enough… We are enemies… but I am grateful," the voices rang, their volumes rising.

"Without you, all wouldn't fall into place… all wouldn't be fulfilled and set into motion. Conflict is resolved through conflict, and the cycle ends… But the ultimate paradox can end it all… here and now!"

"NO! PLEASE!"

"All… has been revealed!"

Andras cries out in panic and immense pain as he suffocates, the light and dark clashing with one another. Mixtures of recollected memories and encounters of destruction and restoration flooded his collective mind, tearing apart his existence. Memories of love, hate, grace and despair, originating from every apparition that touched him clashed within him, and all that Andras could do was succumb to the unfathomable phenomena.

"NO! NO! ALUCARD! SPARE ME, P-PLEASE… NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

A huge flash of light and chaos magic originated from within the Dark Lord's specter, quickly razing the flourishing green grass and the dream landscape, switching back to the interstellar blackness. Light and dark merged, destroying the fabric of comprehension beyond repair as the end was sought…

And then… there was nothing.