Sower of Discord (Part 4)

Meanwhile…

Alucard's body was slowly being enveloped in light, the coating reaching around his whole body, but it was still incomplete. The hunter begins to notice the interstellar landscape around the dream world slowly fading, the brilliant stars and specks of light fleeing from their positions and merging into his body.

"Lunox, the dream world-"

"Never worry about my sake," she comforted, floating closer to him. "It is all part of the plan… I am not sacrificing my vision for you. I am turning you into it… the truth."

"When this is over… no more of Andras?"

"I cannot say for sure… it's not up to me to decide. In the end, we never really know for sure. It is a fickle thing, our dreams and aspirations. They often remind us that they, themselves, are just mere concepts that we gave life to. But never underestimate belief, Alucard."

"I won't… but how about Andras? How can… how can I defeat someone who has so much hatred… so much indifference inside him? He has gone mad! How can-"

"How did Ruby soothe your temper? Through her affection," Lunox answered. "And to Andras, all of you must do the same."

"Oh… wait, all of 'you'?"

"Yes, Alucard. All of you."

"I don't-"

"Alu!"

He turns around to see a faded, cerulean projection of Yun Zhao near him. "Hey, it's me!"

"Z-Zhao?!"

"Not only him, apparently."

Alucard turned around and saw the fallen heroes suddenly emerge in his vision, bearing the same coloration in their astral projections. Nana and Harley waved at him, and Cyclops appeared next to them, raising his hat. Minotaur was floating behind them, lightly gripping his war hammer. Hylos galloped around the scape, wielding his scepter. Lancelot and Odette appeared in front of Lunox, their faces beaming with happiness.

Every fallen hero appeared in front of Alucard, seemingly glad. Karina, Tigreal, Sun, Hayabusa, Kagura, Hilda, Irithel, Balmond, Aurora, Gord, Argus…

"W-What… how… Lunox, h-how is this-"

"No one is ever truly alone," Lunox proudly states. "You can end one's misery, but never one's spirit, and you will need all that you can muster to face the Sower of Discord, the source of all indifference… deception itself."

"It's okay, Alucard!" Freya began. "We're here for you!"

"G-Guys, I… how are you all here? I saw Andras-"

"It was no illusion, yes," Lesley answers. "It hurts really bad, not going to lie."

"Wait, where are the others? Why is it only you guys around? How about the civilians, the other soldiers?"

"They've earned their rest, but it seems your friends are completely restless about being with you again," Lunox said. "Now, Child of the Fall, do you still doubt me?"

"Lunox… I don't know what to say…"

"Words cannot fathom, they never will."

A low rumble shook the whole area around them, and the white lines of cosmic dust matting the whole landscape like spilled milk slowly began to disappear. The blue-green hue of the space slowly turned to black. Alucard turns her eyes to Lunox. Her orbs of energy on her wings slowly balanced out, but she herself was slowly, physically losing color, fading.

"It's almost time, Alucard… and your other friends will meet you again, one way or another. The Dark Lord draws near, as anticipated…"

"We need to go, for now," a voice called. Ruby slowly floated towards Alucard. "Hey, don't feel bad for us… the pain's gone now, and you're going to finish him for us… for everyone." Her astral projection slowly began to fade out, as well as the other heroes'. Alucard tries to reach out to her, but she was gone without a trace. The whole dream world began to deteriorate into black, and the landscape was just that, total, utter darkness.

"The harbingers of Light and Dark are long gone, swept by the scales of the balance, and balance is the only truth of this world. Andras is no harbinger of Dark, and you are not of Light. The two of you are beyond comprehension."

"Lunox, you're fading," Alucard worriedly states, but she continues her speech, slowly extending her arms out. A bright, white object began to float above her, rectangular light constructs merging together within the singular weapon. Low sounds of machinery and magic indicated the fusion of the weapon, and Lunox hands the blade to Alucard, now fully covered by white energy. After a few seconds, she smiled, closing her eyes, before fading from existence.

But her voice still resounded around the empty void, ringing in Alucard's ears.

"I present to you a new weapon forged from hope that makes us strong. The last sword that will smite reality as we know it…"

"Testament… her name, the last of her kind, borne from thought, realized by divine steel, and she… I give unto you. I bring not peace, but a sword, and you, my harbinger, impose such intervention from the cosmos to the forsaken ground…"

"I trust that you will fulfill my wish… my Testament. Show them the truth… Show them that it is beyond Andras' feeble concept of pain and destruction, that it is something more than just despair..."

"If one lives to seek out a dream, the concept thrives, and thus I say back, 'If one lives to snuff out a dream, the concept can also wither!' You are the Child of the Fall, and I choose you to be the ultimatum… the harbinger of Truth."

"Now… I give you one final question."

Alucard closes his eyes.

"Are you ready, hero?"

"N-No, Lunox… I'm not ready…"

A chorus of voices began to respond alongside Alucard, echoing around the black space.

"But we are!"

Meanwhile…

Uranus jumps up and crashes onto Andras, pushing him further down the steps to the citadel. The Dark Lord phases off and charges straight towards Estes, already preparing his static bubble. Andras conjures his swords and tries to puncture through Estes' shield, the dome slowly breaking.

"For millennia, you left me to rot in that desolate chest!" Andras fumed, already kicking down the protective shield. Estes slowly recovered his injuries, his wounds closing up and fading. "And now, you resist me?"

The Elven King wills the shield to explode, and he unleashes a beam of white energy towards Andras, slowly tearing and pushing away the spirit's armor. He tries to escape the beam, but Kaja appears from the side, his armor heavily damaged. The Nazar King lashes out with his whip and keeps Andras stationary. Rafaela channels light from the heavens and strikes it down towards Andras. Uranus appears behind the spirit and begins punching Andras down to the ground as he gets locked down.

"Give up this unnecessary murder! The Royal Guard, the Nazar, the Orcs… what more do you wish?!" Rafaela asks. "Extinction? This is no miracle you impose!"

"Of course… a miracle… nothing is more terrifying than a miracle!" Andras' aura began to twist and coil itself around Estes' destructive beam of light, slowly reaching up to the king. He suddenly conjures spikes from his back and Uranus suffers dozens of punctures, his celestial energy slowly being leeched to Andras. The beam of light backfires, throwing Estes, Rafaela and Kaja off to their butts. Andras stands up, shaking his body off to recover his movement. Estes manages to recover and shoots a bolt of energy, but Andras phases through it and kicks Estes to the gate of the citadel. The king breaks his own skull and his senses dull. Kaja pulls himself towards Andras with his whip, but the Dark Lord grabs the Nazar and rips off one of his wings. Kaja grunts in pain and attempts to fly off, but Andras pulls him down and repeatedly stabs his body, causing the gold ichor to spill in multiple places. He lets go and leaves Kaja to bleed, turning back his attention to Estes.

"And now… my vengeance is sought."

Estes conjures a momentary shield, but Andras' kick breaks through the defense and onto Estes' face. He continuously assaults Estes as Uranus tries to recuperate. His energy was slowly being leeched out, tendrils of yellow energy turning into black, transferred to Andras. The bronze guardian reaches out to Andras with his arms, but the Dark Lord holds out his arm onto Uranus, telekinetically keeping him put. Andras clenches his fist, and Uranus' metal body begins to collapse inward. Straining noises could be heard as Uranus struggles to break free from the grip, but Andras brings his arm down and reduces Uranus' body to a rough ball of bronze, resembling a ball of crumpled paper.

Andras then resumes punching Estes to the gate, but Rafaela climbs on his back, preventing him from continuing further. Frustrated, Andras pulls her off and slams her forcefully onto the marble railings of the steps. He teeports and materializes above the angel and lands on her, breaking her spine into two. He grabs the falling body and proceeds to claw at Rafaela's back.

"Tired of her kind… always so stubborn," the Dark Lord muttered before pulling out her whole spine off the body with one pull, the corpse turning onto jelly. He throws Rafaela's body far off down and crushes the spine with black void energy.

"It is over…" Estes breathed out, blood dripping from his nose and mouth. "It's over!"

"We'll see about that, then we talk!" Andras transfers some of his dark energy to Estes and the elf king convulses, feeling extreme pain. His chest slowly started to bulge outward as Andras extracts Estes' heart out of his chest. The Elf King drops dead on the gate, and the whole sky slowly turned gloomy and dark, as if a wave of pollution and smog entered the atmosphere.

Andras looks at the gate in front of him. "I will have to break it down-"

BANG!

A bullet hits Andras' helmet, but it simply bounced off, barely making a scratch. He turns around to see Clint running towards him, emptying the last clip of his revolvers on the Dark Lord. Andras scoffs and slaps the shooter with the back of his hand, and he was now stuck on the wall adjacent to the gate. Andras summons his swords and they fly off, piercing through Clint and the wall. A swift, easy death.

"Why did he even try? Why do they all try?"

"Because they know you are the one at fault."

Andras turns to face Lunox, her astral projection slowly flickering out and fading. "You should've gone to the Gem earlier, Andras."

"Hahahahahah!" he laughs. "Where are you now? Fading… becoming forgotten. All that's left of this world will be darkness, as the universe foretold!"

"You are mistaken… you always have followed a blind dream… your aspirations killing you."

"And what did you do, huh? When a child was battered within the alleys of this place, when demons advanced from the Wastelands, what did you do? You left! You are afraid to make do with the gifts the world gave you!"

"I'm not afraid, Andras," she said. "Not anymore… and so is he!"

The Dark Lord yells and slashes at the projection, and it disappears. Lunox' voice still boomed overhead.

"Let it be known… you are a monster of your own making! You seek victory, but instead, fate brings you your downfall!"

"SILENCE!" Andras shouted at the sky. "SILENCE, I COMMAND YOU, ARROGANT WRETCH!"

He begins to kick down the gate, hordes of demons beginning to crowd behind him. Some of the Spitfires and Hellbats began to break the windows of the citadel, wedging themselves through.

Meanwhile…

"There, on the windows!"

Layla hears Lolita's warning and releases projectiles of Malefic energy onto the oncoming Spitfires, throwing them off the walls of the structure. The Genesys Gem was already white-hot and glowing with ferocity, but there doesn't seem to be anything else happening to it. It was simply floating a few feet above.

"Is the thing alright?"

"Yeah, Yinsen! We just need to hold on!" Fanny answers. Suddenly, a large bang was heard from the door. A medium-sized dent appeared near the handles. "Crap, he's here!"

"Okay, Lolita, you know what to do!" Yinsen reminds. Lolita steps on the center of the battlefield, wielding her Noumenon hammer. She hefted it and overcharges its energy, preparing to slam it to the floor. The gates were slowly beginning to budge, and the silhouette of the Dark Lord could be seen on the crack between the gates.

"Chou! Back away!"

"Got it! Layla, you ready?"

"She's all good!" Bruno replies, giving a thumbs up. "On the count of three…"

"ALL OF YOU IN THERE… YOU WILL NOT HOPE TO SURVIVE!" the Dark Lord shouted, now using his swords to break through the gates.

"ONE!" Layla begins to charge her cannon, the nozzle glowing with immense energy. Lolita closes her eyes and braces for the attack,

"TWO!!!"

"THREE!"

Andras breaks the gates and they fly off to the group, but Lolita manages to strike the ground with her hammer, the doors stopping in mid-air and breaking due to the kinetic force waves. They tear off, the metal shredding off themselves and flying back to Andras. He blocks the debris with his black aura, but Layla pulls the trigger and a huge beam of destructive energy bursts from the cannon, encompassing the Dark Lord. The laser splits and shoots outward, exiting the citadel and spraying itself around the demons in the vicinity. Andras held up his arms, the Malefic energy nearly burning through the armor.

"Layla, hold on to the beam!" Bruno reminds. He throws his ball to Andras, but the Dark Lord didn't even budge. The ball ricochets back to the demons slowly entering through the citadel, trying to wedge themselves in. All that Chou could do was stay back as Andras easily approached Layla, bearing the immense heat and damage of the cannon.

"He… he's not fazed!"

"What?!" Yinsen exclaims, pointing a pulse shotgun towards Andras. He pulls the trigger, and a spray of blue energy travels towards the spirit, but the shells bounce off of the armor, ricocheting back to the hunter. Yinsen manages to dodge it, and the projectiles bounce towards the Spitfires and Hellbats on the murals, downing them easily.

"Little girl… all of you… runts!" Andras approaches Layla and grabs her cannon by the barrel, crushing it. The gunner drops the weapon and tries to run, but Andras summons his chain sickle and it latches onto Layla's shoulder. Chou runs and tries to kick Andras down, but his leg bounces off of the armor as the Dark Lord pays no attention. Fanny zips from the upper level and tries to slash at Andras' armor, but her last pair of swords break. The Dark Lord unleashes his aura, throwing the last heroes off. He then pulls Layla towards him and stabs her multiple times with a gauntlet blade, dropping her to the ground.

"Urk… g-guys…"

"LAYLA!" Lolita charges behind Andras, but the Dark Lord throws his arm back to the elf, releasing a volley of swords. She raises her hammer, forming a Noumenon shield, and the swords lodge themselves onto the barrier. Andras turns towards her and walks, throwing more and more swords to her. Lolita absorbs the dark energy to her hammer and throws a volatile ball of Noumenon energy towards Andras. He blocks the attack as Lolita swings her hammer. Andras dodges and phases through, grabbing Lolita by the neck and pummeling her to the ground like before, her body slowly turning into a pulp. Chou grabs a nearby plank and strikes it toward Andras, but he keeps stomping on Layla, nearly turning her head into a pulp of viscera. Bruno yells and tries to kick Andras' helmet, but the spirit grabs both of his legs (with only one hand) and slaps him to the ground like a ragdoll. He throws Bruno to a nearby pillar and follows it up with a volley of swords, impaling the Protector to the column. Bruno spits out blood from his mouth, trying to pull the blades from his body, but Andras throws the last sword to his head as he keeps on slamming Lolita's already lifeless body to the ground. The sword pierces through Bruno's goggles, and he was dead like a dartboard.

Fanny yells and strikes with her broken swords, but Andras pushes her back with a punch, and she rolled to the ground, doubling over. The flyer tries to stand up, but a Ravager pounces on her and begins to sink its jaws onto her face. Fanny tries to activate her flight gear, only to be reminded that it was already destroyed during the fight alongside Saber and the other cyborgs.

"H-HELP! SOMEBODY!"

"Fanny, I'm coming!" Yinsen calls out, holstering his shotgun. Andras spots the hunter and conjures a large hammer, striking Yinsen out of the citadel and into the open air. His screams echoed around as he landed roughly to the ground, the Spitfires and Hellbats more than eager to devour them. The Dark Lord then turns his attention to the only hero left standing.

"Damn it, why does it always have to be me?" Chou mutters to himself. "A minute is all it takes, and this edgelord is going back to hell."

"You're afraid," Andras began.

Chou scrunched his eyebrows, pretending to be confused. "Of what?"

"Death. You're the last one."

Chou suddenly snickers at the thought, until it grew to spontaneous laughter, echoing around the walls of the citadel. He supported himself to the nearby pillar, trying to hold back his tears from his laughter.

"What's so funny?"

"Hahahaha… okay, sorry, sorry," Chou began. "Okay, let me just get this straight, alright? You… just basically like, killed everyone here and there and let everybody die then and around and then you accuse me of being afraid to die? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

The demons began turning their heads to each other, also appalled by Chou's reaction. Andras grunts dismissively. "If you don't stop-"

"Don't stop? We've never stopped, Andras. We're just letting you in!" Chou suddenly fires. "Listen here, tough nut, you've got nerve slaughtering people by the hundreds, and if anything, that proves one thing… you're the one who's afraid! So paranoid to the point that every living person in this place is on your hit list! But I won't back down, you know why?! Because I'm gonna-"

Andras punches Chou hard, sending the fighter flying to the Genesys Gem. Chou's back hits the Gem and he grunts from the pain, falling flat onto his face.

"W-Was that a fracture? Argh… Rrghh… come on…"

"Stay down, boy," Andras threatens. "Your final warning!"

Chou stands up groggily, shaking his left leg. He wiped the blood trickling from his mouth as he balled his fists, his knuckles bleeding.

"I won't… I made a promise, and I'm keeping it!" Chou dashes and launches a flurry of jabs and hooks to Andras' armor, slowly fazing the Dark Lord. His flaming fists slowly began to make dents to Andras' armor.

The spirit, however, was barely even hurt, and he stomps his foot to Chou's thigh, breaking the femur in two. The fighter recoils from the pain and clutches his leg, the bone slowly protruding through the skin. He attempts to shake off the injury, but Andras follows it up with a javelin, piercing through Chou's chest. The fighter pulls it off of him and charges Andras, raising the spear.

"Pitiful… as always."

Andras summons a dagger and stabs it through Chou's heart, and he stops, coughing up more blood.

"H-Hehe… N-Nice…"

"Hmph…"

Andras pulls out the blade and lets Chou drop to the ground. He lets go of the black javelin, his breathing growing labored as he clutched the wound on his chest.

"S-So long… so long…"

The light within Chou's eyes slowly fades, and Andras kicks off his body to the side, easily approaching the Genesys Gem. The spirit was astonished by the brilliance of the Gem as it slowly rotated around itself.

"An artifact of purity… the blood of Gaius," Andras spoke. "My demons… our victory is at hand, and the world shall be ours!"

The demons behind him 'cheered' in response, some of them roaring and howling. Their cries echoed around the demolished Land of Dawn as the fires continued raging. Andras touches the Gem with his hand, somewhat caressing it.

"Did I not tell of this day? Didn't the heavens prophesize this moment? All that is left for me to do… is to destroy it!"

Andras summons a large war hammer from the floor. He grabs it and raises it with his arm, wielding it with one hand. He prepares to aim his swing at the Gem.

"AND THIS BEAUTIFUL LIE THEY'VE CREATED… WILL SOON BE WIPED OFF THE EARTH!"

He swings the hammer…

Suddenly, a bright pillar of blue light knocks Andras backward, enveloping the Genesys Gem. Small boulders from the ceiling fell down to the ground as the vortex of energy bursts from the dark sky, driving off the Spitfires and Hellbats in the air. Andras covers himself with one of his arms, his cape flowing from the powerful winds that seemed to come from the pillar of light.

"W-What… What is this?!"

The demons slowly backed away, growing nervous. The Wretches snarled, but they were intimidated by the phenomena. Andras was confused. Everyone is dead! All that was needed was to break the Gem and prevent the shards from coalescing again. Corrupting it was not part of the plan, but he did touch the Gem before trying to shatter it…

"What is this? This isn't what's supposed to happen!"

The pillar began to collapse inward, the light slowly dying and fading away. The Dark Lord squinted his vision in order to see what was really happening. The rising storm in the sky began to dissipate and diminish thoroughly, and the atmosphere wasn't cloudy. One thing's for sure, however. It was no longer dark outside.

The winds die out and the debris and dust stop blowing towards Andras and the demons. He uncovers his arm in order to see the aftermath of the event. Andras was shocked.

The Genesys Gem was no longer there. Nada. Nothing. Not a trace of it was in sight.

But Andras knew something was up. He walked to where the artifact was and inspected the scene. The demons slowly crawled forward, trying to understand what their master was doing.

"No sign of it… Wait…"

There was a sigil drawn onto the floor where the Genesys Gem was hovering above, and it was seared onto the marble like a firebrand. Andras angled his position and was able to discern the image before him: A humanoid figure, somewhat standing upright with his head bowed, a pair of broad wings fully extended from the curve of his shoulders.

"No…!"

He looked up to the sky, and he could see the glint of a falling object. Andras quickly retreats before the foreign item descends faster and crushes him.

The object lands down with a resounding CLANG!, confirming that the object is metal. Andras looks behind him.

It was a greatsword… but no ordinary weapon. The design was completely new, unbeknownst even to the Dark Lord. It had an L-shaped cross-guard, one of its sides slightly covering one edge of the blade, so Andras considered it as one-sided, but the blade was also sharpened in the 'dull' side. A dark, titanium-based alloy was used to fashion both the pommel, grip and cross-guard. A deep, accent line (presumably the fuller of the weapon) was etched, even to one of the sides of the blade, along with a few holes on it. A portion of the cross-guard was made out of gold, with a sheet of bronze covering the space unoccupied by the intricate markings on it. An orb of blue-yellow energy calmly radiated its energy, the light reaching the far ends of the massive hall of the citadel.

Andras slowly approaches the weapon, calm and focused. Suddenly, the sword slowly levitated, hovering around a few feet above the floor it struck. Mechanical gears could be heard from within, and the blade split into five pieces, and surprisingly, each of them had a handle made of dark, varnished oak wood. They hovered around close to each other.

"This w-weapon… it is magnificent-"

Before Andras could finish his statement, the segments aimed straight towards him and knocked him off to his feet. As the Dark Lord was stunned form the sudden attack, the blades began to cut through the groups of demons, catching them unawares. They pierced through their bodies and amputated their limbs, and some of them scrambled in confusion and terror, trying to get out of the structure. Andras gets up and eyes the blades that broke through the ceiling and resumed their evisceration, scaring and terminating the Hellbats and Spitfires. Some of them tried to claw down the blade, but they could barely even touch it, finding themselves cut to ribbons and shreds.

"No… my pets! Don't you harm them!" Andras charges his dark aura and summons tendrils of void matter, seeking to restrain the blades and break them. However, as he caught one, it simply broke free, slicing through the tendrils of dark energy and ricocheted to Andras, the blades easily cutting through his obsidian armor. In desperation, the Dark Lord unleashes his aura, shaking the blades off. They then returned back to their original position, hovering above the humanoid symbol.

A blue streak of light suddenly descends from the hole in the ceiling, and the cyan outline of a figure picked up one of the pieces of the greatsword before dashing back to another. The figure caught the other blades and they merged as one before the mystery person lands to the ground, genuflecting on one knee with his blade held in his left arm, reared back.

Andras clears his vision and looks at the assailant in front of him. The cyan outline disappears as the figure reverts back to its original color…

It was a man, no… a young adult, with a handsome face and a moderate jawline. He bore long silver hair, fashioned with high fade and loose pompadour. He wore a shirt with a slightly plunging neckline, covered by a thick criss-cross pattern. The figure wore clean pants, and it was hard to distinguish whether it was made out of leather or denim. His combat boots were particularly shiny, somewhat immune to the dirt around.

In his right arm was a large gauntlet, bearing an artistic design that is similar to the greatsword. The same can be said for his shoulderguards. A black hand wrap covered his left forearm. The man wore a trench coat of intricate design, a silver badge on its left breast. In the back of the coat was a foreign pattern of silver streaks, and the ends of the clothing bore the same distinguishable pattern, the metal gleaming off despite the obvious lack of light sources within the hall.

Andras recklessly decides to charge at Alucard. The hunter throws his greatsword into the air and punches Andras back to his starting point. He catches the greatsword with his right arm and unleashes a destructive fission wave… a mixture of white light and void energy. Andras takes the full force of the wave, trying to block it, but portions of his armor forcibly shreds off, scattering to the floor. The large walls of the grand hall began to collapse outward, scattering down the hills and into the unlucky demons, the sounds of falling concrete, crashing marble and broken glass heard around the broken landscape. Andras clears the dust off the field and runs straight to him.

"Andras."

The Dark Lord stops as Alucard spoke, drawing his greatsword. "Andras… I now know."

"I assume she told you everything about me? Every lie?"

"Every truth. Don't twist the words."

"Hah!" Andras scoffs. "I am more reasonable than her, Alucard! What she says? It's all a wild delusion, an irrevocable idea!"

"Do you think you've thought any better? She has seen worse. She told me about your schemes in the Old War… the way you tricked Vexana, the tortures you set for Leomord… how you ended the lives of your own brothers, the ones who were understanding enough to stop you in your tracks."

"Then there would be no point in tricking you, then," the Dark Lord sighs. "The only way is to convince you, Alucard… And this is the proof!" He outstretches his arms, motioning around the once-beautiful kingdom.

"What do you wish to convey?" Alucard asked.

"Don't you see what's all around you? Destruction, spanning for miles, a home for guilt and endless despair… and chaos! It has barely been half the day, and this is what I have done… raze your proud structures off of the roots. My demons and I have slain all that have stood against me, all of them! And I let them do so in a brutal fashion, the language they speak. All of this… it's because of what? Some spark of 'hope', believing that you can stop the inevitable?"

"Then what is the inevitable? Why go beyond yourself to achieve something such as this?" the hunter questions. "Alice would rather drink the blood of the people instead of murdering them outright. Vexana would use her minions and gain more followers. Zhask would simply take the shards of the Gem and flee… but you seek to destroy… you sought to raze!"

Andras slowly walked around sideward, the clanging of the obsidian armor echoing. "Do you know of our end? When planets collide, when stars fade or turn into brilliant supernovas, and destroy everything in their wake? Do you know how many times Gaius has been threatened by the interstellar cosmic?! Your friends heard me right, Alucard. I do not cause suffering… I end it! If we keep enduring all of this nonsense, we destroy ourselves! We tear each other apart! Only when Gaius has fallen will we cease to exist… and so does all of the pain!"

"Andras-"

"Oh, don't deny it! All of the suffrage that this world has caused upon your fellow friends, upon their own family, it has warped their minds, and not for the better! And now, they all cling to false faith as they let themselves endure the cuts and bruises. Despite all vain efforts to unite, the Land of Dawn has fallen, and it's just you, me, and my pets."

"That's not true," Alucard replies. "You're lying!"

"I speak the truth! Then let us consider that the bastard goddess is right!" Andras continued. "This is how it ends… we fall to the void, and we become nothing! And who knows how we will perish?! Will the sun embrace the earth, turning this paradise of yours into a fiery inferno, or will the black holes emerge and break reality as we know it? The universe, despite being immortal, has a start, hunter, and soon, it will have an end, and end that I seek to bring to end our suffering early! Because from what I have learned, Alucard, after all of these millennia, toying with fate and the balance, after all of this madness that you accuse to me… is that NOTHING. LASTS! FOREVER!"

Alucard stopped in his tracks. He bent his head downward and looked down on the ground, the black sigil still prominent. At some standpoint, he knew Andras was correct. What if all of this bloodshed was pointless? What if this is what was meant to happen, all along? The end of all they know, drawing everything to a close? It seemed impossible to refute…

He sighed, closing his eyes. "Y-You're right…"

Andras perked up. "What?"

"You're right about what you said… nothing lasts forever. It's undeniable. One day, everything could be gone, nothing will survive…"

"Are you-"

"Not even love… not even hope, not even our own faith… Nor the pleasures, nor all of this grace. Not even mercy, not even happiness…"

"Ah… now we agree on something," Andras wholeheartedly says. "Now you see the bigger picture!"

"Not even peace… nor glory… not even hate."

"W-What?"

Alucard slowly raised his head and stared at Andras, the irises of his eyes glowing with blue energy. "Not even hate, nor disgrace, nor indifference, nor cowardice… nor the pain, nor the tears, not even sadness! Not even they thrive for eternity!"

"You-"

"You are right… no good thing lasts forever, Andras… But that doesn't mean we will be subject to just simply do the opposite of what is bearable… of what is pure! I now understand… whatever we do, in this world, or anywhere else, right here and right now, it will decide the fate of everything… and that's what matters! Maybe you are right. Maybe we've been too stubborn, changing our destiny, trying to find a way to escape and soothe ourselves. Maybe all of this is bound to happen at some point, but the two of us know that it's better knowing that we've done something instead of nothing!"

Andras couldn't speak. Alucard was backfiring everything that the spirit argued and expounded.

"All of this destruction… this pointless chaos… Maybe after all of this, it will be replaced by a rainbow, an era of peace and celebration. Maybe this is all just a nightmare… but it isn't! This is the truth, the reality of the world we tread on, Andras! You call us blind, you call us ambitious and hard-headed, trying to prevent you from causing all of this, but you are among us as well! We are so much more than what you say we are, because you only cling to one side of the story!"

"Light will cease along with Darkness, and that is truly so for eternity, until time itself withers away and left to rot in the void, but the end isn't what you should've laid your sights on! You should've acknowledged how far we would stride… how far we would sacrifice everything just to get to this point, and that is your grave mistake! Nothing lasts forever, Andras. But we… all of us… we can change the future! The world has brought us here to make us decide its own fate, to make one's dreams become reality… and if necessary… THEN I'LL HAVE TO TAKE YOU ALONG WITH ME IN ETERNAL NOTHINGNESS… YOU AND YOUR ACCURSED DREAM!"

Alucard raises his greatsword and strikes the ground, gripping the handle with both of his arms. On his back, two pairs of white, broad wings sprouted and fully extended, the feathers lined in perfect symmetry, bearing sharp patterns. The sphere of energy in the blade began to hum with power, blue and yellow streaks and clouds forming around it. The sigil on the floor began to blaze with blue fire, arcs and prominences of light illuminating the citadel ruins.

Andras was dumbfounded.

"You… I thought you would agree with me… BUT NO!" The Dark Lord suddenly grew in size, his armor expanding and increasing as well. He grew until he was four and a half meters tall, and he fashioned a humongous greatsword from the void and held it in his hands. "You're just like the rest of my brothers… their eyes tainted! And you, Alucard… I WILL FEED YOU TO THE WOLVES MYSELF!"

Andras charged, the ground slightly shaking, but Alucard doesn't budge from his stance, as if he was waiting for something to come. Suddenly, an unknown force pushes the Dark Lord down to his butt, causing the marble floor to creak.

The Child of the Fall smirked. "So, Chou, you feeling better?"

The kung fu boy landed on the ground, whooping loudly. "HELL YEAH, I'VE WANTED TO DO THAT FOR A LONG TIME!" He beheld the same appearance as the other heroes when Alucard was in the dream world, just an astral projection, but he felt as solid, as lifelike and as real as ever.

"Then wait in line for your next chance. More are coming."

"Sure- wait, did you say… 'more'?"

Alucard looked at Chou, making a sarcastic expression with his face. The Dark Lord tries to stand up, but a powerful lightning bolt puts him back down.

"We aren't late for the party, aren't we?"

Alucard looks at Eudora, Aurora and Gord. "Nope."

"Good… because the crashers are now right here!"

One by one, the projections of the heroes began to abruptly appear. Andras tries to phase through in a cloud of black smoke, but a streak of scarlet energy sends him backward.

"Well, here are some good news," Hayabusa began, Kagura beside him. "Not only are we still explosive… we have the weapons back." He pulls out his katana. "And also, the dirtbag's going down."

Zhao, Miya, Natalia, Tigreal, Freya, Sun, Karrie, Irithel, Lapu-Lapu, Bane, Yi Sun Shin, Alpha, Saber, Estes, Kaja, Bruno, Argus, Rafaela, Cyclops, Lolita… everyone was now standing beside each other, facing their greatest enemy. The skies were clear and the day has grown brighter. Herds of flying demons began grouping and coalescing to each other, snarling and roaring at the heroes that have returned. The Ravagers, Wretches, Reapers and Hellhounds have come back from their retreat, surging through the streets and avenues in order to climb back up to the ruins.

"This was the plan?!" Roger exclaimed. "Then I should've killed myself."

Franco guffawed, raising his hook. "Darn right, wolfy! But now… this is payback time!"

They all raised their weapons and prepared themselves as Andras conjured large weapons from the void, the demons now beginning to ascend.

"If you want it, then we can strike now," Uranus told Alucard. "We will never leave you."

"Thank you… all of you, guys… it's been an honor to be with you," Alucard greeted, pulling his greatsword out and pointing it towards Andras.

"Whenever you're ready!" Layla reminds, charging up her cannon.

"Time to go out, one last time!" Alpha yells, riding Beta and raising his spear. "FOR THE LIGHT!"

"FOR THE LIGHT!"

"AND FOR THE TRUTH THAT WILL SET US FREE!" Alucard voiced, an aura of blue flame enveloping him. "Now that you're all here with me… come on… Let's go end this son of a bitch!"