[Aspirant! Your trial is over.]
The words rang in Alucard's skull like a bell tolling over a battlefield. Cold, emotionless, final.
His heart stopped.
"…Over?" he whispered, voice dry. "It's… it's really over?"
The silence of the void answered him. No more shrieks, no more blood, no more collapsing castles or flas eating at the edges of his sanity. Just the echo of that line.
It had been an illusion. All of it. Yuki's soft laugh, Dracula's crushing embrace, Hairless' hellish gallop, Alexie's psychotic grin, the silenced maids, the werewolf professor bleeding in the courtyard… gone. Fabrications spun by the Spell to test him. To break him. To see if he was worthy.
It was all fake.
He laughed. A harsh, cracked sound that quickly turned into sothing half-sob, half-cough. He dropped to his knees, clutching his chest, gasping for air.
"If it was fake… then why does it hurt so damn much?"
Because it did hurt. The ache was real, bone-deep, heart-deep. His throat still burned where Dracula had bitten him. His arms still rembered Yuki's warmth. His mind still replayed the screams of the Dark Castle's dying.
He dug his nails into his skin until he bled. "At least…" His voice broke. "At least I get to go ho. I'll see Mom. Dad. Rain. Luca and Dante…" His lips trembled. "Gods, they're seven already. I missed their birthday. While I was in this damned nightmare, my brothers grew up without . My little sister probably cried herself to sleep. And all I can think about is…"
His jaw clenched.
"…all I can think about is her."
Yuki. The way she tilted her head when she teased him. The warmth of her foxfire against the cold night. Her stubbornness, her laugh, her kiss. Her death.
Fake. All fake.
So why did his chest feel hollowed out? Why did it feel like the Spell had carved out his heart and left a gaping wound in its place?
[Summary: Sebastian, son of the great Dracula, was a brat fated to never accomplish anything. Yet fate changed. He grew close to the Kitsune girl, won his father's respect, and was shaping up to rule Dracula's castle as its heir. Unfortunately, the sun priest Alexie had a different idea and destroyed his peaceful life. As Sebastian walked the path of chaos, he chose to defy fate once again: he spared the city, and went to see his father one last ti.]
"Wow," Alucard muttered bitterly. "Half a year of my life summarized like a damn footnote. Great job, Spell. Thanks for reducing my trauma into a two-paragraph wiki entry."
[You have slain an Awakened Demon: the Shadow Knight.]
His eyes widened. "…Wait. That bastard was Awakened?!" He rubbed his face, half-laughing, half-growling. "No wonder he hit like a truck. Here I was thinking I just sucked at fighting."
[You have slain an Awakened Human: Sun Priest Alexie.]
Alucard smirked. "Good. Fucking. Riddance."
[You have slain a Sacred Terror: the greed Emperor Dracula.]
He froze. Sacred. Terror.
"…Holy hell." His voice shook. "I was eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a Sacred Terror. I was playing chess with him. I was living under the sa roof as a Sacred Terror." He started laughing, unhinged. "No wonder the maids were always so nervous. No wonder the air in that castle felt like it weighed a ton."
[You have achieved the impossible!]
[Final appraisal: marvelous. Your hatred truly knows no bounds.]
"…Really?" Alucard groaned. "Really, Spell? You couldn't just stop at marvelous? You had to tack on the edgy villain monologue at the end?" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Gods, I need a drink."
Still, even through the sarcasm, pride ward his chest. He had done it. He had survived the impossible...but at what cost
And then ca the words that made his breath catch.
[Drear Alucard, receive your boon!]
The void shifted. Energy coiled around him like a predator.
[You have been bestowed a True Na: Monarch of Crimson.]
He would have been ecstatic if this had happened just a week before, but now… he felt nothing.
"A true na. Great. Sothing to rember my suffering by. I'm sooo happy right now—I could just fucking scream my lungs out. Is that what you want from , Spell? Damn you, a thank you? THANKS A LOT. I'll really enjoy my true na. I'm sooo happy you ripped Yuki away from just to give a fucking true na."
But the Spell wasn't finished.
[Your Aspect is ready to evolve. Evolve Aspect?]
"Sure—why the fuck not? Let's celebrate even more, you bastard."
Alucard rasped in anger.
[Awakened Aspect: Halfling Vampire is evolving…]
[New Aspect acquired.]
[Aspect Rank: Supre.]
"A Supre Aspect. Oh my God. Thanks a lot. I'm so happy now. All my suffering was worth it—losing Yuki was all worth it. Thanks, Spell. No, really. Thank you."
Alucard knew he had achieved sothing truly great. However, it ant nothing to him, because he had lost everything he cared about over the last few months, including the first woman he had ever loved, all in the span of a few hours.
[Aspect Na: Emperor Vampire.]
His heart stopped. "…Wasn't that… Dracula's?"
mory crashed over him — the final embrace, the necklace pressed into his palm, the words thanks for being my son.
"Great. Even more shit you want to throw at , you fucking bastard. I swear to the dead fucking gods—if you make rember Yuki's, Dracula's, or anyone else's deaths again, I will destroy you, Spell. Do you understand ?"
Alucard took a deep breath and tried to calm down, forcing himself to think rationally. He had the sa—or more likely a similar—Aspect to Dracula's. That could only an one thing… Dracula had helped him achieve this Aspect ability. Truly, even in all his rage, Alucard was grateful to Dracula.
His fingers tightened around nothing. "Thanks, Father."
Aspect: [Emperor Vampire]
Aspect Rank: [Supre]
Aspect Description:
"You are a fiend of blood. Neither alive nor dead, neither corpse nor human, neither undead nor shadow. You are an aberration—a being standing between worlds, cursed by a sinner's treachery and scarred by a god's love. Dood to solitude, you walk a path none else can tread."
Innate Ability: [Undying Sin]
Ability Description:
"You are an elite among both the undead and the Bloodborne, a creature whose existence was forged from divine ddling. One god's affection gave you strength, while another's hatred ensured you would forever be hunted. To the undead and the sinner's, you are kin. To the sun god, you are an abomination. The wrath of divinity follows you still, burning even after their death."
Alucard felt sothing stirring deep inside him. At first, it was subtle, like the faint echo of a heartbeat hidden beneath his own. But soon, it surged forward with the force of a storm, rattling his chest and stealing the air from his lungs.
With a startled cry, he clutched at his heart, falling to his knees as a cold sweat coated his skin. His crimson eyes widened, darting around the suffocating darkness. What was happening? This sensation wasn't painful, not in the usual sense—but it wasn't pleasant either. It was alien, like a part of him long asleep had been shaken awake, stretching its limbs for the first ti in centuries.
The power did not co from outside. It wasn't bestowed upon him. No, it was sothing that had always been there, buried beneath layers of mortality and fragility, now clawing its way out.
It spread slowly at first, like a candle lit inside his chest. Then it roared into life, expanding outward until it felt like a miniature sun was burning in the center of him. Waves of blistering heat radiated through his veins, washing down into his stomach, flooding his arms, scorching his legs. His blood boiled, his muscles trembled, his bones groaned under the pressure.
Then ca the tearing and rebuilding. His muscles shredded apart and stitched back together stronger. His bones cracked and reforged with an unbreakable density. His veins ruptured, only for rivers of molten blood to pulse through them anew. His very organs were bathed in fire and reshaped into sothing beyond human.
It was euphoric. Terrifying. Maddening.
For the first ti in his life, Alucard felt alive. Truly alive. Not the frail boy mocked for his pale skin and strange eyes. Not the vulnerable child living in the shadows of monsters and n alike. No—he was sothing else now. Sothing greater.
Confidence settled into his heart like steel being quenched. He wasn't prey anymore.
After what felt like an eternity, the inferno in his chest began to cool. The blistering fire was replaced by a soothing, numbing cold. It spread across his reborn body, washing away every ache, every scar, every weakness that had haunted him. It climbed up his throat, into his skull, and finally, it reached his eyes.
His vision split.
On one side, he still saw the endless void, the black emptiness scattered with shimring constellations. On the other, he saw a new world—his Soul Sea.
But it wasn't like what he had read about. Others spoke of glowing stars of blue or gold, gentle lights symbolizing life and stability. His was a crimson sea, vast and still, ruled by a blood-red moon that lood high above the horizon. Its glow was unsettling yet majestic, as though the very essence of his being had been rewritten by so divine cruelty.
Two orbs of light circled the red moon, gentle but steady, orbiting him like loyal companions. He reached out and summoned them closer, and they revealed themselves as runes:
[Shadow Knight's Armor]
[Blood Necklace]
mories.He didn't have ti to linger on their attributes, because sothing greater was stirring.
His Aspect was awakening.
Alucard held his breath. His role in the Dream Realm, in the war against Nightmare Creatures, in the real world—it all depended on what ca next. Would he be a warrior, forged for slaughter on the battlefield? Would he be a sorcerer, fragile yet devastating at range? Or perhaps sothing rarer—one of the healers, sought after, revered? If he were a healer, he might finally be allowed a peaceful life.
His heart raced as the runes appeared.
[Aspect Na: Emperor Vampire.]
[Aspect Rank: Supre.]
[Aspect Ability Acquired.]
[Aspect Ability Na: Blood Manipulation.]
Alucard's eyes widened. His hands trembled as he pulled up his status.
[Aspect Na: Emperor Vampire.]
mories: [Shadow Knight's Armor], [Blood Necklace].
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Internal Logic], [Fated], [Fla of Divinity].
"…What the hell is that supposed to an?" he muttered, staring at the glowing letters.
[Fla of Divinity]
"Your soul is afla with the light of divinity."
He scowled. "Completely useless. Cool, but useless."
[Fated]
"The strings of fate wrap tightly around you. Unlikely events, both good and bad, are drawn by your presence. There are those who are blessed, and there are those who are cursed… but rarely both."
He laughed bitterly. "Honestly, I'm shocked I didn't have this earlier. Sounds perfect for ."
Sarcasm dripped from his words, but the laughter died in his throat as more runes appeared.
[All power has a price.]
[You have received a Flaw.]
[Your Flaw is: Vampire's curse.]
[Flaw Description: You must drink the blood of others in order to survive—be they human or monster. You are cursed to never feel the sun's rays on your skin ever again, lest you draw the wrath of the Sun God.]
Alucard froze. His chest tightened, as though soone had shoved a dagger straight into his heart.
"Thank you, Spell. Fucking thank you." His hands shook, curling into fists. He wanted to scream—to curse the Spell, to tear the runes apart with his bare hands. "Thanks for ruining any chance I had at a normal life. Again."
The truth was rciless. This wasn't just a flaw—it was a declaration. He could never live a peaceful life again. He was never allowed to be normal. Ever.
The sun—warmth, light, normalcy—was barred from him forever. His survival hinged on blood. Hunting. Feeding. Always.
He was dood to be alone. Dood to be a monster.
He tried to keep damning the Spell, spitting venom and hatred into the void. But his rant was cut short by a sudden, thunderous voice.
[Wake up, Monarch of Crimson!]
The words shook his very soul. The void shattered.
Alucard's eyes flew open. He was gasping, drenched in sweat, his skin pale as snow. His crimson eyes darted wildly, trying to grasp reality.
And then—
"—Well, I'll be damned."
A voice spoke, rough and amused. Alucard blinked, realizing he was staring into the face of a guard. A mortal man, armored, dirty from battle.
The guard raised an eyebrow and smirked.
"You actually survived a six-month Nightmare."
Alucard looked down at himself—and his heart nearly stopped. He was naked. Completely.
"Son of a—"
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