Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment.
Cross-over from various games, books, anime, manga, and movies.
The familiar characters you see here belong to their respected authors and owners.
"Speech"
Time*
Chapter 75: I Apologize But Not Really
Fuck it. I'm going on a relaxing vacation instead of dealing with all this bullshit and these constant emotional breakdowns for not even a full month. I've been swinging from nearly insane, back to sane, and then right back into insanity again, questioning my entire life—both the present and the past. And on top of that, I've had to fucking rely on the Visionary's Uniqueness, even pushing it further by gambling on strengthening my connection with Sefirah Castle just to get a little extra support. At this point, I'm exhausted, and I'd rather get away from all of it before I completely lose myself. AGAIN!
"Wait, no. That would just repeat everything all over again, ending with going back into the past and then falling into the parallel reality where the original Alucard is. I still haven't figured out what kind of bullshit caused female Alucard to get thrown into this reality in the first place. And now I'm thinking out loud again." I finish with a frown, clearly annoyed by the entire train of thought.
I take a deep breath, noticing my mind slipping toward the deep edge again. Without wasting a second, I quickly call on the authority of Loss of Control once more, forcing the reckless urge down before it can push me into doing something stupid—something truly insane.
I exhale slowly, my mind clear once again. Then my gaze falls to the Red Priest's Uniqueness resting in my hand. With a thought, the Cards of Demoness, Red Priest, Darkness, Death, and Twilight Giant appear around me, circling the Red Priest's Uniqueness in a slow orbit as they project the Sefirot of their respective Pathways. Almost immediately, both the City of Calamity and the River of Eternal Darkness seem to react to it—drawn not merely to the Uniqueness itself, but to the deep corruption festering within it.
I throw the Red Priest's Uniqueness into the air, and at once the Cards of Blasphemy surge upward, swarming around it like a feeding storm before swallowing it whole. In the next moment, the charred banner vanishes, suspended somewhere between the City of Calamity and the River of Eternal Darkness. There, caught between the two Sefirot, it seems to settle into a strange balance. And for the first time, neither of them carries the urge to exert any influence over reality, as though the corruption has been pinned in place and forced into stillness.
"Huh." I blink, then take a step forward and use Traveler's Door to relocate once again—this time back where it all started.
Upon exiting the Spirit World, I ducked at once as my Spirituality warned me a split second ahead of time. Using that brief moment, I dropped into a handstand and drove both feet into the attacker's chest, the force of the kick launching them straight up into the ceiling.
I front-flip back onto my feet and pull the Wintry Blade from the Cards of Blasphemy, its edge wreathed in Poisonous Flames. I'm ready to deliver a follow-up attack, only to stop in place as I finally realize the attacker is already dead. The upper half of the body has been blown apart into a bloody ruin, organs scattered across the area, while the lower half hangs for a brief moment by a few torn threads of clothing before the severed legs finally drop from the ceiling under their own weight.
I put away the Wintry Blade, feeling a little disappointed that I didn't get to use the Sealed Artifact a bit longer. Still, I didn't let that bother me for more than a moment. Ignoring the hole in the ceiling, I began to wander through the house where it had all first begun—the place where the memories of my past life awakened, and where the Cards of Blasphemy first came with me into this present life of mine.
Slowly, I realize the place has been completely ransacked. A lot of the furniture is either missing or smashed apart, and the entire house is a mess. It hasn't even been a full month yet, and someone still robbed the place, even though I hadn't returned even once until now. Then again, I can't really be that shocked. Once people figured out no one had shown up here for nearly a month, it was only a matter of time before someone decided to loot the place.
I tilt my head as I hear the familiar voice that first spoke to me on day one—only now, it is far clearer than it was back then. And yet, no actual words are being spoken. There is no message, no sentence, no meaning I can immediately grasp—just a stream of random sounds spilling out, strange and disjointed, as if something is trying to speak without fully remembering how.
I pause for a moment to think, then let out a deep sigh before going through the necessary steps to safely enter Sefirah Castle. Once inside, I perform the Computational Divination, making sure not to overlook even the slightest detail. After obtaining the results, I leave Sefirah Castle, returning with the answer in hand.
"I apologize for not coming sooner, and thank you for helping me back then. And once again, I'm sorry for not realizing earlier that you were murdered in this very house and buried in the backyard a week before I ever arrived here. Not once did I stop to question why you hadn't contacted me after that first week, nor did I search for you, my friend, Johnny Smith." I bring my hands together, lifting them to my face as I bow my head slightly. "It's time to put you to rest. I have already avenged you by killing your murderer not long ago, so now I can finally give you the peace you were denied."
I draw forth the River of Eternal Darkness from the Cards of Red Priest and Demoness, letting its power pull at the soul of Johnny Smith. He had remained trapped in this house for over a month, slowly being pushed toward becoming a vengeful evil spirit after watching his murderer keep returning—ransacking the place again and again, and even waiting here for a long time just to ambush me the moment I finally came back.
Sadly for that man, even if I had never reawakened the memories of my past life and become a Beyonder through the Cards of Blasphemy, I still wouldn't have died either way. His attempt had been doomed from the start; all he really did was delay the inevitable.
Thinking it over a little longer, I decide to drag the murderer's soul into the River of Eternal Darkness as well. After that, I turn and leave through the front door, since there is no longer any reason for me to remain here. Whatever needed to be done has already been done, and this house no longer holds anything for me except the fading remains of a finished matter.
The Cards of Blasphemy continue to trail behind me as I walk through the countryside, already some distance away from the outskirts of London where Hellsing Manor stands. They drift around me in an eerie, silent. Meanwhile, the empty roads and open land stretch on ahead, giving the whole walk a strange sense of quiet after everything that had just happened.
I take another step and use Traveler's Door, appearing inside Hellsing Manor—only to pause the moment I arrive in a hallway I don't recognize at all. The place is nothing as I remember. The old brick walls with their dry, muted colors and aged paintings are gone. In their place, everything is white and gold, polished to an almost excessive degree. The paintings now are mostly of flowers and countless different people, all of whom look unmistakably wealthy at a single glance. The entire hallway gives off the kind of luxury that feels deliberate, almost enough to make me wonder if I had truly arrived in the right manor at all.
I stare in disbelief. It hasn't even been a full week since Alucard murdered Integra, yet whoever took over Hellsing Manor clearly didn't feel the need to wait before changing everything. They moved almost immediately, as if they had been ready to claim it the moment she died. Sure, the Computational Divination had already explained that someone quickly seizing ownership of Hellsing Manor was the reason I came here in the first place, but apparently, it left out the smaller detail of just how thoroughly the manor itself had been transformed.
Shaking my head, I make my way toward the nearest room—more specifically, the one where my targets are waiting.
Standing in front of the door, I listen to the voices coming from inside. I take out a Slumber Charm, infuse it with Spirituality, and speak the activation trigger word. At once, the familiar wave of sleepiness surges through me. However, I suppress it with ease by using the Error's Uniqueness to create a Loophole that separates me from the real world, letting me avoid the Slumber Charm's effects almost immediately. The drowsiness still brushes against the edges of my mind, but it never truly manages to take hold.
I wait a few more seconds until every voice inside the room falls silent. Then I use Door Opening to phase through the door without needing to open it. As soon as I step inside, I see an altar occupying a large portion of the center of the room. Resting atop it is a statue of a beautiful, deathly pale woman with three faces, entirely unclothed, with lit candles arranged all around it. Below the altar are three women, each unconscious and restrained by chains around their wrists and ankles. The entire scene carries the unmistakable feeling of a ritual already in progress or one that has only recently been interrupted.
Just to double-check everything, I quickly performed a Computational Divination in Sefirah Castle before doing anything else. The result confirmed that I had successfully changed the future once again—especially by preventing those three women from being sacrificed. They were never meant to become vampires, but ghouls, artificially implanted with various explosives meant to kill both Momoyo and me once the ritual was completed tonight. Too bad for them, that isn't happening. And I have no intention of letting these three trick Momoyo into believing they are her long-lost cousins just to get close enough to use her.
"Well, time for this place to burn down. Sorry, Integra, but not that sorry." I mutter to myself as I snap my fingers, producing a spark of Spirituality that quickly blossoms into Poisonous Flames before I flick it onto the carpet. Then I use Door Opening to phase through the wall and leave the manor, landing lightly on the ground outside. After walking a few feet away, I stop and watch as the flames begin to spread throughout the manor, steadily consuming the place from within.
While watching it happen, I kept my eyes on the clear night sky, switching to the Condenser Pathway and using Astrological Divination so I wouldn't miss any strays or unexpected problems. I went even further than that, using the Error's Uniqueness to use Deceit on anyone looking toward this general area—whether from the past, the present, or even the future—forcing them to see something else entirely, with no trace of my existence included in what they perceived. That way, as the manor burned, the scene that remained in every observer's sight would be nothing more than a carefully crafted falsehood.