Chapter 41: And With a Smile That Judas in Hell Might Be Proud Of, Part 10

Alex fell into darkness. Towards the waiting mouths and tentacles. Towards limbs for which there were no names in human language. The shapes of the creatures seemed to blend with the darkness of the dragon's innards, becoming something even more monstrous.

Before they could get to her, Alex managed to form a barrier just big enough to cover her body and sword. Spending the minimum energy possible on its creation so she could invest it in maintaining it.

The monsters flew, crashed against the barrier, and were thrown backwards, trailing purple streaks like blood of a strange color, whimpering, writhing, rising again like famished wolves.

How long had they been in the dragon's stomach without eating anything? Or were they themselves the food, forever kept in a purgatory of pain and hunger they were unable to satisfy? Was this not a natural defense system, but something created by devouring countless creatures? And now was it her turn?

Between being torn apart immediately and that fate, it was obvious which was more horrible.

At least while she was only facing a handful of hungry monsters, the worst that could happen was death.

There were so many fates worse than death.

The barrier shattered.

A moment later, her consciousness sank into darkness.

An instant before the teeth and tentacles and things, the things, sank into her skin.

——

Daniela stopped Dracula's sword strike. The force of the impact made her arms tremble, but she held firm in the end.

"I don't know if I should say you're as persistent as expected of a ghost, someone who has nothing to lose, or you're too persistent even for a ghost. In any case, when I woke up in this new world, I thought I would have fun and I did for a while. But I'm not having fun anymore."

The monster spoke casually while they exchanged blows and fell with the dragon.

"It's over," Dracula continued. "I suppose it's time to end this."

He raised his left arm. Suddenly, his free hand was wrapped in a layer of writhing darkness. For a moment she thought it was a mass of bats like before. But then Daniela realized it wasn't. That it was darkness, nothing more, nothing less.

——

Alex regained consciousness. Still in the air. Not much time must have passed. Otherwise, she wouldn't have recovered anything. After all, she was defenseless. But she should have finished falling by now, it couldn't have been that little time, the thing was that the dragon had turned over, switching the positions of ceiling and floor. So now it was time for this.

She had to be grateful for the way the dragon was shaking. Otherwise, the monsters would have had plenty of time to reach her. To sink their teeth in. To begin tearing her apart.

She grabbed onto something whose name she didn't know in the walls of her enemy's entrails, the slippery flesh. Sparks flew, literally, dangerous and close to the ground, as one of its monsters clawed the floor in its path, and its path was running, running towards her, to where she was hanging to jump. An incredible jump that covered a distance of more than ten meters in an instant. All to sink claws into her leg.

Alex screamed and her scream was swallowed by the darkness.

——

"Daniela, I'm not done with you yet," said Dracula.

But I am, she thought, pulling back in the duel, in the exchange of blows. She knew she couldn't last much longer, that it would be simply impossible for her. That the best thing was to pull back while she still could. However, she couldn't follow her own advice. Or rather, it had been too late, from the moment that hand was wrapped in darkness. If she had wanted to react, she should have done it before that had happened.

She understood instinctively that she had lost her chance, with a feeling of deep resignation.

She hadn't felt that 'the first time' she died, since she died too quickly to really realize anything. She supposed that, horrible as it was, it was better to at least know what was happening to you.

That was all they had, after all, in the midst of life's horror and pain. Awareness of what was happening to you. The only real port in the storm.

Stolen story; please report.

The darkness shot out like a lance, sinking deep into her right shoulder. Tearing a moan of pain from Daniela's throat. From the lance's point of impact, her skin that was no longer skin at all began turning black.

The pain was so immediate and intense that she couldn't even scream. Only gasp, as if she couldn't breathe, as if she were still breathing.

She didn't know what was really happening to her. She could only hope she was disappearing, a second death. But her realism or pessimism and her instincts told her it couldn't be just that.

She clung to the dragon, driving the spear deep into its body, as the dying beast's fall continued. That was her only foothold.

In this situation, Dracula could easily push her, throw her from the dragon. The fall wouldn't kill her because she was already dead, but at minimum she would end up far from the beast's impact point. From Dracula and Alex, if she survived the fall and her escape from the monster's entrails, god let her do it, and it would take her a long time to reach them.

Long enough for the fight to end, one way or another.

However, the monster didn't take the opportunity to kick her. Or to tear out her only foothold from among the flesh, blood, and scales. He preferred to keep her close so that whatever that darkness was doing to her would finish.

Now it wasn't a matter of instinct, it was obvious.

The lance of darkness, the corruption spreading from the wound in her shoulder. It had to be doing much more than simply killing her for a second time.

But Daniela was already dead.

She had already lost everything. If she had to sacrifice even more, she would do it with a smile on her face.

As long as Alex made it out of this. She couldn't give up when Alex needed her.

——

Can't die. Can't die. Can't die.

That was all Alex could think about while the claws tore into her leg and blood flowed. She couldn't die because Daniela was out there, existing, though not alive. Fighting even after death for her.

Alex's screams were tinged with rage until the pain disappeared completely, overwhelmed, engulfed, suffocated.

She stabbed the beast in the skull again and again, roaring with rage, felt the black, red and purple blood, yes all those colors, splashing her everywhere, impregnating her, filling her nostrils, crawling into her lungs, permeating her, even in the bones, she felt as if a blood like poison was filling and emptying and corrupting her. Deadly.

I can't die here.

The monster finally died. As it collapsed, the claw slid out of the wound, destroying her right leg even more. Naturally, the damage was severe, but at least she had gotten rid of that thing.

The corpse fell among the others with a thud, completely engulfed by the pandemonium surrounding her. She had managed to survive, but barely. She had barely defeated a single enemy, and there were still hundreds, thousands... too many to face them all.

However, she couldn't die. Not while Daniela was out there, fighting for her. She had lost everything, except that small reason to keep going. Daniela was giving everything to protect her, suffering and resisting for both of them.

So how could she give up? The least she could do was reward her sacrifice. She would hold on until the last moment, even with a fucked-up leg, even with those monsters getting closer and closer. They came flying, jumping, pushing each other with tentacles, climbing on top of each other to use them as springboards. A dark, endless, unstoppable tide.

Yes, she was in the middle of that. Alone. Unable to run. Everything seemed to indicate she was going to die, but it didn't matter. What really mattered was her will. The spark in her heart hadn't gone out. And that, in the end, was the only human thing she had left.

——

The corruption had progressed significantly. Daniela's entire right arm was tinted black. Looking at it from another perspective, it was just an arm. But she felt as if her entire body was a glass panel, full of cracks about to burst. She had never felt so fragile.

Even while bleeding out on the floor of Dracula's throne room, her fragility was evident. More fragile than a SEMAS dead person, though in her case it might seem otherwise. At the end of the day, Daniela was just a person, an insignificant being compared to Dracula.

He wasn't simply a superior being. He was something more real, larger than life. Being in his presence aged the air, as if they were on top of an impossible mountain. His lungs seemed to need more oxygen than those of any human being, and his very existence diminished that of others.

Daniela knew it. She should never have dared to think she could win. But that didn't mean she couldn't give Alex a chance to end all this. It was too soon to give up.

——

The dragon finally fell with a thunderous impact. The earthquake shook the ruins of the buildings, making nearby structures sway. Dust clouds rose as debris fell around. Before she could react, Daniela was thrown off, flying away from the dragon... and away from her friend.

She no longer breathed, but still felt as if her breath had been cut off. She reached out toward the dragon's corpse, as if she could grasp it, as if she could find her in the depths of the beast.

She wanted to drag her from the darkness. Return her to the light, because she deserved it. Just because she had died in combat didn't mean her companion, her only companion in life, had to follow her.

Daniela wasn't in a hurry to reunite with her. She wished, more than anything else, that her friend would live a full life. That she could retire, even if that seemed impossible, and simply live as a human being, not as a hunter.

She would give anything for that. Anything. Even her soul.

——

From darkness to light. As if passing through the birth canal. In that moment, she supposed the sword cutting through was like a scalpel. Alex emerged into the open, slicing through flesh and bone as if shedding a cocoon, drenched in the dragon's fluids and her own blood. Her body was covered in wounds. She wasn’t sure how she had made it out—barely—of that hell. Nor was she certain how she had survived the fall, still trapped inside the beast.

It didn’t matter; there was no time to waste. Alex got to her feet. Dracula wasn’t far; after all, he too had been injured by the fall, walking with a slight limp. She assumed something more must have happened to him, but in any case, he didn’t seem to be at 100% of his strength. Perhaps it was simply because she had killed the dragon. Perhaps it was because the dragon had been a part of him.

In any case, whatever little time remained of the final battle would unfold in the ruins of the city, atop the corpse of that colossal monster.

And With a Smile That Judas in Hell Might Be Proud Of, Part 10: END