Have you ever been sent to the principal office or hell any other stern faced authority figure in your life?. That they know you did something and are determined to get to the bottom of it.
That's what’s happening to me right now, except instead of a principal I got an immortal half vampire warrior sorcerer (with that many traits he is almost a Mary Sue) standing protectively in front of a fallen Yoko Belnades.
Did I mention that he can murder me quite easily and unlike Graham he is as mentioned before and actually a competent warrior with centuries of experience. Weird magic or not I am not gonna beat him in combat.
Then again Alucard is also a level headed and has actual morals thanks to Mama Tepes.
He
So let's take a leap of faith and see where it takes me.
“What do you want to know, Mr. Tepes?”
His real name must be quite the secret since the question caught him off guard. Well to must people he did not react at all, but I can see the concepts surrounding him become a beehive of activity. He must have some mystical defenses since I can't see his concepts very clearly like if they were covered by a thin layer of mist.
“Who are you and why do you know so much? He asks in a tense and unfriendly tone.
“What did you know about the multiverse?
“I don’t have the time to waste on fantasies. I won’t ask again, who are you? He asked me in an emotionless and quite scary tone now.
“Don’t look at me like that, it's actually relevant. First, even though I am human, I have a special existence known as a planeswalker. Essentially it's a type of mage that can travel to a different universe”.
I started speaking fast because the concepts are aligning in a formation that while I don't know what it means it's giving me the chills.
“That's how I know about you guys, it's the echoes” I said, inventing a concept on the spot. Bullshit as its finest ladies and gents.
“Echoes?” Said the dhampir in a singly puzzled tone.
“It’s when different realities touch each other in myriads of ways, well touching is a strong word it's more or less like shadows in a wall”
“Fictional media” I said as I made air quotes. “Such as movies,novels, music, even dreams are prime examples of this, of course it's not a 1 on 1 thing especially since stories usually have to go through a creative process in the author's mind or get into the muddy waters of capitalism. After all it's not unusual for stories to be revised to make a “better” product no.”
Any fan of Cowboy bebop and the Witcher knows it well.
“In my home universe Castlevania” I pause gesturing around me. “Is an old video game franchise that depicts the struggle of the Belmont clan against Dracula over the centuries from Leon to Trevor to Simon to Richter…well until he got killed by Lucius and made it stick. Am I right so far?”
He didn’t answer but at least he is not projecting that scary feeling anymore so I continue.
“You said a planeswalker can travel to other universes, what else can you do?”
“Many things like the magic construct thing” I said pointing towards my summons. “And we are innate magicians, I have awakened recently so I am still exploring my powers. Out of three of us I am sadly the weakest”
“Three of you?” Said the puzzled dhampir.
“Well Soma, me and Graham. That guy was a cult leader so I guessed he has some background in occult matters, Soma and I are basically civilians but Soma has home field advantage being Dracula reincarnation”
“You know about that”
“Yeah its the “plot twist” of the game, Graham is a pretender, his mother pop him out at a lucky or unlucky moment depending how you see it”
“And yet you fought Graham who you claim to be the stronger than you”
“I went mano a mano in a 3 on 1 match with magical equipment and I could only fight him to a draw, for glorified speed bump the dude is a beast” I said gesturing at my and Zombitron equipment.
“Speedbump? What made you say that?”
“He is not the final boss of the game, Chaos is”
“ As for my goals, I wish to learn magic and develop my style so I need to live through the night, for that I am stacking the deck so to speak” I said looking him in the eye.
“You could wait with Mina and survive there” said Alucard as matter of fact.
“I could yes, but I am not cute enough for the damsel in distress role Mina already cornered that market anyway . Besides opportunities and risk goes hand in hand, this place is the most dangerous place on the world therefore the best place to get stronger” I said channeling as much inner shonentard as possible with a dash of dnd murderhobo for good measure.
“One more thing, under no circumstances anything bad should happen to Mina, if she dies is Dark Lord Soma bad ending, probably with a new reincarnation cycle. So chief, what’s verdict, do I get to live? I said trying to sound more confident than I sound.
“You said there is a portal gate nearby isn’t, make yourself useful and let’s go” He said while pointing at a comatose Yoko.
“Right away chief” I said as I put Yoko into my back as gently as possible. Even with magic, that stab wound looks painful. Also I don’t think Yoko would appreciate woking up in the arms of a zombie or a demon
“Don’t call me that”
“Sure thing boss” I responded as cheeky as possible.
“...”
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I flinch a bit as I step into the Arena, feeling the abrupt change of environment. Unlike the way the gradual and “natural” way the aqueducts gave way to the cavern, the transition from the Reservoir to the Arena is sudden like a collage both visually and magically, going from the natural grayish blue stone of the cavern to yellow stonework and metal.
What is more yarring is the clash of blue and red mana in the point where the change of decor occurs is like two raging rivers clash head on.
“Is there something wrong?
“Don’t you feel the change in the flow of magic?”
He only raises an eyebrow.
“It’s like stepping from a freezer into the sun at summer, it's a bit unsettling, I just need a moment”
“I see”
I close my eyes and follow the path to the core of the land. Immediately I feel the presence of RED wash over me like an affectionate overly large dog, the kind that bowls you over in excitement and just happy to see you.
I just accept the feeling and let the land bond itself to me. The feeling of clashing energies diminishes but does not go away. Well color gonna be colors I guess.
“Where you looking for me?” I ask to the new star.
I receive an excited YES in response followed by photo-like images of my going through the Reservoir, the curious part is all the pictures look like selfies taken by a smirking blue haired girl.
Da fuq?. Shitposting on social media.
This is not how I imagine the color, first WHITE and BLACK now this.
Whatever, this is a problem for future me.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Do you know where the warp gate is?”
A sudden feeling of vertigo assaulted me, it's like I just hop into a roller coaster full of spins and sharp turns until I see an enormous portal of purple marble adorned with jewels and intricate arcane patterns, lastly it was framed by two statues of winged skeletons of the same material as the portal.
I shook my head and went back to the real world.
When I came back Alucard was looking at me rather strangely.
“The magic flow changed, it's more stable, what did you do?”
“I am sensitive to mana so I looked and around and noticed the clash between the magic flow from the cavern and the arena, so I try to smooth the disturbance between the two and I kinda succeed, I mean the disturbance it's still there but is more muted”
“While looking at the disturbance I also got the direction where the gate room is” I said pointing up.
Soon we arrived at a spacious circular room illuminated by bronze braziers. From the look of it like some sort of storage area for weapons and armor they use for the arena “games”. All the equipment looks combat worthy but nothing special The sole exception being a gigantic axe and sword suspended in the air by sturdy looking chains. So I help myself to a few patterns and concept shards, You never know when they will come in handy.
I would like to say the rest of the journey back to the surface was as exciting as the descent but not really, Alucard practically killed everything with contemptuous ease. Soon we arrived at the teleport room.
“So Alucard-sensei, how do you use these portals?” I asked my companion since I don’t think they are going to be as user friendly as in the games.
As we neared the gate the jewels in the left side of the portal started glowing .
“Each jewel of represent the gates through the castle, once you visit a gate it will attune to you and light a jewel in the panel, since you have not visited another gate I will open the path”
I originally thought the gates were nothing more than a quality of life feature from the game. How wrong I was. This is art and power brought together. I can see SPACE, CONNECTION, ATTUNEMENT, MEMORY and many other concepts working together not to create a teleportation effect like I originally thought but a stable wormhole to bridge both locations.
I must have spent a long time staring at the beautiful marvel of magic engineering until a cough broke me out of my reverie.
“Sorry sensei I lost myself analyzing the gate, it's amazing”
“ It is. But now it’s not the time, lets go”
“Yes of course” I said as I followed him through the gate into a misty corridor until we came out in an identical room to the one we came from.
Outside of the room was a hallway with a rather big hole in the ground and a set of stairs going upward.
“The hallway connecting to the entrance is down there, can you get Miss Belnades down there?” said Alucard, looking at me standing next to the hole.
“Yes I can levitate us down there”
“Very well, wait while I clear the hallway”
“I don’t think the other would appreciate a monster coming with us so wait here guys” I look at my summons send mentally some orders.
Once that's done I call upon blue mana to levitate us down like I did back in the cavern. Once on the ground I hear a moan of pain coming from Yoko, damn I hope that Mina can help her. Miko abilities are more of a generic priestess rather than a dedicated healer.
It did not take long to get to the entrance of the castle. I can see Hammer business has been good, he now has crates of stuff and his bazaar tarp is full of new items. Soma is one busy boy.
“Yoko-neechan!!” Screamed Mina as she runned towards us as she realized the state of Yoko.
“What happen son” said Hammer in worry.
“That bastard Graham backstabbed Yoko, I barely made it in time to drive him off. We managed to stabilize Miss Yoko to move her but she needs dedicated medical care.”
I walked towards an open area and conjured a clean folded tarp to use as a makeshift futon for Yoko to rest. Damn her wounds reopen. But how? I make sure to close them.
“What, you can make stuff now”
“No the time Hammer marvel at my abilities later”
“Mina can you help her?, I did the best I can but I not a healer I also give her a healing potion”
“Yes leave it to me, I will save” said the girl with determination as she began to work as gentle golden light enveloped her hands. Now that I remember the lore said Yoko is like an older sister to Mina since she visits the temple regularly probably to check the seal alongside Alucard.
I looked at Mina as sweat started to pour from her forehead.
“What's wrong?”
“I can’t fully heal her, something is inside of her that is preventing me from fully heal her. I don’t have the power to help her” she said as worry and desperation gnawed at her heart.
I looked inward and asked WHITE “Can you help her?”
In turn I received a TRIAL INCOMPLETE. I was afraid of this. Healing her is part of the trial. Dammit Graham you are an ass even when you are not here.
How the hell he sneaked a curse. I know it was the heat of battle but neither Alucard nor me detected something. A parasite like curse maybe or a slow acting one. It doesn’t matter, we need to get rid of it.
Then I remembered the potion I found in the Reservoir. According to BLUE it has two effects one is to replenish mana and the other is that it permanently enhances the inner magic of the imbiber.
“Power, hmmmm” I said as I rummaged through my pockets, looking for the potion.
“Here use this”
“T-that's a Mana Prism potion, where d-do you find that?, they are super rare” Mina stared in open shock at the crimson potion.
“Oh this, I found it in a vending machine in the castle for 300 yen, I swear those things are everywhere”
“P-please don’t joke like that it take a grandmaster years to make one b-but even with the power up I won’t have enough magical power to fully restore her”
“Look Mina I pick magic fast but even then I don’t have the experience nor the aptitude you have so don’t worry I give you my mana so you can concentrate on heal her and let me worry about the rest ok”
Just from what little I have seen, I can tell that this girl has some real talent. She could become one of the greatest healers of this world.
“O-ok” said Mina as she closed her eyes and took a calming breath, then she opened the bottle and drank all of it then she grabbed her chest in pain. But the girl is a trooper and fought through pain and got to work.
After a few moments I kneel behind her and put a hand on her back and gently start to channel white mana while I analyze the wound.
I think I see something, then in my inner cosmos the concept of CONNECTION and ATTUNEMENT began to vibrate, signaling a black string coming out from a tiny black shard of metal in the wound.
That's why we didn’t detect anything wrong with Yoko. The shard is from the knife, Graham is using it to channel his power into the wound and since he is getting power from the castle Mina would burn out first.
First I grab the string and send a strong pulse of purification power to it. I hope you like purification, asshole.
“Mina there is a tiny shard of metal in the wound, take it out, that bastard Graham is using it to channel his power to prevent the healing”
I tried to block the flow of demonic power with my white mana but it was too strong.
Once more one of my concepts emerged to help me, this time it was SEAL from the Hakuba Shrine. It sent me the idea to use it to block the flow and since Graham was sending industrial amounts of power through the link a sudden obstruction will create a backlash right back into him since the power has nowhere to go.
I grin as I almost could hear the grunts of pain from the bastard
“I got the fragment out Ferio-san” Once the tiny piece of metal was out of the wound the channel broke.
“Good now let's close the wound for real this time”
“Hai”
It took us what it felt like eternity to close the wound but probably was only a few minutes. Color returned to Yoko's face and her breath returned to an easy even pattern.
“Mmmmhhh” Yoko moans a bit as she slowly opens her eyes,
“Onee-chan!!!, I am so glad you are alright” said Mina as she hugs her surrogate sister, tears of relief spilling from her eyes.
“M-Mina, is that y-you? What happened? Asked a tired Yoko
“That bastard Graham stabbed you remember, He took advantage of a shard of the broke from the knife and was cursing you”
“Hai, Ferio-san and I teamed up to save you, Onee-chan,” said Mina, still hugging Yoko.
“Thank you both of you-u sniff sniff Mina why you reek of impurities?”
You know in the whole heat of the moment I wasn’t really paying attention but yeah I get a whiff of the rotten fishy smell from Mina, must have been the potion and purification power drawing the impurities out of her body.
“EEHHHH” In her worry she didn't notice the smell, mind you it is not as bad as mine. Probably the purification power present in her body.
“Probably the Mana Prism potion” I said as I conjured a new one from my pocket, pattern summoning for the win.
“F-ferio-s-san h-ow you have a second one” said mina while shaking her finger at me in disbelief.
“I told you I found a vending machine that sold the at 300 yen, I thought they were basic potions since they were so cheap”
“Y-you could buy an luxury apartment in downtown tokyo with the production cost alone”
“Is that so?”I said nonchalantly. That's impressive , I heard once that the cost of such an apartment starts around 10 million USD.
“So want one?” I said as I pulled another one from my pocket. Welp there goes all my blue mana.
Forgive me father for I have simped. The lengths I go for trolling people.
“But but” I think I broke her
“Don’t worry as I say before I gotten them for cheap”
Still in a state of disbelief she took the potion from me and held it like the holy grail itself, well for a spell caster it probably was.
“Drink well, I'm going to need your help for a little project” I said, chuckling a little.
“Whatever you need I help Ferio-san” asked
“Good because we are going to blackma-cough I mean beseech the heavens for help”
“WHAT!!!”