Marz and Lynx looked at one another again as they arrived back to the castle, they both still shaking and thinking about what happened and knew they had to get answers. Upon entering the castle, Verius was there waiting, glad to see his own son and Marz had returned safely. Lynx quickly rushed over and hugged him, he usually didn’t express the worry he did at that moment, but after what happened, he was scared. Verius could see that as he embraced the child and looked at Marz for him to clarify. “I’ll explain momentarily. I need to talk with my father before hand, something isn’t adding up.” He said before excusing himself towards the throne room to talk to his father about what happened at the prison. Upon entering his father glanced up and smiled softly as to greet the fox, not immediately aware the young warrior was currently faltering with trust as he walked over and did his usual bowing before looking at him. “Father, did you plan for us to kill that man? Is that why we were sent to the prison?” He asked, not even taking a moment to say anything else, which showed quite clear that it caught the king off guard.


“What do you mean Marz? Why would I send you and Lynx on such a dangerous job to kill someone? If I needed someone dead, I’d have Scathach, or even Silcia handle the jobs I’d never risk your life or my best friends sons life for such a thing. Why would you think I would?” The king wondered himself, he seemed clueless to what he was being asked. He knew he sent him to the prison but he didn’t have any recollection of murder being involved. Marz collected himself as he sighed and looked right at his father, showing a fragment of the weapon that blew up. “This is why I ask. While we were interrogating that man, Lynx’s weapon exploded. It almost blew up on his person if we didn’t notice and throw it. It only started when we were talking to that mage but even he was shocked. Someone wanted him dead as we talked.” Marz said, seeming a bit unsure of his father as the king listened in shock, his mouth slightly agape and his eyes widened in surprise, quickly rising from his throne and going to his son to look. He gently took the fragment and held it, a bit surprised as he could feel a lingering sense of magic on the piece. “Marz, go and relax in your room. Something isn’t right and I’m going to have Saria examine this. But trust me, I would never send you of all people to execute someone, especially as a sacrifice.” He told him, gently hugging the boy before sending him off.


Marz was lost from what his father said but gently nodded as he left the throne room, Wesker rushing over completely out of breath. Behind him was Bael “Wesker, calm down! What the hell is going on?!” He asked as he caught up panting. Wesker took a moment to catch his breath before looking at him, breathing heavily “The prison! It was attacked! Folks from our Kingdom were the attackers and Scathatch is trying to hold them off without killing!” He said as Bael and Marz looked at one another and nodded as Wesker ran in to alert Drax as Marz and Bael ran off to investigate. The duo ran back to see Scathatch surrounded by multiple soldiers, none had blood around them so it seemed she hadn’t killed any of them since most were citizens of Elderitch. Standing before he was Alucard, smirking as his hands sparked a little.


“A-Alucard?!” Marz heard himself yell out as the wolf smirked sinisterly as he glanced back towards the two, his left eye completely bitch black, his right eye normal with a red iris, he looked more broken than when he was normal. “So, the pathetic royals finally showed up, I was getting bored fighting this lowly soldier. So shameful, can’t even kill these simple grunts, had to knock them out instead.” He sneered as he walked around, holding a knife. “Sometimes…” He smirked and suddenly slit the throat of one of the unconscious soldiers, a human who looked no older than nineteen. “Sometimes… death is necessary.” He laughed a bit and suddenly stomped down hard on the chest of another soldier, a wolf woman. They could see the armor on her chest shattering and they saw blood spread across Alucard’s foot, the sound of bones snapping apart heard around them, Bael grunting as Marz felt sick to his stomach. Scathatch, in anger for the demon, raised her lance and charged him, only to be stopped by what could only be described as a demon, a monster with pitch black eyes, crimson red horns and teeth and claws coated in fire, knocking her to the side. “And sometimes you need a little… outside help.” He smirked and drew his dagger from his pocket and looked at Bael and Marz, the look of humanity was lost to him, any emotion he had besides rage was gone, they weren’t looking at Alucard, they were looking at a shell of a man who lost everything. His home, his king, his life, Alucard was a demon, there was nothing to say otherwise.


“Marz, run to the castle, tell Maxwell and your father that this isn’t Alucard, this isn’t good.” He said and readied his rifle, Scathatch charging and clashing with the demon that had knocked her away, the blood around Alucard giving off a weird glow, not from the reflection of the sun, but as if Alucard was using it, manipulating the blood to make the demon stronger. Marz refused to back down as he dashed at Alucard as Bael fired, the man dodging the bullet with a speed no normal being would ever achieve. Marz swung and managed to connect with Alucard, but the man simply grunted and grabbed his staff, quickly spinning it around and clutching Marz’s arm, twisting enough until he could hear the bone shatter, Marz yelling in pain as he was thrown down, trying to stand as Alucard put his foot on his throat, smirking as he flipped the knife across his fingers, blood from the dagger dripping down and hitting Marz on the face. “Such a shame, you would’ve made a fabulous king, or even a wonderful knight for me and Leblanc, but you just had to fight instead. Such a waste of power and potential.” He smirked and applied pressure. Marz tightly shut his eyes, preparing for the end, but was shocked when it never arrived.


He slowly opened his eyes and saw Inferno rapidly swinging his sword and pushing Alucard back, the demon blocking every attack as if ready and knowing where they’d be. “You piece of shit, don’t interfere! You’re worse than that bastard of a father you had!” Alucard said and without hesitating took the handle of the dagger and smacked it hard against Infernos temple, the dragon prince yelping in pain as the dagger handle snapped and part of his skull was heard doing the same as he stumbled and fell next to Marz. While Alucard was distracted, Bael took the chance and shot Alucard, the man moving barely fast enough as he felt the bullet penetrate his hand, making him grunt and quickly clench his fist, catching the bullet on the other side. “Damn you, I can’t fight like this. There’s just so many of you. But mark my words once the time is right, you’ll all be bowing to me!” He smirked and suddenly vanished on a shroud of darkness, leaving the remaining people to fight the demon he had summoned. Scathatch was holding her own well, but it was clear help would be appreciated as Bael helped Marz up and the duo rushed to the mute warriors side. The demon screeched loudly and spread wings from its back, the shredded remains of the demonic wings dripping with blood as they slowly swayed in the air, the flapping sound heard clearly to the trio.


Bael took aim and motioned to the two to surround it as he quickly fired a bullet, the two rushing opposite sides of the beast as it side stepped towards Mars, who proceeded to smack the pole against its side, which made it stumble towards Scathatch, who pulled up her sword and swung with furious resolve, the sword swiping down across the beasts chest, which proceeded to let out an ear splitting screech that caused the surrounding area to rumble as he snatched her arm and swung her, throwing her at Bael, who grunted in surprise as he caught her but both flew back and hit the ground hard, near Inferno who watched weakly as he was too weak to get up. Marz watched in shock and growled a bit as his eyes started glowing a faint purple, glaring a little at the beast as he spun his weapon a little before setting it to the side and charging the beast, throwing a punch that was caught, but the sound of shattering was heard as the beast roared again and punched him in the chest, throwing both of them in opposite directions, the demon unable to move its hand and Marz landing in his feet holding his chest, but wasn’t giving up, knowing the demon would never surrender.


The two were about to collide again until an arrow came zipping past Marz’s head, grazing his ear and hitting the demon right where his heart would be, Marz looking behind him in shock as Jamie walked up. “Good thing I made it, Alexander felt something was off when prince Inferno suddenly ran away from the castle. Who knew Alucard would go so far as to learn demonic arts to bring back this ancient evil.” Jamie said, before taking a string from his arrow holder and grabbed his dagger. “Return to whence you came, for this realm is not for you. Demon beast, suffer!” He yelled and cut the string, the beast suddenly erupting in a fountain of fire and bright light, the surrounding area being hit by the shockwave as Marz was pushed back a little by the force. Bael and Scathach weakly stood and looked at where the monster once stood, Jamie tying his bow to his back as he went and lifted Inferno onto his back to carry him, Bael looking in shock as all the remained of the beast was a small crater. “What the hell was that Jamie?!” He said in shock as the man motioned them to follow as he carried Inferno “Come, we shall discuss this at the castle. If this is as bad as it looks, we might need a bit more than our strengths.” He said, the trio exchanging looks as Marz slowly turned back to normal, before they finally started walking behind the soldier. The three didn’t know what they fought, but from what Jamie did, they knew it wasn’t going to be something easy.


The trip back to the castle was quite silent as they walked, the three were still trying to gather their thoughts about what had unfolded before them, Inferno had fallen unconscious from the pain, and Jamie was usually just silent. What felt like a long journey soon ended as they arrived at the castle and were greeted by Lyle and Saria, both shocked at everyone’s conditions. “What happened?” Lyle asked them as he went to retrieve Inferno. Jamie helped Lyle adjust Inferno so he was carrying him before shaking his head. “Take Prince Inferno to the medical ward and meet us in the council chamber, me and Alexander have to share something important.” He explained, Lyle being flustered too much to answer as he just carried Inferno down to get taken care of. Ornstein saw as he was patrolling the medical ward at the moment, shocked to see his boyfriend in such a condition. “What had happened?” He asked as Lyle just rushed to the nurses who were quick to help him, taking Inferno to get treated. Lyle motioned Ornstein to follow him, who was still quite confused but did so, following him towards the council chamber where everyone involved, including King Drax, Saria and Draga were gathered.


“After today’s events, I think it is best Jamie and I explain to you all what it was Marz and them fought. But to preface, we have no idea as to how Alucard came to hold such power, we only know what said power is and why it’s bad he has it.” He said as everyone took a seat to listen. “This story dates back to before Elderitch had even been founded, long before even Great King Arvinia, our kings grandfather, even took lead of this land. My people are descendants of the natives of this land, the ones who were born and raised here. They were a group of, what we call now, guardians, formerly known as the Abrien. They were a clan of demon hunters. I guess it would be easier to say, long before this land was ran by humans and anthro beings alike, demons once were in charge, they were the highest power. The Abrien had crafted a way to change that.” Alex started explaining, everyone watching with curiosity as they listened to his story, Alex standing and pacing a little. “My three time great grandmother was the leader of said clan, and she held what Jamie used to dispatch the demon he just fought, the Abrien Arrow, they take years to craft even a single one and they were made by the clan to wipe away the demons from this land. Only twenty of those arrows continued being passed down, and Jamie had to use one.”


“So would we be able to make more, and use them against Alucard if he’s going to continue bringing demons back to this realm?” Bael interjected as the duo looked, Jamie shaking his head and looked at everyone. “The required ingredients to make these arrows had long gone extinct. And even then, like we said, they’d take years to make. But that doesn’t entirely mean bad omens. Prince Marz showed they can be fought normally, it just takes more effort. I plan to keep these arrows as a last resort because of that.”


“Correct. Now as I was saying.” Alex said before returning to his story. “The Abrien did eventually succeed in wiping out all demons, all but one. That one barely escaped. It has been passed down through history that my grandmother heard it vow to return in a new form, and I was skeptical when you all fought Drazernon that he was that vow taking form, especially when he transformed into the beast. But seeing Alucard is able to summon them, I believe his spirit took form as Alucard, and he’s coming to reclaim the land that was once theirs. The only problem I’m having with this is…” he went silent as he grabbed a book and opened it to show a prophecy, written in a language none of them had seen before. “This passage left by the Abrien, that I’ve been trying to translate, states that when the time for the demon god to try and reclaim his throne comes, up will rise a king of demonic descent that fights for what the Abrien stand for. However, the only ones that fit this criteria as a demon king-to-be would Wesker and Inferno, and Wesker already admitted he has no power he can use. And with Inferno, he has no light power in him. He’s dark, but good, and so he can’t be the one mentioned, unless the power of light and dark can both exist in one being.” Alex pondered as the others looked around amongst themselves.


“Then I guess we'll just have to fight back and keep holding out until we find this king who will fight alongside us.” Drax stood up, the others looking to the king. “If your prophecy says it will happen, and half already came to fruition, than I will trust you. For now, everyone train, and be ready for what we will be heading into, we will fight for our people, and to stop Alucard.” He ordered, everyone nodding as he turned and left, Alex still having his worries.


“Brother, there is nothing else we can do but wait. I know your fear, but his majesty is right, we just have to fight. Our ancestors wouldn’t just make a prophecy and only half of it would be true. Let’s just trust the king we have chosen to fight alongside, and I know things will hopefully be clear.” Jamie told Alex, who sighed and nodded. “You are right. The Abrien prophecy has not steered us wrong yet. Jamie, start looking into preserving your arrows and making sure they’re ready, it will be up to us to help everyone here how to fight these beasts.” Alex said, as Jamie nodded and stood, taking his leave. The remaining group looked around and all shared similar thoughts of worry, but knew they just had to trust Jamie and Alex.