"Teacher, I just want to know... now that we have lost the strength of all the Paladins, how do you intend to breach the River of Blood?"
Maxwell watched the encroaching crimson tide with a smile that carried a distinct, sinister gloom.
"Who could have known demons would appear in this place? That fellow, Hellboy, really is a nuisance."
Father Anderson's expression was equally grim.
Maxwell had come here to proclaim the power of the Church and gather faith, but the Paladins he had assembled had not come here simply to die.
Between Alucard's River of Blood and the demons of Hell, the demons were undoubtedly the more dangerous threat.
If Hellboy hadn't drawn the Sword in the Stone, the Paladin legion would have been sufficient to wear down Alucard's River of Blood.
This was the tacit understanding between the Church and the Millennium Organization: Alucard was their common enemy.
The Millennium Organization—the "Last Battalion"—wanted nothing more than to die in war. Those lunatics, obsessed with self-destruction, had no intention of ruling the world.
"So, Teacher, if I use the Holy Nail, will I become a Saint like you?"
Maxwell's face bore a bright smile.
This young man, who had been so bent on becoming a superior being standing above all others, still retained some conscience after all. Perhaps it was because Father Anderson's status was no longer what it used to be.
For the Church, the gap between an executioner of Section XIII and a living Saint was immeasurable.
The current Anderson was God's spokesperson on earth. Not of some intangible, abstract deity, but of the Archangel of Valor, who had just recently manifested a fraction of his power.
The Church would not dare let Father Anderson harbor any unnecessary ill will toward them at a time like this.
"I do not know. But once you become that thing, you can never return to what you are now."
Anderson slightly lowered his eyelids as he spoke.
On the side, shock was visible on Yumie Takagi's face.
Among Anderson's disciples, Maxwell had always been the unpopular one. His overly intense ambition made him difficult to like.
"My goal has already been achieved. Now, it is time for me to do something for you, Teacher."
Maxwell's expression grew somewhat unhinged; one could even see his molars through his widely grinning mouth.
He pulled a wooden box wrapped in tattered gauze from his pocket, his eyes revealing a madness ready to sacrifice everything.
"The lingering scent of a miracle! Aside from the Shroud of Turin, the Spear of Longinus, and the True Cross, this is the final Holy Relic—Helena's Nail!"
Alucard looked at Maxwell with a hint of displeasure.
"I thought you would stand before me as humans. Yet now, you intend to discard your humanity to become a weak monster like me?"
A blood-red light flashed across Alucard's spike-covered armor.
The blood covering the ground formed spikes, hoisting the corpses high into the air.
"It is not yet your time to sacrifice yourself! Maxwell!"
Anderson stared at the nail, which emitted a silvery-white radiance, and spoke with a stern tone.
Although he had initially been prepared to drive this nail into his own heart, he had abandoned that plan.
A monster is a monster. Anderson remained deeply dissatisfied with the existence of monsters.
As the Apostle of the Archangel Imperius, Anderson's faith had quietly shifted.
Who could understand the will of "God" better than he?
Anderson's identity and Imperius's will had nearly merged into one.
"It is merely a River of Blood. The dead will eventually fall like withered grass before a winter wind. You do not need to do this."
Holy flames began to blaze furiously around Father Anderson.
"Teacher... only after I climbed above other men did I realize that this path has no end. Above humans, there are Gods! And there are monsters!"
Maxwell's eyes turned bloodshot.
"How can a man who stands above men compare to monsters and Gods? Just this once, let me experience what it feels like to truly transcend humanity! My life exists for the sole purpose of standing at the pinnacle!"
"Foolishness!"
Alucard's mustache trembled as he spoke, his hatred for the act of becoming a monster palpable.
As someone who had personally experienced that sensation, Alucard's attitude toward all non-human monsters was even more resolute than Father Anderson's.
"To become a 'weak' monster like me... to reach a state where nothing can ever move your heart again... how utterly foolish!"
Alucard's voice, usually calm, carried a rare emotional charge as he roared.
"Then why did you turn that police girl into a vampire? Seras Victoria? Or Dragulina? Or perhaps Mina Harker? You created a monster, and relying on that monster's existence, we created more monsters."
The Major's voice drifted from a television set nearby. On the screen, his ruined face, half-missing, still wore a mocking smile.
"I still have things to do, so I'll leave the communication equipment here!"
Warrant Officer Schrödinger shouted with an excited grin. The cat ears on his head twitched a few times before he vanished into thin air.
Schrödinger's Cat remained curious about the Weeping Angels. The existence of a similar entity made him feel, for the first time, that he was not alone.
"That was the path they chose."
Alucard's hair began to dance in the wind, his expression filled with sorrow.
The moment he was staked by Van Helsing, the vampire Mina Harker lost her protection.
The young girl who existed in his memories had now become a skeleton. A metal tag bearing the name "Mina Harker" was nailed to her skull, and she had been used as raw material.
That skeleton was in the crashed zeppelin not far away. At this very moment, MODOK, supporting his massive head, was looking at the female skeleton with a solemn expression.
"Because monsters cannot endure loneliness."
Father Anderson pushed up his glasses.
He did not intend to use violence to stop his disciple's choice; he only needed to confirm one thing: was becoming a monster truly Maxwell's own will?
"What thinking being can endure loneliness? Needing the blood and souls of others just to exist—that is why vampires are such weak monsters."
The Major's voice continued from the television. Faintly, the roar of a Barbarian could be heard from his end of the transmission.
It seemed Steve and his group had arrived at the scene and begun the final battle.
"Then let us begin. Before Walter awakens, let us end the battle between us."
Alucard swung his longsword casually.
If he died at the hands of Anderson, a human, then Walter would be forced to meet the end of his life carrying regret.
If he won, then Walter would get his chance to fight him.
As long as he ultimately died by human hands, Alucard would have no regrets.
Perhaps, aside from Integra—that young woman of only twenty-three years—Alucard no longer owed anything to anyone.
(End of Chapter)
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