"Give me information on Hydra!"
Rumlow roared loudly, his tone filled with rage.
He slammed his two-handed great hammer into the ground, glaring at the Werewolf Captain with furious intensity.
His usually sharp and efficient appearance now looked somewhat unkempt; his short hair had grown out into a medium length, and his aura was like that of an enraged lion.
His hair danced wildly with the force of his anger, the veins on his neck bulging visibly.
"Werewolf!"
Matthew swung his flail heavily, smashing it into the Werewolf Captain's leg with a dull thud.
The powerful werewolf seemed completely unaffected, staring at Matthew without uttering a word.
The flail, now stained with werewolf blood, was thrust once again into the Werewolf Captain's chest.
The hand axe flipped upward in a slashing motion, but it only left a seemingly severe gash across the Captain's chest.
The Werewolf Captain remained silent, as if he had lost the ability to speak over the long passage of time.
With calm indifference, he casually took a silver coin from his pocket and tossed it high into the air toward Matthew.
Killing a werewolf wasn't actually that difficult; piercing the heart with silver was a proven method. If one possessed mystical powers, they could also deal significant damage.
The Werewolf Captain simply wished to die in battle. As long as the person who killed him was worthy of being called strong, that was enough.
He didn't care who killed him, nor did he care if his killer was human.
"Hydra? That organization which betrayed the Reich?"
The Major's voice rang out at the opportune moment, his mechanical eyes flashing with red light.
Back in the day, there had been considerable contact between the Last Battalion and Red Skull's Hydra, but the animosity between the two factions had eventually run deep.
"Stop talking about that. What exactly do you people want?"
Steve raised his shield. Seeing the situation calm down slightly, he asked directly.
"They just want to destroy themselves, Captain America."
MODOK's giant head squeezed in from the other side, holding the only doctor the Last Battalion trusted in his grasp.
Without First Lieutenant Zorin Blitz to restrain him, MODOK could easily control the researcher in his hand.
Now, MODOK had turned the tables. Rather than being treated as an accomplice of the Third Reich, he felt that the identity of "Leader of A.I.M." (Advanced Idea Mechanics) was a much better fit.
He was merely someone who had been "threatened" and forced to join this war.
Even though A.I.M. was actually the faction with the closest ties to Red Skull's Hydra.
"Who are you?"
Steve unknowingly lowered his shield. Although MODOK's mind control wasn't powerful enough to instantly dominate him, it could still exert some influence.
At this moment, the Major had no intention of exposing MODOK. He, too, wanted to see what this somewhat cowardly big-head planned to do.
"I am just a scientist abducted by these lunatics. Your arrival is the outcome I've been hoping for most. By the way, have you heard of the name 'A.I.M.'?"
MODOK glanced at the motionless Major, his entire face filled with nonchalant mockery.
He still had two choices, though the victor between the two sides had long been decided.
The Last Battalion would not be the victors—at least, not living victors.
Naturally, MODOK chose to stand on the side of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Right now, their last trump cards are the modified Walter outside, and that werewolf. As for anything else, I don't know.
"Now, please deal with them. As for Hydra, we at A.I.M. can provide some relevant information afterward as compensation."
MODOK felt that he had finally seized the initiative in this situation and began to put on airs again.
Fortunately, the people who had entered didn't care much about his attitude; MODOK wasn't going anywhere anyway.
"So, Mr. MODOK... did you think we would just leave Mina Harker's body lying around? We have been researching vampires for who knows how many years."
The man held in MODOK's grasp spoke with a laugh.
Mina Harker was dead, but she hadn't turned into a puddle of blood like ordinary vampires do after death.
Her skeleton still existed, which meant there was a possibility of resurrection.
It was just that, usually, there was no need to attempt such a risky endeavor that could easily spiral out of control.
"The Vampire of the Mist isn't dead?"
Dugan couldn't help but speak up; he still cared quite a bit about his old comrade.
"Though she might be even crazier than you imagine. After all, as an immobile skeleton, what can she do? At the very least, she isn't the 'Vampire of the Mist' you knew anymore."
The Major stood up and walked directly toward Steve. Looking at the hero whose legend was built upon the corpse of the Third Reich, he spoke.
He showed no fear.
His mechanical body, with most of its artificial skin destroyed, was clearly exposed to everyone's eyes.
"Monster!"
John Wick, looking at the Major's body, subconsciously spat out the word.
"No, no, no! I am human!"
The Major spoke with a smile still hanging on his half-ruined face, but his tone carried a haughty contempt.
Deep down, he believed himself to be human—unwaveringly so.
This conviction was comparable even to Father Anderson's faith.
On the battlefield all those years ago, he had once possessed the opportunity to become a vampire.
It wasn't a gift from Alucard, but an opportunity born from his genuine curse against God.
Just like the moment Alucard was beheaded, when he had the chance to lap up the blood.
When he was gunned down by soldiers shouting "Ura!" and fell to the ground, he watched his cherished medal fall into the dirt. In that moment, he felt the blood on the ground surging toward him.
[Immortality is excellent. Its power is dazzling. Using blood as currency to exchange for soul and life.]
This was what the Major thought as he lay prone on the ground.
He watched the surrounding blood creep toward him as if it had found its target.
And to this opportunity for immortality, the Major said only one word: "Scram!"
All the encroaching blood recoiled from him, forming a circle around his body, unable to approach this dying human.
[My heart, my soul, and my life all belong to me alone. The merging with other lives, the fusion of life, the integration of spirits—that is the essence of a vampire.]
[How wonderful! That must be wonderful! That must be exciting! But don't make me laugh! I will never do it, no matter what!]
[What is mine is mine! Every drop of blood, every strand of hair! I am me! I am me!]
As the Major watched the Doctor rush from the vehicle toward his dying form, that was what he thought.
He rejected becoming a monster, stubbornly choosing to remain himself.
Even at the cost of becoming this almost entirely mechanized form—he was human!
[How enviable. Dazzling and beautiful. Worthy of love, worthy of hate! That is why you are worthy of being my enemy!]
[I have finally found my nemesis. For this, we have prepared for decades, solely to defeat the vampire as humans!]
And now, the chance to defeat the vampire was here!
Mina Harker! Stripped of her vampire components, yet as a blasphemy against life, this skeleton was finally awakened!
A skeleton that had lost all reason in death, yet still blasphemed the very existence of life!
(End of Chapter)
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