Those who were inside the Hellsing manor at that moment watched as the burning airship slowly approached the ground after Seras had shot it down. The soldiers following Bernadotte hoped that all the vampires inside the burning airship would perish the moment it collided with the earth.
But those who followed Alex and had gone through more than one similar situation perfectly understood that everything definitely would not end with the airship's fall. The burning airship finally reached the ground, and in the very same second a loud explosion rang out. Despite Seras having sufficiently damaged the airship and its hull, there was still enough combustible gas inside the airship itself, which triggered the enormous explosion.
The shockwave rolled across the surroundings and tore out the nearest trees. Everyone watching this explosion froze in anticipation. And before Bernadotte's people could rejoice that it was all over before it even began, Seras's voice came over the general channel, warning everyone to stay alert, and even Lem and Price said the same, reminding everyone not to celebrate too soon.
And all because Seras with her own eyes clearly saw how, just a couple of instants before the airship collided with the ground, shadows jumped out of it that were difficult to make out. And it wasn't only Seras who saw this; Bernadotte, Lem, Price, and Ghost also saw it—they were in the command post, observing everything through the installed cameras.
"Got excited too early, ladies. Everyone pay attention, looks like this isn't the end yet. Looks like our guests aren't planning to leave," Bernadotte's voice sounded over the general channel.
When Bernadotte's voice came over the general channel, everyone saw that against the background of the burning airship stood a large group of vampires led by Zorin. But when they looked closer, they noticed that behind the army of vampire soldiers and their commander there were dozens of metal containers.
The metal containers standing behind the vampire army suddenly opened, and ghouls began emerging from them. Seras, still standing on the manor's roof, couldn't help but notice that these ghouls looked and behaved completely differently from ordinary ghouls. And it wasn't only Seras who noticed; others did too. Price, standing in the observation room, brought the cigar to his lips and took a small drag.
"What do you think, lads? About these dead ones? Don't they look familiar?" Price asked, exhaling cigar smoke.
"Yeah, they look very familiar. Fast dead ones. Even brings back memories," Lem said, exhaling cigarette smoke.
"Fast? You sure? Aren't these dead ones the most ordinary ones?" Bernadotte asked, having heard Lem and Price's discussion.
"If you don't believe it, take a closer look… Right here you can see how they're trembling. Ordinary ghouls are slow and clumsy… Pierce, zoom the camera in on one of the ghouls so Captain Bernadotte can see for himself," Price said, pointing at the screen.
Pierce, who had taken position by the window with a sniper rifle, zoomed the camera in as Price requested. Bernadotte, sitting in the observation post, noticed that the ghouls who had emerged from the containers were trembling, and he also noticed that some kind of injectors with unknown liquid were implanted in their necks.
Bernadotte quickly realized that they would have to face not only the vampire soldiers and their commander, but also an army of ghouls on steroids. And all Bernadotte could do in this situation was irritably clench the cigarette between his teeth. After all, he hadn't expected anything like this during the preparations.
But he was also glad that the people standing beside him had foreseen such a turn of events—that they would have to deal not only with vampires, but also with cannon fodder in the form of ghouls. Bernadotte picked up the radio and explained to his men what else they would have to face.
"Pierce, Lutz, go ahead and provoke their commander. I want to see how desperate she really is. Targets—the two vampires standing behind her," Lem said, giving the order over the general channel.
Lutz and Pierce, observing everything through their sniper rifles, heard Lem's order and immediately acquired the targets. Even though the airship had crashed quite far away, the power of their sniper rifles was enough to hit targets at a distance of more than 5 km. Pierce and Lutz exchanged glances, gesturing with hand signals to indicate which targets each had chosen.
Having conducted a quick conversation without uttering a word, Lutz and Pierce fired simultaneously. Thanks to her vampiric powers, Zorin heard the sound of the shots and slightly frowned, and a moment later the two vampires standing behind her were killed. Turning her head, she saw her dead subordinates, who hadn't even had time to react before they were killed.
The other soldiers were also surprised that someone had managed to hit them from such a distance that they hadn't even had time to react. And such a death undermined the vampires' morale not only because more than half of them had perished in the falling airship, but also because two more had already been killed before they could even approach the manor.
And seeing that the morale of her subordinates had been undermined by this, Zorin clenched her teeth in rage. After all, she had thought it would be no trouble at all to destroy the Hellsing manor and kill everyone inside.
"Kill them all. Kill every single one. Leave no one alive, raze the manor to the ground," Zorin said, clenching her teeth in anger.
After Zorin gave the order, the ghouls standing behind her began to tremble as the injectors implanted in their necks started injecting liquid into their spines, causing their trembling to intensify even more. When the murky liquid entered the ghouls' bodies, the veins on their bodies began to bulge, and their bodies emitted steam as if their dead, stiff corpses had been shoved into an industrial microwave.
As soon as the injection of liquid into the ghouls' bodies was complete, they broke from their positions and rushed toward the manor at tremendous speed. An army of hundreds of modified ghouls charged forward, leaving distinct tracks on the ground. These ghouls ran like wild beasts toward their prey. But before they could get within a kilometer of the manor, one of the ghouls stepped on a mine. When the mine was triggered, a bounding mine popped up from underground, hovered for a fraction of a second in front of the ghoul's face, and immediately exploded.
Following the first ghoul, others stepped on similar mines. In the same instant, sequential sounds began ringing out across the field. Seeing that the field was mined, Zorin smirked contemptuously, because the ghouls they had brought with them had been specially modified and were far more durable than ordinary dead ones.
But her contemptuous smile faltered when she noticed that the ghouls caught in the explosions were no longer getting up. More than fifty ghouls lay on the blast-torn ground and weren't even moving. Looking closer, she saw that the ghouls' bodies had turned into pincushions.
And all of this was watched by Lem, Price, Ghost, and Bernadotte, who with their own eyes saw what had happened to the ghouls, including the speed at which the ghouls had moved. Bernadotte had originally wanted to use ordinary mines to slow the vampires' advance.
And as soon as he suggested this option to mine the field behind the manor, a crate of bounding mines loaded with silver needles was placed in front of him and his men. That was when Bernadotte realized he had underestimated the people following Alex and the kind of gear that Alex's organization supplied.
Bernadotte looked at the screen, and a slight smirk appeared on his face because their enemy hadn't even managed to get close enough before part of their cannon fodder had already been killed.
"Non-human reflexes that let them dodge even bullets. A bestial thirst for human blood. The ability to predict their prey's movements. And non-human strength capable of tearing people apart with bare hands. But all of that pales in comparison to what they don't expect. And how will they act next? Interesting," Bernadotte said, clenching the cigarette between his teeth.
"They'll get stuck in place once they realize they can't advance any further. Unfortunately for them, they don't know we've got a fanatic obsessed with explosives. And all you have to do is give him a chance to blow something up. Right, Wylie?" Lem said with a smirk, stubbing out his cigarette in the ashtray.
In response, a light male laugh came over the general comms channel. Wylie stood by a second-floor window of the manor, holding the detonator for the explosives in his hands. With a light motion, Wylie adjusted his glasses and pressed the button on the detonator. The moment Wylie pressed the button, the explosives detonated in a chain reaction, catching not only the modified ghouls who continued charging toward the manor without fear despite some of them having died, but also the vampire soldiers running behind them.
The explosives that Wylie had placed the day before consisted of special containers loaded with silver shrapnel. And the moment the explosives were triggered, all that shrapnel flew in every direction, striking everyone within the blast radius. The vampire soldiers and ghouls hit by the silver shrapnel fell to the ground, writhing in pain and emitting loud screams of agony.
And as if that weren't enough, Wylie calmly pressed another button on the detonator, and the silver shrapnel detonated as well. After all, Lem hadn't been lying when he called Wylie an explosives fanatic. After Wylie joined Alex's guild, he was able to fully unleash his potential as a demolitions expert and explosives creator.
The explosions continued thundering without pause, and a light smile of enjoyment played on Wylie's face as he watched the blasts happening right before his eyes. Those watching the enemy army of vampires and ghouls die without even reaching the manor couldn't hold back smirks on their faces. Seras, standing on the roof, watched all of this with her mouth wide open, amazed at what she was seeing.
"What was that? What kind of devices are those?" Seras couldn't help asking after seeing all those explosions.
"Seras, we've had to deal with monsters far scarier than these pathetic vampires. Even with limbs torn off, they kept getting back up and regenerating. And the simplest way to kill creatures like that is to completely destroy their bodies. And our organization creates weapons like this to wage war against monsters—even the ones that are hard to kill. As our boss likes to say: anything can be killed; you just have to know how," Price's calm voice came over the general channel.
Seras nodded, and immediately remembered what she had talked about with Price a few hours earlier—that she should stop being surprised by everything she would see in the future. After all, even the fact that Jinx, who had given her the six-barreled minigun, had left through a hole in space was far more astonishing than explosives specially created to destroy large groups of monsters.
Seras thought about what the people following Alex must have gone through to have dealt with monsters in comparison to which vampires were merely minor parasites. Sighing, Seras thought that she really should talk to Alex about his family and his organization after all.
And Seras was ready to talk to Alex when all of this was over, and he himself had said he would tell her everything. Placing her hand on her chest pocket, Seras squeezed the vial of Alex's blood, hoping that nothing bad would happen. Quickly pulling herself together so she wouldn't get distracted, Seras grabbed her six-barreled minigun and the huge box of 30-millimeter rounds and ran downstairs in case help was needed.
Running down from the roof while holding her gear, Seras heard Lem's voice over the general channel giving the order to begin the attack on the vampires. When Seras reached the third floor, she heard a distinct pop—the sound made when someone fires a grenade launcher.
A group of mercenaries stood by a third-floor window and were using an automatic grenade launcher capable of continuous fire. The others weren't sitting idle either and were using any available weapon to kill as many vampires and ghouls as possible before they could reach the manor.
Seras didn't stop and continued running across the third floor of the manor toward the observation room. Already approaching the observation room, Seras saw Lutz and Pierce sitting by the windows with sniper rifles, making precise shots and talking about how many each of them had managed to kill.
Running past the two snipers, Seras entered the observation room. Bursting into the observation room, Seras set the case of 30-millimeter rounds on the floor and propped her six-barreled minigun against it.
"Need any more help?" Seras asked after setting down her gear.
"Not yet. Bernadotte's people are still keeping the vampires at a fairly long distance. And their commander hasn't entered the fight yet. Right now they're hiding behind the hill. And they'll soon attack again after they regroup," Ghost said in a calm tone, arms folded across his chest.
"I don't like dealing with creatures like these. They always have some nasty abilities. Should've killed that freak when we had the chance. Instead of just pissing her off, old man," Soap said, entering the observation post.
"Can't do anything about it, Johnny. It's all our boss's order," Lem said, shaking his head slightly.
"What has he come up with this time? What crazy plan has hatched in that mad head of his now?" Soap asked, wondering what Alex had devised.
"It's not us who are supposed to kill the vampires' commander. It's her," Lem said, pointing a finger at Seras.
"Me? How am I supposed to kill her when she's there and we're here?" Seras asked in surprise, pointing at herself.
"The vampires will break through. We're not fighting brainless idiots; we're fighting ones who've fought in wars and have tremendous strength and reflexes. They only need a small breach in our defense, and they'll break into the manor. And we have to understand that this is inevitable. And Alex understood that perfectly well when he gave the order," Ghost said, explaining the situation as he saw it.
Hearing Ghost's analysis, Seras and Bernadotte realized the situation. Especially Bernadotte understood that no matter how long his people kept the vampires at a distance from the manor, ammunition has a tendency to run out when continuous fire is used to keep the enemy at bay.
And on top of everything, the vampires' commander hadn't yet entered the fight, and it was unknown what abilities she possessed. Bernadotte had already realized that some vampires had magical abilities that allowed them to do things that were, in principle, impossible.
But fortunately they had discussed a plan for the case if the vampires broke into the manor. Still, Bernadotte wanted to avoid that with all his strength, because the people following him were ordinary humans who definitely couldn't compete with vampires in speed and physical strength.
"Damn it. If we were fighting humans, those bastards would've already retreated. Any sane soldier would retreat in a situation like this," Bernadotte said, irritably clicking his tongue.
"But they're not humans; they're monsters. Ones like them never retreat. And that's why the simplest way to fight an enemy like this is to thin their ranks before they reach our position," Lem said, leaning on the table and lighting a cigarette.
"Can't argue with that. When all this is over, I'd like to hear your stories over a pint of beer. I'm really curious how your organization works, that you know so well how these kinds of monsters behave," Bernadotte said, stubbing out his cigarette.
"Alex was already planning to hire you into our organization. If you agree, you'll find out everything," Lem said, looking at Bernadotte.
"Tempting offer. I heard from Jake and Pierce that you get paid a hell of a lot for killing monsters. Way more than anyone could imagine," Bernadotte said, giving a slight nod.
While they continued talking, one of Bernadotte's men suddenly burst into the room and reported that the enemy had stopped attacking in response and had simply gone quiet. Even the army of modified ghouls had stopped trying to break through to the manor and had gone quiet too. Everyone understood that something was about to happen and that this lull wasn't for nothing.
Bernadotte raised the radio and ordered to cease fire so they would have time to catch their breath and figure out what the enemy was planning next. In the same second, outside the manor, Zorin Blitz stood behind her people, and her patience ran out when she realized that neither her people nor the modified ghouls she had brought with her could break through to the manor, so she decided to take matters into her own hands.
Zorin raised the hand covered in runes above her head, and an eye opened in her palm. Zorin began silently reciting a spell as her hand lowered. The magical runes on her arms began to glow with each word she uttered. And when she finished reciting the spell, she struck the ground with her hand, and the runes from her hand began to spread across the earth.
Gradually the runes flowed and merged together, forming a huge black puddle that bubbled beneath Zorin's feet. This black liquid spread in all directions, growing larger and larger with each moment.
And soon the black liquid stopped and began writhing like slime that started taking on some shape. This bubbling slime grew bigger and bigger, expanding to such a size that it became visible from the manor's windows.
All of Bernadotte's people froze in shock, staring at the thing that had appeared before their eyes; they couldn't understand what it was. Hearing the strange chatter from his men, Bernadotte ran out of the observation room and froze in place with his mouth wide open, staring at the enormous thing outside the window. Seras, who ran out after him, also froze in shock, unable to believe her eyes.
Only Alex's people saw nothing and exchanged glances with each other. And all they understood was that the mercenaries were seeing something huge while they themselves saw nothing. Price, Lem, Ghost, and Soap, who had left the observation room, realized that everyone was seeing an illusion—including Seras.
But they already had experience fighting illusions. At the same time, everyone saw how this huge black slime took on the form of Zorin Blitz, who raised her scythe above her head and was ready to strike. Seras, under the influence of the illusion, began to choke from the overwhelming fear and clutched the vial of Alex's blood as if it were her lifeline.
But soon she heard a soft female whisper in her head—the voice belonging to Alucard. She reminded Seras that she should stop looking at the world the way weak humans do and that she needed to rely on her vampiric senses. In the same instant Seras snapped out of it while the others were still under the illusion's influence.
Seras was about to tell the others that everything they were seeing was an illusion when she saw Lem smack Bernadotte on the back of the head, and he immediately came to.
"What… What was that?" Bernadotte asked in a daze, looking around.
"Just an illusion. Seras, while we help the others snap out of it, shoot that bitch. She's the one controlling the illusion. If you can kill her… Kill her," Lem said, irritably clenching the cigarette between his teeth.
"On it," Seras said, grabbing her rifle.
Lem immediately contacted his people, ordering them to help those nearby shake off the illusion and prepare for the vampires breaking through. Bernadotte, having come to, immediately realized the situation had turned as bad as it could get and grabbed his rifle. Seras grabbed her 30-millimeter rifle and took aim. Seras took a deep breath, relying on her senses to hit Zorin.
Focusing on her senses, she heard the screams of the mercenaries under the illusion, the thud of combat boots from the vampire soldiers and ghouls charging toward the manor. But her target was different—Seras's eyes searched for Zorin, who was controlling the illusion.
And within a second Seras spotted Zorin directing the illusion. Narrowing her eyes, Seras decided to kill Zorin to deprive the enemy of the commander who would give orders. Taking aim, Seras began firing to hit Zorin. Zorin ignored the bullets flying past her and continued directing her illusion to buy time for her subordinates to reach the manor.
But in the same instant Zorin sensed danger and jerked sharply to the side. Yet her reflexes didn't react in time, and when she jerked aside to avoid the fired bullet, that bullet still struck her, tearing off her arm. Zorin fell to the grass, and blood gushed from the severed limb. Zorin clutched the stump of her arm, loudly cursing and damning Seras.
Clenching her teeth from rage and pain, Zorin reached for the pouch on her belt and pulled out a syringe. In the same instant she plunged the syringe with liquid into her neck, and the liquid poured into her body. In the same instant the blood stopped pouring from the stump of Zorin's arm, and steam began rising from the wound as the arm started regenerating at tremendous speed.
At the same time, everyone who had been under the illusion came to, but it was already too late—the vampires and ghouls had reached the manor. Before Seras could lower her rifle, one of the modified ghouls leaped through a third-floor window. Without wasting a second, Seras grabbed it by the head and smashed it against the wall.
Deprived of its head, the ghoul's body twitched slightly and went limp, falling to the floor. But the ghoul Seras had killed with her hands was only one of those that had reached the manor. A group of modified ghouls and vampires burst in through the manor's main entrance. But an ambush was already waiting for them in the form of R, who sat on the staircase holding a heavy-caliber machine gun.
"Hey… And goodbye," R said with a wide grin on his face.
In the same instant R opened fire with the heavy-caliber machine gun, its rounds tearing apart the bodies of the ghouls and vampire soldiers who had broken through the main entrance. Those who managed to react leaped sharply to the sides or backward, but those who weren't so lucky turned into shredded sieves.
One of the vampires quickly reacted and attacked R from the side to kill him. And before the vampire's hand could touch R's head, he reacted swiftly, caught the vampire's arm, threw him to the floor, and immediately punched through his head with a fist.
"You're so weak, even my wife hits harder," R said, smashing the vampire's head with his fist.
But this vampire's attack on R gave the other vampires the chance to attack right after. Realizing he was one against a crowd, R immediately retreated so as not to fight the vampires alone. But how could the vampires and ghouls let their prey escape and allow him to get away.
But the vampires underestimated R's strength and agility. The same went for the rest of Alex's people, who fought the vampires without much trouble—something that couldn't be said for Bernadotte's men, who very quickly became victims of the fast and strong vampires and ghouls. Bernadotte, realizing his people were in a disadvantageous position, immediately ordered a retreat if possible and to hold positions, not letting the enemy advance further.
Because now they would have to fight vampires in close quarters, where the latter had a clear advantage in strength and agility. Having given the order to his men, Bernadotte looked at the people who were with him on the same floor and sighed to gather his thoughts. Then he shifted his gaze to Lem and Price, who had already returned, and gave them a slight nod.
"Seras, your task is to kill as many as possible. And help retreat anyone who's pinned down under fire. Your most important task: while we're defending—you attack. You'll help us buy time to prepare. Understood?" Price said, checking his rifle and raising his eyes to Seras.
"Yes, Captain Price. I won't let you down. I'll do everything in my power," Seras said, showing her determination.
"Then go. Our boss didn't praise you for nothing. Show what you're capable of. Here, take this—it'll come in handy," Lem said, slapping Seras on the shoulder and handing her a tactical tomahawk.
Seras smiled, getting her emotions under control, and took the tactical tomahawk from Lem's hands. Nodding in farewell, Seras immediately ran down the corridor, relying on her senses to find those who needed help and to locate the vampires and ghouls she needed to kill. Seras ran off, and the moment she turned the corner, a vampire lunged at her.
Quickly reacting to the vampire that attacked her, Seras dodged the blow and, catching the vampire's arm, threw him to the ground. Not giving the vampire time to recover, Seras raised the tomahawk above her head and struck precisely into the back of the vampire's head, killing him.
Blood splattered onto Seras's face, causing her eyes to flash red for a second from bloodlust. Suppressing the thirst, Seras quickly pulled a blood candy from her pocket and placed it under her tongue so the bloodlust wouldn't interfere with her fighting or cloud her mind.
Even though Seras called this state bloodlust, in reality it wasn't that. It was Seras's true nature, which she had been forced to suppress inside herself since childhood, from the day she lost her parents. From the very moment she saw how robbers killed her father and mother, and how one of the robbers tried to defile the body of her dead mother.
From that day Seras became different, more cruel. And this more than once affected her life—because of her cruelty she couldn't stay long in foster families, and she began to suppress this nature of hers until it became natural. But after becoming a vampire, it became harder for her to hold herself back, and Alex's appearance in her life only made it worse.
And the only thing that brought her peace was that Alex had no problem with this state she was trying to control. But still she tried to be a normal girl, continuing to suppress her true nature—even if that very day she had talked with Alex about how she needed to become stronger.
Seras continued running through the manor's corridors, relying on her senses to kill as many vampires and ghouls as possible. Entering yet another corridor, Seras stopped when she saw ghouls devouring the bodies of Bernadotte's killed men. Gripping the tomahawk tightly, Seras rushed forward, repeating to herself that she had to do this, that she had to help the others and kill as many vampires and ghouls as possible.
Seras put too much force into her step, leaving a dent in the floor, and instantly appeared in front of the first ghoul, who didn't have time to raise his head before she drove the point of the tomahawk straight into the center of the ghoul's head. Seras sharply jerked her hand to the side, splitting the ghoul's head to finish him off for good.
By this point the other ghouls had noticed Seras and stopped gnawing on the mercenaries' bodies. Pieces of flesh and clothing from the killed mercenaries were in the ghouls' mouths. Looking at the ghouls covered in blood and entrails of the killed mercenaries, Seras's eyes gradually reddened, but she tried to keep herself in check so as not to give in to her feelings. One of the ghouls broke from its place and attacked Seras.
Seras herself barely managed to dodge the ghoul that attacked her, surprised by its speed. Having slipped past Seras, the modified ghoul rolled across the floor and immediately recovered, rising onto all fours. Seras realized she was surrounded, but the decision came very quickly. Seras rushed at the ghoul that had attacked her first, kicking it in the head. From the blow the ghoul's head snapped back, giving Seras the chance to drive the point of the axe into the ghoul's head.
Having killed another ghoul, Seras immediately attacked the remaining ghouls, who weren't going to stand still. Seras tried to dodge the ghouls' fast strikes and counterattack to kill them. Seras wasn't used to fighting at close range against such opponents, but she had to learn very quickly and rely more and more on her vampiric senses to get used to the speed of the modified ghouls.
When only the last ghoul remained, Seras's arms and legs were slightly wounded by the ghouls' claws that she hadn't managed to dodge, and she was breathing heavily, clutching the bloodied tomahawk in her hands. Seras's wounds were quickly healing as she looked at the last ghoul. And before she could attack the last one, a silhouette appeared behind the ghoul and with a sharp movement snapped the ghoul's neck.
Looking closer, Seras saw Ghost, whose balaclava mask was slightly covered in blood. Ghost himself was looking at Seras, seeing how many ghouls she had handled alone. By his count Ghost tallied no fewer than ten modified ghouls that in durability stood on the same level as some of the mutated zombies he had seen in his original world.
"Ghost? How are you here…" Seras said, coming to her senses.
"Good work, Seras," Ghost said, approaching Seras.
"Um… Thanks. I'll keep going," Seras said, nodding shyly.
Ghost gave a slight nod, watching Seras go, and then continued moving forward himself. Thanks to the mercenaries holding the posts, it gave him time to kill those who had broken away from the group—both vampires and ghouls. Seras also continued her search, trying not to think about how conversations with Ghost always stirred mixed feelings in her because of Ghost's own character.
Continuing to run down the corridor, Seras heard the sounds of gunfire below her. Listening closely, she realized that a firefight was taking place in the corridor beneath her. Hearing the voices of mercenaries and the voices of vampires, Seras decided to intervene. But quickly looking around, she realized there was no way for her to get into the corridor below unless she broke through the floor or found another way.
Quickly scanning around and looking for a way to reach the corridor on the floor below, Seras's gaze fell on a window. Looking at the window, a plan formed in Seras's head. Without thinking long, Seras accelerated and jumped out the window. Skillfully flipping in the air, Seras grabbed the window ledge and kicked the window below open with her feet.
Having smashed the window, Seras landed with both feet on the face of a vampire soldier who hadn't had time to react. Seras's appearance made the vampires freeze, giving the mercenaries the chance to open fire in response.
Guided by her senses, Seras grabbed one vampire by the collar and threw him over herself, using him as a living shield to avoid the hail of bullets. And within a moment all the vampires in the corridor were dead—including the one Seras had used as a living shield.
"Great entrance, Seras. You really saved us," Toji said with a grin, looking at Seras.
"Hehe, thanks, Toji. You all need to fall back before even more show up," Seras said with a slight smile, getting up from the floor.
Toji was about to nod when he suddenly raised his rifle and fired behind Seras's back. Seras sharply turned her head and saw Zorin, a smirk on her face. Seras clenched her teeth, wondering whether she should engage Zorin in combat. But Zorin made the decision for Seras and attacked herself.
Seras's eyes widened at how quickly Zorin appeared in front of her. Seras managed to raise the tomahawk at the last moment to block Zorin's strike. From Zorin's blow Seras was thrown backward and slid across the floor, feeling numbness in her arms. Having thrown Seras back, a contemptuous smirk appeared on Zorin's face.
"You're the creature because of whom I lost my arm. You know, that hurt like a motherfucker. And that's why I'm going to rip all your limbs off, you little bitch. And I'll start with your arm. Then I'll slowly tear off each limb like insect wings," Zorin said with clear anger in her voice as she looked at Seras.
Seras didn't respond to Zorin's words, only looked at Toji, letting him know he should retreat with the other mercenaries. Toji nodded, showing his trust in Seras. Zorin paid no attention to the retreating mercenaries; her gaze was fixed on Seras.
And all her thoughts were occupied with taking revenge on Seras for making her lose her arm—even if it had eventually grown back thanks to the drug created by the Doctor. Seras and Zorin stared at each other. Seras gripped the tactical tomahawk tightly, assuming a defensive stance the way she had been taught in the police. Zorin, meanwhile, slung her scythe over her shoulder, looking down on Seras with disdain, not even considering her a worthy opponent.
To be continued...
(I spent a long time thinking about where to end this chapter. I could have ended on a cliffhanger, like I sometimes do. But I decided to end it at the beginning of the confrontation between Seras and Zorin. I could have even shown the entire carnage that unfolds in the mansion, but I simply couldn't fit it into the chapter's word budget. And I was just hungry. Next, I'll try to write the battle between Seras and Zorin, followed by Seras's ascension as the new Seras. But that's all tomorrow, and today, Peace, Love, oh my god, this potato monster.)
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