"I refuse."
The words left Alucard's mouth sharper than he intended—cold, absolute, and final.
They echoed through the cavern, reverberating against unseen walls, lingering far longer than they should have. Even the black river beneath his feet seemed to still, as if the world itself had paused to listen.
For a moment—
Silence.
Lysander's face was swallowed by shadow.
Alucard couldn't see his expression.
But he could see his eyes.
They shone.
Not with light—no, that would have been too simple. They pierced through the darkness, locking onto Alucard with such intensity that it felt as though they were carving into his very soul, peeling him apart layer by layer, examining everything he was… and everything he wasn't.
Then—
"What an… odd thing to say."
Lysander stepped forward.
Slow.
Measured.
Deliberate.
Each step sent faint ripples across the surface of the water, though no sound accompanied them.
As he moved into the dim light, his expression became visible once more.
Gone was the warmth.
Gone was the curiosity.
Gone was the almost childlike enthusiasm.
What remained was something far worse.
A cold.
Empty.
Emotionless face.
"I think…" Lysander continued softly, tilting his head, "…I may have overestimated your intelligence, Alucard."
Another step.
"You are still nothing more than a pathetic human maggot… just like the rest of them."
The words were quiet.
But they carried weight.
A crushing, suffocating weight.
Alucard braced himself.
Every instinct screamed at him to prepare—to fight, to run, to do something—
But then—
It came.
A thought.
No.
An urge.
Sudden.
Violent.
Absolute.
Kill yourself.
Alucard's breath hitched.
You have to die.
His body moved before he could react.
His hands rose.
Wrapped around his own throat.
End it.
His legs lurched forward, sprinting toward the black river beneath him.
Die.
There was no hesitation.
No doubt.
No fear.
Just certainty.
He was going to die.
Right here.
Right now.
By his own hands.
His vision blurred as the dark water rushed closer—
Then—
Something snapped.
A violent, explosive pain tore through his skull.
His left eye—
Burst.
A wet, sickening sound echoed in his ears as agony unlike anything he had ever felt consumed him.
And then—
The world changed.
Runes appeared before him.
Familiar.
Cold.
Unforgiving.
---
[FAIL SAFE ACTIVATED]
---
Clarity.
Absolute clarity.
The suffocating fog in his mind vanished in an instant, shattered like fragile glass.
The urge—
Gone.
Alucard collapsed to one knee, clutching the ruined socket of his left eye as a scream tore from his throat.
The pain was real now.
Raw.
Unfiltered.
Unbearable.
But it was his.
And it meant he was alive.
He forced himself to breathe.
Forced himself to think.
Slowly… painfully… he lifted his head.
And looked at Lysander.
For the first time—
Lysander looked… surprised.
His eyes were wide.
Not just slightly.
Not subtly.
Wide.
And then—
A grin spread across his face.
Not the playful smile from before.
Not the amused smirk.
No.
This one was different.
Too wide.
Too sharp.
Too… wrong.
"How interesting…" Lysander whispered, almost reverently.
"How very interesting indeed."
He took a step back, studying Alucard as if he had just transformed into something far more fascinating than before.
"Well then…"
He chuckled softly.
"Congratulations, Alucard."
A pause.
"You get to live… a little another day, tho I doubt you have many days of life left."
Even through the agony, even as blood dripped from his ruined eye, Alucard straightened.
His breathing was uneven.
His body trembling.
But his gaze—
Was steady.
"If we meet again…" he said hoarsely, voice dry and cracked from pain—
"…I'll kill you."
There was no hesitation.
No fear.
No bluff.
Just certainty.
Lysander's grin widened further.
But his eyes—
Burned with something darker.
"Ah… so the maggot chooses to bite the hand that fed him."
His voice dropped slightly.
Colder.
Sharper.
"Very well."
He turned away.
"I'll let you leave… this time."
A faint pause.
"But if you ever step into these mountains again…"
His voice echoed unnaturally, as if coming from everywhere at once.
"…you'd better return as a sinner."
A beat.
"Or you will die."
And just like that—
The pressure vanished.
The presence.
Gone.
As if he had never been there at all.
---
Alucard bit down hard on his lip, forcing himself to stay conscious.
The pain was overwhelming.
His vision swam.
His body felt like it was collapsing from the inside out.
But he couldn't stop.
Not now.
Not yet.
He raised his shaking hand, summoning blood with the sigil on it.
Gluttony was silent.
Barely conscious.
No help was coming.
So he forced it.
Blood gathered in his palm.
He drank it.
Like a starving beast.
Then, with trembling control, he guided it toward his ruined eye.
The process was crude.
Violent.
Painful beyond reason.
But it worked.
Flesh reformed.
Nerves reconnected.
His mind stabilized.
But when he opened his eye—
Something was wrong.
There was no eye.
Just a hollow crater where one should have been.
"…Great."
He exhaled shakily and shaped blood over it, forming a crude eyepatch.
No time to fix it properly.
No time for anything.
Because then—
He noticed.
The others.
The cohort.
Still unconscious.
Still unmoving.
He rushed to them, checking their pulses.
Slow.
Too slow.
"They're dying…"
His jaw tightened.
One hour.
At most.
"I don't have time…"
So he moved.
Immediately.
A rope made out of blood formed in his hand —thin, fragile, but all he could afford.
He tied Cassie and Sunny to himself.
He then tore his finger open, shaping blood into claws.
And then he climbed the massive hole they were trapped in.
Every movement tore at his muscles.
Every grip split his skin.
Blood dripped from his hands.
His feet.
His arms.
But he didn't stop.
Ten minutes.
That's how long it took.
Ten minutes of pure agony.
He reached the top.
Dropped them gently.
Didn't rest.
Couldn't.
He slid back down.
Faster this time.
More reckless.
More desperate.
Kai.
Caster.
He tied them next.
They were heavier.
Much heavier.
His chest began to tear under the strain.
His breath grew ragged.
Twenty minutes.
It took him twenty minutes this time.
By the time he reached the top again, his vision was blurring.
His legs shaking.
His body on the verge of collapse.
But still—
He went back down for the rest of them.
Effie.
Nephis.
The last two.
He found them.
Barely.
His body screamed at him to stop.
His mind begged him to quit.
And for a moment—
He fell.
Crashing to the ground, his hands and knees scraping against stone, blood spilling from his mouth.
"I should… abandon them…"
The words slipped out weakly.
Quietly.
"…and save myself…"
Silence.
Then—
A small smile formed on his lips.
"…No."
He pushed himself up.
"I won't."
His voice steadied.
Even as his body failed.
"I'll save them…"
A breath.
"…even if it kills me."
He lifted them.
And climbed.
The heaviest load.
The hardest climb.
His hands were no longer hands.
Just torn flesh.
His muscles screamed.
His vision darkened.
He slipped.
More than once.
But he didn't fall.
He refused to fall.
"Funny…" he muttered weakly between breaths. "Saving my future killer…"
A faint, delirious chuckle.
"Sunny better thank me…"
Another step.
"…or I'll kill him myself…"
He kept climbing.
Step by step.
Pain by pain.
Until—
Finally—
He reached the top.
He laid them down gently beside the others.
Checked their heart beats using Envy.
Stronger.
Stabilizing.
"…Good."
That was his last thought.
Before everything went black.
---
When Alucard collapsed, his body was barely holding together.
His hands were shredded beyond recognition.
His muscles torn.
His body covered in scars—fresh and old.
He should have died.
By all logic—
He should have died.
But as he lay there—
Unconscious.
Broken.
Bleeding—
A faint smile rested on his lips.
Because despite everything—
He had saved them all.