"Get down!"
I shout that while grabbing Rize and Touka by the shoulders and pushing them down. Kiriko already ducked on her own.
In that instant, hundreds of sheets of paper trace a path from the back of the tunnel while fluttering over us. If we'd been standing, those sheets of paper would've turned us into minced meat.
It wouldn't be a problem for me or Kiriko since we're vampires. But Touka and Rize would've died.
Thinking that far, anger churns violently in my heart.
I shake my head and focus.
I see they're white sheets, the size of a hand, with inscriptions written on them.
These sheets swirl and head toward different directions. Some embed themselves in the walls, others in the ceiling and others in the floor.
They scatter throughout the tunnel around us, covering it completely.
And then...
—Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!
Nails that glow with a white light, that seem to be made of energy, appear and drive into each sheet, fixing them to the surface. The metallic sound resonates and produces echoes.
"What the hell...?"
As we get up, Touka murmurs that while looking around.
The sheets, once nailed down, start glowing. The inscriptions on them light up before the sheets themselves become transparent and then completely invisible.
But I can sense the sheets with that energy are still there.
"Don't touch the walls."
I say that almost at the same time Rize extends her hand toward the tunnel wall.
But my warning comes late.
"Aaggh!!"
Rize screams in pain and recoils violently. The skin on her fingers and palm is red and blistered, resembling the hand of someone who's stuck their hand in boiling oil.
"Rize!"
I approach her and take her hand to examine it. While it's true the wound is bad in itself, I concentrate on something else that's more concerning.
'It's not regenerating.'
Ghouls have high regenerative capacity. Rize especially. I've seen her wounds close in seconds. But her flesh remains red and blistered. The regeneration is working, but at a ridiculously slow speed.
"What... what was that...?"
Rize looks at her own hand with pain and confusion. For someone used to regenerating almost instantly when not hungry, this must be a strange sensation.
"A barrier. We're trapped."
Kiriko pronounces those words while examining the walls with her eyes without touching them. Her expression is serious.
A sealed space.
Besides that, what slowed Rize's regeneration is the energy the barrier is made with.
It's designed specifically for non-human beings.
—Scrrrrrr...
In that space, I hear a metallic sound, like the sound produced when heavy metal is being dragged across a stone floor.
It comes from further ahead in the tunnel. From the right side where there's a fork, and from where the white sheets came.
—Scrrrrrr...
The sound approaches slowly. Along with it, I can hear slow and calm footsteps.
Whoever's coming has no intention of hurrying.
A figure emerges from the fork.
I don't pay attention to the leg, and my eyes fix on the katana. It's long, thin and slightly curved. No, it's not a katana.
It's an Odachi. The tip drags along the floor producing the metallic sound I heard before.
The blade, and even the handle, glows with a faint radiance, and I can sense it's the same energy surrounding the sheets and nails. It's an energy that makes me feel uncomfortable.
Then I see the man wielding it.
He's tall and thin. He wears a long, dark overcoat over what appears to be a white uniform. From his neck hangs a cross that reaches the center of his chest. On his head is ashen blond hair cut messily, and gray eyes looking toward us.
He's smiling.
I narrow my eyes, because I know that smile.
It's the smile of a fanatic.
"Ahh..."
The man stops about ten meters from us and raises the Odachi, resting it against his shoulder. His smile widens.
"Though you're not the ones I seek, you all still have traces of sin that your steps leave."
The voice with which he pronounces the words is soft and kind.
"Who the hell are you?"
Touka positions herself in front, at the same time her kagune materializes on her back and her eyes change to kakugan.
The man looks at her and his smile doesn't change.
"A ghoul. A beautiful demon disguised as a girl. How many innocent souls have you devoured with that mouth, little one?"
"Hah? What are you talking about?"
"Ah, but I don't blame you. No, no. The fault isn't the demon's, but of whoever allowed the demon to exist. God created all beings, even monsters. But he created them to be purified. That is divine will. That is the reason I exist."
Well, I wasn't wrong, because this man is definitely a fanatic.
His words have no logic, and he doesn't even try to make them have it. He's someone who's repeated the same phrases who knows how long that he's already turned them into his own truth.
"God sends his children to cleanse what is stained. The sinners, the monsters, those who walk among the living without having the right to exist. All must be returned to the dust from which they came. Heh, dust? What am I saying? You didn't come from dust, so all the more reason to be eradicated."
The guy raises his free hand upward.
"And I am his instrument! His sword! The edge that cuts the darkness so the Lord's light can enter!"
Huhu...
I emit a small laugh while my shoulders shake.
"Sinners... monsters walking among God's children..."
His gaze passes over each of us. When his eyes reach me, and he sees me laughing, his smile trembles slightly.
"A vampire, two ghouls, and..."
His eyes stop on Kiriko. The smile on his face freezes for a moment.
Kiriko is looking at him with a cold expression.
"...Iscariot."
Kiriko says that word in a flat tone.
The man tilts his head to one side, and his smile returns with more force.
"Oh. Oh, oh, oh. You recognize me? Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."
"Iscariot?"
I repeat the name I heard. I know that name. It's an organization from the Vatican.
It's the armed wing of the Catholic Church dedicated to hunting and eliminating supernatural beings, whether vampires, ghouls, parasites or anything they consider impure or contrary to God's will.
In short, they're religious fanatics with weapons and training to back up their fanaticism.
And in the Hellsing universe, they're pretty dangerous enemies.
"What is Iscariot doing in Japan?"
Kiriko asks that question without moving from her position. Though her voice is calm, through her emotional frequency I can sense she's tense. At the same time, she's ready to fight at any moment.
The Iscariot man lets out a short laugh.
"In Japan? In Europe? In Africa? What does the place matter? God's will knows no borders, huhuhu. Where there is sin, there we'll be. Where there are monsters pretending to be people, there we'll arrive. It doesn't matter if it's Rome or Tokyo. Evil has no nationality, and God's sword doesn't either."
Kiriko narrows her eyes while her right hand slowly moves toward her double-bladed lance she carries on her back. It's a different lance than the one she used when she fought me two years ago.
"You know? I didn't expect to find such a big prize on my journey."
The man points his Odachi toward Kiriko. The smile on his face becomes wider showing all his teeth at the same time his gray eyes shine with ecstasy.
"Seventh Progenitor."
×××
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