The man is clearly sweating as he awaits your response, and you very slowly place the briefcase on the floor before flicking open the restraints keeping it sealed. He doesn't take a single breath as the case opens up and you see the stacks of bills in the briefcase. You don't actually know how much is there from such small glance of the foreign currency, but what you do know is that this man is far too terrified of you to even think of tricking you like that. Of course, his fear in mind, you were half expecting the case to be boobytrapped with a grenade or something, though it wouldn't actually hurt you, it would've been very annoying. Thankfully though, as far as you can tell, it seems like everything is in order.

Happy that the man has done as commanded of him, you finally give him your response. "Of course. Now, get out of my sight and make sure I never see you again, or else I might end up changing my mind." You pass your sentence on the man and generously allow him to go free after trying to give you a bad deal. It might've been an annoying thing for him to try to do, but it's certainly nothing to kill a man over. Of course, trying to set his goons on you was an annoyance as well, but you're satisfied with beating them into the ground.

The man takes no time to process what you said as he sprints out of his own building to who knows where. He doesn't even seem all too interested in buying the car anymore. What a shame. You've half a mind to just take the car and the money, but doing so would make you even worse scum than he is. No, he can keep the car now that he's paid you what it's worth, and it's not like you'd have any real use for the car other than ferrying you to the train station a single time and then you would never use the vehicle ever again. You'll just leave it here, you think.

Picking up the case of money, you stroll out of the warehouse and towards the two women waiting for you standing outside the car. Anna is still clearly suffering from that headache of hers while Grace is simply waiting patiently. It's fortunate that her cultist outfit looks just about normal enough to function as a normal outfit, unlike the white robes you found yourself wearing. "How far away is the train station from here, Grace? Anna and myself don't feel the cold, but you don't share the same advantages that we do as vampires, so if it's too far, then I suppose we'll just have to get a cab or something. I don't feel like going back on my word or a deal." You reveal to your allies that the car will be staying here, but neither really seem to mind.

"It's about a fifteen minute walk, and don't mind me, after you live in this country for a few years, you start getting used to the cold anyway." Grace says with some enthusiasm in her voice, her brown hair is blowing in the heavy wind but the amount of snow falling has at least cleared up a little. "Don't worry about me, Lord Bernhard. I've chosen to follow you, so what sort of follower would I be if I let something like a cool breeze slow us down?" She gives you a reassuring smile, even though she's pretty clearly getting cold already.

"Very well then, let's get going." You turn around and start to head to the street. "Which way is it, Grace?" You are well aware that you have absolutely no idea where the train station actually is, so you're relying on the girl's knowledge to help you find it. It shouldn't actually be too difficult for you to find by yourself if you just scouted the city out, but that would take time that you don't actually have to spend.

"Wait." Anna's voice stops you both in your tracks. "If you're worried about the girl there slowing us down, then why don't you just turn her into a vampire?" Anna suggests something that had slipped your mind entirely, your ability as a vampire to turn others into the same sort of being as you. "I'm sure that Grace would enjoy being a vampire more than she enjoys being a human." Anna seems to have mostly recovered from sorting her memories out now, as she's no longer clutching her forehead in pain and seems to have adjusted properly. "What do you say, Grace? Think of how much more power you would gain from it." Anna seems to be trying to tempt the cultist girl with promises of power.

"W-well, I don't know... Becoming a vampire isn't how I imagined this day going, and I'm kind of attached to being a... uh... human, you know? I do... um... enjoy the sun, for what it's worth." Grace seems reluctant to take the offer being presented to her. It's a big decision, you know, and not one that can just be decided on immediately. It takes a lot of time to prepare yourself for something like becoming a vampire. You came to terms with the fact that you would likely have to discard your humanity a long time before you finally did so, so you can't just expect Grace to agree readily to it, at least not without some pressure from yourself. But you just don't know if that's the right thing to do.

>Encourage Grace to become a vampire. Anna is right, it would be far easier for everyone if she wasn't a human.
>Allow Grace to make her own decision. You're not just going to force something upon an ally who has shown herself to be nothing but loyal.
>Discourage Grace from becoming a vampire, you do still need somebody who isn't weakened by the sun, after all. While it isn't immediately lethal, the sun does seem to sap your strength quite rapidly, after all.
>Write-in...

>>4477154
>Allow Grace to make her own decision. You're not just going to force something upon an ally who has shown herself to be nothing but loyal.

>>4477151
why the hell wouldn't you ride the last thread to the grave?

>>4477154
>Allow Grace to make her own decision. You're not just going to force something upon an ally who has shown herself to be nothing but loyal.
We vampirized ourself out of necessity, not personal preference.

>>4477162
It was on page 10 and was a month old, anon.
I'm so sorry that my new thread knocked "blatantly satirical one-shot quest" that hadn't had a new anon post in 19 days or a QM post in nearly a month (27 days!) off of the board. It's a great loss for us all.
Besides, It was four new threads away from being archived itself.
Now would you kindly either participate or leave?

>>4477154
>Allow Grace to make her own decision. You're not just going to force something upon an ally who has shown herself to be nothing but loyal.
Do mention >>4477163 however.

>>4477154
>Discourage Grace from becoming a vampire, you do still need somebody who isn't weakened by the sun, after all. While it isn't immediately lethal, the sun does seem to sap your strength quite rapidly, after all.

>>4477154
>Discourage Grace from becoming a vampire, you do still need somebody who isn't weakened by the sun, after all. While it isn't immediately lethal, the sun does seem to sap your strength quite rapidly, after all.

>>4477154
>Discourage Grace from becoming a vampire, you do still need somebody who isn't weakened by the sun, after all. While it isn't immediately lethal, the sun does seem to sap your strength quite rapidly, after all.
I voted for >>4477213 on mobile, decided to switch it while retaining mentioning the >>4477163. I don't wanna cause a tie here

"No, I don't think that should become a vampire, Grace. At least not now." You don't really want this girl to become a vampire right now. It's good that she seems to at least be thinking against the idea, honestly. After all, it's a huge decision to make, and if you can actually make a decision rather than having it forced upon, then you really ought to look at the pros and cons of it before jumping ahead. You became a vampire out of neccessity in the end, not out of desire. "Right now, Anna and myself will need somebody capable of acting in the daylight for us. While I doubt either of us will be killed should we expose ourself to the sun's light, it's still terribly uncomfortable for vampires to be within it. Not to mention that it seems to drain away vampiric power pretty quickly." You wonder just why it is that the sun is such a powerful weapon against vampires such as yourself. A creation of God to keep the favoured warriors of Chaos in check? A coincidence? Whatever it is, it's pretty damn annoying, you know that much.

"I... Alright. That's what I'll do then. I can't just go and become a vampire right now, can I? Besides... I don't really like the idea of being forced to drink blood." Grace really doesn't sound like she's alright with the idea of becoming a vampire. Seems like it just doesn't click with her. Though she does bring something up that you've been trying to ignore for a while now. Your need for fresh blood has been rising since you awoke, and you aren't really sure how much longer you'll be able to keep it in check. It's not a problem right now at least, but you will eventually need to drink some blood. That's just a fact of this new life you've begun. Or perhaps it ought to be called an unlife? You certainly don't feel as if you've died, so who knows?

"Let's get going then, now that's resolved. Though... Grace... If you do ever decide you do want to become a vampire, you need only ask me, understand?" You feel the need to remind her that it's always an option, should she so desire it. Though it's really not a boon that you'd grant to anybody you felt hadn't actually thought things through. It's a far greater change than any that would be normally experienced in a human life, after all.

"R-right!" The young witch responds nearly immediately. You can tell that the topic of becoming a vampire is somewhat uncomfortable for her to discuss with you, so you decide to drop it as the three of you begin the journey to the train station.

You reach the train station after a brief walk, and you are soon queuing up in a line to purchase your tickets along with Anna and Grace. The three of you make irrelevant small talk just to whittle away time while you wait for it to be your turn to purchase tickets to board the train to Moscow. At least things seem to be moving along swiftly enough. Honestly, the sooner you can get the hell out of this backwards nowhere city, the better.

Soon enough though, you've managed to blunder your way through a conversation with a receptionist and paid for three first class tickets, the tickets were fairly expensive, but you had more than enough for them. You didn't really even consider getting anything else. What would the point be? At least this way you'll actually have a high quality cabin to stay in.

As you board the train, you speak calmly to Grace. "So, this place you're aware of, how certain are you of the likelihood I'll be able to get the information I seek there?" You really don't want to be wasting your time. You suppose that you can always seek out Sophia's home town should you run out of leads. But you have no idea if that will result in any sort of success either.

"Fairly certain. If the information is out there somewhere, you can guarantee that at least one person has managed to extract it somehow. It's actually even more likely if it's a Dorin thug. While a lot of them are stuck-up self-righteous zealots, there's more than a few of them willing to share what the organization knows... for the right price." Seems like the Dorin Organization isn't quite so pious as their reputation as the ones in charge of ensuring that the Dark Lord never returns might imply. Being able to use the information of a group so vehemently opposed to you does strike you as something you'd enjoy doing, at least. After all they've done, you want to see the total dissolution of the Dorin Organization, but you'll take small victories where you can.

Finally, you find yourself in your relatively compact train cabin. There are three beds in the fairly extravagant room, and not really all too much privacy. Then again, it's not like you'll be doing much sleeping. In fact, seeing as you still don't feel any sort of fatigue still, you're starting to find it less and less likely that you actually have the ability to sleep at all! While you'd normally consider something like that quite the positive, if you no longer require sleep, then how exactly are you supposed to make contact with Chaos from your Dream World?

Surprisngly, upon entering the cabin, Grace immediately flops down on her bed and falls asleep nearly immediately, while Anna simply takes a seat next to the window of the now moving train, glancing out at the moonlit scenery racing by. It's fairly obvious that there's not going to be any further discussion done tonight, especially seeing as Anna doesn't seem to be in the mood for much talking, and Grace is... well, asleep.

>Try to sleep. Just because you don't need to sleep, that doesn't mean you can't, right?
>Hunt. You've put off your need for blood long enough, and if you keep on doing so, you may even end up attacking Grace.#
>Try to think of another way to enter the Dream World.
>Experiment with your new powers to get a good handle on just what you're capable of now.
>Write-in...

>>4478069
>Try to think of another way to enter the Dream World.
We can use the power of control to enter our dream world the same way we entered Anna's.

Guess nobody was expecting the second update huh.

>>4478428
Well you have been only updating this quest once a day for a few weeks now, it's understandable.

>>4478069
>Hunt. You've put off your need for blood long enough, and if you keep on doing so, you may even end up attacking Grace.#

>>4478069
>Try to think of another way to enter the Dream World.
Go for blood-thirst sating once we're at our destination and not on a contained train?

>>4478069
>Try to think of another way to enter the Dream World.
Dream world gives us dream gains.

>>4478069
>>Hunt. You've put off your need for blood long enough, and if you keep on doing so, you may even end up attacking Grace.#

There must be some way to enter the dream world still. You refuse to believe that falling asleep is the only way to reach Chaos. But how? You sit on an arm chair and stare out the window, watching the scenery speeding by as you concentrate on thinking of a way to enter the world of your dreams once again. While vampires don't need to sleep it seems, don't they enter some sort of hibernation if they don't get blood for long enough? Of course, you don't know just how long that will take, and you hardly want to starve your body to the point where it is forced to shut down. Never mind that you'd need to overcome your natural instinct to survive and place your complete faith in Anna and Grace to resuscitate you. Of course, while you do have that faith, you don't actually know how long starving yourself will take. So that option is probably out unless you get truly desperate.

Then what about the Power of Control? You could use it on Anna to enter her dream world well enough, and she wasn't asleep at the time you used it, was she? Then again, you didn't actually end up running into the vampire Anna during your time in her dream world. No, you only found her memories as a human sealed away. Though you can't proclaim to be an expert on the functions of the Power of Control right now.

Still, there's no harm in trying, is there? You do so want to meet Chaos once more, now that you've become somebody fit to truly call yourself the heir to the throne of the Dark Lord. You call forth the Power of Control, and bring forth an invisible energy that forms around you in wisps as you try your very hardest to perform the same action you performed on Anna onto yourself. You don't have any luck in reaching your Dream World this way.

Then it hits you. Could this have been why Dracula was so happy to relinquish the powers he held as a vampire to you? If vampires are unable to dream, then doesn't that mean that you'd have your ability to communicate with Chaos effectively severed in it's entirety? You grit your teeth in frustration as you realize that you very well might've just blundered straight into a trap set for you by Dracula. Were you... too hasty in becoming a vampire? Perhaps you should've waited to meet Chaos a final time before incorporating those powers into yourself. Did Dracula plan for you to do all this? How could he have known what you would do? Damn it!

You sit there in the armchair, frantically trying to think of a way to reach Chaos once more, but you can't think of anything that will allow you to immediately speak with the entity you wish to represent. Though you do know of an option that would allow you to meet Chaos once again without needing to resort to something like entering vampiric hibernation or something equally dangerous to yourself and the people around you. You need to find the true Castle. It might've been sealed, but you're confident that no seal is perfect. Even if something is truly impossible to escape from within, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be possible to break in from outside, you just need to find a way to do so.

You sigh as you realize the current futility of trying to meet Chaos right now. Hopefully she's at least pleased with the progress you've made towards becoming her champion. You wanted to ask her if what Dracula told you about her destroying reality had any sort of merit to it or if he merely made it up to try to dissuade you from your path. You'd obviously much prefer is the universe remained intact, but perhaps Chaos has some sort of plan? She really doesn't strike you as the sort of being who is simply destruction incarnate, so even if Dracula was telling you the truth, there must have been some deeper meaning behind Chaos' destruction of a replica of reality. After all, if she were truly capable of simply making a copy of the entire universe with ease, then shouldn't she have no motive at all to wish to break free of her realm?

You muse on the being you owe your own allegiance to for a moment while you relax in the chair, your disappointment in your inability to think of a way to meet Chaos is frustrating of course, but perhaps it's better this way. Now the next time you meet will be when you've claimed the title of Dark Lord for yourself once and for all.

But your hunger is still growing. You realize that as vampires are creatures that feed upon the blood of others, you might be in a more dire situation than you first thought. Right now, your body has no such blood within it, and is functioning only off of your own power. You're going to need to feed, sooner rather than later. Your eyes linger upon Grace for a few moments before you shake your head.

>Ignore the impulses. It's too risky to do something like feed on this train.
>Embrace the urge. Leave the cabin and find some unwitting passenger to sate your thirst on.
>Write-in...

>>4479823
>Sit down, use the Power of Control on yourself, and focus on reducing the urge. Calm yourself! You're no mere weaking bat, some dumb animal of the night! That you seized this power from Dracula himself, such as it is, is a testament to your achievement and triumph! Once the train makes a stop somewhere, which it must, you can go feed on somebody then return to your cabin unnoticed and more stable. Its all a matter of time... just be patient and endure...

>>4479823
>Ignore the impulses. It's too risky to do something like feed on this train.

>>4479868
This

>>4479823
>Ignore the impulses. It's too risky to do something like feed on this train.

Looks like we're tied.

>>4479868
+1

>>4479868
backing this then

>>4479823
>>4479868
This is fine, I suppose.

No. You're no... weakling animal craving the blood of humans. You're not about to fall victim to these pathetic impulses of yours. Yes. You need to feed at some point, but to give in to the urges of a base vampire? You? You seized this power from the remnants of Dracula himself, you're no mere freshly turned vampire struggling with the harsh realities of the cursed power flowing through his veins. No... you are the future Dark Lord!

While you might not have been able to use the Power of Control on yourself to enter your own Dream World once more, what you can do is use it to suppress the urges running through your body! You will feed when it is most convenient for you to do so. You aren't about to jeopardize everything just because your body craves the blood of humans as sustenance now. When the train reaches the next stop, you'll depart for an hour or so in order to quench the rising thirst your body now suffers from. While you aren't going to allow the mental effects to control you, you do recognize the importance of human blood to you now. After all, you'll need to be in peak condition just in case you are once attacked by Alucard or Anneliese. You're strong now, but that doesn't mean you can be negligent with your newfound power.

You manage to get the impulses under control, and you don't think that the mental urge to drink blood will take over any time soon. Of course, you might still lose yourself if you neglect your need for blood for too long, but unless you get to a point where your body is truly desperate for it, you don't think that you'll be tempted by any sort of blood. You are in complete control over yourself now.

Still, not being able to sleep leaves you with a very boring journey ahead. Anna has taken to lying face down on a sofa as her mind finishes combining her two sets of memories. Unfortunately for you, that means you have no conversation partner to while away the hours with. You find yourself missing Mistral quite a bit. While you had occasional disagreements with the fairy turned goddess, you did think you ended up getting along with her quite well. You can only hope that whatever happened after you lost consciousness didn't result in her losing her life or being banished or whatever it is that is done to vanquished goddesses or spirits or whatever she counted as when you last saw her. You really want to see Anneliese suffer.

You can't spend all your time reminiscing about your allies and desire for vengeance on that fool of a vampire though, even if you have nothing else to do, eventually you just get bored of thinking of ways that you can make Anneliese suffer for what she's done. There's only so many mental simulations one can do before even those start to grow tiresome. You suppose that you could always travel about the train to see if there's anything that might be entertaining for a few hours. Or perhaps now might be a good time to take up meditation? Or perhaps you should just see what you can do with your new abilities? You're really struggling to think of ways to pass the time. With any luck, you'll be reunited with more of your allies soon, also, Anna might stop being such a terrible conversational partner through no real fault of her own too.

>Look around the train. You're dreadfully bored and you might find something to rouse your interest.
>Meditate. It might do you some good to find some sort of inner peace.
>Practice with your vampiric abilities.
>Practice with your magical abilities.
>Practice with the Powers of Chaos.
>Write-in...

>>4482655
>Meditate. It might do you some good to find some sort of inner peace.
There are more unconscious states than just sleep.

>>4482655
>Practice with your vampiric abilities.

>>4482655
>Meditate. It might do you some good to find some sort of inner peace.
Dude just close your eyes and breathe in hold breathe out nigga. Repeat till you feel good and relaxed and you start seeing colors and shapes and shit

>>4482655
>Meditate. It might do you some good to find some sort of inner peace.

>>4482655
>Practice with your vampiric abilities.
Is it just me or did all the hype for this quest die after the Anneliese fiasco? Even the QM doesn't seem that into it anymore. Kinda sad.

>>4482655
>Meditate. It might do you some good to find some sort of inner peace.
Maybe we can get in touch with Chaos this way?
>>4484063
>Even the QM doesn't seem that into it anymore
That's what killed my hype. The Anneliese thing was fine, the stuff afterwards has been interesting, but it's painfully obvious that this turned into a side project for What as soon as he started his other quest (which I'm not a fan of).

Perhaps meditation, then? While you've not really practiced meditation much in the past, it might just be helpful to keep your mental urges in check without needing to rely on the Power of Control. You don't really want to be forced to use that power on yourself too much. In a way, it's a bit like admitting defeat. Being forced to rely on an impossibly powerful supernatural ability to deal with something that only exists within your head. Who knows, you might even find a way to access your inner world through this. Unlikely as you might find the prospect.

You spend some time trying to meditate on the nature of your powers, but where before you found yourself capable of easily accessing your inner world to interact directly with the physical embodiment of the Power of Destruction, now you seem to be incapable of doing even that. It seems that you're truly incapable of reaching Chaos in any way, while you're certain that there must be some way of reaching Chaos without being forced to locate Dracula's old castle, and there is nobody alive on this planet who could give you the answers you desire perhaps with the exception of the now free spirit of Dracula. With that in mind, it really looks you're just going to have to stick to your original goal of unsealing the Castle. For now though, infuriating as it might be, you will no longer be able to rely on the wisdom of Chaos to get the answers and information you so desperately require. A pity. But not a setback you will allow to cripple you. Never.

Of course, this doesn't stop you from at least giving it a good attempt as you attempt to replicate the same steps that you once did in order to gain a greater mastery over the Power of Destruction, but all your attempts are met with a failure to enter any sort of inner world at all. You find yourself wishing you had far more technical knowledge of magic than you actually have right now. If you did, then you might have known of a way to access your dream world without being required to go to sleep at all! Though it might not simply be a problem with being incapable of sleeping, seeing as meditation seems to have failed you as well. Why? Why are you unable to visit that place?!

Perhaps... Perhaps if you attempted to focus only on the very tiny link to Chaos held within your soul... then perhaps you might just be able to...

You are forced unwillingly out of your train of thought by the brakes on the more literal train slamming the large vehicle to a halt with no warning whatsoever. The temperature seems to drop to a level that would be distinctly uncomfortable if you were still human, and the lights flicker momentarily before shutting off entirely. You look to Anna and Grace and find that both of your allies are frozen and unmoving. Deathly still in the cold atmosphere the train has taken. Somehow, it appears as if Anna has fallen asleep after all! But this clearly isn't something done of her own will. You can only imagine that you're about to be attacked once again. There's no way that this could be a coincidence. But who? An ambush by the Dorin Organization? Could they have even found you this fast? Could it be a group of demons seeking vengeance on you for your actions back in Europe? Perhaps it's Anneliese, come to face the music? Then again, it might just be a coincidence after all, you won't know unless you investigate it.

>Just stay where you are. If it's just a coincidence, there's no problem, and if they seek you? Let them come.
>Investigate what the cause of this clearly magical effect is. Whoever you're facing now is clearly powerful enough that you definitely shouldn't take them lightly.
>Release a large amount of your power in an attempt to either bait whatever was behind the attack towards you or to scare it off entirely. You're in no mood to play detective.
>Write-in...

>>4484130
>Investigate what the cause of this clearly magical effect is. Whoever you're facing now is clearly powerful enough that you definitely shouldn't take them lightly.
This seems fun.

>>4484130
>Investigate what the cause of this clearly magical effect is. Whoever you're facing now is clearly powerful enough that you definitely shouldn't take them lightly.
Is it time manipulation? If so we can cancel it with the arm of time right?

>>4484130
>Investigate what the cause of this clearly magical effect is. Whoever you're facing now is clearly powerful enough that you definitely shouldn't take them lightly.
tread carefully

>>4484130
>Investigate what the cause of this clearly magical effect is. Whoever you're facing now is clearly powerful enough that you definitely shouldn't take them lightly.
Be concerned for Grace and Anna though, leaving them alone while we investigate could be bad.

You can't very well stay here and wait for this to resolve itself. That would just be foolish, the only possible catalyst for this supernatural occurrence is yourself. There could be no other reason for this to have happened other than for something to be seeking you. You don't believe in a coincidence of this level. No, something is definitely going on here. You step out of your cabin, your emotions a mixture between trepidation and glee. You're slightly nervous about facing a true opponent who may be able to do you actual harm, but you're also looking forward to truly being able to test your new abilities to their fullest degree against an opponent who won't crumple like cardboard against a mighty flood the moment you brought even the slightest amount of your power to bear.

You take a quick look back at your two unconscious allies and clench your fist in anger. No matter how you might feel about the idea of facing this new unknown enemy, you're going to ensure that these two are safe. Whatever magical ability is causing the chill in the air is very likely the exact same thing that has caused them both to slip into their sleeping states. Though there's also some hope to be had here. Anna is a vampire, and the fact that whatever magic used on the humans of this train seems to have also worked on her rekindles your hope in being able to access your dream world without needing some overly convoluted process in order to finally reach the girl responsible for granting you the powers you possess.

It's cold enough in the hallway that if you actually needed to breath, the air you exhaled would've begun to freeze immediately in the extreme cold, however, as it is, you just walk through the halls silently and with steady pace, no signs of the cold affecting you in any way at all, and indeed, you don't feel it at all. Being unaffected by such freezing temperatures was an unexpected perk of becoming a vampire, but not an unwelcome one.

As you slowly make your way through the train, heading towards the front of the train to see if you can't find the true reason behind the train slowing down, you soon come to the realization that you've yet to run into another living soul. Could it just be as a result of the late hour, or could something else have happened? There's not even a single attendant on the train in sight as one might've expected there would've been. Could everyone be under that odd spell that seems to have been responsible for Anna falling asleep? Though you didn't check her condition nearly as much as you probably should have.

You keep trudging through the tight empty corridors of the train carriages and moving from one train to the next until you find yourself in a dining car, there's no signs of human life in the carriage as you've come to expect at this point, however, what there is instead of human life in the carriage would be completely terrifying... if you were even capable of being made to feel fear by inferior beings.

The carriage in front of you is full of what appear to be animated skeletons. What's more, the skeletons all have a blood red sheen to them, like they've only just been torn from a body. The sinews and scraps of red flesh clinging to their bones pulsate as they all turn to face the intruder into the room, the bare skulls of their faces allaying no emotion, yet you can feel the killing intent radiating off the undead abominations as they begin to trundle towards you. Excellent, this ought to make a good warm-up!

>Burn them to ashes with the Power of Flame. If they can't survive a little fire, they aren't worth your time.
>Tear them apart with your incredible physical strength. You crave carnage.
>Simply use the Power of Destruction on them, destroy them in their entirety. You don't have the time for this.
>Perhaps using your glyphs would be a fun way to deal with these shambling undead?
>Write-in...

>>4485792
>Simply use the Power of Destruction on them, destroy them in their entirety. You don't have the time for this.
Lets go meet with the orchestrator of this event.

>>4485792
>Perhaps using your glyphs would be a fun way to deal with these shambling undead?

>>4485792
>Perhaps using your glyphs would be a fun way to deal with these shambling undead?
I hope WhatIs makes Arthur's reaction to red skeletons' classic gimmick as priceless as I imagine it would be for players too

>>4485792
>Perhaps using your glyphs would be a fun way to deal with these shambling undead?
We gonna play some scrabble.

>>4485792
>Simply use the Power of Destruction on them, destroy them in their entirety. You don't have the time for this.
Red Skeletons means they get back together so we'll need to use something to make sure there's nothing left.

We have yet to feed, a time limit before we become truly ravenous, the train is stopped so it won't reach its destination til we deal with the current situation of the passengers being turned into undead we can't feed from, and you guys really want to waste our time and energy on enemies you know will regenerate unless obliterated?

I think whoever is attacking is trying to strand us in the middle of nowhere with nothing for us or Anna to feed on.

>>4486916
META
E
T
A

>>4485792
>Simply use the Power of Destruction on them, destroy them in their entirety. You don't have the time for this.
The timer is our hunger.

>>4486996
The only meta thing about my post is that the skeletons will reform, everything else is something Arthur can figure out on his own.

And we are tied.
Also, this quest is now officially a year old!
Or thereabouts.

>>4485792
>Simply use the Power of Destruction on them, destroy them in their entirety. You don't have the time for this.

>>4485792
>Simply use the Power of Destruction on them, destroy them in their entirety. You don't have the time for this.
I would vote to punch them apart if there were anyone else voting in that direction, but since we're split between the PoD and the horrors of glyph magic, I'll go for the PoD.

These skeletons clearly pose no threat to you, and you have very little interest in battling them fairly. After all, what use is there in attempting to do so? It's not like these shambling abominations of bone, muscle and blood will care if you hold back from obliterating them with the full extent of your power. No, it's better if you just erase them here and move on with things, you don't actually know what's happening and who the cause of this attack actually is right now, and you truly doubt that any of these mindless looking creatures were responsible for this organized attack, somebody needed to stop the train, after all.

So with that in mind, you simply call forth a wave of the all-consuming energy of the Power of Destruction and have it sweep over the dripping red skeletons. The wave is agonizingly slow despite you trying to make it sweep across the room in seconds. It takes a whole twenty seconds before the wave has finished sweeping across the train carriage. Odd, does the quantity of the energy you produce have an effect on the speed you can manipulate it? Of course, the amount of energy you called forth to deal with those mere skeletons could've easily been called excessive, and you could've easily accomplished the same result with far less energy had you wished to do so. Perhaps some more experimentation ought to be done, but for now it seems like calling forth huge tidal waves of destructive energy isn't actually that viable a tactic for dealing with your opponents, well, at least not ones with any sort of human intellect. You did have more difficulty than usual with controlling such a large quantity of the energy, but thanks to your practice in manipulating it at you at least managed to stop the energy from carving through the floor or walls of the train carriage. After all, you still have some hope of the train continuing it's journey. Your only hope is that the skeleton creatures you just erased weren't the reanimated remains of the staff.

As you look at the empty carriage in front of you, you can't help but feel disappointed by something. You're not sure why, those skeletons could obviously never have represented any real sort of threat to you. Something just feels wrong about how easily they were dealt with. The wave of energy was slow enough that even a trained human would've been able to avoid it or retreat backwards, but they all just... shambled into it. Did they underestimate you? Overestimate themselves? Were they simply truly mindless and incapable of recognizing the true danger of the threat they faced? You suppose you'll never know now. After all, not even the stains of blood from their dripping bodies remains, the fine carpet of the carriage being an unfortunate victim of the Power of Destruction. What a shame, it was a good carpet.

You frown as you move on to the next carriage. You're clearly done here, and whatever mystery the red skeletons might've held doesn't interest you enough to continue pondering about it over their obliterated bodies, or rather the lack of any bodies at all. You can't stop yourself from smirking as you walk into the next room, the floor is piled up with unconscious humans who despite having been so roughly hauled into this single carriage and stacked on top of each other like sacks of potatoes, look none the worse for wear... mostly. Seems that whoever is behind this takeover has a strange sense of mercy to them, or they need them alive for some sort of sacrifice. You can only really consider the former to be more unlikely than the latter option though.

Just as you begin to examine the unconscious piles of bodies, your vastly enhanced senses alert you to a projectile being launched towards you, and you turn to face it even before it finishes hurtling out of the darkness of the night and through the glass window of the train. A knife? No... three knives. Like it makes any difference.

>Allow the projectiles to hit you and then seek out the attacker.
>Grab the knives out of the air and launch them back in the direction they came from. Surprise.
>Err on the side of caution here. Dodge out of the way of the knives.
>Write-in...

>>4487526
>>Grab the knives out of the air and launch them back in the direction they came from. Surprise.

>>4487522
>As you look at the empty carriage in front of you, you can't help but feel disappointed by something. You're not sure why, those skeletons could obviously never have represented any real sort of threat to you. Something just feels wrong about how easily they were dealt with. The wave of energy was slow enough that even a trained human would've been able to avoid it or retreat backwards, but they all just... shambled into it. Did they underestimate you? Overestimate themselves? Were they simply truly mindless and incapable of recognizing the true danger of the threat they faced? You suppose you'll never know now. After all, not even the stains of blood from their dripping bodies remains, the fine carpet of the carriage being an unfortunate victim of the Power of Destruction. What a shame, it was a good carpet.OKA
OKAY FINE WHATIS, WE GET IT
NEXT TIME YOU PUT RED SKELETONS IN ARTHUR'S WAY IN THIS QUEST I WILL VOTE TO PUNCH THEM AND WITNESS ARTHUR'S REACTION, OKAY????

>>4487526
>Grab the knives out of the air and launch them back in the direction they came from. Surprise
Return to sender

>>4487526
>Grab the knives out of the air and launch them back in the direction they came from. Surprise.
>>4487759
Shoulda voted to punch. Fisticuffs are always the answer.

>>4487526
>Err on the side of caution here. Dodge out of the way of the knives.

>>4487526
>Err on the side of caution here. Dodge out of the way of the knives.

>>4487526
>Err on the side of caution here. Dodge out of the way of the knives.

There's another tie.
This is frighteningly common.

>>4487526
>Grab the knives out of the air and launch them back in the direction they came from. Surprise.
>>4489455
Your quest is incredibly controversial and divisive.

What a pathetic attack. For somebody to attempt to use knives against you. You've already started to grow tired of facing attacks from enemies that couldn't possibly harm you. You've got no intention of humoring this particular enemy either. So you simply wait for the knives to come crashing through the glass of the train window and snatch all three of them out of the air with a single hand in between your fingers.

In a smooth motion, you send the knives, which you note have been magically enchanted to be ludicrously sharp in the moments before you lob them back the way they came at a far greater velocity. It really ought to serve your mysterious attacker right for attacking you from the shadows, to die like an insect being squatted. Never truly being recognized as anything more than a nuisance and not even being looked upon by the man who executed him. You'll have no mercy for those without the courage to face you in a fair battle. Especially if their attempt at a sneak attack was as pathetic as that.

Strangely though, you don't actually hear the knives strike a human target. Instead, you can hear the faint sound of the sharp metal projectiles embedding themselves in a tree-trunk. Hmm, seems that your opponent was faster than you gave them credit for. Looks like they may even have been expecting you to launch their knives back at them. This opponent may just be worth your time after all!

As you prepare yourself for the next attack from your opponent, you find yourself growing restless and tired of waiting as you hear the sounds of footsteps above the train. You certainly aren't going to allow your enemies to catch you off guard with an attack that may actually prove to be more dangerous that the fruitless attempt to harm you with such a measly number of projectiles, so without any further delay, you decide to shift into mist form in order to meet your opponents on the outside of the train. The interior is just a little bit too cramped anyway. You quickly spot your target... or rather targets standing in a line on top of the train.

The trio is dressed incredibly strangely for the weather, as well as for the era. One of them, the woman to the right of the man standing motionlessly as he watches you wears an immaculate blue robe that conceals their features entirely, though from the shape of their body you can make out from underneath the robe, you'd wager that it's a woman at least. The man to the left of the obvious leader wears loose fitting clothing that is terribly tattered, in his hands are at least a dozen knives ready to be launched at you.

Then there's the leader of this bunch of would be heroes. A man in sturdy looking leather armor, his face almost completely tranquil as he stares at you. Of course, the most interesting feature about this man is the weapon he wields. A pure white whip, almost vertebrae like in appearance. There's very clearly something very off about this trio of enemies you face, and you laugh as it clicks. "You three are nothing but mindless undead puppets, aren't you?!" You get your answer when none of them even acts as if they heard your demanding question. "I don't suppose I could convince you puppets to give up the location of the being pulling your strings, can I?" They once again don't respond to you, and you simply shrug. "I suppose it was worth a shot. I was kind of hoping to be able to converse with an enemy, but it seems that it simply wasn't to be. A pity." You don't really care all that much about being unable to taunt your opponents, but you do feel as if you would be enjoying yourself more if you were actually battling opponents you could taunt or otherwise torment. Disposing of mindless garbage like this seems like a waste of your time. Ah well, they might at least be puppets strong enough to provide you with at least a moderate amount of challenge.

You take a single step forwards and the three puppet zombies clearly ready themselves for a fight. You get the feeling that together, the three of them could be quite the formidable foe for you. You aren't really certain why though.

>Put your vampiric strength to the test against these formidable opponents. You want to see just how much power you really have now.
>Take no chances. Use the Power of Flames and the Power of Destruction to secure the quickest victory possible.
>If these three are simply puppets being manipulated by another, then this is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the Power of Control!
>Start things slowly. Open up with a few choice glyphs to see how they respond to them.
>Write-in...

>>4489683
>Put your vampiric strength to the test against these formidable opponents. You want to see just how much power you really have now.
ITS BEATDOWN!
TIME!

>>4489683
>Put your vampiric strength to the test against these formidable opponents. You want to see just how much power you really have now.

>>4489683
>If these three are simply puppets being manipulated by another, then this is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the Power of Control!
Minions acquired

>>4489683
>Take no chances. Use the Power of Flames and the Power of Destruction to secure the quickest victory possible.
If we really want a good fight then why not fight the puppetmaster.

It's about time that you got to grips with how much power you really have now, you feel. These creatures, despite only being puppets for some greater opponent, are the perfect pawns for you to test your new power on. Not weak enough that you might immediately kill them by mistake like you could easily do with a human, but not strong enough that they actually pose any real threat to you. Yes, these undead puppets are the perfect training dummies!

There's a smile on your face as you dash forwards in order to meet the leader of the group of three head on, and he meets your charge with one of his own. For a moment, you're expecting to smash right through him, but the strength of the undead champion surprises you. The two of you remaining locked in a struggle for power for a few moments while the other two members of his group seem to be trying to get behind you in order to attack you from all sides. For puppets, it's not a bad strategy, however!

You draw out more of your vampiric strength and in an instant you've taken the clear advantage in the power struggle. While the undead creature you are facing doesn't actually feel the pain of physical exertion, nor does it even have the capability to be fatigued... Well, you're a vampire now. So you don't either. Taking the complete advantage in the struggle, you pull your right hand from the grasp of the lead zombie and proceed to lift him upwards and throw the undead warrior towards the robed spellcaster as if he were a projectile.

The leather armored fighter crashes into the blue robed magic user with a heavy thump. If the two of these weren't undead, you would be confident that neither would be getting up from such an impact. As you look at the two of them already beginning to struggle to stand again despite their awkward positions, you thrust your right hand out to your side and seize the cold throat of a dead man tightly. "Don't think I was distracted enough for you to so easily gain an advantage, you insignificant puppet!" You roar at the other more dexterous warrior before driving him through the roof of the train with all of your might, pulverizing not only the roof of the train, but also smashing the weakest of the trio to a gory pulp. The impact so great that there's nothing left of the undead warrior's remains that could easily be identified as having come from a humanoid.

You turn towards the the two of your other opponents with a maniacal grin on your face, the blood of their fallen ally coats your clothing but you don't mind at all. "Who's next?" While they probably can't understand you, whoever is controlling their actions almost certainly is capable of comprehending the words you speak. It's more directed at the unseen manipulator than it is at these three undead assassins.

The leader of the once trio lashes out with the vertebrae whip once he's recovered from being in a tangle with the woman. You decide to simply catch the whip, you can tell already that something like this poses absolutely no threat to one such as yourself. You're proven right moments later as you snatch the end of the whip out of the air. Yes, while it does contain powerful dark energy and could easily cause the death of a human in mere moments were it to strike them, such energy does nothing to you. You don't even feel it.

They try in vain to pull their weapon from your grasp, and are clearly not expecting you to simply pull the whip with a non insignificant amount of your strength. The leader of the group speeds towards you, attempting to somehow prepare himself to attack you even as he soars through the air, but you don't even allow your opponent that much. As your opponent prepares to punch you with all his might, you merely end up ducking underneath the clumsy attack before sinking both of your hands into his chest and pulling with that immense strength you possess.

There's barely any resistance from the undead warrior's body as you roughly bisect him vertically, leaving the two halves scattered without care on the roof of the train. Now all that is left is dealing with the last of them, the hooded undead, it seems to have realized just how outclassed it is as it attempts to back away from you, but it's not fast enough at all to retreat from you. In the blink of an eye, you appear directly in front of the resurrected spellcaster, and strangely enough, it tumbles backwards in fear. Can the undead actually experience such things? You suppose that's something you'll just have to keep pondering on, as you raise your foot in order to stomp your final opponents head into an unrecognizable mess, you don't bother looking past their hood, you doubt you'd like what you saw if you did. The defiled features of a reanimated woman are of no interest to you.

"Stop!" Just before you are about to dispose of the last of your opponents, an echoing raspy voice rings out from behind you, it sounds somewhat familiar, but you can't quite place it. You decide to humor their request, and instead only kick the final undead fighter off of the roof of the train. They'll live. Or well, continue unliving, you suppose.

You turn to face the new arrival with interest. "So, you're the one behind this attack, are you?" It seems to be a person wearing tattered black robes, their hood is impossible to see beyond even for you, it seems as if the darkness of the hood leads into a pitch black void. They are quite a bit shorter than you but seem to at least be a humanoid, you can make out their vague shape even through their heavy magically concealing robes.

"That is correct." The answer you receive is simple. It doesn't explain anything and only serves to aggravate you more as to whatever this mystery man's motives for attacking you are.

>"Who are you?"
>"What do you want from me?"
>"Why did you attack me?"
>"Are you working for the Dorin Organization?"
>"Remove your hood. Now." (Threaten)
>"Die." (Attack)
>Write-in...

>>4490781
>"Explain yourself."

>>4490781
>"Die." (Attack)
No point in talking to weak bitches.

>>4490787
Honestly I think this might be one of our old allies.

>>4490781
>"Remove your hood. Now." (Threaten)

>>4490788
If it is, then they're being a real douche by contributing to the trail of supernatural fuckery following us across Russia and playing coy with this summon a bunch of skeletons and revenants bullshit so they deserve to get slapped around a bit regardless.

>>4490781
>"Explain yourself this instant."
>"Remove your hood. Now." (Threaten)
Hmmm. A former ally? Who?

>>4490810
My gut says Doppel, or whatever she was called, but really I just think it's a returning character because Whatis noted that the voice sounds familiar. It'd be odd to have that detail and then have it be someone we've never met before, and at this point most returning named characters would've been allies at some point.

>>4490797
Well Arthur has been missing for three years and now he pops up two feet taller and a vampire. It would be foolish not to err on the side of caution and make a little test.

>>4490781
>"Explain yourself."

>>4490781
>"Explain yourself."

You stare at the hooded figure in silence for a moment, and they stare back at you. Not a word is spoken as the wind noisily blows past the two of you, if you were a normal human you'd have trouble merely standing in the terrible weather. Eventually, you have enough of simply waiting, and you open your mouth to demand an explanation. "Explain yourself."

"What is there to explain?" The hooded figure shrugs. "I wished to test you, so I did." Yet again, your opponent is purposely being evasive. You're going to quickly grow tired of dealing with them if they refuse to give you a straight answer on anything.

"Bold of you to assume that you have any right to test me." You respond in an annoyed tone. The flippant attitude of this hooded figure is really starting to get on your nerves. It's like they are actually trying to get you irritated for some reason.

They laugh for a moment, an echoing laugh that seems to reverberate around the entire train. "Oh, I wouldn't say so. You aren't the Dark Lord just yet, Arthur. You have no power over me." They state that with an unlimited amount of confidence. You aren't sure if this raspy voiced fool is merely overly confident in their own abilities, or a death seeker. But if it's death they seek, you will be more than willing to give it to them.

"You sound awfully confident in that assessment." You growl. "I told you to explain yourself. Why did you try to attack me?" You want answers, and if they aren't willing to give them to you willingly, then you'll just have to force them out. It doesn't make much of a difference to you. You don't really see how this necromancer would have any means to defeat somebody as powerful as yourself.

"Because I simply wanted to see how much you had grown since the last time we met. I'm not sure how likely you are to remember though..." The hooded figure begins to laugh uncontrollably. "After all, you abandoned my host without a second thought!" There's a jeering mockery in the voice of your opponent. For that's all that they could be. They clearly didn't come here with the intention of becoming your ally.

"Your... host?" You don't like where this is going at all, and you ready yourself to do battle with this strange person. You get the feeling that it could devolve into a battle at any point now, and you aren't going to allow yourself to get caught off guard by this strange person.

You take a step backwards as they flick their hood down, and you can finally see just who it is that you're up against. Long black hair blows in the storm and purple eyes shine in the darkness of the night. "Hello, Arthur. It has been a while since we last met, hasn't it?" The raspy voice of the hooded figure disappears and is replaced by the soft spoken voice of a girl you never heard speak before.

"Theresia...?" You are stunned by the revelation, and it's all you can do to simply say the name of the girl. The girl that got you caught up in all of this. The girl that you once wanted nothing more than to save from her terrible fate. She hasn't aged a day since you last saw her either.

"Oh! So you do remember her!" The raspy voice from before comes back. "She was so terrified that you would have simply forgotten her after all this time, but it looks like such fears were unwarranted!" The raspy voice cackles at you, and you feel your eyes narrow as your lips curve into an angry frown.

"What manner of demon are you? To have taken the body of my friend like this, you must really have a death wish." Your voice is cold. While you may have been forced to flee from Theresia due to a general distrust of Shirley and what her organization had planned for you. That doesn't mean you stopped considering her an ally. After all, you went through so much trouble to save the girl that for you to simply consider her a lost cause because some demon has possessed her body would be a truly ridiculous notion. She's still in there behind the mask of the possession. You know that.

"Demon? You wound me, to compare me to such beings. But, if you think yourself capable of freeing this girl from my grasp, I'd really be more than happy to test you once again, perhaps if you can defeat me, I'll consider you a worthy successor to Dracula!" The smile given to you by Theresia as the voice finishes speaking doesn't match the tone of the voice at all. It seems that even when she's possessed by some evil spirit, her natural expressions are still gentle. You once again find yourself wanting to save the girl. It's a ridiculous notion, that one who seeks to become the Dark Lord would wish to exorcise a spirit from a human girl, but even so, you aren't going to abandon another of your allies. Not again. You're strong enough now that you shall never have to abandon them again! "Now... what is it he used to say...?" The raspy voice seems to be lost in thought as it puppets Theresia's body into a mock gesture of thought. Eventually, Theresia raises one of her hands into the air and black glowing lights begin to race towards her palm, which glows with a black intensity, before a large deadly scythe appears in her hand, just by looking at it you can tell that it's just about the most powerful magical weapon you've ever seen. The dark energy held within the weapon is tremendous. Theresia looks far too fragile to be wielding such a weapon, yet still seems to wield it with ease. "I remember now... Have at you!" Theresia suddenly races towards you with immense speed, far beyond what you were expecting, and potentially even surpassing your own! This is no simple evil spirit! You're going to need to do something about that damn scythe before she uses it to cut you in two!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYnvw6tdbkI

>Dodge out of the way of the attack, try to reach out to the possessed girl while fighting defensively.
>Meet the attack head on with one of your own, if memory serves, Theresia has the capability to regenerate, so you shouldn't allow yourself to hold back.
>Try using the Power of Control on the girl when you get close enough. If it worked for Anna, it will work for her!
>Perhaps the Arm of Time will allow you to find the victory you seek?
>Write-in...

>>4492719
>Meet the attack head on with one of your own, if memory serves, Theresia has the capability to regenerate, so you shouldn't allow yourself to hold back.
Probably the best choice right now, as I doubt any of our tools will work without a little fighting.

>>4492719
>Dodge out of the way of the attack, try to reach out to the possessed girl while fighting defensively.
Lets see if Death has completely taken her over, or if she still has a will to fight.

>>4493002
+1

>>4492719
>Dodge out of the way of the attack, try to reach out to the possessed girl while fighting defensively.

As a side note, was Arthur finding the voice familiar despite never hearing Theresia's voice before a mistake?

>>4493061
Nope.

>>4493097
Drac and Deff the original bromance.

>>4492719
>Dodge out of the way of the attack, try to reach out to the possessed girl while fighting defensively.

>>4492719
>Dodge out of the way of the attack, try to reach out to the possessed girl while fighting defensively.

For whatever reason, you really don't want to touch that scythe. There's something about it that simply screams danger to you, you are starting to realize just what sort of level that Theresia has reached in your absence. In fact, this girl has grown powerful enough that even now you're starting to consider her at around the threat level of Anneliese or Alucard. Or well, perhaps calling it Theresia's strength wouldn't be accurate though. It's really quite obvious that this tremendous level of strength is as a result of her being possessed by whatever is behind all this.

You fade to mist and take a rapid step backwards before the scythe can strike you. You almost let out a breathe of relief as you observe the effect the scythe leaves on being slashed. The area you were standing in now has a red rift to who only knows where. The rift in space looks like a wound in reality itself, wherever it leads to is not the sort of knowledge you find yourself curious to wanting to attain. You still don't really want to hurt your friend. If it were Shirley, it would be an entirely different story, but for Theresia, even now you're finding it difficult to want to actually hurt the girl. "Theresia! I know you're in there somewhere! Fight back!" You try to reach out to the girl. You don't know how much use mere words will be here, this is almost certainly going to be the sort of thing you'll have to rely on the Power of Control for.

The robed scythe wielder gives you a wide smile. "Of course she's still in here! I'm just borrowing her body for a while, but she doesn't mind. Deep down, she wants this." The raspy voice mocks you. "Whoever could've guessed that women don't like being abandoned by the men that they consider their savior?" Theresia shakes her head as she shrugs in an exaggerated gesture, the weight of the large scythe in her hands apparently being negligible to her now.

"You..." You grit your teeth as you're about to respond, but before you can say anything, Theresia throws the scythe at you, which begins to rapidly spin as it seems to home in towards you, turning from a large clumsy projectile into a truly lethal disc, like an especially deadly saw blade. "Damn you!" You can only curse your opponent for interrupting you instead of attempting to reach out to Theresia as you had originally planned to, but you are thankfully fast enough to avoid the spinning blade, jumping high into the air and over Theresia to land on the other side of the train carriage.

Theresia cackles once again, in that voice that so clearly doesn't belong to her body. "Your commitment to your allies is still really quite admirable though, but it's quite rude for you not even to ask me to introduce myself. Don't you think that you might gain an advantage by finding out more about me?" For some reason, your opponent seems to scold you. "You should really not allow your emotions to rule you as you do, Arthur Bernhard. You may have claimed the last vestiges of power from the vampiric half of Dracula within your soul, but you'll never become the Dark Lord like this." Theresia seems to have an impossible amount of knowledge on things, and your eyes widen.

"How did you-" You try to ask but you're quickly interrupted.

"I know a lot of things. Now, introductions would normally not need to be made, but I suppose that the scythe alone doesn't quite get the point across, hm?" Once again, the raspy voice seems to mock you as the face of Theresia is twisted into a smug smile. "I am Death." Theresia seems to be engulfed in an oppressive amount of energy as those words are spoken. The pulse of darkness is so great that even you are forced to take a step backwards. Somehow, somehow you know that Death is speaking the truth of it's identity.

Now it's your turn to laugh. "Death? Really? Is there any reason that you've chosen to hijack the body of a girl then? Is the Grim Reaper truly so weak that he requires a human host to possess in order to fight me?" You taunt your opponent. If this actually is Death, then why would he need to possess Theresia? There should be no need for such a thing to be done, he should be powerful enough to act without being required to do such a thing, right?

"I shall tell you if you can defeat me. In fact, I'll even give you this girl back if you can, but at your current level, I wouldn't count on you even being able to harm me." Once again, Death taunts you. You don't think you would mind nearly so much if he weren't using the body of one of the people you wanted to protect to do so. "Now, let's see how you do against this..." Dark energy coalesces around the possessed Theresia, before suddenly expanding outwards! "Dark Rift!"

Space begins to warp in front of Theresia as a ball forms in front of her, though it's less of a physical ball, and more a sort of... rift in space. It appears to be attempting to suck the surroundings into it, a powerful vacuum attempts to draw everything towards it. The train below you creaks as the metal begins to bend. "Begone!" Theresia thrusts her hand forwards and the ball of destruction speeds towards you!

>Dodge it!
>Call upon the Power of Destruction. It is only right you meet destruction with destruction.
>Use the Power of Flame to teleport away from the attack!
>Use the Arm of Time to erase this attack1
>Write-in...

>>4494080
Can't we use a power or something to smack the big ball of energy back at him, like Phantom Ganon?

>>4494080
>Call upon the Power of Destruction. It is only right you meet destruction with destruction.
That seems to be what using PoD would do, as that's the only ability we have that can interact with this kind of energy

>>4494080
>Use the Arm of Time to erase this attack
Since the dark rift isn't an actual presence, but an active lack, I'm worried that the PoD wouldn't do anything to it; there'd be nothing to destroy.

>>4494080
>Use the Arm of Time to erase this attack

>>4494080
>Use the Arm of Time to erase this attack
>>4494206 convinced me. We eat shit if it hits us.

This doesn't seem like the sort of attack that you can block with the Power of Destruction. While you might be able to destroy the magic that has brought about the vortex-like effect, it's too much of a risk. Especially when you have a far more reliable alternative available to you when it comes to shutting down your opponent's attacks. Though even now you don't feel like it's one that you'll be able to use all too much, even with all the power that you now command, to rely on something like the Arm of Time for more than just gaining a quick advantage in a battle would be foolish.

Regardless of how risky you feel that relying on the power sealed within your arm is now, you need to use it once more. The risk represented by using it far outweighs the damage that you might incur from trying to escape this powerful attack in another way. So without further hesitation, you unlock the power of time, and with a snap of your fingers, erase the rift of nothingness hurtling towards you in a single instant. One moment it was there, and the next moment it had never been.

You seal up the power as quickly as you can manage and dash towards Death, you feel like attempting to attack Death itself with a weaponized version of time would be folly. Even if it can deal significant damage even to immortal beings, Death is something that goes beyond such things. The two are completely incompatible with each other, and you don't want to find out what exactly would happen if you were to attempt to physically strike the possessed Theresia with the power contained within your arm. Even if it did have an effect, you feel like it would only end up doing damage to Theresia and that the being you truly wish to attack would be unhurt from your strike.

After destroying the attack, Theresia does look startled for a moment, but they recover very quickly. "An interesting ability, but you are right not to use it to it's full power. That power is one that you will never be able to truly control." The raspy voice of the one possessing Theresia muses.

"I don't need your advice." You spit. You really don't require a lecturing from somebody you're currently trying to rid yourself of. Death or not, they have come here not only as an enemy, but also to flaunt having taken somebody dear to you and twisting them to their own goals.

Theresia frowns. "Oh, but you do! After all, right now, I am the only one in this world capable of communicating with Chaos!" You can't keep your surprise off your face, which elicits a smug smirk on Theresia's. "That's right, Arthur. I am well aware of your sudden inability to communicate with Chaos. You didn't think that Dracula gave you the remnants of his power for nothing, did you? He was never truly loyal to Chaos, but their goals tended to align on most things, and for Chaos and myself, that was enough, his lack of loyalty to Chaos was overlooked thanks to his strength." Theresia's body shrugs.

"If you are allied with Chaos, then why are you trying to kill me?" You demand the answer from the entity within your friend, but once again, all you receive is a smirk. It seems that the grim reaper might be enjoying this ability to make facial expressions a little too much. You wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't the body of one of your friends that it was puppeteering.

The smirk quickly fades into a more serious expression, the amusement your opponent feels fading away rather rapidly, replaced by a far more neutral expression. "I merely wish to determine whether you are worthy. While Chaos may not be willing to test you itself, I shall be more than happy to do so." Theresia launches the scythe in her hands into the air, and it summarily explodes into hundreds... no, thousands of smaller sickles that spread outwards. "Now, let us continue!" Death once again begins to cackle, and you realize that even being touched by one of those projectiles could spell disaster. However at the same time, Theresia's body has left itself defenseless. This may be your best chance to claim victory!

>Coat yourself in a shield with the Power of Destruction and charge through. When you reach Theresia's body, don't be afraid to incapacitate her.
>Use the Power of Destruction to erase the space between you and Theresia's body. You might be able to use the Power of Control to end the possession!
>Use the Power of Flame to create a massive explosion of fire, wipe away the sickles in the air.
>Try to replicate the same spell that Death just used with the knowledge of magic that Chaos blessed you with.
>Write-in...

>>4495321
>Use the Power of Destruction to erase the space between you and Theresia's body. You might be able to use the Power of Control to end the possession!
I was sorely tempted to vote for trying to copy Death's sickle storm, since that'd be an incredible power move if we can make it work. I doubt if we actually can make it work, though, since we're still pretty inexperienced with magic. Otherwise closing in with our space-eating and locking down Death's ability to fight with Control seems like the best bet.

>>4495321
>Try to replicate the same spell that Death just used with the knowledge of magic that Chaos blessed you with.

>>4495411
Death said if we manage to defeat him he'll leave Theresa, and if we try using control on her it leaves us just as open as she currently is if it doesn't work.

>>4495445
+1 time to steal a boss move

>>4495445
Fair enough. Let's give it a shot, then.
>>4495321
>Try to replicate the same spell that Death just used with the knowledge of magic that Chaos blessed you with.

>>4495321
>Try to replicate the same spell that Death just used with the knowledge of magic that Chaos blessed you with.

The amount of sickles soaring through the air is really quite concerning, but thankfully, they don't seem to have any sort of target, instead they just flit about randomly, changing directions at intervals that seem to have no set duration. None of them are crashing into each other either, but they aren't really that much of a direct threat to you. Not yet, anyway. While there might be some threat if you were to allow them to properly surround you, right now, avoiding the sickles is quite effortless. Getting close to Theresia however, is not. You'd be cut to ribbons before you could even touch her, and you feel like getting cut by sickles conjured by death itself would be bad for your continued existence.

So, with that in mind, you have something of a flash of inspiration. You aren't sure just how well you'll be able to duplicate the technique with the knowledge that Chaos blessed you with, but it will certainly shift things over to your favor dramatically if you actually manage to pull it off. So it's at least worth an attempt. You begin to focus on drawing out your magical power while conceptualizing the attack the Death just used. Unfortunately, while duplicating the spell is a possibility, you quickly realize that without a scythe to focus the magical power of the spell into, you won't have any luck with actually finishing the spell, and the sickles are growing ever closer!

You're forced to leap backwards to avoid getting hit and you almost break your intense concentration. If you lose concentration now, you might lose the knowledge to cast the spell entirely! Your mind races for potential ways to cast finish casting the sickle spell, it's really quite specific that it requires a weapon in the shape of a scythe in order for the spell to actually work, and you're quickly running out of options. Should you use one of your glyphs? No, you can't focus on another spell right now, or you'd lose it!

Could this have been a mistake? Could you have done the wrong thing? You're just about to release your grasp on the spell Death just used to attempt to duplicate the Dark Rift instead, but then, you realize something. If you need a scythe to finish the spell... and you can't use another spell right now... then why not just create one using something that isn't a spell at all?

You smirk. Of course, the Power of Destruction, while you are capable of creating simple constructs using it's energy, isn't suitable for something like this. The energy expenditure would quickly leave you spent, and the spell would rapidly fade. No, you can't use the Power of Destruction for this. But... you what you can do is use the Power of Flame instead.

You quickly move your left hand forward and will a scythe made of flames to appear in the hand, this draws Death's attention quite quickly, who looks on with an interested expression as you are just about to finish the spell. "You know, I do hear that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but is this really all that you've got? I was expecting more from you than just trying to copy my weapon." Looks like Death hasn't realized what you're up to just yet. Good, looks like Death, at least in its current form, isn't quite as all-knowing as you dreaded it might end up being.

"Is that all I've got?" You laugh briefly. "No." You finally manage to finish the spell and you launch the fiery scythe into the air. The magical energy infused within it conjuring a nearly equal number of sickles to the amount Death's own attack created, with one small difference. While the sickles you've conjured are almost identical to the ones already flying around, there's one key difference. That being that the blades of your conjured projectiles are glowing orange with near molten heat.

The sickles begin to collide with each other in mid air, obliterating each other as they do. Seems that the flame effect added on to your own sickles is enough that it can match the strength of Death's original spell. "I'm impressed!" Theresia smirks. "At least you aren't the sort to squander the gifts that Chaos saw fit to give you." Theresia begins to clap. "However, I hope that copying me isn't all that you intend to do. You'll never free your friend like this." You grit your teeth. While Death seems to have left themselves open for an attack, you aren't sure if it's just a ruse or not.

>Enough of this nonsense. Get up close and personal while Death is unable to defend themselves. Force them out of Theresia.
>Call upon the Power of Flame once again, you will free Theresia, no matter what.
>Use the Power of Destruction. Remove Theresia's limbs, starting with her two arms. Hopefully she'll be able to recover.
>Use your glyphs to overwhelm Death. You've clearly got it on the ropes already.
>Write-in...

>>4496774
>impressed Death
Is literally every single Death fight, even in a fucking quest based on the games, gonna be either kino or fun as fuck?
>Enough of this nonsense. Get up close and personal while Death is unable to defend themselves. Force them out of Theresia.
Go in melee like with any proper boss

>>4496774
>Enough of this nonsense. Get up close and personal while Death is unable to defend themselves. Force them out of Theresia.

>>4496774
>Enough of this nonsense. Get up close and personal while Death is unable to defend themselves. Force them out of Theresia.

>>4496774
>Call upon the Power of Flame once again, you will free Theresia, no matter what.
The flames do get stronger as the fight continues.
Just a bit concerned that Death is trying to bait us into using Control, or getting near him.

Time to end this! You've had enough of this nonsense, now it's time to bring this fight into an area where you know you truly excel! Dashing forwards with almost no resistance barring a stray sickle which you needed to dodge away from, you quickly close the distance from Theresia and slam into the girl, sending the Death possessed girl flying backwards. You aren't done yet though, as you leap after your enemy before she can hit the roof of the train and slam her down into the train, not quite smashing her through the roof, but putting a substantial dent in the roof.

In response to your quite savage attack, all you receive is a smirk from Theresia. "What's this, Arthur? I thought you would be less forceful with an old ally of yours. Aren't you worried about her?" Death decides to taunt you. Though they don't seem to be attempting to escape your death grip on them. "You wouldn't want to kil-"

You respond first by slamming your fist into Theresia, mostly just to shut the being possessing her up. This thankfully works, and it seems that within a human body, even something like Death requires their host to be able to breath air, Theresia gasps and sputters. "What's the matter, Death? Not used to feeling pain? Perhaps you ought to have thought out your plan more carefully before you stole my friend's body, no?" You grip your friend's body by the throat and easily raise them in the air, yet Death still doesn't bother to even resist, even as the sickles collide noisily in the air.

Death smiles at you, and the borders around Theresia begin to grow blurry and fuzzy, some sort of teleportation spell? "You didn't think it was going to be that easy, did you?" Their voice seems to echo in your ears as they are about to escape their grasp, and at that point, you realize that not only do you not want them to get away. You aren't going to allow them to get away from you either. The Power of Control. Your experience with the power is limited and it is by far the most difficult of your abilities to control, the effects and capabilities of it are the most varied and potentially powerful of all your abilities, after all. It has uses beyond merely being able to control people, even the environment itself will bow to your will should you wish it. But right now, right now all you need of the Power is to sever the control of another, to free Theresia from the grasp of Death itself.

The borders around Theresia begin to solidify as you call upon the Power of Control and begin to have it flow into Theresia's body. "Your taunts are worthless. This battle is over, now release your host, creature of Chaos!" You call out loudly as you allow an overwhelming amount of energy to flow through your hand into Theresia's body. No matter what Death might think of itself and how important it is in the grand scheme of things, it was a fool to attempt to face you like this. While you control so much of Chaos' own power. You may well already be the Dark Lord.

Instead of the angered reaction you were expecting from your enemy, they instead laugh. Or rather, their voice becomes a mixture of their own raspy laughter and Theresia's own pained laughter. What's going on? "Did you... really think that I hadn't accounted for this?" Your energy continues to flow into Death and you find yourself unable to cancel out the transfer of power. "You've acted exactly as I had wished for you to!" Suddenly, a dark cloak envelops Theresia before it disappears entirely, leaving behind the unconscious form of a girl. You turn around slowly, knowing just where your opponent has vanished off to, and you find Death in it's true form... or at least in a form that it must favor more than an apparently teenage girl it was possessing, the form of a floating robed skeleton. "Yes, thanks to that energy of yours, I can once again take this form!" Death seems to gloat, their voice becoming far more regal and less raspy as they grow accustomed to their new form, but you really don't care all too much. Seems that the clashing of the sickles in the air has ended now as well, and other than the wind, all is silent as you stare down the concept given form.

"Fantastic." You respond with a voice with barely any emotion in it. As far as you can tell, Theresia is alive, so you have very little at stake when it comes to continuing to interact with this skeletal wraith. "We've both got what we want, so why exactly are you still around?" You just want to be rid of this opponent now. You have far more important things to bother with than fighting a being who you quite literally cannot kill, even if you can defeat them at all. That form they have taken is clearly one with more power than they had moments before, while they were possessing a human.

"Well, that's a good question." The skull of the ethereal being doesn't move as they speak, the voice somehow echoing deep from within their skeletal form. "I've come to offer you something that might just be of interest to you." They hold out a bony hand and a scroll appears within it. "Within this scroll contains the magically discerned locations of each and every one of your rivals for the throne of the Dark Lord." A powerful tool to be sure, and one with an incredible amount of use to somebody like yourself.

"I take it that such a powerful tool doesn't come free." You can already tell that Death is about to ask you to do something for it, and you aren't sure if you really want to humor whatever request that is about to be asked of you.

"You would be correct in that assumption." The scroll disappears from Death's hand. "I wish for you to... dispose of a few traitors. Only then shall I give you the information you seek." It would appear as if Death has no interest in continuing to fight you, not that you care all too much. Your own irritation towards being fooled aside, attempting to do any permanent damage to something like Death would be folly, and seeing as Death seems to at least be loyal to Chaos, it's obviously of more benefit to you to work with them. Theresia doesn't appear to be too seriously hurt either, just unconscious, so you suppose you may even have Death to thank for this reunion too.

>"I refuse."
>"Very well, who am I supposed to be killing?"
>"Tell me who you want dead first."
>"Before I give you an answer, tell me why you didn't just ask me for my help?"
>Write-in...

>>4498226
>"Before I give you an answer, tell me why you didn't just ask me for my help?"

>>4498226
>"Before I give you an answer, tell me why you didn't just ask me for my help?"
>"Seriously, I would be perfectly fine giving you my aid if you simply told me you were on the side of Chaos and explained things properly the first time. I'm not an unreasonable man."
>"Looking back, I did rather enjoy the fight though. I can see why Chaos might hold you in a high regard."

>>4498226
>"Before I give you an answer, tell me why you didn't just ask me for my help?

>>4498226
>"Before I give you an answer, tell me why you didn't just ask me for my help?"

>>4498226
>"Before I give you an answer, tell me why you didn't just ask me for my help?"

>>4498226
>"Tell me who you want dead first."
>"Before I give you an answer, tell me why you didn't just ask me for my help?"

>>4498226
>"Tell me who you want dead first."
>"Before I give you an answer, tell me why you didn't just ask me for my help?"

"Before I give you my answer, I want you to answer something for me." The offer of such knowledge is tempting, even at the cost of being forced to do Death's dirty work, but there's one thing you just have to know the answer to before you go any further with this. "You could've just simply asked me for my assistance if you required my power, so why didn't you?" It's really baffling, if Death actually is on your side, then what was the entire point behind this? Did it just feel like battling somebody close to it's own level of power? Or was it actually truly attempting to gauge your strength?

The skeletal wraith crosses it's arms and if it could actually make any sort of expression, you're quite certain it would be one of minor disappointment. "I told you quite a few times before, I was simply testing you. While I could've come to you in peace to request your aid, that would've only allowed me to have taken a physical form like this, and it wouldn't have allowed me to test your developmental potential it's I gone about things in such a amicable way. No, it was far better that we did things this way." Seems like Death really is sticking to its already given reason. As frustrating as it is for somebody who should theoretically be allied with you by default to attack you is, you suppose that you can't blame Death for wanting to know if the next Dark Lord is powerful enough to fill the role.

"So, speaking of this potential, did I pass?" That's one thing that you've got to wonder. While it's fairly obvious that Death wasn't using the full extent of its power, you weren't either. Not truly. After all, while you might realize that Theresia has a potent regenerative ability, to actually willingly wound your friend with something like the Power of Destruction is still quite difficult to go through with. Had Death not been using the body of your friend to cause you to subconsciously hold back, you don't think that the grim reaper would've been able to take things anywhere near as easily as it apparently did.

"If you didn't, I assure you that we would not be having this conversation right now... Well, the conversation we would be having might actually be the last you ever have..." There's an obvious threat to Death's words. It seems that it really was prepared to kill you should you have failed to impress. Of course, had things gotten truly desperate you would've been forced to call upon your own full power, so even if you had begun to fail thanks to the inclusion of the possessed body of Theresia in the battle, eventually you would have been forced to discard her safety in exchange for that of your own and for your other allies. As sad as it might be, no matter how much you might wish to protect Theresia, at the end of the day, she is but a single person, and you can't consider her to be any more valuable to you than anyone else that you might think of as an ally.

"You would do well not to speak such threats to me, Reaper. Unless you wish to determine which of us is truly the superior." Still, you can't allow such an obvious threat from the reaper to go unresponded to. While the physical form of Death is obviously a powerful opponent, it is merely a servant of Chaos. Despite all the importance and power that Death may command, it is only a Servant of Chaos, while you are... or at least will be Chaos' Champion within this reality. You doubt that Death is truly undefeatable, even if it's impossible to actually kill it, Dracula would never have been defeated so many times if he actually had a completely unkillable and untouchable being like Death itself on his side. No, it's more likely that it's possible for Death to be sealed away or banished back to the realm of Chaos. Even if you can't truly destroy it without rewriting the laws of the universe itself.

Death laughs for a moment as you return it's threat with one of your own. "Threatening Death itself eh? Impressive resolve, if nothing else." The reaper seems to congratulate you on not flinching away from his threat or ignoring it. Seems that he actually wanted you to respond like you did. Another test, perhaps? "But I do now need your answer. Will you or will you not kill those who betrayed Chaos?"

>"Yes."
>"No."
>"Why don't you do it?"
>Write-in...

>>4499880
>>"No."
Pft. Got other shit to do first.

>>4499880
>"Yes."
Enemies of Chaos will be our enemies sooner or later anyway.

>>4499880
>"No."
I'm sick and tired of people offering us deals. If we're going to do it, it's going to be on our terms, you damnable apparition.

>>4499880
>"Yes."
Should be easy enough. I'm as tired of nonstop deals with otherworldly beings as the next guy but that's the cost of doing business in this quest I suppose.

>>4499880
>"Yes."

>>4499880
>"No."
Don''t we have to kill other people? maybe later Death not now.

>>4500274
The other DLCs are people we need to kill too you know, and if these guys betrayed Chaos then they should be our enemies by default, killing them to obtain a map to the other DLCs so we can hunt them down is plenty worth it don't you think?

>>4500398
Man I just want to get our allies back or at least find out what happened to them. Gotta give Theresia a hug when she comes to as well. A very cold and uncomfortable hug on account of the seven foot vampire thing.

>>4500443
Why treat these things as mutually exclusive?

>>4500469
Because I'm not about to get caught up in Death's dirty work when we already have unfinished business. Unless he's about to tell us it's Annelise who needs killing I have zero interest in getting sidetracked even if it would give us a nifty parchment.

I care about making sure things aren't getting even worse than they already may be than having an easier time of finding the other posers.

>>4500476
You say this like we aren't going to find our allies first even if we accept his offer here.

>>4499880
>"Yes."

>>4499880
>"Yes."
You owe us a kino bossfight on par with Super Castlevania IV and Dawn of Sorrow

>>4500513
With the track record so far, yes.

>>4499880
>"Yes."

>>4499880
>no
Fuck off death.

"Very well, I shall take this offer of yours then, Death. Though I'll go about killing your targets in my own time. I do hope you don't expect me to prioritize what you want over what I myself want." The temptation of the offered knowledge is too much to turn down entirely, but you have your own goals that you need to ensure you accomplish before you can go around as a glorified hitman for Death itself. You still need to find your allies before you allow yourself to get distracted by chasing after a bunch of targets.

"Of course, there is no time limit on those you are required to kill. I shall give you all the information you might require as to your first target. The weakest of the three that betrayed the forces of Chaos in their darkest hour." You remain silent and allow Death to continue. "First, you ought to know that this man's name. It is... Blackmore. He has cheated death for many years by fusing with his own shadow and possessing his descendants, he is capable of attacking through shadows and is a formidable opponent, he once acted as one of Dracula's most trusted generals, centuries ago before his first body was destroyed by a powerful witch." Interesting, so a man who became a living shadow? Sounds like quite an interesting opponent, and one that would be a nightmare to actually kill for real. Perhaps if you enveloped the entirety of his shadow with destructive energy, it would eradicate him?

"Interesting, so where will I find this Blackmore? Oh, and what of my other two targets?" This man sounds powerful enough as it is, so you're quite intrigued by the identity of the two that Death considers to be more powerful than a past general of Dracula himself. While you don't doubt that mere generals would quickly wither against the strength of a Dark Lord such as yourself, he still must've been tremendously powerful in his own right. So it only makes you wish to know the truth behind the other two more.

"The current host of Blackmore is a man by the name of Andrew Kirkland, a CEO of a large company in America... not a man of any magical talent in his own right, instead, Blackmore chose to use the wealth of this man to ensure himself a life of decadence. Then, when the time came for him to aid the Dark Lord in the final battle, he killed the messenger sent to request his assistance. He's a very easy man to find thanks to his choice to embrace decadence over duty." You could understand simply refusing, but killing the messenger? that's a guaranteed way to get yourself on a list like this one if there ever was one. Looks like this Blackmore fellow might not be all too bright about what he decides to do. "As for the other two... I shall withhold their identities for now, not out of any malicious intent or wish to trick or deceive you. The other two you have been requested to kill... well, the two of them may end up being... too powerful for you right now."

"Too... powerful?" You have a hint of indignation in your voice as Death seems to belittle your abilities. Big talk for somebody who you just defeated, though you don't think your opponent was giving their all. You certainly hadn't been forced to use everything you had by the conclusion of the fight.

"I mean no offense. You may have power, young Bernhard, but they are... old. Far older than you are, and with age comes experience. You have yet to do battle with an opponent who is able to truly challenge you with your new powers yet. Not a true battle, at least. Even now, if I were to unleash my full power, I doubt you would be able to last all too long." There's no hint of pride or any sort of braggadocio in the regal tone of the ethereal being. "This in itself is another reason behind this list of targets. Each one of them will allow you to become experienced enough for your... final battle." It might be frustrating, but there is wisdom to Death's words. Right now you don't truly have much experience, and while you learn quickly with your new abilities and have been given plenty of training from Shanoa, the people you will be facing will have orders of magnitudes more experience in a fight than you.

"My final battle?" You are curious as to what Dracula means by your final battle. It's a foreboding and ominous thing to mention, more so when it comes from the mouth of the embodiment of Death itself.

"You shall know of it when it happens. When the heir of the Belmont clan seeks your head. You will either perish in that battle, or emerge triumphant and spread your rule over the world." Death stares into your eyes, tiny white flames burning in it's empty eye sockets. "A few words of warning for you, before I depart: Chaos does not take kindly to those who reject it." There's an obvious threat to Death's words, and you don't even get a chance to respond before space seems to fold in on itself and over the hooded reaper, who disappears fully without a trace or without evidence it was ever there in the first place.

You find yourself alone once again on the roof of the train... well, almost. Theresia lies unconscious a few feet away, and you quickly realize that you are going to need to decide what to do about her. You're also going to need to clean up the mess made of the train, but you feel like such a thing shouldn't be impossible for you to do with the Power of Control. Though you'll need to deal with the Theresia situation before anything else. The importance of the sudden appearance of one of your missing ally is far greater than the state of the train and it's occupants.

>Try to wake her up now.
>Take Theresia back to your quarters and allow her to rest.
>Take Theresia back to your quarters and try to wake her up there.
>Try using the Power of Control to force her into awakening.
>Write-in...

>>4501088
>Take Theresia back to your quarters and try to wake her up there.

>>4501088
>Take Theresia back to your quarters and allow her to rest.

>>4501088
>Take Theresia back to your quarters and allow her to rest.
Anna better be overjoyed at Theresia's return. It would make for a nice heartwarming reunion scene for all three of them. A welcome moment of nice feels in-between the gothic horror

>>4501088
>Take Theresia back to your quarters and allow her to rest.

No update today due to awful weather continuously knocking out my power.
Hopefully this time it doesn't drop another tree on me.

>>4501088
>Take Theresia back to your quarters and allow her to rest.

There's no choice but to take Theresia back to your quarters first of all. Cleaning up the mess that has been made of the train can come later, and with Anna's help. You don't know the specifics of whatever hypnosis that Death but the train under, but seeing as the agent of Chaos seemed to take at least some care not to wholesale slaughter the occupants of the train, you may just be able to get this damn train moving again without the passengers ever having realized something was wrong at all! Of course, the unfurnished carriage may baffle some people, but that shouldn't be enough to warrant the train returning. Perhaps it was too hasty to use the Power of Destruction in a place that you would've much preferred remained unblemished, but you suppose that such thoughts are just wishful thinking.

The hole in the roof of the carriage and the general mess left everywhere else however might end up being a real pain to clear up. You suppose it wouldn't take you very long to actually tidy up the whole train and even repair the majority of the damage caused with your abilities if you put your mind to it, but really, you can't help but consider yourself above such things as manual labor. It's unfortunate that you don't have a way to easily fix the damage caused, but you suppose that you can't do everything... yet. The Power of Control feels as if it may be able to accomplish such feats, but you don't really want to experiment with new powers when you're on a time limit.

You pick the girl up with a single hand and sling her over your shoulder before you hop down the hole back into the train, finding yourself standing in the remains of the zombie that you drove through the roof of the carriage. You sigh for a brief moment and then bring out the Power of Destruction in a small quantity, directing it very carefully to remove every trace of the chunks of undead flesh and bone littering the room. It takes only about thirty seconds until you've finished cleaning the otherwise empty room and you begin making your way back to your own cabin. The girl on your shoulder hasn't stirred at all. She's totally out cold. A shame that your reunion had to be unfairly ruined by the circumstances behind it, but you're just happy that you've met the girl once again. You know that Theresia is one of the few people that you can rely on to never betray you. Not of her own will. After all that you ended up doing for her, you would have to be a seriously poor judge of character in order to be wrong on that.

You've soon re-entered your room and see that your two allies have yet to awaken from their magically induced slumbers either. Though Anna being forced into a sleeping state does give you hope. After all, if she could be put to sleep with magic, then wouldn't the same apply to you? Though then again, whatever the sleeping spell that Death cast on this train was, it didn't seem to affect you at all. Could it be your power as a Vampire Lord, that you were unaffected where even a powerful vampire like Anna has become was forced to slumber? Are you completely immune, or just resistant to such magic? Though you suppose it doesn't really matter. You aren't going to find an opponent who is a greater user of magic than death itself, not for a long time. After all, Death has quite literally had since life began to increase the knowledge it holds, and that would obviously include knowledge of the mystical. Maybe the answer to your inability to communicate with Chaos does lie somewhere in the realm of the magical, but at the moment, you can't commit the time it would take to research that.

You lay Theresia on an empty chair to let her sleep and take a step back, looking at the three girls all sleeping peacefully. Even if it was magic that forced them into this slumber, wouldn't it be better to just leave them to rest for now? You're sure that they've all been through quite a lot, and being able to safely rest must be a luxury that they've not had for a long time. In fact, Anna may not have even been capable of doing such a thing outside of this forceful sleep brought about by magic. You know that you might be marginally faster at repairing the damage and making it look as if nothing actually happened barring perhaps a particularly ambitious robbery of a single carriage if you had the help of one of them, especially Anna, but you're starting to wonder whether or not it might just be better to let them wake up on their own and do the work by yourself. As much as you loathe the idea of using your newly found power for such menial and mundane tasks, there's not really much you can do to entertain yourself anyway at this time of night. Especially not with Anna currently suffering from sever mental pain as a result of coming back to her senses.

>Wake up Anna and Grace. You'd like their assistance.
>Wake up a single one of your allies (Who?)
>Just go and fix the damage done before any passengers wake up. You don't actually know how much time you've got here.
>Write-in...

>>4503979
>Just go and fix the damage done before any passengers wake up. You don't actually know how much time you've got here.

>>4503979
>Just go and fix the damage done before any passengers wake up. You don't actually know how much time you've got here.

>>4503979
>Just go and fix the damage done before any passengers wake up. You don't actually know how much time you've got here.

>>4503979
>Just go and fix the damage done before any passengers wake up. You don't actually know how much time you've got here.
Single vampire lord pretty boy in his 20s places entire train's worth of displaced people where they belong in 15 minutes

>>4503977
>Perhaps it was too hasty to use the Power of Destruction in a place that you would've much preferred remained unblemished, but you suppose that such thoughts are just wishful thinking.
WE'RE GOING TO PUNCH THE RED SKELLIES NEXT TIME OKAY WHATIS????

You don't need their help, as much as their assistance might help lighten up the boring monotony of repairing the damage and ensuring that nobody thinks that anything truly went wrong during the brief spell of sleep undergone by everyone on board the train, you feel like it would be a far greater mercy of you to allow the girls to sleep. Who knows when they are going to be able to get a night's rest as secure as this one? Even if they are in states of sleep brought about through magic, all three of them are now living lives of extreme danger. In fact, Anna shouldn't even be able to sleep, so it's an extra reward for her, you think. After all, you would be a damn liar if you said you didn't envy the ability to sleep. It was your only key to visiting Chaos, after all. That rift to her realm should still be somewhere inside you, but without guidance or a lot of experimentation, you aren't going to be able to find it. It was difficult enough to locate when your inner world was manifested as a dreamscape, now looking within yourself may well be impossible.

You leave your cabin once again. You suppose that it's time to get to work. Though you had hardly expected that you would be playing the role of some almighty janitor a few hours ago, you suppose that you just have to accept this as it is. The first problem that you realize you're going to have is returning the passengers to their rooms. Of course, while you can easily hoist about the unconscious bodies as easily as one might move cushions, your strength isn't that much use to you in this scenario. No, the problem is that you have absolutely no idea where half of these passengers were dragged from, and it's hardly going to be easy finding it out. There must have been at least 70 or so people who were moved before you put a stop to things, so you suppose that it's about time that you at least tried to get some of them back to their rooms, and hell, if you can't figure it out, then you'll just dump them in a random room and call it a day!

You take care of the passengers fairly quickly after this initial setback, the ones with keys to their private rooms on them end up being easy to place back into their own rooms, the problem however emerges with the passengers who are dressed only in their nightclothes that were dragged away by the undead before you dealt with the situation. You end up taking the relatively lazy option of just tossing them into random rooms. At this point, you don't really care, and if you're as lucky as some people seem to think you are, you might just end up picking correctly anyway, unbelievable as it might sound.

When all of the passengers are dealt with, you turn your attention to another large problem that ended up arising in your battle with the undead. No, not the room that you managed to turn into a blank slate, there's pretty much nothing you can do about that. No, you're talking about the hole in the roof of the train. You do suppose that this presents a good opportunity to try putting some of the other uses of the Power of Control to the test. After all, the ability isn't only good for the control of living things. No, if what you understand about the Power right now is correct, then fixing this problem with it shouldn't be too difficult for you...

You call upon the ensnaring energy of the Power of Control and direct it outwards, specifically to cover the area of the ceiling with a huge gap in it. Then, with a mental command, you demand that the metal within the confines of the small energy field shift and rejoin. The wrecked metal of the roof is all too happy to oblige your command, while you aren't under any illusion that the train or the metal itself is the entity responding to you, in fact it's more like you're exerting a command on the world itself, and it follows through with it. It's a very strange ability, and complicated enough that even doing something as meager as fixing the hole in the roof is enough to cause even you some mental strain. It's not an issue of power so much that it's an issue with knowledge and experience. You might be capable of ordering the world to bend to your whims with this power, but that's not really that true at all. It's far more difficult to actually send forth the commands to repair the damage done to the roof than you would've expected it to be, and you find yourself with only one real conclusion. The Power of Control is an immensely useful weapon but it seriously needs the most practice.

Eventually, you've finished clearing up the train with as much effort as you can bother mustering. You've at least managed to get it to the point where most people would suspect an elaborate prank rather than some sort of supernatural battle between a powerful vampire and the grim reaper himself. Then again, it's not like anybody would think it could possibly be the second option unless they were either insane or aware of the supernatural world already. You return to your quarters, a little disappointed by your lack of being able to completely resolve things. However, on the bright side, you actually managed to avoid any causalities from occurring at all this time, as opposed to... well you don't know how many people ended up dying on that damn boat.

You return to your quarters a final time to find that everyone is still sleeping, and will probably remain that way until the morning comes around again. Still, that leaves you with some time to yourself, and crucially, some time to train your abilities by yourself without interruption from anybody. But you have so much you can choose to develop now, so what should you focus on?

>The Power of Control
>The Power of Flames
>The Power of Destruction
>Glyph Magic
>Chaotic Magic
>Vampiric Abilities
>Write-in...

>>4505478
>>Vampiric Abilities

>>4505478
>Reaching Chaos.
I'm confident in our ability to fight anyone who opposes us, but this is something that really should be accomplished as soon as possible, and the sooner we can reach her the faster we can obtain True Chaotic Magic.

>>4505478
>Vampiric Abilities
>>4505495
We already spent quite a bit of time working on that last night/this morning. I don't think it's going to happen until we find the appropriate macguffin.

>>4505478
>Vampiric Abilities
Next stop, we hunt

>>4505500
Arthur believes finding the rift to Chaos within himself will take either experimentation or someone helping him find it.
The amount of people in the world even aware of Chaos' existence is incredibly small, and the amount that would volunteer to assist us in locating the rift are practically nonexistent, unsealing the castle early is something we'd probably need True Chaotic Magic to do since an eclipse is the requirement, and we dont know how to cause one
So while it will take some time, experimentation to reach the rift is the way to go.

>>4505478
>Vampiric Abilities
about time desu

With your allies asleep, now would be an excellent opportunity to properly test out a few of the powers you now have access to owing to your new existence as a Vampire Lord, you think. You're already enjoying the massively increased physical speed, strength and endurance you control, to the point where you don't even really know if Dominus will be required anymore. Of course, it's a useful ability, but you feel like you may have somewhat outgrown it, after all, no opponent you've fought so far has really made you wish you had more speed or strength. Those are things you have in excess right now. Perhaps you're wrong though, and that there will be an opponent capable of truly eclipsing you in physical power in the future. You do doubt it though, you have come to stand at the pinnacle of all non-human beings through your transformation into a Vampire Lord.

Now, you might be especially enjoying the increased power brought about simply from the transformation itself, but that's not the only ability you now have access to. No, you have a whole repertoire of abilities available to you now, you've already figured out how to take the form of mist and become incorporeal. You could choose to focus on animal transformations, though you really aren't sure how much use you'd get out of doing something like that. Shapeshifting into a bat might be a cool party trick, but you hardly see it being of any real viable use to you. Perhaps if you were to focus on partial animal transformation? Being able to form true claws or grow wings could prove to be useful.

But what about being able to transform into swarms of creatures? Being able to turn into a swarm of bats or creatures ought to be far more useful than simply turning into a single beast. A sort of in-between state between the mist form and a true transformation, though really, you aren't entirely certain how much use you'll get out of it. You suppose that being able to transform in such a manner could be used as a decent surprise attack against your enemies.

You could also attempt to create a familiar for yourself as well. Sophia seemed to be quite fond of using bats that she apparently created herself, so you could likely do the same. But whatever form your familiar, or perhaps familiars, would end up taking isn't really something that you have much knowledge of. Truth is, you aren't really certain of all the powers that you as a Vampire Lord actually have access to, but you suppose that this is one of the reasons why you intend to train your abilities in the first place.

As you muse on your potential options, the train begins to move again. Oh good, it appears as if the hypnosis is beginning to wear off on at least a few of the passengers. Or well, at least the ones who are crucial to starting the train up again. You'd hate to end up getting stuck in quite literally the middle of nowhere, even if you could probably just end up taking your allies to a nearby town or something. Doing that is really hardly ideal.

There is one last vampiric ability that you've yet to properly put to the test though. Your natural charm as a vampire. It ought to make ensnaring the hearts of mortals really quite an easy task, and experimenting with your charm would also be an excellent way to finally quench your thirst for blood. The fact that the hypnosis is slowly beginning to wear off on some of the passengers already means that there should start to be a few people who you can test that particular ability out on soon.

>Focus on full animal transformations
>Focus on partial animal transformations
>Focus on animal swarm transformations
>Try to figure out how to create familiars
>Experiment with your vampiric charm.
>Try to do something else (Write-in...)

>>4506637
>>Try to figure out how to create familiars

>>4506637
>Experiment with your vampiric charm.

>>4506637
>>Try to figure out how to create familiars
Tophat bat.

>>4506637
>Experiment with your vampiric charm.
Pretty necessary if we want to feed on people without killing them or leaving a trail.

>>4506637
>Try to figure out how to create familiars

>>4506637
>>Experiment with your vampiric charm.

>>4506637
>Experiment with your vampiric charm.
what >>4506980 said, and the first stop should be soon

Been feeling a little out of it today, so the update should come in the next... 12 hours or so.
Hopefully.

You suppose that experimenting with your vampiric charm is probably the most important thing to focus on right now. If you can get the basics of that down, then against normal human beings you'll never run into any sort of trouble again. You'll simply be able to subtly manipulate their mind through magical means. At least this way you won't have to pretend to be a normal human nearly as much as you currently have to. If you actually had this ability mastered already you would've simply been able to have gotten your tickets for free! Or you could have simply coerced that shady car dealer into giving you what you wanted without any required violence first.

Being able to manipulate normal humans is a relatively crucial skill for you, at least right now, where you have to live among them and interact with them. With that in mind, you leave your quarters once again in order to locate somebody who you might be able to actually test this charm on. It may take a little bit of practice, but even if it doesn't work immediately, this power is well worth the minor embarrassment of your vampiric charm not working straight away. It might've been simpler to have just tested this ability out on one of your more human allies, but none of them can be called normal. Even Grace is apparently some form of apprentice witch, so her natural talent for magic may interfere with your charm somehow.

Having left your cabin, you begin walking through the train. It's a large vehicle thankfully, and some of the people simply ended up waking up from their brief hypnosis and carrying on with things as they normally would. After walking through more than a few carriages, you come across another train that has been outfitted to serve as a bar. There's even a few people around still drinking! Pretty impressive, considering that the sun is probably going to rise soon, but whatever. Alcoholics would be one of the best people to try your charm out on anyway. Their mental capacity, and thus their resistance to being manipulated has already been weakened as a result of the alcohol coursing through their veins, they should be easy for you to manipulate, as long as you manage to actually get your charm working.

You try and call upon all the charm in your body and infuse your voice with some of that magic as you walk up to a woman sitting at a table. "Excuse me, madame?" You address the woman as politely as you possibly can, the power of a vampire lord shall make itself clear now!

"Дa?" The woman responds to you in a way that you... probably should have been expecting, namely, in Russian. You don't actually speak the language, as annoying as that might be. You really do want to get back to a place that predominantly speaks English. Learning a language at this point simply doesn't sound like a good use of your time, perhaps a spell that automatically translates is possible? It would be nice but it's not something possible right now. Maybe that's something you'll be able to work on creating with Grace. Maybe Anna too, depending on the state of her magical ability.

"Do you speak English, perhaps?" You have no idea if your charm is going to work on somebody who can't actually understand what it is you want them to do. Hopefully she's bilingual and does speak your language, otherwise this is going to quickly become quite a hassle.

"Чт... чтo ты имeeшь в видy?" Obviously she doesn't, and your hopes of her being bilingual are dashed on the rocks. A shame, perhaps you'll just have to find another person to test your charm out on? You doubt that they are going to be receptive to following commands they can't even understand.

>Look for another target to test your charm on.
>Continue with this woman, she might not speak English, but why should your charm be limited to that?
>This isn't going to work, maybe you should just wake up one of the girls and have them help you test your charm?
>Write-in...

>>4508606
>Continue with this woman, she might not speak English, but why should your charm be limited to that?

Persistance pays off

>>4508606
>Continue with this woman, she might not speak English, but why should your charm be limited to that?
Stubbornness and vampire charm. We have this.

>>4508606
>Kiss her with tongue

Woo her through sexual prowess

>>4508606
>Kiss her with tongue

>>4508606
>>Continue with this woman, she might not speak English, but why should your charm be limited to that?

>>4508606
>Continue with this woman, she might not speak English, but why should your charm be limited to that?
Hilarity is going to ensue, I just know it.

>>4508606
>Continue with this woman, she might not speak English, but why should your charm be limited to that?
This is gonna be good

>>4508606
>Continue with this woman, she might not speak English, but why should your charm be limited to that?

>>4508606
>Continue with this woman, she might not speak English, but why should your charm be limited to that?

>inb4 we do something stupid like tell her to kill the japanese

>>4508606
>Continue with this woman, she might not speak English, but why should your charm be limited to that?
Ah good, we needed some levity around here

Sorry about the silence, anons. You may be aware of my... difficulties in running my other quest that caused me to decide I needed to take a slight break from writing to get things all sorted out.

>>4511546
Nah I don't follow that quest at all, for obvious reasons. Be sure to let us know what's going on too!

>>4511546
I dropped out of following that quest in the first thread, sorry. Another quest burned me out on fate. You want to tell us what's up?

>>4511627
In a word? Samefaggotry.
A lot of blatant admitted samefaggotry.

If you're wondering what the fuck these two votes are about
>>4508730
>>4508745
It's samefag spillover, I think.

>>4511643
Sorry to hear it. Take all the time you need, I'm no stranger to a QM needing breaks. I'm sure we'll all be here when you're ready to write more.