[A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you so much for the support you are giving me without you all this would not be possible! I hope you like the chapter! Umu, Umu!]
......
Somewhere in Texas, in a town that seemed to be abandoned.
A woman wearing a modern maid's Outfit was walking towards a certain location. She had blonde hair tied in a ponytail, sapphire blue eyes, and was around 180cm tall.
The woman turned onto a street and looked straight ahead, as her vision seemed to widen a considerable distance:
"An old mansion, huh..." Maria thought hunters had bad taste in picking places to stay, as always.
Even though she was going to meet her supposed lover/boyfriend, Maria wasn't very excited, since she knew this was just a trap, not to mention that...
Maria looked up at the sky.
Above the clouds, a man with black hair and red eyes was watching the place.
Maria couldn't see beyond the clouds, but she knew he was there, she could feel it. Even if she wanted to, she could never forget Victor's presence.
"Is it okay for her to go alone, Darling?" Sasha, who was beside Victor, asked. As she still didn't know how to use the floating ability of vampires, she had to lean on Victor to stay still in the air.
Victor, who was lightly holding Sasha's waist, said:
"Yes."
"..." Victor stopped looking at Maria and looked at Sasha:
"Are you worried about her?"
"I am not." Sasha was honest.
Victor flashed a small smile when he heard Sasha's words:
"To answer your question, it's pretty obvious that this is a trap, so we should just do as Ruby said."
"Use the trap to our advantage, huh?" Sasha spoke with a small smile. She still remembered the little meeting they had before coming to this place. Of course, Maria was not part of that meeting since the less the maid knew, the more likely it was for the plan to succeed.
"Yes." Victor knew that, among his wives, Ruby was the most capable of thinking up complex plans, and because Victor trusted his wife completely, he would go along with whatever she proposed.
'Although...' Victor looked at the old mansion, focused on his eyes, and saw a strange 'darkness', it was as if he couldn't see beyond that point, a blind spot in his usually reliable ability.
Victor trusted Ruby and her plans, but he also knew that his wife was weak against unpredictable situations. Knowing that, Victor suggested that he would stay in the air with Sasha and watch over everything.
"In one place in the mansion, I can't see anything. Something like this happened in the past when I went to visit Clan Horseman, I don't know what it is, but stay alert." Victor reported what he saw through the small communicator that was in his ear.
"Okay, Darling." Ruby spoke.
While Victor stayed in the air with Sasha, Violet, Luna, and Ruby would stay on the ground and take care of the situation, reporting any unforeseen issues they found to him.
Today, they're just here to prevent something from happening to Sasha.
This was a family situation, Sasha's problem, and because of that, Victor didn't want more people to come.
And he very much doubted that Scathach, Siena, Pepper, or Lacus were interested in this subject.
For better or worse, Scathach only cared about her daughters. Although she'd known Sasha for a long time, and Violet too, she wouldn't intervene unless absolutely necessary.
"She's entering... Oh?" Victor looked carefully at the silhouette of the man who appeared out of nowhere; 'That darkness is obscuring my vision, I can't see beyond that. The man must have come out of that place...' That was an obvious thought.
But despite being obvious, it didn't stop bothering Victor, as he was very used to using his eyes to obtain information from enemies.
"A man's silhouette appeared, I don't know if it's Carlos, but I'm assuming it is because of his height."
"..." Sasha squeezed Victor's shoulder tightly, and her eyes began to glow slightly blood red.
Even though Victor wasn't sure if the silhouette was Carlos or not, just hearing Carlos' name made the woman angry.
With the same smile, Victor said, "Calm yourself, you'll have him delivered on a silver platter, Honey. Just wait a minute."
"Yes... Darling." Sasha's grip began to soften.
...
Maria went through the door of the old mansion and looked around. She noticed that this mansion was very old and was completely dusty. She then trained her eyes on the thing that stood out the most in this mansion, which was a broken statue.
She looked down and saw a tall bald man. His atmosphere was different, he was wearing different clothes, but she could recognize him.
"... Carlos..."
"Welcome, Maria." Carlos exhibited a gentle little smile, "I missed you."
"..." Maria didn't know what to say, what should she say? Why did you call me? Is this really a trap? How did you rise so fast in the organization?
If she said; 'I missed you too.' She knew this would be a lie, but at the same time, true. At first, she missed him, but her feelings began to die down as time passed.
She didn't know if that was because of the thing she had turned into that night, or if it was because of herself... She didn't know.
And these were all just useless questions, and she knew it... She just didn't know what to say, and since she didn't know what to say, she was silent.
Carlos looked at Maria as if sizing her up, his face slightly distorted when he saw the outfit the woman was wearing.
"You became a maid of those leeches..."
"Yes. As you know, I didn't have much choice at first." Maria spoke.
"Yes... I know... I definitely know..." Carlos looked at a broken statue that was behind him:
"I still have nightmares when I go to sleep of that night. The night I lost you."
"..." Maria's gaze twitched a little. What did he mean by lost me? Maria felt something strange coming from Carlos' words, and, despite being a little sentimental, her logical side was fully functioning, even she was surprised by it.
She thought she would be more shaken when she saw Carlos in person.
But she was not feeling anything... Nothing? Wait, isn't she feeling something?
Actually... She was feeling something. She felt hungry! She felt that eating Carlos now would give her heavenly pleasure!
... HUH?
'What's happening to me!?' Maria held her head, and she started to doubt herself. When she asked herself that, she remembered Sasha's big smile:
"Ah... I understand now..."
This was destined to happen the moment Maria became a Ghoul.
What is a Ghoul?
It's a subspecies of vampires who only think about satisfying their own desires.
And what is the main wish of the Ghoul?
Eat!
Although a King Ghoul is supposed to be an intelligent being, that doesn't change anything, considering the word 'intelligent' just means they have the mental capacity to make decisions. It didn't mean anything about their feelings.
For a Ghoul, anything other than satisfying their desire was useless.
'She knew that... She knew that, and because of that, she smiled like that...' Maria thought of Sasha, her current master.
"...I still have nightmares..."
Maria awakened from her thoughts and looked at Carlos.
"Because of this nightmare, I decided to change, I decided to completely focus on getting stronger no matter the cost, and thanks to my efforts, I caught General James' attention, and he gave me strength."
"...You..." Maria opened her mouth in shock when she saw Carlos's blood-red eyes.
Carlos started walking towards Maria:
"A philosopher named Friedrich Nietzsche once said: He who fights with monsters must beware lest he also become a monster."
Carlos adjusted the glove that was in his hand, and soon his right arm started to be covered by a kind of black aura, while his left arm was covered by a golden aura:
The man's skin began to grow paler, "When you stare into an abyss, the abyss stares back at you."
"Have you fallen so low that you became what you swore to hunt, Carlos!?" Maria stepped back a little,
"Yes, Indeed!"
"Idiot!" Maria yelled angrily.
Carlos ignored what Maria said and continued, "In my case, I chose to jump into the abyss of my own volition. I needed power, the human limit was clearly defined, I needed to become a monster to defeat the other monsters."
"But it's okay... Despite being a monster now, I know God hasn't abandoned me, the proof of that is my left arm."
Carlos clenched his left fist tightly, and the power in his arm began to grow.
Fushhhhhhhhh
An intense golden aura started to be released from Carlos' left arm.
A distorted smile that showed his sharp teeth appeared on Carlos' face:
"God is with me."
"Carlos..." Maria pulled further away from Carlos.
"And today... Is the day my nightmares will end, while my beloved will finally rest in peace."
"Don't talk like I'm dead! I'm not dead!"
"Wrong..." Carlos suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of Maria, "You're already dead."
Carlos punched Maria with his left arm!
Cough.
Maria spat blood from her mouth when she felt the punch impact her stomach.
And suddenly.
BOOOOOOOM!
An absurdly powerful golden blast released from Carlos' arm and sent Maria flying towards the wall.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Maria screamed in pain.
...
Hearing Maria's scream, Ruby looked at Violet, and both women nodded at the same time. It was time to act, but she stopped her movement when she heard.
"Don't move now, Ruby, Violet, and Luna." Victor's voice was heard over the communicator.
"...why?" Luna, who was silent, asked as she looked at the mansion from the top of a building.
"Just wait a minute, it's important to Sasha." Victor suddenly disconnected from communication.
"What is he planning?" Luna asked as she looked at Ruby and Violet.
"... We do not know." The two responded at the same time with a lifeless look.
"Darling is becoming more and more unpredictable, and that's irritating." Ruby turned her face to the side.
"Yes, even I can't understand him sometimes, and it pisses me off... Maybe I should lock him in the basement and do an interrogation?"
"...He's just going to think this is a new kind of prank from you, and in the end, you're going to end up doing that."
"Oh... That's true." Violet couldn't deny it.
"Tsk." Somehow Ruby got even more upset.
"..." Violet looked at Ruby with a neutral face and flashed a little imperceptible smile while she looked like she was planning something.
...
BOOOOOOOOM!
Maria hit the wall that surprisingly didn't break. Her body was all burned, her skin had long since gone away, and all that was left was the visible flesh of the body.
Maria then fell to the ground.
Cough, Cough.
Blood came out of her mouth as she tried to get up but couldn't, and her body didn't seem to respond to her command.
Step, Step.
Hearing the sound of someone approaching, she asked in a difficult voice:
"W-Why...?"
Carlos took hold of Maria by the neck and stood up:
"Shut up, Demon. Don't make that face to me. You're not Maria. Maria is dead. You will not have my compassion."
"Demons must die so mankind can be saved," Carlos spoke with full conviction in his words.
"..." Maria just looked into Carlos' red eyes with an emotionless face, and slowly.
Crack, Crack.
Something inside her started to break, soon...
Bloody tears began to fall from her eyes.
Carlos was no longer the man she knew in the past; if he was the old Carlos, he would foolishly try to help her. That was the man she knew, but this man... He was just trying to kill her.
He just saw her as a demon, he was not trying to see her.
"... Tsk." Carlos was shaken for a moment, but soon he closed his fist and attacked Maria's face with his right arm:
"Don't make that face towards me!!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The punch was so hard that Maria quickly broke through the wall and landed on the grass outside the mansion.
Cough.
Maria coughed up blood again while she looked up at the sky, towards the darkened clouds and pale moon.
Slowly, a man accompanied by a woman with blond hair came out of the clouds.
The man looked at Maria, and his distorted smile grew wide, as his face seemed to disappear, while all Maria saw was the man's eyes and smile full of sharp teeth.
'Ah...I understand...I was left to die, huh?' Somehow she thought this was natural since she was the woman who had murdered someone precious to that scary man's wife.
He wouldn't let her live.
Carlos appeared through the hole and walked towards Maria.
"..." Sasha looked at Maria with a cold look, and then she looked at Carlos with the same look.
Slowly, she looked at Victor, and seeing his 'face', she said:
"Are you planning to let her die?"
"Of course," Victor responded with the same smile, his response was instant!
"..." Sasha was taken a bit by surprise by Victor's response.
"No Mercy." Slowly, Victor looked at Sasha:
"She is the woman who killed Julia, your mother. Those two are responsible, so of course, both must die."
"Maria will die by the hand of the man she loved, and Carlos will die by yours in whatever way you see fit."
"They're both going to die today!"
....
