....
Three months ago, around the time Victor was training with Scathach.
In Sasha's personal bedroom.
Sasha looked at the blonde-haired maid.
"Where are the girls? The mansion seems very silent today."
"Lady Ruby is out somewhere, Lady Lacus is sleeping, Lady Pepper is watching anime, and Lady Siena is working." Maria replied in a neutral tone.
"I see..." Hearing what she wanted to know, Sasha was silent.
"..." As Sasha didn't ask any more, Maria was also silent as she waited for any possible order from Sasha.
Sasha looked at Maria out of the corner of her eye and flashed a gentle little smile.
Although it seemed like an odd situation, for Sasha, it wasn't. For Sasha, the maid's silent company was...
...
"What do you think? It's perfect, right?" Victor's smile and words could frighten any weak soul, but not his wife.
Sasha woke up from her memories, as she looked at Victor in a daze for a few seconds, and nodded:
"Yes... It's perfect... Yes... It's perfect..." She repeated it twice, and then she looked at Maria with a cold smile, though anyone who knew Sasha well would know that that smile wasn't real.
Suddenly, Victor's smile died, he looked at his wife carefully, and a neutral expression appeared on his face.
Sigh...
He visibly sighed, his face returning back to normal:
"Sasha, you're too soft... You're too kind." He displayed a gentle smile.
"Huh...?" Sasha looked at Victor, not understanding anything he was talking about.
"No need to lie to yourself." Victor looked deep into Sasha's eyes:
"You hate Maria, you really want her to suffer, but you don't want to lose her because you don't want to feel lonely, right?"
"...W-What are you talking about...?" Sasha's voice visibly shook.
Sigh...
"I'm sorry, I should have thought of you more on this subject." Victor made a mistake in thinking this was his revenge, but it wasn't. This was his wife's revenge.
She must decide their fate.
He didn't want to make the same mistake again, the mistake of attacking Sasha's father and mother, since, even though Sasha said she didn't care, Victor knew what he did was wrong.
One wrong move and he could've caused irreversible damage to his relationship with Sasha.
Dealing with family was very complicated, especially when the issue at hand involved someone close to his wife, like a father or mother.
Although this situation was different from the previous situation, it still applied in the mentioned context.
Victor didn't want to be a tyrant to his family.
"Again, what are you talking about!?" Sasha yelled.
Victor looked seriously at Sasha, and it was a seriousness that scared Sasha. Somehow Sasha was more scared by Victor's serious face than his scary 'face'.
"Do not lie to me." His voice sent shivers down Sasha's spine.
Gulp.
Sasha gulped when she sensed Victor's mood; he was irritated with her.
"And most importantly..." Slowly, Victor's gaze became gentler, "Don't lie to yourself."
"..." Sasha opened her eyes wide.
"Revenge shouldn't be half-assed, you should be completely satisfied with what you want to do so that you don't regret it in the future." Victor's eyes slightly glowed a blood red:
"Now..."
"Tell me, my wife. What's your desire?"
"... I-..."
"Answer me honestly."
"..." Sasha stared into Victor's red eyes for a while, and then she looked at Maria, who was about to be finished by Carlos, and said:
"I hate Maria, I really want her dead... But at the same time, I don't want to be alone..."
"When you go somewhere, when the girls go out somewhere, I always feel lonely, but... at least Maria was there..."
"I want her dead, I want her to suffer, but at the same time, I don't want her to die." She wasn't making any sense anymore, and why was she repeating the same thing twice?
But she was just saying what she felt. She wanted the woman dead, but at the same time, without realizing it, over time, she began to enjoy the woman's silent company.
Though she sometimes didn't say anything, just being there gave Sasha a little comfort when Victor or the girls weren't present.
And this kind of situation was quite frequent when Victor was training, since, for Sasha, the six months felt like they passed quite slowly for her, maybe because she was worried?
But in some weird way, those six months were bearable because she had Maria's silent company when Ruby and the girls weren't around.
In the end...
She was just a girl who didn't want to miss something again, and without realizing it, she ended up considering Maria as that something.
"Why are emotions so complicated? Why can't I just be like you and let her die with a smile on her face? Why!?" Though she spoke in a cold voice, the emotions implied in her words were anything but cold.
She was confused about what to do.
"..." It was at these times that Victor wished he had a dictionary, perhaps an entire bookstore of books to learn about women.
Sigh...
Victor sighed again, and soon he displayed a loving smile:
"Are you silly?"
"Huh...?"
"You don't have to be like me, I want you to be yourself, I fell in love with you, your soft way, your gentle way, your noble way, although I didn't see much of your noble side. After all, you're surrounded by a bunch of crazy people. Hahaha~." He chuckled lightly at the end.
"...Oh..." She flashed a small smile, and her cheeks turned a little red. She didn't expect this surprise attack.
"Well..." Victor patted Sasha's head a little.
"..." Sasha looked at Victor's gentle smile with loving eyes.
"I would be a terrible husband if I didn't fulfill my wife's wishes." Victor looked at Maria, "And being a terrible husband is the last thing I want to be..."
...
"Goodbye, Demon." Carlos held Maria with his right hand, which was completely covered in black energy.
Fushhhhhhh
A golden power began to come out of Carlos' left arm, an oppressive power that, at the same time, was a gentle power.
Maria closed her eyes and thought; 'Although it was a painful life... Despite the difficulties I went through... This was a good life... I hope that God has mercy on my soul and doesn't throw me in hell...'
A small memory began to pop into her head.
"...Maria, how do you feel today?" Sasha asked
"Horrible."
"That is good." She displayed a small smile.
"Let's go now. My husband is coming out of his training."
'Hahaha... why is this the memory that appears when I'm about to die?' She couldn't understand herself sometimes.
"Die!" Carlos attacked Maria with all his strength.
But before Carlos' punch could reach Maria, everyone heard a crackle of lightning.
"You really are lucky, maid."
"!!?" Carlos quickly turned around, but all he could see was a leg covered in lightning coming towards him.
Time suddenly seemed to stop for Maria, and she looked up into Victor's neutral face with eyes wide in surprise.
"Wha-." She couldn't finish what she wanted to say because a loud blast of lightning interrupted her.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Carlos let go of Maria and flew towards the sky.
Victor caught Maria with his left arm as he was coming at high speed, and, since he couldn't stop in time, he froze the grass under him and using the terrain as if it was a ski slope, he started to spin while holding the woman on his arm.
Managing to adjust his center of gravity, Victor stopped skiing and pointed the finger of his right arm at Carlos.
"Winning my wife's soft heart is quite an achievement."
Rumble, Rumble, Rumble!
Lightning started to focus on Victor's finger, as he aimed his finger like it was a high-caliber rifle, and when Carlos was in the crosshairs, he said:
"Bullseye."
BOOOOOOOM!
A massive beam of lightning left Victor's finger and flew toward Carlos.
"!!!" Carlos set his center of gravity in the air, and using the dark power of his right arm, he grabbed hold of Victor's lightning bolt, and as if he were using some kind of martial arts, he deflected Victor's power back to him!
"ORYAAA!"
"Oh?" Victor's smile widens.
"..." Maria kept looking at Victor with her mouth open in shock, the only thing going through her head was, 'why didn't he let me die?'
But when she remembered the words Victor spoke, she opened her eyes a little wider:
'Is it because of my Master?'
Victor stepped lightly on the ground, and soon a pillar of ice was created towards the sky!
Victor's lightning struck the pillar, and a huge explosion happened, but nothing happened to the ice pillar.
Carlos, who was falling towards the ground at high speed, continued to look at Victor.
Suddenly, dark power covered Carlos' body, and he disappeared.
And in less than a few seconds, he appeared in the air a little far from Victor:
"Alucard, don't get involved, this is none of your business." He spoke in an ordering tone...
Victor looked at the dark power on Carlos' arm that had turned into a black wing, and then looked at Carlos,
"Mongrel."
"Know your place."
Fushhh, Fushhh, Fushhh, Fushhh
Various ice weapons covered with fire and lightning, such as spears, swords, and axes, began to be created behind Victor.
Victor pointed to Carlos and said, "I do what I want, whenever I want, and wherever I want. It's not a dog like you that's going to stop me from doing my bidding."
Soon all the weapons he created flew towards Carlos.
BOOOOM, BOOOOM, BOOOOM, BOOOOM!
Small sonic explosions happened every time a weapon was thrown in Carlos' direction.
"I see..." Carlos' eyes glowed blood red, and he assumed a martial arts stance.
"In that case, I must force you to withdraw." Then, with a movement invisible to human eyes, Carlos punched the air.
With only the pressure created by his punch, Carlos destroyed all of Victor's attacks since he was clearly on another level!
And knowing that his opponent was stronger than he expected, a gigantic smile grew on Victor's face.
Victor looked at Maria with a slightly annoyed face, "You're in the way."
"Eh? Wha-." Before Maria could say anything, Victor looked down towards the ground in a faraway spot, and when he found whoever he was looking for, he threw Maria in that direction.
"WHAT THE FUCK!"
Suddenly, Maria found herself in Sasha's arms.
"M-Master...?" Maria was no longer understanding what was happening.
Sasha ignored Maria and said, "Ruby, so far, I don't see any signs of other hunters."
"This is weird..." Ruby spoke into the communicator.
"And in the end, what was it that Darling wanted to do?" Violet asked.
"I'll explain later." Sasha cut the subject.
"...Fine." Violet spoke.
"What should we do?" Luna asked.
"Wait." Ruby replied.
"I very much doubt they would throw a commander of Carlos' power away like he was trash. There's some catch to this whole situation, you guys should be on your toes." Ruby explained.
"Yes." All agreed.
"Sasha, go back to the safe house with Maria, leave the rest to Darling." Ruby spoke.
"But...-" Sasha wanted to protest, but soon she heard Violet's voice.
"What Darling hates the most is when someone meddles in his fight, let him do what he wants," Violet explained.
"...Yes." Sasha picked up Maria's body like a sack of potatoes and disappeared from where she was previously.
...
"It's started."
A man sitting in a lab looked at the monitors on the television, and on those monitors, he could see Victor and Carlos fighting.
"As expected, Count Alucard is a special vampire, even among noble vampires. Three powers of the Vampire Count Households, and more unknown powers... He's really a strange existence." The man spoke in an emotionless voice.
"Is this alright?" Suddenly the man heard a woman's voice.
"Hmm?"
"If this continues, Commander Carlos will die. He's using his power too much, his body isn't stable yet."
"It's okay, that's what he wants, and despite being a specimen with incredible willpower... In the end, he's still a failure."
"He couldn't become perfect." He spoke in a voice that held great sadness.
"..." The woman was silent.
"He's not like you, unlike them, you're perfect, right, S-000?"
"Whatever, just don't make me clean up the mess again, I need to watch my K-drama." The woman turned and walked away.
"..." The man squinted his eyes a little. Why are his 'disciples' so strange?
Suddenly, she stopped walking, seemingly remembering something. She turned around and said:
"Do something about the A-000, he's starting to act very independently. That's not a good thing."
"Oh?" The man seemed to become even more interested:
"What's he doing?"
"He is actively looking for the person responsible for the previous incident. If this continues, he will find out that it was the daughter of that crimson demon who did this, and he will definitely do something harmful."
"..." Though still cold-faced, a small drop of sweat fell from the man's face when he heard the woman mention the crimson demon, and if it's a demon, he only knows one.
"Scathach..."
"I will speak to him." It is not yet time to provoke that demon.
"Thanks." Her voice came out a little livelier than usual. Now she didn't need to work anymore!
The woman turned again to walk away but was spoken to again.
"And... Don't use your power for useless things."
"... What are you talking about?"
"Don't treat me like a fool. You only managed to discover this information because you used your power. Scathach's daughter's plan was very well orchestrated and hidden, you wouldn't be able to discover it in a normal way."
"..." The woman was silent.
"This time, I'll let it go, but there won't be a next time."
"Yes... General."
"Good, now go watch anything you would watch."
"It's K-drama..." The woman seemed to pout.
"Whatever."
.....
