Chapter 31-Getting rest
Inside, Alucard is barely holding it together as Vetto finishes healing. "Ready to finally take this seriously?" He answered with sundering fire. Vetto gleefully bathes in it before returning the flames in force. Alucard calmly extinguishes them with a wave of rolling water as Vetto tries to close the distance.
He meets him halfway as the cave shakes from the collision. Vetto can't help but laugh as they trade blows back and forth, his regeneration and new strength keeping him in the fight. At the same time, his third eye glares down at Alucard, scanning for any weakness to exploit as well as making sure they aren't interrupted.
No one else is brave enough to interfere, however, as even outside the dungeon, the people of the Sea Temple can feel the trembling ground; those with more powerful magic are even able to sense the tides of the mana rage with the battle. Yami and the High Priest are the most affected, as they can see and feel the battle unfolding before them.
"The game dungeon will hold, right?" Yami asked the old man, who shrugged, forcing himself to calm down. "At this point, I don't know, it wasn't made for people of this caliber, but it should hold as long as they don't get any crazier."
As if waiting for that very signal, Alucard and Vetto suddenly kick things into high gear. With a gentle but firm gust of wind, Alucard sends Mimosa and the others as far as he can as Vetto bears down on him.
He takes a hit but slams Vetto into the floor repeatedly using his arm before throwing him across the cave once more. "Light Magic: Flashbang!" Vetto's enhanced eyes leave him blinded long enough for Alucard to create a weapon with magic as he formed a strange, long tube, with another smaller tube mounted on it.
"What's that little toy supposed to do?" Vetto scoffed as Alucard pulled the trigger. Vetto's ears rang as the sound bounced around his skull. For once, his enhanced body and senses worked against him as he felt a searing pain in his leg. Looking down, he saw that what was left of his mangled leg was barely held on by a thin group of sinew.
His healing kicked into overdrive as Alucard levelled the strange weapon once more. This time, Vetto was able to move in time; the strange projectile merely grazed him this time, though the shock still shook his innards as Alucard threw the weapon to the side.
"I'm going to enjoy this." He spoke directly to Vetto for the first time as he welcomed the challenge. With a roar, he drove his somewhat healed body up as he cast a speed spell. He also wrapped his arms in a malevolent coating of mana, a spell made for lasting damage as he closed in.
"Light Magic: Flashbang." Hearing the spell, Vetto briefly snapped his eyes shut, only for him to be slammed to the ground as the bright flash of light never came. "What a stupid animal." He heard before he felt his legs were ripped from his body.
Asta was the first to recover other than Mimosa as he raced back to the cave where Alucard and Vetto were fighting. Since he didn't have mana like the others, he didn't have any mana inside his body to be agitated or disrupted by the fight. He was also eager to try and get a hit on Vetto for the strife he caused Asta in the show.
As he got closer to the fight, he could feel the ground shake until it stopped. Getting closer still, the scent of blood started to waft towards him, as a pit formed in his stomach. 'Am I too late? Was Alucard still not stronger than Vetto?'
His fears proved unnecessary as he entered to find Alucard sitting calmly on a chair as Vetto lay on the blood-soaked cave floor, shivering. Asta skidded to a halt as he took in the scene before him. Blood covered nearly every inch of the cave; inner organs were strewn around like grotesque decorations, with random sets of limbs mixed in just for fun.
He nearly threw up as the stench of blood flooded his lungs like never before. All while the culprit of this mess sat calmly, still staring down at Vetto. "W-what did you do to him?" Asta finally found his voice as Vetto flinched from the noise. Flintched.
"I showed him a taste of Despair," Alucard said calmly as Asta shivered. His voice sounded like he didn't even care, like he was making small talk about the weather! He warily approached as Alucard spoke once more.
"I'm tired of waiting, boy. Show me the power you are keeping hidden inside you." For a moment Asta froze as he thought Alucard was talking to him, before he remembered something crucial about the members of the Third Eye, of which Vetto was a part of.
Vetto seemed to regain the spark of life as a sinister feeling crawled up Asta's spine. Vetto's body underwent another change. After the opening of his third eye, he already looked like a monster, but now it was worse.
His limbs stretched to unnatural proportions as kicked animal horns burst from his skull. The worst part was the grotesque smile on his face, which slowly grew larger as a deep thump-thump echoed in the cave.
"Now… you will taste… true Despair!" Vetto said softly as his body started to glow and pulse, and Alucard finally stood up from his chair. "Watch closely, Asta, Yami." He said as he raised his hands, and Vetto exploded.
Asta raised his arms to shield himself from the blinding light, only for it to die down a moment later. Moving his arms, he found Alucard glowing with an eerie light as he held back a pulsing ball of light nearly as big as he was.
"This is what can be achieved with true mastery over mana. Not only casting simple elemental spells and enchantments, but also shaping them into anything you desire. Mana is just the energy that allows us to do the extraordinary, but our minds must be open enough to do the things we want."
Asta watched in amazement as Alucard slowly shrunk the raging ball of light until it was about half their height, or one Charmy. "Hmm, it seems his shell was packed with more mana and curses than I thought. I look forward to finding who made such a strange creature."
Asta was dumbstruck at the display. Here he was, holding something that probably would have destroyed this entire dungeon, and maybe the Sea Temple with it, and he was wondering who made it?! "Y-you've defeated all the enemies! Prepare for the game to end!" The old High Priest's voice rang out, his shock audible as Alucard stores the ball of energy away.
As they were pulled out of the dungeon, Alucard found himself next to Mimosa once again as the old High Priest and Yami stood before them. The old man went straight towards the various fish-dressed people to check on them.
The Bulls crowded around Yami, shouting about their fights as Alucard and Mimosa finally felt the night catch up to them. Yami had sent his signal close to midnight, and even though they'd gone straight to help, it had still taken a few hours to get so far under the sea.
Then, after that, Alucard had gone straight to fighting, and Mimosa had stuck around healing the others while stressing about her fiancé; now, she was ready to get some well-deserved rest.
"Are you ready to go, my love?" He murmured as she nodded, biting back a yawn as he opened the portal. "Leaving so soon?" Yami's voice cut through the yelling as the Black Bulls turned to them. "Yes, we need to get some sleep." Alucard nodded as he led Mimosa through the portal.
As the vanished and the portal shut behind them, Yami was left wondering how much more Alucard had been hiding, and if Julius knew how much his son was keeping to himself. He didn't get to wonder for long, as immediately Luck and Magna started fighting as Asta finally fainted from exhaustion. Noelle struggled to hold him up as Vanessa came to her aid.
Alucard and Mimosa nearly collapsed on their bed before he stopped them, still wanting to bathe so that he wouldn't smell in the morning. "Can we bathe together?" Mimosa asked him, now wide awake. "I seem to have gotten sand and salt in my hair; I need some help getting it out." She squirmed under his gaze as he saw right through her scheme, finally agreeing as he went to heat up the water for the bath.
As he heated the water, Alucard wrinkled his nose. Normally, blood had a sharp tang of iron that clung to the skin when covered in it, but Vetto's blood stank of death. Unlike human blood, which was relatively normal despite being in a body full of mana, Vetto's blood was saturated with two types of mana.
One seemed to be natural, full of life, and flexible despite being reduced to such a state; it was the smaller portion. The rest was a dark writhing mix of devil blood and something else. Combined, the blood stank and was a dark, almost black color, full of mana that would most likely have to be burned away.
Not wanting to fight with this strange blood, Alucard went with the logical extreme as he burned all his clothes to ash. He blew the ash and smell out of a small ventilation shaft as Mimosa entered the bath. Despite being close, the couple had done nothing more intimate than cuddle and kiss, so she was still shy near him.
Alucard didn't rush anything, however, as he lay in the bath enjoying the hot water, Mimosa eventually joined him as the two helped wash each other's bodies, before enjoying the heat of the bath.