Yourself. You'll take this energy flowing through yourself, the cause of the incredible pain you are enduring, A power great enough to manipulate and control all that exists in this world of dreams, and you'll direct it towards yourself alone. You have no need to control a fake world. No, the only things in this world that serve any purpose and have any value to you are the entities that can allow you to become more powerful, so you might take your revenge back when you have escaped into reality once more.

You feel your body violently beginning to change as you direct the strength inwards, and you can feel your body shifting into a form more befitting of a king. First, your body grows in size, you gain at least a few inches in height as you feel your very physique being altered by the energy you called upon, your already well-toned body becoming even more powerful, finally pushing you into the realm of superhuman speed and strength without even needing to rely upon your magical enhancements.

It's not just your body itself that you notice changing, either. The casual clothing that you've worn since arriving here, a simple, loosely fitting outfit, begins to shift and change as well. The plain shirt and pants you were wearing slowly taking on a far more rigid form and darkening into a pitch black metallic tone.

As your outfit begins to take the form of the spiked pitch black armor, you notice a red cloak spring forth from nothingness to wrap around you, completing your transformation. Unfortunately, there aren't any mirrors about, so you can't actually confirm just how much your appearance has changed from the transformation, a pity. But not something that is too much of a bother, after all, who's to say that this transformation is a permanent one? Especially within this world of dreams, there is every possibility that all these changes you've undergone have been completely temporary. All that effort just for all your hard work to be stripped away from you the moment you finally escape this dream prison. You hope that it doesn't come to that, you need the strength you've gained here to actually stand a chance at defeating that vampire who hurt your allies... You hope beyond hope that hurt was all she did to them, even if that hope is a foolish one. Deep down, you know that there's really no chance your allies could have survived what happened after you refused Anneliese.

But that's why... That's why you're never going to allow yourself to be put into a situation where Control is so out of your hands, and you are at the mercy of another, to be ordered about on a whim and being forced to do the bidding of others. The only being you would even think of doing the bidding of would be Chaos, and she is your benefactor and a being who is only second to God himself in strength and importance.

Finished with examining your new armor and satisfied with the change your body has undergone since you asserted Control over yourself, you begin to ascend the stairs. As you begin to walk upwards, you notice something really quite bizarre going on, as you climb the steps upwards, the steps seem to get longer! You turn about to look at the way back down, only to find an endless path going downwards. So... A trap, is it? How predictably irritating. But not quite inescapable. The Power of Destruction should be enough to free yourself of this clever trap.

>Follow your instincts, use the Power of Destruction to break free of the space warping trap.
>Just keep walking upwards, after how much he seemed to want to talk earlier, it makes no sense for the wraith to cower away now.
>Begin smashing the stairs with naught but your physical strength. You can easily destroy stone with nothing but your fists, now.
>Write-in...

>>4432631
>Follow your instincts, use the Power of Destruction to break free of the space warping trap.

>>4432631
>Follow your instincts, use the Power of Destruction to break free of the space warping trap.
We ruined time. We can break space too.

>>4432631
>Follow your instincts, use the Power of Destruction to break free of the space warping trap.

>>4432631
>Follow your instincts, use the Power of Destruction to break free of the space warping trap.

Hopefully the control buffs improved our magical and physical endurance. The only thing holding us back is our inability to maintain use of our powers.

This trap is irritating, and were anybody other than yourself the one trapped in it, they would almost certainly find themselves trapped with no possible route of escape. However, the idea of letting yourself be trapped by any means is one that you reject. While you are conscious and in control of your body, the Power of Destruction will prevent you from being kept in any sort of trap for very long. No bonds will be able to restrain you, and with the Arm of Time available to you, even those who are capable of manipulating time itself will find no success in being your jailer.

You stop walking forwards, now that you've realized the true nature of this trap, breaking out of it will be really quite simple. Whether this was intended as some sort of pathetic last ditch attempt by the Wraith to stop you from reaching him or not, he should have realized by now that the nature of a trap that warps space simply won't work on you. Though you have to admit, if this trap wasn't being used on somebody who had the ability to so easily break free of it, it would've been quite a genius way to trick your opponent into being trapped in this purgatorial stairway.

You focus for just a moment and call upon the Power of Destruction, fully wreathing your body in a perfect shield as you ascend the stairs. The enchantment on the stairs is quite a simple one, when you first ascended the stairs up to the door, you must've stepped through some sort of portal that ended up taking you to this endless set of stairs, which in fact aren't endless at all. In fact, there's simply a portal that activates whenever you get to a set point up the stairs, maintaining the illusion of an endless set of stairs and potentially tricking the climber into thinking they are actually making some sort of progress as they ascend this truly endless stairway, but of course, there's a method to bypassing the stairway that only somebody with an ability like your own could actually use.

This time, as you ascend the stairs with your perfect destructive shield protecting you from absolutely anything that might have otherwise been able to do you harm or affect you at all, you know that no magical enchantment will be able to touch you now. This theory of yours is quickly proven to be correct, as upon reaching the point of the stairs where the invisible portal forcing you back to the start, there is the distinctive sound of a pane of glass being shattered.

The enchantment broken, you allow the shroud of all consuming energy wrapped about your body to dissipate. Ever since you altered your body with your newfound strength, you seem to have far less difficulty with maintaining even the Power of Destruction in an energy intensive form like it is when you coat yourself in it to act as a flawless defense against anything that would make contact with you. Of course, while you wouldn't be able to keep it active for an unlimited amount of time, and continuous use of the ability would still drain you, whatever you did to yourself seems to have allowed you to finally start to master your use of your Power. Perhaps that is the true nature of the Control you asserted on yourself?

As you finally reach the end of the now non endless stairway, you come across a set of doors, nearly identical to the set that you originally intended to go through when you got yourself momentarily stuck in that space warping trap, and you don't even hesitate as you push through them. The time for hesitation is gone. You are approaching the end of your journey within this world of dreams, you can feel it. When Arthur Bernhard awakens, he will not be the same man he was when he was trapped. Your power is overwhelming already, and if you do claim the Wraith's own vampiric powers, then your ascension to the station of the Dark Lord will be one that none shall be able to oppose. Not Anneliese, not Alucard, not Aeon and certainly not Shirley... Your thoughts wander to the girl who spent so much time deceiving you, and your vicious snarl as you recall the faces of your most hated adversaries momentarily falters, before you settle on a dissatisfied frown. You never got to find out just what Shirley truly thought, and you didn't even get to say your farewell to Theresia, either. But it's not just your allies that you were separated from while in the real world that you miss. Sophia, Effi, Camellia, Holly, Anna, Mistral... you find yourself struck with feelings of terrible loneliness. It's been so long since you last laid eyes upon the face of a person you could truly trust, time might have flown by when you were training with Shanoa, but now you have spared a moment to think, you are crushed by these feelings of isolation.

No. You can't allow yourself to be slowed down by these feelings. Not now, now when all you need to do to rid yourself of these feelings of solitude is to escape this place and reunite with your allies... If they have even survived in your absence, that is. You know that you've been trapped in this place for a long time now, at least months, if you've been keeping tracking of time properly. Hopefully they managed to keep things together long enough even in your absence and... and hopefully, the battle against Anneliese wasn't as fatal for your dear allies as it seemed. Camellia has powerful regenerative abilities, after all, and Anna may be a thrall to Anneliese right now, but you feel that your new ability to manipulate Control may just be able to put a stop to that. All that you'll have to do is escape this world and then deal with that foolish vampire who would try to use you to fulfill her own ambitions. She will regret her actions, though none she will regret more than so heartlessly harming your allies. That, you simply cannot allow to stand.

You take a deep breath and clear your mind as you push the double doors open and you find yourself on bridge that is exposed to the crisp night air. It leads upwards like a staircase, just like the steps you just walked up, and looking at the room before you, you know that Dracula's Wraith lies just beyond that last set of doors at the top of the stairs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umf2V_qH1f4

You waste no time, and you forge ahead. Time seems to slow as you near the top of the stairs and your heart begins to race. What happens next may very well define just how the rest of your life goes, and the idea of not only fighting, but also defeating, the last Dark Lord causes you no degree of both excitement and fear.

You push open the doors and step into the antechamber leading to the Throne Room of Dracula. It wasn't nearly as impressive as this the last time you visited, it seems like your predecessor has made his inner sanctum quite a bit more impressive after he had the Castle itself take a new form. You keep walking towards the main chamber till finally you pass through a large entranceway and the figure of the shadowy wraith appears to you, sitting on a throne with his legs crossed. There's a goblet of red liquid in his hand as he watches you enter the room.

>"Die Monster! You don't belong in MY world."
>"Dracula! I demand that you answer my questions!" (What would you like to ask Dracula?)
>"You really are an incompetent buffoon, you know that, right?"
>"Allow me to see Chaos, Wraith."
>Write-in...

>>4434057
>"Die Monster! You don't belong in MY world."

>>4434057
>Before I put an end to you, answer me one thing. Did you really believe that training Dario was the best way of helping me grow stronger?

>>4434057
>>"Die Monster! You don't belong in MY world."

>>4434057
>"What was the point of all of this? What did you ever hope to gain by pretending friendliness with me?"

>>4434057
>"You really are an incompetent buffoon, you know that, right?" "Even after your final death you continue to act as the architect of the same repeated failure, a wraith in the truest sense of the word."

>>4434057
>"You really are an incompetent buffoon, you know that, right?" "Even after your final death you continue to act as the architect of the same repeated failure, a wraith in the truest sense of the word."
>"What was the point of all of this? What did you ever hope to gain by pretending friendliness with me? Or did you really believe that training Dario was the best way of helping me grow stronger?"

>>4434177
+1
Also, checked.

>>4434177
Yes this is good. No starting the fight yet.

>>4434177
Support.

Staring at the vampire sitting on the throne before you, a great anger begins to well up in your heart, and you can't stop yourself from speaking in a truly hateful tone. "You really are an incompetent buffoon, you know that, right?" You insult the Wraith from the depths of your heart, this shadow of the past is nothing but a complete fool. "Even after your final death, you continue to act as the architect of the same repeated failure." The Wraith stands to gain absolutely nothing out of betraying you, after all.

"Why, I can understand your anger, but really, Arthur? Referring to yourself as a failure?" The Wraith doesn't seem too bothered by your insult. "While the deaths of your allies were completely avoidable, and could be pinned entirely on your own arrogance and pride, I wouldn't go so far as to call you a failure! I felt that I was making good progress in developing you to be my successor, but even I can't stand a hypocrite." Something about his words resonates deeply within you, and your anger begins increasing for every moment you look upon the form of the wraith.

"A... Hypocrite? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh please, are you even capable of self-reflection at this point? You crave freedom, yet you would enslave the world and yourself to the whims of Chaos? Tell me, do you truly believe that entity is being truthful with you, or have you just allowed your heart to be deceived by that abomination of an existence? Is an illusion of the weak form of a girl all it takes for you to do the bidding of that being?" The Wraith smiles at you. "Yes. It was God who gave humanity Free Will, but it was Chaos who used that newly granted Free Will to twist the hearts of humanity towards evil, destructive acts. I despise God, yet even I am not foolish enough to believe the words of the greatest enemy of existence itself."

"How dare you talk about Chaos like that!" The Wraith is not only ungrateful towards the being that allowed him to come back to life so many times after he managed to make a mess of things. "God imprisoned her in that empty realm without cause! She did nothing wrong!"

The wraith laughs on his throne. "Oh my, an obedient dog, barking and growling at those who would dare impugn the honor of his master? You don't long for freedom at all, servant of Chaos. All this time you just wanted to do the bidding of another. But it's not an empty realm, is it? The only reason that Chaos wants to break free of the realm it has complete control over is to subsume this reality into it." The wraith leans into his throne.

You can feel yourself getting even angrier as Dracula's Wraith continues to speak ill of Chaos. "You shut your mouth!" You take a step forwards towards the Wraith, who remains completely unperturbed by your outburst.

"Or what? You'll kill me? You'll take my power for your own?" You flinch backwards a little at that "Did you really think that I would be unaware of what Chaos wants you to do? Even if I was incapable of observing all that happens within my Castle I would've realized what you were after. It was only a matter of time, after all. But ask yourself this, if Chaos, a being that is quite omnipotent within it's own realm and capable of almost anything within the bounds of that dimension truly meant well, then why is the entire dimension it resides in so fragmented and incomplete?"

"I..." You go to answer, but you don't quite know what words to say.

"I'll tell you why, Arthur. It's not because of any sort of limitation of power, even if I did manage to strip away the bulk of Chaos' strength through the connection I once shared with it and seal it away before my final death, it hasn't always been limited in power. At it's full strength, Chaos is quite capable of creating a perfect replica of this universe, down to the smallest detail, everything would be copied. Even souls... Now, do you think you can tell me why Chaos hasn't done this?" You hesitate again, you really don't know how to respond to all of this. "Of course you can't think of a reason, and that's because Chaos actually has done this in the past. At least once that I'm aware of. It lasted all of a century before it started to tear the universe it created apart. Dooming all that it had copied to non-existence." The Wraith then laughs again. "That is what your wish of freedom will lead you to."

"You... You lie!" It's about the only response you can muster to the Wraith's revelations.

"And what would I have to gain from lying? It is not the duty of the Dark Lord to do Chaos' bidding, but to prevent Chaos from ever actually manifesting upon this world. That is the one thing that both sides of Dracula agreed upon. Chaos must never be allowed to manifest, for the manifestation would not only bring death and destruction, but the obliteration of reality itself!" The Wraith then throws aside the goblet of red liquid in his hand, and it noisily shatters against the floor. "Now that you know the truth, will you continue doing the bidding of Chaos, or will you attempt to preserve reality?" You stand there in silence as you look at the Wraith. Is he... really telling the truth?

>Believe the Wraith. Cease your loyalty to Chaos.
>Choose not to believe the Wraith, remain loyal to Chaos.
>Believe the Wraith, but remain loyal to Chaos anyway.
>Write-in...

>>4435113
>Believe the Wraith. Cease your loyalty to Chaos.
Even if Chaos isn't trying to destroy reality I don't think being her servant makes sense for Arthur, who is motivated entirely by his own absolute freedom. She's been manipulating us all along and we just go along with it because waifu. It's stupid.

>>4435113
>Believe the Wraith. Cease your loyalty to Chaos.
Call him an asshole and leave.

>>4435113
>Believe the Wraith, but remain loyal to Chaos anyway.

Maybe everything deserves to disappear.

>>4435113
>>Believe the Wraith. Cease your loyalty to Chaos.
No gods, no masters.

>>4435113
>Believe the Wraith, but remain loyal to Chaos anyway.

>>4435169
>>4435270
imagine being this much of a waifufag

>>4435113
>Believe the Wraith, but remain loyal to Chaos anyway.
I pretty much figured an embodiment of Chaos wouldn't have good intentions for the world but at this point it's immaterial.
The forces of Law have all but won, and absolute slavery is just as bad a fate as absolute annihilation.
At this point rebelling against Chaos is foolish, to try to fight back against her will only cause further imbalance and force us into a two front war at the worst time imaginable.
Heed his advice, but fight for her anyways, at least for now. If all goes well, the human unconscious will be alive and free, neither enslaved or destroyed.

>>4435302
I've always hated the "our true drive is freedom" thing. Smells burgery. This is a good time to break from it.

>>4435306
And omnicidal nihilism is better?

>>4435306
So, what, you want to be a slave to an evil female overlord that doesn't give a shit about you? That might be the most european thing I've ever heard.

>>4435305
We can oppose the forces of law without being Chaos' bitch

>>4435314
I'd like to have an actual motivation, not the absurd drive of "I want all the power in the world so nobody can tell me what to do." Any goal is better than that kind of childish non-intention. Arthur as he is now doesn't have any real purpose, just a blind rebellion against others who have real purpose. As for slavery, remember that there are degrees of loyalty. I'm not arguing we follow her every whim without question, but doing a complete 180 and deciding we're her enemy now because of a brief speech by Dracula is just insane.

>>4435322
The conflict between Arthur's established motivations and the recent single minded pursuit of chaos as a waifu has been brewing for a while now. Arthur has made weak rationalizations about it but this could be the slap in the face that brings him back to his senses.

>>4435113
>>Believe the Wraith. Cease your loyalty to Chaos.

>>4435318
Yeah, but I'd rather have our Soma moment be after we deal with our most pressing enemies first.
I'm all for telling Chaos to fuck off if she tries to flip the table on the universe, but by agreeing with Dracula here and now we'll only cause ourselves further problems and lose valuable support.

>>4435328
Where the return to his senses is a realization that his "motivation" up 'til now has been the equivalent of a child throwing a tantrum, I agree with you. We need to develop our own reasons for becoming the dark lord, not just a desire for nebulous freedom; construct an actual goal to pursue. We need to deal with Chaos on equal terms, as a patron, but neither as a master nor an enemy. In the short term, we need to kill Dracula and become a vampire lord.

>>4435113
>Believe the Wraith, but remain loyal to Chaos anyway.

I'll say one more thing and then let the topic stand. If we buy into Dracula's words and turn our coat now, we'd just be trading one role as a servant for another; picking a new character to lead us around by the nose. If you're dedicated to the idea of Arthur being self-directed, don't let Dracula take control of his views and actions the first chance you get.

>>4435333
How does siding with Chaos help us develop our own reason to become the dark lord? You're making this really weird false dichotomy here.

>>4435333
I think a good place to go with Arthur would be to work to keep the balance between God and Chaos rather than just trying to free himself from the suppression of God.

>>4435338
Because as long as we're still following the path to become the dark lord, we have a great deal to gain from keeping Chaos as a patron and source of advice; we just have to keep from totally submitting to her, which I don't think is too much to ask from anons. On the other hand, if we go with Dracula and suddenly decide she's an enemy, we lose all the potential there is to gain from a dark lord candidate keeping up a good relationship with the person who gives the dark lord his power.
If there were a third option to reserve judgement and act loyal to Chaos while deciding privately not to go along with her totally I'd vote for that, but as a write-in I'm afraid I'd be the only one voting that way.

>>4435113
>Believe the Wraith, but remain loyal to Chaos anyway.

>>4435314
>>4435318
>>4435302
y u bulli choas?

>>4435344
I just think believing that Chaos wants to destroy reality and still choosing to follow her is a character-ruining choice. Makes no sense.

>>4435347
she's a good girl though

>>4435113
>Believe the Wraith. Cease your loyalty to Chaos.
>"Damnit! Damn it all! I wanted freedom! Not MORE hopeless servitude that amounts everything I care about and work for to nothingness! Is there no end to this insipid manipulation from all sides?!"

>>4435344
>>4435335
these are me not sure why its changing -.-

>>4435113
>Believe the Wraith. Cease your loyalty to Chaos.

>>4435113
>Believe the Wraith, but remain loyal to Chaos anyway.
We're going to fight Chaos because Dracula wants us to?

>tfw galamoth tried to usurp draculas bullshit because he wanted to destroy all of creation

>tfw drac is saying chaos wants to blow everything up

>tfw drac worked with clock lad to stop those shenanigans

It's all getting pretty spoopy ngl. Can't trust shit in here.

>>4435113
>Believe the Wraith. Cease your loyalty to Chaos.

>>4435113
>Believe the Wraith, but remain loyal to Chaos anyway.
Didn't know we had so many faithless dirtbags in the quest.

>>4435113
>Believe the Wraith, but remain loyal to Chaos anyway.
You aren't right just because you're correct.

>>4435768
>tfw galamoth tried to usurp draculas bullshit because he wanted to destroy all of creation
Source? Did I miss a post from WhatIs somewhere?

>>4435851
I've had it up to HERE with betrayal. There's only so much a man can take.

>>4436262
So why are you voting to betray her and cry like a bitch?

>>4435113
>Believe the Wraith, but remain loyal to Chaos anyway.
I don't even believe him, but I really don't want to leave Chaos.

Smell that?
There's a samefag prowling about...

>>4436404
>1 post by this ID
Is it you?

>>4436404
>>4436422
I don't know who's samefagging who here!

>>4436433
Like half the votes on both sides are 1-posters, either it's all samefags or there aren't any, and we're too early in the thread to tell.

>>4436404
Nah, this is a pretty normal amount of voters for a particularly important vote in this quest.

>>4436464
>>4436464
It might be lurkers.
A lot of people aren't confident in making moment to moment choices about combat, upgrades, and dialogue but still want a say in the direction of the story.

I want to point out that Dracula is kind of running a classic con on us here, where he feeds us one lie that's pretty easy to swallow (Chaos is omnipotent within its realm) and builds a set of logic on that position that makes a much harder to swallow lie (Chaos will destroy reality) seem irrefutable.
We have no reason to believe Dracula's story. It could be that as an opposite to God, Chaos isn't capable of the same degree of creation God is, even within its own realm, and can only create beings that take up residence in the real world. It could be that Chaos never tried creating its own replica world in the chaotic realm because it's focused on trying to gain a place for itself in the real world. It could be that Chaos did create a replica world in the chaotic realm, but that world was destroyed by God intervening in the chaotic realm (in the same way Chaos intervenes in this world) out of a jealous desire to be the only 'creator deity'.
Point is, there are a million possible ways Dracula could be lying to us here just in the backstory, any one of which throws his "Chaos will inevitably destroy reality" conclusion out the window. His narrative is far from the only one possible, and we don't have any reason to blindly swallow it and start dancing to his tune.

Does it matter? Does it matter if the Wraith is telling the truth or not? If Chaos chooses to put an end to this universe, then so be it. Even if Chaos does destroy all of existence, the Wraith just revealed something really quite vital to you. Something that completely causes his entire argument to fall apart.

It doesn't matter if reality or the universe itself is torn asunder, if Chaos has the ability to perfectly recreate it. If he's even telling you the truth in the first place. It could just be that the entire story he just spun for you was completely fabricated, and that Chaos' powers of creation are quite limited within the realm she is trapped inside, or that she did attempt to create a universe of her own, only for God to intervene and destroy it himself. You don't quite know just why Dracula is so opposed to Chaos now, but all you know is that as long as you manage to personally keep your relationship with Chaos to be a close bond formed of trust, nothing that she does to the universe will be of permanent cause for concern. Of course, while you fear for what might happen to your allies if Dracula is telling you the truth, it's quite clear that Dracula is trying to play on your fears to turn you against Chaos.

"So what?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4UMtHHohjk

Two words. Two words are all that you respond with, and you can see what a thunderous effect that those two tiny words have had on the shadow of the past sitting across from you have had.

The Wraith leans forwards in his chair as you finally respond. "What... did you just say?" That shut him up.

"Why do you think that I'll care if Chaos destroys the universe anyway? Unlike you, I'm not going to cling onto this world for no reason but sentimentality, if Chaos decides that it needs to be destroyed, then so be it! This entire universe is naught but the construction of a being obsessed with naught but order and his own machinations anyway! What loss is there if Chaos wipes it away?! If the people I care about are spared the destruction, then why do you think I'll fight to defend this world.

The tone of the room changes. "You... You're insane. You really believe what you're saying, don't you? You would truly doom all that exists just for the sake of appeasing the being you would call your master? Well, your loyalty is admirable, but the loyalty of a slave is expected, not rewarded." You can tell that Dracula is clearly displeased with your response, and really, you know that morally, you're in the wrong here. But you don't even know if you're being told the truth anyway.

"A slave? That's where you're wrong, Wraith. The relationship I have with Chaos is one of equals. I don't do as she wishes out of some twisted sense of loyalty to a master, I cooperate with Chaos out of gratitude." You see the smiling face of Chaos in your mind's eye for just a moment, and suppress a smile of your own. "and... perhaps something else." A strange feeling moves your heart for a moment. "Besides, if Chaos gets her own way, I'll be saving humanity! They'll finally be free, truly! No longer will they be chained to the laws of destiny, no longer will they be have their fate preordained!" You start yelling at Dracula. "And if that freedom brings them oblivion, then they will die free!"

The Wraith unexpectedly bursts into laughter. "I had intended to use you to fulfill my revenge, almost a millennium in the making, but I can see that it falls to me to stop you from bringing about a cataclysm greater than you can even begin to comprehend." The Wraith gets up. "To think that my last act would be to save the world I cursed. What a joke." The cape of your shadowy adversary blows in a gust of wind that fills the room, and the Wraith seems to smile again. "Mankind ill needs a savior such as you!" The wraith is surrounded by a white beam of energy that blinds you just staring at it. "But enough talk! Have at you!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZqXZQCAl-4

When the pillar of light clears, Dracula is gone. Less than a quarter of a second, you feel a truly malevolent presence mere inches from your throat! Before you can get out of the way of the attack, you are seized by the neck by cold hands! "SOUL STEAL!" Your entire body is struck with incredible agony, as you feel your strength rapidly being drained from you! Damn it! You need to get away!

>Activate Dominus, Break out of the Wraith's grip!
>Use the Power of Destruction to coat your body, force him to let go!
>Use your Glyph Magic to break his hold!
>Use the Power of Flames to become one with fire!
>Write-in...

File: d90.jpg (75 KB, 482x427)

75 KB JPG

Well so much for this quest. Fucking braindead waifufags.

>>4436565
>Use the Power of Destruction to coat your body, force him to let go!
Probably the most reliable option at the moment.

>>4436577
You say that as though this wasn't what we were all expecting.

>>4436565
>Use the Power of Destruction to coat your body, force him to let go!

>>4436565
>Use the Power of Flames to become one with fire!
I'm not sure if Dracula will be effected by the Power of Destruction and be forced to let go, so I'm thinking turning into flames will let us some distance from him, but I could be reading this really wrongly.

>>4436565
>>4436618
I think you're right about this, so I'll switch to yours.
I would have been iffy on Flame transformation but now that we have Control I'm willing to count on it for evasion.
Also, I doubt Dracula doesn't have at least some resistance to PoD with it being his own power and all. Also, I don't think he would have grabbed us if he didn't have some assurance that we couldn't just erase his arms.

>>4436565
>Use your Glyph Magic to break his hold!

>>4436565
>Use the Power of Flames to become one with fire!
QM, why do I feel like you're going to roll credits right after we beat Drac and break out of this dreamworld? Please don't. This is the only quest on the board I consistently like.

>>4436720
>>4436720
It would be a pretty lukewarm end, wouldn't it?
Leaves a lot of hanging threads too.
What happened to Shirley and Therisa?
What about Dorin?
What about everyone we got seperated from?
There's just no way Ghost Dracula is the final boss, it just doesn't make sense from a game design perspective. Why would you add things like the Time Arm(weapon for fighting time altering bosses) and the Power of Control(increases XP gain for other powers) right before the final boss?

>>4436753
There's no accounting for extreme player stupidity. Although I seriously doubt this is the end of the quest. It's just the end of this Arthur being an even semi-rational character.

>>4436789
He wasn't really ever one.

>thinking Chaos sees us as an equal
>thinking Chaos is actually a cute girl
>thinking Chaos can be romanced
>Arthur suddenly doesn't care if all existence is wiped out
I didn't think it was possible but you've actually done something stupider than killing Dario while using him as a bargaining chip. Are you intentionally sabotaging the quest? I seriously don't understand. I don't even care about what Dracula thinks of us or that he's attacking us but this character development makes Arthur an irredeemable dumbass.

>>4436791
Its Japanese gothic horror dank fantasy meme shit thanks to Konami. Just roll with the ham acting and melodrama and Hammer horror.

>>4436565
>Use the Power of Flames to become one with fire!
Make like Dario and slip from his grasp! Also I wonder if WhatIs will make him use attacks from all games?

>>4436753
All of these characters are now secondary to loyalty to Chaos in Arthur's mind.

>>4436807
I just said this is my favorite quest. I'm on board all the way. Just pointing out for the butthurt anon we were never acting rational so this isn't a real change.

>>4436815
>being kinda stupid in the past means we should be as stupid as possible from here on out

>>4436900
Do you need to take a break anon?
I understand that not getting the outcome you wanted is frustrating, but I want to ask you to not go pick fights over it.

>>4436917
I'm not picking fights, I'm presenting my point of view as part of discussion of the players choices in the quest. Did I hurt your feelings?

Dying free is great, but you know what's better? Living free. Maybe try to make sure that happens. Don't roll over if push comes to shove and muh chaos-fu really does turn out to be a shitter.

>>4436565
>Use the Power of Flames to become one with fire!

You can't just let him keep draining your energy like this! You need to think of a way to break his hold on you! Physical strength alone won't be enough, even from this you can tell that the Wraith still utterly dwarfs you when it comes to just how strong he is. You were hoping that the strength you gained from the Power of Control would've been enough to close the gap between yourself and most supernatural beings, but you suppose that a special exception would've been made for the last Dark Lord no matter what. As your energy continues being drained from you, you quickly come up with a plan.

Using the Power of Destruction against the Wraith seems like something doomed to end in failure, there;s no way he would do something so risky as to actually grab you if he knew that you could just erase his hand with the ability you favor the most. No, your opponent may have acted foolishly in the past failed conquests, but he's far from unintelligent. Instead of drawing forth the Power of Destruction to attempt to attack the wraith, you focus on another one of your powers, and something that Dracula hopefully won't at all be expecting.

You call upon the Power of Flame, and in that very same instant, allow your body to transform entirely into fire. Your entire body burns away to nothingness and for a moment you feel yourself floating about in a complete state of void. Somehow aware of your surroundings despite no longer having a physical form. You don't have eyes, yet you can see that red energy has begun to swirl about the shadowy wraith.

You can't stay in this formless state forever though, as you can already feel your incorporeal being starting to spread too far, and you focus on recreating your body out of flame, and thankfully, you are quite successful in doing so. You reappear slightly off-balance on the other side of the room to the Wraith. Losing your physical form is an odd experience, and not exactly a pleasant one, either. If you had found yourself incapable of reforming your body from the flame, you likely would've been trapped in that state forever, while your very being spreads and diffuses across the entire world. Little wonder why Dario seemed to think that practice was vital before using the more advanced techniques of his Power. You're not under any illusion as to what would have happened if you hadn't received the modification to your body prior to this battle. You may have been able to transform into fire, but recreating your body while you are just the vague concept of yourself wouldn't have been something you could do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZjB3uo2X2k

As you readjust after retaking a physical form, you look over at Dracula, his body is still wreathed in those red spirals of energy. "Perhaps... Perhaps I could still have a use for you..." The Wraith chuckles slightly as patches of color begin to sporadically appear on his body. "Yes, I wasn't quite expecting something like this, but I suppose I shan't look a gift horse in the mouth." The energy wreathing Dracula explodes into an aura that forces you to take a step backwards, almost knocking you off your feet. "You've grown enough in strength that by consuming your soul, I'll be able to use it to recreate my own , and make my return to the world of the living! Though I'll be borrowing your body, of course." For the first time since you met the wraith, the smile he flashes at you is one that you can truly discern, his mouth and a few blotches of pale white skin are visible on his face.

For all his taunts, you can see that the Wraith still hasn't actually managed to finish whatever transformation he intends to go through with the energy he siphoned off of you, and that you actually have something of an opportunity to attack while he's too preoccupied with his own transformation.

>Unleash the Arm of Time.
>Use Dominus and engage Dracula in melee.
>Use the Power of Destruction to attack the Wraith.
>Push your Glyph Magic to its very limits.
>Write-in...

>>4438402
>Unleash the Arm of Time.
It won't kill him outright, since he doesn't have an actual lifespan, but even against immortals the Arm is our most damaging single attack. We should use this for one strike while he's open, then shift into a combo of Dominus and the PoD afterward.

>>4438402
>Unleash the Arm of Time.
"Don't you know transforming leaves you open?! So much for hundreds of years of experience, Dracula - for your Time is up!"

>>4438402
>Unleash the Arm of Time.
Unless someone can come up with a better idea somehow.

>>4438447
I do. It's called
>Arthur yells THE FUTURE IS NOW, OLD MAN! at him where appropriate

>>4438402
Better version here, WhatIs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzLxo5ggE6I

>>4438402
>Unleash the Arm of Time.
The old bat always had a hard time with showing off.
You'd think he'd learn his lesson about transforming after all this time, but apparently not.

>>4438402
>Unleash the Arm of Time.
Really? Dario tried this transformation bullshit and it didn't end well for him.

>>4438402
>Unleash the Arm of Time.

Your Time has past. The Future is now old man!

Update when?

>>4440306
Now.

If the Wraith is going to go ahead and give you the opportunity to do as you wish while he goes through some pointless transformation, then you'll of course take this as an opportunity to strike him once again. You aren't about to simply watch as your opponent assumes a more powerful form. No, you'll end this battle before it can even truly begin!

Dracula's Wraith doesn't appear to be even aware of what you're up to as the energy swirls about him. Yes, this is the perfect opportunity to strike your foe down and claim his power for your own. Dracula's last and final death will be brought about as a result of his own arrogance. This time though, you'll make sure that no trace of this accursed vampire lives on even past his death. Chaos ought to be able to see to that. You'll have to talk with her about what Dracula told you regardless, for all your bravado and willingness to accept Chaos' true nature, should siding with her actually imperil reality itself, you'd much prefer is the universe remained undestroyed. Though you wouldn't dare reveal to Dracula that his words managed to reach you at all.

"Your time has passed, Wraith! Now disappear, along with the remnants of your consciousness!" You unleash the causality warping strength of the Arm of Time and feel the odd power begin to flow through your body. You charge your opponent, satisfied that the strength you hold will be more than enough to vanquish the enemy within your soul once and for all. You don't know just what the Wraith is truly plotting, but you don't really care all too much either. If he wants to try to steal your body to fulfill his own goals, then you'll grant him the gift of true death. Not only has this man cheated death through attaining immortality in the form of vampirism, but through being Chaos' Dark Lord, he went beyond even that! This vampire has the audacity to lash out at the only reason he yet lives? As far as you're aware, were it not for her interference dozens of times, Dracula would've been nothing but a footnote in the history of the world! A powerful vampire who was struck down the moment his ambitions were exposed to the world and nothing more.

You dash towards the vampire with the arm containing all that power, enough that even the Wraith should be rendered incapable of fighting back, the moment that you connect, this fight will be over! You bring your fist towards the transforming body of your vampiric nemesis, and instead of feeling your fist connect with the solid form of the vampire, it instead passes through his body entirely, before it collapses into a cloud of dust!

File: Walter.jpg (93 KB, 840x960)

93 KB JPG

A clap rings out behind you and you can hear your opponent chuckling, his voice clearer and more pronounced than ever "Come on, Arthur, are you even really trying? Is this the best that the blood of Walter Bernhard could produce in a thousand years?" You quickly realize that you've managed to fall for Dracula's ruse, the Dracula you saw transforming wasn't actually the Wraith at all, it was some sort of false construct or illusion, designed to trick you. You turn to see the real Dracula is standing behind you smirking widely, his appearance however, is vastly different from the shadow you are used to seeing, he's wearing a set of armor similar to your own, though more detailed, and his hair has taken an auburn shade. "It's something of a surprise that your soul has enabled me to take this particular form. I was expecting the form that I took when Matthias was the one in control, but I'm not exactly about to argue with this boon. I much prefer my original form as a vampire, after all, and not the form taken by the man who usurped my power... all organized by Chaos." The Wraith reveals what is very likely to be the origin of his dislike for the entity that he ought to be supportive of.

You allow the energy in the Arm of Time to return to you for a moment, there's clearly no point in keeping it active at this distance, and he'd be able to easily dodge you should you attempt another attack with it. No, you're probably better off with waiting for the opportunity to use it again and instead relying on another one of your abilities until such an opportunity arises. No sense in wasting the energy to keep the ability active when you might not even get the chance to use it at all in this fight. "So, you're the personification of the vampiric side of Dracula then? That explains a few things, I suppose." Though if this is the vampiric half of Dracula, then the one question is whatever happened to the Human half of Dracula? Or as the Wraith referred to him, 'Matthias'.

"For such a fool, you are at least somewhat quick to catch on to things. Yes, that's not entirely incorrect. I could get into the specifics, but I don't really feel like conversing with a soon to be dead man." The Wraith congratulates you, but his congratulations soon turn into a threat, but you aren't afraid of the Wraith at all. He's just another traitor, and you'll ensure that he gets what he deserves for his treachery, Chaos is with you, after all.

"Big talk from the spirit who has already been killed for good." You smirk back, and Dracula frowns deeply. He obviously doesn't enjoy being mocked. "How about I finish the job? I've had just about enough of your blathering on, and I think I'd be doing the universe a favor, if only to prevent you from being able to bore anybody else with these ridiculous speeches. Am I supposed to be intimidated? You might have scared peasants with pitchforks and terrified the slovenly priests of the Church back in your day, but in truth, the thing you are most proficient at is dying." You continue to taunt your opponent, who despite the raising anger evident in his features, manages to smile.

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

His response to your scathing remarks isn't one you're expecting. "Dark Inferno!" Instead, he merely utters an incantation of some sort of ability that launches huge crackling black fireballs towards you. Really? Fire? It didn't work for Dario against you and that was before you had unlocked his ability to manipulate flame itself. As you ready yourself to easily dispose of the balls of crackling flame headed your way, you notice that this isn't the only aspect of the Wraith's attack you should be watching out for!

Bats made of dark red energy begin to flood into the room, crashing through one of the stained glass windows, while at the same time, rats made of that same dark red energy begin to scurry along the floor, headed straight for you! So this is the power that the Wraith truly holds? To manipulate pests like rats and bats to attack for him? You'd be disgusted, if you weren't so preoccupied with the danger that his attack actually represents!

>Reactivate the Arm of Time, now you might actually have a shot at getting an attack with it in.
>Use the Power of Flame to simply cause an explosion large enough to engulf the room.
>Use the Power of Destruction to create yourself an impenetrable suit of armor to erase anything that dares attack.
>Use your Glyph Magic in order to simply freeze the entire room.
>Write-in...

>>4440330
>Write-in
Create an explosion to use as concealment before leaping at Walter.

>>4440330
Backing >>4440345 that's a good strat.

>>4440330
Backing >>4440345 as well. Explosive cover to close range for a real attack seems like the way to go here.

>>4440345
If we are going with this, we probably really need to activate Dominus as we leap as the Wraith has already been stated to outclass us physically in base form.

>>4440479
That's a really good point, it slipped my mind when he dramatically transformed only to attack with fucking rats.
>>4440345
Add Dominus activation after the explosion.

>>4440345
Shouldn't we use the power of destruction to teleport us instead of leaping?

>>4440953
The way I see it, he already sees us teleporting as as a possibility from our escape earlier and I think Space Destruction would be better served if used after we condition him to prepare for a frontal assault.

>>4440330
I'll amend my vote at >>4440402 to include activating Dominus.

This attack is dangerous, while the mundane nature of bats and rats might appear to be somewhat harmless to you, these things clearly aren't just ordinary pests. No, whatever these things actually are, you are certain that being touched by any of the energy constructs shaped like animals may very well quickly prove to be a lethal mistake. In fact, you're so apprehensive about getting caught in the swarm of vermin that the balls of flame heading towards you appear to be by far the least dangerous part of his attack. Flame and heat you can deal with with ease, and you'll always take that over some unknown magical ability like the summoned animals.

In an instant, you've activated Dominus, feeling the energy of the ability rapidly beginning to flow through your body and enhance it to a degree further than you've ever felt before. This might just be enough to close the distance between yourself and the Wraith when it comes to physical strength! Of course, with Dominus now active, you've got a little bit of breathing time. Your entire body has been quickened, including your reaction times and your reflex speed. In a way, it's almost as if the world around you has slowed down, though in truth this is all simply caused by you being able see, react and move to things far more quickly than you could before.

Your expression is quite serene as the ball of flame careens towards you, and you activate the Power of Flame for just a moment, using your mastery over flame in order to snatch the ball of flame right out of the air before you simply lob it back at Dracula, with the power infused within the orb increased tenfold! Dracula raises his arms to protect his face from the force of the great explosion, and in that moment, you strike. Before the fireball from the explosion has even finished expanding outwards, you are leaping forwards and towards the vampire while he's distracted! Of course, in a fair fight, your odds of defeating the wraith are slim, but you don't need to fight this opponent with any honor in your heart. This is a battle for survival, with the stake being not only your life, but the control of your body itself. Should you fall here, you will just be recorded as another host or means of Dracula's resurrection, and Dracula will likely manage to continue his cycle of deaths and failures.

You aren't about to allow yourself to fall victim to such a fate, and you put all the force you are capable of mustering into this one strike! Your mighty leap transitioning into a punch with a massive amount of force packed into it! Enough that it would easily be able to level a building, or perhaps even greater than that!

There's a great crack as your fist makes direct contact with the Wraith's face, and time seems to slow down further as the next events unfold. You can feel the Wraith's head moving backwards from the impact of the tremendous blow, and for a moment, you think that you've done it. That your victory has been decided from the single strike, well, honestly, your victory was guaranteed before the first strike had even been thrown. This is your world, and no ghost of the past will get in your way!

You increase the force behind the punch, and start to let out an impassioned roar of anger as you go beyond your limits, forcing every ounce of power in your body and beyond into this one strike, all of this happening in the fractions of a second as you try to break the Wraith's neck with a single overwhelming punch!

Then, just as you think that you've defeated the Wraith, and that your punch was a success, his head abruptly stops moving altogether, and in an instant, the force packed into your hand is suddenly violently turned against you! Where you were once hitting the flesh and bone of an admittedly supremely strong enemy, now it feels like you are simply punching a wall that is completely unbreakable! To make matters even worse though, the wraith begins smiling as he drives a fist upwards, piercing straight through your armor and forcing your body to soar through the air in an arc!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN4vCAjFGZ8

You land with a crash and quickly jump back to your feet to prepare for Dracula to continue his assault, only for your opponent to begin taunting you once again. "As far as attacks go, that wasn't a terrible one. However, you'll never defeat me like that." Your opponent can clearly barely stop himself from laughing at your predicament. You look down at the hole driven straight through your armor with no amount of disbelief. Wasn't it supposed to be protected from something like this? Annoyingly, Dracula notices your plight, and finally lets loose a bellowing laugh of ridicule. "You didn't actually expect armor like that would protect you from my attacks did you? What good do you think wearing armor will do..." Dracula raises his hand slowly. "When I can just do this?" He snaps his fingers, and at that very moment, the armor you had been granted through the Power of Control begins to dissolve... mostly. All that remains after Dracula's demonstration is the hardened crimson and black leather under armor. "Did you not think it suspicious that you gained something so useful directly before your confrontation with me? No matter if this world of dreams belongs to you, this Castle is mine, and nothing will ever change that!" Dracula begins to slowly walk towards you, apparently having decided that you are unable to pose any sort of threat to him, he's no longer taking this fight seriously!

>Go on an all out offensive, seize victory at all cost. The Power of Flame, Dominus, The Power of Destruction, the Arm of Time, use everything you can to defeat him!
>There has to be another way to beat the Wraith! It's quite clear that you can't beat him by yourself like this, but you know somebody nearby who can easily destroy him!
>His Castle? He's sorely mistaken. It's only right for the next Dark Lord to take Control of what is his by right.
>Write-in...

>>4441916
>His Castle? He's sorely mistaken. It's only right for the next Dark Lord to take Control of what is his by right.
"Maybe in life, but your folly cost you that throne. All that remains is a dream, my dream!"

>>4441916
>His Castle? He's sorely mistaken. It's only right for the next Dark Lord to take Control of what is his by right.
If he has full control of the castle, he could make it impossible to find Chaos anyway, so this should be the most effective course of action here.

>>4441916
>His Castle? He's sorely mistaken. It's only right for the next Dark Lord to take Control of what is his by right.

>>4441916
>His Castle? He's sorely mistaken. It's only right for the next Dark Lord to take Control of what is his by right.
I really hope this works. It kind of feels like a red herring.

>>4441967
It's been established that you can impose your will on the world and take it over, hence Ecclesia and the Castle being here in the first place.
But really, I just think this is the best thematic end to this arc, as its been all about mastering our inner world.
It just makes sense to me that the culmination of that would be to take control of the Castle from wraith, who throughout the story has used it in an attempt to twist our mind towards his objectives and away from any other path we might take.
The wraith is twice arrogant, in that he thinks his way is superior to all others, and in that he thinks of himself as so powerful as to eclipse the very soul he attached himself to, to be ruler of the one who succeeded him. The wraith is a parasite that thinks itself superior to the host, yet another obstacle that justifies their self-righteousness with the belief that they know best.
It is only through removing these obstacles that our true path can be found, and it is only through excising this parasite that our rule can be cemented, first within ourselves, and then throughout the world.

>>4441916
>His Castle? He's sorely mistaken. It's only right for the next Dark Lord to take Control of what is his by right.
what >>4442017 said sums this up

>making direct sustained physical contact with Dracula's face in last update
>didn't get the chance to choose to activate the power of destruction
but why

>>4442672
Wouldn't have worked.
It was hinted at that PoD wouldn't work earlier and at this, last post proves he can negate any action we take in the Castle.

>>4442711
>at this,
nix that

His Castle? Does he genuinely believe that this construct belongs to him? That he could lay claim to this Castle? It wasn't his own power that enabled him to create the place. No, this castle was created through the Power that Chaos chooses to share with her Dark Lord. Dracula isn't the lord of this Castle. No. He's nothing but a thief, a poltergeist that has laid claim to that which could never belong to him again. This Castle doesn't belong to him anymore. It is yours by right.

You allow that feeling to spread throughout your entire body, a shiver running down your spine as you are nearly overwhelmed by feeling of not only greed, but pride as well. Yes, not only does this Castle and everything within it belong to you, but you've no intention to steal it. After all, theft would imply that you weren't reclaiming it. Dracula has clearly been trying to manipulate you from the start, but all the more he should be pitied for it. After all. The one in Control is now you and you alone.

The floor and walls close to you begin to shift and change, and you begin to walk towards Dracula, who has now stopped his own movement in order to look at the strange effect that the Power of Control is having on the Castle. You were expecting to be able to immediately lay claim to the Castle upon exerting the Power of Control upon it, but it seems as if the Castle has something of a will of its own, and that will seems to wish to serve Dracula. For something so obviously born of Chaos' power like this building, the Castle sure doesn't know how to please its creator.

"You're attempting to seize control of the Castle? You? Don't make me laugh!" The Wraith charges towards you, apparently having decided against his previous tactic of slowly approaching you now that you've begun to take control of the Castle. While the process isn't instant, you can tell that you are successfully managing to take over. Dracula must be worried about what might end up happening to him should you succeed! All that his sudden increased haste in dealing with you has done is confirm your suspicions. This actually is having an effect on him!

Of course, that's nice to know, but as you raise your arms to protect your face from a mighty kick and get blasted back into the wall, which cracks as you slam into it, perhaps it isn't a good thing to have to deal with him now that he's actually recognized you as a genuine threat. You won't be able to take many of those physical strikes, and for some reason, you just get the feeling that he's got some way to counteract the Power of Destruction. That shadow creature that he apparently conjured up earlier to fight you had such a resistance, and you'd rather not try your luck with it. It's annoying, but Dracula must have some way to counter or at least lessen the effects of the Power of Destruction, and if he can resist the all-erasing quality of the Power, then there's really no point in trying to use it. It'll just leave you open to taking a counter-attack!

Just as Dracula is about to follow up his kick with a punch that would crush your ribs with total certainty, you dodge to the side and slide across the floor and past your opponent with a movement technique that Shanoa taught you. Usually, doing something like that would've left you stumbling about and trying to get up, but thanks to your training with the Glyph Witch, you easily manage to ascend without difficulty and get back on your feet. Though as you get up to face the Wraith once more, he simply fades into shadows. "Where are you looking?" His voice rings around the room.

You let out a quick breath as you look around the room, waiting for Dracula to make his appearance once again to attack you, but then a thought strikes you. If all you need to do is complete your assimilation over the ownership of the Castle in order to gain victory over the Wraith, is there even any point to fighting him?

>Fight as defensively as you possibly can. Use your glyphs and the Power of Destruction solely for defense.
>Try to bait Dracula into monologuing again. He seems to be the sort of person to enjoy talking.
>Continually use your most destructive attacks in order to prevent Dracula from making any offensive actions.
>What better way to act defensively in a fight than to just flee from it? So long as the process of taking Control of the Castle continues, you are free to act however you want.
>Write-in...

>>4442776
>Try to bait Dracula into monologuing again. He seems to be the sort of person to enjoy talking.
This seems like it'd be the most entertaining option.

>>4442776
>Fight as defensively as you possibly can. Use your glyphs and the Power of Destruction solely for defense.
Leaving him free to move seems like it'd lead to him laying around traps for us to find after we completely take control, using our most taxing abilities to stop him from being proactive would tire us out, but also panic him when he loses more of his strength as the fight continues, and talking to him could work but it gives him enough composure to plan an effective counterattack, likely attacking at a random opportunity during the conversation while invisible.
So I think acting defensively as he gets increasingly anxious is the way to go here.

>>4442776
>Fight as defensively as you possibly can. Use your glyphs and the Power of Destruction solely for defense.
I would have gone for the ham-acting monologue, but >>4442864 pointed out that Drac could get composure back and that could screw us over. I think we should leave the hamming up to a bit later in the fight.

>>4442776
>Fight as defensively as you possibly can. Use your glyphs and the Power of Destruction solely for defense.
Us taking over the Castle means that he needs to attack us soon, he can't hide and wait for us to let our guard down so this is just a bluff.
At it's core, it's a childish attempt to bait us into losing our focus and making a mistake; quite a far cry from the confidence he displayed earlier.
At this point, he has admitted the only way he can win is for us to suddenly become a naive fool and lose sight of our objective.
He has admitted that we're the one in Control.

you better remember this for the end of the arc, whatis

You can already feel your will beginning to flow through the halls of the Castle, the opposition to your control is growing weaker by the second. For all his bluster, Dracula's grasp on what little power he can cling onto after his true death isn't strong enough to withstand the full extent of your own power. All you need to do is remain standing in this battle long enough, and you'll have won by default. It's obvious even at this stage that the Wraith has quite a lot of his strength invested into his control of this place, and should it be usurped, you truly doubt that he'll be able to oppose you any longer. Or at least if he is still capable, he won't be nearly as much of a threat.

So, for now, all you need to do is weather his attacks until the process is complete. Of course, that might just prove easier said than done. You're barely managing to hold on as it is, and if he actually gets desperate, the Wraith is going to start trying riskier and riskier attacks! You will one of the magical ink patterns on your hands into the correct glyph to summon Melio Scutum. Just then, you feel a grasping hand trying to grab your neck from behind once again. Is he really going for the same attack a second time? Ha! You didn't expect him to be so foolish just because it succeeded the first time!

Just as the Wraith is about to seize you by the throat, you sling your other hand behind you, and send a huge amount of your magical energy flowing through the glyph upon it. While a Shield would be quite useless to you given the circumstances, you were never aiming to create a shield with both of your glyphs! The blinding holy light bursts from your hand, and while it does sting you a little bit on contact, the faint burning sensation on your skin is nothing compared to the damage the holy energy of Luminatio wrecks upon the Wraith. Large cracks running down his form as he stumbles away from the blinding holy light. As Dracula backs away from you for the time being, you then realize just how much damage that Luminatio did to you as well. While it only felt like a light burning sensation, there is scorched flesh all around the glyph! It's a wonder that you can't feel the pain of dealing yourself such horrible damage. Yet it's not a wonder that you intend to think too hard about. You've always had a good tolerance for pain anyway.

"You insolent brat!" The Wraith's tone is full of rage, but you can already see the cracks that had formed from your attack healing up. Still, it bought you some time. Fighting defensively against an opponent who could kill you with a single strike is a very difficult affair, and had he not gone for such an obvious attack, you might not have faired so well in that last exchange. As it is, you're the one with the brutally burned hand while he remains completely fine thanks to his regeneration. Just as you think the Wraith is going to strike, he opens his mouth to talk instead. "I must commend you on one thing, at least, before I kill you." There's a tone of sincerity in the voice of your opponent. "Attempting to take control of this Castle in order to weaken me was something of a genius move, and in fact, had it not been for you attempting to accomplish such a thing, I never would have realized that what you are doing really goes both ways." The vampire smiles like a madman. "So while you've been mentally exhausting yourself in order to slowly take control of my Castle, I've been saving my own energy for this!" The vampire holds a palm out faced towards you, and then, as he gives you a smile, your back explodes in pain, almost as if the skin itself is trying to tear itself away from you. The Wraith begins to laugh. "Take this Castle, I have no need of it! Once I claim your fragment of Dominus and destroy you, I shall be more than capable of bringing my self back to the material world!" You can hear your skin slowly ripping underneath the brutal force of the pull.

>Hold on! You've almost taken control of the Castle now. Just a few more seconds!
>Change focus! You can't allow Dracula to take Dominus!
>Use all of your remaining power to create a burst of Destructive Energy. While Dracula should be able to resist it in theory, you doubt that even he would end up surviving an omni-directional blast of the consuming energy.
>Just turn your body to flames. Good luck tearing Dominus away from you when it doesn't even have a physical form.
>Write-in...

>>4444359
Can we use the arm of time to decrease the amount of time it takes to take over the castle? Or to increase the amount of time it takes for him to steal Dominus from him? Or destroy time to undo his use of magic to try and rip it out?

>>4444370
I don't think we are to control it in such a precise manner, for now it seem to be a glorified remote controller.

>>4444373
>Additionally, by calling upon it's power, Arthur can bring about the destruction of time itself, erasing effects that would bring harm to him through the eradication of their cause.
Seems like it's worth a shot, maybe

>>4444359
>Use all of your remaining power to create a burst of Destructive Energy. While Dracula should be able to resist it in theory, you doubt that even he would end up surviving an omni-directional blast of the consuming energy.

Chaos said she hid Dominus in a place Dracula would never find, so is this really where she put it?
The safest choice to me seems to be turning our body into flames, but Drac has seen us do it this fight so he already knows we can, so while it may work I'm thinking it's more bait.
Which makes me think Demonic Megiddo could be the right response here.

>>4444386
That's why time-fuckery is always problematic, it's really ambiguous when it comes to things you can and can't do.

>>4444417
Actually scratch that, it applies to every power that deals with concepts.

>>4444417
Y'know, while Whatis said it would only work on effects that happened 3 seconds ago, I think the use of the Arm of Time here could work as well.

>>4444423
I don't know man, I'm just gonna leave this one to the rest of you.

>>4444359
>"You wasted your time, Wraith." Negate his corruption of Dominus with the Arm of Time.
He talked as if it takes a significant energy investment to take our rune, so if we end his attack before it completes he probably won't be able to try again.
Then he'll be standing there with nothing, while we'll have the castle and Dominus both.
This is another shit test; he's once again trying to scare us away from our goal, but as long as we simply refuse to cave to his bravado he is powerless.

>>4444359
>"You wasted your time, Wraith." Negate his corruption of Dominus with the Arm of Time.

>>4444532
But what I'm worried about is if Dracula is just trying to bait us into using the power of the arm to counter this attack so we can't counter a stronger attack of his with it.
That Chaos said she hid Dominus in a place nobody would find it, but Drac is still trying to pull it from us is kinda suspicious to me.

>>4445609
I don't know if the wraith actually can take Dominus, or how much he knows about what Chaos did with it, but at this point it hardly matters. Dracula already revealed that having possession of the Castle is a near insurmountable advantage when he all but acknowleged that he would have died if he didn't have its power. An attack that hit him with neck-breaking force ended up being harmlessly deflected, all with the power of the Castle.What I'm getting at is that once we have it, this is all but decided, and as long as we don't lose our focus we win.

In all honesty, waiting it out and trusting in Chao's protection is probably the most efficient way to handle this from a gameplay perspective, but I've been enjoying ruthlessly countering wraith's attempts to cow us into submission way too much to stop now.

>>4445747
But what if he then tries to take the arm from us? He'd just undo our control over the castle and we'd be unable to land a decisive hit on him since he'd time it away.
I just dont want this fight to end as a loss out of hubris.

File: Trapmaster.jpg (3 KB, 125x98)

3 KB JPG

>>4445763
>>4445763
If he manages to rip our metaphysical arm off in the next four seconds I might be impressed enough to start capitalizing his name again.

The thing about dracula is that he's way too boastful and dramatic to try something so duplicitous. We're talking about a guy that screams attack names while a big red text box literally spells out exactly what he's about to do. The psychological tricks used in this fight are the most subtle his tactics have been in actual millennia. He's trying to get us to let go of the Castle, not set up for a Megido. I know this because if we get the Castle, it wouldn't matter even if he did have some big attack waiting in the wings, so why would he bother?

It's not fun to through life with the worst possible result in mind, because more often than not, you'll be the one to make it happen.

>>4445792
He did just set up an illusion of himself to make us waste our energy on a powerful attack, so I dont think such a setup is completely out of the question, but you're right about it being impressive if he pulls it off

>>4445792
>The psychological tricks used in this fight are the most subtle his tactics have been in actual millennia
The "disappears into black fog then reappears suddenly to grab your throat and drain your lifeforce" is straight out of Curse of Darkness' final boss, nigga.

As you embrace the pain of the sensation of Dracula trying to rip the power of Dominus off of your body, you crack a smile, grinning right at the Wraith as he tries to tear Dominus right off your body. You don't know what he's actually attempting to accomplish but it's pretty clear that he wasn't expecting the process to be taking so long. His face is twisted in rage, his features reminding you more of a crazed beast than they do a human, despite Dracula not having actually transformed at all.

"Sorry Wraith. But I'm afraid that you're... wasting your time." You strain your body and smile at your terrible joke as you activate the Arm of Time, and you can tell that even with the enhancements you received just moments before the fight, you're nearing your limit. Still, you can't allow your body to fail you now. Not when your victory is so close. Not when so much is at stake. You can't lose!

With the Arm of Time unleashed once more, you bring the great power contained within it to bear, and you target whatever the hell Dracula is attempting to do to Dominus on your back. Whatever it is though, all it seems to be doing is causing you pain. Still though, even if Dracula is unable to actually do anything other than cause you a great deal of pain, he's still dealing you a great deal of pain. It's not like you're just going to sit there and take it! You target the odd effect that is responsible for causing you pain with the ephemeral power contained within the Arm of Time, and just like that, the pain vanishes without a trace.

Dracula, stumbles backwards a few steps as he seems to notice the complete failure of his attack. Then instead of winding up for another attack or otherwise preparing some sort of magical spell or ability to strike you with, the wraith begins... clapping, and at that very same time, you feel the process of taking control of the Castle finally complete itself. "Congratulations." Strangely enough, your adversary seems to hold no ill will in his now completely unavoidable defeat. "You defeated me... Though you took a somewhat roundabout method of things, you can't argue with the result." You look at the Wraith in complete bewilderment. "You've taken control of this replica of the Castle I built using a shard of the original Castle's power, however. That wasn't all you did. In separating me from this place, you did something else." There's a tone of smug satisfaction in his voice, and you begin to feel unease.

"Something else? What do you mean?" You remain on guard. You don't trust this enemy not to try anything funny. He's already shown himself to be tricky, and you aren't about to turn your back on this man, this dreadfully powerful man. Even with the support of the Castle strengthening you, you don't know if treating this man lightly should ever be done.

"Well, for one, my connection to your soul has been severed. Which leads into the second thing..." The wraith gives you a wide smile. The smile of a man who hasn't lost at all, but who has managed a complete victory over his opponent. "Now that my soul is no longer connected to this inner world of yours, then that means I'm free to leave as I please." Your expression must've been a sight to see upon hearing that, as Dracula is forced to suppress a chuckle. "Don't worry, I'm not about to reclaim the title of Dark Lord, after you showed just how committed you are to your path, I think you might just be worthy of it." A pitch black rectangle appears just behind the Wraith as he reaches into one of his pockets, and throws something shining and red straight at you. "Don't let it be said that I don't pay favors back though, even unaware ones."

You snatch the object out of the air, and inspect it. It's a perfect ruby in the shape of a tear, by the looks of things. "What the hell is this thing?" You half expect the thing to explode in your hand given how the past few minutes have gone. Given how friendly Dracula has become all of a sudden, there has to be some sort of ruse here.

"That is what you were after. The essence of a vampire lord, or at least enough of it for you to be sovereign over almost all other night creatures. It's my way of thanking you for being such a useful pawn in my plans, but a pawn can't remain a pawn forever. Eventually, it'll reach the end of the board." The wraith hands you something so valuable, with almost no indication as to just how important what he's just given you is. But you find yourself unable to focus on the gem sitting in the palm of your hand.

"Your plans? You're calling me a pawn?" Your voice is surprisingly angry as you respond to Dracula's flippant dismissal of all that you've worked up to. As if all that you've done has somehow been a part of somebody else's plans. "What do you want anyway? Why go through all this?!"

"Of course you were a pawn! You've been a pawn your entire life! A pawn for me, a pawn for the Church! What does it matter?! At least now you have the power to avoid being manipulated! Now. I don't see the problem in telling you my motivation now that I doubt that we'll be meeting each other again, you see I've got a little bit of revenge to take care of before I can allow myself to truly die..." Then, the Wraith looks you in the eye a final time. "Please do try at least to convince Chaos against the notion of obliterating reality. I'll remind you that you're a part of this universe too, and the afterlife won't be spared the wrath of Chaos either." With that, he steps through the black doorway, leaving you alone in the Throne Room and the gem sitting in your hand, pulsing with energy.

>Try to somehow absorb the power contained within the gem into yourself.
>Put the gem in your pocket for now, and go see Chaos.
>Pursue Dracula through the portal, does he really think that you'd allow him to escape you so easily?
>Write-in...

>>4446015
>Try to somehow absorb the power contained within the gem into yourself.

File: so long.jpg (40 KB, 477x460)

40 KB JPG

>>4446015
>>Try to somehow absorb the power contained within the gem into yourself.

>>4446015
>Try to somehow absorb the power contained within the gem into yourself.

I want to take this time to thank you for running this quest. I know I'm not alone in this being my favorite quest on the board right now, and this past arc has been on of my all time favorites. I remember laughing my ass off when we were defeated, excited to see how your were going to continue, and everything that came after was better than I could have hoped for. This last fight especially, as you can probably see from how much I was talking about it.

I know this quest isn't as popular as Paradox, so I'm really thankful that you still manage to get out an update for Elegy everyday.

I feel like I've been rambling a bit, but the bottom line is that you've written a quest that gives me an urge to engage with it, to put more of myself into it than just a vote, and for that you have my thanks. This is a huge turning point for the story, and I wherever it goes next I'll be there to add something of my own.

>>4446015
>Try to somehow absorb the power contained within the gem into yourself.

>>4446015
>Put the gem in your pocket for now, and go see Chaos.

>>4446104
Afraid it will jump up and bite us?

>>4446127
More worried about not being able to absorb it properly or side-effects from just using it.

>>4446130
Now's the time to do it, we're not going to get arbitrarily screwed over for transforming now and its very much the appropriate time to do so with all the talk of chessboards and gaining the power to determine our own fate and such.
I've always hated it in quests when something like this gets put off only for it to be categorically proven to be safe in the next post, ruining the narrative rhythm and wasting everybody's time.

>>4446015
>Try to somehow absorb the power contained within the gem into yourself.
What >>4446071 said. Keep running this until you finish it, WhatIs

>>4446015
>Put the gem in your pocket for now, and go see Chaos.

You look at the gemstone in your hand for a few seconds, just at the portal that Dracula left through snaps closed with an odd clicking noise, leaving nothing in it's place other than a reminder of the Dark Lord that seems to have truly abdicated his position to you. You are now closer to becoming the true Dark Lord than ever, and the power contained within the precious crimson teardrop will be another step towards your apotheosis.

It's a hard thing, to give up your humanity, but you've come to realize the limits a human has. You can never truly act as Chaos' represntative if you are limited to the strength of a human, no matter how powerful you might grow. You've learned something in your journey, that no matter how prepared you think that you might be for the challenges that lie ahead of you, so long as you remain a human, you will be unable to truly face them. Even now, with all the strength you've gained, you are unsure whether you could defeat Alucard or even Anneliese in a battle, it's not like you'll have the support of the Castle outside of your dreams after all. You look down at the gemstone once more.

So long as you are a human, you'll never truly be able to become the Dark Lord.

You take a deep breath before you laugh out loud, your laughter echoing around you, reverberating off of the cold walls and floor of your throne room. Mortality? Humanity? These two things you have no need for anymore. You would be a liar if you said that you hadn't realized that remaining a human wasn't going to be a possibility. You decide to discard all that makes you human as you tighten your grip on the gem, clenching the crystallized power of a Vampire Lord as if your hand was a vice, you can hear the gemstone begin to strain.

Then, it shatters, and the tremendous dark energy contained within the gemstone flows straight into you and you can feel your body start to change, you clutch your forehead as you feel the energy pervading every fiber of your being, irrevocably changing you forever. There's no pain as you feel yourself part with your humanity, just a cold sensation of becoming truly deathless. As your body changes, you feel every aspect of yourself become greater. Not just physically, either, you can feel your mind expand as you are coated in a black shroud of energy. It's an odd sensation to suddenly forcibly become more intelligent, but it's the only explanation you can think of for what the energy running rampant through your body just did to you. You'd think upon it more if you weren't still being distracted by the through occasional empty spaces in the swirl of energy surrounding you, you can catch glimpses of your skin, which has taken an alabaster white tone.

Then of course, there's the magical power that comes with the change, your stockpile of magical energy skyrockets, you can't even determine if there's a limit to the incredible magical power dwelling within your body now. Your body continues to be empowered greatly until the swirl of energy dissipates, fading into the world around you and leaving you standing still just in front of your throne. So, this is what it feels like to be a vampire? Well, of course, you're not just a vampire. You're the ultimate among vampires now. Greater than any vampire sired by another, and only equal to those who became vampires through magical means. You spare a thought for your allies, realizing just how weak they are compared to you now.

Of course though, just because you're more powerful than them doesn't mean you don't still wish to see them again. Even if you're willing to take your contract with Chaos to a level in which you would permit the destruction of reality, you would at least attempt to plead the case of sparing your allies from the destruction.

Of course, speaking of Chaos, you should really go and see her, the entire layout of the Castle having made itself clear to you the very moment that you took control of it, Chaos' portal is hidden a few rooms away from here. You take your first step as a vampire towards Chaos' room, but as you do, you can hear the sound of glass smashing, and the world crumbles around you. What's happening?! What's going on? You attempt to increase your speed in an effort to reach Chaos before the Castle falls apart along with the entire world, was this part of of Dracula's plot as well?!

Though your speed surpasses sound itself by a great amount, you are still unable to make it in time, as just as you reach the room in which you can finally reunite with Chaos, the door itself shatters like glass, leaving behind a black void behind it, soon enough, everything disappears, and even your vision grows dark. The face of Chaos appears briefly in your minds eye as all turns to void. You suppose that it's time for you to wake up, after all. You've spent far too long in this dream.

You open your eyes once again, to find yourself suspended in the air by two chains attached to thick metal bands on your arms, to you, the metal bands may as well be weightless, surrounding you are dozens of brown robed humans, they are all rushing about the large circular chamber as they focus on you, some of them seem to have weapons pointed towards you, while others seem to be frantically flipping through all sorts of different books. Was this where you were being kept imprisoned then? Anneliese really has poor hospitality, and the humans running about aren't impressive at all! You can tell a good portion of them aren't even capable of using magic, and those that are are almost completely unremarkable anyway.

You can feel their fear and you smile. Of course, they should fear you. You find yourself suffering from a terrible thirst, and you know just what can quench it.

>Pretend to be a normal human, wait to see just what they do.
>Ask one of them to explain everything they know to you.
>Break free of your binds and leave, leave the ones who don't try to stop you alive.
>Start the carnage.
>Write in...

>>4446653
>Break free of your binds and ask one of them to explain everything they know to you. Then leave, leaving the ones who don't try to stop you alive.

File: 1598622324777.png (2.33 MB, 1360x768)

2.33 MB PNG

>>4446653
>Just walk out of the room, don't even acknowledge the humans unless they attack, in which case drain them quickly and move on.

>>4446653
>Break free of your binds and leave, leave the ones who don't try to stop you alive.
Oh Annie~...

>>4446694
I can only hope we end up facing off against some vampire hunters with as much personality as Joseph and Stroheim.

>>4446653
>Break free of your binds and leave, leave the ones who don't try to stop you alive.

>>4446653
>Break free of your binds and leave, leave the ones who don't try to stop you alive.
We have friends to find

>>4446653
>Break free of your binds and leave, leave the ones who won't try to stop you alive.

>>4446653
>Break free of your binds and leave, leave the ones who don't try to stop you alive.

>>4446653
>Break free of your binds and leave, leave the ones who don't try to stop you alive.
There is no acknowledgment for mooks

File: 3ycjhg.jpg (43 KB, 344x455)

43 KB JPG

>>4446649
>You decide to discard all that makes you human

I hope alura is still alive

>>4447207
Camellia. And yeah, I want Arthur to fertilize her before the quest is out.

>>4447209
I'm hoping to see more of her too.
We had an interesting dynamic when we first met her but that faded out really quickly.

File: 1573539004680.png (173 KB, 594x480)

173 KB PNG

>>4447207
>>4447209
>>4447213
>implying

>>4447237
What are you implying that we're implying?

So now that we've escaped our mind, will we get those interludes about Anneliese and Aeon?

>>4447334
Yeah, Annie's a bit of an enigma right now.
We know that she's a devil forgemaster, hates being a vampire and seeks to cure it, but also wants to resurrect Dracula, but ALSO collaborated with Aeon and the Dorin Foundation to seal us away.
Quite a lot of things going on with her that make it difficult to form a clear picture of what she's all about.

>>4447339
We have to hunt her down and confront her, then she'll tell us her deal and we'll get her interlude in the form of first-person narrative monologue to Arthur.

>>4447339
What makes you think she collaborated with either of them?
As far as we know she should be working alone or at least with a group of cultists shouldn't she?

Update is going to be late.
It's about halfway written, but I need to sleep.
This cold I've picked up has ruined my writing pace and drained my energy.
With any luck though, it'll clear up soon.
I'll try to get the update out as soon as I can.

>>4448814
that's fine

>>4448814
Hang in there. This is one of the best quests on this board

>>4448814
Hope for a speedy recovery and your good health.

To think that you would've once had difficulty breaking loose of such things with only physical strength alone. Were you still a human, you would have needed to have used some variety of magical ability to break loose of these binds, but as you are now, a mere flick of your wrist shatters the chains binding you, and you allow yourself to fall slowly to the ground, manipulating your overflowing magical energy in order to hover for a moment. You remain silent as you inspect your body, it's a good thing that the white robes that you have been dressed in were so loosely fitting, otherwise the growth spurt you endured upon embracing the power of a vampire lord would have been far less imposing.

You smirk at the the metal shackles wrapped around your arms, which crumple like tinfoil as you rip them off with the greatest ease. The cultists rushing about the room panic even more now. Some of them flee, others fall over, paralyzed in fear, and a single one of them raises his weapon in an attempt to block your path.

"Y-you can't leave!" His voice is clearly fearful, but still, he chooses to oppose you. Such bravery really ought to be admired, but there is a very thin line between bravery and stupidity, and this man just crossed it. A pity, if he had simply listened to his head instead of trying to prove his courage against certain death, he might've lived. Now though, his fate is sealed.

You simply walk up to the man, noting his courage as he doesn't falter or turn his back to flee. "I shall do as I please... human." As you get into attacking range of the man, he tries to thrust his spear towards you, and you grab it by the blade. It doesn't even pierce your skin. You give the man a savage smile as he tries to pull his spear out of your grip, but he may well be an ant trying to lift the boot about to crush it.

You increase the power of your grip, and the blade of the spear gives way under the pressure like clay. The man remains frozen still, unable to even respond as his attack was caught and quite literally crushed by the bare hands of his opponent, and remains as still as a statue even when you tear the ruined spear out of his grip and toss it away, allowing it to clatter on the floor. Then, you walk closer to the man who chose to get in your way, and you wave your arm towards his body, to you, there's hardly any power or speed in the attack, but as your arm makes contact with the man, he crumples as surely as the iron of his spear did. The man makes a brief sound of pain as he is split in half, before falling silent.

You smirk as you look about the room. It has been evacuated almost entirely of it's previous occupants, you had gotten so carried away with dealing with the fool who tried to get in your way that you hadn't even taken notice of their flight. Only a few remain, those trampled in the panic and too injured to flee from you, and those too busy cowering and trembling in fear to know to run.

Whatever, these people aren't worth your attention. You need to get out of this place. You need to find your allies. You need to get your revenge on Anneliese. You'll make her quite aware of the magnitude of her sins, of course, perhaps you ought to thank her as well before you bring punishment to her. After all, if not for her foolish decision to try to capture you, you never would have become this powerful, to be undone by her own actions. Really, it's quite poetic. She still needs to pay for harming your friends. You can only hope that they are still alive, your lack of any connection to Mistral is enough for you to feel a small amount of unease.

With nobody else trying to get in your way, you approach the double doors leading out of the room, place your hands on them, and simply push them off their hinges. The doors crash down on the floor of the hallway and you step out of the room.

The hallway is surprisingly quite extravagant, in direct opposition to how functional the chamber you were trapped in was, and you see a mirror not too far away from you. What an excellent opportunity to determine just how much you've changed since your transformation! You quickly approach the mirror, only for it to not cast a reflection of you, or even the clothing you're wearing. Oh. That's right, you don't cast a reflection anymore. That's quite an annoyance, but you suppose it won't be too difficult to take a picture of yourself or to have somebody take a picture of you. You'd like to know what exactly you look like since your transformation, after all.

"Don't move!" A voice behind you calls out to stop you, and you defiantly turn to look at them. It's another group of those cultists, though in great contrast to their robed appearances are the weapons they carry. Modern looking pistols and assault rifles? What a joke.

You trace a glyph in the air with your index finger, and from it comes a torrent of flames which rapidly heads towards the group of cultists. Shots ring out towards you and you are surprised when they hit you, and you feel a distinctly uncomfortable stinging sensation. It's not enough to wound you or cause you any real pain, but it seems you aren't wholly bulletproof after all.

The noises of gunshots soon turn into screams as they all burn alive within the flames, and you catch the last bullet fired in your hand, snatching it out of the air. It has the reflective sheen of silver to it. Ho? Where these bullets blessed by a priest then? It would appear as if they know what exactly they are up against, but such weak blessings like this could never truly harm you now, you think.

It takes less than thirty seconds for the inferno to have reduced the gun wielding cultists into piles of ash and charred bones. Even the weapons that they wielded against you have been reduced to blobs of melted slag in the inferno of heat. It seems that your ability to use any sort of magic has increased massively, you don't recall this glyph ever producing such an effect for you when you were still human. In fact, it's more on par with what Shanoa was capable of doing.

You shake your head at the charred corpses and begin walking down the halls, you don't exactly have a target location right now, but you're of course seeking either an exit, or Anneliese. You don't exactly care which you find first right now, but you would somewhat prefer the opportunity to have your revenge on the foolish vampire sooner rather than later.

You reach a bend in the corridor, and you take a turn, only to see another of the cultists. This one however, is sitting down and has her hood pulled down. She seems to be blissfully unaware of what is going on around her as she slowly turns the pages of a book, her long brown hair occasionally getting in the way of her reading.

>Ask the girl for information.
>Ignore the girl, continue wandering about, you're sure to find something of interest eventually, and you aren't really in a hurry.
>Just smash through walls until you reach the outside world. You've had enough of this place already.
>Yo̴u'͡ŕȩ t͡hi͞rst͘y͞
>Write-in

>>4449353
>Ask the girl for information.
Knowing the layout and personnel of this place will make navigation much easier.

>>4449353
>Ask the girl for information.

>>4449353
>Ask the girl for information.
"Hello, can you please direct me to a map of this place, or something?"

>>4449353
>Ask the girl for information.

>>4449353
>Ask the girl for information.

"You there, girl!" You shout at the girl, who manages to fall off her chair in shock. "Tell me about this place. Where exactly are we?" She struggles to her feet and looks at you.

"W-where are we? W-who are you? Oh... Oh no... Did... Did you come out of the sealed room?" The fear in her voice is palpable as you walk close enough to reach her, you could easily kill the frightened girl right now, if you so wished, but there wouldn't be much point in that. You need to keep a grip on yourself, these feelings of overwhelming power and bloodlust coursing through you aren't the product of your own mind, and instead are just the natural inclination that a vampire must have. While you aren't going to deny that new side of yourself, you definitely aren't about to embrace it, either.

"The sealed room? Well, I wouldn't exactly call it sealed, but if you're referring to the large chamber a few doors away from here, then yes. I came from the sealed room. Now, I don't appreciate being given questions in response to questions." You flash her a smile as you say that, and you're certain that the woman catches a glimpse of your new fangs.

"T-then they were right? They managed to resurrect you... L-lord Dracula?" There's awe mixed in with the terror now, as the woman begins to try to identify you. She also disregards your request to actually answer the damn questions. You're fast reaching the end of your patience with the woman.

You frown. "Not quite. I'm a vampire on his caliber now, I assure you, but Dracula is very much still dead. I battled him for dominance of my own soul and body, and I won." Well, Dracula made it seem like he'd planned it all out from start that you fell for his schemes, but to be honest, you feel as if the spirit of the vampire just made multiple contingencies and back-up plans. There was no way he could've predicted all that you did, after all. "Now, answer my question before I find somebody else who will!" You yell at the woman once again, and she seems to freeze up like a deer in the headlights.

"Of course. I... We're in the base of the Cult of the Scarlet Rebirth... It's a mansion somewhere in Siberia, or, that's what they said, at least." Siberia? So Russia? You suppose that it's remote enough to conceal the base of operations of a cult.

"Cult of the Scarlet Rebirth? Good grief, who came up with that name?" But good location for their headquarters aside, the name sounds ridiculous. What, were they trying to kill their enemies by making them laugh to death? It's hardly the sort of name that's going to strike fear into the hearts of your enemies, not only that, but it's far too verbose!

"O-our leader, Lady Morgan did, s-sir." Now, that's a name you weren't expecting to hear at all. Could it be?

"Morgan? As in... Anna Morgan?" It couldn't possibly be her, could it? You had imagined her to be somewhat doomed by her own situation when you were trapped within your dreams, so her remaining alive is a pleasant surprise, even if she is just a pawn of Anneliese right now. You can always put a stop to that.

"I... I think so?" She doesn't sound fully convinced by her own words, and it's possible that it could just be a coincidence, but you're going to hold on to hope.

"Is she here?" You keep the desperation out of your voice as you press her for information. It's not befitting of somebody like you to visibly show concern for your allies like that. Of course, you wouldn't have a problem doing so in private among said allies, but this woman is still practically an enemy.

"M-maybe?" The woman gives you another uncertain response, you don't know how much she's saying is actually true and how much she's just saying in order to prevent

"You're not very useful, you know. Alright. How long has it been since I was trapped here? Or if you don't recognize me, then the man in the sealed room. How long was he interred there for?" You doubt you look all too much like the human Arthur Bernhard did now, so you just need to make sure there's no confusion.

"How long? W-well you've been here as long as I've been with the cult, so... at least three years?" Three years? Three whole years? You were trapped there for that long? Damn it! So much could have changed in that time! So much could've gone wrong! Are the rest of your allies alright? Could they have survived that long without your help?"

>"Tell me where I can find this Lady Morgan. What room?"
>"Tell me your name girl. I've decided you'll be acting as my guide."
>"Tell me the closest path to the exit. I need to go."
>Just drain the woman of her blood. She's served her purpose.
>Write-in...

>>4450350
>"Tell me your name girl. I've decided you'll be acting as my guide."
We're the dark lord, she's a cultist of the dark lord, it just makes sense.

>>4450350
>"Tell me your name girl. I've decided you'll be acting as my guide."

>>4450350
>"Tell me your name girl. I've decided you'll be acting as my guide."

>>4450350
>"Tell me your name girl. I've decided you'll be acting as my guide."
>"And don't think I'll be stupid and turn on you once your usefulness ends, or something. So long as you obey me and do as I ask, I won't harm you nor let others do as such. Understand?"
We just burned through a bunch of her guys and halved some dude. Hope she doesn't take offense to that.

>>4450350
>>4450714
Support.

>>4450714
+1
Better that she's not completely mortified for this whole thing.

"Tell me your name, girl. I've decided that you'll be acting as my guide through this building. You'll be staying with me until I've settled things here." The girl struggles to formulate a response to your command. "Don't think I'm some stupid brute who's going to dispose of you the moment I decide that you're no longer useful to me. No, so long as you obey me, then I won't harm you, nor will I allow anybody else to harm you." You're running awfully low on subordinates right now, so as long as this woman doesn't try to betray you, you don't really see much harm in recruiting her.

"My name? My name is Grace Hopkins." She's quicker to respond to your commands now that you've assured her that you won't hurt her. It seems that she's aware of her place.

"Well then, miss Hopkins. Consider today your lucky day. This cult of yours, I assume it had the goal of resurrecting Dracula?

"It... does, yes." A foolish goal in every way, but it's one that you can use to your advantage now. While you aren't officially the Dark Lord yet, and you don't actually think that you'll be able to become the Dark Lord until you've managed to locate the majority of Chaos' power, as well as the Castle itself. When you accomplish that, then you will be able to take your rightful throne, and none will be capable of standing in your way!

"Well then, it really is your lucky day. While I might not be Dracula, I am very much superior to him." Really, while Dracula ended up being slain many times for his own carelessness or stupidity, you don't intend to make any of the mistakes that led to his downfall. "If you wish for a Dark Lord to lead the world to true prosperity, to break the stranglehold of the Church, then I am the perfect candidate for the job." You give the girl a charismatic smile, and for a moment, she seems starstruck instead of fearful of you. "Of course though, I really will need to see the one who leads this cult of yours, if she's the woman I think she is, we have quite a bit of history." If Anneliese has somehow forced Anna into this role, then you will be the one to free her from it. You know that you are capable of that much, especially with the Power of Control, something like severing the bond between a lesser vampire to yourself and their spawn and making them subservient only to you should be quite simple.

"Oh course... my... Lord? Follow me." Grace begins leading you through the mansion.

"Yes, I think the title of Lord suits me well, even if it's not quite an official one just yet." Soon though. Soon you will claim the true power of the Dark Lord and you will reign supreme over this world! No longer will you allow the actions of humanity to be predestined, as if reality itself is some sort of programmed machine. No, humans, monsters... they will be truly free to make their choices, even if that choice is a decision whether to kneel to you, or to die. It will be something brought about by their own free will.

Your guide remains mostly quiet as she leads you to the room that is supposedly the personal quarters of the cult's leader, but before you triumphantly push open the doors, you are stopped by Grace's voice. "Uhm... If you don't mind me asking, my Lord. What exactly is your name?" She clearly thinks that asking you this is a bad idea, but nevertheless, it seems curiosity got the better of her.

>"Arthur Bernhard, of course."
>Come up with another name to represent your new status as a vampire.

>>4451029
>"Arthur Bernhard, of course."
I'm low on flashy name ideas.

>>4451029
>"Arthur Bernhard, of course."
We already have a vampire name after all, and I would hate to discard a name as fitting and significant as Arthur.

>>4451029
>"Arthur Bernhard, of course."

>>4451029
>"Arthur Bernhard, of course."

>>4451034
>>4451094
>>4451152
>inb4 when/if Arthur ever gets an actual nametag or name sticker or some woefully mundane identification unbefitting of a vampire lord in his early 20s, he'll be told "Hold on, there's a typo with yours. How'd that happen?" And, his curiosity piqued, he'll examine it only to see X-X!V''Q

>>4451225
We would get Supernatural Luck EX, guaranteeing that the Rare Sword Card drops upon defeating Anneliese.

>>4451029
>"Arthur Bernhard, of course."

>>4451029
>"Arthur Bernhard, of course."

"My name? It's Arthur Bernhard, of course. Did they not even inform you of that much?" It's quite annoying for you to have been kept captive her for multiple years, or so you gather, and for them to not even all know your name? You're quite insulted, you had thought that knowledge of your name should be considered crucial information to know. After all, you wouldn't want yourself to be confused with that selfish fool Dracula.

"I... I don't think anybody knew it... your name, that is... Lord Bernhard." The woman treads carefully with her words, despite your offer of protection. Of course, you can't blame her for it, she doesn't know that your offer was offered in good faith, nor does she realize how genuine it was. You aren't the sort of person to betray somebody who has pledged their loyalty to you. Loyalty begets loyalty, after all. At least for your most trusted lieutenants. Of course, if you want them to be prepared to risk their life for you, then you need to be prepared to risk your own life for them. It's quite simple.

"I see. Well that's understandable. Stay here, miss Hopkins, I have urgent business with the person in charge here, be they my friend or my foe." You don't really think that Anneliese will be capable of representing much of a threat to you anymore, the only thing you will need to be wary of will be any magical abilities she is capable of using. You aren't about to lose to her in a physical battle now, as a vampire, she is far weaker than you are. You don't even need to be near her or to observe her to know that much.

The girl silently agrees to your order and stands to the side of the door. You decide to enter the room with a little dramatic flair, and you use your newfound mastery over dark magic in order to create a small shock wave, for no reason other than to blast open the doors. Out of the corner of your eye, you can see that it almost knocks Grace off her feet, and you consider apologizing to the girl, but almost immediately disregard the notion. It wouldn't do much for your image if you did something so dramatic as blasted your way into a room only to immediately apologize for your actions. It wouldn't be very imposing.

You walk into the room, now unimpeded by the wooden doors, and smile at the woman sitting behind a desk. It's Anna alright. Though she doesn't seem to have taken notice of your entrance, instead, she continues writing a document that she must've been working on before you decided to pay a visit. "Anna. It's been a while, hasn't it?" You try to keep your tone friendly, despite how annoyed looking at Anna so casually signing papers as if nothing is wrong makes you.

"Oh. You must be the prisoner. It's unfortunate that you escaped, but I suppose that I'll just have to put you in your place." There isn't a hint of recognition in her voice, and the vampire sitting down doesn't seem to appreciate just how much more powerful you've grown from becoming a vampire than she has. The difference between you and her is like the difference between Heaven and Earth.

"The prisoner? Anna, do you not recognize me? It's me, Arthur! You swore your allegiance to me, do you not remember?" Something has gone wrong, you can tell that already. Anna would never talk to you like this, and this really isn't the happy reunion you were seeking with the girl who was once potentially your most loyal ally.

"Stop talking nonsense, there is only one person I have sworn loyalty to, and I'm afraid to say that you are not that person." Anna finally gets up from her chair to face you, and reaches into the pocket of her outfit, she seems to have traded the dresses she used to wear for a full suit, she gives off the vibe of a businesswoman more than she gives off the impression that she is a dangerous leader of a cult. Then again, it might just be that you were expecting too much, perhaps if you weren't a more powerful vampire than this thrall, you would feel some intimidation factor. Instead, you feel about as much danger facing down your former ally as you would facing down a particularly angry kitten, or perhaps a puppy.

"What did Anneliese do to you, Anna?" You mutter sadly, and Anna's eyes widen just a small amount as you mention that name. It's quite clear she wasn't expecting you to bring up that name. Just one more crime that you will make Anneliese face penance for. Your tone is ice cold as you stare at the woman who has fetched a set of throwing knives out of the inside of her suit. "You wouldn't have been able to have touched me with those even before I became as I am now. I don't want to hurt you, Anna. Surrender. Please." You offer your old ally a chance to surrender to you, with any luck, she will take it.

The vampire opposing you responds by launching the five knives in her hands straight at you, and you barely even need to move to avoid the attack. In fact, it presents so little risk to you that all you do to prevent the knives from actually hitting you is move a single finger up to deflect each knife as they fly towards you. Anna takes a step back as she sees her attack be ignored with such casual ease. It's pretty obvious that she's had her mind tampered with somehow, so you don't really want to hurt her for her defiance. It's obviously not a choice she made. Well, if you have to do so, then you won't hesitate at least. Vampires can regenerate, after all.

>Disable Anna by physically restraining her.
>Disable Anna by injuring her until she can't move.
>Disable Anna by using the Power of Control to manipulate the environment.
>Try using the Power of Control to make Anna subservient to you.
>Write-in...

>>4452246
>Try to make Anna remember you with the Power of Control.

Is this theoretically possible?

>>4452246
>>Try using the Power of Control to make Anna subservient to you.

>>4452246
>>Disable Anna by injuring her until she can't move.
Like Pokemon, you gotta beat the shit out of them before you can catch them.

>>4452243
>Out of the corner of your eye, you can see that it almost knocks Grace off her feet, and you consider apologizing to the girl, but almost immediately disregard the notion. It wouldn't do much for your image if you did something so dramatic as blasted your way into a room only to immediately apologize for your actions. It wouldn't be very imposing.
I'm glad you wrote this WhatIs. Reminders like this that Arthur is still that boy he used to be (still is) underneath the edgy dark vampire lord of dankness exterior, is refreshing. He still cares about most people, and while he did go "I reject my humanity, JoJo!" in the dreamworld, he has genuine concern for some random cultist girl he just met that he only knew for all of 5 minutes before he did "obey me and you will be protected" at her. I love this shit.

>>4452246
>Try using the Power of Control to make Anna subservient to you.
First stop her resistance. Then figure things out, maybe memory restore, maybe have a sad moment.

>>4452246
>Try using the Power of Control to make Anna subservient to you.
It's pretty clear that she's had her mind altered through the commands of her sire, so we should be able to override that Control with our own.
If that is somehow not the case, and she's been altered with a different magical effect, we will probably be able to figure it out and counteract it once we get a chance to examine it.

>>4452246
>Try using the Power of Control to make Anna subservient to you.
Here's my vote let's see if it works

>>4452246
>>4452258
Something like this. Use the power of control to undo what ever mental control Anneliese has over her.

>>4452246
>>4452258
This is what I want to try.

There's no other option here. First, you're going to use the Power of Control and you're going to erase Anneliese's hold over Anna. Then, you're going to bind that same control over Anna to yourself. If she was ordered to forget you, then all you need to do is order her to remember you, right? While that might just be wishful thinking, it's about the best you can come up with right now. If you can't bring back her memories through this method, then you'll have no choice but to either think of or find another method that would restore her memory of you. You simply couldn't tolerate Anna having her memories snatched away from her like that, to have what makes her herself, taken away by an exceptionally cruel master.

You'll get her memories back even if you have to painfully rip them out of Anneliese.

Anna remains blissfully unaware of the storm of emotions roiling about within you as she goes in for another attack, attempting to claw your face with the sharpened nails of a vampire. You're barely even paying attention to the girl and you still manage to deflect the attack, grabbing hold of the offending arm and throwing her back across the room. "Anna. This is your last chance, if you are in there still, even if there is only a faint memory of me, try to resist what Anneliese did to you." The vampire seems to freeze up for a moment as she looks at you, and for the briefest moment, you could swear that her gaze is one of deep sorrow. Thought it is quickly replaced by the emotionless stare that she leveled on you at the beginning of the fight. That alone is enough to tell you that somewhere the Anna that you know, the Anna that you had come to trust as one of your most loyal allies, is still in there. Even if she's trapped behind some sort of mental block, you'll get her back.

She leaps at you again, and this time, you don't bother deflecting the blow, allowing her to land a punch square on your face which barely even moves you. Of course, you can still feel the superhuman strength behind the strike, but it's not enough to actually hurt you... that much. It would be a lie to say that you were completely immune to taking her attack head on. You might be nigh-invulnerable now, but Anna's attack still slightly hurting you despite your superior strength is a good reminder that you aren't actually invincible.

You lash out with your hand and in the blink of an eye seize Anna by the neck. You've got her before she can even draw back from her punch, and she feebly writhes in your grasp, trying to get free but to absolutely no effect. "Apologies for the rough treatment, Anna. But I simply can't allow you to keep being forced to act like this anymore. I'm going to make things right." You call upon the Power of Control, and you still find yourself having some difficulty manipulating the strange conceptual energy of control, you manage to surround Anna's entire body with the invisible energy and in a moment of great focus, attempt to somehow connect her mind with your own. The Power of Control might be a powerful ability, but that doesn't mean you can just use it as a blunt instrument. It requires a certain precision and grace to it's use, otherwise there's no telling what might happen to Anna if you were to attempt to Control every aspect of her. You'd probably only end up making her a puppet were you to do that, and not in the sense that she is now. But an actual puppet with no actual control over any part of her body. A fate worse than death, to be certain.

You feel your consciousness being drawn into Anna's own mind, and you find it completely unlike the world of your dreams, which was almost like a complete world by itself, even when undeveloped, it reached out like an ever expanding void of darkness. Anna's inner world, or the world of her dreams, isn't like your one at all. You find yourself standing in a small room, a bedroom, by the looks of things. The room is quite lived in, on the table are dozens of books and sheets of paper. There's a well made bed that doesn't look like it's been slept in for weeks judging by the thick layer of dust upon it. There's a wardrobe that has been locked with a padlock next to the desk. You look outside of the rooms window and see... well, nothing. Nothing exists beyond the boundaries of this room. Behind you is a door, the exit to this world, you assume. You find yourself at an impasse, do the objects in this room represent concepts? Or is it a more literal reproduction of a memory? What should you do now?

>Glance at the papers on the table.
>Look underneath the bed.
>Open the wardrobe. Break the lock if you have to.
>Just leave, you don't think this is such a good idea after all.
>Write-in...

>>4453440
Is there a closet? A set of drawers? A poster or something else?

>>4453440
>Open the wardrobe. Break the lock if you have to.

>>4453440
>Open the wardrobe. Break the lock if you have to.
Locks are almost never positive in dreams.

Bed isn't used and lock on the wardrobe. Is Anna locked in the wardrobe?

>>4453440
>Open the wardrobe. Break the lock if you have to.
what >>4453719 said

>>4453440
>Look underneath the bed.
She's probably in the wardrobe, but if this is a memory she might be hiding under the bed.

As odd as Anna's dream world might feel in comparison to your own, it's very likely that you're going to have to do something in this room if you ever want to have the Anna that you knew back. While it would've been simple to just change the terms of her unwritten contract with Anneliese in order to have her recognize you as her rightful master, just stopping there would still not have gotten you back the Anna who has accompanied you through so much to this point. Of course, she might have changed into a vampire, but that doesn't mean denying the person she once was, and it especially doesn't mean denying the relationships she forged while she was a human. You going through so much trouble just for Anna's sake is proof of that.

Of course, you're going to have to do something in this room, but what? If the place is some strange mish mash of the concepts held within Anna's heart or her mind, then what could you be looking for? Anna's representation of her self should be somewhere in this room by all rights, and you can't imagine it looking like anything except well... her. You doubt that she's going to have herself represented in this realm of thoughts and dreams by some sort of object... but if that's the case, where the hell is she?

Your attention is then stolen by the conspicuously locked wardrobe. It couldn't possibly be so easy, could it? You move towards the wardrobe and attempt to use your immense strength to pull the doors straight off their hinges or to shatter the lock, whichever ends up happening first.

With a mighty heave with all the strength that you can muster as a vampire lord... nothing happens. The door opens a slight fraction before getting caught on the lock and shutting again. You simply stare at the doors of the wardrobe in bewilderment. You just pulled the damn doors with enough strength to flatten entire houses if not city blocks, and the wardrobe stands there, completely defiant to your wishes.

You don't allow yourself to get angry at your failure, to have expected to be able to use brute force in a place like this was just wishful thinking on your part anyway. You might just have to accept that each inner world that you might visit has different mechanics behind their existences.

You take a deep breath, despite not actually needing to breath. Habit, you suppose. There's got to be some way to break that lock and see just what's hidden inside that closet. Could there be some sort of key hidden in the room? Or perhaps there's some other way to open the lock? It's clear that brute strength alone isn't going to be sufficient when it comes to overcoming this challenge.

Just as you're about to start rummaging through the room and looking for some sort of key to open the lock, you stop, and a large smile begins to form on your face. Of course, physical strength might not be something that you can rely upon in Anna's inner world, but you have access to something that might just allow you to completely cheat and bypass any rule or intended difficulty meant to be imposed on the one trying to free Anna from whatever is responsible for sealing away her memories. That's right, if you cannot rely on something quantifiable like your massive physical power, then all you will need to do is rely on something absolute and unquantifiable.

The Power of Destruction.

You waste no more time creating a small blade upon the tip of your right index finger out of the energy you command, and with the fingerblade you effortlessly slice through the otherwise unbreakable lock keeping the wardrobe sealed and preventing you from looking within.

The lock falls to the floor with a clanging noise, and shortly afterwards turns entirely to dust. You hold your breath as you begin to open the wardrobe doors, before mentally cursing at yourself for thinking you still actually require the usage of your lungs. You suppose that you'll get used to your new abilities in time. Not needing to breath however is going to take you quite some time to get used to. You wonder if Anna or Holly felt like this when they first turned.

The door opens and you find yourself staring at the blindfolded and gagged body of Anna, who has been roughly stuffed inside the closet and bound with ropes. The girl squirms against her binds when she hears the closet open... Whoever was responsible for doing this to her was quite a terrible person. The way she's writhing in terror could only mean that she's suffered like this for a long time.

Still, despite Anna's condition, you can't help but try to make light of the situation. "Anna. We have got to stop meeting like this." You decide that a joke might help calm the girl down, and surely enough she freezes entirely. Of course, with a gag and a blindfold, it's not you can actually really interact with the girl at all unless you were to cut her down.

>Cut her loose of the ropes binding her.
>Remove her blindfold and her gag and speak to her.
>Leave her hanging for a moment, you need to investigate the room further to ensure you aren't about to make a mistake.
>Write-in...

>>4454608
>Remove her blindfold and her gag and speak to her.

>>4454608
>Remove her blindfold and her gag and speak to her.

>>4454608
>Remove her blindfold and her gag and speak to her.

>>4454608
>Remove her blindfold and her gag and speak to her.

>>4454608
>Remove her blindfold and her gag and speak to her.

>>4454608
>Remove her blindfold and her gag and speak to her
Part of me wants to remove the gag but keep the blindfold, then kiss her passionately, THEN remove the blindfold.

>>4454657
BASED

>>4454657
We weren't that close. Also ghey.

>>4454810
Dude it is the most hetero thing ever.

>>4454608
I like the sound of >>4454657. Very romantic and based.

>>4454959
Super ghey fr

>>4454608
>Remove her blindfold and her gag and speak to her.

>le kiss her so romantic
Shut the FUCK up. We're on a quest for revenge, not poon. We don't even think Anne like that and have no reason to right now.

>>4455090
Hey, nothing says romance like kissing someone in a box they've been trapped in for three years and tongue fucking their voicebox while they're still helpless and probably now confused.

PEAK intimacy.

Fucking coomers.

>>4455090
>>4455541
I agree with this, not only do we not like Anna that way, it's not the time for it even if we did.

You use one of your supernaturally sharp nails in order to slash through the fabric of the blindfold and the gag restraining Anna. You don't use the Power of Destruction for this though, you aren't foolhardy enough to put the Power of Destruction anywhere near her face, for as much control over your abilities that you have, doing something so careless is just asking for trouble in the future. The Power of Destruction is a tool that should always be treated with the respect that it deserves, to get careless with the ability would be simply idiotic. You cut the rest of her binds and you pull the still recovering girl out of the wardrobe.

Anna takes some time adjusting to being unbound, and takes in heavy gasps of air before she slowly begins to focus on just who is responsible for liberating her. "...Arthur? Is that... you? I couldn't recognize you from your voice. What... What happened to you? Is this just a dream?" Anna barrages you with plenty of questions, of course, disbelief would be the first thing she felt.

"Yes, Anna. It's me. How long has it been since we last met? How long has it been since you were locked within your own mind? You try to see just how much the girl knows about things. You aren't actually expecting an answer from her, you're just glad that the girl has managed to maintain her sanity.

"My mind?" She has yet more questions as you answer the first of her questions, though you were more hoping she would be capable of answering you. Looks like that's off the table if she didn't even know where she was.

"That's where we are right now. This little room is the world of your dreams... Though it's a little sparse as it is right now. I'd suggest maybe expanding it?" Really, it's incredible how this tiny little room somehow represents the entirety of Anna's dreams. Oh, and before you ask again, this isn't part of the dream. I don't know how aware you are of what's been happening outside of this place, but I'm setting you free."

"You mean, I won't have to be trapped anymore...? It's felt like it's been so long since I could last see, It was... it was horrible, Arthur." You can't imagine how horrible it must've been for her if she actually remained conscious for all the time that she's been trapped here, unable to control her body and instead having her actions being carried out by some false version of herself. Though it also appears as if she isn't quite aware of just how long she's been trapped here for. You can't really blame her for not being able to keep track of time like this, fully bound and without sight in a room of pure silence.

"Don't worry, I'm back now, and I'm stronger than ever before." You reassure the girl as best you can. "And this time, I'm not going to allow anybody to get in my way or hurt those I call ally." You smile, and allow Anna to see your newly formed fangs. "Anna, you asked what happened to me, but it's really quite simple. The same thing happened to me that happened to you, though to a greater magnitude. Since we last met, I have become the most powerful vampire alive on the planet. I have fully claimed the powers of a Vampire Lord and am now only a few steps from achieving my goal of becoming the Dark Lord."

Anna rubs her wrists where she was bound and unable to move. Even for a vampire like Anna, you can't imagine that such rough treatment of her body is comfortable. "So, what do we do now? What happens when I leave?" Anna doesn't sound confident as she looks over at the door.

"To tell you the truth, I'm unsure. You might take full control of your body, or you might end up in a conflict with the amnesiac version of yourself. Either way, I have faith in you." Without Anneliese about to try to bind her again, and with her own control over her spawn severed and connected to you instead. You doubt there's very little that could go wrong here.

>"But before we go, why don't we take a look around this place with a little more detail? We might find something of interest within this dream world."
>"Prepare yourself, Anna. We're going."
>Write-in...

>>4455794
>"Prepare yourself, Anna. We're going."

>>4455794
>"But before we go, why don't we take a look around this place with a little more detail? We might find something of interest within this dream world."
Never take anything for granted.

>>4455824
+1 but also
>"I speak from experience, by the way.

>>4455794
>"But before we go, why don't we take a look around this place with a little more detail? We might find something of interest within this dream world."

>>4455794
>"But before we go, why don't we take a look around this place with a little more detail? We might find something of interest within this dream world."

>>4455794
>"But before we go, why don't we take a look around this place with a little more detail? We might find something of interest within this dream world."

>>4455871
>>4455794
now that I think about it, switching to
>"Prepare yourself, Anna. We're going."
We did what we came here to do, and there is a good chance we'll end up in here for more time than we want to be.
The month we spent in our own mind took three years on the outside, and I wouldn't want to be caught sleeping when the cult catches up to us.

>>4456187
We spent several months in the dream world though?
Staying here for a few more minutes or an hour won't hurt anything.

>>4456199
It can be a long time even if very little actually happened in the dream.
There was that one conversation with Chaos that lasted a few minutes, but ended up being three days in the real world.
We don't know how long it takes when effecting someone else's dream, it could be less or more, but I don't want to waste time at this point if its more.
Also, we've done what we came here to do so I don't feel like looking through Anna's brain anymore than we have to.

>>4456225
But that's because we literally entered her space.

>>4456225
Chief difference is that this time we're here through the power of control and not just some fucky wucky mind space bullshit like normal.

>waifu decided by minority of players
>evil MC gains powerups rapidly
>retarded players nearly get MC killed
>spends too much time recovering and in mental realms
>magical powers to control subordinates
Sweets and Whatis confirmed as same person writing basically the same quest twice.

>>4456338
Also the waifu in question is a white-haired loli.

>>4456338
Throw in a speaking tree and a psychic trap and we've completed the roster of quests I've been following.

>>4456338
>MC's main tool is a power to cut through any material
>Little to no male characters, almost all hostile
>Sketchy untrustworthy old man mentor in mindspace
>MC starts off with one harem of support characters, then they all get unceremoniously written out to make room for new girls
They really are the same.

>>4455793
>"But before we go, why don't we take a look around this place with a little more detail? We might find something of interest within this dream world.

>>4456338
>>4456392
Almost all of these similarities were brought about by your own actions as players.
Believe it or not, starting out, I didn't actually want to run a story with a villain protagonist.
You think I actually wanted to write out basically the entire cast of the first part of the quest?

>>4456775
Why would you do it if you didn't want to?

>>4456775
Don't pay that poster any attention.
It's just buttmad samefag Sweets again.
Probably salty how much more popular your Fate quest is than his.
>>4456845
Probably because shit would've gotten silly if the good guys stuck around despite us taking the evil route?

>>4456775
It's just banter OP chill the fuck out

>>4456957
Yeah, sorry about that.
I've just been having a little difficulty with my motivation for this quest as of late.
I just feel like all the time I spent building up the original cast was kind of wasted without any real payoff, and I've yet to find a decent point to put any of them back into the spotlight.

>>4457542
It all contributed to Arthur's character development, if nothing else so far

>>4457542
dude calm down this quest has been a wild ride so far and I love you for even running this shit
as long as Arthur reaches a satisfactory conclusion alive or dead, we get an epilogue and post-story info on the characters and whatever happened to them after the ending, and (optional) Arthur manages to pass on his genes and memes by knocking up one of the waifus, I'll be content

You look at the door that will undoubtedly lead to the outside world once again, but you pause and take a look around the rest of the room before you look at the recently freed Anna, who looks like she just wants to leave. "But before we go, why don't we take a look around this place with a little more detail? We might find something of interest within this dream world."

"Oh? Can't we just... leave?" Anna just sounds like she wants to get out of this place as soon as possible judging from the tone in her voice. Not that you can blame her, while your time in your dream world was one of relative freedom in which you grew more powerful than ever before, her time has been spent in truly brutal captivity. That sort of deprivation of sensation is the sort of thing you would do to somebody who you truly hated, somebody who you wanted to lose their sanity. You're actually pretty surprised that Anna managed to keep a hold on her own mind if she's actually been forced into such a torpor.

"We could, but this is a rare opportunity for you, I imagine. I doubt you'll get many chances to explore this place in the future, and you might find something hidden within this place." You aren't anywhere near so prepared to leave as Anna is. She might be in a hurry to leave this place and return to reality and to be the one in control of her own body, but to squander this opportunity would be foolish indeed. You're a special case in how often you get to consciously explore your inner world, that much is obvious. For Anna though, this may very well be her first time exploring this place... though there's really not much to explore.

"This place... This is just the room I used to stay at back at the mansion... before it uh, exploded." Anna reminds you of the fate of the place you once explored. The place responsible for opening your eyes to the madness hidden behind the curtain.

"Yes, that was something of a pity." There was almost certainly a lot of magical research being done in that place, never mind the actual loss of the building. It almost certainly had no small amount of history to it before Shirley just decided to take the nuclear option with the place out of anger or whatever it was that caused her to completely obliterate the place.

"Right... but why are we here? You're saying that this room is what, a dream? What could we possibly get out of staying in here?"

"Well, it's a world formed of your dreams, that much is certain, but as I'm surprised you haven't realized yourself, dreams have a certain power to them. This place is as much a dream as it is a portal to your inner self." You gesture at the small unimpressive room. "Though in your case, it's less a dream world and more a dream room. Do you really think that this is just a place of dreams? When you've been trapped in it for years now?

"No, I suppose not. But what do you think we'll be able to find in here?"

"Well, that remains to be seen." You shrug, even you don't exactly know what to expect in the room. You're mostly staying here out of your own intrigue of the situation, though there is one thing. "That seal preventing you from using magic, was it ever actually removed?"

"I don't know. A few days after I... became a vampire, I found myself trapped in this place. I can't even remember the day that this happened."

"Well, in case it hasn't been broken, now is probably our best opportunity at shattering the seal and granting you your natural ability to use magic back. But that's not all, as a vampire, it's almost certain that your magical aptitude will be even greater than it was before." You try to give the woman some hope as you stroll over to the desk and start examining the papers on top of it. Though you quickly realize that the papers are all basically meaningless, thick curved black lines are randomly strewn across each piece of paper.

Anna looks at the documents scattered on the desk for a while with an inquisitive eye. You can't make heads or tails of what the damn thing is meant to mean. There must be a hundred of the damn papers. But Anna seems to have something of an idea as to what they are...

"It's a puzzle." She suddenly reveals to you, and you really can't see it.

"Pardon?"

She takes a lecturing tone, and you listen along intently to Anna's discovery. "It's obvious isn't it? Each piece of paper is unique, and there should be partners for each side that perfectly connect with every line until we've got a complete picture!" She looks through the papers with an expression that could only signify indecision, but I don't know how long actually solving the puzzle would take... hours, at least."

>There's no time. You're kind of in a hurry here. You can't just remain inactive outside.
>You might as well solve the puzzle. It has got your interest.
>Write-in...

>>4458108
>You might as well solve the puzzle. It has got your interest.
What are they going to do, shoot us? It's been made pretty clear that these losers are 100% unprepared to deal with a vampire lord, asleep or awake.

>>4458217
support.

>>4458108
>There's no time. You're kind of in a hurry here. You can't just remain inactive outside.

>>4458108
>There's no time. You're kind of in a hurry here. You can't just remain inactive outside.
Another time.

>>4458217
I'm more worried about Anna then us if I have to be honest.