Steve Chapter 904: Seriously, the Finale is here (Patreon)

“Al… Alucard!?”

Staring at the horrific scene before him, Walter felt every hair on his body stand on end. “What… what are you doing!?”

“Heh—hahahahaha…”

Unlike Walter, whose face was frozen in terror, Alucard looked delighted.

His power blanketed all of London. Beneath this heavy, endless sea of rot, every corpse buried here felt a tremendous pull.

They were a mixed lot.

There were Londoners, there were ghouls, Vatican crusaders, even members of the Millennium vampire organization.

There were even spirits from the River of the Dead—the undead that hadn’t been reduced to ash by holy fire—and now they burst like overripe fruit into puddles of blood.

All that blood gathered at once. Under the sway of some force, it geysered up from the ground and then was sucked straight into Alucard’s body. “Didn’t I just tell you? I’m the dregs wallowing in a cesspit… A monster like me doesn’t get picky when I’m hungry!”

“You—!”

Walter had no idea what to say. On reflex he snapped his wires out at the man.

A flash of cold blue steel.

No resistance at all—Alucard was sliced cleanly in two from head to crotch.

And yet in the very next instant, the halved Alucard was whole again. It wasn’t even ‘rapid regeneration’ anymore; it was more like instant restoration—no visible process, not even 0.001 seconds before he was back to normal.

“Th-this is already…”

Walter went slack with shock.

Yes—he could see it now. Ever since Alucard started devouring life again, there was no longer any way for him to kill the monster.

“What a pity. You no longer have any chance of beating me.”

Seeing Walter’s dazed look, Alucard didn’t forget to pour salt in the wound. Still drinking down blood, he let out a booming laugh. “This is the cruel dead end of a traitor, Walter!

“You could’ve enjoyed your twilight years—but it’s far too late now.

“I’ll kill you, grind you down, and make you part of me.

“You did have chances to kill me, you know—twice since 1898. Two fleeting moments where you could have physically ended me.

“Unfortunately for you, you got close and then lost those chances forever. I was even generous enough to hand you that once-in-a-lifetime opening, Walter. Do you know why? Do you know the real reason you failed?”

“…”

Walter stared ahead, eyes hollow, at a loss.

“Heh—hahahaha!”

Alucard, by contrast, was ecstatic—probably the usual side effect of a vampire bingeing on tainted blood. He was wired out of his mind. “Walter! There’s only one reason you failed!

“It’s because… you refused to get your hands dirty!”

He pointed at the filth churning under his boots. “If you hadn’t hesitated at the start—if you hadn’t run—then you and Anderson… you and Anderson together could’ve cut me down right here!!!”

“Because I… wouldn’t touch the filth?”

Walter murmured without thinking.

“Of course.”

Alucard mocked him without restraint, anger threading the ridicule. “If you kneel right now and eat what’s on the ground… maybe I’ll cast the River of the Dead one more time for you.”

“What?”

Walter blinked, then instinctively looked up at him.

And with that single glance, he froze again—because Alucard had changed.

In the space of a blink—

He had suddenly turned into a petite… girl?

Yes—into a girl. Pale skin, blood-red eyes, straight black hair in a sharp princess cut. She wore an oversized white suit; she was beautiful, and the madness rolling off her was unchanged.

“You…”

Walter gaped, trying to form words.

The girl lunged and decked him.

She didn’t pull the punch. It smashed him square in the face. Walter saw black and toppled backward.

But then she grabbed him by the collar and yanked him up short.

“What’s wrong?”

Dangling Walter in one hand, the girl grinned like a fiend. “Why the face? Wondering why I turned into this?”

“You—”

“I told you sixty years ago—my form means nothing to me. And I know why you betrayed us.”

“Not that it’s surprising. I get it.”

“This is the nature of conflict.

“If you don’t defeat the other side, you can’t become your true self. And to reach that end, we’ll pay any price—even degrade ourselves.”

“I was like that five hundred years ago. You’re like that now.”

“I’d wager Father Anderson… and even the Major are the same.”

“I know what’s been gnawing at you, Walter. You’ve wanted a fight with me for sixty years, haven’t you? Wanted it so bad it drove you half mad. Because without that fight you can’t take a single step forward. Like a child—you don’t even know how to move ahead.”

“You’re afraid of aging, afraid of being forgotten, afraid of becoming a useless nobody.”

“Heh… In the end, you’re just a childish brat.”

“Brit, I overestimated you. You haven’t grown at all in sixty years. You’re just a fool who’s even afraid of dirt. Humans will do anything to beat monsters—look at yourself, what a pathetic, laughable state…”

“So if this is a squabble between children—”

She leaned in close, voice dripping contempt. “—then it’s only fair I turn into a child to play along, isn’t it?”

“You—!”

Walter’s temper spiked.

That little speech had practically denied his entire life’s work. There was no way he could swallow it. “I’ll ki—”

Clap, clap, clap!!!

A burst of applause cut him off.

Alucard and Walter turned toward the sound as a small figure strolled into view.

“Well said!”

A strangely familiar, pleasant girl’s voice rang out. A white-haired, red-eyed little girl came from who-knows-where, still clapping. “All that grand philosophy just to justify turning into a kid… I, the Child-King Fang Mo, approve!”

“Wait—who are you…?”

Walter blinked at the girl.

“Aren’t you Wang Jiangchen?” Alucard, however, recognized her at a glance and asked casually, “So now you’re calling yourself Queen Fang Mo?”

“It’s Child-King.”

The white-haired, red-eyed girl corrected him, then rubbed her forehead. “You know what—whatever makes you happy.”

“That’s what you care about?”

Alucard laughed, then casually flung Walter down onto the pavement. “Still, playing with sludge in the middle of a serious war is definitely kid behavior. So we’re both brats, huh?”

“What can I say—gotta keep a child’s heart.”

Fang Mo chuckled. “Otherwise how am I supposed to enjoy Children’s Day? In my long, long life, that’s about all I’ve got left to look forwa—look forward to.”

“‘Human’? ‘Child’s heart’?”

Alucard snorted. “And after all this, you still think you’re human?”

“That depends.”

Fang Mo was still all smiles, but her tone firmed a little. “Most of the time, my friends know I absolutely don’t consider myself human… and sometimes they know even better than I do that I am.”

“Foolish. A monster’s nature doesn’t change.”

Alucard huffed coldly.

“But ‘monster’ is something humans define,” Fang Mo said, shaking her head with a laugh. “You only become a true monster when humans treat you like one.”

“Is that you excusing your crimes?”

Alucard shot back.

“I’m just laying out my view.” Fang Mo spread her hands. “At this point, I don’t need to hide it. As you can see, I’m one of those things you saw at that hotel in South America—one of them.”

“So you really are…”

“But I don’t think race or identity is the real issue.”

Before Alucard could finish, Fang Mo continued, “It might sound a little too American, but I honestly believe… self-recognition is what matters most.”

“What nonsense is that now?”

Alucard frowned.

“I’ll grant your point—humans are pretty great.”

Fang Mo went on. “Yes, there are tumors among them, people who make you sick to your stomach. But those flashes of humanity are so beautiful that I’ve never once had the heart to wipe them out wholesale. I keep trying to excise the tumors instead.”

“Maybe that’s what’s most charming about humans.”

“You can’t quite put your finger on why, and they still move you—again and again.”

“But humans aren’t a species so much as a stance.” Her tone shifted. “Fictional electronic life, a cold machine with self-awareness, a dog, a chicken, a basketball, even just a meme… If there’s a heart in it, it can be human.”

“Honestly, a soul piled up out of silicon and electricity is closer to the human heart than some walking corpses out there.”

“…”

Alucard fell silent, then shook her head. “A monster is a monster. No amount of excuse changes that. Monsters are beasts that gnaw flesh—base and vile. It’s in their nature, like maggots skulking in the dark—disgusting to behold…”

“Which is exactly why you resist a monster’s nature and become human.”

Fang Mo shrugged. “Forget monsters—humans who surrender to their nature end up lunatics, okay? Ever heard the saying ‘human nature is evil’?”

“…”

“Fine, let me put it another way.”

Fang Mo continued, “If I blanketed the planet with power and gave every human cat ears and cat tails—but changed nothing else—would they still be human? Or did I commit human genocide?”

“Of course they’re human.”

Alucard retorted on reflex. “How could humanity be undone by something so triv—”

“Which is why I said ‘human’ is a stance.”

Fang Mo cut her off, voice turning earnest. “As long as there’s a human heart, even a lump of crap can count as ‘human.’ But if you lose that heart, then even wrapped in human skin you’re still just a lump of crap.”

“You—”

“Alucard, the world is far wider than you think.”

Fang Mo spoke softly. “Beyond this world are sights you’ve never seen. If this place tortures you, then try leaving it with me.”

She held out a hand.

“Come with me. Let’s go witness other worlds.”

“…What?”

At that, Alucard finally seemed to catch on.

“I see now.” She nodded slowly. “If you’re one of those ‘things,’ then it makes sense. No wonder you know everything. No wonder you’re in on everything… You must’ve seen so much from outside the world.”

“More or less.”

Fang Mo didn’t deny it. She did, after all, ‘watch shows’ from outside the world. “Well? Want to come see some other worlds with me?”

“So I’m your true target here?”

Alucard asked.

“Strictly speaking, it was Schrödinger…” Fang Mo shrugged. “But you’ve already, uh, broken your ‘template,’ so that answer works too.”

“Well? Want to ditch who you are now and leave with me?”

She invited again. “I’ll show you the True Ancestor vampires over in Fate. Then we can go hug it out with Ritsuka Fujimaru. Or we can hit Chainsaw Man and meet the Blood Devil. I promise—you can live happily, like a person.”

“Like a person… huh?”

Alucard stared at the offered hand, paused, then let out a self-mocking laugh. “Right. No matter how happy I get, it’s only like a person.”

“Hey—”

“What a shame.”

Before Fang Mo could finish, Alucard drew her twin pistols with a smile. “Looks like you’re destined to leave disappointed.”

“Oh, come on. You’re really not going to budge?”

Fang Mo rolled up her sleeves, revealing a pale little forearm. “Fine—if you won’t drink the polite toast, you get the penalty shot. Don’t blame me for getting rough. I’ll toss you into the One Punch Man world and have Saitama punch some sense into you…”

With that, she pressed her palms together.

“Chibaku Tensei!”