Alucard sat cross-legged in his soul sea, having just finished talking to Gluttony while he waited for his companion to finish healing his body, which was a complete mess due to the fight he had just endured.
His intestines had quite literally become outestines, and he had several fractures in his legs and arms that he couldn't heal properly, alongside a concussion that made his head throb relentlessly.
"Did I get everything, Gluttony, or did I forget to mention anything?"
Alucard yawned and laid down on his side, using his arm as a headrest.
Gluttony grumbled in annoyance.
"No, you got everything. But if you ask me, you should be more worried about the fact that you keep destroying your body and forcing me to heal it, you damn bastard. What do I look like to you, a goddamn healer?"
Alucard rolled his eyes and yawned again.
"I mean... you are healer-shaped, to be fair."
Gluttony sounded genuinely confused.
"Healer-shaped? What do you mean by healer-shaped? What exactly is the shape of a healer? How does that shape even look?"
Alucard shrugged lazily.
"I'd assume... like a healer."
Gluttony grumbled in annoyance while Alucard laughed at him.
"So anyway, can I wake up soon? I'm borrrreeeedddddd out of my mind."
Gluttony let out another sigh, which confused Alucard. How could he sigh? He had no lungs. Actually, how could he even talk without a mouth? Or think without a brain? Was Gluttony using his brain? Logically speaking, Gluttony should be as dumb as a rock.
"Hey, I heard that, bastard. Well... I didn't actually hear it since you didn't say it out loud, but I knew what you were thinking, and that's rude as hell."
Alucard chuckled and raised his hands into the air in mock surrender.
"Sorry, sorry. But seriously, how much longer?"
Gluttony sighed again.
"A few more minutes. But why are you so obsessed with waking up? What's waiting for you out there, hmm?"
Alucard covered his face and let out a long groan of annoyance.
"Oh, shut up about that, okay?"
Gluttony tried to play dumb, his voice dripping with fake innocence.
"Huh? Shut up about what? Care to remind me what I'm not supposed to talk about? I seem to have forgotten."
Alucard snarled.
"Good. And don't remember."
Deciding the argument wasn't worth the effort, Alucard opened the runes of the Echo he had obtained during his battle against Alexander. He summoned the runes before him and began reading.
Name: Alexander Anderson
Rank: Dormant
Class: Beast
Enchantments:
[Divine Enchantment]
Description: "You can temporarily bestow a divine flame enchantment upon any object. These divine flames can easily destroy any creature born of corruption and evil."
Hmm.
Alucard leaned back slightly as his thoughts began to race.
I could've guessed it was something like that... but I wasn't expecting it to be this useful.
Also, what exactly did it mean by evil? Corruption was barely understood as it was, so now there was evil too?
His curiosity quickly spiraled out of control before he forced himself to calm down.
One thing at a time.
He took a deep breath and organized his thoughts.
First, let's lay out everything I know right now.
Corrupted likely referred to Nightmare Creatures—at least, that was what the Spell seemed to call them. I clearly am not a Nightmare Creature, which meant I'm not a part of the corrupted side of that enchantment.
Which meant I was born of evil?
What the hell did "born of evil" even mean? Who else would be considered born of evil? Undead, maybe?
Wait...
Could "born of evil" mean the Sinners?
That... actually made sense.
But then who created them?
Did the concept of evil itself create them?
Wow. How delightful.
I'm surrounded by people who are literally called beings born from evil.
Alucard snarled in annoyance before eventually deciding the question wasn't worth wasting more effort on right now.
This Echo would be useful against the Blood Beasts.
That was all that truly mattered.
---
Alucard woke up and immediately realized he was lying on a soft bed, which was a very welcome change of pace. The second thing he noticed was that bandages covered most of his body, especially his torso. The third was that he was in a completely unfamiliar room.
The room itself was massive, with enormous windows covering most of the walls, heavy curtains hanging from them, and a gigantic bed that he was currently occupying.
It made him feel like a king.
He turned his head to the side and noticed Seishan sitting in a chair beside his bed. She was absentmindedly playing with his hair while seemingly lost in thought, so deep in fact that she hadn't noticed he was awake.
Seeing the perfect opportunity to tease her, Alucard naturally decided to take it.
"You know, Sei, if you wanted me to get into your bed, you could've just asked. You didn't have to drag me here while I was unconscious."
Seishan chuckled softly as she let go of his hair.
"Ah, well, you seem to have recovered rather well, considering you still have the energy for conversations like this."
Alucard laughed.
"Aw, come on, Sei. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were practically giggling like a little girl now that I'm awake."
Seishan tried to suppress the smirk growing on her face, but she could barely hold it back.
"I suppose you could say I'm glad you didn't die, since you're a useful ally. But I certainly wouldn't say I was giggling."
Alucard leaned back dramatically as if he had been physically wounded.
"Ow, Sei. At least kiss the knife before stabbing me in the heart. Or better yet, how about we skip the middleman entirely?"
Seishan's face darkened by several shades as she reached forward, shoved her fingers into his hair, and gave it a light tug.
"Stop talking like that. It's too early in the morning for me to deal with you, especially when you're like this."
Alucard smirked.
"Ah, so you'd rather do this at night? Fair point. Everyone will be asleep by then, but you should probably stay quiet since we wouldn't want to wake them up... though if it's with me, that might be a little difficult since—"
Seishan immediately covered Alucard's mouth with her hand, her cheeks now practically black with embarrassment.
"Stop being so vulgar, understand? If it were anyone else, they would've already been castrated for even suggesting such things to me a princess of Song."
Alucard immediately reached down to protect his mini Als, an overly dramatic expression of terror spreading across his face as he tried to respond, though his words were muffled by her hand.
"You never learn, do you?"
She sighed, though a small smile appeared on her face as she stood up and dusted off her elegant dress.
"Get ready. Breakfast will be served in a few minutes. You woke up just in time. How lucky of you."
Alucard nodded, trying his absolute best to look innocent before asking,
"Ah, okay... and what are we having for dessert?"
Seishan raised an eyebrow.
"Whatever you want. I'll tell the maids to prepare it for you."
Alucard's smile turned mischievous as he quickly answered before she could leave.
"Ah, I'm craving something fishy... hmm, yes, maybe something like gray clams."
Seishan looked confused for a moment before responding absentmindedly.
"As far as I know, there are no gray clams on the Forgotten Shore, but I'll be sure to give them your suggestion anyway."
A small drop of sweat rolled down Alucard's face as he silently thanked every god in existence that she hadn't understood what he was implying, because even for him, that would've been a death sentence.
The moment Seishan left the room, Alucard got out of bed and unsummoned the Mantle of the Underworld, since it had been heavily damaged.
Instead, he summoned blood and shaped it into a robe for himself.
After that, he went to inspect his appearance. Unfortunately, lacking a reflection made that significantly harder than it should've been.
The first thing he noticed was the large number of scars across his stomach and chest. While mildly annoying, they didn't bother him much. If anything, they made him look even more badass.
The second thing he noticed was that his skin had completely returned to its usual ghostly pale complexion.
"Delightful. Now I can't tease Sunny about never seeing the sun in his entire life anymore. How unfortunate. Well... it was fun while it lasted."
His hair had also grown significantly over the past few days, now nearly reaching his shoulders again. Thankfully, it was still silver and hadn't randomly changed colors again.
And finally, to top it all off—he still had the eyepatch covering his left eye.
"Well, I'm hungry. Everything else can wait until after I eat."
And with that, Alucard left the room in search of breakfast.