With Roy secretly intervening, Dracula's plan proceeded very smoothly.
When Anna arrived at Dracula's Castle, the moon was directly overhead. Almost as soon as she arrived, she witnessed her brother Viken transforming into a werewolf.
This transformation was an immensely painful process. Violently expanding muscles and bones tore through the skin of the human body, so Viken howled in agony throughout the transformation.
Anna could not bear to watch, but Dracula gripped her chin and forcibly turned her gaze toward him.
Once the transformation was complete, Viken had become a massive werewolf and completely lost his mind. Bound by thick iron chains, every time he roared and tried to break free, Dracula's loyal servant Igor would take out a long Electric Prod and viciously jab him with it, taming Viken like a wild beast until he settled down.
"Do you see, Anna? If you do not save him, he will gradually become an obedient beast under this kind of training!" Dracula whispered in Anna's ear. "Under my command, he will do whatever I tell him to do. He will be no different from a well-behaved dog!"
"No, don't do this!" Anna shook her head in anguish.
"I really can save him!" Dracula said with a smile. "I still have a potion that can cure the Werewolf Virus and turn him back into a human. But as I said, whether I give him the antidote depends on you!"
"What do you want me to do?" Anna asked.
"Kill yourself!" Dracula smiled as he spoke of something horrifying. "As long as you offer up your life, you can save your brother Viken. If you can do that, I will give him the antidote!"
However, Anna did not believe him at all. "What guarantee can you give me? Does a vampire like you even have any credibility? How do I know you will not kill my brother after I die? Don't forget, he and I are the last descendants of the Villeris Family. If we both die, you will have no more enemies..."
"No, no, I can swear an oath to demons!" Dracula shook his head. "Believe me. Killing both of you will gain me nothing, but sparing your brother in exchange for your soul may allow my children to be born. To me, that is absolutely worth making an oath for!"
"You really made another deal with demons!?" Anna stared wide-eyed at Dracula.
"What is so strange about that?" Dracula spread his hands. "In your eyes, a vampire like me is also an utterly wicked demon!"
Anna's face was filled with hesitation and conflict. After a long while, she finally said, "I can't trust you unless... unless you turn Viken back first!"
Before Dracula could speak, she hurriedly added, "Anyway, he and I are both in your hands now, aren't we? If you want me to give my life for him, then at least let me see him turn back before I die!"
This time, Dracula hesitated. He considered it for a long time and felt that Anna was right. Both of them were already in his hands, and he was not afraid of Anna escaping. After thinking it over, he agreed to Anna's request and beckoned to one of his Brides, telling her to fetch the antidote.
Before long, the Bride brought the antidote over. It was contained inside a long syringe.
"Inject him!" Dracula instructed the Bride.
The bride smiled sweetly and walked toward the chained Viken with the medicine. However, before she could reach him, a huge black shadow suddenly leaped down from above. Upon landing, it seized the bride's hand holding the syringe.
Dracula was startled at first, but after seeing the Black Shadow clearly, he relaxed and said, "My lord, why are you here!"
Roy ignored him. He snatched the syringe away, clenched it in his hand, and with a crack, crushed it!
"No!" Anna could not help crying out when she saw this.
"My lord, what are you doing!?" Dracula cried out as well.
That was what he had intended to use to lure Anna into killing herself! Without the antidote, how could Anna possibly produce a Noble Soul?
Yet Roy merely sneered. "Dracula, are you an idiot? I watched from the shadows for quite a while. Even I could see that she had already decided to perish together with you, yet you failed to notice?"
That was right. Roy, who had flown here with Lucius, had entered the castle at almost the same time as Anna. Having watched the entire process from hiding, Roy had immediately seen through Anna's little scheme.
He had realized that, under Dracula's coercion, Anna's hatred for Dracula had long reached its peak. Although she did not know why Dracula was forcing her to offer up her life to save her brother, she understood that she could not let him succeed. So she pretended to agree, intending to make Dracula turn her brother Viken back first. Then she and her brother would fight Dracula to the death. Even if both of them died and the Villeris Family came to an end, she would not let Dracula benefit from it.
Yet Dracula, the person involved, had been so blinded by obsession that he had not noticed this at all. He had actually believed Anna and brought out the antidote...
Once Roy realized that Anna's mindset had changed, he had no choice but to make a move.
In truth, he had never thought much of Dracula's plan. He had merely adopted a try-it-and-see attitude and allowed Dracula to proceed. But the human mind was immensely complicated. Perhaps Anna truly had intended to offer her life to save Viken at first. Yet perhaps she had realized that even if she saved her brother, he would likely be unable to avenge her alone, so she simply decided to perish together with Dracula and try to fight him before dying.
Dracula had wanted to give Anna hope, only for it to turn into despair instead...
Sure enough, it was easier for humans to fall than to achieve nobility...
Once Roy realized that Dracula's plan could not succeed no matter how much he cooperated, he stopped dwelling on it and decided to carry out his other plan!
While Dracula was still struggling over Roy's words, Roy suddenly turned around, extended his claws, and plunged them into Viken's chest.
"Y-you... what are you doing!?" This sudden turn of events caught Dracula completely off guard. He had never imagined that Roy would actually make a move to kill Viken.
Nor did it end there. After Roy withdrew his hand and grasped Viken's soul in his palm, he immediately charged toward Dracula.
Dracula was startled and hurriedly dodged, but he had not expected Roy's target not to be him at all, but Anna, whom he had been controlling moments ago.
With an indifferent expression, Roy gently placed his bloodstained claws around Anna's neck, then lightly squeezed...
With a crack, Anna's neck twisted into an unnatural shape. Her face still bore an astonished expression as she died.
"You! You!" Dracula trembled with rage. He had never expected Roy to kill both Anna and Viken in succession. Unable to hold himself back, he transformed into a vampire and pounced on Roy, roaring, "Damn it! I knew it! You never intended to make a deal with me from the beginning, did you!?"
He believed Roy had killed Anna and Viken simply because he did not want to trade with him, or because he coveted their souls. This had completely ruined his hopes of reviving his vampire children, so in his fury, he recklessly began fighting Roy.
However, Roy paid him no attention at all. With a flick of his tail, he sent the charging Dracula flying through the air.
Dracula's massive body spun as it flew away, landing right where Lucius was. Lucius had been trembling in a corner, never expecting such a sudden development, and was immediately struck head-on.
Dracula had not been entirely wrong. Roy had indeed never intended to trade with him. He had no desire to help Dracula revive those disgusting little monsters.
But that was not the real reason Roy had killed Anna and Viken...
After sending Dracula flying, Roy spread his wings and flew up, finding a place within Dracula's Castle where he could conceal himself.
In the darkness, Roy's demon vertical pupils glowed faintly.
"Come on, let me see how things develop from here. Can justice really defeat evil...?"
Yes, that was Roy's true objective. He wanted to know whether a world like this, one that resembled a movie, still possessed such a main theme. If it did, it would be truly disadvantageous for him as a demon. After all, his demon identity made him a born ultimate villain, someone on the side of evil. If that could not be changed, then he might as well remain in the abyss of the Demon World and never enter worlds like this again...
And to verify that, he needed to see whether Van Helsing could still kill Dracula after losing the Villeris Family's help...
The previously bright, moonlit night sky suddenly turned pitch-black, as though the complete extinction of the Villeris Family had provoked God's wrath. Countless dark clouds began gathering, bolts of lightning spread through them, and rumbling thunder began to sound.
A bolt of lightning tore across the night sky, illuminating the Ancient Castle. At the entrance, its glow revealed the face of a black shadow.
Van Helsing had finally arrived...
Before you continue