Ready to Die(4)

Three kilometers away from the city, over a hundred helicopters were making their way into the city under the orders of Enrico Maxwell who was now given a higher position of authority by his superiors. The helicopters were equipped with machine guns and rockets attached to their flanks and were carrying countless knights that numbered 3000.

These knights wore white-colored knight armor and white triangle hoods over their heads, something you reminded of a "Klassical Krusade Knight". They wield high-caliber rifles with silver halberds attached to them, containing silver rounds which were perfect against vampires.

One of those helicopters was carrying a truck with a reinforced tektite glass box on its rear with multiple speakers attached around it, and inside of the dome was none other than Enrico Maxwell himself leading the Papal knights of the Ninth Crusade.

"We shall purge them all! Leave none standing!" He loudly declared with a deranged smile on his face.

Maxwell had been looking forward to this day for a very long time because not only did he want to get rid of Millenium and the Forsaken but basically everyone in the city including the civilian population and reclaim it for themselves before eliminating Hellsing once and for all. Now that he had the men and the authority to accomplish it, he could at last obtain what he needed.

——————————————————————

At the front entrance of the Hellsing manor, Zorin entered the main doors and was met by her vampire soldiers with a sea of mercenaries' bodies strewn on the ground.

"Weaklings," She scornfully smiled.

Before Zorin could catch up with the rest of her men who were wreaking havoc across the manor, a portal suddenly opens in front of her which caught her by surprise as she readied her scythe. At the next moment, she noticed someone stepped out of the portal with a cold gaze.

It was the Forsaken, in his human form.

With a wave of his hand, a purple dome suddenly materialized around him and Zorin, which the latter slashed the dome with all her strength. Despite her best efforts, it was proven futile as she was unable to break through it.

"Now your Major and the cat boy Schrodinger won't hear or see us due to the dome I casted around us, which was able to separate ourselves from reality, neither communication, observation, nor teleportation could enter here," Forsaken stated, "Now, let's talk."

Knowing she had little hope against this monstrous freak, Zorin turned to confront Forsaken and asked, "What's there to talk? You could kill me and all of us right here and now, so why aren't you?"

With an indifferent expression on his face, Forsaken formed a dark aether crystal the size of a marble and spoke, "Zorin, the Major sees you all as tools, sacrifices to be made in order for his own twisted goal of victory and eventually meet death. I have a better proposition. Why die for a cause that is meant to meet death, when you can work for a cause that can be eternal and can rule the stars and cosmos of the very multiverse and force them kneel before us, and don't forget you went against his orders and even if you succeed this mission, I highly doubt he will repay that success in kindness because well... he is madness incarnate."

"..."

In an instant, the dark aether crystal suddenly leaps into one of Zorin's arms and sinks into it which catches her completely off guard.

"What did you do?!"

"This crystal will grant you a fraction of the dark aether's power, but it only comes into play once you meet your demise and fail your mission, which you eventually will."

"And what if I don't? What if I succeed?"

"Who knows, you might either grant its power or you will explode on a massive scale. Probably comparable to an atomic bomb."

"You're not being specific!"

"Good luck, Zorin," Forsaken said, ignoring her words, "Let's see what happens for you and the rest in this estate."

With these words, the Forsaken returned into the portal as it soon closed. When the dome around Zorin vanishes, she glances at her arm and sighs before moving forward into the manor.

"Wonder what his plot is in this?"

——————————————————————

At the round table room of the manor, Pip, Willingham and the other remaining mercenaries had set up a barricade made out of wooden furniture at the entrance. Pip was currently talking to his men on the radio named Miller.

"What's your status?"

[We're pinned down here! We're completely depleted our silver ammunition and most of my men are severely injured or dead!]

"Damn it. Things don't seem to be good on your side," Pip grumbled, "Okay listen Miller, get you and the rest of your men to the round table room. We got a barricade set up here, but we'll keep it accessible for you. I don't care if you have to crawl your way here just to get to us."

[...Sorry sir. But we can't. We have no problem if we get killed and besides we're mercenaries. We had to meet this fate sooner or later. Close the barricade up and don't wait for us. It was an honor working with you... sir.]

And just like, the radio call ends.

Pip grunts, "To you as well my friend," he said as he looked at Willingham and the other mercenaries, "Put that round table to the barricade as well."

After giving a nod, Willingham and the rest of his men place the round table to the barricade.

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Miller and the rest of his men who were injured badly or slightly were taking cover behind a wall in a hallway of the manor from Millenium soldier fire, they were firing back at them but were low on ammunition.

"COME AND GET ME, you blood-chuggin' cockholes!!" Miller screamed as he unleashed all of the rounds from his gun until-

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

…He witnessed all of the Millennium soldiers get blown up to pieces by a rain of rockets from a 15 to 18 feet machine stationed at the end of the hallway where the Millennium soldiers were positioned before being blown up a split second later. Its arm sported a flamethrower while the other had a rocket launcher and was well-armored.

"What… is that?"

This is the Zitadelle.

[IMAGES]

"ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴゴ ゴゴゴゴゴ"

The moment Zitadelle's cybernetic eyes caught them by its sight, it raised its arm and launched a flurry of rockets at them.

"Incoming!"

Miller and most of his men rushed away from the rockets as it exploded on those who were unfortunate enough to get caught in its crossfire. Miller stood up, as did the rest of his men who weren't caught by the rockets.

"We can't fight that thing!" One of the mercenaries shouted.

"No, but I think I can get it to focus on one target only... me." Miller said, "You take the rest of the guys here and fall back to the barricade in the round table room or any area that's secure!"

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes! Now go!"

Giving a nod, his men retreated. With his assault rifle armed, Miller charged towards the Zitadelle and fired his gun at it, but the machine took no damage from the bullets and proceeded to deploy its flamethrower, spewing a huge wave of flames from it. Miller, however, was able to rapidly dived between the machine's legs, deftly skirted the flames and landed behind it. The Zitadelle spun around and an attempt on stomping him beneath its iron foot, but Miller swiftly rolled to the right before dashing across the hallway, fortunately outpacing the machine of war due to its slow speed.

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Seras, who was still in the manor and eliminating both Millennium and Reich forces, kicks down the door of a room and enters to find Millennium soldiers devouring deceased mercenaries. With her eyes burning in rage, she used her Hallconnen mark 2 and guns them all down with it. A Millennium soldier broke into the room through a window in an attempt to attack Seras but he too got gunned down by her.

With the Hallconnen pointing down to the floor, Seras fired another round and killed a Millenium soldier underneath the chamber she was in.

"They didn't deserve to die like this," Seras muttered, gritting her teeth in rage as she looked at the dead mercenaries, "I'll kill them all. I promise you all that I'll make them all dead!"

At that moment, Seras spotted five drohnes swoop into the room with one of them fired a laser from their laser cannon, but she immediately swerved to the right but the laser unfortunately grazed Seras' shoulder.

"Damn it!"

Grunting in pain, Seras fired her Hallconnens once more and gunned the drohnes down with ease as they fell to the floor, exploding due to excessive damage.

"I think that's all of them."

Right then, the wall on the left side of the room burst open and a Zitadelle storms in.

"You gotta be kidding me."

Before the Zitadelle could launch its missiles at Seras, someone from behind sliced its entire body in half vertically as both pieces fell heavily on the floor with a loud thud. Seras glanced upwards and saw who did it. Alcina Dimitrescu.

"And I thought Heisenberg's machines were weak." Alcina said as she retracted her claws.

"Lady Dimitrescu?!"

"Yes, it's me." Alcina replied, but not before long, she and Seras heard the sounds of footsteps behind them. The duo turned around to see a squad of Reich soldiers entering the room from the same door that Seras kicked open.

"Stop right there!"

Alcina glanced at the Police girl, "Seras, I'll deal with them, you get to Bernadotte. He might be in trouble."

"R-Right!"

With a nod of her head, Seras sauntered out the room, leaving Alcina facing the Reich soldiers with her claws out and a menacing grin formed on her face.

"So who wants to have a taste of these claws?"

The Reich soldiers ignored her question and immediately started firing their weapons at her right away, but it was useless as the tall vampire woman began cutting them down like flies as they screamed in terror.

"Ahahahaha! The screams of agony delightens me!"

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Zorin along with her forces were walking down a hallway in the manor, eliminating both Wild Geese mercenaries and Reich soldiers they saw in their path.

"Is this the best that Hellsing can offer? I expected more of a challenge but at the end of the day they are just insects meant to be crushed by us."

"Lieutenant, there are still Reich forces and their machines roaming the manor. They may still cause problems." One of the Millennium soldiers said.

"Never fear. As long as we ignore the machines and take out their human infantry, we should be fine." Zorin laughed calmly, "But still, I expected more from this cosmic being, but instead he sent a second Nazi army, which was just another bunch of insects that could only end up being crushed easily by us."

On the other end of the corridor, Miller, who was still alive, peeked out of the corner of a wall to see Zorin and her men scanning for the mercenaries. Taking the chance, Miller stepped out of cover and fired his assault rifle at Zorin, but two Millenium soldiers instantly stood in front of her and took the hits without suffering too much damage since the bullets weren't silver.

"Shit!"

"Well, well. What do we have here?" Zorin said with a malicious grin, "Another one of the mercenaries, ey?" she added as she raised her hand, showing a glowing eye on her palm, "Let's see what you have."

Placing her hand on the wall, Zorin uses her magic to create an illusion, filling the hallway which Miller was standing in with symbols. Shortly afterward, the entire hallway morphed into a different place which Miller was all too familiar with. His house.

"What the?! Impossible! My house?!"

Then he heard footsteps behind him and turned around to see a little girl who he lost long ago. His daughter, Michelle. (A/n: Not that Michelle.)

"Welcome home, Daddy! I missed you!"

"No! I lost you long ago, you can't be her, this has got to be a trick!"

This is an illusion actually, but it was too real in Miller's eyes to ignore. He couldn't help but pat her head and to his surprise, she felt so real even though she was not actually.

Couldn't hold his emotions, Miller breaks down into tears and embraces her in a warm hug, mumbling, "I don't know if you're real or not, but you look just like her. I missed you so much, Michelle."

At last, the illusion enveloping him dissipates, bringing him back to his senses and enabling him to sense Zorin standing behind him with her scythe in the air.

"Sorry, but this is all an illusion. Now die."

Miller, being in too much of shock, couldn't move and it is enough for Zorin to swing her scythe down on Miller to bisect him in half...

Clang!

…Only for Cassandra to block the scythe with her sickle before it could harm Miller.

"What?!"

"Surprise!"

Giving her a mocking grin, Cassandra kicked Zorin in the face and sent her sprawling to the floor. Two Millenium soldiers charge towards her only for them to be attacked by a fly swarm sent by Cassandra. Using the swarms' distraction to her advantage, she cuts their heads off with her sickle and immediately grabs Miller before flying into the vents while dragging him along with her.

Standing up from her feet, Zorin immediately searched around her, only to find both of her targets were gone, she screamed.

"FUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

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In the sub basement of the manor, Cassandra and Miller came out of the vents.

"You okay," Cassandra asked.

"Yeah," Miller said mournfully, stumbling as he cast a sorrowful gaze downward, "That wasn't... her."

"Miller!"

"Hm?"

Looking ahead, Miller saw the other Wild geese mercenaries as well as his men were still alive and well.

"You guys are alive?"

One of the mercenaries explained, "Yes, Cassandra escorted us and the rest here to the basement since Millennium and the Reich are busy engaged in combat in the upper levels and surprisingly enough, they were unable to find this place since it's concealed behind hidden doors and passageways."

"But there is no guarantee this place will stay secret for long," Cassandra added, "So be ready, Bela and Daniela are dealing with the Reich and their machines as we speak along with my mother."

"...Noted." Miller said in a saddened tone.

Noticing the sadness on his face, Cassandra couldn't help but ask, "What did that crazy lady show you?"

With a sigh, Miller explained to Cassandra and the rest of the mercenaries with him what he saw in Zorin's illusion.

"...Sorry you had to see a ghost from the past."

"It's alright, you know not all of us in the Wild geese had family backgrounds to begin with actually. Some of us were just thieves, guys who had nowhere to go or just wanted to look for some thrill in life or a thousand other reasons. And now here we are, being guns for hire and getting paid until the job is done, but this job that we got from Hellsing might be the craziest one we've ever had."

"...You know, Mister Miller, me and my sisters thought by being out of the castle in my universe and seeing the outside world be interesting, but the more we learn about the world and its people, the more we find out that it's not always a peaceful world."

"Well you girls being in a castle for decades and were totally oblivious to the world's affairs is not your fault." Miller said as he lights a cigar, "You three girls have a lot to learn in terms of how the world works and the people within it."

"True. Where's Pip and the rest of the mercenaries exactly?" Cassandra then asked.

"They're in the round table room. That lady with the scythe could be on her way to where they are at any moment."

"I'll move out then."

"Woah there, we are coming with you." One of the mercenaries steps in.

"You've all done enough. You all will stay here."

Miller stands up to his feet and says, "And sit in this basement like cowards? Hell no, not to mention that the lads and I here want to give them some exact revenge for the harm they caused to our guys."

Cassandra looked at the rest of the mercenaries and saw they were arming and readied themselves once again, even though some of them were suffering minor to serious injuries, she could still see the drive, the will, and the determination in them to continue fighting remained strong.

For a brief while, Cassandra ends up sighing, "Fine, but we are taking the vents. It's how I got you here and it's how we are going to get to Pip. Now let's move, people."

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In the roundtable room, Pip and Willingham were taking cover behind the barricade they had set up as they were being fired upon by Millennium soldiers from the other side while the rest of their men in the room were injured, too scared to fight or worse dead.

"Sir, remember that airfield where we almost got our asses handed to us? Well the reinforcements arrived in the nick of time," Willingham said as he looked at the wounded and terrified mercenaries in the room, "But I don't think that's going to happen."

Pip smiled wryly, "Don't give up hope, Seras and the Dimetrescus will come for us eventually. I bet my life on it."

Eventually, the ceiling of the room breaks off as Cassandra, Miller and the rest of the mercenaries come out of it and enter the room. Cassandra caught a glimpse of Pip and Willingham taking cover next to the barricade, but then through a gap in the barricade she saw a Millenium soldier on the opposite side, readying a shot with his Panzerfaust in an attempt to blow the barricade apart.

"Rocket!"

The moment the Millennium soldier fired a rocket from the Panzerfaust, Cassandra immediately used her insect swarm to pull Pip, Willingham and anyone who were too close to the barricade back. However, as the rocket made impact against the barricade, it blew it up with the shockwave of the explosion forcing them to fall to the floor or crash against the walls.

"Son of a bitch! They still had more rockets with them!?" Pip exclaimed as he winced in pain and noticed a wooden shard had struck and adhere to the right side of his abdomen, "Damn it." he mumbled, glancing around to see whether the rest of the members of his squad were okay, "You all alright?"

"Perfect," Cassandra groaned as she stood up to her feet, but then noticed the wound on Pip's abdomen and gasped, "Oh no! We got to-"

"No! We remove it and I might bleed to death. So don't," Pip refuses as he gazes at Miller and his men, "And I thought you guys were dead."

"Thank Cassandra for saving us." Miller said, looking at Cassandra with a smile.

Pip turned around to see Willingham was fine, but a wooden shard had struck his right knee preventing him from walking properly for the time being.

"Of all the knees it had to hit it had to me on a good kicking leg. But I'm good." Willigham stated with a painful look, but he still grins at his leader.

"Good to know, but with the barricade gone, we might be in trouble."

"No, you got me, I'll deal with Millennium," Cassandra said as she looked earnestly at Miller, "Mister Miller, help the men here... I'll be back."

With a serious expression on her face, Cassandra heads towards the shattered barricade and makes her way for the vampire soldiers.

"Did she make a Terminator quote?" Pip questioned.