FreddySZN

CE 95

Satoru leaned back in his chair, legs crossed, sunglasses hanging half-off his face. The room was quiet except for the faint tick of the clock and the cicadas outside, and it wasn't just the room. It was the entire clan. It was a silence that stretched out and into the very world itself, like it was holding its breath. Somehow, everyone knew and...

CE 94

“I would’ve preferred we did this the easy way, Itadori Yuji.” Those words were followed by footsteps that echoed in the empty room. Yuji lay tired, his head heavy and drooping. His body hung suspended from chains that bit into his wrists, blood trickling down his arms to stain his torn cloth. But the physical pain was nothing to him. He w...

Takamura Rides the Mugen Train (Sakamoto Days/ Demon Slayer)

It was a funny thing, knowing Death was so close. It brought the mind to strange places, even in the heat of combat, with life on the line in a desperate gamble for time against a monster that spelled certain death. Rengoku had only a single thing on his mind. A question.

Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.

Who was walking about rig...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 24

"Move your frozen arses already, we're almost to the wall!" Tormund yelled out as he slowed down enough to grip one of the men Mance had assigned to him. He held the stumbling and struggling man up, then pushed him ahead as he continued to pelt out insults to keep his men going.

They were heading to a wall. For the first time in free folk ...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 23

Hector was the first one to know about the incoming riders. He sat in his study, a section of the castle granted to him, since his… enlistment would probably be the most accurate description of his service. Dracula had been kind, kind enough to give him what was basically his own wing of the gigantic castle. A subsection hanging off the main c...

CE 93

The Cursed Wombs: Death Paintings had been… defective. However, that was over a hundred years ago, when Kenjaku had sought to create something unique, something powerful. The first objective had been successful in that regard, for they had been unique. They were not fully curses, neither were they fully human, existing in that liminal...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 22

"This entire ranging was a mistake." Dirk, a scrawny man with beady eyes and a dirty brown mop of hair, muttered to the side. Jon cut him a look that told him to be quiet, which led the man to grumble further. At least it wasn't until the Halfhand himself glanced back with those cold eyes of his that the troublesome ranger quieted down.

Th...

OGNW 4

Kratos was not a man that was often surprised. Few things in the last few centuries could claim to have surprised him. This was one of them.

Grimvolf was dead, or should’ve been. It was a pity his body seemed oblivious to that truth. His decapitated head’s jaw unhinged as he let out a final roar. “For the Hound!” That same war cry....

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 21

Leaf appeared from behind me, her strange features pale even by what must have been the standards of her kind. The Child of the Forest moved with the careful deliberation of one who had witnessed something that challenged the very foundations of her understanding. Her large, golden eyes remained fixed on the scattered remnants of ice that had on...

CE 92

Yuki Tsukumo was not what he had expected. "Ho, come on. Don't tell me you're a prude." Jiki held back a sigh as the woman saddled up beside

Yuki Tsukumo was not what he had expected.

"Ho, come on. Don't tell me you're a prude."

Jiki held back a sigh as the woman saddled up beside him and began to nudge him with an elbow, a big...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 20

The lead Other moved with the fluid grace of something that had perfected the art of killing over millennia. His ice-blade carved through th

The lead Other moved with the fluid grace of something that had perfected the art of killing over millennia. His ice-blade carved through the air in a perfect arc, aimed at my throat with surgical pre...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 19

Bats were ridiculously underrated, I rapidly came to realize over the past few weeks. In my past life, I had seen them as simple flying rode

Bats were ridiculously underrated, I rapidly came to realize over the past few weeks. In my past life, I had seen them as simple flying rodents and was content to leave it at that. Mere creatures scar...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 18

North of the Wall was a vastly different experience, Marwyn noted for the second time. It was a realization that struck him as harshly as the winter chill that sought to rob him of life, he reasoned as he tugged his thick woolen cloak closer to his body, desperately retaining what little precious heat he could still hold onto in this frozen wast...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 17

I had been taking things easily over the past few days. However, there was something that kept ringing in my head.

I had magic. The thought was as fascinating as it was intriguing. Perhaps if I were in the body of another, I might have been squealing for joy with a little dance on the side. Instead, I sat in my study, my right hand cupping...

Poll Results

Alright so to my immense surprise, the poll ended in a draw. I didn’t think most people enjoyed OGNW, owing to the heavily reduced likes and interactions. (That’s what I generally use to judge and gauge interest.)

Anyway, I’m going to tip the scales myself. We’re continuing with I, Dracula. Owing to its generally shorter chapters a...

CE 91

Gojo Jiki sat bored in the classroom. An actual classroom where they were being taught Mathematics by Nanami Kento. The mundane normalcy of it all felt strange after everything they'd been through, after the attacks they had weathered days ago.

The blonde-haired, burly man turned at just the right moment and caught Jiki staring at h...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 16

Qhorin didn't flinch at the command. The man looked up at me without blinking, though I caught the subtle tightening of his jaw, the faint twitch of his sword hand as he caught better sigh of me, my mount and the giant spider Isaac had dragged along, before he forced it still. A ranger trained to handle free folks, now standing in the shadow of ...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 15

I met Isaac on the halfway stretch to the castle. My mind was filled with thoughts of the Others, of the Old Gods, of Skinchanging. However, it always returned back to the Others. They had such a rich history, filled with struggle and survival. Detailed and well passed down through the oral style by the children of the forest. It was enough to w...

CE 90

An interrogation room was not something you regularly saw in a school; however, Tokyo Jujutsu High was the farthest thing from a regular sch

An interrogation room was not something you regularly saw in a school; however, Tokyo Jujutsu High was the farthest thing from a regular school. Satoru and Jiki stepped into the barrier-secured holdin...

Updates and Poll (Please Read)

First off, I want to apologize for the sporadic updates, especially on CE. What started as a simple brain bug for I, Dracula spiraled into a hectic week filled with a hospital visit, interstate travel, and my nephew’s dedication. That’s all in the past now though, so I can promise more consistent updates moving forward, wit...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 14

The bond had weakened steadily over the past few minutes, thinning like a fraying thread. Now it trembled in the back of his mind, barely there,a shiver at the edge of thought. But it still existed, which could only mean one thing: his night creature still lived.

Isaac followed it without hesitation, hood drawn low against the biting wind....

CE 89

Jiki stretched on his medical bed before smoothly moving to his feet. He wasn't sure why they had left him in a regular hospital facility instead of taking him to Shoko. Then again, in hindsight, he wasn't injured, at least not enough to require the services of the best healer in the whole country when she could be busy with others. What he had ...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 13

"Despite the commonly held belief that the few that remember the lore think, the Others are not simple mindless monsters. They're a race in as much as the Children of the Forest are. The very first race to walk upon this world, back when this world was nothing but ice and snow. Before the sun's light kissed the earth and seasons became a thing. ...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 12

I glanced at the mouth of the cave, where the children remained, staring at me with caution-filled eyes. Then I glanced back at the still figure of Coldhands. “I would’ve expected some measure of hospitality given,” I led with a raised brow. I very much doubted our first conversation was to be had under the sky, with snow falling all aroun...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 11

The next arrow was loosened and flew straight for me, and even without Dracula's combat instinct to puppet me, it was not a challenge. The arrow sailed through the sky in slow motion till I tilted my head to the side, and all of a sudden, it felt like time resumed, as the arrow whiffed past me and into the darkness of the cave.

I let o...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 10

One of the major benefits of landing this far north was the lack of direct sunlight. Unfortunately for me, sunlight was one of the few vampire weaknesses all fanfictions got right. The kiss of the sun against unprotected skin was enough to make a vampire combust outright if they suffered the full brunt on their unarmored body.

However, I w...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 9

I slept for over a year. Something about working on minimal rest for over six months, as well as being a starving vampire, seemed to take a lot out of me. I pushed open my coffin and stepped out before stretching my limbs as blood once more flowed into the pale appendages.

The vampires in Castlevania were quite different from most vampires...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 8

The cave stank of old earth, wet stone, and rot. A faint trickle echoed somewhere deeper, too far to matter. Roots curled like veins across every rock surface, each of them pulsing with sap the color of blood. Brynden Rivers sat still at the center of it all.

He didn’t blink. He didn’t breathe. He barely remembered how to do either, no...

CE 88

Principal Gakuganji trudged forward through the wet underbrush, the steady thrum of cicadas in the trees above drowned beneath the dragging scrape of feet against dirt and stone. Slung over one shoulder like a sack of rice was the limp, unconscious body of one Itadori Yuji. The boy was wrapped in thick jujutsu-reinforced rope, sealed tight with ...

I, Dracula (Castlevania/Multicross) 7

Despite my earlier bravado, my next stop after a brief rest was the Heart of the Castle.  

There were multiple entrances to it, scattered throughout the keep like veins leading to a heart. Secret stairwells, moving corridors, and alcoves that only appeared under moonlight. But Dracula’s preferred method remained the hidden pass...