Reinhardt Schneider (Castlevania 64)

Many years ago, in 1797, the ashamed Richter Belmont relinquished his hold of the legendary Vampire Killer whip, passing it onto the Schneider family, closely related to them by blood, before plunging the rest of the Belmont Clan into obscurity until the War of 1999 would come...

It is now 1852, and for the last half century, inspired by the Dark Priest Shaft's actions of 1797, rather than waiting a whole century, evil men and women have succeeded in reviving the evil Count Dracula by their own hand, nearly bringing about an end to the world with each time. Master Barlowe of The Order of Ecclesia, defeated by his own student Shanoa early in the New Century. The vampiress Carmilla in 1830, defeated by young vampire hunter Nathan Graves. And even as recently as 1844, with the help of the witch Actrise, a man named Gilles de Rais, and another man named J.A. Oldrey, stopped by a man-wolf named Cornell. In this "Era of No Belmonts", with more and more evildoers resurrecting the Count, more and more vampire hunters have stepped up to the challenge of protecting the world from its own shortsightedness. From the Schneiders, to the noble Lecarde family of Spain (who wield the powerful Alucard Spear), to the ancient Belnades (Fernandez) Clan, the Count has barely been defeated each time. But now, after being submerged for 8 years, Dracula walks the earth yet again, with the help of Gilles de Rais and Actrise yet again. Two young vampire hunters set out to stop him - Reinhardt Schneider, heir to the Belmonts' holy whip, and Carrie Fernandez, a cunning little girl with more power than most would give her credit for.

Reinhardt sets out through the forest in the province of Wallachia, towards an unusually-large and uncharted castle arising from the mist. Braving a thunderstorm, he is first attacked by animated human skeletons (some mounting motorcycles, an advanced technology far superior to anything anywhere else), werewolves, and even giant humanoid skeleton monsters. Overcoming them with ease, he enters the castle from the rear entrance, and is promptly sealed in by the closing drawbridge. Working his way up the outer wall, he activates lever-operated gear mechanisms to open the next gates. Upon opening them, Count Dracula himself materializes above him, warning him of the certain death to come to all who oppose his evil might. He then subsequently disappears, leaving Reinhardt to continue his way through the castle. Making it to an opulent and seemingly-abandoned villa within castle grounds, Reinhardt proceeds inside, slaying many lesser vampires along the way; deep within, he is confronted by an elderly man wielding a giant wooden cross on his back, flasks of holy water and other anti-vampire trinkets around, and a crucifix in his hands. Recognizing Reinhardt to be a human being, the man introduces himself as Charlie Vincent, a self-proclaimed vampire hunter who claims superiority over all others. Warning him, a young man, to leave this for "more experienced" hunters, he continues about his personal business, giving him a key he found yet has no use for.

Deeper within the villa, Reinhardt finds a red rose garden, seemingly well-tended. Right at sunrise, he sees a vampirized woman watering them with blood; she dismisses him, saying that she wishes to tend to her garden. When Reinhardt inquires as to her fate, she tells her that her name is Rosa, and that she was unfortunate enough to be captured and vampirized following the raid of Dracula's forces upon the village. When she asks why he does not simply kill her, he tells her that his father taught him how to be a compassionate man of God, and to respect the weak and helpless. She tells him to leave, saying that a "softie" like him has no business taking on Count Dracula if he can't even slay a lesser vampire or vampiress. As she leaves, he continues on his way, finding a rear exit to the villa, where, just by the door, a paper business contract lies on the floor. A man in a green suit and hat, black tie, and sunglasses comes and tells him that the contract is necessary for his business; he introduces himself as Renon, a being one would call a demon. As Reinhardt gets defensive, Renon insists that he has no interest in harming him, saying that although shameful for a demon to be working, one apparently needs gold even in Hell these days. Before fading away, he tells Reinhardt that wherever he may find a paper contract lying on the floor, he may summon him through it to buy needed supplies for sustenance or curing of status ailments.

After fending off three small Cerberus beasts, Reinhardt finds himself in the back portion of the villa's garden - one with a labyrinthian design. Within this garden maze, he finds a small boy named Malus, who claims to have been kidnapped by Count Dracula's forces, along with many other children from the nearby village. Just then, a Frankenstein's Monster with a chainsaw (another new technology foreign to Reinhardt) for an arm and two demonic stone dogs give chase, with Reinhardt following Malus' cries for help. Eventually, they both escape the maze, and Reinhardt leads the boy to a gate that will lead him away from the castle grounds and back to the village before continuing on his way. Finding himself underground, he climbs down through a hidden entrance through a coffin to a mine network beneath him. Fighting seductive arachnes - spider bodies for their lower halves and naked female upper halves - and dodging poisonous water, he makes it up into the center of the castle, wherein lies a dungeon, torture chamber, and small colosseum. As he works his way through this ghost-filled place, he finds himself now more than ever among futuristic technologies, actual and planned out, no doubt in Dracula's plans to conquer Europe, and eventually, the world by being superior in powers. During this time of wonder in the midst of danger, Reinhardt finds Rosa yet again, this time, about to walk into a ray of sunlight pearing through the ceiling, so as to rid herself of her accursed life; but before she can fulfill her desire, he saves her and reminds her that suicide is a sin in God's eyes, even for a vampire. Feeling herself doomed and never able to escape her current fate, she just goes on her way again, once again warning the softhearted Reinhardt to leave now while he still can. But shortly thereafter, he finds her under Death's control and blocking his path, succumbing to her vampirism more and more, and challenging him to a battle. After reluctantly beating her, she begs for him to take her life and rid her of her physical and emotional pain, to which Reinhart refuses, leaving Death no choice but to take Rosa somewhere else. Reinhardt even manages to run into Malus within the Castle Center, who warns him that Dracula can never be defeated before mysteriously running off. Finding himself a way to blow open cracked walls using Magical Nitro and the legendary Mandragora plant as told to him by an ex-human lizard man, Reinhardt works his way through archives and even a small planeterium to figure out how to activate the generator. At last activating a crystal in the colosseum, Reinhardt is put to a tough test of doing battle with the demonic bull of legend - The Behemoth himself. But he triumphs, and goes up the elevator to his next destination.

Reinhardt next finds himself inside the castle Dueling Tower, wherein he is forced to fight werewolves, weretigers, and other beasts just to be able to progress any further. Managing to overcome, he then finds himself in the lava-filled Tower of Execution, dodging blades, spikes, ghosts, and other dangers and hazards. Atop the Clock Room, he finally runs into Death again, but finds himself soon injured by his projectile sickles. Just as Death proceeds to kill him once and for all, Rosa suddenly appears and blocks the way, feeling the sickles pierce her flesh with mortal wounds. The horrified Reinhardt prays over her soul before she succumbs to her wounds, and in a fit of anger combats Death with success, sending him back to his supernatural domain for good. Making it through the Clock Tower and up into the Castle Keep, Reinhardt is once again met by Renon, who tells him that it was a pleasure doing business with him, but that he must now go back to Hell to prepare for an impending great war; he vanishes, and Reinhardt continues up the fateful staircase traveled by so many of his ancestors. Within the Castle Keep, Count Dracula appears and does battle with him, but to no avail; the young vampire hunter vanquishes him, but not before he is told that Dracula is not so easily defeated...

But before he can ponder what this means, the castle begins to crumble in regular fashion. Leaving the castle with haste, he stops when the staircase stops crumbling halfway. Just then, Malus appears on a dark unicorn, telling him that the being he had just fought was not Dracula at all, but his very own servant, Gilles de Rais, and that his defeat released the dormant powers of Dracula - Malus was the TRUE Dracula, but in order to keep his identity safe, he had hidden his powers with his servant while he remained a little boy. Malus then transforms from a little boy into a tall young adult, wielding powers greater than Reinhardt had anticipated. Defeating him, he turns back into Malus, who claims confusion at all of what has just happened; a flask of holy water comes and burns Malus, with none other than Charlie Vincent stepping out of the shadows, proving that he had indeed seen through the illusion. Angered and determined to kill the vampire hunters, Malus brings Reinhardt into another dimension, revealing his true form - a giant, fire-breathing centipede-dragon. Through his strength, courage, and skill as heir to the Belmont Clan and the Vampire Killer, Reinhardt emerges triumphant, being transported back into the real world, where he watches Castlevania crumble away from a distance. Wondering if the war against Dracula will ever end, he is rewarded from Heaven above - with a completely healed, completely human Rosa. The two of them embrace, with Reinhardt vowing to take care of her for as long as they both shall live...