In 1479, the Devil Forgemaster called Hector had fallen under the control of Dracula's Curse. Thanks to the machinations of Death, Hector became Dracula and restarted his reign of terror. Having to face Isaac, Death, and a fully powered Dracula alone, Trevor was killed, and the main Belmont bloodline ended once and for all. However Alucard managed to recover his locked powers, woke up, and using Trevor Belmont's magical Stop Watch recovered from his dead body, defeated his father once more, who had been weakened by Trevor before he died.
Realizing that sleeping again was not an option, Alucard went on to start an organization of Vampire Hunters trained to fight the forces of darkness in order to replace Trevor's main lineage. For the Belmonts, though, all was not yet lost, as they had many braching families. One such family was the French branch carrying a similar name, the Beaumonts, who were believed to be the precursors of the Belmonts as opposed to the common belief that they were simply a branching family. Alucard tracked them down, and began enlisting their services as vampire hunters.
Through the centuries, the organization managed to stop every iminent ressurrection of Count Dracula just barely, by tracking down Dracula's followers before they could finish their plans. However, in 1792, the dark priest Shaft managed to summon Dracula and his Castle by using an unknown method to disappear just before the organization could find his hideout and foil his plans. Not even the organization's strongest vampire hunter, Ariane Beaumont, was able to get to Shaft before he could escape.
Alucard then resorted to the last weapon from the Belmonts to still exist once more, the magical Stop Watch, which still held very little power, preserved to this occasion. He sought to use it for defeating the dark priest and his father. However, it was stolen. Alucard managed to trace the stealing of the Stop Watch to one of the organization's leading scientists called Saint Germain, who was also a close friend to Ariane Beaumont, and believed that Shaft had controlled his mind to do it and use the watch to stop time before the organization could get their hands on Shaft, giving them enough time to escape.
Teaming up with Ariane Beaumont, who had known Germain for years, Alucard and Ariane invaded the castle and divided in order to find Saint Germain and recover the stolen relic. Knowing his mind and fascination with clocks, Ariane eventually found him first at the top of the Clock Tower, and discovered that Saint Germain was not under Shaft's control: Rather, Saint Germain stole the Stop Watch out of his own will.
Saint Germain surmised that Dracula's return was only a matter of time, and he'd consume all mankind sooner or later since only a pure-blooded Belmont would be able to stop a fully ressurrected Dracula. The Stop Watch would be useless in this case, since it held too little power to be able to stop Dracula's dark magic. He theorized, however, that the Clock Tower in Dracula's Castle would be able to amplify the Stop Watch's power due to Dracula's Castle incredible magic. This could ensure that the organization could stop Dracula and his army on their tracks, but if he had already recovered his full power, the Stop Watch would still be useless since Dracula would still be invunerable. Stopping time was not an option, but harnessing the castle's power for another use could wield better results.
He then devised a plan of his own: Approaching Shaft feigning loyalty to Dracula, Germain would use the Stop Watch's small power to guarantee that Shaft could escape the organization just before being caught, and just enough times to be able to eventually summon Dracula and his Castle. Once it was done, Germain would gain access to Castle Dracula's Clock Tower.
By having the Clock Tower replenish and amplify the Stop Watch's power, Saint Germain would be able to send his mind back in time, as opposed to simply stopping time, and finish his plan: Try to stop Hector, the Devil Forgemaster, from becoming Dracula, and change the destiny of mankind.
Having always trusted Germain's good judgment, Ariane was convinced and protected Saint Germain while he made the preparations, but Alucard found them both. Enraged and convinced that both Ariane and Saint Germain were under Shaft's power, Alucard attacked them. Ariane fought valiantly against him, protecting Saint Germain's body while his mind worked in the past.
Albeit being a near undefeatable vampire hunter, Ariane Beaumont's skill and Vampire Killer replica were no match for Alucard's hundreds of years of experience in combat. Alucard left Ariane on the brink of death and went on to recover the watch from Saint Germain, but just as he approached, the fabric of reality began undoing itself. Saint Germain's plan was a success, and mankind was saved. Ariane smiled as she could hold off Dracula's son long enough for the plan to work.