Perpetual

Story about a big variety of Soul Calibur characters and their adventures following the success of Kilik and Xianghua in reconciling Soul Edge and Soul Calibur.

Chapter One

Seong Mi-Na coiled up in her useless tent and sighed icily into the crystalline air. She started, for the first time in a long while, to feel a bit sorry for herself. There she lay, nestled in the valley beneath Kawagebo Mountain somewhere in Yunan, with nobody near her and nobody likely to find her for a long, long time. She did not know where Yun-Seong had gone to, although knowing him, he had likely broken enthusiastically for Chengdu more than a hundred leagues to the northwest immediately upon hearing of the scarlet woman. As a result, he had failed to meet her in Cawarong Village and she would likely see naught of him on the long voyage home.

She watched the heedless wind solidify on the tips of the furs of her coat and thought back to the angry days in Delhi that had preceded this forsaken trek. She brightened somewhat and breathed silent gratitude that she was not back in Hindustan with the others, contending with the callous Maxi over the supernatural events that had taken thousands of innocent lives and threatened so many more…

*****

Three months earlier

The oppressive morning sky glared contemptuously down upon the lodge that sheltered (to some extent) the understaffed and increasingly testy collection of warriors that had been anointed the salvation of an entire people. Mi-Na fiddled with the depressed flowers in the centerpiece on the plain wooden table, waiting for someone—anyone—to emerge from the beds in the cramped loft and tell her that it was all worth it. That leaving Talim and Rock back in Sanya had been worth it. That the weeks on weeks of fighting and heroism and pain were giving some hope to those whose fates rested with her and the other five who stared death in the face day in, day out.

No sooner had her thoughts turned to questions, always questions, about their innumerable and unpredictable foes than Kilik did descend from the sweaty sleeping quarters, dusty and dazed from erratic slumber. He stepped gingerly over toward his waiting breakfast on the table, sat, and peered at it mistrustfully. The radish returned his gaze balefully.

"I'm hungry," he intoned.

"Then eat."

"I always get the radish."

"You complain the least, so the innkeeper made it your ration."

"Serves me right for politeness."

A pause.

"I'm hungry," he repeated, "but I can't live on small boulders for breakfast every day."

She smirked to herself, but because Kilik remained the least offensive among the six supposed heroes in that so-called inn, she allowed him to eat her two dry carrots and aggressively set about attempting to slice into the radish with her table knife. The belligerent vegetable remained cruelly intact. She grumbled impatiently and reached for her guandao.

Setsuka soon clambered down from the loft with equal cheer. She was followed by Yun-Seong, then Xianghua and, at last, Maxi. They set about preparing themselves for whatever dread news would arrive from the plains to the north or the mountains farther still. In a way, they already knew what it would be. More villages overwhelmed, more slaughters in what had been thought to be secure areas. The creatures coming this time from that cave or that crag, seemingly straight out of the ground, setting upon innocents with all manner of human weaponry, and dragging off more children. And the "heroes" would be sent, again, into said point of emergence, and, invariably, would triumph, to the delight of the villagers and in utter irrelevance to the shadowy forces behind the attacks. It was hopeless.

Indeed, on this particular day, Muzaffarnagar district was the lucky victim of the assault. Lucky, in that it was the only target under attack that day so Mi-Na and her companions would be available to assist. The trip there was taxing and, as was so often the case, they came upon the devastated town far too late to fight off any crazed hordes of beast-things from the town itself. They were informed by whimpering survivors that the things had arisen straight out of the ground in the farms west of the village. There, the heroes went, and there is where the usual course of events took a turn for the horribly, horribly, traumatic.

It started like it was expected to. There were a few of the re-animated skeletal hounds rummaging through the rubble, tearing slabs of flesh off the cadavers of the more unfortunate humans. When the zombie-like dogs sensed the party, they belched their wheezing howls into the sweltering air and up from the mud came the armor-sporting skeletons in their facemasks. Always in their steel facemasks. Setsuka, Mi-Na, Kilik, Yun Seong, Xianghua and Maxi scattered and Mi-Na quickly found herself alone with four of the creatures. She brandished her weapon menacingly, distantly wondering if the things could perceive menace. The largest of them, swinging a machete not unlike Yun-Seong's, leapt at her with a forceful overhand chop, which she sidestepped briskly. As the skeleton took a split second to cancel its momentum and adjust to her position she spun left and backhandedly swiped her polearm, catching the underside of the wretch's jawbone on the blade and lifting mightily. The skull cracked sharply away from the vertebrae and the humanoid hunk of bone slumped to the dirt.

Upon witnessing this, the other three creatures set upon her at once, one jabbing with an iron spear, another wielding a rapier with a sort of hook on the end, and the third with a hand axe. She scampered back quickly, knowing that she was vastly more agile and smarter than the undead beasts. They charged her head-on, practically abreast, and as they approached, Mi-Na deftly shifted left, turned slightly, and jabbed the guandao dramatically to the right so that it caught the skeleton on the far right square on the faceplate and, as she twirled it overhead, came down like lighting on the back of the spearman's ribcage, severing its spine. Backpedaling frenetically, she forced the remaining two into consistent pursuit. She stopped short and thrust her blade at the axeman's feet causing it to stumble and collapse. She ducked a slash from the rapier and slammed the polearm down upon the scrambling axeman-skeleton, shattering fifteen bones. She turned and jabbed the blunt end of her weapon at the chest area of the last remaining creature, repelling it. She pulled back the polearm, twirled the business end forward, and came in with another stab, this one high and from the right. The thing ducked and charged low, and Mi-Na spun and swept with her leg, dodging its rising swipe. The skeleton fell and she thrust her blade fiercely into the skull. It didn't get up.

Xianghua was having less luck. A positively gigantic and abnormally bloodthirsty skeleton had challenged her, skittering about on all fours and hissing what must have been the undead equivalent of "sic 'em" to two of the spindly dogs. She had a dreadful gash on her left hamstring from where one of the things had clawed at her, and was isolated from Kilik and the rest of the group. Nevertheless, she drew her weapon up again and tried to anticipate the creatures' next move. When one of the dogs lunged at her from the right, she lowered her shoulder and drove her blade cleanly into its muzzle. She turned back to the second hound, with her resolve hardening, and came down with a slash at its skull. The beast shifted right, and Xianghua spun to thrust her sword into the spinal disc between the sixth and seventh vertebrae. She wrenched it free, and raised it to finish the screeching undead animal, but was launched off of her feet by a devastating impact to her back. She hit the ground awkwardly on her left elbow, rolled once, and wobbled to a standing position. The clattering humanoid skeleton was rearing for another charge.

She unsteadily tried to maneuver her blade under the thing's armored head and stab into its throat area, but it leapt ten feet into the air and came down straight at her. She sidestepped, but was caught in the shoulder with a razor-like bony hand. The creature lowered its head, and came at her again. The steel faceplate connected devastatingly with her temple, and her vision exploded into a dazzling array of scintillating celestial figures. She was dimly aware of her body collapsing to the inviting summer mud, just before consciousness abandoned her entirely.

Yun-Seong was just starting to enjoy himself when the multitude of lesser skeletons that had accosted him began receding into the ground beneath their feet. With a twinge of dejection he lowered his blade, and watched the skeletons, in stasis, sink gradually into the earth. He didn't bother cutting any more up while they were vulnerable, for what purpose would it serve? Upset that the day's excitement was at a close, he turned, looked up, and stopped.

Kilik was sprinting through the potato plants, screaming incoherencies in unmistakable fear. Yun-Seong had not thought Kilik capable of fear, so this development frightened him somewhat. He followed Kilik's beeline and felt his knees go weak when he saw the subject of the epithets. Xianghua was protruding motionless from the dirt, clutched by a large bony arm. She was slowly disappearing from view.

Kilik reached her as her shoulders sank below the slop noisily. He plunged his arms into the mud and hooked his arms under Xianghua's, heaving with everything left in him. There was no pause in her descent, only more sucking sounds as the ground swallowed her and Kilik's forearms with her. He was determined to follow his longtime companion straight into the abyss below and combat whatever lay in wait there.

Yun-Seong was unable to reach them; not that doing so would have changed the circumstances. Secretly, he didn't mind that Kilik was… wherever he was now. If anybody could use this turn of events to make a breakthrough in their quest, it was Kilik. But how would he tell Mi-Na and Setsuka and, worse, Maxi?

*****

The squelching soil was smothering Kilik. Roots and insects scratched at him as the creature took him and Xianghua ever deeper, ever further from the surface and their fellow heroes. Breathing was impossible, he held his lungs in stillness and fought the shadowy tendrils appearing at the edges of his vision as a minute passed without oxygen, two minutes…

The frosty, bitter air greeted him affably as he emerged from the muck. Then he was falling for an instant before landing in a heap on stone ground, jarring loose his grip on Xianghua. It was pitch black. The huge skeletal thing made no indication that it had noticed him, and dropped its captive with an audible thud. It could be heard sidling off in some invisible direction.

It was now that Kilik became aware of other humans in the damp chamber. Tiny voices peeped meekly from all around him. Kids from the Muzaffarnagar district, he realized. It came as no surprise. He and Xianghua were prisoners, of some sort. It was distressing.

A soft glow appeared faintly from what was apparently a tunnel to an adjoining chamber. The gleam grew closer and brighter. In a panic, Kilik spotted a rock of moderate size reflected in the approaching light, and dove behind it as a couple of figures entered the chamber and the fluorescence cast the quivering boys and girls in a spectral shimmer. Kilik glanced over the stone that hid him. Standing in the entrance to the room was their captor the skeleton, and an equally imposing robed figure, clearly a man of actual flesh, whose head was concealed by the upturned collar of his cloak. He seemed familiar. He also seemed upset.

"Why?! Why would you bring this one?! This one," he gesticulated harshly at Xianghua's unconscious form, "is of the band of malcontents interrupting our raids."

Kilik knew the man. They had fought, years ago, in Ostrheinsburg. The man had wanted Soul Edge. Had rambled about Kilik's insignificance. Had seemed to think he was doing the right thing then. What about now?

"She and some of the others are famed as heroes, and have been ever since they foolishly disrupted my plans for a utopian Earth."

The skeleton thing indicated no comprehension.

"Don't you see? She is not malleable. She is far gone in her delusions of heroes and evils. She cannot be part of my new world…"

The skeleton turned and shuffled away as the immortal Zasalamel continued ranting.

"Hm. Blasted undead creatures. No understanding of the words I say, much less an understanding of what they are creating with their own hands." Zasalamel heaved a sigh. "I suppose I should rid myself of this whelp before she wakes and causes more problems."

Kilik saw the shadowy man raise his scythe and twirl it above his head. Desperately, he launched himself from his hiding spot with a bound and lunged with his staff. He deflected the blade of Zasalamel's weapon just as it came down toward Xianghua's neck.

Zasalamel squinted at the newcomer with distaste. The girl's companion, Kilik. This was the one who had vanquished him in Ostrheinsburg and doomed the planet. Temporarily.

"Ah. Well. It seems I may have a true battle on my hands, for the first time in years. No skeletons will be necessary, I believe."

*****

"You LET them GO?!?!"

Predictably, Maxi was… perturbed. Setsuka brooded as she watched the two yell at one another. Yun-Seong was getting defensive.

"There was nothing I could do. Besides—"

"There is no 'besides,' dumbass. They're as good as dead."

"Besides, Kilik can handle himself, you know that. If we're going to figure this shit out before all of Hindustan and beyond is overrun, we have to take risks. Kilik knows that."

Maxi slipped into angry sarcasm.

"Hey guys, I have an idea! Let's plunge ourselves into the place where the very strongest undead creatures LIVE. The ones who can knock out Xianghua and drag Kilik around like so many feathers on a bear's back. That seems like a good way to not get KILLED!"

Mi-Na uttered some hollow comfort, but Maxi was winding himself up beyond repair, inescapably spiraling himself into angrier and hazier knots.

"You know what? If this was such a fine idea, why didn't YOU go?! I would much rather see YOU get munched on by a skeleton the size of a house—"

"It was NOT the size of a house," Setsuka interjected. She regretted it instantly. Maxi was livid.

"I don't care if it was the size of a MOUNTAIN," he howled, "YUN-SEONG KILLED THEM. MY BEST FRIENDS. I think I should kill HIM." He flung his nunchaku wildly at Yun-Seong, who ducked them narrowly. When he looked up, Maxi was upon him, slugging away with both fists. Yun-Seong lost his already scant patience and fought back with gusto. He rolled backward and kicked up with both legs, catapulting Maxi across the living area of the lounge. Maxi scrambled to retrieve his weapons, stood, brandished them, and froze when he looked down to see a glinting lai sword threatening his heart. Setsuka's glare was as piercing as her blade.

Across the room, Seong Mi-Na held Yun-Seong in somewhat friendlier restraint. He wrestled for release only a bit before resigning himself to civilized resolutions. By contrast, no soft talk would dissuade Maxi. He would have made for Yun-Seong's jugular if any motion would not have plunged Setsuka's weapon into his chest. There was quiet. Maxi drew himself slowly away from Setsuka and strolled out the front door as though nothing had happened.

*****

Zasalamel twirled his scythe left and right, left and right, with ever more intimidating velocity. The pulsing lifeblood of combat, the visceral surge of awareness, the thrill of life and death that was at once terrifying and exultant stormed into his ancient veins again, finally, again. He beamed, and then laughed a thundering laugh, yes, he was laughing, as he spun with his weapon and brought it down swiftly in an attack, his euphoria was so complete that it mattered not to him that Kilik's bo was there, waiting to block his every strike. He feigned right, drew back, and thrust low with the blunt end. Kilik leapt into the stale cavern air and spun his staff about his torso, swiping left at Zasalamel from an odd angle. The immortal man reacted quickly, raising his scythe to guide the attack harmlessly over his head, then delivered a shoving side kick to distance himself from the more lithe staff wielder.

Xianghua lay motionless. One tentative eye opened ever so slightly to glimpse the cataclysmic whirlwind of blue and gray that produced the grating metallic clangs. Children scattered and cowered in the dank corners where the two warriors treaded not.

Kilik took the momentary separation as an opportunity to work one of his favorite moves. He brought the staff up and, with only two fingers and a lot of momentum, swung it overhead from its very tip, maximizing its range. It came high, which Zasalamel ducked gleefully, and then came around again, this time sweeping low. Zasalamel jumped the second attack, but the time it took for him to recover from the two sudden shifts of his considerable weight was enough to leave him vulnerable to the third strike, a forceful thrust to the gut that cast the immortal clear across the chamber, where he careened into a collection of children—right at Xianghua's feet.

It was not until he heard the distinctive, grisly noise of steel slicing into flesh and the sickening gurgle from the stricken figure that Kilik noticed Xianghua, standing, looking luminescent over Zasalamel's rapidly expiring bulk. A last gasp escaped his lips, and wandered through the static underground atmosphere to Kilik's ears.

"You are doomed… yet forever… shall I live on…" and a rasping, vengeful laugh