Hi everyone! Sorry that I took so long with this chapter. I was renting out Final Fantasy XIII, and I got to tell you all, the game was awesome! I haven't reached the end yet though cuz I'm still doing those missions. Anyways enjoy!
Chapter 6: Reunions
Dawn was about to come to Vienna. At the gates, a big man with a huge mace and a young woman with a Chinese jian entered the city on their horses. The man had very unusual clothing, for it was only arming and legging made of fur, a furry loincloth, and a helmet that was the head of a rhino. The helmet covered most of his face, making it impossible to see the features of his face from afar. He was in early forties, his skin was a medium brown color, and his muscles were huge. The woman, on the other hand was very young, just twenty years old. She had on a white coat with a white undershirt underneath and a blue flower on the right side of her head. She also had white short-shorts, white socks, and dark blue shoes. Everything had a trim of blue and purple colors.
The woman looked around the city like she was searching for something. "I just know that Kilik's here. I can feel it."
The man looked down at the girl with a chuckle. "You can feel him alright. You're so much in love with that man, aren't you?"
The girl looked up to the man with anger on her face. "Rock! You promised me not to tease me like that!"
The White Giant chuckled again and playfully messed with her short, brunette hair. "Oh, Xianghua I'm just joking! You need to stop being so worried and lighten up a bit!"
The young Chinese woman brushed Rock's hand from her head and looked onward. "Anyways let's ask the folks here. They've got to know something."
Suddenly they heard someone nearby scream. They turned towards the direction of the scream and stood in shock. A massive swarm of terrifying looking monsters was heading straight for the city. Their leader in front was the most ferocious looking of them all and looked difficult. Then suddenly he pointed down at the city, and the monsters dived down and began grabbing people, biting into their necks.
Xianghua and Rock quickly got off their horses, readied their weapons and charged. They had to protect the people of the town. The vampires nearby saw them and charged at them. As one of them closed in on the White Giant, he quickly swung his mace at the monster and killed it. More vampires came in, but the White Giant brought each one down with his mace easily.
Meanwhile, Xianghua gracefully dodged the attacks of a vampire and brought down her sword, slicing the monster in half. Then two more flew in from behind her, unleashing devastating attacks, but she quickly noticed them and quickly rolled away. One of them did a low attack at her, but the dancer quickly got up and jumped and beheaded it. Then the other one attack Xianghua with its claw, but she quickly blocked with her sword. She then swung her feet and tripped the vampire. With one slash she beheaded it.
As she finished, more vampires surrounded her and Rock. She slowly backed away towards the White Giant, who in turn backed towards her. The two of them were completely surrounded. Then the vampire leader swooped down towards them and changed into his human form. He walked up to Xianghua with Rock with a sinister smile on his face.
"Hmph, I think I have a splendid idea of what to do with you two."
Meanwhile, at the inn
Cassandra immediately woke up from her sleep, hearing the cries of terrified people outside. She ran to her window and opened it. She gasped as she saw that the city was under attack. Suddenly she heard a loud, evil laugh.
"Cassandra Alexandra! I know that you're within this city! If you do not give me Soul Calibur, I'll keep on taking more lives! Come find me at the clock tower!"
She recognized that voice. It was Raphael. But she wondered how he found her. She immediately shook her head.
There's no time to waste! I've got to stop him!
Cassandra quickly grabbed her weapons and headed out. As she got outside, her eyes were drawn to the clock tower. She had to get there fast.
"Cassandra!"
She turned around and saw Siegfried, Kilik, and Hilde emerge from the inn with their weapons. The knight stopped at her side.
"It seems that Sorel stills wants the sword and will go so far to obtain it."
"Yeah. This has gone far enough. I have to stop him."
At the clock tower
The four warriors ran as fast as they could to the tower, taking down every vampire that stood in their way and passing through crowds that were running for their lives. Eventually they made it and looked up to the top. Sure enough, Raphael was perched on the top.
"You humans certainly took long enough to get here."
Cassandra narrowed her eyes at him. "You've gone too far this time! It's me that you want, so leave the citizens of this city alone!"
"If I did that, then things will certainly be boring."
Hilde then shouted out, "So you truly have the nerve to laugh when you hurt others, and you even find pleasure in that?"
"But of course! You see how these people have become so frightened when my minions and I arrived here? Their fear came out in an instant, and their cries are like music to my ears!"
The Athenian pointed up her sword towards the vampire. "Enough! It's time that we settle things!"
Suddenly the door to the clock tower opened and something from within jumped into the air, slamming something else hard into the ground. The four managed to quickly back away and dodge the attack, but as the dust in the air cleared, Cassandra gasped as she could recognize the person who attacked them.
"Rock? It . . . can't be!"
But then she realized that something was wrong with him. His eyes showed that he's under some sort of spell. Raphael jumped from the tower and landed beside the White Giant.
"Seems that you know this fellow. I didn't want to waste my time making someone strong as him a vampire. So I placed a spell on him, putting him under my control. And he's not the only one."
Before they knew it, another person sprinted from the tower entrance and past Raphael and Rock and slashed a sword at Kilik. The monk blocked the attack with his rod, but was shocked when he saw his attacker.
"Xianghua?"
The dancer did not say anything and kicked him in the stomach, causing him to falter back. As he got up, Xianghua back flipped and stopped at Raphael's side.
"Yes. Both of them have proven to be quite useful to me. These two make perfect bodyguards. Don't you all agree?"
Kilik took off the Dvapara-Yuga fragment around his neck and held it high. In an instant, it began to glow with a bright green light.
"They won't be your servants for long! Dvapara-Yuga, free them!"
The holy light shot out from the fragment and towards Rock and Xianghua. But suddenly, the vampire's body glowed with a red light, and that pushed back the light of the Holy Stone. The four warriors were shocked. Kilik couldn't free their friends. Raphael laughed.
"Fool! Do you honestly think that I'll let you do that like you did last time? Absolutely not. I've prepared myself this time."
From his pocket, he took out a fragment that glowed with an evil crimson light. The four gasped. He was holding a fragment of Soul Edge. Raphael then turned to Cassandra.
"I should thank you for giving this to me. This fragment has proven useful to me."
"Yeah, right. If I remember correctly, you stole it from me!"
"Well now it belongs to me. Although I put Soul Edge behind me, I still need some of its power. Now then, shall we dance?"
Before Cassandra knew it, the vampire sprinted towards her with his rapier ready to stab her. The Athenian dodge to her left and evaded the attack, but Raphael immediately swung his sword at her. Cassandra blocked the attack with her shield and began slashing Raphael with her sword. The two have engaged in battle.
Xianghua ran up to Kilik again and did a no-hand cartwheel in the air, kicking at the monk. But he quickly back flipped and landed at a safe distance. He cursed to himself. Right now, the only that he can do was defending himself and try to come up with a plan to set her free. The dancer ran up to him again. This time she gracefully slashed her sword many times at him. But the monk spun his rod around his body and blocked each attack and began counterattacking, which she blocked with her sword.
Meanwhile, Rock began his battle with Siegfried and Hilde. He charged up his mace and swung it at them. The knight managed to block the power wave his sword, but the princess stood no chance and was blown away. The White Giant then ran up to Siegfried, bringing his mace over his head. Once he was at the right spot, he slammed his mace down at the knight. But Siegfried quickly dodged the attack and swung his zweihänder at Rock. The White Giant quickly blocked the attack and began fighting back.
As Hilde began getting back up, she noticed Siegfried and Rock fighting. Quickly grabbing she ran up to join the knight. As Siegfried skidded away from blocking one of Rock's attacks, the princess launched her spear at the White Giant. But he noticed her and grabbed her spear and twirled it and Hilde around and threw her at the knight, causing both of them to fly backwards and crash very hard on the ground. Siegfried quickly looked up and saw that Rock charged up his mace, brought it over his head and slammed it into the ground, creating an enormous earthquake. The knight quickly defended himself and the princess from the attack with his sword, and the two of them got back up and fought back.
After a while, Cassandra had it. Just fighting them wasn't enough. They had to free Rock and Xianghua from Raphael's spell, and Kilik's Dvapara-Yuga wasn't enough.
If we can only augment the pendant's power . . .
Suddenly, Xianghua kicked Kilik in the stomach so hard that the pendant around his neck was flung off, and it fell near where Cassandra and Raphael were fighting. Seeing that the vampire saw it coming to them, the Athenian quickly pulled back and rolled to the pendant, grabbing it as she got up. Suddenly, the Dvapara-Yuga began to glow so bright, brighter than ever before. Cassandra's body began glowing as well, much to her surprise. Everyone stopped fighting and looked at the Athenian, confused at what was going on.
Kilik gasped as he realized what it was. "Cassandra's giving some of the power of the spirit sword to the Dvapara-Yuga!"
Raphael sneered. "It's just too bad that we won't be able to see how much more powerful that darn Holy Stone has become!"
The vampire then lunged at Cassandra with his rapier ready to stab her, but she quickly rolled away and threw the pendant at Kilik. The monk quickly grabbed it while avoiding a kick from Xianghua and lifted high into the air.
"Dvapara-Yuga, release Sorel's victims!"
All of a sudden, the light emanating from the pendant shot out at the dancer and the White Giant and enveloped both of them. It stayed that way for a moment, and then it all cleared. Rock and Xianghua suddenly collapsed on the ground. Kilik quickly bent over and lifted his friend up.
"Xianghua . . ."
Suddenly, the girl slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the man that she was searching for so long.
"Kilik . . ."
Rock slowly got up and looked around him with a confused look on his face.
"What happened? What's going on?"
Raphael then cursed at Cassandra and Kilik. "You two have disrupted my plans for the last time!"
All of a sudden, the vampire transformed from his human form to his monstrous form and went after Kilik and Xianghua, but the monk quickly held up the pendant again, and it glowed with its bright green light once again. Raphael was knocked back far away, and Siegfried ran up to him, stabbed the monster with his zweihänder and flung him high in the air. Cassandra then got onto the knight's shoulder and jumped up at Raphael. With her sword all charged up, she brought it over her head and slashed it at the vampire, causing him to crash into the ground with a big bang.
After she landed safely on the ground, Cassandra looked up to where Raphael landed. The vampire slowly got up, and everyone saw that he was badly wounded from the attacks he received from the Athenian and the knight.
After coughing out some blood, Raphael sneered at all of them. "Mark my words! This is not over!"
In an instant, a swarm of bats surrounded him, lifting him high up in the air. Then they flew far away from the city, carrying the injured vampire.
Hours later, back at the inn
After the battle, the six warriors began helping out the residents of Vienna with cleaning up the city, and burying those who lost their lives during the fight. Then they gathered at the inn to catch up with each other. Kilik was in his room with Xianghua, who was very mad at him.
"Kilik, I cannot believe that you would leave me behind and journey on without me! Why?"
"Xianghua, please understand. I had to-"
"No you listen to me! Do you have any idea of how worried I was when I realized you were gone the morning you left? I swore that I went through the entire Himalayas just to find you! I went through every village to find clues of where you went but couldn't find anything! I almost thought that you were abducted by servants of Soul Edge!"
"Xianghua please calm down! I'm sorry that I left you and made you worried. But you have to understand. It was for your own good."
"How is ditching me my own good?"
"If you continued on with me you would've been in great danger!"
"I don't care if it's too dangerous! I want to be with you! That's where I find my happiness!"
Kilik was stunned when Xianghua shouted out those words, but then realized that she was right. He already knew that she had hidden feelings for him. They stayed that way before the dancer finally started crying. She then ran up to Kilik and hugged him tightly.
"Please, Kilik. I just want to stand by your side. It's all I want. I'll help you carry whatever burden you have to carry, and fight against evil. Just let me stand by your side."
The monk was hesitant. He knew that she reminded him of someone that he cherished . . . and whose life he took with his very own hands. But she wanted to be with him so badly . . . and he wanted to be with her too. He slowly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer.
"Alright, Xianghua. I'll let you come with me. Just promise me that you stay close."
The dancer nodded and continued to hug him. There was no way they were going to part ever again. She silently made a vow to herself . . . to never leave his side.
Meanwhile, Cassandra and Rock were in her room. The Athenian told the White Giant the sad tale of the past events that happened, which made his heart sag.
"I'm so sorry, Cassandra. This must be so burdensome for you."
"It's okay. I can handle it now. I'm surrounded by wonderful people who are helping in carrying my burden."
"And I shall help you as well."
"Huh? Why?"
"It's my way of thanking you. You saved my life. Now I shall repay you by helping you."
"It's gonna be really dangerous Rock. I mean, you almost became a permanent servant of that darn vampire."
"But you helped me break free from his control, and I shall repay you for that. I shall protect you from any danger that comes your way."
Cassandra looked into his dark brown eyes and saw the determination within them. He was truly willing to help her and fight alongside her. He really was a true friend. How could she turn him down?
"Okay. You can come with us."
Suddenly, the White Giant stretched out his arms and yawned. "But first, I need a nice, long nap. It truly has been a very long day."
Cassandra nodded. The battle truly exhausted all of them. After exchanging good nights with each other, Rock left for his room and she got under her covers and fell fast asleep.
Next morning, outside the inn
Hilde stood in front of Rock and Xianghua with her arms crossed. Last night, she had given them time to think over their decision of coming along with Cassandra. It wasn't too late for them to turn, but it was pretty obvious that their minds were made up.
"So, are you two willing to risk your life to complete our mission? It's alright if you don't want to come if you think it's too dangerous."
The two of them nodded their heads and said, "We're going."
Hilde then smiled. "Alright then, let's go."
Then they all got their horses and galloped through the gates, with their sites on Athens.
Meanwhile, on top of the clock tower
Zasalamel watched as the six warriors were leaving the city. His sight was particularly on Cassandra and shook his head.
"Foolish girl. There is absolutely no way you can control the power of the spirit sword within you. Soon, you will be consumed by that power . . . just like your sister was with Soul Edge."
