(AN: This file had 6.66 kilobytes! [definitely more after I've finished with it, but it fits with what has been happening...and what will happen.])
(This chapter is something of the conclusion of the Siegfried/Dürer arc, since I can't think of anything else they could do together. I know he appears later, but we're not there yet!)
(Kind of filler-y, but still very cool. A mass of familiar faces next chapter, I assure you)
The Last Straw
Three years of nightmares. Three years the plagued mind of Siegfried Schtauffen lay dormant, locked away in some obscure region of his brain, never to be seen again. Almost nothing remained of him in that shell that was now his body, twisted beyond belief into something neither he nor his father would ever even recognize again.
He was sitting in a clearing, looking down upon his form, reflected in the water of a small stream. His skin was darker than humanly possible, his long blond hair turned blood red. His helmet was lying discarded in his hand: not the helmet he wore into battle that day in Ostrheinsburg, but a new helmet, with a single spike on the end.
His eyes were red, like the eye of the blade he now carried. There was nothing left of his right arm, simply a huge malformed thing, like the claw of some hideous creature, twisted and mutilated beyond recognition. That was where he first touched Soul Edge, the indellible mark of his choice.
He had one last thing to do.
The heavy helmet he threw back onto his head, obscuring the distorted face he once possessed.
A huge black war-horse was waiting just behind him. Like its master, its eyes were red and blue armor covered its body, with a single spike jutting out from the crown of the horse's helm. The army would be on their way soon.
It was time.
Johan Dürer did not like the looks of this.
After the disastrous siege of Ostrheinsburg, he and his family drifted more or less. It was time to settle down, he knew, for the age of gunpowder was swiftly overtaking the age of the sword. The Margrave of Barcelona proved that in his attack on the castle. So Johan and the last of his Landsknechts left and headed out on their own, to seek their own fortunes.
It was at this time that he discovered the Kingdom of Wolfkrone, and decided to let his family live here, with the permission of the king. Such a peaceful, cooperative kingdom was just what he needed to raise his family in: it was a worthy idea, worth the giving up of his life.
And then that day, three years ago, when it all changed. There was a flash of light to the north, like lightning from the earth that struck the sky. It continued like a great column, and evil followed after it. The Landsknechts were extremely blood-thirsty, killing whatever got in their way and sometimes charging into battle without orders.
Von Krone turned into a beast.
Johan was there at the scene, and saw the creature tear apart his servants, his friends. It was his interference that saved the little princess from harm, and his leadership of the berserking Landsknechts that at last imprisoned Von Krone in the highest tower of his keep.
A sad fate it was.
Now he and his Berserkers were off again, looking for the one responsible for that light, which many were now calling 'The Evil Seed.' Johan Dürer wanted peace, but now he was thrust once again into the stage of war.
They were in a forest, and suddenly Johan called for a hault.
"Do you hear that?" he said to the others.
"Sounds like a rider, father." Karl said.
"It is." Johan answered. "Get the men together, we'll set up an ambush."
"What if they're not an enemy?" Hans asked.
"People don't often come into the Schwarzwald, Hans, you know that." Johan returned. "Now quiet down!"
The berserkers leapt off to the sides of the road, hiding themselves in the under-brush and behind fallen logs and large rocks. The sound of hooves approaching them were now plain to hear.
A chill fell over the berserkers as they hide, unaware of the terror that approached them.
Johan Durer rose from his hiding place, walked forward and stood in the roar, his hands folded upon the pommel of his sword, which he had stabbed into the earth. Before him loomed a knight on a black horse, both of them clad in blue armor. The knight had a huge weapon, similar to a zweihander in his left hand: his right arm, however, was horribly deformed and grotesque.
"Halt, good sir knight!" he announced. "This road is closed. Go back the way you came."
"Out of my way, old fool!" growled the Azure Knight.
"There's no need for insults, good sir knight." Dürer stated. "I have done you no harm. I don't even know you..."
"But I know you," returned the Knight. "I know what lies inside your soul." The Knight rose his sword, pointing it directly at Herr Dürer. "Offer your soul to Soul Edge!"
Without warning, one of the Landsknechts rose from hiding and fired at the Knight. The Azure Knight fell off his horse, tumbling to the ground.
"Wait!" Dürer insisted. "Do not attack him!"
"Kill him!" shouted one of the Landsknechts.
"No one touches him, that's an order!"
"Hurry! Finish him off!"
"What in God's name has come over you?"
A cry came from one of the Landsknechts.
The Azure Knight was back on his feet again. A furious blaze was in his red eyes. His huge, demonic zweihander swung at the nearest Landsknecht, sending the head tumbling off and falling on the ground with a sickening thump. Another one charged towards the Knight, but was impaled on the giant blade.
Two more attacked, but were stricken back by a huge swipe of the giant blade.
Two more gun-shots glanced off the blue armor of the Knight. The grim, horned visage of the Azure Knight turned off the side of the road, walking slowly and menacingly towards the two sharp-shooters who dared hit him.
They were both hacked down in one single swipe.
"Hans! Karl!" Herr Dürer cried in fear, in shock, in agony.
His two sons fell into the ferns, blood pouring from their open wounds. The Azure Knight, meanwhile, turned on the rest of the Landsknecht berkserkers, killing them all with as little regard for young or old, wounded or whole, as a cow has for the flies that sit upon its back.
"You'll pay for that, you bastard!" Herr Dürer shouted. With both hands, he gripped the hilt of his claymore and charged at the Azure Knight.
The Knight turned towards the charging Landsknecht, and made a huge sweeping motion with his sword.
It cut Dürer's chest, throwing him to the ground.
The cut wasn't deep.
The Azure Knight slowly paced about the ambush site, making short work of the rest of Dürer's Landsknecht berserkers.
"Wait...stop!" Herr Dürer groaned. "Come back here! Finish what you started. You killed my sons, my men...kill me, huh? KILL ME, YOU SON OF A B*TCH!"
The Azure Knight halted. Something kept his hand from striking down Johan Dürer, something that the Azure Knight could not wholly perceive. Was it some vestige of loyalty, felt by the host towards this weak human, or was it the desire of the blade to make this man suffer by letting him see his children die before his very eyes? Or maybe the host was stunned by the kind of behavior the old man had for his sons...that he was ready to die for them, and die because they had died as well...
The Knight walked among the bodies, passing the huge blade over each of the corpses. A haze of green light erupted from out of their mouths and eyes and floated into the one eye of the blade, as the souls of those warriors were now being devoured by the endless maw of Soul Edge's hunger.
Totally heedless of Johan Dürer's pleas of anger.
His pleas to die.
(I take it back, there could definitely be use for this later on, even slight use.)
(Okay, look at Hilde's Soul Calibur profile: it says that she withstood the assault of the forces of the Azure Knight. Obviously he attacked Wolfkrone at least once. Dürer's profile has something similar to a lord he was serving being possessed and transformed during the Evil Seed incident, so I merged those together.)
(Still debating on if I should up the rating. You'll definitely see why in the next few chapters)