Author's Notes: Look who's back. I appreciate all those of you who are still interested in my story. It has been very hard to come up with chapters lately, but I finally pulled it off. Here is chapter 25. And just in case you don't know, I've rewritten and reposted chapter 24. For those of you who have followed my story, please, please read my new chapter 24. I am far happier with it than I was before. Thank you for reading, and leave your thoughts with me!!
Chapter 25
Gunshots rang as women carrying children ran for their lives while men stayed behind to hurry everyone onward. The small Indian port town was under siege by a crew of bloodthirsty specters and their captain, Cervantes.
"Ha ha! Run as fast as you can! No one escapes the crew of the Adrian!" He raised his pistol and fired, hitting a woman in the back. She fell to the ground and tried to crawl away, but Cervantes raised his Soul Edge and drew in her soul.
"No…NO!" Her husband rushed Cervantes with a fisherman's spear, but Cervantes struck first, driving Soul Edge into his stomach.
"You can see her in hell."
The man let out a dying gasp as Soul Edge siphoned his soul. Cervantes let him drop to the ground and continued his sniping.
His ghouls stormed the town's homes, plundering everything of value. With their cold, rusted blades they cut down one innocent after another. Cervantes drank every deceased soul.
He laughed maniacally. He loved this. He loved the fear he conjured. He loved the death. He loved the cries of hopelessness. He wouldn't give it up for anything, not even life itself.
He grinned sadistically as he prepared for the climax. "Come now! You are destined for a much bigger purpose! You will live on for eternity, fueling my body!"
From behind him a pair of specters came running, each carrying a barrel of gunpowder marked with Cervantes's emblem, an eye placed in the center of a jumble of octopus tentacles. These were Cervantes's special barrels, and inside these barrels was a deadly combination of gunpowder and steel slugs.
The ghouls chased a group of townsfolk into a small stone building. With barrels in tow, they entered and an instant later, the explosion rocked the building.
Cervantes's cold voice echoed with pure delight. "Ho ho! How unfortunate!"
As Cervantes continued his massacre, one warrior had infiltrated his dread ship, the Adrian. He single-handedly sent each ghoul that came after him into the void with his Gatekeeper and Void.
"Where do these nuisances keep coming from?"
Greed dispatched another pair of specters, but just like that another pair replaced them.
"That's it!" Greed began to back away, and as he did he hit his forked Kunai, Void, with Gatekeeper. Void vibrated, and the sound resonated all about the ship. He held it up in front of him and showed his gapped smile. "Watch what this old man can do!"
The space around Void began to warp and bend. Heat began to radiate from the space as the seconds passed, and at last the space became a vortex, pulling all the ghouls on the Adrian.
Greed however, stood firm. This was the most efficient way to get rid of these ghouls, but no doubt he caught Cervantes's attention. But all was well. Greed had hoped to take the comical route and steal the undead pirate's ship to get his attention, but he'd settle for a straight forward confrontation.
Back on land Cervantes was fuming. "What is this?! Who dares step foot on the Adrian!" Tightening his grip on Soul Edge, he vanished from the streets of the port town.
Greed waited anxiously on the Adrian's deck. He scraped his two kunai together, enjoying the sound of rasping metal. He and Cervantes had something in common. They both had that insatiable appetite. Greed desired battle, and Cervantes desired power.
Greed was doing this not because of their similarities, he was doing it for himself. For someone like him, a battle with a power-hungry demon would provide him with a great deal of entertainment. He licked his chops, ready to open the first wound.
Cervantes reappeared on the ship, a vicious scowl on his face. "Who is it that irks me so? State your name!"
"Call me Greed, pirate. I have come to dispatch you into the Void, and take your sword."
"I'll drown you before you lay a hand on this blade!"
Cervantes immediately vanished from sight. Greed stood calm and nimbly leapt out of the way as Cervantes reappeared behind him. Cervantes flew at him, thrusting his blades at Greed. Greed dodged each thrust nimbly, laughing joyously as he did so. "Heh heh heh! This old man still has some moves to show off, eh, pirate?"
"Be quiet!" As he continued his assault, Cervantes realized that there was something different with this old man. Greed was the one with the psychological advantage. Cervantes realized that he was beginning to lose his temper. He stopped and recollected himself. This old man didn't fear him.
"You have some backbone, old man. But what makes you think you can defeat me in the end? I wield Soul Edge, after all."
Greed chuckled confidently, "I'll win, because I do not fear you. I know that you have fought enemies who appear to be fearless, but underneath they are trembling before your malevolence. I will be the one who puts you to rest once and for all, my good fellow."
With that Greed threw Void at Cervantes. Cervantes was too distracted by what Greed had just told him, and ended up with the kunai imbedded in his chest. He reached up to pull it out, but as he did he felt his life force begin to drain away. He could see the souls inside his body being pulled into Void. His skin began to crack as his body began to decay.
"No! No! How can this be?!"
"This was a waste of my time. Abyss promised me thrills if I joined him, but so far I've been disappointed. The golem hardly challenged me, and you were no more of a challenge. At this rate I could kill the Azure Knight in my sleep!"
"You…you know of our alliance? How!?" Cervantes raised Nirvana, taking aim at Greed, but his failing body could no longer sustain any movement. His arm dropped and he stood there, decaying.
"Who…who is…Abyss?
"Abyss is the one who will be the single force in this world. You, the Azure Knight, and even Soul Calibur will be eliminated from the picture once and for all!"
As Greed said the final word, a sudden rush of wind blew across the deck of the Adrian. The winds blew with such incredible force that it seemed they would tear the sails off the ship.
Growing weaker by the second, Cervantes was picked up by the wind and slammed into the door leading down into the cabin. His clouded eyes looked up at the gathering of black storm clouds above him.
"No…not now…I will not let him take it from me!"
"What is he going on about?" Greed looked up at the clouds. A thunderbolt flashed across his vision. Suddenly, behind him, he felt a heavy and terrible force. He turned to join eyes with those of the newly reformed Azure Knight himself.
"It's him!" Greed shivered in delight.
Cervantes however, trembled in pure terror. "What…has he…become?" In his hand, he could feel Soul Edge shaking.
"Cervantes…" Nightmare's otherworldly voice boomed, "Your time has come. Soul Edge, and your life force, are mine!" He raised his monstrous arm, and in an instant, Cervantes's Soul Edge flew out of his grasp, and into Nightmare's. He began laughing sadistically as he began to merge the sword into him. The sword's essence surged into the knight and finally vanished in a burst of flame.
"Yes, this is it! I am one step closer to being complete!"
"No!" Greed shouted, "That blade was supposed to be mine! You'll give it to me before I kill you!"
"Wretched human! It is now a part of me! You can not take it from me, nor can you kill me!" Nightmare raised his phantom Soul Edge, and prepared to unleash a burst of energy that would destroy the boat his two foes on it.
But before he could, Cervantes stood onto his feet. "I'll be damned before I let you win, Azure Knight!" He let the souls in his body flow into Void without hesitation, destabilizing Void's properties. Suddenly Void burst with uncontrolled energy, opening up a portal into the void, pulling both Cervantes and Greed into the vortex.
Nightmare stood firm as he was pulled towards the vortex. As he neared the brink of the portal, he took Soul Edge and somehow cleaved the portal in half, quelling the powerful vortex.
Nightmare now stood alone on the deck of the Adrian, deadly silent. With one half of Soul Edge merged with him, he could now sense the other half, his half. It was faint. It was sleeping in someplace far away, away from this physical world. It did not matter. He would reach this destination at any cost. This was his destiny.