Chapter 38: The Final Battles Part 3; The Triforce's Final Reunion

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Calibur, Zelda, or Metroid. Although that only appeared once, I still think it needs to be mentioned. glares at lawyers

Last Time on ALF...

Maxi and Taki end their battle with Shura finally, and realize their feelings for eachother. Spawn singlehandedly slaughters Twinrova, empowered by the abilities of the castle, and Mitsurugi gets trapped in fighting some unknown warrior. Link, Cassandra and Siegfried make it to the top floor, prepared to take on Inferno once and for all.

The doors open up, revealing the throne room where Inferno is. He's at his seat playing the organ, something Ganondorf would do on occasion. Link releases a deep breath and charges forward, but is stopped at the last second by Cassandra.

"Cassandra, you can't be too concerned about me!" he tells her.

"I want a piece of him first!" Cassie runs past Link towards Inferno.

"Wait, Cassie!"

"She's as stubborn as you!" Siegfried comments as he watches the Greek warrior charge at Inferno. He's not as fast as either Link or Cassandra so running after them wouldn't do anything.

Link on the other hand races after his fiance. Cassandra comes before Inferno, who still plays the organ, and slashes at him. The fiery demon releases a shockwave of darkness at her, repelling the girl like she was nothing. She manages to roll back to her feet though; Inferno continues to play the organ. Link rushes by Cassie and tosses a bomb at Inferno, destroying his organ. The smoke clears, and reveals Inferno has suffered no damage.

Inferno glares at Link, his eyes giving off the same effect Ganondorf normally would. "Well, I see you're in a hurry to die. Link, right?"

"Quite the opposite; I'm in a hurry to make sure you die... Just looking at you wearing Ganondorf's body really angers me!" Link growls, his eyes giving off that familiar look Sieg and Cass fear.

"That's right, hate me. Unleash your full strength against me in mortal combat," speaks Inferno as he glares at the Hylian. He then realizes what he said and shakes his head from side to side, before saying, "I mean, not that anyway."

"Gladly!" Link raises his sword and swings, releasing Shooting Stardust. The demon jumps out of the way and avoids the attack, glaring down at the Hylian with hate. His attack destroys the organ in the process.

Link charges at Inferno, and immediately slashes at him. Inferno draws Soul Edge and swings to the side to knock away the attack. Flames surround the blade, causing it to change shape. It turns into a lance with an axe head attached to the end. He swings, sending rising pillars of flames to travel towards our heroes.

They each jump out of the way to avoid a horrible burn, but that's when Inferno suddenly appears before Siegfried and jabs him with his weapon, sending him crashing through a wall. He laughs.

"Siegfried!" Link shouts, running at Inferno angrily. His rage begins to take over his thoughts as he wildly slashes at the demon.

Siegfried steps out from the hole in the wall with his armor destroyed. 'I figured I wouldn't be able to stand up against him like this... I'll have to go all out.'

Holding Soul Calibur up high, Siegfried invokes its energy. His body becomes surrounded by crystals, empowering him with the armor he used before. "Link, get back!"

Siegfried prepares to swing at Inferno, who was toying with Link at the moment. Still, Link continues to fight despite Siegfried warning him. 'Damn... He's already being consumed.'

"Link!" Cassandra rushes in and tackles Link to the ground.

"You're wide open!" Inferno raises Soul Edge up high.

Siegfried grins. "So are you! Diamond Spear Wave!" He swings, releasing a flurry of diamond spears at Inferno. As Cassandra rolls out of the way with Link, Inferno becomes impaled by the spear hail.

Cassandra pulls herself and Link to their feet, before smacking Link in the left cheek. "Link, wake up!"

"Huh? What?" Link blinks rapidly, unable to comprehend what happened. 'I lost control again... I didn't even notice this time.'

"Link, you have to stay back. At this rate you'll become whatever you were before," she warns him.

"I can't just hold back. I'll fight back using this," he says to her. Link digs into his bag to grab the magic armor; his Triforce glows before he touches the item. "Super Royal Armor."

Cassandra steps back as his armor materializes on his body. Once in his green armor form he charges at Inferno at high speed. 'I see. The Triforce protects him when he uses it. He'll be safe as long as he wears that armor.'

Siegfried clashes weapons with Inferno, the steel of their blades reacting upon contact. Inferno laughs before saying, "Isn't this ironic? My greatest host, and the reason I've become this strong, is also the one Soul Calibur chose. I guess Claire became desperate if she picked you."

"I think it's a perfect idea." Soul Calibur extends a spike up in Inferno's face, piercing out the skull. This forces the demon to back away in pain. "Who else would want Soul Edge dead more than someone whose life was ruined by it? This will make up for the people I've killed wielding you."

Link jumps on top of Siegfried's shoulder and comes down with a stab right in Inferno's throat. But he's suddenly blocked by a barrier, that repels him and Siegfried. The two roll over the ground, but manage to pick themselves up pretty quickly. Inferno begins to float high up in the air. "How's about we play a little game?"

"I don't like this." Link prepares his shield.

"What?"

"It's called Dodge!" Inferno fires a ball of black light at the two. They jump out of the way. He then fires at Cassandra, who rolls out of the way in time too.

"Are you copying Ganondorf now?" Link questions the demon.

"Dodge!" He fires at the Hylian now. Link raises the Mirror Shield, but suddenly rolls out of the way. Inferno grins and says, "Oh, so you noticed. Your shield can't deflect darkness can it?"

'I figured he wouldn't use a normal light attack...' Link puts his shield away, knowing it won't help him.

Inferno summons several more balls and fires them in all directions. Some go after the dodging three warriors, some hit the ceiling to cause debris to fall, and others miss entirely. Link notices one coming straight at him, and knocks it back at the demon with the Master Sword. Siegfried releases a beam of blue energy at Inferno from behind. 'He'll have to deflect my attack or Link's. What will it be?'

Inferno moves to the side to avoid Siegfried's attack and knocks the ball of light at Link. Link hits back, and a round of ping pong begins between them. 'He can't keep this up forever.'

"Gotcha!" Cassandra, having gotten in close to Inferno while he was distracted by Link, grabs hold of his legs to drag him back to the ground. "Now! Hit him!"

Link smacks the ball at Inferno, who gets pulverized by the attack. Cassandra lets go of Inferno and takes out the bow and an arrow. "Cassandra, now's your chance!"

"Got it!" Cassandra draws the bow and aims at Inferno, her weapon and aim a little shaky. She lets loose the arrow, and thanks to the Triforce it becomes a beautiful golden beam of light. Unfortunately it misses and hits the ceiling, sticking into it with her energy still filling it. "Shit!"

"That was pretty close, humans," says Inferno, having recovered from the ball of dark light. He turns his attention to Cassandra and fires a wave of black flames at her. She screams in pain as she's blown halfway across the room with parts of her clothes burning off.

"Cassandra!" Link rushes to her side, using magic to speed himself up, and grabs Cassie before she could hit a wall. Cassandra begins to breathe heavily from the attack, the flames still harming her body. Link uses an ice spell to blow away the fire, and is thankful seeing she doesn't have any nasty burns. "Cassandra..."

"L-Link...I'm okay. I'm sorry though...I missed," she says, her breathing becoming more regular.

"Forget about it. We can handle this." He looks back at Inferno, and his eyes spot the arrow in the ceiling. It's still glowing with Cassandra's magic energy.

"Monster!" Siegfried releases crystal spears at the monster, who dodges them effortlessly.

"I think it's about time I took you seriously. I can't let that happen again," Inferno says as he floats higher up. He raises his right fist up, and the dark glow of the Triforce of Power illuminates his entire body. Dark flames surround himself as well, and envelops him.

"He has the Triforce of Power too?" Link's eyes widen in fear, believing this may be it for them. As the flames grow bigger, Link realizes what he's doing.

The flames disperse, revealing a boar-like monster in its place. Inferno lands, the ground shaking as he does. Black flames surround his head, and turns it into a flaming boar skull. "I'll crush you all with 100 percent of my power!"

Downstairs...

Mitsurugi stands up, still standing on Setsuka's dress. "Get off my dress!"

The samurai remains silent, his eyes zooming across the darkness of the room. He turns around and draws his sword, but nothing happens. That's when he's kicked in the back, and knocked to the ground away from Setsuka. She finally stands up, and looks ahead to see a blur in the darkness.

'What the hell was that?' Mitsurugi looks around for the attacker once more.

"Raise your sword up!" Talim's voice carries over to him. He raises his blade, and blocks an attack just in the nick of time. He couldn't see whatever was in front of him, but he knows for sure that something's on his katana.

"Right there!" Setsuka draws her blade and slashes in front of Mitsurugi, who she remembers is just behind her. But to her surprise she misses. "Huh? He's gone?"

"That voice is that Setsuka...Where did he go!" Mitsurugi grits his teeth angrily.

Setsuka then realizes something and turns back to Talim. "Talim, was it? Can you really see that attacker?"

"Eh?" Mitsurugi turns to the direction of the voices.

"Well no, but I can tell where he is," Talim says.

"That's good enough. We need you to locate him when he strikes!" Setsuka tells her. Talim nods and scans the room for their attacker.

"Mitsurugi sir! Behind you!" Talim points at Mitsurugi.

The samurai quickly turns around, drawing his blade to block the weapon coming at his lungs. He deflects the blade, the steel on both objects releasing sparks as they pass by and shedding a temporary light in the room. In that light Mitsurugi checks out his opponent: Voldo. 'So that's who we're fighting...'

Voldo vanishes into the darkness, leaving Mitsurugi's side. "I got a look at his face; he doesn't have any eyes to see."

"So how's he seeing?" Setsuka asks him.

"He might be able to sense our presence," Talim tells them. "This darkness gives him an advantage because we can't see him!"

"Then you just have to find him!" Mitsurugi shouts at her.

Before Talim could respond, she suddenly turns around and raises her tonfas. Her weapons manage to block Voldo's weapons, but she's knocked on her back by a kick. "Kya!"

"Talim?" Setsuka calls out. "Talim!"

Voldo stomps on Talim's cheek, pushing her down on the ground. Setsuka heads for Talim following her squeals of pain. Drawing her blade she repels the blindman from the fair skin girl. Setsuka begins slashing wildly in the dark, making a few thin cuts to Voldo's body. Talim rolls onto her feet, clutching her face in pain. "Thank you Miss Setsuka."

"It's okay. We'd be screwed without you anyway," speaks the iai user with a discerning look on her face. Setsuka stands beside Talim. "Where is he now?"

Talim looks over for the assailant, and stops to look above them. "Above!"

Talim and Setsuka dive out of the way, but don't notice Mitsurugi leaping at them. "Prepare to feel the wrath of my blade!"

"Mitsurugi?" After Setsuka calls out his name the samurai slices at Voldo. His polished steel takes claim to Voldo's left arm, severing it from the body. Blood splatters on Talim's face, causing her to go, "Kya!"

Voldo hits the ground violently, hissing in pain from the attack. Talim could see him running off, escaping the darkness. "He's running away."

"Hmph. A pointless battle. How dare you waste my time?" Mitsurugi shouts. "If I ever see you again you're going to hell! Heishiro Mitsurugi's the name!"

"Do you ever shut up?" Setsuka asks him.

"Shut up!"

"You shut up, you murderer!"

"You have no right saying that, you bitch!"

"Please! Stop the fighting!" Talim manages to scream out these words to get their attention, the first time she's ever been so loud in her life. The duo turn to face the girl, and all of a sudden the lights turn back on. This shows the look on Talim's face, smeared with blood and frowning. "Please, put it aside for now. Link and the others still need our help. He's in danger more than anyone else here."

"What? How can he be in danger?" Mitsurugi asks her.

"What's wrong with Link?" Setsuka asks, growing worried over the Hylian already. Setsuka steps over to the young girl, kicking the severed arm aside, and looks into her eyes. "Tell me what's wrong!"

Upstairs...

Link and Siegfried shout in unison as they release their attacks upon the monster Inferno, a beam of light and a wave of diamonds. Both attacks get blocked by Inferno's trident swords, the beam bouncing off and the diamonds failing to pierce. Inferno roars and releases a wave of flames from his body, which knocks both Link and Siegfried away.

Link rolls back to his feet and charges at the demonic beast. He draws the Clawshot and shoots up above Inferno to grapple onto the ceiling. He pulls himself up in the air before Inferno's face, and slashes at his face. Inferno's head is thrown back from his left eye being slashed, but breathes fire at Link as he ascends to the ceiling.

Link sheathes the Master Sword to pull out the Mirror Shield, and blocks the flames. "Have some of that flame come at you!"

"Diamond Spear Wave!" To add to it, Siegfried releases a flurry of diamonds to add to Link's counter. Inferno is covered in a fiery explosion.

Link reaches the top and looks down at the smoke. 'I doubt that'd be enough to finish him...Hm?' His eyes notice the light arrow stuck in the ceiling. 'It's still glowing... That might work, but-'

Inferno comes out of the flames unharmed, and breathes dark flames at the elf. Link raises his shield to block, but his protection fails. He, along with his clawshot are blown off the ceiling and crashes into the ground. Parts of the ceiling fall off on top of him as well.

Cassandra sees him in pain and cringes. 'I have to do something. If Link keeps fighting he'll turn into a monster! But even if I use the light arrows again I'll just miss!'

Her eyes dart up at the ceiling and sees the arrow she missed with still up in the ceiling. 'If I can get that and stab him with it, Inferno's powers will be sealed and I won't have to use the bow!'

Link rises up from the rubble with a scar on his face. He glares angrily at the demon Inferno, showing he's got that look in his eye again. In a growl Link changes at Inferno, but is stopped midway by Cassandra. "Link, stop!"

"Cassandra, get back! He's starting to lose control!" Siegfried says to her.

Not listening, Cassandra lands a kick to his crotch. Link shouts out in pain, Siegfried cringes at the sight, and Inferno pauses before laughing. "Fighting among comrades? You might as well kill him. He's been bathing in the dark energy I've placed around the castle enough for him to level several cities."

Link falls to the ground face forward, clutching his area. "What the hell?-! Why'd you do that for?-!"

Cassandra gives out a deep sigh. 'Thank goodness. It worked...' "Calm down. I didn't hit you that hard."

Link manages to pick himself back up, and although still in pain he finds the energy to keep going. "Thanks. You actually saved me just now."

"He's not overwhelmed yet?-!" Inferno roars in anger and summons a ball of dark flames to shoot at the couple.

Siegfried summons diamonds to protect the two. On the other side of the wall Link says to Cassandra, "I have a plan. We'll distract him long enough for you to get the arrow. When you get it, sneak in and stab him in the stomach."

Link grabs the Master Sword and releases Shooting Stardust up at the ceiling, knocking the arrow down to stab into the ground. Inferno plows through the diamond wall at Link and Cassie, only for him to throw the Master Sword in his left eye. The boar monster roars in pain; he grabs the sword to pull out, only for its magic to repel itself from the demon. As this happens, Cassie slides underneath the beast to capture the arrow.

Siegfried releases a flurry of diamond spikes at Inferno, some of them piercing into the boar-like monster's body. Link grabs his blade and jumps on Inferno's head, holding onto the horns for support. 'If he's right and I am drawing in Soul Edge energy, then I can do this!'

Link's body begins to release dark energy, and with it he begins to hack away at the demon's head. The demon struggles about trying to knock him off. As he continues to wail on Inferno's head, red vein marks begin to course from his heart to his eyes. 'Stay calm! You can't let him take control!'

Cassandra manages to reach the arrow and grab it. "Got it!"

Inferno eventually grabs hold of Link and pummels him into the ground. "Link!"

"Siegfried, get his tail!" Link shouts.

Inferno raises his blade to dissect Link's skull, but that's when Siegfried throws Soul Calibur at its tail. The blade pierces the tail, and its purity quickly begins to poison the boar demon. In pain, Inferno releases Link, which allows him to roll out of the way. "Cassie, now!"

Cassandra runs up to the boar and prepares an attack, but it pulls its tail out in time to smack her away with its free hand. Link runs over and catches her. "It's too hard to get in close!"

"He's not good when he takes attacks to the tail, so I thought that would work. Guess he overcame it..." Link begins to look over the demon's body, searching for a weakpoint.

Siegfried runs up to Siegfried to grab Soul Calibur, and releases an energy wave at its back. This of course hurts the monster, but the pain is so much it falls to its hands and knees. "Huh?"

"That did better than I thought..." Siegfried says as he backs away from the creature, anticipating its next move.

The demon stands up and turns to Siegfried. Link then gasps when he sees a large wound mark on the demon's back. With experiences in swords he can tell a blade wound from looking at it, and he can tell that that's a stab wound.

'But we never stabbed him in the-' That's when it hits him.

"Link, you don't think..." says Cassandra as she looks to Link. As Inferno prepares to battle Siegfried Link and Cassandra remembers a similar wound inflicted.

Without warning, a blade pierces into Inferno's back. It appears to have stopped, and it can no longer go through, no matter how much Zelda pushed the Master Sword in. Tears begin to come down her eyes as she did this.

Everyone in the room looks at the incident and realizes what has happened, Link especially. Inferno walks forward to get the blade out, and turns around to face Zelda.

"Cassandra, aim for his back." Cassandra nods in agreement, still clutching the arrow. "I'll make an opening, and you sneak in from behind."

Link charges at Inferno, and with top speed he grabs hold of the demon's tail. He opens his mouth and takes a huge bite out of it. Inferno roars angrily before flinging its tail about. The beast tosses Link over to Siegfried, who manages to catch him. "Thanks Siegfried!"

"Hang in there. He's coming!" As Link gets to his feet, the demon stomps over to the two. The hylian warrior prepares himself, his eyes looking behind the beast at his beloved Cassandra. Siegfried raises Soul Calibur, awaiting the monster to make its move with a calm expression on his face.

Inferno roars angrily at the two swordsmen, but fails to notice the approaching Cassandra behind it. She leaps into the air and lands on the beast's back, stabbing the light arrow in the fleshy wound exposed. Cassandra leaps back off of the demon, as the arrow takes effect. Golden light escapes from the wound, consuming the now shrinking body of the monster.

Inferno falls to its knees in pain, roaring as the arrow's purity wrecks apart Soul Edge's energy. Inferno's body reverts to his original form, that of the flaming head humanoid. Soul Edge the sword reverts to a crimson blade that looks to be completely composed of blood. The guard of the sword looks like bat wings, the middle of it has a skull face and above the head is the eye.

"No! This can't be!" Inferno complains as he tries to move.

"Now!" Link and Siegfried charge at Inferno. Soul Calibur surrounds Siegfried's body with energy, as it changes shape; it now resembles Soul Edge in appearance, but the face is feminine, the entire sword looks like it's made of blue crystals, and instead of an eye a bright light escapes and overshadows the rest of the weapon.

Link jumps at Inferno, performing a Jump Attack that slices off Inferno's free arm. As this happens Mitsurugi, Setsuka, and Talim reach the room. Soon Spawn joins them and watches the fight's climax.

Siegfried slashes at Inferno, chipping off the right side of his face. Inferno releases flames to burn them, but the Master sword and Soul Calibur protect them. "No! I refuse to let it end this way!"

"Shut up and die, monster!" Cassandra shouts from a distance.

Link charges in using Hyper Dash, and pierces the demon's stomach. What he didn't expect is that Inferno has grabbed hold of the sword, and with a swift motion he tosses the sword away. "You're wide open Hylian!"

Inferno releases flames from his body to burn Link. Instead of blocking or running away, Link grabs hold of Inferno's shoulders and turns him around. "Siegfried, now!"

"What?" Siegfried lifts Soul Calibur up.

"Stab him in the wound Zelda and Cassandra have prepared. Finish him off!" As he speaks, his body begins to feel the effects of the flames.

'That's right...' Siegfried charges at Inferno with Soul Calibur. Inferno tries to struggle free, but Link keeps himself as close to the demon as possible.

"Finish this! End Soul Edge's evil reign of terror with your own hands!" Claire speaks within Siegfried's mind.

"Finally! I shall shake off my horrid past!" With a battle cry, Siegfried jabs the blade into the wound on Inferno's back. The sword comes out from the back and punctures Link's stomach. Cassandra covers her mouth in shock. "Link!"

"I'm good!" Link kicks himself off of Inferno and rolls over the ground. Cassandra runs over to him the moment he's free.

Inferno's body begins to freeze over. 'I've failed. Everything I've worked for...'

His mind goes off to the scars he's seen on the walls of his castle. 'That's it! I still have that!'

Cassandra helps up Link to his feet. The two watch as Inferno's body freezes over.

"Don't think it ends here...You're all doomed. If not by me, then her!" These are his last words before the demon's body explodes into shards of ice. Soul Edge falls to the ground, before the eye closes and the blade shatters to pieces.

"We did it... It's over." Cassandra hugs Link with a happy look on her face.

"Yes! They did it!" Talim squeals happily. Setsuka smiles while Mitsurugi crosses his arms and looks away.

Spawn 'hmphs' and turns away with his eyes closed. 'So, he finally did it.'

Outside the army of monsters hault their assault upon feeling Soul Edge's energy disappear. A Lizalfos growls before it runs away; this act leads the other monsters to escaping. Kilik and the others rest, glad that the battle has finally ended. Xianghua then states, "They did it!"

"Men! Victory has fallen upon us!" Girardot shouts as he raises his weapon; even though they were less than half in numbers, the warriors brought by Spawn raise their weapons in victory.

Back inside the castle Taki and Maxi continue up the stairs. The ninja stops when she notices a strange feel in the air. 'Soul Edge... It's...'

"What's wrong?" asks the pirate.

"He's gone. Soul Edge is gone..." she says to her beloved, before reaching in to hug him. "Link and Siegfried did it."

Upstairs Siegfried turns to Link, and as Claire says, "Thank you. Thanks to you, we've finally destroyed Soul Edge. Now humanity can move onto a better future...Now that there's no more evil to-"

"I wouldn't say that." This interrupts Claire, who now turns to Link. The Hylian turns to Cassandra, who gives him an approving nod.

"There is still one more evil presence. If left alone it will become worse than Soul Edge," says Cassandra to the spirit of the holy sword.

Link staggers over to the possessed knight, as Claire asks, "What are you doing?"

Without a word, Link makes a single step forward. His blade swings, slicing at Soul Calibur. Having been caught off guard by the sudden action Claire couldn't move to dodge in time; now there's an obvious blade mark where the face is.

Elsewhere...

Sophitia is busy carrying supplies to her family bakery. As she dodges she notices a terrible scene plastered in town. One of the buildings has been completely destroyed. She drops her supplies and heads to the scene, glad to see no one was hurt. 'Thank goodness.'

Her eyes take to notice the many blade marks around certain stones left of the building. She places a hand to it, and gasps when she feels a familiar energy coming from it. 'But why? Why am I feeling this energy?'

Julia: It's over...not really. Next time Link faces Soul Calibur.

Sora: And what would a Zelda game be without a countdown escape?

Yusei: The final chapters will take place. Soon Link's long journey will come to an end.