Hello, fellow SC fans. I've been playing Soul Caliber II a lot lately, and I'm impressed. I'm the kind of guy who enjoys stories in games, regardless of the type of game, and SC II is perfect in this regard. I'm dedicating this first section to Namco for this wonderful game. Thank you, Namco!
And now, for the reviewers:
Sabriel45- Hey, write more long reviews. I like them infinitely better than short ones :). And about the "innocent" part- it was intentional. It gets explained this chapter. And as for Sophitia, her problem gets explained in the prequel I'm going to write for this.
And the last bit, the part about Kilik and his Christian musings, that gets explained in the prequel as well. I probably should have started the prequel beforehand, but this fic hijacked my mind first and demanded to be written. I've literally written the "after" before the "before" in this fic.
Okay, everyone. Here's the big thing: this is the last chapter. BUT, the prequel will be arriving soon enough. The prequel's title is " Walking in Dream", and will detail Siegfried and Ivy's quest across Europe and Asia. I don't exactly follow SC canon here, since Raphael will join, but I think it makes more sense. After all, what the hell was he doing in SC II? Besides, you all have probably realized by now that I'm not *that* into SC canon :).
Enough of my rambling. It's...
"SHOWTIME!"
Chapter Seven
A Father's Last Requiem
Inferno rushed forward, each step of the flaming monstrosity rending the ground and causing patches of grass to spout in brief flames before dying. Inferno's claws glittered in the sunlight of the field (returned, now that Ivy had dropped Kilik's pendant) as they cut through the air, singing a death song as the wind rushed over them. The blow was perfectly aimed to slice through Ivy and Siegfried both. Although the two warriors were getting up, neither had time to defend themselves.
Kilik's staff, twirling end-over-end, struck Inferno's hand and knocked him off-balance. Taking the chance, Ivy snapped out the Snake Sword, catching Inferno's legs and jerking him off his feet. The demon shrieked as he hit the ground face-first. Ivy, her sword's chain links wrapped about his feet, lifted him up and threw the demon across the field. She concentrated, and the Valentine wrapped itself about Inferno tighter, slicing into his demonic flesh. Inferno screamed again, and suddenly Ivy felt the Snake Sword suddenly grow hot, so hot that it branded the flesh of her palm with a rose, the symbol she'd carved on the Snake Sword's handle in memory of her father. Yelling in pain, she dropped her sword. Cut off from it's master's will, the sword relinquished it's hold on Inferno and reformed a sword. Inferno got up, and a fireball appeared in his claws. He flung it at Ivy, who was shaking her hand to get rid of the burning, stinging pain in it.
Siegfried, who found that his body didn't respond quite the way it should (an afteraffect of the change back to his normal body from his demonic one), leapt at Ivy. The act occurred a second after the thought, and the normally quick reflexes that would have carried them both out of danger responded too slowly. He tackled Ivy, knocking her out of the way, but the fireball caught him on the back of his right shoulder. Pain flared in his mind, and he rolled over, trying to extinguish the unholy, living flame. It licked at his armor, trying to get closer to the skin. The plate glowed red as the fire heated it up. Siegfried rolled away, teeth clenched against the pain.
Kilik, who had ran after his staff, ran at Inferno. He struck at the demon with the pole end of his staff, thrusting quickly, almost like a fencer. It brought to mind a memory of Raphael, a friend he'd met in France on his first journey with Ivy and Siegfried. He wondered where his friend was now. He was in Asia now, along with Mitsurgi, Taki, and Xianghua, trying to find Soul Calibur. He hoped he was allright.
Inferno interrupted his musings by grabbing the end of the Kali-Yuga. Kilik, surprised that anyone could grab the staff when he was moving it that fast, was picked up and thrown through the air over Inferno's head. He hit the ground hard, letting go of his staff. Inferno, who still had the other end, proceeded to beat him with it. Kilik rolled, trying to dodge his own staff, and hoped that Ivy or Siegfried could help him. It was taking all he had to simply avoid getting brained by the Kali-Yuga.
Ivy recovered from getting tackled, and glanced worriedly at Siegfried. He was finishing putting the fire out, and when he saw her looking at him, he made a motion with his hand to help Kilik. She nodded, and grabbed the Snake Sword. The handle was cool now, though Ivy would always bear a burn scar shaped like a rose from it. She snapped the sword toward Inferno, it's links separating into multiple edges of death. They flew out from her right side, shrieking out towards the right claw of Inferno, hoping to grab it and jerk the Kali-Yuga out of his grasp.
Inferno, who had heard the sword unlink, ducked at the last second. The sword flew over him, glittering like a gem in the sun, and Inferno swung his left hand upwards in a backhand swing. The blow was aimed directly at one of the chains, and the sharp edges of Inferno's hellish claws cut through it. Over half the Snake Sword flew off into the plains, it's momentum carrying it far off into the grass. What was left of it returned to Ivy, and she stared at it, mute. It had taken her years to create, and in a single second it was undone. What she had left was little more than a dagger. She glared at Inferno, who had returned his attention to Kilik, who had gotten up in the meantime. Kilik, weaponless, faced off with Inferno. He leapt forward with a flying kick, and Inferno seemed to... blink out of existence. Kilik flew past the spot where Inferno had been, and then Inferno reappeared as suddenly as he had left. His claw hand grabbed the back of Kilik's shirt, and the young monk was slammed into the ground. Inferno, grabbing his neck, lifted him high in the air, choking him. Kilik kicked him in the face, causing flames to spout out behind Inferno, and Inferno yelled, throwing Kilik into the ground. Kilik lay there, passed out. Inferno pitched the Kali-Yuga onto the monk's unconscious form, then turned his attention to Ivy. Ivy rushed him, her newly-shortened sword before her, and tried to stab him. She was no match for the demon without her sword, and she staggered backwards from a backhand swing. She grabbed her face where Inferno had struck, then cried out when Inferno kicked her in the stomach. She lay on the ground, dazed, and Inferno lifted his taloned foot to crush her lungs.
Siegfried, having finally put the fire out, ran towards Inferno and tackled him. Inferno was pushed back, and then seeing who it was, laughed. He grabbed Siegfried, who was attempting to wrestle him, and lifted him into the air.
" So pitiful. You think to destroy me, Siegfried?" Inferno laughed, then tossed Siegfried to the ground. He did it without his usual strength, though; he wanted to enjoy this. Siegfried had been a very big problem to Inferno, and Inferno meant to make him pay for it. Siegfried, struggling to get up, was stopped by Inferno's foot on his chest. Inferno laughed, a sound that Siegfried would never forget: the sound of hundreds screaming, the sound of every soul that Inferno had corrupted both shrieking and laughing at the same time. It chilled the former mercenary, and he lay on the ground, shaking with fear. Few things truly scared Siegfried, but that laughter...
" Siegfried, how can you destroy me? We are one, you and I." Inferno leaned closer to Siegfried, the flaming skull that was his face edging closer to Siegfried's shaking face. " You killed your own father... You can blame it on me, but really, I didn't make you do anything. I merely took what was in you- the dark in you- and made it real. The desire was there. I just provided the means to make that desire reality." Chuckling and then laughing out loud, Inferno reared his head back, shrieking his laughter to the sky. " Oh, pitiful, pitiful boy! To think that you hoped to destroy me!" More hellish laughter. Siegfried thought he'd go mad with it, and start laughing and shrieking alongside the demon. " You can't! You're lost, boy, a damned soul! You," and Inferno stomped with his foot, causing burning agony in Siegfried's chest," are just" another stomp, " like", and another blow, " me!"
Inferno punctuated this last word by stepping off Siegfried and grabbing his throat. He lifted him up, still chuckling. Siegfried felt blackness closing in all around him, covering his vision.
And then, as he began to fall into darkness, he heard a voice.
His father's. Frederick's.
" Son."
Siegfried turned in the darkness, searching.
" Father?"
He knew it now- he had died. His father had come to avenge his patricide. He was going to drag Siegfried to hell for his crimes...
" Son, I never blamed you. Remember that."
" What? Father? Where are you..?"
" I can't talk long, my son. But just remember, that everyone can redeem themselves. That everyone can lift themselves off the ground, and hold to their honor..."
" Father?!?"
" Take up your sword, son! Lift yourself past the veil of old sins and memories, and hope for a new day! Make your stand in the rain!"
And then, in the darkness that lies between life and death, Siegfried felt a hand press a familiar, comforting object in his hand.
The handle of Requiem.
" What? Impossible! Requiem is..was.."
His father's voice spoke again, and it brought with it old and comforting memories; the smell of a good fire in the chimney of their old home, the warmth of love, the smell of oil as he and his father polished their swords and talked...
" My son, Requiem is only broken in your world. Here, in this place, it has never been broken, and never will be, so long as you hold strong. Go, now, my son... back towards life and the woman you love... Make your stand in the rain."
Siegfried felt things rushing past him, and he caught glimpses of them as he fell through dream and nightmare, rushing towards reality...
A glittering mirror, shining in the dark...
A man, back turned, sitting on a hill, his red hair and cloak swaying in the breeze...
A cobbled-stone floor, covered by people beyond counting, some groveling in the dirt, and others with their faces lifted towards the pouring rain, not an umbrella among them, singing and shouting in the rain...
And as he fell, he saw his father one last time. He was standing in the rain, his gaze turned upwards. And he was smiling.
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In the physical world, Inferno had finished choking Siegfried to death and had tossed him to the ground. He had to admit it was the most satisfying kill he had made in a long time. He kicked the body, feeling triumphant. Ivy, who had recovered from Inferno's kick, got up, and looking at Siegfried's body with horrified eyes, screamed. She got up, ignoring the pain in her side, and rushed Inferno. Inferno grabbed her, laughing and chuckling. His hand turned into a tentacle of flame, and it wrapped around her struggling, kicking form.
" So sorry. I'd meant to kill you first, and spare you the pain. It must be so sad for you," and here he laughed, and even in her rage and sorrow Ivy felt fear, " to go all this way, hoping to save him, manage to find me, and..." here he paused, sweeping his free hand out for a mockingly dramatic effect, " at the end, finally free him, only to have him killed not three minutes later. Rather anti-climatic, I must say. But infinitely satisfying!"
He prepared to crush her, and at that second Siegfried opened his eyes. Inferno, feeling a life that shouldn't have been there awaken behind him, turned in time to see Siegfried sit up. Siegfried reached to his back, to the place Requiem used to hang, and although to Siegfried he simply grabbed the handle, Inferno saw differently. Siegfried's hand went past his shoulder into nothingness. Blue ripples passed about his hand in the air, like he was sticking it into water. His hand then reappeared, and in it he grasped Requiem. Inferno, for one of the first times in his long, unholy life, was stunned speechless. He'd broken Requiem a long time ago, when he took Siegfried over again in Asia. How could it be in his hands here? He'd burned all the pieces away! Ivy, for her part, was completely dumbfounded. She sat on the ground as Inferno's tentacle melted away, trying to figure out what was happening. It had been too sudden, too quick, for her to comprehend it.
Siegfried, seeing the stunned Inferno, took his chance and swung Requiem. The sword whistled the air, and it's massive edge slashed through the flaming tentacle wrapped about Ivy. It split in half, cut as neatly as if it were nothing but paper. Inferno screamed, and staggered backwards. He'd never felt pain like this before.
Glaring at Siegfried and grasping the burning end where his hand had been ([Why won't it reform?] Inferno wondered agonizingly) Inferno said, " How can you be alive? I just killed you! And that sword... how can it still exist? I burned it away, burned it to nothingness!"
Siegfried stood up, shouldering Requiem as he did. " You don't get it, do you? You said we're the same. But we're not. You have no choice but to be evil. It's your nature. But I have a choice. I can be evil or good..."
Inferno, his demonic mission (which, simply put, was to corrupt souls) taking over, chuckled and said, " What choice? You killed your father! How can you-"
Interrupting him, Siegfried nodded and said, " I've done a lot of evil things with these hands. Things that could damn my soul and send me to hell. But even I have a chance at redemption! There's always hope, always a chance to stand in the rain again! Until death, no one's path is set in stone! No one's life is decided by fate... And now you die, demon!"
This last was yelled at Inferno, and Siegfried leaped, Requiem clasped behind his head. Inferno raised his good claw up, hoping to gut Siegfried before he could reach him. But at the last second, Inferno felt a hand on his arm, an incredibly strong hand, and thought he saw a man for a second, a man who strongly resembled Siegfried- whatever it was, his arm was shoved downward, and the claw went down as well.
Siegfried swung Requiem down with all his might. A thunderous sound was heard in the air. The massive blade swung upward into the air and seemed to hang there for a second before crashing down into Inferno. The demon was torn completely in half. His foul essence was sliced apart by the edge of Requiem- an edge that before was of steel, and now was of silver. Inferno died that day, underneath a shining sun, standing in the plains surrounding a small port town in Spain, killed by a man who was supposedly dead who wielded a sword that no longer existed. Such is the fate of evil. Inferno screamed only once, and then his body dissipated into flames that blew away with the breeze.
As Inferno's foul energy began to drift away, the Soul Edge, lying forgotten in the dirt, glowed red. The flames of Inferno's power were drawn into it, and the eye opened and gazed madly at Siegfried, seeming to smile. It had taken Inferno's power, the power of it's creator, and had grown even stronger. It seemed to laugh.
Looking around and gasping, Siegfried looked at Ivy. He tried to grin- a hard job, since his throat was still sore from Inferno's choking.
" Hey... honey. How... you been?"
She smiled, and ran forward to him. She grabbed him and uncharacteristically began weeping. Siegfried had seen her cry only once before. He had joined her then, and joined her now.
" Siegfried." she choked out.
" Ivy." He held her, Requiem dropping from his hands. The sword fell, and lay there in the grass, glittering softly. On the blade, a smiling man was reflected, a man who resembled Siegfried. The sky and clouds were visible through his transparent skin, and he turned away, walking towards the sun. Rain could be heard, faintly, in the distance.
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The next day.
The party had stopped in a village in spain called Mercha. They rested at the inn, and considered their next move. They were in a seemingly normal hotel room, but two things were out-of-place: the enormous sword that lay on the table, gazing about the room madly with the eye in it's hilt, and the woman who lay tied up on the bed. This woman would occasionally curse and mumble in another language, which some might recognize as Greek.
Siegfried sat on the edge of the bed he and Ivy shared, Requiem standing hilt up next to him. Ivy, who hadn't left his side at all, sat next to him. They had their arms around each other.
Kilik stood on the other side of the room, holding the Kali-Yuga. Occasionally he would glance at the prone and tied-up form of Sophitia. Even tied up he worried she'd try to kill him. He'd tied her up with some rope he bought, and then he'd put her broken arm in a cast (she had been awake by then, and tried to bite him while he did it- he finally had Siegfried hold her head back to avoid losing any fingers). Apparently Sophitia didn't take defeat very well. She was mostly docile now, still recovering. Her head ached where Kilik had hit her. Her old wounds hurt her as well; being near the almost-restored Soul Edge was causing the wounds she received destroying it's brother to hurt her. The monk in Kilik wanted to help, but as Siegfried had said, " That bitch is crazy." Kilik wanted to stay at staff's length from her tied up, and when she was released he planned to be very far away.
" So, what do we do now?" Siegfried said. He looked at the Soul Edge, and felt none of the old desire to pick it up. With Inferno dead, much of the sword's intelligence had went as well. It had lost it's power to entice intelligent beings, which was a big help to them all. Kilik had been afraid he'd go mad and try to kill them all again, but luck was with them.
" The Omega Sword was destroyed," Ivy said, glancing at Kilik, " so we can't use it to get rid of the damn thing. Guess we'll have to go to Greece."
" Greece? Why should we go there? Her family is there, and I doubt that they're going to be happy I beat the shit out of Sophitia." Kilik shook his head. " Course, I wouldn't have to do that if she hadn't tried to kill Ivy..."
Sophitia, lying on the bed, turned her head and said nothing. She was infuriated with Kilik for both being a man and defeating her (something she thought would never happen), but also very, very scared. In her heart she had begun doubting her gods. If they were real, how could Kilik have destroyed the Omega Sword so easily? It was indestructible! How...?
" In Greece," Ivy said, tactly ignoring Kilik's comments, " lies the forge where the Omega Sword was made. We should find Sophitia's husband, Rothion, and see if he can create another one. It's the quickest way."
" What about the Soul Calibur?" Kilik said, trying to steer the conversation away from Greece. He did not want to go there. Beating Sophitia was hard; having all of Greece after him for defeating it's hero would be worse. " We could wait until Raphael and the others returned."
She shook her head. " No good. We don't know if there still alive, much less if they will find the Soul Calibur. We need to destroy it now, before somebody hears about it and tries to take it from us." She mentally added that she least of all wanted to deal with Cervantes; despite letting her go last time, he would attack the next time he met with the Soul Edge and heard it's siren song. She didn't want to face her own father, alive or dead, ever again.
Kilik sighed. " All right. I guess we should go to Greece. Although this will probably end with me as the most wanted man in all of Europe. Let's go." He picked up the Kali-Yuga.
Siegfried nodded, and letting go of Ivy, picked up Requiem. He wrapped the Soul Edge in the black cloth they'd gotten for it in town. It's eye gazed at him as he did so, mocking him. It knew more than they did, it seemed.
[Before this is over I'll send you to hell,] Siegfried thought to it.
The eye gazed back.
- There will be a sequel, written when I'm done with the prequel. The sequel will be " Core of Reality", and details the end of the quest. Send me reviews! The first chapter of the prequel will arrive soon. It starts exactly one month after Siegfried and Ivy's battle at Castle Travens.
And now, for the reviewers:
Sabriel45- Hey, write more long reviews. I like them infinitely better than short ones :). And about the "innocent" part- it was intentional. It gets explained this chapter. And as for Sophitia, her problem gets explained in the prequel I'm going to write for this.
And the last bit, the part about Kilik and his Christian musings, that gets explained in the prequel as well. I probably should have started the prequel beforehand, but this fic hijacked my mind first and demanded to be written. I've literally written the "after" before the "before" in this fic.
Okay, everyone. Here's the big thing: this is the last chapter. BUT, the prequel will be arriving soon enough. The prequel's title is " Walking in Dream", and will detail Siegfried and Ivy's quest across Europe and Asia. I don't exactly follow SC canon here, since Raphael will join, but I think it makes more sense. After all, what the hell was he doing in SC II? Besides, you all have probably realized by now that I'm not *that* into SC canon :).
Enough of my rambling. It's...
"SHOWTIME!"
Chapter Seven
A Father's Last Requiem
Inferno rushed forward, each step of the flaming monstrosity rending the ground and causing patches of grass to spout in brief flames before dying. Inferno's claws glittered in the sunlight of the field (returned, now that Ivy had dropped Kilik's pendant) as they cut through the air, singing a death song as the wind rushed over them. The blow was perfectly aimed to slice through Ivy and Siegfried both. Although the two warriors were getting up, neither had time to defend themselves.
Kilik's staff, twirling end-over-end, struck Inferno's hand and knocked him off-balance. Taking the chance, Ivy snapped out the Snake Sword, catching Inferno's legs and jerking him off his feet. The demon shrieked as he hit the ground face-first. Ivy, her sword's chain links wrapped about his feet, lifted him up and threw the demon across the field. She concentrated, and the Valentine wrapped itself about Inferno tighter, slicing into his demonic flesh. Inferno screamed again, and suddenly Ivy felt the Snake Sword suddenly grow hot, so hot that it branded the flesh of her palm with a rose, the symbol she'd carved on the Snake Sword's handle in memory of her father. Yelling in pain, she dropped her sword. Cut off from it's master's will, the sword relinquished it's hold on Inferno and reformed a sword. Inferno got up, and a fireball appeared in his claws. He flung it at Ivy, who was shaking her hand to get rid of the burning, stinging pain in it.
Siegfried, who found that his body didn't respond quite the way it should (an afteraffect of the change back to his normal body from his demonic one), leapt at Ivy. The act occurred a second after the thought, and the normally quick reflexes that would have carried them both out of danger responded too slowly. He tackled Ivy, knocking her out of the way, but the fireball caught him on the back of his right shoulder. Pain flared in his mind, and he rolled over, trying to extinguish the unholy, living flame. It licked at his armor, trying to get closer to the skin. The plate glowed red as the fire heated it up. Siegfried rolled away, teeth clenched against the pain.
Kilik, who had ran after his staff, ran at Inferno. He struck at the demon with the pole end of his staff, thrusting quickly, almost like a fencer. It brought to mind a memory of Raphael, a friend he'd met in France on his first journey with Ivy and Siegfried. He wondered where his friend was now. He was in Asia now, along with Mitsurgi, Taki, and Xianghua, trying to find Soul Calibur. He hoped he was allright.
Inferno interrupted his musings by grabbing the end of the Kali-Yuga. Kilik, surprised that anyone could grab the staff when he was moving it that fast, was picked up and thrown through the air over Inferno's head. He hit the ground hard, letting go of his staff. Inferno, who still had the other end, proceeded to beat him with it. Kilik rolled, trying to dodge his own staff, and hoped that Ivy or Siegfried could help him. It was taking all he had to simply avoid getting brained by the Kali-Yuga.
Ivy recovered from getting tackled, and glanced worriedly at Siegfried. He was finishing putting the fire out, and when he saw her looking at him, he made a motion with his hand to help Kilik. She nodded, and grabbed the Snake Sword. The handle was cool now, though Ivy would always bear a burn scar shaped like a rose from it. She snapped the sword toward Inferno, it's links separating into multiple edges of death. They flew out from her right side, shrieking out towards the right claw of Inferno, hoping to grab it and jerk the Kali-Yuga out of his grasp.
Inferno, who had heard the sword unlink, ducked at the last second. The sword flew over him, glittering like a gem in the sun, and Inferno swung his left hand upwards in a backhand swing. The blow was aimed directly at one of the chains, and the sharp edges of Inferno's hellish claws cut through it. Over half the Snake Sword flew off into the plains, it's momentum carrying it far off into the grass. What was left of it returned to Ivy, and she stared at it, mute. It had taken her years to create, and in a single second it was undone. What she had left was little more than a dagger. She glared at Inferno, who had returned his attention to Kilik, who had gotten up in the meantime. Kilik, weaponless, faced off with Inferno. He leapt forward with a flying kick, and Inferno seemed to... blink out of existence. Kilik flew past the spot where Inferno had been, and then Inferno reappeared as suddenly as he had left. His claw hand grabbed the back of Kilik's shirt, and the young monk was slammed into the ground. Inferno, grabbing his neck, lifted him high in the air, choking him. Kilik kicked him in the face, causing flames to spout out behind Inferno, and Inferno yelled, throwing Kilik into the ground. Kilik lay there, passed out. Inferno pitched the Kali-Yuga onto the monk's unconscious form, then turned his attention to Ivy. Ivy rushed him, her newly-shortened sword before her, and tried to stab him. She was no match for the demon without her sword, and she staggered backwards from a backhand swing. She grabbed her face where Inferno had struck, then cried out when Inferno kicked her in the stomach. She lay on the ground, dazed, and Inferno lifted his taloned foot to crush her lungs.
Siegfried, having finally put the fire out, ran towards Inferno and tackled him. Inferno was pushed back, and then seeing who it was, laughed. He grabbed Siegfried, who was attempting to wrestle him, and lifted him into the air.
" So pitiful. You think to destroy me, Siegfried?" Inferno laughed, then tossed Siegfried to the ground. He did it without his usual strength, though; he wanted to enjoy this. Siegfried had been a very big problem to Inferno, and Inferno meant to make him pay for it. Siegfried, struggling to get up, was stopped by Inferno's foot on his chest. Inferno laughed, a sound that Siegfried would never forget: the sound of hundreds screaming, the sound of every soul that Inferno had corrupted both shrieking and laughing at the same time. It chilled the former mercenary, and he lay on the ground, shaking with fear. Few things truly scared Siegfried, but that laughter...
" Siegfried, how can you destroy me? We are one, you and I." Inferno leaned closer to Siegfried, the flaming skull that was his face edging closer to Siegfried's shaking face. " You killed your own father... You can blame it on me, but really, I didn't make you do anything. I merely took what was in you- the dark in you- and made it real. The desire was there. I just provided the means to make that desire reality." Chuckling and then laughing out loud, Inferno reared his head back, shrieking his laughter to the sky. " Oh, pitiful, pitiful boy! To think that you hoped to destroy me!" More hellish laughter. Siegfried thought he'd go mad with it, and start laughing and shrieking alongside the demon. " You can't! You're lost, boy, a damned soul! You," and Inferno stomped with his foot, causing burning agony in Siegfried's chest," are just" another stomp, " like", and another blow, " me!"
Inferno punctuated this last word by stepping off Siegfried and grabbing his throat. He lifted him up, still chuckling. Siegfried felt blackness closing in all around him, covering his vision.
And then, as he began to fall into darkness, he heard a voice.
His father's. Frederick's.
" Son."
Siegfried turned in the darkness, searching.
" Father?"
He knew it now- he had died. His father had come to avenge his patricide. He was going to drag Siegfried to hell for his crimes...
" Son, I never blamed you. Remember that."
" What? Father? Where are you..?"
" I can't talk long, my son. But just remember, that everyone can redeem themselves. That everyone can lift themselves off the ground, and hold to their honor..."
" Father?!?"
" Take up your sword, son! Lift yourself past the veil of old sins and memories, and hope for a new day! Make your stand in the rain!"
And then, in the darkness that lies between life and death, Siegfried felt a hand press a familiar, comforting object in his hand.
The handle of Requiem.
" What? Impossible! Requiem is..was.."
His father's voice spoke again, and it brought with it old and comforting memories; the smell of a good fire in the chimney of their old home, the warmth of love, the smell of oil as he and his father polished their swords and talked...
" My son, Requiem is only broken in your world. Here, in this place, it has never been broken, and never will be, so long as you hold strong. Go, now, my son... back towards life and the woman you love... Make your stand in the rain."
Siegfried felt things rushing past him, and he caught glimpses of them as he fell through dream and nightmare, rushing towards reality...
A glittering mirror, shining in the dark...
A man, back turned, sitting on a hill, his red hair and cloak swaying in the breeze...
A cobbled-stone floor, covered by people beyond counting, some groveling in the dirt, and others with their faces lifted towards the pouring rain, not an umbrella among them, singing and shouting in the rain...
And as he fell, he saw his father one last time. He was standing in the rain, his gaze turned upwards. And he was smiling.
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In the physical world, Inferno had finished choking Siegfried to death and had tossed him to the ground. He had to admit it was the most satisfying kill he had made in a long time. He kicked the body, feeling triumphant. Ivy, who had recovered from Inferno's kick, got up, and looking at Siegfried's body with horrified eyes, screamed. She got up, ignoring the pain in her side, and rushed Inferno. Inferno grabbed her, laughing and chuckling. His hand turned into a tentacle of flame, and it wrapped around her struggling, kicking form.
" So sorry. I'd meant to kill you first, and spare you the pain. It must be so sad for you," and here he laughed, and even in her rage and sorrow Ivy felt fear, " to go all this way, hoping to save him, manage to find me, and..." here he paused, sweeping his free hand out for a mockingly dramatic effect, " at the end, finally free him, only to have him killed not three minutes later. Rather anti-climatic, I must say. But infinitely satisfying!"
He prepared to crush her, and at that second Siegfried opened his eyes. Inferno, feeling a life that shouldn't have been there awaken behind him, turned in time to see Siegfried sit up. Siegfried reached to his back, to the place Requiem used to hang, and although to Siegfried he simply grabbed the handle, Inferno saw differently. Siegfried's hand went past his shoulder into nothingness. Blue ripples passed about his hand in the air, like he was sticking it into water. His hand then reappeared, and in it he grasped Requiem. Inferno, for one of the first times in his long, unholy life, was stunned speechless. He'd broken Requiem a long time ago, when he took Siegfried over again in Asia. How could it be in his hands here? He'd burned all the pieces away! Ivy, for her part, was completely dumbfounded. She sat on the ground as Inferno's tentacle melted away, trying to figure out what was happening. It had been too sudden, too quick, for her to comprehend it.
Siegfried, seeing the stunned Inferno, took his chance and swung Requiem. The sword whistled the air, and it's massive edge slashed through the flaming tentacle wrapped about Ivy. It split in half, cut as neatly as if it were nothing but paper. Inferno screamed, and staggered backwards. He'd never felt pain like this before.
Glaring at Siegfried and grasping the burning end where his hand had been ([Why won't it reform?] Inferno wondered agonizingly) Inferno said, " How can you be alive? I just killed you! And that sword... how can it still exist? I burned it away, burned it to nothingness!"
Siegfried stood up, shouldering Requiem as he did. " You don't get it, do you? You said we're the same. But we're not. You have no choice but to be evil. It's your nature. But I have a choice. I can be evil or good..."
Inferno, his demonic mission (which, simply put, was to corrupt souls) taking over, chuckled and said, " What choice? You killed your father! How can you-"
Interrupting him, Siegfried nodded and said, " I've done a lot of evil things with these hands. Things that could damn my soul and send me to hell. But even I have a chance at redemption! There's always hope, always a chance to stand in the rain again! Until death, no one's path is set in stone! No one's life is decided by fate... And now you die, demon!"
This last was yelled at Inferno, and Siegfried leaped, Requiem clasped behind his head. Inferno raised his good claw up, hoping to gut Siegfried before he could reach him. But at the last second, Inferno felt a hand on his arm, an incredibly strong hand, and thought he saw a man for a second, a man who strongly resembled Siegfried- whatever it was, his arm was shoved downward, and the claw went down as well.
Siegfried swung Requiem down with all his might. A thunderous sound was heard in the air. The massive blade swung upward into the air and seemed to hang there for a second before crashing down into Inferno. The demon was torn completely in half. His foul essence was sliced apart by the edge of Requiem- an edge that before was of steel, and now was of silver. Inferno died that day, underneath a shining sun, standing in the plains surrounding a small port town in Spain, killed by a man who was supposedly dead who wielded a sword that no longer existed. Such is the fate of evil. Inferno screamed only once, and then his body dissipated into flames that blew away with the breeze.
As Inferno's foul energy began to drift away, the Soul Edge, lying forgotten in the dirt, glowed red. The flames of Inferno's power were drawn into it, and the eye opened and gazed madly at Siegfried, seeming to smile. It had taken Inferno's power, the power of it's creator, and had grown even stronger. It seemed to laugh.
Looking around and gasping, Siegfried looked at Ivy. He tried to grin- a hard job, since his throat was still sore from Inferno's choking.
" Hey... honey. How... you been?"
She smiled, and ran forward to him. She grabbed him and uncharacteristically began weeping. Siegfried had seen her cry only once before. He had joined her then, and joined her now.
" Siegfried." she choked out.
" Ivy." He held her, Requiem dropping from his hands. The sword fell, and lay there in the grass, glittering softly. On the blade, a smiling man was reflected, a man who resembled Siegfried. The sky and clouds were visible through his transparent skin, and he turned away, walking towards the sun. Rain could be heard, faintly, in the distance.
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The next day.
The party had stopped in a village in spain called Mercha. They rested at the inn, and considered their next move. They were in a seemingly normal hotel room, but two things were out-of-place: the enormous sword that lay on the table, gazing about the room madly with the eye in it's hilt, and the woman who lay tied up on the bed. This woman would occasionally curse and mumble in another language, which some might recognize as Greek.
Siegfried sat on the edge of the bed he and Ivy shared, Requiem standing hilt up next to him. Ivy, who hadn't left his side at all, sat next to him. They had their arms around each other.
Kilik stood on the other side of the room, holding the Kali-Yuga. Occasionally he would glance at the prone and tied-up form of Sophitia. Even tied up he worried she'd try to kill him. He'd tied her up with some rope he bought, and then he'd put her broken arm in a cast (she had been awake by then, and tried to bite him while he did it- he finally had Siegfried hold her head back to avoid losing any fingers). Apparently Sophitia didn't take defeat very well. She was mostly docile now, still recovering. Her head ached where Kilik had hit her. Her old wounds hurt her as well; being near the almost-restored Soul Edge was causing the wounds she received destroying it's brother to hurt her. The monk in Kilik wanted to help, but as Siegfried had said, " That bitch is crazy." Kilik wanted to stay at staff's length from her tied up, and when she was released he planned to be very far away.
" So, what do we do now?" Siegfried said. He looked at the Soul Edge, and felt none of the old desire to pick it up. With Inferno dead, much of the sword's intelligence had went as well. It had lost it's power to entice intelligent beings, which was a big help to them all. Kilik had been afraid he'd go mad and try to kill them all again, but luck was with them.
" The Omega Sword was destroyed," Ivy said, glancing at Kilik, " so we can't use it to get rid of the damn thing. Guess we'll have to go to Greece."
" Greece? Why should we go there? Her family is there, and I doubt that they're going to be happy I beat the shit out of Sophitia." Kilik shook his head. " Course, I wouldn't have to do that if she hadn't tried to kill Ivy..."
Sophitia, lying on the bed, turned her head and said nothing. She was infuriated with Kilik for both being a man and defeating her (something she thought would never happen), but also very, very scared. In her heart she had begun doubting her gods. If they were real, how could Kilik have destroyed the Omega Sword so easily? It was indestructible! How...?
" In Greece," Ivy said, tactly ignoring Kilik's comments, " lies the forge where the Omega Sword was made. We should find Sophitia's husband, Rothion, and see if he can create another one. It's the quickest way."
" What about the Soul Calibur?" Kilik said, trying to steer the conversation away from Greece. He did not want to go there. Beating Sophitia was hard; having all of Greece after him for defeating it's hero would be worse. " We could wait until Raphael and the others returned."
She shook her head. " No good. We don't know if there still alive, much less if they will find the Soul Calibur. We need to destroy it now, before somebody hears about it and tries to take it from us." She mentally added that she least of all wanted to deal with Cervantes; despite letting her go last time, he would attack the next time he met with the Soul Edge and heard it's siren song. She didn't want to face her own father, alive or dead, ever again.
Kilik sighed. " All right. I guess we should go to Greece. Although this will probably end with me as the most wanted man in all of Europe. Let's go." He picked up the Kali-Yuga.
Siegfried nodded, and letting go of Ivy, picked up Requiem. He wrapped the Soul Edge in the black cloth they'd gotten for it in town. It's eye gazed at him as he did so, mocking him. It knew more than they did, it seemed.
[Before this is over I'll send you to hell,] Siegfried thought to it.
The eye gazed back.
- There will be a sequel, written when I'm done with the prequel. The sequel will be " Core of Reality", and details the end of the quest. Send me reviews! The first chapter of the prequel will arrive soon. It starts exactly one month after Siegfried and Ivy's battle at Castle Travens.