Chapter 7 - Final Battle. Fight !

Author's Notes : Welcome back to the stage of history. ;) I'm still there, writing again and again late at night when I should be in bed.

I'm really glad to see this story has some 'fans' of its own. I liked your great reviews so much. Didn't see any flames (for the moment ^_^;). For those who care, no it still isn't finished. I've got some other things to say before all this ends. Writing a story like "a girl searching for freedom" and "destiny" is quite an adventure indeed, but it's fun. And personally, I prefer reading long stories than be left unsatisfied. However, I have to admit this chapter was one of the hardest to write.

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Then they came out of the house. As they arrived at the main place in the village, they saw an huge statue representing a sword. Kilik was the first to notice it. "Hey look !" He paused and his eyes widened. "Could it be..."

"-The sword of salvation !" Mina continued, although she could barely believe it.

"-Soul Edge ?" Hwang didn't believe his eyes. Finally, they would have found *the* sword of salvation ? It wasn't ...only a legend ?

Kilik came closer to the statue and slowly approached his hand of the rock, while the four others watched in awe.

And when finally he touched the statue... he felt a incredible coldness. It felt like ice. It was so cold that Kilik shivered. When he removed his hand, a bright red light appeared through small cracks in the rock. Kilik stepped backwards. The light was like consuming the rock, rays of light dazzling the four fighters with a terrible noise.

"What's happening !?" Mina screamed, but no one could hear her, not even herself. It was like she had lost her voice, and feeling this made her feel they couldn't defeat... anything that was responsible of this. The light was becoming dazzling, and it was like they couldn't hear anything anymore, anything else than an horrible, indescribable sound...

After a few minutes, that felt like hours for Hwang, Xianghua, Kilik and Seung Mina, the light and noise slowly weakened, until it was completely dark, and completely silent too... And they could finally look at the statue. But it was no longer a statue.

Before their eyes was Inferno, the fire demon.

Each of them was both terrified and feeling an irresistible hate against this evil form. An evil form with a strong evil aura, as if both the hate of the souls of the warriors killed by Soul Edge and the anger the four fighters felt were just making him stronger. All around this place, the ground had become black, like it had been burnt. The night had suddenly come. And the wind was stronger than before.

They couldn't see anything else than *him*, now. The ashes and glowing embers floated in the wind, all around them. Making of this scene the representation of Chaos. What was making this creature.. burn ? Where did this energy come from ?

"What's that ?" Kilik said recovering, frowning, courageously brandishing his Kali-Yuga at the... demon, in front of him.

"HAHAHAHAHA !!!! ARE YOU READY TO DIE ?!" The demon screamed, his strange voice echoed. With every word he said, the young warriors felt the gap between what they thought about Soul Edge, and what it really was. They almost felt ashamed having believed in such a thing. How could have people made a myth of what was actually a monster ?

Hwang thought he had not that much to lose now and approached.

Mina felt her heart beat faster. "Hwang, be careful !"

"Who are you ?!" Hwang said to Inferno, visibly irritated, burying his eyes to avoid the bright light, ashes and the heat with his left hand.

The demon looked at Hwang with contempt and laughed. "I'M INFERNO !!! THE ALMIGHTY SOUL, OF THE SWORD THAT YOU IDIOTS CALL THE SWORD OF SALVATION !" He laughed again. His voice was really loud, and it was quite hard for them to bear it.

Seung Mina didn't believe it. She *couldn't* believe it. "So... so Soul Edge is an....an EVIL sword ?!" She stayed silent for a moment, feeling like running away from home didn't have much sense now. "But... how ?" she whispered to herself.

Hwang looked at her, closing his eyes and frowning. "Yes, ...Mina. I don't think it can be of any help for Korea...". Mina couldn't help feeling sorry for him, who had traveled all around the world to find a cruel monster, who was hoping to save Korea with Soul Edge, and whose life didn't have much meaning now... But, wasn't she in the same situation after all ?

"SHUT UP !!" Inferno continued. "WHO WILL BE THE FIRST TO DIE ?!"

"-You !" Xianghua said frowning and raising her sword.

The three others looked, surprised, at the young chinese girl. She was looking at him with determination. She turned back to her friends and smiled. "Don't let me down. We can do it. I'm sure." Actually, she wasn't THAT sure. But they didn't have the choice. The word of her mother echoed in her head : "It's your destiny, Xianghua..." She had made a promise, and she wouldn't break it. And giving up without trying to fight wasn't her cup of tea.

Anyway, these last sentences made them feel a bit better. "No, I won't give up," was what one could read in their minds. The minds of four warriors that destiny had chosen. It was certainly not for nothing.

Hwang raised his sword, ready to fight. But Inferno was so imposing that he could feel his power deep inside of him, and thought about how many people he had killed. Hundreds, thousands maybe...? What were the differences between himself, and all these people ? He was sure that together, they had a chance to defeat him. But... he couldn't figure out how.

"Why didn't he attack us yet..?" Kilik asked himself. Inferno was indeed there, near them, nevertheless it seemed like he was waiting for something. Kilik wished he could attack. But how could he win against something made of fire ? Even with his Kali-Yuga*, he couldn't. Maybe the Dvapara-Yuga*... It had allowed to stay himself while all others in the temple were going berserk. His sister had saved his life giving hin this weapon before she went berserk, and he was forced to kill her before she killed him at the end... He wanted to forget all this, yet he couldn't. There sure was something with the Dvapara-Yuga... Inferno's power felt so much like the evil power he felt that day...

Suddenly, Xianghua understood what he was waiting for. "Mina ! Look !" she yelled at Mina who went closer.

"-What ?"

"- He's increasing his power and regenerating the sword !"

Mina noticed, indeed, that he was becoming redder and that something was forming in his right hand. They heard strange cries of pain coming from nowhere.

"I suppose it's...?" Mina continued.

"-Yes, I think so. It might be the souls of the people he killed when he was hidden within Soul Edge."

"-That's terrible.." Mina suddenly stopped. Inferno had finished regenerating Soul Edge.

"I NEED... MORE SOULS...." he said, looking at them with interest. He tightened his grip on Soul Edge. " I'LL KILL YOU FIRST. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!"......

He freed his energy, causing the ground to break and the four fighters froze at the sight of this ball of energy, extending more and more around him and towards them like a tornado.

Hwang was the first to react.

"RETREAT ! WE'LL GET KILLED !" he was right. Inferno's energy blast was dangerously approaching, with a lot of rocks pulled out from the ground. At this rate, none of them had a chance to survive if they were hit by one of these rocks turning so fast around the enemy they could barely see them.

So they ran. As fast as they could.

But it wasn't enough. What exactly could they do against such an energy field ? All Inferno wanted was to take their souls. It seemed like he usually used this energy field to kill people, then take their souls.

The energy field approached, closer and closer, and Mina, Kilik, Hwang and Xianghua were running as much as they could to avoid it....

It was too late.

All four of them were caught by Inferno's burning energy field.

To be continued...