Disclaimer: Don't own SC2. Namco does. Am I Namco? Me =/= Namco.
Note: In this chap/prologue, a LOT of our heroes and villains will end up dead or gravely wounded. All I can say is, don't worry about it. Remember, this is just the prologue.
PROLOGUE PART II – THE LAST BREATHS
Chaos raged on the floor of the chapel. The ground shook and splintered asunder in the wake of the many battles that raged beneath crackles of lightning that inflamed the sky and set the clouds afire. A tornado of whirling darkness and shadow that spread into the lower air seeped through each slashed hole in the muddled clouds. A chorus of demonic hammers striking the anvil of earth echoed in the universe's halls as the whole world fell to the darkness and the fire. Now the many duels continued beneath the tsunami that clashed with the atmosphere above.
Many lives would end this day....the end of one story neared as the heavens signaled the approach of doom.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Masks faced off through the chapel as the slender katana of Yoshimitsu bashed harshly against Voldo's resilient katana. The katars spun expertly in Voldo's thin fingers and slashed repeatedly at the ninja at random intervals, attempting in vain to disrupt his train of battle. The two of them maneuvered back and forth, Voldo always low to the ground, Yoshimitsu always above and attacking down. They spun around, circling carefully and jabbing at each other when the opportune moment came.
"Miserable worm," snapped the ninja, "Can you do no more than that?"
Even though Voldo's hissing reply did not constitute a response, his actions did. The "worm" wormed his way forward in the span of a second and pushed Yoshimitsu offguard. His katars flew out, slicing each of the ninja's flanks. Yoshimitsu staggered, first blood blossoming from his sides, but quickly counterattacked, only to watch in awe as his foe dodged sideways with an elegant flourish and swung his elbows right into the ninja's wounded left side. The bash was more than enough. Gravely injured, Yoshimitsu soared through the air and his body smashed ignobly into the chapel wall. His limp body, not yet dead but still in great pain, peeled slowly off the crumbling structure and bounced once on the floor before going mostly limp. The ninja's chest heaved wearily as the splintered mask on his face continued to crack.
Voldo, satisfied with his handiwork, turned from the unconscious foe and slithered along towards the other end of the chapel where his only true foe fought on. His blind eyes gave off a slight glow beneath the mask over them as he made his way towards the weapon he'd spent so many years of his life searching for.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cervantes dodged Kilik's bo as it flew about him like a stabbing bird. The pirate raised his sword and clapped them together like thunder over the staff firmly as the brutal figure grinned an ominous grin and pulled the weapon aside with his own swords and released it suddenly, letting the bow slash off wildly away from him. Kilik instinctively stabilized his grip and pulled back, but not quite fast enough.
The pirate's gun-sword struck his jaw, jogging it roughly out of place and causing more blood to course over it. Another second and Kilik was staring down the barrel of Nirvana, clasped firmly and aimed carefully at Kilik's forehead. Cervantes grinned through a mouth of sharp, almost carnivorous teeth as he squeezed the trigger.
Kilik's bo flew up in the nick of time, swinging around Cervantes' arm and batting it down. As the gun recoiled from the fiery blast, the shot still found an agonizing mark. The bullet, surrounded by smoke and a flaming pulse from the gun, swept through Kilik's lower rib cage and out behind him. Groaning in pain, the rod weilder collapsed in a bleeding heap. Even though his foe wasn't dead, Cervantes de Leon swept himself around and stomped briskly towards the azure knight and his enemy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Girl, I really don't want to do anything either of us will regret." Said Yunsung coolly, standing upright in no particular battle stance as Cassandra Alexandra charged at him.
"You'll be the only one regretting anything, fool!" shot back the Greek as her short blade collided with White Storm. Yunsung flew into a lithe stance and pressed his sword against hers. The metal of both began to buckle slightly as their muscles strained. As if on cue, the two combatants pushed forward simultaneously and were sent reeling backwards, dizzy and weary.
Luckily for him, Yunsung recovered first and plunged back into the fight, White Storm held aloft. Cassandra didn't raise her shield in time, but Yunsung's blow was not meant to kill. The icy metal hilt of White Storm crashed ruthlessly into the Greek's skull and she crumpled in an unconscious heap, her sword clattering onto the ground and her disc-shaped shield rolling off into the corner of the chapel. Yunsung stepped right over the still breathing form and towards Nightmare, only to find another meddlesome warrior in his way, breathing heavily. Voldo looked at Yunsung like a curious dog panting and the flame-haired Korean scowled, snorting indignantly. "Out of my way, creature," he commanded sternly. Voldo didn't budge and Yunsung, not thinking in the least, charge forward at the katar- wielding human. That would be the last foolish decision he ever made.
Hong Yunsung's body crumbled like a demolished building, his arms slashed to ribbons at his sides. His awestruck face forever held a look of utter confusion as the expression blazoned on his features became permanent. Voldo, probably chuckling fiendishly to himself, bounded over the corpse towards Nightmare yet again. That was his second victory, and he planned on a prompt third.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Raphael's rapier sung its swift and merciless song as it jabbed ferociously at the Englishwoman before him. Ivy, a hardened veteran now, almost shrugged off the minor wounds he inflicted and continued batting at the arrogant fool with her snake-sword. The Ivy blade sung as well, but a harsher song it emitted as the glowing metal swiped at the air around Raphael.
"Why do you oppose me, woman?" said Raphael calmly. His tranquility was infuriating for Ivy, who simply attacked more viciously, her snake-sword stabbing and jabbing, slashing and bashing, slicing through the darkness like a single searing beam of light. Raphael suddenly found himself slowly becoming outmatched as the fiery flail began to work away at the acute sharpness of his rapier as he parried. His half-closed eyes widened with horror as he was driven back.
Grinning from behind her onslaught, Ivy replied sweetly.
"Because you are weak...and the weak do not deserve power...or even life."
With that, the Ivy Blade sung its last, grandest note. The hapless Frenchman careened backward and slid onto the floor pitifully, a great gash marring his chest and spilling crimson onto the already aged stones of the chapel floor. His eyes were still wide, but now glazed over with a shrouded veil as his face lost all color. A moment later, Raphael de Sorel breathed his final breath.
Ivy's grin faded as she acknowledged the man's passing and turned.
"Hello again, my child." A horrible voice spat at her as a jet of pain lanced through her. Cervantes, his eyes on fire with hate and sadistic glee, stood in front of her, laughing like a maniac. Her own eyes slowly closed as she glanced down at the two blades embedded in her flesh. A narrow river of blood seeped through her lips as she slumped in Cervantes' grasp, her dead eyes meeting those of her father. "Foolish girl." laughed Cervantes as he slid the corpse off his swords. He backed up a few paces, sharpening his red-caked swords on each other and turning towards Nightmare and Sophitia's nearby battleground, his dark smile widening.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The ax smashed into the floor yet again as Maxi sidestepped easily. It wasn't hard for the agile pirate to avoid the slow crashing attacks from that hulking golem. He waltzed around the huge figure, who tried to spin on his heels and failed miserably, grumbling loudly to himself.
"C'mon, friend, you'll have to do better than that!" Chortled Maxi as he flipped over another attack which landed on the floor and sent up a prominent shockwave around its impact crater. The ax was hefted up after a momentary peace and its owner turned to the quick-footed pirate and glowered openly, pulling the great weapon back.
He swung it down after an instant. Maxi, expecting the attack, made the mistake of dodging left. For one of the first times in his seven years of life, Astaroth did something intelligent. He feigned a full-power slash to the right and yanked the ax to the left, the jagged edge of it making quick contact with his foe and sending him onto the ground with a great, smoldering gash in his arm and shoulder.
"Don't call me friend, friend." muttered the golem as he brought the ax down on Maxi. It gave him a twisted breed of satisfaction as he closed his blank eyes and let the gnashing sound of his blade rend flesh echo in his ears. Though the satisfaction was complete, it was short-lived, since the grotesque noise was soon replaced by an anguished cry and another, much more painful grotesque noise.
Astaroth's eyes fluttered open and look down. Poking out of his heart, which was now slowing its pace, was the tip of a staff, covered in his own life fluids. He groaned, almost with annoyance, as he turned slowly to see the one who'd been his undoing. His eyes, the light fading from them, took rest upon the hunched over figure of Kilik, who was clutching his own wound and panting with both pain and misery. With a gurgling murmuring of the word "Ares," the golem called Astaroth fell backward beside his lifelong foe's body, grunting one last time as his exposed heart stopped beating, he bo of Kilik still stabbed through it. His eyes closed, the pale orbs beneath those eyelids staring up at the stormy sky with a look of no more than irritation in them as Kunpaetku's creation ceased to be.
Kilik, clasping the slice through his chest, pulled himself weakly towards the mangled corpse of Maxi. His pace on the ground declined soon as he neared the limp form, tainted by an ocean of gules. As he looked at the livid face of his former companion, Kilik slumped on the floor, darkness flooding his vision.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mitsurugi and Taki's battle lingered on, the two tireless warriors not even halting to breath as they moved nimbly, like two crackling pillars of flame battling for supremacy. They fought to a stalemate a number of times, backing up and plunging forward to equalize their perfectly measured strides in either direction. After seemingly endless conflict, the two panting combatants hung back, sizing each other up anew as they prepared to go at it yet again.
"I already said I did not want to kill you, Heishiro Mitsurugi." said Taki, crouching into her nimble battle stance and raising her two ninja blades in front of her face.
"And I already said; the choice is not yours to make, ninja." growled the mercenary.
"Someday, mercenary, that attitude will get you killed."
As if to support Taki's theory, six gleaming something suddenly poked through Mitsurugi's chest as he prepared his own retort. The mercenary looked down incredulously at the katars stabbed through his armor and the waves of his life blood that mingled with the cracks of it. His hardened gaze turned to Taki, who stood awestruck before him. His cheeks sank and his expression dimmed as he looked into his foe's bewildered eyes. Through red-soaked lips, he spoke.
"I would've liked to see you dead before me." He said coolly as he fell to his knees and then forward, face first, onto the floor. Voldo stood behind him, gloating over his third victory, soon to be one of four.
"Some advice:" growled Taki as Voldo looked up calmly, "Never interrupt a fight."
Voldo's blind eyes didn't have time to blink before the ninja blade, RekkiMaru, shot right through his face and out the back of his skull. His foully contorting body twisted and wormed backwards, wriggling on the ground for several seconds before stiffening. Taki leaned down and yanked her sword out of the Italian's masked skull and followed her senses towards the looming shadow of Nightmare behind her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The great, pulsing and vibrating blade of Soul Edge severed the ground without mercy and full of fiery contempt for all. The ground shook more as a fierce quake sprung up around the azure knight and is foe, who leapt above the quavering ground and brought the brunt of her shield down on Nightmare. He raised the blade, it's limpid pool of an eye focused on her, and she slid off the side of it, using her shield as leverage. The warrior was on her feet in an instant and repeatedly jabbing, but Nightmare blocked each attack with flawless panache.
It was now apparent to Sophitia Alexandra that a horrible light, or a light darkness, as flowing from the cracks and slits in Nightmare's armor like water, creating a ghostly mist that had shrouded the room. The thunder above was louder and the lightning brighter and more destructive as some bolts strayed lower to the ground still. Suddenly, one great sword of light slashed the earth, singing the very stone as it passed. Then came a second an a third strike, jogging fear into Sophitia. Nightmare's crackling laugh, like a mixture of roaring hurricane winds and seething flame, could be heard above it all. Nightmare stepped forward, but the clank of his greave was replaced by another heavenly roar as the shadowy aura of sable and deep red swirling around Nightmare brightened eerily.
"Weak fool," bellowed thus new voice, a resounding metallic merger of tones like a badly played chord booming a scratching the world's surface, "you cannot defeat me. You have already lost."
Before Sophitia could respond, she found the searing hot claw of Nightmare shooting towards her like a bullet. Her pained cry was muffled as the huge tentacle-like fingers enveloped her. Her sword arm was restrained by the massive mandibles, but she slapped mercilessly but pointlessly at the hand with her shield, denting it several times but doing little damage as her circulation and air supply was cut off. She felt only a mild pang of relief when she heard a familiar voice.
"Drop her now, demon, or meet you death." commanded Taki from behind, pressing her ninja blades against the slit in Nightmare's breastplate and poking in just to illustrate that she was serious. The knight's eyes, maelstroms of liquid flame fizzling with dead light, shot a ravenous look at the ninja as his grip only tightened, causing Sophitia to continue her struggle more incessantly.
The intense moment was interrupted by a vague clapping sound nearby.
"Now then, doesn't this seem familiar?" queried Cervantes jokingly, slamming his gloved fists together jovially, "Yes, I do believe it does. This is a repetition of history as I remember it, but this time you are all at a disadvantage." He stopped, pausing like a pensive orator, and continued, seeing as how his listeners were too busy to talk back anyway, "Having lived it, I have a very firm sense of history. Now, I'm going to use it to kill all of you and take that sword."
"I think not, foul pirate. History does repeat itself, and the history I see for this world does not contain you."
It wasn't Taki's voice, it certainly wasn't Nightmare's voice, and Sophitia couldn't be heard even if she was speaking. Cervantes turned a nearly roared with fury as he saw the newcomer standing not far behind him, smiling despite all the pain and death that had swarmed around her in the chapel.
"Chai Xianghua," muttered Nightmare darkly.
"Indeed." replied the woman, drawing out her shimmering broadsword and letting it glide gently in her grip, "I have come here to end the story of Soul Edge. I may not have been here to start this fight, but I most certainly will finish it."
Not hesitating for an instant, Chai Xianghua sprung forward at Nightmare. The world began to spin as she flew, as it did for all the other conscious warriors. Everything was moving too fast, but that did not stop any of the souls on that field from slowing.
Nightmare let Sophitia fall as he pulled Soul Edge over to parry. The Chinese broadsword struck it head on and the two staggered in place. Taki tried to take the opportunity to drive her blades home, but Nightmare's armored elbow swung around and jabbed her in the chest hard as his whole silhouette rotated and brought Soul Edge around in a high arc. The ninja dove beneath it and at Nightmare, but he parried again and latched his mighty claws onto the ninja, swinging her around and throwing her at Xianghua.
As he let go of the ninja, horror plastered itself on his demonic features beneath the helmet. The pirate stood in front of him instead of Sophitia, an inferno of gleeful insanity on his immortal face. The female Soul Edge blade, held with the greatest firmness ever felt by that hilt, was jutting directly through Nightmare's stomach and peeking out through the border of his pauldrons on the other side.
"Finally..." murmured the pirate grimly, "Finally...Soul Edge is mine!"
A laughter greater than any other sound, even dwarfing the thunder and fire above, slammed into the sky itself as Cervantes drove the blade deeper. The aura of shadow around Nightmare actually glowed brighter, beginning to envelope Cervantes as it worked its way up his sword-arm and the jagged rays of darkness began to bounce up along his form. Color suddenly filled his eyes as his other hand grabbed Nightmare's claw roughly.
His laughter turned to fury when he saw what he thought was his.
Soul Edge's eye searched the area frantically for hope as it began to swell and twist madly. Taki's slim ninja blade, Sophitia's short sword, and Xianghua's broadsword were embedded in the flesh of the blade, each of the glowing trinity of weapons stabbing from a different angle. The blade began to glow so brightly that its beams became a blinding swirl of endless light and the utmost darkness as countless sounds of pain shrieked from the dying sword.
Suddenly the sound stopped....and light filled the world again.
Note: In this chap/prologue, a LOT of our heroes and villains will end up dead or gravely wounded. All I can say is, don't worry about it. Remember, this is just the prologue.
PROLOGUE PART II – THE LAST BREATHS
Chaos raged on the floor of the chapel. The ground shook and splintered asunder in the wake of the many battles that raged beneath crackles of lightning that inflamed the sky and set the clouds afire. A tornado of whirling darkness and shadow that spread into the lower air seeped through each slashed hole in the muddled clouds. A chorus of demonic hammers striking the anvil of earth echoed in the universe's halls as the whole world fell to the darkness and the fire. Now the many duels continued beneath the tsunami that clashed with the atmosphere above.
Many lives would end this day....the end of one story neared as the heavens signaled the approach of doom.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Masks faced off through the chapel as the slender katana of Yoshimitsu bashed harshly against Voldo's resilient katana. The katars spun expertly in Voldo's thin fingers and slashed repeatedly at the ninja at random intervals, attempting in vain to disrupt his train of battle. The two of them maneuvered back and forth, Voldo always low to the ground, Yoshimitsu always above and attacking down. They spun around, circling carefully and jabbing at each other when the opportune moment came.
"Miserable worm," snapped the ninja, "Can you do no more than that?"
Even though Voldo's hissing reply did not constitute a response, his actions did. The "worm" wormed his way forward in the span of a second and pushed Yoshimitsu offguard. His katars flew out, slicing each of the ninja's flanks. Yoshimitsu staggered, first blood blossoming from his sides, but quickly counterattacked, only to watch in awe as his foe dodged sideways with an elegant flourish and swung his elbows right into the ninja's wounded left side. The bash was more than enough. Gravely injured, Yoshimitsu soared through the air and his body smashed ignobly into the chapel wall. His limp body, not yet dead but still in great pain, peeled slowly off the crumbling structure and bounced once on the floor before going mostly limp. The ninja's chest heaved wearily as the splintered mask on his face continued to crack.
Voldo, satisfied with his handiwork, turned from the unconscious foe and slithered along towards the other end of the chapel where his only true foe fought on. His blind eyes gave off a slight glow beneath the mask over them as he made his way towards the weapon he'd spent so many years of his life searching for.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cervantes dodged Kilik's bo as it flew about him like a stabbing bird. The pirate raised his sword and clapped them together like thunder over the staff firmly as the brutal figure grinned an ominous grin and pulled the weapon aside with his own swords and released it suddenly, letting the bow slash off wildly away from him. Kilik instinctively stabilized his grip and pulled back, but not quite fast enough.
The pirate's gun-sword struck his jaw, jogging it roughly out of place and causing more blood to course over it. Another second and Kilik was staring down the barrel of Nirvana, clasped firmly and aimed carefully at Kilik's forehead. Cervantes grinned through a mouth of sharp, almost carnivorous teeth as he squeezed the trigger.
Kilik's bo flew up in the nick of time, swinging around Cervantes' arm and batting it down. As the gun recoiled from the fiery blast, the shot still found an agonizing mark. The bullet, surrounded by smoke and a flaming pulse from the gun, swept through Kilik's lower rib cage and out behind him. Groaning in pain, the rod weilder collapsed in a bleeding heap. Even though his foe wasn't dead, Cervantes de Leon swept himself around and stomped briskly towards the azure knight and his enemy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Girl, I really don't want to do anything either of us will regret." Said Yunsung coolly, standing upright in no particular battle stance as Cassandra Alexandra charged at him.
"You'll be the only one regretting anything, fool!" shot back the Greek as her short blade collided with White Storm. Yunsung flew into a lithe stance and pressed his sword against hers. The metal of both began to buckle slightly as their muscles strained. As if on cue, the two combatants pushed forward simultaneously and were sent reeling backwards, dizzy and weary.
Luckily for him, Yunsung recovered first and plunged back into the fight, White Storm held aloft. Cassandra didn't raise her shield in time, but Yunsung's blow was not meant to kill. The icy metal hilt of White Storm crashed ruthlessly into the Greek's skull and she crumpled in an unconscious heap, her sword clattering onto the ground and her disc-shaped shield rolling off into the corner of the chapel. Yunsung stepped right over the still breathing form and towards Nightmare, only to find another meddlesome warrior in his way, breathing heavily. Voldo looked at Yunsung like a curious dog panting and the flame-haired Korean scowled, snorting indignantly. "Out of my way, creature," he commanded sternly. Voldo didn't budge and Yunsung, not thinking in the least, charge forward at the katar- wielding human. That would be the last foolish decision he ever made.
Hong Yunsung's body crumbled like a demolished building, his arms slashed to ribbons at his sides. His awestruck face forever held a look of utter confusion as the expression blazoned on his features became permanent. Voldo, probably chuckling fiendishly to himself, bounded over the corpse towards Nightmare yet again. That was his second victory, and he planned on a prompt third.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Raphael's rapier sung its swift and merciless song as it jabbed ferociously at the Englishwoman before him. Ivy, a hardened veteran now, almost shrugged off the minor wounds he inflicted and continued batting at the arrogant fool with her snake-sword. The Ivy blade sung as well, but a harsher song it emitted as the glowing metal swiped at the air around Raphael.
"Why do you oppose me, woman?" said Raphael calmly. His tranquility was infuriating for Ivy, who simply attacked more viciously, her snake-sword stabbing and jabbing, slashing and bashing, slicing through the darkness like a single searing beam of light. Raphael suddenly found himself slowly becoming outmatched as the fiery flail began to work away at the acute sharpness of his rapier as he parried. His half-closed eyes widened with horror as he was driven back.
Grinning from behind her onslaught, Ivy replied sweetly.
"Because you are weak...and the weak do not deserve power...or even life."
With that, the Ivy Blade sung its last, grandest note. The hapless Frenchman careened backward and slid onto the floor pitifully, a great gash marring his chest and spilling crimson onto the already aged stones of the chapel floor. His eyes were still wide, but now glazed over with a shrouded veil as his face lost all color. A moment later, Raphael de Sorel breathed his final breath.
Ivy's grin faded as she acknowledged the man's passing and turned.
"Hello again, my child." A horrible voice spat at her as a jet of pain lanced through her. Cervantes, his eyes on fire with hate and sadistic glee, stood in front of her, laughing like a maniac. Her own eyes slowly closed as she glanced down at the two blades embedded in her flesh. A narrow river of blood seeped through her lips as she slumped in Cervantes' grasp, her dead eyes meeting those of her father. "Foolish girl." laughed Cervantes as he slid the corpse off his swords. He backed up a few paces, sharpening his red-caked swords on each other and turning towards Nightmare and Sophitia's nearby battleground, his dark smile widening.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The ax smashed into the floor yet again as Maxi sidestepped easily. It wasn't hard for the agile pirate to avoid the slow crashing attacks from that hulking golem. He waltzed around the huge figure, who tried to spin on his heels and failed miserably, grumbling loudly to himself.
"C'mon, friend, you'll have to do better than that!" Chortled Maxi as he flipped over another attack which landed on the floor and sent up a prominent shockwave around its impact crater. The ax was hefted up after a momentary peace and its owner turned to the quick-footed pirate and glowered openly, pulling the great weapon back.
He swung it down after an instant. Maxi, expecting the attack, made the mistake of dodging left. For one of the first times in his seven years of life, Astaroth did something intelligent. He feigned a full-power slash to the right and yanked the ax to the left, the jagged edge of it making quick contact with his foe and sending him onto the ground with a great, smoldering gash in his arm and shoulder.
"Don't call me friend, friend." muttered the golem as he brought the ax down on Maxi. It gave him a twisted breed of satisfaction as he closed his blank eyes and let the gnashing sound of his blade rend flesh echo in his ears. Though the satisfaction was complete, it was short-lived, since the grotesque noise was soon replaced by an anguished cry and another, much more painful grotesque noise.
Astaroth's eyes fluttered open and look down. Poking out of his heart, which was now slowing its pace, was the tip of a staff, covered in his own life fluids. He groaned, almost with annoyance, as he turned slowly to see the one who'd been his undoing. His eyes, the light fading from them, took rest upon the hunched over figure of Kilik, who was clutching his own wound and panting with both pain and misery. With a gurgling murmuring of the word "Ares," the golem called Astaroth fell backward beside his lifelong foe's body, grunting one last time as his exposed heart stopped beating, he bo of Kilik still stabbed through it. His eyes closed, the pale orbs beneath those eyelids staring up at the stormy sky with a look of no more than irritation in them as Kunpaetku's creation ceased to be.
Kilik, clasping the slice through his chest, pulled himself weakly towards the mangled corpse of Maxi. His pace on the ground declined soon as he neared the limp form, tainted by an ocean of gules. As he looked at the livid face of his former companion, Kilik slumped on the floor, darkness flooding his vision.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mitsurugi and Taki's battle lingered on, the two tireless warriors not even halting to breath as they moved nimbly, like two crackling pillars of flame battling for supremacy. They fought to a stalemate a number of times, backing up and plunging forward to equalize their perfectly measured strides in either direction. After seemingly endless conflict, the two panting combatants hung back, sizing each other up anew as they prepared to go at it yet again.
"I already said I did not want to kill you, Heishiro Mitsurugi." said Taki, crouching into her nimble battle stance and raising her two ninja blades in front of her face.
"And I already said; the choice is not yours to make, ninja." growled the mercenary.
"Someday, mercenary, that attitude will get you killed."
As if to support Taki's theory, six gleaming something suddenly poked through Mitsurugi's chest as he prepared his own retort. The mercenary looked down incredulously at the katars stabbed through his armor and the waves of his life blood that mingled with the cracks of it. His hardened gaze turned to Taki, who stood awestruck before him. His cheeks sank and his expression dimmed as he looked into his foe's bewildered eyes. Through red-soaked lips, he spoke.
"I would've liked to see you dead before me." He said coolly as he fell to his knees and then forward, face first, onto the floor. Voldo stood behind him, gloating over his third victory, soon to be one of four.
"Some advice:" growled Taki as Voldo looked up calmly, "Never interrupt a fight."
Voldo's blind eyes didn't have time to blink before the ninja blade, RekkiMaru, shot right through his face and out the back of his skull. His foully contorting body twisted and wormed backwards, wriggling on the ground for several seconds before stiffening. Taki leaned down and yanked her sword out of the Italian's masked skull and followed her senses towards the looming shadow of Nightmare behind her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The great, pulsing and vibrating blade of Soul Edge severed the ground without mercy and full of fiery contempt for all. The ground shook more as a fierce quake sprung up around the azure knight and is foe, who leapt above the quavering ground and brought the brunt of her shield down on Nightmare. He raised the blade, it's limpid pool of an eye focused on her, and she slid off the side of it, using her shield as leverage. The warrior was on her feet in an instant and repeatedly jabbing, but Nightmare blocked each attack with flawless panache.
It was now apparent to Sophitia Alexandra that a horrible light, or a light darkness, as flowing from the cracks and slits in Nightmare's armor like water, creating a ghostly mist that had shrouded the room. The thunder above was louder and the lightning brighter and more destructive as some bolts strayed lower to the ground still. Suddenly, one great sword of light slashed the earth, singing the very stone as it passed. Then came a second an a third strike, jogging fear into Sophitia. Nightmare's crackling laugh, like a mixture of roaring hurricane winds and seething flame, could be heard above it all. Nightmare stepped forward, but the clank of his greave was replaced by another heavenly roar as the shadowy aura of sable and deep red swirling around Nightmare brightened eerily.
"Weak fool," bellowed thus new voice, a resounding metallic merger of tones like a badly played chord booming a scratching the world's surface, "you cannot defeat me. You have already lost."
Before Sophitia could respond, she found the searing hot claw of Nightmare shooting towards her like a bullet. Her pained cry was muffled as the huge tentacle-like fingers enveloped her. Her sword arm was restrained by the massive mandibles, but she slapped mercilessly but pointlessly at the hand with her shield, denting it several times but doing little damage as her circulation and air supply was cut off. She felt only a mild pang of relief when she heard a familiar voice.
"Drop her now, demon, or meet you death." commanded Taki from behind, pressing her ninja blades against the slit in Nightmare's breastplate and poking in just to illustrate that she was serious. The knight's eyes, maelstroms of liquid flame fizzling with dead light, shot a ravenous look at the ninja as his grip only tightened, causing Sophitia to continue her struggle more incessantly.
The intense moment was interrupted by a vague clapping sound nearby.
"Now then, doesn't this seem familiar?" queried Cervantes jokingly, slamming his gloved fists together jovially, "Yes, I do believe it does. This is a repetition of history as I remember it, but this time you are all at a disadvantage." He stopped, pausing like a pensive orator, and continued, seeing as how his listeners were too busy to talk back anyway, "Having lived it, I have a very firm sense of history. Now, I'm going to use it to kill all of you and take that sword."
"I think not, foul pirate. History does repeat itself, and the history I see for this world does not contain you."
It wasn't Taki's voice, it certainly wasn't Nightmare's voice, and Sophitia couldn't be heard even if she was speaking. Cervantes turned a nearly roared with fury as he saw the newcomer standing not far behind him, smiling despite all the pain and death that had swarmed around her in the chapel.
"Chai Xianghua," muttered Nightmare darkly.
"Indeed." replied the woman, drawing out her shimmering broadsword and letting it glide gently in her grip, "I have come here to end the story of Soul Edge. I may not have been here to start this fight, but I most certainly will finish it."
Not hesitating for an instant, Chai Xianghua sprung forward at Nightmare. The world began to spin as she flew, as it did for all the other conscious warriors. Everything was moving too fast, but that did not stop any of the souls on that field from slowing.
Nightmare let Sophitia fall as he pulled Soul Edge over to parry. The Chinese broadsword struck it head on and the two staggered in place. Taki tried to take the opportunity to drive her blades home, but Nightmare's armored elbow swung around and jabbed her in the chest hard as his whole silhouette rotated and brought Soul Edge around in a high arc. The ninja dove beneath it and at Nightmare, but he parried again and latched his mighty claws onto the ninja, swinging her around and throwing her at Xianghua.
As he let go of the ninja, horror plastered itself on his demonic features beneath the helmet. The pirate stood in front of him instead of Sophitia, an inferno of gleeful insanity on his immortal face. The female Soul Edge blade, held with the greatest firmness ever felt by that hilt, was jutting directly through Nightmare's stomach and peeking out through the border of his pauldrons on the other side.
"Finally..." murmured the pirate grimly, "Finally...Soul Edge is mine!"
A laughter greater than any other sound, even dwarfing the thunder and fire above, slammed into the sky itself as Cervantes drove the blade deeper. The aura of shadow around Nightmare actually glowed brighter, beginning to envelope Cervantes as it worked its way up his sword-arm and the jagged rays of darkness began to bounce up along his form. Color suddenly filled his eyes as his other hand grabbed Nightmare's claw roughly.
His laughter turned to fury when he saw what he thought was his.
Soul Edge's eye searched the area frantically for hope as it began to swell and twist madly. Taki's slim ninja blade, Sophitia's short sword, and Xianghua's broadsword were embedded in the flesh of the blade, each of the glowing trinity of weapons stabbing from a different angle. The blade began to glow so brightly that its beams became a blinding swirl of endless light and the utmost darkness as countless sounds of pain shrieked from the dying sword.
Suddenly the sound stopped....and light filled the world again.
