Soul Calibur II, Warrior's Heart: Chapter 10
Life is Hell
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Talim's head was spinning. She tried to sit up to stop the room from swirling around but found that she was restrained. Her dark chocolate eyes widened when she noticed that her hands and feet were bound. She was strapped to a bed spread eagle. Panic rushed through her blood as she struggled to free herself.
"There really is no need for all of that fuss," a calm, elegant voice with a French accent spoke to her. A handsome man with short blond hair stood above her and grinning sinisterly down at her. "Don't worry; I'm not going to defile you."
"Who are you? What do you want?" Talim asked, forcing herself to steel her nerves and appear undaunted by the intimidating blond haired man.
Raphael extended his hand towards her, and then quickly retracted it shaking his head at his foolishness. "Silly me, I forgot you can't shake right now. I am Raphael." He gestured to the room around them. "This is my home, for now." His piercing blue eyes bore into her as he answered her final question. "Obviously, I desire the shards to Soul Edge."
Talim blew a frustrated breath from her lips to part the bangs that had fallen into her eyes. "Figures. All you evil villains ever want are the shards. Let me guess you want to be all powerful so you can rule the world."
Raphael snorted at the assumption and waved a dismissive hand at the response. "Of course not. I want to rid the world of the corrupt aristocrats."
"Forgive my ignorance. I mistook you for a common psycho path." Talim muttered sarcastically as she tried to observe her surroundings more. If only there was an open window she would have access to the winds. Raphael followed her line of vision and moved to block her view of the closed window across the room.
He shook his head at her. "It's really quite sad that one with such a bright future such as yourself will have to die so young because of stupidity. Did you honestly think I was unaware of your ability to manipulate wind?"
Talim turned her head away and sighed heavily. "I don't manipulate wind. I speak to it. If you are going to know all about my power at least get your facts straight."
Raphael grinned. "I can't wait to let Ivy kill you." Talim's attention was immediately captured as she stared at Raphael in shock. "I see you are confused. Don't worry wind priestess, the British vixen is very much dead. But then so was her father Cervantes. Once I have possession of Soul Edge bringing life to the dead is no big feat."
Talim could only watch the well spoken Frenchman in silence. She hoped that Kilik and Link would discover her absence and come to her rescue. Inwardly she cringed at the idea that she needed to be rescued, she was no damsel in distress. But this one time she would ignore that part of her ego.
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The Assassin lurked through out the mean streets of Paris, seeking his informants that came from all stations in life. Some were bartenders others prostitutes. He had friends that were politicians of high government jobs along with some of the biggest crime lords. It was amazing how often those aristocratic politicians ended up being the crime lords. No wonder Raphael wanted to kill them all.
The Assassin frowned at that idea. If Raphael succeeded he would need to acquire a new stock of informants. That was cost him valuable resources. Perhaps he shouldn't help the crazied fencer locate Nightmare. It would seem that Siegfried, as a former possessor of Soul Edge had the knowledge that was key to finding the sword of power.
A gust of wind from a heavy body dropping to the ground from the rooftops caught the Assassin's attention as his acute hearing clued him in on his visitor. He whirled around to face his would-be attacker, drawing his blade from its sheath across his back.
A tall, nearly seven foot mammoth of a man stood before him. At least, he thought it was a man. It was hard to determine and there seemed an unnatural glow emitting from his green eyes.
"Looking for the Nightmare?" The large figured asked as he tossed what appeared to be a giant axe between his hands. The Assassin remained silent. He was paid to search, not to speak. "I could save you the trouble." Spawn offered. "I'll give you a head start so you can be ready to meet him in Hell!"
Spawn jumped into the air ten feet as he shot a stream of green energy directly at the heart of the Assassin who was too human to withstand such an attack. The Assassin fought hard and tried to intercept the stream of concentrated energy with his blade. He managed to deflect some of it back at the source, but that only seemed to make him stronger.
The Assassin fell to his knees as he continued to hold his blade in front of him in an effort to stop the flow of energy into his heart. He was too weak to do anything else. "Your resistance is in vain." Spawn informed him as he descended from his flying perch to slash the Assassin's head from his head.
Spawn flung the blood off his hellish weapon and shook his head at the headless corpse. "It's a shame really. I've heard such good things about your skills at the sword. Too bad I don't fight with a sword though."
"Perhaps you'd like to try against my sword," A deep voice answered from behind Spawn. The hell spawn quickly turned on his heels to face his attacker. How the attacker had snuck up on him was unreal. No one could sneak up on Spawn.
The last thing Spawn saw before he left that realm of Earth to return to Hell was the face of a tortured prince with long blond hair flowing in the breeze behind him. One arm was deformed and resembled a dragon's claw. He saw evidence of the hatred within Soul Edge and how it corrupts the soul entirely.
He allowed his symbiotic exoskeleton of green energy to transport him back to the level of Hell to face his boss. There was still some good in his soul and he was not about to completely lose the little humanity he had left.
Siegfried watched wide-eyed as the hell spawn before him vanished into this air. He looked at his massive sword with disappointment. He had hoped for a challenge. It had been many days since he had last slept. His effort to fight the evil that coursed through his veins was weighing heavily upon his shoulders. He was hoping for a good fight to release some stress.
He replaced his great blade in the sheath upon his back and leaned over the body of the Assassin. He had heard from a local bartender friend that the man was in search of news about him. Apparently the evil of Soul Edge was working to corrupt another's soul. A man of affluence by the name of Raphael sought out the German prince.
Sticking to the shadows, Nightmare continued his trek to the mansion in Paris that was rumored to house the eccentric French fencer. No longer was speaking to him via the Assassin possible. One-on-one interaction was all Siegfried had left as an option to change the heart of the man who was quickly losing his sanity.
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Link looked back at Kilik, his expression desperate. The white horse that Link had chosen simply did not care much for the elf. Kilik shrugged at his elf companion.
"Sorry Link, you're going to have to find a way to calm the beast. Time is of the essence. The longer it takes us to reach this library the less hope Talim has." Kilik answered, his brown eyes twinkling with amusement at the ridiculous picture the elf made as he was trying to control his fast paced horse.
Link glared back at the human but fisted his hands tighter within the mane of the horse. An idea occurred to him and he would have hit himself if he wasn't afraid he'd fall off the horse. He held tightly onto the white mane with one hand and the other reached into the inner folds of his vest and he pulled out his ocarina of time.
He pulled the ocarina to his lips and played a one-handed tune that he hoped would calm his frantic horse. To his relief, the musical harmonies seemed to have the right effect and soothed the horse. Soon he was galloping alongside Kilik at a much more tolerant pace.
Kilik shook his head. "I was kind of looking forward to seeing you fall off your horse." Kilik admitted slightly guilty. He could have easily helped his friend calm the beast. He had an excellent way of soothing animal, but he really needed some comic relief and with Yunsung absent from his little group that right fell upon the elf by default.
"I am not your entertainment." Link told him coldly, his bright blue eyes correctly reading Kilik's inner thoughts. Kilik shrugged guiltily at his companion. "How far?"
Kilik looked at the position of the moon and then examined the terrain. He had spent several years learning how to read the land as he journeyed alone before meeting Maxi and Xianghua. "I don't believe we have much further to go. But we only have about an hour until dawn so it should be easier for our horses to run faster."
Link groaned at the suggestion. He didn't completely follow everything Kilik said, but he did understand the part about the horses running faster. He patted the ocarina in his inner vest fondly. Looks like it would be coming in handy soon.
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Yunsung was depressed. It would seem that Sophitia had convinced Cassandra to remain in Greece. On the bright side, at least Seung Mina would be returning to Korea and leaving him alone.
He trudged his way up the ramp that led to Maxi's ship. It would just be him, the pirate captain, and Xianghua that would be heading to Egypt. Maxi noted the return of the warrior youth.
"What ails you my friend?" Maxi inquired as he secured the riggings of a mast sail of his ship. He needed to catch a strong gust of wind to send the ship out to sea and head West towards the land of the pharaohs.
"Nothing," Yunsung muttered. He cast his eyes once more to forlornly look at the land. Maxi followed his gaze and guessed the reasons for his sadness.
"I see you. You have a heavy heart. Perhaps you should ask Cassandra to accompany us. She seems to like adventure. I'm sure she would be willing to help." Maxi suggested as he made the final knots on the rope he was adjusting.
Yunsung shrugged. "Nah, she probably wants to stay with her sister here and pray to some gods or something." Yunsung seemed to realize what he had just said and his almond colored eyes widened in anger. He pointed an accusing finger at Maxi. "Hey! This has nothing to do with her! I'm fine!"
Maxi shrugged nonchalantly and began to pull up the ramp to his ship. His new pirate crew was busy making the preparations for launch. "Well then I guess you don't care that Xianghua asked her to continue so that she wouldn't be the only woman alone with all these men. Nor would you care to know that she agreed to accompany us to Egypt."
A big grin spread across Yunsung's face as ran to Maxi and engulfed the smaller man in a giant bear hug. He then released him and brushed some imaginary dust off the shoulder of his shirt. "Just so you know, this doesn't mean that I like her."
Maxi smirked. "I understand. I am pretty irresistible. I can see why you would want to hug me for no apparent reason." His smirk grew as the look of astonishment and morbidity crossed the face of the younger warrior.
"It's not like that!" Yunsung cried growing frustrated. He slammed his hand upon the wooden railing of the ship in aggravation. "Why couldn't Talim and Link have ridden with us?" He mumbled under his breath. Cold, delicate fingers touched his bare bicep and he whirled around to face the person who touched him.
He came nose to nose with Cassandra, or at least he would have if she was taller. She smiled at him charmingly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that. I'm Talim and I'm not Link, but surely my company isn't so dreadful."
"No! Far from it! Your company is great! I mean you're great. I mean I think I love you!" Shock froze his face, as he realized the words that came tumbling out of his mouth in his nervousness. "That's not that I mean. Not that I wouldn't love you, but I don't know you enough for that. I mean, please stop me from talking?" Yunsung pleaded with the blond Greek woman.
Cassandra merely smiled at him. He was so cute when he was all flustered with nervousness. She jumped up to her tip toes and kissed him lightly on the tip of his nose. "But you're so cute when you get so frustrated." She giggled as his face reddened and then turned around to join Xianghua in the look out tower of the ship. She promised the Chinese woman to point out some of the landmarks of the Greek isles that they passed.
Maxi walked past Yunsung again and clapped him on the shoulder. "It's very obvious that you could care less if she joined us in Egypt," he winked at the Korean youth before walking back towards the steering wheel to take care of duties as captain.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Astaroth paced anxiously back and forth. Why would Inferno have him wait in Egypt? He raised a heavily calloused hand to neon colored, spiked hair. He had spent many years in space as the personal slayer for Inferno.
He was promised favor in acquiring Soul Edge if he agreed to guard some series of tombs in some Egyptian pyramid. He had no idea what he was guarding but the company was driving him crazy.
He glared at his companion in utter disgust. His fellow warrior was covered in golden armor, which was stupid because gold is a very weak metal. He also carried around a large axe that was too similar to Astaroth's own weapon. He ran his fingers lovingly down the sharp blade, bringing the bloody appendages to his mouth to suck off the blood that had formed.
He cast another glare at the one dubbed Berserker. How he wished to run his blade through that golden plated neck! Inferno promised that soon there would be plenty of prey for him to feast upon. He was slightly disappointed that the pirate captain Maxi was no more. It would have been nice to square off with him once more.
He had killed him in their last battle, but had also lost his right to exist in the realm of Earth. Which is why he was an indentured servant to Inferno. He would love to kill that pirate again. But, at least his two companions should still be alive. Perhaps he could find satisfaction in tearing them into pieces.
He smiled cruelly at the thought before allowing his blood-red eyes to drift back over towards the moron, Berserker. After he chopped them up he would make certain to rid the world of that idiot's existence as well.
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TBC
Life is Hell
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Talim's head was spinning. She tried to sit up to stop the room from swirling around but found that she was restrained. Her dark chocolate eyes widened when she noticed that her hands and feet were bound. She was strapped to a bed spread eagle. Panic rushed through her blood as she struggled to free herself.
"There really is no need for all of that fuss," a calm, elegant voice with a French accent spoke to her. A handsome man with short blond hair stood above her and grinning sinisterly down at her. "Don't worry; I'm not going to defile you."
"Who are you? What do you want?" Talim asked, forcing herself to steel her nerves and appear undaunted by the intimidating blond haired man.
Raphael extended his hand towards her, and then quickly retracted it shaking his head at his foolishness. "Silly me, I forgot you can't shake right now. I am Raphael." He gestured to the room around them. "This is my home, for now." His piercing blue eyes bore into her as he answered her final question. "Obviously, I desire the shards to Soul Edge."
Talim blew a frustrated breath from her lips to part the bangs that had fallen into her eyes. "Figures. All you evil villains ever want are the shards. Let me guess you want to be all powerful so you can rule the world."
Raphael snorted at the assumption and waved a dismissive hand at the response. "Of course not. I want to rid the world of the corrupt aristocrats."
"Forgive my ignorance. I mistook you for a common psycho path." Talim muttered sarcastically as she tried to observe her surroundings more. If only there was an open window she would have access to the winds. Raphael followed her line of vision and moved to block her view of the closed window across the room.
He shook his head at her. "It's really quite sad that one with such a bright future such as yourself will have to die so young because of stupidity. Did you honestly think I was unaware of your ability to manipulate wind?"
Talim turned her head away and sighed heavily. "I don't manipulate wind. I speak to it. If you are going to know all about my power at least get your facts straight."
Raphael grinned. "I can't wait to let Ivy kill you." Talim's attention was immediately captured as she stared at Raphael in shock. "I see you are confused. Don't worry wind priestess, the British vixen is very much dead. But then so was her father Cervantes. Once I have possession of Soul Edge bringing life to the dead is no big feat."
Talim could only watch the well spoken Frenchman in silence. She hoped that Kilik and Link would discover her absence and come to her rescue. Inwardly she cringed at the idea that she needed to be rescued, she was no damsel in distress. But this one time she would ignore that part of her ego.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Assassin lurked through out the mean streets of Paris, seeking his informants that came from all stations in life. Some were bartenders others prostitutes. He had friends that were politicians of high government jobs along with some of the biggest crime lords. It was amazing how often those aristocratic politicians ended up being the crime lords. No wonder Raphael wanted to kill them all.
The Assassin frowned at that idea. If Raphael succeeded he would need to acquire a new stock of informants. That was cost him valuable resources. Perhaps he shouldn't help the crazied fencer locate Nightmare. It would seem that Siegfried, as a former possessor of Soul Edge had the knowledge that was key to finding the sword of power.
A gust of wind from a heavy body dropping to the ground from the rooftops caught the Assassin's attention as his acute hearing clued him in on his visitor. He whirled around to face his would-be attacker, drawing his blade from its sheath across his back.
A tall, nearly seven foot mammoth of a man stood before him. At least, he thought it was a man. It was hard to determine and there seemed an unnatural glow emitting from his green eyes.
"Looking for the Nightmare?" The large figured asked as he tossed what appeared to be a giant axe between his hands. The Assassin remained silent. He was paid to search, not to speak. "I could save you the trouble." Spawn offered. "I'll give you a head start so you can be ready to meet him in Hell!"
Spawn jumped into the air ten feet as he shot a stream of green energy directly at the heart of the Assassin who was too human to withstand such an attack. The Assassin fought hard and tried to intercept the stream of concentrated energy with his blade. He managed to deflect some of it back at the source, but that only seemed to make him stronger.
The Assassin fell to his knees as he continued to hold his blade in front of him in an effort to stop the flow of energy into his heart. He was too weak to do anything else. "Your resistance is in vain." Spawn informed him as he descended from his flying perch to slash the Assassin's head from his head.
Spawn flung the blood off his hellish weapon and shook his head at the headless corpse. "It's a shame really. I've heard such good things about your skills at the sword. Too bad I don't fight with a sword though."
"Perhaps you'd like to try against my sword," A deep voice answered from behind Spawn. The hell spawn quickly turned on his heels to face his attacker. How the attacker had snuck up on him was unreal. No one could sneak up on Spawn.
The last thing Spawn saw before he left that realm of Earth to return to Hell was the face of a tortured prince with long blond hair flowing in the breeze behind him. One arm was deformed and resembled a dragon's claw. He saw evidence of the hatred within Soul Edge and how it corrupts the soul entirely.
He allowed his symbiotic exoskeleton of green energy to transport him back to the level of Hell to face his boss. There was still some good in his soul and he was not about to completely lose the little humanity he had left.
Siegfried watched wide-eyed as the hell spawn before him vanished into this air. He looked at his massive sword with disappointment. He had hoped for a challenge. It had been many days since he had last slept. His effort to fight the evil that coursed through his veins was weighing heavily upon his shoulders. He was hoping for a good fight to release some stress.
He replaced his great blade in the sheath upon his back and leaned over the body of the Assassin. He had heard from a local bartender friend that the man was in search of news about him. Apparently the evil of Soul Edge was working to corrupt another's soul. A man of affluence by the name of Raphael sought out the German prince.
Sticking to the shadows, Nightmare continued his trek to the mansion in Paris that was rumored to house the eccentric French fencer. No longer was speaking to him via the Assassin possible. One-on-one interaction was all Siegfried had left as an option to change the heart of the man who was quickly losing his sanity.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Link looked back at Kilik, his expression desperate. The white horse that Link had chosen simply did not care much for the elf. Kilik shrugged at his elf companion.
"Sorry Link, you're going to have to find a way to calm the beast. Time is of the essence. The longer it takes us to reach this library the less hope Talim has." Kilik answered, his brown eyes twinkling with amusement at the ridiculous picture the elf made as he was trying to control his fast paced horse.
Link glared back at the human but fisted his hands tighter within the mane of the horse. An idea occurred to him and he would have hit himself if he wasn't afraid he'd fall off the horse. He held tightly onto the white mane with one hand and the other reached into the inner folds of his vest and he pulled out his ocarina of time.
He pulled the ocarina to his lips and played a one-handed tune that he hoped would calm his frantic horse. To his relief, the musical harmonies seemed to have the right effect and soothed the horse. Soon he was galloping alongside Kilik at a much more tolerant pace.
Kilik shook his head. "I was kind of looking forward to seeing you fall off your horse." Kilik admitted slightly guilty. He could have easily helped his friend calm the beast. He had an excellent way of soothing animal, but he really needed some comic relief and with Yunsung absent from his little group that right fell upon the elf by default.
"I am not your entertainment." Link told him coldly, his bright blue eyes correctly reading Kilik's inner thoughts. Kilik shrugged guiltily at his companion. "How far?"
Kilik looked at the position of the moon and then examined the terrain. He had spent several years learning how to read the land as he journeyed alone before meeting Maxi and Xianghua. "I don't believe we have much further to go. But we only have about an hour until dawn so it should be easier for our horses to run faster."
Link groaned at the suggestion. He didn't completely follow everything Kilik said, but he did understand the part about the horses running faster. He patted the ocarina in his inner vest fondly. Looks like it would be coming in handy soon.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Yunsung was depressed. It would seem that Sophitia had convinced Cassandra to remain in Greece. On the bright side, at least Seung Mina would be returning to Korea and leaving him alone.
He trudged his way up the ramp that led to Maxi's ship. It would just be him, the pirate captain, and Xianghua that would be heading to Egypt. Maxi noted the return of the warrior youth.
"What ails you my friend?" Maxi inquired as he secured the riggings of a mast sail of his ship. He needed to catch a strong gust of wind to send the ship out to sea and head West towards the land of the pharaohs.
"Nothing," Yunsung muttered. He cast his eyes once more to forlornly look at the land. Maxi followed his gaze and guessed the reasons for his sadness.
"I see you. You have a heavy heart. Perhaps you should ask Cassandra to accompany us. She seems to like adventure. I'm sure she would be willing to help." Maxi suggested as he made the final knots on the rope he was adjusting.
Yunsung shrugged. "Nah, she probably wants to stay with her sister here and pray to some gods or something." Yunsung seemed to realize what he had just said and his almond colored eyes widened in anger. He pointed an accusing finger at Maxi. "Hey! This has nothing to do with her! I'm fine!"
Maxi shrugged nonchalantly and began to pull up the ramp to his ship. His new pirate crew was busy making the preparations for launch. "Well then I guess you don't care that Xianghua asked her to continue so that she wouldn't be the only woman alone with all these men. Nor would you care to know that she agreed to accompany us to Egypt."
A big grin spread across Yunsung's face as ran to Maxi and engulfed the smaller man in a giant bear hug. He then released him and brushed some imaginary dust off the shoulder of his shirt. "Just so you know, this doesn't mean that I like her."
Maxi smirked. "I understand. I am pretty irresistible. I can see why you would want to hug me for no apparent reason." His smirk grew as the look of astonishment and morbidity crossed the face of the younger warrior.
"It's not like that!" Yunsung cried growing frustrated. He slammed his hand upon the wooden railing of the ship in aggravation. "Why couldn't Talim and Link have ridden with us?" He mumbled under his breath. Cold, delicate fingers touched his bare bicep and he whirled around to face the person who touched him.
He came nose to nose with Cassandra, or at least he would have if she was taller. She smiled at him charmingly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that. I'm Talim and I'm not Link, but surely my company isn't so dreadful."
"No! Far from it! Your company is great! I mean you're great. I mean I think I love you!" Shock froze his face, as he realized the words that came tumbling out of his mouth in his nervousness. "That's not that I mean. Not that I wouldn't love you, but I don't know you enough for that. I mean, please stop me from talking?" Yunsung pleaded with the blond Greek woman.
Cassandra merely smiled at him. He was so cute when he was all flustered with nervousness. She jumped up to her tip toes and kissed him lightly on the tip of his nose. "But you're so cute when you get so frustrated." She giggled as his face reddened and then turned around to join Xianghua in the look out tower of the ship. She promised the Chinese woman to point out some of the landmarks of the Greek isles that they passed.
Maxi walked past Yunsung again and clapped him on the shoulder. "It's very obvious that you could care less if she joined us in Egypt," he winked at the Korean youth before walking back towards the steering wheel to take care of duties as captain.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Astaroth paced anxiously back and forth. Why would Inferno have him wait in Egypt? He raised a heavily calloused hand to neon colored, spiked hair. He had spent many years in space as the personal slayer for Inferno.
He was promised favor in acquiring Soul Edge if he agreed to guard some series of tombs in some Egyptian pyramid. He had no idea what he was guarding but the company was driving him crazy.
He glared at his companion in utter disgust. His fellow warrior was covered in golden armor, which was stupid because gold is a very weak metal. He also carried around a large axe that was too similar to Astaroth's own weapon. He ran his fingers lovingly down the sharp blade, bringing the bloody appendages to his mouth to suck off the blood that had formed.
He cast another glare at the one dubbed Berserker. How he wished to run his blade through that golden plated neck! Inferno promised that soon there would be plenty of prey for him to feast upon. He was slightly disappointed that the pirate captain Maxi was no more. It would have been nice to square off with him once more.
He had killed him in their last battle, but had also lost his right to exist in the realm of Earth. Which is why he was an indentured servant to Inferno. He would love to kill that pirate again. But, at least his two companions should still be alive. Perhaps he could find satisfaction in tearing them into pieces.
He smiled cruelly at the thought before allowing his blood-red eyes to drift back over towards the moron, Berserker. After he chopped them up he would make certain to rid the world of that idiot's existence as well.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
TBC