Chapter 4:
Hethra: I know, this took a long time. I'm sorry but I'm really busy. So I'll skip the talk and start the story.
Disclaimer I do not own anything but this story. Simple yet effective, no?
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A cloaked wanderer walked into the city, bringing with him an air of mystique, and a smell of someone who had gone too long without a shower. Had the people of the town had a stronger sense of smell, they could have detected a hint of the coppery smell of blood among the scents of sweat. He would have simply killed anyone who voiced that thought.
The city was a slew of merchants, gamblers, pickpockets, and prostitutes. When latter of which continually bombarded him with their cheap pick-up lines (How about you take off that coat and get comfortable) he only smiled, and lifted one side of the coat to reveal two glimmering swords and red body armour. They left him alone after that. He was glad. It was less of a city and more of an adult funhouse, but he hadn't come all this way to this god-forsaken shit of a town to indulge in cheap thrills. He came to get information. And kami help anyone who got in his way.
He wandered through the city, trying to find the address that was on a small piece of parchment clutched in his left hand, and trying to keep his money in the other. Damn these pickpockets, he sighed. He'd already lost 200 yen to those fools, and had only enough left for a half decent lunch. His stomach growled, and he stopped, his destination lost amid the continuous rumblings that told him he was hungry. But he didn't need to be reminded. He looked around and saw a small bar, with a rusty old sign shaped like a tree overhead. It read: The Cherry Blossom Bar. He did a double take, and looked at the address. Same place, he thought. Now to find this… Kilik guy. Shouldn't be hard. With a name like that, he might as well have been a Samurai warrior. But he was the last, he reminded himself bitterly. He was a wandering soul, a mercenary, and a ronin. But he didn't tie himself to his past, if anything he tried to forget it. And so, with a look around to see if anyone was watching him, he entered the bar. But he missed the creature perched atop the clock tower, with its yellow eyes and large crystal embedded in its chest. It then disappeared, only to emerge from the shadows below with a giant holding a giant axe, and both began walking to the bar.
Inside the bar Mitsurugi was taken aback by the smell. It was as if the people used this place as a bar, kitchen, and bathroom. He started breathing through his mouth, fearing that he would throw up if he didn't. The babble within the bar was at a deafening level but Mitsurugi had trained himself to listen to one conversation at a time. He ordered a drink and set to listening to the conversations of others. It was not long before he found an interesting conversation among the other idiot's conversations. He stood up a looked over to a darkened corner in time to see a man fly across the room. The talking stopped momentarily, and quickly resumed. Obviously this happened quite often. Mitsurugi saw a young girl with a fist-upraised scream out,
"Next time I tell you that I DON'T need anyone to show me why golf is a great sport maybe you'll take the time to pull your head out of your ass so you can LISTEN!"
She then sat down. Mitsurugi noticed that she was sitting with two very frightened looking men. One of them had jet-black hair and a vest. The other had long brown hair and a scar across his right eye. Mitsurugi grinned. He had found his quarry. Scar face was the man Kilik. The other man was Maxi, and the girl must have been the girl Chai Xianghua. He began walking over to them. The men were arguing with the girl, and none of them noticed Mitsurugi until he was standing beside them. He sat down beside the girl and began to talk.
"I know that you each have something that I want, and I'm going to give you two options. One: you all give me your pieces of the Soul Edge, or two: I take them from you. So I'll let you three choose. He pulled back his cloak to reveal his blade, the Masamune, and a slightly smaller Wakazashi. The three looked at each other and each reached under their table and pulled out a weapon each to show that, they too, were armed. Xianghua spoke up.
"Just because you have a sword, doesn't mean that you can boss us around." The other two nodded in agreement. Mitsurugi scowled. He was about to voice another opinion, when he heard a most peculiar knock on the door near the entrance.
"Can I help you… oh my god! What… What are you?" the doorman, Mitsurugi guessed. A deep voice suddenly boomed across the room, cutting all other conversations down to nothing.
"Out of our way, human SCUM!" the last bit was yelled, and suddenly the body, or more accurately, the two halves of the waiter flew across the room, spraying blood everywhere. For about three seconds everyone looked at the two intruders, then, when the fact that the two looked like monsters entered all their minds, the people in the bar started screaming. In those three seconds, Maxi, Kilik, Xianghua and Mitsurugi had jumped out of the pew where they were sitting and had drawn their weapons. They didn't need anyone to remind them who these two were. Maxi looked as if he was using every ounce of his energy so as to not lash out at the giant. He growled through clenched teeth.
"Astaroth." The Giant looked at them, and began to laugh. The creature beside him simply stood where it was, glaring at the humans. The demon Astaroth stopped laughing and looked at them. When he spoke, the glasses on the table shook.
"Well Human. I would have thought that someone would have smashed you by now." Maxi grinned.
"Naw, I was saving myself for you Shit-face." The giant's smile faded. He glowered at the warriors.
"Well then, I guess I'll just CRUSH you RIGHT NOW!" The giant hefted his axe and charged at them. Maxi smiled. And jumped at Astaroth, Nunchaku already spinning. Mesmerized by the battle, the other three did not realize that the second Demon had snuck up behind them. It raised its fists and brought them smashing down on Xianghua's head. She crumpled. As Mitsurugi turned Kilik stood frozen, looking pale and sickened. Mitsurugi looked at him, and tackled him out of the way of the demons second attack seconds before it would have driven Kilik through the wall. Mitsurugi groaned. Great, just great. They must have feelings for each other. Mitsurugi yelled over to Kilik as he drew the Masamune,
"You can cry about how you failed her after we've killed these demons. But for now, actually be the hero and get her out of the goddamned way!" With that, Mitsurugi jumped headlong at the demon, sword raised above his head, and as the demon turned, he brought the sword down. The demon raised its hand, and a beam of energy grew out of it to defend itself. Mitsurugi was temporarily shocked. Then he remembered. This was that demon Necrid. But he looked different somehow. He was orange instead of green, and he had horns growing out of his hand. He blocked a vertical strike and countered with a horizontal strike to the abdomen. It was blocked again, and the beam sword shifted to a giant axe as Necrid tried to cut Mitsurugi in two. Mitsurugi blocked that again, but was driven to the ground. The Demon grinned and said something in its hellish language. It raised his hands, two swords already growing there, and brought them down. Mitsurugi closed his eyes, awaiting the deathblow…
…but it never came. Mitsurugi opened his eyes. A red pole was held across the path of the blades, effectively blocking their path. Kilik was holding the blades back. There was a strange look in his eyes. He growled at Necrid.
"You hurt her, you son of a bitch. And now, I'm gonna kill you." He screamed, and was enveloped in a green glow. Necrid seemed to be taken by surprise, and faltered for a second.
That second was all Kilik needed.
He ran forward, staff spinning at blinding speeds. Necrid was being brutally beaten. Mitsurugi could barely see the staff, and Necrid seemed to be getting hit by nothing at all. Still screaming, Kilik did not hesitate or show any mercy as he effortlessly drove Necrid back against the wall. Then Kilik screamed louder, and executed a sidekick with such brutal force that Necrid was flung through the wall. Kilik stopped screaming, gasping for breath, and turned to face a wide-eyed and shocked Mitsurugi. He stared speechlessly at Kilik. Kilik just shrugged.
"He hurt Xianghua." He said. He then began to walk towards the place where he put Xianghua out of the way, his back turned to the hole in the wall. That was when a bloodied and beaten Necrid leapt out of the hole at Kilik, who didn't see any of it. Mitsurugi shook off his stupor and ran towards Kilik, yelling at him to get out of the way. I'm never gonna make it… Mitsurugi thought to himself, even as the energy spear grew to an alarming size. Kilik turned in time to see the point of the spear rush towards him, and suddenly found himself wishing that he had spent more time with Xianghua. The spear rushed forwards…
… and there was a strangely muffled thud as a silver shuriken flew into the crystal on Necrid's chest. Necrid stopped, looked around, and disappeared. Kilik stood statue still for a moment, before collapsing in a dead faint. Mitsurugi reached the point where the monster had disappeared and looked over at where the shuriken had lodged in the ground in time to see a hand pull it out of the ground. A female figure in red stood above the spot where the shuriken had been. Mitsurugi stared at her. She stared at him. Mitsurugi sighed and said,
"I've really had enough of you."
Taki smiled and said,
"I know."
Mitsurugi turned around and picked Kilik up by the waist and hoisted him over his shoulder as the ninja picked up Xianghua. Mitsurugi looked around and was alarmed when he did not immediately see Maxi. He ran outside and saw Maxi staring at the rooftop of the buildings across the street. He sighed and turned to Mitsurugi.
"The coward ran away." Maxi said, and threw a stone at the ground in frustration. He looked over at Taki, then at Mitsurugi and simply said,
"It looks as if you two will be joining us in our little quest."
And indeed it did.
After they loaded the two unconscious warriors into Maxis caravan, they set out into the west, in search of Nightmare and the Soul Edge. Little did they know that Nightmare would be the absolute least of their worries. For something else was growing powerful in the absence of the Evil Blade…
… Something much worse.
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Hethra: Well that's chapter 4. It's longer that the other chapters, which I find is more interesting to write and read. But y'all know the drill, eh? Read, Review, Repeat: The three steps to keeping an author happy. Until next time.
- The Unknown Warrior