Hey people. Thanks for reviewing my story! And I have some things to clear up that everyone might want to read...
Sabriel41 said in her review that my fic's timing seems odd. This is a prequel. But, the prequel occurs after the events at Travens Castle (which all happened previous to Falling Through Nightmare's main events- about a year previous). The events at Travens Castle happened about a year or so after Maxi, Xianghua, and Kilik destroyed the second Soul Edge. That gets explained this chapter. No one knows that Siegfried was Nightmare. That's a big point in my story. Hope that clears it up, Sabriel. And on you asking if Kilik is my incarnation here, the answer is yeah, probably :). I prefer axes as weapons over staves, but the only axe wielder in Soul Calibur is Astaroth, so... (shrugs). Besides, staves are great weapons. ANYTHING is better than a sword (shivers). Swords are a pet peeve of mine; I hate the damn things.
Oh, and I'm not quite sure what Kilik's religion would be, but using his quotes (nothing will come of hate, etc.) and general background, I think that he's Buddhist. So I'll use that- if anyone knows what religion he is, I'd like to hear it.
Finally, certain things in the world have changed- with the advent of Psi, Alchemy, and the Soul Edge, things are a bit wierd in Europe at the moment.
Enough of that; you guys have waited long enough. It's...
"SHOWTIME!"
Chapter 2
A Journey Worth The Name
Present. Harbors of London. Night.
Kilik sighed. He had known that he probably wouldn't find Maxi here, but it still depressed him to find his friend still missing. Offering up a Buddhist prayer that his friend had acheived Nirvana ( an unlikely chance at best; pirates generally didn't attain Nirvana) Kilik found a wall and leaned against it. He propped the Kali-Yuga against the wall, then slid down it until he was sitting with his hands crossed on his knees. He laid his head back and sighed again. He'd traveled the world over and nothing. He hadn't found a sign of Maxi, not even one drunken sighting (bars were a good place to search for Maxi; his drinking habits had led to more than one fight on what Kilik had come to think of as The Journey). He thought once more about the last time he'd seen his friend, in that hellish place they'd come to...
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One year ago. Nightmare's Castle, Black Forest of Germany. Daylight.
Kilik looked at his companions. They'd just killed six lizard-men; the damn things were everywhere. Which made sense; they were about the only creatures that could stand being so close to the almost sated Soul Edge. The few humans who worked for Nightmare's army immediately became sick and weak whenever they entered the unholy sword's influence. Even Kilik, under the protecting and countering aura of the Soul Calibur that Xianghua clenched in her right hand, felt vaguely disoriented. The lizardmen, not really possessing true intelligence, were simply too stupid to be affected much.
The area around Nightmare's castle, however, was a different matter. The sky was no longer blue, but a dull rust red. No clouds floated in the sky. They were inevitably drawn towards the castle, where the Soul Edge flexed it's strength. They circled there, in the sky above the castle, gathering into lines that grew even as Kilik watched. Thunder crackled in them, formerly white clouds becoming charged with Soul Edge's foul essence and turning grey with power. The land was a desolate waste that made the Sahara look lush by comparison; broken chunks of rock broke the fractured ground at random places, razor-sharp edges that could split a man in half if he fell on them. The ground was red with the spilled blood of the hundreds sacrificed here for the Soul Edge.
But it was the castle itself that drew the eye. It's walls, formerly normal stone, were now the pulsating, half-metal half-flesh of the Soul Edge. Mouths opened on it, and screams continually emanated from them. The castle was now alive, a giant manifestation of the foul aberration that was the Soul Edge, the pulsating heart of the cancer now eating it's way into the world. As Kilik watched, a giant eye opened in it's side, and gazed at them. As it did, the disorientation grew stronger. Kilik steadied himself with his staff. The eye seemed to horribly wink at him, then closed. He drew in a shaky breath, steadying himself, then checked his companions.
He looked at Maxi. Maxi's face was set, his jaw clenched; the giant monster that had killed his crew lay ahead. Maxi's long quest for revenge would come to a close today. Xianghua, her small mouth set in a line, looked at Kilik. He nodded. He was ready. She looked to Maxi. Maxi didn't reply; he just started walking forward. Picking up speed as he went, he was soon running towards the castle. Holding his staff before him to ward off danger, Kilik was soon running towards the castle as well, Xianghua beside him.
Soon. It would be over soon.
And Xianglian's death would be revenged.
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They'd traveled inside the castle, slaying monsters as they went (Kilik briefly wondered if all the lizardmen did was kill and breed- there was that many of them) until they reached an enormous chamber. The room was bare except for a throne at the far end and a pedestal in the middle. Set in the pedestal, in a horrid joke on the Excaliber legend, Soul Edge pulsed, the heart of this living fortress. The eye on it's hilt seemed to laugh as they entered, gazing madly at them. On the throne, Nightmare sat, gazing at them with the haughty greatness of a king. Astaroth stood beside him, his ever-familiar axe held in his enormous hand with it's head to the floor. Seeing Maxi come in, he bellowed laughter.
" You! I can't believe this. You have traveled all the way from India to come after me? I feel rather embarassed at the attention!" the golem laughed, his huge and somehow wrong voice echoing in the chamber. Soul Edge seemed to laugh with him, it's eye focusing on Maxi. Maxi broke his silence (he'd not spoken a single word since entering the castle, even when struck in battle with the lizardmen).
" So you remember me, you bastard?!? I'll kill you!" he shrieked, running forward. His nunchaku flew out to the side. Xianghua and Kilik, glancing quickly at each other, had a fast unspoken agreement. Xianghua ran to the pedestal that Soul Edge was set in, with Kilik following behind. Astaroth, despite his size, was the weaker opponent here, and it was Maxi who had the motive of revenge against him. Kilik and Xianghua would defeat Nightmare and the Soul Edge, then deal with Astaroth.
Astaroth looked at the pitiful human coming towards him and laughed once more. " Don't disappoint me," he said, swinging Kulutues in an upward blow at him. Maxi dodged to the right, inwardly sniggering that Astaroth could be so stupid. He should have known Maxi would just dodge such a clumsy, ill-timed...
Astaroth's enormous foot, much bigger than a normal human one, slammed into Maxi and sent him on a fast trip backwards. Maxi, in his rage, had forgotten that Astaroth was a firm practitioner of the first rule of heavy weapons: trick your opponent into doing what you want him to. Astaroth had used the momentum of his own swing to give his kick greater strength. Maxi slammed into one of the pulsating, living walls, and his stomach lurched as he felt it's warmth and give. It felt like flesh. He got off it as quickly as he could, revulsed. He felt his mind being clawed at, Soul Edge's hellish essence scraping at his psyche. He dropped to his knees, gripping his head in his hands.
Astaroth, seeing this, laughed again. " Painful, isn't it?" He patted the wall with his free hand. " I'm not affected, but as I'm sure you've noticed by now, you are." He laughed again. He stepped forward, meaning to decapitate the annoying sailor before he recovered from touching the wall.
In the middle of the room, Xianghua ran forward. She focused her power on the Soul Calibur, hearing the holy sword's song in her mind. As it always did, the sword's song captivated her and lifted her spirits; it sounded like millions singing and shouting, all as the rain beat on... She fell fully into the powerful aura of the sword, and focused herself on the Soul Edge in the pedestal before her. She swept Soul Calibur, now visibly ringing with power, behind her, readying for a massive strike that would shatter the demon before her. Kilik, behind her, felt the Soul Calibur's power and heard it's song. It wasn't the first time he'd heard it, but it was louder this time, as if knowing that once more, it would fight it's ancient nemesis.
On the throne, Inferno used the eyes of Nightmare to gaze upon Xianghua. It had perfect confidence it could destroy both warriors. Siegfried, locked in his own mind, was helpless to do anything to help them. Inferno, laughing in Siegfried's mind, spoke to him.
" So, Siegfried!" Inferno said, it's laughing voice filling the darkness of Siegfried's psyche. " Look at this! My old friend is back!"
" Old friend? Who?" Siegfried, honestly confused, said.
" Why, that sword! It's the exact opposite of my Soul Edge, in terms of both power and effect. I've been trying to destroy it for centuries. Before I awoke this time, it almost killed me in Egypt..." Inferno's voice paused, as if musing over this. " But I don't think it can beat me now. I've lost one Soul Edge, but I've never had a host as long as I've had you." Siegfried felt the force of that mind, that awful mind, turned to him. " Be proud, boy," it whispered, that shrieking laughter in it's voice. " Because of all my hosts, you're the only one that I've managed to corrupt so much. You're no longer fully human. You're a half-demon now. Of course, that will change soon... when the Soul Edge feasts on the humans before us. Then I will make you a full demon and possess your entire body. And then, boy..."
Inferno laughed again as Siegfried saw what he had brought about, the future of the world once Inferno had a physical form- flames. Burning fields of death. Screams of the dying, men and women and children all burning in the hellfire as Inferno laughed and laughed...
In his tortured mind, Siegfried screamed. All his fault. Every bit of it.
In the real world, Nightmare stood up. Inferno had actually launched the horrid visions at Siegfried to keep him from interfering in this next battle. Siegfried's own guilt (Inferno had none, and briefly felt pity for humans for possessing such an emotion in the first place) would make him beat up on himself for a while, long enough to kill the humans before him. He readied the body to fight, flexing his hideous muscles. He enjoyed this, the feeling of a real, physical form. It was the one thing he lacked. It was the reason he'd created the twin Soul Edges in the first place- he wanted to draw a human to them and then take over. With a physical form, there was so much he could do...
But first things first.
Xianghua had almost reached the Soul Edge when Nightmare leaped. Kilik, seeing what was going to happen (Xianghua would, quite literally, have her brains busted out the back of her head by Nightmare's claw) did the only thing he could: he thrust his staff between Xianghua's feet and tripped her. She fell with a "oof!". Nightmare's attack, which had been perfectly-timed, missed, but the force of the blow caused a impact shockwave. Kilik and Xianghua were blown backwards. Grabbing the hilt of Soul Edge and pulling it out with strangely ceremonial slowness, Nightmare's form laughed. Inferno was in the driver's seat now.
" Let the eternal battle begin!" it cried with Nightmare's mouth. It grinned. Yes. This would be it. The last battle. With a war cry, it launched itself at Xianghua.
Across the room, Astaroth looked and saw the battle between Xianghua, Kilik, and Nightmare. Astaroth watched, fascinated, as the warriors fought the demon. Most of Astaroth's "soul" (like a demon, he didn't truly have a soul; it was more like an essence) was derived from Ares, an air elemental who believed that the greatest joy in life was watching battles and wars (it was this that made him become the god of war, an ironic twist that satisfied it to no end). Hence, Astaroth was completely distracted by the battle unfolding before him: it was both brutal and graceful, human strength and speed pitted against demonic madness, a battle both beautiful and terrible at the same itme. He had forgotten Maxi in his fascination, and Maxi reminded him of his existence with a sharp blow to the skull. This wake-up call knocked the giant onto the floor. Maxi pressed the attack, his nunchuka flailing at the murderous executioner now struggling to get up. Maxi's nunchuka whirled through the air, bashing into the strange flesh of the golem. Crimson blood splashed as Maxi tore into Astaroth.
Nightmare and Xianghua fought, the massive Soul Edge coming down upon the seemingly fragile Soul Calibur again and again. Yet, every time, the massive sword was deflected. Xianghua's arm hurt from guarding, but she couldn't get a blow in edgewise. Nightmare was simply going to bash her into submission.
Before Nightmare pulled off this primitve but effective tactic, Kilik had struck him on the head. Turning to deal with him, Nightmare's guard went down. Xianghua stabbed him in the gut, and Inferno felt the most excructiating pain it had ever felt. It doubled over, Inferno screaming through Nightmare's mouth. Xianghua stabbed again, but this time Nightmare swung the Soul Edge in time. Xianghua was knocked off balance, and Inferno was about to split her in half with a backswing when it felt a sudden rush of power in it's mind. Siegfried, knowing that the warriors in the room might be his last chance for redemption, had waited until now to strike. He used all his power to send a single impulse along the nerves in his deformed right arm. The impulse traveled down the warped nerves, and reached it's target. In the real world, Nightmare's hand opened suddenly. The Soul Edge dropped out of it.
Xianghua, recovering her balance, did not see it, but Kilik did. What he saw, and what he did next+, changed the world.
He saw Nightmare's eyes change. From burning red to a normal human brown. And he saw such torment in those eyes that, for the first time in his life, he saw someone with whom he would not trade places. Kilik's life had been marked by pain and sadness, but looking in those eyes, he saw the meaning of true sorrow. And his next action was an almost automatic response to that pain. He wondered about it later, but at the moment, in his mind, it was unquestionably the right thing to do. He later thought that the eyes had told him. That the mind behind them had begged him to do it.
He struck hard, his staff swinging through the air. His blow hit the Soul Edge dead-center in the eye. The sword did not merely scream; it shrieked as the power of the Kali-Yuga destroyed the eye that was it's core. The eye was more than a core, though; it was a gate.
A gate to the place where Inferno's essence lay.
And Kilik was drawn into it, with Xianghua behind him. They fell through dream and nightmare, rushing towards reality...
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Reality. No time.
The reality of Inferno was this. A blazing field, barren of life. Kilik glanced about it and saw Xianghua with him, her sword still glowing and singing. It's song was even louder here; it knew, somehow, that it could finally destroy Inferno here. Destroy it for good. She looked at Kilik and nodded. She didn't know what had happened, but knew that it ended here.
Inferno's essence floated out of the storm-covered heavens. It raised it's hand, floating there in the sky. It spoke to them, it's hand raised upwards as if grasping something.
" How, boy? How did you know? Did he tell you?" it asked them, speaking slowly as if not quite understanding what it was saying.
" What?" Kilik asked, wondering what Inferno was talking about.
" It matters not," Inferno said, still speaking slowly. " I'll simply kill you here."
Inferno raised it's hand, and flames streaked out of the sky.
- I hate to end a chapter like this, but my time is growing short. Merry Christmas, everybody! And in the next chapter: the fall of nightmare!
Sabriel41 said in her review that my fic's timing seems odd. This is a prequel. But, the prequel occurs after the events at Travens Castle (which all happened previous to Falling Through Nightmare's main events- about a year previous). The events at Travens Castle happened about a year or so after Maxi, Xianghua, and Kilik destroyed the second Soul Edge. That gets explained this chapter. No one knows that Siegfried was Nightmare. That's a big point in my story. Hope that clears it up, Sabriel. And on you asking if Kilik is my incarnation here, the answer is yeah, probably :). I prefer axes as weapons over staves, but the only axe wielder in Soul Calibur is Astaroth, so... (shrugs). Besides, staves are great weapons. ANYTHING is better than a sword (shivers). Swords are a pet peeve of mine; I hate the damn things.
Oh, and I'm not quite sure what Kilik's religion would be, but using his quotes (nothing will come of hate, etc.) and general background, I think that he's Buddhist. So I'll use that- if anyone knows what religion he is, I'd like to hear it.
Finally, certain things in the world have changed- with the advent of Psi, Alchemy, and the Soul Edge, things are a bit wierd in Europe at the moment.
Enough of that; you guys have waited long enough. It's...
"SHOWTIME!"
Chapter 2
A Journey Worth The Name
Present. Harbors of London. Night.
Kilik sighed. He had known that he probably wouldn't find Maxi here, but it still depressed him to find his friend still missing. Offering up a Buddhist prayer that his friend had acheived Nirvana ( an unlikely chance at best; pirates generally didn't attain Nirvana) Kilik found a wall and leaned against it. He propped the Kali-Yuga against the wall, then slid down it until he was sitting with his hands crossed on his knees. He laid his head back and sighed again. He'd traveled the world over and nothing. He hadn't found a sign of Maxi, not even one drunken sighting (bars were a good place to search for Maxi; his drinking habits had led to more than one fight on what Kilik had come to think of as The Journey). He thought once more about the last time he'd seen his friend, in that hellish place they'd come to...
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One year ago. Nightmare's Castle, Black Forest of Germany. Daylight.
Kilik looked at his companions. They'd just killed six lizard-men; the damn things were everywhere. Which made sense; they were about the only creatures that could stand being so close to the almost sated Soul Edge. The few humans who worked for Nightmare's army immediately became sick and weak whenever they entered the unholy sword's influence. Even Kilik, under the protecting and countering aura of the Soul Calibur that Xianghua clenched in her right hand, felt vaguely disoriented. The lizardmen, not really possessing true intelligence, were simply too stupid to be affected much.
The area around Nightmare's castle, however, was a different matter. The sky was no longer blue, but a dull rust red. No clouds floated in the sky. They were inevitably drawn towards the castle, where the Soul Edge flexed it's strength. They circled there, in the sky above the castle, gathering into lines that grew even as Kilik watched. Thunder crackled in them, formerly white clouds becoming charged with Soul Edge's foul essence and turning grey with power. The land was a desolate waste that made the Sahara look lush by comparison; broken chunks of rock broke the fractured ground at random places, razor-sharp edges that could split a man in half if he fell on them. The ground was red with the spilled blood of the hundreds sacrificed here for the Soul Edge.
But it was the castle itself that drew the eye. It's walls, formerly normal stone, were now the pulsating, half-metal half-flesh of the Soul Edge. Mouths opened on it, and screams continually emanated from them. The castle was now alive, a giant manifestation of the foul aberration that was the Soul Edge, the pulsating heart of the cancer now eating it's way into the world. As Kilik watched, a giant eye opened in it's side, and gazed at them. As it did, the disorientation grew stronger. Kilik steadied himself with his staff. The eye seemed to horribly wink at him, then closed. He drew in a shaky breath, steadying himself, then checked his companions.
He looked at Maxi. Maxi's face was set, his jaw clenched; the giant monster that had killed his crew lay ahead. Maxi's long quest for revenge would come to a close today. Xianghua, her small mouth set in a line, looked at Kilik. He nodded. He was ready. She looked to Maxi. Maxi didn't reply; he just started walking forward. Picking up speed as he went, he was soon running towards the castle. Holding his staff before him to ward off danger, Kilik was soon running towards the castle as well, Xianghua beside him.
Soon. It would be over soon.
And Xianglian's death would be revenged.
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They'd traveled inside the castle, slaying monsters as they went (Kilik briefly wondered if all the lizardmen did was kill and breed- there was that many of them) until they reached an enormous chamber. The room was bare except for a throne at the far end and a pedestal in the middle. Set in the pedestal, in a horrid joke on the Excaliber legend, Soul Edge pulsed, the heart of this living fortress. The eye on it's hilt seemed to laugh as they entered, gazing madly at them. On the throne, Nightmare sat, gazing at them with the haughty greatness of a king. Astaroth stood beside him, his ever-familiar axe held in his enormous hand with it's head to the floor. Seeing Maxi come in, he bellowed laughter.
" You! I can't believe this. You have traveled all the way from India to come after me? I feel rather embarassed at the attention!" the golem laughed, his huge and somehow wrong voice echoing in the chamber. Soul Edge seemed to laugh with him, it's eye focusing on Maxi. Maxi broke his silence (he'd not spoken a single word since entering the castle, even when struck in battle with the lizardmen).
" So you remember me, you bastard?!? I'll kill you!" he shrieked, running forward. His nunchaku flew out to the side. Xianghua and Kilik, glancing quickly at each other, had a fast unspoken agreement. Xianghua ran to the pedestal that Soul Edge was set in, with Kilik following behind. Astaroth, despite his size, was the weaker opponent here, and it was Maxi who had the motive of revenge against him. Kilik and Xianghua would defeat Nightmare and the Soul Edge, then deal with Astaroth.
Astaroth looked at the pitiful human coming towards him and laughed once more. " Don't disappoint me," he said, swinging Kulutues in an upward blow at him. Maxi dodged to the right, inwardly sniggering that Astaroth could be so stupid. He should have known Maxi would just dodge such a clumsy, ill-timed...
Astaroth's enormous foot, much bigger than a normal human one, slammed into Maxi and sent him on a fast trip backwards. Maxi, in his rage, had forgotten that Astaroth was a firm practitioner of the first rule of heavy weapons: trick your opponent into doing what you want him to. Astaroth had used the momentum of his own swing to give his kick greater strength. Maxi slammed into one of the pulsating, living walls, and his stomach lurched as he felt it's warmth and give. It felt like flesh. He got off it as quickly as he could, revulsed. He felt his mind being clawed at, Soul Edge's hellish essence scraping at his psyche. He dropped to his knees, gripping his head in his hands.
Astaroth, seeing this, laughed again. " Painful, isn't it?" He patted the wall with his free hand. " I'm not affected, but as I'm sure you've noticed by now, you are." He laughed again. He stepped forward, meaning to decapitate the annoying sailor before he recovered from touching the wall.
In the middle of the room, Xianghua ran forward. She focused her power on the Soul Calibur, hearing the holy sword's song in her mind. As it always did, the sword's song captivated her and lifted her spirits; it sounded like millions singing and shouting, all as the rain beat on... She fell fully into the powerful aura of the sword, and focused herself on the Soul Edge in the pedestal before her. She swept Soul Calibur, now visibly ringing with power, behind her, readying for a massive strike that would shatter the demon before her. Kilik, behind her, felt the Soul Calibur's power and heard it's song. It wasn't the first time he'd heard it, but it was louder this time, as if knowing that once more, it would fight it's ancient nemesis.
On the throne, Inferno used the eyes of Nightmare to gaze upon Xianghua. It had perfect confidence it could destroy both warriors. Siegfried, locked in his own mind, was helpless to do anything to help them. Inferno, laughing in Siegfried's mind, spoke to him.
" So, Siegfried!" Inferno said, it's laughing voice filling the darkness of Siegfried's psyche. " Look at this! My old friend is back!"
" Old friend? Who?" Siegfried, honestly confused, said.
" Why, that sword! It's the exact opposite of my Soul Edge, in terms of both power and effect. I've been trying to destroy it for centuries. Before I awoke this time, it almost killed me in Egypt..." Inferno's voice paused, as if musing over this. " But I don't think it can beat me now. I've lost one Soul Edge, but I've never had a host as long as I've had you." Siegfried felt the force of that mind, that awful mind, turned to him. " Be proud, boy," it whispered, that shrieking laughter in it's voice. " Because of all my hosts, you're the only one that I've managed to corrupt so much. You're no longer fully human. You're a half-demon now. Of course, that will change soon... when the Soul Edge feasts on the humans before us. Then I will make you a full demon and possess your entire body. And then, boy..."
Inferno laughed again as Siegfried saw what he had brought about, the future of the world once Inferno had a physical form- flames. Burning fields of death. Screams of the dying, men and women and children all burning in the hellfire as Inferno laughed and laughed...
In his tortured mind, Siegfried screamed. All his fault. Every bit of it.
In the real world, Nightmare stood up. Inferno had actually launched the horrid visions at Siegfried to keep him from interfering in this next battle. Siegfried's own guilt (Inferno had none, and briefly felt pity for humans for possessing such an emotion in the first place) would make him beat up on himself for a while, long enough to kill the humans before him. He readied the body to fight, flexing his hideous muscles. He enjoyed this, the feeling of a real, physical form. It was the one thing he lacked. It was the reason he'd created the twin Soul Edges in the first place- he wanted to draw a human to them and then take over. With a physical form, there was so much he could do...
But first things first.
Xianghua had almost reached the Soul Edge when Nightmare leaped. Kilik, seeing what was going to happen (Xianghua would, quite literally, have her brains busted out the back of her head by Nightmare's claw) did the only thing he could: he thrust his staff between Xianghua's feet and tripped her. She fell with a "oof!". Nightmare's attack, which had been perfectly-timed, missed, but the force of the blow caused a impact shockwave. Kilik and Xianghua were blown backwards. Grabbing the hilt of Soul Edge and pulling it out with strangely ceremonial slowness, Nightmare's form laughed. Inferno was in the driver's seat now.
" Let the eternal battle begin!" it cried with Nightmare's mouth. It grinned. Yes. This would be it. The last battle. With a war cry, it launched itself at Xianghua.
Across the room, Astaroth looked and saw the battle between Xianghua, Kilik, and Nightmare. Astaroth watched, fascinated, as the warriors fought the demon. Most of Astaroth's "soul" (like a demon, he didn't truly have a soul; it was more like an essence) was derived from Ares, an air elemental who believed that the greatest joy in life was watching battles and wars (it was this that made him become the god of war, an ironic twist that satisfied it to no end). Hence, Astaroth was completely distracted by the battle unfolding before him: it was both brutal and graceful, human strength and speed pitted against demonic madness, a battle both beautiful and terrible at the same itme. He had forgotten Maxi in his fascination, and Maxi reminded him of his existence with a sharp blow to the skull. This wake-up call knocked the giant onto the floor. Maxi pressed the attack, his nunchuka flailing at the murderous executioner now struggling to get up. Maxi's nunchuka whirled through the air, bashing into the strange flesh of the golem. Crimson blood splashed as Maxi tore into Astaroth.
Nightmare and Xianghua fought, the massive Soul Edge coming down upon the seemingly fragile Soul Calibur again and again. Yet, every time, the massive sword was deflected. Xianghua's arm hurt from guarding, but she couldn't get a blow in edgewise. Nightmare was simply going to bash her into submission.
Before Nightmare pulled off this primitve but effective tactic, Kilik had struck him on the head. Turning to deal with him, Nightmare's guard went down. Xianghua stabbed him in the gut, and Inferno felt the most excructiating pain it had ever felt. It doubled over, Inferno screaming through Nightmare's mouth. Xianghua stabbed again, but this time Nightmare swung the Soul Edge in time. Xianghua was knocked off balance, and Inferno was about to split her in half with a backswing when it felt a sudden rush of power in it's mind. Siegfried, knowing that the warriors in the room might be his last chance for redemption, had waited until now to strike. He used all his power to send a single impulse along the nerves in his deformed right arm. The impulse traveled down the warped nerves, and reached it's target. In the real world, Nightmare's hand opened suddenly. The Soul Edge dropped out of it.
Xianghua, recovering her balance, did not see it, but Kilik did. What he saw, and what he did next+, changed the world.
He saw Nightmare's eyes change. From burning red to a normal human brown. And he saw such torment in those eyes that, for the first time in his life, he saw someone with whom he would not trade places. Kilik's life had been marked by pain and sadness, but looking in those eyes, he saw the meaning of true sorrow. And his next action was an almost automatic response to that pain. He wondered about it later, but at the moment, in his mind, it was unquestionably the right thing to do. He later thought that the eyes had told him. That the mind behind them had begged him to do it.
He struck hard, his staff swinging through the air. His blow hit the Soul Edge dead-center in the eye. The sword did not merely scream; it shrieked as the power of the Kali-Yuga destroyed the eye that was it's core. The eye was more than a core, though; it was a gate.
A gate to the place where Inferno's essence lay.
And Kilik was drawn into it, with Xianghua behind him. They fell through dream and nightmare, rushing towards reality...
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Reality. No time.
The reality of Inferno was this. A blazing field, barren of life. Kilik glanced about it and saw Xianghua with him, her sword still glowing and singing. It's song was even louder here; it knew, somehow, that it could finally destroy Inferno here. Destroy it for good. She looked at Kilik and nodded. She didn't know what had happened, but knew that it ended here.
Inferno's essence floated out of the storm-covered heavens. It raised it's hand, floating there in the sky. It spoke to them, it's hand raised upwards as if grasping something.
" How, boy? How did you know? Did he tell you?" it asked them, speaking slowly as if not quite understanding what it was saying.
" What?" Kilik asked, wondering what Inferno was talking about.
" It matters not," Inferno said, still speaking slowly. " I'll simply kill you here."
Inferno raised it's hand, and flames streaked out of the sky.
- I hate to end a chapter like this, but my time is growing short. Merry Christmas, everybody! And in the next chapter: the fall of nightmare!
