Hey everyone. Umm, random question: WHY ARE THEY NO REVIEWS? Don't you love me anymore? (Sniffle)
I haven't abandoned this story, so PLEASE send in reviews! E-mail me at silverlocke980@hotmail.com if you can. No porn, please (just in case :).
Enough of my whining, it's...
"SHOWTIME!"
Chapter 3
End of Nightmare
"The Raving Fool", a tavern/inn near London's docks. Near midnight.
Kilik laid down on the mangy cot before him, the room he'd bought with his rapidly diminishing funds (he'd managed to get a great deal of gold from his time on The Journey, most of it from corpses) lit only by a single grimy candle that even now, seconds after being lit, seemed ready to give it up and die. It's weak light flickered uneasily before deciding to burn a few more minutes.
Kilik was tired, both in body and mind. Maxi had been a great friend (although a constant pain in the noble monk's side), and he missed the pirate. He'd hoped Maxi was alive, but it looked like he was dead.
Kilik sighed, then blew the sputtering candle out and laid his head back. The Kali-Yuga, it's scarlet length invisible now in the darkness, laid beside him, in easy reach if something happened. On The Journey, one learned such things.
Kilik fell asleep, and in his dreams remembered...
Remembered the battle he and Xianghua had fought, so long ago.
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One year ago. Reality. No time.
There was no time to think about what had just happened, to wonder where they were. All they had time to do was try and stay alive.
Meteors, blazing tears of fire on the storm-rent sky, slammed into the ground with shattering force. One blast near Xianghua knocked the small Chinese woman off her feet. She cried out as she hit the ground, barely managing to hold onto Soul Calibur.
Kilik ran to help her, only to be knocked down himself by the shockwave of another hellish fireball. To his horror, he saw that the flames were spreading, despite the fact that there was nothing for them to feed on. In the flames, he saw faces... hundreds of leaping, squirming things that were coming towards him. He got up quickly, swinging his staff at them. As Kali-Yuga struck them, they were extinguished... but more always came. They were going to overrun him, and when the flames got to his flesh they would eat it away, devouring his body ( and, he feared, his soul too). He swung wildly, completely terrified for one of the first times in his life. He had never been this scared, save for when he had woken up and seen his adopted sister lying beside him, her skull cracked open, the blood seeming to form a grisly halo around her shattered face.
But this was no time for memories. Kilik swung, frantically, as the flames advanced. He did not see the crimson tear streaking towards him, blazing across the face of the sky.
Xianghua had gotten up, Soul Calibur clenched firmly in her hand. She heard it's holy song, and glanced at Kilik. She gasped when she saw the meteor above him. Committing all her power into the Soul Calibur, she gripped it's hilt with both hands and swung it into place behind her head. Her small form tensed with effort, she concentrated everything in her into the Soul Calibur, feeling it's flow, hearing it's holy song...
She swung, eyes shut, a vertical two-handed blow. There was nothing before her, but it seemed to strike something anyway, stopping halfway on it's trip to the floor. Power, blue power, flared into life. A shockwave erupted, tearing into the strange ground of this place. Inferno, sensing the power and knowing it for what it was, screeched and dived from the air like a hellish falcon, claws extended towards Xianghua.
The shockwave Xianghua sent reached Kilik a mere few seconds after it was released. The energy in it, good energy, the energy of life and light, filled Kilik, surrounding and guarding him. The flames before him died, perishing in that beautiful light. The meteor struck the shield and shattered, falling into nothingness. Kilik heard the song of Soul Calibur, and glanced at Xianghua. What he saw made his eyes widen in surprise, his mouth gaping open.
Inferno and Xianghua were fighting, locked in vicious combat. Xianghua's entire body glowed, the holy power of Soul Calibur shining on her. Her blows opened blazing wounds on Inferno's body, holes full of white light. Inferno screamed and struck at her, his claws striking her skin and bouncing off, sparks erupting wherever he hit. Yet, although the attacks left no visible mark, the light weakened with each blow. It wasn't much each time, just a little dimming, but Kilik knew it was there. The sword was weakening.
[ Which is why,] Kilik thought, running forward to join in, [ I'm here.]
Inferno, fighting Xianghua, did not notice Kilik at all; he was focused on ending this here and now. He wanted nothing but the total destruction of the Soul Calibur.
Accordingly, the blow that swept his legs out from under him took him completely by surprise. Inferno fell over, and before he could get up Kilik slammed his staff into the burning skull of Inferno's face. The Kali-Yuga left no burning brands of light upon the demon, but Inferno's scream told Kilik that it hurt just the same. Inferno reached up, clawing at him, and Kilik jumped backwards, sweeping his staff and smashing into Inferno's wrists. Inferno's hands were blown back towards his face, but the demon kicked Kilik and knocked him down as well. Before the demon could rise up, Xianghua stabbed the Soul Calibur downward, point first. The silver edge of the holy weapon, glowing with white light, pierced the demon's torso. His entire body was pinned to the ground, impaled on the blazing Soul Calibur. Kilik, from his position on the ground ( his stomach ached like hell; that had been one powerful kick), saw the white light and smiled. Xianghua had done it. He passed out, and therefore did not see or hear what happened next.
Inferno writhed and twisted, screeching horribly. He'd never felt pain like this. He resembled some great beetle, pinned by a cruel child, writhing in torment.
Xianghua looked at him, gasping for breath. She placed her hands on the Soul Calibur, preparing to rend the demon's essence.
" Wait," Inferno gasped feebly.
Xianghua should have known better; she'd been taught for years that demons were most dangerous when they were almost defeated. She should have known not to listen.
But then again, she was human.
" What, demon?" she said. " Give me a single good reason to let you live."
" Why... are you doing this?" Inferno asked weakly, putting off an aura of complete helplessness and pain (demons were excellent actors when they had to be). " Is it... because your mother... taught you to?"
" Yes," Xianghua said, confused. What game was he playing?
" Isn't that... a pitiful way... to live your life? Doing... what your mother... couldn't?" Inferno chuckled weakly, sounding for all the world like a man on his deathbed. " She is... living... her life... through you."
Xianghua had been raised in a culture where ancestor worship was a way of life. One's ancestors were regarded almost as gods. Hence, she was utterly flabbergasted by Inferno's words.
" What do you mean? What are you talking about?" she said, her hands still on the hilt of the Soul Calibur. Her mind was confused, her focus lost. The Soul Calibur's light dimmed.
" Why not... live your own life? Why... bother with... what your parents... or their parents... did? Why not make... your own choice, instead of... letting others make it for you?"
Xianghua had just been shown an entirely different way of thinking. Like everyone else who has ever had the same thing happen to them, she was completely dumbfounded. Her face creased with worry and confusion, and she said hesitantly, " But... uh..."
Inferno, knowing he was winning, said, " Think... about it. Did you... choose to become... a demon hunter? Forever... hunting, forever... slaying? It's... never been... your choice, has it? It's always been... for " Mother", or... for "Good"... why not... live... your own life?"
Xianghua, her training finally kicking in, said, " You're trying to trick me."
Inferno chuckled again, his feeble laughter normal and human (nothing like his true laughter). " I... obviously want... to live. But... I, too, have... a heart. I... feel sorry for you... bound to... this sword. We're... both bound... aren't we? We... aren't the... true masters of... our destiny..."
Xianghua had no idea what to think. Inferno's words scared her, awakened new fears and angers inside her heart. She wondered now if that was what she was doing, if she was merely playing a predetermined role. If she was merely doing what others wanted.
Her mind having lost all focus, the Soul Calibur's light dimmed to almost nothing. Inferno made his move. Despite appearing weak to Xianghua, he had a great deal of his strength left, and with her concentration gone from Soul Calibur, he found he could move easily enough. Swiping hard with the back of his left hand, he slashed Xianghua's right shoulder, leaving three deep gashes there. With his other hand he struck the hands gripping the sword, crushing fingers and making Xianghua let go. She cried out as some of her bones cracked, and she drew back, hands bleeding. Inferno grabbed the Soul Calibur, and ignoring the sudden flare of pain in his hand, flung it aside. It stuck in the ground, away from him. He rose up, clutching the wound in his stomach with his left hand. Damn, that had hurt. He would recover soon enough- as soon as this bitch was dead, anyway.
Xianghua glared at him. Her wounded hands clutched each other, blood leaking from between her knuckles. She was so surprised at what had just happened, at all the thoughts spinning in her mind, that the only thing she could think to say was the obvious. " You tricked me!" she screamed. " You..."
Inferno stopped her with a laugh. Unlike his weak chuckles, this was his full and normal shrieking laughter. " No, I didn't. I actually spoke the truth. There are few weapons as powerful, in this or any world, regardless of whether you're a demon or not." He laughed again. Ah, yes. It was slightly wearied and ragged at the edges, but he was not as badly hurt as he'd thought. He stood up, left hand moving from the lighted wound on his stomach. He raised his claws in front of him, crossed so that his left claw was on the right and the right was on the left, preparing to tear Xianghua's head off with a crossing scissor blow. Xianghua closed her eyes, accepting death and defeat. She had failed, had brought dishonor on her family. It was over. The demon had won.
And then, a miraculous sound, like the horns of allies to a besieged army, a war cry that rent the air of the blazing battlefield. She did not know then, and until she heard it again years later would not know, that it was Siegfried's war cry. She could not see him at first because her eyes were closed, and it happened too fast for her to glimpse anything at all when she opened them. All she saw was blinding light.
Siegfried had went to Reality alongside them all. As part of Inferno, he could travel with the demon. He had went to watch, to wait. To see if he could try and help destroy Inferno. He had seen the battle, floating as a incorporeal spirit, and when Xianghua stabbed Inferno he would have clapped and jumped for joy if he could. Yes! It was over. The future had been won back from Inferno. Then, as the demon tricked her, he despaired. No. Not now, not when they were so close...
He had seen Soul Calibur thrown to the side, near to where his spiritual "body" stood. He watched as the demon stalked forward.
And then, he heard a voice. Many voices, really. Voices that sang and shouted, their singing rising above the patter of endless rain. He had looked around, trying to find the source of that music, when he spied Soul Calibur. It had shifted, changed from the light Chinese sword Xianghua used to a great, shining silver Zweihander. It's immense form, graceful despite it's size, glittered in the light of the flames of this world. Time slowed for Siegfried. He reached forward, grasping it's hilt, and felt something tug at him, deep in his soul. Yes. This was what he had wanted for so long. A means to slay Inferno, forever.
He ran forward, his body turning more real and solid with every step. By the time he reached Inferno, he was fully human, wearing his old Maximillion plate armor, his long blond hair streaking behind him. He yelled out his battle cry, a saying of his father's that in German meant " For honor!" He leapt upwards, his jump carrying him high above the burning wasteland below him. His blade streaked downwards, the Soul Calibur's song ringing out.
Inferno turned just in time to dodge. Siegfried was new to the weapon, new to using a body at all, and his blow had been timed just a little off. Maybe a second, maybe less... but it was enough. The blow struck Inferno's body but missed his essence by mere inches. It's blazing white light flared, powered by Siegfried's mind and soul (for there are few things stronger than a dark soul turned to light, few things greater than redemption), and it destroyed Inferno's realm, shattering the hellish nightmare Inferno had created. Inferno's body burned away in that light, but Inferno's essence survived, flying out of the dying realm, streaking back towards the real world where the castle was falling apart in eerie mimicry of Inferno's realm. It's master weakened, the castle had reverted to stone, and where once living tendons and muscle had supported the walls, now nothing held them together.
Kilik and Xianghua felt their souls being drawn out of Inferno's reality, falling back to dream and nightmare...
************************************************************************
One year ago. Nightmare's Castle, Black Forest of Germany. Daylight.
Kilik and Xianghua came to in the throne room, laying on the ground. Miraculously, though the entire castle was being destroyed, they were unharmed. Kilik checked his body, looking for the cuts that should have been there. Save for those he'd already had when he entered, he was unmarked. He looked at Xianghua, who seemed to be shaking.
" You did it!" he said, a smile appearing on his face. " You destroyed him! Xianghua, you're wonderful!"
She looked at him, and the pain and sorrow in her eyes made his smile fade. He said, worriedly, " What, Xianghua? What is it?"
She shook her head at him. " Nothing. I... lost the Soul Calibur in there, that's all."
Kilik looked at her for a moment, amazed she could even think of that. " Oh, well, that's probably good. I mean, even if Inferno survives, the Soul Calibur should bind him. Either way, he's gone for good! It doesn't matter if the Soul Calibur was lost. No one will ever need it again, thanks to you."
Xianghua looked away. " I..." She shook her head, almost violently, and Kilik looked at her with no small worry in his mind. " It's nothing. Just liked that sword." Putting up a cheeriness she did not feel, she said, " Let's go." Looking around, she said, " Where's Maxi?"
Kilik let out a " Oh! Shit!" of surprise, then grabbed his staff and got up. " Don't know, but this place is falling apart. Let's find him and haul ass out of here!"
Xianghua merely nodded. She didn't feel like talking. Her mind was whirling, confused. What Inferno had said, and the lies she had just told (or, rather, the truth she had not), weighed on her heavily. They would for well over a year.
At that moment, Kilik and Xianghua ran through the castle, yelling out for Maxi and slaying any lizard-men stupid enough to attack them. They might as well have not bothered; Maxi was nowhere nearby. He would be found later, by a fisherman from a small village in Europe, miles from the castle.
But neither of them knew that. They searched until the castle fell to pieces and they had to escape, and both mourned their companion. They traveled back to Asia empty-handed, reported their findings (glossing over the truth), and went their separate ways. Kilik went on a journey to all the ports of the world, hunting for signs of Maxi, while Xianghua stayed in China. They thought they were finished with the Soul Edge, that they could rest.
They had no idea how wrong they were.
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One year ago, one hour after the fall of Nightmare's castle. Black Forest of Germany. Daylight.
There are few things as rare as second chances. Siegfried got one, an act akin to winning the Irish Sweepstakes. He never forgot those first moments, the way the light twinkled about him, the feel of his plate armor on his normal human body, the songs of the birds and the gurgling laughter of running water.
He was laying down, at the foot of an enormous and ancient oak tree. He opened his eyes, and looked around, shocked to find the castle gone. In it's place beautiful trees grew, and he saw several birds flutter away at his movement. He smelled the fresh scent of the earth, heard the life in the forest. Each breath was a victory, for it was a breath done in freedom. He lay there, drinking it in, thanking God a million times over. He couldn't believe it. Free.
His body felt odd, like it didn't fit quite right, and it took him several days to get used to it again. But that was unimportant. He had time now. He was free! That, above all, mattered. He was free!
He rose up, and looked behind him at the great oak tree. And, gazing at it, he saw with both astonishment and wonder that he recognized it. It was the same tree he had practiced his sword techniques on. His hut was near here.
He got up, taking the first steps of his new life, and touched the tree, touching the long gashes where he had struck it with Requiem. He felt tears spill from his eyes.
Turning to a dirt path he had walked a thousand times before, he began walking to his cabin in the woods, where he had went when the Soul Edge had first tried to take over. He knew what he would do now. He had been given a second chance. He would not waste it.
He would pay the world back, pay it back for his sins. He knew it would take more years than any man was given to do so, but he meant to try.
[And in the end, isn't that the most important thing?] he thought, smiling. He actually began to hum as he walked, an old marching song, as he headed towards his home to pick up the one thing he needed most in this new life of redemption.
Requiem.
- There you go. Hope you enjoy this chapter- and review me please! Merry Christmas, my fans and readers! (Always assuming I have any)
I haven't abandoned this story, so PLEASE send in reviews! E-mail me at silverlocke980@hotmail.com if you can. No porn, please (just in case :).
Enough of my whining, it's...
"SHOWTIME!"
Chapter 3
End of Nightmare
"The Raving Fool", a tavern/inn near London's docks. Near midnight.
Kilik laid down on the mangy cot before him, the room he'd bought with his rapidly diminishing funds (he'd managed to get a great deal of gold from his time on The Journey, most of it from corpses) lit only by a single grimy candle that even now, seconds after being lit, seemed ready to give it up and die. It's weak light flickered uneasily before deciding to burn a few more minutes.
Kilik was tired, both in body and mind. Maxi had been a great friend (although a constant pain in the noble monk's side), and he missed the pirate. He'd hoped Maxi was alive, but it looked like he was dead.
Kilik sighed, then blew the sputtering candle out and laid his head back. The Kali-Yuga, it's scarlet length invisible now in the darkness, laid beside him, in easy reach if something happened. On The Journey, one learned such things.
Kilik fell asleep, and in his dreams remembered...
Remembered the battle he and Xianghua had fought, so long ago.
************************************************************************
One year ago. Reality. No time.
There was no time to think about what had just happened, to wonder where they were. All they had time to do was try and stay alive.
Meteors, blazing tears of fire on the storm-rent sky, slammed into the ground with shattering force. One blast near Xianghua knocked the small Chinese woman off her feet. She cried out as she hit the ground, barely managing to hold onto Soul Calibur.
Kilik ran to help her, only to be knocked down himself by the shockwave of another hellish fireball. To his horror, he saw that the flames were spreading, despite the fact that there was nothing for them to feed on. In the flames, he saw faces... hundreds of leaping, squirming things that were coming towards him. He got up quickly, swinging his staff at them. As Kali-Yuga struck them, they were extinguished... but more always came. They were going to overrun him, and when the flames got to his flesh they would eat it away, devouring his body ( and, he feared, his soul too). He swung wildly, completely terrified for one of the first times in his life. He had never been this scared, save for when he had woken up and seen his adopted sister lying beside him, her skull cracked open, the blood seeming to form a grisly halo around her shattered face.
But this was no time for memories. Kilik swung, frantically, as the flames advanced. He did not see the crimson tear streaking towards him, blazing across the face of the sky.
Xianghua had gotten up, Soul Calibur clenched firmly in her hand. She heard it's holy song, and glanced at Kilik. She gasped when she saw the meteor above him. Committing all her power into the Soul Calibur, she gripped it's hilt with both hands and swung it into place behind her head. Her small form tensed with effort, she concentrated everything in her into the Soul Calibur, feeling it's flow, hearing it's holy song...
She swung, eyes shut, a vertical two-handed blow. There was nothing before her, but it seemed to strike something anyway, stopping halfway on it's trip to the floor. Power, blue power, flared into life. A shockwave erupted, tearing into the strange ground of this place. Inferno, sensing the power and knowing it for what it was, screeched and dived from the air like a hellish falcon, claws extended towards Xianghua.
The shockwave Xianghua sent reached Kilik a mere few seconds after it was released. The energy in it, good energy, the energy of life and light, filled Kilik, surrounding and guarding him. The flames before him died, perishing in that beautiful light. The meteor struck the shield and shattered, falling into nothingness. Kilik heard the song of Soul Calibur, and glanced at Xianghua. What he saw made his eyes widen in surprise, his mouth gaping open.
Inferno and Xianghua were fighting, locked in vicious combat. Xianghua's entire body glowed, the holy power of Soul Calibur shining on her. Her blows opened blazing wounds on Inferno's body, holes full of white light. Inferno screamed and struck at her, his claws striking her skin and bouncing off, sparks erupting wherever he hit. Yet, although the attacks left no visible mark, the light weakened with each blow. It wasn't much each time, just a little dimming, but Kilik knew it was there. The sword was weakening.
[ Which is why,] Kilik thought, running forward to join in, [ I'm here.]
Inferno, fighting Xianghua, did not notice Kilik at all; he was focused on ending this here and now. He wanted nothing but the total destruction of the Soul Calibur.
Accordingly, the blow that swept his legs out from under him took him completely by surprise. Inferno fell over, and before he could get up Kilik slammed his staff into the burning skull of Inferno's face. The Kali-Yuga left no burning brands of light upon the demon, but Inferno's scream told Kilik that it hurt just the same. Inferno reached up, clawing at him, and Kilik jumped backwards, sweeping his staff and smashing into Inferno's wrists. Inferno's hands were blown back towards his face, but the demon kicked Kilik and knocked him down as well. Before the demon could rise up, Xianghua stabbed the Soul Calibur downward, point first. The silver edge of the holy weapon, glowing with white light, pierced the demon's torso. His entire body was pinned to the ground, impaled on the blazing Soul Calibur. Kilik, from his position on the ground ( his stomach ached like hell; that had been one powerful kick), saw the white light and smiled. Xianghua had done it. He passed out, and therefore did not see or hear what happened next.
Inferno writhed and twisted, screeching horribly. He'd never felt pain like this. He resembled some great beetle, pinned by a cruel child, writhing in torment.
Xianghua looked at him, gasping for breath. She placed her hands on the Soul Calibur, preparing to rend the demon's essence.
" Wait," Inferno gasped feebly.
Xianghua should have known better; she'd been taught for years that demons were most dangerous when they were almost defeated. She should have known not to listen.
But then again, she was human.
" What, demon?" she said. " Give me a single good reason to let you live."
" Why... are you doing this?" Inferno asked weakly, putting off an aura of complete helplessness and pain (demons were excellent actors when they had to be). " Is it... because your mother... taught you to?"
" Yes," Xianghua said, confused. What game was he playing?
" Isn't that... a pitiful way... to live your life? Doing... what your mother... couldn't?" Inferno chuckled weakly, sounding for all the world like a man on his deathbed. " She is... living... her life... through you."
Xianghua had been raised in a culture where ancestor worship was a way of life. One's ancestors were regarded almost as gods. Hence, she was utterly flabbergasted by Inferno's words.
" What do you mean? What are you talking about?" she said, her hands still on the hilt of the Soul Calibur. Her mind was confused, her focus lost. The Soul Calibur's light dimmed.
" Why not... live your own life? Why... bother with... what your parents... or their parents... did? Why not make... your own choice, instead of... letting others make it for you?"
Xianghua had just been shown an entirely different way of thinking. Like everyone else who has ever had the same thing happen to them, she was completely dumbfounded. Her face creased with worry and confusion, and she said hesitantly, " But... uh..."
Inferno, knowing he was winning, said, " Think... about it. Did you... choose to become... a demon hunter? Forever... hunting, forever... slaying? It's... never been... your choice, has it? It's always been... for " Mother", or... for "Good"... why not... live... your own life?"
Xianghua, her training finally kicking in, said, " You're trying to trick me."
Inferno chuckled again, his feeble laughter normal and human (nothing like his true laughter). " I... obviously want... to live. But... I, too, have... a heart. I... feel sorry for you... bound to... this sword. We're... both bound... aren't we? We... aren't the... true masters of... our destiny..."
Xianghua had no idea what to think. Inferno's words scared her, awakened new fears and angers inside her heart. She wondered now if that was what she was doing, if she was merely playing a predetermined role. If she was merely doing what others wanted.
Her mind having lost all focus, the Soul Calibur's light dimmed to almost nothing. Inferno made his move. Despite appearing weak to Xianghua, he had a great deal of his strength left, and with her concentration gone from Soul Calibur, he found he could move easily enough. Swiping hard with the back of his left hand, he slashed Xianghua's right shoulder, leaving three deep gashes there. With his other hand he struck the hands gripping the sword, crushing fingers and making Xianghua let go. She cried out as some of her bones cracked, and she drew back, hands bleeding. Inferno grabbed the Soul Calibur, and ignoring the sudden flare of pain in his hand, flung it aside. It stuck in the ground, away from him. He rose up, clutching the wound in his stomach with his left hand. Damn, that had hurt. He would recover soon enough- as soon as this bitch was dead, anyway.
Xianghua glared at him. Her wounded hands clutched each other, blood leaking from between her knuckles. She was so surprised at what had just happened, at all the thoughts spinning in her mind, that the only thing she could think to say was the obvious. " You tricked me!" she screamed. " You..."
Inferno stopped her with a laugh. Unlike his weak chuckles, this was his full and normal shrieking laughter. " No, I didn't. I actually spoke the truth. There are few weapons as powerful, in this or any world, regardless of whether you're a demon or not." He laughed again. Ah, yes. It was slightly wearied and ragged at the edges, but he was not as badly hurt as he'd thought. He stood up, left hand moving from the lighted wound on his stomach. He raised his claws in front of him, crossed so that his left claw was on the right and the right was on the left, preparing to tear Xianghua's head off with a crossing scissor blow. Xianghua closed her eyes, accepting death and defeat. She had failed, had brought dishonor on her family. It was over. The demon had won.
And then, a miraculous sound, like the horns of allies to a besieged army, a war cry that rent the air of the blazing battlefield. She did not know then, and until she heard it again years later would not know, that it was Siegfried's war cry. She could not see him at first because her eyes were closed, and it happened too fast for her to glimpse anything at all when she opened them. All she saw was blinding light.
Siegfried had went to Reality alongside them all. As part of Inferno, he could travel with the demon. He had went to watch, to wait. To see if he could try and help destroy Inferno. He had seen the battle, floating as a incorporeal spirit, and when Xianghua stabbed Inferno he would have clapped and jumped for joy if he could. Yes! It was over. The future had been won back from Inferno. Then, as the demon tricked her, he despaired. No. Not now, not when they were so close...
He had seen Soul Calibur thrown to the side, near to where his spiritual "body" stood. He watched as the demon stalked forward.
And then, he heard a voice. Many voices, really. Voices that sang and shouted, their singing rising above the patter of endless rain. He had looked around, trying to find the source of that music, when he spied Soul Calibur. It had shifted, changed from the light Chinese sword Xianghua used to a great, shining silver Zweihander. It's immense form, graceful despite it's size, glittered in the light of the flames of this world. Time slowed for Siegfried. He reached forward, grasping it's hilt, and felt something tug at him, deep in his soul. Yes. This was what he had wanted for so long. A means to slay Inferno, forever.
He ran forward, his body turning more real and solid with every step. By the time he reached Inferno, he was fully human, wearing his old Maximillion plate armor, his long blond hair streaking behind him. He yelled out his battle cry, a saying of his father's that in German meant " For honor!" He leapt upwards, his jump carrying him high above the burning wasteland below him. His blade streaked downwards, the Soul Calibur's song ringing out.
Inferno turned just in time to dodge. Siegfried was new to the weapon, new to using a body at all, and his blow had been timed just a little off. Maybe a second, maybe less... but it was enough. The blow struck Inferno's body but missed his essence by mere inches. It's blazing white light flared, powered by Siegfried's mind and soul (for there are few things stronger than a dark soul turned to light, few things greater than redemption), and it destroyed Inferno's realm, shattering the hellish nightmare Inferno had created. Inferno's body burned away in that light, but Inferno's essence survived, flying out of the dying realm, streaking back towards the real world where the castle was falling apart in eerie mimicry of Inferno's realm. It's master weakened, the castle had reverted to stone, and where once living tendons and muscle had supported the walls, now nothing held them together.
Kilik and Xianghua felt their souls being drawn out of Inferno's reality, falling back to dream and nightmare...
************************************************************************
One year ago. Nightmare's Castle, Black Forest of Germany. Daylight.
Kilik and Xianghua came to in the throne room, laying on the ground. Miraculously, though the entire castle was being destroyed, they were unharmed. Kilik checked his body, looking for the cuts that should have been there. Save for those he'd already had when he entered, he was unmarked. He looked at Xianghua, who seemed to be shaking.
" You did it!" he said, a smile appearing on his face. " You destroyed him! Xianghua, you're wonderful!"
She looked at him, and the pain and sorrow in her eyes made his smile fade. He said, worriedly, " What, Xianghua? What is it?"
She shook her head at him. " Nothing. I... lost the Soul Calibur in there, that's all."
Kilik looked at her for a moment, amazed she could even think of that. " Oh, well, that's probably good. I mean, even if Inferno survives, the Soul Calibur should bind him. Either way, he's gone for good! It doesn't matter if the Soul Calibur was lost. No one will ever need it again, thanks to you."
Xianghua looked away. " I..." She shook her head, almost violently, and Kilik looked at her with no small worry in his mind. " It's nothing. Just liked that sword." Putting up a cheeriness she did not feel, she said, " Let's go." Looking around, she said, " Where's Maxi?"
Kilik let out a " Oh! Shit!" of surprise, then grabbed his staff and got up. " Don't know, but this place is falling apart. Let's find him and haul ass out of here!"
Xianghua merely nodded. She didn't feel like talking. Her mind was whirling, confused. What Inferno had said, and the lies she had just told (or, rather, the truth she had not), weighed on her heavily. They would for well over a year.
At that moment, Kilik and Xianghua ran through the castle, yelling out for Maxi and slaying any lizard-men stupid enough to attack them. They might as well have not bothered; Maxi was nowhere nearby. He would be found later, by a fisherman from a small village in Europe, miles from the castle.
But neither of them knew that. They searched until the castle fell to pieces and they had to escape, and both mourned their companion. They traveled back to Asia empty-handed, reported their findings (glossing over the truth), and went their separate ways. Kilik went on a journey to all the ports of the world, hunting for signs of Maxi, while Xianghua stayed in China. They thought they were finished with the Soul Edge, that they could rest.
They had no idea how wrong they were.
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One year ago, one hour after the fall of Nightmare's castle. Black Forest of Germany. Daylight.
There are few things as rare as second chances. Siegfried got one, an act akin to winning the Irish Sweepstakes. He never forgot those first moments, the way the light twinkled about him, the feel of his plate armor on his normal human body, the songs of the birds and the gurgling laughter of running water.
He was laying down, at the foot of an enormous and ancient oak tree. He opened his eyes, and looked around, shocked to find the castle gone. In it's place beautiful trees grew, and he saw several birds flutter away at his movement. He smelled the fresh scent of the earth, heard the life in the forest. Each breath was a victory, for it was a breath done in freedom. He lay there, drinking it in, thanking God a million times over. He couldn't believe it. Free.
His body felt odd, like it didn't fit quite right, and it took him several days to get used to it again. But that was unimportant. He had time now. He was free! That, above all, mattered. He was free!
He rose up, and looked behind him at the great oak tree. And, gazing at it, he saw with both astonishment and wonder that he recognized it. It was the same tree he had practiced his sword techniques on. His hut was near here.
He got up, taking the first steps of his new life, and touched the tree, touching the long gashes where he had struck it with Requiem. He felt tears spill from his eyes.
Turning to a dirt path he had walked a thousand times before, he began walking to his cabin in the woods, where he had went when the Soul Edge had first tried to take over. He knew what he would do now. He had been given a second chance. He would not waste it.
He would pay the world back, pay it back for his sins. He knew it would take more years than any man was given to do so, but he meant to try.
[And in the end, isn't that the most important thing?] he thought, smiling. He actually began to hum as he walked, an old marching song, as he headed towards his home to pick up the one thing he needed most in this new life of redemption.
Requiem.
- There you go. Hope you enjoy this chapter- and review me please! Merry Christmas, my fans and readers! (Always assuming I have any)
