Chapter 14

Ivy and I were seated across from each other at a table in the finest restaurant within walking distance. This would be the first meal I could remember in at least four years, probably longer. No matter how hard I tried, the only thing I could remember out of the past ten years was my confrontation with Xianghua.

"So, Ivy… Tell me more about yourself."

"In a nutshell, I was adopted by the Valentines after my father was overtaken by Soul Edge."

"And who was your father?"

"The only other things I know for sure are his name – Cervantes de Leon – and that he was a pirate who died at sea."

My mind flashed back to then years ago, when I first laid my hands on Soul Edge. Sure enough, it was in the tightly clenched hand of a pirate's corpse. In response to my attempts to take the sword, the pirate was reanimated and fought to defend the sword… or perhaps to make me prove myself a capable host for its power.

Upon defeating the pirate, I had taken Soul Edge, which underwent a metamorphosis similar to Soul Calibur had earlier today. The next day, I woke up to the inside of a cabin, where the dismembered corpses of a man and woman laid before me, but Soul Edge had absorbed the blood on its blade. The sword had possessed my body in my sleep.

"And what about your family, Siegfried?"

"Everyone in my family was taken by illness except for my father. I murdered him after Soul Edge overtook my body."

"…Oh."

"Soul Edge had spoken to me, telling me that I could revive my father by absorbing the souls of strong warriors. Being very naïve, I believed it, but after my first defeat, I had a flashback to what had happened during my possession. Among those memories was myself brutally chopping my father up into pieces."

Ivy remained silent. Perhaps it was time to change the subject.

"Why are you trying to destroy Soul Edge?"

She once again brushed her hair from in front of her eyes, not noticing the men at the next table drooling into their meals. "Soul Edge will most likely cause the apocalypse unless someone destroys it."

"But… Why you? Surely there's someone else out there with the same goal?"

"Everyone else seeks its power for their own personal reasons, even those who know the sword's true nature. They think they can handle its power, but they're sorely mistaken. No human can handle it. You should know that."

Our food arrived a short while later. I had ordered the largest steak on the menu. It was extra rare and dripping with blood, which made me wonder if it had been cooked at all. Looking at Ivy, I noticed she had ordered the same thing. Taking another look at her figure, I suspected she was bulimic.

Nonetheless, it was a delicious and hearty meal. I wondered how I had kept myself alive as Nightmare, because I had never been compelled to order steaks rare. Did I eat farmers' livestock, or had I unknowingly taken up cannibalism? Perhaps sadistic mass-murderers didn't need to eat. An image briefly flashed in my mind of Nightmare in the middle of a field nibbling on a potato.

"What do you know about a sword called Soul Calibur?" I asked through a mouthful of bloody steak.

"I know enough about it to know when I see it." Ivy's eyes moved to the blade on the floor by my feet. "Soul Calibur, or the Spirit Sword, is the polar opposite of Soul Edge. If Soul Edge ever becomes complete, then Soul Calibur, paired with a wielder pure of heart, is the only thing that doesn't have an infinitesimally small chance of destroying it."

"Hm. But you knew if it ever did get so bad, you could just take Siegfried along just in case…"

Ivy gave a chilling laugh before replying, "If it was just about the sword, I would have killed you in the forest when I saw it."

"Why didn't you, then?"

"The sword is better off in your hands at the moment anyway. This might be the only way to destroy Soul Edge's presence in you without actually killing off the person. Think of it as cleansing your soul of a foul substance."

After we had finished out meals, I asked, "So, how do you propose I break in? The innkeeper wouldn't like people breaking down his doors…"

"She. The innkeeper's a woman. And besides, I have it covered." Ivy dangled a key in front of me. "Heishiro gave me his room key before I changed my mind and invited him to my room. I just happened to conveniently 'lose' the key. I also paid off the innkeeper to keep her mouth shut about any ransacked rooms."

"So, I'm guessing you already bought our room?"

"Yes, I bought our rooms."

Rooms? In the plural form? Damn.

"Where exactly were you keeping those keys, anyway? I doubt that outfit has any pockets."

Ivy tapped her armlet and it opened up to reveal a small compartment overflowing with her tournament winnings.

She then excused herself for a moment to the restroom, where I could have sworn I heard vomiting.