Chapter 15

The sun had finally set on this long day as I waited outside the inn with a key in my hand and Soul Calibur strapped to my back with a strip of cloth removed from the fat man's clothes. It went over the robe in an X shape across my chest. The cloth and Soul Calibur were the only things visible with the hood pulled over my face as I awaited Mitsurugi's arrival.

A few minutes later, I saw him approaching. I was well hidden between the buildings, so I simply watched as he stumbled right past me into the inn. I caught a whiff of alcohol as he passed.

I waited about ten seconds, before I peeked in the door. No Mitsurugi in sight. I made my way by the different rooms, where I heard the door to room ten, which was Ivy's room, latch shut.

I checked the key just to be sure before I unlocked room eighteen and let myself in.

This inn was of higher quality than it seemed from the outside. The large bed was covered with a soft, lavish comforter and a thick feather pillow. Unlit candles sat in their tapers on the wall, and a finely made table and chair set sat by the enormous window. Remains of a half-eaten roast chicken were lying on the table with the life shoved into its breast and a fork stuck in its leg. Either he was a light eater or had gotten frustrated with European silverware.

I checked every place I could think of in Mitsurugi's room: in the bureau, on the table, under the bed (shouldn't have looked there…) and even inside the chicken. You never know, some people are really bizarre and twisted…

Finally, I found it in a taper missing its candle. The red chunk of metal had a familiar aura, one that both seemed to relax and shred my mind at the same time. I knew I should have destroyed the sword's fragment instantly, but no matter how hard I tried to reach back and grab my sword… I was unable. Sorry, Ivy, I thought as I put the fragment inside my robe pocket and left Mitsurugi's room no more disorganized than it had been before my arrival.

I crossed the inn to Ivy's room, and as soon as I opened the door, I realized I should have waited outside just a few seconds longer.

Honestly, I couldn't have told someone if she was killing him or raping him; her heel was on his back, her whip in the air, and the top half of her outfit on the floor, leaving her perfect breasts exposed (as if you couldn't have imagined them from her outfit… it's not like it covered much…). Mitsurugi was on his hands and knees, his pants on the floor next to him, the fresh wraps slashed in several places on his back. All the activity in the room stopped instantly as they both snapped their heads toward me, their eyes wide.

Well, now that I blew Ivy's cover, I might as well kill him off. I pulled Soul Calibur off my back and lopped off his head with a well-placed vertical chop.

"Why are you here, Siegfried?" Ivy reverted her whip back to its sword form. She wasn't ashamed of showing her breasts… or maybe she didn't realize she was still half nude.

Why did I come here? I knew what was going on in this room, yet I came in anyway. Was the fragment of Soul Edge too much for me to think clearly?

"Mitsurugi was drunk. If you would've messed up, he wouldn't have held back against you." I struggled to keep my eyes on her face instead of her chest.

"You don't think I could smell it on his breath? I think I could handle him—!" Ivy stared at her sword, which had become a whip and was lightly pulling in my direction. With a betrayed expression, she stared at me with her mouth open. "You didn't destroy the fragment?"

"I couldn't. It still was calling to me."

"Give it to me. I'll destroy it."

I reached inside my robe pocket and clasped my gauntlet around the tiny metal shard. As soon as it touched my armor, I could feel an inner pain unlike any I had ever felt before, even under Soul Edge's influence. In my right hand, Soul Calibur glowed with its divine aura, and the left hand in my pocket burned with the demonic rage of Soul Edge. I fell to my knees as my body became the battlefield of the two legendary weapons.