Chapter 16
I'm not sure if it was a dream or reality, but instantly I was floating in complete darkness. I looked around in a futile attempt to tell where I was, and noticed a familiar sword stuck in the ground in front of where I landed. It was the demonic sword, Soul Edge. Grasping its handle was a fiery apparition – the monster that controlled my body when I was under the sword's influence.
I gripped Soul Calibur in both hands. The fragment, I had noticed, had disappeared.
"What are you?" My voice seemed distant and vague, like it was coming from somewhere else.
"Inferno…" The thing had no voice; I could hear it inside my mind, echoing around my skull. "It's useless to try fighting me… My power is absolute!"
"Never again will I be controlled by you!" My voice still seemed far-off. I readied Soul Calibur at my side, prepared to strike at any moment.
"Hah! You think one feeble person will be able to stand up against me! I had absorbed countless souls! Even fragmented in my power, it will be more than enough to obliterate you! You will succumb to my presence!"
Inferno and the entire landscape erupted in blazing fire. The walking column of flame viciously ripped Soul Edge from the ground and slowly moved toward me. For the sake of Earth, I couldn't lose this battle, now that Soul Calibur gave me a fighting chance against Soul Edge… even if it is just a fragment. I would destroy the evil presence one shard at a time.
Soul Edge and Soul Calibur clashed together, creating a shower of energy. Again and again, the two swords struck each other, neither able to break the other's guard.
After a long, arduous battle, I had become weary; Soul Calibur's revitalizing effect dwindled more and more.
"You call this a battle? Hah!" The flame whirled around me and effortlessly planted the sword into my back, forcing me to the ground. Soul Edge was driven through my body and into the fiery earth beneath me.
I could feel the blood draining from my body, but it was completely painless. Soul Calibur should be able to destroy the entire sword, but its wielder lacked the willpower to destroy a single shard…
The flaming wielder of Soul Edge gave a menacing laugh as it vanished and I felt an incredible evil enter through the sword. The flames spanning the entire landscape were reduced to smoldering embers and the ground vanished, leaving nothing but Soul Edge in my back and eerie laughter escaping my lungs.