Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Caliber, Tekken or any of it's characters. They all belong to NAMCO. I don't own anybody from the Zelda Series they belong to Nintendo. I do not own Spawn or Necrid either, Todd McFarlane does. And if you want the copyright info on the Original Characters it is in my profile.
Authors Note: That is my style of writing. I separate events both major and minor. As for that ancient SSBM story, I scrapped that after everything I had on it was destroyed including the plans and time line I set up for it. It was going nowhere and people wouldn't quit bitching when the slightest little thing collided with a characters series.
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Soul Calibur II: Of Souls And Swords
Chapter Twenty-Five: Startling Revelations
Nightmare's eyes narrowed as he watched the elf's grip tighten on his blade's handle, the Soul Edge was now wordlessly screaming in fear of its own destruction, the members of the White Wind looked on absently. Link looked at Soul Edge as he held his blade up and then came down hard right at the eye prepared to shatter the demonic blade and end all the suffering that it was causing. He would then end Nightmare's life and hopefully give some relief to Sophitia over her friend that at least she wouldn't have to see Nightmare use his body to do what he seemed to do best. The Master Sword had been in the moment many times before and this would surely be the last time.
As Link came down he felt his arm stop as there was a hard pressure around his wrist right before something bit into his wrist as his arm was pulled to a stop. Without much warning whatever held him snapped and hurled him back across the sands to smash at least forty feet from Nightmare. He growl as his upper back smashed into the sand before he flipped completely to land on his chest, his blade still gripped in his hands. He looked up with a growl as Nightmare quickly reclaimed his blade inspecting the damage as it slowly healed itself "Damn it." Link groaned knowing that it would be all but impossible to catch him off guard again.
The several pieces of the multi segmented Valentine returned to their hilt to take the form of a blade, Ivy breathed as she looked up toward Link. "Nice work." Nightmare said to her as she looked toward the elf "What is going on? Nobody should be able to grip that blade besides yourself." she asked. Nightmare growled as Link painfully brought up his blade, he breathed heavily and had a look of adrenaline rush on his face, Nightmare wasn't feeling confident about that blade he carried his own was still too weak.
Sophitia had been watching when she noticed the presence of others all around. She looked back as Taki, Mitsurugi and an annoyed looking Maxi joined the group "What do you have?" Sophitia asked Mitsurugi "Several of them retreated. It seems that the Lizardmen have disappeared." he said. They looked up as whatever was left of the Black Winds forces were beginning to gather on the other side of the battle ground, it was like some unseen line made an area of souls around Link, Nightmare and Ivy. Anubis stood there near the tent along with another, the infamous Immortal Pirate.
Cervantes looked to the ancient demon before speaking "What do you suspect this means shadow demon?" he asked. Anubis stood there silently holding Longinus vertical to the ground "The Soul Edge has finally met a common weakness, nothing is without equel de Leon. You'd do well to remember that." the false God said as he looked up toward Nightmare waiting to be given orders. Nightmare had lost a good chunk of his control over Soul Edge from that blow and it was unlikely he'd be able to keep up with the much more swift warrior.
Nightmare straightened up suddenly holding Soul Edge being his back, Link blinked once confused as to what the Azure Nightmare was doing. He spoke suddenly as the armor vanished returning him to the black slacks and boots "Prehaps I should pay less attention to Alexandra, its been a while sense I've had such a good fight. Maybe next time we'll be able to finish it." he said looking toward Anubis and then back toward Astaroth who stood with the remaining troops. Link spoke as he looked up toward Nightmare, the bleeding in his wrist apparently not bothering him "Running already? I really did expect better."
Ivy smiled as she whipped the blood from her blade looking at the elven "Common sense dear, something that you'd benefit greatly from." she said with a smirk. The smirk that she gave often that made most other females in the area want to tear her appart, which would acount toward Cassandra right now. Link scoffed "My reputation is sketchy enough without you calling me that." he said as he stepped forward ready to start this up again.
Suddenly the entire area began to turn dark once again and Link glared up toward Anubis who held up his staff, black energy swirling around the tip of it. Everybody shielded their eyes as the wind began to blow and the sand was kicked up from the ground and Nightmare's voice spoke up "We didn't come here looking to fight, and I've already got what I wanted. Your going to have to work harder if you wish to claim much less harm my sword. Farewell." the air around them became as black as pitch and the hoards seemed to vanish from around them, slowly the sand began to settle.
Link looked around holding his sword which had stopped shimmering in the rain, it seemed that the enemies very presence had caused the uprise in the sword's power. Sophitia and the others recovered and looked down from their place on the sand dune at Link who stood in the center of the field as it finally stopped raining and the icy stare of the moon took over. His blade was sheathed and somehow all of them could tell that he knew, the fighting was over and they had gone. Not even Taki knew how the ominous shadow demon could have taken them all away so fast but she really didn't care, with her experiance she would be forced to take care of him.
It didn't take long for the White Wind to settle in to the camp that had been left behind by their enemies, being that it was quickly approaching night they would need a place to stay. Maxi and Mitsurugi took the liberty of piling the bodies of the Orcs and Uruk-hai and began to search for means of burning them not wanting more of their filth to spawn from their cadavers. Sophitia sat in front of a fire with Kilik and Xianghua who were trying to figure out what to do next.
Sophitia was as silent as the sand that rested around them, but it wasn't their failure to capture and destroy Soul Edge that bothered her. Link was annoyed at Ivy's interference and felt he should have been ready for another to jump in but not even he had seen such a weapon before. Mitsurugi looked like something was pulling at his mind to tell but something held him back and everybody else was just happy that they had gotten out alive.
Link had little time to pay attention to his annoyance as Cassandra once again took the liberty of playing nurse for the wounded. Though a few scratches on his wrist and back wasn't much, he felt a few ribs might have been bruised by the impact. "Not much for being social is she?" Link asked as he pointed out Taki moving away from the trio around the fire and towards where Mitsurugi and Maxi were working.
"I would have said the same about you a few weeks ago." Cassandra responded. Link lightly smiled as he looked toward the moon wondering how far their enemies had gotten. Cassandra breathed as she leaned forward resting her head in her hands as she looked out over the horizon "Excusing what we have witnessed this place is a pretty peaceful spot. To bad we have to be on the move so soon." she said with a sigh.
Link looked at Cassandra as she said this "Homesick?" he asked her. Cassandra looked back at him and nodded lightly, but in her head she was wondering how horrible it was for him. She was even more surprised when he reached his left arm around her shoulders "We've nowhere else to go as of now. Athens is as good a place as any to stop and wait for development." he said. Cassandra nodded as she reached her own hand up to hold his, they had become friends quite quickly over the past few weeks but she was beginning to seriously wonder if they could be closer.
She wanted to ask him several questions about where he was from, much like everybody else but something told her that he wouldn't be comfortable just sitting her down and sharing his life story. She just watched the moon wondering what kind of a world he had come from, perhaps she would ask him later but until then she would just wait until he felt less out of place with them. (Though we all know that it would be one hell of a long story now don't we.)
"This should be the last of them." Maxi grunted as he placed the last of the bloody corpses in the pile which he and Mitsurugi had been working on, there had been just over twenty five kills. Mitsurugi had salvaged what he could from them, aside from the two battle axes that Astaroth's berserkers were using there was little that would catch a fair price at a market. Mitsurugi grunted as he sliced another's head off in annoyance "I certainly hope all this trouble is worth it." he said as he tossed the head onto the pile. Maxi picked up his torch and through it out, it didn't need anything other than the hair on the creature's bodies to start to burn.
Maxi and Mitsurugi watched the fire as it went up and Maxi spoke up "Well at least we know that the Four Blades won't find Soul Edge. Where should we go from here?" he asked. Mitsurugi brought a hand to his chin before suddenly a voice spoke up "Before we go anywhere you should tell her." Mitsurugi looked back towards Taki as she stepped up to him, her eyes were narrowed and her expression was straight he knew by now that this ment one rare thing. She was angry. And it was personal.
Taki spoke once again toward Mitsurugi her voice pretty harsh and from what Maxi could tell it wasn't a disput between partners or friends it was something a little more spread to them. "I know that we both thought that it was irrelevant up until now but there is no way we can keep it from her longer. She has to know what happened before she falls into complete depression." Mitsurugi slowly nodded as if being defeated in arguement then started to follow Taki back toward the camp leaving Maxi a little confused.
"Hey..whats going on? What are you guys talking about?" Taki looked back at Maxi as he said this with a glance that pretty much asked [Who are you calling a guy?]. Mitsurugi looked back slowly as he was still thinking on how to tell his story "Only the event that changed my mind, two years ago I discovered somebody that was able to tell me exactly how vile the blade is. It takes a lot to shock me pirate, Nightmare's face did that fairly easy." he said before he continued walking. Maxi requested more information but didn't receive it, he decided to simply follow.
By this time Sophitia had retreated from the ground and was standing near the rocks they had left the horses, her sword was angrily stabbed right into the side of the rock, the unique properties making it an easy task. She now sat on one of the boulders with her legs pulled up to her chest, though as much as she wanted to beat herself up she couldn't keep her sister away, who stood there silently. Xianghua and Kilik having also grown concerned and moved over toward the rocks to console Sophitia who hand her head dropped to her knees her crossed arms hiding her face.
Link had decided to stay out of this and had gone back to pick up the pieces of his shattered sword, it would help to have a back up weapon. The sword had put up more resistance to Soul Edge than he expected and it wouldn't be much of a task to repair it, at least it wouldn't be if he still had his magic. He felt that Sophitia's sorrow was no longer his problem, the reality that Nightmare was no longer her friend would probably make it easier in the long run. He couldn't understand why she was blaming herself when it was truly not her fault. It was a meaningless guilt. However he understood how cold his thoughts on it was so he decided he would shut up this time.
Xianghua kept one arm over Sophitia's shoulders as she continued to cry and curse at her own misfortune and continued to counter all of their guarantees that it was not her fault. Sophitia only looked up at them "Yes it is. After you and Kilik confronted him I just decided to cut my loses and go home and despite how often I felt I should have made sure he was gone I didn't. Giving Soul Edge time to take him over!" she shouted. Cassandra sighed as she leaned against the rock and Kilik stood there shaking his head, Xianghua looked at her "You have your own life, how could you have known?" Sophitia huffed lightly.
Suddenly another voice spoke up "Your being ridiculous." everybody turned to see Taki as she stepped into the area followed by Maxi and Mitsurugi, while Maxi was still a little confused Mitsurugi looked like he had something to say. He spoke after Taki "Because you have nothing to regret so painfully." he said, Sophitia looked at him clearly angry "How can you say that Mitsurugi. There is no hope of saving him any longer and it is my fault for giving up on him." she said jumping off the rock to glare at him.
Mitsurugi returned the glare as he spoke "There is no reason to mourn one that is not dead and I don't believe that the living need saving. Especially when you read Nightmare's words wrong." he said. Everybody turned to look at Mitsurugi as he said this, Taki seemed to take a breath knowing that she was going to really catch it for not telling Sophitia sooner. Sophitia breathed as this was said to her and she held back any kind of an outburst before she spoke "You'd better have a damn good explanation." Cassandra said to him knowing that Sophitia's mind was probably screaming right now.
Mitsurugi leaned against one of the rocks and took a breath "Well first of all my suspicions of the connection between the two were confirmed when I saw his face, I didn't expect such a resemblance. Seeing as how only the two of you were present I decided to ask the elf what was said between you two and I think you read what he was saying wrong." Sophitia raised an eyebrow "Link was several yards away how could he have heard us?" she questioned feeling that Mitsurugi was making all of this up in a cheap attempt to make her feel better.
Taki chuckled at this question was asked "You think those ears are there to take attention away from his face. His senses are naturally sharper than our own. That is what he claims at least." Sophitia nodded believing that and Cassandra scratched one question off her mental list. Mitsurugi continued "When he told you that there was nothing left of your friend with in him he must have ment that he was no longer with Siegfried. His soul escaped Soul Edge. If you noticed his new nature it wasn't struggled, Soul Edge isn't forcing its influence through your friend." he said. Sophitia looked up "That still doesn't explain what you mean? Are you saying that you believe that Siegfried is still alive?" she asked doubtfully.
Mitsurugi looked at her before he closed his eyes "I can say without a doubt. I saw both he and Nightmare, within striking distance of one another less than two years ago." Sophitia looked at Taki as she chuckled not giving her time to gasp "We should start charging those that we drag half dead off the battlefield." she said in reference to her saving of Sophitia after her wounds at the hands of Cervantes. Sophitia looked at Mitsurugi almost pleadingly "Tell me. Please tell me how you know." Mitsurugi nodded as he closed his eyes and began to reminisce on the past.
Mitsurugi had been traveling for quite some time at this point, it had been just over a year since the defeat of Soul Edge and he had long since given up the hunt. It was two years ago that they all began the hunt for the blade and it two years before he would be telling this story to the Athenian maiden. He had just completed yet another one of his various journeys this time attempting to find a sword made by Masamune, only difference was that this one was apparently his last and made with several holy properties. After hearing of the power of the blade that defeated Nightmare he had been searching for any kind of weapon to match the spirit sword, the appropriately named Holy Masamune was just one of them.
He however found nothing, there was several rumors about a rouge demon slayer passing through the area had possessed a Masamune blade but it was not what he figured it would be. The one he sought was to be hidden away and guarded by a very powerful ally of Masamune's anybody who could claim the sword was easily superior to himself. He had moved on and had been coming through the northern wilderness of Asia when he heard the exitment in a town, they had spotted a creature that matched the description of the Azure Nightmare passing through the area by he didn't attack. It was hard to believe that any imposter could bring so much fear by putting on a suit of dark blue metal, Mitsurugi had thought before he went after it.
It wasn't long before he finally caught up to the one the villagers had spoken of and he couldn't believe his luck at his find. It was most definately the Azure Nightmare but there something odd about him. His entire body had been thrashed by and unseen force, his armor had dents and the blade he held possessed a large number of cracks in it. There was also a gorge in his chest that surprisingly didn't drip with blood, either way this Nightmare was far from his name sake he looked like a man that was fighting just to hold on to his life. Mitsurugi was not going to let the chance to claim Soul Edge pass him by again and took his stance.
Nightmare's movements were pathetic and slow he could hardly life the enormous sword he carried or make swipes with that claw of his, it was as if an invisible man was holding back his arms. Mitsurugi dodged the strokes of Soul Edge easily and he saw what appeared to be a pair of blade stabbing out from his chest, like they had been broken off of another sword. Mitsurugi decided to at least make on man or woman's efforts not be in vain and cut his own blade Shishi-Oh right into the would driving the blades in. But something happened that no warning could have prepared him for.
Light seemed to pour out from the wound and split a beam cut Nightmare in a diagonal slice from the wound, then an explosion blew Mitsurugi back only after he hit the ground he heard not one but three impacts. The dust settled and it revealed Nightmare standing near where he had been somehow healed and his armor returned to normal with the still weak Soul Edge. However another stood across from him, his body was in the same condition as Nightmare's only difference was he had only one of the blades stabbed into his chest. He possessed long blond hair and an expression that could only belong to somebody who truly knew what kind of a curse Soul Edge was.
Mitsurugi didn't understand any of this as Nightmare gave a laugh drawing the second blade from his own chest without much trouble. The young man managed to stand to his feet and growl as Nightmare ran at him and swung hard cutting a scar down the right side of his face and then sending his morphed fist into his chest dropping him to the ground. Mitsurugi jumped up and out of his wish to find out what was going on stepped to protect him, the Azure Nightmare did not continue. Raising his human hand summoned some sort of a rift in space and time and entered the void proclaiming that it had only begun.
Mitsurugi finished had no choice but to drop pursuit and get the boy back to his home at once, hopefully that would give enough trust to tell him what in the hell had been going on. Mitsurugi opened his eyes as he stated a few words "He somehow managed to survive all the way to Venice where they seemed to know him though I never got a name. Along the way he told me all about Soul Edge and what he had done but he never went so far as to admit that he was the Azure Nightmare, I had figured that the shock of the blast allowed one of the captured souls to escape the sword." he took a breath "So essentially Sophitia your friend is more than likely alive but I cannot say if the wounds he had will ever heal. He could be paralized for all we know." he admited.
Needless to say Sophitia had to force herself to breath at this point and Taki spoke "So Sophitia. You've nothing to regret, he is no longer a victim or a slave to Soul Edge. I suppose that Xianghua's sword must have split the side of him that was allied to Soul Edge and the side that hated it. That explains why they are pretty much twins." Sophitia breathed but was cut off as Cassandra suddenly spoke up "It's a good thing too because now I know what we are doing next." everybody looked at her as she pretty much took charge of this "We are heading to Venice as soon as we regroup with Talim and the others, something tells me that this guy will have the answers to any questions we can ask. Aside from that we could all use some rest."
Everybody looked and one another and nodded in agreement and everybody stood up almost at once ready to move out. Cassandra turned her attention toward the battlefield where Link stood playing a song that was almost funeral style, she figured that it was his way of honoring those who had been lost to Soul Edge. She stepped up to him ready to tell him everything when he looked back at her, she could read what he was going to say "Mitsurugi already told you his story, huh?" Link nodded as he placed his instrument away. "The scenario of light and darkness being split from a person is old news to me." he said recalling a few memories where death was probably keeping him listed.
Cassandra looked up as Sophitia seemed to be pretty possitive at this point and they started grabbing what they could almost at once "Amazing how everything works out." Cassandra said. Link nodded his head as he stretched "I wonder if the others are getting such emotion at this point in time? I hope Talim is okay." he said with concern for his first earthly friend.
Next Chapter: Opposing Winds
Talim and the Four Blades track the signal to an old chapel that is infested with theives, however it seems that a large battle has already broken out from within and they are forced to rush in. With both a strange demon that uses energy as a weapon and another warrior that easily rivals Talim and Yunsung in speed and agility, how will all of this go. And aside from that why is Talim feeling an odd presence in the air, the same that she felt in Istanbul.
OOC: Needless to say the next few chapters are going to possess quite a bit of emotional conflicts and development in them. Review me and I'll do this quicker, my inspiration is already high enough but now I must ask a question. Should Siegfried be combat worthy, still recovering or dead? Review and vote if you will.
Authors Note: That is my style of writing. I separate events both major and minor. As for that ancient SSBM story, I scrapped that after everything I had on it was destroyed including the plans and time line I set up for it. It was going nowhere and people wouldn't quit bitching when the slightest little thing collided with a characters series.
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Soul Calibur II: Of Souls And Swords
Chapter Twenty-Five: Startling Revelations
Nightmare's eyes narrowed as he watched the elf's grip tighten on his blade's handle, the Soul Edge was now wordlessly screaming in fear of its own destruction, the members of the White Wind looked on absently. Link looked at Soul Edge as he held his blade up and then came down hard right at the eye prepared to shatter the demonic blade and end all the suffering that it was causing. He would then end Nightmare's life and hopefully give some relief to Sophitia over her friend that at least she wouldn't have to see Nightmare use his body to do what he seemed to do best. The Master Sword had been in the moment many times before and this would surely be the last time.
As Link came down he felt his arm stop as there was a hard pressure around his wrist right before something bit into his wrist as his arm was pulled to a stop. Without much warning whatever held him snapped and hurled him back across the sands to smash at least forty feet from Nightmare. He growl as his upper back smashed into the sand before he flipped completely to land on his chest, his blade still gripped in his hands. He looked up with a growl as Nightmare quickly reclaimed his blade inspecting the damage as it slowly healed itself "Damn it." Link groaned knowing that it would be all but impossible to catch him off guard again.
The several pieces of the multi segmented Valentine returned to their hilt to take the form of a blade, Ivy breathed as she looked up toward Link. "Nice work." Nightmare said to her as she looked toward the elf "What is going on? Nobody should be able to grip that blade besides yourself." she asked. Nightmare growled as Link painfully brought up his blade, he breathed heavily and had a look of adrenaline rush on his face, Nightmare wasn't feeling confident about that blade he carried his own was still too weak.
Sophitia had been watching when she noticed the presence of others all around. She looked back as Taki, Mitsurugi and an annoyed looking Maxi joined the group "What do you have?" Sophitia asked Mitsurugi "Several of them retreated. It seems that the Lizardmen have disappeared." he said. They looked up as whatever was left of the Black Winds forces were beginning to gather on the other side of the battle ground, it was like some unseen line made an area of souls around Link, Nightmare and Ivy. Anubis stood there near the tent along with another, the infamous Immortal Pirate.
Cervantes looked to the ancient demon before speaking "What do you suspect this means shadow demon?" he asked. Anubis stood there silently holding Longinus vertical to the ground "The Soul Edge has finally met a common weakness, nothing is without equel de Leon. You'd do well to remember that." the false God said as he looked up toward Nightmare waiting to be given orders. Nightmare had lost a good chunk of his control over Soul Edge from that blow and it was unlikely he'd be able to keep up with the much more swift warrior.
Nightmare straightened up suddenly holding Soul Edge being his back, Link blinked once confused as to what the Azure Nightmare was doing. He spoke suddenly as the armor vanished returning him to the black slacks and boots "Prehaps I should pay less attention to Alexandra, its been a while sense I've had such a good fight. Maybe next time we'll be able to finish it." he said looking toward Anubis and then back toward Astaroth who stood with the remaining troops. Link spoke as he looked up toward Nightmare, the bleeding in his wrist apparently not bothering him "Running already? I really did expect better."
Ivy smiled as she whipped the blood from her blade looking at the elven "Common sense dear, something that you'd benefit greatly from." she said with a smirk. The smirk that she gave often that made most other females in the area want to tear her appart, which would acount toward Cassandra right now. Link scoffed "My reputation is sketchy enough without you calling me that." he said as he stepped forward ready to start this up again.
Suddenly the entire area began to turn dark once again and Link glared up toward Anubis who held up his staff, black energy swirling around the tip of it. Everybody shielded their eyes as the wind began to blow and the sand was kicked up from the ground and Nightmare's voice spoke up "We didn't come here looking to fight, and I've already got what I wanted. Your going to have to work harder if you wish to claim much less harm my sword. Farewell." the air around them became as black as pitch and the hoards seemed to vanish from around them, slowly the sand began to settle.
Link looked around holding his sword which had stopped shimmering in the rain, it seemed that the enemies very presence had caused the uprise in the sword's power. Sophitia and the others recovered and looked down from their place on the sand dune at Link who stood in the center of the field as it finally stopped raining and the icy stare of the moon took over. His blade was sheathed and somehow all of them could tell that he knew, the fighting was over and they had gone. Not even Taki knew how the ominous shadow demon could have taken them all away so fast but she really didn't care, with her experiance she would be forced to take care of him.
It didn't take long for the White Wind to settle in to the camp that had been left behind by their enemies, being that it was quickly approaching night they would need a place to stay. Maxi and Mitsurugi took the liberty of piling the bodies of the Orcs and Uruk-hai and began to search for means of burning them not wanting more of their filth to spawn from their cadavers. Sophitia sat in front of a fire with Kilik and Xianghua who were trying to figure out what to do next.
Sophitia was as silent as the sand that rested around them, but it wasn't their failure to capture and destroy Soul Edge that bothered her. Link was annoyed at Ivy's interference and felt he should have been ready for another to jump in but not even he had seen such a weapon before. Mitsurugi looked like something was pulling at his mind to tell but something held him back and everybody else was just happy that they had gotten out alive.
Link had little time to pay attention to his annoyance as Cassandra once again took the liberty of playing nurse for the wounded. Though a few scratches on his wrist and back wasn't much, he felt a few ribs might have been bruised by the impact. "Not much for being social is she?" Link asked as he pointed out Taki moving away from the trio around the fire and towards where Mitsurugi and Maxi were working.
"I would have said the same about you a few weeks ago." Cassandra responded. Link lightly smiled as he looked toward the moon wondering how far their enemies had gotten. Cassandra breathed as she leaned forward resting her head in her hands as she looked out over the horizon "Excusing what we have witnessed this place is a pretty peaceful spot. To bad we have to be on the move so soon." she said with a sigh.
Link looked at Cassandra as she said this "Homesick?" he asked her. Cassandra looked back at him and nodded lightly, but in her head she was wondering how horrible it was for him. She was even more surprised when he reached his left arm around her shoulders "We've nowhere else to go as of now. Athens is as good a place as any to stop and wait for development." he said. Cassandra nodded as she reached her own hand up to hold his, they had become friends quite quickly over the past few weeks but she was beginning to seriously wonder if they could be closer.
She wanted to ask him several questions about where he was from, much like everybody else but something told her that he wouldn't be comfortable just sitting her down and sharing his life story. She just watched the moon wondering what kind of a world he had come from, perhaps she would ask him later but until then she would just wait until he felt less out of place with them. (Though we all know that it would be one hell of a long story now don't we.)
"This should be the last of them." Maxi grunted as he placed the last of the bloody corpses in the pile which he and Mitsurugi had been working on, there had been just over twenty five kills. Mitsurugi had salvaged what he could from them, aside from the two battle axes that Astaroth's berserkers were using there was little that would catch a fair price at a market. Mitsurugi grunted as he sliced another's head off in annoyance "I certainly hope all this trouble is worth it." he said as he tossed the head onto the pile. Maxi picked up his torch and through it out, it didn't need anything other than the hair on the creature's bodies to start to burn.
Maxi and Mitsurugi watched the fire as it went up and Maxi spoke up "Well at least we know that the Four Blades won't find Soul Edge. Where should we go from here?" he asked. Mitsurugi brought a hand to his chin before suddenly a voice spoke up "Before we go anywhere you should tell her." Mitsurugi looked back towards Taki as she stepped up to him, her eyes were narrowed and her expression was straight he knew by now that this ment one rare thing. She was angry. And it was personal.
Taki spoke once again toward Mitsurugi her voice pretty harsh and from what Maxi could tell it wasn't a disput between partners or friends it was something a little more spread to them. "I know that we both thought that it was irrelevant up until now but there is no way we can keep it from her longer. She has to know what happened before she falls into complete depression." Mitsurugi slowly nodded as if being defeated in arguement then started to follow Taki back toward the camp leaving Maxi a little confused.
"Hey..whats going on? What are you guys talking about?" Taki looked back at Maxi as he said this with a glance that pretty much asked [Who are you calling a guy?]. Mitsurugi looked back slowly as he was still thinking on how to tell his story "Only the event that changed my mind, two years ago I discovered somebody that was able to tell me exactly how vile the blade is. It takes a lot to shock me pirate, Nightmare's face did that fairly easy." he said before he continued walking. Maxi requested more information but didn't receive it, he decided to simply follow.
By this time Sophitia had retreated from the ground and was standing near the rocks they had left the horses, her sword was angrily stabbed right into the side of the rock, the unique properties making it an easy task. She now sat on one of the boulders with her legs pulled up to her chest, though as much as she wanted to beat herself up she couldn't keep her sister away, who stood there silently. Xianghua and Kilik having also grown concerned and moved over toward the rocks to console Sophitia who hand her head dropped to her knees her crossed arms hiding her face.
Link had decided to stay out of this and had gone back to pick up the pieces of his shattered sword, it would help to have a back up weapon. The sword had put up more resistance to Soul Edge than he expected and it wouldn't be much of a task to repair it, at least it wouldn't be if he still had his magic. He felt that Sophitia's sorrow was no longer his problem, the reality that Nightmare was no longer her friend would probably make it easier in the long run. He couldn't understand why she was blaming herself when it was truly not her fault. It was a meaningless guilt. However he understood how cold his thoughts on it was so he decided he would shut up this time.
Xianghua kept one arm over Sophitia's shoulders as she continued to cry and curse at her own misfortune and continued to counter all of their guarantees that it was not her fault. Sophitia only looked up at them "Yes it is. After you and Kilik confronted him I just decided to cut my loses and go home and despite how often I felt I should have made sure he was gone I didn't. Giving Soul Edge time to take him over!" she shouted. Cassandra sighed as she leaned against the rock and Kilik stood there shaking his head, Xianghua looked at her "You have your own life, how could you have known?" Sophitia huffed lightly.
Suddenly another voice spoke up "Your being ridiculous." everybody turned to see Taki as she stepped into the area followed by Maxi and Mitsurugi, while Maxi was still a little confused Mitsurugi looked like he had something to say. He spoke after Taki "Because you have nothing to regret so painfully." he said, Sophitia looked at him clearly angry "How can you say that Mitsurugi. There is no hope of saving him any longer and it is my fault for giving up on him." she said jumping off the rock to glare at him.
Mitsurugi returned the glare as he spoke "There is no reason to mourn one that is not dead and I don't believe that the living need saving. Especially when you read Nightmare's words wrong." he said. Everybody turned to look at Mitsurugi as he said this, Taki seemed to take a breath knowing that she was going to really catch it for not telling Sophitia sooner. Sophitia breathed as this was said to her and she held back any kind of an outburst before she spoke "You'd better have a damn good explanation." Cassandra said to him knowing that Sophitia's mind was probably screaming right now.
Mitsurugi leaned against one of the rocks and took a breath "Well first of all my suspicions of the connection between the two were confirmed when I saw his face, I didn't expect such a resemblance. Seeing as how only the two of you were present I decided to ask the elf what was said between you two and I think you read what he was saying wrong." Sophitia raised an eyebrow "Link was several yards away how could he have heard us?" she questioned feeling that Mitsurugi was making all of this up in a cheap attempt to make her feel better.
Taki chuckled at this question was asked "You think those ears are there to take attention away from his face. His senses are naturally sharper than our own. That is what he claims at least." Sophitia nodded believing that and Cassandra scratched one question off her mental list. Mitsurugi continued "When he told you that there was nothing left of your friend with in him he must have ment that he was no longer with Siegfried. His soul escaped Soul Edge. If you noticed his new nature it wasn't struggled, Soul Edge isn't forcing its influence through your friend." he said. Sophitia looked up "That still doesn't explain what you mean? Are you saying that you believe that Siegfried is still alive?" she asked doubtfully.
Mitsurugi looked at her before he closed his eyes "I can say without a doubt. I saw both he and Nightmare, within striking distance of one another less than two years ago." Sophitia looked at Taki as she chuckled not giving her time to gasp "We should start charging those that we drag half dead off the battlefield." she said in reference to her saving of Sophitia after her wounds at the hands of Cervantes. Sophitia looked at Mitsurugi almost pleadingly "Tell me. Please tell me how you know." Mitsurugi nodded as he closed his eyes and began to reminisce on the past.
Mitsurugi had been traveling for quite some time at this point, it had been just over a year since the defeat of Soul Edge and he had long since given up the hunt. It was two years ago that they all began the hunt for the blade and it two years before he would be telling this story to the Athenian maiden. He had just completed yet another one of his various journeys this time attempting to find a sword made by Masamune, only difference was that this one was apparently his last and made with several holy properties. After hearing of the power of the blade that defeated Nightmare he had been searching for any kind of weapon to match the spirit sword, the appropriately named Holy Masamune was just one of them.
He however found nothing, there was several rumors about a rouge demon slayer passing through the area had possessed a Masamune blade but it was not what he figured it would be. The one he sought was to be hidden away and guarded by a very powerful ally of Masamune's anybody who could claim the sword was easily superior to himself. He had moved on and had been coming through the northern wilderness of Asia when he heard the exitment in a town, they had spotted a creature that matched the description of the Azure Nightmare passing through the area by he didn't attack. It was hard to believe that any imposter could bring so much fear by putting on a suit of dark blue metal, Mitsurugi had thought before he went after it.
It wasn't long before he finally caught up to the one the villagers had spoken of and he couldn't believe his luck at his find. It was most definately the Azure Nightmare but there something odd about him. His entire body had been thrashed by and unseen force, his armor had dents and the blade he held possessed a large number of cracks in it. There was also a gorge in his chest that surprisingly didn't drip with blood, either way this Nightmare was far from his name sake he looked like a man that was fighting just to hold on to his life. Mitsurugi was not going to let the chance to claim Soul Edge pass him by again and took his stance.
Nightmare's movements were pathetic and slow he could hardly life the enormous sword he carried or make swipes with that claw of his, it was as if an invisible man was holding back his arms. Mitsurugi dodged the strokes of Soul Edge easily and he saw what appeared to be a pair of blade stabbing out from his chest, like they had been broken off of another sword. Mitsurugi decided to at least make on man or woman's efforts not be in vain and cut his own blade Shishi-Oh right into the would driving the blades in. But something happened that no warning could have prepared him for.
Light seemed to pour out from the wound and split a beam cut Nightmare in a diagonal slice from the wound, then an explosion blew Mitsurugi back only after he hit the ground he heard not one but three impacts. The dust settled and it revealed Nightmare standing near where he had been somehow healed and his armor returned to normal with the still weak Soul Edge. However another stood across from him, his body was in the same condition as Nightmare's only difference was he had only one of the blades stabbed into his chest. He possessed long blond hair and an expression that could only belong to somebody who truly knew what kind of a curse Soul Edge was.
Mitsurugi didn't understand any of this as Nightmare gave a laugh drawing the second blade from his own chest without much trouble. The young man managed to stand to his feet and growl as Nightmare ran at him and swung hard cutting a scar down the right side of his face and then sending his morphed fist into his chest dropping him to the ground. Mitsurugi jumped up and out of his wish to find out what was going on stepped to protect him, the Azure Nightmare did not continue. Raising his human hand summoned some sort of a rift in space and time and entered the void proclaiming that it had only begun.
Mitsurugi finished had no choice but to drop pursuit and get the boy back to his home at once, hopefully that would give enough trust to tell him what in the hell had been going on. Mitsurugi opened his eyes as he stated a few words "He somehow managed to survive all the way to Venice where they seemed to know him though I never got a name. Along the way he told me all about Soul Edge and what he had done but he never went so far as to admit that he was the Azure Nightmare, I had figured that the shock of the blast allowed one of the captured souls to escape the sword." he took a breath "So essentially Sophitia your friend is more than likely alive but I cannot say if the wounds he had will ever heal. He could be paralized for all we know." he admited.
Needless to say Sophitia had to force herself to breath at this point and Taki spoke "So Sophitia. You've nothing to regret, he is no longer a victim or a slave to Soul Edge. I suppose that Xianghua's sword must have split the side of him that was allied to Soul Edge and the side that hated it. That explains why they are pretty much twins." Sophitia breathed but was cut off as Cassandra suddenly spoke up "It's a good thing too because now I know what we are doing next." everybody looked at her as she pretty much took charge of this "We are heading to Venice as soon as we regroup with Talim and the others, something tells me that this guy will have the answers to any questions we can ask. Aside from that we could all use some rest."
Everybody looked and one another and nodded in agreement and everybody stood up almost at once ready to move out. Cassandra turned her attention toward the battlefield where Link stood playing a song that was almost funeral style, she figured that it was his way of honoring those who had been lost to Soul Edge. She stepped up to him ready to tell him everything when he looked back at her, she could read what he was going to say "Mitsurugi already told you his story, huh?" Link nodded as he placed his instrument away. "The scenario of light and darkness being split from a person is old news to me." he said recalling a few memories where death was probably keeping him listed.
Cassandra looked up as Sophitia seemed to be pretty possitive at this point and they started grabbing what they could almost at once "Amazing how everything works out." Cassandra said. Link nodded his head as he stretched "I wonder if the others are getting such emotion at this point in time? I hope Talim is okay." he said with concern for his first earthly friend.
Next Chapter: Opposing Winds
Talim and the Four Blades track the signal to an old chapel that is infested with theives, however it seems that a large battle has already broken out from within and they are forced to rush in. With both a strange demon that uses energy as a weapon and another warrior that easily rivals Talim and Yunsung in speed and agility, how will all of this go. And aside from that why is Talim feeling an odd presence in the air, the same that she felt in Istanbul.
OOC: Needless to say the next few chapters are going to possess quite a bit of emotional conflicts and development in them. Review me and I'll do this quicker, my inspiration is already high enough but now I must ask a question. Should Siegfried be combat worthy, still recovering or dead? Review and vote if you will.