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: Okay here is how it all goes down. They are back on the journey and have arrived but within the next two chapters an important character to the story will die or go missing.
Soul Calibur II: Of Souls And Swords
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Conflict By Blood
It had taken them nearly a few days to get information and quite a bit of navigation but only two weeks after leaving Venice the groups of the White Wind and the Four Blades found themselves facing the rocky bluff that lead up to the Valentine Manor, which was built on a peninsula of the same name. Both ships had taken the time to dock near the beach just down a long hill from the mansion. This left only a steep trek towards the mansion where the apparent shard of the Soul Calibur still rested even after four years. Raphael had made mention that Count Valentine wouldn't let something such as that to just be sold.
More had happened between the groups in the past two weeks as well, for one Siegfried had managed to become a little more familiar with Sophitia's sister, the elven swordsman, the demon huntress, and the leader of the Four Blades who's lust to destroy Cervantes disturbed him somewhat. There also seemed to be even more blooming between Link and Cassandra than could meet the eye but the young knight could easily see that both were far too coy to just admit anything to one another, unlike the outspoken Kilik and Xianghua. He was however curious as well.
Isabella Valentine wished to bring a custom made snake sword to life, she wanted to create a blade with a life of its own to obey her. He had also heard of the ever seductive temptress who called herself Ivy who, according to Arus Loire used a living sword that seemed to work off whatever she willed upon it' he had heard a few things and done a little research but could come up with nothing definite to place Isabella and Ivy as one and the same or two different people with similar weapons. He just hoped to God that Nightmare had brought another blade to life just to spite his earlier actions.
"Are we ready to set out yet? I want to meet this woman." Siegfried's thoughts were divided as Sophitia suddenly spoke up to the rest of the group that were gathered up on the deck. Taki seemed to nod in response "Xianghua is still feeling that the shard is in the mansion, maybe she knows even more than we do about it." everybody seemed to by hyped about meeting Isabella Valentine, this worried Siegfried to no end. He had also taken note of a few nostalgic expressions that found their way upon the young Drake's face.
Siegfried finally spoke up as he felt an all too familiar chill in the air his voice loud enough for both ships to hear him "There is something fell in the air, we should be careful from this point on. Somebody should stay behind." he insisted. It might have just been his nerves but he could almost taste de Leon's foul energy in the air he breathed. They would have to split into groups as he wasn't willing to leave the ship all by its lonesome. Siegfried looked toward Sophitia "Choose your people and we'll start out." he said.
It was pretty obvious that Sophitia and Siegfried were going, Cassandra was also going to follow Link who wanted to known anything he could about the Soul Edge. Kilik and Xianghua also agreed to follow suit after being invited. Raphael Sorel stepped from the Nightwraith followed by both Seung Mina and Kyle Strife who wanted to accompany him. This essentially left Talim, Drake, Maxi, Taki and Mitsurugi to guard the Eternal Wind. Jack, Yunsung and Naoyuki seemed to be capable of watching over the Nightwraith while the others set foot on the beach.
"I hope they will be okay." Drake looked to his right as Talim said this in her small worried voice, Drake looked at her before nodding as if to assure her they would be fine. It was a lie and he knew it. After spending well over three months at the side of it's master, the former wind charmer could pick up the aura of the Valentine blade from over a mile away. He was holding back the obvious from them that the woman they sought after was no longer Isabella Valentine, she was now Ivy the third commander of the Black Wind. They were walking into a trap and he knew it all too well. My the winds forgive my cowardly soul...
After managing to hike up the slope of the hill, the group of nine people came upon the courtyards of the looming Valentine Estate that rested near the edge of the high peninsula, the view it offered of the ocean was truly a marvel to behold along with the gardens that seemed to have become overgrown. Raphael took the liberty of opening the gates and entering the courtyard where several rose bushes had become lined up, they didn't appear to have ever been cut back but had grown very naturally. Just the thought of being able to reminisce with somebody he actually admired made even the stone cold Raphael somewhat exited.
He stepped to the door and after a moment of hesitation struck it three times with the side of his fist, he however received no sort of reply. He did it again before huffing lightly, he could see how the house was in disrepair and could only guess she had moved on in life, but from what Xianghua said earlier on the ship there was definately a shard present. He reached out and gave a sharp yank on the door finding that it was bolted from the other side, now this was a problem. He sure didn't want to be reunited as an intruder of her home.
"Step back." a voice said, Raphael looked back to see that Siegfried had brought out his sword and held it down at his side. The master of the Sorel clan gave a swift curse before getting out of the massive blade's line of impact.
They all watched from the sides as Siegfried Schtauffen once against displayed his unparallel strength by swinging down the Requiem to split down between the doors creating a cracking sound followed by the sound of clattering metal from the other side. Siegfried then lowers his sword and pushed the doors open shedding light upon the dusty main hall that had received very few glimpses of the sun in the last seven years. This included the facts that all the windows had black drapes drawn over them.
Raphael sighed as he ran a glove hands over his forehead and then looked up "Please do not be alarmed! We only wish to speak with the mansion's master!" Xianghua shouted out through the main hall despite the fact there was nobody to be seen. Raphael took a quick observation of the hall before looking to the younger Chinese girl "You've little to fear. Look at the dust on the, its been more than a few years since anybody set foot in this house. Seems they never knew that a piece of the sword arrived here." Xianghua nodded lightly.
Cassandra looked up at Raphael "Well where are we supposed to start? This place is enormous and for all we know it could even be stabbed into the roof or something. After all it did probably fall from the sky." she said. The Frenchman brought one hand to his chin thinking on this, that is until Sophitia spoke up.
"We'll have to search the place. Myself, Siegfried, Cassandra and Link will search the second floor." Sophitia announced and the other two humans of the group nodded by Link seemed preoccupied with something else.
Xianghua exchanged a few words with Kilik before speaking up "We'll see if we can find the attic. If it did fall from the void and strike the roof that is the most likely place it would be." Xianghua explained. It made sense to everyone, considering both of them were very lithe and from the descriptions of Kilik's training they were probably the only one's present who were qualified to climb such heights.
Kyle gave a wordless look to Mina before she spoke "We'll search over the first floor. If somebody hid it, it couldn't be too far." she said before they two of them head through two doors into the dining room. Raphael took a breath before he looked at the rest of the group "I think I'll take a look around the back of the house." he said before heading down the long main hall toward the back where he vanished through a pair of doors.
Cassandra watched as Kilik and Xianghua stepped ahead of them heading up the stairs first obviously heading toward the third floor which wasn't really even needed considering how large the main hall was. A few rooms from the second floor looked down at them from above. Once Kilik and Xianghua had vanished from view she looked to see that Siegfried and Sophitia were ready to begin moving but then she noticed something else. Link was not among them.
He sat in the far corner of the room near the stairs sat down in one of the chairs with one hand brought upon his forehead as if he was in pain, Cassandra moved over to him as a few drops of sweat came down his cheeks. She placed on hand on his shoulder grabbing his attention "Are you alright, whats wrong?" she asked as she saw him try to fight an uncomfortable expression.
He spoke after a few moments of silence as if thinking for the right words "I think I was out in the sun too long. Just give me a few moments and I'll catch up to you." he explained keeping his right hand on his forehead. Cassandra nodded to him knowing how the sun could get to people and despite the fact that winter was well on its way it had been unusually hot earlier in the morning but now, early in the afternoon a number of storm clouds had been gathering.
Cassandra straightened up. Link could take care of himself "I'll come check on you in a after while. Just stay here and try to collect yourself." she said before she moved to rejoin her sister and the man who had almost replaced her as their leader. Even as they ran up the stairs that would lead to the second floor he didn't hear their feet as the shadowy presence seemed to dominate all his senses. He knew that he was either being hunted or waited on, and he didn't want his shadow to have anybody else in his line of fire.
Arus'Nei chuckled as he looked down from the rafters of the room knowing that Link wouldn't dare to attack him as long as the others were still in the area. The Soul Calibur shard was still in Ivy's possession so they would get nowhere by randomly searching for it, apparently while they wandered around the house like a bunch of mice in a maze the Darkthorne was ready to land at the bluff and send its troops up the rocky bluff that lead up to the mansion. From there they would be able to enter and keep them inside while she carried out her plan. He was going to wait however, wait until things got a little more exiting around the mansion. With that thought he faded from view.
Kyle and Mina had been searching what appeared to be a sort of lounging area when they first noticed the spots in the dust that were more than likely heels of some sort. Short steps through the dust moved over toward the fireplace of the room which didn't seem to be lit up, there was no wood and it appeared to have never been used. Mina looked inside and used the end of her weapon to tap the end. It echoed back that the fireplace was hallow. Kyle looked at Mina and she looked right back. They had found a vault or a hidden basement. Either way it had to be uncovered.
Both of them separated and began to search the room each of them pulling and manipulating anything they could. Kyle moved his hands along the wall feeling for any irregularity while Mina checked the rungs and curtains of the fireplace. Eventually Kyle found what he was looking for, a piece of the carving in the fireplace seemed to be connected to a switch or something as it could be pulled out. He pulled back and something clicked and he was then free to pull the fireplace open like a door.
On the other side of the fireplace there was a hook that connected to the piece of carving and in the area directly behind the mockery there was a bar strategically placed for the hook to secure on. Kyle began and Mina followed until suddenly something ran down Mina's spine. A chill that made all the winters of the world seem like a spring day, she reached out and clasped her open hand around Kyle's arm. He looked back as she held an expression of dreed on her face as if she had just felt the presence of the reaper.
Mina's eyes were glazed over and it appeared she had gone of a swift trip to another world before returning to their own to say "I have a bad feeling about this." Kyle looked at Mina before looking down toward the basement. Reaching down to his belt he drew the oni sword, Oblivion and felt the added energy and power of the ancient blade move through his body "Stay sharp and be ready." he said quoting Hwang's motto to her before he stepped forward. Mina in turn took one of the torches and closed the fireplace behind them to keep anybody else from following.
About fifty steps down into the concealed basement they found an old wooden door which Kyle took his time in opening, before bursting into the room holding up his blade. Nothing happened. The room seemed to be completely abandoned. Kyle scanned the room, but he saw nothing. There hadn't been a trace of life withing these four walls in months if not year but something was very odd about everything that he saw and Mina confirmed these were not normal implements for forgery, which seemed to be the base of the room.
Mina stepped over to a small bookshelf that seemed to have less on it than the tables which seemed to be all based around one point. The practice of Alchemy. The arts of arcane magic molded with science to create mechanics that rivaled the present world. Mina stepped around the table finding what appeared to be pieces of raw metal, it was steel that had yet to be molded and right next to it was a book opened up to what appeared to be schematics for a multi segmented sword...Mina felt another chill.
Kyle looked over the table reading random parts of a few books finding several of them spoke of the theories on Soul Edge's energy. All of them written before it became perfectly obvious that the blade was not man made, it was something that for all they knew was made before men walked the earth. Kyle's eyes then caught something else that sat over in the far corner of the room as if discarded, Mina's eyes widened as she caught sight of it. It was a multi-segmented sword and its resemblance to the Valentine was unmistakable...MOVEMENT!!
Mina's instincts took hold as something shot out from the farthest point of the room right at her back, she however managed to dive to the ground as something struck the wall taking out a chunk of the stone. Kyle's head jerked up as it retracted back like a serphant and then came at him, he moved to the side as it put a light scratch across his neck and then came back again. Mina crawled up getting to her feet enough to grab her weapon and come up into stance, Kyle jumped back as it came at him again rather specifically as if it had forgotten about Mina.
He reached down ripping the demonic broad sword from its sheath before the attacking object came at him again, he stepped back and it whirled past his side and curved as if trying to get around his abdomen. He brought the Oblivion down on the table and dragged whatever was attacking him down pinning it to the thick oak table. The attacker froze and was revealed as a multi segmented sword, its movements ceased as it was pinned to the table.
Kyle instinctively jumped up reinforcing his grip on his blade and followed the trail of the faintly glowing blade toward the owner, he growled as it turned out being that woman from Istanbul that sent that monster to attack them, his partner saw the woman as well and was far from pleased "Wonders never cease." Mina growled. Kyle narrowed his eyes as a smirk played across the woman's violet lips and she gave a sharp pull on her beloved blade which sent it retracting back toward the hilt. The Oblivion went up and stabbed into the table only to be retrieved by Kyle mere moments later who narrowed his eyes toward the woman.
Isabella Valentine, now clearly revealed as the infamous Ivy smiled as she stepped out of the corner and looked upon Mina's shocked expression with more than a little amusement. Mina's hand grinded around her weapon as her mind contemplated so much about what had happened. How could somebody with her whole life ahead of her go after the Soul Edge, why would somebody seeking to destroy the Soul Edge join with it, why would she turn on her original righteous plan. She smiled even more "You seem surprised Mina. No gimp remark? No comeback?" she inquired rubbing her shock in her face. Mina just narrowed her eyes toward Ivy as she raised her weapon "I've given up care about such things, you know why we are here, now where is it?!" she shouted out threateningly. Kyle raised his blade having the tip point towards Ivy where it seemed to send a pulse through his body as it responded to the same blood it had tasted so long ago, it was picking up the same blood elsewhere in the house "Valentine, I have no business with you. Where is de Leon." he said his voice echoing sheer anger and hatred.
Almost instantly Ivy decided against this mysterious mercenary being her victim, his emotions powered that sword that he carried and with some luck she could manipulate that to her advantage as he seemed hell bent on her father's destruction. She smiled before speaking "Your sword is quite an enigma, seems it thirsts for his blood as much as you yourself. Still it is a spirit sword of a dark nature, I wonder..." she said stepping around the table too slowly for Mina's comfort and the way Kyle was listening to her...it made her even more uncomfortable.
Ivy smirked before speaking to Kyle her steps around the table causing him to circle as well locking eye contact "Has it had any kind of effect on you after such a long time? Have you ever experiance periodic black outs where a great amount of bloodshed happens in the said time? I can sense the Evil Seed upon you and can only wonder exactly how that effected the relationship between you and an oni blade. Perhaps you and your blade are one, much like our master and commander." she said in reference to Nightmare.
"What has occurred in my life is no consequence to you. I am my own person and will not be ruled by any other living thing, and it sure as Hell will not end up being a sword I have carried sense before I know." he said his anger growing as he raised the blade.
Ivy chuckled "I never said that it controlled you. I'm wondering if you ever become like some sort of a prodigy with that sword, when your ambition, anger and the sort take such hold of you that you feel nothing but the fight. Do you have kills you can't remember? Do you have scars you can't recall? Are areas of your poor pathetic life missing little one?" Kyle narrowed his eyes, at her but at the same time everything she said made him question himself. "Just shut your mouth, you bitch!" Mina screamed.
Ivy smirked lightly as she stepped around the table toward the only exit of the room they knew of "Defensive as always. Why do you continue your search little girl, and why do you drag others to do your fighting for you?" she said looking once again at Kyle clearly attempting to dig herself under the Korean's beauty's skin. Mina's hands gripped her weapon as if she was strangling somebody "Isn't this the part you run away?" she growled out as Ivy brought up her weapon. Mina then rushed at her and the Valentine struck out at her.
Mina moved hard to the side against the wall and the whip went sailing back nearly hitting Kyle who performed the same maneuver in the other direction, unfortunately this was all in Ivy's plan. The whip curved stabbing into the other wall and with a sharp pull the metallic twine of the multi segmented constricted and slammed Mina hard into the wall, much to Kyle's shock. Mina gasped for air as the blade dug deeper into the wall on the other end of the room tightening itself around her and forcing the breath from her lungs. Kyle glared at Ivy "Let her go!" he shouted holding up Oblivion.
Ivy chuckled before she withdrew her weapon and the ran up the stairs, Kyle rushed to Mina who fought to regain her breath. "You alright?" he asked as Mina weakly pushed him away "I'll be fine! Get her!" she shouted. Kyle looked up knowing that Ivy would lead him to Cervantes, the object of his vengeance. He cast a final look at Mina before speaking "Get up and get back to the ship, let them know what is going on." he said before vanishing from view. He could only wonder what they were after at this point.
Cassandra Alexandra stepped slowly over the hard wood hallways of the mansion, after they reached the second floor their small group of three had split up to cover more ground. She hadn't had any luck in finding what they were looking for but after quite a bit of walking she came across a library. It was well stocked and put most of Athen's public establishments to shame as it was filled with books of nearly every language, not that she was one on a constant search of knowledge but the inventory impressed her.
Stepping out from the entrance to the library she found there was a balcony that looked out over the tall and quite imposing main hall of the Valentine Mansion. Looking down over it she caught sight of Link who stood in the center of the hall facing the staircase that lead up to the second level of the main hall. He stepped toward the stairs as if he was being lured by some unknown force, the expression of sheer determination on his face gave Cassandra the chills and she wanted to call out to him and ask him what was going on, but and unidentifiable sense told her not to.
Her eyes looked up and gazed around as she heard another pair of footsteps coming from the main hall, looking down she saw a shadowed figure moving down the large marble staircase towards Link. She couldn't make out much but the silhouette, which seemed to be around Link's size and shape in almost every detail she could see. Every step this shadow made was slow and precise as if attempting to build the amount of tension and suspense that Cassandra was feeling within her normally short patience. Link slowly brought his crossed arms to his side as the figure reached the middle of the stairs and stepped into the light. [It cannot be...] Cassandra's mind murmured.
Link narrowed eyes at the figure that was before him, something that any normal man would probably go screaming in terror from. It was like looking in a mirror and at the same time not. Before the elven swordsman was another that looked exactly like him physically in almost every detail. Had it not been for the black tunic, the dark brown hair or the light ashen skin the confused Athenian wouldn't be able to tell which one was her Link. The other let out a sound, a simple chuckled before it spoke "Hello Link, did you miss me?" he asked. This shocked Cassandra.
He even had Link's voice only the way he spoke was deeper and smoother, every word she just heard made her see this creatures as some sort of opposite. The creature looked up at Link as she shifted positions, his eyes were also an opposite to Link. To counter the warm friendly blues possessed by the Hylian, this creature possessed a pair of dark reds that shown with cruelty and malice. The creature reached up adjusting his weapon which just happened to be a blade that looked exactly like Link's only forged from some ominous black material. Cassandra knew that whatever she was witnessing was going to uncover a great deal more about her now close friend.
Kilik found himself on the roof fighting the powerful winds that blew over head, surely enough he had found a hole in the roof and Xianghua called back from the attic announcing she had found what looked like a stab mark in the wood. Somebody had already removed the shard but she felt that it was still somewhere in the mansion, Xianghua came back toward the window Kilik had gone out on the roof from "Get back in here before something happens." she giggled still thinking that things were clear. Suddenly however there was a familiar sound from afar.
"Get down!" Kilik shouted before something exploded against the side of the roof sending pieces of clay shingling at him. He turned and looked back down the beach on the opposite side of the Peninsula. That same ship from Istanbul had docked itself on the beach and was opening fire on the mansion from afar "A trap! An ambush!" Kilik shouted at Xianghua. Running to the other end of the house he looked down at the rocky bluff to see several Uruk-hai climbing up. They were laying a trap for them, right from the start. This was not going to end well and he knew it.
After a long silence Link finally spoke to the creature every word filled with the utmost hatred for the creature "Five years ago...I watched you fall from the peaks of Death Mountain and into Din's ravine. How in her name do you still draw breath?!" he shouted at the creature that only seemed to chuckle in response before he started down the stairs again stepping fully into view revealing that he like Link also carried a bow that was half hidden by a full sized shield. He held up his right hand to point toward Link almost accusingly "Isn't it amazing that it is your fate for your friends to unknowingly turn against you?" Link narrowed his eyes.
The creature continued "When you sent me tumbling over those cliffs five years ago, I too thought that I had met my end. However as always it seems that dear princess Zelda was worrying too much about you once again. Believing in a few theories that senile old viser had given her, she made sure that I was to be kept alive but out of action. Not that being in the Gerudo's care was necessarily a bad thing for five long years." he laughed. Cassandra listened intently wondering if this could be the brother Link spoke of.
Link narrowed his eyes before speaking "What theory?" he asked. The creature continued his enlightenment "They believed that a part of you had been split off at some point during your time elsewhere in the world. That a constantly hidden part of you have been formed into a separate entity and sent out to kill you. Though this isn't far removed from the truth, I am nobodies puppet." he announced.
He let out a long laugh in spite of the efforts of Link's allies "Seems that those fools actually believed that if either of us were to die, that the other would follow. So under Zelda's command they sealed me away in the Spirit Temple where I would remained until one of us passed on naturally." he cocked his head lightly as he looked at Link "I don't know which part is more sad, the fact that they were so far from the truth of our origins, the fact that in keeping me alive they made a target for Soul Edge or the fact that even now they continue to screw you over. Which do you think brother?" he said in contempt of Zelda.
Link's left leg scrapped the floor as it moved back reinforcing his stance, he swiped one arm through the air expressing his anger "Shut your mouth you wretch!" he shouted through out the hall. The creature chuckled before speaking "The typical Link. Always pure and always having to leave the past behind. How can you be so naive when you know those fools wouldn't lift a finger to help you." he said waving an arm. Every word he said against Link made Cassandra more eager to interfere but she knew that if this guy truly was Link's brother, it wasn't her fight and was definately not in her favor.
Link looked up at his darker twin before speaking "I always have a lot of time to forgive and forget what anybody has ever done to me or put me through. Your one person I can never forgive." Link said before reaching back and placing a hand on the hilt of his sword. This shadow that claimed Link as his brother gave a sigh "So this is where the hands of fate have landed us, trapped in a mysterious world with only one another as a sense of home. I guess we are truly ment to end this once and for all." he said before drawing his sword, Link in the same motion drew his as well. Cassandra then watched in horror as the two of them rushed at one another and brought their swords down in one powerful fluid motion slamming them together with more power than she had seen yet. Brothers or not, it didn't matter to either of them as they simply wished to continue their conflict and discover who would come out on top. The only thing that seemed to be on their mind was their own duel "Get out of it Link." she breathed lowly as she watched.
Next Chapter: The Black Wind's Ambush The Black Wind's troops come out of hiding and begin their attack on the multiple seekers on and off the Valentine Estate. Drake's guilt catches up with him enough to go into battle and Cassandra's worry on Link increases. Link and Arus'Nei clash in a fight for superiority and Kyle finally meets the object of his vengence after several long years, Cervantes de Leon.
Authors Note: Okay here is how it all goes down. They are back on the journey and have arrived but within the next two chapters an important character to the story will die or go missing.
Soul Calibur II: Of Souls And Swords
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Conflict By Blood
It had taken them nearly a few days to get information and quite a bit of navigation but only two weeks after leaving Venice the groups of the White Wind and the Four Blades found themselves facing the rocky bluff that lead up to the Valentine Manor, which was built on a peninsula of the same name. Both ships had taken the time to dock near the beach just down a long hill from the mansion. This left only a steep trek towards the mansion where the apparent shard of the Soul Calibur still rested even after four years. Raphael had made mention that Count Valentine wouldn't let something such as that to just be sold.
More had happened between the groups in the past two weeks as well, for one Siegfried had managed to become a little more familiar with Sophitia's sister, the elven swordsman, the demon huntress, and the leader of the Four Blades who's lust to destroy Cervantes disturbed him somewhat. There also seemed to be even more blooming between Link and Cassandra than could meet the eye but the young knight could easily see that both were far too coy to just admit anything to one another, unlike the outspoken Kilik and Xianghua. He was however curious as well.
Isabella Valentine wished to bring a custom made snake sword to life, she wanted to create a blade with a life of its own to obey her. He had also heard of the ever seductive temptress who called herself Ivy who, according to Arus Loire used a living sword that seemed to work off whatever she willed upon it' he had heard a few things and done a little research but could come up with nothing definite to place Isabella and Ivy as one and the same or two different people with similar weapons. He just hoped to God that Nightmare had brought another blade to life just to spite his earlier actions.
"Are we ready to set out yet? I want to meet this woman." Siegfried's thoughts were divided as Sophitia suddenly spoke up to the rest of the group that were gathered up on the deck. Taki seemed to nod in response "Xianghua is still feeling that the shard is in the mansion, maybe she knows even more than we do about it." everybody seemed to by hyped about meeting Isabella Valentine, this worried Siegfried to no end. He had also taken note of a few nostalgic expressions that found their way upon the young Drake's face.
Siegfried finally spoke up as he felt an all too familiar chill in the air his voice loud enough for both ships to hear him "There is something fell in the air, we should be careful from this point on. Somebody should stay behind." he insisted. It might have just been his nerves but he could almost taste de Leon's foul energy in the air he breathed. They would have to split into groups as he wasn't willing to leave the ship all by its lonesome. Siegfried looked toward Sophitia "Choose your people and we'll start out." he said.
It was pretty obvious that Sophitia and Siegfried were going, Cassandra was also going to follow Link who wanted to known anything he could about the Soul Edge. Kilik and Xianghua also agreed to follow suit after being invited. Raphael Sorel stepped from the Nightwraith followed by both Seung Mina and Kyle Strife who wanted to accompany him. This essentially left Talim, Drake, Maxi, Taki and Mitsurugi to guard the Eternal Wind. Jack, Yunsung and Naoyuki seemed to be capable of watching over the Nightwraith while the others set foot on the beach.
"I hope they will be okay." Drake looked to his right as Talim said this in her small worried voice, Drake looked at her before nodding as if to assure her they would be fine. It was a lie and he knew it. After spending well over three months at the side of it's master, the former wind charmer could pick up the aura of the Valentine blade from over a mile away. He was holding back the obvious from them that the woman they sought after was no longer Isabella Valentine, she was now Ivy the third commander of the Black Wind. They were walking into a trap and he knew it all too well. My the winds forgive my cowardly soul...
After managing to hike up the slope of the hill, the group of nine people came upon the courtyards of the looming Valentine Estate that rested near the edge of the high peninsula, the view it offered of the ocean was truly a marvel to behold along with the gardens that seemed to have become overgrown. Raphael took the liberty of opening the gates and entering the courtyard where several rose bushes had become lined up, they didn't appear to have ever been cut back but had grown very naturally. Just the thought of being able to reminisce with somebody he actually admired made even the stone cold Raphael somewhat exited.
He stepped to the door and after a moment of hesitation struck it three times with the side of his fist, he however received no sort of reply. He did it again before huffing lightly, he could see how the house was in disrepair and could only guess she had moved on in life, but from what Xianghua said earlier on the ship there was definately a shard present. He reached out and gave a sharp yank on the door finding that it was bolted from the other side, now this was a problem. He sure didn't want to be reunited as an intruder of her home.
"Step back." a voice said, Raphael looked back to see that Siegfried had brought out his sword and held it down at his side. The master of the Sorel clan gave a swift curse before getting out of the massive blade's line of impact.
They all watched from the sides as Siegfried Schtauffen once against displayed his unparallel strength by swinging down the Requiem to split down between the doors creating a cracking sound followed by the sound of clattering metal from the other side. Siegfried then lowers his sword and pushed the doors open shedding light upon the dusty main hall that had received very few glimpses of the sun in the last seven years. This included the facts that all the windows had black drapes drawn over them.
Raphael sighed as he ran a glove hands over his forehead and then looked up "Please do not be alarmed! We only wish to speak with the mansion's master!" Xianghua shouted out through the main hall despite the fact there was nobody to be seen. Raphael took a quick observation of the hall before looking to the younger Chinese girl "You've little to fear. Look at the dust on the, its been more than a few years since anybody set foot in this house. Seems they never knew that a piece of the sword arrived here." Xianghua nodded lightly.
Cassandra looked up at Raphael "Well where are we supposed to start? This place is enormous and for all we know it could even be stabbed into the roof or something. After all it did probably fall from the sky." she said. The Frenchman brought one hand to his chin thinking on this, that is until Sophitia spoke up.
"We'll have to search the place. Myself, Siegfried, Cassandra and Link will search the second floor." Sophitia announced and the other two humans of the group nodded by Link seemed preoccupied with something else.
Xianghua exchanged a few words with Kilik before speaking up "We'll see if we can find the attic. If it did fall from the void and strike the roof that is the most likely place it would be." Xianghua explained. It made sense to everyone, considering both of them were very lithe and from the descriptions of Kilik's training they were probably the only one's present who were qualified to climb such heights.
Kyle gave a wordless look to Mina before she spoke "We'll search over the first floor. If somebody hid it, it couldn't be too far." she said before they two of them head through two doors into the dining room. Raphael took a breath before he looked at the rest of the group "I think I'll take a look around the back of the house." he said before heading down the long main hall toward the back where he vanished through a pair of doors.
Cassandra watched as Kilik and Xianghua stepped ahead of them heading up the stairs first obviously heading toward the third floor which wasn't really even needed considering how large the main hall was. A few rooms from the second floor looked down at them from above. Once Kilik and Xianghua had vanished from view she looked to see that Siegfried and Sophitia were ready to begin moving but then she noticed something else. Link was not among them.
He sat in the far corner of the room near the stairs sat down in one of the chairs with one hand brought upon his forehead as if he was in pain, Cassandra moved over to him as a few drops of sweat came down his cheeks. She placed on hand on his shoulder grabbing his attention "Are you alright, whats wrong?" she asked as she saw him try to fight an uncomfortable expression.
He spoke after a few moments of silence as if thinking for the right words "I think I was out in the sun too long. Just give me a few moments and I'll catch up to you." he explained keeping his right hand on his forehead. Cassandra nodded to him knowing how the sun could get to people and despite the fact that winter was well on its way it had been unusually hot earlier in the morning but now, early in the afternoon a number of storm clouds had been gathering.
Cassandra straightened up. Link could take care of himself "I'll come check on you in a after while. Just stay here and try to collect yourself." she said before she moved to rejoin her sister and the man who had almost replaced her as their leader. Even as they ran up the stairs that would lead to the second floor he didn't hear their feet as the shadowy presence seemed to dominate all his senses. He knew that he was either being hunted or waited on, and he didn't want his shadow to have anybody else in his line of fire.
Arus'Nei chuckled as he looked down from the rafters of the room knowing that Link wouldn't dare to attack him as long as the others were still in the area. The Soul Calibur shard was still in Ivy's possession so they would get nowhere by randomly searching for it, apparently while they wandered around the house like a bunch of mice in a maze the Darkthorne was ready to land at the bluff and send its troops up the rocky bluff that lead up to the mansion. From there they would be able to enter and keep them inside while she carried out her plan. He was going to wait however, wait until things got a little more exiting around the mansion. With that thought he faded from view.
Kyle and Mina had been searching what appeared to be a sort of lounging area when they first noticed the spots in the dust that were more than likely heels of some sort. Short steps through the dust moved over toward the fireplace of the room which didn't seem to be lit up, there was no wood and it appeared to have never been used. Mina looked inside and used the end of her weapon to tap the end. It echoed back that the fireplace was hallow. Kyle looked at Mina and she looked right back. They had found a vault or a hidden basement. Either way it had to be uncovered.
Both of them separated and began to search the room each of them pulling and manipulating anything they could. Kyle moved his hands along the wall feeling for any irregularity while Mina checked the rungs and curtains of the fireplace. Eventually Kyle found what he was looking for, a piece of the carving in the fireplace seemed to be connected to a switch or something as it could be pulled out. He pulled back and something clicked and he was then free to pull the fireplace open like a door.
On the other side of the fireplace there was a hook that connected to the piece of carving and in the area directly behind the mockery there was a bar strategically placed for the hook to secure on. Kyle began and Mina followed until suddenly something ran down Mina's spine. A chill that made all the winters of the world seem like a spring day, she reached out and clasped her open hand around Kyle's arm. He looked back as she held an expression of dreed on her face as if she had just felt the presence of the reaper.
Mina's eyes were glazed over and it appeared she had gone of a swift trip to another world before returning to their own to say "I have a bad feeling about this." Kyle looked at Mina before looking down toward the basement. Reaching down to his belt he drew the oni sword, Oblivion and felt the added energy and power of the ancient blade move through his body "Stay sharp and be ready." he said quoting Hwang's motto to her before he stepped forward. Mina in turn took one of the torches and closed the fireplace behind them to keep anybody else from following.
About fifty steps down into the concealed basement they found an old wooden door which Kyle took his time in opening, before bursting into the room holding up his blade. Nothing happened. The room seemed to be completely abandoned. Kyle scanned the room, but he saw nothing. There hadn't been a trace of life withing these four walls in months if not year but something was very odd about everything that he saw and Mina confirmed these were not normal implements for forgery, which seemed to be the base of the room.
Mina stepped over to a small bookshelf that seemed to have less on it than the tables which seemed to be all based around one point. The practice of Alchemy. The arts of arcane magic molded with science to create mechanics that rivaled the present world. Mina stepped around the table finding what appeared to be pieces of raw metal, it was steel that had yet to be molded and right next to it was a book opened up to what appeared to be schematics for a multi segmented sword...Mina felt another chill.
Kyle looked over the table reading random parts of a few books finding several of them spoke of the theories on Soul Edge's energy. All of them written before it became perfectly obvious that the blade was not man made, it was something that for all they knew was made before men walked the earth. Kyle's eyes then caught something else that sat over in the far corner of the room as if discarded, Mina's eyes widened as she caught sight of it. It was a multi-segmented sword and its resemblance to the Valentine was unmistakable...MOVEMENT!!
Mina's instincts took hold as something shot out from the farthest point of the room right at her back, she however managed to dive to the ground as something struck the wall taking out a chunk of the stone. Kyle's head jerked up as it retracted back like a serphant and then came at him, he moved to the side as it put a light scratch across his neck and then came back again. Mina crawled up getting to her feet enough to grab her weapon and come up into stance, Kyle jumped back as it came at him again rather specifically as if it had forgotten about Mina.
He reached down ripping the demonic broad sword from its sheath before the attacking object came at him again, he stepped back and it whirled past his side and curved as if trying to get around his abdomen. He brought the Oblivion down on the table and dragged whatever was attacking him down pinning it to the thick oak table. The attacker froze and was revealed as a multi segmented sword, its movements ceased as it was pinned to the table.
Kyle instinctively jumped up reinforcing his grip on his blade and followed the trail of the faintly glowing blade toward the owner, he growled as it turned out being that woman from Istanbul that sent that monster to attack them, his partner saw the woman as well and was far from pleased "Wonders never cease." Mina growled. Kyle narrowed his eyes as a smirk played across the woman's violet lips and she gave a sharp pull on her beloved blade which sent it retracting back toward the hilt. The Oblivion went up and stabbed into the table only to be retrieved by Kyle mere moments later who narrowed his eyes toward the woman.
Isabella Valentine, now clearly revealed as the infamous Ivy smiled as she stepped out of the corner and looked upon Mina's shocked expression with more than a little amusement. Mina's hand grinded around her weapon as her mind contemplated so much about what had happened. How could somebody with her whole life ahead of her go after the Soul Edge, why would somebody seeking to destroy the Soul Edge join with it, why would she turn on her original righteous plan. She smiled even more "You seem surprised Mina. No gimp remark? No comeback?" she inquired rubbing her shock in her face. Mina just narrowed her eyes toward Ivy as she raised her weapon "I've given up care about such things, you know why we are here, now where is it?!" she shouted out threateningly. Kyle raised his blade having the tip point towards Ivy where it seemed to send a pulse through his body as it responded to the same blood it had tasted so long ago, it was picking up the same blood elsewhere in the house "Valentine, I have no business with you. Where is de Leon." he said his voice echoing sheer anger and hatred.
Almost instantly Ivy decided against this mysterious mercenary being her victim, his emotions powered that sword that he carried and with some luck she could manipulate that to her advantage as he seemed hell bent on her father's destruction. She smiled before speaking "Your sword is quite an enigma, seems it thirsts for his blood as much as you yourself. Still it is a spirit sword of a dark nature, I wonder..." she said stepping around the table too slowly for Mina's comfort and the way Kyle was listening to her...it made her even more uncomfortable.
Ivy smirked before speaking to Kyle her steps around the table causing him to circle as well locking eye contact "Has it had any kind of effect on you after such a long time? Have you ever experiance periodic black outs where a great amount of bloodshed happens in the said time? I can sense the Evil Seed upon you and can only wonder exactly how that effected the relationship between you and an oni blade. Perhaps you and your blade are one, much like our master and commander." she said in reference to Nightmare.
"What has occurred in my life is no consequence to you. I am my own person and will not be ruled by any other living thing, and it sure as Hell will not end up being a sword I have carried sense before I know." he said his anger growing as he raised the blade.
Ivy chuckled "I never said that it controlled you. I'm wondering if you ever become like some sort of a prodigy with that sword, when your ambition, anger and the sort take such hold of you that you feel nothing but the fight. Do you have kills you can't remember? Do you have scars you can't recall? Are areas of your poor pathetic life missing little one?" Kyle narrowed his eyes, at her but at the same time everything she said made him question himself. "Just shut your mouth, you bitch!" Mina screamed.
Ivy smirked lightly as she stepped around the table toward the only exit of the room they knew of "Defensive as always. Why do you continue your search little girl, and why do you drag others to do your fighting for you?" she said looking once again at Kyle clearly attempting to dig herself under the Korean's beauty's skin. Mina's hands gripped her weapon as if she was strangling somebody "Isn't this the part you run away?" she growled out as Ivy brought up her weapon. Mina then rushed at her and the Valentine struck out at her.
Mina moved hard to the side against the wall and the whip went sailing back nearly hitting Kyle who performed the same maneuver in the other direction, unfortunately this was all in Ivy's plan. The whip curved stabbing into the other wall and with a sharp pull the metallic twine of the multi segmented constricted and slammed Mina hard into the wall, much to Kyle's shock. Mina gasped for air as the blade dug deeper into the wall on the other end of the room tightening itself around her and forcing the breath from her lungs. Kyle glared at Ivy "Let her go!" he shouted holding up Oblivion.
Ivy chuckled before she withdrew her weapon and the ran up the stairs, Kyle rushed to Mina who fought to regain her breath. "You alright?" he asked as Mina weakly pushed him away "I'll be fine! Get her!" she shouted. Kyle looked up knowing that Ivy would lead him to Cervantes, the object of his vengeance. He cast a final look at Mina before speaking "Get up and get back to the ship, let them know what is going on." he said before vanishing from view. He could only wonder what they were after at this point.
Cassandra Alexandra stepped slowly over the hard wood hallways of the mansion, after they reached the second floor their small group of three had split up to cover more ground. She hadn't had any luck in finding what they were looking for but after quite a bit of walking she came across a library. It was well stocked and put most of Athen's public establishments to shame as it was filled with books of nearly every language, not that she was one on a constant search of knowledge but the inventory impressed her.
Stepping out from the entrance to the library she found there was a balcony that looked out over the tall and quite imposing main hall of the Valentine Mansion. Looking down over it she caught sight of Link who stood in the center of the hall facing the staircase that lead up to the second level of the main hall. He stepped toward the stairs as if he was being lured by some unknown force, the expression of sheer determination on his face gave Cassandra the chills and she wanted to call out to him and ask him what was going on, but and unidentifiable sense told her not to.
Her eyes looked up and gazed around as she heard another pair of footsteps coming from the main hall, looking down she saw a shadowed figure moving down the large marble staircase towards Link. She couldn't make out much but the silhouette, which seemed to be around Link's size and shape in almost every detail she could see. Every step this shadow made was slow and precise as if attempting to build the amount of tension and suspense that Cassandra was feeling within her normally short patience. Link slowly brought his crossed arms to his side as the figure reached the middle of the stairs and stepped into the light. [It cannot be...] Cassandra's mind murmured.
Link narrowed eyes at the figure that was before him, something that any normal man would probably go screaming in terror from. It was like looking in a mirror and at the same time not. Before the elven swordsman was another that looked exactly like him physically in almost every detail. Had it not been for the black tunic, the dark brown hair or the light ashen skin the confused Athenian wouldn't be able to tell which one was her Link. The other let out a sound, a simple chuckled before it spoke "Hello Link, did you miss me?" he asked. This shocked Cassandra.
He even had Link's voice only the way he spoke was deeper and smoother, every word she just heard made her see this creatures as some sort of opposite. The creature looked up at Link as she shifted positions, his eyes were also an opposite to Link. To counter the warm friendly blues possessed by the Hylian, this creature possessed a pair of dark reds that shown with cruelty and malice. The creature reached up adjusting his weapon which just happened to be a blade that looked exactly like Link's only forged from some ominous black material. Cassandra knew that whatever she was witnessing was going to uncover a great deal more about her now close friend.
Kilik found himself on the roof fighting the powerful winds that blew over head, surely enough he had found a hole in the roof and Xianghua called back from the attic announcing she had found what looked like a stab mark in the wood. Somebody had already removed the shard but she felt that it was still somewhere in the mansion, Xianghua came back toward the window Kilik had gone out on the roof from "Get back in here before something happens." she giggled still thinking that things were clear. Suddenly however there was a familiar sound from afar.
"Get down!" Kilik shouted before something exploded against the side of the roof sending pieces of clay shingling at him. He turned and looked back down the beach on the opposite side of the Peninsula. That same ship from Istanbul had docked itself on the beach and was opening fire on the mansion from afar "A trap! An ambush!" Kilik shouted at Xianghua. Running to the other end of the house he looked down at the rocky bluff to see several Uruk-hai climbing up. They were laying a trap for them, right from the start. This was not going to end well and he knew it.
After a long silence Link finally spoke to the creature every word filled with the utmost hatred for the creature "Five years ago...I watched you fall from the peaks of Death Mountain and into Din's ravine. How in her name do you still draw breath?!" he shouted at the creature that only seemed to chuckle in response before he started down the stairs again stepping fully into view revealing that he like Link also carried a bow that was half hidden by a full sized shield. He held up his right hand to point toward Link almost accusingly "Isn't it amazing that it is your fate for your friends to unknowingly turn against you?" Link narrowed his eyes.
The creature continued "When you sent me tumbling over those cliffs five years ago, I too thought that I had met my end. However as always it seems that dear princess Zelda was worrying too much about you once again. Believing in a few theories that senile old viser had given her, she made sure that I was to be kept alive but out of action. Not that being in the Gerudo's care was necessarily a bad thing for five long years." he laughed. Cassandra listened intently wondering if this could be the brother Link spoke of.
Link narrowed his eyes before speaking "What theory?" he asked. The creature continued his enlightenment "They believed that a part of you had been split off at some point during your time elsewhere in the world. That a constantly hidden part of you have been formed into a separate entity and sent out to kill you. Though this isn't far removed from the truth, I am nobodies puppet." he announced.
He let out a long laugh in spite of the efforts of Link's allies "Seems that those fools actually believed that if either of us were to die, that the other would follow. So under Zelda's command they sealed me away in the Spirit Temple where I would remained until one of us passed on naturally." he cocked his head lightly as he looked at Link "I don't know which part is more sad, the fact that they were so far from the truth of our origins, the fact that in keeping me alive they made a target for Soul Edge or the fact that even now they continue to screw you over. Which do you think brother?" he said in contempt of Zelda.
Link's left leg scrapped the floor as it moved back reinforcing his stance, he swiped one arm through the air expressing his anger "Shut your mouth you wretch!" he shouted through out the hall. The creature chuckled before speaking "The typical Link. Always pure and always having to leave the past behind. How can you be so naive when you know those fools wouldn't lift a finger to help you." he said waving an arm. Every word he said against Link made Cassandra more eager to interfere but she knew that if this guy truly was Link's brother, it wasn't her fight and was definately not in her favor.
Link looked up at his darker twin before speaking "I always have a lot of time to forgive and forget what anybody has ever done to me or put me through. Your one person I can never forgive." Link said before reaching back and placing a hand on the hilt of his sword. This shadow that claimed Link as his brother gave a sigh "So this is where the hands of fate have landed us, trapped in a mysterious world with only one another as a sense of home. I guess we are truly ment to end this once and for all." he said before drawing his sword, Link in the same motion drew his as well. Cassandra then watched in horror as the two of them rushed at one another and brought their swords down in one powerful fluid motion slamming them together with more power than she had seen yet. Brothers or not, it didn't matter to either of them as they simply wished to continue their conflict and discover who would come out on top. The only thing that seemed to be on their mind was their own duel "Get out of it Link." she breathed lowly as she watched.
Next Chapter: The Black Wind's Ambush The Black Wind's troops come out of hiding and begin their attack on the multiple seekers on and off the Valentine Estate. Drake's guilt catches up with him enough to go into battle and Cassandra's worry on Link increases. Link and Arus'Nei clash in a fight for superiority and Kyle finally meets the object of his vengence after several long years, Cervantes de Leon.