Another chapter up, I hope it's enjoyable. Next go round will return to Nightmare as he tries to discover just who is following him in the grass.

R&R please, and I hope to see ya back soon!

Murder Of Ravens

Tira's search for a new master was not going well. She had ran from town to

town, but found no one worthy of her. With each passing day, she became more and more frantic.

Luckily her bloodlust was more than satisfied, for the road was littered with bandits that she could slaughter mercilessly, and without fear of repercussions. She enjoyed the thrill of being pursued, but did not want to constantly worry about it.

She slept out in the open, and away from the towns. She did not feel comfortable being so close to others while she was sleeping, at least not without a master to watch over her. She knew someone out there was after her, and she couldn't risk being asleep and easy to find at the same time.

Food was not much of a problem either, she was able to get what she needed from the bandits she killed. This left her able to dedicate the entirety of her money to buying her new obsession: chocolate.

In each town she would buy up as much of it as she could, and greedily consumed it as quickly as possible. She couldn't understand how she had survived without the dark, creamy delight for her whole life.

After eating her fill, she would make her way to the local gathering place, usually a tavern, and search for someone strong enough to call master. She never found that person, but instead found nothing but weak warriors and old farmers.

Several weeks into her flight, she heard rumors of Nightmare, a dread knight that was terrorizing the countryside to the south. He was said to be a demon, a monster wielding a sword larger than most men, and able to slay an entire army with just a glance.

Tira tingled with excitement, knowing that this is one she had been seeking. She knew she had to meet this Nightmare, and convince him to allow her to learn from him. She was not bothered in the least that he was said to be a merciless killer. If he took her life she could accept that, for it was better to be dead than to be without a purpose, and the only purpose she had was killing.

Tira learned that Nightmare was terrorizing the Italian countryside, and she quickly set out to find the dark knight. Though she was not experienced with animals, she stole a horse and rode east and south as fast as she could.

Once that she reached Italy, she easily found the path of destruction that Nightmare had left behind, almost like a calling card to anyone that dared to pursue him. Tira's horse finally died from exhaustion, and she continued on foot.

A few days later, as Tira wandered the grassy plains, she heard the faint sounds of a battle carry in the wind. She quickly ran as fast as she could in the direction of the sound.

She soon reached a small clump of trees overlooking a charred field. Down in the field was a small army of soldiers engaged in a heated battle with a lone warrior. The warrior was covered in a deep purple armor, and wielded a huge sword. He swung the sword about with ease, as though it was nothing at all.

As Tira watched, what was left of the army was charging the knight. The warrior swung his blade around, and the soldiers were tossed away like rag dolls. They flew through the air, gaining impressive heights and distances.

Tira was extremely impressed, and knew she had found the dark knight she was seeking. She was strong enough to knock people off their feet with her blows, but she had never seen anyone capable of literally sending their foes flying like this knight was.

The battle ended, and the knight stood for a moment, and took in the carnage he had created. Then, he snapped towards her, and his burning gaze washed over Tira. She could feel his power even in his gaze, and she drank it in, shuddering with ecstasy. The knight began towards her, and she could barely contain her excitement.

When the knight reached her, she was amazed at the size of his sword, and fascinated by the blinking eye set in the hilt. His sharp, jagged armor was stained with the blood of the soldiers, as was his sword. His right hand was not a hand at all, but instead a large claw, with two bony protrusions straining to reach back to his elbow. His crimson hair blew in the wind, and his yellowish eyes glowed inside his helmet. At that moment Tira could not imagine a man looking more perfect.

"Who are you? Speak fast before I kill you" the knight grumbled.

"I am Death, but you can call me Tira" she answered masking her excitement with a look of extreme annoyance.

"Then I will be the Nightmare that kills Death!"

"Wait, I can help you, Nightmare" Tira said, fear gripping her suddenly and tightly, raising her excitement even more.

Nightmare stood still, allowing Tira a brief moment to plead for her life.

"You are looking for shards of metal right? Special shards, parts of that sword you are carrying right?" Tira chattered.

"What of it?" Nightmare glowered at the young warrior.

"I can help you find them! Two of us will find them twice as fast, right?"

Nightmare seemed to be deep in thought, and did not move to immediately reject the idea.

"All I want in return is to learn from you, for you to show me how to be as powerful as you are." Tira said, becoming more confident.

"Very well. Serve me well and I will let you live. Fail me and I will consume your soul."

"I am yours, body and soul, master" Tira said, bowing to the ground.

"Rise" Nightmare commanded.

Tira complied and stood in front of her new master with quivering pride. Nightmare reached to her and grabbed her shirt. With one swift motion, he ripped the garment up, exposing her supple breasts.

Instead of moving to kill Nightmare, Tira allowed the dark knight to do as he pleased with her. He was her master, and he was so powerful she was willing to let him do whatever he wanted with her. In fact, she yearned for him to take her, and fill her with his dark essence.

She was disappointed, however, for Nightmare was now beyond lust or sexual desires. Instead Nightmare pushed his claw against her chest, between her breasts, and imparted a small piece of his power into the young warrior.

Tira stumbled and fell to the ground, shocked and overwhelmed by the deep evil she had been granted. She coughed and hacked, her body trying to expel the darkness that had entered her. After a few moments she was able to regain her composure, and she slowly stood.

She pulled her shirt down, still a bit hurt by the fact Nightmare did not ravish her. Suddenly she became aware of some strange sensations. Somewhere in her mind, she could feel things around her. She came to grips with her new sense and realized exactly what she was experiencing.

The ability to sense dark energies had been granted to her. She could sense the enormous evil of Soul Edge and Nightmare right in front of her. She could also sense darkness to the south, and a few faint dark spots to the northwest and east.

"I have given you the power to sense the fragments of Soul Edge. You will go retrieve them and bring them to me, or I will kill you."

"Yes, master. Thank you for this gift" Tira answered, turning to begin her new quest.

"Wait. There is more" Nightmare commanded.

Tira paused, wondering what else there could be.

"I have also granted you the power to call on the ravens, to aid in your search. They will be your eyes, so you can scout for the shards. Think of them and they will come. Now go, and do not disappoint me!"

Tira nodded and dashed off to the south. As she ran, she thought of ravens, and a murder of the dark birds appeared in the sky, swooping all around her. A few moments of concentration and Tira discovered she could gain the sight of the birds, and see things from their perspective.

Tira continued south until she reached the coast, where she learned of a pirate band that was terrorizing the seas. The rumors spoke of a ghost ship, with a zombie captain that carried a short sword made of living steel. When Tira heard this, she knew it was the fragment of Soul Edge she was searching for.

Tira knew she had to get on the ghost ship, and searched for a way to do so. She found a port town, and made her way to the docks. Three large ships were being loaded with good to be taken to the southern coast. Along with the larger vessels was a single, much smaller ship being loaded with various smaller crates.

It took little effort to board the small ship, as security for this vessel was much more lax than any of the others. Tira nestled herself in the ship's hold, among the various crates, and waited for the inevitable.

With her newly gained powers, Tira reached out, and felt the evil she sought. She called to it, taunted it, begged it to come for her. Much to her delight, she felt the evil growing stronger, indicating it had taken the bait.

It only took a couple of days for the zombie captain's ship to run them down. The ghostly pirate ship struck on sunset of the third day, sending the crew of Tira's ship in to utter frenzy. Sailors ran to and fro, and Tira finally revealed herself to the crew. No one had the time to stop and question a stowaway, not with a pirate ship bearing down on them.

Tira made her way to the port side rail of the ship, and glared hard out across the water at the approaching vessel. Her eyes sparkled with a mixture of anticipation and determination. As she watched, she caught sight of her quarry.

The evil energy was emanating out of a towering man that stood directly on the bow of the approaching ship. He was wearing a traditional pirate's uniform, complete with a captain's hat. The whole thing was done in a drab grey, as hopeless as the fog swirling around him. His skin seemed to be a dead bluish grey as well, as lifeless as any corpse. A thin line of facial hair covered his upper lip and ran down and terminated at his jaw line. His eyes glowed a bright white, with no visible pupils or other markings, giving him an even more ghostly air.

As Tira stood glaring at the pirate, he lifted his arm, and pointed a twisted, evil looking short sword directly at her. Tira allowed a wicked smile to curl up the edges of her mouth briefly before she darted away from the railing to prepare herself for the coming battle.

She hid herself in the Captain's quarters, so that she could easily burst through the door and be back out on deck, and hopefully gain the advantage of surprise on her adversary. She listened intently as the crew tried to steer their small vessel away from the oncoming pirate ship.

It was hopeless, the pirate's ship was just too fast. A moment before the two ships collided, she heard a sailor scream.

"Oh God! It's Cervantes!"

Hmm…Cervantes. At least now my victim has a name Tira thought to herself smugly.

The impact of the collision threw Tira to the floor of the sparely decorated quarters, and the entire ship seemed to shudder with pain.

Shouts tore through the sea air, along with the clanking of battle. Quickly the shouts were replaced by screams. Tira listened intently, looking for just the right moment to pop out and attack.

"Burn to ashes!" a deep gruff voice called out, obviously belonging to Cervantes.

Tira then heard a wet, squishy sound, and the death grunt of the sailor Cervantes was attacking.

The pirate moved to be just beyond the door of Tira's hiding place, and Tira knew the time to strike had come. Taking in a deep breath, Tira charged the door, and smashed through it. As she passed through, she launched herself into a head first dive at the pirate, her ring blade jutted out in front of her.

Cervantes was caught slightly off guard, but not enough to give Tira any advantage. He quickly moved to the side, out of the path of the flying assassin. Tira pushed her ring blade into the deck, and gracefully curled around the top of the blade, keeping high enough up to avoid cutting herself.

She rolled through the movement, her back pressed against the deck, and came to her feet. She then whirled about, facing Cervantes. She shoved her ring blade into the deck once again, only this time the blade was perpendicular to her body.

She jumped through the hole, twisting her body around with no small amount of flair. As she came out the side closest to the pirate, she extracted her blade, and whirled it around her body. The ring blade spun and twisted so quickly it was difficult to tell just exactly what movements she was performing to reach the results.

The end of the flashy display had Tira standing with her left side forward, and her ring blade up at her chest. Her right hand gripped the back of the blade about center, and her left, high up, almost raised above her. Though she stood still, she gyrated her hips front to back, to keep herself prepared to strike or parry.

"Kneel before me!" Cervantes growled, holding his two short swords in an aggressive stance.

The shorter of the two blades caught Tira's eye. It was covered in blood and pulsed with evil energy. The entire sword itself was a shard of Soul Edge. That explained why the evil was so strong, and explained why she was about to engage a living corpse.

"I'm going to kill you now, okay? No point in dragging it out, right?" Tira said with bubbling enthusiasm.

Cervantes replied with a quick jab forward with his smaller blade, aiming directly for Tira's heart. The young assassin nimbly dodged the blow to the left, and slammed the flat side of her ring blade against his arm, intending to knock the sword from his hand.

Cervantes did not fight the blow, but instead allowed it to give him momentum. He turned with the force, and brought his large sword up, and pointing forward. He spun around and attempted to impale Tira.

Tira saw the blade coming, and quickly turned to block. She pulled her ring blade around on the side closest to the pirate, and slammed it into his attacking arm, up high by his shoulder.

The attack was stopped, but much to Tira's amazement, his arm remained attached to his body. Her razor sharp blade failed to even penetrate his clothing. Tira stood in shock for a moment, allowing an opening for Cervantes to attack.

The pirate spun back around the other way, bringing the small blade in an arc at Tira's back. The blade landed squarely in between Tira's shoulders, and threw the young warrior forward and to the deck.

Cervantes charged Tira even before she landed. The young assassin recovered her senses quickly and took advantage of the pirate's reckless charge. She did not rise, but instead snaked her foot out and caught Cervantes' ankle, and pulled up towards her body hard.

The pirate landed hard on the deck, and Tira immediately kicked her legs around in a whirl, giving her the momentum to spring to her feet. Cervantes did not jump up as quickly, giving Tira a moment to gloat.

"Does it hurt? Really? Tell me it hurts!" She exclaimed breathlessly.

Cervantes made his way to his feet, and glared at Tira, his pure white eyes glowing with a ghastly hunger.

"Not good enough!" Cervantes roared before charging towards her once again.

Tira met his incoming charge, deflecting his dual short swords away with ease. She then brought her blade around, thrusting it straight forward. Cervantes parried the attack, and countered with a wild swing of his own.

Slipping under the swing, Tira tried again for Cervantes feet. He was prepared this time, and pulled his foot up before she could grab it. He then thrust it back down at her, forcing her to resume a higher attack pattern.

Cervantes began raining down a flurry of blows against the young warrior, but Tira was able to fend them all off. Her parrying kept her locked into a defensive posture, and did not allow her many chances to attack.

Each attack she threw was easily countered by the pirate, and the battle continued on at a frantic pace. Left, right, high, low, the attacks from the pirate seemed to come from everywhere.

Cervantes feinted with his left, drawing Tira to guard with her ring blade on that side, only to be met with empty air. He then swung his right hand upwards with a great deal of force. He had the blade of the sword turned out from Tira, for his intention was a punch, not a cut.

The blow connected with Tira's chin hard, rattling her skull and completely breaking her focus. The punch carried her up, as the full force of the undead pirate's strength flowed into her. She flew up into the air several feet. Cervantes jumped up and grabbed Tira from the air.

"Stop struggling!" Cervantes shouted, throwing Tira back down to the deck of the ship.

The wind was knocked out of Tira from the fall, and she did not rise from the deck. Cervantes approached her and began kicking her in the ribs as hard as he could. Tira shuddered and coughed with each blow. She finally began trying to get up, and Cervantes stopped his attacks, eager to watch her struggle against the inevitable.

Tira stood and stumbled about, her head clouded from the force of the blows she had taken. She shoved her ring blade out towards the pirate, but he sidestepped it easily and slapped her across the face hard with his swords.

She stumbled back, dazed again. Recovering, she began to move to strike again, only to be interrupted by Cervantes punching her again. Twice more Tira moved to attack, and twice more Cervantes countered her.

The pirate finally tired of his taunting, and he drew back for one final blow. He put his hands together, bringing his two weapons side by side, and swung them forward hard. The attack connected with Tira's face, splitting open her lip, blacking her eye, and calling forth a flood of crimson blood from her nose.

Tira was lifted from her feet, and flew backwards, crashing into the wall right beside the door she had emerged from to start this fight. As she sat with the wall holding her up, and blood flowing down her face, she began to realize she was going to lose the fight. She was going to die. The thought was somehow comforting, for it meant the buzzing in her head would stop. The mood swings, the crazy behavior, everything she hated about herself would be gone. She stared blankly at the pirate, awaiting her fate.

Cervantes stepped forward, leering over his prey, intent on taking his time before disposing of her. He released his two swords and crossed his arms. The two swords did not fall to the deck, but instead began to orbit around his waist, held aloft by some unseen force.

"Come with me to Hell!" the pirate cackled, laughing.

Ravens! Tira thought to herself as the last ditch idea came to her. She could not just lose for the sake of losing. If she was going to die, the pirate would have to take her life from her, she never gave anything to anyone.

She closed her eyes and thought of the dark birds, and immediately a murder of the black wings of death appeared in the sky. They swooped down on the pirate, pecking and flapping. One of the ravens snatched the smaller blade from its orbit around Cervantes, and flew to Tira, dropping the sword in Tira's lap.

Tira grabbed the blade, and with a thought commanded the ravens to block Cervantes line of sight so he could not react to her motions. The ravens obeyed and she threw the blade with all her might at the pirate.

The blade flew true, slicing through the air. At the last possible moment, the raven flock shot out of the way, and disappeared into the black night. When Cervantes saw the blade, it was already too late. The sword buried itself in his grayish forehead, right between his glowing white eyes.

He stopped, and tried to look up at the new horn he had just been granted. He started to reach for it slowly, but did not complete the movement. He instead fell backwards to the deck, and the glow fled his eyes.

Tira stumbled to her feet and moved to the fallen pirate. She stared down at his body, greatly annoyed that the zombie captain did not bleed for some reason.

"Hurt much? Oh, I guess you can't hear me anymore" Tira spoke to the pirate's dead ears.

Cervantes' body suddenly burst into flames, causing the assassin to jump back in surprise. The fire did not come from anything around him, but instead something inside. Within a matter of seconds, the pirate burned completely away, leaving nothing but ashes and his two weapons behind.

The larger of the swords he carried was nothing more than a normal blade, and Tira quickly kicked it over the side of the ship. The second blade was of course a shard of Soul Edge, and Tira was quick to grab it from the dark wooden deck.

The blade was covered in what looked like blood, but was not. It seemed to be made of living steel, and somehow had almost a throbbing to it. The piece of Soul Edge was filled with unbelievable amounts of energy. Cervantes had been feeding his shard with souls, and the shard was all the stronger for it.

Her master was going to be very pleased with her for retrieving the blade. Tira was overcome with excitement, and began to giggle and jump up and down.

"Master Nightmare's gonna love me! Master Nightmare's gonna love me!" the assassin chanted and clapped.

She placed the small sword in her belt, and gathered up some supplies for the trip back to Nightmare. Not only did she have the joy of finding a large piece of the devil sword, but she also found a box of chocolate in the captain's quarters. It had turned out to be a really great day for the young warrior.

Luckily Cervantes had a small boarding ship on his boat, big enough for a handful of men, but still small enough to be managed by a single sailor. Tira loaded it up and boarded it. After a few moments she figured out how to work the sail, and turned her small boat back towards the coast and her dark master beyond the shores.