Another chapter straight from my twisted mind to the magical, digital 'paper'. In this chapter, Nightmare faces off a pair of threats. Will the two young women stop his quest, or will he toss them aside lightly?
One of the characters pulls a slide move, ya know where you run forward and press kick (I think), the cheesy ring out move. My daughter just loves doing that, over and over, even when it doesn't work, so that little bit is homage to her and her cheapo fighting tactics.
Next time we will catch up with Talim as she runs into a mysterious old man carrying a blue weapon. We're starting into the home stretch now, only a handful of chapters left till the big finale!
Gods And Devils
Nightmare was quite pleased at gaining Tira as an apprentice. He had no intention of teaching her anything at all, but he did fully intend to use her to his own ends. He was not sure why he allowed her to live. Maybe it was the last vestiges of Siegfried showing through the sword's will. Maybe the last bits of humanity that Nightmare carried inside himself was attracted to her, and wished to be with her. Regardless, her life would not extend beyond her usefulness.
The fact that she was serving him did allow him to turn to the task of tracking the presence in the grass that had led him to the battle against the army. While Nightmare knew a sizeable shard lay to the south, the presence was even more steeped in the darkness, and likely in possession of a considerable chunk itself.
The next morning after Nightmare had sent Tira away, the presence in the grass once again revealed itself. Once again it was several feet away, just beyond the dark knight's range. The presence was just as strong, and appeared just as suddenly.
Nightmare did not strike out at the movement, knowing his attack would be futile. Instead he moved towards the sound, guessing that the situation would play out as it had before.
He was correct, and the presence moved once again, and the chase was on. Nightmare knew that the presence would most likely lead him into another trap, but he had no choice but to take the bait. He had no way of tracking the presence otherwise. He decided that he would just follow the trail, and hope that the presence made a mistake.
The presence traveled quickly to the northeast, and led the warrior throughout the plains, and deep into a forest. Nightmare moved through the forest quickly, spending no more than two days traversing its dark depths.
Emerging on the other side, Nightmare found himself standing on the edge of a coastal plain, with the ocean glistening in the distance. He stopped for a moment, and took in his surroundings.
The rather flat land stretched before him, covered in short, stubbly grass. A small strip of white, glistening sand bordered the ocean from the green sea inland. As Nightmare stared across the plains, he noticed a strange discrepancy along the line of green right before it turned to sand.
With a bit more study, Nightmare realized that the flat land he stood on came to an abrupt end, leaving an imposing cliff. Though he did not move forward, he could tell that the cliff was very high, maybe as much as a hundred feet or more.
Suddenly, a figure appeared standing on the edge of the cliff. It was an older looking man, wearing a purple body suit type outfit. The material appeared to cling to his dead grey skin. He was completely bald, his head matching the cold grey color of the rest of his appearance.
His mouth and eyes were bound by dirty white strips that wrapped about his head. He should not be able to see, but Nightmare knew that the darkness in his soul provided him with infernal sight.
He wore katars on each hand, long steel claws similar to that of a cat. Each shard was around a foot long, and the tips were bent downward. There was no doubt that the weapons were wickedly sharp.
Nightmare did not know where he came from, or how he got there. It was not truly startling though, since he had chased this ghost across the countryside for a long time. The dark knight brought his sword to his side, eager to battle this elusive foe.
The man did not engage, but instead hissed at him. The sound was a wretched, raspy sound, like the wheezing of the dead. He then turned and leapt off the cliff with the grace of a cat.
Nightmare charged forward to the cliff's edge, and peered over, expecting to find the broken body of the strange man. His eyes were disappointed, however, for nothing but emptiness met his sight.
The man's presence appeared at the bottom of the cliff, though Nightmare could not see him. The presence moved forward, and streaked towards the coast before blinking out of existence.
Nightmare turned to find a way down and continue the pursuit. To his right was a sloping trail that looked at though it led to the lower plains. Before he could move towards the trail, he was stopped by the sight of a pair of women coming towards him.
"It's Nightmare! C'mon Sophitia, let's get him!" the one woman said to the other, pointing at the dark knight.
Both women were young, no older than their mid twenties. They both had golden hair and both carried a sword and shield.
"Wait Cassandra! We have to be careful!"
The one identified as Cassandra wore a light blue sleeveless top. A dark blue stripe ran down the center of the blouse. She also wore light blue shoulder length gloves. A deep chocolate leather belt wrapped around her waist, and her outfit was completed by brown, skintight pants and light blue shoes.
Sophitia wore a deep blue blouse, with an open neck deep enough into her cleavage to require lacing to cover her assets. Her sleeves were a pure white, and appeared to be attached by decorative metal disks. She wore a snow white skirt, not even long enough to reach half way to her knees, and the skirt itself featured a pair of navy blue stripes racing around the bottom near the hem.
Her outfit was completed by a pair of thigh high leather boots. Metal guards protected her feet from any attack. Her blonde hair was longer than Cassandra's short crop, and hung down her back in a long braid.
"Ugh! You're definitely not my type!" Cassandra exclaimed, raising her sword and shield to the ready.
Sophitia glared over at Cassandra. "Be serious sister! We mustn't let our guard down. Gods, guide us!"
"You wretched, pathetic humans! Offer your souls!" Nightmare growled, bringing Soul Edge up into his normal fighting stance.
The two girls began moving towards Nightmare slowly, fanning out in an attempt to flank the dark knight. Nightmare found himself with the cliff edge in front of him, the dense forest behind him, and a blonde woman on each side.
He preferred to keep this fight in the open, and not allow them to retreat into the forest. There was no doubt that he could defeat them both, but he did not want to waste time hunting for them. He wished to dispose of them quickly and continue chasing the old man.
The girls were satisfied with their positioning, and moved to attack the dark knight. Cassandra began to motion forward as though she was about to swing. Nightmare brought his sword up to block, but quickly noticed that she was not completing the motion, but instead a fake to grant Sophitia an opening.
Sophitia was right in tune with her sister and jabbed forward with her sword. Nightmare caught sight of the movement just in time to respond. He followed through in his motion to block Cassandra, but used the momentum to throw his feet off the ground. He kicked back hard with both his feet, landing them squarely on Sophitia's chin.
The young woman flew backwards, and crashed to the ground. As soon as Nightmare landed on the ground, he drew himself up into a crouching position, with Soul Edge resting on the ground directly in front of him.
Cassandra saw her sister fall, prodding her into charging headlong at Nightmare, just as he wanted. Right as she took a step to move to attack, Nightmare sprang up from his crouching position. He swung Soul Edge in a vertical arc up from the ground, smashing it into Cassandra with all deliberate force.
"Go away!" Nightmare shouted as he leapt up to complete the attack.
The blow lifted the young woman off her feet and into the air. She fell back slightly, and landed on her back with a deep thump. Since Nightmare had struck her with the top edge of the blade, she was spared any serious injury since that part of the sword had no sharpness. A deep bruise would remain, and had already begun to form under her blouse.
While this was happening, Sophitia had scrambled to her feet and began towards Nightmare. The dark knight sensed the sister approaching him, and as soon as he completed the motion from the attack against Cassandra, he immediately brought his sword around in a massive horizontal arc, spinning all the way around to face the ambushing woman.
Nightmare's blade was positioned at his hip, and was aimed at Sophitia's mid torso. The young woman was not caught off guard, however, and quickly rolled under the swinging blade. She then jumped up and landed on Nightmare's shoulders.
The dark knight was unable to respond, since he was still struggling to regain his balance from the missed blow. Sophitia did not tarry, instead took advantage of her opening. She quickly twisted her knees and legs, snapping Nightmare's head around. While she did not break his neck, she did cause him a great amount of pain.
With the movement completed, Sophitia dismounted the dark knight, throwing him back and downward at the same time. Nightmare fell to the ground, in shock from the pain.
Cassandra had recovered, and took note of the prone Nightmare. She swapped her sword around to where the blade faced down from her fist instead of up. She then jumped high into the air, and towards the dark knight. She slammed down into the knight with all her might.
Nightmare's infernally enchanted armor was exceptionally strong, but the force of the blow was enough to pierce through the cold metal. Cassandra's blade bit into Nightmare's flesh, but not far enough in to truly injure him.
The pain roused Nightmare, and awoken Soul Edge's anger. The sword poured its malice into Nightmare, driving him into a frantic frenzy. He then exploded in a rage, throwing Cassandra away like she was a rag doll.
"This is…the end!" Nightmare growled as he rose to his feet.
Sophitia attacked the dark knight, hoping to give Cassandra the chance to recover her breath. Nightmare was more than prepared for her, however, and quickly shot forward and grabbed the young woman by her throat.
"Got you!" He snarled as he tightened his grip, slowly choking the life out of Sophitia. The woman squirmed and struggled, but was unable to break his grip. Her feet dangled off the ground helplessly, and death seemed to be very near for her.
A thump vibrated the back of Nightmare's helmet and he quickly spun around to see what had struck him. Cassandra had thrown a rock, vying for his attention. Nightmare did not immediately release Sophitia, but instead held his grip steady and glared at the other sister.
"It's time for your punishment!" Cassandra declared very arrogantly, resuming her battle ready stance and bouncing softly from foot to foot.
Nightmare roared in anger, and tossed Sophitia away, sending her crashing into a tree on the edge of the forest adjoining the battlefield. He then turned back to Cassandra, and took notice that she was not all that far from the edge of the cliff.
He smiled inwardly to himself, and then charged the blonde warrior. She brought her shield up to defend herself, but was surprised when the dark knight did not swing. Instead he fell to the ground, his feet out in front of him. He allowed the momentum of his charge carry him through, and he struck Cassandra's ankles with a tremendous amount of force.
Cassandra was unable to counter the move, and instantly lost her balance. She was knocked back by Nightmare and quickly tumbled off the edge of the cliff behind her. As soon as she realized she was plunging to her death, she began to scream.
Nightmare listened to the beautiful sound of coming death, and nearly became ecstatic when the sound stopped suddenly and was replaced by a dead sounding thud. He rose and turned his attention back to the remaining sister who was still leaned up against the tree, coughing and hacking as she tried to recover her breath.
The dark knight was done with toying with his victims, and he was quite eager to resume his chase of the old man in purple. He drew back Soul Edge, and with all his might, which was more than considerable, threw the blade at Sophitia.
The sword sliced through air, flesh and wood with the greatest of ease. Not only did the blade cut Sophitia in two, but it also managed to chop down three trees behind her as well.
Nightmare walked out to retrieve his sword, and did not even pay Sophitia's body enough respect to step over it, instead he kicked each half to the side, and continued on.
At the bottom of the cliff, Nightmare took a moment to inspect Cassandra's broken body. The lust of the battle had finally fled him on his way down, and now he reveled a bit in his kills.
"Blood, darkness, come unto me!" He shouted into the quiet, salt laden air before making his way to the sandy coast.
The boat the sisters had used to travel to the mainland was still there, and it was a small craft, barely worthy of open sea travel. They had obviously chosen it because it could be so easily manned by the pair alone.
Nightmare sensed his prey once again, out at sea to the southeast. The old man's presence did not blink back out, but held steady. He had a considerable jump on Nightmare, but the dark knight was confident he could catch up.
The dark one had no idea where the old man was leading him, but so far he had overcome every obstacle the old man threw at him, so he was not much worried. He had all the time in the world if need be, and Soul Edge released his body from the usual human needs of sleep and eating.
Nightmare sailed for a handful of days in pursuit of the ever constant presence, before finally reaching a small island. The island was covered in green foliage. Trees rose up and littered the landscape. They were not so closely packed to constitute a forest or jungle, but more loosely clumped like an ideal retreat location.
The old man was at the heart of the island, Nightmare was sure. The thing he wasn't sure of, however, was why the old man had led him here. The place appeared to be uninhabited, but there was surely a trap awaiting the dark knight.
Nightmare jumped ashore from his small craft and began charging towards the source of the presence with little a thought or care. If he had realized that he was now on the old man's home turf, he might have chose to be more careful.
Nor did it cross his mind that the prey he stalked may well have been stalking him from the beginning.
