Chapter 2: Talking With The Undead
His black horse carefully trotted through the forest. The green eyes of the young knight carefully examined his fearsome surroundings. Webs left by spiders were everywhere, bones decorated the ground and the trees were dead from what seemed to be caused by the lack of nutrition. Though, something in the air screamed out that something here wasn't of the mortal world.
Next thing he knew, his horse started to buck and screech out a warning. "It's ok boy." He attempted to calm the horse down by patting its side. "There's nothing to fear." His eyes caught sight of a small dirt road. "Strange, since when did a road go through the forest?" "
Help!" He heard a woman's voice cry out.
"Valderon!" He gave the reigns a snap to speed up his horse. As they made their way down the old dirt road, they came upon a caravan being attacked by strange demons. From his guess, Goblins. Out of all the creatures Soul Edge has managed to create in the past, these were probably the weakest. Though, their ruthlessness and cunning made them a very serious threat. As he approached the Goblins, he leapt off of his horse and tackled one in mid air. Landing hard on the dirt, he rolled a bit before springing back to his feet as four others surrounded him.
"Come and feel my steel as it finds your black hearts!" He drew his sword and clashed metal blade to stone axe with the first one. Instantly he raised his left arm to defend himself from another axe. With his unsurpassed might, he pushed the two Goblins back and strafed to the side as another attempted to stab him with its spear. Taking the initiative, he charged pass the shaft of the spear and severed the Goblin's head from its shoulders.
"Retreat!" A Goblin shouted out as they scurried away from danger.
One thing he liked about Goblins was that they always judged their opponent's strength. So when they figured that they'll lose, they run away. "Is everyone ok?" He asked as he looked at the driver of the caravan. Dead. "Damn." He then looked inside, there he saw a woman wearing a pink dress decorated in finely crafted gems. Most likely a noble.
"Thank you kind sir." She was shaking with fear. "Those brutes were demanding my valuables and killed the driver."
"You're lucky. Most of the time they just go ahead and kill everyone before taking whatever they want." He answered, a bit skeptical about the whole thing. Many times he had fought goblins, and never had he heard of one that demanded valuables when he could have just killed the person and took the jewelry himself with little effort.
"I am the Duchess of Nerrane, Kynour Niheart." She informed as she stepped out of the caravan, "I am on my way to Noel."
"I'm sorry, I haven't heard of either of those places. Then again, I sort of been away in the past few years." He answered, somewhat speaking the truth.
"May I ask my rescuers name?"
"Siegfried, Siegfried Schtauffen."
"Your name is German, yet here you speak English."
"In my travels, I have learned many languages. Though much of my country speaks German, my family first taught me English since they have had many dealings with the English people. To top things off, several of my relatives live in England."
"Interesting. Perhaps you will accompany me to Nerrane?" She asked as a gleam appeared in her eyes.
"My quest takes me elsewhere. I shall only accompany you to the next city."
"A gentleman would make sure I arrive to where I was going."
"A gentleman I am not. If I were you, I'd be happy that I am escorting you to the next city, much less rescued your caravan from attack." He then helped her onto his horse and started to lead them down the dirt road. How he hated helping others, mostly because he didn't want them to see the monster he became. Half of the time, he'd only help someone if it was on his way. Hence, the shop keeper he saved yesterday. Though, he did hate seeing the weak pushed around.
Hours had passed as they continued to walk untroubled but were very alert about their surroundings. 'Something's not right here. I'm sure we've passed that old burned down tree several times already.' His eyes stared at the tree and then the road ahead. The sixth sense he had developed over his years of fighting and traveling kicked in, warning him of impending danger. With one swift motion, shwing, his sword was unsheathed and moved into a defensive position.
"What's going on?" The duchess asked a bit worried. She gripped the horse's mane tighter as she bit her lip.
"We're going in circles. But I'm positive that we've been going straight this whole time. I may not be a woodsman, but I do know how to navigate."
"How could we be going straight if we keep going in circles?"
He looked at her a bit confused. He thought the answer was obvious, but she seriously had no clue. She's definitely a noble. And judging from her questioned, a pampered noble who didn't do much traveling. "Magic." Was all he said. It was all he needed to say anyways. That simple word would describe their situation far better than any sentence or paragraph. "I've always heard of a powerful demon who lived in these woods, but I never believed the stories. No, most demons rely on their powers, not magic. It must be the work of a wizard." 'Damn it all to hell. I could break the spell but I'd need to be in my demon form. There's no need to reveal my demon side and have her tell everyone. Looks like we're going to have to wait until whatever created this illusion shows up.'
His spine tingled with a deathly chill as a thick fog started to cover his surroundings. From his guess, the demon was about to strike. "Be careful, the beast is near." He warned as he neared his horse. To his horror, the horse was gone; so was the duchess and any trace left of her. "Whatever's out there, show yourself! Unless you're a coward." His strong voice carried throughout the deathly sick woods.
A loud cat's roar was heard as a large cat leapt on top of him, claws open and poised for attack. Quickly he flung the creature off and into a tree. The fog had to be playing tricks on him, for that wasn't a cat. What lied before him was a cat who walked upright like a human. As the cat jumped at him again, he batted it away with his sword. "Your thirst for blood will come to an end!" The cat jumped at him again. A smirk appeared on his face as the cat slashed through his breastplate and left its body open. With a quick thrust, the beast stood emotionless on his blade with one of its claws touching his armor.
A loud sinister laugh echoed all around him, most likely from that of a woman. "I see you possess some skill under that pretty boy look of yours. Doesn't matter. Just like your horse, your very life force will become my next meal."
"You slaughtered my horse? Demon, pray I don't find you." He warned as the duchess appeared in front of him.
"It's too late." The duchess looked at him with a strange smile on her lips. A smile that could paralyze the weak and frighten the brave. Black demon wings sprouted from her back as her nails grew longer and changed to a dark black. Her hair switched from blonde to black as with her lipstick. Her dress changed to that of a black armor. "Siegfried, your time has come. I shall devour your soul!" She pointed a hand at him as bolts of lightning appeared and knocked him back into a tree.
He weakly got to his feet, while at the same time a terrible pain burned from within in his gut where he was stabbed a the other day, with one hand he managed to cover the wound as he stared at the demon. His armor was tattered from the previous battle with Raphael, so he didn't know how much longer it would protect him, but that wouldn't stop him from completing his mission. Closing his eyes, he sheathed his sword and smiled. "Giving up without a fight?" The demon looked at him a bit confused. "Just relaxing and clearing my mind." He replied as his eyes opened as he drew his sword once again.
"Mortal, it does not matter how many times you clear your mind. You simply cannot defeat a being of greater power." She raised her hand at him again. He charged the beast with his sword raised for attack. As the bolts of lightning exploded toward him, he jumped to the side losing very little speed and leapt at the creature when her guard was down and impaled her in the stomach. With its mighty claws, she punched him away and onto the ground. To her delight, he flipped up to his feet even though he was in heavy armor and already weaken from wounds he received before he entered the woods. "So my master was correct about you after all. You are mortal, yet you possess the strength not of a mortal."
"Master? Who's your master woman!" He raised his voice, indicating that he was determined to find out who this master was. A strange familiar laugh echoed from the forest, from the sound of it, he was surrounded. Yet, how could one laugh surround him? What little light there was in the forest reflected off of a shiny surface as it flew toward him at blinding speeds. Quickly, he moved out of the way of the sword and watch it stab into a tree. "Lethe? Damn, not you." He growled under his breathe.
The familiar sound of fire disbursing into clouds of smoke entered his ears from behind, instantly he turned around to block the other Lethe as it swung down upon him. The sword dug into his own, threatening to shatter it under anymore pressure. "Cervantes."
"Nightmare." The undead pirate looked at him with amusement. Siegfried quickly raised his arm to grapple the arm he was in contest with and swung his sword to block the other. Like it were glass, shards of metal erupted from the sword as Lethe broke through it and caught him in the chest. Following through, he brought his other sword in a thrust at the knight.
"I won't lose to you!" Siegfried shouted out as he moved his shoulder a bit to allow Lethe to deflect off of the pauldron before ripping into it a bit and jammed his broken sword into Cervantes's gut. But the pirate seemed unfazed from the sword.
"Impressive. Your fighting skills are as deadly as ever, if not, even more so. No longer are you using your own style, but the styles learned by Soul Edge. Alas my lad, you have no hope. Your demonic powers have decreased, no longer are you as deadly as you were so long ago." Cervantes, with a smirk on his face, dropped the twin swords onto the ground and pointed his hands at Siegfried's chest. "Without your powers, you have no hope against me."
"Enough talk. Now die!" Siegfried roared as he armor and body turned to that of Nightmare's. He dropped the sword and attempted to punch Cervantes with his claw, but to his surprise, the pirate teleported to his side and kicked him in the gut, though it didn't do as much harm as it would've done if he were unarmored. He quickly turned around, bringing his claw in a backhand and only struck air. The pirate had teleported again. "Cervantes!" he shouted in anger as he punched the ground below him. The earth at his feet collapsed into a small crater as a shockwave shot out and blasted all that stood within its wake.
"Can't dodge if I attack everywhere." As the cloud of dirt subsided, the pirate stood before him with both swords in his hands in an x position. "What? How, how could you have blocked it? There's no way!" He shook his head in disbelief.
"You may have your demonic strength, but your powers have decreased back to what they were five years ago when you first broke free of Soul Edge. It seems to me that without Soul Edge amplifying your powers, your nothing more than a weak demon." Siegfried quickly scooped up his broken sword in his human hand and faced the undead pirate. Cervantes continued his theory, "I've been wondering why you were able to break free of Soul Edge on your own two years ago. If my haunch is correct, then perhaps Soul Edge and Soul Calibur have some sort of link to one another. True they are of opposite polarities, but for some reason, Soul Calibur's power influenced your body and fused with Soul Edge's power. Thus, you were given enough power to break free of Soul Edge's grasp and walk out of the battle alive without having to rely on a weapon."
"Even if Soul Calibur and Soul Edge were able to combine their powers? What does it have to do with me?" Siegfried eyed the pirate as he gripped his sword tightly.
"You? Don't kid yourself. You're of no importance. You just happened to be the first subject I've ever seen this happen too. The good in Soul Calibur and the evil in Soul Edge canceled one another and combined their powers to create a monster of untold abilities." The pirate levitated in the air as if he were sitting on a chair and put his hand on his chin as he entered though, only he spoke what he was thinking out loud, "Then perhaps there's more to Soul Edge and Soul Calibur than meets the eye. Perhaps the two sides of the same coin could come together once again. A sword greater than Soul Calibur and Soul Edge? A sword of neutral alignment, unequal in power. With this sword, I could bring this planet into an era of darkness."
"Quit rambling you damn pirate!" Siegfried jumped at Cervantes with energy forming into his claw, "My powers may be weak. But at least they're enough to kill you!" He lashed out his claw, finding that he only struck a tree.
"Pathetic. Your claw ran deep into a tree, but that's all. Unless you're going into the carving business," Cervantes smirked as he stood beside Siegfried and rubbed a hand over the two deep claw marks, "Then swinging your claw is pointless."
Nightmare grabbed the pirate with his claw and raised him into the air before slamming him into the tree. "Feel my wrath." His voice grew cold, or colder than what it was, as electricity started to move through his claw. Immediately, bolts jumped from it and into Cervantes' body.
"Is that all you got?" Cervantes stabbed Lethe into Nightmare's claw, causing the demon to release the undead pirate and back away in pain. "You're pathetic. Killing you now wouldn't be as pleasurable as it would've been so long ago. So I'll spare your life. Let you suffer under Soul Edge's watchful mind and torture your soul. Next time we meet, you won't be so lucky." The pirate walked over to the duchess.
"Till we meet again, Siegfried Schtauffen." Kynour blew him a kiss as she and Cervantes both disappeared.
"Damn you Cervantes. Damn you and that cursed woman to HELL!" He shouted into the canopy as the sound of thunder echoed all around. His body turned back to normal, along with his armor, he sat down and dropped his sword. With ease, he took off his gauntlet and dropped it onto the ground. His eyes peered at the wound in his hand that went through, "Cervantes."
