Chapter 11: The Right Hand's Other Secret Weapon.


It has been a week since Peter defeated Zasalamel by the swift and percise attacks. However, for some reason, Zasalamel, who was a scythe wielder himself, did not suffer from the deadly effects of the Reaper's blade. He had admitted his defeat, but noted that he wanted to fight Peter once more. 'Reaper did mention something about an immortal scyther,' Peter thought in recollection. 'Yet, against me, he never had a chance. He probably held back and only wanted to observe me while he was acting like a tackling dummy. But that doesn't make sense.' Mi-na was a little skeptical about what the blond man was thinking about. 'I guess I'll store that in a memory file while I wonder about the other two items that cloaked creeper forwarded, and since Seong had mentioned about residence in Othriensburg, I can get some answers about them.'

"Yo, Pete-man, what's got on your mind recently?" Mi-na wondered about her sidekick. Peter shot a smirk to the well-developed asian. "Let me guess, it's that ninja-like girl that has the admiration for you, is that right?"

"If only. My mind's been in the spin cycle about Zasalamel and our fight. I know that if Reaper's scythe hits someone, it's game over, permanently. Why that guy didn't croak as well is a puzzle with a few pieces missing."

"While I don't understand 21st century language, I think I know what you mean." Five minutes have past while Peter was talking about that 21st century tounge, when they cleared a hill and saw a city, showing the brightness of the marble walls, as well as the reflection of the cleansed watery moat that surrounds the city. "That must be Othriensburg." Both faces brightened at the eleganced beauty that the city shoned. Then, they started to run to the city like a race, in which the loser would pay for the food. Then, a voice called out.

"Seong Mi-na, is that you?" Both Mi-na and Peter looked over to where they heard the voice. It was a tall, blond woman with emerald green eyes, wearing a blue sleeve-less shirt with metal shoulder guards, a white skirt with a unique pattern on the bottom and knee high boots. She ran over to the other two. "It is you, Seong."

"Sophitia, how long has it been, friend?" Both women hugged each other, despite the short sword and shield on Sophitia's back and Scarlet Thunder on Mi-na's. All Peter could do was watch from the sidelines. Then, the women broke from their hug, giving Peter a chance to move forward.

"I take it you two know each other."

"Yeah. This is Sophitia, a friend I know over at the Hephestis Temple in Greece. She helped shatter Soul Edge before." Sophitia walked over to the other blonde, and observed him.

"Say, who are you? You look kind of familiar," she wondered.

"It's Peter," he responded. "Why do you ask?" Sophitia cupped her chin with her thumb and index finger in thought.

"Do you know Azukai?"

"Not really. I've heard his name once, but wasn't given a discription of who he is."

"I see. Do you really want to know?"

"Why are you asking this?"

"Well, he helped protect the Hephestis Temple from an ogre-like minion. His speed is considered outragously fast, like a cat, and that blade on his arm, and how it pierced the skull of the intruder."

"It seems this Azukai is also looking for Soul Edge, but for what reason?"

"It's not the sword, but those who have battled for it. Are you searching for the sword?"

"I've come to this era from the 21st century to find Soul Edge, so that a certian client can have it, but he has kept his reasons to himself. May I ask what Azukai looks like?"

"He's a young man, with dirt-colored hair in a ponytail. He was wearing a vest made out of some fur of an animal, with a slim figure. The eyes are the darkest hazel I have ever witness."

"That sounds like my brother, James, except for the vest. Hey, not to cut this chat short, but we should get moving to the city."

"Why? What's so important about the city?"

"Info on the sword, what else." All three started to run to Othriensburg, as the sun hit the peek of the climb for the day. They stopped running at the concrete bridge which connected the city to the outside, and slowed to simply walking. Then, a huge muscled man, with a hood made from a head of a white wolf, was thrown out of the city and on to the bridge.

"Rock," Mi-na called in worry.

"What happened?" The three ran to Rock's aid, considering the slashes and cuts he recieved. "Looks like he went through the ringer, but good." That's when Peter heard footsteps approaching and looked in the dire direction. A tall, blond figure was strolling down to the bridge, with a rapier in his hand.

"Raphael's been consumed by the cursed blade," Rock struggled to talk. "I couldn't stop him."

"Rest, Rock," Sophitia whispered.

"We'll take over from here," Mi-na muttered as she drew out Scarlet Thunder. Raphael, then, looked over to Peter.

"Azukai's brother, I presume," he sneered. "Well, this is rather amusing."

"I am not Azukai's bro!" Peter yelled. "How many times do I need to repeat myself!" Raphael stuck his rapier at Peter, but failed to make him flinch.

"Why should I care, whether or not you and Azukai are related? The way it'll go, all of you will succumb to the power of Soul Edge." Mi-na, then, swatted the rapier away.

"Peter, stay back," she ordered. Peter nodded and took a few steps back, but tripped when Rock's arm hit him in the back of the knee. He tried to regain his balance but fell over the side of the bridge. "Peter!" Peter was falling head first into the moat when a large raft popped out of nowhere, in which Peter landed on with a foot, knee and hands. Sophitia looked over the bridge as the raft was carrying Peter away. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the Wisconsinite was alright, but wasn't sure about where he was going on the raft. Peter was starting to stand up after hitting the raft hard and found out that he was okay.

"Well, it looks like I won't be staying with them for a while," he said. He had no idea that someone was ready for a fight.

"Oh. He looks really strong," a young woman's voice bellowed. "Very strong." Peter's ears heard this.

"Who's there? Show yourself." As the raft enters an underpass, a young, and over-developed woman, in green half-shirt tattered slacks and a jumped onto the raft, with a large blade ring. On instinct, Peter drew out the double-scythe to defend himself.

"I can't wait to see you die. It's gonna look incredible." Peter rose an eyebrow at the comment.

"Well, Reaper is waiting of one of us, so to say. May I ask who you might be?"

"Why do you care? One of us won't be able to survive the fight."

"True, but just in case Reaper needs info."

"Well, smart-mouth, it's Tira. The way I see it, I'd rather fight."

"What, with that hula hoop of yours?" Tira was showing some steam from the mock. She charged in, and swung her ring, but Peter ducked the swing. Then, the weapons started to clash. For five minutes, the fight once again was appearing even, when Peter swung at her, but Tira side stepped and swung at Peter, and hitting him in the left arm. Peter tried to recover, but his arm wasn't responding. "She chipped a nerve. I can't move my arm." Tira attacked again, but Peter could only defend with his good arm, holding the scythe. 'I gotta find a way with one arm in use.'

"What's the matter? Can't wield that weapon because of one arm?" Tira laughed evily at the defending dancer.

'Oh, I get what you mean, my other weapon.' After looking at his scythe, he tossed it to the side. He got to his feet, and raised the fresh arm up to chin level. Tira charged, ready to finish Peter. That's when he got loose and started to break dance to avoid the swings. Then, Peter folded his body backwards to dodge a horizontal strike. He sprung, backflipped and hit Tira in the mouth. Peter landed on his feet, and saw that Tira was pissed.

"Didn't your mother tell you not to hit a woman?"

"She did. She never said anything about bitches like you." Her anger rose hearing the words. Thanks to the anger, Tira was swinging wildly, giving Peter a clean shot, which he performs onto the abdomem, causing her to stumble. Peter, then, charged with the arm tucked, as the arm started to buldge up. "Here comes the Hamby special: The Gatiling Cut!" Peter connects with the uppercut, when sounds of machine gunfire were heard from the arm. The cut was breaking Tira's ribs, rearranging her organs, and finally, launched her into the sky. After a few seconds in the sky, Tira landed in the watery moat. Then, Peter retracted his arm, and breathed a sigh of comfort. "I almost forgot about you, like the first day."


FLASHBACK TO JUNE BEFORE THE QUEST FOR SOUL EDGE

It was a sunny day at Jefferson Park where Peter was sparring with two teen brunette boys, as a brunette teen girl in glasses and a blond child were sitting on a large blanket, guarding a few baskets, which had sandwiches, sodas, water bottles, and a watermelon. "Geez, Elizabeth. You think boys these days would resort to less fighting, don't you think?" the teen girl asked.

"Well, Peter says it's the best exercise, since he's a dancer and James and Mike aren't," Elizabeth commented. One of the brunettes looked wiped out as Peter and the other brunette continued to spar.

"Peter, Mike, go ahead," he said. Both fighters stopped momentarily.

"Let me guess, James, that watermelon is too tempting for you to resist?" Mike teased. James laughed. "You'd think Felicia had better taste in men."

"Really, what got you thinking in that part of the ballpark?" Peter questioned. "C'mon, let's go." Both boys continued to fight as Felicia cut a few slices of watermelon, as Elizabeth and James took a slice and started to eat it.

"James, why is your brother always so full of energy?" Felicia asked.

"When it comes to things like fights and workouts, he upholds a quit-less attitude policy on himself, saying through fatigue and injury, never give in, even though the objective is completed," James clarified as he took another bite of watermelon. "If there's one thing about Peter, he's living momentum." It appeared, for a second, like Peter was getting the upper hand as he drove Mike back to a tree. That's when Peter charged up to the cornered Mike as his arm started to buldge up. As he tries the uppercut, Mike dove out of the way, causing Peter to hit the tree. "That had to smart." Then, sounds of gunfire made everyone, but Peter and Elizabeth, hit the dirt to avoid 'flying bullets.' As the gunfire stopped, the uppercut went through the tree and created a hole. Peter was in dire shock, since any kind of punch would not cause such damage to a simple tree.

"Holy buckets!" Elizabeth yelled. As Mike looked back up at Peter, he was removing his arm and noticed that his wasn't scratched by the bark. "Big brother, are you okay?" Peter was beyond words, since this was an impossible act he did.

"Does punching a pine tree through and through sound okay?" Peter roared. Felicia and James walked up and also checked his arm.

"Bro, did you feel anything weird when you cutted?" James asked.

"Well, come to think of it, my arm felt extremely heavy, like my muscles grew and weighed it down. When I hit the tree, my arm felt like an AK-47, letting my muscles shoot out and pushed my arm forward." Felicia looked at the hole in the tree and noticed knuckle marks in the hole.

"Hon, check it out," she called calmly. "I see about 20 or 30 sets of knuckles in here."

"20 or 30?" the brothers croaked in unison. They looked inside and saw the knuckle marks.

"Out of one uppercut, that's a gust of wind of a new direction," Peter muttered as he rubbed his eyes with his hand.

"Your arm's got something of a leathel weapon," Mike pointed out. "Like a gatiling gun."

"Yeah. Like a-" Peter stopped for a second, since this attack could need a name. "Mike Rowan, you're a genius."

"What for?"

"The name of this punch: the Gatiling Cut."
END FLASHBACK


'Mike, that one was for you.' The raft was moving in the flow, when it reached the bridge where he originally fell from. Mi-na looked over the bridge railing and saw Peter.

"Peter, you okay!" she yelled.

"Always! Can you throw me a line?" Rock appeared with a rope ladder and lowered it, where Peter was able to grab it. That's when he noticed he could move his left arm again. A little while later, Peter was back on the bridge, when Mi-na hugged him and started to cry. "Sorry about that. How was Raphy?"

"Sophitia and I managed to run him away, and hopefully Azukai will have a chance to take him out." Peter laughed.

"Hey, thank god you guys are okay. That goes for you, too, dude."

"Thank you, young warrior," Rock grinned. Then, Peter and Mi-na got into the city, where they stocked up on information and supplies. That night, a man on a horse rode up and saw the two exiting the city.

"Are you the so-called 'Right Hand of Death?'" he asked, making Peter nod. "I have a message for you from de Leon."

"From Cervantes, you say," Peter growled. The man handed Peter a note.

YOU'RE STILL ALIVE? I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT YOU WOULD LIVE THROUGH POSIEDON'S VENOM AND STILL CONTINUE TO PURSUE SOUL EDGE. MEET ME AT IVY'S MANSION. -CERVANTES.

"Payback time."


Peter and Mi-na head to Ivy's mansion for a rematch with the dead pirate, but a tragedy will befall Peter and a deadly persona will erupt on the eve against Azukai. Can Peter overcome the strain that many people can't?