Tainted Souls, Tainted Swords

Chapter Three: The Riverport Arena II

Taki glanced over her shoulder to see the opposite drawbridge drop, once again rocking the coliseum platform, yet it did not phase the ninja. Across the arena Seung Mina crossed the drawbridge with her naginata, Scarlet Thunder, resting over one shoulder. Paying the new threat little attention, the ninja kicked her cloak straight up into her grasp, intending to leave without answering; however, her exit was blocked by two giants in silver and gold full plate armor, wielding heavy axes.

The ninja glanced over her shoulder again at the woman in the floating arena, and their eyes met. This girl's soul was ablaze - she wanted a fight, and one way or the other Taki would wind up drawing her swords again. On a sigh of frustration Taki dropped her cloak, and approached Mina while eyeing the armed guards. They did not pursue.

"You tell me – should I even bother trying to talk first?"

Mina shook her head slightly, then lightly kicked Yunsung as she stepped over his unconscious body, "I'm responsible for him, so no. Not until I pay you back."

"Sibling?"

And the two women came to a stop in the center of the arena. "Try babysitter."

"There's more." Taki felt it. Granted this woman no doubt has her reasons for looking out for this kid, but she had another motive for being here. "You want Soul Edge too, don't you?"

"Fight first, talk later." And with little other warning, Mina sprung into battle. Hopping back, she swept at Taki's legs with her poled weapon; however, the ninja leapt into the air and flipped over Mina. Landing precisely behind the Korean girl, Taki attempted to end this fight just as abruptly as the one with Yunsung. Mina escaped the throw, though, driving the butt of her naginata into Taki's midsection hard enough to stun the ninja. Then Seung Mina spun around with a powerful kick that knocked the ninja to the ground.

Mina poll-vaulted up on Scarlet Thunder, and then brought the weapon down with devastating force, striking the ground as Taki rolled out of the way and performed an aerial kick which, in turn, put Mina down. Hoping to keep her down, Taki drove her foot into the girl's ribs as she tried to get up. Unfortunately, the girl was stubborn. Again the ninja went to kick the downed girl, but Mina was ready. Scarlet Thunder whirled into action, knocking Taki's legs apart (first the left, then the right) and then Mina brought the staff straight up and slamming the ninja in the crotch. Not stopping there, Mina actually managed to lift the ninja off her feet with the move and slam her back down (headfirst) on the other side of her.

Mina raised Scarlet thunder, and drove the blade straight down where Taki lay. Like before, Taki rolled to the side. Unlike before, Mina had something else up her sleeve. With Scarlet Thunder anchored to the platform, she held onto the pole and swung her whole body around to deliver a powerful kick the connected with Taki's head just as she was getting up. And the ninja went down again. Mina went to repay an earlier favor, trying to kick Taki square in the ribs, but the ninja blocked and shoved her away.

Within weapon range of one another, the two women glared with intentions of finishing this battle. Seung Mina feinted a horizontal strike with Scarlet Thunder, and then thrust the blade straight at Taki's heart. Taki brought out both Rekki-maru and Mekkimaru, the swords connected with Scarlet Thunder and guided it safely away (pulling Mina off balance so she stumbles towards the ninja). A moment later when Mina regained her balance, she had a pair of swords scissored around her throat.

The Korean girl gulped, and dropped her precious Scarlet Thunder, and fell to her knees in surrender. The crowds voted for the loser's death, chanting, "Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!" Yet Mina and Taki seemed a world apart from the spectators, existing in a world above and beyond them.

"You had your fight, now I'll have my words: your Sword of Salvation, Soul Edge, is evil." Taki stated, stepping back and putting both swords away before Mekki-maru could overtake her mind. With another fragment of Soul Edge in her possession, Mekki-maru's calls were much harder to resist. "Do not pursue it."

Mina kept her head bowed in shameful defeat, nodding ever so slightly. In her heart, she knew this was true. In her past searches (four and seven years ago) she'd heard such rumors, but she didn't want to believe them. She was at this ninja's mercy, however. "Fine."

The heavy footsteps of approaching guards in full plate drew Taki's attention, and the sound of the drawbridges rising and effectively trapping her in this cage did not bode well. She turned to face the new threat. Through the cage and across the water, one of the nameless well-dressed rulers called out to her, "I believe you forgot something my dear. You see, in deathmatch arena combat, the fights are not over until someone dies," and he paced back and forth while he lectured as if he had something important to say, "but to make things simple for you, foreigner, kill those two losers, or my guards will execute the three of you."

Taki crossed her arms, "I'm whimsical about things like that." That wasn't true, but she felt like pissing this guy off. "Maybe some other day." Truth was, she typically only killed evil beings.

"Some other day?" he echoed in disbelief at the words he just heard. "No. No! Know why? Because you're dying today!" Then the redundant ruler pointed at the three, "Kill her. Kill them. Kill all of them."

Before the Berzerkers could react, Taki charged the one in silver armor. She gracefully leapt into the air, and came down with a scissor kick and slash from Rekki-marru which slid off the thick armor. The point wasn't to do damage, however, the point was to get between the two axe wielders. Immediately, the ninja rolled to the left as one axe came down. And the gold-plated Berzerker swong his axe horizontally, burying his weapon into the armor of his companion with a loud clang. Taki came out of her roll, Rekki-maru came out of its sheath, and she sent her sword into that same Berzerker's armpit where the steel plates did not protect.

"I can't subdue you guys through this armor without killing you," Ripping her sword free, she spun around into an en guard stance, waiting for the next round to begin. "Back down now, and you'll walk out of here alive."

The wounded Berzerker answered with a primal scream that sounded more like a beast than a man, and with one hand it buried its axe where Taki stood. The slow Berzerker, however, was not fast enough; the ninja easily stepped away and leapt into the air to bring Rekki-maru through the eyeholes in the heavy armor. "Gaaaaaaaaah!" The beast screamed that primal scream again. His armor was now stained crimson as a river of blood flowed from his wounds. Taki gripped her sword in preparation to kick off the dying Berzerker to position herself for the next attack, but this thing wasn't dead quite yet, and it wasn't through with her.

On its dying breath, it grabbed for Taki but she slipped from his grasp. The struggle, however, did force an awkward landing that twisted the ninja's ankle and made her pause. Unfortunately for Taki, the gold Berzerker had begun swinging his axe when her sword was still buried in his companion and she could not afford to pause; fortunately, the blade was aiming for where she was not where she currently stood. The pole of the axe crashed against her and flung Taki clear across the arena where she painfully collided against the steel bars of the cage. And she collapsed to the arena floor where she didn't move right away.

Taki heard the clinking footsteps of Berzerker coming to finish her off, and fought through the pain in her ribs to stand up, using the cage for support. The crowds could see the toll that one blow took on this swift fighter, and all knew she couldn't survive another blow like that. Hell, had he connected with the blade she'd be dead. Worse, she might not be able to dodge the next blow in her current condition. One hand on Rekki-maru, one hand holding on to the cage, Taki readied herself for the next move. The axe went up.

"Hey!" Seung Mina called out, thrusting Scarlet Thunder into the armored man's back. But the armor was too thick, and he paid the girl no attention. His axe came down, and Taki rolled straight at Berzerker so the blade landed behind her (biting the agonizing pain in her ribs). She leapt up and repeated history – burying Rekki-maru into the eye hole of the second Berzerker, then twisted it in place to make sure this one died before retracting the blade. The mammoth of a man fell forward in Taki's direction, but posed no threat of actually hitting her.

Taki, out of breath with one hand to her sore back, looked to Seung Mina who lowered her weapon and shook her head slightly. The ninja nodded appreciatively. Their fight was over.