Chapter 31
Spill it, Hakhim!
The ruins still had some of the monuments that Xeim could remember seeing for the longest time in his life. Some were half-broken while others were still in mint condition... but covered in a pile of dust probably due to a bad storm that took in the place. The clan's facility was large itself as expected and while it didn't have the height, it stretched down for miles beneath the ground. The lowest level was known as the vault room which was even below the basement and the prison cells. Xeim could notice Rodrigue's presence somewhere around him just like the way he had felt back in the sanctuary.
"This place sure could use some repairing... cough" Lieber sneezed as a pile of dust go caught in his nose. "Do these demons only know how to wreck things or can they actually try and patch things up for a change?"
"Come on... let's head down." said Xeim as they continued to walk through the main hall of the facility. There was a small crack in the walls which lead to a small staircase which stretched down for miles.
"How far do these things go anyway? Geez, you think we should head back!" asked Welch with a slight fear in her voice.
"Don't be impatient. Once we get past these stairs, we'll reach the vault room in no time. I need to make sure it's still there..." Xeim whispered to himself since no one else could understand what he had meant by that. Without another word being said, the marched past the dusty area after going down the staircases and entered an empty room where the only light coming into the room was from the openings of the ripped walls allowing everyone to see atleast a little bit what was down here in this antique place.
"So is this what we're here for?" Mirage asked as she spread her arms gesturing to the area they were in. Xeim, who didn't seem to be bothered by everyone else's presence around him looked straight ahead of him at a small piece of figure which was covered by a rag of cloths. The rags seemed to be covered in a dirt and a dark red color similar to that of blood. Mirage, Maria, Lieber, Misty, and Welch looked on as they saw Xeim lift the rags of cloth over the figure which was positioned in the middle of the dark, empty vault. The figure looked as if it had been glued to the ground or maybe it was just part of the ground. Mirage figured it would probably be a grave of his father and mother... and although that wasn't really it, she wasn't too far off. Xeim revealed a large sword in which the blade was covered in bright red aura much like the demonic bloodlusted swords they had seen almost every demon warrior carry. The emission of energy from the sword brought a new light into the dark room as Xeim clasped the handle of the blade with both his hands. It was about two-thirds the size of Xeim himself and the massive blade was jammed into the small platform beneath it which had writings inscripted on it in the front. It read: 'Herein lie the souls of Zaphir and Karin'.
"That's a... grave?" Mirage inspected it from afar as she narrowed her eyes onto the sword, which Xeim still clasped his hands around.
"This is one of the swords crafted in the legends of demonology which was passed down through generations and eventually to my father. It's famously known as the Zweihander." Xeim spoke sedately while still standing still in his position like a statue.
"The Zweihander!" Maria looked at the large glowing blade in awe. "Many carbon copies of it have been made in vast regions over many terrestrial planets based on the demonology legends but I never thought it actually existed!"
"D-Demonology? Brr! You know what...? I th-think we should leave it alone for now..." Welch shivered intensely.
"Oh please..." Lieber retorted. "How the heck did it get in here anyway?"
"I'd assume Alphonso was the one who performed their burial..." Xeim said. At this point, he had begun to try and pull the Zweihander from its position but it wouldn't nudge even a little.
"I wouldn't bother trying if I were you..." the same eerie sound that filled their ears during the time in Pessoto forest befell the vault room of the facility as everyone knew what was coming ahead of them. It was Rodrigue who had once again teleported in their way. His robes created a large shadow in the light as he floated about a feet over the ground in the air. "So you came all this way just to seek the Zweihander! And I thought you were here to see me! Tsk tsk... how heartbreaking, Hakhim."
"Know what, chump? I think you've got the wrong person. He's not Hakhim... his name is Xeim. Xeim! Got it? X-E-I-M... Xeim!" the irritated Lieber responded emphasizing Xeim's name everytime he spoke.
Rodrigue didn't find any interest in Lieber and he instead gave a loud chuckle at the thought. "Ohhh! I get it now. Hahahaha! So Hakhim has been fooling you all this time, has he? It seems like you all don't know a single thing about him."
Xeim suddenly, was caught by surprise, shouted at Rodrigue in an impulsive fashion. "Shut up, Rodrigue!"
"And just what would you be talking about?" Mirage crossed her arms waiting for a worthy response from the miserable demon.
"Not everything is like it seems, and I think Hakhim can explain that to you really well." said Rodrigue.
"That's enough!" Xeim, who couldn't bear Rodrigue's blabber any longer, jumped towards the demon in an attempt to catch him off guard take him down with a diving assault. The attack however, was easily countered by Rodrigue as he swung his sword horizontally barely catching the throat of Xeim. Luckily his thick scarf came in the way and prevented any serious damage throwing the brisk man back to the ground. But the scarf around Xeim's neck was no longer covering his mouth due to the large cut and no one could believe what they saw before them.
"Wh-what the hell!"
"Aaaagh!" Welch screamed astonishingly. The others weren't any less shocked either, they simply stood frozen from the horrifying image they saw before them. It was Xeim... more specifically, his mouth. Now Mirage and the others had seen severely disfigured faces before, but Xeim's mouth condition didn't look like it was caused by any particular syndrome but it looked as if the mutation was more 'forced' rather than caused by natural growth. The bottom area of his face which covered his mouth was a lot darker than his natural skin color, his lips stretched a lot wider on the right side of his face while it only ran a few inches on the other side due to what looked like a severe burn. The flesh seemed like it was very crisp and the bottom of his chin was hidden due to Xeim's head being hung low from embarassment. The large thick scarf was no longer there to cover up the shame that was represented by his spoiled mouth.
"Xeim... wh-what's... happened to you?" a confused Mirage who was at a loss of words took another good look at her pupil and then turned towards Rodrigue for answers who looked like he was enjoying the moment excitedly.
"Hahahaha! Don't you all see now! This man you call 'Xeim' is really just an ugly, diseased monster from that dirty planet Rezerb, which everyone knows is filled with the most ruthless and despicable scum!" Rodrigue shouted as he looked towards Xeim's face in disgust.
"Xeim is... a Rezerbian?" asked Maria who looked somewhat surprised.
"That mouth... that burn... it definitely looks like a Rezerbian skin disfiguration disorder." Mirage informed.
"..." Xeim stood there silently not having the will to talk any longer.
"That's right!" the demon nodded before letting out another snicker. "Zaphir and Karin resented him at first sight when Alphonso initially brought him into this clan. Do you know why? Not because he was a human, but because of that rotting face!"
Xeim clenched his fists slowly as they started shaking vigorously from his boiling anger. The others were only keen on hearing what Rodrigue had to say now. No Rezerbian had ever gotten along with the Klausians, or even the Federation for that matter. What was Xeim after all this time? And how did he end up within Klaus? Rodrigue was only glad he could enlighten everyone on Xeim's situation.
"And that's not where the story ends! Allow me to elaborate a little on the legacy his father had left behind before his demise." chuckled Rodrigue.
But just then, Xeim looked Rodrigue straight back up in the eye and roared, "Dammit... just shut up already!" He walked back up towards the Zweihander on top of Zaphir and Karin's grave and clasped his hands around it once again. Then, with one fell swoop he lifted both his hands with all his might and drew out the blade from the grave lifting it with both his hands as it shed even more blood than it already had.
At that moment, Rodrigue's delighted expressions disappeared. He stared at the Zweihander bewilderingly, "I-Impossible! How did you do that! After years of hard work, I couldn't possibly even budge that thing! But you..."
"Fool, the spirits that dwell within this sword have full control of its wielder! And it won't let a scumbag like you ever get your hands on it, you lowlife!" Xeim yelled as he held the blade in a fighting stance.
"Why you..."
"You think this face that has been left scarred for years bothers me? Think again! I've seen far uglier things in these thirty years of my life than just a disfigured face. Whether it be watching my father being burnt to death with my own eyes, or bearing the pain of my mother's execution as a child while everyone insulted her and despised her, or having to suffer the loss of another family and my best friend, Alphonso because of you!" Xeim rambled on as everyone behind him looked at him in a way they had never done so before.
"My, a little touchy there... no Hakhim?" the demon questioned taunting Xeim once again.
"All I want from you now before I kill you is to know what you're planning to do with the Alliance?" asked Xeim a lot more calmly this time as he pointed towards Rodrigue with the tip of his sword.
The demon, just shook his head in return with an evil smirk on his face. "You don't think i'll just be willing to give that away, would you? After all... everything has a price. You of all people should have realized that by now."
"Very well, then." Xeim said as he took his fighting stance once again. "I will be glad to make you submit!"
Suddenly, the strong-hearted Mirage stepped forward beside Xeim without giving him another look. "Let's get this over with quickly th-..." She looked over her shoulder before completing her speech and noticed none of the others had budged even an inch. "What's wrong?"
"B-but Mirage..." Lieber stuttered with a nervous look on his face.
"We can't just... butt in now, can we?" spoke Maria who was in a state of hesitation.
"What? Whatever are you guys talking about?" Mirage demanded as she looked back at them with impatience.
Xeim, however, agreed with the others. "Mirage, they're right. This is my issue. This demon is our clan's mistake, he should have been perished long ago. Let me finish this task by myself."
With that said, Mirage stepped back with the others near the entrance of the vault room, where Xeim and Rodrigue exchanged glances before clashing swords. While both blades had the same appearance and almost every physical attribute resembled the other, Rodrigue's sword was no match for the Zweihander. Everytime their swords would clash, Xeim would end up with the upper hand and force the demon to fall back onto the ground in a defensive position. However, just when Xeim was getting the upper hand of the heated battle... Rodrigue decided to play his little trick. He quickly teleported behind Xeim just as he was about suffer a striking blow. Catching Xeim off-guard, Rodrigue swung his blade diagonally leaving a trail of flames in its path.
"Repent, for death is upon you! Crimson Sword!" To the demon's shock however, it looked as if the attack was absorbed and nullified by the aura of the Zweihander allowing Xeim to counter attack Rodrigue with an overhead slash scarring the demon's chest intensely.
"Yaaaghh!" yelled Xeim as he struck down the filthy demon. Rodrigue fell on the ground with a loud thud but got back up instantly wiping the blood pouring from his mouth with his forehand.
"Very well then. Try this, mere mortal." Just as Xeim tried to catch him with a thrust of his blade Rodrigue teleported with a much faster speed than before. The amazing speed of the demon's teleportation caused him to leave a trail of fire behind him from where he had teleported causing the Zweihander to be caught in a blaze of flames. He found the demon hiding in the top-left corner of the room and ran towards him again with his fiery blade and attempted to strike him down with a quick slash motion.
"Aargh! Take this!" But again, Xeim didn't feel a thing and there was nothing left in front of him but a trail of fire as the sword began to catch even more fire. This process repeated as the demon started to chortle and snicker throughout the whole battle teleporting from one place to another. Once in a while, he would throw out a few words towards Xeim to intimidate the strong individual by taunting.
'No matter what you do, you'll always be Hakhim!'
'You are far from normal. Stop prentending to be...'
'Your only purpose is to live a life of misery and suffering.'
Those were the words he could clearly hear coming from the demon's mouth as he teleported from one place to another. However, the tough man wasn't going to let something like that get to him. He had learned this by reading his father's journal, no man in an emotional state could possibly hope to achieve anything. That was something Inus had suffered from, and Xeim was no fool to fall for something like that. Instead, he began to wonder if there was an alternate way to tackle this jester who kept dodging all of his swordstrikes. Just then he noticed something, Rodrigue wasn't trying to attack at all at this point. He was only teleporting from one place to another. Him attacking would bring him in terrible danger from the Zweihander so unless he was willing to take that risk, ther was no way he would be able to hurt Xeim. Taking this into account, at one point Xeim ran towards Rodrigue and drew his blade over his shoulder once again to take him down but stopped and watched as the demon teleport off instead. He waited to hear an eerie sound to know where he would teleport and then he noticed, the sound was very close to him this time. In fact, it was coming from directly behind him! He now quickly thrust his blade behind him fooling the demon and catching him with his fiery blade who had teleported right behind Xeim as expected.
"Ugggh!" the demon fell on his knees as Xeim quickly drew back his bloody blade from the demon's body. The intense heated battle was over and everyone quickly ran towards Xeim surrounding Rodrigue who was left helpless and coughed out blood from pain. The scene reminded Xeim of the time when he once saw Alphonso in the same state. Seeing Rodrigue suffer the same way only brought him a great deal of satisfaction.
"Well then, Rodrigue. The price has been paid. Now tell me! What are you scheming?"
Not being able to get back to his feet, the demon kept his kneeling position and began to grumble. "S-Scheming? Heh. What are you talking about? I'm only doing what I was initially meant to do. For generations, the Zweihander has been collecting the spirits of the dead in Daemonium and all I needed was a method to convert all these spirits into one powerful entity."
"How could you possibly convert the spirits that dwell within that sword? And what entity are you talking about?" Mirage asked as she took another good look at the Zweihander.
"Who else? But the lord of all demons... Asmodeus. Emissions of energy caused by the synchonology process can easily be used to alter the spirits in this sword and forge them to the single most powerful entity known in the history of demonology. If you hadn't butted in... then I could have brought back Asmodeus' spirit within the Zweihander so I then I could once and for all be able to wield that beauty and reign all over Daemonium once again with Asmodeus' guidance!"
"So that was what the Rebels had intended to do with the Zweihander all this time... and that's why you murdered both Zaphir and Karin. How much lower can you get!" Xeim stated disgustedly.
"H-Hakhim... just do me a quick favor. Before I die, fulfill my last wish and let me hold the blade just once... will you do atleast that for me?" asked Rodrigue with a sympathetic face.
"So you want to feel this blade once before you die?" Xeim questioned.
Rodrigue answered with a nod and Xeim simply smiled in return and walked towards the demon who was by now lying down on the ground flat on his back, helpless at this point.
"Alright, then. I shall fulfill your last wish then." With that said, Rodrigue stretched out his arms to reach for the sword with a gleeful expression starting to form on his face. But instead, Xeim stabbed him with the Zweihander down into his abodomen piercing the demon's body as the gleam of aura began to dance around more vigorously as it sucked Rodrigue's spirit right underneath it. With that last strike Xeim just delivered, the evil demon's wish had been fulfilled and he was at last perished. However, the tense situation was still there, others looked towards Xeim as he held his sword down knowing there was still a lot left to say. But instead, he walked back out of the room and tracked his way back up the stairs as everyone watched him leave.
"So what's this Rebzerbob about anyway?" Welch stupefyingly asked breaking the silence.
"Rezerbians... they're labelled as a big enemy of Federation and all other planets in its system as well. They're mostly known for terrorizing other colonies and living hapless lives doing things only for their own benefits." informed Lieber.
"Wow, so that must be really bad, right?" Welch looked down disappointingly.
Lieber looked towards the commander of Diplo and gave a quicky shrug. "Well then, what are we gonna do then capt'n? Can we still take him along with us... knowing all that?"
"What's there to think about? Everyone was fine travelling with him before, weren't we? How can we treat someone today based on what's happened in his past?" Mirage argued trying to bring light in her persuasion.
"Yeah, but will everything be the same?" asked Welch. "It seems like all this came as such a big shock to everyone."
"I know Quark and especially the Federation are very careful about who they cooperate with and Rezerbians would be the last thing they would ever want to get involved with, but whoever he really is... or whatever his real name may be... Xeim is still Xeim." stated Maria. "I know exactly what Xeim is going through, I wasn't any different. I have unique attributes which have affected how people looked at me in the past... and I can't say it was really pretty. But it's just like a friend once told me back then... no matter what happens, I will always be me."
Maria glanced over at Lieber who widened his eyes as he looked back and smiled. "Maria..."
"Xeim was right..." everyone glanced over at Misty who began to speak. "That wounded face and his physical injuries don't display nearly as much pain as the pain I saw in his eyes. He hides them so deep inside himself, but once I was able to see it... the pain that I saw in there was far more discomforting than the wounds and gashes on his face."
Ignoring everything that they had heard about Xeim, ignoring whatever had happened with Hakhim, all the Quark members had agreed on continuing to carry their task to bring the Alliance down. What had happened to Xeim, and who he really was should not be that important anymore, even to Xeim. With that in mind, Mirage and Lieber walked out of the clan's facility building to check on Xeim and have a word with him. Both of them noticed Xeim standing on the edge of a cliff just staring down at the abyss.
"Xeim... let's hurry and leave now." Mirage said as if nothing had happened to affect Quark's relation with Xeim.
"You don't need to pretend. You know it's Hakhim, of course." retorted Xeim with a slow whisper as he closed his eyelids.
"To us, you're still Xeim. We're not expecting any excuse from you, and besides... this shouldn't be something so important to us anyway." Mirage said.
"Yeah, a time comes when you just gotta drop everything and move on..." added Lieber.
"But I can't just go on living pretending it never happened! I still believe... that you have a right to know." said Xeim. And with that, he narrated his story on what brought him to Daemonium after such a long time. After Inus' death caused by the Galzan committee and the execution of Jina... Hakhim was taken into prison. But not before taking a deadly beating and getting a taste of what his father, Inus, got by the sun's UV radiation during his time in the prison cell which caused his mouth to be disfigured permanently for the rest of his life.
"Once both the chief and his wife had been killed, I was barely able to escape from Daemonium and head back to the Milky Way galaxy. There I lived my new life as 'Xeim Juram' within a small anti-federation military organization just like Quark and became one of the top cadets in the army. I wanted to stand on my own two feet and stop running away from situations like I did here. So after years of training, I had acquired a great deal of knowledge in politics and warships. Then not too long after, I went back to Klaus IV, back to the town of Likins to see my mother's grave."
"And that's when you stumbled upon the dojo, right?" Mirage guessed confidently.
Xeim nodded in return, "Yeah. I figured I had already had just about all the training I needed in the military... but one thing struck me. My only weakness. It was my anger in battle, and my loss of temper. I was never able to keep my emotions within control, just like my father whose emotions eventually led to his disaster. But I saw that calm nature in you Mirage, and I admired it. I had then decided to take part in the dojo and seek your aid to work on my weakness."
"What were you hoping to prove by becoming such a strong fighter anyway?" Lieber asked without hesitation.
"So I could one day come back to this place and get my revenge on those filthy demons that had driven me away. But I have to admit... as life went on, I slowly started to forget about getting revenge and just live a new and peaceful life. Perhaps it was the training that allowed me to stay in peace and not care about vengeance any longer. But then soon it all fell apart. When I saw Rodrigue at the Sanctuary of Linga, and then the Pesotto Forest... I couldn't help but think that I was forgetting who I really was, and what I was really supposed to do. Maybe if that wretched demon hadn't shown up, then I wouldn't have to go through all of this in the first place and I could have continued to live the life of Xeim and keep on going with you guys. But it just took one look at Rodrigue to bring everything back, and it compelled me to separate myself from you guys and do what had to be done. I couldn't ignore it, I couldn't pretend like I didn't care about it anymore... i'm sorry about bringing you into all of this, but I had no other choice. I just couldn't ignore that I once used to be known as Hakhim."
"Xeim..." Lieber gave Xeim a compassionate touch on the shoulder as he patted him slowly on the back sympathetically. He was never too fond of the big man but just knowing everything about this person was enough to know he was very likeable.
Mirage was also at a loss for words seeing Xeim in a state of grief. "You're just you, Xeim. What's happened has happened, but that doesn't mean you can just ignore your past. Look at everything that has happened in a positive way. If you hadn't been through all that, would you be the strong individual you are now? Don't take the hardships you have endured for granted, it is only Hakhim after all who made you what you are now, Xeim."
"Heh, I suppose when you look at it that way..." Xeim replied with a smile on his concealed mouth. "You're exactly like my mother used to be... both from outside and inside. I suppose that's another thing that drew me to you at first."
"We still got a lot ahead of us, so keep that head up high and don't let it ever fall low again!" Lieber said as if to give an order, although it sounded more of an advice.
"You're right..." the half-Klausian-half-Rezerbian said turning around and looking at both of his friends who he had started out this long journey with. "Thanks, Lieber. And you too Mirage... Mirage Sensei..."