The only thing useful we found was an ax. Though I always wondered why anyone would keep something like that inside his own house. In any case, we started digging. It still took us a long while, but we found something eventually. Like a bubble in water, we found some kind of room under the ground. What else could it be but the cave that Spawn mentioned. We entered it and looked for the sword. We found it's lit sticking out of the ground.
"I take it that's the sword?" I asked.
Talim didn't seem to be about to pass out this time: "Yes. It is."
She started to use her tonfas to dig it out. Like I said before, she never hesitated, despite the fact this whole adventure is in fact a suicide quest.
"Why are you still standing there?" she called at me, "Help me get this out!"
I did as she asked. After we were done digging, I was surprised to see the sword. Not only because I was actually looking at something of which I thought it only existed in legends and folklore, but also because of it's size. I know that Soul Edge was a huge sword, but this is too big for any ordinary man to carry around, let alone use it in combat.
"So... this is Soul Edge." I was speaking somewhat uncertain, since I didn't know how else to react to this.
"Let's take out all the fragments!" Talim nearly demanded.
That one piece I used to locate the sword, I placed it on the sword. It immediately blended with the sword, and it still looked like nothing even happened to it. Talim in the meantime had taken out all others, and did the same to them. When we were finished, the entire sword seemed to glow, and it's eye opened. I saw something growing bigger, and getting smaller again, as if it were breathing. If anything, this was the most terrifying thing I ever saw.
"Talim?" I wanted to know something from her, "Are you feeling a sting in your back?"
She didn't seem to understand why I asked: "...No?"
"Strange." I replied, "Because I do!"
I felt like someone was holding a gun in my back. Though it felt too sharp, so it must be a knife of some kind. Talim did not hesitate to look behind me. Soul Edge was lighting up the room, so I could see her face quite clearly. I recognized the terror in her eyes. I heard her say something. I took it as a swear in her own language. So whatever it is I felt, there was something or someone behind me. I slowly turned my head around. I couldn't believe what I saw! It was a young woman, with a dark blue top, ditto pants, gloves, boots and hood. She carried around some kind of weird sword, of which I now know it's called a Chinese blade. Also, this woman seemed to be decaying, as if she died long ago. Despite the decay, I recognized her.
"You!" I shouted as I turned the rest of my body as well.
This came as a surprise to Talim: "You know her too?"
"I'll say!" I replied, "She's that mercenary that killed Yumi!"
"Despite the fact she should have killed you instead!" a darker, yet familiar voice spoke.
I was just about to ask Talim what she meant by 'too', before that voice spoke. From behind the girl, the hooded guy we had encountered in New York City appeared.
"Who are you?" I asked as if there weren't any more important things right now.
"Damien." he answered.
Other than 'The Omen', that name didn't ring any bell to me: "Damien as in...?"
"You wouldn't know me!" he said, "I was one of the meaningless soldiers during the Mantis War!"
I was surprised to hear that. Hoping that I could buy some time from this guy, I asked him: "The Mantis War? Then how could your name be Damien? I don't think that even..."
"Silence!" he shouted.
I'm not sure what it was that made him so upset, but I decided to do as he said.
Talim however didn't decide that: "What do you want with the sword?"
"Give me one good reason to tell you, and I will!" he told her.
It was then that something came to me: "You wanted us to find the sword for you. Didn't you?"
His hood turned to my direction. Although I couldn't tell how he looked at me, nor if he looked at me, since there was no face beneath the hood.
"You only healed me because only then you're sure I would find it!" I added.
"If you're so smart to think of all that..." he said, "... then maybe you should understand what I meant with the word 'silence'!"
I had nothing to say now. He said something to the girl zombie, after which she pointed her blade to me. I took a few steps back, and so did Talim, afraid that if she makes a move, the zombie would kill me.
Damien stepped towards the sword. He was about to grab it's lit, but then I figured a way to catch two birds with one stone.
"Wait!" I yelled.
Damien wasn't at all pleased at this: "You are telling me to wait! Wait to grab hold of what I long sought after!"
"Well..." I needed to do some quick thinking, "Since you already waited for so many years, I guess a few more minutes won't make any difference!"
Damien appeared to be thinking about it. Or at least I think he was. But he came to a decision: "What do you find so important to tell me?"
"So you'll have the sword!" I started, "So you'll become the most powerful being in the world! Then what? You think there's nothing to be afraid of?"
The awkward silence made it seem like he was taking that thought into consideration: "What should I be afraid of then?"
"Perhaps... er..." I was trying to make him more curious about what I was going to tell him, "What if something would take it all away from you!"
He called something to the zombie. As he marched up to me, the zombie grabbed hold of Talim.
"Do anything, and he dies!" he said to Talim. He grabbed me by my throat as he said: "What could possibly be that powerful to take such power away!"
Even though I've been grabbed there before, it is something you'll never grown accustomed to. Knowing that he'll kill me if I don't speak, I answered: "Soul Calibur!"
"Soul Calibur is a fairy tale to keep the young ones happy!" Damien said.
"And Soul Edge is not a myth to make knights happy?" I asked him.
Clearly, he didn't think I would say something like that: "Are you saying that Soul Calibur exists as well!"
"Every villain must have a hero to defeat him!" I tried to convince him, "If you destroy the sword before anyone could grab it's lit, then..."
"Where is it?!" he demanded me to tell him.
I told him: "I don't know."
"You're no good to me then!" he said as he was about to raise his sword.
"I mean..." I was trying to stop him, "I have an idea where to find it, but I don't know where that is!"
"Would you be so kind to stop talking in mysteries!" it sounded more like an order than a request.
"There's this lost cathedral," I started, "where both swords had fought last! But can only be found by warriors who really want to find it. I have no idea where that cathedral is!"
"Then you are useless!" he said as he grabbed his sword.
"Wait!" Talim screamed, "I know where to find it!"
She must have somehow figured out what I planned to do, or else she wouldn't be so eager to help him.
"You do?" he didn't seem to believe her, "You know where it is!"
"I've been there before!" she said, "I know I can find it again!"
"So be it!" he said, followed by something else, to which the zombie girl dragged Talim out, grabbing my left arm in the progress so I'm being dragged away too. Damien himself grabbed the sword, then left the cave and the plantation as well.
