Hello all! Here's another chapter of my fic! Jayson, disclaim!

Jayson: Do I have to?

Yes you do! Otherwise I might get sued! And if I'm sued, you're sued, too!

Jayson: Oh, all right. Lightpaladin does not own Soul Calibur II or any of its characters and never will. However, since I'm his OC, he owns me, so don't even think about taking me, otherwise you WILL be sued! Got that?

That's better. Now on with the fic!

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Angel

Chapter IV: Revelation

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The sun was nearly on the edge of the western horizon as Jayson and Cassandra continued to journey east. They had traveled across more gently rolling hills with the occasional flatland here and there. Soon they stopped on what seemed like the highest of hills, which had a spectacular view of the eastern horizon.

They had been rather quiet since Jayson's little fall, and neither of them knew why. After looking back at the sun, Jayson broke the silence. "Let's stop and make camp here for tonight," he said while taking off his backpack. Cassandra did the same. "Man, traveling for a long time is sure to leave someone stiff," he said while stretching out his arms. He then place both hands on his lower back and bent backwards, a few popping sounds emitting as he did so. "Ooh, that felt good," he sighed. He then turned to Cassandra, who had a look of confusion in her azure eyes. "What? It helps to loosen the muscles."

"Whatever," she replied. He seems so carefree. It's actually kinda hard to believe that he's going after Soul Edge. Why is he so uncomfortable talking about his reasons? Hmm…I wonder if he'll talk now. "It's been awhile since we talked. Are you ready to tell me why you're after Soul Edge? Please?"

There was a solemn look in Jayson's eye, but he gave a small laugh. "Well, since you said 'please', then…yes, I might as well tell you. Have a seat," he replied as he sat into a cross-legged position. Cassandra hesitated for a small moment, and then sat on the soft, green grass.

"The reason that I came to this world is to find Soul Edge and destroy it. It resurrected a powerful demon into my world."

"A demon?" Cassandra said in shock. "I thought they were just myths."

"They exist, all right," Jayson replied. "This particular demon, who went by the name of Otashingo, was very powerful. About a thousand years ago, he was running amok in my world, smiting all things good and lawful. He was so evil and vile; he wiped out entire races. Since his goal was to change the world to his desires, he brought about the extinction of a key race whose duty was to protect the peace. He then went on to become a demigod, a ruler of all things evil and chaotic. Otashingo ruled by fear, for if anyone disobeyed him in any way, shape, or form, they were put to death.

"So the gods searched for a potential individual who would seal away the evil demon. They eventually found one who was of the peacekeeping race that Otashingo thought he wiped out. This individual was near death of the sickness that the demon placed upon him and his race, so they cured him of it. They appeared to him as members of different races and told him what he must do. No form of attack could harm Otashingo except for one thing: pure light itself. So the gods bestowed upon the individual a sword forged out of pure holy light and sent him into battle. With this legendary blade, dubbed the Paladin Sword, the individual slew the demon Otashingo with one thrust. The holy power was too much for the demon to handle, and he was sealed in the gap between dimensions."

"Whoa," Cassandra said in awe. "That's some legend."

"Yeah," Jayson replied. "What makes it even more believable is that this individual was one of my ancestors."

"Really? No way, now I know you're lying to me."

"I'm serious. His name was Jayson I. I am Jayson IX," he said simply. "So my bloodline traces back quite a ways. I am the descendant of a legendary Valorian hero.

"Anyway, everything was fine for well over a thousand years. Everyone thought that peace and law would reign for the longest time. That is, until the demon was resurrected." Jayson slowly pulled the red and black metal shard out of his vest. It continued to pulse with a malevolent aura. "How this came into my world, I may never know, but it somehow tapped into the seal and destroyed it, thus releasing the demon Otashingo into my world. I knew his intentions right when I laid my eye on him; he wanted revenge for what my ancestor did to him. And this cursed piece of metal gave him unimaginable powers. He killed…and killed."

"Who…did he kill?" Cassandra asked slowly.

Jayson's free hand clenched into a fist. Then he replied with sad bitterness, "He killed eleven of my closest friends. And…," he paused, trying hard to hold back a tear. "…he killed my mother."

Cassandra's eyes went wide. "He…he killed your mother?"

Now Jayson's emerald eye glistened with a tear as he turned his gaze away from her. "And it was the first time in my life that I felt true anger…"

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Blood…that was all he smelled. Jayson stood aghast at the scene before him. All twelve of his disciples lay in puddles of blood. One, he sensed, was barely clinging on to life; the others were dead. The bodies were scattered unceremoniously in the vast garden, its flowers painted red.

Otashingo, lord of the serpent demons and god of black fire, stood in front of the grand fountain that marked the center. His reddish-tan body was lean and muscular, but the most disturbing feature of him was his lack of legs; a giant, muscular tail about twenty feet long sprouted from his waist and ended in a black, curved, bony point split into two lopsided ends. Black writing of an unintelligible language tattooed most of his body. Pale, bony spikes protruded from his shoulders and forearms. His hair was an oily black and reached to his shoulders, and his slit eyes were a piercing yellow. In one of his clawed hands was a sword of unusual design; the hilt, which ended in a blood-red ruby, was wrapped in red and black, and the metal base was shaped somewhat similar to that of a minotaur's skull. The wavelike blade was stained red with blood.

And hanging from a black chain around his neck was a red and black shard of metal, which seemed to pulse with an evil of its own.

Jayson, already terribly wounded in the battle against Otashingo, went pale as he saw who the demon had in his other hand; Jayson's mother. Her pale blonde hair fell to her shoulders and her jaded eyes were dilated. Otashingo was holding her by the neck and had already delivered the thrust to her heart. Jayson could not believe it; he was too late in stopping the demon from killing one of his loved ones and his friends. Tears stung his eye as Otashingo tossed her lifeless body aside like a rag doll.

Rage slowly, gradually ignited a small spark in Jayson as he spoke. "Why? This battle was just between you and me. Why get them involved? They did nothing to you!"

Not a degree of pity could be seen in Otashingo's eyes. "Simple," he said in a dark, venomous voice. "There is no better way to make one suffer than to kill off his loved ones. Your pathetic mother wasn't the first…and I'll guarantee she won't be the last. Even if you do kill me…which, of course, you won't…you will live with the fact that you couldn't protect the ones you love. There is no kind of suffering I enjoy causing more than that." He then grasped the shard he was wearing. "And thanks to this piece of metal, I can continue doing so until my satisfaction is met." He then began to laugh.

Now this sadness that had once enveloped Jayson completely dissipated. The tiny, white-hot flame turned into a raging inferno within him. He clenched his fist to the point that it bled and his body slowly trembled with anger.

And in the next instant, he was gone. Otashingo was sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him; where did he go? A blast of wind suddenly blew at him, but Otashingo was hardly fazed by it. He turned around, and there stood Jayson, the Trinity Sword in his outstretched hand. Otashingo then felt a tingling sensation in his right shoulder. He looked over and saw that the spike protruding from his shoulder was sliced off cleanly, leaving only a stump.

Jayson turned and pointed his sword at the demon. A feral gleam could be seen in his tear-struck eye. "Next, I'll make your head fly," he growled in a demonic voice unlike his own.

Otashingo's look of surprise changed into one of satisfaction. "You've finally taken the bait," he said simply, moving into his fighting stance. "There is no foe easier to kill than an enraged one."

"Shut up," Jayson snarled. They lunged for each other with nothing but blood on their minds.

The fight that ensued could only be described as hell. The clash of metal against metal dominated the night. The once-beautiful earth became scarred with craters shaped from the impact of their bodies occasionally slamming into the ground. Blasts of light and darkness set the surrounding forest alight with white and black fire, the thick smoke blotting out the full moon and making the night even darker. This destruction went on for eternity, it seemed. Wherever they fought, they destroyed like spawns of Hell. Jayson had nothing but burning rage fueling him, and Otashingo seemed to be enjoying every minute, every second of it. They didn't care who intervened; they just wanted to kill.

The battle, which went on for an hour, reached its climax on the top of a nearby mountain's flat summit. The both of them were severely wounded; they couldn't go on for much longer. It seemed inevitable; the next strike would decide the outcome.

"I grow bored," Otashingo said tiredly. "What do you say we end this?"

"I couldn't agree more," Jayson exhaled, wiping blood from his mouth. They assumed their stances and just waited for the other to make a move. After what seemed like a thousand years, they sprang at each other at blinding speed. The final clash was heard. Otashingo swung his blade at Jayson's blade so hard it actually embedded itself an inch inward. Cracks could be seen eking their way along the blade. Otashingo gave a wry smile and withdrew his sword. He had succeeded in destroying Jayson's sword…or so he thought.

"It is over," Otashingo said. "Your weapon is useless. You have lost."

Jayson stared at his broken blade. As soon as his reflection caught the cracked surface, time itself seemed to stop. He looked back at the trail of destruction that he and his opponent have caused. His rage suddenly died, and his face showed solemnity. All of his rage was meaningless, only to see to it that his mother and disciples were avenged. He saw that the motivation was right, but how he went about doing it was wrong. His lust for vengeance only hurt other people. He resolved to finish Otashingo off right now, and since his blade was broken, he knew exactly how to do it. Should this blade suffer enough as to crack, the holy light shall arise and shine in that darkness…as those words rang in his head, he realized that this was the key to victory. History was about to repeat itself…

Jayson gave a small chuckle. Otashingo looked quizzically at Jayson. "Laughing at your impeding death? I'm surprised," Otashingo said. "Or are you glad that you will join your pathetic friends and mother in eternal slumber?"

Jayson laughed again as a thin light outlined his body. "I'm afraid you've misunderstood. Do you remember how you were sealed away the last time you slithered in this world?" Otashingo said nothing. "No? A thousand years of imprisonment certainly took their toll on you. Allow me to refresh your memory." He then levitated into the air, and as he did, the light outlining him became brighter. In a voice that rivaled that of the gods, he spoke, "Spawn from the abyss, your reign ends today. Light shall shine once again and set all things into balance. As punishment for your sins, I now banish you to the gap between dimensions!"

Otashingo paused; he had heard those words before. It was Jayson I who had spoken those words before he delivered the thrust that sealed him. The light shined ever brighter until it engulfed Jayson's body completely, turning night into day, and forcing Otashingo to shield his eyes. The light dimmed just a little for him to see the figure before him. When he saw it, his snakelike eyes grew wide in terror; the figure resembled Jayson I in every shape, form, and color, save the two scars on its left eye.

That was the last thing he ever saw…

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"And when I woke up, I learned that I had been sleeping for fifteen days and nights," Jayson continued in a somewhat broken voice. "Then I learned that my mother and eleven of my friends were truly dead." A single tear fell from his scarred eye. "I buried them myself. Yet I couldn't forgive myself for not being able to protect them. I miss my friends…and I miss my mother the most. One look from her jade eyes could bring even the most upset of people to comfort. They…they said I have her eyes. They called her gaze the "Eye of the Storm." Heh…I could really use one right now.

"Anyway, I found this shard and talked to the gods about it. That's how I now know about Soul Edge. I found it rather difficult to believe that something this small could bring back a demon as powerful as Otashingo. So I made the decision to come to this world and destroy it, even if it meant I never returned. If I couldn't protect my loved ones, then the least I would be able to do would be to make sure that they can rest in peace. Destroying Soul Edge was the only key to ensuring that. And now, here I am."

Cassandra just sat there, taking in everything that Jayson had said. His story was so incredible and so sad that she didn't know what to say. But now she understood why Jayson didn't want to talk about it at first: he was still recovering from these events that he spoke of. She could actually feel his sorrow. A look of pity could be seen in her eyes. "I'm…sorry, Jayson," she managed to say.

"Don't worry about it," Jayson replied as he wiped the tears from his eye. "What's done is done. Even I cannot change the past, and the flow of time does not offer 'what ifs'. But I can take a little bit of the past with me, and I can use it to build a brighter future." A smile returned on his face as he looked back west. "That's a beautiful sunset," he said, and indeed it was. The sun was resting far on the western horizon, casting hues of red, orange, and violet on the surrounding sky. The farther out it went, the deeper blue it became, and the first few stars began to dot the dark indigo sky to the east. The long clouds glowed orange, adding to the beauty of the horizon. "It's times like this that I tend to think about the future, what awaits me the next day."

"Really?" Cassandra asked, turning towards the sunset. "And what do you think is in store for us tomorrow?"

Jayson heaved a sigh. "Perhaps another hard day of traveling awaits us. And I have this nagging feeling that we're not the only ones after Soul Edge. Then again, it's only a feeling."

Little did he know that this "feeling" was actually the cold, hard truth.

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"Even God cannot change the past"

Agathon (c. 446-401 BC), Athenian poet and playwright. Nicomachean Ethics (Aristotle), VI.

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Okay, this chapter's a little shorter than the first few. Still, I hope this chapter clarifies a few things. So, I shall continue to wage war with writer's block as I write the next chapter!

Lightpaladin;)