Chapter 12: The Azure Knight, Nightmare
"It's been two days," Tira thought to herself as she traveled down the dirt road. She wasn't sure where it led, but she didn't care. Tira killed mercilessly on her trip, which meant to Tira that she was going the right way.
Tira was now in a small village in the south of Denmark. She glanced first at the ring blade flung over her shoulder before entering the town. Tira began to rate the people in the town as she usually did: worthy of death or not worthy of death. So far, no one seemed worthy enough for Tira to kill them, at least, not until two familiar male voices came from a run-down shack.
"Come on guys," came one of the voices, "I don't have the money with me right now, but if you come back here tomorrow, I promise that we will pay in full."
"With interest," the other added. There was silence in the shack until another voice replied, "Twenty-four hours. If you don't get us our earnings, then you get this fist in your face." The two men whimpered in glee as they dashed out, only to stop upon seeing Tira. The men were tall and skinny, yet unshaven with days old clothing and unclean hair.
"Hey," the one on the left began, "You're that girl. I guess I should thank you for making us lower than scum now!"
"You don't want to test me Alpha." Tira began. "Both you and your brother Beta here could both suffer a dire consequence." Beta glanced over at the ring blade slung over Tira's shoulder only to remember the mastery Tira showed in her match against Zatana only four years ago. Both Beta and Alpha knew she could only have gotten better.
"What do you want from us now?" Alpha questioned angrily. "After King Christian shut us down, we tried other scams, but for the people who were publicly reveled as scam artist in front of half of Copenhagen by the king, not many people fall for it. Now, we've been lowered to gambling, and as it turns out, we're not good at that either. Now if we don't get that guy his payment by tomorrow, we're dead."
"Really," Tira said, sliding her ring blade into her left hand. "Well, I'll make it easier for you, you won't have to wait that long. Tira grasped Aiselne Drossel with both hands and swung it violently at Alpha's head, but neither Alpha nor Beta even flinched. Tira stopped her attack only centimeters away from Alpha's face before slinging it back over her shoulder.
"I can see you're not scared of death," Tira began, "Too bad. Fear is half the fun." Beta chuckled. "My brother and I would rather die than have to live in this cruel world, but we are Christians, and all Christians know that Christians who commit suicide always go to hell."
"Exactly," Alpha added. "So basically, we're just waiting around for someone to kill us, and we're not picky. If you want to kill us know, so be it. If those guys who we owe money want to kill us, so be it. If the azure knight wants to kill us, then so be it."
"Azure Knight?" Tira asked. "What's an Azure Knight?" Alpha and Beta exchanged obscure looks. Alpha turned back to Tira before asking, "You're kidding, right?"
"Yeah," Beat continued. "I mean, anyone who's anyone knows of the azure knight, Nightmare." Tira shook her head no as Beta continued. "The Azure Knight as a mass murderer. He hasn't appeared in Denmark, but there's always a chance."
No one knows his true identity," Alpha interrupted, "but that doesn't seem to be important. What's important is that Nightmare is a killer, Nightmare is merciless, and Nightmare is unstoppable."
Tira began to think. "Where is Nightmare now?"
"You think we know?" Beta asked. Tira gave Beta a strong stare, but Beta didn't respond. Tira then began to stare at Alpha, who quickly cracked under the pressure. "Okay, fine. Truth is, Beta and I have been tracking the azure knight's movements for some time now."
"Yeah," Beta added. "For the last couple of weeks, the azure knight remained unseen, and presumably killed by a swordsman named Raphael Sorel, but the whereabouts of Raphael are currently unknown and massacres by a knight in azure armor began to reappear in the Ostrheinburg area." Beta stopped talking when he noticed that Tira stopped listening. He waved his hand in front of her face, but Tira didn't move.
Alpha and Beta gave each other odd looks before turning around and starting to walk away. Alpha and Beta continued to walk until Tira grabbed both of their collars and said, "Boys, we're going on a little field trip."
Hours passed and Ostrheinburg was within distance. The moon was now in full view. "Where exactly are we going?" Alpha inquired. "I mean seriously, the town has to be miles across, and our research doesn't specify the location."
"Don't worry about that part," Tira explained. "I know exactly where we are going." Beta sighed. "Oh yeah, well what if you run into the azure knight? Then what?"
"That's what I'm hoping for?" Tira replied.
"What?" Alpha replied, "That's why we're going? So you can kill Nightmare? I don't think you we're listening to what we said earlier. Nightmare is unstoppable." Tira was seemingly not listening. The group continued to walk until they arrived at a waterfall. Alpha and Beta stared at it until Tira grabbed both of than and dragged them into the water and through the falls. Tira let go and climbed on to land, leaving the brothers to gasp for air and climb on to the land.
"What was that about?" Beta yelled, stumbling on to the land. Alpha gasped for air and replied, "Check it out, Beta. It's the castle."
"Unbelievable," Beta replied in a gasp. "We discarded this castle as superfluous in our research. Maybe that's why we never could figure out the exact location of the azure knight." Alpha and Beta continued to talk to themselves as Tira decided to continued to walk without them. Eventually, Alpha and Beta followed her up the stairs.
"Someone's been here," Tira announced. "I can tell." Tira continued to survey the area until Beta asked Alpha, "If Nightmare's been here, does that mean Soul Edge has been here?"
Tira ran over and asked, "Soul Edge, what is it?"
"Man," Beta responded. "You are clueless. Don't feel bad. Not everyone knows what it is. Soul Edge is Nightmare's weapon. Said to be made of pure evil, the sword was created many years ago to be an opposition to the holy blade Soul Calibur."
"Yeah," Alpha continued. "It was first owned by the dreaded pirate Cervantes some ten years ago. Three years after that, the azure knight made his first moving using a sword that can only be described as otherworldly."
"Now," Beta continued, "The Azure Knight has reappeared, along with a slew of people who either want to destroy the sword, or use it for their own personal gain." Tira returned to the edge of the building and began to think. "Is this Nightmare guy really all that great?" Tira continued to think until loud footsteps coming from below. Alpha and Beta heard it too.
"Wait," Alpha whispered. "We assumed that Nightmare WAS here. What if we were wrong?" The group stared down to the ground below until the Nightmare came out of the shadows of the night.
"Remain perfectly still," Tira whispered to Alpha and Beta. "This may be the only chance I have at defeating the Azure Knight and claiming my rightful place as the world's deadliest killer."
Beta and Alpha began to breathe heavily until Tira moved between them and covered their mouths. Nightmare began to shift his head in the direction of the group. Tira was sure her position had been compromised until Nightmare turned back around.
Tira held her breathe as Nightmare continued to walk, dragging Soul Edge along the way. Nightmare was almost out of view as Tira let out a sigh of relief. Tira let go of Alpha and Beta and covered her own mouth as Nightmare shifted his head back in Tira's direction and stared directly into her eyes.