Chapter Sixty-Three

That same night…

Cave

"Raiden?" a female voice was heard. "Raiden are you awake?"

The Thunder God Raiden fluttered his eyes open after hearing his name being called a couple of times. He stretched himself out a bit, grumbling a bit, before opening his eyes to see Rose standing over him.

"Now I'm awake," he grumbled a little. "What is it?"

"I'm sorry but I can't sleep," Rose said with a small sigh. "I keep getting this… sinking feeling."

Raiden slowly sat himself up upon hearing this before looking up at Rose again. "What kind of feeling?"

"I can't really describe it," Rose replied. "But… I've had this feeling ever since Nightwolf told us about his vision earlier."

Raiden noted the worried expression on Rose's face as she said this. "I know we haven't come up with a solid plan for our Chosen Ones yet. Is there anything you want to do?"

Rose thought about it for a while before an idea came to her. "It may seen irrational, but I can't figure out any other way right now. I think we should all infiltrate Shao Kahn's fortress tomorrow. That was, we can find the medallion then and destroy it as soon as possible."

"It is irrational," Raiden said. "That's the kind of thing Shao Kahn would expect for anyone to do. Perhaps we should gather the Chosen Ones in the morning and discuss what we can do."

Rose nodded. "That may be best."

It was at that moment that the curtain to the room opened and Xianghua appeared. Both of them knew that something was wrong the moment they saw the worried expression on her face.

"Raiden, Rose!" she exclaimed. "Maxi's hurt!"

"What happened?" Rose asked as she and Raiden, who quickly got out of his bed, followed her.

"I don't know," Xianghua replied a little more calmly. "Kilik woke me up and told me to inform you two. I saw Maxi briefly. He's got some cuts and bruises and he's limping."

The two leaders followed the young woman to the lounge room. There, Maxi was sitting on the chair. By the tears on his pants and the countless cuts and bruises on his torso, he looked as though he took a good beating. Nearby, Kilik was gathering some cloths and bandages in his hands from a box.

"What happened to you?" Raiden asked him.

Maxi forced a small grin. "It's kind of funny. I, eh… fell off a small cliff. Hit a bunch of rocks and boulders on my way down as you can see."

"You're lucky to be alive at least," said Kilik as he set the bandages and cloths on the table.

"The wound on your arm looks bad," said Rose as she noted the cut on his left arm. "Let's take a look at that first before we attend to his other injuries."

"Definitely take it easy for a while," Raiden suggested.

Maxi nodded as the grin on his face faded. He couldn't really figure out why he decided not to tell them of his encounter with Astaroth, especially since he was the one who ended up defeating him. He could only guess because he didn't want anyone to worry about any more threats around the cave area.

Besides, it was a personal deal anyway, so he didn't think anything else would happen for the night anyway.

Shao Kahn's Fortress

Over two hours after the first meeting, the henchmen of the Outworld Forces once again gathered in the throne room of Shao Kahn. Their original meeting had been disrupted when Sodom came in with an unconscious Guy, a man the Emperor had sought out since the second round of the tournament. Some of the Shadow Priests were now… taking care of him.

"For this past month I've been building the Outworld Forces," Shao Kahn said, his booming voice echoing all around the large room. "We've collected many warriors who have been willing to offer their servitude to me. Of course, as mentioned in our last meeting, there are still many of the tournament participants who have not joined with us. I've found a way to get them to join with us."

He eyed everyone in the room before continuing. "Tomorrow, the… surviving participants are expected to depart Outworld in the afternoon. While they are vulnerable, we shall approach the tournament grounds in the morning. From there, you are to kill those not willing to join with us. The moment you kill them, their souls will be taken so that they would have no choice but to join."

Everyone began talking about themselves, many of them nodding as though this plan was a great idea. The Emperor eyed the group and once the group began noticing, they all began settling down. He spoke again once it was completely silent.

"Another meeting will be planned for early in the morning," he said. "Then, we will have our official time for our… invasion."

As he continued to speak, Shang Tsung stayed quiet while standing in the second row of the group. A few hours ago, he made a discovery. There was a group of people staying in a cave, one of them being Sonya Blade and a couple of… survivors as he called Li Mei and Alex.

The sorcerer wondered to himself for a while if he should reveal his discovery to Shao Kahn. However, as the meeting was beginning to come to a close, Shang Tsung decided to withhold the information.

Besides… he wanted to revel in some glory for himself this time around…

Forest

For a moment, it was as though Jin Kazama was seeing a ghost. Just a few feet away from him stood his own father, Kazuya Mishima. The moment the young man realized it was him, his eyes widened and he was able to feel his heart pound in shock. Of all people, Kazuya was the last person he expected to see here.

And he thought seeing his grandfather Heihachi just three hours ago was bad enough…

After the two stared at each other, it was Kazuya who spoke first. "I'm most impressed," he said. "You made it quite far in the tournament-"

Before he could finish, anger filled up within Jin. "YOU! How are you alive?! Heihachi killed you after the 4th King of Iron Fist Tournament!"

A small laugh escaped Kazuya's throat before answering. "You and I both know that he's a fool. Did he really think he could succeed in killing me a second time?"

Kazuya went on to explain further. "G-Corp, the group who resurrected me the first time, found me after the tournament and aided in my recovery. See, turns out that I survived. The old man should've made sure I was truly dead. I stayed with them for a while, mainly to recuperate… until now. I returned to Japan with the intention of showing up at the Mishima Zaibatsu Headquarters and kill Heihachi. However, by the time I got there, he had already left for this tournament. I had decided to leave him a 'message' by destroying everything and killing those who were in the building at the time. The only thing I haven't destroyed was the portal that lead me to here. It was already set for Outworld, so I only had to simply press a button and enter. I would have entered the tournament, knowing that I would win, but I came here three weeks into the event so it was too late for me to enter. So I simply stayed within the shadows… until now."

Jin narrowed his eyes at him after hearing his story. "Does he know of your presence here?"

"As far as I know, he doesn't," Kazuya replied. "But it won't be long before he knows that I'm here. Right now, however, he's not my concern." A small smirk came over his lips at his left eye glowed red… the sign of his own Devil Gene. "I only discovered your presence here during round six of the tournament. I must admit, you saved me a lot of time by coming here. Perhaps now, I can reclaim what is rightfully mine."

Kazuya didn't have to explain his last sentence as Jin was fully aware of his intentions. In the last tournament they both attended, Kazuya had tried to kill him in order to obtain what he called his 'lost' portion of his Devil Gene. As much as Jin wanted to be rid of his curse, it wasn't going to be at the cost of his own life.

As Jin was silent, the smirk on Kazuya's face widened. "Perhaps instead," he began to say. "You want me to take another power source beforehand."

Jin then noticed Kazuya shifting his eyes low and towards his right. Jin turned his head in that direction quickly and suddenly realized that he was looking at Cammy, who was still unconscious from the attack she had received moments ago.

The young man looked up, more even more angry. "She has nothing to do with this! You deal with me!" Then quickly, he launched himself forward with a battle cry, ready to fight his father. Kazuya immediately got into his own stance.

Just as I had expected for you to do, he thought.

As soon as Jin was close enough, he began his attacks, immediately getting himself on offense. Kazuya was forced to get himself on defense as he waited for the right moment to strike back.

After sometime of fighting, Kazuya finally found an opening and managed to land a punch into Jin's stomach, causing the younger man to stagger back. Kazuya then performed two more punches to his chest before spinning himself around and performing a backhand punch. The moment his punch connected to Jin's face, red lightning briefly surrounded his arm. The force of the punch caused Jin to fly a few feet before crashing to the ground.

Kazuya ran over to Jin and attempted to perform an axe kick to his head, but Jin rolled out of the way and got himself back up on his feet before Kazuya connected the attack. From there, Jin maneuvered himself towards the older man and performed a spin kick to his side, all the while with his foot glowing red. Kazuya managed to step back before getting hit.

The older man then moved himself one foot forward before connecting a left hook punch at Jin, who quickly blocked the attack. In fast speed, Kazuya used his free hand to punch Jin's stomach upward, causing Jin to be lifted up from the ground for just a second. As he did, Jin found himself coughing up his own blood. Kazuya then used his left hand to smack Jin down back to the floor.

As Jin was recovering from the attacks, Kazuya found himself smirking again. "Weakling! For someone who made it to the final round of the tournament, I'd thought you'd do better than this!"

Jin looked up at his father with anger. "And you're no better than Heihachi!"

The smirk immediately disappeared from Kazuya's face upon hearing this. "You'll pay for your insolence!"

He attempted to stomp his foot down at Jin's chest, but the younger man managed to catch his foot with his hands in time. Jin then took the opportunity to push him back. Kazuya fell back, but managed to catch himself by rolling himself back before getting back on his feet again. By then, Jin was also back on his feet.

Neither father or son wasted any more time as they ran towards each other again to fight further. They exchanged some punches and kicks for a brief moment before Jin was able to get the upper hand again. He performed a double punch at Kazuya, who managed to block, before lifting his foot up to perform an axe kick. That attack managed to connect, hitting Kazuya in the shoulder causing him to grunt at the pain that shot through him for a moment.

At this point, Jin was able to feel his body shaking a bit. He knew what was happening to him… his Devil Gene was trying to get at him. The younger fighter gritted his teeth, choosing to ignore what was happening.

In frustration, Jin leapt at Kazuya, and he managed to tackle him down. As they rolled back, their disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

Moments later, a demon-like howl could be heard…

Shao Kahn's Fortress

"I am glad that we could have this meeting of our own," said the sorcerer Quan Chi.

Sitting a few feet away in his own throne was the God of Fighting Ogre. He sat there in silence as he waited for what Quan Chi had to say. A while ago, the two had agreed to meet up after confirming all of Shao Kahn's plans at his meeting with the other henchman.

"An interesting thing came up just before Shao Kahn had his meeting tonight," Quan-Chi began to explain. "Rumor has it that he made Ivy Valentine his Empress, to rule by his side here in Outworld. Since she is the winner of the tournament, she is in possession of the medallion after all. I get a good feeling that the Emperor is… perhaps using her in order to stay close to the artifact."

The pale sorcerer began pacing himself slowly around Ogre's chamber. Ogre's head shifted as though following Quan Chi's every more.

"If the rumor of her being the new Empress is indeed true," Quan Chi continued. "Then there's a chance that she won't be involved in tomorrow morning's invasion. This gives me a plan of my own."

Quan Chi stood still then, looking directly at Ogre who still kept silent as he normally did. "While everyone else is out fighting in the invasion, I will… pay Ivy a visit. I expect her to fight of course, but I will be much more prepared than she will be. The medallion after all is rightfully... ours to begin with. You were once in possession of it and I was the one who found it to begin with. As a matter of fact, if it wasn't for me, Shao Kahn's little plans wouldn't have come to his realization to begin with."

He then pointed at Ogre. "As for you, I have a task for you, one that will be benefit to both of us. During the invasion, I want you to capture the fool Yoshimitsu. Bring him here alive. This way, we will finally finish him off. Using the medallion, we will finish off what the artifact has started on him. I expect neither one of us to fail in our assignments."

In reply, Ogre gave off a single nod.

Beach Area, farthest from the Cave

After spending a long period of time walking, Ryu looked up at the dark sky above him. He squinted for a moment as he tried to pinpoint the position of the large moon to determine what time it was.

Ryu's eyes widened a bit afterward. "Wow… I've been walking longer than I thought," he said to himself.

It was only about a five minute walk back to the cave from where he was. He figured that he should make his return at this point if he wanted to just get enough rest for his return back to Earth tomorrow. Besides, he didn't want to be gone for too long just incase anyone decided to report him missing.

Throughout his walk, Ryu felt more relaxed than he had these last few days. His situation with Julia had took a toll on him for a bit. Since that night, he tried as hard as he could to remember that day in Cambodia. However, all he was able to draw in his mind was a blank.

Ryu expected to talk to Julia about that they planned to do upon their return to Earth. When that time comes, Ryu expected the two of them to go on their separate ways, but he would have to see what she says.

As the Japanese warrior continued heading back to the cave, he suddenly felt the wind suddenly pick up, blowing itself from behind Ryu causing the double tail of his red bandana to be pulled forward and sway in the air. Moments after, the chi in the air suddenly seemed dark. The second Ryu felt this, he stopped in his tracks.

Someone's here… he thought to himself.

Ryu then moved his head a bit to get a better look at his surroundings. Although the dark chi around him was strong, there was no one else in sight.

Where is it coming from? he thought again.

As he continued searching, Ryu suddenly realized that the chi suddenly began shifting itself. It was as though wherever the chi was coming from was constantly changing it's true location.

"Whoever you are," Ryu uttered. "Come and fight me if it's a fight that you want."

It was at that moment that he felt a dark presence behind him. Prepared for anything, Ryu turned himself around… and upon seeing the man standing just a few yards away, Ryu didn't feel much surprise… because the man standing there was none other than Akuma, the murderer of his master.

Ryu admitted to himself that the idea of Akuma possibly being here in Outworld left his mind a while ago, so Akuma had showed up a bit unexpectedly. Either way, Ryu always had the feeling that there was a chance for him to be here.

Now the idea was true.

The two stared at each other for a moment. Then, Akuma narrowed his red eyes at Ryu. "The time has come," he said in his deep voice. "It's time to give in to your true potential."

Ryu immediately got himself into his fighting stance. "That will never happen! And I believe the time has come to finally avenge my master!"

"So be it," Akuma replied.

From there, the two quickly shot their arms out as their own Hadoukenprojectiles ejected from their hands. It wasn't long before the two projectile crashed into each other, creating a small explosion before disintegrating. This gave Ryu and Akuma the opportunity to leap at each other to engage in their battle.

For a short while, the two exchanged attacks, mostly finding themselves on defense while trying to attack the other. Eventually, Ryu was able to get the upper hand. He first performed a roundhouse kick at Akuma, causing the demon to make a quick spin around. Ryu then attempted a low spin kick, but Akuma managed to see this in time and leapt over it. As he began coming back down however, Ryu managed to perform a small uppercut. Akuma was stunned for a moment, but before he fell back to the ground, he managed to catch himself by somersaulting back. He then landed safely back to the ground with both feet.

Akuma then waited as Ryu covered the distance between them again. Ryu lashed out a few punches in which Akuma managed to block with his arms. When the chance came, he quickly performed two palm strikes at Ryu's face, immediately causing him to stagger back a bit. As he was distracted by the last attack, Akuma then attempted a low kick at Ryu's legs. The attack nearly made Ryu lose his balance, but he quickly managed to regain himself.

From there, Akuma attempted a hurricane kick, jumping up and maneuvering himself forward while spinning with one leg out. Ryu knew this move all too well and he quickly moved out of the way before he was hit.

Afterwards, Akuma landed back on his feet. Just as he was beginning to turn around to face his opponent, Ryu quickly performed a downward axe kick before spinning himself to perform a back kick, sending Akuma stumbling back. From there, Ryu prepared himself to shoot out another Hadouken.

Just moments later, Ryu suddenly felt a dark sensation within him…something he hadn't felt since before he came here in Outworld. He knew exactly what was going on.

The 'true potential' Akuma mentioned before… the Dark Hadou… it was trying to take control of Ryu at this very moment.

Ryu gritted his teeth, trying to control the dark sensation all the while trying to collect energy into his hands so that he could shoot a projectile. Soon, Akuma had recovered from the last attack and began making his way over to Ryu.

Without thinking, Ryu shot out the projectile. "Hadouken!" he yelled out.

Ryu watched at Akuma was hit by the projectile, which sent him flying a few yards away. Once the projectile left him, Ryu suddenly felt weak and after Akuma was hit, he fell forward. Just before he blacked out, he realized that the color of his projectile was not it's normal light blue color…

Instead, it had looked more like a glowing fireball…

Main Palace

Throughout the night, Siegfried was only able to sleep for half the time. He mostly was falling in and out of sleep, not sure of whether or not he ever had any sort of dream during the time he actually was asleep.

Siegfried found himself looking up at the ceiling, guessing this was the millionth time he woke up during the night. He sighed to himself as thoughts of what transpired earlier in the evening came back to him…

He had spent a passionate evening with Princess Kitana earlier. Instead of it ending with any sort of bliss, it ended when he realized that the thing trying to control him for a while now attempted to take her soul. He knew then that he had to push her away, knowing that it would be too dangerous for her to be around him.

Despite saving her life, Siegfried still felt awful about what he did. Perhaps he shouldn't have ever shared himself with her. It would seem that they picked the worst time to do so…

As he thought through this, Siegfried came to a decision. Since everyone in the tournament was departing from Outworld tomorrow, he decided to at least try to talk to Kitana. He wasn't sure what to say to her. Heck, she probably wouldn't want to talk to him after what happened when she was here. But he felt that if he didn't try talking to her tomorrow, then there was a chance that they could depart on a bad note. This was especially considering that they both lived in different realms and there was a chance that they may never see each other again after tomorrow…

Eventually, Siegfried was finding himself falling asleep once again. However, it wouldn't last very long as he soon suddenly woke up in cold sweet.

Seconds later, he felt a sharp pain in his head, forcing him to sit up and hold his head with his hands. The sharp pain continued and it worsened to the point that he let out a loud grunt before falling out of his bed, taking the sheet that was around him along with him.

"What… is happening… to me…" he managed to utter through gritted teeth.

As Siegfried closed his eyes tightly shut, flashes suddenly came before him. He was soon able to make out the images in his vision…he was seeing himself killing countless people! One by one, he would kill a person and take their soul. A white flash would then blind him for a moment before he saw another image of himself killing another and taking his soul as well.

A realization came to Siegfried then. Is this… what I've done during those black outs?

The images appeared faster and faster with each passing moment. Soon, it seemed to reach it's highest speed. Soon, it all stopped. However, only one image remained in front of him, an image he never expected to see…

In front of him was Chishio No Me itself.

Quickly, Siegfried snapped his eyes open… yet, all he could still see was Chishio No Me. "What the-" he managed to utter. "Why-"

Before he could analyze the meaning of this image, the artifact disappeared and all he was able to see now was darkness as he blacked out once again…

Shao Kahn's Fortress, Sleeping Quarters

Throughout the night, Ivy was able to get a little sleep. Earlier, she had been struggling to at least stay still in her bed. After what seemed like a long night, Ivy opened her eyes, finding herself lying on her bed. It was still dark in her room, but upon looking out the window across from her, the fight line of light from the sun was appearing from behind the mountains, indicating the beginning of dawn.

Wouldn't be long before someone knocks on my door, Ivy thought to herself as she shifted herself on to her back. She then sighed to herself. She still felt tired, but she thought that she might as well start her day. As she sat up, she promised herself to return later in the afternoon to take a nap.

Either that or she could just be informed of today's plans. If it wasn't anything important, then she would just simply return to her sleeping quarters.

For a half hour after getting out of bed, Ivy took a hot bath for twenty minutes. Upon getting out, she got herself into her purple traditional fighting outfit which also contained gold trimmings. To most, it was more like a one-piece swimsuit attire with additional long boots, a long glove on her right hand, and a gold arm armor on her left arm.

As soon as she picked up her sword, she looked over at her nightstand. There sat Chishio No Me, the artifact she happened to win in the tournament nearly twelve hours ago. Once again, the medallion's eye seemed as thought it was staring up at her.

"Hmph," Ivy hummed as she narrowed her blue eyes. "Sometimes I find it hard to believe that a little thing like you is capable of so much power." She then sighed a little as she walked up to it. "I'm quite sure Shao Kahn would like me to bring you along today."

Just as Ivy began reaching over to it, the red tear began to glow, causing Ivy to pull her hand back for just a moment. She found herself staring at the red tear for a while. Ivy wasn't sure whether or not she was being drawn to it's power or not.

Actually, she was hoping that wasn't the case.

"Does it always glow like this?" she asked herself.

Ivy then reached her arm out and took the medallion into her hand. Immediately, she was able to feel a slight surge within her as though the medallion was giving it's own power to her. Once more, she stared at it with curiosity.

She more stared at the red tear than anything else, finding herself a bit drawn to it. Ivy then noted the details of the tear. Although it was clean cut, she noted some of the jagged edges that were left behind. Briefly, she took her thumb and brushed it over the tear.

The moment she did this, a realization came to her. Ivy's eyes widened suddenly as though she was in shock.

"It… it can't be…" she uttered.

Quickly, she placed the medallion back down on the nightstand. Ivy then went over to her bag and briefly went through it before finding a brown pouch. She opened the brown pouch and emptied a single content into her hand, closing it before returning to the medallion.

Once again, Ivy picked up the medallion, the glow on the red tear still there. For a moment, Ivy was a bit hesitant about opening her other hand. She then took a deep breath before finally opening her palm.

In her other hand was a shard, which was slight bigger than the medallion's tear. Ivy compared the two briefly… and her eyes widened more at the shard glowed… matching the red glow Chishio No Me possessed!

In shock, Ivy dropped both artifacts to the floor, each one landing in front of one of her feet. Her body began to shake as sorrow and rage quickly filled inside of her.

"No… NO!" she screamed out. "This wasn't supposed to happen! Why must this curse follow me?!"

Ivy had a good reason to be upset. It happened to be that both the shard and the red tear of Chishio No Me shared a major thing in common. They were both part of a long history of her realm of Keisei. And it was part of a curse that fell upon Ivy from the day of her birth.

Now she understood why Chishio No Me was known as 'the most powerful artifact ever known.' It was because it was part of another artifact that was even more powerful than this.

It was the very artifact Ivy loathed.

The very artifact that became known as one of the most searched swords in Keisei…

That artifact… was Soul Edge.