Chapter 19

Breaking Walls

Jan and the units of Arthias battled the walls of Parousia. But unfortunately, they couldn't get past the gates. Jan decided to regroup for a moment.

"The walls of Parousia." said Yuilin, "I never knew taking them down would be that difficult."

"I don't think we can even get inside the city." said Tina.

"I suggest we head back and redirect our strategy." said Aeneas.

"You're so pathetic." said a female voice, "How could someone that defeated me have such trouble with an easy task like this?"

"Huh?"

Everyone turned around to find Luna and Klessirpemdo behind them. Surprised, they prepared themselves for battle. But Jan stopped them.

"Luna and the others." he said, "How did you guys escape? We all thought you were executed."

"Well, fate has surprises for everybody." said Luna, "Apparently, we were supposed to be executed but an old man named Girardot got us out and pestered us to give you something if anything happened to him."

"Girardot?" said Abelia, "But why you?"

"I was wondering that myself. Why me, out of everyone, must I deal with this?"

"Because Girardot said so." said Jan, "So what is this something he said you were supposed to give me?"

"This."

Luna's hand glowed and her SoulCalibur appeared.

"The SoulCalibur, huh?"

"Hmph."

Luna then threw the sword at Jan. Jan blocked it with his sword then the two blue blades merged together.

"I knew it." said Luna, "You had the SoulCalibur also."

Everyone was shocked by the news.

"Jan had the SoulCalibur?!" said a shocked Abelia.

"I kept pondering about our last encounter." said Luna, "I wondered why our swords nearly merged. I then came to a feeling that you had the SoulCalibur also."

"You thought right." said The SoulCalibur.

"Wha!? It talks?!"

"For only a while, Jan could only hear me."

"Well that explains Jan talking to himself the whole time." said Aeneas.

"Jan, I'm in full power stab the gate doors."

"Okay."

Jan then stabbed the gates with the SoulCalibur and the sword then lit on fire.

"Jan, this power is very strong. Enough to take down a full kingdom. Now yell it out!"

"SOUL OF DRAGONFIRE!!"

The gates then exploded and there was a huge hole in the walls. Chester noticed the fire and looked.

"What is that?"

He then saw Jan and his unit come in.

"What?! They broke the walls?! Soldiers of Grandall!! Defend your city!! Show no mercy!!"

"Hey Jan." said Luna.

"Yes?"

"You don't mind that we join you guys, right?"

"What?!" yelled Abelia, "Why should we let you-?"

"Okay." said Jan.

Abelia then fell on the ground.

"You idiot! Why did you let them join?!"

"They seemed trustworthy."

"Those girls are our enemies!"

"Hey, put a sock in it, drill head." said Luna.

"What did you call me?!"

The two girls stared angrily at each other face-to-face.

"You want a hole with those drills on your head?"

"Oh yeah? What kind of girl has messy hair?"

"My hair is not messy!"

"Now, now." Jan said seperating the two, "Let's not fight when we are in a battlefield."

"But shouldn't there be fighting in a battlefeild?" asked Heal-Do.

"Huh, I guess I said the wrong words then. All right, Abelia's unit goes in the west and Luna's unit goes in the east side of the city. Mine will head to the castle."

"Fine then." said Luna marching off.

"Hmph!" said Abelia also marching off.

"DO you think they can get along?" asked Aege.

"I'm not sure." said Riese, "But I think that they are fighting for something more than just freedom."

"What could that be?" asked Elua.

"Figure it out yourself."

"That's not fair!"

"All right, everyone gather around. I'll assign the groups that everyone is in." said Jan.

After a while, everyone was at their respected groups. Luna had Lupi, Aege, Heal-Do, Elua, Xiaoxin and Luca. Abelia had Eurydice, Kanon, Ailian, Leraje, Jinkai and Yuilin. Jan had Aeneas, Riese, Meiga, Rudiger, Tina and Feofan. The soldiers then came charging at the unit before then could move out. Jan and the others then started charging at the oncoming soldiers and rammed all of them down. Chester loooked in disgust.

"How pathetic." he said, "Send in the elite!"

The elite was then sent out and headed to the city. Everyone then headed to their areas but Jan stopped Luna for a talk.

"What is it?" asked Luna.

Jan then seperated the SoulCalibur back in two and gave it to Luna.

"You're gonna need a weapon." said Jan.

"You sure you can handle it with a half powered sword?" asked Luna.

"I defeated many with it even at a low power."

"Hmph, such a skill from a strange young man." Luna said as she ran off.

"What was she saying?" asked Jan.

"You really have to pay attention to alot of things." said the SOulCalibur.

Everyone then split up and made their encounters. In the west section of the city, Luna met with her first opponents Tomoe, a ninja and Yueliang, who holds a steel fan. Luna and Elua stepped forward.

"We can beat them easy." said Elua.

Tomoe then appeared out of nowhere and attacked Elua but missed by a backflip. Luna then attacked Tomoe but was hit with interference by Yueliang. Aege then came in and attacked but Yueliang waved her fan creating a gust of wind carrying Aege up to the sky. Yueliang then jumped up and Luna followed her. Xiaoxin then tried to help Elua against Tomoe by attacking from behind but missed and hit Elua's left foot.

"Ow!" she said.

"Uh! Sorry!" said Xiaoxin.

Tomoe then came from the sky and attacked the distracted Xiaoxin but then Lupi threw her lance and hit Tomoe then reeled the lance back with a chain attached to it. LUca and Heal-Do was looking at the fight.

"Should we be helping?" asked Luca

"No, we need to take down the wall over here." said Heal-Do, "It's blocking our path to the castle."

"How are we going to do that?"

"You have ten bombs?"

"Yes, but they are the only ones I have left."

"Then we'll use them.

"Huh?"

"Just listen."

As Heal-Do and Luca continued their conversation of taking down the wall, Luna and Yueliang continued hitting each other back and forth. Lupi then charged in and and did a lance stab but Yueliang jumped and Luna then jumped on the lance. Lupi then threw the lance with huge strength and aimed at Yueliang. Luna was riding the airborne lance and attacked. Yueliang blocked it but was hit with a surprise attack from Lupi's airborne lance. Luna then then dropkick Yueliang down and crashed right into the ground. Yueliang was knocked out in the crated from the crash.

"Good job, Lupi." said Luna.

"She was child's play." said Lupi.

Elua and Tomoe were on the roof of some houses and both did a huge barrage of Kunai throws at each other but none has hit anyone. Xiaoxin then came from the side and kicked but Tomoe blocked with her kunai and did a kick of her own. Elua then took the opportunity and charged in and grabbed Tomoe from behind and back suplexed her through one of the houses. Elua then got out of the house as it was crumbling down from the huge damage it recived. Elua then found Tomoe escaping out of the house at the last second. But as Tomoe got out of the crumbling house Xiaoxin then came out of nowhere and kicked her at the side of her head. Tomoe then crashed into a stack of water barrels. Elua looked at the mess and found Tomoe unconsious.

"She's out." said Xiaoxin.

"Thanks mister." said Elua, "But I only go for someone like the ponytailed smaurai."

"You mean Meiga?"

"Uh-huh!"

"She's not even my type." Xiaoxin thought.

Meanwhile, Luca placed his bombs at the areas Heal-Do instructed him.

"All right now, light them up." Heal-Do instructed.

"okay."

Luca then lit up all the bomb. They exploded and destroyed the wall.

"Hey, it worked." said Luca.

"Of course it worked." said Heal-Do.

"Leave it to Heal-Do to come up with something like that." said Lupi.

"All right, let's go!" said Luna.

"Right!"

As Luna and the others headed to the center of the city, Abelia and her group met up with two of the other elite members, Dufeng holding nunchakus, Shizuma, a samurai and Hilda, weilding a sickle. Jinkai, Ailian and Abelia stepped up and face the three. Hilda whipped her sickle at Abelia but Ailian whipped hers and tangled with Hilda. Abelia then charged at Dufeng but Shizuma came in front of her. Jinkai then came from the ground and crashed Shizuma to the sky. Abelia tackled Dufeng but missed and then blocked his fast nunchaku hits with her sheild. Eurydice then came to help Abelia and hit Dufeng from behind. Abelia then whacked Dufeng with her sheild and Eurydice hit him with her sword. Both girls kept hitting Dufeng back and forth as if they were playing a game. Dufeng then grabbed their weapons with his nunchaku. Unable to get their weapons free, Abelia and Eurydice punced Dufeng in the head at both sides. Dufeng lost grip of his nunchaku and Abelia finished him off with a strong uppercut using her sheild.

"Thanks for the help, Eurydice." said Abelia.

"No problem!" Eurydice said with a smile.

Ailian and Hilda were still doing their tug-of-war on the tangled sickles. Kanon then came in and kicked Hilda from the side. The two sickles then came untangled. Alian then whipped the sickle again but missed Hilda and accidentally snagged Kanon. Kanon was trapped by the sickle around her. Hilda then attacked but Ailian reeled her sickle back causing Kanon to spin. As Kanon was spinning, her threw her kicks and smacked Hilda on the side of the head. Leraje then came in and sliced swiftly on Hilda. After the attacks, Hilda fell down.

"All right! We did it!" Kanon cheered.

Jinkai and Shizuma then crashed out of a house and onto one of the rooftops. Jinkai threw his shuriken but Shizuma dodged it. Jinkai then came right after the shuriken and sliced Shizuma but only hit his left leg. Shizuma tried to fight back but the leg was completely damaged from the slice. Jinkai then jumped to the sky and threw a blazin shuriken. Shizuma tried to block it but it went through and knocked him out.

"And that's how you fight." said Jinkai.

"Jinkai!" yelled Abelia, "Let's move!"

"Right!"

Abelia and then rest then met up with Jan's group but only Jan was missing.

"Hey, where's Jan?" asked Eurydice.

"Jan said he's looking for a another path to the castle." said Aeneas.

Abelia then noticed Jan running to a building. She decide to follow him.

"You guys head off to the castle, I'll find Jan." she said.

"Okay, then." said Eurydice, "Be careful."

"Don't worry, I will."

Abelia then ran off. As she followed Jan to the building she hid behind a cart of hay.

"Come out! I know you're here." said Jan.

"I'm surprised that you could find me." said a roaring dark voice.

"Jan, I sense a huge power of the Soul Edge in here." said the SoulCalibur.

"But what could it be?"

"There was only one person that could have that power."

A dark azure knight came out of the building. It held something similar to the Soul Edge but had a dead purple eye.

"Nightmare, the azure knight." said The SoulCalibur.

"The infamous azure knight?!" said Jan.

"I will feast on your soul!" Nightmare yelled, "And I will find the Soul Edge!"

"Well lucky for you the Soul Edge is in that castle, but you're gonn ahave to face me to get there."

"Prepare to die."

Jan and Nightmare charged for attack. Both swords clashed and sparked fire. Both looked at each others eyes.

"Yes." said Nightmare, "I can see your darkness."

"What darkness?" said Jan, "I have no darkness!"

Jan then pushed his sword to Nightmare's and caught him with guard off. Jan sliced but nightmare blocked it. Jan then sliced below but Nightmare jumped but was then hit by a spin attack. Jan hit Nightmare's arm but it didn't affect him at all. Nightmare then grabbed Jan's sword and threw him across the ground. Nightmare then stabbed down to Jan but missed by a roll. Jan then kicked Nightmare out of the way and tried to get up. But Nightmare turned around and punched Jan in the head causing him to fall down again and drop his sword. Nightmare then prepared for a final blow.

"JAN! LOOK OUT!" yelled Abelia.

Abelia then blocked Nightmare's way to Jan and hit her instead. Abelia then skid across the ground.

"ABELIA!" yelled Jan.

"Who is this wretched woman?" asked Nightmare, grabbing Abelia's head.

"Leave her alone!"

Jan then stabbed Nightmare through the chest and the purple eyed sword disappaered.

"Heh heh, this is your darkness." said Nightmare.

Nightmare then disappeared into thin air. Jan then ran to the fallen Abelia.

"Abelia!" Jan yelled, "Are you okay?"

"Uhmh. Jan?" said Abelia, recovering.

"Oh, good. You're alright."

"Don't think just because I saved you, doesn't change anything."

"Geez, you shouldn't be talking. You're hurt."

"What was that thing?"

"Never you mind. I'll bring you to a medical stronghold."

Jan brought Abelia to a stronghold to recover herself.

"Now, stay here." he said, "As soon as you recover, you can fight again."

"Don't treat me like I'm some inexperienced idiot." said Abelia.

"I'm not. I'm just giving you orders."

"Hmph!"

"See ya later."

Jan then headed off to Strife's castle. Abelia looked out the window.

"Jan..." she said in a worried manner.

Jan continued to the castle and found the walls and the bridge that led to it. But both doors were guarded by two elite soldiers, Abigail who holds sword and shield and Philine who holds a chinese blade. Aeneas and the others were waiting for them.

"Jan, you're here!" said Jinkai.

"Where's Abelia?" asked Tina.

"She's recovering. said Jan.

"From what?"

"A huge attack. I rather not say how."

"But is she okay?" asked Eurydice.

"Yep."

"Hey, are you guys going to chit-chat or are you going to fight?" asked Lupi.

"Yeah, we're getting anxious." said Elua.

"Me too." said Riese.

"All right then." said Jan, "Why don't we all just charge in and attack the castle?"

"Not much of an idea but I guess it could work." said Ailian.

Everyone then charged in on the bridge and ran over the two elite soldiers who got overwheled by the huge number of soldiers coming at them. Everyone then attacked the remaining defending soldiers that were guarding the castle. Jan sneaked to the door. Jan then found a familiar looking man in front of him at the doors.

"So, Jan." said the man, "We finally meet again. It's time we finished what we started a year ago."

"Uh, I'm sorry." said Jan, "But who are you?"

"Are you serious?! I'm the Great Chester!!"

"Chester? You mean that guy I defeated a year ago? You look different in grey hair."

"Shut UP! Prepare for battle!"

Chester then took out his Kingslayer Dagger and sliced Jan but missed by an inch. Jan then fought back and sliced Chester but the attack got blocked.

"You're still the same even for one year." said Chester.

"Well the only thing for you is your age." Jan replied.

"Shut up! Damn you!"

Chester threw two bombs at Jan but he avoided them before they exploded.

"He's gotten weaker than last time." thought Jan, "Maybe this'll work."

Jan then made four quick slices that hit Chester only in the right arm. Chester then threw his dagger to Jan head. But Jan ducked at the last second and found a bomb right under him. The bomb exploded and hurt Jan's legs.

"Damn! It got carried away!" Jan thought.

Chester then tackled Jan and smashed into one of the castle walls.

"Geh!"

"This is it! Prepare for your defeat!" Chester yelled as he was about to finish Jan off.

Suddenly, Luna then came and kicked Chester in the face and Abelia smacked him with her shield. Chester staggered as Jan started to recover. Chester then found himself in front of Jan.

"Uh oh." he said.

"Take this!"

Jan then did a huge whack on Chester's head, knocking him out.

"All right!" said Riese, "We can finally get in the castle!"

"Well, it's about time." said Ailian.

"All right, let's go." said Jan.

"So it's over huh?" said Chester, "Good grief."

"Huh? How did you survive?"

"The whole thing knocked out good but I can't die that easily."

"Grrr, how am I gonna beat him?"

"You won't, because I'm leaving."

"Huh? But don't you work for Stife?"

"I did, but this kingdom is the worst I've ever lived in. Good luck killing him."

Chester then left the city.

"I don't think I got got that." said Kanon.

"Me neither." said Aege.

"Hey guys, let's forget it and get inside the castle."

"Okay."

Jan and the unit came inside the castle and looked around. It was all gloomy and dark.

"Wow, what a gloomy castle you have here." said Luna, "I thought it would be more nicer looking than this."

"I guess Strife must've redesigned it." said Riese.

"Speaking of whom..." said Abelia.

Strife was sitting on the throne and looking at jan and the others.

"So, you have managed to defeat everything that was thrown at you." he said, "But see if you can beat this!"

Strife then snapped his fingers and soldiers then came inside the room. They all have dark destructive eyes.

"The Ressentiment?!" said Abelia.

"Who are they?" asked Luna.

"They are the most elite in Grandall. They sold their lives for battle and serving the Emperor."

"That sounds kinda scary."

"It scares me abit too."

"Everybody, I have this last order for all of you." said Jan.

"A...last order?" asked Abelia.

"I want nothing interfering between me and Strife. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Prepare yourself, Jan!" Strife laughed, "For this will be your last moments of living!"

Everybody prepared themselves for their greatest battle and possibly their last.

The final battle between Jan and Strife is near. What will happen? Be sure to look out for the next chapter: Victory

- R2J