Siegfried and Tira hurried down the stairs to the ground floor of the inn. Siegfried heard the inn creak again - and this time the sound came from directly above them. He looked up, and saw that the rafters that supported the ceiling were on fire - and they were starting to give way!

"...TIRA, GET DOWN!"

Siegfried put one arm around Tira, and then leapt forward, landing at the bottom of the stairs, and rolling as he hit the floor. A mere few feet behind them, the flaming rafters crashed to the ground, causing a portion of the floor to cave in. One moment earlier, and they would have met their dooms.

They now had just one hallway to pass through before they were at the inn's exit - but it was practically an obstacle course. Flames and holes where the floor had collapsed dotted the hallway. On either side of the hallway were paintings - beautiful, gorgeous paintings - that were all being blackened and eaten by flames. Standing in the very middle of it the gruesome scene was the arson himself.

He wore a colorful amalgamation of clothing - a green vest, a brown tunic, and a purple shirt - none of his clothing looked like it came from the same land; it was evidence that this man, as young as he looked, had traveled much in his life. He also wore large armored boots that looked like they would be worn by a knight; whether the man was a former knight or had merely killed one and taken his armor, Siegfried would never know, but it was only more testimony to the fact that the man had experience. He wielded a blade - a simple, thin sword, nothing special about it - but he held it like he knew how to use it. His hair was brown and slicked back, and his eyebrows were naturally narrowed, giving the man an appearance that made him look almost naturally sinister.

"...So, Nightmare! You finally choose to show yourself! I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't get to have the honor of sending you to hell personally!" Siegfried could hear the desire for revenge caressing every syllable the man spoke.

"Want me to take care of him, Master?" Tira asked nonchalantly.

"No, Tira - this isn't your fight."

The man leaned forward slightly. "...I didn't know there was someone with you." He looked up and down Tira's form, causing Siegfried slight discomfort. "Hmm...a whore, I suppose."

Tira gritted her teeth. "Now it's my fight." She took a step forward, but Siegfried held out his arm to stop her.

"Tira, no. Let me try to reason with him." He stepped forward, held out his arms in a gesture of peace, and spoke to the man.

"Please, listen to me! I know what sorrow you must feel. I, too, know what it feels like to lose someone very close, and even how the desire burns to take their life in revenge. But, you must hear me! I am not Nightmare!"

"...HA! You can't fool me! I took Nightmare for a murderer, but not for a coward who'd try to lie his way out of a fight! I've done a lot of research to be led here! You can't be anyone but Nightmare! You're not clad in Azure armor, but you still look just like him - who else wields a sword of that size?" The man retorted, pointing his sword at the Zweihänder strapped to Siegfried's back.

"It is true that I was once Nightmare, but I am him no more! Nightmare was destroyed the moment I flung off that azure armor and smashed it to pieces! However - if you truly want revenge, you will let me pass, so that I may seal Soul Edge away forever to prevent such abominations as the Azure Knight from ever-"

"Silence! I will listen to your lies no longer!"

The entire inn shuddered, and the sound of falling rafters was heard again.

"...If you don't back down now, we will all die here." Siegfried warned.

"I would be content with dying here...as long as I send you to hell first!"

The man lunged forward. Siegfried reached over his shoulder and grabbed his Zweihänder, Requiem. He swung the sword parallel to the ground, but with the blade held perpendicular to the ground - he did not want to chop the man in half. The swing kept the man at a distance, as Siegfried had wanted it to - but the man did not give up. He lunged again, swinging his sword vertically. Siegfried used his sword as a shield against the attack, and stepped backwards. He spun around, swinging the sword as he did so to parry a blow from his attacker, following up by going into a defensive stance. The man was once again too close, so Siegfried swung his sword vertically, bringing it smashing into the floor, to make him back up.

The battle won't end like this. I'll need to deal a blow to him.

Siegfried switched from his defensive stance to an aggressive posture. "I am sorry, but this must end now!"

With a shout, Siegfried swung his sword horizontally.

CLANG!

Siegfried's blade had struck the man's sword, snapping it in two, and sending both pieces flying across the room. But Siegfried didn't stop. He whirled around, and swung his sword again. The flat side of the blade slammed into the man's body, sending him flying a few feet through the air to land on his back. Siegfried stood above him. As the man looked up, he saw Siegfried's sword coming down straight at his head. He shut his eyes, and tried the best he could to prepare for death.

He heard a loud sound. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Siegfried had merely planted his blade in the floor - missing the man's head by less than an inch. Leaving his blade there, Siegfried bent down, picked up the man, and slung him over his shoulder. He then took up the blade again, and turned to face Tira.

"Tira! Come quickly! This inn could collapse any second!"

Bearing the man on his shoulder, Siegfried dashed down the hallway and past the lobby. He and Tira made it out of the inn - no sooner than a second after the entire building collapsed in an enormous display of flame, smoke, and ash.

After Siegfried and Tira had gotten a safe distance away from the wreckage, Siegfried set the man down on the ground. The man simply stared at Siegfried, puzzled and confused.

"...Why...why did you..."

"I will not allow my hands to become more stained with blood than they already are. And there was no need for you to die such a pointless death at an age so young."

The man's eyes and mouth opened widely, and he stared at Siegfried in awe.

"...I apologize for whatever sin I committed against you as Nightmare. I don't know what I did, how horrible it was, and I don't want to know. I don't want to bear the weight of even one more..." Siegfried's voice trailed off, and his expression changed to a solemn one. "...No. Tell me. What did I do? I should know what I have done."

The man now stared at Siegfried not with an expression of hatred, but with one that resembled humility. "...You..." He corrected himself. "...Nightmare...killed my brother."

Siegfried closed his eyes and turned his face upwards. During a few moments of silence, the man and Tira stared at Siegfried, not even able to guess at what thoughts he could be thinking.

When Siegfried was done meditating on whatever troubles had weighed upon his mind, he faced the man again. "...I will avenge your brother for you...when I seal Soul Edge away forever. ...You have my word." Siegfried grasped the man's hand to show his sincerity. The man slowly nodded, in too much shock to speak.

"...Can you move?"

The man slowly sat up.

"Good. You should rest, and recover your strength. ...But, when you are well again, you should leave here as soon as you possibly can. This land..." Siegfried's eyes moved from left to right, scanning Ostrheinsburg. "...is poisoned with evil."

The man looked down, unable to bring himself to even look at Siegfried.

Knowing that nothing more needed to be said, Siegfried stood up, turned around, and set out on the path that let out of Ostrheinsburg. After taking a moment to look at Siegfried, then the man, and then Siegfried again, Tira hurried down the path after him.

The two of them walked out of Ostrheinsburg, on a trail into the forest. Tira wasn't sure where Siegfried intended to go from here, or how he intended to get there, but the look on his face did not seem to be that of a man without a destination. However, something else troubled her.

There was something she hadn't told Siegfried - given what she'd learned about him, she had deemed it unwise to let him know a certain detail about her. Now, she realized that certain detail was going to be even more of a problem than she had previously thought.

Since her first assassinations as a mere child, the act of killing had become a regular routine in Tira's life - so much that she felt no feelings of sorrow or guilt from taking another's life. It is a fact that when one is exposed to something several times a day for their entire life, they often grow a tolerance for it. However, Tira hadn't just grown desensitized to death - she had grown addicted to it. She was addicted to the stimulation that killing provided, and often was unable to go without killing someone at least once a day.

When Tira was thrust into the 'real world', and found that her desires were unacceptable, Tira had tried to change - but, with her ultimate failure resulting in the deaths of her foster family, Tira had given up on changing her ways. Since then, she'd continued regularly taking lives - sometimes with justifiable reason, but usually without it.

After hearing from Siegfried how he was plagued with guilt for the massacres he had committed as Nightmare, Tira had judged that she shouldn't tell him about her 'habit' just yet - but, having just witnessed Siegfried spare the life of a man who had minutes ago tried to burn him alive, Tira realized how important of a matter this truly was. How could she tell a righteous knight on a quest for redemption that she was literally addicted to killing? It was incredible that two individuals with such fundamental differences had actually managed to get along with one another for the time they had. Siegfried would never accept her way of life. The news would dissatisfy him; and a slave that was dissatisfactory to her master was worthless. He'd reject her - cast her aside like garbage. It was possible that he would even decide to kill her to prevent her from committing further atrocities!

Tira made her decision. Siegfried could never, ever be allowed to learn of her morbid addictions. But, just keeping it in the dark wasn't good enough - as long as she was doing something her master would disapprove of, she was a bad slave. She'd have to change herself. She'd have to...stop killing. Just the thought nearly made her retch.

She tried to convince herself that what she was choosing was right. I should never have given up trying to stop in the first place. Learning to live without killing is the only way I can have a normal life. I'll think of it as a type of quest. And, maybe if...I mean when, I finally break my habit, I'll tell Master. He'll be so proud of me! The thought of words of praise from her Master finalized her decision. Tira would try once more to stop killing.