So I went back through the reviews for this fic, and I noticed that there are a lot of times when I almost completely ignore a suggestion made or some such. It's not that I mean to, but there are just so many reviews (Which is awesome, I've never had such a supportive and vocal crowd of readers!) that sometimes I forget what a few of them said, especially since there are usually about ten reviews per chapter. Anyway, I'm trying to make doubly sure I take every reader suggestion and wish into consideration, so if I accidentally ignore you or you don't see any signs of your suggestion being used, feel free to tell me! (Although not everything will be utilized just because a reader suggested it, because let's face it, as humans, we don't always have good ideas).
Anyway, as just a fun little thing to leave me next time you review or PM (for the sole purpose of my curiosity in the SC fanbase's thoughts) here's a few questions about how the Soul Calibur series has changed.
1. What's been your favorite Soul game overall?
2. Who has been your favorite Nightmare? (As in Siegfried in 1 & 2, the collection of souls Nightmare in 3 & 4, or Dumas in 5)
3. What's been your favorite Tira outfit (P1 or 2, I don't care) so far? (Personally I can't decide between her P1 outfit for 4 or 5. 4 is really cute and bubbly, but 5 is more beautiful and sexy. I'm torn).
4. Did Namco screw up SC5 by removing trademark characters like Talim, Taki, Cassandra, etc. or are they taking an innovative turn in the series by introducing fresh new characters?
5. Was it a mistake for SC5 to present its story in the format that it did instead of CG cutscenes? Or was it a nostalgic throwback to SC1?
(Naturally some of you may not have played all SC games, so this is all a matter of opinion, and it's not like you have to answer: Only if you feel like voicing your opinion).
Damn this was a long author's note. Let's get on with the story already!
As the warm, gentle sun rose over the grain-filled countryside of France, Cyril laid eyes on a distant rural village. Amy trailed behind him, her mood sullen and quiet since the embarrassment of the morning. Now nearly noon, the two companions had been walking for nearly four hours. (Although Cyril had been walking since far earlier that morning, Amy had been carried until she requested to be placed on the ground).
Amy was unused to exerting herself to such a physical extent, but she refused to ask Cyril to carry her again, if for no other reason than to maintain some level of dignity. Needless to say, she was eager to reach the village in the distance and rest for a while: although Cyril would likely cut down her wanted rest time to no more than a few minutes. She would have to find a way to either coerce or persuade the tireless man…
But unfortunately, the small clay and wooden village was still a ways off, and Amy had to shuffle her way for miles yet, unwilling to lower herself to being carried again.
Hilde, clothed in little more than a casual overdress in her haste to discover the nature of the castle's excitement, rushed into the dining hall of Wolfkrone castle. Many soldiers were there, fervently whispering to each other about the rumor that had begun circulating around the castle contingent: Hilde's father, the king, who had been in a state of delusion and mental illness ever since the Evil Seed, was out of his chambers and about the castle, seemingly restored.
Yet no one had laid eyes on the king yet, besides the maid who had sprinted into the hall and frantically told the soldiers and servants how she had seen the king leave his chambers in seemingly good health. She was an old, trustworthy woman, and nobody would dare make such a joke. Still, most everyone in the castle found it hard to believe that her words were true. Most of the soldiers were talking of things that refuted what the maid claimed she saw. It was either, "her eyesight is poor" or "she's getting old and forgetful".
Hilde herself was doubtful as well. She had seen her father's condition after the Evil Seed firsthand, and her own belief had been that he would likely never recover. But if there was even a sliver of a chance that her father had returned to his old self, Hilde would be the first to meet him as such.
Casting her gaze around the bustling chamber, Hilde looked for an officer or someone who looked like they knew what was really going on, as opposed to the rumors most of the soldiers were debating. Fortunately, Luana was off to the side of the room, frantically discussing something with an officer of lesser rank. Her hand motions were quick and precise, her curly blond hair bobbed with every swish of her head, and her light blue eyes flashed in either excitement or nervousness: Hilde couldn't tell.
Despite the fact that Hilde was terribly under dressed to be appearing in front of her subordinates, hardly any of the enlisted soldiers noticed her presence. They were all too busy speculating about the implications of the king's return to a state of stability. There was a lot the man had missed in his kingdom since the Evil Seed. This would be the first time he had ever even heard of Nightmare and his forces besieging Wolfkrone.
But the rumor wasn't confirmed yet, and Hilde had to rely on her most trusted lieutenant to give her the details she wanted.
"Luana! Is it true?"
Hearing the voice of her princess, Luana immediately ended her conversation with the other officer to turn and salute Hilde. Said woman's lack of regal appearance only caused a moment's pause before Luana responded.
"I'm not sure, Princess. There's little around except rumors, but there are a few reliable officers who were upstairs and said they saw him."
Luana nudged her shoulder in the direction of the man she had been talking to. Hilde immediately turned to him.
"Did you see my father? What did he look like? What was he doing?"
The helmeted officer fumbled in his speech, having never been addressed directly by his princess before. "I-I only saw his majesty briefly, ma'am. B-but he looked completely normal. He was roaming the halls, though he seemed to be slightly confused."
Hilde was about to question the officer further when the large oaken doors of the dining hall were opened from the outside hallway. In walked the man in question, graying hair over his ears, dark brown eyes shifting between his subjects intently, and adorned in red regal robes along with his golden, ruby embedded crown. Alongside him were two soldiers that had found him roaming around upstairs, and had taken the duty of escorting him to hall. They stood with their backs to the doors they had opened, shocked expressions on their faces. Clearly they still couldn't believe they were laying eyes on their king.
All was silent as every pair of eyes in the room rested on King Krone. Gone were the signs of madness he had borne for so long. He was calm, intent, and as far as anyone could tell, exactly as he had been before the Evil Seed.
The king scanned the room for a moment, before uttering quite the unexpected remark.
"By God, is it really this time of day already? I do believe I have overslept."
Finally, just when Amy didn't think she could take another step, she and her Sentinel companion reached the town they had their sights on for hours past. Cyril strode into the town, as tireless as always, with Amy shuffling along behind him. Her feet were sore as hell, and she silently cursed the plebeian method of travel known as 'walking'.
The young Rouen native was eager to do nothing other than find an inn, or failing that, a bench, but Cyril stuck out his arm when she tried to shuffle past him, blocking her advance.
Irritable enough already, Amy couldn't help but snap at the man. "Cyril, I don't want to stand for another moment! Get out of the way!"
Cyril didn't answer. He scanned the town ahead, looking down the street they stood on and at the silent wooden houses that occupied it.
"What the hell is the problem now? It's a town, there's nothing dangerous here! I just want to sit down!"
"Amy, please be quiet."
Cyril's response only served to anger Amy further, but she finally noticed the serious and dire expression on Cyril's face. His furrowed brow and pointed gaze, as well as the slight frown on his face, were signs of worry.
"Haven't you noticed something wrong here Amy? There's something amiss. I just can't tell what."
Now aware that Cyril had reasons for holding her back, Amy took her time to glance around the town herself. Now that she was focusing on that task, she did notice that the village was awfully quiet. She couldn't see a single soul about the town. Not even the bark of a dog signaled the approach of strangers in this place. The longer Amy was aware of the silence, the more eerie it seemed.
"This place seems awfully empty… I suppose they could all be sleeping still?"
Cyril's frown evolved into a scowl. "Unlike royalty, most hardworking commoners wake up early in the morning. There should have been someone or something within sight already."
"I concur. Should we skirt the place entirely?"
"…no. If the people here are in some sort of danger, then the last thing I should do is avoid them."
With that, Cyril lowered his arm and began cautiously advancing forward. Amy followed him with a remark of,
"Ever the noble hero…"
Although she said this, Amy was secretly impressed by Cyril's selfless behavior. Something about it was… charming. She was even further impressed when Cyril called forth his demigod-like powers, and she watched his armor manifest itself out of thin air around him. In moments, the simple looking man she had been traveling with transformed into a formidable, powerful warrior of the elements.
Deciding that it would be prudent to find the cause of the town's eerie quiet before knocking down doors or anything, Cyril and Amy attempted to locate the town square. The further into the settlement they penetrated, the more unnerved Amy became. Eventually she found herself holding her rapier before her petite frame, instead of at her side. The atmosphere just felt… dangerous.
In fact, she felt so endangered that she noticed she had unwittingly sidled ever closer to Cyril's flank. Instantly mortified that she was subconsciously trusting Cyril to protect her, Amy told herself that it was logical to look to an immensely powerful warrior for protection, attempting to refute that she had only really moved closer because Cyril's presence just made her feel safe.
The pair of unlikely companions investigated the town in this fashion, ever cautious. Along their walk, they found several unnerving signs; broken spear shafts, ripped clothing, and the occasional bloodstain… but beyond that, there had been nothing else of note. That being the case, the duo kept up their investigation.
Eventually, the two of them chanced upon the center of the town, only to be met with a horrific sight.
Piled in the center of the town, in one mangled, bloody heap, were the bodies of what looked like every inhabitant that had lived in this place. Men lay slain on top of the women they had tried to protect, children were dead in the arms of their mothers, and slaughtered lovers were in each others' grasp. Clearly, not all of these positions were natural.
The stench of the massacre crashed into Cyril and Amy, causing the latter to retch all over the ground almost immediately. She just barely avoided staining the toes of her pretty boots.
Cyril stared on in silence; nothing about his demeanor changed, at least as far as Amy could tell. She, on the other hand, could just barely refrain from vomiting once more.
"W-w-who would… why…? Why would anyone… ever…?"
Amy nearly broke out in tears. Never before had she seen something so gruesome and terrible. But for Cyril, it was a sight all too familiar.
"Do you like my handiwork? Took a while, y'know?"
Amy jerked her head around to face a most sinister female voice behind her. Cyril remained motionless.
Standing on one of the rooftops above the pair of travelers was a woman in quite the unique attire.
A woman with dark, jet black hair stood above, dressed in equally dark clothing; a sort of vest like thing that left her arms as bare as her chest, as well as strange leggings that left her nether regions completely exposed, minus the presence of underwear. The obviously immodest woman also had a rather large skull pauldron on her left shoulder, with long, demonic horns. In her hands were two katanas, with left over stains of blood from the massacre committed quite recently; for it could've been none other than her.
Amy backed away, frightened, as she had realized the perpetrator of this mass murder was the woman above. This time she made a conscious effort to stand near Cyril, who had yet to move. Regardless of his stillness, Cyril spoke.
"So you're the one who did this?"
"Mmm… why? Are you going to punish me? How naughty…"
Cyril shifted ever so slightly. It didn't look like a significant movement, but Amy, in her close proximity, could see the tension and rage building up within the Sentinel.
"I'm going to punish you alright… I'll make you suffer and scream before I kill you, sending you to the hellish afterlife you deserve."
The vehemence in Cyril's voice not only elicited a smirk from the target of the words, but also caused Amy to back away from her companion. She had yet to hear Cyril talk or act in such a way; she could understand being angry about such a massive sin as the pile of bodies behind her, but she had never heard Cyril speak in such an obviously hostile and even murderous tone. She could almost feel the violence flowing out from Cyril's frame, and it frightened her almost as much as the woman above did.
Speaking of that woman, she licked her lips in anticipation of facing off against Cyril's fury. "Oh, I love it when they talk dirty. So much more fun than the squealing souls too weak to defend th-!"
Her sentence was cut short by the unexpected appearance of Cyril mere inches from her face. He had moved at such blinding speed, that she had not even seen the movement from the ground to the rooftop she occupied.
Completely caught off guard, a metal-clad fist flying at an equal speed crashed into her diaphragm, knocking all wind out of the woman as well as sending her soaring backwards for several meters. Her flight ended when she crashed into the wooden wall of one of the village shacks, which she completely destroyed with her body's impact.
Amy's crimson eyes widened to the size of saucers as she watched the whole engagement occur in a matter of seconds, if that. Cyril had told her many times about the awesome extent of his abilities, but his young companion had disregarded most of it as exaggeration. But now that she had witnessed Cyril's blinding speed, not to mention the incredible strength he wielded, Amy was sure that Cyril's powers were no mere exaggeration on his part. Surely the woman he had attacked had been killed in a single blow.
Apparently Cyril seemed to think so as well: his voice even rung with a tone of dismay.
"Damn… didn't mean to let her die that easily…"
However, neither of the two companions had assumed correctly. Amy watched in disbelief as the target of Cyril's wrath climbed out of the rubble her impact had created. She seemed neither seriously harmed nor even irritated; but actually appeared to be amused.
"Oh, you're so… rough. I like that."
Even Cyril was a bit flabbergasted, as he had more than expected his blow to be the first and final of the battle. No normal human should have been able to survive that. But unbeknownst to him, his opponent was actually two entities in one body; the woman he faced was partnered with a demon of immense strength, which was bolstering the physical capabilities of its host.
Although Amy was still shocked that the woman had survived, Cyril had already come to the conclusion that his opponent was something other than human. He jumped down onto street level, and withdrew Naegling without urgency. He seemed neither concerned nor shaken, but quite calm, although his demeanor was caused by a sharpened spear of anger directed at his adversary.
"I'm going to make you suffer…"
The woman who opposed the Sentinel rose to her feet and held her twin katanas before her. "Sounds fun, but don't think I'll let you have your way with me that easily..."
Suddenly, the stunned silence of Castle Wolfkrone was broken. The result of the king's level, sane, and somewhat unusual words brought on a jubilant cheer from the crowd that had witnessed his return firsthand.
The roar of joy and happiness only confused the king. He had no idea why the men and women of the castle would make such an uproar for a comment regarding the time of day. Neither did he understand when Hilde slammed into him and wrapped her arms around his old frame.
"Oh my… Hildegard, you haven't hugged me like this in ages! What did I do?"
"F-father… just… just hold me…"
Clearly confused, King Krone did as his daughter requested, while turning his gaze to a clearly aghast Luana.
"Ah yes, Lieutenant. How fares the national consensus? I trust another report was made last night?"
Luana took a few moments to find her words. She had not addressed her king since the day he was affected by the Evil Seed.
"S-sire… the consensus for that year… reached completion… many years ago…"
The king cast a befuddled gaze at the Lieutenant. "Nonsense! Just yesterday, you were fretting over the late reports by our agents! And might I say that you look quite a bit… older? As do you, darling."
Hilde had run into her father's arms so quickly that the man had hardly gotten a look at her. He was just now noticing that she was nearly as tall as he. Clearly, he had no clue how much time had passed since the final day in his memory, and explaining it would be difficult to the extreme.
"F-father… so much time has passed…"
Before Hilde could go further into explanation, a rumble vibrated throughout the castle's stone framework. Believing it to be no more than a burst of thunder, she paid it no mind.
"You see, you have been-!"
A second, far more prominent rumble interrupted Hilde once again. This time, she took notice of its unusual pattern…
Her concern was well placed. Moments later, a thunderous crash echoed throughout the hall as the ceiling exploded downwards in a deadly hail of stone and chandelier, followed by the hulking frame of a hellish creature.
Said monster landed directly on top of the long banquet table the hall sported, shattering it and blasting soldiers away from the spot with a powerful impact. The dust kicked up by the unexpected intrusion blinded and gagged the people in the vicinity, and none of them could tell what had happened.
One unusually bold soldier, slightly shaken by the event, stumbled towards the place of impact, in an effort to discern the identity of the intruder. The choking dust was so thick that he couldn't see the thing that had caused the ceiling to collapse. Unfortunately, that thing was more than willing to come out and meet him.
In a flash, a humongous axe came swinging out of the cloud of dust, and the poor sod who had sought to investigate was hewn in two, with two halves of his body flying off to the side in a splurge of blood and gore.
The men and women near him stumbled backwards in surprise and fear, and out of the dust came the giant form of a golem, whose body seemed to be covered in rocky spikes and molten crags. He wielded a huge axe nearly as tall as his body, which was almost eight feet in height.
"Hah! Finally, some maggots to crush!"
Several of the Wolfkrone soldiers, if they were lucky enough to have their weapons on them, drew their blades from their scabbards, but none of them advanced on the monster, which in turn did not advance on them.
As the dust settled, two more smaller and lithe forms followed Astaroth down the hole. They landed beside his massive body, and the soldiers of Wolfkrone were met with yet more foes; a gray-skinned, goggle wearing, strap clad human with katars, and a rather skimpy, scarlet clad raven haired girl with a most unusual circular weapon.
The female in the trio blew a few kisses out to the soldiers, as if they were an applauding audience. "Aw, such a warm welcome! You've already got your pointy swords out and everything! It makes me feel all warm and snuggly inside!"
Hilde pushed her father behind her, and Luana came to stand by her side, broadsword at the ready.
"More servants of Soul Edge… monsters! You won't leave this place alive!"
The girl who was apparently taking the lead smiled innocently. "C'mon Red, we aren't here to do anything really bad. We only wanna kill one guy!"
At the end of her sentence, the violet eyed witch laid her ravenous gaze on Hilde's father, who had no earthly idea what was going on.
"How dare you invade my kingdom, foul beasts! What manner of twisted lord do you serve, who dares step into my realm with threats and violence?!"
Hilde pushed the king farther back. "Father, I will explain all of this later, but for now, I need you to run…"
"Absolutely no-!"
Hilde turned to the men that had escorted the king down here. "You two! Take the king, find some more men, and guard him with your lives! Now!"
Although the soldiers were slightly confused at whose commands they should follow, they had been obeying Hilde for years, and now was no exception. With words of apology, they grabbed the king by his arms and lead him away as fast as they could, ignoring his protests.
With her father out of the picture, Hilde turned back to the invaders. She didn't have her own weapons with her, and she was unarmored, but she would not stand idly by while these demons threatened her people. She motioned for a soldier to toss her his lance, and the man drew his blade instead after doing so.
"Enemies of Wolfkrone and humanity: death is too good for you!"
The harlequin-esque girl made a subtle hand movement. "Voldy, fetch!"
The creepy man with the claw-like weapons hissed in response and slithered backwards. Astaroth turned as well to clear the man a path through the human soldiers in his way.
Seeing that she needed to give some sort of general orders, Hilde nodded to her men.
"You all focus on the giant! Band together and take it down! The Lieutenant and I will handle this one!"
The girl before Hilde began to giggle maniacally. "Oh, that sounds like fun! C'mon Red, dance with me!"
The princess and her lieutenant charged the harlequin-esque girl simultaneously, hoping to overpower her quickly and aid their fellow soldiers against Astaroth. Hilde thrust her borrowed lance at the girl's exposed and unarmored chest, while Luana slashed at her head. Both blows were easily deflected as the ring blade wielder spun her weapon in a defensive arc in front of her, staggering the attackers.
Following up on this opening, the enemy made a broad swipe with the intention of decapitating the blonde-haired lieutenant. Luana raised her broadsword in defense, only to realize too late that the attack was merely a feint. Her cunning adversary changed the direction of her attack to a low swipe, striking one of the leather straps that secured Luana's greaves and disconnecting the protection from its wearer. Luana did her best to back step and put some distance between her and her agile opponent.
Taking advantage of her enemy's focus on Luana, Hilde slammed the pommel of her lance into her opponent's heel. The girl held back a yelp and refrained from flinching in order to turn around and swat the princess aside with a broad slash. Hilde blocked the angry attack with the shaft of her lance, but she still stumbled a few feet backwards.
Hilde took only a moment to recover, but it was long enough for her deadly foe to do a pair of waist level horizontal strikes and knock her back even further. Unable to block the second swipe in the pair, Hilde was left with a shallow yet bloody gash across her stomach. Had the princess been wearing her armor, such a minor wound would have been easily prevented. Seeing her opponent follow up her assault with a leap toward her with the flat of her weapon angled downward, Hilde quickly thrust her lance upward to catch the ring blade in the hollow circle in the center, before tossing it and its wielder aside.
Because the lance was heavier than the spear she was more accustomed to, it took longer for her to right herself in preparation for another exchange of blows. Fortunately, Luana had recovered from her earlier clash and was now bringing her broadsword down on the ring blade wielder's shoulder, who only noticed the incoming attack at the last moment. The girl made exemplary use of her reflexes to sidestep the attack, but she was too slow to escape unscathed. The edge of Luana's steel blade skimmed along her target's shoulder, literally peeling skin off of the girl's arm.
Ignoring the crimson spreading down her arm and soaking into her similarly colored outfit, the ring blade wielder kicked Luana away from her, and then sprinted at the staggered woman. She jumped onto her weapon, riding it like a circular surfboard of death as she took the lieutenant beneath her, brutally dragging Luana across the stone floor before leaping off. Fortunately the edge of the blade had gotten caught on the collar of Luana's cuirass, instead of her neck.
The lieutenant rose to her feet as quickly as she could, stumbling a bit as the painful impact of the stone grinding against her back took its toll. But her determination to stay in the fight overpowered her pain.
Uncharacteristic anger overtaking reason, Luana yelled as she swung about in a wild flurry at her foe, who couldn't help but smirk as she dodged and deflected the sloppy blows with ease. Seeing an opening in the clumsy assault, the girl cut into the attack with a head-butt, using her ring blade as a medium between the two skulls. Somehow, the girl who had administered the attack only seemed slightly hurt by it.
The lieutenant tumbled to the floor, unable to maintain her footing. Luana desperately held up her sword in defense as her opponent's weapon came down on her, spinning rapidly like a massive hand-held buzz saw. Bit by bit, the superior steel of the spinning blade ground through the lieutenant's broadsword.
Realizing the sword was not the only thing her friend was about to lose, Hilde charged towards the girl distracted by bloodlust, lance first. But even distracted by her glee as Luana's sword fell in two, the girl was far too experienced to forget about her second opponent. She saw Hilde's charge a moment before it reached her, and once again nimbly slid to the side of it. The lance still grazed the girl's side however, and she let out a small grunt of pain.
Momentarily pausing out of shock more so than pain, the lithe girl looked down at her injured side. The cut wasn't too deep, but it was still considerably painful. Even more so than that, just the thought of the injury marring her skin seemed to be blasphemy. Why this injury bothered her while the one on her shoulder did not, Hilde could only guess at.
As if flicking a mental switch, the girl's amethyst irises seemed to darken, radiating malevolence and rage. She kicked the lieutenant hard in the ribs, sending the woman away from her, and glared at the princess who had inflicted the injury.
"You royal whore! I'll slaughter you!"
Now fueled by her rage, the girl moved considerably faster and more aggressively than she had earlier. Before Hilde knew what was happening, her opponent had made three long, yet shallow slashes across her arms and chest, just before she launched the princess into the air with an upward strike, followed up by a spiral kick that met the princess in mid-air.
Hilde could hear some of her ribs cracking as each and every last of the kicks struck home, and saw a large spray of blood burst from her chest as the ring blade wielder sent her back to the ground with a downward slash. Hilde slammed into the stone floor below, further increasing her pain. It seemed miraculous that none of the gashes on her body were fatal, but as the redheaded royalty witnessed the sadistic grin playing about her enemy's lips, she got the feeling she was only still alive because the girl enjoyed making her suffer.
The princess weakly looked up at her attacker as she approached with her weapon spinning in deadly, lazy arcs. Her lance had landed not far from where she was, and Hilde pushed through her pain in an attempt to defend herself. She quickly seized hold of the lance's shaft and swung at the girl, only for her to acrobatically leap over it. With a look of hateful indifference, the ring blade wielder kicked the large weapon out of the princess' hands, followed by a booted kick to the chin.
Seeming to grow slightly bored with her quarry, the girl raised her unusual weapon to deliver a final killing blow. Seeing her princess in danger, Luana took hold of the remaining lethal half of her sword and charged at the one who dared threaten the life of her princess.
"Stay away from her highness, you wench!" the lieutenant cried.
The girl rolled her eyes in annoyance, hating to be interrupted in the middle of a kill.
"Would you just shut up and die already you stupid bitch?"
In the span of a few seconds, the scarlet combatant deftly deflected Luana's exhausted swing, spun around and brought her weapon down on the woman's outstretched arm. Luana could only watch in shock as her left arm was severed at the elbow from her body, falling to the floor at her feet. Her opponent then kicked her to the floor, leaving the lieutenant to cry out as the pain of losing a limb screamed throughout her body. Satisfied that she wouldn't be having any more trouble from Luana, the sadistic young girl then directed her attention back to Hilde, who could only glance over at her fallen comrade in defeat.
"Geez, what a pain… ruining all of my fun! Where was I? Hmm…"
The girl eyed Hilde with a different, yet none the less disturbing gaze than she had directed at her before nearly killing the princess. Instead of killing intent, the girl's purple eyes seemed to glint with amusement, as they roamed over Hilde's defenseless body.
Hilde was too battered to move, and Luana was incapacitated. Some help may have come from her soldiers, but the diabolical laughter of the golem and the screams of her brave warriors signaled their inability to assist her.
The girl finished her analysis of her prey, and she spoke once more, but in a lighter, almost cheerful tone than she had moments ago.
"Mmhmm… I know! Let's play another game! But this time you can't fight the rules. Sounds fun, right Red?"
Hilde glanced back at her antagonizing foe, noticing the sadistic glee in her eyes countered by her near childish tone. Unwilling to speak, Hilde refused to answer the girl. This seemed to irritate said person to some small extent.
"Oh well, it's not like you could say no anyways…"
With that statement, the game began. The girl slammed her booted heel into Hilde's severely injured torso, grinding it from side-to-side in an attempt to elicit some sort of cry from the woman below her. Hilde just barely bit back a scream as her already fractured ribs were stomped upon. Had the blow not knocked the air out of her lungs, she probably would not have managed even that.
Irritably noting the lack of reaction from her toy, the girl lifted her foot, allowing Hilde to get some amount of oxygen into her throbbing lungs. The reprieve was brief however, as she brought her foot back down again, a little harder than before.
Knowing what the girl wanted to hear, Hilde bit into her lip as she poured all of her effort into suppressing her agony. Her teeth dug into the soft skin so strongly that she began to bleed profusely within moments.
"C'mon Red, let it out already! You know you wanna!"
To further make her point, the harlequin-esque monster dug her heel even harder into Hilde's chest. But despite all of the pain coursing throughout Hilde's body, she held back her screams. She wouldn't lose her dignity to this witch.
Hilde's resistance finally began to anger the girl that tortured her. She tried her absolute hardest to bury her heel in Hilde's torso.
"Dammit, what's wrong with you!? Scream already! Scream like the little bitch you are!"
The pain in Hilde's chest was so intense that she was almost rendered unconscious. She barely held onto her awareness, as the girl above her finally grew sick of her twisted game. With one strong, spiteful kick, the malfested killer sent Hilde rolling across the stone floor, leaving both her and Luana in similar fetal positions.
"When did everyone become such a damned buzz kill?"
Fortunately, there was about to be a new bit of fun for the demented female, as the doors the king had retreated through were thrust open, with the same man who had left them fell to the floor., followed by Voldo's hissing, limber form.
The girl that had bested Hilde and her lieutenant threw her gaze from Hilde to her father, and then back again.
"Oh… I guess things just got interesting…right, Red?"
Sorry that this chapter didn't include Link, because I know you guys were looking forward to more of him. But this chapter has already breached the six thousand mark, and I need to update some of my other stories as well. I also felt as though we haven't had an extensive fight scene for quite a while, so that was a big part of this…
Speaking of the fight scene between Tira and Hilde, I am not to receive credit for that. That wonderfully extensive piece was written by another SC writer named DarkNovelist. He/she is the author of a pretty new fic called Rise of the Midnight Raiders, and I must say that it is quite impressive. (That's saying something, considering how picky I am when it comes to quality of writing). I implore you to help me repay the favor he has done for me by at the very least, checking out his story, and seeing if you like it. I would be very grateful.
As a final note, there is now a poll on my profile which asks an important question for the future; what story should I write next, when I finish one of my major ones? If you go to my profile page, you will find all of my future projects in detail; including the series they're from, characters involved, and a brief summary. So if you're interested in having a say-so about the next story I write, feel free to make your opinion known.
(And just in case anyone was wondering, the opponent Cyril and Amy encountered was Shura from SC4. I find describing her difficult).