Time for a loooong Author's Note. This update took longer than usual (big surprise there) but this time it was because I was actually working with BC. I went back and read through this entire story, looking to rectify typos, discrepancies, and (shivers) cringe-worthy dialogue. Suffice to say that I'm glad I took the time to do so, especially with some of the earlier chapters. Needless to say 7 has been monumentally improved.

For instance, Cyril suffered from a huge dialogue shift originally, where he spoke in a way that was far too removed from what should have been normal. Glad I fixed that, and Tira definitely has some improved lines throughout the fic now too.

Also, looking back, I realized that Amy developed feelings for Cyril at a really fast, somewhat unrealistic rate. But then I figured, "Hold on a minute, maybe she has Limerence?" Limerence is when obsessive attachment to an individual evolves from infatuation (which, unlike true love, can occur very quickly). It seems fairly reasonable that a girl like Amy, with psychological attachment issues and deep-seated fear of abandonment would develop unhealthy attachment and attraction to someone who shows genuine concern for her, right?

Anyway, I finally have all five main Soul Calibur games, but even so canon is still unclear. If anybody is absolutely certain that what I'm about to say is wrong, please correct me. Now this is really damn long, but I want to be as certain of unclear Soul Calibur canon as I can, so please bear with me.

'Soul Edge,' 1584. Cervantes has Soul Edge, Taki and Sophitia team up and kill him. Soul Edge is shattered and Sophitia gets a shard stuck in her, yada yada. Siegfried finds Soul Edge, it takes him over turns him into Nightmare, Evil Seed and shit goes down. 'Soul Calibur,' 1587. Nightmare has been doing his thing for awhile; Xianghua, Kilik, and Maxi team up to take him down with the Sacred Treasures. Xianghua's Krita-Yuga ends up being Soul Calibur and she destroyed Soul Edge. Somehow, (I have no idea how) Soul Calibur gets trapped within Soul Edge again, and the two swords are expelled across the world in fragments.

'Soul Calibur 2 & 3' 1591. Soul Edge survived the 1587 engagement even though it was broken into pieces. Siegfried has been turning into Nightmare every night for like, four years, and has been slowly putting Soul Edge back together and gathering souls to power it up. Nightmare is about to restore Soul Edge to full power when Raphael attacks him. Nightmare wins, but Siegfried tries to regain his free will and Raphael gets an opening to attack. He critically damages Soul Edge (Must suck after being so close), allowing Siegfried to finally break free of its influence and impale Soul Edge with Soul Calibur, which had been trapped inside Soul Edge since the events of 'Soul Calibur.' This creates the Soul Embrace, where both swords intertwine with each other and lose their power. Zasalamel wants to use both swords to end his immortality, so he helps resurrect Siegfried's abandoned azure armor into a new Nightmare. He then pulls everyone's strings to help restore the two swords to full power. In the end that doesn't work, but both swords are resurrected to full power which allows Siegfried and Nightmare to fight. Their clash results in some sort of energy wave (responsible for Tira's mental split in 4), and in the end Siegfried loses and dies. No clue why, but Nightmare doesn't destroy Soul Calibur or can't for some reason. Maybe he was incapacitated at the end of the battle too.

'Soul Calibur 4,' 1591. Siegfried was resurrected by Soul Calibur, Nightmare still has Soul Edge, and Tira has kidnapped Sophitia's daughter. For some inexplicable reason, a massive freakin' tower shows up with Soul Calibur's creator, Algol, at the top. (Personally I believe that nothing involved with Algol is canonical. Like all of SC 4 was just a non-canon interruption in story-line). Anyway, based on what we know from Soul Calibur 5, Wolfkrone launches a massive offensive against Ostreihnsburg. Nightmare opens up Astral Chaos, tons of guys get their souls taken, but Siegfried shows up and defeats Nightmare in battle. Soul Edge is broken into shards (again), Soul Calibur 'deactivates,' and 1591 finally ends, thankfully taking its confusing plot line with it.

'Soul Calibur 5,' 1607. Apparently it took waaay longer to gather Soul Edge back up this time, but either way the sword manages to return, this time in the hands of Graf Dumas (AKA Wannabe Nightmare). Cassandra apparently disappears into Astral Chaos, tons of mainstay characters are nowhere to be found, Sophitia is apparently dead, the only good thing is that Tira became super hot. Anyway, Patroklos and Pyyrha are all grown up now, the latter has been under Tira's thumb for some indeterminable amount of time (Since being kidnapped almost 17 years ago?) and Patroklos wants to find her. Tira doesn't like shitty Nightmare (Who does?) so she wants to make Pyyrha new Nightmare. She works on that, Patroklos gets Soul Calibur from Sieg, Zwei kills Nightmare, Pyyrha kills Zwei and gets Soul Edge, Patroklos kills her. Then we have a bullshit time-warp where he doesn't kill her but the swords are destroyed and everyone lives happily ever after. The end.

So. Anybody have any idea how accurate all of that is?

It struck Cyril as funny that, back when he had been mortal, the world had seemed a much more normal place. He did not remember demons and lizardmen being anything more than myth back then. Then again, perhaps that was because his now decimated hometown had been a very isolated settlement. They had barely known anything about the outside world.

Yet now that he was a Sentinel, he was faced with the supernatural increasingly often. Of course, being a supernatural being himself, perhaps the things he encountered now were actually normal.

Either way, the idea of an enemy remained the same. The muscular reptilian beast across from he and his comrades wanted them dead, and that was never acceptable. Of course, it was not a huge threat against two Sentinels, but Amy, refined swordsman or not, possessed a fragile mortal frame.

If that fact had dawned on her yet, Cyril was not sure. As he glanced at the young redhead from the corner of his eye, Cyril noted that Amy looked entirely determined and not afraid in the slightest. Cyril expected the girl to show more fear, but then again, perhaps she had no reason to be afraid. After all, she had two near immortals with immense powers on her side.

As for Cyril, it had been so long since he felt fear that he did not remember what it meant to be afraid. Since becoming a Sentinel, he had never had to worry for his life. Even his battle against Zanshin had not been life-threatening. Cyril no longer had to worry about his own safety in the mortal realm, as he had yet to encounter something powerful enough to kill him.

Even so, he was capable of feeling concern for his less invincible companion. Whether or not that counted as a form of fear, he did not know. He only knew that Amy's assistance was not required here, and that meant she might as well stay out of danger altogether.

Without uttering a word to the girl, Cyril laid his free hand on her shoulder, causing her to look at him questioningly. "What is it?"

Still saying nothing because he knew she would never agree, Cyril simply pushed with enough superhuman might to send Amy careening into the water surrounding the stone platform turned battleground. He would deal with the backlash later.

To his surprise, Xandra actually found this amusing enough to laugh a little. "My my, that's the most brusque thing I've seen you do, Cyril. To throw your petite companion like baggage..."

"She'll be safer this way."

"Unless the beast can swim. Or if there are other lizards in the water."

Unable to refute those points but too late to do anything about it, Cyril turned his gaze towards the enemy again, which was eyeing he and Xandra warily. Apparently it was not completely stupid, as it clearly realized that its foes were not to be taken lightly. Even so, it was angry to be denied victory, and to Cyril's surprise, it rose into the air on angelic wings that had sprouted from somewhere on its back.

"Didn't see that one coming."

As if to mock his remark, the reptile proceeded to spew a gout of orange flame from its mouth, though both Cyril and Xandra were fast enough to avoid it.

"I suspect you did not see that one coming either, Cyril."

"Well how many lizards do you know with angel wings and fiery breath?"

"Fair enough."

Beginning their retaliation without delay, Xandra mustered a condensed scythe of wind to launch at the enemy. Unwilling to get in the way of that, Cyril stayed back to charge his own lightning based attack, though he would have to be careful to avoid striking the water lest he electrocute Amy, who was still sputtering in the cold water of the cavern.

Eager to slice the enemy in two, Xandra launched her lethal blade of wind at the now airborne lizard, but like before, it somehow manged to dodge the nearly invisible attack, which frustrated Xandra greatly. "How does it manage such evasion against invisible blows?"

Arcing a short range cone of electricity towards the beast, Cyril noted that it had more trouble dodging his attack, as several branches of the lightning seared their mark on the lizard's scales. Then again, perhaps that was just because lightning moved at incredible speeds.

"All we know for certain is that it can detect your attacks somehow. Perhaps it would be better to engage in melee."

"As you wish."

Deciding against more wind projectiles, Xandra simply created a howling blade of air with her right arm. She did not have a physical blade like Cyril, but the Sentinel of Lightning knew her manifested sword was just as lethal as Naegling.

Rushing the beast simultaneously, both Cyril and Xandra leaped into the air to attack. The monster was clearly surprised by their ability to reach its height: few people could leap over a dozen feet into the air. Even so it was able to flap back hard enough to avoid being decapitated or otherwise dismembered, giving it enough time to spew flame at the Sentinels once more.

Not at all worried by the attack, the two supernatural warriors leaped into the air again as soon as their feet touched the ground, though this time on opposite sides of their foe. Further displaying some level of intelligence, the creature simply folded its wings to allow it to fall towards the ground again. This unfortunately left Cyril and Xandra to catch each other's blades in their swings, which resulted in a painfully loud blast of sound and more than a little bit of pain in Cyril's Gungnir damaged arm.

As the two of them fell towards the ground again, Xandra gave him a derisive look. "Could you refrain from being a complete amateur in the future?"

Attempting to shake the fire out of his injured arm, Cyril kept his gaze on the enemy. "Considering that you were attempting the exact same maneuver as I was, I do not see the validity of your assessment."

"You're far too wordy for your own good Cyril."

"Eloquence begets respect and admiration. Now, let's stop fooling around and defeat this monster already. We have far more important matters to attend to."

Xandra likewise turned her own gaze towards the wary lizard man. "Agreed. With your assessment of our priorities that is; not the eloquence bit. Let's fight consecutively instead of together. It's clear that we aren't compatible as a combat duo."

This was essentially Xandra telling Cyril to follow her lead, but seeing as how he was faster, Cyril was having none of that. Bolting at far higher speeds than he had used so far, Cyril was in front of his opponent too quickly for it to react properly, and the lizard soon found Naegling embedded in its gut. Unfortunately for Cyril, this usually lethal blow was not so against the anatomy of this creature, and it immediately unleashed an inferno towards his face from point blank range.

While such an attack was not deadly to him in itself, it nevertheless stung enough for Cyril to recoil a bit, which allowed his assailant to take to the air again as it continued to spew flames.

However, the heat of these flames interfered with the lizardman's ability to sense Xandra's long-range attacks, and it soon found its pillar of flame split in two by yet another air scythe from Xandra. Unable to react in time, the beast could only scream in agony as the projectile cleaved off its tail: it had been difficult for Xandra to aim through the flames being aimed at her fellow Sentinel.

Even so, the terrible pain her enemy was now experiencing had the animal practically falling out of the sky, which allowed Xandra to aim a solid wall of air at the beast, knocking it back into the water around the platform.

No longer harassed by fire, Cyril watched as the enemy plummeted into the water. He quickly scanned the area for Amy, fortunately finding that she had long since climbed ashore on the opposite side of the cavern. Ignoring her venomous glare in his direction, Cyril turned his attention back to the surfacing reptile he and Xandra had injured.

Seeing a perfect opportunity to end the fight, Cyril calmly dipped his hands into the water before him, proceeding to unleash an electrical charge throughout the body of water. The entire cavern was filled with the sound of crackling electricity, as well as the cries of pain from the only organism subject to its power. Even as the monster began literally smoking from the attack, Cyril persisted for several moments, until the afflicted beast simply flopped into the electrified water and ceased to move at all.

Certain that it was dead himself, Cyril withdrew his hands from the water, once again looking back towards Amy to make absolutely sure she had not somehow been affected. There was a small trail of water leading from her wet clothes to the main body, but the charge had either not been potent enough to reach her or it had been negated by the soles of her boots. Cyril had no way of knowing, but also didn't care, so long as Amy was alright.

As for Xandra, she was not content to simply let the electrocuted beast float in the water. It had survived two attacks they had assumed lethal already, so she was going to ensure its death this time. Gathering her power into a compressed sphere, Xandra launched the thing directly at the immobile lizard, resulting in a blast of water and gore that was similar to a cannonball impact.

"It will not be getting up again."

Watching with dismay as the bloody pieces of the deceased creature rained down on the immediate area, Cyril turned to face the Sentinel of Wind with critical tone in his voice. "We could have discerned something useful from its body. We could have assured ourselves of its death through less destructive means."

Not bothered in the slightest, Xandra merely shrugged. "Whatever we could have discerned from its body can just as easily be discerned from what's left of it. Besides, the dark aura we sensed before coming in here was not emanating from that beast itself. That monster was merely something affected by it, so the origin remains to be seen."

"How can you tell?"

"I believe we established earlier that my sensory abilities were superior to yours. Take my word for it."

While he did not doubt Xandra's ability in itself, Cyril still found it hard to just accept her words at face value. Anyone could make mistakes: even a Sentinel. "Very well. So this reptilian monster was not the source, but merely a creature corrupted by the source. Is it within this cave somewhere?"

Xandra glanced around the cavern. "I am not sure. But unless the origin of this dark energy has depleted since corrupting the beast, I do not think so. That monster was the strongest source of our mysterious corruption within this cave. Even so, I am going to take a moment to survey the area again. In the meantime, I suggest you deal with your companion before she freezes."

Turning his gaze back to Amy, Cyril noted with concern that she was shivering as she glared at him angrily. "Indeed. I think I'll do that."

Leaping across the gap of water between he and his female companion, Cyril left Xandra to her own devices for the moment, instead focusing on the petite redhead who looked more than a little displeased with him.

One hundred percent certain that Amy would not follow Talim's example in this situation, Cyril momentarily dematerialized his armor so that he'd have access to the clothing he wore under it. It was quite literally the only option they had, since there was nothing in the cave to make a fire with, and Amy was highly unlikely to strip down.

With that in mind he was quick to remove his shirt. Normally such a sight would have flustered the girl beside him, but the sight of his still scarred and healing arm disrupted the appeal. Besides, she was too angry at the moment to feel such a thing, so she merely snatched the much too large article of clothing from Cyril and wrapped it around her body.

Cyril quickly summoned his armor once again, at which point he felt the need to say something to lessen the tension. "Did I push you too hard? I apologize for-"

"Don't talk to me."

Thrown off by the brusque response, Cyril cocked an eyebrow at her. "You're being unnecessarily aggressive."

"Well you were being unnecessarily protective! You didn't even give me a chance to fight!"

"I was trying to protect you."

For reasons he couldn't understand, this only made Amy angrier. "I don't need you to protect me, I need you to let me help you!"

Later on, Cyril would look on this moment in hindsight and berate himself for saying something so stupid. But right now, he was too confused to think his response through. "We didn't need your help Amy."

To his dismay, the expression on Amy's face quickly changed from anger to hurt. "No... of course you didn't. You never do. If that's the case, why am I even here?"

"Hold on, I didn't mean it like that."

Ignoring whatever else he had to say, Amy pushed past Cyril to head for the stairs that had led her down there.

"Amy, where are you going?"

"Outside."

Cyril was about to stop her when Xandra's voice called out to him from across the water. "Cyril! Return to me, there is something we must discuss."

He wanted to tell his fellow Sentinel that she would have to wait until he reconciled with Amy, but Cyril saw that his redheaded partner had no intent of stopping as she headed for the cave's exit. With a sigh, he decided that he would have to talk with her afterwards. Instead he turned to face Xandra.

"Unless we will need to be on that platform after our discussion, I believe it would be better for you to come over here."

Unable to refute that, Xandra followed his advice and leaped over to his area, at which point Cyril questioned her. "What have you discovered?"

"Only that the source of the corruption is not in this cave. There is still no guarantee that this mysterious origin is the Catalyst, and it is impossible to determine what direction it may be in, as it has permeated this region too fully."

"So nothing of value other than the fact that we may leave this cave."

Cyril was surprised to see Xandra hesitate in her answer. Hesitation was not something he associated with her. "There is one other thing. Truly I question whether or not I should tell you, but I feel that taking action on my own may lead to conflict between us."

"I hardly think anything could pit us against each other."

"We shall see. Your little sidekick has left the cave, yes?"

Cyril folded his arms. "Yes, Amy has departed already. Why?"

"She is corrupted. Whatever entity affected that reptile affected her also, albeit with less strength."

Temporarily at a loss, Cyril took a few moments to formulate a response. "That can't be right. What makes you even think so? You certainly didn't say anything earlier."

"I did not feel it earlier. Her corruption was masked by the stronger presence of that beast. Now that it has been slain, I can sense clearly this dark energy that infects her. That being said, she could be a threat, or even a clue to the Catalyst."

Narrowing his gaze at her, Cyril was greatly concerned over where Xandra was going with this. "And what is your point?"

Perceiving Cyril's newfound hostility towards her, Xandra physically tensed; she had no idea if Cyril's restraint would fail him at some point in this conversation. "My point is that we should interrogate and then terminate her. It's the only logical course of action."

Xandra then tried to move past Cyril to pursue his companion, but she was blocked by the Sentinel of Lightning's arm. "That's not going to happen."

"And who is going to stop me? You? We both know that my powers are beyond yours."

"Yet I am faster than you. You have a better chance, but there is no guarantee that you would defeat me. Besides, imagine the damage our battle would cause to your beloved nature."

Xandra scowled as she took his last comment into account. He was right: the level of power she would have to unleash to defeat another Sentinel would decimate everything in this area. That alone was enough to make her question her course of action. "You would do battle with another Sentinel for the sake of that girl?"

"I'd fight all three of you if it was necessary."

While she found his answer foolish, even Xandra somewhat admired Cyril's resolve. His level of compassion for others was similar to her own love of the world. She could understand him on that level at least. "Very well. But I am trusting you to do what you must if she somehow proves dangerous or useful to our cause."

Knowing that Xandra was not one to make concessions, Cyril breathed a small sigh of relief. "I will do what I must, but not until it is clear that something must be done. Either way, I appreciate your trust."

"Don't get too sentimental, I simply did not want to expend the energy to fight you."

"If you say so."

With nothing left to say on the subject, the two Sentinels headed for the exit of the cave. There was much more they could have explored in there, but they had no interest in doing so since Xandra had already determined the absence of the Catalyst here. That being the case, they made their way outside fairly quickly, though Cyril was dismayed to find that Amy was nowhere to be seen.

"It seems that your sidekick has disappeared..."

"That is because I said something hurtful to her, not because she is plotting against us. She'll be back. If not, I will find her."

Xandra did not look to be in total agreement, but she nevertheless left it alone. "So be it. Now, I find that I should return to my own companion, so that I may continue the search for the Catalyst elsewhere."

"Very well. That is the best course of action. There's no reason for two of our number to search the same area."

With a mere nod of agreement, Xandra walked towards the very spot she had arrived in. The wind was already beginning to whip around her. While they were hardly friends, Cyril felt the need to say something to her. "Be careful on your search Xandra."

While she had half a mind to say nothing at all, Xandra decided to grant her fellow Sentinel with reciprocation. "Likewise, Chrysaor."

That was the last thing exchanged between them before Xandra was dematerialized and blown away on the wind. With her gone, Cyril glanced around the rocky clearing to find that even Amy's bag was gone. That was concerning, but as he sat on the ground to meditate, Cyril decided that the only thing he could do right now was wait.

On the fringes of one of Germany's many forests, Tira intently eyed a beaten dirt road beyond its edge, still intent on returning to her hometown: and still naked with the exception of panties and boots.

She was tapping her fingers against the bark of a tree, hammering out the tune to Rendalf the Rogue as she observed a lone merchant taking his horse-lead wagon down the road. At this exact moment, Tira was contemplating whether or not to kill said man. She had been debating taking a break from slaughter for just a brief while, but at the current moment such a notion did not seem very appealing.

"What to do, what to do... would he question a half-naked girl begging for help on the side of the road?"

"I don't think so. Who would question such good luck?"

"Yeah, but this is us we're talking about. Even naked we're kinda negligible to a man."

"Some guys will settle for anything. C'mon, let's just do it. It'd beat walking, right?"

With a nod to herself, Tira deposited her weapon against the tree she was leaning on. She'd come back for it and her clothes in a minute. With that out of the way, she stealthily moved to a position further down the road that the merchant would reach soon. Now all she had to do was appear to be in distress. Honestly she could have just ambushed the man and killed him that way, but this frontal approach would be much more fun.

As expected, the merchant's wagon came into view within a few minutes, at which point Tira made sure to 'shyly' cover her naked breasts. Granted, having bathed just recently she didn't look like she had been through any trouble, but hopefully her target would overlook that fact in lieu of her nudity. Several of the men she had killed during her time in the Birds of Passage had done just that.

Naturally the man in question caught sight of Tira very quickly. How could he not, after all? Tira briefly noted that the man was dressed in moderately expensive clothing, so he must have been a somewhat successful merchant. With that in mind, Tira flagged him down with her free hand, doing her best to keep the look of disgust on her face as she saw the perverted smile on his. The scraggly beard certainly didn't help.

The man brought his wagon to a stop next to Tira's position, the latter putting on an embarrassed expression as she inwardly contemplated how she wanted to kill her target. For appearance's sake she had left both Eiserne Drossel and her gauntlets behind, so all she had was her hands. Of course, she was no less capable of murdering someone with those than she was with a weapon.

Still trying to look vulnerable and needy, Tira allowed the man to speak to her first from his seat. "Now what's a pretty young girl like you doing way out here, and in such a state no less?"

Purposefully stuttering as she answered, Tira avoided making eye contact. Any action that made her look submissive would help her sell the act. "I-I... I was kidnapped from my home days ago by bandits... I... I g-got away last night, but only after..."

Adding a few crocodile tears to her story, Tira did her best to imply that she had been abused. Anything to earn the trust of the man she wanted to kill. Honestly she could have probably convinced him without such a sob story, but she enjoyed surprising her targets to the maximum extent. Just killing people blindly was easy. Killing people with style was an art form.

Seeing the perfect opportunity to endear this half-naked girl to himself, the merchant tried to put as much pity into his words as possible. "Oh, I see. That's awful, truly. I'm on my way to a nearby town right now, but if you come along I'm sure I could help you find your way home..."

Having honed her acting skills years ago, Tira easily managed a convincing look of pleasant surprise and gratitude. "R-really? You would do that for me? But it'd be such a hassle..."

Tira ignored the man's eyes on her body. Despite how many times she had done something like this in the past, for some reason it made her uncomfortable now.

"Oh no, it will be no trouble at all... trust me..."

The man offered a rather lanky hand towards Tira, half hoping she would use the hand covering her assets to do so. Unfortunately she did not, but even so Tira found her way next to him on the seat, doing her best to keep her excitement at bay. She had settled on what to do to this particular target.

"Oh, thank you so much... how could I possibly thank you?"

The man leaned towards his new female companion, forcing her to remain composed even as his disgusting breath assaulted her. "I'm sure I can think of something..."

Tira smiled, but thankfully the man was too busy ogling her to notice its malicious nature, or even the entirely new tone of her voice. "Well, if you insist..."

Uncovering her breasts to both place hands on either side of the man's face and to distract him further, Tira's sadistic smile widened. "Dear sir, thank you for your 'kindness,' but I think I'll be alright on my own."

Still enraptured with the view, the man's response was hardly there. "...what do you mean-"

Finding that his pleased expression was just perfect, Tira violently twisted the merchant's neck over ninety degrees to the right, resulting in a ghastly crunch that brought honest joy to Tira's heart. With a mad giggle at the sight of surprise on her victim's face, Tira gracelessly kicked the body off of the wagon, letting his lifeless body flop onto the ground.

"Now that was fun! Did you see the look on his face? Absolutely priceless."

"On that we can agree. That pig probably didn't even realize he was dead... that's what he gets for trying to take advantage of a 'poor, abused little girl.'"

"Oh c'mon, even if he had been some virtuous sod we still would have killed him, right?"

"Of course. It just wasn't this guy's day."

Still laughing to herself, Tira hopped down from the wagon, making sure the horses weren't going anywhere before returning to the wood edge to retrieve her own gear. She quickly returned all of it back to the wagon, and then proceeded to rummage through the transport's contents. Fortunately for her, one of the now deceased man's packages contained various articles of clothing, including a brown cloak that she could use to cover herself until her own clothes were finally completely dry.

"Don't mind if I do..."

Donning the garment, Tira returned to the reins. Eager to put a stop to walking for a while. But before she hopped back on the wagon, the young murderer laid eyes on the man she had just slain once again. Strangely enough, she found that the high from killing him was already gone. Any 'joy' she had derived from the act had already dissipated.

What the hell... gone already? That didn't last long...

Kinda weird huh? Usually the... uh...

Euphoria?

Yeah, usually that would last a little longer after such a clean kill. What's the deal?

Hell if I know.

You don't think... you don't think that it's getting boring, do you?

The thought of it caused Tira to scowl even as she stepped up to the wagon she was commandeering.

Don't be ridiculous. It just wasn't as good because it was too easy. We're fine. Let's just go.

Both sides agreeing with that course of action, Tira set off for her next destination, doing her best to ignore the lack of lasting joy her usual addiction had just brought her.

Siegfried, having fled out of the inn as quickly as he could as he realized what was happening to him, stared down at his right arm in concern. In the brief time he had wielded Soul Calibur since it had been freed from the Soul Embrace, never had he dealt with something like this. He didn't know what was happening.

He had hoped to avoid waking Ivy as he left the room, but as Siegfried heard her footsteps approaching him from behind, he realized that such a thing was easily impossible. He had made far too much noise, after all.

"Schtauffen, what the blazes was that all about? What's going on?"

Keeping his arm cradled against him to hide its condition, Siegfried barely turned to look at the snow-haired woman. "It's nothing. Just a nightmare."

Ivy half-wondered if Siegfried was making a joke, but quickly rejected the possibility. "You are a terrible liar Schtauffen. You literally sprinted out of the inn barely dressed. Besides, it's obvious that something is wrong with your arm. The same arm that used to be-"

"I know what it used to be!"

Not expecting such a snap from the generally calm blonde knight, Ivy was taken aback for a moment. She should have known better than to remind Siegfried of something he attributed to his time as Nightmare. When she said nothing in reply, Siegfried took the initiative once again.

"Besides, it's not that. This is... something caused by Soul Calibur. It has to be."

"And what makes you say that?"

Deciding that it would be impossible to hide it from Ivy for long anyway, Siegfried warily showed the British woman his right hand, which was encased in blue crystal.

"My God, what the hell is that all about? Has that never happened before?"

Siegfried shook his head. "Never. But perhaps... Soul Calibur is supposed to purge evil originating from the Cursed Sword, right? It makes sense that it would try to destroy me."

Folding her arms, Ivy scrutinized the man's crystallized hand. "No, it doesn't. You've been carrying Soul Calibur for months now. If it were going to do this it would have done it much sooner."

"Well... maybe I'm no longer worthy to wield it? Maybe-"

In no mood for listening to Siegfried's no doubt impending self-deprecation, Ivy cut him off. "For God's sake Schtauffen, don't even start. I'm sure there is another explanation for this."

"Such as?"

Without an actual answer to that question, Ivy could only hypothesize. "Perhaps it has something to do with the original reason you brought it to me. It has been acting strange, according to you."

With her answer by no means satisfactory, Siegfried sighed in consternation, glancing down at his hand once more. "Either way, the growth of this crystal seems to have stopped... yet I cannot move my hand, so it truly is solid. And of course it had to be my sword arm..."

With little idea of what to do about this situation, Ivy simply shrugged. "We could try breaking it if you want..."

"That sounds like a terrible idea."

"It is. On the other hand-"

Despite the fact that Ivy was not making a joke, Siegfried glared at her. Her choice of words was just too poor.

"-we can just return to the inn and pray it's better by morning."

"That hardly seems like the kind of suggestion a woman like yourself would make. Do you even believe in prayer?"

Ignoring his question, Ivy simply turned on her heels and began walking back towards the inn. After all, there was nothing she could do about this situation, and soon enough Siegfried followed suit. Truly all he could do was hope he didn't wake up completely encased in crystal.

"Never have I been so happy to be on dry land..."

Taki couldn't help but glance back at Setsuka incredulously as the two of them stepped off the ship that had ferried them to the Asian mainland. "Setsuka-san, we were hardly aboard that ship more than a few hours. You cannot be serious."

"Oh but I am, Taki-sama. If any place is going to be dangerous for my clothes, it's a ship..."

While not one to lose her cool very easily, Taki was getting very tired of hearing about how fragile Setsuka's clothing was. At the very least, she was irritated enough to drop honorifics. "Setsuka, forgive me if this comes off as a bit harsh, but could you please, please, stop mentioning that piece of cloth in every other sentence?"

For the first time since they had begun traveling together, Setsuka honestly looked offended. "I assure you that my overbearing concern for my garb is not unwarranted. This kimono... it was a gift from my master before he passed away. I'm sorry if I am too vocal about it, but it is is very precious to me. I just want to keep it as safe as possible."

With that explanation given, Taki suddenly felt guilty for getting irritable. "I see... I did not mean to imply that it isn't important, but even so- wait. You... you are aware that a piece of your kimono was cut off in your duel with Mitsurugi, right?"

There was a long pause as Setsuka's face cycled through various colors, among them stark white and crimson red. Then she began frantically searching her garments. "What?! Where?!"

A little worried about how she would react, Taki nevertheless pointed to the small section of damaged cloth at the hem of Setsuka's kimono, at which point she watched the woman's face contort in rage. "Mitsurugi... Heishiro Mitsurugi, you bastard! First my master, and now the only thing I have left of him?! I'll kill you! I swear I'll kill you!"

Before Taki could say anything at all to try and calm the woman, Setsuka stormed right past her. "Uh- Setsuka-san, where are you going?"

"To find that accursed samurai and punish him for his audacity!"

"Wait, what about the mission? We have more important things to do here!"

Setsuka paused for just a brief moment to face Taki. "I know. I promised I would help you on your quest but now I realize that I just can't. As long as Mitsurugi is on the loose, I can't focus on anything else. I'm sorry. But I swear, if I find anything related to your problem I will do my best to take care of it!"

With that, the blonde warrior turned her back on the kunoichi she had briefly accompanied and stormed off into town, leaving Taki to only stare after her in confusion. "That... was the last outcome I expected... so much for that partnership..."

With Setsuka's departure so completely unexpected, Taki was actually at a sudden loss of what to do. Granted, Setsuka had not played into her overall plans all that much, but even so Taki had made accommodations for the woman.

"Well... guess I'm used to operating alone anyway... but still, she hasn't had room to improve her skills since the last time she fought Mitsurugi, so how does she expect to win this time? Well, it's her decision. I have to focus on my own goals..."

Shrugging off Setsuka's departure with as much nonchalance as she had first accepted the woman, Taki simply began her search for information regarding her objectives. She had more important things to worry about than slightly obsessive swordswomen.

Honestly, Zasalamel wondered why he even bothered returning to this wretched clock tower. One would think he would have gotten bored of the place after throwing literally dozens of cogs at various warriors all those months ago, but even still the immortal found solace in the place.

Right now he was simply contemplating what to do about the disturbance he had never discovered the identity of. In fact, he was wondering if he really had to do anything at all. Right now all he knew was that there was an unnatural disturbance: he didn't actually know if it was dangerous or not. But Zasalamel highly doubted that it was benign. Any disturbance that was great enough for him to feel was unlikely to be harmless.

But what could he do about it? He had no way of knowing what this disturbance really was or how he could find it. Tira had been a dead end, and by now Zasalamel had himself concluded that Nightmare was not responsible. In fact, he doubted either of the Spirit Swords were, as Zasalamel had dealt with both quite extensively in the past, and never had they been powerful enough to cause a time-based disturbance.

So what was he to do? He couldn't even pinpoint the source of the disturbance. He couldn't just roam around searching for unnatural things, could he? The world was much too large for that.

Indeed, despite his countless years of knowledge and wisdom, Zasalamel didn't know what to do. The problem was too vague and undefined for him to have a current course of action. Until he learned what was amiss he couldn't solve it. Unfortunately this was a dilemma in itself.

But he had to do something. He could not just ignore the problem. Zasalamel had to settle on some means of investigation: he just had to choose what method to use. Naturally, he was best at investigating individuals, and if there was one thing he had learned while trying to destroy himself with the Spirit Swords, it was that warriors were at the heart of all the world's problems. Whether they were trying to get involved with the Spirit Swords or something else entirely, warriors were always causing trouble.

Entire wars were started by one individual sometimes. In other situations a whole populace could be corrupted or slaughtered or who knew what else. So if Zasalamel was going to try and figure out what was going on, his best bet was to figure out what all of those foolish mortals were up to. With that in mind, Zasalamel decided to hunt down the two people who were always looking to right the world's wrongs.

"Do you really think Maxi would return here after everything that has happened here? I mean, it is a place of really bad memories for him..."

Kilik shrugged as he and Xianghua stared out at the waters surrounding the Indian port where they had first met Maxi four years ago. "I would say no, but honestly? With how obsessed Maxi is with revenge, it wouldn't surprise me if he came back here sometimes just to brood. He's the kind of person who dwells on things he shouldn't."

Unfortunately Xianghua couldn't disagree with this assessment, as much as she would have liked to. Maxi was her friend, but she couldn't deny that he was obsessed with vengeance to an unhealthy extent. It was a miracle that he was still alive after coming face to face with Astaroth and even Soul Edge more than once.

But still, how were they supposed to find him like this? Trying to hunt someone down on the basis of where they might be, especially when that location was an entire city? Personally Xianghua thought it would have been more prudent to head for Ostreihnsburg, since anyone who had done a little research knew that Soul Edge was there. Surely Maxi would be heading that way too...

However, Kilik thought otherwise. He thought that, even though Maxi knew Astaroth's likely location, that the ex-pirate would not be foolish enough to try and attack Ostreihnsburg single-handed. Hopefully even his thirst for vengeance was not that powerful.

Xianghua felt a little bad about having even less faith in her friend than Kilik did, but she really couldn't help herself. She made a show of being an optimist, but that was a mere charade just as often as it was real. Kilik's density regarding her feelings for him never helped either.

"If you say so Kilik... I just hope you're right. If Maxi gets into trouble with Soul Edge again without us there to help... who knows what will happen..."

Kilik turned to face his companion with a look of confusion on his face. "That's awfully pessimistic of you Xianghua. Is something wrong?"

"Well, nothing aside from the usual. Friend missing, evil swords on the loose, the usual..."

With a nod of his own, Kilik agreed. "The usual..."

The two of them fell into brief silence as they watched the ocean waves, but the peace didn't last long, for a shadow soon came over the duo.

Xianghua actually had a brief flicker of hope. Maybe it was Maxi? Deciding to entertain that thought, Xianghua turned with a smile on her face, but unfortunately the figure before her was not carrying nun-chucks, but a scythe.

"Eh... can I... help you...?"

Zasalamel cocked an eyebrow at the girl who apparently didn't recognize him. He couldn't imagine that anyone would be able to forget his countenance.

Either way, it was the man next to this girl who leaned in to whisper to her. "Xianghua, it's uh... that guy. You know, that one who threw a cog at us?"

At this there was actually an inkling of realization in the girl's face. "Oh, that guy! Yeah, I remember that. What a stupid tra-"

Zasalamel glared at the girl before she could finish, inwardly worried that he was only memorable for his cog throwing prowess.

"You cannot be serious."

Spawn, without anything to do abroad for the moment, was staring down incredulously at the tiny form of Pyyrha. The little blonde girl had apparently escaped Solnholfen's supervision, and was now aimlessly searching Ostreihnsburg high and low for her missing 'mother.' Apparently she was so desperate that even Spawn's imposing presence was not enough to dissuade the girl from asking about Tira's whereabouts.

"Tights, have you seen Mommy?"

It was very difficult for Spawn to refrain from cursing at the girl. "Who told you you could call me that, you runt?"

"Mommy called you that. Isn't your name Tights?"

"No! No, my name is not Tights! Stop listening to that crazy clown girl!"

Surprisingly, Pyyrha did not seem at all intimidated. "That's not very nice, Mommy's not a clown."

"Could have fooled me. Look, go away and leave me alone. Go back to Sol...Soln, whatever the heck his name is."

Hoping to be done with the matter, Spawn turned his back on the little girl, but unfortunately she was following him in a heartbeat.

"Tights, why don't you like Mommy?"

"Because she's annoying."

"Why?"

"Because she acts like a child."

"Why?"

Spawn scowled behind his mask. "Because, she's crazy and one half of her has the mental power of a ten year old."

The mention of halves did not seem to confuse Pyyrha. "What about the other half?"

"The other half is a bitch."

Pyyrha stopped in her tracks as she contemplated something. "What's a bitch?"

Spawn stopped as well to look back at the little girl. Well, if that cow-slut blonde wasn't mad at me before, she will be if she ever gets her kid back.

Sophitia sneezed as she felt as though something were amiss. It had come out of nowhere, giving both Cassandra and Ezio a reason to glance confusedly at her, but the latter was quick to be a gentleman as he withdrew a handkerchief from somewhere within his thick garments.

"For you."

"Thank you."

With the incident giving the whole group pause, Cassandra decided that they might as well take a moment to rest as she looked out over the lake the trio was walking beside. "What was that all about Sophie?"

"No idea. I just felt like something bad occurred."

"Like, really bad?"

"No, not like catastrophic bad. Just... you know, casual bad."

"What the heck is casual bad?"

Ezio stepped in here. "I believe casual bad is when someone steals your coin purse. Or maybe when someone trips off of a three story building."

Both Alexandra sisters cocked an eyebrow at the man, though only Cassandra voiced their incredulity. "Falling off of a three-story building is just casual bad?"

"It is in my line of work."

"Which is...?"

The bearded Italian smiled. "Swooning ladies of course. Could it be anything else?"

If that was supposed to be a joke, Cassandra didn't appreciate it. "Yeah, sure. You know, somehow I doubt you're as good at that as you think you are."

"Perhaps. Fate is both kind and cruel to me: it depends on who my company is."

Having barely been fond of him in the first place, Cassandra simply ignored this witticism in favor of looking at the lake once again. Unfortunately, her rest was short, as Sophitia was in no mood to wait any longer than usual. "Well then, let's continue on. There's no time to rest."

Cassandra sighed. "Yes there is. We literally just took some time to rest. We could take a little more."

"Cassandra, every second we waste is another second-"

Having heard this spiel too many times already, Cassandra cut her older sister off. "I know, I know... every second we aren't moving is an extra second Pyyrha doesn't have to be in the clutches of evil. Believe me Sophitia, I'm worried too: but I don't think they're going to hurt her. They wouldn't have bothered taking her alive..."

"Their objective might not involve hurting her! They could be trying to malfest her further! You know she has cursed blood!"

Cassandra didn't like having her sister raise her voice at her and was about to retaliate, but thankfully Ezio stepped in once more. "Ladies, please. This situation is dire, I know. But fighting will solve nothing. We can rest later, but for now we should keep moving."

Sophitia smiled gratefully in his direction as she received his support. "Thank you, Sir Ezio. Now that it's come to a vote, let's get moving."

The two of them turned to begin walking again, leaving Cassandra behind for but a moment to glower at the man who was currying more favor with her sister than she was.

Sitting cross-legged in front of the cave he had engaged the lizard man in, Cyril patiently awaited Amy's return. It had been several hours, but he was still positive that the girl would make it back to him sometime that day. If she did not, he would seek her out without hesitation. But for now he was still willing to wait, giving him time to dwell on his situation, both with the Catalyst and the girl in question.

Xandra's mention of a dark energy surrounding Amy had initially bothered Cyril greatly, but by now he was not as concerned. He remembered Amy's mention of her cursed father some time ago, so by now Cyril was convinced that Amy's dark energy somehow originated from him, and not anything of a more worrisome nature.

As for the Catalyst itself, Cyril was greatly irked by his lack of success in even finding clues about it. He felt no closer to finding the Catalyst than when he had first arrived back in the mortal realm.

Of course, there was little he could do about that, so Cyril chose to distract himself from those dire musings with thoughts revolving around those he had encountered so far.

His first concerns went to Talim. Having just recently returned from her side, her health was foremost in his mind. He had left the girl in both poor spirits and poor health, and with a huge mental burden to deal with. Cyril would have preferred to watch over the young girl for longer than he had, but by now it was too late. On the side, he also worried about Seoung-Mina, since he knew she had been in the area with Talim, but not nearly as much as he was for the Filipino priestess. He had spent more time with her, after all.

But he had faith in Talim's ability to stay safe. She was resilient and determined.

Aside from her, Cyril strangely found himself thinking about Tira as well. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that his mind was on the companions he had spent time with thus far. Cyril had last seen the dark-haired beauty quite some time ago, but nevertheless he hoped she was doing alright. Granted she had been taken by someone who was supposedly an ally, but they had hardly seemed to get along.

And then there was Amy. By far the most prominent of his companions, Cyril was constantly fretting over her safety. Unfortunately that had landed him in quite the predicament with the girl. Apparently he was being a little too overbearing, but he really couldn't help himself. He just didn't want to see her get hurt. However, he now understood that Amy needed to feel useful. With a companion like Cyril by her side, she must have felt like she served little purpose at all.

Of course that wasn't true. Amy served a great purpose at Cyril's side... it just wasn't a very tangible one. Amy was a source of companionship for Cyril, and that was more important to him than anything else she could have done. When she returned, he had to make sure she understood that.

Fortunately, Cyril's vigil was not going to last another three hours, as the quiet surrounding him was broken by footsteps he happily recognized. He raised his eyes to see the redhead he was expecting slowly approaching him, though she looked no less downcast than before. That being the case, Cyril allowed her to speak first.

"Cyril... you're still here."

"Should I not be?"

"Well I was under the impression that time was very precious for you."

Cyril stood from his position. "Time is not the only thing precious to me Amy. I apologize if I gave you the wrong impression earlier today, but believe me, I did not mean to imply that I don't need you."

Amy folded her arms. "It sure sounded that way."

"I'll admit, I did mean that I didn't need your help in that particular fight. But I still need you, Amy."

While he thought that would have been sufficient, Amy apparently did not think so. "Why? If I can't help you fight, and I slow you down to a crawl, what purpose do I serve? What could you possibly need me for?"

Cyril sighed, hoping he managed to say all of this without looking like an idiot. Having been away from social interaction for over ten years, he was not entirely confident in his ability to get his point across smoothly. "You're right... there are very few practical things that you can assist me with Amy. But I did not agree to let you travel with me for practicality. Practicality was not my concern when I thought of bringing a companion along on my quest. The only reason I decided to bring another person along is because I desired their companionship. I wanted someone who could ease the burden of my mission, someone who could make me smile despite the harsh reality of my task. That person is you Amy. You cannot help me with my mission to the extent that you would like. But more important than that, you make me happy. You make me smile and laugh and enjoy myself even as I take on this heavy burden. And believe me when I say that I appreciate that more than anything else you could possibly do. Just being there is enough."

Amy's face had been growing an ever darker shade of crimson as Cyril continued his small speech. By the time it was over there was hardly any difference between her face and her hair. "I... I make you happy? Really?"

"Absolutely. In fact I find that the most depressing hours of my day are the ones in which you aren't awake."

Though her embarrassment was not relieved in anyway, Amy managed a small laugh. "You know, if I didn't know you as well as I do that would sound a little creepy... or maybe it could have been a hopelessly romantic one-liner..."

Cyril smiled at this, hoping to further repair their modus operandi. "Well which one would you prefer it to be? I'm personally fine if you take it in either light."

"Well I'd rather you not be alright with the first."

"Then assume it was the latter."

While she was fairly certain that Cyril was joking with her, Amy could not help but be pleased by his words. "I think I will... but, I think I've cost you enough time already. Are you ready to search for our next point of interest?"

With another smile, Cyril nodded to the girl, eager to lead the way to their next mishap. He could ask her about her dark energy later. And if Xandra had a problem with that she would have to just deal with it.

Death Tally:

Aeon

Shura

Numerous nameless characters

Brave soldiers of Wolfkrone

-Rest in Peace victims of Beautiful Chaos-

Question everyone: Would a good Soul Calibur 6 manage to restore some life in the franchise? Do we dare hope we could even get one? Or is Soul Calibur incapable of being returned to its former glory?