ACT XVII : RESOLVE

Nightmare once more stood at the entrance to Caer Pelyn. He could hear the howls of the monsters within, guarding their master.

"Still has to hide behind his lackeys," Ismaire grumbled. "What a coward."

"We'll hold off the weaker monsters. Once you know where he is, you should go and fight Lucifurius. He is vulnerable in the state he's in now, but he will still prove difficult to kill," Megumi informed Nightmare as they started down the stairs.

"Don't worry. I will be defeating him today, of that much I'm sure."

They continued on down the winding hallways, the hordes of monsters growing in size as they did. The deeper parts of the temple were less touched by age - and underneath thin layers of lichens could be seen the floor tiles' true color - a deep, pitch black, with glittering flecks of silver - like stars in a midnight sky.

"Just how far down does this temple go?" Ismaire muttered, beheading another of the winged creatures and wiping away the black blood as it spattered onto her face. "It's like a path straight down to Hell."

"Symbolically, I believe that is exactly what it is," Megumi said to her. "Septimus Swain spent a rather large portion of his life building it until he summoned Lucifurius - and then afterwards, he completed it. These tunnels span for miles."

"Which means this little demon king of ours could be hiding anywhere," Ismaire grumbled. "Wonderful."

But as they wandered on, it was not Lucifurius they encountered.

Nightmare stopped when he heard footsteps approaching at the other end of the hallway behind him, and Ismaire and Megumi stopped ahead, casting questioning glances back in his direction.

Listening, they could hear voices, and those voices were not the howling half-screams of the monsters in the temple - they were human voices.

And one, Nightmare recognized. He knew it well. It had spoken into his mind many times.

Siegfried.

He stopped when he saw Nightmare, still halfway hidden in shadow. There were more humans with him, and some Nightmare recognized - the girl from the village who escaped him, the warrior whose sons and comrades Nightmare had killed. Others he didn't - the small force of soldiers with him, or the girl next to him that seemed almost to be radiating light.

She was nearly a foot shorter than Siegfried, but hovered a few inches from the ground, as if gravity could not fully keep her down. Her silvery-blonde hair was as long as she was tall, and horns of what looked to be splintered shards of ice protruded from either side of her head. She wore a brief white dress, and embedded in the center of her chest was a glistening sapphire-blue gem.

"Who are you?" Ismaire asked, clearly on edge and ready to strike.

"I am Scyrus, equal opposite and sister to Lucifurius. It seems I was not the only one to regain my true form," she said, in a voice strangely devoid of emotion. "The puppet no longer carries the sword, and I sense my brother's presence elsewhere."

"Regardless," Siegfried said, stepping forward and drawing a wide, flat blade with a cross tip, "I vowed I would bring down this monster, and I intend to do so."

Nightmare scoffed. "You couldn't even resist my mentality when we shared a body. What makes you think you can defeat me now?"

"I have been granted divine guidance. Gifted with power so that I may purge the earth of demons such as yourself."

"Oh, listen to yourself. You're no less a puppet than I was," Nightmare muttered.

"Enough. Whether or not you still serve the demon, it doesn't change what you are."

Ismaire drew her scythe. "Looks like I've finally found something that irritates me more than you, Clunky."

All of the humans rushed forward - the more inexperienced soldiers were taken down immediately, and those who remained were then suffocated, dropping to their knees as Megumi sapped the air straight from their lungs. The older warrior - Johan, Siegfried had called him, moved to attack Nightmare, receiving a deep cut down the length of his arm from Ismaire's scythe, and before she could swing again her strike was parried by Siegfried.

"I said enough! This is a fight between he and I. No one else!" Siegfried made a swipe to the side, which Nightmare dodged, backing off as he took time to gage his opponent's strength. He had gotten stronger, that much was true, but Nightmare still outmatched him.

They followed the same pattern for a while - feint, parry, graze, dodge. Siegfried was determined - and it was obvious that Scyrus was exhibiting some sort of control over him. Somewhere during the space of the fight, the other two humans slipped away, deciding they would rather avoid this confrontation.

A well-placed swing nicked the edge of Siegfried's sword - sending a crack straight across the blade and breaking it clean in half. Dumbfounded, Siegfried didn't manage to avoid a swing that sliced through his shoulder and cried out in pain, falling to his knees.

With an outraged wail, Scyrus charged in - a scimitar of ice manifested itself in her hand, and she swung for Nightmare's head.

"You and your brethen will poison this world no longer, demon. Die!"

Nightmare barely ducked out of the way - she was fast. Any attempt to attack her, she avoided, either by dodging it or simply allowing the sword to pass right through her, inducing incorporeality so that she was not touched by it. She had managed to pin him down and was readying to put the ice blade in her hand through his forehead when something swung out and caught her in the chest - the tip of Ismaire's scythe - and it shattered the gem embedded there.

With a final cry of defiance, her essence faded, and the hallways darkened once more.

Siegfried struggled to get back to his feet. "No... I won't lose! I won't allow you to send this earth into the darkness, I won't watch anyone else I care about be killed by you!"

"Oh, you won't have to," Ismaire assured him as she stepped over. "You'll be joining them momentarily."

And at last he was silenced as the scythe blade swept through his neck, and he fell.

After a brief pause, Ismaire turned around to face Nightmare again. "If I'm not mistaken, Clunky, you're here for a more productive reason than dealing with these holier-than-thou pious idiots," she grumbled. "Get going."

Nightmare narrowed his eyes. "Fine. I suppose you're right." He turned back down the hall, stopping once to speak with Megumi.

"...Be careful," she said to him.

He kissed her forehead. "I will. You be careful too. I said I was going to kill him, and I will. This will all be over soon."

With that, he continued on deeper into the temple. Though he lacked the call of the dark energy this time, he knew where he would find Lucifurius - he was nearby, hiding away in his throne room, waiting for Nightmare's arrival.

It was time to end this.