Chapter 5 – The Long Road to The Dark Capital

The Wolfkrone Castle Gates, the location where our heroes Leonsritt, Cassandra, and Hilde, along with the knights of the castle, are facing Tira, and her need of killing for Soul Edge's revival. An attractive young woman with short green hair and a green outfit with her skill of wielding the Ring Blade, she prepares for the battle with Leonsritt and the taking of the Soul Edge shard.

"Play with me!"

"Alright, LET'S DO THIS!"

"YAY! TIME TO KILL YOU!"

And their blades clashed. Leonsritt had been striking with force, but the agility of this young lady was incredible that even her flexibility was catching Leonsritt off-guard. He struggled with striking Tira, even if his swings covered the entire area around him. She kept playing with him, and without hesitation, she struck him with the Ring Blade, launching him in the air. She was about to strike him again, but Leonsritt retaliated, throwing his steel paddle at the Ring Blade, causing it to rebound towards Tira. Both weapons hit her, but she laughed at that. Leonsritt landed safely.

"Huh, I knew you were insane, but that's just ridiculous..."

"HOW'S THIS?"

She dashed at Leonsritt. He had put himself in a defensive position, only to realize that she slid under and spun her Ring Blade at him, launching him into the air once more. He landed with a harsh thud. Tira laughed and Leonsritt stood up...

"WHY WON'T YOU DIE? PLEASE? WILL YOU DIE?"

"It takes more than that to take me down..."

Tira dashed at Leonsritt once more. She slid again, but this time, he managed to grab hold of her by the neck.

"Not this time..."

He slammed her to the ground. Leonsritt backed off and Tira stood up. Everyone had seen the look on her face and Leonsritt had noticed that Tira suddenly changed. Her stance was different and she looked at Leonsritt with a murderous intent.

"Playtime's over, you fool."

"Heh, now that's more like it. BRING IT!"

Tira dashed and Leonsritt couldn't believe the agility Tira had, now that she was gloomy.

"Over here!"

Tira struck Leonsritt hard and knocked him down to the floor. She placed her foot on his chest. She held her Ring Blade high, aiming at his neck.

"And now... YOU DIE!"

"LEO!"

Cassandra intervened and she fought against Tira. Leonsritt had teamed with Cassandra and attacked her from both sides. Tira was fending both of them off with her Ring Blade, and she had let her guard down. Cassandra hit her with her shield, and Leonsritt had slammed his steel paddle against her, but she retaliated and knocked both of them down. Cassandra stood up and backed off...

"Cassandra stay back, I'm gonna have to use it..."

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah, just stand back..."

Tira had stood up and looked at Leonsritt. Leonsritt had now shifted to his Demon form and his look was now a lot more different. Horns had now grown, his eyes had now looked whiter than usual, and markings had shown on his face. His hands had now looked like claws and his skin had changed to a pale white color. Tira had looked at him with lust and murderous intent.

"You will be mine, and so will be that Soul Edge shard."

"Hmph... come and try..."

Tira dashed at Leonsritt and struck him but he held the Ring Blade with his hand. Tira was amazed at the sight of his blood dripping on her own skin. He landed a hit with his palm towards her gut, sending her crashing through the castle gates. She got back up and dashed at him once more. Leonsritt grabbed her and slammed her down to the ground. Tira had looked at Leonsritt's eyes and she had licked the blood off the hand Leonsritt held her Ring Blade with. Leonsritt backed off and looked at Tira in disgust.

"You're insane..."

"That tasty blood of yours... I will make you mine..."

Leonsritt had shifted from the place he was standing towards the spot right in front of Tira, and with a fierce swing from his steel paddle, he sent her flying high into the sky. Leonsritt had reverted to normal and walked towards everyone. Cassandra had walked to him and looked at him. She smiled and the guards cheered. Hilde was surprised, yet in shock of how Leonsritt used the power of Soul Edge.

"Well, that takes care of that. Now that Leo's done, shall we go inside?"

"Hilde, are you alright?"

"There's no way... how did you..."

"We'll explain later..."

Hilde was still shocked about this, but she had snapped back to reality. Leonsritt had followed them and when they arrived to Hilde's chambers, he explained to Hilde about the events that happened to them before their arrival to Wolfkrone Kingdom. She had understood what was going on and had guards escort them to the guest rooms once more after the conversation. Leonsritt had felt something wasn't feeling right about Hilde, yet he set himself to rest. The day had turned to night and Lilianna had come into the room again, with dinner.

"Good evening, Leonsritt. Milady has sent me to deliver your dinner here."

"Thanks, Lilianna. Hey, a question for you."

"What is it?"

"Has Princess Hildegard calmed down yet?"

"Oh, yes, she is... I know what happened outside, and it was amazing."

"Oh, well I don't know what to say about that."

"But it is still unbelievable..."

"What is unbelievable to you?"

"I know of the legend of the Sacred and Evil Swords. You possess a shard of Soul Edge..."

"Yeah... I do..."

"But it amazes me... You use its evil power for good..."

"Yeah... I just want this out of me, but I guess you can say that."

"You should never change your way."

"I know, so I guess this was given to me for a reason..."

Lilianna walked to the door and she turned to Leonsritt.

"Leonsritt... I know you will fight against the evil in this world... don't ever give up!"

"I won't!"

Leonsritt had given her a thumbs up and smiled. Lilianna left and he ate his dinner. He had finished and Cassandra had walked in.

"Hey. Are you feeling well, now?"

"Yeah, I feel great, thanks to the food."

"But that girl..."

"I know... I heard she was crazy, but I gotta say that's just wrong..."

"Well, at least you dealt with her..."

"Yep, so let's get some rest..."

Cassandra had kissed him and she left. Leonsritt had gone to the bed, and felt really comfortable, now that he was able to sleep in a bed. But something wasn't feeling right. Something kept him from sleeping. He sat up and looked around, but nothing was around. He laid back down and looked at the ceiling. He closed his eyes for a while, yet he still couldn't fall asleep. A good hour had passed and still he couldn't fall asleep. He looked at the ceiling.

(Man, why can't I fall asleep? What's wrong with me?)

He closed his eyes once more, and this time he felt someone remove the covers. He slowly opened his eyes and noticed a young woman place herself on him. Her purple eyes were looking at him with need, with lust. He noticed short green hair on her. This was none other than Tira. He was about to say something, but she placed her hand on his mouth. She placed herself firmly on him. She started moving and moans started to come out of her.

(There's no way! How did she get in here?)

"I told you that you would be mine..."

Leonsritt had pushed her off him, only resulting in her pulling him towards herself and having him thrust it in her. She had kept her moans held in. Leonsritt backed away, and Tira had looked at Leonsritt. She tried getting to him but he managed to shove her back to the floor. He put his clothes back on, and Tira, without any clothing, approached him and placed her lips on his. She had backed away, and Leonsritt was shocked at what was happening.

"What the hell is wrong with you!"

"Play with me..."

Leonsritt had walked and picked up his steel paddle, and Tira put her clothes back on. Turning around to him, she noticed the tip of the blade at her neck. Leonsritt wasn't really happy about this.

"Why won't you be mine...?"

"You don't even know the true meaning of love, do you, Tira?"

Hearing that, Tira laughed. Leonsritt approached her and whispered in her ear.

"It's over..."

Confusion got to her. Leonsritt jumped back and with a fierce swing of his blade, he smacked Tira on her gut. The force of it caused Tira to crash through the window and fly farther than usual. Guards walked in the room, armed and ready.

"What's going on?"

"Don't worry, an intruder tried to get in, but I managed to knock him out."

"Thank goodness no one got in..."

"We're all fine."

Cassandra walked in, looking worried.

"Leo, are you okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry. It's all good."

She felt relieved and hugged Leonsritt. Hilde walked in and noticed the broken window. Leonsritt told her about an intruder trying to break in, and managed to fend him off. Hilde walked back out and everything was settled. Leonsritt had laid down on his bed, with thoughts about what happened.

(Why do I get the feeling I'm about to get stalked by Tira? … No, worse than that. But I think the better question would be, why do these women get an attraction for me...? Weird...)

Leonsritt had fallen asleep with these thoughts of uneasiness.

The next morning, Leonsritt woke up and prepared himself. His friends, the guards, came in.

"Young man, the princess is waiting for you in the throne room."

"Alright, then."

"It seems you are going to accompany her on her travels."

"Really...?"

"Yes."

"Hey, now that I think about it, I never got your names..."

"I am Emilio."

"And I am Renard."

"So, Emilio, Renard. Since I'm leaving, it was awesome meeting you guys."

Emilio and Renard broke down in tears. Leonsritt was weirded out, but he calmed them down. They walked to the throne room and found Cassandra and Hilde talking. Hilde noticed them walking in and greeted Leonsritt.

"Guards. Back to your posts!"

"Yes, milady!"

Emilio and Renard walked out. Leonsritt walked to Cassandra and looked at Hilde.

"Cassandra, Leonsritt. I have decided to join you on your quest."

"That's great!"

"I will find a cure for my father. And Leonsritt, since you're going to find Isabella Valentine, I will go on with you and help you find a way to remove the shard."

"Alright!"

"So we will depart right now."

"Huh, well let's go then."

Leonsritt, Cassandra and Hilde had walked out of the throne room. An hour later, the three had walked to the castle gates, and everyone in the castle had bid them goodbye. Emilio and Renard had broke down in tears... again. Leonsritt looked at them.

"HEY!"

Emilio and Renard looked at him. He raised his sword and grinned proudly.

"NEVER FORGET! WE'RE FRIENDS TILL THE END, GUYS!"

"YEAH!"

They raised their sword with pride, and with that said, they left Wolfkrone Castle.

"So where are we headed to?"

"We're a long way from there, Leonsritt. We're going to the Dark Capital, Ostrheinsburg."

The path to the Dark Capital. This sounded intriguing for Leonsritt. Hilde had walked to the exit to the village. Cassandra and Leonsritt followed and yet he had an uneasy feeling about this. Like he was being watched. Hilde looked at him.

"Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, y-yeah... why?"

"You seem out of it."

"No, I'm fine."

"Leo, are you sure?"

Cassandra put her hand on his forehead. He didn't have a fever or anything of the sort. She whispered in his ear if he was in need of "it"*. He nodded a no at Cassandra.

"It's alright, guys. Seriously, I'm fine."

"Whatever you say, Leo."

"Well, just tell us if anything's wrong."

"Sure..."

They proceeded, but what is this uneasiness that's bothering him? Was it the plan heading to Ostrheinsburg? He asked himself, but it wasn't that. What is it that's really bothering him...?

Author's Notes: I finally own BANDAI NAMCO! I was just kidding. No I don't. Not even SoulCalibur. This chapter took me a while to finish due to writer's block... that's great... But now that I'm moving to Chapter 6, I will advise that I will take a while for the future chapters to finish, due to some side-projects I'm doing. For the time being, I will keep working on both this fanfic and the side projects.

* You know what that means! Three letter word!