Chapter 8 – Assault on Sorel Castle

Leonsritt, now joined by Yoshimitsu and a small group of Manji Clan members, run towards the dark path to Sorel Castle. Having Hilde and Cassandra captured along with a group of young women, Raphael's motives are unclear. Through the night, Leonsritt and the others move to the castle. Yoshimitsu and the Manji Clan members stopped and Leonsritt had walked to them.

"Yoshimitsu, what is it?"

"Looking at the structure of the castle on this map, there has to be a way to get in. We can't just walk in through the front door."

"Hmm, but how did the kid get the map then?"

"It seems that in this map, he marked the spot on where to get in..."

They all looked into the map and on the left side of the map, there was an X marked on the castle walls.

"Alright, so here's what we do..."

Leonsritt and Yoshimitsu started planning on the break-in.

Raphael had tied Hilde and Cassandra and had closed them in a room where some young girls had been tied up.

"WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING TO DO WITH US?"

"Heh, I want to know who will make a great pet for Amy."

"A PET?"

"You fool! HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!"

Raphael slammed the door behind him. Hilde and Cassandra had struggled to get off the ropes.

"Cassandra, it's useless. We can't break free..."

"No, we gotta get out of here..."

"But we can't... and the rest of the girls can't break free either..."

Cassandra had seen all the girls around. They were all crying, and Cassandra had stopped struggling. Hilde looked at Cassandra.

"Leonsritt's most likely on his way, with Yoshimitsu."

"... (Leo...)"

"Alright, we're in!"

Leonsritt looked around. He signaled a group of Manji Clan members to follow Yoshimitsu to one hall. Leonsritt had another group of Manji Clan members follow him to the other side of the hall. They all had been cautious of their surroundings.

"Alright, as we planned, we're gonna keep breaking into groups. So we reached this hallway. You two come with me, as for you three, go on over there."

The Manji Clan members had signaled a yes to Leonsritt. They split and followed the designated route.

"You think he may use us as his slaves?"

"Cassandra, don't even think that!"

"You never know, Hilde..."

"You are hopeless."

"Hey, you hear that?"

Stone was scratching... Leonsritt and the Manji Clan members had a bad feeling. They looked around and saw nothing, but the sound was getting louder...

"You fools... you think that you can stop me...?"

"RAPHAEL! WHERE ARE YOU?"

Leonsritt and the others were looking around, and a giant axe landed on the ground.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

A giant knight statue had moved from its pedestal. It was swinging the axe everywhere, with the three dodging its attacks.

"Come on, Hilde."

"You need help..."

"But what can we do when we're tied up?"

"Stop it! I am NOT going to challenge you to a staring contest!"

"Boo..."

"STORM VIPER!"

Leonsritt had broken one of the giant statue's arms. The two Manji Clan members had knocked the weapon off its other hand.

"No sweat."

The three had ran towards the statue and kicked it, knocking it down and breaking it.

"Alright!"

It was too early to celebrate. More statues were moving towards them.

"What the hell, man...?"

"... and did I tell you that I once almost fell into the oven? It happened on..."

"Seriously, Cassandra, you need help..."

"... and I also almost started a fire in my bakery, all because..."

"Guh... what is this... Raphael, you bastard..."

The statues had worn the three fighters out. The statues raised their weapons and froze. They broke to pieces. Yoshimitsu had landed in front of Leonsritt.

"Go look for the girls. We will take care of our comrades!"

"Right!"

Leonsritt ran towards the hallway and found some doors. He kicked each door open, but nothing inside. He ran and went inside the Great Hall. He walked until he saw a figure of a man standing in the middle of the Great Hall...

"Well, well... The fool made it this far..."

"What did you do with Cassandra? And Hilde?"

"That pretty redheaded woman? Well, let us say that she met a horrible fate..."

(You bastard...)

"As for the blonde one... She became mine..."

(No... YOU BASTARD!)

"But you... I see now... None of those girls are good enough to become Amy's pet... But you... I think you'll become the perfect one for my Amy..."

"You... YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Leonsritt dashed at Raphael. He swung his steel paddle at him but he disappeared. Leonsritt had felt a kick and fell to the floor. Raphael had kicked him on the gut, and Leonsritt got back up on his feet. Raphael had walked to Leonsritt and jabbed him with rapier. Leonsritt had blocked this but his guard was broken, and felt a kick to his chest, causing him to fall on his knees...

"Hah. You will become Amy's pet... Now, you will be a good boy and surrender..."

"No..."

"Insolent fool..."

Raphael kicked him down again. Leonsritt had let go of his steel paddle and tried to reach it, but Raphael pierced his hand to the ground with his rapier.

"GAH!"

"Obey me, you dog..."

"GRAAHHHH!"

Leonsritt had turned in to his Demon form. His hand had slid on the blade, reaching the hand guard and grabbed Raphael, throwing him into the air. Raphael had landed safely and Leonsritt had thrown the rapier to Raphael. He caught the rapier and pointed it at Leonsritt.

"So you bear a Soul Edge shard, do you, dog!"

"GRAAHHHH!"

Leonsritt had began attacking Raphael. He dodged his attacks and retaliated, knocking him to the floor several times. Leonsritt got back up and had kept attacking him. It was useless. Leonsritt had stopped and reverted to his normal self.

"What is it...? Are you finally giving in? What a fool..."

"Leonsritt... I knew you would need help one day..."

Leonsritt had recognized this voice. He stood up and saw a figure in a stance. It was Taki, as he was surprised to see her.

"Taki..."

"Come on, Leonsritt..."

"How dare you intrude in here, you meaningless witch?"

"Huh, big talk from a weak fool!"

"Taki, you ready?"

"Let's do this!"

Taki and Leonsritt had begun attacking Raphael, as he deflected their attacks, but had soon lowered his guard down, allowing both Taki and Leonsritt to take him down quickly, but he retaliated. Taki and Leonsritt had backed off and ran to opposite sides of Raphael.

"You think that your little tactics can stop me?"

"Heh, you ain't seen nothing yet!"

Leonsritt tossed his steel paddle towards Raphael. It spun, but had missed its target. Raphael had dashed to Leonsritt, but Taki had appeared behind Raphael, kicking him in the back. Raphael stumbled and Leonsritt had delivered a low punch towards his gut. Raphael had spat out blood and fell to his knees. Raphael had swung his rapier towards Leonsritt, cutting skin on his arm. Leonsritt had stepped on his shoulder and kicked him right on his jaw. Taki had come from above, kicking him down to the ground completely. Taki had picked up Leonsritt's steel paddle and threw it at him, with Leonsritt catching said sword.

"Raphael... you..."

Leonsritt raised his sword, aiming at Raphael's head.

"YOU BASTARD!"

He dropped the blade but Taki had stopped him from completely decapitating Raphael.

"Leonsritt, don't..."

"Grr... fine..."

"You... fool... how dare... you..."

"Raphael, that's enough..."

Taki and Leonsritt had turned to where the voice came from. A young woman with a small black frilled dress, red hair with curled pigtails, and pale skin had appeared.

"A-Amy!"

Taki and Leonsritt had prepared their weapons. Amy had made a gesture with her hand, telling them to put their weapons down. Amy snapped her fingers and two maids came into the Great Hall.

"Tie Raphael up and take him to the torture room..."

"Yes, madam..."

And the maids did what they were told to do. Amy had turned to Taki and Leonsritt.

"I am truly sorry for what my stepfather has done to you."

"Don't worry about it, yet we still need to find the girls, don't we Taki?"

Taki was nowhere to be found. Amy had approached Leonsritt.

"May I see your arm?"

"Uh, sure..."

Amy had a bandage on her hand and wrapped it around his arm. Due to her short stature, Leonsritt had looked at her cleavage.

(Aw, man. I shouldn't have let her see my arm...)

"There, now as for the young women my stepfather captured..."

"Uh, yeah... where are they?"

Amy walked and Leonsritt followed. He was led to a room, and all the girls had looked at Leonsritt. Cassandra and Hilde had been happy to see him.

"You guys alright?"

"Yeah!"

"Thanks, Am-"

Amy was nowhere to be found, yet there was a red ribbon on his hand with a piece of paper. He put it in his pocket and walked into the room. He untied all of the girls, and with Yoshimitsu now present, he led the girls out of the castle. Leonsritt untied Hilde and Cassandra, and they all ran out of the castle. With that out of the way, everyone had reached the village. Families reunited with the missing girls and as for Yoshimitsu, he had left with the Manji Clan members back to their hideout.

"Hey, Hilde. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just tell Cassandra to never do that again... Please?"

"Do what?"

"Um, I kinda made her listen to my stories, and she kept turning my staring challenge down..."

"Uh... okay...?"

"Hilde come on!"

"NO!"

"Fine..."

"Anyway..."

The village elder had approached the three. The village elder had given them the village's gratitude for the heroic rescue of the captured girls in the form of 3000 gold pieces. The three had stayed for the night, but Leonsritt's mind was filled with the one thing that has been bothering him: the marking on his arm, now turning into a brown skin tone and hardening skin. Its form had been starting to look similar to a certain someone's arm, slowly transforming in to that arm. The next morning, they had departed from the village, with Leonsritt looking pale, and the rest had started walking. A few hours have passed, with the day turning to night, and Leonsritt had grasped his arm in pain. Cassandra had turned to look at Leonsritt.

"Leo, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I am."

"You look pale, Leonsritt. Maybe we should rest a bit."

"No, it's alright, Hilde. Let's just keep going."

Leonsritt had taken two steps, but at the third he collapsed. The girls had turned and saw Leonsritt on the floor.

"Leo, are you okay?"

"I-I can't move!"

"Cassandra, help me!"

The girls had picked him up and sat him on a tree. Leonsritt had started looking even more pale, and his arm's skin had started to harden more, growing in size.

"Leo, hang on!"

"Get away... both of you...!"

"Leonsritt, hold on!"

Leonsritt had started snarling, as Cassandra and Hilde backed away. Leonsritt had gotten up, picking up his steel paddle, and looked at the girls. He grinned and his eyes were blood red. Fear had struck the girls, as they picked up their weapons. Leonsritt, with his arm now formed into what appeared very similar to Nightmare's arm with markings all over his body, now had an ominous aura surrounding him. What will be of Leonsritt, now controlled by the dark power of the Soul Edge shard? The girls, especially Cassandra, were about to get into a fight against a comrade... Will they stop him before he becomes lost to Soul Edge completely...?