Chapter 10 – A Secret Revealed

Our heroes Leonsritt, Cassandra, and Hilde find themselves in a tough situation. Siegfried, wielder of the Sacred Sword has appeared to them. Leonsritt tried to get up from the paralysis, but his efforts failed.

"You... what are you... doing to me...?"

"The light that Soul Calibur gives off is what weakens the shard."

"But what are you going to do with Leo?"

"Cassandra, calm down. We have to help Leonsritt."

The light from the blade had stopped shimmering, and Leonsritt had felt free from the paralysis. He stood up but had almost collapsed.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine but what gives?"

"When Soul Calibur and Soul Edge resonate with each other, they give off energy, but since this is a Soul Edge shard, it tried to give off energy equal to that of Soul Calibur, but it was too weak."

"But why was it burning Leo?"

"Because it tried taking control of him..."

Siegfried walked towards Leonsritt and grabbed him by the collar, picking him up.

"But you, do you know what you've caused?"

"W-wait, what do you mean?"

"You're the time-traveler, aren't you?"

"Time... traveler?"

"Leo, what's he talking about?"

"I-I don't know..."

Leonsritt didn't want any of this to be told by anyone else but him. Siegfried had pushed him to the ground, and Leonsritt couldn't fight back. The secret that he had been holding in was going to come out.

"Don't lie! You know pretty well!"

"W-what are you talking about?"

"Don't be stupid with me! You are the time-traveler!"

"Let Leo go already!"

"Siegfried, put him down."

"How do you know...?"

"Ivy had sent me to look for you!"

"Ivy?"

There was nothing else he could do, but to tell everyone who he is.

"WELL? ARE YOU OR NOT?"

"... Yeah, I am..."

He saw the looks of astonishment on Hilde and Cassandra. He couldn't believe that the truth had been spoken out by force. Cassandra had looked at Leonsritt with anger.

"You are coming with me..."

"Cassandra...?"

She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards a spot where no one could see. She faced Leonsritt, as he looked down in shame.

"Why... why didn't you tell me?'

"..."

"ANSWER ME!"

"I... I'm sorry..."

She grabbed him by the collar and fiercely slapped Leonsritt. Leonsritt fell to the floor, and he looked up at Cassandra. She had broken down in tears and walked away.

"Wait! Cassandra!"

He grabbed her arm, but she shook his hand off and walked off.

"... Dammit..."

Leonsritt stood up and he punched a tree.

"DAMMIT!"

Cassandra had walked towards the items and picked them up.

"Cassandra, what happened?"

"Let's go..."

"But what about Le-"

"He's not coming. Let's go."

"Cassandra..."

Siegfried had seen the face of anger on Cassandra. They walked away without saying another word. 10 minutes had gone by and he saw Leonsritt walking towards him.

"Siegfried, where did the girls go?"

"They left..."

"..."

"What? Did something happen?"

Leonsritt had picked up his blade and pointed it at Siegfried.

"Why did you have to say that..."

"I needed to know if you were-"

"'NEEDED TO KNOW'? I WAS SUPPOSED TO TELL HER THAT MYSELF!"

He swung his blade at Siegfried. He blocked it with his own blade.

"Calm down. Your anger won't make it any better."

Siegfried had noticed a red and purple aura emanating from Leonsritt. Anger had started to consume Leonsritt. His rage had led him to violently attack Siegfried, with him blocking and parrying every attack Leonsritt tried to land on him.

"I guess you're leaving me no choice..."

Soul Calibur had started glowing with the same pure light that shone before. Leonsritt had started to back off, but shifted to his demon form. This time, the aura from Soul Calibur wasn't affecting him at all.

"Sieg... fried... you..."

"Don't let it consume you!"

"Guh... Guhahahah... HAHAHAHAHAHAHHH!"

"I guess I have no choice..."

[]

"Cassandra, was it right for us to just leave Leonsritt like that?"

"You can't even trust him anymore..."

"But Leonsritt-"

"Don't even say his name!"

Hilde had known something was wrong. She stopped in her tracks, and Cassandra looked at Hilde.

"I'm going back."

"Hilde...?"

"I'm going to get answers from him..."

"..."

"What you just did was wrong... So I'm going back..."

"Do what you want..."

Hilde started walking back as Cassandra kept walking the opposite direction.

"Leonsritt, what have you been hiding from us...?"

[]

Both Leonsritt and Siegfried kept fighting, but no matter how many times Siegfried took him down, Leonsritt kept getting up and attacking him with his rage.

"He's lost it..."

"LEONSRITT!"

Hilde appeared, only to see him without his sanity.

"WHAT WENT WRONG?"

"Back off! It's too dangerous!"

[]

Deep inside Leonsritt's mind... A voice is heard...

Feed the dark fires of destruction... that's right... let your anger consume you... destroy everything in your path... annihilate those that get in your way...

[]

"..."

"Leonsritt, snap out of it!"

"Heh..."

"Leonsritt?"

Hilde prepared her weapons and faced Leonsritt. The red and purple aura had turned black, forming a silhouette of a giant demon behind him.

"Leonsritt? Who is that...?"

Leonsritt gave a sinister smile...

[]

Cassandra kept walking...

"Why do I get the feeling something's wrong...?"

This feeling was making her feel uncomfortable, as if she felt something was wrong with Leonsritt...

"Was it really wrong to just leave him like that?"

She stopped.

"Maybe I should go back..."

She turned around and the moment she looked at the sky, an explosion had been heard, with a dark aura reaching the sky. Dark clouds had started appearing...

"What's going on?"

Cassandra had ran towards the area...

[]

"The shard's power is way too much for him to handle!"

"Then what's going to happen to Leonsritt?"

"We have no other choice, but to..."

Leonsritt's body was now being covered with the dark aura...

"Now I guess it's time to finally do what I wanted to do for a LONG TIME!"

Leonsritt flicked his wrist up, sending up dark spikes from the ground towards Hilde and Siegfried. They dodged the attacks, but Leonsritt sunk into the ground and appeared behind Siegfried, grabbing him and throwing him to the ground.

"DISAPPEAR!"

Leonsritt dragged Siegfried against the ground and threw him in the air. Siegfried retaliated by throwing Soul Calibur at Leonsritt. He reflected the blade right back at Siegfried. He caught the blade and safely landed on the ground.

"IS THAT ALL YOU GOT? YOU'RE THAT WEAK SIEGFRIED!"

"Leonsritt! Snap out of it already!"

"That's not him..."

"YOU FIGURED IT OUT ALREADY..."

The dark aura that covered Leonsritt's body had started fading away. It started forming an armor that seemed pretty familiar...

"No... no way..."

Siegfried had stood up and raised his sword, swinging the blade only to have it stopped with one hand by Leonsritt... or at least, who used to be...

"So Siegfried... It's been a while..."

"... Nightmare..."

"Leonsritt is Nightmare?"

Nightmare Leonsritt grabbed Siegfried by the throat and threw him over his shoulder.

"You're still weak..."

He had disappeared. Hilde was shocked at what had happened to Leonsritt.

"That... that can't be... Nightmare..."

"He got away... Nightmare..."

Cassandra had appeared.

"What happened here?"

"Cassandra... he's... gone..."

"He's Nightmare..."

"What do you mean?"

"We lost him for good..."

"WHAT?"

Cassandra was now confused. She didn't quite understand what Hilde meant, but she had a bad feeling about it.

"Princess Hilde, Cassandra, we have to find him and break Nightmare's hold of him..."

Now that the secret was revealed and Soul Edge has taken hold of Leonsritt, what will his fate be?