Chapter 10: Invasion of Artai

Two days after the snowstorm, the group finally reached the outskirts of Artai's city. The outskirts were actually a frozen lake spanning roughly a tenth of the entire country. The lake was too big to fly across, or at least it would be difficult to carry someone over the entire lake.

"Looks like the only way to get across is by boat." Notokishi observed.

"It would appear so." Verona stated.

Just then, a loud boom sounded in the distance. Turning in the direction of the noise, they saw short bursts of light appearing just before they heard more booms.

"Miyu, can you see anything?" asked Notokishi.

Miyu focused on the direction of the lights, and zoomed in with her mechanical eyes.

"It is difficult to tell from this distance, but it appears as though a battle is taking place." Miyu said.

"A battle? That can only mean one thing."

"Nightmare." Kaia said, gritting her teeth.

"Well then, we'd better get going now shouldn't we?" stated Shizuru.

With that, the group bolted towards the lights, weapons drawn. After what seemed like an hour of running, they arrived at a dock flooded with corrupted and Artai soldiers. The corrupted seemed to have the upper hand, and the Artai defenders were spread thin. The heroines rushed toward to the aid of the defenders, and with their combined forces they managed to drive back the corrupted horde.

"Thanks, we wouldn't have lasted much longer. Who are all of you?" asked the captain of the soldiers.

"We're from Windbloom. I am Princess Notokishi, and these are my friends and allies. We've come to stop the creatures attacking this kingdom, and to seek a weapon that could defeat their master."

"Well I don't know about a weapon like that, but if you're from Wind then Archduchess Arashi would want us to help you."

"We're glad you understand. Can you give us a boat to get across the lake?"

The captain pointed towards some wreckage near the water.

"We'd be happy to oblige, but the last seafaring vessel we had was just demolished. The next closest ship is held by the enemy." He pointed to a ship about 40 feet away from the shore.

"That'll have to work. Thank you soldier!"

Holding onto Verona, Notokishi and the others flew onto the hostile boat. Since the corrupted warriors were weak, they fell easily to the more experienced heroines. In a matter of minutes, the ship was cleared of corrupted. Notokishi noticed there were more ships lined up ahead of them, each only a few dozen feet apart from each other.

"I'll bet if we keep jumping from ship to ship like this, we should not only decimate their forces but we should also arrive at the city in no time. Sound good?"

The others simply raised their weapons in response.

"Alright, let's go!"

The group continued to jump from vessel to vessel, taking down several enemies on each boat they landed on. They continued like this until they reached a ship close to the city docks.

"Get ready everyone, this ship looks different from the others, I'll bet it's the flagship." Notokishi stated.

No sooner had she spoken, when a woman in red ninja-like armor came flying in their direction. The woman landed a few feet in front of the group. She had black hair tied in a shoulder length ponytail, and two small swords slung on her back, one of which she held in her hand.

"Hey! Are you alright?" Verona said, kneeling next to the woman.

"Ugh, watch out! He's coming!" the ninja girl said.

As if on cue, a large grey skinned man wearing pirate attire and wielding twin swords walked toward them. The shorter of his swords was curved and had what looked like the barrel of a small gun protruding from its hand guard.

"What's this? More fools come to face me? Do your worst! No matter how many there are, no one will keep me, Cervantes de Leon, from reaching Soul Edge!" the pirate said.

"Sorry, but we're not gonna let that happen."

The group all rushed Cervantes at once. The pirate was surprisingly fast, and managed to dodge most of the attacks. However, he was struck in the shoulder by Verona's shuriken and his chest was cut by a strike from the ninja girl. Cervantes leapt back, and then surged forward, spinning his blades as he went. He flew past most of the group, clipping a few feathers from Kaia's wings as he went. The dread pirate landed just behind Miyu and the ninja, and thrust his blades backwards toward them.

SCHINK!

Cervantes looked back to see Miyu standing behind him, with both his blades stuck in her. He cackled maniacally, thinking he'd won. But to his surprise, Miyu raised her sword arm and sliced at his exposed back, cutting it open partway. While Cervantes cried out in pain, Miyu converted her left arm into her smaller model chain gun, and let loose a burst of lead at the previous injury. Cervantes released his grip on the swords, and fell to the deck, dead.

"Arrogance does not make one strong." Miyu said as she removed the blades from her chest.

The ninja girl stared at her, speechless.

"You-You're still alive! Even after that!" she said.

"I cannot feel pain, and so I cannot die. Who are you?"

"I am called Taki, I thank you for your assistance, all of you."

"We're glad to help. May we assume you seek Soul Edge as well?" Notokishi said.

"I seek to destroy it. What about you?"

"Same with us. In fact, we're looking for Soul Calibur, which we believe lies in this city. Will you join with us?"

"Sorry, but I trust Soul Calibur about as much as Soul Edge. Neither of them can bring about any good."

"Suit yourself. We'll be on our way then, the city still needs our help. See you around."

"Farewell, warriors." Taki then threw a small pellet on the ground, which exploded into a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, Taki was gone.

After taking a moment to recover, the group flew from the ship into the city of Artai. Inside the city, the battle was at its bloodiest. The corrupted army was slowly making its way toward the capital, leaving a trail of death behind it.

"Dammit, Archduchess Arashi doesn't have an otome, she's defenseless against a horde that size! Miyu, Shizuru, go on ahead to the capital, try to hold them back. Verona, Kaia, and I will find Nightmare. Go!"

Miyu leapt across rooftops towards the capital, followed closely by Shizuru. The other three took off down a side street, fighting through corrupted soldiers as they went. They continued to whittle down the army as they searched for the azure knight. Reaching the center of the now diminished horde, they finally found their target. Nightmare stood atop a pile of rubble, looking down at the three.

"Why is it that no matter where I go, you are always there to bother me?" the knight groaned.

"We wouldn't give you so much trouble if you'd just die!" Kaia shouted, charging towards him.

Nightmare raised his sword in time to block the blow, but was unable to prevent Verona's shuriken that came flying at his side. Desperately, he shoved Kaia aside and leapt back, barely dodging the spinning blades. He barely had time to catch his balance when Notokishi came swinging at him. Nightmare swung out with his monster arm, knocking her aside.

"Notokishi!" Verona yelled, running to her side.

Kaia was the only one attacking him now. Kaia struck again and again at the knight, unleashing small blasts of frost with each blow. Nightmare deflected the strikes, allowing the frost to injure him slightly. Seeing an opening, Nightmare swung at Kaia's waist. Kaia groaned as the sword scraped across her skin. She responded with an enraged downward slash, sending forth a great burst of cold and ice shards. Again, Nightmare endured the attack with minor injuries. Kaia bared her teeth.

"Dammit, die already!" she cried.

Kaia ran at Nightmare again. The knight prepared himself for another frenzied blow, but noticed something was different about his opponent. Her stance was now more composed, her now silver eyes had turned to those of a beast, and crystal like armor had formed on her upper body and waist. Most of all, she was smiling as she ran at him. Kaia slammed into Nightmare, knocking the knight back.

"Wha?" he said, struggling to his feet.

Just as he stood up, Kaia sent another powerful blow at him. Nightmare ignited Soul Edge and swung to meet the blow. Kaia caught the flaming blade with her bare hand, much to his surprise. With her other hand, Kaia raised Angheol toward the sky, and a jagged coat of ice formed on the blade.

"My turn!" Kaia said in a voice that was only half her own.

Kaia brought down the frozen blade. Nightmare cried out in pain as the jagged sword sliced through his armor into his chest.

"Hahahahaha! How does it feel, azure knight, to be struck by my frozen steel?" Kaia's voice was now indistinguishable between a man's and her own.

"Uggh…how does it feel, foolish girl, to become a true monster?"

Kaia's smile faded. Her expression changed from joy to shock. Taking advantage of this, Nightmare kicked Kaia back. Thrusting his blade into the ground, Nightmare disappeared in an explosion of fire.

"Kaia!" Notokishi yelled as she and Verona ran toward her.

"Are you alright?" Verona asked.

Kaia stood still, facing away from them.

"Kaia?" Verona stepped toward her.

Kaia turned around, swinging her sword at Verona. Verona fell backward, yelling in pain.

"Verona!" Notokishi said, kneeling next to her.

Kaia's eyes slowly faded from silver back to orange, and she saw what she had done. Verona lay in Notokishi's arms, with a bloody gash along her chest.

"V-Verona?" she stuttered, horrified.

"Kaia! What the hell is wrong with you?" Notokishi yelled.

"I-I didn't mean to! I'm sorry! I don't know what-"

You know exactly what happened, Kaia.

Kaia stared at Angheol. "W-Wha?"

We became one, and we spilled her delicious blood. Congratulations Kaia, you've become a true monster.

"No…NO! What have I done? NOOOOOOOO!" Kaia screamed as she began to fly away.

"Kaia!" Notokishi cried. "Wait!"

Notokishi's cries never reached her, she had already vanished from sight.

"KAIA!" Notokishi felt Verona start to go limp in her arms. "Verona, no! Stay with me! Come on! Verona!"

Verona closed her eyes and went still.

"VERONA!"