Chapter 16: The Greatest Nightmare

"That voice…" Notokishi muttered. Kaia stood in front of her, with bright silver eyes and smiling wickedly.

"So you remember me, good. That will make things so much easier for you to understand." Kaia said in a man's voice.

"Let me guess, you're Angheol's spirit, aren't you?"

"That's correct."

"How are you still alive? I smashed you to pieces!"

"Oh, I transferred my spirit into Kaia some time ago. Now that her mind and heart have been shattered, I am in full control of her body."

"You bastard…leave her alone! Do you have any idea what's happened to her because of you?"

"Of course. I've been influencing her every action for the past month."

"You mean-?"

Kaia's smile grew bigger. "I made her lose her right to be an otome."

Notokishi scowled in absolute rage at this.

Kaia bent over and picked up Angheol's hilt, the only thing that remained of the black sword.

"I can't take all the credit though. After all, this wasn't just my plan. Right, Soul Edge?"

Notokishi looked over at the remnants of the demon sword. Even though it was split in half, its eye was still wide open. Kaia held out her empty hand, and the half of Soul Edge that held the eye flew to her hand.

"Now do you understand? We needed to know which of us had the strongest wielder, so that we could make them our ultimate instrument of annihilation! With that fool Siegfried out of the way, we have at last found our champion!"

Notokishi stood in disbelief. "All the times you fought…were just tests to see who was stronger?"

Kaia laughed maniacally as the weapons she held began to glow with power. Then raising them high, she began to chant.

"Of deathly cold, and hellish flame

Humanity's light, shall fear our name

Through blood and slaughter, we craft our fame

Twin shadows combined-

THE ETHER BANE!"

With that, Kaia brought the weapons together, and a tremendous burst of power was released. Notokishi looked away from the source of the energy and stood her ground, watching the room around them blow apart from the burst. When the blast had finished, she looked around at her surroundings. From what she could see, she was still in Nightmare's castle, only now she stood on the roof. Around the edges of the platform, pillars of fiery rock and silver crystal had risen. In the center of the platform, a cloud of purple and black smoke was swirling where Kaia had been standing.

"It is done." said a mixture of voices from within the cloud.

Out of the smoke stepped forth a nightmarish being. With Kaia as their vessel, Soul Edge and Angheol had horribly corrupted her body. Kaia now wore no armor, only feathers separated her skin from the elements. Her hair had become long and red, and she now had one yellow eye and one silver eye. Her right arm was completely frozen over and covered in icy thorns, while her left arm had been stripped of its flesh and was ablaze with hellfire. She had grown a single pair of large wings, each of which possessed a menacing, angry eye.

Notokishi gazed at the gruesome features in horror and disgust, but what frightened her most of all was the blade in Kaia's hand. Like Angheol, it was a large sword with an Ω shaped hand-guard, and had a pair of spikes along its blade. Like Soul Edge, the innermost portions of the sword resembled demonic flesh, and sitting near the bottom of the blade was a single yellow eye.

"What did you do? What happened to Kaia?" Notokishi demanded.

The demon girl smiled at her. "She is a part of us now." it said in Kaia, Angheol, and Soul Edge's voice. "Her soul is trapped within this form, while we are in control of its actions. Now, we are Ether Bane, the ultimate sword of destruction. With our combined powers, we will annihilate this world!"

"…"

"What's the matter? Have you been silenced by our words?"

"No." Notokishi glared at the demon as she readied Soul Calibur. "If what you say is true, then Kaia's still in there somewhere. I promised I'd bring her back home, and if I have to cut you apart to get her back, so be it."

"You think you stand a chance? Foolish girl. We are many, you are but one."

"This isn't Mortal Kombat, dumbass. Now give Kaia back!"

Notokishi charged at the demon. The girl swung Ether Bane, and a massive wave of purple fire roared towards Notokishi. Notokishi stopped as the flames slammed into her. When they cleared, she continued to run towards the demon, partly singed from the fire. This time the demon girl drove Ether Bane into the ground, and a series of frozen purple spikes rose up. Caught by surprise, Notokishi was knocked back from the impact. She clutched her side as she struggled to her feet. Some of the spikes had badly cut her. Still, she rose to her feet and charged again at the demon girl.

"(sigh) Still you persist? Then it seems I must teach you the meaning of pain."

The demon flew toward Notokishi. The two swung at each other as they collided. Notokishi swung with rage and coordination at the demon, but it deflected her strikes as if it were fighting a small fly. The girl brought down Ether Bane, attempting to crush Notokishi's skull. The blow was met by a strike from Soul Calibur, locking the two warriors in place.

"Can you feel it, princess? With every blow, Soul Calibur weakens. Our power is too great for it to withstand."

"Shut up!" Notokishi kicked the girl, pushing her back. Readying her sword, she noticed small cracks had suddenly formed on Soul Calibur's blade. Dammit, I need to end this soon, otherwise it might actually break.

Notokishi rushed toward the demon girl, hoping she was stilled stunned from the kick. Right as she was about to strike, the girl thrust her flaming arm at Notokishi, punching her in the face. Shaking off the blow, Notokishi delivered a deadly lightning fast strike at the girl. Gotcha! To her surprise, the girl dodged the strike and swung upward at her. Notokishi barely managed to block the attack, and stumbled back a few steps. Before she could recover, the demon brought Ether Bane down on her in a deadly arc. Notokishi blocked the strike, but was driven to her knees. The demon girl swung down at her again and again, swinging harder with each blow. Finally, the demon swung with all its might, and smashed Soul Calibur into fragments. Notokishi fell to the ground, exhausted.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha ha!"

Notokishi reached out toward the fragments. The demon stomped on her arm.

"Forget it, that piece of shit is useless now."

Notokishi tried to force herself to speak. "Mater-Aaaaaaah!" the demon had stabbed her shoulder before she could finish.

"We can't have you materializing on us now, can we?" the demon grabbed Notokishi by the collar of her coat and lifted her up.

"You know, it's actually quite ironic. Even though Kaia didn't truly love Siegfried, she still held some form of affection for him. But that is nothing compared to the one she truly loves."

The girl pulled Notokishi close so she could speak into her ear. "Would you like to know who she cherishes more than anyone else?"

Notokishi glared at the demon girl. "That's… none of my concern... she can love who she wants…"

"Even if it's her own sister? Even if it's YOU?"

Notokishi stared in disbelief. "What…no, she loves me as her sister, nothing more!"

"Don't bother denying it, you love her as well."

"Why would I feel something like that towards my sister? I have Verona, she's the only one those feelings are for!"

"You think those words hold any meaning? We know you've already touched once before. We saw everything."

Notokishi was about to protest again, when the demon slammed her face into the ground. Pulling her up again, the demon continued.

"For your entire mission, you were all she would think about. 'I hope Notokishi's alright.' 'If only I could make her smile again.' 'If only my feelings wouldn't hurt her and Verona.' IT MAKES ME SICK!" the demon girl slammed Notokishi into the ground again, then let her go.

"You humans are revolting! Love? What a bunch of crap!" the demon pointed Ether Bane at Notokishi's head. "Once I kill you, maybe I'll go tell that Verona girl all about this! And when she's finished crying over her broken heart, how about I violate her too? I can change this body and do it myself if I want! Well, what do you think of that, Notokishi?"

Notokishi got to her knees. "You want to know what I think?"

SCHINK!

"Wha…"

Notokishi clutched a fragment of Soul Calibur in her hand, and the fragment was stuck into the eye on Ether Bane.

"I THINK YOU SHOULD LEARN WHEN TO SHUT THE ***K UP!"

Glowing cracks began to form along Ether Bane, and the blade shook violently. As the cracks increased in size, the demon girl's wings began to dissolve.

"NO! Stop! This can't be! IMPOSSIBLE!"

No longer able to contain its own power, Ether Bane shattered in an explosion of darkness. The girl fell to her knees. Her fire, her ice, and all her feathers were now gone. Her eyes turned back to orange, and her hair became black once more. Notokishi caught her as she began to fall to the ground. Notokishi wrapped her arms around the girl.

"I finally got you back, little sister." she said as tears formed in her eyes.

"Noto…kishi…" Kaia whispered, hugging her tightly.

"I'm here, Kaia." Putting her coat around Kaia, she hoisted her up in her arms. "Let's go, Kaia. It's time we went home."