Chapter 30: The sword's servant

Raphael followed the crow for almost a month.

A normal person probably wouldn't have been able to follow the animal for such a long time, but the Evil Seed made Raphael faster and more resistant, and it also improved his sight and orientation.

Thanks to that, Raphael only ate one piece of fruit a day and he only rested two hours a night.

At last, the crow arrived at a ruined castle. Raphael felt something when he arrived there. An evil energy which was connected to the one inside him.

Raphael hadn't noticed it, but the crow had taken him out of France and now he was in West Germany.

The bird disappeared among the castle's towers and Raphael decided to go in to investigate.

However, there was a wide moatfull of waterbetween him and the castle's door. He kept watch over it for some minutes and he didn't see anything dangerous in it, so he decided to swim across it.

He wasn't wrong and arrived at the other side safe and sound.

He decided to knock at the door, but the castle seemed to be abandoned.

The Evil Seed also made Raphael stronger, so he kicked the door and knocked it down, the subsequent crash causing a flock of crows to fly away from the castle.

Raphael silently entered the dark castle, holding his rapier uphigh.

He had never been in such a ghastly place.

The castle had very few windows. The dim light that came in throughthem made the desert corridors and rooms look really eerie.

There was nothing in good conditions in there.

All furniture was scattered and spoilt.

There were chains hanging fromsome walls. There were torches too, but they were all unlit.

Raphael went through a narrow corridor and arrived at a room which probably was the best kept.

There was a large table in the middle of the room and a huge painting on the wall on the other side.

The painting depicted a very tall man wearing a great armor and long blond hair, evidence of his probable German origin. He had a scar that went throughhis blue right eye, and he was wielding a huge sword…with an eye in the middle of its black wide blade.

Raphael soon realizedit was Soul Edge, but at that very moment he was hit on the head and knocked out.

...

When Raphael woke up, he believed he was dreaming, and that was no wonder.

He was chained up in a room where he hadn't been before.

Near him, there was a weird-lookingwoman stroking and talking to a crow.

Woman? Raphael looked at her more carefully and he realized that she was almost a teenager.

Scattered all over the floor were what seemed to be pieces of an armor.

However, what most made Raphael believe to be in a dream, was something onthe other side of the room. Inside a transparent chest, glowing with evil, was the very Soul Edge.

Suddenly, the sword's eye looked right at Raphael's, and he felt rage growing inside him. He had never wished so much to kill somebody.

The eye looked away and that feeling faded away.

It seemed that the girl who was talking to the crow didn't suffer the effects of Soul Edge.

Raphael then remembered the hooded man's words: "You're wrong if you think that being possessed by the Evil Seed will make you more resistant to Soul Edge. Instead, it will make you more vulnerable."

Raphael thought that maybe he could break the chains using the strength the Evil Seed granted him. He tried to do it, but he only called the attention of the girl.

- Oh! Look, Blacky. – said the girl to the crow, with a loving tone. – Our guest has awakened.

She smiled in a way that would have seemed innocent in any other girl, but it looked frightening onher.

- Who are you? – asked Raphael.

- He's handsome and strong. – the girl continued talking to the bird, ignoring Raphael. – He could be a good body.

The girl approached Raphael and caressed his chest. Her hand slidsoftly over his shirt as if she feared to damage what she was touching.

Raphael was petrified. He didn't know what to do.

She movedher hand up toRaphael's chin and raised his head to look at his eyes.

- There's already something of the sword in him. – she whispered, satisfied.

Not only the girl saw the Evil Seed's glare in the other's eyes. Raphael realized that she was also possessed.

- Why doesn't it affectyou? – yelled Raphael, pointing at the sword with a move of his head.

The girl didn't pay any attention to his words.

She whispered something to the crow and sent it to the sky through a window, as if it were a homing pigeon.

Then she did something even more surprising.

- Boss! I have a body in here!

The chestcontaining Soul Edge suddenly opened. The pieces of armor started shaking and they came together, making up a whole armor.

Finally, the sword got out of the chest, floating in the air as if being moved by invisible threads.

The armor moved as if there was a person inside it and it grabbed the sword.

The girl knelt before the armor.

- Are you sure? – said a deep voice, which seemed to come out from the helmet.

- I don't know, sir. – answered the girl, without raising her eyes. – He looks strong, but I don't know if he is worthy of the sword.

- Let's see...

The armor walked towards Raphael with unbelievable skill.

It put Soul Edge near Raphael's neck, but the sword's blade didn't touch his skin. Despite of it, Raphael started to scream out in pain.

The armor made the torture last some minutes and it finally moved the sword away from him.

- No, he is not useful.

- I apologize, sir. What do I do with him?

- Kill him.

- Can I…have fun? – asked the girl with a pretendedsmile.

- Do whatever you want, but I warn you: if he escapes,you'll be food for the crows.

The sword moved back to the chest, which magically closed.

The armor collapsed and its pieces became scattered again.

The girl looked at Raphael with an evil grin.

She approached him again and she softly bit his upper lip.

- I'll be back right away, sweetheart. – she whispered, making Raphael shudder.

The girl left the roomjumping for joy as a schoolgirl.

Raphael was alone with the sword and the pieces of armor now. He didn't see his rapier anywhere.

He had to do something, but…what?