Chapter 71: Hope
- What happened? – asked Kilik to Xianghua when they stood up.
- I have no idea. – she said, looking at her sword, not knowing that it had been Soul Calibur a few moments ago.
She picked it up and Kilik did the same with his staff.
They looked around, trying to find a trace of the hooded man. They didn't succeed.
They were exhausted and sad, but they knew they had to carry on.
They sat to eat some fruit and to talk about their next step. They had lost their guide, so they hadn't any idea where to go.
- What shall we do now? – she asked after some minutes of silence.
Kilik seemed to had avoided talking about what had happened, but he couldn't do it any more.
- I don't know. – he answered. – I think we should first…say goodbye to the master.
He looked at her eyes one more time and she knew what he meant.
After they finished eating, they stood up again and headed back to where they had left the master.
When they arrived there and saw the dead body, they felt the same: a mixture of sadness, rage and sickness.
Edge Master, who had been like a father for them during the last weeks, lay on the floor face up. His skin was now white as snow, his gaze was lifeless and his own trident was stuck on his chest.
That sight overwhelmed Kilik. He approached the corpse and knelt beside it. Then, he cried. He cried as much as he had done only once in his life: when he was forced to kill Xianglian.
And his hopes fell along with his tears.
- It's useless! – he yelled, sobbing. – Whatever we do to destroy that sword, it will always beat us! Why should we carry on fighting?
Xianghua felt very disappointed when she heard that, but instead of collapsing as well, she decided to try to cheer him up.
She approached him and put a hand on one of his shoulders.
- I'm very sorry, Kilik. – she said very sweetly. – But we can't give in. Not now.
- Now? Now is the perfect moment to give in. We don't know where to go. We just have a little sword and an useless staff. – he grumbled, resigned.
She bent down and put her arms around his neck.
- That's not true. – she whispered. – We have something more.
- Really? – Kilik turned his face towards her. - What?
- I have you... – Xianghua moved her face closer to Kilik's. She could see clearly the tears rolling down his cheek now. - ...and you have me.
At that moment, their lips met.
They separated a few seconds later, although they thought it had been an eternity.
Then their eyes met one more time, but this time it was different. They were saying "I love you" with their eyes.
Kilik smiled and Xianghua smiled back at him.
However, they wouldn't be smiling for a long time, because they would be kissing again short after.
Anyway, Xianghua had succeeded. Kilik had hope again.