Chapter 99: Soul Edge's awakening
- Siegfried! – exclaimed Zasalamel, who seemed glad to see him. – We were waiting for you!
- You! – roared the German warrior furiously. – You involved me in this!
- I thought you'd never realize. – replied Zasalamel mockingly.
- Now I'm not an idiot any more. You'll never manipulate me again!
- Soul Edge needs a body and it wants yours. – said Zasalamel. – If I were you, I wouldn't put up any resistance.
Siegfried didn't seem to be surprised at that. All the people in the cathedral were listening to the conversation, so the battle had stopped.
- Okay. – said Siegfried.
- A wise decision. – replied Zasalamel, who hadn't expected that it would be so easy, smiling.
- But don't sing your praises yet. I'll let Soul Edge enter my body, but not my soul.
Zasalamel laughed.
- Do you think you can resist? Don't be a fool.
- Now I can. I know Soul Edge very well now, and I'm prepared to confront it. – claimed Siegfried.
- Fine… Let's see if that is true. Come closer.
Siegfried approached the altar Soul Edge was on with determined step.
- I think you already know how it works. – said Zasalamel.
Siegfried looked at the evil sword and talked in a loud voice:
- Nightmare, do you hear me?
He didn't get any answer.
- Your horror story ends here. When I have you inside me, I'll let both of us be destroyed. And the nightmare will end once and for all.
This time he did get an answer: an evil laugh which resounded all over the cathedral.
Without any other delay, Siegfried stretched his arm out and grabbed Soul Edge's hilt.
As soon as he did so, the cathedral began to shake.
- At last! – exclaimed a radiant Zasalamel.
...
Siegfried's body started to mutate from the hand which was holding Soul Edge to the rest of his body.
His skin got darker, his golden hair turned red and soon his eyes were glowing evilly.
Suddenly, the evil laugh, which was still sounding, faded away and it started coming out from Siegfried's mouth.
Then, the cathedral's roof was blowed away by a mysterious force and its pieces were sent flying to the sky…a sky which had turned red with black clouds.
The tremor became a small earthquake. The cathedral's floor started to crack, and the altar broke into pieces.
Suddenly, Nightmare's armor pieces were attracted by Siegfried's body, which was soon covered in the dark armor. Now, he looked just like Nightmare, but this time there was a person inside the armor.
Siegfried, or Nightmare, or whoever was inside the armor raised Soul Edge as a sign of victory.
Zasalamel immediately knelt before him.
The cracks in the floor became deeper. Now some parts of the floor were higher and some were lower.
On the highest one, Zasalamel was still kneeling before Nightmare and Soul Edge. Close to them, Sophitia hugged her sister's corpse.
Rock, Ivy, Cervantes, Raphael and Alan were on another one; Kilik, Maxi, Xianghua, Taki and Heishiro were on a third one, while Yunsung, Mi-na and Hwang were on the last one. Hwang's men and Cervantes' crew were all distributed among these three levels.
Nightmare looked around and talked in a voice even more sinister than usual:
- Why aren't you fighting? Kill them all! – he ordered, making clear that Siegfried's soul hadn't resisted as much as he had expected.
- All of them? Soul Calibur's possible wielders too? – asked one of the zombies.
- Of course!
Then, the battle started again all over the cathedral.
- Wait a moment, sir. – asked Zasalamel, and then he addressed Sophitia. – You, pick up Soul Calibur. You two use both swords to finally kill me.
- And take the risk that Soul Edge might suffer any harm? – yelled the dark knight, and he laughed again.
Zasalamel looked at him, frowning in disbelief. His face showed true despair. Behind him, Sophitia picked Soul Calibur up and stood up, not knowing what to do.
Then, Nightmare grabbed Zasalamel's shirt front and threw him away. Zasalamel fell to one of the lower levels, and Nightmare now was face to face with a terrified Sophitia.
- Your end has arrived, Soul Calibur! – he roared when he was about to destroy the woman and her sword with Soul Edge.
However, before he could do so, something happened.
Something had come between them and received the blow.
It was Zasalamel, who had teleported there.
Soul Edge had pierced his chest and ripped his abdomen, making him scream in pain, but he remained standing.
- Run! – said Zasalamel to Sophitia. – I'll take care of him. Protect Soul Calibur!
The woman obeyed and she managed to jump to a lower level of the floor, moving away from Nightmare and Soul Edge. The dark knight tried to follow her, but Zasalamel prevented him from doing so.
However, Sophitia had unfortunately jumped to the same level where Cervantes was. When the pirate saw her, aimed his gun at her in an attempt to destroy Soul Calibur and protect Soul Edge.
- Don't move, sweetheart! – yelled the pirate smiling evilly.
Kilik, Maxi, Xianghua, Heishiro and Taki were fighting together; like Ivy, Raphael, Rock and Alan, and finally Yunsung, Mi-na and Hwang.
Cervantes was about to pull the trigger when Rock jumped on him and they started to fight about the pirate's gun.
That left Ivy, Raphael and Alan at a strong disadvantage, because they were surrounded by about ten zombies.
Meanwhile, Zasalamel and Nightmare were still fighting. Zasalamel could only use his damaged body, while Nightmare used Soul Edge.
- Give in! – yelled Soul Edge's wielder. – You know you can't beat me.
- And you know I can't die! – replied Zasalamel.
At that moment, Nightmare put his sword's tip on Zasalamel's Adam's apple.
- Your beloved friend, Olcadan, gave me a great idea before dying.
Before Zasalamel could react, Nightmare quickly cut his head off. Zasalamel's dead body fell to the ground at Nightmare's feet, while his head, still living, rolled out.
After decapitating his servant, Nightmare looked for Sophitia again. As soon as he saw her, he ran after her at full speed.
Taki noticed that.
- Mitsurugi! – she yelled.
When the samurai looked at her, she pointed with her finger at Sophitia and Nightmare.
The Greek woman ran towards them, who were on the level which was closest to the door.
- Help her out! – ordered Heishiro to Taki. – I'll take care of that monster.
Taki didn't want him to run that risk on his own, but she knew that arguing will only get things worse.
As soon as Sophitia brushed past them, Heishiro came into her way and stretched his arm. Sophitia understood: she handed Soul Calibur to him and left the cathedral running, along with the ninja.
Seconds later, before reaching the door, they could hear the two swords clashing.
- Ha! I finally found a worthy foe. – claimed Heishiro, smiling, face to face with Nightmare.
...
Meanwhile, the disadvantages for our main characters were increasing. Now not only Ivy, Raphael and Alan were in a tight situation, but also Kilik, Maxi and Xianghua, after Heishiro and Taki had taken on other responsibilities.
- We won't do it! – said Raphael and Maxi at the same time, each one of them on his level.
Ivy and the French man were feeling death too close. Then, the woman showed her ace up her sleeve.
- I'm going to do something that could be dangerous. – she warned. – But it's our only chance.
- Go on! – yelled Raphael, defending himself from the pirates.
Ivy pushed a button which was on her sword's hilt. The sword's blade divided into pieces, looking like a chain or a metallic snake. It seemed to be alive.
She brandished her weapon with a war cry, and its magical blade spread all over the place. Pieces of steel were flying at full speed around them, and shortly after all the pirates surrounding them had had at least one extremity cut off by the unpredictable blade.
However, when Ivy was folding her sword, one of the pieces turned treacherous and went through its owner's right thigh. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground, grabbing her wounded leg.
- Ivy! – exclaimed Alan.
- Ugh! – she complained. – I…I feel dizzy… I think I'm dying.
Raphael knelt beside her.
- Let me see, I have experience in medicine… - he said, being grateful for the first time for his father having insisted on teaching medicine to him.
He took a quick but careful look at Ivy's wound.
- You're lucky. I think femoral artery and vein aren't damaged.
- What does that mean? – asked Ivy, who had closed her eyes and was about to lose consciousness.
- It means that you may live. But we have to stop the haemorrhage. I need something to make a tourniquet.
- Something like what? – asked Alan.
- A small elastic cloth, to tie a knot.
- Will this do? – inquired Ivy.
She had taken out a cloth which looked like a sort of a bag. Raphael examined it. It had a golden embroidery saying: "Cervantes de León".
- I'll try. – he ruled, before getting on with it.
...
Kilik, Maxi and Xianghua were surrounded by six or seven pirates, who had killed all Hwang's men on that level.
- Get out of here! – suddenly said Maxi.
- What? – replied his friends at the same time.
- Go! I'll take care of them.
- But…they'll kill you! – yelled Xianghua.
- I know. But if you stay here, they'll kill the three of us. You two have a future in common. I have already fulfilled my goal watching Astaroth die. Now I will reunite with my crew…and with my brother.
- Maxi… - sighed Kilik, knowing that he couldn't dissuade his friend.
- You know I'm right. You two love each other. I know you love me too, but not in the same way. Get out of here. Do it for you…and for me.
While they talked, they had to defend themselves from the zombies.
- The door is near. – insisted Maxi. – If you run, you'll reach it before they kill me.
Kilik and Xianghua looked at the mentioned door and then at each other. As many other times, they talked with their eyes: none of them wanted to leave Maxi behind, but they knew that it was the best they could do.
- If I ever have a son, he'll bear your name. – finally said Kilik holding back his tears. – I love you, my friend.
- I love you too, pal. – replied the Japanese pirate, and then he addressed Xianghua. – I love you two.
- You're a hero, Maxi. – claimed the girl smiling at him, something that made Maxi feel happy even when he was about to die.
And he was happy too when he saw his friends, hand in hand, running towards the cathedral's door.
One, two…
Maxi's nunchakus were unfolded fiercely againt the half a dozen pirates attacking him.
A stab in one side almost made him fell, but he had to resist.
Three, four….
When the steel sliced his back he knew his life was coming to an end. He fell on his knees and raised his eyes just in time to see Kilik and Xianghua leaving the cathedral.
Finally, with his last effort, he brandished his nunchakus to disable the fifth and the sixth zombies.
That was the last heroic deed of the pirate from Ryukyu.
...
- Please, kill me…
Kilik and Xianghua listened to that sinister voice when they were about to leave the cathedral.
Kilik looked around, confused, until he discovered who had spoken: Zasalamel's living head was on the floor, near them.
- Kill me, I don't mind how, kill me… - begged the desperate head, which had never been so far from its hood.
Kilik checked that the pirates weren't following them, so he took time to approach the head.
- You killed the master, didn't you? – he said angrily.
Zasalamel's reaction was as surprising as clarifying: he started to cry.
- I'm sorry… I'm very sorry…
- I'm sorry too… - replied Kilik. – …but you deserve a crueler fate than his.
And, before Xianghua's astonished look, he kicked the head, which fell down one of the cracks on the floor. Zasalamel's cry was heartbreaking.
- Kilik… - said a shocked Xianghua. – You doomed him to an eternal torture.
- No… - replied her boyfriend. – There was no way to kill him without destroying the world such as we know it. We couldn't do anything for him. He doomed himself.
Finally, the couple left the Cathedral, embraced.
...
Still inside the cathedral, Yunsung, Mi-na and Hwang had been luckier than the rest of the group, because they were at an advantage and they managed to disable all the zombies surrounding them.
However, at that moment, the damaged columns and walls of the cathedral started to collapse, little by little.
Suddenly, a piece of rubble hit Mi-na on her head, and she was knocked unconscious.
- Mi-na! – yelled the two men, hurrying to help her.
They were running towards her when a sudden big shake, added to the fact that the level was quite leaning, made Hwang lose balance and fall backwards.
He was about to fall down a crack, but he managed to cling to the floor. However, another shake made his arms roll. Then, he felt someone holding him. Yunsung had grabbed his arm.
- Are you…helping me? – asked a surprised Hwang.
- I'm not the kind of man who lets a fellow die. – replied Yunsung, although his face made clear that he still didn't stand Hwang.
Then, Hwang realized how Yunsung really was. He was about to talk to him about it when another shake made the floor under Yunsung crack, endangering the youngster's balance too.
- Yunsung! How is Mi-na? – asked Hwang.
- She's fine, she's breathing. I don't think there will be any nasty after-effects.
- You have to go and help her. – said Hwang. – This is going to fall down.
- I'll do it as soon as I save you. – replied Yunsung, panting, fighting to pull Hwang out of the crack.
- No! You have to drop me. Or we will both fall.
Yunsung thought about that. He knew he was risking his own life and, of course, Hwang didn't deserve it. However, he was already carrying a man's death on his mind and, since then, he hadn't been able to sleep peacefully. It had been in self-defense, but he felt he was a murderer and he wanted redemption.
- I'm not dropping you, Hwang. – claimed Yunsung. – Furthermore, Mi-na wouldn't forgive me for doing it.
- You're wrong. If there's someone she'll never forgive, that's me. I behaved very badly to you always helped her.
Another shake. Yunsung was starting to roll. He was about to fall too.
- Take this as my apology. – finally said Hwang.
Before Yunsung could even wonder what he was talking about, Hwang unsheathed his saber with his freehand and, quickly, he cut off his other arm, which Yunsung was grabbing.
Horrified, the boy watched Hwang falling into space and, as a reflex reaction, he dropped Hwang's arm, which fell along with him. However, he couldn't stay shocked for a long time, because another shake forced him to move in order not to fall too. He managed to escape and, once he was safe, he carried Mi-na in his arms and headed to the cathedral's door.
...
When Yunsung and Mi-na got out of the cathedral, Taki, Sophitia, Kilik, Xianghua, Alan, Raphael and Ivy, who had finally survived thanks to the French man, were already there. So, only Nightmare, Heishiro, Rock and Cervantes were still inside.
- What happened to her? – asked Xianghua to Yunsung when she saw him carrying Mi-na.
- A piece of rubble hit her head. I don't think it's a serious wound, but I'm not sure
- Let me see… - said Raphael.
The youngster left the girl at Raphael's feet, and he ruled that her life wasn't in danger, although it was impossible to know if she would have after-effects.
- And Maxi? Where is he? – inquired Yunsung.
Kilik and Xianghua's sad faces answered his question. He approached and hugged them to confort them.
- Get far from here. All of you. – said someone suddenly. It was Taki. – You have already lost too much in there.
- And what will you do? – asked Raphael.
- I…I'll try not to lose too much too. – answered the ninja. – I'll go back there and help Heishiro to defeat that damned monster.
- Then we'll help you. – replied Yunsung.
- No! You have strong reasons to leave this place… Sophitia has a family, Kilik and Xianghua have each other, Mi-na and Yunsung too, Raphael has a daughter…
- I don't have anybody. – claimed Ivy. – In fact, the only person I really care for now, is in that cathedral too. So I'll go with you.
- Ivy… - said Alan suddenly. – I'm sorry to tell you that Rock can't be saved…and me either.
- W-what?
- We could only continue living if Soul Edge continues existing. And that would be horrible for all of us.
- But…he told me that…you said…Soul Calibur…
- I made it up. – confessed Alan. – I know and I've always known that as soon as Soul Edge disappears, the same will happen to me. And I don't mind. I know what is right, and I know I have to sacrifice myself for the greater good. I told Rock that to give hope to him, so that he wouldn't stop fighting and would keep on the right track. However, he's doomed the same way I am. We're dead and…dead is dead. I'm very sorry.
Ivy was shocked.
- I know he would want you to be safe. And I'll see to it. So, until that bloody sword is destroyed, I'll be by your side and I won't let you endanger your life. All right?
Ivy doubted for a few seconds.
- All right. – she answered while a single tear rolled down her face.
- That's what I wanted to hear. – said Taki. – Now, please, go. Leave it up to us.
Reluctantly, the rest of the group moved away from the cathedral, trusting Heishiro and Taki would solve the problem.
Taki waited until they got out of her sight, and then, when she was about to enter the cathedral again, she heard a female voice behind her back:
- Excuse me…can I find Heishiro Mitsurugi in here?
Taki turned around and was very surprised at what she saw. There were two women in front of her: one of them had European features but was wearing a Japanese suit, while the other one seemed to be a teenager from Southeast Asia and was wearing very strange clothes.
...
Meanwhile, inside the cathedral, Heishiro was still fighting against Nightmare while Rock struggled with Cervantes.
Suddenly, a column collapsed and fell on Cervantes, immobilizing him.
Rock took advantage of it and decided to help Heishiro.
The two of them were managing to overpower Nightmare, who was now fighting against an immortal zombie and the most powerful warrior in the world.
However, something tipped the scales back in Nightmare's favour: a gunshot.
Cervantes had managed to get rid of some of the rubble, he had reached his gun and he had shot Heishiro. The shot hit Heishiro's leg, and he fell to the ground and dropped Soul Calibur.
The pirate was about to shoot the samurai again and finally kill him, but Rock reacted in time and prevented him from doing so.
Meanwhile, Nightmare took advantage of the situation and kicked Heishiro, moving him away from Soul Calibur.
Instead of trying to kill the warrior, Nightmare preferred to destroy at once the only sword which could defeat him.
Heishiro witnessed in horror how the dark knight raised Soul Edge and, with all his might, sank it into Soul Calibur.
The Holy Sword, which had been shining during the whole battle, broke into pieces and its shine faded out.
Nightmare, pleased, laughed loudlier than ever before. He was enjoying so much that he didn't notice Heishiro leaving the cathedral with his last effort.
Seconds after the samurai got out of the Lost Cathedral, it finally collapsed.
But that didn't matter: the three people inside were too powerful or invulnerable to die in there. Soul Edge had won. And Soul Calibur…didn't exist any more.