Chapter 25

First Battle of the Spirits! WE'RE WHERE AND THERE MY WHAT!?

The world before Will was pitch black as he walked through the void for answers of where he is. As he wondered the darkness faded away to reveal a battlefield with fresh corpses rotting away. The blood spilled from their wounds turned the landscape into a crimson swamp with the smell of it flooding his nostrils. He then heard a mysterious voice ask him "Its intoxicating isn't it?" He turned to the voice to see what appeared to be a guy in Roman Legionnaire armor with yellow eyes as he continued, "I still remember being approached by a son of Mars. My countrymen were all that stood between Roman Empire and the invaders from the East. He offered my family save haven as citizens of the Empire and in return I fight their enemies. So I went to arms for an Empire that was not my own to fight a Battle that was never mine to fight. I soon survived battles like this again and again to be flooded by the smell of blood and the muck it made with the soil. Deep in my soul grew a desire for more as though a demon slowly became one with me. Despite the warnings that grew in my mind I continued to lose myself to this crimson marsh. All of this for an Empire that would still fall by its own reach".

Soon another person like the last one appeared this wearing Templar armor as he said, "I was told that I would fight and kill in the name of my Lord and Savior. My brothers said that the war we fought was most holy. In their word I marched through the sands of the great deserts to reclaim the Holy Land from the heathens. The desert turn the sands crimson as both my brothers and the heretics fell at each other's blades but as the fighting went on I grew in doubt only to remind myself of what I was told by the bishops of our church. But I didn't care and before I knew I became a beast that cannot live without bloodshed. Only in death did I learn the truth wandering the abominable sands where my brothers gathered in hatred at the deception brought upon us by God's faithful. We fought because we were told that God would praise but in the end we were condemned because we killed in his name. Yet in the end I found joy in what I did not for our cause but in the killing and in that made me a demon born in the sands".

Another man appeared but instead of a sword and armor he wore an old uniform from the seventeen hundreds with a musket in his hands as he said, "I did not wanted to be ruled by someone who lived across the vast ocean. I did not want the death of my brother in Boston to not have meaning. I wanted to breathe life into the ideals of our leaders and so I took up arms against the crown and my father. During the last battle I found my father dying from battle with the red of his uniform and blood inseparable from one another. I didn't shed a tear and once the fighting had stopped I've been unable to let go of the battlefield. The smell of blood and gunpowder absent from my life as my body craves this with the only comfort I have is the ideals of a new nation can live on. It did nothing but let the beast within grow like a festered wound".

Will couldn't shake the feeling that he was here before but the people he was seeing in front of them were different. It was during his deep thought when he a voice he hasn't heard in years said, "A little confused about what happened, huh kid? And you're supposed to be Yuki's big brother after I died". He turned around to see someone who looked a year younger than him wearing a school's winter uniform with the jacket unbuttoned, darker eye color, and a hairstyle that practically came out of a fighting game.

Will's POV

Jin, Yuki's older brother, it was just jaw dropping seeing him after his death a couple years ago. After my old man practically abandoned me when mom died I was getting into fights with people and got beaten up for it, a lot. One time I picked a fight with the toughest punk from a local junior high for harassing some girls at his school. A kid in his last year of elementary school going up against a guy like that… I was fucked. Would've ended up with me in the hospital for a year if Jin hadn't stepped in to save my ass. It was after that he decided to help me toughen up from that day on. He was tough and was one of the biggest Tekken fans I ever knew. So big that he did his hair like Kasuma Jin and he copied his fighting style to near perfection. He even taught me enough to make my own form of the Mishima family's fighting style after finding out how effective I am as a quick learner. I started adding on to that style with moves I picked up from street fights along with a few submission holds my uncle Mike taught me the few times I visited him in the U.S.

He was one of the few people who could go toe to toe with the Yakuza without breaking a sweat. The sad part is that it was a Yakuza upstart with a short temper who killed him in the first place. Everything that happened afterwards is what kept me away from Kamurocho since.

POV ends

"Surprised? You look like you've seen a ghost" Jin said almost humorously knowing all too well that he's dead as continued, "Then again you made quite the mess in Kamurocho after I died"

"I still hate the thought of going there after what happened" Will said after he snapped himself out of it.

"And you're still quick to recover from shock. Is there anything about you that's changed… other than your looks".

"It's a long story and I really…" the situation finally sunk in, "HOLD IT! What the hell is going on? Where am I? What's with the guilt trip parade behind? And why are you here?"

"Your body is being possessed. This is your subconscious mind. They're here for security reasons. And more or less, I'm your guardian angel. You can recover from shock but you still have trouble noticing what goes on around you".

"Possessed! When did…" he recalled that he transformed into his demon at his level one restraint and that Knight dragged out the battle until he blacked out, "Holy shit I gotta get back in control ASAP".

"Yeah that's going to be tough".

"It's my mind, how the hell is it going to be tough?"

"Because the guilt trip parade is supposed to keep you here and even kill you if you try. I had to help you out last time just so you could survive"

"I thought they were suppose security"

"For you demon-half plus they have their own unique abilities"

"Unique abilities huh, this is starting to sound like the boss fights you find in video games." He takes a quick breath, "All I have to do is beat the crap out of them and I can get out of here, right?"

"Yeah but your subconscious is under the influence of your instincts which means your demon-half is in control it so there's no chance…"

He stopped the moment Will's full armor and swords appeared and equipped out of nowhere as he interrupted him, "Did I do anything similar to lucid dreaming last time" he draws Ymir's custom katana with black steam escaping his armor before he finished, "My powers and Balmung here says otherwise". He turned around to see black vapors appearing around the skin of his demon's guardians with the legionnaire being the first to step forward, "Call me Romulus after the founder of the Empire" he said, "My strength is unmatched even by my commander. Let's see if you can fare better savage" he then took a defensive stance for the coming battle. "Let's just hope it really isn't like what happened last time" he said as he prepares to fight.

Meanwhile: Outside Will's Mind

Knight was stuck in a state of panic; every attempt he had to read his opponents thoughts were futile, his wounds stopped healing for reasons unknown to him, and the behavior of his opponent has changed rapidly from disciplined fighting to fighting masked with savagery and instincts. His ribs were broken as he did what can just to stand on his own two feet. The demon's instinct for battle allowed was a rush of overwhelming force when it awakened and if he couldn't fight a way to turn the tide he might face an outcome he would never thought of for his millennia of immortality.

Back in Will's mind

The battle began as a test of might as Will and Romulus collided as their attack began. Shield and arm pushing each other in an attempt to break through the other's defenses. Romulus attempted to use opponent's focus on the shield to lunge his sword at him. "Nice try" Will said as he deflected the attack and grabbed a side of the shield, "That move is textbook for you guys as for your weakness…"he took the shield out of his hand with ease and tossed it aside before unleashing a barrage of strikes before he finished, "Legionnaires rely too much on their shields for combat without it their defenseless". He fell to the ground in defeat from Will's onslaught. He walked over the fallen warrior demanding, "Next fighter, NOW!" Black aura began seep through beaten warrior as he stood back as he yelled, "Stand Together!" his body was enveloped in pillar of his aura before he emerged in black centurion armor with sword and shield in hand before he yelled, "Legionnaires!". Troops began to march out of the pillar until an entire unit appeared behind him in formation, "This is the true strength of the legion, what the too for granted, and what soon lead to the fall of the Empire" he said boasting his power.

"That's is, clones?" Will asked as he drawn his second sword, "I faced worse in Kamurocho and the guys there had guns".

As black steam began to escape Will's armor to attempt his transformation Romulus commanded, "ADVANCE!" They followed orders and marched with a wall of shields blocking any direct means of attack. Will's attempt succeeded but the power he had felt different so he thought, "It feels it more restricted, guess with my other running the show I can't fight at full power. How am I gonna even…wait how am I thinking at all being inside my own mind like some writers gap in judgement or cliché!? Focus Will one thing at a time; I can't go wild or go for quick strikes with my powers like this" he then remember Knight saying something about learning to better use his aura, "Maybe I could do something about that, maybe channeling it somehow but that will only help if I was fighting a few of them. Come on Will think, Spartans and Legionnaires are known for their defensive formation and their body count as a team. I can't just cut through their shields and bodies without my ass hanging out for one of them to get me like when he tried… THAT'S IT!" He started charging forward as his aura started to envelop his body and began to vanish except for the translucent sliver covering him and his swords. One foot before he collided with them he bended his knees lowering himself. He then lunged himself forward breaking through their lines in what could only be described as vortex of steel until he reached the center of their formation and started cutting one legionnaire after another. One of them attempted to strike him as his back was turn when something unimaginable happened. Four more arms holding swords appeared and one of them blocked the attack. They appeared to be made out of pure aura with a solid for. "Hey Romulan" Will yelled as he continued to cut down the copies, "How ya like the new technique. I think I'll call it the Majin Sword Stance: Asura. It's nothing like an army but with my new trick and this technique is making short work of them. Why not quit and I might let you go so you can go back to that she wolf you call mommy". All that was left was the leader whose attack cost him his arm.

Before Will could finish him he says, "I concede" his eyes changed from yellow to blue as if the control over him lifted "Strength alone doesn't pave the way to victory or life. By channeling the strength of both body and spirit you can obtain more than you can dream. When Rome fell I was aimless until bandits attacked my home and kidnapped my family. I hunted them down, killed them, and found my family confined to a cage. My wife raped and was pregnant with the child of the man who violated her, youngest child and daughter was lying lifeless on the ground in front of their cage, and my two sons were beaten and bruised with anger burning strongly in their eyes over the loss of their sister. My neglect towards them for my inner demon led to this so I use my strength in spirit to cage the beast that drove me away and helped my family restore what was lost. I even took in the newborn bastard child as my own hoping it will aid me in my path to atonement with my family and in my newfound faith".

As he stood he began to fade away. Will asked quickly, "Can you give me your name before you go poof?"

"Are you going to apologize for your insulting your own ancestor?"

"My what?"

"You bear the name of our clan changed by the sands of time. We bare the curse of the clan as it carries our presence from father to son. The curse took form as the demon within you, it breathed life to us within your mind, it uses us as sentries ready to bind you, and that is what can earn us our freedom. Fight us alone in battle until we can concede so we can be free from the grip of this curse that binds us".

"I'll be sure to save the others then. It would be an all new hell if you can't move on especially with people waiting for you all this time. And… sorry for the trash talk".

Before vanishing completely he said, "Thank you and May God watch over you flesh of our flesh as the evil within you runs through us all".

The Templar knight was the next to step forward as he thought, "Time for Round 2"

Back to Knight's battle

His opponent suddenly reached for its head as it screamed as though he was overwhelmed by a sharp pain. He took advantaged of this a landed a slash across the torso. The aura seeped through the cut trying to heal his wound only to leave a scar thanks to the attack's severity. A fight inside and one outside with the outcome of one can influence the other but to end is anyone's guess.