Clock Tower, Northern Poland
Having long ago lost his connection to the flow and passage of time, the ancient sage found a sliver of that attachment here.
Many years ago, he had battled warriors from across the world who searched for the Embrace of Souls, prodded by his manipulations for the strengthening of the two swords. It was a time when the warrior was disquieted by his countless cycles of death and rebirth and sought release.
But it would not come from the two swords.
Now he was content, his current body remained strong and capable of lasting for at least two more decades before he died and was reborn again. Even as the war of souls and swords raged far to the south of his home, Zasalamel was content.
"Do you feel it?" Zasalamel inquired of his new meditating ward. The ancient sage circled around the silver haired girl, silently prodding her unreadable features for any sign of his hopes for the girl. When he saw her shake, he knew that she discovered something, "Come child, what do you feel?"
"Conflict...death...destruction..." The girl known as Viola responded, the orb in her hands glowing with energies of red, blue and purple as though on fire, "The daughter of Sophitia is lost within her own despair."
"The clashing powers of the two swords are at war within her."
"Yes...and her soul is being torn apart."
"Then perhaps death is the only way to release her from her torment." It was a pity, but not unforeseen. Zasalamel personally knew of the destructive consequences of combining the powers of Soul Edge and Soul Calibur. Now the world would suffer greatly at the hands of Siegfried's folly. What madness had possessed him to yield Soul Calibur to the son of the Holy Warrior, Sophitia?
It did not matter, it was done and now the world would see why it should not have been done.
"Do you desire to go to them?"
"I do not know..." The girl replied, it appeared that Zasalamel's attempts to have this girl regain her true identity were beginning to take shape, "I am not who I was...I am no one..."
"Do you wish to be someone?"
"Yes..."
"Then create your own identity." Zasalamel told the uncertain girl, "Do you have a name for yourself? Viola?"
"That is not my name..."
"It will be until you find one of your own."
"Amy." Zasalamel's golden eye gleamed as the sage smirked away from the resolute girl, "I am Amy Viola..."
"So you have a name, Amy. But who are you?"
"I will not find that by staying here..." Amy stated, standing up to challenge Zasalamel yet again, drawing forth a rapier from out of the orb, "I wish to leave here."
"I cannot allow that...for you are not ready."
"If I am empty then you are emptier, still." The girl stated as Zasalamel shrugged and brought out his mighty scythe, "Which do you want destroyed, body or soul?"
"I'm impressed. I had not expected this of you." Zasalamel complemented as both opponents entered their stances and readied to duel, "Very well...this should be interesting." Viola attacked first, thrusting with her rapier Albion and forcing Zasalamel to avoid the attack and swing his scythe at the girl's shoulder. His blade was intercepted by Viola's orb as Albion continued it's dance and sought to pierce Zasalamel's flesh.
The thin blade cut across Zasalamel's chest as the sage used the pummel of his scythe to trip the girl. As she fell, the sage swiftly brought the scythe's blade down through the girl's back as she cried out in pain, "What is it? Did you actually believe that we were equal? Do you now understand...the difference between us?"
"Hope only brings disappointment-"
"Then why did you hope? A little girl once told me that determination does not equal strength." Zasalamel wrenched out his scythe and kicked the girl onto her back as he knelt down beside her, "The truth of the matter is you are weak. Too weak to face the dog that you wish to destroy. Too weak to help your friends or your father."
"I will...never forgive you..."
"When you are ready, you will thank me." Zasalamel said as the girl began to lose consciousness, "Let the power of my words sink into your soul as it and your body heal."
Great Labyrinth
"Pyrrha..." A wounded Natsu half-pleaded as she stood with her back the cavern wall of this underground tunnel-system. Opposite of her stood the monster that had overtaken her friend. It looked like Pyrrha, only in the place of hands were a pair of over-sized crystalline claws with the right beginning to form what vaguely resembling a sword, "Wake up Pyrrha!"
"DIE...BURN...DIE!" The monster roared as it stabbed the spot where Natsu had stood and looked up to where Natsu was standing upon the ceiling looking down at her opponent, "DIE!"
"Is there no other way?" Natsu asked herself as she made a single handseal, "Let's get serious... Arahabaki!" Feeling her body convulse, Natsu released the seal upon her body as her own features began to shift and change into something that was not human. The demon within had been unleashed and now her body was changing to reflect the power that she had chosen to use.
Now covered in a mesh of energy serpents, the shinobi bounded down upon the Crimson Despair and struck the monster with kodachi that emerged from the heads of the 8 heads that emerged from the kunoichi's form. Crimson was much stronger, but Arahabaki was quicker and move evasive and as tough as dragon scale. Each missed attack from the Crimson was an opening for the serpentine dragon to strike.
But as equally tough, the crystalline demon grabbed Natsu and threw her into the wall, causing it to break and cast her into another area of the underground temple. Natsu stood upon her feet, the power of Arahabaki filling and surrounding her. With large alien like eyes and a sturdy body made of strong iron, Arahabaki's form looked more like a rock that had come to life than it was a demon of flesh and blood. The 8-headed and 8-tailed serpentine dragon roared at the Crimson Despair as their battle for the souls of their resident girls continued.
Within Arahabaki, Natsu remained present fighting both the Crimson Despair and the awesome presence of the demon within her. Even still, she could still see how much pain that her friend was in. Pyrrha's current state was very similar to that of the Omega form that Zwei had warned her about, only more unstable and chaotic. What was certain was that Pyrrha had become more direct brutal in her actions. Her feral beast-like stance would make her easy to predict, but no less destructive.
Perhaps this was why her master wanted Pyrrha to be destroyed.
Seeing an opening, Natsu struck her kodachi into the ground and focused Arahabaki's power to send six wild blasts through the ground towards the Monster. It gave out a chilling cry as it was thrown into high into the air. Natsu then appeared above the Monster's head and struck down, slicing through her opponent's upper chest and sending her flying back towards the soil with a crash.
She then leapt atop of Pyrrha and used four of Arahabaki's heads to entangle the Crimson Despair's arms and stab the girl with a paralysis poison. At first the poison was working as the Despair's form relaxed and Pyrrha's eyes closed as if she had fallen asleep.
Suddenly, Pyrrha stabbed her blade through Natsu's body and lifted her into the air, Natsu cringed as the blade was driven deeper and cried out as an explosion encompassed her body threw her into the air before landing on the ground. Before Arahabaki had a chance to reform, she saw a claymore of dark-red energy bear down upon her and cleave through her stomach as Natsu cried out.
"Leave her alone!" Like a river of stars, the newly arrived Leixia slashed through the monster's shoulder and launched her opponent into the air. The chinese girl leapt up and whirl-slashed the demon before pedals of glowing lotus petals emerged from her pendant and struck the demon.
"As when mother fought...Justice will prevail!" Leixia declared as she landed upon her feet and the Crimson Despair cried out when she fell upon her back with the pedals stuck within it's form and glowing as the large arms began to loose their shape and power, "Natsu!"
"Leixia..." The shinobi muttered as she felt Arahabaki's power recede back into her seal, Leixia seemed relieved as she ran to her friend. But the shinobi noticed something wrong with the pedals of the Dvapara-Yuga, "Leixia! Leave!"
"It's alright Natsu, everything is-" Leixia was corrected when felt a broad short blade stick out of the side of her chest and an evil power blew her against the walls of the cave, "It hurts..." Hearing a wolf howl through the caverns, Leixia held her bleeding body as she watched the Crimson Despair's blade bear down towards her face...
Silk Road, Somewhere in the Middle-East
The Edgemaster stirred from his slumber, heavily breathing from the visions that he had seen.
"Kilik?" He heard Mina ask as she and Talim looked upon the Edgemaster with concern, "What is it?"
"We leave now."
"But the desert wind has not cooled-"
"Then we will endure it." Kilik declared as he exited the tent and emerged out upon the wide desert terrain that they traveled through. As the Wind priestess had warned, the desert heat blew and burned upon his skin.
But though subject to death, he would not abandon his children again.
Zheng He's Road, Indian Ocean
"Xianghua?"
"It is nothing Tian-"
"You lie my lady." The young man said to the veteran warrior, "Ever since we began this voyage, you have been in high spirits. It is only now that you are unwell...what is wrong?"
"Leixia..." Xianghua looked over the portside rail of the vessel that took them across the Ocean. Her gaze wavered towards the west where the ship was steered, "I worry for her...and for...my son..."
"It is understandable my lady-"
"Will you stop that! I order you to only refer me by name!"
"I apologize Xianghua..."
"I'm sorry...I shouldn't have yelled at you." Xianghua apologized as Tian kept his head bowed, "Chin up! I won't have my daughter marry a weakling!"
"Wha?" Tian's head straightened as Xianghua giggled, "What is so funny?"
"You! Just relax...there is no need for any of that nobility...stuff!" Xianghua laughed again to herself, she was so glad to be away from her grandfather's home that she had already forgotten how to speak of proper decorum for nobility, "Then again...this is your first time outside of the empire...you're just like I was."
"I would much rather have traveled upon the Silk Road..." Tian admitted, clearly unnerved by the calm, but unpredictable sea around them, "It is much safer and does not rock upon a gentle breeze."
"Land can rock child...I've seen it..." Xianghua said, recalling vivid memories from the ever-changing terrain around Ostrheinsburg when she first faced Inferno and later when she stood beside Kilik and Maxi against Nightmare's minion Astaroth and the Immortal Zasalamel, "Water, Earth and Sky can be just as equally terrifying. In times like these, none of these places are safe."
"Perhaps you are right...still...the sea troubles me..."
"How do you think Nvwa felt when she went out by herself?" Xianghua asked, suddenly feeling her hand tremble upon recalling the tragedy of Jingwei Nvwa, the little child who tried to sail to the dawn and was lost. Only to return as a bird determined to fill the sea with stones and tree branches year after year.
Would her own children be lost to the perilous sea of souls and swords?
Author's Notes:
Has the Crimson Despair claimed another brave soul? Why has the Dvapara-Yuga failed to tame the dark power within Pyrrha? Can Maxi and the group tame the savage power within Pyrrha before it destroys her and takes her companions with her? Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out.
Well...I'm ashamed now SC faithful...
I broke my SCV protest by playing a few matches in the game and making another alternate costume for Pyrrha. It was for research purposes, which is pretty much the biggest reason why I haven't tossed V into the garbage or sold it for a quick buck at Vintage Stock or Gamestop. To know why a poison is bad, you have to study it and keep it close to you. So a few quick matches here and there wouldn't hurt right?
I was punished as I deserve.
Not only did I lose most of the rounds in those matches, but I was beaten in the most unfair, broken and cheap manner possible. It's as though the game was consciously reminding me of why I hated it just so that I'd rage quit while it laughed in triumph. I decided to be the better man and not rage quit.
Until Patroklos Alpha trolled me six times.
At first, I was trying to get past my hatred for SCV in order to keep it from bleeding into every aspect of my life especially my writing cirriculum. After all, rage and anger can be very dangerous if not controlled. But seeing as that I started this story motivated by rage and anger...it's only appropriate that it somehow stays in the story.
What's wrong with being mad at SCV? Any loyal fan of the series with a working brain has a right to be angry. What made my anger worst was that I've been playing the first Soul Calibur, Mortal Kombat 9 and the HD remake of DBZ: Budokai 3 and I had a blast whether I won or lost. With SCV...the simple act of getting up is heartlessly punished by cheap combo after cheap combo while I'm unable to defend myself.
SCV is not only bad...it's not even fun...
But since it's helping with motivation for writing this story and other projects, then I guess it's working somehow. So for the purposes of writing and research, I'll break my SCV protest...but I won't be playing it online. If the CPU was this cheap just imagine some players...yikes...hopefully the online crowd for SCII HD will be more open and fun...
As for Soul Calibur: Lost Swords...I'll save my thoughts for the next chapter.