Soul Savior

[Thaeonblade]

Copyright: The following is a fanfiction of Soul Calibur which is owned by Namco-Bandai. I don't own or claim any of the contents for myself and this story was made for non-profit entertainment value only.

"Everyone abandoned me. YOU AS WELL!"
"Malfested are vile and Soul Edge is my enemy!"
"Hate you!"
"I won't run... anymore!"
"It hurts... Aagh!"
"This fight... shall end!"

The wind cried out in pain.
Talim sat upon the cliff of a mountain high above her home for the past ten years and looked upon the currents of the western air.
It was becoming as twisted as it was all of those years ago when she was a child.
But now something worse was happening, the blades of the soul were...embracing...
With each one driving a dagger into the other.
Opening her eyes, the priestess tensed in sorrow as she felt a powerful gust from the painful disturbance blow out to all four corners of the earth...

Was he too late?
Siegfried exhaled as he ran to the gathering of holy and evil energy. Just as seventeen years ago, Soul Calibur and Soul Edge had begun to clash once more.
He deeply regretted sending ZWEI ahead.
Hilde was somewhere in the battle that still waged behind him along with Maxi's group and the rest of Schwarzwind. When he last checked, they were gaining the advantage against Graf Dumas' men...soldiers deceived by Nightmare's newest incarnation.
Finally arriving at it's epicenter, he watched as Patroklos pierced his sister chest with Soul Calibur. The ground shook as the girl stood still and the glow in her eyes ceased.
The battle was over...
But as he came closer, Siegfried's eyes widened in horror when Soul Calibur's crystal blade cracked at several points. A burst of black power burst from the girl's arm and chest and flowed into Soul Calibur as if beaconed.
"Soul Embrace..." Siegfried said as Soul Calibur's light glowed forth to meet the dark energy flowing into it. But rather than ward off the darkness, it welcomed it, enhanced it and joined with it.
"So I did get the wrong one." Siegfried looked to his side, where the girl with the ring-blade known as Tira stood by enjoying the unfolding scene, "All this time...I thought Soul Edge would have chosen the girl. No...I should have known the girl's heart wouldn't have been in it."
"Explain yourself!" A vortex of blue and red power radiated around the clashing siblings as Siegfried felt unease at this turn of events.
"This girl has Soul Edge's taint, she was ripe as a wielder of the sword." Tira stated, drawing Siegfried's attention to where the vortex was dissipating. A shaken girl lied on the ground in front of Patroklos, "But I had to jump through one too many hoops to finally get her ready and even up to now, her heart was never accepting of Soul Edge's power. The only reason she's like this now is because Soul Edge is puppeting her body...but as you know, Soul Edge truly attaches itself to the soul."
"Patroklos..." In the boy's hand was still Soul Calibur, but a thick aura of evil surrounded the sword and flowed into Patroklos, "What have you done!"
"I did nothing." Tira simply answered, "Looks like mommy's curse really did go into both of them. Through his deeds and his thoughts, the taint inside of Patrokolos has grown and now under the power of Soul Edge and Soul Calibur...the true Soul Master is born!"
"Soul Master?" Siegfried watched as the aura retreated to the sword's guard and opened up into a demonic mesh ordained with two angelic wings with a crystalline eye in the center, "No...Soul Calibur is..."
"The inferno spirit of Soul Edge has transferred to Soul Calibur..." Tira stated as Siegfried felt his right arm tremble, "She looks so much more beautiful now..."
"I won't allow this continue any further!" Siegfried drew out Requiem and turned to face the smiling Tira, "Patrokolos! Drop the sword before-" Feeling his arm tremble again, Siegfried swerved under Patroklos' strike and brought his sword's hilt down on the boy's shoulder to send him into the floor.
"Why?" Patroklos asked as he spat blood that burned into the stone floor, "Why should I listen to the words of a man who was Soul Edge's whore?"
"Patroklos..." As the boy stood, Siegfried began to understand the enormity of his mistake, "What have I done?"
"How come no one ever saw it?" Tira asked as she stalked behind Patroklos as if examining the boy in awe and wonder, "See...Patroklos got mommy's taint too, the only difference is that I didn't do nothing to it, so I forgot ever had it for all these years. But...it does explain those murders that he's committed."
"Don't listen to her!" Siegfried yelled to the nodding Patroklos, "You were deceived and tricked by Graf Dumas-"
"Shut up!" Patroklos barked in a voice that was normal, yet filled with hatred and malice, "I'm tired of all of you telling me what to do!"
"This unholy aura..." Siegfried, former wielder of Soul Edge and Soul Calibur, he knew all too well that Patroklos' fall began long before this day, "So I was mistaken about you...you were never meant to be Soul Calibur's wielder and now...all hope is lost..."
"You're that saying that while Soul Calibur is in my hand!" Patroklos held out the blade and Siegfried cringed to see the eye of Soul Edge upon the holy sword, "Now I will purge this world of all evil and malfested and usher in an era more beautiful than any that has ever been seen!"
"Yet another sin that I have to atone for...father..." Siegfried steeled himself for what he would have to do, he was the one who brought Patroklos here, now he would see the consequence of his action through to it's bitter end. "Then I will do what I must."
"Go ahead and try!" Tira shouted while seeming to swoon in Patroklos' presence, "But no mortal can possibly stand against the combined power of the two swords."
"And why should you exempt from my power malfested whore?" Patroklos instantly had the blade of the Soul Embrace leveled on Tira's neck, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you..."
"Go ahead..." The sight was sickening to Siegfried, Tira was enjoying the prospect of being killed by this new abomination born of Soul Edge and Soul Calibur, "If I die...I'll be one with your power forever...master..."
"You wish to serve me?" Patroklos' eyes gave a malicious gleam, "So you will fight for me in the name of your redemption?"
"Yes..." Tira answered with open arms, "I was mislead Patroklos...I thought that the little girl would give me what I wanted...but now I see so much more in you...Purify me with your power and I will do anything that you say..."
"Very well." Patroklos pulled the sword's blade away from Tira's neck, leaving a light cut that slowly leaked of blood, "What of you Siegfried? I can redeem you of your sins as the Azure Knight..."
"How did you know about me?"
"The sword told me." Patroklos replied as Siegfried felt the ghosts and sins of his past call out to him, "It still remembers you...and it hates you for abandoning it...for destroying it all those years ago...even though you would've never been who you are now with it."
"But it doesn't matter now..." Tira massaged her hands over Patroklos' shoulders in a sick display of admiration when something caught her interest, "What about her?"
"Her?" Patroklos glanced over to the shivering girl who sat in shock with her arms hugging her bare chest. Her left arm, once grotesque and spiked, was now noticably pale and strained compared to the other arm, "What about her? She'll die like all un-repentent malfested."
"You..." He had now heard everything, Siegfried was now convinced that any shred of goodness and heroism had been consumed by this atrocious soul embrace, "You conceited wretched traitor! Have you forgotten what you came here to do? You were supposed to save your sister and destroy soul edge! Not cast her aside to be killed...Not join to soul edge's power!"
"STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!" Patroklos roared, causing a nearby ruined wall to collapse into the chasm as Siegfried's arm reacted in dull pain once more, "All people are malfested by evil...and I will purge this world of those who will not repent! Starting with this girl!"
"NO!" Siegfried leapt forth with his sword drawn, but Patroklos was simply that much closer to the child. Patroklos slashed his sword across Pyrrha's face as the girl cried out in pain and sorrow. He grabbed her neck and licked the blood from the cut that ran from her check down across her chin and neck as Siegfried attacked.
It was a move made by the inexperienced, while he focused on Patroklos, Tira attacked with her ring blade and slashed out his right leg, forcing Siegfried to fall to the knee of his injured leg in order to support the weight of his sword and block a potentially lethal attack from Tira.
"Sorry..." Tira mockingly apologized, "But the white knight isn't saving a pretty maiden today!"
"Tira..." Pyrrha pleaded as Patroklos tightened his grip on his sister's neck, "I thought...you said that you'd never leave me..."
"You said that you'd never leave me!" Tira repeated to mock the girl with Siegfried unable to stand under the pressure of his wound and Tira's blade, "What a weak little doll and I actually thought you'd be worthy of Soul Edge...then again, you were the best candidate around...until you found your precious brother and he made you useless to me."
"Patroklos..." Pyrrha begged amidst tears and pain, "Please...i thought...that we were family..."
"If we are, I don't care." Patroklos smiled a menacing smile as he brought the Soul Embrace's pale-blue blade and touched it's point above the girl's navel, "You are malfested...and you must die-" The boy was cut off when a stroke of metal passed through his arm and forced him to release Pyrrha. The boy retaliated and clashed the Soul Embrace against the metal blade of a samurai's katana.
"Who are..." Pyrrha began to ask as the newcomer clashed his sword with Patroklos' "You saved me...Thank you..."
"Save your words, I didn't plan on it." The samurai, a warrior of many battlefields, dismissively stated as he pushed back the wounded and surprised Patroklos, "I came here for a challenge that I've been denied for more than twenty years...where is the sword of salvation?"
"You're looking at it, un-pure one..." Patroklos answered as a red aura flowed out of his rapidly healing injury, "And who dares to challenge the ordained Lord of Holy Redemption and Judgement?"
"Heishiro Mitsurugi." The veteran warrior answered, his katana unwavering in the face of the pulsing blade of the Soul Embrace, "Do not forget this name, it will be the last one that you ever hear."

Author's Notes:
This is basically my response to the single player mode of Soul Calibur V. One thing you should never do is shove a character into the player's face, show that character do horrible things from the moment that he's introduced to us and expect us to accept that he's the hero of the story!
Furthermore, the story mode just left way too much unanswered, here's a list that I found from the Wikia website:
Did Pyrrha effectively kill Z.W.E.I. in Episode 18?
In Episode 12, Z.W.E.I. destroyed Patroklos' shield. If he were to come back in the new installment, would Patroklos be using a sword and shield or a iai sword?
Why didn't Graf Dumas give any information about the malfested with the a ring blade since he nows her?How did Raphael become Graf Dumas?
How come Soul Edge doesn't shapeshift to suit its new host's style?How did Xiba become the new owner of the Kali-Yuga?
When she was supposed to have an important role in Story mode, why did Viola on appear only three times?
Did Night Terror manage to break free from Astral Chaos after Pyrrha opened several cracks in Episode 18?
How come Natsu begins to use Taki's Mekki-Maru in Episode 15?
Where are Taki and Amy?
How did Cassandra happen to be stuck in another dimension?
Why didn't Hilde appear in Episode 18 as she was supposed to fight alongside Z.W.E.I. and Siegfried?
Will Pyrrha remain malfested or will she get her normal arm back in a possible next game?
And here are a few of my own:
Where was Siegfried during the fight between Pyrrha and Patrokolos?
Did Siegfried forget to warn Patrokolos about Soul Calibur's knight templar tendencies?
Why is no one questioning Siegfried's assertion that Patrokolos is Soul Calibur's chosen wielder, even though the kid has apparently murdered innocent people without remorse or hesistation?
Didn't Soul Calibur 2 and 3 mention that both of Sophitia's children were cursed by Soul Edge's power?
Did Tira just leave Pyrrha by herself after she became Soul Edge's chosen wielder? Even though a group of warriors with more experience than her, who have been fighting against soul edge for more than 20 years, are currently storming the castle? Not to mention that Soul Edge was just defeated by a relative newcomer?
Where the hell are Aeon Calcos, Algol, Cervantes, Dampierre, Hilde, Kilik, Mitsurugi, Raphael, Yoshimitsu, Rock, Zasalamel, Seong Mina, or Talim during this situation?
What the hell does Z.W.E.I. even mean?
This fic is picking up from Chapter 16 in the story mode and will be going down a different road. One that will attempt to amend many if not all of these issues, as you saw from this first chapter. I don't hate the story mode because it's different, it's just rushed, poorly thought out and we're forced to follow and play as a horrible character...a character whose supposed to be the hero!
Sorry...I just hate it when a story tells us that we're supposed to like a character and then the story fails to give us any reason to like them...not to mention giving us plenty of reasons to hate them!
Anyway...read...review and enjoy...Peace.

 

[ShaolinTiger86]

Hey, Thaeonblade, Welcome to 8WayRun. Great first chapter. I look forward to reading more of it.

 

[Thaeonblade]

"Xianghua..."
"Something's wrong..." Yan Wujin stood beside the former warrior as she leaned on the railing of the bridge, "Or maybe...I'm just worried about Leixia..."
"I understand." Wujin stood beside his wife with arms crossed behind his back, "She is your daughter, it is natural for a mother to be concerned for her children."
"Husband..." Xianghua exhaled as she looked down into the river below them, "Right now...I want nothing more than to go find her."
"Have you..." Wujin always knew that this was fragile ground, "Sent word to her fath-"
"He wouldn't care..." Xianghua vented, "No...he would...but I'm not the girl that I was all of those years ago. If I try to contact him again...I'll just be chasing on a path that I was not meant to follow."
"I see..." Wujin was starting to see it, there was a fire growing inside of the woman who once destroyed Soul Edge, "If you wish to travel west however, I will not stop you."
"It's no longer my fight, husband...But...my daughter...our daughter is within that fight..."
"Perhaps she will see her brother..." Wujin said assuredly, but saw that his words had achieved an opposite effect, "Forgive me, Xianghua...I did not mean to disturb you..."
"No Wujin..." Xianghua said, turning to her husband with a smile despite her tear, "You're the last person who could possibly disturb me...here you are...taking in a woman whose a disgrace to the Ming Dynasty...accepted her daughter as your own and even took in Leixin...even though he's..."
"Japanese?" Wujin knew that Xianghua never wanted to bring up the reason why none of his children were of his progeny. He had his own personal grievance with "the hero's sword", "It is the least that I could do to repay the woman who saved the world."
"A lot of good that did..." Xianghua bitterly laughed, "Four years later...everything went to hell anyway..."
"Of course it did, that is how the seasons fall." Wujin honestly stated and pointed her wife to the field around their home, "Some will ask why they should bother to water the fields and tend the flowers...a storm may come to undo their work the very next day...inevitably, the seasons will change and the fields will be buried beneath the snow."
"But the work that they achieve will yield fruit." He then pointed to a blooming patch of flowers that Leixia and Xianghua had planted together just a week before Leixia ran away. It was a mixed garden filled with Citron and Hydrangea, "And when the flowers bloom, even for a little while, they will allow the field to appear much more beautiful. Your actions may not be celebrated by all and were quickly undone by fate's design, but that does not invalidate the good that came from them. The Empire may have been denied the Hero's Sword, but you ensured that no other would use it against us or the world...even if it was for but a little while."
"General!" The two saw a young man of 16 bow before Wujan wearing a light version of Imperial armor, "The Emperor wishes to speak with you and you as well...uh...my lady..."
"For the last time Tian, just call me Xianghua..." Xianghua playfully reprimanded the young man, who slightly shuddered, "Tell him that we shall meet his summons with due speed."
"You heard the woman."
"Of course, general." Tian responded respectfully with a bow, "Good evening Xianghua..."
"I thought he settled into his new position as messenger..."
"He has..." Wujan said as the young man ran off to deliver his next message, "You're simply his hero, not all of Ming shuns you Xianghua. Many witnessed the evil of the Hero's Sword and thank you for ridding the world of it's power. That young lad was one of them."
"You know...he did give a lot of messages to Leixia when she was here..." Xianghua remembered with a hint of mischief, "Great...I sent that girl off on a quest for romance and...what she's looking for may already be before her..."
"This is often the path of youth, straining themselves for something that is already within reach."
"My daughter...made into one of the emperor's wives...that was something that I never wanted..." Xianghua said, likely remembering that faithful day, "Why would I want my daughter to just be a trophy to be displayed and caged inside the royal palace? I just hope that I can apologize to her."
"You will Xianghua," Wujan assured his wife as he embraced her, "You will..."

"Damn it!" Maxi pushed off the rubble before an oversized axe slashed it in half, if he had still been there, he would have lost his head, "I thought I was rid of you!"
"Don't worry senpai!" The blond ninja in red spandex shouted as she jumped on the back of the giant known as Astaroth and drove both of her knives into the back of it's neck. But the giant roared in anger, curled forward to throw down the ninja and swung down, narrowly missing the swift Natsu, "That always works!"
"This creature is different from a living person." Maxi warned Natsu as he flipped under another slash and brought his nunchaku onto the creature's forearms. The force of the blow stunned the creature enough for Maxi to run onto it's arms and swing it's nuchaku into Astoroth's masked face, "But I've killed him once and I can do it again!"
"Look out!" Natsu warned as she leapt to her senpai's side to counter a rolling blur that threw both to the ground. In the corner of his eye, Maxi saw Natsu struggle against a grotesquely bound creature with blades over it's wrists, "Whose this freak?"
"Voldo..." Maxi whispered as he flipped off of Astaroth before the giant grabbed him and saw Natsu join him as Voldo growled and licked a sliver of blood from it's three-pronged claw, "So you and Astaroth are serving Soul Edge again?"
"Come on, we can take them!" Natsu shouted as she charged Voldo and watched as the creature bent back onto it's back in an angle that was impossible for any normal human and swiped it's foot to knock Natsu off of her's, forcing her to land on her hands and spin to keep the creature's claw from hitting her back. She then flipped her legs forward to grab the creature's head and throw it onto the ground. She flipped back onto her feet as Voldo quickly recovered as well, "How can he bend like that-"
"Short version, I don't know..." Maxi and Kilik had been going back and forth about that question for years...

"You're cocky for an old man!"
"And you bark loudly for an overgrown pup." Mitsurugi replied, "Siegfried Schtauffen, right? I thought you wielded soul calibur?"
"I was, Mitsurugi." Siegfried said to the samurai, "But I made a mistake...and now it has become infected and twisted by evil."
"See? That's why I gave up on either sword." Mitsurugi sarcastically chuckled, "What man is only a man when their blade is in hand? Listen here pup! Power is only effective when you know how to use it!"
"Then try me for yourself old man!" Patroklos dashed towards the samurai, drawing his sword in a lightning motion that caused Mitsurugi's eyes to widen in recognization and block the attack with his scabbard before slashing down and found himself halted by a swift block.
"This style..." Mitsurugi said as he clashed his sword against Patroklos' Soul Embrace, "It's been seventeen years since I've seen it...who taught it to you?"
"Does it matter?" Patroklos asked as he slashed his sword and Mitsurugi avoided the slash that would have bisected his face, "When you're in hell, whose going to care?"
"The brethren who welcome you and cheer," Mitsurugi started as he thrust and narrowly missed the side of Patroklos' torso, "Here is another fool who thought they could kill Mitsurugi!"
"After everything that you've done..." Siegfried said to Tira without turning, "You're not leaving here alive."
"Oh! Big tough Siegfried wants to do me in? Little late aren't ya?"
"Sorry to keep to you, my lady," Siegfried answered, raising Requiem in Tira's direction, "You're up next!"
"Siegfried..." He heard a familiar voice call from the armor that ZWEI had defeated, "Become apart of me once more!"
"Soul Edge's power still lives..." Siegfried faced the Azure Knight that stood before him...the creature that one wielded and housed Soul Edge itself...now it was filled and animated by the power of the new evil born of the Soul Embrace. In place of Soul Edge, the entity wielded a sword that Siegfried would forever recognize as Faust, "My mistake is far worse than I could have imagined..."

"What's going on?" ZWEI said as he saw a purple wisp of light fly around him and restore his vitality, "Was that a fairy just a second ago?"
The last thing ZWEI had remembered was being stabbed by Patroklos' sister and falling into this cavern. Now he was being dragged up by a strong set of jaws that had latched onto his shoulder with enough restraint to pull up without ripping out his arm.
"And now I'm being pulled up by a wolf." ZWEI said as he gripped onto the side of the cliff with his unbroken arm and pulled himself up by using the wolf as an anchor, "You're not going to eat me...right?"
The wolf cocked it's head as if confused, it's dark mane shuffled along with the movement. Apparently it had eaten earlier, because it wasn't even thinking of food. Further, it seemed to understand that ZWEI was someone who would be too strong to hunt anyway.
If it wanted to hunt.
"You're a smart wolf...too smart..." ZWEI said as the wolf ran up to a nearby cavern wall and started inspecting it, "Wait...you're not really a wolf are you?"
The wolf's almost human blue eyes looked at the young man for a moment before it began scratching the tunnel walls. It was looking for a way out or maybe it had a way down here, but it collapsed when the battle started.
"Whatever you are, you're pulling your weight too, got it?" The wolf barked in reply as it scratched through a thin layer of rock and climbed into a nearly made hole, "Now I've seen it all...a wolf digging a tunnel...I bet this is all a fatal delusion..."

"The eternal battle..." A witness who had walked many lives, the warrior looked down upon this field of battle with mild interest. It was just the same as 17 years ago, Soul Edge and Soul Calibur had clashed once more and dragged any mortals into their conflict.
"But this aura...is different..." The witness, a man who had wielded both swords at different times, observed, "The spirits of the two souls have embraced once more..."
"Flee before you destroy yourself." Behind and below in the broken tower that he stood, a young woman with a clawed glove and an orb of magic struck down an archer and a spear-man with great ease and skill.
"Isn't that?" He recognized this girl though time changed many things, "The absence of identity can lead to many things indeed..."
"I know that you're there." The girl said without turning her head, "You may show yourself, Zasalamel."
"You knew of my coming and possess foresight?" Zasalamel asked, impressed to meet a seer with such accuracy and application after so long, "I see...then you know why I am here?"
"You are here to witness the clash of the two swords." Viola answered as Zasalamel jumped down to her level, "Which do you serve?"
"I am a servant to time, seeking to witness the rise of humanity." The witness answered, pulling back his hood to reveal his bald face and gleaming golden eye, "Whoever is destined to emerge victorious will emerge victorious, Viola...if that is your name."
"How..." Viola seemed visibly troubled, "How did you know?"
"After a few lifetimes, sensing doubt in others is easy." The time for words passing, Zasalamel swung out his scythe and prepared to test this young newcomer to the struggle of swords and souls, "I cannot allow you to interfere with the flow of destiny."

"Salia! Take the left flank!"
"Yes ma'am!"
"Brundild! Xiba and Leixia are getting pressed, reinforce them!"
"My lady!" Hilde ducked under the swipe of an enemy attacker and without hesitation, cut them down with her shorter sword and thrust her spear through a rider upon their horse.
The battle remained in the favor of Schwarzwind, but a change in the air was now afflicting the men. Hilde, former queen of the Wolfkrone Kingdom, knew that she had to reinforce strong positions on the field or risk being scattered and broken down.
As she noted this, she heard something clawing through earth and with weapons ready, barely stopped herself from cutting down a wolf that tore out of the dirt and crawled out before shaking it's fur coat as a human figure climbed out as well.
"ZWEI?"
"I'm fine..." ZWEI said Hilde helped him climb out while the wolf stalked a few feet away and began to howl at the distilled air, "A purple fairy already healed that hole in my chest."
"A purple fairy?" Hilde didn't try to hide her confusion, but with the circumstances, this could be explained later, "That is an odd wolf."
"I don't think that it really is a wolf." ZWEI pointed while the wolf did nothing to deny or confirm his suspicion, "Where's Siegfried?"
"He went into the stronghold to aid you and Patroklos." Hilde said, "What happened?"
"I'll explain on the way! We need to hurry!" ZWEI started for the stronghold with Hilde following behind and the wolf running along with them, "Where's Viola?"
"She went looking for you..." Hilde answered, "I haven't seen her since..."
"She can handle herself." ZWEI said to assure Hilde and himself, "Right now, we need to get in there and find out what's going on."
"Nightmare?"
"It could be worse..." ZWEI answered as a fell and unholy aura pulsed out from Dumas' stronghold, "What do ya know? I'm gone for a few minutes and everything goes to hell..."

Author's Notes:
Well here we are...we've got the return of a few old favorites and an insight into Xianghua's life after Leixia left. And no, I don't hate Xianghua's husband, he seems like a cool guy who decided to marry a national disgrace in order to keep her baby from being killed and keep "the scandal" from becoming public.
The Kilik/Xianghua thing will be addressed and I've given you a hint about what to expect.
The next chapter should wrap up this intro section. This was mainly to introduce a few characters that we haven't seen yet and others will come as the plot moves on. Unlike SCV, I will not ignore characters from the line-up and never mention them.

 

[Thaeonblade]

"Wonder what we'll have to eat?"
"Can you focus!"
"But I'm hungry!"
"There will be a feast later!" Brundild chatised the staff wielder, "For now, fight to survive!"
"Enemies of my country!" Leixia was knocked down by a kick to her shoulder as Xiba lashed his staff towards her opponent. The warrior blocked the attack with his sword and ducked under Brundild's lance.
"This guy's fast! What's your name?"
"Kwon Hyuk Wan!" The warrior declared while striking a pose where he stood on one leg with the other propped on the opposite knee while his arms were crossed over his chest, "Green Dragon of the Seong Dojang!"
"What?" Xiba asked confused, "Could you say that again? That was a lot of confusing words."
"Silence!" Kwon shouted in outrage, "You stand before a rising legend! The one who will succeed where my master Yun-seong failed!"
"Yun-seong?" Leixia had heard that name before in one of her mother's stories, "Whoever you are, you're pretty cocky! There's three of us after all!"
"It doesn't matter how many you got! Just bring it on!"
"If that is what you wish child!" Brundild agreed as he attacked with his lance, but watched as the weapon was brought into the ground by Kwon's foot.
"How's THIS?" Kwon launched up and delivered a series of kicks to Brundild's face and finished off with a series of slashes that quickly incapacitated the veteran warrior as he prepared to deliver the final blow.
"Brundild!" Leixia shouted as she stepped in front of Brundild to deflect the lethal finisher and Xiba swung his staff into the side of Kwon's head. Seeing the incoming attack, Kwon headbutted Xiba's attack and flipped over staggered staff before balancing on his sword as Xiba balanced on his staff and failed to hide his impression.
"Do not worry about me..." The injured warrior assured the young fighters from the east, "Focus on the enemy!"
"You want me to hold back a bit?"
"Nah! I like going all out." Xiba said in reply, "You know where I can find some food?"
"Xiba..."
"Gimme a break!" Kwon shouted as he engaged both in combat, "I'm not ready to lose to fools like you!"
"Too bad for you I suppose!" Leixia boasted when Xiba parried Kwon's strike and left him vulnerable to Leixia's attack, "Justice will prevail!"
"I've heard that one before." A blond newcomer mused when he blocked Lexia's attack with his rapier, "Sorry to interrupt, but you look familiar young miss."
"Raphael?"
"And you're Yunseong's apprentice?"
"Whose Unsung?"
"Xiba! Pronounce his name right!"
"It doesn't matter!" Kwon shouted as he kicked away Leixia and turned to Xiba while standing on one leg again, "Anyone who gets in my way will perish!"
"Then what about that pebble?"
"What about it?"
"You're standing on one leg because of it right?" Xiba asked while pointing to a pebble under Kwon's raised foot, "And how can you kill something that isn't really alive anyway?"
"Heh, this should be fun! You're gonna regret that!"
"Leave them to their duel and let us dance." Raphael stated to Leixia as Xiba and Kwon continued their ballet, "You can dance, no?"
"Of course I can!" Leixia parried the Westerner's thrust and spun around in an attempt to slash the man's chest and was blocked effortlessly, "What did you mean about me being familiar?"
"Because I met a young woman very similar to yourself many years ago." The westerner said as he deflected another one of Lexia's attacks with minimal effort, "Was she your mother? And where is your father?"
"My father is Yan Wujan, General of the Ming Empire!" Leixia said with pride as her blade danced with the man's rapier though the man didn't seem to be straining himself in the slightest, "What's wrong? Caught you off guard?"
"That wasn't the name that I expected to hear." The man admitted in disappointment, "Pity...I was hoping to settle something with that damned monk...oh well..."

"Well..." Tira purred as she heard Patroklos' sword clash against Mitsurugi's katana while Faust and Requiem were bashed against one another, "I guess the men are going at it with their big swords..."
"You meant what you said...didn't you?" Pyrrha asked tearfully, "Everything you told me was a lie..."
"No it wasn't..." Tira said as she approached the pathetic child, "I told you that you had a brother, I told you that he would reject you and I wasn't lying about the people who've died because of you!"
"But they were trying to kill me!" Pyrrha shouted on the verge of tears, "I thought that-"
"Because you weren't the aggressor, it was alright?" Tira asked, enjoying the sight of this sad little girl, "You stupid little girl! There's a reason that they were trying to kill you! Because you're nothing more than a freak...a wishy-washy little girl who can't grow up and face the facts! Hell! The only reason that I wanted you to have Soul Edge was because I didn't think anyone else was more worthy of it!"
"So you had Patroklos-"
"I. Did. Nothing!" Tira kicked the girl in her stomach and laughed as she kneeled over, "Just look at how he bathes in malice...look at how the energies of the Soul Embrace surround and fill him! I should've switched the two of you out as soon as I saw your weak little backbone-"
"I won't let you hurt my brother!" Pyrrha said as she reached for her sword but seized up in pain as a light aura appeared over her right arm, "Why can't I..."
"What's this?" Tira asked in mild interest, "There's a shard of Soul Calibur embedded in that wound of yours! We can't leave any loose ends now can we?"
"Leave my sister alone!"
"You're still alive?" Tira asked in shock as he recognized this newcomer, "Well...you're too late to save your big sis!"
"Hell are you talking about, bird whore?" The newcomer asked while flipping over Tira's ring blade and noticing the samurai locked in combat with Patroklos, "You beat the Hero King already Mitsurugi?"
"He ran away." The samurai answered while sheathing his sword and slashing out at the same time that the younger warrior did, "Glad to see that you're not dead! Keep it that way!"
"It can't be...Cassandra?"
"The one and only Siegfried!" Cassandra shouted in reply as she flipped off of Tira's failed parry and threw her shield into the woman's face, "I'm done with you...after what you did to Sophitia and Pyrrha..."
"She knows my name?" Pyrrha asked in confusion as Cassandra caught her shield and confidently awaited Tira's counter attack, "She looks like...mother..."
"What happened to your hair?"
"It changed," Tira said catching the stealth insult of the newcomer, "Things always change when time flies, huh?"
"Shut up!" Cassandra shouted as she ran forward and smacked her shield into Tira's face, "You're mine!"
"Gah!"
"What's the matter pup?" Mitsurugi asked as he kicked down the grunting Patroklos, "It's too late to beg now-" The samurai blew in confusion when a pair of fiery wings burst out of the young man's back.
"That doesn't look good..."
"It isn't!" Siegfried shouted as a burst of power began to radiate from Patroklos' glowing form "Get down!"

"Soul Edge..." The Dread Pirate asked as he absently stabbed Nirvana into the neck of a staggered foe and kept his glance focused on the battle that he felt was taking place in Dumas' stronghold, "Has Soul Calibur overtaken you or have you consumed Soul Calibur?"
"Hey!" Another soldier fell as his attacker dodged past the falling corpse, "I'm looking for someone, wanna help me out?"
"Why should I?" Cervantes asked as he noted the man whose strangely crafted sword was bathed in blood, "Whom do you serve vagabond?"
"Mugen is the name pal," The man of Japanese descent and abrasive mannerisms stated, "And I ain't anyone's dog. You got that?"
"I don't care what your name is!" Cervantes suddenly vanished and appeared above and behind the boy. Using his long stored power, the pirate dove down for the boy who dodged to the side as Cervantes landed and turned while brandishing his swords, "I have no need for weak souls!"
"And I don't give a rat's ass about what you want!" The vagabond declared, "Where's Heishiro Mitsurugi?"
"What makes you believe that I would know that vagabond?"
"Guess you're useless to me." Recognizing the boy's stance with his sword, Cervantes realized that Mugen had a gun hidden within the unbalanced blade. One that fired a round through his chest and greatly annoyed him, "You're still alive?"
"That's all? I'm disappointed." Cervantes laughed at this meager attempt to kill him, "Next time, aim for my eye runt. Now all will speak of the day that Captain Cervantes bested you!"
"In your dreams, old man!" Mugen shouted in defiance when suddenly the area shook with a great force, "The hell?"
"It appears that the the embrace is different this time." Cervantes said as an armored winged creature bearing the energies of both blades flew over the battle with a strange girl in it's arms, "And so passes the holder of tomorrow's destiny."
"Isn't that what he was after?" Mugen asked as the winged creature flew out towards the southern horizon, "Screw you! I'm going after that thing! Mitsurugi won't be too far behind!"

"What the hell?" ZWEI asked when he and Hilde arrived to the ruins of the stronghold. They saw a flash of power burst from the fortress, collapsing it as a furious creature flew out with a pair of fiery wings and passed over the waning battle.
"Siegfried!" Hilde ran into the ruins with ZWEI following behind while the wolf growled and started chasing after the winged creature. Once inside, the pair were relieved to see that their worst fear had not been realized.
"I'm alright..." Siegfried said to the worried Hilde, "Mitsurugi?"
"I'll live..." The samurai said, brushing off the cut that ran across his shoulder, "I've had worse than this."
"We were too late..."
"Not quite yet..." ZWEI brandished his sword when saw a frightened Pyrrha lie on her knees like some innocent fawn. After the close call that he'd just had, ZWEI wasn't falling for that again, "Time for a little payback..."
"Not if I've got anything to say about that!" ZWEI was startled to see another blond woman step in front of Pyrrha holding a sword and shield, "You're not taking another step towards my sister!"
"Sister?" ZWEI couldn't believe what he was hearing, how many kids did Sophitia have? "And who the hell are you?"
"Wait ZWEI!" Siegfried commanded, "Both of you stay your weapons! The time for violence has passed."
"Unfortunately...The runt got away...if I weren't an old man then he'd have been dead when I first got here."
"Stop making excuses Mitsurugi!" Cassandra teasingly yelled and walked over to Pyrrha with a gentle expression on her face, "Come on Sophitia...let's go home-"
"Miss...do I know you?" Pyrrha spoke up, shocking the woman, "I'm sorry if I did something wrong..."
"You're not..." This was Sophitia's sister, Cassandra. ZWEI was starting to understand just what was happening now, "Pyrrha? Is that you?"
"How do you know my name?"
"I knew you when you were...a little girl..." Cassandra slowly answered, apparently still coming to terms with meeting her niece for the first time in 17 years, "Where's your mother?"
"She's gone...I don't have a mother..."
"How old are you?"
"I don't know..." Pyrrha answered as she shivered, "Was my mother...your sister?"
"Yes..." Cassandra replied and then stood up to address the former princess of Wolfkrone, "Alright Hilde! Start talking! What the hell's going on here?"
"Cassandra..." Hilde looked to Siegfried as if pleading for help, Sieg closed his eyes and gravely nodded, "I don't know what to say..."
"We'll start with the truth." Siegfried said as he stepped closer to Cassandra, "Cassandra...what was the last thing that you remembered before coming here?"
"All I remember was the Castle..." Cassandra remembered, "Everything started to get warped by the energies of the swords and...then I was in a weird place without a sky...I just started running and I saw Tira about to attack Sophi...I mean Pyrrha and just jumped forward to stop her."
"So you finally made it out." Hilde said happily, "It's been seventeen years, but I'm glad that you found a way out of the Astral Chaos."
"Astral Chaos? Was that where I was?" Cassandra asked as the truth dawned on her, "Did you say...seventeen years?"
"There will be more time to explain everything." Siegfried assured her, "Right now, we need to gather the band and retreat back to the hideout. What is the status of our forces?"
"After...whatever just happened, the enemy troops are scattering." Hilde responded, "Those who haven't ran away are falling to our blades, Siegfried."
"What about her?" ZWEI asked motioning to Pyrrha, "How do we know that Soul Edge doesn't have a hold on her-"
"Soul Edge no longer exists..." Siegfried corrected, "And our adversaries have made it clear that Pyrrha is no asset of theirs-"
"Hilde!" Cassandra shouted, practically derailing the conversation in doing so, "Do you have a jacket?"
"Yes." Hilde said, reaching into her pack and handing Cassandra a red coat of decent craftsmanship, "Here you are."
"Thanks." Cassandra took the coat and bent down to the frightened Pyrrha, "Put this on, Pyrrha."
"Thank you...Cassandra..." Pyrrha said as she put on the jacket and Cassandra helped button it up to restore the girl's sadly ignored modesty, "I'm really sorry...about everything that I did..."
"Forgive me..." ZWEI figured that he'd regret this one way or another, but he wasn't in the mood to sugar-coat anyone's feelings, "But that stab wound you gave me is still pretty sore."
"Shut the hell up-"
"He's right!" Cassandra turned back to a weeping Pyrrha, "I'm sorry! But I don't deserve your kindness!"
"What are you talking about?" Cassandra asked as Pyrrha suddenly darted out of the ruins of the stronghold, "Pyrrha! Come back!"
"Cassandra!" Siegfried was about to run after Cassandra but was stopped by the outreached hand of another warrior, "Mitsurugi?"
"I want to see how sappy and stupid this gets." Mitsurugi admitted, "Plus, neither of them have seen real family for a good while, am I wrong?"
"No..." Siegfried in reply to the samurai, "We'll regroup outside, give them time to sort out their feelings."
"You sure that's a wish idea?"
"Wiser than your lack of disgression, ZWEI." Hilde said rebuking the unconvinced ZWEI, "We'll discuss this later, right now we need to regroup and prepare."

Author's Notes:
Sorry, but the next few chapters will mostly feature the following:
"SOUL SAVIOR! Badass warriors from across the world gathering together! Discussing their feelings! Asking questions about those feelings and...analyzing them!"
This is based on a fighting game so raised eyebrows will be understandable, but some of these people have a lot to talk and think about.
As for ZWEI acting like a jerk to Pyrrha...remember that he's talking to the girl who stabbed him through the back while he was tired from defeating Nightmare himself and then tossed him over a cliff to what most likely would have been his doom in the game...so his reaction to Pyrrha will be understandably standoffish and bitter if not outright hostile.
For why Cassandra is back...I'm not really sure how she ended up in the Astral Chaos myself so why should her emergence from it make anymore sense? Cervantes apparently got out without of an explanation, why not Cassandra? Granted, there will be one given, it's just not a priority with me.
Remember Night Terror from SCIII? I'M BRINGING HIM BACK BABY!

 

[ShaolinTiger86]

More, more, more!!! I love reading this! Keep it up!

 

[lobo]

"This girl has Soul Edge's taint, she was ripe..."

 

[Thaeonblade]

"Stop damn it!"
"Why are you following me?"
"I'm your mother's sister..." Cassandra answered as she stepped closer to the timid Pyrrha, "We're family, we look out for each other-"
"Family?" Pyrrha grabbed her right arm in pain, prompting Cassandra to run over and check on her, "I don't even know what that is..."
"It's a group of people who care about each other and stay together." Cassandra answered, "You know...like your mother, your father...your uncle, your brother-"
"I didn't have them!" Pyrrha said in fear, "I don't remember anyone...and my brother...Patroklos...he..."
"Patroklos is grown too now..." Cassandra realized just before she saw a stream of tears fall down Pyrrha's tired face, "Hey! Don't cry! I'm here and everything's going to be fine..."
"No it won't..." Pyrrha said in distress, "I don't deserve to be happy..."
"Why would you say something like that?"
"I've done bad things..." Cassandra heard her niece confess, "Unforgivable things...I've killed people who didn't have to die! I've caused misery for everyone that I meet! Everything that is happening is all my fault!"
"Alright..." Cassandra pulled Pyrrha into a closer embrace as she cried, "We all make mistakes, alright Pyrrha? But I don't care about what you've done, we'll stay together from now on."
"Okay..."
______________________
"How are you Natsu?"
"I'm fine Senpai..." The disheartened ninja answered while Maxi tightened the bandage on his arm, "Sorry that those freaks got away..."
"We'll see them again." Maxi assured Natsu when he noticed the rest of his charges join him, "What the hell happened to you?"
"I fought a guy who stands on one leg a lot!" Xiba excitedly related as Leixia quietly squatted next to Natsu, "I'm hungry now..."
"Will you shut up about your damned food!" Leixia shouted, "That westerner...he humiliated me..."
"Guess that'll be a lesson for next time, right?" Maxi asked when he noticed a creature walk up to Leixia and allowed the chinese teen to pet his coat, "And whose this little fella?"
"It's a wolf and he's not small at all." Xiba jokingly corrected as Natsu excitedly teased the wolf like it was her personal dog, "You like wolves?"
"I love wolves!" Natsu laughed when the wolf just lied on it's legs and the ninja laid herself on it's back, "They're so strong and noble...I wanna a wolf all to myself...and then I'll be called Natsu Mononoke!"
"My necklace is glowing..." Leixia pointed out as the wolf's eyes lightly glowed, "There is a dark energy surrounding this wolf...but it's not evil."
"Where I have seen those eyes before..." Maxi asked himself when he looked into the blue eyes of the wolf. They were exactly like the eyes of that forest kid who wore greeen... "Ah well...let's get back to Sieg and get out of here."
"Hey Maxi?"
"What?"
"Did you ever meet someone named Raphael?"
"Him? He didn't bite you did he?"
________________________
"What do you mean?"
"She's gone sir..." A wounded soldier from Britain answered ZWEI, "A hooded man with a large scythe attacked her and then both disappeared in a flash of sorcery-"
"Don't give me that sorcery shit!" ZWEI grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt and lifted him against a ruined wall, "If anything happens to her, it'll be because of your stupid little ass!"
"ZWEI!" At Siegfried's word, the young man dropped the soldier, "Lashing out will solve nothing right now, keep a clear head-"
"Funny words coming from you!" ZWEI shouted at his commander, "I told you that Patroklos was trouble! But you didn't listen to me! You insisted that he was "the chosen one!" What? Did he remind you of your stupid ass before you became the Azure Knight?"
"You're out of line!"
"I dare you to tell that I'm wrong!" Several members stood by as ZWEI didn't budge from the presence of Hilde and pointed at the quiet Seigfried, "Our fearless leader just made a terrible judgement call and because of that call, I almost died; there's a new soul blade in that brat's hands that's probably just as strong as both swords; Viola's missing; and we lost a lot of good people today! After getting a sword through the back, I'm a little more than pissed off right now! So excuse me, Princess!"
"How dare you-"
"Hilde." Seigfried said with a raised hand, "He speaks the truth. Everything that has gone wrong this day...can be linked to my decision...I was the one who gave him Soul Calibur and therefore, Patroklos' actions are also my responsibility."
"Whatever the case," Hilde added with disapproval, "That doesn't justify your disrespect for a man whom you owe your life."
"Least he's not shrinking away from it." ZWEI shrugged his shoulders in acceptance, "So now what, fearless leader?"
"For now, we'll regroup at Hohenzollern Castle in Stuttgart." Seigfried decided, "Tell the rest of the band to assemble there if they wish to continue fighting."
"Wish to continue?"
"Remember Hilde, this is not an army." Seigfried reminded his second-in-command, "We'll soon face an evil that even I cannot not fathom facing...any member who does not return will not be held as a coward."
"Fair words."
"I would've thought that you'd be last person to condone such orders."
"Courage is only useful when you can live long enough to use it." Mitsurugi answered Hilde, "The man who doesn't look where he leaps is a man committing suicide."
____________________________
Night Terror...
That was a name that many once called the winged creature that soared through the European skies.
But name's were irrelevant and even now, it's will was subject to the master of the source of it's power.
After flying into the castle of a man named Graf Dumas and stalking into the quiet throne-room, the creature shed it's exoskeleton and it's wings vanished in a gust as the young man underneath was revealed. The pieces of the exoskeleton gathered to the boy's side and slowly reformed themselves into a suit of armor.
"How did I do that?"
"It's the power you wield, master..." Tira answered as she walked in front of Patroklos and guided his hand to her chest, "I can feel it through the touch of your hand...it's so much stronger than anything that I have ever felt...that power is yours to shape and command according to your needs."
"And what about him?" Patroklos turned to the armor that gleamed to life, "Are you an apparition of this blade?"
"It's inferno...at least what's left of him..." Tira boredly explained, "The spirit of Soul Edge that now dwells within the armor of Dumas. The armor of that false nightmare-"
"I am Nightmare!" The armor boomed with wrath and authority as it summoned Faust to it's hand, save that it's blade was crystalline red, "You are nothing more than a spineless child! I am Soul Edge incarnate-"
"Soul Edge?" Patroklos laughed as power steamed from Nightmare, "Soul Edge is no more...which makes you an obsolete creature. That sword has been purified by my holy might and is now apart of me. The only reason that you exist right now is because I allow it with the whim of my thoughts!"
"Silence child!" Nightmare shouted as it swung it's sword towards Patroklos, but saw the blade snap in half before it came within 5 inches of the boy's face, "Nah...no...my power..."
"Your power?" Tira mockingly asked, "You mean Patroklos' power...the power of his hand, the power of his sword. You never had true claim to the power of Soul Edge, don't you dare claim that which transcends it!"
"I am your master now." Patroklos said as he sat within the throne of Graf Dumas and looked upon the fuming Nightmare, "Bow before your master, bend down your head and lick this bowl of water."
"What?" Nightmare looked down at a bowl of water that sat at Patroklos' feet, "I will do no such thing-" A surge of energy coursed through the Azure Knight, causing the demon to cry in pain and fall to it's knees.
"That's right...know your place." Patroklos smiled as Nightmare crawled forward on all fours. The servants of the house watched with confusion and horror at this humiliation, "I am your master and you are my dog! Now act like it and drink from your bowl, dog!"
"Wretched...human..." Nightmare cursed as it's helmet faded away to reveal the head of Graf Dumas as he drank from the dirty bowl.
"Oh master..." Tira moaned in pleasure as she leaned against Patroklos' throne, "Maybe...I could be of service to you?"
"Why yes you can..." Patroklos said with genuine hesistation that quickly gave way to desire, "Remove your garments."
"As you wish..."
"No..." Patroklos relented just as Tira nearly fully revealed her breasts to him, "Go to my quarters and chain yourself to the head of my bed. I'll rip them off myself."
"Of course master..." Tira said without refastening her clothing, giving Patroklos a plentiful peak as she bowed before him, "I beg of you...not to keep me waiting..."
"I won't be long." Patroklos said as Tira retreated from his presence, "I think that I'll enjoy this new position...this power..."
"Master Dumas-" A courier stared with confusion as to why his master was licking out of a bowl and Patroklos was sitting in his throne, "What is..."
"Dumas will elaborate on this matter later." Patroklos stated, "For now, suffice to say that I act in his stead. What is it?"
"I...very well...my lord..." The courier, "A messenger has come to-"
"I am the messenger of his highness, the Sultan Ahmed The Fortunate! The Emperor amongst Holy Emperors! The Shadow of God upon the Earth!" A man in noble clothing declared as he marched into the court of Dumas, "By that authority, I demand to speak to the master of the castle!"
"You're looking at him." The messenger scoffed at Dumas' actions before seeing the young man in his throne, "Not him, me."
"You? I was expecting the Graf of Hungary to be...older and taller..." The messenger admitted, "Forgive me...I was merely confused..."
"A lot has changed of late." Patroklos waved off the fake apology, "Now speak your summons."
"The Emperor has yet to see the tax from your kingdom." The messenger stated, "He demands a response and explanation concerning the delay. Afterwards, he seeks tenfold the amount you owe to his majesty. Failure to do so, shall cause his wrath to fall upon your realm as birds fly upon the flailing fish!"
"A response?" Patroklos asked in good humor, "Did you come alone?"
"Yes..." The messenger said as he stepped closer to Patroklos, "What is your response to the Emperor-" Faster than he could hear it, the messenger's eyes widened when he felt a blade stab into his heart.
"This." Patroklos smiled as the energies of the Soul Embrace surrounded the Ottoman Messenger and flowed into his body, "Impure soul...now you shall be purified by my power." Patroklos withdrew and sheathed the sword as the messenger fell onto his back while his eyes glowed with a dim lifeless light.
"A flailing fish? We shall see." Patroklos said as he looked at the servants in the hall, "You there! What is your profession?"
"I am...a maid of the castle, my lord..."
"Not any longer..." Patroklos beaconed the girl over to him and pointed his sheathed sword at her shoulder "Accomplish the task that I have for you and this sword will be yours along with a title as my personal escort."
"Ye...Yes my lord!" The girl answered as a sheathed blade appeared upon her lap, "What is your bidding?"
"You shall bring my response to the Emperor."
_____________________________
Author's Notes:
Patroklos gets a little payback for how Graf Dumas treated him just before he takes another step to the dark side.
Meanwhile, Pyrrha gets to know her new-found aunt and I'm sure that they'll help each other out. Cassandra's in a world that's very different from the one that she left and Pyrrha has never had a family member who didn't peel over and die on her or attempt to murder her.
If you can't figure out who the wolf after the hint I just gave...you need to play Soul Calibur 2 on the Gamecube. Then you'll want to shoot yourself for not remembering one of the best guest characters that this series has ever had!
By the way, how come knowledge of Soul Edge and Soul Calibur hasn't become public knowledge even though an entire continental war centering around both swords was waged 17 years ago? Not to mention the Azure Knight who is the catalyst for thousands of murders and was involved in the destruction of a well-known castle? Just a thought.

 

[Thaeonblade]

"Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi." (I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking life)
"Jarādhammomhi jaraṃ anatīto..." (I am subject to aging, I have not gone beyond aging)
"Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi." (I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking what is not given)
"Vyādhidhammomhi vyādhiṃ anatīto..." (I am subject to illness, I have not gone beyond illness)
"Kāmesumicchācāra veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi." (I undertake the training rule to abstain from sexual misconduct)
"Maraṇadhammomhi maraṇaṃ anatīto..." (I am subject to death, I have not gone beyond death)
"Musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi." (I undertake the training rule to abstain from false speech)
"Sabbehi me piyehi manāpehi nānābhāvo vinābhāvo..." (I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me)
"Surāmerayamajjapamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi." (I undertake the training rule to abstain from fermented drink that causes heedlessness)
"Kammassakomhi kammadāyādo kammayoni kammabandhū kammapaṭisaraṇo yaṃ kammaṃ karissāmi kalyāṇaṃ vā pāpakaṃ vā tassa dāyādo bhavissāmī..." (I am the owner of my actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir)
"Pañcimāni bhikkhave ṭhānāni abhiṇhaṃ paccavekkhitabbāni itthiyā vā purisena vā gahaṭṭhena vā pabbajitena vā." (There are these five facts that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained)
"Someone is here," The Monk adorned with a helm resembling a phoenix said to his protegee, "The wind sings of her coming, she seeks for you Mina."
"It is Talim."
"Go to her."
"Don't have to tell me twice." The young woman hopped to her feet before diving down from the thin pillar of bamboo. She landed in front of the entrance to her master's former birthplace as an old friend happily held her arms open.
"Mina!"
"Talim!" Seong Mina picked up her friend as they embraced after so many years, "It's great to see you!"
"I feel the same!" Talim said as they both laughed, "Look at you...you haven't changed at all since all those years ago..."
"Oh...a few things have changed..." Mina set the wind priestess down and casually dusted off her bust which Talim noticed had grown since 15 years ago, "Not as much as you though...you've grown into a beautiful woman...you even grew a few inches."
"I'm glad that your spirit remains the same..." Talim mused, allowing Mina's humor to blow over her mind, "Despite everything that happened back then..."
"The past is the past, Talim..." Mina shrugged her left shoulder to bring her spear out of it's holster and into her left hand, "So what brings you all the way out into the middle of nowhere?"
"I must consult the Edgemaster, Mina..." Talim answered as Mina's smile became a concerned look, "Do you not feel it?"
"I think I know what you're talking about..." Mina replied, "It's worse than Soul Edge?"
"Far worse...Soul Calibur's light has been corrupted by Soul Edge's taint..." Mina gulped as Talim walked past her, "Something terrible is happening in the West."
"It's always the West...why can't anything ever happen close to home?"
"Because then you would have little incentive to seek it, apprentice," Mina's master responded from in front of Talim, startling Mina from how silent he had been at first, "It's good to see you again, Talim."
"Kilik?" Talim asked, immediately recognizing the man's facial structure and the scar upon his cheek, "You're the Edgemaster?"
"Told you the mask doesn't help!"
"I suppose not apprentice..."

"You're silent...Not like you used to be..."
"Do you even have a voice? A will?" The eye of the sheathed sword just stared back at it's wielder, Patroklos heard it's wordless voice answer him, "Me? I am your will? You'll only do as I command?"
"I'm glad that you understand," Patroklos sat upon what used to be Graf Dumas' bed, content that his sheathed sword would not bother him without his consent, "Siegfried...Mother...Dumas...all of them lied and controlled me like a dog. But you won't do that to me...won't you?"
"Master...you look like you could use my help..."
"I'm still trying to think of a name for it," Patroklos said to the entering Tira, "...Soul Master is nice...but, I feel that it deserves a stronger title."
"Soul Slayer?" Tira offered and saw Patroklos shake his head, "Soul Dominus? Soul Kaiser? It'll come to you soon master..."
"You're probably right." Patroklos agreed, "Soul Justice? Soul Magister? Soul Judge? Soul Purifier?"
"Not the last one. Sounds too much like that minx Sophitia-"
"Don't talk about my..." Patroklos stopped midway through his threat, confused and quietly angry at the same time, "I apologize...where did that even come from?"
"I did insult your mother master...I deserve to be punished..."
"No, I'm not sure why I even reacted." Patroklos said as Tira leaned on his back and massaged his shoulders, "I hardly even remember my mother...she was gone shortly after I took my first steps on the path. She didn't say good-bye..."
"Poor thing..." Tira whispered gently, "Sounds like Sophie wasn't much of mother for you, was she?"
"No, Sophitia was no mother to me." Patroklos heard himself say, "I remember the sword's memories...she gave her life to save Pyrrha...died and left me and father alone...why should I care if you insult her?
"Why should you care, master?" Tira asked, agreeing with Patroklos' rising anger, "She wasn't there for you all of your life...wasted away her life for that stupid weak girl...wasted her life away on useless crusades...abandoned her family without so much as a backwards glance...what a bitch..."
"Yeah...why was Pyrrha so special?" Patroklos growled as he stood up from the bed, "Yes...my mother was a fool. A stupid woman who allowed false gods to mislead her from her family...and then she took the coward's way out rather than return to us."
"Return to you," Patroklos turned back to his servant, who was willing to do anything for her master, "So what if Pyrrha would've died? What about you? What about your father and grandparents? What about your uncle? Was that weak little girl worth it to leave everything else behind?"
"To think...that I wanted to be just like her..." Patroklos fumed, a surge of power flared off of his body as Tira watched in awe, "A Holy Warrior who champions for the cause of righteousness and justice! What justice can be bought from this wretched land? A land that so easily forgets, never wanting to admit their faults! This world is rotten with greed and impurity! What Holy Warrior would ever want to defend that?"
"Some Holy Warrior she was..." Tira commented, approaching her master to ease his mood, "But you...you can be so much more than her...why should you take commands from anyone? Human or god? You have the power to make your way in this rotten world..."
"To destroy it and make it anew..."
"Master..." Tira felt the boy's lips force themselves onto her's, surprising her even as she returned the gesture, "Master! Hungry for more, aren't we?"
"Well I am a growing boy." Patroklos pushed the girl onto his bed, ripping off her gown without protest, "Will you refuse me?"
"Never..." Tira gestured with her finger for him to come, and he accepted, "That's right Master...just like everything I am...your fate...your power is yours alone..."
"I suppose being a Holy Warrior never suited me..." Patroklos ripped off his aroused servant's skirt as he allowed urges both primal and hungry to guide him, "How about, Holy Ravager? For I shall ravage this land of all malfested and impure...starting with you."
Newly coronated as a ravager of hearts and souls, the fallen youth wastes no more time in "purifying" his servant...

"Are you sure about this you two?"
"We are," Cassandra and Pyrrha stood outside of a semi-circle of Siegfried's group and allies, "Pyrrha needs to be with her family now."
"What's left of it-" Zwei felt Leixia slap her hand across the young man's head before walking away with obvious disapproval, "I'm just telling the truth."
"What truth?"
"You've been out of the loop for seventeen years Cassandra!" Zwei shouted, "How do you even know that home is still there? Let alone the same as when you left it? You really think that you're parents will be there awaiting your return? Or that someone will welcome you both with open arms?"
"As harsh as his words are, ZWEI is speaking truthfully," Seigfried admitted, "Whether by your own will or not, you are guilty of many sins Pyrrha. You cannot run away from your responsibilities-"
"Shut up!" Cassandra yelled aggressively, "I'm about tired of everyone putting responsibilities on my family without even hearing our say in the matter! First, the gods, Soul Calibur, and now you Siegfried! I'm done! I'm taking Pyrrha home!"
"But about your sister?" Siegfried brought up, "Would you walk away from everything that she fought for-"
"What she died for is standing behind me." Cassandra nodded back to the quiet Pyrrha, "And thanks to all of you and those damned swords, the other half of that reason is already halfway in hell. I won't let you destroy what's left of my family!"
"What family?" Zwei asked again, "Your family is already gone! How do you know that the girl behind you isn't just as bad as her brother?"
"Enough!" Hilde shouted as she stood up from beside her husband and commander, "The girl has done nothing to threaten us since she was separated from Soul Edge. There should be no reason to restrict her movements."
"Perhaps Hilde is correct," Siegfried reluctantly agreed, "But we cannot let the two of you go by yourselves. Patroklos and Nightmare may attempt to attack you again feed the new Soul Blade with the remaining essence of Soul Edge inside of Pyrrha."
"Please Siegfried, I've fought off whole gangs of bandits-"
"The world is a much different place Cassandra." Siegfried pointed out to the younger sister of Sophitia, "The home you intend to return Pyrrha to may not even be there. Do you even know where you are now?"
"So you never saw your mother again?" Siegfried grunted at Cassandra's question, "Was she happy to see her son alive and well, one last time?"
"Her life-long prayer had been answered." Siegfried answered, "ZWEI, you're going with them."
"The hell?" ZWEI said in outrage, "Why do I get stuck with them?"
"Because Hilde and myself will have to stay and ensure that the Schwarzwind survives what will soon come...besides, you could learn much from Cassandra."
"Right...As you say, commander..."
"We'll tag along as well." Maxi said as he also nodded to a recovering Natsu, a listening Leixia and Xiba, who was eating bread and cake, "I'm heading to Ibelin in Palestine and Athens is on the way there."
"What for?"
"The Edgemaster thought that something like this would happen." Maxi explained, "Two siblings cursed by Soul Edge through their mother? Both of them are chosen as wielders of the two swords? In short, the old man figured that something bad would happen. If Soul Calibur was compromised, we would need a new weapon to fight whatever is born from that compromise."
"I see...can you say anything more?"
"To be honest, I've got nothing." Maxi shrugged as the wolf started howling at something, "There's only three people that have ever come close to a situation like this and two of them aren't exactly lined up and ready for the call...quite your friend down Leixia!"
"Alright..." Leixia agreed, "Come on boy...what's got you so riled up?"
"Could I help?" Pyrrha meekly asked, "After...after I visit my home? I want...to make right what I've done wrong..."
"You could start by stepping over to a cliff and jumping-" That was when a shield flew into Zwei's face and knocked him to the ground.
"Aunt Cassandra! Why did you do that?"
"Because no one threatens my family when I'm around!" Cassandra answered as she caught her shield without looking and stomped over to Zwei, "So Pyrrha made a mistake...big deal! Soul Edge makes people do all kinds of crazy things!"
"You'd know all about that wouldn't you?" Zwei asked as a spectral wolf grabbed Cassandra from behind and threw her into a tree stump, "Hell! I shouldn't be surprised with how messed up your family is! Sophitia went evil too right? So it's only natural for the kids to follow her footsteps right?"
"That's it!" Cassandra hoped to her feet and charged the young man, "Let's go Wolf Boy!"
"Fine with me!"
"Stop it please-" Pyrrha pleaded before she saw the samurai from before stand in front of her to block her, "Please move sir-"
"Or what?" Mitsurugi waited as Pyrrha shakingly drew out her sword, "You really want to challenge me child? A sword with steeled determination and will is as useless as a blunt knife used to scrap the butter!"
"They're fighting because of me!" Pyrrha cried as the samurai just stood and watched her. Behind him, Cassandra and Zwei clashed within the semi-circle, "It's all my fault! I was weak and let people control me! I don't want anyone else to be hurt or die because of me!"
"It's not just you, girl. She's also fighting for your mother's honor."
"My...my mother," Pyrrha said...remembering trace memories of a woman who smiled at her, one who looked a lot like Cassandra, "But...she's gone..."
"I will allow her to answer that for herself," Mitsurugi answered the girl as he turned back in time to see Cassandra roll under Ein's strike and use her shield to block Zwei's attack, "Besides, weak wills should not interfere in duels between those of greater strength."
"I'm sorry..."
"Don't apologize...or were you even trying to help your aunt?"
"I...I was...but I didn't know-"
"Forget it child, I won't waste any more words for an weak soul like yours."
"That's enough you two!" Hilde said as she used her sword to block Cassandra's sword and had her spear ward off EIN, "You've proven your point, Cassandra."
"Let me check again, just to be sure!"
"I was just getting warmed up woman!"
"ZWEI!" Siegfried shouted, "You're out of line."
"Guess I am! Attitude reflects leadership afterall! I get it! You want to give the girl a chance to redeem herself just like you did! But not everyone has that chance! Not everyone gets a redo! Look at Patroklos! The guy was murdering people left and right and he was enjoying it! You didn't once question giving Soul Calibur to him and look what happened! So you really expect me or anyone else to follow you as far as letting this little girl go! The one that people call the Crimson Despair? She's just like her brother!"
"That's a laugh!" Maxi doubled over laughing as the group watched him laugh for a good minute, Cassandra herself was stunned to see Maxi like this, "ZWEI's full of it, but he's got a point, Siegfried. You haven't held Soul Edge for over seventeen years...you've forgotten about what gives the sword it's strength and hold...that passes to the shards and the malfested essence."
"What is that?"
"The wielder's soul," Maxi answered the listening Siegfried, "I still have a shard of soul edge inside of me...and it fed on my desire for revenge against Astaroth. So much so that it nearly consumed me...thanks to the Edgemaster, the energy within the shard was removed and now it's basically defunct...but it's still there...waiting for me to take the bait."
"Can't you also sense other similar energies?"
"Yeah, I can," Maxi answered, "So I sensed the taint within the boy. It wasn't as strong as in Pyrrha...but it was more...malicious...darker...he was actively fueling that taint from the start but none of us acted on it."
"And neither did he," Mitsurugi chimed in, "He would've had the ability to sense the difference between malfested and normal people...but he didn't care to use this at all despite being able to learn quickly. When I clashed blades with him, I sensed his darkened heart...something that this girl didn't have."
"What does that mean?"
"It means Pyrrha would've been harmless if not for Tira," Siegfried confirmed, much to Cassandra's relief, "Patroklos on the other hand...possessed a taint that was never cleansed...allowed to fester and darken from his desire for revenge against the malfested and a silent anger against his mother."
"Against Sophitia? Why would he be angry at her?"
"Because she never returned..." Swords drew and gazes rose towards the ninja who stood upon the point of a tree, "Cassandra...you didn't die, as I thought."
"Senpai?" Natsu asked in both confusion and fear, "What are you doing here?"
"I was hoping that you wouldn't be here as well, Natsu," Taki said as a multitude of masked shinobi appeared within the forest around the warriors, "But what must be done, will be done."

Author's Notes:
Taki appears in the treetops above our heroes and she brings a squad of fellow ninjas with her! What is Taki doing here? Is this a misunderstanding? Or is this intentional? What will be the Holy Ravager's next move?
Stay tuned to find out.
Maybe Zwei and Mitsurugi were being harsh, but I tried to have them speak rational arguments...even if the former of the two was being a bit jerkish about it.

 

[Thaeonblade]

"Senpai?" The blond ninja shivered with her hands on her sheathed knives, looking up at the Fu-Ma Clan Shinobi who surrounded the Black Wind mercenaries, "Why are you...why attack us?"
"Questions? Who cares why she's attacking! Prepare to fight!"
"We can inquire later," Seigfried stated in agreement with Mitsurugi, "After we've won."
"Natsu, you knew that this day could occur," The leader of the Fu-Ma Shinobi chided sadly, "Ever since you left with Xianghua's daughter, I've been watching you and your fellows. I observed your failure and now intend to make amends for your mistake."
"Mistake?"
"What do you mean!" Leixia shouted with her own sword drawn, "Natsu hasn't done anything wrong!"
"Wrong? She hasn't done anything." Taki corrected, "The moment you allowed that impure boy to gain access to Soul Calibur and then unlock it's full power, you had already failed. Remember what I taught you Natsu? A shinobi must be able to see beneath the underneath and act in accordance with what you see."
"More cryptic talk," The samurai scoffed, "You haven't changed a bit you old hag!"
"Heishiro Mitsurugi? You're still live..." Taki commented warmly before addressing Siegfried, "I'll cut to the point, surrender that girl."
"Me?"
"Like hell!" Cassandra yelled, standing in front of a confused and fearful Pyrrha, "What are you going to do? Kill her?"
"If we must, then yes." Taki's blunt answer unnerved the mercenary group, "She holds a conflicting power inside of her, one that may prove just as dangerous as her brother is now. This power must be extracted from the girl or it must be extinguished to prevent this crisis from becoming worse."
"Crisis? A crisis that you've done nothing to help-"
"Don't start with me Azure Knight," Taki warned Siegfried, "I warned you. I told you that you should've destroyed both swords to prevent this conflict from ever repeating itself. Now look what has happened! The scales of balance have already shattered with the merging of the two swords and the responsibility for this rests solely on your shoulders."
"Enough talk!" Mitsurugi made his point by dashing forward and cutting through the tree that Taki was standing on. As it fell in an angle that caused several shinobi to leap out of the way, Taki landed gracefully behind him, "After twenty-four years you still yap like a lap dog! I've had enough of you?"
"Mitsurugi..." Taki drew out her knives causing Natsu to breath more quickly from the fight that was to come, "Twenty-four years of frivolous warfare and travel and you haven't had enough?"
"Of course he hasn't," A drowsy Xiba pointed out, "Otherwise, why would he be traveling?"
"Not now Xiba!"
"Come on Maxi...it was a stupid question-" The young monk was silenced when Taki swiftly embedded one of her daggers into Xiba's lower neck and pulled it out while the boy fell to his knees.
"Xiba!"
"Are there any doubts as to my intentions?" Taki asked, "I avoided the boy's vitals, but if you do not yield, none of you will be so fortunate-" Taki was quieted when a staff slammed into her neck and sent her back towards Mitsurugi who avoided slashing open her neck and spun to avoid Taki's spinning back kick.
"That hurt!" Xiba shouted when he jumped to his feet and was intrigued by the trickle of blood that flowed from the small hole in his neck, "Am I going to die Maxi?"
"She avoided your vitals kid."
"Oh! That's good!"
"No it's not! How are you even talking?"
"Maybe it's the pink fairy?" Xiba answered, drawing Leixia and the group's attention to a pink fairy that flew around Xiba before it faded out, "The cut's gone...guess magic is real..."
"What should we do boss?"
"All troops! Back to back! Circular Barrier!" Siegfried commanded the Black Wind to answer ZWEI, "I've already made enough mistakes with Patroklos, I won't make another with his sister."
"So be it." Taki flipped over Mitsurugi and landed next to an armored warrior with a wooden arm, "Take the girl, incapacitate the rest. Kill them if you have to."
"Understood." The warrior motioned with his hand, causing several other armored warriors to appear alongside the shinobi, "Behold the righteous blades of the Manjitou!"
"Yoshimitsu?"
"Not the same one that you knew," Natsu explained to a confused Cassandra, "The name of Yoshimitsu is a title that is earned...earned through killing it's previous owner and taking up their mission..."
"It is I, Yoshimitsu!" The armored samurai dashed towards the mercenary group and quickly cut open the neck of a soldier, "But you knew that? No?"
"Bastard!" With Hilde's words, the battle was joined. Hilde thrusted her spear into Yoshimitsu's side and thrusted again to throw him back. She then swung her short sword to block the attack of a Manjitou warrior while using her spear to trip a Fu-Ma Shinobi and allow the grey wolf to jump on the shinobi and bite into his head.
The skirmish lasted barely ten minutes, but the sheer brutality and carnage of the battle made every minute seem like an hour. The Fu-Ma Shinobi ruthlessly assaulted any weak point that they could find, backstabbing and disabling Black Wind soldiers as they faced off against the equally lethal Manjitou warriors. Despite their disadvantage in numbers and readiness, Hilde and Siegfried's leadership held the Black Wind together to stand up to their ambushers.
It also helped that the Black Wind was aided by a group of fighters that were the equal to any platoon of soldiers. Despite her fragile hesitation, Pyrrha was only grazed by the ambushers and managed to defend well against their multiple attacks while her more experienced and aggressive aunt was able to answer the Fu-Ma shinobi with her own ruthlessness. Neither fought out of hatred, but to protect their family nearby...
Despite tears that flowed from her eyes, Natsu did not hesitate to drop Fu-Ma shinobi with one lethal strike of her knives. Her coordination with Leixia, Xiba and Maxi enabled the four to anticipate surprise attacks even as the Manjitou warriors assaulted them from all sides. Xiba's long range and tricky demeanor with Leixia's heavy yet fluid sword dance made a deadly combination against the Manjitou warriors while Maxi singled out officers or higher ranked warriors to keep them from endangering his protegees.
Siegfried, Hilde and ZWEI held their own, though watching many of their comrades fall had it's toll on ZWEI...enough for Yoshimitsu to nearly kill him if not for the interference of the grey wolf. As if recognizing the wolf as a valid adversary, the Armored warrior faced off with the growling wolf while any other did nothing to interfere.
Mitsurugi and Taki fought within the forest around the main battle. Both knew that they would seek for one another anyway, as they have for over two decades. Despite his age and Taki's agelessness, it soon became clear that this would not be the day that the two adversaries would settle their decades long strife.
It also became clear to the senior shinobi that she had underestimated the strength of the Black Wind and their allies. A mistake that she would not repeat again.
"To die here would be pointless..." Taki jumped onto Mitsurugi's katana and leapt off of it into the treetops above, "But this is not over ronin."
"Giving up already?" Mitsurugi asked the retreating ninja, "Why haven't you died after all of these years?"
"Senpai!" Natsu cried as she appeared and tried to follow her sensei, "Wait!"
"Forget it!" Mitsurugi grabbed the blond girl and forced her onto her back with minimal effort, "You're not going to change her mind...none of us can."

Mitsurugi and Natsu returned to find a downcast mood amongst the Black Wind mercenaries, most of whom were busy accounting for casualties in this skirmish.
"Is anyone wounded?"
"Thirteen...Fourteen...Fifteen...Seventeen wounded..." Hilde counted off, "Some of them won't survive their injuries...and five...no, eight...eighteen deaths."
"Hope you're grateful little miss," ZWEI said to a shaken Pyrrha, "WE JUST LOST EIGHTEEN PEOPLE FOR YOU! AND WE MAY LOSE MORE!"
"I'm...I'm so sorry-"
"Don't give me that sorry shit!" ZWEI shouted, grabbing Pyrrha by her sleeve and causing her to gasp, "You think that saying sorry's gonna make up for what happened here! Or for any of the hundreds that you've already killed! Sorry won't cut it!"
"Back off!" Cassandra slammed her shield into ZWEI's wrist, causing him to grab it in pain while Cassandra stepped in front of Pyrrha, "Pyrrha didn't do anything wrong here!"
"When the hell are you going to let that weak little girl stand up for herself?"
"You wanna blame someone for the deaths of your comrades, blame the shinobi killed them!"
"Or the person who made them do this," The three of them heard a solemn Natsu comment, "I knew those shinobi, something's wrong about this attempt."
"Wrong?" Mitsurugi asked, looking at the damage from the battle, "I'd say that they caused a lot of damage despite their failure."
"I need a body..." Natsu said out loud and then called out to the gathering, "How many did we kill?"
"A lot, they were quick but lack protection." Siegfried observed, "And here's another problem...I don't see any of them..."
"You mean ones that we killed?"
"Exactly," Siegfried answered his wife, "Is this a normal practice for Shinobi?"
"Yes." Natsu answered, "Ensures that the dead will not reveal their secrets."
"How could they take all of those bodies?" ZWEI asked, "Me and EIN had to have killed at least seven of them..."
"I got four."
"Five myself."
"Hell..." ZWEI pointed to a worried Pyrrha, "Even the little miss here got three..."
"Get off! What do you want?" Xiba asked as the Grey Wolf grabbed jacket's sewn in tail and started dragging the monk from the group. When Xiba shook the wolf off, set his staff on the ground and sat on it while the wolf barked more, "You got one boy?" The wolf nodded and ran to a recently covered over patch of dirt and quickly dug away the thin layer to reveal a deceased Fu-Ma Shinobi.
"He must have grabbed the body while that smoke screen was here."
"Or maybe he killed one of the shinobi as they tried to run." Maxi suggested to Leixia's confusion, the Ryukin Pirate just nodded to the wolf, "Either way, good boy." The wolf barked in reply and walked off of the scene.
"Move over!" Natsu shouted when she pushed aside her senpai and pulled off the shinobi's mask. Leixia was aghast, Cassandra shook from an urge to barf, Pyrrha turned away fearfully and ZWEI shook his head in disapproval, "As I thought...a malfested within his body..."
"A what?"
"Malfested are those who have been infected by Soul Edge's taint," Siegfried explained to Cassandra, "In time, it festers and mishapes them, turning them into mindless slaves for Soul Edge. The only way to stop one is to purify it or kill it."
"It?" Cassandra asked, mortified from the expression of quiet pain on the shinobi's face, "He smells...but he's still a person."
"After a while, it doesn't matter." ZWEI countered, "But the malfestation wasn't as strong here, this man was still in his right-mind when he died."
"That means that he either had a strong will or accepted this taint willingly." Natsu concluded, shaken by the lengths that her former clan was now taking, "What is senpai doing?"
"Whatever she's doing, it must quicken our steps." Siegfried decided, "Cassandra, Maxi, you should get moving and stay away from the main roads unless necessary."
"Already planning on it." Maxi agreed, "Younglings! Clean up and get your gear! We're moving out!"
"Understood."
"Already?"
"Can I eat first?"
"No complaints, younglings!" Maxi barked at his protegees, "Student just doesn't sound right to me."
"Neither does aunt," Cassandra admitted before she poked a quiet Pyrrha on her nose, "Ready to go home, Pyrrha?"
"Yes..." Pyrrha replied, "What about you?"
"We'll be alright once we regroup, then we'll have more numbers than Taki will bother to attack."
"Numbers? When has she cared for those?"
"She'll care enough not to engage in a pointless battle," Hilde explained to an unconvinced Mitsurugi, "She may have many shinobi under her, but not in limitless numbers. She will most likely pick and choose her battles, more likely hit and run rushes as she did here. Not against a fully manned and fortified fort."
"Then we will have to hurry up ourselves," Siegfried concluded, "We can carry the wounded...but we'll have to leave the dead..."
"The dying?"
"They're not dead yet," Siegfried answered to ZWEI's relief, "Until they draw their last breath, we will not abandon them."
"Thanks boss."
"Why thank me? I only do what I am meant to do." Seigfried said to ZWEI before he addressed Pyrrha, "From here, your path will be your own child. I won't tell you what to seek or if you will find it. But your choices from here on out will yours to make, for good or for ill. If you lack the will to make that choice, then forge it from within yourself before that weakness costs the lives of those precious to you."
"I...I understand my lord..."
"I say this so that you will not commit the same sins that your brother has committed," Seigfried stated to a thoughtful Pyrrha, "The same sins that I committed..."

Author's Notes:
This one's brief because I've really got nothing right now...I've been so busy...

 

[Thaeonblade]

Imperial Palace
"Where is he! I've been waiting here for days! Is this how the Emperor treats his subjects!"

"Silence whore!" The Official of the Court shouted as he stomped towards Xianghua, "The Emperor treats his subjects as he wishes!"

"Xianghua, lower your voice," Wujan had made no motion to his wife's demands for the Emperor's appearance. He was neither fearful for his life nor humiliated by her outburst, "You're only encouraging the man's ignorance."

"Ignorance?" The official scoffed, "I am the Emperor's Chief Eunuch, I know all that is spoken from his mouth."

"That is not what I meant," Wujan corrected continued to swipe his brush over the parchment laid out in front of him, "I meant that you are ignorant for attempting to assert yourself above a woman who has defeated a blade of demons."

"Heh! You may believe this woman's claims, but the Emperor knows you for who you truly are!" The Eunuch shouted, pointing a finger at Xianghua, "If not for the General, I would be paying you a visit at the Brothel. The Chai Family does produce lovely whores...wonder if your daughter will follow in your footsteps-"

"Watch your tongue or I'll cut it out." Xianghua warned, pointed her nameless sword at the Eunuch's crotch before he had a chance to draw his sword, "What woman would want a man as lacking as you anyway?"

"Xianghua...please point the blade somewhere that has a spot to pierce?" Wujan asked without looking away from his parchment as Xianghua exhaled and brought her sword up to the Eunuch's stomach, "Carry on."

"How dare you threaten me-" Xianghua's eyes widened as she sheathed her sword and prostrated herself as the Eunuch turned in confusion and quickly followed, "Your Highness!"

"Prince Changluo!" Xianghua shouted, "Your highness, your presence surprised me!"

"Get up..." The Crown Prince muttered boredly, as the Eunuch rose to his feet, the prince smacked the top of his head, "Not you, I meant Yan Xianghua..." The Eunuch immediately prostrated himself again as the Prince met Xianghua's eyes while she rose to her feet, "You have no need to bow to me unnecessarily, I'm not the Emperor yet."

"When you do, may that reign be long and prosperous my prince." Wujan said his head bowed to the Prince, "And forgive my wife's rash words, she merely feels insulted by your father's tardiness."

"Figures, father forgot that he even sent the message until now." Changluo scoffed, "But he's with one of his whores and told me to tell you his orders."

"Orders?"

"You will go to Istanbul as my father's envoys to Sultan Ahmed." Changluo said as he handed a sealed scroll to Wujan, the prince nodded and the Ming General broke the seal to read it's contents, "The Sultan sends word of a growing rebellion from their tributaries in the Kingdom of Hungary. A holy warrior under Graf Dumas has seized control of the Graf's territories and is waging an aggressive civil war against the Hungarian King and the Sultan's armies."

"He is winning then?" From her husband's grave voice, she could tell that things were getting worse in the West, "Of course he is, one would have to be either very powerful or very fearless to attempt to face a war on two fronts...how many have died?"

"That's why the Sultan has called for us." Changluo said while surveying a map of Eurasia that was posted in the back of the hall, "The boy's forces are growing quickly, he's managed to convert recruits from the peasantry and even captives of war into fanatical soldiers. They say that his sword holds dark magic which allows him to steal or overwrite the souls of those whom he strikes down, "purifying" them of their malfestation."

"This sounds more like the beginning of a cult than an army."

"A cult can be equally terrifying under the right leadership." Wujan said to which Xianghua nodded, "What has your father decided to do?"

"He is sending you." Changluo answered to Wujan's surprise, "You will go to Istanbul ahead of your army to give the Sultan my father's answer to the terms of an alliance against this "Holy Ravager" that stays in Hungary. Then, you will assist the Sultan's armies with your own in whatever means that he requires."

"Is that all?" Xianghua inquired, feeling as though the prince wasn't telling her something, "Then why am I being sent? Last time we talked, your father didn't think highly of me."

"And he still doesn't, I'm sending you for reasons beneficiary for both of us." The Prince replied, "My mother believed your report concerning Soul Edge when you first set out, 16 years ago. For stopping the sword back then, all of the Dynasty owes you a debt that can never be repaid, regardless of what your grandfather or my father have told you. But I have...reliable sources that report the holy warrior wielding the Krita Yuga."

"WHAT!" Xianghua's cry of surprise echoed through the Imperial halls, "IMPOSSIBLE! YOU'RE LYING!"

"How dare you raise your voice at the Crown Prince!" At once, a section of the wall to Xianghua's right rose to reveal a wall of shields with spears pointing of them. The Wall advanced on Xianghua until the points of their spears were hacked off by a single slash, "Out of the way korean rat!"

"Tian!" Wujan shouted at the young man who stood defiant before the Imperial Guard. The young man hesitantly lowered his glaive as Wujan bowed before the Prince, "Forgive my wife's outburst, but surely there is a mistake with your reports?"

"I have multiple sources and they all said the same thing," The Prince answered while motioning to the wall of guards to return to their place at the side of the hallway. To the untrained eye, their shields appeared as part of the tapastry of the hall, "The young man who commands Dumas' Lands wields the Krita-Yuga and it was your daughter who assisted him."

"Leixia?" Xianghua couldn't believe whose name she had heard, "Who is the source? Tell me now or you won't live to become Emperor!"

"Imputent whore-" The guards prepared to move again, but the prince held up his hand, "Yes your highness!"

"An Alchemist with no sense of modesty," The Prince responded, "Trustworthy enough?"

"Yes," Xianghua answered, "What else did she say?"

"The boy was given the Krita-Yuga and participated in a ritual which would awaken and strengthen it." The Prince explained as Wujan studied his wife's growing frustration and fear, "I heard nothing more from her afterwards save that a girl who resembled you and wore the Dvara-Yuga partook in the ritual along with a blond japanese ninja, a Ryuku Pirate and a boy who wielded the Kali-Yuga. Whether your daughter...or your son had knowledge of the Holy Warrior's plans are beyond my knowledge. Perhaps he deceived her? Or something happened in the following confrontation that caused this change in the boy?"

"I will do as you command my prince," Xianghua agreed, "I just want to save my children."

"As would I if Youxiao were in the same situation." The prince answered with sincerity, "This is task to you. You must remove the Krita-Yuga from the hands of this Ravager however you can. You would know more about the subject, but I believe that this youth may have corrupted the Krita-Yuga or Soul Edge, the supposed Sword of Salvation, corrupted both of them. Whatever the truth of this is, you must find out about it. Remove the Krita-Yuga from the Holy Warrior and purge it of it's corruption. If you can't, destroy it."

"Destroy the Krita-Yuga?" Wujan asked as Xianghua stood in place as if to allow those three words to sink into her mind, "Would such a feat even be possible-"

"The Krita-Yuga's true form is the equal-opposite of Soul Edge and the latter has been destroyed several times as Xianghua herself as accomplished." The Prince theorized, "If Soul Edge can be destroyed, so can the Krita-Yuga, but only if you must."

"I'll break it down to dust if that's what it will take," Xianghua stated while turning to leave, "Either way, I'm bringing our children home. Your highness."

"How dare you turn your back before you are dismissed-" The Eunuch swiped out his sword, but was stunned to the point of sweating when he saw Xianghua standing perfectly balanced on the tip of his blade with her own blade pointed at his forehead, "Carry on ma'am..."

"Thank you." Xianghua replied as she lightly poked the Eunuch and skipped off of the sword, "Tian! You're coming with me!"

"Yes Lady Xianghua..." The young guard shivered when he looked back towards the Imperial Guards and gave a respectful bow before turning to the Prince and General, "Lord Wujan...Your Highness..."

"That was amazing," The Prince said with a subdued smile as Tian ran to catch up with Xianghua, "I haven't seen that defiant spirit inside of her for many years."

"She is a mother," Wujan stated while looking over the content of his decorated parchment, "The bonds between parent and child defy all other reverence."

"I am afraid that I would know nothing of this from my own father," The Prince sadly admitted, "You are dismissed, I must tell my father of your answer."

"Your highness." Wujan bowed to the Prince and exited the Hall. Outside, he found Xianghua reassuring Tian about his actions in the Imperial Palace, "Not nearly as bad as I had feared."

"Have a little faith in your wife." Xianghua replied before looking towards the Western sky, "It's evening time in the West...I hope Leixia and my son are sleeping well."
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Somewhere in the Servian Wilderness
"Does it stand for Zoolander's Wonderfully Energetic Invader?"

"That doesn't even make any sense at all," ZWEI said with his fingers pinched to his forehead, why did he agree to this stupid game? Xiba just nodded, proud of his guess, "Okay, your turn Natsu."

"I think I've got it this time!" The blond ninja exclaimed, "Your name stands for...Zebra's Woefully Enormous Illness!"

"That was worse than Leixia's guess..."

"You're not giving us helpful hints!" Leixia said in embarrassed protest, "It'd be easier to walk backwards on a wire blindfolded while holding two barrels full of water over your shoulders!"

"It does sound fun!" Pyrrha giggled but stopped when ZWEI rolled his eyes, "I...thought it did..."

"It is fun! I've done it!" Xiba shouted, "But I still can't figure out your name...maybe if Leixia cooks more food-"

"No!" Leixia yelled, "You've already eaten supper! We need to make our supplies last till we get to Athens!"

"But you let the wolf eat..."

"I only give him snacks!" Leixia said while petting the wolf that lied next to her, "And...he seems to like cooked food better...odd..."

"Maybe he was someone's pet?" Natsu figured while the wolf's fur rose and fell with each breath that it took amidst it's sleep, "Or he'd befriended someone who fed him cooked meat often and just grew accustomed to it?"

"You know what I think?" ZWEI was convinced about the nature of the wlf, "I think the wolf isn't a wolf at all. It's way too docile around people, people that it doesn't know."

"Maybe it's just happy to be around people?"

"It's not in a wolf's nature to be friendly to just anyone." ZWEI responded to a lightly defensive Pyrrha. Not in the mood for an argument, he decided to drop it, "Whatever though, I'm going to sleep."

"I'll take watch after Cassandra," A humored Maxi said while everyone went to their mats, "Go on, wake her up."

"Alright..." Pyrrha agreed reluctantly, she sat on her knees and shook her aunt's shoulder, "Aunt Cassandra? Cassandra?"

"What...Sophie...just five more minutes..." Pyrrha heard Cassandra say with her eyes closed, "Quit it Sophie...go cuddle with Rothion..."

"She must be having a good dream..." Pyrrha said, smiling at how her aunt chuckled in her sleep, "I'll take watch."

"You sure about that?" Maxi asked to which Pyrrha nodded, "Fine...wake me when three hours have passed."

"Alright." Pyrrha agreed while she fastened her jacket and sat in front of her sleeping aunt, "You're not going to sleep too?"

"And leave our safety with you? Please," ZWEI answered with his back against a tree, "Nothing too personal, I'm just not gonna wait to get stabbed in the back again."

"I said that I was sorry..."

"And I was still stabbed." ZWEI pointed out, causing Pyrrha to lower her head, "It's not even you that I distrust, it's what's inside you."

"It's not even there..." Pyrrha muttered more to herself than ZWEI, "Not anymore...not that way that it was..."

"You sure about that?" ZWEI asked, causing Pyrrha to hold out her right arm and observe it's pale and sickly complexion, "If you're not sure, then there's no reason for me to not distrust you or at least keep my eyes on you."

"All four of them?"

"Nah...you're down to just these two." ZWEI said less harshly, "What was it like?"

"Wielding Soul Edge?" Pyrrha asked, seeing ZWEI tilt his head, the girl understood, "I didn't have it for very long...and...I don't want to talk about it."

"I just curious," ZWEI admitted, appearing to be willing to drop the subject, "Sieg never really talked about his days as the "Azure Knight". When he did, it was brief and to the point: He killed his dad, convinced himself that someone else did it, found soul edge, acted as it's host until he fought a French guy, then he got soul calibur and defeated soul edge to atone for his sins. Pretty much a summary for a book."

"Why did you want to know?"

"I wanted to know if finding it is worth the trouble attached to it," ZWEI answered, "Does it really give you power and having that power makes you drunk and crazy with it? Or is Soul Edge really this soul-warping entity that uses it's wielders as puppets who didn't even understand what they had."

"More of the latter..." Pyrrha answered, "Will I ever be able to atone for my sins?"

"Why not?" ZWEI reluctantly offered, "If the Azure Knight can find atonement then why not some possessed cry-baby?"

"Cry-baby?" Pyrrha asked and when ZWEI nodded, she fumed, "I don't cry that much!"

"That much?" ZWEI asked, still surprised from Pyrrha's outburst. While the girl seemed to marvel at the volume of her own voice, ZWEI simply smirked, "So you're human after all, there's hope for a backbone yet."
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Author's Note:

Here's something confusing about this taking place in Hungary.

At about this time, Most of Hungary was a vassel/tributary state or territory of the Ottoman Empire after they defeated the Hungarians over half a decade or so earlier. Yet another portion of Hungary was ruled by the Hasbergs, an influential dynasty from the Holy-Roman Empire. Graf Dumas (Nightmare) was reportedly a member of the Holy Roman Emperor's inner circle and that's how he became a Graf...but where he actually rules is a fictional castle...So there's no way of knowing if he's in charge of a tributary to the Ottoman's or the Hungarians.

The way I'm going with it, Graf Dumas is in charge of an area that's technically still under Hungarian Control, but still owes tribute to the Ottoman Empire either because it's close to Ottoman Territory, within Ottoman Territory, or the Ottoman's are just being jerks. Or maybe being Nightmare in disguise, the Ottoman's reeling from the conclusion of the Long War and Emperor Rudolf being a reportedly ineffectual emperor...he just took the castle and killed whoever tried to take taxes from it?

Think about it...that's a free soul every couple of weeks.

To be fair, there's a lot of historical factuality that's thrown out the window, so it's a moot point. Afterall, we have two swords of the soul battling each other with catastrophic events and somehow, only a few people actually know what's going on. What's worse? People still hunt for soul edge after two devasting events (The Evil Seed and the Events of SCIII-SCIV) that occur in recent time and they want it to fix their problems. Then again, I don't think literacy and intelligence were widely praised as things you needed to live, so I guess that makes sense.

Just food for thought, is there a difference between distorting the space-time and actually traveling through time?