Soul Calibur V: Soul Savior Chap 2

Copyright: I own nothing, moving on.
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"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..."
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"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...
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"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..."
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"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..."
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"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."
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"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..."