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Post by Amy Sorel on Aug 3, 2012 12:41:30 GMT
Setsuka now arrived in Beijing where she went to the wonderful Lotus garden that once was the private garden of the Ming Emperor but that was now open to public.
She gazed with amazement at the beautiful blossom trees while walking across the many bridges going over small stream with many nenuphars in it, enjoying the soothing sound of the water running through this magnificent park for a while. There was such magnificent beauty in this world...
Why was there such horrible things as Soul Edge and Mitsurugi also? Yet technically Mitsurugi did not compare to Soul Edge... He was a human, an as much as she hated to say it, not even a truly evil man... He had honor... Would not kill helpless people...
Setsuka frowned while thinking about him. She should not stain her mind with images of this man while admiring the sight... She should not think about him for the whole time she didn't have to confront him... Thinking about him always lead to her thinking about her master and to sadness...
She closed her eyes and tried to chase those sad thoughts. Will the loss of her master always hurt like this?
Suddenly feeling very sad, Setsuka sat on some bench and quickly wiped her tears before she tried to calm herself. The soothing water and the beautiful flowers will probably make her feel better soon...
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Post by Amy Sorel on Aug 4, 2012 15:49:25 GMT
After regaining her composure, Setsuka visited other parts of the city. Now from what she thought she would probably just have to go west to reach Europe. She went to see some merchant caravan that someone told her were going west tomorrow. The caravan would go to Afghanistan, Persia then Turkey. After that Setsuka thought she could take a boat to go to Greece or walk toward Europe, she didn't know yet. So tonight, she rented a room in some inn, took a meal and went to bed.
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chemus05
Fighter
Where's your passion?! Fight like you mean it![RS:1]
Posts: 137
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Post by chemus05 on Aug 5, 2012 18:32:48 GMT
[avatar]http://img17.elex-tech.org/10000/2011/1209/8a/9/97304/300x400x75x0.jpg[/avatar]
The almost deserted lounge of the inn glowed colourfully with candles inside paper lamps. The place was almost deserted save for some drunkards sleeping at the table and the innkeeper whose head was drooped over his arms at the counter and with a cloak covering his back. It was past midnight and all the bustle had gone asleep along with every customers of the inn.
The door of the inn creaked open and the loud taps of his boots echoed in the dimly lit room. The stranger, of European descent, headed over the counter and sat on one of the stools. He slammed his fist on the counter table and the innkeeper bolted up and stared dreamily at the stranger. He inspected the stranger and judged his shady character as evidenced by his suit: a red tattered waist coat, a red feathered hat and a set of trousers stained heavily by blood.
The man must have been a murderer.
-0-
“I am Cervantes de Leon, the dreaded ghost pirate of the seas, now gimme a glass of whisky and any food you got!” he demanded, certain that his intimidation would prompt the tenant to give him whatever he desired. He was also sure of the fame of that name and the dread it induced to people. The innkeeper stared at him blankly and answered him with words completely strange to him.
“Wǒ kěyǐ wéi nǐ zuò shénme? Qǐng bùyào shuō zài guó wài de shétou.”
The pirate muttered a curse under his breath and pointed to a keg nearby and then to his mouth and belly. He waved his hand in a gesture to rush the tenant.
“Zhè jiāng huāfèi...” the person behind the counter took an abacus and started counting. He extended his hand and stared at the pirate.
Cervantes, unable to understand the person, slammed his fist once again on the counter, took the man by his shirt and breathed on him his fiery curses.
“Gimme food and whisky!” he hissed.
The innkeeper produced a set of coins with a hole at their center, tied together with a silk ribbon, on his hand. He turned his other hand, showing his palm and then pointed at the set of coins. Cervantes, in his frustration, shoved the innkeeper backwards that he slammed on the kegs. Then, the pirate drew his two swords hanging on his belt, stabbed one on the counter with frightening force and pointed the tip of the other on the neck of the person irritating him.
The innkeeper immediately cried out in fear, shivering: “Jiùmìng a! Tā huì shāle wǒ! Qǐng bùyào shā wǒ!”
The few drunkards at the tables stirred and upon seeing their patron in danger, unsheathed their swords and daggers. From outside the inn, the sounds of swords clanging against each other were heard along with screams of terror and pain. This was followed by thuds as the silhouette of one man with two swords was outlined on the windows. There was a red glow on his pocket that momentarily glowed for a few seconds and then dimmed out.
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Post by Amy Sorel on Aug 5, 2012 21:34:17 GMT
Setsuka woke up to the fighting noises downstairs. Still very tired, she first wondered if this inn was that kind of place where there were fights each nights but it didn’t seem so when she came… She didn’t like to go in these places and mostly avoided them.
Anyway the sounds downstairs were quite violent and troubling. Not just some fist fight… People were dying; Setsuka heard what sounded like cries of agony… Getting up she wondered: There was no war around here… What was it? Brigands?
She quickly tied her kimono, took her umbrella and went to the stairs, her long blond hair still uncombed on her back. As she walked down, she noticed the bloodied corpse that had fell in the stair, its eyes still opened in a horrified gaze.
Setsuka tightened her grip on her umbrella, preparing for anything that may come at her. But there were no fighting sounds anymore.
Setsuka carefully walked down the stairs, trying to not make a sound, observing everything, trying to find what could have caused that and if there was still some people alive around here when she suddenly noticed a man, dressed in European clothes, the clothes were all red and now even more reddened with fresh blood. He was quietly drinking a tankard of something while biting into some chicken leg. Many corpses were scattered around him and blood was everywhere. There seemed to be no survivors other than him.
Gripping even more firmly the handle of her umbrella since she knew she would soon use it, Setsuka asked the man in Chinese then in Portuguese since it was the European language she knew most before German and some others: “What have you done?”
Has he killed all those men alone?
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chemus05
Fighter
Where's your passion?! Fight like you mean it![RS:1]
Posts: 137
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Post by chemus05 on Aug 6, 2012 12:41:39 GMT
[avatar]http://img17.elex-tech.org/10000/2011/1209/8a/9/97304/300x400x75x0.jpg[/avatar] As Cervantes feasted on the chicken meat and the rice wine, he heard the soft padding of footsteps—a woman climbing down the stairs. It was very subtle and almost inaudible but to someone trained to be keen in all settings. The footsteps stopped behind him and a female voice asked him in the native tongue of the patron, which he deduced was some odd sounding language of China, and then in Portuguese, which he understood since it was the language of a nation his country had annexed.
He replied in fluent Portuguese as he chewed on his dinner, never facing the newcomer, “I never enjoyed a feast like this before, ya know?” he said in his gruff voice. “Never so absolute and never so varied at the same time. Some meat and alcohol for the belly and a hundred slaughtered and siphoned souls for my pet...”
He patted the bulge on his coat pocket that glowed a pulsating dark red and continued.
“The monks that lemme out of the void was delightful treats for it. But it was still hungry and so I fed it with the souls of the pathetic fools here. And now, me lady, prepare to be its meal.”
He rotated his seat and faced the woman and was surprised. He expected her to be small and Asian and black haired but here was a Caucasian woman with blonde hair and revealing clothes. With the influence of the sword less on him, his carnal appetites arose.
“...Interesting,” he said as he leered at her, eyeing the curves of her body and the feminine parts that were heavily accentuated on her, her clothes further inflaming his lust. “A woman from the west in these lands. I shall enjoy you first before I make you a meal for my pet.”
He laughed throatily as he slowly approached her, blades drawn.
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Post by Amy Sorel on Aug 6, 2012 15:34:41 GMT
[HP=50/50]
Soul Edge. Setsuka now noticed the thing that glowed in his pocket. So that was why the horrified gaze of the dead man in the stair was so… horrified. Like it was for some other corpses as well… They didn’t just see death but their souls being devored by the evil sword…
Setsuka also noticed the lustful gaze the man gave her and she knew very well what that man wanted to do to her if he won… She would not let him do it. Many men tried before and failed. They all considered her a helpless pretty woman and nothing else before they laid down at her feet, completely beaten and vanquished. She haughtily lift her head and told him:
“Humf. My life… is not yours for the taking.”
Setsuka backed one step away to prepare her attack while narrowing her eyes.
“Don't even dare think… that this will be easy.”
She then swiftly unsheathed her hidden katana from her umbrella and threw herself at Cervantes, surprising him with this hidden weapon and slashing him on the chest before she quickly sheathed back her blade in the same movement as she turned around to give him a kick.
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chemus05
Fighter
Where's your passion?! Fight like you mean it![RS:1]
Posts: 137
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Post by chemus05 on Aug 6, 2012 16:34:34 GMT
[avatar]http://img17.elex-tech.org/10000/2011/1209/8a/9/97304/300x400x75x0.jpg[/avatar] [HP=46/50] Cervantes had not expected the attack from the blade within her umbrella and nearly got himself cut on the chest. It was his warrior’s reflex that enabled him to raise up his blade and block the first attack. However, the kick that followed landed and struck him at the abdomen. He staggered by a single step and regained his balance.
“Hehehehe...” he chuckled sinisterly and countered with three vertical strikes in a row.
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Post by Amy Sorel on Aug 7, 2012 0:42:16 GMT
[HP=42/50]
Having not expected the pirate to evade her first strike and thinking the kick would send him down, Setsuka did not think he would reply as fast and did not have the time to evade the strikes he then gave her. She took the first slashing fully on her left arm and the second from his other blade slightly slashed her leg before she could jump back, out of the way. With her wounded arm, she quickly opened her umbrella, annoying the dread pirate with it and hiding her next move before she quickly took the umbrella away and swung her katana vertically at his head with the other arm.
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chemus05
Fighter
Where's your passion?! Fight like you mean it![RS:1]
Posts: 137
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Post by chemus05 on Aug 8, 2012 14:27:38 GMT
[avatar]http://img17.elex-tech.org/10000/2011/1209/8a/9/97304/300x400x75x0.jpg[/avatar] [HP=40/50] The burst of her umbrella completely distracted him, making him think that the attack would jab along its side. However, unexpectedly, he saw her sword coming from above. Unable to dodge the attack, he raised both of his swords and joined them together in a crisscross, receiving the woman’s blade with on top of their adjoined form. His arms shook as he tried to counter the downward push of her blade but it descended so quickly until it bit onto his shoulder as he moved his head away. His shirt and coat was smeared by the reddish, warm blood that oozed out from his wounded part.
Forcefully, he pushed the blade to the side to avoid it digging further through his skin, but scrapping it in the process.
Atlast, the blade was deflected away. As the woman staggered with the downward motion of her sword, he kneed her on the belly and kicked her some more to gain distance from her.
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Post by Amy Sorel on Aug 8, 2012 22:42:25 GMT
[HP=39/50]
As she was kicked away, Setsuka thought of the people probably still sleeping or afraid in the rooms above. ...If there was any, she didn’t know, in fact, she didn’t notice. But whatever, this man already killed all those people downstairs without remorse, he could kill a lot of other again. This place, this town was in danger and this dangerous killer was under the evil influence of Soul Edge. She sternly stated. “I cannot let you win this battle.” She quickly ran to him and slashed at his belly, quickly slashed at his chest, then slashed at his throat at a lightning speed. “One, two, three! End of the line!”
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chemus05
Fighter
Where's your passion?! Fight like you mean it![RS:1]
Posts: 137
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Post by chemus05 on Aug 9, 2012 2:24:28 GMT
[avatar]http://img17.elex-tech.org/10000/2011/1209/8a/9/97304/300x400x75x0.jpg[/avatar] [HP=1/50] “One, two, three— end of the line!” she said as she swiped three strikes on Cervantes one after the other. Her quickness caught him offguard and all the strikes connected to him. He gagged as his throat was sliced across cleanly by the blade. Clutching his throat, he choked, staggered and fell on the chairs with a crash. He laid there, eyes opened in shock and hands frozen stiff on his neck, chest stopping in its rising and falling motion.
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Post by Amy Sorel on Aug 9, 2012 19:35:55 GMT
Calming down from this surprising fight in the middle of the night, Setsuka looked at the dread pirate as he lay down, immobile. After a moment she said with a sigh of relief: “He is dead now.” Now she had to go. She knew guards would soon come, somebody will discover this carnage and she didn’t want to be pointed at… The people upstairs, if any, will get down and see… It really was to the authorities to do something now so she prepared to go away. But as she turned, she suddenly thought about the shard… She could not let it here… Where anybody could take it and get infected or influenced or whatever… Putting her index on her chin, she thought out loud: “Hum… That is one thing I haven’t thought about… What do I do with Soul Edge? How do I destroy it? I need people more knowledgeable than me in that domain…" So she bent down on the pirate and using her long kimono sleeves to take the shard so she would not have any direct contact with it, she searched in his coat pocket and took the Soul Edge shard before she put it in her purse. Then Setsuka left the inn, leaving Cervantes for dead and all the macabre scene to the care of the city guards.
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chemus05
Fighter
Where's your passion?! Fight like you mean it![RS:1]
Posts: 137
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Post by chemus05 on Aug 10, 2012 0:47:00 GMT
[avatar]http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110822183837/soulcalibur/images/5/59/Cervantes_Broken_Destiny.jpg[/avatar] As she inspected him and made sure that he was dead, the shard of the Soul Edge inside his pocket glowed in two short bursts and stopped. It was very subtle that only those that watched his pocket closely would notice it.
When the woman took the shard, some of its power had already been transferred to the ancient pirate. As she closed the door, his eyes glowed red and the bleeding on his neck, chest and belly stopped. A few minutes later, his chest rose... and then fell. Suddenly, his right hand moved and grabbed his sword... And then the other.
Abruptly, he bent up to a sitting position and stood up swiftly. Using his swords as crutches, he got up stiffly.
“My shard has been stolen by that wretched woman,” he said in an irritated manner. “She shall pay... with her life.”
The door to the inn burst open as he came out. He spun gingerly, sensing for his precious shard. As he did so, he closed his eyes. When he sensed the direction of his object of search, his eyes bolted open. And then, he lifted one foot slowly, bent to the side and shot forward like a bullet through the streets, blowing every clothe material that was near his side. Dust flew all around him and dust was left behind him like a tail of a comet.
As he neared the woman that had killed him, he quickly scanned her and found the shard in a purse tied onto her belt.
And then he was almost behind her. He tackled her with much force and in one swift motion, he drew his blade, severed the string that tied the purse and jumped away from her, landing a few yards in front of her.
He fished for his shard within the purse and after getting what he wanted, he carelessly threw the purse aside. He lifted his face and appeared into the light shone by the moon. The blackness of the center of his eyes, his pupils, had disappeared. His skin was pale once again. He adjusted his swords in his hands.
“The dread pirate. The ghost pirate. The pirate of abomination... The undead pirate— He has come back to the world.”
He turned to the woman who was recovering from the impact and staring right back to him in disbelief, “My blade’s thirsty for blood and my shard is thirsty for a soul... perhaps you would give them a drink?”
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Post by Amy Sorel on Aug 10, 2012 14:33:54 GMT
[HP=39/50]
Setsuka first wondered what happened when she got tackled to the ground. She had not been aware of some danger coming after her since Cervantes came so fast.
When she looked who did that to her while getting up, she gasped in surprise: It was the man she just fought and killed! The man who was dead at her feet! She clearly saw him dead! Noticing his lack of pupils and his pale skin under the moonlight, she also got scared. She thought he now was a far worst threat than before and suddenly got chills…
“My blade’s thirsty for blood and my shard is thirsty for a soul... perhaps you would give them a drink?”
But even if she felt afraid, she didn’t show it and stared at Cervantes with a sad gaze.
“It is sad to see how you are a slave to the evil sword… The way you needed that evil shard shows your dependance on it… You could have killed me already by stabbing me yet you choose to go after the shard first…”
She then added: “Would stabbing someone from behind be against your code?"
Continuing to speak, Setsuka took her fighting stance. “Yet I know what you are capable of and I won’t let you go on. If it's a fight you want… You shall have it. A man consumed with this evil sword, cannot defeat me!"
Setsuka threw herself at him, trying to decapitate him completely.
“It's time to finish this!”
Even if she somehow strangely pitied the fact he was cursed by the evil sword, she knew he was far more to fear than to be pitied, he was now an undead monster, probably even worst than when he was a normal man who was already killing many people without remorse and he now seemed determined to kill her, so she would fight him back while also fighting back the small nervouness she felt fighting such a creature. If he got just up, was there a way to kill him for good? Yet fleeing in terror was out of the question.
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chemus05
Fighter
Where's your passion?! Fight like you mean it![RS:1]
Posts: 137
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Post by chemus05 on Aug 10, 2012 23:54:11 GMT
[avatar]http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110822183837/soulcalibur/images/5/59/Cervantes_Broken_Destiny.jpg[/avatar] [HP=50/50] “It’s time to finish this!” With those words, the Caucasian woman launched herself swiftly towards Cervantes, her sword aimed at his neck in an attempt to severe the connection of his head to his body. He crouched and evaded her strike, swiping one of his swords in a counter attack across the woman’s belly as she was in front of him. The strike was not purposed to open her belly and spill the contents of her gut, but merely to inflict a shallow wound. Then, he grabbed her by the shoulder, spun around and threw her away, causing her to elevate above ground for several seconds and then skid along the ground.
“I could have killed you earlier but the shard won’t be able to enjoy it yet. It wants you to possess you and siphon your soul once I made the blade into its fangs!” with a bellow, he thrust one of his swords to the ground, grabbed the shard from his pocket and violently pounded the shard onto his blade.
Suddenly, a bright red light erupted from it, engulfing both warriors with its sun-like brightness. A mild shockwave followed causing the objects surrounding them to fly away from the undead pirate. The light gradually decreased.
On Cervantes’ hand, his previous sword was massively deformed from its glorious appearance of a shiny blade with a purple handle to a grotesque image of tarnished blade and handle and a small eye—slightly larger than a person’s—in between the hilt and the blade. Its eye was moving and rotating, fixing its gaze on the warrior woman. It was, by no means, Soul Edge itself. It was merely the phantom of the original sword of evil. It was created due to the shard’s hunger fed only to decrease its satiety and increase its voracity.
“Now that the joining has been complete, accept your death and afterwards your rebirth. Give in to the fate of your soul, as the others had—food for this shard. And your body shall be its servant!”
Cervantes picked up his other sword and charged towards her at full speed. When he was merely a few steps away, he disappeared completely.
From above, he was suddenly descending in a rapid motion towards the woman, weapon aimed down on her to cleave her in half.
“No mercy!” he bellowed.
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