Lost Cathedral Crater

[Nightmare Zero]

The remains of the Cathedral where Siegfried and Nightmare fought after re-obtaining their respective blades. Could there be clues here to where they have headed?

[Nightmare Zero]

Someone was calling him, but he could not clearly hear it. He strained to see, but could see nothing. Then the voice came again,and this time he could hear every word.

"So you would throw away our friendship?"

"Yes. No one will ever again be a part of my life. Every man or woman who has known me has ultimately fallen to death's touch. So go. Leave me. Forget you ever knew me."

The voice that had replied was his own. He began to lose his consciousness, his focus wavered,and then another voice came to him from behind.

"I have seen what you have done. Now you devote your life to atoning for your sins and redeeming your soul. Are you not as much a victim of that sword as the others?"

"No,no! No matter what beguiling words you whisper, my sins cannot be forgiven. I-I slew my father with my own bloodied hands. No cursed sword forced me to do that!"

As Siegfried spoke his answer,the man who questioned him faded from his vision,to be replaced once more by the memories of that night. The wind blew the clouds from the face of the moon,and suddenly the head that he held triumphantly aloft was brilliantly revealed. He saw the face,and there was no denying the truth. It was his father. His heart was in agony as if it had been pierced by a white-hot blade.

Siegfried jerked upright, as if yanked by a puppeteer's string. The full moon bathed his face in light. It had been a dream. He was alone.

He pressed his hand against the armor that covered his heart. A terrible scar marked him there.The maelstrom of power unleashed by Soul Calibur and Soul Edge clashed at the Lost Cathedral had torn his body apart. His long quest to destroy the cursed sword had been so nearly completed;redemption had been within his grasp, yet, in that moment, he had died,the scream of frustration at his failure silenced on his lips. Perhaps the spirit sword responded to that outpouring of emotion, for the sword whose destiny it was to destroy the cursed sword resonated with Siegfried's soul. It chose Siegfried for its master, and doing so saved his life.

Siegfried thought again of the dream he had just seen. He thought of the people who had once stood by him and the people he had left despite knowing that Siegfried was none other than Nightmare.

Bathed in the moonlight, Siegfried looked up into the night sky. He knew now what he must do. He would brush aside the outstretched hands that tried to help him. Once,not so long ago, he had stood at the center of the terror that Nightmare wrought. The enemy he now faced was the cursed devourer of souls, Soul Edge. Awaiting him was the maelstrom of destruction unleashed at the cathedral.

Soul Calibur shone with a cold light in his hand. Siegfried made up his mind to become like the sword. No one would touch his heart, no man or woman would sway him from his path, until the cursed sword was destroyed for all time. Images of his brothers-in-arms, comrades, even friends that might have been-and, of course, his father-flashed one by one through his mind. He was alone, and he had no choice but to be alone, for he would never again hurt those he loved.

Siegfried turned his gaze away from the heavens. Before him a black shadow lay heavy over the cursed city of Ostrheinburg.

"It is time..." Siegfried said as he started to walk toward the cursed city, and out of sight.


* * *

"Where... where am I?"

All he could see was darkness at first. Then suddenly, A blinding light started to shine and it seemed that he was being sucked into it. When it had all ended, he seemed to be laying in a complete wasteland, devoid of all life.

"Uggh... What happened?" Night Shadow said as he got up and looked around. He then realized that he was in the middle of a giant crater. "How the hell did I get here?" He then began to think. Images began to flash in and out, and then suddenly, he remembered.

"The Cathedral! That's where I was. Nightmare and Siegfried had regained the swords, they fought, and when the swords clashed..." He stopped. The image that was in his head made him afraid. The image of the entire Cathedral torn to pieces by the power of the blades, and himself caught in the maelstrom.

"I hope Taki got out all right." Night Shadow said as he tried to get up, only to fall back to his knees. He looked at his side. He was bleeding. A large, jagged slash was across his side. "I must've been hit with some debris during the explosion..."