Princesses of the Night

This a request from Tuna, he wanted a fic involving Amy and boy, am I going to deliver it!

Hilde is 21 years of age, Amy is 17 physically, although she too would be 21 years of age hadn't she stopped aging physically due to her and Raphaels curse.

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Her quest was nearing its end. Many warriors from all over the world had she encountered in her journey and none of them could stand in her way for long. Hildegard von Krone, short Hilde, princess of the small kingdom of Wolfkrone, had proven victorious time and time again. The Tower of Remembrance grew in her view now as she arrived with a small band of her most loyal knights, but even those she left behind. She alone would face who- or whatever was waiting in the huge monument and that was settled. She had encountereda certain Siegfried Schtauffen on her journeys and he had guided her here, even though he had made it perfectly clear that he alone would face the horrors that awaited any living soul here.

But, Hilde would have none of that. So, she steeled herself one last time before she descended the hill where she parted ways with her troops. Carrying only her weapons with her, a 7-foot spear with the royal flag of the Kingdom of Wolfskrone and her trusty shortsword at her side, Hilde felt ready to take on any demon that would threaten her people.

As she made her way across the nearly molten rocks towards the tower, she had to fight with the toxic gases that polluted this place. More than once was she close to collapsing, but the mere thought of her entire kingdom, no, the whole world as she had learned, which was doomed or saved, depending of the outcome of this battle, made her push onward.

Along the way, she had discarded her helmet. It was stiffling her and the lack of oxygen made it already hard enough to breathe. Hilde was not one who would jeopardize everything about such a matter. Rather have your head lopped off in battle than die from suffocation before said battle even started. So, her brown-reddish mane flowed out freely on her back. It still put her in grave danger in this environment, but Hilde managed to avoid any steams of hot gas that shot out from the ground periodically, but at least the ground was solid and in no danger of crumbling under her feet.

The closer she got to the wicked tower, the more signs Hilde discovered that she was not the first one that had arrived here. Here and there laid bodies of people that had been intrigued by the power that surely dwelled there, but as she saw, some had succumbed to the extreme climate here, but others, she noticed, bore battle wounds that had killed them. Some were brutally crushed while others had been slashed nearly to pieces by blades, be it axe or sword. It only made Hilde more alert to the realness of the threat that was before her.

Eventually, Hilde had made her way to the base of the tower. The way here had been taxing and she intended to rest here before entering. But it seemed that fate was not on her side today, as she was greeted by a man that had come from the opposite direction. He was an unsettling appearance, deathly pale skin that was so much more obvious with his black yet very richly-embroidered wardrobe. And his stride did betray his arrogance to Hilde, as he would prove soon enough. "Ah, another disgusting wench that has decided to cross my path. I shall make this quick, I have better things to take care off!", the blonde man taunted.

His accent sounded french, but his appearance was unlike anything Hilde had encountered so far. He had the distinct cold air of a person of noble birth hanging over him, but there was something more sinister to him than even his words let on. Regardless, Hilde was not misled by his sophisticated words or his ornate clothing to believe she had a chance on avoiding this battle. He had already assumed a battle stance with a light and slim sword in his left hand. He was quick on his feet, seemingly completely unfazed by the harsh surroundings. It did not need to be said, but here, Hilde was at a severe disadvantage.

Normally, she could make up for the lack of mobility due to her armor with her strength and techniques, but the heat and little air made that even harder now. Reading her lance under her arm and drawing her shortsword with the other, Hilde to readied for the unavoidable. "I have not come this far to be defeated now. My duty will be fulfilled!", she declared loudly. It was both meant as a warning for her enemy as well as to motivate herself once again to fight. And then it began...

Usually, Hilde rarely used her shortsword for attacks, it was intended as a blocking measure if any enemy got past the tip of her lance. However, against this foes quick thrusts and slashes she could do only so little to defend herself. Her lance was nearly useless in this battle, too clumsy were her movements here in this heat, too predictable for Raphael who simply dodged, sidestepped or simply dove under them to get in striking range. And getting past Hildes shortsword was a childs play for him. The longer this battle dragged on, the sluggisher his opponent would get in her heavy armor.

He slashed at her exposed head and it was only due to her quick reflexes that Hilde narrowly avoided getting her throat slit, but the attack still left a bloody gash right over her armor.

She was lucky that his light weapon, a rapier, could do little damage against her body armor, but he soon found little openings between the plates and began to make piercing thrust right there. Two times he managed to get past her defenses and stab her, once in the stomach and once in the left arm that held her lance, not too deep as Hilde recoiled as soon as her head registered the pain, but the injuries were getting to her. Not too mention the slow but the gradual blood loss was worsening her condition rapidly.

Raphael of course was aware of this fact. By now, he was only toying with this woman. She posed no real threat anymore to him, so he figured he could spare a little more time to extend her suffering. "Maybe I should make you Amy's pet?!", he pondered aloud as his rapid strikes pushed Hilde even more into a defensive stance.

Had she not been taught to always focus in battle, Hilde may have afforded herself to luxury to wonder just who 'Amy' was and what this cryptic words meant, but her situation was bad enough. Being taught never to surrender, she kept struggling, but even to herself, it was painfully obvious that this battle could only have one logical outcome now...

Then, something black caught her eyes in the background, something that was in a sharp contrast to the reddish surroundings. It was a girl, yet at first Hilde mistook her for a human-sized doll. Too unreal was the immaculate state of her frilly dress, her perfectly styled, deep red hair, her ivory skin that contrasted so sharply with the black clothes she wore. For a moment, she was distracted that Raphael would bring a young girl with him to this place and that distraction was an opening Raphael couldn't help but exploit.

He lunged forward and with an excellent aim, slashed Hildes left leg through her armor. Suddenly losing the support of a leg, Hilde dropped to her knee. Deciding to give her the finishing blow, Raphael stepped closer so he stood right in front of her and grabbed the back of her head and pulled her closer. "You fought valiantly, so I will grant you this special gift and you shall become my loyal slave, wench!", he said darkly as Hilde could only watched as he opened his mouth and saw that he had grown fangs.

Latching onto the gash he had already opened on her neck, Raphael feasted on her warm blood. Amy and he had found out that this was what would sate their thirst the best and it had the side effect of making the victim into one of their own. However, even then Raphael would be extremely picky who he would turn into a servant like them, but his arrogance was affecting his decisions now. Not only was he intoxicated at how easily he had dominated this warrioress, but it also made him believe that claiming Soul Calibur was a matter as trifle as this. And once he would hold the spirit sword in his hands, there would be none to oppose the re-creation of the whole world.

As the woman quickly went weak in his arms, Raphael let her down on the ground, almost a gentle motion, had his mouth not been still attached to her neck. To Hilde, pure agony shot through her body. It was as though her armor was melting and burning her skin. She screamed in pain as the feeling became unbearable, she felt as if the fire slowly went through her skin and began to devour her very soul as her body uselessly writhed in Raphaels arms. Her left lance-arm was pierced anyway, it was not usable, but the very last bit of Hildes mind willed the arm that still clutched onto her short sword to move. The arm jerked upwards quickly and curved downwards to Raphael.

Even if Hildes intention had been to either drive it into this mans heart or his throat, her arm was shaking to violently to provide such an aim. Instead, Raphael let go of her neck and howled in agony as he found a blade in his shoulder. "You trash! You will pay for this insolence!", he roared as Hildes blood still dribbled down his chin. Letting her body drop to the floor unceremoniously, Raphael grabbed the sword that was embedded in his shoulder and pulled it out with a feral growl. He despised this kind of weapon, no finesse, no elegance in it nor their wielders, but it would be a delightful irony for this woman to die with her own blade plunged into her body.

But the violent conclusion never came. Raphaels arm froze midair, and he was slowly turning around to look over his shoulder. There, he gazed upon his beloved foster daughter Amy. Who held the grip of the rapier that was currently lodged deep inside Raphaels body, pierced his heart and extended out through his chest. It was an nearly instantly fatal injury.

"A-Amy.... how.... why?", the man asked, not able to comprehend the action of his foster daughter, and even less able to comprehend that death was now awaiting him, mere minutes before he could have held Soul Calibur in his hands. Finally it seemed as he lost the grip to life and his motionless body slumped to the ground next to the dying form of Hilde.

Mournfully, Amy withdrew the blade from the man that had raised and cared for her. "He... he was not my Papa, no, not anymore.", the girl said reluctantly, shaking her head slowly. She was confused, it would seem, regretful and determined at the same time. "He had become a monster... and so are we still now.", she said as she looked down at the fallen warrior princess of Wolfskrone whose life was fading rapidly now.

Hilde couldn't make out any of the words the girl said, she was droned out by the beating of her own heart that echoed in her ears. It was surreal to hear your own heartbeat pulsing slower and slower, but her last conscious memory was a light emanating from the tip of the tower and the whole structure soon turning to ice. However, she attributed this to her blood loss and thought it to be a mere hallucination as her powers left her and she slipped into an dark unconsciousness...

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Please note that any characters death (Raphael may only be the first one) does not mean I hate them, except for Voldo I love the entire cast of Soul Calibur.

Also, it is pretty obvious that Raphael is supposed to be a vampire, so I'm just going with it. Btw, no, they won't sparkle! Can you imagine how annoying it would be to talk to someone who is blinding you with his sparkles and being nervegrating with that sparkly sound? Twilight sucks.