Soul Urge II

Soul Urge II
By The Playing Mantis
Chapter 2: Is it Love or Just…?

Her graceful sword dance cuts through enemies…
---A fellow knight of the emperor having seen Xianghua on the battlefield

Disgraced and demoted. She and her friends had saved the world and her thanks was to be dismissed from her Emperor’s honor guard and assigned a menial position as a knight trainer. She wasn’t all that upset by her new position; it allowed her to test out the new recruits a lot sooner than she was normally allowed to. But, her family’s honor had taken a severe blow and she had to do something about it. Her Emperor had sent her out to find and bring back the sword of legend, but along the way she learned that the sword was pure evil, and knew it had to be destroyed. She met her good friends Kilik and Maxi during her travels and the three journeyed together to destroy the sword. Her sword Krita-Yuga, which she had inherited from her mother, turned out to be Soul Calibur, the only sword with the power to destroy the evil blade, Soul Edge. But Krita-Yuga was lost in the void when she destroyed Soul Edge. Not only did she lose her sword, but she had lost a dear friend. Maxi, the pirate, had died getting revenge on Astaroth, the monstrous golem. She saw him strike the fatal blow to the construct, but then the ground shook with a horrific earthquake, and the ground split in two. She and Kilik watched in horror as their friend fell into the gaping maw of the earth and disappeared. Kilik vanished soon afterwards, without so much as a goodbye, breaking her heart. He claimed he still needed to repent for a sin he had committed, but he refused to tell her what it was. So, she went back to Peking to tell her Emperor that she hadn’t been able to find the sword. Infuriated, the Emperor stripped her of her rank and title. But, as she was leaving the audience chamber a strange old sword master gave her a nameless sword as thanks for destroying the evil blade.

Four years later, as she was training new recruits, she heard a few soldiers talking as they walked by about a battle that was going on at a castle that supposedly held the ‘Hero’s Sword’ that the Emperor had been seeking. She quickly grilled them for all the information they had. The rumors stated that the castle held the sword, but when the castle fell, the sword was nowhere to be found. Xianghua was, to be frank, very upset by this news. She knew that Soul Edge had been destroyed. She had shattered it herself. But, she had to find out the truth. She was getting ready to set out on a journey to discover the truth when she was summoned by the Emperor. “We are still displeased with your previous failure,” said the Emperor. “However, you are the only knight under our command who as any extensive knowledge about the Hero’s Sword. Therefore, we are instructing you to go to the ruins of the Xiwei Castle in the Ming empire, where you will seek out any information you can find. You will not fail again.”

“No, my lord,” replied Xianghua, her eyes flashing with determination. “I will not.”

The Emperor saw the look in her eyes and completely misunderstood her meaning. He smiled and said, “Very well. You may leave now.”

Xianghua bowed and left, intent on her mission to destroy every last shard of the evil sword. She hated defying her Emperor, but no one could handle the sword. It had already tainted so many, including both Cervantes and Nightmare. She sighed heavily as she entered her quarters. “This has turned out to be a big mess,” she muttered to herself. “I just hope that Kilik doesn’t learn about this. He’s suffered enough already. Although, I will admit, I would like to see him again.” Her mind started to wander to thoughts about what she would do if she ever saw Kilik again and she started to smile, before shaking her head furiously. “No!” she said, “I have to stay focused!” But, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and sighed. “As if he’d be interested in a girl like me anyway. All of those other girls who were after Soul Edge before were so much prettier than me.” She looked down at her cute little B-cup breasts and blushed. “And they were all bigger than me too!” She sighed again as she sat down on her bed and started morosely packing for her journey. She was trying to decide on the right traveling outfit when a thought struck her. “Maybe, if I wear the right outfit, and if I run into him, he’ll be so enamored by my beauty that he’ll forget all those other big-breasted bimbos!” She looked at herself in the mirror and giggled. “Just kidding! But I’ve seriously got to choose the right outfit.”

She had three really decent outfits to wear for her first day. She put on the first one and looked in the mirror. She had on red shoes as well as red leggings. If you weren’t paying attention, you wouldn’t even notice that she was wearing shorts, they were that short. And the red top that came with the ensemble had a big V-cut in the chest area, showing off her cleavage. “I think this one shows off a little too much skin,” said Xianghua as she tossed that outfit aside and put on her second one. “This one’s just boring,” she said unhappily as she looked at her black outfit. It had black shoes and leggings and came with a pair of black bracelets. The rest of the outfit was an ornate black dress that had flowery patterns woven into it. “Looks like a tuxedo, “she mumbled as she tore it off and put on the last choice. “I like this one!” she said happily. She was now wearing a pair of purple shoes and leggings. The leggings were mostly covered up by a simple pair of purple pants. The top was sky blue, backless and the chest area had a pattern of a bird’s wing, accentuating her chest without showing it off to everyone. There were Chinese characters on the bottom of the back of the top, and there was a pattern of her Emperor’s palace on the front, at her stomach. The top’s sleeves weren’t connected to the shirt, so her shoulders had more freedom of movement as well. And, the coup-de-grace were the two tassels that were attached to the sides of the top, at her hips. Xianghua smiled to herself as she put in her mother’s earrings and the tiara that she received as a gift from Kilik when they traveled together before. “Perfect,” she said happily as she looked at herself. “Now it’s time to really get that sword!”

Xianghua headed out to Xiwei castle. It was the only real lead she had, so she figured she would go there and look for any clues as to where the sword might be. When she got there two weeks later, she could only bow and shake her head sadly. What had once been the strongest fortress of the Ming Empire was now a pile of rubble. The only piece of stonework that was still recognizable was the entryway. The gate was still closed, as if the flimsy metal bars could have stopped the boulders flung from the catapults that were still being dragged away from the ruin. The stairs leading up to the entryway were gone, but the soldiers, having been told that Xianghua was coming to search the ruins, had left a siege tower there for her to climb. The ladder was, unfortunately, in horrific need of repair. Almost as soon as she was making it to the top, the rung she was stepping to broke, as did the one she was standing on. Not having anything holding her up anymore, her arms shot out and barely caught hold of the top of the siege tower. Her legs flailed about for a few seconds before she managed to struggle her way, panting heavily, on top of the tower. “Smooth Xianghua…” she panted, “Real smooth.” She mentally kicked herself for losing her cool, but then looked back down and remembered that if she hadn’t caught that ledge she would have fallen about 30 feet onto sharp rocks and rubble. She let out a deep breath and licked her lips as she looked around. The arch that she was now looking at was still intact, but it was badly damaged. There were gaping holes in the brickwork on the sides and the stone tiles on the floor were almost all uprooted. She slowly got up and walked towards the gate, absently kicking a few bricks out from under her feet, before she suddenly felt a chilling aura. It was an evil presence that made her blood run cold…and it was a familiar feeling too. She shuddered as she slowly walked towards the feeling. She could feel that the aura was just within reach when she made it to the gate, so she quickly bent down and looked between the bars. There, in a small pile of rubble, was a lone metal shard. Xianghua slowly reached between the bars and was barely able to grab up the small shard. “This is it…” she said, even before she’d brought her hand back. “This is a piece of Soul Edge. It’s still alive…and it probably wants to be made whole again. Well, I’ll get all of these shards and this time I won’t fail to destroy that evil thing!”

“So, you found out about this as well then?” said a quiet voice behind her, making her freeze. “I don’t think it would be wise to handle things in your manner. I will take that sword and filter all of the evil into Kali-Yuga. Then, once all of the evil energy is absorbed, I can release it slowly…purifying the sword and myself at the same time.”

“How long would that take, Kilik?” asked Xianghua, not turning around. She didn’t want him to see her cry.

“Soul Edge supposedly holds limitless evil energy,” replied Kilik. “It could take the rest of my life, but it is a burden I am willing to take to finally find solace for my sins.”

“And what of those you leave behind?” asked Xianghua. “Are they willing to accept your sacrifice as well? Are they willing to give up on the idea of ever seeing you again?”

“Xianghua…” said Kilik softly as she felt him put his hand on her shoulder.

“No!” she shouted as she shrugged his hand off and backed away from him, tears streaming down her face. “You can’t find solace by yourself! If you shut yourself away like that, you may purge yourself of whatever sins you may have committed, but your soul will never find solace in solitude! Come with me! Please! We can destroy the sword together!”

“No,” said Kilik. “I can’t let you put yourself in that much danger.”

“It’s not your choice to make!” cried Xianghua, even as her brain was yelling at her to stop fighting with him. This was the man that she had been wanting to see for the past four years, and now that they’d finally met again, they started arguing. (Ain’t love grand?) She quickly wiped her eyes clean and looked at him for the first time in four years. He was wearing brown leather boots and a pair of indigo pants, held up by a thick belt. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, so she could easily see Dvapara-Yuga, the talisman he always wore, hanging from his neck. He was, however, wearing a thick red jacket that reached down to his knees. The bottom of the jacket was badly frayed and there was a pair of shoulder guards on top. His hair was a little longer and unkempt, but he still had the same look of powerful determination in his eyes. The shadows of the archway highlighted the scar on his left cheek as well. Her heart went out to him. All he would ever say about it was that it was the only physical scar he gained during his sin. Xianghua could tell that the whole thing was still too much for him to be able to talk about it, so she never pressed him on the subject, but now was different. “If you really intend to go off on your own like that, at least tell me why!” she said hotly. Kilik winced at her tone. She didn’t want to hurt him, but she had to know. “You keep saying that you did something horrible. What was so bad that you can’t live with yourself and have to shut yourself away?”

“I…can’t…tell you,” said Kilik sadly. “I wish I could, but I can’t bring myself to talk about it. I’m sorry.” He took a step forward and reached out his hand. “Just give me that shard and I’ll be on my way. I won’t darken your life anymore.”

“Kilik…” said Xianghua as she stepped back, putting the shard in her bag and gripping her sword tightly. She didn’t want to fight with him, but she would if he tried to take the shard.

Kilik saw that she was prepared to fight him and his heart chilled. This was the woman he loved. How could he fight her? He had to try and get her to see reason. “You can’t fight this with strength alone! Please understand, Xianghua!” he said.

Xianghua tossed her bag aside as she said, “I can’t let you go any further.” If he was going to leave her forever, then he would have to kill her to do it. She stepped back again, lifting her leg and holding her sword over her head.

“Is there no other way?” asked Kilik dejectedly as he unhappily gripped Kali-Yuga, his trusty bo staff, and swung it to point at Xianghua. Maybe she would back down if he was able to knock her out. He didn’t want to see her die trying to destroy that sword without Krita-Yuga. So, he would stop her here, before she could get in over her head. “Here, come on!” he shouted as he shoved Kali-Yuga forward.

“Sorry!” giggled Xianghua as she dodged to the side, swinging down with her sword to knock Kali-Yuga away. She knew that she was at a hideous disadvantage against Kilik’s much longer range as well as the fact that he was stronger than her. She couldn’t even claim to have speed on her side, since he was a quick and nimble as she was. The only way she could win this fight was to play mind games with him. “Come and get me!” she called as she veritably skipped away from him.

“You’re not going anywhere!” snapped Kilik as he plunged Kali-Yuga into the ground and used it to vault forward, his boots connecting with Xianghua’s chest, sending her sprawling onto the ground. “Give it up!” said Kilik before he realized that Xianghua wasn’t moving. He hadn’t hit her that hard…had he? He slowly stepped up to her and was about to check to make sure she was fine, when she suddenly sprang to life in a little temper-tantrum that caused the hilt of her sword to smash into his foot. “What?” he cried as he hopped up and down, holding his foot in pain.

“Tricked you!” said Xianghua happily as she got to her feet and backed off again. She saw the look of anger on Kilik’s face and stuck her tongue out. “Oh, was I being a meanie?” she asked teasingly.

“Sister, show me the way,” said Kilik quietly, causing Xianghua’s ears to perk up. Kilik had never mentioned a sister before. Unfortunately, her mind was off the battle for a split second too long. Kilik rushed up to her, grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and kicked the back of her head. She spun around, only to watch as Kali-Yuga came whirling in to hit her in the stomach. She doubled over in pain, but Kilik wasn’t done yet, he spun around in the opposite direction and smacked her on her backside, sending her to the ground for the second time. “Sorry!” he panted.

“Looks like we’ve got ourselves a fight!” said Xianghua as she slowly got up. It felt like one of her ribs was bruised, if not broken, but she would live. Before he had a chance to react, she ran up to him, grabbed him by the lapels, vaulted under his arm and onto his back, and kicked off, sending him face first into the floor. “Eh-hem! How’s that?” she asked happily as she looked down at him.

Kilik shot up and quickly shoved Kali-Yuga between Xianghua’s legs. “Forgive me, but I cannot lose to you,” he said as he batted Kali-Yuga against the insides of her legs before swinging it upwards. Xianghua let out a squeak of pain as Kali-Yuga smashed into her crotch. She was suddenly very happy that she wasn’t a guy as she slumped to the ground. “Xianghua, I can’t let you risk your life!”

Xianghua looked up at Kilik with tear-filled eyes. She had lost and he would leave her forever if she didn’t do something. As he was turning to go get the shard from her satchel, she reached out and grabbed his ankle. He was caught off guard, so she was easily able to pull him off his feet. Xianghua’s whole body hurt, so she winced as she slowly crawled up his body until they were face to face. “What you’re trying to do is too dangerous,” she said sadly.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Kilik. “I have to do this.”

“I don’t want to lose you!” cried Xianghua as she wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tightly. “I just found you again after four years and you think I’ll be okay if you just disappear again?! Have you no heart?!”

“Please get off me,” whispered Kilik. “I can’t waste any more time here.” He hadn’t meant to say it like that and immediately regretted it when Xianghua raised her head to look him in the face again. She looked really hurt.

“So, I’m a waste of your time?!” she hissed as she pushed herself up off of him. She tried to find a sitting position that didn’t hurt, but couldn’t, which only fueled her anger. “I see… Take the shard and go then! If that’s all you care about…then there’s nothing more to say.”

“Xianghua…” said Kilik as he sat up.

“Get out of here!” she screamed. She tried to stop crying, but she couldn’t. He was going to leave and she couldn’t stop him. She punched the ground hard, bruising her knuckles, when she heard Kilik’s footsteps slowly moving away from her. She tried to get up, but her entire body hurt, and the crushing blow of Kilik leaving was just too much. Her arms went out from under her, and she fell forward, crying uncontrollably, until she heard the sound of boots walking towards her. She slowly looked up, not wanting to get her hopes up, but she couldn’t help but smile when she saw Kilik standing over her, holding her bag out to her. “What’s this all about?” she asked, sniffling a little.

“I still don’t agree with your methods,” said Kilik softly, “But you made some good points about the flaws in my plan as well.” He dropped her bag in front of her, and she saw that the shard of Soul Edge was still in it. “We have the same ultimate goal. Why don’t we work together on this? Maybe we can come up with a plan that we can both agree on.” He held his hand out to her. “Do you think that might be a good idea?”

Xianghua smiled happily as she grabbed her bag and took Kilik’s hand. “It sounds great,” she said as Kilik helped her to her feet.

“Here,” said Kilik as he gently wiped Xianghua’s tears away. “It’s not right for such a beautiful face to be marred by tears like that.”

Xianghua blushed as she bit her lip. Kilik’s smiling face was so close to hers. Should she do it? Could she do it? Screwing up her courage she slowly moved her head forward and kissed Kilik, softly, on the lips. She quickly pulled back and turned away from him. “Sorry,” she said not wanting to look at the shock that she knew was on his face. “I don’t know what came over me. That was very forward of me, and I beg your forgiveness.” Her entire body trembled with shame until she felt Kilik’s arms wrap around her shoulders and pull her in.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about, my love,” he whispered into her ear. “You merely had the courage to do what I could not.”

Xianghua slowly closed her eyes, letting out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding. “I love you, Kilik,” she said quietly, a serene smile on her face.

“I love you too, Xianghua,” replied Kilik as he turned her head to the side and kissed her. Xianghua gripped Kilik’s arms as both of their mouths slowly opened, allowing each other’s passions to enter.

They stood like that, kissing each other for a few minutes before they broke away from each other. A flush came to Xianghua’s face as she looked in Kilik’s eyes and saw only love. “Tell me this isn’t a dream,” she panted.

“It couldn’t be more real,” said Kilik happily as he held Xianghua tightly. One of his hands slowly traveled downwards and lightly gripped her breasts, making her groan.

“Yes…” she moaned happily. “I so want to—Ouch!”

“What’s the matter?!” asked Kilik as he froze in response to her yelp.

“Sorry, Kilik…” said Xianghua with a pained chuckle. “We can’t do this…not with my body in the shape it’s in now.” Kilik blushed at having forgotten that he had just recently smashed his bo into her crotch.

“In that case, why don’t we head out and find a nice inn that has a hot spring on our way to the black sea?” suggested Kilik. “Hot springs always make me feel much better after a battle.”

“The black sea?” asked Xianghua. “Why are we going there? Is there a shard in Labyrinth?”

“On the way here, I ran into Seung Mina,” said Kilik. “She was looking for a young man who had run away from her temple with a Seung family sword. Fortunately, she didn’t attack me this time. I don’t think she knows about Soul Edge coming to life yet, but she did give me some interesting information. Astaroth has been resurrected.”

“What?!” shrieked Xianghua as she extricated herself from Kilik’s arms.

“My basic reaction, as well,” said Kilik solemnly. “Apparently, there’s a rumor going around that he’s looking for something in Labyrinth, but no one’s sure what that something is. And, since Labyrinth is by the Black Sea, that’s where I’m headed.”

“And since that’s were you’re headed,” said Xianghua with a smile, “that’s where I’m going too. He might have a shard of Soul Edge. And we can’t let that thing live. The sword either.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” said Kilik as he grabbed her hand and the two headed off, climbing down the rope that Kilik had used to get up in the first place.

“I can’t believe that rope was safer than the ladder,” mumbled Xianghua as they left the ruined castle behind them. Kilik chuckled at her grumbling which made Xianghua smile. He didn’t laugh very often, so she was happy that she had been the one to coax it out of him. The inn that they eventually decided to stay at didn’t have a hot spring, but the small village did have a bath house, which Xianghua ran to as soon as she found out about, leaving Kilik some free time. He went to the local tavern to see if he could scrounge up any information on Soul Edge.

He looked the place over and was surprised to find it pretty much empty except for a table that had three very…diverse people sitting at it. One was a youth in a green outfit, one was a man in a black leather body suit and the third was an old man in a black gi. The youth took one look at him and quickly shook the arm of the man in the leather, pointing at Kilik. “Yeah, I know kid,” grumbled the man as he opened his eyes and stared at Kilik. Kilik backed up a step when he saw that the man’s eyes glowed green.

“You are Kilik, are you not?” asked the old man without turning to face him.

“Who’s asking?” asked Kilik guardedly.

“Cut the crap, tough guy,” snarled the man in black leather. “We don’t even have to talk to you.” The youth scowled at the man, but he didn’t pay any attention to it. “Yeah, I know we promised the nice lady,” said the man with a false simper in his voice. He looked back at Kilik. “Are you him or not?” he asked.

“Yes, I am,” said Kilik. “And who are you?”

“I am Heihachi Mishima,” said the old man, causing the man in black to glower at him. “The youth is Link and the trouble maker is Spawn. They search for Soul Edge as you do. I merely search for powerful fighters…but you appear to have already fought a worthy opponent today, so I shall let you go.”

“Gee, thanks…” said Kilik, wondering how Heihachi could have possibly learned all that without even looking at him. “So, what do you want? If you want my shard, I will fight you if you try to take it.”

“We’re not interested in that right now,” said Spawn. “Although, don’t expect us to let you go the next time we meet. We’ve been playing bodyguard to a young woman who asked us to find and warn you about a danger to your little girlfriend.”

“What did you say?!” snapped Kilik. “What’s going to happen to Xianghua?!”

Heihachi sighed. “Maybe you are not as strong as I thought,” he said. “Losing your temper over a woman…just like these two.” Both Link and Spawn grumbled at Heihachi, but remained silent. “As far as we know, she’s fine right now…however, there is a plot going on, to cause the ultimate suffering to the women searching for Soul Edge.”

“How do you know about this?” asked Kilik.

“The young woman who requested that we look for you, one Sophitia Alexandra, was already accosted,” said Heihachi as he finally turned to face Kilik. “Your friend; Astaroth is planning on raping her until she’s lost all sense of love.” Kilik’s blood ran cold at the thought of such a thing happening to Xianghua, but he held his tongue. Heihachi smiled and nodded his approval at Kilik. “Sophitia is alright physically, but mentally she is still a bit of a mess. If you want to keep that from happening to your friend, I suggest you keep her away from Astaroth.”

“It would probably be best if you just stopped her from looking for Soul Edge all together,” said Spawn. “This Nightmare person has hired other people to pull this sort of crap around the world. So, if you would tell other fighters about this, we wouldn’t have to anymore!” Spawn jerked slightly and glared at Link, who just looked innocently into his cup. It was obvious that the youth had kicked Spawn under the table.

“Thank you for your advice and your warning,” said Kilik as he bowed, not taking his eyes off either Spawn or Heihachi. “However, while you are obviously sincere, I can’t stop her from doing this. I will warn her, but she won’t listen. I’ll just have to protect her as much as I can.” He bowed again and left.

Link stood up to follow him, but Spawn grabbed his arm and said, “We did what we came here to do, now let’s find that French bastard.” Link looked back at the empty doorway and sighed as he nodded and sat down.

Kilik headed back to their room at the inn to wait for Xianghua. He had to warn her about this, even if she wouldn’t listen to him. However, it turned out that he was more tired than he had thought, because he was asleep almost as soon as he laid down on his bed. Xianghua walked into their room, feeling more refreshed than she had ever felt before. Her body was still a little sore, and she would have a few bruises, but she would be fine. She looked over at Kilik, and her smile changed into a childish pout. “Dammit,” she whispered before she smiled again and shrugged her shoulders. “It’ll be some time before we make it to Labyrinth. There’s plenty of time for fun later.” She grinned as she quietly got into her sleeping clothes and was about to crawl into her own bed when she stopped and looked over at Kilik’s sleeping form. She smiled again as she snuck up to his bed and silently got on the bed with him and curled up next to him, just happy to be in his presence.

The next morning, Kilik had been so flustered at finding that Xianghua had slept with him that he forgot that he had to warn her against Astaroth. The two continued their journey, traveling together happily, like two lovebirds. Every night, they would camp out, sleeping under the stars and cuddle happily together. But Kilik wasn’t ready to take their relationship any further than kissing, and Xianghua was fine with that. That all changed when they reached the Austrian border and Kilik suddenly remembered the warning from the mysterious trio. “Xianghua, I don’t think you should go into Labyrinth with me,” he said suddenly, causing her to stop dead in her tracks.

“And why not?” she asked huffily. Kilik relayed the information he received at the tavern, but while she was visibly shaken by it, she obviously wasn’t going to be stopped by it. “If Astaroth thinks he can take me on and still have the energy left over to rape me afterwards, he’s got another thing coming,” she said, trying to make a joke out of the situation. It didn’t work all that well.

“Xianghua…”started Kilik, but she held up her hand.

“These people you met, they said that Sophitia has already been stopped in her pursuit of the sword?” she asked. Kilik nodded. “I believe her goal was the same as ours; the destruction of Soul Edge. With a powerful force of good taken out like that, we have to fight that much harder. I can’t back down just because of what might happen.”

Kilik regarded Xianghua. While her face was set and her voice sounded determined, her body was trembling with fear at the possibility of being raped by the brutal golem. “I promise, I will protect you from him,” he said softly as he put his hand on her shoulder. Xianghua nodded silently, but still couldn’t get it out of her mind that it was her destiny to be raped by Astaroth. The two continued their journey in silence. Neither of them spoke, and an overwhelming feeling of gloom seemed to encompass them as they walked along.

When they reached the next village, they quietly found an inn, but found that the only room available had only one bed. They looked at each other and then down at the floor for a second before agreeing to take it. Kilik decided that he would sleep on the floor while Xianghua could have the bed. Xianghua agreed to the idea, but seemed nervous about something, which puzzled Kilik. They were still at least a week away from Labyrinth, so what could have her so upset? “Could you leave me alone for a short while?” she asked almost as soon as they entered the room. “I have to think about something.”

“Of course,” said Kilik as he dropped his satchel on the floor and left, deciding to take a walk around the village. He returned after an hour, hoping that Xianghua was feeling better. He entered the room and saw that Xianghua was lying on the bed, under the covers.

She slowly sat up as he entered, and said, “I’ve been thinking about what you told me and I have this ominous feeling that nothing either of us does will stop it from happening.” Kilik opened his mouth to say something, but Xianghua held up her hand and silenced him. She swallowed audibly as she slowly pulled the covers away from her body, showing that she was completely naked. Kilik, to his credit, didn’t go all bug eyed; he merely stood there and let her finish what she was going to say. “I don’t want my first time to be with Astaroth, so if this is going to happen, will you please make love to me first? I want to know how true love feels before I’m forced to undergo the worst kind of torture a woman could think of.”

Kilik looked at her face and saw that she was trembling with fear again. “Are you sure this is what you really want?” he asked softly.

“Don’t…” said Xianghua. “I want to do this. I’ve wanted to do this with you for the longest time. But, this wasn’t the reason I wanted it to happen and this isn’t the way it should be happening. But, if Nightmare wants to destroy my love, I need to know just how precious it is to me first. Please, Kilik?”

Now it was Kilik’s turn to shake slightly. He wanted to join with her completely. He wanted to so very badly, but he couldn’t get over the fact that he didn’t feel like he deserved her. “What I meant was…are you sure you really want me?” he asked slowly as he lowered his eyes. “I know I don’t deserve you, so why would you want to give me your most prized treasure ever?”

Xianghua was stunned. His hesitation wasn’t because of her, it was because of himself. She slowly got off the bed, pulling the covers around herself, and walked over to Kilik. She gently put her hand on his cheek, making him lift his eyes to look at her. She smiled warmly at him before kissing him on the lips. “Kilik, you don’t get to choose if you’re not good enough for me,” she said. “I don’t care what you did in the past. I only know that I love you, but if you don’t want to do this, I can live with it.” She slowly backed away from him and sat on the end of the bed, hugging her knees tightly to her body, patiently waiting for his answer.

Kilik swallowed as he looked at her, curled up under the sheet; the thin piece of cloth being the only thing that stood between him and her beautiful body. He looked deep into her eyes and couldn’t see any hate or disgust in the way that she looked at him at all. She actually wanted to be with him body and soul. And while he still couldn’t understand why, he wasn’t about to complain about it. He had never cared about a woman as much as he cared about Xianghua. Even Xianglian had been more like family than a possible lover. He took a few tentative steps forward before kneeling in front of Xianghua and gently stroking her face. “I would be honored to be your first, just as it would honor me to have you be mine,” he said quietly with a hint of a blush on his face.

Xianghua’s eyes widened. “Wait…” she said, “You’re a…? But, I’m sure all those other girls we ran into…”

“What about them?” asked Kilik with a look of confusion.

“Well,” mumbled Xianghua as she lowered her head, “They were all so much prettier than I am and I thought—” Kilik quickly put a finger to her lips, silencing her.

“I’ve never met a woman who I’d like to be with more than you, Xianghua,” he said before moving forward and pressing his lips to hers. Xianghua closed her eyes as she wrapped her arms around Kilik’s shoulders and happily kissed him even as he was taking his jacket off. Kilik slowly pushed Xianghua backwards onto the bed before climbing on top of her, shedding his boots in the process. He pulled away from her as he fumbled with his belt before Xianghua, who was slightly calmer than he was, sat up and helped him remove his pants. She gasped when she saw his cock. It was the first one she’d ever seen before up close, so she tentatively reached out her hand and touched it. It twitched slightly, causing her to jerk her hand back, but her eyes widened as she watched it slowly grow, until Kilik was fully erect. She licked her lips as she slowly reached out her hand again and started to gently stroke it, eliciting a small groan from Kilik. She smiled and continued to stroke his cock, letting out a moan of her own when she felt Kilik’s fingers start to rub around her pussy.

They continued pleasuring each other for a few minutes before Xianghua let go of Kilik’s cock and laid down on the bed. She blushed as she said, “Please, make me a woman.” Kilik licked his lips and swallowed as he knelt in between Xianghua’s legs. He slowly moved his hips forward, thrusting his dick along her channel, trying to get it in her but only managing to lube himself up a bit. He grinned sheepishly at Xianghua, making her giggle as she reached down and helped to guide him inside of her. She drew in a sharp breath as she felt the tip of his cock slowly enter her virgin channel. Xianghua winced as she felt her insides stretch to accommodate the invader, but it didn’t feel wholly bad. Kilik’s ministrations from before had managed to arouse her enough that she was nice and wet, making his penetration a little easier for her to bear.

Kilik stopped moving when he felt the head push all the way into her. He looked down at her and saw that she had a pained look on her face. “Are you okay?” he asked softly.

“I’ll be fine…” she said. “I just need to get used to you…that’s all…” She could feel her walls start to relax and nodded for him to continue. Kilik continued to slowly push forward into her until he felt an obstacle in his path and heard her let out a small squeak.

“This is it…” said Kilik. “We can stop now, but after I pierce that, there’s no turning back.”

“I know…” panted Xianghua. This was hurting more than she had expected, but she knew that once her barrier was gone everything would change. At least, she hoped it would. She bit her lip as she looked into Kilik’s eyes. All she could see was concern and love for her. “Do it…” she said, her entire body trembling, “Just push the rest of the way in.” She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt Kilik start to push forward again, yelping in pain as she felt her maidenhead tear. Kilik, suddenly losing his obstruction, continued forward until his hips bumped into Xianghua’s.

“I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused you,” said Kilik, but Xianghua shook her head.

“I’ll be fine,” she said as she looked down at their combined hips. She looked up at Kilik again and smiled, tears running down her face, as she said, “We’re finally one. I’ve longed for this moment for so long, and now it’s here. I love you, Kilik, and I always will.” Kilik leaned in and kissed Xianghua on her forehead while he held himself still, so as not to hurt her anymore. They laid together, merely holding each other for about a minute before Xianghua slowly opened her tear-filled eyes and looked up at Kilik. She quietly smiled and nodded.

“You’re sure you’re ready?” asked Kilik.

“Go ahead,” replied Xianghua. “Just be gentle.” Kilik slowly pulled his hips back, making Xianghua groan. He quickly made sure she was okay before slowly starting to thrust into her. Xianghua loved it. Her hips began to buck in time with Kilik’s as she started to experience more pleasure than pain. They looked into each other’s eyes as they slowly made love. Their movements were jerky and clumsy, but to them it was perfect. Kilik slowly reached his hands up and started to grope Xianghua’s breasts, eliciting more moans from her. “Yes,” she moaned, “Please…Kilik…Yes…”

“Xianghua…” groaned Kilik. “I’m sorry…but I can’t hold out much longer.”

“That’s okay…” panted Xianghua. “I’m getting close too…Oh god…KILIK!”

Kilik felt Xianghua clamp down on him and wrap her legs around his waist, pulling him in. The sensation of Xianghua’s vise-like grip on his cock was too much for him and he thrust deeply into her. “Xianghua…” growled Kilik through clenched teeth as he came. Xianghua screamed again as she felt Kilik’s cum shooting into her. The two were held together in the tense throws of orgasm for what felt like an eternity before they slowly came down, Kilik losing the strength to hold himself up anymore. He flopped down onto Xianghua, his head right next to hers. Xianghua wrapped her arms around Kilik, loving the sounds of him panting right next to her ear. They were both covered with sweat and there was cum slowly pooling out of Xianghua, but neither of them really cared about taking a bath. They were with each other and that was all that mattered as they slowly drifted off to sleep together.

“Here we are…” said Xianghua quietly. They had spent every night for the last week making love to each other, and felt like they were really getting the hang of it. But, all thoughts of their gentle love-making were thrust from Xianghua’s mind as the thought of what would happen if they were defeated by Astaroth.

“Yeah…” said Kilik. He looked over at Xianghua and could see her trembling. “Are you sure you want to go in there?” he asked, knowing the answer already.

“I have to,” she said with a quavering voice. “I can’t have the fear of what might be ruling my life. If I did, I would never have been able to be a knight.” She took a deep breath and shook herself off. “Let’s go kick that golem’s ass!” Kilik grinned as he gripped his staff and the two slowly went down the steps that would take them into the subterranean maze.

The entire place had been flooded. What were once hallways that lead to larger rooms even deeper in the maze, were now filled with water, with only single platforms still above water level. The walls had strange bas reliefs of odd creatures that seemed to be part horse and part fish on them, and the entire ruin seemed to glow with a strange blue aura. They were leaping across to a very small platform that could only hold two people when Kilik stopped dead. “I hear voices ahead…and fighting!” he said quietly. “Someone else must be after Astaroth’s Soul Edge fragment. If we’re lucky, we won’t have to fight him at all.”

Xianghua nodded, but frowned. There was something familiar about the voice that she heard. Then she finally figured it out. “Maxi…” she whispered.

“What did you say?” asked Kilik.

“Do you remember me, you freak?!” cried the voice, and even Kilik started at the sound. It did sound like Maxi.

“Pretentious little bug!” roared another voice that they both recognized easily. It was Astaroth. Kilik and Xianghua looked at each other before tearing down the hallways, looking for the source of the commotion.

They were just entering a large room when they heard the voice that sounded like Maxi roar, “It doesn’t matter how many people you’ve got!”

“Maxi!” screamed Xianghua as soon as she saw him. He was surrounded by a group of masked men, obviously members of the cult of Ares. At the back of the ranks was Astaroth, as big and as horrible as she remembered him being. He was over six feet tall and was wearing spiked battle boots, with greaves wrapped around his legs. He was wearing an armored pair of legless shorts that covered his groin area and wrapped around his waist. Around his wrists were a pair of wrist protectors and he had a strange piece of armor around his head that acted as both shoulder guards and a face mask, covering his mouth and nose. His eyes were milky white, without pupils or irises, making it hard to see where he was looking and his head was bald. Xianghua looked at his chest and nearly vomited when she saw what appeared to be a pulsating heart, but it was merely a magic stone that provided life to the golem.

“Maxi, you’re alive!” cried Kilik.

Maxi’s head whipped around at the sound of his name and he looked at the two without a sign of recognition at all. “Yeah, real good for right now,” he said angrily. “If you’re after my shards of Soul Edge, you’re gonna have to get in line behind that big guy over there!”

“More worms being led to the slaughter!” roared Astaroth amusedly. “Kill the men, but leave the woman alive…barely.”

“Oh shit!” snarled Maxi as he looked at the two people more closely. “You must be Xianghua and Kilik! What the hell are you doing, bringing her here?! Don’t you know what he plans on doing to her?!”

“Why is he acting like he doesn’t know us?” asked Xianghua.

“That doesn’t matter right now,” said Kilik. “We’ve got to help him.” Kilik quickly vaulted over to the large platform that everyone was on and cracked his staff into the head of a cultist. Xianghua was quick to follow, swinging her sword at anyone stupid enough to get in her way.

Maxi looked at their fighting skills and whistled. “Hey, you two aren’t bad!” he said as he whirled his nunchakus around striking every cultist in range. The battle was short and extremely one-sided as the three experienced warriors took on the lesser grunts that were being commanded by Astaroth.

“Pathetic!” snarled Astaroth as he looked at his own men. “I would kill you myself, but I don’t want to waste my energy.”

“Looks like you’re going to fail as badly as that Nadia bitch did,” sneered Maxi.

“What did you just say?” growled Astaroth, his eyes flashing menacingly. “How do you know about her?!”

“She failed to destroy Sophitia’s concept of love,” said Maxi. “After I threatened her a little, she told me where you were and what you were planning.” Astaroth growled again, but said nothing. “Then I left her in the capable claws of a quintet of horny Lizardmen! I’ll bet they’re still going at her even now!”

“You dare say her sacred name in my presence…” snarled Astaroth, “And then you dare to tell me that you had the daughter of my master raped by Lizardmen?!”

“Whoa…that little bitch was the daughter of the leader of your cult?” asked Maxi. He looked extremely amused. “That’s really funny, because when I last saw her, she was acting like a bitch in heat over Sophitia. Apparently, you never bothered to teach her to hate her enemies, because it looked like she was in love.”

“Blasphemer!” roared Astaroth as he charged towards Maxi, his ax held over his head.

“I can’t believe that actually worked,” muttered Maxi as he easily side-stepped Astaroth’s blow and ran up the ax handle, swinging his nunchakus at the golem’s head. Astaroth wasn’t as dumb as Maxi thought, however, as he quickly ducked under Maxi’s blow, grabbed him by the ankle and proceeded to repeatedly smash the tip of his ax into Maxi’s spine.

“Maxi!” screamed Xianghua as she ran up and swung at Astaroth, forcing him to drop Maxi.

“You’re the one I want anyway,” said Astaroth evilly as kicked Maxi aside. He grabbed Xianghua by the throat and pulled her up so they were face to face. She futily tried kicking and swinging her sword at him, but he didn’t react to her blows at all. “I hope you’re a virgin,” he said, and she could tell he was grinning. “The more pain you suffer, the more delicious the torment.” Xianghua’s eyes widened in horror as Astaroth began to laugh.

“No!” screamed Xianghua as she felt Astaroth’s other hand reach out and grip her breasts roughly.

“You’re mine!” shouted Kilik as he used his bo to lift himself into the air, before doing a midair somersault that made his bo crash into Astaroth’s skull. Astaroth dropped Xianghua, who crumpled to the ground, holding her shoulders and shivering. “Maxi!” shouted Kilik. “Get Xianghua out of here! I’ll take care of him!”

Maxi nodded and grabbed Xianghua’s arm, dragging her from the platform. “Come on!” he said urgently. “We gotta go now!”

Xianghua pulled back. “I can’t leave without him!” she cried. “I just found him again!”

“Idiot!” shouted Maxi. “Don’t let his sacrifice be in vain!”

“Enough people have been sacrificed to that monster!” said Xianghua quietly as she pulled herself free of Maxi’s grip. “We’ve already lost our dear friend Maxi, and were left with this poor carbon copy.” Maxi winced at her words. “You can flee if you want, but I’m going to stop Astaroth now!” She turned and raced to help Kilik, leaving Maxi standing there, watching her go.

“Dammit!” he growled to himself. “She’s right; I’m not acting like myself. But, there’s something about her. Maybe I do know her…deep down. Why else would I care about her well being so much?” He grumbled again as he rubbed his hand through his hair before saying, “Screw it! If she’s gonna go fight that thing, I’d better do it too. The way she just looked at me, she’ll end up killing him before I do.” He swung his nunchakus once or twice before smiling and chasing after Xianghua.

“I’ll kill you if you lay one finger on Kilik!” screamed Xianghua as she kicked Astaroth in the back, throwing his swing off balance. He had been close to cleaving Kilik’s head in two, instead he merely hit the platform.

“No Xianghua!” shouted Kilik. “Get out of here!”

“I’m not leaving you!” shouted Xianghua.

“Two little insects think they can take me on?” laughed Astaroth.

“Make that three insects,” shouted Maxi as he leapt at Astaroth, and smacked the golem in the side of the head. He quickly leapt away, before the beast could recover and landed next to the other two. “So, what’s the plan?” he asked.

“Keep hitting him until he stops moving?” said Xianghua with a shrug.

Maxi blinked at her for a second before laughing. “That sounds like a good plan!” he said happily. “Let’s do it!” He leapt back at Astaroth, but Astaroth had anticipated his enthusiasm and had prepared his most devastating attack for just such an opportunity. As soon as Maxi was in range, he swung his ax around, catching Maxi with the handle and swinging around and around. Maxi stayed on the handle due to centrifugal force until Astaroth suddenly stopped, sending Maxi flying into the wall. His head hit the wall and he blacked out.

“Maxi!” cried Kilik as he and Xianghua quickly ran to the edge of the platform and dove into the water. Well, Kilik dove in. When Xianghua tried to, Astaroth grabbed her ankle and dragged her back onto dry land. Kilik’s head broke the surface of the water and he looked back in alarm. “Xianghua!” he cried.

“Go help Maxi!” shouted Xianghua. “He’s been knocked out and you can’t swim when you’re unconscious. I’ll finish this joker off, no problem!” Astaroth laughed menacingly as he gripped her shoulders and pulled her to her feet. Kilik started back to the platform. “Go help Maxi! He’s going to die!” screamed Xianghua, tears streaming down her face.

“Dammit!” snarled Kilik as he dove back under the water to find Maxi.

“I’ll make you sorry for letting him leave you like that,” chuckled Astaroth as he reached his hands around and gripped her breasts again. A hint of red came to Xianghua’s face as she whimpered sadly; but she started really struggling when one of his hands traveled down and rubbed up against her crotch.

“No!” she screamed as she broke free of his grip and rolled to the other side of the platform. “I’ll make you sorry for trying that!” she snarled.

“Go ahead and struggle,” rumbled Astaroth as he cracked his neck, before hefting his ax.

“Last chance to apologize!” shouted Xianghua as she checked over her outfit to make sure that it was still in one piece before pointing her sword at Astaroth. Yet again, she was up against an opponent that was stronger than her, however, she at least had speed on her side. She waited for Astaroth to swing his ax at her before she quickly dodged to the side and struck at him with the tip of her sword.

“Don’t disappoint me!” laughed Astaroth as he easily parried her blow and shoved the top of his ax into her stomach, shoving her back.

“Shut up!” cried Xianghua through gritted teeth as she clutched her stomach for a second before charging in again.

“Got you!” sneered Astaroth as he quickly swung his ax in a horizontal arc, hoping to knock her down. She quickly slid under his ax, grabbed him by the ankle, did a back flip over his head and, still holding his one leg, swung her sword around, tripping him up and sending him to the floor. “Damn it!” roared Astaroth as he angrily got to his feet.

“Go me!” cheered Xianghua as she scooted away from Astaroth. As long as she could keep him on the offensive, and counter his attacks, she would be able to win. She quickly dodged another slow swing of his and twirled her sword around her wrist to confuse Astaroth, before thrusting in with it. The blow cut his arm…but he didn’t bleed. And he didn’t seem to register any pain either. She was starting to get nervous about her chances, but she didn’t want him to realize that. “Not bad, huh?” she asked cockily.

“You make me laugh!” said Astaroth as he dragged Xianghua to him, grabbed her around the waist and power bombed her into the floor. “Did I kill you?!” he laughed evilly as he slowly got up and looked down at her.

“Dummy!” muttered Xianghua to herself as she winced in pain. Astaroth’s move had hurt a lot. But, she put on a good face as she got up. “Justice will prevail! Just kidding!” she said with a giggle that hurt her ribs.

Astaroth laughed again as he roared, “Amuse me again!” Xianghua stiffened as she saw him about to pull another power bomb on her. She quickly ducked down, but Astaroth, seeing this, used his ax to pull her back up into a standing position. “Too easy!” he snarled at her as he held her trembling frame in a tight embrace.

“Let me go, you big brute!” screamed Xianghua as she tried to futily get away from him.

“Stop screaming! My ears hurt!” said Astaroth in a quiet voice that made Xianghua shiver. It just sounded more sinister when he wasn’t roaring or shouting.

“Then I’ll just keep screaming until you let me go!” cried Xianghua. “Help! Kilik! Maxi! Anyone!”

“You’re too loud!” growled Astaroth as he put his hand over her mouth. Xianghua responded by biting his hand but, again, there was no blood or anything that would indicate that Astaroth had felt any pain. The golem grumbled angrily at her as he pulled his hand away from her mouth, using it to pull off his face guard. “I’ll shut you up, right now,” he snarled as he tilted her head up and pushed his lips against hers. Xianghua’s eyes clamped shut when she felt his lips on hers and she started whipping her sword into his leg over and over again, but he didn’t show any signs of caring at all. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes as his one hand stayed on her head while the other traveled downwards and started gripping her butt. It wasn’t until she raised her other hand and started beating on his chest that he actually reacted. “Don’t do that!” he roared as he tore his face away from hers and grabbed both of her wrists.

“Then don’t kiss me again, you disgusting freak!” snarled Xianghua as she wiped her mouth off on her shoulder. Astaroth growled at her as his eyes narrowed. He gripped both of her wrists in one of his hands before easily lifting her into the air. Xianghua cried out as her sword was ripped from her grasp and tossed, carelessly, aside.

“You’re in no position to order me around,” sneered the golem as he reached up, gripped the top of Xianghua’s outfit and quickly ripped it right down the middle. Xianghua screamed in shock, fear and shame as her shirt fell in tatters to the ground.

“Nooo!” she wailed as she saw his hand reach down and rip off her pants as well. A flush came to her face as she realized that she was almost naked in front of her worst enemy. “Don’t do this!” she sobbed even as she watched him slowly, almost as an insult, take her bra and panties off without harming them. “Please stop…” she whimpered pathetically as Astaroth merely laughed.

“I’m surprised you’re not fighting more,” said Astaroth. “Could it be that you want this to happen?” Xianghua merely sobbed and hung her head down. Astaroth laughed again as he lifted her head up and grinned at her. “I hadn’t planned on enjoying this,” he said, “But you’re actually quite pretty for a pathetic human.” He let her head go and rubbed his fingers along her inner thighs a little before slowly moving his fingers to her lower lips.

“Don’t…please…stop…” sobbed Xianghua quietly. Her body shifted slightly with each touch against her pussy and she started emitting low groans. “Stop it…please!” she moaned. Astaroth watched her in silence as he continued to stroke her pussy before he suddenly stuck two of his fingers in her. It felt like lightning was flowing through her body as her eyes shot open and her body stiffened. She threw her head back and screamed in release as her pussy clamped down on Astaroth’s fingers and splashed them with her cum. Her body shivered as Astaroth pulled his fingers from her. She felt his other hand let go of her wrists and she fell to the ground in a heap. She was so ashamed of herself. Astaroth had brought her to orgasm. But, how was that even possible? Didn’t you have to be in love in order to enjoy sex? She was brought back to the present when she heard a strange sound behind her that, for some reason, sounded slightly ominous to her. She slowly turned around and looked down. She took in a sharp breath when she saw Astaroth’s shorts lying on the ground. Her bottom lip started trembling when she suddenly felt a pair of large hands grip her shoulders and turn her back around. “No…” she whimpered when she saw Astaroth’s cock pointed right at her face. It was so much bigger than Kilik’s. That thing would kill her if he tried to fuck her with it.

“Suck it!” commanded Astaroth making Xianghua tremble. She and Kilik hadn’t tried oral sex at all and she wasn’t exactly relishing the idea of her first try being with Astaroth. The golem was insistent, however, and placed his hand on her head, before pushing her in. Xianghua clamped her mouth shut and shut her eyes, not wanting to see the thing in front of her. She felt the tip of his cock poking and prodding up against her face and shuddered with disgust.

Astaroth quickly grabbed Xianghua’s nose and plugged it, making it impossible for her to breathe, but she held on for as long as she could. “Kilik!!!” she croaked as her mouth flew open to get air, only to have Astoroth’s cock push in. Astaroth let go of her nose as soon as his cock entered her mouth, moving it to the back of her head.

“That’s right,” he growled as he started thrusting roughly into her mouth. “Don’t use your teeth. And roll your tongue around it.”

It was all Xianghua could do not to gag and throw up during this violation. “Kilik…where are you…?” she thought despondently.

“Your lover boy isn’t here to save you,” said Astaroth, as if he read her thoughts. “If he had come to save you instead of going for that other man, you probably wouldn’t be doing this now. Some love of your life, huh?” Xianghua made a muffled scream of protest at Astaroth’s comment, causing the golem to groan. “That felt nice…” he groaned. “Do it again!” Xianghua remained silent. She didn’t want to pleasure this monstrosity, but Astaroth gripped her by the hair and pulled, making her scream in pain. “Yes!” said Astaroth as he started pumping furiously into her mouth and pulling her hair to make her scream continuously.

Xianghua sobbed as she felt Astaroth thrust into her mouth even faster, because she knew he was nearing his end. “Please…don’t cum in my mouth…” she thought desperately. “I don’t want to have to swallow that…” Astaroth thrust deeply into her mouth and groaned loudly, but pulled out at the last second, splattering Xianghua’s face with his black cum. “Gross!” cried Xianghua as strand after strand of his cum shot onto her face and breasts.

Astaroth let Xianghua go as he stood there panting, and she took the opportunity to try and crawl to her sword. She was about to reach it when Astaroth grabbed her ankle and dragged her back to him. “I’m not done with you yet!” he said as he flipped her over onto her back and proceeded to start licking her pussy.

“Noooo!” she moaned as she tried to push his head away from her, but it was useless. He had his hands gripped around her legs to hold her open and ran his tongue along her lips. “Oh god…stop it…” she groaned as she fell back, her eyes closing and her arms limp at her sides.

“You’re enjoying yourself, aren’t you?” asked Astaroth between licks.

“No!” shouted Xianghua. “Never! Let me gooooo…” She moaned deeply as Astaroth stuck his tongue inside of her and started pinching her clit. “I’d never…enjoy sex with…anyone other than Kilik…Oh god…please…stop before I…before I…AAAAAAHHH!!!” A blinding light flashed in front of Xianghua’s eyes as a familiar feeling of ultimate pleasure shot through her body, making her scream out loud. When she came down from her orgasm she looked down and was horrified to see Astaroth lapping up her cum before grinning at her. “Please…let me go already. You’ve done enough,” she sobbed, tears streaming down her face.

“I don’t think so,” said Astaroth as he slowly got to his knees and moved in between her legs.

“No…” she whimpered as she tried to scurry backwards. Astaroth merely held her hips in place as he positioned the head of his cock at her, now very wet, entrance. “Don’t do this! Please! That’ll kill me!”

“I doubt that,” chuckled Astaroth. “You’re not a virgin, and you appear to be enjoying yourself. But, the psychological torment that you’re suffering from your enjoyment will rip your feeble human mind to pieces. If I make it enough of a shock, when your cute little brain snaps, my job will be complete!” He didn’t want to admit it to her, but he was pissed that she was enjoying herself. He was hoping for pure physical torment and mentally kicked himself for eating her out. He quickly thrust his hips forward, pushing his cock deep into her in one stroke, causing her to scream in pain as the huge cock stretched her more than Kilik’s could ever manage. She winced and whimpered as Astaroth continued to push deeper and deeper into her small body. Astaroth was enjoying himself and actually smiled when he felt an obstruction in his way when he was almost all the way in.

Xianghua felt his cock bump up against the entrance to her womb and try to continue moving forward. “No!” she whispered, “Please…if you’re going to do that…just kill me now!”

“You won’t die…yet,” said Astaroth as he started to push harder.

“It won’t fit!!!” cried Xianghua, but Astaroth was insistent and with constant pushing he was able to slowly open up her cervix enough to get the head of his cock in. As soon as he penetrated her womb, Xianghua came as a combination of pleasure and pain shot through her body. Xianghua started crying again as Astaroth didn’t wait for her body to get used to him before he started thrusting fiercely into her. She emitted small grunts as her body was rocked by the golem’s savage thrusting. “Kilik…” she sobbed, “Where are you…?”

Astaroth heard Xianghua’s pathetic whimper and grinned as a thought came to him that would make things go more smoothly. “He has your piece of Soul Edge…doesn’t he?”

“What?” asked Xianghua, suddenly remembering that she had decided to trust him with the shard.

“Does he have it?!” growled Astaroth.

Xianghua let out a choked, “Yes…”

“Then he has no use for this place anymore. After all, that pirate stole my shard before you got here,” the golem lied. “So, your friend just has to get the shards off his body and then he can leave you both high and dry.”

“Kilik…wouldn’t do that…would he?” asked Xianghua, her mind getting fuzzy. Astaroth grinned again. She was getting confused, that would make things so much easier.

“You don’t really know all that much about him, do you?” asked Astaroth as he continued to thrust mercilessly into her. “The man killed everyone he cared about before you met him.”

“What?” asked Xianghua.

“Do you remember the incident known as the Evil Seed?” asked Astaroth. Xianghua nodded slowly. “A light flashed in front of his temple, and everyone inside went crazy. Kilik was the strongest among them and struck down every last one of his friends and family. He would still be that murderous monster if not for that talisman around his neck. It was slipped on his neck by the woman who he loved as a sister as he struck her down in cold blood. Do you seriously believe that a person like that would actually be able to love you or be trusted at all?”

“Well, I…I don’t think…but…” panted Xianghua. Her mind was becoming extremely muddled with information while her body was being subjected to the unending stimulus. It was getting to be too much for her to take.

“He’s abandoned you…” said Astaroth cruelly. “Why don’t you just accept it? Then we can have fun here, for the rest of your life. After all, just because you’re not in love, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the sex.”

“But I…I can’t…that’s not…” moaned Xianghua as her body couldn’t take the stimulus anymore and started thrusting her hips to meet Astaroth’s.

“That’s a good girl,” grinned Astaroth. “You’re really nothing more than a horny little slut, aren’t you?”

“No…I’m not like that!” moaned Xianghua as she turned her head, so she wouldn’t have to see the golem’s leering face. She blushed heavily as she started to hear wet squishing sounds coming from her pussy with each thrust. “I’m not…like that… I’m not enjoying this. You can’t make me…oh god, no. I’m NOOOOOOO!” She threw her head back and screamed as she came harder than she ever had before.

“It’s about time I finished too,” growled Astaroth. He was admittedly surprised with how much her walls were able to clench around him. His thrusting speeded up, making Xianghua’s whole body shiver as she came again. “You like this more than you want to admit!” roared Astaroth as he thrust deeply into her, shooting his black goo inside of her womb. Xianghua’s eyes shot open at the feeling of Astaroth cumming inside of her as she came for the third time in a row, this one being even more intense than the last two combined. Astaroth grinned again as he pulled his cock from her pussy, leaving her sobbing and whimpering on the ground.

“Kill me…please…” she sobbed. “I’d rather be dead than remember that…than remember enjoying that…”

Astaroth looked down at her and smirked. She was a total mess; her hair was in disarray, her face and chest were covered in his cum, the entire body was covered in sweat and her crotch was even worse than her face. Their cum was pooling out of her and mixing together to make an ugly shade of gray on the floor. “I don’t think so,” he said as he rolled her over so that she was on all fours.

She looked back in alarm. “Not again!” she cried. “Please! Anything but that!”

“Anything?” mused Astaroth as he rubbed his cock head against her lips, teasing her.

“Please!” screamed Xianghua. “I’ll do anything! Just not that again!”

“Fine then,” said Astaroth, causing Xianghua to breathe a sigh of relief. “I’ll just fuck you here instead then!” he laughed as he spread her cheeks and started to push his cock into her ass.

“NO!!!” screamed Xianghua. “Not there! Please!”

“You said you’d do anything, so just shut your mouth and learn to live with your mistakes, bitch!” snarled Astaroth. But Xianghua wasn’t listening. She was screaming and scrabbling at the ground, trying desperately to get away from him. Astaroth laughed as he pushed the head of his cock into Xianghua’s ass, making her scream in pain. She clenched her fists and hung her head down as Astaroth continued to slowly move deeper into her ass without heeding her cries of discomfort.

After what felt like an eternity of pain for Xianghua, Astaroth stopped pushing into her and she felt his hips placed snuggly up against her ass. “You…bas…tard…” she panted, a small trickle of drool sliding from the corner of her mouth. Astaroth merely rumbled with pleasure at the feeling of Xianghua’s ass squeezing his cock as he pulled back before thrusting back in, making her yelp. “Stop!” she groaned. “Don’t move like that! OWWW!”

“Even this sensation can be pleasurable,” said Astaroth as he reached down and started rubbing Xianghua’s pussy while he continued fucking her ass.

“It’s not pleasurable!” cried Xianghua. “It hurts! Stop it!” She hated to admit it, but she was actually starting to like what Astaroth was doing, so she hid her arousal with choked sobs and cries.

Astaroth wasn’t fooled for a second. As soon as he felt Xianghua’s ass start to relax and accept him, he knew that she was getting into it. So, he stepped up his rubbing of her pussy, making her moan in spite of herself. “I knew you were enjoying yourself!” he said, roaring with laughter. “You’re really nothing more than a little cock-loving whore!”

“Uh…” groaned Xianghua.

“If you’re real good, I could keep you alive to be my own personal little fuck toy,” sneered Astaroth. “Would you like that?”

“I…I…” whimpered Xianghua. Her mind screamed no, but her body wanted her to say yes.

“Yes or no?” asked Astaroth.

“I …I…ye…” stammered Xianghua before she was pulled back by a terrific force. She looked back and saw that Astaroth was being dragged out of her by both Kilik and Maxi.

“Quick!” shouted Kilik. “Kill him before he breaks free!”

“But I…he…” said Xianghua, her mind trying desperately to wrap around what was going on.

“Do it Xianghua!” said Maxi. “And, might I add, I love the new look!” he added with a leer.

The jibe brought her back to the present as she screamed, “Maxi! You pervert!”

“Ah, I missed that old familiar scream,” sighed Maxi jovially even as he held the struggling golem.

“Ignore mister funny man,” said Kilik sternly. “Hit him in the stone! It’s what keeps him alive! Destroy it!”

“She’ll never be able to fight against me!” growled Astaroth. “I own her now! She had so much fun while I fucked her little brains out! Didn’t you?”

Xianghua slowly walked over to her sword and picked it up before turning and slowly walking back to the others. “Yes…”she said, “Yes, I did enjoy it.” Astaroth laughed as Kilik’s face went white. Xianghua slowly lifted her sword and pointed it at Kilik’s throat. “I was wrong to assume that sex was love. It’s not. You don’t have to be in love to enjoy sex.” She pulled her sword back, and Kilik merely closed his eyes, not wanting to see his love strike him down. But, she changed her angle of thrust and shot her arm forward, piercing the pulsating stone in Astaroth’s chest. “But, that doesn’t change anything!” she screamed over Astaroth’s roar of pain as blood gushed from the stone, covering her from head to toe.

“But…how…?” gasped Astaroth as Maxi and Kilik let him go.

“Just because sex and love are mutually exclusive, doesn’t change the fact that I love Kilik,” said Xianghua. She gently kissed him on the forehead as she whispered, “Thanks for making me a little more liberated, however.” Astaroth couldn’t help but chuckle a little before he let out his last breath and fell to the ground, dead. Xianghua slumped to the ground and dropped her sword. “That sucked,” she said with a small giggle as she looked herself over. “And I’m a complete mess!” Xianghua took a quick dip in the water surrounding the platform they were on to get cleaned up before walking up to the two men and giving them big hugs. “Thanks for the rescue,” she said sweetly as she kissed Kilik on the lips and Maxi on the cheek.

“Sure Xianghua…” said Kilik nervously. “But…could you put some clothes on or something?”

“I don’t see what the problem is!” said Maxi happily. “After all, she’s got a great butt!”

“Hey, if you want to see it a little more close up, all you have to do is ask,” said Xianghua, causing both men’s mouths to drop. “What? Not now of course, we’re all exhausted. But, I don’t see any reason why we can’t have a little fun with our friendship, as long as Kilik doesn’t mind, of course.”

“Uh…okay?” said Kilik uncertainly, making Xianghua giggle. She quickly sifted through her destroyed clothes and found her underwear which she put on. Kilik gave her his coat, which was wet, but at least it covered her.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Xianghua.

“Wait a second,” said Maxi. He walked over to Astaroth’s corpse and looked through his things. “We need this,” he said as he held up a shard of metal. “Here, you deserve this. You’re the one who beat him.” Xianghua blushed but took the proffered shard of Soul Edge. “And you can have my pieces too. The bastard would have had them anyway from knocking me out. So, here’s mine and Sophitia’s.”

Kilik sighed heavily as he said, “And here are mine and yours. I suppose it’s only fair.” Xianghua looked at the five shards of metal in her hand for a second before nodding and putting them in her pouch.

“Let’s go, we’ve got to stop that sword!” she said determinedly.

As the trio emerged from the bowels of the Labyrinth they heard a familiar British voice calling to them. “That’s quite far enough, you three,” said the voice. “Give me those shards of Soul Edge and you may escape with your lives!”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve lady,” snarled Maxi. “If you think for a second that we’d give you anything, you’ve got another thing coming!” He took a step forward, but stopped dead when a long, segmented sword appeared from above and wrapped around his neck.

“You act like you have a choice in the matter,” said Ivy from her perch on a tree branch.

“Stop it now!” shouted Xianghua, causing them both to stop and stare at her. “If you want the shards, you can have them! Just leave him alone!”

“What are you doing?!” cried Maxi, “We can’t give them to her! Don’t you remember?! She’s working for Nightmare!”

“I admit, I was,” said Ivy as she jumped down from the tree and released Maxi. “But not any longer. I want that sword destroyed as much as you people do. It destroyed the Valentines, my foster family.”

“Foster family?” asked Kilik. “Who’s your real family then?”

Ivy stared at them with narrowed eyes for a second before sighing and saying, “My real father’s last name is De Leon.”

“Cervantes’ daughter?!” gasped Maxi. “I trust you even less now!”

“It doesn’t matter if we trust her or not,” said Xianghua. “I said I’d give her my shards, so that’s what I’ll do. None of us are in any condition to fight right now.”

“What happened down there anyway?” asked Ivy. “It’s not normal for a girl like you to be running around in someone else’s clothing.” She looked at Xianghua more closely before adding, “And not much else.”

“I was raped by Astaroth,” said Xianghua simply.

Ivy’s hard features softened slightly for a split-second before going back to their normal stern appearance. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she said softly. “I’m guessing that my old comrade is dead then?” Xianghua nodded. “What a waste,” sighed Ivy. “Now, hand over the shards and I’ll be on my way.”

Xianghua gave her sword to Kilik as she walked up to Ivy. “I want you to be careful,” said Xianghua as she held out the five shards to Ivy. “Sophitia was raped by a slew of Lizardmen, as well. If it happened to us, it’ll probably happen to you too.”

Ivy laughed as her sword wrapped around the two girls, causing Kilik and Maxi to cry out. “No one gets close to me without my permission,” she said with a smile before leaning in and kissing Xianghua on the lips.

“Don’t be so sure of who’s got who, ever,” said Xianghua as she dropped the Soul Edge fragments to the ground and started rubbing Ivy’s crotch.

Ivy laughed again as her sword released them both. “Well played!” she said. “We might have to have some fun once this whole mess is over. No boys allowed, okay?”

“If you’re willing, I am,” said Xianghua with a smile. She picked up the fragments of Soul Edge and gave them to Ivy. “Where are you headed now?”

“France,” replied Ivy. “Some nancy boy ex-aristocrat is supposed to be hiding out in an old mansion.”

“Raphael?” asked Maxi slowly.

“That’s him, why?” asked Ivy.

It was Maxi’s turn to chuckle. “Just watch out for a trio of characters who are looking for him. If he only took their shards, he should have four right now.”

Ivy smiled and nodded her head. “Thanks for the tip,” she said. “Don’t you worry, Soul Edge will be destroyed. Then I might be able to have some peace.” She turned and ran off, not looking back.

“Now what?” asked Maxi.

“Oh no!” cried Xianghua. “The Emperor’s gonna kill me for not getting him the sword again!”

“Do you want to try and stop Ivy?” asked Kilik.

Xianghua thought about it for a second before shaking her head. “No,” she sighed. “There’s no point. Just take me home, please.”

“I think we should just go to an inn right now,” said Kilik. “You need to get some sleep.”

“Okay…that’s true but…” murmured Xianghua with a twinkle in her eye. “I don’t think we’ll be getting much sleep…if you know what I mean…”

“Well, I think that’s my cue to head out,” said Maxi. “After all, three’s a crowd.”

“Actually,” said Xianghua as she caught his sleeve, “Three’s an Orgy.” Kilik and Maxi both looked at Xianghua before looking at each other. Kilik shrugged and Maxi grinned. “Why don’t the three of us find a nice inn to spend the night and then we can discuss where we go from there…okay?” The two men grinned as they both took one of her hands. Then the three walked down the road, hand in hand, away from the evil sword and towards a new type of friendship.

To Be Continued…

(That was harder to write than was absolutely necessary. Ah well, least it’s over and I can move on with Ivy’s storyline next. Yeah, right, like that one won’t be hard either! Bah. Oh, by the way, a few things I think you should know, but couldn’t find a decent way of actually putting them in the story. Maxi got his memories back from the combination of the major blow to the head and the near-death experience of almost drowning. I figure something like that is worth a memory or two. Secondly, Astaroth knew all about Kilik because Nightmare told him. Kilik has a shard of Soul Edge, and Soul Edge is tied directly to Nightmare, so Nightmare knows all there is to know about all of the warriors who have shards. That’s how he’s able to find the right monsters for each girl. I hope that clears up any confusion, and I hope Ivy’s storyline will go a little more smoothly. Ta all.)