The cave was dark, dank, and cold. It filled with creatures, foul creatures that emanated evil and destructive aura. Some of the creatures wore brown robe with hood covering the head, but most of them wore armor and bore weapon and shield. There were thirteen of the creatures that wore the brown robe. Six of them stood in each side of the semi-ball shaped cave, in front of the creatures that wore warrior’s outfit. In front of the middle of the twelve creatures was the one called Kyumm mrl py eltzk, the Grand Priest of the Lizardmen that strangely, a human.

“My children !” roared Kyumm. “The time has again presenting the chance for us to gain power to rule this world. To walk out of this darkness into the world.” He looked at a lizard warrior that knelt in front of him. “Aeon the Berserker, I command you to find and bring to me the Soul Edge.”

The lizard warrior who was once a human named Aeon Calcos – a mighty and powerful knight, chosen by the gods to destroy the Soul Edge – replied. “Yes, master.” He stood up tall, about six feet. He wore armor that covered his body, left shoulder to the wrist, right wrist, and both legs. On his left hip hung a short sword called Xi Sword. On his left hand, he held a small shield called Game Shield.

“Aeon, to ensure the success of your mission, I have chosen a company for you.” Said Kyumm.

Aeon bristled. “Pardon me, master, but I need not a companion.”

“Silence Aeon !” Kyumm roared. “Your mission is very important for our cause. I know you are a strong fighter and I know how powerful you are. But do not forget, Aeon, that you have failed once when you worked alone. And I would not have your silly fighter pride threaten to jeopardize our cause.”

Aeon didn’t say a word but felt the anger and humiliated inside himself.

“Astaroth, come forth !” called Kyumm.

From an entrance on Kyumm’s left, a person came in. He was so big and tall, like a giant. His six feet four inches height easily past Aeon’s. He was bald and his eyes were so white like chalk, his skin, however was tan. He wore spiky armor that covered his shoulders, wrists, and legs. He also wore leather strapped armor that formed like the word ‘X’ on his chest. The strapped connected to leather armor that covered his waist, groin and back. On his each thigh was a ring of black leather. Lastly, he wore a mask that covered half of his face. On his right hand was a giant axe called KlsdfPy Gyst. The giant walked beside Aeon.

“Astaroth, you have a mission. You are to go with Aeon to find the blade called Soul Edge. Go with Aeon, and bring the Soul Edge back to me” said Kyumm. Then, to Aeon, he said. “Aeon, of the two of you, you are in charge of the mission. Now go, and don’t come back before you get it !”

The two fighters bowed then left the cave. After they left, Kyumm said. “This time, we must not fail.” Then when he turned to leave, From five feet above him, a rainbow hole appeared.

From it, two figures came out so fast as if they were spitted out. The two figures shouted as they fell on Kyumm. One of the two figures groaned then disentangled himself and said to his companion. “Nathen, are you alright ?”

Nathen groaned from the pain. “I’ll tell you when the pain is gone.” Then he looked about his surrounding, just like what his companion did. At the sight of dozens of lizard warriors around them, an unknown person lying unconsciously under his companion and him – that broke their fall, and lizard priests, he said. “Ryu, I think we’re in trouble.”

The ship docked slowly in the harbor. A crew threw a rope to a worker who quickly caught the rope and secured it on the dock. Another crew dropped the anchor to secure the ship position. When the ship was securely tied and anchored, two crews took a board used to board on and off the ship and placed it carefully on the deck to the dock. When it was securely placed, the captain announced to the passengers to disembark the ship. A group of passengers, carrying their own luggage walked slowly from the ship, onto the bridging board, then the dock.

One of the passengers was a man carrying a bundle and a gigantic battle-axe. He wore shoulder protector that was shaped like a skull of an animal. On both wrists, he wore brown leather wrist protectors. The rest of his garments were black and gray loincloth, and a pair of toeless cloth boots. His muscle-bound, five feet nine inches tall body and power is a mirror to his name, Rock.

Rock was originally born in London. Few years after he was born, his family moved to the New Continent (America) along with many fortune seekers. Later, his family was killed, leaving only Rock, who was taken to be care by the natives Indian. For thirty-two years, he lived with the natives Indian who became his family. He had no recollection of his past. Thus, when he was old and strong enough to go for a journey, he went to search for something that might help him to find out about his past, that was the Soul Edge. However, during his quest to find the blade, he met a female warrior called Sophitia who when during their fight, sensed his hesitation in his attacks. He remembered what she said. “I felt hesitation in your attacks. You have someone that needs your protection, don’t you ?” Hearing at what she said, Rock began to think of Bangoo, an orphan child that he left back at New Continent when he was about to began his quest for Soul Edge. He thought and thought about Bangoo and about his quest. He had to decide.

He chose Bangoo.

After saying goodbye to Sophitia, he went to the nearest port and hopped aboard a ship destined to the New Continent to return to his one and only family.

He had arrived now. He stayed for a night in the town inn. On the next morning, after breakfast, he bought a strong horse and supplies for three days travelling. Then, he set out to his journey to go back to Bangoo.

On the night of his second day travel, when he was cooking his dinner, he heard sounds of bushes and trees rustling. He thought that it was wind, but then he realized, there was no wind. He looked around and saw that the trees looked to be thicker. But then he knew they were enemies. He quickly grabbed his battle-axe and stood ready on his stance. The trees moved forward, and then he saw them. Lizard warriors.

“What do you want ?!” shouted Rock.

The lizard warriors stayed silent as they move toward Rock, weapons ready in hand. When they were about seven feet away from Rock, they charged at him. Rock quickly swung his trusty axe horizontally, cutting the first three lizard warriors around the waist. Two lizard warriors that slashed from behind missed Rock as he stepped to the side, avoiding their attacks. Rock then swung his mighty axe and decapitated the two lizard warriors. After the two down, a group of six lizard warriors charged at him at the same time from every direction. However, with a single full circle swing, Rock drove all of them back. Three who got lucky enough to block with their shields were knocked back a couple of feet away, two were chopped down around the waist, and another one was injured severely from a cut on its chest.

Realizing that Rock could chopped them down so easily without breaking a sweat, the leader of the lizard warrior group gave a signal for retreat. Without any hesitation, all the lizard warriors retreated into the darkness of the night, leaving Rock standing alone near the bonfire.

After dinner and cleaning up, Rock checked his surrounding for any sign of lizard warriors. He found none and went to sleep with his axe in his grip.

In the morning, after woke up, Rock had breakfast, broke his camp, and set to go home. He walked along his baggage horse slowly and carefully, all the time on guard if there would be another attack from the lizards. Afternoon passed, evening came. Around seven in the evening, Rock noticed smoked rising high up in the sky as if coming from a big fire. His heart raced as he realized that the closest living place to the fire was his clan’s home. He quickly run and forced the horse to move quickly as well. Five minutes running passed and Rock got impatient. He dropped all his baggage from the horse except his trusty axe and a water skin, then rode the horse as fast as he could, not caring that the horse might die from exhaustion.

As he rode nearer to the village, he saw the fire, So big and overwhelming that the night became so bright. There was no house that was not on fire and there was no one that was still standing. He rode faster and faster until he got near the first house, then he got down, unstrapped his axe and the water skin, and proceed into the village, looking for survivor, especially Bangoo, the one that he cared most in this world. As he inspected houses and corpses, his heart began to sink deeper and deeper. No one, not even a single animal alive. He went to his house to look for Bangoo, but the house was already burned so badly that he couldn’t enter it.

“Bangoo !!!” he called over and over in front of the burned house until he dropped down on his knees and cried. He screamed to the sky in frustration and anger over and over until he couldn’t scream anymore. He sobbed and cried until suddenly he heard a groan not far from where he knelt down. He quickly got up and searched for the source of the voice. He found one of the villagers still alive, but dying. His chest was bleeding profusely from the slash wound. Rock quickly came over and knelt beside his friend, Nago and carefully raised his head with his right hand.

“Nago ! Nago !” called Rock. He knew that nothing he could do to help his friend, but he had to know who attacked the village. “Nago, it’s me, Rock. Who did this, Nago ?! Who did this ?!”

“L… lizards… p…p… plenty of… them… Rock…” whispered Nago.

“Lizards ? They did all this ?” asked Rock. His anger building up inside him like fire flaring.

“They… they… took… Bang… Bangoo…” said Nago. His breaths began to lessen and lessen as his life began to slip away.

“They took Bangoo ? Bangoo still alive ? Where did they took him ?” asked Rock anxiously.

“Rock… find… find… him…” whispered Nago as he raised his right hand slowly and painfully to hold Rock.

Rock took hold of his dying friend’s hand. “I promise my friend. I promise I’ll find him. And whoever did this will pay with their lives.”

And with a smile, Nago died.

And Rock cried out loud to the sky as if demanding justice. He vented out his frustration, anger, and sadness to the sky. Then slowly, he put Nago down to the ground again. He rose slowly and walked around the village, salvaging anything that he could find that could help him in his journey to find Bangoo. Then, he got out the village and began to dig the ground to bury his friends.

Suddenly, while he was digging, he heard a thunderous noise a few feet away in front of him. He looked up from his digging and saw a rainbow colored circle appeared like someone ripped open a cloth bag. Then, from the circle, two persons were thrown out and landed on the ground painfully. One wore green tunic and light gray pant and had a blonde hair. The other wore an outfit that he had never seen before, thus he didn’t know the name, and it could only be described as a big pink cloth coat with funny pattern on it and a wide black cloth belt. The one who wore the big cloth coat had long brown hair that was tied in pig tail style.

Rock quickly approached the two fighters – judging from the weapons that they carried, the blonde had a pair of swords, and the brown hair one had a metallic mallet – before they could get up. He did not know if the two fighters were related to the attack on his village earlier and did not want to take a risk getting caught off guard. He stood tall and menacingly - his battle-axe helped a lot - in front of the two fighters that looked up at him.

“Ummm… Hi ?” asked Dan, the brown hair fighter.

“Commander, we have to retreat !” shouted a soldier.

“No, we have to fight and protect our country !” command the young commander.

“But commander… !” protested the soldier.

“Silence ! How can you be so coward ! It’s only a small pirate ship. We can take it down easily.” Said the commander.

“But commander, there’s no one else still alive beside you and me.” Said the soldier as he gestured around the ship.

The young commander looked around the ship and saw all his comrades were already dead. The only one that still alive aside from him was the soldier beside him. “But… How can this be ?” Then he heard a groan from the soldier beside him. He turned and saw there was an arrow protruding from the soldier’s chest.

The soldier looked down at his own chest and said. “Damn, I got hit.” Then he chuckled evilly and looked up at the commander with accusing eyes. “And that’s your fault, Commander Hwang.”

Hwang could only whispered in reply. “No… no…”

The soldier chuckled evilly again. “Oh yes, oh yes, Commander Hwang.” He gestured around the ship where all the soldiers’ bodies laid down. “Look at that, look at that !! They all died because of you !! Because of your stupid pride and bravery !!!”

Suddenly, the corpses began to move. The dead soldiers began to get up and moaned. They walked in unison toward Hwang who could only looked at them, unable to move even a finger. They walked and walked toward Hwang. Their eyes burned with hate and anger.

“No… no… no…” was all that Hwang could say as the corpses walked toward him. “NOOOOOO !!!” shouted Hwang as he…

Woke up so suddenly, that the guard who looked after him jerked up in shock. Hwang, sweating profusely, looked up and saw that there was not a single living corpse at sight. He was in his room in the Coastal Defence Force base, not in his ship where most of his comrades were killed when he got tricked into his enemy’s trap.

The soldier who’s guarding him asked. “Lieutenant Commander Hwang, are you alright ?”

Hwang shook his head to clear his mind. “I’m fine, just a nightmare.” He replied.

“Should I get you something, water perhaps ?” asked the concerned guard. He had the idea of what was Hwang’s nightmare about. He liked the ex-commander because Hwang was a strong, respectable, and fair commander. Hwang was also popular among the lower rank soldiers because of his friendly and caring attitude toward anyone, even the lowest rank of a soldier or a staff.

Still feeling a bit groggy, Hwang replied. “Yes please, a glass of water should do, thank you.”

The soldier quickly poured some water into Hwang’s glass and gave it to him. Hwang took the glass, drank the water, and returned the glass to the soldier with a thank you. The soldier placed the cup back on the table. “Is there anything else that I can do, lieutenant commander ?”

“No. No, thank you.” Said Hwang. He smiled appreciatively to the concerned soldier and dismissed him. The soldier then walked out of his room and stood guard again in front of his room.

A while later, while Hwang was still occupied with the thought of his dream, someone knocked on his door. He invited the person to come in. It was Admiral Lee Sun Shin, his commander. He quickly got out of his bed and knelt down on one knee. “Admiral.”

Admiral Lee Sun Shin was in his middle age, but his strength could easily matched someone as young as Hwang. He was the highest commander in that base and a friend of Hwang Sung Kyung. “Hwang, please get up.”

Hwang quickly got up. “Admiral, what brings you here at this hour, is there a matter of urgency ?”

“Hwang, I have a mission for you.” Said Lee.

“What is it ?” asked Hwang, sensing Lee’s hesitation.

“You must understand, this mission is a private matter. As you know, the daughter of my friend Han Myong, Mina, had gone on journey alone, again.”

Hwang only nodded and smiled a bit remembering the beautiful young woman that he had to drag home when he was going home from his mission to find the Soul Edge.

“Yes, well, Han Myong had asked for my help to find Mina and bring her back home. I can’t send just any soldier as you know that Mina had a terrible temper and a great martial art skill just like his father.” Said the admiral while joining Hwang’s smile. “So, Hwang, I’m appointing you on this mission to find and bring Mina back.”

Without any hesitation, Hwang agreed to do it.

“Good. Now I want you…” the admiral trailed off as he and Hwang heard a noise from outside Hwang’s room. He quickly got up and walked toward the door, followed by Hwang who quickly grabbed his long blade “Blue Thunder”.

They got out of the room and say a lot of soldiers forming a circle in the field as if cornering enemies. “What happened ?” asked the admiral to a nearby soldier.

“There were two intruders, admiral.” Said the soldier after saluting.

“Who ?” asked the admiral.

“We don’t know yet, sir, but both intruders, seemed to be great fighters, and women.” Replied the soldier.

“You think, they’re enemy’s spies ?” asked admiral to Hwang.

“Maybe.” said Hwang. “We better take a look.” He moved toward the circle of soldiers. As they walked passed the soldiers, they could see the intruders. They were two beautiful women, each holding a weapon. The one that looked a bit older wore blue Chinese fighter clothes and ad her hair tied in two buns. The other one wore a black tunic and a white pant. The Chinese woman who wore blue clothes held a long Chinese sword in her right hand, while the younger one had Caucasian look and held a wooden staff with both hands. The two fighters stood back to back facing the circle of soldiers.

Around both fighters were several soldiers already down on the ground, unconscious. Hwang quickly readied his fighting stance, his left hand and foot stood out a bit, while his right hand holding his long blade poised at his side a bit loosely, ready to fight the two intruders.

“No Geki, don’t release it !!!”

The moment the evil sword was unsheathed, a black shockwave came out and completely blown out the ninja’s right hand to his shoulder. The ninja screamed in pain and fell down on the floor. The evil sword fell as well, but was grabbed in mid-air by the woman ninja and was sheathed quickly. The woman ninja ran passed the other two ninjas that were still dumbfounded by the horrific event that just happened.

The woman ninja ran as quickly as she could with little energy that left in her body, thanks to previous battles against the evil from the sword Mekki-maru and the three ninjas that were send to capture her.

She stopped for a moment on a tree to scout around, sensing if there were anyone chasing after her. Her breaths were shallow from the exhaustion, but she knew that she had to run far away, so she rested for a few minutes then continue to run again.

A few days later with only a few hours sleep at night and rest when she could afford it. She encountered a river. The water in the river looked so clean and refreshing that she felt the need to stop to take a bath. She carefully checked her surroundings using her unusual sixth sense, and sensed no one, so she took off her red tight clothes, mask, boots, and armors, and placed them on the riverbank along with her bag. She stepped into the water, carrying a small towel to wrap her naked and beautiful body and her sword, Mekki-maru. She dipped slowly underwater for a while, then went up again. Her brown long hair, wet, made her look so beautiful, like a goddess. She then scrubbed the dirt off her body and hair and enjoying the bath that she could rarely take.

Suddenly, about seven feet from above her, a rainbow colored hole was opened, like a wound. She looked up and was startle to see two persons were thrown out from the strange hole. The two persons plunged into the water, and quickly dived up to caught their breaths. She gasped at the sight of the two persons or more exactly, two men ! One who looked about her age wore red and white samurai clothes, red bandanna, and carried a long katana. The other one, who looked younger, wore blue and yellow samurai clothes, but not sure whether he carried a weapon or not as both of them were under the water from waist down.

Both samurais were sputtering water out from their mouths and wiping their face off water when they saw Taki, the beautiful ninja/demon hunter held a ninja-to (sort of short katana, a sword about the length of a baton) just a few centimeters from the older samurai, Ryu Dragon’s throat.

“Who are you ?” she asked coldly with a stare that equally cold toward both fighters