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Soul Caliber: Of Souls And Swords
Prologue: Previous Story
Countless legends surround a sword known as Soul Edge. A weapon that has existed for nobody knows how long. A weapon that possesses history, yet holds no point of origin. Though as mysterious and foreshadowing as the blade is, for several centuries a great number of warriors have attempted to take it for their own. They never stop going after it, in spite of the fact that every warrior who has managed to attain such a feat has fallen into the darkness of his or her own heart, it is the legacy of Soul Edge.
Some claim it was the ultimate weapon. A powerful weapon that can bisect mountains and cut paths through the water of the seas. Others refer to it as the Sword of Heroes. A phantom sword with immeasurable power of the spirits, a blade that gives unlimited courage. Also called the key to eternal youth. A blade which holds the power to prevent the aging of a warrior. Also called a treasure without equal. Priest believe it is not a weapon but a remedy to cure all illness. There are even those who consider it the Sword of Salvation. A weapon that if possessed and put to good use can save a soul from damnation.
Although no one could ever be certain of the sword's whereabouts or true identity, various rumors and folklore spread across the world. In reality, Soul Edge was a shape shifting weapon that fed on human souls. In the early half of the 16th century they fell into the hands of a pirate called Cervantes De Leon and took the form of two individual swords. As a result he gained horrible power and moved on to become the most powerful swordsman on the face of the planet. Even he could see what he was becoming before it took complete control of his mind, though he has no recollection of it the swords drove him to murder his entire crew. Though he could not free himself from the swords he felt grateful that his daughter had been left behind in Europe, never to know of her father. Still many doubted that the sword was truly evil.
Twenty years later he emerged again, called out by the blade's lust for souls. As a result several came out to fight for the blades. This was in the latter half of the 16th century while many searched for the blades ended up going home or became lost along the way. However, a warrior on a divine mission for the ancient god of forge successfully shattered one of the evil blades, the Valkyrie known as Sophitia. However the falling shards cut deep and badly injured the maiden leaving her open to impending attack, Cervantes moved to strike her down.
Fortunately a demon huntress from Japan appeared to save her and defeated Cervantes who had lost the balance of the swords. As a result the shattered blade, one half of the Soul Edge was left in ruins. This left the remaining sword, alone and without a master to manipulate. The huntress was far too preoccupied in dragging the maiden home to give her attention to the swords, which were still thought of as neutral. Failing to destroy the remaining blade would have proven to be a very costly mistake to the world.
Not long after Cervantes blood was spilled upon the earth a young knight who had been traveling with the maiden appeared, an innocent dark side that she had forced herself to leave behind. Though he had fought his share of battles, he planned not to destroy, but to claim the remaining sword. He intended now to simply take up the sword, and his belief it was the key to salvation would rid him of his mortifying sins. This didn't work to how it was expected as the sword itself seemed to come to life and attack, however the knight defeated the demon of the Soul Edge.
Many that had been watching the strange glowing sword bore witness to this as the young knight managed to strike down the spirit of the Soul Edge, an entity of fire and brimstone. Dubbed Inferno by the port city. Inferno was crushed under the might of the youth's sword and it was seen that indeed his soul was mighty and clearly worthy of the weapon. It was at this time that the sword finally passed on to somebody whose heart wasn't aimed toward power or victory, only to the redemption of his long foolish soul.
However instead of redemption there was tragity. The knight carried the sword for only a month before it finally began to work its charms upon him, seducing him like a succubus would a common man. The connection it established allowed the blade to slowly dig out the darkest part of the young knight and bring it into reality, casting the restraint the boy fought to maintain into the darkness of his own mind. The blade transformed into a large sword to fit its new master's skill and screamed for the blood of the weak and strong alike.
It was at this point that it became perfectly obvious, the phantom sword Soul Edge had been forged from darkness and evil. It was not of a neutral force that would take after its owner, the owner of the blade would reflect the sword. It was not the balance that tipped the scales of good and evil, it only adhered to one side and manipulated the humans that controlled the scale. It would be nearly three years later when the youth's will finally broke and he would reappear, wielding the massive living sword and wearing armor of the night's blue. The Azure Nightmare.
The Soul Edge that the youth obtained grew in power and managed to eventually regain its full power, however the other half was far from destroyed. Shattered and weakened, but not destroyed. The other sword's power was released from the blade and spiraled out of control not long after the Soul Edge had vanished. Its malevolent energy diffused into the sky in a form of eerie light above the port side city. The phenomenon, which later became known as the Evil Seed, scarred the world with its evil legacy, polluting those unfortunate enough to be in the paths of the seeds saplings that crossed the skies. The shards of the sister sword being carried on the winds. The evil energy was dispelled and the shards were left dormant.
A young man called Kilik was the first of the victims. A young man being groomed to carry take up one of three sacred treasures designed to battle and defeat the evil that seemed to run rampant in the world. The Evil Seed had descended upon his home of the Ling-Sheng Su Temple and almost everybody was driven to insanity and bloodlust, forcing him to use his weapon to fight back, though he bears no memory of this. The Dvapara-Yuga, the memento of his sworn sister and second of the three treasures found its way across his chest. He would have to work many years to tame the darkness within him.
For three years the knight that had been taken into the dark control of the Soul Edge went on countless killing sprees with an army of berserkers until it all came to a close. The true reason was unknown to why this occurred, but there was then four years of peace to the world.
Only a few knew the truth that four years before, a spirit sword named Soul Calibur appeared from the East, as if to answer the call of the raging Soul Edge. Carried by a girl called Xianghua who traveled with Kilik, the young man with the dusky soul and the Kali-Yuga. They also traveled with a man seeking vengeance called Maxi who apparently perished after confronting the behemoth known as Astroth who had been responcible for the death of his crew. This was a whole different set of events outside of the disappearance of both the Soul Edge and the Soul Calibur.
No one witnessed the final battle to the death where Soul Edge and its master were finally given the taste of defeat. The Soul Edge survived the onslaught of the Soul Calibur and the young maiden's fury, but it was cracked and nearly shattered the pieces of the blade being scatter through out the void in which they fought. The knight had fallen after his sword and vanished into the shadows as well, outside the world many would have thought he could never return. In spite of the sword's mysterious disappearance there is still the matter of the shards that have spread across the world, bringing a new darkness and chaos.
Most people were oblivious to the fact that the peace that followed was the result of this battle, and the spirit sword's existence remained a mystery to the world. Unfortunately, this peace was merely a facade. Time that had been unknowingly given to the evil blades which has allowed them to regain their power. With the shards spreading its influence many have began fierce battles over the shards of crimson metal. People unwittingly transporting the sword to every corner of the world and spilling blood which only goes to feed the swords.
The future is unpredictable at this point, as the world has now begun to see the Soul Edge's master and his followers cut a path of destruction through the wilderness once again. While many seek the Soul Edge for different reasons they must somehow realize the truth and end it's evil before humanity is lost. Fortunately for the word however there are some that know the truth and some that are willing to trust it, and prevent the coming of another Evil Seed.
The legacy of the blades continues...