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Soul Edge
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Soul Calibur V
The Spartan swordsman Aeon heeded the divine calling to become a holy warrior - a soldier tasked with destroying Soul Edge. But his mission ended when he was captured by a cult known as Fygul Cestemus, and transformed into a hideous monster.
"Why?" he pleaded. "Why has my god forsaken me in my time of need?!"
In despair at the loss of his humanity, Aeon eventually surrendered to his beastly instincts: He walked on all four, and devoured anything - or anyone - who crossed his path.
Many years passed, until one day Aeon heard an inhuman voice speaking to him inside a cave.
"Devour all, and your wish shall surely come true."
From that moment on, the beast-man gained the power to inherit the nature of those he consumed. Each time he tasted the blood of a new prey, his body and soul were transformed.
Gradually, he regained the power of reason. Aeon searched the faint remnants of his memory...
"How can I regain that which I have lost?" he wondered.
But he knew the answer. He must feed on new victims. He must consume the flesh of holy warriors...
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Soul Calibur
Aeon Calcos was a warrior who received an oracle from Hephaestus, the ancient god of smiths, to destroy the demonic blade. Thus, he wandered the world in search of Soul Edge to fulfill his destiny.
One day, desert travellers rescued Aeon from certain death in the desert and brought him back to their oasis village. However, he could repay their kindness, the Evil Seed rained down and transformed him into a bloodthirsty berserker that massacred everyone in the village.
The stories of a berserker in the desert reached the ears of the grand priest Kunpaetku of the dark order Fygul Cestemus. Aeon was captured by the dark order and became a human subject in a diabolical experiment. The experiment caused an unspeakable transformation in Aeon...
"Find the demon sword Soul Edge!"
To the newly spawned slave of the grand priest, these words were absolute.
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Soul Calibur 3
Where there is much light, the shadows are deepest.
-"Gotz von Berlichingen," Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
He had woken, but he had no way of knowing what had happened. All he remembered was the feeling of being suddenly pulled up from the dark abyss.
During the finale of the terrible battle that had taken place at Ostrheinsburg Castle--when the spirit sword Soul Calibur had struck the cursed sword Soul Edge--the waves unleashed by the spirit sword had shaken his consciousness from its long slumber.
The first thing he had seen upon awakening was his own figure, transformed into that of a monster. Fragmented images that might have been either real or imaginary rose up from his memory. In his nightmares, he served a grand priest who hid in a dark temple, and he had taken countless innocent lives.
"No! I am a human being!" he screamed inside his mind.
As if to destroy that thought, an inhuman growl escaped his grotesque mouth. His memory was in chaos. He was living a nightmare from which he could not wake. Terrifying reality assaulted him. Was his memory of being human actually a dream? The sword and shield in his hands saved him from this horrible thought. That was definite proof that he had once been human.
"I am Aeon Calcos. I was entrusted with my duty by Hephaestus, the god of the forge. I am the disciple of a god!"
Seeking a way to restore his cursed body to its original form, he set out on a journey, keeping hidden his monstrous, scale-covered form. He returned to his homeland only once. When he reached it, he realized that he was no longer the person for whom his family was anxiously waiting. Just what did he plan to say to them with his grotesque mouth, when he appeared before them with his terrible body? He fell into despair.
"The fate you have bestowed upon me is too cruel." He cursed. As he turned his face to the heavens, even he himself did not realize that a faint doubt had been born in his heart.
He continued his journey for a long time, but he could not find a way to return himself to his original form. It might be that the answer could only be found in one place. He thought about this as he considered giving up. This whole time, there was a place he had chosen to avoid. It was the evil temple that fueled his nightmares.
That place was a dungeon to him. If he returned, he might have his soul stolen once again and be reduced to nothing more than a puppet. But even this fear was overpowered by the terrifying thought that he might have to spend the rest of his life in this form. If he went to that place, he should be able to learn something.
As he approached the temple with a mixture of anxiety and expectation, what awaited him was neither the light of freedom nor the darkness of enslavement. The temple he returned to had been destroyed. There were no clues left to find in this place.
With his last glimmer of hope extinguished, something tiny, yet important, crumbled within him. He could not stop the seedling of doubt that had taken root in his heart from spreading. Why had his god aided him in his time of crisis? Why did his god remain silent?
To his god, he was no longer a disciple. His god was the same as his family, with no need for his abominable self. Cursed, steeped in darkness, he was nothing more than a monster.
"My god has forsaken me." The despair in his heart transformed now into anger at the god who had abandoned him.
The sword and shield that had served to reassure him were now nothing more than symbols of despicable betrayal. He cast his tools of combat into the ruins of the evil temple and put that place behind him. To challenge a god, he would need sufficient power. In his memory existed something that would serve that purpose: the ultimate weapon, possessing power surpassing the gods themselves--Soul Edge.
He would use the very weapon his god feared to strike him down. It would be the ultimate revenge.
Awash in immeasurable anger, a brutal impulse welled up from the depths of his grotesque body. The idea of becoming a cold-blooded beast no longer frightened him.
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Soul Calibur IV
Despondent over his lot, the once pious man longed to slay the god who had abandoned him, but fate had dealt him an even crueler hand than he knew. His body had already turned into something grotesque, and now his mind, too, was becoming twisted by it. His human emotions and memories disappeared bit by bit until at last, even his heart had degenerated into that of a monster.
Before he knew it, a horde of beastly kinsmen had flocked to his side. With his stronger build and superior battle technique, he exuded dominance over the other lizardmen without a word being spoken, and they made him their leader. He gave himself over to vicious impulses and began leading his pack on a murderous rampage.
Except at night, when his sleep grew patchy. Sometimes he would open his eyes, and there they would be: the sensations and memories of being human, resurrected. He would be astounded by his nightmarish reality, his unstructured thoughts. He did not even know who he was. Only a great hollow emptiness remained, driving him on in a desperate panic. He'd lost something. Something as precious as life itself. Of course, his soul! What had become of his soul? Only the memory remained to him, and it shone with the last vestiges of the obsession he had once held: Soul Edge. That was where his soul lay!
(My... my soul. Must find it. Once the sun has risen....)
And with that last thought, he shut his eyes and fell back into the abyss of sleep.
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