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Soul Edge
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Soul Edge
He is the young commander of mercenary knights, who seeks an invicible sword in order to avenge the murder of his father. He has yet to find the murderer or the weapons, "Soul Edge."
"I must find the sword and have my revenge... I must..."
In Germany, the oppressed peasants revolted against the Holy Roman Empire. With its forces weakened by the Italian Wars, the German peasants finally had a fighting chance.
One of their champions was Sir Frederick, a brave knight. While on campaign, Frederick met the lovely Margaret and spent the night in her arms. After nine months of battle, Frederick returned to find that Margaret had given him a son. Frederick realized his love for Margaret and named his son Siegfried, after the famous hero.
Several years passed. His father, known as the "gentle knight," taught his son swordsmanship. He embarked upon a foreign crusade, promising his return to Margaret. Young Siegfried, without his father's gentle hand to guide him, fell into bad company. He banded together with a group of outlaws and started commiting crimes. His strength grew and soon he led a feared group of thieves known as "Schwarzwind" or Blackwind. It was then when he conceived his master plan...
"We will hunt the cowardly knights who ran away from the crusades. They carry valuable armor and loot. We'll all get rich!". That night. as a war-weary group approached, the thieves sprang their ambush. The fatigued knights were no match for the thieves. They defeated the knights all too easily. Siegfried killed the knight's commander himself with his proud "Zweihander."
He held the commander's decapitated head up high in triumph. But, as the moonlight shone down, he let out a horrified scream. In his hand was the head of his father, Frederick!! The horror caused Siegfried's mind to snap. Yelling in grief and fear he fled into the forest. He plunged deeper into his insanity, convincing himself that someone else slew his father. He grew determined to find and avenge his father's death!
Hearing about the invincible sword, "Soul Edge," he has come to believe that his father's fictitious killer can only be defeated by this weapon.
"I can't ease my father's soul until I find the sword and slay his murderer!"
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Soul Calibur
Siegfried had played host to Soul Calibur, and ultimately, destroyed Soul Edge. After that epic battle, the knight returned home and enjoyed a brief period of peace. But deep down he knew his work was not over; the cursed sword's minions - the malfested - remained a serious threat. Realizing he couldn't stop them alone, Siegfried gathered his staunchest allies to reform his old mercenary group, Schwarzwind.
One day, after more than a decade of service protecting humanity from the malfested, Siegfried discovers that Soul Calibur had transformed into a new one-handed sword - a clear harbinger of Soul Edge's return. A new champion to wield Soul Edge would need to be found; Siegfried assigned the task to Z.W.E.I., a wandering swordsman who had joined his mercenary group.
"So... the time has come..."
Soul Calibur, like Soul Edge, possessed dangerous power. Siegfried quietly awaited the one who would be worthy to wield it.
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Soul Calibur
No one knows when the knight in azure armor first appeared in Europe. It was said that those who saw this knight's crimson eyes could not escape death.
The grotesquely shaped sword in his hand appeared as if enraptured when bathed in the blood of the living. And then there were the grotesque monsters that followed him...
Seasoned knights and armies equipped with the latest firearms were no match for it, as the nightmarish horde cut a path of destruction and horror through towns and villages.
.......................................
Siegfried barely hung on to his sanity by supressing the memory of him killing his father.
He obtained Soul Edge to avenge what cannot be avenged, only to become enslaved by it instead.
Many years passed during which time his soul was consumed by the demonic blade, and he eventually came to be known as Nightmare. The resurrection of his father Frederick succedded at last, but he discovered it was a mere illusion created by his weak soul.
Admonished by the illusion of his father, he accepted responsibility for his sins by relinquishing ownership of Soul Edge. As penance for his sins, Siegfried now travels around the world to destroy any evil left by the demonic blade.
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Soul Calibur 2
Originally, he was the leader of a group of brigands known as the Schwarzwind (Black Wind), whose stronghold was located near the Roman Empire. He left on a journey to find Soul Edge after his father was murdered.
Eventually, on a Spanish harbor he came across a sword emanating a strange aura lying besides the corpse of a pirate. The dead body returned to life, covered in flames, as if to protect the sword. Upon defeating the apparition, he reached for the hilt of the mysterious blade.
It was then that he heard the voice of Soul Edge. It told him that if he used the souls absorbed by the sword, he would be able to resurrect his father. From that moment on, the man became Nightmare, the evil knight who would go on to strike fear into every corner of Europe.
He killed for three years thereafter to feed his sword with souls. But his dream was crushed when a warrior wielding a spirit sword called Soul Calibur--a sword with polar opposite energy of Soul Edge--appeared. Nightmare and Soul Edge were defeated, and they both fell into the collapsing void.
He somehow managed to survive and regained some of his sanity. Along with lucidity came the horrifying memories of the sins he had committed, as well as the realization that it was he who had murdered his father.
He knew Soul Edge must never fall into the hands of another man. He set off to be as far as possible from other humans, yet awoke every morning to the sight of people he had slain during the night. The evil blade took over his body while he slept.
After four years, he was once again Nightmare, his body taken over by Soul Edge completely. He began to pursue the fragments of Soul Edge in a mission to full restore itself.
Will there ever be a day when he will be Siegfried Schtauffen once more?
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Soul Calibur 3
But the strong man is strongest when alone.
-"Wilhelm Tell," Freidrich von Schiller
As Nightmare plundered powerful souls and recovered the shattered fragments of the sword, the cracks in the surface of Soul Edge healed one by one. His goal of reviving the evil sword edged toward completion. After some time, the azure knight returned to his old stronghold, Ostrheinsburg Castle. This land, which had once tasted the blood of many, was a fitting stage for the restoration of the evil sword's true power.
A lone man appeared in search of Soul Edge. He wielded a thin blade in his left hand. The two of them faced off in the ruins of the chapel, and the place became alive with flying sparks and blood.
At the end of the fierce battle, Nightmare stood victorious. The evil incarnate stepped forward to finish off his opponent. The wounded man muttered something incoherent.
Deep within the eyes set in the dark helm dwelled the faint light of a soul that was not that of a murderer. It was the will of Siegfried, the man who had been seduced by the evil blade. Siegfried struggled, as if trying to fight off a nightmare. The spirit of the evil sword sneered at him.
"Your strikes were weak. Fragile. Pathetic. Just like human souls."
"Silence...I will not obey you anymore. I will atone for what I have done..."
"The depth of human greed astounds me. You still seek forgiveness, after all you have done?"
"No! But one must reflect on one's sins and move onward!"
"...Even if the path ahead leads only to darkness? Only death awaits in the end."
"Is it because it is finite that people cling to the joys of life?"
"...Can you not hear them--the wails of the souls that were swallowed unto the abyss by your hand?"
"I am eternally sorry for what I have done...But listen to me!"
"...He sought death. He revered it. Death is beautiful. Your father, too, knew its allure."
"Yes. If I could, I would return to that time--"
"...He must perish. You shall cast his body into the darkness. He shall stagnate and rot, steeped in despair, as you squeeze the final gasp from his lungs!"
"No! That's an illusion! I can see it...I can see the proud way he faces his end!"
The battle waging deep within his mind caused the azure knight to stand motionless. Beside him, the wounded body of the fallen man trembled. Only the man's great will enabled his gravely injured body to move. Drawing on his last strength, the man unleashed a desperate final blow upon his enemy. The strike pierced the center of Soul Edge.
Nightmare let out an inhuman cry. Inside him, the crazed, wounded mind of the evil sword clawed at his consciousness. But he stood with an iron will against the raging storm. The time had come. The eyes that had been dyed crimson by evil were washed away, and the flame of life relit. He who had been host to the cursed sword for so long had reclaimed his body as his own. In response to the rapidly weakening evil, light poured out like the coming of the dawn...
When it was all over, Siegfried thought back in a daze over what he had done. It had been a reflexive action. A sword had appeared along with the light. As if guided by something, he took the sword in his hand and drove it into the evil eye that was the core of Soul Edge. That sword was the holy sword Soul Calibur, which had been trapped by the power of the evil sword.
The blow, however, was not enough to destroy the evil sword. The evil energy of Soul Edge had quieted, but the holy sword, still piercing the cursed sword, had gone silent too, as if it had lost its power.
"This isn't enough..." Forcing his tired brain into motion, he began to think. He threw off his detestable armor and smashed it into pieces. Then, picking up the two swords, he left that cursed land. "I will seal away Soul Edge for all eternity and atone for my sins. This I swear!"
His bloody fate would not release him so easily, however. From time to time, the feeling of that grotesque right arm rose from the depths of his memory. The residue of the nightmare tormented him. Those seeking revenge on Nightmare would occasionally appear in his path. Each time he was forced to fight them, his mind was wracked by guilt. Moreover, Siegfried did not realize that another dark omen was on the horizon.
Indeed, there was no way for him to know that an azure nightmare would soon reawaken...
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Soul Calibur IV
"So you would forsake our friendship?"
"Yes. No one will ever again be a part of my life. Every man or woman who has known me has ultimately fallen to death's touch. So go. Leave me. Forget you ever knew me."
As Siegfried spoke his answer, the woman who questioned him faded from his sight to be replaced once more by the memories of that night. The wind blew the clouds from the face of the moon, and suddenly the head that he held triumphantly aloft was brilliantly revealed. Siegfried saw the face, and there was no denying the truth. It was his father. His heart was in agony as it had been pierced by a white-hot blade.
Siegfried jerked upright, as if yanked by a puppeteer's string. It had been a dream. He was alone.
He pressed his hand against the armour that covered his heart. A terrible scar marked him there. The maelstrom of power unleashed when Soul Calibur and Soul Edge clashed in the cathedral had torn his body apart. But the sword whose destiny it was to destroy the cursed sword resonated with Siegfried's soul, and saved his life.
Siegfried though again of the dream he had just seen. His brothers-in-arms, his comrades, cared for him. But his mind was made up! He would brush aside the oustretched hands that tried to help him. No one would touch his heart. No man or woman would sway him from his path, until the cursed sword was destroyed for all time. Before him, a black shadow lay heavy over the cursed city of Ostrheinsburg. His journey of repentance was coming to an end.
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