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Soul Edge
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Soul Calibur V
A former assassin infatuated with the destructive power of Soul Edge, Tira was devastated when the evil sword was defeated 17 years earlier.
The two personalities within her lamented as one, and howled together in a chorus of rage. But Tira found some solace in her plans for a certain young girl, and in the ever-growing strength of the shattered sword's fragments. Revitalized by her hopes to revive Soul Edge, Tira dedicated herself to a hunt for the sword's scattered pieces.
But after waiting so many years, the reborn Azure Knight was not all what Tira had hoped for. He curried favor with human nations, scheming in secret and gathering souls from the shadows. Tira could barely stand to look upon this cowardly Nightmare.
"He's an imposter! I will never accept him!"
"In that case..." began the dark half of her personality, "...I shall prepare an appropriate vessel for Soul Edge myself!" finished her brighter half. Tira certainly had all the ingredients; she'd been carefully preparing them for 17 years. It was the perfect plan.
And so Tira disappeared into the night once more, on her way to visit that "certain young girl," Pyrrha...
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Soul Calibur 3
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!‐prophet still, if bird or devil!‐
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore..."
-"The Raven," Edgar Allan Poe
There was an underground organization that hid in the shadows of the intrigue and war storming throughout Europe. They were affiliated with no single side, forming contracts with the powerful, and sending out assassins to eliminate important figures. The organization kept its existence secret, influencing the history of Europe from behind the scenes. It went by the name of "Bird of Passage."
Tira was an assassin raised by this organization. She was a bird trapped in a cage, stripped of the freedom to choose her own future. Even in her earliest childhood memories, she had already grown accustomed to taking the lives of others. She felt no sorrow, no guilt, nothing. The act of killing had become a regular routine in her life--so much so that she needed to kill on a regular basis for the stimulation it provided.
The young Tira worked to improve her skills. She displayed a cheerful demeanor, as if she enjoyed her job, but even she herself did not realize that this was nothing more than an act to hide the true feelings that lay buried deep in her heart.
When the Evil Seed rained down, Tira was in the middle of a mission. The evil energy burnt the mind of her leader, and the chain of command collapsed. The mission failed. Tira was suddenly set free from the underground world and found herself flying outside on unsteady wings.
She has since forgotten where she was when this event transpired.
For a while, she was taken in by an ordinary family in an ordinary city and lived a life amongst ordinary people. Unlike the world she had come from, there was nothing here to satisfy her desire, but she had casually thought to herself that this life might be okay, too.
However, her modest, peaceful days did not last for long.
The trigger was a simple event. She had set free a bird that the family's child had been keeping as a pet. She wasn't sure herself why she had done it. But the child had burst into tears, and the parents had scolded Tira.
By the time she had realized what was happening, an all-too-familiar sight lay sprawled around her. She was fundamentally different from other people. She could never live peacefully among them.
"I should have known I couldn't live without this..." thought Tira, as she gazed blankly down at her blood-stained hands.
Tira began a life of aimless wandering, taking the lives of others as she went.
It was around this time that the intensity of her emotions grew so much that she could no longer control them. The slightest occurrence would cause her heart to sink, and for her to feel like rejecting everything. Then her mood would improve suddenly, and everything she did would feel tremendously enjoyable.
She grew more and more confused, but she now lacked the will to even concern herself with it.
One day, she came across information about the massacres caused by Nightmare. She had found someone else like herself. Her heart leapt at the thought.
Tracking down the azure knight led her to Ostrheinsburg, where she met a mysterious man with a scythe. What she had really sought was Soul Edge itself. Nightmare was nothing more than a puppet...
Upon hearing this truth from the man, Tira was unable to hide her disappointment. A short time later, however, she heard rumors that the azure knight had reappeared. Following the trail of slaughter, she finally found Nightmare. This being, the physical representation of the cursed sword's will, was an incarnation of destruction and despair far beyond her expectations.
"Finally, someone to whom I can give myself entirely..."
Kneeling before the cursed knight, she opened the most sacred depths of her heart and accepted the dark will into herself...
Now a faithful servant of the evil sword, she operates behind the scenes, controlling a flock of ravens. She has been given two missions.
The spirit sword was driven into Soul Edge's main body, sealing it. Her first task is to destroy the spirit sword and free the evil sword.
Her second task is to locate a new host for the cursed sword. The power of the evil blade is being restrained by Soul Calibur. Soul Edge is controlling a temporary body, but its vessel is far too unstable to be used for long--it needs someone with both the spiritual strength to make full use of Soul Edge, and a body that can readily accept its evil will. Seeking the ultimate host, Tira spreads her dark wings and flies out into the world.
Those who meet with her approval shall surely have their souls burned by the flame of the cursed sword. Those who do not, Tira will surely take their lives to bring to joy to her own.
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Soul Calibur IV
When the two swords clashed, Tira had already arrived at the Lost Cathedral and was waiting before the gate. Having been turned to evil, she was affected strongly by the destruction unleashed by the meeting of the swords. Tira's mind was torn apart, shattered into countless shards. But her consciousness clawed itself together again. In the end, she became two people, her mind reformed into two separate entities that represented the extremes of the original, unstable Tira.
Upon her return to Ostrheinsburg, Tira began processing the information that her watchers carried to her, that she might hand Soul Edge, her king and master, the advantage in the battle that was to come. She would use the habitants of the cursed city to wear down the power of the sprit sword, and when at last they fought, the cursed sword would turn Ostrheinsburg into a giant vessel and every soul within that place would be caught within it's maw, including the Spirit Sword. She knew that then her king would win.
And at that moment, Tira, too, would become a part of Soul Edge. A feeling she had never felt before swelled in her, but she - both of her - did not understand it.
"Soul Edge will consume everything! Yes, everything!"
"Everything I am is devoted to the service of my king."
A tiny glimmer of fear sparked in the chink between her two personalities, but it was forced down below the surface of her consciousness. It would not emerge again.
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