Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Calibur or any of its characters, but this story and some characters are mine. Don't plagiarize, or I might have to hunt you down and kill you in such a brutal manner it would fit in perfectly with this result offive weeks'worth of boring biology classes.

Chapter 1

"You're too weak for that, aren't you…?"

My eyes snapped open as I uprooted Soul Edge from the ground and whirled around to see a silver rapier pointed toward me in the outstretched hand of a tall, richly dressed blond man. His cold blue eyes were fixated on the amber eye on my sword.

"I'll be taking that sword now." His eyes were still locked with Soul Edge.

"Only from my lifeless corpse."

"I'm afraid that won't take much." There was a French accent bathed in sarcasm. There was something about the way he was staring into Soul Edge… The gleam in his eye told me he would do anything for its unrivaled power. Too bad, I thought, time to die.

"You conceited, wretched human!" Energy surged into my body from Soul Edge. The sword's power is absolute, but he infuriated me to the point that my only thought was to reduce him to a large red stain on the floor of Ostrheinsburg Chapel.

I swung Soul Edge in a wide arc, narrowly missing his stomach but catching his forearm. The man cringed before retaliating with a flurry of stabs from the rapier. I managed to throw off one stab with my left gauntlet and kicked him once in the side. When he still barely reacted, I realized this might be a tougher fight than I expected.

I made a quick vertical swing, but he simply sidestepped and drove his rapier into my ankle.

"Too slow!" Once again, the man's overconfident demeanor drilled into my mind. As he withdrew the rapier from my foot and readied another attack, I swept the man's legs out from under him and brought him to the ground as well.

I was the first back up to my feet, giving me the perfect opportunity to slash at his head, but he simply cocked his head to the side as the blade narrowly missed his head, only nicking his ear, before he landed a deep slash through my breastplate and into the underlying leathery flesh.

The blood oozing from my azure armor seemed to fuel my anger even more. I swung the sword horizontally and landed a heavy blow with the flat of the blade, sending him tumbling to the ground.

I limped toward the Frenchman and raised Soul Edge over my head, ready to crush his skull with the flat of the blade.

"This is it!"

As I brought the sword down, however, the man thrust his rapier straight up, sinking it deep into the eye on Soul Edge. The blood of all the souls absorbed by the blade spilled out of the wound as it erupted in a mighty screech. Cracks began to form in the blade as it erupted in flame and split apart. The explosion sent me into the wall, where a fragment of the blade narrowly missed my already-maimed ankle, bounced off the wall and skipped once on the floor, and flew over the opposite wall.

After four years of having been a slave to the demonic sword's overwhelming power, I was wrenched free. My mind once again had the capacity to think on its own without being overruled by the sword, but at the moment it was devoid of any thought or emotion as it was flooded with a flashback of all the destruction and massacre I had caused.

I became aware I was still in a fight when the man, who had been forced into the ground by the explosion, groaned and rose to his feet, his rapier coated with the blood from Soul Edge.

"Where's Soul Edge?" Even from this distance, his shock and despair were obvious. His dreams has been shattered right in front of him, just like the sword he was driven to possess. After a second or two, a little confusion settled in as well.

"You're… human?"

It was true. Not only had I been freed in mind, but also in body. My leathery skin had lightened to a fleshy peach color. My long blond hair whipped around my face before I brushed it back with my right hand, no longer a grotesque monstrous claw. The wind was cold against my bare arm, which was previously unable to fit into any form of armor. I was once again Siegfried Schtauffen, the former leader of the brigands known as the Black Wind, and my struggle with Soul Edge was finally over.

The man repeated, "Where is Soul Edge? Tell me!" His voice was purged of sarcasm, but it had been replaced with a psychotic rage. He walked toward me quickly, breathing heavily, the rapier clutched in his white-knuckle grip.

"You have broken its curse on me… You destroyed Soul Edge. I thank you."

His eyes showed more fear than anything, like he's stuck in a dream he can't wake up from. "You liar! Give it to me now!" His face twisted in anger as he attempted to stab me once again with the rapier, but I grabbed it with my armored left hand, flipped it into the air, grabbed its hilt, and thrust it through his heart and out his back.

The man's eyes lost their anger instantly and turned to a horrible sorrow and remorse. "I'm sorry, Amy…" were the man's dying words before he became lifeless, crumpling to the ground after I withdrew the rapier.

As I wiped the blood off the rapier onto the man's clothes, I noticed the word "Sorel" etched unto the knuckle guard. This rapier may have been stolen from the French family of aristocrats, the Sorels, but judging from the man's clothes, he was probably a member of the said family. Well, it really didn't make too much of a difference now who he was; he was clearly dead. I couldn't help but wonder who this Amy girl might be.

Where do I have to go? How can I possibly make a living when I have my past occupation as mass murderer? Perhaps work as a mercenary, like I had before I found Soul Edge. Yes, that was it. At least I could put my sword skill to use.

But first, I would need a better weapon than this fruity rapier. It was far too light for my taste of weapons. I would also need to sell this armor: an azure set of plate mail with an embossed Evil Eye on the breastplate, now pocked with stab wounds and a long crevasse from the Sorel's rapier.

Perhaps the Sorel had something of value that I could sell when I reach the next city. In the pockets, I found a few coins, probably enough to last a week if it was spent wisely on food and lodging. I expected such a well-dressed man to have more money…

The only other things I could find were a large gold ring and a small map of the area. I opened the map and found my current location: Ostrheinsburg Chapel. I vaguely remembered this place without knowing why, but I didn't recognize the large crater in the ground. Also, two walls and the ceiling were missing.

I looked at the map again and saw a footnote for Ostrheinsburg in large, loopy handwriting: "Last known battle of Soul Edge / Soul Calibur."

Soul Calibur? Now I remembered why I recognized this chapel…

About six or seven years ago, three people attacked me in this chapel. One had been a Chinese girl by the name of Chai Xianghua, who wielded a double-bladed sword I heard her refer to as Soul Calibur, which was the only weapon I had encountered that was anywhere close to Soul Edge's power. As soon as the blades touched, both of us were plunged into a blazing vortex of fire, where we did battle. Perhaps it was a reaction to Soul Edge, but Soul Calibur emitted a high-pitched ringing noise inside my head. Unfortunately, I suffered a humiliating loss to her. I had no recollection of what happened afterward…

…Oddly enough, I could hear the ringing in my ears once again. I thought maybe it was just part of the memory sticking with me, but while I searched Ostrheinsburg Chapel for any kind of helpful item, I felt the ringing intensify the closer I got to the large crater.

I climbed my way down into the crater, being careful not to aggravate my bleeding ankle that I had yet to mend. The farther I climbed, the stronger the ringing. Finally, when I reached the bottom, the deafening ringing seemed to pulsate in my brain. Still, there was nothing to be seen. I stood where the ringing was most intense and felt compelled to dig… so I did.

After a minute or two of digging, my gauntlet clanged against something metal in the ground. I withdrew the object from the ground and, sure enough, it was Soul Calibur, the turquoise double-bladed sword that was the cause of my last defeat.

As soon as it touched my hand, I could see the metal slowly twist and contort into a new shape and grew in size until it was almost identical with my old sword, Requiem.

This newsword had a strange design; there were still two blades, but one was longer and wrapped around the end of the shorter blade, creating a hook-like appendage at the tip. I swung it once to test the balance and smiled. Its balance was impeccable, but as I swung the blade, I felt a soothing aura surround me as the wounds on my chest and ankle slowly healed themselves.

I noticed the Sorel rapier still at my side and decided I could sell that, too. If Soul Calibur was really so powerful, it was an indispensable toolto my repentance. Carrying this sword on my shoulder and the map in my other hand, I headed toward the nearest town.