Author's note: Thanks for waiting! This by the way, is the rest of the prologue, which will lead to the main story proper.
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Seven years had passed. Not only was it the beginning of a new day for the Alexandra siblings, but it would also be the day that would start shaking things up.
"Where are we going exactly?" Patroklos asked. "By the gods, I'm hungry!"
"We're going to a nearby town eventually."
Pyrrha's response was plain and simple, but a question rose up in her mind. "Why have you been acting so stubborn, lately?" she asked him.
"I don't know, but like I said, I'm-"
"Yes, I already know that."
Pyrrha sighed after she spoke, shaking her head. Due to his upbringing by Ares after his father passed on, Patroklos had been developing a stubborn attitude, similar to what the god of war had.
As for his sister, however, she looked to Athena, despite being under Ares's wing. The goddess of wisdom was just as kind as she was brave, and to this day, Pyrrha looked up to her as though she was like an older sister to her.
Just as they would press on and be almost close to their destination, Patroklos and Pyrrha would stumble upon a rather unkempt, but very ill man. The sister's jaw dropped as the man muttered, "H-Help..."
"Such a pale, filthy creature! You must be a malfested!"
As Patroklos spoke those words, the man responded with a "I-I'm not..."
"You heard him, Patroklos. This poor man needs help!" Pyrrha called out to him.
"Ares reminded me that monsters like him should be put down. You can't tell me what to do!"
"I knew it...you've been learning from Ares all this time!"
Pyrrha clenched her fists, sporting a very upset look on her face, prompting Patroklos to ask, "And you've been learning from Athena, I assume?"
Both siblings were just about to attack one another when they heard a voice call out, "Look! There's a man in terrible condition!"
"I suggest we need to take him in and check up on him."
"Who are those two arguing, by the way?"
Patroklos and Pyrrha would look around, both wondering where the voices came from. To their surprise, the first to emerge was a blonde girl with long hair, who was instantly worried the moment she saw the pale man in noticeable pain, as well as the first one to speak.
A few others would follow her, beginning with a young girl with light pink hair in twin braids. A woman with short burgundy hair showed up, as did another with blond hair in an updo (who also happened to be the owner of the second voice). Finally, a third woman with long, black hair, and the one asking the leader about the siblings, caught up with them.
The girl with long blond hair would then realize that standing before her were the children of Sophitia Alexandra, to which she asked, "Are you the two Alexandra siblings my father speaks of?"
Patroklos was surprised by her inquiry, and responded with, "Yes...yes, we are. And you're the child of...Siegfried, the hero from the past?"
The girl nodded, before she added, "You should know better than trying to attack that poor fellow."
He scowled, crossing his arms as he looked away, almost out of embarrassment. "Sheesh..." he muttered to himself.
"You're the daughter of-" Pyrrha was about to ask, but was just as stunned as her younger brother. However, she was able to compose herself, and replied, "Please, do introduce yourself."
The girl smiled at her, before she said, "My name's Marie; and who're you guys?"
"I am Pyrrha, and this is my brother Patroklos."
Hearing her response was enough for Marie to ask, "Perhaps you may wish to get to know me and my friends? We call ourselves the Mad Hearts Neo, you know."
Pyrrha nodded and replied, "Perhaps." Then she turned her head to Patroklos and asked, "Will you join us?"
He just rolled his eyes, but as he nodded while at the same time relented, he let out a deep sigh. "Great! Then let's go to a tavern and get to know each other!" He heard Marie exclaim with a smile.
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All seven individuals, as well as the sickly man, would reach the town of Lasberg*, where the man would not only be under the care of the woman with the updo and even some various doctors, but the group had also chose to enter the local tavern. However, there were only a group of six, since the aforementioned woman had to take her time tending to him.
"Freyja has told me about the two of you; she had a vision that you would fight alongside me, my family, and my friends." Marie said.
"Who's Freyja?" was Patroklos's only question.
"The goddess of war; she also used to be a mentor of a teacher of mine, before she chose me as her pupil as I got older."
"Huh..." he raised an eyebrow. "Interesting...my sister and I are, on the other hand, watched over by Ares."
"It was because of a bet he and Athena had; when he won, he ended up taking us under his wing. The problem is, lately, that my brother has been acting...like somewhat of a jerk, and I think it's because of him." Pyrrha added, before turning to Patroklos.
"I didn't want to end up as such, so I had confided in Athena, for advice and even for help, even though she lost the bet."
"So you're under supervision from various gods, too? That's neat." Marie said with a grin.
"I guess...so who are the rest of you?" Patroklos asked.
"Well..." Marie replied, before adding, "...this is Helen Mortavic." She was mentioning the girl with the braids, who noticed her mentioning her.
Helen let out a small smile, and spoke in a quiet, yet genuinely kind voice. "Hello, mister."
"M-Mister?!"
"Sorry, but she's usually referring to older people as 'mister' or 'miss'." Marie replied, an awkward chuckle escaping her lips. "But don't worry, she'll be referring to you by your names...eventually."
"Eventually is right." Patroklos said.
"And I am from Russia; I used to be a servant to a wealthy family, but I became engrossed reading up on combat, that I wanted to become a warrior, maybe even a bodyguard. After all, I told Marie I didn't want to be helpless." Helen added.
Marie then looked over at the girl with the short hair, and continued. "And this is Lydia Carrington from England. She's pretty aloof most of the time, but she'll open up to you guys when she feels like it."
When Lydia was mentioned, she looked over at the siblings. What Marie didn't bring up was that she was a closeted bisexual, and out of both of them, she couldn't help but admire how beautiful Pyrrha looked.
"Pleased to meet you both; especially you." she spoke with a small smile.
Pyrrha, having noticed that Lydia was trying to hit on her, blushed ever so slightly. "It's...it's an honor meeting you for the first time."
"By the way, I am a scholar-in-training, just so you know."
Marie then concluded, "Finally, this is Isuzu Kumosaka, who's from the far East."
The woman with black hair, having enjoyed her wine, briefly looked over at her. "This is quite different from sake." she said.
"It is."
Isuzu then replied to Patroklos and Pyrrha with a warm smile, and spoke, "It's an honor to meet the both of you." before giving Patroklos a wink.
This prompted him to flinch ever so slightly, prompting his sister to giggle for a bit. "Hey, don't laugh at me like that!" he muttered to her.
"It's...It's just that seeing you being flirted with was kind of funny to me."
"Do you realize that we're both chaste? Our parents told us that it's customary to remain as such until marriage." Patroklos retorted, crossing his arms.
Marie suddenly popped up in the conversation, as she said, "Isuzu also happens to be the daughter of Li Lo-"
"Actually, let me take care of it; I am not only a samurai, but I am also the daughter of Li Long and Chie. In fact, I am the middle eldest, and come to think of it... " Isuzu then cupped her chin, almost pondering. "It's been quite a while since I last saw my siblings." she added.
It didn't take long for the lone woman from the group who had been absent to finally arrive at the tavern. "My apologies, Marie. I had to take some time off so that I can introduce myself." she explained.
"Oh!" she heard Marie exclaim, to which she added, "And let's not forget Elizabeth Hancock, who came from the Americas. Sometimes, we refer to her as Liz."
Elizabeth smiled at her, before it was her turn to speak. "I've been a nurse for a couple of years, before I wanted to put my medical expertise to good use on my own."
"Well, well, well...don't we have ourselves a bevy of beautiful ladies!"
It didn't take long for Patroklos and Pyrrha to discover that the voice belonged to Ares, wearing a cloak that covered him almost entirely. It turned out that he was granted permission to occasionally be in human form, forehead scar and all.
"W-Who's this?" Helen asked out of bewilderment.
"I suggest we take this conversation outside; people are staring at you so much, it's not funny!" Lydia said to him, who assumed most of the people in the tavern were caught offguard.
"Pfft." Ares rolled his eyes, before Pyrrha allowed the others and eventually herself to exit the tavern, with Marie being more than happy to pay for the drinks provided for Isuzu (she was a frequent drinker, after all).
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Once outside Lasberg, and making sure that no mere human could detect a mythological god in human form conversing with mere mortals, the group of eight had settled in a private part of the town. It was a small hill that overlooked the town in its entirety, and it was a beautiful sight, nonetheless.
"Allow me to introduce myself." Ares said as he removed his cloak. "I am Ares, the god of war, as well as the guardian deity of Patroklos Alexander and Pyrrha Alexandra."
This instantly caught Marie and the other girls by surprise, and she asked, "The god of bloodshed? Supervising Patroklos and Pyrrha?!"
"Yes, it was due to a bet he and Athena had, as I've said before." Pyrrha replied.
"Well, ain't that a coincidence." another voice was heard, and before everyone knew it, another ethereal-like being emerged, also in her own human form. Her dark red hair was in a simple French braid, and she wore a oddly regal combination of blue and black.
"Are you Freyja?" Patroklos asked.
"Yes, I am. And as you can see, I am also Marie's guardian deity. Though I was once such to Hildegarde von Krone."
Freyja's eyes briefly squinted as she continued to look over Patroklos and Pyrrha, and said, "So, you must be the two of three individuals that might prove to be useful in the final battle against Nightmare besides Marie."
"Wait...I thought there were two of us." Pyrrha said, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Well, Marie is the third one, that much is true. She is, after all, the daughter of Siegfried Schtauffen."
This surprised both siblings, and Freyja continued. "Not only that, but there are now new forms of Soul Calibur and Soul Edge. Though the former had been carefully crafted and designed by Brokk and Sindri, there are two of them."
"And one of them is under Marie's posession."
As Marie took out the aforementioned short sword, Freyja added, "One of you will be earning the other Soul Calibur, but at the same time, the other will soon own Soul Edge."
This instantly shocked Pyrrha, and even Patroklos. "Once you've met Siegfried and the rest of Schwarzwind, he'll be more than happy to continue where I left off." Freyja concluded.
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And with that, Patroklos, Pyrrha and the Mad Hearts Neo (and to some extent, Ares and Freyja) would find themselves outside of Schwarzwind's base after some time traveling. Once the guards noticed them, one of them asked, "Are you the children of-"
However, he was cut off by Patroklos, who said, "Yadda, yadda. We're both Sophitia's kids. Could you let us in?"
Pyrrha and Lydia were quick to give him a noticeable glare, prompting the other guard to say, "Sure. As long as you don't cause any scuffle."
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Once inside, the entire group went to find Siegfried, who had also gotten older with time. However, he was still capable of dishing out ass-kicking whenever he got the chance.
As of now, he was watching over several of his soldiers taking on training dummies, and even some soldiers were sparring together. Siegfried would hear a familiar voice call out to him, prompting him to turn around.
"Dad!"
He smiled when he saw that Marie and the Mad Hearts Neo had shown up, but was initially perplexed as to why Patroklos and Pyrrha were there, too. "So...you must be two of the heroes that will engage in the last battle."
"We are; I am Pyrrha Alexandra, and-"
She was cut short when Patroklos asked, "So...you're THE Siegfried Schtauffen? A past hero, looking to find a successor to Soul Calibur?"
Siegfried furrowed his brows, before replying, "Yes. Freyja had visions of such, and she was confident that the two of you, as well as Marie, could find a way to eradicate Nightmare for good."
"You forgot to introduce yourself, you goof." was Isuzu's whispered, yet annoyed response to Patroklos.
He sighed, and finally spoke, "And I am Patroklos Alexander; Pyrrha and I are siblings, despite the last name being different."
"And coincidentally enough, they've got a guardian entity watching over them, much like Freyja." Helen added.
"You mean me?"
Helen suddenly flinched when Ares emerged before them, leaning up against the wall with a smirk. "Whoops; didn't mean to interrupt now, didn't I?" he asked.
It didn't take long for Freyja to show up, to perhaps get into an argument with him. "So...both of us are gods of war, but we do have our different intentions." she said.
"Oh? You don't like inflicting pain like I do? Hell, you don't even like flaunting your arrogance, either?"
"Enough arguing: there was one more reason you are all present besides finding new successors for Soul Calibur's and Soul Edge's newest variations." Siegfried said, before crossing his arms.
"One which has already been brought up." Elizabeth said, mentioning Marie.
"Concerning the other wielder of Soul Calibur, they, along with my daughter, are to be the Fated Heroes who will lead us to victory."
"Fated Heroes!?" Lydia asked, eyes widening in surprise.
"But who...?"
Helen's question was enough for Siegfried to take a deep breath, closing his eyes. "It's too early to tell; but until then, perhaps you'll find out on your own."
Even Pyrrha was puzzled, as was Patroklos, who was usually cocky and almost unaware of things around him. "So...I guess this is the beginning of an unexpected alliance, right?" they heard Isuzu ask.
"Probably..." was Pyrrha's response.
And thus, a new tale is told...
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*a fictional town, I might add.
Before I get to the main story, however, allow me to provide you a chapter or two focusing on the origins of the rest of the Mad Hearts Neo. That way, you'll be able to catch up a bit.
With love for my fans,
Chrissy