Soul Edge

Soul Edge is the plot point of one of the C2 episodes. It is a sword that steals souls. It is also the namesake and the *true* main antagonist of the Soul series, as well as C2: E50: Treasure Hunt. The sword is distinguished by its organic interior all the way to the hilt.

## Background

Soul Edge was forged in the distant past by a nameless blacksmith as an ordinary two-handed sword, but after being bathed in blood, hatred and death countless times, the sword developed a malevolent will and turned into a demonic weapon capable of taking over its wielder and gained a wicked soul, which the games called Inferno. Those who grasp its hilt are unable to escape its curse, as its spirit invades the mind like a parasite and drives its wielder insane. Its blade soaks in blood and in power, and it remains a polished red.

The first named bearer of Soul Edge was the Hero King, Algol, whose strong will conquered the evil intelligence of the blade. Algol used the cursed sword to unite the wartorn world in an age of peace. However, his son, Arcturus, was not so strong, and quickly fell under the dark influence of the sword. Jealous of his father's power, he stole Soul Edge and instantly came under the possession of the evil sword. In a desperate battle against the deranged prince, the mighty king defeated Soul Edge, but at the cost of his son's life. Swearing vengeance against the cursed blade, which disappeared after the encounter, with the help of a sage Algol purified fragments of Soul Edge and forged them into the holy blade Soul Calibur, at the cost of his life.

Soul Edge's next known wielder was a Pharaoh in the 30th Century BCE, who devoted himself to the sword and used it to bring about a cataclysm. In the 4th Century BCE it was sought after by a warrior named Necrid, who was pulled into Astral Chaos. Its third known wielder was a Germanic warlord hired as a mercenary by the Romans, who was slain by the Wolf, the then-current wielder of Soul Calibur and founder of the Kingdom of Wolfkrone. In the 6th century CE, Soul Edge was acquired by a Saxon king, who used its power to start a war before being slain by King Arthur, the wielder of Soul Calibur.

The fourth known and third named bearer of Soul Edge was Zasalamel, during one of his many lifetimes. Trying to break the curse of his eternal reincarnations, Zasalamel obtained the cursed blade in the 7th Century CE, but instead, his soul was possessed by the evil will of the sword and he turned into the host of the blade until the end of that life. After that, records are spotty until several hundred years later.

## The Reputation

During the 16th century, Soul Edge mysteriously reappeared in a secret antique auction, using its shape-shifting powers to become two blades instead of one. The swords were obtained by an English curio dealer, whose ship was attacked by the dreaded pirate Cervantes de Leon. Possessed by the will of the wicked swords, Cervantes slew the crew of the ship and then slaughtered the population of a Spanish port-town, where he stayed the next twenty-five years, waiting for the birth of the "Child of the Cursed Sword". But then a holy warrior sent by Hephaestus, Sophitia Alexandra, confronted him and was able to destroy the smaller of the two blades. Cervantes, enraged, defeated Sophitia and nearly killed her, but was stopped and killed by a demon huntress named Taki.

It was at that point when a German knight named Siegfried Schtauffen found the object he had been seeking. When he tried to take the blade lying beside the dead Cervantes, Inferno (called "Soul Edge" in his debut game), in an attempt to restore himself, flowed into the corpse and fought Siegfried for the possession of the evil sword. Siegfried won the battle, and when he grasped the hilt of Soul Edge, he was unable to control its power and released the Evil Seed on the world. Siegfried was further corrupted until he no longer had control over his own body, assuming the role of Nightmare. In the penultimate events of *Soulcalibur*, he was defeated by Kilik and Xianghua after her treasured Krita-Yuga weapon revealed itself to be Soul Calibur. Xianghua then used Soul Calibur to shatter Soul Edge. Pulled into Astral Chaos, Siegfried regained control of his body for a short time, distancing himself from the world to keep Soul Edge from falling into another's hands. However, Soul Edge was able to slowly seize control of him again, and he eventually donned the azure armor once more.

Inferno, thrust out of Soul Edge by Soul Calibur, transferred himself into the remnants of Nightmare's armor but could not manipulate the bodiless husk. It was then that Zasalamel appeared and agreed to help Inferno if he assisted him in finding the two swords of legends, before using his ancient powers to bind Inferno to the armor. At this moment, the evil spirit of Soul Edge became the new Azure Knight. Born from the memory of his old shape, the Phantom Soul Edge is dwarfed by the real cursed sword, but as Nightmare once again began his quest to search for his missing form, this weapon began to grow stronger. The real Soul Edge, silent with its counterpart Soul Calibur, was in the possession of Siegfried Schtauffen, who sought a way to seal the evil sword forever.

Though Soul Edge's power was vastly diminished, there were still many of its fragments scattered throughout the world, expanding Soul Edge's influence far beyond the sword itself. Cervantes de Leon carried another version of the cursed sword, born from fusing several fragments together, as did Taki with one of her blades. Even though the sword was sealed, its fragments still emitted the evil energies of the cursed blade.

## The Battle

Nightmare and Siegfried eventually meet in Lost Cathedral, and Soul Embrace is finally broken. The two knights clashed, sending a shockwave that ripped both their bodies apart and leveled the Cathedral. Soul Edge and Nightmare fell into a warped dimension, but even then, Soul Edge sought power. Because Nightmare had been given a body by the hatred and evil that dwelled there, the sword and body ended up at Ostrheinsburg when they fell out of the void. Soul Edge stretched its evil roots into the azure armor. The shockwave emitted at the cathedral had spread an evil energy that had made all of the sword's shards active; now Soul Edge called out to them, and they returned both small and great. These included the being Charade and the smaller Soul Edge that had been fused together by Cervantes. These pieces had been scattered by Evil Seed, but now they were being called home. The sword drank it all in, and, for the first time in decades, was mostly whole again. But it was not satisfied, and the sword continued to stretch into Nightmare. Now, the azure knight's body, which had been formed from the lingering hatred and tormented ghost, truly became Inferno.

## Years Later....

Nightmare encounters a zombie, thinking that it was a person, kills it. It had wondered why the soul hasn't been absorbed when the zombie died.

"I..... Killed a worthless human! Where is its soul?! I should be refined!

With the zombies swarming around him, he kills them all, and just lays dormant until E50.

When Nicholas and Franklin foolishly nearly pulled the evil sword. they run. Nightmare goes after them and enters the Light's home. They spotted him and runs out, acting a little magnanimous for detecting who has a soul and who doesn't.

A year later....

After killing a horde of demons, he realizes that if the demons attack the rest of the realms, there won't be any souls to claim when they succeed. Knowing this, he gains a temporary alliance with the team, eventually succeeding.

## The Effects

Soul Edge has a reputation for devouring souls. The weapon is also known to be a shape-shifter – which form it takes depends on its current owner. Only those with great mental discipline can retain their will while wielding this weapon.

Soul Edge's curse is called malfestation, and is inflicted not only upon those who wield the sword itself, but those who come into contact with its shards. Normally, the Evil Seed transforms the person infected into a demonic monster and feeds off the host's inner sinful deeds of bloodlust, controlling and manipulating their actions, and forcing the user to take the souls of whom they defeat in battle.

### The effects of Malfestation

Malfestation is caused by Soul Edge's curse. It is regarded as a type of cancer, or even an entirely new parasitic organism. However it causes enhanced physical abilities among its victims, and can cause victims to mutate into more powerful states of being when they experience intense emotion. It can also causes some victims to gain what appears to be some kind of immortality.

The traits gained by the victims are possibly based on their personality and physique, as Tira may have stopped aging due to being part of a clan that valued survival above all else. Male Malfested often display physical transformations while females generally don't, though exceptions like Pyrrha Omega, and Maki exist. When Cervantes became malfested, he was a zombie due to being revived by Soul Edge. When Raphael and Amy became malfested, they gained vampiric traits and abilities.

Malfested animals that act as minions for Soul Edge are known as **Watchers**. Cervantes' shark, Nightmare's hawk, and Tira's crows are examples of Watchers.

There are three types of malfestations:

* **Malfested**: Regular malfested only features their glowing eye pupils. By giving in to the evil they can push their body to the limit to gain enhanced strength and speed.
* **Malfested (Mutated)**: Upgraded versions of regular malfested feature not only all glowing eyes (both scalars and pupils), also featuring the marks that shows the beginning of their mutations. Some retain their sanity at this stage while most become mindless beasts.
* **Malfested (Fully Transformed)**: The true final form of malfested mutation lines, transforming the host’s body parts into much more monstrous forms. However, this form is exclusive to male. Fully transformed malfested are no longer human and are avatars of pure evil, they are extremely rare and even one will cause the deaths of untold thousands.

## Trivia

* The sword *really* does look like a oversized butter knife with an eye.
* The sword may have an ability to tempt, as many people that fell victim to wielding (and dying by!) it were enticed by it.
* It's also wants power across the realms it falls in, like him.