Ivy (Soul Character)

## Personal Info

Birthplace: London, British Empire (UK)

Birthdate: December 10, 1559

Age: 28-49?

Gender: Female

Height: 5’10 (179)

Weight: 128 (58)

Weapon: Snake Sword

Weapon Name: Valentine/Ivy Blade

Style: Unrelated Link

Soul: Deliverance

## Stages

Valentine Mansion (SC, 3)

Egyptian Crypt (2)

Ice Coffin of the Sleeping Ancient (4)

Tower of Remembrance: Spiral of Time (BD)

House of Valentine’s Prague Residence (5)

## Theme

Unblessed Soul (SC)

Maze of the Blade (2)

Face Your Fate (3)

Without the Blessing of Fate (5)

In reality, Ivy was not a true Valentine by birth. The Earl
and Countess found her abandoned in front of their mansion when she was an
infant, and she was taken into the family as an adopted child. Ivy discovered
this secret only after reading a will left behind by the Countess in her death.
But this did not matter to her, for the Valentines were the only parents she
knew.

Searching through her parents' possessions, Ivy found her
father's diary. In it, she discovered that the "Key to Eternal Youth"
her father had been pursuing was a sword called Soul Edge. He had also been
obsessed with the art of alchemy. To honor her father, Ivy chose to become an
alchemist and investigate Soul Edge.

During this investigation, she uncovered the true nature of
the sword–it was an evil blade that feasted on souls. Vercci, Adams, Captain
Cervantes; the more she read of the fates of those who had come into contact
with Soul Edge, the more she became convinced of her suspicions.

"My father was driven mad by such a loathsome
thing...this evil sword!"

Filled with rage and despair, Ivy vowed to avenge the death
of her father by using all of her knowledge to destroy Soul Edge. Ivy realized
she needed to create a weapon powerful enough to destroy Soul Edge. Her
knowledge led her to successfully create a weapon capable of shifting back and
forth from a whip to a sword. This weapon was merely mechanical though, and Ivy
believed the only thing which could stand against a living weapon is another
living weapon. She attempted to use alchemy and her own blood to give the sword
life, but all attempts were unsuccessful.

Finding her alchemic skills useless, she turned to studying
ancient sorcery. Every midnight, she would attempt summoning rituals, hoping to
call upon a being who would grant her sword life. With every failed attempt,
Ivy became more desperate and angry.

At last, one night, a large malformed arm emerged from her
summoning circle. The arm, sensing her attachment to her weapon, proceeded to
touch the whip sword. Ivy heard a soundless voice seemingly coming from the
arm.

"I, Cross of the Pledge, shall confer upon thee the
Point in the Escutcheon of Destruction - Dexter Purpure."

The ceremony came to an end and the mysterious being
vanished. Under the moonlight, Ivy's sanity began to crack. She finally had the
weapon she had sought to create; a living sword which would obey her every
command. Calling her weapon the 'Ivy Blade', she set out on her journey to find
and destroy Soul Edge.

"I am the same as this sword... Yes, the blood of the
evil blade flows through me. The same blood..."

Ivy Blade waited for its master's orders silently.

After months of soul searching, Ivy emerged with renewed
resolve. Her goal was no longer to destroy the evil sword, but to completely
wipe it out of existence. As a vow to her commitment, she renamed her sword
"Valentine", a symbol of her will to continue onward as a human
despite her own cursed blood. Once she acquired information about fragments of
Soul Edge being scattered throughout the world, she immediately departed on her
new journey.

Ivy's mission was to destroy not just the fragments of Soul
Edge, but all of those who had been infected with the cursed blade's influence.
All of them, even the innocent, would be granted no mercy. Ivy was determined
to eliminate all traces of Soul Edge. Of course, she too would eventually have
to be killed, and she believed this fate to be the ultimate end of her journey.

"Call me a monster or a demon if you must. I'll be
happy to be called those names if it is the price I must pay to eliminate the
existence of the evil blade!"

During her bloody, merciless quest, her sword began to
change. It had become unstable and harder to control. Ivy decided to
temporarily halt her mission and return to her mansion in order to determine
the cause.

She stopped by a certain academic city in England and
purchased new books, both ancient and recent, dealing with secret arts. At
home, she found one particularly old book to hold much interest. In it was the
most detailed information she had seen yet concerning Soul Edge and its origin.
Continuing to decipher the text, she found information dealing with the spirit
sword known as Soul Calibur, which was said to grant power to its wielder to
stand against Soul Edge.

In a month's time, Ivy had deciphered all the information
dealing with Soul Calibur the book had to offer. However, her front door
suddenly opened and a dark skinned man dressed in a white robe entered her
home.

"Who are you?"

"Did you read the book?", asked the stranger.

The two of them drew their weapons, her faithful snake sword
and his giant scythe, and a fierce battle began. Sparks flew as each struck and
deflected the other's blows. "Dammit!!", cursed Ivy as she had to use
more of her mental power than usual to control her own sword. The man took
advantage of her hesitation and landed a heavy blow. When Ivy had recovered,
she realized she had dropped the book.

The man picked up the book. "This is a mistake from my
past. The world no longer needs this...", he said as the book suddenly
burst into flames. The man dropped the burning remains of the book and left as
a wall of fire separated him from Ivy.

"Stop!", Ivy demanded. "If you wish to learn
everything about the cursed sword and the spirit sword, then follow the knight
you know well.", he said as he vanished from sight.

Despite the loss of the book, Ivy still remembered what she
had read about the spirit sword. She theorized that the odd behavior concerning
her own sword may have a link to Soul Calibur as well. Ivy set out on a new
mission to obtain Soul Calibur for herself and use it to destroy Soul Edge once
and for all.

At the temple, she encountered a man tending the graves.
This man, Kong, told her about Soul Calibur, also known as the Krita-Yuga. From
his information, Ivy was presented with a new problem. Her own cursed blood
would prevent her from being able to wield the sword or utilize it to its full
potential.

Ending her current journey, she returned home to her
alchemic research. If she could not wield the spirit sword, she would create a
being who could. She sought to create a homunculus and animate it with an
artificial soul.

Unfortunately, her father Cervantes tracked her down and
invaded her house, intent on consuming his own offspring's soul. Ivy's lab was
utterly destroyed by the battle between father and daughter. In the end, Ivy
lost and Cervantes was able to consume most of her soul. Now at the brink of
death, Ivy was forced to use the artificial soul she had created in order to
survive. However, the soul was not perfected. Sooner or later, she would die.

Mixed with the remains of her old, cursed soul, Ivy hoped
that her new soul was pure enough to wield Soul Calibur. After seeing that her
Valentine still responded to her, she set out on what she believed to be her
final journey.

Soul Edge, its physical form shattered, disappeared into the rift above.

Others called this victory and she triumphed, but Ivy knew better.

Having spent a lifetime studying the cursed sword's cycle of destruction and
rebirth, Ivy was convinced that Soul Edge was merely biding its time in another
dimension, awaiting the day it could be born again in our world. The sword
itself may be beyond her reach, she reasoned, but what if she could rob it of
its refuge? What if she could destroy the world beyond the rift?

At some point, Ivy was visited by two mysterious strangers, one of whom wore
a mask and spoke not a word during their meeting. The unmasked figure claimed
to be a supporter of her research, and informed Ivy about the nature of the
chaos realm she sought after.

For over a decade Ivy researched the sword's home, a place she came to call
"Astral Chaos". Her body, with the blood of the cursed sword flowing
in its veins, seemed to have forgotten to age.

It was Soul Edge that had thrust this destiny upon her, and Ivy would not
rest until the cursed sword was purged from all existence.

Through her battles, her premonitions proved to be true. Although evil had
been destroyed, the sword will not die. The cursed blood that flowed through
her veins was the sword's life source. However, she felt no hesitation in
coming to terms with the truth.

Ivy: I feel as though a burden on my soul had been lifted...

The fetters of her curse were broken and thus began a new unholy quest.

around, a bright light is seen up above. Soul Calibur then comes flying down and strikes
Nightmare, killing him. As the crystals begin to encase Nightmare's body, Ivy
is suddenly stricken with pain. "So, I'm the same as him." Ivy makes
no effort to fight or escape as crystals start to encase her body from the feet
up. Ivy says to herself, "With the blood of the evil sword in my veins and
the countless atrocities I have committed, this is a fitting death." Right
as the crystals are about to cover Ivy's head, her sword extends itself, wraps
itself around Ivy, and saves Ivy from death. Valentine, itself, shatters into
segments in the process.

The light shining from Soul Calibur
fades, suggesting that it has now become silent. Ivy picks up one of the
fragments of her sword and asks it, "My sword, are you telling me to live?
Is there still something that I can do?" Ivy then tells herself,
"Whatever it is, I will find it." She then walks away.

The text-only epilogue reveals that
her new soul lights the path to the future. She severed her bond with the
cursed sword and has now started a new life.

## Critical Finish

**Grand Alchemy**: Whips the opponent, says "Taste the power of my
blade - shred apart!" and starts an alchemist spell to trap the opponent
in a ball, splits the blade up into small pieces, and shoots them into the
opponent. She then asks "Does it hurt?"

## Critical Edge

**Acasual Paradox**: Ivy grabs her opponent and, as her sword shatters,
parts of it stick to the opponent's body, making them levitate and fly. While
in air, the sword pieces slash her opponent several times until the shards slam
her opponent to the ground. At the beginning of the animation, she says
"You're in need of some discipline! I'll teach you to behave!" and
the animation closes with her saying, "Satisfied?".

## Weapon Arts

**Chaotic Symphony:** This simply is her Calamity Symphony throw, though
at the beginning there's a movement from SC2I-SC4, when her sword quickly
turns into a whip and grabs the opponent, while Ivy says "Ensnare".
This throw works on a relatively big distance and is performed quickly,
comparing it with other Weapon Arts grabs. If it misses, probably, you will be
punished. Indeed, it's hard to continue a combo with a grab, and it's
impossible to start a combo after this Weapon Art as well. Even though it's
quick, it doesn't turn into a combo after such moves as Insanity Light or short
distance version Embrace of Gulit, whereas some other attacks do extend a combo
after them. An interesting fact about this Weapon Art is that every time it's
activated, Ivy's sword is in colorful sparkles, however when she sends the
opponent into the air, the links of her sword are accompanied with colored flames
only when the enemy is grabbed from the front or from the sides, but not from
the back.

**Apocalypse Crush:** That's a combination of Danger Range and Arch Cage.
After three attacks of Danger Range the opponent is thrown into the mid-air,
Ivy immediately catches him with her Ivy Lick, which turns into Arch Cage. All
in all, there are nine hits. Danger Range and Arch Cage inflict almost equal
damage to the opponent. Before releasing her final Arch Cage shot Ivy says
"This'll feel good!", and time slows down, as she creates a bow with
an arrow enflamed at its end from her weapon's fragments. The Weapon Art has a
comfortable middle range, though if the range is a little longer, it may occur,
that only the first hit is delivered. Its quick start will let you avoid some
of the coming vertical and high attacks, but you can be easily stopped by
others. In case the first attack of Danger Range combination misses or the
opponent blocks it, Ivy will still make the other two and Ivy Lick at the end.
If just the second or the third Danger Range attack is landed, Arch Cage will
always be performed successfully. It isn't very safe to start with, because if
the opponent guards against two first middle attacks, he can just crouch under
the last two, and you'll get punished. It's hard to call it quick as well,
owing to the slow motion, it takes much time. Nevertheless, this Weapon Art can
easily continue a combo, but when the opponent is thrown high in the air, you
should activate it at exactly the right moment, otherwise some of Danger Range
attacks may miss and Arch Cage won't work. This happens more frequently if the
enemy has suffered from different types of stun (in a long combo). It will hit
the stunned opponent on all occasions, except for the one, when he's already on
the ground. The other thing happens when the third strike of Danger Range
performs the last Soul Break (or the only one) of the enemy. If that occurs,
the enemy won't fly up and the rest of the Weapon Art will fail (except for Ivy
lick indeed). By the way, both Arch Cage and Danger Range can make the opponent
hit the wall, and Ukemi can still save the opponent from Stinging Souls after
Arch Cage, so one shouldn't rely on continuing a combo after it. It's curious,
that in SC5 Ivy could use far version of Stinging Souls to reach the enemy
after Arch Cage, but now it's a medium version on most of the enemies, while
others, for some reasons, end up between medium and far Stinging Souls.
However, if the enemy is close to the wall or the edge of the arena, you'll be
able to perform long lasting almost guaranteed combo by consecutive use of
Stinging Souls and Apocalypse Crush, though it's not so easy to perform.

**Released Souls:** Her unblockable attack has turned into a Break
Attack. If the opponent is guarding, it always causes a Guard Burst. The range
of this attack is pretty short, because Ivy steps back in animation before
launching the actual attack, saying "Destroy everything", so the best
way to use is to interrupt the opponent's combo with it, or trigger it when you
see your opponent begin the attack. It also can be turned into a combo, if you
activate it, when the opponent is in the air or when he's stunned close to you,
but there's no guaranteed combos after it. The attack is performed immediately
after pressing the buttons, that's why it enables to catch the flying opponent
or to hit between his attacks. And yet, it won't save you from long-ranged
attacks of the opponent. This stroke, as before, can make the opponent hit the
wall.

**Crucifixion:** That's another example of turning a single attack into a
Weapon Art. This is a short version of her Crucifixion, as if you're not
holding the buttons. Ivy steps back for a while, swinging her sword, which lets
you avoid all kinds of coming attacks, including low and middle attacks, both
vertical and horizontal. When Ivy launches her middle-ranged attack, time
freezes for a very short period, when camera changes its angle and it makes the
opponent spin in a stunned state. A peculiar thing is that there's no time
freeze or change of camera's angle when the enemy's hit at a distance. If you
succeeded in delivering it, you can support the attack with many sorts of
combos on stunned opponent, but you'd better take action quickly, as the
opponent can recover from the stun almost in no time. If the opponent guards
against it, there's no chance for him to punish you. The attack itself isn't
strong, and performed too slowly to continue any kinds combos with it, though
it's a good combo starter and the safest Weapon Art of hers. In case you
managed to landed on the opponent in the mid-air, time will freeze anyway and
he'll spin rapidly, falling forwards.

**Acausal Paradox:** This is Ivy's Critical Edge with minor changes. At
the beginning of this short-range grab she says "You're in need of some
discipline!" and then adds "I'll teach you to behave!". At the
end there's "Satisfied?". There are 14 hits in total. The last and
most damaging strike of the Weapon Art is now performed in slow motion and the
enemy on the ground is surrounded by blue transparent flame. By the way, now we
can hear a loud sound of the grab, when Ivy clutches the enemy at his throat
and there's colored flame added to the grab, which is most noticeable when it
misses. In addition to that, it absolutely cannot be stopped, so now it is
completely safe to interrupt a range of the enemy's attacks by it. And yet at
the end or in the middle of some moves enemies are unavailable for high
attacks. Its start is pretty slow, it still misses sometime when the enemy is
turning around and the attack itself takes a lot of time, which may turn out to
be a problem when you lack time. The best way to use it is to stop enemy's
attacks by it when you're not in a hurry.