Isabella Valentine was raised with love as a member of the noble
English Valentine family. However, her father, Count Valentine, grew
obsessed in mystery and drove the family into despair. The count died in
madness and the famous Valentine family was ruined in a single generation.
Her mother died soon thereafter, but not before revealing that Isabella was
adopted. Her mother never told her who her true parents were, but the
devastated Isabella could not have cared less.
One day Isabella discovered her father's diary. It detailed the
count's obsession with alchemy and the investigation into a sword named Soul
Edge, which was rumored to be the key to immortality. Desiring to follow her
father's dream, Isabella became an alchemist and began to pursue the trail of
Soul Edge. She learned more and more about the sword and the people who had
pursued it. When she discovered the true nature of Soul Edge, however, she
became appaled that her father had been driven mad by such an evil object.
She formed a new goal in life: To destroy the sword and cleanse her family's
name.
Isabella began to prepare for the day when she would destroy Soul Edge.
To destroy such a powerful sword, she would need a weapon that was even more
powerful. She used all her skill to create a weapon that could change it's
form from a whip to a sword. Even though the sword was a technological
marvel, it was still just a lifeless tool that could not hope to match Soul
Edge's demonic power. In order to unleash the sword's true potential, Ivy
would need to give it life.
However, this was a difficult task to accomplish. Isabella tried
everything she knew of but soon found that her alchemical knowledge was
useless. In desperation, she began to explore ancient sorcery and repeated
summoning rituals every night at midnight. She soon became like her father,
obsessed, frustrated and filled with rage. One night, however, her spells
produced some results. A malformed arm was summoned to the summoning gate.
The arm, sensing Isabella's attachment to her sword, fused itself to the sword.
A voice then entered Isabella's mind, saying: "I, Cross of the Pledge, shall
confer onto thee the Point in the Escutcheon of Destruction - Dexter
Purpure." Then the being dissapeared and the ceremony ended. Unbeknowst to
Ivy, the being had actually been a fragment of the Soul Edge, the very sword
she sought to destroy. Because of the sword's evil influence, Isabella's
mind snapped. Her sword was complete, but her desires had been twisted.
The demented Ivy then began her search for the evil sword. Her
travels led her to a German castle, where she found an azure knight known as
Nightmare. Recognizing his arm as having been
the being she summoned, she offered to help Nightmare
in his quest for resurrection. After a time, she grew to dislike Nightmare's
accomplices, Astaroth and
Lizardman. She soon reached her limit and saw
Nightmare's actions as brutal and senseless.
It seemed to her that the trio was pure evil, and decided that she no longer
wanted to be part of their quest.
One night, she decided to leave the castle. Utilizing an underground
passage to avoid detection, she was nonetheless discovered by Astaoroth and
his subordinates. The two began to battle, and during the fight she learned
that Nightmare's sword was indeed the blade she had been searching. She also
caught a stray remark from Astaroth about her being a "spare host" for the
Soul Edge. The battle ended with Astaroth's victory, but he left Ivy for his
clay golems to finish. She escaped the mindless brutes easily, and was on
her way to confront Nightmare directly when she was intercepted by
Taki. Ivy was in no shape to fight the skilled
ninja, and was defeated. Taki then revealed to Ivy that she was the "Child
of the Sword." It was not long before Ivy discovered her true lineage: She
was the daughter of Cervantes.
Angry at having been decieved, Ivy nonetheless came to terms with the
truth. She realized that even though Nightmare had been defeated, the cursed
blood that flowed through her veins was Soul Edge's life source and thus the
sword was not truly dead. However, she felt as though a great weight had
been lifted from her and she set out on a new quest. |