Hallou people of the Underworld, Draconic Emperor Ricardo here, well this past week has been kind off depressing for me becuz I was robbed, they took things like my computer, 3DS, my celphone and also my decks which came as a downer to me but now I'm back up ready to swallow all that down :D I had to buy another computer but best of all is that I don't have to share it :D So it's probable you will see me constantly xD Anyways the off-topics for today:
1) As I said before my 3DS got stolen so I really don't feel in the mood I had before of reviewing the games I had in the 3DS ... sorry for that hope you understand.
2) I will address a comment left by Anonymous (no, not the internet hacking movement) over the post that Kaiser Nebur posted a days ago. You see we need you to have some patience with this guy as he's kind off new at the blog and also his english isn't at the level Pérez's, Danny's or even my english could be becuz he didn't had the same education we had, so I'm not asking you to apologize, I just ask you to have some tolerance, he'll be better with practice :) What I can agree is that the font he used isn't the same as ours and sincerely it kind of bothers me becuz it doesn't look right, as well as the missing capitalizations, so since Pérez was supposed to be in charge of helping in that and he is getting his hands full, I'll take responsability of that so as to enhance your experience with Underworld HN :)
That's it for the off-topics, now to the big bone! I'll take you on a wild ride!
THE AZURE KNIGHT
So as the title and the image suggests, this post is about the Azure Knight Nightmare (no shit Sherlock? xD). So let's see, Nightmare made his debut in SoulCalibur for the arcades back in the 1990s, this means he was a new character for the second game (remember the first game is Soul Edge. Notice that in that game, Siegfried has an alternate named Siegfried! which is simply him but with red armor resembling what was going to become Nightmare).
Siegfried in Soul Edge/Blade... More like the Crimson Knight lol
He was the alter ego of Siegfried Schtauffen... did I spell it right? xD Anyways Siegfried belonged and eventually became leader of the mercenary group Schwarzwind (Black Wind). Later on he accidentally killed his father after assaulting a group of battle-weary warriors and becuz of the trauma of holding his father's head in victory, he thought to himself somebody else killed him, so he set off to find Soul Edge to gain the power to avenge his father. He found Soul Edge besides a defeated Cervantes de Leon (The pirate who held Soul Edge during the events of that game) and consequently beated Inferno (Practically a manifestation of Soul Edge itself) for the right to hold Soul Edge, Siegfried decided to take the sword, but the moment he grabbed its hilt, the evil seed spread out as a beam of light, causing death and destruction. Later Soul Edge tricked him into thinking he could revive his father if he collected souls for the blade. Siegfried agreed, and he became Soul Edge's new host. After years of senseless killing, Soul Edge took over Siegfried's body after restoring its powers and became Nightmare, who began a rampage of death in his wake.
Nightmare SCI
During Soul Calibur, he became the master of Astaroth, Isabella Valentine (Ivy) and Aeon Calcos AKA Lizardman in order to speed up the resurrection of Soul Edge. During the ritual though, their castle was assaulted by Maxi, Kilik, and Xianghua, and with Astaroth defeated by Maxi, and with Ivy and Aeon gone, Nightmare had to fend off Kilik and Xianghua by himself. He initially did well, but after a good time he began tiring and the two-on-one advantage took its toll on him until he succumbed to defeat. also falling into a void where they were fighting.
Nightmare SCII
After Siegfried woke up, he realized he must distance himself from people before Soul Edge took control again. But in his sleep, Soul Edge took over his body to kill people nearby. After 4 years the Azure Knight was back, with his plan to resurrect Soul Edge still on foot. Before long, Nightmare was confronted by Raphael Sorel, who wanted Soul Edge for himself. Nightmare, annoyed by him, beated him to a pulp, but before he could deal the final blow, Siegfried began fighting for control. Raphael looked at Nightmare stunned, as Nightmare wasn't moving at all becuz of the psychological warfare going on, Raphael then pierced Soul Edge's eye, giving Siegfried the time he needed to break free, in the process releasing Soul Calibur from Soul Edge. Siegfried instinctively grabbed the holy sword and pierced Soul Edge in the eye, killing it, or so he thought. He made the mistake of leaving it like that, and Soul Edge's essence poured out of the blade. Without host, Soul Edge wasn't to harm to anyone, but a man, Zasalamel, provided Soul Edge with a temporary vessel which took form into the azure armor left behind by Siegfried. He was Nightmare once again. He created a blade for use to fight, he named it Phantom Soul Edge, as it looked like Soul Edge but had no power whatsoever.
Nightmare SCIII
During the events in SCIII, Nightmare is looking for Siegfried in order to complete Soul Edge again, and tries to get a host as the new body created by Zasalamel is somewhat unstable. He eventually finds him at the lost cathedral, and clashed with him. The sheer impacts of the blows eventually freed Soul Edge from the Soul Embrace (when Siegfried stabbed Soul Edge with Soul Calibur, this is what happened, the Soul Embrace or Embrace of Souls, it nullifies both powers.) After trading blows for a good time Nightmare's Soul Edge vs Siegfried's Soul Calibur as he has become the new wielder, they eventually ripped themselves apart, only to be repaired by their swords and separated by a portal thingie. Nightmare conviniently landed in Ostreinsburg, and becuz of his fight with Siegfried, all of the fragments came to Soul Edge and combined to complete Soul Edge once again, in the process turning Ostreinsburg into a cursed city, harvesting the souls of the townspeople into Soul Edge.
Nightmare SCIV
Now Nightmare here is patiently waiting to clash with Siegfried and continues his soul harvesting, eventually he fights Siegfried, and after dominating for the most part even tossing Soul Calibur off Siegfried's hands, Siegfried managed to outmanuever Nightmare, injuring him. Then Siegfried pierced Nightmare through the chest with Soul Calibur, killing him.
Nightmare SCV
After being destroyed by Soul Calibur, Soul Edge was scattered around the world. People still loyal to it managed to get the fragments and restore as much of the blade as possible. Soul Edge eventually gained consciousness, possessed a swordsman, and posed under the name Graf Dumas in order to enter the politics world and restore the blade without being suspected on. He sent Patroklos to kill people, tricking him into thinking they were malfested and the he will find his sister Pyrrha. But after Patroklos found out Nightmare was not even bothering to look for Pyrrha, he violently escaped. After finding Pyrrha, Patroklos found out the identity of Graf Dumas as Nightmare, so Nightmare attacked but was stopped by Pyrrha. This caused a reaction in Pyrrha's Soul Edge fragment which was put on her body by her mother Sophitia (remember Sophitia thought that Pyrrha needed Soul Edge to survive, becuz Tira tricked her into thinking this. When Siegfried destroyed Soul Edge, Sophitia gave the Soul Edge fragment she had close to her heart to Pyrrha to keep her alive, in exchange of giving up her life. This is what really happened, not the story that she was killed by a malfested strongly implied to be Tira.) Anyways Nightmare now was at full power and he waged war to central Europe along with his followers. He was eventually tracked down and killed by Z.W.E.I. The new host for Soul Edge after that became Pyrrha, transforming her into Pyrrha Omega.
BLOOD, DARKNESS, I SHALL DRAIN THE WORLD IN BOTH!!
Phew! Quite a long bio isn't it? well let's go to something else for a change xD Well in the first two installments, Nightmare is Siegfried, so they play the same way for the most part. Starting from SCIII, Siegfried and Nightmare became separate entities, so Siegfried had his same old moveset, but Nightmare was given a faster, stronger and primal fighting style. He is fast enough to keep up with Mitsurugi, and has the great pressure game Siegfried has, as well as many power moves and so long. He's real weakness would be the lag after his power moves, becuz they can make him pretty much vulnerable to a counter attack, but still he has a lot of good fast pokes which makes him a high tier character of sorts. He's enjoyable, user friendly, and a complete demon at the hands of a good player.
BLOOD, DARKNESS, COME UNTO ME!!
Well quite simply, Nightmare's appearance is simple, he has an azure armor lol. His trademark is probably his right arm, named the "Nightmare Arm" which is a hideous claw with only three fingers. A corrupted owner of Soul Edge will probably grow this arm eventually (as seen with Pyrrha). Other than that, he usually has a helmet with a horn in it, or if not, it has bat-like designs (SCII). He's also associated with fire, as in the intro of Soul Calibur IV, he was shrouded with a fiery aura, and also during his ending, he can be seen burning Siegfried with flames he summoned with a stroke of Soul Edge. Siegfried in part, is associated with ice, which can cancel fire out, as same as Soul Calibur can cancel Soul Edge out :P
Well I think there's nothing more to know about Nightmare, if I missed anything feel free to tell me in the comments section below!
That's it for today! See ya later Underworlders!!
You cannot defeat me... Now or ever!! - Nightmare
None of this images belong to me!!
Crimson Nightmare Ricardo :)