Taki



Taki is a fictional character designed for the Soul series of fighting games, making her debut in the first game of the series, Soul Blade. She has thus far appeared in all the following games, including Soulcalibur: Broken Destinyand Soulcalibur Legends. She is known as the Hunter of Darkness in Soul Blade, the Partial Shadow of Demon Sealing in Soul Calibur, and the Sealed Sword of Godspeed in Soul Calibur III, Soul Calibur IV, and Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny.

Taki is the female ninja in the games, and as such is a character known for her agility and speed on both movements and strikes. She is also recognized for her many acrobatic movements, exaggerations of ninjutsu skills, and the use of magic-based unblockable attacks.

In the game's universe, according to the Edge Master Mode profile in Soul Blade, Taki is a Japanese orphan raised in the Fu-Ma Ninja clan, under the care of it's headmaster, Toki. She is a capable fighter in both unarmed and armed combat, as well as an accomplished demon huntress, spy, and blacksmith. Being one of only three characters to have never been dropped from a single game, either arcade or console versions, she has become one of the staple characters of the series.

Personality
s a ninja, Taki puts her mission above everything else. She will end evil through her own ways. She seems to show concern to some people who are connected with Soul Edge (i.e. Sophitia) and warns them the dangers of the evil blade. She can be emotionless and serious, as a ninja should be. She easily sees through deceptions and will use the best attack to defeat her opponent.

Taki truly cares for her apprentice, Natsu, having chosen to take an active part in raising her due to her own perceived failure in stopping Arahabaki in time. However, she has mentally prepared herself to 'do what's necessary' if the seal containing the demon within Natsu were ever broken.

Soul Edge
Taki began to noticed that her favorite sword, Rekki-Maru, had been acting differently. The sword's power had weakened considerably when she was sent to kill demons which had possessed a temple, she had al lot of trouble defeating them. Taki comes to the conclusion that the evil blade, Soul Edge was affecting her own sword as well as Mekki-Marru. Taki managed to track down Soul Edge to a town in Spain. When she came across the docks, she found the extremely weakened pirate, Cervantes ready to deliver the final blow to a injured Sophitia and in his hands was the demonic sword that Taki was looking for, so she challenged him to a duel. This battle was one of the hardest she ever fought because the armor she had been improving for years began to crack and her sealing spells proved useless against the pirate. However, Cervantes was extremely weakened after the previous battle and Taki was able to deliver a fatal blow, killing him. Even though she was exhausted after the battle, she still managed to carry Sophitia away from the harbour just before the release of the Evil Seed. Taki tended to Sophitia's wounds and removed the shards of Soul Edge from her body and accompanied her back to her family. Taki took the shards with her and hoped that with Soul Edge destroyed that Mekki-Maru would return to normal and that her master would be himself again.

Soul Calibur
When Taki returned to her home in Japan, she found that Toki was still under the influence of evil and she was attacked by his assassins. After she defeated them, she found out that their mission was to recover Mekki-Maru, which only meant that Toki realized that Taki knew where the sword was located. Taki quickly retrieved the sword from its hiding place and took it to her home so that it would stay out of the hands of Toki and his clan. She decided to try and restore the sword's lost power by attempting to bond a shard of Soul Edge into Rekki-Maru. However, they were both resistant to each other and would not join so she tried the same process on Mekki-Maru only to find that the two easily joined and began to produce a dark aura. This aura was incredibly strong and even normal people could see it, so Taki closed the sword in its sheath and sealed it with magic. This did not stop the power of Mekki-Maru breaking through the seal, which attracted the attention of Toki's assassins. They managed to overpower Taki and she was captured by Toki's right-hand man, Geki who took Mekki-Maru to Toki. Taki warned Geki not to undo the seal, but he ignored her and his right arm was blown off from the shockwave that was released. Taki used this opportunity to take the sword and escape and she became a enemy of the clan.

Soul Calibur II
Taki was still being hunted day after day by Toki's assassins and she knew that she could not hold out against the continuous attacks forever. Taki was still confused as to why Toki was still being influenced by evil even though Mekki-Maru had no power left in it. It was then that she remembered that Sophitia only destroyed one of the evil swords and that the other was still about. Taki heard rumours about a azure knight called Nightmare had been ravaging Europe with an evil sword and Taki became positive that this was the remaining part of Soul Edge. Taki made up a plan to track down Nightmare and pit Soul Edge and Mekki-Maru together so that the evil powers would destroy each other. However, her plan was delayed when the ghost Gel-o- Fury broke through the seals in the forest and escaped to the Temple in Kyoto. Taki defeated him however and decided that she would share her fate with Mekki-Maru as she searched for the cursed sword.

Soul Calibur III
A clan that opposed Toki gave Taki information that Toki was located in the Hoko Temple in Japan. After being given this information, Taki faced off against her master in the shrine. Taki managed to use her Fu-Ma techniques that Toki taught her and in the end she defeated him. As she was about to deliver the killing blow, she saw a hint of Toki's former self emerged and then a evil entity came out of his mouth and disappeared. Taki was sure that Toki would be heading for Soul Edge so she decided to find the blade and destroy it before Toki did.

Soul Calibur IV
Taki came across the Lost Cathedral and witnessed the fierce battle between Siegfried who had Soul Calibur and Nightmare who had Soul Edge. She expected the two swords to obliterate each other but the opposite happened and they unleashed a powerful cataclysm that destroyed the cathedral and she barely make it out in time. even with the cathedral destroyed, Taki knew that the two swords had survived and that they would most likely clash with each other again. Taki learned that Soul Edge was in Ostrheinsburg and that Siegfried was heading there with Soul Calibur. Taki decided to follow Siegfreid and see if the had the will to control the spirit sword's power.

Soul Calibur V
Taki does not appear in Soul Calibur V, which is set seventeen years after Soul Calibur IV. However, her apprentice Natsu, who fights using the same style, appears in the game as a playable character. Natsu's official backstory is that she is seaching for Taki, who left on a mission and hadn't returned. As of Soul Calibur V, Taki is 47 years old.

Namco X Capcom
Taki makes an appearance in Namco X Capcom. She is a playable character game along with Mitsurugi.