Upon the royal marble floor, a purple hexagon adorn with arcane symbols was drawn. In it's center, lied the whip sword know as 'Valentine'. Out side of the alchemic ring stood it's owner, the namesake Ivy Valentine.
"What is a soul?" she questioned to the empty room. She raised a small dagger in one hand, and clasped her other around it's blade.
"A fire, that's what it is. Whether it be the most pathetic of embers, or the angriest of infernos." Ivy flung her bleeding hand with a dramatic sweep, scattering a random splatter of blood across the carefuller diagram. Accepting her grotesque graffiti, the purple lines began to glow with an otherworldly light.
"What is the difference between a weak fire and a powerful fire? The fuel it burns. A log will keep you warm, but a forest will consume cities. The soul is the fire, and the body is the fuel. This sword shall cut the path to the perfect body, which shall lead to the final destruction of Soul Edge!"
The hexagon's violet light was reaching it's peak in intensity, becoming almost blinding to look at. Her ritual almost complete, Ivy went down to her knees, and place her hand on the edge of the ring.
"Aut viam inveniam aut faciam!" she cried, "Nos unum sumus, gladius meus!"
Her blade became encased in a bright purple light, slowly raising itself off the ground. Ivy attempted to gaze into the glow, but was unable to see pasted the blinding sheen. Suddenly, the room went dark, and she heard her sword clatter to the ground. After fetching a lantern, Ivy saw that no trace of her purple symbol remained upon the ground, and all drops of blood had vanished. She found her sword lying upon the ground, seemingly unchanged by the ritual.
However, when reaching to retrieve it, the sword leapt from the floor to her hand embedding itself seamlessly into her flesh. Testing her newly modified weapon, she flung her hand out, the whip extending itself from the center of her palm to cross the room. Swinging her other hand, the whip retracted itself into her left hand, and came out as a solid blade in her right. An arching grin crept upon Ivy's face. Her ritual had work! Now, her blade was truly apart of her, and with it, she was on step closer to her goal of destroying Soul Edge.
Suddenly, a low moan echoed cross the dimly lit room. Ivy found herself stricken with a great hunger! Not knowing the full consequences of her ritual, she headed up out of the laboratory and into the mansion proper, only to find...