Hibiki Takane/Story

Past
Hibiki is the daughter of Genzō Takane, a renowned swordsmith known throughout Japan during the Bakumatsu era. He had retired to an isolated area in the countryside with his daughter but continued his work with various swordsmen around the country.

The Last Blade 2
One fateful day, a silver-haired man approaches Genzō and requests that he forge a new sword. Though the man radiated an aura of pure, unfathomable evil, the master swordsmith finds himself unable to refuse the request. He spends a time of almost 3 months forging this sword, which he dubs the “Yaso Magatsu Hi no Tachi” (, “Blade of Eighty Days Harbored Unwillingly”), detailing the amount of time he invested in the weapon. The labor renders him ill, however, and he is soon permanently bedridden.

He tells his daughter that the silver-haired man was the reason for his condition, and that she should pursue him and the sword that he had forged. With a concerned Hibiki by his side, he utters his last words: “The thing that I saw... that I felt, even you must understand.” Though she was confused by her father’s cryptic request, Hibiki gathers her belongings and leaves in search of the silver-haired man.

Several days later, a man named Hyo Amano stops by, hoping that Genzō would repair his weapon, the “Otokomae”, when he learns of the swordsmith's death, he sets out to find his daughter.

Hibiki has two endings in the game; in one of them she visits her father's grave and decides to improve her swordsmanship which can be gained if the player defeats every opponent they face in Arcade mode with her super moves. In the other ending should the player not use her super moves to finish all opponents, she tells her father that now she has a "companion".

Samurai Shodown (2019)
While staying in a nearby run-down house near the graveyard where her father is laid to rest, Hibiki is brought back in time to the middle Edo era (where the Samurai Shodown timeline takes place) in her sleep, fighting battles that ultimately leads to Shizuka Gozen. As she defeats her and frees her soul, she awakens from her slumber, only to find a sakura petal. This implies that the events aren't exactly a dream.

Just like in The Last Blade 2, she has two endings: in one of them she visits her father's grave, telling all about her encounters in that dream, either recounting her resolve in fighting or the meaning of her own path, while placing the said cherry blossom petal on the grave. In the other ending, she steps the sakura petal before visiting her father's grave. In front of him, she swears to find and kill the man responsible for his death, through a bloodbath.