History
As a young girl, Teresa was sold by her village to the Organization. Whether this was done to pay for a youma extermination or purely for profit is never clarified. She was trained with a large group of girls to be warriors once she was implanted with the flesh of a youma, bearing a disfigurement on her torso where the flesh had entered her. This turned her into a half-human/half-youma hybrid, bleaching her dark hair to blonde and turning her eyes silver.
Blessed and cursed with the power of a youma, the youki energy that gave her strength and amazing abilities, Teresa was raised in the Organization's training grounds and tested. She developed into a powerful warrior, though she was known as a problem child to the Organization. Whenever Teresa had the opportunity, she'd sneak out and travel deep into the woods alone to escape the rigors of the training and take a few moments of peace. Her handler, Orsay, would eventually find her, either on her own or with the help of some of Teresa's peers, and bring her back. Teresa always dutifully accepted her punishment, enduring what she had to, but it was never the deterrent the Organization hoped it would be.
After passing her final test, Teresa was assigned to a region across the continent. She was given jobs to do, specific villages that needed youma exterminated, by Orsay. With a flippant salute to her 'boss', Teresa always went and completed her mission with ruthless efficiency. Her skills and power were recognized by the Organization, and she was quickly elevated to the Number One ranking without even testing her against Rosemary, the Number One at the time.
One day, Orsay presented Teresa with Rosemary's black card, the signal a hybrid uses to inform the Organization that they have reached their limits and wished to be killed before they awakened. Teresa was surprised by this, as she'd never really interacted with Rosemary much less the majority of her peers. Taking the card, she traveled to Rosemary to perform the final duty for the other hybrid. When she arrived, she discovered Rosemary had already awakened and sent Teresa the card after she had done so. Offended that the Organization had elevated Teresa to Number One without her and Rosemary ever crossing blades, the awakened Rosemary used the card as a ploy to draw Teresa out alone so she could kill her.
Preferring to fight an enemy instead of an ally, Teresa engaged Rosemary in battle. The awakened former Number One was powerful, on the same level as an Abyssal One, but Teresa defeated her easily, ripping off one of the awakened's limbs with her bare hands. During the fight, Teresa only released ten percent of her youki, stating that she was only doing so just to make sure she didn't forget how to do it. When Teresa met back up with Orsay, she clearly had been in a fight, and the handler chided her, asking her if she'd let Rosemary awaken. Instead of telling Orsay what really happened, Teresa just shook her head and smiled. She told him that Rosemary had not awakened and she'd run into a pack of youma on her way back. Years of successful jobs passed and Teresa's name became well known in the Organization and among her peers. She became known as Teresa of the Faint Smile as she was always seen effortlessly killing youma with that small, knowing smile on her face.
On one job where she was sent to kill six youma in one village, Teresa discovered there was a seventh. The seventh was disguised as a human and had kept a female human child as a pet. The girl was malnourished, beaten and didn't speak. Teresa killed this youma just like the others. When she was speaking to the village elders about giving their payment to Orsay when he came by in a few days, the girl latched herself onto Teresa. Not understanding and certainly not wanting the girl hanging onto her, Teresa shoved her roughly to the ground. To her astonishment, the girl got back up and flung herself at Teresa, hugging her tightly. Prying the girl off her, Teresa left her in the village and continued on her way.
The silent girl, exiled from the village because she'd been with the youma for so long, followed Teresa as she traveled. At first, Teresa found her to be nothing but a nuisance, but eventually came to grudgingly accept her continued presence. Taken by surprise, one night, by an attack from some human bandits, Teresa ended up cutting off one of the bandits' arms before she realized they were human. Once she knew they were human, she immediately stopped fighting them. The bandits, knowing of the Organization's strict rule that the hybrids weren't allowed to kill humans, tried to take advantage of both Teresa and the girl. Teresa, amused by their desire to rape her, opened the front of her bodysuit to show them her naked torso, asking them if they really wanted her body. Seeing the grotesque deformity from Teresa's implantation, they completely lost any desire for her and moved on.
Continuing to travel, Teresa decided she needed something to call the girl other than 'hey you'. She decided to name the girl Clare after one of the twin goddesses the world worshiped, the other being Teresa after which she, herself, was named for. A few nights later and Teresa was attacked by the bandit whose arm she had cut off. Despite her disfigurement, he wanted to take her body as payment for cutting off his arm, knowing there was nothing Teresa could do about it as she was forbidden from killing humans. Teresa wasn't happy about it, but she really didn't care, so she was unresisting and told the man to do whatever he wanted.
Wishing to defend the woman that saved her, Clare picked up a stick and hit the man over the head, knocking him out. The simple act of saving her touched Teresa deeply, more so when Clare finally spoke for the first time. The girl told Teresa that back in the village, she hugged her because she saw the same thing in Teresa's eyes that were in her own - loneliness. The hug hadn't been for Clare's comfort, but for Teresa's. Those words, from a girl not even half Teresa's size proved that even a Claymore could cry as she found tears falling unbidden from her eyes as she held the girl.
From that moment, compassion had been woken up inside Teresa. She continued her jobs, Orsay allowing Teresa her 'pet', and became more affectionate toward Clare. She bought the girl clothing so she wasn't in rags anymore and would even let Clare sleep on her lap. Clare wanted to stay with Teresa, but the Number One knew the life of a hybrid was not for the girl. She believed that Clare deserved to live a human life among humans, something she'd never had the chance to do herself. After exterminating a couple youma in a secluded village, Teresa left Clare there in the care of the villagers and continued on her way.
As she was traveling, a little bit away from the village, she was passed by the same group of bandits from earlier. They were heading toward the village Teresa had just left and gave her a few sneers as they passed by. It occurred to Teresa then that the youma in that village had inadvertently been protecting it from the human bandits. Realizing her mistake of leaving Clare in their care, Teresa rushed as fast as she could to the village to collect the girl. She arrived too late to find Clare's unconscious body, beaten and bloody, being dragged out of a barn by the one-armed bandit.
Without even thinking, Teresa reacted. Faster than the eye could see, she cut the arm holding onto Clare and cradled the girl to her chest. Surrounded by the bandits, they taunted her about how she was forbidden from harming them and thanked her for ridding the town of the youma for them. Something inside Teresa snapped and, despite the known consequences, she massacred the bandits. It's never stated if she went into a blind rage or if she coldly cut them down. When Clare came to, she was in Teresa's arms and the surrounding ground was stained red with blood.
The consequence for killing humans was execution. Upon learning the village's fate, Teresa was summoned by Orsay to a location where five other hybrids of unknown rank were waiting. It appeared that Teresa was accepting of her execution, Clare being restrained by the handlers, when the five hybrids attacked. Unwilling to submit to the Organization's laws, Teresa disabled all five without effort. Deciding she just wasn't ready to die yet, she stated Clare had become her reason for living. She took the girl and left, deserting the Organization.
Not knowing what else to do, Teresa continued her nomadic lifestyle with Clare in tow knowing the Organization was going to form a hunting party for her. She wasn't worried about the party's ability to defeat her as she was the best, so she didn't feel the need to hide. Eventually, Teresa and Clare came across a village with youma in it. Not knowing what else to do, killing youma was what she had been created for, Teresa exterminated them. When the villagers thanked her, meeting her with gratitude instead of fear, she didn't know how to handle it. She'd never experienced that kind of reception before as the previous villages had to pay for Organization services. When the villagers offered her a room in the nicest inn, she accepted it, still bewildered by the treatment she was receiving. This would be the last village Teresa would ever see.
Numbers Two through Five were gathered by the Organization to hunt down and execute Teresa for her defection. Irene, Noel, Sophia and the still green Priscilla located Teresa in the village. Irene lead the hunting party, despite Priscilla being the higher ranked as she recently had taken the Number Two spot from Irene, was not confident in the party's ability to defeat Teresa, having been in the same hybrid batch as Teresa. Yet, Priscilla's ability to fight without using youki, just as Teresa did, gave them just enough of an edge that they had a chance. Irene alone entered the inn to face Teresa initially and Teresa was waiting for her, having sensed her and the other hybrids' presences. All Teresa asked was that they all keep Clare out of this as the girl slept peacefully on the bed.
Teresa was easily able to parry Irene's trademark Flash Sword and the battle erupted into the streets as both Sophia and Noel got involved. It wasn't until Priscilla joined the battle, initially undetected by Teresa as the young hybrid didn't use youki for her to sense, that the flow of the battle began to turn. Priscilla insisted that the others allow her to fight Teresa alone and they obliged for a while. Even though Teresa's extraordinary ability to sense youki was useless in her battle with Priscilla, her years of experience and refined sword technique proved her to be the superior in the fight. The others intervened then, Irene recognizing that Priscilla would lose, but to no avail. Teresa was still stronger and she hadn't even released any of her youki. She injured Irene, Sophia and Noel enough to not be a threat anymore and seriously considered killing Priscilla. She recognized that Priscilla was the only one with the potential to eventually surpass her.
Teresa chose to spare Priscilla, much to Irene's astonishment, stating that maybe she had gone a bit soft. The compassion Clare had rekindled in her allowed Teresa to see for a moment Priscilla as the young, crying girl she appeared to be and not just the unyielding warrior she also was. Choosing to end the fight with all still alive, Teresa and Clare left the village. Priscilla, enraged that Teresa was getting away, ran after her in a blind rage, chasing her down outside the town. Overcome with her emotions, Priscilla started using great amounts of youki. Initially, this surprised and overwhelmed Teresa, actually injuring the Number One, but then Teresa released her youki. With only ten percent released, Teresa soundly defeated Priscilla to the awe of the other three hybrids and Clare. Unfortunately, Priscilla had gone past the eighty percent limit and was unable to control her youki. Knowing she was about to awaken, she pleaded for Teresa to end her life while she was still partially human.
Teresa agreed to do so, believing Priscilla was still in control. For a moment, she lowered her guard as she readied her sword. Whether it had been a ruse by Priscilla to get Teresa to drop her guard or she'd truly lost control, Priscilla cut off Teresa's hands and then decapitated her just before she fully awakened. Priscilla left only a traumatized Clare and Irene, pretending to be dead, alive before flying off into the sky.
Blessed and cursed with the power of a youma, the youki energy that gave her strength and amazing abilities, Teresa was raised in the Organization's training grounds and tested. She developed into a powerful warrior, though she was known as a problem child to the Organization. Whenever Teresa had the opportunity, she'd sneak out and travel deep into the woods alone to escape the rigors of the training and take a few moments of peace. Her handler, Orsay, would eventually find her, either on her own or with the help of some of Teresa's peers, and bring her back. Teresa always dutifully accepted her punishment, enduring what she had to, but it was never the deterrent the Organization hoped it would be.
After passing her final test, Teresa was assigned to a region across the continent. She was given jobs to do, specific villages that needed youma exterminated, by Orsay. With a flippant salute to her 'boss', Teresa always went and completed her mission with ruthless efficiency. Her skills and power were recognized by the Organization, and she was quickly elevated to the Number One ranking without even testing her against Rosemary, the Number One at the time.
One day, Orsay presented Teresa with Rosemary's black card, the signal a hybrid uses to inform the Organization that they have reached their limits and wished to be killed before they awakened. Teresa was surprised by this, as she'd never really interacted with Rosemary much less the majority of her peers. Taking the card, she traveled to Rosemary to perform the final duty for the other hybrid. When she arrived, she discovered Rosemary had already awakened and sent Teresa the card after she had done so. Offended that the Organization had elevated Teresa to Number One without her and Rosemary ever crossing blades, the awakened Rosemary used the card as a ploy to draw Teresa out alone so she could kill her.
Preferring to fight an enemy instead of an ally, Teresa engaged Rosemary in battle. The awakened former Number One was powerful, on the same level as an Abyssal One, but Teresa defeated her easily, ripping off one of the awakened's limbs with her bare hands. During the fight, Teresa only released ten percent of her youki, stating that she was only doing so just to make sure she didn't forget how to do it. When Teresa met back up with Orsay, she clearly had been in a fight, and the handler chided her, asking her if she'd let Rosemary awaken. Instead of telling Orsay what really happened, Teresa just shook her head and smiled. She told him that Rosemary had not awakened and she'd run into a pack of youma on her way back. Years of successful jobs passed and Teresa's name became well known in the Organization and among her peers. She became known as Teresa of the Faint Smile as she was always seen effortlessly killing youma with that small, knowing smile on her face.
On one job where she was sent to kill six youma in one village, Teresa discovered there was a seventh. The seventh was disguised as a human and had kept a female human child as a pet. The girl was malnourished, beaten and didn't speak. Teresa killed this youma just like the others. When she was speaking to the village elders about giving their payment to Orsay when he came by in a few days, the girl latched herself onto Teresa. Not understanding and certainly not wanting the girl hanging onto her, Teresa shoved her roughly to the ground. To her astonishment, the girl got back up and flung herself at Teresa, hugging her tightly. Prying the girl off her, Teresa left her in the village and continued on her way.
The silent girl, exiled from the village because she'd been with the youma for so long, followed Teresa as she traveled. At first, Teresa found her to be nothing but a nuisance, but eventually came to grudgingly accept her continued presence. Taken by surprise, one night, by an attack from some human bandits, Teresa ended up cutting off one of the bandits' arms before she realized they were human. Once she knew they were human, she immediately stopped fighting them. The bandits, knowing of the Organization's strict rule that the hybrids weren't allowed to kill humans, tried to take advantage of both Teresa and the girl. Teresa, amused by their desire to rape her, opened the front of her bodysuit to show them her naked torso, asking them if they really wanted her body. Seeing the grotesque deformity from Teresa's implantation, they completely lost any desire for her and moved on.
Continuing to travel, Teresa decided she needed something to call the girl other than 'hey you'. She decided to name the girl Clare after one of the twin goddesses the world worshiped, the other being Teresa after which she, herself, was named for. A few nights later and Teresa was attacked by the bandit whose arm she had cut off. Despite her disfigurement, he wanted to take her body as payment for cutting off his arm, knowing there was nothing Teresa could do about it as she was forbidden from killing humans. Teresa wasn't happy about it, but she really didn't care, so she was unresisting and told the man to do whatever he wanted.
Wishing to defend the woman that saved her, Clare picked up a stick and hit the man over the head, knocking him out. The simple act of saving her touched Teresa deeply, more so when Clare finally spoke for the first time. The girl told Teresa that back in the village, she hugged her because she saw the same thing in Teresa's eyes that were in her own - loneliness. The hug hadn't been for Clare's comfort, but for Teresa's. Those words, from a girl not even half Teresa's size proved that even a Claymore could cry as she found tears falling unbidden from her eyes as she held the girl.
From that moment, compassion had been woken up inside Teresa. She continued her jobs, Orsay allowing Teresa her 'pet', and became more affectionate toward Clare. She bought the girl clothing so she wasn't in rags anymore and would even let Clare sleep on her lap. Clare wanted to stay with Teresa, but the Number One knew the life of a hybrid was not for the girl. She believed that Clare deserved to live a human life among humans, something she'd never had the chance to do herself. After exterminating a couple youma in a secluded village, Teresa left Clare there in the care of the villagers and continued on her way.
As she was traveling, a little bit away from the village, she was passed by the same group of bandits from earlier. They were heading toward the village Teresa had just left and gave her a few sneers as they passed by. It occurred to Teresa then that the youma in that village had inadvertently been protecting it from the human bandits. Realizing her mistake of leaving Clare in their care, Teresa rushed as fast as she could to the village to collect the girl. She arrived too late to find Clare's unconscious body, beaten and bloody, being dragged out of a barn by the one-armed bandit.
Without even thinking, Teresa reacted. Faster than the eye could see, she cut the arm holding onto Clare and cradled the girl to her chest. Surrounded by the bandits, they taunted her about how she was forbidden from harming them and thanked her for ridding the town of the youma for them. Something inside Teresa snapped and, despite the known consequences, she massacred the bandits. It's never stated if she went into a blind rage or if she coldly cut them down. When Clare came to, she was in Teresa's arms and the surrounding ground was stained red with blood.
The consequence for killing humans was execution. Upon learning the village's fate, Teresa was summoned by Orsay to a location where five other hybrids of unknown rank were waiting. It appeared that Teresa was accepting of her execution, Clare being restrained by the handlers, when the five hybrids attacked. Unwilling to submit to the Organization's laws, Teresa disabled all five without effort. Deciding she just wasn't ready to die yet, she stated Clare had become her reason for living. She took the girl and left, deserting the Organization.
Not knowing what else to do, Teresa continued her nomadic lifestyle with Clare in tow knowing the Organization was going to form a hunting party for her. She wasn't worried about the party's ability to defeat her as she was the best, so she didn't feel the need to hide. Eventually, Teresa and Clare came across a village with youma in it. Not knowing what else to do, killing youma was what she had been created for, Teresa exterminated them. When the villagers thanked her, meeting her with gratitude instead of fear, she didn't know how to handle it. She'd never experienced that kind of reception before as the previous villages had to pay for Organization services. When the villagers offered her a room in the nicest inn, she accepted it, still bewildered by the treatment she was receiving. This would be the last village Teresa would ever see.
Numbers Two through Five were gathered by the Organization to hunt down and execute Teresa for her defection. Irene, Noel, Sophia and the still green Priscilla located Teresa in the village. Irene lead the hunting party, despite Priscilla being the higher ranked as she recently had taken the Number Two spot from Irene, was not confident in the party's ability to defeat Teresa, having been in the same hybrid batch as Teresa. Yet, Priscilla's ability to fight without using youki, just as Teresa did, gave them just enough of an edge that they had a chance. Irene alone entered the inn to face Teresa initially and Teresa was waiting for her, having sensed her and the other hybrids' presences. All Teresa asked was that they all keep Clare out of this as the girl slept peacefully on the bed.
Teresa was easily able to parry Irene's trademark Flash Sword and the battle erupted into the streets as both Sophia and Noel got involved. It wasn't until Priscilla joined the battle, initially undetected by Teresa as the young hybrid didn't use youki for her to sense, that the flow of the battle began to turn. Priscilla insisted that the others allow her to fight Teresa alone and they obliged for a while. Even though Teresa's extraordinary ability to sense youki was useless in her battle with Priscilla, her years of experience and refined sword technique proved her to be the superior in the fight. The others intervened then, Irene recognizing that Priscilla would lose, but to no avail. Teresa was still stronger and she hadn't even released any of her youki. She injured Irene, Sophia and Noel enough to not be a threat anymore and seriously considered killing Priscilla. She recognized that Priscilla was the only one with the potential to eventually surpass her.
Teresa chose to spare Priscilla, much to Irene's astonishment, stating that maybe she had gone a bit soft. The compassion Clare had rekindled in her allowed Teresa to see for a moment Priscilla as the young, crying girl she appeared to be and not just the unyielding warrior she also was. Choosing to end the fight with all still alive, Teresa and Clare left the village. Priscilla, enraged that Teresa was getting away, ran after her in a blind rage, chasing her down outside the town. Overcome with her emotions, Priscilla started using great amounts of youki. Initially, this surprised and overwhelmed Teresa, actually injuring the Number One, but then Teresa released her youki. With only ten percent released, Teresa soundly defeated Priscilla to the awe of the other three hybrids and Clare. Unfortunately, Priscilla had gone past the eighty percent limit and was unable to control her youki. Knowing she was about to awaken, she pleaded for Teresa to end her life while she was still partially human.
Teresa agreed to do so, believing Priscilla was still in control. For a moment, she lowered her guard as she readied her sword. Whether it had been a ruse by Priscilla to get Teresa to drop her guard or she'd truly lost control, Priscilla cut off Teresa's hands and then decapitated her just before she fully awakened. Priscilla left only a traumatized Clare and Irene, pretending to be dead, alive before flying off into the sky.