# 012. BlazBlue

## 01. Volume 1: Calamity Trigger — Part 1

### 001. Rachel Short Story: "Endless Waltz"

The sound of the teacup being placed onto the saucer echoed throughout the garden blanketed with red roses.

The sky had long since set, and it was the hour which the stars illuminated the night with their cold fire. At her side an old butler with a long beard stood in silent repose. Furthermore at his side a bat and a large black cat were huddled together, snoozing away with light and easy breaths.

Rachel's teatime. Ever the same.

Skin as white as snow. Beautiful blonde hair. Red pupils. Rachel Alucard was a girl in possession of a doll-like beauty.

The girl usually dressed in black. As a foil to her white skin, this created a superb contrast, which only further enhanced the elegance of the girl. At a glance, the girl resembled nothing more than the young daughter of a noble family, however in reality she was a vampire who had already lived for several hundred years. The enormous castle built upon the vast grounds belonged to the Alucard household, a noted family amongst the vampire race. The girl was the current head of the household.

Even though she was called the head of the household, the actual occupants of the castle other than Rachel were her butler Valkenhayn, the bat Gii, and the black cat Nago. These 4 people(?) were the only ones left.

Moistening her mouth with the warm black tea, with one breath she looked up at the sky inlaid with stars. Rachel waited in still silence. For their first meeting. That was a day in the life of Rachel. A day in the life of a girl who experienced endless rewindings of time.

“We're going.”

The leisurely sleeping Nago and Gii were rudely aroused from their slumber by a shoe kicking them awake. Jumping up in shock, their unhappy protests were duly ignored by Rachel. She then pinched and slapped them for good measure. The 2 creatures yelped out loud, and hurriedly began to prepare for departure.

Ignoring the flurry of activity from the 2 creatures, Rachel looked over at her butler Valkenhayn, who appeared to be holding something in. After looking into Rachel's eyes and reading what was in there, after a few moments passed, Valkenhayn quietly said a very short “Take care milady”.

Elegantly settling herself down with ease, she tidied up her attire, and started to exude a strong sense of awareness and control over the shadows flowing withing the shadows. Rachel mumbled something softly, and her figure slowly slipped into the darkness. Valkenhayn wordlessly bowed, as his lady—— Rachel, he silently sent off.

The first thing noticeable after stepping out of the darkness was that needle-like raining was falling. Before the eye a gruesome scene stretched out for miles. What was once a church surrounded by lush woods and beautiful flowers had crumbled beyond any vestige of recognition, the surrounding area was burnt down to the ground, as if the arsonist was not only satisfied with mere kidnapping.

In the forefront of that scenery, there was a lone youth in front on the destroyed church. Cradling his right arm in his lap, his voice all but spent, he was yelling something as if his life depended on it.

“How shameful.”

Rachel noiselessly drew close to the youth's side, saying so as he looked down upon the squatting youth.

The surprised youth looked up with a stunned expression on his face. With eyes like jade he scowled at Rachel.

Rachel's expression remained unchanged as she stared at the youth for a little while, then turned her gaze to the ruins of the church.

As if surveying the place, Rachel looked over the church and it's surrounding regions, then elegantly raised her left hand to her chest level. Her fingers resembling white fish, she traced several circles in the air, and gently opened her palm. As soon as she did that, a drop of transparent light fell from her hand and spilt onto the ground. The instant the drop hit the ground, from what could be termed as the core of that place, blue light begin to form in the outline of a cross.

In a blink of an eye the blue light suddenly traced itself out into a magic square. Once it was done it hard to say if the magic square looked like some sort of family crest or not, but ground began to collapse as if a whole region had just fallen out of the ground.

The youth glanced over and saw that something incomprehensible had awoken. However, without having even enough time to scream, he was swallowed into the hole.

Before long things finally started to calm down. Occasionally, the cracking of rocks as they tumbled down into the hole could be heard

Rachel teleported to the bottom in a flash, the youth was lying flat on the ground like a cotton cloth drenched with water. Rachel stared at his unmoving figure from the shadows.

Presently, the youth who was thought to be dead struggled to get up, as if his body were as heavy as lead. Using his left arm to support his body, he called out in a feeble voice. Fresh blood flew out from his mouth.

The youth once again fell down onto his back. Ragged breaths and desperate yells issued from his mouth. It was easy to see he wasn't long for this world.

“How unexpectedly sloppy of you...”

Rachel spoke. It seemed the youth finally managed to turn his head towards Rachel, she narrowly coming into sight. Without tears nor vitality, it seemed he realized that there was only one possible outcome. As if looking for the entrance to death itself, his eyes scanned the surroundings rapidly.

“Would you like some assistance? If so, then I'll help you stop the bleeding by drinking your blood alright?”

Saying this caused an expression of dismay to rise in the back of her mind, and her cheeks flushed red.

And then once again, she looked down silently at the youth.

Some amount of time passed, and it seemed the rain had finally stopped. The majority of the sky was still covered in clouds, amidst the gaps some rays of light managed to poke through.

One of the rays lighted up the youth's vacant eyes. His right eye, which was beautiful like transparent jade, was now red as if stained by blood.

“If you don't wish to die, then stand before me.”

Suddenly, the youth broke eye contact. It seemed he had spotted something. With his last bit of strength he walked over to the wall as if his life depended on it. Gritting his teeth, he supported his body on his remaining arm.

After finally reaching the wall, with only the right eye which had been dyed red, the youth began scrutinizing the wall for something.

The burnt wall exposed a most unusual object. It was a jet black rock which looked like some sort of obsidian without any lustre.

It was shaped in the fashion of a human. However, everything above it's neck was missing. To this strange rock that had a weird shape, without any trace of hesitation, the youth walked over as if drawn to it by some unknown force. And then, he touched the rock with his bloodied left arm.

In that instant, the rock begin to rumble like the beat of a drum. What seemed like sand began to crumble from the rock, followed by a jet black mist spewing out of the rock with fierce vigor. In an instant the black mist turned into some form of darkness, and swallowed the youth whole.

Watching up to that point with her own eyes, Rachel turned to depart.

“Princess, shouldn't we watch all the way to the end?”

The black cat Nago, with a worried expression his face, asked. However, Rachel didn't reply.

“Yes, yes that's right! Princess! Isn't he someone very import- gyaa!!”

Meeting Gii's outburst with silence and a beating, Rachel shook her head slightly and muttered.

“... What an irony.”

He was always seeing himself as a “Grim Reaper”.

Rachel sat down on Nago and closed her eyes. And then they all vanished into the darkness.

Shortly after, the darkness was dispelled. In it's place stood the figure of the youth. He took several deep breaths. The youth's body which had lost it's right arm was now whole once again, the right arm back where it should be.

However, that blackness that was the right arm—— it was the same as the strange rock. That form it took—— the arm of Hades borne of blood, that was what it was.

### 002. Prologue

## Trigger Shift

A long time ago, a mysterious creature known as the "Black Beast" appeared unannounced to the world.

The Black Beast, with its overwhelming power and the absolute immunity to the weapons of that time, killed humanity helplessly, and the population had been drastically reduced. Humanity was on the verge of extinction.

Then, six warriors appeared.

They passed on the great ancient power of "Sorcery" to mankind, and the people fused it with their "Science" to complete the new power known as "Ars Magus".

After establishing the Ars Magus, humanity, along with these six warriors, launched a counterattack against the Black Beast, and finally succeeded in defeating it after a long and fierce battle.

This battle would be called the "First War of Ars Magus" and these six warriors became known as the "Six Heroes" that would be remembered for generations to come.

The human race was overjoyed at having defeated the Black Beast, but the situation was not all happy.

A black mist inexhaustibly overflowed from the body of the slain Black Beast and instantly seeded the entire surface of the earth.

It turns out that this black mist, known as "Seithr", is a toxic substance that can harm the human body if a high amount is ingested.

In order to avoid the harmful substances on the surface of the earth, humans began to migrate by building so-called "hierarchical cities" by carving out mountainous areas.

At the same time, the "Orbis Libararius Norma (OLN)" was established to manage the large number of "Seithr" created by mankind for the purpose of exercising Ars Magus.

Eventually, the governing OLN began to use their advantage of having a large number of "Grimoire’s" to rule the globe.

More than half of humanity perished in the battle against Black Beast, but with new power and a new ruler, humanity achieved a rapid recovery.

A few decades have passed since the start of the Oribis Libararius Norma's, now known as the “Novus Orbis Librarium (NOL)”, reign. The Ars Magus had taken its deep roots in the lives of the people and had become an indispensable part of society.

However, the effectiveness of "Ars Magus" depends on the inborn capabilities of an individual. The NOL’s policy of favoring those with high seithr output has let to creating inequality and dissatisfaction with the system.

Because of this… soon after, the "Ikaruga Federation", which was under the Librarium, declared its independence.

This would mark the first war between humans using Ars Magus. The war ended with the defeat and destruction of the Ikagura Federation.

The NOL became even more forceful and has made it clear in people's minds that it will completely annihilate anyone who dare to opposes them. Anyone, but…

The first time I saw him, he showed me his never dying “will”.

A few years later. Someone has started to rebel against the NOL that maintains absolute power and governance.

Ragna The Bloodedge

He eventually became the No. 1 on the Library's bounty list as an the SS-class criminal for single-handedly challenging and destroying various NOL branches, which is said to have a military force rivaling that of a country's army.

He always leaves when he destroyed the "Cauldron's" that lie deep within the main branches of each region. His reason’s, unknown.

Ragna the Bloodedge has yet again succeeded in his goal by destroying the NOL branch in the 13th Hierarchical City Kagutsutchi. With the destruction of its respective Cauldron, Ragna the Bloodedge did what he wanted.

However, his true goal has yet to be realized.

Having observed the resurrection of "Yuuki Terumi", one of the Six Heroes, his true enemy, Ragna quietly waits for the right moment to strike in the land of Kagutsuchi.

### 003. Prologue-The Day of Fate

Relius: A merciless event that suddenly occurs without any warning, before you can even think, it can destroy, it can trample, it can rob.

Ragna: Guaaagh! Aaaugh! Uuuaaaaaaagh! Auagh!

Relius: And so, you become unable to do anything but hate. The reality you're faced with, the fragility of everyday life, one's own powerlessness, everything is just as difficult…

Hazama: Hey, hey, hey, hey! A poem while carefreely gazing at a huge bonfire? Relius-san!?

Relius: How's the Avatar?

Hazama: Tch, as usual, nothing but selfish. Here ya go!

Saya&Jin: ...

Relius: It's a precious vessel, treat it with care.

Hazama: My bad, my bad.

Relius: Hm? What is that?

Hazama: Ah? Aaaah… What was it again? I think their name was like Jin or something?

Relius: I'm only trying to get a vessel.

Hazama: I need this guy though! The Power of Order you see, his use is still different though.

Relius: How's the Man of the Azure?

Hazama: He was rolling around during the day, all spaced out, so I tried cutting off his arm a little and he went on a rampage. Cuz of that, he ended up passing out again. Keheh, It's funny isn't it? The next time he opens his eyes there'll be nothing at all. No home, no siblings, and no hope. Writhing around in pitch-black darkness, he might just cry~ Maybe he’ll die of despair. Kehehehe HAHAHA! It's seriously funny.

Relius: It seems an Onlooker has arrived. That's enough chit-chat.

Hazama: Yeah, yeah, see ya later Relius-san. Work hard for my sake too you know.

Relius: Your vessel will take a bit of time. Besides, there's no meaning even if it sticks a little.

Relius picks up Saya and walks off

Hazama: Well then. See ya, Ragna-kun. Please work hard for me from now on. Hehehehe hahaha!

Relius (narration): BlazBlue Drama CD "The Wheel of Fortune"

### 004. Prologue

The Gate. That was what he called it.

In a man-made, unnatural room, green and red lights were flickering. Two men were fixing their gazes to numerous lined up gauges.

One was in his early forties. He wore a white gown. At a glance, his appearance would look like that of a scientist. However, any effort to keep a cool composure still couldn't hide his nervousness. Frequently combing his hair and pushing up his glasses didn't help, either.

One was a little younger. He was in his late twenties. He didn't give a single speck of what he was thinking or anything resembling emotions. His eyes were locked on the gauge's reading.

"On the Azure Grimoire, the Prime Field Device Type Zero, Murakumo Unit..."

The man with glasses, who was watching the gauges, lifted his face. His eyes were sharply narrowing at the sight that had spread before him.

There, a particular glass panel had been installed to one of the walls. On the other side of the glass, something was clearly visible.

What could be seen was something that looked like the crater of a volcano. Thick red liquid was burning furiously. It was squirming within the hole of the solid rock surface.

It could also be seen as the pulse of an unreasonable creature.

"This definitely falls to an unconventional category... But having come this far, it feels like any common sense would be meaningless, yes?"

The voice was directed to the expressionless young man by his side. But the young man didn't even glance to where the voice was coming from. The side of his face looked like it had been hardened with wax. Within it, only his cold, apathetic lips moved slightly.

"... The Kusanagi is..."

"What's wrong, Relius? To completely purify Kusanagi, a little bit more time is necessary, but..."

The gentleman with glasses had begun speaking, but he was interrupted. The wax-faced man called Relius, who had been sitting the entire time, suddenly rose up from his chair. Then he hurriedly went out of the room.

The man with glasses who had been left behind also hurriedly chased after him.

They went inside an elevator from the corridor and finally descended to some place. They were in front of the object that looked like a giant crater, which could be seen across the special glass panel from before.

The two men who had been running around were standing around the vicinity of the crater.

"Relius! You were the one who said not to do any unnecessary intervention to the "Gate", weren't you!?"

Rushing up, the man flinched from the overwhelming heat. The man with glasses raised his voice to compensate for it.

Whether because of the might of the whirling flames, or perhaps because he had no intention to turn his face from the beginning, the other man stared down the gigantic cauldron-like object.

"What's the meaning of this...? There is no response from Kusanagi. There is something from deeper within...."

"Hey! What's going on, Relius Clover!?"

"This is... I see. The opposite side of the Boundary—"

Suddenly, black mist gushed out from the crater.

Its violent force swallowed Relius' words, then instantly engulfed him entirely.

"Wha...!?"

Something was happening.

The black mist spread endlessly in front of the wide-eyed and shocked man with glasses. The force was drastically growing greater and the heat increased the pressure of the atmosphere.

Relius was nowhere to be seen. Any trace of him being swallowed had also vanished.

"Uh... Ah, ah..."

Something was happening.

It was beyond the man's comprehension.

A phenomenon no one had witnessed before was swirling about. It was stretching and squirming, as if taking some sort of a form.

Slowly, something had appeared, raising its crooked neck upward... it was somewhat similar to a snake.

Before long, the enormous body had reached its critical limit and began trembling. It burst and flew out in an instant.

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH—!"

Even the man's scream was swallowed. The mist demon, roaring and causing tremors, was spurting out, and then it surged as vigorously as ever.

Trampling all kinds of logic, it kept growing higher and higher.

Thus, there were almost no remains left.

Only the eroded wall ruins of the measurement room and an unnaturally silent cauldron were left behind.

The silver full moon hung on the sky.

It was a place that was connected to everywhere, yet could be reached from nowhere.

It was a place where everything looked like illusions drifting about.

Thick ivy covered the entire sides of the old castle's walls. Within one of its room, there was an aging white haired man sitting alone. His body sunk deep within his profound seat.

With his youthful but wise eyes, which matched his piling age, he stared at the water's surface, similar to a mirror from a stretched silver tray.

All that was occurring in the world was projected there.

...As well as dismays and sorrows.

"Clavis-sama."

A voice was raised behind the aged man. It was the voice of a man with deep composure.

Without turning his head, the aged man glanced to where the voice came from. He answered while lightly molding his hand to support his cheeks.

"Valkenhayn, isn't it? ...I assume you bring bad news."

"In accordance with the international summit meeting held not too long ago, the resolution to launch a nuclear strike on Japan has been confirmed. Judging by the current circumstances, I fear it will be carried soon enough."

"I see..."

The aged man's eyes were clouded with grief before dropping down their sight at the reflective water surface.

"It can no longer be avoided, then. If that was their decision, then there is nothing we can do... I am but only a mere observer."

What sort of outcome would their decision make? A better future? Or complete destruction?

The constant questions within the aged man's mind grew silent, as well as the projections of all of the world's incidents on the reflective water.

Without warning, black mist gushed out from within the earth. It took the form of a gigantic serpent with numerous heads. Mankind called that mist demon, which appeared so suddenly, the "Black Beast".

The Black Beast's only instinct was to destroy.

Anything and everything, it destroyed entirely.

The elusive beast could not be matched by anyone's powers, nor could it be hurt by any kind of strength. In the end, humanity decided to destroy the land where the Black Beast appeared.

It was surely the very last measure that could be taken.

However... the being didn't die.

The Black Beast leaped from the scorched earth and spread all over the world.

### 005. Chapter 1: Lost White

———Log 1

The collaborative research with him went favorably so far.

His knowledge and skills proved to be greatly useful to my personal research task. I'm looking forward to the development from here on after.

Relius Clover. He is truly a genius.

———Log 2

Today, an unusual visitor came. He was a suspicious man who had green hair and snake-like smile.

He seemed to be really interested in our research, to the point that he requested us to develop a particular prime field device.

It obviously should be refused, but Relius consented of his own accord. Relius had always been that kind of a guy. Always deciding something only by his own, disregarding everyone else's.

Despite that, we never expected to be actually doing that mysterious man's pipe dream.

However, according to that man's words, we might have the chance to come in contact with the Original Unit. If that is what would be happening, then I would consider it as a sufficient payoff.

That man certainly had the knowledge in the areas we were lacking in. It didn't take long for Relius to cooperate with him on a whim.

### Part 1

The suffocating stench of greenery could be smelled.

Then, dazzling light shone down on the opposite direction.

But he could only grasp that much. Everything else was vague. He felt like he was dreaming.

Where is this place? Who am I? What am I doing? Am I alive? Did I die? Do I even exist?

Not understanding anything, he felt like perhaps he was sitting on a grass.

"...kay?"

Suddenly, someone's voice could be heard.

Was that person facing in this direction? The dazzling light from before started receding.

"A... you... kay?"

It was a female's voice. The voice was pure and flowing clearly. His dazed mind was calming down because of that clear voice.

He was thinking for a reply, but his strength left his body. His voice wouldn't come out.

He was at his limit. He could not remain conscious.

Suddenly, his body shook and felt like it was falling down. At the same time, the world around him became shrouded by darkness.

On the brink of losing consciousness, the female's voice panicked, muttered something. Immediately, he could not hear anything anymore.

When his eye opened, he could see cracks on the wooden ceiling.

"...Where is this place?

A crude futon had been spread out to serve as a crude bed. Lying down on top of it was a figure of a white haired young man, frowning.

It was an unfamiliar scenery. His green eye was moving around to look at the surroundings. The bed was neatly tucked in. He seemed to be in a nearly collapsed simple cabin. There were very few household items; an almost broken chair and cracked tableware. The surrounding was just like that.

Just as expected, he did not recognize this place.

"What happened...?"

He could not think clearly as his head was still dazed. Just as he was about to get up, he heard a small sound from behind.

"Ah, you're finally awake. I'm glad."

Simultaneously, a female's voice could be heard. The young man turned around.

It was a girl with tied up gentle brown hair and a slender figure. She was getting inside the cabin.

The girl looked at the young man and made a delightful expression as she rushed to his side. She casually took the young man's left hand and put her fingers on his wrist as she easily took his pulse.

"Does it hurt somewhere? Do you feel anything bad?"

"Not really. ...By the way, who the heck are you? How come I'm lying here?"

Not understanding the situation at all, the young man stared at the girl. She seemed to be in her teens. Her white skin was without any suntan and she had a refined look.

It was very unlikely for her to live in such worn-out cabin like this.

"That's right. I've yet to introduce myself. I'm Celica A. Mercury."

The girl named Celica carelessly replied while displaying a friendly smile.

This ruined cabin became even more unsuitable for her.

"Onii-san's name is?"

"Oh yeah, my name is..."

It was such an easy question and he was about to answer it, but the young man was at loss for words.

Name. His own name. Somehow, it wasn't coming out.

It's not like he never had one. It's just that his head was in such a mess. When he tried to recall it, he felt like there was something like white haze trying to swallow his consciousness.

"...It's Ragna."

Strongly pressing his scowling head to his left hand, the white haired young man called Ragna was able to get his name from within his confused mind.

It didn't feel wrong when he spoke of it. Surely this meant that it was indeed his name.

"Ragna-san, then. I under..."

"Wait, wait. Just Ragna is fine. If you put 'san' to it, it just doesn't feel right."

"Fufu, okay. Nice to meet you, Ragna."

Seeing Ragna roughly messing with his unkempt hair, Celica let out an amused laugh.

Ragna then made an awkward look on his face. After that, he once again looked around between Celica and the cabin.

Since his body felt so heavy, moving became really troublesome.

"Hey, Celica. I totally don't have any idea how I got into this situation. Only thing I get is that I somehow slept in this beat-down house. Tell me the details of what happened."

"Ah, that's true. Well then, let me keep it short."

Celica frankly nodded and then moved to sit on the edge of Ragna's bed to face him. Her large, doll-like eyes looked straight at Ragna without hesitating.

"Ragna, you had collapsed at the entrance of the forest located behind this village... or perhaps I should say you lied down. You had injuries all over your body, and your unstable consciousness was also very faint, so I borrowed this cabin's bed for you to rest in."

"Did you carry me all the way here?"

"That's impossible! Ragna, you had almost no consciousness left, but you managed to walk here on your own. Of course, I lent you my shoulders to support you, too."

While saying “you were really heavy!” and laughing, Celica turned her tiny shoulders around and around.

She was a girl with a cheerful smile. A strange laughter which wouldn't make anyone upset. Instead of just a plain laughter, it gave off such gentle warmth, just like being in the middle of a place where the sun was shining down softly.

(...This kind of smile... I've seen it somewhere before.)

Still feeling the thick haziness within his mind, Ragna's faint memories were asserting themselves like they were being stirred. But whose smile was that? Where did he see it? Whether those were truly his memories or not... he had no confidence in them.

"Then I treated Ragna's injuries. After that, I cleaned your dirty face and clothes, too. Just as I got back from washing the towel, you awakened."

"You keep saying I had wounds. Why can't I see any here?"

Ragna then looked down upon his own body.

Black clothes and a long red jacket. The holes on them were patched and remains of dirt could still be seen. However, there was no trace of any scar left by the treatment.

Celica seemed to be a little troubled as her eyebrows furrowed, and she started to scratch a cheek with her fingertip.

"Ah, about that. How should I put it...?"

"Just tell me already."

"...The thing is, I healed Ragna's wounds by using magic... I would say, but would you believe me?"

Her huge eyes stared at Ragna intensely as if examining him. A slight bit of uneasiness had spread on her smiling face.

Realizing it, Ragna wondered slightly.

"Oh. So you're a magician. And a healing magic user on top of it. First time I actually saw one."

"Eh?"

This time, it was Celica's turn to wonder around. Blinking with surprise, she slightly leaned her small body forward.

"That talk about magic, do you really believe me?"

"Huh? Even if I don't wanna believe it, it's not like it's a weird thing to be actually true."

Magic was a special kind of skill that had existed a long time ago. To able to handle it was largely determined by the qualities of a person. Because of it, there weren't many of its users, but the existence and term of magic was supposedly known by most people.

At the very least, it was common sense according to what Ragna remembered.

(Hm? But where have I seen magic used before?)

He was sure that he had seen someone use it before, but yet again it was buried by the white haze within his mind as he tried to remember.

In front of him, Celica looked dumbfounded as she fixed her gaze at Ragna.

"Ragna... You're surely a weird person."

"The hell was that?"

"After all, any ordinary person would say that magic is very unscientific and then simply dismiss its existence."

Ragna tilted his head, as if puzzled. If he was not to believe any of her words, it would be that one. But Celica explained it in a serious manner of speaking. It was unlikely for her to be joking.

It was a weird feeling. It was as if the world had suddenly changed after he awakened from sleep.

While Ragna was still confused, Celica had already come to her own conclusion. It was shown by the same attractive cheerful face from the beginning that had blossomed. She then raised her lean figure back up.

"But I'm glad. Now I don't have to explain about magic and all of its details anymore."

"Seems so."

Ragna let out a bitter smile. His expression changed bit by bit.

"Ah... but still."

Suddenly, a sad look appeared within Celica's eyes. Her small hands slowly and gently touched Ragna's right arm.

"No matter what, I can't heal your right arm and right eye back to normal..."

"Seems like it."

Snapped out, Ragna had noticed something ever since Celica entered the room.

Thanks to Celica's healing magic, there wasn't any single scratch left on his body.

However, his right arm and right eye were not the same case. They were in their usual shape, but it felt like there wasn't any existence in them, and neither could they be moved.

He could only twitch the arm's fingertips. The eye had lost its ability to perceive light.

"I don't mean to pry, but what exactly happened?"

Slightly leaning her head, Celica glanced at Ragna while he felt his right arm.

Ragna started to remove the glove which covered his right hand. The hand that appeared looked similar to a solidified shadow. It was dyed pitch black, and there were claws on the end of it.

Stroking it, he knew that it was human skin, but there wasn't any sensation whatsoever when it was touched.

It was as if a totally different person's arm had been attached to him.

"...I can't remember why."

"You mean the reason why your arm is like that?"

"Nope. Not just that."

Ragna sighed. It was about time he finally admitted it no matter what. He was well aware that his arm and eye were not like the others.

"How did I get here? Where did I come from? To begin with, what kind of person I am...?"

As he talked, his voice seemed to be more distant. He had a bad feeling about his questions.

"Except my name, I can't remember anything else."

A brief pause. It seemed Celica had finally understood what Ragna was trying to convey. Her eyes slowly but surely widened an impressive extent in response.

### Part 2

Memory loss. It sure was easy to speak of, but it's not as if Ragna forgot everything.

For example, the world had air, water, and soil. This kind of knowledge was implanted within his brain. He had already understood any common sense that didn't require any thinking process.

The memories he had lost were mainly anything that concerned his own background. He barely remembered his name, but he forgot who had given him that name. Did he have parents? How about siblings? Where was he born? Where had he been raised? What were his friends' names?

He knew this information existed within his brain, but he couldn't find them. Consequently, he couldn't guess the reason why he collapsed near a deserted village.

"...Hey, hear me for a bit, will ya?"

The sun had steadily leaned westward. It was already noon. Ragna and Celica were walking through the rough path of a mountain which seemed to be unexploited by human hands.

Celica turned out to not have any relation with the abandoned village. She was there by chance when she was en route to her destination. Discovering Ragna was a coincidence.

Her destination was a port city not too far from here. Unlike the abandoned village within the mountain, the port city had many people living there. Ships and buses always traveled around to various places. It seemed she was about to board a ship there to continue her journey to search for her father.

It was possible to obtain information regarding memory loss there. In any case, it was better than just staying at that abandoned village. For that very reason, Ragna decided to accompany Celica.

Along the way, Ragna took a step ahead and spoke with a heavy tone while looking at Celica.

"This might be my imagination, okay?"

"Mm, what is it?"

Celica answered while looking straight ahead. Her tied-up long hair swayed around while she walked.

Although he was distracted by it, Ragna talked with a grimaced look.

"...Aren't we back on the same road?"

The port city was on the bottom of the mountain. But the road they were taking continued to be steadily ascending. The inclination felt just the same as when they were getting out from the abandoned village. Celica turned to Ragna and smiled.

"It's just your feeling. That can't happen. You worry too much, Ragna."

"Yeah, if only that was the case. Then am I seeing that wrong?"

As he said that, Ragna pointed at the object he was looking at.

The thin path hadn't been explored by many people. To even see traces on the road might have been a stroke of luck.

On the sloppy road from before, bit by bit, houses could be seen lining up.

Residences.

But there wasn't any sight of people.

Of course, it's because that was the abandoned village.

"...Eh?"

Her eyes followed Ragna's finger. There was a brief pause. With an innocent voice, Celica leaned her head, looking puzzled.

"Don't gimme that 'eh'! Are you an idiot!? We actually circled back here!"

"No way... This is strange. It was a straight road."

"The heck does it lead?! You're the one brimming with confidence when you said we should cut through the forest!"

"Oh dear, was that right?"

"Yes, it was! Wait, don't you have any idea that we're currently lost!?"

Celica frequently ensured Ragna when she unhesitatingly went on trackless paths. Her confidence on moving forward never wavered even once. That's why Ragna kept burying his emerging uneasiness deep within. Until now.

"But if we're to climb down the mountain, shouldn't we just keep going downward?"

If that was the case, how did they go back there again?

Ragna wondered while holding his head by his still functional left hand.

"You have a map?"

"I got one."

Celica grabbed a map from her dangled bag and spread it. It was a world map.

"Let's see. If we're heading to the town, then I think we're probably here."

Her white finger pointed at an area near a town around seashore. The actual distance, however, was quite hard to imagine.

Even then, she said things like "I think" and "probably" when pointing at the world map. It pretty much made her credibility nonexistent.

Ragna had finally understood. He always had been suspicious of her.

Why would a person go through a deserted village located in a mountain? How he collapsed in that place was one thing, but why would a girl like Celica end up in that place, too?

The questions weren't that important anymore. He felt it as if it was natural.

"Celica."

Ragna put his hand on her shoulder.

"You don't have any sense of direction at all, do you?"

"Eh? That can't be true."

"It's TRUE!"

Hearing the girl's confused reply, Ragna instinctively raised his voice.

"I'm not gonna say anything bad, but you have to realize it yourself. It's because of this disaster that we're so slow. From now own, when you're wandering alone, we got to have a counter measure..."

Raising the corner of his eye, Ragna began to preach at Celica. Suddenly, Ragna stopped mid-sentence. He sensed ominous presences.

Influenced by his hunch, Ragna grabbed a large sword which had been hung on his waist.

It was a peculiar sword with a broad blade. Ragna couldn't recall how he obtained it.

"Eh? W-What's wrong?"

"Just get behind me for now."

Guarding the confused Celica behind his back, Ragna directed the bulky tip of his sword toward their surroundings.

As if awaiting them, black silhouettes jumped out from within the surrounding forest near the abandoned village.

"What the heck are these things...?"

Ragna was bewildered by the figures.

What had jumped out were four-legged beasts. Their heads were at Ragna's knee level. There were six of them, their fangs resembling that of dog. However, it was unusual for wild dogs to group up like this.

They discharged muddy drool which resembled pus as they slowly closed the distance. Rather than dog, their obviously grotesque appearances were more similar to hellhounds straight from a nightmare.

Their needle-like fur seemed as if it was stained by black soot.

"This is caused by the Black Beast."

Celica said that while frowning behind the cover of Ragna's back.

"Black Beast?"

"A monster resembling a massive amount of shadow. Six years ago, it appeared all of a sudden in Japan and destroyed everything indiscriminately. Any wildlife that has received its influence will immediately become ferocious and attack humans."

"Impossible...!"

As he was replying, Ragna got interrupted and couldn't finish his sentence. The six beasts, which had been lowering their stance, simultaneously leaped at them.

"Shit! You're annoying!"

Protecting Celica, Ragna drew a half-circle with his sword to shake off the beasts.

Although the head couldn't remember how to handle the sword, the body clearly did. His body was moving faster than his thinking process.

The dull sensation meant he had sliced one of beast's abdomen. But the slashing speed mismatched what he had remembered.

His arm felt heavy. He had fortunately grown accustomed to handling the sword by only his left arm, but the fact that he couldn't move anything above his right elbow was extremely inconvenient. His body balance felt amiss.

Moreover, because he couldn't see anything on his right side anymore, it was hindering his movement.

Ragna roughly kicked the body of a wild dog that had been aiming for his feet.

As if its throat was torn, it let out an eerie shriek. Along with it, black powder and saliva scattered around.

"Scram!!"

The poor balance of his body made any lightweight technique insufficient. With all his might, he swung his sword in succession to repel attacks using the front frames, and then used the back of his sword to smash the skull of the beast that had leaped.

The bone hadn't even been crushed, but the beast fainted and collapsed to the ground. Four left.

Ragna took the chance to thrust the tip of his sword when the beasts were howling to each other, using its bulky side to hit one of them on the nose.

Instead of feeding it meat, Ragna gagged another beast with the sword's blade. He proceeded to bash the beast as if he was swinging a hammer.

Another one had leaped, but Ragna used the momentum to slam it down using his feet before doing a straight slash intended to kill it. The last beast had jumped with its fangs bared. He avoided it and used his body weight to strike the beast's spine.

"Guh, haah... hah..."

Before long, the six beastly figures had laid weak on the dry ground.

Still, Ragna's breathing had become disordered. Faint tongue clicking could be heard as he looked at his right arm. If the arm could at least move, he would be more at ease when fighting. Since his arm was completely restrained, he had to be exceptionally careful.

"Those things...caused by the Black Beast?"

Ragna pierced the ground with the massive sword. As he leaned his unbalanced body to the sword, Ragna groaned. The right half of his body became excessively heavy.

"And it appeared six years ago? Don't give me that joke."

"What do you mean?"

From behind Ragna, who had stabilized his breathing, Celica slowly appeared while frowning and looking puzzled.

Ragna roughly pondered in his mind. As if something big had clung on, his mind gave off a bad feeling.

"What, did I say something weird? The Black Beast's appearance is a hundred year old fairy tale, right? And what's with Japan? Wasn't Japan the utterly destroyed country from a long time ago?"

"What do you mean by long time ago? Sure, Japan had ceased to be a country, but both the Black Beast's attack and nuclear strike happened six years ago, you know?"

"That can't be..."

Ragna's words stopped midway.

Celica was looking at him with a confused look. She didn't seem to be kidding. Rather, surely this girl wouldn't pull a stunt to tell lies and deceive him, right?

Despite that, Ragna's faint memories kept shouting in denial, as if clawing around his mind. He couldn't comprehend what she had said as truth or not.

"Hey! The hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Eh?"

Cutting off his thought, Ragna raised his voice at Celica. She once again looked puzzled as she turned to face him.

Before Ragna noticed it, Celica had approached one of the defeated wild dogs and knelt beside it.

"Get away! Those things are still..."

"It's okay."

I still haven't finished them off yet. That was what Ragna was about to say before Celica replied softly.

Celica held her white hands over the defeated and helpless wild dog. The hands were slightly enveloped with a warm-looking light. She gently brushed the dog's fur and the black soot filth was dissolved.

What had happened was obvious. His first time seeing it. Healing magic.

He was about to stop her, but after seeing Celica's expression when she watched the dog, Ragna froze. It was a very affectionate face. It was breathtaking.

"...It's all right now. Please return to your home."

That whisper felt nostalgic. Ragna suddenly got minor dizziness as he thought that.

The wild dog got up, letting out a pitiful whimper.

Reflexively, Ragna put himself on guard, but the awakened wild dog had lost the ferociousness from before.

Instead, it looked startled and ran to the forest after seeing its collapsed comrades.

One by one, Celica cured the other wild dogs. While she was doing so, Ragna watched her, anticipating for any attack the whole time.

Soon, the defeated wild dogs had all gone to the forest. Celica stood up and brushed off the dirt on her knees. Ragna then let out a big sigh of amazement.

"Hey, you. That stunt you did just now, do you always do that?"

There was no more danger lingering about. Ragna put the sword back to his waist and scratched his head.

Celica crossed her arms behind like a kid and let out a wry smile.

"It's not good?"

"It's obviously not, you idiot! What are you gonna do if they attack again? Don't do things without knowing the consequences!"

"But I can't just leave them."

Looking straight at the lecturing Ragna, Celica showed no sign of regret. She answered clearly with no hesitation.

Since he actually said a sound argument, Ragna seemed to be astonished upon hearing her reply.

"What are you babbling about? Being kind is one thing, but you can't go being soft-hearted to everything."

"Aha... thanks. I already heard that from various people. But I can't do it. Once I see them like that, I can't just avert my eyes from them."

Celica looked up at Ragna, smiling and narrowing her eyes as if crying.

"I knew that I was being naïve. However, I often see something hurt before my eyes and I have the power to heal them. If I don't use it, they may die. If I use it, they can live for at least a little more."

"You're hopeless."

As if cut by Celica's words, Ragna shook his head while looking dumbfounded.

Celica bashfully tilted her head.

"Besides, Ragna would save me if I were attacked, right?"

"Idiot."

"Eh? What's with that?! Why did you call me idiot? Speaking of, you've called me idiot before, too!"

"Finally realized it, huh? You're a hopeless idiot."

While saying that, Ragna was actually surprised. What Celica said probably was true to him.

Even when he didn't know who and where he came from, perhaps as Celica had said he would save her if she were in danger.

If he saw someone being attacked, he would draw his sword to help. At that time, thinking about what to do first would be a meaningless argument. That was probably what Celica wanted to say. However, Ragna couldn't bring himself to say he understood her. After all, what she did was truly careless.

Since he couldn't remove his discomfort, Ragna tried to hide it by snatching the map from Celica.

"Ah. My map!"

"Lend me it. It's useless in your possession."

Though, anyone wouldn't be able to make any sense from the sketchy map by seeing it.

"But Ragna, you've lost your memories, right? Moreover, I think it's better if I hold on to it."

"Nope. I'll trust you only when you lose your memory."

"I see, that might work! Maybe that way I can stop getting lost!"

"So we really ARE lost!"

"Ah. Oops."

Whoosh. Celica clamped her hands over her mouth.

An emotion that was neither irritation nor shock appeared. Unsatisfied, Ragna walked to her with a trembling functional left hand, wondering if he should hit her.

Just after he took a step, a gust of wind suddenly slashed across and thrust itself between them.

"Wha...!?"

"Hyah!?"

Ragna jumped back and Celica ducked.

This time, a short figure wearing a low hood stood up. Within the shade of the hood, a pair of sharp eyes peeked out and shone, focusing on Ragna.

The abnormally large hand discharged a single swing of sword. The gleaming drawn sword pointed at Ragna, deciding him as its target.

### Part 3

"Who the hell are you, asshole?!"

Ragna yelled at the unexpected intruder.

He was shorter than Ragna, shorter than even Celica. Even with the tiny figure, his lowered stance surprisingly lacked any opening.

"Only a traveler passin' by."

The small intruder replied using a male voice which clearly didn't fit with his appearance at all. Though the voice intonation sounded young, his composed way of speaking and the unwavering point of his sword suggested his capability.

Ragna grabbed the handle of the sword that he had returned to his waist not too long ago. His heart beat faster.

"I ain't the type to meddle in someone's problem. But I can't just shut my mouth an' walk away when I see a frail woman got attacked by a bastard deep in the mountain."

"Huh? Wait a sec. I'm not attacking anyone..."

Just as Ragna was about to explain himself, the hooded man made his move.

It was similar to a squall.

Ragna barely caught his breath as he reflexively drew his sword. Immediately, swords clashed in front of his eyes, scattering red sparks.

"It's shameful to make cheap excuses. Ye written yer sins, scoundrel!?"

Before Ragna's eye, the fearless hooded man grinned.

Ragna's eye widened in surprise at the hooded man's true appearance.

"Beastkin!?"

The face of the man, who intended to slice Ragna, wasn't that of a human.

The hidden face was that of a beast, complete with white and dark brown fur. The protruding nose tip got a darker tawny brown fur.

His symmetrical eyes were large and their pupils stretched vertically. His sneering lips were slim, and within the gap, short but sharp fangs peeked.

On closer look, there were a set of triangular ears on the hood. If his back was to be observed, you could find the sword's scabbard attached and two split long tails swaying around.

The cat-faced man revealed his amused laughter

"Know about beastkin, eh? What an interestin' chap."

"Kuh...!"

The beastkin unleashed his swordplay one after another. Ragna had to use all his strength to handle it.

His clothes got torn, and along with it pain ran across Ragna's shoulder.

Barely able to block the huge swing from the sword, Ragna's left hand trembled because of the big impact.

The impact also made his mind shake.

Dizziness appeared. Deep within his mind, fragments of memories seemed to be saying something.

(I... Do I know this guy?)

He heard this voice somewhere. He recognized the face and the eyes.

"You... Are you Jubei?"

The white haze that had always locked up his memories started to crack. He could feel pieces of it crumbling. Things he had forgotten slowly flooded his mind.

Jubei. A cat-type beastkin that once had taught Ragna how to wield a blade.

Two-toned dark brown and white fur, tan pupils, and two parts of a branching tail. The voice also matched. Ragna, who had a sword pointed at him, thought that the beastkin had too many resemblances to his master.

But there was one thing definitely wrong. His master had an eye patch covering his right eye, while the beastkin before him didn't.

(Is he the wrong guy...?)

While Ragna was lost in his thought, the beastkin moved.

Using the blade's intersection point as the center of gravity, he twisted his small body like a spring and landed a kick on Ragna's abdomen. Against the unusual attack, Ragna was blown off backward and groaned.

"Jubei? Who's that fella?"

While he was preparing the sword again, the beastkin's cat-face twisted into a dubious look as he asked.

Ragna swallowed his vomit back and coughed as he rose. He held his slightly disordered head and shook it lightly.

"Tch... You can't possibly know nothing about him. He's one of the Six Heroes who beat the Black Beast a hundred years ago."

That's right. The Six Heroes.

One hundred years ago, a group of six people who happened to be heroes had defeated the Black Beast. For the Black Beast to exist despite that was ridiculous.

However, Ragna could see the beastkin's facial expression grow even more warped as his dubiousness increased.

"Beat... the Black Beast? Hey, if yer tryin' to be funny, I'm not laughin', y'know."

"I'm not joking. Seriously, you really don't know Jubei!?"

Losing his patience, Ragna raised his voice. He couldn't believe there was a person who didn't know Jubei's name—even more when it came from a cat-type beastkin.

But the young cat man who resembled his master just stared at him suspiciously while shaking his head.

"Dunno. Also, the name's Mitsuyoshi. Ye speak like me, but I never met whatever guy yer spoutin' as someone who beat the Black Beast!"

The man who called himself Mitsuyoshi became more cautious and abruptly narrowed his cat eyes. He was preparing his sharp claws and sword.

"Tryin' to confuse me and escape will get ye nowhere! Prepare yerself, scoundrel!"

With an unworldly physical strength, he kicked the ground with the small feet. Instantly, he leaped straight to Ragna.

Too fast. The approaching wind pressure made such a burden to Ragna's head, caused him grogginess. He couldn't move at all.

A moment after, he caught a short breath...

"Stooooooooooop!"

The moment the girl's scream was heard, Mitsuyoshi's sword stopped.

Between Ragna and Mitsuyoshi, there was a slight gap where a person might be able to slip into. Celica had leaped into the gap.

The silver blade tip had been aimed at Ragna's chest. It was now pointed to Celica's forehead.

Celica slightly opened her eyes. She had spread both of her arms as if to protect Ragna.

Ragna and Mitsuyoshi's eyes opened wide in surprise. Several seconds later, the stiff tension slowly began to dissipate. Feeling the same sense of relief, both Ragna and Mitsuyoshi instinctively dropped their respective weapons.

In the deserted village within the mountain from before, there was an overgrown weed field. Ragna had been sitting on it, while receiving treatment for his slashed shoulder.

Celica's hands were shining, warm but faint. Her fingertips traced the sliced skin's surface to heal the wound. The warm light gave such a strange feeling that couldn't be put into words.

"Hahaha. So that's what happened. In short, ye collapsed and got memory loss, huh?! Ye should've told me sooner."

Mitsuyoshi had received the explanation from Celica. He slapped his furry knee with his bulky paws, and burst into laughter happily.

Hearing that, Ragna scowled and glared at him.

"The one who actually didn't listen to my side of story and proceeded to cut me is you."

"Is that right? Well, I thought a pretty girl got attacked by a mountain bandit. It ain't possible to think otherwise, y'know? Why woulda pretty young lady be goin' inside a deserted mountain? Why, she got kidnapped by a bandit, that's why."

"...Yet she didn't."

Resting his chin on the knees, Ragna glanced at Celica.

"Ah, ahahaha... I-I guess I was kind of lost..."

Laughing awkwardly, Celica put Ragna's cured shoulder back in his red jacket.

Mitsuyoshi continued to laugh merrily.

"A collapsed person an' a lost child, eh. I met many kinds of people on my long trip, but this is the first time I met such an amusin' combination."

"And that's where a misunderstanding beastkin freak comes in."

"Don't say such a bad thing. It's not very polite. Don't be fussin' over minor details."

Jubei kept laughing hard and Ragna watched him with a sullen face.

Mitsuyoshi said he had no relation to Jubei. It's true that he didn't wear an eyepatch, but Ragna also felt that Mitsuyoshi gave a different impression than the Jubei he remembered.

Ragna knew that Mitsuyoshi was a different person, although the beastkin bore many resemblances to his master. He didn't find the situation to be amusing or appreciated, however.

"Still, why would you come here, Mitsuyoshi-san? Though... this might sound weird coming from me, but this place is in the middle of a mountain and not many people pass through here."

Celica let out a strained smile while she asked the question. She at least understood the 'not many people pass through' part. Regarding that one point only, Ragna and Mitsuyoshi had a slightly better opinion of Celica.

"I... went to Japan searchin' fer somebody. I heard there's a boat leavin' fer Japan at the port city at the bottom of this mountain. Passin' through here seemed to be the fastest way. In other words, a shortcut."

"Ah, shortcut! Then, I was also taking the shortcut..."

"That's not true."

"...Okay."

At Ragna's interruption, Celica's shoulders dropped. She seemed to be finally aware of her poor sense of direction.

Celica then let out a "hm?" voice as if noticing something. The tied long hair sprung up as she raised her head.

"Japan? Mitsuyoshi-san is also going to Japan?"

"Also? Ye mean y'all goin' there?"

"Yup, that's right! I'm also searching for someone. Guess we're the same, then."

With a friendly smile, Celica stared at Mitsuyoshi with her innocent eyes.

Mitsuyoshi looked astonished. His large triangular ears flapped about.

"That face... Is that the face of someone who wants to tag along to Japan?"

"Look, aren't we fellow travelers? Also, we have to bring Ragna to the town. It'll be more reassuring if we can go along with Mitsuyoshi-san, right?"

"You're smarter than you look, ma'am..."

Celica stared at Mitsuyoshi with begging eyes. Ragna looked at them both and raised his eyebrows as a silent reply to Mitsuyoshi.

"...Guess it can't be helped. If I were to leave ye two here, it'd be like leavin' ye to rot. I won't have a nice sleep."

"That's great~. Thank you, Mitsuyoshi-san."

"Seriously, thank you. I don't have any confidence getting down the mountain with her. I mean, I'm sure it'd be a disaster."

Standing beside Celica, Ragna bowed deeply. He was truly showing his gratitude.

Mitsuyoshi's cat face made a wry smile.

"Don’t ye worry about it. After all, I'm not some heartless demon."

And then suddenly his tails straightened out as if remembering something.

"Oh yeah, Celica. If you're goin' to Japan, then ye must've a connection to it, right? Ye mind if I ask ye a few questions?"

"It's about the person Mitsuyoshi-san's looking for, isn't it? If I can help you, sure."

"Well, this is unlikely, but I'm just makin' sure. Have ye ever heard of a scientist named Shuuichirou Ayatsuki?"

Not really expecting anything, Mitsuyoshi asked in a light tone. But suddenly, his nose started twitching after Celica changed her expression.

Ragna once again turned to the girl beside him and frowned.

Celica had a shocked look, as if her soul had left her. Her face was reflected on the cat man's big tawny eyes.

She was speechless for such a long time. Soon, she answered faintly.

"He's... my father."

### Part 4

Just after the silence, Celica, with rising vigor, leaned forward. Crawling over the weeds, she went closer to Mitsuyoshi.

"W-Why are you searching for my father!? Are you related to his research? In that case, perhaps you know his whereabouts?"

"Hey, Celica. Calm down a bit."

Ragna reached out his arm to calm Celica, whose gaze was piercing Mitsuyoshi. Celica brushed it off, however, and leaned her body even further.

"I, too, am searching for Shuuichirou Ayatsuki. Six years ago, before the attack of the Black Beast and the following nuclear strike, he was supposed to be in Japan. But after all that, I haven't been able to get in touch with him. At last, there have recently been ships heading for Japan. Because of that...!"

No matter how much time passed, she couldn't confirm her father's welfare. Believing that no one had been searching for him, she left her home without grabbing the right map.

Celica had been overcome by her emotions. She grabbed Mitsuyoshi's soft paws tightly with both of her hands.

"Please. If you know something about my father, please tell me."

Mitsuyoshi looked troubled. He had something disheartening to say, judging by his expression.

The cat man's unwillingness to answer made Celica's anxiety grow stronger. His mouth looked like something big was about to burst from within. Before long, he heavily opened it.

"I'm sorry... There ain't any specific place reported that I know of. Also, I ain't one of yer old man's research buddies, companions, or pals. This is just a mission."

"Mission?"

The one who cut the conversation with a question was Ragna. Mitsuyoshi furrowed his eyebrows and pulled his chin backward.

"That's right... It's to find Shuuichirou Ayatsuki, the scientist who put mankind to unimaginable crisis, an' bring 'im back to the client. That's my mission."

Celica gathered the new information to her mind. She couldn't believe it. Her pupils flickered, face paling. Her father had been said to be someone related to the crisis concerning mankind.

"It has to be a mistake, isn't it? Father would never do any dangerous research."

"It's from the information. I don't know the details of the research, but Shuuichiruo Ayatsuki's experiments made that thing appeared."

"That thing...?"

Even if she didn't ask him, Celica could guess what Mitsuyoshi was about to say.

"The Black Beast."

Celica gasped. Ragna's eye went wide.

By pressing the lips with her fingers, she covered her mouth. Celica weakly shook her head.

"...It's a lie, isn't it?"

Mitsuyoshi kept silent, but his seriousness could be seen from his eyes that contained no falsehood. It alone was enough as an answer. Celica's fingertips slightly trembled.

"But that—such a thing couldn't possibly be born from his personal research...!"

"I got a doubt as well. I didn't think Shuuichirou Ayatsuki's intention was to create the Black Beast. But it's a safe bet to think that he must have done somethin' in his research to awaken that monster. For the sake of determinin' the cause, I have to search 'im no matter what."

The Black Beast.

It manifested all of a sudden. The monster crushed the place it was born. It vanished after its fangs annihilated everything. Then, it abruptly appeared again somewhere.

It could not be constrained within every man-defined system and theory. If any, it was as if the very concepts of system and theory were something to be destroyed. It was truly a being that was all about destruction.

Even Ragna knew and remembered what kind of monster the Black Beast was. It was outrageous to think that it was unleashed by the hands of Celica's father.

"I can't believe it. Father would never..."

Tears welling up, Celica embraced her trembling fingertips to her chest. Her previous vigor when leaning her body forward seemed to be gone as she weakly sat down on the weeds.

Witnessing that, Mitsuyoshi dropped his shoulders and sighed while slowly standing up.

"...We're lookin' fer the same person, but maybe we can't work together after all. I'll escort ye two until the port city. After that, we're splittin' up."

Mitsuyoshi was being considerate, but Celica shook her head as if clearing it from something, and made her bundled up hair swing around.

"No... No, you can't do that! I will go along with Mitsuyoshi-san!"

"Hey, hey, young lady. Don't you understand? I'm on the opposin' side of yer old man, y'know?"

"I know. That's why I'm doing this. I want to know what Father has truly done. If Father was actually innocent, I'll protect him from Mitsuyoshi-san."

Before her face had been on the verge of crying, and yet Celica raised her chin and looked straight to Mitsuyoshi.

Mitsuyoshi pulled himself back, twitching where a part of a human's forehead would be.

"Now, look here... It's certain that Shuuichirou Ayatsuki has somethin' to do with Black Beast. I got no doubt about it. Besides, do ye think I would've just kindly guided the way for someone who just up and declared to interfere with my mission?"

"But I won't know the truth if Father has really done bad things if I don't make sure of it. He may have just got caught in all of it!"

"I don't have the time to play detective with ya. Doin' it will be nothin' but trouble."

"Please, I won't disturb your investigation! Besides, I can discern Father's belongings. I also remember his handwritings and writing habits. I'll be useful, so...!"

Squeezing both hands tightly, Celica kept being persistent.

Mitsuyoshi scratched his throat using his big hand. He was bewildered. He had plenty of reasons to refuse her, but Celica's enthusiasm really portrayed her seriousness. To just flat out reject her would be a bit awkward.

Seeing all of that, Ragna, who was observing the development from the beginning, sighed and interrupted.

"Isn't it fine? Just bring her along."

"Ragna!"

"C'mon. Not ya too...!"

Poof, Celica's face lightened up in contrast to Mitsuyoshi's darkening one.

The girl and the cat beastkin. Their confrontation made Ragna sneer. The spectacle looked more like something out of a fairy tale rather than a delicate issue.

"It's not a hassle if you can just dump her somewhere whevener she becomes a nuisance, right? Besides, Celica is a healing magic user. You can't deny her of being a useful companion... when you're not trusting her with maps, that is."

"I'll just keep it short. First, it's dangerous!"

"More reason to bring her."

Ragna had been sitting on the weed with his legs crossed. He gazed at the troubled Mitsuyoshi and expectant Celica one by one.

"If you want someone to look over her, I guess I can tag along, too. If anything happens, I'll grab her and run."

In any case, he didn't have anything to be done soon. Even then his goal was much further away than their current destination.

"Thank you, Ragna!"

"Uwah!"

As Ragna was shrugging and saying those words, Celica, excessively joyful, jumped at him. On the opposite, Mitsuyoshi, full of resignation, was holding his forehead.

"Oh man. I picked up some unexpected burdens..."

Getting caught between two people with contrastive reactions, Ragna once again departed from the deserted village within the mountain.

And after a few hours, the sun had descended as it was the time for the sky to be dyed in the colors of night. Ragna and Celica, along with Mitsuyoshi, were able to reach the port city on the bottom without any disaster.

### 006. Chapter 2: Destructive Black

———Log 3

Lately, Relius has been doing stuff on his own.

I knew that he was a man who did everything based on his own convenience for all this time. But recently, my inquiry for an explanation has not yet received any outright answer.

Perhaps, it's because of the snake man from the other day.

...I have an unpleasant feeling. Still, I can't keep dwelling on it if I don't want to be a failure of a scientist.

What on earth is that green haired man trying to create? To begin with, what sort of a man is he?

Based on the given documents, it seems the Original Unit was supposedly retrieved from the Alucard family.

But, to say that the Original Unit will be provided itself in the first place is truly bizarre.

Even then, the moment it was brought up from the first division, the government immediately concealed its existence.

Is he one of the government's officials?

Once Relius becomes engrossed to his research, he is oblivious to concerning factors that should be recognized.

If there is to be an unexpected occurrence, I should come up with some sort of a countermeasure.

### Part 1

By the time they had finished searching for a vacant lodging, rented some rooms, and settled down, night came down upon the seaside port city.

They got their dinner after rushing to a nearly closed bakery. Finished with dinner, Mitsuyoshi left to gather intelligence. Meanwhile, Celica returned to her room to sleep early.

While Ragna was waiting for Mitsuyoshi's return in a room beside Celica's, his thoughts wandered to the view outside the window.

The hotel didn't have any food service. Although it was close to the harbor, he could not see the sea due to the room's position. What he could see were cramped rows of square buildings and the surrounding streets which were only illuminated by nothing but the occasional tiny street lamp.

Although the scenery was only separated by a single layer of thin glass, it seemed so awfully far.

Perhaps he never had any knowledge about this city. It was not only what he could see, but he also didn't have any memory of how the atmosphere felt like.

An unknown self within an unknown land. It was very uncertain and vague. He felt a bit tired thinking about it.

No, what he could not remember was not only this city. Perhaps the world was foreign, too. If what Celica and Mitsuyoshi said were true, then the Black Beast would still be present, although it should had been destroyed a hundred years ago according to his memory.

"...Hm?"

Suddenly, he noticed a figure from outside the window. Ragna lifted his head after he'd rested it on his hand.

A back hidden by black mantle. Light brown hair tied up near the roots. It was Celica.

It wasn't the time for a young girl to be walking around alone. Ragna hurriedly stood up while furrowing his eyebrows.

"Sheesh. That girl keeps getting my hands full!"

If he let that hopeless person who had no sense of direction wander aimlessly in the city at night, she undoubtedly would not return back.

Ragna unconsciously clicked his tongue while snatching his sword. Then, he rushed out of the room.

He stepped out and felt just what someone would expect from a seaside port city. The wind blowing westward felt damp. There was a smell of salt in it.

Rushing out from the small room, Ragna hurriedly checked around. Celica was nowhere to be found. If he was not mistaken, Celica got out of her room and was supposedly taking the path towards the seashore.

Ragna turned his head to various directions while running along the paved streets. The stones covering all over the streets were jagged and hard, making it difficult to thread on.

Leaving the thin path to a gentle hill road, the view of the dark sea spread before his eye. His field of vision expanded simultaneously as the sea breeze whirled up and blew against Ragna. It made his white hair flutter violently.

An unknown scenery. But it wasn't clear whether if it was because he lost his memory or he never knew about it in the first place. It made the sorrow within his heart expand.

This wasn't the time to get sentimental. Ragna slid his hair that was obstructing the view and looked around his surroundings, searching for that careless girl.

There.

On the promenade protruding to the sea. Its floor tiles were lined up to imitate bricks. There was a short staircase with a semi-circular platform on its end. Two old fashioned benches were encircled within silver railings.

A familiar person was leaning on the simple vertical railing as the sea breeze played around with the figure's lengthy hair.

"...Hey."

Stepping down from the short staircase, Ragna stood next to Celica.

Celica turned around and made her ponytail swing.

"Wah! You scared me."

"Don't go wandering around by yourself. You'll get lost again."

"No way, I shouldn't get lost again. The hotel is just over there."

"If it wasn't coming from you, I'd believe it without a doubt."

Celica pointed somewhere, but it wasn't where the hotel was located. Ragna dejectedly dropped his shoulders as a response.

While glancing at Celica who still had not yet moved from the spot she was found, Ragna leaned his back to the railing and shifted his weight to it.

It was such a peaceful place. There wasn't any stores or any people around.

On the opposite side of the promenade, he could sometimes see a figure passing by. But this place felt like it was in a different dimension compared to that side.

The sea wind was refreshing. If you just stood there, you would lose track of time.

"...What are you doing in a place like this?"

Ragna asked a question. Celica returned her gaze to the sea as she smiled.

"I was wondering if I could see Japan from here."

"Japan?"

Ragna also turned his sight to the sea.

Rather than sea, what he could see was unfolding darkness.

The ground lamps' reflections on the water were glimmering and flickering. As if following the lines of light, his gaze shifted to the distant horizon.

The line separating sky and sea was quite blurry.

"You can see it from here?"

"Don’t know. I was thinking it'd be nice if I could."

"Ahaha," Celica let out a small laugh. From the beginning, she knew she wouldn't be able see it. However, Japan, the place where her father might be, was very close to the port town. She realized that much.

But as a person who lost his memory, Ragna hardly understood that feeling.

"...Your father has been missing for more than six years, right?"

The Black Beast manifested in Japan. As a result, a nuclear strike had to be done to defeat it. Before the bombing had begun, Celica's father was already missing.

Ragna frowned.

"Sorry to say this, but... you sure he's alive?"

How much was the chance for him to survive if he was in Japan at that time?

"If you go, you might end up regretting it."

"Umm..."

Celica gave neither affirmation nor denial as an answer. She rested her arms on the railing. Then, she put her chin on top of her arms and stared at the horizon.

"...In my family, there's only my father and sister left."

Celica spoke. Her words were mixed with the night wind's whisper.

"When I was a child, Mother died of sickness. After that, Father, being a scientist, would always be holed up in his lab to do complicated research. Onee-chan and I enrolled in some place called the Mage's Guild. Since she's a brilliant student, somehow, she got chosen to become a part of the Ten Sages."

"Ten Saints?"

"Err. It's a group of ten extraordinary people, specially selected from within the Mage's Guild."

"I don't really get it, but they sound amazing."

Ragna said casually, making Celica's face brighten up.

"You got that right. They're really amazing!"

She seemed to be really proud of her sister. She was so simple minded and Ragna couldn't help but chuckle.

In high spirits, Celica took in a deep breath of the sea breeze.

"As for Father, he won many awards and gave lectures at many universities. He's a truly great scholar. When I was a child, I used to believe that Father was the most hardworking person in the world. I feel unworthy of having those wonderful persons as my family. ...Well, the relationship between them isn't exactly on best terms."

"Is that so?"

"Yup. Especially Onee-chan. She reaaaaally hates Father. I don't know the reason, but she seems to dislike it when I talk about him."

Although she said it cheerfully, there was sadness as salty as the sea deep within Celica's voice. However, it didn't make her voice waver. Their conflict didn't even bother her.

"Even then, both of them are irreplaceable and important family to me."

Celica gently turned her face to Ragna. Looking straight at her big eyes, Ragna was spontaneously taken aback.

While Ragna was still confused, Celica, with the expression of a dreaming child, continued.

"Many months ago, the UN rescue team relayed news that they had found survivors in Japan. Unable to leave Japan before the nuclear strike, they had to live in ruins for six years. Although some areas were still considered hazardous, Japan has recently been reopened to the public."

Even in the darkness, Ragna could see a pure hope shining within Celica's eyes.

"I believed my father was dead for a long time. But after I heard the news, I started wondering if he had survived. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Soon, I couldn't just wait patiently anymore."

"That's how you came to be here?"

She didn't have any definite clue or a ground-breaking method to find her father. With such condition, Celica kept aiming to go to Japan without hesitation. She was either that determined or just a simply doing it blindly. Ragna believed she was the former.

"Your sister doesn't worry about you?"

His admiration turned to a bitter smile as Ragna asked her. Celica shrugged and smiled mischievously.

"She probably does. She'll probably horribly scold me when I get back."

"But you'll still search for your old man, right?"

"Of course."

Celica didn't hesitate at all. She was the type that wouldn't waver once a decision had been made.

Celica straightened herself after leaning on the railing. She lifted her chin and gazed on the horizon. She seemed to be staring at Japan itself, which was on the other side.

"After all, he's my family. When you don’t know what happened, wouldn't you worry? When I realized he might be alive, shouldn't I be searching for him?"

For some reason, Celica's serious tone got stuck on Ragna's chest.

Celica's gentle eyes didn't have the slightest worry in them. She boldly stared at Ragna.

She was just worried. That was her only reason to act... Ragna couldn't help but feel envious.

Celica smiled without a single worry.

"I love Onee-chan and Father very much."

Again. Ragna once again did his habit to press his temples.

Ragna had seen someone like this before. Someone smiled like this. When was it? And like what Celica did to her sister, he had once been called brother by...

"Ow..."

It felt like his head's contents were squeezing and causing him great pain. Ragna's face warped. Celica's expression changed and then she touched Ragna's head with the back of her hand.

"Are you okay? Shouldn't you rest, Ragna?"

"...I'm fine. It's not my body that's actually bad."

It's just when he tried to remember things, immediately he got hit by head-splitting pain.

Softly nursing him, Celica brushed Ragna's hair. Her fingertips were shining and felt slightly warm. It was only a little bit, but the painful headache was subsiding.

Being treated like a little kid for his injury. Ragna felt rather awkward.

"Really... it'd be gone after a while. You don't have to use magic for a thing like this."

"Don't worry. I'm doing this because I want to. Besides, it's free. 'Kay?" Celica said with a smile. It also made Ragna laugh a little.

"Said no one but you. This isn't the problem of free or not. Normally, mages won't recklessly use magic that easily, right?"

"Really? Since I'm able to use magic, wouldn't it better if I make use of it?"

Seeing Celica tilted her head to the side while touching a cheek with her fingertip, Ragna couldn't keep his cool. A conversation with her would clear any hatred and let your face loosen up.

His headache was completely gone.

"You're such a weirdo."

"Eeeeeh? I don't want to hear that from Ragna."

"Is that so? Compared to your non-existent sense of direction and overoptimism, my memory loss is awfully trivial."

"That's absolutely wrong. After all, this is the first time I meet an amnesiac person."

"Well then, surely you've met someone as directionally impaired as you?"

"I have a normal sense of direction."

"Huh!?"

Ragna spontaneously raised his voice in disbelief.

It must have been amusing since Celica giggled. Her gentle smile comforted Ragna.

A freezing breeze blew from the sea. Turning to face it, Celica took another glance at the sea.

"...We should get back soon."

"Yeah, you're right. If we catch a cold and end up missing the boat for tomorrow, everything will be for nothing."

"Yup."

With still a bit of regret, Celica nodded.

Not wanting to force her, Ragna started to walk. His hard shoes tapped on the tiles' surface. Soon after, Celica's small footsteps followed him from behind.

After a while, Celica closed the short distance to Ragna and arrived beside him.

Compared to Ragna, the girl was a bit shorter and looked delicate. She often let her guard down and had too many openings. Her soft, thin arms didn't have the capability to fight, let alone the strength to wield a weapon.

For a girl like that to keep up her pace with Ragna was truly a wonder. Truly, a wonder indeed.

### Part 2

Before anyone knew it, the night had gone completely dark. There were even less people walking around the avenue compared to when Ragna came there. The number of houses with lights on was decreasing one by one.

The clouds made it so numerous stars couldn't be viewed. Under such a night sky, Ragna and Celica continued tracing the dark street back to their hotel.

The straight road branched to many side streets along the way. At the end of it, a bustling main street could be seen. The lights there were flickering.

Ragna swiftly shifted his gaze toward those lights by chance. At the same time, something unusual cut across his sight.

"...!?"

His breath became shorter. Ragna reflexively halted his feet and turned around. At the end of the road, there were many bright street lights standing side by side.

Now, right in the middle of them, there was a person. He got a hunch that he knew the person's face.

No, saying it was just a hunch would imply that the details were vague. When he gazed at that person, even if it was for less than a second, he certainly saw them.

Beautiful golden hair tied up to two parts. Two big ribbons served as a hair decoration. A young girl wearing a black dress...

"Wh—H-Hey, Ragna!?"

Before he knew it, Ragna broke into a run. He could hear Celica's voice from behind, but he couldn't afford to turn around.

That girl definitely had something to do with his memory. It was just like the first time he saw Mitsuyoshi. He felt something similar as when he noticed the resemblance on Mitsuyoshi that made him recall Jubei.

Moving toward the main street, Ragna searched for the little figure he had lost sight of. On the other side of the crowd. He saw a small shadow walking away to a mild curve.

"Hey, wait! Rabbit!!"

Ragna yelled as he jumped to the crowd.

Instantly, it felt like all kinds of sound had vanished.

At the end of the rough old street, the figure Ragna was chasing before had stopped. Her long blond hair swung as she turned around. Ragna stared at her deep-red eyes which were similar to a white rabbit's.

Rachel Alucard.

That name was engraved within Ragna's brain, as if it was burned in.

That's right. He remembered. She was the magic user Ragna had seen long before he saw Celica's healing magic. An old acquaintance. The girl used teleport suddenly near him, hurled insults and sarcasm to irritate him, and then leave abruptly.

Nonetheless, she had lived far longer than Ragna. She might look innocent, but she was actually a vampire.

If it was her, then she must have known. Who he really was. Why he was in a place like this. Why his was memory gone. What he should do to get his memory back.

However, Ragna felt uncomfortable at the same time.

(Is she really... that rabbit?)

Something was different. The Rachel from his memory. The black-dressed girl who was facing him from a part of the port city. They were not identical. That cheeky vampire he knew was more arrogant and bewitching.

"Ah... W-Wait! I freaking said wait, you damn rabbit!"

The girl who was standing on the end of the road suddenly slipped from his sight. That time, she continued walking, leaving Ragna behind.

Ragna hurriedly chased after her. Pushing through the drunken crowds, he collided with a man who was on the way home from work.

However, when he arrived at the spot where the Rachel from before stood, his feet stopped.

She was not there. The other party just walked leisurely, yet he was running at full speed. While he was not fast enough to chase her, the speed difference wasn't that big enough to lose sight of her.

"Tch... She teleported."

If that really was Rachel, it was not strange for her to vanish just like that. For better or worse, the fact that she disappeared served as further proof that the girl from before was indeed Rachel Alucard .

"Why the hell is she here...?"

Furthermore, to think back upon, she seemed to be unusually young. Rachel had always looked like a 12-year-old. But that girl seemed to be even younger.

"Shit. The hell's going on here!?"

His mind was filled with murmurs. Frankly, it was really unpleasant.

He considered running around the whole town to look for her, but he immediately brushed it off. If she was truly Rachel, then she wouldn't be in a place where Ragna could easily reach. If she was not Rachel, then searching for her would be meaningless.

As if he was being played around, Ragna got annoyed. However, there was nothing more he could do. Ragna trampled an empty can which was rolling on the roadside in his irritation. Then, he returned to the path where he came from.

He felt as if the moon behind those dark clouds was ridiculing him.

### Part 3

The next morning. The sky was a bit dark, but there were few clouds left and the weather was clear.

Anchored neatly on one corner of a port, the ship departed right on time and had arrived on the east archipelago carrying the few passengers it brought.

Japan. Once, it held a great number of large cities, while it also had peaceful rural areas. There were mountains stretching out and forests covering them. Countless rivers were flowing alongside the archipelago. ...Now, most of them had been transformed to scorched earth. The grounds had been burned. The mountains had been leveled. The rivers had run dry. The vegetation withered.

It was like the portrait of despair itself.

"Hang on a sec. I got somethin' to tell 'im."

After they were getting down to the harbor, Mitsuyoshi called out a nearby soldier and left with him somewhere.

A while had passed and Mitsuyoshi returned. The person with him was no longer a petty soldier; instead he looked like someone with authority. Along with them, a truck was slowly coming in close from behind.

"The fella's gonna get us around this vicinity."

Mitsuyoshi nonchalantly introduced the person beside him as the one in charge of the naval base, all while wagging his tail.

"Mi-Mitsuyoshi-san, just who are you...?"

Currently, the ruins of a country formerly called Japan were in the United Nations' control. Every men stationed within the site were members of the United Nations' forces.

Despite being dumbfounded by the extremely efficient method of procuring transportation, Celica asked the question to Mitsuyoshi.

Mitsuyoshi, unusually showing off by exhibiting a smirk, answered.

"Well, I can't tell ye that one."

Currently, Ragna's group was heading eastward from the western part while being inside the back tray of the UN force's truck. They could feel the shaking as they got across the devastated lands of Japan.

The big scale of shakings they felt when inside the back tray was awfully unpleasant. However, seeing the scenery around them felt much worse.

"This is... Japan?"

Grimacing, Ragna muttered while looking at the depressing scenery.

Once, people lived in this island. It was a large country. Looking at the sight before him, it was hard to imagine that such a thing could happen.

"The old Japan and the current one are completely different."

Next to Ragna, Celica whispered.

The truck seemed to have run over something as the shaking was really hard.

"Long ago, it was more like a normal country. But six years ago, a lot of nuclear missiles were fired in order to defeat the Black Beast..."

"Nuclear missiles?"

A word unknown to Ragna. Celica wondered on how she should explain it.

"Hmm. I guess... It's a weapon with an extremely hot blast that burns away anything."

It burned cities, forests, and grounds, but not its objective, the Black Beast.

"Everything was flattened. Many terrains were sinking. Now, both the water and soils were contaminated with radioactive and chemical substances. It became a place no one could live in."

Furthermore, the area where the missiles were dropped had its air polluted with high concentration of radioactivity around the vicinity. If there weren't any of radioactive masks and suits, or magic which serves the same purpose, then just breathing would be a matter of life and death.

Ragna wasn't sure if the true cause of this disastrous scene he saw was the Black Beast or those nuclear missiles. While looking at the scenery unfolding before him, Ragna unconsciously sighed.

"With things looking like this, I'd say both the Black Beast and man's weapons are the same shit. ...At the very least, I want to fight as a human being."

"...You're right. It'd be nice if it were possible."

Celica changed her posture to squatting position as she had been sitting uncomfortably inside the truck's back tray. Her butt was sore from getting hit each time the truck shook. Then again, the truck was the most comfortable ride that could be prepared back at the naval base.

"In the end, the country called Japan was lost just like that. The annihilation of Japan is what some people called it... But I'm not that fond with the term."

"Why?"

"Because the land itself is still there. If all the waste can be cleaned up, then the beautiful land and fresh air may be able to return once more. And then, a clean rain will pour down and pure water can gather. Once the pretty grass grows, small bugs will appear. In just a hundred years, won't Japan be able to revive once again?"

"Quite a dream ye got there, young lady."

The one who interrupted was Mitsuyoshi, who had been silent until now. Unlike a cat, he tried to look cool by leaning against the canopy of the truck's back tray, all while having his short legs crossed.

Even after hearing his sarcasm, it only made Celica's eyes sparkle more as she smiled.

"But don't you feel it'd be wonderful?"

Celica replied while the truck carrying them continued to travel along the parched ground of the wasteland. Before, it was such a large and spacious road along a river. Now, one could only find road fragments and remains of a burnt traffic sign if the eyes were strained. That was the actual state of the remnants of that area.

"Actually, Japan was the birthplace of my father. Father and Mother met in Japan and their marriage also took place here."

That was why she didn't want the country to just disappear, no matter what its condition was. Celica's eyes flickered as they were filled with those important moments.

Mitsuyoshi smiled bitterly as the edge of his mouth got slightly warped.

"...Japan is my hometown too, y'know? Though it may be hard, if its future will be like Celica said, that certainly ain't a bad thing."

"Right?" said Celica with a smile.

Ragna leaned on his favorite large sword while staring toward the scenery from inside the back tray.

Japan... A place so obliterated no one could set their foot inside.

Although the place where he went to was under control by that army, the fact that means of transportation were still maintained was regardless weird.

After getting down from the truck, Ragna's group walked toward a vast collapsed city within the wasteland. Six years ago, a number of people were living their ordinary lives here.

But now, there were broken pieces from a highway hidden beneath the sand. Rows of houses were blown to ruins. Many steel bars from buildings were able to narrowly avoid destruction. They were planted diagonally on the wasteland as if they were growing upward.

Ragna thought about something when he first stepped into Japan and thought it again while he was walking through the ruins. It looked awful.

If this was the aftereffect from the nuclear weapon that Celica had told him, then it was very powerful and brutal. Only death would await those people six years ago. But if this was caused by the Black Beast instead, then the being was just that terrifying.

By the time those nuclear missiles launched, the entire city's inhabitants were already evacuated. Since there was no army or government around, only the three of them were within this abandoned building. It was absolutely quiet there.

On this vicinity, the radioactivity was thin. But just to be safe, some masks had been distributed, although the protective suits were deemed unnecessary.

"...It's here."

Mitsuyoshi instructed the group to stop at an outskirt of the abandoned building.

Compared to the surrounding buildings, it could be guessed that it was a research facility which had a quite spacious area. The construction itself was partially destroyed and there were burn marks all over it.

That was where Celica's father once had worked.

"I... When I was a child, I went here once. But now, this building looks completely different."

Looking up at the black stained building, Celica seemed sad as she muttered.

Many cities were destroyed. Japan was destroyed. Even when she had heard that news, the impact felt different compared to when she saw it with her own eyes.

"Father..."

As expected, Celica's voice had uneasiness in it.

Mitsuyoshi walked over pieces of a smashed glass door toward the research facility and called out to them.

"Celica, Ragna. Both of ye come with me. We'll look fer Shuuichirou Ayatsuki's lab."

Once her father's name was mentioned, Celica suddenly jerked her head. It seemed she was reminded of something terrible she didn't want to think about. Ragna tapped on her trembling shoulder.

"You came here to look for him, right?"

For that very reason, she slipped from her sister's sight and arrived here.

Celica put her hands on her chest and slowly took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Yup. Let's go!"

With a firm nod, she went after Mitsuyoshi.

### Part 4

After getting rid of the crumbling door, Ragna peeked inside a men's toilet he had passed by.

"Shuuichirou-saaaaan. You theeeere?"

No response. Rather, it was highly unlikely for a person to be inside. The ceiling had collapsed, meaning if there was someone there, they would have been crushed.

Ragna quickly withdrew his head.

The leading sampling research laboratory in the west. That was what this place once known as.

On the backside of the L-shaped main building, there was a separate building used to conduct technical researches. All the time, studies covering various types of divisions were performed there.

But that was also a story from six years ago. Before the Black Beast's appearance, the research facility seemed to be such a place that had many researchers going back and forth. Now, it was dark since the electricity had been cut off. Only eerie silence was there.

(Well... I'd hate it if this place were noisy.)

Ragna took a quick glance to survey the area. He accidentally saw things that should have been kept hidden. When he thought about it for some more, a shiver ran down his spine.

Amidst the collapsed walls and peeled-off tiles in a corridor, Mitsuyoshi led the group forward. Ragna was at the very back of the group.

Celica was the one who was showing the route. Though, Ragna and Mitsuyoshi only had a half-expectation to her. They were looking for their destination just going by Celica's faint memories, like "it's not underground" and "along the way there's a small courtyard."

Crossing over a river of broken glass, they pushed aside a ruined door which was blocking the corridor. They went deeper and deeper.

Along the way, they opened any door they had noticed. They examined if the room had people or traces of them inside. Still, they could find nothing.

They walked for a little while in the silence of the ruined corridor and exited from a glass door to a courtyard. It was the place where Celica had gone to, led by her father.

Just as they were about to cross a passage to get to a different building, it happened.

"...!?"

As for who was the person who actually gasped, each of them felt that they were the one.

All vegetation in the garden had withered. They had no vigor left based on the appearance as they were rotting. As if blocking the passage to an entrance of the other building, something like a lump of black mist was squirming.

"Wh... What the hell is that thing...?"

In front of Ragna, who just spoke, Mitsuyoshi drew his sword. Imitating him, Ragna also gripped his sword.

It seemed to have claws, but not fangs. It didn't have a stable form, yet would somehow make someone tremble just by looking at it.

It was like looking into a bottomless pit. Just by being in the same place, one was easily forced to imagine that he would be swallowed, crushed, and erased without a trace by the shapeless darkness.

As anyone would expect, that thing seemed to have some sort of consciousness. As if noticing the presence of Ragna's group, it began to vibrate before growing large like a giant wave.

"Tsk. Dodge, Ragna!"

Mitsuyoshi shouted in a sharp voice.

Ragna moved as if he was repelled.

The arm that was holding his sword was now embracing Celica's back, before Ragna forcibly jumped.

Immediately, a huge wave of black mist struck the place where his feet were at. The impact made the surrounding air tremble with intensity while a deep sound like an explosion rang.

Ragna fell onto the ground and landed on his back. He could feel that Celica, who was within his grasp, stiffen. He pushed her behind him and assumed a protective stance.

Instantly, the mist turned its figure around, although the front side was unrecognizable. The sound gave the feel of rough sands being stirred.

The convulsing black mist gathered similar black spray from the surrounding atmosphere by absorbing them. It grew more and more. In the end, it exceeded Ragna's height. Moreover, the mist was so dense and became a thick darkness.

Before, the mist lump's appearance had become what one would call a mass of shadow.

(A mass of...shadow...?)

As he described its appearance, Ragna had an ominous feeling.

"Ragna. That thing... Could it be...?"

Her voice stiffened with disbelief. Celica took a step back out of fear. She probably thought the same words as Ragna did.

The shadow had already grown twice the size of Ragna's height.

A sensation of plain fear could be felt just by looking at it. Not only the fear was visible, but the creeping-up presence made Ragna's skin get goosebumps.

This is dangerous. That was his thought.

The overwhelming giant mass of shadow spread out its main part. Just like a serpent trying to swallow small eggs, its crooked neck aimed at Ragna and Celica all at once.

"Run! This thing is...!"

Ragna was hesitating whether if he should resist the overwhelming pressure or if he should escape. Meanwhile, Mitsuyoshi's small figure leapt out in front of him.

Along with a high jump, he cut a horizontal straight line at the shadow's massive mouth.

With a single somersault, he landed in front of Ragna. From within his back, heavy tension was drifting out.

The shadow that should had been sliced seemed faint and wavered in the air. Eventually, it returned to its original shape as if nothing had happened.

"Hey, Mitsuyoshi! The hell is that thing!?"

Protecting Celica with his back, Ragna was slowly withdrawing while he asked a question.

Slightly separating his sight from the mass of shadow, Mitsuyoshi replied clearly.

"This presence. This stench... It's the Black Beast!"

There was an obvious hostility in Mitsuyoshi's words. Simultaneously, the mass of shadow gushed out black mist to its surroundings. More mist came from the dried-up cracks on the ground silently and surrounded the serpent mass of shadow. Its black-colored large build became more and more large.

"This is the Black Beast...?"

Celica's voice was trembling.

"But why is it here? There's no one or anything left here!"

The Black Beast had only one purpose: destroying. Living beings and soulless objects were an equal for it.

Just before, it was just a silent research facility. Now, it was filled with the sinister presence of the shadow.

Mitsuyoshi lowered his body without lowering his guard. He pointed the tip of his sword to the shadow monster, preparing for another attack.

"Dunno. We can't know what's inside that monster's head. What's important is the fact that it's in front of us now."

"Still, what bad luck."

Mitsuyoshi's ears twitched at Ragna's bitter statement. A slight smile tugged at his lips.

"Bad luck, eh...? Guess people do see it differently."

"Ah? What do you mean?"

"Ragna. Ye just think 'bout guardin' Celica. I'll take on this fella!"

As he quickly said that, Mitsuyoshi leaped.

The shadow composedly wriggled its giant body to attack Mitsuyoshi.

The shadow silently bent its enormous body, meaning to attack, and swooped down on Mitsuyoshi.

Mitsuyoshi did a series of severe slashing strikes using his sword and large claws in response.

"He beat it!?"

"Nah... It isn't that easy."

Hiding behind Ragna, Celica clapped joyfully. However, Ragna grimaced and continued to protect her.

Sliced into two, the black shadow dispersed into mist as if relieving the strain on it. Then immediately, like iron sands gathered by a magnet, it regained its form without a single wound visible.

Lagging behind, Mitsuyoshi landed back on where he was earlier.

He quickly attained his stance back. Behind him, Ragna raised his voice.

"Wait! Nothing's gonna work on it! We should retreat for now and..."

"Retreat? Gimme a break!"

Mitsuyoshi unusually answered with a shout. With his white and dark-brown fur colored back, he stubbornly refused to face Ragna.

It was not clear whether he was going to continue those strong words or not. However, feeling that Mitsuyoshi was going to snap at any time, Ragna's throat tightened.

Looking at the beastkin who resembled his master, Ragna could see that Mitsuyoshi's shoulders were slightly trembling.

"...Japan's my birthplace, my clan's hometown. Fer my brethren an' all who fell victim to it, I shall challenge it, an' kill it! Though it's unexpected that I've finally met my clan's foe... I can't just turn back when it's right theeeeeeeeere!"

With a roar of wrath, Mitsuyoshi's fur ruffled.

There was an unfathomable strength inside the hand that gripped his sword.

That was why Ragna thought Mitsuyoshi should be stopped. But faster than anything Ragna could do, Mitsuyoshi jumped as swift as the wind.

The slashing attack was like flashes of light. It was constituted of the fangs and claws of a cat man who was willing to lose his life.

The anger in his voice was the roar of the brave souls that were once his comrades.

The strength he possessed came from the smiles of their souls.

...That was what Mitsuyoshi believed.

Soaring high, Mitsuyoshi's sword howled. The blade sliced a cross into the mass of shadow.

From the cutting point, the shadow monster started to disperse. It had to be completely blown away before it could reform itself. Mitsuyoshi drew back his arm to unleash another slash.

However.

"Move!"

Ragna shouted.

Mitsuyoshi's eyes opened wide.

The black mist that should have reformed as another mass of shadow betrayed that expectation. Its entire self scattered as mist and simultaneously enveloped Mitsuyoshi.

"UWAAAAAAAAAH!"

As if being crushed by a gigantic opened hand, Mitsuyoshi's body was swallowed by the shrieking mist.

The mist had rebuilt its enormous body and started to condense rapidly. In the midair of the decaying courtyard, it drew even more black mist around the atmosphere and became a shadow-colored orb.

There was an earth-shattering sound. It sounded like a swarm of insects beating their wings. Like a heavy downpour of a rain. Like something being deflected again and again.

"No, don't... Give Mitsuyoshi-san back!"

Pushing aside Celica who rushed out suddenly, Ragna ran. He couldn't guess what was inside that bizarre orb.

Twisting his upper body, he swung his large sword at the black mass. But before the sword make a contact, the shadow squirmed. Something like a whip knocked Ragna away.

"Wha...!?"

The impact was unexpectedly heavy. His breathing along with consciousness were blown off.

Ragna came to his senses after he landed hard on the ground. Adding to the injury, the sword was knocked from his hand and rolled on the ground. Celica ran over from the opposite side, teary eyed.

"Ouch..."

Ragna dragged his weary body and lifted his face. That orb's size was still increasing. It spread an unpleasant noise and squirmed.

Just looking at it had made him feel hopeless. Anxiety swelled out inside his mind; the orb could burst at any moment.

However, those endless thoughts came to an abrupt end.

Celica had dashed out from Ragna's side. She was stretching her hand toward the orb which had captured Mitsuyoshi. Ragna opened his mouth to stop her. Just as the words were about to leave his throat, the black mass suddenly stopped squirming. At the same time, the jarring noise was also stopped.

Then as if it had reached its limit, the mass lost its gathering power and, like an exploding water balloon, fell down to ground as mist.

The mist got absorbed by the ground, just like water. Then it vanished, without a trace.

After a while, all that was left behind was only Mitsuyoshi, covered in wounds.

### Part 5

"What the hell just happened...?"

Within the rotting courtyard inside the research facility, Ragna was sitting on hard ground and muttered, dumbfounded.

His mind could not calmly comprehend what had happened. Just what was that black mist? What was the Black Beast?

He noticed that his back was completely drenched with cold sweat.

While tumbling, Celica ran. She knelt beside the collapsed Mitsuyoshi, who was not even twitching. She held her hands above his chest.

Falling behind, Ragna also went to Mitsuyoshi's side.

"Mitsuyoshi-san! Please, hang in there!"

Celica's cheeks were stained by dirt and tears while she called him out again and again. Her delicate hands were covered with faint light as she used her healing magic continuously.

Mitsuyoshi's whole body was shredded. His fur was stained with an unpleasant color.

The right side of his face was especially bad. It was dyed with something thick and colored dark red.

On closer look, it was clear that it was caused by a deep wound in his right eye. With his current condition, there wouldn't be light reflected in his right eye anymore.

Celica kept using her magic intensely.

However, it looked like the wounds within his body weren't healing at all. Tears were flowing from Celica's eyes.

"Why... Why...?"

Again and again. But the result was the same. Mitsuyoshi remained motionless.

Even though Ragna stood beside him, he couldn't do anything. He put his hand on the nape of Mitsuyoshi's neck to check his pulse. Yet the pulse rate seemed dreadful.

The overflowing tears from Celica's cheeks gathered at her chin before falling drop by drop.

"Mitsuyoshi-san...!"

"...It's useless."

A cold voice was heard.

Ragna grabbed his sword and put himself on guard. Celica protected the motionless Mitsuyoshi with her back. The two of them turned to the voice.

There shouldn't be anyone else beside the three of them, yet there was someone else within the courtyard. A young child was standing alone beside a tree which was snapped by the mass of shadow.

The age seemed to be less than ten. That child might have been six-years-old.

The child was a young girl with long golden hair tied in two parts. She wore a black dress with a big ribbon that stood out on her chest. There was an elegance on her posture although she was very young. The decaying research facility didn't suit her at all.

"W-What do you mean by useless...?"

Celica asked timidly. There was an intimidating air around the girl which made her hard to oppose. And yet the young girl looked like she would fall down if she was poked.

The girl's cold red eyes gazed at Mitsuyoshi who was behind Celica.

"Those wounds cannot be healed by merely applying healing magic. It's futile no matter how many times you do it."

"That can't be..."

Celica turned to Mitsuyoshi. Enduring too many emotions, her eyes vision blurred.

Glancing at the current Celica, the girl seemed to lose interest and averted her eyes. Next, she looked at Ragna.

"How unsightly."

Against those faint words, Ragna raised the corner of his eye.

"I knew it... You're Rachel, aren't you!?"

Although her appearance was younger, he recognized that brutal phrase since it had struck him countless times. If he could recall things clearly once again, there would be no room for doubt.

But Rachel only looked at Ragna with her cold gaze.

"Don't call me in such familiar manner. It's unpleasant to hear it."

"What did you say...?"

"Do you wish to save that beastkin?"

At little Rachel's interruption, Ragna swallowed back the insults he was about to speak.

"You can save him!?"

"If I couldn't, then I certainly wouldn't have said those words. Am I wrong?"

The girl walked like she was gliding. There was wind with the fragrance of flowers blowing around her. After she seemed to have landed gently, she stood on the opposite side of Ragna and Celica, with Mitsuyoshi in the middle.

As if she was hugging Mitsuyoshi, Celica looked at the small visitor and called out to her.

"If you can save Mitsuyoshi-san, then do it! Please!"

"...How about you?"

Rachel stared at Ragna again.

"Ah? Me?"

"Don’t you wish to save him?"

"Of course I want to. If you really know a way, then hurry up and tell it already!"

He wanted Mitsuyoshi to receive treatment as soon as possible. It made Rachel's composed manner of talking irritate him.

Baring canines that looked almost like beast fangs, Ragna retorted to almost snarling. Rachel slightly frowned. Displeasure went across her big pupils.

"If so, do you not have a more fitting attitude for such request?"

"Tch. Don't make me do annoying things..."

He was mad. But now wasn't the moment for releasing his anger and losing time as the result. It was because he couldn't accurately measure just how severe Mitsuyoshi's condition was.

"...I beg you. Please save Mitsuyoshi."

Humiliation was all over his distorted face as he lowered his head to little Rachel.

Rachel looked at him expressionlessly. Her eyebrows were only a little bit raised. A little while passed.

"Very well. Since you've said that much, I'll bring you along."

Although the appearance was somewhat younger, her annoying personality was indeed the same as the Rachel Alucard he remembered. The upset Ragna grit his teeth, holding himself back from flinging insults.

"But... where will you take us to? And how? The military truck won't be here until evening."

As she wiped her eyes, Celica asked the girl.

Ragna suddenly remembered. He knew where Rachel was going to take them, and her means to do it.

Rachel's face looked disinterested. Without giving a glance to Celica, she took a step forward. From the long sleeve, her pale finger flicked at the air.

"My residence, of course."

The method of transportation lay beneath Rachel's feet. Black lines were running on the degraded ground. With her on the center, a crest of rose was traced. From there, rose colored lights were erected like pillars.

"It can't be... Is this teleportation!?"

Celica shouted in disbelief.

Moving through airspace was what teleportation was. Fixing the coordinates to move to a point was extremely difficult that even her admired sister couldn't master it. Yet the girl before her eyes was doing it without hesitation.

Leaving aside Celica's surprise, the rose colored lights continued preparing for the transition.

As if inviting them, their bodies began to float.

Confused, Celica hugged Mitsuyoshi's body tightly.

While inside the rose colored lights, Ragna stole a glance to Rachel. The existence of that girl had started to unravel his memories one after another.

That was why he started to think. Where was this place? Why did he end up here...?

One second later, Ragna and Celica, as well as Mitsuyoshi, were led by Rachel's magic and vanished from the abandoned research facility.

### 007. Chapter 3: Reality's Red

———Log 4

The Takamagahara System. A supreme program humanity has attained. There is a theory that said its development was influenced by the Original Unit.

Once, humanity had tried using it by trying to interfere with the Master Unit.

The Master Unit is located on the other side of the Boundary.

First of all, it's not possible to interfere with it without making contact with the Boundary itself.

What I and Relius are currently constructing is the object needed for that purpose.

The Boundary.

He called it a gate.

The Sheol Gate, that is.

Some say Sheol to be underworld, meaning the realm of the dead.

Our research is progressing smoothly. It's precisely because of it that I keep feeling threatened day by day.

Is it really going to be fine if we make a contact with the Boundary?

Will discovering it be the biggest mistake in human history?

I'm frightened. I'm afraid of it being completed.

I have a feeling that our research will unleash something terrible.

If that time ever comes, then I...

### Part 1

After getting in Rachel's teleportation circle, Ragna and Celica arrived at an old castle that had a majestic feel on it.

The grey stone walls were completely covered with thick ivy. The intimidating gate that was too big for a human to use was both astonishing and eerie at the same time.

For some reason, it was night. Dawn never came here.

A place eternally cloaked by night.

A place that was nowhere.

A place that was connected to everywhere yet could be reached from nowhere.

That was the residence of the Alucard.

Once they arrived, a butler immediately carried Mitsuyoshi inside the castle.

Ragna and Celica followed little Rachel to the parlor and were told to wait there. Both of them sat side by side on a refined antique sofa.

Even though the appearance had a feeling akin to ghosts appearing at any moment, the interior was exceedingly relaxing and elegant. The room was lined up with an immodest amount of ornaments and tasteful furnishings.

Despite all of it, Ragna seemed to be very uncomfortable.

Celica looked nervous as she examined the room. A while ago, the sturdy male butler had brought some teacups. She took one, but immediately put it back on top of a bulky table before even tasting it.

She repeated that motion several times. Then, the parlor's door slowly opened.

"I have to apologize for keeping you waiting, honored guests."

Along with the soft but deep voice of a man, a wheelchaired elderly gentleman entered the room. The room's interiors felt dull as nobility oozed from him.

His hair had become completely white. The severely thin skin was already decaying. But those characteristics only increased his dignity.

The butler who served the black tea from earlier was pushing the wheelchair until the aged man was on the other side of table from Ragna and Celica, facing both of them. Then, he smiled with his deeply wrinkled mouth.

His narrow eyes, which were his only body part not appearing to be declining, were vivid red.

"This is the first time we meet. I am the current head of the Alucard family, Clavis Alucard. This here is the man presently employed as my butler, Valkenhayn."

With his thin hand, Clavis pointed to the man who was standing by behind him. The stern-looking butler introduced as Valkenhayn bowed.

"Valkenhayn..."

Ragna repeated the name he had heard. Ragna recognized that man's name. However, the 'Valkenhayn' before his eyes was a man at his prime, contrast with the 'Valkenhayn' he knew who was an old man.

(...This guy too, huh?)

There was a knowledge of people and others in his memory, but he couldn't accurately picture it. That was the case with Mitsuyoshi, Rachel, and now Valkenhayn.

Clavis continued on as he put his hand on a small figure close to him.

"Moving on... This child's name is Rachel Alucard. She is my daughter."

"Daughter?"

The person who was doubtful was Ragna. Clavis laughed softly.

"Haha. I guess if you looked from a human's perspective, it would have been more acceptable to say that she was my grandchild. Or perhaps, even my great-grandchild?"

"Aah, it's not that. Well, saying her as your daughter at that age sure sounds fishy... No, that's not it. If you're Rachel's parent, are you a vampire then?"

"Kid. Watch your way of talking toward Clavis-sama!"

Hearing Ragna's disrespectful manner of speaking, Valkenhayn, who was behind the aged man, scowled at him with a grim face.

Unafraid, Ragna was ready to talk back. But before he could do it, Clavis raised his hand to soothe and control the situation.

"Indeed. Rachel and I are both vampires. ...A thousand years has passed and made me forget about my age. However, I have witnessed many eras of mankind in those thousand years."

"A thousand years..."

"Do you find it hard to believe, young lady?"

"N-No, it's not like that...! I'm only a bit surprised."

Faced with a graceful smile, Celica suddenly flustered and shook her head.

A vampire who had lived for more than a thousand years. Ragna and Celica couldn't imagine for someone to live for such a long period of time.

"Well then, Sir Ragna and Miss Celica."

Repositioning his fingers, Clavis calmly began to talk.

Ragna and Celica were surprised since Clavis knew their name before they even introduced themselves. But because it was Clavis, it felt like he would know even the secrets of their births unknown to themselves.

"I apologize for suddenly bringing you to this desolate place. Originally, it was Mitsuyoshi alone that was supposed to be brought here... However, it seems my daughter felt uneasy to just leave both of you there and decided to bring you along."

Clavis looked over his daughter with affection. Rachel, the girl who was being talked about, seemed uninterested and turned her face way to another direction.

"Um. Is Mitsuyoshi-san going to be fine?"

Celica leaned forward. She had been waiting to ask it because she was so concerned about him.

"But of course. He is presently receiving medical treatment in the inner section of the castle. His condition was terrible, but there is nothing life threatening. So, please be calm."

"That's great..."

Letting out a big sigh, Celica felt relieved.

Ragna also let out a sigh of relief.

"To survive from a fight against the Black Beast. Beastkins really are tough, aren't they?"

"Aah... Mitsuyoshi seems to misunderstand it too. The black mist that all of you encountered was not the Black Beast."

"Eh?!"

Celica raised her voice in surprise while Clavis calmly continued on despite the situation.

"That was a remnant of Black Beast. Although its purpose is still uncertain, it was left behind at the area where Black Beast manifested and will annihilate anything it sees that comes near. Albeit it is a part of the Black Beast, it is merely a tiny portion of it."

"Then, what actually is the Black Beast...?"

Ragna's face was clouded with unrest as he asked. Uneasiness was also floating on Clavis' eyes.

"Naturally, it is not on the same scale as the black mist from earlier."

It was more powerful, frightening, and irrational.

The fragment of Black Beast that Clavis called a remnant didn't have any arms or legs. Just how much of a fear symbolized the real form of Black Beast, vaguely thought Ragna. On the contrary, he couldn't even imagine on how to stop it.

"Nonetheless, the inside of that remnant was particularly dense. Perhaps it had been concealed there for such a long period of time and accumulated a great number of remains. Even with someone of Mitsuyoshi's caliber, it is not something you would easily defeat."

"...You seem to know Mitsuyoshi very well."

"Aah, that I do."

"Just then, you said you were planning to bring Mitsuyoshi back, right? Does it mean the one who ordered Mitsuyoshi to catch Shuuichirou Ayatsuki was you?"

Celica gasped. Her huge eyes widened on that harsh reality that made her stare at Clavis.

Ragna and Celica. Clavis was showered by both of their gazes, and yet he didn't flinch even a bit as he nodded.

Then, Celica forcefully stood up from the table.

"Why!? Father isn't someone who would do dangerous things! He always does what he considered the best for people!"

"...You are Professor Ayatsuki's daughter, are you not?"

"Y-Yes."

Clavis' voice was soft but dignified. Both of Celica's hands rested on top of her knees, gripped tightly. With nervousness on her face, she straightened herself.

"Perhaps fate has seen it fit that we should meet. Now that it has come to this, I shall tell both of you a story... It is but an old man's tale. It is a bit long, so please have patience in listening to it."

From here on, Clavis moved on to the real issue at hand. Closing his pale eyelids, he took a deep breath. As if reading to them about a legendary story, he began to speak.

"It was a very long, long time ago... In a certain place called Japan, an object called the Susano'o Unit was excavated. It was a mysterious object nobody had ever seen before. Then, mankind wondered if they could find more were they to continue excavating. Everywhere and anywhere, they dug through. Finally, they discovered... the Cauldron."

Deep down below the surface, the gigantic cauldron abruptly opened its mouth.

The inside was filled with red flames dancing around as if it hiding something beneath. When peeking inside, for some reason there was a temptation to be swallowed by it. Those were the rumors circulating around that time in the actual place.

"On the opposite side of the Cauldron, there was something called the Boundary that had spread out. A different dimension from the world humanity lived in, a truly bizarre space. Charmed by great curiosity, mankind proceeded to delve deep to the depths of the Boundary... Deep within, they located something that had a purpose. It was called the Master Unit. ...It was an existence humanity referred to as a god. Humanity then constructed the Takamagahara System to control the Boundary and to try to make a contact with the Master Unit."

"Something like... getting closer with God?"

"No. It was to kill God."

Clavis spoke those dangerous words with a nonchalant and composed manner.

"...Shuuichirou Ayatsuki developed something as a substitute for the Takamagahara System. Something to contact the Boundary, and reach the Master Unit deep within... The Kusanagi."

"Kusanagi..."

Dumbfounded, Celica repeated the word.

That was what her father had been seeking. A tool to reach god. Then, if possible, a weapon that might kill god.

"Why would Father create such a thing...?"

"Well, now. I myself do not know the reason. For humanity to once develop the Takamagahara System and attempt to kill God at the same time... It perhaps might have been something to do out of curiosity. However, I deemed that experiment to be dangerous. Therefore, in order to prevent it, I dispatched Mitsuyoshi to recover the prime field... But it seemed I was too late. He had already completed it and performed the test experimentation as well."

Clavis shut his mouth for a moment. It was only for a brief amount of time, but it was enough for Ragna to guess what happened next.

"...And then, the Black Beast appeared, right?"

"Exactly. The Black Beast was born from the Cauldron that was discovered in the same place as the Susano'o Unit. That place, too, was where they conducted the test experiment."

Shuuichirou Ayatsuki had made contact with the Boundary, and from the Boundary the Black Beast came. If it was only based on that fact, it was possible to say that his experiment had unleashed the Black Beast.

Celica hung her head. Her long hair weakly slipped from the nape of her neck to her chest. The hands on her knees clenched tightly.

"Is my father... still alive?"

"I do not know. It has only been a few days since we have learned the truth that his experiment was conducted in the same place where the Black Beast had appeared, as well as the same time. But if we could hear the details of the story from Shuuichirou Ayatsuki himself, we might be able to get hold of clues regarding the Black Beast."

Having spoken that far, Clavis sunk his frail body into the wheelchair. Fatigue ran across him as he exhaled a deep, long breath.

A vampire that could age and also become tired. Ragna got an interest to that unusual notion.

"...The Black Beast. It is a monster born from the Boundary... no, it is the Boundary itself. It is not something a man should associate with. Humanity is still immature. Although their immaturity was the reason for their curiosity, a contact with the Boundary must not happen."

Feeling gloomy as if he was reciting a poem of folklore, Clavis' voice was filled with weariness as he spoke.

"Before long, it seems humanity will shift to the next 'phase'. However, this is not the 'destruction' that was needed for that purpose. It is simply a 'massacre'. ...The Black Beast cannot be ignored. Otherwise..."

"...We will undoubtedly meet our demise."

With Clavis' statement, an uncomfortable feeling somehow struck Ragna deep within his mind.

Within that instant, Ragna himself was incapable to understand what it was. What he understood was... even though Clavis and Rachel were both vampires, something in their fundamental parts made them feel like two different entities.

More than that trivial uneasiness, Ragna now felt the weight of Clavis' prediction. The truth, which was borne from his soft tone of conveying that story, felt as cold as ice.

It was as if Clavis could see the fragments of humanity's future downfall.

"After Mitsuyoshi has recovered, I once again will request him to seek Shuuichirou Ayatsuki. I will leave what both of you will do to your own judgment. However..."

As if dispersing the tension, Clavis smiled gently.

"Before that time comes, please take comfort and rest yourselves here. It has been only a short while after your encounter with the remnant of Black Beast. Even if you haven't noticed it yet, I am sure that some fatigues must have accumulated within. Valkenhayn will prepare the rooms, so until then, ease yourselves in this room."

After saying it as if he was facing a relative's children, Clavis left the parlor with Valkenhayn and Rachel following him.

Before long, Valkenhayn returned to the room although not much time had passed. He guided Ragna and Celica to the guest rooms on the second floor of the mansion.

Although Mitsuyoshi's injuries were not as serious as they had expected, there wasn't any reason for them to leave this place in a hurry.

As the fatigues they were shouldering finally caught up with them, Ragna and Celica took upon the appreciated generosity from Clavis.

### Part 2

For some reason, the vast ground where Clavis' castle was located in was confined in night. There were thick clouds hanging on the dark sky. From their crevices, the circular moon with its silver surface was peeking through.

Instead of obediently lying down on the elegant bed inside the guest room, which was given to rest in, Ragna decided to stroll around the garden that was encircling the castle.

While he was walking, he compared the visible sceneries with the ones within his memory that was steadily getting clearer.

Ragna had been brought to the residence of Alucard by Rachel for countless times. But what he had seen at those times wasn't an eerie old castle with jutting spires, but rather a more magnificent castle with overflowing elegance.

The surroundings were comprised of a garden with roses in full bloom. Now, it was only an untrimmed and ivy infested mess of a neglected garden.

The feeling, as if the atmosphere was detached from time, was identical. Still, what was actually visible was different.

It wasn't only the structure and garden. The Rachel whom Ragna knew was slightly more mature. Valkenhayn wasn't a man at this prime, but rather an old man with a white beard.

And within Rachel's castle, a person named Clavis didn't exist.

If there was something to consider...

"Hey, Rabbit!"

Cutting off his thought midway, Ragna recklessly walked toward a small figure that was standing within the neglected garden.

Resembling rabbit's ears, her straightened black ribbons swayed around. Rachel, who was younger than what Ragna remembered, turned around slightly.

"...Who do you think you are? Why is it that you have to keep referring me as a mere rabbit every time you address me?"

Feeling very unpleasant, Rachel spoke in her young voice.

With a scorn look, she stared at Ragna. But he just burst out laughing.

"Heh. Even if you look more like a brat now, that irritating way you talk is the same as usual. It makes me feel relieved though."

"You're truly presumptuous. What an eyesore."

"Whoa. Where are you going?"

Her twin tails fluttering as she turned to leave, but Ragna grabbed her shoulder.

"I have a ton of things you need to hear."

"I don't feel the need to listen to your story."

"Just hear me out. I don't understand what the hell's going on here anymore!"

Although he raised his voice, there wasn't much strength in his tone. To be frank, Ragna was relying on her.

Rachel Alucard. There was no mistaking her name.

When he came to, his right arm and right eye couldn't work. In the world that he felt out of place, she was the first person he met who also previously existed in his memory.

"What's going on with me? Where is this? What the hell's happening!? If it's you, then you should know the answer, right!?"

"...Unhand me."

"Then answer. I'll let you go if you do."

"Unhand me at once, you insolent man!"

Along with her angry voice, a flash of lightning came from the sky. It hit Ragna's hand that had been grabbing Rachel's shoulder.

"Guh...!"

Sparks scattered. Ragna was repelled and immediately his back hit the hedge behind him. The withered hard branches, which were as if time had halted for it, pierced Ragna's body much like needles.

"That hurts... The hell do you think you're doing!?"

"That is my line."

Ragna brushed several twigs as he raised his body. Meanwhile, Rachel pierced him with her cold gaze.

"From the very beginning, you have been acting overly familiar with me despite it being our first meeting. I will speak nothing more to a savage like yourself who doesn't even have the slightest bit of manners. Associating myself with the likes of you will only serve to lower my dignity."

Rachel's words flowed like a song as she criticized Ragna. However, those harsh words and mocking glance mattered little to Ragna for now. There was something else that caught his attention.

"Hey... First meeting? Whose with who?"

His voice became stiff.

Rachel's face grown more and more sullen.

"Have your ears rotted away? Obviously yours and mine, lowlife."

Those words were casually spoken from the childish voice, yet it struck directly to Ragna's brain. It was really shocking for him.

"Hey. Your joke's gone too far. Aren't you Rachel Alucard?"

If Rachel didn't know him, who else would Ragna seek assurance from? Ragna held his head that was starting to get dizzy.

Immediately, he began to think that he wasn't an entity that should have existed in this world.

"How about if you continue to tell what you have in mind with me instead, young man?"

Between the grimacing Rachel and bewildered Ragna, a composed voice cut between them.

Ragna and Rachel turned to voice at the same time.

Operating the wheelchair by his own hands, Clavis slowly manuevered toward them. Clavis' presence within the ivy-infested abandoned garden made him look just like that of a ghost. Behind him, his shadow seemed to become more distinct.

"Rachel. I want to have a talk with this young man for a little while. Are you fine with it?"

"...But of course, dear Father."

Rachel slightly picked up the hem of her lengthy dress and gave her old father a well-mannered bow. She then lightly poked the ground with her shoes. Slightly, her tiptoes floated from the ground, and then she left the place by riding the night wind.

As she left, Rachel took a glance at Ragna. She didn't feel a slightest bit of familiarity toward him. However, he seemed to be confused as if he were searching for something, based on his appearance.

"You appear to have known Rachel, have you not?"

Looking at Ragna watch the little figure that was leaving, Clavis expressed a smile as he spoke.

Ragna roughly scratched his head.

"Yeah. But the Rachel I know looks a little older than this."

"Ohh. So you have the privilege of knowing what kind of lady she will grow up to be. I cannot help but feel a little jealous."

Since it was spoken as if it were a common everyday conversation, Ragna almost overlooked what he said.

There was some particular hidden meaning in Clavis' words. The present Rachel would grow to be the Rachel he knew.

The smile in Clavis' eyes changed as they narrowed. His red eyes were filled with concern. Within their depths, there were wisdoms that Ragna hadn't known.

"Sir Ragna. Have all of your memories returned yet?"

"How do you...?"

Ragna stopped mid-sentence. He hadn't known about the man named Clavis Alucard that well. But he was certain that this old vampire knew just about everything.

On the other hand, the Rachel whom Ragna knew was also knowledgeable in everything. But she always kept them to herself.

"Not yet. Not all of them... I think."

Ragna massaged his temple roughly with his fingers while giving his straight answer. He could feel a dull pain coming from the inside of his head.

"Hey, mister. If you know what's going on, then tell me. The more I remember, the more confusing things get. Is this the world I know? Enough of this, my head's getting all weird."

Unknown common knowledge, unknown cities, unknown incidents. The world where the Black Beast appeared six years ago.

"Mm," said Clavis as he crossed his fingers on top of his knees.

"Then, I shall ask you the most recent of those memories you have recovered... Can you tell me what year this is?"

"...2199 AD. Nah, we just had a new year so it should be 2200 AD."

"This is presently the year of 2106 AD, young man."

"......"

Ragna fell silent. Clavis continued talking.

"You are starting to realize it, are you not? This place... Or rather, this period is ninety-four years prior to the period you had lived in. In other words, you are currently existing in the past."

He calmly accepted those words which had been stabbed at him. His confused mind tried to comprehend it, but it surprisingly didn't take too long.

Ragna suspected something based on what Clavis had said. But he deemed it too dumb to be true.

It was probably because of his disordered memories. That should be impossible. He couldn't have just ended up back in ninety-four years in the past, when humanity fought for their lives against the Black Beast in an era called the Dark War.

"...Even I do not have the answer regarding why you arrived to this time and age. Likewise, I do not know any means to send you back to your time."

Clavis looked up at the silver moon in the sky. His figure felt strangely faint. It was as if he would just melt and disappear within the weak moonlight that was pouring from the rifts between the clouds.

Vampires lived a long life, but none had immortality. Perhaps there was only a little left of life for Clavis. Ninety-nine years to come, he would not exist in the Alucard residence. Ragna made that guess while he stared at the pale and elderly vampire's profile.

"However, young man. Romantically speaking, perhaps your arrival to this period is not a cruel coincidence."

"What do you mean?"

"There are duties that you have to accomplish in this era, guided by fate. And thus, since your deeds will be required from one place to the next, your line of path will someday become a giant circle... "

With a tone that sounded more like he was telling a prophecy, Clavis looked somewhat happy.

Since he felt uneasy of being treated like a child, even though he wasn't one anymore, Ragna had a sullen face.

"If that's what you think, shouldn't you explain whatever those tasks are, in case it becomes true? It'll make things go easier."

"I do not know anything of it. I am but a powerless old man, and can do nothing but observe from this place."

Clavis stretched his pale fingers into the shrubbery which was similar like a labyrinth. There was an ivy creeping from within the foliage. His bloodless fingertips traced its leaves.

"Much like this castle, I am ensnared by the ivy. I can no longer move from here. The one who can act is not me, but the living mankind."

Ragna couldn't think of any reply, so he kept silent. He knew what Clavis meant. But he had thought if mankind, including himself, could do what Clavis had expected, even though it was pretty vague.

"I wanna ask something."

"Very well, if it is within my capability."

Ragna was bewildered by Clavis' calm manner. The vampires that Ragna had in mind had a much harsher image stuck to them.

Unable to make up his mind which of the two attitudes were better, Ragna fixed his eyes on the old gentleman sitting on the wheelchair as if observing him.

"Looking at you and hearing your words, it seems you’re extremely supportive toward mankind. You've done things like trying to stop the experiment of Celica's old man, and then searching for him to get info about the Black Beast. And you don't even get any benefit from doing all that."

Instead the actions were aimed for the better of mankind. He couldn't help thinking that.

"Mister, are you a protector of mankind?"

"...Protector? I cannot even imagine performing something so outrageous."

Quietly, Clavis' muttering was mixed with a sigh. Like the ivy, his voice was melting away silently into the darkness. But having never completely disappeared, a meager strength crept back to his voice.

"I do not wish for the apocalypse. Humans do what human does. Beasts do what beast does. Fishes do what fish does. If I am able to give a slight assistance so that they are able to survive, then I will do so."

Clavis slid his fingers away from the ivy smoothly. He put those hands on the wheels of his wheelchair before heavily pulling himself away from the thick shrubbery.

"I grow tired. I apologize that I have to end this long conversation here. I have to return to the mansion soon."

"...Yeah. Don't overdo it, Gramps."

"Hahaha. To think that I would see the day when a human lad would worry for my well-being. It seems I have lived quite a long life."

Clavis' shoulders jolted as if it were the happiest laughter he had let out all day. Then as if gliding, Clavis operated his wheelchair. He headed toward a pathway within the neglected garden that was overrun with weeds. While on his route, he casually looked back at Ragna.

"Young man. Live true to your heart. If you have done at least that much, the path you should take shall be clear."

Even when they are already a distance apart, he could hear Clavis' voice clearly.

The wheelchair started to move again. Clavis returned back to the eerie castle that stood still amidst the night sky.

Ragna didn't move from that spot. Since Clavis didn't necessarily need any kind of aid, he felt unnecessary to chase after him now and help push the wheelchair.

He reflected on something while staring at the faint scenery of the departing Clavis.

"True to my heart, huh? Even if you say that..." he thought.

However, something else suddenly came to his mind.

Ninety-four years ago. Right in the middle of the Dark War. According to Ragna's vague memories of history, the Black Beast would be defeated in a few years.

By the hands of six heroic people.

In that case, the Six Heroes should be somewhere within the earth during this period. His master who taught him how to wield sword, Jubei. Hakumen. Nine. Valkenhayn. Another one whose name wasn't recorded in the formal history.

And then, Yuuki Terumi.

If he were able to find the one who was related to Black Beast's appearance, Shuuichirou Ayatsuki, he might get his hands on information regarding Terumi.

If it was Terumi, then it was possible that he could recognize Ragna. Ragna might also able to search for a way to return to his own time. If things went well, maybe even kill that bastard...

Before he knew it, his right hand clenched tightly.

"Hm...? It's moving?"

Until now, he could only twitch his right hand's fingers. He couldn't feel any sensation to it, but just now, it was able to move up until the wrist.

(Is it... healing?)

Now that his right hand could move, he would be able to fight more decently. It seemed the situation had changed for the better, even if it was only a little.

Ragna clenched his right hand once more before taking a huge step toward the eerie castle.

### Part 3

Returning to the old castle, Ragna walked along the silent yet peaceful hallway. He then stopped on front of a door with an old-fashioned knob.

The candlesticks illuminating the hallway were equally spaced. It gave off a whimsical feel of a dream, but also the same uncanny atmosphere. The lights from flames which never seemed to fade were flickering. Their movements were indications that Ragna was there. The flickers caused many folds of shadows squirming within the surroundings.

It was very eerie. Feeling a chill on his back, Ragna turned to face the door. Hesitating a bit, he pounded the door.

Immediately, there were sounds like someone was moving around the room. Then, he could hear some light footsteps approaching him.

The guest room actually had a lock attached on the door, but the room's occupant didn't seem to lock it. Without any caution, the door was thrown open. Celica appeared from the inside.

"Ah, Ragna. What's the matter?"

"Nah, nothing's going on... Say, you're surprisingly normal, aren't you?"

Ragna muttered with anticlimactic tone. As the result, Celica pouted in dissatisfaction.

"Hey, what do you mean by surprisingly normal? Sure, mine isn't as big as Onee-chan's, but the most important thing is balance. Besides, I'm not sure if guys get it, but bigger isn't always better, you know?"

"Wait, wait, wait. What are you talking about?"

The talk was going off to an odd direction. Ragna was troubled by her suggestive response.

"Since a lot things have happened, I thought you might be depressed or something. And so, I came to check. But you just acted like nothing happened. That's why I said 'normal'."

Inside her father's completely changed workplace, they encountered a remnant of the Black Beast. The uncertainty of whether her father was still alive, as well as the story they had heard from Clavis. What the girl in her mid-teens experienced all at once should be a little depressing.

Celica blinked in surprise for several times while she looked at Ragna. Then the corner of her eyes wrinkled as she smiled.

"So you're worried about me."

"...It's nothing like that."

"There you go again. It's good to not be shy about it. I already know Ragna is a kind person."

She said it with an unconcerned expression that had made him unable to respond. Ragna's face grew sour as he averted his eyes.

"You want to get in? Come in," said Celica as she took a step back into the room. Ragna looked inside the identical borrowed room from the opposite side. It was a first-class interior everywhere his eye could see.

Ragna truly wondered what kind of guest would come to this secluded place.

"Nah, I'll come back soon."

"Is that so?"

"Besides, don't just let guys come into your room so easily."

Even though this wasn't the first time, Ragna was still amazed at Celica's carelessness.

Ragna sighed. Like a child, Celica looked at him mischievously.

"Are you going to do something to me?"

"LIKE HELL I AM!!"

"Ahaha, I know."

Hearing on Celicia's refreshing laugh, Ragna felt like his whole strength had left his body. His shoulders slumped.

...Simultaneously, all uneasiness within him faded away as well.

He was envious on the girl's way to laugh.

"...Hey."

"What is it, Ragna?"

"About your old man... What are you going to do?"

Ragna asked while looking straight into Celica's eyes. Her eyes' color was the color of soil after getting drenched by rain. Ragna didn't have the slightest idea of what kind of face that was reflected on those eyes.

"I'm going to find him."

"Even after hearing that talk?"

It's not like they just casually doubted Mitsuyoshi's words, but Clavis was a lot more convincing when he told the story once more.

Shuuichirou Ayatsuki was related to the appearance of the Black Beast. That much was clear.

Even so, Celica nodded while smiling.

"Of course. It's for that very reason that I've come this far. No matter what he did, Father is still my father. It's not to make sure what the truth actually is, but it's because I'm worried about him."

"If you do find him, won't he become a public enemy?"

"I'm still going to find him."

There wasn't a single hesitation within Celica.

Ragna was taken aback by the immediate reply.

"If he did something bad, then he will have to apologize. If he didn't, then he will have to give an explanation. After Father tells everything he knows, everyone will use it as a foundation and then think of a way to deal with the Black Beast."

"It won't be that smooth."

"Then I'll do my best to keep it as smooth as possible!"

Celica grasped both of hands tightly with a jerk to her chest.

"I trust my father. I have faith in him since he's my father. Although everyone said bad things about Father, I'll still say I love him even when I'm alone."

His chest felt heavy. Ragna didn't know the cause as he grit his teeth.

Celica's eyes looked warm as she stared at Ragna. Ragna unconsciously hoped within his heart that sorrow would never stained those warm eyes.

"And besides, anyone is able to do their best. If people around the world really do their best together, surely the world will become a beautiful place. ...And the Black Beast will be defeated, too."

It was not a wish, but rather a belief.

He felt Celica was naïve since she declared it without any basis whatsoever. But he didn't dislike that naïvety.

Ragna raised the edge of his lips and smiled.

"If you've decided that you'll search for your old man, then that's fine. I'll keep on accompanying you. I want to meet your old man, too."

"Then we'll be going together again! Yay!"

Celica clapped both of her hands while her hair was swaying around since she was excited. Feeling that she would jump at him anytime, Ragna took a step back.

Just as he expected, she recklessly swung her hands in the air. Amused by her action, Ragna burst out laughing while placing his hand on Celica's head.

"You're not some kind of kid that's getting excited for a trip. Go to sleep already."

"Okaaay."

Celica replied obediently as her eyes squinted in delight. Ragna playfully gave a satisfactory nod.

He took his hand from Celica and turned around.

"See ya."

"Ah, Ragna!"

Facing Ragna's back, Celica jumped out into the hallway and shouted.

"Thanks for worrying about me. Let's do our best together!"

"Yeah, yeah."

While waving his hand over his shoulder, Ragna entered the neighboring guest room.

His uneasiness had eased. Rather unsightly, Ragna removed his sword from his waist and collapsed onto the sofa at the same time. There was a bed in the room, but he couldn't sleep well on such a soft place with that kind of surface.

He had planned to cheer her up, but he had been cheered up instead.

He was strangely getting used to being affected by Celica's smiling face.

He didn't give a thought about his memory or his original time, but it was much simpler. He felt that he wanted to become her strength.

But there was no way to be sure that if it was a good or a bad thing.

As he brushed away the hair that was bothering him, Ragna suddenly noticed something.

His right hand, which was able to move slightly while he was in the abandoned garden earlier, couldn't be moved again. He was sure that his hand had been able to clench before, but now even his little finger couldn't move.

"Tch... The hell's with it? It went back to before it's moving."

Even if he cursed it, it still couldn't be moved.

Ragna let out a huge sigh over his numerous thoughts toward Celica, as well as his acceptance for the right arm's condition. But for the time being, he just wanted to sleep.

### Part 4

It was the next day after they had spent a night in the Alucard's residence.

Ragna and Celica arrived in Japan for the second time.

The sky was clear and devoid of any clouds. Its blue color was covered in murkiness, much like diluted ink that was stretched faraway.

But it didn't feel pleasant there. The sky was dead silent as there wasn't even a tiny bit of breeze there. Coupled with the warm temperature that didn't belong under any season, it felt absolutely unpleasant.

Noon should have ended sometime soon.

Via magic, they had arrived in Japan during morning from the Alucard residence, which was always enclosed by night. Their heads and bodies were unable to cope with the sudden change of environment. They had been feeling a bit out of place.

How long had they walked?

They had departed from a small abandoned city within the Kantou region of Japan after being dropped off there. Now, within the landscape of rough mountain trails, Ragna was starting to feel the depth of despair for the first time.

Ragna realized how bitter regret tasted. He should have expected things would go like this. Having said that, Ragna resented himself for carelessly believing Celica's words.

It'll be fine this time.

She said it while brimming with confidence as they were about to depart from the Alucard residence, all while firmly holding the map they had received from Clavis.

"Celica."

Ragna, stopping in the middle of the mountain, called out to the back of the girl who was walking in front of him.

Even though they were in a mountain, there were no green trees around. It was as if someone had chopped them off, leaving the brown soils exposed.

Celica also halted and turned back to face Ragna. Ragna then put his left hand on the unreliable person's shoulder.

"Give up."

"You see, I think it's not good to jump at conclusion so fast. No matter what happens, we should keep our calm and..."

"Then calmly look at the outcome you've brought us to. Just accept it, and give up."

Ragna stared at Celica with a really unpleasant look on his face as he put more strength to grip her shoulder. She wouldn't understand if he wasn't saying it directly. He decided to speak more clearly.

"We're on the wrong way. We're lost. We're heading nowhere."

"We're not lost. We just don't know where we are on the map."

"Like. I. Said. That's exactly what lost is! Aaah, shit. I really shouldn’t have left it to you..."

Déjà vu hit Ragna as he recalled the first time he met Celica. At that time, he felt the same kind of regret as well.

Celica seemed to feel a bit responsible. Once again, she stared hard at the map on her hands. Her lips thinned in confusion.

"That's funny. I'm sure we're following the path in this map."

"If you're really following the map, then you should know where we are."

The map that was entrusted by Clavis showed the vicinity of an area currently known as the 'First District'.

The First District was the land where it all began. Once, the Susano'o Unit and the Cauldron were excavated there. Eventually, it became the place where the Black Beast had first appeared. It was Ragna and Celica's destination this time.

Originally, Mitsuyoshi was supposed to visit Shuuichirou Ayatsuki's workplace that was called as the leading sampling research laboratory in the west.

But once that became nonviable, Clavis gave Celica the map so that she might be able to gather clues about Shuuichirou Ayatsuki's whereabouts.

As a courtesy, he even gave directions on how to go to the location. But he seemed to underestimate Celica's ability to get lost.

It was already impossible to get back on the right track since they didn't even know where their current location was.

Mitsuyoshi was the one who excelled at this kind of stuff. But although he had regained consciousness, he still couldn't move. Because of it, he was ordered to recuperate in Clavis' castle.

"For now, give me the map! Nothing good will come out when you hold it!"

Ragna stretched his arm to forcibly snatch the map from Celica's hand. In response, Celica twisted her body with all her might to avoid him.

"Wah! Please! Please let me have it! Let me try again! I have a feeling that we're getting close this time!"

"No way in hell! Just give the map to..."

At that moment, a sharp noise cut through the air.

Simultaneously, he sensed a killing intent.

Ragna immediately pushed Celica down and dived to the ground. He embraced Celica close to his chest to protect her from the ground.

One moment later, something hit the ground behind Ragna. A low roaring sound gouged deep exactly in the place where Ragna had stood and blew away the dry soils.

"Wha...!?"

It had happened all of a sudden. As rain of dusts and pebbles showered his back, Ragna panicked and looked down at Celica who was lying on the hard ground.

"Hey! You okay!?"

"I-I'm fine...!"

Celica gave a small nod.

Ragna's position looked like he was holding down Celica to the ground. However, it wasn't the time to be concerned about that.

Something unknown had attacked. Perhaps it could be a remnant of the Black Beast again.

Anticipating for another attack, Ragna stood up. As Celica was getting up too, her face froze up.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

When he looked closer, Celica's face had gone pale.

It looked like she saw something. Ragna took the sword from his waist while slowly turning around, putting himself on guard.

"...Hm?"

As he turned around, Ragna's face warped to a different complexion than Celica's.

With no wind to carry it anywhere, the cloud of dusts on the hollowed ground slowly dissipated.

What appeared on the opposite side were two human figures. They didn't appear to be bandits who attacked people that were passing by, much less A remnant of the Black Beast.

It was two women.

The first one was a beautiful woman with tall, slender figure. Her long hair magnificently flowed down her back. Supple, long legs stretched from the tight skirt. Those legs could attract any person's eyes to them. A long mantle hung from her shoulders, while a pointy triangular hat was on top of her head. It was like an attire of a witch coming from some fairy tale.

The other person was a bit more petite and wore big glasses. She was walking slightly behind the other one, which made her seem to be accompanying the woman in the pointy hat. Her gestures were truly sophisticated. She wore a big hood, which was attached to her robe, on her head, making her look like a witch as well.

"Ah... O..."

As if strength had left her body, Celica fell, sitting down. She couldn't take her eyes off from the two figures that were approaching slowly. Rather than frightened, she was more of being extremely surprised.

"Someone you know?"

Ragna hastily asked a question toward Celica who was behind him as he examined the approaching woman in the pointy hat. She was truly a lovely lady.

Despite her beautiful appearance, the air she gave off was unexpectedly intimidating. It made all of his nerves tensed up. To put it bluntly, it was truly terrifying.

Celica spoke in a trembling voice.

"O... Onee-chan."

"Huh!?"

Ragna spontaneously looked back toward Celica and let out a disarrayed voice as if asking her again.

At that moment, the killing intent that had been rising up until now started to move.

Shit! Danger signals filled Ragna's mind. He turned his disordered head back to the front as if twisting it.

What had jumped in his vision when he turned was a tight skirt which emphasized the alluring bodyline and a firm thigh that were extending from the skirt.

The leg bent like a whip. It struck Ragna's head with a perfectly done spinning kick like it was drawing something on canvas.

### 008. Chapter 4: Chance-met Silver

———Log 5

Completed.

The dangerous object that was being sought by Relius and the snake-like man has been completed.

However, I too, have taken interest toward it.

I am a researcher, after all.

That is why I developed this.

This is a lynchpin .

If they intend to create a blade to sever the entrance to the Boundary, then this will be the nail to shut it close.

They are oblivious to the fact that I have made it. They still shouldn't be aware of it later on.

Nothing but Kusanagi is reflected in their eyes.

Next, if I can get my hands on the key, this lynchpin will be truly complete.

Key... My key.

Until that has been properly raised to accomplish the role of a key, it will be nice if nothing happens.

### Part 1

It seemed the hard tiptoe of the high heel was carefully aimed at Ragna's temporal region before hitting it.

"GUAAHH!?"

Much like a bouncing spring, Ragna's body flew. The sounds of his jacket scraping the ground could be heard when he rolled over the rough ground.

"That... hurts! The hell are you doing all of a..."

Ragna strongly held down the part that was kicked as he yelled. But that voice quickly faded away.

When Ragna raised his face up, the woman with pointy hat who had gifted him a roundhouse kick was now raising both of her hands while glaring at him.

There was yellow light on her hands that was scattering like sparks. Crackling sounds started to swirl.

Judging from her gaze, the one she aimed the offensive magic to... couldn't be anyone else.

"H-Hey, stop it! First, calm down and tell me your reason!"

"Reason? You mean there's any other reason than wanting to erase you...?"

"H-Huh? What are you sa..."

"If you fail to comprehend it, then I'll beat that body of yours to my heart's content... Your crime for just casually deceiving my sister... Don't you think you can leave unscathed. Now, you shall regret that you were born!"

Simultaneously with that declaration, the mass of sparks flung while aiming at Ragna.

"WHOA!?"

Ragna jumped backward and tried to decrease the light orb's force by stopping it with his sword. Before his eyes, the sparks from the brutal force were dancing around while scattering.

Groaning, he forcibly knocked off the light orb to the wasteland. But the recoil blew away Ragna again.

The tall figure bounced on the hard ground's surface for two, three times.

"Ragna! Look out!"

Before he could even comprehend what happened to his body, he heard Celica's word of warning. He shifted his body by rolling sideways, only by pure reflexes.

This time, what aimed the spot where Ragna had landed was a downpour of sharp rocks.

If Celica didn't warn him, perhaps his body would be full of holes in the place where he was at several seconds earlier.

Using the momentum from his roll, Ragna sprung and got up. This time, lances of flame launched in a straight line, aimed at his face.

"You kidding me!?"

Even being unforgiving still had its limit. For the first fire lance attack, he twisted his body to the point that it barely grazed him, so he somewhat dodged that one. But the woman was aiming that very moment and suddenly made Ragna's feet frozen, robbing him of his movement.

Crap. When he was quickly confirming his fleeting thought of that single word, an invisible shockwave sunk into Ragna's abdomen.

"U... ugh..."

The contents of his stomach welled up from within his body.

One second later, he experienced a sensation as if the whole of his bodily functions had been stopped. No more strength came out of his hand. It made the large sword fell as if spilled from his hand, before it stuck on the ground.

Sounds of cracking ice could be heard from his feet. In a moment, his feet were released from the binding. Ragna dropped to his knees.

"Cough, cough... Guh... Hurk..."

With his trembling back in addition to his coughing, Ragna raised his head. The witch with the pointy hat, who had been attacking him with her barrage of attacks, was walking closer. The sounds of footstep originating from her hard high heels could be heard faintly.

She stopped before Ragna's eyes. Slowly, she raised her foot... and swung down the heel to the top of Ragna's head with all her might.

"Buh!"

Ragna plummeted into the ground.

"Hmph. I was wondering how strong the person who wields that grandiose sword would be... But you're just small fry. It's utter nonsense for you to cut apart the magical power of this supreme me."

"You... bitch..."

As Ranga lifted his enraged head up, the witch mercilessly trampled down his body. It was very much like pinning down a dog to discipline it.

"Consider this an honor. After all, I will personally hand down judgment for a worthless man like you."

The witch's raised her palm upward with such a graceful movement. On her palm, a fireball as big as a man's head ignited. The impression of the light on her overlooking eyes made it seem she was beyond reasoning.

Cold sweat ran down Ragna's forehead.

"S...Stop, stop it! Let's, uh, try to collect ourselves again. I think we should understand each other with more composure, more logic, and mooooore carefully!"

Ragna was desperately trying to negotiate, but the witch just stared at him with surprisingly calm eyes. Her vivid lips spoke few words as if engraving them to him.

"Enough talk."

Creating a rumbling sound, the flame on the witch's hand blazed.

Aah, magic flame is definitely hot. Ragna absentmindedly thought about it while the situation hadn't changed for the better.

At that moment, Celica jumped from the side and held back the arm of the witch that was about to throw the flame toward Ragna's face at any moment.

"Quit it, Onee-chan! Ragna isn't a bad person!"

Toward the complaint from the displeased and red-faced Celica, the witch quickly dismissed it with a harsh tone of voice while holding the flame still.

"Please be silent, Celica. This is you we're talking about. Without knowing this man that well, just because you get along a bit, you decided that he's a kind person and can be trusted, am I right?'

"It's not like that! Ragna is truly a kind person!"

"Don't you always consider everyone related with you a kind person?"

Then, the witch intensely stared at her. Knowing what it meant all too well, Celica was at a loss for words.

"Good grief. It's because of you saying foolish things like searching for that man that this guy passing by can easily trick you."

The witch brushed away the long hair on her shoulders and annoyingly turned to face Ragna.

"Okay? This is a good time, so remember well. Since you're an obedient, simple, and cute child, you'll get approached more easily by men with disgusting ulterior motives. This man is no different. Quickly exterminating this pest is doing a favor to society."

"You... What do you mean by pest?"

Whatever the circumstance might be, she had said too much. Ragna raised his voice in discontent. With a look like she was about to shoot him, the witch turned to Ragna.

"Do you have a complaint? You're not any different than an insect."

"You bitch. I won't stay quiet and let you say whatever you like to me. It's too far, even for a joke."

Having been trampled down until now, Ragna got quite pissed off and shook off the witch's feet that had been holding down his shoulder.

"What's wrong with you? Listen to other people's stories even for a bit! First of all, I'm not deceiving Celica! I'm in her debt since she saved me when I was unconscious. I went through so much that I ended up only wanting to help find her old man!"

If he was just hated, then it's fine. But he couldn't accept being called a pest. Moreover, it's unthinkable to just dismiss Celica's feelings when she was concerned about her father.

"...Besides, you don't have to speak that harsh to Celica. You seem to disapprove of her searching for her old man, but he has been missing for six years. Think about it for a sec. If you consider Celica's feelings, don't you think that 'foolish thing' you said is a bit heartless?"

Celica knew she was being reckless by disobeying her sister and rushed from her home. It was easy to just declare that she was being reckless. But it wasn't easy for Celica's feelings to leave her home at that time.

"...You talk like you know everything."

Then, the eyes of Celica's older sister narrowed.

In an instant, Ragna felt a chill ran down his spine. It seemed that he had just stepped on a switch that shouldn't have been disturbed.

And that was definitely not his imagination. Although a magician, the beautiful woman was pretty direct with her violence. Her visibly remaining composure had been cast aside. Her rage was laid bare when she raised her voice.

"No. One. Asked. For. Your. Opinion!"

Her hand formed a fist, crushing the fireball she had specially created. The witch's high heel kicked Ragna in a regular rhythm.

"Ugh. Guh...!"

"In the first place, you're just a man passing by. Don't talk like you're already familiar with Celica! Your filthy hand feels sticky and it disgusts me. You trash! Garbage!"

The tip of her high heel grinded against Ragna's forehead. The intensity of her expression gave form to an emotion called hatred.

"Onee-chan, stop it already!"

Holding some irritation, Celica's voice got hoarse and tearful. It agitated even more of the witch's anger. Celica's sorrowful face. Celica pleading for Ragna. It was as if all of it was Ragna's fault.

She put more strength to the foot that was crushing him. At that moment.

"Okay, okaaaaay. For now, shouldn't we take a break somewhere nearby~?"

Until then, she had been a bit separated from them as she continued to watch the arguing. The woman who wore a hood and big glasses had already closed in before anyone noticed it.

With a gentle voice as soft as marshmallows, she forced herself between Ragna and the witch with the pointy hat.

"Everyone, let's have some warm tea to drink. Alright?"

With a dumbfoundingly carefree tone, the glasses woman smiled cheerfully toward Ragna and Celica's older sister.

A short while afterward.

"...I get it already, Trinity."

In a completely reluctant manner, the witch with the pointy hat finally released her foot from Ragna.

### Part 2

They were not far from the First District... or they should be. On a desolate mountain trail with no vegetation growing, Ragna, devoid of energy to stand up anymore, sat down with his back placed against a big rock.

Even though his body was grazed many times against magic effects and received a shock wave to his stomach, the damage received from the continuous kicking was the most severe.

He rubbed his hurting forehead while he watched what was on the other side. There were Celica and seemingly her sister of a witch with the pointy hat. They were both quarreling and sometimes even shouting.

It was hard to say that the atmosphere was gentle. But he judged that there wasn't a tiny speck of anything serious that couldn't be mended. They seemed to be close sisters.

Ragna was at loss on how many times he had sighed. He had been completely out of the loop from some time ago.

"Here you go."

A gentle voice approached him from his side. It was the woman with glasses holding out a small plastic cup. Its contents was herb tea, which she blended herself. Thin white vapor was rising.

He wasn't particularly appropriate with the likes of herb tea, but Ragna was thankful to receive it. There was an unusually refreshing aroma there.

Although there was no water around the wasteland, it didn't really make the spectacled woman concerned in getting hot water since she had magic. He didn't have anything against magic, but even when he knew that it was harmless to drink it, he still had complicated feelings about it.

The spectacled woman sat beside Ragna. She charmingly gazed at the sisters who were a bit separated from them.

"Please forgive her for suddenly intruding. When it comes to her sister, she will just disregard anything on her surroundings."

"You saw it, huh?"

A little while ago, his body realized it directly.

"Well, it's just because Celica is very important to her, right? ...I know she's being overprotective, but I've got problems with that."

Ragna spoke before sipping his tea while the spectacled woman giggled.

"Just like Celica-san said, you're very gentle, Ragna-san."

"What do you mean...? I don't get it."

"Ufufu. You're so shy."

As expected, the spectacled woman was viewing Celica and her older sister as if looking at playful kittens. Then, she took a sip of the warm tea.

"My name's Trinity~. And that girl is Nine. As you may already know, she's Celica-san's big sis."

"Nine?"

"Of course, it's not her real name. She's currently the ninth of the Mage’s Guild's Ten Sages. Therefore, she's called Nine."

"Hmm. I see."

It was a fitting reaction toward it, but Ragna's response didn't mean that he felt the name was unusual.

Nine. The Six Heroes defeated the Black Beast, and among them, there was someone named Nine. If that was the case, then she was probably...

"It's actually just a title. But it seems Nine isn't that fond with her real name~."

"The reason's probably her old man, huh?"

As Ragna muttered, Trinity bitterly smiled while furrowing her eyebrows.

On the opposite side, the usual tension could be heard from the voices of Celica and Nine.

In regard to Celica's serious pleading of Ragna isn't a bad person! , Nine said her opinions like it's not good being together with a man that has doubtful origins, let alone when he's no less than small fry , or, isn't it like picking up a dirty animal? . At any rate, they were horrible things to say.

Trinity listened to that conversation while charmingly smiling and sipping her own cup.

"When she discovered that Celica-san had gone to find her father, Nine was in a panic. She always and always searched for her."

"Well, it's her sister's nature after all. Of course she'd be worried."

He didn't know what other things she was capable of, but her handicap of not having any sense of direction had burdened them so that they were barely able to reach the mountain near the port. It might have been not less than a miracle for them to have been able to get there.

"That's why a while ago she entered the mountain, relying on the powerful magic that had suddenly occurred. When she finally came across Celica-san, Nine felt so relieved. But when she saw a man she had never seen together with her sister, she was sooo surprised. ...And then, she felt a little determined."

"The meaning of her determination was different."

Despite Trinity grinning as sweet as sweet pastry, Ragna wondered why he sensed a dangerous aura the moment he said those words.

"That, too, was because of her feelings for Celica-san. Please excuse her~."

"I'm not that angry. But it sure was painful."

His forehead still hurt. There might still be shoe marks there.

"...Though, I know that she's just worried about her sister."

"Oh my. Does Ragna-san have siblings, too?"

"Nope. I still can't remember about that clearly."

Celica had already told Nine and Trinity about when he was unconscious and the amnesia he got.

His memories were certainly coming back little by little. His mind especially felt clear immediately after he went to the Alucard residence.

Nonetheless, there were still many blurry parts. He tried to absorb the meaning of the word 'sister' which Trinity had said repeatedly.

Did he have a younger sister? Or maybe a younger brother? Either way, their existence was surely important.

"Why!? Why are you so against me searching for Father!?"

Celica's loud voice came in suddenly.

Before anyone noticed, the conversation went from talking about Ragna to Celica searching for her father.

Until now, Celica's tensed face was stiffening. She fixed her eyes on the sister that was a little taller and had a composed face.

"Don't you worry about Father? Japan has been like this for six years, but still no one knows where Father is or whether he's alive. It's weird!"

"It's a rare occurrence for someone to be alive if they're in Japan when the Black Beast appeared. Many people have been missing for a while, and now they're treated as if they've died. Even you should understand it, right?"

"But there were survivors!"

"It's just a coincidence. It's meaningless to find him."

"That's not true! At least, I want to know if he's in good health, or if I'm not able to meet him anymore..."

"And how will you do that!?"

Nine's voice became harsh.

The piercing tone of voice blocked Celica's reply back in her throat. However, her staring eyes didn't flinch. She wasn't that weak of a younger sister.

Rather, as the one who seriously shouted, it was Nine who was flinched as she dropped her gaze. To calm herself down, she took a deep breath.

"And what if he's alive? After you're satisfied with meeting that man again, are you going to return home together with him?"

"No. It's not like that. Not at all..."

Even after she had regained her composure, Nine didn't hide her irritation.

Celica desperately tryied to get the right words as she shook her head forcefully. Her long hair danced around.

"I just want to find him. If he turns out to be okay, then that's enough. If he's injured and in poor condition, then I'll heal him. And once again... Father will become like his former self and try his best to do lots of research for the better of society. I'm fine with just that."

"...For the better of society, huh."

Averting her eyes, Nine let out a short breath. Immediately, Celica's face was dyed in anxiety. But before she asked something, a third voice interrupted them.

"Nine. If you scold Celica-san that hard, wouldn't you feel sorry for her?"

It was Trinity. Before anyone noticed, she had stood between the two sisters. Just like when she interfered with Ragna and Nine who were fighting each other... or rather a one-sided violence.

"If only you spoke more honestly. Like, 'I was very worried. I'm glad you're okay'..."

"What do you mean? That's what I've been saying until now."

"You didn't say it."

Since Nine was too haughty with her reply, Ragna unconsciously let his mouth to interrupt her. At that moment, a frightening gaze eyed him.

"...Ahem. Anyway, if you just wander aimlessly in Japan, you won't reach your goal. There's a nuclear attack, and stuff similar to Black Beast fragments remained all over the place. Don't do futile efforts anymore. Let's get home already."

Folding her arms below the voluptuous bosom, Nine made a statement while trying to be careful not to make her tone sound harsh. Nevertheless, there were glimpses of irritation in every word she said.

Like Trinity had said, Celica must have been anxious and troubled.

Even Celica fully understood her intention. However, the younger sister shook her head stubbornly.

"I don't want to give up yet."

"Celica!"

"Anything's fine. I can accept anything that happened... but I want to know what's going on with Father. If I don't put this to an end, I'll keep worrying about Father forever. I might also drag someone down."

Celica crossed both of her hands in front of her chest.

"Even if the worst case happened, I'll accept it completely. It's better than being clueless like this. ...I want to properly know what happened to Father."

If in the end nothing would be gained, rather than keep wishing for unseen things, it's better to have something visible stolen away. Of course, it would be ideal if that visible something within their arms could return.

Celica's voice was confessing as if she were praying. Her chest seemed to be suffocating. Unable to stay quiet, Ragna stood up. He took Clavis' map that Celica had been holding in her hand and presented it to Nine. She must have been gripping it tightly. It was crumpled.

"An acquaintance told us to go there since there might be some clues. We're already close to it. Only a bit more, so let her be satisfied."

Nine didn't seem amused. But she took back her previous blatant hostility and looked at the presented map. Still crossing her arms, she didn't move her hands.

"...The First District, hm?"

"Do you recognize it, Onee-chan!?"

"The vicinity was nothing but a place related to Black Beast."

Nine spoke, looking a bit uncomfortable.

The reason was simple. Ragna asked her about it.

"You're aware that your old man's got something to do with Black Beast, huh?"

"Eh!?" said Celica as she let her voice out. Celica stared at her older sister with a surprised look on her face.

Nine didn't give a nod, but with an affirmative expression she answered.

"...The one who investigated it was the Mage’s Guild, after all. It's natural."

A mere ordinary pupil like Celica might not be able to know about it, but it was a different case for a member of the Ten Sages like Nine. One could only wonder just how much information she had obtained which didn't make it to the public.

"So that's why you don’t want Celica to get close with her old man."

"You just happened to pass by. Don't act like you know everything. I felt discontent towards that man's researches in the past."

As if rejecting him, Nine averted her face from Ragna. Feeling completely annoyed, she then sighed and brushed up her long hair.

"As I thought, you're trying to trick her after all. I don't know from whom you got this, but he gave you a useless map."

Even with those kind of words, her tone of voice revealed that she had given up.

"...This the last time. If we don't find any clues after examining the First District, we'll take it that the man has died. Then we'll go home, okay?"

Nine stressed it while pointing her well-treated fingertip. It was the utmost bargain she could give.

Even when Celica was a bit hesitant, she gave a big nod since it was better than to shake her head and get dragged home.

"Yup. Got it."

"Well then, what are we going to do~?"

"Hmph. You already know it, Trinity."

At her friend's prompt of a smile, Nine spoke with a disappointed tone. Her rolled up sharp eyes were looking to Celica in resignation.

"Since it's you we're talking about, you'll probably get lost. I'll take you until the First District, so put away that useless map."

Averting her face suddenly, Nine turned her back from Ragna and Celica. Contrary to her harsh words, the movement of her hair, which was long enough to reach her hips, was graceful.

Celica looked at Ragna with a delightful face. Then, she leaped to reach the arm of her sister who had turned her back.

"Thank you, Onee-chan!"

"This is reaaaaaaally the last time I do this."

"I know, I know."

The sisters were talking as they returned to where they had come. As for Ragna and Trinity, both were giving a pleasant but bitter smile at the scene. Just as they had expected, the sisters were going back to the same ruined mountain trail.

### Part 3

The First District.

Once formerly a lushly green land, the landscape had what was called a small basin that was encircled by slightly elevated mountains.

It was the location where the Susano'o Unit and the Cauldron were discovered. A few years before the Black Beast had appeared, the place was under the control of the government. Since the progress of the excavation, its investigation was considered not to be going any further, and so the rights for it had been sold to a private company. Afterward, the records became blurry.

Six years ago, the Black Beast crawled out from underneath to the surface.

And several months later, it became the target of a nuclear strike.

There was a gigantic crater within the mountainous region. On the mess of the ground that had suffered scars from destruction that was caused by the Black Beast, there were many holes spreading out. One could sense nothingness.

"There."

On a place overlooking the crater, Nine pointed at the center of that nothingness.

Since it was covered by sand, it couldn't be seen clearly. A giant metallic gate so big, a small aircraft could enter through. The gate that lead to the underground was left behind in a destroyed state.

"Originally, there was a facility that was connecting the building with the surface, but..."

Nine didn't finish her sentence. After some time had passed, nuclear weapons had been dropped to kill the Black Beast. Everything vanished without a trace.

Trinity proceeded to chant some short words. A protective magic then unfolded around them. Incredibly, there wasn't anything like sand, metal, or anything exceptional that would make their chests feel nauseous. They were wrapped up in bland air.

Was it because of the effects from the continuous nuclear attack that there wasn't any blowing wind on the Japanese island?

Inside the crater, there was radiation and several chemical substances leaking from the ground caused by the nuclear attack. If there wasn't any means of protection, treading upon it would not get them very far since their internal organs would get roasted.

Descending into the crater, they were now facing the gate in the middle.

Taking a closer look, it was truly enormous and impressive.

Besides the enormous gate that looked like it was covering something, there was something else. It was a normal-sized door, and while it was composed from solid metal, it was forced open. Then, they went in.

When they exited the firm entrance that was isolating the place from the surface, what lay ahead of them was as if it were a different world.

Sheets of metal spread before them on the floors, walls, and ceilings. There were several places that had rust and discoloration. The colors and odors induced shivering.

Ragna and the others headed down to the metallic passageway. The passageway continued circularly, like roads following the circumference of a gigantic digging site.

The top half of the wall circling the hole was a thin fence. The spectacle peeking from its crevice was magnificent.

"It's really deep..."

While grabbing the fence with her fingers, Celica looked at the other side while she spoke.

What was there was the mouth of a gigantic hole which was enveloped by darkness.

The bottom remained yet to be seen as they didn't know how far the hole had been dug. If the fence wasn't there, the depth would induce vertigo that would invite someone to fall into it.

Surrounding the hole, there was a similar passageway encircling it where a great number of lower floors could be seen below. There were also stairs and elevators connecting the upper and lower floors. Heading down the passageway, the circle grew smaller. The digging site looked similar, as if it were a large mortar.

But the passageway and the installed equipment there were destroyed miserably.

Although the facility was in a good condition back six years ago, it was now disintegrated ruins that let itself be deteriorated.

The scars left behind by Black Beast were deep.

"The entry door must have been repaired after Black Beast had made its appearance~"

That exceptional door was the only thing that was able to preserve its original shape. Trinity spoke while she was looking at a snapped iron pole from faraway. Nine nodded in agreement as her cold eyes looked down upon the thick darkness.

"Seems so. Probably... to protect the Cauldron that was inside."

Even if the research facility wasn't functioning, they had already excavated the Cauldron, which was the Boundary's important point. There had to be countless people wanting to make use of it. Nine's tone of voice sounded like she despised those kind of people.

Awfully loud noise resounded every time they walked in the passageway. The sounds of footsteps within the silent place unnecessarily agitated their nervousness.

Coincidently, the rasping sound of footsteps let Ragna and the others knew that there wasn't anyone else who was walking within the passageway other than themselves.

"Nevertheless... I'm surprised. Even though I believe that this facility amassed the best of the scientific technology from their time... they seemed to also utilize alchemy if you take a closer look around."

With great interest, Nine stroked the weird pattern on the chiseled wall she passed by. Having lost the functionality from the used technique, the pattern didn't give any response. Nine got bored of it as she cleaned off the dust that was dirtying her fingers.

"Those people were combining science and magic. It'd be wonderful if another area of expertise were born since they were able to do that. Jeez..."

Her muttering that had started as admiration transformed to a grumbling in the end.

While she couldn't help but giggle, Trinity enlightened Ragna.

"Nine's researching that kind of technique back in the Mage’s Guild."

"Combining science and magic?"

"That's correct. But of course, it's not for building this kind of large research facility~"

Nine lightly snorted, cutting her off.

Trinity giggled again. Like a child getting blamed for a prank, she ducked her head.

Trying to get back to the topic, Nine continued on after giving a big sigh.

"...It's not only the building. This large-scale excavation also made use of alchemy and magic. Under no circumstances could they have easily dug a ridiculously big hole like this with just machinery."

"But it's magic. Not many people should be able to use it... right?"

Feeling uneasy, Celica asked her sister. It was because she was a mage who belonged to the Mage’s Guild. She understood how, in this age where magic almost had no acknowledgment, it was very difficult and rare to combine science and magic, like what Nine just said.

However, just like Nine had said, she could see a strong influence of magic on every technique in her surroundings.

"That's the extent of how the First District relates to the deep-rooted part of this society."

Nine said it over her shoulders while being annoyed. She was not pleased with the ulterior motive of someone who worked only to dig up ancient objects, and making use of magic, all while concealing themselves in the shadow of society.

Within the flickering of the exhausted lights, Ragna, looking disinterested, grumbled while viewing the scene around the vicinity.

"Science and magic, huh...? I'm trying to differ them bit by bit, but I still don't really get it."

In the period where Ragna had come from, roughly a hundred years later, magic had scientific aspects in it while science had magical aspects in it. Blurring the separating line between them made various technologies to be discovered. So Ragna just couldn't grasp the old-fashioned 'combining magic with science was something hard and rare' like what Nine just said.

"Oh?" said Nine as stopped while deliberately turning around. It was the first time that Ragna saw her heartful smile.

"If only the great people in this world have a good-natured mind like you, that would be nice."

Her remark was just the same as usual. Ragna frowned bitterly.

"Yeah, sure. Sorry for being good-natured."

"Indeed. An idiot is just worthless."

"Why, you..."

Even though he never considered himself a smart person, he was not amused when it was asserted directly like that. Clenching his fist, Ragna's lips twitched as it made a smile. That time, Celica's hair swayed as she broke into a run.

"Ah, hey!"

"Hey, don't go on your own!"

Simultaneously, Nine and Ragna quickly called out for her to stop. If they were to lose sight of Celica in such a large, unknown place, there was no telling where she might end up.

Still, Celica stopped several meters ahead and violently waved her hand as she turned to them.

"Say, it seems to still move!"

What Celica had discovered was a spacious elevator hall which jutted out above a deep-stretching hole.

Fortunately, the damage done by Black Beast only gouged half of the hall. The remaining half had a single elevator contraption that, while slightly damaged, had a green lamp that continuously blinked, informing of its arrival.

After Celica touched the tip of the thin cylinder protruding from the floor, the sounds of machinery being operated hummed before the elevator's door opened.

"I see," said Celica as she nodded.

"Instead of searching little by little from the top, it might be faster if we went straight down."

"Seems so. At least we didn't find any person on this floor."

Ragna once again skimmed around the passageway they had walked on. From the entrance until here, the passageway was deserted. There wasn't any hint of any living beings at all, let alone a human. The passageway on the other side was collapsed in the middle. There didn't seem to be any place being concealed over there.

"It's a bit exciting."

Being the only one with sparkling interest in her eyes, Trinity entered the elevator's box after Celica did. Nine and Ragna followed them.

"You know how to operate it?"

"Of course."

Celica nodded while looking at Ragna who was peeking inside. There were numerous buttons lined up near the door. As Celica's finger pressed one of them, the door closed. After she pressed another, the box started descending.

Although its structure was made by scientific technique, the box was actually operating using magic with alchemy as its basis. The burdens-free floating feeling that was gently enveloping them was none other because the box was currently gliding.

Like a thick wire slipping down between fingers, the elevator descending gently, but with enough speed.

In the box, there were windows installed at the height of one's face. Looking back over his shoulder, Ragna took a view from the outside.

What he saw was darkness. Within it, sometimes the illuminations from the circles of passageways could be seen passing from below to upward.

Likewise, he only saw darkness down below. It was like they were swallowed inside the belly of a mysterious gigantic being.

"I wonder if Father's here."

Standing next to Ragna, Celica softly murmured.

Moving only his gaze, Ragna looked at the girl beside him. With her hand touching the windowpane that was accumulating years of dust, Celica stared at the darkness with a wishful look.

No, perhaps she was actually wishing for something. For her father's safety. For him to be innocent. For another real reunion with him.

"...You've come here to make sure of it, right?"

"Yes... That's right."

Celica's lips raised up slightly. Feelings of numbness came to Ragna's chest merely because of that change of facial expression.

Why did it happen? Sometimes, a painful feeling floated across his chest when he looked at Celica.

Expectation and anxiety trembling in her eyes, Ragna unwittingly lifted his fingers to the profile of Celica.

He himself wasn't sure why he considered touching Celica. But somehow, he wanted to kindly comfort her and tell her that it was going to be okay.

However, just before Ragna's hand tapped Celica's thin shoulder, the elevator that had been going down smoothly until then suddenly screeched a grating metallic sound and stopped with a violent shake.

### Part 4

It seemed like some kind of assault collided with it. As the noise faded away, a light went off and illuminated the elevator's interior all of a sudden. An emergency lamp was shining in a dim orange light.

"Wha... What happened all of a sudden!?"

As if drowning Nine's scream, the elevator shook again.

This time... figuratively speaking, they were caught in a dangerous situation; if the elevator couldn't withstand their weights, it would slip down.

In disbelief, Ragna turned around to the window behind him. What was on the other side of the window was the outside scenery which was slowly swaying left and right.

No. It wasn't the scenery that was swaying around, but the elevator's box with four people inside. It was only supported by a single point on the top part of the right side where the lined up floor buttons were. Slowly moving, it was like a weight hung at the end of a string. Just like a pendulum.

"Get out! It'll fall!"

No sooner after he shouted, Ragna clung to the entrance. He tried to shove in his left hand inside the crevice between the double doors. But it didn't budge.

Nine stepped forward while feeling irritated.

"You can't open it with just a left arm! I'll use magic to...!"

"Stop! It'll fall if there's a shock!"

"Then what do we do!?"

"Please... open up!"

On the corner of his eye, Celica, who was next to Nine, was pummeling the buttons. The alchemic device had been carrying four people with unfitting comfort while inside a ruin. But it was now completely silent, similar to rubbles.

"What should we do...? We can't attempt to do teleportation while inside an unstable place like this..."

Even Trinity couldn't stay calm within this situation.

During the moment of confusion within the small box, Ragna intuitively drew the sword from his waist. Ever since he heard an audible creak from above, he had a grave feeling. There was no time.

"UOOOOOOOHH!"

Giving all his strength, he slashed several times. Then with all his might, he hurled a kick to the disfigured metallic doors of the elevator until it fell off into the gigantic pit.

The shaft and wire that were supporting the elevator were about to snap off. The wire of the box, which Ragna and the others were in, was in its last straw.

Creaking, the box was slipping down. They didn't have a long time.

Fortunately, the distance to the elevator's ceiling was just about one third of their heights. The plate appeared to be damaged to the point that it was torn.

"Get up there!"

"I know!"

After giving Ragna a harsh reply, Nine nimbly jumped up. Her plump body slipped through the gap and went up. From the opposite side, she held out her hand.

"Hurry!"

The creaking noise started to get louder. Willing it or not, the distorted sound made them impatient.

Ragna held up the slow Trinity with his left arm before Nine pulled her up.

Continuing on, Celica was also taken by force and was held up.

But... just when he did that, the worst kind of gruesome noise petrified their ears.

The sound of something got snapped. It was the last cry of the metal fittings that were connecting the wire to the elevator.

"CELICA!!"

Nine shouted in desperation.

Half-throwing her, Ragna lifted Celica up and pushed her until Nine's hand got hold of her.

He then immediately kicked the elevator's floor. He didn't jump up to where Nine was. He didn't even have the intention to go that far.

In the middle of jumping, Ragna widely swung his sword and aimed below to the edge of the floor that was dangling on the void before diagonally thrusting it.

With half of the sword buried on the floor, Ragna was hanging midair while gripping the sword's handle.

Lifting up his gaze he saw that Celica was close by. Her feet didn't touch the floor and were dangling in midair.

Taking them by surprise, the elevator's box started to drop after it finally used up all of its strength. They couldn't afford to make sure how far it would fall.

"Celica! Put your feet on the sword!"

"Eh. Ah. Uh...!"

While clinging to Nine's arm, her teary face instantly looked at Ragna.

"Quick! It'll fall!"

"O-Oka..."

Her reply wasn't clear. Desperately, Celica put her feet on the blade's broad portion of the sword that was pierced diagonally to the floor.

Relying on the temporary foothold, she supported her body. She crawled and went up.

After finally getting a safe footing, she hurriedly looked back to Ragna.

"Ragna should also quickly..."

Despite her waist was giving out, she stretched her hand while speaking in a tearful voice.

But before Celica could finish her words, a familiar noise groaned on the gap between Ragna and Celica.

Aah. Ragna felt a strange insight when he heard the sound. Celica's eyes opened wide instantly.

Ragna's sword was pierced to the floor's edge. The cracks from the first time the sword thrusted into were spreading without pause. Then, the sword became unstuck and fell—it all happened in slow motion.

"Ragna! Stretch your arm!"

Celica shouted in a tearful voice. But if he were to release the hand that was gripping the sword, he would certainly fall. His other arm couldn't be moved, let alone stretched.

He saw that Nine was doing something like chanting magic he was unfamiliar with.

Apart from it however, the crumbling had reached its end.

The portion of the sword that had been stuck was now falling, along with a part of the floor. Ragna once again got dragged into the dark void.

"RAGNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Celica continued to stretch her hand with all her might even when she was pulled by Nine. Her figure rapidly grew smaller.

Aah. There was a moment like this way back then...

While remembering such déjà vu within the corner of his mind, Ragna fell within the deep, deep hole.

### Part 5

Ragna didn't fall on the metallic-plated floor, but rather on the ground surface that was as cold as freezing rock. Thankfully, he didn't seem to receive that much of an impact. He immediately raised his body.

"Tch... That was seriously dangerous."

As far as he remembered, he likely had repeatedly put his so-called life in danger.

Somewhat dejected, he stood up and put the sword that had tumbled nearby back to his waist. Then, Ragna once more looked toward his surroundings and tensed up.

There was a basement built which was even further down compared to all the descending he did until now. The place was similar to a huge dome. The metallic plates that were covering the whole place were stripped off in several spots. The freezing soils behind it were exposed.

Ragna was standing on a floor that had eerie traces of cuts. Even if Ragna were to spread both of his arms, it wouldn't even reach the length of the cuts. Including the soil, the metallic plates were gouged as if someone was trying to make a road there. But sometimes there were cuts like something was crawling and quickly climbing up higher and higher.

The traces of something going back and forth. For example... something unimaginable like a gigantic serpent crawling about.

Then it left, leaving behind many scars. Although Ragna never saw anything that could actually do that, he had an idea about it.

And then another one. Something had snatched Ragna's gaze.

A Cauldron.

The object was the starting place of the gigantic serpent's crawling traces as it was heading toward the surface. Its large hole was spread out. The hole was surrounded by partially destroyed devices on its rim. Its mouth was filled with surging lava.

It was as if looking through the center of the earth. However, what was on the opposite side wasn't the earth's core, but a space that transcended everything. The Boundary.

"This is..."

Oddly, the vast underground dome seemed to be made to cover the Cauldron. But ultimately, the place was made by humans. Garnished by all kinds of devices, the Cauldron was the focal point of the location.

The overwhelming heat reached as high as the ceiling. Even so, an ominous chill was still drifting about. Another air was flowing from the world where people were living in.

Aimlessly, Ragna took a step forward.

His head was in pain. The headache and dizziness resembled a bell chiming in his head. His body would be robbed of its balance in any moment. Ragna was about to fall down the ground.

Using the huge ceiling plate that was stuck on the ground, he supported his body.

The headache was terrible. Rather than saying his head split, it felt more like something was being dragged out from within his head.

"Ugh... Argh... Guh..."

Unable to withstand it, he strongly clutched his head and groaned. The immobile right arm was hurting like it was being ground. The right eye which was unable to reflect light was hot as if burning.

"Uagh. Agh. Aaaaaaargghh...!"

His trembling throat was howling in pain. Cold sweat oozed out.

Information, images, records, feelings. They came out of nowhere and rushed into his head. All of them. The enormous amount of them crushed Ragna's skull from the inside. It was definitely, definitely not normal.

...But every storm would eventually fade away. The pressure on the inside from the waves of information slowly, slowly drew back.

Later on after the aching and pain subsided, his memories were completely restored without anything obstructing it.

"I... So it was that time..."

Why he had arrived in such a distant past. He remembered what had caused it.

Everything was because of what was on the other side of this Cauldron... It was all related to the Boundary.

Then, if he were to make a contact with the Boundary once more, he might return to his original time. He considered it while adjusting his breath that had been disturbed by pain.

But that thought suddenly halted.

A feeling like being torn by a blade of ice crept up from Ragna's spine to the nape.

Someone was here. No, something was approaching.

Unable to afford to look back, Ragna turned over his body and slid into a nearby hiding spot.

He didn't know why he hid. But there was something bad there. His instinct gave off violent warnings.

Before long, footsteps were coming down.

It was alone.

It wasn't Celica. Not Nine nor Trinity, much less Mitsuyoshi.

More heavy, more intimidating.

The nonchalant noise simply trampled both reason and irrationality.

Behind the dropped ceiling plates and machinery that had fallen from somewhere, Ragna stole a glance at the approaching figure. Like a child frightened by a soldier, he peeked from the slight opening.

Instantly, he gasped.

The heat from the lava within the Cauldron acted as light and shone on the figure.

A well-proportioned body. A tall and firm figure. Things like red eyeballs attached around the achromatic clothes which covered the whole body.

The most distinctive feature was the face.

Facial expressions and emotions. As if the purpose was to hide them... the face was concealed by a pure white mask.

"Ma..."

Unintentionally letting his voice out, Ragna swallowed his words of surprise.

(Masked bastard...)

With this, he had encountered four people who existed within his memories. But only he lacked any difference. He was... one of the Six Heroes. Hakumen.

If there was something different, it was the willpower. The pressure from his presence that Ragna felt was tremendous. With just a step forward, it suppressed the atmosphere of the place. Removing all impurities, the blade kept sharping his killing intent to the limit.

Approximately a hundred years later, Ragna would encounter the person called Hakumen. However, compared to the killing intent that was now before Ragna's eyes, he only had nothing more than its remnants.

Within his cover, Ragna noticed that his breathing grew thin and shuddered. His knees collapsed, and his hips gave out.

If he were discovered, he would be killed. He assumed it without any reason whatsoever. He believed it almost certainly. The tension pierced deep into Ragna's body.

"...Strange."

Hakumen murmured in a low, flat voice.

The long silver hair swayed as he took two, three steps, approaching the Cauldron. His neck was turning around at the vicinity.

"There was certainly a dark presence within here..."

A small noise like metal being scraped could be heard. Hakumen raised the sword by his hand.

From the opposite side of the research facility's wreckage where Ragna hid himself, he could see that the white face was attentively observing the surroundings.

"What is the matter, Dark One? I do not care if you are only a wretched remnant. Show yourself before my blade."

Every word sounded like heavy slashes.

Ragna exhaled carefully.

(This is... the true masked bastard...)

Anyone would feel that he was truly terrifying.

Suddenly, Hakumen stopped moving. After examining the surroundings up until now, he stared at a single point where there was a presence.

Ragna couldn't make sure of it. But the expressionless white mask seemed to be intensely focusing to the back of the junk where Ragna hid himself.

With one large step, his feet moved forward.

Ragna's body became stiff.

He could hear something being slipped out of a scabbard.

The oddly long silver blade reflected the light of the lava that was leaking from the Cauldron. If he kept advancing, the blade would be even more dyed in vibrant red. By Ragna's blood.

Death. The absolute phrase clung within Ragna's mind.

With his immobile right arm suspended, his left hand strongly gripped the handle of his sword.

"......Wh...!?"

From the tall ceiling, a high-pitched female voice resounded.

Hakumen's feet came to a halt.

Afterward, several footsteps could be heard hurriedly running down a staircase.

They descended to the underground cave in no time and came across Hakumen who was standing in front of the Cauldron. They stopped while displaying their wariness.

"...What are you?"

The one who was standing ahead was Nine. Caught in front of Hakumen's figure, she put herself on guard while protecting Celica and Trinity behind her.

Hakumen also turned around to face Nine with blade in hand.

"...A magician."

The tension strained to the point where it was painful.

"You don't seem to be a survivor from this facility. ...Are you even a human being?"

Whether she was inquiring or couldn't help but confirm her suspicion in words, Nine put out a low voice.

Hakumen's white mask seemed to be staring at something. As if examining the presences, he only motionlessly faced forward.

Neither side moved. They couldn't move.

If the unpleasant pretense were to be interrupted like cutting a strained thread, that would result in violent destruction. It was not the aftermath Nine... nor Hakumen wished for.

"The dark presence is gone."

Abruptly, Hakumen told something. He sheathed the blade he held to the scabbard on his back.

Nevertheless, Nine still hadn't dropped her guard. A mysterious white-faced man. She felt that what she was facing now had completely crossed over human intellect.

"...I see. I understand who all of you are."

The passed words which were directed toward someone were vanishing as if sinking heavily.

"It is acceptable for the moment of our fateful meeting to be now. ...My sword's purpose is to defeat the Dark One. It is not for slaying fragile human beings like you."

"You... Just what do you know?"

Judging from her question, Nine was startled. The mask didn't have anything that resembled eyes, so there shouldn't have existed any place to look from... And yet, she had a feeling that she was being seen directly.

Although the sharp sword had been sheathed, he gave off an air that if one were to carelessly approach him, they would be immediately sliced without any hesitation. Even with that, the faceless man calmly spoke something.

"...Until then."

Then, he quickly kicked the ground and leaped.

"Wait!"

Raising the corner of her eyes, Nine yelled. However, when she looked over there, the silver figure had already gone.

The girls had come down using the staircase along the wall. But there was nothing but silence within the darkness.

The sharp tension had stiffened their muscles. But the remains of it were drifting away.

"Just now..."

Next to Nine who was looking for the silver figure, Trinity displayed her uneasiness. The unfathomable person who couldn't be seen. Reflecting upon it, Trinity sensed the thread of unavoidable destiny.

"Nine. I know that this is nothing but a hunch."

"What? Speak clearly."

"I believe that we'll meet that person again. Most likely in a distant future."

Something beyond reasoning had told Trinity that this moment was the beginning of a circle. The same premonition also somewhat appeared within Nine's chest.

Because Hakumen had left, it was as if the atmosphere within the underground cave regained its warmth once more.

"Ragna!"

At the same time, Celica noticed Ragna who was sitting down behind a cover. She rushed over to him.

"Thank goodness... Are you okay? How about wounds?"

"No..."

Celica's hands touched his shoulders. Feeling the sensation and body temperature, relief suddenly came to Ragna. He thought he was going to die. Exterminated by that sword.

No, if Nine and the others were slightly delayed, that might have come true.

"Ragna?"

"Aah, I'm fine. Though I hit several things when I fell."

Toward Celica, who was looking at him worryingly, Ragna replied with a stiff smile. Even so, it was hard to make a smile. With the fear still not gone, he couldn't help but worry if his voice was trembling when he answered.

"Does it hurt?"

"Nah, I'm okay."

Shaking his head, Ragna grabbed the ceiling plate he had used as a shield to stand up. Truthfully, he might have been in pain, but now that feeling had gone off somewhere else.

Fortunately, having overcome the silver terror, his body stopped trembling and he was able to support it.

"You're quite healthy for someone who fell from that height."

Nine's high heels hit the solid floor.

"By the way... Do you know that strange man?"

It was as if her tone of voice accused him like he should have known about him since he was hiding.

Removing his hand from the ceiling plate after pushing it away, Ragna gripped his hand forcefully.

"Yeah. But then again, I don't know him that well."

"What is he?"

"Beats me. I also want to know."

"Then, what about his name?"

"...It's Hakumen."

It was the name the guy referred himself as. With that as the exception, Ragna didn't know anything else regarding that silver man.

Where did he came from, and what was he trying to do? Was he even a human? The wish to know more was just as much as not wanting to know anything else. He felt that if he ever learned about him somehow... he wouldn't be able to go back to the way he was before.

"Is that... the Cauldron? Where the Black Beast came from...?"

After confirming that there wasn't any serious injury that stood out on Ragna, Celica finally regained her composure. Then, she looked towards the gigantic hole which was excreting its overwhelming presence within the underground cave.

Starting with Celica, the squirming red lava within it begun to bathe everyone's face in red light.

"It's the gate of hell. Mankind shouldn't stick their noses in it."

Nine spoke spitefully.

"I don't know if it's the Original Unit or the Boundary... But if only they weren't discovered, a lot of people wouldn't have had to die."

"...Yeah."

Ragna saw that Celica immediately frowned as if she were in pain.

Averting her eyes, Nine turned her back from the boiling Cauldron and went forward.

"I don't want to linger in this place any longer. We should quickly... Huh, Trinity?"

The hooded figure that should have been near her was missing. Confused, everyone looked around their surroundings. The figure whom they had been searching for earlier replied back.

"Hey~ What's this?"

The voice they had heard was definitely Trinity's. Due to the light from the scorching heat of the Cauldron, a distinct shadow was projected on a part of the underground cave. The voice that could be heard came from within it.

"What's wrong, Trinity-san?"

Celica quickly jogged and approached the shadow to peek inside. While being puzzled, Ragna and Nine followed her.

Inside the shadow, Trinity, with both knees on the ground, fixed her gaze toward a part of the wall.

It seemed due to the impact from the Black Beast toward the Cauldron's surroundings that most of the metallic plates from the wall had become loose. What Trinity currently saw was a bare-naked bedrock. Trinity's white hand traced a part of the bedrock.

"Is there... something here?"

From behind Trinity, Celica, Ragna, and also Nine leaned their faces together to look at it.

There were cracks running down the bedrock. It appeared the bedrock might have been previously placed there to conceal something.

No. It was certainly for that very purpose.

Beyond the cracks. There was some kind of a metal visible from beyond the slightly crumbled bedrock. With a brute force that didn't suit her delicate fingers, Trinity tore off the dark brown chunks.

The dry lumps of mud weakly crumbled.

"Ah..."

Celica raised her voice. Underneath the bedrock, metal sheets appeared subsequently more and more. Judging by the appearance, it didn't seem to look small.

"Step aside a bit."

Replacing Trinity's place, Ragna thrusted his sword toward the cracks. It crumbled completely.

The whole thing that was concealed was now revealed. Each of them gasped in surprise.

What was there was a single door.

### 009. Chapter 5: Sealed Green

———Log...

What was that?

What actually was that? Why did this happen? Why?

From the Cauldron, a black object began overflowing.

I cannot determine what it was.

Relius had said that it was not Kusanagi. That Relius disappeared... swallowed by the black object.

Did he die?

Tell me, Relius. What is the best action that I should take?

Is that the object that we have created?

Wrong. That object is...

The Sheol Gate.

That object is not of this world.

Why did it happen?

That's right.

The lynchpin.

I have made it for the sake of such a moment like this.

However, the key isn't in what I have left.

The key... I have to obtain it somehow. But how?

I'm not able to do anything else.

I can only wait here until my life is exhausted...

### Part 1

The out of place door which Trinity had discovered was pretty plain.

According to Celica, the door had an old lock that was quite simple. Ragna easily opened it with just a few kicks.

What awaited there was a thin, dark passage. Unlike other places, this passage didn't have any illumination. In the first place, there didn't seem to be any lighting installed.

Relying on the light Trinity had made with magic, they advanced inside with Ragna as the lead. Then, they reached somewhere. But there was only another door that stood still inside the dark passage.

"This one has an electronic lock."

Celica, who was walking behind Ragna, said that while looking at the small panel beside the door. They weren't sure whether if it was thanks to the electric source of the whole facility that was still active, or if it had an independent electric source, but the lock was functioning securely.

Ragna tried to knock it lightly. The security here was tighter unlike at the entrance. It didn't seem to budge no matter how many times it was kicked.

"So, what do we do? Frankly, it's too much effort to break it off by beating it."

"It's also too dangerous to just blast the door off. We might get caught in it."

Recalling the time when she was about to blow the elevator's door, Nine quickly said it while shaking her head. But there was a smile without any worry whatsoever on her expression.

"So, we'll do it like this."

While saying it, Nine's supple fingers sparkled. Thin electric currents from her fingers shocked the electronic panel. Sparks scattered around.

A moment later, the secure bulky door was separated in the middle. It sluggishly started to open its upper and lower ends.

"Seriously...?"

"Onee-chan's amazing..."

Having too quickly cleared their objective, Ragna and Celica couldn't help but mutter their admiration.

"Fufu", smiled Nine triumphantly.

"If you construct a system so advanced to a certain point, it actually becomes easier for the user to understand what the system's saying."

Different from the previous elevator that had stopped functioning smoothly, this one was still working. Perhaps instead of 'understand what the system's saying', maybe 'you could forcefully bash it as you like' was more appropriate.

Nine shook off the remaining electricity which was coiling around her fingers as if removing intertwined threads.

Although the passage from the entrance until then was narrow, what lie in wait inside was an unexpectedly spacious room.

Rather than a room, it might have been better to call it a square.

When they first entered, the color of the illumination took over their visions. It was like it was dominating the room. As if the dark passage until now was a lie, the sophisticated and refreshing green-colored lights shone on.

The room had an elliptical landscape.

Within the interior that was surrounded by metallic plates, there were several machineries installed that seemed like measuring devices. It appeared some kind of development was being conducted. The desk where there was a computer put on had a large quantity of papers scattered around its perimeter. Several of them were stuck on the wall using tape.

However, it could be said that an unknown discomfort was drifting within the room.

"What's with this room...? It's like time is almost not moving~"

The first one to notice the source of their discomfort was Trinity. With uneasiness clouding her face, she turned about and looked around the room

Just as she had said, this room was odd.

Not having any of the Black Beast's scratch, it was spotless. It was as if just a few days ago, or maybe a few hours ago, since the last time someone had used it. The air flowing there had little to do with destruction and deterioration.

It didn't have any smell of dust or rust. It added more of the eeriness.

"I feel like we've wandered to a strange location."

While speaking bitterly, Nine cautiously proceeded to the inner part of the room.

Suddenly, the atmosphere which had wrapped around Ragna's group up until now trembled and vanished.

Trinity had dispelled her protective magic.

"We don't seem to need it for a while now."

Certainly, the air that was contaminating the First District which could roast their internal organs if they had no means of protection didn't seem to be there anymore. There was only clean air drifting about. It was fine to take a deep breath.

It wasn't only this room. The air within the cave from before where the Cauldron existed was also clear. The substance called seithr that was overflowing from the Cauldron neutralized the radiation and other harmful chemical substances. It didn't seem harmful. Instead, it even produced hygienic air.

But the only one in this room who understood its structure just by feeling it on her skin was Nine.

"A hidden room, huh."

Inhaling the strangely refreshing air which had been released by the seithr, Ragna walked within the room. He picked up a piece of paper that fell at his feet.

The bluish-green lightings were dim, but unexpectedly the small letters were legible. But since the writing was in Japanese, it was nothing more than cryptic letters he had never seen before.

Even though he didn't know the letters, Ragna understood the drawing. Ragna frowned at the numerous scribbles along with the hand drawing that was on the center of the paper.

There was something like... a large nail on it. It seemed to be a diagram for something. It was probably a blueprint or even something else entirely.

From the side, Celica peeked on what Ragna was holding.

"What's this? Something like a machine? It's like a nail... Ah!"

Inadvertently lifting her gaze just now, Celica made a loud voice. At the same time, she pointed toward the inner part of the room.

Silently blending within the green lightings, a gigantic object shaped like nail was hanging in the air alongside the wall.

If it was a nail, then it should have had crude silhouette. Yet it was so fascinating that it was like an ornament decorating the room. The green patterns stood out on the aesthetic silver surface. Metals and metals joined up together and drew straight lines. Those lines appeared to give off a calculated charm.

Ragna felt that its size, whether its height or width, could easily fit approximately three to four people. It might have been because of the lighting, but it could have possibly bene even larger.

It had a rather sacred feel drifting around as if it was a nail-shaped goddess statue. The beautiful main part was clad in several silver chains. The stakes pierced strongly to the ceiling and wall.

"Isn't this drawing actually about it?"

According to what Celica was pointing out, the drawing on the paper Ragna picked up was the blueprint for the captivating gigantic nail of an objet d'art.

If so, it seemed someone had created it as some kind of a device. That thought seemed unbelievable. Just how much of technology, knowledge, and insight was needed to create this kind of object?

The kind of dread like the Cauldron had crept up to Ragna's nape.

"It seems so. But how come this thing exists near the Cauldron?"

A hidden room even got built for it.

"This room's probably built to observe that Cauldron."

Trinity spoke while playing around with a computer a bit separated from them.

Ragna was surprised on how she handled it. Sometimes, he could see that there were small emblems shining on her fingertips. Perhaps she was borrowing the power of magic. At any rate, it was a handy magic.

Pushing up her big glasses, Trinity turned on the sub-display and showed it to Ragna and the others.

The view there was looking down from somewhere as it projected the front view of the Cauldron from before.

"Looking at this camera, it seems to be recording the changes in the atmosphere around the Cauldron, like temperature and humidity~. In addition, a lot of data is flowing in."

"Then... this device is also related to the Cauldron and Boundary, huh?"

Ragna took a glance at the silver and green nail from the image of the surveillance camera. Indeed, it had the imposing aura fitting to confront.

"...Oh?"

Continuing on fiddling with the computer, Trinity tilted her head in confusion.

Nine, who was picking up the scattered papers that were on top of a desk, turned around.

"What's the matter?"

"I was checking it up since it's been on my mind. As I thought, this room is odd."

The small magic circles that appeared on Trinity's fingertips were disappearing. He had to make sure again what he had seen just now.

"The data from this computer. The computer's clock. ...Not much time has passed since the day of the Black Beast's appearance~"

"The specific time?"

"...One year."

It was like only a year had passed in the room. Realistically, six years had passed since the appearance of Black Beast, but the time here had only passed a year.

"I see..."

While dropping her gaze to the documents she picked up, Nine muttered in displeasure. It seemed only Nine understood why the flow of time in this room was unusual.

Suddenly, Celica's behaviors made Ragna felt uneasy. Before he knew it, she had snatched the paper that had the diagram sketch from his hand. She had been staring it intensely for some time. She did it with enough enthusiasm to bore a hole in it.

When he looked at Nine, she was also staring with a grim face at the papers she had gathered up that was scattered on the floor before.

Ragna had a bad feeling.

"Celica?"

He softy called out to the tensed-up girl who was just beside him.

Celica's shoulders jumped as he did so. Then she looked at Ragna with such an anxiety that would make her tremble anytime soon.

"Ragna... This..."

"Something dangerous written here?"

Celica shook her head for so many times.

As if making sure of something unbelievable, she pointed at the writing that slanted upward badly as it went on, so bad you couldn't even pretend to say it was good. And then she gulped before starting to speak.

"This is... Father's handwriting."

In other words, Shuuichirou Ayatsuki's.

Someone whom Celica, Ragna, Mitsuyoshi, and Clavis had been seeking after.

Ragna's expression took a steep turn.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I don't have any doubt. I remember it very well."

Celica intensely stared at the diagram she held, but then also looked at it with affection. The footprints of the father she had been looking for were surely there.

Ragna once again looked up at the gigantic instrument which seemed like overlooking them. When he took a moment to observe the existence, he felt that its magnificence was overwhelming.

"Then, your old man created this?"

"At the very least, I think the design here was made by Father."

"So in the end, what's this thing? It's too fancy for an interior."

The ceiling above the silver and green nail was built exceptionally tall. The supporting chains were connected to several pulleys. When examined, they should be used to raise the nail even further up.

Celica took a glance at the diagram.

"It seems there's nothing written here that explains what it's for, but..."

Just as Celica was about to speak, a loud noise interrupted.

Everyone looked back all at once. Nine had read the documents that was scattered on a place separated from Ragna and Celica, also from Trinity. It was the sound of a bundle of papers thrown onto the measuring devices.

The five-centimeter thick documents she had collected hit the metallic box. Losing its strength, it once again scattered on the cold floor.

Nine stomped on the documents with all her strength. She put all the hatred from her heart.

"...Don't mess with me... JUST HOW ROTTEN IS YOUR MIND!!?"

Having been stomped with the sharp heel, one sheet was largely torn up. The panicked Celica tried to save the documents from her older sister's feet.

"Onee-chan, what are you doing!? These are Father's..."

"They are! That man undoubtedly wrote those! And also the blueprint and data containing the concept of that instrument! This is outrageous and no joke. No one but that man would construct such a ridiculous thing!"

"Hold on a moment. Tell me your reason properly. I'm completely clueless as to why you suddenly snapped."

Ragna forcedly interrupted both of them. He helped Celica, who had gathered the documents from the floor and held them to her chest, to stand.

In the meantime, Nine took a deep breath to adjust her breathing that was disturbed by her excessive anger. Even so, to vent her unsettled emotion, she struck the wall with her fist.

Worried, Trinity gently touched Nine's back. She took that chance to finally suppress her fury by biting her lips.

"...The Boundary is filled with the substance called seithr. The seithr was always overflowing continuously from that damned hole of a Cauldron. It's reasonable to think that the being from the Boundary called the Black Beast was also heavily influenced by the seithr."

"That information is extremely uncertain."

"It can't be helped. Nobody wants to get close to the Black Beast. And its remains that were left all over the place are not something you can carelessly approach."

To have one of the Ten Sages of the Mage’s Guild say that, he couldn't just easily dismiss it. What's more, many organizations had their hands full on dealing with the damages caused by Black Beast. They weren't in the position to just settle down and begin an investigation.

And then by not having any decisive ability to oppose the Black Beast, they would just be in disarray when facing another one of the Black Beast's destruction. The vicious cycle happened on a global scale, with its end yet to be seen.

"Let's get back to the topic. See, the Boundary and the Black Beast are like a mass of seithr. Then, this pretentious thing is... used to halt the flow of the seithr."

With a stern expression, Nine looked at the exceptionally fascinating artifact.

Some kind of unrest drifted from her narrative tone. Naturally, Ragna and Celica's faces stiffened in nervousness.

"What will happen when the seithr's flow gets stopped?"

"It's simple. Basically..."

Nine sluggishly opened her mouth to answer Ragna's question.

But as her words were on their way out, another voice followed on instead.

"Basically... We will be able to stop the activities of the Black Beast."

For some reason, a hoarse male's voice could be heard from the room's entrance that was left open until now.

### Part 2

It wasn't the voice of the people in this room. Immediately after arriving to that conclusion, Ragna turned around and drew the sword from his waist.

But immediately, there was hesitation in the tip of that sword.

Nine had made the electronic panel short-circuited using her magic and caused the bulky metallic door unable to close. On the rectangular frame, a skinny man stood with his back leaning there.

With an unhealthy appearance, his skin was engraved with deep wrinkles, as if it were coated with them. The hair was also mixed with some white hair with its color faded away. Originally, his age should have been within his forties, or what had been said as the first half of the prime time of someone's life. But the atmosphere that was enveloping him had an unusual fatigue that made him appear to be an old man that had already gone past his sixties.

The figure wore dust-stained pants and a shirt with a slightly dirty white robe of top of it. ...It was like he had been secretly living for about six years within the deserted underground ruins.

His flat and narrow glasses were a bit bent with a small crack running. It somehow gave an impression of nervousness.

He was Shuuichirou Ayatsuki.

Ragna could hear the noise of Celica taking a breath beside him.

"...Father!?"

No sooner after she called him, Celica leaned forward and ran off. As she ran, she intensely stared at the figure in disbelief.

"Are you really... my father?"

His appearance was considerably different from what Celica remembered.

Although he had always looked unhealthy after he shut himself within a research institute, he never looked this morbid. Although he had a slender build, he was never so thin that he might get a fracture at any time. He might not have appeared youthful, but his eyes were never sunken so deep.

His appearance had completely changed too much for what six years could have done.

The white-robed and spectacled man took a gaze at the rushing Celica's body as if he were making sure of it. And then he clumsily raised his lips.

"...It seems I'm able to meet you once more. Looks like the heavens haven't abandoned me yet."

The pitiful and hoarse voice was of course different from what Celica remembered, but the somewhat cynical accent he passed was of her dearest father.

Even if he was unexpectedly old, he was unmistakably her father.

"Thank goodness. You're really alive... I'm so glad we're able to meet... I was always, always searching for you. But why? If only you had contacted me during all these six years... I'd have rushed to your place anytime..."

She had finally met him. The words of that thought were mixed with tears. It overflowed as she broke down.

Shuuichirou responded with a clumsy smile. However, his feeble body couldn't even raise his arm to caress her. Instead, his body sunk to the wall. He stared at the daughter with muddy eyes.

All the communication lines with the outside were cut off. The protective suit which purpose was to withstand the severe air pollution on the outside was entirely damaged. The only means to reach the exit that was on the upper level part was only by staircase. But the exhausted Shuuichirou couldn't possibly climb it to the top.

At first, it was possible to pick up the radio signal from the outside. However, the nuclear attack erased the established signal.

For six years, nobody had come to rescue him, nor was he able to get out. He was always alone in the deep underground. Thinking of the loneliness, Celica's spine trembled with shivers.

"I'm glad... I was able to find you."

His loneliness should have ended now. Celica wiped her wet cheeks with her palms and made a bright smile to cheer up her father.

Relief. She felt the anxiety she had been holding was melting in relief. She thought that it was right for her to search for him after all.

From behind her, harsh words stormed in.

"Celica! Get away from that man!"

It was Nine. Celica turned around with a bewildered expression.

Those words were too much for someone who finally met her father. But Nine was completely serious, or rather she revealed her fierce hostility toward her father.

"Onee-chan...?"

"Come back here, right this instant. Do not approach that man."

"But why? He's really Father! He's alive!"

Celica went against the older sister's words and held her father's hand. The fingers on the completely dried up hand were stiff like a tree bark. But there was certainly warmth within the hardened muscles.

But clomping her heels, Nine walked toward them and roughly shook off their hands.

"Hey, you!"

As one would expect, thinking her action wrong, Ragna raised his voice in disapproval.

But he was silenced by a sharp glare from Nine.

"Get away from him!"

She yelled again. This time, she would not hear any argument and seized Celica's arm, separating it forcibly from the father. During that time, Nine stood between them as if protecting Celica.

Toward the stabbing, menacing attitude from Nine, Shuuichirou looked up and watched her with an annoyed gaze. His lips smiled.

"Konoe, huh..."

"Don't say my name so casually."

With unwavering hostility, Nine rejected her father.

"We undoubtedly finally meet again. I went through the trouble, so answer me. Six years ago, what kind of experiment did you do here? ...No, not that. Why did you create this object?"

The object Nine talked about was filling up the majority of the room's space. It was a nail that was covered in green patterns.

A while back, Shuuichirou said something about being able to stop the activities of the Black Beast .

Shuuichirou raised his blank eyes. He looked at the object that was peacefully sleeping. Then he moved his heavy, dried-up lips.

"...I've wondered if it might happen. We have failed. The object we've constructed was lost in the Cauldron... Instead, we've invited fear."

Once, the Takamagahara System had challenged God. Following it, an object was created with the purpose to supposedly directly interfere with the Boundary. However, what appeared was a monster that destroyed everything.

Shuuichirou's murmur made him as if he was thinking of something far away.

"It was certainly the Sheol Gate... According to what he said, what exists beyond it was probably hell. ...I was always terrified. What would happen if we were to fail...? Before I noticed, my mind was filled with nothing but that thought. Because of that possible moment, I have created something to hold back the flowing seithr from Boundary, and to shut the hole leading to it."

Shuuichirou lifted his stiff arms and stretched his hands toward said instrument.

"It was... this Kushinada's Lynchpin ."

The object called the lynchpin that had unimaginably large strength silently stood beautifully. It was as if it was in deep slumber.

The hands that had stretched to the lynchpin fell down.

The back that had been leaning to the wall was slipping. Shuuichirou's thin, weak body sat down above the cold floor. His body was no longer holding up.

"FATHER!?"

Celica rushed and slipped through Nine's side. She kneeled beside her father. She knew it would only give her a temporary peace of mind, but Celica still put her hands on her father's chest and performed healing magic.

Celica possessed an exceptionally natural talent in healing magic. But still, she currently couldn't heal wounds that weren't visible. She couldn't heal illness. Furthermore, what was eating Shuuichirou's body wasn't an ordinary illness.

"...Quit wasting your magic. My body has been too exposed to a high concentration of seithr. It is too late to do anything about it."

It was seithr poisoning. Like how alkaline neutralized acid, seithr could neutralize harmful substances. But just like alkaline could be harmful when its concentration exceeded a certain limit, being exposed to too much seithr could also be poisonous to one's life.

"Perhaps, this is the end," Shuuichirou told his teary eyed daughter. He mustered his last strength toward the hand that had fallen once and placed it on Celica's shoulder.

"Listen well... Celica. My lynchpin could close that hole. That monster is strongly affected by the Boundary. It's only temporary, but it should be able to stop all of its activities."

"Fa-Father...?"

Suddenly, heat was coming from Shuuichirou's voice. Despite that his body was about to be depleted of his existence, only the hand that had been grabbing Celica's shoulder was strangely powerful.

It was like... he wanted to entrust something really important.

"I was always waiting for you. For you to come here, I was always..."

Growing impatient, Nine tried to separate the father's hand that had been grabbing her younger sister's shoulder.

But Shuuichirou's thin arm that had been stiffening until now wouldn't budge. Rather, because it absolutely wouldn't let go, his fingertips forcefully dug into Celica's shoulder.

"This is my final research. It needs your power for it to be completed. Your..."

"Release Celica!"

Nine yelled as if she were striking him. At the same time, as if knocked by the angry voice, Shuuichirou's body was slammed to the wall that was just behind him.

Unbelievably, her biological father was blown away by a shockwave.

Celica tried to blame her by saying that she had gone too far.

But before she could speak her discontent, a low laughter disturbed the cool air.

"Huhu... haha. My lynchpin will seal the monster he had dragged out. That ought to make my skill be considered having surpassed his..."

He was talking to himself. His body, which was being held by only his willpower, already couldn't be moved. With his helpless head leaning against the wall, Shuuichirou looked up at the ceiling and laughed.

Looking at her father who sounded so triumphant, anger and contempt mixed within Nine. Preventing her from touching him again, she forcibly pushed Celica behind.

As she got startled all of a sudden, Celica twisted her feet, but Ragna immediately held her.

Everyone hadn't separated their eyes from Shuuichirou.

"You're disgusting as usual. It isn't about anything like the world, humanity, or the Black Beast. You just want to show off the result from your research to that genius person, don't you?"

"Yes, indeed. I'm a scientist. Isn't that obvious? ...I was always frustrated. I was no match compared to that genius under any circumstances. He was undoubtedly the only necessary person for our research and experiments... I was no more than an extra."

The blood-related daughter despised him from the bottom of her heart. But she could no longer get through to Shuuichirou. He might have put his pride on top of his comprehension.

Shuuichirou's muddy eyes were fixed to the lynchpin, as if clinging to it.

"He had made a mistake. And then... I corrected that mistake. Using my lynchpin."

If his body were able to move, he probably would present both of his arms to the lynchpin and hug it.

Despite the hoarse voice being barely able to be understood, his trembling enthusiasm caused Ragna, Celica, Nine, and Trinity's nerves to convulse, as if he were holding their collars.

"Isn't it magnificent...? It is... My lynchpin is... the last option for... humanity..."

After his pale lips carved a smile, Shuuichirou ceased to move. Like an old man, his eyelids fell down before anyone knew it, snatching away the lynchpin from Shuuichirou's pupils.

But perhaps the brilliance from the divine figure had been burned at the back of his eyelids.

"...Father?"

After a little while, Celica called him with tearful voice. There was no response.

Celica tried to walk up to him with her aimless feet shaking. When it seemed she was about to fall, Ragna held her shoulder and pulled her.

"It's dangerous. Get hold of yourself."

Ragna knew that he had said something unreasonable. Truthfully, it seemed nothing would reach Celica's ears. Her trembling knees yielded down as they had lost their strength.

He hurriedly held her body that had collapsed to the floor with his arm, and supported her with his chest.

"Celi..."

Ragna didn't continue his words as he tried to call her. To begin with, he already couldn't remember what to say to her.

Celica's lips let out a helpless voice to call her father.

It might have been some kind of switch as tears were spilling from her wide eyes. Spilling, and overflowing.

"No... no way. Why...?"

She had finally met him. She had found him at last.

Her lifeless fingers were trembling as she strongly grabbed Ragna's clothes. It was like there was nothing to cling to other than that.

Ragna embraced Celica within his chest. If by any chance his hand were to be separated from her, he felt like Celica's figure would disappear instantly.

He fully knew that such a thing would never happen, but he couldn't help it. He probably just didn't want to look at her pale, tear-stained face.

As she was firmly enclosed within his arm, Celica's back began to tremble in her sobbing after a little while. She buried her forehead on Ragna's chest. She muttered as she held back her voice. Like how a small child did, she couldn't conceal her grief and started to cry.

Why? How come? I really have lots of things to say. I didn't search for you to speak about such a thing...

Ragna never lamented over the fact that his right arm couldn't be moved presently.

But if only it could be moved, even while supporting the crying Celica, he could have patted her head with the other hand.

### Part 3

Before anyone knew it, the hidden room that was deep within underground had regained complete silence.

A small sound rang as Trinity closed a thick notebook in her hand. Its black leather of a cover was crowded with writings on it. They were mostly reminders of someone's researches.

But occasionally, there were no dates or signatures, with small monologues put in between. Sometimes it was a trivial announcement of a decision, sometimes it was a complaint, and sometimes it was regret.

The contents were like short journals. Its owner, Shuuichirou Ayatsuki, wasn't able to tell it to his daughters. What was written were mostly predictions, and the truth.

Standing in for the uninvolved sisters, Trinity only investigated some parts of the monologues and read aloud what caught her eyes.

"...It seems originally, your father's research was initiated when a person named Relius Clover received a request."

Breathing out slowly, Trinity said a few words. It was then that time had finally moved for the first time in a long time.

For the whole time, Nine was silent, while Celica was crying.

In the midst of it, Celica finally stopped crying and sat down on the floor. Even then, she hadn't released Ragna's clothes. For now, she still clung to it with her head buried.

He didn't see a reason to separate her. Forced to keep sitting, Ragna looked up to Trinity with his posture still holding Celica.

"Was there a guy named Yuuki Terumi in there?"

"No~, didn't find any."

"Is that so..."

He felt disappointed since he had a little hope. Ragna had quite a history with him as the enemy. That name gave out a hidden presence that marked an important incident in history. Ragna had encountered him in a period approximately a hundred years to the future. However, he should have existed in this period, too, donning some kind of appearance.

To say the least, Yuuki Terumi was one of the Six Heroes who had defeated Black Beast...

(...Hm? Does that mean if I find Terumi and beat him during this current stage, the Black Beast won't be defeated?)

Ragna suddenly noticed. If that were the case, he couldn't afford to kill Terumi. History would change.

(Well... But for now...)

The purpose he came up with that he could do in this period was only Yuuki Terumi.

For now, rather than that, the girl who was desperately wiping her tears from her eyes was more important.

And then... about the Kushinada's Lynchpin that was silently enshrined.

"That Relius Clover must be the person that man was talking about."

Nine spoke as she separated her back from the wall. An anger that had its reason still yet to be understood by Ragna and the others strongly oozed out from her voice.

She wandered to the front of the lynchpin and then looked up at the gigantic object with her chin raised, as if challenging it.

"If you want to overcome your inferiority complex, then do something with just your own power... And yet, this thing...!"

With her anger stirred up, thunder appeared on Nine's hand. It largely expanded in just a blink of an eye. Before long, the sound of electric discharge filled up the atmosphere within the room. The measuring devices screeched as sparks scattered all over them.

"Hey! What are you trying to do!?"

Ragna raised his voice in a hurry. With her eyes locked on the Kushinada's Lynchpin, Nine didn't even look over to him.

"It should be obvious. This ridiculous junk has no worth in existing!"

"You... you can't, Onee-chan! Father went through trouble taking care of it! It might be able to stop the Black Beast!"

Weeping her eyes out, Celica raised her face and also yelled.

The hidden room which was built deep underground might not know about the damage from the Black Beast, but if one were to get out to the outside of the room for a moment, they would see deep scars regardless. If they were to go to the surface, they would be exposed to the dreadful appearance of a country that had been destroyed by an unidentified monster.

If the Black Beast's ferocious movements could be stopped, then any mankind would long for that miraculous means.

But Nine's back turned a deaf ear. The lightning sphere greatly raised.

Trinity prepared a protective magic in a hurry. Ragna reflexively held Celica to protect her.

The lightning was fired.

On the brink of it, a gale swiftly flowed.

"Wh...!?"

It wasn't clear if the raised voice toward the unusual phenomenon belonged to Ragna or Nine.

A distorted noise burned the air. The course of the fired lightning cluster that had been aimed at the lynchpin was abruptly changed to a wrong direction. In a diagonally upward angle, it smashed the room's ceiling and burst.

A noise of metal being torn off spread. The smokes from the explosion dragged the smashed soils and rained down within the room.

"Cough... cough. W-what?"

Celica lowered her body since she was seized by a fit of coughing while still being held by Ragna's arm. She once again choked painfully.

She didn't know the details of what had happened. But judging from the noise and situation, Nine's magic had been repelled. It didn't directly hit the lynchpin.

With her sleeve covering her mouth, Nine looked up from within the whirling up dust clouds. In the front of her, another presence lingered.

As his vision gradually became clearer, Ragna instantly recognized the intruder.

"Can't let ye destroy this fella."

A short build with the height that didn't even reach Ragna's chest and two tails that swayed. A gleaming Japanese sword that cut through the explosion's smoke.

The one who was standing there was Mitsuyoshi, with his wounded right eye covered in bandages.

As soon as he saw Mitsuyoshi's figure, Ragna spontaneously gasped. His memory was aching.

That person also had his right eye concealed by an eye patch. The side of his eye that was covered was the same as what Ragna's master, Jubei, had.

"Mitsuyoshi! Why the hell are you here...!?"

"Did ye forget, Ragna? Clavis was originally tryin' to get me to investigate this place. It shouldn't be strange fer me to be here."

With only his large left eye sharply focusing on Nine, Mitsuyoshi sneered in a friendly tone that didn't change in any way since the time when they were traveling together to Japan. But he didn't give any hint of friendliness as his hostility lit up.

"I've heard the story. Kushinada's Lynchpin... If its strength can stop the Black Beast, might as well start it up now."

His voice was calm, but he said it while the tip of his sword pointed to Nine threateningly.

The sudden intruder made Nine dumbfounded although she rarely did that. After she came to her senses, she carefully focused on her magic.

"And just when I thought someone fairly good-looking had appeared, you just had to say a selfish thing, didn't you? If you've heard the story, then you should have understood. I can't let that junk be activated."

"Why? Even ye should've known how messy the current world's situation is, Nine of the Ten Sages."

"You're an underling of the Alucard Family, right? Looks like senility has hit even Clavis Alucard."

Nine boldly answered back as she snorted.

Mitsuyoshi's face showed a faint discontent at the word senility.

"Answer my question. Are ye, one of the Ten Sages, seriously goin' to conceal the means to save the world just fer yer own selfish desire, even as a joke?"

Why did Nine detest Kushinada's Lynchpin so intensely? It wasn't just Mitsuyoshi's question, but everyone in this room, too.

"This isn't a means to eliminate that monster. It will only hold it back. The existence of the Black Beast will continue to remain."

"It's better than not usin' it. Humanity needs time. After escapin' from the Black Beast, the time won't be necessarily used to save victims, but to get the strength to fight against that monster."

The current humanity's technology could not oppose the Black Beast. The circumstances couldn't produce any kind of satisfaction.

But even if they got their hands on something, they didn't have the opportunity to organize it. Every country, every institution had their hands full in dealing with the damage caused by Black Beast.

And everyone thought about how to save anyone who stood beside them. If only there was a little time, then they wouldn't have to think about protecting.

"Just as Mitsuyoshi-san has said, I feel the same. If we don't do anything at this rate, humanity might perish. Even if the time is short, a person might be saved in the meantime."

Celica appealed while getting up by borrowing Ragna's hand.

"Father said that my power is needed to complete it. I'll do anything. I think it'll be wonderful if people throughout the world can live in peace even for a while."

Her swollen red eyes pointed directly at the older sister. Her voice was powerful, as if the sobbing from before was a lie.

Nine dropped her gaze as if avoiding her sister.

"Don't say such an absurd thing..."

Her fingers whitening as she clenched her fist beside her body.

As if his back was enduring something, Ragna also asked although he was hesitating.

"You seem to not want that device to be used no matter what. But why do you refuse it so much? If you're hiding something dangerous, then tell us. If you don't, then I won't be satisfied since I'm clueless. Mitsuyoshi and Celica also won't agree, y'know?"

"...Look here!"

Nine snapped at Ragna's question. With her long hair disheveled, Nine turned around. The glaring eyes that raised up looked like... they would burst into tears anytime soon.

"It is nothing but a decoration for now. It's meaningless to toss it to the Boundary as it is. Electricity and magic cannot reach it when it's inside the Boundary. And it needs some source of energy to keep it functioning. It also can't use instantaneous ones like explosion. That thing operates continuously in a constant pace. Something like batteries is not enough at all. Something larger, something that can be more easily controlled..."

"A source of energy with that much delicacy..."

Trinity became speechless mid-sentence. She had already guessed it.

But Ragna couldn't grasp what Nine was trying to say. He took a large step forward as he was frustrated.

"Quit talking in a circle! What is it!?"

"Don't you know?"

With hate, Nine spoke coldly. Her contempt wasn't directed at Ragna, but her father.

"...A human being."

The perceived sound felt like it made the mood grew cold rapidly.

With a voice that had its emotion killed, Nine continued on.

"A human soul is unstable, but it can have an unmatched adaptability when precisely programmed. Besides, even without something like a cable or electromagnetic wave for machine, or the user's mind for magic, it will be able to keep functioning as long as the human is still alive."

For it to work in an unknown territory called the Boundary, it had been stated that a human being was the most suitable as the instrument's energy.

For many years, Shuuichirou Ayatsuki had been researching about the technique for establishing a human's soul. The Kushinada's Lynchpin had to be the culmination of those researches. It was the first and the last finished creation to Shuuichirou Ayatsuki.

"However, the energy for the lynchpin cannot be any kind of human. Compared to anyone else, it has to be someone who excels in manipulating one's life force... For example, someone who's especially talented in using healing-type magic."

After Nine squeezed out the words as her heart tore to pieces, her mouth got locked shut.

"Ah."

Celica astonishingly let her voice out instead. The lightly gripped hand had its index finger peeked out. That gesture of pointing to herself was extremely unsuitable with the room's atmosphere.

"Could it be me?"

———It needs your power for it to be completed. Your...

In other words, that was the meaning of their father's last words.

### Part 4

"So basically..."

The time felt as if it stopped. In midst of it, Ragna managed to open his mouth once. His mind had yet to sort out everything.

"What was that? That Kushinada's Lynchpin uses people for fuel... What's more, it's worthless if it's not Celica. Like that?"

"...Rather than fuel, it's more like a key to start the engine."

From an early age, Celica had been endowed with healing power after previously taking lessons in magic theories. Shuuichirou Ayatsuki got a hold of that data and put it to use in studying the Boundary. And in the end, he utilized it as a part of the Kushinada's Lynchpin.

While cutting her words from time to time, Nine listlessly looked downward as she spoke. It sounded like she was hiding her emotions.

"Healing magic users are scarce. Someone as talented as Celica isn't exactly common. What it all comes down to is that man had planned make use of Celica when he made this."

"If the lynchpin is used, what'll happen to Celica?"

"When the inorganic substances are assimilated, her body won't be able to move. And gradually, her life will be whittled away. In the end, all will be exhausted."

Like the energy inside a battery that would eventually be depleted entirely, it would have no more use.

"And after Celica's life force is used up, as if nothing has happened, that monster will nonchalantly revive. Do you think I will allow that to happen!?"

The suddenly lashed out voice shook the atmosphere inside the room. Nine tightly gripped her fist still.

"If it's used, that's the same as saying you're presenting Celica's life. Even with that, does anyone still want to state their opinion to me?"

Her voice had a tension as it reverberated. Before long, no one replied. What broke the silence was the sound of Mitsuyoshi moving as he readied his sword.

"...Even so."

Strongly gritting his back teeth, Mitsuyoshi spoke as if he were squeezing the words out.

To say that the fixed tip of his sword was without hesitation was incorrect. There were troubles inside the dropped gaze that had been raised again.

"Even so, if the current situation keeps lastin', sooner or later everythin' will be finished. It's an end that has to be avoided completely. Humanity needs a chance... No matter what the sacrifice is."

Even if it was too heavy to carry that sacrifice.

Mitsuyoshi sternly furrowed his eyebrows. He shouted to shake off his own hesitation.

"THERE'S NO OTHER WAY!!"

Kushinada's Lynchpin was the last chance left for humanity.

One way to break out of the vicious cycle of defensive fight, they had to recover to go into the offensive.

She understood that. Nine deliberately repeated it as she stared at Mitsuyoshi as if challenging him.

"I'll fight even if this thing doesn't exist! Black Beast? Bring it on! I'll turn it to charcoals!"

"If that's possible, no one would be scared of the Black Beast's presence!"

Mitsuyoshi was seriously planning to defeat the Black Beast. Even if he lost his life, it would still be okay if the world was saved. But the reality was different. The remnant only expanded for a little bit. Neither hands nor legs came out.

The Black Beast wasn't a fighting opponent that could be confronted squarely by humans and beastkins.

"...I understand that ye cherish yer sister. Still... when the world meets its downfall without recoverin', are ye just goin' to say that there ain't any other way!?"

The lynchpin wasn't only affecting Celica's life. It also held the choice of risking life throughout the world.

If the lynchpin couldn't only need Celica's life and were fine with everybody else's, Mitsuyoshi would offer himself. Nine would also do the same.

Therefore, Mitsuyoshi said the right thing while Nine was wrong.

"...I won't allow for Celica to be sacrificed."

Nine strongly bit her lips as she hoisted her supple hands.

"If you're absolutely doing it, then I will eliminate you even by force!"

Nine's magic ability was considered to be the best in the world. Within the white hand, a powerful magic coiled up a vortex. Presently, a pure mass of energy transformed and brought forth a light orb.

Nine pointed it toward Mitsuyoshi without any hesitation. Just before the light approached Mitsuyoshi, it burst into countless light bullets as it rained down.

"Tch... can't be helped. I won't back down easily!"

Clearing away several of the light bullets, Mitsuyoshi skillfully twisted his body to avoid it.

A few of the light bullets hit the lynchpin's body. It made Nine chuckle and Mitsuyoshi bitter-faced. However, the small lights had merely done a single scratch on the magnificent silver and green objet d'art.

"Hmph. As expected from something that's dealing with the Boundary, it's unbelievably sturdy."

The annoyed Nine spoke bitterly. This time, she created blades of void. The target was Mitsuyoshi. If he came in contact with the invisible blades, his flesh would be torn while his bones would be severed.

But Mitsuyoshi could see the direction of the wind blades as he leaped. He easily jumped over it and then approached Nine.

"If ye don't want to get hurt, pull yer hands!"

"Don't take me lightly!"

The tip of the sharp sword seized Nine. But just before it thrust in her throat, Nine enveloped her surroundings with electricity.

"WHOA!?"

The sparks repelled the sword. As if kicking the air, Mitsuyoshi twisted his body. Although his balance was a bit off, he landed back to where he was. He quickly fixed his posture as he muttered bitterly.

"As one would expect from one of the Ten Sages. Not only the magic strength, but the speed of its deployment's also in a different league."

"Same goes to you. If one thought that you were just a cute cat, one will be in for a world of pain."

Their respective ability was more than they had expected. But neither Mitsuyoshi nor Nine could withdraw.

"Onee-chan! Mitsuyoshi-san!"

Since both of them went into their battle stance again, Celica tried to prevent it with a flustered voice. But it couldn't reach their ears. They didn't even glance toward Celica.

"I... cannot abandon the world!"

"I won't let anyone make use of Celica!"

Stating their declarations together, Mitsuyoshi's sword and Nine's shockwave clashed.

The impact made the room lightly vibrate. Despite that, the room was deep underground.

Suddenly, Ragna remembered.

It was an event before the Dark War that wouldn't fail to be mentioned when talking about it. Destruction had been driven away from humanity as the Black Beast once suddenly ceased its activity for a period of one year.

In the meantime, humanity reorganized the crumbling order and established sufficient preparation to face the Black Beast.

And then when the Black Beast began to be active once again, having a backup from a new kind of strength built by humanity, six heroic people eliminated the apparition that had threatened the world.

(A one year gap ...)

Historically, the cause was unknown.

(Was it the Kushinada's Lynchpin?)

When Celica got absorbed to the lynchpin, the Boundary would be sealed. That was why for one year, the black apparition couldn't move.

...Was that the truth of the history?

Ragna couldn't believe it. With disbelief, he looked at Celica.

Near him, someone powerless frustratingly bit her lips as her heart was crushed by Mitsuyoshi and Nine's fight.

Did this girl's life save humanity...?

In Ragna's vision, Celica's hair swung violently. She broke into a run.

Ragna caught her arm. Since it was so sudden, he was a bit rough.

"Ragna!"

With a disapproving look, Celica looked back.

In a short distance away, Mitsuyoshi was jumping around while clearing away Nine's fired light arrows. The sound of the clashing metals were reverberating brutally.

In order for Celica to stop both of them, she intended to put herself between them. Ragna forcefully pulled the arm he caught as he sighed in his amazement.

"At any rate, what do you think you can do by yourself? It's dangerous, y'know."

"But!"

She loathed such a situation. The big sister she loved very much and Mitsuyoshi who she felt indebted to. She didn't want anyone to get wounded.

For some reason, Ragna picked it up and understood Celica's feeling that was like a prayer. It was very easy to imagine that this girl was surely thinking like that.

"I know. You want to stop them."

"Eh...?"

"Next time, tell me when such a time comes."

Soon after he spoke, Ragna set up the blade of the thick sword and pulled it backward considerably. Putting all of his might, he threw it so it was mowing down horizontally.

"URAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

As it made a boisterous noise, Ragna's sword rotated in high speed as it drew a large arc, splitting up the space between Nine and Mitsuyoshi.

"What the!?"

"Tch...!"

Right under his nose, Mitsuyoshi used his sword to repel it. A heavy noise rang out as the sword's trajectory was disturbed. After a few rotations, the tip of the sword got buried in the floor.

Both Mitsuyoshi and Nine stepped aside until they were close to the wall. In the meantime, Ragna's sword was stuck as if it were some kind of a symbol.

"Okay, stop!"

Ragna quickly walked to his favorite sword's location. In the middle of it, he put in awe to his voice as he raised it.

"Y'all are much stronger than normal, so don't you go wild with full strength. In the first place, no matter who'll win the brawl, isn't the one who decides what to do Celica, not you people?"

He gripped the handle which faced the ceiling and pulled it up. The metallic floor was coming along too, but he tore it off by pinning it down with his feet.

Nine was silent. Mitsuyoshi awkwardly lowered his sword.

"...I understand what you've all been saying. But for now, calm down a bit. That goes for Nine and Mitsuyoshi. Also Celica."

There didn't seem to be any composure in everyone's feelings. Ragna himself was also included.

Frankly, it was a bit confusing. Putting Celica to Kushinada's Lynchpin. Was that choice the reality of what had happened? Or did humanity find another way?

As an existence that had lived in the future, he shouldn't change the history.

However... for such a thing like offering Celica to the Boundary in this place, he couldn't even consider it.

Trinity calmly stepped forward.

"I also think it's good to do just as that~. I'll make some warm tea, so let's get a little rest. After all... so much stuff happened today~. Okay?"

Ragna felt a deep gratitude for Trinity since she was here in such a time like this. The girl's meek demeanor gently wrapped the broken tension.

"...Yeah."

As if urging her older sister and Mitsuyoshi, Celica innocently smiled and jogged over to Trinity. Looking at it alone, it was hard to believe that her life had control over the fate of the world.

Slowly, the freezing mood started to melt.

Mitsuyoshi restored his sword. Covering her sharp glints with her eyelids, Nine crossed her arms under her chest.

In reality, perhaps no one had come at a conclusion. Looking at the scene in the room, Ragna spontaneously thought so. Even if it was for the sake of the world, such a thing as offering someone he knew as a sacrifice no matter what was ridiculous.

———.

"...Ah?"

Ragna looked around while frowning his eyebrows.

Hearing a tiny voice escaping from him, Trinity tilted her head in a wonder.

"Something's wrong?"

"No, just now..."

Someone called him.

As he thought so, the voice could be heard again.

———Ragna.

It was clear this time. He realized it. It wasn't the case that it came from somewhere. Someone was speaking directly into his mind.

That was why Celica and Nine, also Trinity and Mitsuyoshi couldn't hear it.

It seemed she only had business with Ragna.

"...I'm gonna go outside a bit."

As of now, he hesitated to one-sidedly continue the talk in this place. Ready to be doubted, Ragna went toward the door with a broken electronic lock.

"Where are you going?"

Sure enough, Nine called him with a cautious voice. With his hand placed on the door's frame, Ragna's feet stopped. Again, he looked back. He didn't know if any kind of excuse would be enough for her.

"...I'm just gonna cool off my head. Be back soon."

Dodging her question with an ordinary excuse, he left the thin, lengthy corridor and turned back to the underground cave where the Cauldron resided.

### 010. Chapter 6: Promised Azure

### Part 1

Deep underground, the Cauldron with its mouth opened had its somewhat cool heat drifting upward. Presently, an unexpectedly solemn mood enveloped it.

Even if the illuminations from the connected metals the people had especially made weren't turned on, the overwhelming red flame was enough to get a good view.

Just how deep was the Sheol Gate burrowed within it?

With the flame being projected around the vicinity of his vision, Ragna stopped the feet that had been slowly moving forward.

He looked around. Looking for the owner of the voice from before.

He knew whose voice it was. A sweet voice with youth and bewitchment mixed in.

"You're here, right...? Rachel!"

Ragna's voice vanished as it was absorbed by the tall ceilings. An existence that had surpassed mankind was looking down from somewhere, probably digging up for some entertainment.

As the air flowed, a sweet aroma tickled Ragna's nose. It was the fragrance of roses.

Ragna looked over his shoulder with his mouth distorted. His sharp canines stood out like bare fangs.

"There, huh? Don't look down on people."

On a part of bare bedrock with the wallboards peeled off, as if she was sitting, she had her small legs crossed. A young girl clad in a black dress was floating.

"It has been a long time."

With an innocent voice, she smiled. The young girl was surrounded by winds that had a rose fragrance. Then she elegantly stood up.

The Cauldron's illumination, enriched with bright-red light, carved a shadow from the young girl's ribbons. The silhouette looked like a rabbit.

Ragna felt that something was out of place in her appearance.

2106 AD. The Rachel Alucard in this period should have still been a child and not yet acquainted with Ragna. But young appearance or not, did she have an unusual air of a know-it-all like the Rachel Alucard who stood before Ragna now had?

"Fufu," said her as a fingertip touched her small lips. Rachel had revealed a grown-up laughter that felt inappropriate.

"You are such a fool. Where do you think we are? ...We are currently near the Boundary."

With just that, she spoke as if it contained all the reasons for it. But surely it wasn't convincing enough for him.

This location was closer to the Boundary compared to any other place.

As if dragging out Ragna's lost memories, Rachel's existence must have made all information he had obtained flowing into him again.

Basically, the 'Rachel' Ragna was confronting now was the 'Rachel' from his period. She was the same as the one in the information which his memories carried.

"What kind of business bothered you to call me? You know this already, but I'm kinda busy right now."

"Of course. I'm confident that it's about Kushinada's Lynchpin. The mankind in this era certainly created something intriguing."

"You saw everything, huh?"

She probably watched the arguing when Shuuichirou Ayatsuki passed away and the encounter with Hakumen before it. It didn't feel too nice being constantly monitored from somewhere.

"Good timing. Since you're the Rachel Alucard I know, I got something for you to hear."

Her bright red eyes urged him to proceed.

"During the Dark War, there should have been a time when the Black Beast didn't appear for about a year."

If Ragna's knowledge wasn't wrong, it was in 2107 AD. Just in a year, humanity had been given a recess.

"Was that... the Kushinada's Lynchpin's doing?"

Carefully, Ragna deliberately examined Rachel's facial expression.

The elegant little girl swiped her bangs with her fingers and looked at a distance. It was difficult to look for her real motive and intention from her plain, expressionless face.

"I wonder that myself."

"Anyhow, you know it, don'tcha? Don't be such a stuck-up."

Unable to hide his irritation, Ragna drew closer. At that, Rachel's young eyes looked at him as she smiled.

"You are surprisingly desperate about it. What could be the reason?"

"Huh? I'm not talking about that right now."

"Do you feel bothered regarding the child that's about to become a sacrifice of the lynchpin? What a devotion."

Rachel's tone of voice which contained amazement had tiny thorns like what a rose had.

Ragna drew his eyebrows close. Her mocking attitude ticked his irritation.

"I said, it doesn't matter now!"

"Naturally, you should not exist in this period. Even without your doing anything, this period will turn history by its choices."

As If pouring cold water to the impatient Ragna, Rachel coldly told him. Her overseeing red pupils that were looking up at him made Ragna take a deep breath as he reflexively extinguished his vigor.

"...And yet, are you still denying it?"

The whisper penetrated the gap within his heart like it was nothing.

It was as if her eyes were testing him.

Ragna held his breath for a moment. He stared at the young vampire, challenging her.

"What can I do?"

There should be something. He recalled Clavis' words.

There must be a duty he had to accomplish in this period, guided by fate. He wasn't planning to feign romanticism, but presently, he couldn't help thinking as if those words were an undeniable truth.

And if the duty really existed... he felt that it would be now.

He wanted it to be now.

Dropping her cynical gaze from that sort of Ragna, Rachel's feet slowly hovered from the ground. She then nimbly approached the Cauldron.

"First, I will show you the possibility."

With the floating tiptoes facing the Boundary, Rachel stood as if she was a needle of a clock. She held her small hand above the swirling lava and looked down on it silently.

"This is the year of 2106 AD, the period which will be called as the Dark War by the life to come. It was the era when humanity had to confront a downfall crisis since the Black Beast had appeared from the Boundary."

Rachel's fingertip moved smoothly as if she were tracing something.

"Thus the time flowed, and it became 2200 AD, the time when you lived in. The Black Beast had been felled in the past, and it became the period when people were safe and prospering."

The black dress fluttered above the Cauldron. Rachel turned around to face Ragna.

Either the soaring magic or the wind she had manipulated made her golden hair and big ribbons sway.

"This is the tale of the beginning, Phase 0 . No one is able to intervene with this tale. ...But for one thing, there is an exception for the existence that had slipped in. As an indispensable existence in this period, if that outsider comes into contact with the Black Beast, what do you think will happen?"

When that kind of situation really happened, what would occur? Nobody knew. Of course, so did Rachel.

Therefore, it was not an answer. It was no more than a possibility.

"You are not a person of this period. Therefore, it is fine for you to remain a spectator while the history is being drawn. You know that your intervention is unnecessary, yet you can still challenge it. ...The choice is yours to choose. However... please remember well the time when you received that sword."

While listening to Rachel's words, Ragna glanced around himself, as if pulling something to him. What he was staring at was the direction of the dark solid bedrock. What couldn't be seen from here was the hidden room where the lynchpin slept in.

What was there was the figure of a girl. It floated within his mind.

A girl who had never doubted people, and never considered the consequences. She helped a suspicious person who was collapsed and dying. She helped the wild animals which were attacked by him.

She said that she was searching for her father. She confidently bragged about her family members.

Indeed, it didn't mean that the family members' humanity wasn't questionable, but he felt that they were a great family.

To unhesitatingly call that family as her family with affection, he felt jealous about it.

"Aah, that's right."

Returning his gaze from the hidden room back to Rachel who was above the Cauldron, Ragna curled his lips into a fearless smile.

"No need to choose. You knew it even if I didn't say it, you wicked rabbit."

"As usual, your etiquette is unbecoming."

Retorting back with sarcasm thrown, Rachel dropped her gaze once again. The expression that floated on her for an instant resembled a pouting child displaying her disappointment.

As Ragna had said, she knew it from the beginning. And then...

"...And then I will only observe, as always."

She dropped to a faint murmur.

The choice that Ragna would choose when thinking about that single girl. Although she knew it without needing to hear it, it didn't feel interesting for a bit.

But she wasn't childish enough to be unhappy. Rachel had enigmatic light within her red pupils again. Slowly, her chin rose.

"...It seems I cannot stay for too long. It will arrive soon."

Like descending from a stage, Rachel got down from above the Cauldron to face Ragna.

The impression from the manner of her words made Ragna lower his eyebrows.

"Arrive? What will?"

"It will be clear before long."

With a graceful smile that was carved on the red lips, Rachel once again kicked the floor. Like flower petals dancing in the wind, she soared. She floated to the same place where she was in the beginning and looked down on Ragna.

"...Until the end, please do well to keep me entertained while I'm at my own place."

Shaking the halted time, a wind carrying rose fragrance danced. Taking along the fragrance that induced dizziness, the little figure of Rachel disappeared.

### Part 2

From the warm tea Trinity brewed, slightly thin white steam rose.

After she drank the tea that was poured into a small cup by half, Celica raised her hips after it had been sitting on the cold floor. She put the cup down.

Ahead of where her feet were facing was the Kushinada's Lynchpin. On its cold silver body there were green patterns engraved on it. Her palm touched and stroked it gently.

Near a wall bit away from her, Nine, who was still reluctant to drink her tea, quickly got on her feet.

"You know."

The agitated Mitsuyoshi had desired to activate the lynchpin right away. Toward the older sister who held back him back, she calmly began to talk.

"I love Onee-chan very much. ...I can't talk to him anymore, but I also love Father. Also to Mitsuyoshi-san and Trinity. Not to forget everyone in the Mage’s Guild and the neighbors who had helped me in the past. ...Ragna, too. I love them all."

Pulling the affections from the bottom of her heart, Celica talked as if she were speaking to the lynchpin. As her other hand accompanied the previous hand, her eyebrows drew close together.

"Not only humans. Also to the house where I live together with Onee-chan and the cake shop where I sometimes go out for tea to. Even if it's no longer a country, Japan is a special place. The seashore promenade where I talked together with Ragna was also a pretty place. The sky and the sea, too. I also love the trees, grass, and flowers very much. Even for the stray dogs which were living inside the forest with their might, I'd surely love them if we had been together."

What Celica was trying to say was somehow conveyed to Nine, Mitsuyoshi, and Trinity.

For Nine, her speech made her very unhappy. But she couldn't figure out a good way to interrupt Celica's voice that was really gentle.

As if humming a love song, Celica continued.

"As I thought, I don't want to get anyone hurt. I don't want everything that I love get wounded, even if it's only one of them. If I have a way that I can do to at least save many lives... I want to do it."

"Do you realize what you're saying?!"

Once it became unbearable, Nine spoke to shake it off.

"Once you become a part of that lump of metal, you'll be alone forever within the Boundary, which has no one there. However, your consciousness won't cease. With that condition, you will endlessly continue to feel your life being shaved away...!"

Even that was nothing but a guess. Nobody had done experimentation or anything resembling it. There might be a pain. It might be unbelievably painful. But when that time came, it would be completely impossible to stop it midway in order to free her.

"Once you assimilate with the lynchpin, you cannot return to your original form again. You will cease to be a human being. Come on, do you really understand it!?"

"I think I do."

Nine's desperation was futile as Celica easily nodded.

And then a bit of sadness clouded her eyes.

"...I'm sorry, Onee-chan. I'm sure Onee-chan is really sad."

"Of course I am..."

Nine's voice flickered. "How could this happen...?" said Nine as her lament resounded.

Presently, Nine's heart was drowning in regret. If only she didn't get moved by her younger sister's disobedience and bring her over to the First District, something like the Kushinada's Lynchpin wouldn't be noticed by anyone's eyes. No matter what happened, it wouldn't be noticed by Celica's eyes.

She would have been relieved even if she had to bring her back forcibly.

With her skirt's hem waved, Celica turned around. Leaning her back to the lynchpin, she faced her older sister. Her expression was a mess, she seemed to be laughing and crying at the same time.

"It's not that I'm not scared. While I'm hanging on, people around the world will get a full sleep and eat plenty of meals. I think it'll be good if everyone can have a lot of discussion and do their best together. ...If that's the case, even the Black Beast will surely be defeated."

It wasn't a prayer or a wish. Celica believed it.

If she could help to reach it, then it would be wonderful for Celica.

"That's why I want to activate Kushinada's Lynchpin."

"———I thought you'd say something like that."

Immediately after Celica nodded to assure herself, as if brushing away her words, an amazed sigh came at the same time with the voice.

Celica turned her head. She discovered Ragna at the room's entrance as he came back unnoticed. Her face became a bit awkward.

"If only you came back just a little later, I might have finished talking..."

"What? You can't finish it if I'm here?"

"That's not it. But if Ragna's nearby... My determination will grow dull."

As she complained by sighing, Celica revealed her real motive.

"You're surprisingly not that resolved, ain't you?"

"Ahaha. It will be lonely when I can't be together with Ragna."

Ragna's cheeks spontaneously slackened.

No matter how many times Celica thought about it, she herself must have beem troubled about the hard decision. An emotion welled up within Ragna's existence because she looked like a helplessly naïve girl.

Ragna walked to where Celica was.

While he was on his way, he pushed the listlessly standing Nine's shoulder, entrusting the girl with her head hung to Trinity.

As expected, the gigantic lynchpin looked quite majestic by looking at the proximity. With that sort of magnificent design, the atmosphere it put on was overwhelming. For that very reason, he couldn’t be certain if it was really created by the hands of man.

"Sorry for the determination you've built up, but it's already no use to talk about the Kushinada's Lynchpin."

While looking up at the lynchpin, Ragna spoke like it was nothing.

Since his tone was too light, Celica couldn't comprehend what he said right away.

"Huh...? Eh, wait, what? What do you mean?"

"Like I said, it's no use to talk about stopping the Black Beast using this stuff. And isn't it weird? Let's say you become a sacrifice and protect the world for the sake of people valuable to you. But on the other hand, will that really be a happy world for the people you feel important?"

Since the people she protected wouldn't actually be delighted with the peace, would it be meaningless? At the very least, Nine wouldn't welcome a future without Celica. With Celica already gone, perhaps peace wouldn't ever visit her.

Besides, at any rate, Celica wanted to smile in relief seeing the world she loved so much being peaceful.

Ragna began to speak as natural as possible.

"There's another way to stop the Black Beast. And we don't have to use Kushinada's Lynchpin."

"What's wrong all of a sudden? You found something outside?"

"Nah. ...I just remembered."

Ragna dodged the question from the dumbfounded Celica by scratching his head. He had found a way from his lost memory by chance. Since it was going to be complicated talking about his conversation with Rachel that was in front of the Cauldron, he wanted to leave it behind if he could.

"What's the other way?"

It seemed Celica was still not fully satisfied. With an examining gaze, she looked up at Ragna while she asked him.

"Aah... I can't tell too much of the details. Anyway, I just have to get close to the Black Beast."

He had no idea about what he should do specifically.

Just by being directly near the Black Beast, some kind of phenomenon should occur. After all, like the Black Beast, the Ragna in this period was an existence that had come from the Boundary.

But since his words were ambiguous, the anxious Celica looked up at him with her eyebrows raised up in a miserable look.

"Does that mean Ragna will become a sacrifice on my behalf?"

"Not like that. I'll charge in, and then get back. Only that."

He really didn't have the slightest idea of it, so he would just leave it at that.

But Celica's face grew more anxious. She took a step closer to Ragna and tightly gripped the sleeve of Ragna's jacket.

"You'll never be able to get close to the Black Beast! You won't leave unscathed... If you're careless...! "

He would die.

The Black Beast was a symbol of destruction. Those who approached it had been destroyed entirely.

"I'm fine. I'll do it properly. I don't want Ragna get exposed to danger again!"

"You're such an idiot."

Toward Celica who looked up at him as if she were clinging to him, Ragna lightly hit her head. A clunk noise could be heard.

"Ouch."

"I, Nine, and everyone else are all the same. Nobody feels like sacrificing you. That's why I came up with an alternate plan."

Compared to the Kushinada's Lynchpin Shuuichirou had left behind, the alternate plan felt uncertain as it had no theory backing on it. But if it went smoothly, it would be for the best. No, it had to go smoothly.

Squinting his dazed eye, Ragna looked at Celica. In fact, Celica was sparkling. She didn't have any ill will. She never learned about hostility. She didn't embrace malice. She was pure, foolish, and innocent. That was why...

"...I've got a younger brother and sister."

Ragna spoke with a whisper-like voice.

Every time he exchanged glance between Celica and Nine, some part in his head ached. After he remembered something, it became all the more painful.

"Both of them said they love me. There was a time when I thought they were troublesome. But just like you to your big sis, they're still important to me. ...But I couldn't protect them."

As if he chewed on it, a bitter taste spread within his mouth. He recalled it clearly. It was a memory of a beginning that shouldn't be forgotten.

"So that's why, let me protect you this time."

He wanted to believe that he had enough strength to protect the people he wished to protect. He was different from his absolutely powerless self during that time. What would be the consequence was less important.

He had enough of getting down on his knees, unable to do anything.

Ragna put his hand on Celica's head.

"One other thing. You take it lightly, but losing the brother and sister you're supposed to protect is pretty hard. Something like bond that's left within yourself will pull you apart forever."

"..."

Just as her pupils became wet, Celica saw her older sister.

Cuddling close together with Trinity, Nine motionlessly watched over Celica and Ragna's conversation.

She was a big sister who always looked dignified, powerful, attractive, strong-willed while also beautiful. But only now her shoulders looked thin. Moreover, the girl appeared to be fragile.

"Celica, didn't you also say it back then? If you have a power to do something, then you'll use it protect... And so am I. I want you to smile."

"I also..."

Since her throat chocked, Celica strained it to bring her voice out.

"I also want Ragna to smile."

"Then it's decided. I'll do something to that monster. And since I'll return later, everything will be settled, won't it?"

"Ragna..."

Transparent drops of water floated on Celica's big eyes.

But Ragna ruffled Celica's head and disturbed her hair. Wiping the drops from the corner of her eyes with her fingertips, Celica did a big nod with a cheerful smile that was similar to the time when he first saw it.

### Part 3

By the time the conversation came to an end, it was already late. The surface was completely confined in the dead of night.

As Japan was a land without people inhabiting it, naturally, there wouldn't be a place to rent or lights to illuminate the street at night. Taking that into consideration, they were going to pass the time until dawn in the underground research facility as it felt rather accommodating.

Though, there wasn't anything that could substitute a futon. Because of it, if they spread their mantles and jackets on the usual hidden room's floor, they should have been able to sleep.

Inside the room, Trinity again brewed new tea. After Ragna refused it, he went out of the room to stroll a bit.

Even if he said he wanted to stroll around, the place where he was going was a hall with the Cauldron's surroundings stretched. Close to the mortar-shaped cave, there was a thin, dull staircase that went on for a distance.

Ragna stood near the Cauldron again, inevitably with no light above him. This time he wasn't searching for Rachel, but to take a peek of its contents.

"Boundary, eh...?"

He muttered for some reason. He couldn't even guess what on earth the Boundary was or where it connected to. It was unthinkable to drown anyone inside it.

If... assuming that nothing would happen when Ragna approached the Black Beast, would Celica make use of that lynchpin?

He didn't want to consider it. But even if by any chance he wasn't successful, he would rather have to choose an even more different alternative than having the lynchpin as the last resort.

"Eh, I'll just do something and it should be over in no sweat..."

Then, she was there.

"Do you have a moment?"

With a distinct voice, Nine spoke to him.

In contrast with her tone that felt really strong-willed, her constantly sharp, intimidating gaze was wandering around as if searching for something.

"I believe I have something I've yet to say."

"About what?"

"...About Celica. Thank you for stopping her wish."

She muttered while standing alone.

Ragna spontaneously grinned. It felt creepy.

"That's so unlike you."

"Oh, shut up. Even I want to express my gratitude properly for once. Especially... since this time I thought it was already hopeless."

While she rapidly told her reply, Nine brushed up her hair in her annoyance.

"Back then, that child never listened whenever she was reminded. She went out alone even when I had warned her so many times. Although I wanted her to do what I told her, in the end, it became just like that in spite of everything."

Looking at today's case of searching her father, he understood enough of it. "She's an astonishing girl," said Nine as she also gazed at the Cauldron from beside Ragna.

"I wonder why she listens if it's coming from you. It makes me sick."

"Hell if I know."

Ragna shrugged his shoulders. Nine boringly looked at that gesture with a sidelong glance and dropped her shoulders with a sigh.

"...It's going to be okay, right?"

"Ah?"

"The 'alternate plan' you said. Can it really able to constrain the Black Beast?"

"Maybe."

Unsatisfied with Ragna's answer, Nine expression grew bitter.

"You're not confident?"

"Not that, or else I wouldn't say it. But..."

Suddenly, Ragna intensely frowned while glaring at the Boundary. He was reminded of the history of the Dark War that was commonly known when he was a child.

"If it turns out well, I've got a favor to ask you."

"Me?"

Ragna knew something that no one else knew. Nine and Mitsuyoshi, who probably changed his name to Jubei for some reason, would defeat Black Beast. Furthermore, the Six Heroes named Nine had one more accomplishment.

"The Black Beast will be stopped of its activities for maybe a year."

This time, it was Nine who frowned after Ragna distinctly told his statement.

"How do you know about that?"

"Many reasons. I've got my own circumstances too, y'know?"

As one would expect, saying he came from the future would made it too suspicious. Hence he decided to pass on it. He didn't have anything to say to make up for it, so Ragna turned around his whole body to face Nine.

As if she was lured in, Nine also changed the direction of her body.

"One year. During that time, get the strength needed for humanity to battle the Black Beast. A further delay probably isn't gonna happen."

The green eye that was only on his left side was reflecting the color of the Boundary's lava. Receiving the heavy, straightforward gaze that had agony in it, Nine slowly nodded as if she gulped.

"One year, eh. Okay."

"And one more thing. ...Watch out for the guy named Yuuki Terumi."

"Yuuki Terumi? Who's he?"

Puzzled, Nine's eyebrows drew closer. Ragna lightly shook his head.

"I also don't know in details, but..."

"...You have a reason, huh? Fine, I give my promise to both."

As if burning, the strong light of Nine's determination was brimming in her pupils. Since it looked surprisingly trustworthy, Ragna sighed in relief, together with a smile.

Instead, Nine quickly continued on.

"You, too. Do your best in trying not to make what you've said just now as your last wish. If you make Celica cry, I won't forgive you."

"O-okay."

The threatening tone of voice she had used was as if to say that she would kill him the moment he made her cry.

Somewhat backing out, Ragna greatly pulled his chin. He believed that about half of it came from his reflexes.

"...Hm?"

Suddenly, Nine grimaced. Not at Ragna, but something else. She kept an eye on the vicinity.

The atmosphere surrounding her went sharp.

"Nine?"

"Be quiet. I'm detecting... something."

As Ragna's wariness switch also turned on, he examined the surroundings. He didn't grasp what Nine was talking about.

Thanks to magic, Nine's current perception was upped to about the double of a normal person's. That's right. Just about as high as a beastkin's.

Mitsuyoshi rushed out in a hurry from the passage leading to the hidden room.

"Ragna! Nine!"

No sooner than when he discovered them, he raised his voice that had also been exposed to wariness.

It was an unusual situation. Urged by Nine's gaze, Ragna hurriedly rushed over together with her to where Mitsuyoshi was.

"What's wrong? Something happened?"

"Yeah. I dunno exactly what... A terrible an' awful presence's gettin' closer. Also, it's doin' it with an unusual speed."

"Terrible and awful...?"

As it was too vague, Ragna's thoughts merged to do his best to imagine something horrible.

For example, a black mist———.

"Everyone! Come here!"

This time, Celica hurriedly called them from the room's entrance.

Ragna and the others went back as if striving to be the first.

Within the elliptical-shaped room with a part of its ceiling hollowed, Trinity was overcome with surprise while she was in front of a magic circle that emerged on the floor. From the magic circle, a thin veil-like light was shining in the shape of upside-down cone. The spectacle above the ground was projected on it.

"Everyone, look..."

Although the floating image in the magic circle was pale, Trinity was adjusting it. Everybody lined up beside her.

The scene they were seeing was dark. It was natural since it was night.

No, that was wrong.

"This is...!"

Ragna gasped. It wasn't dark because it was night. The screen was gradually dyed in black. From the ground, an object of black mist fiercely gushed out and enshrouded the vicinity.

This kind of scene had had been witnessed. It wasn't only for Ragna, but also Celica and Mitsuyoshi. It was during the appearance of the lump of mist they had encountered in a research facility they had visited first when searching for Shuuichirou.

However, the scale didn't match to the one at that time.

"It can't be...!?"

Bewildered, Mitsuyoshi groaned in a hoarse voice. His two tails were seemingly appeared thickly swollen.

The mist in the image which Trinity projected became denser and denser as it gathered. Before long, it became an enormous lump and overcrowded the image.

As the discharged magic became disturbed, the image then vanished.

But there was no need to do it again to get a confirmation.

"———It's the Black Beast."

It was not a remnant.

A sinister sound was heard far away at the surface.

All of them unconsciously directed their gaze to the ceiling.

Accompanied by an enormous quantity of seithr mass, the Black Beast was... facing this way.

### Part 4

Rushing out to the Cauldron hall again, Ragna looked up at the lid-like opening that should be far away above his head.

The fact that it was far and that the area of the Cauldron's vicinity was brighter somehow made it hard to see the opening. Only a widespread of deep darkness could be seen.

Still, when he properly adjusted his eye, the enveloping darkness above him gradually dissolved at a fast rate. What should have been able to be seen that was covered by light became clear.

There was no room for doubt.

It was during the moment they thought so. On a part of the hall far away from where Ragna's group at, illuminated by the lights that came from the Cauldron, a noise that was like a gushing steam began to reverberate.

What had been spewing was black mist.

"It's coming...!"

Nine put herself on guard. Magic was swirling around her.

While stretching out his sensitivity at his surroundings, Ragna shook his head as lightly as he could.

"No, it's impossible. Run."

When he muttered, sweat ran down on his back. His throat went dry at the unusual tension.

Nine snapped at the withdrawing figure.

"Huh? What do you mean by running away!?"

"No time for complaining. Nine, can you do teleportation?"

"Wh... Kuh, teleportation? It's not that I can't. Something that easy..."

Ragna's low but strong tone of voice seemed authoritative. It made Nine slightly flinch when she replied. Why did she have to be ordered by Ragna? It made her disgruntled. But now wasn't the situation to fuss over such a trivial thing.

"If you can, then get ready to start it up. And get away as far as you can from here."

"Ragna, do you intend to remain alone!?"

The one who raised her voice was Celica, telling him not to say such a ridiculous thing. She ran and snatched Ragna's sleeve.

"Your opponent is the Black Beast, you know. I can't leave you here alone while you're facing it!"

"She's right. Besides, I want to fight, too. I can assist you from behind."

Nine displayed her objection within her aggressive stare. Following her, even Trinity leaned her body forward.

"Me, too. I'm ready to help you with protective magic. It is reckless to face it alone."

"I appreciate the sentiment, but I'll be troubled if you stay here. I don't know what will happen once I collide with the Black Beast. Worst case scenario, you all might get dragged up."

In a different place, mist began to gushing out again. Two, three of other places followed suit.

Stepping back a bit, Ragna turned his face toward Nine as if telling her to hurry.

"Get on your feet! You all got mountain loads of things to do after this! If you get hurt, time will just get wasted! It'll get you in trouble!"

Nine's body stiffened. Ragna truly believed that he would create a gap of one year. No, he most likely would create it.

Nine had to use every bit of that time for the sake of suppressing the Black Beast.

Although her face looked frustrated, Nine bit her lips while she withdrew.

"Everyone, don't leave my side."

Annoyed and frustrated, Nine started focusing her consciousness. Not to strike Black Beast or its remnants, but to connect her consciousness to a place that wasn't here, crossing over airspace.

Nine's long hair fluttered. She started to be covered with a fascinating light.

Mitsuyoshi took a several large steps as if he was getting away from there.

"I'll stay."

"Hey! Bastard, did you listen to me!?"

Upset, Ragna yelled rudely at Mitsuyoshi who nimbly unsheathed his sword.

"My ears still work fine. But unlike the young lady, I can do nothin' but wield my sword. Although ye said the Black Beast's action would stop, I feel that it needs to happen as soon as possible."

Mitsuyoshi grinned. A smile was formed on the cat's mouth. His triangular ears were twitching.

"Though I might seem stubborn, I got confidence in myself. After all, ye won't reach its real body if yer careless. Just think of me as a firearm that's clearin' away the remnants in yer way."

Ragna clicked his tongue. But he was actually grateful for Mitsuyoshi's offer.

After he barely arrived in front of the real body, it was meaningless to crush the remnants that were around there.

There was nothing more reliable than having the competent Mitsuyoshi shaking off the remnants since he would just get overwhelmed.

"...Then, I'll be relying on you."

Behind Ragna and Mitsuyoshi, Nine's magic circle had its brilliance increasing.

"Then, we'll go on ahead. I'll leave this place to you two."

Nine spoke while she was on the center of the circle.

A faint sparkle was fired from Trinity's fingertip. It vanished after it wrapped Ragna and Mitsuyoshi.

"It's a protective magic that doesn't need to be controlled~. It should guard you against any physical impact."

"Thanks for the help."

Ragna raised the corner of his lips as he smiled. Trinity deeply bowed her head.

From beside her, Celica suddenly ran.

"Ragna!"

She rushed over and dived into his arms. Both of her hands were holding on Ragna's jacket tightly. Rather than clinging to him, it was more like she hugged him close.

"Wh... Idiot! Get back to the magic circle quickly!"

"You said you'll return. You'll really come back, right?"

Celica looked up at Ragna, demanding an explanation.

Looking down on her large eyes, Ragna felt an excessive strain come out from his body.

It felt nostalgic. Come to think of it, back when he met Celica for the first time, he felt familiar with the girl's gaze and her gentle expression.

Perhaps, it was possible that he had met her somewhere in the future period. If so, it was a wonder.

"Yeah. I promise."

Ragna smiled bitterly. He answered with a voice that had no hesitation in it.

It was a lie. He shouldn't be able to keep such promises. The opponent was the Black Beast. He mocked himself over the fact that he would definitely die. His cowardly self couldn't help but made its complaints be heard.

However, he didn't want to say the truth here.

It was fine, even if it was a lie. If he didn't promise to come back safely, he had a bad feeling that his feet would get dragged to something and he really would die.

Ragna took off the red jacket he had been wearing and gave it to Celica.

"Hold it for me. I'll return and pick it up."

Celica stared at Ragna for a while. Hugging the given jacket close to her, she then smiled as bright as the sun.

"...Okay, I understand. I'll trust you."

It was a lie. She shouldn't be able to believe him. She had a feeling that they wouldn't be able to meet again. That sad thought accumulated in her chest and made her suffocate.

But at the same time, she also felt that Ragna would return. Without any ground whatsoever, she truly believed it without a doubt. Celica supported herself with only that thought.

While holding Ragna's jacket in her arms, Celica slightly stood on her tiptoes.

Maybe it was the aftereffect of the fight between Nine and Mitsuyoshi as there was a small scratch on Ragna's cheek.

There, as if touching it gently, she gave it a kiss. The small wound recovered and vanished without a trace.

"You promised! I'll be waiting for Ragna to come back together with Mitsuyoshi-san!"

With her long hair and skirt lightly fluttered, Celica ran back to her sister's magic circle.

She furiously waved her hand to the dumbfounded Ragna.

Right after Celica's smile bloomed like a flower, the girls disappeared from that place.

### Part 5

As the flowers left, what had been delayed of its arrival was darkness.

The surroundings were bustling as a considerable number of holes where mist gushed out increased again and again.

Ragna and Mitsuyoshi dashed toward the middle of the hall with their respective weapon in hand.

Along the way, their pace was thrown out of order as there were some fragments of the mist. As if it was their everyday duty, they nonchalantly cleared them by decapitation, scattering them away.

After they had secured the space needed to fight, from the sky, a black lump descended with the force as if a giant sandbag had fell down.

If there were some names that could be used to address those noises, it would be nice.

It was too much of a darkness.

Countless extending, long necks which resembled serpents were rising slowly. The hall around the Cauldron that felt spacious was not enough as it ran out of space, covered by shadow. It was like the hall was engulfed. No, just by looking up at that irrationally gigantic body, it undoubtedly made them taste the sensation of being swallowed.

"Ha...haha. This guy's no joke."

Ragna laughed involuntarily. That voice sounded ridiculously feeble even to him.

From far away above his head, gigantic red eyes of the gigantic necks were looking down at their way, as if they were glaring.

Despair was leaning forward.

"...This is...the Black... Beast."

Scraping dusts, Mitsuyoshi's feet took a step back. He set up his sword and claws firmly. However, the tip of the sword was trembling as he was unable to conceal it.

"It's... it's impossible. This ain't something that can be easily handled by a man's hands."

Even if he made himself not think such a pathetic thought, his instinct screamed warnings.

No matter how he thought, it wasn't something someone could compete with.

His body stiffened, his feet paralyzed.

Before he knew it, he had withdrawn for quite a significant distance. Ragna's back appeared ahead of his line of sight.

With that kind of back, Ragna gave a glance as he looked over his shoulder.

"Get a hold of yourself. You're strong. So strong that someone like me is no match for you."

That belief didn't come from just one time when they crossed their swords. Mitsuyoshi probably would be Ragna's master in the period to come. His master was one of the Six Heroes that once had killed the Black Beast. He wouldn't be defeated here. He shouldn't be defeated.

Ragna fearlessly raised his lips.

"Something ridiculous beyond imagination has appeared... But it's too late to quit now. We got no choice but to do this, right?"

Bring it on, he thought. Probably the conquered fear had turned into thrilling motivation that ran down his spine.

Ragna tightly gripped his sword with both of his hands.

"Hey, Ragna."

Looking at Ragna who glanced back at the Black Beast again, Mitsuyoshi opened his mouth for a question.

"Couldn't you not move yer right arm?"

He was right. Indeed, just a while ago, only numbness could be felt on Ragna's right arm which was dangling heavily. But amazingly, now it moved. The discomforts he felt until now were like lies since it felt rather light.

"I don't really get it, but it somehow works."

It was also the same for the right eye that shouldn't be able to see. As the eyelid lifted up, his vision had regained back its original range for the first in a long time. It was now reflecting a terrifying mass of shadow.

Suddenly, it was twitching only for his right eye. His right arm throbbed at the same time.

It was only for a moment. There was no pain. Perhaps, it was rather close to a pleasuring shiver. As if something identical with their nature had melt together and made a connection.

(Aah, I get it... If so, then that might be the reason.)

As the reason had come down on him, Ragna grinned.

He remembered on why his right arm and right eye couldn't do anything.

———The Azure Grimoire.

He didn't know the exact concept of what kind of object that was, but it was probably something related to the Boundary, possibly the seithr.

However, their actions had been severely restrained because of something. Just like when the lynchpin was used according to Shuuichirou Ayatsuki's research.

It was probably because of Celica.

While the girl possessed a special healing power, at the same time, she also could hold back seithr's activity. Her restraining ability grew stronger as the seithr's scale grew larger. Because of Celica's influence, Ragna's right arm was temporarily suspended of any action.

"I thought it was because I've come to the past, but looks like that isn't the case. What the hell? Just tell me so if it's like that."

While muttering his complaint to himself, Ragna firmly gripped his right hand. The distinct sensation he hadn't felt for a while made a deep smile came upon him.

With this, he would be able to somehow manage even if the opponent was Black Beast.

Ragna once again raised his eyes on the dark mass in front of his eyes. The more one looked at it, the more outrageous it was.

The numerous necks could easily crush the likes of Ragna in one strike. They swayed as if putting themselves on guard.

"Until the end, I'm a human. I'll fight as a human being. What are you going to do?"

Ragna asked Mitsuyoshi. This time, Ragna didn't turn his head as his back faced Mitsuyoshi.

Mitsuyoshi took a deep breath and prepared his claws and sword once again.

"Just like ye said, we can't quit anymore..."

It wasn't to drive away his fear, but Mitsuyoshi was fully determined. Alone, Ragna was planning to attack the Black Beast's real body. Before him, Mitsuyoshi couldn't let himself alone to be seized with fear.

"Good. Then Mitsuyoshi, once I jumped on that guy, quickly retreat."

"Wh-!? Don't joke around, I...!"

He stayed in order to support Ragna. There was no way he could run away despite being told so.

But as if brushing away Mitsuyoshi's words, Ragna spoke.

"You still got a life to live."

That voice felt too heavy, and also sincere. Mitsuyoshi involuntarily swallowed his objection.

The truth was, Mitsuyoshi had a lot to say. Like, 'how could he run while the enemy was in front of him?'. Like, 'what are you going to do?'. ...Like, 'didn't you promise to come back to Celica?'.

But what made him unable to speak of them was because he completely understood that Ragna was personally prepared for it.

Instead, Mitsuyoshi went next to Ragna once more to stand beside him and asked something.

"Let me hear yer name."

"Huh? But I've given my name already."

"Ya got yer memory back, didn'tcha? What I want to know is yer true name."

Ragna wryly smiled. The name 'Ragna' Mitsuyoshi called him with wasn't a fake. On the other hand, Ragna didn't have a family name that indicated his origin.

That's why, this name should be the answer for his question.

"Bloodedge. It's Ragna the Bloodedge."

"...I'll remember it."

Nodding in his satisfaction, Mitsuyoshi displayed a smile in only an instant.

"Okay, let's go!"

"Leave the remnants to me."

As he heard Mitsuyoshi's reliable words, Ragna set his body low and broke into a run, dragging his sword.

In a straight line, he went toward the Black Beast.

The small black mists which had been blocking his way were scattered as the flying around gale from Mitsuyoshi sliced them off.

As expected of his arm. It would never yield.

"Restriction 666 released!"

As he recited the words that were engraved in his mind and body, the bandage, which was wrapped on Ragna's right arm, forcefully burst open. What appeared was not a human arm. It was as if it was created from hardened darkness. It was a black and sinister big arm.

Noticing it, Mitsuyoshi flinched for a moment with his movement stiffened as he found out about it.

Despite everything, he ran, preparing the jet black arm.

"Dimensional Interference Field deployed!"

As he said the words, countless red lines ran down Ragna's arm. He felt a great deal of power that could crush anything.

" BlazBlue , Activate!"

The round orb in the back of his arm flickered as if it was blinking. The Azure had awakened. Clad in the flickering Azure, his fingers' form were transformed.

What was before his eyes was a dreadful giant mass of darkness. Countless necks tried to seize Ragna all at once.

He spontaneously smiled.

"HERE WE GO, YOU GIGANTIC ASSHOLE!!"

After he roared, Ragna kicked the earth, cleared away the rising mist, and charged in toward the Black Beast.

Mitsuyoshi's shout that could be heard calling his name.

The somewhat cold Cauldron's heat that had become distant.

The bright red color of the flames.

Anything and everything was eroded by black shadow.

The Black Beast raised its countless crooked necks like a wave. And then, it swallowed Ragna altogether.

As night dawned, morning came.

With morning passed and became noon, it would be night again.

After the night ended once more, the day would flow again and became night.

Celica quickly jumped on her feet at the modest sounds of door being knocked.

The person who knocked was Valkenhayn.

This place was the castle of the Alucard family which had Rachel Alucard as the new family head.

Celica was in the guest room.

After she heard the notice from Valkenhayn, Celica's expression bloomed, and then it got clouded as she ran on the hallway.

Running down the long stairs, she arrived on the first floor. She then ran with all her might from the entranceway to the parlor.

"Haah... haah... hah... Mitsuyoshi... san."

The notice Valkenhayn had reported to Celica was the return of Mitsuyoshi.

Sitting on the luxurious sofa in the parlor, Mitsuyoshi had wounds all over his body. Everywhere, dry blood stuck on his abundant fur and made it hard. Wounds covered all over him up to his long, flexible tails.

Falling behind Celica, Nine and Trinity finally arrived. Seeing Mitsuyoshi, both of them opened their eyes wide in surprise at his state.

He didn't appear to have the stamina to raise his body. Despite all that, with a firm expression, Mitsuyoshi turned to the direction opposite of him. Instead of lying down, he kept on sitting.

He seemed to be either exhausted, drowning in relief, or disciplining himself.

A large sword was held in his arm.

The so-called sword had a wide blade... the characteristic of Ragna's sword.

Celica hurriedly went to Mitsuyoshi's side and performed healing magic. However, the healed wounds were so small. Only grazes and cuts had received healing.

"...Sorry."

Suddenly, Mitsuyoshi talked.

A trembling, worn-out voice that could snap anytime. As if to get rid of it, Mitsuyoshi squeezed out his hoarse voice.

"Ragna charged at the Black Beast. Countless necks that were like snake's head bit 'im all at once... swallowed 'im. ...Black Beast's activity then came to a stop. After that, it disappeared, along with Ragna."

With pauses in-between, Mitsuyoshi spoke while he looked for words to use.

"What's left is this."

He clumsily moved his arm to give the sword he had been holding firmly to Celica.

Something black was sticking on the sword. It was unknown whether if it was the Black Beast's blood, Ragna's blood, or something entirely different.

"Sorry. ...I shouldn't have come back with just this."

"...It's okay."

Toward Mitsuyoshi's apology that seemed as his thought splitting up his chest, Celica lightly shook her head.

"I'm happy that you came back. ...Thank you, Mitsuyoshi-san."

With a compassionate smile, Celica wiped Mitsuyoshi's wet eyes and hugged the sword she had received with care.

### 011. Epilogue

In that time, the Black Beast suddenly disappeared.

It lasted for approximately one year. During that interval, humanity rebuilt their ruined lives. At the same time, they established a numbers of techniques in their anticipation for another appearance of the Black Beast.

The greatest one among them was Ars Magus .

Vast kinds of sorcery was taught by a girl called Nine who belonged to the Mage’s Guild. Because of her efforts, Ars Magus, which was a sorcery that had been refined so that many people could use it, had become commonly used.

One year after the suspended activity of the Black Beast, it appeared in the world for the second time.

But thanks to the Ars Magus, humanity succeeded in repelling the Black Beast for the first time.

And then, 2110 AD.

By the hands of six warriors, the Black Beast was annihilated.

Several years had passed since the fall of the Black Beast.

Year by year, day by day, the world restored its form during the time of peace. From the withered plants, small buds grew. Little by little, rain filled the parched rivers.

The sky was blue while the sunshine was white. Wet from the morning drizzle, the trees in the forest were sparkling.

Not far off from the forest that had sunlight shining on it, there was a tiny church.

It stood alone at the end of a lenient path as if it reside there, hidden in obscurity. It looked like it came straight from a page of a fairy tale.

Behind that church, a girl was carrying a basket containing laundry.

She had brown hair, which was very similar to the color of wet ground, and eyes of the same color. A large portion of her hair was tied up. Looking at her simple black and white attire, it suggested that she worked at this church as a sister.

She was hanging a white sheet on the clothesline that had been set in the yard.

The clear sunny weather made her in a good mood. Naturally, the expression on her face was also bright.

"Celica—!"

Suddenly, she could hear a familiar voice coming from the path that was connected to the church.

Celica quickly arranged the sheet and rushed to the front of the church.

Waiting there were her older sister Nine, who was as beautiful as always, and her soon to be brother-in-law, the beastkin Mitsuyoshi.

"Look here. You knew that your sister was visiting, and yet you're still doing laundry?"

The garden... was what Celica called the opposite side of the front entrance as. Although it wasn't visible from the front entrance, Nine looked astonished when she took a quick peek there.

Beside her, Mitsuyoshi laughed merrily. There was an eye patch mimicking the guard of a sword covering his injured right eye.

"Looks like ye already gotten used to life in a church. At first, I was worried if ye were gonna to be fine in this remote place."

"Yup. Surprisingly, I can gather something like fruits and mushrooms when I enter the forest. And since it's a bother that there's nothing around here, I'm wondering if creating a farm would be a good idea."

The fact that it was located far away from the city and required a considerable amount of time to get to the nearest village, it didn't feel right to say that this place was ideal to construct a church.

However, this location was a special place.

A few years ago, six warriors, who were called as the Six Heroes as of now, defeated the Black Beast here.

And then at that location, Celica enlisted the help of her sister and Mitsuyoshi to build a small church.

"...Hey. Won't you get nothing from what you've been doing until now?"

While looking at the tranquil scenery that didn't seem likely for the ground where the Black Beast had fallen, Nine complained.

Incredibly, after the Black Beast had been exterminated, this land was gifted with greenery. According to the investigation of Nine and her close friend Trinity, it seemed to be caused by the effect from the high concentration of seithr that had formed the Black Beast.

Many people had refused to go near this eerie place. As a result, the surrounding forests were able to cover the land.

At her older sister's question, Celica shook her head with a smile.

"It's not because I feel obliged to do it. I'm doing it because I want to."

"But shouldn’t you try to have a more normal kind of happiness? Like working as a magician, or getting married."

"Nah. I've had a lot of thoughts about it."

A refreshing breeze was blowing. Celica looked at where the wind blew to. It was such a nice day.

"As I thought, I wish to wait. I've promised after all."

He would surely return.

Even if it took many years. Even if it took many decades.

"I want to meet Ragna once more."

And oddly enough, she had a hunch that they would meet again somewhere. Although it perhaps would only occur at an absurdly distant future.

When the time came, she would give back the large sword and red jacket she had washed clean. He had said that he would return to get it back after all.

"...Ain't it painful?"

Mitsuyoshi's voice that was as soft as a gentle breeze carried a tone of seriousness with it.

The questioning tone of voice was blurred with a sense of responsibility for failing to bring back the person Celica was waiting for. That was why to wipe it off, Celica gave a happy smile from the bottom of her heart.

"No, I'm really happy. Onee-chan and Mitsuyoshi-san... that's not it. You're now Jubei-san. It's because everyone defeated the Black Beast that I can leisurely do laundry like this while waiting for Ragna this long."

She had given such a response many times.

Her opinion didn't change in the least no matter how many times they asked. With her innocent smile, she always said that the waiting was her happiness . Toward the younger sister's personality, Nine and Mitsuyoshi could do nothing but look at each other while smiling bitterly.

"Well, that's fine. Today, we came to have a discussion."

Putting her hands on her hips, Nine shook her head in her astonishment and began to talk.

Celica's expression brightened up.

"Ah, that's right. So... what are we going to discuss?"

At her question, Nine smiled mischievously. At the same time, Mitsuyoshi seemed to be embarrassed while staring off at the distance.

"To tell you the truth, I want to hold our wedding here."

"EH!? H-Here!? Are you sure?"

With her eyes widened in surprise, Celica's cheeks became dyed with her excitement

Nine giggled.

"Of course. I mean, I request this to you."

"Ahaha, I see. Well then, we should immediately talk about the preparations."

"I leave myself in your care."

Looking at the excited figures of the sisters, Mitsuyoshi scratched the tip of his nose in embarrassment. His long tails swayed. According to Nine, it seemed his tails were his biggest charm point.

"Aah, that's right. Come inside. I'll brew some herb tea that Trinity-san had previously sent."

In a good mood, Celica opened the modest and firm door. She invited her sister that would be a married couple in the near future to her home.

If Ragna heard about this, what kind of surprised face would he make? Imagining it made her chest grow warmer and warmer.

The mild sunlight, lively conversation, and refreshing breeze.

In the midst of the gentle peace, Celica smiled.

———The darkness smirked.

A mouth shaped like a crescent moon was sneering.

"This farce is finally over... Now then, time to commence the despair! HYAHAHAHAHA!"

### 012. Afterword

Thank you for getting your hands on the BlazBlue Phase 0 book. Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Komao Mako, the author.

Maybe a lot of people have already know this, but this is the novelization of BlazBlue, a competitive 2D fighting game (you can play the game on game centers; the software is also on sale for PS3 and Xbox 360!).

While BlazBlue is a fighting game, it also has the enjoyable rich story characteristic of an adventure game. This novel told the detail of a portion from BlazBlue's story that hadn't been revealed yet to everyone.

You can read the original story for the details...

This occasion is such an honor, because I could describe the characters and settings which I only aware the existences of until now into a novel!

In addition, I got a special treatment from Mori Toshimi-san, the BlazBlue producer who made the original draft for the story, to have him constantly supervise and check the settings and characters.

On top of that, he gave me a "Do your best!" cheer on a daily basis. As a writer, and being a fan of BlazBlue above all, this job couldn't get more enjoyable than this. Really, I was seriously indebted to him! I want to bow down my head as low as possible.

Not just Mori Toshimi-san, but also to Katou-san who gave me a smile while saying "It's okay," while I was really driven mad by the schedule. Moreover, he drew such cool illustrations that I couldn't believe my own eyes.

Also to everyone in charge of editing who gave me a call and said "I'm sorry," every time the schedule got changed, and for telling fun stories that always made me smile.

And to Mineshima-san from the PR for answering my questions since I still know little about BlazBlue, and for keeping up with my selfish demands every time I went to Arc System Works.

I'm really, reeeeeeeeally feel indebted to you guys!!

Thanks to all of you, I was able write with so much fun. Remembering it now, it felt like a dream (and the rackets around the deadline-related things really felt like a dream...)

If I can convey this excitement and enjoyment to everyone even for a little, I'll be even happier and happier!

Well then. Since the page has finally arrived at this point, let's close this talk with talking about BlazBlue next.

No. Everyone, have you played BlazBlue!?

Because I feel too much discomfort in using stick, I've been doing terribly at home.

Although I can use Jin without ease, Litchi's pole mechanic seems interesting. But it'll be stressful if I can't use her skillfully somehow. Also Carl! If I can use him properly, it feels like it'll be absolutely fun playing him... though I panicked when I do so. I will practice more.

As for character, my favorite is Hazama-san after all. Although the home version of the newly produced BlazBlue Continuum Shift has been on sale, I'm still not able to play it at the time of writing the afterword.

The TV at my house is too small. As a matter of fact, I can't read the letters on the story mode. Still, I want to use Hazama no matter what.

Once this novel is finished... I will practice so that I'm able to do Hazama's combos...

I'm brimming with such feeling.

Well then, when you start talking, it's unexpectedly hard to stop. I think this much should suffice as an afterword.

To all the staff, especially Mori Toshimi-san, and to anyone who got their hands on this book, I give my heartfelt thanks to you. Thank you so much!

Have a fun BlazBlue life!

~Komao Mako

Congratulations for the novelization of BlazBlue!

This is Katou who's in charge of illustration.

I never expected to get the novel job.

The difficulty was different compared to working on the game, so I got many good experiences.

I hope it will continue to volume 2 or even volume 8!

I wish to apologize if I asked such illegible request to the author Komao-sama.

Many thanks to Komao-sama and the editors.

Lastly, I would be happy if everyone read this book and enjoyed the BlazBlue story.

Hello everyone. This is Mori Toshimi from Arc System Works.

First, I thank you for picking up this book and have read it this far. And since this work is completely official, I declare that it's a part of the BlazBlue's world.

Together with my thanks for the staff in Fujimi Shobo, I give much gratitude to Komao-san for splendidly accomplishing my selfish and unreasonable requests. And also to Katou for drawing the illustrations.

Thanks to the efforts from everyone, the world of BlazBlue has expanded once more.

In the wake of this work, I sincerely hope that the world of BlazBlue will grow even more.

Arc System Works

~Mori Toshimi

He seems to be popular...

### 013. Prologue

The sounds of several people's footsteps were advancing in the long, dark corridor.

Within the darkness, they passed through ten heavy doors that had been built. One by one, they opened the doors with their hands as they walked.

Each time a door was opened, the darkness that was filling the surroundings grew thicker. Their feet should have been stepping on the solid floor of the corridor, but there was an illusion as if their feet were going to a deep, deep bottomless abyss.

The figure that had been leading halted her feet.

A light sphere which was as big as a clenched fist was floating on air. The pale white light illuminated the vicinity. The light, which was created by using magic, shone on a door that was previously covered in darkness.

It was a wooden door. It was quite simple, different from the doors they had passed up until now. It was far from strong.

There was a magic circle drawn on the door.

"...Here, eh."

Near the door, the figure who made the light and had been leading, muttered an affirmation.

It was a slender and tall woman who had a glamorous appearance. Still in her youth, the firm legs which were extending from the short skirt were beautiful. With long hair flowing down her back, there was a big triangular hat like a witch from fairy tale would have placed on her head. She was called Nine.

"A wooden door with a sealing magic circle... It indeed feels secure."

Since the wood was really old, it had good affinity with magic. It helped strengthen the magic.

Even though it looked fragile, in reality, it protected its inside more stubbornly compared to the doors they had passed so far.

"Naturally... Something with that extent exists inside."

Behind Nine, a low voice groaned.

It was a tall man in his prime age. The long hair on his back was tied up. His body was dressed in formal clothes. However, the body shape that arose on his first-rate shirt suggested that his body had been trained to fight. His name was Valkenhayn.

"While Clavis-sama was still alive, he personally sealed this place. It is not something that can be disengaged easily, even by the Ten Sages of the Mage's Guild."

"Are you testing me? Well, that's fine."

"Don't be so belligerent, Nine. Be careful."

Glaring at Nine, the nearby third figure reprimanded her.

In contrast to Valkenhayn, the person had a build so small even compared to Nine. No, the silhouette was not of a human. The triangular ears sticking out from the top of his head, limbs which depicted a lenient curve, the swaying and shaking tail that branched into two on his back.

His name was Jubei, a beastkin warrior who was formerly known as Mitsuyoshi.

" Clavis had made the seal to be this strong. Keep that in mind."

"...I know."

After she answered Jubei's words with a low tone, Nine turned around to face the door as if challenging it.

The airspace, and also the seal. Nine, Jubei, and Valkenhayn knew the man who created those.

Clavis Alucard. A vampire who had lived no less than a thousand years, continuously watching over the history of mankind.

He was no longer here. He had died a little while ago.

Just before that, he had stated his will to the butler Valkenhayn.

He had said... if a magician called Nine visits this seal, and also if she requires the content of the seal, guide her to this place and let her do as she pleases.

Nine entrusted the magic light to Valkenhayn. Then she held up both of her hands to the magic circle.

The seal slowly unraveled, as if melting.

After a little while, the magic circle that had emerged disappeared as if it was burning down.

Nine unhesitatingly opened the door.

Ahead was a completely plain small room. The floor, ceiling, and walls are made of old wood. Its purpose was to reinforce another seal inside the room.

"Nine."

As if holding back Nine who had took a step into the room, Jubei let out a cautious voice.

Nine halted her feet, but didn't look back.

"I'm fine alone. Rather, it'll be a hindrance to my magic if there's a lot of people."

"...If somethin' happens, quickly notify us. Okay?"

Even if he had faith her, he still worried. Leaving Jubei's voice behind her, Nine shut the door.

Immediately, all sound faded away.

Disconnected from outside, that place looked like an isolated cage of wood that didn't belong to any kind of space.

Nine created a small light once again.

Lying in wait inside the darkness was a young man. He sat down on the floor, with both arms hanging on the wall.

When his appearance could be seen clearly, Nine's expression took a steep change. It by no means because of fear or she was being cautious. The fact that her gaze became sharp was because none other than pure anger.

"You are... Yuuki Terumi ?"

Nine's voice was shivering with fury.

Struck by the magic light, the young man slowly raised his head while still inside the dark shadows.

His mouth smirked in the shape of crescent moon.

That moment, Nine raised her supple leg up high and sent a kick to the side of the young man's face who smiled eerily.

"This can't be... Don't mess with me! Why are you...!"

Giving herself to anger, Nine repeatedly kicked the head, cheek, and mouth of the young man.

The young man's head violently shook, his seemingly unhealthy pale skin split open, his cheeks and mouth became stained with red, his green hair disheveled.

A moment later, the young man's head crashed on to the wall behind him with a particularly loud noise.

Her chest began to rise and fall as her breathing became ragged, Nine lowered a high heel to the floor as if striking it. Then she brushed her hair back into place behind her back, as it had begun to obstruct her view.

Looking at it, the restrained young man raised his completely wounded face and smiled. The countless wounds healed rapidly, and disappeared.

"Ooh, scary, scary. Don't you know a woman's hysteria is hated?"

"Don't talk pointlessly."

Toward the young man's smile which was filled with mockery, Nine retorted with a sharp voice.

"...That's right. I don't have the time to waste talking with you. There's no time left for us after all."

"Time? Time, time, time, huh... Not that it's got anything to do with me~."

"That's not the case."

Nine said firmly.

The young man who was bound with magic stuck his chin out, purposefully giving Nine an exaggerated look.

"Huh? Whoa whoa whoa, you're in an awful hurry, ain't you? How unusual~."

As if interrupting his words, a stiff noise rang out. It was the sound of Nine kicking Terumi's head.

"Didn't I say not to talk pointlessly? ...You trash."

Nine struck the floor with the sharp heel. Her mouth was trembling with boiled up anger and contempt.

"Yuuki Terumi. Lend your strength. For the sake of eradicating that monster."

With a quite sharp tone of voice, Nine directed her gaze to the young man who was referred to as Yuuki Terumi.

The young man——Yuuki Terumi sneered.

"You asking me for help, Nine of the Ten Sages? This seems serious... But you know, is that the kind of attitude to request a help from someone? You should at least kneel down first. Hehehe."

Again, the high heel kicked Terumi. This time was stronger, even when compared to the previous kicks.

"...You don't have the right to refuse."

"Ow ow... My head isn't a soccer ball..."

Cursing her, he spat at Nine's feet.

However, upon raising them, Terumi's provocative eyes immediately stiffened and opened wide.

Nine's thin finger was pointed at Terumi's forehead. The tip of her finger was shining with a cold purple light.

Terumi instantly understood the meaning of it.

" Enforced Restraint Mind Eater ...!"

A magic to restrain soul and control over thoughts.

As Nine's voice spoke of inexplicable words, the light on her fingertip went inside Terumi's forehead.

"Tch... You bitch, do you think that sorry-ass magic can do anything to me!? Bullshit! Don't screw around!"

"We'll know soon enough."

"Hey hey hey. Tell me you're joking! Seriously, don't play tricks on me! Hey, you hear me, you damn bitch!?"

With his body furiously struggling, Terumi tried to escape from Nine's magic.

Yet the small but cold purple light mercilessly, in accordance with the user's hateful mental state, obstinately ate away at the target's brain and nerves deeply.

And then the light swallowed Terumi's white forehead completely.

...The small wooden cage became very quiet.

"...With this, it's over. That was disappointing."

As her mutter broke the silence, Nine released the magic that was binding Terumi. The sound of glass breaking rang out, and then it was sucked into the darkness.

The powerless body of Terumi slanted forward. But still not falling, Terumi stood up with his head hanging. He was like a ghost without a purpose.

Confirming it, Nine frowned in her contempt. As he was detestable to look at, she turned her back.

As the wooden door that had been closed was opened, Jubei and Valkenhayn who were waiting outside instantly put themselves on guard.

"Did it go smoothly?"

Jubei asked.

Jerking her chin, Nine urged their eyes to look past her.

Beyond her was the figure of a tall young man standing dazed in the dim room. That was Nine's answer.

"I've obtained Yuuki Terumi. We no longer have business here."

Nine started walking away.

Jubei gave a tug to stop her.

"Is it really okay? Perhaps we're gettin' our hands on somethin' bad that we shouldn't get involved with."

"I've told you already. Power is essential for us. Unless that monster... Black Beast is annihilated at all costs, there won't be a future for the world."

For Nine, rather than a mission, it was more of a promise.

In order to fulfill the promise, this man's strength was needed.

"Regret is inevitable."

Cutting it off by saying it with all her determination, the high heels' noise resounded as Nine walked back down the long corridor.

As if he was manipulated to be drawn to it, Terumi... the object called Terumi staggeringly went after her.

Following next was Jubei.

Last, it was Valkenhayn.

"Will this do... Clavis-sama?"

When he was about to leave, Valkenhayn turned around at the empty room with a stern expression. He deeply bowed his head to the previous head of the family who had just died.

It was an event which happened on the cold January of 2107 AD.

### 014. Chapter 1: Island of Green Wisdom

### Part 1

...This is a dream.

He was aware of it since he was inside a scene he had never seen before.

That place appeared to be an absurdly high place. With the wind blowing fiercely, he stood on a stage-like circular place.

There were no other surroundings. The only thing there was a black monolith which was so enormous that just looking up at it wouldn't be enough to see it fully. The monolith had blue veins that were like blood vessels and a crest shown on its surface. The object stood still without saying anything.

No, there was one more. Another person to be exact.

He didn't know how long the person had stood there, but a young man stood, staring this way.

The strong winds disturbed the young man's white hair and red jacket, ravaging them.

A large and broad sword was gripped in the hands of white-haired young man. His red and green eyes were glaring this way with a sharp glint.

What were shown in his gaze were rage and hatred.

"I'll beat you to death!"

A thrown roar of anger.

The overflowing killing intent was thrusted without any hesitation. He was really... really glad that he saw it in a dream.

The 'him' inside the dream laughed.

"Ooh, oooh. You're finally in the mood!"

As his lips moved on their own, he flung a brutal mockery at the white-haired young man.

He understood. The young man before his eyes couldn't possibly compete with him. But even so, the pitiful cry of the puppy that could only dream of opposing him felt so, so pleasurable to hear.

"C'mon, lil' doggie! Get here so I can play with you!"

As if sliding, he spun the two knives on his hands at the same time and made clicking sounds.

Roaring with all his might, the white-haired young man ran in a straight line. The large sword gripped in his hands made a noise as it tore through the wind.

Dangerous——that was the thought of he who was watching the dream.

Simultaneously, the 'him' inside the dream let a high-pitched laugh out while feeling excitement and joy.

"Hey hey, what's wrong?! Hyaahahahaha!"

He didn't know 'who' was laughing.

Was it he who felt scared of the white-haired young man's expression? Or was it he who mocked that expression since it was laughable?

No, was it himself? Was it 'him'? Who was it?

From the bottom of the stomach, from inside the head, from an even deeper place. Something was swelling and breaking out. More and more. Along with the snake heads from the chain, a greedy hunger went to bite the young man.

"———!!"

The red and green pupils glared. They shouted the name of 'someone'.

Clad in the flame of darkness, the large sword swung. A pitch black arm was stretching. It was just like a lump of hatred.

"YES. HATE ME MORE. MORE, MOREMOREMOREMOREMOOOOORE!"

An inner voice was screaming in pleasure. No, it was 'his' voice. No, it was my voice. I don't know anymore. Since when was it me and since when was it not me? Since when was it a dream and since when was it not a dream?

I don't know. I don't know. Only greed grew larger, exploding from inside.

Scary. That's what I thought. The weak me just before I vanish.

With only his feeling, he seemed to be pulling himself out of the dream's scene, desperately closing his eyes.

Wake up. Quickly wake up. This is a dream. It's only a dream...

As his body was shivering with a sudden feeling of falling, the young man who had been sleeping until now woke up with a powerful jump.

His cheeks felt the warm light of day.

It was a peaceful morning.

From the square window near the bed, the thin sunlight was crowded between the curtains that weren't fully closed, as if pushing them aside.

Below his body was a simple bed. The firm drawers of a desk used to study. A built-in closet. A certainly mass produced rag was laid on the floor.

Nothing's changed. It was the usual room, the usual morning.

His thought slowly starting to wake up from a dream to reality. Although he was in his own room, unconsciously catching his breath, the young man——Kazuma suddenly took a breath.

"It's a dream..."

He dropped his stiff shoulders and wiped his forehead. Covered with unpleasant sweat droplets, the palm of his hands became wet.

His shoulder width was narrow. If someone had to say, he was a young man with a delicate body. With a pale skin that hardly got sunburn, he couldn't be regarded as strong by any standard. Rather than such words like sword and gun, or sport and stadium, he was more suited to words like book and library.

He, Kazuma Kuvaru, was a person with such appearance.

"Even so, it was a strange dream..."

Scratching his hair which was long enough to cover his eyes, Kazuma complained to no one.

No, was that really a dream?

A place which was so high that clouds were floating nearby. A circular stage. A standing-still black monument... A white-haired man.

On the contrary, the 'him' in the dream absolutely didn't feel like himself. It was like he was reliving someone else's memory.

(But whose... Wait, who was it?)

He didn't have any idea. In the first place, even if it was based on his memory, Kazuma didn't have the knowledge that was needed.

Kazuma's memory had begun at the morning of a day seven years ago. He woke above thi same bed that morning. That was the beginning of his memory.

He couldn't remember a single thing prior to that. How long had he lived here? Where was he born? What kind of past did he have? He didn't know anything.

He only knew a little bit about himself.

He didn't know what kind of human relation he had with him, but under the guardianship of a man called Relius Clover, he was now attending the academy he enrolled in. The financial aid was all that man's doing. And then during these seven years, he became aware of his preferences and nature, also his strong and weak points.

The kind of information that formed him was those things.

He didn't know about the roots he was born in, especially the prospect beyond this point.

Every day, he only spent time without a purpose. Sometimes, Kazuma thought that he was just like a dandelion seed that could do nothing but drift on the wind.

"...Hey, it's not the time to daze around. I'll be late if I don't quickly get ready."

The things he couldn't remember were just a normal thing. He had grown used to it. Rather than worrying over it, Kazuma fixed his hair, which had been disordered by sleeping, while getting down from the bed.

He opened the room's curtains which were half closed.

As the morning sun flooded into the room, he saw a city spread out as if it was a painting.

White walls with green and blue roofs. The extending roads which had many irregular turns that became stone pavements. The roadside trees, which were cultivated to grow large, were full with deep green leaves.

He started living on this island seven years ago while not knowing anything. This city was the only world for Kazuma.

The rich nature. Buildings with beautiful exteriors. It couldn't be seen from here, but there was ocean on the opposite side that sparkled as it was bathed in the light of day.

This place was an island floating on the ocean, Ishana . But outside the island, only a few referred it with that name. Most knew it as the Mages' Guild .

### Part 2

Ishana, also known as the Mages' Guild, was a particular institution that didn't belong to any nation.

In this age when science and technology were being developed, this institution was the only one that specialized in magic and alchemy. For that very reason, there was no activity that made them stood out globally. But behind the scenes, they had connections with many nations, establishing a self-government that was neutral and completely independent from other countries.

A powerful barrier created by magic was spread around the whole island. It repelled any kind of slight interference from the outside. Furthermore as invasion from the outside was certain, a strict check would be performed when leaving from inside the island.

Therefore, Ishana was said to be the safest city in the world.

Of course, there were all kinds of facilities in the island that provided the minimum needs. As the island community grew, so did residences and companies, as well as vigilance committees and judicial systems in place.

Above all those significant facilities, it was an educational institution.

There was a magnificent academy located on the center of the island. Under the control and management of the Mages' Guild, it taught magic and alchemy in addition to basic education.

Hidden behind the history where machinery and science continued to evolve, sorcery and alchemy had been constantly handed down while concealing their presence. Passing down that vast knowledge and skills to the next generation was the biggest purpose of the academy.

There were dormitories in the academy. Living in dormitory was a requirement, with the exception of the students who lived in the island with their families.

Whatever the form, the students who had determined to live on the island commuted to the academy every day to make an effort to study and practice magic.

Kazuma was also one of the students at the academy.

But unfortunately, Kazuma didn’t know why he attended this particular academy. Did he wish for it? Did his supposed guardian enlist him?

When his memories began, Kazuma had been registered as a student of the academy. The dormitory room where he should be living in had been arranged, his school life began after a week as if it was natural.

And while he was dumbfounded, no less than seven years of time had passed.

He was already used to the academy's uniform which consisted of white tunic, black trousers, and short mantle which seemed to have the image of a magician.

(With random students like me able to wander around, the management here is surprisingly lenient.)

During the recess between classes, leaning against a window on the corridor that was wide open while looking outside, Kazuma complained when he thought about it.

He wondered if he shouldn't be thinking about trivial things like the lenient management.

Maybe it would be different if Kazuma were a popular and excellent student. Unfortunately, his grades were so-so. They were amazingly average.

In any case, he was grateful to be placed in this spot. It was because other people didn't have any expectation toward Kazuma.

(Memory... huh.)

Looking up at the clear sky, his mind faintly muttered.

Just like now, he sometimes wondered about it when he wasn't doing anything.

...He had forgotten something really important.

Of course, since he couldn't remember anything of his past, it should be obvious. However, he had a feeling like that there was something special, something that he must not forget. And it had to be remembered no matter what.

He had a feeling like that.

But... if felt a little scary.

What would become of him if he remembered the 'something that had to be remembered no matter what'? If the memory he desperately tried to remember would overturn the foundation of his current self, in that case, it would be worth nothing

When that time came, what would be the best thing for him to do? In the first place, what would become of his current self when he regained his memories? Could he keep on being here as if there was no difference?

"...Well, it's not like it'll happen to me though."

Kazuma let out a small sigh as he spoke to himself.

Thinking about futile things made his head feel unpleasant. Giving up on thinking about it, he once again looked outside.

With only a few clouds on the sky, the soft sunlight was shining down. The weather was nice today.

Regardless, Ishana always had fine weather.

Having a mild climate, the spring was warm enough to wake up and still be half-asleep at the same time. The autumn was fairly cold. No day hot enough to sweat, no day cold enough to be freezing.

There wouldn't be war if there was no hunger. There was never any sort of a natural disaster here.

The days in Ishana were really peaceful.

That was why Kazuma sometimes forgot.

Taking a step ahead outside the island, the whole world, with the exception of this island, was approaching the crisis of destruction.

Today was 2106 AD.

It started six years ago, 2100 AD, January 1st.

In Japan, an island nation located in the Far East, an unidentified monster appeared suddenly.

With an appearance like a snake that had numerous heads, the black monster was gigantic. Only, it had an instinct to lay destruction and massacre indiscriminately.

Furthermore, in the same time as the appearance of the monster, a substance called seithr began to overflow everywhere.

In exchange for neutralizing any harmful substance, as if it was a touch of a living being, the seithr sensed the existence of humans and informed the monster. Then, it occasionally became a guide and a lane, summoning the monster.

Following the seithr, the black monster would appear in unexpected places and at unexpected moments. When all that lived there weren't quick enough to get away, it would easily destroy everything entirely.

Using nuclear weapons, humanity tried to annihilate the monster by striking the unfortunate country called Japan. But the result ended with failure.

On the contrary, judging by the fact that the destructive being was no longer in Japan, the jet-black apparition bared its fangs toward the whole world.

——The Black Beast.

Facing the apparition which was referred to as that, humanity had tried every means they had.

But nothing was proven to be an effective method... Before anyone realized it, people could do nothing but struggle to escape from Black Beast again and again.

In this very moment, some part of the world might be facing destruction because of the Black Beast.

Despite that, there were lush green parks, roadside trees, and variously colored flowers blooming in Ishana where Kazuma lived.

For the Black Beast to be in this island, it would be like an illusion as if it was a nightmare.

"...Hm?"

Kazuma, who had been dazing with his arms placed on the window frame, suddenly took notice of a part of the scenery.

The academy's courtyard could be seen from the windows on the corridor. Naturally, the courtyard had school buildings and an auditorium which the students used there. There were many Mages' Guild's facilities constructed there.

Among those, there was a single pure white building which was called the Cathedral. Several people were busily going in and out of it.

The Cathedral was the most sacred place among the Mages' Guild. It wasn't only used by the Guild's people to hold important meetings or when there was a ceremony. With the exception of when there was a special class for the academy's students, it was prohibited to trespass without reason.

Judging by the robes they wore, the people who were going in and out seemed to be the Mages' Guild's officials. If it was only that, it shouldn't be unusual. However, there was a single person wearing a big, triangular hat on their head.

The hat, noticeable from distance, held a special meaning for the Mages' Guild.

"Ten Sages..."

The Ten Sages were the directors among directors who possessed top-class authority within the Mages' Guild. So to say, someone who had been chosen, a privileged class.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that they were the one who presently set the Mages' Guild in motion. No one would be permitted to approach the Mages' Guild's most highly classified information that was seemingly stored in the deepest part of the Cathedral if they were not one of the Ten Sages.

Kazuma watched the movements of the Sage who was giving instruction to the restless subordinates. The mark of the chosen one on the big hat moved right and left.

(Come to think of it, it's said that there's a canonization ceremony for a new Ten Sage today.)

It was a very rare occasion.

Ten Sage was a privileged class. Therefore, to be appointed, one must have an authority over the fitting knowledge and experiences, a degree of contribution toward the Mages' Guild, and most of all, the required strength of magic. Hence why, since the Ten Sages were introduced, the number of Sages had been less than ten people for a long time.

The Ten Sage this time seemed to be an active student.

In addition to the rare appointment of a Ten Sage, it was unprecedented for a student to take up a post there.

With that 'unprecedented' coming from his classmates, it drew a somewhat interest even from Kazuma who normally just spent his days lazing around.

(If I'm not mistaken... it was Konoe Mercury)

She was undisputedly a super excellent student who had been hailed as a prodigy ever since she came to the Mages' Guild. Because of her gorgeous appearance, in addition known to have a very up-tight personality, she was a very well-known person in Ishana for various reasons.

Having no such grades, and also plain appearance and personality, Kazuma was the polar opposite of her.

(In this world, there are people who walk a bright path of life.)

Feeling discouraged, he let out a sigh. It was a world which didn't have much relation with Kazuma.

It was no use looking at it continuously as if he was being jealous of his neighbor's green lawn. As the class would begin soon, Kazuma went away from the window. Granted, there was hardly any jealous feeling left toward the Ten Sages position.

At that moment, suddenly.

————.

A voice was heard.

Kazuma looked back.

But unsurprisingly, there was only an opened window. There was no figure of a person.

"...Huh?"

He felt that he had certainly heard someone's voice just now. At any rate, he had a feeling that he had surely been called.

"I don't like this... Hallucinating after having a memory loss. It seems I can no longer laugh it off."

While scratching his head as if he was disturbing his hair, Kazuma turned his back on the window once more.

The timing was just right as the bell that informed the start of the next class echoed throughout the corridor. Kazuma reflexively looked up at the ceiling and trotted back to the classroom.

### Part 3

The circular hall made of white stone was enveloped in solemn atmosphere.

The ceiling was high and shaped like a hemisphere. The walls which were in perfect circle had several thick pillars nestled close together. Some statue-like objects silently lined up at regular intervals.

Between the pillars, crystals as big as human head were floating. Since they were charged with the power of magic, like floating on the surface of water, they were flickering up and down while shining in pale white.

Surrounded by some divine light, several figures who were wearing dignified robes and large triangular hats stood in a circular pattern.

The number of people was less than ten.

They uniformly turned their sights to the center. At the end of it, one girl was kneeling. With long mantle spread on the floor and long hair down her back which slipped from her shoulders, she hung her head as if giving a prayer.

From the circle, a single robed figure stepped forward and stood in front of the girl.

"Konoe Mercury. I hereby appoint you as a Ten Sage, he who possesses great wisdom... You are now called 'Nine'."

The one who announced it with a stern voice was a sturdy and massive elderly man.

The girl... Konoe. No, Nine. She answered with her knees still down on the cold floor.

"I humbly accept it."

A different robed figure drew close. First, he walked up to the elderly man before passing a purple hat. A large triangular hat, like what a witch who appeared in fairy tale would wear.

It was the proof of the chosen one, a Ten Sage.

The symbol of great magical and alchemical knowledge was placed on Nine's head.

"Now, from this very moment, a new wisdom has joined the Ten Sages. According to the sacred order, that intelligence will last for eons."

With the majestic declaration, several other attendees repeated the same phrases. A great number of voices blended, reverberated on the tall ceiling.

The position of Ten Sage was bestowed only to the most prominent magicians in Mage’s Guild. With her head remain hung, Nine indifferently listened to the end of the canonization alone.

When Nine came out from the Cathedral, it was already the last half of the noon recess.

The Ten Sage canonization was held deep underground in the Cathedral, a special room that was forbidden to enter for anyone other than a Ten Sage. It was probably because she had been looking down in the windowless room for a long time that she thought that it had been a long time since she felt the refreshing outside air when the wind profusely stirred.

Around the Cathedral was a courtyard within the academy. With the exception of the path that was covered in stone tiles, there were carefully trimmed shrubs and trees enveloping the lush lawn. They stood side-by-side as if it was a natural park.

Within such peaceful spectacle, Nine walked toward the school building. Her long, straight hair which covered her back was gracefully fluttering as the wind blew through it.

The other Ten Sages were still inside the Cathedral. With nobody else around, a refreshing serenity was drifting in the air.

Suddenly, there were light footsteps running which broke the silence. From the opposite side of the gently curved path, two figures that Nine knew well appeared.

"Onee-chaaaan!"

The girl, who had deep brown hair tied in a high ponytail, furiously waved her hand while calling Nine in a lively voice.

Behind her, there was another girl wearing a big round spectacles. Barely keeping pace with the first girl, while approaching Nine. Her fluffy platinum blonde hair was beautiful. As if restraining it, she wore the hood of her robe.

Just as she fixed her eyes on the two figures, Nine's expression that had looked mildly amused began to become cheerful.

"Celica! Trinity!"

Straining her soft-colored eyes, Nine also faced both of them and waved her hand.

The first girl, her ponytail whipping forward as she abruptly stopped in front of Nine, was Celica A. Mercury. She was Nine's younger sister.

Behind her, the bespectacled girl, who was out of breath after shaving caught up with Celica, was called Trinity Glassfille. She was Nine's one and only friend.

Celica's eyes which had deep color that resembled wet soil were sparkling. Somewhat excited, she opened her mouth.

"Is it over, Onee-chan? The Ten Sage's canonization, that is!"

"It's over. Although it's a canonization ceremony, I'm just following the old procedure. It's not like I'm doing anything special."

"But still, about that."

Toward the innocently excited Celica, Nine let out a wry smile. While watching the lovable scene of them both, Trinity spoke softly.

"Didn't you receive that peculiar hat~?"

Trinity spoke with a carefree and slow tone of voice. Nine moved her gaze up to look at the top her head. As one would expect, she wasn't able to look at it completely without a mirror, but she could clearly see the unnecessarily wide circular brim.

"The hat's just an ornament."

She uninterestedly snorted.

"Besides, for me to be a Ten Sage seriously bothers me. Actually, rather than me, Trinity is more fitting for it."

"Oh my... You speak of such thing again~."

Looking at her friend's unusual expression that was like a sulking child, Trinity smiled bitterly with her brows down. Just the other day, Nine had spoken the same thing when it was decided that she had been appointed as a Ten Sage.

If Nine was excellent at handling magic, then Trinity was a prodigy in sensing and analyzing magic information in an instant. She also excelled at alchemy. Taken from Trinity's beautiful hair, she was given the nickname of The Platinum Alchemist Platinum the Trinity . She was that well known and admired.

Natural talent aside, Nine considered that Trinity's profound wisdom which supported her capability was an ability that really should have been evaluated.

Toward Nine who got displeased again, Trinity laughed in a soft voice that truly matched her meek appearance.

"That hat suits you well~."

"...Thanks."

With a troubled smile on her face, Nine shrugged her shoulders as if she was hiding her embarrassment.

Toward the usual and ordinary Nine who had the symbol of greatest honor crowned on her head, Trinity straightened herself while putting her modest respect.

"From now on, I guess we should call you Nine."

"Nine?"

Slightly inclining her head, Celica asked in her curiosity.

After Nine exchanged glance with Trinity again, she answered with a wry smile.

"A term for the person joining the Sages... Simply put, it's a particular name that's given to imply that someone is a Ten Sage. Since I'm the ninth, then it's Nine. Although it's only a formality, I'm glad that I don't need to spare any time changing my name anymore."

Since Nine was frank when she spoke, it was Trinity who smiled wryly this time.

Nine's real name was Konoe. Konoe Mercury.

However, Nine wasn't fond of her name. Trinity and Celica knew well the reason. It was because the person who gave the name was Nine and Celica's father.

Nine despised her father. Even that was pushing it. She disliked it when Celica brought up her father.

But six years ago, it had become unknown whether her father was actually alive or dead.

"I see... Since it's been decided, I guess there's no helping it."

Downhearted, Celica pulled her chin.

Nine might loathe the name Konoe, but for Celica, it was an important name of her important sister. Although it was the rule, it was a little sad for her sister's name to get changed.

"But... Although you're the 'Nine of the Ten Sages', Onee-chan is still my big sis... right?'"

Pulling her chin with upturned eyes, Celica looked up at the sister who was taller than her, as if she was peeking.

Looking at the honest eyes which showed courtesy, as if flinching, Nine gasped in a somewhat comical movement.

And then, as she could bear it no longer, she hugged Celica close to her voluptuous bosoms with terrifying strength.

"Of course I am, Celica~~~~! Whatever the position, whatever the name, I'm still your big sister! Aah~, don't make that face. There might be an insolent bastard hiding somewhere trying to ruin that adorable and helpless face of yours!"

"O-Onee-cha... It hurts..."

Having her face crushed in the soft chest, Celica struggled. Regulating her breath after she somehow got her face released, Celica raised her eyes to Nine while still being hugged.

"That's right. Onee-chan, you still haven't had a lunch, have you? Let's eat together. I was waiting for you."

"Eh? You what? You still haven't eaten yet? I thought I told you to eat before."

Nine looked bewildered as she spoke, Celica gave a spoiled smile.

"It's because I wanted to celebrate."

"Celebrate? What for?"

"Of course to congratulate Onee-chan for becoming a Sage. Hmph, this is a special occasion, but you're still completely the same as usual."

Celica pouted.

Beside them, Trinity giggled. It was like she was watching kittens playing together.

"Come on now, we should go. If we keep chatting here, the noon recess will be over in a flash~. Right, Celica-san? Nine?"

"Wah! That'll be bad!"

Flustered, Celica slipped out of Nine's embrace. Reversing the position, this time she grabbed her sister's arm. With a cheerful voice, she gave a happy smile to her sister.

"Let's go, Onee-chan. I'll treat you to the cafeteria's pudding as a celebration!"

"Pudding...? I'm not a kid, you know."

Even if she was reluctant while saying that, Nine started walking to follow Celica.

She had always known about it, but she truly had nice younger sister and best friend.

Slightly fixing the large hat placed on her head while secretly smiling, Nine, sandwiched between her sister and best friend, left the courtyard.

### Part 4

The school cafeteria in the Mages' Guild's academy. Although it didn't have the capacity to accommodate the whole student body, it was a wide open place that could manage the majority of them.

From the large windows, the scenery of courtyard and soft sunshine came into eyes without restraint. Since today was such a clear day, one would briefly forget that this place was part of a school.

With plenty of variety in the menu and even an installed television which was broadcasting news, every day, the place would be filled with a great number of students during the noon recess.

Kazuma was also one of the students who liked to go to this cafeteria. Occupying alone the table close to the wall which was a bit separated from the crowd, he was about to finish eating the daily special Lunch C.

During the days when he had classes, Kazuma's lunch would always be this menu. There were two reasons. First, it was bothersome to think about what to order for every single thing. The other one... a hard-boiled egg was include in the special lunch C.

Kazuma by no means was a gourmet. He was also not particularly strict in his diet.

However, it's just that the hard-boiled egg was special.

Looks, taste, simplicity. There was nothing to complain about any of them. There was salad and a hot sandwich placed in the plate, but the hard-boiled egg was the true main course for Kazuma.

"Well then..."

He had already finished eating the cuisine which had filled his plate, with the exception of the hard-boiled egg he had saved for last.

First things first was to taste the black tea and immediately put it back. Next was to take the smooth texture of that object into his hands.

To ensure its contents would not become damaged, he gently hit it on the table's edge several times. As the white shell started to get numerous cracks, he carefully peeled it with his thumbs.

And finally after the bouncy hard-boiled egg appeared, Kazuma, quite satisfied, raised it to his mouth.

"Beautiful..."

It was an undoubtedly a perfect shape.

There was nothing special to it and Kazuma didn't have any goal in doing this. Every day, this precise time probably was the time he looked forward the most.

Picking up the salt that was provided for the table, Kazuma lightly sprinkled it to the smooth white skin of the egg. First, he would get a mouthful... and so as he thought. It was during that moment.

"Why, if it isn't Kazuma-san."

"Ah...?"

Toward the voice, which came from out of nowhere, Kazuma turned his head with his mouth half-opened.

Standing there was a platinum blonde girl wearing round eye-glasses. The gentle atmosphere wasn't overflowing from the voice only, but also from her whole body.

Kazuma recognized the girl who had cream sauce pasta in her tray.

"Oh my, Trinity-san. Having lunch now?"

"Yes. I had a little errand today."

She was a female student from the same class as him. For the uniform, beside the mantle, you could choose any robe. Although she was often wearing the latter, she usually put on the hood as if to hold down her soft hair.

Like a child wondering if she was a witch coming out from a fairy-tale, Kazuma believed that he frequently saw her.

There were two other people stood behind Trinity. A beautiful female classmate with her long hair flowing over her back and a short girl with her hair bundled up at a high position.

Kazuma also knew about the beautiful girl. She was his classmate just like Trinity.

Her name was Konoe Mercury. Presently, she wasn't a stranger among the academy. She was a rare prodigy who got selected as a Ten Sage even when she was a student.

But the other pony-tailed girl was a new face. The girl's face peeked from behind Trinity.

"Hm? A friend of Trinity-san? Good afternoon."

Her huge eyes looked straight at Kazuma without reservation. Their gaze met.

That moment, the chill he had vaguely felt until now suddenly intensified. His hair stood on its end.

He didn't know the cause. For some reason, he could not return the gaze of the pupils which were facing him. Kazuma averted his eyes as if he had succumbed to her strength.

"Aah, err. Hello."

He barely answered with a faint voice.

Suspicious at that, Konoe Mercury glanced.

"Who's this? Your acquaintance?"

Since she flung the remark over her shoulder, Trinity's face became troubled.

"What do you mean by who? He's Kazuma Kuvaru. Isn't he in the same class as you, Kono... Nine?"

"He's in our class? I didn't know."

"O-Onee-chan, just how impolite you are!? I'm sorry, Kazuma-san. Onee-chan's bad at remembering people's names..."

As she placed the plate containing spaghetti bolognese, the ponytailed girl proficiently bowed her head.

Taking a few seconds to be aware of the gesture which was addressed at him, Kazuma, late in coming to his senses, hurriedly shook his head. This situation of having three different types of girls standing while looking at him was completely overwhelming.

"N-no... Don't worry about it."

After Kazuma replied, the face of the pony-tailed girl suddenly turned into a smile. The very picture of carefree and innocent of an expression made Kazuma astonished again.

At the same time, he felt another indescribable discomfort accompanied with chills that ran through his spine.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Celica A. Mercury. You're Onee-chan's classmate, right? Thanks for always taking care of my sister."

A voice like the sound of a blooming flower. The tone of voice and expression had to be the characteristic of this girl called Celica.

Rather than envy... he felt a little dislike. Particularly to this girl.

"He didn't take care of me. We've never spoken after all. I didn't even notice his presence."

"Ha, haha..."

As for the point given by Konoe Mercury, who he supposed must be Celica's sister, it felt mercilessly cold. Kazuma's stiff mouth laughed. Even though there was several times when they had exchanged words, it seemed they were completely erased from her memory.

"Um... That hat."

When Kazuma took notice of the hat which was placed on the beautiful girl's head, he reflexively let his voice out.

A big, triangular purple hat which had a wide brim. Kazuma understood well its meaning.

"It's the canonization ceremony, right? Congratulations for being a Ten Sage, Konoe Mercury-san."

After he put the egg aside, Kazuma made a gentlemanly smile as much as he could.

But the beautiful woman wearing the triangular hat glared at Kazuma with an intense look. With a tone of voice that sounded too arrogant, she spoke clearly.

"It's Nine."

"Yes?"

"My name. I don't have the tiny bit of desire to be addressed by you, but call me Nine if you're going to address me again."

"Aah... Nine, is it."

When someone became a Ten Sage, a name following the number of one to ten was given. From that time, that person would be referred with the number. Kazuma remembered the rule now.

But somehow, the name Nine was something more than just a rule for her. She was someone that shouldn't be made angry by such an inadvertent mistake. Kazuma decided to firmly imprint the new name of his classmate into his brain.

"Ah, that's right."

Celica suddenly came up with something and then opened her mouth.

"Kazuma-san. If you don't mind, can we have lunch together?"

"Yes... Eh, what?"

After he reflexively answered, he spontaneously asked again. He really couldn't comprehend what she had spoken of. Celica on the other hand had an expression as if she had an idea she found splendid.

"I was thinking to do a celebration for Onee-chan today. But... since we're sort of coming late, there's no more empty seats."

"Aaah, I see."

Now that she mentioned it, all the tables in the cafeteria had certainly been filled. Not so many people came to the cafeteria at this time of day, but nevertheless, it was surprisingly crowded today.

Celica, shrugging her shoulders, let out a childish smile.

"Besides, I don't often get the chance to meet one of Onee-chan's friends that isn't Trinity-san. I want to talk with Kazuma-san more."

"With me? But..."

Even with the smile that was like baiting him, the reluctant Kazuma spoke ambiguously.

For some reason, he didn't want to get too close to this girl named Celica.

In the first place, Kazuma didn't know a lot about Nine. He didn't know what Celica was expecting, but there was nothing worth mentioning to talk about.

It seemed Nine also didn’t want to share a table with Kazuma.

When his eyes fled from Celica's gaze to look forward, sure enough, Konoe... Nine observed Kazuma with her eyebrows furrowed in discontent.

Kazuma spontaneously averted his eyes. Konoe Mercury. Nine. Whichever her name was, he didn't want to have her keep an eye on him too much.

However, that wish was far from being realized.

"Celica-san, you mustn't ask such unreasonable request. He seems to have already finished his lunch~."

"Eeh, so it's no good? I wanted to get along... Too bad."

Lectured by Trinity to take consideration, Celica dropped her small shoulders.

Seeing such a state, how could he turn her down?

For quite a while, his body felt a strange bad feeling. But it might be just his imagination.

"...Umm, I don't mind. There are enough empty seats for exactly another three people."

"Go ahead," said Kazuma as he smiled gently. The smile by no means showed his true feelings. It was more like a habit that would come out when he faced other people.

But Celica received the impression of the smile she saw. A smile from the bottom of her heart, which was different than Kazuma's, bloomed all over her expression.

"Really!? Hooray! Thank you, Kazuma-san. Ah, then I'll go buy another congratulatory pudding. It's my thanks for listening to my selfishness!"

No sooner after she talked, Celica put the tray containing her lunch on the seat in front of Kazuma and ran off with her long hair leaped.

"Eh, ah. No, I'm..."

There wasn't any opportunity to stop her.

Like clockwork, Celica had gone to the cafeteria's counter vigorously.

As Kazuma was overcame with surprise watching it, Trinity's tray was placed on the seat next to him.

"My apologies, Kazuma-san. But thanks for helping us out~."

"Good grief... She never listens when she starts talking."

Although she seemed a bit sullen, Nine still reluctantly placed her lunch at the table while also taking a seat.

He looked at Trinity's tray and also Nine's, small custard puddings were sat there.

(I see. So this is the congratulatory gift.)

Most likely, it was that child Celica who suggested it.

As he glanced, a long ponytail swayed left and right as she headed this way. In her hands, Celica was holding a similar pudding to the one on her tray.

Kazuma somehow felt like giving up.

It looked like it was going to be a long lunch.

### Part 5

A fork was winding around above a plate, intertwining bolognese sauce and spaghetti.

While carrying it to her mouth, Celica casually stared directly at Kazuma who was sitting in front of her.

"So, Kazuma-san also doesn't talk much except with Trinity-san?"

The topic surrounding the lunch was about the relationships within Kazuma's classroom.

Kazuma, having already finished eating the hardboiled egg, was now somewhat poking the pudding he received from Celica. The table might now look distinctly showy compared to his usual, but still, the hardboiled egg had tasted so wonderfully delicious.

"Hey, Celica. What do you mean by 'also'? That guy and me aren't in the same level."

The first one to open her mouth at Celica's words was Nine. Dissatisfaction was clearly mixed in her explicit tone which had been going on until now.

But not minding her sister's complaint, Celica instead gave her a straight answer.

"But Onee-chan, if Trinity-san weren't here, wouldn't you only have me as a partner to eat a meal with? When you went for a vacation, it was with just Trinity-san and me."

"...It's meaningless to associate myself with people whose level is far from mine."

"See, you said it again. That's why you're considered as a scary person."

As the sisters began quarreling all of a sudden, Kazuma was dumbfounded while grasping the pudding spoon tightly.

No one had ever thought that there existed a person who could speak so bluntly to the talented Nine who was feared because of her tight personality. On the contrary, Nine was overwhelmed. It was hard to believe that the sudden spectacle could happen to the exceptional prodigy who was enrolled in the same class as him.

But different from Kazuma, Trinity, who seemed to be used to seeing it, nonchalantly proceeded to eat, smiling as she watched the sisters.

Celica once again got her sight back to Kazuma.

"Ah. I'm sorry, Kazuma-san. Please continue with your story."

"Even if I continue... As you say, I also speak on daily basis with just Trinity-san."

"'Also'?"

From diagonally in front of him, Nine's sharp voice came.

"Ah, no..."

Kazuma quickly closed his mouth with his hand.

Beside him, Trinity laughed a little.

"Hey. Why are you laughing, Trinity?"

"Fufu... So-sorry, Nine. I don't mean anything bad."

"I'm not asking about that. Good grief."

Pouting, Nine folded her arms beneath her plump chest after she brushed her hair.

Kazuma tried to keep showing a smile while scratching his cheek. Since he wasn't used to being involved in a setting like this, he was actually troubled. Easily creating such awkward atmosphere seemed like one of the strong points of women.

Setting aside the peevish opinion, Kazuma hesitantly opened his mouth.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean Nine-san and I have the same level... I was trying to say that Trinity-san is a nice person since she greeted me even though I'm low profile."

"Oh. But Kazuma-san isn't low profile."

"No, no, that's not true. It's unthinkable."

Even when Kazuma seemed to be giving in, he raised both of his hand at the height of his chest and shook his head to Trinity as she tried to dismiss it.

Seeing that, this time it was Celica who laughed. She curiously let out a girlish laugh, or rather the tone of someone who laughed delightfully.

"Kazuma-san is an interesting person. At first, I thought you aren't that good at chatting. But I learned that you have lots to speak about. I'm somewhat happy."

"Oh... is that so?"

"Umm. Can I talk to you more often from now on? I want to know more about Kazuma-san."

"Eeh!? Err, that's..."

Couldn't answer her right away, Kazuma's eyes wandered as he panicked.

He didn't look back at Celica's eyes that staring directly at him.

Someone who hated this girl called Celica must be rare. Somehow, even if someone was overwhelmed by her nonstop vigor, his heart would quickly be snatched by the honest good will and that adorable laughter. At times, Celica's behavior was similar to the innocence of puppy or kitten.

However, Kazuma for some reason wasn't fond of Celica. He didn't know why... Looking at her eyes gave him trouble breathing. It made his chest felt tight.

(She shouldn't be a bad girl though...)

While Kazuma was still trying to decide his answer, Nine stood up as if interrupting his thought. The chair which was pushed roughly made one think that she wasn't composed no matter how optimistic a person was when he looked at it.

"Celica. Come here for a second."

"Huh?"

As Celica was about to finish the spaghetti bolognese, her arm was pulled as Nine left the table. Celica followed her sister while still wide-eyed.

The girls stopped at the sandwich and bread counter which was always immediately filled with lines of students as soon as the noon recess starts. It was a bit away from the table where Kazuma and Trinity were left behind, but it wasn't a distance where they couldn't see the girls' expressions.

Along with Trinity who was peeling off the pudding's seal, Kazuma watched over at the situation. No sooner after she suddenly looked over her shoulder, Nine spoke.

"Stop getting involved with that suspicious man! It'll only get you into trouble!"

The flowing disapproval came flying to Kazuma's ears. It cleared up the question as to why the she felt she needed to leave the table to talk to Celica.

The powerful tone was enough to make someone cower, but it didn't even make Celica wince.

"Kazuma-san isn't suspicious! He might be a bit of a strange person, but it's harsh to brand him like that when we don't know him enough!"

"It's not necessary getting to know about him. You should know when you see him. Such a questionable man, whose thought can't be figured from his expression, isn't a decent person."

"That's not true!"

"Anyway, don't get familiar and approach that mysterious guy. You have a cute face and personality, but something crucial is missing. It will make sly and dishonest people take advantage of you."

"What are you saying!? You seem to accuse Kazuma-san of being a sly and dishonest person!"

The eyes of many students who were finishing their lunch gathered on the pair of quarreling sisters. Others began to look towards the table that Kazuma was sitting at, having guessed that he was the Kazuma-san in qustion.

Unable to bear the situation, Kazuma fixed his eyes on his pudding as if turning his eyes from reality.

What was quite shocking was Celica's remark when she completely denied the 'questionable man whose thought can't be figured from his expression' Nine had said.

(...I wonder if I'm that questionable?)

He tried to place his hand somewhere on his stunned face. As the mouth his fingers touched expressed a stiff smile that he was unaware of, he got shocked again.

"Umm, Kazuma-san?"

While the paralyzed Kazuma had his hand on his cheek, a worried voice came from beside him.

With a dry smile and trembling shoulders, Kazuma spoke to himself.

"...From now on, I wonder what kind of face would be good when facing them..."

"Uh, umm... please don’t worry about it too much ~. Nine somewhat loses control when it comes to Celica-san. She will just disregard her surroundings~."

Even Trinity was wearing a bothered smile. She must often given this explanation to others from time to time. Experiences with troubles seeped from how she talked.

"Besides, I like Kazuma-san's politeness and modesty. I think of you as a good-natured person."

"Haha... Thanks for that."

It's more preferable by far than a harsh criticism, but getting praised straight to his face was embarrassing. Kazuma awkwardly loosened up while scratching his mouth.

"Even so, Trinity-san is also a person who burdened with troubles, right? Like with her and me, you associate with people who aren't used to the class."

"Fufu. But compared to Kazuma-san's hardship, it feels pleasant."

"My hardship?"

"Your memory. It hasn't returned, right?"

"Aah..."

Kazuma had memory loss. It was a story that was known among his classmates.

The first time around, it wasn't a common thing. But now he practically didn't know just how many people had learned about it.

Kazuma also didn't wish for the issue to get mentioned too much. Getting inquiries out of curiosity would only bother him. Also, Kazuma usually didn't care about it too much.

However, sometimes Trinity was concerned about Kazuma.

It was by no means troublesome.

Trinity had a sort of enthusiasm where it would be fine to ask 'how are you doing?' to someone who had chronic disease. She made serious sounding words like 'memory loss' sound like something lighthearted.

"Well, it hasn't returned at all. I even think that I might not have a past to remember."

"Oh, please don't say about such a thing."

"Aah, no no. I'm aware of it."

Kazuma gave a loose smile to the rebuking Trinity who had a gloomy expression.

"It's not like I'm pessimistic about it, so don't worry."

Even if he was pessimistic, he didn't know if having nothing to remember was something to be delighted about or to lament with.

Kazuma suddenly realized something and raised his face. Before he had realised it, the sisters' quarrel could no longer be heard.

When he looked at them, both of them were silent while still stood in the same place as before. They stared at the large television which was installed in the cafeteria as if devouring it. Their expressions were too pale to have been drawn to it by interest only.

Following the girls' line of sight, Kazuma also looked toward the television.

Inside the rectangular screen, the usual news program was airing. The newscaster talked on and on while somewhat trembling.

It was a news that arrived from a particular country.

### Part 6

"——that. I will report it again. This morning, according to the investigation team of the United Nations who went to Japan, a survivor has been found. For the six years period of time since the nuclear strike on Japan, the survivor took a shelter in the underground and appeared to be living hidden below. Although he is considerably weak, there's nothing serious that might endanger his life. For now, the investigation team will wait for his physical condition to improve before questioning him about the past six years."

Japan.

The country where the Black Beast, the monster that spread terror and anxiety throughout the world by appearing in unexpected places and at unexpected moments, had first appeared. In order to eliminate its threat, nuclear missiles were launched and virtually destroyed the country.

Because of a high concentration of radioactivity and chemical substances, Japan had been contaminated. It had turned into a land of death where no beings could live. But as the pollution steadily lessened, the United Nations dispatched an investigation team half a year ago.

As this time civilians were also able to enter to Japan, investigations which had certain purposes had taken place. But it seemed... the result was that a survivor that had been left behind in Japan for six years was found.

"A survivor... in Japan?"

The screen was a bit distant, but the newscaster's voice was clearly audible. Kazuma breathed out to signal his interest.

But Trinity kept silent with a serious distress of an expression. It seemed Kazuma's murmur didn't reach her ears.

"Trinity Glassfille-san?"

When he questioningly asked, Trinity turned around with a gasping sound trembled on her throat. Her pretty green eyes opened wide. A slight disturbance could be seen there.

"Ah... um, no. It's nothing,"

With a faint smile, Trinity dropped her gaze to the pudding she held in her hand. Most of it was hidden by the hood and hair, but sorrow still spread on her face.

Kazuma moved his gaze.

What Trinity was seeing wasn't the television. It was Nine and Celica.

The sisters had been arguing seriously until a while ago. They got somewhat stunned as they watched the news. Slipping through the students, they returned here. The grim faced Nine urged the dejected Celica to walk.

"C'mon, Celica."

Nine forced the delicate Celica to sit on the chair before she sat down on her own.

Silence fell on the table. The congratulatory pudding seemed gloomy.

No one opened their mouth. Enduring such atmosphere, Kazuma timidly called out to Celica who looked disheartened compared to anyone else.

"Has something happened?"

Although Celica certainly raised her sight, she shook her head without saying anything. The barely expressed smile on her mouth was very unsuitable for the extremely cheerful girl. It really made Kazuma worried.

"Are you feeling OK? Your face seems..."

Awfully pale.

He was about to say it. The moment his hand somewhat stretched toward Celica, it happened. Terrible chills ran through Kazuma's spine.

(Eh...?)

Delayed for a moment, this time dizziness distorted his vision. In the blink of an eye, his sense of balance went awry. Kazuma held his head using the hand that was intended for Celica.

"Kazuma-san? Are you okay?"

On the contrary, Celica worriedly called out to him. She half rose to her feet, lowering herself down. With her small hand, she touched Kazuma's forehead.

"...!?"

At that moment, Kazuma shook off Celica's hand with all his strength.

A slapping sound echoed. Kazuma knocked over his chair as he stood up.

"Ah... I-I'm... sor..."

Celica was confused and Nine grimaced as she started to get upset. When his sight stopped at the two of them, Kazuma squeezed out his trembled voice to speak.

His words didn't manage to come. Welled up with terrible nausea, Kazuma immediately fell to his knees and went to a sitting posture.

"Kazuma-san!?"

Trinity left her seat in a hurry and leaned over to Kazuma's side.

Celica also became panic as she rushed over to him.

"H-hold on, what's the matter!? Hang in there!"

Kazuma's stiffened eyes looked up at Celica who was crouching before his eyes.

Welling up along with nausea, his chest was filled with... discomfort as if he was being swallowed.

(No... Don't come... Don't... come here.)

The dizziness was mixed up together with words of rejection. My head hurts. I want to throw up.

"Do you feel sick? We must get to the infirma..."

"I... I'm fine."

Kazuma's desperate thought interrupted the words of the worrying Celica. He straightly refused the stretched hand that was going to rub his back.

Forcibly pulling the shivering mouth, he made a smile.

"I'm... all right. I suddenly felt a bit sick... but I'll go to the infirmary on my own."

"But, you shouldn't be alo..."

"Please. I'm okay."

Do not touch me.

As it nearly slipped from his mouth, Kazuma swallowed the spilled words along with saliva.

He didn't know the reason. He didn't understand but... he couldn't help but felt really unpleasant and horrible.

His fist was so tight that its nails were biting the skin. He placed the fist on the wall as he stood up.

At this rate, he must not remain here. He really shouldn't stay here.

"...Sorry. I beg your pardon to go ahead. I'm really okay."

Trying to sound as healthy as he could, Kazuma left the cafeteria as if he was fleeing.

### 015. Chapter 2: Cat of Crimson Sunset

### Part 1

When the afternoon classes over, the sky on the west side of Ishana started to change color.

The evening on this island unexpectedly went to night in the blink of an eye. In the short interval before the day sunk completely, the sky was dyed in burning color. The city changed color as if enveloped by scarlet veil.

While it was a fantastic and beautiful scenery, at the same time, a vague fear of something beyond human understanding could also be felt from the spectacle.

After school, Kazuma walked toward the dormitory alone, with no friends to accompanying him.

His feet were heavy. Sometimes he staggered. He still hadn't recovered from the sudden illness he got during the end of the noon recess. Even now the light dizziness still lasted. There was still a listless pain inside his head.

Sometime before, Kazuma escaped to the infirmary's bed. But after he gradually calmed down enough, he rejoined during the middle of the afternoon class.

He told the worrying Trinity that there was nothing to be concerned about anymore. But the truth wasn't like that.

While casting his eyes down as if avoiding the strong setting sun, Kazuma put his hand on his heavy head.

"Uuh... I don't feel good..."

His bitter throat groaned.

Previously, he'd had times when headaches and dizziness had tortured him every now and then. Mostly, it occurred when he tried hard to remember the past he had forgotten.

(Still, what happened during the noon recess wasn't like that...)

With his eyebrows furrowed, Kazuma unsteadily made his way home.

The abnormal discomfort during that time wasn't the same as the usual dizziness. It felt like an invisible hand crawled up from inside his body, grasped his head, and started forcefully dragging it down.

Even remembering it now made him well up with nausea.

"Just what exactly is happening..."

That time, he sensed that his condition became awful just as Celica tried to touch him. But such an absurd thing shouldn't be possible. It's a different story if Celica had some sort of extremely troubling special ability that made anyone she touched ill.

(...I wonder if she took offense at it.)

He had unintentionally shaken off Celica's hands. No, Kazuma himself didn't remember if the reactions could be described with those simple words.

It seemed to have made Trinity surprised. As for Nine, he probably had entered her kill list. ...If possible, he wanted to avoid that.

"Hurk..."

It's no good. He still didn't feel well.

At this rate, going with the usual path would bathe his front with the setting sun while endlessly climbing the lenient hill road.

Stroking his tight chest, Kazuma strayed from the main road and went to an alley.

Sandwiched between buildings on both sides, the path was narrow enough for a car to not be able to get in. It might be because it was dark even during daytime that there were only a few pedestrians here.

The journey was plain and calm. Since it was what he wanted, Kazuma felt a bit relieved. He more or less had to take a detour, but going this direction was a much comfortable way home.

However, Kazuma felt an uncomfortable feeling. He couldn't proceed to go forward.

(...I somehow got a bad feeling.)

The Mages' Guild had a surprisingly large number members. There was quite a population in Ishana. As the majority of them were students, although they mostly were doing club activities during this time of day, it was still unusual even for the alley to not have a single soul sighted at this time in the afternoon.

To begin with, there was no human presence.

...No.

(Wrong. Someone's here...)

Somehow arriving at that conclusion, Kazuma stopped walking as if seized with fear.

He was being watched by someone. That feeling wasn't something that could be measured. It was the first time he had sensed someone's presence this clearly.

He got a somewhat very unpleasant feeling.

What should I do? Should I turn back? The moment Kazuma thought about it and started to step backwards... he heard a voice coming from somewhere.

"——Hey, watch out."

"Eh?"

"It's coming. Dodge!"

Someone was speaking to him from somewhere. As soon as he thought about that, a tension as if being pierced by a fine thread stabbed Kazuma's thin chest.

The next instant, a sharp noise grazed his ear.

Kazuma's body spontaneously moved. Twisting his body, he leaped away.

At the same time, behind him, the noise of a terribly dangerous slash tore through the alley's eerie silence.

"Wha...!?"

Kazuma turned around in a hurry.

He couldn't believe the scene he saw there.

The stone paving which had been regularly spread all over was deeply gouged, completely changed to a horrible appearance he had never seen before. What could have been used to make it became like this? It was incomprehensible. Kazuma's head turned like a creaking tin doll.

Nearby the hollowed ground, a mysterious figure stood up. A tiny, child-like body, triangular ears protruding on top of the head, long and thin tail branched into two. It was like a cat standing on two legs.

Was it a human? Or was it a monster? Both of that inexplicable being's large paws... hands, tightly gripped dully shining twin short swords.

"W-wait. Give me a break already."

There was nothing to be amused about, but Kazuma's mouth reflexively pulled into a smile.

Judging from this situation, there was no mistaking that the one who gouged and slashed that ground was the small being there. Perhaps it was done by using the pair of short swords gripped on both of its hands.

But as long as there was no remarkable difference between Kazuma's and the world's knowledge, hollowing out a stone paving using a pair of short swords in such a short time was nothing short of an impossible feat. It's definitely incorrect for the cat-like being to have a disposition of needing to destroy stone paving no matter what.

What those swords were supposed to cut was not the hard ground... but Kazuma.

Cold sweat trickled down his back.

When Kazuma clumsily retreated, the cat he encountered once again prepared to reversely grip the short swords inside a gloomy shadow. Along with the cold points of those swords, the cat's large eyes sharply seized Kazuma.

"...Kazuma Kuvaru."

The cat spoke. It was a low, hoarse male voice.

Kazuma's feet came to a sudden stop.

"Ye-yes. That's me... but who might you be?"

Even for him, it was an idiotic response. But if he didn't do so, the balance of his spirit would crumble.

It was bizarre no matter how he thought. A cat walking on two feet while wielding swords. It was ridiculous for it to exist in reality...

"I am Tomonori. ...I have come to kill you."

No sooner after he coldly spoke, the cat jumped.

Slashing noises buzzed. The two blows definitely didn't possess threat nor suppression, but an intention that went in accordance with his declaration.

"Hii... Uwaaah!?"

It was like approaching wind. Losing himself, Kazuma started to run away. His body was lowered as if falling to the ground, then a sword grazed the tip of his hair.

He couldn't stay still in that spot, Kazuma crawled. Then he placed his back to the wall of a building and tried to turn his face around.

"Haah, haah... W-wait. Please wait."

His heart was rampaging as if it went frenzy.

It wasn't a lie, prank, or dream. That cat was planning to kill him. He would be killed. A fear like a needle with a stench of blood pricked Kazuma's whole body.

The cat looked over his shoulder. The cold pair of beast eyes stared at Kazuma.

"...You dodged."

"I-isn't it natural!? Wouldn't I die if I didn't dodge!?"

Although he retorted with a loud voice, it seemed Kazuma himself didn't even understand how he had been able to dodge. He did it despite the thought that he would surely die when he sensed the swords were being swung.

This time, the cat silently approached to cut him.

"Hii...!"

Kazuma ran. He had heard that when a human is driven to extreme situations, they usually display unimaginable capability. But now, it felt certainly true.

Even now, he barely evaded the assaulting slashes as they grazed his skin.

However, that fortune wouldn't last forever.

Tripping on the crooked ground which the cat had previously gouged, Kazuma fell forward and collapsed. The severe impact didn't do anything particular to his whole body, but he got a burning pain on his arm.

Though he felt that he shouldn't look at it, Kazuma accidentally saw it. The spot slightly below the left shoulder of his uniform was deeply cut. He felt a sensation that the shirt was wet with something.

"Ah, ah..."

Something more vivid than fear overflowed from Kazuma's mind.

As his chin trembled, his teeth made a grinding noise. The beast looked down on him from the shadow of a building which had been deeply colored by the evening. When Kazuma raised his face to the faint footsteps, his eyes met the beast's gaze.

The reversely gripped swords were coldly lifted. The tip of a blade was slightly wet with red.

It was wet with Kazuma's blood. The blades' cold silver color appeared similar to a beast's fangs that wanted much more blood and flesh than that.

He would be killed.

His chest rose and fell as his breathing got disordered. His stomach was cramped with strain and terror. His knees were shivering and made him unable to stand.

It was useless. He couldn't escape.

(Why... Why is this happening to me...)

He would be killed without even knowing the culprit or the reason. While cursing at the ridiculous situation, Kazuma shut his eyes tightly.

He prepared himself for the sensation of the cold blades.

...However, the cat's swords stopped just before cutting Kazuma's flesh.

(H... Huh?)

He thought that something was wrong. After he counted three seconds, Kazuma timidly opened his eyes. From inside the long bangs, he peeked at the bipedal cat.

The cat dropped the blades, which should have been raised overhead, and faced toward the end of a gentle curve. Its huge ears were raised.

Before long, the cat sheathed the two swords into their scabbards, gave Kazuma a glance, and abruptly vanished as it leaped.

### Part 2

The presence of the amassed killing intent disappeared. It was the same for the pressure which had been strangling his neck with tremendous force, and also the piercing feeling of tension.

In the same way as when he had appeared, the cat man disappeared like a passing wind.

The day's natural atmosphere came back, bursting free. His hips having completely given out, Kazuma could only sit still in that spot, dumbfounded.

He couldn't comprehend what had happened, even now. He couldn't accept it as a real incident. It felt like he saw the continuation of the strange dream from this morning.

The muffled ears of Kazuma heard approaching footsteps. Kazuma forcibly moved his stiff neck and looked at the direction of the sound. Familiar uniforms were rushing over from the gentle curve he faced.

It was Nine, also Trinity and Celica.

As soon as he saw the figure of the girls, strength left Kazuma's whole body. It might be because of the cleared tension that he got attacked by an intense dizziness which made him almost faint.

"Kazuma-san!"

As if sliding, Celica put her knees in front of Kazuma. Nine quickly looked around the surroundings. A bit delayed and out of breath, Trinity squatted beside Celica with a gloomy face.

"Are you all right, Kazuma-san?"

Trinity held up Kazuma's shivering shoulders. When her green eyes looking into him, Kazuma slackened his mouth and made a feeble smile in order to convey that he still had consciousness.

Near him, Trinity began to smile broadly.

"Thank god... What on earth happened?"

"Well... I also don't really understand."

Thanks to seeing a familiar face, he felt somewhat relieved. Even Kazuma thought that he answered with a pathetic voice. He missed her serene voice. He really thought he was going to be killed.

In the meantime, Celica touched Kazuma's left arm and opened her warm brown eyes wide.

"You're injured here. It's really deep."

"Ah, don't."

Immediately, the words escaped from Kazuma's mouth, he tried to warn her away. Again. He got shivers.

But Celica, who couldn't see what's in Kazuma's mind, interpreted his voice as hesitation. She nodded while smiling as if to encourage him.

"It's okay. It's going to be cured soon."

"Cure...?"

Looking to reassure Kazuma, Trinity explained.

"Celica-san is really skilled in healing magic~."

But behind the long bangs that were concealing his expression, Kazuma frowned.

"Healing..."

He hurriedly stiffened himself and trying carefully not to be rough as he removed Celica's hands. He forcefully dragged his exhausted body to get up.

Reflexively, he showed a strained smile.

"I, I'm fine. Wounds like this will be healed fast enough... Don't worry."

"Eh, but."

Celica's eyes that seemed like saying 'but it'll be healed instantly' looked up at Kazuma.

Kazuma averted his eyes with all his might. He wasn't very good in this situation. When he got an awful dizziness again, Kazuma leaned his back against the wall of a nearby building.

Nine put both of her hands on her hips and rounded on him as if blocking his way.

"Let's start with the explanation."

The voice changed suddenly from Celica and Trinity's gentle voice to a cautious voice.

While hiding the wound on his arm from Celica by covering it with his hand, Kazuma grimaced.

"Even if I explain..."

Worrying about the bewildered Kazuma, Trinity interrupted with gentle words.

"We came here because Nine said that she sensed an unusual force downtown. And then we saw that Kazuma-san was sitting at the roadside with the road like that~..."

"You must have witnessed what happened. Speak."

Nine glanced at the hollowed stone pavement before settling her glare on Kazuma.

He was weak against Celica's gaze, but he wanted to be pardoned from Nine's glare even more. He heard that she was the most skilled person in the academy, with offensive magic as her specialty. That fact made it seem like he was being threatened.

"Even if you say I saw it or got involved... A strange creature suddenly appeared and slashed around using sword. The absurd thing there is also its doing."

Wanting to get away from the concentrated gaze, Kazuma directed his line of sight at the ground, looking for sword cuts. The more he looked at it, the more splendid the slashing scars were which made them didn't feel like they belong in reality.

Nine folded her arms confusedly.

"An odd creature you said?"

"Yes. It's similar to both a human and cat..."

"Could it be beastkin...?"

Hearing Kazuma's explanation, Nine frowned and supported her chin with her hand as if she was pondering.

The term Nine used, beaskin, had been covered in the lessons for sure, but today was the first time for Kazuma to actually see it.

It was a strange race located at a point exactly between beast and human. Like magic, their figure never showed up in the front side of the history and only existed in the dark.

But why did one appear in Ishana and attack Kazuma? Nine's question was also Kazuma's question.

"Onee-chan. For the time being, let's take Kazuma-san back to his room. He might get attacked again."

Celica's straightforward voice broke the silence of thought.

Moment by moment, the evening grew thicker. Presently, the eastern sky was slightly blurred with the presence of night. If the sun sunk, this side of the island which was separated from the main street would get very dark.

Trinity agreed immediately as she nodded.

"She's right. We mustn't let something happen to him on his way back."

"You shouldn't burden yourself that much. I'm really all right now, so..."

"Kazuma-san."

Trinity took a step and drew closer to him.

She tightly joined her hands together in front of her chest as if praying. With height difference existing between them, her pleading eyes looked up at him as if reprimanding him.

"I beg of you, please let us escort you. I can't return and leave you alone here~."

Even though she used the slow tempo tone he heard in the classroom all the time, her sincerity was enough to make his heart ache. In Trinity's eyes, apparently ready to form tears at any moment, her truly genuine concern toward Kazuma was showing. Knowing that, why did he turn her down?

(...Somehow, it feels like I've only been doing refusals today.)

Kazuma was corrected by the thought from inside his chest. Just like always.

As if giving up, Kazuma took a breath and pulled the sides of his mouth to make a smile. In truth, his condition got worse again. It really didn't feel like he was able to walk.

"...Understood. Then please do so."

After he spoke his resignation, Trinity smiled tenderly and grabbed Kazuma's arm. Supporting from below, she held his arm to her chest.

Beyond the uniform jacket, the sensation of a human body was transmitted. Rarely experiencing this sort of close contact, Kazuma didn't know how to react.

Since a normal human would certainly have the memory of being embraced by parents, they must have the fitting emotion in regard to the touch.

Kazuma sighed and thought that it didn't matter.

The feet he urged to step forward were aimless and felt light. Was it because of his poor condition and giddy head? Or was it because his memory-less self had this emptiness that couldn't be filled?

"Can you walk?"

Startled by the smell of custard on Trinity's voice, Kazuma slightly pulled his chin.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I offered after all."

Realizing Kazuma wouldn't resist anymore, Trinity finally spoke with the usual tone. Not outpacing him nor falling behind, Trinity matched her pace with Kazuma's while pulling his arm to urge him forward.

Although he was thankful of her compassion, Kazuma couldn't help but have complicated feelings at accepting Trinity's kindness.

There were many male students in the same year who admired Trinity and Nine. If he was seen like this, he would most likely be called behind the school building and get forced into a fight tomorrow.

With his consciousness receding from time to time while seriously wondering about that thought, Kazuma, accompanied by Trinity, Celica, and Nine, went toward the dormitory.

And then after taking twice as long as usual, Kazuma returned to his own room.

Since Trinity was worried, Celica said as they left that they will quickly come over if something happens. But Nine... only she watched Kazuma with doubting eyes.

After closing the door, his endurance was already at the limit. His head ached so badly. He could no longer grasp the feeling of the floor, he headed toward his bed.

But while it wasn't clear whether he had finally arrived at the bed or not, Kazuma lost consciousness.

### Part 3

Kazuma was led by three girls as they left. On the rooftop of a building somewhat distant from them, there was a shadow looking over his figure motionlessly.

A small body that didn't appear human, long tails, sharp triangular ears. It was the beastkin swordsman, Tomonori.

Silent like a still life, he kept watch over Kazuma's retreating figure with sharp eyes. As though confirming his prey.

The air wavered.

Tomonori's ears moved. What wavered wasn't air. It was time and space.

"You're such a useless pet, Tomonori. You didn't obey your owner's command."

From the back, an innocent voice coldly spoke.

Tomonori slightly moved his head.

The shaking just now came from teleportation. The specialty of the beloved daughter of the person Tomonori knew well.

"——Rachel, isn't it."

In a low and small voice, he muttered the name of the person who had appeared behind him.

Rachel Alucard. A girl dressed in black dress with beautiful long golden hair tied up in pigtails. The ribbons used to decorate her hair looked like rabbit ears.

Her outer appearance made her seem around six years old, but she was a master of transferring magic that was extremely difficult to control. She possessed the ability to directly transfer to Ishana which had powerful barrier erected around it.

"...You came here because Clavis told you to?"

While asking the question, Tomonori removed his gaze from Rachel to look downward. His target's figure had already gone. He had failed in killing him.

"Correct. What kind of other errand do you think I have?"

As she spoke with elegant tone that didn't suit her childish appearance and voice, Rachel gently brushed away the hair which had been resting at her shoulder with the back of her hand.

There was slight interest leaking out from the tone of voice that sounded haughty.

"You tried to kill that man."

Tomonori replied with silence. Not concerned about it, Rachel continued.

"Why did you try to kill him? Do you perhaps know something?"

"...You have nothing to do with it. Enough with the tedious talk. Hurry up and take me."

Turning his back to the alley he had been watching, Tomonori moved to stand next to Rachel.

Rachel chuckled a bit. But the words she spoke were the opposite of it.

"Just like usual, you aren't an interesting man."

As she indifferently held out her white hand, a rose-colored magic field emerged with Rachel at the center. It spread out beneath Tomonori's feet.

"Let us return. My father is waiting."

After the pure voice muttered, a sound similar to whirlwind played and Rachel vanished from Ishana along with Tomonori.

On the sky which was wrapped with the canopy of twilight, the silver full moon was hanging.

That moon wouldn't ever wane. This night wouldn't ever pass. This place was sunk in eternal night. Not located anywhere in the world, the place was like solitary island floating on a valley.

A garden was stretched all over continuously. With crowded ivy crept around the once beautiful place, its appearance was appropriate enough to be called an abandoned garden.

Within the abandoned garden, a large old castle stood with majestic appearance while also entangled with ivy.

It was the residence of a more than one thousand year old vampire, Clavis Alucard.

He had been spending his overly long lifespan watching over humanity. Right now, he sat in a wheelchair facing an old friend inside a parlor, surrounded by tasteful furniture.

"Tomonori. I have too... considered about what you have been thinking."

Locking his fingers above his knees, Clavis started diplomatically.

His long hair and beard were pure white. The locking fingers were so thin it looked like they were withered branches. But, as if his blood red pupils were detached from his old body, they brimmed with the kind of dignity and intelligence that sometimes felt like they could see through up to the bottom of one's heart.

"However, what I had requested to you was to observe, not to assassinate. You have almost killed a sinless youth... Am I wrong?"

Clavis' voice was calm like a spreading ripple on water's surface.

There were two other presences in the room. Clavis' beloved daughter who was sitting on a soft sofa while drinking black tea with rose aroma, Rachel. And the person standing behind Clavis who was wearing refined suit on his trained body, Valkenhayn R. Hellsing the werewolf.

After looking at them with sidelong glance, Tomonori returned his gaze to Clavis and replied coldly.

"You said I was permitted to cut him down in the worst case."

"...I have certainly said that. But I truly do not think that was a situation befitting that 'worst case'."

The person he was confronting was a man who had watched history play out for over 1000 years. But Tomonori, even in front of those gazing red eyes, full of endless knowledge, didn't show a slightest hint of fear.

"That guy is dangerous. We can't afford to keep him alive."

Since Tomonori's words was declared without any hesitation, Valkenhyan, who had been silent while frowning until now, harshly interrupted.

"The one to decide it is not you!"

But Tomonori moved his gaze to him and stared back at the werewolf butler intensely, as if challenging him.

"I decide what I'm going to do."

It was a composed and had unwavering will of a voice. A determined voice of a belief that wouldn't let anyone trample it down.

But that belief was pointed at a direction different from Clavis'.

Clavis' chest sank as he sighed.

"It is still not decided that 'he' will become 'so'. If he remains in peace, then he can continue to be a mere student. ...After all, there are many possible futures."

"There's only one future."

Clavis' sensitive words bore a wish and desire for something to happen. Tomonori severed it with a voice that hid strong emotions.

"That guy is aware."

There was no hesitation in Tomonori's declaration, the same for his swords.

"...Tomonori. We are not in the position to judge."

"Your faith is like a dull sword to me."

After he said that, Tomonori turned his back on Clavis.

Clavis partly closed his eyes while watching the small stature. He believed that Tomonori's gentle shoulders would never get yield.

Clavis recalled another man who stood in the same way.

"Well, well, well. Your stubbornness is very similar to Mitsuyoshi's."

Clavis smiled as he muttered. Tomonori fiercely glared over his shoulder at Clavis as he did so.

"I have nothing to do with my brother. Don't ever compare us again."

Valkenhayn displayed his anger toward that remark.

"You insolent. Who do you think you're facing...!"

"That is enough, Valkenhayn."

The skinny hand took control of the enraged Valkenhayn.

If Valkenhayn had assumed the wolf form, then he would laid bare his sharp fangs and roared. But he was before his master. Valkenhayn withdrew with stern expression.

"...I don't need any escort."

Tomonori turned his back again, he left Clavis' room in truth this time.

When the inhuman figure disappeared down the hallway of the old castle, Valkenhayn calmly closed the door that had been left open.

The room was soaked with Clavis' sigh.

"Are you fine with it? That man will undoubtedly..."

Go toward Ishana again. This time, it wouldn't have anything to do with Clavis' request.

After Clavis leaned his back on his wheelchair, he looked up at a gleaming chandelier on the ceiling.

"It is inevitable, Valkenhayn."

The decaying eyelids went down. Within the closed field of vision, Clavis thought about the world. He thought about its history.

"I cannot stop Tomonori. Tomonori is also... a part of humanity."

Thinking, believing, and taking action were the privileges given to humanity. Even if those privileges came from 'danger' that stuck close to the back of Tomonori's 'honesty'.

And it wasn't possible for Clavis to meddle with it. The thousand years of time he spent to gaze at history was coincidentally the same thousand years he remained a spectator. Clavis... no, including Rachel, they were beings that existed outside of fate.

"Valkenhayn. ...Just how will mankind live their life in millennia to come?"

Deciding on something, earning something.

History would continue for a long time to come.

Clavis' eyes already couldn't see the future.

Holding back his words of reply, Valkenhayn prepared a fresh black tea and placed it in front of Clavis. The sweet and abundant rose aroma drifted.

Clavis raised his thin eyelids and gazed at the flickering amber-colored water's surface.

"Nevertheless, he surely left something troublesome... That Relius Clover."

After he had muttered those thoughts, Clavis took a white teacup in his hand.

### Part 4

...This is a dream.

Kazuma was aware of it as he was in a scene he had never seen before.

The scene took place in some kind of a laboratory.

The metallic walls and floors were illuminated by cold, white light. There were a great number of flickering green and red lamps attached to some kind of gauges lined up inside the room. Windows were fitted to the walls in every direction. One could see the other side of the walls without obstruction.

When he came to, Kazuma was there.

Being aware that he was seeing a dream itself was a strange feeling. The stage was different, but this might be the continuation of yesterday's dream.

Just as his blurred self wondered about that, his vision moved. The Kazuma inside the dream looked over his shoulder.

From here he could see the figure of young man sitting on a chair, crossing his legs.

"We really going to make use of that guy?"

With an arrogant sound, the Kazuma in the dream spoke.

Just as he thought, this dream was similar to that dream. Although Kazuma had awareness of it, he wasn't allowed to speak as the character inside the dream. It was a dream where he borrowed someone's point of view just to watch the scene.

But the person who was with him wasn't a white-haired young man. It was a blonde man wearing white gown with attire that made him looked like a scientist.

"I'm making use of him since he's useful. He possesses a field of study different from mine. His knowledge and skills are rather interesting. ...Then again, I have already seen those techniques plenty enough."

"The assistant possessing that excellent knowledge and skills seems like a very hardworking person. He secretly went to the hidden room, secluded himself, and ended up engrossed with whatever his work is, y'know."

"I see... If it doesn't turn out to be a hindrance to my work, then it doesn't matter. In any case, it is not something of importance."

The tone of the blonde man when he said that was terribly frank. Neither sarcasm nor joke, he regarded the assistant who had been raised as the topic simply just as a 'tool'. There wasn't any human-like enthusiasm in his way of speaking at all.

"Ha!" said Kazuma... rather, the Kazuma in the dream as he laughed.

"Indeed. Well, you did bring along Shuuichirou Ayatsuki. Do whatever you want, Professor Relius."

Shuuichirou Ayatsuki. Relius. Both of them were names that Kazuma had heard. Especially Relius.

What he was reminded of was that Relius Clover was his guardian whose appearance and background were unknown to him.

Could it be that this blonde man was Relius Clover? Kazuma considered examining the face. But before that, the vision inside the dream moved.

The 'someone' who had become Kazuma's point of view once again faced the huge window. From there, a spacious lower floor could be seen.

Inorganic floors and walls. Inside of them, a bizarre object had its mouth open.

Figuratively speaking, it looked like the crater of a volcano.

As if a ring's prong for holding jewelry, there was some squirming stuff like boiling red lava in the place of diamond at the other side of the device.

Staring it, the Kazuma inside the dream bore a weird uplifting feeling as if it was his missed hometown.

"Is that OK?"

"At present, there is no hindrance."

A frank voice answered from behind.

The Kazuma inside the dream placed both of his hands on the gauges which purpose weren't clear and showed a fearless smile.

"Good work, good work. Then I suppose you can afford taking one more request."

"...What is it this time?"

"It's on your field of expertise. ...It also got something to do with the Azure ."

"Oh?"

There was a slight hint of interest from the blonde man's voice.

As if something had been let slip, 'he' averted his gaze and smiled.

"My next..."

The sound was no longer heard.

Then the scenery blurred.

Everything became incomprehensible.

Eventually, it got darker and turned black.

The dream came to an end abruptly.

Hearing himself let out a small groan, Kazuma woke up.

Opening his thin eyes, there was scenery of room he used to see beyond the troublesome bangs. It was a room of the Mages' Guild's school dormitory, his own room.

The room was dark with only the faint orange light of the bedside lamp to illuminate it. He didn't know the exact time, but it seemed to be night.

It seemed his had lost consciousness while on the bed. It looked like he had been sleeping all this time. The clothes of his uniform got a bit wrinkled.

He saw a dream.

Just like last night's dream, the dream was in an unknown place and had men he didn't recognize. The details were blur as if they had been rubbed roughly with an eraser. He couldn't remember it well.

Since then... Just how long had passed after he was accompanied by the three girls, Trinity, Celica, Nine, and came back here? Placing his hand on his dazed head as he was still half asleep, Kazuma abruptly raised his body.

The horrible condition of his body was already completely healed.

The wound on his left arm was fully recovered without leaving any trace.

"Aah... Again."

In the room which made it hard to breathe, Kazuma removed his gaze from the torn tunic and dropped his shoulders.

He realized this around two months after he entered the academy. While in class, he cut his finger with notebook paper. In the brief time he was grimacing as the stinging pain ran through, the shallow cut on his skin quickly closed. The small wound disappeared as if it was absorbed.

When he had already forgotten about it, Kazuma got burned in the middle of alchemy experiment. He went to the infirmary as instructed by the lecturer. But as most of it was already healed when he arrived, the doctor laughed while saying he was exaggerating it.

In short, even if he got hurt, it would get immediately healed if he left it alone.

At first he thought that everyone else was like that too. But he found out soon that that wasn't the case.

Unlike the memory loss, no one knew about this strange constitution. If possible, he wanted to keep it hidden and unknown to anyone else. The memory loss might stir sympathies, but this just felt creepy.

"I'm glad... that I declined that girl's healing magic."

If the healing which wasn't related to magic had begun to take place, he wouldn't be able to dodge the issue no matter what his excuse was.

As his drowsiness gradually cleared away, his brain slowly started to function.

When he thought about it, a series of odd things had happened today. Waking up from a strange dream. Setting Trinity aside, having Celica and Nine kept an eye on him had opposing significances to it. Having his physical condition deteriorate without understanding the cause. Being attacked by an assailant without knowing the reason.

Moreover, as if it finally returned, he had seen a weird dream again.

"Just what is really happening?"

After the complaint spontaneously came out, the fatigue spread.

It looked like he saw those dreams as the result of his brain adjusting his memories. Might it have something to do with the memories he lost? Is it okay if he assumed that he was remembering something?

As his mind became clearer, he recalled words from the details of the dream he had mostly forgotten.

Shuuichirou Ayatsuki. Relius. And...

"Azure..."

"You interested in Azure ?"

Someone suddenly replied to the muttering he let out.

His drowsiness disappeared at once. Kazuma turned around with force as if electrocuted.

The dormitory's room was a room for one person. There was no one else in the room and no friends visiting here. Besides, he had been fast asleep until a while ago.

There shouldn't be anyone else with the exception of Kazuma. Within the room that should have been empty... was an unknown person.

The chair that should have been in front of the desk was moved close to the room's wall. ...Someone was sat in it. The unreliable light from the side lamp made their appearance unclear. Naturally, Kazuma gazed at the staring figure of a person.

It was a thin man. It wasn't clear as he was sitting, but his height seemed about the same as Kazuma's.

Regardless of the darkness, Kazuma couldn't get a look at his face since he was wearing hood low over his eyes. But when he saw the shown splitting mouth that was like a crescent moon, Kazuma became aware of the eerie smile.

"Wh... who? Who... might you... be?"

While still petrified sat on his bed, Kazuma asked awkwardly.

He got a feeling that he had asked this question just a few hours ago. Unpleasant premonition chilled up his spine.

It couldn't be that he would get suddenly slashed again, could it?

Kazuma reflexively put himself on guard, but this proved unnecessary, the man only shrugged his shoulders while still sitting and didn't show even pretense to stand up.

"Hey, hey. Really, Kazuma-chan? You seriously said that? What a cold greeting. You don't recognize me?"

"No, uh, sorry. I don't remember that we've met..."

The man spoke like he met an old friend, but Kazuma didn't have any idea about this man.

Within the darkness, the man shook his head in disappointment.

"And I helped to save you from danger back then, too. So you forget about the person who saved your life? Is Kazuma-chan perhaps an idiot? Maybe stupid?"

As he said it, Kazuma suddenly remembered. Now that he mentioned it, back when the beastkin attacked, there was a voice instructing him on the verge of it.

It wasn't Trinity, Celica, or Nine's voice, but a young man's. If the voice weren't there, Kazuma would have swiftly died from the first stroke of sword.

"From... from back then?"

"Finally remembered? Then again, you still don't know about the important part. Aah, how annoying."

The man grinned, but he quickly sighed in dejection.

Kazuma was at loss since he didn't understand the meaning of what the man said. For some reason, he corrected his posture while sitting on top of bed.

Stretching his long legs forward while still sitting, the man looked at Kazuma with snake-like eyes from his hood.

"Since you passed out on the floor, I purposely came here, y'know? After that, I've been here all this time. Weeell, since you didn't wake up, I got lot of free time. And because this room isn't that decent, I wonder why your mind hasn't gone mad living in here."

"Haa. Well, I've been here for seven years."

Just who is this person? Even while he still had questions, Kazuma moved his mouth while still being dumbfounded by the unexpected development.

"So, umm, and you are...?"

"Yuuki Terumi."

"Eh?"

"T-E-R-U-M-I. That's my name."

Kazuma felt like there was a strange air about the name. As if there was a special meaning about it...

"So you have it. Say, Kazuma-chan."

Even though he wasn't being pressed in intimidation, Kazuma gulped. For some reason, he suddenly got captivated by this man's words.

The crescent moon mouth smiled.

"So hear me about this again. ...You want the Azure ?"

### 016. Chapter 3: Mind of Azure Deviation

### Part 1

When there was no memory, there was no past.

When there was no past, there was a period of time when he wasn't alive.

All this time, Kazuma was always wondering whether he was truly alive.

Just what exactly was the 'him' who was standing here presently? Was he alive or dead? Had he truly been born? Did he really even exist?

Such doubts always plague his mind.

Since the next day, Kazuma's mind was lighter.

When he woke up on morning, putting on uniform, and heading toward the academy he had gone to for seven years, he was so cheerful. This was the first time he had greeted the morning with a mood such as this according to his short memory.

Usually, he had been living with uncertainty drifting around him. It felt like there wasn't a purpose even when he breathed.

He had wasted the unending time from these seven years only to wonder how deep rootless grass was buried under.

But today was different. No, it would surely be different starting from today.

His memory still hadn't returned and Kazuma still remained an extremely mediocre student. But there was just one big difference.

Kazuma had gained a 'purpose'.

The reason originated from last night.

A mysterious man who called himself Terumi had told him. Its existence was only known to limited number of people, but the Azure certainly existed in this world.

"If you can get the Azure, you can take back whatever you want. Everything. Things you lost, things you forgot, whatever."

Terumi's speech was like a tale from a dream.

Bur for Kazuma, it was indeed like a tale from a dream.

"If I have the thing called Azure, I can get my memories back?"

"Idiot. Not only memories. Everything, eeeeeverything. I said whatever it is, right?"

Whatever it is.

It was certainly tempting.

Until now, Kazuma had never been proactive in remembering his past. It was because he was afraid if he realized that there was no past to remember. And then, he was also afraid if he realized that he absolutely couldn't remember anything.

But if he got the Azure Terumi was talking about... perhaps he might have a chance.

"Azure..."

It was a warm morning. Kazuma was resting his chin in his hands on a desk of the academy's classroom, muttering while he was doing nothing.

Currently he was in the middle of a class with a female lecturer explaining about an important turning point regarding the history of magic. But as if her voice was distant like the congestion of the city, it never entered Kazuma's ears.

Kazuma's mind was occupied with nothing but the Azure.

Terumi never mentioned the specifics about that object. However, other than it definitely existed, he only gave a guarantee that it would give everything to Kazuma.

Terumi was a suspicious man whose background was unknown and never frankly showed his contentment.

Kazuma also had a thought that there was something wrong with him to just swallow the words of such a man. Normally when he thought about it, such a convenient thing as what Terumi had spoken of couldn’t possibly exist.

But even if he had doubts about it, Kazuma thought that it was okay even if it was a lie.

The important thing was that he wanted to get his memories back, and that there was a way to do so.

Out of just walking silently every day in the path of ordinary student which Relius Clover had arranged, it might be possible to return to those days as his true self.

It was okay even if it could only inspire such faint hope.

The bell marking the end of the class rang. Kazuma lifted his face as he came to his senses. In the end, there wasn't a single character filling his notebook. He also couldn't recall the contents of the lesson.

On a normal day, he would have been more or less regretted that he had been dazing around. But today, there wasn't even a tiny amount of that feeling.

The lesson didn't matter. After Kazuma put the unused notebook and pen to his bag, he stood up with determination.

"...I'll search for it."

I want to regain my memories.

I want to know who and what kind of person I am.

It was the first time he clearly thought about that. It was also the first time he felt that he was truly living in this world.

First, he must make it his objective to find out just what the Azure was and where it could be found.

Fortunately, this here was Ishana——the Mages' Guild. The history hidden from the whole world was gathered on this island.

As Kazuma grabbed his bag, he left the classroom without looking back.

Cutting across the academy's courtyard and then proceeding to the side of the auditorium, a building with soaring green roof on white walls appeared.

The building with its size approximately as big as a small scale school was the academy-managed Great Library.

Not only for the students, the library was opened for Mages' Guild's staff members as well as the island's inhabitants. As the book collection consisted of books which weren't expected to survive or exist, it wasn't inferior to other libraries around the world.

It was reasonable for this library to have books that had existed in secret.

The inside was very large, and also very quiet.

The walls were white and there were endless polished stone tiles that went on and on. There were towering bookshelves as far as the tall ceilings. Ladders were placed everywhere in order to get to books placed at high altitudes.

The light from outside couldn't enter at all. All the illuminations were produced by magic. Different from artificial light bulb, the gentle lights gave off a whimsical atmosphere in the entire library.

Ever since the noon recess two days ago, Kazuma hadn't attended classes, only going back and forth between the dormitory and here.

He attempted to use the search system for the book collection to look up about the Azure, but he was only guided to books that clearly didn't have any relation to it. Although he looked them over just to be sure, the majority of them were some sort of silly stories. Even if it wasn't like that, he couldn't rely upon the likes of artful writings and poems.

Lores which weren't made public, ancient magic patterns, synthetic tables of alchemy. Every religious ceremony around the world from ancient times. On top of those, the latest technology of science and medical treatment, also the combination between alchemy and science.

Even when he searched for books that came into his mind, it didn't appear they had the right description.

"Not good..."

When he closed the last copy of the book he brought from his countless round-trips, Kazuma's head fell over the desk while he groaned.

It looked like it didn't give any result.

He read books and books, but all of them were wrong. Since this failure couldn't make him to proceed even for one millimeter toward somewhere, he got broken hearted as expected.

"...Does it even exist?"

Azure that is.

He didn't expect to be able to examine it in detail, but he didn't think that he couldn't find even a glimpse of it.

"In the first place, just what 'Azure' is...? It'd be nice if he just told me that much."

While grumbling, he poked the front cover of the book he had closed, feeling irritated.

Creature, substance, device, organization, belief, or concept. He couldn't get a plausible clue about what kind of object the obscurely-named Azure was.

As his forehead hit the desk, Kazuma let out a sigh.

"Maybe I should ask Terumi again..."

However, it didn't seem likely for that man to tell him. He had asked various questions regarding the Azure, but in the end, he was told to look it up himself.

(Hmm, but wait.)

For example, in the case that the Azure really existed and was an unfathomable technique that could make everything possible. Such ridiculous things might not just simply be recorded in books.

Moreover, would such books usually get accessed and placed in these bookshelves which the people on the island or anyone else could read?

(If I think about it, it's not strange for it not to be here.)

It was natural if it was treated like classified information. And it sounded more credible, too.

However, even if that was true, what other places should he investigate? Since the books here didn't have information as far as rumors, there was no other way but to aim for the rumor he heard about the Mages' Guild's highly classified information next.

(Mage’s Guild's highly classified information... huh.)

Despite the current Mages' Guild's standpoint, there were things which were considered vital that shouldn't be publicized. Regardless that it was only their existences that were recognized, no one knew about the details.

The way to the deep underground below the Cathedral had secure barrier stretched which wouldn't let anyone other than Ten Sages to trespass. It might be stored there...

"Kazuma-san?"

"UWAH!?"

Tapped on the shoulder from behind, Kazuma, forgetting where he was, let out a hysterical voice.

The impulse made him fall from his chair. In a panic, he clung to the back of the chair and made clattering noise while lifting his face. As he did that, the smiling figure of Trinity was there.

"I'm sorry. Did I surprise you~?"

"I-It's okay. I was just a bit dazed."

Kazuma quickly got a look at his unsightly position. He smiled as if to smooth things over.

Pushing up her large circular glasses with her fingers, Trinity stared at the desk in wonder.

"Were you checking up on something?"

"Aah, yes. Something personal has been on my mind."

While answering without any offense, Kazuma piled up the thrown out books in haste and pushed them to the side of the table.

"Umm. I might sound meddling, but..."

Being conservative while lowering her eyebrows as if she was apologizing, Trinity started with the prelude.

"Today, it seems you didn’t attend the classes. You also didn't yesterday... and the afternoon before, too."

"...So you came to warn me? As one would expect from the well-conducted Trinity Glassfille-san. You don't overlook your irresponsible fellow classmates."

He unintentionally let sarcasm slip out.

Not expecting that kind of remark from Kazuma, Trinity looked a bit surprised and had a bewildered expression.

"Well, that wasn't my intention. I apologize if I hurt your feelings."

Neatly putting both hands on front of her body, Trinity bowed her head courteously. Her soft platinum blonde hair gently swayed.

"Only... Kazuma-san, until now, you have never skipped classes even once. I got a little worried about how you're doing~."

"You're worried?"

Those words had a strange feeling to it.

How could she feel that way not to herself, but to someone else? Kazuma was baffled. She didn't wish for reward or expect any gratitude. The earnest kindness of Trinity was... awkwardly warm.

He didn't think he deserved to receive such affection that asked nothing in return.

Unrelated to Kazuma's feeling, Trinity kept a light expression and smiled charmingly like a doll.

"If it won't hinder you, can I assist you in the matter you're checking on? Since I come here often, I may have a rough grasp on the kind of book and its whereabouts."

Hesitating to talk, Kazuma scratched his cheek. He would gladly accept it if the matter he was investigating was related to a lesson. But it wasn't the case. Besides.

"It pains me, but I was just about to finish. Sorry."

"Oh my... it's me who should apologize. It'd be nice if I had called out to you much sooner."

"Ha ha. Looks like it."

While using his laugh to feign ignorance, Kazuma didn't look at Trinity's eyes.

As Kazuma arranged the books and stood up, Trinity seemingly confused, asked him:

"What were you searching for to make you seclude yourself in the library for two days?"

"Eh... Ah."

His body stiffened.

Peeking with sidelong glance, he saw Trinity looking in his direction with a curious look on her face.

She shouldn't have any ulterior motive. He understood that much. But having such pure and innocent eyes directed at him meant he couldn't help but think that she was only pretending, in order to inflict great harm to him.

"Umm... It was something... about my memory."

He couldn't lie, but he couldn’t say the truth either.

However, Trinity didn’t have a slight doubt to Kazuma's vague reply. Putting both hands on her white cheeks, her eyes sparkled as she was both astonished and joyful.

"Oh! Could it be that you've remembered something?"

"No, it's not like that. Only, it seems... there's a way to recover it. But since the method isn't widely known, I thought that maybe I could get some clue here."

Kazuma packed the books and arranged them before putting them back on the desk again.

He took a light breath. As he was with Trinity, he wanted to keep things like planning and calculating away.

When she was near, it was like time flowed slower.

Even with the slight hesitation which remained in Kazuma's mind, he rubbed it off and opened his mouth again.

"...Can we have a little talk?"

"But of course."

Trinity's soft voice gently urged him.

Kazuma hesitated again... and then he began to talk.

"I haven't given much thought about my memory loss. But when I talk with people and try to relate... I can't handle it well no matter what. When something like that happens, the memory-less me feels cheated. It felt like my feelings and emotions weren't enough when compared to other person."

The impression he wanted to give was lacking and didn't strike home. He didn't get the right tuning point.

He had a feeling like an important part was completely left out when his human soul was taking form.

"Sometimes, it feels like I'm different from other people. It'd be preferable if I were superior than the others, but I have a big disadvantage compared to other people. ...I feel like it's only me who doesn't have a presence."

"It must be... lonely."

Trinity murmured sympathy.

Giving sympathy that didn't have even a slight sarcasm on it seemed like Trinity's virtue.

"Of course I got used to it. It's not like I feel agony every day, you know? ...But."

Not finding the right words, Kazuma closed his mouth.

However, it was already enough. He felt a little better having put out his feelings.

Trinity was the first person he spoke his mind to. It might be because of her comforting air, or perhaps the indifferent silence of the Great Library.

When the warm feeling came to an end, this time he felt a little embarassed, Kazuma seemingly scratched his head roughly.

"Ah."

Suddenly, he had a thought.

When he raised his face, his eyes met Trinity's gaze while she had a blank look. Since Trinity herself couldn't clearly see Kazuma's eyes, it was Kazuma who knew that their gazes had collided.

"Trinity Glassfille-san. If I'm not mistaken, you are a close friend to Nine of the Ten Sages, right?"

"Eh? Yes, that's right~."

"Then can you talk it over with her? It's extremely unlikely for the matter I'm searching for to be discovered in this library's books. But if it's the Mages' Guild's highly classified information... if it's the confidential information that's stored inside the Cathedral by the Ten Sages, then...!"

Nine was one of the Ten Sages. Let alone inspecting highly classified information, she was in charge of it.

Certainly, she wouldn't comply if it was Kazuma who was asking, but she might if it was Trinity. As he felt a slight hope, he lifted his head with a bit of expectation.

"Kazuma-san."

However, even that disappeared with Trinity's single word.

Trinity retracted her sweet smile and her pink lips tightened. With a seriousness that didn't suit her, she stared straight at Kazuma.

"I understand the matter you're searching for is very important to you. I know it's something beyond my comprehension, and I can tell you're really serious about it. But... your request just isn't possible."

With meek demeanor, there was firm strength hidden in Trinity's words.

Kazuma sighed in disappointment. He didn't consider that it would go smoothly, but he got depressed after being strongly rejected.

"So it's no good?"

"Yes, it's not possible."

Even then, Trinity still gave a modest smile.

"I'm really sorry that I can't be of help."

"Oh no, forgive me for asking unreasonable things."

If he thought about it calmly, it was unthinkable for the gentle Trinity, who also had a strong sense of duty, to do something that would hurt her position as a friend. Once he knew it was useless, Kazuma had to think about the next step no matter what.

As he held the piled up books along with his bag, Kazuma lightly smiled in a friendly manner.

"It seems I've said some strange things. Please forget about it. And thank you for your concern. I will return to the dorm once I put these books away."

Before he got questioned any further, Kazuma prepared to leave from the spot as if he was fleeing.

Trinity's voice stopped him from doing that. This time, it was the voice he had always heard. A sweet voice that was filled with affection.

"I'm sure Kazuma-san will get those memories back. That's why, please don't be so reckless. I'm willing to give you a hand if I'm capable of it."

Kazuma only looked over his shoulder. He replied with indifferent smile.

He was grateful for her sympathy. But sympathy alone wouldn't let him reach the Azure.

### Part 2

When he got outside, the sky had been dyed in bitter orange as if burning before he knew it.

The evening in Ishana which almost always had clear weather, save for a few rainy days, was lovely. The buildings and the trees were painted in the setting sun's vivid color.

Retracing his steps back through the academy's courtyard to get to the main school, Kazuma's cheeks got faintly hot as the evening sunlight blazed down on them like it did to the buildings and trees without exception.

Kazuma's manner of walking was nothing like a light walk. His gaze was dropped to the ground and the hand that didn't carry his bag was inserted into the pocket of his trousers.

He had been thinking.

The books that were kept in the Mages' Guild's Great Library practically couldn't be obtained in other places. They described stuff that was related to magic, sorcery, and alchemy around the world. The description of the past that hadn't been marked down in official history. There was no place but Ishana where such books could be found in any kind of number.

However, it was no good there.

The books in the Great Library were only the surface of the so called hidden part of the world. They were things that had been passed down to humanity without any kind of obstruction; or even, they had to be passed down. There was no Azure among them.

To approach the Azure, an even deeper information was required. Information hidden from the world, placed deep at the bottom.

For example, the Mages' Guild's highly classified information.

"But such a thing..."

For a common student who didn't have authority like Kazuma, there was nothing that could allow him to inspect those classified information. Unless he was a Sage, he wouldn't be able to do it.

Thinking about the Ten Sages reminded him of Nine again.

Desperate, maybe he should ask her directly. But he immediately dismissed that thought. It could be said that the possibility for her to pay attention to him was zero. In addition, Nine had strange wariness toward him.

"Haa... What should I do?"

His thin shoulders dropped as he sighed.

Even if the hope called Azure existed, he didn't know how to get to get to the entrance of the method he finally discovered.

Dragged by disappointment, he exited the school gate and headed to the dormitory. Disregarding the surrounding scenery while his feet carried him on autopilot, he approached the alley where he was attacked a few days ago.

He didn't feel like going there alone anymore.

As if seeing something unpleasant, Kazuma gave it a glance. A figure came out from the alley as if it had been waiting for him.

"Ah..."

Kazuma was startled and let out the small cry.

It was Terumi.

"Hey, Kazuma-chan. Returning from school?"

Standing with the burning red sky behind him, his silhouette was outlined in red and black, making it looked sinister for some reason. With the same usual unreadable expression and a crescent moon-like grin underneath the hood pulled low over his eyes, he got close to Kazuma.

"What's wrong? You look like in a bad mood. Something troubling you?"

"No. It's not like it's troubling..."

Getting tapped roughly on his back, Kazuma started walking after being urged by Terumi.

Avoiding the alley, they took the road that headed straight to the dormitory. Although he didn't really want to be seen by other people when he was with Terumi, he didn't want to go to an even more deserted street.

Walking onwards as the sun set, Kazuma stole a glance at Terumi.

Terumi was an odd man.

Even though Terumi knew a lot about him, Kazuma didn't know anything about Terumi. However, Kazuma once again felt like he knew Terumi from a long time ago.

Perhaps knew Terumi during the forgotten seven years before.

Since he would get dejected if his assumption was wrong, Kazuma couldn't voice it now. But someday... for example, if he could know more about it after getting the Azure, he wanted to have private conversation about Terumi.

Straying from the continuing stone-paved road, Kazuma turned towards a public park through an avenue. With the sun shining, the park was bustling with the voices of many children. The nice park was spacious with an unobstructed view.

Usually, Kazuma returned to the dormitory by taking a detour from this park. It was because he disliked the merry laughing voices of the children.

But now this annoying laughter gave him relief. Since the children were playing in the park like he expected, there shouldn't be anyone brandishing swords swooping down on him.

From the other day's situation, it seemed that beastkin had been avoiding there being any possible witnesses to his attack.

"The park is lively... just like usual."

As if grumbling, Kazuma more or less wearily murmured.

He usually only glanced at it from the outside, but the boisterous noise was beyond his expectation.

The children determinedly chasing after a ball as if there was fun in it. With the scene of out of his sight, Kazuma went through the avenue along with Terumi. It trees in the park and its vicinity had been growing since the island was first established. They stood considerably tall and imposing.

"Though the outside is in danger of world destruction, this island doesn't seem to give a damn at all."

Terumi walked at the same pace as Kazuma, making loud footsteps on stone tiles of the avenue. He was trying to act like he cared by shaking his head while letting out a sympathizing voice, but he failed badly.

The lively scene he gave a sidelong glance at didn't make good impression on him, Terumi distorted his mouth and blatantly averted his eyes as if bored with it.

"So, Kazuma-chan."

"Yes?"

"You seem to give the Mages' Guild's highly classified information quite an attention there."

Terumi began to spoke suddenly.

Kazuma's pace altered as he became puzzled.

"...Did I ever speak about that?"

"Hmmmm, no?"

Teasing him, Terumi smirked. His protruding chin slightly facing toward Kazuma.

"I know about it. Even if you don't say anything, I know it. I can read what you're thinking after all."

A chill shot down Kazuma's spine at the sound of Terumi's voice, which sounded as if he was threatening a small child. Before he could think it was untrue, he thought that it was possible if it was Terumi.

After he took a look at Kazuma, Terumi burst into laughter.

"Kukukuku. What, did you take it seriously? Idiot. Of course that isn't possible. I heard you talking about it back at the library."

"Library... Did you mean when I was speaking to Trinity-san?"

"Hmm. So the girl with glasses is called Trinity, huh."

Kazuma's face turned bitter as if he had been spat on by Terumi's affirmation.

Kazuma felt considerable gratitude toward Trinity who gave him a feeling of friendship which brightened his normally empty every day life. Should he laugh at that girl, criticizing her behavior? Or should he laugh along with her?

He almost laughed just now.

"It would've been fine if you had just called out to us back then. Eavesdropping is bad manners, you know?"

"Manners? I have bad manners!? Shit, you're making me laugh! Hey hey, Kazuma-chan. Just because you got imprisoned in this disgusting island for seven years, don't get so corrupted that you want to become a honorable magician."

"Hey, please don't talk like that in the middle of the city..."

The flustered Kazuma interrupted Terumi's words while being startled at the same time.

What a nerve to just casually speak ill of Mages' Guild while treading on the land of Ishana, which was under protection of Mages' Guild.

Terumi spoke with provocative tone like it was unclear whether he realized it or not, or realizing it but pretended he didn't know about it.

"Besides, you think it's okay if I called out to you? The atmosphere was really nice, y'know. Youth is really nice, isn't it~."

"Spare me already. Trinity-san and I don't have anything like that."

Kazuma was bad at that topic. Completely indifferent to Kazuma's tone of voice, Terumi put his hand on his forehead and shaking his shoulders like there was something amusing.

"Hahaha. Hehe, I see. Then again, women are frightening. Generally, they don't care about our intention. Don't you remember? Be careful, Kazuma-chan... Kuku."

"Thank you for the advice."

He was completely ridiculed. Kazuma's mouth was warped as he replied with cold nod.

Nevertheless, the still laughing Terumi still spoke a bit ironically.

"While I'm at it, I'll tell you something. The Mages' Guild's highly classified information... It surely exists inside the Cathedral. But that thing isn't like what you think."

Kazuma's expression tensed when he heard Terumi's manner of speaking. Couldn't believe it so suddenly, he looked at the hooded man beside him as if peeking at him.

The trees in the public park seemed to rustle as if to signify the unrest.

"Do you know the contents of the classified information?"

Terumi lightly nodded.

"Yeah, I know I know. Where might that be, hmm?"

"No way. There's only a few people including the Ten Sages who know about all of the classified information, isn't there? How can Terumi-san..."

It really didn't seem likely for Terumi to be deeply affiliated with Mages' Guild. No matter how he looked at him, Terumi looked like an outsider. How could he acquire the knowledge of this highly classified information?

Kazuma's voice was clouded with doubt. He looked at Terumi's eyes, which were glaring as if making fun of him.

"What, you don't believe it? Well, I don't really care if you believe it or not. "

"...Then please tell me. What exactly is the Mages' Guild's highly classified information?"

It was true for the Azure, but likewise, he didn't know anything about the matter called Mages' Guild's highly classified information.

Terumi stopped and turned around in a pompous manner at the questioning Kazuma who was testing him.

Kazuma also stopped almost at the same time. It was evening in the public park. While listening toa distant sound that was like from different dimension compared to the merry voices of the children, he faced Terumi.

Terumi showed his usual smile. A smile that ridiculed people.

"You want me to tell you? I'm okay with telling you... But right now, you don't have any business with the classified information."

"I believe I have something to do with it. You were saying you have knowledge regarding the Azure and the classified information, but you won't tell me what it is. Even if you say so, I don't have confidence in your words."

"Haa. Kazuma-chan's such a worrywart~."

Kazuma undauntedly talked back to Terumi who was trying to get Kazuma into his pace. Terumi calmly laughed at Kazuma like he was offended by him.

"Don't be afraid. It exists, okay? Rea~lly exists. Maybe saying it's a way to reach Azure is better than giving you information."

"A way to reach Azure..."

"As for the meaning of it, find it yourself. Don't get people to tell you everything. Like they say, you should be willing to go through struggles. ...Right, Brother?"

As he spoke, Terumi grabbed Kazuma's shoulder and pulled him toward himself. Terumi's fingers were thin, but it dug to the flesh of Kazuma's shoulder with strength that could disrupt the joints.

Terumi looked at Kazuma who was grimacing because of the pain from the surprise attack as Terumi forced him to get close. He then showed a mysterious smile.

"Listen, you need to get to the Azure by yourself. This is what you'd call a fate that can’t be avoided, got it?"

Even if you don't get it, say that you do. With such atmosphere, Terumi whispered in low tone.

Kazuma cast his eyes down as if he overpowered.

Just what actually is the Azure? To begin with, why is the management on the Cathedral so secure? If it's to protect the highly classified information, then what actually is that information?

Numerous numbers of question accumulated in his chest.

But just like Terumi said, it supposed to be his fate. He must pursue the Azure. No matter how difficult that was.

Still looking downward, Kazuma muttered faintly.

"...Someone that isn't a Ten Sage won't be permitted to get inside the Cathedral. It doesn't seem likely for Mages' Guild to give permission either."

"Well, thinking about it normally, it's useless to try to outwit the Ten Sages just by words. It's a purpose the Mages' Guild has been continually doing for hundreds of years, y'know?"

Even before Kazuma, there should be people who had an interest with the Mage’s Guild's highly classified information for various circumstances. No one had been successful in making contact with the classified information.

Persisting to protect the classified information with obstinate security was why the Mages' Guild continued to have a great presence in the hidden side of history. The Mages' Guild's massive history seemed to indicate that it was a symbol of authority's foundation; a symbol that wasn't easy to associate with.

"But then, what should I do?"

"Use your head a little, dear student. Besides, I'm not much of a thinker."

Terumi who seemed to be really appalled had his mouth distorted. As he started to walk again, his black leather shoes crrunched as they trampled the pebbles below which were carried over from the public park by wind.

It seemed these were the only hints he'd get.

Kazuma dashed to catch up with Terumi. Advancing while giving a sidelong glance to the trees that were planted in regular interval, he kept thinking and concentrating.

The problem lied on the Ten Sages and securities who kept a watchful eye on intruders. They had eyes to see Kazuma, mouths to reprimand him, and brain to decide his punishment. Unless these obstructive people were away from the Cathedral, he couldn't do much.

"For example... When all the Ten Sages got involved in a situation away from the Cathedral..."

While thinking, Kazuma let out an incoherent muttering.

Beside him, Terumi seemed amazed and snorted.

"Good thinking... is what I wanted to say. Kazuma-chan, even a kid can think that much, y'know? That isn't the number one problem here. Think harder."

"...I know."

'I was about to think about that just now, so don't interrupt me' was what Kazuma's innermost thoughts bore. He then gave it a thought again.

An ordinary and inconspicuous student who casually walked along and then stopped by the Cathedral. A situation like that wouldn't draw much attention and he might be able to slip past the Ten Sages' eyes.

(But how can I produce such situation...?)

There was no meaning of it if the situation wasn't a situation that could only be resolved by Ten Sages, not the teaching staff and the town's vigilance committee. Then, his thought was interrupted.

"Aaah. As you were thinking, some dangerous guys got near."

Again, Terumi abruptly changed the topic. He stopped walking beside Kazuma before he could ascertain the reason.

"What are you talking about, Terumi-san..."

Stopping shortly, Kazuma asked him while surveying their surroundings. Then, he finally noticed.

It should have been the usual scene, but there wasn't a single one of those annoying children there. The same was also true of the parents who normally sat, having a pleasant chat nearby. The same for the elders who sat on the benches while gazing at the sky in daze.

With the exception of Kazuma and Terumi, there wasn't anyone else in the public park.

Terumi sneered like he was spitting at the thought.

"Not magic. Ars, eh."

"A-Ars?"

"Something like a counterfeit. Simply put, it's locked us up inside this public park."

"Locked us up? Just who...!?"

Even when returning home by deliberately choosing a path that had a lot of people, it seemed he would experience strange things again. Kazuma went to panic, having had enough of it.

While Terumi fearlessly raised his mouth, he returned his glance at Kazuma as if urging him.

"Who you say? Well, isn't it them?"

Blocking the avenue on the front and the rear side, three silhouettes of people outfitted with black clothing surrounded Kazuma and Terumi.

### Part 3

The park should have been bustling with kid's voices. It had fallen ominously silent.

The laughter, creaking noises of playground equipment, and jarring crying voices disappeared aas if they had been illusions. The surrounding scenery grew dull. The atmosphere was like that of a deserted ruin.

Standing within the midst of it were Kazuma and Terumi.

And the three figures who had appeared all of a sudden.

Their silhouettes and postures very much resembled the person Kazuma encountered a few days ago.

Triangular ears protruding from their heads, their swaying long and narrow tails, their bodies completely wrapped in their black garb. They wore hoods, pulled low over their brows, as well as strange black masks as if to conceal their faces.

It was bizarre. But thanks to that, it was easy to guess that they had some relation to the beastkin Tomonori from a few days ago.

It was just as easy to guess who their target was.

"Wh-Who on earth are you!?"

Kazuma's throat stiffened as he let out the question. He took a step back as his voice faltered.

Ishana was protected by the Mages' Guild's barrier, so it should have been the safest city in the world. Nevertheless, it had now suffered two attacks in such a short period. Kazuma couldn't understand how it was possible.

On the other hand, Terumi displayed a nonchalantly put his hands into the pockets of his trousers as if he understood the situation.

"How rare. Aren't they half-beastkin?"

"Ha... Half-beastkin?"

"Beastkins are like incomplete brutes that aren't human or animal. But a brute that fails to fall into the category of human or beastkin is called a half-beastkin."

Now that he mentioned it, they were certainly taller than Tomonori. However, they were too short to be adult humans, and their strange postures gave too odd a feeling.

The unfamiliar odd feeling turned to fear.

Kazuma forced his stiff legs to retreat, but found his progress halted as his back hit something.

He thought it was the trunk of one of the trees surrounding the park, but he was wrong. There was nothing there. There was space between the trees, but it was as if there was an invisible wall that prevented Kazuma from retreating.

"That's as far as you'll get. You can't escape. I said there's an ars here, right?"

Terumi laughed at Kazuma's shocked expression, as if he were a foolish child.

"The cat bastard from before used that ars too, back then. Didn't you realise?"

"Ah... That's why back then..."

There wasn't anyone else on the street.

While pressing his body close to the invisible wall, Kazuma trembled at the new revelation.

He didn't know the name of the executed ars, but it seemed to be a small scale barrier. Perhaps last time Nine appeared after breaking the barrier.

In other words, as long as the ars wasn't canceled by the half-beastkins, or destroyed by Kazuma,, it was impossible to escape. But under the circumstances, Kazuma simply couldn't cancel the ars.

As if enjoying this desperate situation, Terumi put an arm around Kazuma's shoulders while grinning.

"Looks like they're involved with the beastkin from the other day... So, these guys are dangerous; whatcha gonna do, Kazuma Kuvaru-kun?"

"Wh-What can I do?"

As Kazuma got flustered and bewildered, the half-beastkins, simultaneously leaped.

They shortened the distance instantaneously while their dull silver blades cut the air.

"Hiee...!"

Kazuma desperately lowered his body and ran. The blade of the half-beastkin slashing at the spot Kazuma had stood just a moment before.

The unhesitating attack made Kazuma quickly turn pale.

He was reminded of the other day's attack. Tomonori had also tried to kill Kazuma without any hesitation. Moreover, there were three opponents this time.

One after another, the half-beastkins attacked with their respective weapons. One wielding a sword; the next throwing daggers; while the third wore large claws on both hands.

The half-beastkin wielding the sword leaped and swung downward at Kazuma. Daggers were thrown, aiming for Kazuma's darting feet. As if waiting for Kazuma to escape the other attacks, the third assailant rushed in to attack with its claws. It looked random, but it was a well coordinated strike.

Kazuma rolled away, desperately trying to dodge their onslaught.

As soon as he turned away, he heard a blade fly past his ear. The noise gave him goose bumps.

"Hii... Uwaah... Hah... Hah..."

Standing with his back against a trunk as if locking his body to it, Kazuma's disordered breath made his shoulders heave furiously.

Why is this happening? The question kept repeating itself in his head.

"Ooh, ooh. That's a surprisingly skillful dodge."

Terumi's voice resounded from unexpectedly nearby.

Kazuma turned his near tearful face. Terumi was sitting on a nearby bench as though it was his afternoon off, leisurely crossing his legs.

Kazuma pleaded to Terumi with a desperate look while hugging his school bag.

"D-Don't just watch! Help me!"

"Eeh? Me? What a bother."

"How can you say it's a bother...!"

While keeping his attention focused on the half-beatkins' movements, Kazuma implored Terumi.

But Terumi leisurely dangled his feet while carelessly resting his chin in his hand, watching Kazuma.

"In the first place, even if I don't give you a hand, you can avoid these guys' attacks. Don't you want all the attention? Just play along."

"T-That's..."

After Terumi spoke, Kazuma suddenly had a doubt.

When the beastkin who called himself Tomonori attacked, his slashes always grazed Kazuma's skin, making him fear the reaper with every strike. Still, how could it not result in his death back then? There was no explanation outside of good luck or a miracle.

But now he felt a little... or a lot of, given the situation, self-composure.

These guys were slow. Much slower than Tomonori.

"...It seems so."

It wasn't easy, but he could avoid their attacks if he watched carefully. It gave the cornered Kazuma hope. But he immediately realized it didn't change the situation in the slightest.

"But no matter how well I dodge, it's pointless if I can't fight back, isn't it?"

"Aah, right. Sooner or later you'll get tired and may be killed by a slash."

"I-I don't want to die...!"

As Kazuma yelled miserably, the half-beastkins attacked in tandem again. Their killing intent surely held some tenacity.

The slashes of sword and claws came from his left and right side. As he dodged through the gap in the centre, daggers pierced the ground as if obstructing his escape.

"Wh... Uwaah!"

Kazuma fell over, startled by the sudden obstacle. As a sword swung toward him, Kazuma rolled over to escape, not caring how dirty his uniform was getting.

When he dragged his tired body to its feet, he found himself near the bench where Terumi was sitting.

"I beg of you... Please do something!"

"Hmm, what should I do~? If you're such a blockhead that you can't get the Azure, then you're of no use to me. Besides, look, fighting isn't my forte."

"You said the opposite a while ago!"

A little while ago, he said that he wasn't much of a thinker.

Terumi chose to tease the frightened Kazuma, as if he had no care in the world about what happened to the boy.

"I said that?"

"You did say it! Whatever, it doesn't matter... Hii!"

His sentence was cut short by the sound of steel cutting the air.

As he screamed and squatted to avoid the attack, three throwing daggers grazed Kazuma's hair and embedded themselves in the bench.

They lodged themselves in the wood right next to Terumi.

If Kazuma's reactions had been any slower, his body might be pinned to the bench right now. It was a terrifying thought.

"Hihhihi. I'm joking, I'm joking. Well, it seems I would be a little troubled if you were to die."

Like it wasn't worth the effort, Terumi got up from his seat. His legs having given out from below him, Kazuma looked up at the standing figure of Terumi. "So... Kazuma Kuvaru-kun."

Terumi casually pulled one of the daggers from the bench. He then tossed it over his head and skillfully caught it while looking at Kazuma from under his hood.

"It's not interesting to just help you. I have a condition."

"Wh... What is it?"

"Promise that you'll get the Azure."

His low tone made his voice seem as if it were creeping towards Kazuma.

Catching a glint in Terumi's eye, Kazuma couldn't help but stop breathing.

It wasn't just his breath. Everything felt still for a moment. In the midst of the pause, only Terumi's existence seemed to have meaning.

It felt like staring at a snake. Penetrated by that cold stare, a chill shot down Kazuma's spine. In comparison to Terumi's eyes, his assailants' weapons appeared like toys.

"I-I promise. I mean it. That's why..."

Averting his eyes from the glint directed at him, Kazuma squeezed out his answer. If he didn't answer, he had the feeling that something terrible might happen.

Terumi pulled another knife and grinned.

A fearless and eerie smile.

The cold reptilian gaze shifted from Kazuma towards the black clothed assailants.

"Don't forget those words."

No sooner did he speak than Terumi moved.

He walked between his opponents, and spun the daggers in his hands, as if playing with them.

The black clothed people must have changed their target as they pointed their blades from Kazuma to Terumi. Each of them assumed a fighting stance and approached in cautiously.

The half-beastkin who carried sword went around behind Terumi, and then swung the sharp blade, aiming for his neck.

But at the same time, Terumi turned around and brushed the blade away with his arm. A dull slash could be heard, immediately a black figure leaped right beside Kazuma.

The bench where Terumi had been sitting until a while ago smashed with a loud ringing sound.

"Hiiii!?"

"Ooh. My bad, my bad. Careful, Kazuma-chan."

Instead of pausing, Terumi waved his hand with dagger still in hand.

Currently unable to stand up, Kazuma moved his feeble neck vertically.

"Ye-Yes..."

The answer was the best he could do.

In the meantime, Terumi twisted his body and kicked the one with the claws into the air. Then he jumped and slashed at the chest of the one wielding daggers.

"C'mon c'mon c'mon! Just like this? Hyahhaha! You small fries have to make it more interesting than this! Man, this is boring!"

The bodies that crumpled at his feet were like lumps of shadow. He kicked them like a ball before stomping on them.

Even though it was three against one, Terumi's strength had overwhelmed them.

Without even changing his demeanour or stance, he had managed to counterattack and defeat his unwitting combatants, as if merely giving a light display of his skill.

"Kuh... Move out! Report to Tomonori-sama...!"

As the one who seemed to be the leader raised his voice, the half-beastkins began to pull back. They jumped away before disappearing from the public park.

The vicinity once again regained the tranquility of dusk.

Terumi tossed away the daggers like they were toys he had lost interest with. Then he walked up to the still sitting Kazuma, stretching out his foot and poked him with the leather shoe's tip.

"How long will you keep sitting, Kazuma-chan~. Are your hips giving out?"

"Y... You're really strong, Terumi-san."

Raising his eyes at Terumi who was looking down on him from above, Kazuma spoke with a weak voice that surprised even himself. Terumi's shoulders were shaking as he burst into laughter.

"Strong? You said I'm strong? That's so obvious. Well, you'll eventually get it back though."

"Me? What is it that I'm getting back?"

"Khukuku. Like I said, you'll understand soon enough."

Terumi grabbed Kazuma's arm while laughing and pulled him. He slapped the shoulder of the petrified Kazuma who was still holding his bag tight and made a crescent moon shape with his lips.

"Don't forget the promise."

"Promise..."

"Hey hey, that's not good. Are you pretty much still only half awake?"

The arrogant voice reverberated on Kazuma's willpower.

The grip tightened around Kazuma's arm that was hugging his bag. Forceful, like it was crushing his arm.

"...It's fine. I'm not forgetting about it."

Fooling the Ten Sages' eyes and entering the Cathedral. He had to obtain it.

The Azure that is.

For that purpose, Kazuma was willing to do anything.

Kazuma didn't realize it, but he thought about it as his last resort.

Afterwards, Kazuma and Terumi separated in front of the dormitory.

Terumi stood still in front of the dormitory for a while. Before long, he abruptly looked up over his shoulder.

There was a three story building stood near the dormitory. A figure was standing on the rooftop. The height was short; the long tails were the defining feature, its silhouette emerging, basked in the setting sun.

It was Tomonori.

Standing on the rooftop, Tomonori stared at the dormitory with eyes that were searching for a prey. Until just now, he must have been focusing on the vanishing figure of Kazuma.

He might be waiting for the chance to kill him. Or else, he might be making sure of something.

Either way, it was only an eyesore for Terumi.

Tomonori moved slightly. His large eyes moved for a bit, staring at Terumi who was standing in front of the dormitory.

The distance where they were glaring at each other was somewhat far. But disregarding such a thing, Terumi and Tomonori were aware of each other's existence and their obvious hostility.

But this time, the distance was not to be shortened. Tomonori turned his heel; and like an olden spy from a faraway island country that was currently in ruin, he became a shadow and disappeared in an instant.

The cat's presence had completely disappeared, yet Terumi glared upward at the uninhabited rooftop.

"...Tch."

He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Whatever. It had already begun anyway.

The wheel of fate is turning. It can't be stopped anymore even if they struggle.

### Part 4

As dinner at the dormitory came to an end, Kazuma went back to his room without speaking to anyone else.

After turning on the lamp in the dark room, he closed the door.

An ordinary room with ordinary furniture. But for Kazuma, it was the most calming place.

Boiling hot water in a small pot, he brewed black tea. It was a poor quality one he bought at a shop in the main street of the island, but it was enough for Kazuma.

After blowing to cool it, he had a sip. And then, he unconsciously sighed.

He had another unpleasant experience today. Although it turned out OK since fortunately he was with Terumi, Kazuma wondered what would have happened if he was alone.

There was something going on with his surroundings lately.

Celica A. Mercury, a beastkin, and Terumi appeared. Today, even half-beastkins also appeared.

And then the Azure.

"Azure..."

He had to think up some kind of a plan.

The Ten Sages were considered to be the most excellent magicians among the Mages' Guild; it was also a social status. If they had to act, it would require an incident with a level that simply couldn’t be resolved by other magicians.

Nonetheless, the one who would initiate the plan was Kazuma.

An incident that couldn't be resolved without the Sages, but also one that Kazuma could cause.

"Dammit... There must be something."

He unconsciously spoke rudely to himself.

Then... a knocking resounded on the room's door.

Kazuma raised his face, frowning. It was quite late. Even disregarding the hour, he had no idea who would come to visit him.

"Yes?"

It might be Terumi, he thought.

But the returned voice from the other side of the door was very different.

"I'm sorry, this is a little sudden. It's Trinity Glassfille."

A voice as sweet as marshmallow. Kazuma couldn't immediately grasp the meaning of the words he had heard. Several seconds of being absent minded later, he hurriedly opened the door.

The figure there made Kazuma stop thinking once more.

Without a doubt, Trinity Glassfille was there.

It was prohibited for girls to visit the boys' dormitory, but such a thing was practically rare.

The spectacle of Trinity, who was famous for her good conduct in the academy, to be alone in the hallway of boys' dormitory felt out of place one way or another.

"Thank good, you're safe."

Looking at Kazuma, Trinity brushed aside the discomfort with a sigh of relief as she began to smile broadly.

"Huh?"

What did she mean by safe? Still with the door open, Kazuma asked the question in return with a surprised and dull face.

Putting both her hands together on her mouth, Trinity bashfully smiled.

"Aah, sorry~. The truth is, this evening, just like when Kazuma-san was attacked before, Nine said that she sensed unusual force... So I thought perhaps something happened to Kazuma-san~."

"And then you went out of your way coming here at this time?"

A truly whimsical person. Kazuma went out to the hallway, amazed.

Fortunately, there wasn't anyone else in the hallway.

Since Kazuma's room was at the far end of the dorm, there shouldn't be anyone passing there to get in the way. But since it was just the two of them there in a secluded place, girl and boy, the circumstances made him feel a little awkward.

"I'm really sorry. But no matter what, it's been on my mind."

As she spoke, Trinity's gentle eyes looked like as if they miraculously saw through everything.

How could it be? Such a thing shouldn't be possible, but it was like the bottom of Kazuma's heart that he hadn't even been aware of was being scooped up. Kazuma confronted her with a forced smile.

"I'm sorry for troubling you. But it's all right. Nothing happened."

Kazuma decided to keep quiet about being attacked by the black clothed people. He felt bad causing further worry to Trinity who somehow couldn't help but felt concerned. Above all, he wanted to avoid a situation where he had to speak about Terumi.

He didn't want unrelated people to know about Terumi and the Azure.

"Is that so? Thank goodness."

Trinity whispered quietly.

After hanging her head for a moment, she reservedly raised her face.

The green eyes affectionately stared at Kazuma.

"Umm~. Kazuma-san."

It was Trinity's sweet voice he had always heard. But there wasn't only sweetness in there. A dignity that seemed to be suppressing the noise of the surroundings was drifting about.

That purity also pulled Kazuma's consciousness as if being prompted gently.

"If you're caught in some kind of trouble, then I'll lend you my strength. So please, don't do anything dangerous."

"Eh...?"

"I don't know anything about the circumstances surrounding you. However... I can't help but feel that there has been some kind of unrest around Kazuma-san these days."

While she said that she didn't know about it, her words totally hit the mark.

Kazuma's heart jumped. But at the same time, various kind of emotions began swirling within him

It was pleasant to receive this kind of genuine care, but it was shameful to be seen helpless like this.

He felt guilty to deceive Trinity from here on. If he were to trick Nine, it would be like he also betrayed Trinity.

He missed the ordinary, inconspicuous dull life of a student and her greetings to him every morning.

If Kazuma's wish were to come true, that same scene wouldn't be there anymore. For a little. Just for a little...

"You needn't worry... about me."

Covering his emotions was too much to handle, Kazuma gently slackened his cheeks.

He had grown used to make a smiling face, but it felt slightly painful when the other party was Trinity. It was like he paid back her pure sincerity with impure deceit.

However, Kazuma continued.

"I didn't particularly get caught up with anything. I have no clue regarding what Trinity-san is speaking of. Certainly, I had a dangerous experience on the other day... but that was all. I'm all right."

TTrinity listened intently without averting her eyes even for a little. Not even a shadow of a doubt appeared on her crystal clear green eyes.

"...I'm relieved to hear about that."

But somehow, her smile appeared to show relief while simultaneously holding sadness, too.

Taking a step backward, Trinity bowed politely in a manner as gentle as her tone of voice.

"I'm glad I summoned my courage to come this far to see you. Thank you for showing your face. Excuse me for coming so late~."

"It's okay. Be careful on your way back, Trinity Glassfille-san."

Trinity bowed her head once more, left a well-mannered smile, and then slowly returned to the hallway.

After seeing off Trinity's leaving figure, Kazuma turned back to his room.

As if snatching his consciousness, the fleeting image of Trinity's seemingly sad smile lingered in his chest.

Did she see through the lie Kazuma had told her? If that was the case, then why didn't she question him?

After closing the door and locking it, Kazuma hit his forehead on the door.

She had come all the way here specially. Why didn't he at least take the small effort to thank her?

"——Hey hey. Don't tell me you just gonna swallow that woman's words?"

From behind Kazuma, a scornful voice jumped at him like cold water.

It was like being snapped out of dream in a single breath. Kazuma turned around with an inconceivable feeling.

There, just like the first time they met, Terumi sat on a wooden chair, acting like he owned the place.

"P-Please don't surprise me. Just where did you come from!?"

His legs gave out from the surprise. With Kazuma's back resting against the door while miserably complaining, Terumi happily laughed while sitting atop the chair.

"Khukuku. I dunno what you mean by that, but it's really funny. I've been here from the beginning."

"But that..."

'Can't be possible', was what going to be his retort; but Kazuma swallowed the words in the middle of it. When Terumi first appeared, there was never any common notice.

If Terumi was saying it, then perhaps he truly had been in this room from the very beginning. But Kazuma just didn't notice it.

For some reason, the air around Terumi gave an impression like that.

After separating his back from the door, Kazuma walked slowly before sitting down on the edge of his bed.

Before he knew it, Terumi was drinking the black tea he brewed some time ago. It would have become lukewarm anyway, so Kazuma didn't feel like making the effort to take it back.

"What did you mean when you said not to swallow Trinity-san's words?"

Joining his hands together on the opened gap between his knees, Kazuma looked at Terumi.

Both parties eyes were concealed, Kazuma's by his long bangs and Terumi's by his hood. But strangely, their sights clashed spontaneously.

Terumi, holding the cup by hooking it with his fingers, drained its contents.

"I told you not to just swallow it, right? But... was she called Trinity? Well, it doesn't matter. Do you think it's really okay to trust that woman?"

"Why would you say that? She's just worried about me."

Unable to comprehend the meaning of Terumi's words, Kazuma irritatedly criticized Terumi.

Looking amazed, Terumi exaggeratedly shook his head while talking in a sympathetic tone of voice.

"Oh man, you poor, poor thing. You've been living a lukewarm life in this ignorant, peaceful island. But I guess it can't be helped. Stupid people will get taken advantage of, used, and dumped in the end, y'know?"

"What are you trying to say...?"

Kazuma became uneasy. Terumi gave his usual smile while returning to his usual tone of voice to explain.

"You really don't notice? That woman is monitoring you."

Monitoring.

The unexpected word froze Kazuma's thoughts.

Terumi rudely put back the cup to desk. The coarse noise made Kazuma return to breathing.

But he simply couldn't go back to being calm.

"Monitoring... Trinity-san... monitoring me?"

"Who else is there?"

"But why..."

"You don't have any idea? Really? Even one? ...Really?"

Terumi's voice fueled the suspicion that began to grow in Kazuma. The gradually growing suspicion grew larger as if he would find something if he searched the memories of the past few days.

"Remember... Kazuma Kuvaru ."

Terumi's words shook his mind.

The awfully sharp gaze of Nine who was cautious around Kazuma. Those eyes that were like they were groping for Kazuma's innermost thoughts one-by-one. She was one of the Ten Sages after all. It wouldn't be a miracle even if she guessed something.

And then Trinity. Inside that undiscriminating and tender smile she wore, what kind of face did she have? She was hidden in Nine's shadow, but she was the excellent Platinum the Trinity.

"Trinity-san is... monitoring me..."

It wasn't like his muttering was directed at anyone, but Kazuma acknowledged it. It spread on his heart in a flash. The gratitude and obligation he held toward Trinity until now were dyed in black.

It was hard to believe.

However... was it possible to say that there was absolutely zero chance of her giving such harmless smile while monitoring every single of Kazuma's move?

While casting his eyes down with his intertwined fingers biting the back of his hands, Kazuma held a distinct suspicion.

### 017. Chapter 4: Doubt of Yellow Equilibrium

### Part 1

It was deep in a remote forest.

Excluding the people who lived there, no one knew about it.

In this place, there was a small village.

The people who lived there weren't humans. They were beastkins... To be exact, cat-type beastkins whose ancestors hailed from the now defunct Japan.

The inhabitants already slept as the night had grown long. With fires burning at the village's periphery to repel wild animals, the crackling of the orange flames played during the stillness like an instrument.

In the basement below a small building inside the village, there he was.

The room, which was surrounded by stone wall, was unpleasantly cold; it was covered in complete darkness. Walking with a lit lantern, only him and his immediate surroundings were wrapped in the warm, faint light.

On the walls that were almost assimilated within the darkness, the silhouette of a short person was swaying.

Even if it was a human, it was only the height of a child. However, there were large, triangular ears on top of its head and a long tail which was split in to two parts protruding from its back. It was the cat-type beastkin with grey fur, Tomonori.

With silent footsteps he advanced inside, only the flickering fire in the lantern marked his progress.

Arriving at the inner part of the room, Tomonori stopped. He placed the lantern he held aside.

A flat, lengthy box made of paulownia wood was enshrined there. For a several seconds, Tomonori stared at it, and then he gently broke the seal.

Inside it was a single sword. Compared with the pair of short swords Tomonori usually handled, the sword was larger by far.

It was sheathed in black scabbard and sealed tightly by the sword strap.

Tomonori grabbed the sword. As if severing his intense hesitation, he took it out from the box.

"...What do you want?"

With the sword hanging in the air, Tomonori suddenly spoke.

That inquiry was directed to the presence behind him.

He could tell it was there by the smell, he didn't need to look.

The presence was looking at Tomonori's back from the entrance of the small, hidden, underground room. The unmoving figure had similar profile in silhouette, another male cat-type beastkin. He had white fur with tawny spots; a two-tone pattern.

His name was Mitsuyoshi. He was Tomonori's older brother.

"What're ya plannin' to do with that?"

Without entering into the room, Mitsuyoshi asked with calm voice.

This room was hiding things considered important for the village; a room dedicated for safekeeping. Both trespassing without reason and removing any of the objects housed within violated the village's laws.

While it was a scene in which normally Tomonori would be chastised, Mitsuyoshi didn't raise his voice. Continuing with his previous pretext, he asked again.

"Ya know what kind of sword that is, right?"

"... Time-Killing Sword Hihi'irokane ."

Hihi'irokane

It was an powerful sword that when wielded, held the power not just to cut flesh, but also eventually sever the target's spirit.

However, this sword wasn't just that kind of object.

It had existed for many years. Tomonori and Mitsuyoshi's clan had been handing it down for generations.

Until six years ago, Tomonori and the others had been living in a mountain village in Japan. Likewise, the mountain village was passed down in the old days. Compared to this village, far larger number of cat-type beastkins had lived there.

However, that way of life had been cut short by the Black Beast.

In order to defend the old village, many of the clan's warriors challenged the Black Beast, and fell. Because of the large-scale nuclear strike, the old village's mountain was gone, burnt and demolished.

Tomonori and the other cat-type beastkins parted with many of their brethren as they made their escape to the continent. Here, they had been building a small village while living quietly.

Someday, they would regain the peaceful land from those days once more and restore the undying long history.

He strongly believed so.

"That's the treasure of our clan, its foundation... an' our old village's symbol."

Mitsuyoshi spoke quietly like the engraved shadow in the room.

Just as it had been when they were living in the now destroyed old village, this sword had been taken care of. Among the villagers, this sword was believed to be the old village's symbol. The number of people who survived the days of despair while holding onto that belief wasn't small.

Still gripping his clan's old village's sword, Tomonori dropped his arm to the side of his body.

Without looking back at his older brother, he replied in a stiff voice.

"...Wherever the clan lives, that's home. The sword is a weapon. And a weapon... has a role."

"What's the role of that fellow?"

"To cut the evil that threatens the world."

"What's the evil that threatens the world?"

"The man I must kill."

There was no hesitation in his answer. Tomonori's gaze moved to the sword he held. Different from his short swords, it emphasized its presence heavily.

Hihi'irokane. A sword beyond all definitions of space-time that could also sever spirit.

"This sword is required to kill that guy. If not this sword... it won't mean a thing."

The words of his younger brother hinted an awfully strong determination, Mitsuyoshi's eyes narrowed, as if he was weighing Tomonori's intention.

"...This ain't Clavis' instruction, is it?"

Tomonori answered with cold, unwavering voice.

"Of course not. This is my will."

"If ya act at yer own convenience, you'll lose somethin' equally big. Surely ya understand, right?"

"I'm not Clavis' servant."

Mitsuyoshi was righteousness. Tomonori was faith.

It appeared their words indicated and matched the resolution they abided in their heart.

It had been this way for a long time. Mitsuyoshi and Tomonori couldn't understand each other. Each was aware of the burden that was decided for the other and respected the other's feelings, but still, they couldn't live in the same way.

They had been aware of their differences for so long.

Therefore, Mitsuyoshi knew well that he wouldn't be able to sway his brother's faith no matter what kind of words he used. Undoubtedly, he himself possessed something that couldn't be distorted, just like Tomonori.

"...Tomonori. Ya goin' alone?"

"Of course."

"But yer opponent is the kind that makes ya need to get Hihi'irokane. Ya still doin' it?"

"I don't need any hindrance."

Tomonori's reply was cold. But inside his mind, there were the figures of half-beastkins who had been on many missions along with him as his subordinates.

They were incomplete people. Not human, or beastkin to say either. They were rejected mixed breed who didn't belong to any society.

Having no place to go, Tomonori aided them while Mitsuyoshi resolved to shelter them. Since then, the protected half-beastkins worked as Tomonori's subordinates, fighting alongside him.

If they were aware that Tomonori went alone, they would most likely grieve. However.

"...If I take them along, those guys will lose their lives."

Tomonori whispered it, as if talking to himself.

No matter what their appearance was, no matter what their race was, they were living because they had been born. Especially since the half-beastkins never knew peace and weren't permitted to establish as a species.

He himself must not have been a good leader. Even so, he couldn't bring himself to involve their lives in his selfishness.

"There's no time. You too, you mustn't been planning to loiter in a place like this."

Tomonori turned on his heel as if to shake something off.

Mitsuyoshi slightly twitched the tip of his nose.

During this time, Mitsuyoshi also had a different duty. It was to investigate that person.

The target of his investigation was Relius Clover. The man whose records Clavis tracked had something to do with the appearance of the Black Beast.

"If you're going to try to assist me, I don't need your help. This is my path."

After that last sentence, Tomonori started walking with sword and lantern in hand. Although he noticed his older brother's figure on the edge of his vision, he didn't focus on it.

There was another thing that he should focus on. He had that kind of expression.

"Tomonori."

Mitsuyoshi spoke while they were passing each other.

Mitsuyoshi also didn't take a better look at his younger brother. As if yielding to the room's entrance, he leant his back on the wall, staring at the empty paulownia box which stored a sword until a while ago.

"Since ya made up yer mind, I won't stop ya. So definitely... bring him down."

"...That is my role."

Definitely, whatever the outcome would be.

He would kill that man.

Holding killing intent and a sense of duty that were like blades in his chest, Tomonori through the dead of night towards Ishana.

### Part 2

Today, Ishana was blessed again with fine weather.

Class had ended. Picking up his bag and turning to leave, Kazuma looked out of the window in the hallway.

From there the academy's courtyard could be seen clearly. What Kazuma was looking was a small building peeking from the opposite side of the thick bushes and large trees, the Cathedral.

There, the Mage’s Guild's highly classified information was stored. Amongst it, there was information related to the Azure .

The more he thought about it, his thoughts toward the Azure grew stronger.

(Cathedral... Cathedral...)

Resting his elbows on the window frame, Kazuma viewed the Cathedral while biting his thumb.

What would be the best way to get in there? Be it waking or sleeping, it was all he could think about.

Since it had come to that, he had found signs of tenacity within himself. It was the first time he had experienced obsession.

"What are you looking at~?"

Trinity's gentle voice floated from behind. Kazuma turned around quite smoothly.

"Just looking outside. I was thinking that the weather is nice."

While answering Trinity's gentle smiling face with a forced smile, Kazuma secretly took a breath.

Was her attitude the same as always toward him? That thought made him worried.

Terumi's words resounded in his mind.

——That woman is monitoring you, get it?

(Trinity-san is monitoring... me...?)

If that's the case, the greeting just now might be a part of the monitoring.

It was like he was wearing a mask. While the mask on the surface showed a smile, underneath it was a face that paid attention to Trinity's every movement searching for any fault, any difference.

"It seems so. The weather is so nice that it brightens the mood~."

"Yes, exactly."

His mouth fluently let out cheap words. Despite that, inside his chest he was filled with suspicion, he weaved conversation like he was the same friend as he had been until yesterday.

Not showing any sign of doubt toward Kazuma's distrust, Trinity pulled her chin a bit and straightened herself again.

"Umm, Kazuma-san. Do you have any plans this afternoon?"

"Plans?"

While putting on a casual voice, Kazuma secretly frowned beneath his bangs.

Why was Trinity asking about his plana? The snake of suspicion, which had been coiling on the bottom of his stomach, raised its head.

"No, I don't have any particular plans. I'm just going to return to the dorm."

He didn't actually have any plans, but he answered carefully to not give even a slight chance.

But Trinity turned shy while looking delighted, and then she narrowed her clear green eyes.

"If so, is it okay if I invite you?"

"...Huh?"

It was unexpected words. Kazuma couldn't understand her meaning and asked again in dull tone of voice.

Trinity's shoulders shook as she chuckled. Even now, her soft laughing voice was like the fragrance of sugar and flowers drifting about.

"Like I said, it's an invitation. If you don’t mind, Can we have tea together?"

"By tea... Are you inviting me to drink tea?"

"Yes."

Trinity nodded gently.

Kazuma's eyes began to wander as he weighed up his answer.

He couldn't make sure of Trinity's true intention. He could follow as much as her listening to his plans in order to monitor his movements. But as to the extent after that, there shouldn't be any significance unless she wanted to restrict her target's freedom. If she didn't do so, then she wouldn't be able to investigate where he was going and what he did.

No. Trinity's monitoring was probably not to investigate Kazuma's actions, but might be to restrain them. If that was the case...

"Umm, are you unwilling to accept it?"

As Trinity's voice snapped him back to reality, Kazuma hurriedly pulled a smile.

It would be suspicious to refuse the tea invitation immediately after replying he had no plans.

Kazuma quickly shook his head.

"No, absolutely not. I was just a bit surprised. It's because I never considered receiving an invitation to take tea with someone like Trinity Glassfille-san."

"Fufu. Actually, me too."

With the hand that wasn't holding her bag, Trinity touched her rosy cheek.

"I felt a little nervous to invite a man, even if he's a friend."

"What do you... mean by that?"

As he expected, he couldn’t grasp her intention. Toward Kazuma who inadvertently had a questioning look, this time, Trinity put the hand which had been on her cheek to her mouth and let out a short laugh.

"It's a secret~."

"Secret? But..."

"Okay then. Now that it's decided, let's go. The other two should have already gone ahead."

With sweet fragrance drifting about, Trinity tenderly held Kazuma's hand. She pulled him along, gently urging him forward.

"Wha-, wait, Trinity-san...?"

Even as he voiced his confusion, Trinity only gave cheerful smile.

He could escape if he shook off her hand. That option came to mind, but he couldn't do it.

Suddenly, they faced the entrance after descending the stairs. Kazuma frowned thinking of a question which was different from the other questions he had so far.

Just now, did Trinity say... 'the other two'?

"So... Why am I here..."

After his mind finally calmed down again, Kazuma showed a stiff smile while feeling compelled to complain.

Trinity had dragged Kazuma by the arm and brought him to a solitary café which was just off the main street of the island.

The store had charming appearance with bricks decorated on a white wall. Surrounding the entrance were a numbers of planters holding colorful flowers. Identical, the interior also had white walls with irregular brick-like tiles as ornaments; the area by the windows enshrined with brightly colored potted flowers.

The guests and employees in the store were all female. Kazuma was the only exception.

"Why? Isn't it because I took you here?"

While putting a sugar cube in a very white royal milk tea, Trinity gently smiled across the table at him.

There were two other persons sat beside Kazuma who helped to encircle the round table.

To his left was a person wearing a huge smile having chosen a nutty caramel cake and a lemon tea. It was Celica.

On his right, Nine was sitting with a chocolate cake, which looked sweet, and a hot coffee.

Unexpectedly 'having tea' was exactly the opposite of calming as Kazuma felt a tense atmosphere flowing about.

By the way, there was a dish of rare cheese cake beside Trinity's royal milk tea; but in front of Kazuma, there was a straight and baked cheese cake placed.

"No, I didn't mean that. Err... Why was I invited to drink tea with Trinity-san and the others?"

He felt extremely out of place. If it hadn't been an invitation from Trinity, he would suspect it as a tasteless harassment.

While stirring her light colored tea with a spoon, Trinity meekly smiled.

"Since you looked down recently, I thought a change of pace might help~. I don't know what a man would prefer, so I'm sorry if you don't like our usual spot..."

"That's... all?"

Smoldering suspicion made Kazuma ask again.

Trinity put her fingers on her cheeks and thought a little.

"After all you've been through... I thought that having a tasty cake would be nice. Ah. Perhaps this is bothering you?"

"N-Not at all. Ha, haha..."

As if Trinity's worried face suddenly noticed, Kazuma laughed to cover it up.

(Only worried...? It can't only just be that.)

Trinity was supposed to monitor Kazuma. Probably at the instruction of Nine.

But as if relieved by Kazuma's answer, there was affection shown in Trinity's relaxed eyes which would be unthinkable to direct at a monitored target.

Trinity was always gentle. Not only Kazuma, everyone who knew her must feel it. It was unimaginable to think there was a lie in her affection. ...He didn't want to consider it if he could.

(But...)

Terumi had told him.

He couldn't fathom it. Kazuma put stirred his tea even though he hadn't taken any sugar.

Suddenly his hand stiffened.

Beyond his gaze as he inadvertently raised it, Nine's fingers, which were beautiful to the nails, were hooked round a small handle. Without even the slightest hesitation, she raised the milk pitcher for her coffee to the sky and slowly turned it upside down in one go, pouring the milk into her cup, down to the last drop.

And then one-by-one, she dropped in the sugar cubes which were provided on the table. The contents of the bowl that held the lumps decreased in the blink of an eye.

"...Umm."

Unintentionally, the confusion went out as a voice.

Suffice it to say that Nine didn't speak with friendly voice, she gave Kazuma a sharp look.

"What?"

"Oh, no. Nothing..."

Any answer would be good. When Kazuma's mouth stiffened as he desperately tried to think of something, Celica called a passing waitress.

"Excuse me, can I have gum syrup?"

"Ah, yes. I'll get it right away."

Kazuma was at a loss for words.

Without any resistance, the female waitress brought a small pitcher filled with gum syrup. Naturally it was placed in front of Nine; and naturally, Nine put it into her coffee.

Not a single drop remained of course.

Presently, the coffee inside her white cup had been transformed into something murky white from which a sweet aroma oozed; the water level went up to the rim, almost spilling.

As if it couldn't possibly spill, Nine began stirring it with a spoon.

(...Seriously?)

Kazuma slowly put his hand to his mouth.

It wasn't that Kazuma disliked sweets. However, this was an exception. It was otherworldly.

Celica cheerfully laughed when she discovered that Kazuma was petrified by Nine's shocking behavior.

"Ahaha. Surprised? Onee-chan unexpectedly has a sweet tooth."

"Sweet tooth..."

Kazuma got very uneasy thinking about whether it was okay to dismiss so casually as a sweet tooth. But he thought that he should stop arguing about that here as he had no ally in this.

Celica, Trinity, and even the waitress who brought gum syrup accepted it because it was a common scene.

"This particular amount should be normal. Don't worry, I'm doing it properly."

Nine spoke as if nothing happened, all while raising the cup with astonishing sense of balance.

(It's absolutely not normal! There's no meaning if the coffee's flavor is gone, is there!)

As he endured his desire to let his voice out, Kazuma could only give a feeble smile.

Trinity added a few words as if to deliver the final blow.

"When Nine's feeling tired, she drinks things like gum syrup directly, you know. When does that, she says her head starts working properly again~."

"...Haa, my head..."

He couldn't comprehend what a genius could do. Kazuma came to that conclusion in his innermost thoughts.

"See, rather than the dorm, Onee-chan and I live in a house on the island. The house is in this neighborhood. That's why we often come here on the way back from academy just to have tea. Since we do it all the time, we're known to the shop's staff."

Seemingly enjoying herself, Celica, while smiling wryly, bent towards Kazuma and looked at him as if telling a secret.

Kazuma backed up about twice the distance she approached him.

"O... ooh. I-I see."

Almost reflexively, he averted his eyes. He wasn't very good at being stared at.

Besides, it just be a feeling, but since the time Celica began sitting beside him, indescribable fear had assaulted him. As discomfort crawled up his spine to the back of his neck, he could feel nausea just by swallowing his saliva.

Of course, it wasn't because of what had been done to Nine's coffee.

Not noticing Kazuma's bad shape, Celica pierced a fork to her cake and stuff her cheek with a mouthful. Firmly closing her eyes and grasping the fork tightly, she groaned happily.

"Mmm~, delicious. Kazuma-san, you should try some, c'mon. The cake and tea is reaaaaally tasty."

Celica urged him to try his cake and tea, which he had not yet touched, with her sparkling eyes.

Beside her, Trinity wrapped her cheeks in both of her hands and was taken aback as she looked at Kazuma.

"Could it be~, you dislike sweet food? My apologies~."

"No, not at all. I like it. I was just puzzled by the situation just now... I'll eat now, then."

Kazuma smiled while struggling with an intense feeling of exhaustion, it felt as if he might collapse. Hooking his fingers round his cup, he drank the pleasantly fragrant tea.

It did taste good.

But Surrounding Kazuma there were still those three. Nine who held a drink that he wasn't sure was even coffee anymore while looking shooting daggers in his direction. Celica who strangely made him feel sick just by being nearby. And Trinity who was possibly monitoring him.

As he was 'having tea' while surrounded by them, it was like he didn't have the proper feeling to enjoy the tea's taste. The poor quality tea he drank in his room was very much more relaxing.

(Really, how did this come to happen...)

Presently in this baffling situation, Kazuma didn't even know what kind of expression would be good to make.

### Part 3

Leaving the dumbfounded Kazuma alone, the girls' tea party was lively with a succession of trifling conversations.

"...See, since it's just my class that got poor average grade, we have to take a retest."

While taking a piece of her sister's cake, Celica, who seemed to be sulking, judging by the pout on her lips, told them about what happened during today's class.

As Nine brushed her glossy hair which spilled over from her shoulders to her back, she looked at Celica with caring eyes that were completely different from the eyes that she directed at Kazuma.

"How could that happen? You can't get a failing grade. Is your class all right?"

"Aah~, but I'm also poor at lightning magic. Since it makes a reaaally loud noise, I get frightened."

As Trinity talked with a strained smile, Celica nodded repeatedly like she understood. Then, her expression suddenly went cheerful.

"Ah, even so, I'm considerably skilled in levitation. I can't jump high, but I'm the best in my class in flying long distance."

"The thought of you using levitation... somehow disturbs me. It's not just flying slowly like you think, you know."

In response to Celica, the cloudy looking Nine put the coffee-like substance to her mouth.

Celica giggled in girlish voice.

"Oh no, Onee-chan. Since there's the Mages' Guild's barrier, I can't get out from the island no matter how high I fly."

"Don't talk like that..."

"Ah, but."

Despite her appalled older sister, Celica suddenly changed the topic while putting her index finger to her chin.

"It's no good if levitation doesn't use broom. It's weird."

"But isn't it romantic to get on a broom to fly in the sky~?"

Joining both her hands together, Trinity spoke as if she was seeing a dream.

Kazuma just continued to eat while watching the scene unfold.

It seemed the center of conversation was always Celica.

Nine listened affectionately to her sister while Trinity occasionally chimed in.

The three of them must be close. He had thought that from the first time he met Celica, but he felt it again while sitting, watching the girls together now.

Around him, all the women in the cafe seemed to be having friendly conversations. He was witnessing the other sex in their element.

Scooping another bite of cake, Kazuma stole a glance at Trinity.

As for Trinity, she was engrossed in talking without looking in Kazuma's direction. If this was what she called monitoring, then she was very much a lacking schemer.

(Just what is the meaning of this...)

He couldn't properly taste the flavor of the cake anymore.

(In case...)

The spectacle was too much of an everyday scene, but it gave birth to a tiny assumption in Kazuma's mind.

What if everything was a misunderstanding?

If Terumi's was incorrect and she wasn't monitoring him, then there would be no deceit in Trinity's kindness, Nine's displeasure was only prejudice, and the discomfort he got when Celica was around was a simply poor physical condition.

What if the Azure itself was just an illusion?

If that was the case, he must have been some kind of fool.

Dreaming of illusions and questioning the hand which was reaching out to him. He had been spending his time and effort on obsession and suspicion.

If it was just as he suspected, then maybe the ordinary, peaceful, and harmonious life he was in didn't exist. That didn’t mean it was filled with nought but boredom; more like... admiring other people's affairs while living like ordinary people would.

If now... he forgot about the Azure, then just like his memories from over seven years ago, the past he wished to recover at all cost and the matter about the Cathedral would slip into obscurity.

The same as it had been until now, but also completely different.

He felt that he would like to set foot in that kind of academy life.

"...Kazuma-san? Kazuma-saaan?"

"Eh... Ah, yes?"

At Celica's voice, Kazuma raised his face while still gripping his fork tightly.

It seemed he had become engrossed in his own thoughts and lost awareness of his surroundings. Kazuma scratched his cheek while showing an embarrassed smile.

"Sorry. Since I'm not too familiar with this place, I got dazed just now."

"Aha, I see. Hmm, looks like the shop is a little too cute for a man..."

Next to Celica who spoke like a child, a laugh that was like faint rustling of clothes resounded.

"Dazed, huh."

Nine interrupted with a tone of voice like she was looking for something. A bewitching but also scheming voice; unsuitable for the atmosphere of the pleasant conversation which had been going on until now.

"I wonder. Haven't you been doing some thinking?"

"Some thinking?"

Celica asked while bending her head slightly to one side, confused by the shift in tone. But Nine didn't answer her sister.

Resting her chin on her hands elegantly, she crossed her long legs. Her gaze was fixed and sharp; she stared at Kazuma as if she was concentrating hard.

"Nowadays, it seems the academy's Great Library has been your favorite place. Are you investigating something?"

The brief comment that was disguised in a neutral tone of voice made tension run up Kazuma's nape.

Nine knew. She knew that for two whole days, Kazuma had skipped classes to investigate something.

How did she know about that? The most obvious way would be that she had heard about it from Trinity after she met him in the Library.

Trinity informed Nine. Probably also about the matter Kazuma was investigating... Perhaps also about when he said he wanted to look at the Mages' Guild's highly classified information.

He had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He shouldn't let his guard down. He mustn't display any weakness. The girls weren't his allies. His suspicions had been aroused once again.

As if she saw through it, Nine's eyes became narrow.

"Have you found the information you desire?"

"...No. Unfortunately, I didn't find it."

Kazuma made an unambitious wry smile. He tried as hard as he could to display a smile that contained no ill will and seemed harmless.

"You were looking for something which can't be found in the academy's library?"

Nine insistently questioned him.

Perhaps, she was waiting for Kazuma to make an unpleasant face. Thinking she was going for that, Kazuma of course replied with a gentle face.

"Since I don't usually make use of places like the library, perhaps my method of searching is bad. Granted, I've given up already."

"Oh?"

Raising her eyebrows, Nine seemed to still have something on her mind.

Before she could put it into words, Kazuma shifted the topic.

"Come to think of it, I've heard about him thanks to my search, but Nine-san and Celica-san are Professor Shuuichirou Ayatsuki's daughters, aren't you."

Shuuichirou Ayatsuki was a world-famous professor who had made many appearances in books on alchemy. His primary research was fusing alchemy and science; and establishing a soul in objects.

During the spare time in his investigation, Kazuma checked up about Nine, who was strangely wary of him, on the Great Library's computer which held the student records.

He had found that Celica's formal name was Celica A. Mercury. From there, he ended up finding she was related to Shuuichirou Ayatsuki.

The topic Kazuma raised had a larger effect than he thought. Instantly, Nine's expression turned to anger.

Her face contorted in hatred, Nine informed him in low voice.

"That man isn't my parent. We're unrelated."

With that brief comment, he completely understood what Nine thought about her father.

He also understood Celica's thought as she turned to face her older sister, holding her father in contrasting thought.

"Don't say sad things like that, Onee-chan."

Rather than a rebuke, it was more accurate to say it was a pout.

However, Nine didn't back down. She snorted, dismissing it, and then sipped her coffee to swallow the unpleasant feelings that were welling up in her.

"You should cut that out. Forget about that man. He hasn't been there since the beginning."

"Of course he wasn't able to do that. He's our father, you know? Yes, he couldn't be together with us... but even so, he's our one and only father!"

Celica clutched both her hands into fists not willing to back down, Nine became even more irritated.

"Quit calling that man father!"

"I won't. After all, he's my father! Onee-chan's, too. Why do you say such bad things about Father!?"

"It's better for you not to know!"

"You always quickly say that! Not fair!"

With incredible speed, the atmosphere became weird.

The store interior suddenly became noisy because of the argument. Other customers were beginning to watch the scene.

Unable to just watch, Trinity leaned forward.

"Nine, Celica-san. We're in a shop..."

As if to interrupt the chiding voice, Celica and Nine stood up at the same time.

"I' only thinking of your best interests, Celica!"

"It's just for your own convenience!"

A loud noise rang out as the furious sisters' hands simultaneously hit the table.

...Then, the force so greatly shook the table that the saucer of Trinity's cup flipped into the air.

From there on, time extremely flowed slowly.

Following the floating plate, a white cup went up in the air. The cup's body was turning while its path slowly drew a parabola...

A wet noise faintly echoed. Next, the sound of china smashing was heard as the cup fell over the table.

Dead silence fell inside the shop.

Nine and Celica stood still, both stiff of face.

Beyond the girls' gaze was Trinity who remained still while in the middle of rising.

Platinum blonde hair of a noble princess from a fairy tale. Hood of a witch. White skin of a fairy. Trinity's round glasses and thefront of her white uniform were soaked with the spilled tea.

From the edge of her lenses, drips of royal milk tea fell to the table.

"...My glasses, have been stained."

Trinity slowly stood up. She took out a handkerchief and wiped her glasses.

"Nine. Celica-san."

The voice she used to softly call them was gentle and kind. But for some reason, Kazuma's spine froze even though he was only listening.

"I have something to tell you."

Kazuma didn't raise his face so he couldn't see what was inside the smiling Trinity's gaze as she spoke.

But as for Nine and Celica whom he stared at one after another, they became pale as if they had seen something incredibly frightening. Without saying anything, they sat down after witnessing it.

Because it was frightening, he didn't have the nerve to check it.

It was an odd spectacle.

"...do so. Okay? Affection and consideration. Lacking them is really sad for a human being. Not only the people you're together with every day, but also to nature and objects near you. Don't forget to act kind to them."

Celica and Nine were apologizing while listening to Trinity's speech which went on endlessly.

Celica aside, to see Nine bow her head and apologize was really unbelievable for Kazuma. Konoe Mercury was apologizing. None of his classmates would believe it if he told them.

Trinity's speech continued still.

At first it was a talk about glasses which help a lot of people with bad eyesight every day. However, the topic gradually shifted to how our ancestors struggled until they invented transparent glass, then jumped to the hardships of people who delivered materials to the island, and then finally to being careful with objects.

The tone she used to talk was gentle all the way. Consequently, it seemed like listening to sermon in a church.

But Nine and Celica, still sitting bolt upright, bowed their heads like scolded children. They didn't attempt to object in any way.

The girls must have known. About what would happen if they stoked the fires of Trinity's anger further.

And the extent of that menace was thoroughly transmitted just from the sisters' frightened complexions.

Kazuma turned away from the girls, deciding that it would be impossible to interrupt now, lest he accidentally involve himself in the scolding.

Without further ado, Kazuma ignored the lecture, whose end was yet to be seen, while quietly drinking his tea.

(Aah, I want to go home...)

He swallowed the involuntarily vocalised thought, along with his tea.

At that moment, Kazuma's gaze was snatched away by the scenery outside of the window as he casually looked toward it.

Outside the store, on the opposite side of the road, a man wearing a hood low over his eyes was standing.

Despite how out of place he looked against the plain scenery, let alone people inside the store, even the people out on the street didn't bat an eyelid at him.

As if he could be seen only by Kazuma, Terumi stood there, watching.

Suddenly, Terumi moved. While calmly starting to walk, he jerked his chin to invite Kazuma.

Lured by that gesture, Kazuma quietly rose to his feet.

"Oh? Kazuma-san?"

Pausing her lecture, Trinity, who was in front of him, called him.

On reflex, Kazuma gave a smile and began to speak.

"Excuse me, I happened to notice an acquaintance. I'll return soon."

Not speaking more after it, Kazuma grabbed the bag at his feet and hurriedly rushed out of the store.

He took a detour from the shop and searched for Terumi. He was already gone from the spot where he had been standing, but Kazuma saw the hem of his long coat just as it disappeared round a street corner.

A loud thump resounded.

Just as he witnessed Terumi's figure, he got a feeling that the blurred world turned clear. It was like the figure that should have been inside him came back.

If he didn't run after him, if he didn't catch up with him.

For the first time in living memory, Kazuma ran with full speed. An unbelievably uplifting feeling rose inside his chest.

### Part 4

A beautiful sunset illuminated the townscape. At the same time, it also engraved distinct shadows.

Pushing his way through the two-tone coloring of bitter orange and black, Kazuma was dead set on running.

Out of the main street and deeper into the island.

As Kazuma strayed down paths he ad never walked before, he seemed confused, like he was going into an unrecognized other world, because of the intense and sinister colouring.

Ahead of his gaze was always a flickering, retreating figure.

The fluttering hem of long jacket that was like a mantle. The hood that covered the hair and face. Slender shoulders with long, thin legs which were like a silhouette.

Terumi was walking. His steps were long, but his strides were not as fast as Kazuma's sprint.

Despite that, even when Kazuma ran and panted countlessly, it was like the distance between them didn't get any shorter.

It was like a dream. Even if he ran and struggled, he would never catch up with the person in front of him. As if he was being left behind in this new discolored world; the feeling of frustration was tearing off his chest.

Just what was this place? The scenery moving past the edge of his vision didn't feel familiar to Kazuma at all.

There was nobody. The scattered buildings were small. There was no likelihood that people were living here.

Ishana was by no means a large island, but he never knew there was a place like this. The same was also true for this silent, deserted road.

Before long, the buildings disappeared with the townscape. Terumi pushed his way through bushes, going even further inside.

The bushes surrounded the town like walls; it became like a thick forest. The trees were reinforcing the island's magic. A forest dedicated to reinforce the barrier that was covering the island.

Proceeding through it, he moved out of the shallow forest and finally arrived up to the edge of the island. There, Kazuma at had at last stopped walking.

The untamed land here was a rugged rocky area. On the other side of it, a calm horizon could be seen. The frail roar of waves was heard; feeble ripples collided with rocks and split open fragilely.

In the past, the waves had been more powerful. But six years ago, because of the large scale nuclear attack intended to kill Black Beast, the world had changed; the wind declined and the waves grew weak.

Because his life only involved going back and forth between the academy and dormitory, he didn't see the sea very often. But as he gazed at the heavily silent sea, it was a stark reminder of the island's isolation from the outside world.

Terumi placed his hands on a noticeably large rock and faced Kazuma, waiting for him.

"Yoo~, Kazuma-chan. Why are you wandering around here? Got lost?"

He spoke as if comforting a stray dog.

Wheezing, Kazuma tried to control his strained and disturbed breath while giving Terumi a bitter look.

"Wrong... I saw you walking... before..."

It was like he was doing it on purpose, thought Kazuma. Terumi should have known he was following from the start. The fact that he walked with a speed at which Kazuma could never catch up must have also been on purpose. Though, Kazuma couldn't comprehend on how he could walk that fast.

With a playful gesture, Terumi put held up his hands at chest height as if showing he surrendered.

"Hey, hey, hey. Don't give me such a rebellious look. I'm your reassuring ally, right~?"

"...I know that. That's why I chased you, isn't it."

Even though his shoulders were heaving furiously, Kazuma straightened up his body.

Without him noticing, his surroundings gradually grew darker as the sun sank in the west. The stars in the sky weren't visible. It wasn't possible to see them through the cloud of seithr surrounding the island's barrier.

Seithr... an unknown substance spread over the world at the same time as the appearance of the Black Beast six years ago. Even though he didn't want to get close to the border line with the outside world, he could actually sense the peaceless world.

Kazuma shifted his attention from the sea back towards Terumi.

"Anyway, don't we have some kind of business? Why did you even come so far out?"

"Why, why, why. You're that stupid, huh."

"Terumi-san...!"

"Kukkuku, don't be so impatient. I'll show you some really nice stuff."

Terumi spoke as if Kazuma was being ungrateful. It was like he was amazed at Kazuma's short temper.

'The one who should be amazed is me', Kazuma wanted to tell Terumi, but he let it pass. It was a waste of time to confront Terumi here.

"Look. It's this thing"

Quite sloppy compared to the time when he teased Kazuma. Terumi poked inside the shade of a rock with his tiptoe. What hit Terumi's toe was the barrier covering Ishana.

That moment, Kazuma gulped.

Just next to Terumi's foot, several sheets of paper stuck on the air. To be accurate, the papers were sticking to the barrier. The five sheets were arranged in a pattern, as if drawing a pentagon.

The passage surrounded by the papers was so large that a single kid could pass through... Amazingly, a hole had opened in the barrier like it was cut off cleanly there.

"Those cat bastards seem to have opened it. It seems that's because there's no other way to get into the island, as one would expect."

Sneering, Terumi raised the edges of his lips.

As for Kazuma, he began to mutter with trembling voice.

"Wha... What do you mean... by this."

Was it a good thing for such a thing to exist? The barrier covering Ishana didn't just prevent any physical interference from other countries; it also played a role in blocking the seithr that was drifting in the atmosphere.

The Black Beast only appeared in places that had seithr.

Ishana was rejecting seithr itself.

For this reason, it was the safest city in the world. Therefore, it was illegal for the barrier to be torn.

"Oh no, if I don't quickly notify them...!"

If seithr reached the island, however secure the barrier was, it couldn't be said that this island was secure. Leaving out the matter that seithr was poisonous, it was likely that the Black Beast would appear here.

"Wait, wait, wait, Kazuma-chan. Look carefully."

While chuckling as if amused, Terumi poked the barrier again. His tiptoe rubbed the stuck paper, but as if it existed in a different airspace, the paper was undisturbed.

Being told to, Kazuma looked closely at the produced hole in the barrier. But immediately he guessed that his eyes didn't see what they should have seen.

Through the hollowed, unfolded hole of the barrier, he could see seithr pouring in.

But no sooner had the seithr came into contact with Ishana's air than it faded away and vanished in a flash.

The seithr hadn't been able to even slightly pollute Ishana's air.

"The barrier... is neutralizing seithr?"

It was the first time for him to hear the Mages' Guild's barrier had such a power.

Terumi laughed as if he knew the secret.

"W-R-O-N-G. It's because this island's air is unusually clean. But that ain't thanks to the barrier."

"Then, what...?"

"You think of something?"

Kazuma frowned. It was a difficult question.

"I don't know. Do you not know either?"

"Well~, who knows."

Terumi's suggestive manner of speaking made Kazuma let out a small sigh. These were confusing matters when Kazuma had just met him, but he had grown accustomed to this kind of attitude from Terumi in the passt few days.

Terumi was that kind of a man.

"Still, nothing will happen to this island anytime soon. Relieved, young master?"

Terumi spoke in a sarcastic voice.

But for Kazuma, such a thing was still okay for now.

His gaze was fascinated by the gaping hole, as if it was being drawn in.

The barrier being perforated was a state of emergency that shouldn't be possible. But for some reason, there it was, a hole.

A small unusual phenomenon. It really made Kazuma's heart pound. He somehow got excited.

Terumi's crescent mouth drew near to Kazuma, who was still staring intently at the hole. He whispered from behind.

"But it doesn't mean it'll stay like this forever. If the balance of the island's atmosphere changes a little... then..."

"Seithr... will enter the island?"

Like he was being lured, Kazuma muttered. It seemed his thought and mouth moved on their own accords.

Instead of nodding, Terumi laughed his confirmation.

"That's right. It's a disaster for this peaceful island to get harmed by seithr. It's a major incident, really serious affair, and a big problem, right?"

"Yes. It's a big problem..."

"Well then, Kazuma-chan. I've got a question now."

He could hear the mischievous voice close to his ear.

Kazuma had a hunch he knew what Terumi was going to say before hearing it.

"You said just now. It's 'oh no, if I don't quickly notify them...!'."

He imitated Kazuma's tone of voice as he said it.

But the mockery didn't manage to rub Kazuma's nerves the wrong way. Kazuma just stared at the hole as if fascinated by it.

Terumi spoke.

"So? Who do you notify?"

Right. He couldn't ignore the torn barrier. But since it wasn't possible for Kazuma to do something about it alone, he must inform someone about it.

To whom?

Restoring the barrier wasn't an easy task. At least, it wasn't possible at the level of an academy student.

To maintain the barrier, this spot alone had to be fixed. It also had to be done quickly.

For someone to be able to do such advanced things, they would have to excel in magical ability, even within the in Mages' Guild.

For example... the Ten Sages.

"Ten Sages..."

Kazuma's muttering leaked out as if spilling.

His lips moved as if by reflex.

"In case seithr got into Ishana... The Ten Sages would eliminate it and try to restore the barrier."

Just as with restoring the barrier, there was nobody else who could eliminate seithr.

Basically, it was impossible to get rid of seithr by human hands. If such a thing had been feasible, then it would have been possible to defeat Black Beast which was essentially a mass of seithr.

Suppose a magic that could neutralize and erase seithr existed, there would only be a handful of people who could do it as handling it was beyond ordinary men. Even ignoring neutralisation, dealing with seithr required knowledge of advanced magic.

Currently, Kazuma didn't know the exact number of Sages. But most of the students in the academy were aware that there were less than ten.

Driving away seithr, possibly by neutralizing it, and restoring the barrier had to be done simultaneously.

Even if the seithr was driven out first, if the hole was open, then new seithr would just get in again. If restoring the barrier came first, since there would be no outlet for seithr, they would have to increase the neutralization to the inner part of the island.

If such a situation happened, even at the best of times, the small number of Ten Sages would all gather.

With them all spending their time and energy on it, perhaps they would be shorthanded with other things.

Of course, Nine, too.

"Well, Whatcha gonna do, Kazuma-chan?"

Terumi's voice resounded inside his head.

Kazuma swallowed a small amount of saliva, his throat had grown dry.

"——Ah."

He tried to say something.

But just before the words came.

Terumi suddenly pulled Kazuma's shoulder, forcing him to turn around.

"Wha..."

He was about to ask what Terumi was doing. However, Kazuma was at loss for words again.

Nine and Trinity were stood behind him.

### Part 5

It was getting darker.

There were no street lights in the outskirts of the island. As the facial expressions of both parties gradually became undiscernable, without saying anything, Trinity created a faint light and let it float into the air.

As if both parties were wary of each other, silence flowed. What broke it was Nine's sharp voice.

"What are you doing? In this place... Alone."

"Eh...?"

Alone.

Because of Nine's words, Kazuma looked toward the surrounding in a panic.

(Terumi-san's gone...? Since when...)

However, Terumi's habit of appearing in unexpected places, at unexpected moments had saved Kazuma this time. If Nine became aware of Terumi's existence, it was unlikely to be good news for Kazuma..

"Looking for a way out? Looks like you're too slow."

Nine sneered at Kazuma's trembling figure, addressing him with a cold tone of voice.

Kazuma straightened his back in order to adjust his breathing. He told himself to calm down.

...As he did so, his head surprisingly quickly regained clarity. It was strange.

"RWay out? Why would I run away?"

Kazuma's words made Nine's expression slightly shift. Trinity's light was helping, but it was nonetheless dark. He was unable to examine the details of her facial expression, but it didn’t appear to be a happy face.

"Besides, why did you two come here? I don't believe this is a place girls would visit at this hour."

Lifting her head slightly at Kazuma's question, Trinity took a large step forward.

"Because you didn't come back to the shop... we wondered where you might have gone to~."

"Even so, it seems you were able to find me easily. Did you use tracking magic?"

Asking with a mocking smile, Trinity kept her mouth shut. Rather than the face of someone who had been found out, it was like the face of a girl, hurt by thoughtless words.

Kazuma shrugged his shoulders. It didn't change the situation even if he had guessed right. Perhaps Trinity still thought that Kazuma hadn't noticed she was monitoring him. If so, what a pitiful girl.

"I'll ask the questions. Answer me. What have you been doing here?"

Different from Trinity, without any sign of backing down, Nine made her tone of voice even sharper.

Kazuma made a troubled face, placing a hand on his head as if enduring a headache, he answered her.

"But I thought I told you before, I happened to see an acquaintance, so I ran after him. ...Although I said that, I suddenly realised I recognized him as just an acquaintance. I don't remember who he was."

"Could it be an acquaintance from before the memory loss?"

Sure enough, Trinity's surprise rang out in her voice. Regardless of the light, he could see her delightful facial expression was brimming.

Kazuma spontaneously dropped a smile.

Even now, Trinity perhaps still wished for Kazuma's memory to return. If that was the case, it was painful for every single word from him to betray her kindness.

"Yes, I think so. When I caught sight of him, I was unable to contain myself... I'm sorry."

And yet numerous untruths spilled from his mouth.

But Nine's sharp presence didn't even slightly slacken as expected. Instead it became even more coercive; the glints in her eyes shone in the dead of night.

"If so, I wonder if that's the doing of your acquaintance?"

"What do you mean?"

Kazuma carefully asked.

Nine walked gallantly with long steps and passed by Kazuma's side. She walked gracefully in her thin, tall heels on the unstable rocky area before stopping at some shrubbery.

"This."

She replied in a haughty voice.

He knew exactly what Nine had seen to make her say that.

Imitating a normal student's behavior, Kazuma took a quick look at the beach.

"Aah, that. I wonder what on earth it is. It looks like paper floating in the air to me... Is it some kind of a good luck charm?"

As he scratched his head while answering with the pretense that he knew nothing about it, Nine glared over her shoulder. Her beautiful face which carried nothing but malice made his guts grow cold.

"Don't tell me you don't know anything about it."

"No... B-But I don't know."

Flinching, Kazuma took a step backward.

As if Nine's eyes were assessing every facet of his gesture for credibility, she carefully glared at Kazuma's entire body. Dyed in shadow, the long eyelashes on Nine's eyes blinked several times.

Trinity didn't say anything. Accompanied by the small light, she appeared to wrack her brains while attentively watching Nine and Kazuma's standoff.

Waves split open at Kazuma and Nine's feet. The modest sound of water disturbed the silence.

As Nine closed blinked once, then turned her face away from Kazuma.

"...Fine. Then I'll leave it as it is."

The high-pitched noise of heels hitting the rocky area resounded.

Nine moved away from him. As she did so, Kazuma quietly slackened his mouth.

Was that an indication that she had found him out? Or did his deceit go unnoticed under the cover of night? Nine stopped once more a little in front of Trinity, she looked over her shoulder to see Kazuma and asked, as if testing him.

"It seems there was a huge idiot making a hole in Mages' Guild's barrier. I have to quickly get in touch with the Ten Sages and arrange to restore it. That's why..."

Nine smiled provocatively.

"If you discover something else while out for a run, do you think you could let me know?"

Her glamorous hair fluttered as if dancing. After she urged Trinity, who was still concerned about Kazuma, onward, the two left from that place at a quick pace.

Eventually the noise of grass being tread on vanished along with Trinity's light. The sky was now definitely the color of night. Suddenly the air grew cold; it was too cold to stand in one place in a daze.

Still feeling waves splash on his feet, Kazuma expressionlessly looked at the papers in the shade of the rocky area.

The hole in the barrier. There was still no indication of seithr coming in from there.

That hole had a role. Connecting the outside world to the island; its role was to cause such a large task for the Ten Sages that they all had to be in attendance.

(Even if this hole got closed, there is a way to open it, so it'd be good to find it. However...)

Nine of the Ten Sages. She alone seemed to continue being cautious of Kazuma even just now.

It would be preferable for this hole to draw in seithr to an extent so that Nine had to give her full attention to fixing the barrier; and hereafter, Nine would pay no attention to Kazuma.

(Alternatively... something that disappears during the situation while she's preoccupied.)

At any rate, she was a hindrance.

Pondering while standing still on the rocky area, Kazuma gnawed on a fingerhe had stuck in his mouth. His teeth scrubbed the joints.

A method to keep Nine at a distance.

"...Isn't it easy?"

Kazuma chuckled and hurriedly left behind the rocky area.

### 018. Chapter 5: Night of Black Betrayal

### Part 1

And then, night came.

A night that was creepy for some reason. The moon which was waning in the dark sky took control, while there was scarce wind.

A terribly chaotic night in which the deep black of night sky and sea were mixed together in the distant horizon.

Kazuma stood alone on rocky area lit only by the moon's faint light.

About two hours ago, it was the place he barely managed to arrive at after chasing after Terumi and also the place where he encountered Nine and Trinity to make the matter worse.

Without the moon's light the rocky area would be like a shadowy lump; on the opposite side, the faint sound of waves breaking splashed through the darkness. If there was a place referred as another world, then this location seemed to be the boundary line with the known world.

He was musing on whether his world was already coming to an end or not. The night and silence had yet come to an end.

Just about everything seemed to have already ended...

On the opposite side of the bushes, small lights flickered.

Kazuma hid himself out of view in the shade of a nearby rock, wary of danger.

(It's still too early for the end. Rather... this is the start.)

If he were to be asked what it meant, he'd reply that it means everything.

Yes, getting back everything. Like Terumi had said in the beginning.

The image of a wavering silhouette, one that appeared by shoving and separating bushes to make their way through the forest was the person Kazuma waited for.

It was like they had no grasp of caution. He doubted she was ever cautious with anybody.

Kazuma smoothly stepped forward intounder the moonlight, greeting her with gentle smile.

"Did you come without telling anyone? ...Celica A. Mercury-san."

Black and white uniform of the academy; long ponytail that bounced with every step. Her large, shining, brown eyes, illuminated by the burning magic flame at her fingertips, were easily visible in this dark place.

Celica turned the light on him. Once she realized the other party was Kazuma, her relieved face quickly became cheerful.

"It's okay. Since Onee-chan called a meeting all of a sudden, there's no one at home."

With light steps, Celica rushed over just close to Kazuma.

That moment, Kazuma tasted the massive weight of a sensation from the surrounding atmosphere.

Powerfully clenching his molars, he desperately held his breath for several seconds. He grew pale in an instant. His head felt fuzzy; dizziness and nausea made him feel weaker at the knees.

Why did he get this sick when he was together with Celica? He didn't know the reason, but he couldn't pass out or run back home out here.

"That's good. After all, I have something I must tell just to Celica-san alone."

While gathering courage in his mind, Kazuma gave a smile as if he was relieved.

Not suspecting anything, Celica stared at Kazuma with serious look.

"But what do you want to tell me? ...You said that it's about Father."

After he parted with Nine and Trinity, Kazuma hastily returned to the island, quickly reaching the main street and searching for Celica's home. Immediately after their confrontation, Nine should be heading to Mage’s Guild in order to report to the Ten Sages. It was a race for him to find it before Nine returned.

When he bumped into Celica who was on her way home after shopping in the vicinity of the café from earlier, it was the first time he had ever thanked God for his good fortune. Since he didn't happen to have fragments of faith, he had to be pleased with only a vague image of God.

I have something to tell you about Professor Shuuichirou Ayatsuki.

Saying only that and telling her he would could only explain here, Kazuma immediately left... awaiting her arrival here. He didn't bring Celica along with him in case they were seen by Nine on her way to the Guild.

With the dark rocky area and sea as his background, Kazuma slightly nodded with a very serious appearance.

"Celica A. Mercury-san. As I know you and Nine-san are Shuuichirou Ayatsuki's daughters, I have checked up a little regarding your father. Since six years ago on that day... he's missing, isn't he?"

Six years ago on that day, a world threatening demon, the Black Beast, appeared in Japan. A day when nuclear strikes razed the island nation to the ground.

Just before the nuclear attack, all the people who had been living in the strikes' target, Japan, were evacuated. But those departures weren't flawless; several people couldn't escape and were left inside the country.

Shuuichirou Ayatsuki was one of them. While the islands were being turned into scorched earth, he was in Japan.

Hearing her father's name, Celica's pupils wavered in loneliness.

"...You were told he's missing, weren't you."

The spilled muttering was like she felt relief and had abandoned hope; a delicate sound.

"And yet Onee-chan and people around me said my father had died. There was a small funeral, you know?"

"...How do you feel about it?"

"Eh?"

Celica shifted her attention to Kazuma's gentle words, as if bewildered.

Although her complexion was disturbed, her eyes remained focused. Her unclouded gaze once more gave Kazuma a mysterious chill.

Enduring it, Kazuma stared back at her.

"A few days ago, you know there was news of a survivor found in Japan. You were watching the news so intently. ...Were you thinking about him? About Shuuichirou Ayatsuki, your father, who died in the nuclear attack six years ago...?"

"That's..."

Uncharacteristically, Celica hesitated and was at loss for words.

Her belief of her father being alive, the feeling which she always used to say that she couldn't put into words, had no basis. That was why it was only a wish, a wish that he was still alive.

Even Celica understood how much of a miracle it was to find a survivor in Japan. She knew a similar miracle couldn't happen many times.

There might only be one fortune card in the deck that the survivor had drawn from.

As if giving it a thought, Kazuma folded his arms in slow movement and turned his head toward the sea. On the horizon, the dark night and sea merged; their border couldn't easily be distinguished.

He focused his gaze beyond the deep darkness. He wasn't even sure in which direction from here Japan existed, but felt like he was gazing right at it.

"To tell you the truth, since then, I also had personal interest in the news and investigated it."

"You did?"

"Yes. The man rescued the other day seems to work as a researcher in a research institute, similar to Professor Ayatsuki. But six years ago, he got engrossed in his study and completely forgot about the fixed date for the evacuation. Luckily, since a few days before the nuclear attack, he stayed at a research facility that was deep underground. It might be thanks to that, that he was spared."

Cutting off his words, still facing the sea, Kazuma returned his gaze to Celica in order to look at her reaction.

Celica's large eyes opened even wider. Apparently motionless, she stood stock still while attentively listening to Kazuma's words.

Kazuma's story was information yet to be released to public. Celica also probably just heard it for the first time.

It was the work of the Mages' Guild. If they were motivated, they would investigate in the outside world. Under the cover of the dark night, Kazuma secretly chuckled.

"Professor Ayatsuki is a world-famous researcher. If he was conducting research, it would have been done in an appropriately large facility. I didn't investigate as to where the professor worked, but there must have been an underground facility there."

Undoubtedly, the research institute where the male survivor was employed couldn't have been called large in scale. Yet still the underground facility of that research institute had the strength to withstand a nuclear attack.

It was unthinkable for the workplace of the world-famous researcher Shuuichirou Ayatsuki to have inferior security.

"Besides..." whispered Kazuma with low voice while slowly turning to Celica.

"The man is simply a survivor. ...However, it seems he's given an unusual statement."

"What's unusual about it?"

Drawn in, Celica lowered her voice.

The wind made the silhouettes of the tree tops flicker.

It wasn't clear which the roar of waves and which the noise of forest was. Waiting for the noise to die down, Kazuma calmly continued the story.

"He said, 'It's unbelievable for six years to have passed since then. One year... or at most, two years I believe has passed.'"

"Six years... to one year? No matter what, that's..."

"Certainly it seems hard to believe. But that's where it gets more unusual. ...The man didn't leave the research institute. He passed time eating the stored emergency food. However, even if it was consumed by only one person, the amount was no where near enough to last six years. Moreover, his body weight is currently average, he's not even especially skinny.

"Eh, eh? Wait, what do you mean?"

The light on her fingertip wandered about as the confused Celica put her hand on her head.

Calmly, like he was talking to a child, Kazuma tried to rephrase it in slow tone.

"You see, the man had been living under the ruins for six years. Yet the evidence of his having lived there are estimated to be from just two years at most.

It wasn't only that. Six years was a long time. It would degrade and weaken his body. If his hair was cut, the shorn hair would remain. His clothes would deteriorate. His footwear would wear down. On top of all that, the man had been verified that he had lived in the underground for two years at most.

"Two years..."

Celica muttered in a soft voice. She wore an expression of disbelief.

As if giving it a thought, Kazuma stroked his chin with a meek expression.

"It's a truly unimaginable phenomenon. But as for the traces of living for two rather than six years, It doesn't seem likely for experts to mistake it even if they're only giving it a glance. Besides... there's already one unimaginable monster existing in our world."

"...The Black Beast."

Sluggishly speaking that name, Celica's expression got even stiffer.

On the other side of the barrier that wrapped around the island, the world was constantly frightened of Black Beast's fangs. It was like a nightmare. But it was certainly an unmistakable reality that burdened the world.

Kazuma let slip a single cynical sigh.

"Japan is closely related to that monster. For a place where unexplainable phenomena have occurred several times, it's not unexpected."

The span of six years becoming two; was it also possible for it to be reduced to an even shorter length? It wasn't a miracle either way. Japan was just that kind of a place.

"...Perhaps so."

To suppress the anxiety, welling up in her chest, Celica embraced her chest with both hands. In that ridiculous, irrational land, her father was left behind alone.

To cheer up her up, Kazuma put his hand on Celica's shoulder.

The moment they touched, discomfort and rejection rushed through him as if an extremely repulsive thing was crushing him with with all its strength. Beneath his calm expression, Kazuma desperately tried to relax his unnaturally stiffening hand.

"Celica-san. Please think about it. Surviving for six years versus surviving for two years underneath the harsh environment; don't you think there's a huge difference in the survival rate?"

Kazuma's pale lips expressed a smile to encourage her.

"If, in the same way the survivor from the other day did, Professor Ayatsuki was in a sturdy underground facility. If, in the same way, he was blessed with preserved food. If, in the same way, he was living within the miraculously slowed flow of time. Then..."

Gasping slightly, Celica looked up intensely at Kazuma. Even though her large pupils seemed to be slightly wet, she looked at him.

"Maybe... Father is also..."

While surrounded by weakened thought, Celica spoke in a trembling voice.

"Father is also... possibly, alive...?"

It might be a shortsighted wish. It might be a foolish delusion.

But the pieces of information Kazuma displayed side by side in front of Celica supported her prayer-like thought toward her father.

When Kazuma pulled his lips making a wide smile, Celica's face bloomed like a large flower.

But before that smiling face stopped blooming, Kazuma unexpectedly retracted his smile. The hand that had been placed on the girl's shoulder was weakly released as if it had fallen.

"But... Too bad, isn't it."

As he slightly sighed, hinting at his disappointment, Kazuma turned his gaze away from Celica, toward his feet.

Celica followed his gaze.

"What's wrong?"

"...I hate to say it... but I heard that it seems the army the UN have currently dispatched to Japan is aiming to establish an on-site investigation. Just because a single survivor was found, there's no particular plan to search for other survivors..."

"W-Why!? There might be other people who are alive!"

Celica's smiling face was frozen midway in shock.

Celica balled her hands into fists. As if to calm her, but also in a voice that didn't conceal discouragement, Kazuma answered.

"It's unknown how many people were missing in the first place. Even at the best of times, they can't separate the few personnel they have. Everyone has been thinking that this time was just a fortunate chance, so they think it's still hopeless for the survival of the other people left in Japan six years ago."

Because of the large scale nuclear attack, the ground's surface was ruined. Furthermore, six years had passed. It was meaningless to delay the original purpose of the investigation just because, by miraculous chance, a survivor had been found. It was because the likelihood of discovering a new survivor was close to zero.

Dropping his shoulders, Kazuma shook his head to grieve.

"Assuming Professor Ayatsuki's alive... Whether he'll be located by the army or not, it'd be better to send someone unrelated to the army there to search for the professor."

"Yeah... But people who aren't soldiers aren't allowed to land in Japan."

Kazuma could sense her dejection. Making his own facade appear cheery, as if he had the solution, he could truly think of nothing other than how he would rather not be so close to her.

"Oh, you didn't know? Just the other day, approval for civilian passage to Japan was granted. From the port city nearest to Japan, a number of ferries should be leaving on the first day of the month."

"Is that... true!? People can go to Japan without being a soldier!? E-Even me!?"

Raising her voice in surprise, Celica took Kazuma's hands within both of hers.

"Hii...!"

Not prepared for this, a noise like a scream escaped from Kazuma's mouth due to his shock.

However, not perturbed by this, Celica drew even closer to Kazuma.

"Anyone's fine? Without any formalities or inspections?"

"Y-Yes... I heard that there's only a voyage fee and a brief inspection required to get across."

"Then, then... Even I can go to Japan, right!?"

"Yes, of course. But won't it be difficult for you? Walking from place to place across Japan, looking for your lost father?"

While enduring the sickening feeling, as he still couldn't shake off Celica's hands which gripped his, Kazuma desperately spoke.

Strength filled with enthusiasm was added to Celica's hands.

Kazuma's hands were cold. Celica's hands were warm; the girl's throbbing heartbeat seemed audible.

"I... want to save Father. No, I'll go!"

Where did the hesitation from when she was asked if she thought her father was alive go to? As if blowing away all the doubt she had until now, Celica looked up straight at Kazuma.

Even though the night was dark, Celica's deep brown eyes could be seen clearly.

While getting a chill that almost made him faint, from the pure and innocent color, Kazuma squeezed Celica's hands back, with a frown on his face.

"You'll go... to Japan? You mustn't. It's too dangerous."

"But, isn't there a possibly that no other people will try to save Father? Everyone believes Father is dead. People who need help won't get rescued!"

It looked like there was already no trace of doubt in her.

Kazuma let out a troubled groan. But as if yielding to the strong determination in Celica's gaze, Kazuma finally smiled wryly.

"Looks like it's useless to try to stop you."

"Aha. Onee-chan told me exactly the same."

Vigorously, the long ponytail on Celica's back jumped.

"That's right. Onee-chan doesn't know anything about this. After I tell her, we'll board a ship as soon as possible..."

"Aah, about telling Nine-san... I think it's better to pass on it."

Toward the cheerfully smiling Celica whose expression was bright enough to illuminate even the dark night, Kazuma spoke while slipping a bit of gloom into his voice.

Still holding Kazuma's hands, Celica bent her head slightly as if puzzled.

"Why?"

"Nine-san will surely object to your decision. She's one of the Ten Sages. She can pull strings to prevent you being issued the permission to leave the island."

"Onee-chan doing that sort of thing..."

Is unthinkable, a statement which, however optimistic the good-natured Celica was, even she couldn't say. As her lips distorted into a pout, her eyebrows lowered as if troubled.

"But... there's no way I can go while keeping it quiet. Besides, if I apply to leave the island, it'll get circulated to Onee-chan anyway. In the end, wherever I go, I think I won't be able to proceed without her knowing."

There was a formal procedure to leave Ishana. If Celica tried to leave, confirming it with Nine, her guardian, was to be expected.

Celica sighed, realising that her chance to find her father was flying out the window. Kazuma smiled to cheer her up and softly whispered in her ear.

"Celica-san. If I said there's a way to get out of the island without your sister finding out... what would you do?"

Instantly, the night fell silent as if it was holding its breath. Gentle wind blew past as if trying to move something to reveal a secret.

Celica's long hair swayed.

"...You can get me out?"

It was Celica's true feeling which leaked out unintentionally.

Kazuma nodded to persuade her.

"Do you want to know the details?"

As for Celica's reply, it was clear from the beginning.

——There's a secret exit. From there, you can leave Ishana's barrier.

However, it'll close if you don't hurry. It's no good if you don't pass through it as soon as possible tonight.

Once you're outside of the barrier, please go along the island's outer wall to the harbor.

You're good at levitation, right?

The procedure to go out is only necessary when you're exiting the barrier.

A ship will arrive once morning comes.

What you do after that... is up to you.

### Part 2

Since the following day was a holiday, Kazuma woke up later than usual.

It might be because last night he had returned exhausted by the night's events; a sluggish feel remained this morning, as though he still hadn't had enough sleep. He stretched his body while still only half awake and then opened the curtains.

From there, Kazuma beheld a change in the situation.

The scene he was seeing was faintly coated in a putrid haze.

It was seithr.

The seithr, which had lost to Ishana's pure air and been unable to enter through the hole in the barrier until yesterday, somehow spread out, causing corrosion now.

Last night, a young girl crossed Ishana's barrier and went outside. At that time, something had taken a place that might have created an opportunity to draw in the outside seithr.

Kazuma didn't know the details of the cause, but there was undoubtedly a good chance that this was it.

Nine and the other Sages didn't close the hole last night. Furthermore, while it wasn't clear when it had started, the influx of seithr abruptly began.

He snapped out of it at once.

After he threw off his nightclothes, Kazuma carefully changed into his school uniform. He was about to burst out of the room after properly pinning down his hair.

Then, when Kazuma's hand was about to grab the doorknob, the door was knocked violently.

Because of the surprise, he almost let out a yelp. Taking a deep breath and then holding it, Kazuma responded in a calm tone of voice.

"Who is it?"

What returned from the other side of the door was unexpected, but also had an expected tone of voice.

"OPEN THE DOOR QUICKLY! OR ELSE, I'LL BLOW IT DOWN!"

It was Nine. He couldn't see her facial expression, but he was aware she was furious just from her voice.

Kazuma opened the door in a hurry.

"P-Please spare me. It's the academy's property...!"

The toe of her high heel forced its way into the small opened gap; and the door was flung open just like that.

Behind Nine, who impolitely barged into room, stood the baffled Trinity.

After Nine rudely cornered Kazuma against the desk close to the wall, she grabbed Kazuma's collar with both hands and strangled him.

"...Tell me where Celica is."

"Uh, guh... Wh-What is it... s- suddenly..."

There was no mercy in Nine's hands.

With his throat pressured by her bloodthirsty strength, Kazuma's breathing became disabled in the blink of an eye. He tried to quickly tear off Nine's hands, but there was already no strength reaching his fingertips.

"Guh... Cough... Le-Let go..."

"Tell me Celica's whereabouts. If you obediently confess, I'll let you live."

Nine's eyes glared up at Kazuma with a terrifying sharpness. When their eyes met, that instant the instinctive panic turned to chill, making Kazuma's spine shiver

"Nine! Please stop already...!"

Trinity rushed over in a panic. Rather than an attempt to calm her, it was more like she was begging.

"Kazuma-san is about to die... Besides, he can't even talk like that."

After Nine tutted at her close friend's words, she released Kazuma so he hit the floor.

Since his staggering feet couldn't support his body, Kazuma fall on his backside onto the carpet. As his breath returned all at once, his throat spasmed and coughed at the pain.

From above his head, clicking of Nine's tongue could be heard.

"I've released you. Now answer."

"You told me to answer... but please let me know the situation first. Is there something wrong with Celica-san?"

Still sitting on his rear end, Kazuma rubbed his throat while looking up at Nine. Because of the suffocation, the insides of his ears were ringing.

Looking like her anger was still simmering, Nine folded her arms under the voluptuous chest and disheveled her hair.

Substituting for her when she didn't answer, Trinity kneeled near Kazuma and informed him.

"The truth is, it happened suddenly this morning. Celica-san's whereabouts became unknown..."

"Then... do you mean she's missing? Why?"

"WE CAME TO YOUR PLACE SINCE IT ISN'T KNOWN!"

Nine's anger soared. Her voice and body language were harsh, showing her utmost irritation.

Kazuma backed up with a stiff face and asked in an incomprehensible tone of voice.

"Th-That's why, for what reason do you ask me? I shouldn't know anything, right?"

"IF YOU DON'T KNOW, NO ONE ELSE DOES!"

Nine yelled to quickly dismiss Kazuma's opinion.

But immediately Trinity who was watching in suspense noticed it. After Nine roughly brushed away her hair, she took out a piece of paper and threw it, aiming at Kazuma's face.

"Ouch."

What hit his cheek was a light yellow piece of paper, folded in four. Kazuma picked up the paper which had helplessly fallen before unfolding it.

The characters were clear; but it was composed of writing errors left behind in some places as if written in a hurry.

"To Onee-chan. Sorry, I'm going to Japan to search for Father. I'm all right, so don't worry about it. I'll definitely return, so let's have another tea with you, Trinity-san, and Kazuma-san! Celica"

Not describing even the circumstances and single-minded recklessness at her own convenience; it was indeed a Celica-like letter.

After Kazuma finished reading the letter's contents, Nine began to talk in a threatening and aggressive manner.

"Yesterday, you brought up the matter about her father. But until now, whenever someone brought it up, Celica never rushed out to find him like now. You influenced Celica to do something irresponsible, didn't you!? If you didn't, THEN WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!?"

The words which started in low tone finally ignited with rage; Nine violently kicked the chair beside Kazuma. The modest chair gave a creak and fell over.

"I sympathize with your feeling, but please don't break the furnitu..."

Even while flinching from the rough sound, Kazuma spoke back. Responding to it, Nine's high heels went silent. She pinned Kazuma's shoulder to the desk behind with her high heel.

"...I'm asking you once more. Answer honestly. I'll kill you if you give me lies."

"Y-Yes."

"Where did Celica go? What have you been telling that girl?"

Konoe Mercury, the prodigy who was blessed with exceptional talent. The ninth Sage. With unusual force, her eyes glared at Kazuma as if shooting through him with their glints.

Were those eyes also shooting through the truth which Kazuma kept to himself?

As if overpowered, Kazuma raised his eyes at Nine and squeezed out the answer.

"I... I don't know. Nothing."

Nine's face distorted in terrible displeasure. Like a whip, her arms stretched out, seizing Kazuma's collar for the second time.

Kazuma raised a miserable voice and moved his body a little.

Trinity bent herself forward to stop Nine.

Then, it was in that moment. From the window, a beam of light shot between them. It came from the direction of the academy.

The light was as thick as a person's index finger and hit the room's floor without damaging the windowpane. With the smoothness of signing a document, it drew a message.

——The Ten Sages are to assemble at once.

After its brief message, the light which had lasted for five seconds disappeared.

It was a conveying magic. The request from the Mages' Guild's officials had to be for the Ten Sages.

It was obviously addressed to Nine.

"At such a time..."

Groaning in irritation, Nine let go of Kazuma again.

"It seems you've escaped death. I'll interrogate you further next time."

Forcefully holding down her anger, Nine turned around, together with her hair and mantle. Like that, she dashed out of the room without giving Kazuma so much as a backwards glance.

In the quiet and simple hallway of the boy's dormitory, loud footsteps from high heels reverberated loudly.

While listening to the dying sounds of the footsteps as they got further away, Trinity lowered her eyebrows; and while still sitting, she reached out her hand to Kazuma prompting him to take it.

"Sorry. Please... don't get offended~."

Gripping kazuma's hand as he rose to his feet, Trinity spoke as if wishing. Her gentle eyes were awfully sad and had grown wet; it looked like she would begin to cry any time soon.

"For Nine, Celica-san is her only precious family. Her mother died a very long time ago and her father left home ten years ago. It seems Nine has lived while always, always protecting Celica-san."

"That's why she's that overprotective, I see."

Looking toward the direction of the door that was still left open, Kazuma muttered in bitter sympathy.

Trinity slightly nodded. She was a much shorter girl when compared to Kazuma, but she seemed smaller than ever now.

"Despite her appearance, Nine's a very sensitive girl. When Celica-san's, her irreplaceable sister's figure is missing, I know that she can't help but feel anxious and worried. That's why..."

Trinity raised her eyes to Kazuma with calm tone of voice. The wise green eyes were wishing, seemingly begging.

"About Celica-san. If you know something, please tell~. It's all right to speak it to me. Even if it's only a bit of information, I think it'll calm Nine down."

"...Umm. My apologies."

Kazuma pulled his hand away from Trinity's.

"I truly don't know where Celica-san might have gone to. I'm worried about Celica-san nonetheless."

He only said sorry as he looked downward. The dropped gaze was even lower than at Trinity who was looking up.

For a little while, Trinity looked shocked and hesitated to speak, but she eventually raised her face and showed a smile through her tears.

"That's so, isn't it. I've been very rude... being somewhat doubting. If you learn about something, then..."

"Of course. Even if it's minor, I'll tell you if I learn something."

It was a promise he couldn't keep but it did help to encourage her, Trinity's eyes began to open at Kazuma's words. Holding her chest with the fingers peeking out from her loose sleeves, she deeply bowed her head.

"Thank you, Kazuma-san~. Then, I'll also excuse myself. I'm worried to leave Nine alone as she is now."

"Be careful."

Kazuma replied with a slight nod.

When Trinity entered the hallway, in front of the door she once again bowed her head, just slightly this time. The hem of her long robe waved as she began to jog to chase after Nine.

Until the retreating figure that was like a small person from a fairy-tale disappeared down the staircase, until the still vanishing footsteps completely disappeared, Kazuma stood in front of the room and continued to see her off.

The hallway of the dormitory was silent.

After Kazuma returned to the room, he went toward the window. Placing his back against the wall, he made sure to hide himself and peeked outside from behind the lace curtain.

After a short while, he saw a small retreating figure with platinum blonde hair, which could be clearly seen even from a distance, spilling from her hood while she ran out of the dormitory. For a moment, she looked over her shoulder as if something was bothering her; but without looking up at the room's window, she left just like that.

The figure completely disappeared from Kazuma's sight.

Leaning his body near the window, Kazuma took a thin, deep breath.

"...Khu..."

His emotions were welling up, his slender shoulders were trembling as if shaking. Unable to endure it, Kazuma covered his face with his palm.

Between the spread of his thin fingers, the ends of his lips gradually raised up.

"Khu, kuku... Fu, hahahahahahahahaha."

It was amusing. He couldn't suppress the laugh at all.

As his stomach convulsed, his sides grew painful. His back slid down the wall until he was once again sat on the floor. Even so, he kept on laughing even more.

"Khukkukukuku, hahahaha, fuhaha, ha... Oh no, my stomach hurts... Khuku, what's with those faces? The faces both of them made... Hi, hahaha. Even if they search anywhere on this island, that girl isn't here anymore."

The important younger sister, the precious friend's younger sister; she must have got on a ship which departed early this morning and was crossing over the ocean about now. It was already too late to panic as it was approaching noon now.

What was even more amusing was that Nine, who had threatened to kill Kazuma if he told lies, didn't kill him after all; and following that, even Trinity left Kazuma behind and took off.

In the end, Nine gave up on determining if Kazuma's words were lies.

In the end, Trinity gave up on doubting Kazuma.

Naïve, naïve, naïve. Terumi had said it some time ago.

Saying things like "after being imprisoned on such a disgusting island, Kazuma didn't have to be influences by those dumb pretty magicians".

Good grief. It was sentimental enough to suffocated him. It was because he secluded himself inside the island, that Terumi called disgusting, and only spent time alone in his room that he couldn't make clear judgment.

So sweet it made him want to vomit.

"Aah... To laugh and speak in such a manner."

As he hit his head against the wall, making a dull sound, Kazuma again and again laughed while facing the ceiling.

He used to think that he couldn't fathom the joyful laughter of someone in the academy when he heard it. But might their laughter also be this refreshing?

His chest felt refreshed; it was a feeling like he was looking up at a clear blue sky.

Nothing would hinder him anymore.

Nothing would refuse him anymore.

Nothing would shun him anymore.

The road was all set.

"I..."

On the ceiling he looked up at, there was an old stain. From the time he had first applied at the school, he had grown accustomed to it. An unchanging stain.

You've been in such a boring place, right? You've been in such a narrow and suffocating place, right?

Everything had already ended.

Reversing his motions from before, Kazuma slid his back up the wall while standing up.

Outside of the window was the invigorating Ishana which was turning impure, dyed in seithr.

It was amusing. It was so extremely delightful and enjoyable that he was about to laugh uncontrollably again.

"I'm going to obtain it..."

He tore his shadow from the wall as he began to walk.

The destination had been decided.

He was going to obtain it.

The Azure .

### Part 3

Mages' Guild——Cathedral.

A place where Mages' Guild's ceremonies were held, including the Ten Sages' canonization. It was also a facility that continued to witness the long history of the Mages' Guild in this land. For those reasons, the Cathedral was also said to be a symbol indicating the Mages' Guild itself.

Positioned on a section of the academy's courtyard, its appearance was a small building made of white stone. But in reality, the construct had a lot of hidden space underground.

In the circular council room located in the Cathedral's underground, all the members of the Ten Sages on duty had been assembled due to the emergency.

Although it was all members, the number of people was less than ten.

Uniformly wearing dignified robes and large triangular hats, they, accompanied by quiet tension, were surrounding a round table with a strange pattern.

Of course, the figure of Nine who had been summoned by the conveying magic just a while ago was also among them.

"Everyone must have noticed already... Seithr is flowing into Ishana."

The emergency meeting began with a dignified, heavy tone of voice from a man acting as chair for the meeting.

Encircled by magic lights which were floating in midair, the Ten Sages held their breath.

Anybody was aware that seithr had begun to foul Ishana's air. But the question was how the seithr was getting in.

The chair continued.

"You must all remember Nine's report that a tear was forming in part of the barrier. It appears the seithr is coming through that tear."

At those words, several of the Ten Sages murmured in low tone.

Last night, the Ten Sages had also gathered like now. Then, a report from Nine was established regarding the tear in the barrier. But last night, as there had been no seithr getting in or any indication of it, the decision was made to postpone the restoration and investigation of the cause.

The female Sage sitting across from Nine knocked away her chair trying to stand up.

"What's the cause of the influx? In last night's report, there wasn't even a mention of seithr flowing from the tear...!?"

"Ishana's atmosphere should have been clean enough to force back seithr. It's unthinkable for it to have changed in one night!"

The Ten Sages unanimously shouted about the baffling matters.

Hearing this, Nine was absolutely silent as she looked downward.

Nine knew. She knew why seithr had increased in force in one night and covered Ishana's atmosphere.

There was a hole in the barrier; and the power that could prevent seithr getting to Ishana's air was gone. What had been holding back seithr was neither the barrier nor the pure atmosphere. It was a completely different factor.

(Celica...)

Her younger sister was born special. Somehow, she had never caught a cold or even been ill. From before she could speak, she had been able to use healing magic. She possessed an abnormal life force.

The strange physical constitution of Celica, who only specialized in healing, had a special characteristic of restraining seithr's activity just by existing.

The theory on how she could do it was unknown. Because Nine had never thought to clarify it, she also shouldn't be able to prove it now. Naturally, the Ten Sages didn’t even know about Celica's physical constitution.

The only thing clearly known was, preventing the seithr influx was the result of Celica's idiosyncrasy affecting Ishana's atmosphere. Then, for seithr to be flowing meant that Celica had already left the island.

(Where did you go... Celica.)

Nine grasped her fists tightly above her lap.

Yesterday night, it had already grown very late when she returned home. Because she thought Celica would have been asleep, Nine didn't check her room and went to bed. She hated herself for it.

Last night, Celica must have already gone from the house.

If she could, she would immediately rush out of here and then proceed to find Celica. However.

"If we leave the seithr as it is, the barrier we have been protecting until now would become a lid and the whole island would be filled with seithr. If such a thing happened... the dense seithr would notify the Black Beast about our existence, and that monster would appear on the island."

The elderly woman who was the most senior among the Ten Sages spoke in a heavy voice.

Seithr was a portion of Black Beast, its vanguard, and also passage. In other words, when a location had seithr, it was assuredly a place that was at risk of the Black Beast appearing.

While seithr spread throughout the world, Ishana was the only exception. However, that exception was over now.

Trying to follow the elderly woman, other Sages opened their mouths one after another.

"If the Black Beast appears, this island will be helpless. We must restore the barrier at once, and stop the influx of seithr!"

"The threat is not just the Black Beast. If mankind comes into contact with dense seithr for a long period of time, bad effects would occur in their mind and body. Think about the potential of a massive outbreak of seithr poisoning too!"

"Restoring the barrier will take too much time. Removing the barrier temporarily and forming it again is more..."

"Ridiculous! That's the same as stripping the island naked. If it's done poorly, disturbing elements from outside would get in!"

"Still, the seithr density in Ishana is even higher than that found outside of the island."

"Even if we form the barrier again or restore the current one, during the time it takes, the people of this island will continue to be exposed with seithr. I wonder if there's nothing we could do to deal with the islanders right now."

If the barrier doesn't get closed, the seithr density on the island will continue to rise. But while the barrier is being closed, there would be potential for the Black Beast to sniff out the dense seithr and appear.

Currently, Ishana was confronting a crisis it had never encountered before.

The meeting was flooded with several claims; the way forward still couldn't be seen.

Toward it, Nine quietly formed her hands to fists; the mouth, that had remained fastened until then, opened.

"Restoring the barrier and disposing seithr are urgent duties that only we, the Ten Sages, can do. Neither of them can be given priority. We have to divide the Ten Sages into two groups, simultaneously taking measures. ...Immediately."

It wasn't the right sort of situation to crowd the desk and continue arguing.

With those cold, calm words, the room fell uniformly silent.

Everyone was considering if that was feasible. No matter which one they did, the strengths of everyone in this room were needed.

But finally, the chair made a fist and spoke.

"Indeed. I shall take it upon myself to restore the barrier. Nine, you are in charge of eliminating seithr."

"...Yes."

While leaving her chair, Nine nodded.

Nine also understood it wasn't a simple task. For everything to be resolved, a considerable amount of time would be needed. It would be already too late to chase after Celica.

Even so, Nine couldn't let herself abandon her duty int he face of this situation.

Because in this island, in this town, there was a home to whic Celica could return.

Under the command of the chair, the low number of the Ten Sages held, even at the best of times, was even further reduced as they were divided into two groups. Then, in order to neutralize and remove the seithr that was filling the island, Nine ran toward Ishana's town.

The Ten Sages were hurriedly leaving the Cathedral. Kazuma had been watching from the academy's hallway while resting his chin on his hand by the window frame.

Usually, many students would be walking back and forth through the hallways. As today was a holiday, it was quiet since nobody had a reason to be here. Unexpectedly in the uninhabited hallway, the sunlight pouring through the windows was warm.

In the vicinity of the Cathedral visible from the window, nobody could be seen anymore.

With such a critical situation in which it wouldn't be strange for the Black Beast to appear any moment, they must have thought that no person would purposely go into the Cathedral. All the members of the Mages' Guild who usually stood guard had also left in order to assist the Ten Sages.

Looking at it from here, the Cathedral was quite small, and very lovely. Seemingly having nothing to do with the magnificent organization Mages' Guild, it also looked like a chapel in the corner of a public park.

"If it's really like that, I'd be more willing to approach it."

While removing the hand which held his chin above the window frame, Kazuma raised the edges of his lips to make a bitter smile.

Appearing to be harmless, the deeper he went, there was bound to be strong barriers to protect it.

Nonetheless, it was laid out by humans in the end. There was no way an object that was made by human hands couldn't be broken by another human's hands.

"Well then. Guess I should I go."

Dutifully closing the opened window, Kazuma put both hands in the pockets of his trousers and started walking.

It was then when there was a noise of shoes hitting the hallway.

With a seemingly faint fragrance fluttering about, a short figure of a person appeared from one of the stairway's landings.

A bright colored robe which completely covered the entire body from head to toe; stunning platinum blonde hair overflowing from her crown. Big round eyeglasses, and clear green pupils behind it.

"Where are you going?"

To the voice that was like sickeningly sweet sugar candy, Kazuma vigilantly showed a smile.

"...I see you've come, Trinity Glassfille-san."

### Part 4

Upon recognizing the figure, Kazuma found this development to be unexpected while simultaneously realizing that it was understandable.

He thought that if she were to come, it would be now.

As he stopped walking at the borderline between the hallway and staircase, Kazuma gazed at the girl who was like a character from a fairy-tale. Only a few hours ago, he had seen her off from his dormitory's room. Although the glint in Kazuma's eye shouldn't be visible from where Trinity stood.

"Did you follow me? When you show your true face like this, you're unexpectedly an ill-natured person."

When Kazuma meekly displayed a sarcastic smile, Trinity, seemingly sad, shook her head.

"It's not that I followed you. I've been waiting for you in the academy's courtyard. And then, I saw your figure from that window~."

"Oh, my goodness. I didn't notice you."

Trying to pass it off as joke, Kazuma shrugged his shoulders. Just because he got caught, it didn't affect his plans.

Seemingly understanding about it too, Trinity tried to talk while making a feeble smile.

"You're... planning to go to the Cathedral, aren't you."

"Why do you think that?"

"The other day, you spoke of it at the Great Library."

While trying to use a gentle and calm tone, Trinity spoke with dignity.

Kazuma raised his eyebrows.

"This is surprising. Does that mean you've been monitoring me since then?"

"Monitoring is..."

Finally in Trinity's tone of voice, the usual girlish delicate feelings blurred in.

Kazuma began to grin.

"The one who gave the instruction is Nine-san, right?"

Trinity remained tight-lipped, but she didn't deny it.

Kazuma smiled more and more deeply.

"Oh my, women are terrifying indeed. While monitoring me, you even invited me to drink tea."

As she was being told of ill-spoken things, Trinity's eyes quickly got seemingly sad and clouded.

If it were some time ago, he would be worried about it even if only for a little while; but now, it was unbearably amusing. About to begin to laugh unintentionally, Kazuma was barely able to gulp it down.

"I'm sorry, but I can't keep chatting with you forever. If you have a business, then please be quick. Even though things may appear different, I'm actually in a bit of a rush."

It was pleasant to ridicule Trinity, but there was a limit to the allowed time. It was unlikely for the Ten Sages to come back soon. But if there were any of the Mages' Guild's other workers wandering around, it would be a bother; so he couldn't let it happen.

"Go ahead", urged Kazuma as he tilted his head. Trinity stiffened her expression. With a bit of determination in her voice, she began to talk.

"Please don't go to the Cathedral."

"But I haven't said anything about going to Cathedral, have I?"

"Even so, you're planning to go there, right? It's forbidden to enter the Cathedral without permission. Besides, the door is currently locked... there's no excuse if you enter it on your own."

"Then I won't go inside. Too bad, I guess."

"Well then," nodded Kazuma as he started to walk to slip out past Trinity.

But before he passed her, his arm was grabbed by Trinity, forcibly restraining him.

Kazuma involuntarily stopped and turned his head. With both hands, Trinity grabbed Kazuma's arm tightly. Her desperate and serious gaze looked his way.

"...You can't go to the Cathedral."

Obstinately, she repeated it again.

Kazuma sighed and displayed his astonishment by shaking his head.

"Really, what an annoying person. It sounds like you think I will go to the Cathedral whatever the case."

"Then, can you please not go there?"

The sincere green eyes stared at Kazuma.

Those eyes must be somehow reflecting the current him. It wasn't worth worrying about, but Kazuma felt a little bit of interest. Nonetheless, it really wasn't worth worrying about. He shrugged his thin shoulders.

"If I say ' I won't go'... will you believe it?"

"No. Until the situation has been settled, please stay with me."

"Oh ho, an immediate reply. How heartless."

As for Trinity's serious tone of voice, Kazuma lightly retaliated as if laughing at it.

It was unbearably amusing every time her affectionate green eyes wavered as if hurt. Sadistic feeling gushed forth from his chest.

While he smirked, Kazuma shifted his provocative eyes from the gap in his bangs.

"Please don't make such a grim face. It's almost like it's telling me you'll use force if I refuse."

"If it's necessary... I plan to do so."

"Well, well. I couldn't imagine those words from the gentle Trinity Glassfille-san."

"KAZUMA-SAN!"

As if scolding a troublesome child, Trinity raised her voice. Though, it was still only Trinity after all; it was miles away from Nine's intimidating vigor.

A tone of voice that would make anyone with a normal conscience speechless in an instant; a tone that stirred up guilt.

"It's not like I know all about what Kazuma-san's trying to do~. However... your action will put Nine and the Ten Sages, also the Mages' Guild in meaningless chaos. If something further happened, not just Nine, there's a potential that the Mages' Guild itself would regard you as dangerous, you know?"

The eyes of Trinity held a sincere look as she tried to persuade him.

Looking back at her, Kazuma laughed as if making fun of it.

"You seem to say that I'm the source of all troubles. Unless I had opened that hole in the barrier, unless I had lured the seithr in through the hole, there's no reason to suspect me."

"No. Seithr has flown in because of Kazuma-san."

Trinity declared her denial. That tone of voice wasn't accusing in the least; it was transparent as fresh water.

"Last night, you informed Celica-san about the tear in the barrier. And then you guided Celica-san so she could use it to get outside."

"You're speaking as if you saw it."

Kazuma cut the conversation to tease her, but Trinity didn't respond to it.

She knew. She did know. The reason Kazuma took Celica out from the island, and the words he used to tempt Celica.

Proving it logically wasn't necessary. Trinity knowing about it was the whole truth, so Kazuma also wasn't going to deny it anymore now.

Trinity tried to moderate her voice a bit and continued.

"Celica-san has a particular ability from when she was small. That ability somehow appears to have a characteristic of suppressing seithr... Therefore even if a hole opened in the barrier, seithr wouldn't be able to get into Ishana. However, since you took Celica-san outside..."

The force which opposed seithr was no longer there, and Ishana's air became polluted just like the outside world.

"Hmm," muttered Kazuma as the eyes behind his bangs squinted. Curiosity sparkled in those eyes.

"That is convenient. Because of it, those eyesore, the Ten Sages, got driven out from the Cathedral."

He wasn't aware of Celica's physical constitution, but it was fortunate indeed.

This was surely fate. Also true for when he met Celica by chance and encountered Terumi. Standing here at this moment was also a moment of fate.

With his uplifting feeling steadily increasing, Kazuma embraced that thought in his mind.

As Kazuma appeared to be somewhat enjoying himself, Trinity stared at him intensely with a reproachful look.

"Don't say such a thing like eyesores. She and the others are now desperately doing their best in order to protect the island we live in."

Strength was put into Trinity's fingers which were gripping Kazuma's arm.

It was the unreliable grip of a powerless girl. He didn't feel even a tiny speck of pain. But strangely, Kazuma sensed an undeniable spirit. The smile was erased from his face.

Trinity lifted her eyebrows, fully raising her round chin, and looked up to Kazuma to urge him.

"Do you understand, Kazuma-san? If you make the mistake, you'll get expelled from the academy or even from the island. You may even be given a more severe punishment."

As if to say that she couldn't deal with those outcomes, Trinity's voice wavered. In a gentle and pleasantly soft voice, she tried to persuade him as if she was praying.

"I... regard Kazuma-san as an important friend. Certainly, Nine can't keep her eyes off you like you've said~. And I'm also worried about your behaviors. Even if you call it monitoring, I feel like it can't be helped. But it's definitely not anything for you to be cautious about. I've just always been worried about you..."

Her green eyes became wet with emotion.

Kazuma wondered if she was about to cry, but although tears were accumulating in Trinity's eyes, they didn't drop.

"For some time, something has drastically changed in Kazuma-san. It's like you got mixed up with something mysterious... You appear to always have a dark shadow beside you. It's like it's taking the Kazuma Kuvaru-san I know to a place of no return... I've always been uneasy."

"The Kazuma Kuvaru... you know?"

Kazuma briefly repeated Trinity's words. It was downright strange sounding.

Kazuma Kuvaru. It was the only name representing himself; but it felt very empty and worthless now.

He wondered if that was the 'place of no return' Trinity was talking about.

Trinity's hands pulled Kazuma's arm to hold it tight.

The distance between them grew shorter. The mood which Trinity was clad in was similar to the smell of sweet candy or flowers; it grazed his skin and made him feel uneasy.

The persistent clear eyes that had been truly sincere were reflecting Kazuma, not letting him go.

"The Kazuma-san I know is a kind person. He's indiscriminately gentle toward any person. And If I greeted him, he'd always answer with a smile. Although I speak sluggishly like this, he'd always listen properly. I understand that you feel bothered about losing your memory, but the memory-less you is a great person."

It was obvious that Trinity spoke her true feelings unhesitatingly.

And similarly, it was also obvious that she unhesitatingly trusted Kazuma.

He would definitely realize it if they spoke of it. Her strong trusting demeanor gave off sincerity that was enough to make even Kazuma surprised.

"I beg of you. Please... don't do anything dangerous anymore. Other than that, I'll do anything in my power no matter what it is. So...!"

Trinity's hands clung to Kazuma's arm tighter.

It looked like she firmly vowed in her heart never to release him. If he got loose of her hands, there would be no returning again for Kazuma. He harbored such a belief.

Kazuma didn't answer her immediately. As if astonished, as if admiring her resolve. Similar feelings but with different sentiments; several of them probably got mixed up.

After a little while, Kazuma deeply sighed and let the tension out from his shoulders as if he was exhausted.

"...Understood. I understand very well, Trinity Glassfille-san."

As Kazuma spoke like he was giving up, with a relief to the point where she would burst into tears any moment, Trinity's expression broadened.

"Then...!"

"Yes."

As gently as he could, Kazuma smiled at her.

"You are a hopeless fool."

No sooner had he finished, Kazuma held up his hand in front of Trinity's face.

Before the large green eyes could blink in bewilderment... an invisible shock wave fired from Kazuma's hand blew Trinity away.

Like a ragdoll, thrown away by its owner, the fragile woman's body crashed into the wall beside the staircase. The impact made a dull crashing noise; and as if dragging it longer, she collapsed to the cold floor.

Without even groaning in pain, she lost consciousness.

While looking at the helplessly collapsed Trinity, Kazuma put both hands into his trousers' pockets again. Casually stepping toward her, he looked down on the disordered platinum blonde hair which was falling to the floor.

"Geez~, you're really foolish. Someday, you'll lose your life because of that stupidity, you know? It'd be better to be more careful. ...Oh, you can't hear me already. Hahaha."

He burst out laughing. While his laughter resounded loudly within the hallway, Kazuma leisurely descended the academy's staircase he frequently utilised.

### 019. Chapter 6: Voice of Emerald Evil

### Part 1

When he exited the academy's school building into the courtyard, he thought that the weather outside felt nice.

The sky appeared hazier than usual. There were signs of it turning slightly dark.

Facing the whole city, he wondered if the Ten Sages in charge of purifying the seithr had produced any results. The way things were going, their hands would still be full for a while.

Kazuma went across the silent courtyard, a strange atmosphere compared with the normal bustle of the Mages' Guild. He headed toward the Cathedral which was standing centrally.

The meandering path was refreshing as if it was a promenade through a forest.

Lying in wait in the middle, the Cathedral was just as small as when viewed from the hallway's window. It didn't seem like the sort of place the Mages' Guild would store their classified information.

Similar to a chapel, the entrance housed a large pair of wooden double doors. Just as Trinity had said, it was securely locked.

But for this island that had been raising magicians, things like physical locks only had the significance of a sign which had 'No entry without permission' written on it. With a short incantation and a small pattern drawn with his fingertip the lock fell, allowing Kazuma to continue all too soon.

After he got inside, he closed the doors. As he proceeded, he noticed that the place was silent as though it was a different airspace.

The air inside the building was a little warm compared to the outdoors.

Kazuma went in further. It seemed there was nobody inside. Granted it was a matter of course.

In the history of the Mages' Guild, today was the most critical situation. During such circumstances, there was no way that someone with knowledge of security magic would just be stood guard here.

And rather, the guardsmen for Cathedral were in charge of giving warning.

As there was nothing but a large hall on the Cathedral's ground floor, there was no reason to get rid of intruders. What was absolutely forbidden to enter was what was beyond here, the Cathedral's underground.

On the door leading to underground, there was a severely secure barrier imbued. If he were to carelessly approach it, he wouldn't get out with merely a scratch.

The guardsmen were instructed to warn anyone who carelessly approached the barrier.

Kazuma stood in front of the entrance which was leading to the underground.

"...This looks troublesome."

What was lying in wait for Kazuma was a wooden door which was heavy from the looks of it. It appeared it was enveloped in a slightly white haze.

Judging by the heightened magical power that was visible, it was a barrier.

Kazuma wasn't poor at cancelling barrier magic during class, but this one was a different case. When he cautiously stretched out his hand... he felt an uncomfortable feeling on his fingers.

Just by standing close to a strong barrier, it would burn a person's skin in order to repel them. However, this door was nothing like that.

Kazuma's fingers were hanging close to the door while he pondered over whether to touch it or not. But immediately, he boldly placed his hand on the door.

His breath was taken away reflexively. He had prepared for the appropriate impact and damage.

But even after three whole seconds had elapsed, Kazuma was still silently grabbing the door's knob.

When he pushed against it, the door opened.

The barrier was still functioning but Kazuma's hand broke through it and opened the door.

"What's the meaning of this...?"

Even when he muttered, no one answered.

Although he was confused, Kazuma narrowly slipped through the door and stepped inside. It was baffling, but if he could get in, then he wouldn't hesitate.

Inside the door was continuation of the hallway which had an arched ceiling. In the inner part, there was stairway leading downward, underground.

The magical lights which were floating at fixed intervals illuminated Kazuma's path.

As he went underground, the structure became more and more expansive. On the upper level, there was a meeting room and a room used to observe various data; both were used by all members of Mages' Guild.

Moreover as he went further downward, a meeting room that sometimes had been used for the Ten Sages' ceremonies appeared.

On each level, there were barriers erected whose strength matched the ability of the human who was authorized to utilize it. They weren't such things that could be lifted by the likes of students at all.

But even so, Kazuma's body was able to continue ahead. The barriers couldn't stop him; as if he was slipping through the mesh of a net that was supposed to catch intruders.

When the long stairway heading downwards into the depths of the cathedral ended, he arrived at an elevator which was controlled by magic. He also passed the barrier which had been erected there.

As if he was being guided——Kazuma arrived at the lowest level of the Cathedral.

After exiting the elevator, the hallway's ceiling grew tall which made it unlikely that it was underground. As expected, a wooden door awaited beyond that point.

Like a stamped seal, a magic circle appeared on the door.

No one but the Ten Sages was permitted to come here. Moreover, since a suitable magical power was needed, a barrier with ruthless degree of security was applied in such a way that if somebody were to touch it by mistake, they wouldn't be spared. It would result in death.

Shutting his mouth tightly, Kazuma touched the last guardian with a sullen look.

His fingers touched the wooden surface. After sliding them across the door as though he was tracing something, his palm finally touched it completely.

What he felt on his skin was just the firmness on an old, normal tree. It felt like if he were holding an axe, he could easily tear it down.

There was no handle on the door. As he pushed, it slowly opened as expected.

Of course, being able to get in here made even Kazuma frown in confusion.

Why couldn't the Cathedral's barriers stop Kazuma? Not even once had he used cancelling magic, but he had still managed to arrive at the lowest level.

"It's like... I'm being invited in."

Not matching its aging appearance, the door opened silently as Kazuma passed through it while he muttered.

Beyond the door was a breathtakingly vast circular room.

The ceiling was even taller than the hallway's. Although there wasn't any magical lighting device floating, the whole room seemed to be slightly luminescent as it was faintly bright.

The floor was tiled with mosaics; a stretched large flower-like pattern was depicted from the center to the outside. If it wasn't a flower, it might be a sun or flame pattern.

While stepping forward to the outermost petals, Kazuma looked around the surroundings.

Although the inside of the room was absurdly spacious, it was empty. It was nothing but a deserted room. Rather than being a place of storage for classified information, it was as if some kind of ceremony were about to begin at the place.

The drifting air had a different kind of coolness from the outside. It might be because there was no window and he didn't know how far he'd come that he had completely lost track of time.

When he took a step forward, the small, hard noise of footsteps disappeared like it was absorbed into the floor.

And at the same time, he felt the beating inside his chest accelerate.

"Here... The Azure is..."

Kazuma must be thinking that he had obtained the means to reach the Azure. Before he noticed it, Kazuma had been intending to get the Azure itself.

It wasn't reasonable anymore. It went beyond reasoning and it felt like instinct.

The inside of the room was even warmer than the surface. It was like he was within the warmth of a living being. The faint drifting heat slowly agitated Kazuma's spirits.

But for some reason, while walking further in, Kazuma also gradually became impatient.

There was nothing here. If there was no document or data, a map indicating where the Azure was wouldn't exist.

But it was impossible that there was nothing here. Terumi definitely said it was here.

"Terumi-san!"

Inside the giant, empty room, Kazuma raised his voice.

His voice echoed off the ceiling.

"I managed to get inside the Cathedral. Where is the Mages' Guild's classified information!?"

Kazuma hadn't expected it to be here; it was Terumi who said it. But if that was the case, what could this vast, unoccupied room hold?

He looked up at the ceiling as if to search for Terumi's presence. While he looked around the room, little by little Kazuma's steps became wider as he walked toward the inner part of the room.

It was when he arrived at the center of the hall, he heard it.

"Soooo, you finally arrived~. Don't make me wait so long, Kazuma-chan."

Terumi's voice could be heard.

Taken aback, Kazuma looked around the surroundings. However, Terumi's figure was nowhere to be seen. Although there was no spot in which to hide, he couldn't even find a part of his shadow.

Despite that, Terumi's voice got even more audible.

"I got worried since you're so late, y'know? I've been wondering if you don't care about the Azure anymore and instead went along with those women to have a fun time enjoying tea~ ...while forgetting everything completely."

"Give me a break. Don't say such a disgusting thing."

Attempting to face his invisible friend, Kazuma showed an unambitious smile.

Kazuma sharpened his glare to search around the room.

Whenever Terumi started to talk, no doubt some kind of a situation was developing.

The few days from his first meeting with Terumi, each time he appeared, Kazuma's world had little by little been changing. The old days which were like invisible labyrinth had turned into a path.

It would be the same this time, surely. Bearing such feeling, Kazuma answered to the empty sky.

"Didn't I make a promise with you that I would definitely reach it? ...Besides, above all, I want to recover it."

In low voice, Kazuma spoke of his real motive. At that moment, the frivolous smile had already disappeared from his mouth.

He no longer hesitated. Inside Kazuma's chest, there was only a yearning toward the Azure.

"Really? You really want to get it back? Obtaining the Azure means you can't ever go back. Even if you regretted it, you wouldn't be able to let it go. You really still fine even like that?"

Terumi's question, asked at this late stage, instead seemed to encourage Kazuma's thought. Naturally, Kazuma didn't intend to go against it.

"There won't be any regret. I'll obtain it. All this time, I've been wishing only to have it."

The real him.

Who he should be.

Although even his shadow wasn't in sight, he knew that Terumi was grinning.

"Then... look. It's just right there, isn't it?"

"Right there?"

Questioning, Kazuma again looked around the surrounding.

The truly vast room where he stood alone was silent, as if time had stopped.

It might be his imagination, but currently, the flow of time here felt slow.

"It's there. Just right there. Look, it's really close to you..."

The voice that came from the strained throat teased Kazuma on purpose. It whispered to him from awfully close.

"It's... below your feet."

Then, he was attacked by goose bumps.

Rather than a chill that ran on his spine, it was a sensation like a flaming hot snake crawling up.

Kazuma followed the urging from the snake on his spine and looked down on his feet.

Before he knew it, both of Kazuma's feet had arrived firmly at the very center of the hall. The core of the large flower, sun, and swirling flame of a pattern.

The floor was polished, just like a mirror. There was a reflection of him looking back up. His eyes met the eyes of the other side's image.

Disordered, long bangs, slender feet and thin shoulders, a familiar academy uniform. It was the usual him.

As if drawn in by his reflection, Kazuma put one knee down to the spot and bent over.

Toward the circular center of the mosaic tiles, he gently placed his hand.

That instant——.

"...!"

His cry didn't come out.

As both his and the image's palms touched each other, his body trembled as if petrified. He got frozen on the spot.

Travelling up his arm, via the hand that touched the floor, something was entering Kazuma.

Like a storm that caused surging waves, it was a tremendous torrent of information.

### Part 2

Seven years ago... Mage's Guild, Ishana, barrier... the safest island in the world.

Relius Clover... dream... Shuuichirou Ayatsuki... white haired man... 'someone' madly laughing.

...The room with a Cauldron.

Phrases, history, time... Black Beast... Past... A hundred years...

Kazuma Kuvaru.

Yuuki Terumi.

... ...... ............

The surging information hit Kazuma's body with the impact of thrown stones. It rushed into his brain.

Behind his eyes, sparks were scattering. With dizziness eating at his soul, it was almost like his flesh was melting into something new.

He wasn't allowed to reject it or surrender. The enormous information was flowing forcefully on its own; just like a full glass of water, drunk in one gulp, soaking inside Kazuma.

If he were to express that feeling with a word... then it would be ecstasy. A trembling pleasant feeling that struck him into a small trance.

Similar to the feeling when someone inserted the last piece of a puzzle. Similar to the feeling when slightly separated shadows overlapped into one.

Desired objects going into the desired place. It was such a coherent pleasure.

"That's why... That's why I... had to come here."

While slowly removing his palm from the floor, Kazuma's lips moved slightly as he muttered. Not even a slight doubt remained in that voice anymore.

Likewise, the thin and tall body slowly stood up.

Right after raising his face, he looked directly at the man standing in front of him.

Terumi was there.

As usual, from inside the low hood which was intended to hide his expression, eyes like those of snake aiming at its prey were looking at Kazuma. The splitting mouth, which was about to smile, spoke.

"It would be meaningless to go anywhere but here. You can't find place like this even if you search the rest of the world after all."

"And Relius Clover... the man who created me knew it from the very beginning, didn't he?"

Kazuma remembered everything.

No, he'd recovered everything was more appropriate.

That was because the memories he had to remember never existed inside Kazuma.

Seven years ago, the day when he arrived at Ishana as an amnesiac was truly the first day in Kazuma's life. That day, that time, Kazuma's memory started.

Kazuma wasn't tied to nature unlike a born child.

He was an existence manufactured by Relius Clover by making full use of magic, alchemy, and science.

Not remembering anything and the way he healed at a bizarre rate were also none other than modifications made by Relius.

He gained form as an existence eight years ago. A few months later, he was transported to Ishana.

His consciousness as an existence woke seven years ago. And then for the following seven years, he continued to live academy life as Kazuma Kuvaru.

Then why was Kazuma created?

That was because he would become the man before his eyes... Yuuki Terumi's body.

"January 1st six years ago. During Relius Clover's trial experiment, the Black Beast appeared. I was around during the time, you see. That time, my body went poof . My spirit form also got injured and took five whole years to heal. Then I asked that damn Relius for another body... in short, he told me to find you. Y'know there's a ridiculous barrier set around Ishana, right? What kind of joke was that? It ain't funny."

Although his mouth was torn into a crescent moon shape, Terumi cursed while speaking. Rough footsteps resounded as Terumi walked around Kazuma with an unnaturally slow pace.

"To add to my troubles, you didn't even recognize me. You're the first body to ever give me a pain in the ass."

"That... must be troublesome."

Kazuma spontaneously showed a smile. There was a hint of detest somewhere in Terumi smile.

Looking at Kazuma from below his hood, Terumi snorted to show he wasn't amused.

Trying to ignore what he had heard, Kazuma dropped his gaze to his feet.

He now truly understood what object the mosaic tiles were depicting. What the crude picture was indicating was some kind of bright red lava he saw in his dream the other day.

——The Cauldron.

"Until a short while ago, I couldn't even imagine that a Cauldron could exist in Ishana. Then again, I didn't even know of the existence of the objects known as Cauldrons."

Kazuma made noises as he hit the tile on the center of the room with his tiptoe.

The Cauldron was an object similar to a volcano's crater. It had been excavated from deep underground by humanity's hands. Inside, red flames were dancing as if denying living beings. There was an airspace called the Boundary stretched out across the core.

And there was one purpose for the core.

Master Units. They were omnipotent existences whose only purpose was to keep observing all of space-time and all existences within. They were often likened to god.

So in short, the Boundary was a domain ruled by god.

"Since the time the Mages' Guild was established... No, since roughly thousands of years ago, this Cauldron has existed here. It has been maintaining the Mages' Guild's status and presence."

It felt impressive thinking about it. Kazuma had great admiration toward the collection of tiles below his feet.

Having a Cauldron meant one would be able to monopolize the strength of an omnipotent god.

Of course, monopolizing was nothing but a means to an end. However, the power was enough for a single organization to preserve overwhelming superiority over their hidden part of history.

"The thing's a fake made by humans. It ain't the true Cauldron."

Standing at the center across from Kazuma, Terumi also looked down at his feet.

Originally, the Cauldron had a form like a crater holding sea of flames. This one imitated it; an artificial Cauldron created by mankind in order to draw on the power of the Boundary.

Kazuma and Terumi stood over the middle of that crater.

"Yes, I agree. The original isn't like this."

Kazuma himself had never set eyes at the actual Cauldron. But still, the knowledge which had been inserted into his brain understood about it.

"But it's still important. The ability to make contact with the Boundary alone is enough."

While speaking, Kazuma's vision wandered around to view the whole Cauldron.

When he looked up at the wide and tall ceilings, there were things like hooks extending from the walls supporting strange engravings midair. It was just like some kind of coffin.

Kazuma recited the characters engraved there as he read them.

"... When light emitted from heaven scorches a city, the goddess of destruction and creation will be born ..."

"Huh, so you can read it."

"Well, I'm a student of the Mages' Guild after all."

Although Kazuma replied to Terumi's teasing with a wry smile, even if he made use of the knowledge taught to him for seven years, he didn't understand the significance of these words and the coffin's true identity.

However, even if this place was an artificial imitation, it was surely connected with the Boundary. He understood that this place was the very thing of Mages' Guild's secrecy itself.

"...I had to recall that I'm Terumi-san's body. Nah, maybe it's better to say that I definitely had to realize it. And you couldn't tell me since I had to be aware on my own."

Kazuma spoke while facing Terumi. He verified the pieces of information transmitted from the Boundary one by one.

It was like some kind of a ceremony. No, that itself was a ceremony.

Body and soul. For the purpose of overlapping both shadows into one.

Terumi extended his arm that was as thin as Kazuma's.

"It's useless if I told you who I am. You gotta recognize who I am with your own eyes."

"Hence, the Boundary's power was needed."

The Cauldron was connected with the Boundary. All kinds of wisdom existed in the Boundary. Even the knowledge about Terumi's previous body.

Because he had come in contact with the Boundary, Kazuma had obtained all information regarding Terumi.

The air suddenly grew dense. Before long, they were able to sense another party's breathing.

It was really dense even when compared to the atmosphere between Kazuma and Terumi.

It was hard to tell which direction the heat came from.

Kazuma took a short breath.

"Ishana, the world's safest city. There is a Cauldron intended to connect with the Boundary here. A control system to keep foreign enemies away and a barrier to thwart the Black Beast and seithr also exist. That was why Relius Clover chose this island to store me."

Terumi chuckled.

"Thanks to that, I got in big trouble... But on the good side, since you're here everything was completed in one fell swoop. That's Professor Relius for you; way to make me feel indebted."

A shadow extended from Kazuma's feet.

Similarly, a shadow also extended from Terumi's feet.

Both of them thought it was trivial however abnormal that scene was.

Kazuma stared at Terumi and spoke.

"Like you promised, I have recovered everything."

Terumi stared at Kazuma and spoke.

"And I'm also a free man at last. Good work."

There was but only one single lump of shadow now. Although the two each faced a different entity, there was a pretense that both had the same face and were also the same individual.

Two kinds of mucus that were put in the same vessel being slowly mixed by a thin stick; such a feeling was surrounding Kazuma and Terumi.

It was by no means disgusting. Rather, it was pleasant.

Because it was the appearance he desired.

Because it was the role he sought.

(That's right. I've always...)

Wished for it. About his true self. About the meaning of his existence. About the necessity to keep on living.

And they were all here. If this didn't please him, then what would?

"——Aah, it's here."

"Yes, I know."

Toward the presence that slightly grazed their skin, Terumi and Kazuma simultaneously turned around.

In front of them was the only entrance to this innermost room.

"The brute has appeared."

It was unclear who had sneered.

Between the pair of doors that had been left wide open, a familiar small silhouette stood.

### Part 3

"Kazuma Kuvaru... isn't it."

Like a sharpened blade, a small shadow spoke in a sharp, cold voice.

A stature about as tall as a child, triangular ears protruding from the top of the head, and two swaying tails behind its back.

The beastkin swordsman, Tomonori.

The other day, his hands had carried a pair of short swords. They were now gripping a large and heavy sword. Stored in jet black sheath, it held a strange pressure.

While focusing on Kazuma, Tomonori unsheathed the sword without any hesitation. The distinct noise of the sword being unleashed echoed coldly. Catching the strange glow of the room which resembled moon light, the silver blade gleamed brightly.

"Well, well. Umm... Tomonori-san, is it? You still give such a vicious greeting."

Raising both hands above his shoulders as if giving up, Kazuma gave an unmotivated smile.

That moment, Tomonori's already sharp eyes shone even more grimly.

"...As I thought."

With bitter regret oozing, Tomonori muttered with hoarse, low voice.

"I should have killed you back then and not feared being discovered..."

"Oh no, killing me? Please don't say such scary things. Even if I look this way, I dislike violence, you see?"

Still raising both hands, Kazuma tried to play innocent. But as if not caring about it, Tomonori displayed his thirst for blood.

"This time I will surely... kill you."

The announcement itself was like a blade.

The ruthlessness would freeze the muscles of any normal person and paralyze their feet with fear. However, Kazuma just looked at Terumi and tilted his neck in puzzlement.

"Whew, he looks fully motivated. What a bother."

"There's other places you can use as your scratching post y'know, lil' cat~?"

Terumi pointed his chin while blatantly provoking him.

But Tomonori didn't waste unnecessary words. Still silent, he measured his reach. Not the reach to intimidate, but the reach to kill.

"Ooh ignoring me, I see. Or maybe you don't understand human language? Hyahhaha."

"It's understandable. After all, it's forbidden to enter this place. And yet he's still hesitating. He's really one confused stray cat."

Agreeing with the sneering Terumi, Kazuma played innocent while making a face like he was truly astonished. A cruel smile showed on his lips.

"This is troubling. If he goes on rampage in this place, the Ten Sages might suspect something. But... well, maybe this is a good way to warm up."

"Hey, don't get carried away. My bad but I'll pass on playing with a cat!"

Toward Terumi's mockery, Tomonori slightly drew his nose. But without saying anything back, he instead pushed off from the cold floor and rushed in like the wind.

He pulled the large sword far behind. As he landed, he made a straight horizontal slash in an attempt to cleave Kazuma's torso.

Kazuma jumped backward.

The slash grazed Kazuma's jacket as it cut through the air.

The cat's piercing eyes followed Kazuma. Pursuing faster than before, he slashed a second time, diagonally.

While still leaping to retreat, Kazuma cast a short spell. Magical wind blew from the ground and weakened the attack. He used that gap to escape from the cold blade.

"Haha... hahaha. I see, I understand it now..."

He was thrilled. The thirst for blood that was pointed toward him felt tremendously pleasant.

He could move his body at will.

The confusion and panic when he previously encountered Tomonori in the city were nowhere to be seen. Rather, this situation was entertaining, enjoyable. Naturally, he burst into a hearty laugh.

"More... You should put more effort in now. Don't you want to kill me? It should be easy. I'm just an incompetent student. I can't wield weapons like you do."

"Don't get carried away... you monster."

Lowering his posture, Tomonori growled.

The hatred lingering in his voice tickled Kazuma's spinal cord again.

"Fuh... hahaha. Monster? Me? A monster? Pardon me, but how can you say I'm a monster? I'm just pathetic mouse that can only run away, khukuku."

Desires welled up from the bottom of the laughing Kazuma as he jeered. He was thirsting. For joy, pleasure, fear, terror, lament, and hatred.

Each time he looked into the eyes of the beast that held such a chilling murderous intent, his thirst was satisfied by a drop. That feeling was very, very... irresistible.

Tomonori thrust his sword horizontally.

Kazuma twisted his upper body and the sharp assault only grazed him.

At the same time, Terumi jumped from behind. He stretched his long, thin arms and grabbed Tomonori's arm before he could retract his blade.

"Man, you're boring... You're gonna get killed, y'know?"

He whispered the threat while eerily smiling.

The next moment, Terumi pulled Tomonori's arm and kicked his abdomen which was covered by soft fur.

"Guh!"

A painful groan leaked from the cat's mouth. The small figure was blown toward the hall's wall.

Tomonori managed to turn his body in midair and landed on the wall. Using the momentum, he swiftly sprung back at Kazuma with an even faster speed.

A strike. Kazuma dodged as they passed. During the counter attack, the blade slashed Kazuma's arm.

"Ugh...!"

The sudden attack made Kazuma let out a distorted voice of pain. When he held his arm, something dripped from inside the torn clothes. The wound was deep.

Again, Tomonori went for a strike. This time the blade was going for a vertical slash.

There was no time to dodge. Kazuma crossed both hands on front of his face and cast a defensive spell while withdrawing with a large jump.

But the barrier was smashed by the blade. A shrill noise echoed like a metal being violently crushed. The broken barrier sent its user, Kazuma, flying backwards.

"Guah...!"

Kazuma was thrown to the hard floor back first. His head hit the floor, hard.

Where the tip of Tomonori's sword had connected, a small wound ran along Kazuma's crossed arm. Red liquid welled at the wound site before finally beginning to drip a bit.

"Tch. Damn cat brute. Now you've done it."

After he landed with a particularly light noise beside Kazuma, Terumi spoke cheerfully though he was also bitter. He grabbed Kazuma's arm and pulled him up as he spoke.

While holding his still dizzy head, Kazuma was somehow able to stand up straight. He felt a numbing pain in his injured arm; and topping that, a burning feeling.

Looking at his arm, Kazuma frowned with a dubious expression.

"What's... with this wound?"

The deep sword cut he received to his arm should have become shallow by the time his barrier had been destroyed. Conversely, the wound wouldn't heal even a bit.

Because of Kazuma's body's self-healing ability, the bleeding of his wounds should have already stopped the moment they started. Without any visible sign of healing, the blood continued to pour like it wouldn't ever heal.

"Looks like you'vee got some interesting tricks going on."

Terumi scowled since he also realized Kazuma's unusual situation.

As if to put down Terumi's voice, Tomonori once again readied his sword.

"It seems to have an effect."

The low, hoarse voice of the cat spoke as if he understood something.

Kazuma and Terumi simultaneously fixed their eyes on the tiny swordsman.

A fearless feeling faintly appeared on Tomonori's calm expression.

"...Hihi'irokane."

The whisper wasn't directed to Kazuma nor Terumi, but to the sword in his hands.

The sword responded to the call. The sword, that was a little larger than the cat-type beastkin, beat once as if pulsing. Next, the shape changed like it had been released from its restraints.

That shape was just like a beast's claws. The main part of the blade, which had multiplied to three, transformed into a rather grotesque shape, unbecoming of a sword.

"Hihi'irokane!?"

The one who raised his voice in shock was Terumi.

"That damn cat... He borrowed a huge toy!"

Beside the screaming Terumi, Kazuma also cautiously put himself on guard.

Hihi'irokane. Beside flesh, the sword would also eventually rip out the dwelling soul.

The sword had directly cut Kazuma's flesh. It also had done the same to Terumi's spirit form.

When further examined, Terumi's arm certainly had a cut wound in the same area as Kazuma's.

A wound to his spirit form wouldn't be easily healed. Furthermore, Kazuma's wound wasn't healing too.

"This looks... bad..."

The smile vanished from Kazuma's expression.

Blood flowing out along his thin arm. It dripped to the floor tiles from his fingertips. Red spots were engraved at his feet.

Tomonori raised the giant transformed sword and jumped low like a gale.

He swung it diagonally downward. Accompanied by a thunderous roar which was like the groan of air surge, despite managing to dodge the attack, the shockwave-like wind pressure rocked Kazuma's whole body.

Even though the blade didn't graze him, the sword's pressure made it hard to even breathe. His expression turned to anguish.

"If I got hit directly... Would I die, then?"

Kazuma had fallen over like he had been thrown to the floor. He then tried to hold his bloody arm as he stood up while glancing at Terumi.

With a crooked smile, Terumi clicked his tongue. He glared at Tomonori while snorting.

"Wanna try?"

"Haha, don't joke around."

"...Quite a talkative man."

Tomonori spoke cold and severely. The sword in his hands growled. Even though he only fixed his stance.

"That chattering will also end here."

"Ooh, scary. ... Oh wait, now's not the time to say that, is it?"

Kazuma pulled his lips and made a smile. But frankly, he couldn't afford to laugh. A rough noise resounded as his feet grazed the floor while he stepped back.

At this rate, it would truly be the end. He refused to accept it. Even though it was finally starting.

(Just... what's starting?)

Vaguely, Kazuma questioned himself.

Wrong. Rather than Kazuma, it was Terumi who had something to start.

No, whether it was Terumi or Kazuma, the line was awfully unclear.

The cat ran. Rather than a slash, the large and sharp blade of Hihi'irokane bore down on Kazuma as if to gouge him.

By a hair's breadth, Kazuma avoided the first attack.

But the sword's pressure grazed his thigh. That alone gave him pain like his flesh had been torn.

Following it, Hihi'irokane approached.

Kazuma regained his broken posture while raising his eyes to focus on the gale slash.

It was that moment.

"...!?"

His body shook violently.

From his feet, an irresistible urge quickly rising up.

Lured by instinct, Kazuma dropped his gaze.

There was the room's central part. No, it was the Cauldron's centre.

It was unknown whether what was coming up was the Boundary's power or the dwelling madness within his body.

The hopelessly uplifting feeling whispered.

‘'——Now, kill .

"Yes, I understand. I've understood everything. I've taken it back. No.. more like it has returned. Isn't that right?"

It was a really serene sensation.

It was supposed to be that way. Because now, at this very moment, the rightful soul went into its rightful place. Completely established, without any hint of error.

"... Hi, haha... haha... hyahhahahahaha."

Aah, can't stop laughing. It's pleasant, really pleasant.

Kazuma faced Tomonori who was coming in straight line. As if reacting to it, he spread out his arms.

"HURRY UP AND DIE ALREADY, YOU SHITTY CAAAAAAT!"

The piercing laughter changed; to a joyful voice full of ecstasy.

"———OUROBOROS!!"

Together with the call, the airspace on both of Terumi's sides warped.

Eating and tearing the space that was supposed to be empty, chains possessing serpent heads appeared.

The serpent chains traveled through the air in a straight line... and diagonally from left and right, they pierced Tomonori's chest while he rushed toward them like the wind.

### Part 4

Like meat being minced, a jarring noise was heard.

The body of the cat-man that had leapt with giant sword in hand was dragged by the shockwave that ate into his chest before it fell to the floor.

Although he had at least managed to avoid falling down clumsily, it was obvious from his pained expression that Tomonori had received a considerably severe wound. He somehow used the giant, clawed sword to regain his balance.

"HYAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's it... Attaboy! THIS is the feeling I'm talking about! I searched for six years to get this! Now it's back!"

Largely bending his body backward, Kazuma laughed even louder. His voice swirled on the tall ceiling. The commotion made the air inside the room tremble.

On the other side of his disordered bangs, Kazuma opened his eyes wide. The atrocious glare in the glint of his eyes resembled that of a reptile's. The grim expression warped and looked down on Tomonori.

"Khukuku... Nice posture, lil' cat~. What did you say? Killing me? Hihahaha. Fine, do it if you can!"

Again, the airspace on Kazuma's sides were torn as serpent chains rushed out. The squirming chains which resembled a living creature trailed in the air and rushed toward Tomonori.

Holding up his battered body, Tomonori prepared his sword. With a movement faster than that of the irregular chains, he jumped to dodge them. Using the gigantic sword, he shoved off the hungry shadow of the fangs.

At the same time, Tomonori leapt and chased after Kazuma before forcefully using Hihi'irokane to mow him down.

"Whoops!"

The intense slash severed the air.

Kazuma pulled himself up using a new chain, passing up above Tomonori, and went to the opposite side. Immediately after, he let out a sharp, spear-like chain. The tip of the serpent's head grazed Tomonori's shoulder as they passed each other, tearing it.

Stern anger appeared on the cat's face. The three-pronged sword roared and severed the crooked neck of the chain that had grazed his shoulder.

Deep underground, the unfolding battle that hadn't cought anyone above the surface's attention appeared to last forever.

Kazuma's chains scattered Tomonori's blood-stained fur. They pursued Tomonori's slow movement to scrape his flesh.

Not only the blade, the pressure from Tomonori's sword also went for a slashing attack toward the escaping Kazuma. The flowing artificial blood it had collected scattered along the floor and wall.

In that moment, the one who made the conclusive movement was Kazuma and his chains.

It had been several times Tomonori had kicked the floor and dashed in order to make a slash.

Responding to it, Kazuma launched two chains from the front. But before the two serpent heads were cleared away by the sword, he naturally wriggled their body to force them through Tomonori.

Ignoring both of his sides, Tomonori instantly closed the distance. Pure intent to kill showed in his sharp pupils.

The back that carried such frank tenacity was pierced from behind by the surrounding chains in one breath.

Wet noises resounded.

"Ugh...!"

A groan from dull pain leaked out of Tomonori's gritted teeth.

However, the beastkin swordsman seized the pair of chains which had pierced his body, raising his speed he continued to run without faltering. Taking along the blazing momentum, he swung his sword down at Kazuma.

"Tch!"

Kazuma pulled on the chains. However, Tomonori's hand stopped him. The cold blade touched Kazuma's nape.

Just before that, Kazuma instantly concentrated defensive magic to a point and cast it.

A noise of metal clashing was dispersed, along with sparks.

As Kazuma's magic took the blow, what got repelled was... a small sword Tomonori drew with the hand that had been seizing the chains.

Kazuma noticed it too late.

"I'll... kill you!"

Tomonori's voice was hoarse as it was mixed with blood. Something even deeper than desire was boiling in it.

Something called faith had to be there. Something called pride had to be there. Something called devotion had to be there.

"HIHI'IROKANE!!"

The hand, which was large when compared to a human's, swung the incredibly huge sword that had been hidden from sight until then. The roaring slash let out a beast's howl and also his death throes.

Like the wind, the sword that appeared like three claws was... no, it was even faster than the wind.

It diagonally tore through Kazuma's abdomen diagonally.

"————————!!"

A piercing scream gushed out from Kazuma's throat.

His abomen had been gouged, roughly cleaved. Like his choking throat, it spat out dark blood. Kazuma, filled with shock and hatred, glared at Tomonori.

"Bastard... DON'T UNDERESTIMATE MEEEEEE!"

Still penetrating Tomonori's stomach, the chains once again thrust mercilessly and threw Tomonori's body onto the floor.

This time, Tomonori didn't scream or groan. He was already past the state where he could raise his voice. His battered body was pulled down by the chains and laid upside down on the floor. On the floor that was shining like mirror, a small fountain was created.

Something was overflowing from his belly. Starting from the back, it dyed Tomonori's clothes and soft fur.

In red. In black.

"...You... Only... you..."

Tomonori groaned with an inaudible voice that almost faded away. Piercing the grotesque sword through the middle of the fountain, he tried to raise his body which was full of wounds.

Hihi'irokane, the family treasure that had been taken without permission. Everything was done to kill Kazuma. Until it was accomplished, he couldn't afford to fall.

Still... that thought was also in vain. Tomonori's body lost its strength and once more sank in the middle of the dark red pool of blood.

Aiming at the body that had now used all its strength, Kazuma mercilessly threw kicks using his hard leather shoes.

"Don't... SCREW AROUND! HUUH!?"

Along with dull sound, Tomonori's body was trembling in shock. Suddenly, the spilled blood flowed even faster across the floor; it soaked Kazuma's shoes.

With the stained shoes, Kazuma repeatedly kicked the beastkin's body. The toe gouged the wounds openings, making wretched noises.

"Hey, what's wrong li'l' cat!? Can't stand? Oh, you can't stand anymore? I'm still standing straight though. Hey hey, didn't you say you want to kill me!?"

Tomonori shook the tip of his nose in fury and disgrace. With a cloudy pair of eyes, he glared at Terumi. Those eyes still hadn't parted with the killing intent, but his body couldn't move again even one inch.

The feeling of helplessness excited Kazuma.

"Hyahahaha. Wow, that sure looks nice. You hate me? Want to kill me? Hate me more! Hatehatehatehatehatehate! Scream you want to kill me!"

As resentment burned in his loud laughter, Kazuma trampled on Tomonori's back especially violently. The bursting noise left a strong smell of iron.

Furthermore, Kazuma held his hands out toward the motionless Tomonori. Countless shadows of serpents appeared from Kazuma's feet. With the vigor as if swarming over bait, they ate into Tomonori.

Moreover, he kicked many, many times... Then Kazuma unexpectedly lost his balance and took several steps back and took a breath all of a sudden.

"Haa, haa, ha...ku, gu... cough..."

Large quantities of blood spilled again from the wound on his stomach and fell onto the floor. With disturbed breathing, his throat became jarred and his body shivered.

"Dammit... Seriously... Don't mess with me... you shitty cat."

Despite Kazuma's shout, the room in the deepest part of the Cathedral was quiet.

The person who stood on the blood-stained floor was Kazuma alone.

Beside him, there was only Tomonori who remained collapsed on the floor.

There was no sight of Terumi.

He never disappeared. From the beginning, Terumi never existed in this place.

Kazuma was the body. Terumi was the spirit. If so, then the one who had physical form was Kazuma.

It had always been like that. It had always been from the time Kazuma first met Terumi. Kazuma was the only one who had physical form. Terumi and Kazuma's consciousness had fused. Even when they rebuked Tomonori by turns a while ago, it was only Kazuma who stood there in reality.

Kazuma started to walk, dragging his body. A part of the blood-stained shoes made stiff noises as he treaded the particularly cold floor.

If he remained here, eventually someone might notice something strange and send over the Ten Sages. He couldn't afford to face the Ten Sages in this condition. He had to flee quickly.

Tomonori didn't move. He was dead.

After resentfully giving him a glance, Kazuma reached his hand toward the hall's entrance. The white jacket of the academy's uniform and the pale, thin arm extending from it were wet and stained with something sticky.

His feet were staggering. He could die. It was a serious matter.

Would the thing he had finally obtained, the thing that had returned just simply be gone?

This place was no more than a stopping point of the long, long history.

But before Kazuma could get out of the hall, a shadow even taller than himself appeared.

"Wha..."

The appearance was unexpected. It was a miscalculation.

Kazuma clicked his tongue.

In front of the elevator stood the figure of a man wearing an expensive looking butler suit that didn't feel appropriate within the Mages' Guild. It was a muscular man with long hair tied at the back.

No sooner had he seen Kazuma, he put himself on guard and glared at Kazuma with golden eyes similar to that of a beast.

A man Kazuma... no, Terumi knew.

"Bastard... Valkenhayn..."

Valkenhayn. The werewolf who was serving as Clavis Alucard's butler and had been living for a thousand years.

Immediately after Terumi said his name, Valkenhayn moved. Lowering his tall figure, he struck forwards.

Even though it was a speed lesser than Tomonori's, Kazuma couldn't handle it right now.

The heavy attack hit his thin chest, then his temple felt the strong grip as it grabbed his skull. Following that, the back of his head was knocked onto the solid wall.

The noise of the crack against the stone wall drowned the noise Kazuma let out. Strength left his whole body. The flowing blood smeared his clothes severely.

"Damn... it..."

After the impact, his trembling lips could only say that much...

Like a doll losing its support, Terumi Kazuma fell to the floor.

### Part 5

Later that night, Trinity woke up in her dormitory room.

Nine was also in the room, looking like she was about to cry.

It seemed one of the students who had come to the academy had, by chance, discovered Trinity collapsed in the corridor. Nine explained that she was taken to infirmary before being carried to the dormitory room later. Nine recounted that the doctor said that her body had taken a blow, but fortunately there was no injury that could have disabled her.

"...The seithr in the city has been disposed of. As for the barrier's restoration, it's only a simple measure but it was finished. The genuine restoration will be carried out starting tomorrow. Although I said that, it was just finished a little while ago."

Sitting on a chair beside the bed with her legs crossed, Nine continued to explain the situation while feeling relief from the bottom of her heart as there was no issue with Trinity's consciousness.

Trinity laid down on the bed and looked up at her close friend as she listened to her explanation.

"Now... What time... is it?"

Trinity's regular slow tone of voice was even slower; partly because her condition wasn't good.

Without urging her, Nine listened until the end and then looked at a clock above desk.

"It's past midnight... Well past 2."

"You've been working until this late..."

"It didn't take until morning, so it's good."

"Don't take the Ten Sages lightly," said Nine winking with her right eye.

Inside the soft bedding, Trinity smiled slightly.

"Even though you're tired, you still came here... I'm sorry~."

"Stupid. It's natural. ...I can't help it until I know what happened with you."

In Nine's smile, a sad gloom seeped.

For Nine, Celica and Trinity were special.

It was the same for Trinity. That was why she currently truly felt sorry for making Nine worry.

Or so she thought.

But as she couldn't help but ask, Trinity gently said.

"...How about Kazuma-san?"

Tension ran through Nine's face. Trinity could guess why.

After a while passed, Nine indifferently answered while choosing her words carefully.

"He disappeared. There were signs of that man having entered the Cathedral. In the deepest room... marks of a struggle were found. But no one was there."

"...I see."

Trinity couldn't hide her dejection.

She vaguely felt that it would turn out this way. If she were asked since when, Trinity herself didn't know.

Nine looked into her best friend's eyes that were clouded with sadness. She put her hands on Trinity's feeble white hands.

"Regarding that man... Let's stop thinking about him. As of now, we wouldn't be able to do anything."

Who on earth was that man? It was the question Trinity and Nine had always wondered.

He left a truly dangerous impression.

Nine might have been fearing that that danger would engulf its surroundings.

Trinity might have been fearing that that danger would hurt Kazuma.

In the end, Nine's hunch became realized.

Trinity tried to look straight at Nine as much as she could and nodded. She didn't want to give further worries to Nine, especially with what she had said.

But just a few words.

"Nine. Even then... the time spent together with Kazuma-san... Everything of it didn't feel like a lie to me. He..."

Every morning, He would greet her. It was just sometimes, but he spoke with a truly gentle voice.

The feeling of warmth also existed.

Soon, the night would be late.

Since the Mages' Guild had calmed down a little, Nine said that she was going to go searching for Celica who had left the island.

Trinity promised to go with her.

In the corner of her heart... she wondered if she could find something related to Kazuma's whereabouts within the vast world, faintly hoping for it.

The castle where night stood for eternity... The Alucard family's castle.

Tonight, the silver moon also decorated the lasting eternal night sky. It gently illuminated the ivy-covered old castle and its vast, abandoned garden.

In the basement of the castle where moonlight couldn't reach, was Valkenhayn along with his master Clavis.

"Is it truly okay to not kill him?"

The vicinity was dark without any presences at all. As a magic light lit an antique lantern, certain figures emerged into the long, continuous hallway.

There was a room at the end of the hallway. It was a small room made of old timber that somewhat clashed with the solid stone of the old castle.

Inside the room, a tall young man wearing a blood-stained white jacket, black pants, and a waist-length mantle was tied by magical chains. He might be unconscious as there was no strength in his body.

"...We cannot kill that man. If we intervene, he would leave the flesh once more and disappear to somewhere."

Gazing at the motionless thin young man who remained sitting inside the wooden room, Clavis grievously spoke.

"...We are powerless."

Thus, a jail was created. He couldn't do anything but put a secure lock on the door to prevent the beast from getting outside.

After Valkenhayn closed the door, Clavis raised his wrinkled fingers and drew a pattern midair. As the ancient words turned into bindings, the drawn pattern clung onto the door and sealed the thin wood board.

A secure seal that only Clavis could handle.

"Now... We should mourn for Tomonori."

Shifting his gaze, Clavis looked at Valkenhayn.

Valkenhayn lightly bowed.

"Why did Tomonori... go as far as carrying Hihi'irokane and selfishly..."

There was obvious regret in Valkenhayn's mutter.

That time when Tomonori went to the underground of the Cathedral was all done by his own judgment.

When he thought about it, it also made Clavis somewhat succumb into regret.

If only he had noticed it sooner and made Tomonori return. Or possibly, if he had sent Valkenhayn sooner, then... The friend who had unyielding stubbornness as if a single swing of a sword might not cost his life.

"...It seems he could not resist. He thought that there are things only he can do. A man who could not help but to accomplish it on his own"

Clavis' answer was mixed with a sigh, before he lowering his eyelids.

"Let us go, Valkenhayn. We have something to achieve... Just like him."

"...Understood, Clavis-sama."

Turning his back on the sealed door, Valkenhayn pushed Clavis' wheelchair and returned to the hallway.

Each time they advanced, doors were closed as if shutting down the inner part. Every single one of them was also sealed by Clavis.

Listening to the sound of the last door at the end of the hallway being closed, Valkenhayn strongly thought that those doors might never be opened again.

And deep, deep, deep, deep in the dark.

Within the locked seal.

A young man who was trapped alone laughed loudly.

He ignored the pain of his wounds and distress from the binding. Rather than despairing over the circumstances, he seemed to hold hopes for a promising future.

"HYAAHAHAHAHA. The countdown's commencing, senile bloodsucker! When you die, I'll get out of here... You'll realize the real beginning starts after you kick the bucket. HYAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Within the cold seal.

He continued to laugh in ecstasy indefinitely.

### 020. Epilogue

December, 2106 AD——.

Six years ago, a demon called the Black Beast appeared all of a sudden. Because of it, the world collapsed, losing its order and balance. It also lost its usual climate along with seasons.

It was also true for today. Despite that December was about to end, the coolness of the weather was as if it was autumn. Presently, it was unlikely for thick clothes to soon become the fashion.

It was a fine early afternoon with many clouds, but they didn't obstruct the sunlight. Among a forest in mountain, a girl was wandering around.

White tunic, black pleated skirt, and a long mantle to match the skirt. Her long tawny hair was tied in a high position, making a ponytail. The eyes that had the color of wet soil didn't show any confusion as they were gazed ever forward. She advanced further and further, walking unhesitatingly. But where she was walking was a path without any traces of animals. It was a completely trackless path.

The girl's name was Celica A. Mercury.

She had secretly rushed away from the island where she lived together with her sister, heading to a country called Japan which was ruined six years ago.

If she went there, she might meet her long lost father. While embracing such an expectation, she was currently aiming to go to a harbor where the only boat which would head to Japan existed.

But the road to the harbor was unexpectedly steep. From what she had heard at the hotel last night, no one ever said about climbing a mountain.

"I'm sure when I get out of this forest, I should be able to see a large road. Okay, I'll do my best."

While making her way up to cross the root of a thick tree, Celica continued on and on without getting discouraged by the forest's scenery and cheered her bright self on.

It was as if her feelings had reached the forest as the field of vision on the path gradually opened up. Celica noticed it immediately and her smile bloomed like a flower.

Delighted, she spontaneously made her pace faster. After getting out, she would first search for a place to sit and rest.

But after she put a single step out of the forest, Celica stopped.

It was a white-haired young man wearing a stunning bright red jacket.

His age was a little older than Celica's. Judging from his tall appearance, he had a well-proportioned figure. Besides that, something might have happened as there were serious injuries all over him.

"Oh no...!"

Flustered, Celica went around the young man so as to block the sunlight.

There was movement in his chest. His complexion wasn't so pale that he might lose his life. However, that was because the young man had quite a lot of physical strength. If it was exhausted...

It might be that he had noticed Celica's shadow since the young man's eyelids moved slightly, opening his eye weakly. It was a green eye. A stern but also gentle color.

Thank god, it's faint but he's conscious. First of all I'll heal the big wounds, and then he should take a good rest.

Celica smiled and spoke to give encouragement.

"Umm, hang on please. ...Are you all right?"

In the dark times with an uncertain tomorrow.

In the days with unstable climates where winter didn't seem to appear.

In that moment the wheel of fate began to turn suddenly.

Celica met him.

### 021. Afterword

...This is reality.

I'm aware I was drawing a scenery I've never seen before.

Dragging my muddy consciousness, I collapsed on the bed. I got up a few hours later and gave a hit on the keyboard sitting in front of a square window. I don't know how many times I have repeated that cycle.

I pictured the situation with a mind so fuzzy that it felt like I'm dreaming. My fingers somehow turned the pictures into words. But it was too slow to make any progress. Before long, the promised date passed...

The result was satisfactory. I thought that it would do. I felt that I could do it if I tried. At least, it was a beautiful sight for myself.

But the next day. He spoke in the small window of Skype.

"I didn't really get this. Can you fix it?"

——And just like that, the six chapters of the script became to this state.

I have learned something. Writing things using only the influence of unclear thinking pattern would make it nonsensical. Like writing the contents of a dream. And then I only noticed it after being pointed out by another person.

For the readers from the previous volume BlazBlue Phase 0, long time no see. For the readers who just picked the book for the first time, nice to meet you. Hello, my name is Komao Mako and I'm the author.

The farce at the beginning was an act after I finished writing the first draft. I might exaggerate a bit when I said that the supervisor, Mori Producer, disagreed with me and told me to do a whole retake, even though I'm sure I have nailed it.

The so called situation of 'the only person who understands it is the writer'. I never imagined for the day where I strongly guilty of it to arrive. Thank you for pointing it out, Mori-san and the editor.

Let's set the long introduction aside.

You might have guessed after seeing it the first time, but this book, BlazBlue Phase Shift 1, is the novelization of the 2D competitive fighting game BlazBlue which was released by Arc System Works corporation. Also, the novelization now has two volumes.

By the way, the original BlazBlue's recent release, Continuum Shift II, is super popular of being played in game centers! It can be played recently on PSP and 3DS, too.

Even if it's only a portable console, the graphic's really clear. The reward from reading the scenario is upgraded even more. Although it's only hand-sized, you will still get excited enough. But getting carelessly immersed during travelling will make you keep passing your stops often, so be careful. It's a bitter memory.

Also if you can enjoy it together with the first novel BlazBlue Phase 0, I'd be truly grateful.

Aah, this second book makes me exhilarated.

If the first book's popular, then a second book will also... That kind of talk was frequently mentioned, but to think that it was realized. Even now, the happiness made my feet feel light.

Furthermore, did the front cover give you a vague hint about the leading man?

Oh, just what am I hiding? I also really liked that green-haired man.

From the beginning, I more or less was full of 'Oh gosh I'm going to write about him' kind of unpleasant excitement. But as for the green man... I wonder if he has a fairly characteristic way of speaking.

I wrote and wrote, but the circumstances were astonishing like 'it's different, not like this...'. To tell you the truth, each time the green man started to talk at the second half, it'd give me a headache. Just what's with that person?

There were many tiresome things, but it was sooo fun to write various kinds of the green man.

In the middle of writing, I thought that no way it's gonna end in my lifetime. But now, writing plenty of that man... left a clean aftertaste.

But it took many hours... I really felt guilty toward everyone in the staff. I'll do an introspection. Really.

Have you seen the contents yet? What do you think?

Unlike BlazBlue's original work, it was school-themed. Personally, it felt fresh and interesting, but my heart pounds when thinking about how it will come out for the original BlazBlue's fans. I hope you'd find it fun.

...Well then. It's just a routine but since I think this would be the place to say thanks again, I'd like to give a few words of gratitude.

To the editor in charge who gave me encouragement, sometimes fiercely. And to Arc System Works' PR Mineshima-san who told all kinds of inside stories and always being cheerful when we met. I give my deepest gratitude to the two of you. Both of you always reminded me to have fun.

Also to Katou-san who had drawn the illustrations. I'm sorry for the terrible schedule even though you're already busy. And thanks to you, too. I treasure the rough illustrations I stole and brought home.

And then to the producer, Mori-san. Thank you very much! I'm happy that I could write this novel! You were harsh when I couldn't write good enough, but it's really enjoyable!

The last one of course is to everyone who bought this book. In other words, you. Thank you very much. I hope you will look forward to me again after this. Please enjoy the world of BlazBlue to the fullest!

~Komao Mako

Congratulations on the second novel of BlazBlue!

This is Katou. I was in charge of the illustration for this time, too.

I'm kinda like doing monochrome illustrations, so this time I got to draw them again. Since I couldn't draw many monochrome illustrations in the game, it was enjoyable for me.

Komao-sama and the editor also did a good job this time.

Hello everyone, this is Mori Shinichi from Arc System Works.

On this occasion, I'd like to thank you for picking up Phase Shift 1.

I confirm here that this Phase Shift is also a life story of BlazBlue.

Starting here is just my nonsense, but honestly, I had a hard time with the original draft for the work this time. First, the protagonist was someone other than Ragna. Then something that I hadn't been told much, about Mage's Guild being the setting. I just can't find enough gratitude for the author involved in this book, Komao-sensei. In my personal opinion, the book came out amazing.

How about all of you? I want to hear your opinion by all means.

If possible, I hope we will be able to meet.

~Mori Shinichi

PS:

For all the staff, I'm sorry for always, always saying absurd things.

### 022. Prologue

The stars were lovely.

Feeling the cold lawn on his back, he muttered into the emptiness.

Even now, the stars, which appeared to be falling, kept flickering.

The sky looked deep and distant, as it always was.

It was not something that could be grasped just by reaching out your hand. Even if it had been possible, his battered body, which had been lying on top of a hill, didn't have the remaining strength to lift his arm.

His blue clothes were torn. His white cheeks and golden hair were covered in dirt. His body had already been losing its ability to function for a while. Under this moonlight, his fleeting consciousness would disappear before long.

He was sinking to his death.

Even as the stars were lovely, the moon was dazzling.

...As if it was falling down.

He hated that moon. Wanted none of its bright light, he dragged his dead arm up to cover his eyes.

Cold drops from the corner of his eyes were falling down his cheeks.

Suddenly, the wind stirred. It was only strong enough to flutter a dress, but it was enough for him to notice that someone was present.

"...Who's there?" He asked faintly.

The arm that had been covering his sight, slipped down to his chest.

A large umbrella intercepted the moonlight. The person who had been standing by his side was actually a very young girl. Luxurious black dress. Golden hair tied up to two parts. Her age seemed to be 10. ...No, she might be about 6 or 7 years old. Didn't she have an umbrella, too?

The spectacle appeared right before his eyes, yet the details were fuzzy and incomprehensible.

The only certain thing was that the girl wore big ribbons similar to a rabbit's ears. She also had red eyes.

The girl looked into the distance and whispered to no one.

"...Soon, it will be born."

It was a very ominous voice, but had a strange kind of affection in it. As if she knew that it was the beginning of something about to be born.

He understood what she said. Even when that something had not been explained, he knew what it was. It had to be killed by his hands no matter what.

The girl, the scent of flowers wafting around her, slowly turned her face to him. A pair of crimson eyes looked down on him. A cold gaze unlike that of a little girl's, yet similar to moonlight.

He recognized those eyes. It was in his distant memory but seemed almost as if it was yesterday. But that memory quickly disappeared, like a frozen flower broken into pieces.

"Mr. Hero."

The girl's lips teasingly spoke.

"How would you like to become a real hero?"

The wind blew through the girl's hair.

For him, it was a moment of one's end, and one's beginning.

Before long, a rumble could be heard from far away.

It gradually grew larger and more violent, shaking both the night sky and solid earth... and became a beast's roar that was thundering throughout the world.

It was a roar that made every existence shiver. The being that would be called Black Beast , a monster that drove the world to destruction, let out its first cry.

### 023. Chapter 1: White Blade, A Flower

### Part 1

In the center of a dim room, a pale white light had been lit. It was a transparent sphere floating in empty space and was about the size of a human head. Rather than electrons, the borne light was made by magic utilising alchemical techniques.

The sphere, which was hanging in the air as if set on an invisible pedestal, was surrounded by five figures.

One was a petite girl wearing a full length robe. Beautiful platinum blonde hair was overflowing from the hood she wore, sparkling like sunlight as it was struck by the bland light.

Standing next to her was an even more petite silhouette. Its height was about that of a human child, but its appearance was like a bipedal cat. The tail protruding from its back was long, the odd thing was that it branched into two.

The third figure, in contrast to the other two, was a tall, middle-aged man wearing a grumpy look. He was wearing a refined attire including a high quality shirt and vest, but they couldn't hide the glimpses of the sturdy build underneath.

Standing in line with him was a tall man of a similar height, but with a far thinner figure. Standing with both hands inserted into the pockets of his long coat, he wore a low hood that meant even his eyes were hidden in shadow.

And then giving each of them glances as they stared at the sphere, another girl stood. Long hair crossed over her waist, her skin was white enough to be called transparent. Her most obvious feature was the large triangular hat placed on her head.

Her name was Nine.

The thin man was Yuuki Terumi.

The middle-aged man was Valkenhayn R. Hellsing.

The cat with two tails was Jubei.

The platinum blonde girl was Trinity Glassfille.

They stood silently in thought while staring at the sphere. Inside it, the shifting images of the current world situations were being projected.

"...So far, the representatives of many nations which have met with catastrophe are currently taking refuge in Ishana. There are preparation to devise a plan for the cooperation of each nation, with Ishana as the focus."

In the silent room, Trinity began to talk in her slow, soft voice that was like a ripple unfolding on water. Responding to her voice, the images of those catastrophe ridden countries were floating and disappearing in turn.

Frowning with a sad expression for a moment behind those spectacles, Trinity pushed up her large round glasses up her nose a little and continued on.

"However as for the countries with relatively low damage, the nations are being cautious to ensure they participate in the efforts centered on Ishana. As yet, discussions are still ongoing and have yet to reach a conclusion as there are countries that do not deign to participate in the congress. No, if there's still no conclusion, then it's still okay but..."

"So a confrontation is growing between the countries that have representatives in Ishana and those that don't. ...Even though this isn't the situation for quarreling between mankind."

Taking over Trinity's sorrowful words, Valkenhayn spoke with a grimace. Looking at him with his large eyes, Jubei's cat mouth snickered.

"There ain't gonna be any fair arguing. They're the lucky chaps. It's just natural."

There was a degree of discomfort in the clear male voice of the beast, but no one in the room took it to mind.

Gazing at the shining sphere, the bridge of Jubei's nose wrinkled.

"They ain't gonna understand unless they see with their own eyes. About the terror... of The Black Beast ."

The Black Beast.

Seven years ago... between 2099 and 2100 AD, it appeared. A monster similar to a gigantic mass of shadow.

Together with the appearance of the Black Beast, the world was filled with substance called seithr . Guided by seithr, the Black Beast's destructive scars were marked all over the world starting with Japan.

Without any means to fight, humanity was driven back. In merely six years after the Black Beast's appearance, the total population of the world was decreased by half.

But last year, the last day of 2106 AD. At the very same day that marked seven years had passed since the Black Beast emerged. As quickly as the monster which terrorized the world emerged, it was suddenly gone.

"It has been eight months since the last appearance of that monster. This long absence of its activity must have dulled the nations' judgment. Among them, there are people beginning to appear who say the Black Beast is no more."

Valkenhayn lowly groaned as if to suppress his resentment.

Trinity gently pressed her chest and slightly drew her chin.

"The threat hasn't disappeared yet... Even now the seithr mist is still blowing throughout the world. The remnants of the Black Beast are also still threatening people..."

"Not gettin' the cooperation of the countries means the cooperation between Ishana and United Nations ain't going well. The investigation for the missing 'Kushinada's Lynchpin' is still going on. But since the UN's planning to do it their own way, gettin' intelligence is complicated."

Jubei spoke in words mixed with sighs while the long tails on his back swayed, alert. At the same time, the floating lengthy image stirred in the sphere.

"...Eight months."

A noise from the five extending shadows resounded. A sharp, cold voice muttered. A large triangular hat stood out. It was Nine.

Staring at the sphere floating in the air, Nine folded her arms under her voluptuous chest and supported her chin with her fingers as she pondered.

She recalled a certain man. Eight months ago, they met on the day of Black Beast's last appearance and parted with him on the very same day.

The man had spoken. That the Black Beast's activities would be halted for one year.

—— One year. During that time, get the strength needed for humanity to battle the Black Beast.

Nine remembered clearly the words she had heard eight months ago, down to his tone of voice. No, those words didn't become clearer as the days went by. Day by day... as the period where the disappearance of Black Beast continued, she realized that he spoke the truth.

There were still four months until the pronounced one year ended. If a year passed, it would likely, surely appear.

"No conventional weapons could be used against Black Beast. Even if in the future some immensely powerful weapons were made, they wouldn't hurt the Black Beast. ...Isn't that so?"

Nine's sharply pointed voice was like putting ice on the stretched string of the room's tension.

Beside the owner of the voice, stood a man. He wore a low hood that hid his expression and he hadn't opened his mouth until now. He was Yuuki Terumi.

His mouth, his only facial feature exposed by the dim light, began to speak.

"Yeah, that's right."

"With the exception of magic , hurting that monster requires utilizing seithr."

"Eyyup. ...Also, don't make me explain the same thing over and over. You getting senile, bitch?"

He spat out a curse since he was getting tired of it. Then Nine scowled sternly and shot him a death stare.

But she immediately shook off the fury from her gaze and turned to the other direction, her hair spinning.

"The means to attack Black Beast by utilizing seithr, armagus , is almost complete."

"Armagus... If I remember correctly, it could make normal people who ain't a mage able to use magic. "

"It's a little different."

Toward Jubei's admiration, Nine slightly slackened her mouth and answered.

"The fundamentals of magic and armagus are different. Magic borrows the spiritual power that's originally present in nature and then puts that to use. In regard to armagus, it's invoked by utilizing seithr. If there's no seithr, it can't be used. Since ordinary people can't handle seithr, a grimoire is necessary to make it feasible."

"Grimoire?"

The one who tilted her head slightly as she asked was Trinity. Nine slightly nodded.

"Although I said grimoire, it doesn't mean that's the real form. It changes the gathered seithr in the armagus, kind of like a converter. Anyway, it makes it possible for even people outside Ishana to attack the Black Beast."

Answering without pause, Nine shifted her gaze for an instant, stealing a glance of the man next to her.

The development of armagus had begun approximately half a year ago. Nine was the one who had fabricated armagus' base theory, but Terumi was indispensable in completing it in such a short amount of time.

Terumi possessed massive knowledge regarding the Black Beast and seithr. It was because of that knowledge that establishing armagus' form was possible.

Again, Nine recalled the words of the man she had met eight months ago. He had also said something else. That she should watch out for Yuuki Terumi.

Nine had heeded those words, yet she had taken Terumi out from the deep basement of a certain castle. She also had firmly applied Mind Eater , a magic that made him completely unable to defy its user, controlling over his will.

"But although I said ordinary people can use it, it doesn't really mean that anyone can do it. An aptitude is required in themselves. The manufacturing of the grimoire is going well, but there's an insufficient number of people who could use it. If it remains as it is, the counter measure for Black Beast would be imperfect. If possible, it should be a powerful measure, rather than being able to exhibit strength without having to be bound with seithr. For example..."

"Like the weapons we use?"

Jubei held out a single sword on his back. The sword that came out of the dark had been given to him by Nine about one month ago.

Of course, it wasn't an ordinary sword. It was a specially made article that had alchemy and magic's techniques included in its making. Instead of clearing away a certain mass of seithr, the sharp blade could cut it up.

Similarly, Trinity also held out the specialized weapon Nine had developed. The small cane could transform by taking the nature of magic Trinity wanted to use in mind.

"Yes. But even then, they're still weak. It shouldn't be like armagus which is only a substitute for magic or those prototypes given to you guys... We require weapons that have a more specialized ability in order to defeat the Black Beast."

Nine spoke stubbornly as if burdening herself with a new task.

Toward her, a small laugh interrupted from beside her.

"Weapons... huh."

There was no wondering about the owner of the voice with the ridiculing tone. Nine looked at Terumi with cold eyes.

His slender body was turned toward the sphere floating in the room like always, but the glance that had a suggestive indication drifting about was aimed at Nine.

"You okay not telling our dear friends the details? It's looking like you're making the weapons in the dark here~ ...You hear me?"

"I don't need you to interrupt this conversation. Be quiet, Terumi."

As she spoke with a tone of voice as if holding him down, Nine hit the floor with her high heel. The rough but somehow graceful noise rang sharply around the room.

If Nine told him to be silent. Terumi would do so. Mind Eater was that kind of a magic. Terumi was silent, but he stood while still grinning like a maniac.

Drawing her gaze from the face that looked like it was holding back a burst of laughter, Nine sighed in annoyance.

As if to calm the irritated Nine, Jubei made a bitter smile. He then shrugged his small shoulders.

"So as of now, there's only one way to effectively attack Black Beast. If the weapons Nine spoke of have been completed, we'll be able stand on equal ground with that monster and challenge it."

However, that speech resulted in a new irritation for Nine.

Playing her fingers around the brim of her large triangular hat which stood as a symbol of wisdom, Nine pointed her chin toward the space between Jubei and Valkenhayn.

"...And? Where's the only person who has the means to attack Black Beast, Hakumen, gone?"

The empty spot where the harsh words were thrown to was supposed to hold a sixth person standing together with them.

### Part 2

Ishana, an island floating on ocean.

The island was painted with lush green nature and a lovely townscape. It was known as The Mage's Guild outside the island.

On the other side of history, the Mage's Guild had constantly influenced change in the world. The organization existed to protect and enhance alchemy and magic, the techniques that should have been forgotten in ancient times. They didn't belong to any country nor bend to anyone. At present, there was a grand academy established in the center to pass down the continuously inherited ancient wisdom and vast knowledge to the next generation.

In the academy's courtyard, she stood alone.

The raised tall trees were sparkling, bright green from the summer sunlight. Between those trees, the white sunlight filtering through and fell upon the small stone pavement that was like stitching on the ground.

Although its vicinity was encircled by buildings related to the academy and Mage's Guild, this place didn't have a very enclosed feeling at all. Rather than a courtyard within a school, it appeared more like a hidden garden.

Sitting on a deserted bench set under the shade of a tree in the corner of the garden, Celica A. Mercury was swinging her feet.

The academy uniform in shades of white and black had a magician's motif on it. The short mantle on her back was fluttering in the wind. Her thick, light brown hair that was tied in a high ponytail and the treetops of the courtyard were rustling together, making refreshing noises.

"Looks like Onee-chan isn't done yet."

There was a brick building belonging to the Mage's Guild at the end of a path close to her. There was a meeting being held inside a council room which had barrier that wouldn't let any voices or information leak out. Celica's older sister, Nine, was participating in the meeting.

Celica was waiting for her sister and her companions to come out after the meeting ended.

The wind carrying the scent of greenery was softly blowing through.

"...It feels good."

Celica straightened her posture and lifted her head. The sunshine passed through the trees next to her before shining upon her cheeks and forehead.

Today, like always, Ishana's air was clear without any stagnation.

Seven years ago, along with the appearance of the Black Beast, seithr had overflown throughout the world and polluted the atmosphere. It lessened the wind, weakened the waves, and made the soil barren. The seasons lost their characteristics as the weather became disturbed. The creatures that were constantly exposed to thick seithr would lose their original form and go mad, destroying everything.

However, Ishana wasn't like that. The island that was managed by magic was protected by an invisible barrier. The air, water, and soil were pure, uncontaminated by seithr.

As a matter of fact, there was an incident last year when the barrier had been damage, resulting in seithr entering the island for a short period. But Celica didn't know much about that as the incident occurred immediately after Celica slipped out of the island on important business. When Celica returned to Ishana, the barrier had already been repaired completely.

With the infiltrating seithr purified, Ishana was now thoroughly clean without any glimpse of the incident.

Celica deeply inhaled Ishana's air into her chest.

"I wonder what his face would look like if I brought him to this island."

While narrowing her eyes to block the sunlight shining into them, she smiled gently.

What she was picturing beyond the light and green curtains was the face of a friend important to Celica.

...Friend might not be correct. To tell the truth, Celica didn't know what she should regard him as. She didn't have a formal relationship to refer him as an acquaintance, but he wasn't what she would usually call a friend either.

In just a few days, he became awfully close to her. He had helped her. He had supported her. He had protected her.

He was... such an irreplaceable person.

"Fufu, I'm sure he'd be amazed. Ah, but he might have actually seen a similar place. After all, he knew so much about magic even though he's not from this island... He's such a mysterious person."

Without realizing, she actively talked to herself in this place devoid of other people.

She met him eight months ago, during the end of last year. He was tall, had white hair and a green eye just on his left side. He was rough around the edges, but very kind.

Since they parted so suddenly he had never told her much about himself, Celica didn't get to know him well enough. But a lot of the strength he'd given her was always burning inside Celica's chest.

There was never a moment when she forgot about him. He was important, precious...

Suddenly, a light was glimmering at the edge of Celica's gaze.

It was probably the sunlight filtering through the trees. But when the light blinded Celica for an instant, her sight was completely engulfed in the next moment.

(Eh...!?)

Her shout of surprise didn't manage to escape.

As if the world had been turned inside out in the blink of an eye, Celica's surroundings turned to bright white.

The courtyard's wind and rustling branches were no more. All sound and smell disappeared, it was hard to grasp which direction was up or down. She was even uncertain as to whether gravity existed. Inside the completely white space, only Celica remained.

No, there was something else. A mirror. When she turned her face around to look at the surroundings, the rectangular mirror had stood there unnoticed, reflecting Celica's whole body.

(Where's this? Why is a mirror here...?)

She should have been able to form the questions as words, but somehow her voice couldn't come out again. It felt like everything had been sucked up and vanished.

The bizarre thing was that she wasn't terrified.

Rather, Celica was drawn by curiosity and took a step toward the mirror.

On the other side of the mirror that looked as if it had made a rectangular cut across the room, Celica's amazed figure was reflected. Then she unconsciously tried to touch it.

But just before Celica's fingers touched the mirror, suddenly it felt like she was smelling something.

It wasn't so much a smell as a familiar sensation.

It was more similar to the warmth of family sat around the table with her, or the calmness she felt when passing time alone, absentmindedly at her favorite spot.

A burning feeling in her chest that spontaneously bubbled up when she was with someone special.

Celica knew this feeling. She remembered.

Celica gently caught her breath as if waking up from a dream.

That moment, a gust of wind swept away the mist in the world. Quite naturally, the scenery returned.

The pouring sunlight filtering through trees, branches rustling in the wind, the fresh and earthy smell of midsummer. The feel of the bench placed under the shade of a tree in the courtyard of the academy she commuted to everyday.

Without looking at them, Celica stood up while looking around. After that, she began to run.

She returned to the school building after leaving the academy's courtyard. Then she left the school proper, leaving the academy behind her. As if drawn by an invisible thread, Celica hastened her pace without so much as a look over her shoulder.

Her chest throbbed. She herself understood what she was expecting.

After all, this impression was... his.

As though she was being guided by something, she went up the slope beside the academy before going around it to a hill located at the back. She reaced her destination in no time at all. At least, Celica felt only a few seconds had passed.

There was a little surprise in the corner of her mind that the hill was so close to the school's courtyard. It would usually take much more time.

She ran up to a gentle slope that was covered with grass.

The hill was slightly elevated; it was possible to see all of Ishana's townscape. White clouds, separating the sky from the sea, were floating in the distant blue sky.

Someone was stood at the hill's summit.

The street, sea, clouds and city. With the scenery of Ishana's calm afternoon at her back, Celica shouted with all her might.

His name.

"————RAGNA!"

The first time she saw him was at the entrance of a deserted village inside a forest.

Sat leaning against the trunk of a tree, he had been gravely injured. On top of that, he had lost his memories. At first he could remember nothing but his own name.

Together with him, Celica traveled to Japan... and encountered the Black Beast.

Celica couldn't do anything. She couldn't stop him. He had directly challenged the Black Beast, and then disappeared along with it.

He had said the he would return.

He had promised.

So Celica waited. She kept waiting because she wanted to meet him again.

Responding to Celica's voice, the shadow standing atop the hill turned around slowly.

A gust of wind whirled past, disturbing the lawn, flowing through her. Celica endured the wind, slightly buffeted by it, holding her disheveled hair while raising her face.

"Ah..."

After she observed the figure once more, Celica involuntarily raised her voice.

The figure was a tall man whose silver hair fluttered in Ishana's clear wind.

However even though his figure resembled a human, it also looked odd.

His body was wrapped in white and black with something that might as easily have been clothes or armor as it could have been skin. The eyeless, earless, and mouthless face was concealed with pure white mask. Red orbs had been embedded around his body. The orbs might be the substitute for his barren face as every single one of them stared at her like eyes.

On his back, there was a long sword sheathed diagonally that was probably as long as he was tall.

"Hakumen-san..."

Celica awkwardly called out the strange man again. A slight disappointment seeped in her voice.

Hakumen was Celica's acquaintance. Together with her sister Nine and her close friend Trinity, he was one of the warriors who had gathered in Ishana in order to defeat the Black Beast.

The eyeless face and countless red orbs gazed at Celica indifferently.

"...So it is you, Celica A. Mercury."

What was heard from behind the white mask was a low tone of voice that concealed his emotions.

To cover her slip up for mistaking him for another person, Celica scratched her face and laughed.

"I'm sorry for shouting at you so suddenly. Umm... I thought you were one of my friends."

After bowing slightly, Celica soon took several steps toward Hakumen.

Hakumen just looked at her from the edge of his vision. Then just as he had been before Celica addressed him, Hakumen turned around to face the townscape.

Celica stood next to him.

"Are you observing Ishana?"

From on top of the hill, one could look down on Ishana with ease.

Basked in the gentle midday's sunlight, the green and blue roofs, and the white walls supporting them, shone brightly. There were people living on the island going back and forth on the gentle stone-paved pathways. A thin forest surrounded it as if protecting against the outside world. Furthermore, the forest was also encircled by a vast sea.

Looking at Ishana from here truly made it look just like a painting.

The scent of grass riding on the fresh wind floated past. While tucking her wind tousled hair behind her ears, Celica gazed at the city and smiled.

"This place is nice, isn't it? I come here from time to time. Though sometimes I get surprised by the sudden strong wind."

Hakumen didn't reply, choosing to remain silent.

There was a weighty feeling about the suffocating silence, but Celica didn't pay it any heed even for a bit.

They didn't often talk, but Hakumen was always like this. Basically, he would just respond to unnecessary talk with silence. He would only speak if it was about the Black Beast.

Celica raised her chin and looked up at Hakumen. He was fairly tall compared to Celica. Looking at him for a long time would make her neck sore.

The white mask must have noticed Celica's gaze, but he didn't turn his face. He faced Ishana in silence as though he was a decoration.

"But... it's strange."

The lawn rustled by wind urged Celica to continue her muttering.

"Why did I mistake Hakumen-san for him? Your appearance and atmosphere are completely different."

But there was something similar. She wondered what it could be.

She would have a bit of trouble answering if she were asked what that was. The voice, demeanor, and body language were different. The resemblance was more obscure, an awfully subjective one.

If she really tried to put it into words... it was his scent, possibly his warmth.

If she said that, even Hakumen might laugh at her thinking she was a dog or something. Celica had never witnessed him laughing. Surely no one else ever had.

Immediately imagining it, he surely would look clumsy. Celica spontaneously giggled at that thought.

As if responding to her voice, Hakumen made a slight motion as he turned his neck. The white mask was looking at Celica.

"——Ragna."

The muffled voice resounded in a low tone.

Celica stared in wonder.

He repeated the name Celica had mistakenly called him. He had only spoke, and yet it sounded like there was a hidden emotion in the name he muttered that didn't suit the expressionless swordsman.

Fixing the angle of his head toward Celica, Hakumen asked assertively.

"I've heard you say the name before. Did you mean Ragna the Bloodedge ?"

"Bloodedge...? Nope. I only know him as Ragna ."

"Nevertheless... You did meet a man called Ragna, didn't you?"

"Yup, I met him. I don't know if he's the same person you're thinking about, but he's tall and has white hair. It seems he could only see with his left eye, but his eye color was clear green."

Mixed with the gentle wind that flowed, she could hear that Hakumen inhale slightly.

Celica reflexively opened her eyes wide. It was the first time she had seen Hakumen astonished.

"Perhaps Ragna is your acquaintance?"

Pressing her inquiry, Celica watched for Hakumen's reaction, deeply focusing on his white mask.

But without saying anything, Hakumen averted his face from her. He once again faced the city, remaining silent. Viewing his face from the side, it seemed he refused to give an answer.

Celica had a slight wry smile. This behavior was more what she was used to.

But since he didn't leave, perhaps it meant that there was no problem in her continuing to talk. Since he indicated no readiness to reply, Celica continued on her own.

"By the way, I came here since I felt that Ragna was here. Since I can't sense people's power like Onee-chan can, I wonder what's actually happening... I suddenly felt a warmth like the feeling that Ragna had."

Celica gently put her hands on her chest. The feeling she sensed back at the courtyard was still lingering there. With just that small feeling, faint happiness soaked in her whole body. It made Celica spontaneously smile broadly.

"Since Ragna always kept his chin up at all times, doesn't that mean he's the sort of person who always looks forward? No matter how strong the wind was blowing, his feet stayed firm and wouldn't move even a step. That's my image of him. That's why just thinking that I'm next to him makes me feel like i'm being protected."

After her short speech, Celica gave a small laugh. Her ponytail drawing an arc, she looked up at Hakumen.

"Oh, what am I saying? I'm the only one who thinks about him. He actually did protect me once, too. I wonder if the Ragna you know is someone different."

If possible, she wanted to hear what Hakumen thought of Ragna.

However, she didn't sense anything from Hakumen besides his slight breathing. He was absolutely still as if he were a sculpture erected on top of the hill. On the contrary, his long silver hair, which waving slightly as it was blown by the wind, looked out of place.

"Hakumen-san?"

She asked again to be sure. But the response was still obstinate silence.

Celica suddenly noticed. Hakumen was no longer looking at the city.

His face was facing the beautiful cityscape, but his chin was retracted. His appearance was that of a man sequestered in deep, deep thought.

### Part 3

The noise of the wind and the voice of Celica who was speaking right beside him didn't reach Hakumen.

His hearing only picked up the one name that had been mentioned several times. It made a ripple on the surface of the water of his thoughts.

Ragna.

Ragna the Bloodedge.

It was a name that couldn't be forgotten even if he tried to. A name that had been etched on the basis of his memory.

If he had the face of a human and eyes at the appropriate place, Hakumen would have frowned.

(Why... Why was Nii-san here? In this age...?)

The man he had once called brother. Ragna the Bloodedge.

In this time, he definitely shouldn't exist.

——It was the time when Hakumen was not Hakumen . Perhaps his last consecutive memory.

The last memory of the time when he was once named Jin .

The recollection began with scorching red.

Whirling flames, surging heat. Although he was showered by the scattering spray of lava, they oddly weren't hot.

In a place deep underground where an artificial volcano named The Cauldron was created, he——Jin threw himself into said Cauldron. For the sake of saving a person who had fallen.

"NII-SAN!"

With his beautiful golden hair disheveled, with his jade eyes burning in flames, his voice broke as he shouted. Pushing his way through the heat, he extended his arm.

There were silhouettes ahead of him in the direction he sought. The body of a large man and one of a small woman. The two of them were lying on top of another as if caught in an embrace. They were connected by a huge sword, piercing their bodies like a giant stake. Similar to a gliding bird, they went into freefall.

Jin wanted to stop the man. But his voice was swallowed by the roaring wind and his flailing arm couldn't reach him.

The woman was smiling. That woman had snatched the man Jin called brother.

He wasn't close enough that she could see him, yet her red eyes were glaring and looking up at Jin. Her face twisted into something hideous while letting out a shrill laugh. The deafening voice echoed inside his skull.

Shut up. Stop laughing.

Jin cried as he was engulfed in roaring wind and flame. Hatred and murderous thoughts gushed up from the bottom of his stomach.

"I will never... ever forgive you! NEVER!"

The apparently endless fall suddenly transformed.

The figures that were solid until then melted and blended into one. The man and woman who were united by a sword lost their features and transformed into a black, writhing mass. Gradually swelling, it expanded and swallowed the surroundings. Inside the darkness, bright red eyes that shone in a sinister fashion could be seen.

As soon as he saw it, a needle of ice penetrated Jin's spine.

At the same time, countless words of denial rushed through his mind.

Inexcusable.

It mustn't be allowed to exist. It mustn't be deemed to exist.

The denials were the impulse of his instinct. In the accumulation of them, his will and ego were crushed to nothingness.

In the end, the mass that contained his brother and the hated woman tried to take the shape of something...

Jin, together with the black mass, fell down into the blazing flames.

Lured by the cold wind, he opened his eyes. There were no flames nor heat... What appeared before his eyes was the stretched, emotionless sky full of stars.

The figure of his brother was nowhere to be seen.

The same for the red-eyed woman, and the black mass he had seen.

But there stood a girl beside him. A girl that resembled the moon.

"Mr. Hero. How would you like to become a real hero?"

Jin didn't know how to answer the enigmatic question. He couldn't recall the correct words.

But when the girl expressed a bewitching smile that didn't seem to match her girlish appearance at all, she summoned a suffocating scent of roses and whisked Jin away from that place.

Teleportation——.

The moment he felt it, Jin lost consciousness once more.

When he regained consciousness again, Jin was lying in the bed of a strange room.

In the forefront of his vision was a dull colored ceiling, harmonized by a chandelier that seemingly had a flower and ivy motif.

The room was spacious. It was furnished with moderately luxurious but good quality furniture. The faint scent must have been roses. The bedding was also considerably first-rate, it bore the illusion that one would sink if they were to lie there for too long.

The air fluctuated suddenly.

Along with the sound of a door opening, someone entered. There was only one set of footsteps. Slipping through the door, a quiet wind and rose fragrance entered the room.

The footsteps stopped beside Jin along with the sound of wheels turning. After a short pause, a hoarse voice spoke gently.

"It seems you have awakened."

Barely hearing it, Jin tried to move his neck. He found he could only look around by moving his eyes.

There was the figure of an old man beside the bed. A wrinkled face with a long white beard, and lengthy grey hair in addition.

The old man was severely thin and looked very tired. His neck and arms looked like dead branches and his cheeks held the moss. That said, the old man was wrapped in noble attire that was breathtaking.

He was sitting in a wheelchair. The sound of wheels Jin's ears picked up earlier must have belonged to it.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Clavis Alucard. This man is my butler, Valkenhayn R. Hellsing."

A voice that shook the air gently, like a ripple on the surface of water.

With red eyes filled with the accumulated wisdom and dignity of many generations, Clavis hinted toward the restrained, well built man stood behind him.

After that, he proceeded to reach out his hand to a tiny silhouette at his side.

"This child is Rachel Alucard. ...She is the one who brought you to this castle."

Clavis put his hand on the shoulder of the girl. It was the bewitching girl who had smiled before Jin lost consciousness, below the starry sky and annoyingly dazzling moon.

But something was different. Jin thought instinctively.

It could be the appearance, the age, or even her very existence. He was certain that she was the girl from that time, but he had a feeling that something was fundamentally different.

Jin gathered a little strength and knitted his brows.

It wasn't just the girl. This place was anomalous. These people, the drifting air... even the flow of time.

"Where am I...?"

Placing his jarring arms to each side of his body, Jin tried to get up. However, even though his arms were moving, they slipped, unable to achieve any power as if they were hollow pipes.

It wasn't just his arms. It was like his whole body had been replaced with wooden doll. He even had to muster his whole strength just to move his lips.

Toward the appalled Jin, the gentle voice spoke again.

"You ought not do anything excessive. Let alone getting up, your body cannot move as you please. It is quite amazing just for you to have woken up in this short period of time."

"Short period of time?"

"It should be seven days in human time... When you were carried to this castle, you were gravely injured. The external wounds were treated by Valkenhayn, but you slipped into a comatose state due to your injuries."

After speaking that much, Clavis smiled and looked at Jin with eyes like he was admiring a kitten taking its first steps.

"Do not force yourself. Try not to get up."

He lectured Jin once again.

For a moment, a glint of clear irritation passed over Jin. But looking at Clavis' peaceful gaze made his body lose its strength. Jin sank into his bed as if giving up. His fatigue and dizziness gave him the impression that it would be futile even if he struggled.

After being certain he had relaxed, Clavis answered Jin's first question.

"This place is my castle. It does not belong anywhere in the world. It is also connected to every dark night of the world... A place that exists but is also nonexistent. Similar to the other side of the moon."

The words he spoke were too obscure even for a fairy tale. But mysteriously they managed to sound logical for human interpretation.

At the very least, Jin had a vague understanding of it. Taking a deep breath, he spoke his next question.

"...Why am I here?"

"Well, then. I do not know the details either. But young man, it appears that you have crossed the Boundary. The remaining damage to your flesh are all the result of crossing over it."

"Boundary..."

Just what is the Boundary? It seemed to be a word he should have known, but Jin didn't understand much about it for some reason. No, that was incorrect. He knew the 'information' regarding the meaning of the word Boundary. How could he know about it? Where did he obtain that knowledge?

In the first place, just who was he? Clavis said that he arrived here after passing through the Boundary. But where was he and what was he doing before then? ...He didn't know.

His mind was blurry. He wanted to put his hand on his forehead, but the hand wouldn't move.

He heard a sympathetic sigh from Clavis.

"Are your memories in chaos? Perhaps that is also because you have been heavily affected by the Boundary. There is an enormous amount of information drifting in the Boundary. When your spirit connected with it, your individual memories as well as personality were swept away by the excessive knowledge. To put it simply, you cannot remember yourself well enough."

With the noise of clothes rustling, Clavis lightly moved his hands from the wheelchair's handles onto his knees.

Looking away from the sluggish gesture, Jin turned his gaze toward the ceiling. The light of the chandelier was awfully distant. It made it feel lifeless.

Clavis' drowsy voice continued.

"Crossing the Boundary is very dangerous. It is a wonder for an ordinary man to even retain his flesh. Even if it remained, one would lose himself as his will became engulfed by the Boundary. ...It appears that you possess a very strong spirit."

Strong spirit. Those words were oddly amusing. Jin spat it out by taking a breath.

If he truly possessed that thing, then —— wouldn't be ——.

(...Who... What was it?)

The floating thought dispersed at once before it formed a shape inside his mind. He couldn't grasp it. It was just he felt that he had lost something... Something that absolutely mustn't be lost.

His head was heavy. He spontaneously closed his eyelids. With his vision shut in the dark, a spectacle was resurrected as if it had been waiting patiently.

Red flames, burning air, falling figures... and then red eyes.

For the present Jin, it was his last and only clear memories.

"Black... I saw a black mass. Where is that thing?"

That's right, a black mass. At the same time as he remembered, the emotions he had when he witnessed it were overflowing, gushing forth anew.

That being shouldn't be allowed to exist.

Jin's spine was shivering as his memories, along with thought, got swept away. Even his ego was engulfed by the impulse. It wasn't because of terror. If he put it into words then it would be murderous intent.

"That being is the Black Beast... It materialized from the Boundary. A being that is destroying the world."

Clavis' voice gently wrapped up the burning negative feelings.

"It seems it appeared in this world one month ago. After singlehandedly forcing a small island country into catastrophe, it presently rampages around the world searching for further destruction."

"It must..."

Slipping from his thoughts, Jin's mouth moved on its own and spoke. The words didn't completely sound; they didn't even reach Jin's ears himself. But as for the meaning of the enveloping emotions, it was too obvious not only to Jin, but also Clavis.

It must be killed.

Jin clenched his teeth. His molars grating against one another made a noise. The inner corner of his eyes were burning.

It was terribly confusing. Merely yielding to that confusion made the desire to immediately rush away from this place rampage inside his body.

He himself didn't have any kind of intention, but he felt bad as if his body was taking control and doing as it pleased.

His head aching, Jin grimaced severely.

Watching the situation quietly, Clavis continued to speak.

"Young man. This is still the time for you to recuperate. If you take a rest for a little bit more, you will be able to get up. Perhaps some of your memories will also return. If the time comes, if you still have the will to stand... there is a place I intend to show you."

"What...?"

"Until then, please rest to your heart's content. The reason you're here is because your destiny has not yet concluded."

After he said that, Clavis casted his gaze to the silent Valkenhayn at his back as if urging him.

Still with a gloomy expression, Valkenyhayn handled the wheelchair with a delicate manner that didn't suit his build and left the room with Clavis.

The girl who was following, Rachel, silently halted her feet in front of the door for a moment. With the ribbons in her long golden hair swinging, she looked back at Jin.

The big red eyes of a doll were staring at Jin.

But without saying anything, the girl's eyes continued to gleam with that cold color. Then a wind blew unexpectedly and in a flash the girl vanished to the hallway.

With the door closed the room was peacefully silent.

Jin glared at the solid wood of the door from his bed.

I couldn't——.

The broken thought came in contact with the broken memories, revealing a whisper of regret.

Your destiny has not yet concluded.

Clavis' words echoed deep within his chest. Feeling annoyed by it, Jin fell asleep before long as if fainting.

"...n. Hakumen-san!"

What had pulled up Hakumen from sinking endlessly into the lake of thought might be the voice of the girl who seemed to repeatedly calling to him while lightly hitting his arm, or perhaps it was the chimes of a bell sounding that the time was 3 o'clock before vanishing as if absorbed by the distant sky.

While his five senses were readjusting to the here and now, Hakumen turned his face toward the worried girl stood next to him who was looking up at him.

As he moved, Celica sighe a breath of relief and smiled.

"Thank god. I thought something was wrong since you were completely still."

After she said that, she noticed that she was still touching his arm. Then Celica retracted her hand behind her back while making a mischievous face.

Not minding it, Hakumen turned his head. What the white mask was seeing was the Mage's Guild that was located at the center of Ishana's townscape.

"...It seems to have ended."

Lowly murmuring, he turned on his heels with the long silver hair on his head fluttering. Each time he stepped forward, the lush lawn made a noise.

Before he went too far, Celica immediately chased after him.

"Wha, wait up. You're going to Onee-chan's place, right? I'll go with you!"

Hakumen didn't give a reply, but he slightly shortened his large steps. Stepping after him, Celica jogged to catch up with a light trot.

As if urging both of their shadows to leave the hill, a strong gust of wind blew through.

### 024. Chapter 2: Purple Ones, Their Theory

### Part 1

Most of the children who lived in Ishana attended an academy located at the centre of the city. It was adjoined with the Mage's Guild.

The U-shaped buildings were built facing each other. There was a thick green garden of a courtyard interposing, connecting the two establishments. It was possible to go back and forth there.

Even if she had a day off from the academy, whenever she had business with Mage's Guild, Celica always entered through the academy's main gate. But since the circumstance was quite different today, she entered using the gate to the Mage's Guild.

The reason was her companion. Her companion wore a faceless white mask and odd white clothing. He, Hakumen, was also outfitted with a long sword that was as long as he was tall. Since she was taking him along, she couldn't go inside the academy as her classmates might be there.

To quickly avoid any unnecessary stiff atmosphere, she started to run toward the courtyard that was also connected with the academy.

When she got outside, the smell of nature hit her all at once. The refreshing wind made Celica stop walking reflexively and took a deep breath of air.

Then, some familiar figures caught her eye.

On the other side of the shrubberies she could see several men and women walking.

When she noticed the woman wearing a large triangular hat walking at the front of the pack, Celica's face suddenly lit up.

"Onee-chan!"

While frantically waving her hand, she sprang into a run.

She proceeded, taking a large detour around the shrubberies. The owner of the triangular hat spread both of her arms, waiting for Celica on the other side.

The woman's long hair flowed down her back, and her supple legs stretched out from her tight skirt. She was a girl with glamorous proportions that would easily charm any man without trying. She was Nine.

"Celica!"

She firmly seized the rushing Celica in both arms. Then Nine embraced her younger sister into her voluptuous chest. At the moment, most of Celica's face was buried in the soft cushion.

"Puh. Onee-chan, I'm in pain..."

"Good grief, where did you go? I was worried when I couldn't find you. I thought I told you to wait for me while I was condcting business. Are you okay? You didn't meet some vulgar man, did you?"

"Mmmmmmph~~~~..."

"Hahaha, you're at it again."

The three men and the woman who had accompanied Nine came along. Among them was a cat-type beastkin, recognisable by his high-set triangular ears and two long tails. His right eye was covered with an eye patch. The beastkin, Jubei, let out a cheerful laugh.

Together with him was Valkenhayn, a man with a fearless face and sturdy body who kept his identity as a werewolf hidden. Next was Yuuki Terumi, a man whose eyes were hidden by a hood; he was silently keeping his distance from Celica and Nine. Behind him was a girl in a full-length robe who was wearing round glasses, Trinity.

Peeking at Celica and Nine from the side, Trinity quietly giggled.

"Oh my, Nine. Celica-san's going to cease functioning."

The cotton candy-like platinum blonde hair spilled from the hood she wore. Each time she moved, it sparkled as it reflected sunlight.

The sweet voice sounded slow and carefree. Lectured by it, Nine finally relaxed her arms.

Like a small animal, Celica slipped through the opened gap.

"Puhaa. Sorry, Onee-chan. I was with Hakumen-san up on the hill."

"With Hakumen?"

"Yup. We talked for a bit."

"...I see."

Nine, who had been looking at Celica affectionately, suddenly shifted her gaze to a completely different look. Although she had been calmly watching Celica in fascination, her stare was now like an ice needle.

Not a speck of kindness remained in her sharp gaze. The daggers in her eyes were pointed at Hakumen where he stood behind Celica, acting like he had nothing to do with her.

"The schedule of the meeting must have been reported to you, Hakumen. If you're in Ishana, then why didn't you attend?"

Nine spoke as if interrogating him. A tension began to stretch over the group.

But Hakumen didn't respond or even move.

His attitude made Nine's irritation take a sudden turn. Everyone there felt it, excluding Hakumen.

Celica's smile stiffened as she looked at Nine and Hakumen alternately. A bit to the side, Jubei and Valkenhayn looked astonished and exchanged worried looks.

High heels roughly clattering against the stone-paved path, Nine took several steps forward.

"You're the key piece in our strategy. If you're not there, then it's out of the question. Even someone like you, who can't comprehend anything other than swinging a sword, should have understood."

"I do not recall ever being your pawn."

Without making any movement, Hakumen replied indifferently.

The fire in Nine's eyes burned brighter.

"You're less than a pawn if you can't even abide simple instructions. Listen. Next time, you absolutely have to come here at the designated time. Don't keep doing the same thing every time. I don't have the spare time to babysit you."

"There is no meaning in attending a gathering with nothing but tedious talk. My soul yearns only to slay my foes."

"You may be okay with that, but it puts me in serious troubles!"

"Now, now. Don't raise your voice like that~. Look, Nine. Celica-san is frightened."

Before anyone had noticed, Trinity had moved near Nine and Hakumen. She gently forced herself between them. Before, the place was filled with a tension that could freeze the wind. That moment, the original calmness of the courtyard, matching the touch of the warm sunlight, returned.

Nine reluctantly stopped venting her anger. Seeing this, Celica felt relieved. She scratched her cheek apologetically.

"I'm sorry. I was the one who kept Hakumen-san. If only we had intended to head for the meeting instead..."

"Celica didn't do anything bad. You never intended to attend the meeting. Rather than for the meeting, you should be apologizing for making my cute Celica look sad. Like, right this instant."

"O, Onee-chan..."

Out of character for her normal professional attitude, Nine kept spoke using the pampering voice only those closest to her knew.

Even if she had grown accustomed since Nine always did it, Celica let out a wry smile. She was happy of her sister's excessive love. But she was also worried when it occasionally went on a rampage.

"Geez... What noisy sisters."

Valkenhayn looked astonished as he turned his head toward the voice.

As if reapplying tension that had slackened off once, a harsh laughter could be heard.

It was Terumi.

He was standing casually with both hands inserted into pockets in an unambitious manner. Then he tilted his head back while his thin shoulders shook in extreme amusement. He didn't even try to hide the laugh that he ridiculed them with. He didn't think the sisters' conversation was charming even for a bit.

"Something amusing? ...You puppet."

Revealing her discomfort, Nine coldly questioned him. The degree of coldness was different from what she had been directing at Hakumen.

But instead of backing down even a little, Terumi shrugged his shoulders and continued to ridicule her.

"Nuh-uh~. It's just funny seeing you guys making idiotic faces."

Interrupting Terumi's laugh, a white arm extended toward his throat and roughly grasped his collar.

Hakumen pulled Terumi toward himself and stared at him with intimidating silence. Terumi glared at him like a venomous snake creeping out from darkness.

"What... Don't just casually touch me. I said something that hurt your feelings? Aah? Man, you just have to answer honestly."

The white mask remained silent. But the hand that grabbed his collar wasn't gentle; it was wrenched violently.

Although he was trying to tear off the arm, Terumi grinned and provoked him even more.

"Hah, what's with you? We're friends, aren't we? Let's get along, Hakumen-chan. Or what? You can't talk since you got no mouth?"

"You..."

"Okay, stop!"

Celica's voice suddenly cut in, interrupting Hakumen's words and freezing Terumi's grin.

"Quit with the fighting. You're getting into another argument so soon, even though Trinity-san just ended the last one?"

"Good grief," said Celica as she grabbed both tall men's shoulders, urging them to separate.

But before he could be pushed aside, Terumi twisted his body forcefully to get away from Celica and Hakumen's grasps. He turned his face away and faintly clicked his tongue while backing away, moving a great distance from them.

He was obviously avoiding them. But even if she was aware of it, Celica just held herself back and made a wry smile for a moment.

Every time Terumi happened to be near Nine and Hakumen, a quarrel would develop. Terumi's reaction was always the same. For some reason, Terumi had a weird dislike of being touched by Celica.

Then Trinity clasped her hands together delightfully. She made a peaceful and earnest smile.

"Everyone~, why don't we have a tea now?"

The voice that had the sweet scent of butter and sugar drifting about made Jubei scratch his head with a puzzled face.

"Tea, huh... Just like you to propose that, Trinity, but we're doin' it with these guys? It ain't like we're just goin' to fill a table and get along now, is it?"

"Isn't it fine? I'm hoping we can spend time quietly together taking a graceful tea."

While fixing his collar, Valkenhayn took a step ahead. Following him, Trinity urged the others on.

"...I sure hope the coffee will taste good."

Nine grumbled dejectedly, dropping her shoulders along with a sigh. Celica hugged Nine's arm to her chest and smiled gleefully.

"This is the first time everyone will be having tea together, right? We've got quite a number here, but let's just go to the usual shop!"

"Celica, are you serious? I don't want to see these guys' faces in that store... Ah, of course Jubei's a different case."

"H-Hey. Stop talkin' like that in a place like this..."

Jubei looked downward as Nine made a surprise attack with her charming smile. His ears which usually stood straight up were also seemingly bending down.

Nine, Celica, and Jubei followed Valkenhayn and Trinity who had gone ahead. Hakumen and Terumi also stepped forth without saying anything.

However, before they could go any further, a heavy noise resounded as the gate that led to the courtyard from Mage's Guild opened.

"Oh my~, everyone's present."

Together with the charming provocative voice, long boots' heels, which were even taller than Nine's, clacked along the courtyard's path.

The woman entering the courtyard was wearing a dress that had a large gap at the torso, complete with long mantle decorated with extravagant fur. Her lips, thick with lipstick, and the gorgeous necklace decorating her chest were eye-catching. Her suggestive attire hinted at a slender, well kept figure.

Beside her stood a man with silk-like blonde hair that had been grown long. With such a truly stylish outfit, he looked like some kind of royalty.

"It is not admirable of you bringing outsiders inside the guild, Nine."

The blond man put out a modest smile along with calm tone of voice that had thorns of rationality in it. The cool ice-blue pair of eyes looked at the lined up faces in the courtyard in turn. The thin frame of his glasses emphasized his intelligence and dignity.

"Eight, Seven..."

Nine dropped her voice in displeasure at the pair who were now standing in her way.

Eight was the eighth and Seven was the seventh.

Along with Nine as the ninth, they were Sages just like her. The proof was the conspicuously large triangular hats placed atop their heads.

The Ten Sages——the honored people were outstanding magicians even among the Mage's Guild. They held the positions of highest authority over Ishana. The maximum number had been decided as ten people. But it was less than ten people right now. There were missing numbers as some positions in the Mage's Guild weren't filled.

Seven, Eight, and Nine's ages were relatively young among the Ten Sages. The three of them also stood out in their abilities. But it was a well-known fact that Nine was especially young and blessed with a special talent.

"Trinity. Sorry but go ahead and take Celica and the others."

Without taking her eyes from the two Sages who stood on her way, Nine spoke in a terribly calm voice.

Trinity nodded quickly.

"Understood. Everyone, let us go~."

"Is everything alright?"

Jubei was giving a concerned frown, but Trinity smiled to assuage his fear. Then she dropped her voice a little as she whispered into his ear.

"It's okay. It'll be inconvenient if we have to leave the island for carelessly meddling in the Ten Sages' affairs~. Other than matters regarding the Black Beast, getting too deeply involved with Mage's Guild would put us into trouble."

"I see..."

He was still not yet fully convinced, but Jubei swung his tails in the stead of nodding. The only people who had as much interest in the Mage's Guild and Nine as Jubei did were Celica and Trinity. Without needing to be urged by Trinity again, Valkenhayn, Hakumen, and Terumi promptly exited the courtyard.

Afterwards, Jubei, Trinity, and Celica followed. ...But as Celica passed Seven, he grabbed her arm.

"Hey!"

Nine shouted in anger. On the spur of the moment, Trinity stopped walking and Jubei put himself on guard.

But Seven didn't release any strength from the grip that held Celica.

Celica stared at Seven in wonder. It wasn't like she knew him well, but Seven was someone who gave the impression of a gentleman with a polite demeanor and gentle attitude. It was surprising for him to rudely seize someone's arm while displaying such an awfully stern face.

Still grabbing Celica's arm, Seven loudly spoke.

"You have an involvement in our discussion. You will have to remain here."

"Me...?"

"Listen to me. Just go, Celica."

Unable to just watch, Nine stepped up and roughly separated Seven's hand from Celica's arm. Since she took the opportunity to let a light electric current flow, Seven of course removed his hand.

But from the side, Eight interrupted with frivolous talk while fiddling with her hair which was spilling from under her hat.

"Hmm? Why are you keeping your sister away? Don’t you feel sorry for hiding such an important thing from her?"

"Eight, you have nothing to do with this."

"Oh, but I do. Right, Celica-chan?"

While replying with a carefree attitude toward the furious Nine, Eight looked at Celica.

Celica got the feeling from Eight's suggestive look that Nine knew something that Celica wasn't aware of. Now, she was desperately trying to keep Celica away from it.

Once she thought about it, she couldn't keep quiet anymore.

"I will stay. Trinity-san, Jubei-san, you two can go ahead."

"Eh, eh, but..."

At Celica's flat declaration, which showed no hint of hesitation, Trinity got flustered and then looked to Nine. Without saying anything, her gentle green eyes conveyed her uncertainty.

Nine held her head. Nine knew Celica's personality better than anyone. When Celica looked up straight and spoke frankly like now, it would be futile for anyone to oppose her.

"...Trinity, Jubei. Celica and I will join you soon, so please take care of the others. Leaving them on their own will just give me endless anxiety."

"If you say so... then okay."

"We'll wait at the shop. Come quick."

Trinity bowed to Seven and Eight. Jubei didn't bow but shot them a suspicious glance. Together they turned and left the courtyard.

When the gate to the Mage's Guild's buildings had completely closed, Nine moved next to Celica. She pushed her long hair onto her back, still visibly irritated. After she spat out a sigh, her resentful gaze became filled with an unshakeable composure.

"Now, I'll listen to your business. Though, I never thought this story of yours would be anything of interest."

### Part 2

Nine with Celica, and Seven with Eight. The cold wind in the courtyard blew through the gap between them as they stood facing each other.

Nine stood with her arms folded in a manner that suited her overbearing beauty. Next to her older sister, Celica was alarmed as the tension grew more violent bit by bit.

She normally paid it no heed, but Nine, who had received a large triangular hat, was a Sage. And Seven, together with Eight, wore the same hat, signifying that they were also Sages.

The Ten Sages had a completely different status within the Mage's Guild's members. Their positions were far higher. Even the thickheaded Celica could recognize their heightened status and other social standings. The three of them stood in the same position as the people who had the highest authority in the guild. It felt like they were sticking out like a sore thumb somewhat.

Celica was restless and kept checking the surroundings. Despite this, Eight looked toward the gate that led to the guild before cynically raising her lipstick-red lips and flashing a smile.

"You're just like a queen being followed by attendants like that. Though, this place is the majestic Mage's Guild, not your castle. So don't be mistaken, okay?"

"They are an essential force to battle the Black Beast. In other words, my comrades-in-arms. Calling them outsiders or attendants... I wonder who's the one mistaking Mage's Guild for their palace?"

In no time at all, Nine had coldly rebuffed the provocation with sarcasm.

Eight was at a loss for words. But she immediately pulled herself together and smiled. Then she moved her hands from her waist to her chest, folding her arms and embracing her body.

"Hmph, comrades-in-arms? If we remove Trinity, the rest are just suspicious people. There's a beastkin, werewolf, and two others who aren't even human. I've always considered you to be a strange person, but it's still a surprise to see you have a penchant for keeping non-humans in your service~."

Offended by her manner of speaking, Celica took a large step forward.

"Excuse me! I don't think it's like you've just said. Jubei-san, Valkenhayn-san, Hakumen-san, and Terumi-san are trying to beat the Black Beast with their utmost effort. I really don't approve of you... making a fool of the people who fight together with us!"

For Celica, the people Eight regarded as non-humans were her precious sister's comrades.

Celica didn't have enough power to save her sister. That was why Celica honestly had a great respect for them. Nine had approved their strength. They would wield that same strength to fight together with her. Celica felt a deep gratitude toward them.

It was unacceptable for people who barely knew them to insult them.

Nine put her hand on one of Celica's tense shoulders before speaking indifferently.

"Celica, you shouldn't speak too much with that woman. ...You might get infected with her worthless pattern of thinking."

"Wh-What did you say!? Hey, Nine. Is that how you talk your senior!?"

"Being polite is meaningless when the other party has spent their life pointlessly."

"Pointless... You're the one who's pointless!"

"Leave it at that, Eight. We have an important business to do, don't we?"

Seven's composure cut through the sparks building between the women like a knife cutting through butter.

As her partner didn't look even slightly disturbed, Eight made an effort to regain her composure and cleared her throat.

"I, Indeed. You're right. Nine... this has to wait until that thing's test run."

Slowly, Eight spoke directly to Nine as if the hysteria so far hadn't happened.

That thing. The words made Nine's face changed.

"Causality weapon..."

Celica turned around as her sister involuntarily muttered the phrase. Her breath taken away, Nine cast her eyes down slightly. Her mouth seemed stiff.

Nine lightly made fists and then raised her gaze, looking from underneath the wide brim of her hat. It wasn't an expression of anger. If anything it was a look of contempt.

"Stop the development. Don’t make me say it over and over again."

"...The same to you, don't make me say it over again. It is indispensable for humanity."

Even if he was aware that there was contempt in Nine's eyes, Seven, with his detestable calmness, kept his elegant smile.

Beside them, Eight flicked the crystal on her earring before she spoke.

"The preparation for its activation is about to begin soon. But a problem remains in the control system. It could be easily solved if Celica A. Mercury was involved."

Upon hearing her name, Celica jolted and pointed to herself.

Eight gave an exaggerated nod to persuade her.

"Yes. With your power, we can put it into combat. Will you cooperate?"

"No."

Nine declared strongly enough to cause the illusion to quickly break as if slapped by her voice.

"If it can't be controlled, then it should be disposed of. From the beginning, its existence was a mistake. I won't let Celica get involved. Ever."

Different from the sharp gaze that had been directed at Seven and Eight until now, there was now an invisible, surging vigor rampaging within her.

She gave the oppression life through her aggressive tone of voice. It made both opposing Ten Sages wince unintentionally. For just a split second, a humiliating fright showed on each of Seven and Eight's faces.

Looking at them from the side, anxiety stuck in Celica's mind. Just what was that thing that made Nine so strongly reject it like this.

She had a guess. Perhaps it was really terrifying. Or maybe it could expose Celica's life to danger.

Back then... back at the Black Beast's last appearance eight months ago, there was something like this, too.

There was a device called Kushinada's Lynchpin in the underground of a certain research establishment. If it had been activated, it could have halted the Black Beast's activity. However, the activation required Celica's life.

Nine yelled that she absolutely objected in utilizing it. Celica said that she wanted to use it.

Nine's expression currently held some resemblance to the expression she had back then.

(...I think back then... it looked more like... she almost cried.)

Celica mumbled as she thought about it.

Interrupting Celica's sentiment, Seven held both his hands out wide. It seemed like he was about to give a speech.

"Nine. You truly don’t understand. How many people do you think have lost their lives and live in fear due to the Black Beast? This isn't a circumstance where you should put your self-interest as priority."

Taking over from Seven, Eight talked passionately.

"I admit that the Armagus you've created is a superior measure. It's come to form because of the foundation you designed. I know that it'll be even more diverse later on, but humanity needs a decisive weapon that's more reliable!"

Celica could see that they seriously meant what they said from the bottom of their hearts. But even then, both of them couldn't ignite passion in Nine's eyes, which were staring at them with intense coldness.

"Dispose of it. That is an order from my position as someone who has complete authority regarding the Black Beast's engagement."

"What authority!? My rank in the Ten Sages is higher than yours!"

"My rights were decided in the meeting of the so called Ten Sages, Eight. Talk to the other Sages if you have complaints. And..."

Nine spoke on and on quickly. Her determination itself was unshakeable and unstoppable. Expressing her point even more heavily, Nine added a final remark.

"From now on, do not ever approach Celica again."

Celica stood dumbfounded unable to grasp even a fragment of the conversation. Then Nine grabbed her shoulder and quickly started to lead her away.

What stopped her feet wasn't the bewildered Celica, but Seven with a calmness that hid his real intention.

"I will say this once. Both Eight and I were reluctant in deciding you were the Sage who should possess complete authority in this matter. You are certainly talented. But handling an army is another kind of talent."

"...Then I will also say this once. The opponent we have to defeat is the Black Beast. Not someone with insignificant jealousy. And certainly not the world."

After leaving behind those words, this time Nine took Celica and got out of the courtyard.

Stiff noises rang within the Mage's Guild's hallway in a fast rhythm.

Nine's pace was usually fast. But it now, like it did at times, particularly made unpleasant footsteps.

Celica's flustered footsteps did their best to keep up.

"Onee-chan, Onee-chan!"

She had called out countless times. They got out of the Mage's Guild's main entrance with Nine's feet continuing at that rapid pace. Then Celica pulled her sister's arm firmly and forcibly stopped her.

"Onee-chan! I told you to wait, why don't you answer?"

"...You should know my answer if you listened before. This is all for you."

Without shaking off Celica's arms, Nine reluctantly stopped walking. Then she let out a sigh of resignation.

Celica's ponytail sprung as she quickly nodded.

"I did hear it. What's that thing that Seven-san and Eight-san were talking about earlier? What did they mean by "needing my power"?"

Even if someone had natural talent in magic, fitting training was required to handle it. But Celica was able to use healing magic from the beginning without any practice.

However, her healing magic wasn't the important one. The power gifted to Celica when she was born had more to do with her physical constitution.

Celica could suppress seithr just by being near it. In addition, she could also stop seithr from re-entering a place, allowing it to be completely cleared of seithr.

Celica didn't really understand her odd physical constitution. But she herself had vaguely guessed that her body was seemingly a bit peculiar.

She had thought that that was why what Eight said about your power was probably something no one but her could do.

"...It's better for you not to know."

Nine shook her head. She was slipping out of Celica's grasp, Celica hurriedly grabbed Nine again.

"You covering it up again! You're always like this!"

"Celica..."

The worried voice of the older sister reprimanded her.

Celica tightly grabbed her sister's hand in both of hers and looked up at her.

An honest determination dwelled beyond the pupils that had the color of wet soil. She stared so intensely that it was enough to pierce the person she was looking at.

"See, I know that you're thinking a lot of things regarding my safety. I'm happy that you're concerned and worried about me."

She must have already known what Celica was going to say next. Inside the stern eyes were trying to avoid her sister's gaze, a kindness she wouldn't give to anyone but Celica passed over Nine's eyes, as well as a frail and vulnerable look.

She noticed it, but Celica didn't hesitate to continue. After all, it was unmistakably her true feeling. She couldn't lie about her feelings to people important to her.

"But I'm not sure if I'll be happy not knowing about it. So even if I regret it, even if it puts you in trouble, I just can't comprehend it if I don't see it myself."

"I do know your personality. But I can't tell you anything about this case. I can't let you know about it. You can't even get involved with it even for a moment."

Nine didn't relent even in the wake of Celica's resolve. While pressing her forehead with her fingers like she had headache, Nine put her unshakeable resolution into words.

"Why are you so...!"

Getting irritated because Nine wouldn't reveal what she had been keeping from her, Celica's words turned sour in her protest.

However, something came to mind immediately. Nine had always been thinking about Celica. She knew about it as her protective actions had been accumulating from when they were children.

That was why if Nine told her to stay out so forcefully, then it must be something unfavorable to Celica.

"Is it something dangerous?"

Perhaps it concerned not just Celica, but something even more expansive.

Suppressing her childish selfishness, Celica lowered her eyes in worry.

Giving it a thought, Nine's sharp but also kind eyes were directed to somewhere distant.

"They're just desperate people wanting to utilize a failure. It's just a boring rivalry of adults. ...That's all."

Those words couldn't have been a lie. But for Celica, it didn't feel like she would tell the whole truth. Nine had always been concerned about Celica. She always had something she hid.

If Celica were to speak her intention, she wanted to ask what Nine was hiding and why she hid it. She wanted to know about all the circumstances. But Celica gave up on pressing her for a moment.

Her sister was just as stubborn as her. If she had decided not to, then she wouldn't yield so easily. Besides... considering Nine had been busy with strategy meetings and weapon development every day, Celica felt guilty if she ended up increasing her sister's burden with her selfish words.

"...You see. I'm not strong and not really good in using magic to fight. But I will do anything if I can be useful to you. That's why, tell me when the needs for my strength arrive."

Surely she would be excused if she was only this selfish. Celica looked forthrightly at Nine while telling her.

Nine's mouth began to open and made a slight smile. She gently released Celica's hands and then used her freed hands to wrap Celica's cheeks.

"Celica. You don't have to worry about anything. I will definitely protect you."

"Onee-chan..."

It by no means satisfied Celica. Because it meant that her sister didn't want her to help.

But her decision had supported Nine somewhat. If that could help her, then it was fine for now.

Celica put on a bright smile to cheer her up while thinking about it.

Since Nine and Celica had left, Seven and Eight were left in a courtyard filled with rich summer greenery's scent. With the same stern gaze, they stared toward the gate leading to the Mage's Guild.

Eventually, Eight rudely stomped the stone pavement under her feet with the heel of her long boot in annoyance.

"Huh, what's with that woman!? Even though she's a newbie, she acts as if she's in control of the Mage's Guild, including us Ten Sages. She should act her tenure and show us some respect!"

As the single hit to the ground didn't relieve her of the resentment inside her stomach, Eight gnawed at her lipstick covered lips and walked around.

Looking from the side at the woman's long mantle as she paced around, Seven breathed a sigh while wrinkling his forehead. Lifting the thin frame of his glasses with his middle finger, he stiffly shook his head.

"Dispose of it...? That is no joke. Roughly speaking, it was us who constructed it until this stage. Not her. While it may be true that she assembled the foundation, it is annoying that she's acting like she owned it all this time."

"Hey, Seven. You don't really mean you're going to get rid of it, do you?"

Rushing over, Eight put her hand on Seven's shoulder, raising her eyes on him, demanding an answer.

"It is a hope. Humanity's... no, our hope! Sure, the Armagus is amazing, but it won't give us victory against the Black Beast. It's not significant enough to test out the difference in power with the monster!"

"I know. I am not planning to have it disposed of before my eyes. If it were fully realized, we could show the world Nine's shallowness."

A while after the heated discussion, Seven's tone of voice took a steep turn downward. The easy-going ice blue gaze looked dull.

"However... it cannot be used as of now. We need Celica A. Mercury."

"Can't we just use it without her?"

"We cannot as it is too dangerous. Calm yourself a little. Do you want to bear the stigma of killing your allies?"

"That's true, but do you think we can deceive Nine's eyes? Unless fortune's on our side..."

"——It seems there's an interesting discussion going on here~."

All of a sudden, a third voice interrupted.

Startled, Seven and Eight's bodies stiffened.

There shouldn't be anyone in the courtyard. Seven and Eight had been checking for intruders with their magic. Before the moment they heard the voice, the courtyard was supposed to be clear of any visible creature other than insects and birds.

Eight rocked her large earrings as she turned around. Seven just glanced toward the voice.

Both of them recognized the man. At the same time, they both grasped the reason bit by bit. That's right. Since he was the man who followed her personally, it was no wonder if he could slip through the Ten Sages' eyes.

Step by step, the man drew near.

"Hey... tell me the details."

As if crawling out from the distinct shade of trees, the voice made a chill run up Seven and Eight's spines as he spoke.

### Part 3

There was a house that served as a coffee shop on the sideways of Ishana's main street.

The shop had a lovely atmosphere with clay ornaments arranged along its white wall. White and light brown planters were placed around the entrance. Together lined up with them was an easel with a small blackboard leaning on it. The blackboard had today's recommendations written.

The time was three and a half in the afternoon. It was a bit late to have a tea.

Running and skipping up a short set of stairs that only had three flight of steps, Celica entered the shop along with Nine. The ringing door chime above her sounded refreshing.

"Let's see..."

Trinity and the others had gone on ahead of them, so they should have arrived much earlier. Celica looked inside the store that had the sweet aroma of butter and sugar. Then, she saw a platinum blonde girl stand up and wave her small hand.

"There! Trinity-san, sorry to keep you waiting!"

As her footsteps made quiet tapping noises on the wooden floor, she went inside while leading Nine along.

Trinity and the others' table was next to a tall decorative plant. But before she pulled up a chair, Celica looked puzzled as she saw the faces there.

"Huh? Only you two?"

Only Trinity and Jubei were seated there. Valkenhayn, Hakumen, and Terumi, who should have left the courtyard with them earlier, were nowhere to be seen.

The cat at the table answered Celica's question while resting his chin on his hand.

"Valkenhayn and Hakumen said they have other appointment. Terumi said somethin' about goin' to the toilet along the way and disappeared on his own."

"Eeeh!? Just when I thought everyone would finally have tea together..."

Dejected, Celica dropper her shoulders. She thought her longtime dream would come true today. But then she pulled herself together from the disappointment and raised her cheerful face before sitting down beside Jubei.

If they had errands, then there was nothing she could do. Starting from today, the base of operations was Ishana. There should be another chance later.

Nine also pulled up a chair. The white thighs peeking from her miniskirt rubbed together as she crossed her legs. Even Celica took notice of it. She sat on an open seat between Trinity and Jubei.

Calling a waitress who was waling past, Nine ordered iced coffee and chocolate mousse.

"Ah, I want a cold lemon and... mille-feuille!"

As she wrote Celica's order, the waitress with a bob cut replied with a smile and turned back toward the kitchen.

"You should have eaten first. Both of you are really principled."

Facing Trinity and Jubei, Nine dropped a smile.

Both of their orders were already placed on the table. Before Trinity was a hot royal milk tea and baked cheese cake. But in front of Jubei was a cup filled with green tea and pound cakes with green tea powder. There were traces that they had drank for a bit, but their cakes remained untouched.

"There's a green tea menu here, huh? First time I saw it."

Celica curiously looked at the cup in front of Jubei. Jubei twitched his whiskers to humor her.

"Seems it's a new menu. It's thanks to the increasin' flow of goods from various countries."

"But you put cold water in it, didn't you."

From the next seat, Nine lightly poked fun at him. There was no steam coming from the cup. Beside the cup, there were several glasses that had previously been filled with water placed on the table.

Jubei's face started to look a little embarassed.

"Can't help it. It's too hot."

"Fufu. You like tea but can't drink it hot. So cute."

Nine used her finger to poke the white fur on Jubei's cheek. Then, Jubei suddenly sprung up.

"Cute...!? Like I said, please stop sayin' things like that in public..."

"Oh, it's fine. There's only Celica and Trinity here."

"That's not the problem!"

"Ufufu, please don’t worry about us~. Right, Celica-san~?"

Nine stared at the beastkin with a girlish look that would make the people in Mage's Guild who barely knew her stare in disbelief. Jubei's pointed ears kept twitching as he couldn't calm down.

Trinity nonchalantly brought her cup to her mouth while seeing their exchange.

Celica raised both hands and rested her chin there. She kept nodding with her face filled with a smile.

"Yup. I really like seeing Onee-chan and Jubei-san getting along. Although sometimes I get embarrassed, too."

"Y-You're wrong. I don't really... Uhhh..."

Jubei waved his shaking, bulky hand in the air.

Interrupting his excuse, the waitress finally came carrying Nine and Celica's orders.

Not wanting to expose himself anymore, Jubei pulled his head in toward his neck and tried to appear as small as possible. He lay in wait, concealing his sigh behind the sound of the orders being placed on the table.

After a while, the Mercury sisters drew each of their drinks toward themselves. When he heard the noise, Jubei could only let a sigh of relief and raised his face.

Then he dejectedly lowered his whiskers.

"...Of course, you're doin' it."

He dropped his voice as he muttered.

Not understanding at first, Celica followed Jubei's gaze and understood why.

Nine's supple fingers picked up a pitcher filled with gum syrup that was served with the iced coffee before pouring its entire contents into her glass. When the clear fluid finally depleted, this time she tilted another pitcher filled with milk in the same manner. The white fluid quietly muddied the iced coffee.

"Ah, can I get another gum syrup?"

Without even a questioning look, the waitress Nine called immediately came with a spare pitcher.

Of course, she also poured it into her glass without leaving a drop.

The water level of the coffee that was now corrupted with syrup and milk had increased almost to the glass' edge.

Using a straw, Nine skillfully stirred the near overflowing iced coffee.

"I've said it already but... it's bad for your health."

Jubei knew it was pointless from the start. It was obvious from the way he sounded like he had given up.

Acting like it didn't concern her at all, Nine calmly drank the abnormally thick iced coffee.

"Actually, it'll be good for my health if I ingest a moderate amount of sugar."

"Uh. Is that... moderate?"

"Jubei. You don't like sweets that much? "

"It's not like that... Nah, it's fine. My bad."

After his doubtful eyes glanced at the empty pitcher again, Jubei seemed to avert his eyes and then sipped his warm green tea.

Contemplating the banter, Celica exchanged a look with Trinity. They both burst into laughter at the same time.

Reacting immediately, Jubei stared at them with a bitter look on his sullen face.

"...What. Why are you laughin'?"

"No, no. Nothing at all."

"Ufufu. Please don't mind us~."

Playing dumb, Celica and Trinity spontaneously hid their suggestive smiles with both hands.

For several months, Nine and Jubei had noticeably been getting close. It wasn't an exaggeration saying that they had become intimate. Celica was happy with it.

Everyone had been commenting on Nine's natural gift and her abilities. Moreover, they also said Nine had a violent temperament and that she wouldn't go easy on anyone. Trinity was the only friend that had become close to her older sister. It had even been years since Celica had heard tale of Nine being approached by any guys.

For her sister to be acting this lovey dovey with someone while having tea was... Rather than a younger sister, the delight she felt was like what a mother would have.

Nine drank her iced coffee while watching every single move from Jubei. Meanwhile, Jubei kept getting flustered even though he was going out with her.

While watching both of them, Celica cheerfully ate her mille-feuille. The light pie and strong taste of the custard cream's egg now seemed to taste even better.

Then, Trinity suddenly half-rose to her feet.

"Ah, Kazu... Terumi-san."

Blending in with the friendly chatter inside the store, a small and sweet voice called the name.

As Celica turned around, she saw a tall man wearing a low hood approaching them. He didn’t really seem to fit with the fairy-tale atmosphere of the store.

Instead of calling to him, Celica waved her hand. Terumi abruptly stopped for a moment. But without making the previous action look obvious, he came close to their table.

Just after that, Nine's eyes sharpened.

"Where did you go?"

As if reflecting her doubting voice, the atmosphere stiffened.

But Terumi didn't pay any attention to the change in the atmosphere. He simply laughed. Avoiding the empty space next to Celica, he sat down beside Trinity.

"Toilet, toilet. You heard from them, didn't you?"

"You'd better stop just doing everything as you please."

"Hmm, so you'll wait for me whenever I go to toilet? Nice hobby you've got there."

Nine's look grew even sharper. The atmosphere made it felt like she was about to grab him by the collar. Celica placed both hands on the table as if to interrupt them.

"Onee-chan, Terumi-san. Let's stop this already. We're having tea now."

Without attracting the attention of other customers, Celica put on a reproachful tone.

Taking the opportunity, Terumi raised both hands; as if to indicate that he surrendered.

"Hey, you're doubting me too much. Forgot? I can't lie to you. You're the one who cast that annoying spell on me."

Terumi had been inflicted with Mind Eater by Nine. It made him unable to disobey Nine's command, neither could he lie to her.

"You're wasting time doubting me. Don't you hate doing pointless things? Miss. Ten. Sages."

His sarcasm made Nine's eyebrows twitch. But before she could answer, Jubei interrupted.

"Don't get too sensitive, Nine. Mind Eater's working. Has he actually gone against your order once?"

Nine could just find his whereabouts if she felt like it. Even when earlier Jubei told her that Terumi was gone, Nine should have searched for Terumi's location. As its result was that she knew he was heading to the store, she didn't look deeper into it.

Both Jubei and Celica gave a soothing look at Nine. Then she put it aside and sighed.

"...Oh well. It's not good arguing here."

Averting her eyes from the gazes, Nine scooped her chocolate mousse with fork.

Seeing the conversation was over, Terumi greatly tilted his chair and stopped an unfortunate waitress from passing by.

"Hey, miss. Get me the usual black tea and a hardboiled egg."

As he arbitrarily made an order, Terumi returned the chair to its original position with a slight scraping noise.

Trinity just watched the scene quietly beside him.

Whenever Trinity looked at Terumi, sometimes, just sometimes, she would make a pained look. Even Celica knew the reason. Terumi really resembled him. A young student who was very close to Trinity that unfortunately had disappeared from the academy unnoticed.

Their behavior and expressions were completely different, but their voices and presence were surprisingly similar. If he were to remove the hood he always wore, she wondered if the face of her friend would appear.

That was why when Terumi was here, Trinity was always reminded of that friend of hers. Even though it had been eight months, Celica could still remember Ragna on a whim.

When she thought about him, a suffocating sensation arose in her chest.

"Okay!"

Determined, Celica suddenly raised the corners of her eyes and struck the table with both hands.

"Let's talk about something fun!"

The atmosphere had been somewhat gloomy for a while. Heavy. Painful.

In this tea time that was supposed to be fun, Celica wanted for everyone to get along more and get to know each other. Fully embracing that belief, Celica haphazardly stood up.

However, during that moment, Celica plunged forward too far and her feet connected with the table's leg.

"Wha, wha..."

As the momentum ruined her balance, Celica began to tip backwards.

"Look out, Celica!"

Jubei immediately reacted. He stretched his hand to support Celica from the side. Jubei's hand supported Celica... or as it would have if Celica hadn't made the poor decision to grab the back of the chair where Jubei had been sitting.

Celica's hand firmly grabbed the back of the chair and grasped it strongly. Along with Jubei's tail.

"UGYAAH!?"

A terrible scream the likes that no-one had heard before escaped from Jubei's mouth. The small furry body jumped on the spot with a jolt.

With incomparable strength, Jubei's knees hit the tabletop. The table rose in a big way from the impact. Nine was surprised. Then the iced coffee she held leaped out of her hands...

The spilling mixture of iced coffee, gum syrup, and coffee milk was now all over Trinity's face.

"Ah..."

The small voice was Trinity's.

Then a painful silence flowed into the ears of the people sat around the table.

Even the gentle friendly chat around the shop, which should have been present, seemed to completely vanish.

Eventually, Trinity gently removed the glasses that were soaked with the thick liquid of Nine's coffee.

Her expression was hidden by the fluffy hair flowing from her fringe and both sides. However, there was no doubt that the mood had shifted.

"...It seems my glasses are stained."

The sweet echo sounded the same as ever. Contrary to its calm tone, fear clouded Celica and Nine's hearts as they began to understand the situation.

"Uh, umm, Trinity-san...? So-Sorry. I, um, never thought this would happen...!"

"Let's talk it through, Trinity! We surely will come into understanding!"

"Wh-What? What's going on?"

Though he grasped the tension of the situation, seeing Celica and Nine apologizing profusely, Jubei couldn't understand what was happening. He became flustered while still holding his aching tail.

Nine then grasped his hand.

"I'll tell you the reason later. But for now, we should apologize. You too!"

Turning around far enough that his neck clicked, Terumi, who was stretching his hand to get the black tea that had just come, raised his face.

"Huh? Me too!?"

"Just apologize!"

"Tch, dammit. What's with you? Her glasses are just dirty, so..."

"'Just'? Did you say 'just'...?"

Trinity's whisper silenced Terumi's abusive words as he started to grumble. Normally, it wouldn't happen. But currently, Trinity wasn't her usual calm self.

In the end, Trinity slowly took a breath.

"...Everyone, I have to tell you something."

Her smile was kind enough to be horrific.

### Part 4

The moon was once again full in the sky of the endless night. It looked like a giant water basin.

The silver light pouring forth from the white disc was serene and cold. It illuminated the castle which stood beautiful but solemn within a vast rose garden. It was like something from a fairy tale stood there alone in the silence.

A place belonged to nowhere, yet connected with every dark night of the world. Existing but nonexistent. Similar the dark side of the moon... Once, this place was described as such by the lord of the castle. The castle once belonged to a vampire who spent his life watching over the people of the world.

Her predecessor, Clavis Alucard, had died around eight months ago, Rachel Alucard presently acted as the castle's lady. Still a young female vampire, this torn, small world recognized her as its new master. It was painted in the bountiful red of roses, befitting the youth of the castle's lady.

The spectacle of the garden was magnificent to behold, as could be seen from a long vertical window installed at the front of the castle.

Rachel touched the cold windowpane with the young fingers peeking from the sleeve of her black dress. Slipping away from her favorite scenery, she averted her gaze from it and elegantly turned around.

"...I see. You can't remember it still."

Following the girl's movement, her golden hair, tied at high position on both sides, swayed along with its large decorative ribbons.

A faint magical light flickered inside the room, revealing two figures beside Rachel.

Sweeping over the tall man with the muscular body. The rose red pupils of the adolescent girl fixed on a taller figure. Illuminated by the faint light, the emerging white figure looked just like a ghost.

"It appears that we cannot depend on your memories, Mr. Hero of the Future."

Putting aside her slight disappointment, Rachel addressed the ghost.

The ghost's name was Hakumen.

"...Do you know what he intends to accomplish?"

He stared directly at Rachel without making even a slight movement, questioning her in a muffled voice. Those who didn't know Hakumen would think he was a talking sculpture.

Amused, Rachel slowly blinked her doll-like large eyes.

"Compared to you who doesn't remember anything, I would say so."

"Then, is that man really scheming something...?"

Between Hakumen and Rachel, the other man asked a little bit over-eagerly. When he took a step forward, the long hair tied at his back swayed anxiously. He was Valkenhayn.

Toward the question from the loyal butler who had been serving since her father, Clavis' time, Rachel answered not with words. She turned toward the window again and only responded with silence and a distant gaze.

In his regret, Valkenhayn tightened a fist in front of his chest.

"Regardless, that man has the scent of danger. He shouldn't have been released before... It is not too late. While Mind Eater is still in effect, I shall take his life!"

"You must not, Valkenhayn."

With the coolness of the north wind, Rachel severed the butler's fierceness.

Contrary to their young appearance, her eyes contained deep wisdom. The blood red pupils faintly wavered.

"That man must not be killed. He still has some value. No, his help is indispensable. If not, then there will be no significance in anyone's struggle."

After speaking that much, Rachel briefly sighed. When she closed her eyes, her long eyelashes made shadows on the pale skin around her eyes.

"...Besides, we are not able to kill that man."

The whisper slightly shook the air under her breath.

Groaning, Valkenhayn turned silent. Hakumen just stood there quietly.

Without looking at either of them, Rachel lightly bit her flower bud-like lips.

Her eyes were watching everything in the world. Her ears were hearing everything in the world. Her mind was memorizing everything in the world. However, her hands couldn’t change the world. Even if she knew what awaited in the future.

"It is humanity's choices that will decide the future. It will never change now and forever. That is why, it is not something we can change."

The red eyes looked at the white face. They held some sympathy.

There was a deteriorating sweet scent in the flowing silence. It might have come from Valkenhayn's master.

Eventually, Hakumen moved and turned his back from the young lady of the castle. The tall, large sword he carried bore some kind of dignity.

"If that is your conclusion, then I will not oppose you. However, whether you choose providence, reasons, or neither, I have a different belief than yours."

"You spoke of interesting thing. Will you try and do the impossible?"

"My blade is to slay my enemy... the Dark One. I would cut reasons to carry that purpose if I had to."

After leaving those words, Hakumen took a large step forward. With the long silver hair at his back swaying, he left the dim room.

Watching over the retreating figure from behind, Rachel gave a weak smile. But her eyes were far from smiling as they gleamed with cold light.

"...Cut reasons... Then you would sever this tale? Would you, Mr. Hero?"

The moon in the sky of the rose garden didn’t reply. Of course, Rachel didn't have the answer to her own question.

There was only her incomparably loyal butler bowing to her before exiting the room to brew her tea.

While listening to the departing footsteps, Rachel opened the window wide. As she did so, the scent of the night and roses surged in.

In the mood of the night. In the empty mood of the night, she longed to drink Valkenhayn's black tea.

### 025. Chapter 3: Scarlet Guardian, the Doll

### Part 1

Before they noticed, the sun had sunk into the western sea. The lights in Ishana's city started to flicker on, triggered by magic in the twilight.

When the sun had almost set, the change from noon to night on this island happened almost instantly. Disrobing from its cloak of sun, the wind dressed itself in night and ran through the town as if on a whim.

While hearing the happy sound of the door chime, Celica stepped out from a familiar coffee shop. The cold wind caressed her cheeks. As she viewed the western sky that was tinged with pink, Celica sighed while seemingly looking sad.

It had been while since she'd had such a thrilling tea time like today.

Earlier before, Trinity slowly stood up and started to talk while smiling as her irritation manifest itself. Celica had hoped someone would stop her. She wondered what would happen if someone had tried. Since she had personally experienced Trinity's anger... Celica didn’t think she could have stopped her.

"...indeed. The world is brimming with sad events. There is sorrow from being unable to stand up against threats, and also from inescapable destiny. But is it really just in the human's mind? Even when people, even when fellow people take each other's hands, share their grief, and rejoice together, their minds are able to drown in the distant sea of deep sorrow. Aah, that in itself is such a sad thing. Do we just, without thinking much about it, just think 'The world is full of sadness, if at least one person is made happy, it's good'? The reason of why people pray in the first place is to..."

There was one thing people couldn't forgive and one thing people had to endure no matter what. Starting from that topic, Trinity's lecture moved to why people get angry and sad before finally changing to her personal opinion about how sadness was born.

It wasn't clear what route she took as it subtly developed into religious studies before finally ending in some kind of dissertation. ...No one really remembered how it went anymore.

But the overwhelming amount of words and confusingly fast pace held the power to completely blow the listener's train of thought within ten minutes. They shouldn't wade in deeper than that. That kind of thought was currently brewing in Celica's mind.

Now, while feeling the cool night wind in front of the coffee shop, although she only briefly recalled what happened just before, the inside of Celica's mind was bubbling and made her fall into a deluded state.

As the door chime rang again, Nine, Jubei, and Trinity exited the store. At the end of the procession was Terumi. Fed up, he hunched his thin shoulders.

It wasn't just Celica and Terumi. It being his first experience, Jubei was shocked. Also Nine even though she had grown more accustomed to it than everyone else. She could only made a stiff smile given her exhaustion.

"I'm truly sorry, everyone~. It happened again... but at least we've finally had tea together~."

The only person who didn't show any signs of fatigue, Trinity, lowered her eyebrows in shame. She wrapped up both of her cheeks in her hands and dropped her shoulders.

Although Celica wore a bitter smile, she waved her hand to say it was okay.

"Don't take it to heart. It was my fault to begin with."

"No, please don't be mistaken~. I wasn't angry because you stood up, or because Jubei-san's feet hit the table. That was just an accident. Rather, I'm worried that the two of you may have hurt yourself~."

"A, ahaha. I'm okay, I'm okay. Despite the loud noise, it wasn't painful at all."

Yes, Trinity didn't get furious because the table was shaken or because Nine spilled her coffee.

She genuinely had lost control of herself simply because her glasses were stained.

They were only glasses, but they were Trinity's glasses. Because she lost herself over a single item that was nothing but a trifle ornament for most people, Trinity's wrath was frightening... or so Celica thought.

"Is it truly okay?"

It seemed she became worried when she recalled it. Trinity's apology had a different kind of worry as her eyes looked at Celica's feet.

When her wrath lessened, Trinity returned to her usual gentle and slow self. Nonchalantly throwing away the fear and fatigue that had been present until now, Celica smiled cheerfully.

"Yup! Look, there's no wound!"

While saying that, Celica lifted her skirt to show her unharmed thighs. Nine instantly slapped Celica's hands. A sharp noise rang out.

"What have you done!? What are you going to do if you catch the attention of some lecherous men passing by!? Consider your vulnerability and cuteness more!!"

"Ouchie~. You don't have to hit me. I wasn't particularly showing my undies or anything."

"Undies!? ...Excuse me, every living man in the world is just a creature obsessed with indecent fantasies from the time they were a brat. They’re a lump of wild lust and perverted thoughts. Because your fair skin robs the eyes of those near you, you're surrounded by many shameless fantasies... Aah, it's disgusting to even think about it. Listen, watch out the next time you do something thoughtless. I'll make sure none of the passing men are able to feel lust any more!"

"...Ain't your head itself got quite a few of those shameless fantasies?"

Terumi muttered at a spot several steps away. With force enough to dishevel her hair, Nine turned about. Her high heels clattered toward him. Quick as a flash, Nine kicked Terumi's stomach with the tip of her toe without hesitation.

"Gueh!"

"I have to find way to make men lose their function as a man. Should I practice on your body?"

"...I'm...against...violence."

Holding his stomach with both hands, Terumi crumpled and fell, starting from the knees. His groan could still be heard as he sunk to the floor.

Flustered, Trinity rushed over. Terumi responded by whispering something to the anxious Trinity. However, Celica and Nine didn't hear what he said.

"Well, time for me to go."

As the passing twilight wind rustled his whiskers, Jubei looked at each of them as he spoke.

Nine raised her face and tucked back the hair that was flowing on its own.

"Oh, already?"

"I've been requested to investigate more of Eastern Europe. Incidentally, there seems to be some information circulatin' in Ishana. I'm goin' lookin' for it."

"I see. Get in touch if something happens."

With the face of the commander of operation against the Black Beast, but also the face of a young lady, Nine sent off Jubei with a smile.

"Later," said Jubei as he turned back. Celica also frantically waved him off.

"Take care!"

His two tails swayed at his back as if returning the gesture.

As Jubei vanished around the street corner, the presence of the surrounding night became even more intense. When Celica looked up at the sky, distant stars started to blink.

"I should return home soon. Are you and the others still having a meeting later, Onee-chan?"

Celica linked her hands behind her back as she asked the question.

Trinity, who was lending a hand to Terumi as he got up, gently shook her head.

"The meeting is already over. And since I have heaps of documents to write, I'll be taking my leave for tonight."

"I'm gonna go home too. I have an assignment given by that hysterical woman."

No sooner after he spoke, the hem of his long coat swept past. Rough footsteps hit the stone pavement as Terumi walked away. He was heading to a housing complex managed by the Mage's Guild. Because of the Mind Eater, the scope of Terumi's ability to act alone was limited. The complex was also where he spent most of his time by himself.

While pinning down her hood so it wouldn't get blown by the strong wind, Trinity gracefully smiled and went on her way after exchanging farewells.

Standing on tiptoe, Celica waved her hand to her older sister's close friend. After the fairy-tale like figure faded from sight, Celica turned to Nine.

"Then let's go, Onee-chan. Ah, do you have to go back to the guild?"

"No, I'll return home. ...But Celica, can I have a moment?"

With a peaceful smile, Nine asked Celica while walking as if urging her to return home.

After catching up to her, Celica looked to her sister. It was rare for Nine to speak like that.

"Okay. But what is it? Is something wrong?"

The footsteps of both Celica's leather shoes and Nine's high heels beat the same rhythm as they hit the stone pavement.

Even without the fast pace, Nine's glossy hair drew a beautiful and gentle waves from the petty wind.

"I have something I want you to see."

"Something for me to see... Is it a present?"

Half hoping and half joking, Celica's eyes were gleaming. Nine narrowed her eyes gently at her.

"I'll tell you more later. Anyway, we should get back home... Come to my workshop."

The informed words made Celica unintentionally stumble before stopping. She couldn't quite breathe out the air she had involuntarily swallowed.

Nine's workshop. A place where none was permitted to tread with the exception of Nine herself.

### Part 2

Nine's workshop was located in the basement of their home.

The room was previously used by Celica and Nine's father as his laboratory. But about two years ago, Nine remodeled it into her personal workshop. It was done immediately after the simple funeral for her missing father was over.

Its entrance was installed at a hardly visited corner at the house where they lived every day.

Their father had prohibited the children from entering the laboratory. Nine also didn't normally let any visitors enter the basement.

Since before their father had left, Celica had never opened the door. Passing through it, Celica followed Nine's lead to a solid staircase descending into the basement.

The staircase was surprisingly broad and went deeper than she had thought. There were magical lights furnished at regular intervals on the wall. The white lights burnt orange in the middle, illuminating their destination. Celica more or less could no longer comprehend that this place was under her own house.

Nine's high heels made loud steps each time she stepped down. With each step, tension piled up inside Celica.

Generally, a magician wouldn't show their own workshop to others, even if the other party was their family or lover. Furthermore, her sister's workshop contained research that shouldn't be spoken of.

It must be something significant since Nine was personally bringing Celica to her sanctum.

While being conflicted over whether to be hopeful or uneasy, Celica finally arrived at the end of the stairs.

Another door awaited there.

Not only did it have countless magic circles floating on its surface, it was also furnished with an electric panel on the nearby wall and what appeared to be a tiny surveillance camera on the ceiling. There might even be more devices that Celica hadn't noticed yet.

A secure entrance to her workshop was very fitting for Nine.

"I've said this before, but inside it's quite messy. Be careful not to step on something weird."

Looking over her shoulder as she spoke, Nine held her hand out to the door.

She spoke several spells without pause. Each time, various size of magic circle came apart before vanishing.

Fiddling with the electric panel, she chanted another spell. Then finally, the workshop's entrance opened with a slight noise.

"Ex... Excuse me."

Discreetly muttering, Celica went inside, following after Nine.

Then immediately, she stopped in the entrance.

The room inside was filled with lights similar to those on the staircase. All four walls were stone brick; the floor and ceiling had been solidified with stone.

There were large tables placed on both sides of the entrance. Various tools and equipment were crammed onto the tables. They ranged from things Celica recognized to some that she couldn't tell the purpose of. Further inside, there were two bookcases, which reached up to the ceiling like pillars, and also a writing desk and chair that didn't seem to be anything special.

The so called wall in the room was entirely covered in the countless memos stuck to it. Nine had a strong habit in scribbling. They were messily written on those rectangular pieces of paper. If it weren't Celica or Trinity, the scribbles might look undecipherable.

"This is... Onee-chan's..."

The workshop of Nine, the ninth of the Ten Sages.

Thinking about it, this was the first time for Celica to enter a magician's workshop. She wondered if other magicians' workshop would be like this, too.

When Celica looked inside the room, Nine had already gone inside the room unnoticed before turning around with arms folded.

"This way. And don't touch anything on the desk. They'll be hard to find if you rearrange anything."

"Ah, okay."

Although she was still puzzled, Celica quickly made her way between the desks and bookcases before jogging toward Nine.

There was another room in the back. Rather than feeling messy, the room had another kind of atmosphere in it. Its wall was obscured by large machinery and complicated devices. It wasn't a disordered room.

In a corner of the room, stood a large doll.

"Wha..."

Spontaneously, a surprised voice leaked from Celica's lips.

It was taller even than Hakumen, the tallest person Celica knew. But if Celica had to say something, the doll had slender limbs. Its metallic face was modeled after a lady in her middle age.

Judging from the face, as well as the clothes it was modeled with, something like a dress with long skirt, the doll must be a female type.

But its body was a bit large for a doll. The body proportions were also strange as its arms were big and long.

"You wanted to show me this?"

Still wide-eyed, Celica's gaze repeatedly darted back and forth between Nine and the doll.

Nine gazed at Celica with a warm look. She assured her by nodding and then moved her gaze to the doll.

"You see, this doll would act with the purpose of 'guarding' a predetermined person. It'd protect them from danger and then lead them to escape. Depending on the situation, it would chase away the attackers."

"Ooh, like a bodyguard."

"Yes. She's a bodyguard. Your bodyguard."

"Eh?"

Unable to grasp what Nine had just so calmly said, Celica asked again with her mouth half-opened.

Wondering if it sounded odd, Nine gave her a light smile.

"From here onward, the state of things in the world will get worse. My remaining time in Ishana keeps decreasing. Even when I'm staying on the island, my time with you is quite limited. That's why I made a bodyguard for you, to prevent any unexpected occurrence while I'm not at your side."

"Aha... But whatever the circumstances is, don't you think it's too exaggerated?"

Celica gave her a wry smile.

Nine worried too much about Celica. She was thankful for the thought, but Celica didn't expect Nine to go as far as to make a bodyguard.

"I'm not really in that much danger. And in the any case, I won't be leaving the island with you and the others. I don't think there's anything here that I need to be protected from."

Ishana was referred to as the world's safest island .

The island was guarded by an invisible magical barrier. It could even handle physical attacks, like stopping a missile barrage for example. Anything trying to enter the island was examined by the barrier to see if it contained any risk related to organic or inorganic matter. Even leaving the island required a number of procedures.

Naturally, the possibility for seithr and seithr-induced mad creatures to get inside and harm the people in Ishana was equal to zero.

In response to Celica who was comfortably laughing, Nine on the contrary knitted her eyebrows to stress her concern.

"You leaving the island or not is a different story. I wholeheartedly reject the opinion that you are not in danger."

"Eeh, why!? I'm not particularly at risk or anything."

Growing slightly more sullen, Celica argued with her. When she did that, Nine severely sharpened the glint in her eyes and frowned.

"Who was it again that slipped away from the island unauthorized without going through the proper procedures? Who was it that could not be contacted for a month because of it, before finally getting stranded in the middle of a mountain? Hmm, I wonder who~?"

"T-That was, umm, a coincidence. It's because there were unclear circumstances..."

Still fresh in their memories, the incident that had developed into a quite a dangerous experience was being brought up. Celica blatantly averted her eyes and her awkward smile.

Since that was when she had met Ragna, the incident was a trigger that led to very profound memories for Celica herself... But in Nine's case, it must be a matter that had shortened her life span considerably.

Nine brazenly let out an astonished sigh.

"It's not just that. Tomorrow morning, the threat to your daily life we spoke of will be about to begin."

"Aha... I get it. Are you worried?"

"By all means, please be aware that I am."

Celica scratched her cheeks since she absolutely couldn't declare that she didn't remember. With a pompous manner, Nine displayed a composed smile to her.

After that, anxiety flashed across her eyes, just for a moment.

"...It's fine for you to think I'm worrying too much. But four months time, it's hard to predict what will happen to Ishana. Don't you agree?"

"I see... Only four months left."

The Black Beast was being stalled for a year. Four months from now, that peace would be over.

It was something Celica was fully aware of. In preparation for that day, Nine, Trinity, and the others were giving their all to work hard every day.

But the thing was, Nine had always been prone to worry to the point that it astonished the people around her. It was easy to imagine her worrying about Celica even though she was immersed in her work.

Perhaps this doll might be the physical manifestation of her older sister's anxiety.

Thinking about it while looking up at her newly met bodyguard, a warm feeling gradually filled Celica. Then she began to smile broadly.

People viewed the beautiful, yet terrifying, Nine of the Ten Sages with awe. And yet, in secret, she was so afraid for the people close to her getting hurt. The anxiety she felt had always been unbearable.

Celica loved that her sister held some fragility, just like everyone else.

"Got it. Well then, I guess I'll take the bodyguard since you've already built it. You did make it especially for me, after all."

After a short hop toward the doll, Celica turned to face Nine.

Standing with her arms folded below her chest like usual, Nine let out a sigh of relief and relaxed her eyes.

"That's right. I created it for you, to protect you. Something I made to protect my dear family."

"Thank you, Onee-chan. Actually, I took a liking to this girl the first time I saw her. She's quite tall, but also seems beautiful and kind."

Completely focused, Celica stared at the doll with her large brown eyes. Nine stared at her in wonder, amazement and also admiration.

"What a girl. You know it's different from playing with a doll, right? Besides, I have yet to input her personality. The mouth also doesn't move."

"Is that true? So I can't chat with her... But it's fine, I still like her."

"...I see. Then I'm glad."

Nine's astonishment changed into a wry smile.

Unable to exactly comprehend why her sister was so amazed, Celica tilted her head and replied with a smile too. She wondered if Nine wasn't pleased. It was so like her to be so worried.

In order to switch her feelings, Nine let out a deep sigh and let go of the strength in her shoulders. Then, she looked at Celica with a serious expression.

Getting roped in as expected, Celica straightened her back.

"Also, regarding the matter with Seven and Eight."

"Ah... okay. It's about the conversation in the courtyard before, isn’t it?"

"...Sorry, but I'm not going tell you what they are trying to do. But I can tell you this. If you cooperate with those lot, you'll lose your life for sure."

From her voice and expression alone, Celica could understand how serious Nine was as she said it. But Celica didn't immediately nod. After biting her lip once, she looked straight at her sister.

"But I will do my best to help. It doesn't mean I'd sacrifice myself, but maybe they just wanted some help with their research. They might find a solution that doesn't require my sacrifice."

Celica didn't know exactly what Seven and Eight were making and the significance of her being necessary. But whatever it was, if it could help Nine's plan, then Celica thought that her resolve wouldn't lose out to Nine's.

It wasn't about some sort of burning feeling to be recognised by Nine or wanting to help in the fight herself. But if there was a way for her to do something, then she wanted to give a bit of relief to others by doing it.

But looking into her sister's eyes as they became grim, Celica understood that she had made a careless remark.

Celica thought that she was going to receive a harsh lecture, but instead Nine turned her face away to hide her dejected face before dropping her voice to let the hate out.

"What they're doing isn't that simple."

Celica understood a little.

She didn't have a complete grasp of it in the end. But from the bottom of her heart, Nine was disgusted with what Seven and Eight were trying to do.

"Celica. I want to protect your life no matter what. ...After all, that man risked himself to protect you."

That man. When she heard those words, Celica got attacked by a sensation that tightened her chest.

Eight months ago, she met and parted with a man. Ragna. The promise he gave and exchanged with her. Many kinds of thought rushed through her mind.

Nine, who had been crossing her arms, embraced herself so tightly that her fingers sunk into her skin. It seemed the disordered wrinkles on her clothes showed Nine's emotions.

"To think that I was about to sacrifice you... I absolutely can't forgive myself."

"Onee-chan..."

What should she do? Nine endured herself to speak. To Celica, her voice sounded like she was condemning herself.

Something. She wanted to do something. But since she couldn't let a single word out, Celica slowly reached out her hands to embrace Nine.

When Celica's hand touched her arm, Nine let go of her superfluous strength after a short pause. Her mouth was soft, but a strong will resided in her pupils. Without changing that, she spoke to Celica.

"Got it? Even without those meddling losers, I will show you that I can defeat the Black Beast. Believe in your sister. There is nothing impossible for her."

"Okay, got it. I'll trust you."

Celica nodded quite easily. It seemed as simple as when she was asked to do the weekly shop. But it was definitely not something trivial in her mind. It was just that easy. It was a thousand times easier than not getting lost when going to a bakery in the neighborhood.

Moreover, in Nine's opinion, Celica had to compare it with the difficulty to get to the bakery taking the shortest path, or she would get confused. But for now, Celica decided not to think about her own constitution of easily getting lost.

"Hey, Onee-chan. What's her name?"

If she were to trust Nine, she would have to befriend the bodyguard to reduce some of her sister's worries. Celica hopped to its front and picked took the doll's hand.

Its hand was big and cold, but she was growing to like even its improper modelling and unnatural feel.

"She's Nirvana."

After she answered, Nine began to chant a spell. A spell so that Nirvana would recognize Celica as the subject to protect.

But for Celica, it sounded simpler than a vow to protect or a contract between master and servant. If she were to explain it, then it might be a promise of friendship.

"Let's get along, Nirvana."

Smiling, she gripped the hand she had taken in a handshake. After she opened her eyes, Nirvana awkwardly moved her neck and stared at Celica with her artificial eyes.

After Celica had left to prepare for dinner, Nine remained in the workshop alone, wanting to work on something.

Nirvana returned to the surface, following Celica. After using magic to confirm that the workshop's door had been tightly shut, Nine stood between the two bookshelves as if ensnared by them.

The wall there was wide enough for two people. A number of drawings were pasted there in the place of furniture.

Nine faced the wall and held up her hand. As she did, reacting to its master, a small magic circle emerged from the other side of the drawings.

A few short phrases and a twist of her hand in the air made the magic circle rotate. Next, the wall itself started to turn.

Beyond the now open wall, a staircase leading even further into the basement was formed.

Nine stepped forward and then breathed life to the staircase that was normally shut in deep darkness by creating a faint light.

This staircase was much, much, longer than the one leading to the workshop itself. Nine's heels etched noises as she walked.

The air was cold, full of the characteristic feeling of being underground.

What awaited at the end of the prolonged journey was a large gate made of old wood.

Nine used both hands to push the gate, which was so plain as to be unbefitting of its large size. An enormous magic circle manifested before spinning like a cogwheel. Then the gate solemnly and gracefully opened its mouth.

A noise of heels stepping inside.

Appropriate with the descending staircase, beyond the door was a room with a ceiling as tall as eyes could see. Different from the upper floor, the wall, ceiling, and floor were covered in metal. The considerable size of the area was enough to cleanly fit Nine's workshop in it.

But the inside that should have had plenty of space was occupied by something rather gigantic.

The object was an upside down cone, barely suspended from the ceiling by chains.

In accordance with its abnormal, or incomprehensibley coated silver surface, a great number of faintly shining green lines ran across it.

Its structure made it hard to believe that it was manufactured by man's hands. The structure was lovely. If someone were to say that it was sculpted by god, a large number of people might firmly believe it.

The object that appeared to be a huge nail was encircled by a number of purple rings. They were seals Nine had created. They were so secure that they gave off a sense of tenacity over and over again.

"I've never thought... that I might have to borrow your power."

With her back facing the closed gate, Nine hatefully gazed at the suspended silver and green object.

It was a device found at the location where Black Beast first appeared. Now the place was called District 1 . It was able to temporarily stop the flow of seithr that originated from the Boundary.

Its manufacturer was Shuuichirou Ayatsuki. Nine and Celica's father.

"... Kushinada's Lynchpin ."

The gigantic wedge might have heard Nine's muttering as it loudly pulsed a single green light.

### Part 3

Ishana was covered with a barrier which had been protecting it from seithr. The barrier was so strong that even the weather of the outside world was unable to affect the island.

Due to seithr, the climate had been disturbed and the planet had lost the concept of seasons. The usual traits that happened when summer turned into autumn were no more. The warmness on the air felt the same as ever.

It was just perfect to wear long sleeved clothes since most of the days in August were in that condition. Speaking of change, Celica wondered if the color of the sunset would have been even prettier during other seasons.

The pretty sunset was about to commence in the western sky when Celica was walking homewards as she had finished with today's lessons at the academy.

Nirvana was walking alongside her on the way back.

The truth was, Celica had been thinking of leaving Nirvana waiting for her at home when she went to the academy. She wouldn't want to attract attention while just walking to school.

However, Nine had been making Celica take Nirvana along wherever she went when she was not on the island. Since it was a request rather than an order, Celica resigned herself and decided to bear the odd looks from her surroundings.

Of course, Celica couldn't bring her into the classroom. Thus, Nine had been using her position as a Ten Sage to borrow an office inside the Mage's Guild for Nirvana to standby there while Celica was taking a class.

It took time and effort travelling to and from the Mage's Guild like she did every morning and evening. However, Celica enjoyed her bizarre accompanied commute a little. The reason might be because she hadn't had any company one her walk since Nine was gone and all of her close friends were living in the student dormitory.

When she looked up at the tall doll that had been matching her walking pace, the light of the day that had begun to turn orange was reflected on Nirvana's metallic skin and glass-like clear eyes. It was pretty.

"Come to think of it, I wonder how many days left until Onee-chan gets back. It's tiring to make just one dish every day."

Kicking a pebble with her tiptoe, Celica dropped her shoulders and gave a faint sigh.

Currently, Nine wasn't in Ishana. According to what she been told when she received Nirvana, her older sister would be more and more busy starting September or something. She would also have to leave the island for a few days.

It wasn't just Nine. It was also true for Trinity, Jubei, Valkenhayn, Hakumen, and Terumi. Even if she was in the Mage's Guild, Celica didn't know the specifics of what they were doing as she was just a mere student. But it seemed they spent day after day being busy and in a hurry.

Taking a look at the school bag she held in her hand, Celica took another breath.

She wondered if it was okay to leisurely commute to the academy and study at a time like this.

Unlike other students, she recognized the true state of affairs although only half of it. Because of that, she had been thinking about it far too much.

As Nine and the teachers at the academy had said, the students should keep practicing every day and prepare themselves so they wouldn't get outdone by the Mage's Guild's magicians when the crucial time comes... or some kind of important duty like that.

(Well, it's expected. I'm only a burden to Onee-chan now. I have to study hard so I can stop being a burden to her as soon as possible.)

What she was telling herself had also become a routine for the past few days. After all, she wasn't fully satisfied with just saying it. Her real motive was that if there was something she could do, then she wanted to do it as soon as she could.

"For now, I guess I've got a while to relax and tidy the house before Onee-chan returns."

"Right?" said Celica to Nirvana. She responded by moving her chin and staring at Celica.

Looking at her expression, Celica laughed a little.

The streets in Ishana were cobbled stone pavements. When she walked home, she would normally take the main street heading from the academy towards the port. Then, after a little while she would turn down a side street, taking a little detour past a quiet park.

Since she had to do the shopping today, instead she stayed on the main street. Celica was lost in thought while waiting to cross at a junction. Then, it happened.

"Celica A. Mercury. I wonder if I can have a bit of your time."

She recognised the refreshing voice of the man which called to her from behind.

Celica turned to look for him. What she saw was a pair, a man and a woman. The man looked like some kind of a noble due to his graceful manner, and the woman of slender body wore a dress that was wide open at the chest. There were large triangular hats atop their heads.

"Ah, Seven-san, Eight-san. Good day."

She immediately recalled Nine's dangerous mood when she met them in August. But Celica greeted them with a smile.

Nine would not be amused if she were here.

Eight stared in wonder, as if puzzled by something. Her long, curled eyelashes batted quickly.

"It's surprising how pleasant you are. Are you really Nine's sister?"

"Yes, of course... What do you mean by that?"

As she pondered on the meaning of the question, Celica reflexively looked down at her own body. It was the first thing that came to mind if when searching for the reason why her relation to her sister was in question.

"Could it be that she's surprised that Nine's sister's breasts are smaller than hers...?"

Just as she was thinking about it, a noise broke her from her musing. Celica looked up.

Still standing with both hands on her hips, flashing a smile, Eight's eyes twitched.

"...But it seems like you do have a similar tendency to upset me."

It was a taboo to talk about Eight's proportion.

Celica instinctively put her hands over her mouth.

Interrupting with a cough, Seven spoke in a calm tone of voice.

"...Would it be all right to begin our talk?"

Behind the thin metal framed glasses, his calm ice blue eyes stared at Celica and Eight who were facing each other. As his manner was like a teacher from the academy, Celica retracted her chin, straightened her back, and brushed it off with a laugh.

"Ah, y-yes. Go on."

After she urged him, Celica let out an 'ah' as she suddenly realized.

"But Onee-chan's not here this time though...?"

"It's alright if she's not here. Our business only concerns you."

Having regained her composure, Eight teasingly winked at Celica while entangling a wisp of hair that had spilled from under her hat onto her shoulder.

It was Seven who took the initiative to raise the main issue. Putting a real serious face, he adjusted his glasses with his index finger.

"I will ask bluntly. Cooperate with our research."

"Research..."

Muttering, Celica stole a glance at Nirvana.

Nirvana was standing behind Celica.

She remembered what Nine had said the day she met Nirvana. Celica spoke in a more quiet voice.

"That's what Onee-chan has been opposing, right? ...She said I'll lose my life if I cooperate."

But she wondered if such dangerous research was really being performed in a place like Ishana. Moreover, by the hands of Nine's fellow Sages.

Seven looked baffled and vigorously shook his head.

"Perish the thought that you will die. Nine has had quite the misunderstanding. Our research only requires a bit of magical power and the unique healing ability you have. Generally, an unusual disposition of magical power, like yours, is needed."

"Is... that so? Then..."

"Perhaps Nine so strongly doesn't want you to be involved in this research that she felt she must make an exaggerated lie. She really is a difficult woman."

"Good grief", said Seven, placing one pale finger on his brow.

To brush the comment aside, Eight leaned forward.

"What we're making is a powerful weapon to defeat the Black Beast that we know is going to revive one day. If we can engineer it, then surely... no, we definitely can win against it. We can fight without the need for things like Armagus."

Her thick lips, which were painted in bright red lipstick, delivered a passionate speech so fast that it was dizzying. Her large eyes burned with passion. It was unthinkable that she was the same as the lighthearted person who had raised an eye over talk about bust sizes before.

The same passion dwelled even in Seven's calm gaze as it rested on her.

"Understood? If our project is realized, we won't have to recruit a large number of people to create Armagus weapons for the war. Hence, your cooperation is necessary."

Just what was the 'research' Seven and Eight had spoken of? Celica could only have a faint guess.

A weapon to defeat the Black Beast. It must be amazing. If it existed, large numbers of soldiers wouldn't have to participate in the war. If it would truly become like that, then it was no great wonder.

The speech was something she would quickly agree with. But something still stuck in her.

"If it's that amazing... then why does Onee-chan oppose it?"

Celica spoke the one question that came to her mind.

Immediately, Eight frowned and made a troubled look while answering.

"Your magical power is required to control it. Maybe she doesn't want you to get involved with a weapon that will become a tool for war."

Putting her gloved hand to her cheek, Eight gave an anxious look as she took a breath.

Celica looked downward. She didn't have confidence in her quick thinking. But still, she pondered as hard as she could.

Certainly, Nine wouldn't allow Celica to get involved with war and weapons. Even if Celica was doing her fair share of cooking now, Nine was so prone to worry that she had made an uproar about the kitchen being too dangerous and had been making meals for them both by herself for the first two years that they had lived alone.

However.

"...I'm sorry. I can't cooperate after all."

At the end of her pondering, Celica frantically shook her ponytail from side to side.

On high heels that were so tall that Celica would fall down in three steps if she were to wear them, Eight approached her.

Still, she was interrupted as Nirvana put her arms between them.

Eight's face showed her frustration.

"Why!? It could all be completed if you participate!"

"Eight, settle down."

From behind, Seven reprimanded Eight who was shouting in rage. But it was hard to say that Seven looked calm.

"Please tell us, Celica-san. Do you have any discontent toward our explanation?"

The vigor in his gentle voice felt much heavier than Eight's angry roar.

But without hesitation, Celica looked straight at Seven and Eight, glaring down at her.

"It's not that I have any discontent. It's just because I've promised that I'll believe in my sister."

Nine had promised that she would show Celica that she could defeat the Black Beast. Then in order for her promise to be realized, Celica couldn't afford to doubt Nine. Celica believed it not with logic, but with her intuition.

"Besides, sure, Onee-chan's worrying about me too much. However, she's real smart. If the research were something amazing that could defeat the Black Beast without any sacrifice like Seven-san and Eight-san said, then I think Onee-chan would take the initiative to use it instead."

If her magical power was needed, then there was no doubt that Celica would give it her all to prevent any additional burden placed on her sister.

Above all, the matter of cooperating in Seven and Eight's research had reminded her of something. Before, there was a time when Celica was about to give her life in order to entrap the Black Beast.

Now, Celica couldn't do the same as she did before. After all, her life had been saved by a person who was precious to her back then.

"That's why, I can't cooperate. I'm sorry!"

After carefully straightening her back again, Celica bowed deeply.

Then with the same strength as when she bowed, Celica raised her head and started to run. Nirvana followed closely behind her.

"Hey, wait!"

Shaking off Eight's pursuing plea, Celica headed toward Ishana's main street.

While running, Celica looked up at Nirvana who was silhouetted against the setting sun.

Nine was amazing. She made such a delicate bodyguard all by herself, even while she was first in line to fight the Black Beast.

Perhaps Celica herself had missed the chance to forge the same strength as her sister. If she had cooperated with Seven and Eight, she might have been able reduce Nine's hardships.

But Celica believed that Nine surely must have given Nirvana to her in case a situation like this arose. Celica's decision surely wasn't a mistake. Probably.

Nirvana turned her face to match Celica's gaze. When her eyes met the automaton's beautiful glass replicas, Celica laughed in embarrassment. It was like Nirvana was her other sister.

"Ahaha, it's nothing. What should we have for tonight's dinner?"

"For the time being, let's go to the bakery. We should buy breads for tonight and tomorrow morning."

The western sky began to swallow the sinking sun. Before anyone realized, the sky that had been painted in orange changed into blazing flames.

Soon, the ominous sunset would burn shadows onto the pitch black stone pavements. The lined buildings, roadside trees, and the Sages who were seeing off the escaping girl were counted equally amongst the sinister shadows.

"Aaah~, and there she goes..."

Rocking a large earring with her finger, Eight intentionally made a discouraged face.

Glancing sideways at her, Seven took a step back and turned to look elsewhere. What he saw beyond the thin lens of his glasses was a thin alleyway. From the dense shadow that was born from the evening sun, several figures indicated their presences without exposing their faces.

As the figures checked the surroundings, they asked Seven a question.

The tip of Seven's lips moved only slightly as he answered.

"Yes, that's the girl in question. Her name is Celica A. Mercury."

"You're aware, right? She's mentioned in Professor Ayatsuki's reports."

While putting the finger that had been messing with the earring to her mouth, Eight made a charming smile. Her eyes didn't match the ones she wore when her blunt proposal was refused; instead they were shining in curiosity.

A single figure dropped its voice as if in doubt. It sounded like the figure was finding fault in the two people.

Picking up on it, Seven sharply narrowed his brilliant eyes.

"Be at ease. We will handle her accordingly whether she refuses or accepts. Of course, you will somehow collaborate with us, won't you?"

Being fearlessly pressured by Seven, some kind of opening was born between the human figures.

Eight put both hands on her hips and threw a glance to where Celica had gone.

"We have one chance. In that moment, the required control system and data will all gather. When that happens, it will completely be ours."

Eight's passionate words fully fueled the expectations of those who lurked in the shadow. The words that served as encouragement and a reminder got several replies.

Seven adjusted his glasses using a finger.

"Both of us will prepare the required arrangements. All of you should be careful to make no mistakes. Proceed without fail."

"Take care... the people of Orbis Librarius Norma ."

After receiving heated gazes from both Seven and Eight, the people known only by the name of their organization left two or three words of salute before quickly vanishing into the shadows.

The sun sank further in the west. As the twilight sky burned an even deeper shade of red, the shadows gradually grew denser and longer as they were etched on the ground.

As if putting on a shadow, Eight waved her long mantle and turned her back from the alley where the figures had vanished. As she folded her arms beneath chest, she brought her cheek to rest on her mantle's fur trim.

"I was worried about what had to be done there for a moment, but looks like everything will work out in the end. It's fortunate that we have a personal connection to Orbis Librarius Norma."

"Fortunate, huh."

As if pouring cold water over Eight's good mood, Seven simply dropped a sigh.

His voice was quiet, but Eight could hear how nervous he was. She furrowed the eyebrows that had been so carefully groomed.

"What's wrong? I know that you want to say it was all thanks to that man. It's good that we listened to his story."

"I wonder. I have no faith in that man. Once a traitor, always a traitor. You need to pay attention, too."

"Is that so? Thanks for the warning."

Seven's scolding clearly didn't amuse her at all, Eight waved her hand over her shoulder. Her high heels, supporting her slender legs could be heard striking the pavements, long after she had left her field of view.

"Hmph, what a detestable man."

After she was sure that she was out of earshot, Eight spat out those words. As if trampling the words as they fell to her feet, her feet began to move faster.

Similarly, while gazing at the retreating figure of his extravagant associate as she headed toward the Mages' Guild, Seven muttered to himself.

"...What a loud-mouthed woman."

The sun sank into the western sky.

The color of the sky that looked burning ran after its master and rushed to the west. As the city of Ishana gradually began to insinuate the presence of the night, Seven also began to walk towards the Mages' Guild.

### 026. Chapter 4: Indigo Heart, the Conception

### Part 1

Where might the proof that one is oneself be?

Where might the significance that one is oneself be?

This is the memory of a man who bears the name Hakumen .

The memory of when he began this new life as himself.

And the memory of when he chose his fate to fight——.

——An old castle nestled in eternal night. The residence of an old vampire who had lived a thousand years.

Jin was there, deep underground.

Although there was nothing but endless night there, the place had a darkened basement in addition. No light was supposed to flow in; only that from the flame inside the lamps which were furnishing the wall. The light from the lamps flickered, warmly shining down on the place eerily.

Between the wavering lights, an old-fashioned wooden door stood still, giving off a dignified air. It looked so heavy as to be immovable with the strength of one man. If he wasn't underground, it would be easy to imagine that a castle's scenery awaited beyond the door. Being indoors, it seemed rather out of place.

Sitting in his wheelchair, Jin looked up at the door.

The last time, he had woke up to the presence of the castle's master, Clavis, before fainting again. Apparently a few days had passed since then. Most of the paralyzing injuries on his body had healed poorly, but it was enough to enable him to sit up on the bed.

Nonetheless, it was impossible to stand on his own. Wearing easily removable sleep-wear, his appearance was unsightly as he was covered in bandages. He was forced to move around in a wheelchair due to his injuries.

Valkenhayn had pushed Jin's wheelchair to this place.

The master of the castle, whom Valkenhayn usually accompanied, Clavis, sat in front of Jin. The old vampire was unable to walk. He moved his own wheelchair with magic.

Standing close to Clavis was Rachel. When the light from the lamps flickered, its color was reflected on the young girl's silhouette. It highlighted her unusual charm.

"All right... We have arrived."

Stopping before the door, Clavis smiled wearily, as if tired from the long journey up to here.

The closed door had been subjected to strict seals.

It had a weathered feel to it, it looked rather like it had been crafted from rock. Clavis held out one wrinkled hand to the surface of the steadfast door.

In response, bluish-white magic circles rose to surface. With a few words, Clavis incited the magic circle to recognize its visitors. After that, a bleak light slowly encircled the hand he held out, to examine it. Before long, it dissolved and vanished.

After a short pause, the door opened by itself without needing to examine anyone else's hands.

"Ugh..."

For a moment, Jin felt a numbness as if a lightning was running across his skin. A side effect of the door's seal.

The locking seal had not been broken, it was unlocked by its key: its master.

Despite that, he still felt unsettled by the residual power of the engraved seal.

There is something I want to show you.

Having said that, Clavis led Jin inside.

Jin frowned as he wondered what could possibly need so strict a seal. The discomfort from passing through the door only served to compound that foreboding feeling.

Clavis moved his wheelchair forward with Jin, pushed by Valkenhayn, in tow and Rachel following on foot.

A strange darkness clung to the edges of the door.

In Rachel's tiny hand was held a lamp, similar to those that illuminated the castle. The flickering magical light inside the glass shone with an intensity that did not at all reflect its size as it illuminated the surroundings. Other than the doorframe's eerie shadow, it lit the hallway which stretched far ahead inside.

They slipped into a strange and mysterious space, their surroundings no longer reminiscent of a castle. Other than the path straight ahead, everything was completely drowned in black.

As Clavis advanced, the door behind them closed by itself. As it swung shut, the large door made no sound, as if all noise was being absorbed by the surrounding darkness.

Not just the noise, but the flow of air and time also seemed to stand still.

Clearly, this realm was out of the ordinary.

Clavis proceeded without hesitation, followed by Rachel and Valkenhayn. They must have already known where this place was, its purpose, and what was inside.

Jin felt rather uncomfortable, as the only clueless member here, with no opportunity to ask questions and no ability to halt his own procession down the soundless hall.

"By the way, Sir Jin."

Clavis spoke gently from up ahead.

Glancing back at Jin, the withered face was mellowed by an affection that didn't suit this dark, gloomy place.

"Has your memory recovered at all yet? It seems you have calmed a little."

No sound came from the wheelchair's movement. Despite that, the unheeded voice sounded strange.

Jin took a glance at his soundlessly moving chair before opening his mouth.

"…Your information regarding this world contradicts my memories."

"How so?"

The strained, cracking voice urged him to continue.

"In my memories… the Black Beast was been killed in the distant past. It was a key event in history. The ones who defeated Black Beast were the Six Heroes… As for who they were..."

Jin frowned again. The memories were still murky. He should have known more about them than just that the Six Heroes existed.

But he couldn't remember.

"Is there anything else you can remember?"

Clavis' voice sounded muffled in Jin's ears. The concentration gave him a dull headache, but Jin managed to pick words from his memory, as if tearing fragments of them from cloth.

"…Ragna. My… brother…"

Clavis turned his head slightly, to face Jin.

Jin had dropped his sight while prying through his memories, the small gesture was lost on him.

"And then…"

Inside the hazy memories, there was a face that emerged vividly in Jin's mind. It was awfully nostalgic, and truly warm… but somehow weighed heavy on his heart.

"…Tsubaki."

The moment he spoke the name, an intense headache struck. The pain was like a hot steel had pierced his skull. Jin grimaced, holding back a gasp of pain.

He was struck by a wave of emotions, most of them unpleasant. A mixture of drowning sorrow and burning hatred.

His powerless hands creaked as they formed into tight fists..

Why? How? Rejection, a feeling of helplessness, wrath, fury. Fragments of emotion and unanswerable questions came one by one and burned his brain.

Then, a voice cut straight through his fog of painful memory. A soft and modest voice, it pulled the hot iron from Jin's skull. It suppressed and eliminated the headache that was causing his body to tremble.

"Please, calm down."

Jin raised his eyes. The pain had withdrawn, but a dizziness, born from the headache made his head spin.

Exhausted, Jin sank back into the wheelchair. Clavis squinted as if sympathizing with him.

"More time will be necessary to regain all of your memories. ...It is alright, you certainly will remember. Therefore, you should not tire yourself searching for memories."

Jin rewarded the friendly tone of voice with sharp glare. Sweet words seemed obnoxious to him. Words that somewhat made light of his feelings did not amuse him.

Realizing he had stopped moving, Clavis slowly began to move his wheelchair again.

In the long pathway that was illuminated by the light Rachel held, there were many more seals to take care of. These magic circles weren't on doors, like the first had been, but rather floating in the air, slowing their progress.

While quietly unsealing them one by one, Clavis spoke again.

"I am certain that you came from the future and were washed down the timestream into this age. ...The manipulated future ."

"Manipulated future...?"

The feeling of dizziness remained. It wasn't helping Jin to make any sense of this new information.

Clavis' thin shoulders dropped along with a sigh.

"It is an old story. Long before the repeating, barren history of the world... Before the Black Beast materialized. Humanity had come into contact with the Boundary for the first time."

Again, Clavis' hand undid a seal.

Coupled with his narrative tone, it seemed as though the old vampire was unraveling a history which he had been seen with his own eyes.

Proceeding past the now unlocked seal, the group continued moving.

"The world gained a will by the hands of man. In accordance with its will, the world has determined the path on which humanity should tread. There are some disparities, but with the same base state, humanity will repeatedly pursue the same process and be led to the same fate."

"The future... has been determined...?"

"Perhaps it is easier to comprehend when put in that manner."

Gently and slowly, Clavis spoke as if picturing a distant scenery. Although the crimson pair of eyes had deep foresight, they were also brimming with swaying emotions rather than simply being two calm pools of serenity.

"...Let me give you an example, young man. Your coming from some other future, and arriving in our era was also one of the procedure which has been determined by the world."

"Tsk, DON'T MESS WITH ME!!"

Yelling, Jin hit the wheelchair's handrail with his fist.

"To hell with the world's will! Screw determined procedures! Then my brother... Tsubaki... ARE YOU TELLING ME THEY WILL FALL TO THAT FATE!?"

Filled with vigor, Jin flared at Clavis and tried to push himself out of the chair. But his weak and injured body wouldn't support his weight.

Even so, Jin violently squirmed as if trying to shake off something. Valkenhayn had to pull him back to keep him in his wheelchair.

"Be quiet! Surely you realize that your body is too damaged to move! Be aware of your own situation, kid."

"Ugh..."

The strength left his body and pain and dizziness suddenly came rushing to fill the void its exit had left. He was unable to move again, but Jin's shoulders rose and fell with his ragged breathing. He glared at Clavis.

Paying no mind to Jin's outburst, Clavis' wheelchair continued forward.

Rachel gave Jin a cold stare. In contrast, Clavis' gaze remained warm.

"…It seems you are filled with sorrow."

"I don't know… I can't remember why! But… but…"

Ragna and Tsubaki. A while ago, those names didn't mean anything to him, sunk deep inside the mist of his memory. When his subconscious raised them to the surface for a moment, a whirl of emotions followed.

He couldn't remember even a fragment of the specifics as to what he had gone through with them. Despite that, he felt an awful sorrow, frustration, and agony. His eyes, grown weak and tired, now burned hot with emotion.

Clavis turned to look forward once more; he slowly closed his eyes as if deep in contemplation.

"This world is like a dream seen by god. God has seen the same dream many times over. Its story is a repeating cycle of life and death... The dream of fate ."

While listening to Clavis' story, Rachel held the lamp up high. The end of the passage could be seen in the distance; a simple wooden door, surrounded by a magical seal.

"I do not know if you are able to put an end to that dream. Unfortunately, I cannot see through this world's future..."

Clavis' wheelchair drew closer to the door. His bony hand's touch caused the magic circle to fluctuate and ripple. After a few patterns had been drawn on the surface, it gently vanished.

Within the dark room that had muted all sound except voices, the creaking from the wooden door broke the eery silence.

As if stepping aside, the door opened. Another darkness awaited on the other side. But this time, it was quickly revealed that this was a small room.

Valkenhayn wheeled Jin to the entrance of the room.

In the center of the room, something stood alone. Something white. A silhouette.

"What is this...?" Jin inquired, peering at the front of the white frame.

Clavis didn't enter, stopping his wheelchair beside the door. As his red eyes gazed into the room, he sluggishly opened his mouth.

"...It is something humanity attained by chance when they discovered the Boundary in the past. Do you know of the objects named Original Units?"

"Original Unit..."

With a voice that was practically a sigh, Jin murmured.

It was very likely that this wasn't the first time he had spoken those words. He felt a tug at the corner of his memory, but the knowledge slipped from his grasp. He couldn't remember.

"To put it in simple, human terms, perhaps... they are the three gods who created this world."

Even without voicing a reply, Clavis could guess Jin's thoughts by his face. Clavis looked troubled as he continued to speak in a wheeze. Leaning back in his wheelchair, he linked his thin fingers atop his stomach.

"There are three Original Units, the Sankishin. The Master Unit Amaterasu, the Tsukuyomi Unit and this one here is the Susano'o Unit. ...Though, it has nothing inside. It is simply a vessel."

Although he said 'simply', even Jin could easily see that this was far from common sense. Clavis' speech was erratic, and yet his extraordinarily old voice was appropriate; importance and truth could be sensed from it.

Even without a word or presence, the still object was clad in an odd sense of intimidation. It exuded power.

"It has passed through many hands since its discovery. However, I am its owner now. ...Young man. If you believe it to be necessary, then I will hand it over to you."

Even though his gentle voice made it seem like he was telling a fairy-tale, Jin was bewildered. He looked back at the old vampire.

Clavis calmly looked at Jin. As if picking up the thought in Jin's heart; looking at it while carrying affection.

"...Your body is no longer functioning as it should be. If that still does not matter to you, you are welcome to remain in this castle until the day your life meets its end. But if you need legs to stand and an arm to wield a sword... I believe that vessel is appropriate for you."

Jin stared at Clavis again as he spoke. He was looking for the real motive hidden inside that pair of deep crimson eyes. Still, no matter how doubtful he was, there was nothing but honest warmth.

Clavis took a single deep breath. There was a hint in his sigh that he had grown weary.

"...There is still time. Do consider it. You must decide your own future."

"Even if it follows the plot of this god's dream you're talking about...?"

Jin's words held a hint of sarcasm.

Clavis smiled pleasantly. The wrinkles on his face grew deeper.

"What a high spirited young man. However, you are right indeed. You have to choose. No matter how much of it is part of the world's wish, the limit to keep on choosing is none other than your own decision."

While speaking, Clavis moved his wheelchair past Jin and out of the room.

"Well... It seems I have become a little tired. Rachel, is it alright to leave the rest to you?"

"Yes. Please have a good rest, dear Father."

Her eyes, once cold were now bright with faint warmth.

Clavis gave Valkenhayn a look. Understanding what was meant by it, Valkenhayn moved behind Clavis and gently began to push the wheelchair.

Before he left, Clavis stopped his wheelchair for a moment to give Jin a final piece of advice.

"Young man. Please, live true to your own heart."

The old voice held a deep affection.

Clavis looked back at Jin with a worried, strained smile.

"...Once, I said something similar to someone who was very much like you, but... Oh dear, it seems I am not able to remember who the person was. It appears I am being reduced to a part of the repeating dream, too. It has to be my age."

After he spoke, he leaned back into the wheelchair as if sleeping. Valkenhayn walked them both back down the path and out of that place deep underground.

Rachel turned the lamp in her hand toward Jin, while Jin turned his aching body toward The Susano'o Unit.

Rather than worried, the young man's face looked more determined. Rachel interrupted his concentration, her voice chiming out like a ringing bell.

"...By accepting and uniting with the Original Unit, you will cease to be human. There won't be a second chance to return."

"What will I be if it not human?"

Jin whispered like he was asking himself.

Rachel's charming and lovely eyes slowly blinked.

"Who knows. Perhaps you won't become anything. At the very least, you won't be like you are presently."

His current self.

Jin looked at himself, sitting on a wheelchair.

His powerless self. He was no doubt alive, but his body was so impaired that he couldn't do anything by himself. It didn't amount to anything if it couldn't wield a sword to fight.

Where might the proof that one is oneself be?

Where might the significance that one is oneself be?

Jin questioned himself. Those were vague questions, but he arrived at the necessary answer quite easily.

It was natural. It was because Jin already found his resolve long ago.

"I am me. I don't need anything beyond that."

There were only two options.

Live unable to fight, or live to fight.

Only two choices came into his mind.The thought of choosing either of them pierced sharp and deep into his heart like a blade of ice. Cold pain was running through his mind.

The black silhouette he saw inside flames. The Black Beast. Both were something that had to be killed.

The man he called brother. The young girl with the name of a flower. Both were people he had lost repeatedly within the repeating dream.

He must fight.

If the Black Beast was here, then he would follow the wish of his instinct to kill it.

If he wanted to sever the repeating tragedy, then he would follow the protest of his sentimentality to decapitate it.

He could hear a voice from the standing white silhouette.

—— Be the white void. Be the cold steel. Be the just sword. Take blade in hand to reap the sins of this world and cleanse it in the fires of destruction.

The immovable arm moved. He ended the life of the man named Jin , and chose to tread a new stage.

### Part 2

Time had passed quickly. Only a four months remained before the black beast would awaken.

A large scale encampment had been set up half a month away from the last day of 2107 AD. They were carrying a plan to ambush the Black Beast as soon as it awoke from its one year sleep.

For that reason, a meeting was being held in the council room in the Mage's Guild of Ishana.

The participants were the warriors who would play a central part in the strategy. Jubei, Valkenhayn, Trinity, Terumi, Hakumen, and Nine.

They were surrounding a floating orb in the center of the room. The orb had unfolded a map which they were staring at with grave looks on their faces.

"As revealed by the previous data, it was certain that the Black Beast made its appearance from the vicinity of Cauldrons. Before that happened, those Cauldron had been discharging intense levels of seithr. In short, there's high possibility that The Black Beast will appear near the Cauldron which is leaking the most seithr."

Nine, acting as the commander, nimbly waved her finger. Then, a great number of tiny lights appeared on the map, functioning as markers.

"We have a specific approximation regarding the location of Cauldrons around the world thanks to Terumi. We've been observing whether there's a change in the influx of seithr from any cauldrons among this data. And here they are."

Several green markers were now glowing red. Their numbers roughly amounted close to twenty.

She had already received and understood the information, but Trinity's face grew dark.

"It's everywhere... We have to start deploying the armies quickly. Besides, even if they arrive before its appearance, I'm not sure if they can make it stay in one place..."

"There's another nature in The Black Beast's appearance. The thing's drawn to life force. It'll sniff out the most abundant and splendid life force and hunt it."

Although he looked unmotivated, Terumi spoke while wiping the map with his hand. Around half of the red markers turned blue. The blue lights were concentrated in Eastern Europe.

"Taking that in mind, the monster will appear from the Cauldrons around here. ...Though, they're not locations that can be easily visited anyway."

Having said that, Terumi chuckled.

Valkenhayn knitted his brows. Jubei shifted his attention as if to calm Valkenhayn. Like usual, Hakumen didn't move nor talk.

Celica was watching the meeting intently, sat on a chair placed alongside the wall of the council room.

She just sat there with nothing to do. Next to her was Nirvana, her long arms dangling.

Celica didn't have any part in the plan. She was here because Nine insisted she not be left alone for even one second.

She wasn't being overprotective. Nine was being cautious in relation to Seven and Eight's proposed plan.

Around a month ago, Nine had left Ishana, but got a report from her confidants that Seven and Eight had taken the opportunity to approach Celica again.

Celica thought they had probably had given up after that occasion, but it seemed Nine was still suspicious of their actions. Nine's excuse was that it would be problematic if they made another pass at Celica in this key stage of planning, so soon before the Beast's awakening.

Although she had Nirvana to protect her, Seven and Eight were Sages. Since she couldn't afford to be negligent, Nine tried to keep Celica with her while she was on the island, one way or another.

Celica felt grateful that her older sister was being protective of her. The feeling alone was very valuable.

But as it was, she had been made to attend this meeting where she was just aimlessly sitting around, unable to do anything. Unnecessary thoughts popped up in her head as a result.

For example, there was an overwhelming difference between her and the six people she shared the room with. She was often seen with them, but she was self-conscious that she wasn't on the same ground as them.

It didn't come out of boredom nor from doing something useless.

But a bit. Just for a bit.

"......"

Celica raised her head, noticing that silence had fallen over the room.

It seemed she had unwarily been leaning on Nirvana's arm. Nirvana, who was standing at her side, looked down at Celica.

"Ah, sorry."

In as quiet a voice as possible so as not to disturb the meeting, Celica apologised to the large doll. Celica straightened her back.

Nirvana's large hand lightly hit her on the head head. The gesture was intended to be more a caress than a scold and it warmed Celica's heart.

(Come to think of it, I used to get this feeling before...)

From that person. From Ragna.

She was surprised to realise that soon it would be one year since their parting. She suddenly realised how much she missed him.

If Ragna were here, she would be able to tell him how she was feeling. And then he would say something. No matter what she told him, he would say 'idiot' and then laugh.

"...It's okay. Thank you, Nirvana."

Both human and doll had a similar personality, both sharing a special kindness. While thinking about it, Celica gripped the hand of her affectionate guardian. The hand was cold. The hand was big. Currently, the hand felt reliable.

After once again explaining that she was fine, Celica turned to the meeting. Straightening herself, she made sure to listen diligently.

It was because her sister and the others were about to begin the discussion of their important fight.

After stealing a quick glance at Celica, Nine once again manipulated the blue markers on the table and changed five of them to white. They were the spot where the location of several cauldrons were comparatively concentrated.

Without hesitation, Trinity relayed detailed information about the spots that had been turned white.

"We could probably get a more definitive specification if the proximities were closer; but considering the required time, we can no longer postpone to notify more countries to deploy their armies. Our discussion this time will be to estimate which is the most likely place where The Black Beast will appear."

"Are ya gonna deploy the armies to all of these points? Even if they all gather at the wrong point, there's a lot of distance between the cauldrons."

Jubei wrinkled his nose.

"I know," nodded Nine.

"That's why as soon as we confir its appearance, we're going to be forced to move a large number of units. It's preferable to teleport each of them, but I can't use teleportation magic strong enough to transport troops. Therefore... can I ask that of you, Valkenhayn?"

With a sigh, Nine folded her arms below her chest and shifted her focus to the grimacing wolf-man.

Valkenhayn frowned deeply.

"Are you requesting Rachel-sama's assistance?"

"Her teleportation is able to transfer whole squads of personnel. If the scattered parties can be teleported to the place where The Black Beast appears..."

"I refuse."

Interrupting Nine's words, a clear, bell-like voice shook the room. At the same time, a faint scent of rose bloomed and a small figure appeared near Celica.

It was so sudden that Celica jumped out of her chair and grabbed Nirvana's arms. Nirvana quickly put herself on guard.

Her black dress was decorated with frills. Her beautiful golden hair was tied into two long tails by big ribbons. Her eyes were a deep crimson colour and her skin was pale as snow. The vampire who lived in a castle surrounded by an endless night, Rachel Alucard.

From the start, her appearance here made Celica's eyes open wide. Rachel had just displayed the teleportation magic that was presently being discussed.

But Ishana was concealed in a secure barrier. Furthermore, the Mage's Guild's council room had a further protective barrier applied. It shouldn't have been possible to directly teleport into this place.

"A-Amazing..." Celica couldn't help but let slip her respect at seeing the Mage Guild's strongest enchantments bested.

It was as one would expect of teleportation magic capable of moving an army as Nine had asserted.

Rachel turned to look at Celica and pointedly looked down her nose at her, as if in contempt.

"Good day. You're very skilled, managing to sit in a chair like that, without dislocating your back."

"Ahaha... You surprised me! Hello, Rachel-san."

Celica replied with a wry smile. Rachel snorted as if in discontent.

"Rachel-sama! Why are you here...!?"

Breaking the circle, Valkenhayn came over in a panic.

Raising her eyes to look first at her butler, Rachel then shifted her gaze to looked towards Nine.

"Why, to give advice, since all of you were so serious about that amusing joke of borrowing my power at the start of humanity's upcoming battle. Discard the absurd idea of involving me, Nine of the Ten Sages."

Rachel spoke in a tone of mockery mixed with the kind of astonishment one would display at a child's imprudence.

Trying not to lose her composure at Rachel's haughty tone but still clearly wanting to say something, Nine scowled. Turning to face the child-like vampire, Nine stood over the girl and looked down at her.

"The year is almost up and the Black Beast will come alive ashortly. You must be aware of this, Rachel Alucard. If the damage from that monster spreads any further, humanity will likely lose their will to fight. At the very least, this strategy will give us the strength to fight. Considering this, our first battle has to bear fruits."

"That's why you're asking for my help? And where are your manners? I'd prefer if you made your request while rubbing your head on the ground."

"Hey... I told you to try to understand the situation, didn't I? Or are you telling me that humanity's life and death are just some game for the daughter of the Alucard Family? You have a lot of screws loose."

If those blood red eyes were sneering and looking down on her, then she in turn would rain down contempt from the shade of her purple hat. Their mutual incompatibility formed an intertwining force of opposition.

But Rachel, who was raising her eyes to look at Nine, chose to drop her gaze without any further resistance.

Celica noticed something when looking at Rachel's face from the side. Rachel usually put on a cold look. But for moment, she saw a glimpse of sorrow.

"...Even if you were to ask while standing on your hands, I will not lend my hand in this battle. No, perhaps you won't understand unless I tell you directly that I cannot help."

"Rachel-sama..."

Other than Valkenhayn, perhaps no one in this place could guess the reason why Rachel wore such a cloudy expression.

Celica couldn't understand the meaning behind that look. Bewildered, she could only blink.

To press her further, Nine instantly frowned hard. When she did that, Rachel continued in scornful voice.

"I am not able to intervene in humanity's decisions. So please, win this fight all by yourselves."

Her manner of speaking made it sound as though Rachel had been continuously watching over hundreds of years of history... Yes, it was like the other vampire who lived no less than a thousand years, Clavis Alucard, was talking to them with his transcendental presence.

In addition to that, Celica had briefly seen sorrow and gloom on her face.

A heavy footstep echoed through the chamber, everybody turned toward the noise.

Hakumen, who until now had been silent, displaying no concern with the meeting, turned toward Rachel.

"...I did not expect any assistance from the likes of you, even before you showed your face."

"Sir Hakumen. I will not forgive any mockery toward Rachel-sama. Even if it comes from you."

Nine's previous words had already made Valkenhayn's face turn grim. It was now smoldering with the flames of resentment.

Jubei stepped in front of him, trying to keep the quarrel from developing further.

Rachel wearily took a breath. Then with a manner of walking that resembled a waltz, she turned to Celica.

"I cannot give my support. However, I can give you advice. The Black Beast will certainly appear before her. Perhaps it is not advice... but a prediction."

Her red eyes locked onto Celica as they blinked frantically.

Nine snapped and looked at Celica.

Trinity, Jubei, and Valkenhayn turned to look at her as well. Terumi and Hakumen were the only exceptions.

While blankly looking back at the staring, deep crimson eyes, Celica pointed at herself, unable to comprehend why.

"W-Why me?"

Again, a sad look passed over in Rachel's red eyes. Her tiny lips gently whispered but those words blew through Celica's chest with the force of sudden gust.

"... His soul is sleeping within the Black Beast."

Who did she mean by 'his'?

Celica was reminded of someone's face in that moment.

Despite their differing agendas, everyone understood who he was.

### Part 3

That night.

Celica took a shower after finishing dinner with her sister at home. Beginning her night-time routine, Celica went upstairs to her room and changed into her pajamas.

She was sitting on top of her bed, which was positioned beside the window. She squeezed a pillow between her legs and let down her hair.

Nirvana was sitting on top of a sofa beside the bed. The sofa was something Celica had prepared to become Nirvana's default position when she was in the room. Nowadays, she was completely attached to it.

She had already switched off the lights, however, she didn't feel like sleeping at all.

She knew well the reason. It hadn't left her mind. The words she heard today in the council room of the Mage's Guild.

—— His soul is sleeping within the Black Beast.

Rachel was the head of the Alucard Family who had been watching over all of history. Celica knew that her words must hold some truth. When she had the chance to meet the previous observer, Clavis Alucard, she could see a faint sadness in his eyes and hear it as he spoke in his gentle tones. She thought that Rachel had looked similar back at the meeting.

If she dared to believe it was true...

Rachel's words gradually rekindled the ashes of a fire within Celica. Stoked by thoughts provoked by the day's meeting, that fire immediately flickered bright red, releasing heat, and burned within her chest.

As if she couldn't bear the growing heat, Celica tossed aside the pillow and got off the bed.

She ran up to the closet which stood in one corner of the room.

She opened it to reveal the outer coat and dress of the academy's uniform, as well as several sets of casual clothes, hanging neatly from its railing.

Right at the back of the closet, there was an outfit which clearly did not belong. A long, bright red coat.

The coat was too long for Celica to wear. It was apparent from the design and shoulder width that this coat was tailored for a man.

Hidden even deeper in the closet, there was a single sword with a thick and bulky blade. It was leaning against the closet's back wall.

When Celica reached in and dragged out the sword from the closet, she fell onto her bottom. The sword was heavy.

Unable to wield it at all, Celica raised her knees to hold it up in her arms and placed the broad body of the sword on her palms.

The sword was cleanly polished without any stain on it. The same was true of the red coat. At first, it had been dirty and torn in some places. Every day, she had mended it little by little until it was completely restored.

The sword and coat had been left in Celica's possession by her important friend.

"Ragna..."

Unconsciously, her lips moved and uttered his name.

If Rachel was telling the truth. If his soul was indeed sleeping within the Black Beast.

She might be able to meet him again.

She could meet him again, and then... have a conversation if possible.

She couldn't stop once she thought about it. Celica had that nature since she was little. The recklessness had often made her do things without thinking of the consequences. It must have given her sister Nine trouble.

She surely would give her more problems this time as well.

She knew. In truth, she didn't want to give Nine any more trouble nor worry. However.

"Ragna."

Calling the name out loud again made her chest even warmer and furthered her expectations.

Embracing the bulky sword, Celica's soft lips began to open. She might be able to meet him. Just thinking about it gave her a feeling like she could do anything.

If the owner of the sword could see what Celica was thinking right now, he would be frowning. He would definitely have scolded her and told not to do anything dangerous.

Nine would say the same. Putting Celica's safety first, she had even created Nirvana for her.

But it was no good. Her chest was throbbing. She could only feel a wild and impulsive happiness.

Because none of the options that were born from the possibility Rachel had hinted at would inconvenience Celica, she suddenly felt like she could do anything.

"...I've decided."

Celica looked over to the sofa while still hugging the sword.

Nirvana was sitting bolt upright on the sofa. Her unblinking eyes were staring at Celica.

Celica faced Nirvana and spoke. And as she spoke, the determination within her took a shape.

"Tomorrow, I'll speak to my sister. When the Black Beast revives, I might be able to lure it towards me."

She might get angry. At worst, she might cry. But Celica didn't think she should give up.

"If I can lure the Black Beast, I think my sister's strategy will go a lot smoother. If there's any possibility that I can do something to save somebody, then I would do anything. I'll give it my all."

She wanted to be her sister's, everyone's strength.

Above all, she hoped she would be able to see Ragna.

As her chest gently throbbed, Celica hugged Ragna's sword tightly once again.

She remembered the last time she had this kind of feeling. The warmth from his kindness.

——That night, Celica had a dream. She was standing alone in a white room. There was nothing when she looked around. Not even her own shadow.

Where might this place be?

She was thinking aloud, but even her breath was inaudible, as if the white void was absorbing all sound.

She took a step forward.

The room was so white she couldn't even tell if she was walking on solid ground. However, her feet unexpectedly found solid purchase as she moved forwards.

Then, a mirror, previously unnoticed, appeared before her unnoticed.

It was large enough to reflect Celica's entire person. Furthermore, it was not reflecting anything else around. It was as if the rectangular, full-length mirror had been prepared exclusively for her.

How could there be a mirror here? It was oddly suspicious.

She felt a vague sense of déjà vu, as though she had been in this dream before.

She wondered if the mirror really existed here.

Wanting to touch it, Celica reached out towards it.

In the other side of the rectangular mirror, Celica's reflection also stretched out her hand.

When the fingers of the real and false image were about to touch, Celica was driven out of the bright white room like a fish thrown back into the sea.

The dream ended there.

When she awoke, Celica couldn't even remember a fragment of the dream.

### 027. Chapter 5: Black Beast, Reappears

### Part 1

December 31st, 2107 AD.

A night that felt unpleasant; with a strange warm wind blowing.

Although the sky was mostly deprived of clouds, the view of the stars and moon had grown hazy as they were covered by thick seithr.

But the moon, shining dully, appeared oddly close. It shone its stagnant light upon the ground that was about to become ruined by battle, as if giving sympathy.

The surroundings were a plain wasteland; brown desert, no grass or water was present for miles.

If today would be the day of apocalypse for humanity, the scenery here surely would need no changes.

...Nine surveyed the battlefield, taking a deep breath, having confirmed the situation with all the units of the Mage's Guild.

The day and the year would end very soon. A whole year had passed since then. It was time for its revival. Just thinking about it would give anyone shivers.

Of course, the preparations had been sufficiently arranged. As everything that could be done had been dealt with, there was no anxiety or fear regarding that part.

What had been concerning Nine was Celica.

"Nine. The deployment of the foreign armies has been completed without problems."

Trinity jogged up to Nine. She was among the same units as Nine and her role was to support all of the armies.

Every functioning country was participating in this strategy.

The armies even included the countries that had previously refused to cooperate with The Mage's Guild.

Presently, several hundred thousand units had been positioned around various cauldrons that had a high rate of seithr discharge. The units also included volunteers who were ordinary people.

It was still unclear which cauldron the Black Beast would emerge from. But once its arrival had been confirmed, the attack and mobilization would commence immediately.

Among the armies that had been stationed at the cauldrons... was Celica. She had positioned herself in the centre of a group of cauldrons, so as to be as to be able to get to a number of them as quickly as possible.

"...Are you worried about Celica-san?"

Trinity asked her in a whisper as she saw a deep sorrow in Nine's expression that was masked in calmness.

Finally noticing that her mind was completely filled with Celica, Nine lightly bit her lip to reprimand herself.

"...Of course I'm worried."

She could have dodged the question, but Nine chose to speak her mind. Trinity was her companion. She could immediately see through Nine's pressure no matter how many words she used to coat it.

Plus she couldn't keep making a calm face like it was nothing when it came to that matter.

"Don't joke like that! Do you even understand what you're saying!?"

The first moment Celica said that she wanted to be a decoy, Nine had let her anger burst out, as if on reflex.

Nine's shout would make her classmates from the academy tremble. But it wasn't a big deal for Celica. Instead she retorted with an even louder voice.

"I said I do. I wouldn't say something like this as a joke."

"That makes it even worse! Celica, didn't you hear me in our preparations for this battle!?"

"Of course I remember. But this is different from our talk about Seven-san and Eight-san. I won't be dying. And if I can lure the Black Beast, won't it be good for the strategy?"

The more Nine resisted, the more that the stubborn Celica stood her ground.

No matter how many times they had this argument, Celica wouldn't back down once she had decided on something. Nine knew from experience that she was like a dog with a bone.

At that time, she could have predicted yield in the end.

"Please! I want to do it no matter what! I'll run away when it gets dangerous. I'll obey your instruction. So please…!"

The sisters continued throwing demands at each other for a further 30 minutes.

But then Celica joined her hands and kneeled in front of Nine, prostrating herself like a beggar before a king. The excessively direct request left Nine at a loss for words.

She understood about it. About what kind of a sister Celica was and how earnest her heart was.

Nine gave a big sigh and scratched her head in annoyance.

"…Aaah, okay! You have a comeback for everything I said!"

"…Then… you get it!?"

"I get it, I get it! You're such a stubborn kid. You must have thought tons of excuses to persuade me."

Actually, even if the theories she lined up against Nine might seem all over the place, they needed a little more accuracy in pin pointing The Black Beast's arrival in order to intercept it.

There weren't many alternatives that would go smoothly even when the certainty wasn't in 100% percent, or even if they had to rely on the vampire girl's prophecy. In fact, there were only a few of them.

If the Black Beast could be drawn to Celica, then it would greatly smooth the proceeding of the plan.

Nine wouldn't have any complaints if Celica didn't do it.

"…But remember, your duty is just to lure out that monster. You absolutely cannot participate in the battle. Get to a safe place after that. You hear?"

"Yes! Thanks, Onee-chan!"

With the hard-fought battle of wills finally won, Celica's expression returned to its usual bright, carefree smile. Then she gripped her sister's hands.

Nine didn't have the slightest idea how she should feel when looking at that smile.

…The day of the decisive battle approached. Although the arrangements had been finished by this point, Nine was in violent remorse. She couldn't help but think that it might be better if she had dismissed Celica's opinion using whatever means necessary.

Nine crushed the deployment scheme of the foreign armies in her hand. She immediately switched her long gaze to the direction where Celica was supposed to be.

"Truth to be told, I want to send her to Ishana immediately. Having Celica to be a bait to lure the Black Beast is ludicrous… If I could, I wanted to at least be right beside and protect her now."

"You have to take command of the Armagus unit, you know. No one but you is able to do it."

The Armagus unit was organized from the candidates around the world that had been tested for their aptitude. Today would be their first live combat.

Even with their skill, the armies had insufficient combat experience. Commanding them required someone who grasped the understanding of Armagus better than anyone. In other word, Nine.

"I know about that."

Trinity was to give support and direct the supportive magic unit from headquarters. Jubei, Terumi, and Valkenhayn were participating in the units which were located near their respective cauldrons. Even with someone else's assistance, there was no other choice for Nine.

But it was because she precisely knew about it that the absurd irritation within the helpless situation struck her nerves.

The cause of annoyance didn't just come from the Black Beast. Seven and Eight's movement was still in her mind.

Nine thrust her disarranged long hair with her hand. Trinity put her hand to Nine's shoulder and gently smiled.

"Didn't you create Nirvana and have her beside Celica-san? And that gentleman is also there."

"…Ugh. Oh, well. I guess I don't have a problem with him being her guard at the very least, considering his war potential."

Combing the tangled hair in her hand, Nine took a deep breath to shake off the ill feeling in her chest. Though the burden in her chest hadn't disappeared, she had to forcibly convince herself for now.

"Anyway, let's beat up the monster before it reach Celica."

"Fufu, that's the spirit~. ...But please don't do anything reckless."

"I know. You too, Trinity. I can't do anything without you after all."

"Oh my. You're making me embarrassed."

Trinity covered her girlish mouth with the fingertips that came out from the sleeve of her robe. Nine replied with a daring smile.

But time was ticking. No matter how many words she spoke, the pressuring anxiety had yet to disappear from Nine's chest.

### Part 2

The midwinter wind blew, making her cheeks lukewarm. The smell of dust was in the air.

The night had somehow grown stagnant. The stars and moon seemed so much farther away. The air, which was filled with seithr, shimmered like a pretty, thin, silk curtain. It created a sense of unease.

It had been a while since she felt the air outside the island. Celica sat down on top of a rugged hill within the endless wasteland while inhaling the dusty air of the night deep into her lungs.

Nirvana stood just next to her. The smooth and brilliant glass spheres that were her eyes appeared as if they were gazing at the distant scenery.

Following her gaze, Celica also looked into the distance.

The scenery she was staring at seemed desolate.

Once, this region had suffered damage from The Black Beast. The demon appeared suddenly as usual, transformed the buildings and road into a wasteland, and disappeared abruptly as before.

But one small town had barely survived thanks to that whim. It was located on the other side of the rocky mountain west from here. If the Black Beast appeared in this territory tonight, the town would surely disappear and be turned into a wasteland just like here.

It was truly a dreadful thing.

Thinking about it, Celica couldn't help but think that she was a complete fool for being here.

It was like being in a dream. Sure, she was fully conscious, but some part of her mind couldn't believe the situation that was about to approach before her eyes.

Although the wind wasn't chilly, it was mysteriously cold. Sitting on top of a rock, Celica hugged her knees and placed her chin on top of them.

The dusty wind fluttered her tied hair like a sash.

Suddenly, she heard heavy footsteps behind.

Suddenly, Nirvana snapped into her combat position. Celica turned around in a panic, but seeing who was standing there softened her expression.

"Hakumen-san."

There, a tall man wearing white clothing and a white mask with long sword on his back stood silently.

There was no squadron posted near Celica. During the strategy meeting, she had emphasized the possibility that the Black Beast might not be able to find her if she was included in a unit.

Of course, Nine was opposed to it. But she was eventually outmatched by Celica's unyielding spirit once she had decided on her plan. Then she arranged for Celica to be stationed in the middle of the wasteland. Yet she would allow it only if Nirvana and Hakumen were with her.

After Celica calmly called out to her that nothing was the matter, Nirvana relaxed.

Hakumen stood beside Celica. His white mask turned toward the air as if gazing at the wasteland.

"...Are you scared?"

A low, muffled voice questioned.

Celica looked up and stared at Hakumen's face. She wasn't expecting his question. Shrugging her shoulders, she broke down her expression with a bashful smile.

"Aha... A little."

While replying, Celica was surprised by something other than Hakumen's remark. For the first time, she noticed that she was trembling a bit when she heard her own answer.

She had never expected to be so terrified. But now that she had been asked, she realised that there was a fear laying deep inside. She would compare it to the feeling a pebble would have while sinking into a vast lake

Celica drew her knees close and hugged herself tightly. She felt a bit of relief from the radiation of her own body heat.

"But I'm not so sure what could be so terrifying. Because I feel safe as much as I feel scared. For a whole year, my sister and the others have really done their best. It should be fine when the Black Beast comes."

It wasn't just Nine and Hakumen. Everyone around the world had done what they could.

There were some quarrels among fellow countries, a reorganization that had to be done to the collapsing economy, and insufficient goods. The world had to go forward while burdened by loads of problem, but plenty of people had worked hard from each of their positions. And it had finally come to today.

Celica believed that there wasn't any wasted effort through that entire year.

Still hugging her knees, Celica straightened her back and raised her face up straight. Her big eyes reflected a distant scene.

"My sister and everyone else will surely win the battle. A world where everybody lives in peace without conflict is coming. And I'm glad I can lend my hand to achieve it. That's why right now I don't have any regrets nor a single thought to give up. But you know, it's just… "

As she thought, being in the middle of an empty wasteland alone was frightening. A terribly simple reason that made her shiver.

"…A world where everybody lives in peace. Without conflict…"

Hakumen muttered in a deep voice. It was like he was thinking of a distant wish that was vanishing. Faint and weak, swept away by the rough wind.

Hearing his voice which seemed like he was pondering on fleeting thoughts, Celica looked up and made a wry smile. When she heard Hakumen repeating her words, she became embarrassed. Because it felt like her naivety and inexperience were exposed.

"A-Ahaha. It's weird, isn’t it? I got scared despite thinking about all that. It seems I'm more confused than I thought."

"…There is nothing to fear."

Hakumen looked straight forward and spoke, showing not even the slightest hesitation. Clenching the dangling hands beside his body, his feet which were previously spread shoulder-wide stepped firmly on the hard ground without a hint of retreating.

"I will slay the Dark One. Your only task is to see it with your eyes from here."

Hakumen's voice was like a single swing of sword. Unwarped, unclouded.

His standing figure reminded her of a dear feeling… Celica slowly caught her breath.

"Ragna…"

Hearing the name she had unintentionally whispered, Hakumen turned his head toward her.

When he did, Celica finally noticed that she had been muttering. She quickly waved both hands in front of her face.

"Ah, no, excuse me. You just reminded me of someone for a moment."

While speaking, Celica wondered what made her think that.

She shouldn't be recalling Ragna when she looked at Hakumen. It was understandable for it to happen once or twice, but continuing to remember somebody else's image like this was really impolite. Even if Celica was a dunse in etiquette, she could sympathize with that.

She had to be careful. While staring at Celica as she was trying to compose herself, Hakumen leisurely asked a question a moment later.

"…Do I have any resemblance to him?"

This time, Celica gasped in surprise.

She had never considered that she would be questioned about it. He usually would have averted his face without speaking a word. She thought he would stay silent, looking into the distance with his white face.

Celica nodded twice afterward.

"I'm sure I told you about this before. Last time, I was searching to find his resemblance in you… but now I can see there are clear similarities."

"Hm."

His grunt urged her to continue. She might have misunderstood it, but Celica went along with her intuition.

"He's blunt and has a bad attitude. He also tends to get into arguments with my sister. But somehow, he's good at taking care of people. And… I didn't know where he came from or anything about his history at all."

With good cheer, Celica spoke about their similarities one by one while counting on her fingers. But her hands eventually opened up and she smiled while squinting with happiness.

She pressed her hands to her chest as if a warm light had been lit inside.

"But I guess it's your air that's similar to his. When I look at you, It just makes me think about Ragna."

In no way was that a painful feeling. When she thought about Ragna it felt like being basked with sunlight filtering through the trees, back in the academy's courtyard.

"…Do you wish to meet him?"

It was a miracle for a day to come when Celica was given a question filled with such emotion from Hakumen. Still spontaneously smiling while looking for an answer, Celica lifted her eyelids and looked at Hakumen.

She didn't know where the location of his eyes and mouth were on that white, flat mask. He might not have a face in the first place. It was unclear whether Hakumen had the same 5 senses as a human.

However, Celica read the feeling in Hakumen's gaze and stared back at him.

"Yup, I want to."

Her voice rang clear and true, without any hint of hesitation or doubt.

"The reason for me acting as bait for the Black Beast is also because I thought I might be able to meet Ragna. Ah, of course I'm doing it to help my sister, too. But… when I thought about meeting him, I just couldn't help myself."

"The Dark One is still the Dark One. It appears with oblivion as its purpose. …The Ragna you spoke of who is held inside of it might not necessarily be the Ragna you are wishing for."

His low tone of voice cut through the atmosphere without reservation.

However, instead of depressing her, his words made Celica glad.

"Aha. I've been told the same thing by Ragna in the past."

She was talking about when she found her missing father. She had been told that she might regret it if she found him.

Celica's feelings now were similar to that time.

"But I still wish to meet him."

Releasing the knees she had been hugging, Celica leaped to her feet. She stretched her back, puffed out her chest, and took a deep breath.

"I want to meet him. Talk to him. It'd be great if we could do things just like when we were together before, but… it's fine even if we couldn't. I mean, there's a lot of specific things I want to do and it makes my head spin. I want to meet Ragna. And if I do, that's enough to make me really happy."

It was strange. She should have been trembling enough to make her collapse. But now, that feeling was completely fading.

It must have been Hakumen, Celica thought. When Hakumen was there, she felt that she would get her harmony back as soon as she had an unsettling thought.

She wanted to meet Ragna. That feeling had made her push herself to stand here. She forced herself to to remember it.

"…I see."

Hakumen sighed. It was no longer just a hint; his voice obviously had sensitivity in it.

Astonished, Celica stared hard at Hakumen. She couldn't help but feel that there was a gentle yet sad face of a man under the white mask.

Between his breaths, Hakumen continued to talk as if speaking to himself.

"I, too, recalled a person whenever I looked at you. Someone in the distant past who I have grown to forget."

"I look like someone you know?"

Celica asked a question to draw him in. Hakumen's past. It was like a glasswork that shouldn't be carelessly handled. It made her heart throbbed a little.

But betraying the faint feeling of expectation Celica held, Hakumen flatly shook his head.

"There is no similarity."

"Hey. Just now, I get the feeling that you're making fun of me."

"I wonder."

Even his counter of feigning ignorance was as sharp as ever.

…But Hakumen soon spoke gently.

"…It is simply because she had the same boldness as you do. A girl who would charge ahead once she saw her goal."

Hakumen was staring ahead. It was a mystery whether the white mask was looking at the dull wasteland or a dearest face of someone. Looking at his face from the side, Celica guessed the latter.

"Is that girl someone you love?"

The question was mixed with the wind.

Hakumen didn't answer. But the warm feeling that had lasted until his silence was probably not just her imagination. Pushing aside her hair which had been blown across her face by the wind, Celica smiled while scratching her ear.

"I have a feeling that you'll definitely meet her again… I just know it."

She didn't know when, where, or in what kind of situation that reunion would occur. But the encounter would surely bring happiness. Celica hoped from the bottom of her heart that such reunion would truly happen to Hakumen.

A long sigh that was clearly different than a simple one was heard coming from Hakumen.

"It is an odd conversation. You see the image of Ragna the Bloodedge in me. And I see the image of someone unforgettable in you."

Perhaps he was smiling right now. Perhaps his lack of smile was his way of smiling.

The white mask might not only have snatched his expression. When she suddenly thought about that, Celica let a small chuckle. Hakumen couldn't show it easily but every word he spoke was trying to display his smile.

Led by the sound of Celica's laugh, Hakumen took a step forward.

His long, silver hair swayed.

"Celica A. Mercury. If it is true that you see the image of that man in me, then I will bear the image itself as many times as it takes. He has protected you. Then I shall protect you at once."

"Protect me? I'm happy but… It's somehow strange hearing you say it so formally. What's wrong?"

Searching for the hidden meaning in his words, Celica tilted her head to the side. She tried to take a peek at his face, but she was hindered by the silver hair which was blown by the wind.

Though, there was no expression that could be seen even if she saw his face.

"…I am someone who is seeing an image within you, too. I wield my sword for that foolish purpose. I shall not repeat the same mistake. Hence, I must protect you for that very reason."

It was like the voice that went across her back was hardened by a firm determination. After taking a short pause, Hakumen slightly looked over his shoulder to his back.

"Cease your curiosity. This is no concern of yours."

It was not spoken in such a manner as to push her aside. But what was being grasped tightly by Hakumen's hands must be something precious to him.

Celica decided to respect the privacy of Hakumen's thoughts and stop probing.

It was enough for her since the words Hakumen spoke had made her happy, whatever his circumstances might be.

"Hakumen, you're a kind person. Just as I thought."

"Alrighty," said Celica as she hopped to Hakumen's side. She gazed at the horizon and smiled.

Hakumen kept quiet as though his talkative nature had all been an illusion. He lifted his chin and looked into the distance.

The gesture made it look like he was getting emotional, but perhaps he was just turning his face away. When she looked at him, Celica made a mischievous face.

"Hmm? Perhaps you're getting embarrassed?"

She leaned towards Hakumen, moving her face close to his but his white mask remained silent without even a slight movement.

"It's hard to imagine, but he might be getting embarrassed for real", Celica thought. The childish emotion within Celica's mind was growing. She was thinking whether she should push him a little more. But that thought only lasted for a moment.

Celica realised that Hakumen's appearance was suddenly making her uneasy. Perhaps she had subconsciously noticed a change in circumstance in his blank face.

"Hakumen, what's wrong?"

He didn't move even when addressed. Hakumen continued to face forward while holding his breath.

Just as she had thought, the situation was strange.

As if enshrouded with thick heat, the air around Hakumen changed.

Killing intent.

The dangerous sensation made Celica, who was still inexperienced in combat, freeze on the spot and stop breathing.

At the same time, Celica had a thought. What kind of opponent could make Hakumen express so much killing intent?

A strong breeze blew in from their front. Celica turned around to brush off the wind. Even that small movement felt sluggish and she found it really hard to move.

Suddenly, a thick fog sprouted out like a geyser in front of Celica's eyes. Celica screamed a little and sprang backwards. Moving to her side, Nirvana scooped Celica into her arms and quickly stepped back out of the range of immediate danger.

The gushing mist from the ground multiplied to two and then three bursts. As if aiming for a specific location, the eruptions drew a dotted line across the terrain.

It was heading in the direction that Celica and Hakumen were staring at. Toward the barren and uncovered wasteland.

After the small geysers had burst forth, completely surrounding that area, followed by a vast amount of black mist that began to overflow from the ground. A tremor violently shook the ground as if something was pushing up against it.

Cracks erupted across the dry earth as a dark form emerged, tearing the previously unbroken wasteland in two.

"MOVE!"

Hakumen shouted the order.

But Celica couldn't separate her eyes from the scene. It wasn't just the scenery that she couldn't escape from, none of her senses could run from the crawling she felt in her skin.

It was the same as that time. The atmosphere she had felt just before she parted with Ragna one year ago.

The wind, thick with seithr, advanced and surrounded Celica's whole body. The earthquake was so violent that she lost her footing and stumbled.

Nirvana supported Celica as she was staggering.

Celica raised her face upward while trying to oppose the devastating wind.

Toward something enormous which tore the cracked earth and raised the ground level.

It was as black as solidified darkness, had many red veins running along its figure, and had a head the shape of serpent's. Its immense size was beyond words.

Slowly, one by one, more heads crept from the depths of the earth. Each one matching the mammoth size of the first.

A total of eight necks dragged themselves from within the crater. Following them, a large torso, which surpassed even the size of the heads, appeared on the desolated ground.

Meanwhile with the Armagus unit near the operations base, Nine was struggling for breath. She stared at the creature which had appeared with hostility floating in her eyes.

"This is… the real deal…"

It was more than just the thick seithr that set her breathing out of control.

She mustered her willpower, in order to calm herself down.

At the main unit, Trinity fell to her knees. Her entire legs felt weak. Soon, she wasn't able to stand anymore.

Her brain couldn't accept what her eyes were seeing. It felt like the insides of her skull were firing off warnings as they couldn't comprehend anything. …She could only stare wide eyed with a blank expression on her face.

At the assault unit leading various demi-humans, pioneered by beastkins, was Jubei. His body was resisting him as he desperately tried to reject the fear that was gripping his mind. It has begun, he thought. At the same time, he felt it was strangely close to the end of things.

Once, there had been a time when he was near to it. That moment was also dreadful. He was unable to move and his feet had frozen.

But that fear was even bigger now that he saw the beast at its full potential.

Meanwhile at the largest assault unit, Valkenhayn averted his eyes from the figure that had appeared from the ground. It was like he had witnessed the world's demise itself.

Once he had the courage to bear it within his field of vision again, while whispering the name of the lord he had sworn his loyalty to, he encouraged himself to move.

However, his body was already frozen in fright.

At Ishana's magician unit, Terumi looked up at the silhouette whose frame was now blocking out the horizon. He laughed. Laughter escaped from the man's mouth, but not due to joy, it was because he couldn't think of any better response.

He softly muttered under his hood.

"This guy's nasty... He's even bigger than the last time…"

The Black Beast.

It was simply an overwhelming fear.

Who could have imagined it?

The dark red nightmare was squirming right there.

### Part 3

The Black Beast roared loudly. Its paralyzing howls combined into one and would inspire terror instinctively within any animal.

The destructive voice was enough to shake the ground. It was giving off vibes of despair to the world.

The black mass went beyond normal human comprehension. The shadow monster. The Black Beast.

Its eight heads were raised and the ominous red eyes were lit up. It moved around like it was searching for something.

Red lines marking its veins were running over its entire body. It looked almost like the wiring of an electrical device. The veins were pulsing light as if they were beating. It went beyond fear as to being repulsive.

The eight heads roamed about until they made a discovery all at once. A young girl standing alone in the wasteland… Celica.

Its red eyes were glaring as if some kind of emotion was crossing his features.

However, the color was nothing but sinister. The sensation was far from any emotion a human could have.

Her eyes met the Black Beast's. Celica wasn't able to tear her gaze away from its many heads.

Her body was frozen in place from the top of her head to the soles of her feet. With her gaze frozen in place, Celica was at her wit's end as she trembled in fear.

(This is… the Black Beast…)

Her throat was stuck. Her scream strangled and unable to escape.

She was afraid. It was different from the vague fear she had a while ago as it made Celica wither in pain.

The eight crooked necks bent like whips as they moved. Befitting its large size, the black giant moved ahead in grandiose manner.

Several steps more and the eight snakes would reach Celica. She might get eaten. Or else, she might get crushed. Either way, that moment would be the end for her.

Although that thought permeated her mind, there was nothing she could do to move from that point. She could only tremble and stood there, petrified, unable to do anything, like a baby…

(…But Ragna…)

For an instant, the precious color of an cut through her other terrified thoughts.

It was clear green. A warm and gentle color of green, like a tree in summer, full with leaves. But probably because of his wound, only the left side of his eyes was fine. He was always astonished, angry, and laughing with only one half of his eyes.

A transparent wind blew through Celica's chest. Her panic disappeared like it had all been a lie.

(Ragna… faced this alone.)

Thanks to it, Celica hadn't lost her life.

Humanity obtained one year of time that to her felt both short and long.

And Ragna had not yet come back.

——mise.

The words she heard exactly one year ago were echoing in her ears.

"…na."

As if the feeling was pushing her back, Celica took a step forward.

——Yeah, I promise.

Yes, he promised.

Ragna had promised to return. To take back the red coat he had entrusted to Celica.

Celica had held onto it, awaiting for Ragna to return... She promised.

Then if Ragna was somewhere inside the black mass in front of her eyes…

(I want to meet him——!)

One foot fell in front of the other. Celica ran toward the Black Beast. While running, she shouted with all her breath.

"RAGNA——————————————————!"

The next moment.

A swift, silver light flew and tore the sky. It cut apart the head of the approaching black snake in a flash.

"…!?"

Celica stopped moving, startled.

It threw its whole body towards the black giant without any hesitation.

For an instant, that figure was overlapped by a nostalgic silhouette.

(No, that's wrong. It's not Ragna.)

It was Hakumen.

After he landed on top of the cleaved snake head, Hakumen flipped his sword and without any unnecessary movement pierced the crown of the head, drawing a vertical line.

The head took almost all of the long blade, and then it violently struggled. But before it did, Hakumen pulled out the sword and leaped away. Next, he gave another slash to the neck part.

The sharp noise from the slash was vividly audible. It sliced the part under the jaw in a straight line.

Nonetheless, there was a drastic size difference between Black Beast and Hakumen.

Even the eye-snatching white gleam of the long sword was unable to completely chop through the demon's neck. Perhaps the wounds of the squirming neck had healed since it calmly began to brush Hakumen away.

Still not paying any heed to its counterattack, Hakumen jumped high and didn’t hesitate to swing the sword.

The strokes of the sword were many and the blows cuts deep.

While keeping the monster's jaw, that had received blows to keep it in check with his brute strength, he slashed it from the bottom up.

Jumping up to follow his cut, he rose up below the jaw and stabbed the sword to the monster's throat. Then allowed gravity to assist his cut as he slip down the long neck to the ground.

The beast shrieked dreadfully in rage.

Hakumen's was knocked away and he hit the ground hard. The impact dented the earth. But before the soaring cloud of dust had a chance to settle, the white warrior was already standing up.

Highlighting the gallant figure of Hakumen against the battlefield, white lightning was cast about as if falling like rain.

It was the Armagus unit led by Nine.

There were numerous lightning bolts as the spell was cast repeatedly. Explosions of electricity were punctuated by a thunderous roar that matched the intensity of the Black Beast's howl.

Subsequently, Jubei's unit approached with great speed from behind the Black Beast. Their target was its feet. The alchemical weapons that Trinity had provided helped to trip the giant's feet and obstruct its movement.

Various offensive magics were fired off from the magician unit who had positioned themselves to surround the beast. The military forces from the assorted nations also commenced their attack simultaneously.

Celica watched on from the mountainside as the battlefield became intense in a blink of an eye.

It was a ghastly spectacle.

It couldn't be more obvious that it was a struggle in which humanity had concentrated all of the power they had at their disposal.

The Armagus squad's attacks were proving to be the most effective.

The number of armagus weilders that had been assembled spanned several times the number of Ishana's inhabitants. The average offensive ability from the Armagus couldn't be compared with that of the smaller magicians' unit.

Because Nine was giving commands to the armagus squad, the raining spears of the Armagus's light weren't fired wildly. The combined force of the lightning worked to stagger the Black Beast as it struck at its ankles.

It was effective. The faltering steps of the beast made it feel like humanity was drawing a victory for the first time.

…But when the hands that were used to attack repeatedly stopped for a moment, the Black Beast cried out with its ferocious voice and swung its eight necks.

When the long necks brushed off the sky, the thick fog roared and gouged the earth like a whip. Along with a howl, the descending mass of seithr crushed the earth and living beings like a lump of iron.

Then after stopping one moment, it resumed its advance. This time it slid on the ground, imposingly moving forward.

It was aiming for Celica.

"It’s coming to my location…?"

The distance was no longer mattered. The seithr would blow around violently whenever the Black Beast was near. The following rampage of wind toyed with her hair and mantle annoyingly.

Even while squinting her eyes to protect from from the head wind, Celica couldn't take off her eyes from the approaching black mass that was causing the quake.

It wasn't because she was terrified. She was searching for a presence inside this dreadful and grotesque figure of a giant.

Celica had a thought. The monster kept walking in Celica's direction even while withstanding the fierce attack. There might be a part within it that remembered the promise to 'return'.

A foolishly optimistic thought that be laughable to anyone else if they had heard it. But once she gave it a thought, Celica couldn't stop feeling like it was the truth.

"I must go!"

At this short distance, Celica could reach the beast with a short sprint. Steeling her resolve, Celica dashed off over the ocher soil. …However, someone suddenly caught her arm.

"Wha… Nirvana?"

When she turned to look, Nirvana, who had been standing motionlessly beside Celica, used her large, weaponized hand to grab Celica's wrist.

The beautiful artificial eyes were staring at Celica silently.

She had judged that it would be dangerous for Celica to go any further. Celica struggled, shaking her arm to loosen Nirvana's hand, but she was undaunted and continued her tough restraint.

"Let me go, Nirvana! I want to go there. I might be able to meet Ragna. So ple…"

Her desperate objection was cut midway.

Under Celica's feet, veins of light were appearing.

As if in the middle of drawing a pattern, it crawled along the ground at a great speed, the pattern becoming more complex every moment.

She didn't know its purpose, but Celica soon realized what the light was drawing.

It spread wide with Celica on its center. Furthermore, it pulled along small magic circles as if they were connected somewhere, making a strange shape.

"Trinity, what is that magic circle!?"

After she entrusted the Armagus unit to another person, Nine teleported to the headquarters. While yelling, she walked at quick pace to her friend who was wearing yellow robe.

The location of the headquarters was a little higher than other places. Trinity who had been watching over the battlefield got in a panic from Nine's voice. After she lifted her face, she shook her head with complicated face.

"I don’t know. I was just looking at the user now."

"Where?"

"Somewhere around the dispatched magicians who are on Celica-san's left and right sides. There's a chant of unusual spell… Found it! There!"

Trinity probed for the stream of magic power while manipulating her hearing. She pointed at the magician unit gathered within the shade of a few rock within the wasteland. Simultaneously, Nine amplified her vision.

With her telescopic eyes, Nine saw a pair of magicians she recognized well.

"Seven, Eight…!"

Crushing her anger, Nine groaned.

Beside her, Trinity's voice screamed.

"NINE, PLEASE LOOK AT THAT!"

At the same time of the shrieking voice, Nine turned her sight back to normal.

What had burst in to her regular sight was a drawing of huge magic circle like a geoglyph that appeared behind Celica.

A magic circle unknown to Nine. But it was easy to decipher by looking at the magic circles that had been used as foundation, the objects that were added, and its gigantic size.

But it was something that gave Nine a tremendously bad feeling.

"Summoning magic? …It can't be!"

Faster than the transformation of her surprise to anger, the expanded magic circle on the ground began to emit a sinister light.

The large magic circle that appeared all of a sudden began to shine. After realizing it, Celica was shaking in confusion while looking behind.

"Huh? W-What's this!?"

Even the magic circle below her feet began to glow after a bit of delay.

She couldn't understand what was happening. Celica tried to get away from that place.

But for some reason, she wasn't able to go outside the magic circle. It was like she got imprisoned within a cylinder glass bottle.

She hit the invisible wall with both hands. There was no sound, but the sensation blocked Celica from getting out.

(What should I do… I somehow got a very bad feeling…)

As if confirming that ominous hunch, a lukewarm chill brushed against Celica's spine.

To shake it off, Nirvana stretched her arms and hugged Celica tightly. Both of the hard, inhuman arms covered Celica to protect her from everything.

At the same time outside of Celica's sight, Nirvana's back opened. Something like a rod was pushing up and went toward the empty sky. The object that looked like an antenna and lighting rod engraved a violet crest. It wore light as if acting in agreement with something.

"Nirvana…"

Question and relief. With a voice mixed with both, Celica whispered to Nirvana.

Before her sigh ended, an unusual phenomenon happened.

The light from the magic circle suspiciously started to flicker strongly. After the noise and shock diminished like they were sinking furiously, it tried to drag Celica from everything else and knock her down.

"Wh… what's going on… Why's this happening…"

Still getting taken to the bottom of the ground by the force, Celica desperately clung to Nirvana and endured it.

But soon, the circulating chill stroke her spine and went inside her skin. The cold touch of ice snatched strength from Celica's whole body.

Body heat, sensation, emotion. Everything that dwelled within her warmth was seized, frozen, and unfolded.

(No…)

She put strength into the arm that was clinging to Nirvana. But all of that strength were turning to liquid, making it meaningless.

Celica's knees crumbled, light enough to make the illusion of noise.

Her consciousness became distant like it was absorbed.

(No… if I faint… I can't meet… Ragna…)

The hand that was supposed to grab Nirvana slipped and dangled beside her body. While she was relying on the neck that couldn't support her head, her sight went around and couldn't see anything but the night sky.

(Ragna…)

She wondered if this was what dying felt like. With her back still could only feel the stiff hands of Nirvana who was supporting her… Celica lost her consciousness as if she went sleeping.

——Celica didn't know what happened afterward.

Delivering what had been extracted from Celica, the extended magic circle connected its light to the main part of the magic circle which was lying in wait behind.

The gigantic magic square that appeared on the sloppy ruin of hill received it. It was gushing out a light that had the color of flame. The light was spreading to the jet black figure within the circle.

The figure immediately grew large and began to crawl out from the circle.

Its huge arms were stretched before placing both hands on the wasteland. Then it pulled its body like it was crawling out of a swamp.

It had a really vague depiction of a man's features. It had one head, two arms, one torso, and two feet.

Its whole body was black like it was built by molding solidified darkness. Like it was split by cracks, the skin had some kind of blood vessels that were like red veins circulating as they pleased.

Its appearance… resembled the Black Beast.

The titan that appeared from the magic circle made deep noises and waved its long arms. It moved its clutched fists forward to grasp the Black Beast, which had been confined by the Armagus attack, from the side. With unbelievable strength, it knocked off the beast's large build.

Making a violent roar that shook the earth, the Black Beast forcefully gained a distance.

Everyone was watching over that scene in blank.

It was no longer a battle of humanity. It was the clash between absurdity with absurdity, monster with monster.

When the black titan's stance changed to crawling on all fours on the ground, it widely opened it mouth with compulsory movement like a machine.

A white magic circle was unfolded within the mouth cavity that had transformed into a black cave. The magic circle rotated like the gears of watch that had gone awry. It made the red veins that covered the titan's body to swell slowly.

The next moment.

A straight, white flash was fired from the black titan toward the Black Beast.

The ear-piercing roar and shriek robbed the owners of their sense of hearing to hear all noises for several seconds. The powerfully strong light burnt every shadow, fading their sense of sight.

But everyone heard and saw it.

The sound when the beam fired by the titan penetrated the Black Beast's abdomen, and its condition.

As the spear of light vanished, the world regained its colors and sounds. Then the black titan once again submerged into the swamp of magic circle as if it had accomplished its duty.

What remained afterward was the Black Beast. But the gaping hole in its body didn't get healed.

The light which the titan had fired even burnt and wiped the seithr around the Black Beast. The Black Beast would cease to exist if there were no seithr.

The snake demon that was the embodiment of nightmare roared to the distant moon with a shriek. Then its large build trembled once.

And like a bag stuffed with sand that was released at once, its form crumbled. While still crumbling, it ran away to underground.

The rasping noise was getting absorbed by the earth.

The vast amount of black was getting swallowed.

Then without taking a long time, the Black Beast vanished from that place.

…After its gigantic body was gone, the remaining scenery could be seen clearly.

Toward the location where the Black Beast was, the ground was greatly demolished in a straight line. The beam which the titan had fired had burnt it.

The tall cliff that existed above the titan and beast lost its contour as if scooped by spoon like ice cream. A part had transformed into a gentle plain.

It was a tremendous power.

That abnormal strength had repelled an abnormal apparition.

It was the very first moment for humanity to succeed in repelling the Black Beast.

No one knew where it had originated from, but the desolated battlefield was engulfed in cheers.

It seemed like the cheers within the wasteland was done to celebrate posterity and the act of god as it went across the deep traces of the attack. The soldiers who shouted their joy were competing to assemble at the disfigured terrain.

It was like they had witnessed the act of god. At any rate, it repelled the Black Beast with a blow. Toward the monster that couldn't be stopped for an instant even if they had concentrated their own energy.

But that wasn't the case for Nine.

"CELICA!!"

Making a sorrowful voice that split her throat, Nine ran at the top of the hill that bad footing.

Nine usually didn't think of them as obstructing, but she had thrown away the high heels and Ten Sages hat somewhere. Getting covered with cloud of dust, she stumbled and came into a stop.

Nirvana was standing there. She was holding Celica on her arms.

Her tawny hair was completely disarrayed. Her head was supported by the chest of the feeble Nirvana while her limbs were stretched out like a puppet that was snapped of its thread and broke its joints.

Even the fingertip that she would took out to immediately meddle in everything, the cheeks that usually dyed in slight pink, the lips that fit her lovely smile. All was so pale it would make anyone shuddered.

Nine's hands tucked in her sister's cheeks. Then as if to support them, she pressed her own forehead to Celica's forehead. The forehead she touched was cold.

"Nine, how's Celica-sa… n…!?"

Trinity who was running late pinned her bursting chest and asked a question while still breathing roughly. Before she finished her question, Jubei who had arrived just before muttered with a sharp voice.

"She's okay, ain't she?"

Nine's shoulders slightly trembled. But there was no tear flowing. When Nine raised her face, she brushed off bits of dirt on Celica's cheeks with her fingers while replying with the kind of voice like she had crushed her emotions.

"She just fainted. It was thanks to Nirvana who was beside her. …But her magic power got sucked out, so she won't wake up for a while."

"The Black Beast's… dead yet?"

"No. It was only running away. It seems the strength of the finishing blow was lacking."

While calmly answering another question from Jubei, Nine untangled Celica's bangs with her fingers.

Hakumen walked with undisturbed pace and stopped at a separated place. His emotionless face stared at Celica and Nirvana.

Valkenhayn, who was among the largest army of the allied countries, joined them with the appearance of wolf that he wouldn't normally expose. Still in that appearance, he bared his fangs and groaned a question.

"Nine. Tell us if you know about it. What on earth was that?"

"…Artificial Causality Weapon."

Nine spoke quietly. After letting go of her hands from Celica who looked more like a doll than Nirvana, she used the hand to tightly grip the chest part of her own clothes.

Looking over Nirvana's shoulder, Nine glared at the location where the titan had appeared. Her pupils were shaking in fury. Directing her burning gaze to the wasteland that was presently empty, Nine squeezed her stomach and continued to speak.

"That was Nox Nyctores… Gigant: Takemikazuchi. …Something I created."

Exactly at that time, he stood alone at a separated location.

The excited crowd were cheering while swarming the scar from the overwhelming destruction that had carved the earth. Looking over from the position where he could see them, his long coat was fluttered by the dry wind. Putting both hands to the pockets, a glint in his eyes was shining dully under the hood he wore low over his eyes.

"Khukuku… Nice, real nice. You're really some extraordinary geniuses…"

He laughed, shaking his thin shoulders.

"Thanks to you, looks like I might get what I want faster than expected… Guess I have to give a gratitude, HYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The joyful voice that didn't reach anyone's voice silently thickened the color of darkness.

### 028. Chapter 1: Battlefield with Blue Sky

### Part 1

The sound emitted from the door being vigorously opened was reverberating within the dim and silent hall.

The white light from the outside went inside the dark room. It drew bands of light on the stone floor.

"We did it! We finally did it! We managed to make the miracle no one could've ever done into reality!"

The first footsteps that vibrated on the tall ceiling sounded to be light, as if the owner was dancing.

The light that came from the door slightly made the dim room to be visible. There was a slim woman turning around. Her exceedingly tall heels made a joyful rhythm.

Together, the dress and mantle that was decorated with luxurious fur depicted the silhouette of her supple legs. A necklace holding large gemstones on her chest lightly bouncing as she was still being emotional.

"Aah, it still gives me thrills recalling it now. What tremendous strength! It repelled the nemesis of humanity, the monster that terrorized the whole world in one blow. Can you believe it? We did all that...!"

The feminine voice was lively. She clapped her hands and held it as if praying. She put her words together while letting her unbearable excitement out. It looked like her cheeks were reddened from her spirit even in the darkness.

"With this, the UN and Orbis Librarius Norma will no longer ignore our complaints. No, that won't be all. The Mage's Guild, the other Ten Sages... and that girl. Did you saw Nine's face back then!? It was the best!"

At the end of the sight of the talking woman was the owner of another footstep.

A man with refined looks, golden hair flowing on his back, and sparkling ice blue eyes behind the thin lens of his glasses.

The man had a truly composed pace, contrast with the joyful smile from the brilliant lips of the woman. He treaded the constant band of lights on the floor to the shadow of the door.

"That is not something to speak out loud. It does not mean everything is over."

The composed answer from the man made the woman snorted her nose in discontent.

"Why do you look so calm? You should be glad even for a little."

The woman's teasing voice had a tone that implied that they at least had the right to do that.

The man didn't answer and only took a glance with his composed look. But there was a faint smile on his mouth.

——Black Beast.

It put the whole world in the brink of destruction. The colossal black monster that clearly showed the meaning of despair to humanity. Whatever the latest weapon humanity had was unable to hurt it. They had been driven to corner toward destruction by the nightmarish demon... until now. They finally managed to repel it successfully.

An achievement that was obtained by none other than the pair of man and woman who had purple hats on their heads.

The world had discovered a hope. It had secured the power to fight. Destruction wasn't the only end they had anymore. They could fight from now on.

It was them who had showed it to the world.

"I don't know if she's a real genius or not. But in the end, that girl couldn't use her strength properly. If she can't arrive at the essential judgment within time of necessity, then she can't guide the world."

"Hmph... I will agree with you regarding that point."

"Don't talk so cynical. But whatever. After all, I'm in extremely good mood today."

Directing both hands toward the sky like when a stage actress singing, the woman spun once around the spot. Her loud voice was absorbed by the tall ceiling as it rung.

Suddenly... another voice could be heard there.

"It seems you're in a very high spirits."

The voice was even deeper inside the dim hall. It could be heard coming from the direction of some obscured shadow. A voice that was cold like the surrounding stone wall, but was also lukewarm that it invited unpleasant chills.

Uneasiness instantly passed over the woman's face as she turned around.

The figure was blended in shadow. However, she soon understood the situation. She recognized the owner of the presence that shouldn't have been there until just now.

The number of people who could appeared in this place without them noticing it was very limited.

"...You."

It was the man who let out a somewhat unpleasant voice.

Presently, there was a clear sensation that someone was standing at the location where the presence suddenly appeared. The figure was invisible since it was deep within the shadow. But there was no question regarding the person, no, the you that the man spoke of.

The woman furrowed her brows in suspicion and also took a gaze at the shadow. Her excitement had already lost its fever. It could have been easily overlooked but presently, a cautiousness toward the person in the shadow sparkled within her eyes for a slight moment.

The man calmly passed beside her with composed manner. He continued on until he was just beside the shadow of the hall.

"For the time being, I should declare my gratitude. It was thanks to your cooperation that we have managed to summon it successfully."

He confronted the visible darkness that looked like no one was there. That demeanor looked bizarre at a glance.

"Your gratitude is too much. I, too, was able to see something so precious."

What the man inside the shadow was smiling about was reflected from the presence. There was no facial expression to see, but an eerie feeling was drifting somehow.

"Nevertheless, Takemikazuchi sure has amazing power. Much like the rumor."

"Naturally. It was invented in order to bring down the Black Beast. Back then, an unnecessary device was in the way... but it will not be the same way next time."

"Unnecessary device? Ah, you’re talking about the doll?"

The voice from the shadow whispered softly as though talking to their hearts.

Slight hints of annoyance passed over the man's serene ice blue eyes.

"...She is an irritating woman all to the end. We missed a great opportunity because of it."

"That's right. If not for that, there won't be anything for humanity to be afraid of by now."

The woman grimaced with a face full of frustration compared to the man. She brushed off the hair on her shoulder to shake off her annoyance. At the same time, the large earrings on her ears jolted.

The presence inside the shadow let out a short laugh. It was unclear whether to soothe her or instead agitate her.

"Now, now. You shouldn't be rushing like that. The ownership of that thing... Takemikazuchi is certainly in the hands of the two of you. The opportunity should arrive soon. Isn't that right?"

The tone of voice that was like testing their feelings made both the man and woman wrinkled their brows.

Rather than a trap that was cleverly hidden, the presence's invisible real motive was more like a cryptic text that was casually thrown off as if to dare them to read what they could read. The person who couldn't predict it wouldn't be able to grasp whether what was lurking there was hostility or the exact opposite.

The people who were confronting the shadow were those unable to predict.

"...Can I ask you a question?"

Withdrawing her thorny fury that had been going on until now, the woman calmly asked. Her high heels hit the hard floor and made a noise as she glared at the unseen figure in the shadow.

"Yes, anything."

"How did you get the Orbis Librarius Norma to act? Just who you really are?"

"Oh no, you two. Don't be so cautious towards me."

The sharp gaze was not only from the woman, the man also attentively narrowed his eyes to ascertain the attitude of the presence lurking in the shadow.

Shrugging his shoulders as if they were being exaggerated, the presence in the shadow weakly laughed.

"In all sincerity, I ask of you to let me tell the necessary things during the times of need. Didn't it go smoothly because of that?"

"I wonder. You smell fishy for some reason."

The woman coldly muttered toward the freezing atmosphere.

But it didn't necessarily change anything for the presence that was blending in the shadow.

A shadow is still a shadow. The hands of mankind couldn't touch nor directly interfere with it. The owner of the presence was exactly similar to it.

The presence laughed again. With faint gentleness, without any ambition.

"Oh, how terrible. Please, put your trust on me. Haven't I been cooperating with you all this time?"

"...Okay?" the shadow asked. The voice somehow made the woman shiver for a moment.

### Part 2

It was the outskirt of a wasteland.

There was no shadow of any vegetation. Not even a dead branch was lying around. It was nothing but scorched ground on and on.

Wind was inexistent. The air was really dry and mercilessly denied the land of moist. Not even a piece of cloud was floating in the sky.

However, the sky was unnaturally clear compared to the rest of the world. And not just of life, it was naught of any kind of pollution. ...The place was literally devoid of anything.

A few days ago, the place was a battlefield.

Between humanity and the Black Beast.

Currently, no soldier remained within this land that had forsaken the presence of any living being. Only cold void was drifting about in the vicinity.

But there were four figures standing, as if they had been left behind at the end of the world.

Standing on top of barren soil at a small hill, a silhouette was gazing forward. It was Hakumen. The white mask-wearing man had fought and swung his sword faster than anyone toward the approaching threat.

His expressionless face was looking down at a huge hole that spread on to the wilderness.

Before the battle from a few days ago, there was a flat cliff that acted like a wall. But along with the Black Beast, the former shape of the terrain vanished as it was scorched by a flash of ray.

There was a small figure around the edge of the odd, large hole. It was a beastkin warrior who had the appearance of a cat, Jubei. Wearing his war attire, he was also looking down at the scrapped ground.

"...No one’s gonna believe there was a town if they’re lookin’ at this."

This place was already abandoned a few days before the battle begin. But no matter how many traces of people remained... it surely had been turned to dust by that strike.

“If the angle had been slightly different, it might have decimated an actual town.”

The person who groaned bitterly was also standing around the edge of the hole like Jubei. The person was Valkenhayn, a middle aged man who was also a werewolf. Warping his exquisite looks into a grimace, he fixed his eyes on the empty space that had been scraped off.

On their west side was a range of rocky mountain. Beyond it was a small town that was still remained. The residents had already been evacuated, but it was fortunate that the town hadn’t met the sad fate of losing its form which had been built by the effort of mankind.

Contrarily speaking, there was a great chance of it happening.

"If it can be said as the effort of mankind... then what is the difference with Black Beast, along with those weapons humanity has created?"

Valkenhayn's deep voice was hoarse. The words he spat out contained anger.

Those words clouded the expression of a girl who stood behind Jubei and Valkenhayn in sadness.

The girl wore a robe that had a hood, with her fluffy platinum blonde hair flowing from it. The girl's name was Trinity Glassfille.

She held out the palm of her hands in front of her chest. There, a small magic circle appeared. She was analyzing the seithr on her surroundings.

Substituting for a measuring device, the magic indicated that there was no presence of seithr in the whole region of the wasteland.

"Nox Nyctores... Takemikazuchi."

The words that Trinity had spelled was the name of the weapon which had repelled the Black Beast and altered the wasteland's appearance.

The outrageous black titan came out from a magic circle that had appeared all of a sudden on the battlefield. It overturned the war in a single blow.

And somehow, it also wiped out the seithr on the vicinity along with the gust of flash.

The tremendous power she witnessed back then still vividly remained in Trinity's memories.

It wasn't just Trinity. It was the same for the awe-struck Jubei and the enraged Valkenhayn.

Hakumen was the only one who didn't give any hint of emotion. He had been silently gazing at the traces of the giant that remained on the ground.

"By the way, what's going on with Nine and Terumi?"

Valkenhayn asked the question while facing everybody.

The answer was given by the one who was nearest to him, Jubei.

"Nine's comin' back to Ishana while bringin' Celica. And Terumi should be goin' with them. What happens after that, I dunno."

"Celica-san... I wonder if she's alright..."

After she dispelled the observation magic, Trinity pressed her chest down as she was bothered by anxiety.

There were two other people who was involved in the battle that happened a few days ago. The two people were girls whom Trinity was well acquainted with. One was her best friend, Nine. The other was Nine's younger sister, Celica A. Mercury.

But Celica had completely lost her magic power and fainted.

It was still unknown if she would regain her consciousness.

"We should head back to Ishana at once. There is a need to discuss the reports and the next step that should be taken."

"Yer right. ...Just like Trinity, I'm worried about Celica too."

Agreeing to Valkenhayn's proposal, Jubei turned his back from the hollow ground.

The post-investigation that had started after all the army were withdrawn had also come to a point where there was nothing left to gather. No reason to stay in this place anymore.

But at that time, as if waiting for the right moment, more presences surrounded them simultaneously.

Even though the area was an open ground, there was no visible figure or silhouette.

Valkenhayn reflexively put on his guard.

Hakumen stepped down from high ground to protect Trinity. The long sword on his back brushed off the dust.

Jubei also drew his sword. However.

"...We're surrounded."

Jubei muttered while making a wry smile. Like he said, there was no escape for them.

### Part 3

——Once she came to, she was standing on a white room.

There was nothing there. Not even floor, wall, or ceiling. But strangely, she was standing firmly as if her feet stepped on something.

It didn't feel cold.

But it didn't feel warm either.

No one was there. Celica looked around her surroundings within the vast, completely white room...

Where could this be?

Could this be a dream?

It felt like something she had seen before. But there was also a feeling that denied it.

As she was slowly taking a look, a rectangular object stood in front of her unnoticed.

A mirror.

Large enough for Celica's whole body to be reflected. Like it was made for her.

The Celica inside the mirror was wearing a familiar school uniform. It had light brown that was bundled at the top. There were also her favorite leather shoes on its feet. It was how she would look normally.

But sensing how strange it was somehow, Celica began to take a step forward.

From the other side of the mirror, the gentle brown eyes that resembled wet soils were looking at her.

It was bizarre.

Because... Even though the figure felt the same as her, she wondered if the reflection was her true self.

What is this?

Her question didn't get transformed into a voice. It dissolved into the whiteness of her surroundings while she was thinking.

She wanted to be sure. She thought she would understand if she touched it.

She raised an arm very slowly, reaching her hand to the mirror.

The figure in the far end side of the rectangular object even extended its hand.

The moment their outstretched fingertips tried to touch each other...

Celica woke up.

Feeling light shining from the other side of her eyelids, Celica slowly opened her eyes.

It seemed she had been sleeping.

But strangely, she wasn't sleeping in her own room. She was on top of a single bed in an unfamiliar square room.

The room had one window. The white lace curtains were shining bright as they received the light from outside. The weather outside seemed nice. Plenty of sunlight was warmly shining into the room.

The showering light was tranquil, and the blanket was cozy. Still feeling sleepy as she just woke up, Celica rubbed her heavy eyelids while straightening her body.

Then she immediately noticed. Her hand was being squeezed by someone.

There was no need to make sure who it was. There was a woman with long hair who had fallen asleep on top of the blanket that Celica had been sleeping in.

Hair that could make anyone envious. Shoulders that were unexpectedly delicate. The sleeping breadth that sounded peaceful.

She was Celica's older sister, Konoe Mercury, or otherwise known as Nine.

"Onee-chan..."

Celica reflexively made a wry smile as she softly called out to her.

She recalled the time when she was a child. She suddenly got struck with a fever and had to stay in bed.

Nine worried too much and ended up crying. She would be right beside her like this and gripped Celica's hand the whole time. Starting from the night until dawn arrived, Nine would still grip her hand even though she had fallen asleep. Just like this.

(She's still forcing herself, even though she should be busy.)

As for Celica, she was more concerned if Nine's body would get ruined. Furthermore, Nine usually would become much worrier than this.

There was one more figure in the room. Someone was standing in silence.

A female robot was standing at the corner of room and stared at her. Celica gave her a bright smile.

"Good morning, Nirvana."

Celica spoke in whisper as to not wake Nine up. Nirvana slightly pulled her chin. The gesture made it seemed like she was nodding.

The relief made Celica's cheeks slackened.

Everything would be okay if Nine and Nirvana were on her side. There was no hint of uneasiness in her. She couldn't prove it, but she had that hunch for some reason.

Nevertheless, just where could this be? The simple question made Celica looked around the room.

It wasn't just the location. She couldn't remember any reason why she had been sleeping here.

When she was considering what to do next... the door slowly opened as if reaching to her.

"Oh, Celica-san~. I'm glad. Looks like you have awakened."

The person who appeared was a girl that had fluffy platinum blonde hair, white skin, and large round eyeglasses that would draw attention. She was Trinity.

When she saw Celica, Trinity's face turned meek. She gave a smile that was full of relief before she rushed to the side of the bed. There were faint tears on the green eyes beyond her glasses.

"Trinity-san. Umm... good morning, I guess?"

Lacking knowledge of the circumstances, Celica responded Trinity's arrival with a bright face while making a concerned smile.

Because Nine was sleeping beside her, Celica couldn't raise her voice and was dropping its volume instead.

Noticing it, Trinity put the robe she had been wearing onto the shoulders of the friend who was breathing lightly in her sleep. She made rustling noises in the process, but there was no indication of Nine waking up.

Seeing Nine's unusual looks, Celica and Trinity unconsciously looked at each other. They couldn't hold their laugh.

"Then again... I'm really thankful that you're alright. If you're still in a coma, everyone would get worried."

Putting her hands on her chest again, Trinity let out a deep, long breath as if she was hit by relief. Her glasses were slightly unsteady as she used her white fingertips to wipe the tears that appeared on the corner of her eyes.

"How is your condition?"

"Mmmm. My body feels sluggish, and my head feels a bit light. But there's nothing else to add."

Celica put her hand on her head and made a cheerful face telling that she was fine.

It was natural since she just had been sleeping, but her hair had become disordered. The feeling of bed hair on her hand made Celica slightly embarrassed.

"That's right, I should inform the doctor..."

"Ah. Wait, Trinity-san!"

Trinity, who was feeling nervous because of her relief and joy, was about to get out of the patient room. Celica quickly stopped her. Because she unconsciously made such a loud voice, Celica instantly checked on Nine.

Nine was still sleeping soundly. After dropping her shoulders from relief, Celica raised her face toward Trinity.

"Before you go, I want to ask you a lot of things. Umm... To begin with, where is this place? Why am I here?"

"Oh my... well, I guess that should be obvious. My apologies, I was in complete panic~"

She didn't appear to be that flustered, but it seemed it made Trinity upset as she was self-conscious about it.

Covering her blushing cheeks with both hands, Trinity returned to the side of Celica's bed. After taking a breath, Trinity's pink lips opened.

"We're at the general hospital in Ishana. Celica-san... you probably don't remember about it, but you fainted when we were battling the Black Beast. Afterwards, you were carried here."

Trinity calmly informed Celica. Listening to the tone of her voice slowly made Celica to understand the situation. Like streaming water, her memories got restored little by little.

The scenes she had seen happened just before she fainted were passing by her mind like a sequence of photos.

"The Black Beast... That's right, there was a weird magic circle and light... And then, my mind suddenly went blank... So, what's next? What's happened to the Black Beast? And how's everyone else?"

"Please calm down, Celica-san. Everybody is okay~. As for the Black Beast... it wasn't defeated yet, but we were able to repel it. I think the resulting damage is very low."

Celica leaned her body forward and rapidly asked a series of questions. Trinity softly answered her questions calmly.

Trinity properly straightened her back. Anyone who saw it would naturally feel relief and become composed.

"Nine spoke about this before. Celica-san. The moment that magic circle appeared, your magic power got completely absorbed. That should be what was making you unconscious~. ...Although since Nine quickly brought you to Ishana by teleportation, I haven't heard the details about it."

"I see... Huh? Teleporting to Ishana? Wait a minute, you said she teleported from the battlefield to here? It can't be right."

Even for Nine, it was something she shouldn’t have been able to do. Never mind the distance, the environment wasn't exactly teleportation-friendly.

In the first place, there was a barrier on Ishana. It was fundamentally impossible to teleport directly into it.

Trinity glanced at Nine who was sleeping. Then she smiled tearfully before making a happy look.

"Yes, it seems she did~. She probably used teleportation continuously to bring you here."

"She teleported continuously... Oh, Onee-chan."

Celica also made the same face as she looked at her sister.

The teleportation magic required a great deal of magic power and concentration compared to other type of magic. It also needed unusual amount of stamina and will. The consumption would be unfathomable when used consecutively.

(You'd be angry if I got reckless, but you did the same thing.)

The sisters were alike. Once their mind was filled with something, they would ignore any circumstances and rush forward immediately.

Celica thought that the one who probably had been worrying the most wasn't Nine, but Trinity.

Trinity, who pulled up the robe on Nine so it wouldn't slip down, then gracefully faced Celica.

Across those large, round glasses were green eyes filled with kindness.

"Five days have passed since the repulsion of Black Beast, or in other words, after you collapsed. Celica-san, you were in a coma in the meantime."

"So perhaps Onee-chan has been here all this time?"

"It looks like so. I've only just returned this morning, so I have yet to hear on how she was doing then."

Trinity made a strained smile while she was speaking.

They figured it out even if they didn't actually witness it. They knew that kind of person Nine was. Also, it was also possible that she didn't get enough sleep.

"But still, five days? ...So I've been sleeping for so long."

It was no wonder that every part of her body was sore. Her stomach must also be very empty.

After she muttered alone, Celica held her knees while they were still under the blanket.

The memories from five days ago felt just like a dream she had while sleeping. The voices from a lot of people. The advance of the Black Beast. Then the large thing she saw just before she fainted...

"...Trinity-san. About the large magic circle..."

She wondered if it would be okay to ask that. Celica opened her mouth to ask about it. But before she was finished with her inquiry, Nine, who had fallen asleep on the bed, suddenly raised her face.

"CELICA!?"

It seemed Nine was still half-awake as she looked around for Celica while still in daze.

Nine found out that Celica was sitting up on the bed with her hand still being gripped. Then the eyes of the fatigued Nine were blinking as if her spirit had returned.

Her lips that looked slightly worse than usual were trembling as they moved.

"Ce... Celica...?"

"Good morning, Onee-chan. It seems you've slept we..."

"CELICA~~~~~~~~!"

She was like a lost child who had found her way home. Or even a mother who had finally found her child. Nine casted away her composure and determination to jump at Celica while making tearful voice.

She hugged and hugged Celica's slightly thin shoulders. Nine's hands grabbed Celica's sleepwear and were trembling as she wept.

"...Thank goodness... you're awake... I was worried, really worried..."

With her thin shoulders still shaking, Nine spoke so many times while sobbing.

Her large tears were overflowing and instantly soaked the top part of Celica's shoulder. Her wet sleepwear felt sticking onto her skin, but it didn't mean it was unpleasant.

"O... Onee-chan. I can't breathe..."

Her embrace was strong enough that one mistake might strangle Celica and cause her to faint again. Celica could only make a wry smile as she spoke.

After that, she gently patted her sister's head.

"I'm sorry I've made you worried. But I'm alright now."

Nine had been truly worried. But she was still glad that Celica had awakened. Nine cried with the tears of relief.

Celica also took breath of relief and raised her face.

There, Trinity was still standing with a look like she could break into a cry anytime.

Celica shrugged her shoulders while making a strained smile. She soothed Trinity along with her sobbing sister before asking them in low voice.

After the doctor who was brought by a nurse arrived, he determined Celica's condition by doing the established procedure.

As he was finished with the basic examination, the doctor ended it with measuring the approximate amount of her magic power with some kind of thermometer. After that, he got up from a chair near the side of the bed.

"Your progress has been more favorable than I thought. But you still need to rest for another two or three days."

After the doctor said that, he left the patient room.

The door was closed shut.

"Aaah... It seems I can't go home yet."

Celica dropped her shoulders and collapsed onto the bed.

"Too bad. We can't have a tea party even though Onee-chan and Trinity's here."

"What are you talking about? You shouldn't force yourself to do the usual stuff until your magic power stabilizes. Don't do anything unreasonable even when you're in a hospital."

Nine, who had finally stopped crying, softly lectured Celica while wiping her red, swollen eyes with her fingers.

She usually would do it with menacing looks, but her teary face snatched her coercive vigor away.

Since her sister was speaking not as a Ten Sage, but as a girl, Celica got in a pleasant mood and replied with a smile.

"Okaaay."

Trinity giggled as she watched from the side. Next to her, Nirvana stared at Celica with her transparent eyes.

If only the situation was different and they weren't in a hospital room, it would looked their usual, friendly chat. But even if she was smiling, there was something that had been stuck inside Celica's chest.

"Hey, Onee-chan. Can I ask what's really happened when I fainted?"

She wondered about what happened and what became of it. Celica thought that the only person who could tell it accurately would be none other than Nine.

But as soon as she asked, Nine's face changed as if to stop Celica from continuing.

Her face didn't look stiff or restrained. But Nine mildly shook her head with the deadpan expression that had silent refusal within.

"Celica. We will speak about that next time. For now, you must prioritize to get a rest."

Celica got a hunch that it was the kind of face she would make when she was hiding something.

Usually, she would pester Nine to tell her.

But when she thought of how Nine had fallen into deep sleep due to her fatigue, she decided to swallow her selfishness inside.

Even Celica would prefer if Nine put a thought into taking a rest herself.

"Then tell me when I got out of the hospital, alright?"

"...Sure. If I got time."

Nine's reply felt unfair, but Celica nodded in her mind thinking that her answer was good enough.

After she took a breath, Nine brushed the hair on her shoulder to her back. The glint on her eyes that soon appeared was unlike the kindness she would show to Celica.

But the older sister's expression quickly returned to usual as Nine displayed a slight smile toward Celica.

"Well... Now that Celica has awakened and Trinity returned, it's time to go."

"Onee-chan. You have another work?"

"Yes. There are other things that I must attend."

Nine spoke as if it was nothing concerning. Hearing that, Celica's face slightly clouded. She unintentionally pointed her lips like she was pouting.

"I think it'd be better if you stay a bit longer. Aren't you still tired?"

"She's right, Nine. How about getting home for today?"

Together with Celica, Trinity also spoke worryingly to Nine.

However, like Trinity and Celica had expected, Nine didn't have the same agreement.

"It's alright. Once I've done the usual stuff, I'll be sure to get a rest. Then let's go, Trinity. Nirvana, I'll leave Celica in your care."

As soon as she finished speaking, Nine, fully resolved, turned her body around.

Trinity could only sigh and lightly drop her shoulders.

Celica frowned from being both worried and astonished. Really, she thought, she won't listen once she started speaking.

In exchange of nodding, Nirvana went beside Celica as ordered by Nine.

Once she confirmed that by taking a glance, Nine opened the door and turned back to Celica.

"Get a good rest, okay?"

"You too, Onee-chan."

Although she got a reply, Nine didn't pay a slightest attention to it and came out of the patient room as her long hair fluttered.

That was why Celica put a word to Trinity instead.

"Trinity-san, please take care of Onee-chan."

"Yes, of course~."

Trinity gave a slight bow and disappeared to the hallway as she followed Nine.

When the door silently closed, the sound of footsteps became distant.

"I don't want Onee-chan to get hospitalized, too... Right, Nirvana?"

Celica and Nirvana were left alone within the white and simple hospital room.

Nirvana stood still beside the bed with her large, clear eyes looking at nowhere.

Looking at her inorganic but feminine face from the side, Celica let loose the strength in her shoulders and smiled.

"Thank you, Nirvana. You're also always on my side."

Nirvana answered with a breathless, silent reply. But instead of words, her large eyes looked at Celica.

They were artificial eyes that didn’t carry any thought, but Celica felt a sense of security within them.

Celica rotated her shoulders that were stiff because she had been sleeping too much, and then put her head on the pillow.

Her mind was still in daze, but this way, her memories would slowly and steadily become clear if she put enough time to think it through.

That day. The day when Black Beast put an end to the white sky by materializing itself. The day when humanity challenged the absolute despair with their strength.

What was happened? What did she see? What did she sense at the endless wasteland?

That time, the Black Beast approached Celica until it was really close to her. Inside its ridiculously large body... Inside those glowing red eyes in the darkness...

Celica felt his presence without a doubt.

"I think... I'll sleep for a bit."

She pulled her blanket and rubbed her cheeks to the pillow. While closing her eyes, Celica spoke to Nirvana who was on her side.

Although she should have slept for five days, Celica was immediately hit with drowsiness. It made her eyelids heavy.

"...Thanks for saving me back then."

After she softly whispered and closed her heavy eyelids, Celica slept like an infant as she got overwhelmed by the wave of drowsiness.

There was almost no people inside the hallway of Ishana's general hospital. It was a clear and sunny noon. A gentle mood was drifting about even inside the hospital.

Within such situation, Nine was walking while clad in grim atmosphere that made her hard to be approached.

"...Nine."

Trinity followed after the footsteps of heels that were advancing with constant pace.

Trinity called her in moderate manner, but it was also filled with determination.

But Nine didn't lower her pace nor look at Trinity. Instead, she answered while making a tense and expressionless face.

"I'll explain it later. So don't ask anything right now."

Since Nine spoke so, Trinity didn't press it any further. When Nine didn't want to speak... When she decided not to speak... then she would shut her mouth like a clamshell. Instead, if someone wanted to open it forcibly, then they should drive her into a corner.

Like a clamshell that got passed through fire over and over again, until Nine opened her mouth herself, Trinity had no choice but to wait.

"I understand. But Nine, please don't bear everything on your own~."

Nine didn't give a response.

However, Trinity's words made Nine frowned in pain for a moment. Seeing it made Trinity concerned.

### Part 4

Five days ago, the Mage's Guild was suddenly in uproar after a large-scale battle with the Black Beast took place. It had resumed its activity for the first time in a year.

The number of people who were coming and going became increased. The amount of the gathered intelligence skyrocketed. The total visitor from foreign countries grew frequently.

Every day, debates and consultations were being taken all over the place... The gathering of people was stuffed with opinions so many that it looked like a whirlpool.

With what was going on in Mage's Guild, the Cathedral was the only sole location that had remained in peacefulness.

Nine rapidly walked toward the Cathedral along with Trinity, pushing her way through the glaring sunlight that went through trees. The savagery called war that was happening in the world was completely irrelevant to her.

There was no guard or even a figure of person in the surroundings.

Nine treaded that sight of fairy tales in long steps. Then, she opened the double door of the Cathedral gently.

When she entered, she was served with the view of the upper floors that completed the appearance of a church's hall. It was well suited with Cathedral's outward looks. Faint lights were coming in from the small windows. They painted the hall with light ashen tint.

There were already visitors inside.

They were Jubei, Valkenhayn, Terumi, and Hakumen.

They should have entered her vision, but Nine acted like she didn't see them anyway and kept walking forward.

She was heading to the inner side of the hall. A statue of beautiful woman wearing long gown was standing there.

The Mage's Guild called her as The Creator . Nine got down on her knees and bowed like what a pilgrim would do in front of the statue.

She closed her eyelids and prayed.

"…Heh. So you pray to god? Interesting."

Terumi, who was discreetly leaning on the wall near the door, sneered at her. But his words didn't reach Nine's consciousness.

Watching attentively to her best friend's gesture, Trinity also joined her hands together and offered a prayer.

During that very moment, the Cathedral received a worth of virtue that befitted its name.

When her prayer was finished, Nine slowly stood up.

That moment marked the end of the calming tranquility.

A genuine sense of urgency appeared as the replacement.

It was still quiet all the same, but the rigidness had changed.

"Well then, let us hear it."

Valkenhayn spoke gloomy while facing Nine's back.

"Just what is causality weapon... and Takemikazuchi in that regard?"

That was the main reason they gathered here presently.

The only person who had the answer was Nine.

But those lips of her didn't immediately tell the truth even while being showered with expectations and stares from her vicinity. Rather, they were shut tightly as she dropped her gaze toward the deep color of wood grain under her feet.

The dubious silence was because of her hesitation.

Trinity sensed it as easily as she would breathe. But since she herself desired to know about it, Trinity urged the friend who was grinding her teeth with a smile.

"I think it was created by Nine... She said it not too long ago, didn't she?"

They heard it on the battlefield.

Nine spoke of it while holding the fainted Celica as all of her magic power got absorbed. It happened after Takemikazuchi, having done its job, vanished after its target, the Black Beast, escaped.

Thinking back at that moment made Trinity's chest slightly painful.

If the titan was created by Nine, then what had caused her precious sister to stay unconscious for a few days would be her own creation.

If that was true, then she must be blaming herself. Actually, there was no mistaking that she was blaming herself. Trinity thought that it was understandable that she wasn't very communicative.

However, they needed to hear it in order to get an understanding on what they should do from now on.

"...Yes, I made it. Rather, it might be better to say that it's been revived."

A refreshing air blew. Nine suppressed her emotions and answered with stiff voice.

Still facing Nine's straightened back, Valkenhayn took a large step forward. His gaze was very stern.

"What do you mean by revived?"

"Simply put, causality weapon is an imitation of a technology that had existed long ago. What I did was reviving it."

The floor was hit by Nine's heel and made a small noise.

When Valkenhayn continued to walk a few steps away from Trinity, Nine finally turned around.

Her gaze gradually regained its composure.

"...Remember the place where the Black Beast was born?"

Like a teacher, Nine started by asking a question. Her intelligent eyes followed after the question by looking at every one of them. It was Jubei who answered.

"It's the Cauldron , ain't it?"

"That's right. So if we're going to investigate the Black Beast, then inspecting the Cauldron is also necessary. I don't really know about it and it isn't something I should reveal, but... there's one in Ishana, or Mage's Guild to be exact."

When she said it, Nine looked at her feet.

"It's beneath this Cathedral. Even then, the location is considered as peculiar."

Intrigued, Trinity also dropped her gaze down. She looked baffled.

"So there's a Cauldron underneath the Cathedral... I've heard rumors about some important secret that's hidden in Mage's Guild before. Is it referring to that Cauldron?"

"I think so. A lot of things are being kept in this Cathedral, but the Cauldron is the most confidential among them."

It was a violation to speak of the secret to outsider even if they were comrades in arm.

But the situation right now was special. After all, the people in this place who didn't know about the Cauldron were just Trinity and Hakumen.

Including Nine, the other four had learned the existence of Cauldron by their own circumstances.

Before continuing, Nine stole a glance to the two people who had previously trespassed inside and making an outrage.

The two people she was glaring at were Valkenhayn and Terumi.

"I've been looking into that Cauldron during the one year Black Beast was dormant. I thoroughly examined the plausible materials that's hidden by Mage's Guild, from the Great Library up to the books that are buried within the Cathedral. Anyway, I've gone through all of them."

"All... of them?"

Trinity sighed with great admiration.

Even focusing on those 'plausible materials' Nine spoke of, the number of books should have passed over what a person could read in a year. The book collection of Mage's Guild was just that colossal.

In addition, Nine had been comprehensively reading that many books while developing Armagus at the same time.

No, those weren't all of them. Nine completed the topic of this conversation, Takemikazuchi, over the course of her investigation.

Thinking about it again made it seemed impossible.

"Anythin' interestin'?"

Jubei turned his head as he asked.

Nine folded her arms under her voluptuous chest as if embracing herself.

"Long time ago... during the era that's called as the beginning, humanity was in a war with something . And so, I've found the records regarding it. The opponent seems a nuisance since common weapons couldn't hurt it. Then, although the scale is smaller than the previous one..."

In the middle of her story, Terumi made a big yawn. Nine gave a scornful glance at him and attempted to brush his rudeness away by continuing regardless.

"Although the scale is smaller than the war in the beginning, there was a same kind of war between humanity and something several hundred years ago. It resembles our current battle with the Black Beast."

Nine removed her gaze from Jubei to the wolf man who had a firm physique. Her blinking eyes had profound significance.

Her lips slightly made a smile. It was too sharp to be a simple smile.

"...Perhaps we might have someone nearby who's familiar with the incident."

Valkenhayn wasn't that oblivious to not understand what her words and gaze meant. His already sullen face grew even more sullen as one of his brow was lifted.

Because of the angle, a diagonal shadow was taking place on his masculine face.

"I do not know what you are expecting, but Clavis-sama never told me everything. I have been serving Clavis-sama for almost a hundred years. I have no opportunity to learn what happened before that."

"Hmph. I see."

Nine replied with an emphasis that was far from agreeing. Valkenhayn turned his grim face away from her. Meanwhile, Terumi watched them and grinned while leaning on the wall.

The chapel within the Cathedral was wide. Any voice would get absorbed by the ceilings.

Nine's voice didn't reach the ceiling and vanished. As if following after it, Trinity asked a question while having uncomfortable expression.

"That war existed? ...But I've never heard anything about it until now, even within the Mage's Guild."

"Yes. It wasn't something that's written in your everyday history of Mage's Guild. I found the description inside the books which are stored in the Cathedral."

"Then, it must be something that's hidden from the world."

"That seems to be the case. But in addition to the book's description, I found the legacy of the war."

Nine gently spoke and gave a nod to her friend. Her expression got a bit stiffened when she said the latter words.

Legacy. In other words, the evidence of history.

Nine brushed away her long hair with the back of her hand.

"I've found the weapon that had been used to fight that something in Ishana."

A weapon created by humanity to fight the something that couldn't be damaged by conventional weapons at start.

"Your village has the same kind of weapon, doesn't it?"

Her question was directed to Jubei. He was deeply aware that Nine didn't have any ill intention, but Jubei unconsciously frowned.

"Hihi'irokane..."

The ancient weapon itself originated from the age of beginning and had been handed down within Jubei's family.

It wasn't currently in the possession of Jubei's family for a reason, but Jubei never knew that it was intended to fight that something which resembled Black Beast.

"The one I found in Ishana was more recently made. According to the few remains of record, its name is..."

Before Nine could tell the name of the relic...

"...The Sealed Weapon Izayoi."

Hakumen murmured and shook the heavy atmosphere.

His monologue collided with Nine's words that had been flowing until now.

"Wh-. How did you..."

How did he know its name?

Nine was supposedly going to say that, but she was interrupted by the sudden noise of door being opened.

Several men stormed in... along with a pair of man and woman with triangular hats on their heads. They were Seven and Nine.

"Bringing outsiders to the sacred Cathedral? How could you even be this thoughtless, Nine?"

Dragging a long mantle, Eight took a large step forward. Her lips that were painted with glossy lipstick smiled calmly as if in triumph.

Then she lightly jerked her chin, ordering the men to surround Nine and the others. Judging from their uniform and air, they were all from Mage's Guild.

Hakumen lowered his posture and grabbed the long sword on his back.

But before he could declare his intention to strike, Seven spoke indifferently.

"You must have known what will happen should your comrades do something foolish like struggling... Don't you, Nine of the Ten Sages?"

Seven was implying that any resistance would make her regretted it.

Since Hakumen seemed to disregard it and ready to plunge anytime, Jubei held him back with his hand.

Although Hakumen didn't show an immediate reaction, he eventually stopped showing his hostility and took his hand off of the long sword.

To make sure of it, Seven lightly stroke the air with the palm of his hand.

A metallic noise rang. Circles with dull light appeared and restrained Nine's body and both of her wrists. In addition to restricting her movement, the magic could prevent her from using her own magic.

"You've been summoned by the Committee of Hearing."

"The Committee of Hearing?"

Eight said it while blinking her long eyelashes. When she said that, Nine finally opened her mouth and asked. Her gaze stayed composed, not showing the fluctuation of her emotions. But her voice had deep suspicion.

There was no organization within Mage's Guild that had a name like Committee of Hearing. Even if there was one, then it would be the Ten Sages.

But since Eight, who was a Ten Sage, deliberately mentioned a different name... It seemed there was another organization separated from Ten Sages that had the position to influence the management of Mage's Guild.

Nine frowned for a moment.

"I shall be your escort."

A Mage's Guild personnel told Nine in a somewhat stiff voice and started walking to urge her to do the same.

Before they went, Trinity stood in the way by butting in and spread both of her arms.

"Please wait. Why did you cast a binding on Nine? Can you just take her normally?"

"There is no need for you to know. It would be wise to abide the instruction from Ten Sages, Platinum the Trinity."

"But...!"

Seven talked like it was a common sense. Trinity glared at him, which was unlike her usual self.

However, as if pushing her best friend away, Nine stepped forward.

"It's okay, Trinity. I'll be fine, so don't be concerned."

"What do you mean by fine? You are a Ten Sage. Even if they're one too, they can't treat you like a criminal without telling any reason..."

Nine of the Ten Sages wasn't someone who should get that kind of treatment. Nine had more achievements than anyone else in the whole world in regards to the fight against Black Beast.

Trinity complained while clutching both hands to fists. A grief could be heard in her words.

Nine made a strained smile and shrugged her shoulders.

"There's just going to be some awfully old folks complaining at me. If I bothered myself with these guys every single time, I'd only get tired."

Guessing that she was included in 'these guys' Nine spoke about, Eight got irritated and urged Nine to get hurry.

After taking a glance at Eight, Nine slowly got her face closer to Trinity as if to hug her. Nine smiled at her while pretending not to hear herself being called. Then, she got close to Trinity's ear so that she would be the only one who could hear her instruction.

"This is a good chance to investigate this organization. If anything happens..."

If there was one thing Nine would be worried about during emergency, it would be Celica.

"...Understood."

Trinity also made a mild expression so as not to give off tension.

Nine brushed off her long hair to her back with her restrained hand and started to walk. Soon, she was surrounded by the men from Mage's Guild to block any escape route.

Then, Nine Looked over her shoulder from within the small ring of people and left some words of warning.

"I'll say it again: do not make unnecessary commotion. Understand?"

The tone of her voice was mainly emphasized toward Hakumen.

However, she couldn’t tell whether the person in question noticed it or not since he didn't give any reaction.

"Be careful, Nine."

Jubei warned her with a low voice. The bridge of his nose was wrinkled, showing his discontent. Nine gave him a smile. After that, she started to walk like she was bringing along the Guild members around her instead. Then she left the Cathedral behind, along with Seven and Eight.

### 029. Chapter 2: Ashen Current

### Part 1

The most known authority of the Mage's Guild is the Ten Sages, but there is another place where the politics of the city of Ishana are governed.

A massive stone building standing tall in the center of the city, not far from the Mage's Guild, is the place.

The council chamber, as it is called, is where dozens of lawmakers meet daily to govern the city of Ishana.

In a hall that is normally used for meetings, Nine was on a platform. If this were a meeting of the Ten Sages, the speaker would stand right there. However, Nine is not standing as a speaker.

She was not allowed to speak, but rather to wait for the judgment of the intimidating people in the room around her. It was as if this place was a courtroom.

Nine stared sharply at the man sitting on the center seat as if he were the head judge and then let her gaze slide down the rows of faces to check them one by one.

A few of the faces, a mix of men and women, were familiar. These are some of the representatives of other countries that have taken refuge in Ishana. The only three people that are actually from in Ishana in the court are the man at the center seat who is a member of the council and Seven and Eight, who each sit from both sides, watching Nine.

It seems that these new faces had been working hard to establish themself in Ishana since the battle five days ago, which was a rematch with the Black Beast, or even before that. Nine could tell that even though they were not under the leadership of the Mage's Guild, they looked as if they had completely established themselves as an organization in this city.

"You are the one who perfected the art of Ars Magus and are indeed an excellent mage. Nevertheless, in the recent battle, and in many of the operations leading up to it, I must say that you have been very arrogant and dictatorial."

Whenever the man in the middle of the room spoke in his serious tone about the text on the paper on his desk, she heard a few exhales and sighs of dismay here and there.

Nine frowned behind her triangular hat. The smell of farce wafted from the councilman and the people in the audience.

'Arrogant and dictatorial'. No matter how you put it, the fact remains that they don't like the way Nine is doing things.

Though they have a name for themselves, the Committee of Hearing, they have no intention of debating the case for or against Nine.

"The world is at a vital turning point where nations must join hands and work together to combat this crisis. But you may be disrupting that circle. Therefore, you are hereby deprived of all command authority granted to you and removed from all operations against the Black Beast."

"Is that the decision of the Mage's Guild, including the Ten Sages? Or is it the joke of an improvised committee set up by a group of chicken?"

Nine's remark, which was calmly returned, caused the faces of several of the attendees to twist in disgust. Some of them changed color in an obvious outrage, but before anyone could raise their voice, the man in the center continued.

"From now on, the control over Ars Magus will not be done by the Mage's Guild alone, but by the Orbis Librarius Norma of the Mage's Guild and the UN forces. At the same time, Nox Nyctores Gigant: Takemikazuchi, which is an absolute force to be reckoned with, will also be under the jurisdiction of the Void Information Management Bureau."

Nine's expression froze at the man's words, which he said in a firm tone. She felt anger that quickly turned to fury.

"…What did you say?" She asked, quietly.

If it's a joke, it's not funny. If it's not a joke, it's even less funny. Tightly gripping her restrained hands, Nine raised her voice.

"Takemikazuchi is not something that should be used as a weapon of war! It must be destroyed immediately-"

Her aggressive voice fluttered and shook the air in the large hall as if she were pounding on it. But it was clear just going by the expression on their faces, even without words, what kind of intentions they would express in response to that statement, calling themselves the Inquiry Committee. Several of them looked at Nine as if she was a lump of incomprehensible insanity, watching it as the rantings of an utterly nonsensical girl, not Nine of the Ten Sages.

The man on the council was as heated as the other members of the committee, dispensing Nine's opinions as if she were a mere insect.

"I cannot consider your request. This is not the concern for one little girl like you. The fate of the entire world is at stake. We need to make a decision with saving the world in mind."

"'Saving the world'? You can't use it to save the world. You have no idea what that thing is…!"

"Yes, I do know. Takemikazuchi is a hope bestowed upon mankind."

"Wrong! It's a monster that could destroy the world!"

Nine shouted angrily as she beat the man to the punch. The council man finally winced under the pressure of her ferocious spirit. He looked away from Nine, at his surroundings as if to ask for help. Seven was at his side.

"Mr. chairman. Please continue."

If the anger of the Nine was a raging fire, Seven's voice was a cold sea, without even a slight wave disturbing its beauty. Prompted by a voice that did not waver in the slightest, the man who was called the chairman of the committee interrupted a stern coughing fit to regain his composure.

"...Countries that have been uncooperative in the past are now cooperating with us on the condition that we provide them with information on the overall situation."

"As long as we have the Ars Magus, we, the Orbis Librarius Norma, have a great opportunity to take the lead in bringing the world together. We don't want to let a internal dissonance destroy that."

"I will give you the Ars Magus, but Takemikazuchi is just..."

As if he didn't hear Nine's words, the man just continued to argue. It was a list of arguments made by everyone in the room except Nine. A list of decisions that no amount of screaming from Nine could change.

The other woman said, "In fact, you, who has created the Ars Magus and laid the groundwork for Takemikazuchi, are now a potential danger to us. Therefore, the great Nine of the Ten Sages and her five followers will be detained in the name of the Orbis Librarius Norma."

You can't call this an interrogation at this point. As the committee members were leaving the room, Nine let out a deep breath and glared at them.

Her breath was boiling, as if anger burned in the pit of her stomach. Her clenched fists were digging their sharp nails into her palms.

With a high-pitched clack of her heels, Eight appeared then, accompanied by several men in uniform. With her fingertips she toyed with the large earrings while she looked at Nine with provocative eyes.

"It's a pity it had to come to this. Oh, and don't worry, we'll take good care of your sister."

"If you ever hurt Celica, I'll never let you get away with it."

Nine attacked Eight with such terror that words seemed to be in vain, but Eight just laughed, as if to pity her.

"What do you mean you won't let me get away? If you can't use magic, you're nothing but a little girl. Besides, you're in custody now. Whatever we do with Celica A. Mercury, you'll never even know about it!"

Her skin instantly started to crawl at Eight’s comment.

Nothing happened on the surface, but there was the sound of something bursting inside Nine, as if the expanding heat was splitting even metal.

### Part 2

Before she even knew it, the view from the window of the hospital room had changed to the colors of evening.

After waking up from several hours of sleep, Celica slipped out of bed, which was warmed by her body heat. She then took off the nightgown she had borrowed from the hospital. In its place was the school uniform that had been stored on a shelf. It was probably the one Celica had been wearing when she fainted five days ago. It was washed clean, so there was no dirt left on it. She pulled her messy hair up into a high bun. After quickly arranging her hair, she checked her appearance in the mirror.

"Yeah, good."

The mirror didn't reflect a hospital patient who sleeps in bed anymore, but the usual Celica was there. No brush or comb in sight though, so her ponytail was a little awkward, but it didn't matter, because she wasn't expecting to see a prominent in the mirror.

"Well then, let's go home."

She can’t be sleeping all day at a time like this, so she shook her ponytail and then Celica looked back at Nirvana, who was watching the girl by her side. The tall, feminine puppet is as silent and expressionless as ever, but Celica shrugged her shoulders playfully, as if she had been found out about doing a prank.

"I'm fine. I know I'm not in best shape right now, so I won't push myself, but you can't do things like cooking meals or taking care of the house in a hospital."

As she said this, Celica checked around the bed. There didn't seem to be any personal belongings that had been brought in. Now she can go home without to worry about forgetting anything at the hospital.

Finally, she arranged her bed, which she had spent the last five days in, and was about to... place a letter to the doctor apologizing for leaving the hospital without permission.

Without knocking, the door of the hospital room was suddenly opened. Celica hurriedly tried to hide, thinking that she had been spotted, but she soon realized, it was neither a doctor nor a nurse who came in.

Three men, dressed in white and blue uniforms entered.

"Oh, um, what is it...?"

Celica didn't recognize them or their uniforms. From the atmosphere though, it didn't feel like they were visitors. The men took a few steps to get closer to Celica, who rolled her eyes in confusion. One of the men opened his mouth with an intimidating expression.

"This is the Orbis Librarius Norma. Celica A. Mercury, you will accompany us."

"Accompany you? Uhm, I am sorry, but I feel troubled by your sudden offer. What is the Orbis Librarius Norma? Someone from the Mage's Guild?"

She never heard that name before. Celica's face clouded with suspicion. There are many ways to get the most out of your business. If this is an organization within the Mage's Guild, they should just say Mage's Guild from the beginning.

If this is an organization within the Mage's Guild, they should have just said that they are from the beginning.

If it was an organization outside from Ishana, however, it might cause unnecessary trouble for Nine if she followed them carelessly. She didn't want to give Nine anymore trouble right now. When Celica expressed her caution, the men looked at each other for a moment, and then stepped closer to her in large strides.

"W-wait, what are you...?"

The atmosphere among the men was somewhat strange. Celica had a bad feeling about this. Just as Celica was about to give in to her confusion and slight fear, a long arm reached out from under her arm and grabbed her body.

It was Nirvana who forcefully pulled her into her arms. Before anyone could do anything, Nirvana broke the window of the hospital room behind her and ran out with Celica in her arms.

"Huh-ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!"

Celica's hospital room was on the third floor. A long, upturned scream escapes from Celica's throat at the unexpected height suddenly thrust in front of her. Nirvana landed roughly in the courtyard of the hospital, accompanied by Celica's screams. Immediately, without even looking aside, she started running. But in front of them, three men who seemed to have been watching the window from outside stood in the way. They were also wearing the same kind of uniforms as the men who two fled from.

However, they were carrying firearms in their hands.

"Celica A. Mercury, stay still. Do not resist and we won’t harm you."

One of the men announced that urgently and right after he and the other two held their guns at waist level, Nirvana's arms stretched out. A huge claw gouges the man's torso, gun and all. The man's voice of pain echoed dully, and Celica's expression paled.

"Nirvana, stop!"

These men are just people. They don't have any protective magic, instead they have ordinary guns in their hands. They are not mages. He is just an ordinary man does not come from this island. Even if Nirvana took it easy on him, one little mistake and he would have died.

However, to stop Celica, the men in uniform abandoned their warning, pointed their guns at Nirvana, and squeezed the triggers. Nirvana stood in front of her, shielding her with her body.

Despite being hit by several bullets, the doll made by Nine did not leave even a small scratch on the body.

A clear hostility towards Nirvana spread among the men.

Celica raised her voice when she felt all the violence firsthand.

"Wait, please don't shoot!! I won't run away if you let me speak to you properly. Besides, this is a hospital where there are other people..."

"If we get the little girl, that doll won't be able to touch us. Celica A. Mercury is our priority!"

The cold command of the man raising his gun again interrupted Celica's plea.

It's as if they are looking at a monster. This is a very bad situation and she felt that these people were experts at this.

There were more footsteps coming towards her from the hospital. Celica turned around hurriedly, and at the same time, Nirvana swung her arms toward the remaining two men who were trying to block her escape route. While protecting Celica from the barrage of bullets, a gun that belongs to one of the two men slipped on the ground and went off, shattering the foot of a bench in the courtyard.

"Stay put, Celica A. Mercury!"

The voice that came from behind me was the same as the one I had heard earlier in the hospital room. They caught up with her and pointed their guns, large and small, at Celica. The number of people had increased to around ten.

(I-I can' t take this anymore!!)

An unfamiliar feeling of fear clung to Celica's chest. She didn't know what was going on anymore. But she knew that if she stayed here, she'd be bringing everyone down with her.

She doesn't know who they are or what their motive is, but rather than worrying about that, Celica turned herself around and ran away to get out from this screwed up situation.

She would go to the Nine and Trinity, or someone else she can trust. However, within a few steps, Celica lost her balance and fell to the ground in a flashy manner.

"Ah."

Her body that had just awakened from a five-day long sleep wasn’t fit for running yet.

"I guess I overdid it..."

Nirvana reacted as if she had been played by Celica, who fell down with her whole body, unable to even take the minimum amount of defense.

Celica panicked and tried to get up, but one of the men who rushed to her pointed their guns at her head at once.

"Stay still, puppet. If you move, I will kill your master. If you stay still, she will not be harmed."

It was not clear if she understood that language, but Nirvana remained still, taking a hostile stance regardless. The glasses-like shades of the men stare at Celica nonchalantly, as if they were about to devour her.

"Stand up, Celica A. Mercury. You're coming with us."

Celica could imagine several unpleasant possibilities of what would happen if she didn't obey, even without being told in words. There is no reason why the muzzle of the gun that is currently pointed at her can't connect to anyone other than Celica. They can simply aim at an unrelated person, but if it proves to be effective against Celica, they may do so.

"I understand. Just please, don't shoot here anymore."

She said this as if praying to the man holding the gun behind her, and slowly stood up.

But before Celica could turn around, the man let out a deep groan and fell to the ground. How did this happen?

Celica's eyes widened as she saw it. It wasn't Nirvana that had moved. Suddenly in the courtyard of the hospital, which was supposed to be a peaceful place, there was a new tall white figure standing.

"You're one of Nine's… gah!"

The voice by one of the other armed men didn't last long and the rest were forced to close the distance between the two, only to be knocked down by the flash of the intruder.

Hakumen.

A heavy, spinning kick, like a slash, sent the other one flying to a nearby tree. He then stepped forth and slammed a shoulder strike in a straight line, silencing the fourth.

"Ha- …Mr. Hakumen!"

There, Celica finally remembered to breathe and was able to speak out in surprise. But she was so surprised by the unexpected arrival of him that she could not continue. As soon as Hakumen ran up to Celica, he picked her up in his arms.

"Huh?"

It was the first time she has ever seen such a thing. As soon as that happened, bullets followed his white back, but they were blocked by Nirvana's outstretched arms.

A deafening metallic noise scattered loudly. In the meantime, Hakumen let Celica escape to the end of the courtyard, flipped her long hair like a tail, and held his sword high into the air.

"Move, puppet!"

Nirvana jumped at the sound of a voice blowing thickly. At the same time as she landed beside Celica with an inhuman leap like a spring mechanism, Hakumen swung his fierce blade. He easily swallowed the men in uniform without giving them any time to escape and knocked them down each to the nearest wall, tree, or just the ground.

The dull, bone chilling sound of the muffled cries by men in uniform disappeared in the blows that Hakumen delivered.

When the curtain of dust eventually cleared, there was no one left standing but Celica, Hakumen and Nirvana.

"Hah...hah..."

It all happened so fast. Celica looked at the scene in dismay.

She had heard that Hakumen is a strong warrior and since he is also the one who would take on the Black Beast by himself, so Celica should be able to imagine just what his capabilities could be. Nevertheless, the difference between a normal person and Hakumen was too overwhelming.

As the girl was about to sit down on the spot, she suddenly gasped at what she saw. The next thing she knew, she started running.

One of the men who had taken Hakumen's finishing blow closer than anyone else was lying on the ground, anyone could tell how badly wounded he is.

He seemed to have hit his head and blood was pouring out of the back of it, staining the short grass into a crimson black.

She kneels and hurriedly held up her hands to focus her mind. Her small hand was covered with a pale light and that light touched the head of the man in soldier uniform.

As if time were rewinded, the wound on the man's head closed and a faint redness returned to his already bloodless skin tone.

As she breathed a sigh of relief, Celica's consciousness suddenly faded away. As her body lost strength and fell backwards, she felt a sense of euphoria despite falling. Hakumen supported her back before it hit the bloodstained ground.

"Ah, thank you, Mr. Hakumen."

"...Fool. Why would you use the little bit of magic you have left to save your enemy?"

"Haha, I'm sorry. But I thought he'd die if I left him like this."

She simply doesn't want to turn her back on those who need help. The man in the soldier uniform remained to lie on the ground and Hakumen picks up Celica, whose face has turned pale, as if he were handling a small animal.

His arms had a strange feeling, like armor or clothes that could easily support her weight. Celica leaned her body against Hakumen's chest and then thought to herself as her consciousness was about to fade.

"...Let's go."

After that low whisper, Hakumen left, taking Celica and Nirvana with him.

### Part 3

Hakumen brought Celica to a small wooden house that stood quietly in the back of a street lined with bookstores and stores related to Sorcery. It looks cozy, more like a hut than a private residence, but if you have even a basic understanding of magic like Celica does, you can see that the entire hut is protected by a strong wall of magic that prevents outsiders from easily entering.

...

### 030. Chapter 3: Copper Catgirl

## Chapter III: The Red-Eyed Cat Girls

### Part 1

The distorted landscape changed in the blink of an eye. With a light feeling of dizziness, Celica and her friends were surrounded by a plain with thin blades of grass, and trees growing in a chaotic manner.

It looked like it used to be a field; there were signs that it had been cleared and touched by human hands. A total of ten people, Celica included, stood in the middle of this facsimile of a field.

— “What is this place...?” — Celica asked, bewildered at this place that she had never seen before.

There was not a soul around these people — not even the Ten Sages or the Orbus Librarius Norma. It was such a quiet place; someone swore they could hear a bird chirping, or something like it

This area had probably been destroyed by the Black Beast. At least, it was nothing you would see in Ishana.

— “Well, I have no idea. But it looks like we went to the right place.” — Nine answered languidly and brushed her hair with a long, heavy sweep.

It was a hasty teleport that not only carried a large group of people, but also crossed the boundaries of the island. The wear and tear on the body was extraordinary, but not as much as it took to teleport into Ishana from the outside.

Since there were so many people here, maybe they had been pulled in by someone's mental image — but a mental image was not enough of a clue to specifically reveal where this place was.

A barren field and mountains could be seen in the horizon. Valkenhayn and Jubei looked around and observed the scene, so full with nature.

The wind was dry, and the air smelled of land.

— “This place is brimming with seithr...”

— “It is. A protective spell, just in case?”

In response to Valkenhayn's disdained muttering, Trinity cast a protective spell on everyone. Feeling the warmth of the spell on her skin for a few seconds, Nine turned her exhausted face to Hakumen, who stood in silence next to Nirvana.

— “So? How long are you keeping Celica in your arms?”

— “........”

— “Say something! Better yet, put her down!”

In his silence, Hakumen looked somewhat astonished. While in his arms, Celica turned her eyes from Hakumen to Nine and back, sporting a wry smile.

— “ BARK, BARK, BARK! That’s a real dog in heat… here, Nine! Shake!”

— “Shut your mouth!” Nine rushed in, and with light movements, she delivered a flying kick to Terumi’s head.

— “Agh…!”

With a sound as dull as his cry, Terumi turned over and fell into the thick bushes.

Valkenhayn just stared and shook his head; unlike Hakumen, he was not having any of this.

— “Oh, uh… I have a question!”

Just as everyone’s exasperation made the air so thick it could be cut with a knife, Celica slipped from Hakumen’s arms and raised her hand with vigor. She immediately felt dizzy. Celica slumped backward, only to be effortlessly held up by Nirvana and Hakumen. After giving a shy word of thanks for their generous assistance, she began her question.

— “Are those… your friends?” — She asked, staring at two smiling shadows standing to either side of Jubei.

These were the unexpected reinforcements who helped them escape from Ishana.

The taller one had the stature of a normal girl, with a toned body exposed by her rough attire. The shorter, however, was small enough to look like a human child. Coupled with a garb that covered her entire body, she looked as adorable as a stuffed animal.

Both of them wore hoods that covered their entire heads, with triangular ears protruding from the top. Long tails hung down from their waists, flapping and swaying, wild and free. They looked similar enough to Jubei, a feline beastkin, but there was one striking difference:

Their faces.

They looked black as night, buried in the shadows created by their hoods; even the color of their skin was impossible to tell. Their faces looked drenched in darkness; their eyes and mouths, which looked like they had been drawn onto their heads, seemed to float within the hood.

When Celica spoke, Jubei looked back at the eccentric duo. — “Oh, that's right. I forgot to introduce them.”

Standing at Jubei's side, the taller one put her large hands on her supple hips, and the mouth on her face smiled into the shape of a crescent moon. The red hair sprouting from her forehead caught the eye.

— “The name's Suzukaka; and the little one here's Totokaka. Look at that skull brooch on her hood, ain't it the cutest thing?!” Suzukaka, the red-haired girl, picked up the smaller one and bowed towards Celica. — “...nice to meet you.” — The childlike girl, introduced as Totokaka, spoke in a hushed voice, seeming a little nervous.

— “Whoa... so cute~!” Seeing that Totokaka looked like a talking, walking stuffed animal, Celica reflexively relaxed her cheeks and lowered her voice.

Totokaka had bluish-silver hair sprouting from her hood and, as Suzukaka had said, a skull ornament between her ears. She did love that brooch, but when Suzukaka called it "the cutest thing", she couldn't help but be bewildered. Though her face was like red circles floating on a dark void, Celica liked the eccentric look of it. — “So cute... nice to meet you, Toto!”

Suzukaka shot her a teasing look, and Celica folded both hands under her chin while her eyes glimmered. Totokaka just looked on and scowled. A little behind Celica, someone staggered to their feet, looking more ecstatic than jubilant.

— “Gah... I love them so much! Tiny Totokaka looks so cute with the bushy tail, but Suzukaka looks nice too...!”

Trinity softly smiled at Nine and Celica, who were completely captivated by the look of Suzukaka, Totokaka, and Jubei.

— “We have met them before. While investigating the place of the battle against the Black Beast, they showed up suddenly with quite a lot of friends.” There was no telling if Nine and Celica actually heard that explanation.

Nine asked Jubei, her eyes still moist — “Hey, these girls aren’t beastkin, right? What are they…?”

Jubei’s face twisted bitterly. He did not want to be asked that much, but he didn’t know how to say how he felt without it feeling rude, so he replied in a muffled tone:

— “Simply put, they’re my ‘daughters’.”

— “Wait… daughters? ‘Daughters’?” Nine spoke again, the words slipping out of her lips.

The captivated smile on her face froze up, and soon her eyes glowed with an intense, fiery color — like that of boiling lava. The smile disappeared, like it was sucked back into her face, and instead, light appeared in her outstretched hands.

— “What was that? WHOSE DAUGHTERS—?! ”

Immediately after Nine’s angry shouts, the light released by her rage caused an explosion that shook the entire area.

For the first time in a long time, Celica walked on her own two feet in an unknown land, in an unknown world. Nirvana walked right at her side; she actually walked at a much faster pace, but she felt sorry for following Celica’s pace exactly. And yet, even if Celica thanked her for her concern, she probably would not understand, and her only answer would be a blank stare. Imagining Nirvana like that made the dependable bodyguard seem even cuter, causing Celica to chuckle quietly.

Next to Celica walked Trinity, followed by Terumi and Valkenhayn. Hakumen was farthest behind. Having offered to guide the group, Suzukaka and Totokaka led the way — right behind them was Nine, who could not stop apologizing after sending their hairs on end with her attack spell.

— “Sorry, sorry, really sorry…!!!” Nine rarely apologized to anyone without Jubei around. “I didn’t mean to attack you! I got inflamed, and then…!!”

— “Oh, no.... well.... don't worry about it. I talked too soon.” — A dry, weak laugh spilled out of Suzukaka's crayon-esque lips. The catkin's rounded shoulders, which normally were hunched over, looked more slumped than usual.

The band led by Suzukaka was now headed west. They went to the forest beyond the mountains, which awaited them at the end of a roadless path occupied by grass and trees. Apparently, there lay an entire village of people like Suzukaka. Neither the Mage’s Guild or the Orbis Librarius Norma knew about it, so it was the perfect place to take shelter. It was fortunate that the group was able to teleport somewhere near that village, although the teleportation spell had been definitely influenced by the mental images of Suzukaka and Totokaka.

As they walked, Trinity began to briefly explain the eccentricity of their new guests to Celica and Nine, who still didn’t know anything about Suzukaka or her tribe.

— “They’re not actually beastkin; they’re bio-weapons created from Jubei’s genes. So, it’s not wrong to call them ‘daughters’…”

— “A bioweapon...?” Celica gave a curious tilt of her head. She could never have imagined that, from Suzukaka's charming appearance.

Jubei nodded with a snarl, answering before Trinity could.

— “It was when the Black Beast had just appeared. The country that sheltered me asked me to donate my genes for some reason... and I agreed.”

— “So they're your...” As she was about to answer, Nine trailed off. She wondered if it was appropriate to say those words in front of the triangular-eared girls.

But Suzukaka picked up on the question anyway.

— “A clone, right? At least, I think that was the word." Suzukaka chirped and continued, — "But you can see clearly that I'm not a clone. We don't look alike, I'm not as strong as Mitsuyoshi... I'm the biggest hardass in the village, but compared to the Big M? Not even close!”

Suzukaka did not seem to know what a bio-weapon or a clone was, not did she seem to care about the ethical and moral issues that people had with those. Whether or not it was a good thing, it’s hard to tell.

Jubei, for his part, did not think it was good, and his face showed deep regret.

— “At the time, I thought it was fair to do anything necessary to defeat the Black Beast. But shortly after these children were born, the country raising them was destroyed by the Black Beast... and the children were all that remained. They had nothing left, but their mission to fight the Black Beast.”

The countries that treated them as a military force disappeared, as did the people who were meant to oversee them.

— “Every country was in chaos at the time. You were not the only one without say in the matter.” Valkenhayn said sternly, more as a rebuke than a comfort.

In truth, given the world's situation at the time, Jubei's choice might have been even more humane: the first countermeasure taken against the Black Beast was to wipe out a country with nuclear weapons.

— “I guess you're right,” Jubei answered, “but I still don't get to pat myself on the back for it.” With his answer came a grimace. Of course, his old friend would give him brute advice instead of cheap sympathy.

Suzukaka turned to Jubei gracefully. She continued walking backwards, sporting her crescent-moon grin.

— “We're still living it up in the Kaka Tribe... why the long face, Lord Mitsuyoshi?” When Suzukaka said this, with little concern for comforting him, Jubei's eyes briefly widened in surprise and he smiled.

— “You're right... I'm sorry I sounded so bitter.” It was not like Jubei regretted the existence of those girls to begin with.

Suzukaka happily wagged her tail at Jubei's calmer tone, before it immediately stretched.

— “Oh yeah, I forgot to tell ya'; Munefuyu was in the village earlier.”

— “Seriously?” Jubei said, his tail stretched out in surprise while he gleamed wide-eyed at Suzukaka.

— “Munefuyu?” Nine asked, tucking her hair behind her ears.

— “My brother.” Jubei answered calmly. The short answer and the look on Jubei's face revealed the brotherly tenderness he still felt. Then, remembering his earlier slip of the tongue, Jubei gave a warped smile and twitched his beard.

— “As in, my actual younger brother.”

Nine and Trinity giggled at Jubei's clarification. Suzukaka, on the other hand, didn’t understand a word.

— “He told me to tell you he’s still alive and well…” Suzukaka said, “and to not go too hard.”

She turned around again, her steps no longer reminding him of his dark past. Noticing this, Nine looked at Suzukaka's dancing tail and secretly whispered into Jubei's ear.

— “She's a great daughter, right, Dad?”

— “Oh, come on... don't say that.” Although his smile was dismissive, Jubei knew Nine's smile was not remotely meant to tease. He just could not take being called "dad", so he looked up at her bright eyes and put his hands on his head, like he'd been caught red-handed.

During Nine and Jubei's exchange, a curious Celica walked alongside Suzukaka and Totokaka, who led the way. But she had already walked so much she was getting dizzy, so Nirvana wasted no time before picking her up. Her long ponytail bounced with every step from Nirvana.

— “So... Suzukaka's tribe is called 'Kaka'?” While Celica asked, still sitting in Nirvana's arms, Suzukaka proudly puffed out her chest.

— “Eeyup! We thought it up. We're neither human nor beastkin, so we came up with a nice name for ourselves. Pretty cool, ain't it?”

At her feet, Totokaka mimicked the puff of Suzukaka's chest. Celica practically gushed with excitement at Totokaka's adorable gesture.

— “Yeah!” Celica nodded, “it's like a big secret club! So cool...!”

— “So cool...!” Totokaka repeated Celica's words.

Then, Celica decided to mimic her as well.

— “The Kaka Tribe is so groovy—!!”

— “The Kaka Tribe...!!”

Everything Celica said, Totokaka repeated. It went on and on, over and over again, while the cheerful leader passed through the mountain roads. Before anyone knew it, the sun had long since set, and night was starting to fall. Soon, the group would be unable to walk without a light.

— “Hey! Pass through this forest and you'll get to my village.”

After pointing to the deep woods at the end of the mountain path, Suzukaka raised her arms and stretched her body, all too happy to be closer to home.

### Part 2

The night was dark, and the moon grew bright. The treetops rustled while a bonfire crackled. Water poured and streamed, causing steam to rise up. Celica squealed with delight at what she saw at the end of the narrow path, cut through the bushes in the secluded forest.

The village of the Kaka, under the guidance of Suzukaka, went around the rocky mountains and the forest. When the group arrived, the forest and the night sky were pitch black, and several bonfires burned between the little huts of stone and clay.

Celica's group, resting in one of the huts amidst the flickering red flames, had come here after being promised a trip to a special place before their meal was ready. It was a long way from the center of the village, and the rugged surface of the rocky mountains could be seen nearby. A few trees had been cut down, and in the center was a pond surrounded by rocks of various sizes.

It was more than just a pond: it was a hot spring.

— “That's so cool...!! Look, Sis! There's a bath outside!” — Celica squealed. She wasted no time before taking her clothes off and hid her chest with a towel while she ran off toward the steaming rock bath. Nine and Trinity followed suit, covering themselves with thin cloths; their long hair, which usually slid down their backs, was now tied up. Their skin, from the shoulders to the nape of neck, reflected the color of the bonfires.

— “Hey, don't rush in or you'll fall!”

— “Ufufu...” Trinity chuckled, “but this is so nice... it's the first time I've stargazed in a hot bath!”

And she wiped the fog off her glasses with the tip of a towel. She only didn't take her glasses off because she wanted to cherish every passing moment and still be able to see her surroundings.

Suzukaka stood naked on the rocks surrounding the hot springs, wearing nothing but the hood that covered her head. She beckoned Celica and the others with a flutter of her hand.

— “You'll get cold if you keep gawking. Come on, don't be shy! Get in!”

Totokaka was one step ahead of her, already in the bath. She was dressed for a bath — or rather, covered in cloth from head to toe, floating in the water like a stuffed animal.

— “I'm coming in...!” With excitement and anticipation, Celica rearranged her ponytail into a bun, like she was rolling up her sleeves. Then she slowly dipped her toes into the hot water. “Haaa.... it's so warm!”

The water's warmth spread all over her body, eliciting a deep breath; her face naturally relaxed. The hot water was as soft as it was moist, gently soaking up the skin. Chest-deep in the water, she was completely captivated.

— “Hehehe... this feels great.” Leaning her milky white skin against the rocks, Trinity took a deep breath as well. Nine sat next to her and stretched out her long legs.

— “Mm.... never thought I'd get to soak up a hot spring like this.” Nine said while her notoriously tense face loosened into a relaxed, feminine visage.

Celica, too, stretched out in the tub, letting the steaming water wash away the fatigue that had plagued her the whole trip. In fact, it was just before noon today when she had woken up from a five-day coma. She recalled the doctor saying, “you must rest,” as the steam faded to white.

— “I found this place while digging for stones to build a house... so I decided to make it a rock bath for everyone to chill out in. Take your time and soak it in!” — Suzukaka said and sat on a rock. She dipped her knees into the water and sipped vigorously, from a rugged ceramic teacup filled with cloudy white sake. There was plenty more in a ceramic jug by her side. Nine, Trinity and Celica were offered some of her drink, but all three declined due to fatigue and age — not only that, but Nine and Trinity had just graduated from the Academy, so they could not drink alcohol under Ishana law.

— “So... where's Jubei? And the rest?” Suzukaka asked. Totokaka, who had been drifting innocently in the water until then, slid closer to Celica with only her head sticking out of the water. Celica mimicked her by holding her knees until she was neck-deep in the spring, then she nodded at Totokaka.

— “Jubei doesn't like getting wet... and the others are resting indoors, so maybe they'll get in after us.”

— “Can't imagine them taking a bath…” Nine grumbled, tucking some hair behind her ear.

Meanwhile, Trinity gave a wry shrug.

— “True... but even without Jubei, there's still Valkenhayn, Terumi, and Hakumen to go.” Celica immediately imagined Valkenhayn, Terumi and Hakumen soaking in the steaming water — the mere thought of it made her burst out laughing.

— “Pfffffttttt — I'm sorry for laughing, but that sounds so funny!! I bet they wouldn't even bother chatting!”

— “Please don't say that, Celica. Just thinking about it gives me the chills.” — Nine said, and she felt a chill run down her spine that made her hold herself. Suzukaka cackled while sitting on the rocks, and even Trinity held back her grin with a lightly-clenched hand. Totokaka was the only one who didn't get why everyone was laughing, looking around curiously while she spun around in the water.

Suddenly Celica stopped laughing, as if she'd seen something floating in front of her. And she had seen something: a ripple on the warm surface of the water every time she leaned forward or laughed. Nine and Trinity’s…

— “...........hey Sis, hey Trinity — you're full of style, aren't you?”

— “Huh? What's the matter?”

— “Don't look at me like that, it's embarrassing.”

— “The 'style' I mean is... your chest.”

With wrinkles between her eyebrows, Celica glared at the voluptuous mass floating before her. Maybe it was her top-tier athleticism, but Nine's taut, smooth curves made her breasts look perfectly solid. On the other hand, Trinity's were so soft they could melt to the touch. Celica looked down once more; dissatisfied, she covered her chest with her own hands. Though she was not homely in any way, she couldn't help but compare herself to the stunning beauties around her.

— “You’re my sister, but you’re Trinity’s pal, so… I wish I was more like you.” Celica said. Totokaka tilted her head at Celica's gestures, looking curious as usual.

— “Don’t worry about it. This has nothing to do with our friendship.” — Nine said, causing Celica’s lips to twitch at the thought. She immediately gave Celica a look of worry.

Trinity then smiled at the sisters’ exchange, while Suzukaka moved to the rock right above her. Holding a ceramic jug and a teacup in her hands, Suzukaka looked right at Celica’s chest with bright red eyes.

— “It feels great to have big boobs, don’t it…? If you eat some more, you’ll get bigger!”

— “But that’s not enough! Come on… can’t you share some of yours? Sis? Trinity?!”

Celica jumped out of the hot water and lunged at Nine. Grabbing her toned waist, she tickled her sides as hard as she could. Unable to resist, Nine wriggled and lashed out at her sister.

— “Hey, STOP THAT!” Nine yelled, but fell into a giggling fit as fast as Celica grabbed her.

Then Totokaka joined in, causing Nine to struggle even harder and practically hack up a lung with laughter while the water splashed farther. One splash went so high that it hit Suzukaka in the face, causing her to lose her grip on her ceramic jug. Her superhuman Kaka reflexes made sure she reached for the jug as fast as she could…

but she ended up grabbing the bottom of the jug.

The frothy liquor within was poured down on Trinity, who sat right below.

The outdoor rock bath, which had been lively with the girls' voices just before, was now cold with silence. Suzukaka and Totokaka could sense the air between Celica and Nine, so they were too stunned to even move.

While everyone stared at her in shock, Trinity saw that her glasses had gotten stained with sake.

She slowly took them off and glared with a massive, twisted grin...

### Part 3

The moon rose high in the night sky, and the forest had sunk into a deep silence. The night kept getting darker; Nine, Jubei, Hakumen, Valkenhayn and Terumi gathered in a hut at the Kaka Village. Several ceramic cups were placed for the guests on a rustic table; Valkenhayn's cup had tea in it, steaming white. Nine sat on a small chair, apparently made out of logs, and took a sip from her cup. The tea, a favorite among the Kaka Tribe, had a color and scent like those of green tea — but its taste was far stronger than it was pleasant. Nevertheless, it relaxed tired bodies quite well. Even after borrowing some power from Valkenhayn and Terumi, Nine could barely stand after putting a protective barrier on the village; she had spent too much mana on teleporting here.

— “Are you okay? You look so pale...” — Jubei's nose wrinkled while he looked at Nine.

Nine shook her head lightly. Her face was so exhausted, it looked theatrical.

— “I'm not okay... I'm wrecked. I just want to snuggle a big cat and take a long nap.”

— “I get that you're tired, but can you not make that kind of joke?” Jubei frowned and sank his face into his large hands. Nine, however, took no offense; she smiled happily in spite of her visible fatigue.

Out of the corner of Nine's eye, Terumi — who sat with his legs thrown up on the table behind Jubei — made a face like he'd swallowed a bug.

— “Whooooa... a witch and a cat in love?! That’s the greatest fairy tale ever told! ” He sneered sarcastically. Terumi spat at the floor in disgust, and Nine glared at him as fast as his spit hit the ground.

— “Don't butt into people's conversations. I've already had it rough; can you just not talk unless you absolutely have to?”

— “That would be fine by me... but I wonder what your pals and your sis will think?” Terumi cackled, “you'd look like a wooden doll next to me! Imagine the looks on their fucking faces!”

— “You want to talk about Trinity and Celica again...?” Nine placed her cup on the table and slowly stood up, before Jubei broke his firm stance and quickly got up from his chair to intervene.

— “Hey, hey! Calm down! This isn't the time. And Nine, no sorcery for now.” Jubei said.

It was a large barrier to a mass teleportation. It took quite a while to recover, due to Nine's vast amounts of mana.

Nine, now calm, threw a sharp glance at Terumi, but reluctantly sat back on her chair and turned her eyes away from his unpleasant grin. Jubei just scratched his head. He sighed and turned to see Valkenhayn and Hakumen sitting, looking like they wanted no part of the situation.

…and Jubei sighed again. He realized this crew was not very cooperative; while he had a younger brother he had never been on good terms with, in retrospect he thought their relationship was reasonably close. But that brother had already passed…

As usual, a well-timed, leisurely knock broke the tense air between Nine and Terumi.

— “Sorry I’m late~!” Trinity said as she opened the door. She stepped in with a soft, wry smile — just from looking at Nine’s face, she could tell what had happened while she was gone.

Trinity waved her cotton-like platinum hair and sat down in the empty seat between Jubei and Terumi.

— “Madam Trinity, how is Celica?” — Valkenhayn asked, offering Trinity a cup of freshly brewed tea.

— “She is doing fine,” Trinity answered, “but she seems exhausted. I made her some tea to help with her condition, burned some incense to refill her mana, and just in case, I put a magical ward on her room.”

— “That is… good to hear. Thank you.”

Nine breathed in deep enough for everyone to hear and rested her forehead on one hand. She relaxed her shoulders calmly, a fresh change from her row with Terumi. The sight of her made Trinity’s cheeks relax.

— “No, no — Celica is an important friend to me too.”

Trinity always thought that, because there was so little she could do for herself, she should at least do what she could for her friends and loved ones; so had she always believed.

Heavy footsteps could be heard from Hakumen, who had been silent and motionless. The tall man in white walked up beside the table and turned towards Nine.

— “That makes all Six… let’s get down to business.”

It was time to continue the meeting that had to be interrupted that day. The matter of the Nox Nyctores, Take-Mikazuchi, was still up in the air. Hakumen’s white mask, featureless and reticent, appealed to Nine to start talking about their situation then and there.

Nine picked up the cup and tilted it. The unique scent of tea stimulated her senses. She no longer hesitated to speak — if she could even stop herself from doing it. With her eyelids heavy, Nine summarized the contents of her lecture.

— “I’m sure we’ve talked about the Sealed Weapon Izayoi.” She put down her cup and left her seat. “This might be a bit off-topic, but… you ever wonder how sorcery works on Black Beasts, and normal weapons don’t?”

Nine laid out the elements of nature one after another, like she was spreading cards on the table. She demonstrated each element with small magical constructs: a tiny flame for fire; a water orb; a stone; and a pocket-sized whirlwind.

— “These are the Four Elements. Fire, water, earth, and wind… and the Two Origins: light and darkness.” In the middle of the Four Elements, a bright light and a shadowy orb appeared. Nine continued, "there's not a lot of difference between the capabilities of sorcery and science. Whether it's man-made or magical, all fire burns just the same — we call that Logic. The thing is... even nuclear bombs, the ultimate man-made weapon, can't damage a Black Beast."

Nine's hand flicked across the table, sweeping out the elements in a single motion. She stared at the remnants of light that she'd scattered.

— “That's because the Black Beast exists outside of Logic, and what's bound by Logic can't harm what isn't. But sorcery also exists outside of Logic, so it can hurt a Black Beast.”

— “Outside of Logic…? What do you mean?” Jubei asked, frowning visibly. He had no experience with sorcery, so he could barely grasp all that — but the thought of it made Nine smile. Her tone softened just a bit.

— “Sorcery is powered by a person’s willpower and soul. I believe it has some effect on Seithr…” Nine could not say for sure — but she knew magic arts could be easily influenced by the user's mental state. She believed the relationship between this and Seithr would become clear soon. “But it's not a coincidence that Sorcery can affect Black Beasts, because it was created to fight beings outside of Logic.”

Nine went back to her lecturing tone, and Trinity briefly interjected.

— “Are you talking about the war from the Age of Origin?”

It was an event in the distant past, erased not only from the history of the world, but also from Ishana's. Nine understood Trinity's uncertainty and nodded, certain that the war had happened.

— “The 'thing' that mankind fought back then is what we now call a Black Beast. It exists outside of Logic, and magic was created to defeat it. So, I put that into practice and created a new power source: Ars Magus.” Nine made it sound so simple, but even Jubei and Hakumen, who didn't know the details, could see how far beyond common sense this Art was.

Nine brushed a lock of hair from her shoulder.

— “The Sealed Weapon I found, Izayoi, was also created during past wars to fight against beings outside of Logic. So I analyzed its mechanisms, and I created...”

— “...the Nox Nyctores.” Hakumen continued; his tone stern, heavy, and labored.

He knew exactly what Nine was going to talk about: the Nox Nyctores, Gigant: Take-Mikazuchi.

Valkenhayn folded his thick arms in front of his chest, and snarled like a wolf.

— “So, Take-Mikazuchi was based on a weapon used in ancient wars against enemies 'outside of Logic'. Does that mean it exists outside of Logic as well...?” He summarized precisely, but Jubei scratched his head, wrinkling the bridge of his nose while he did his best to soak it all in. Nine nodded — “that's right. By the way, Sealed Weapons and Nox Nyctores are man-made weapons, not Arts, so they still have limited power against Sorcery and Ars Magus.”

The difference between weapons and Arts was palpable, and Nine reminded herself of it. Arts could be put to practical use; just as science enriched human life while weapons were created, if the direction of light changed, so did its role and what was required of it. Weapons, however, were still weapons — they rarely had more meaning than what was assigned to them at creation.

With a bitter feeling in her heart, Nine picked up her cup and drank what remained of her tea until the bitterness turned strangely sweet.

— “Nine... can I ask you something?” Trinity raised her hand like she was at a school lecture.

Nine looked disturbed for a moment. She did not hate it when Trinity asked her questions; but it still got under her skin, because she always saw through Nine so clearly that she could reveal her secrets in the blink of an eye.

— “Why did Celica, specifically, have to control Take-Mikazuchi? If you built it, you would never have used her for it.”

Trinity and Nine were both reminded of the Lynchpin, activated by Celica's power.

Nine put her cup down and blew a quiet sigh. Trinity really could see right through her. Though she was a bit paranoid, she didn't want to tell Trinity unless asked to. She had to think about what she was doing, or else she would suspect that everything about her was being aired to the world.

— “...of course, it wasn't part of the plan. It wasn't Seven or Eight's idea either — it was something beyond my control.”

Looking at the tea left in her unfinished cup, Nine tried to find more to say. As expected, the tone of her lecture was not calm.

— “Celica passively cancels Seithr activity around her, so she isn't affected by the Ars Magus... and because the Nox Nyctores run on Seithr, she can control Take-Mikazuchi with no problem. That's why Seven and Eight are looking for Celica; they own Take-Mikazuchi, and they want her to control it.” When she finished her lecture, Nine sat on a chair. She took off her hat and brushed her long hair back — then the hat was back on, and she pulled herself away from the table.

— “That's all I can tell you about Take-Mikazuchi... I'm sorry, but I'm almost at my limit. Let's call it a night.” Her words were practically spat out, with how exhausted she was. Concerned, Jubei perked up and stood ahead of Nine.

— “That's right. We'll talk our future and the investigation tomorrow. We don't want Nine to work herself sore.”

— “Yes. It's too late.” Valkenhayn nodded and stood up to follow suit. It was too easy to forget that, for all her genius and prowess, Nine was still human. Valkenhayn and Jubei, both beastkin, knew it was a mistake to think Nine was as physically strong as they were.

— “I'm going first... good night.” Aching to get out of this place, Nine dragged her heels and grasped at the hut's door.

— “Should I take you to another hut?” Jubei asked, calling out behind her.

— “I'll be right there... it's just around the corner. You don't want to see me when I'm this tired.”

— “Oh... okay.” Jubei sighed as his shoulders dropped. He knew Nine would say that.

Nine just shrugged her shoulders and smiled apologetically.

— “Take it from here, Trinity. We'll think about the rest tomorrow.”

That said, Nine left the hut by herself, letting her long hair flow loosely over her shoulders.

### Part 4

In the dead of night, a bonfire in an iron cage burst open. The wood splintered with a crackle, and golden sparks scattered across the night sky while a faint burning smell mixed with the wind. With a soft smoky breeze blowing through her platinum hair, Trinity walked down the road, her locks shining under the firelight. Then, she spotted a figure making haste for a hut behind her, but Trinity was faster to call out to it.

— “Wait, Nine—!”

In a night this quiet, even the softest voice could still ripple through the silence with enough intent. Trinity’s voice made Nine stop in her tracks, and after a short beat, she turned around until Trinity could only see half of her.

— “Trinity… what happened?’

Nine’s long hair and large hat cast a shadow over her face, so dark it even cast shade over her heart. Trinity could sense her discomfort, too.

— “I was looking for you… I have something to ask.”

Trinity and Nine stood far apart from each other — so far, yet so close.

— “Is there something you won’t tell us...?” Trinity asked, gently placing her question in front of Nine rather than confronting her with it.

Nine stared somewhere between her and Trinity, as if to stare at the question itself, before she grimaced.

— “Why are you asking me this?”

— “It’s not for no reason. I’ve been thinking about this for a while… you talk so much, but don’t say a lot.”

Nine answered questions and elaborated, but little by little, she preferred to hide information between the lines. The things she refused to talk about were always buried under other subjects. This was not the first time Nine kept a secret. She had a tendency to keep several at once, and then never talk about them unless asked. Was it because they were so close? Trinity remembered the look on Nine's face in those times. It set her on edge that she couldn't see into her most important secrets.

— “If it helps you or it makes you feel better,” Trinity continued, “I'd like to hear about it... but I don't mind if you tell me. But right now, you look so...” Trinity could not come up with kind enough words. But it was too late to keep quiet here.

— “It's like you think talking about it will hurt you.” It was like putting a noose around the neck and pulling it to avoid leaking anything. Secrets were like self-inflicted wounds.

— “I don't care how shocking it is, I won't judge. If the secret is dragging you down, let me hold the weight with you, even if it's just a little!” There was little she could do. No powers or Arts would help her here. But they could lean on each other, have each other's backs, and stay friends. On the other hand, there was nothing else she could do — she just wanted to do what she could, no matter how trivial.

Nine remained silent, staring off into space for a while. There was no telling if Trinity's words had even reached her. The crackling of the bonfire made the silence around her deafening, until Nine opened her mouth under the flamelight.

— “Look, I can't talk about it. And I don't want to... especially not to you.”

Nine turned her back on Trinity. The colors of the secrets she'd acknowledged were hidden by the dark shadow over her. Trinity held her breath and clasped both hands over her chest. Her words were now caught in her throat, and she could not swallow them.

— “I'm tired... sorry. Let me sleep.” Nine answered calmly, then went right back to pacing away.

— “Wait, Nine...!”

Even while appealing to Nine, Trinity's voice remained soft and gentle. That seemed to show the differences between the two — Nine only saw and felt different things from Trinity.

Nine did not stop, walking away from the light that bathed the blonde. She stepped into the cabin she'd rented to sleep in, before she finally closed the door.

Trinity could only stare without even stepping forward.

That closed door looked terribly heavy.

There was no light in Nine's rented hut, and the bonfire's light streamed in through the wood-framed windows. In the back room of this dark hut, Celica slept off her exhaustion. Just a little more consciousness, and she could feel Nirvana waiting by her side.

It was quiet. The silence was calming, thanks to the barrier Trinity had put up for Celica. In that soft calmness, Nine leaned against the closed door and bit her lip. There were wrinkles between her eyebrows. She could not use magic to light the place up and merely walking was a Herculean task; not because of excessive use of sorcery or physical exhaustion, but because of guilt.

It was always guilt.

Nine blamed herself internally. The feeling tormented her, but she was already used to it.

— “....I'm sorry, Trinity. I wronged you.”

She went to the bedroom in the back, sat down on the bed next to Celica and muttered faintly. The tears in her eyes were not of remorse, but coated with determination, with a hint of emotion swaying in the drops. She closed her eyes to keep them from flowing.

— “...but I can’t turn back anymore.”

With determination long settled in her heart, Nine laid down on the bed.

When Nine disappeared behind the door, Trinity unwittingly sighed. Nine had been acting strangely for a long time now. It had been only a few months before the return of the Black Beast when she'd noticed something strange about her best friend. The doubts and anxieties were not much to fret over then, but they had only grown over the years, and now they cast a dark shadow over Trinity's heart.

Nine had a serious secret, and she had to keep it all by herself.

Lately, she seemed to be pushing forward into something only she could see, like she was in a rush. Trinity wondered if this would one day blind Nine to the point of making her lose something precious. So she thought, but she was not worried.

— “It's just like... that time.”

She whispered; her lips murmuring on their own, like the words were spilling out. Trinity sighed in surprise at herself.

Maybe the sheer rush of the situation made her unexpectedly vulnerable — she could not believe she was thinking about "that time" at a time like this.

— “ Ayyyyy? What's with the happy face? Had a fight with your buddy?”

Trinity felt her heart at the sound of that voice. She looked up in shock, to see the source of the words: a slender man wearing a long coat and a hood that hid his appearance. It was Terumi.

So many questions crossed her mind. How long had he been here? Why was he here? Did he hear her conversation with Nine? She did not even think of asking, though, because of her surprise; not because she had suddenly been spoken to, but because she swore Terumi looked — and sounded — like a friend she was not likely to see again. Who was he again...?

Maybe it was just nostalgia clouding her mind.

— “No... it wasn't a fight. Nine just looked tired, so I'm worried.”

— “Worry this, concern that... is that all you do?” Terumi mocked her. “You've got so much time on your hands, don't waste it worrying about other people!” Nine hated this tone of his, but it didn't get to Trinity that badly. Maybe it was his voice that jogged her memory...

But Trinity's discomfort quickly fell into sadness. Her friend sounded so much like this man, and she could not stop him from changing. The sheer regret weighed on her heart. He was never a stranger, yet he had been so close to her. She watched him be corrupted by his ambition, and then he disappeared... and there was nothing she could do about it. She felt strongly that it would ruin him.

(Him...)

Did he get what he'd been looking for? Where was he? What was he up to? If he was doing well... Trinity could not help but think.

— “...the hell are you looking at?” Terumi asked. “Something on my face?”

Terumi's grin twisted into discomfort.

Trinity's lips clamped shut at his change of expression, visible under the flamelight. She shook her head lightly, trying to brush that aside. There was no point in keeping Terumi in the shadow of her friend.

— “You're helping Nine, aren't you?” Trinity asked softly, putting her remorse aside. She had gone to investigate on behalf of Nine, who'd had trouble leaving Ishana, and had been entrusted with work on sorcery while Nine was busy with the Mage's Guild. But Trinity didn't know the details. — “What are you doing to help?”

She wondered if Nine had been hiding something. It was hard not to think so, but Trinity asked that more as small talk. She tilted her head and smiled, but Terumi unexpectedly went quiet. His twisted grin was gone, and he turned toward Trinity like his hood obscured a stern look.

— “Terumi...?”

— “...can't answer that~.” His sarcastic grin returned as he answered.

He shot a weird look at Celica and Nine’s hut, then walked away, like he didn’t care for it anymore.

His steps were light, to the point of silence. Terumi went back the way he came, until he blended into the shadows and disappeared without a trace.

Trinity stared at him, somewhat stunned, like she’d been nailed to her spot. Like a dark cloud gathering, she felt a bad omen coming. Her heart was racing, and there was nothing she could do about it.

...

### 031. Chapter 4: Silvery Illusion

## Chapter IV: Silvery Visions

### Part 1

A blank, white void.

An ephemeral dream.

She floated in the bright void, standing before a mirror.

There it is again... Celica thought, her consciousness as dulled as the white void around her. In the mirror, she saw her face, her hair, her eyes — but she wondered if this was truly her own reflection.

She had to know.

She swore that she'd had this dream before. What was it about? What was it trying to tell her? What should she remember? What was she to feel from it?

She reached out to the square mirror. If she touched it, she could just wake up from her dream — as she always did.

The image she saw in the looking glass was not a reflection, so much as it was an inverted image from the other side of a window.

She wondered what went on over there. What did she look like on the other side?

Too many questions roamed in her mind today, but there was no way she could figure out their meaning. Thus, Celica caved and touched the mirror. Her hand sank into the looking glass — first her fingertips, then her palm — just before the dream and her consciousness faded to white.

### Part 2

So many walls, and so many nights.

The night came again, and the moon rose high.

Hakumen had left the Kaka Village for a rocky area outside the woods. From a distance, it just looked like rocky terrain with unstable footing — but there was debris all over the ground, leaving no room to actually step on.

There was no way to know how long ago this had happened, but this place was the wreckage of a cityscape; trampled, broken, and kicked to pieces, with some faded grass growing out of the crevices. The land would have been stable with a gentle slope to it, but now, anyone who wanted to walk through it had no choice but to walk on unstable footing.

Not far from this rocky forest of rubble, Hakumen stood alone in front of the wide field. If he looked up, he could see the moon above him. As the pale light reflected on his white mask, Hakumen remained silent until he turned to look at a shimmering presence nearby.

— “Hey... over here.”

First he saw a small white hand, then a lock of brown hair tied in a tall bun. She called out to him he pulled herself up with a jerk of her hand.

Then she noticed Hakumen's feet facing her and she looked up, like a child who'd just been caught playing a prank.

— “Ahaha.... you found me! I wanted to surprise you.”

It was Celica. Nirvana was with her, picking up Celica by the waist and placing her atop the pile of debris where Hakumen stood.

He had noticed something approaching ever since Celica left the forest with Nirvana. He wondered what was going on, since she had followed a rather unusual route, but she had just planned it that way.

Hakumen picked up Celica without a word, dangling her by the arms like a kitten.

— “Wow...! Thank you!”

Her leather-soled feet landed right next to Hakumen.

Nirvana slithered up and stood perfectly still next to Hakumen and Celica.

After a brief wait, Hakumen turned back to look at his surroundings.

— “What can I do for you?”

Taking in the cool night air, Celica's cheeks loosened into a soft smile.

— “I woke up from this weird dream... and I couldn't go back to sleep. So I went for a walk, then I saw you, Mister Hakumen!”

— “And then... you just 'saw me'?”

Letting the words sink in, Hakumen took a brief glance at Celica.

The night sky was clear, and he could clearly see the moon as a thin crescent. Its light was too dim to let anyone recognize a face from a distance. He would have understood if it was Valkenhayn or Jubei, but Celica had no additional senses and was abysmal with directions; he just did not believe that she would have “seen him” in a dark forest with poor visibility.

Celica realized she had been caught in another lie. She leaned back and gave a little awkward smile, folding her hands behind her back and looking down at her feet.

— “I kind of...” Celica answered, “...had a feeling you were here.”

Who?

Not Hakumen, surely.

— “Again?”

This was the second time Celica had a “feeling” he was nearby. It wasn't Hakumen she had been looking for, before.

— “Maybe you're looking for Ragna the Bloodedge...?”

It was funny, to hear him say that name like he shared it with someone else.

Celica’s eyebrows could only sink as she looked up at Hakumen, having heard his simple question.

— “Now that you mention it… I really don’t know. I never got to know his real name.”

— “...I believe it.”

Maybe she had heard this before — Hakumen and Celica did talk about Ragna's name in the past. But no matter how many times Celica asked, and no matter how many times Hakumen gave her the same answer, that question was still a thorn that he could not pull out of his mind.

Who was this “Ragna” that Celica A. Mercury claimed to have met? If the man Celica described was the same one that Hakumen knew, who was the “Ragna” he remembered?

Facing the devastated landscape before him, Hakumen plunged his hand into the muddy waters of his own memories.

Hakumen remembered Ragna melancholically.

A tall man with white hair, green eyes and a red coat.

“He was stabbed by a red-eyed woman with a giant sword, and they both fell into the searing lava within the Cauldron.

And then...

they both transformed into a single black mass, soon a terrifying monster.”

That monster came to exist as the “Black Beast”.

So the Black Beast was Ragna transformed — but how could another Ragna exist at the same time as the Beast?

Maybe Hakumen remembered wrong? Was it possible that he'd confused that with something else, or everything he thought he remembered was a weightless delusion?

Was Ragna, as Celica called him, truly “Ragna the Bloodedge”?

Was Hakumen in mourning for someone else...?

(.....can't be.)

If so, those were just the whispers of a weak and spoiled heart. His memories were terribly hazy, but with the memory of that loss lost, there was nothing false about the feelings he had.

Flowers were torn apart; his brother was taken from him. All he could do then was lose himself in rage, hatred, and revenge.

— “...Hakumen?” Celica asked, popping into Hakumen’s sight while he looked downward.

Celica looked like she could slip on the rubble and fall at any minute. Just the sight sent chills down Hakumen’s spine; so he seized her by the shoulders and put her back in the narrow space inside.

— “You’re going to fall!” Hakumen grunted. — “Ah— thank you!”

Only then, did Celica realize where she had been standing, scratching her head with an embarrassed chuckle. Celica could only sigh; it was like taking care of a small pet.

Then Celica jumped up like a small pet, her eyes grew wide, and she stared at Hakumen. He sighed, with a tone of surprise.

— “What happened?” Hakumen did not understand. But when he asked that, Celica smiled happily for some reason.

— “You’re sighing too…!” Celica answered.

— “What are you even talking about?”

— “Ahaha… I’ve never heard you do it before!” She gave an innocent smile and a giddy laugh.

His memory flickered. Maybe it was not a memory, but a feeling — or an emotion.

He swore he could remember hearing a girl's laugh, like Celica's. Soon he envisioned a long corridor, with a lush green view from the windows. There was a girl named after a flower, and another friend of hers. He talked to them about something... everything felt so warm and peaceful.

— “Hey, Mr. Hakumen!”

Soon Hakumen was called awake again, released from his trance. His chin was raised slightly, and he turned to look back at Celica. Her face was not nearly as bright as it was a moment ago, having lost her smile; her earth-colored eyes looked straight up at Hakumen.

— “What’s under the mask…?”

Her question was sincere, not teasing or innocent.

Hakumen could only ease his breath.

— “Do you want to see it?”

Why he asked, nobody knows. The words just came spilling out.

It must have been a shocking answer, regardless; Celica’s cheeks blushed a bright pink while she nodded repeatedly.

— “Yes, I do! Can I see?!”

— “No.”

— “Hey, that’s not fair! Why can’t I see it?!”

Celica pouted and furrowed her brows in dissatisfaction. She was quite expressive, much like her sister Nine. Amused and impressed, Hakumen raised a hand to his mask.

The mask could never come off. It hid myriad sins, mistakes, and stains of the past. He could hardly remember who he was, what life he led, or what he thought and felt back then. But even if the sins were forgotten, their weight would never be.

Thus, the mask would hide his sins.

Otherwise, he would never be able to fight.

Thus, the mask worked as an escape — to hide his past, while claiming to break away from it. The armor was meant to bury his past self. Only then could he become the man called Hakumen, get on his feet, and hold his sword firmly.

If the mask came off, he would no longer be Hakumen, but the man with a name long forsaken.

Hakumen let go of his mask. Celica looked up at his expressionless face, still regretful, but with unyielding interest.

What did she expect to find under that mask?

Hakumen turned his head away, so she would not see through him.

— “...even if I take this mask off, you won't see the face you want to see.”

— “Huh?” Celica's eyes widened, then narrowed softly like she was smiling. “Oh, no. I said you look alike, but I have no way of telling. It's just...”

Forgetting what was said before, Celica walked once more along the edge of the rubble and turned around to face Hakumen, who had turned away from her. Then, she looked straight up.

— “I just think... you probably look great. It'd be a shame to hide it!”

— “...”

Hakumen had no idea how to answer.

(Is she saying I’m handsome, or…?)

The muttered words disappeared into his bitter heart. If only he had been kind; maybe it all would have been different.

And so... unknowingly, fragments of lost memories rattle around in his head.

Hakumen languidly pondered while looking up at the sky.

A thin moon could be seen in the sky.

— “I don't like the moon... in fact, I hate it.” — so he remembered someone saying.

He could not remember who, but every time he saw the moon, he remembered those words. The feeling brought back so many memories... but he was tormented by a terrible discomfort.

— “The moon looks so beautiful!” Like clear water, the girl's voice washed Hakumen's consciousness.

The hazy memories; the unbearable weight of guilt; and the vivid sense of loss... all faded.

Just for this moment, for some reason, everything seemed calm and peaceful.

Celica turned around and stood next to Hakumen, looking at the horizon with a light stretch of her body and a long, heaving, relaxed sigh. — “This breeze... it feels nice.”

Her lackadaisical words put Hakumen on edge.

— “It does...”

But she was right. The air was clear, and the crescent moon in the sky looked much smoother than he'd previously thought.

How come he hadn't noticed it before? The air was too clear.

Hakumen looked at Celica.

He was amazed at her power — to seemingly suppress the seithr around her.

But he was still baffled. Hakumen could not believe that Celica was able to do that all by herself, and that there had to be something else in play. Even when they were at the Kaka Village, he felt the place brimming with seithr.

(If that’s how it works, what is with this air…?)

He looked around, behind his pale white mask. How could the air be so clear with all this rubble?

— “A… CHOO!”

Those thoughts were interrupted by a sudden sneeze.

Celica made a pitiful face as she hunched over and sneezed again.

— “Ugh... that came out of nowhere...”

— “Do you feel cold?”

It was late at night. Hakumen did not feel cold, but maybe the night air was affecting Celica.

— “Go back. Sure, you've recovered your magic, but don't overdo it. You should recover too.”

— “Yeah... what about you, Hakumen?”

Aware of the cold and her physical strain, Celica's reply came out slow, but straightforward. She tilted her head, but Hakumen did not shake his head in response. He let go of his mask with a huff.

— “I'm going to stay here a little longer.”

He needed some more time to think.

— “Okay. Good night, see you tomorrow.”

Celica gave a polite nod and a small wave, before heading back to the Kaka Village woods with Nirvana.

As Nirvana picked her up and moved, the girl quickly faded into the shadows of the forest.

Then, without even stopping to breathe, Hakumen waited for her to leave. The air around him felt heavy and uncomfortable.

### Part 3

— “You’re a real goody-two-shoes, o’ mighty hero!”

The source of the voice had been there for some time, standing on the rubble, next to Hakumen.

Under the dim moonlight, a slender man in a long coat suddenly came out. Under the hood pulled down over his eyes, he showed his mouth like that of a reptile.

— “All those years with the Susano’o Unit made you a pussy, huh, Jin Kisaragi?!”

Terumi laughed, his voice as unpleasant as the soundless presence of a crawling snake. He'd snarled out a name that Hakumen had long left in the past. A name that should only be known by a select few, and cannot exist now.

Immediately, a chill came down Hakumen's spine.

— “...you scumbag.”

— “Eh, don’t get me wrong! I don’t know any more than that. It ain’t like I’m predicting the future!”

Terumi hurriedly waved both hands at the intimidating Hakumen, mocking his tone of voice. He then tucked back his chin, and his smile grew even wider while his red tongue poked out.

— “You get me? I'm here, and you're over there... we're standing in slightly different places. I don't know how things will end this time... you're from the other side of this world, so I bet you know a lot more than I do.”

— “This time—?”

The use of his old name and the odd invocation of an “other side” put Hakumen on edge.

He held his head down, feeling his mind overrun with noise, like he had seen something he should not have. The feeling seeped into Hakumen's memories like a drug being pushed through a syringe.

None of this was memories, or Hakumen's experiences... but information. Fragments of data, recorded and managed by something other than Hakumen's brain.

Numerous scenes grazed his head like noise, showing tens of thousands of images in rapid-fire.

Building burnings…

Freezing rooms…

Someone's face…

He did not recognize any of it.

Even though he should have.

— “Hehehehe... hey, buddy, tell me something. How many times have you been here? Huh? How many fuckin' loops does that make?”

Terumi's voice and words sent noise into Hakumen's mind. The scene within the noise seemed to overlap with the hooded man in front of Hakumen: the same height, same build, same expression... and the same black clothes and black hat.

— “Ha…”

Inside his mask, Hakumen’s mouth moved on its own, sending out noise.

He'd spent so much time with the girl named after a flower, only to never know her ultimate fate.

— “ Hazama—!! ”

Exhaling a low, heated breath, Hakumen reached for the nodachi on his back. The rising bloodlust within swayed his long silver hair, and his steps sent cracks into the rubble beneath his feet. An ordinary person would be immediately frozen into fear by such a sight.

But Terumi just stood and watched.

— “You’re out for blood… that’s what I wanna see!”

Terumi smirked at every reaction from Hakumen. He pulled both hands out of his pockets and spread his arms lightly, trying to provoke him with a sarcastic invitation for a hug.

— “Gonna kill me or no?”

If Hakumen kicked off the scaffolding and swung down the nodachi with all his strength, the blade would easily cleave Terumi in two. All this could end in only ten seconds.

— “C'mon, do it already. The way I am right now, I don't stand a chance! I know you've got this in the bag, so take the shot and fucking kill me! ”

Terumi sneered behind his hood.

Hakumen looked from a position where he could finish him off with a single slash. Terumi was telling the truth; he could easily kill him now.

The whole time, Terumi did not move once. With his hands lightly open, he waited for Hakumen to make his move.

The bloodlust was like a flame erupting from his body. Hakumen gripped the hilt of his nodachi tightly so he could pull it out at any moment, and after putting all his weight into his legs for a massive leap...

he stood up, sheathed his blade and turned his back on Terumi.

— “That’s it? No killing?” Terumi asked, audibly disappointed.

Hakumen, with his back turned to the voice that had just tried to irritate him, replied with a low swing in the air.

— “If ‘what I know’ is correct... you're essential to defeating the Black Beast.”

— “Heh... guess I don't have to worry about you killing me for a while.”

— “Wait until this is all over.”

— “Huuuuh? Don't say that, Hakumen! We're on the same siiiide! ”

Even without turning to look, Hakumen could see the smirk on his face. How could he make ‘being on the same side’ sound so trivial? He could not wait to leave Terumi’s “side”.

Just as Hakumen was about to jump off the rubble-covered heights, Terumi’s voice rang out behind him.

― “It's the future, ain't it?” His voice was sharp, like a knife to the throat.

Hakumen did not feel fear; only disgust. He clenched his fist tightly.

— “My mission is to defeat the Black Beast. Nothing more.”

— “...I get it.”

Terumi no longer smiled. Hakumen looked over at his unsightly gait and dismissed him with a bored demeanor. Through his eyeless mask, he stared at Terumi.

— “But I’d rather not let ‘that thing’ decide my future.”

The man who once saved him was branded a god with neverending "dreams of destiny" — and he wanted no part of those dreams. Thus, Hakumen kicked the debris beneath his feet and left. The ground remained dimly lit by the crescent moon's distant light.

Like a pale white shadow, he disappeared into the forest.

With an aside glance, Terumi carved a smug grin onto his mouth again. He shoved his hands into his pants' pockets and shot a shady glare at the moon.

— “You know what…? You got a point, Hakumen-chan.”

Terumi also crossed the pile of rubble and made a quick exit.

### Part 4

The next day, Celica was in a crumbling cityscape littered with debris. This time, it was not in a lonely moonlit night, but an early afternoon under the sun. It wasn’t just Hakumen and Nirvana that were there, but a full entourage with Nine, Trinity, Jubei, Valkenhayn, Terumi, Suzukaka, and Totokaka.

— “Yup— hup!” Celica crossed the unstable foothold, gasping out with every step. Nirvana followed closely behind, occasionally extending her arms to help with her perilous steps.

— “Slow down, Celica. You’ll be in danger if you overdo it.” Nine warned behind her, looking on with great exasperation.

Celica turned around on the rocky grounds where she’d just landed.

— “I’ll be fine! I was here last night!”

— “WHAT? You came to a place like this, at night, all by yourself?! That’s dangerous!”

— “Oh… I didn’t tell you, did I? Nirvana was with me, and Mister Hakumen too!”

Celica raised a finger to reassure her there was no problem. Nirvana then lifted her up with no issue and moved her onward. Nine followed them both, jumping over the rocks with great dexterity… even while wearing high heels.

— “Okay, but why was Hakumen with you late at night, in a deserted place like this?! There’s gotta be something I’m missing. If he did anything weird…!”

— “He’d never do that! Mister Hakumen is a nice guy.” As Celica pouted, Nine forced a smile; like a switch had been flipped, small sparks gathered around her.

— “…yup. Just like that guy, Hakumen’s playing you…”

As Nine held up her hand with a twisted smile, Jubei, who had been walking beside Nine until then, chased after her in a hurry and pushed her hand away.

— “Calm down, calm down! If she was with Hakumen, there’s no way it could’ve turned out how you think.”

— “I don’t care! Even if he’s wearing armor like that, I can’t trust her with some random man!”

Standing on a narrow rocky ledge, Nine pointed her finger at Hakumen while he led the way. Regardless, Hakumen ignored her words — if he’d heard her at all. Meanwhile, Valkenhayn let out a bitter sigh of exasperation.

— “I appreciate your energy, but would you pipe down a little? You are making too much noise.”

— “And I know you have good reflexes, but if you let down your guard too much, you might slip…”

— “AAAAAAH!”

As Jubei added to Valkenhain's quip, a cracking scream came out, away from their current spot.

Everyone stopped and looked back to see Trinity, far behind the group, losing her balance and almost falling from the tall rubble. Of all the people to grab her by the arm and help her up, it was Terumi.

— “Hey, Four-Eyes. Don’t slip.”

— “Ah… sorry!”

As fast as he could, Terumi pulled Trinity up with just one arm. She landed safely on the foothold, but she was so embarrassed even her ears were bright red.

— “Seriously… I’m so sorry for all the trouble!”

— “Hehe! You can apologize for all the trouble later. Now get up and go!”

— “Okay!”

Exhausted, Terumi patted Trinity on the back and urged her to move on. As she stepped on the debris — more recklessly than anyone else — Terumi followed. Celica watched the scene unfold, pressing a finger to her lips and tilting her head.

— “Hey, Sis… Terumi and Trinity really get along, right? They never fight…”

— “That’s not a good sign.” She answered, disinterested.

When Celica turned around in wonder, Nine wrinkled her eyebrows and looked away from Trinity and Terumi.

— “So, Hakumen… where the hell are you going? You said you wanted to check out the rocks, but there’s just rubble and grime here!” Her words were sharper than usual, due to her unquenchable dismay.

But Hakumen did not care too much. He landed on the side of a relatively intact building.

— “I didn’t ask you to come along.”

Meanwhile, Valkenhayn rested his feet on the wide footing, following those cold words. Next to catch up was Nine, followed closely by Celica. As they approached Hakumen, loud clacks sounded from their high heels.

— “You think I’ll just let you take Celica anywhere? No way in hell I’m letting her hang out with the first man she sees!” — “This is going to be a long day…” Jubei grumbled, scratching his head.

Celica had no choice but to raise her shoulders and chuckle sheepishly. Hakumen was the only one she had asked to come investigate the rocky grounds with him. Of course, Nirvana had come along; as soon as Nine heard about it, she assumed something far worse. Valkenhayn came along, believing that if Hakumen was this concerned, there had to be something up; Trinity shared his concerns, and Jubei followed because he was worried about Nine. Terumi would not let himself be alone in a village full of cats, so he came along as well… and Suzukaka and Totokaka just figured the trip would be fun. As a result, this simple investigation had snowballed out of Hakumen’s control.

At the end of this building, which may as well have been a hangout spot now, Trinity slipped again, and Terumi caught her again.

The air here was extremely clean, with a fresh scent of greenery. Valkenhayn and Jubei’s faces crooked; they found it too strange.

— “The seithr in here… it’s too weak.”

Suzukaka nodded proudly.

— “Damn right! This place has been a real sight since the village got built… but Toto and the others say it’s too beautiful to stay here forever.”

Compared to Suzukaka, Totokaka seemed less familiar with this place, and her tail wagged at the scent of the wind with a curious look.

— “Kaka kids adapt to their surroundings really easy. They get too used to living somewhere without seithr, they’ll have a bad time living with it.” Then, Suzukaka stroked Totokaka’s forehead — “When you grow up…” She continued — “So what’s next? What are you lookin’ for, Lord Hakumen?”

Valkenhayn walked up beside Hakumen, who was looking out from the edge of the ruined building. The place was so clean, it was difficult to believe; but all anyone could see was an endless expanse of debris of all sizes. Thinking about the people who used to live here, and the ruthlessness of the dark disaster befalling the world, sent chills down his spine.

Glancing at the ruined city, Hakumen spoke.

— “This place…”

— “What about it?” Valkenhayn’s eyebrows furrowed, unaware of what Hakumen meant.

Still, Hakumen turned to Celica, his long hair flowing in the wind. He invited her closer with a tuck of his chin. He pointed to himself and asked Celica a question.

— “Do you feel anything?”

— “What do you mean?” Celica asked, visibly puzzled.

Hakumen turned his head, like he was looking for something invisible. His long silver hair, swaying in the wind, looked more mysterious than usual.

— “It’s the center of the air. I think you can feel it.”

— “The center…?” Celica did not quite follow, but she looked around anyway.

The air really was clean. She felt it last night when she met Hakumen; it was clearer than in Ishana.

(Feels great…)

She took a long, full-chested breath and tried to let her feelings dissolve into the air.

Celica felt happy. She felt like Hakumen, so strong and always there for her, was counting on her — even for just a minute.

He had always helped her so much, it was time to give back a little. So she closed her eyes and listened to the wind and air. Maybe she did not feel all that in her ears, but in her skin.

Her eyelids lifted naturally, and she pointed to what she saw in her line of sight.

— “I think… there’s an entrance over there.”

She stretched out her arms and pointed to a large pile of rubble. In the shadows, there was an entrance to a staircase leading somewhere underground.

— “…do we go there?” Hakumen whispered into the wind, leaning forward next to Celica to tell where her finger was pointed.

Celica looked uneasy.

— “I'm just curious... I just felt like something could be there. I don't really know, sorry.”

She could not sense seithr like Nine or Trinity; all she had to count on was her gut feeling.

Celica felt sorry for going to the trouble of asking for Hakumen's help. But it was not trouble for Hakumen, who immediately picked her up in his arms.

— “It’ll do. Come on, let’s check it out.”

— “No wait, I can go— aaaah!!”

Hakumen had no intention of refusing; he ran off with Celica in his arms before she could say a word. He rushed forward with no hesitation or care for the footing under him, which was too bumpy to even walk straight. They were going so fast, it was like the wind was carrying them.

— “HEY! Why are you holding Celica like that?! PUT HER DOWN!!! ”

Noticing Hakumen's sudden dash, Nine jumped out, her eyes blazing with rage. Holding her large hat in hand, she magically manipulated the wind and ran after the white-armored man.

Nirvana also ran after them, with her protegé ahead of her.

— “Hey, wait…!!” Behind her was Jubei, who did not want Nine to lose control; followed by Valkenhayn. Suzukaka carried Totokaka on her back, unaware that they were even following a goal, running with beastly reflexes and leg strength to much. And then there was Trinity.

— “Wait for me, pleeeeease!!”

Trinity peeked over the edge and found the path was even rougher than she'd imagined. She could not even jump off; the only way was to slide down.

Still moving slowly and sluggishly, she walked up close and crouched all the way down, while Terumi looked down with a smirk.

— “Want me to take you there?” Terumi asked.

— “Not now… I’ll catch up later.”

— “Yeah, no. When you catch up, it’ll be past sunset.”

Hacking up a laugh, Terumi grabbed Trinity by her neck right as she was about to climb down from the scaffolding, pulled her up, and held her in his arms.

Firmly pulling his hood down, Terumi jumped low and far while he held Trinity.

### Part 5

Walking down the stairs she had found, Celica soon discovered they led to an old subway station.

There were still vestiges of the station platform, long decayed — except for the train tracks, which were well-preserved.

She could only think about how this place used to be: thriving with people. The thought brought an eerie sadness to her mind.

Meanwhile, no light from the surface would reach them.

Nine had a white light glowing from her hand to illuminate the front, while she walked with Hakumen; Celica was between them both.

In the middle was Trinity, who conjured an orange light to light their surroundings. Jubei, Suzukaka, and Totokaka went behind Nine; and Terumi behind Trinity. Valkenhayn stayed far behind.

The tracks were unbroken and almost spotless. With a little repair, they could be used right away. Here and there, were scorched remnants of human life from only a few years ago, now extinct.

Before they could even pass the arch in the underground passageway, everyone noticed something unusual.

Jubei was the first to speak up.

— “There’s no seithr here at all…!”

The rubble-covered surface was unusually pure, with little seithr — the subway wasn’t empty of it, but somehow had even less than on the surface.

Meanwhile, Suzukaka spun around in place with Totokaka on her head.

— “It’s real thin with that… it’s kinda creepy.”

The Kaka always lived directly exposed to seithr, so they were not used to this chilly feeling.

With her light floating over her head, Trinity put up her hands like dishes and summoned a small magic circle above her. The sigil rotated loosely in response to the surrounding seithr, like a measuring instrument.

— “The deeper we go, the weaker it gets… maybe there’s something neutralizing it?”

Other than Celica?

Celica herself, Nirvana and the Kaka girls were the only ones able to think of that question — but no one had a good answer.

Countless footsteps turned a gentle curve, traveling further down the rail tracks.

Before they could go any further, there was a gaping hole in the road, and it did not look like a train tunnel.

The track continued to curve in the wrong direction, with no other tracks in the “tunnel”. There were no concrete or brick pavements; it looked more like an uneven side-road built to dig out something in the depths.

— “Here…” Celica widened her eyes, looking into the tunnel.

She saw something like a hollow room in the back. The air from there was pure, even relaxing, with no traces of seithr in the air. It was so pure, she wondered if this was how the world breathed before the Black Beast came.

— “Can I go in there?” Celica asked.

— “Of course.” Hakumen answered with a nod, “it’s what we’re here for.”

— “Time out! TIME OUT!!” — Just as the crew started walking in the direction of the clear air, Terumi interrupted them in a panic. “Sorry… I’m gonna stay here and wait. Just bear with me a bit. Damn, I’m beat…!” Terumi grimaced and slowly backed away, while Nine looked on with suspicion.

— “Are you trying to set me up?” Nine spat at him.

— “I don’t joke about this shit. I mean it!” Terumi answered, sighing out.

He shook his head with a bitter expression. Before Terumi knew it, a bead of sweat was on his neck. Trinity noticed this, and her face grew pale.

— “He looks really sick…” Trinity said, “Nine! I’ll watch him!”

— “Yeah, yeah.” Terumi huffed out, “You can go on without me. I need some rest.” He waved Nine away, then sat back on the ground, resting against the subway wall. — “I’m serious… I’m gonna stay put.”

Nine could not take Terumi seriously, seeing him so suddenly leaned against the wall. She didn't believe that was he was in poor health — but there was no point in thinking about his condition then.

— “Okay, then. Stay right where you are.”

— “Got it, boss…” Terumi weakly waved Nine and Hakumen away.

Still looking at them suspiciously, Jubei and Valkenhayn followed, with Suzukaka and Totokaka behind. Finally, the concerned Trinity and Celica stepped into the hole, feeling like they were being pulled back.

— “If anything happens, call me right away, Mr. Terumi!” Celica waved in the air as she left, but Terumi did not respond while everyone disappeared into the back.

Then Terumi bent over and spat out all the tea he had drunk along the way.

The side passage was short; it wasn't long before the crew reached the end.

At the end of the dark, uneven pass was a breathtakingly tall, spacious hall in a slightly crooked circular shape. Straight walls led upward to what most drew everyone's eyes: while the floor, walls, and ceiling were all bare dirt, the ceiling had been carved into a domed shape, studded with sparkling pale blue lights.

— “So pretty…!” Celica spoke first, utterly enchanted by the sight; like a starry sky.

— Anyone looking closer could see the light came from small crystals protruding from the soil. But that didn't deter the wonder that came from this hall, a spectacle that could touch into the soul.

— “What is this?” Valkenhayn gasped, more stunned than amazed.

— “It’s gorgeous!”

While on Suzukaka's shoulders, Totokaka looked up and opened her mouth in awe.

Trinity also conjured a small measuring circle from her palm; the circle had a weak response.

— “There’s almost no seithr here. I don’t think I’ve been anywhere this clean — not even in Ishana!”

— “Is it that light…?” Jubei asked.

— “Pretty sure it is.” Nine answered, “that light… might have the same power as Celica.”

The power to neutralize seithr.

— “Is this what you were looking for, Lord Hakumen…?” Valkenhayn asked, but instead of answering, Hakumen looked on at the ceiling.

The lights of the crystals began glowing and dimming in a rhythm; expanding and contracting, like they were breathing. In response to those “breaths”, Celica became enveloped in a pale light.

— “Huh…? What’s going on?”

While Nine immediately braced herself, Nirvana showed no reaction. She seemed to know this was not harmful to Celica.

The light surrounding Celica slowly synchronized to the rhythm of the lights on the ceiling, breathing in the same cadence. She looked at her own hands wide-eyed, while the light covered her body down to the fingertips. It made her feel at ease.

— “Hakumen, what’s going on?” Nine stepped closer, asking impatiently. “What’s that light doing?”

— “It’s… an antibody.”

— “Antibody?” Celica said, tilting her head while still wreathed in light.

— “This power was created by the planet, to counter the seithr eroding it… just like yours, Celica A. Mercury.” Hakumen explained, turning towards the glowing Celica. — “This entire planet has the same power as you do, naturally.” — He sounded unusually distant and soft-spoken. It wasn’t a tone anyone would expect from Hakumen. — “It’s called… the Power of Order.”

Even if no one else understood what Hakumen meant, he said it with so much conviction behind his expressionless mask that they still found it intriguing. It was how the lights on the ceiling resonated and synchronized with Celica.

And then…

From the end of the railroad tracks, footsteps approached with enough force to suck the air out of the place. It was one from the Kaka Clan, who’d followed their scent and trail.

— “ LORD MITSUYOSHI!! ”

Covered in dust, she rushed into the crystalline hall, stopping right in front of Jubei. She soon raised her face with an impatient look, rare among the Kaka Clan.

— “It’s an emergency! The OLN... and the Ten Sages of Ishana… are planning a secret operation!”

— “The Ten Sages…” Soon, it dawned on Jubei. “Oh, no! Seven and Eight! ”

— “What’s going on?” Nine stepped closer and asked.

Seeing the sharp look on Nine’s face, the Kaka liaison’s tail twitched briefly. But she immediately spoke up, flapping her hands at Jubei.

— “I heard they moved a brickload of refugees somewhere… tens of thousands of them!”

— “Understood. We’ll look into this hall another day. Right, Hakumen?” Jubei nodded sternly and turned to Hakumen.

Hakumen then took one look at Celica, who was still bathed in light; he nodded with urgency and followed Jubei out.

### Part 6

As soon as they returned to the Kaka village, Celica, Nine, Trinity, Jubei, Hakumen, Valkenhain, and Terumi, plus Suzukaka and several other Kaka, gathered around a table with a large map spread over it, surprisingly authentic and detailed; the Kaka used it during strategic meetings.

They found out that the refugees had been given a new home in a city within Asia, fortunately out of the Black Beast's reach for the moment. The city's location and name, given by the Kaka messenger, made Nine's already grim face stiffen even more.

— “You sure about this?”

— “Absolutely! I heard earlier that the refugees have already been relocated.”

The leadership of the OLN could also determine where the countless refugees, who lost their homes to the Black Beast, would go. But that meant tens of thousands of refugees; too many at once... and counting.

— “Never thought something like this could happen…” Nine bit her lip in frustration. It was too easy to imagine what could happen with so many people rounded up in one place, in a world full of beasts of seithr that could literally sniff out the lives of people.

— “Are they trying to use the refugees… to lure out the Black Beast?” Jubei grimaced in disbelief and snarled.

— “That’s so horrible…!” Trinity's hands trembled in fear. Those people were being treated like bait for capturing game; dozens of thousands of lives hanging in a net, waiting for black fangs to bite into them. And waiting in the wings were people who knew exactly how disposable they were: the Orbis Librarius Norma.

— “Would they really…?” — Hakumen muttered, his voice rumbling through the air, and turned to the group. — “There’s no guarantee that it will work, gathering so many people. The Black Beast could show up somewhere else, for all they know. Are they really going to ignore that and wait for the Beast to take the bait there?”

Hakumen wondered if they were truly that foolish. One wrong move, and only the bait they'd prepared would be saved. Just gathering refugees was not enough; this trap was not thought out well.

Terumi immediately brushed those doubts aside, putting his feet up on the table with a careless look — like nothing had happened to him on the way to the cave.

— “No, no, no, buddy, look. With so much tasty bait right next to the den, even that Beast is gonna follow a smell that strong… with a Cauldron right next to it.”

A Cauldron...

Only then, it dawned on Hakumen. Celica was still confused, however.

— “Wait. Black Beasts usually show up near places with Cauldrons in them, right? If the Black Beast comes out of that Cauldron, won’t it reach the city before we can stop it?”

— “That’s most likely.” Nine answered, clearly and calmly, but with audible resentment.

— “But what would they gain from luring it out? Do they even stand a chance?” Valkenhayn crossed his arms and leaned his chin on one fist.

Though the OLN had complete jurisdiction over Ars Magus, it was hard to imagine that that technology had made any exponential progress since the last battle. Jubei frowned roughly and shook his head.

— “They should know from the last battle that Ars Magus won’t be enough to destroy the Black Beast. They could probably use Take-Mikazuchi… but that can’t be used without Celica, can it?”

— “It can.” Nine answered tersely. She shook her head, long hair sliding off her shoulders. Amid many puzzled gazes, Nine stood out, like she was trying to squeeze in another word. — “Take-Mikazuchi can be summoned without Celica, but it’ll be impossible to control.”

— “…and what happens after that?” Hakumen asked, rising from his seat.

A quiet silence filled the place, and Nine balled her hand up into a fist.

— “Tens of thousands of souls… will be consumed on the spot.”

The tension in Nine’s words cut the air like a knife.

Trinity gasped and clutched her trembling hands to her chest, about to burst into tears.

— “Wait… they’re rounding up those refugees to lure out the Black Beast… and summon Take-Mikazuchi?!”

Nobody nodded, but their affirmation was obvious.

Celica kicked over a chair and stood up, then slammed her hands on the table with a loud bang.

— “Then let’s hurry! We have to be there for the refugees, before the worst happens!”

— “Of course. Let’s go!” Nine brushed a stray strand of hair off her back and rose to her feet. She crossed her arms over her chest and continued, looking sharply at Celica — “...except you. You’ll stay in the village.”

— “No!!” Celica answered in indignation.

A deep wrinkle formed in Nine’s brows. Her fingers tapped against her crossed arms, visibly irritated.

— “Don’t ‘no’ me! We’re going to a city with a dozens of thousands of refugees, and our numbers are only a fraction of that. Even if this wasn’t about the Black Beast, it’d be too dangerous for you.”

— “Then what’s Nirvana good for?!”

— “What—” Nine was at a loss for words. Celica rushed over to her side…

— “It’s not like I can’t use magic! I can still protect myself from normal people that aren’t mages or soldiers!”

Hands firmly held together, Celica did not waver even slightly; the light in her eyes never faded.

— “If I go there, I might even draw out the Black Beast! I can even prevent Take-Mikazuchi’s summoning from killing all those people—!”

— “No way I’ll let you do that…” Nine’s voice suddenly trembled, clearly about to cry. Celica lost that bravado and became confused.

But Nine looked at Celica sternly enough to hold back her tears, digging her fingers into tightly folded arms.

— “…look, I get it. You want to see him again. So, stop putting yourself in harm’s way, ‘cause if you die… you’ll never get to do that.”

Now Celica was the one lost for words.

Maybe it was a glimpse of the feelings Nine had been hiding. She bit down tightly to hold back the torrent of feelings that threatened to spill out, and swallowed them down — even if some of them had already slipped.

She had been protecting Celica so tightly to make her wish come true — to see him again.

Only then, did it dawn on Celica. She was not sad or hurt; Nine’s words had touched her too deeply.

— “I do want to see him… that’s why I want to go.”

Celica hurriedly wiped the corners of her eyes and lifted her face, trying not to cry. She set her back straight, and without hesitation, cast her gaze straight ahead.

— “During the last battle, just like Miss Rachel said… I felt like he was within the Beast. I’m still not sure, but I can only know if I go.”

She aired her feelings with her hands over her chest. Whatever Nine had to say, Celica still had a firm goal to reach…

— “I want to see the Black Beast, just this once.”

It was not a plea or a demand; Celica just had her mind made up.

Nine’s brows dropped down in clear anguish. In the last battle, the Black Beast was the only threat anticipated — but this time, there were many more parties to keep in mind: the Black Beast; Seven; Nine; the Ten Sages; the Orbis Librarius Norma…

Before she knew it, Hakumen stepped forward and placed his hand on Celica’s shoulder, as if to push the hesitation out of Nine.

— “I’ll stay with you. Let’s go.”

Celica’s face lit up, hearing his voice from that blank white mask. Seeing that, Nine let out a heavy, suffocated sigh. She should have expected this of Celica. Now Nine could no longer refuse. At the very least, she wanted Celica to see the person she wanted to see, with no smoke or mirrors. If the only way there was to take her to a dangerous war zone, she would take responsibility for any risk that came to Celica. Not as the team leader, but as Celica's older sister.

— “Hey, Hakumen.” Nine growled, “If I see even one scratch on Celica, you’ll pay for it.”

She tossed her hair and walked out of the hut, with everyone else following — plus ten Kaka natives who offered to help in the battle. They all stood together on a massive magic circle conjured by Nine.

While listening to Nine chanting her spell, in the deep purple light of the magic sigil, Celica prayed with her hands over her chest — that these people would come back home safe and sound and never be alone again; maybe every last one of them.

...

### 032. Chapter 5: Hope and Despair on the Green Hilltop

## Chapter V: Doom at the Green Hills

### Part 1

Tens of thousands of refugees from all around the world had already moved before the setting sun painted the western skies. The city chosen as their destination was surrounded by walls of stone, which told distant tales of its origins as a fortress. However, the old walls were filled with shallow cracks, more weathered than solid.

Outside the city's walls, a blond man wearing a purple cone-shaped hat stood with about a dozen men in military garb: Seven was there after all. With his fingertips pushing up thin glasses, he relayed detailed instructions to his subordinates, the guards of the Orbis Librarius Norma. Soon, Eight walked up to them, with her long turquoise hair under a purple hat like Seven's and the long cape over her tight dress fluttering in the air.

— “I’ve done my part… what about yours?” Eight asked.

— Just finished mine,” Seven answered.

Seven sounded calm and peaceful, as if Eight had not just tried to lord over him. He looked at the surrounding walls with a thin, graceful smile.

— “The entrance is sealed. It's a simple ward, so we don't waste too much mana; but it should be enough to keep out everyone that isn't a mage.”

— “That’s just a bait pen.” Eight snapped sarcastically, looking out onto the town while raising her eyebrows lightly. Her sarcasm was directed at Seven, who had proposed a blockade of the city, but he did not take her words personally.

— “It’s what’s needed.”

Seven turned on his heel and headed for his position, somewhere he could see the town more clearly from the hills at its outskirts. Eight followed suit, fingertips tracing her large swaying earrings.

— “If it works, the lives we’ll save will vastly outnumber the sacrifices here… I just hope this is over quickly.”

— “I’m with you there.” Eight answered coldly, staring wide-eyed at Seven before her.

Even Seven was doing everything he could to save mankind from the Black Beast. Eight understood this drive and believed they shared that goal; but his behavior was too unpredictable for her to let her guard down.

When they arrived at their planned position, Seven and Eight split their guards across three functions: escort, recon, and aides. From their higher ground, they were able to peek into the town, but the old city walls still got in their way. The city had a complex topography, with many stone buildings and intricate alleys. The country that had claimed this land was long gone, leaving it under no jurisdiction — meaning the Orbis Librarius Norma now had full jurisdiction over it.

It was now full of refugees, who had been pushed into the city without any warning or information. Even when this town had thrived, it would never have held this many people.

Soon, it would not hold any more.

A frightening amount of screams polluted the air, coming from the town. Seven and Eight looked up to see a dark mist erupting from the other side of the town and fading into the sky.

— “It’s starting…!” — Seven said. Eight let out a bewitching smile from her plump lips; she wouldn’t let him take the spotlight.

— “Let’s start… over there.”

It was an excellent opportunity to not only free all of humanity from despair, but also gain absolute respect as a mage.

By the time Nine's party landed on that capital city somewhere in Asia, the fires were already raging. The first thing they stumbled upon was the screams; like they’d been shoved in a jar filled with uncontrollable chaos. The chaotic crowds stagnated in idle strife, and sounds of objects breaking and cracking could be heard from everywhere. People ran for their lives, with nowhere to go. Their faces twisted with fear only to see a massive monster looming just outside the city walls: the Black Beast.

The dark mist looked thick, concentrated; with red streaks of light over it, like pulsing blood vessels. Eight heads, each with a long, thick neck so large that even one could end all hope, rose over the land – and they stirred against the plumes of smoke rising and merging into the leaden sky.

Everyone who looked on shuddered in mind-shattering terror. The sun was setting over the world.

— “We’re too late…”

Celica panicked. Her heart pounded, and she choked on her breath with her eyes on the giant in the flood of refugees. Her deep brown eyes were wide as a bug's, with fear inevitably welling up in their depths. Nirvana took her in a hug, shielding her from the waves of chaos. Celica did thank her, but her voice was drowned out by more screams.

They'd landed close to the center of the city. Even though it was still far from the edge of the city, the Black Beast was still so massive it made the people below look like grains of sand. Its presence could overwhelm anyone's sense of distance.

— “This is awful… they didn’t even wait.” Nine raised her eyebrows in disgust, and the Kaka girls, Suzukaka included, raised their tails as they prepared to fight for their lives.

Jubei, too, was brimming with hostility; he didn’t want to let his guard down. On the other hand, Terumi had a smile on his lips, clearing his throat with a rancid creak.

— “Man… these people are falling apart, huh? They’re pretty much dead already!”

Celica turned around with a stern look, and Terumi then looked away with an exaggerated turn.

Suddenly, Hakumen turned around... and the next moment, the scent of roses wafted through the air.

— “You are so late… what took you so long?” Spoke the voice of a sweet, innocent girl.

— “Madame Rachel!” Valkenhayn said, gasping with surprise.

The girl stood on the roof of a house, wearing a rose-scented perfume. She was dressed in a luxurious black dress; and her glossy blonde hair hung down like a silk ribbon, held up on either side by black ribbons styled to look like a rabbit’s ears.

Rachel Alucard had a grace and elegance that betrayed her young visage, as a vampire who lived in a castle of endless night.

— “You took so long, I was about to leave for home…” Rachel said.

— “And… you’re just watching? Why won’t you do something?!” Hakumen snapped, looking up at Rachel. Celica’s eyes widened in shock at Hakumen; she rarely ever saw him get so emotional. Rachel herself, however, looked cold before Hakumen’s boiling heat.

— “How is any of this up to me? It's your job to save the day, o' mighty hero.”

— “Let me guess – you're just staying there until you get tired?”

— “My apologies... I am only a spectator. And surely you have more important matters to worry about... look behind you!”

As if to urge Hakumen on, Rachel's crimson eyes turned to behold the reality of a heartless, hopeless apocalypse.

A sluggish roar shook the entire city into ruin. As the Black Beast plunged into the city walls, the stone that had once repelled so many armies crumbled like candy. Trinity staggered back, having cast a simple magical ward on the crew, and Valkenhayn helped her to her feet. With a roar of soul-rending hate, the Black Beast swung its head around and rampaged, crushing everything in its sight.

Then, a rain of light poured down on the terrifying giant; not from the same direction as Nine's party.

It was not magic; it was Ars Magus.

The first wave of fire fell on the Black Beast's feet; the next wave came from the opposite direction, aiming for its main body. The troops were numerous, likely twice as many as the Ars Magus forces Nine had led in the previous battle. They were deployed all over the city, among the fleeing refugees.

After taking in the approximate location by tracing the signs of Ars Magus, Nine frowned in anguish. She realized the Orbis Librarius Norma had no intention of ending the chaos caused by the clash between the Black Beast and the Ars Magus unit.

— “All units are in town... they'll even sacrifice their own subordinates?”

— “What now, Nine? The Black Beast's a big load to bear, but the refugees must be evacuated fast.” Jubei spoke up, bitterly and quickly, ready to run at any moment.

But Hakumen answered first.

— “Split into two groups: assault and evac. Trinity, Valkenhayn, and Terumi – evacuate the refugees!”

— “Oh, uh... yes, sir!” Trinity answered, nodding her head at the unexpected orders. Valkenhayn also nodded, but in disbelief.

— “Hey, hey, hey! Hah-koo- MAYNE's feeling motivated now!”

Hakumen did not pay attention to Terumi's obnoxious remark. He stepped forward, not in the mood to argue.

— “...what?” Hakumen asked, his voice clouded with doubt; slightly hostile, as if to say, "get out of the way."

The hostile air put even Nine on edge.

— “If we're splitting up, there's still one more thing we can do...” Nine said, “Terumi! Look for Seven and Eight. If you find them, stop their summoning!”

— “Who? Me?” Terumi said with a grin, while pointing at himself with a thin, bony finger. — “You sure...? Let me at it, then. You know, maybe I'll find Seven and Hayter or whatever they're called. You know?”

— “Okay, here's what you're going to do: do as I tell you, and nothing more. That's a fucking order! ”

— “...damn, girl. What's your deal?”

Nine's clear words tightened her rigid pressure over Terumi. His smile quickly faded, and he fled the scene.

— “Leaving this city will not be so easy... the entrance is sealed by a paling.” Rachel said, descending from the roof like rose petals falling to the ground. Her elegant looks and finely tailored dress stuck out like a sore thumb among the chaos in the city.

Nine answered Rachel's calm words with an irritated sigh. Her eyes turned to the city walls...

— “Seven... that bastard. He made this so it'll only work on forces coming from the inside. That's on the whole wall!”

— “Don't worry about it... we got this. Even if it's the Ten Sages we're dealing with.” — Trinity clasped her hands, her green eyes shining brightly.

Nine's eyes flashed with a sentimental glint at Trinity's reassuring words before she nodded.

— “Indeed, Trinity... I trust you.”

— “Yeah!”

When Trinity smiled, so did Nine. The mere sight of Nine so relaxed warmed the blonde's heart.

— “Let's go, Lady Trinity.” — Valkenhayn said, approaching Trinity. — "Please excuse me, Madame Rachel."

Met with a bow from Valkenhayn, Rachel narrowed her crimson gaze, as if to look off to the distance.

— “I'll be watching you... and your battle.” — Rachel said, disappearing just as she appeared: cloaked in the scent of roses. She likely went off elsewhere in the town.

With the faint scent on them, Valkenhayn and Trinity left for their posts.

— “Celica!” Nine exclaimed, turning to Celica. When their stares met, Celica tensed her posture in Nirvana's arms.

— “Please... stay with Hakumen. And never leave Nirvana's side.”

— “Okay... I promise you.”

— “And Nirvana ― take care of Celica.”

— “...”

Celica gave a determined nod, while Nirvana returned only silence. Then, Celica lifted her chin to see how she looked, and her eyes met Nirvana's glassy stare.

Celica smiled, before Nirvana's large hand softly rested on Celica's head.

Another large building collapsed. The ground shook and the Ars Magus practically exploded, pouring down on the ground. Turning around, Nine put on her triangular hat again.

— “The Kaka girls will cover for us. If there's anyone that can't escape, at least take them to safety.”

— “Aaaall right. Can't wait to go feral on that sucker!” Suzukaka said, carrying a massive club on her back.

— “You take it easy too, girl.” Jubei drew out his sword in preparation, shooting an apprehensive look at Nine.

Nine intended on casting a massive teleportation spell, but was in far from perfect condition; regardless, she brushed off Jubei's worries with a lock of her hair over her shoulder. — “Don't worry about it. Just try not to get caught up in my spell.”

Jubei was not sure if she meant it or was just bluffing. He could never read Nine's mind, but her strong words gave him enough confidence to challenge the terrifying beast to come.

— “Sure, I'll take care.”

So, they would return with their strength gathered, and run together towards the raging Black Beast.

A few steps back...

— “...if it fights, so do we.” Hakumen said, encouraging his hesitant companion.

People screamed incessantly from the town center, and they ran through wildly without looking where they went. Like they were not breathing air, but fear itself. If the Black Beast's presence was causing this, how overwhelming was the terror?

Hakumen looked on as Celica tensed up, continuing...

— “Let's go meet him.”

She was not going to fight him, or even to trap him. Celica was ready to make the choice.

— “Right!”

Away she went, to meet the Black Beast.

She could not afford to waste this opportunity; Celica knew she was not likely to get more like this.

Celica ran with all her might under Nirvana's protection, while Hakumen dashed through the crowd unrelentingly.

### Part 2

When the jet-black mass came within visible distance, Nine braked on her slim high heels and released an orb of light from her hands. When the orb came out, it swelled up and discharged violently, scraping off the cobblestone pavement on the ground as it shot up to the Black Beast's throat. A violent, eardrum-rupturing sonic boom exploded from the burst, and a ball of thunder, so potent as to shock the air, went away to tear out the Beast's throat.

Its eight heads writhed in pain from the seithr-splitting electric discharge. A gut-wrenching roar came down, with more stress than met the eye. While Nine protected herself from the seithr bleeding out of the beast with a magical ward, Jubei jumped out from Nine's side with a katana in hand. Suzukaka and other Kaka warriors chased after the feline, as they all lunged at the mass of darkness.

Jubei's slashes were as fast as they were sharp. Without magic to float him in the air, he ran circles around the Black Beast, slashing at its body with his sword and his claws. The seithr that scattered in front of Jubei was nothing to him.

Shaking off Nine's thunderous spell, one of the Black Beast's necks went to swing at Jubei. It was too large to be like a whip, but it went for Jubei far faster than a human could see ― but not fast enough for a cat. Right when the Beast was about to hit Jubei, he landed on its swinging neck and quickly stabbed the thick dark shell.

— “Jubei!” Nine shouted from below, prompting him to turn around.

Another head thrashed at Jubei, like it was trying to squash a bug on its hand. The snake-like head opened its mouth wide and bared its jet-black fangs.

— “Damn it...!”

His sword was stuck to the other neck that had just tried to strike him. Jubei pulled out the blade with all his strength to slide away, but for that brief moment, he was cornered.

The black fangs bit down at the other neck, just as Suzukaka's club slammed down on it. The hit was dull, but hard enough to give Jubei a quick way out. As the head thrashed wildly, Jubei jumped off and returned to the ground with Suzukaka.

— “Holy sh—!” Jubei immediately braced himself and clicked his tongue, as his limbs trembled with sword still in one hand.

Though he knew he had no reason to hesitate or be afraid to fight, the closer he got to the Black Beast, the more Jubei was robbed of his strength by sheer terror. He felt like his soul was being torn out from his body. Jubei was frightened by the mere thought that the Black Beast would consume the souls of those it killed. Nine shared his fear, even though she was farther away from the Beast. Her face tensed up as she rapidly fired arrows of fire and ice, and her breath hitched, but not by exhaustion.

— “Ugh...!”

If she did not stop casting spells, she would freeze up in fear. Mentally she cursed out the Beast, while Nine weaved a bigger light. She shot out a spear of light, wide as a freeway, and it pierced one of the monster's heads with great force, right between the eyes.

The beast's head raged wildly from the pain, and slammed against the surrounding buildings until their massive debris scattered to the ground like cannonballs. One massive chunk of rubble fell in the direction of Celica, who ran at Hakumen's side.

She gasped in terror, and prepared to let out a shriek — but as she rubbed her own eyes, she noticed Nirvana had caught up to her and seized the debris with her long, bulky arms.

— “Oh... thank you! I was so scared...”

Nirvana carelessly tossed the rubble back at the Black Beast; the chunk of concrete was about the size of a small bedroom. It slammed into the beast's torso, and cracked as it landed on the ground.

— “Are you okay?” Hakumen asked, turning his neck to get a look.

— “I am... but those people...!”

Celica looked to her side, to see a person lying on the ground behind a collapsed building. One more look, and she could see into another building and the entrance to an alleyway.

Celica choked on her own breath, and she felt her throat burn.

— “They might be still alive!!”

As soon as Celica said it, she ran off without hesitation, with Nirvana following as usual.

She knelt down beside the person lying face-down, then leaned over to check for a pulse. Celica called out several times, face clouded with grief. But then she clasped her hands, stained with blood and sand, and turned to the next figure.

Hakumen watched, and found himself stunned. Even though Celica had ached to see him again, she was immediately sidetracked by something that drew the slightest attention. She was too easy to lure — much like the rampaging giant before the group.

— “...so, this jet-black calamity is just bait for me?” Hakumen muttered under his mask and looked up high. The beast's eight heads were still in good health, and no amount of damage could slow them down.

— “Fine. I'll take the bait.”

He turned toward the Black Beast like a flickering white flame, and with his hands on the nodachi behind his back, Hakumen took a soaring leap. He leapt in a single bound over the town's walls, sealed by a magical ward, and as he landed on dry grounds, he looked in the direction of what he'd sensed.

South of where he'd left the town, Seven and Eight stood atop a gently steep hill. Maybe it wasn't what he'd sensed, but who. By looking for extraordinary sources of magic, he would find the Ten Sages easily — and those two were among them.

He pulled his lips into a chuckle, as the small figures of his prone targets entered his sight. The sandy wind almost snatched his hood away, but he held it down with a flick of his finger.

— “Hehehehe… that lady's a real airhead. With an order like that, she really thought I'd make it in time for the summoning…”

Nine's instructions had been to find Seven and Eight, and if he found them, interrupt the summoning of Take-Mikazuchi... and do nothing else.

— “Well, if it's too late to stop them, what the FUCK do I do?”

Terumi laughed so hard, it made his throat quiver. As he continued to laugh, whoever was listening replied to him…

— “***************.”

The voice, unlike Terumi's, was soft and meek. But the actual words said knew how to ease Terumi's mood.

— “Ohhhhhh, right... I get it. Just go with the flow and all that. That said... I got a bit of business to take care of.”

Terumi turned his head, exasperated. Yes, it was just a bit of business.

— “Hey... I think I talked too long.”

As if cued by Terumi's words, a fiery red magic sigil appeared on the slope before the town. The sigil was so massive, it took a while to even complete, and a crimson light slid across the ground like magma bursting. Seven and Eight were manipulating the sigil, and of course, they were summoning Take-Mikazuchi.

Without Celica A. Mercury to control it, Take-Mikazuchi would indiscriminately consume all life within that walled bait pen, feed on it, and irradiate it to burn everything to the ground.

Seven and Eight would not dare let it be controlled, but rather feed it human souls and fire at the Black Beast with full power.

— “Even if I run now, I can't make it back in time...”

Perhaps Terumi had to just go with the flow. His first course of action would be to find a seat for the coming show.

— “Ah, fuck it. What's tonight's presentation?! AHAHAHAHAHA!” Terumi's boots violently kicked the dirt below before he disappeared.

A massive black arm rose out of the magic sigil, clinging to the barren lands…

### Part 3

A cold chill ran through Celica, and she stopped in her tracks — as if something was holding her back. She immediately held herself in her arms; it was like all her blood was being sucked out of her body. She felt herself tremble, losing strength from her knees, but just as she was about to collapse, Nirvana took her in her arms.

As she leaned against Nirvana's cold, metallic chest, Celica remembered — this was how she felt when she was trapped in a magic circle.

Maybe it was the lack of a magic circle, or the magical ward cast on her by Trinity, but Celica was not as disoriented as that other time. But she still dreaded this feeling of powerlessness. It was the same summoning as that horrible day. The cacophony of screams was different from last time; looking around, she saw people fallen all over the town. Not because of Ars Magus or the Black Beast; and nothing had collapsed on them, either.

— “What happened?!”

She hurried over to a young woman nearby, kneeling down to help her up. Celica then held her hand and applied healing magic — but nothing healed, and not for a lack of mana. This unknown woman, like all others around her, was dead — as if the life had been sucked out of them.

Nirvana pulled Celica into her arms and picked her up, away from the corpse.

The entire village, which was filled with hellish screams and cried for help...

fell silent.

For better or worse, there were only a few faint voices from survivors left.

— “Oh… oh my God…”

The passing of the shock made Celica forget that she’d been trembling.

A terrifying wind blowed…

With Hakumen back from facing the Black Beast, he turned his face to the distance.

— “…it’s Take-Mikazuchi.”

And then… A voice… Echoed.

Everything was pierced by that voice — the skies, the lands, the air, the sands, gravity itself, and all seithr. The roar sent shudders all over the scene, and dazed the minds of everyone still alive with an inconceivable shock. In Nirvana’s arms, Celica turned her head to behold the source of the sound.

Outside the town, there was a massive humanoid shadow, as tall as a small mountain. It was made of shades of black all over, with dark red streaks running through its skin like exposed blood vessels. The mere sight was so overwhelming, everyone who saw it was trapped where they stood, broken with fear.

— “It really is Take-Mikazuchi…” Celica whispered, dumbfounded.

She had only heard about it from Trinity. This was the man-made weapon that repelled the Black Beast, in the battle that made Celica faint. She wondered if this could even be called a weapon…

The giant, which looked just like a living creature, slammed its hands on the ground faster than its size would give away. On all fours, it opened its mouth wide to reveal a white magic circle, which rotated to lock on to its target, as it gathered enough light to scorch the Black Beast’s torso in a single blow. It wasn’t long before the light was ready to fire…

But the eight-headed Black Beast disappeared into a haze.

— “What?!” Celica yelled, while Hakumen looked around in bewilderment.

Only a minute ago, the entire village had been overcome with terror and blistering with death — but it was like the Beast had never even been there. Take-Mikazuchi was just as confused as Celica and Hakumen, having lost sight of its target and stopped moving. The light that had been stored in its mouth disappeared, reabsorbed into the darkness of its own body.

Everyone held their breaths. There was no telling what would happen next.

Then the Black Beast lunged behind Take-Mikazuchi, and with all its eight heads, it bit down hard on the man-made weapon. Four heads attacked its shoulders; one, the arms; two, the waist; and the last was coiled around Take-Mikazuchi’s neck. One of the heads eventually bit into the weapon’s side, tearing away at its armor like flesh from prey. Its head was bent in the wrong direction by the Beast’s strangling. Two of the Beast’s heads pulled back forcefully, trying to rip Take-Mikazuchi’s left arm off its shoulder with a heavy creaking sound.

If only the witnesses to this brutal beatdown knew how unreal it was. The black giants were practically merged into a massive shadow against the orange sky; a scene beyond anything in this world, like a nightmare no one would ever wake up from.

— “Eight! Eight!”

A dry sound rang, and Eight realized she was being sent for. Taking a breath, she turned around to look, only to see Seven’s white-gloved hand hit her with a merciless slap.

— “Ugh, that hurt! What are you doing?!” Eight shouted; she knew this wasn’t that kind of situation.

While Seven was good at appearing cold and calm, now he sported an angry frown. He tossed his hair back, and with cloak wildly billowing, he grunted aloud with loud, forceful steps.

— “I can’t afford to lose this. We have to send it back!”

— “Take-Mikazuchi, back in the circle?” Eight said, “but if it goes back in, there won’t be any life force left to summon it again!”

— “We’ll just get more!”

The dark giant struggled hard and lashed out, trying to tear the Black Beast off its body. It flailed its arms, until it grabbed one of the Beast's necks and ripped the head off by force.

Torn from its roots, the Black Beast was hurled toward the town, shattering its walls to pieces. But by then, Take-Mikazuchi's massive body keeled over in pain, even while it yanked off the head that had bit into its sides.

— " GET ON WITH IT! " Seven yelled angrily.

— " I'M ON IT! You don't have to yell!" Eight snapped back with a sharp glare, while she thrust her hands forward. She immediately concentrated and began chanting a spell.

Out of the corner of her eye, Take-Mikazuchi tore off another one of the Black Beast's heads and fell to the ground, engulfing the town fast. Seven and Eight's voices conjured a spell as one, summoning a magic circle under the fallen Take-Mikazuchi. The circle glowed red as wildfire, with its lines formed from cracks on the earth; like a volcanic eruption about to happen. While the ground quaked violently, Take-Mikazuchi's body was slowly swallowed up, like iron melting in fire...

...and the Black Beast with it.

— “STOP THAT SPELL!”

At the bottom of the gently sloped hill where Seven and Eight stood, Nine and Jubei made a blazing entry, the witch shouting at the top of her voice and the catkin pulling out his sword. Jubei ran up the hill in a flash and swung his sword at Seven's arm, only for the mage to flee into a curtain of water. The water's pressure was stronger than it looked; Jubei's sword lost its momentum, only leaving enough to graze Seven's arm softly.

— “Argh…!”

Seven grunted at the bit of pain he still felt, and he used the water to hide from Jubei. At the same time, Nine, who had teleported to the top of the hill, threw a lightning bolt at Eight, drawing her attention. A loud crackle pierced the air...

— “MIND YOUR BUSINESS!!” Eight shouted hysterically, swinging a thorny whip at Nine.

Yellow rose petals scattered from the sky, falling like gravel from a mountain. All were burned with a wall of flame, before Nine teleported in front of Eight again and grabbed at her furcoat.

— “Get Take-Mikazuchi back, now!”

— “Are you kidding me?! GET OFF!”

— “The hell I am—”

— “NINE!” Jubei called out sharply.

Jubei stared down the hill wide-eyed, His sword was pointed at Seven, who raised his arms in surrender. Neither Seven nor Eight had cast their spell already; if they ever cared for it. Even then, Take-Mikazuchi didn’t stop sinking into the massive magic circle under it. The tremors grew louder, close to earth-splitting levels, until everyone could barely stand upright; Eight lost her balance and fell on her hips.

— “Oh, God, no…” Seven cried in frustration, “the Black Beast is falling in the circle too?!”

Only then, did he realize how bizarre the situation was. Eight’s hand rose before her mouth in shock.

— “It can’t be…!”

— “Nine, what’s going on?!” Jubei asked, his hairs standing on end.

There was a sense of pressure, as if something was expanding…

When Jubei asked his question, Nine channeled lightning magic through her outstretched arms.

— “It’s trying to bust into Take-Mikazuchi’s hangar; and that can already barely hold the thing!”

Nine shot a ball of lightning at the Black Beast, so large it shocked even its surroundings.

— “I have to get it away right now!” She had to get the Beast off of Take-Mikazuchi at all costs.

Jubei only answered with an understanding nod before running off. The closer he got, the more vivid and overwhelming the terror felt, but he shook it off through sheer, stubborn courage. This was no time for cowardice. He had to get closer, no matter how dangerous this was…

But Nine could not unleash another magic lightning bolt.

Jubei could not get within slashing range.

Trinity had finally lifted the paling around the town, but she could not step outside.

Valkenhayn could not jump over the castle’s walls after a warning from Rachel.

Hakumen could not dash in to swing his sword.

Celica could not throw herself in front of the beast.

They were all too late.

Take-Mikazuchi and the Black Beast were plunged deep into the magic circle, before a devastating storm of seithr exploded in a silent black smog.

### Part 4

Darkness…

Rather, everything looked black.

Celica awoke from her slumber and tried to look around herself. She looked above, below, to the right, to the left — but all she saw was black. It was hard to even tell where she was, or how wide this place was. It was a complete mystery… and for some unknown reason, it was terrifying. Like the complete blackness all around was seeping into her body and paralyzing her with fear. Though it wasn't cold, her body shivered. Her legs shook, even though nothing actively made them so. She choked.

— “S-... sister?” Celica called out from beyond the darkness, helpless and inconsolable. — “Nirvana...? Hakumen?!”

No one answered. In fact, Celica started to believe there was no one there but herself. She was afraid that she had been swept away... she could not understand. It scared her to death. The terror filled her chest to the brim, to the point she could barely move under its weight.

But it dawned on her — she had felt this fear before.

— “…Black Beast?”

Celica spoke aloud while she shuddered in the dark.

Indeed — the Black Beast. This fear, startling and overwhelming, was always felt everytime she came face-to-face with this horrifying goliath. Celica gasped and realized — maybe she was within the Black Beast. She braced herself and took another look around.

Wherever Celica walked, it didn't get any brighter. But she did remember what happened before everything faded to black: she was in that walled city. At the end of an open street, close to the center of the town, she was among a heap of dead bodies, being held in Nirvana's arms. Hakumen was close by, but as soon as he sensed something off, he told Celica to get away and ran off like a white gust of wind. She could not understand, and was at a loss about what to do.

While holding Celica in her arms, Nirvana ran straight to the town entrance — whether on Hakumen's orders or just a gut feeling.

Before Nirvana could pass through the main street, the city was hit by a violent earthquake that only got worse with every second. The town was engulfed in a wave of black fog, so thick it completely blocked Celica's vision.

And when she opened her eyes, here she was.

— “This black fog… what if…?”

Seithr, maybe. She had seen it erupt from the ground multiple times before.

Black Beasts were drawn to seithr; where there was seithr, they would appear. Maybe this fog was the tremendous amount of seithr that made up the Black Beast, burying everything in Celica's sight. It was the seithr that had gathered up again — Celica had little doubt that she was inside of the Black Beast.

The darkness around her seemed to stagnate, but it was swirling all around. The oppressive lull around Celica was made of hate, hostility, and rage. Painful, sad emotions entered Celica like oxygen into her lungs. Little doubt though she had, it was still doubt.

— The Black Beast is sad… no, it’s full of hate.

Hate against what, and who?

The darkness ate away at the questions in her mind, and bared its invisible fangs to swallow even Celica. This presence was like a murderous intent to eat Celica alive; it shook her to the core with fear.

— “I’m not scared, I’m not scared, I’m not scared…” — Celica chanted, trying to reassure herself.

If this was inside the Black Beast… there was someone she still needed to find. If she didn’t take the initiative to search, when and how would she get to do it?

Even then, no matter how hard she thought about it, her heart was on the edge of collapsing under the fear surging towards her. How would she walk when she was so deeply hurt, she couldn’t even breathe right?

The rage around Celica pierced her even more coldly. She fell to her knees, unable to bear any more of it — until someone tugged at her arm, which had stiffened with fear, and held her close.

— “What—?”

This was just like déjà vu. She remembered it well.

The grip on her arm; the size of this hand; the feel of a glove…

When Celica was pulled, she naturally turned around. Her vision, which had been completely pitch-black until then, was filled with an eye-opening red. No more doubts.

— “R…”

A man much taller than Celica, with spiked white hair and a green eye, looked at her and yelled…

— “The hell are you doing here?!” With a sigh of relief, the girl remembered. She could never imagine this happening; he was finally here for her, to pull her out of the darkness. — “Ragna!!”

The moment Celica called out his name, the darkness faded away to reveal a different place with vivid colors.

She found herself in a dense forest, where the trees rested with ethereal colors to them. A clearing had been carved out between them, with old, dilapidated, seemingly vacant houses.

On the outskirts of this abandoned village, Celica and Ragna were surrounded by countless four-legged wild beasts, their height going up to the girl’s thigh.

— “This place…!” Celica said, taken aback by the view around her.

The beasts looked vaguely like rabid wolves drooling pus from their fangs, their needle-like fur stained with black soot. Like something out of Celica’s nightmares.

Ragna nodded, let go of Celica’s arm, and grabbed the large sword that was stuck to the ground.

— “Yeah… it’s like when we first met.”

— “But how? This place was pitch-black just now. Why are you here too, Ragna? Are you even real...?”

So many questions popped into Celica's mind, and she didn't know which one to ask first. But she asked what came to her head, and Ragna opened his mouth to answer them, only to give up.

— “One question at a time, you know." Ragna said, "For now, I'm the real deal... I think.”

— “What do you mean, 'you think'?!”

— “I just don't―I don't even know what I'm doing! I mean, are you real? When are you?”

With his sword still wielded in his left arm, Ragna shot a bewildered glance at Celica.

Celica's heart skipped a beat; his eye was green.

— “Hey! I am real!” Though she sounded indignant, she had no doubts about Ragna.

He was real.

His warm green left eye; his blunt, yet soft voice; the motionless right arm and unopened right eye; they were all the same as she'd remembered.

— “But what do you mean ‘when are you’?”

As he tried to answer Celica's question, Ragna swung his sword to block an attack.

— “Damn, these guys are annoying...!”

One beast snarled and lunged at Ragna, but its fangs were caught by his blade; soon it was thrown back, its blackened body slammed into the overgrown weeds on the ground. With a deafening scream, the monster stopped moving before its body crumbled into a black fog.

...only for more monsters to emerge from the bushes.

— “Y'know, there's a lot I wanted to ask... but this might not be the time, nor the place.”

Ragna was quickly proven right: the monsters leapt at him with harsh roars, one after the other, before he slashed them away with his massive sword.

— “Ragna, behind you!”

— “Got it, now step back!!”

Another one sprang out from behind a bush, and Ragna cleaved at it from below. The lupine beast closed the gap between them, only to be kicked to the side; it fainted from the blow. A large swing of Ragna's sword hit the bridge of a nose that thrust straight into it, drawing out a crunch of bones so sickening, it gushed out a rancid splatter of black blood.

The color and smell of that blood made the beasts so hungry, their eyes looked bloodshot. The sounds of bones and flesh colliding continued in a relentless rhythm, but the monsters did not slow down. They just kept coming.

— “Ragna…” Celica said, worried sick even while protected by Ragna.

The back of his red coat, always in front of her, started pulsing even faster due to his exhausted breathing. How long had he been fighting? The sense of time here was too vague; like days had gone by in mere seconds. This dizziness felt like the haze of a fever dream. As time passed, more beasts gathered, until the place was packed full of four-legged black beasts.

— “Damn it, there's no end to these freaks!” Ragna clicked his tongue and brushed the hair from his forehead, which was stuck to his skin with sweat.

But he would not stop fighting. He kept Celica hidden behind him while he swung his greatsword.

Celica latched onto the back of his coat.

— “Ragna, let's get out of here, or you'll get hurt!” She yelled frantically.

— “I'll be fine. By the way... where are you going? This place―”

They were inside the Black Beast.

Celica suddenly figured: maybe Ragna's voice was just repeating her thoughts.

Either way, she truly was within the Black Beast. The darkness that surrounded her was the Black Beast itself; to escape this place was to escape the Black Beast's entrails. Of course, neither of them knew how to escape in the first place.

— “I can tell you, though... you can’t stay here.” As Ragna muttered bitterly, he heard a strange sound, like a crack.

He and Celica turned around at the same time, and both frowned at the strange view before them. A few meters back from their position, in the forest, their space was torn into like a hole punched into a canvas. Beyond the hole, there was nothing but black, with nobody peeking in... except for a hand desperately trying to tear into the woods.

— “Nirvana!!”

Her sharp claws, tailor-made for battle, tore the rift open so hard that they shook from the sheer force. But the crack that had gaped was pushing back against Nirvana's arms; her claws, which tried to regain their original form, seemed to struggle against the forest, which only sought peace.

— “Hey, Celica!” ― Ragna shouted, cleaving down another beast that had leapt his way. He didn't know the full story, but all he needed to know was those claws belonged to a friend of Celica. ― “That's enough. Get out of here!”

— “Enough...? Come with me, Ragna!” Celica grabbed at the hem of Ragna's coat; she could feel he wanted her to escape alone.

— “Don't worry about it, just hurry up and go. She's here to save you, right?” ― Ragna said, his green eye staring at the mechanical claws pushing the rift open so hard. Then he sighed, with a faint smile, at Celica. ― “Even if I wanted to go... I just can't. I have unfinished business here.”

— “Then I'm staying with you! I can't just leave you alone here!!” — He would just ask someone to protect Celica from danger and let her go... again. — “Please...”

— Celica felt her chest crumble, and she put all her strength into gripping Ragna's coat. Feeling her weight on him, Ragna gave softer swings of his sword, so she wouldn't be shaken off. First, a cleaving motion; then, a forward thrust; then a downward swing to strike the last of the three wolves that had just advanced.

— “I told you already, you can't do that. This is something I gotta deal with alone.” Ragna said softly, planting a foot on the ground so no one could pass him and reach Celica. He unleashed a powerful, spirited slash of his sword, cutting into two monsters at once. Ragna then stabbed his sword into the ground, turned around abruptly, and with only his left arm, he hoisted Celica by the waist and started running towards the dimensional rift behind him. It used to be large enough to swallow a girl, but had shrunken to half that size.

— “Don't stop pushing! You're getting Celica back right now!!” Ragna shouted at Nirvana.

Unsure if she'd heard Ragna, the machine plunged her claws deep into the edge of the spatial tear and began tearing into it again, with a sound like creaking bones. Little by little, she wrestled with the rift, pushing it up and down to weaken it. Two hands pulling open a black hole in the middle of a dark green forest had to be the stuff of nightmares.

Ragna then held Celica even tighter and thrusted her against the rift, practically pushing her against it. She writhed against this restraint; she couldn't believe she was being held in only one arm. As she was pushed hard against the dark rift, Celica leaned forward and desperately looked into Ragna's green eyes. Celica truly loved that color; so beautiful and gentle.

— “Ragna, let me go! Just when I got to see you...!!” She cried, her throat trembling more painfully than she could have imagined.

How Celica had missed him. She was so sure they would get to meet again. And yet, she worried just as much. She'd heard Ragna had disappeared after being swallowed by the Black Beast; was he even alive? It would be easy for Celica to just bide her time and hold out hope. But it hurt her badly to let go of his hand like this. She drowned in a storm of emotions, as Ragna extended his arm and handed Celica to Nirvana's heavy, metallic claws.

— “Don't worry.” Celica was quickly hoisted by mechanical claws, in a grip soft enough to avoid hurting her. She leaned forward in Nirvana's grip, while Ragna waved at her.

— “See you soon. I promise―I'll be back for you.”

Just not then, or there.

— “You promise…?”

Just like hearing a magic word, Celica's impatience, frustration, and regret were washed away; and instead, she felt a comforting warmth in her chest. She was just happy that Ragna had promised her. It sounded like he'd said this was not the end, and the promise was still alive.

Ragna turned away to face the pack of lupine monsters chasing him. He'd left his sword a fair distance away, so he had to fight barehanded until then. But the red-coated man saw no problem.

Such a strong, kind, and caring man.

Behind him, Celica raised her voice.

— “I'll wait for you! Come back, Ragna… I'll wait as long as it takes!”

— “Once I'm done with this... you know I will!” Ragna looked back to see Celica smile. While the girl was pulled in by Nirvana, she saw Ragna's right eye open ― it was red, just like the Black Beast's, but it had the same gentle glint in it as his green left eye.

Nirvana embraced her tighter, until the rift completely faded from the woods, as if she had never even been there. While she looked on, she felt herself be pulled away, like she was being lifted from the ocean by a single string.

Strangely, the forest around Ragna disappeared as well. The abandoned village and the hordes of monsters faded to black once again. Meanwhile, Ragna confronted someone. A small, petite girl, maybe shorter than Celica. Her eyes, one of them hidden by an eyepatch, had red eyes like Ragna's.

Their lips moved, clearly talking about something, but Celica could not hear anything. The girl before Ragna suddenly looked back at her and sent an eerie grin her way.

It wasn't long before Celica was pulled out of the darkness, like she'd risen out of the depths of the ocean, and the sudden brightness in her eyes knocked her unconscious.

### Part 5

When Celica came to, she had fallen on the ground.

― “G― gh― AAAAHHH!!!”

Confused, she clung madly to Nirvana, who was still holding her. The impact was swift as Celica spilled out of the machine's arms, rolling over on the grass below. Her mouth felt the taste of dirt, and her nose felt the smell of grass. Then she stopped rolling, and she looked around, desperately trying to grasp the scene around her.

She stood on a grassy green hill under a dark blue sky, starless and cloudless except for a pale silvery moon. The night sky was unbelievably clear. Around her, Nine and Jubei rose to their feet, having stumbled down just as she'd done. Seeing their familiar faces, Celica sighed in relief to see her breath immediately fog up.

Nirvana rushed over to help Celica to her feet. While she held onto the machine's hand and pulled herself up, Celica let out another sigh, of unbearable sorrow instead of relief.

The hills were on the outskirts of Ishana. This was Celica's favorite place, where she and Hakumen met before the Black Beast awoke. But ever since she escaped the city a month ago, she couldn't bear to go back there. She wondered what she was even doing here — but those doubts were pushed away by a terrible ache in her chest. On the slope of her favorite hill, where pleasant breezes blowed free, lay countless corpses; likely from that walled city.

She could see debris from buildings not usually seen in Ishana, with broken household objects all around. Maybe they had been displaced; everyone and everything from that walled city had been randomly pulled into Ishana. At least, that was what she could see...

— “NOOOOOOOO!!!”

Celica gasped and looked up to see the source of the ear-piercing scream. It was Eight. She had also fallen on the hill. Her Ten Sages' hat was on the ground, and her magnificent furcoat was stained with stand and dust. But Eight could not even dare to think about that. Seeing what was at the end of her distant gaze, Celica's throat trembled with a scream of her own. Nine was back on her feet; while she did not scream, she held her breath with a bug-eyed glare. Trinity could barely move, and didn't even look up as she crawled away.

Jubei; Suzukaka; Valkenhayn; Hakumen; all were shocked into a motionless silence. Terumi couldn't believe this was real. Seven was even deeper in denial, unable to move before what he saw.

A mass of pitch black.

Take-Mikazuchi fell from above and crashed onto Ishana.

How could anyone look away? It was like time had stopped, and there was no sound. But when the giant fell onto the hills and the town of Ishana, it crashed hard, and the impact shook the island so suddenly it could easily have sunk. Debris from the broken town came collapsing onto the hills in waves. The gusts of wind were devastating, with a faint smell of blood; a rot and decadence ill-suited for Ishana.

Celica raised her arms to at least try and protect herself. Her hair and clothes were agitated by the dust, not the seithr, while Nirvana stood in front of her as a shield to guard her from even the smallest pebbles. Celica couldn't believe what she saw: Take-Mikazuchi's disembodied right shoulder, writhing not too far from them.

— “What is that...?!” Jubei cried, disturbed by the nightmarish view.

Nine was the first to realize what everyone was truly seeing. She forced a few steps of her own, only for Jubei to yank her back by the arm.

Nine stumbled back into place, but she never took her wide-open eyes from the monstrous sight. — “The Black Beast...” Nine whispered with quivering lips. The wind made the grass on the hills thrash wildly, so loud it buried Nine's whispers. She didn't even know if she could hear herself, or anything at all.

But as if Nine's voice had cued it, the dark blob that had clung to Take-Mikazuchi's shoulder — one of the Black Beast's heads — floated into the air, its blood-red eyes glowing ominously with a mind-shattering grin.

Then, as if nothing had ever happened, it vanished into a black fog.

Thanks to the magical paling around Ishana, it had no seithr within, thus remaining undetected by the Black Beast...

until now.

The Black Beast had found the city with its own eyes.

So much silence. So much fear. So much despair. It was all too much...

Someone whimpered. It didn't matter if it was Nine, Eight, Seven, Valkenhayn, or the other Ten Sages; they just wanted to say it out loud. — “The Black Beast... has found Ishana.”

Ishana used to be the safest city in the world.

Its long-lived peace had come to an end.

No one was safe.

### 033. Chapter 1: Swirling Tea

In a certain conference room in a certain country.

The windowless room was drowned in an oppressive darkness. Several people sat around a donut-shaped desk, the light from their computer monitors illuminating only the lower halves of their faces. They were all clad in fine suits and had their hands folded in front of their mouths, as if to hide their motivations along with their facial expressions. They all projected a solemn, uptight aura, but strangely, an air of sluggishness pervaded the room as well.

People could occasionally be seen leaning back to take a sip of coffee or staring at their monitors like they were trying to drill holes in them.

"...It seems the damage to Ishana Island is enormous. A complete recovery will likely take considerable time."

"Be that as it may, this only happened because they put their faith in such an overwhelmingly powerful force. Surely they were mentally prepared for repercussions like this."

"I doubt they're thinking positively. If they request it, we'll have to raise funds for the island's reconstruction. I'm not sure it'll fit into the budget..."

Talking in a tone that implied that this sequence of events was a foregone conclusion, these men contributed to the strange sense of sluggishness with their utter lack of urgency.

Examining the strife of people on the other side of the planet with disinterest like onlookers on high, their eyes passed over their monitors and their documents placed solely for appearances sake with a drowsy dullness.

The people gathered around the table were all ministers with a responsibility to carry the burden of a specific facet of their governments' authorities. However, not a single representative of a country that had directly suffered from the Black Beast could be found in this room. These were the lucky people who could watch what was happening far away somewhere else in the world and call it a tragedy; people who did not yet know despair.

"It's safe to assume... that the Black Beast has become aware of the Magister's City of Ishana."

Someone murmured with a sour voice, and the groans of several people signified their agreement. However, they were by no means lamenting Ishana's plight. In fact, they saw this as a chance.

"We've already collected plenty of information and techniques concerning the use of Ars Magus and alchemy. Even if Ishana ceases functioning entirely, it won't affect our ability to wage war as we are now."

"In fact, Ishana is currently monopolizing far too much of the world's total power. If the Black Beast wants to just go ahead and destroy them for us, I would actually appreciate it. It saves us having to resort to other methods."

The words being exchanged in this room were all impersonal, indifferent, and cold as ice, untouched by the warmth of emotion. After a little thought, a different man opened his mouth. It was the man responsible for the military affairs of this meeting's host country.

"How long until that thing reaches the island?"

"We can't be certain, but we expect it will be about four months. It should take about a year before it clears the Eurasian Continent."

"Hm, a year... plenty of time for us to get a hold of the situation."

Once again, several voices around the table sounded their agreement, now with a note of satisfaction. To these people, Ishana's present crisis and the destruction of Eurasia were inconsequential. If anything, they were desirable. You might even say that they were pleasing.

"...It's hard to believe this is all working out exactly as that man said it would. It's a little unsettling."

Like a subtle sigh, someone cast a shadow over the room's tepid atmosphere. Tenacious wrinkles carved themselves deeper into the faces of many of the people gathered. Several people reached for their coffee mugs with feigned ignorance written all over their faces while others chuckled wryly through strained smiles.

"If I recall correctly, according to that man's predictions, the Black Beast is supposed to perish within the next few years."

"It will spell trouble for us if that doesn't come to pass. We're already working to get a leg up on how the world will be from here on out, after all."

"We wouldn't want the vast amount of funds the Orbis Librarius Norma invested in us to go to waste either."

"Ah, yes, about the Orbis Librarius Norma..."

Audibly tapping the end of a document he was reading over with a finger, a man who oversees diplomatic affairs cast his eyes across all present. The chatter died out and the room fell silent.

His pretentious turn of phrase caught everyone's attention. Having acquired both silence and an audience, the pretentious man spoke with dramatic weightiness.

"I have succeeded in establishing a new bureau, by which we may collaborate with the OLN. The preparations are all proceeding according to plan."

The one who had advised them to found this new bureau was none other than that man who had been the topic of their discussion earlier. If that bureau were to commence operations, their research into the causality weapons held by the Orbis Librarius Norma would be able to progress by leaps and bounds. If they could do that, it would be possible for them to wrestle global sovereignty in the wake of the Black Beast away from the Orbis Librarius Norma.

──This newly established bureau was to be named "Section 7".

### Part 1

The island of Ishana floated atop the ocean in isolation. Within its white stone walls that glimmer in the sunlight were green fields and blue rooftops. All sorts of vividly colored trees enclosed the island and a slightly elevated hill watched over both the town and the sparkling sea.

Ishana was a beautiful island. However, that painting-like beauty was currently lying in ruins.

The black giant that had fallen from the sky, Nox Nyctores Gigant: Take-Mikazuchi.

That ominous behemoth had crushed roughly half the town beneath its body and reduced an uncountable number of buildings to rubble in an instant. The city was now a hellscape, and it showed no sign of ever returning to normalcy. Ishana benefited from the wealth of hidden knowledge and history collected over the years within the Mage's Guild and the entire island was concealed by a magical barrier. Because of that, it had been known as ‘the safest city in the world.’

Now, it was the exact opposite.

This city, which a fragment of the Black Beast had set foot in, had become the next destination of that living calamity that terrorized the world. Daily reports indicated that the Black Beast and the vestige that constituted a part of it were slowly but surely making their way across Eurasia, heading straight toward the isolated island.

This was a lone island in the middle of the ocean. Ishana was now 'the most dangerous city in the world.'

Within the most dangerous city in the world, a calm and clean wind unbefitting of its ominous title was blowing through the streets. The air in Ishana was refreshing, as it always had been. That was partially because of the powerful barrier that kept all the Seithr from the outside world out, but also because the dense mass of Seithr brought in by the fragment of the Black Beast had been frantically purified by the hard work of the mages who stood at the pinnacle of the Mage's Guild, the Ten Sages.

However, very few people knew that in truth, the presence of one particular girl contributed massively to the Seithr removal operation. Celica A. Mercury, the girl who had quietly inserted herself into the role of Seithr cleaner, breathed a sigh of relief as she felt the wind suddenly stroke her cheek.

The end of her ponytail, tied high on her head, brushed her ear as she gently narrowed her deep brown eyes, the color of wet soil. Her cheeks, slightly dirty from dust and grime, were faintly flushed from fatigue. She wiped her forehead with her hand, brushing away her weariness like sweat. This was no time to complain about being a bit tired. "...Okay, let's get this done." Squeezing her hands tight to encourage herself, Celica set off at a jog. Behind her, a female silhouette far taller than Celica herself followed along.

It was Nirvana, with her sturdy, clearly non-human body and robotic movements. Celica and Nirvana were out in the middle of Ishana, but who could say how accurate it was to call it 'the middle of Ishana' anymore? This area was a little special. It was the space between the city of Ishana... and what used to be the city of Ishana.

Just one street over was a mountain of rubble and dust that could no longer be called a city. Atop it all was the massive, black, human-shaped weapon that had made about half of Ishana unlivable.

The Nox Nyctores Gigant: Take-Mikazuchi.

Celica couldn't help but get a gloomy expression whenever she thought of that name.

The Mage's Guild's ultimate weapon, capable of repelling the Black Beast with just one strike. Celica didn't know much more about the black colossus than that, but it had crushed many plants, trees, and even people along with the buildings and streets. Scores of people died. Countless were injured, and many more were left to grieve. "Celica-dono."

Celica jerked her chin up as someone called out to her from one step behind her, shaking her out of it.

Keeping her feet moving, Celica looked over her shoulder. Behind her stood Valkenhayn, who had removed his working jacket to reveal the fine white shirt he wore beneath it.

"You seem to be doing less than well..."

Looking down at her with his far taller build, his discerning eyes were every bit as sharp and severe as when he was in his wolf form. Nevertheless, his eyes also revealed the sort of kindly reliability that showed he's always ready to catch her if she were to stumble and fall.

"Oh, I'm alright. I just kind of zoned out."

"That's perfectly understandable. You've been running around like this since last evening; it seems you're getting tired."

Breathing a heavy sigh, Valkenhayn knitted his brows together seriously. He surveyed their surroundings with grim eyes.

Even though the buildings around them were hardly damaged, there was no sign of the usual Ishana to be seen. Men and women wearing Mage's Guild uniforms were rushing back and forth across the streets, tending to people who had been rescued from collapsed buildings and trying to transport the severely wounded out of the area.

People were lined up on the roadside awaiting treatment, with those who couldn't stand squatting or sitting down among the uneven terrain. Take-Mikazuchi had fallen with the Black Beast's head just last evening. By the time night had completely fallen, the entire island was illuminated by artificial lights as everyone who could still move participated in the rescue operation.

The rescue operation was still underway now, and Jubei, Hakumen, and the Kakas were pitching in as well. With hardly any food or sleep, Celica had spent the whole night going around casting healing magic on injured people on the side of the road.

"It would do no one any good if you were to faint, Celica-dono. Go and get some rest already."

"Thanks. I really am okay though, no need to worry about me."

"Celica-dono..."

She wasn't going to listen no matter how many times he said it. Valkenhayn was getting fed up with trying to convince the stubborn girl, but Celica refused with a strong look in her eyes.

"Please, let me do absolutely everything I can. There are still so many injured people; I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway."

"...Just a little while longer. If you try to overwork yourself much more, I will drag you back home."

Valkenhayn grimaced as he reluctantly gave his consent, and Celica responded with a smile like a flower's first bloom.

"Got it!"

Emphasizing her words with a vigorous nod, Celica's ponytail jumped around her head as she ran forward.

She went to a woman crouching wearily beneath a street lamp and wasted no time in kneeling down and healing her, starting from a particularly nasty shoulder injury.

"Unbelievable..."

Just how stubborn could those sisters possibly be? Valkenhayn groaned with exasperation and a hint of resentment, then went to kneel down next to Celica. Celica gently touched the woman's shoulder with her hand sheathed in a faint light.

As Valkenhayn was handling the lighter wounds on the woman's limbs, he couldn't help but admire Celica. The efficacy of her healing magic was astonishing, no matter how many times he saw it. Without so much as a sound, wounds disappeared like they were melting into the light.

"That should do it. I'm sure it's still going to feel uncomfortable for a while, but your shoulder is alright now. I healed the cut on your forehead and the bruise on your back for you too. The smaller injuries are still there though, so take it easy!"

Celica gave a sheepish smile, thinking that she would rather have healed her all the way down to the last scrape.

The woman thanked them profusely as she got up and walked away. Celica saw her off, then took a quick breath and headed off to the next person in need.

She turned and called over her shoulder as she set off.

"Hey, Valkenhayn-san... those people are still following us, aren't they?"

The people she was referring to were a pair of men standing on a street corner where some injured people were sitting, staring straight in Celica's direction. She glanced at them with a bewildered look on her face. Wearing blue and white uniforms, not bothering to lend a hand to the people trudging down the street or the guild members running around with first aid kits, they were completely focused on watching Celica and Valkenhayn.

"...It certainly seems so."

Valkenhayn answered in a low voice as his eyebrows knitted together. They were what you would call 'lookouts.' They kept on observing Celica, Valkenhayn, and Nirvanas' every move.

"What Hakumen did likely ruffled some feathers. After the rampage he went on, it's not surprising that they want to keep us on a short leash even in this dire situation."

Valkenhayn's bulky chest heaved beneath his fine white shirt as he let out a sigh. The soldiers of the Orbis Librarius Norma had recently tried to detain Celica and her friends, but Hakumen single-handedly laid them all out like a gale scattering a pile of leaves. The image of a demon clad in white mowing down an entire squadron with one swing of his nodachi was probably permanently engraved into the memories of the soldiers present right now.

"Hakumen-dono is likely being followed by a detail several times larger than the one following us."

"But we aren't going to do anything funny in a situation like this..."

"Sound logic like that won't dissuade the likes of them... Nine was able to work it out with the Ten Sages and keep us from being arrested, but we'll have to accept certain limits on our freedom."

"I guess so..."

Unsatisfied, Celica pursed her lips. She understood why they were being watched and she was willing to put up with it. She also understood that the people following her didn't particularly want to do it either, and that they were just following orders.

Even so, Celica cast her eyes around from left to right with open dissatisfaction on her face.

"Can't they at least lend a hand while they watch us?"

There were lots of people in the vicinity who could certainly use some help, but the men following them were flawlessly ignoring every single one of them, as if they didn't even realize that they were there. It was unacceptable.

"I mean, I know those OLN folks see us as just a bunch of people they've never met living on some island in the middle of nowhere, but still."

"The OLN... that Orbis Librarius Norma or whatever?"

"Yeah, them. It wouldn't kill them to have a little sympathy for once. Even if you say something straight to one of them, they pretend like you aren't there!"

Crossing her arms indignantly in a rare display of anger, Celica suddenly remembered something and looked up at Valkenhayn.

"Hey, didn't Onee-chan get called to go somewhere by the OLN? I hope she's okay..."

"...What do you mean, called to go somewhere?"

Valkenhayn answered her question with a question, his face grim. Immediately understanding what he meant with that inquiry, Celica shrugged and forced a smile.

"I just hope she won't lose her temper and go overboard again, that's all."

Nine had half-destroyed Ishana's capitol building, and then Take-Mikazuchi's fall had finished it off. Valkenhayn's not-yet-visible wrinkles were growing deeper by the minute.

"It's well within reason to think she might."

"...Yeah, you're right..." The place that the Orbis Librarius Norma and the Mage's Guild had summoned Nine to was the guild's miraculously undamaged council room. If Nine went berserk and blasted her way out of the building again like she had done with the capitol building, it wouldn't be so lucky a second time. Sending a prayer up to the sky beyond the barrier that that wouldn't happen, Celica hurried over to the next injured person in need of her help.

### Part 2

In the joint headquarters of the Orbis Librarius Norma and the Mage's Guild. The Mage's Guild, dedicated to the protection and preservation of human history's accumulated knowledge and technology, had formed a joint headquarters with the Orbis Librarius Norma, a massive organization that had originated as an alliance of various nations but that now specialized in handling beings and technologies that overturned common sense, such as the Black Beast and the Arts, by way of a special focus on Arts themselves. The two groups had established their alliance like they were moving in together, sharing the guild collaboratively and splitting the space half-and-half. The hierarchies of the respective organizations were left as-is, but they smoothly and seamlessly shared information and strategies with one another, working together to stand up against the Black Beast in any way they could.

With humanity on the verge of annihilation, what sense was there in humans butting heads with one another?

Everyone in the Joint HQ sang that mantra to the high heavens, transcending race, nationality, and religion to miraculously join hands and fight off extinction. Whether they were someone who didn't know how complicated the situation really was, someone who was fully aware, or someone who was actively making the alliance more complicated than a tangled ball of yarn, they all said the same thing. It was practically the capital of all things convoluted.

Upon seeing Nine of the Ten Sages, whom they had summoned, the people lined up in a row of seats inside the guild's largest council room found themselves admiring her lovely hair and perfect proportions. These were the people occupying the highest echelons of the Joint HQ's hierarchy. The military brass and diplomatic leadership of all the nations involved were represented, of course, but the Ten Sages of the Mage's Guild were in attendance as well.

Their harsh glares that were clearly looking for an explanation for the current situation were not directed at Nine, but rather at two others nearby. Specifically, at a man with golden hair wearing thin-rimmed glasses over his ice-blue eyes and a gaudy woman wearing a fur-trimmed dress with a deep slit on the side.

It was the Sages Seven and Eight, who had received their triangular purple hats at very young ages (though not quite so young as Nine). The former was maintaining a cool, collected, and intellectual lack of expression, while the latter was standing there with a sullen scowl on her face.

The council had just finished going over the sequence of events that led to Take-Mikazuchi falling on Ishana, why Take-Mikazuchi had not returned to its summoning circle, and how a fragment of the Black Beast had infiltrated Ishana.

"So, to sum it up, they tried to return Take-Mikazuchi to its summoning circle while it was still engaging the Black Beast, but the circle couldn't contain Take-Mikazuchi in that state, so the magic went wild as a result?"

A military official from a certain country sitting amongst the executives lined up behind a conference table went over the account with a grave tone of voice and a sullen face. Nine stood up and met the gazes of the council. Raising her chin and narrowing her eyes like she was looking down on everyone in the room, Nine's eyes flashed sharply as she answered the question in a clear voice.

"That is correct."

"Hold it! Don't act like you had nothing to do with this!"

Eight's scowl had been growing progressively more irritated as Nine gave her explanation, and having now reached the limit of her patience, she shouted at Nine like she was trying to bite her.

With a fire burning in her large eyes, she swung her gaze across the gathered officials.

"The unsummoning magic we used in that moment was imperfect because we were interrupted partway through. It's only natural for sorcery like that to go out of control if it's interrupted during the casting. Take-Mikazuchi fell on Ishana because Nine of the Ten Sages recklessly obstructed us!"

"If you don't know what you're talking about, don't run your mouth. If you had any idea what you were doing, it would have been obvious that the spell was going to malfunction if you tried to unsummon Take-Mikazuchi in that extreme situation."

Nine responded to Eight's spitfire hostility with bone-chilling composure.

Eight's cheeks blazed red with an almost audible pop.

"What did you just say to me!? That I don't know how Take-Mikazuchi works? Do you realize that I'm the one who completed it and crafted its magic circle!?"

"Then why don't you understand!?"

Faster than a blink, Nine's composure burnt to a crisp.

Eight shrank away from Nine's sudden outburst. Regaining control of her firestorm of emotions, Nine addressed everyone in the room and continued.

"If that unsummoning spell had been allowed to complete under those conditions, Take-Mikazuchi would have returned to Ishana with the entire Black Beast in tow. If we had taken a breather and held a meeting about it first, Ishana would have been obliterated. In the worst-case scenario, the Black Beast and now-out-of-control Take-Mikazuchi could have blazed a path of destruction as they started duking it out across the entire planet."

It wasn't hard to envision how the world would have ended up if that had happened. A shiver ran across the room following Nine's vivid statement, but Eight, despite flinching earlier, raised her head and continued undeterred.

"That's just your theory! What proof do you-"

"Eight, just stop already."

Seven, who had kept his mouth shut up until now, chastised Eight with a tranquil voice, but Eight and Nine both knew that his tranquility was just a facade.

Eight glared in dissatisfaction at the side of his face, but Seven kept his cold gaze fixed straight forward.

"What, now you too? at this rate, we're going to be held responsible for-"

"Seriously, shut up. How much clearer do I need to make myself?"

His ice-blue eyes, never once so much as glancing in Eight's direction, said that she wasn't even worth looking at. His voice still sounded peaceful on the surface, but he was out of patience for Eight.

Eight did agree that it would be wise to not make any more of a scene. This was the meeting place for the higher-ups of the Joint HQ. As Sages, Eight and Seven didn't need to bend the knee to this council, but picking fights wasn't going to do them any favors in the eyes of their fellow Sages. Biting back all the things she still wanted to say, Eight cast her big hazel eyes down toward the floor.

Waiting for her to do just that, Seven finally took a glance to his side, but he wasn't looking at Eight: he was looking at Nine, who was standing beyond her. Laughing faintly, he moved his chin down in a half-nod. It was easy to imagine him telling her, 'I've shut her up for you, so by all means, continue your explanation,' and Nine, much like Eight, felt some very unfavorable emotions toward the man.

"...Does anyone have any questions?"

Brushing off his relaxed eyes with a single sharp look, Nine couldn't quite keep the irritation out of her voice as she addressed her question to everyone in the room.

A single hand quietly rose above the crowd. Recognizing the hand's owner, the sharpness in Nine's eyes wavered for a moment. It was a man with white streaks running through his otherwise gray hair and a purple triangle hat sitting atop his head. He was the current head of the Ten Sages, Two.

"The Joint HQ's intelligence indicates that the Black Beast is currently heading toward Ishana. What do you have to say about that?"

With a heavy voice, Nine gave him a straight answer.

"That is the case, without a doubt. Having infiltrated Ishana with one of its heads, the Black Beast is now aware of the existence of this island. It also now knows that this place is... no, that we are a threat to it."

Furthermore, Take-Mikazuchi, which the Black Beast had already gotten its jaws on, was also there. It couldn't ask for a better guidepost.

"But will it really come here? I can't believe that the Black Beast would prioritize us like that."

Someone who worked in military funding sitting at the corner of the table grabbed his head and shook it sullenly from side to side. Voices expressing similar sentiments pressed in from all sides.

In that moment, at least, they must not have been paying attention to the data and reports they all ought to have received. From the bottoms of their hearts, they didn't want to accept the reality that the Black Beast was heading straight for them. Nine didn't want to either, but while they were all sitting in this undamaged building, drinking cold water and having one of their beloved conferences, the Black Beast was on the move, step by inexorable step.

And its destination was Ishana.

"Even if you can't believe it, it's the reality of the situation."

Nine said it like she was stabbing them. They couldn't postpone this problem. She needed to make everyone in this room share her acute awareness of the crisis to come, so keen she could feel it on her skin.

"It is an absolute fact that the Black Beast is coming."

Right that very minute, Seithr was flowing invisibly across the ground somewhere in the world, never slowing down even for a moment.

In the afternoon hours, the temperature of the wind cooled down a little.

A chain of command was finally established for the relief effort and the transportation of the wounded, and the chaos and clamor of the morning abated considerably. There were fewer injured people languishing on the street corners and cases of severely injured people in desperate need of healing magic only cropped up about once every hour.

Seeing things finally begin to settle down, Celica breathed a sigh of relief.

"I guess things are alright for now... wah!"

In that moment, Celica lost all the strength in her knees.

In a flash, Valkenhayn, from her right, and Nirvana, from her left, shot their arms out and caught Celica, supporting her limp body. As a result, Celica dangled there in the air between her two protectors, laughing pitifully.

"A- ahaha... thanks, I'm so sorry."

"...No, excuse me."

Valkenhayn lifted her body up into his arms a little awkwardly.

He sat her down on the stairs behind them just as she was, and she couldn't have stood up if she tried. She was still acting tough at noon, but at this point she really had exhausted absolutely all her mana. All she did was relax her tense body a tiny bit, but that was all it took for the fatigue to catch up with her and hit her body like a truck.

"Fwaaa～ That sure was rough... not that we're anywhere near done."

She wrapped her arms around her thighs and bent her upper body to lay her face on her knees. Valkenhayn grimaced (very understandably) down at her limply dangling ponytail and rained his deep voice down upon her.

"This isn't the first time I've said this, but that's enough for one day. I don't care how much you insist you're alright. I'm not letting you carry on any longer."

"Ugh... sounds good... I'll take a little break. But, we should get back to work in a minute..."

"Did you perhaps not hear me when I said I won't let you?"

Celica raised her head again with a smile, but Valkenhayn shot her down. With the same obstinacy and irrationality as Nine, completely unburdened by the concept of reason, Celica sat herself back up.

"Pouring your very heart and soul into the task of saving lives is profoundly admirable, but what do you expect to accomplish when you pass out? You're just going to take up one of the few open hospital beds. Getting the rest you need so that you have your strength when you're needed most is the responsibility of a rescue worker."

"Valkenhayn nagging Celica, now that's not something you see every day."

A third voice suddenly wedged itself into their conversation.

Celica's face lit up as she realized someone was backing her up, but Valkenhayn frowned disapprovingly and turned to face the owner of the voice.

"...I wasn't nagging: I was giving her a warning."

"Haha, that's pretty much the same thing in your case!"

It was Jubei, laughing merrily. He had changed out of his battle armor in favor of something easier to move in but he was completely covered in dust and dirt, from the hooded jacket covering his triangle shaped ears, to the white and brown two-toned fur beneath it, all the way to his two split tails.

He must have been helping people get out of one of the piles of collapsed roof tiles until just now. As he was powerful despite his small size, Jubei and the Kaka clans folk who had been created from his DNA were very well suited to that sort of work.

"Are you taking a break too, Jubei-san?"

Resting her elbows on her knees and holding her face in her hands, Celica tilted her head to look at him. She was sitting on the staircase while Jubei was standing up straight, so their eyes were at about the same height.

She was getting a much closer view than normal of his one big, red cat eye, the left eye, and she thought that it was really pretty.

"Yup. We've gotten everyone we could detect with magic outta there, so now we just gotta haul Take-Mikazuchi off and clean up all the rubble..."

They had to retrieve the bodies of all the people who had lost their lives.

A despondent shadow clouded Jubei's eye for just a moment, and Celica once again felt pain in her heart for the deceased.

"The real cleanup work starts tomorrow. Apparently they're gathering up people to help with the injured 'til then."

Jubei dropped his shoulders with a heavy breath out, refreshing himself like he was splashing water on his face, then put some strength into his words. His soft cheeks rose as he gave Celica a big smile.

"Because of that, the hospital's at capacity for volunteers tonight. But don't you worry, 'cause tomorrow there'll be enough work to make your eyes spin. For now do what Valkenhayn says and save up your mana."

"Fine... if you both insist, I guess I can't say no."

Even as she said it Celica still had a childish look on her face that said she didn't want to, and Jubei and Valkenhayn met eyes and shook their heads ruefully at each other. Feeling the need to work far harder than was expected of them was a flaw that the Mercury sisters shared.

Celica looked past the two beastkin and suddenly her eyes were sparkling. They could tell what she was looking at just from her body language. Just as Celica bounced to her feet like a baby chicken, Jubei and Valkenhayn turned around to face where she was looking.

It was a little before dusk right now. Backed by a water-blue sky, so beautiful that it was hard to believe that something like the Black Beast even existed in this world, Nine was walking towards them. Celica waved her arms vigorously at her even though she wasn't very far away, and Nine ran straight to her, unhampered by her narrow high heels.

"Celica! I'm so glad you actually stayed with Valkenhayn!"

"Yep. The people tailing us didn't cause any trouble either, don't worry about me."

Celica had actually wanted to talk to her lookouts and try to get them to open up a little bit, but unfortunately, she hadn't gotten a chance to yet.

"More importantly, I hope you're okay. Did you handle whatever they wanted to talk to you about?"

It took a little while before the sisters calmed back down. Celica was laughing happily and Nine let her usual stern expression soften in the space of one breath.

"Yeah, for now at least. The Orbis Librarius Norma seems to love nothing more than setting up tables and holding meetings around them, so they'll probably call me back at some point. I can't believe I have to waste my time putting up with such nonsense from a bunch of impotents."

Still wearing a delighted smile that made her look like a completely different person compared to how she was during the council meeting, Nine uttered some biting criticisms.

Smiling awkwardly at her thorny words that were completely at odds with her face, Jubei asked a question.

"So, what're they gonna do with us?"

"Our sentence is postponed. So long as we don't piss them off, we're free to do as we will, like before. However, any and all operations against the Black Beast have to be done in conjunction with the Joint HQ from now on."

"The 'Joint HQ?' And that is?"

Puzzled, Valkenhayn asked for clarification, and Nine took a shallow breath.

"Simply put, an organization joining the upper echelons of the Mage's Guild and the Orbis Librarius Norma. Forget the Ten Sages, even the Duodecim are best buds with the OLN at this point."

The Duodecim were deeply ingrained in the Mage's Guild dating back to its foundation, and were essentially nobility.

The Ten Sages, chosen purely for their abilities, led the Mage's Guild and passed down sorcery and alchemy to future generations, but the Duodecim, inheriting their positions through lineage, governed the city of Ishana.

"...It may be just a matter of time before the Orbis Librarius Norma swallows up the whole Mage's Guild."

Speaking listlessly, she swept her long hair back.

Seemingly having followed Nine, a group of people approached from further down the street, troubled expressions on their faces.

"Worry not, the Duodecim will not sell Ishana out."

With his placid voice and refined features and bearing, there stood Seven.

Beside him stood Eight, her large earrings swaying as she walked, and behind the both of them stood an old woman and a man in his mid-thirties that Celica did not know. Nine's eyes sharpened to daggers in an instant, and she wheeled around to face Seven so fast that her hair flew behind her.

"Should I take that as an official statement from Seven of the Ten Sages, or from the Kisaragi clan of the Duodecim?"

"No matter which one, you wouldn't care, would you?"

With a suspiciously composed countenance, Seven withstood the naked hostility of Nine's gaze.

The tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife. The mild old woman who had come with Seven inserted herself into the conversation, saying,

"You're both members of the Ten Sages, so stop having such a childish fight out in the street."

Her voice itself was very soft, but the words she scolded them with revealed her exasperation.

The old lady was shorter than Celica and she wore a robe and mantle so long that it dragged on the ground. Atop her pure white hair, set in a high bun, sat a triangular purple hat. The tall, black haired man standing next to the old lady also wore such a hat.

They were both Sages.

Celica's jaw dropped as she watched this scene unfold before her eyes.

The Ten Sages could have up to ten members, but she had heard that they currently had fewer than that. There were five Sages present right now. In other words, more than half of the Mage's Guild's Ten Sages were standing on this street corner. Celica may have been a student in the Mage's Guild, but it was still the first time she had seen so many of them bump into each other in a place like this. She was shocked by the sight of so many of these triangular purple hats gathered out on the streets she knew so well.

Not noticing how star-struck Celica was, Nine deferentially shifted her gaze to the old lady. Compared to how she looked at Seven, her eyes were far less sharp. It was clear that Nine had a hard time dealing with this woman.

"If I may-"

"A lady ought to say, 'yes, ma'am' when reprimanded by her elders."

She cut Nine off with her hoarse but hard to disobey voice.

Surprisingly, Nine stopped and went silent. Clearly she really had trouble handling this woman. Celica, sneaking a peak at her sister's face, couldn't help but let a gasp of admiration slip.

Considering that matter handled, the old lady turned her amber eyes to address Celica's group standing dumbfounded to the side.

"I believe this is the first time any of us have met. I am the 3rd seat of the Ten Sages, Three, and this man is Four, another Sage. We're going to be joining you in concocting a strategy to combat the Black Beast, so this is a good time for introductions."

As the old lady, Three, gave her introduction, the taciturn man with posture so straight and well-guarded that he seemed like a bodyguard just stood there silently, bowing the bare minimum amount to count as an introduction when the time came. He was the 4th seat of the Ten Sages, Four.

"Huh? When you say you'll join them, you don't mean you're going to fight too, right, granny?"

Celica asked the question before thinking better of it, and so Four, who had hardly moved his body at all up until this point, looked squarely at Celica.

"Shut your mouth, Celica A. Mercury."

"Oh, I'm sorry..."

Feeling like she had been yelled at by a teacher at the academy, Celica hunched her shoulders and covered her mouth with her fingers. It was certainly a rude thing to say to an elderly lady who was also one of the Ten Sages who stood at the pinnacle of the Mage's Guild.

However, the lady in question, Three, just looked at Celica with a little surprise for a moment before her face broke into a smile and she laughed like a witch out of a fairy tale.

"Hoho, I've heard about all of you already. Jubei-san, hailing from a village of beastkin, Valkenhayn R. Hellsing-san, of the Alucard house, and Nine's little sister, Celica-san."

The way Three said her name seemed a little formal to Celica. Celica didn't have any memories of her grandmother, but if she did, she thought she would be like Three. As she was thinking that, she straightened her posture under Four's intimidating influence.

"Yes, I am. I'm grateful for everything you have done for my sister."

"My, what a nice little sister. You have a strange feeling about you too."

Three exhaled quizzically as her amber eyes examined Celica.

As if to obstruct her view, Nine cut in.

"Three. Please don't pay my sister much heed: I don't want her to get involved with the Ten Sages."

Her tone was mirthless. As if the direction of the wind had changed, the already stiff atmosphere became palpably sharper, and Eight barked at Nine.

"Where do you get off talking that way to her, Nine!? Three is the longest-serving member of the Ten Sages and an exemplar of our organization. Are they not teaching propriety to little girls anymore?"

"I respect Three's abilities; she's got a head on her shoulders, unlike you."

Hearing Nine's comeback, dripping with sarcasm, Eight narrowed her eyes sharply.

"What did you just say... care to say it again!?"

"What, are you saying I ought to respect you as much as I respect Three? That sounds pretty insolent to me."

"You- you arrogant little... that's exactly the kind of attitude I'm talking about, like you're looking down on me!"

"Well, don't stand so far beneath my notice then. I'm sick of looking at you actually, so why don't you just drop off the face of the earth?"

"Would you two cut it out!? Think of where you are!"

Nine's intense hatred was showing clearly on her face and in her even more irritable than usual words. With sparks so intense flying between Nine and Eight that it seemed like they might catch on fire, Four roared with fury.

Seven, not wanting to get lumped in with them, had taken a step back and place a white-gloved hand on his forehead.

"I can hardly bear to listen to this."

"It's good for young ladies to be so energetic."

In stark contrast, Three's wrinkles deepened as she looked on like she was watching two kittens play.

Five purple hats had gathered on a street corner to bicker with each other: anyone who was familiar with Ishana would have thought that that was a very strange statement. After all, they were the ones who stood at the pinnacle of the Mage's Guild; the very symbols of wisdom. To a mere student like Celica, the sight of people on a level far exceeding hers acting like this was really damaging her perception of the Ten Sages.

"Feels like a bad time to try to join the conversation..."

"You could say that again..."

Celica murmured her thoughts aloud and Jubei agreed bitterly. Valkenhayn, having seen enough, shook his head from side to side.

"So this is what the Ten Sages of the Mage's Guild are like... I'm leaving. I must return to the manor and give a report."

Turning his wide back on the still bickering Nine and Eight, Valkenhayn loped off toward a side street with long strides. It wasn't long before his footsteps could no longer be heard. He most likely crossed through a portal as soon as he got out of sight. His destination was the Alucard Castle.

"Maybe I'll go home too. It looks like Onee-chan will be here a while."

Celica tapped her hands on her cheeks with a bitter smile. Nine would have surely come with her if she had asked, but Celica didn't want to do that.

It seemed like Nine didn't much care for Eight or Seven, but she would have to work together and fight alongside them from now on. It would cause problems if she ignored them and went home with Celica right now, and Celica wasn't going to put her sister in that position.

"Do you want to come too, Jubei-san? You're waiting for Onee-chan, right?"

"Nah, I've gotta go back to my post too. I'm worried about leaving the Kakas on their own for too long."

Jubei cast his gaze toward where Take-Mikazuchi still laid. He couldn't hear any commotion or other signs of trouble, but he was a little worried about how well they could behave themselves in this unfamiliar town. What's more, there was a profound sense of anticipation whirling about Ishana, and for better or worse, the unfamiliar kaka girls were probably standing out like sore thumbs.

With one bow of her head, Celica stealthily walked away so that Nine wouldn't notice her leaving.

"Well, come over if something comes up. The kaka girls are invited too; I'll make tea and set up a place for naps."

"Don't bother. You just get some rest yourself, ya hear?"

Casting a wry smile at the two antagonistic Sages' argument as it escalated into a full-on shouting match, Jubei waved goodbye with one big paw.

"See you later!"

Celica waved in response and ducked into a narrow alley with Nirvana to slip away.

### Part 3

Upon returning home, Celica found herself lost for words after opening the door. Celica and Nines' house was located a little ways into Ishana's main street. It had just barely avoided being crushed under Take-Mikazuchi thanks to that, but the impact shook the entire island, so there was so much upturned furniture and so many scattered items that there was literally no clear space to step.

"It'll be tough to even make it to my room."

It didn't look like she would be able to offer the Kakas a place to sleep. Dropping her shoulders dejectedly, she rolled up her sleeves and put on a smile to cheer herself up. Looking from the entrance to the middle of the house, she came up with a plan to at least clear a path to the living room.

Nirvana reached with her large hand from behind her to pick up a fallen shoe box. Mindful of Celica, still turned away from her, she set the shoe box back upright.

"Oh, thanks! Could you put it next to the wall too?"

Celica laughed brightly, but Nirvana didn't give any particular response, other than setting the wooden box in the corner like she was asked.

That alone was enough to make Celica vaguely happy. Celica planned to clean up the whole house on her own since Nine seemed busy, but now she had a reliable partner.

"Let's clean this up together."

This was Nine and Celicas' home, so that made it Nirvana's home too. Thinking of it like that, Nirvana felt like a new family member.

Celica cheerfully looked up at her tall figure, seeming like she would touch the ceiling if she stood up straight, and thought that she looked like she was nodding her assent without moving her head.

"I'll pick up all the scattered little things, so could you handle all the furniture and heavy stuff? For starters... the living room door looks unfixable, so could you take it off for me? After that, please take care of the broken glass and tableware before handling the furniture."

Answering with silence, Nirvana walked off somewhat awkwardly, but Celica saw her answer in her back.

"Oh, be careful to not hurt your hands when you pick broken stuff up."

Right after she said it, she realized there's no way broken glass or tableware would be able to hurt Nirvana. She was a very reliable partner. Celica hid her smile as she gathered all the scattered shoes and lined them up in the shoe box.

The effect of Nirvana's aid was enormous, so they were able to clean up the disaster zone of things strewn about the floor in no time flat. Nirvana's large hands weren't suited to precise work, but she was able to right furniture and carry heavy objects much faster than Celica could have done it, even with magic, and she carried out every task she was given as soon as Celica gave it. Celica put everything that wasn't broken or that was especially important back in its place while Nirvana did the heavy lifting, and the work went surprisingly smoothly.

They never stopped moving their hands as they worked to tidy the place up, and eventually the house was awash in the color of sunset from the light coming through a slanted window.

After managing to get the living room back to a state where she could walk through it again, Celica found an envelope that she didn't remember seeing before.

"What's this?"

It didn't have a stamp, or even an address for that matter, so it must not have been a letter. Maybe it belonged to Nine. She was a little hesitant, but she nevertheless peeked inside.

Inside she found several photographs.

"Ah..."

Gently pulling them out, Celica's eyes went wide. Her deep brown eyes displayed nostalgia and joy as her cheeks relaxed.

"Hey, Nirvana, look at these. They're pictures of my family."

Taking a few quick steps over to Nirvana, Celica held one of the photographs up to her beautiful glass-like artificial eyes to show her.

The photo Celica was showing her, vague pride reflected on her face, showed three people standing together. In the middle stood a little girl with brown hair and a big smile, her hands folded behind her back. To the girl's left stood a tall girl with her lips pressed tightly together as she stared sternly at the camera, while to her right was a man with a baffled smile on his face. It was a photo taken over ten years ago, showing Celica, Nine, and their father, Shuichiro Ayatsuki.

There was an old man living in the neighborhood at the time who loved cameras and was close with Celica, and he took this picture for them. There were several more photos in the envelope, including ones with just Celica and Shuichiro and just Celica and Nine.

"I wonder where this was hiding... it's bringing back so many memories."

The nostalgia was so intense that Celica could feel herself tearing up.

Moving the photos out of Nirvana's line of sight again, Celica touched a picture of her father like she was tracing him. Shuichiro had gone missing many years ago, but Celica had seen him briefly in Japan at the end of the year before last, just before he passed away.

Her wryly-smiling father in the picture had a complex expression on his face, but he was still young and his vitality and passion for research were plain to see. After this time in his life, Shuichiro certainly could not have been called a devoted father. He spent almost every day engrossed in his research, devoting his full attention to studying thick tomes and compiling theories. At the time, young Celica had thought he looked really cool.

"Wouldn't it be nice if we could take a picture together with Onee-chan sometime soon, Nirvana?"

Then they could decorate a desk or something with it and this old photo. Celica decided to do that as she carefully sealed the envelope back up.

Suddenly, Nirvana raised her head, turning her inorganic eyes to the front door. Wondering what she was looking at, Celica turned around in time to see the lock turn. It wasn't magic, so it must have been someone who lived here.

Just as she had thought, a triangular purple hat came in through the door like it always did, bringing the sunset in with it.

"Celica, are you here? Uwah... the house is a disaster."

The crisp sound of high heels resounded through the house as Nine's flustered voice accompanied it.

Celica hurriedly pulled open a cupboard and shoved the envelope into it before taking Nirvana with her to the living room.

"Welcome home, Onee-chan. Are you done talking to Eight-san?"

Celica asked with mischief in her voice, and Nine pouted sullenly.

"I never wanted to talk to that woman in the first place... more importantly, did you do all this cleaning yourself? We could have done it even faster if you had asked for my help."

Letting out a brief sigh, Nine let the serious expression melt off of her face.

Doing a full 180 from the face of a Sage she had a moment ago, her eyes softened as she returned to being an older sister. Seeing the look in Nine's eyes, showing both exasperation and remorse, Celica cheerfully shook her head from side to side.

"I didn't do it myself. Nirvana helped me out."

When Nine heard those words, a cloud passed over her face.

"Nirvana did?"

"Yep. Nirvana is super tall and strong, you know. I don't know what I would've done without her."

"Is that so... Listen, Celica, about Nirvana..."

Nine fell silent as she thought about her words.

What's up with her? Celica tilted her head in confusion as she waited for her to continue. However, instead of finishing her sentence, Nine turned around and walked back to the entrance that she had just come through a moment ago.

"Sorry to interrupt your cleaning, but could you come with me for a moment? There's somewhere I want to take you and Nirvana."

"Me? Sure, I guess."

She must be busy right now, so was it really okay to take up her time going somewhere with her? Feeling a little awkward, Celica followed her out the front door, closing it behind her.

Outside, she found that another woman had come with Nine.

"Huh?"

Celica was surprised, but the woman smiled at her as gently as sunlight in Spring.

"Good work today, Celica-san～"

Her voice was as sweet as candy. She wore a robe with an extra big hood, had her long platinum hair tied loosely on either side, and covered her kindly green eyes with big round glasses. Trinity Glassfille stood waiting with her hands clasped in front of her.

The place Nine took Celica, Nirvana, and Trinity to was a place at nearly the center of Ishana.

It was an area removed from the town scape that was still bustling even now, despite the city currently lying in ruins. There were men and women dressed in the uniforms of the Mage's Guild and the Orbis Librarius Norma having discussions with each other and rushing to and for. Celica's group stood atop a wooden scaffolding that seemed to overlook the area.

She didn't see the broken townscape below her: she saw the black colossus that had crushed the once beautiful Ishana beneath it, laying so still it seemed like time had stopped. She saw Nox Nyctores Gigant: Take-Mikazuchi.

While Nine stood in front of her with her arms crossed nonchalantly, Celica flinched and gasped. Seen from a distance, it looked like it was blackness taken from the darkest part of a shadow. From up close, however, it had a haziness that made it seem like its edges were melting into the air around it.

Its nearby head was featureless. She remembered that it had had eyes and a mouth like empty caverns when she saw it summoned before, but now there was nothing, so it must have closed its eyes and shut its mouth. With its limbs splayed out powerlessly around it, it looked like an abandoned human corpse. Above all, it really was absurdly big. Transcending all reasons, it made you shiver with how unnatural it was.

"This... is Take-Mikazuchi?"

This was the first time Celica had seen it up close.

Having spent a lot of time since the previous night dealing with this thing, Nine and Trinity were sick of looking at it. Even so, Trinity clasped her hands over her chest and lowered her chin as she looked down over it nervously.

"Yes, it is. It's out of commission for the time being, but still, be careful to never touch it directly."

"O- okay..."

Truthfully, she wouldn't have wanted to touch it even if Trinity had asked her to. Celica took a step back without even realizing it. She was shivering uncontrollably. It might have been even more uncomfortable to be around than the Black Beast.

(No, what's a better word than uncomfortable? It feels... torturous.)

Gazing upon the prone black giant, Celica lightly bit her lip. Even more shivers ran down her spine as she thought about how this was a weapon created by mankind.

"So, Nine～? What is it that you wanted help with?"

Trinity accompanied her question to Nine with a small gesture like when she greeted Celica. A little differently from how she asked Celica to go somewhere with her, it seems Nine had asked Trinity to 'help' her with something.

Still with her arms crossed and eyes fixed on Take-Mikazuchi, Nine answered.

"I want to retrieve this thing's core tonight."

"It's core?"

Celica asked while tilting her head in confusion. Looking through her long, gently billowing hair, Celica saw Nine lower her chin.

"This."

Nine stuck her arm out over the edge of the scaffolding as she spoke. Pointing her palm down toward Take-Mikazuchi, she followed up her cryptic statement by reciting a short incantation.

As she did so, the black giant's chest region emitted a single slow pulse of red light. Then its black external layer pulled apart like a line drawn in sand before its chest split in two, swinging open like a double door. Surprised by the unexpected contraption, Celica once again recoiled from the sight. In human terms, it was like watching someone's rib cage open up. Celica shuddered at the thought, but her disgust quickly gave way to kitten-like curiosity.

A red globe was buried inside its now open black chest. It was almost like a heart. It was big enough that Celica might not be able to wrap her arms around it, but compared to Take-Mikazuchi's massive body, it was small.

"I never would have guessed something like that was inside it... but is it alright to just take that out? If you take the core out, it won't be able to move again, right?"

Putting her hands on the scaffolding's rail, Celica stretched her neck out to get a better look below her.

Watching her nervously out of the corner of her eye, Nine answered.

"We'll only be taking half of it out, so it'll still be able to move. I'd rather it didn't move, though. We won't be using it against the Black Beast anymore."

She would clearly brook no arguments to the contrary. Celica and Trinity exchanged a glance.

Bewilderment in her eyes, Celica asked,

"You're not going to use it... will that be okay?"

There were very few ways to damage the Black Beast available at this moment. Hardly any of the world's population was capable of using magic, and while there were plenty of people with an aptitude for Ars Magus, the technology had only just been developed. Hakumen was the only person in the world capable of doing any real damage to the Black Beast, but there was no way he would be able to take it down on his own.

Take-Mikazuchi, which had already dealt a serious blow to the Black Beast, was their ultimate weapon and best chance at success. If they lost that, what would humanity do?

Obviously, that was a question that Nine had asked herself before ever hearing it from Celica or Trinity, so she looked straight ahead and gave her answer.

"I don't care if it's going to be okay or not, I'm not using it. It requires special mana capable of suppressing seithr in order to control it, and if it's not under control, it's a menace to everyone around it... what's more, it sucks the life out of defenseless people, which is way too dangerous."

"If- if it's me you're worried about, I'll be fine!"

Knowing what she meant by 'special mana capable of suppressing Seithr,' Celica put her hand over her chest and took a step forward, but Nine's cold glance over her shoulder stopped her in her tracks.

"That's not my only reason. The Black Beast is thinking about it now."

"Thinking about it?"

Celica had no idea what she was talking about, but Trinity put one white hand to her chest and dropped her gaze in sorrow.

"The Black Beast now sees Take-Mikazuchi as a threat. That's why it prioritized eliminating Take-Mikazuchi over simply destroying everything it could see yesterday when Take-Mikazuchi got unsummoned. It was a fairly simple decision, but it means that the Black Beast has enough intellect to analyze a situation and choose a logical course of action..."

"We had always assumed that the Black Beast was nothing more than a monster devoid of sense or reason that was ruled by an instinct to destroy, but now we know that's not the case. I wouldn't say it's particularly sharp by any means, but still, it can actually think the same way we humans do."

Celica didn't know exactly how big of a deal that was, but she could tell from how Nine and Trinity were acting that it was a truly terrifying prospect.

Nine's hair flowed like a wave on the ocean as the lukewarm wind swirled around her. She ran her finger tips through it to brush away dust and continued.

"The Black Beast has figured out how to deal with Take-Mikazuchi: we won't be able to pull the same trick again. In fact, we need to consider the possibility that it could use Take-Mikazuchi to its advantage."

Just like it did around this time last night, when it hitched a ride on Take-Mikazuchi straight to Ishana.

That moment of utter despair was still burned into all of their minds in great detail, even Trinity and Nines'.

"...So, I've got to create our next weapon. Not a simple but powerful independent weapon like Take-Mikazuchi; a weapon that a human can wield in their hand."

With a sharp tap, Nine took one step forward. With eyes brighter than Celica's, she looked down at Take-Mikazuchi's motionless chest cavity.

"For that, I need the core. If I divide it up into enough pieces, I can suppress its power enough that it won't be fatal for humans to come in contact with. That way, I can make new cores out of the fragments of this one, and use them to make new weapons."

"So that's why you wanted my help～"

Trinity spoke sweetly as she finally understood what she was here for.

Suppressing the power of the core would require applying a kind of seal to it. Nine wasn't particularly good with seals, so she might accidentally make the seal too strong if she did it on her own. Whenever she needed to make very fine adjustments on the strength of a seal, she always asked Trinity for help.

Nine laughed uncomfortably as she felt like one of her weaknesses was out in the spotlight.

"Yeah. I'm also worried about the core affecting the surroundings when I pull it out, so can you put a barrier or seal or something on it right now too? I've got to carry this thing all the way to the guild."

Take-Mikazuchi may be out of commission, but who knows what that core in its chest could do to a person. It was unlikely that they would have an accident on the way, but they couldn't be too careful. Trinity knew that too, so she airily nodded her assent. She was genuinely happy that her area of expertise was helpful to Nine.

Next, Nine turned her eyes to Nirvana standing behind Celica.

"I have a favor to ask of you two as well. Just like Take-Mikazuchi itself, humans can't touch that core. So, I want to have Nirvana help me pull it out."

"Can Nirvana touch the core?"

Celica followed Nine's line of sight and looked up at Nirvana. Nirvana's large eyes were looking straight ahead.

Nine got very serious and turned fully around to face Nirvana- no, to face Celica.

"Nirvana's claws are made of a certain special material... to put it simply, it's a metal that cuts off seithr. It's the same thing Kushinada's Lynchpin was made out of."

"Kushinada's Lynchpin..."

Celica repeated Nine's words like they were reeling her in. It was still a recent memory for her.

The seithr that guided the Black Beast all came from the various cauldrons excavated around the world, which were all connected to a different dimension called the Boundary.

Kushinada's Lynchpin was a device that acts as a dam to Seithr, capable of temporarily cutting off a cauldron's connection to the Boundary. Creating it was the final act of Celica and Nines' father, Shuichiro.

To Celica it was like a memento of her father, but Kushinada's Lynchpin was currently lost.

"Oh, yeah..."

Whispering with a slight chuckle, Celica looked up at Nirvana standing beside her and gently touched her large hand. The silver claws she had in place of fingers had the chilling feel of metal.

Her father's final work may have been gone, but she was deeply moved as she realized that the technology he had created it with was preserved right here. Knowing that it was her sister who had revived that technology lit a warm candle in Celica's heart.

What Celica didn't notice as she was smiling up at Nirvana, however, was the look of pain that flashed across Nine's face. Hiding her anguish from Celica, Nine didn't notice that Trinity had picked up on that look.

"...Nirvana's claws have the ability to physically touch Seithr, which means she's the only one capable of touching Take-Mikazuchi's core. Will she lend me a hand?"

Nine's breath had caught in her throat, but she regained her composure and asked her question.

Celica held Nirvana's hand and nodded her assent.

"Of course. Right, Nirvana?"

The tall robotic doll didn't answer, instead jumping down off the scaffolding to carry out her task.

She landed near Take-Mikazuchi's open chest, right next to one of its armpits. Standing atop one of the chain-like bands of restraining magic stretching over its body, she looked up at the three girls lined up above her as if awaiting orders.

Nine gave the hair laying on her back a big flip.

"First I'm going to split the core into halves, so have Nirvana pull one of them out once I do that. Once she's got it all the way out, Trinity will seal it off from the open air. Everyone got that?"

Nine had already started casting her magic as she gave her no-nonsense instructions and went straight into an incantation as soon as she finished giving them, drawing countless symbols in the air.

A single red line pulsed through the red-black orb embedded in the black giant's chest as an ear-splitting sound shook the air. That sound stabbed their ears for 5 seconds straight before the core split soundless in two.

"You're up, Nirvana."

Celica shouted down from the edge of the scaffold and Nirvana hopped off the magic chain and reached her arms into the open chest cavity.

Even Nirvana, whose arms were a little long for her size, could only barely get her arms all the way around the thing to carry it. Gripping it firmly with her claws, each one thicker around than Celica's wrist, she slowly carried it out. Once she pulled that unsettling heart-like thing free of Take-Mikazuchi, Trinity, who had been ready to cast as soon as Nirvana finished, wrapped the red-black half-orb in a dim golden membrane.

"That should do the trick～"

Trinity breathed a little sigh and took a peek at Nine.

Nine thanked her best friend and her little sister for their help.

"Yeah, that's great. Thanks, both of you."

"You're quite welcome. But, I mean, you should be thanking Nirvana, not me."

As Celica made her mischievous little comment, Nine's smile turned into a grimace.

"Yeah, you're right. Not right now though. I still have another favor to ask. I want her to carry that to the Mage's Guild now, to a room I'm borrowing to house it in."

She closed Take-Mikazuchi's chest back up as she spoke, then carried Celica and Trinity down to the ground with her on a gust of wind.

Nirvana caught up to them a moment later, and once Trinity had cast an extra layer of magical defense against any ill effects from the core on her, the whole group headed off to the Mage's Guild.

### Part 4

The sight of three girls walking alongside a large robotic doll carrying a disturbingly-colored half of a globe was unusual to say the least, even in the less-than-traditional city of Ishana which had built its culture on sorcery and alchemy.

Nine had chosen a room used for magical experimentation located below the Mage's Guild to store Take-Mikazuchi's core. She had chosen it mainly for the magical compatibility of its old wooden floor and walls, and she had cleared everything she didn't need out of the room in order to hold her tools. When Celica's group entered, the room was lit only by magical lamps casting fire-colored light, and aside from a table with three chairs near the entrance, there was nothing else noteworthy to be seen.

In place of tools or books, a recently drawn magic circle dominating the center of the room awaited them.

"It's a sealing circle designed to restrain the functions and power of the core. Nirvana, put the core in the middle of it."

Figuring that Celica was going to ask anyway, Nine preemptively answered her question as they walked in. The dull thuds of Nine's high heels hitting the wooden floor reverberated throughout the room as she went.

The entrance was a big pair of double doors, designed with the need to carry bulky equipment through them in mind, but Nirvana was still only barely able to get the core through. Once she managed to get into the room, she put the core into the magic circle as ordered.

As soon as she did, the circle started emitting dark purple light and the core floated off the ground and hung in the air.

As if it was being held up by an invisible hand, the flawlessly split core held perfectly still as it was suspended between the ceiling and floor. "...Guess that's a job well done?"

Nirvana retreated back to stand beside Celica, who asked for confirmation uncertainly.

Perhaps it was because they had just carried an incredibly dangerous thing that could have unknown adverse effects on humans though the street, but they were all as tense as a taut bowstring.

Once Nirvana had put the core safely into the magic circle, Celica's words served to slowly ease their tension.

"Yeah. Thanks for your time, you were a big help... all three of you."

Remembering what Celica had said earlier, Nine thanked all three of them this time.

Appreciating her sister's thoughtfulness, Celica clasped her arms behind her back and smiled. The town was still in chaos and the world was in grave danger, but she thought that even at a time like this, a little happiness would do wonders.

"I still have work to do, so you go on home, Celica."

Crossing her arms beneath her bountiful chest, Nine put on her big sister face.

There was no clock in this room, but by the time they had entered the Mage's Guild, the sun had already sunk below the horizon and the sky was turning a dim purple. By now night should have completely fallen and the moon would be rising.

Celica's hair shook as she nodded. "Okay. In that case, I'll finish cleaning up and make us something to eat. I don't really know what we have left though."

It had been some time since they were chased out of Ishana, so the fruits and vegetables they had at home had probably gone bad by now.

It would be nice if she could go grocery shopping, but she wasn't holding her breath for that to happen right now.

"Do you want to come with me, Trinity-san?"

"Ah... I'm sorry～ I want to talk to Nine about something for a bit."

"Oh, okay. I'll just go back with Nirvana then."

Trinity apologized again, and Celica waved to Nine as the latter saw her off with a loving look before heading out of the wood-enclosed underground room.

The girl and her robotic doll left through just one side of the double door, and it closed shut behind them with a heavy thud.

Celica's light, bouncy steps slowly faded into the distance. Eventually both her and Nirvanas' presences disappeared…

In an instant Nine wheeled around to return to Take-Mikazuchi's core enshrined in the sealing circle. The fire-colored magical lighting cast a solemn atmosphere through the dreary room, reflecting off the dark wooden floor and giving the illusion that time had stopped. The half of the red-black globe floated silently inside the magic circle, looking like the contents of a cup in solid form, flat side facing up. It may have only been half its original size, but it still made this reasonably large room feel cramped.

"Nine... sorry to bother you when you're so busy, but I don't know when else I'll get a chance to talk to you one-on-one～"

Trinity was the one to break the silence. She realized that Nine wasn't going to start up a conversation right now no matter how long she waited.

With a nearly imperceptible gulp, Nine shifted her attention back to her. Trinity couldn't see her face past her long hair and the wide brim of her hat, but she saw her lips, no different from any normal girl's, breath a shallow sigh.

"Is this the kind of conversation we have to have privately?"

"That's a little mean of you, pretending you don't know what I want to ask."

"Then you should know what my answer is going to be."

Her tone was curt, but she wasn't outright refusing to talk to Trinity. She was just begging her not to ask.

She was showing her girlish, fragile side that never came out except when she was alone with Trinity, or sometimes with Celica or Jubei. Her soft center that she kept hidden under a layer of tough armor. It showed itself in the whispering tone of her voice. Normally, Trinity probably would have just left the room with an understanding smile, but Trinity couldn't do that this time.

"You've been hiding something about Take-Mikazuchi from us this whole time... haven't you?" Humanity's ultimate weapon, capable of taking on the Black Beast, that could scorch the earth and warp the landscape with a single attack, and that sucked the life out of countless people in seconds. It crushed Ishana beneath its incredible mass and brought a piece of the Black Beast back to the island with it. With just a glance anyone could tell just how dangerous that black colossus was to humanity. Everyone was more afraid of that thing than ever before, Trinity included, but hardly anyone knew that it was the intellect and techniques of this girl that had created it. Even her little sister, Celica, thought that it was something the Ten Sages had developed.

Nine rubbed her temples like she had a headache.

"Sorry, Trinity..."

"Why do you insist on doing everything by yourself, Nine?"

Trinity gently interrupted Nine's words.

"This is just hypothetically speaking, but what if the most terrible weapon in human history were to come into being, and then someone were to use it, thereby sacrificing countless lives? In that situation, would the blame lie with the one who used it, or the one who created it?"

Nine didn't have an answer to that question, but regardless of which one she picked, she would definitely blame herself. After all, she was without a doubt the one who had created the problem in the first place.

"You feared Take-Mikazuchi. You regret having ever made it, right? But even if you are the one who created it, I don't think it's reasonable to put all the blame on yourself."

Silently praying in her heart, Trinity walked around to stand in front of Nine. Nine had a confused look on her face, but it was quickly replaced with a frown and an intense expression.

She knew what laid beneath that intensity. Trinity clasped her hands in front of her chest.

"Please tell me what Take-Mikazuchi really is. What scared you so badly that you kept it from us?"

Trinity had a feeling that it had something to do with why Nine said the core could have a fatal effect on people earlier, and that it was weighing on her so heavily that she couldn't bear to say it. If Nine were to say, and if Trinity were to listen... then no matter what the truth was, she would accept it. If Nine told her about whatever heavy weight she had placed upon herself, she wouldn't blame her for it no matter what it was. In fact, she wanted to tell her that she had done the right thing and free her from her regret. After all, Take-Mikazuchi saved many lives the first time it was summoned, too.

But…

"I'm pretty sure I already said I won't tell you."

Nine wouldn't open the lock over her heart.

"If I told you this one thing, I'm sure I'd end up confessing everything to you."

Seeming to fear that more than anything, she hugged herself with her folded arms.

She had more than just one thing she wanted to hide. Take-Mikazuchi wasn't the only sin weighing her down, and she had no intention of unburdening herself to Trinity. Hearing her best friend say that, Trinity's chest ached so badly that it surprised even her. She knew that the stabbing pain she felt wasn't directed towards Nine, but it still hurt.

"Nine, I just..."

Wanted to talk. Just wanted to hear you out. Must have wanted to hear you say, 'you're the only one I can turn to.' The friend standing before her wasn't the genius mage; she was a girl named Konoe Mercury. Trinity might have just wanted that weak, fragile girl to think of her as the only person who would accept her for who she really is, the only person who would protect her.

She was getting déjà vu because this wasn't the first time Nine had pushed her away like this. Trinity was terribly dejected. Her heart dropped as badly as it had in the gut-wrenching moment when she had watched the Black Beast and Take-Mikazuchi drop on Ishana.

In that moment, Nine let go of herself and unfolded her arms, leaning to one side with casual posture.

"I'm sorry, Trinity. I'll tell you when this is all over."

Nine barely managed to keep herself together and act natural as she said it. Her voice wavered a bit.

Trinity weakly bowed her head. Now Trinity was the one who needed Nine to worry about her feelings and protect her. She didn't want to have to say this.

"...Do you... promise?"

Softly, ever so softly. Trinity exhaled as softly as she possibly could. She didn't want to accidentally put more pressure on Nine. No matter how dejected and bewildered she may be, that was one thing she never wanted to do.

In place of an answer to Trinity's hesitant question, Nine lifted her head. Her face had lost its intensity, and her eyebrows drooped as she chuckled wryly, remembering their many trifling daily conversations.

"On second thought, I'll leave dividing the core and applying the seal to one of the other Sages. Sorry Trinity, you ought to be helping the injured. They don't have many people who know how to make medicine out there."

"Nine..."

"...Making that face doesn't make me want your help more."

Don't make this any harder for me. Regret shone in Nine's eyes as she dropped her gaze.

It's hard to say who this was more difficult for: Trinity or Nine. Nine didn't want to hurt Trinity, nor did Trinity want to hurt Nine. They were thinking practically the same thing, but they still couldn't see eye to eye. They couldn't reach each other. In this moment, they were like shirt buttons put into the wrong holes. This sort of thing happens a lot, but in that moment it was much more difficult than either of them would have thought.

Trinity put her hands over her chest, feeling like she was going to suffocate, but managed to smile.

"Make sure you go home to Celica-san tonight. It'd be a waste if you don't eat the dinner she's going out of her way to make for you～"

If she had kept on pressing the point, would Nine have opened up to her? But knowing so much about her, Trinity couldn't bring herself to hurt Nine even worse, and so she decided to stop asking.

It wasn't kindness. It wasn't consideration, either. To avoid hurting Nine with her actions, she was just running away from the truth that was creating friction between the two of them.

She was such a weakling. Trinity's feeling of powerlessness turned to cold misery and buried itself into her heart.

"...Yeah, I'll make sure to do that. Don't worry about me."

Watching Nine's shoulders relax was Trinity's only consolation.

### 034. Chapter 2: Sweeping Away Crimson Grief

### Part 1

In a conference room in the Mage's Guild.

The line of long, thin windows was covered with thick curtains, hiding the wide nighttime expanse of Ishana from view. The room was dimly lit by orangish-white lights in its four corners, but the only other light source illuminating the people gathered within was the clear sphere floating in the center. As large as a human head, it shed pale white light as it was used to project images of various locations around Ishana.

There were six people surrounding this glowing white ball. The glamorous woman wearing a triangular purple hat, Nine. The woman whose lovely platinum blond hair peaked out from beneath the hood of a white robe, Trinity Glassfille. The werewolf in the prime of his life who had crammed his brawny body into a high-class shirt and vest, Valkenhayn. The cat-type beastkin, with his two tails swaying behind him and his right eye hidden beneath an eyepatch, Jubei.

Then, the man who wore the hood of his long coat low over his eyes to hide his face in shadow, Terumi... and the man clad in white with an equally white mask whose whole being oozed intimidation, Hakumen.

It was the night two days after Take-Mikazuchi fell on Ishana. Terumi, being the only one who hadn't been teleported along with the Black Beast and Take-Mikazuchi, had just gotten back in town this morning. This was the first time all six of them had been together in one place since they had taken shelter in the Kaka Clan village.

"Weapons powered by Take-Mikazuchi's core..."

Looking beyond the orb that was standing in for a normal screen to look at Nine, who had just finished explaining her plan, Jubei whispered like he was mulling it over. His tails swayed slowly behind him.

"But no matter how many fragments you break the core up into, they'll never pack the same punch as Take-Mikazuchi, right?"

"Of course not. If I were to make Take-Mikazuchi-class weapons, even a tough beastkin like you would get blasted to a million pieces if you tried to wield one."

Saying something very frightening with a nonchalant expression, Nine crossed her arms under her chest.

The orb in the center of the room was showing an image of the wasteland of debris that the Ishana town scape had been reduced to. Take-Mikazuchi had still been lying atop it all this morning, but they had just managed to send it to a different dimension after a full day's work making adjustments.

"Naturally, we're going to be losing out on some firepower, but what I'm going to make won't be a plain-and-simple weapon like Take-Mikazuchi. I'm going to create weapons that need to be wielded in the hands of people. They'll be more powerful the more skillful their wielder is, and in turn, they'll let the wielder make the most of their own skill. You'd agree that there's a big difference between an amateur swinging around a legendary sword and a master wielding a wall decoration, right? A sword's sharpness isn't everything."

About to continue her speech, Nine cast her gaze across the faces of the people gathered with her, and her eyes met Trinity's for a moment. The sharp light in her eyes dimmed a bit as Trinity flashed a tiny smile at her, and she breathed out a light sigh.

"The weapons I'm going to make from Take-Mikazuchi's core will be special. If we stick with the sharpness metaphor, they'll be able to out-cut any legendary sword in the world. So long as the right people are wielding them, they should bring plenty of firepower to the table."

By 'the right people,' she meant people with far higher battle prowess than the average person.

Obviously, the ones she had in mind were the five people in the room with her. The five people she had personally selected to help her.

"The thing is... I do need to get your input about one problem I have."

Nine's tone of voice got markedly less confident.

"It'll take me half a year at the very least to make weapons that are worth anything, but we predict that the Black Beast will most likely make it here in about four months."

It was just a prediction at the end of the day, but no matter what, those two extra months were going to be too long to fit into a margin of error.

An anxious wrinkle cut across Valkenhayn's brow as he scratched his chin.

"So then the weapons will come too late..."

"Not necessarily. I want you all to do everything you can to slow the Black Beast down and buy me time."

With a shake of her head, Nine requested the cooperation of everyone present. Speaking in an exceedingly calm voice, she neither ordered them to do it nor did she beg them for help.

Jubei, Trinity, and Valkenhayn all gave their assent like it was the only logical course of action, but Terumi had something to say. Leaning on the wall in a shadowy part of the room, he made his opinion known without much delicacy.

"What, are you insane? You want us to slow down the Black friggin' Beast? If that's supposed to be a joke, I ain't laughing."

"It wasn't a joke. I am in fact quite sane, and serious too. If we're going to defeat the Black Beast, we're going to need weapons made from Take-Mikazuchi's core, but they're not going to be ready in time if we keep letting the Black Beast run free like we have been."

That was an immutable fact, and one that all of mankind had to accept, not just Nine's crew. If the Black Beast made it to Ishana and wiped out the Mage's Guild and Orbis Librarius Normas' Joint HQ, Ishana would be obliterated, their last hope of standing against the Black Beast would be lost, and humanity really would have to start counting down their last few days before extinction.

"It's all over if Ishana falls. I need to create something we can use to oppose it before that happens."

In order for that to happen, they had to do something to delay the Black Beast's arrival in Ishana.

"...How convenient."

The atmosphere of the room trembled ominously as Hakumen mumbled to himself.

Everyone turned their eyes and their attention to his tall, stark-white body.

Nine's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Just as Terumi had said, slowing down the Black Beast's advance was an insane, reckless idea, and surely Hakumen knew that too. Nine couldn't imagine that white-masked man would ever bluff or bluster.

Of course, she was right: Hakumen hadn't spoken up to act tough. "I spoke with Jubei about this not long ago. If we meet that creature in battle on this island, deploying troop formations and utilizing artillery will prove difficult, which will inevitably lead to intolerable losses. We were contemplating whether there was no way we could intercept it somewhere on the continent, before it made it to this island... before it crossed the sea."

As Hakumen spoke, Jubei flicked his tails again and stared into the orb with a glimmer in his eye.

"We did some spit-balling. You know how the Black Beast can come up out of the ground from any cauldron in the world? And then it disappears again after it’s caused some mayhem. Not many people know about the cauldrons, so they think it just appears outta nowhere, but there is actually a pattern to it. If ya follow the trail of all the cauldrons it's used so far, you'd probably be able to guess which one it's using to get to Ishana."

At Jubei's request, Nine pulled up a map on the orb. It was a map only used in Ishana, one where Ishana Island was located in the center and the nearby continent and islands were drawn in around it.

Dozens of red dots were scattered over the surface of it, each one indicating the location of a cauldron.

"The beast is heading roughly northward from this point, making for Ishana. If it's planning to go straight to Ishana, then, barring any major detours... it's really only got three ways to go."

His cat arms were too short, so Jubei pulled one of the swords from his back and used the tip of the scabbard to trace the Black Beast's path, and a red line drawn by magic followed in its wake.

With a complicated look on his face, Valkenhayn watched with great interest as he drew out the path of a calamity.

"But it would be difficult to reliably determine which one the Black Beast will appear from next with only these cauldrons to go off of. If we guess incorrectly while trying to deploy a large army, we'll just tire out the troop. Have you thought of a way to narrow it down?"

"More or less, yeah. Can't guarantee it'll really do the trick, though."

Jubei frowned with his cat lips and Hakumen took over for him.

"No matter which route it chooses, there are several cauldrons that it certainly has to pass through. We station our armies there and engage it the moment it appears."

"All our previous observations show that the Black Beast has to appear on the surface once every now and then following a certain period of time, like it's coming up for air. Based on the distance between these cauldrons, we should be able to catch it in a guaranteed ambush."

A powerful glint flickered in Jubei's eye.

The information they had on the Black Beast was gained by dint of a staggering number of sacrifices. Even still, they couldn't cut to the heart of the Black Beast problem; all they knew was what route it would take. They still didn't have any idea how to actually take it down. If the scrap of a lead that those sacrifices had secured for them could become a flickering light of hope for a brighter future, Jubei was ready to do whatever it took to make that happen.

"Of course, I don't think we've got any shot at actually standing toe-to-toe with it right now. We'd all be finished for sure if we tried to do something like that, but I think we can at least be enough of a thorn in its side to buy some time before it makes it here."

It was quite the reckless plan, but it was the only one Jubei had.

"Can we really do something like that..."

The words escaped Trinity's mouth in a mournful whisper. Trinity wasn't the only one to have her doubts: Nine, Valkenhayn, and even the one who had had the idea in the first place, Jubei, were all short on confidence too.

Nevertheless, Jubei kept his head raised high, looking across the floating orb and the map to sweep his unwavering gaze across the faces of everyone in the room.

"Three times I've fought against the true body of the Black Beast. Can't say I survived thanks to raw skill, but I did survive. If I'm still alive, that means I can still fight."

Jubei knew that he had been incredibly lucky. Ever since the Black Beast appeared, Jubei had lost so many people dear to him that it made his head spin. Countless people who wanted to fight but didn't have the strength to carry on had died wallowing in regret.

Keeping them in mind, he could at least push his fear aside while standing in this conference room.

"My swords can cut through Seithr. Magic and Ars Magus can do some damage to the Black Beast, and Hakumen even took one of its heads off."

Jubei took a single, deep breath before calling his comrades to action, putting his entire being into four words.

"We've gotta do this."

They didn't have the luxury of looking for a better option. They had a little time left, but not as much time as they needed.

Nine's face went stiff, as if she was challenging him.

"How much time can you buy that way? One month. Even if I have to trade my life for it, I swear that we will do it."

Hakumen answered, his voice not faltering for even an instant. There was no doubt that he wasn't being cocky. In fact, it was the opposite: he knew now, before ever drawing his sword, that they wouldn't be able to hold out longer than a month no matter what they did.

Even if they did manage to catch the Black Beast like they thought they could, Jubei and Hakumens' plan wouldn't succeed without casualties.

Without a doubt, a lot of people were going to die, and at the same time, they would lose valuable combat power. Even knowing that, Nine nodded deeply and firmly.

"Understood. I'll leave it to you. In the meantime, I'll complete these weapons even if I have to will them into existence."

If she couldn't finish them in time, it would mean the end of Ishana, then the end of the world shortly after it.

Nine placed a single black marker on the map indicating the location of the cauldron at the furthest edge of the continent. That meant it was also the cauldron closest to Ishana. Before the Black Beast could cross over to Ishana, it would almost certainly have to pass through this cauldron.

"Five months from now, when the Black Beast materializes out of this cauldron, will be the moment when we make our last stand."

Nine's words were a needle of fierce determination that carved the resolve to do what they must into their hearts.

### Part 2

Take-Mikazuchi had disappeared from the city, and everyone moved on to working to restore the ruined townscape left in its wake.

Like afternoon shifting to night, the atmosphere in Ishana took a turn. Most people who had been busy frantically clearing rubble and tending to the injured were now focusing on a different kind of work. Instead of gathering construction tools and medicine, they were stockpiling weapons and armor. They were looking at maps of Eurasia instead of at maps of Ishana.

The war against the Black Beast had resumed, and this wasn't the time to be dedicating time and manpower to restoring the Magister's City of Ishana. After all, Ishana might disappear before they finished rebuilding it.

Tension was building among the army that the Mage's Guild and the Orbis Librarius Norma had worked together to raise at their Joint HQ, and that tension was rippling out to cover the rest of the island.

Numerous days passed like this, and one night, Celica was walking down one of Ishana's cobblestone roads.

The sky was cloudless and the distant moon was plain to see. It was a full moon tonight, and its swollen, yellow-tinged form looked like a lemon in the sky. The breeze felt cool, and while the barrier wrapping around the island blocked most of it off, the faint smell of the sea was refreshing.

It was late enough that the date was going to change before long. Hardly any houses had lights on anymore and all the shops were closed, but the glittering lamp posts in the city of sorcery kept the streets bright just as they should, holding the darkness at bay and relieving the sense of silence.

This area was on the edge of town, and the port where the army was busy preparing to depart was in the opposite direction, so no one else could be seen walking around here. The footsteps Celica heard were hers alone, and the shadow she saw swaying in the light of the street lamps was hers too. For some reason, she found that really refreshing.

Right now, Celica was indeed alone. Nine and Valkenhayn weren't with her, and even the Orbis Librarius Norma agents who had been tailing her since she had returned to Ishana were nowhere to be seen. Even Nirvana was absent. Celica was alone for the first time in a very long while, and like she was following directions from someone she couldn't see, she was headed for the hill overlooking Ishana.

She knew from the start who was on the hill. The last time she had been drawn to this hill and felt this person's presence, she had mistaken them for someone else, but now she could easily tell the two apart.

Walking clear of the rows of buildings, she winded her way along the promenade until she got to the hill road hidden from view by grass, then followed it to the crest of the hill. There weren't any streetlamps on the hill, so she used magic to make a tiny dot of light on her fingertip. The grass made a crunching sound as she walked across it. Having put some distance between herself and the lights and buildings of the city, the sky seemed to suddenly expand around her.

She felt great.

Drinking in the cool night air, Celica took a few more steps and called out to the white shadow standing at the summit.

"Good evening, Hakumen-san."

She was relieved to see it was exactly who she thought it would be. The wind smelling of grass and soil caressed her skin as she naturally broke into a smile.

Celica heard a crunching of the grass much heavier than the one her feet had made, and his wide shoulders turned halfway around as he looked back at Celica.

Long silver hair swayed in the wind as the expressionless white mask looked at Celica.

"...You're alone. What of Nirvana?"

Hakumen's puzzled voice reverberated from inside the mask.

"Onee-chan said she needed her up at the Mage's Guild for two or three days. She said she needed to examine her or something."

Answering with a laugh, Celica walked over to stand next to Hakumen.

Hakumen stood there facing her with his upper body turned toward her all the way until she stood next to him, then he turned back to face the city again. The cool breeze spiraled between their legs before blowing past them.

"You guys are leaving tomorrow morning, aren't you?"

Celica asked him casually, with her hands clasped behind her back, her head held high, and the night scenery of Ishana reflected in her wet soil-colored eyes.

She could see countless ships anchored in the harbor from up here. They weren't ships meant to ferry passengers. They were warships, made to carry far more people and equipped with large-scale weaponry.

Hakumen responded with neither words nor even a nod of the head, but Celica knew that his unwavering silence was affirmation.

"You won't be coming back in one month, will you..."

She was trying to keep her tone light, but Celica couldn't stop her voice from coming out a little weaker than it had been a moment earlier.

One month wasn't a short amount of time. That wouldn't be so bad if they were just going off to some random place for a month, but the so-called ‘one month’ that Hakumen and all the rest were headed to tomorrow was like a deep, dark swamp to Celica.

"Returning after only one month is merely the worst-case scenario."

Hakumen's voice, just like his body, didn't waver in the least.

If they had any strength left at the end, they planned to stay and keep the Black Beast in check for as long as they could, even if they could only keep it up for one day longer. That was the duty of the expeditionary force that Hakumen was going to lead.

Celica thought she had a good idea of just how reckless and perilous a task that was, but she also realized that she could never fully understand it. She was keenly aware of just how much of a difference there between what was she could do and what Hakumen could do.

"You'd better come back, okay?"

"Of course I will. This won't be the end."

"Yeah... of course not."

They weren't setting out with plans to lose their lives in vain; they were just going to buy some time. In one month or a little more, they were going to come back to Ishana.

Celica couldn't believe that that would be the case, so she smiled as the sorrow threatened to overcome her. It was the dead of night, but lights were still flickering across the harbor. The ships were still being loaded with supplies for tomorrow morning's departure.

The ships would set sail and eventually make it to the continent, and from there a horde of extra-large cars would take them on a seemingly endless expedition heading southeast. Finally they would arrive at a field near the cauldron where the Black Beast was most likely to appear next and lie in wait to ambush it.

(The Black Beast)

Celica thought those words in a mutter, as if she was whispering in her own head.

How many times had she witnessed that monster made of Seithr and cloaked in fear itself? Four... no, just three times. The first time she didn't see it herself because she escaped to safety before it showed itself in full.

Celica clenched her teeth together a little too hard.

"Hey, Hakumen-san. We haven't really had a chance to talk about it yet, so there's something I want to tell you while I still have the chance."

As she spoke, she turned to face him so sharply that it seemed like she was about to break into a sprint. She shook off all the sappy emotions she had been displaying up until just now and looked right up at Hakumen.

In response to her pleading voice, the white mask met her gaze, silently urging her to continue. Keeping her gaze steady, Celica slowly and purposefully spoke one word at a time.

"The truth is, I saw him. I saw Ragna."

There was a big difference between keeping that fact hidden in her heart and putting it into words to get it off her chest. The instant she put what she was thinking into words, Celica felt a rush of warmth well up in her heart.

She clasped her hands and squeezed them together like she was trying to see what they felt like.

"I think it happened when the Black Beast teleported with Take-Mikazuchi. In that moment, I got stuck inside the Black Beast. Everywhere I looked was pitch black and I was all alone."

Just as Celica was being crushed by the loneliness and fear within the suffocating darkness, she had felt something pull on her arm.

Her hand could still feel the body heat and texture she had felt at that moment. It was neither a dream nor an illusion, and it wasn't a simple intuition or a mere presence either; it was Ragna, in the flesh.

"Ragna found me. He protected me, and he saved my life."

Celica set her overflowing emotions ablaze, and Hakumen's entire mask was reflected in her eyes.

Hakumen looked silently into those eyes. From beneath the mask that betrayed no emotions came a question, asked in a low voice that sounded like he was being crushed to death.

"...Did he... say anything to you?"

"Ragna saved me but stayed inside the Black Beast himself. He said he still had something to do. And... he said it was something he had to do on his own."

That being the case, she wondered if Ragna was still inside the Black Beast at this very moment. Maybe he was fighting something all alone right now. Thinking that, her legs started trembling terribly. She wanted to give into her impulses and just start running. She knew there was nothing she could do, but she just wanted to run right to where Ragna was all by himself.

Suffering from the same impatience as Celica, Hakumen, standing right next to her, turned his mask away from her and lowered his chin as if in deep thought.

"Ragna the Bloodedge..."

He muttered like he was tracing the words with his voice. His voice was faint and detached, like he was dominating the emotions he was supposed to have for that name.

Celica let out a short ‘ah’ sound. She had remembered something.

"I almost forgot, Ragna was with a woman too."

"A woman?"

"Yeah. I only caught a glimpse of her, but she was small and had silver hair. Her left eye was covered with an eyepatch, but her other one was red."

Hakumen's attitude changed palpably, like something was stirring within him. They had been standing in a refreshing night breeze, but now there was slowly smoldering anger mixed into the air as well.

"...Then, that woman... is inside the Black Beast..."

Bitterness the likes of which Celica had never heard from Hakumen muddied his voice. If he had a human face, he probably would have been scowling menacingly and grinding his teeth together.

Seeing Hakumen quietly losing his temper before her, Celica tilted her head slightly to one side.

"You know that girl too?"

That's what it had sounded like to her.

Hakumen kept his silence for a few seconds before answering solemnly.

"That woman is the heart of the Black Beast."

The heart. Celica had no idea what he meant by that. She tilted her head even further and looked at him blankly. Was he talking about the organ in a living creature that enabled all of its bodily functions, or did he mean it in a more metaphorical sense?

Before she could ask him to explain what he was talking about, Hakumen looked off toward the distant ocean as if he could no longer see her.

He kept silent and stared into space as he lost himself deep in thought.

"Hakumen-san?"

Turning at the waist to peak at Hakumen, Celica called his name. Hakumen was silent for a little while, but eventually he responded.

"...Nevermind. We'll finish this another time."

No sooner had he said that than Hakumen turned on his heel and set off, flattening grass beneath his feet. His broad shoulders and flowing silver hair caught the moonlight as he passed through the black of night, making him look like the very moon itself.

"Return to your home. I'm leaving too."

"But-"

She wanted to ask him about what he had just said, but she suddenly changed her mind and stopped her question short.

Hakumen had said 'another time' just then. He never lied. That meant she would just have to wait until the not-too-distant future of a little more than a month from tomorrow before that 'another time' arrived.

"...Are you going to take me home?"

Celica skipped over to Hakumen's side as he stood there waiting with his back turned, the moon hanging in the sky high above his tall white form.

He turned his attention to Celica for a brief moment before setting off at a walk, and Celica followed behind him. Hakumen's footsteps, which he kept in pace with Celica's, were his answer.

"Thank you, Hakumen-san."

Hakumen didn't look at Celica this time as she smiled at him.

The night breeze brushed over both of them as they walked side-by-side. Only at a time like this, with the moon watching over them from on high, can the passage of time feel gentle and calm for a change. It felt like this moment might last forever.

The eastern sky was turning gray as the night began to give way to morning.

When the sun was fully above the horizon, the ships left Ishana.

### Part 3

Starting at a certain point, the mountains and the wide plains between them had been unnaturally stripped of their color.

The Joint Headquarters Army that had set out from Ishana arrived at its destination half a day ahead of schedule and had set up camp overlooking the location of the cauldron where the Black Beast was likely to appear next. Preparations for battle were underway and proceeding steadily. They had erected a barricade in a semicircle in front of the camp, in front of which they had set up magical land mines. Before long, they will have finished doing everything they can to prepare this area, and once they'd done that, all they'd be able to do is wait for the Black Beast to appear at the foot of the nearby mountains.

They weren't going to be kept waiting here for days on end; it would either be tomorrow or the day after it. It would all start once they heard that disgusting, earth-shaking roar split the sky. ...Thus, would begin their one month long losing battle.

"...Yes. This will do the trick～, thank you for all your help."

Finishing checking the left side of the barricade and the magic circle traps scattered around it, Trinity smiled as sweetly as she could at the Joint HQ Army soldiers who were responsible for setting them up. The soldiers had been stiff as boards as they grappled with their tension and struggled to do work that they weren't used to, but they all loosened up a little bit at the sight of her.

The barricade was reinforced with magic that improved its physical strength, and the magic circles were set to fire off attack magic when they detect high-density compressed Seithr nearby. They wouldn't amount to more than cheap tricks against the Black Beast, but they were a lot better than nothing. They weren't fighting to win this time: if they could delay the Black Beast by even a single second longer, that would be a victory.

Clutching a bundle of documents to her chest, Trinity hurried off to the next place she needed to check. Her surroundings were filled with things you would never see in the Magister's City of Ishana. Military vehicles, military tents, and weapons laying around like they were the most ordinary items in the world. The multitude of people coming-and-going around her all seemed terribly busy, and Trinity felt like time had sped up for everyone but her.

Trinity's chest felt tight as this atmosphere she couldn't get used to pressed in around her. The air she breathed tasted like sand and irritated her lungs. It was entirely unlike her ordinary life in Ishana, and it made her skin tingle as she felt the weight of what was about to happen anew.

Hanging her head unconsciously, Trinity saw a familiar pair of black boots walking toward her, coming from the direction she was headed in. Reflexively lifting her head, she pushed her glasses back up on her nose. Standing out from his hectic surroundings, Terumi strolled leisurely forward.

"'Sup, four-eyes? I'm all finished."

With both hands stuffed in his pockets, Terumi came to a stop in front of Trinity. He must have ditched his bundle of documents containing a checklist, relevant information, and work details somewhere. Unlike Trinity, he was walking around empty-handed.

"Good work, Terumi-san～ I'm sorry, I still have two more places left～"

Terumi already looked burnt out, but hearing Trinity's words, he jutted his chin out to the side and heaved a bored sigh.

"So? We gonna leave once you're done?"

"No, before that we have a briefing with Hakumen-san and some other people."

"Seriously, more? ...tsk, what a pain."

Seeing Terumi looking just as fed up as can be and watching him dramatically click his tongue without a care what people around him might think, Trinity got an uncomfortable look on her face.

"Oh, don't be like that～"

As she said it, her line of sight naturally fell to her feet and her clear green eyes clouded over with guilt. Her voice went as dark as her eyes, but she still managed to sound sweet as she muttered,

"We get to go home and leave them all behind, after all, so we ought to at least do everything we can now."

Indeed, Trinity and Terumi were just here to do final checks and perform maintenance on the barricade and magic circles. They and a few dozen outstanding mages were going to return to Ishana shortly.

The ones staying behind to fight were the Joint HQ Army, the Ars Magus Corps, several particularly powerful fighters hand-picked by the Duodecim, and the trio of Hakumen, Jubei, and Valkenhayn. There were two main reasons why the mages were going home: because they needed to keep as many people capable of using sorcery in reserve as possible for the decisive battle against the Black Beast and because Nine needed as many people knowledgeable about sorcery as possible to aid in her weapons development. While others were away buying time by keeping the Black Beast busy, Nine needed to finish developing her weapons as fast as she possibly could. To that end, they weren't deploying people skilled in sorcery in this army. Terumi was also exempt because he was deeply knowledgeable about sorcery and things relating to it.

"Yeah, yeah, how sweet."

Terumi raised both hands up to head level in surrender and waved them around. It felt like he was just exasperated rather than making fun of her, and the corner of his mouth turned downward to display his boredom.

"...Is it fun for you, going through life taking everything so seriously?"

"Huh?"

Surprised by his sudden change of topic, Trinity's eyes went wide, and she did a double take.

With his mouth curved into an irritated frown, Terumi took a couple steps closer to Trinity.

"If you ignore your attack magic and teleportation magic skills, you're every bit the mage that that bitch is, ain't you? And your seals and alchemy blow hers out of the water."

With how close they were to each other; it became even more apparent how tall Terumi was in comparison. With Terumi looming over her and raining his words down upon her head, Trinity timidly looked up at him.

"That's not true..." She did indeed have a knack for sealing magic, but she couldn't compare to Nine in raw amount of mana, and there was no getting around that. Evaluating relative skill with magic was no simple thing: the act of seeing through to the true nature of something complicated and finding a loose thread in it to weave an effective seal and the act of controlling a massive amount of mana at one time to create a huge explosion required completely different inclinations and skill sets.

Terumi, however, didn't care about cliches like that. A knowing grin split his face.

"You really think so? I mean, c'mon. If you wanted to, you could remove this Mind Eater she's got on me without breaking a sweat. Right? Right?"

At the mention of the Opprimo Vinculum "Mind Eater" curse, Trinity's body stiffened up a little.

"If you're trying to get me to dispel Nine's magic, you know that I won't do it, don't you?"

With the stern face of someone who takes life seriously, she stares at Terumi with reproach.

Trinity had no idea who Terumi really was, where he came from, or what about him Nine feared enough to put Mind Eater on him. All she knew was that they needed Terumi's knowledge to have a chance at beating the Black Beast and that, apparently, they wouldn't have been able to get that knowledge if they hadn't restricted his free will.

Nine wasn't the type of person to simply shackle someone and force them into her service for her own selfish benefit, so there must have been a good reason for her to take control of Terumi's actions. It's not like she didn't have some negative feelings about Nine not telling her the whole story, but she wasn't going to go against Nine's wishes just because of that.

Looking down at Trinity, who had quite the nasty expression on her face by her standards, Terumi burst out laughing.

"Hey now, don't get me wrong here, it was just a hypothetical. And even if you were willing to do it, I wasn't gonna ask."

Trinity was a bit shocked by his light-hearted words. She assumed that he would want to be freed from his bonds as soon as possible, so she was genuinely surprised to hear that.

"I mean, yeah, no doubt it's one hell of an infuriating spell. But still, if it wasn’t for this thing, I'd still be rotting in the world's dustiest jail cell right now. I'm getting a nice breath of fresh air in exchange for this collar around my neck, so it ain't really that bad a deal."

Terumi raised his hands up toward the sky like some sort of actor performing on stage. His narrow shoulders and the hood he wore low over his eyes shook in unison as he cackled like he was having the time of his life.

Then his arms suddenly went slack and fell back to his sides, and Terumi shook his head listlessly beneath his hood.

"But I've gotta say, I pity you."

He sighed with genuine sympathy.

Was he making fun of her, or was he really worrying about her? Trinity got flustered and seemed to shy away from him.

"What... do you mean by that?"

"Are you gonna act the good girl and be that bitch's pawn forever? Coming when she calls, letting her use you for all you're worth? If that's all you're ever gonna be to her... what's the difference between you and me, right now?"

Like he was sticking his hands into a wave of emotions and stirring them up, Terumi's intense voice alternated between moments of exaggerated force and understated quiet.

"Doesn't she piss you off? C'mon, you can tell me. That so-called friend of yours who does nothing but keep secrets and withhold information? Some best friend she is."

"Please stop. I don't..."

Think of her that way. It would be absurd to resent her. Trinity's hair waved about in wide swings as she shook her head.

"Whenever Nine refuses to tell me something, she always has a good reason for it. I've never once thought she was being unreasonable."

The only thing that bothered Trinity was that Nine suffered from her own silence, and there was nothing she could do to help her.

Terumi's mocking voice fell down upon her from over her head.

"Reallyyy? ...Well, if you say so, then I guess that's good enough for me. It's incredible how women can pretend to be friends like that."

With an implied 'but,' Terumi leaned over to peak at Trinity's face as she hung her head.

"Nine might already be headed down a path you can't follow her on though..."

His piercing glare cut straight to Trinity's heart. His disquieting whisper came from the smile peeking out from under the shadow of his hood, looking like a jagged cut on his face.

He knew everything. Trinity raised her panicked face as she heard him give voice to her hidden anxiety, but by the time she did, all she saw was the hem of Terumi's fluttering coat disappearing into the shadow of a nearby tent.

"Please wait, Terumi-san. What did you... mean by..."

The sound of his footsteps was quick and heavy, and before long they vanished. Her voice died off and faded into the sandy air.

Trinity pressed the papers she was holding even tighter to her chest. That shouldn't have been the sort of thing that could get to her so badly, but she just couldn't stop the storm of thoughts swirling through her head. She didn't understand the man who called himself Terumi. He had protected her from danger before, he would often engage her in friendly conversations, and she felt like he was a fun-loving, good-natured person... but now here he was suddenly, leaving nothing but disturbing words behind him as he walked away.

It was like he was subtly hinting that he knew something that Trinity didn't.

Trinity couldn't tell when it had begun, but she realized now that an unquenchable anxiety had sunk deep into her chest and was weighing her down like it was made of solid lead.

Around that time, Hakumen, who was serving as the ranking officer of this entire force, was walking around the encampment.

There was a reasonable degree of tension straining the air around him, and he was enveloped in premonitions of the battle to come. Just being on the soon-to-be battlefield put Hakumen in his element, and he clenched his fist without even realizing it. The ground beneath his feet was firm.

The Joint HQ Army, seemingly made up of soldiers from all around the world, was showing an unexpectedly high degree of cooperation thanks to good leadership and everyone was focusing on their appointed tasks without much unnecessary friction.

The one primarily responsible for keeping this force running so smoothly was likely Valkenhayn: Hakumen was by no means lacking as a wartime commander, but Valkenhayn seemed to have an incomparably higher amount of experience accumulated over a long lifetime. Beastkin had very long lifespans, after all. Valkenhayn had lived a longer life than any human, and he had walked more battlefields and overcome more brushes with death than any soldier. Thus, he excelled at deploying troops, and by extension understood how to organize an army.

If it weren't for that abundantly experienced werewolf, this camp would probably have a very different atmosphere. With that thought passing through his head, he passed through a road delineated by tents and rows of grimoires.

Sparse weeds occasionally obscured his vision and Hakumen felt bitter feelings well up every time they did. The lives of everyone here and the gently swaying weeds that grew out of the ground were exactly the same in the eyes of the Black Beast. They were just something that needed to be destroyed: nothing more, nothing less.

There was nothing he could do to protect these weeds from what was about to come. The only thing he could protect was his own life. No matter how they might struggle and cling to life, these brittle weeds were probably about to die, leaving no trace behind.

"Oh, I'm sorry, please excuse me."

Suddenly, bounding out from behind the shadow of a magical artillery battery came a person. Barely avoiding crashing right into him, they dug their heels into the ground and pitched forward to stop their momentum.

In the instant that the person registered in his field of vision, Hakumen felt like he was transported somewhere far away.

It was a woman. She was relatively tall, wore a coat that reached down to her knees, and had skin as white as snow. She looked up at Hakumen with a face that was a little too dignified to be called girlish and her blue eyes widened in surprise. Her hair, bundled into one by a hair tie, was red.

"Ah... you're Hakumen-san, aren't you?"

The red haired woman seemed a little flustered as she asked, but Hakumen didn't answer. He couldn't find any words to say.

Not waiting for a reply, the woman opened her mouth to speak again.

"To think we would meet this way. The last time we confronted the Black Beast, I was deployed in a different unit. I can still remember your imposing figure on that day as you met the Black Beast in battle faster than anyone else and laid waste to it with one fell strike, as clearly as if it had just happened!"

Her pale white cheeks flushed faintly as her spirit soared. Squeezing a white hat to her chest with both hands, she had an expression like an excited young boy that didn't match her mature body.

"I'm honored to be able to serve on the battlefield with you like this. By all means, I shall obey your every command."

She must have had considerable confidence in her own skills. Hakumen could tell from the unyielding spirit displayed on her face and in her words.

They didn't look alike. Their faces and general bearings weren't the same.

But Hakumen saw a memory in the color of her eyes and the color of her hair. His memories quaked. Surging emotions boiled up from the depths of the mask, but he pushed them back down as his mind was stricken with a delusion.

"...What is your name?"

He was worried that his voice would come out trembling, but he couldn't help but ask. He had a hunch- no, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was certain.

The woman straightened her posture like a proper soldier and answered firmly.

"Yes, sir. Hailing from the Yayoi family of the Mage's Guild's Duodecim, I am Ayame Yayoi."

Just as he thought. The confirmation sunk into Hakumen's chest, and a distant, impossibly far-off whiff of homesickness grazed his heart as it blew past.

In the end, Hakumen never said anything else after asking for her name, so the woman who called herself Ayame Yayoi gave him a salute before running off. He couldn't even turn around to watch her go. He just stood there like his body was made of stone.

Only once the woman's lingering presence and afterglow had completely faded from the dry air around him did Hakumen manage to pry his feet from the ground. With feeling slowly returning to his feet with every step, he headed straight out of the encampment. He had a mountain of emotions to contend with, but Hakumen distanced himself from them at that moment.

He had more important things to think about, things that required his attention. The perfectly uniform sound of his footfalls sounded heavily on the dirt with every step, like they were disciplining him.

Once he got a little ways out from the campsite, he got to a position where he could thoroughly survey the surrounding area. Sandwiched between two mountains like it was creating space between them, the plain was so wide that it outlined the distant horizon.

Beyond the low-growing grass and the tree line at the feet of the mountains, however, the middle of the plain underwent a jarring change. If you were to call it something, you would call it scorched earth. The grass disappeared, the dirt was charred, and there wasn't a living thing in sight. Looking closely, he could make out masses of concrete scattered about here and there, but there were relatively very few of them to be seen in the burned land. There wasn't even rubble lying around.

This area of scorched earth was destroyed a few days ago, when the Black Beast had last appeared.

The cauldron that the Black Beast came from at the time must have been quite far away, but the monster's path led it all the way to this plain, where a single city was unfortunate enough to just barely be caught in its sights and wiped off the face of the planet. Ishana may have been half-destroyed by Take-Mikazuchi falling on it, but it still retained its function as a city and an organization. How many people could have been looking out over the earth stained red by the horizon here, unable to stop themselves from biting their lips in anxiety?

Jubei was thinking about just that as he stood there petrified, inspecting this ghost of a lost city.

"...What a terrible sight."

Hearing someone call out to him from behind, Jubei simply flicked his tails as he continued to face forward. He realized it was Hakumen once the latter drew closer.

The tips of his two tails lost their strength and naturally drooped downward.

"Think of all the people we coulda saved if we'd just gotten here sooner..."

Looking at the scenery spread out before him like he was bewitched, Jubei whispered regretfully.

No trace remained of the lives of the people who once inhabited this place, and Jubei couldn't even imagine how many people had died here.

Standing next to Jubei as he suffered under the weight of guilt, Hakumen quietly shook his head.

"Grimalkin. Even had we arrived before the Black Beast, the outcome would have likely been the same. We currently have no means of stopping the beast ...though it irks me to say it."

"Even you get frustrated sometimes, huh?"

Seemingly surprised, Jubei grinned playfully. The grin quickly died on his face, however, and Jubei sighed like he was trying to breathe out all of his bitter feelings, shoulders dropping.

"I know there's no sense in thinking about it... but I still wish Nine was here."

She might have been able to teleport as many people to safety as possible while Jubei, Hakumen, and Valkenhayn distracted the Black Beast. Thinking he was naive for even considering that, Jubei scrunched his brow.

"In any case, she must focus all of her attention on creating weapons right now... such considerations are pointless at this juncture."

Hakumen muttered while staring off into the distance, letting his words fade into the barren wind.

Hearing his hoarse voice, Jubei looked up and blinked. He was surprised by Hakumen's sentimentality, but he sighed his agreement with a frown.

"You're right. That's the whole reason we came out here."

Nine was probably running herself ragged in the Mage's Guild right now, trying to finish her work even a day faster than anticipated.

She was the girl who always tunnel-visioned on her goal, did her own thing, and ended up taking it way too far, after all. She was probably working so hard that she didn't have time to stop and think about whether she was worrying Celica or Trinity. All of them who had come out here so that Nine wouldn't have to carry even more of a burden on her shoulders needed to stand strong and buy her as much time as they possibly could.

Jubei gripped one of the prototype swords he had gotten from Nine.

"If Nine finishes her weapons, we've got a chance at winning this. Even these prototypes are good enough to let us tangle with the Black Beast. If we can just do a little more..."

"...Grimalkin."

A little forcefully, Hakumen cut off Jubei mid-sentence. Rather than the barren wasteland before them, his white mask was looking at the sword Jubei was gripping in his hand.

"What is it, Hakumen?"

"Is that really the right way?"

His monologue-like words resounded heavily between the two. Jubei bristled his whiskers, looking confused, and waited for the voice beyond the mask to continue.

"This is our only choice, but I still cannot condone this course of action."

"...You mean Nine's weapons?"

"Imbuing them with the awesome destructive capabilities of Take-Mikazuchi's core and entrusting that power to humans. Such power... will drive a man mad."

Hakumen's concerns were well-founded. Even Jubei had his misgivings about the danger of Nine's idea. But nevertheless...

"Hakumen. The world's already gone mad. Just take a look at this plain, at this whole planet! We're dealing with a genuine monster who can do all this without breaking a sweat, and we've gotta fight it somehow!"

Unable to control his seething emotions, Jubei swung his arm in a wide arc. Everywhere it pointed, there was nothing but cruel, barren earth.

How many lives had ended here, how many regrets had seeped into this soil? This silent ground evoked nothing but unwanted thoughts.

"We've got it way better. You and Nine in particular can actually fight the thing, but with just you two, it's never gonna go down no matter how hard you try!"

It was unclear if the emotion making him yell himself hoarse was anger or fear. Even Jubei himself couldn't tell which it was.

His arm still remembered the fear he had felt, shaking like he had just sprinted a long distance with all his might. No matter how many times he stood face-to-face with the Black Beast, the fear inspired by its mere presence always made his legs freeze up.

That included the very first time he encountered the Black Beast's main body, as well.

"...That day, I couldn't do anything but stand there and tremble. Couldn't do anything but watch it devour my friend."

Jubei scrunched his brow as he relived the memories of that moment.

"I want power. I don't care if it comes from Ars Magus or some crazy new weapon. If the alternative is losing because my better judgment told me to not use every weapon available, I'd rather die a mad man."

He kept on gripping the scabbard in his hand harder and harder. He was sick of feeling sorry for his own helplessness. The regret burning away in his belly spilled out along with his words.

Like he was clearing that regret away, Hakumen whispered his words into the wind as he gazed far into the distance.

"Even if at times you have crumbled under the weight of your fear, you have always stood back up. The courage to choose to face one's fears is the true strength of humanity... strength without bravery is nothing more than insanity. And insanity... invites one's own destruction."

His voice sounded composed and impersonal, but there was still a vague sense that he was thinking of someone in particular as he spoke.

"...That is my only cause for concern."

With the slightest movement, Hakumen turned his mask to face Jubei as the wind blowing across the wasteland tossed his silver hair... or rather, the stuff that looked like his hair.

Looking up at that faceless mask, Jubei put his face in his hands in shame.

"Sorry. I lost my cool there."

"I understand. Worry not."

"It's pretty weird hearing you say something like that."

The out-of-character words tickled him a little bit. Shrugging his shoulders with a wry grin, Jubei got sentimental after being so worked up and let out a deep sigh. In accordance with his sentimental mood, he let out a low murmur.

"Hakumen, I wanna beat the Black Beast."

That was his honest, unembellished, truest desire.

"As do I."

The wind blew harder, still carrying a scent of grass in from behind them.

They listened to the wind that still carried evidence of life with it for a while until they heard Terumi's voice calling to them from a distance. The mages must have finished their work. Now it was time for the ones who were going to stay behind in this camp to do their part. After confirming the chain of command and working through various procedures, they needed to come up with a battle plan and figure out how and where best to deploy the different units.

It wouldn't be long before they drew swords.

Feeling the approach of a battle they had no hope of winning, Hakumen and Jubei returned to the encampment.

### Part 4

Two days later, a pillar of black mist rose from the foot of a mountain.

It was followed by a second, then a third, then a fourth... fifth, sixth, ninth, seventeenth, thirty-eighth, sixty-second... As fast as the blink of an eye, a massive number of pillars arose as Seithr filled the area to the brim.

It was so bizarre that no one was in doubt about what was happening.

The Black Beast was coming.

Like a small wave transforming into a massive surge, the Joint HQ Army encampment erupted with screams of terror. With their backs to the panicked chaos of the army readying for battle, Jubei, Hakumen, and Valkenhayn stood at the front.

"Here it comes."

Unable to keep his voice from cracking, Jubei announced its arrival to no one in particular.

First a massive amount of seithr spurted out of the ground, then shortly afterward the main body followed in its wake: that's how it always went when the Black Beast appears.

Hakumen took a big step forward, ready to be the first into the fray.

"Let us scatter this seithr before the body comes."

This flowing seithr was essentially the vanguard, so he wanted to get rid of as much of it as possible before the real fight began.

In fights between humans, which side took the initiative and attacked first held great significance and affected morale. In a fight against the Black Beast, the monster's morale wasn't a factor, but the opposing side was still human. This was a great chance to bolster the fighting spirit of their troops to stand against it.

Valkenhayn agreed, and he nodded his head in assent even as a little nervousness showed on his grave face.

"We'll launch an all-out attack just as it materializes, then we retreat before it starts focusing on us, leading it into the magic circles. Understood?"

Confirming their orders one last time, the army bravely shouted a war cry before charging into the black mist, kicking up a dust cloud behind them.

The black mist welling up from the broken earth took on grotesque shapes, as if showing its hostility. A certain clump of Seithr took the form of a four-legged beast and started cantering toward the army, while elsewhere another one took the form of a jaw slithering on the ground, rows of teeth bared. In reality they were all nothing more than an amalgamation of the black mist, but in no time at all there was an army of unsettling, animal-like Seithr creatures on the battlefield.

The Joint HQ Army's tanks sped forward all together as soldiers rained down gunfire using alchemically created guns that fired mana-infused bullets. Some wielded Ars Magus-infused swords while Ars Magus bombs were used to clear out the repulsive mist.

Valkenhayn led the army's vanguard. He stooped over for a moment to transform into a wolf then charged onto the plain, seeming to drag everyone else along behind him. When it came to running in a wide-open area, no one was faster than him.

Just as a distorted, six-armed black clump took shape and raised its wriggling head to face him, Valkenhayn transformed back into a human and used his momentum to nail it with a kick. That kick would have easily knocked a human's head clean off their shoulders, but in the six-armed Seithr amalgamation's case, it literally got kicked to dust.

Valkenhayn was a wolf again before he even touched the ground. He jumped and soared through the air, tearing the next abomination apart with his jaws. His merciless fangs and claws tore through the monsters like a hot knife through butter, ripping them to shreds and turning them back into black mist.

His howl ignited the fighting spirit of all those who heard it. His form of encouragement that a human couldn't imitate made the soldiers feel like they weren't powerless.

On a different part of the battlefield, Hakumen was bringing his overwhelming destructive power to bear. Fighting right in the middle of the host of black mist creatures, advancing ever forward without taking a single step back, he swung his nodachi, completely controlling his corner of the battle. Swinging first vertically, then horizontally, his blade rent the very air and scattered Seithr amalgamations along with the ground they stood on. Raising his nodachi high and swinging it down with all his might, the force he generated kicked up the dirt and rose like a wall along the ground to cut a massive Seithr beast in two.

Meanwhile, Jubei ran around the wide plain so quickly that he made it look cramped, scattering black monsters left and right. Suddenly jumping on a half-formed maw that tried to devour him as it let out an ear-piercing shriek, he used his claws and the sword he held in his mouth to slice it to bits faster than a blink.

With a small, light-footed movement, he easily evaded a Seithr projectile aimed for him. His small, easily-maneuverable body allowed him to unleash unexpectedly sharp and precise slashes, and he chased down and eliminated countless targets.

Two beastkin and one tall, white-clad man. Their very presence set the tone of the whole battlefield. As long as they were fighting alongside those three, the soldiers couldn't imagine losing. Maybe they could even tear out the Black Beast's throat in this fight, and then they might actually win this after all.

Everyone fighting near one of them had that thought. We can win. That mindset slowly gained momentum across the entire army.

However... it was then that Valkenhayn felt an ominous premonition, and his expression distorted.

"Hakumen-dono!"

Seeing that white form beyond the head of a black amalgamation that he had just kicked free of its body, Valkenhayn called out and closed the distance between them, standing in the wake of a destructive slash from the nodachi.

"Something's wrong. Is this not strange?"

In the instant following his question, his voice laced with doubt, he let out a vigorous shout as he slashed an eight-legged beast with a massive head approaching him from behind with a sweep of his arm.

Hakumen's nodachi came down an instant after the wolf claws left their mark, finishing the strange creature off.

"...Indeed, something is amiss."

Pulling his nodachi back after the swing, Hakumen also expressed his apprehension.

"Their assault is lack-luster."

"Agreed. The seithr that gushes forth before the beast arrives ought to feel denser than this. But above all else..."

No matter how long they fought, the Black Beast's true body wasn't showing up.

It had already been quite some time since the seithr had started welling up. Normally it would have already shown itself by now, but there was still no sign of it.

"Oi, Hakumen, Valkenhayn! The troops are pushing too far forward!"

Looking like he was in a hurry, Jubei jumped over to them. He must have taken a hit at some point, because there was a big, black-stained dent in the shoulder segment of his battle armor.

Valkenhayn's face grew more grim than ever.

"Too far forward? What are you talking about? Gaining ground isn't part of the plan."

In fact, they were supposed to form and maintain a semi-circle, then quickly change formation when the Black Beast appeared inside the seithr in order to let the front line hit it with maximum firepower.

Jubei impatiently started talking faster.

"I know that, but right now we're spread too wide in the seithr!"

"We've broken formation?"

"No..."

Answering Hakumen's question bitterly, Valkenhayn observed their surroundings.

Their formation wasn't breaking down. While it's true this army was cobbled together out of fighters from many different nations, most of them were still highly disciplined soldiers. However, this host of seithr beasts was unexpectedly weak, and the troops were fired up from their success.

"This is almost like..."

They were being invited in.

"...It can't be!"

The bad feeling Valkenhayn had had turned to a chill running up his spine, and he turned into a wolf and raced back across the battlefield.

He was heading for their army's back line. All along the way he saw that what Jubei had said about their troops being too far forward was more true than he had imagined. Just as he had thought, their formation hadn't broken down to any significant extent, but the seithr taking the form of grotesque creatures was crowding in around them over a very wide area. Once he passed a certain point, he found that the orientation of the battle had turned all the way around. Chaotic screams pressed in all around him.

When he finally reached the point of their formation furthest from the front, he let out a long howl.

It was a sound of warning.

It rang out over the noise of the disoriented battlefield, making it all the way to Jubei's ears on the other side of the formation.

There was no need to put its meaning into words. Jubei's face froze in an instant, and while he cut down one bat-like flying seithr monster after another, he shouted to Hakumen, who was still nearby.

"We're surrounded, Hakumen! They're cuttin' off our retreat!"

Even before Jubei's voice reached him, the tall, white-clad form snapped around with evident shock.

"How could this be...?"

Hakumen's groaning voice was so low it seemed it might shake the ground. Jubei landed next to him.

"I ain't got a clue either. This is the first time I've heard of seithr doing something like encircling an army!"

Seithr and the Black Beast were both supposed to be mindless monsters that did nothing but destroy and massacre. They would simply appear and devour anything in front of them. They were supposed to be just as simple as that. But here they were, baiting soldiers by letting them get fired up, then enveloping them once they pushed too far forward. It was unbelievably logical and clever.

"The Black Beast understands how to use honest-to-goodness battle tactics? You gotta be kidding me..."

The one saving grace about the Black Beast was supposed to be that it simply charged forward thoughtlessly, but now it seemed that not only did it understand tactics, but it could also employ clever strategies of its own. With a quick, harsh exhale, Jubei turned to a cluster of seithr and swept the black mist away like a tornado.

"We've gotta fall back for now! If the Black Beast appears now, when we're completely boxed in..."

Jubei didn't get to finish his sentence.

He forgot what he was planning on saying. Powerless to stop it, he just looked on dumbfounded at what was about to happen.

Suddenly, a shockwave like something trying to break through to the surface shook the earth. Immediately afterward, a blast of black seithr incomparably more powerful than anything they had seen before burst up behind them, in the very center of their formation.

From the black mist appeared... a jet black monster with countless heads. It had uncanny, glaring red eyes and was covered in red lines that looked like blood vessels snaking across its body. Its body was so huge that calling it enormous didn't do it justice, and all who saw its ominous form were gripped by a deep-seated, instinctual sense of fear and despair.

Of all places, the Black Beast had appeared right in the middle of their army.

This was no longer a battlefield: it was a stage upon which they would all be slaughtered in a cage of seithr.

The army split in two by the massive black figure fell into chaos and fear, no longer responding to commands. If they tried to form ranks, they would be facing down the Black Beast, but if they tried to run, they were obstructed by a seemingly endless and ever multiplying army of seithr monsters.

As they scrambled about in panic, with the seithr on one side and the Black Beast on the other, more and more people were burnt to ash, minced into lumps of flesh, or reduced to something else entirely.

"Jubei!"

Hearing a low, strong voice yell like it was reprimanding him, Jubei shook himself out of his stupor. Thanks to that, his nerves started working again and his blood resumed its circulation.

Looking to where the voice came from, he saw Hakumen, nodachi raised, pushing past fleeing soldiers and making for the Black Beast.

"Tear through the seithr and break its encirclement. Evacuate the troops, make some distance, and reform them."

"You're telling me to break through... what are you planning on doing then!?"

"Naturally, I will draw its attention!"

Hakumen didn't show an ounce of fear when he said that. He ran like his feet were physically incapable of taking him backwards, his nodachi slicing through the air. The force of the swing became an invisible blade, hitting the base of one of the Black Beast's necks.

After a moment's hesitation watching him run into the distance, Jubei dashed into action.

"Wait up, I'm coming too!"

"Do not concern yourself with me, I will pull back when the army has escaped. Just open a path of retreat."

"Then you go do it! I'll stay behind!"

He was keenly aware that they didn't have time to waste on arguing, but Jubei quickly belted out his piece.

"I'm not gonna run away. I'm through with leaving it all to someone else while I run for my life!"

His feelings of powerlessness and regret must have really been tearing him up inside. He never wanted to watch someone with their back turned face down the Black Beast all alone ever again. The fighting spirit in his glaring, red cat eye said that he had no intention of retreating.

The tip of Hakumen's sword lowered as he showed a tiny amount of hesitation.

Among the mass of soldiers, he saw a single person running forward.

"In that case, please leave the role of clearing a path of retreat to me."

The composed voice belonged to a tall woman, seemingly unfatigued despite the long fight against the seithr. Her face sparked a memory in Hakumen. Red hair bundled into one by a hair tie and blue eyes. Her dignified, boyish face was covered in streaks of dirt.

"...Ayame Yayoi."

Hakumen muttered her name like he was trying to swallow something.

The red haired woman went to attention once again and looked up at Hakumen.

"I have confidence in both my combat capabilities and my ability to run. Please do not underestimate me because I am a woman. What's more, I wield this sealed weapon."

A seithr beast leapt at her from behind as she spoke, and with a quick turn she sliced it down with the short sword in her hand before turning back to Hakumen. Her blue eyes glowed with honest confidence.

"Sealed weapon... would that be... Izayoi?"

Ayame cheerfully answered Hakumen.

"Indeed it is, so you knew of it? The Mage's Guild entrusted it to the care of the Yayoi family."

Puffing up her chest, the woman had more the bearing of a warrior rather than a mage, and she wore a white uniform different from anyone else on the battlefield. Her mantle gave the impression of folded wings and she wielded a strange shield made to look like a thick tome. The most eye-catching detail, however, was her winged hat adorned with something that looked like an eyeball, both beautiful and unsettling.

Looking at her, Hakumen felt dizzy for some reason. An unsettling feeling, like a black spot on something otherwise clean, encroached on Hakumen's mind.

"If I use the power of the Izayoi, even the seithr of the Black Beast will be no obstacle. Please, leave this to me."

Without waiting for a response from Hakumen, she flipped her mantle and dashed off, headed straight south. Cutting down the seithr amalgamations that had already pushed their way into the center of the army left and right, she gallantly shouted out and rallied the troops.

"We're falling back, stay on me!"

Her shield spread its wings wide, spreading a corona of white light. The seithr army caught in the light cracked like dried-up dirt and lost their shapes, crumbling away one after the other.

It was like watching a saintess smite evil-doers. The light that scorched the black creatures spread out and glowed ever brighter, becoming pure white feathers and floating into the sky.

Running with wings of light streaming behind her, Ayame looked just like a messenger sent from Heaven. So light on her feet that it seemed like the wings on her back might be real, brandishing her shield and using it to repeatedly fire off white light, she cut a path through the battlefield.

"Wait, Ayame Yayoi...!"

Hakumen reflexively raised his hand to try to stop her, but all his fingertips touched were the fading afterglow left by her feathers. The woman's flapping white mantle was on the other side of the sea of seithr and soldiers.

In the meantime, the tide of the battle had changed... and become even worse. The seithr was making such a horrible noise that it seemed like it was suffocating.

"There's nothing we can do now, so let's put our faith in her. If we don't get moving, the bodies are just gonna keep piling up!" The Black Beast's unnatural roar shook the air.

Undaunted, Jubei shifted his grip on his sword and flew off toward it. Hakumen hesitated for a moment, but there was nothing for him to be hesitating over. Ayame just reminded him of a different girl with the name of a flower.

Drawing a crisp arc with his nodachi as he spun on his heel, he vaporized the approaching seithr beasts in an instant before turning his attention to the Black Beast in the distance. That was the target that Hakumen needed to eliminate no matter the cost. It was evil itself.

Everything from its resounding roar, to its glaring red eyes, to the impossibly deep black of the seithr making it up shook Hakumen's soul and roused him to action. The heat burning within him might have been emotion, instinct, or something else entirely.

"OOOOOOOoooo!!"

Unleashing a roar from the depths of his abdomen, Hakumen soared across the battlefield straight toward the Black Beast.

He channeled the inferno pouring out of him into his sword and swung it like he was swinging himself.

"Tsubaki!!"

Unleashing a devastating slash from above, he cleaved a line through the seithr-and-dust-choked air.

Night had fallen at some point.

The night sky was spread out above them before they knew it, and they caught glimpses of the distant, ephemeral moon through the seithr in the air. The popping sounds of torches could be heard all around. The sounds themselves were quite loud, but more importantly, they were impossible to miss because everything else in the area was otherwise too quiet.

It's not like there was nothing else around. A certain number of soldiers had run for their lives and managed to escape with the army's vehicles, tents, and equipment in tow, and now, having struggled to muster the energy to even find a place to relocate to, they were resting near the torches.

Hardly anyone was sleeping. Most of them were so badly dazed that they had forgotten all about sleep. They had ended up in this spot after circumventing a mountain near the plain where they had fought that battle earlier. A copse of thin, feeble-looking trees grew randomly, scattered wide like they were crowding around the soldiers. Using this spot as their new campsite, the soldiers were wearily waiting for stragglers to catch up.

Among them was Hakumen, who had just arrived. He was walking with massive loping strides, cutting through the night at a near-running pace. He made for a cluster of tents at the center of the camp being used to treat the injured. He paid no mind to the occasional soldier looking up at him with suspicion, clearly in a hurry to get somewhere.

He eventually made it to a certain tent and, without saying a word, he ripped the flap open and entered. The doctors and their assistants inside the tent all gasped in surprise, and some of them drew weapons, but Hakumen paid them no mind either and simply strode to one corner of the tent.

There he found a sleeping woman. Her weary body was sprawled across the simple bed, and her eyes were shut so firmly that she seemed dead. The white clothes she wore so proudly were uncannily clean, but she herself was covered in dirt, dust, blood, and seithr. They had probably cleaned her up a bit when they treated her, but the cleanliness of her armaments made her physical condition seem all the worse by comparison.

Hakumen slowed his pace, stood at her bedside, and spoke her name.

"Ayame Yayoi."

It was no louder than a whisper, but her eyelids fluttered nonetheless. She opened her eyes with great effort, like she was lifting something incredibly heavy.

The vivid blue color that he had seen just a little while ago was now nowhere to be found. It had been replaced by a dark, cloudy, lightless blue.

Her eyes moved around like they were looking for something before coming to a rest looking far beyond Hakumen's shoulder.

"...Hakumen-san."

Her strained voice was as powerless as her body. There wasn't even a shred of her old cheerful, vigorous voice remaining.

"You made... so you made it... back alright...?"

She tried desperately to act naturally as she spoke, but she could hardly move her lips and her tongue wouldn't obey her.

She looked like she had already given absolutely everything she could give and had reached the end of the line. She was out of stamina and mana, and even her ability to reason and her very instincts were failing her now.

Hakumen answered calmly, as if everything was alright — even her condition.

"Yes, just now."

"Then... everyone... is safe now?"

"Of course. The credit goes primarily to you. Your timely assault saved the unit."

"I'm no... not deserving of such praise. I am as- ashamed to... be seen in such... a sorry state."

Her stuttering lips were desperately searching for the toughest words she could muster.

She might have been trying to laugh, but she didn't have enough strength left to move her face.

"Is... isn't the Izayoi... strong? The Yayoi clan will surely... be able to prove its worth... in the final battle against..."

"You have already proven yourself. Do not rush to accumulate even more honors, or you will meet an early death."

"...How kind. But please... don't say that... I want... to keep fighting... By your side, if I may... have the honor..."

Her voice faded further and further with each breath she took. At this point, she could only be heard if everyone else in the tent held their breath.

A transparent tear leaked from her lightless eyes. That might have been the moment that she broke. The force of will seemed to vanish from her eyes and tears dampened her ashen skin.

"I still, want to fight... I can't, see... can't... see... Where is everybody... I'm scared... scared that, I'll disappear... disappear, and... I'm going to die..."

Rambling and weeping like a scared child, Ayame lifted her hand like she was trying to find something, and Hakumen's hand grabbed it to support her.

Fear plagued Ayame's eyes as they searched vainly through empty space. Even in the grip of terror, Ayame was desperately clinging to her desire to live as a warrior, and so she said,

"Ha... Hakumen... san. I am truly... proud, to have... fought alongside..."

That was certainly the last thing Ayame would ever be proud of, and her voice faltered, breaking down into sobbing once more. She didn't want to accept that this was to be her end.

Before she could finish her sentence, Ayame stopped breathing.

It was a cold night.

The fire on the torches crackled loudly. Judging by the position of the moon, it was quite late. Exiting the medical tent, Hakumen looked up at the moon far overhead. Something ate away at a weak, tender part of him hidden deep within the mask as the moon shone beautifully in the sky. The moon was so beautiful tonight that it infuriated him.

"We've been looking for you, Hakumen."

Jubei and Valkenhayn stood in a shadow a short way from the tent flap. Valkenhayn must have been injured at some point, because he had bandages wrapped around his shoulder and chest.

They knew why Hakumen had come to this tent, and Jubei's concern for him showed on his face.

"How was she?"

Hakumen's answer to Jubei's question was brief and unflinching.

"She died."

"...I see."

Jubei had been prepared for that answer, but he still couldn't conceal his sorrow, shoulders dropping.

However, now was not the time for them to let their hearts break with grief. Valkenhayn let out a sombre growl then spoke up, changing the subject.

"We must figure out what exactly happened today. The Black Beast's actions were exceedingly irregular."

He distanced himself from the nearby tents as he spoke, not wanting to let the injured or the doctors overhear him.

Hakumen and Jubei followed behind him. Walking to a place out of the light of the torches, Jubei looked back at the camp and made a face like he had just swallowed something bitter.

"Man... we're in one hell of a state."

No other words could describe it better. Hakumen and Valkenhayn couldn't even muster a nod in response, but they were in total agreement.

"Leadership, an encirclement, a surprise attack... I've seen many clashes between humanity and the Black Beast up to now, but what happened in this one was no fluke."

Perplexed, Valkenhayn knitted his eyebrows together as Jubei nodded heavily.

"I ain't ever heard of anything like this either... thinking back to when it got rocked by Take-Mikazuchi too, ain't something been weird about all this?"

"Indeed, there is no longer any doubt about it after what we witnessed today."

Hakumen's low voice cut through the air like a swing from his nodachi.

"I cannot say when it might have happened, but the creature has become wise. It would be dangerous to continue to treat it like a foolish animal incapable of reasoning."

If they attempted to outmaneuver it with a strategy but had the tables turned on them again, they would be annihilated.

"We must proceed with caution. Unfortunately, there is a limit to what we are capable of right now."

What were they going to have to face from tomorrow onward? Valkenhayn put his hand on his chin as he lost himself in thought, but he only got the chance to think for a few seconds.

"Hakumen-dono, Jubei-dono, Hellsing-dono! We have a problem!"

A soldier with bandages around his head came running with a light, screaming bloody murder.

At the same time, the camp suddenly got very noisy. The night had been quiet and peaceful, but suddenly it was illuminated in firelight.

"What's happening!?"

The soldier answered Valkenhayn's question with a grave face. "Seithr, sir! Seithr has suddenly appeared and is launching a surprise attack on us!"

"What!?"

The word fell out of the astonished Jubei's mouth.

The entire army had finally reconvened and was trying to get one night's rest and recovery, but now this was happening.

Valkenhayn gritted his teeth angrily, molars grating.

"Now it's a night attack...!?"

Earlier that day, when the army broke through the seithr's encirclement and staged their retreat, neither the seithr creatures nor the Black Beast had pursued them far. Seeming to lose interest quickly, they had simply disappeared somewhere. Now he knew that that had been in preparation for this moment. The seithr had certainly been waiting until the time when the soldiers were supposed to be resting their bodies and nerves to come up from the ground again and attack them where they slept.

Hakumen rushed off toward the center of the commotion with big strides, giving orders as he went.

"Valkenhayn, split the Ars Magus Corps in two down the middle and evacuate. Jubei, come with me to clear the seithr. We will pull everyone back before they can surround us!"

"Sounds good, no way I'm letting us get crushed here, camp and all!"

Readying his claws, Jubei ran one step ahead and lowered himself closer to the ground, heading for the entrance to the camp. If the seithr completed its encirclement, the Black Beast might appear in their midst and launch a surprise attack again. He had to clear out as much seithr as possible as quickly as he could.

Valkenhayn ran to catch up to Hakumen.

"We'll wait just beyond the tree line. Let the seithr come behind you when you retreat, and we'll catch it in a pincer maneuver."

"That was the plan. I shall withdraw before the Black Beast shows itself. Now make haste."

After quickly exchanging plans, Valkenhayn ran northwest and Hakumen went southeast.

This army had to hold out for one month. They were already in dire straits on their first day, but they still had to buy time for a whole month, no matter what.

The Black Beast was unbeatable. All they could do was slow it down a tiny bit and clear away a little of its seithr.

Hakumen listened to Valkenhayn's valiant voice as he rallied the troops, and his nodachi flashed forward to meet the seithr amalgamations in front of him.

However, Valkenhayn realized their naiveté as soon as he led the men ahead and out of the woods. As he cleared the trees and his field of vision opened up, he saw something...

──The Black Beast was waiting for them.

In the following days, their sense of despair mounted ever higher as they breathed in rust and dirt, feeling like they were constantly writhing on the ground. Death itself had been unleashed. The very fact that they still had legs to run on and arms to fight with was suffering, because they had to stay standing for as long as they were able to move. They had no choice but to leave behind those who couldn't move anymore, but still the decision to do so put ever more pressure on the survivors.

Feeling that weight wrapping around them like chains, it was all they could do to keep their eyes open, trying to retreat from the approaching black nightmare like a receding wave and fighting every step of the way. They would eventually all find themselves paralyzed with dread before being consumed by the bestial blackness dominating their vision.

They weren't fighting to survive: they were fighting to breathe. They weren't running to live: stopping was death in and of itself.

Countless died, countless lost their human forms, and countless more ran like mad, screaming in grief.

It was a hopeless month, like a never-ending well of mud

### 035. Chapter 3: Demonic Human Weapon

### Part 1

The sky was unbelievably clear.

The weather was refreshingly fair, the sunlight was gentle, and a peaceful breeze was blowing. On this day, when the world was overflowing with so much proof of how beautiful and warm it could be that it seemed like an optical illusion, the army returned.

People disembarked from their massive ships one after another in Ishana's port. Well, rather than saying they 'disembarked,' it would be more accurate to say that they were carried off of their ships. Most of them had to be helped down by the people waiting on the dock when they finally got to port, and all the rest had to be carried on one of the countless stretchers prepared for them.

Aside from the sailors, not a single soul was uninjured. The ships were rank with the stench of blood, pus, and grime, and the people who came from them were in such a state that all they could manage was to slowly trudge up the gentle slope leading out of the harbor. The putrid smell of death that accompanied them was a somber indicator of how many people had died on the return trip over the sea. The blood-curdling scene made the bright, lovely sunshine seem like a lie.

At the end of the slope leading out of the harbor, Celica, Nine, and Trinity stood watching on in horror. Chills were coursing up and down their bodies, they felt nauseated, and their hearts were pounding uncomfortably. Just an hour ago they thought the blue sky above was nothing less than stunningly beautiful, but now it seemed to be laughing and mocking them down below.

"J... Jubei!"

All of a sudden, Nine screamed in a tearful voice and dashed down the slope.

Jubei had just trudged clear of the disorganized gaggle of soldiers coming from the harbor, holding onto Valkenhayn's arm for support. It was obvious from his gait that he was barely keeping himself upright, and the normally white fur of his feet had turned black.

Nine ran to him and dropped to her knees to throw her arms around his beaten and battered body, not caring that her triangular purple hat had fallen off along the way.

Burying her face into the shoulder of his cracked and half-destroyed battle armor, Nine hugged Jubei gently so as not to hurt him.

"Welcome back home..."

"Thanks. Sorry about this. In the end, we couldn't hold out for more than the one month we promised."

Letting go of Valkenhayn's arm that he had been clinging to this whole time, Jubei rested his filthy chin on Nine's shoulder. He tried to let out a self-deprecating laugh, but he couldn't manage it, and his pain showed on his face.

Nine nuzzled his cheeks as she shook her head, her long hair becoming disheveled as she did.

"Don't be stupid. You did plenty... so much that you ended up like this..."

In the end, the Joint HQ Army had lost more than half its number by the time they formed back up. Nevertheless, they kept on fighting and didn't return to Ishana until the end of the month.

Trinity retrieved Nine's hat and stood behind her friend who looked like she was about to break down and weep. Celica kneeled next to Nine and started casting healing magic on Jubei with an earnest look, but Jubei refused her help, the agony still evident on his face.

"I'm fine, don't mind me. Save your mana for someone else."

It was quite the statement for someone with blood dripping down their face to make.

Celica hesitated for a moment before continuing with her healing magic, but most of the wounds wouldn't heal. She could handle the wounds from mundane sources, but wounds inflicted by the Black Beast weren't so easy to fix.

"Just let me try right now. I promise I'll go help other people afterward."

She was talking more to herself than anyone else, continuing to heal the smaller wounds.

"Ah..."

Celica looked up as she heard a conspicuously heavy footstep.

Just as she expected, Hakumen had arrived. Unlike Jubei and all the other soldiers, he didn't have any visible, external wounds. Nevertheless, his white clothing was absolutely filthy, having deteriorated over the course of a whole month.

Hakumen walked until he stood just behind Jubei, and with his eyeless, noseless, mouthless mask, he somehow managed to bring a defiant aura to bear as he looked down at Nine.

"What of the weapons?"

That's all he wanted to know. He was too burnt out to ask about anything else. That was the state he was in at that moment.

Nine, having been holding Jubei up to that point, flipped the switch inside her and looked up to return Hakumen's gaze. There was an aggressive light shining in her bright eyes.

"I finished them."

She had confirmed that the weapons were maintaining stability, and they had passed their stress tests just two hours before the ships had landed.

The month that countless soldiers had paid for with their lives had been an immeasurably valuable month for humanity.

"Now they just need to be calibrated to their wielders."

They were complete.

There wasn't much time left before the Black Beast would make it to the last cauldron on the continent and move on to Ishana.

This was to be the final confrontation between humanity and the Black Beast.

### Part 2

A few days later, Jubei, Valkenhayn, Terumi, Hakumen, Trinity, and Celica all gathered in the room beneath the Mage's Guild at Nine's behest.

The room was by no means bright, lit only by a flame-colored magic light in each corner, which created a creepy atmosphere. All four walls, the ceiling, and the floor were made of aged wood, and there wasn't a single window in sight. This room, essentially one big wooden box, was the room where Nine kept Take-Mikazuchi's core. The core that had once been floating above the ground in here was now nowhere to be seen, and the magic circle that had stood below it had been erased too.

In its place, there was now a wide table with six different armaments lined up on top of it. Nirvana stood by the side of the desk as the seventh of the group.

"...We're all here. It's time we got started."

Her high heels clacking on the dark brown floor, Nine stepped in front of the desk and faced everyone else gathered in the room.

Her competitive eyes and tightly pursed lips betrayed her slight anxiety. No one had any doubt that the source of her nerves was that set of weapons behind her.

"I'm sure you could tell at a glance, but these are my newly developed weapons... the 'Nox Nyctores' causality weapons."

Jubei was the quickest to respond to her unfaltering declaration, thrusting his long whiskers forward as he wrinkled the bridge of his nose.

"Nox Nyctores? Ain't that Take-Mikazuchi's..."

"Yes. As I mentioned before, all of these weapons were created using Take-Mikazuchi's core as the base. Thus, they're all derived from Take-Mikazuchi... and all constitute a part of it. Basically, their fundamental structure is the same, so they're all Nox Nyctores too."

As Nine was giving her explanation, she waved her hand toward the weapons sitting silently behind her. A gun, swords, a staff... they came in some very familiar forms as far as weapons go, but it was hard to believe that they were all a part of that black colossus that had burned the Black Beast.

However, the strange weightiness of them seemed to speak volumes of just how abnormal they were.

"I'm sure I've said this to all of you individually at some point already, but let me say it again: the Nox Nyctores are far more powerful than they look on the surface. They're all purpose-built for just one thing, and that's defeating the Black Beast. Taking the Black Beast down is the whole reason that these weapons exist. If they're wielded in battle against the Black Beast, they'll manifest extraordinary power, but in exchange for all that power, they'll take an appropriately large toll as well."

"What do you mean, they'll take a toll?"

Jubei cut in to ask her what she meant by that ominous phrase.

Nine's eyes got even more serious, and she nodded her head before answering.

"Simply put, it's stress. These things constantly want their wielders to bring out more and more of their power. Their demands put mental pressure on the wielder, which manifests as stress, and the sensations and emotions that arise from that stress serve to further hone the weapons."

"So, their ability to kick ass depends on the mental condition of their wielder?"

"That's right."

If a Nox Nyctores' wielder could effectively control their weapon's influence on their mind, there'd be no limit to how strong the weapon could become. On the flip side, if the wielder were to be overcome by the weapon's influence, they wouldn't be able to preserve their own personality anymore and would eventually break down.

Nine knitted her eyebrows and continued her explanation with great reservation.

"The Nox Nyctores are very dangerous. You need to be careful what you choose to use them against, and you'll suffer more and more of the repercussions the more you use them. That being the case... I'm only going to hand them out to people who either have a very strong will or highly stable magical power."

Nine paused and took a breath to center herself, then addressed the six people before her once more.

"I always intended to give a Nox Nyctores to each of you. I believe that's the decision that's most likely to lead humanity to victory."

By this point, everyone in the Mage's Guild knew that Jubei, Valkenhayn, and Hakumen all had fighting skills far exceeding anything a normal person could do. For his part, Terumi was an expert in both close quarters combat and sorcery, and he had proven that he knew more about the Black Beast than anyone else. Trinity was outstanding both in her knowledge of and ability to use both alchemy and defensive magic, and Celica was second to none when it came to purifying seithr and casting healing magic. You couldn't find a better group for the job.

"The person who defeats the Black Beast is probably going to be one of us. In order to make that happen, I want you to use these."

Nine reached her hand out towards the weapons on the table as she spoke, but then she suddenly stopped short and looked back over her shoulder. She was looking at Valkenhayn, who stood one step back from the group.

"...Just to confirm one last time, Valkenhayn... are you really not going to use a Nox Nyctores?"

Nine asked the question just to be doubly sure of his answer.

Throwing a sidelong glance at Celica and Trinity, who had turned around to face him, Valkenhayn shook his head no like he was answering the two girls instead of Nine.

"My answer will stay the same no matter how many times you ask. There's no need... I already exist outside of Logic. It makes no difference in the fight against the Black Beast whether I wield a powerful weapon or not."

"Hm... alright then. In that case..."

Nodding deeply, Nine faced the table again and picked up a staff.

The long stick was made of some strange material that looked like it might have been either metal or wood. It had a big, bell-like decoration affixed to the top.

Nine grasped it in both hands and walked over to Trinity.

"Let's start with yours, Trinity. This is Arma Reboare: Muchourin. It can supplement your diverse magical abilities and you can use it to create substances through embodiment."

Depending on what substances she made and how she used them, Trinity could turn her defense-oriented magic into attacks or further strengthen her already formidable defensive capabilities. Above all, Trinity excelled at alchemy, so if she could combine it with sorcery, she would be able to create arms and armor out of nothing.

Looking at the staff's feminine, curved outline, Trinity accepted it gratefully. Squinting her eyes like she was looking at something bright, Nine smiled at her.

"Thank you very much, I will take good care of it."

"You don't have to take care of the staff, just worry about taking care of everyone else."

"I will. You can leave that to me～"

Answering softly, Trinity gazed at the staff in her hands.

In the end, Trinity hadn't been entrusted with hardly any part of the development of this staff, save for the final calibrations. Nevertheless, this thing in her hands was without a doubt the product of Nine's efforts, so Trinity placed the end of the staff on the floor and hugged it to her chest, as if to pull in her overflowing feelings of affection.

The next one that Nine grabbed was a sword in a red scabbard. It was a strangely designed scabbard with hilts sticking out of both ends, and Nine passed it to Jubei.

"Mucro Somnio: Musashi. This one's for you, Jubei. It's a two-in-one sword, so you can draw it from both ends at once. It was made especially for you."

"Thanks. I'll have to put in the effort to be worthy of it."

Jubei didn't hesitate over the question of whether to take it or not. His big cat hand skillfully took the scabbard and hung it on his shoulder, managing to withstand his childish curiosity and not immediately draw it.

"Terumi next."

High heels tapping on the wooden floor, Nine picked up a metal chain coiled up like a massive snake off the table.

"Geminus Anguium: Ouroboros. I'm sure you can figure out how to use it on your own."

She dropped the cold chain into Terumi's hand. As the links slithered and coiled against each other, the chain seemed like a real snake for a moment.

Terumi unfurled it as soon as he got it, feeling it with his hands and twisting his lips into a smile.

"Hmmmm, would ya look at that. This is the real Ouroboros. It's just like back then, talk about interesting..."

He mumbled to himself in a low voice, looking like he was having fun.

Nine caught a bit of what he was saying and immediately furrowed her brow and got up close to Terumi, her bright eyes glaring at him with overflowing hostility.

"Interesting? You sound like you've seen that before."

"Hey, hey, hey now, don't go making such a scary face, would ya? I saw the blueprint during the development process. Didn't you hear me? I said 'this is the real thing.'"

Playing the fool, Terumi swung one end of the chain around in the air to make a swishing sound. The tip of the chain was adorned with a weight that looked like a snake head.

"...Whatever. This is the next one, Interfectum Malus: Ookami"

Sweeping her hair out of her face, Nine picked up the next weapon. It was a long-bladed katana, a nodachi. Actually, it was too long to qualify as even a nodachi. Its length easily exceeded Nine in height.

"This is Hakumen's sword."

Hakumen took the sword he was handed, and it became obvious that it was indeed made for him.

The abnormally long sword perfectly suited Hakumen, who stood over two meters tall. With Ookami resting comfortably in his hand, he looked every bit the demon clad in white.

"Lastly... Celica."

"Uh, yeah..."

Unlike anyone before her, Celica took a big step forward, unable to hide the emotions in her wavering voice.

Watching Celica awkwardly straighten her posture and stick her chest out, no one was surprised when Nine brought forth Nirvana from behind the table.

"Nox Nyctores Deus Machina: Nirvana. I'm entrusting her to you once again."

As if responding to Nine's words, Nirvana walked to stand in front of Celica.

Celica shot both arms out to grab onto Nirvana's big, solid hand.

"Welcome back, Nirvana."

This was their first time seeing each other in quite some time. They hadn't met at all during the span of several weeks in which Nirvana was being upgraded into a causality weapon.

Celica's reliable bodyguard didn't look any different on the outside, so even though this was their reunion after she became a Nox Nyctores, Celica still didn't get the impression that anything had changed about her.

On the other hand, Nine, who had been the one to upgrade her, had a dark look on her face. She tried to put her feelings aside, but there was an apologetic look lurking in her eyes nonetheless.

"...I'm sorry, Celica. I know you love Nirvana, but I didn't have the time to make a whole new model. And..."

"You made Nirvana to be a weapon against the Black Beast from the start, right? You've apologized a thousand times, and I keep telling you it's alright."

Celica had indeed heard the same apology from Nine over and over again over the last few weeks.

Nirvana was created to be Celica's bodyguard, but she was also created as an experimental autonomous weapon, and now she had been remodeled to become a purpose-made anti-Black Beast weapon. Nine had planned to eventually remodel her from the start, and to that end she had loaded her with systems she would need when she reached the next step. Creating a new model would have taken far too long.

The fact that Celica had come to love Nirvana and treat her like family was a big miscalculation on Nine's part.

Celica laughed lightly as she gripped Nirvana's hand.

"I was shocked, of course. You came to me with such a scary look on your face, I had no idea what was going on. But, I mean, she still looks the same now that she's a Nox Nyctores, and she can still be with me like she used to, right?"

They could still walk around town together, go shopping, clean the house, and spend the night in the same room. Celica cared about her ability to do stuff like that far more than she cared about how good of a bodyguard or a weapon she was.

In response to Celica's question, Nine pursed her lips tightly.

"About that... everyone, listen up."

The atmosphere in the room went cold as the conversation took a sharp turn, and Nine crossed her arms beneath her chest. She looked at everyone present with determination in her eyes.

"If we win the war against the Black Beast, I'm going to seal away the Nox Nyctores."

Her unforgiving tone said that she would brook no arguments. This was her final decision and she wasn't open to discussing it, and she was making it clear to everyone in the room that they had no say in the matter.

Trinity, still hugging her staff, raised her hands reservedly and spoke up.

"You mean... you'll seal every weapon here?"

"Yeah. Nirvana, Take-Mikazuchi... all of them. These aren't the kinds of things that we can just pass down to future generations."

She looked at the desk behind her as she spoke, where a sword in a blue sheath and a pair of guns still sat.

"If the Black Beast dies, humanity will go back to waging war on each other someday. If the Nox Nyctores still exist when that time comes, they could throw the entire world out of balance. People who can't handle the mental burden the weapons inflict might lose their sanity and perpetrate unthinkable massacres. Having a Nox Nyctores or not could determine the fate of nations or give them an unreasonable amount of political sway."

That's just how much power they possessed.

What Nine was saying was nothing more than theories, but since she was the weapons' creator, she knew just how realistic those theories were.

"The Nox Nyctores are too strong. Even more than the weapons themselves, the pieces of Take-Mikazuchi's core within them... are far too dangerous."

Nine ran her finger along the cold surface of the gun she hadn't yet given to its owner. It wasn't a decoration: it was a magnificent weapon, meant to be wielded in a person's hand.

"Which means... I won't be able to see Nirvana anymore, then?"

Normally Celica would be bringing up so many arguments that the people around her would be surprised that she could spit so many out, but now, she stumbled over her words as she struggled to find any to say.

Nine lowered her chin.

"...That's right."

Celica had been touching Nirvana's hand this whole time, but now, she let go like her hand was slipping off. There was no helping her disappointment.

"Okay... so, when the war is over, we'll say goodbye..."

Celica didn't wish for even an instant that the war wouldn't end. Nevertheless, knowing that that would mean the end between her and Nirvana, she felt an incredible sense of loneliness.

Seeing Celica's despondent expression, Nine had to take on a cold attitude in order to keep any meaningless regret from leaking into her voice.

"I won't ask you to forgive me. I did this knowing that it was going to hurt you.

Nine absolutely needed Nirvana. She was strong and tough. As an autonomous weapon, her body wouldn't break easily, and even if she got damaged, she would simply continue stubbornly following her orders without panicking.

"Nirvana has a job to do. In the unlikely event that humanity is beaten by the Black Beast... Nirvana will summon Take-Mikazuchi and blast it. After that, she'll first dispose of Take-Mikazuchi, then herself."

That was humanity's last resort.

Take-Mikazuchi only had half of its core left, and while it could still be summoned and fire a shot, firing a second shot after that would require several years of recharging first.

If Nirvana summoned Take-Mikazuchi and fired one shot but failed to finish the Black Beast, the world probably would come to an end after all.

"But let's not let it come to that, of course. We will defeat the Black Beast, but..."

The word that followed immediately after her strong promise was conversely weak. Nine placed her hand on Celica's shoulder with the delicacy of a gentle embrace.

"As Nirvana's master, it's up to you to decide when Nirvana uses the last resort. If it ever comes to that... I'm counting on you."

With a faint sorrow in her eyes, thinking that she ought to at least look straight ahead without flinching, Celica laughed brightly as she gave her assent.

"Alright, I'll do it."

She nodded. Her affirmative nod was so straightforward that anyone other than Nine would have wondered whether or not she really knew what she was agreeing to. There was no worry in her face; in fact, it seemed like she thought she would never have to make that choice.

Nevertheless, if the time ever did come, she would undoubtedly make that decision. Celica had enough confidence to do that.

Nine couldn't bear it anymore, so she let out a sigh. She furrowed her brow in the shadow cast by the brim of her triangular purple hat.

"I'm sorry to give you such a grim job."

As an older sister, Nine was filled with regret at having to ask something like this of Celica, but Celica immediately shook her head. Her long ponytail swung from left to right.

"How selfish would it be if I didn't make even that simple of a promise?"

She was grateful enough that her sister had made a bodyguard just for her, and she had even gotten to spend all that time with Nirvana.

She was never going to resent Nine or blame her for how things turned out.

"And besides, we can still be together until the war ends, right?"

Nine's eyes watered as she thought of how often she found comfort in Celica's innocent nature. Looking exasperated, she crossed her arms under her chest.

"Yes, of course. She's still your bodyguard, even if she's a Nox Nyctores now."

"I'm glad."

Celica looked up at Nirvana with a joyful smile, and Nirvana seemed to be smiling back as she looked down.

"Let's keep on going like we have been, Nirvana."

Celica squeezed both her hands into fists and tried to hype up both herself and her bodyguard as those big, glassy, artificial eyes looked tenderly back at her.

### Part 3

Nine gave the sword in a blue scabbard, Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa and the twin guns, Arcus Diabolus: Bolverk to Seven and Three of the Ten Sages, respectively.

Yukianesa used the element of ice, so it was a perfect fit for Seven, who was better at controlling water than anyone else and who had some skill with swords. Three preferred magic that affected wide areas all at once, so the long range and high rate of fire of the guns was tactically advantageous in her hands.

As the survivors of the force that had returned on the brink of decimation were sorting out the living and the dead, soldiers, armaments, provisions, and other military necessities from all around the world were brought into Ishana. Ishana's clean air started to smell more and more like iron rust with each passing day as the final confrontation loomed. The largest Ars Magus Corps in history was formed up, and even Ishana's hill was being used to create alchemical weapons.

Around the time Jubei, Valkenhayn, and Hakumen's wounds healed (which happened much faster than any humans would have), Hakumen suddenly called a meeting of Nine, Celica, Trinity, Jubei, Valkenhayn, and Terumi.

They gathered in a room that was a little too snugly packed with miscellaneous items to be called a conference room, a peaceful room that smelled of flowers and black tea. The wooden table they sat at had a white cup of herbal tea for everyone, and someone had quickly set out a plate of crackers garnished with jam.

The place they had gathered in wasn't a Mage's Guild establishment: it was Trinity's workshop. Hakumen was no Mage's Guild employee, and he thought going through their procedures was far too much trouble, so Trinity had offered up her workshop.

Compared to their usual wide, dimly lit conference room, Trinity's bright, cramped little workshop let everyone relax a little. When they were all gathered, Hakumen opened his invisible mouth.

"I have a proposal. This is about how we will fell the Black Beast."

As he cut straight to the point with his severe and grim opening topic, Nine's face immediately went serious. She had just been discussing the very same thing with the Joint HQ while organizing the troops, but no one there had been able to come to any sort of agreement.

Leaning over the table, Nine looked across at Hakumen with a fierce glare.

"I'm interested. By all means, go on."

Nine was glad that they weren't in a Mage's Guild conference room.

Their conference rooms were soundproofed so that no conversation would ever leak beyond their walls, but the Mage's Guild being what it was, there were countless people who would be doing their best to overhear your conversation, no matter who you were, where you were, or what you were talking about. If what Hakumen was about to propose was realistic and practical, it would be conceivable that someone might have overheard it and taken it to a Joint HQ meeting with them. Such scoundrels wouldn't be able to pull tricks like that at Trinity's workshop, and this room was protected by a barrier just as strong as any Mage's Guild conference room.

Everyone gathered, not just Nine, was waiting expectantly for Hakumen to continue, so he grabbed the scabbard of his nodachi that was as long as a person and thrust it forward. One of the Nox Nyctores causality weapons, Interfectum Malus: Ookami.

"First, I need to make one thing clear: even with the Nox Nyctores, if humanity faces down the Black Beast head on, we will lose."

A weighty declaration. Emphasizing this immutable truth with Ookami, he took the relaxed atmosphere right out of the room.

Nine's eyebrows shot together in a furrow.

"For the record, the power you'll feel when you use it on the battlefield will be on a whole other level to the power you felt when you were swinging it around at the Mage's Guild to calibrate it. The Nox Nyctores exist purely to kill the Black Beast. When you stand face-to-face with the Black Beast, both its power and its associated burden will skyrocket."

"That goes without saying. I am not claiming any dissatisfaction with these weapons."

"Then what are you getting at?"

Nine flipped her hair as she started to get irritated with Hakumen, who hadn't gotten to his point yet.

With a slight movement of the neck, Hakumen turned his face to Nine.

"The Nox Nyctores are strong, but no matter how strong a weapon might be, it serves no purpose if the one wielding it cannot endure the Black Beast's onslaught."

As someone who had faced the Black Beast in the flesh just half a month ago, his words carried dreadful weight.

One of his comrades on that battlefield, Jubei, hung his head as he crossed his arms.

"...I get what Hakumen's saying. I couldn't fight like I wanted to by the end there, after all."

"There's more to it. Without a doubt, the beast has become wise. We cannot outwit it with weapons alone."

Valkenhayn's usual grim expression contained the gravity of his recent experiences as he lowered his chin.

He knew that this wasn't the sort of problem that could be solved with a good enough weapon. No matter which people or what weapons they gathered, it wouldn't be enough. The Black Beast existed on an entirely different level.

Cowed by the sudden change of atmosphere mixed with the pressure of an unfamiliar battlefield, Trinity quietly listened to the words of those who had lived through that fight. Next to her, Celica listened with a serious face and rapt attention while she made little cracking sounds with the jam-coated crackers she was continuing to eat. Standing behind her as naturally as if she was Celica's shadow was Nirvana.

"So? Are you going to make any suggestions today?"

Exposing her voluptuous thighs as she shifted her legs, Nine tapped the table with her finger to hurry the conversation along.

Hakumen placed Ookami lengthwise on the table and started giving an answer.

"Do you remember the cave we found underground near the Kaka Clan village?"

"You mean the one we found near the subway line～"

Following Trinity's lead after she raised her hand and softly answered Hakumen, Celica got a little excited as she spoke up.

"I remember. That really pretty one, right? Didn't you say it was like the planet's antibodies or something..."

"Indeed. That place had a power to eliminate seithr within its area just like your own, Celica. The Black Beast is essentially a large mass of seithr, so it would lose considerable strength if we were to lead it there." "How're you gonna do that when there're no cauldrons anywhere near there?"

Sitting close to the wall and leaning back and forth in his chair, Terumi chimed in with little more than passing interest.

In response, Trinity pulled up her personal map. It wasn't as big as the one in the Mage's Guild, but it showed Ishana, the nearby continent, and all the major cities on them. It was at least ten years old, however, so it showed the names of many cities that no longer existed as well.

"The closest cauldron to Ishana is this one right here. The Kaka village is..."

"Right 'round here."

Trinity drew a circle in red pen around the location of a cauldron, then Jubei reached in from her side and pointed out the next location. Using the red pen again, she drew a triangle around that point.

Peaking over her shoulder, Celica's mouth opened in surprise.

"They're pretty far away..."

Celica summed it up well.

It would be more than a stretch of the imagination to say that the cauldron where the Black Beast would likely show up last and the Kaka village were close to each other. They might have looked relatively close on the map, but even leading a pursuing human army that far would have been unrealistic, to say nothing of the Black Beast. Furthermore, the Kaka village was unfortunately relatively far inland, practically in the opposite direction of Ishana from the perspective of the final cauldron.

"At the very least, leading it that far on foot is impossible. Even traveling in motor vehicles would be unrealistic. At that distance, magic would be the only viable option..."

Hakumen nodded to Valkenhayn's words.

"Indeed. We will use teleportation magic. We teleport the Black Beast to the cave as it appears from the cauldron, then lay waste to it."

"Hold on."

Nine interrupted Hakumen with a tone that indicated that she was far from on board with this plan. She took her hand off of her chin and stared him down with a sharp glint in her eyes.

"This place you're talking about has no seithr, so you think that if we can get the Black Beast there, it'll be seriously hampered. I understand that well enough. The idea of teleporting the Black Beast there is interesting, too. It's going to be impossible though."

“Is distance the reason?"

"It sure is."

Hakumen and Nine went back-and-forth from across the table.

"Teleportation takes you a shorter and shorter distance the more mass you add. If you tried to teleport something as big as the Black Beast all the way from that cauldron to that cave, all of the Ten Sages working together wouldn't be enough to pull it off."

If it was something that all of the Ten Sages together couldn't do, then even adding all the rest of mages in the Mage's Guild to the equation wouldn't make much of a difference.

Nevertheless, Hakumen answered immediately.

"Then where would you need to start from to reach the cave?"

"Huh?"

She hadn't expected him to ask something like that. Nine was visibly taken aback, but she put her expression back in order after a moment.

"Well... if it was just me alone, I could probably only make it from within walking distance of the Kaka village, but if we assumed all of the Ten Sages were working together on this... maybe from about here."

Nine lit a bright light on her fingertip and drew a circle on the map.

The paper didn't burn even though she touched it directly, and Hakumen, Celica, Trinity, and Valkenhayn all looked down at the circle on the paper at once. The circle was much bigger than any of them had expected, but it was still obviously not somewhere they could reach from the cauldron. And yet...

"...I'm not sure how much distance this is in reality, but for the Black Beast, it's not all that far. Hakumen-san?"

After some brief thought while lightly touching her chin with her hand, Celica looked up with a clear thought in her mind. Hakumen nodded lightly to indicate that he was listening.

"I can handle that. If it works out, we might win, after all."

"Wha- hold on just a minute!"

Like she was trying to wedge herself between Celica and Hakumen as they looked at each other, Nine raised her voice in a panic.

"Don't you two go deciding things on your own. Hakumen, just who do you think you're trying to rope into this?"

From beneath the shadow of her big, triangular purple hat, she glared with unconcealed fury at the expressionless white mask.

Quietly returning her gaze with indifference, Hakumen answered.

"We will have Celica lead the Black Beast into teleportation range."

Faster than he could get the words out, Nine slammed the table and stood up.

"Huh!? Don't screw with me, you want a repeat of last time!? And there was an ambush already set up back then, plus we need a certain amount of prep to use teleportation, so she'd need to lead it all the way there you know!? What do you mean, just lead it into teleportation range? Are you telling Celica to go play tag with the Black Beast!?"

Even at the best of times, they were dealing with a genuine monster boasting atrocious destructive power and devious cunning to boot. She looked like she was about to climb over the table and throw a punch, so Jubei and Trinity came in from her left and right and put their hands on her in the hopes of soothing her rage a bit.

"Hey, cool it."

"Let's just hear him out first～"

But before those two could manage to calm her down, Celica stood up straight as an arrow.

"Listen to me, Onee-chan. I actually already talked to Hakumen-san about this, and I was the one who suggested that I lead the Black Beast along."

"I don't care whose idea it was, I won't let you! Do you want to die!?"

"It's not like that. I've been thinking of something other than standing in front of the Black Beast with Hakumen-san and the army people to lure it away."

Pressing her fingers on the edge of the table, Celica looked straight at Nine.

Normally when Nine got emotional and lost her cool like this, Celica would be yelling right back at her, wondering if they were having a conversation or a simple sisters' fight. Today, however, Celica maintained her composure. More specifically, her bearing showed that she had nothing but calm, tranquil resolve in her heart. She took one comforting glance at Hakumen before beginning her sincere speech.

"I haven't told you this yet, but remember when a piece of the Black Beast teleported into Ishana with Take-Mikazuchi? In that moment, I don't know how it happened, but I went inside of the Black Beast."

"Inside it..."

Nine asked with a severe expression on her face.

Everyone else in the room reacted much like Nine, looking at Celica with surprise mixed with a little curiosity, save for Hakumen, who was the only one who already knew this fact. Even Terumi, still sitting by the wall, was no exception.

"Yeah. And... I found Ragna in there."

Jubei gasped in shock, and Nine once again could not hide her astonishment from Celica.

"We didn't get to spend much time together, but Ragna seemed to be doing something specific inside the Black Beast. Something that he could only do from there."

"So... are you implying that you want to enter the Black Beast and lead it into position from there... Celica-san?"

Confused anxiety clouded Trinity's beautiful green eyes as she threaded her white fingertips over her chin.

Celica didn't nod. Instead, she tilted her head and tried to think of the right words to express herself.

"No, not really that exactly... more like, I could put it in a state where it could be led? That's how Hakumen-san put it, anyway. I'll go inside the Black Beast, find Ragna and get him to help me, then look for the Black Beast's heart."

Celica unconsciously clenched her hand so tightly that it started shaking as she laid out her plan. Her small fist didn't show that she was trying to put on a brave face: it proved how strongly she wanted to do anything she could.

Supplementing Celica's awkward explanation, Hakumen picked up where she left off.

"The Black Beast came about by means of flesh and a heart. If those two components are not eliminated simultaneously, it will not fall. If viewed from the opposite perspective, that means that the beast can be vanquished if we strike down both at once. If we interfere with the heart somehow, it will turn its attention inward. It will forget all about going to Ishana, and it may even bite at simple bait, allowing it to be lured away."

"And by 'simple bait,' you must mean..."

Large numbers of people and unspoiled establishments or buildings were the perfect bait for tickling the Black Beast's base instincts.

Valkenhayn couldn't help but think about the day that Take-Mikazuchi had fallen on Ishana, groaning.

"Heh, I get it. If you scrape up every poor sap who thinks he can fight and shove 'em in the Joint HQ Army, you'd have a force way bigger than the number of people still hanging out in Ishana. A stupid, bloodthirsty monster would obviously come running for the one that has the most prey."

Leaning his chair so far back that it creaked, Terumi looked like he was having a blast, a thin smile spreading across his face.

Hakumen picked Ookami up off the table and returned it to his back as he put more vigor into his voice.

"If we can disrupt the Black Beast from the inside out, we will be able to lead it into teleportation range. We will have all the Ten Sages work together to teleport the Black Beast directly above the cave, thereby incapacitating it, and from there we strike the heart from the inside as we strike the body from the outside... and put an end to this."

That was the plan Hakumen had been thinking up for the decisive battle ever since Celica told him that she had gone inside the Black Beast and found Ragna.

From the existence of an 'inside' of the Black Beast, to the beast being composed of 'flesh' and 'heart' components, to the efficacy of the cave's power against the beast itself, not a single piece of this information was proven with absolute certainty. Nevertheless, Hakumen's words had something that went beyond meticulously recorded and calculated data: they were facts of life. Just like how air is air and water is water, the concepts that Hakumen founded his plan upon carried a sort of gravity that put them beyond reproach. Nine, Trinity, Jubei, and Valkenhayn could all tell that, if everything went according to plan, they really would be able to defeat the Black Beast. They knew it was true by intuition rather than logic, as if the very words coming out of Hakumen's mouth themselves were showing them the path to victory.

Nine bit her lip but kept her silence, thinking hard about something. Noticing Nine, Trinity gracefully raised her hand.

"You say that Celica-san needs to get inside the Black Beast, but how would we make that happen? And surely you have some way to safely get her out, don't you?"

Her gentle, composed question was intended to slow the conversation down a little before they all separated their emotions from their sense of duty too much. Trinity certainly wasn't one of the ones in danger of doing that, though.

Before Hakumen could respond to her sweet voice, Jubei looked over at her with anguish apparent on his face.

"I got a way to get her in. My clan has this sword, called the 'Time Killing Blade,' Hihiirokane... it's got the power to cut through a body and a soul at the same time."

The feet of Terumi's chair clattered to the ground when Jubei said the name of the sword, but no one paid him any mind. Or, at least, no one let it show on their face if they did pick up on it.

"That sword would be able to cut through the Black Beast's spirit, which might make it possible to get inside it. Never tried it though, so I dunno how it'd actually work."

He couldn't say it would work for certain, but then again, hardly anything was certain with the Black Beast. It wouldn't do them any good to split hairs over every uncertain detail; they had to just play every card they could.

"Where's that sword now? Do you have it, Jubei-san?"

Celica asked with hope sparkling in her eyes.

Jubei shook his head no, but he didn't seem very despondent about it.

"It's in storage in a certain place. I know where it is, so I can easily go and get it."

"There's no problem, then. Jubei-san can make an entrance for me."

Celica gave a big nod. Just as it seemed like every problem had been solved…

"Please wait a moment. How are you going to get out, then?"

Reigning in Celica before she got carried away, Trinity brought up what she considered to be the main problem at hand again.

Celica nodded at that question too.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll just naturally return to the outside world when you defeat the Black Beast. Even if I don't, Nirvana can just get me out. That's what she did last time."

Nirvana's hands could physically touch and interfere with seithr, so she could rip open the Black Beast from the inside and bring Celica back out. That was something she had already proven. With her hands, it was possible that she really could attack the heart from the inside and the flesh from the outside.

Just as the conversation seemed to be drifting toward that idea…

"Do we really have to put this all on Celica again...? Can't the six of us handle one little monster without her?"

Nine couldn't hold back her bitterness and pain anymore.

Trinity and Jubei's expressions both went dark at the same time. Nine wasn't the only one who would have loved to keep Celica off the front lines, if only there were any other way.

Hakumen's words came down like a cut from a sword.

"Thinking that we cannot fight the Black Beast without Celica A. Mercury is a false assumption: The truth is that we can only fight it because we have her."

"That's a fallacy..."

She could hardly get the words out. Nevertheless, Hakumen's words stuck in her chest.

She didn't want to use her little sister like a tool, and she didn't want to put her in danger, but she knew that if they went to battle without Celica, their chances of victory would become yet another uncertainty.

Victory would become an unlikelihood, if anything.

Celica shot away from the table like a speeding bullet. She scurried around the cramped room and took Nine's lovely cheeks in her hands, lifting her head up to look her in the eyes. Nine's cheeks were as smooth as ever, but they had become noticeably sunken recently.

"I don't want to have to use Nirvana's last resort. I'd much rather we all do everything we can do and win this fight together. I wouldn't be even a little bit happy if we could only beat the Black Beast and restore peace after everyone I love had already died."

She understood what Nine was feeling. If Celica were in Nine's position, with all her abilities and everything, she wouldn't want to send her little sister out onto a battlefield either.

Nevertheless, Celica stared her older sister down with assertive eyes, having to look up at Nine because she was taller.

"You guys are all always looking out for me. If I go inside the Black Beast and give this plan everything I've got, I can do something to make all that trouble worth it for you. And that's not the only thing..."

"Do you not understand just how dangerous of a situation this is going to be?"

"I do understand. But, I mean, I am your little sister, you know? I'm a mage, and I'm Nine of the Ten Sages' little sister."

Her big, wet soil-colored eyes held a profound strength as she gazed straight ahead. She had the same fierce look in her eyes as Nine, who intimidated everyone in the Mage's Guild.

"Someone has to do this, and since I'm the only one with the power to do it, I want to do my part. If I back out of this and we lose... if we can't beat the Black Beast after all, then I'm just going to end up dead anyway, you know?"

Nine's eyes trembled at the word 'dead.'

Nine put her hands on Celica's, which at this point were less so 'holding' her cheeks and more so 'gripping' them.

"...Of course I know that."

How many times now had her stubbornness lost out to Celica's stubbornness? Even Nine understood the situation they were in here. No matter how hard she wracked her brain, she would always come to the same conclusion: that this was their best plan. They had no more military assets waiting in reserve beyond what they currently had, they had nowhere they could retreat to, and they wouldn't have the strength to stand back up and try again if they lost this fight. This would be their last battle, and they had to play every card in their hand.

However, Nine was hesitating precisely because this was the end, and it was Hakumen's words that steeled her emotions.

"You do not have to put your faith in anything or anyone else. You do not even have to accept or approve of this. But, you must believe in your sister and Ragna the Bloodedge."

"...Ragna..."

Nine's whispering voice died in her throat, and she let go of Celica's hands.

Sitting back down heavily in her chair, she crossed her long legs over one another and crossed her arms beneath her chest.

"...First things first, we retrieve Hihiirokane. While we're waiting for that, I'll talk to the Ten Sages about the teleportation thing."

Nine spoke with a clear, rational voice, bouncing all the things they would have to do in preparation around in her head, before draining her cold herbal tea in one gulp.

### Part 4

In the castle of perpetual night, the Alucard Manor.

Surrounded in rose gardens as far as the eye can see, this eerie, beautiful castle was playing host to two guests this night. Rather than sunlight, pale moonlight was pouring through the large window of one of the countless parlors. The moon was eternal above this castle. It was a quiet, perfectly full moon that simply looked on from above.

Rachel Alucard, the current head of the Alucard family that ruled this castle, was sitting on a luxurious sofa with an ivy design crawling up the sides, wearing a black dress over her small frame.

"Please excuse the delay."

Leading the guests, Valkenhayn had put his butler face back on. With refined mannerisms that didn't quite suit his brawny figure, he brought cups of black tea to the mistress and her guests.

Rachel's white cup emitted white steam that carried the flowery scent of roses with it, and she raised it off the table after giving her glossy golden ponytails a slight shake. Her eminently childlike lips took a single sip of tea.

"Valkenhayn, give it to them."

She gave her order as her blood-red eyes gazed across the table at her guests──Jubei and Hakumen.

That being said, the only one sitting on a sofa was Jubei; Hakumen stood behind the sofa with his back to the wall, standing so perfectly motionless that he could have been a still life painting. Feeling the tension in his companion behind him, Jubei scratched his ears beneath his hood a little uncomfortably.

Hakumen's attitude wasn't the only reason that he couldn't calm down, however. Jubei had gotten quite used to Alucard Castle in his comings and goings in the past, but the castle had shifted into a new phase to suit its new mistress when Rachel succeeded Clavis Alucard as the head of the family, so now everything felt uncanny to Jubei. Even this parlor sofa had been different before, feeling like an old antique from a bygone age, complete with a dusty smell and an austere color scheme better fit for an elderly person than a young girl. He was wracked with an indescribable discomfort being in this place that he once knew well appearing completely different.

"As you wish, Rachel-sama."

At his mistress' command, Valkenhayn went to his disoriented old friend's side, holding a thin wooden box he had brought with the tea. As carefully as he would handle a bouquet of flowers, he gave the box to Jubei.

Rachel waved her finger, and the red rose brand on the box faded away, temporarily removing the seal that her predecessor Clavis had placed.

"...Been a while since I laid eyes on it."

Murmuring nostalgically, Jubei put a hand on the wooden box. Opening the box with a little clattering sound, he revealed the long, black object laying within it.

It was a sword in a black sheath, and its name was the Time Killing Blade, Hihiirokane.

"After retrieving it along with Tomonori, father kept it sealed constantly. He said that it mustn't be lost before the time came to use it again."

The timbre of her words showed that Rachel was reminiscing on bygone times as well.

Rachel and Jubei had both lost people dear to them who were involved with this sword. Rachel had lost her father while Jubei lost his little brother.

"Thanks again, for what happened with Tomonori."

"I wasn't the one to handle the matter. All the more reason to proceed with caution. Especially with regards to..."

"Yuuki Terumi."

Jubei finished Rachel's warning for her.

The last time someone wielded this sword, it was against Yuuki Terumi. The result was that he was sealed in the Alucard Manor for a time, until he had his free will restrained by Nine's Mind Eater.

In place of a nod, Rachel took another sip of tea and placed the cup back on the table.

"Just as you surmised, Hihiirokane is capable of cutting through the Black Beast's spirit and creating a passage inside of it. But before I allow you to depart with this sword, you must commit to fulfilling one more duty."

"A duty?"

Lifting his gaze from the glossy black scabbard, Jubei looked at Rachel.

Rachel looked back into his big cat eye with her own deep crimson ones.

"Killing Yuuki Terumi."

With a frigid voice ill-befitting her youthful appearance, she stated her terms without a hint of hesitation.

Jubei's breath caught in his throat for a moment and his muscles tightened subconsciously. His brother Tomonori had once resolved to kill Yuuki Terumi and took Hihiirokane from their hidden village in order to do it. The young vampire was telling him to take up Tomonori's final mission along with the sword he had held in his final moments.

Staring hard at the black scabbard in the box, Jubei gave his reply.

"So... just sealing him up again while he's still under Mind Eater's influence isn't an option, then?"

"Indeed, obviously not. Father was only able to seal him because his consciousness was completely absent at the time. Tomonori gave his life to make that seal possible."

A tiny bit of sentimentality slipped through Rachel's exasperated sigh.

"Hihiirokane is the only weapon that can kill Terumi, and you are likely its most worthy possible wielder in the world right now. I believe that I can entrust this matter to you."

Rachel's small voice carried a nobility that far exceeded her youthful exterior. The sublime, dreamlike atmosphere of Alucard Castle was certainly not the only reason that it was hard to believe that she existed in reality.

The vampire girl pressed him for an answer with her unrealistic voice.

"The choice is yours to make. Now... what will you choose?"

She was giving him two choices: take the sword, or don't take the sword. If he chose to take it, he would also be choosing to carry on his brother Tomonori's will.

For Jubei, there was no question.

"I humbly accept this charge."

Jubei took Hihiirokane out of the box.

He felt like he had been punched in the gut by a wave of emotions as he lifted the sword, thinking of his brother's lingering regrets contained within. Rachel's condition was convenient for him, really. He had secretly wanted to take revenge for Tomonori all this time, if only he had the chance. Skillfully grasping the hilt with his big cat paw, he drew the blade from its scabbard. It shone with an unbelievable sharpness as it caught the light from the antique golden chandelier.

As he returned it to its scabbard once more with a crisp click, Rachel studied him closely.

"...I see. In that case, I'll prepare one more weapon for you, Jubei."

"Another one?"

"Would you be interested if I called it something like an extra special item, perhaps?"

Seeming briefly like a mischievous child, Rachel's lips shifted into a cold smile.

"The eye of the man who cut Yuuki Terumi and observed his spirit."

The man who recklessly tried to take Terumi on all by himself, but didn't have enough strength to see it through, and was killed by Terumi instead.

"You don't mean..."

Jubei took a long, hard look at Rachel, his eye wavering as he tried to call her bluff.

The truth came in words, however, through Rachel's rose-red lips.

"Indeed, I'm referring to Tomonori's eye."

Hakumen had left the parlor and was currently walking alone through the castle, looking for a certain place.

He walked below the cold stone wall surrounding the castle, down a long flight of stairs. The candle-shaped lights ensconced here and there in the wall were woefully unreliable as light sources, and stepping into the spaces between them was like walking through the darkness of a bottomless swamp. Nonetheless, Hakumen's steady pace showed no hesitation, fear, or doubt, as if he could always see where he was placing his feet no matter what path he might be walking. He alternated between walking through the swamps of darkness and the ponds of light as he marched on.

The young vampire princess had taken the cat and the wolf somewhere else in the castle. Their goal was to transplant the eye of Jubei's brother, Tomonori, into Jubei. What they called an 'eye' was not in fact an eyeball taken from Tomonori's corpse, but rather an artificial eye based on it. Rachel had said that Yuuki Terumi could not be killed unless his spiritual body was cut down along with him, and according to her, Tomonori's prosthetic eye would be able to observe Terumi's spirit.

Jubei had agreed to this plan quickly. With just as little hesitation as when he claimed Hihiirokane, he decided to accept his brother's eye. He must have felt very strongly about his departed younger brother. Hakumen couldn't imagine what sort of emotions that sword and that eyeball must have been stirring up in the cat-man's heart.

All he could think was that that is what brothers should be. His thoughts on the matter never formed into such coherent words as that, but he believed that to be true.

His unerringly uniform footsteps came to a halt as he arrived at the small, hole-like space at the bottom of the very long staircase. This was the very deepest point in the entire convoluted, maze-like Alucard Manor.

The first thing he saw after descending the seemingly endless passage was a solemn pair of tightly shut double doors that were so incredibly sturdy looking that they seemed like they had gone to sleep at some point and would never wake up again. Hakumen stepped in front of them like they were drawing him in, but he did not reach his hands out and try to open them. There was no need for him to open the doors, because there was nothing behind them anymore. All that was left was the memories and sentiments that Hakumen had abandoned.

This was the final place that Hakumen had visited when he was still a person with a different name.

"...Nii ...hng."

He would always remember something when he came here. His final memory from the time axis he originated from, from before he put on the white mask, when he had been someone with a different name.

Something thick and scorching hot like lava whirled about. A single man fell into a wide-open cauldron like he was being pulled into it, the light coming from the depths of the cauldron reflecting off of his white hair. His red jacket fluttered in the hot wind.

The man, together with a dainty girl, was run through by a massive sword. The two were inseparably bound to each other as they fell deeper and deeper in.

The Hakumen of the past followed after them, but he couldn't catch up. He watched as the two people pierced by the sword were swallowed up by the fiery cauldron. And eventually, Hakumen saw the man and the girl melt together into one...

──and become the Black Beast.

"...Nii-san."

Since there was no one around to hear him, who knows if that mumbled word ever left his mouth.

He had remembered. Seeing what Jubei was going through had stirred up his memories. Memories of his brother. He wondered what the man he had once called his older brother would think if he could see him now. If he was more pure like Jubei and cherished his brotherly bonds, he wouldn't fight this battle. After all, the enemy that he was trying to slay was his brother.

"...Foolishness."

This time, Hakumen's voice rang clear as he spoke to himself.

The final battle loomed before them, and here he was drowning in nostalgia over a brother who he had forgotten he had an attachment to. He was being far too meticulous, like he was trying to show off. No matter how many armies he commanded or how many weapons he collected, in the end, he wasn't fighting to save the world.

Everything he did was for himself. He was fighting for his own desires, impulses, and sentiments. He was fighting for his instinct to not let the world be destroyed.

Suddenly, he felt the presence of someone moving above him. It must have been Jubei. It seemed that the transplant had been completed, which meant there was no need to waste any more time in this castle.

Getting in touch with who he had been when he was still human and drowning in self-inflicted torment made for a poor way to kill time.

"So long."

Quietly uttering some parting words, Hakumen turned his back on the past and returned the way he came.

All that was left was darkness, silence, and cold, like the bottom of a well that even ripples couldn't reach.

### Part 5

As the castle of perpetual night played host to visitors in the light of a pale full moon, Ishana was lit by the more erratic light of a waning moon.

Lamp posts set at regular intervals lined the cobblestone streets, and when Trinity arrived at a certain house on one of those streets, it was already deep into the night hours. Nine, walking ahead of her, unlocked the door and invited her in with a wave. Accepting the invitation, Trinity held her breath so as not to make any noise as she stepped through the entrance. Both of them were using silencing magic, so neither Nine's high heels tapping the ground nor Trinity's staff bumping it made any noise.

They were in Nine and Celicas' house, but Nine hadn't taken Trinity here because it was her and her sister's dwelling. They were here for Nine's personal workshop underground.

Taking painstaking care to not wake Celica, who was sleeping on the second floor, the two descended a spiral staircase.

It was quite a long walk. The stairs were so long that after a while one would start to wonder if they were some kind of optical illusion, but nevertheless they eventually ended at a door. It was heavily guarded by both a magical and an electrical lock, both of which Nine opened.

The magical lighting that came through the now-open doorway was somewhere between white and orange. The square-shaped stone brick room beyond was packed with bookshelves, racks, and general clutter. Trinity had been here countless times, so she was quite familiar with it. As she followed Nine inside, the door quietly shut behind her.

Nine waited until the door was securely shut before she spoke, tossing her long hair back behind her neck.

"Sorry for bringing you over so late at night, but who knows when the next time I'll have the time to spare will be."

She breathed a fatigued sigh. Feeling gentle sympathy for her friend, Trinity replied softly.

"Oh, don't worry about it～"

"...Thanks. I figured you'd say that though, so I'm still feeling kind of guilty."

Nine gave a little apologetic look. After another sigh, she narrowed her eyes into a tense expression and walked deeper into the workshop, Trinity following behind her. The silencing magic had faded by now, so realistic sounds now accompanied the two girls' passage.

Overflowing with stuff similar to the previous room, which would be hard to call 'orderly' even in the best of circumstances, this room was mostly occupied by large-scale materials and equipment, and there was no space remaining for anything without a practical use.

Amidst the cold atmosphere of machinery, a single distinctive wooden box sat on its own. Nine didn't need to point it out, because Trinity's eyes had naturally landed on it on their own. It was roughly the size of a human child, making it pretty big and probably fairly heavy.

Nine extended her hand, dispelled the seal on it, and opened the lid. What was inside was something that Trinity had never seen before.

To put a name to it... it was a nail, but it was an incredibly big one. It was a nail the size of a human child. It had no ornamentation, which made it all the more perplexing because it was difficult to determine its function.

Trinity lifted her gaze to look at Nine.

"Nine, what's this...?"

"The ninth Nox Nyctores."

"The ninth?"

"Yeah. Its name is Pheonix: Rettenjo."

Nine furrowed her brow and made a complicated expression. She couldn't take her eyes off of the large nail laying in the box.

"This... you see, this one... this is the only one that isn't a weapon of war. Rettenjo is the anti-Nox Nyctores. I created it to destroy the other Nox Nyctores."

"Destroy them? Didn't you say that you were going to seal them once the war is over...?"

Listening to Trinity's graceful, hesitant voice, Nine nodded her head quietly.

"Yeah. This is insurance, just like Nirvana."

Trinity picked up on the shame in her words and glanced down at the staff in her hands. Arma Reboare: Muchourin.

She understood what was on Nine's mind.

"For the off-chance that something happens and you aren't able to seal the Nox Nyctores away, and someone uses them against humans... right?"

Nine didn't trust that all of the Nox Nyctores would be returned to her to be sealed after they had served their intended purpose in the war. Their wielders may die in combat and someone else may come along and take the weapons. Or... some of their current wielders may refuse to return them.

Nine thought she had to account for all of the possibilities while still prioritizing their survival, their victory over the Black Beast. She was even considering the chance that she herself wouldn't survive this fight, which is why she had created Nirvana's last resort and the Rettenjo.

Trinity realized that, and her eyes clouded with sorrow. No one could know who was going to live and who was going to die.

Nine gently closed the wooden lid and recast the seal like she was turning a key in a lock.

"I want to entrust this to you, Trinity. If I die, this house will be seized by the Joint HQ. If that happens and they possess the Nox Nyctores, and then they find this, there won't be any way for humanity to resist the power of the Nox Nyctores anymore."

"But, I..."

Don't know if I'll survive or not either. Knowing what Trinity was about to say, Nine cut her off with a piercing, unreserved look.

"If you die, I'll take it back. Even if I have to become a phantom and come back from the dead to do it."

Her voice was thick with the strength of her will. She prayed that no one would have to use this nail, but she seemed to have a hunch that someone would.

Nine picked the box up in both arms and held it out to Trinity. Beyond the strength in her gaze there was a glimpse of a weary, somber girl. Looking at the face of Konoe Mercury, rather than Nine of the Ten Sages, Trinity felt her breath rattle just as badly as her feelings were rattling in her chest.

Nine's words came out as a low, indistinct mumble.

"...The truth is that Rettenjo is really just a tiny Kushinada's Lynchpin. I gave Nirvana to Celica, so... I want you, who was there to see the Lynchpin with me, to have this."

Kushinada's Lynchpin was the device that could sever connections to the Boundary which may have been able to stop the Black Beast. To Nine, it was the creation of a man who she detested to no end, but at the same time, it was a keepsake of her father. She did not love her father, but Kushinada's Lynchpin was a very special device. She had used the peculiar metal that interfered with seithr that it was composed of to make Nirvana's claws, and she used its special ability to sever seithr as a reference to make Rettenjo. Nine's desire to entrust those two creations to Celica and Trinity, who had witnessed her father's final moments together with her, was Nine's sentimentality showing through.

Trinity pursed her lips before taking the box from Nine. She awkwardly tried to hold the box and Muchourin at the same time, hugging the box to her chest as she smiled softly.

"I'll take good care of this. But, Nine, I'm just holding onto it for you～"

In other words, she was telling her to not get careless just because she had insurance now. Telling her not to rush to her death. Nine understood what she meant even though she didn't put it into words. She smiled wryly, her usually tough eyes softening into something weaker.

"...I'm sorry for asking so much of you, Trinity."

"...Don't mention it. It's perfectly fine by me."

Trinity shook her head like she was trying to convince Nine.

Nine cast one more smile at her before exiting the room, leading Trinity out.

"I'll walk you home. Thanks for coming out so late."

Nine glanced over her shoulder, and the side of her face showed that she had shaken off her momentary weakness and had returned to her usual unyielding self.

Wondering whether that was a good thing or not, Trinity left the underground workshop, still clinging on to Muchourin and Rettenjo.

### 036. Chapter 4: Azure Wish's Fate

## Chapter 4: Azure Wish’s Fate

### Part 1

The time they had left to them passed as inexorably as sand being eroded by a river.

Morning came, night came. The sun rose, the sun fell. The wind blew, the wind died away. Whenever something moved, someone flinched. The passage of time was like a stairway to oblivion, but that seemingly endless, illusory stairway was already nearing its end. Waiting at the bottom was their final battle. The final confrontation with the Black Beast, with humanity's survival on the line.

The city now seemed less like the Magister's City of Ishana and more like the Military City of Ishana. Soldiers were everywhere and combat vehicles rolled down the cobblestone streets. The curtain was just about to fall on dusk to make way for night. The sky shifted from a pale light blue color into a whimsical pink, and the western horizon was painted with a single orange line.

At this moment, the entire Mage's Guild was abuzz with activity, with everyone running to-and-fro looking for any more preparations still needing to be made. Inside one of the guild's spacious conference rooms, a solemn atmosphere reigned over a meeting in progress. More than thirty people were in attendance, but counting the secretaries, messengers, and the like who were coming in-and-out periodically, it was more like fifty.

The attendees consisted of the Ten Sages and the Duodecim of the Mage's Guild and the top executives and military directors of the Orbis Librarius Norma. Hakumen, Celica A. Mercury, Trinity Glassfille, Jubei, Valkenhayn R. Hellsing, and Yuuki Terumi were also present.

Nine looked out over the faces of everyone who had been summoned to the meeting as she stood before them, giving a briefing. An alchemical screen projected a large map that already had three points marked on it.

First, a black x-mark indicated the location of the cauldron on the furthest western edge of the continent, where the Black Beast would appear in less than ten days.

Next, a white circle showed the antibody-bearing cave near the Kaka village.

Lastly, a red circle was drawn on the spot closest to where the Black Beast would appear that was still within range for their teleportation spell.

Indicating the black x-mark with a magical light and using magic to amplify the volume of her voice, Nine continued with her explanation.

"When the Black Beast appears from within the seithr, the Ars Magus Corps station directly to the north will commence a coordinated attack. This will restrict its vision and slow it down. In addition to halting its progress for a few seconds with a barrage, we hope to make it think that it is being assaulted from long range."

Her magical pointer traced the Ars Magus Corps' location, then she drew another mark in the woods to the east, very close to where the Black Beast would appear, indicating a second deployment of the Ars Magus Corps.

"Here, Hakumen and Jubei will lead their unit in a charge out of these woods to ambush the Black Beast, executing a direct assault on it. Using hit-and-run tactics, their objective will be to bait the Black Beast into following them."

In reality, the charge would actually serve another purpose as well. Using the Ars Magus assault and the charge as a smokescreen, Jubei would slice open the Black Beast with Hihiirokane and Nirvana would infiltrate the creature through the resulting rift with Celica in tow. Hakumen would be there to support them.

The part about Celica entering the Black Beast was kept strictly secret from anyone who hadn't been at the meeting in Trinity's workshop. No one else would have been able to understand it in the first place, and if the army didn't understand, they wouldn't cooperate with the plan. The second reason for their decision was that if they made this plan common knowledge, then Celica's special characteristic, the presence of Hihiirokane, and the existence of the Black Beast's heart would all become common knowledge too.

There would be no telling how some people might deviate from the plan if they got it in their heads that all they had to do was destroy the heart. Nine had been the one to propose keeping it a secret among their group, and even in this moment she was being careful to hold her cards close to her chest. To that end, Nine was slipping in lies during her briefing at this conference, which would be the final meeting of all the movers and shakers of Ishana.

"Those who participated in the one-month battle to delay the Black Beast will be familiar with the tactics we will employ to lead it along. That is the reason why command of this unit has been entrusted to Hakumen and Jubei."

Jubei had been sitting in an uncomfortable conference room chair and pretending to not be paying too close attention, but in this moment he unconsciously threw a glance at Nine. He had noticed how her statement had differed from the truth a little bit, but he wasn't foolish enough to speak up about it. But when he heard Terumi, sitting on the opposite side of Trinity from him, let out a cackle, Jubei couldn't help but shoot him a nasty glare.

"We will bait the Black Beast until we reach this location."

Nine's pointer moved to the red mark.

"All of the Ten Sages, myself included, will prepare a massive teleportation circle here. Once the Black Beast reaches the circle, our forces will surround it. Ideally, we don't want to let it take even a single step outside of the circle. Valkenhayn R. Hellsing will be serving as supreme commander of our army. Also, regarding the teleporation magic..."

Nine took a deep breath. This was the part she was most worried about. Running her eyes across the Ten Sages sitting together in a line, she surreptitiously peeked at Three and Seven, seemingly not wanting to meet their gazes.

She had given both of them a Nox Nyctores so that they would, theoretically, be able to bring much more magical power to bear in the fight. That was only going to matter if they managed to survive until after completing the teleportation spell, though.

"If we are able to catch the Black Beast in the middle of our formation and complete our preparations, we will carry out the teleportation spell. The teleportation circle will transport anyone standing inside it, so those who do not wish to be teleported should retreat when they see the circle start to glow."

Finally, the pointer moved to the white mark. It was a spot close to where a subway line had once run under a city.

"This will be the destination of the teleport. For some reason, something about this place gives it the power to suppress seithr. Once the Black Beast is teleported here, the activity of its seithr will be restrained, and it won't be able to go on a rampage like it has in the past. A unit of mages centered around the Duodecim will be stationed here, with Trinity Glassfille and Yuuki Terumi standing in reserve. We can also expect support from the Kaka Clan positioned in the nearby village. If we confirm the teleportation of the Black Beast, we will launch an all out attack utilizing every unit at our disposal and defeat it."

Finishing her speech, Nine used the back of her hand to push her long glossy hair behind her back and extinguished her pointer light with a motion like flicking away lint.

That was it for the complicated explanation, and Nine felt a small sense of relief. She didn't even want to count how many times she had already repeated this briefing in front of various organizations, bureaus, and executives. Doing this briefing that she had grown so sick of so many times was yielding results, however, as she had done it so many times at this point that no one in this meeting spoke up with their dissenting opinions or nit-picky concerns. Thanks to that, they were able to wrap up early.

Nine took another look at the meek-looking faces lined up on the other side of the desk, adding another lair of tension to the air as she stared them down with her aggressive eyes.

"As I've said before, if this plan fails, the Black Beast will resume its progress towards Ishana, and this time, it will almost certainly raze us to the ground. If that happens, there will be hardly anyone capable of using magic that can damage the Black Beast remaining and the techniques to make alchemical weapons will be lost along with the ones that currently exist, which will leave us with nothing more than the fledgling Ars Magus technology."

They were still reliant on the magic of the Mage's Guild to determine who was suitable to wield Ars Magus, so if all the mages were to disappear, it would be difficult to find any potential new Ars Magus wielders.

"The defeat of Ishana will spell defeat for all of mankind. On the other hand, if we win here, then humanity can be free from this calamitous war. We will be able to rebuild ruined buildings, cultivate withered land, and create new countries."

Then she wouldn't have to work without food or sleep to develop weapons or thrust her little sister into life threatening situations anymore.

"We all must bring everything we have to bear on this, and I don't mean that we must callously sacrifice lives... I am requesting that everyone contribute everything we have to offer to our common cause."

She made her declaration with a quiet yet hard-to-defy vigor that did not suit a young woman like her.

Nine's final words signaled the end of the meeting. All that was left was to look onwards toward their decisive moment, like they were being swept away by inescapable rapids.

There had been several days left still, but somehow the time passed in a flash.

It was the early morning. The sun hadn't risen yet, but the sky was growing faintly brighter. In about an hour, the rising sun would be visible and the temperature would go up a little.

Celica, staring through her bedroom window from where she sat on her bed, turned her attention back to the rucksack resting on her lap and, packing away the hand towel she had been holding, closed it tightly shut.

"That should do it."

Giving it a light pat with her hands, she hopped off her bed.

She swung the light rucksack around and onto her back and turned her attention away from it to look up at Nirvana.

"It's finally time, huh?"

On this day, Celica was about to leave Ishana. She was going to get on one of the Joint HQ Army's massive ships and set sail for the continent, then from there get in a car and go to the forest where Hakumen and Jubei’s unit would be taking up position.

Her destination was somewhere that could already be considered part of a battlefield. There was no telling how long after she arrived that the Black Beast would appear, but the decisive battle should take place within the next two or three days.

If she was being honest with herself, it still didn't feel real to her. She wondered if she was really scared and anxious deep down, but perhaps because of the clear early morning air, she wasn't feeling any serious, paralyzing fear at that moment.

Instead, she actually felt a little bit optimistic. Her heart was racing nonstop like she was looking forward to something. Would it really all end with this? Would the Black Beast disappear, and would the war go away with it? Would everyone be able to eat and sleep in peace again? She hoped so, and she felt like this had to be the end. With a smile filled with an earnest wish and her sense of responsibility, Celica took Nirvana's hand.

"Let's go, Nirvana. We'll be together until the end."

Whether Hakumen's plan went well or not, Celica would probably be with Nirvana in the moment when the battle came to a close either way.

The tall machine woman descended the staircase that was a little too tight for her, and they left the house the same way they always did. This time both they and Nine would be gone for a long while, so they made sure the doors and windows were securely locked, turning the key in the lock of the front door when they got outside.

Someone touched Celica's shoulder like they were patting her on the back, and her ponytail swung as she turned to face them. It was Nine.

"Onee-chan! Wait, why are you here?"

She had been working overnight at the Mage's Guild, and she had said yesterday that she was going to go straight from there to the ships.

"Did you forget something?"

"No, that's not it. I just figured we may as well go together, and you happened to be leaving right as I got here."

Nine shrugged and smiled wryly. With a hint of irony, she added on an extra comment, saying,

"Plus, what would we do if you got lost on the way to the harbor? "

Celica pursed her lips in protest.

"I'm not a kid anymore, I wouldn't get lost!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. I guess you really don't get lost in Ishana very often."

"Yeah, see?"

"...The fact that you do get lost sometimes is the problem, though."

They walked off together while having their silly conversation.

Usually, the streets were quiet and the atmosphere was refreshing in the early morning in Ishana. This morning, however, things were understandably quite different. Countless men in military uniforms were running around busily while tanks rolled down the cobblestone paved slope, taking care not to run over anyone.

The sight of it served to make it clear that today was no ordinary day.

"We've never taken a walk together at this time of day, have we? "

Nine spoke up while looking onward toward their destination. The crisp sound of her high heels regularly striking the cobblestones sounded good.

"I don't think so. You don't like getting up early, after all."

"I just stay up too late."

This time Nine was the one to protest, making a slightly embarrassed face. Brushing some hair off her cheek, she narrowed her eyes and looked at Celica with incredible determination.

"...Did you eat breakfast?"

"Just bread and tea. I overslept a little. How about you, Onee-chan?"

"There's no way I could eat right now."

"Aww, I brought you something though. I made a jam sandwich."

"I'll pass. They'll ration me something at noon anyway."

"How can you say that after telling me to eat... you're always thinking of other people before yourself, Onee-chan."

Celica shook her head wearily. Nine, looking just as exasperated, crossed her arms under her chest.

"I don't want to hear that from you, of all people. I don't even want to think of how much you've worried me by being the way you are up 'til now."

"I don't wanna hear that from you, either, Onee-chan."

Celica intentionally said it in a bratty-sounding way, and Nine's hand immediately shot out and started patting her head like she was petting a kitten.

"Ahhh, how are you always this cute? Maybe I should specially teleport just you over after all. If you get on a boat full of shady soldiers I've never even met before and they all start leering at you, I'd have to dispose of every last one of them. Then the boat wouldn't be able to sail anymore."

"O- Onee-chan, you're messing up my hair! "

Trying to protect her ponytail that she had gone out of her way to tie up really nicely this morning, Celica bent over to escape Nine's hand. Feeling her hair with her hands, it seemed fortunately alright.

Watching Celica rub her head with her own hands, Nine breathed out lightly. She wasn't so much laughing at how silly Celica looked; it was more of a gentle sigh, like she was reflecting on something.

The pace of her high heels got slightly slower.

"...It's been a while since we last got to have a stupid conversation like this."

Her whispering voice was as fresh as the first breeze of the morning. Conveniently, in that moment, just such a breeze blew down the slope toward the harbor, tousling Nine and Celica's hair.

"You've been really busy."

Combing her hair one more time, Celica gave an honest smile.

Pushing a lock of windswept hair behind her ear, Nine returned with an unenthusiastic smile of her own.

"I'm glad I didn't go straight to the ships. I probably won't get any more chances to just spend time with you, after all."

She didn't just mean that she would be too busy attending meetings and giving orders as a member of the Ten Sages to spend time with Celica once they boarded the ships, though. The words that slipped out of her mouth sounded strangely ominous, and Nine furrowed her brow with a troubled expression on her face.

Celica, however, didn't pick up on how ominous they were at all; instead, she heard loneliness in her big sister's words. The rucksack on her back bouncing along with her ponytail, she shot out in front of Nine.

"It'll be okay. We can spend a lot of time together when we get back home."

Laughing without a care in the world, Celica looked from Nine to Nirvana.

Looking back at them from the front like this, it looked like Nine and Nirvana were walking side-by-side together. Faced with such a reliable sight, Celica's chest swelled with pride.

"Yeah, you're right."

Answering with a wry smile, Nine picked up her pace to catch up with Celica and continued forward, Nirvana following along behind them.

They could see the ocean at the bottom of the slope. The eastern sky would be turning white soon.

When the sun rose, the last fleet set sail for the decisive battle with the Black Beast.

The island of Ishana, with only those without the strength to fight remaining on it, saw them off.

### Part 2

A scattering of bonfires lit up the village in the night. Crudely constructed metal cages containing burning logs held the bright red fire in an embrace while shadows danced across the trees of the forest surrounding the village.

Last time, a party of seven had barged into this place unannounced, but this time, they had brought an incomparably bigger army for their return visit. Nevertheless, the women of the village were astoundingly unperturbed, and when they were asked if they would lend them the village and the forest as an encampment for ambushing the Black Beast from, they agreed on the spot.

This was a small village in a forest thick with seithr, the village of the Kaka Clan. It was the night of the second day since the army's arrival.

The voices of no small number of Kaka clansmen among the crowd proved that they had already forgotten what little wariness they had had and were now helping with the preparations like any other military unit.

The Kakas were an innocent and kind people. They were created solely to fight the Black Beast, but none of them dwelled on that fact, simply living in the moment. If they could, they would have been happy to just lead quiet, peaceful lives forever.

As Trinity was leaving the meeting she had to attend every night, even when they were traveling, she was thinking about the Kakas. She held a staff roughly as long as she was tall in her hand while she walked toward the tents for female soldiers in the forest. Arma Reboare: Muchourin. She never let go of this precious item Nine had entrusted her with for even a moment.

The year was going to come to an end in two more days. She wondered if Nine and Celica, who departed on ships that set out later than hers, would be reaching their respective positions soon. Perhaps it was because she spent every moment of every day thinking about battle, but her head was spinning with incoherent thoughts whenever she was alone at night.

Going past the huts that made up the Kaka village, she set foot on the game trail leading into the encampment in the forest. In that moment, a tall silhouette suddenly appeared from out of the woods.

She only had to wonder who it was for a moment before the nearby bonfire revealed their identity. It was Terumi.

The firelight seemed to be casting an even deeper shadow than normal over his face, which he always kept hidden beneath his hood.

"Is something the matter, Terumi-san?"

Tilting her head slightly, Trinity softly called out to him.

Terumi usually had his hands shoved in his pockets, but this time they were hanging by his sides as he walked steadily towards Trinity. His mirthless face looked uncharacteristically sincere, and Trinity found herself a little taken aback.

"Umm...? "

Thinking it strange that he hadn't responded, Trinity tried to speak up again, and in place of a response, Terumi just kept on walking right past her.

In the instant when their bodies were side-by-side, she heard a low whisper in her ear.

"...We need to talk."

With that, Terumi proceeded deeper into the forest, in the opposite direction of where the tents were. His thin back seemed to be telling her to follow him as he pressed on into the deeper shadows.

Trinity hesitated. Terumi was acting strange. But that was all the more reason to not leave him alone, and so she quickly ran off after him.

Terumi took one look back to make sure Trinity was following him into the woods, and after that he simply walked on in silence.

They left the village and got clear of the forest. Once they got all the way to a rubble-scattered plain that Trinity had once gone to with Celica and Nine, Terumi stopped. A nearly-full moon hung in the sky, and its pale light so different from that of the bonfires crisply illuminated the surrounding area. Now, it was also illuminating Trinity, standing there slightly out of breath, and Terumi, with his back turned to her.

A little embarrassed by her labored breathing, Trinity put a hand on her gently rising and falling chest and caught her breath. Once she had done that, she spoke quietly, like she was whispering into the wind.

"What did... you want to talk about, Terumi-san?"

He was acting very strangely tonight. Normally he would look Trinity in the eyes and throw some sarcastic comments her way, but he didn't do that now. Even now his arms were dangling limply at his sides and he was hanging his head, like he was struggling to endure something as he stood there silently with his back turned. Trinity felt an indescribable anxiety as she watched this disquieting display from behind and waited for him to break his silence and end the suffocating atmosphere between them.

The moon took a breath. In that space of time, Trinity grew uncharacteristically impatient and heaved a little sigh, but Terumi cut it short by suddenly turning around.

"...You've got it wrong, actually."

The way he turned to face her and the voice he spoke to her with were nothing like the Terumi she was used to. Trinity couldn't breathe for a moment.

She was getting dizzy, experiencing déjà vu that made her feel like she was struggling to keep her head above water. She shook her head weakly, denying the images that were rushing to her mind one after another. There was no way that was possible. They just had similar builds. It would be unthinkably rude to just stack the memory of someone else... of that person on top of Terumi.

Her inner thoughts desperately tried to talk her out of it in a ridiculous sort of self-deception. Stirring up Trinity's heart even further, Terumi placed a hand on the hood hiding his face.

He pulled it back like he was slipping out of it, baring his face before Trinity in the pale moonlight. His real, unconcealed face, which he had kept hidden all this time.

"Ah- ah..."

Sounds unwittingly spilled from Trinity's pink lips, her voice trembling. Her green eyes slowly went wide.

"I'm not Terumi-san."

The person who said that to her... had green hair. He had distinctive bangs, long enough to hide the upper part of his face, and the upturned eyes beneath them stared at her while his face showed an unambitious expression.

"Kazuma...san...? "

Trinity's mouth felt like the teeth didn't fit inside it anymore, but she managed to get it moving again and called that name.

It was the name of someone she had once spent her school life in Ishana with, the name of a friend. But something had happened to him, something had happened to him that Trinity didn't know about, and he had left the school.

It was him. He was wearing the same clothes as Terumi, was the same height as Terumi, and had the same voice as Terumi.

"So you remembered me... I'm glad. Thank you, Trinity Glassfille-san."

That nostalgic voice cut the last thread inside of Trinity.

Big tear drops overflowed from her wide-open eyes, running down her cheeks in rapid succession. Forgetting to wipe them, Trinity placed a hand that was trembling all the way down to the fingertips over her mouth that seemed to be on the verge of breaking down into sobs.

Kazuma was clearly bewildered, raising his arms ineffectually halfway up his body and watching Trinity with concern.

"Tri- Trinity-san? What's wrong? Um, please don't cry."

His flustered voice fanned the flames of nostalgia once more, making Trinity cry even harder. Kazuma messed up his own hair as he rubbed his head, either at a loss for what to do or just feeling discouraged.

"I'm sorry. I've made you sad once again."

"No... no, you haven't. I was just, so surprised. I mean, I can't... I can't believe this."

She had been holding out hope that she might get to see him again, but it wasn't like the conviction that Celica held on so tightly to. It was more of a fleeting, pale fantasy of a thing. Somewhere inside her, she had been sure that they would never meet again. That's why she had really never expected something like this... Something like this…

Trinity took off her glasses and wiped the tears off. She had managed to cry a river without even realizing it, so much so that even her chest was stained with tears. Wiping the last teardrops from her eyes with a fingertip, she put her glasses firmly back on and earnestly raised her head.

"Are you really Kazuma-san?"

"Yes, I am. I never thought I would get to talk to you in this form, though."

Kazuma scratched his cheek with his index finger and gave a strained smile.

His unassuming face was just like how it had been when they went to school together, stimulating Trinity's déjà vu.

The fact that his appearance and the way he talked were just like her classmate Kazuma Kval, but he was wearing Terumi's clothes, was extremely bizarre.

"But, why are you here? You were Terumi-san this whole time... but now you're Kazuma-san～... Ah, excuse me～ I'm a little confused. I don't know what to think..."

"That's no surprise. Here I am standing right in front of you, but... I don't know where to start explaining, or even what I should explain."

His thin shoulders, so much higher up than Trinity's, sagged helplessly. Gathering his thoughts a little, Kazuma's lips tightened.

"I just wanted to talk to you so badly... so I decided to show myself, prepared for you to despise me."

"I would never despise you."

Trinity was about to shake her head from side to side, but a sudden thought came to mind that stopped her.

Kazuma shook his head in her place, his face heavy with strong conviction and intense grief.

"There's no way you've forgotten, right? Not after what I said to you, and what I did to you..."

"That..."

Trinity unconsciously cast her eyes to the ground at his self-accusatory tone. Of course there was no way she could have forgotten. It was the moment her peaceful school life was flipped on its head: the moment of her not at all peaceful parting from him.

"I remember it very clearly, and I've regretted it all this time."

Kazuma forced the words out, blaming himself.

"Something was wrong with me back then. It was all just like you said it would be... before I realized it, Terumi had completely taken control of me, in both mind and body."

Spreading his powerless arms wide, he looked down at his own body.

Feeling led to do the same, Trinity looked him up and down. She had had a feeling ever since she had first met Terumi. His stature, body type, and voice had all reminded her of Kazuma, and it was no wonder that it did. Under the name of 'Terumi,' she had walked with and talked to that same body, and occasionally she had been supported by those same thin but firm arms as well. She had often caught herself remembering Kazuma when she looked at him, but little did she know that that really was the Kazuma Kval she knew.

"What do you mean, he took control of you? Just who is Terumi-san...? "

Confusion was written on her face as she desperately tried to cool her faltering brain down before it gave up on thinking entirely. She felt like she was going to stop breathing. It seemed like everything that she had accepted as fact had just completely changed in the space of a blink.

Kazuma puzzled over how he should answer for a few seconds before eventually giving a hesitant answer.

"I don't know all the details myself, but apparently he's actually someone who exists only in a spiritual sense. He wanted a body so he could do things for himself, so he approached me. Right now his consciousness happens to be drifting off, which is why I'm able to act freely, but usually it's quite the opposite. I've just been watching you all, Trinity-san..."

Sounding like he was searching for words as he was saying them, Kazuma's tone gradually grew weaker and weaker until he finally bit back his words and shut his mouth before he became unable to hide the quiver in his voice anymore.

He tried to gloss it over with a sigh, messing up his hair by grabbing at it again.

"It seems like Terumi doesn't do too well in this general area, for some reason."

Roaming about with his eyes, he glanced toward his feet and then off in the opposite direction of Trinity.

"You were... really..."

Trinity suffered a dull, stabbing shock to her chest and felt like she needed to sit down. She clasped her hands together like she was praying, desperately trying to rouse herself, but she couldn't feel her fingers.

"Of course, I was still in control of my consciousness when I was in the Mage's Guild. I remember eating lunch and drinking tea in the dining hall with you, Nine-san, and Celica-san. I couldn't find the words to say it at the time, but... that was a lot of fun."

Kazuma smiled slowly, thinking back to how things were back then, but his smile was tinged with pain because he knew that he could never return to those days.

Trinity's chest ached like it was creaking under a heavy weight.

"You thought, it was fun?"

The question came out before she even realized she was speaking, and a look of surprise came over Kazuma's face. That was when Trinity finally realized what she had just asked him, and her eyes widened far later than they should have as she touched her lips with her fingertips like she was pointing at herself.

"Oh, I- I'm sorry for saying something so weird～. I just always thought that I was bothering you."

"Yes... it was fun. I never felt like I deserved it, but I really enjoyed myself. I wanted life to be like that forever."

Hanging his head listlessly, Kazuma let his words trail off. He was only standing here right now because those days came to an end. It felt like there was a deep ditch dug in the space between Kazuma and Trinity.

Kazuma's shoulders dropped as he sighed, this time without a hint of a smile.

"My daily life changed the moment Terumi told me he could give me my memories back. I felt like I had some sort of purpose to fulfill. Thinking back on it, I guess Terumi already had me under his control right then and there."

What Kazuma was saying was exactly what Trinity had been worried about back then. She had watched Kazuma slowly but surely change into a different person, as if he was a man possessed.

Even now, she wasn't sure if it would be more appropriate to call this body that was supposed to be Kazuma Kval 'Kazuma' or 'Terumi.' Trinity had only just now learned of the connection between Kazuma and Terumi, so there was no way she could answer that question.

Checking the sensation in his hands, Kazuma lightly clenched and unclenched his fist.

"I suppose talking about it is really just complaining at this point, but I just had to apologize to you. You were very important to me, and I hurt you. This all happened because of my own weakness. I'm truly sorry for what I've done... I'm so pathetic."

His last few words were so loaded with self-loathing that you could almost taste it.

What could she possibly say to that? What words could she conjure up in her heart that would soothe Kazuma's?

She had no idea. Trinity reflexively grabbed one of Kazuma's hands, still dangling weakly at his sides. Holding her staff with her chest, she wrapped his hand in both of hers and squeezed it softly.

"Please, don't say things like that. It makes me sad hearing my precious friend talk that way... Please, don't hate yourself."

"You're so kind, Trinity Glassfille-san. To think you would still call someone like me your friend."

Looking down at the hand she was holding, the corners of Kazuma's lips turned up in a faint smile. There was no happiness there though, only sorrow.

Trinity furrowed her brow and frowned like she was trying to keep herself together when she heard the word 'kind' come from that face of his.

"I'm not kind. I just..."

It was just like with Nine. She just didn't want him to get hurt, neither from his own words nor from her actions. She just didn't want to be thought of as cruel.

As her feelings of self-reproach threatened to overflow, Trinity felt a faint brush of body heat. Kazuma had put his other hand on top of Trinity's. He squeezed her hands hard enough for his knuckles to turn white, but not hard enough to hurt her.

"How did it come to this? I just wanted everything to stay how it was. I was so happy before I met Terumi... why did I lose sight of that?"

His voice was shaking slightly, heavy with lament.

"I want to be free of Terumi's control. I want to... go back to being your friend."

"Kazuma-san..."

"Please help me, Trinity-san! I know I'm in no position to be saying this, but please... save me."

Clasping his fingers together within the knot of their hands like he was praying, Kazuma appealed to her from the bottom of his heart.

His voice pressed in on Trinity's heart and she lost the words to respond with. Pure confusion danced across her green eyes, open as wide as they could go, and she couldn't read the expression of her lanky friend as he looked down at her. She thought she saw a deep, deep sorrow, however, and it felt like it was blocking her throat.

"But... But, what can I do...? I..."

Can't do anything. The sense of powerlessness that Trinity had pushed down time and time again was steadily building up in her heart.

"I... can't believe that Terumi-san is as bad a person as you say he is."

How could such a half-hearted person like her do anything?

Fragments of countless memories awakened in Trinity's mind, leaving her perplexed. Nine treated Terumi with extreme hostility, and Jubei and Valkenhayn were always incredibly cautious around him. Hakumen certainly didn't seem to like him either.

Even still, he had helped her countless times with his incomprehensible form of kindness.

"Don't be fooled, Trinity-san."

As if he was trying to snap Trinity out of it as he saw her drop her eyes in bewilderment, Kazuma blurted out a warning. Kazuma's grip on her hands got a little bit tighter, like he was clinging on to her.

"Trinity-san, I of all people know very well just how kind of a person you are. Even still, you can't take mercy on Terumi. That's exactly how I ended up losing everything I cared about. If you keep on trusting him, you're going to lose what you care about too..."

Kazuma stopped speaking mid-way, the words refusing to come out anymore. He wasn't sure if it was okay for him to continue. Realizing what he was thinking, Trinity took a breath.

"Do you know what he's planning to do?"

She asked on a reflex.

Knowing that he had said too much, Kazuma lightly bit his lip and shrank back. It wasn't long before he resigned himself to the situation, however, and opened his mouth to speak.

"He's... planning to kill Nine-san."

His answer carried a serious weight.

It didn't sound like an assumption or a guess in the slightest, and so Trinity knew that Kazuma's words were fact.

"But how could he... he's still under the effects of Nine's Mind Eater."

Terumi couldn't disobey Nine. He was compelled to obey all of her orders, and he couldn't tell her lies either.

However, he might have known of a way that he could kill her anyway, and that's why he was planning something so dreadful.

Kazuma put the anxiety in Trinity's heart into words.

"That's right, which is why Terumi is planning on using me, who isn't under Nine-san's control. Of course, I don't want to do it, but Terumi has already figured out how the Mind Eater she cast on him works. He's going to cast it on me and take Nine-san by surprise... and I think he can really pull it off, too."

Nine probably never ordered Terumi to 'never learn Mind Eater' or 'never use Mind Eater.' The more open-ended an order was, the more leeway to work around it there would be.

Trinity's eyes clouded as her anxiety grew deeper. She didn't even want to think about the possibility of Nine being killed. The idea that Kazuma would be forced to kill her was just as frightening.

"The way things are going, you and Celica-san may be in just as much danger as Nine-san. If you... were to get hurt because of Terumi... I don't think I could handle it."

Kazuma shook his head hard, his long bangs swaying.

He trembled with fear, remembering something even worse.

"If Terumi were to gain Nine-san's power, capable of creating something so fearsome, by killing her, then..."

You could practically hear the thrill of fear running through his body in his words, making Trinity look at him a little quizzically. She was trying to make sure she understood what he was getting at.

"Umm... what do you mean by 'something so fearsome,' exactly?"

"Hm? Take-Mikazuchi, of course. Surely you know what that thing's core is made out of, and what Take-Mikazuchi really is, right?"

Looking surprised and hardly believing the question he was asked, Kazuma answered with a question of his own, sending Trinity's heart into an uproar.

What Take-Mikazuchi really is. Trinity had asked Nine that, but in the end, she never got the answer.

"Um, I..."

Resisting the urge to let her head hang bitterly, Trinity couldn't say any more than that.

Picking up on what words were supposed to come next, Kazuma drew back slightly in dismay.

"Don't tell me you haven't heard!?"

Kazuma's excessive outburst of astonishment stabbed into Trinity's heart like a thorn.

Noticing the slight tremble in her green eyes, Kazuma hesitated with an apologetic look on his face, but eventually decided to tell her the truth.

"Take-Mikazuchi's core is composed of the souls of the millions of people who have died in this war. Take-Mikazuchi's titanic black form comes from a massive amount of seithr gathering around that core. It's... essentially the same thing as the Black Beast."

She had no doubt that he was telling the truth. Trinity's train of thought came to a screeching halt for a moment. Feeling like she was paralyzed, she tried to make herself move again.

"The Black... Beast? "

The words didn't feel real on her tongue. She felt like she would faint as countless emotions drifted through her.

"So that means that Nine created an artificial Black Beast?"

She gingerly gave voice to her thoughts.

Kazuma didn't shake his head, but he didn't nod it either. He didn't say anything, but his apologetic body language was a far clearer answer than any words ever could have been.

Trinity's hands slipped right out of Kazuma's, all their strength disappearing. She put her ice cold fingertips over her mouth like she was trying to hide it.

"Could a..."

Could a human really do something like that? Trinity already had the answer to that question: Nine could do it. She was a truly, truly incredible person.

She didn't know what she had done to deserve having that incredible person as her one and only best friend. She flattered herself by thinking that Nine was willing to talk to her about anything and everything so she was genuinely shocked that she wouldn't tell her about something so important.

Perhaps Nine was worried that Trinity wouldn't be able to look at her the same way again after learning the truth. It's not like Trinity couldn't understand her concern, but it still pained her. It wasn't just about Take-Mikazuchi, either; Nine hadn't told her about Terumi and Kazuma as well.

"Um... please don't get too upset. Nine-san might not have told you because Terumi convinced her not to."

"Terumi-san...? "

In response to Kazuma's conciliatory words, Trinity urged him to continue.

The unassuming young man with hair covering his eyes tried his best to cheer her up, putting both hands on Trinity's shoulders.

"We won't let him do as he pleases anymore. Please, lend me your strength. Let's take back everything that man has ruined together."

It was a very enticing invitation.

Kazuma probably hadn't meant it as an 'invitation,' per se, but nonetheless Trinity half-closed her eyes like she was in a dream. It wasn't a second chance at all the mistakes they had made and the regrets they had, but rather a new start with a blank slate. What a wonderful thing that would be.

Trinity nodded her head, her beautiful platinum blond hair shining brightly in the pale moonlight.

"...Alright. I'll do anything I can to help you."

"Thank you very much, Trinity Glassfille-san."

Kazuma's shoulders sagged with relief. Trinity felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders as well, a small, weak smile gracing her lips. Kazuma's expression hardened and he scanned their surroundings. Feeling sure that no one else was around, he whispered so quietly that even the moon wouldn't be able to hear him.

"I already know what we have to do, but you need to not tell anyone... not even Nine-san. If by some chance Terumi catches on to us, we're finished."

With a hint of fear in his voice, Kazuma looked at Trinity with a grave expression.

Firmly returning his gaze, Trinity cautiously nodded her assent... and then Kazuma whispered his secret plan into her ear.

### Part 3

The fateful day was the same as the one when the Black Beast had been stopped and the one when it had started moving again: the last day of the year.

In the encampment of the ambush forces spread out across the forest, Celica had come to the edge of the woodline with Nirvana and finished her lunch rations as she stared out toward the west. The cauldron where the Black Beast was expected to appear was supposedly somewhere in that direction, far beyond the limit of her sight.

She couldn't confirm it one way or the other, but she had a feeling that it was true. She had felt a sort of haze around her chest since she had woken up this morning, making it impossible to relax. She somehow got the sense that the seithr in the air she was breathing was thicker than it had been the previous day.

"...Do you see something?"

"Wah!"

Suddenly hearing a deep, reverberating voice coming from diagonally behind her, Celica jumped up like a small animal and turned around to look. There she saw the owner of the voice, Hakumen, and Jubei, dressed in his battle armor. She felt like she had been caught doing something wrong, so she ducked her head and turned her lips up in a smile.

"Nope, nothing. I just thought it'd be neat if I could see something from here."

"The cauldron, you mean?"

"I guess."

Answering vaguely, Celica leaned her back against a nearby tree trunk, turning her gaze westward again.

"My chest has felt all tingly since this morning. It's pretty rough, knowing that this is going to be the end."

"You nervous? Well, no surprise there."

Jubei walked to Celica's side, breaking twigs beneath his feet. Following Celica's lead, he turned his red eye in the direction of where the cauldron was supposed to be.

"Don't get too worked up now. No sense in wearing yourself out when nothing's even happened yet."

He was wearing two swords on his back. One was a sword in a red sheath with hilts sticking out of both ends, Mucro Somnio: Musashi. The other had a black sheath, and was the last blade that Jubei's younger brother ever wielded: the Time Killing Blade, Hihiirokane.

"Yeah, you're right. Nothing's even happened..."

Yet. As if it was trying to prove those words wrong, Celica, Jubei, and Hakumen all saw black smoke suddenly rise before them.

No, it wasn't smoke... it was more of a mist. It was seithr.

Celica took her back off the tree trunk like she was bouncing off of it. Jubei swiftly leapt to the top of a tall tree and stared off into the distance from an overhanging branch. After a few seconds, Jubei shouted down to Hakumen in alarm.

"Hakumen! It's starting!"

"Indeed."

Hakumen turned on his heel and headed back to the camp, leaving a brief response in his wake. Smashing dry twigs beneath his feet with every step, he spoke to Celica.

"You two make haste and return as well. We're sallying out."

"I- I'm on it!"

"Jubei already said as much, but do not strain your nerves. We will escort you safely."

When he said 'we,' he meant himself, Jubei, and Nirvana.

"Okay!"

Chasing after Hakumen with Nirvana and Jubei, Celica answered clearly.

The time had finally come.

The end had finally begun.

The seithr splitting the earth and spilling into the air increased in intensity and volume in the blink of an eye, and it looked almost like a black lake in the west as it spread out over the bare rock beach. Its edges spread out like they were groping around for something, but there were no people within their range. Everyone had already been evacuated. Nevertheless, the seithr writhed like a wave, or perhaps more like a snake, and found its way to the nearby abandoned coastal town and crashed over it, destroying it utterly.

As if doing that was the last step in its preparations, the seithr pooled towards its center. Rising out of the seithr like a snake uncoiling came a single massive head, followed by a second, then a third. Countless heads lifted themselves up and glared sinisterly with glowing red eyes, all looking to the west at once.

Past the waves that withered beneath the seithr, beyond the muddied sea, floating alone off the coastline, there sat a single small island. It was Ishana.

The innumerable heads let out a chaotic roar, making the air tremble and the ocean froth. Big arms and legs ripped themselves free of the seithr and a colossal body fell out all at once, like the seithr had given birth to it. The grotesque scene was plainly visible even from far outside where the seithr could reach. Everyone was mercilessly subjected to the same repulsive and dreadful sight.

Now that the Black Beast had fully materialized, arrows of light fell down upon it from the north like incessant rain. It was the Ars Magus Corps lying in wait for it. Stationed on a plateau with barely enough of a view to overlook the seithr on the coastline, they fired and fired for all they were worth. The sound that their veritable hail of arrows made as it rent the air and struck the seithr was similar to the sound it would've made if it were hitting the ground instead.

A great portion of the seithr protecting the Black Beast was shaved away, and the beast itself squirmed in annoyance as it was bathed in the arrows of light. Its great feet stopped moving and it turned its heads away from Ishana to find the Ars Magus Corps. The monster had strayed from its previous path, and in so doing it was immediately met with a pounding right to its abdomen from the Ars Magus rain.

Its long necks thrashed about in frustration, and it swung its massive legs through the sky and smashed the earth beneath it, sending countless fissures running through the ground. The Black Beast charged forward with a roar, seeming to pull its body along behind the sound, and from its mouths shot a wave of seithr. That single attack blasted away a portion of the Ars Magus Corps along with the very ground they stood on atop the plateau, but in the instant after it did, a white shadow darted past the wave and assaulted the Black Beast from a diagonal, slicing into its side.

Seithr sprayed from the wound in place of blood. The man responsible for that gushing wound was Hakumen, half of his body now drenched in the stuff. He paid it no mind, bringing the naked blade of his nodachi down once more. He stabbed his long blade so deep into the base of one of the Black Beast's necks that it seemed like it had simply sunk right into it.

Its roar, previously sounding like an enraged animal trying to cow its opponent, now changed to a high-pitched shriek.

Its heads writhed madly. Hakumen moved his arms like he was driving the beast. Changing his grip on the still-buried nodachi, he sliced it from the inside like he was trying to throw it over his back. The resulting cut was many times deeper than the actual length of the blade itself, causing the Black Beast visible harm.

"This is Ookami..."

Kicking the rampaging Black Beast in the side and jumping to its front, Hakumen muttered with admiration. Nine had said that it would show its true power when it was wielded against the Black Beast, but he was only now truly understanding what that meant.

The sword was becoming sharper and more forceful than a sword should be, cutting his enemy ever deeper. He could swing it with the weight of a guillotine and the speed of the racing wind.

Leaping out in front of its red eyeballs, Hakumen swung Ookami down to strike one of its heads right in the brow. Even though the blade didn't reach all the way through, he still smashed the giant head downward so far that it nearly hit the ground.

That one strike was the decision maker for the Black Beast's heads: they were now considering Hakumen to be a greater threat than the Ars Magus Corps, and prioritized crushing him first.

The heads swooped down at Hakumen from left and right, trying to devour him with colossal fangs. He took the first one on with Ookami. He used the recoil from that clash to narrowly dodge the second head, but in avoiding the fangs of the third one he ate an intense head-butt, and Hakumen's body got sent flying.

Realizing that a neck was stretching out to pursue him, Hakumen shouted, "Cut it now, grimalkin!"

A grazing slash ran along the neck in time with his voice, and it pulled the seithr that was pursuing him away as it slipped out toward the Black Beast's hindquarters. Jubei had taken that as his cue, jumping into the fray from who knows where.

The sword he had swiftly drawn from his back in mid-air was Hihiirokane. He gripped the sword in his right hand while he used the claws of his left hand to cut down and kick away the pursuing seithr.

With speed and precision that would be impossible for a human, he raced above the seithr and jumped again, this time swinging his right arm wide.

"Hihiirokane!"

The sword responded to Jubei's leap, trembling in his cat paw as he took a big swipe. It changed into a different form, but remained just as sharp as ever; it now appeared less like a sword and more like an animal's claw. The blade of the sword split into three, and he aimed it at the towering Black Beast with its spear-like fangs.

Jubei took a breath. Then he bit into the Black Beast's collar with the sword and pulled it all the way to the bottom of the creature in one go. The Black Beast roared madly as its very soul was sliced open rather than just its body. Jubei felt a sensation strangely different from the feeling of cutting flesh or seithr before he scrunched up his face, pulled Hihiirokane out, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Nirvana, Celica!"

"Here we go!"

Celica answered Jubei's call, and Nirvana, who had been busy fighting using her arms as blunt weapons up until then, picked her up.

Grabbing and mowing down the seithr in front of them like she was sweeping it away, Nirvana easily bashed her way through. Arriving at Jubei's side, she stood before a massive gaping rift.

The Black Beast's entire body was crawling with vein-like, pulsating, dark red lines. Three distorted vertical gashes now ran over that pattern, as if someone had painted over it. This was the wound left by Hihiirokane, and the entrance Celica and Nirvana would now use.

"Watch yourself in there. Don't overdo it."

Turning to face the seithr alone, Jubei was thinking that he was hardly one to talk as he gave Celica a little lecture.

He returned Hihiirokane to its scabbard and drew Mucro Somnio: Musashi in its place. He gripped the two separate parts of the sword in his left and right hands and touched their pommels together, which connected their hilts and turned the whole thing into one long, strangely shaped two-bladed sword. He held the sword in his mouth and extended his sharp claws.

Seithr swelled before him before assaulting him like a massive wave. Jubei watched it coming with only his left eye, then did a flip.

One heartbeat. That was all it took for Jubei to scatter the roiling wave of seithr many hundreds of times larger than himself.

He was truly moving faster than the eye could follow as he spun through the air, cat claws and sword leaving who knows how many cuts in his wake.

He was strong. As Nirvana leaped through the air and forced the rift open, Celica was watching Jubei from her arms.

"You too, Jubei-san! Don't lose!"

Celica raised her voice as loud as possible so it wouldn't be drowned out by the sound of the wriggling seithr and gave a single wave of her hand before throwing herself along with Nirvana into the monochrome black rift.

### Part 4

By the time she took her very next breath, her surroundings were already nothing but pitch black.

The blackness was so deep that she couldn't tell if her eyes were open or closed. She couldn't tell how far it continued, or even if it had an end at all. It might have been a mistake to even be thinking about it in terms of distance.

Isolated in darkness so deep that it overrode the very concept of being 'deep' at all, Celica and Nirvana stood in stark contrast to their surroundings as obvious irregularities, being the only two entities that possessed chromatic color.

Celica steeled herself and quickly checked her surroundings.

This was her second time here.

This was the inside of the Black Beast.

Last time the deep darkness of her surroundings had been so irrationally terrifying that she had felt like she was slowly being swallowed by it, but she didn't have the time to waste on being stupefied by something like that this time.

"Nirvana, are you alright?"

She looked toward where her partner was standing directly behind her, and Nirvana looked back with her big, solid eyes. Reacting to the question may have been her way of saying that she was fine. After all, Nine had remodeled her into a Nox Nyctores for the express purpose of fighting the Black Beast. She was incomparably stronger than Celica, so she was okay.

Deciding to go with that convenient bit of reasoning, Celica took a step closer and huddled next to Nirvana. She thought that she could see herself a little better that way, and the surrounding seithr felt far less suffocating as well.

"First, we've gotta hurry and find Ragna."

Or so she said, but she didn't know how she was going to find anyone in this pitch black darkness with neither a path nor lights.

She did have an idea though. It was an idea that only Celica would have thought of. She unconsciously ran her hand along Nirvana's arm as she took a deep breath in, forgetting about the thick seithr all around her. And then…

"Ragnaaaaaaaaaaa!!"

Using all the air in her lungs at once and bending her body forward, she shouted as loud as she possibly could.

Then she took Nirvana by the hand and started running straight forward in the direction her eyes were facing.

She wouldn't be able to figure out which direction she ought to go or where she ought to look no matter how much time she spent thinking about it, after all, so she just started running and planned to keep on yelling until she found Ragna. This is what she had planned on doing even before jumping in here.

"Ragna, answer if you can hear me! Raaaaaagnaaaaaaaa!!"

The black nothingness she was stepping on felt like a hard floor beneath her feet. It was an incredibly strange feeling, like a sort of phenomenon where simply thinking that there was a floor beneath her made it so.

Celica kept on running straight ahead, continuously calling out Ragna's name. No one answered. She didn't hear any sounds that made her think that someone was out there, either. Naturally, she couldn't even hear the sounds of the battle that deviated from the boundaries of common sense that must have still been going on outside.

Loneliness started to sink into Celica's chest.

There was nothing there.

Her mind was on the verge of being filled with nothing but that thought and the feelings that came with it. Like she was trying to wipe away those feelings, Nirvana suddenly and forcefully wrapped her arms around Celica and brought her to a halt.

"Hya!"

Surprised by the sudden bodily contact, Celica jumped with a yelp. A moment later, however, a far more shocking phenomenon made the arm-bound Celica forget to breathe.

The monochrome black landscape was changing. Like little black pieces flipping over to reveal color hidden on their other sides, their surroundings were widening out into a definite scene... until eventually they changed into a thick but pitifully lifeless forest.

"This is..."

Her lips moved on their own.

Celica gently pressed on Nirvana's chest to get her to let go then walked into the forest like she was being drawn in. It was just like last time, when she had accidentally gone inside the Black Beast. It was the same scenery as then, and it had appeared before her in the same way. This was the deserted village in the forest where Celica had first met Ragna.

"Which means... Let's go, Nirvana! "

A baseless hunch set Celica's legs in motion. She ran off like a kitten and Nirvana followed after her.

She didn't have to run long before she saw something.

In the middle of the deserted village, overgrown with grass and scattered with rotting old houses, a thick tree seemed to be pointing toward the entrance to the forest.

A young man in a brilliant red coat stood before it. Celica sprinted at top speed and leapt onto his red-coated back with all her momentum.

"Ragna!!"

"Uoogh!?"

The man made a sound of surprise as she landed on him with a dull thud.

Reflexively shaking Celica off and turning around with his guard up, his grim face stiffened in shock.

"Wha... huh!? You dumbass, why are you still here! Didn't I just see you leave!?"

He shouted with more agitation than anger in his voice.

He stood much taller than Celica, had distinctive white hair, and seemed to only be able to open his beautiful green left eye. It was Ragna. They really had met again. Completely forgetting that she was inside of the Black Beast, a smile overflowing with joy covered Celica's entire face.

Then the words Ragna had said a moment ago finally clicked with her.

"What do you mean, you just saw me leave?"

Celica had an idea of what had happened even as she asked.

Thinking back on it, she remembered hearing a while ago that there was a strange phenomenon where time passed extremely slowly near cauldrons. The Black Beast had passed through countless cauldrons, so they might have had an effect on it that makes the flow of time all weird here.

"I mean that I just saw you leave, what... oh, I get it. Time flows differently here."

Muttering as he figured the situation out faster than Celica had, Ragna had a discontented look about him as he took his hand off of his chin.

He looked annoyed as he gave a big sigh. Every one of his mannerisms was so nostalgic, and they made Celica so happy, but she took a deep breath and came back to her senses. She didn't have time to be standing around in a nostalgic daze. Squeezing her small hands tight, Celica took a big step closer to Ragna.

"That's right! Ragna, I need your help!"

"Huh? Help? With what?"

"I want to defeat the Black Beast!"

Celica looked up at Ragna with passion in her eyes, but Ragna gave her a hard frown.

"The Black Beast?"

He was obviously perplexed, but before he even finished getting the words out, Ragna's expression changed from doubt to understanding, as if he had suddenly remembered something.

His eyes said that he knew the gist, and he prompted Celica to continue.

"It's that time already, huh... What about the Nox Nyctores? They're done, right?"

"Huh? Why do you know that, Ragna?"

It was Celica's turn to be surprised this time. Her eyes went wide as she took another step toward him, and Ragna got a troubled look on his face.

"Well, uh... that doesn't really matter, right? Do you have them or do you not?"

"Oh, yeah, we have them. Onee-chan made them. Nirvana's one too."

Celica raised her arm to introduce her, and Nirvana stared at Ragna as she continued to stand there silently.

Shrinking away from her inorganic gaze, Ragna's expression looked a little bitter.

"Nirvana..."

Celica stared blankly and tilted her head as she watched him mumble, but before she could ask, Ragna belted out his next question.

"So, how do you want me to help?"

As he spoke, he leaned back on one of the trees making up the forest surrounding the village with a plop. His right arm dangled limply at his side, apparently still unable to move.

Celica's cheeks relaxed with relief. It was no surprise, but she was glad that he was hearing her out like it was the only natural thing to do. With a nod, she started explaining Hakumen's plan.

In order to defeat the Black Beast, they had to strike at both its body and its heart.

In order to defeat the body, they were going to teleport the Black Beast to a certain special place. Its seithr would be repressed there, which would keep the Black Beast in check.

While that was going on, Celica's job was to go inside the Black Beast and find Ragna. She and Ragna were then supposed to find and destroy the Black Beast's heart... doing so at the same time as when its body was destroyed on the outside.

She got mixed up and confused herself as she gave the explanation, but Ragna, still leaning against the tree trunk, listened all the way to the end (occasionally looking exasperated). Celica was worried that she might have forgotten something, but she whispered to herself that she was okay and waited for a response.

Ragna moved his body off the tree, twisting his mouth like he had swallowed something bitter.

"...So that's that masked bastard's plan, then. And my job is to destroy the Black Beast's heart? Jeez, when did I become part of his crew?"

Ragna grumbled a little, but Celica's eyes started sparkling.

"I knew it! You and Hakumen-san know each other."

She had been curious about that for a long time. Ragna had never mentioned Hakumen and Hakumen wouldn't give her a straight answer no matter how many times she asked, but she had thought that there must be some connection between them. Above all, they had that sense of similarity that occasionally stirred Celica's memories, making her think that they resembled each other too much to be complete strangers.

Her curiosity overflowing, Celica's innocent eyes bored into a flustered Ragna.

"You mean Hakumen-san when you say 'masked bastard,' right?"

"You... weren't you in a hurry?"

Ragna's eyes narrowed as he gave her his most exasperated look of the day, and Celica abruptly reigned in her curiosity.

"Oh, right. Well anyway, that's the plan, and I need your help. I don't even know where I would look on my own..."

"No need to look anywhere."

A disturbing note suddenly mixed itself into Ragna's pleasant voice. His green eye was sharp and vigilant, and he slowly rose to his feet.

Ragna's eye was looking over Celica's shoulder at something behind her rather than at Celica herself. Nirvana stood at the ready next to her. Picking up on what was happening slower than the other two, Celica turned around.

When had she gotten there, and how long had she been there? A silver-haired girl clad in a white cape was standing barefoot behind her.

(She's... the girl from last time!)

Celica had seen her before. A memory of a single fleeting glimpse came back to her mind. It was the girl she had seen right as she was leaving Ragna and escaping from inside the Black Beast.

"Ragna..."

The silver-haired girl called out with a lovely, flirtatious voice, looking truly delighted as a smile of ecstasy spread across her face.

"Here you were all along. Nu was looking for you for so, so, sooo long... how cruel of you."

Her name must have been Nu. Baffled, Celica took a step back. Her back bumped into Ragna, and she looked up at him questioningly. Celica's wet soil-colored eyes were met by Ragna's green one as he answered.

"She's what you came looking for."

There was only one thing that Celica was looking for right now, which meant…

"She... is the Black Beast's heart."

Hakumen had said the same thing once before, too. The girl she saw inside the Black Beast was the very heart of the monster that threatened the world.

Celica gulped nervously.

She was here to destroy the heart of the Black Beast, but it was easier said than done. In order to save the people outside, and to save all the people in the entire world, she had to kill this girl standing in front of her.

"...Hey, Ragna? Who's that?"

Exhaling heavily, the smile vanished from the heart-girl's face as ice-cold blood lust lit up her eye. She could only open her left eye, just like Ragna, and it was staring straight at Celica.

"Nu hates her. Hey, Ragna, hurry up and kill her. Nu will do it if you don't."

Her words were as cold as a blade of glass, but she trembled like raging fury was burning her away from the inside as she said them. She was looking at Celica, but it was questionable whether or not she recognized her as a living being. It felt more like she saw Celica as a concept to direct her hatred towards, and Celica was left dumbfounded.

Pushing Celica back behind him, Ragna pressed forward unflinchingly. He seemed to be very familiar with this girl.

"Stay back. Dealing with her is my job."

Firmly instructing Celica to stay behind him, Ragna drew his wide-bladed sword from his hip and stood ready to fight. Nirvana wrapped her arms around Celica and pulled her close to keep her safe and far away from them.

The girl wasn't looking at Celica anymore. A twisted, childish smile rose to her face as she opened her arms wide for a hug.

"Good, come here, Ragna. I'll love you. Ragna is all, all, aaaaaall mine, after all... ahahahaha!"

Her musical voice suddenly gave way to a shrill laugh. She pulled off her white cape and started floating soundless above the ground.

### Part 5

On the outside, the clash between the Black Beast and humanity was intensifying like a balloon being pumped full of air.

The Ars Magus Corps ambush unit maintained formation and alternated between trading blows with the Black Beast and gradually retreating northward, with Hakumen and Jubei having a massive impact on the flow of battle as they wielded Ookami and Musashi.

The plan to lure it in a direction other than where Ishana sat was going unexpectedly smoothly. The Black Beast had suddenly started getting impulsive at some point, which made it less vital for the humans to cleverly choose when to start running.

In exchange, its attacks had grown all the fiercer.

Its countless heads started haphazardly devouring anything they could reach, not caring whether it was a living organism or not. The heads flailed about chaotically, mowing down soldiers along with the very ground they stood upon and tearing them to shreds with their fangs.

Hakumen's Ookami felled three of the Black Beast's heads while Jubei's Musashi regularly crushed eyes. No matter how deeply they wounded it, however, the grotesque colossus never slowed down or let up its attack. What's worse, it would use the seithr surrounding it to repair itself on the spot.

Falling back step-by-step in that way, the ambush unit finally led a seriously wounded Black Beast and a massive quantity of seithr all the way into the magic circle, looking like they were being chased by a massive raging wave. Flowing together in complete harmony, the unit and the seithr continued to brawl with each other atop the massive magic circle.

Valkenhayn's force quickly moved to support them, turning the magic circle into a platter of human screams and writhing seithr.

Human voices and the seithr's noises got jumbled together.

Trying to not lose her grip on consciousness, Nine focused on preparing to cast a spell. The rest of the Ten Sages were standing on the edge of the circle spaced at regular intervals, pouring their massive mana reserves into it.

Feeling a sudden wave of cold, Nine glanced across the circle and saw a dragon made of ice shooting through the air. The dragon, fangs bared, was accurately targeting only seithr entities, freezing them solid before shattering them to pieces.

It was Seven's magic. Nine looked at Seven, knowing that the ice must have been created using Yukianesa's power. Seven was currently not chanting the incantation to control the dragon.

The other Nox Nyctores wielder, Three, was pouring mana into the circle as she used her magic to wield Bolverk. Unseen hands held the pair of guns, using them to stop seithr cold in the vicinity of wherever its projectiles made impact.

The magic circle just needed a little more. Just a little more mana and it would be ready to teleport at any time.

As Nine prayed for everyone to hold out for just a little bit longer, a massive shadow abruptly shot over her head.

"Huh...?"

An ominous chill ran down her spine.

Nine wasn't sure what it was at first, but she instantly lifted her head to look. She saw one of the heads of the Black Beast.

Having charged into the magic circle, scattering soldiers and seithr alike, the Black Beast looked down on her.

"Oh no..."

She needed to break off her teleportation spell immediately and intercept it with an attack. As Nine panicked and lost her focus on the magic circle, a bulky wolf flew in from behind.

It was Valkenhayn.

Changing back into a human in the space of a breath, he raised both arms and blocked the head that was about to crush her flat.

"Nng, grrrrrr..."

"Valkenhayn, that's absurd, get away from it!"

As the person managing the magic circle, the place where Nine was standing was significant. Nine knew that he was doing this so that she wouldn't be forced to move.

Grabbing the errant head by the top and bottom of its jaws and holding it back with sheer strength, Valkenhayn threw a reprimand over his shoulder as he withstood the incredible weight.

"If you've got the time to give me lip, why don't you finish the teleportation? This thing seems to be in a good enough position!"

"!"

He was right. The Black Beast had thoughtlessly charged straight at Nine, which meant that it was practically in the center of the magic circle. It was never going to put itself into a more ideal position than this. Nine hurried up, closing her eyes and focusing her consciousness on her task. She blocked off all the noise around her and wove her magic with great haste.

Jubei and Hakumen leaped onto the scene, simultaneously cutting off the head that Valkenhayn was holding back from either side. They heard an unpleasant ripping sound as the giant head fell clear of its neck and onto the ground, scattering into a massive cloud of seithr, but a new one would surely grow in its place soon.

Before that could happen, however, the magic circle that spread as far as the eye could see was bathed in purple light as it activated.

"Here we go!"

No sooner had Nine shouted out a sharp warning than the magic circle began turning like a cog wheel, shooting out ever stronger light. Several heartbeats later, the Black Beast teleported away along with the great crowd of soldiers and mages around it, as if something had plucked them all up between its fingers.

When the teleport ended, they were standing on a gently sloping plain, the forest containing the Kaka village visible in the distance.

She wasn't sure when the sun had set, but Nine finally realized that night had fallen when they reached their destination. A full moon hung in the sky and a generous quantity of moonlight shined down on their surroundings, ensuring that they could see whether they had magic lights or not.

The nearby city had already been trampled by the Black Beast some time ago, but this plain alone seemed to have been left untouched by both seithr and the creature, so they were surrounded by lush greenery. Only six of the people present had seen why exactly that was the case with their own eyes.

Below this plain, and in fact directly below the spot they had set as their teleportation destination, there was a vast cave. Within it was a spacious natural room full of strange, beautiful, sparkling crystals and air that was remarkably different from that of the rest of the planet. It was a place devoid of seithr, and more than that, it was a place that suppressed seithr. The air in that underground cavern below the plain was so fresh and light that even the soldiers, who had no special knowledge of such things, could tell.

And that air being so perfectly clean meant that, for the Black Beast, it was practically the same as a human being in a room without oxygen.

The creature's massive body that didn't quite fit in with reality, seemingly having come from a nightmare, landed on the plain. The moment it did, it started moving in an awkward, distorted manner, as if it had been entangled in invisible strings.

Its countless heads tried to go on a rampage, but the creature had lost the smooth movements that it had had moments before, its snake-like necks thrashing about in pain.

Hakumen had made the right read.

Now free from her role as the teleportation coordinator, Nine looked up at the Black Beast right next to her, spread her arms wide, and created as many balls of lightning as it had heads.

"Now... be a good boy and accept your fate!"

Zig-zagging through the air, each lightning ball struck true and slammed into one head apiece, making sounds on impact loud enough to split eardrums as the Black Beast roared.

Jubei had started running as she was doing that, and he had one of the heads in his sights. He drew a line with his claws as he ran along its long neck, and as soon as he jumped over its massive head, he sliced open the monster's throat with the Musashi blades he was holding with his mouth and one of his tails.

Musashi glided through it like it was butter. Jubei adjusted the tips of the swords with a subtle movement and cut up the Black Beast's neck like he was carving a captivating pattern into its body.

Following in Jubei's wake, Valkenhayn leaped in with a roar. He slammed a rock-hard fist into the head, still staggered from Musashi's strike. Even without a weapon, his merciless fist smashed through the seithr, slamming the head down into the ground. He followed it up by swinging a wolf leg down onto the beast's brow with all the weight of a blunt weapon, and the head shuddered irregularly like it was seeing stars.

Jubei jumped in again toward the stunned head and used one blade and both claws to slice it to pieces.

Countless particles of seithr fell like torrential rain.

By the time the rain of black mist cleared, whether it was alive or dead, the black head was lying motionlessly on the ground.

In that moment, the atmosphere changed all across the plain.

We can fight it. We can win.

Jubei and Valkenhayns' flurry of attacks was so brilliant and encouraging that it made everyone think that.

Even more troops that had been lying in wait at the teleportation site joined the fray and began sweeping away the seithr.

Leading the charge was the Kaka clan, with Suzukaka at their head. Their inhuman athleticism allowed them to truly lay waste on the battlefield. Many members of the Duodecim were present in this force as well, launching a hail of magical attacks from behind and slowly but steadily peeling away at the beast's seithr.

But even though the Black Beast's seithr was being repressed, it wasn't just going to take this lying down.

Shaking pesky humans off like they were flies around its massive body, it spat up seithr, blanketing an entire column of troops in black in an instant. It howled at the moon like it was venting its hatred, so loud that it made those who heard it want to cover their ears. It snatched up and devoured anyone who stopped moving when they heard that sound, completely erasing their existences from this world.

Even if it couldn't regenerate its wounds anymore, it still had the seithr that was teleported with it and the seithr of its own body. Narrowly dodging the sword-like masses of seithr swinging around her as she jumped back, Nine furrowed her brow in hatred.

"Even after all that, we're just equal now?"

They hadn't closed the gap in power: they had just narrowed it.

"Are you all okay, everyone～?"

From within the army that had just charged into the fray came Trinity, calling out to Nine, Jubei, and Valkenhayn and running toward them. Terumi followed behind her, then finally Hakumen fell from above and landed in their midst.

He looked at everyone around him.

"We won't last long. Cut down every head, then wait for the signal from the inside."

Hakumen gave his orders without hesitation or doubt. So saying, he sprang high and grabbed onto one of the beast's necks.

The neck bucked and heaved, trying to shake Hakumen off, and a different head opened its mouth wide, trying to devour him along with its own fellow head. Making another jump to get above the head, Hakumen swung Ookami down.

His massive slash rent the air and severed the seithr. The wave from his slash cut through its throat and he followed it up with another strike, this time burying the blade directly into it and slicing the head right off.

Innumerable specks of seithr sprayed out across a wide area, but they disappeared as the air purified them. If the seithr disappeared, then the Black Beast wouldn't be able to regenerate.

"Alright...!"

Jubei followed in his wake. He cut into the beast like he was grabbing a snake by the neck with both claws, then spun in the air to slide Musashi easily through it. He could have diced it into cubes if he had wanted to, and he used that sharpness to fell another one of the Black Beast's heads.

The beast howled again. It seemed to be directing its desire to kill every living thing in the area at the untainted air. It spit out a burst of seithr that fell over the entire area like a rain of needles.

"I'll handle this...!"

Trinity rushed forward with an uncharacteristic confidence. She thrust her long, thin staff into the ground. With a clear ring of the bell, she cloaked the entire area that the seithr was going to land on with a layer of metal, instantly creating a roof.

The seithr was unable to break the thick layer of metal reinforced with Trinity's defensive magic, and Trinity returned it back to the thin air it had come from when all the needles had been blocked.

Nine was already poised and ready by the time the instant roof went away. She assaulted the creature with countless rays of light wreathed in lightning all at once. The lights relentlessly targeted a single head, exploding on its black-and-red face one after the other. By the time the mind-boggling number of lights had finally been spent, there was nothing resembling a head left.

While that was happening, Valkenhayn had turned into a wolf and broken into a sprint. He sprung forward to meet one of the crook-necked heads, fangs bared, but he changed back into a human just before the massive thing was about to swallow his wolf form whole, leaving only his limbs in their lupine shape.

"Taste this!!"

Bellowing vigorously from deep in his belly, he simultaneously slammed a punch and a kick carrying all the power a beastkin could muster into the seithr of the creature's jaws. Below him, Trinity cast her magic and bestowed his strikes with even greater power than they already had.

He was already as tough as a rock, but now he also had the hardness of steel. Valkenhayn's cataclysmic punch pierced so deep that it buried his arm up to the shoulder and burst out of the creature's forehead.

A seemingly endless chain shot out into the action, slicing through the air as it entangled another head. The chain was Terumi's Geminus Anguium: Ouroboros. Moving like a real, living creature, the chain wrapped around the black head and constricted it, and the Black Beast bucked and writhed mightily as it tried to shake its infuriating restraints off.

The chain only dug in all the deeper, though, seemingly warning the thing against trying to resist. Appearing out of thin air, another length of chain with knife-like fangs at the end ran the head straight through in one go before slicing it from top to bottom, like it was dissecting the thing.

Many certainly died as the Black Beast struggled, but nevertheless it was losing more and more of its sinister heads before their very eyes.

Six turned to five, three turned to two.

Finally, the last head was left looking down at the ground from on high, its eyes burning with rage and blood lust. Holding the tip of his blade low and dropping his hips deep, Hakumen took his stance.

Just as he leaped forward and brought Ookami down on its final neck, the Black Beast suddenly came to a halt.

### Part 6

In the world of endless darkness, the silver-haired girl crumbled to her knees. Celica reflexively tried to run to her side, but Ragna held his arm out to stop her.

Unable to stand back up, the girl turned her pitiful, resentful eye up at Ragna.

"How could you... Ragnaaa... why? Why are you being mean to Nu?"

The girl kept on repeating the words, 'how could you, how could you’ as she sobbed.

Ragna walked to her side... and raised his arm. He wasn't going to console her: he was lifting his sword above his head.

"I'm not trying to be mean."

Ragna whispered quietly to her one more time before he ran his sword through the blue-and-silver girl, looking like he was shaking something off of himself as he did it.

That was the end.

Her dainty body quivered and started to crumble, from her fingertips to her toes. Her body broke apart like a clay doll returning to the earth... and only her face with its one red eye wide open remained by the end. Eventually, that too disappeared. She melted into the surrounding darkness, vanishing without a trace.

"...The Black Beast's heart is done for. The rest is up to the masked bastard."

Turning his back on the girl who disappeared, Ragna walked back to Celica as he returned his sword to his hip. His face looked relieved, but it also seemed to be hiding remorse.

"Ragna..."

Celica didn't know how best to say what she was thinking. She hesitated a little, but she only had one thing in mind, so in the end she just went with it.

"Thank you. You always, always come to my rescue."

"I wasn't really trying to save you just now. Our goals just happened to line up perfectly this time."

Ragna gave a little scornful laugh as he told her that he didn't know why she was thanking him.

A smile broke out on Celica's face when she saw that mannerism of his.

"Aw, no need to get embarrassed."

"Huh? Come again?"

"It's alright, I get it. You act like a big brother, but you're really just shy."

She clasped both hands behind her back and peaked up at him mischievously as Ragna shrank away and darted his eye around, his face uncomfortable.

He scratched his white-haired head with his left hand, which was a bit of a bad habit of his. Suddenly remembering something, he wheeled back around to face Celica.

"I... really gotta leave now."

His words came out as a deep sigh.

Celica was about to cock her head to one side in confusion... but she had a hunch about what he meant, so instead she put on a smile.

"I don't know the details, but you mean you have to go back to where you came from, right?"

She had gotten a vague sense about that the last time they had reunited inside the Black Beast. She had thought that she and Ragna were probably not going to be returning to the same place. Just like Celica had to go home to Nine, Ragna had somewhere he needed to return to as well, somewhere different.

Ragna gave her a firm nod in response. Celica forced herself to smile wider, but she couldn't stop her eyebrows from drooping, revealing her true feelings.

"That makes me feel kinda lonely, since I waited so long for this."

"Yeah. Looks like... I'm really making you wait for me."

"Huh? Do you want me to keep on waiting?"

"I'm not telling you to. In fact... I can't tell you to."

Celica sensed a hidden meaning behind Ragna's words and his all-knowing face, but she had no idea what it was.

Whatever Ragna wasn't saying wasn't important to Celica right now.

"Will we meet again?"

Her voice lit up.

For a moment, Ragna was taken aback, but then he broke out into a laugh.

"Yeah, we will. I came here to fulfill my promise to you, after all."

Celica's eyes shone with vitality. Her cheeks turned a bright peach color and the genuine, full-faced smile that she couldn't manage before bloomed on her lips.

"Oh, jeez. Hearing that makes me so happy."

She folded both hands over her chest and squeezed tight, like she was trying to keep the words she had just heard safe.

"Wow. We're gonna see each other again, huh? How about that. I really thought this was gonna be the last time."

"H- hey, just so we're clear, I don't know how far down the line that's gonna be for you. At the very least, it ain't gonna be tomorrow or the next day."

Ragna stuck his arm out as he rushed to stop her from getting her hopes up. He couldn't guarantee it was going to happen on some specific date. It might be years, even decades.

Celica understood what Ragna was trying to say well, but she shook her head, her ponytail swaying.

"That's alright. I don't mind waiting for you, Ragna. I found you a lot faster than I expected this time too, although I was sure I'd see you sooner or later."

She was thinking that the time when she would get to see him again would come faster than she anticipated this next time too. Instead of worrying about how things would turn out, she was just happy with that thought.

Where had the lonely, miserable girl who had been on the verge of crying as she laughed from just moments ago gone? With equal parts exasperation and admiration, Ragna shook his head.

"You're incredible. I really respect you."

Ragna put his hand on Celica's head with a little thud.

"Welp... guess I gotta head back before the Black Beast's body completely disintegrates... but..."

Ragna swiveled his head around, scanning the area before scratching his cheek. No matter how hard he looked, they were surrounded by nothing but blackness.

With a hint of shame, Ragna finished his sentence.

"...how do I get out of here?"

"Huh? Wait, you... don't know how to get back home!?"

As Celica burst out in shock, Ragna's expression grew increasingly more sullen.

"Gimme a break, I was in a hurry."

He mumbled an excuse before ruffling his hair, trying to think of a solution.

Suddenly, they smelled an aroma that they couldn't believe would be in a place like this.

It was the smell of roses.

They knew exactly who had just arrived from that scent alone, and Celica looked around for the scent's owner. Just as Celica turned her back, a small silhouette appeared behind her.

It was a girl with two long, golden twintails and a big ribbon. The current master of the castle of eternal night, the Alucard Manor: Rachel Alucard.

Ragna's temper flared the moment he saw her.

"Dammit, rabbit!"

"I don't have the time to waste on disciplining you for your every uncouth outburst. Do you not want to return to where you came from? I will connect the dimensions for you, so make haste and leave."

Rachel waved her small white hands like she was shooing him away.

While Ragna was getting all bent out of shape by her haughty attitude, Celica asked her an honest question.

"Rachel-san, you can connect dimensions?"

"...Of course I can. Although more precisely, it's less so that I am able to do it and more so that it can be done from here."

Rachel looked at Celica through the corner of her eye, seeming to take in everything about her from her head to her toes as she replied. Celica thought that she had sounded a little reluctant to tell her.

Rachel twined her lovely, silky golden hair around her fingertip, then let it go, her red eyes taking in her surroundings all the while.

"The interior of the Black Beast has a very close relationship with the cauldrons, you know."

She turned to face Ragna, her palm pointed out at him, and a rose-red magic circle appeared beneath his feet.

"I'm going out of my way to perform such an advanced technique as interdimensional teleportation for you, so you ought to show some gratitude... Mr. Manservant-from-the-future."

"Who's the manservant!? Screw you!"

Ragna looked so mad he might bite her, but he stayed on the magic circle. Celica remembered that they were pressed for time, so she stood next to Nirvana and gave Ragna a smile tinged with sorrow.

"...Hey, Celica. When we meet again, don't be a stranger."

Ragna raised his hand in a casual wave as he disappeared from the world of monochrome blackness.

The moment he was gone, the ground started shaking beneath Celica's feet. Nirvana supported Celica's body just before she lost her footing, but now they were surrounded by an unpleasant noise, almost like a sandbag being turned inside-out and spilling its contents all at once.

The sound grew louder and louder.

"Wha- what's happening!?"

"Isn't it obvious? ...The Black Beast has been defeated."

The sand-like noise she was hearing was in fact the sound of the Black Beast losing all of its seithr and crumbling to bits.

"You people are really such a handful."

With a single dignified sigh, Rachel waved her palm through the empty air. A sudden wind blew from who-knows-where, reinforcing Nirvana's shaky footing.

From within the wind, Rachel summoned a faintly glowing magic circle with herself at the center. The sound of the collapse was coming from so close now that it was practically in Celica's ear, but Rachel teleported them all outside of the seithr before they could sustain any damage to their minds.

The moon was watching over them when they arrived.

The previously verdant plain had been completely trampled in the furious battle and turned into a wasteland. The wind raged across the jagged earth, and all that remained was a small, black clump of shadow.

It was about as big as an adult man, so perhaps calling it 'small' wasn't quite accurate. The black clump looked so transient and insubstantial that it seemed like it would disappear if you shined a light on it. Compared to its previous insurmountable size and hopelessly intimidating presence, it now looked so feeble that it actually inspired pity.

It was the only fragment of the Black Beast remaining.

It was the final, sputtering breath of the monster made of pure seithr.

It rolled into the shadows of the plain, looking like it might disintegrate at any moment, and stared out in confusion with one deep red eye.

Standing right in front of that eye was a shadow in white, Hakumen. Jubei and Valkenhayn stood right behind him, Trinity and Nine were a few paces away, and Terumi was way in the back.

Looking at that scene from behind the fragment of the Black Beast, it seemed to Celica like it was something happening on some distant, foreign world. Nirvana stood right behind her, silent as ever, and Rachel quietly watched for what was about to happen.

The air was heavy with all the scattered seithr, but the weight Celica felt pressing down on her chest was certainly not just because of pollution.

Hakumen whispered something imperceptible as he slowly raised his nodachi high. The white blade flashed brilliantly as it caught a white ray of sunlight.

Without a sound... the blade fell.

It severed the head of the vaguely humanoid clump, the final piece of the Black Beast.

The moment its head hit the ground, tears ran down Celica's cheeks.

It was dead. That fact made her so sad.

So, so very sad.

She couldn't hold back the pain in her chest. She crouched down where she stood, shoulders shaking as she quietly wept.

### 037. Chapter 5: Colorless Guiding Light

The Black Beast was gone.

At first, that was an obscure fact, unknown to many and hardly believed by those who were aware. But just as feeling returns to limbs as blood resumes coursing through them, the reality of what had happened spread across humanity.

They all raised their voices and rejoiced as one. Victory is ours. The Black Beast is gone. Everyone was singing to the skies about the glorious fact that the world was now free from its menace.

Like a gear that suddenly started turning again, everyone was busy.

One month passed in the blink of an eye.

In the school courtyard on a mild afternoon, with sunlight filtered through the leaves of the trees above pouring down on her, Celica was idly gazing upon the green scenery spreading as far as her eyes could see once again.

Even though the Black Beast had been defeated, the world hadn't instantly returned to this sort of mundane everyday life. Ishana still wasn't even halfway done restoring the buildings that had been crushed beneath Take-Mikazuchi, and they hadn't finished sorting out all the dead from the final battle until just the other day. There had been talk of erecting a monument for all those who had died in battle for a while, but now the rumor around town was that the Duodecim was in an uproar trying to decide who would succeed the heads of the families, and that things were getting more and more complicated by the day.

Celica was sitting on a courtyard bench, idly kicking her legs.

She didn't have any particular reason for coming here. There weren't enough teachers left, so the school still hadn't reopened. Celica missed her chance to graduate during the mess they had all just gone through, but she had been granted a diploma in recognition of her contributions during the war.

She didn't have to be here, but she came anyway just to kill time and reminisce on her school life that had been cut short. She thought it was a bit of a shame how it had worked out.

Celica had the option to re-enroll, but she didn't want to do that. She certainly had some lingering attachments to her school life, but if she were to restart attending now, Nine and Trinity wouldn't be with her anymore, and she would have felt uncomfortable with everyone looking at her as the little sister of one of the 'Six Heroes.'

"Hm... the Six Heroes."

Celica murmured to herself as the light kept on filtering through the trees and down onto her head.

Hakumen, Nine, Trinity Glassfille, Jubei, Valkenhayn R. Hellsing, and Yuuki Terumi. They were the brave warriors who had given their all to save the world, inspiring their allies with their overwhelming power enhanced by the Nox Nyctores causality weapons they wielded unflinchingly on the front lines in the final battle... that's the sort of praise that they were receiving alongside the honorable name of 'Six Heroes.'

Celica knew that, in reality, not a single one of them were happy about being called by that name. Nine and Valkenhayn in particular thought it was so stupid that it made them genuinely angry. Trinity and Jubei had convinced them to bear with it so that people could have a symbol of hope to look up to in this time of need.

There had recently been another newly-created name, too. The alliance of the Mage's Guild and the Orbis Librarius Norma, which they had been temporarily calling their 'Joint Headquarters' during the war, had officially become a single organization under the Orbis Librarius Norma name. The fact that they used that as their name after officially reforming as a new entity proved that the Mage's Guild wasn't the one calling the shots.

In light of that, Ishana was likely going to undergo some big changes beyond just the state of the academy. With that thought in mind, she didn't have too much hope for the future.

"Haaa... So much has changed this past month."

She suddenly wasn't a student anymore, and Nine and Trinity had become heroes. Ishana, the place she had lived in since she was a little girl, wasn't governed by the Mage's Guild anymore.

The world was finally at peace again, but the reality of it wasn't as nice as it sounded. Sighing listlessly, Celica leaned back in the bench and tilted her head up to look at a figure standing behind her.

"It's kind of a lonely feeling. Don't you think, Nirvana?"

Nirvana was accompanying her.

Nine had said that she was going to seal the Nox Nyctores if they won the war... but she was so busy with administrative matters that she'd been putting it off. Celica, for one, was glad to have more time to spend with Nirvana, but the fact that it was entirely contingent on how busy Nine was gave her some mixed feelings.

"Hm? What is it?"

Celica pulled herself up off the bench with a little huff.

Nirvana would normally just silently watch Celica, but now she was turned around facing the other direction. She was looking at a winding, overgrown footpath. At the end of that trail... was the Cathedral of the Mage's Guild.

"Do you... want to go see the Cathedral?"

She had a bad feeling about it even as she asked. She wasn't sure if Nirvana was even capable of simply wanting to go see something.

While Celica was standing there thinking about it, Nirvana started tottering away.

"Huh? Huh!? W- wait up!"

She had just started walking down the path like someone had called her over, so Celica chased after her in a panic.

It looked like Nirvana really was heading for the Cathedral. Guards used to be commonplace around here, but now there were none to be seen. The former Mage's Guild was so severely short on manpower that they had stopped posting human sentinels for the time being.

They found themselves standing in front of the small building before long, sunlight pouring through the cracks in its white outer wall. Nirvana pushed open the double doors.

"Huuuh!? Hey, wait wait, don't do that!"

Ignoring Celica's bewildered pleas, she stepped inside and turned around, seeming to urge Celica to follow her with her glass ball eyes.

"Um, Nirvana? We're not supposed to just walk right in here whenever we want to, so..."

Nirvana turned away before Celica could finish her sentence and walked right in, just as she wanted to. She headed straight for the staircase at the back of the Cathedral, which was a place where students typically weren't allowed in at all.

Celica knew that it would spell trouble if she just let her go, so she figured she had to follow Nirvana. There was something weird about a Nox Nyctores like Nirvana suddenly deciding to lead someone somewhere, and the cause of it might be waiting inside.

They passed through countless doors and descended countless flights of steps before finally arriving at a magically-powered elevator. At the bottom of it was what must have been the deepest level of the Cathedral.

They passed through a corridor with a high, arched ceiling before arriving at a tall set of double doors. The wooden doors were clearly very old.

Nirvana stood before them and stared at Celica, seemingly urging her to go on.

"Is it really alright for me to open these?"

Celica glanced over her shoulder nervously, but Nirvana neither nodded nor shook her head. Her only response was to start staring silently at the doors.

Celica couldn't get any kind of read on her expressionless face, so she furrowed her brow and reappraised the doors. They were majestic, and looked incredibly heavy. Her common sense as a former student in the Mage's Guild was telling her that the place lying behind them would not be the sort of place you should enter casually, but still... she had a funny feeling. Even beyond the fact that Nirvana had led her here, Celica felt like something was inviting her to go past these doors. She wasn't hearing anyone's voice or even feeling anyone's presence, but she had a feeling that she needed to go on as if someone had just called her name.

She put her slightly flushed hands on the door and gave it a gentle push. It swung open far easier than she had expected, almost like it was opening on its own. The wood creaked a little, but the tiny sound it made was swallowed up by the massive ceiling of the room beyond, even higher than the corridor behind her.

"Wow..."

It was a circular hall. It was completely deserted, but it was incomparably wider than the chapel on the surface above it. Mosaic tiles on the floor made a pattern that resembled something like a flower, the sun, or perhaps swirling fire, giving the whole room a sort of ritualistic feel.

Walking in slowly, Celica felt like she was being invited to continue.

The moment the tip of her leather shoe touched the floor, with neither a sound nor a warning…

Celica's world was dominated by white.

Whiteness.

Nothing but pure white.

No floor, no walls, and no ceiling.

Even the concept of an 'end' to the whiteness was vague at best, and Celica found herself standing alone in that world of nothing but white. She looked around in bewilderment, but even Nirvana, who was standing right beside her just a moment ago, was now nowhere to be found.

Instead... she didn't know when it had appeared, or if it had been there from the start, but she saw a single rectangular mirror standing upright in the pure white space.

(A mirror...)

She couldn't manage to speak the words aloud, as if they had been sucked away from her. Her memories rustled like ripples on the surface of water. She had seen this before.

No, she hadn't simply seen this in passing once. She had seen this countless times. This scenery had appeared before her countless times before, and countless times it had melted away both from her sight and from her memory. She had always thought it was a dream, but looking back on it, the first time she had slipped into this monochromatic world had been a similarly sudden visit.

...Why had she forgotten?

Why…

(Why was I called here...?)

Stepping forward in a daze, Celica muttered without thinking, but the words didn't actually come out.

Even her breath was simply melting into the whiteness.

Had someone... really called her here?

Who? Why? Who were they calling for?

Like intermittent droplets creating ripples that eventually faded into the distance, her sporadic questions slowly disappeared.

Just what was this place?

With this final question in her heart, Celica found herself drawn before the mirror. It was just tall enough to reflect Celica's entire body, as if it existed here solely for Celica's use.

...Just how many times had she thought that before?

The mirror reflected Celica's appearance perfectly, but something about it was strange. It seemed like, rather than showing the Celica who stood here in this pure white world, the mirror was actually a window showing a different Celica standing on the other side.

The uncomfortable feeling Celica had had ever since she appeared in the pure white world finally became a vivid chill running down her spine.

That's right. The mirror wasn't reflecting her standing here on the white ground in front of it... or at least, it didn't feel like it was.

(No, that's not right. It is me, but it isn't. It's not reflecting the me that's standing here. It's like I'm watching a me from a different place...)

She tried to feel around in her heart for the right words, but she couldn't find a good enough way to describe what she was feeling. It was frustrating. Annoying. What should she call this feeling?

(But... it's weird. I haven't really been able to stand here and just think about stuff before, have I...?)

She was getting more and more confused and uncertain, and she was even less sure about her self that she was seeing in the mirror. It was like the indefinite outlines of ink after spilling water on it.

(...Huh?)

Celica suddenly realized something.

That was weird.

The world in the mirror wasn't white.

It seemed like some kind of circular, sanctuary-like hall. The ceiling was so high that she couldn't see it, but the floor had a mosaic tile pattern that looked like the sun or a flower.

It was the underground room below the Cathedral that she had opened the doors to just moments ago. The Celica reflected on the mirror's surface stood in the center of the mosaic and looked at the Celica in the pure white world with wonder in her eyes.

(What's... going on?)

Once again, her question couldn't pass her lips. However, Celica did realize something else: even though her voice wouldn't come out, her lips did move, but every time they did, the Celica on the surface of the mirror's lips stayed still. That Celica was just standing there, perplexed.

She still wasn't certain about anything even though she had remembered this place, so she couldn't say anything for sure, but she felt like this was the first time something like this had happened. There was a clear separation between this side and that side, with the rectangle forming the boundary.

Maybe she should have felt fear at this realization... but instead, Celica felt a strange emotion similar to nostalgia from deep within her heart. It wasn't as if she was looking at herself from the past, so she didn't understand why she felt that way.

(Is this... really a mirror?)

She told herself that it wasn't as she slowly raised her arm.

This couldn't be a mirror. At the very least, it wasn't an ordinary mirror like the one Celica looked into every morning at home.

She wanted to know what it would feel like. Inside the frame, the Celica standing in the room beneath the Cathedral raised her hand at the same time.

However, just before they touched their fingers together, the Celica on the other side of the mirror suddenly turned to look behind her. She smiled bitterly like a child who had just been caught doing something wrong. She shuffled her feet on the mosaic tiles and made eye contact with a woman who had just entered the room.

The woman had soft hair beneath her large hood, and a soft smile graced her face.

(Trinity-san?)

She tried to call out to the other side of the mirror, but it seemed like her voice wasn't reaching them.

As if doing it in her place, the Celica on the colorful side of the mirror called out to Trinity in exactly the same way. Taking graceful steps, Trinity walked toward her with a gentle smile as she raised her index finger, seemingly admonishing her.

Her voice wasn't audible in the pure white world, which gave Celica a hunch about what was going on here.

They were different. Her side and the other side were different places. The rectangular mirror looked like it was connecting the two, but it really wasn't. Either that... or the mirror had previously connected them, but now it wasn't anymore.

The mirror in front of Celica wasn't showing her a reflection of herself at this point: it was just a window for her to peek into the other side through. That was why she had had an uncomfortable sense that she and the image in the mirror weren't one in the same.

She could tell that Trinity was asking the other Celica to leave with her now. The Celica on the other side sheepishly walked to Trinity as Trinity beckoned her.

She turned her back to the mirror... no, to the window, and left it behind. Past her, Celica could see Nirvana standing at the entrance to the room as well.

(H- hey, wait!)

Seeing that, Celica finally started to panic.

If the Celica on the other side was going to leave with Nirvana, who had brought her here in the first place, then what was going to happen to her here on this side?

(Wait, Nirvana! I'm still here... Trinity-san!)

She screamed and beat on the rectangular frame that was no longer a mirror with her fists.

Not a sound escaped her throat, though, and her fists made as little impact as if she were swinging through thin air... until she suddenly stopped cold as if she simply couldn't do it anymore.

(Nirvana! Trinity-san! ...What do I do?)

After the fear and sadness had set in, her thoughts became surprisingly clear. No matter how much she struggled on this side, no one on the other side would be able to perceive her even in the slightest. The fact that Nirvana hadn't even glanced back slightly proved that quite well.

(Back when I got stuck inside the Black Beast... he came and saved me...)

This, however, was an entirely different situation. She was in some unknown place that even Nirvana couldn't interfere with, not the inside of a monster made of seithr.

(Where is this place, really?)

Celica couldn't think of anything even remotely like this. Could a place more unbelievable than the inside of the Black Beast really exist?

As if in response to her question, she heard a voice. ──ca.

(Wh- who's there...!?)

That was the first sound she had heard in this world of whiteness. Hearing someone else's voice filled her with equal parts relief and anxiety. She didn't know if that was a voice she really wanted to hear or not. She wasn't sure if she ought to respond or keep quiet, but as things stood, Celica didn't have any straws to grasp at other than this voice.

──ca... ury…

The voice was slowly getting clearer, and as it did... Celica began to feel a strange, oppressive sense of pressure closing in on her. The atmosphere around her changed. The supposedly empty space around her seemed to be filled with molasses, trapping her body.

It was a familiar feeling, somehow.

──Ce...ca...Me...cury…

(They're... calling my name?)

Oh, of course: it felt like water. Just as soon as the realization struck her, Celica's body sank.

She was sinking into a body of white water.

Even as she did, the voice continued to call out, growing ever clearer and ever closer.

──Celica.

(This voice... sounds familiar...)

──Celica A. Mercury.

(Oh, I know... It sounds like how Onee-chan does... when she's thinking about something too hard.)

A strict, strong voice... hiding deep kindness within it.

The voice dispelled every trace of fear she was feeling. Feeling like she was rising to the surface now even as she continued to sink, Celica closed her eyes.

...She couldn't clearly remember what happened then.

Celica turned with a start when she heard someone calling her name to see Trinity standing behind her with a troubled expression. She felt like a child being caught in the middle of doing something wrong and tried to talk her way out of it.

At that point her surroundings had already switched back to being the underground room of the Cathedral instead of a blank white world... and they had been that way for some time. Nirvana stood silently between the open doors, like she was some kind of gate warden.

Obviously, Trinity wasn't fooled in the slightest by Celica's excuses, and she firmly scolded Celica by saying, 'you shouldn't come in here,' with a tender expression on her face. Celica wanted to try and explain herself, but even she didn't really understand what she was doing here. In the end, she gave a sincere apology and let herself be led back up to the surface.

...What had happened to her when she went below the Cathedral? When she was back out under the sunlight again, for some reason, it felt like she was waking up from a dream that she couldn't remember clearly. The memory of the mysterious experience that she had just had melted away into the sunlight. In just a few days, she completely forgot about the entire thing.

After that, she just quietly and peacefully drifted through the rest of those days when the world was slowly healing its wounds.

### 038. Chapter 6: Blue Snake's Crazed Play

## Chapter 6: Blue Snake’s Crazed Play

### Part 0

The room was unusually cold.

It was technically winter, but the world was still blanketed in seithr, which was wreaking havoc on the seasons with no sign of them ever recovering. It was chilly at best outside, and compared to the cool air of the seemingly endless corridor leading up to it, this room was practically freezing.

The owner of the room thought nothing of it, however, as he gracefully offered a seat to his female visitor with a serene look on his face.

"Hey, why is this room so cold?"

Grumbling, the woman wearing a luxurious fur mantle sat down in the chair.

The man stood up just as she did so, practically switching places with her. The tea the man had brewed was the only warm thing in the room, and mercifully so.

"My apologies for the discomfort. The issue will be resolved shortly, so you'll have to bear with it for a little while."

"...Let's hope it will."

The woman's current less-than-ecstatic attitude wasn't just because of the temperature of the room. She didn't particularly enjoy having to spend time alone with this man, either. As both a member of the Ten Sages and the rightful heir to his clan, this room was his private property for all intents and purposes. She felt like she had been lured into his personal domain… the Kisaragi clan's home.

Nevertheless, she had still come when this man said he had a favor to ask of her. Supposedly it was a very serious favor, one that concerned the Nox Nyctores causality weapons.

"So? What do you want me to do?" "Look here."

With an air of calm pervading his demeanor, the man placed a sword on the table. It was a katana in a blue scabbard. One of the Nox Nyctores, Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa.

The woman gasped the moment she saw it, and the man smiled thinly as he watched her reaction.

"I would like to leave this in your care."

"Huh? Wha- what are you talking about? Weren't the Nox Nyctores supposed to be sealed..."

"Would you have let this be sealed away if you had been in my position?"

The man was speaking as calmly as if he was just having an ordinary, everyday conversation. He lightly pushed his glasses up with one of his white-gloved fingers.

"I'll say it again. Please, hold on to this for me. The Kisaragi Family will report that it went missing in the turmoil of the war, and with how fast the world is changing around us, everyone will forget all about this thing before long. Once that's happened, we'll be able to study it to our hearts' content."

"You're going to privatize a Nox Nyctores, just like that?"

"Three has already claimed that hers was lost."

The woman was at a loss for words as she listened to the man's ever-calm voice. She gripped her tea cup, thinking she had to calm herself down. She couldn't take her eyes off of the katana on the table in front of her.

Eventually, she opened her mouth.

"Alright. If all I've got to do is hold onto it for a while... then there'd be no problem with me analyzing it in the meantime, right?"

"By all means."

The man's smile grew wider. He beckoned with his white-gloved hand, and the woman took her cue to reach for the katana. She was overcome by curiosity. This was a Nox Nyctores, one of the weapons created to defeat the Black Beast, in which hid an utterly unnatural power. It was hard for her to resist the temptation to take possession of one of those, given the chance.

The man was no different. Watching the woman as she took the sword in hand and pulled it toward herself, he crossed his legs and placed his white fingers on his knees.

"Please do try to analyze it, if you can."

"Huh...?"

The woman hadn't understood what he meant, but in the moment when she lifted her head to look at him, the room froze around her.

In the most literal sense... the inside of the room was encased in ice. The formerly warm tea, the cup it was in, and the woman half-standing out of her chair with sword in hand, all frozen solid.

The only two things left untouched were the sword laying horizontally in the woman's grasp and its master, the man.

"I'll provide a brief explanation for you. You will steal my Yukianesa and disappear without a trace. No one will ever find you, but once the world has forgotten about the Nox Nyctores, Yukianesa will mysteriously find its way back to the Kisaragi Family... That's the scenario we will be going with, Eight."

His voice was as peaceful as could be as he took the ice blade from her hand. Casually drawing it from its scabbard, he cut down the ice sculpture erected before him with a flick of the wrist. The ice fell and shattered on the floor, and his long blond hair fluttered as he left the room, the sword with the blue scabbard still in hand.

Once the war with the Black Beast came to an end, the Ten Sages' top priority was to seal the Nox Nyctores Gigant: Take-Mikazuchi.

It was much harder to control Take-Mikazuchi than any of the other Nox Nyctores because it could be summoned, and they were worried about possible instability from its core being incomplete. Its creator, Nine, wanted to just destroy it, but in the immediate aftermath of the war, neither the Mage's Guild nor the Orbis Librarius Norma had enough manpower left to carry out such an operation.

Thus, they decided to pull Take-Mikazuchi out of its summoning circle, stick it inside a different container, and seal it somewhere where no one would ever be able to reach it, with plans to destroy it later once the state of the world had become more stable. The 'somewhere' that they had chosen to send it to was a place far out of reach and not within the jurisdiction of any country... outer space. Take-Mikazuchi disappeared from the surface of the earth, bound under layer upon layer of locks and control devices in a coffin-like apparatus.

They didn't have the means to immediately dispose of the other Nox Nyctores either, so for the short term they simply disabled their cores.

Deus Machina: Nirvana. Mucro Somnio: Musashi. Interfectum Malus: Ookami. Arma Reboare: Muchourin. Those four Nox Nyctores were returned as ordered and the power of their cores was released to make them inert, leaving them as nothing more than finely crafted, but mundane weapons.

Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa, Arcus Diabolus: Bolverk, and Geminus Anguium: Ouroboros couldn't be recovered because they were lost after the fighting, and their whereabouts were currently being investigated.

...Meanwhile, on the outside of the cloudy postwar world.

In the rose castle of eternal night, Rachel slept in the innermost bedroom of her manor. The world between the posts of her bed that had only just reclaimed peace was already falling into disarray again, like it was trying to cling to what little power it still had.

Her butler, Valkenhayn, had left Ishana and rushed back home to his princess' side as soon as possible after the war to resume his duty as her bodyguard. He had told his allies that he wouldn't be returning until Rachel woke up, and in fact, he ended up not leaving her side for a single moment at any point for the next several decades.

As a result, it was a long time before word reached him of how things went after the war and what ended up happening.

──And, of who lived and who died.

### Part 1

On a certain day a year after the final battle with the Black Beast, a single girl walked down a long flight of stairs.

Her curvaceous body; flowing, glossy hair; and the direct, sharp look in her eyes were instantly recognizable even at a distance. She was beautiful, but her unapproachable aura was overpowering.

Her name was Nine.

The triangular purple hat on her head was the symbol of the Ten Sages, formerly the highest governing body of the Mage's Guild which had been dedicated to the protection of all the world's secret history. After the war she was heralded as a hero in addition to the praise she already received for her uncommon beauty and talent, becoming known as a Great Magister and an unparalleled genius.

She was a woman, and an older sister... but she was also a wife, and a mother.

At the bottom of the long staircase was a magically controlled elevator, and she used it to descend to an even deeper level. At the end of a high-ceilinged corridor stood a stately wooden door. Nine stood before the door alone and opened it, walking in once it had finished swinging. The high-heeled shoes she was wearing made a stiff clacking sound with every step.

Beyond the door was a large, circular hall.

Its domed ceiling was even higher than that of the corridor behind her, and a strange engraving that looked like a coffin supported by branches sticking out of the walls decorated its center. The floor was like the polished surface of a mirror, and mosaic tiles created a pattern like a swirling flame in the center of the room.

There was nothing noteworthy in the room other than that.

Except, of course, for the tall, thin man standing alone with his back turned toward her, his arms dangling limply at his sides.

"I never expected you would just show yourself like it's no big deal, instead of me finding you."

Nine's cold tone made small ripples in the air of the massive room.

Sluggishly, the man turned to face her voice. He wore a long, yellow coat and had green hair. His bangs were long enough to cover his eyes, so she could only see half of his face. The bridge of his nose, his pallid skin, and the way the corners of his mouth turned up in a snake-like grin were his defining physical characteristics.

"It's been such a long time, Nine-san of the Ten Sages. How long has it been since the last time we met...? I can't quite remember, actually."

"I've got a mountain of questions for you, Yuuki Terumi."

At the mention of that name, the air in the room froze over.

The man called Yuuki Terumi gave a lifeless smile that was at odds with the tension between them.

"Is that so? What a coincidence, I actually have quite a lot I want to ask you as well. But before that... let me correct you on one thing."

He tilted his head, seeming to be earnestly trying to convince her of something. He pointed to himself with a long finger with prominent knuckles.

"I am Kazuma Kval, not Yuuki Terumi."

Watching him intently, Nine's eyebrows furrowed. She crossed her smooth, bare arms beneath her ample chest. This was a habit that she often showed when she was annoyed.

"Spare me the nonsense. Yuuki Terumi and Kazuma Kval are the same person at the end of the day."

"No, really, I know this is complicated, but that's not quite right. But, well, I guess thinking that was your fatal mistake after all, so it's no surprise that you don't believe me."

"What do you mean?"

Nine's eyebrows twitched slightly at the words 'fatal mistake.' Her face clouded with suspicion as she asked her question, but Kazuma just casually shrugged his shoulders and moved right on to another topic.

"Let's just both get down to business then. I called you all the way out here because I have a lot of things I want to tell you. Please, ask away, and I'll answer anything that I know the answer to."

Nine's unwavering gaze revealed how little she trusted him, but she didn't refuse him. She rose to Kazuma's provocations with a provocative glare of her own.

"Hm... alright then. I'll play along with your charade."

"Then, by all means."

Glancing at Kazuma as he urged her on, Nine maintained her composure by brushing her hair over her back.

"First question. Where did you take the heart?"

She was careful to not let emotion creep into her voice, sounding as disinterested as possible. Her voice came out a little too strongly, however, and it reverberated off the walls of this room that was a little too big for just two people.

Kazuma looked startled, his mouth opening slightly as he lightly grabbed at his hair.

"Ah, so you noticed that after all... I didn't think that would be the first thing you would ask me, I'm a little surprised."

Or so he said, but his voice was utterly carefree, not revealing even a shred of tension.

Nine felt like he was making fun of her with that attitude of his, and it was pissing her off.

"Answer the question. I'll tolerate your little game, but idle chatter is one thing I won't put up with."

Kazuma wore a strained smile. Nine took it as him saying that he was the one who was annoyed, not her, and she dug her nails into her crossed arms.

"Terumi-san took the heart. Apparently he had been wanting to get his hands on it for a long time."

"Why?"

"Who knows? It seems like he was making something, but I don't really know what it might've been. I've never been much good at alchemy..."

Kazuma's jaw slackened unambitiously, and he seemed to be trying to placate Nine.

Nine's brow furrowed deeper than ever. Resisting the impulse to give into emotion and resort to violence, she bit down on her lip with her canine. She breathed deeply until she was able to restore enough composure to control herself.

"Next question. If you're Kazuma Kval, then where did Yuuki Terumi go?"

"He's still inside this body, just staying quiet deep inside it. This was always going to be a difficult conversation, after all."

Kazuma placed a palm on his chest as he spoke, smiling thinly.

A dull light flashed across Nine's eyes, but she didn't press that question any further. That wasn't the important part.

"In that case, third question... Were you the one who released him from Mind Eater?"

Her voice had a tone unlike what it had been for any of the previous questions. It had suddenly dropped an octave, and it sounded very threatening. Her eyes flashed sharply, and she should have been quite daunting, but Kazuma nonetheless replied with exactly the same expression he had during his previous response.

"No, I wasn't."

"Then who did it...!"

"Someone you know quite well."

He shot that answer right back at her, the unpleasant thin smile seemingly stuck to his face. Nine finally lost her temper and let blatant anger flare in her voice.

"Don't screw with me."

Kazuma shrugged his shoulders.

Nine partially uncrossed her arms and continued her questioning, ready to summon a lightning bolt on him at any moment.

"What... are you planning to do with the Master Unit?"

"...What's that?"

At this particular question, Kazuma's previously easy going demeanor stiffened up. He had been answering all the previous questions immediately, seemingly trying to rile Nine up, but at this one he suddenly had to pause... and he suddenly gave a very mediocre answer.

She had found a lead she could pursue. The light in Nine's eyes said that she wasn't going to let him get away, and she pressed him further.

"You said you'd answer all my questions, so get to it. Why are you trying to meddle with the Master Unit? Is it for the same reason that Relius Clover and Shuichiro Ayatsuki summoned the Black Beast?"

Her voice echoed around the circular chamber as she questioned Kazuma like she was cross-examining a witness, driving him into a corner.

Kazuma kept his silence for a while, but it wasn't long before he dropped his shoulders with a big sigh.

"Haaa... I should've expected no less from the Great Magister Nine. I didn't expect you to have worked it out all the way to there. I'm sorry I underestimated you."

He hung his head in regret so far that it looked like his neck would break, but as he did, his ears picked up the barely perceptible sound of footsteps coming from a hidden corner of the chamber. With a few steps, the owner of that sound came out from where they had magically hidden themselves in the shadow of a thick pillar before timidly asking a question of their own.

"The Master Unit? Summoning the Black Beast... what are you talking about...?"

The dainty, sweet voice trembled in bewilderment, and Nine whirled around to face it.

"Trinity!?"

Her brown eyes had shined with a light that showed that she was itching for a fight up until then, but now they were stained with confusion so deep that they seemed to be a whole different color.

The third member of the conversation who had just suddenly revealed herself was Trinity. She drew attention with her soft platinum blond hair and warm green eyes, making her the polar opposite of the unapproachable Nine.

She clutched a long, thin staff in the white hands that were peaking out of her voluminous sleeves. It was the Nox Nyctores that Nine had made for her, Arma Reboare: Muchourin. Its core was sealed, so now it was nothing more than a staff that could help with magic control, but to Trinity, it had become a precious possession that she couldn't be parted from.

Her eyes clouded over with confusion as she hugged her precious staff to her chest, and Kazuma looked disappointed. He tilted his head like he was watching a child do something senseless.

"Why are you coming out already? We were going to have you wait a little longer then surprise Nine-san by you coming out when I called you."

"Ka- Kazuma-san...!"

Trinity rushed over to Kazuma's side in a panic. She gripped the staff so tightly in front of her chest that her hands turned white.

"You said that you would answer all of her questions, right? What is the Master Unit? And you said that the Black Beast was summoned..."

Trinity's cheeks went pale at the dreadful sound of what she was saying. Her morality was rejecting the idea that something that horrible could have been intentionally brought into this world.

Another thought came to her mind right after, one that made her hang her head and hug the staff closer to her chest.

"Why did you give such a half-hearted answer just now? Didn't we call Nine here today to tell her all about what we're planning to do and get her to cooperate with us?"

"No way..."

Nine muttered low and quiet.

The realization that came to her mind was so shocking that she couldn't get her voice out properly. With her eyes opened wide in astonishment, Nine clumsily turned to look at Kazuma. She didn't want to believe that it was true, but she had no choice but to admit it. It was written on his face.

"You can't mean, that the one who released Terumi from Mind Eater..."

"Oh yes, it was Trinity Glassfille-san. She was quite impressive actually, it took some time but she really did manage to nullify it."

Kazuma's chest puffed up a little as he expressed his pride in her. Like he was giving a full formal introduction, he waved a gesture towards Trinity with his hand as he said her name.

"Ah, I guess there are some after effects, though. Terumi-san and I aren't very well synced right now. That's not exactly an inconvenience for me, though, so I don't mind at all."

Kazuma bent his elbows and wrists a few times to show that there was nothing wrong with his body, at the very least.

It seemed like Nine couldn't even see him anymore, though: she was just staring at Trinity with a look of utter shock.

"Trinity... why...?"

“I'm sorry, Nine, but please hear me out. If you had left Terumi-san under the effects of Mind Eater, he might have used Mind Eater himself to control Kazuma-san and attack you..."

Just the thought of it alone scared Trinity, and her soft hair swayed as she shook her head to push the idea out of her mind.

Her eyes dampened with sadness behind her round glasses.

"You've got the wrong idea, Nine. You think Terumi-san and Kazuma-san are one in the same, but they really aren't. Kazuma-san has his own thoughts, and his own feelings."

Trinity remembered everything that Kazuma had said during that conversation they had had just before the final confrontation with the Black Beast as she spoke.

"I know that we needed Terumi-san's power in the fight against the Black Beast, but the war is over now. Can't we give this body back to Kazuma-san already?"

Her words carried a hint of accusation as she stuck the end of her staff onto the ground. A pleasant, beautiful sound like what a musical instrument would make rang out across the room.

As the sound faded away, Nine followed in its wake by slowly parting her lips.

"I see, that's what this man told you?"

Nine smiled as she whispered softly, not a hint of her previous severity on her face. In fact, she sounded quite peaceful.

"Y- yes..."

Trinity nodded, but her face showed confusion.

Nine hung her head like every ounce of strength had just left her body. She didn't have any words of reproach left in her, so she just let herself sink into a deep sigh. Nine just shook her head weakly. She put a hand on her forehead and fluttered her eyelids like she was trying to bear some great internal weight.

"You really are such a... such a... nice girl."

With nothing but affection in her voice, she managed to raise her head again. Nine touched Trinity's lovely hair. Compared to her own smooth, flowing locks, Trinity's hair was always so fluffy and soft.

"Kazuma Kval... no, Yuuki Terumi!"

All she did was turn her body 90 degrees. In that short of a span of time, Nine's face changed from affection to fury... no, to pure loathing.

"You'll pay for this. You'll pay, you hear me!?"

As she was turning, lightning sprung to her open hands and a thunderous sound boomed through the chamber.

In the same instant, though, a chain with a snake-like head on the end appeared behind her and stabbed into her shoulder like it was taking a bite out of her.

"Ugh, aaaa!"

Nine screamed in agony. The sudden pain made her lose concentration on her magic, and she fell onto the hard floor.

Watching her best friend hold her shoulder as she shakily tried to get back to her feet, a half-frantic Trinity reached her arm out to her.

"Nine... kya!"

A chain crawled up her tender waist and held her fast. She was bound so tightly that her bones were creaking, and her hands were stuck so firmly to her sides that it made Muchourin fall powerlessly to the ground.

"...W- why... why are you doing this!?"

She looked like she was about to collapse, but Trinity, on the verge of tears, planted her feet and looked at Kazuma.

Kazuma, however, was walking over to where Nine lay on the floor, and didn't return Trinity's gaze.

"Hrg... finally showing your true colors, are you?"

Nine knelt on the floor, holding her shoulder so tightly that her fingers were sinking into it. Unfortunately, she wasn't born with a talent for healing magic like her little sister, so she had to settle for a spell that killed the pain.

Looking down on her as she struggled pitifully, Kazuma turned the corners of his lips up in an exasperated smile.

"I'm sure you understand just what kind of a mistake you've made at this point, Nine-san. You were convinced that Yuuki Terumi and I were the same person. Well... that wasn't really wrong, but you certainly never expected that we would be able to separate ourselves."

Kazuma stood before Nine and pointed at her with his index and middle fingers pressed together. He then spread his fingers apart like he was making a peace sign.

"Just before you cast Mind Eater on him, he split his consciousness from mine. As a result, Mind Eater took full effect on Terumi-san, but I was left totally unaffected."

His index finger represented the Terumi half and his middle finger represented the Kazuma half. They may have been connected by the same 'hand,' but they could choose which one was at the forefront.

"If that's the case... then this time, I'll just make both of you my menservants for the rest of eternity!"

Nine punctuated her scream by swinging her arm. She launched countless projectiles of light straight at Kazuma's torso. The point-blank attack sent Kazuma's body flying and he hit the ground hard without so much as a cry of pain.

Kazuma seemingly wasn't moving a muscle, yet nevertheless, a chain suddenly crept out of thin air next to Nine's ear and wrapped around her arm and up her body before constricting her neck, apparently as an afterthought.

"Ah, ufh..."

Unable to rip the chain that was restricting her breathing off of herself, Nine's face contorted with anguish. The chain crawled up the soft flesh of the nape of her neck and pulled even tighter, and Nine couldn't get a single sound out of her mouth.

"Please... please stop, Kazuma-san! What are you doing? I..."

Trinity shouted out louder than she ever had before.

Kazuma got up with leisurely slowness and dusted off his clothes as if to recover his pride. Any wounds that he may have gotten from Nine's magic attack had already closed up. Back on his feet, Kazuma looked over his shoulder at Trinity. He showed her his open palms like he was a performer about to explain a trick.

"Surely even you are getting an idea of what's going on here at this point, right? It's exactly what you think it is."

The answer was already there in Trinity's head.

Trinity only asked because she already knew, and knowing that, Kazuma put it into words for her.

"It was aaaaall a lie. What a shame for you."

His regret and his apology. Saying that he 'had fun' and that he 'wanted to come back.' Every word they had shared with each other before the final battle. The warmth she had felt in his body when they held each others' hands. Every single moment he spent with that sincere look on his face.

Every last one of them was a lie.

"No, way..."

Shocked. No other word could describe the sound of Trinity's voice as it escaped from her lips. All the strength had abandoned Trinity's knees and she had fallen to the floor, and Kazuma just laughed at her in pity.

"You really never learn, do you? I'd already betrayed you once before, you know."

Putting his hands on his thighs and leaning over, Kazuma peered down at Trinity as she cried with her face turned skyward. Little gaps in his bangs showed occasional glimpses of reptilian yellow eyes. They were filled with pure joy and pleasure.

"But hey, chins up, you two, don't be so miserable. It's never too late to learn from the mistakes of the past, after all."

Kazuma happily chatted away with a certain good-humored attitude that he had never shown in his student years. His tone, expression, and demeanor were clearly Kazuma, but the faint chill of Terumi permeated his every action.

"To hell with... your, mistakes of the past... this won't, be enough to..." Kazuma lifted his head in response to the broken voice. Nine, not caring that she could hardly even breathe, was putting all the power her body could muster into trying to break out of the chains.

Kazuma's shoulders started shaking uncontrollably at the sight.

"Oh no, please, come on now, this is one of the Nox Nyctores that you made yourself, you know? Are you trying to tear it off?"

"Ngh... I am the one, who made it. Do you think, I can't...?"

As soon as she finished her sentence, he thought he heard a sharp, distorted sound coming from the chain.

That wiped the smile right off of his face, and he scrunched it up instead.

"Oh, dear... you're just so scary, Nine-san. There's no sense in playing around here all day... so how 'bout we just get right down to show time～!"

Mid way through his sentence, a smirk split his face. It was like someone had flipped a coin to its opposite side.

There was no mistaking who had spoken that line.

Tracing his teeth with the tip of his tongue in ecstasy, Terumi raised his hand.

Nine tried to burst out of Ouroboros. Trinity could do nothing but look on, dumbfounded.

And Terumi recited a chant like he was singing a song.

"Restriction 666 released... Dimensional Interference Field deploy..."

As if responding to his voice, the ground beneath them began to tremble slightly. There was no way it was an earthquake. They were deep below Ishana, so if this room was shaking, it could only be because of the artificial cauldron that the mosaic tiles on the floor symbolized.

"BlazBlue, activate!"

Heat rose from the nonexistent flames of the pattern beneath their feet. Trinity reflexively shrunk in on herself. Nine felt an unpleasant sensation creeping up her body from within, and she knew it wasn't the heat.

The man standing before her immediately gave her the answer to what it was.

"Drag 'em in, Ouroboros!"

Terumi gave the chain a hearty tug as he shouted an order at it.

Nine felt like her guts were being pulled along the floor.

"No... way...?"

Nine struggled against the chain, looking desperate now. The chain seemed to be drawing some kind of power from the cauldron, however, and Nine was trapped even more completely than she was before. She got pulled a little further. As for where she was being pulled... all she had to do to find that out was look down.

The inside of the cauldron.

"Ple- please don't do this, Terumi-san!"

Trinity's cry of grief echoed around the chamber.

Nine's consciousness was fading fast, but she kept on struggling and straining. She tried to cast a spell, but she just couldn't get her voice out, and she couldn't connect her mind with her mana either. Ouroboros had already yanked her voice and her focus out of her and chucked them into the cauldron.

As she lost more and more control of her body, Nine bit her lip and glared at Terumi, filling her gaze with more hatred than ever before.

"Kehehehe, now that's what I'm talkin' about. That face, that one right there. That's EXACTLY the face I always wanted to see you make!

Hyahahahahahaha!"

Laughing shrilly, Terumi planted a kick in Nine's head. Nine, still wrapped up in the chains, rolled across the floor with a dull thud. Her triangular purple Ten Sages hat had just barely managed to stay on her head this whole time, but now it finally went flying.

"Hehyaaaahahahaha! Look at you, you call yourself a Sage!?"

This time he stomped down on the back of her head and started mercilessly grinding his heel in.

Nine never stopped glaring at him all the while. She couldn't so much as lift a finger anymore, but she used the last of her strength to move her blood stained lips.

"............"

But she couldn't get any sound out.

Her lips shut after failing to deliver her final words, and she went as still as a wax doll.

"...Ah, ah... Ni- Nine..."

Trinity just watched it all happen, and a rattling sob escaped her throat.

Hearing her faint voice, Terumi turned around dramatically. Stomping violently with his black-booted heels, he made his way to Trinity.

"Man, you really saved my ass this time. Thanks a lot, Trinity. It sure is great having such a kind friend!"

He started lightly slapping her cheeks, soaked in tears flowing from her wide-open, upturned eyes. For the first time ever, Trinity wanted to get away from those hands, and so she turned her head.

Like he was chasing prey that was trying to escape, Terumi grabbed her by the chin and yanked her head back up to face him. As the tears kept flowing down her face, Trinity wisely glared at him. No matter who or what she was looking at, she always faced them with a gentle smile in her green eyes, but now she was gathering up every scrap of hostility she had within her and putting it into this look.

"Oh, man, I'm shakin' in my boots! Kehehe, you call that a glare? Clearly you've never been on the receiving end of one of Nine's real glares. Talk about a scary mug."

"Why are you such... such a..."

"Huh? Hey, what, why don't you go on and say it? Hey, hey, c'mon!"

Terumi pulled her hard by the chin, but Trinity didn't have the heart to finish. She felt like there was a weight stuck in her chest that was going to strangle the sobs right out of her, along with all the air in her lungs.

"Oh, yeah, almost forgot to pay you back for all your help." Pretending to have just remembered something, Terumi stood back up. As he looked to the ceiling and spread his arms wide with palms up, a single chain appeared.

"Here's your reward... I'll send you to the same place as your beloved best friend. Go kiss and make up in the Boundary or something, Hyaaa-hahahahaha!"

Laughing with a voice so shrill that it shook the air around him, Terumi gave the chain another forceful pull. Trinity was attacked by that same sinking, dragging feeling.

"Welp, I'm too busy to hang around here much longer."

As Trinity felt a strange sensation of something crawling up from inside her and contracting her entire body at once, Terumi punted her. After giving Trinity one last look of contempt as he sent her tumbling head over heels across the floor, he strolled away, the rough sound of his footsteps ringing out as he went.

Sinking. Sinking. The mosaic tiles felt like a hot wind as they touched her cheek. Her consciousness dimmed and she could hardly move a muscle.

From her spot laid out on the ground, Trinity could see the already entirely immobile body of Nine. Between them, Muchourin rested where it had rolled across the floor.

She apologized over and over again to Nine's face-down body, but Nine couldn't hear her anymore.

She sank deeper.

Suddenly, a thought came to her.

Take-Mikazuchi's core, which the Nox Nyctores used, was made up of an incredible number of human souls. If the Nox Nyctores functioned by tapping into the power of those souls, then... if she were to give a new soul to Muchourin, which was currently sealed off from soul power, then it would return to being a full-fledged Nox Nyctores... probably.

If she moved her own soul into Muchourin and restored it to its status as a causality weapon, then maybe she would get a chance to atone for her foolishness one day.

Her soul was being pulled into the Boundary.

She didn't have time to deliberate.

"I'm, so sorry... Nine..."

If she was just going to disappear anyway, she'd rather set fire to her regrets and atone for an eternity instead.

Trinity managed to move her body a tiny bit, wringing out every dredge of strength she had left to pull herself next to Muchourin.

She began to chant an incantation in the faintest, weakest of voices.

### Part 2

Newly reorganized in the aftermath of the war, the Orbis Librarius Norma was poised to unite the whole world under its banner, and was currently working on establishing branches everywhere it could. They had a system in place to quickly handle any disputes over whose territory they were establishing themselves in, which kept things running smoothly.

The world, having survived the menace known as the Black Beast, didn't want to further destroy itself with wars of self-interest or other conflicts, so the OLN championed resolute propositions and ideals, skyrocketing their general clout.

What very few people knew was that all of the OLN buildings established all across the world were located above one of the world's many cauldrons.

The war with the Black Beast was over and the Mage's Guild had been completely absorbed.

Unable to get used to the new world order, Jubei and Hakumen had left Ishana and started traveling the world. They had one goal: the destruction of every single cauldron on Earth. The cauldrons were contact points to another dimension from which the Black Beast had been summoned. There was no telling what kind of tragedy could arise from continuing to meddle with them.

"If the world cannot survive without cauldrons, then it is no world of humankind."

That's what Hakumen said when he had set out for his first target. Jubei was in total agreement with Hakumen, so he chose to accompany him.

They hadn't even been married a year yet, so his wife Nine was stunned at his decision, but she allowed him to go on the condition that he would come back at least once per season to let his daughter see his face. Nine, too, must have had serious misgivings about the idea of letting the cauldrons continue to exist.

Jubei wanted to destroy all of them as fast as possible so he could finally relax and enjoy the rest of his life with his wife and daughter. He had been secretly thinking about that as they had left the area of the tenth cauldron they destroyed, but today, he wasn't sure how many cauldrons they had destroyed anymore. It felt stupid to even try and keep count at this point.

They hadn't chosen this cauldron today for any particular reason: it was just the closest, and it reeked of the Black Beast.

Ear-splitting alarms echoed through the dimly-lit corridor.

Flickering red lamps gave the passageway they followed a very serious atmosphere.

Hearing the footsteps and voices of nearby guards looking for the intruders, Jubei and Hakumen ran into the massive, air conditioned facility. This was the Orbis Librarius Norma's Asian branch of their geological survey department, located on the western tip of Asia.

Asia had suffered particularly severe damage from the Black Beast, so the OLN had established various different research labs across the continent to help facilitate its recovery.

Jubei and Hakumen hadn't snuck in for research data, though. Just like every other facility, this lab had a cauldron underneath it. As usual, the cauldron was very deep underground. The OLN had used it as a foundation when erecting the facility.

The pair eventually found an elevator leading down to it beyond a stack of fans that were liable to make their ears ring if they were to stay around them too long. Wrenching out a piece of the wall and crawling into the wire-lined interior, they descended deeper and deeper into the facility, with Jubei climbing down easily and skillfully while Hakumen just barreled down sloppily, not fearing the possible fall.

Finally, and without getting into a knock-down drag-out fight with the guards for the first time in a long time, they made it to the deepest level of the facility.

"Whew... we made it down pretty easy this time, huh?"

They could see simple measuring instruments placed around the circumference of the cauldron, but it didn't seem like the OLN was conducting any large scale research or experiments here. Keeping a close watch on his surroundings, Jubei stretched his flexible body.

"This place must have been created solely to suppress the cauldron. There are countless places like it."

Hakumen had taken Ookami off of his back so it wouldn't impede his movement, but he put it back on now as he spoke.

The OLN didn't want to let other organizations have cauldrons. Their intentions were clear even during the war with the Black Beast, when the OLN members could often be found spending comically long amounts of time studying maps showing the locations of cauldrons.

Jubei walked right next to the cauldron, where the OLN had installed a lid-like device that they could open and close.

"The cauldron's closed up right now."

"Naturally. With so few personnel, this facility has no intention of using it."

"Sure enough."

They barely had enough people to man the facility here, so they had probably just been unable to bear leaving the cauldron alone.

"The OLN's folks sure do work hard."

With mild exasperation in his voice, Jubei extended the sharp claws of both of his hands.

"Let's get this done before someone shows up looking for trouble. I wanna leave riding an elevator the normal way for once."

He may have been a cat beastkin, but climbing five stories up in an elevator shaft still wasn't an easy task. It would put a damper on his day, at the very least.

Hakumen drew the nodachi that he had just put on his back out of its scabbard and walked up to the cauldron. Just before he was ready to unleash one clean slash on it, however, the formerly silent and motionless lid on top of it began to open.

"Wha..."

Jubei, who was on lookout, was the second to notice when he turned to look behind him.

Rooms that contained cauldrons always had very high ceilings, no matter where they were. Far above the cauldron, there was what must have been a control room sticking out of the wall, inside of which a silhouette was visible.

"That's..."

Jubei flattened his ears back when he saw who it was.

"Terumi..."

Hakumen said that man's name with a low growl.

Possibly realizing that Jubei and Hakumen had recognized him, Terumi brazenly strolled out of the control room toward them. His unnaturally laid back and composed body language gave Jubei pause.

"What do you want?"

He was dressed in his usual long-hemmed coat, and his big hood was completely hiding his eyes. It had been at least two months since the last time they had seen this man. They had been looking for him ever since, but they hadn't caught wind of him until today.

"Yo. You two are really moving on up in life, going from being part of the ‘Six Heroes’ of the war to playing terrorists."

Terumi gave a throaty, sarcastic laugh as he looked from Jubei to Hakumen, hands stuffed in his pockets.

Hakumen reiterated his companion's question.

"He told you to state your business."

"Aw, c'mon, why the cold shoulder? I brought you guys some seriously huuuuuge news."

"News?"

Jubei's ears perked up at Terumi's uncharacteristic word choice. Terumi was indeed strangely knowledgeable about all sorts of things, despite how he seemed, but he wasn't the type to just tell you something without you wringing it out of him first.

Smiling delightedly at the puzzled Jubei, Terumi spoke like he was telling him some great joke he'd been saving.

"Nine's dead."

For a few seconds, Jubei was convinced that time had stopped around him.

He couldn't process what he had just heard. As he stood there with his mouth half open, he registered Hakumen shifting into a ready stance in his peripheral vision.

That little movement snapped Jubei out of it. He heard the sound of the cauldron slowly opening up behind him.

"Wh- why, did she die? What was the cause? Was she killed?"

Hakumen held Jubei back with one arm as the latter fired off a barrage of questions. From deep within the mask, Hakumen asked for the truth.

"Who killed her?"

Terumi smirked. He was smiling beneath that hood.

Without giving an answer, he kept on talking.

"Trinity's probably dead too. That means the only ones left are... Hakumen, Jubei, Valkenhayn, and that damned shitty vampire!"

He sounded like he was counting on his fingers at first, but it devolved into a scream at the end. Terumi yanked his hands out of his pockets and thrust them forward, and in response, chains shot out from either side of his body. The one on the left went for Jubei, the one on the right went for Hakumen, and they both cut a straight line through the air as they hurtled toward their targets.

"Kuh!"

Using his claws to repel the chain, Jubei jumped away. At his side, Hakumen cut down the chain aimed at him with one strike from his blade.

Switching to offense immediately, he swung Ookami diagonally at Terumi, but his slash landed an instant too late, cutting only the air where Terumi had just been. Terumi had kicked off the ground to launch himself backward and swung his arm wide as he landed. This time, he attacked Jubei with both chains.

"Grimalkin, to the side!"

Just as Hakumen shouted a warning, he suddenly felt a presence below him.

"...!?"

He tried to put his guard up, but he was too late. Snapping like a whip, Terumi's leg caught Hakumen on the chin with a kick.

A normal human's chin would've been crushed, but Hakumen endured the otherworldly impact, stumbling back several steps but not losing his footing. Blocking the follow-up round kick by raising one arm, he sliced upward with the nodachi held in his other hand.

"Tsk!"

Terumi bent backwards to avoid the attack and immediately threw a magic barrier up, but Ookami still left a diagonal cut on his chest. Only a shallow one, though.

Ookami no longer had the abnormal power from when Hakumen wielded it against the Black Beast with its core released. His so-called normal slashes would struggle to inflict any lasting damage on Terumi, whose body currently had abnormally fast regenerative powers.

Jubei, fighting the chain, wasn't having an easy time either. The chain chased him down relentlessly and caught hold of one of his claws as he tried to escape it. The claw was clearly at a disadvantage against the chain, so he immediately drew one blade of Musashi with his free hand and sliced down on the chain fast enough to split the wind.

"Yeah, figured I couldn't cut it...!"

He was fighting a Nox Nyctores, and one that still had a functional core to boot. This chain was capable of stabbing straight through the Black Beast.

Knowing that was the case, Jubei instead cut his own claw away from the chain with Musashi, escaping from the chain's binding spell. Drawing the other blade of Musashi without missing a beat, he connected the two sides into one sword.

From behind him, he heard a thunderous roar. With a glance over his shoulder, he saw that the cauldron had finished opening up, baring its simmering, lava-like contents. A deep-seated assurance that that was not something of this world flowed through his body.

Its presence flowed through Terumi in a more literal sense, further increasing his strength.

"Dieeeeeee! Hyaaaa-hahahaha!"

Drunk on his own blood lust, Terumi laughed as countless black, snake-like things appeared from beneath his feet and reared up, combining into one. Clearly possessing far greater mass than Terumi himself, the massive thing could easily swallow Jubei and Hakumen whole.

The black snake struck down with its mouth wide open, looking like it was going to slam its head into the ground. Jubei immediately tucked and rolled, just barely managing to jump away from it in time. Hakumen tried to block it with his sword instead of avoiding it, and he took a glancing blow on the side of his mask that sent him sprawling on the hard metal floor. The slash he made while still halfway through standing back up managed to fend off the snake's next attack.

Terumi had made some distance between them, and he stood there with a smirk like a gash across his face on his lips, shoulders shaking as he chuckled.

"Being next to a cauldron really makes a difference... Kehehe, this way, the two of you together are barely enough to make me break a sweat."

"Rgh, what the hell... I know he's using Ouroboros, but his reaction speed's way faster than normal."

Jubei muttered as his shoulders rose and fell from breathing hard. He had found himself out of breath at some point. He'd been completely at the mercy of the chain for a while now, and apparently it was taking its toll.

Hakumen, having taken a hit from the massive head, shook his head lightly and finally brought his sword back into position. He was sensing something unusual from Terumi as well.

"He is strong..."

Perplexed, Hakumen put his thoughts into words.

"Ahhh, I'm having so much fun. Oh yeah, by the way, about that scary wife of yours."

Lazily fending off Jubei and Hakumen's counterattacks, Terumi spoke with utter contempt.

"Come to think of it, she bit the dust in the exact same place as where I beat your little brother to death. You'd better hurry up and die, or your little bro might cuck you! Hyahaha!"

"You son of a bitch..."

A thrill of murderous intent ran along Jubei's spine. With a quick breath, all feeling left his body at once.

His red eye burning with hatred, Jubei charged forward.

"Uwoooooooooooo!"

Shouting from deep within his belly, he swung his double-bladed sword down on Terumi's head from above. Unfortunately, he evaded the blade, but Jubei followed it up by springing off the ground and diving in between Terumi's arms.

"Guh!"

The tip of the blade caught Terumi in the stomach, slicing him open. It was then that Jubei realized he wouldn't be able to kill him this way. He'd have to cut Terumi into pieces so small that he couldn't move before tossing them into the cauldron, at the very least.

But even that was too good for him. Jubei would never be satisfied, no matter how many times, no matter how many dozens of times he beheaded and dismembered this man. It would never be enough.

"Grimalkin!"

Paying Hakumen no heed, Jubei pounced again. In exchange for a deep cut on his arm, Terumi summoned a chain out of thin air to bite Jubei's leg and slam him into the ground. Jubei never felt the pain, though. He was back on his feet in an instant, brandishing his sword.

"Go to Hell... you bastaaaaaaard!"

He jumped, and he slashed. Carefree in the face of the reckless attacks, Terumi occasionally let himself eat a slash so he could pay it back twofold.

A snake-headed chain appeared and tried to bite out Jubei's one remaining eye as he was trying to stand back up. One second before that could happen, though, a nodachi swung down on it and smashed it to the floor.

As it did, the sharp blast of wind it generated restored some sense to the out-of-control-Jubei.

"I... I'm sorry, Hakumen."

"Tell me, Grimalkin. Do you want to defeat him?"

Hakumen raised his blade, turned his back, then asked that question.

For a moment, Jubei struggled to understand what that wide back was asking him, but then he gave his answer straight from the heart.

"Of course I do. How could I ever let him get away with this? How could I! After what he did to Nine, to Tomonori... and now he's making their deaths into a joke!"

The very words felt like they were setting his guts on fire.

Perhaps sensing that behind his back, Hakumen gave an exceedingly calm answer.

"Then use that. You may not have your brother's sword with you, but you do have his eye."

A gasp. Jubei breathed in hard, turning his attention to the right side of his face that he'd kept covered with an eye patch for years. The eye that had been gouged and ruined by seithr had long since been removed from the socket. In its place, he had the artificial eye of Tomonori that he had received from Rachel.

"But even if I use this, we still won't be able to do any damage to him..."

"All you must do is catch hold of his true form for an instant. I will take him with me, body and all."

"Take him with you? What the hell are you planning, Hakumen!?"

"Hey hey hey, what've you two been whispering about? I'm feeling pretty left out over here～."

Terumi spread his arms wide, and two chains peaked up over his shoulders.

"Save your buddy-buddy time for the afterlife!"

The chains whistled straight through the air, but all of a sudden they jumped through space and appeared below Jubei's feet.

"Shit!"

"Use it now, Grimalkin! You still have family left! Do you intend to let your daughter die as well!?"

Another chain that had jumped through space aimed for Hakumen's back, but he cut it down with Ookami.

Intermittently attacking him with the chains, Terumi swung kicks down at Jubei with his higher stature. Jubei crouched so low that his hands touched the ground, jumped, and escaped.

In the moment that he was recovering from his landing, Hakumen's words hit so close to home that it made him dizzy. If he were, in this very moment, to run away somewhere where no one could see him, he might have cried. His left eye was burning and growing damp.

What had become of the small, precious life that Nine had left behind?

"Konoe..."

Whispering his wife's name, Jubei put his hand on his eye patch. Hakumen knew what he was about to do.

There was no other option.

"Open, Sekigan!"

He howled out to steel himself. Throwing the eye patch away, he opened his atrophied eyelid.

The moment he did, Terumi's appearance changed before him.

He wasn't a tall, thin man. He could hardly even be called human. He looked like an indistinct black shadow holding the vague shape of a human, with a face-like segment floating on top. He was a hazy and indistinct existence, bearing a passing resemblance to Take-Mikazuchi.

"Wha- huh...!?"

Terumi cried out, his voice trembling. He looked down at his own body in a panic, then glared at Jubei's right eye like he had just figured out the secret behind a cheap trick.

"Tsk, that damned vampire again!?"

As he shouted in anger, Hakumen closed the distance between them faster than a rushing gale and sunk Ookami straight into his chest.

"Ookami cannot cut through the spirit of a monster... but for as long as you're manifested in physical form like this, it can have some effect on you by interfering directly with your body and mind together."

Speaking like he was muttering a curse, he left Terumi skewered and grabbed him by the neck before breaking into a run. He bent his knees deep and launched himself... jumping right in.

He jumped into the cauldron, where the bright red, lava-like substance swirled about.

"AaaaAAAAAAAA, this ain't a joke, don't friggin' screw with me! My body... my vessel's gonna disappear...! Let go, you sonuva bitch let me gooooooo!"

"Close it!"

Reaching for the rim of the cauldron, Terumi was trying to crawl out, but Hakumen grabbed his arm and dragged him back in.

"Grimalkin!!"

"...Forgive me, Hakumen!"

Shaking off his regrets, Jubei jumped all the way to the control room, breaking the thick glass with his sword and rolling inside. He didn't know how to operate the mechanism, so he just flipped every switch in sight. Apparently one of them was the right one, because the cauldron's lid began to shut.

"You damned caaaaaaaaat, open it! Don't think you've pulled a fast one on me, you bastard!"

He kept on roaring in resentment, but his shadowy hand was no longer on the rim of the cauldron.

"I'll be back...I'll be back for all of yoooooooooou!"

With that, Terumi's voice finally stopped.

Jubei couldn't hear Hakumen's voice.

The cauldron was shut. Just moments before, firelight had colored even the high ceiling bright red, but now there was nothing but a metal box wrapped in lonely gray.

Standing with the cauldron before him, Jubei was awash with remorse.

He never wanted to run away and let someone else sacrifice themself in his place ever again. He had carved that resolution into his heart, and yet here he was.

"Dammit... Damn iiiiiiiiiiiiiit...!!"

Jubei, the last man standing, let out a wail, and as he did, the sound of him punching the control room floor rang out alongside it.

Over, and over, and over again.

### 039. Epilogue

...It was like she was sinking, or maybe floating.

Like she was falling, or maybe soaring.

As she felt like she was being embraced in someone's soft arms... she heard a voice.

──Can you hear me?

A strict, powerful... and gentle voice.

It drew her attention, and she opened her weightless eyelids. She saw a faint light, then she was inside a room she had no memory of ever being in.

It was too dim for her to see clearly, but she thought that she could make out a line of some sort of rectangular devices and some red and green lamps shedding candy-colored light.

She was surrounded on all four sides by walls, neither seeing the light of the sun nor feeling the wind on her skin. She thought... that she'd rather be out somewhere more open than in a place like this. For instance, the path leading from the courtyard to the Cathedral would've been nice. She liked how the sunlight had filtered through the leaves there. Or maybe the little hill overlooking the town would've been good; whenever a gentle breeze blew over it, the grass on top would sway like waves.

──Hey, are you listening to me? Celica A. Mercury!

The voice called out to her. It called her name. Like an electric shock running through her, all the feeling came back to her body in a flash. Blood flowed all the way to her toes, and body heat returned all the way to her fingertips.

Her consciousness returned like she had suddenly leapt up through the surface of water, and she── no, and Celica blinked several times in surprise.

"Um... huh? Do you, mean me?"

She was confused by the sudden influx of colors, feelings, and smells. She had been floating inside of some strange device this whole time, looking like she was standing on her tip-toes, but now gravity suddenly took hold. Celica plopped down onto a circular metal plate, leaning forward.

Where was she?

She couldn't grasp what she was doing right now, and her mind was finally starting to ask questions. The bare skin of her legs extending out of her skirt felt the cold metal beneath her.

(Just a moment ago, I... I was in some sort of empty, pure white place...)

Indeed, her memory wasn't failing her: she remembered how, until moments before, she had been in a mysterious world of whiteness. She had thought that she was looking at a reflection in a mirror, but then her reflection returned to reality without her somehow, leaving her alone. The next thing she knew, she was in this room she'd never seen before.

She had thought that she had gotten quite used to handling the unexpected, but this situation she had suddenly found herself in was throwing her for a loop. She didn't even think to get up as someone walked from the corner of the room to stand before her.

Reflexively lifting her head, she looked up at the person standing in front of her.

At first glance, she was a dainty girl, but there was no innocence or sweetness in her eyes. Her expression was well-guarded and dispassionate. She had an unmistakably adult aura, and Celica got the feeling that this girl was much older than her.

Her white outfit looked well-worn on her slender body, and she had distinct bags under her eyes. She looked like a burnt-out researcher, and the faces of Celica's scientist father and her zealous researcher sister came to her mind.

"Celica A. Mercury, right?"

As Celica listened to this voice that she had heard again and again deep within her mind, she noticed something long and thin swaying behind the woman's back. It was a tail.

It was cat-like, split into two partway down, and was white at the tips. This time, Celica thought of Jubei. Now that she looked a little closer, she saw little triangular pink ears peeking out of her tied-up hair of the same color. The way they were slightly bent forward was very cute.

If Nine were here, she would have loved them. Unconsciously letting her mouth open a little as she thought that, Celica gave a firm nod to answer her question.

"Oh, yes, I am. Who are you?"

"Hm... looks like her consciousness is stable. No problem with the brain waves either. Not too bad, all in all."

Checking something on the meters off to her side, she swished her tails and stuck some sort of lollipop into her mouth.

Turning back to face Celica with a complicated look on her face, she opened her mouth again. Her face looked a lot like Nine's did when she was about to give a complicated explanation.

"...My name is Kokonoe. Welcome to a future without a future, O you who have strayed outside of your rightful place in Logic..."

"──And have become a Phantom of Time Chronophantasma "

### 040. Afterword

Thank you for picking up BlazBlue: Phase Shift 4. I am the author, Komao Mako.

This work is a novelization of Arc System Works Co., Ltd.'s 2D fighting game series, BlazBlue. This novelization lifts the curtain on the events that happened 100 years before the story of the games. The games have dense, rich, charming stories of their own that are well worth the read, so please go play them as well if you haven't already! Seriously, please do!

Now then... I will proceed with my afterword.

It's over... The Dark War is finally over... This book marks the end of this series chronicling the Dark War period of the BlazBlue franchise.

Man... that was so moving. The Six Heroes were quite the beloved group already, but I'm so glad that so many people grew attached to the characters debuting in these novels. Celica, in particular. Thank you all so much for your loving words about her.

She is... a mysterious sort of character for me. I often got this vibe like she's ready to dash forward like a tube of fabric unfurling and leave me standing there dumbstruck. Her concept is someone who is always looking straight ahead and moving at full speed. Part of me admires her for being that way and wants to be like that too, so when I wrote her, she inevitably ended up being a real good, friendly girl. I'm kind of bummed that I probably won't get to write her in a novel anymore... but it looks like fate still has a little more in store for her.

Finally, some words of thanks. To my editor, I'm so sorry for constantly asking you to adjust the schedule and giving you so many headaches from start to finish. Thank you very much.

From the bottom of my heart, I give my thanks to Katou-san, who did all the illustrations. The joy I felt at seeing how fast you made the model sheets for the new characters for me is still engraved into my heart.

To Mori the Producer, I thank you once again for your reassuring support. The absolute best outcome for me would be if this novel series is something that you can enjoy, too, Mori-san.

To you readers, both of this book and of the whole series: thank you so very much. We were only able to come this far because of your support.

Has this become one more ingredient that further deepens your enjoyment of your BlazBlue franchise? I hope so.

And with that, I hope we meet again in BlazBlue in some other way. Until then, I hope you have a fun life of gaming!

Komao Mako

“Congratulations on finishing the 5th BlazBlue volume! Congratulations on finishing the whole series!! I’m Katou, the one in charge of the illustrations. We’ve finally completed the Dark War chronicle! If you want to remember what happens right after this, please go back and play Calamity Trigger again. We’re right in the middle of our last stretch for the new work, Chronophantasma, so everything feels like it's exploding around me, though. Thank you for all your hard work, Komao-sama, our editor, and MoriP. My thanks to all of you readers who have read all the way to the end. That’s a wrap for Phase Shift.”

“Good day, everyone, I’m Mori from Arc System Works. My thanks to all of our readers: the Dark War has come to a close. Many thanks to Komao-sensei, Katou-san, and everyone else who was involved in the process as well. I still kinda get the feeling that I was the one who was the most hyped about the Phase Shift series though? Changing the subject, though, what does fate have in store for Celica? I hope everyone is looking forward to finding out.

### 041. Prologue

Near a secluded forest, there stood a war-torn church.

It was a building with white walls and a green roof, and nearby, large trees grew close together, as if embracing it. The surrounding area was a gentle plain, where short green grass blanketed the earth, flourishing as it swayed in the soft breeze. Here and there, white and yellow flowers danced in the wind. Through this landscape, a narrow path gently wound its way toward the nearest village—though, to call it a village was a bit of a stretch.

This was once the site of a large-scale war. A battle for humanity's survival against a colossal monster—the Dark War. It was here that the war, in which humanity from all around the world fought, came to an end.

It had been over eighty years since that final battle, where humanity faced despair and made its last stand. Now, what had once been a place soaked in blood and death had transformed into a peaceful, verdant landscape, blessed by rich nature.

In the midst of this tranquil scene, a woman stood, basking in the pleasant breeze that carried the scent of earth and greenery. She was sweeping the front of the church with a broom. Her white and black clothes were an old-fashioned design of a nun's habit, and she wore a matching headscarf on her head.

She was a sister living at this church. For decades, she had lived alone in this place.

There was nothing here. There had never been a village alongside the church, nor did anyone come here seeking salvation from far away. After the war ended, she had come from nowhere, built this church, and ever since, she had quietly lived here, as if guarding the land by herself.

From beneath her headdress, wisps of white hair streaked with brown peeked out. Her body was slender and lean, and her hands that wielded the broom were also thin and wrinkled. Her face, which bore a gentle smile under the soft afternoon sunlight, was etched with deep wrinkles, far removed from the taut skin of a young girl.

Even so, her deep brown eyes, the color of wet earth, still reflected the vitality and energy she had in her youth.

Rumors said she was nearly a hundred years old. Yet, somehow, her appearance and movements defied that, looking far younger than one might expect.

She noticed a small insect near the door, apparently dazed, and squatted down to carefully pick it up, avoiding stepping on it. With a swift motion, she released it onto the grass, her movements so light that it was hard to believe she was an old woman nearing a century.

"Oh dear, I was going to pick some fruit in the forest if the weather was nice, but I completely forgot..."

As she was about to resume sweeping, the aged sister paused, her hand coming to her forehead. She remembered that her homemade berry jam had run out yesterday. She had planned to bake bread with the remaining wheat since the grocery delivery was coming tomorrow.

"It's too late now... the sun will set soon."

Gazing at the forest that stretched behind the church, the sister sighed regretfully. She had been coming in and out of the forest for so many decades that she could wander around as easily as in her own garden. If her legs were as sturdy as they had been in her teens, it wouldn't be too late to go now, but her body wouldn't allow it.

Though, when she was a teenager, she would often get lost and wander around the forest for hours, eating the fruit she had picked for jam.

"I'm so forgetful. Hehe, I'm a proper old lady now." With a sigh, she decided to make the jam tomorrow. She reached for the broom.

But at that moment, she suddenly noticed a change in the air and looked up.

She could smell blood.

Before she could even think further, she heard the sound of something crashing through the forest. Two distinct noises of feet stepping on grass—no, not animal footsteps. These were the footsteps of people.

The sister leaned the broom against the door and, lifting the hem of her long robe, ran toward the back of the church.

She quickly spotted them. Two small figures were walking toward her. The moment her eyes fell on the figure leading the pair, she stopped dead in her tracks, instinctively covering her mouth with both hands.

Her eyes widened in shock.

The figure that slightly quickened its pace upon noticing the sister was, in fact, not entirely human.

Once, it had resembled a human child, but now its entire body was covered in two-tone fur, white and brown, with a long tail split at the end, hanging low. The hood of its cloak, woven from what seemed like blades, had triangular ears attached to it, beneath which real triangular ears were hidden.

The figure approaching her was a bipedal cat. It was a beastkin, a rare species that now barely existed anywhere in the world. But what truly shocked the sister was not the sight of this rare beastkin, but that the figure before her was her sister's husband —her brother-in-law—whom she hadn't seen in decades.

"Jubei-san!" Calling out his name, she came to her senses and ran again. The smell of blood. It was coming from Jubei as he approached.

As she ran up to him, she was once again taken aback. She thought he was just injured, but when she looked closely, she saw that it wasn't just one or two injuries—his entire body was covered in wounds.

The cat's face, peeking out from under the hood, was bleeding from the forehead, and dark blood stained his brown fur. His clothes were spattered with an ominous pattern of dust and blood. The ragged cloth wrapped around his abdomen, presumably to stop the bleeding, was stained a deep crimson.

She couldn't guess what had happened to him from his appearance. But the blood told a vivid story of something having gone wrong.

"It's been a long time, Sister." The beastkin, Jubei, twisted his cat-like mouth into a wry smile and spoke with a sarcastic tone. The sister knelt down and met his gaze. As she got closer, the unsettling smell grew stronger, and a chill crept up her spine.

"It's been a while, but... my goodness, you're covered in wounds. What happened to you, Jubei-san?"

"A lot of things. I'm sorry, but I don't have time to explain everything." Despite being in such a bad state, the battered cat-man replied in a normal tone, showing no sign of pain.

Frowning at this, the sister reflexively placed her hand on Jubei's forehead. But within a few seconds, she lowered it, her hand closing into a weak fist.

"Oh... that's right. I can't heal you anymore."

Once, her hands had the power to heal. With just a touch and a thought, she could close wounds and ease pain. But as the years passed, that power gradually faded, and several years ago, it was completely lost.

Jubei shook his head slightly.

"Don't worry about it. They're just scratches. More importantly, I've got a favor to ask you."

"A favor?" As she listened, the sister already had a faint idea of what he might be asking.

Jubei was carrying a small child on his back. It was a boy, his body limp and weak, either unconscious or deeply asleep.

Behind him was another boy. He seemed a few years older than the boy Jubei was carrying, and his shallow, labored breaths caused his thin shoulders to rise and fall. He glared at the sister with the intensity of a wounded animal, as if daring her to approach. In his arms, there was another child, a small girl, who was also unconscious and resting against him.

Three children. They looked very similar to each other. Their skin was unnaturally pale, almost sickly, and their hair had a faint golden sheen. Only the older boy, standing on his own feet, had his eyelids open, but judging from his appearance, all three of them likely had the same beautiful green eyes.

"Please take care of these three. Leave them here at the church and raise them," Jubei said, attempting to pass the boy on his back to the sister. But before he could, the boy at the back grabbed Jubei's shoulder, which was at about the same height as his own. With his wounded arm, he strongly protested.

"Don't worry. The sister is very strong. No... the sister is the only one who can do it. There's no safer place than here," Jubei said soothingly. But the boy, with his sharp green eyes, glared at the sister as if refusing to let her touch the sleeping boy.

"It's okay, Ragna," Jubei repeated, gently trying to calm the boy down. At that low, almost murmuring tone, the sister gasped softly.

"… Ragna?" she whispered, almost unconsciously. At the sound of the name, the boy took his hand off Jubei's shoulder and retreated, shielding the girl in his arms.

He looked like a frightened little puppy—injured, hungry, and in pain, yet desperately trying to protect someone smaller than himself, baring his teeth and standing firm. The sister couldn't help but smile warmly at the boy, her eyes soft with compassion.

"Is your name Ragna?" she asked softly.

The boy seemed caught off guard by her gaze, her voice, or perhaps the words themselves. He glanced at Jubei, then at the boy on Jubei's back, and then at the girl in his arms. After a moment of hesitation, he looked back at the sister… and despite his wary gaze, gave a small, shallow nod.

In that instant, the sister felt a warmth swell in her chest. It reminded her of when she was younger. Before the deep lines had formed around her eyes, before her hair had turned white—when she met someone, and then parted ways. The boy looked so much like that person. And that person in her memories also had the name Ragna.

Ah, it's like magic. Or perhaps a miracle. The sister lowered her eyelids, offering a prayer of gratitude.

As he waited for her eyelids to lift once more, Jubei gently lowered the boy from his back and handed him over to the sister. Ragna, the boy, hesitated but did not resist this time.

Cradling the unconscious boy in her arms, the sister felt the warmth of his small body, and it brought her past memories into sharper focus.

"This boy is Jin, and the girl he's holding is Saya. And as I said, his name is Ragna," Jūbei introduced each child in turn.

Jin, Saya, Ragna.

The sister silently repeated their names in her mind, over and over, with a warmth as though wrapping something precious.

"Jin and Saya... So, these are your younger brother and sister, Ragna," she said softly.

"Mm? That's right, but... Sister, how do you know?"

"Because I heard it a long time ago. That you had a precious younger brother and sister."

Yes, a long time ago, she had heard it from him. From the man she had made an important promise with.

Her brother-in-law looked into the distance, as if recalling something, and smiled weakly.

"I see," he murmured softly to himself before looking at the sister again. "Can you take care of them?" he asked heavily, his feline features usually so endearing now bearing a weighty question.

The sister, unburdened by the weight of his request, nodded lightly, raising her chin.

"Of course. No, actually, I'm the one asking you. Please, let me take care of them," she said, gently pulling Jin's head closer, as if making a silent plea. Tears welled up in her eyes. It was a joy so overwhelming, it felt as though she might drown in it. She never imagined such a future—such a destiny—awaited her.

"Let me have the responsibility of protecting these children."

At the sister's words, Jubei sighed deeply, his shoulders slumping in relief.

"Ragna. She is... the Sister." For a brief moment, Jubei hesitated, as if debating whether to reveal her real name. In the end, he introduced her using the name he had grown accustomed to, and stepped aside, presenting the boy from the back.

The boy, unsure of what to do, maintained a stern expression while his eyes flickered with confusion. He looked at the sister. When she reached out to him, Ragna flinched and tried to pull back, startled, his shoulder jerking up. Ignoring his discomfort, the sister gently placed her hand on his head, patting him softly.

"Nice to meet you. I'm so glad to meet you all. Welcome to my church. This will be your home from now on." Speaking warmly, the sister thought to herself. The promise made long ago. She had been waiting for this day to come, hoping for it to arrive for so long.

She felt a pang of regret in the back of her mind for not making jam earlier. If only she had, she could have served them bread with jam and tea to make them feel at home.

"Welcome back, Ragna." Her voice trembled slightly. For a moment, a look of concern passed through Ragna's green eyes, as though he was struggling to open up. And in that moment, the sister realized.

He's still a gentle child, after all.

Tears welled up at the corner of her eyes, and with a joy that felt like that of a little girl, she spoke in a soft, heartfelt tone.

Hey, do you remember?

Do you remember that promise?

I've finally met you.

Hey, did you get to meet them too?

A small stream flowed nearby, and just behind the church stood a forest, rich with fruit. This place was once the site of a great battle during an era of war. But now, it is a forgotten land. In the midst of the gentle, grassy meadow, the small church stood alone. The modest yet lively life of the aged sister and three children began on this day.

Hey, Ragna. Did you get to meet me?

### 042. Chapter 1: Stratum city — Hierarchical City

## BBCT Chapter 1: Stratum city — Hierarchical City

### Part 1

A flurry of hurried footsteps echoed through the high, arched white ceiling. Everyone was shouting warnings and orders to attack. Catch the intruder, kill them, don't let them get any further. The voices, rather than sounding resolute or fierce, were strained with a more desperate tone, vividly portraying the dire situation.

With white hair and eyes of different colors—one green and one red—he was a striking figure. Clad in a sturdy black suit, he wore a striking scarlet coat over it.

(They sure do come in droves…) He thought with a hint of frustration, then let the broad, thick-bladed sword that had slung over his shoulder dangle from his hand.

He had no intention of hiding. In fact, if they found him and attacked, he preferred to meet them head-on. Sneaking around wasn't his style. If he was going to be conspicuous, he might as well do it in the flashiest way possible, so that one day, just hearing of his arrival would send them running.

Though, he thought, it was probably unrealistic to expect such a convenient outcome.

Soon, five or six men in blue and white uniforms rushed in, guns drawn. They hadn't noticed him yet, and when they saw him, the first few faltered. But he didn't stop. Bursting into a sprint, he charged straight forward, swinging his sword in a wide arc.

"Stop! Or we'll shoot!" The warning was meaningless. The uniformed men aimed their guns and fired simultaneously. A deafening roar echoed through the corridor. However, immediately after, he swung his raised sword with great force.

"Uraaaaaaaah!" The sword released a black, ominous wave that soared through the air, swallowing all the approaching bullets and completely obliterating them. The wave surged forward with the speed of fire, engulfing the uniformed men who were about to fire their next shots and blowing them away in a single breath.

With a roaring sound like a whirlwind, the men were knocked back and slammed into the wall. The wall cracked heavily under the impact.

Just one strike. With that alone, all the men who had bravely raised their guns to confront the intruder lost consciousness and collapsed in the hallway.

"...You knew you were going to be taken down, so why the hell did you show up? Idiots."

It was all so anticlimactic. As he glanced at the fallen soldiers in their uniforms, the man, wielding a large sword, immediately began running down the hallway.

He couldn't afford to waste any more time here. His destination was the deepest part of the facility, the lowest level.

From the end of the hallway, more soldiers in blue and white uniforms appeared. They shouted as they took aim with their guns or drew their swords. There were more of them this time, but it didn't change his approach. He charged straight in, brushing aside everything in his path.

One after another, the limp bodies of the soldiers in their uniforms tumbled across the hallway, security systems were completely destroyed, and even the doors, which had been shut tight, were chopped down and reduced to scrap metal.

He hadn't snuck in quietly at all. He'd kicked down the guards at the door and burst right in. As if to proudly display his strength and leave a deep mark, he had rampaged through the facility, destroying everything in his path, advancing deeper and deeper. Whatever stood in his way, he cut it down. With such violent strides, he pressed on, and on, and on…

And what he eventually reached was a deep, underground hall, beyond the long, long lift, which opened up like a gaping mouth.

...It was a world entirely different from the corridors and rooms he had passed through so far.

The air was different. The temperature was different.

The walls, ceiling, and floors were all covered with metal-like panels, and above the vast space, a glass-walled small room overlooked the hall. Beneath it, heavy machinery was lined up, and before these machines stood a strangely large device, silent and imposing.

There was no one there. The people who should have been here had probably evacuated upon hearing the alarm. And the people who should have rushed here had already been scattered by the white-haired intruder.

Step by step, he advanced towards the massive device that dominated the center of the chamber.

The strangeness clung to his body.

It felt as though the very air was saturated with an instinctual unease—something that warned of a sense of wrongness, as if this place were from a different world altogether. But to him, it was familiar.

He had visited places like this many times before. He couldn't count how many facilities with the same structure and hidden underground devices he had visited. Every time, the purpose was the same. To destroy these enormous devices.

He walked forward, his feet firmly planted on the floor.

What was this thing for? How many of the people who worked here even understood its purpose?

Every visit brought with it the same thorny question.

What did they think they were accomplishing, coming down to this gloomy, underground place day after day, fiddling with these flickering instruments whose purpose they didn't understand?

When he reached the edge, he glared at the device. The machine, constructed from silver metal, loomed so high it was almost impossible to see the top. It was as deep and vast as it was tall. The central part, the one he looked down upon, was circular.

This was the "cauldron."

Now, multiple metal plates overlap to close the mouth of the device, but if they open, the inside is like the crater of a volcano. A fiery, lava-like substance swirls, burning fiercely as if it intends to swallow anyone who dares to look inside.

But what swirls within is neither lava nor flame.

It is another world. A distortion in the fabric of reality, a place where humans should not be. The other side of a gaping rift. The outside of the world's shell, a place that should never be seen, never entered.

The metal device he looked down upon was the one controlling and interacting with this "cauldron." A device to touch the otherworldly realm - the Boundary - that humans were never meant to reach.

He had been traveling the world, destroying these "cauldrons." And now, as he stood there, gazing at it, there was no sense of nostalgia or emotional attachment.

With no more hesitation, he sheathed his sword and extended his right hand toward the device. He muttered something under his breath—the same destructive words he had spoken countless times before. The words awakened the dormant power in his right arm, and the power sparked a blue light in his arm.

In the blink of an eye, the amplified light filled the room and he hurled it with full force toward the device. The next moment, the gate to the other world, which had been sealed deep underground, was blasted away, along with the vast chamber that surrounded it, leaving no trace behind.

Akitsu, the 9th Hierarchical City, the branch of the Novus Orbis Librarium.

The facility that stood at the center of the city had collapsed due to an attack by someone, and the entire city was in turmoil due to the commotion.

A white-haired man in a red long coat was quietly trying to leave the city. His work here was done. There was no need to stay longer.

In stark contrast to his flashy actions inside the facility, he took a winding path outside, avoiding the main streets and selecting the darkest, least noticeable exit. If he were to be found by the uniformed guards in the city, he would have no choice but to fight them off. That would be troublesome.

He passed through a rusty iron gate and headed toward the port further ahead. A passage beside it would lead him outside. At that moment, a faint scent of roses brushed his nostrils.

"You're like a stray dog with nowhere to go," came a voice, coolly mocking him. He stopped in his tracks and turned around, looking up at a nearby streetlamp.

At the top of the simple lamp, which split at its end, stood a girl. She looked to be just past ten years old, though her youthful face was illuminated by the dim light, and her red eyes held an intelligence that seemed far beyond her apparent age.

It didn't really matter where he was going. As long as it was Kagutsuchi, it wasn't far from Akitsu. He glared fiercely at the spot where the girl had disappeared, then began walking toward the next destination.

A few days later, his name was publicly listed as a wanted criminal across the world. Ragna the Bloodedge. That was the name of the most-wanted criminal in history, known by the alias "Grim Reaper" and carrying the highest bounty ever offered.

### Part 2

December 30, 2199 — 13:27

About a hundred years ago, the world was on the brink of destruction.

A giant and grotesque monster, known as the "Black Beast", suddenly appeared and began destroying everything in its path.

Humanity had no way of fighting against its overwhelming power, and the world's population was reduced to half in no time.

But then, six brave warriors appeared.

They challenged the Black Beast with weapons known as "phenomenon weapons," defeated the demonic beasts of calamity, and brought a future to humanity.

Praised as the Six Heroes, they disappeared without a trace into the sea of history and were lost to time. Yet, their glory lived on as a legend passed down through the ages.

That was a long time ago.

If there are any remnants from the Great Dark War—the war against the Black Beast—that are still known in the current era, they would be two major ones.

One is the Novus Orbis Librarium. This organization was born from the global coalition that fought alongside the Six Heroes during the Dark War, and now it oversees the entire world.

The second is seithr. A substance that overflowed worldwide with the appearance of the demonic beast of calamity, the Black Beast, and continued to remain in the world's atmosphere even after the Black Beast was defeated.

Now, it is used in various technologies and has become indispensable for everyday life. However, excessive exposure to seithr can still pose a danger to the human body. As a result, humanity must avoid large amounts of seithr while still using it for daily life. Seithr tends to accumulate in greater concentrations the closer one gets to the surface of the earth. This led to the creation of Hierarchical Cities.

Built upon the foundations of tall mountains, entire cities were constructed in plate-like layers, extending outward from the mountain's peak. The cities spread both vertically and horizontally along the height of the mountains, resulting in compact yet towering cities with multiple layers of urban plates.

The 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi is one such complex, multi-layered city, just like other cities around the world.

In the midst of one such layered city, in the winding narrow streets of Orient Town, he walked with a slightly unsteady gait. With white hair, a green left eye and red right eye, his appearance was striking. His black attire was complemented by a bright red long coat. At his waist hung a sword with a wide, thick blade, unmistakable in its appearance.

Ragna the Bloodedge.

A wanted criminal with an SS-tier bounty, responsible for the destruction of several branches of the Novus Orbis Librarium. He was the highest-bounty fugitive in history.

Despite his fearsome reputation, none of the city's inhabitants paid him any mind as they went about their business. They probably thought he was just another outlaw who had wandered in. Occasionally, indifferent glances would briefly pass over him and then move on.

This was Orient Town, a district located in the lower levels of Kagutsuchi.

In layered cities, the higher the level, the further one is from the dangers of seithr, and the more clean and safe the area. Conversely, the lower the level, the less regulated it is, and the closer it is to dangerous concentrations of seithr. In such cities, the upper levels not only represent a higher standard of living but also a lesser risk to one's life, whereas the lower levels carry a greater degree of danger.

Naturally, the highest levels of the city are occupied by the Novus Orbis Librarium, which also serves as the governing body. Its related facilities and the residences of its affiliates take up most of the urban space.

Next come the wealthy and those with close ties to power, who live on the upper floors, while those with lesser status or wealth are pushed further down, their position in society dictating how far they must descend.

The residents of Orient Town were people who, by the nature of this societal hierarchy, had been pushed to the lower levels.

None of them could be called wealthy by any means. They were struggling to support themselves, their families, and a few close friends, and few would want to get involved with a strange, white-haired man and invite unnecessary trouble.

In truth, Ragna himself didn't have the luxury to pay attention to the people around him.

It had been two days since he infiltrated Kagutsuchi through an unused access point. Since then, he had been traveling through back alleys and abandoned areas. Though it wasn't by design, he had no choice but to walk through these endless, treacherous roads. To be honest, he was exhausted.

He had decided to take a better route on his wayback.

"Still, for a lower district, this place is pretty lively," Ragna muttered as he glanced around, offering a blunt observation.

Orient Town was a chaotic, poorly planned neighborhood, with houses haphazardly built and clustered together. The streets were narrow and constantly twisted, and the buildings were so close that they seemed ready to collapse into each other.

On top of that, all kinds of items—wooden crates, bags filled with unknown goods—cluttered the alleyways, making it impossible to pass through without obstacle. Often, a seemingly simple alley would turn out to be impassable.

There were strange statues with red pillars and bulging eyes. Small lanterns hung throughout the town, as well as countless signs of all shapes and sizes glowing with dazzling neon lights.

In most lower-level districts, the buildings were so tall and densely packed that sunlight was blocked out, leaving the area dark even during the day. But here, there seemed to be no such shadows.

As Ragna emerged from a narrow alley, he found himself in a slightly more open street. Shops lined both sides of the road, and it seemed like this was one of the main streets of the area. The colors and size of the signs were far more vibrant than those in the alleys.

(There's probably no one from the Library around here.) Ragna thought, feeling relieved.

Even in this relatively wide street, the people walking were all clearly locals. There was no sign of the Novus Orbis Librarium's dreaded blue-and-white uniforms.

This was a welcome sight. If any of those guards saw him, it would be a major issue. After all, Ragna was a wanted criminal. Without any consideration for his surroundings, he'd have to play cat-and-mouse with the guards who would inevitably gather to chase him down.

Ragna glanced around as he placed a hand on his stomach. The exhaustion was one thing, but the hunger was becoming unbearable. Since entering Kagutsuchi, he hadn't come across any shops selling food, and his preserved food had run out. He hadn't eaten anything since last night, and the hunger was starting to take its toll.

Even in a lower district like this, there should be at least a few restaurants. He began scanning the various signs for something that seemed like it might be a place to eat. Then, he stepped on something soft.

"MROW!" At the same time, a strange cry came from beneath his feet.

"Ugh." Thinking he had stepped on a cat, Ragna quickly lifted his foot. However, what he saw was far bigger than he expected. In fact, it wasn't an animal at all.

Lying on the ground, her arms and legs sprawled out limply, was a girl. Her body was entirely covered by a hooded robe, but her long braided hair and the color of her skin peeked out from beneath it.

"Wh...what the hell are you?" Ragna asked, his voice more of a question than a warning. A thin, weak tail swayed in his field of vision. The tail was attached to the girl lying there.

"Uh... ugh..." With a faint trembling voice, the girl groaned and slowly raised her face. Looking up at Ragna, there wasn't a girl's face inside the hood as one might expect. There was a dark, shadowy void. Within it, a pair of red, round eyes seemed to be sunken, and a crescent-shaped mouth with white teeth was turned downward. The triangular ears attached to the hood trembled as if convulsing.

It wasn't human. Nor did it resemble a beastkin with a beast-like tail and ears.

​​"Could it be... a Kaka?" Ragna had seen a creature with this strange appearance before. It was when he had visited his swordmaster. The creature then had a similar black face with very simple facial features. Though the girl before him and the Kaka woman he had seen were clearly different individuals, this distinct appearance was unlike anything else.

Although he knew the name "Kaka," he didn't know what kind of clan they were.

Now, what should he do with this girl? Should he turn back without getting involved, or should he ignore her and move on?

As he hesitated, the girl, whose face was the only part of her still raised, suddenly clung to Ragna's leg with a speed that belied her apparent weakness.

"Whoa! W-what the hell!"

"Oooo meow~... Help me... meow." The girl with triangular ears and a tail pleaded pitifully as she clung to Ragna's leg, while he tried to shake her off. Ragna vigorously shook his leg to loosen her grip, but for some reason, her arms wouldn't budge.

"Damn it, let go! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I won't let go, meow, I'll never let go meow... if you don't help me, I'll eat your leg, meow..." Despite her weak voice, her grip on his leg was surprisingly strong. Even with this commotion, the people around him only gave a brief glance, as if looking at something strange, and then passed by without getting involved. There was no danger of getting into trouble, but it didn't seem like he could count on any help from a kind passerby.

After a few more failed attempts, Ragna finally gave up. He lifted his leg halfway and looked down at the clinging Kaka girl, exhausted.

"Wait, wait, wait, don't eat my leg! And what the hell are you talking about? Help? What do you mean?"

"Oooo... thank... thank you for asking, meow. Tao is in a really bad situation neow. I'm... I'm at my limit, meow."

"Huh? H-Hey, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Her voice was so desperate that it made him worry just a little. He lowered the foot he'd been lifting and looked down at the face that seemed to be filled with shadows.

The face, which resembled a black mask, had eyes and a mouth hanging weakly, gazing up at Ragna with a look of exhaustion, as though she might faint at any moment.

"I... I'm... hungry... meow"

On a round table covered with a yellow cloth, several dishes were lined up.

There were fried pieces of chicken, generously coated in a flavorful sauce, meatballs stir-fried with colorful vegetables in sweet and sour sauce, square-cut pieces of pork simmered in a rich, sweet and savory broth, and mountains of fried rice. There was beef and vegetables stir-fried in a rich miso sauce, crispy spring rolls wrapped in thin dough with finely sliced vegetables inside, and steaming, soft buns filled with ground meat…

With the white steam rising from the dishes, the strange girl with triangular ears and a hooded robe leaned forward so much that she almost fell off the chair, eagerly shoveling food into her mouth.

"Hguu-hguu-hguu meow hgu-hgu-hgu-hgu-hguu meow hgu-hgu."

Whether it was the sound of her chewing the food or slurping the chopsticks, a hollow sound continued to pierce the air. The eyes that had been drooping weakly a moment ago were now round, and her mouth was curved into an upward crescent.

Watching her with an exasperated look, Ragna picked up a piece of fried chicken from his plate. The thick batter was crisp and delicious. It had been a while since he'd had a meal that wasn't just grilled over an open flame.

"...Is it good?"

The food was rapidly disappearing. When the strange girl had started ordering massive amounts of food, Ragna had turned pale, thinking there was no way she could finish it all, but it seemed that worry had been unnecessary.

In fact, at this point, he was more worried how he was going to pay for all of it.

The girl, whose white-tipped tail was wagging happily, grabbed a fluffy bun with both hands and looked up at him.

"It's delicious, meow! This one, that one, and all of them—so yummy, meow!"

"Is that so? Well, I'm glad." Ragna sighed, rubbing his face in disbelief.

When she ate like this, without a care in the world, it made him wonder if she had any concept of restraint, or why he was the one buying a meal for this strange, unknown girl. And more importantly, why he had let her drag him along to this restaurant in the first place.

The girl took another big bite of the meat bun, chewing happily. Before he knew it, she had finished it and swallowed it in no time, causing Ragna to smile wryly as he picked up a spring roll. The plate, which had been full, now only had one left.

"To think that you're treating me to such a good meal, you're a good person, white guy, meow. Tao is really grateful, meow!" She swung her arms around dramatically to show her joy. Her hands were hidden entirely inside her sleeves, which were large and round, almost like the front paws of a cat.

Ragna finished his spring roll and then asked, "Is Tao your name?"

"Taokaka, meow!" She nodded enthusiastically and, with the meat bun still in one hand, took another bite in one big motion.

"Tao left the village and set off on a brave journey... but ended up so hungry she couldn't move. If Good Guy hadn't helped me back then, Tao would probably be dried up and turned into Kaka jerky by neow. I'll never forget this 'kindness,' meow."

While rambling about her backstory, Taokaka grabbed a plate of miso stir-fry, holding it down and shoveling the last bit into her mouth. Ragna didn't have the heart to point out that he hadn't eaten that yet, and instead just sighed with a frown, watching her. Resigned, he grabbed a meat bun for himself and slumped his shoulders.

"Yeah, yeah. 'Kindness,' huh? You'll probably forget about it once you're done eating."

"I won't forget, meow!"

Suddenly, Taokaka straightened her tail, and with a quick movement, she leaned forward, looking up at Ragna from the table. Her round, pupiless eyes and crescent-shaped mouth full of sharp teeth resembled a mask, giving her an eerie appearance. But for some reason, when she stared at him, it felt endearing.

"The Kaka tribe is a very loyal one, meow. We never forget a favor. When Tao becomes a rich person one day, I'll treat Good Guy to a meal, meow!"

"Rich... You? You were almost starving to death, and now you're talking about becoming rich? You don't even have a plan."

"Nuhfufufu, I do have a plan, meow." With that, Taokaka casually speared three meatballs with her chopsticks and popped them into her mouth. She then slid down her chair and pulled something out of her clothes.

It was a crumpled piece of paper. Taokaka spread it out on the table, smoothing out the wrinkles with her round hands.

"Tao is a bounty hunter, meow. I catch bad people and get a lot of money, meow."

"A bounty hunter?" Ragna furrowed his brow in confusion.

A bounty hunter was essentially a mercenary who earned money by hunting down criminals with bounties on their heads. Originally, when the ecosystem was disrupted by a massive amount of seithr, causing a surge in new species, the Librarium had assigned them to hunt down these new species.

But nowadays, the term more commonly referred to those who earned money by tracking down dangerous criminals or fugitives with large bounties on their heads. Most bounty hunters were people who couldn't find decent work, so they resorted to violence to make a living.

Though female bounty hunters weren't particularly rare, Ragna had never seen one as defenseless and unconcerned as Taokaka.

"That's right, meow. I became one today, meow."

"Today?!"

"And neow I'm gonna catch this guy, meow!" With a proud grin, Taokaka handed the crumpled paper to Ragna.

Ragna took the paper while still chewing some meatballs and vegetables. It was a wanted poster, the kind you'd see plastered around street corners. The bounty's reward was unusually generous, and there was a portrait of an extremely ugly man.

The name on the poster was Ragna the Bloodedge.

"Bwah?!" As soon as Ragna saw the name, he spat out his food

"'Bwah'? Why'd you suddenly spit out your food like that, Good Guy? What a waste, meow."

While Taokaka protested, still munching on her last meat bun, Ragna stared intently at the wanted poster in his hands, his hands trembling slightly.

(W-What... What is that picture? This doesn't look anything like me! If they don't even know what I look like, then why the hell are they spreading this around?! Don't go around telling people I look like this!)

He wondered if this poster was plastered all over Kagutsuchi. If so, it would be depressing. Not only was it embarrassing that this hideous drawing was being passed off as the face of Ragna the Bloodedge, but with this reward, there had to be a lot of bounty hunters looking for him. And a lot them were probably hanging out in Kagutsuchi.

(I can't just walk around town normally...)

It would be a pain to be found by those guys in blue and white uniforms, but bounty hunters would be even worse. They would certainly start "working" whether it was in the middle of the street or not.

"...Hey, Taokaka, right? You wouldn't happen to know any hidden paths to the upper levels of Kagutsuchi, would you?" Ragna asked, lowering his voice as he returned the crumpled poster. If there was one, it would be much better than causing trouble.

Taokaka licked the last of the sweet and sour sauce from the plate of meatballs and replied.

"Yup, I know a secret path, meow."

"Really!! That's great! Why don't you show me the way there in exchange for that meal I bought you?"

"That's fine, meow. Good Guy is Tao's benefactor. You can leave it to me, meow." Saying so, Taokaka grinned and slammed the clean plate down on the table.

Just then…

"Sorry to keep you waiting~!" A young waitress arrived, setting down several new dishes on the table.

There were noodles topped with minced meat, crispy fried noodles covered in a savory sauce and loaded with vegetables, a platter of sliced roast pork, and a variety of steamed dumplings filled with shrimp paste, minced pork, and aromatic vegetables, all wrapped in soft dough. Fresh, unrelenting steam rose to the ceiling along with a rich aroma.

"....Huh?" Ragna hadn't ordered any of this. He was about to protest, but then it dawned on him.

It had been just before... when he was looking at his wanted poster. Taokaka had finished off the last of the meat buns from the plates of food on the table at that point. Immediately after, Tao had reached for the menu.

"Wahoo, that looks delicious, meow! The secret path is dangerous, you know. Good Guy needs to have a full stomach, or he'll get hungry again, meow!"

Instead of feeling guilty, Taokaka gleefully pulled the steamed dumplings closer to herself, and Ragna, unable to take it anymore, grabbed her hand forcefully. The sudden movement made Taokaka almost rise from her seat.

"W-What the hell are you doing, adding more food?!"

"Meow? Is Good Guy full neow? Then Tao will eat it all..."

"No way! I can't pay for this mountain of food! I don't have that much money!"

Ragna was in a panic. He didn't have a steady job. Occasionally he earned travel expenses by pretending to be a bounty hunter or doing odd jobs, but that was just temporary. He couldn't even afford a decent place to stay, so the idea of adding more orders to what he had already ordered was unthinkable.

Just as Ragna was about to explode, a hand landed on his shoulder. He shrugged it off at first, irritated, but the hand immediately returned to tap his shoulder again, and a voice asked from behind.

"Excuse me, sir? Did you say... you don't have any money?"

"...Huh?" Ragna turned around, and there, standing behind him, was the waitress. She was much shorter than him and was smiling sweetly, but there was a hint of killing intent in her eyes.

"You said you don't have any money?" the waitress asked again.

Immediately after that, Ragna grabbed Taokaka's arm, who seemed completely unaware of the situation and was stuffing the steamed buns into her mouth, and slapped the waitress's hand away. He lifted Taokaka over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and ran out of the restaurant as if he had been shot.

"Meow!? Tao's food! I haven't eaten it yet, meow!"

"Shut up! This isn't the time for that!" Ragna shouted angrily at Taokaka, who was reaching out behind him and making pitiful sounds. He ran out into the main street of Orient Town and pushed through the crowd, running with all his might.

"Wait~!! Someone catch them! It's a dine-and-dash~~!!" The waitress's high-pitched voice rang out behind them. To Ragna's surprise, the waitress was keeping up with him, her speed matching his. Perhaps it was due to her infatuation.

Ragna cursed under his breath, realizing that the first trouble he caused in Kagutsuchi was going to be a dine-and-dash. Taokaka, being carried on his shoulder, hung her tail down in dejection, but her arms were still reaching back in the air as if trying to grab her lost meal.

"Ugh, Tao's food..."

"Forget about the food! Tell me where the secret path is, or do you want to be caught by the restaurant staff and turned into minced meat?!"

"Minced meat?"

"Yeah, meat! If you don't want to end up as the next dish on that menu, tell me quickly!" While Ragna didn't actually mean that the manager would mince them up, Taokaka, who had belatedly understood the meaning, seemed to take it seriously. Her tail jumped up suddenly and swelled up thick, as if in alarm.

"If I'm made into meat, I won't be able to eat meat anymore, meow! I don't want that, meow!" Agilely twisting her body on his shoulder, Taokaka landed in front of Ragna and started running on all fours like a beast.

"Good Guy, this way, meow!"

"Okay, I got it!"

Taokaka dashed into a narrow alley, and despite a slight delay in his reaction, Ragna followed suit, flipping his body as he turned sharply to follow her. As they moved away from the neon signs, the surroundings grew darker. As he ran, Ragna bitterly thought to himself.

Maybe the bounty on my head will go up tomorrow because of today's dine-and-dash…

### Part 3

December 30, 2199 - 13:35

Against a sky shrouded in gray clouds, a type of ship arrived at the port. However, it wasn't a ship that sailed across the sea. It was a ship that crossed the sky. The magical cargo ship carried goods such as humans and equipment in its swollen belly, while its wings extended outwards, absorbing seithr to enable flight.

Naturally, a port where flying magic airships docked had to be specially constructed. The 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, Port 5. Smaller and less conspicuous than the others, it was a port that was used for specific purposes.

Several guards in blue and white uniforms, with guns slung over their shoulders, got off and quickly took up their positions, exchanging reports on their radios. A moment later, a pair of black leather boots stepped onto the flat ground of the port. A tall man in a black suit emerged, adjusting his slender frame. He adjusted the black hat perched atop his green hair with his fingers and tilted his face upward toward the sky. The hat shaded his eyes, but his thin lips were twisted in a dissatisfied frown.

"Oh dear. Is it raining?"

A quiet rain fell from the gray clouds that filled the sky. It had been raining for quite a while, and Port 5 was thoroughly soaked. There seemed to be no movement in the clouds, so it looked like the rain would continue for some time.

Letting out a resigned sigh, the man quickly moved to a roofed area to shield himself from the rain.

The man in the black suit was a member of the Novus Orbis Librarium, often abbreviated as the NOL, and he was part of the organization's Intelligence Department. His name was Hazama, and his rank was Captain.

The magical cargo ship he had arrived on was used by the Intelligence Department of the NOL. Port 5 was typically used for covert missions or other sensitive tasks that couldn't be made public — essentially, it served as a port for avoiding prying eyes.

"Captain Hazama! You're outside." A woman's voice called from the stairs of the magic airship, and Hazama, who had been brushing the water droplets off his suit, looked up. A young woman in a blue and white uniform with a matching poncho quickly ran down the stairs. She wore a blue beret, and her long, camellia red hair flowed past her waist.

With a splash of rainwater from her blue boots, she reached the front of the management hut where Hazama was and took a deep breath, straightening her posture. Her sky-blue eyes were stern, and her expression was serious.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting. But it would have been fine if you'd just called out to me... I thought you might still be inside, so I was looking for you," she said.

"Oh my, my. I apologize for the trouble, Second Lieutenant Tsubaki Yayoi." Hazama smiled with the corners of his mouth lifted, speaking to the woman who, as her eyes suggested, spoke with utmost seriousness.

Second Lieutenant Tsubaki Yayoi. Unlike Hazama, she wasn't part of the Intelligence Department, but belonged to the Fourth Thaumaturgist Squadron of the Novus Orbis Librarium.

The Novus Orbis Librarium was a huge and important organization that served as a substitute for the concept of a nation in the current world. With an Imperator at the top who held absolute decision-making power, it managed and operated all social infrastructures worldwide, including government, justice, and military.

Because of this, there were a vast number of departments, and it was not common for departments with different roles to work together on a single mission. However, despite being from different departments, Tsubaki and Hazama had come to Kagutsuchi together for a certain mission.

"Well, it's terrible weather, isn't it? Searching for a single man in vast Kagutsuchi in this rain is quite a challenge." Hazama said in a somewhat amused tone, his hand on his hat as he looked up at the rain.

Their mission was to find someone. Who were they looking for?

"Still, we must find Major Kisaragi... no matter what." Tsubaki muttered, her gaze dropping to her feet, as if reminding herself.

Major Jin Kisaragi. That was the name of the man Tsubaki and Hazama were looking for. He was the commander of the Fourth Thaumaturgist Squadron and Tsubaki's direct superior. She had served as his secretary and supported him.

A few days ago, he had suddenly disappeared from the headquarters of the NOL. It was neither a mission nor a reported absence. This was a serious breach of discipline in the Librarium. It was unprecedented for the commander of a division to suddenly disappear without a clear motive. To prevent this incident from affecting subordinates and other divisions, it had not been made public.

However, there was a possibility that the situation would leak out somewhere. Hazama was ordered to bring him back as soon as possible before that happened, and the person he chose to cooperate with was Tsubaki, Jin Kisaragi's secretary.

The cold rain chilled the air. Or was it just the cold metal of Port 5?

Beyond the wet gray stairs, one could glimpse the orderly cityscape of the upper floors. Going further in and climbing several floors would lead to the top floor, the Kagutsuchi branch of the Novus Orbis Librarium.

As she lifted her gaze, even from here, she could see the beautiful and majestic silhouette of the Kagutsuchi branch, towering as if it were jutting out from the peak of the high mountain. However, due to the bad weather today, a curtain of rain blurred her view.

Looking up at the hazy branch office, Tsubaki furrowed her brow slightly.

"......Why would Major Kisaragi come to Kagutsuchi?"

It was a question that anyone who knew Jin would ask.

Jin Kisaragi, the commander of the Fourth Thaumaturgist Squadron, was a very calm person. He was thoughtful, always analyzing the pros and cons before acting, and he was certainly not the type to foolishly jeopardize his position by suddenly turning his back on the NOL. This was truly unlike him.

Seeing Tsubaki pondering, Hazama said, "Oh," sounding a little surprised.

"This is surprising. Miss Tsubaki Yayoi, can't someone as intelligent and capable as you understand?" Hazama asked in a somewhat teasing tone, his smile curling at the corner of his mouth. Tsubaki felt a slight unease stir within her. He had a way of speaking that was just slightly grating.

Tsubaki didn't know Hazama very well. So she couldn't guess what he meant by saying that. But just those words were enough to make her dislike the man in the black suit.

Swallowing the mild discomfort that churned inside her, Tsubaki adjusted her expression to one befitting of a soldier and straightened her back. Even if she didn't like it, she was a lieutenant, and Hazama was a captain. He outranked her.

"I apologize, Captain. I..."

"You received the report, didn't you?" Hazama spread his hands slightly. Perhaps because of his teasing tone earlier, even that gesture seemed sarcastic to Tsubaki. "It mentioned that the 'Grim Reaper'—the wanted criminal Ragna the Bloodedge—was heading toward Kagutsuchi. If Major Kisaragi went to Kagutsuchi, it could only be because he was pursuing the 'Grim Reaper,' right?"

It was Hazama who had provided the information that Jin's destination after leaving the NOL was Kagutsuchi. Tsubaki had heard him grumble many times in the magic airship about how he had unwittingly gathered such information, which had led to this assignment to a remote location.

"With all due respect, Captain Hazama. I understand that. What I question is why the Major had to leave the organization to chase the 'Grim Reaper'." Tsubaki said sharply. As soon as she said it, she wondered if she had been too rude. It might have been a childish attitude unbecoming of a soldier.

However, Hazama didn't seem to mind Tsubaki's irritation. On the contrary, he let out a light laugh, as if amused by her childlike rebellious tone.

"Oh, I see. My apologies, Second Lieutenant Tsubaki Yayoi." He tipped his hat slightly in a salute. All the while, his thin neck trembled with a constant chuckle. "We can't possibly know what Major Kisaragi is thinking. Why don't you go and ask him directly when you find him?"

Though she thought bitterly that she was asking because she couldn't do that, Tsubaki pushed the extra words down. What she needed now was not doubt, but determination. That's what she told herself.

"...Understood, Captain." Tsubaki responded earnestly, and Hazama let out another chuckle before continuing.

"Well, there's no point in chatting forever, so let's get started on our work." The work, of course, meant the search for Jin Kisaragi.

Tsubaki's expression tightened, not due to her dislike of Hazama but out of a sense of duty toward the mission.

As Hazama glanced at the rain-soaked cityscape of Kagutsuchi, a grin spread across his lips as he continued speaking.

"First, let's confirm. Our mission is to capture Major Jin Kisaragi and force him to return to headquarters. However, since his disappearance hasn't been made public, we'll need to keep this discreet with the guards here in Kagutsuchi. Absolutely no outsiders involved."

"Yes, sir."

"Also, it's believed that Ragna the Bloodedge is hiding somewhere in Kagutsuchi. Due to this, a D-alert has been issued, so be on your guard."

A D-Alert meant that a special alert was in effect by the NOL. This prohibited anyone who was not a resident of Kagutsuchi or not affiliated with the NOL from conducting any activities in the city.

"If we come into contact with someone who violates the D-Alert, should we contact the Kagutsuchi branch? Or should we handle it ourselves?" Tsubaki asked, looking at Hazama with a straight back, her manner too dignified to be dismissed as just another soldier.

And it made sense. She was the key member of the Yayoi family, one of the twelve founding families that had supported the establishment of the NOL and produced many high-ranking officials.

But Hazama replied in a casual manner and twisted his mouth, as if to say that everything about Tsubaki, from the clothes she wore to her unfailingly serious nature, stank like acid.

"Oh, it doesn't matter. Do whatever you want."

"…Yes."

"Well, I have some other business at the branch, so could you please start searching from the lower levels?"

"Other business?" Tsubaki asked, slightly confused, but Hazama only shrugged his shoulders and didn't explain.

Hazama belonged to the Intelligence Department. There were probably many things he couldn't tell other departments. Though Tsubaki felt a bit suspicious about his hidden purpose, she refrained from asking further out of consideration.

"Understood. I'll start with the lower levels... around Orient Town," she said.

"Good idea. That's one of the largest areas in Kagutsuchi, and it's a perfect place to hide." Nodding casually, Hazama took a step forward and looked up at Tsubaki from below. His eyes were hidden by the brim of his hat, but she could feel his gaze fixed on her. As if talking to a child, Hazama raised one finger. "Just be careful of one thing. Major Kisaragi's likely hiding in places with poor security, but at the same time, Ragna the Bloodedge could be lurking around. If you two happen to fight, we won't be able to do anything."

"Yes... I suppose so." Tsubaki bowed her head slightly, as if retreating, and replied bitterly.

Jin was known throughout the NOL as an unparalleled swordsman. On top of that, he possessed Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa, a phenomenon weapon said to have been used during the Dark War, a war against the Black Beast about a hundred years ago.

And Ragna the Bloodedge, the "Grim Reaper," was a person with considerable power who single-handedly destroyed many branches of the NOL.

If these two were to clash, neither Tsubaki nor Hazama could stop them.

Hazama stated the biggest reason for this with a cheerful tone.

"Well, neither of us are experts in combat. If things get rough, we're completely out of our league, aren't we?"

Tsubaki had graduated from the military academy of the NOL, so she had at least undergone basic combat training. However, that was limited to self-defense techniques. After graduation, she had spent her time as Jin's secretary, dealing with paperwork and visitors on a daily basis. Under those circumstances, there was no chance for her to improve her combat skills.

On the other hand, as Hazama himself admitted, he was skilled in intelligence activities but was not good at dealing with situations with force.

With a pale hand that didn't seem to suit a weapon, Hazama waved casually in the air and grinned.

"Well, let's not push ourselves too hard. Our job is to bring back Major Kisaragi, so don't forget that."

"Understood." Without being swayed by Hazama's casualness, Tsubaki replied as a subordinate, and then straightened her back. "Then, Captain, I'll go and check the lower levels."

"Ah, yes. Please do. Kagutsuchi is quite dangerous right now, so do take care."

"Yes, sir. I'll take my leave."

Bowing deeply, Tsubaki ran out of the narrow entrance of the management hut into the rain. She climbed the stairs leading from the port into the city, splashing small amounts of water. Hazama watched her go, leaning against the wall of the management hut as the blue of her poncho and the sound of the water she splashed disappeared completely into the rain.

When the sounds of the blue poncho and splashing water disappeared completely into the rain, he slowly got up.

"Really, be careful," he murmured, his voice low and husky. With that, Hazama leisurely stepped out into the rain.

### Part 4

...It was only a few years ago, but it felt like a priceless time that could never be replaced.

It was one day.

The Novus Orbis Librarium – Integrated Headquarters

Tsubaki walked down the straight white-tiled floor with a nervous expression.

The blue and white NOL soldier uniform, which she had only worn a few days ago, still didn't feel quite right on her body, and she was worried about whether the visorless cap she wore on her head and the boots that tapped against the floor were looking neat.

With a file of documents clutched to her chest, she adjusted her long hair, which she had done countless times before, with her fingertips. Then, Tsubaki knocked softly on the door of her destination.

"Come in." A voice came from the other side of the door after a moment's pause. At that moment, Tsubaki's heart leaped. It was a distant, obligatory voice, but there was still a hint of a boyish tone, a voice she knew well.

"Y-Yes, excuse me." Her voice trembled as she replied. Her hand on the doorknob was shaking even more.

What if she tripped? Oh, what should her face look like? She was so worried that her face would turn red, and she tried desperately to remain calm.

Tsubaki entered the room. The first thing she noticed was a man sitting at a desk, pen in hand. The sunlight coming in from the window behind him cast a gleam on his beautiful golden hair. From the distance of the room's entrance, she could see his emotionless gaze fixed on the documents. His eyes were a clear green, she knew.

There was no one else in the room besides him. After closing the door carefully, only Tsubaki and him were in the room.

Having seemingly finished what he was writing, the man at the desk looked up, looking somewhat bored. Then his eyes widened in surprise.

"Tsubaki...?" The voice that called her name was different from the obligatory voice she had heard outside the door. The tone of his voice, filled with emotion, was as surprised as his expression, and it sounded slightly higher than before. "Why are you here...?"

Tsubaki relaxed her tense shoulders at the casual tone, so unlike someone at work. The tension drained from her.

"The documents should have arrived. Haven't you read them?" Carrying the file, Tsubaki walked up to the desk and, with a salute, straightened her posture in front of the puzzled Jin. "I am Second Lieutenant Tsubaki Yayoi, newly appointed as the secretary of Major Jin Kisaragi of the Fourth Thaumaturgist Squadron as of today. Major, I look forward to working with you." It was a line she had practiced many times in her room last night, but it was still formal.

Relieved that she had said it without any mistakes, Tsubaki noticed Jin raising his eyebrows slightly in confusion.

"Second Lieutenant?" Tsubaki understood the reason for the question very well.

Tsubaki was born into one of the Duodecim, which held an aristocratic position within the Novus Orbis Librarium. Members of the Duodecim were given at least the rank of Captain after graduating from the Librarium's military academy.

Tsubaki was no exception, and she was a captain immediately after graduation. So why was she a second lieutenant now? There was a serious reason for that.

"Well, that's..." Tsubaki hesitated, unable to speak. She couldn't possibly tell Jin that she had originally been assigned to a different post but had insisted on becoming his secretary, and that she had been demoted in exchange for her request.

It was rare for someone from the main family of the Duodecim to become the secretary of Jin, who was also from the main family.

Perhaps sensing Tsubaki's recklessness from that, Jin smiled wryly.

Tsubaki involuntarily let out a shaky breath. It was the first time she had seen Jin smile in a long time.

"I heard that a secretary would be coming, but I never expected it would be you... Well then, it's a pleasure, Second Lieutenant Tsubaki Yayoi."

With that, Jin extended his hand, gloved in white. Tsubaki tucked the file under her arm, looked straight into his beautiful green eyes, and took his outstretched hand.

From that day forward, Tsubaki's days as the major's secretary began.

It was different from her time at the military academy, when she had only been able to follow in his footsteps. Now, she would be by his side, supporting his work.

December 30, 2199 — 17:30

As Tsubaki descended into the lower levels of Kagutsuchi, she carefully scanned her surroundings.

She was about to enter an area called Orient Town. She had heard that it was the largest and most densely populated area in Kagutsuchi. It was a bad place to look for people. But Tsubaki thought that was precisely why Jin might have gone there.

It would be easy to blend into the crowd there, and it would be possible to hide in the nooks and crannies of the complex maze-like city structure. Moreover, there were fewer NOL soldiers in the lower levels, and surveillance was less strict compared to the upper levels.

Jin must have understood the risk of being pursued by the Control Organization. So it was only natural that he would avoid them. At the same time, he would have considered the possibility that Ragna the Bloodedge, who was also on the run, would choose the lower levels as a hiding place.

Tsubaki walked quickly, the sound of her blue boots echoing against the hard ground. Her vibrant hair was damp from the rain.

After descending a short flight of stairs, she found herself at the edge of Orient Town. There were a row of abandoned-looking warehouses and a small grassy square beyond them. The scattered streetlights were covered in rust.

Because the lower levels were built on top of other levels, most of them were blocked from the sky, and even though they were outdoors, they were not as affected by the weather as indoors. But this area was still protruding from the other levels, and everything was wet from the rain.

Buildings she passed by, narrow alleys, shadows, people passing by. Tsubaki focused her attention on everything she saw. Her pace quickened, driven by growing anxiety. Unconsciously, her hands clenched the file more tightly.

(Major Kisaragi...)

She didn't know how many times she had called out his name in her mind. Her lips were tightly pursed, and her eyes darted from side to side as if she were clinging to something. Her expression revealed a deeper emotional turmoil than that of someone simply searching for a missing superior.

(Where are you...? Brother Jin...)

Tsubaki was Jin Kisaragi's secretary. But before that, Jin had been a special person to Tsubaki.

If Tsubaki was the daughter of the Yayoi family, one of the Duodecim, Jin was the son of the Kisaragi family, another of the Duodecim. They had known each other since childhood. They had seen each other, talked to each other, and even played together as children.

The reason why Tsubaki had entered the military academy to become an NOL soldier was to follow Jin, who had already enrolled and was expected to become a division commander in the future.

Jin was good at everything, from studying to martial arts, but Tsubaki was not good at sports. So she studied hard to catch up with him. During her student days, she had worked with him on the student council, where he was the president.

Because he spoke bluntly and had a sharp gaze, people around him whispered that he was cold. But to Tsubaki, he was always a kind older brother.

His fine, golden hair, his cool green eyes, his slender body, his fair skin, and his handsome features. Sometimes, just sometimes, she had admired his intelligent profile.

How grateful she had been when she finally managed to get the position of Jin's secretary by using every connection she had.

She had admired him, and she still did. Since they were children, when she had been alone in the mansion, and even now, she had always looked up to him.

"Brother Jin..." Her hurried steps had gradually turned into a jog. Her toes kicked up water droplets as she stepped in small puddles. She wanted to find him as soon as possible. Her heart pounded in her chest.

The worst-case scenario that came to Tsubaki's mind was that Jin would encounter Ragna the Bloodedge somewhere. Jin was strong. There were only a handful of people in the NOL who could fight him on equal terms.

However, it would be dangerous to think of the "Grim Reaper" in the same way as other officers in the NOL. He had single-handedly rebelled against the Librarium and managed to escape without ever being captured. Tsubaki, who was in a position to pursue him, understood very well that this was impossible with ordinary strength.

Ragna is probably very strong. Perhaps even stronger than Jin. And what she feared even more was the grimoire that heinous criminal possessed.

The BlazBlue - the Azure Grimoire.

During the era of the Dark War, when the Black Beast was fought, a certain magician developed a technique called "Ars Magus." It was a technique that imitated magic, allowing one to create various phenomena such as fire and water using seithr.

The key to using these formulas was the grimoire.

Among the countless grimoires in the world, the Azure Grimoire is said to be the most powerful.

(Even Brother Jin wouldn't come out unscathed against the Azure Grimoire. If things went wrong...)

Thinking that far, Tsubaki shivered from the cold sweat that ran down her spine.

While the Azure Grimoire is highly praised for its power and strength, little is known about it.

First of all, although grimoires are "books," they come in various shapes and are not necessarily in the form of books.

Although it was known that Ragna the Bloodedge possessed the Azure Grimoire, it was not known what shape it took. Even the Misinformation Department of the NOL did not know exactly when or where the Azure Grimoire was created or what its hidden power was.

How could one be optimistic about facing a 'Grim Reaper' who was already strong, and who also had an unknown grimoire? It was simply reckless to challenge him alone.

(....Maybe Brother Jin came to Kagutsuchi alone to capture Ragna the Bloodedge.) Squinting into the shadows, Tsubaki muttered to herself.

Even if he had been forcibly ordered to return for acting on his own, Jin was a guard and major of the NOL. Tsubaki thought that if he had left the Librarium to chase after the 'Grim Reaper', his purpose must have been to eliminate the heinous criminal.

But was that really the case? She couldn't help but wonder.

(But if that were true… then why did he leave without telling anyone? Why didn't he say anything to me?) That was what really stuck in her chest. Jin was a hard person to read, but he had always told her if something happened. "...No, I'll ask him directly once I find him."

Tsubaki clenched her fist tightly against her chest and shook her head to clear her thoughts. She shouldn't be speculating. She needed to find Jin as soon as possible. That was the only thing that mattered. If Jin was considered a traitor because of his actions, there would be no going back.

Hurry up. She took a big step forward, as if urging herself on, and turned around the back of the square where she had heard a small noise. Was it a storage shed? She turned a narrow corner to pass behind the two side-by-side huts.

Suddenly, a wall appeared in front of her.

"Kyah!?!" She was so startled that she couldn't react in time, and she collided with the wall with the force of her entry.

But then she realized. It was too thick to be a wall, and it felt too soft to be a building material.

"Huh...?" She heard a voice from behind the wall. It was a deep, masculine voice that resonated in her stomach.

The towering thing in front of her was not a wall, but a man's back, so large that she had to look up at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you hurt?" The towering giant spoke with a gentlemanly manner that belied his extraordinary sense of oppression, and he slowly turned around. His strangeness was not limited to his size alone. His skin was an unusually deep red, and he had an imposing handcuff-like part attached to his already thick arms. White fangs extended upward from his compressed lips.

An oni.

Such a monster had appeared in the folk tales of Japan, a country that was destroyed about a hundred years ago. Tsubaki remembered a picture book she had read as a child. At the same time, she remembered who the red giant in front of her was.

"You... the Red Devil of Sector Seven!" As she called out, Tsubaki took a few steps back and readied herself.

Sector Seven. An external organization that opposed the NOL's world domination based on magic and aimed to create a world that did not rely on magic.

The Red Devil was a soldier belonging to Sector Seven, and, judging by his size, possessed overwhelming power. His official name was TR-0009 Iron Tager. He was a cyborg created by the researchers of Sector Seven. Noticing her presence, he took a step back with a foot that was thicker than Tsubaki's waist.

"Is that uniform from the Library?"

Because the NOL collected and managed grimoires from all over the world to prevent the misuse of magic, many people called it the Library. Most of the time, it was used as a derogatory term. Tsubaki couldn't tell what the giant called the Red Devil meant by using that derogatory term, but it was clear that he didn't feel any affection for her.

Although Tager didn't get ready for a fight, he frowned deeply and stared at Tsubaki with a stern expression.

".....Sorry, I came into contact with a Library guard." Looking away from Tsubaki, Tager put a large hand to his ear and whispered something to someone. A noise like static followed. It was a communicator.

"Cut the comm. Stay where you are." Tsubaki quickly drew the pistol she had been issued for emergencies. She gripped it firmly with both hands and pointed it at the Red Devil.

Tager moved his head slightly to look at Tsubaki. However, she couldn't see his eyes behind the thick lenses of his round glasses. Feeling intimidated by his towering presence, Tsubaki tried to stare sternly at the Red Devil.

"A D-Alert is currently in effect in the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi. Intervention by all other organizations, including Sector Seven, is prohibited. Answer me, what are you doing here?"

"Oh dear. Put down your gun, soldier girl. A toy like that won't even scratch my body."

"Th-That's not what I asked! Answer my question!" Tsubaki almost instinctively pulled her arm back at Tager's dismissive tone, but she resisted and kept her gun aimed at him, maintaining her intense gaze. She knew she had no chance of winning a fight against a cyborg. But even more importantly, she couldn't let him escape.

Her mission was to search for Jin Kisaragi. But there were no other NOL soldiers around. If she let him go, she couldn't ignore the chaos that Sector Seven might bring to Kagutsuchi and the Librarium.

Static crackled again.

"Everything's fine. No problem. I'll return to my mission immediately."

Tsubaki couldn't hear the voice on the other end of the line. But Tager's response was too casual, as if the problem with her was already solved. Feeling insulted, Tsubaki sharpened her voice.

"Cut the comm! I won't allow such reckless actions!"

"Calm down. We didn't come to Kagutsuchi to interfere with the operations of the NOL. Why don't we pretend this never happened? If you leave now, I won't have to hurt you."

"Are you saying this is an act of rebellion? Whatever your intentions are, I cannot allow this!" Tager's soothing tone only made Tsubaki more stubborn. If she showed weakness here, it would be seen as the NOL as a whole being weak against Sector Seven. She couldn't allow that to happen.

A soldier of the Librarium, which maintained world order, and the secretary of the commander of the Fourth Thaumaturgist Squadron, who fought for peace, couldn't make a deal with a soldier of the lawless Sector Seven.

Aiming her gun at the giant Red Devil, Tsubaki took out a small handheld communicator. She couldn't handle this on her own. She needed reinforcements, and fast.

"This is Second Lieutenant Tsubaki Yayoi of the Fourth Thaumaturgist Squadron. I am currently in Orient Town in the lower levels of Kagutsuchi and have encountered a member of Sector Seven..."

"Dammit. I was hoping to settle this peacefully." The Red Devil muttered softly.

Before Tsubaki could understand the meaning of his words, Tager took a large step forward. His outstretched arm closed the distance between them in an instant. Before she could react, his clenched fist opened in front of her.

"Kyah...!" An electric shock was fired, knocking the communicator out of her hand and causing Tsubaki to let out a faint scream.

With that single blow, Tsubaki's consciousness faded. Her knees buckled, and she collapsed limply.

"Ugh..." Just before her delicate body could hit the hard ground, Tager, who had just fired his weapon, caught her. He scooped her up and looked down at the unconscious girl, sighing.

"As expected of a non-combatant. She's reckless."

"...I told you, don't get involved." A noise crackled, and an unpleasant female voice came from Tager's communicator.

Holding Tsubaki, Tager put his other hand to his ear. His mouth, with its upward-pointing canine teeth, twisted in even more bitterness than when he had faced Tsubaki.

"I can't just leave her out here in the rain. She's just a young girl."

"The mission is the top priority. There's no time to waste."

"...I'm cutting the comm for a while, Kokonoe."

"What? Hey, don't you dare pull that stunt..."

With a small sound that only the wearer could hear, the communication was cut off. Tager turned his back on the rain-soaked plaza and began walking. His destination? Orient Town, a dimly lit city where the sky was obscured by the upper city and the streets were illuminated by lanterns and neon lights

### Part 5

December 30, 2199 — 18:00

How many alleys had they passed through? How many corners had they turned?

Guided by Taokaka, who moved with an unnatural agility despite her human-like appearance, Ragna found himself in a dark, dark sewer.

"This way, Good Guy~" Calling out, Taokaka jumped lightly over a pile of discarded rubble and broken furniture. It was a place isolated from the outside world, and it was late at night. Even if there were slight gaps, there was no hope of even a faint light.

And yet, Ragna and Taokaka were able to walk without any problems thanks to the strange moss that clung to the discarded rubble and accumulated mud. The moss emitted a faint greenish light, allowing the sewer to avoid being completely enveloped in pitch-black darkness.

Following Taokaka, Ragna continued, stumbling slightly on the rough footing.

"Hey, are you sure we can get out from here?" When he jumped down from the pile of rubble, he landed on something slick, possibly oil. Ragna reflexively wrinkled his nose and asked Taokaka with a hint of irritation, her white hood with triangular ears twitching slightly at the back of her head.

Ragna had learned from experience that escape routes were often not easy. But this was a much worse road than any of the "escape routes" he had been through before. Even though it wasn't wet, the floor, walls, and ceiling were damp, and the unpleasant humidity, mixed with the thick seithr that seemed to be seeping in from outside, gave his skin and lungs an unpleasant feeling.

A little further down, sewage and discarded waste flowed like muddy water, creating a nauseating stench.

Considering this was not far from the city yet there was no strong stench outside, it seemed the Hierarchical City's construction was surprisingly solid, despite its sloppy appearance. Rubbing his nose, which was already quite numb, Ragna muttered this to himself.

"Of course, meow. I often come here to get bread and sweets upstairs, meow." Taokaka said, looking up at the ceiling of the sewer. The blackened overhead was a complex network of protruding iron pipes and metal plates, and far beyond that, a dark ceiling was visible, clinging to a very high place.

And much farther away, there must be the upper city they were aiming for.

Following her gaze, Ragna sighed and slumped his shoulders.

"Get, huh? You don't mean you're stealing stuff from stores, do you?"

"Meow~"

"You're a thief!" Ragna's voice echoed hollowly and coldly in the sewer. When the echo subsided, a damp silence returned. The sound of water dripping and bouncing on the floor was eerie.

In the thick shadows, something unknown seemed to be wriggling, peering at them. A shiver ran down Ragna's spine, and he shuddered, following Taokaka. But... Ragna suddenly frowned and stopped.

(It's not an illusion. Someone's watching us.)

Somewhere in the depths of the thick shadows carved by the faintly glowing moss, in a distorted pile of rubble, he felt a gaze. No, it was more than just a gaze. It was something more fundamental. It felt like an existence, a will itself, was intently focused on him.

"Good Guy~? What's wrong, meow?" Wondering why Ragna wasn't following, Taokaka turned back. She lightly jumped over the remains of something that had been piled up and landed. Her small footsteps seemed to trigger it.

"Kikikikiikiki!" With a voice that seemed to tear through the air, shadows suddenly leaped out from the darkness. From them, sharp, bridge-like shadows shot out in countless numbers, rushing at Ragna.

"Ugh!" He was caught off guard by the suddenness and the perfectly camouflaged figure. The sound of thick cloth tearing filled the air, and something dug into his skin. Pulling his injured shoulder, he drew his sword with his other arm and brushed away the shadow in front of him.

There was no resistance. It was as if he had cut through a real shadow.

"Gugigigigi... true... towards truth... the truth I seek..." The voice was strange, almost human but not quite. Muttering in an odd tone, the shadow withdrew. It floated amid the thick sludge and rubble, hovering and swirling.

At first, Ragna thought it was a mindless, ferocious beast, a creature born of highly concentrated seithr that had warped the ecosystem. But this was different somehow. It was strange, distorted, and incomprehensible. It didn't look like a living creature at all.

The shadow moved around. And then, a face appeared from within the swirling darkness. A white circle with three holes for eyes and a mouth. Was it supposed to be a face? It was the only definite shape in the dark, amorphous shadow.

"What... What is this thing?" A sense of disgust, rather than fear, washed over him at the sight.

The shadow landed on the slimy floor with a disgusting movement and seemed to rise up. Vaguely, Ragna thought he could see some small creature wriggling at its feet, illuminated by the moss light.

"This guy is Squiggly, meow!"

"Squiggly? What's that?"

"He's a bad guy, meow! He attacks our village and eats the little Kakas, meow!" With a snarl, Taokaka changed her cheerful expression to one of fierce anger, her eyes narrowed. She bared her teeth and growled menacingly.

As if mocking her, the shadow with the white face trembled as if foaming all over.

"Kihihihi... I can feel it... the ugly flesh wriggling with power. For the wish to be granted, there is no need for consent... The denial of concepts, the gates that should never be closed... Gihihihihihihi..."

Each time the shadow trembled and laughed, the air grew thick and stagnant. Ragna grimaced. It was seithr. It wasn't flowing in from outside. It was overflowing from the shadow that was swirling in front of him, invading every part of the sewer.

It meant that the black substance that enveloped this shadow-like object was all seithr. And the fact that this strange monster, a mass of seithr, was uttering sounds that resembled human speech meant that it had originally been a being capable of understanding human language. In other words, it was human.

Before it became like this, the dark, amorphous monster that Taokaka called "Squiggly" and some people in Orient Town called Arakune was once a human being.

Ragna spat out the disgust that welled up in him.

"This guy... he's touched the Boundary..."

Ragna had been traveling from one NOL branch to another, destroying the cauldrons found in the basement of each. The cauldrons connected this world to another world - the Boundary. It was a place beyond human comprehension, an amorphous expanse filled with a concentration of seithr that is incomparable to the surface of the earth.

Just as the dense seithr gave birth to demonic beasts, so too could humans, exposed to such high concentrations, have their reason consumed by seithr. Eventually, they would be dragged into the Boundary, losing their humanity.

Arakune, this black monster with a rotten odor, a writhing, mucus-like body, and emitting strange noises, was the end result of such a transformation. Once a human, he had been corrupted by the Boundary.

"I don't know what you were trying to do by messing with something like that... you idiot."

A surge of anger rose from the depths of Ragna's stomach. The cauldron that the NOL cherished and kept deep underground… Not just them, but also various institutions, researchers, and scholars wanted it. Owning the cauldron meant owning the end of the Boundary that the cauldron connected to.

Everyone assumed that there was a treasure beyond human understanding sleeping in the Boundary. But there was no way humans could control something beyond their understanding. It was utterly infuriating. He was fed up with the NOL, their brazenness about meddling with such a cauldron, and with those who sought the cauldrons and chased after them. All of them.

"There's nothing we can do about it now. Don't blame me. ...Well, if you have enough reason to blame anyone."

If he left this creature here, it would not only attack the "village" that Taokaka had mentioned, but it would also go out into Orient Town and the lower city and attack people.

Ragna lowered the tip of his sword and stepped forward, deeply into the monster's domain. He had no attachment to Kagutsuchi, but that didn't mean he was foolish enough to just stand there and let a blatant threat loom in front of him. He swung his sword, aiming for the creature's brain-like core, as it spread out to meet him.

"Gurgh…!"

"Tch!" With a gurgling sound, Arakune's body disappeared from Ragna's sight in an instant.

It was below him. Cursing, Ragna kicked downwards, and Arakune passed beneath his foot and reappeared behind his red coat. "You... You... Devour... Devour... Devour..." From an angle that would be impossible for a human or any four-limbed creature, a black mass protruded, leaping up at Ragna. Ragna parried it with his sword. The feeling was heavy and thick. And then, as if climbing up the sword's surface like mud, a strange shadow suddenly emerged from the seithr. It was an unfamiliar, utterly repulsive, wriggling thing that stirred up a sense of disgust.

"Ugh!" Repulsed by a nauseating disgust, Ragna backed away. As if to fill the gap, a sharp claw swung down, cutting through the countless bugs that had emerged and knocking them down. Taokaka had boldly jumped in.

"Squiggly! How many years has it been since we last met! Tao will tear you to pieces, meow!" Without pausing to land from her downward strike, Taokaka twisted in midair and sliced Arakune with her other claw. The claw caught what appeared to be the creature's face and tore it apart with a sound like breaking pottery. The blackened body twisted and fell limply backward. At the same time, Taokaka landed lightly beside Ragna. She thrust her large hand, claws extended in a threatening gesture.

Seeing this, Ragna let out a light laugh. She was a strange creature, just like him. But he didn't mind standing next to her, unlike "Squiggly".

"It's not how many years it's been, it's been a hundred years since we met here."

"Oh. Then I'll tear you to pieces for a hundred years, meow."

"Whatever." Ragna gripped his sword tightly, regaining the tension that had slipped away.

Arakune, which had become a pool of black mud, quickly rose up with a rippling motion and sprayed seithr around its feet with a gurgle.

"G-gii... Give... give it to me... I will eat it, burning, look, escape cannot escape from that eye, fate cannot escape!"

"I don't understand what you're saying! I'll put you out of your misery, so just die already! Let's do this, you pile of garbage!"

Swinging his sword wildly to clear away the remaining seithr, Ragna raised his weapon high and roared, striking down at the creature consumed by seithr.

### 043. Chapter 2: Spiral fate — The Board's Pieces

## BBCT Chapter 2: Spiral fate — The Board's Pieces

### Part 1

A magnificent garden, adorned with deep red roses, was overseen by a pale full moon.

It was a quiet night. The air was crisp and cold, and a thick curtain of night enveloped the area as if to mark the end of the world. At the end of the garden stood a beautiful and lovely castle that looked straight out of a fairy tale. Its windows, illuminated by orange lights, seemed like countless eyes.

On a terrace overlooking the castle, beyond a hedge of red roses, a young girl sat at a small round table, elegantly sipping from a teacup.

Her long golden hair, which shone so brightly in the moonlight that it seemed almost blinding, was tied in two braids on either side and adorned with large ribbons. She wore a lavish black dress on her petite frame, and her small hands were as white and smooth as porcelain. Even as she gazed at the tea swirling in her cup, her eyes seemed to be looking far off, towards the edge of the world, their crimson hue outshining even the roses. She possessed an elegance and grace that belied her youthful appearance.

The girl's name was Rachel Alucard.

Although she appeared to be no more than a ten-year-old girl, she was in fact a vampire who had lived for nearly a century. She was the current head of the Alucard vampire clan, which had existed for over a thousand years, and the mistress of the castle overlooking the rose garden. She was also the mistress of this eternal night, a realm dominated by the moon, the night sky, the roses, and the castle.

This was a place cut off from all other parts of the world. And yet, it was a place that connected to all points of the world. It was a realm that floated between spaces, existing in the narrow margin between worlds. It was a special dwelling place managed by the head of the Alucard family.

Returning her cup to the saucer on which a gold spoon rested, Rachel sighed wearily. The cut roses on the wrought iron table, with its intricate floral pattern, emitted a faint fragrance.

Rachel spent much of her time on the terrace in this rose garden, in this land where daylight never came.

She loved roses. They were beautiful and smelled good. And more than anything, they were the flowers her late father had loved.

"Isn't it magnificent tonight, Father?" Rachel murmured, giving in to a sudden wave of sentiment. She took a sip of the tea, fragrant with the roses her father had loved. In that brief moment, her heart was faintly comforted.

This castle, where the night never ends, was untouched by the flow of time. Just as the night is eternal, so too was time—endless. And Rachel's time was also eternal.

Still, boredom would come. At times like this, she would think back to days long past, sighing as if to avoid forgetting her words, much like the roses that never withered.

"Excuse me, Madam Rachel." A sharp click of leather shoes echoed on the terrace's brick tiles, followed by a hoarse voice calling her name gently. Without making her turn, the owner of the voice, an elderly man with long white hair tied at the back, approached, his steps steady. Reaching the edge of Rachel's field of vision, he placed his hand on his chest and gave a shallow bow.

Valkenhayn "R" Helsing. He had served the Alucard family since the time of Rachel's father, Clavis Alucard, and now, he was the elderly butler serving Rachel. His smile was lined with wrinkles, and his poised stance was as elegant as Rachel's.

But he, too, was not human. He was both man and beast, neither fully one nor the other—he was a werewolf.

His physique, far stronger than one might expect from his age, was evident even through his high-quality butler suit.

"What's wrong, Valkenhayn?" Rachel turned her red eyes to him, her white fingers playing with the rim of her teacup.

Valkenhayn bowed his head and replied simply, "Ragna the Bloodedge seems to have appeared at Kagutsuchi."

Without wasting words, Valkenhayn delivered only the necessary information, causing Rachel to stop tracing the edge of her teacup with her finger. She hooked her finger around the small handle and lifted the nearly empty cup to her lips, taking a sip. After setting the cup back onto its saucer, Rachel finally moved her lips.

"Yes ... It's already that time." She murmured to herself.

Suddenly, two voices broke the otherwise quiet and intimate atmosphere, making it unexpectedly lively.

"Oh, Princess, isn't Ragna that white-haired punk?"

"I remember him too, that cocky brat!"

The first voice was a husky, cat-like purr from the chair Rachel was sitting on. Upon closer inspection, the seemingly black sofa had a pair of triangular ears and a cat's face at the top of its backrest, and it was the cat's face that was speaking.

The second voice, high-pitched and cheerful, came from a small, red, round creature that had bounced up from Rachel's feet like a rubber ball. Its body appeared soft, with small hands, feet, and tiny wings sticking out, and its large, innocent eyes and upturned mouth were just as small and adorable.

The black cat sofa was named Nago, and the red rubber ball was named Gii. They were Rachel's familiars.

"He's your favorite, isn't he, Princess? Do you like that kind of guy? You're quite the type to fall for a bad boy, aren't you!" Gii flapped his tiny wings busily and spoke cheerfully. Then, Rachel quickly reached out and pulled the creature's soft cheeks, or rather, its entire head, from side to side.

"What? I didn't catch that. Could you say it again? If you can, that is."

"I-I-I'm sorry, P-Princess! It hurts! It hurts so much!"

"You really do seem like the type to get yourself into trouble with that mouth." Rachel looked down at Gii, whose face had expanded to twice its usual size, and Nago sighed in exasperation. After listening to Gii's pitiful screams for a while, Rachel finally released him. With a pop, Gii's red cheeks returned to their original round shape. Ignoring him, Rachel touched a petal of the red rose that was arranged on the table.

"If he's gotten this far, it means nearly nine hundred and ninety-nine years have passed."

"Indeed, it does." Valkenhayn responded respectfully to Rachel's almost sing-song murmuring.

"And so will the world." The faintly spoken addition didn't get a reply from Valkenhayn. He understood that Rachel wasn't seeking one.

Instead, the old werewolf butler asked in his usual steady voice, "Madam Rachel, shall I replace your tea with a fresh brew?"

"…Perhaps you should." Though Rachel had business to attend to, she felt like wasting just a little more time here, in this seemingly pointless moment. After all…

(It doesn't look like we can expect anything good from this one either.) She muttered to herself silently, a soft sigh escaping her chest. But she quickly swallowed that breath, sharpening her gaze. Her crimson eyes were now fixed on the endless rose garden.

"Valkenhayn. It seems an uninvited guest has arrived." The wind rustled the deep green leaves. It was a wind summoned by Rachel herself, to brush away the unpleasant presence that had mixed with the intense night air.

In the corner of the circular terrace, in front of the rose hedge, the space seemed to warp, as if a dizziness had taken hold. And then, it appeared—the shadow.

Something vaguely humanoid stood there, its body black wrapped in green.

A green circle, looking like an eyeball from a child's drawing, floated on top of a shadow with a disturbingly slit red mouth. It looked up at Rachel, sitting in her chair, and smiled creepily. It was clearly not human, nor vampire, nor werewolf.

This was a thought. A being with only a will and no physical body. It was a man's spirit body.

"Well, well, you shitty vampire. Having a tea party with your entourage and lapdog again? You're awfully relaxed, aren't you?" The spirit, a trespasser who had entered the rose garden without permission, spoke sarcastically in a muffled voice.

Immediately, Valkenhayn frowned, and Gii let out a pitiful scream, hiding behind his master's black dress with rubber-like agility. Rachel stared coldly at the shadow. She lightly lifted her body, and Nago, who had been serving as a chair, contorted his body and transformed into a black umbrella. Rachel stood up, holding it. Although she had a graceful smile on her lips, her crimson eyes were filled with disgust.

"To make people feel this uncomfortable just by showing yourself… In a way, that's a talent. I'm impressed, Terumi." Rachel spoke softly, like the scent of roses, yet with the sharpness of thorny vines.

The spirit she spoke to, the shadow called Terumi, swayed as if caught in the wind. He was laughing.

"Well, that's mutual, isn't it? Looking at that disgusting face, I feel sick to my stomach."

Yuki Terumi. That was the shadow's name.

"Then you should leave quickly. This is not a place where someone like you can casually trespass." Valkenhayn stepped forward with a heavy, yet uncompromising hostility. The gentle elegance he had shown towards Rachel had vanished, and with a strong, aggressive gaze that belied his age as a white-haired old man, he glared at the swaying shadow.

Terumi twisted his red mouth in annoyance. "Ha! You're still as irritable as ever. Quit barking, you stupid dog. I'll kill you, got it?"

"It seems that the one who only knows how to bark is you. What can you possibly do to me now that you have no body?"

"Dammit... I should have killed you back then, old man."

"You should have learned your lesson ninety years ago." When Terumi spat out insults, Valkenhayn returned them with overwhelming hostility. It felt as though a deep-seated grudge was festering between them, a swamp of animosity.

"So, what do you want? You are aware of the current situation. I'm sure you're not exactly free to waste time either." Though not as overt as Valkenhein's hostility, Rachel spoke in a dismissive tone.

Terumi tilted his head with a languid gesture and once again shook his indistinct form, laughing in a high-pitched, unclear manner.

"Not really~. The episode's almost over, so I thought I'd come see your pathetic faces." His voice was low and he had a gleeful smile. Rachel watched him impassively, her red eyes reflecting his image.

"You really are a persistent man." Rachel whispered, her cold voice resembling the light of an unfading moon. "No matter how many times it's repeated, the result is always the same. The world rewinds, and everything begins again, from that day, that moment."

A breeze passed between Rachel and the shadow. Amidst the smell of sake, Terumi's demonic figure was eerie and unbecoming. The wind carried the strong scent of flowers, as if reminding him that he was out of place, and he smiled deeply.

"Then I'll start again," he said in a different voice. A nasty undercurrent seemed to taint even the inviting breeze that Rachel beckoned. "As many times as it takes? Is that it? Every time, I just start over. Again and again. Even if you get bored and stop coming out of your castle, again and again... again and again."

"It's in bad taste."

"Who are you calling bad taste, shitty vampire?" Terumi sneered.

Valkenhayn, who always had a deep furrow between his brows, watched with increased scrutiny. Rachel surveyed those around her, curving her lips into an elegant smile. While it was deeply displeased to agree with him, it was true that she was just as bad.

Again and again. They had this exchange here countless times. The conversations, repeated over and over across time, had become something like a rite of passage. For the next few hours, their fates would intertwine, separate, shatter, and crumble in a dizzying whirl. It was a regular event, a solemn witnessing of the outcome.

"Well, I better go and start the final preparations. I don't feel like dealing with you anymore, so just sit there and drink tea while you wait for it to end," Terumi said, taking a large step back. His figure flickered, like a shadow becoming blurred and disappearing. Beyond the black body, a faint tinge of rose red could be seen.

"See ya. Enjoy being a spectator, I guess," he spat out before disappearing soundlessly, like mist dissolving into the air.

Nothing remained. Only the garden, where the bright red roses that Rachel gazed upon daily proudly bloomed. A gentle breeze carried the sweet scent of roses, as if to erase the unpleasantness caused by Terumi.

Valkenhayn, who had been ready to leap at his throat a moment ago, quickly returned to his role as a butler. Straightening his back without a flaw, he turned to Rachel.

"How shall we proceed, Madam Rachel?" he asked, feigning ignorance of what his master must already have in mind. Rachel opened the umbrella-shaped Nago, draped it over her shoulder like a parasol, and looked at Valkenhayn.

"Valkenhayn, let's postpone the tea for later." It was childish and simple provocation to rise to, but to turn away would be seen as weakness, which would be even more irritating. More than anything, she couldn't let that man have his way. "Nago, Gii. We're leaving."

"Yes, Princess."

"Understood!"

Nago, still stuck as an umbrella, struck a graceful pose, and Gii, who had been trembling just moments before, leapt into the air with a newfound energy.

With her two familiars in tow, Rachel reached out towards the sky. A rose-colored magic circle, glowing faintly, appeared on the brick-tiled floor beneath her feet.

It was a teleportation spell. An ancient technique, a foundation of this world's magic system. But now, very few people could use it. It was a lost art.

Among teleportation spells, this one in particular required a tremendous amount of magical power and concentration, as well as exceptionally difficult control. That was why, throughout human history, there were only a handful of people skilled enough to be called masters of it.

Rachel, who could freely use teleportation magic, knew of only one other person who could handle this spell as well as she could.

“I'm off to Kagutsuchi. Valkenhayn, please look after the castle while I'm gone,” she said.

“As you wish. Please take care,” Valkenhayn replied, bowing at an ideal angle as he watched his young master depart from the magical storage room.

A gentle breeze swirled, carrying the intoxicating scent of roses as Rachel stepped out of the eternal castle. Valkenhayn waited until the lingering scent of roses was absorbed by the night air before placing the tea set left on the terrace table onto a wagon and beginning to clear it away. He silently wished that something, anything, would bring comfort to his small master this time.

### Part 2

December 30, 2199, 9:23

Normally, the eastern sky of Kagutsuchi would be illuminated by the brilliance of the sunlight, its dazzling light making one forget about the stagnant seithr on the earth's surface. But today, unfortunately, thick clouds covered the sky from early morning. They were rain clouds. The damp air told him that it would rain before noon.

On the outskirts of the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, there was a city that wasn’t built as part of the city but was constructed spontaneously by refugees who had drifted to this place. It was called Ronin-Gai.

This city was built by the losers of the Ikaruga Civil War, which ended five years ago, and who had lived in the Ikaruga Federation. Their homeland had been lost in the civil war. The displaced people of Ikaruga scattered all over the world, and those who had fled to Kagutsuchi had gathered here to make a living. It was a complex terrain, far from ideal for building a city. Located below the high mountain where Kagutsuchi was situated, the area was rocky, with many cracks and cliffs.

Nevertheless, the Ikaruga refugees had built a city that seemed to be half-floating in the air, with intricate structures built on rocky platforms, bridges spanning chasms, and stairs carved into cliffs.

It was a small city, a makeshift city built from whatever materials they could find. But despite that, the city was neat and tidy, with a distinctive Ikaruga atmosphere. And today, a man’s loud voice echoed through the streets.

“Hey everyone! I hope you're all doing well and in peace today!! Hmm, good, good, very good! Hahahahahaha!” The owner of that thick, resonant voice was Bang Shishigami. A large, muscular man, he was walking down the main street of Ronin-Gai, greeting everyone he passed with a hearty hello.

With his bushy black hair tied up high and wearing a unique deep green outfit, he was dressed in traditional Ikaruga ninja attire. Normally, ninjas were supposed to work in the dark, but Bang Shishigami was the complete opposite—he was always trying to attract attention.

A strong, large physique, a broad back that couldn't be hidden, a cross-shaped scar etched on his face, and a bright red cloth wrapped around his neck. Every time that red cloth fluttered in the canyon wind, no one could help but look back at him. It wasn't the distinctive outfit that caught the attention of the people in the Ronin-Gai. The long, red cloth wrapped around him like a scarf was a mark of identification.

It was the symbol of Bang Shishigami, the leader of the Ikaruga ninjas, who had gathered the lost refugees, led them to build the Ronin-Gai, and now walked through the streets daily, checking if the residents faced any troubles or problems.

"Good morning, Bang-sama!"

"Bang! Thank you for helping us capture the runaway chicken the other day!"

"Bang-sama! Hello!"

Bang waved his hand in response to the calls from all directions and returned a cheerful smile.

"Yes, good morning! Oh, that's right—since it looks like it'll rain today, if there are any houses leaking, just call on me! I'll fly over immediately and help with repairs!" He said as he continued walking forward, his voice echoing through the streets.

The weather wasn't great, but Bang's heart was as bright as ever. He had comrades, and a place to live. How fortunate this was—Bang, who had spent years running behind the scenes of war as a ninja, now fully understood and cherished this peace every single day.

Peace was good. Love could only exist in peace.

"Hmm?" Bang grunted in surprise as he noticed someone ahead of him. It was a man he didn't recognize. Bang had memorized the faces and bodies of every Ikaruga refugee living in the district.

The man had short blonde hair and a slender build. From the way he walked, Bang guessed that he was still young. But what really caught Bang's attention was the man's clothing. The blue and white uniform he wore was undoubtedly that of the Novus Orbis Librarium.

"Hey, you there! Wait!" Shouting out, Bang leapt high into the air. In a moment that seemed to defy gravity, he soared over the young man’s head and landed directly in front of him. The unfamiliar man stopped in his tracks, furrowing his brow in confusion at Bang’s sudden appearance.

As expected, he was a young man, still carrying the traces of youth. There was no mistaking that his outfit was the uniform of the NOL, and he was holding a sword in a blue sheath. Bang's brow furrowed even deeper, filled with growing suspicion.

"What are you doing in our town? You're wearing the uniform of the NOL, aren't you?" Was he a Kagutsuchi guard? Bang didn't recognize him. If he was a guard of Kagutsuchi, it would be unusual for him to come down to such a lower level, and if he were from a different branch, he would have entered Kagutsuchi from a higher tier. The sight of someone wearing the Librarium's uniform in this street felt completely out of place.

The blonde young man didn't answer, but simply looked at Bang with cold green eyes. Eventually, he parted his pale lips and murmured in a low voice.

"That outfit... an Ikaruga ninja?" His voice was far from friendly. Some might have heard disdain or mockery in those words. However, Bang chose to interpret the cold tone as a form of caution, rather than hostility.

Raising his body, which had tensed in preparation, Bang hurriedly extended his hands in a gesture of reassurance.

"No, no, please don't misunderstand. I have no intention of fighting you. This is indeed a town of the Ikaruga people, and I was once an Ikaruga ninja. But the Ikaruga Civil War ended five years ago." Bang crossed his thick arms and nodded solemnly several times as he continued. "True, the cause of the end of the war wasn't a battle, but rather the explosion of our capital, Ibukido." The Ikaruga Civil War had started when the Ikaruga Federation, with the 5th Hierarchical City of Ibukido as its capital, declared its independence from the Novus Orbis Librarium. The NOL attempted to suppress this by force, and the Ikaruga Federation fought back with military resistance.

This war had continued for four years until one day…

Suddenly, an unexplained massive explosion occurred underground in Ibukido, the center of command for the Ikaruga Federation, and the city was annihilated. The explosion dealt a severe blow not only to the Ikaruga Federation, but also to the NOL, which was in the midst of the conflict. Both sides lost enough strength that they could no longer continue the war.

In the end, the Ikaruga Federation fragmented and lost its shape as an organization. But the NOL was too busy recovering from its own losses to pursue further retaliation, and the civil war gradually fizzled out and ended without anyone really noticing.

"Still, we lost. I will not throw away the peace we now have to foolishly oppose the Librarium," Bang said with a bitter smile, reaching up to touch the cross-shaped scar on his forehead with a thick hand. That scar had been caused by the explosion during the accident. Whether the accident that ended the civil war had been a blessing or a curse for him, Bang still couldn't decide. All he knew was that the people of Ikaruga had fought enough. Now, he wanted them to live in peace, even if it wasn't an easy life.

The blonde young man said nothing, quietly staring at Bang. It was impossible to discern his thoughts from his blank expression, which seemed almost absent, as if he were lost in thought. There was no sign of emotion or intention in his face.

Was he even listening? Bang, feeling uneasy, repeated his earlier question.

"So, who are you, and what are you doing in Ronin-Gai?"

"...I have no business here." Finally, the young man gave a direct answer to Bang's question. It was a curt and dismissive response, but Bang felt relieved.

If the young man had drawn his sword and said something like, "I'm here to hunt Ikaruga remnants," Bang would have been forced to put on a big display in the middle of the town, which was bustling with people. That would have caused some collateral damage, with a few houses possibly getting caught in the crossfire, and maybe a few people injured.

The young man remained expressionless, his gaze now turning toward the mountains looming in the distance. On top of those mountains were several city districts, and at the peak stood the Kagutsuchi branch of the NOL.

"I'm not interested in you people. I just want to go up."

"Up? Do you mean the Librarium's branch?" Bang asked.

"You're in the way. Move... or, no." The young man spoke coldly, but then, as if reconsidering, he lowered his voice, still remaining distant. "By the way, have you seen a man with white hair and a red coat in Kagutsuchi?" His expression remained as frozen as before, but for a brief moment, Bang could have sworn the green eyes glimmered with something like amusement.

Bang scratched his chin and thought for a moment. "White hair and a red coat... Hmm. No, I haven’t seen anyone like that around here. If he had such a noticeable appearance, I’d remember him after a glance..."

"I see. That's fine." As if he had instantly lost all interest in Bang, the youth glided past him, walking smoothly and without hesitation. The wind that passed by them was strangely cold, as if it had brushed against ice.

"Oh, you there!" Bang called out to the young man’s retreating back. "I am Bang Shishigami. What is your name?"

But the man didn't turn around. It was as if Bang's words hadn't reached him at all. As if guided by something, the young man disappeared into the outskirts of Ronin-Gai.

Bang stood there with his arm still outstretched as if trying to stop him, his face twisting in confusion. He turned his neck and muttered to himself.

"Hmm... What a strange man. It's as if his soul is missing... like he's being possessed by something."

But it was midday, and the sun was getting higher. Such ghostly phenomena—like losing one's soul or being possessed—were clearly not the kind of thing that would happen in broad daylight.

Shaking off the strange thoughts, Bang refocused his energy and straightened his chest. His patrol of Ronin-Gai wasn't over yet. The sky was growing steadily darker, and the rain would start soon. He needed to check if any houses needed repairs before the rain hit.

"Tch, these young people today, they're lacking in spirit! They walk around looking so gloomy. They need to be more dignified, stronger, and more passionate! Just like me, Bang Shishigami, the ninja of love and justice!" Laughing loudly, his voice echoing throughout the area, Bang resumed his patrol. Once this was done and his subordinates’ training was finished, if there was still time, he planned to head to Orient Town to visit and greet the woman he admired. He had already made plans in his mind.

Ronin-Gai was peaceful today.

And that, above all, was wonderful.

### Part 3

December 30, 2199 - 18:21

Although located in the lower levels of the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, Orient Town was a bustling and vibrant place. Houses were built so close together that the walls almost touched, and neighbors lived together like family, sharing limited land and resources. Although none of them were wealthy, and although there were occasional dark shadows lurking in the dim alleys, the town was warm.

Litchi Faye-Ling, a doctor who ran a small clinic in a corner of Orient Town, had always felt that way.

“Don’t overdo it until the pain goes away. Alright?” Litchi waved goodbye to a young boy who had fallen down the stairs and sprained his ankle, her smile following him as he left the clinic.

Her lustrous black hair, which reached down to her feet, was elegantly tied up high and coiled into a large updo. She had a naturally beautiful eyebrow shape that required no makeup, long eyelashes that cast shadows when she looked down, and eyes that shone with an intelligent light behind her black-framed glasses. However, her slightly upturned eyes carried a certain allure that suggested a seductive grace.

Her beauty wasn’t just limited to her appearance. Her full, firm breasts, her slender waist, her voluptuous hips that flowed smoothly into her slender ankles—her body was a work of art, with curves that would make anyone envious. Her silhouette alone was enough to draw the eyes of passersby.

It had been about a year since this beautiful doctor had come to this town. When she suddenly appeared, seeking a place to live and work, the residents of the area welcomed her warmly. She didn't say anything about where she came from, her background, or why she had come to Orient Town alone, only her name.

It would have been natural for people to be suspicious of a woman of unknown origin. But the residents of Orient Town did not probe deeply when she remained silent. Litchi was still grateful for that, even a year later. She opened the door to her clinic every day, making sure that treatment was as affordable and accessible as possible, not just for the sake of making a living, but also as a way of repaying Orient Town for the kindness and generosity with which they had welcomed her.

"Well then..." Once the boy's figure disappeared around the corner, Litchi closed the door with a soft thud and let out a sigh. Orient Town was already enveloped in the darkness of night, and small lanterns and lamps were hanging everywhere, illuminating the houses.

The sound of rain could be heard in the distance. It must have been raining steadily since early afternoon. The air in this upper part of the sky, which was now completely covered, was damp and quite cold.

Litchi’s outfit— a loose white blouse layered over a long, bright red cheongsam —perfectly outlined her alluring figure but was hardly suitable for standing in the cold. Shivering involuntarily at the sudden cold wind, Litchi hugged herself, drawing her ample bosom together. The small panda hair ornament clinging to her bun seemed to be shivering as well.

Tonight was sure to be chilly. However, she reflected that in the past, before the appearance of the Black Beast and the spread of seithr throughout the world, December used to be even colder. Back then, such thin clothing would have made walking outside impossible. Perhaps the current temperatures were mild by comparison.

She remembered that, in the past, snow would often fall during this season in this very area. As she reminisced about the winter-like season that had been distorted and lost due to the seithr, Litchi couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss. She turned on her heels to return to the clinic.

But before her pointed heels, which made her already long legs look even slenderer, could step inside, a voice called out to her abruptly from behind.

“Litchi.”

It was a deep, calm male voice.

Litchi immediately knew who it was. There was only one person who called her by her first name so warmly. Well, at least for now.

Turning around, rubbing her arms, Litchi widened her eyes in slight surprise. As expected, it was the person she had thought it would be. But he was carrying something unexpected in his arms. The owner of the voice emerged from the deep shadows of the building. Though Litchi was not short, he was so tall she had to look up at him.

He was a cyborg, known as the Red Devil of Sector Seven, with an incredibly strong body that was impossible for a normal human to possess.

“Tager…” Litchi called his name softly, and as soon as he confirmed that there was no one else around, Tager approached her. In his arms was a young girl. She was unconscious, her body limp and lifeless. She had long, soft, camellia red hair and a slender frame. And she was wearing the blue and white uniform of the NOL.

"Tager, what’s going on here? Why…?" Litchi was about to ask why he was carrying a soldier from the NOL, but before she could finish, Tager interrupted her, gently handing over the unconscious girl.

"I’m sorry, but could you take care of this girl for me? I had to knock her out for a reason, but I can’t just leave her here, and I can’t contact the Library either." He looked at her with a troubled expression, almost pleading.

She couldn't refuse him when he looked at her like that. Even though she knew him well enough to know that he would do something like this, Litchi peered at the girl in Tager’s arms. Her pulse was normal. There were no external injuries, and her breathing was steady. She had probably simply fainted from a strong shock and was now fast asleep.

“So, you’re saying you knocked her out?” Litchi glanced up at Tager’s red face through the gap in her glasses, her tone slightly reproachful.

It wasn’t hard to imagine that something had happened between Tager and this girl. Litchi was well aware of the relationship between Sector Seven and the NOL. After all, before coming to Orient Town, she had worked at the same facility as Tager, under the same superior.

“Why are you in Kagutsuchi?” While agreeing to take custody of the girl, Litchi asked in a firm voice. Sector Seven, where Tager worked, had a research facility located far from Kagutsuchi. It wasn't a place he would casually visit for personal reasons.

Tager hesitated, his face troubled, but he eventually opened his mouth, a hint of mischief in his upturned eyes.

"I don't mind if it's you. Actually..." A third voice suddenly cut in.

"Kokonoe!" Tager was startled, though he kept his voice low out of consideration for those around him. A tense feeling ran through Litchi. The third voice came from a small communication device in Tager's ear. On the other side of that device was Tager’s superior and creator, and until a year ago, Litchi’s own superior: Kokonoe.

"What are you so surprised about? Hacking into the line is nothing. Don’t cut off the connection without permission, understood, Tager?" The voice, altered to be heard not only by Tager but those nearby, spoke in a low, controlled tone. The words had a sharpness and tension to them that left no room for argument or rebuttal. It was an authoritative tone, tinged with an air of irritability. A year ago, Litchi had often been scolded by this voice. Bitterness and nostalgia welled up within her, and she looked away from Tager, as if to shield her eyes from the sound.

"Professor Kokonoe..."

"Long time no see, Litchi. What are you doing in a place like this?"

Litchi didn't know how to react. She tightened her arms around herself, as if to protect herself from something other than the cold. She could feel Kokonoe's sharp, penetrating gaze, honed by intellect and reason, watching her through the communication device.

"That's... Well, professor, shouldn’t you already know?" She knew that Kokonoe must know why she was in Kagutsuchi, why she had chosen to live in the lower-level Orient Town, and why she had left Sector Seven. There was nothing more she needed to explain.

"You still haven't given up on him?"

As she thought, Kokonoe already knew. She knew why Litchi was here. Perhaps that’s why the voice from the comm device felt almost like an accusation, as if Kokonoe were rebuking her.

"Give up? How could I possibly give up?" Litchi replied, squeezing the words from her chest. There was a burst of static from the comm device. It was Kokonoe’s sigh—sounding more exasperated than anything else.

"I’ll say it one more time. Stop thinking about saving him. He’s beyond saving. You can’t help him."

"I still don't understand!" Litchi shook her head vigorously.

The kind, gentle, and sometimes stern doctor that the residents of Orient Town knew was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was the face of a weak girl desperately trying to protect something. A face like she was shaking her head to prevent her precious treasure from being taken away.

Litchi looked sternly at Tager, her eyes fixed on the communication device on his ear.

"How can you be so indifferent, professor? You haven't tried everything. He just made a small mistake. He rushed things a little. And... he was your... your first subordinate, wasn’t he?" Litchi’s voice trembled with emotion. It could almost be called a quiver.

She couldn’t understand. She couldn’t accept it. She didn’t want to accept it. That rejection was evident not just in her voice but also in her sad, furrowed brow.

Once again, Kokonoe’s sigh came through the comm device. This time, it wasn’t a sigh of exasperation, but of frustration, almost as if she were pulling her hair out.

"I'm sorry, professor... But I... I can't give up," Litchi said, clenching her hands tightly in front of her chest. But deep down, she understood. She was a doctor, and until a year ago, she had been a researcher. That was why, despite the emotions she felt, she also knew how to remain cold and rational when necessary. She had understood this about herself long ago, though it was something she hated.

"There's nothing I can do."

A year ago, Litchi had left Sector Seven, where she’d worked alongside Kokonoe and Tager, to help someone. That person had been researching seithr and the Boundary, which was said to have brought this substance into the world. But then, something happened to him. He became increasingly confused, eventually disappearing from public view, and finally, he ceased to be human.

It was the result of his continued exposure to seithr and his overzealous research into the Boundary. He became unable to distinguish himself from the Boundary, and lost his original form.

Just as it is impossible to restore something that has been digested back to its original state, it is also impossible to return something that has been assimilated into the Boundary back to its previous form.

Even though Litchi followed him all the way to this place, Orient Town in Kagutsuchi, even though she stayed here, heard rumors about him, and searched for his shadow, even though she studied seithr and non-human species, even though she reached for the Boundary just as he did...

She couldn't change anything.

The "man" Litchi was looking for had taken refuge in the sewers beneath the lower levels of Kagutsuchi, accessible through Orient Town. Day after day, he wandered aimlessly, driven solely by his instincts.

"All of my subordinates are idiots..." Kokonoe spat out. Litchi couldn't look up. She thought she was foolish too. She had no rebuttal.

A heavy silence fell for a few seconds. Then, light footsteps ran towards the entrance of Litchi's hospital.

"I'm home... Wow, you're huge!"

A small girl appeared. She had brown skin, her black hair was tied up in a ponytail, and she was wearing clothes that allowed for easy movement. She had a small bag filled with daily necessities slung over her thin arms and chest, but when she looked up at Tager's massive figure, she was so surprised that she hugged it tightly.

"Linhua...! W-welcome back!" Litchi quickly turned around, a bit flustered.

Linhua was Litchi's assistant, a young girl who aspired to be a doctor. Linhua’s large, round eyes widened even further as she stared up at Tager, who was much more imposing up close than from a distance.

"I'm home, Doctor. Uh... who is this person? A patient?"

"Well, that..." Litchi hesitated, at a loss for words. Linhua was a reliable assistant, both personally and professionally, but Litchi had never told her about her past, nor did she intend to.

Litchi could not let Tager or Kokonoe overhear their conversation. She cast a glance toward Teiger, silently pleading for help. But by then, Tager had already turned off the comm. The giant, who was more rational than he looked, understood perfectly well what Litchi disliked. However, as if in exchange, he thrust the unconscious girl into Litchi's arms.

"I have a mission. I have to go now. Please take care of this girl." Tager had come here not to broadcast Kokonoe's feelings or to start an argument between his superior and Litchi, but for the safety of this red-haired girl.

"I understand. I'll take care of her." In this situation, there was no way Litchi could refuse. She accepted the girl without hesitation.

The girl’s limp, unresponsive body certainly wasn’t light, but Litchi had enough strength to carry her to bed. She was confident in her physical strength, even if it wasn't befitting of a doctor or researcher.

Seeing the person Litchi had taken, Linhua frowned unhappily.

"Isn't she a guard from the Library? Why..."

Why would she be taking care of a guard? That's what Linhua was about to say.

Linhua was born in Orient Town. Like most of the lower levels’ residents, she strongly resented the NOL’s oppressive rule. The blue and white uniform worn by the unremarkable female guard seemed to symbolize the root cause of the hardships and poverty that had plagued her life. Even though Litchi understood this sentiment, she gently scolded Linhua.

"No matter who she is, a patient is a patient. Linhua, prepare the bed." "Yes, Dr. Litchi," Linhua replied, understanding her point. Clutching the paper bag tightly once more, Linhua reluctantly nodded and ran to the back of the hospital.

Watching her go, Litchi slung the unconscious girl's arm over her shoulder to support her wet body. As Litchi looked up one last time, Tager spoke.

"Litchi. There's something I want to tell you. Kokonoe wants you to return to the institution. If you're willing, she's ready to help you anytime." Tager interpreted this as the message Kokonoe had wanted to say by intruding on the communication line earlier. The difficult, neurotic voice of their superior was terrible at conveying emotional things to people. Tager, having worked closer with Kokonoe than anyone else, knew this firsthand.

Litchi looked surprised, then relaxed her face and shook her head sadly.

"I can’t return. Not until I settle things with that man." She would surely regret it if she did. She might even resent Kokonoe, unjustly. "And even if I do settle it, if I try to go back, I'm sure Kokonoe wouldn't accept me."

If she could bring that person back, it wouldn't be easy, and it certainly wouldn't be humane. She would have to touch things that she shouldn't touch. She would have to see things that she shouldn't see. She would have to know things that she shouldn't know. She didn't want to imagine how Kokonoe would look at her when that happened.

Tager groaned thoughtfully, his expression twisting with bitterness.

"I see. I don’t understand these complicated matters, but…" He couldn't stay and talk forever. Tager turned his broad red back to Litchi. "I'll take my leave now. ...Take care."

With those words, Tager walked back the way he came without looking back. As he disappeared into the dark shadows, his large back vanished into the alleyways of Orient Town. Litchi, too, turned her back on him and carried the unconscious soldier into the clinic. Once she closed the door behind her, she was back in her small, familiar hospital.

The girl's body was completely cold from being carried in the rain. After carrying her to the bed that Linhua had prepared, Litchi laid her down on the clean sheets and carefully removed the blue hat and boots that were part of her uniform. Taking her hands, which had lost all strength down to the fingertips, Litchi removed her gloves and the stiff metal cuffs attached to the sleeves.

Listening to the sound of Linhua tidying up the supplies she had bought in the next room, Litchi gently covered the sleeping girl with a blanket, though it wasn't the best quality.

"It might be a little cold tonight with just this..." she murmured aloud.

At that moment, a strange sensation, like an invisible thread being cut, ran down Litchi's spine. However, she mistook it for a chill brought on by the cold and left the room to fetch another blanket for her new patient. She would never know that in that moment, she had lost something precious to her.

### Part 4

December 30, 2199 - 18:21

The rain continued to fall. The sky grew darker, and eventually, a strong wind began to blow. As night fell, the air grew colder. This was already a high place, incredibly high when counted from the ground. And to top it all off, there was nothing to block the wind and rain.

"Ah... this is just the worst."

Standing on the rooftop of the Kagutsuchi branch of the Novus Orbis Librarium, at the highest point of the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, Hazama stared up at the endless rainstorm, genuinely exasperated.

His black suit, not part of the uniform, and the hat he wore for protection against the rain, were useless. Within seconds of arriving, they were soaked through. He had thought that if he waited a bit, the rain would lighten up, but he now wondered what the point of wasting that time was.

"If this wasn't a direct order from my superior or that person, I'd call in sick and go back to the script department." It was utterly depressing. The thought of having to work alone in this wind and rain was unbearable.

"Well, there's no use complaining forever." Hazama muttered, pitying himself as he pulled a small communicator from his suit's inner pocket. He put it to his ear and waited.

The day had long since passed, and it was dark. There was no chance of moonlight with these thick rain clouds. The pale light from the rooftop entrance behind Hazama illuminated the circular, wet rooftop like a spotlight, casting a cold glow.

"It’s me." A voice came through the communicator. It was a man's voice. Low, with no trace of emotion in it.

Hazama put his hands in his pants pocket and straightened his back slightly.

"Good evening. This is Hazama. I've arrived at the scene. It's pouring rain, by the way."

"I see. Then begin."

"Oh, so cold. No words of encouragement, Colonel?" The brim of his hat was useless. Hazama pushed back his wet bangs with his fingers and smiled wryly. Although, if the man on the other end had offered words of encouragement, it would have been so creepy that he wouldn't be able to focus on his work.

""We don't have much time. Hurry up."

"Yeah, yeah. Honestly, both you and that person are so demanding." Hazama added, "I'll see you later," and ended the communication. He tossed the small communicator into the air as if it were a toy, caught it, and then returned it to his pocket.

The rain was cold. Hazama slightly lifted the brim of his black hat. Golden eyes peered out from beneath his wet hair. He fixed his sharp gaze on the countless raindrops shimmering in the light, and beyond that, on the empty, silent rooftop space that was also quietly getting wet.

Hazama shrugged slightly and smiled. It was as if he were speaking to someone.

"I know. I want to finish this quickly too."

The sound of the rain continued uninterrupted. There was no one else there but Hazama, and of course, there was no one else to see. The rooftop, bathed in rain and mist, was silent and empty, unable to speak or complain. It only grew wetter.

Hazama put away the communicator, adjusted his hat a little, and stepped toward the center of the rooftop. The sound of his hard leather shoes tapping against the wet floor echoed with a faint splash of water.

Hazama smiled as he walked. With both hands in his pockets, his thin shoulders rose slightly, and they shook rhythmically with each sound he made. Alone, on the peak of Kagutsuchi where not even birds dared to approach, Hazama smiled softly, as if without a care in the world. He spoke as though soothing someone only he could understand.

"Don't rush me so much. We'll get it back eventually, Terumi."

### 044. Chapter 3: Grim Reaper — The Man Called Death God

## BBCT Part 1 Chapter 3: Grim Reaper — The Man Called Death God

### Part 1

A sound of dripping, whether it was water or something more repulsive, echoed from the high ceiling.

In the deep, foul-smelling sewer, a black mass lay on the cold, unclean floor. At first glance, it looked like a bag of slime or a corpse wrapped in black sludge. But it was neither. It was the prostrate form of a grotesque monster that inhabited the sewers, Arakune.

"Damn it... you sure know how to be a pain." Ragna muttered as he looked down at the blackened mass, sword dangling from his hand.

He had wasted a lot of time subduing this creature whose unpredictable movements were far removed from those of humans or even beasts. He had been trying to take a shortcut, but this had been a huge detour.

"Gug... gug... overcharged kick..." Arakune, a quivering mass of black seithr, groaned with its white, mask-like face floating within it. It was as if a mud puddle were speaking. It could no longer resist. It seemed to have lost the power to spew out strange spirits as it had done before.

Taokaka, at Ragna's side, wagged her tail with a triumphant grin.

"Tao won! You won't do any more bad things, Squiddly! Or else, next time, I won't be so gentle!"

"Nah. There won’t be a next time." Ragna muttered under his breath, stepping forward.

"Meow?" Taokaka tilted her head, puzzled by his words. This strange, carefree cat-like creature likely had no concept of what he meant. Ragna, however, looked down at Arakune's writhing form and raised his sword.

"This thing's already lost all reason. It's completely consumed by the Boundary... by the seithr. If we leave it, it'll just gather more around it and recover, then start absorbing anything it comes into contact with." Ragna’s voice was matter-of-fact.

Perhaps it needed life force. Things connected to the Boundary often had such properties. They couldn't help but devour the souls of others. It was the same as the instinct of a hungry animal, something separate from thought. Eat, eat, eat. That was all.

"Ugigi, not enough... not enough... crumbling... crumbling..." Arakune sputtered as it raised a skeletal arm from its blackened body, tracing an arc in the air. It looked pitiful, weak, and broken.

"Don't take it personally..." Ragna muttered, almost like an afterthought. "Though I guess, you won't be able to feel anything now."

With a single, swift motion, Ragna brought the sword down. There was a dull impact — the sword was light enough to crush bones and flesh, yet heavy enough to pound through the goo and slime. Something broke, something tore.

The sword struck true, and the black, shadowy form twisted and writhed on the blade. The skeletal hand reached out weakly, as if it had no strength left. With a final weak gesture and a trembling voice, it lost its shape.

The protruding bony arm fell to the floor and shattered into pieces. At the same time, the black body crumbled like dry earth, becoming as fine as sand, and then as fine as mist, turning into a mere blackened stain on the slime of the sewer.

There was no corpse left. Although traces could still be seen, who would think that this was the remains of a strange monster?

Perhaps it had already been a formless, non-existent thing. Thinking about that, Ragna frowned at the small murmur the Arakune had let out at the end.

"... Azure?" The voice was muffled and indistinct, but it had definitely said that.

Ragna knew exactly what that word symbolized. Something very close to him.

Naturally, Ragna's gaze fell on his prosthetic right arm. Hidden beneath the black clothes and red coat sleeve, the arm was covered by a black glove. No skin was visible from the outside.

That arm was not the one he was born with. Though it had the same shape and moved like a human arm, what extended from his right shoulder down was a grimoire.

BlazBlue.

The Azure Grimoire.

He learned that name after losing his birth arm and gaining this one in its place.

Although it was called a grimoire, it wasn't used to activate spells. What it could use was... fragments of the Boundary's power.

This arm was connected to the Boundary. It was like a small "cauldron." And it could also be considered a condensed Arakune.

The blackened substance caked beneath him felt all too familiar.

"Damn it..." Ragna clenched his right fist tightly and involuntarily cursed. He could feel it. He could move it freely. But it wasn't his own flesh and blood; it was a terrifying foreign object. The sensation was disgusting.

Involuntarily, his memories stirred. The night he lost his arm flashed through his mind. It was from that night. From that night, Ragna's world changed, and everything began.

"Hey, Good Guy~!"

"Whoa!" A sudden shock, like being pushed from behind, shattered his thoughts.

It didn't take long to realize that Taokaka had jumped on him and clung to him, but it took a bit of effort and a lot of muscle to pull his body back from the big stumble he had taken because of the sudden force.

"Ouch... Hey! Don't just jump on me like that!" He had almost crashed face-first into Arakune’s remains. Ragna turned around sharply, trying to shake off Taokaka who was clinging to his back. But she stubbornly remained on his back, climbing up to his head and peering into his face.

"Meow, I called you and you were spacing out. If you didn't respond, I was going to throw you over there."

"Ugh..." Taokaka's big hand pointed to the sewer river. Ragna didn't want to think about what the liquid flowing between the sludge and waste was composed of.

"So? What is it?" Remembering that she had called out to him, Ragna removed her arm and lifted Taokaka off his back.

This time, Taokaka obediently stepped down and stretched both hands high into the air, looking up at Ragna. The expression on her black face, hidden beneath her hood, was a joyful smile that seemed completely delighted.

"Thank you, Good Guy!"

"Huh? What for?"

"Good Guy is a benefactor. You not only fed Tao, but you also defeated the Squiggly. The villagers will be so happy!" Taokaka expressed her joy with her whole body, her voice as bright as a song. Ragna smiled weakly. He returned his sword to his waist and scratched his head.

"Don't tell me you were going to throw your benefactor into the sewer."

"That's different, meow."

"You..." Ragna could only manage a dry laugh at Taokaka’s casual response. "Well... whatever. Let's go anyway. We wasted a lot of time thanks to that guy, and if we stay here any longer, we'll start to smell." His nose had already gotten used to the smell, and he couldn’t tell how bad he smelled.

Taokaka jumped around Ragna happily. "Okay! Then let’s go, Good Guy! Tao will lead the way, meow~!"

"Alright, alright. I hope we won't run into any more of those monsters."

"Don't worry. There's only one Squiggly. And even if more come out, Tao and Good Guy will beat it up!" Raising her fist as if in a cheer, Taokaka's light voice echoed through the sewer ceiling. Following the lively back of Taokaka, Ragna climbed over the rubble once more.

Thanks to Taokaka’s lively mood, the journey through the sewer felt surprisingly cheerful. It was a bit noisy, but the rest of the journey was peaceful, with no real problems to speak of. After passing through a long corridor, they encountered a complex set of ladders. Climbing those, they reached another dark, long hallway. They repeated this several times, walking for hours. Finally, Ragna reached the end of the escape route.

"Climbing this ladder will take us outside, meow." Taokaka said, stopping at the foot of the ladder. Instead of continuing as a passage, the end of the ladder was a dead end. It was probably a lid. Beyond that was the upper level of Kagutsuchi.

Relying on the green moss that grew slightly at his feet and the small, regularly spaced maintenance lights, Ragna looked up to gauge the distance to the lid and turned to Taokaka.

"Thanks. I appreciate the guide."

"It was nothing. But I want more food, meow!" Taokaka wiped her mouth, as if she hadn't eaten several servings just a while ago.

Ragna felt a cold shiver run down his spine. If he had paid for that meal properly, he would probably be washing dishes at that restaurant right now.

"...I'll buy you one meat bun."

"Yay!" Taokaka waved her hands in joy. Ragna couldn’t help but chuckle and grabbed the ladder. It was surprisingly sturdy, probably because it was in the upper level area.

"Well, see you later. Be careful."

"Meow!" With a salute-like pose, Taokaka ran back the way she came, as if a kitten were running away. She stopped a few steps away, turned around, and waved vigorously at Ragna. "Come visit our village next time, Good Guy!"

Her unrestrained voice echoed throughout the sewer once more. With that loud echo, Taokaka finally disappeared into the darkness of the sewer. Her light footsteps were so faint, and the echoes of her voice bouncing off every wall slowly faded away, until the sound of her running was long gone.

An unnatural silence fell, as if more than just one person had left. Somehow, the darkness around seemed to grow thicker.

Ragna began to climb the ladder. There was no light in the narrow exit leading up, and he had to proceed completely by feel from halfway up. As he moved his hands and feet heavily, he let out a sigh.

(I never thought I'd be going through a place like this with such a noisy person...)

It was a completely unexpected situation. It would have been impossible to anticipate. After all, Ragna had always avoided traveling with anyone. There were several reasons for this.

One was that he was wanted as a criminal. Given that he was a target of the organization that ruled the world, he was not optimistic enough to wander around with someone in tow.

The other was... Azure. What the sewer monster, Arakune, had uttered. Ragna's right arm. The Azure Grimoire.

Things connected to the Boundary often had such properties.

Like Arakune, this arm also craved life force.

No, it's not that it craved it out of some kind of will. It was so fundamental and instinctive that even thinking of it as something as simple as eating because it was hungry felt too intellectual, Ragna thought.

Just by existing, it automatically absorbed the life force of those nearby.

Naturally, it would be fatal to be around it for too long. That's why Ragna never sought companions and had always traveled alone, visiting various branches of the NOL. He intended to continue doing so. In other words, this shortcut, though short-lived, was a very unusual experience.

"I wonder what that thing was all about. It said something about the Kaka tribe." Tired of listening to the hard-hitting sound of the ladder, Ragna muttered to himself. Since it had also mentioned a village, there must be a settlement near Orient Town. So, are there many more creatures like that?

"...That thing was so noisy."

Then, it seemed like he would never have enough food.

The echo of his voice was different from before. The ceiling lid was near.

Thinking about that, Ragna's consciousness shifted away from the cat girl he had just parted ways with and turned sharply toward the outside.

A little more. Once he got out of here and through the upper city, he would climb higher and higher up Kagutsuchi. Then he would see it right away. The magnificent, yet unnecessarily large figure of the Novus Orbis Librarium’s Kagutsuchi branch.

Ah. The sigh he let out was hot and smoldering, a complete contrast to the one he had just let out.

(I'll wait until there’s nobody around and enter head-on. I'll knock out any guards who get in my way. Then, I'll take the elevator in the center to the very bottom... the basement.)

What’s hidden deep beneath the branch?

Destroy the cauldron.

His purpose and the actions he took to achieve it were always the same. Destroying the cauldron. For now, that was all that mattered. If he destroyed every cauldron in the world, then…

His outstretched hand touched something blocking his way instead of the ladder. Pushing upwards with all his might, a heavy object creaked as it slowly rose. Light from outside came in. He thought it might be dawn, but fortunately, the sun hadn't risen yet. It was dark outside. And quiet. There was no sign of anyone.

(First, I'll find somewhere to rest.)

It would be nice if he could find an unused storage room or warehouse before it got light and lie down to rest. Carefully and quietly, so as not to make any unnecessary noise, he opened the lid and inhaled a breath of fresh air for the first time in several hours.

### Part 2

December 31, 2199 — 13:58

Her arm moved at the sense of someone's presence.

With blurry eyes and a hazy mind, she recognized the clean white sheets and the long, camellia red hair scattered on them - her own hair. Then the warm blanket draped over her shoulders and her own white hand gently held within it.

It took Tsubaki a few seconds to understand that she was lying on a bed.

(…A bed?)

But why was she sleeping in a bed? A question popped up in her mind, but her head wasn't working well enough to do anything about it. She sighed. Her consciousness was unclear.

(No, I can't do this. I have to be strong...)

Without voicing it, Tsubaki told herself to steady her sluggish mind. Slowly, she sat up.

"......Huh?" Suddenly, she realized the strangeness of her situation.

It was a place she had never seen before. The walls were a yellowish white, the ceiling and floor were made of brown wood. The oddly latticed windows were round, and the view outside was clearly that of a lower-class district with a dimly lit, cluttered cityscape. There was a sharp smell of disinfectant in the air.

Tsubaki blinked her clear blue eyes a few times. This was not her room. Of course, it wasn't a facility of the NOL either.

"Where am I...?" Her weak voice expressed her confusion. And then…

"Meow!" Suddenly, a pair of large triangular ears popped out from the foot of the bed where Tsubaki was lying. Then, a large, round hand was placed on the edge of the bed, and a head slowly peered over, as if to observe the situation.

It was a strange-looking creature. It resembled a stuffed cat made of sewn-together cloth, but the face peeking over the edge of the bed was not adorned with buttons or embroidery thread. Instead, it had a pair of red circles floating in a pitch-black space, which seemed to be its eyes. Its mouth seemed to be a white triangle floating below the red circles.

It was strange, but rather than being creepy, it felt endearing, perhaps because of the tail, which was the only part that was white and swayed gently behind it. It was long and slender, more like a real cat than a stuffed animal.

(It... it's not a cat, is it...?)

She tilted her head awkwardly, staring at the red circles that were staring back at her. The cat-like creature with the triangular ears also tilted its head. It might even be cute, she thought. But that thought was short-lived.

​​"Ohh~ here it is!"

"Huh... what?"

"Boobie Lady, Boobie Lady! The sleeping person woke up!" Suddenly, the creature with the triangular ears and tail jumped up and shouted loudly, waving its hands towards the outside of the room. Startled, Tsubaki hugged the blanket on the bed, and she could hear the sound of several people running towards her.

"Oh, you're awake! Well, that's good!" The first person to rush into the room was a large man. As soon as he entered, he shouted so loudly that it seemed to vibrate the air in the room, and then he strode over to the bedside where Tsubaki was lying.

He was dressed in something like an Ikaryu ninja outfit, with a red cloth wrapped around his neck like a muffler. There was a large scar in the shape of an X on his face.

Next came a small girl. Pushing aside the big man, she slid to the side of the bed and placed her hand on Tsubaki's forehead with a slightly sullen expression.

"You don't seem to have a fever. I'll check your temperature properly later, but how are you feeling?"

"I... I'm fine... I think." Tsubaki replied, confused.

"You think ? What does that even mean? Be clear about it." The girl pursed her lips in dissatisfaction. She had bright, spirited eyes and skin as smooth as the hand that had touched Tsubaki. She had her neatly combed black hair tied up at the back of her head. She was wearing clothes that were easy to move in. If she hadn't heard her voice, Tsubaki might have mistaken her for a boy.

"Linhua, you shouldn’t speak like that to someone who’s just woken up." A new voice spoke softly, with a hint of sensuality in its tone. The large man stepped aside to make way. Behind him appeared a beautiful woman carrying a pitcher and a glass on a tray.

Tsubaki was instantly captivated by her refined features, supple limbs, and curvaceous figure. Her skin was smooth and white, and the thin lenses of her glasses and the black eyes twinkling behind them conveyed a gentle intelligence. Yet, the thinly painted red lips were oddly alluring, and whenever she smiled, it was impossible to look away.

It wasn’t just Tsukaki who was drawn to her captivating appearance. The large man with the red scarf seemed similarly entranced. When she thanked him for clearing the way, he visibly blushed and gave a wide smile.

Passing in front of him, she flicked the long hem of her red dress and placed a tray on the bedside table. The beautiful woman with glasses poured water from a pitcher into a glass and offered it to Tsubaki.

"I'm Litchi Faye-Ling. This is a hospital in Orient Town, and I'm the doctor here."

"A doctor? Oh..." As she accepted the glass, Tsukaki wondered why she was in a doctor's office. Then she remembered.

That's right. It was raining. She had parted ways with Hazama, the intelligence officer, at Kagutsuchi's fifth port and came to Orient Town alone. And then she’d spotted a man working on something. The Red Devil from Sector Seven. She was supposed to contact the Kagutsuchi branch of the Librarium to apprehend him. Or was she? Her memory was hazy and unclear.

Just then, the Red Devil had suddenly reached out to her, and as she braced herself for the attack... or perhaps just before that moment, sparks flew in front of her eyes, and she had no memory of what happened after that.

"That's right, I... at that time..." Tsubaki gripped the glass in her hand. She realized that she had lost to the Red Devil. And it had been with just one blow, so easily that she couldn't even remember it.

It was pathetic, even though she was a soldier. While scolding herself inwardly, Tsubaki tried to put on a calm expression and looked up. ...However, she couldn't say that she was successful.

"Litchi-san... ...right? You saved me."

"Oh, no. I simply took you in, gave you some basic treatment, and lent you a bed. Someone else brought you here." Litchi lowered her eyebrows slightly, looking a bit troubled, and waved her hand in front of her. Suddenly, the alluring and enchanting atmosphere around her became warm and friendly. Next to Litchi, the girl with a boyish appearance pouted and crossed her thin arms, looking dissatisfied.

"…If it weren't for this place, you probably would’ve been dumped somewhere nearby. You should thank the doctor." "Now, Linhua." Litchi quickly chided her with a sharp tone. Linhua didn't argue, but she snorted and turned her face away from Tsubaki and Litchi.

Litchi pushed up the end of her glasses with her finger and gave Tsubaki a wry smile.

"I'm sorry about that. This child is my assistant, Linhua, and she was born and raised in this town. So... she has complicated feelings about people like soldiers." Tsubaki nodded, sensing the complex emotions contained in the single word "complicated."

The NOL was a huge organization. But the world was even bigger, and even in the Hierarchical Cities, there were inevitably parts where the government's reach was effective and parts where it was not.

Kagutsuchi's Orient Town was a good example. The NOL did not have enough manpower to maintain the city's infrastructure or public safety, and support for the poor was insufficient. Therefore, it was not uncommon for people in these lower-class towns to resent the NOL.

...Tsubaki had heard rumors about this in the NOL. This was the first time she had seen this resentment firsthand. Somehow, she didn't know how to put it into words.

Seeing Tsubaki's somber expression, Litchi smiled again and, as if to cheer her up, introduced the other two people in a bright voice.

"This is Taokaka, and this is Bang. They're both my friends." She first pointed to a strange girl with a triangular hood covering her head and a swaying cat's tail.

Taokaka thrust her arm towards Tsubaki with a bouncy motion. "If you're a friend of the Boobie Lady, then you're a friend of Tao too! Nice to meet you!"

"I'm Bang Shishigami. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance!" Bang, the large man with the scarred face who was introduced next, greeted her with as much vigor as Taokaka. Their excitement was enough to blow away the tense and strained atmosphere with Linhua just a moment ago.

Tsubaki involuntarily drew back slightly on the bed. She had heard that there were all sorts of people living in the lower levels of the city, but she was truly experiencing it firsthand now. As if seeing through Tsubaki's confusion or admiration, Litchi smiled slightly and amusedly.

"If you don’t mind, may I ask your name?"

Only then did Tsukaki realize she hadn't introduced herself. Thanks to her Librarium uniform, her role as a soldier was apparent, but that alone wasn't enough to show her gratitude to the person who had helped her. Hurriedly, Tsubaki straightened her posture, clasped her hands neatly on her lap, and bowed to Litchi, Linhua, Taokaka, and Bang.

"My apologies. I am Tsukaki Yayoi, Second Lieutenant in the Fourth Thaumaturgist Squadron of the Novus Orbis Librarium. I am truly grateful for all your help."

"Oh, you don't have to be so formal. I just wanted to know your name because I thought it would be rude to keep calling you soldier forever." Litchi waved her hand hurriedly and smiled gently. Tsubaki couldn't help but relax her cheeks at her easygoing manner. Perhaps she was more cheerful than she looked.

Next to her, Bang grabbed his chin with his thick fingers and groaned thoughtfully.

"It's rare to see a soldier from headquarters in such a lower level. Even the Kagutsuchi guards don't come down here very often."

"Well..." Tsubaki hesitated and took another sip from the cup she was holding. She wanted to be honest and tell him everything since she had been helped, but the command that this was a top-secret mission came to mind.

Just as she was about to say that she was sorry but couldn't talk about the mission, Bang suddenly clapped his hands.

"Come to think of it, I saw a strange soldier yesterday. Could that blond man be your companion?"

"A blond... man?" For Bang, it was probably just a casual thought. But those words pulled Tsubaki's attention like a magnet.

There were countless blond-haired men in the NOL. Considering that there were a considerable number of them at headquarters alone, the total number, including all the branches nationwide, was unimaginable.

But for Tsubaki, only one person came to mind.

"That man! Who was he?! When and where did you see him!?" Suddenly throwing off the blanket, Tsubaki pressed herself up from the bed towards Bang. Even Bang seemed taken aback and leaned back, spreading his arms in front of his chest as if to calm her. But Tsubaki didn't see any of that.

"Please tell me, what was he like? Did you talk to him? What was his name? Was he injured...?" Before Tsubaki could finish her rapid-fire questions, a dizziness distorted her vision. Losing her balance, she pressed her head and dropped her raised bottom onto the bed mat.

Litchi touched her shoulder and forehead soothingly. "Don't push yourself, Tsubaki-san. You've been asleep all night. Even though there are no visible external injuries, you did lose consciousness once. You should rest first..."

"I- no, I'm fine... wait, all night!" Tsubaki's voice cracked in belated realization. She accidentally slapped Litchi's hand away, causing her to gasp in surprise. Tsubaki realized that she had been rude and became flustered. "I-I’m sorry, but… the whole night...?"

"Yes, yes. You were brought here yesterday... around six thirty in the evening, I think. It's the next day now, the 31st, around two o'clock." Litchi answered, looking at the clock in the room while still a little shaken.

Seeing Tsubaki's face turn pale, Linhua frowned worriedly.

"What's wrong? Did you have a date?"

"Are you hungry, meow?"

"Tao, be quiet for a moment."

"Okay, meow?" At the foot of the bed, Taokaka's large hand began to knead the crumpled blanket. Normally, Tsubaki would have smiled at the sight, but she didn't have the energy.

"No, what should I do? I'm on a mission..." Oh, but that's not what's important right now. Even as the shock of reality caused another dizzy spell, Tsubaki looked up at Bang pleadingly. "Please tell me about that blond-haired man. When and where did you meet him?"

"I saw him yesterday morning in a vagrant town below this one," Bang replied with a serious expression, instead of his usual bold smile, seeing Tsubaki's unusual state. "I didn't get his name, but he was a young man. He was rather thin, with green eyes. He had sharp eyes and was wearing the same uniform as you. He also had a sword with a blue sheath."

Tsubaki's eyes widened at the words "blue sheath." Jin's beloved sword. Tsubaki didn't know its name, but Jin had never let anyone, especially Tsubaki, touch that sword with its cold blue sheath.

It had to be him. There was no doubt about it. Thinking that, Tsubaki's heart began to pound like a drum.

"Where... where was he going? Didn't he say anything?" Her voice trembled as she asked.

Bang replied in a clear, low voice. "He didn't say where, but he said he was going up. And he said he was looking for a man with white hair and a red coat..."

The words "white hair and red coat" had become synonymous with a certain man in the current NOL.

"The 'Grim Reaper'... Ragna the Bloodedge." The words slipped from Tsukaki’s lips before she even realized it, bringing with them a deep understanding.

"Tsubaki-san?"

"Yes, because Brother Jin… he said it himself. But why… why didn’t I realize it sooner?"

No, wait… it wasn’t that she didn’t realize it. It was that she hadn’t wanted to see it.

Without paying any attention to Litchi, who was peering at her with concern, Tsubaki touched her trembling lips with her fingertips. Her fingertips were also trembling slightly.

Jin Kisaragi, who had disappeared from the NOL, had come to Kagutsuchi to pursue Ragna the Bloodedge. That meant he must also be searching for Ragna the Bloodedge in Kagutsuchi. How would he search? Would he wander around the vast Kagutsuchi aimlessly, like Tsubaki?

Jin was a calm and intelligent person. He knew how to achieve his goals. Ragna the Bloodedge was a vicious criminal who went around destroying branches all over the world. So, if he waited at a branch that was his target, the Grim Reaper would eventually come. After all, his purpose in coming to Kagutsuchi was the branch itself.

"I have to go!" Tsubaki slid off the bed as if she had been shot. But Litchi immediately stopped her.

"Wait. I told you, you still—"

"I have to go! There's someone I'm looking for. Someone important! I have to go quickly..." She didn't know what would happen if she didn't go. She didn't know why she felt such a burning sense of urgency. Tsubaki pleaded with Litchi as if she were spitting out words.

Suddenly, the look of anxiety, apprehension, and worry, typical of a doctor, disappeared from Litchi's face. Her gentle eyes were now stern, and she looked at Tsubaki intently.

"Did you come here from headquarters for that person?"

"Y... yes. I don't know if I can do anything. But I have to find him no matter what."

If she didn't, Jin would be pursued by the NOL as a traitor. It wasn’t because of the mission. It wasn’t because of an order. She couldn’t let Jin be accused of something he didn’t do.

Litchi took her hand off Tsubaki's shoulder and went to a machine at the end of the room, flipping the hem of her long dress. There, neatly folded, were Tsubaki's gloves and the removable parts of her uniform. There was also a beret-like hat and a holster with a small gun.

"If you still feel dizzy, don't run or overexert yourself. If you overdo it, it'll be counterproductive." As she spoke, Litchi handed Tsubaki the gloves and sleeves and put the hat on her head.

Tsukaki clenched the items tightly and nodded deeply. "Yes. Thank you very much." She quickly put on the sleeve parts and gloves, then stepped into her boots. Her body swayed slightly when she stepped down, but she didn't feel any pain.

"Thank you so much for everything. Excuse me!" Bowing deeply, Tsubaki turned around and ran out hurriedly. Her steps weren’t light by any means, and the door slammed loudly behind her, echoing through the clinic. Litchi, watching the whirlwind of activity, looked back toward the door with a faintly troubled expression.

"Is that okay, Dr. Litchi?"

"She doesn’t have any injuries, and her health seems fine for now, so she should be okay for the time being. Even if something happens, she’s a soldier. Once she reaches the upper levels, there are plenty of facilities that can help her if needed." With one arm around her chest and her fingertip touching her mouth, Lychee looked back at the door, just like Linhua. Her expression was half-dazed, but that daze was not directed at Tsubaki herself.

"Besides, she seems to have very important business." She's looking for someone important. When that thought was directed at her so straightforwardly, Litchi couldn't deny it. She couldn't refuse. She was also here because she was looking for someone important.

"Kuu, Litchi-dono is so kind! I, Bang Shishigami, am deeply moved by Litchi-dono's words of love!" Bang grabbed Litchi's hands tightly with both of his, tears of emotion streaming down his face.

"Oh, Bang-san, you're so dramatic..." Litchi's gaze was directed straight at him, just as it had been with Tsubaki. But when it came from this man, she didn't know how to react. While smiling wryly, she felt something nostalgic in the warmth of his touch.

Litchi turned her head to the left, towards the bed.

"Nyuuhh... Nyaaah... Meow…"

"Come on, Tao. That's not a bed for napping, so get down. Another patient might come, and I'll have to change the sheets right away."

"Five more minutes, meow~..." Taokaka rolled over, and a hard object she had been holding in her paw fell under the bed. At the same time, she kicked the side table with her foot, causing the cup and pitcher on the table to almost topple over.

Litchi quickly reached out, and both the glass cup and the ceramic pitcher were saved from falling. But because of that, no one heard the small sound of something falling into the gap between the bed and the wall.

What had fallen? It was the small gun that Tsukaki, in her rush, hadn’t noticed slipping out of her holster. The gun that was issued by the NOL.

### Part 3

Having fled Litchi's clinic, Tsubaki ran desperately through the lower city, surrounded by air mixed with seithr and dimness that didn’t seem right for midday. Above her head, countless artificial lights and neon signs that had been on all day passed by.

She would leave Orient Town and go through the park and warehouse district, then climb the stairs to the next level. After crossing the main street to the opposite side, she would go through the bridge, take the ritual lift, and go even higher.

If she contacted them while running, she might be able to meet up with a Librarium cart on a middle level. If she could catch it, she could get to the branch quickly, but if she couldn't arrange it, she would have to take shuttles.

Tsubaki desperately tried to recall the structure and map of Kagutsuchi that she had memorized in the magic ship.

How long would it take to get from here to the top-level branch? What was the shortest time, and what was the longest? She didn't have the shuttle timetable in her head. There would probably be plenty of shuttles going to the upper levels, but there probably wouldn't be many in the lower levels.

As she ran, Tsubaki bit her lip. Why? Why did it feel like this? She couldn’t shake the feeling that she had to meet Jin quickly, as if something bad would happen if she didn’t.

(Why... it's obvious, isn't it...)

The bitterness in her mouth was probably due to regret. She had known the reason for her premonition for a long time. She should have remembered it long ago.

Because Jin... the man she had always watched over, had acted strangely just before he disappeared.

The Novus Orbis Librarium branch in Akitsu, the Hierarchical City, was attacked by the "Grim Reaper." The news quickly reached the NOL headquarters, and all the recorded information related to the "Grim Reaper" was analyzed.

The approximate appearance of the heinous criminal who had attacked the NOL branches in various places was identified the day after the analysis began. Three days after the analysis began, the Intelligence Department traced the name "Grim Reaper."

The information was quickly compiled into a document and delivered to each division. Of course, a report was also submitted to the fourth division, and that day, Tsubaki visited the division commander's office with several documents, including a report on the "Grim Reaper."

"Excuse me." Waiting for the voice to respond to her knock, Tsubaki opened the door and entered the room.

The first thing she noticed was the temperature of the room. The corridor separated by a single door was not so cold, but Jin's office had always been chilly lately. He wasn't changing the special air conditioning, and when Tsubaki asked Jin about it, he said he didn't feel any change in temperature at all.

Tsubaki was the only one who was concerned, and she thought maybe he had been a little under the weather for a while. Thinking that way again today, as she had the previous day, Tsubaki walked at a steady pace to the desk where Jin was sitting.

"Good morning, Major Kisaragi. This is the morning report. First, the location of the division commander's meeting three days from now has been changed. Then there’s a report and request regarding the renovation of the training facility. The contents are a summary of what has been submitted so far, so there are no significant changes. Please read through the request and sign it. And then this..." While briefly explaining the contents, Tsubaki placed one report after another on Jin's desk.

Jin watched her silently, leaning on his cheek with a light grip. His sharp, cold, yet beautiful green eyes seemed to be focused somewhere far away, and it was doubtful whether he was looking at the documents that had been handed to him.

Concerned by Jin's lack of response, even after she had placed several documents, Tsubaki asked with a caring softness, instead of her usual businesslike tone.

"Major? Are you alright? If you're not feeling well..."

"There's nothing wrong. Continue." The only reply was a cold voice and words, just like his gaze.

"Y-yes, sorry." Tsubaki tightened her lips before moving on to the next document.

How many times had she had this exchange? Just as she had become concerned about the temperature of the room, Jin's attitude had also been causing Tsubaki to worry lately.

As the room grew colder, so too did Jin's attitude seem to grow colder. He had never been a hot-blooded type, and he was rather calm and collected. Many people described him as cold. But Jin's recent behavior was different from that coldness. It was as if something was gradually eroding at the very core of him, and he was shutting himself up in a cold place.

In the past, he had been expressionless in formal situations, but he had responded when she greeted him in the morning. He would give her a nod of approval when she explained documents, and when he was tired, he would sometimes confide in Tsubaki. He would occasionally complain about things he didn't like, or smile wryly at Tsubaki's nagging. And very rarely, he would even smile at her.

But now, Jin didn’t show any of that. The human warmth he once had seemed to be fading day by day, and every time she noticed it, anxiety built up in Tsubaki's heart.

But she couldn’t do anything about it, and was left feeling frustrated, having no choice but to carry out the work that had been assigned to her.

“...This is the last one. We’ve received new information about the ‘Grim Reaper,’ who has been destroying the Library’s branches.” Tsukaki took the last stack of documents still in her arms and handed them over while speaking.

Jin didn’t even lift his head. He was only facing the paper she had placed earlier, so he seemed to recognize it. However, it didn’t look like he was reading the text.

“This is completely new information, but the ‘Grim Reaper’s’ appearance and name have been confirmed. Regarding his appearance, it seems he’s a man with white hair wearing a red coat. The shape of the rumored 'Azure Grimoire' is still unknown, but it seems that he possesses a large sword.”

The document had a printout of the video recording used for analysis. Due to the seithr and the shock from the explosion in the branch's basement, the data was quite damaged, and although they had attempted restoration, the video was quite blurry. Moreover, it only showed the figure from behind.

But the white hair, red coat, and the striking features of those eyes were clearly visible. Incidentally, it seemed to be a tall man with a well-built physique.

"Then the Intelligence Department looked into the name. The 'Grim Reaper's' name is Ragna the Bloodedge. We don't know if it's his real name, but according to intelligence, it seems he calls himself that..."

Tsukaki trailed off halfway through. Lifting her gaze from the document, she saw that Jin had suddenly stood up from his chair. He placed both hands on the desk, his eyes widening significantly from the cold indifference he had shown a moment ago.

"Uh, Major Kisaragi?" Something seemed off. Thinking that, Tsubaki called out to him hesitantly.

As if drawn by her voice, Jin slowly, eerily slowly, lifted his head. He looked at her with disbelief, as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

"What did you just say?"

“Eh...? Oh, Ragna the Bloodedge?” Tsukaki answered reflexively, and she immediately regretted it.

Jin's eyes changed color.

His eyes, which had been as cold and thin as ice, devoid of emotion, suddenly turned as dark as ink.

“Ragna the Bloodedge... Ragna...” Jin repeated the name. As if to confirm the sound and form of the name, he repeated it over and over again.

It was already an uncanny sight. His low, warm, and stifled voice trembled ominously. His pale lips trembled, and soon the trembling caused Jin's thin shoulders to vibrate rhythmically.

“Fuhaha!” The trembling turned into laughter. A chill ran down Tsubaki's spine, and Jin's laughter grew steadily louder. "Hahahahahahahaha!"

Along with the tingling, numb air in the room, Tsubaki froze solid.

Jin was laughing. He laughed with his mouth wide open, his voice echoing loudly.

Tsubaki had never seen him like that before. Even though she had been watching him since he was a child, he had never once laughed with such a terrifying demeanor.

"Major K... Kisaragi?" Tsukaki stammered, unable to continue.

But Jin didn’t look at her. He was looking at the 'Grim Reaper' document that Tsubaki was holding.

Jin's sudden, strange laughter, which seemed like it would never end, finally receded into the depths of his being like a convulsion. Yet he still appeared delighted, his shoulders shaking in quiet, subtle spasms, before finally looking at Tsubaki.

But it was no longer the Jin that Tsubaki knew. His eyes were somehow vacant, and his smiling lips were terribly cruel. His hand, encased in a white glove, swayed gently in the air, reaching out to Tsubaki. His cold green eyes looked at her with a cruel color.

"Give me the documents."

"Ah... y-yes."

Hesitantly handing over the stack of papers clipped together, Jin snatched the documents as if her gesture was too slow for his liking.

He stared at the first page, which displayed a still shot from the footage of the Grim Reaper. Jin twisted his lips into a cruelly beautiful smile, as if he were lost in a blissful trance.

“Ah… hahaha, I finally found you… right here… kukukukukuku…”

Why was he laughing? What kind of emotion was clouding those once clear and noble eyes? Why was the handsome face she had admired so much contorted in such ecstasy? Why was she so terrified of him?

Tsubaki stared at Jin, her face pale and lifeless, desperately trying to hold back her trembling. She didn’t even know why she was trying to hold back.

“Jin… Brother.”

Did he hear her call? Or did he perhaps remember the presence he had forgotten?

Without looking at her, Jin waved his hand as if shooing away a dog.

“Lieutenant Yayoi, you’ve worked hard. That’s enough. Get out.” A flat, emotionless voice, unlike the cold one he had used before. It was as though even addressing her was a bothersome task. Tsubaki’s nose twitched. She took a shaky step back. She pursed her lips and hugged the thick notebook, the only thing left in her chest after she had let go of all the documents.

She was on duty, and the person in front of her was her superior. What he had said was an order.

“Understood. Call me if you need anything. ... Excuse me.” She said, and then forced her feet to take steady steps as she left Jin’s office.

Just before she closed the door, she heard Jin’s voice.

“Finally… I can finally meet you... brother.”

As soon as the words reached Tsubaki’s ears, the door closed heavily. She couldn’t think about who the ‘brother’ was that the man she called ‘Brother Jin’ was talking about. As soon as she stepped out into the hallway, she hurried away from the spot.

As she reached the outskirts of Orient Town, gray clouds covered the sky. Without time to worry about the weather, Tsubaki crossed a small park with grass and passed in front of a lonely, rusty streetlight. It was around where she had encountered the Red Devil of Sector Seven yesterday.

But she had no time to dwell on that.

(Jin... I’m so sorry...)

At that moment, when she saw Jin acting so strangely in his office, she shouldn’t have left. She shouldn’t have left him alone. She should have stayed by his side no matter how harshly he treated her or how much he insulted her. If he had tried to abandon his position and leave the NOL, she should have physically stopped him.

If she had, Jin wouldn’t have been pursued by the intelligence department or herself, and he wouldn’t have been accused of treason. Tsubaki wouldn’t have had to search for him alone in distant Kagutsuchi. She wouldn't have been running, gasping for air under the crushing weight of uncertainty.

If this were the usual “Jin Kisaragi” she knew, she wouldn’t be tormented by such overwhelming anxiety. But the current Jin was different. Because she was close to him, she should have known something was wrong.

(I turned away from Brother Jin. I was afraid of him. I didn’t want to be scolded or disliked, and because of such trivial reasons, I turned my back on him and ignored him...)

She didn’t want to understand what she had seen. She turned away from Jin’s ecstatic reaction to the name Ragna the Bloodedge. She wanted to pretend she hadn’t seen it.

She wanted to believe that everything was as usual, and that this was just a result of a series of unexpected events. She wanted to think that there was some serious reason why Jin had left the NOL on his own accord. But that wasn’t the case.

(I’m so sorry... I’ll go right away. I may not be able to do anything, and I may be nothing more than a stranger to Brother Jin now, but... what should I do if I do nothing and things turn irreparably worse?)

What if Jin was killed by the “Grim Reaper”? What if Jin killed someone from the Librarium? What if Jin was killed as a traitor?

Ah, ah. An endless anxiety choked Tsubaki’s neck. It urged her feet to hurry, but her body couldn’t keep up.

Had she ever hated her slow feet so much? With her chest heaving with each breath, she swallowed her dry saliva and dragged her tears to the corners of her eyes, running as hard as she could.

Even though it wasn’t raining, the sky seemed ready to cry.

### Part 4

As evening gave way to night, darkness enveloped the surroundings. The rain that had fallen continuously the day before had stopped in the early hours of the morning, but the dark clouds covering the sky remained, blocking the light from above even after half a day had passed.

At the usual time, the streetlights attached to the poles illuminated the city of Kagutsuchi more brilliantly than usual, reflecting on the remnants of the rain that still lingered on the ground. Many would call it beautiful. But to Ragna, who had been hiding in a warehouse’s corner and healing his exhaustion through sleep, it was just a damp, dreary cityscape that left him unmoved.

As he stretched his stiff body from his hard bed, Ragna walked through the back alleys of the city, which was now completely dark. He didn't know what this area, with its port managed by the NOL, was called in Kagutsuchi. However, the orderly streets and the sophisticated design of the public facilities seemed to silently proclaim that they were under the direct jurisdiction of the Control Organization, and each thing he saw made him feel increasingly irritated and disgusted.

His expression hardened naturally, and his presence faded. When he saw a figure in an NOL uniform passing by on a side street connecting the main street and the alley, he turned into a darker alley to avoid being seen and let out an exasperated sigh.

Ragna hated the Novus Orbis Librarium.

No, it wasn't hatred. It was resentment. For many years now, Ragna had lived with an unwavering resentment towards the NOL.

Although he had been claiming the plausible reason that he was destroying cauldrons all over the world because the Boundary connected to the cauldrons was dangerous, the truth was that he was driven by his resentment and various other negative emotions towards the NOL.

While he didn't feel guilty about humiliating the guards who challenged him with blind loyalty, he wouldn't lie if he said he didn't feel a slight sense of satisfaction when the branches, which flaunted their prosperity, were destroyed in a miserable way.

However, the absurd thing was that no matter how many times he repeated such acts, Ragna's feelings didn't darken... and the things that the detestable organization had taken from him weren't returned.

And that, in turn, became a great source of frustration for Ragna, driving him to wield his sword.

(Even I think I'm doing something pointless.)

And if he were asked what else he would do, there was nothing more he could do. It would be fun to raid the headquarters, but he planned to do that after he had destroyed all the other cauldrons.

Ahead, he could see the NOL branch, which stood out white against the night's cloudy sky. Once he passed this point, his destination would not be far.

(If I arrive too early, a crowd of onlookers will gather, and that’ll just be a hassle... I could have slept for another hour.) He muttered to himself and reached up to his neck, cracking it.

Suddenly, his feet stopped.

With his neck still cracked, Ragna's gaze, filled with a slight sense of caution, fixed on the end of the road. In the very back of the quiet, dark alley, where streetlights were sparsely placed as if no one would ever pass through, stood a strange pair, looking at him. One was short, and the other was clearly taller than Ragna. A child and a woman.

But what was strange was that the tall woman's arms were unusually long, and she was in an unnatural posture with her arms hanging limply. And the shorter one, a boy wearing a hat like a silk hat, had an aura about him that was strangely dangerous for his age.

"Sorry, but can I pass through there?" Ragna asked, his voice deliberately calm, without any sign of tension. A strange, unsettling energy mingled with the air that had been purified by the seithr air purifiers. Ragna could feel it on his skin as he spoke.

In the white light, the boy bowed politely.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Carl Clover. And this is my older sister." He said, introducing himself politely with a friendly smile. He was a boy with a well-groomed appearance that suggested a wealthy upbringing. He had soft golden hair and bright blue eyes that seemed intelligent. The large round glasses on his fair-skinned face accentuated his youthful appearance.

However, the figure that Carl introduced as his sister was hardly similar to him. It was hard to believe they were related. It was clearly not human.

A metallic, female-shaped doll. That was the closest description for what Carl called his “sister”.

"Your sister? You mean..." Ragna frowned.

"Yes, I know." As if choosing his words carefully, Carl replied without the slightest change in his smile. "It’s complicated. As you can see, she's not in a human body right now, but my sister is definitely inside."

"Inside." The way Carl said it so casually sounded incredibly creepy to Ragna. And indeed, he had a feeling he was going to get a creepy answer, so he decided not to ask for more details. Though, to be honest, he wasn't that interested in the first place.

Ignoring Ragna's reaction, which was marked by disgust, Carl continued in a mature tone. "You are... Ragna the Bloodedge, right? The bounty hunter with the highest bounty in history that the NOL is looking for, commonly known as 'The Grim Reaper'."

The words, rattled off so smoothly, were a list of information that was far too dangerous for a boy of his age to utter. But knowing that meant his identity was limited.

"You're not a bounty hunter, are you?"

Even though the wanted poster was circulating throughout the city, it wasn't natural for a young boy to be aware of such details, especially if he was smiling while knowing he was talking to the wanted criminal.

Ragna lowered his waist slightly and naturally assumed a stance ready to draw his sword. Understanding the meaning of his gesture, Carl lowered his eyebrows and smiled wryly.

"Don't misunderstand me. We are indeed bounty hunters, but we didn't approach you just because we wanted the reward."

"Then what do you want? You're not here for small talk. I'm about to get busy, so I don't want to get involved in anything extra." Ragna glared at the pursuing boy, raising one eyebrow.

He was an uncomfortable person to be around. He looked like a polite young master who lived in this upper-class neighborhood, but the blue eyes behind his round glasses were unreadable. Right behind the boy, the tall, self-supporting doll, with a simple face like a mask, stared fixedly at Ragna. The silence of the expressionless face carried a cold sense of intimidation, making Ragna even more uncomfortable.

Carl lowered his eyebrows apologetically, but without hesitation, he stated directly, contrary to his hesitant expression.

"What I want is the grimoire you have."

"...A grimoire?" A growl of caution sounded in Ragna's throat.

Carl nodded slightly. "The Azure Grimoire. You have it, don't you?"

Ragna had heard rumors that it was the most powerful grimoire. Was this boy also looking for him because of those rumors?

Ragna clenched his right hand into a tight fist. Carl didn't seem to realize that his right arm was the grimoire itself, and he paid no attention to Ragna’s subtle movements.

If this had been a normal child's playful banter, and if the strange doll hadn't been silently following behind him, he might have reacted differently. But since that wasn't the case, Ragna bared his teeth like fangs and said in a threatening voice.

"What if I do?"

"Give it to me." The boy said.

"Huh?"

"I said, give it to me. I really need that grimoire." Carl said, extending his hand as if he were certain Ragna would give it to him.

"Hey, listen..." Ragna scratched his head in irritation. "Are you stupid? Do you think I'm just going to hand over anything to a complete stranger who suddenly asks for it? If you want something, at least ask for something more childish." His exasperation was stronger than his anger, and he let out a heavy sigh. He couldn't deal with this. He had limited time, and he wasn't going to waste it on a child's nonsense.

"Forget it. Get out of the way." If he was going to force his way through, he might as well take a detour to the main street. Ragna tried to pass by Carl. His heavy red coat flapped, and his arm reached out to push aside Carl's small shoulder. Just before his gloved fingers touched the boy's purple cloak, there was a sound of air tearing apart.

"What!?" A sense of foreboding surged through him. Ragna quickly jumped backward. His feet slipped slightly on the wet ground as he landed. He supported himself with his hands and looked up.

The long arm of the doll that had been standing behind Carl was stuck in the ground where Ragna had just been standing. Realizing that it had missed its prey, the doll awkwardly pulled its arm out. A huge claw, lined up with the others, gleamed dully.

"Oh, he dodged it, sister." The boy sighed lightly, as if disappointed. His large blue eyes, seen through his round glasses, no longer hid his true nature. There was a naive killing intent in them. It was a pure, straightforward intent to kill, without any desire or malice.

Carl turned his small body towards Ragna and spread his arms as if to brace himself. In response, his sister also assumed a stance, clearly indicating her intention to fight. Without withdrawing his killing intent, Carl smiled as he had before.

"Ragna-san. Please, one more time. Give me the Azure Grimoire. Or else... I'll kill you." Carl's arm swept through the air. Then, the doll lunged forward like a spring-loaded mechanism. Its long arm stretched out straight towards Ragna.

The lined-up claws were thick enough to crush a person's face with a single blow. And yet, the sharp wound on the ground where it had pierced earlier clearly showed that it was sharper than a blunt instrument.

Ragna quickly turned sideways to avoid the attack. The doll's arm pierced the air where Ragna had been, its length exceeding the distance it had traveled. As if realizing it had missed, the doll turned its head around to face him.

"What the hell is that thing!" Despite the obviously unnatural and dangerous atmosphere, when the doll turned towards him, Ragna instinctively felt a chill run down his spine. A doll that could move on its own and attack was incredibly creepy.

Ragna drew his sword from his waist and swung it upward diagonally at the doll. A dull sound of metal clashing echoed through the back alley. The sword strike was blocked by the doll's arm and deflected upwards. The other arm moved to take advantage of the opening.

"Damn it!" The impact of the heavy metal echoed. He forcibly pulled back his deflected sword and blocked the doll's claw, which was trying to pierce his torso, with the vertically held blade. "It's so heavy..."

Unlike the strength of human muscles, the doll's arm did not weaken with each breath, and instead, it pressed down on the sword as if trying to pierce it completely.

If he kept this up, he’d eventually lose to her strength and become a stain on the wall.

"Raaaah!" Ragna roared and, with all his might, let go of the hilt with his right arm. His outstretched arm grabbed the doll's neck, which was as thin as any normal woman's. He pulled the doll's body forward forcefully. Kicking away its unsteady feet, he used the momentum to slam its body onto the ground.

Ragna's arm, which he had forcefully thrown, also had a weight that seemed inhuman. The doll, thrown violently, was embedded in the sturdy floor that supported the city, creating a deep crack.

"Sister, come back!" Carl called out loudly. As if pulled by an invisible thread, the doll returned from Ragna to Carl in its distorted posture. There, the doll regained its balance.

Ragna, who had been about to swing his sword for a follow-up attack, returned his blade to its original position and lowered his stance. Watching this, Carl smiled. In the boy's dangerous eyes, still filled with killing intent, there was a glimmer as if he had found something wonderful.

"That power... Aha, I see. It's your arm." With an insightfulness that was uncharacteristic of a child, he looked at Ragna's right arm. "That's the Azure Grimoire!"

This time, both the doll and Carl rushed towards Ragna. The doll closed the distance first. As it came before Ragna, it spun around and swung its arms like a crusher.

A streetlight caught in the sweep was broken in half and flew off, scattering sparks. He deflected the incoming arm with his sword and twisted his body to avoid it. The doll's blow was heavy, but its movements were not particularly agile.

He dodged the gust of wind. A small figure jumped out from under his feet, and Ragna reflexively kicked it away.

"Ouch!" Ragna's movements slowed for a moment at the child's sudden cry. But it wasn't enough to give him an opening. He kicked off the ground and retreated behind the broken streetlight.

Carl, who had been knocked against the building by Ragna's kick, was trying to pick himself up while holding his hat, which was about to fall off.

"Tch..." Ragna clicked his tongue in annoyance. This was troublesome. "I don't have time to toy with a kid. Go home before you get seriously hurt." He spoke loudly and firmly, and thrust his sword into the ground as a warning. The tip of the sword split the ground, creating a long, thin crack.

But the warning had no effect. Carl brushed off the dust that soiled his clothes and looked at Ragna with eyes that showed no sign of losing his fighting spirit. "If you don't want to kill a child, give me the grimoire. I'll get it even if I die."

"You're talking nonsense... Damn it!" Ragna exclaimed, roughly scratching his head. He was irritated. He wasn’t good at explaining things to others in words. That was for church sisters, not someone like him. What he could do was simple.

Ragna gripped the hilt of the sword he had thrust into the ground. Baring his teeth like fangs, he glared at Carl with a fierce intent to strike.

"If you don't understand when I tell you, I'll make you understand!" No sooner had he said it than Ragna pulled the buried tip of the sword and swung it upward. Along with the pressure of the sword, a dark, shadowy wave was released. It was a blade of darkness.

The sinister black, which appeared from Ragna's right arm, swelled in one breath, taking the shape of a beast's fang, and tore through the air towards Carl.

"Shit!" Carl's expression contorted for a moment as the darkness instantly covered his vision. Just before the darkness enveloped the small body, the doll suddenly lunged in from the side and caught the shadow with its large hands.

"Sister!!" A voice more painful than before came from Carl's throat as the darkness, making a sound like it was sucking out a soul, gushed out from between the sharp claws and spread to engulf the doll. The darkness stretched wider, its fangs biting into the doll's hard skin. The black jaw seemed ready to shatter the doll's arm and slam both it and Carl into the wall behind them... at least it should have.

"What the..." It was Ragna who widened his eyes in astonishment.

The doll's hands, which had so carelessly met the released darkness, had crushed it like a ball of paint. The remnants of the darkness, like charred embers, were swept away as the doll sprinted forward. The doll swung its heavy fist, and Ragna barely managed to avoid it by leaping to the left. But perhaps due to the shock of seeing his previous strike so easily crushed, his reaction was a moment too slow. The doll’s claw grazed Ragna’s side, leaving a shallow wound.

"Ugh! Aaaah!" As he drew his sword and landed in a defensive stance, Ragna involuntarily let out a muffled scream at the burning pain. He pressed his hand against the bleeding cheek. "What the hell is that thing!?"

The wound was shallow—just a graze, barely enough to make blood ooze out. And yet, for a moment, it felt as though his flesh had been torn apart.

The doll continued to thrust its arms forward. It was strange. The boy, Carl, was human, and this doll was nothing more than an artifact. Yet, he felt a killing intent from this doll that even surpassed the boy's.

He deflected the first blow of the claw and dodged the second by retreating.

(No, it's more like a sense of duty...)

Or perhaps a compulsion to destroy. To tear, to shatter, to destroy. That was all it seemed to do.

He saw Carl start to move again at the edge of his vision. Ragna clicked his tongue. He had managed to react in time before, but as a bounty hunter, even a child would be able to fight to some extent. He could probably defeat him one-on-one, but it was annoying to have to deal with the doll as well.

He had a big job to do. He wanted to avoid any more wear and tear.

“Dammit, this is a pain!” With a hiss, Ragna lowered his body to avoid the doll's arm, which was aimed straight at his head. He kicked off the ground and ran straight towards Carl.

Noticing Ragna's sudden approach, Carl braced himself and swung his arm. A large, hand-like mechanism, seemingly hidden somewhere, popped out and intercepted Ragna's slash. Immediately, the doll turned around. Carl took out another device and swung it. Ragna cut down the light blow with a forceful strike. There was a high-pitched metallic clang. The sound echoed, and Carl's hand followed suit.

Without a moment's hesitation, Ragna turned and plunged his lowered blade into the boy's side. Carl's body folded at the hard boot. Before he could get into a proper stance, Ragna reached out and grabbed Carl's neck, just as he had done with the doll, and slammed him against the wall instead of throwing him.

"Gah!" A choked sound escaped the boy's mouth. Immediately, Ragna turned his sword towards the rear. He blocked a blow from the doll that had come running to save its master.

"Don't mess around. I won’t kill you if you don’t do anything unnecessary." Ragna said in a low, calm voice, despite his hostile actions. Whether the doll understood the words or if Carl had manipulated it, the doll stopped with its arm raised and then let it hang limply in front of its body.

After confirming this with the corner of his eye, Ragna turned back to the captured Carl. "Listen. I don't know who told you what, but my grimoire... it doesn't grant any miracles."

“Ugh... n-no... that’s a lie...” With his back pressed firmly against the cold wall and his body slightly raised from the ground, Carl looked up at Ragna with a pained expression. "The Azure Grimoire is connected to 'Azure', to the Gate of Sheol... The Azure Grimoire should be able to access the other side of the gate and make anything possible!"

"Ugh..." Just when Ragna almost felt pity for the boy's foolish expectations, Carl jumped up and kicked him. At the same time, the doll, which had moved without warning from the scene, thrust forward. Ragna, who had instinctively blocked the kick, had to lean forward to avoid having his neck cut by the doll's claw. The doll's arm, which had thrust forward, passed over Ragna's head and caught Carl, pulling him close.

Once again, Ragna found himself facing both Carl and the doll. But Carl, who was injured, was held in the doll's arms and bit his lip in frustration.

"...I can't beat you now if I confront you head-on. I'll take my leave for today."

Obeying Carl's words, the doll stepped back, its cold, feminine chest cradling the boy's small frame.

"But I won't give up. I will definitely get the Azure Grimoire!" Carl declared, his gaze unwavering, not showing any signs of weakness. It wasn't fear of pursuit; he was asserting his unwavering, resolute will. “Let’s go, sister.”

Without nodding, the doll kept its gaze fixed on Ragna, and with a sudden, mechanical movement, it departed from the scene.

### 045. Chapter 4: Burned church — Brothers

## BBCT Chapter 4: Burned church — Brothers

### Part 1

The night air was caressed by the wind. Unlike the sharp wind that whipped through the mountains, this wind was sweet and alluring. It circled around Ragna, wandering through the back alleys, and ascended to the roof of a nearby building.

A scent wafted through the air. An intoxicating fragrance of roses, the kind that shouldn't linger in such a desolate, back alley, even in an upper-class district. Following the wind and the scent, Ragna looked up and saw a small figure silhouetted against the dark sky.

The visitor, who had arrived with the wind, was again of a child's stature. But this time it was a girl, not a boy. Instead of a tall mechanical doll, she was accompanied by a strange creature resembling a red rubber ball with wings, and a large black umbrella that completely covered her head.

Looking down at the dark road from the roof, the girl played with her long golden hair in the night breeze, smiling with an unnatural allure for someone so young.

"Hello, Ragna. Still wandering around in a place like this? You're as dull as ever." She said, her voice as alluring and vibrant as her appearance. But that vibrancy was laced with a subtle barb that pricked at Ragna.

"You... Rachel." Ragna growled, his brow furrowing.

As he spoke, the red rubber ball the girl had been carrying darted across his vision, bouncing in the air and squeaking shrilly.

"Hey, you fool! Rachel-sama has come all the way here. She interrupted her tea just to check on a jerk like you! You should be more grateful, you know! Pkyatt!"

Rachel quickly lowered her folded umbrella onto the top of the red familiar's head, which was chattering incessantly at a dizzying speed. The familiar, named Gii, let out a strange, inhuman shriek as its head dented into the shape of the umbrella, only to immediately return to normal.

Looking down at this, Nago, another familiar capable of transforming its body, opened the umbrella once again and sighed in exasperation with a unique flexibility.

“Do you really not understand why I’m doing this? If you’re doing this on purpose, I have to say, I respect your courage.” "Fweeh, that hurts! My head’s all messed up!"

"Shut up, you’re not even listening, are you?" The black cat's face appeared on the surface of the umbrella, and Nago gave a wry smile.

Rachel, as if she hadn't heard or done anything, maintained a cool, indifferent expression, ignoring the rubber familiar's statement.

Ragna slumped his shoulders, weary from the exchange between the girl in the black dress and her companion, whom he hadn't seen in a while. He felt his energy draining.

"Damn it, you're always so noisy... So, what brings Rachel-sama here?" He retorted sarcastically.

Rachel, sitting on the rooftop, momentarily furrowed her well-shaped brow in annoyance. She was a girl who seemed to belong to the night. She would always appear suddenly, look down on him, and make snide remarks. He disliked her constant condescending attitude. He thought it was about time he gave her a taste of her own medicine.

Smoothing out the slight wrinkle between his brows, Rachel replied as if she were dealing with something trivial, sounding slightly bored.

"It's obvious, isn't it? I've come to see your pathetic state at the end of the year. Is there anything else you need from me?" While he hadn't expected kind words, Ragna's irritation flared at her predictable response. Just when he was starting to calm down after that boy, Carl, had left.

Suppressing his displeasure, Ragna sheathed his sword at his waist.

"Well... Yeah, sure. Perfect timing. You've been watching the whole time, haven't you? What was that doll that kid was carrying? I gotta say, it gave me a really bad vibe." He figured Rachel would know, so he threw out the question that had been nagging at him for a while.

Despite her appearance, Rachel was a vampire who had lived for over a hundred years. But her transcendence went beyond just her lifespan and sense of time. She knew about countless things in the world that one couldn't learn from simply living a long life.

She knew about the Dark War, a war that had almost destroyed the world, the establishment of the NOL, and where Sector Seventh had originated. She probably knew about the construction of Kagutsuchi, about Ragna's past, and perhaps even the laws of the universe.

It was as if she had watched every phenomenon in the world alone. Ragna often thought she knew everything. And as expected, the vampire princess, with her youthful appearance and demonic aura, had an answer.

"That was a phenomenon weapon." She said.

"That?" Ragna raised an eyebrow in confusion. He didn’t know much about it, but he had heard of it.

It was a special weapon created during the Dark War, about a century ago, to fight against the Black Beast, the demonic entity that nearly destroyed the world. The Six Heroes who defeated the Black Beast had fought with it.

Rachel lightly kicked the roof she was standing on and floated towards Ragna. She held out her hand, and he caught her small body, supporting her as she gracefully landed beside him, her umbrella still open.

"Yes. It's Deus Machina: Nirvana. One of the nine created during the Dark War, the only one that can act independently." Her large crimson eyes, almost overflowing, looked up at Ragna, engulfing him in their color.

"Seriously? That kid?" Ragna found it hard to believe. It was absurd to think that a child was walking around town with a weapon of war. But that wasn't all. "Didn't they say phenomenon weapons could take over the minds of their users? Could that kid have been..."

"Just because you have a phenomenon weapon, it doesn't mean your mind will be automatically taken over. Phenomenon weapons have something like a soul, a will. Being taken over happens when the user's will is defeated and consumed by the weapon's will," Rachel explained in a tone as if she were giving a lecture, and she spun her black umbrella around. Nago, the large black cat face on the umbrella, spun around as well. "But Ragna, it doesn't matter whether or not the kid's mind has been affected, does it?"

"Huh?" Ragna looked down at Rachel, raising an eyebrow at her cryptic statement. Even though he was looking down at her, he felt like he was the one being looked down upon.

Rachel ran her white fingers along the handle of her umbrella, slowly blinking her long eyelashes, creating shadows.

"Another phenomenon weapon user is waiting for you."

"Another one?"

Rachel chuckled, but it didn't sound like she was enjoying herself. Her soft lips moved slowly as she spoke.

"Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa."

The words, sung like a melody, sent a cold shiver down Ragna's spine. Phenomenon weapons, world history, ancient wars... he had no special knowledge or interest in such things. But that name was different.

A single blade in a blue sheath. A magical sword that could manipulate ice.

He knew that sword. He knew its owner. Well, if the owner hadn't changed recently.

"Jin... is he here?" His voice was low, almost a crawl. It had been a long time since he had spoken that name.

They had spent a lot of time together when they were young. But several years ago, they had parted ways under the worst of circumstances, and Ragna hadn't seen him since.

Jin was his younger brother.

"He's never been gone. Every time you come here, he's been waiting for you." Rachel said, as if reminiscing about a distant past. She played with the ends of her long, braided golden hair. As she wound it into a spiral, the black ribbon that stood upright in her hair swayed slightly.

It looked like an ear. With her white skin and bright red eyes, Ragna often called her by a pet name for a small animal.

"Huh? What the hell are you talking about, rabbit? This is my first time here. That idiot would never wait for me, would he?" It made no sense that someone would wait for him if he had never been there before. But Rachel looked at him with a bored expression.

"Oh, he did. Many, many times. But you just don't remember."

"I don't understand. If you're going to tell me something, then say it clearly. Don't beat around the bush. It's annoying." It was always the same. She would suddenly appear, leave a cryptic message, and then disappear just as quickly. Ragna voiced his frustration. He hated being left hanging like this.

"Oh, don't misunderstand me. Why should I explain anything to a mongrel like you? Even if I did explain, you wouldn't understand. It's a waste of time, don't you think? You're really stupid, you know. It's amazing." When she looked at him as if he were something beneath contempt and rattled off insults so effortlessly, Ragna felt his temples throb with anger.

"...I’m gonna make you cry." He growled. He was surprised at his own restraint for not swinging his clenched fist.

"Oh, you're so brave," she teased. "Why don't you try it?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Nag and Gii, the two familiars, taunted him.

Ragna punched them both, shouting, "Shut up!"

"Ouch..."

"Pkyuu..."

The two familiars spun around and fell silent.

Watching them as if they were playful puppies, Rachel suddenly changed her tone, her voice soft.

"...Ragna." Her voice was faint. She closed the bag containing Nag, who was floating around like scattered stars, and stood in front of him, mimicking his pose. Feeling somewhat uncomfortable in the sudden formal atmosphere, Ragna turned to face Rachel.

"What is it? Is there something else?"

"Why are you aiming for the cauldron?"

"Why? ...Well, you and the master said it yourself. It's dangerous, isn't it?" Ragna scratched his head roughly, not understanding the question. It was Rachel and his swordmaster, a beastkin named Jubei, who had taught him about the cauldron and the Boundary.

​​No matter what words they used to explain it, Ragna still couldn't fully grasp what the Boundary was. A place where all life, time, space, logic, and existence was lost, yet where all concepts were mixed. A world connected to all time and space, containing all memories and filled with all information. A soup of seithr where everything melted.

Rachel had said years ago that it was a world that humans couldn't control, a realm that was far beyond human comprehension. So there was no way he could understand it. Tired of the complicated lessons, Ragna had given up trying to understand it. All he knew was that there was this incredible place called the Boundary. That seithr flowed from it. That the cauldron was an entrance to the Boundary. And that the members of the NOL were trying to create something terrible using that cauldron.

"I'm going to destroy the cauldron that humans need to interact with the Boundary and ruin whatever they're trying to create. That's why I'm traveling the world looking for cauldrons. ...And I just don't like the people in the NOL. That's all."

It wasn't for world peace or anything like that. Ragna's motivations were always selfish. You could even call it self-hatred.

"That's all? Don't you feel anything else?" Rachel asked again, her crimson eyes fixed on Ragna's, as if trying to see into his soul. But Ragna had no idea why Rachel was asking such a thing.

“No, I don’t! What’s your problem? If you have something to say, then say it clearly, damn it!” His impatience made Ragna raise his voice. In contrast, Rachel's gaze turned dark and cold. She shook her head weakly, and her golden hair danced like a ribbon in the darkness of the back alley.

“No, it’s fine. I’ve known this all along. If what you just said is all you feel, then everything is pointless.”

"Cut it out, rabbit. If you're going to keep muttering to yourself like that, I'm leaving. I can't keep up with this forever." Ragna spat out in disgust. Standing in the street corner and having endless, meaningless conversations was not his idea of a good time.

Frustrated, he roughly wiped his sweaty cheek. Blood stained his black glove. It was a scratch from Nirvana's claw. It was only a shallow cut, but the blood wouldn't stop. Was there something special about those claws? It was creepy.

"Yes, you should go." While prodding Gii, who was pretending to be unconscious on the ground, Rachel spoke. "I can't stand this world anymore either. But... if there's one hope I can find... Ragna."

Called by her low voice, Ragna looked at Rachel. He felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He could imagine that his current self was far from what Rachel was looking for.

Rachel's eyes looked at Ragna's right arm. "Be careful. Don't think of that right arm as your own power. Or else, a fool like you will be eaten up by that grimoire in no time." She spoke to him as if she were lecturing a child, and then she tossed Gii into the air and opened Nago's umbrella. The vampire, who appeared under the dark night sky after hiding behind the umbrella, had the same teasing smile as always.

"Let's go, Nago, Gii."

"Alright, Princess. See you later, Ragna-chan."

"Bye-bye."

"Goodbye, Ragna. ...Until we meet again." She stroked her golden hair that fell over her shoulder, and like a phantom, she disappeared from Kagutsuchi, carrying the scent of roses and the wind. When the floral scent faded, a cold, lifeless silence returned. It was the air that Ragna loved. It was no good having someone around. He felt like his right arm, the Azure Grimoire, was like a hungry rat, seeking someone's soul. He could faintly see a round object floating in the clouds. Apparently, it was supposed to be a full moon tonight. Whenever he saw the full moon, he would remember. His childhood, the peaceful times, the happy times, the times when he still had a family... he remembered his younger brother, who had been afraid of the full moon, saying that it would fall from the sky.

"...I guess that killed some time." Muttering to no one in particular, Ragna began walking down the back alley, where the faint purple hue of rain still lingered. His destination was the NOL branch. He was almost there.

### Part 0

The small fireplace in the cozy living room was her favorite spot. Gathering around it, each with a warm cup in hand, they would bask in the flickering glow of the fire and enjoy cookies. It was a time she cherished.

She loved tea. Her eldest child would happily drink anything, and her middle child preferred lemonade. The youngest loved milk tea and cocoa, but being so clumsy, she often burned her tongue on the hot drink.

Perhaps that was the most blissful time for her.

But it was a lost time.

The church, beloved by the aging sister, was burning, painting the fading blue sky orange.

March 1, 2192 — Sunset

"Jin! Saya!"

When the sudden explosion startled the sister, who was harvesting vegetables in the garden to prepare dinner, and she rushed back through the back door, the church was already engulfed in flames.

The exploding walls spat out sparks, and the hot wind shattered the windows. The swirling heat seemed to sear her senses, blurring her vision, dulling her hearing, and killing her sense of smell. The narrow corridor leading from the back door was covered in multiple layers of orange curtains, mercilessly burning the old woman as she called out the names of the children in her care.

Still…

"Jin! Answer me! Saya!" With a strength that belied her age, the sister shouted as loud as she could, as if to overpower the heat. She ran through the corridor, diving into the veil of flames. She pushed open every door she saw, brushing aside the billowing smoke.

As she opened the door, air rushed in, and the heat swirled. The flames licked at the sister's face as she peered into the room, searching for the small figures.

"AHH!" Whether it was the flames or the initial explosion, just as she was about to leave the room, the ceiling of the corridor came crashing down with a terrible thud.

As soon as it hit the floor, a huge amount of sparks flew up and engulfed the sister's petite body. A scream escaped her lips, only to be swallowed by the heat. Her parched throat burned. Her vision was blurry, and she could barely see. She could smell her hair burning.

(Please...) She tried to say it out loud, but it came out as a hacking cough that felt like it was tearing her lungs apart.

Ignoring the burning sensation on her skin and fear of the flames, she stepped over the fallen ceiling tiles that blocked her path. She had seen and experienced far worse. Running through a church that was about to be engulfed in flames due to a spell was nothing compared to that. What scared her was doing nothing and being unable to do anything.

(Please, be safe...)

Dragging her heavy feet, she reached the door to the living room and forced it open. It was the largest room in the church after the chapel. But since the church hadn't been originally built to house children, it was a bit small to be called spacious.

Nevertheless, it was the sister's favorite room. She couldn't count how many times they had talked in front of the fireplace at the back of the room. Every night before bed, they would all sit on the sofa in front of the fireplace and have a leisurely cup of tea. For the past few years since she had taken in the three children, it had been a makeshift family of four, but it was a room filled with precious memories.

When she rushed into the room, it was already almost completely burned, engulfed in flames that obscured the walls. It seemed that the explosion had occurred in this room. Part of the wall and ceiling had been blown away as if by something, all the windows were shattered, and flames were spilling out as if seeking fresh air. The fireplace at the back was completely destroyed. And there, in front of the ruined fireplace, was the figure she was searching for.

"Jin!" The flames cast an orange glow on his short blond hair. He had grown considerably since she had last seen him. His beautiful green eyes reflected the color of the flames as he stood blankly, staring into the distance in the fire-engulfed room.

"What are you doing? Get out of here!" Running over, the sister took Jin's hand. She tried to turn around and take him outside immediately, but Jin planted his feet firmly on the ground and refused to move. It was as if his feet were glued to the floor.

Surprised by his resistance, the sister lost her balance. But she didn't fall. She knelt down and looked into Jin's face.

"Jin, snap out of it. Look at me," she said sternly.

Strangely, Jin was completely unharmed by the flames, his face as cool as if the surrounding fire were an illusion. There wasn't a drop of sweat on his forehead. His green eyes were unfocused, staring vacantly into space. The sister ran her fingers through his golden hair, forcing him to look at her. A green glow flickered beneath his downcast arm.

"...Sister." With a voice barely a whisper, Jin spoke. The sister smiled at him, her face smudged with soot. A wave of relief washed over her.

"That's right. Good, let's get out of here. Or we'll both be burnt to a crisp. And where's Saya? Weren't you together?" Before coming to the church, they had both been reading in their room. But when she had checked the children's room earlier, it had been empty. Perhaps they had gone to the river to fetch water after Ragna. She usually would scold them for that, but now, she couldn't help but hope that was the case.

"Sister..."

"What is it?"

"Sister." Although his eyes were fixed on her, Jin's gaze was vacant. At first, she thought he was just confused about what was happening. But the more she looked at him, the stranger it seemed.

It was as if half his soul had been taken away. Jin, who kept repeating "Sister" in a voice devoid of emotion and temperature, seemed like a phantom, and in a panic, the sister reached out to pull her beloved foster son into a hug.

She tried to.

"Sister... Sister, Sister, Sister." As the sister reached out to embrace Jin, who was muttering the word over and over like a mantra, another voice overlapped his. "Siisteeerrrr!" A mocking voice, as if to further fan the roaring flames.

At the same moment, the sister's movement stopped.

The sound of something piercing her was lost in the roar of the flames. But the deep, heavy sensation of something tearing through her abdomen and out her back was undeniably real, even against the heat and noise.

"Oh..." The sister exhaled. Something had pierced her, and with a muffled cough, blood stained her lips and teeth.

A prayer formed in her heart. The sister shifted her gaze to the shadow standing between her and the blazing wall. Since when had he been there? She hadn't noticed at all.

Ignoring the light source, a tall, indistinct human-shaped shadow loomed over her. Cloaked in a green mist, with only round eyes and a slit-like red mouth visible, it was looking at her through Jin. She had never seen this figure before, but she already knew who he was. His voice was enough. She couldn't forget it. It was the voice of someone she could never forget.

"Could it really be... you, Terumi?" Her voice, strained and hoarse from burns and blood, called out his name. The shadow shrouded in green mist laughed.

"Well, well, well, the old hag. Ah, Sister, was it? It's been ages, hasn't it? Decades, I think. Though I never wanted to see your face again, you know." He spoke fluently without moving his lips. With a casual wave of his indistinct arm, he made a gesture as if pulling something back.

"Ugh!" Following his motion, the thing that had pierced the sister's abdomen and exited through her back was forcefully pulled back and out. It was a long, chain-like weapon with a dagger-like ornament at the end, which was pulled back toward Terumi, passing by Jin who still stood there blankly.

Seeing this, the sister's face twisted in sorrow.

"A phenomenon weapon... the Geminus Anguium: Ouroboros... you still have it."

"As if I would easily give up such a useful toy."

About ninety years ago, humanity was in the midst of the Dark War against the Black Beast. The weapon Terumi possessed was developed at that time to counter the Black Beast and was lent to him personally.

History records that six heroes used phenomenon weapons to defeat the Black Beast. Terumi, who possessed the Ouroboros, was one of those six heroes. The power of each of these weapons was immense. After all, they were capable of defeating the Black Beast, which could not be harmed by any ordinary weapon.

"It's not surprising, coming from one of the Six Heroes, the unparalleled genius magician, Nine. You made something like this, huh?" Terumi laughed heartily, seeming to find it all very amusing. And no wonder. Nine, one of the Six Heroes who had defeated the Black Beast. She was the one who had created the phenomenon weapons that had turned the tide of the war. She was the sister of the sister standing before him. So that meant…

"I'd love to show Nine this. To see her most cherished little sister killed by the weapon she created! Hahahaha!"

"AAAAAHHH!" The shadow's hand released the chain again, and the dagger at its end pierced the sister's thigh, tearing through her flesh.

The pain of her flesh and bone being torn apart made her momentarily lose consciousness. Leaning on her hand as she fell to the floor, she took a ragged breath, trying to steady her wavering consciousness, and lifted her head.

"Jin... run away. Take Saya and run! Go to Ragna!" She cried out, her voice hoarse. She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't be with this man. But Jin didn't move. Beyond the frozen figure of Jin, the shadow laughed merrily again.

"Oh, oh, oh, even in old age, you're still so naive. Think about it for a moment. There used to be a barrier around this area, didn't there? Annoying, bothersome, and inconvenient. But it's gone now. You understand that, don't you? So the question is, who and how did they break your barrier?"

"Who... how...? That's right... even with the Ouroboros, it wouldn't have been possible for you to break a barrier like that... so how?" The sister asked, her voice trembling as she pressed her hand against her abdomen, which was heavy with blood. Terumi laughed loudly, unable to contain himself.

"Kyahahahaha! That's right, that's exactly it. Unfortunately, that was too much even for me. I'm not strong enough now. I don't have a body, after all. A borrowed body that's only good for a quick fix just won't cut it. Besides, I've always been weak to your aura."

His feigned disappointment was filled with a cheap sense of mockery. Then, suddenly looking disgruntled, Terumi continued with annoyance.

"Ah! ...Now that I think about it, it makes me angry. Because of you, I've had to go through so much trouble. Yeah, it's all your fault that I had to prepare all this stuff this time. Damn it, it's annoying." As if to threaten her, Terumi tossed the Ouroboros dagger, dripping with the sister's blood, into the air and caught it again. A few drops of red fell from the sharp tip. Then, as if regaining his composure, he formed a crescent-shaped smile with his red lips.

"Oh, right, we were talking about the barrier. Let's settle this. It's simple. The answer is that we had a collaborator on the inside who used another phenomenon weapon to break it from within."

"Another one...?"

"What? Can't you figure it out, old woman? That kid's been holding it this whole time." The shadow gestured with its chin. It was pointing at Jin.

The sister strained her smoke-clouded eyes to see. In the hand opposite the one she had been trying to pull away from, the hand that didn't seem to feel the heat of the fire at all, was a beautiful blue sword sheathed in a scabbard. How could she have missed it?

"Yukianesa...?" The sister's eyes widened in disbelief. Yukianesa, one of the phenomenon weapons. The fact that he was holding it meant that Jin had destroyed the barrier from the inside. But that didn't matter. It didn't matter how he had destroyed the barrier or why the sword was there. All she wanted was... with a pleading look, she reached out.

"Give it to me... Jin..." A phenomenon weapon was more than just a weapon. It had a soul embedded within it, and the weapon had a will of its own. That will could always interfere with the mind of its owner, and if a weak-minded person possessed it, their thoughts could be corrupted and their spirit broken. If such a thing were given to an immature boy, who knew what kind of negative influence it would have on his developing mind.

But the sister's hand, burned and bloody, couldn't reach Jin. Jin, who until now had not moved a muscle, pulled away from her outstretched hand.

"Jin..." Her voice trailed off as she begged him to give it to her. The beautiful green eyes that had once looked at her with such warmth now held a cold, piercing light.

If she couldn't reach Jin, then at least... The sister pushed herself up, leaning on her weakened arm. Her cloudy eyes fixed on Terumi.

"I won't let you... hurt my children. I will... I will protect them..." With a determination that seemed to defy her aging body, the sister stood up. She had always been protected by someone. No matter how dangerous the situation, someone was always there to embrace her and protect her. But those people were gone now. Some she could never see again. Others were busy protecting something much greater.

"I can do it too..." She had always been the one being protected. She had always been protected by him until the very end. Now it was her turn to protect what he wanted to protect. She took a step forward, her feet dragging. With each step, her body felt lighter. The pain faded. Her pace quickened.

"Hey! Hey, don't come any closer! I told you not to come any closer, you crazy old hag!" Terumi retreated in alarm when the sister suddenly closed the distance between them.

Terumi considered the sister his natural enemy. The sister's power, her presence, weakened and negated Terumi's. Just being in the same room made him feel ill. If he got too close, he would feel nauseous. If she touched him, he would scream in disgust.

The sister knew about this strange power dynamic between them. She reached out to grab the shadow, its face contorted in fear. But before she could, a small figure stood in her way.

"Jin..." Jin, who had retreated, stepped between Terumi and the sister, his arms wrapped tightly around her. His green eyes looked up at her from beneath long golden lashes, blank and emotionless. She loved that color of eyes. They were beautiful, gentle, and the same color as those of a strong and kind person.

"Let go," she said. The sister grabbed Jin's shoulder and tried to pull him away. She used all her strength, but her fingers seemed numb, and she couldn't feel if she was touching him. Jin didn't move. Tears welled up in the sister's eyes but were immediately evaporated by the heat.

Why did she have to pull him away? Instead of roughly pushing him aside, she wanted to embrace him, telling him how much she loved him.

"Ha... Hahahaha, nice support, kid! But... hey, you old hag, don't underestimate me! You bitch!" Terumi's voice, filled with rage, swirled around the room. Yet, as if he didn't want to get too close or touch her, Terumi swung his shadow-like arm and threw it at the sister.

"Jin, let go..."

The chain, carrying the dagger, pierced the sister's chest.

Knowing this was probably the end, the sister ran her fingers through Jin's hair.

"Jin, be good to your brother..." Before she could finish her sentence, blood filled her mouth, drowning out her words and breath.

The dagger was pulled out, and with that momentum, her body swayed backward. As if losing all strength, Jin released her. The sister's thin, aged body was thrown backward onto the burning floor.

"............" She tried to call out Jin's name, but no sound came out. Only the sound of air escaping hissed, easily drowned out by the crackling of the burning building.

Where was Jin? All she could see was the ceiling.

Where was Saya? Where was Ragna...?

"Hahaha! Oh, my, you're quite a bloody mess, aren't you? Tell me, how do you feel right now? How do you feel? The church is burning up too, isn't it? At this rate, you won't need a funeral pyre. Kukuku, what a caring old woman you are, aren't you, sister? Hyah-hah-hah-hah!" Terumi's laughter faded away like it was being sucked into a void. The sound of the flames, the heat of the room, and even Jin's breath—everything seemed to grow distant. Amongst it all, the sister struggled to move her fingers on the floor.

(Sister...)

If only she were as strong as her heroic sister... could she have protected these children? Could she have driven Terumi away, called rain from the sky, and extinguished the fire in an instant? Could she have hugged Jin and Saya together with Ragna when he returned?

(Oh, Ragna...) There were so many things she still needed to do. There were things she hadn't given to him, things she hadn't taught him.

(Big sister... please, lend me your strength... I need to tell him...) There was something she had to tell him. That it wasn’t his fault. That it was her fault for not being able to protect them. That he shouldn't blame himself...

But she couldn't move her fingertips anymore. As her vision faded, she heard the sound of the ceiling collapsing.

(Oh, God... please...)

Please let them be happy wherever they go.

The building collapsed, swallowing the sister's small prayer.

### Part 2

Drizzle

Though weak, the night rain chilled the body. Feeling the damp, slightly cooler air, Ragna looked up at the sky.

The Kagutsuchi Branch of the Novus Orbis Librarium.

The three-pronged building stretched up towards the heavens, even higher than the mountain peak on which it stood. With its white exterior, it resembled a magnificent temple, its tip piercing through the clouds. Illuminated from below, it seemed to float in the dark night.

It was a beautiful building. But not everything inside was beautiful. Especially... whatever was deep underground. At the end of the city, there's an entrance at the end of a long bridge-like passage. Taking a deep breath, he started walking down the passage.

His hard shoes clicked on the floor. Before long, he felt something odd. It was unusually quiet. And…

"There's no barrier magic?" Halfway down the passage, Ragna frowned suspiciously. Every city and facility he'd ever been to had powerful barrier magic at the front entrance, designed to turn anyone who tried to enter without permission into charcoal at a touch. But there was no sign of magic at the sealed entrance, and there was no gatekeeper either, who should have been standing guard.

"What's going on?"

Suspecting a trap, he found himself in front of the door. He reached out his hand. Normally, he would have felt a repulsive sensation, and his hand would have felt like it had been struck by an electric shock.

But again, there was nothing.

He touched it with his left hand. The door was completely harmless, as if it were just a huge, ordinary door, silently keeping its mouth shut.

"...Well, whatever." Deciding there was no point in thinking about it, Ragna slashed at the door with the sword at his waist, which he would normally open with magic.

His blade was shrouded in a pitch-black darkness, and he cut through the thick, sturdy door as if it were butter. After creating an entrance large enough for one person, Ragna stepped inside with the ease of someone returning home.

The entrance, as seen from the outside, was a grand and solemn structure. The ceiling, which was so high that it made one look up, was arched and lined with evenly spaced white columns. As he went deeper, he eventually emerged into a bright, open space. It was a cathedral, an area with a high ceiling.

In the open space surrounded by circular floors, there stood a colossal, pure white statue of a woman. The beautiful figure of the woman was both divine and inorganic, and her eyeless gaze was directed at the holy book she held and the lower floors. Countless magic circles floated in the high, open ceiling, which seemed to imitate the sky. They illuminated the goddess and the countless floors with a divine light like sunlight.

This light would never go out. It was as if there was no such thing as night. It was cold to be in darkness all the time, but it was also creepy to be in the morning all the time.

As he walked in front of the goddess, who was bathed in a warm, soft light that seemed to disturb his sense of time, Ragna cast a sharp gaze around him. There was no one in the branch.

If someone had attacked, there would be signs of a battle, and bodies would be lying around. But there were none. As if no one had ever been there from the beginning, or as if all living things had been sucked into something and lost their existence, the branch was empty. With every step, his footsteps echoed.

The statue of the goddess said nothing.

A painful silence stretched on and on…

(No...)

As he continued walking at the same pace, Ragna sensed a presence in the deserted branch. At the top of the stairs, in the shadows of the columns, at the end of the circular floor. Someone was... no, it was him.

When he realized this, a fire ignited deep within Ragna's stomach. The strange absence of anyone in the branch no longer mattered. In that moment any thoughts of the Cauldron and the Boundary vanished from his mind. He could tell without seeing. He could tell without hearing. If there was an invisible connection, it must have been there.

What would he call it? If Ragna were to name that bond now, he would choose "hatred."

His mind was racing. The anger he had built up over years was about to explode within him. The last image he had seen of him flashed before his eyes.

His brother, Jin’s face, grinning eerily.

His memory of parting with him was intertwined with the crimson of the raging flames.

When he rushed back in a panic at the sound of the explosion, the church was already engulfed in flames. The front entrance, the windows of the corridor, and the back door leading to the fields were all filled with flames, as if to make it impossible to enter from anywhere.

The heat was so intense that it felt like his skin was being burned just by getting close, and sparks mixed with the air he cautiously inhaled. He couldn't see inside. All he could see were the flames dancing wildly.

Ragna stopped in front of the front entrance, breathing roughly over his shoulder, and stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds, overwhelmed by the despair. He didn't know what had happened. His numb mind couldn't think. There was only the heat that threatened to burn at a touch, the sparks swirling like a brain, and the terrible smell of something burning.

"What... the hell is this... Saya, Jin! Grandma!" He shouted towards the depths of the flames. A burst of fire hit him on the way, and he coughed violently at the searing heat.

Despite the intense heat, Ragna couldn't stop shivering. Driven by desperation, he stumbled forward. He searched for any opening, any sign of life.

"Saya! Jin! Damn it, anyone, answer me! I'm going to burn up!" His voice cracked with panic. The embers he'd unknowingly inhaled scorched his throat. His exposed arm and face felt on fire, a stark reminder of the hellish reality he was trapped in.

"Grandma! Jin... ah..." Avoiding the church, Ragna quickly looked around, and for a moment, his throat tightened.

He found it. Next to the church, there was a thick, tall tree. At its base, where he and Jin used to climb as children, lay a small body, limp and lifeless. It was Saya wearing a white dress and long golden hair.

"Saya! Are you alright!?" Shouting her name, Ragna hurried over and lifted her soft body. There was no sign of consciousness in his sister, who limply leaned into him. But he could see that her chest was rising and falling with weak but steady breaths. Her lips moved faintly, letting out a tiny groan that was too soft to hear.

"Thank God... she's alive." Relief and anxiety flooded him at once. "Damn it! Where are Jin and Grandma!? What the hell happened!? What's wrong with my body!?"

Just as he was thinking this, a voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Brother..." The sweet, almost teasing voice made Ragna quickly turn around in a panic.

"Jin!" He saw him—without a doubt, it was his younger brother Jin, who appeared to be conscious and able to walk on his own. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Ragna rushed over and reached out to his brother, who was much shorter than him. From what he could see, there didn’t seem to be any obvious injuries, but Jin was oddly looking down, as though trying to hide his face, which worried Ragna.

"What’s wrong? Does something hurt?"

"Brother..."

As Ragna tried to ask, Jin smiled. It was probably a smile of relief since they had reunited. But for some reason, Ragna felt something off about the smile, something twisted in its shape, and he furrowed his brow in concern.

"Hey, Jin?" Before he could finish his question, a sharp pain shot through his shoulder, and he heard a sickening sound as something heavy and wet was severed.

"...Huh?" His shoulder jerked involuntarily, and then something seemed to fly off. It felt both light and heavy. The sensation, as it came at him, was a pain he had never experienced before.

"Guahhh!"

What just happened? His knees gave way, and he collapsed to the ground. The pain was so intense that his vision blurred. He grabbed his throbbing shoulder, and there was a squishy, wet sensation. Instinctively, he felt nauseous. The sensation was disgusting.

What should have been there was missing. His arm, which had been hanging naturally from his shoulder just moments ago, was gone.

From a distance, something fell onto the grass. It was long and curved, familiar, yet something he had never seen at this distance... it was Ragna’s right arm.

"Aah—" As his brain processed the reality, the pain swelled, magnifying, sending sharp tremors through every nerve in his body. "Uwaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!"

The scream that erupted from his throat didn’t even sound like his own voice. He couldn’t tell where reason ended and where reality began—everything was a tangled mess now. Amidst the chaos in his mind, a cold voice stabbed through his fractured thoughts, like a knife.

“Hahaha! Damn, Ragna, that must hurt like hell. Does it hurt? Huh, does it? I bet it does, hahahahaha!”

Ragna forced his heavy eyelids open, shivering violently from the cold and heat. Jin was looking down at him, his face twisted in a cruel grin as he clutched his shoulder in agony. And behind him... a shadow, a figure shaped like a person, was smiling with a crescent-shaped mouth.

It was a horrible voice, a horrible laugh, a horrible presence.

“Jin... run,” Ragna managed to say, his tongue thick and heavy. This shadow was evil. He had a terrible feeling about it. “Take Saya and run!”

His intuition told him that the sister had probably been killed. The explosion and the fire in the church were undoubtedly the work of this shadow. “Jin!”

“Brother...” Jin replied dreamily, as if his mind were far away. “You’re wrong... Brother...”

“What the hell are you talking about? Just go, damn it...” Slipping past Jin, the shadow slid into Ragna’s vision. Its large, green, vacant eyes stared at Ragna's face, which was now inches from the ground.

“Damn you...”

“Oh dear, you’re on your last legs. Are you going to die? Huh? Are you going to die? Kukuku. Well, just crawl around on the ground and die. I’m done with everything, and I have no more use for you.” The shadow mocked the helpless Ragna and stood up lightly. Then, it swayed over to Saya’s side.

When the shadow returned to Ragna’s sight, it was carrying Saya’s small, limp body on its shoulder.

“Saya...”

“Well, I’m going now. I’m taking the kids with me. See ya.” The shadow walked away lightly, as if leaving a friend’s house, and Jin followed a few steps behind. He was holding an unsheathed sword. He stopped in front of Ragna and pulled the sword from its sheath. The icy-cold blade gleamed in the light of the flames that engulfed the church. He raised the blade, pointing it downward.

“Goodbye, brother,” he said with a cold, almost happy smile, and then he swung the sword down towards Ragna’s back.

His right arm was burning.

Kagutsuchi Branch of the Novus Orbis Librarium.

Ragna walked across the mirror-polished floor, unconsciously gripping his right shoulder tightly. There, where his arm should have been, was a replacement arm, created from the Azure Grimoire that had been buried beneath the burned-out church. Rachel had urged him to do it. That was the beginning of his relationship with the arrogant vampire.

He would never forget that day. The pain, the suffering, the anger he had felt then—all of it was still burned into his soul. The heat of the flames, the shock of losing his arm, the taste of the different soil, the coldness of the ice blade thrust into his back. None of it had faded. It had all accumulated within him, festering and growing darker. Ragna reached for the sword at his waist. He inhaled sharply. Was it his own breath, or the sound of the one waiting ahead? As he drew his sword, he dashed forward.

"Jin!" he roared, his voice shaking the air.

A moment later, he heard a landing sound from the top of the stairs. A slender figure emerged, a katana glinting coldly in the light that illuminated the statue of the goddess. A sound of air being cleaved descended. With a sharp hyu, the descending blade was met by Ragna's broadsword.

Sparks flew as metal clashed. The high, clear sound of the collision echoed through the vast, silent sanctuary like a bell. The figure, still holding his sword and katana, leaped down from the stairs and smiled coldly.

"Ah... it's really you... I'm so happy," he murmured, his voice like a soft song. His lips were thin, his skin pale, and his long, golden hair was slightly singed. His eyes, the same green as Ragna's left eye, shimmered with excitement.

How long had it been since they had faced each other like this? He had grown so much taller than Ragna remembered, and yet he still carried the same aura as the boy he had once known.

"I've been waiting for you, brother," he said. As he spoke, he caught the blue sheath that had fallen behind him and, without looking, kicked Ragna's sword away. He took a large step backward. Ragna recovered his sword and readied himself.

The slender yet muscular figure was clad in a blue and white uniform. The hilt of his katana was silver, and its sheath was blue. The only man waiting for Ragna in the deserted Librarium branch was Jin Kisaragi. He was the commander of the Fourth Thaumaturgist Squadron of the Novus Orbis Librarium.

And a long, long time ago, they had spent their childhood together in the same church... Ragna's younger brother.

### Part 3

The thinly honed blade, cold and sharp as finely polished ice, sliced through the air two or three times with a delicate sound that befitted its appearance, and stopped the tip aiming at Ragna.

It was the blade that had once pierced the back of his older brother, Ragna, and failed to deliver the killing blow—the phenomenon weapon, Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa.

Jin's gaze followed Ragna's rigid back.

The color reflected in his green eyes was love.

"It's been a long time. I really wanted to see you. When I heard you were heading to Kagutsuchi, I rushed over as fast as I could."

The color reflected in his green eyes was pleasure.

"It feels like a dream to be able to see you again, brother... When I heard that the 'Grim Reaper' was you, I was surprised. As expected of you, brother, even the Enforcers of the Librarium can't defeat you."

The color reflected in his green eyes was ecstasy.

"But of course. No one can kill you, brother. That's how it's supposed to be. Kukuku... Do you understand, brother? I'm so happy. I'm so, so happy. After I stabbed you in front of the church, I felt so disappointed. Because if you had died there, I couldn't have killed you anymore. I could never kill you again. That's why I'm so happy now. Hahaha, ahaha, ahahahahaha!"

The color reflected in his green eyes was killing intent.

"It was really a dream. To be able to kill you again..." Sweeping Yukianesa aside diagonally, Jin leapt quickly and low. He dashed forward, carrying that momentum. With incredible speed, he thrust his green twin blades before Ragna's eyes.

"Hahaha!" Jin swung Yukianesa high, letting out a shrill laugh. Ragna parried the sharp, arcing strike with his sword, the clash a deafening cacophony. Jin raised the rebounding blade high, his eyes wide open. It wasn’t surprise, not by a long shot. A deep, piercing satisfaction, a thrill that ran from the pit of his stomach, was what drove him.

“What a sound... Brother, can you see the sparks flying where my Yukianesa meets your sword? Hahahaha, let’s fight more, let’s kill each other more!” The thin blade sliced straight down, aiming for Ragna’s skull. A primal sense of danger made the hair on the back of Ragna’s neck stand on end, but he parried the blow once more.

“Damn it... you idiot...” The impact was heavier than he’d expected. But more than that, it was Jin’s gleeful expression that twisted Ragna’s face. Anger, bubbling up and overflowing, distorted his features. “Shut up, will you? All this noise about killing each other. Don’t be ridiculous!” He pushed back forcefully and kicked Jin in the stomach.

A dull thud as Jin stumbled back. Ragna followed up with a sweeping strike of his sword.

“Aaah...” Jin’s body flew backward, bouncing off the hard floor. He landed face down after a half-turn, his golden hair a tangled mess.

Ragna’s eyes narrowed, his expression grim as he stared at Jin. If his gaze could burn, he would have incinerated his idiotic brother with his fury.

“You wanted to see me? What a coincidence, Jin. I wanted to see you too. I wanted to see you so I could beat the crap out of that annoying face of yours!” Ragna lunged again. “Raaaaah!” He roared, his anger fueling him as he raised his fist. Darkness, like a flame, flickered in his tightly clenched hand. Jin was just about to rise, using his sword for support as he scraped it along the floor.

Before he could draw his sword, Ragna’s fist smashed into his brother’s chest. Another punch, this time with his other hand, also filled with darkness, followed. The impact was far more than a human arm should be capable of. The second blow sent Jin flying even further than the sword had, and he crashed into the wall behind him.

“Ugh...” He pushed himself up, but stayed on his knees, using his sword for support. He pressed a hand to his temple, as if he’d hit his head, and shook his head slightly to clear the dizziness.

Staring at this sight, Ragna clenched the fist he had just used to punch Jin even tighter, as if trying to suppress the surge of rage that was boiling within him.

"Get up," he growled. "This isn't enough. You need to fully understand what you've done."

"Ha... ha... haha..." Jin laughed mockingly. Seeing him stumble to his feet, Ragna felt a wave of nausea. He felt sick. The image of a burning church he had seen sometime in the past flickered in his mind.

Jin swayed slightly. With his chin lowered, he glared up at Ragna, a look of ecstasy plastered across his pale face.

No.

"Fufufu... No, brother, you have to come at me with the intention of killing me. If you hold back, I'll kill you."

"Don't be ridiculous. Who do you think you are, killing me? You should be worried about yourself, you idiot!"

"Ahahahaha!" Jin dashed forward, and Ragna leaped. As if waiting for Ragna to land, Jin swung his sword horizontally. A spike of ice formed, following the path of the sword, and silently flew towards Ragna.

"Damn it!" Swinging his sword faster than expected, Ragna shattered the flying ice with his broadsword, scattering the pieces. The shattered ice sparkled, and through the shards, Ragna swung his sword again. This time, it was aimed at Jin. The diagonally descending sword was dodged by the leaping Jin. Ragna stepped forward and swung horizontally. The heavy blow was deflected by Jin's smoothly wielded sword, its power diminished.

The grating sound of sliding metal was unpleasant to the ears. Hearing this, Jin jumped lightly. From a twisting jump, he delivered a kick aimed at Ragna's temple. Ragna raised his arm to block the hard boot. He flipped his wrist, grabbed Jin's leg, and threw him to the floor.

Just before kissing the polished mirror surface, Jin landed on his hand on the scabbard and used his long legs to brake. His white cheeks were flushed with heat. His eyes gleamed with excitement and were wet.

"This is fun... isn't it, brother? Spending time with you is so much fun."

"Shut up. I'm not having any fun at all!" With every look at that face, Ragna's irritation grew. With every sound of that voice, rage churned and stuck within him. "Aaaaaaaaaah!" Unable to contain himself, he bared his teeth like an animal and tried to punch Jin again. But something suddenly grabbed his leg.

"What the--!?"

It was ice. The cold air that had surged up from his feet enveloped Ragna's body, solidifying on the surface and immobilizing him.

"Damn it..." Struggling to move his immobile body, Ragna saw Jin, riding on the ice, approaching him instantly. With a crazed smile, he swung his Yukianesa.

"Brother!" A laugh filled with joy accompanied the slash.

With all his might, Ragna broke free from the ice, which scattered as snow around him. Immediately after, Yukianesa caught Ragna's body in a diagonal slash. The cold blade tore through his thick flesh.

A momentary sound of something being cut and wet splattered, followed by Ragna's scream. The impact of the slash caused Ragna's feet to stumble back a step. But instead of continuing to retreat, he planted his feet and grabbed Jin's collar.

"Don't fuck with me... you little shit!" He pulled Jin towards him with all his strength. In his other hand was a broadsword. He plunged the thick point of the blade into Jin's chest, which he had pulled closer. With the weight of his arm, he thrust the blade deep into Jin's chest, breaking his ribs.

The thrust was more like a punch than a pierce, sending Jin crashing into a pillar and knocking him to the floor. Yet, Jin stumbled to his feet almost immediately.

Ragna's strike had torn through the NOL uniform that doubled as his armor, staining the white shirt beneath Jin's coat crimson.

Ignoring the spreading stain, Jin ran his white-gloved hand along the blade of Yukianesa. His fingers, sliding over the blade as if caressing something beloved, came away slick with Ragna's blood. Staring entranced at his red-stained hand, he slowly curled his fingers, as if squeezing it tighter.

"Ah... Ha, ha, ha... My brother... I'll kill you, I'll kill you. Over and over... Over and over, I'll kill you!" His eyes, wide open, locked onto Ragna with a fervent gaze. A mix of pleasure and murderous intent, a trembling desire filled his eyes.

Clutching his long, gaping wound, Ragna groaned in pain. A distant memory flickered in his mind for a moment. A time when nothing had happened, a memory from his childhood.

When they were still young, before the church burned and the sisters smiled, Jin had been a scaredy-cat, a sickly crybaby, but he had also been the kindest child.

Ah, ah. Anger clouded his vision. The wound, torn open by Yukianesa, burned fiercely.

Ragna mirrored the twisted smile in Jin's left eye, which was the same green as his own.

"Jin... You haven't changed one bit since then. Whether it's a phenomenon weapon or Yukianesa, I don't know, but you've gone crazy over some old toy, and you don't even realize what you've done! Because of you... Because of you!"

Everything had crumbled to ashes. Everything. The things he cherished, the things he had protected, the things he had wanted, the past, the future.

What a fragile thing it was. Jin, Saya, the sister. Unable to fend off the small madness, they were swallowed whole, changed, and ended without a fight.

He should have been stronger. He should have been able to protect them.

All he could do was destroy what was in front of him.

"... Ah, that's right. So I'll destroy you!" Shaking off his blood-stained hand, Ragna raised his right arm. A red, eye-like ornament embedded in the back of his hand blinked. His modified right eye throbbed.

"Destroy it," an inner voice seemed to whisper.

A black darkness ignited from his shoulder to his arm.

"Kill... Kill, kill! Ragnaaaaa!" Jin swung Yukianesa, plunging it into the floor. A violent tremor ran through him as ice shot out from where the blade had pierced, aiming for Ragna. Ragna's right arm met the sword. Darkness, racing down his arm like a flame, instantly enveloped the blade.

"I'll end it all with this... Azure Grimoire!" He swung his sword, cleaving the air. The darkness, released with the force of a sword pressure, captured Jin's ice and swallowed him whole, moving faster than the ice.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah..." The darkness flung its prey away with the same force. Spat out like garbage, Jin lay sprawled on the floor, charred and soiled, his form so mangled it was impossible to tell where the blood ended and the fragments of darkness began. He gasped, trying to get up, but his body had clearly reached its limit. His hand, which had pulled itself back to his side and pressed against the floor, couldn't support his weight.

"Ha... Ha... Ha, ha..." Even as he lay there, Jin let out a ragged laugh. Ragna approached, looking down at Jin, who was trembling with spasmodic laughter. Jin looked up from beneath his tangled, dirty blond hair, a look of twisted pleasure in his eyes. "Brother... I have to... kill you..."

"Shut up," Ragna growled. The distorted laughter was grating. Ragna raised the sword he carried and pointed the tip downward. There was a time... when Jin had pointed the blade like this, and he was the one lying helpless. What had Jin felt as he swung Yukianesa down then? Yukianesa was still embedded in the frozen floor.

"Damn it!" Ragna exhaled roughly, his gut still churning with emotion. He had intended to finish him off, to end it all. But he couldn't bring himself to strike down at the back turned to him.

"I'll deal with you later. Just stay here and rest, you shadow," he said, turning away and returning the sword to his side. By then, the anger that burned within him had subsided. It wasn't gone. He was still furious. But he didn't think he could quench it by plunging a sword into him.

Without a word to Jin, Ragna began walking deeper into the branch. His goal wasn't Jin. It was the cauldron. That's why he was here.

"Hah… hah…" Clutching the diagonal wound, Ragna grimaced at the belated pain and headed for the elevator that descended to the lower levels. Jin watched the retreating red back, crawling on the cold floor. As if nothing else existed, his eyes moved involuntarily, burning the stark red into nothingness.

When the figure disappeared up the stairs, Jin put all his strength into the hand that was pressed against the floor, his arm trembling.

"Br...other..." He called out in a hoarse voice. As his body lifted slightly, a dark red stain spread across the floor. Every breath he took sent pain shooting through his body. But... But…

"Wait... Brother... No, don't... go..." He jammed his foot into the gap between his body and the floor, forcing himself to stand. His whole body creaked. So what?

Pain was insignificant. Trivial.

"B-Brother...!" As if searching for the back that had already disappeared from view, he took a shaky step forward. Jin, with a crimson stain spreading from his chest, gripped the Yukianesa, a sword plunged into the floor, tightly.

### Part 4

How many times had she said this prayer already?

"Hah… hah… hah…" Her ragged breaths echoed through the high, arched ceiling. Her hurried feet stumbled repeatedly, as if mirroring the countless prayers she’d uttered. Short of breath, she dragged her feet, her mind racing as she took in the chaos of the Kagutsuchi branch.

(Why... Why is no one here? The barrier is down, and the entrance door is damaged. What happened here?!)

Only one possibility came to mind: Ragna the Bloodedge. She already knew he would be visiting soon. It wouldn’t be strange at all if he had arrived at Kagutsuchi before her, given that he had entered the organization much earlier. But what puzzled her was why she hadn’t been informed about the attack by the ‘Grim Reaper.’ And why was there no sign of anyone?

Previous attacked branches had followed a similar pattern. Before the usual underground explosion, non-combatants were evacuated. But not this time.

Something was strange. Very strange.

"Brother Jin..."

If Ragna had arrived first, then what about Jin? Had he encountered him? Had he vanished without a trace, like so many other soldiers stationed at the Kagutsuchi branch?

A shiver ran down her spine. She dashed into the sanctuary, where a goddess statue stood. A bright light, almost day-like, poured from the magic storage, illuminating the area. It was a comforting sight. Every sanctuary had this effect. But now, she was more drawn to a different sight.

Near the stairs leading deeper into the sanctuary, there were clear signs of a battle. Blood splattered on the floor and pillars, deep gouges in the walls, and scratches on the floor where a blade had been dragged. And most telling of all, there was ice, which showed no signs of melting, on the floor, pillars, and walls.

Who had been here? She was certain Jin carried a sword that manipulated water.

Jin fought here.

"Brother Jin!" Tsubaki shouted, her voice echoing through the empty space as she scanned her surroundings. Hope and anxiety washed over her at the same time. The clear evidence of a struggle suggested that Jin hadn't simply vanished. But if that were the case, then who had he fought? Whose blood was splattered everywhere?

"Jin! Are you here?! Where are you...?" Her voice cracked, and she coughed violently. Her desperate calls and ragged breaths mingled with the echoes of the empty hall. There was no answer. Only the silent, watchful gaze of the goddess statue.

"I... I have to find him."

Perhaps he'd been injured and had gone to the infirmary. Maybe he'd moved to rest somewhere.

"...No, that can't be right."

If Jin had fought someone here, there should be a body or an unconscious figure. The fact that there was neither, and no sign of Jin himself, suggested that the battle might still be ongoing.

"If he's fighting Ragna the Bloodedge..." The Grim Reaper's territory was always underground. The deepest part of the branch. A restricted area that even Tsubaki didn't know about. To reach it, she had to take the elevator all the way down.

Her breathing steadied.

Tsubaki tossed her fiery red hair and looked up at the stairs, then dashed forward with incredible speed. She knew she could use the elevator from this floor to reach the general staff level. Jin must have taken the same route.

There were thin streaks of blood on the floor leading towards the elevator.

"Please be safe, Jin... I'm coming for you..." So please, don't overdo it. She had a gut feeling that Jin had lost.

With that thought in mind, Tsubaki ran.

### 046. Chapter 5: Calamity black — Dark Demise

## BBCT Chapter 5: Calamity black — Dark Demise

### Part 1

As the final elevator came to a halt, the doors, which had been joined together, silently slid open. The floor that unfolded before him was dimly lit. The lighting was minimal, casting an eerie glow on the cold, metallic surfaces of the floor, ceiling, and walls.

A heavy, oppressive atmosphere hung in the air, a stark contrast to the bright, magnificent ambiance of the rest of the branch. The rows of machinery, the simple, undecorated lights and pillars, and the sterile walls—it was a space deep underground that seemed more suited for researchers than guards. And yet, there was no one here.

A deafening silence swallowed up the sound of Ragna's footsteps, ascending towards the high ceiling. The ceiling was so far away, and the dim lighting made it impossible to see clearly. It was as if darkness was gathering overhead.

Breaking the silence, Ragna stepped forward, his boots making a rhythmic sound. A massive device loomed in the dim light. It seemed to blend into the sterile surroundings yet simultaneously stood out with an unnatural, oppressive presence. As he approached, Ragna looked up at the device, a cauldron, and furrowed his brow.

"So... This is it. Same as the others, huh?" This floor was virtually unknown to the general public and even to most soldiers. But for Ragna, it was a familiar sight.

All branches were fundamentally the same. And the cauldrons, located even deeper underground than the lowest city, were always built in a similar fashion. This one was almost identical to the one in Akitsu, the branch he had just left, down to the arrangement of the machinery.

"Well then... Let's get this over with. I'm tired of this." He muttered wearily, pressing down on his blood-soaked shirt. The wound hadn't closed yet, but the bleeding had almost stopped. The dried blood stuck to his skin and shirt, and the fact it came off whenever he moved hurt more than the wound itself.

The diagonal gash inflicted by Jin's sword should have been a shallow wound that would have stopped bleeding much sooner. The fact that he had healed enough that it didn’t affect his movement was due to the unique nature of Ragna's body. He had always healed quickly, even as a child. But his right arm had drastically changed that.

His right arm, or rather, the grimoire within it, constantly absorbed life force and human souls, regardless of Ragna's consciousness. And the absorbed life force was returned to Ragna, its host. In other words, he healed his wounds using the life force of others.

However, this time, it wasn't healing as quickly as usual.

Nox Nyctores.

"A phenomenon weapon, huh? The healing’s slow."

If Jin's sword had been ordinary, the wound would have closed, if not healed completely, in such a short time.

Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa. Since it was a weapon that killed the Black Beast, it probably had some kind of special power. Ragna grimaced at his aching wound.

"Damn it, getting hit by a phenomenon weapon twice in one day. What a pain in the ass."

Come to think of it, the wound on his cheek, from the Nirvana he had encountered before reaching the branch, still hadn't stopped bleeding. It wasn't a serious wound, but the constant dripping of blood and the stinging pain were incredibly annoying.

Ragna passed the rows of machinery and descended a set of stairs to a lower level. This brought him much closer to the cauldron. He had seen many of these cauldrons in other branches, but each time he was taken aback by their size and ominous presence.

Around the cauldron were an array of devices whose purpose Ragna couldn't fathom. At the same height as the floor, circular openings lined with needle-like protrusions were arranged in a row. These openings were currently closed.

That circular opening was the cauldron, the gate to the Boundary. If opened, it would reveal a realm beyond this one.

As he walked, Ragna placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. He wanted to finish this quickly and leave the city. He felt like he'd gotten caught up in something far more troublesome than he'd anticipated. There was too much unnecessary wear and tear.

"...What... the..." Suddenly, Ragna's body tensed, and he came to an abrupt halt. It wasn't a conscious decision to stop. His body involuntarily stiffened, and he was unable to move.

A presence seemed to sweep over him like a sudden gust of wind. It came from the darkness ahead, where something was waiting. It was there, slowly approaching, and exuding a killing intent so thick it was almost suffocating.

"Wh... who are you?" Fear, primal and instinctive, forced a cry from Ragna. It was like the bark of a cornered dog. Even without seeing his opponent, there was no room left for composure in his voice.

Forcing his reluctant feet to stay planted, Ragna strained his eyes in the darkness. Heavy footsteps drew closer. And soon, the source of the footsteps, and the killing intent, emerged into the dim light of the underground.

It was a man in white. Clad in a white garment that covered him from head to toe, his face was hidden by a featureless white mask. His sturdy build clearly indicated he was a man, and he was tall. But was the form beneath those robes truly human?

No skin was visible, and only long, silver hair-like strands that swayed with each step, emerging from beneath the mask, gave him a semblance of life. Despite his tall stature, he carried a long odachi on his back, disproportionate to his body. With each step, he drew closer, his mirrored eyes fixed on Ragna. He stopped just a step away, where the tip of his odachi would have reached Ragna.

"It's been a long time, 'Dark One'," a deep, muffled voice spoke from beneath the mask.

Ragna's shoulders jumped, and he bit his lip. "What... What are you talking about? I don't know you!" He forced himself to speak firmly, trying to hide the tremor in his voice. He was already short of breath. He lowered his center of gravity, ready for a fight, and wiped his neck with his gloved hand. His neck was slick with sweat.

(What the hell is this guy...He's just standing there, but he's giving me the creeps.)

Even though he wasn't being glared at or intimidated, the oppressive feeling was overwhelming. He felt like his knees were about to give out. He felt like if he didn't keep up this act of defiance, he would suffocate under the weight of the killing intent. This, he realized, was true terror. Desperately trying to maintain his composure, Ragna thought.

"Don't bother me! I’ve got something else to do here, so get out of the way!" Ragna shouted, his voice hoarse. He drew his sword as a threat. He needed to do something to keep himself from collapsing. The tension between them felt like a physical pain in his neck.

The faceless white man stared at Ragna with his eyeless gaze. Ragna couldn't look away, as if his eyes were glued to the man's. The longer the white man remained motionless, the more Ragna's mind seemed to deteriorate. Sweat dripped down his forehead, and his forced shouts grew ragged.

"You cannot pass," the white man said in a heavy, low voice. It was like a declaration of punishment. "You will become the dew of my blade."

The killing intent that was directed at Ragna was unmistakable. It was as if he were being sentenced to death.

"Hah... Don’t be ridiculous! Why should I die by your hand? What the hell are you talking about, you masked freak!" It was a bluff. Even Ragna knew how pathetic he sounded. But he couldn't stop himself. His right arm began to tremble uncontrollably. His aim wavered. The white man watched, his expressionless face revealing nothing.

"Are you afraid, 'Dark One'? Do you remember, or is it instinct? Either way, you must overcome that fear." His tone was calm, despite the violent words, as if he were something beyond human. Or perhaps, he had simply forgotten what it meant to be human.

The white man's aura shifted. The killing intent was still there, but now it was mixed with a fierce fighting spirit. The pressure rippled through the air, causing his long silver hair to sway gently.

The white man spoke again, each word a blade aimed at Ragna.

"I am the white void, I am the cold steel, I am the just sword. With blade in hand I shall reap all sins and destroy evil." He drew his odachi from his back, his posture tense. The tip of the blade was pointed directly at Ragna. "I am Hakumen. Your end has come!"

With a voice that commanded obedience, the white-clad figure swung his odachi in a vertical strike. Ragna retreated instinctively, but the opponent's swift footwork was a step ahead. The cutting wind of the blade made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. It was a terrifying sensation, as if death itself were closing in.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" With a strangled cry, Ragna desperately raised his sword to block the attack. The impact that followed felt like his body had been cleaved in two, even though he had managed to block the blow with his sword.

For a moment, he thought he was dead. But he was alive. The strange sensation in his trembling right arm brought him back to reality. He quickly pushed the odachi away and put some distance between them.

Resuming his stance, Ragna looked at the white-clad man intently. He had said something just now. Despite the shock, Ragna recognized the words.

"Hakumen... you say?"

How many people in the world would not know that name?

Hakumen was the hero who had defeated the Black Beast, the monster that had driven humanity to the brink of extinction during the Dark War a hundred years ago. When Ragna was young, he heard so many different stories from his sister that he couldn't tell which parts were true and which parts were fiction.

The Six Heroes fought with phenomenon weapons: Jubei, the beastkin who was Ragna's sword master; Valkenhayn, who shared the same name as Rachel's butler; Yuki Terumi; Nine; and one other whose name has been lost to time. And then there was Hakumen, said to have taken their role as leader.

One of the legendary Six Heroes was here. Is that what this white-faced man was saying?

Ragna forced a bitter laugh.

"What's that, playing the hundred-year-old hero? Or is this some kind of joke? What is a legendary hero doing wandering around a place like this?"

And why was this hero so intent on killing him?

A sharp pain shot through his chest. The blow he'd taken earlier must have reopened his wound. Blood dripped from the cut on his cheek, and Ragna wiped it away with his right arm. His right arm was shaking uncontrollably, and he didn't understand why.

(What the hell is going on…) As Ragna grimaced in disgust, the man who called himself a hero calmly raised his sword.

"You are evil. Your very existence corrupts the world. Therefore, I shall slay you."

"That doesn't answer anything!" Ragna's shout was almost a plea. His right arm was trembling more violently. He could barely grip his sword. It was as if that specific part of his body was terrified of this white-clad man. In the dim light, the odachi’s tip gleamed coldly. There were no words, just a menacing presence that seemed to loom larger than the man himself.

"I won't ask again. You must die." Ignoring Ragna's protests, Hakumen lunged. It wasn't an exceptionally fast attack. Ragna himself, or even Jin, could move faster. But the sheer, irrational killing intent numbed Ragna's senses.

"No questions asked, huh? Damn it, every one of you keeps yelling about killing and dying!" He shouted to keep himself grounded, parrying the incoming strike. The impact sent a shockwave up his arm, and his grip faltered. Hakumen struck again, and Ragna, unable to hold onto his sword with his trembling right hand, dropped it and stumbled backward.

"Ugh..." The strain on his open wound was excruciating. He couldn't afford to be distracted. When he looked up, Hakumen was charging towards him.

He couldn't dodge it, and he couldn't block it with his bare hands. He grabbed his fallen sword and swung it around, parrying Hakumen's strike at the last moment. He slipped beneath Hakumen's arm and moved behind him. He swung his sword at Hakumen's back. Two red orbs, like eyes, stared at him from the man's shoulders.

"Drop dead!" His sword, shrouded in darkness, struck out. He intended to sever at least one of the man's arms.

A long, silver blade flashed across Ragna's vision.

Ragna's descending sword connected with Hakumen's raised forearm, but it felt shallow, weak. His right hand, which had been gripping the sword, suddenly went numb and his movement slowed. And yet, not a single drop of blood spilled from the wound. There was clearly a gash there, made by Ragna's sword.

"What the..."

He wasn't human after all.

As Ragna’s eyes widened in disbelief, Hakumen's body twisted, and a strangely shaped foot plunged into his abdomen. The impact felt like he'd been hit by a steel hammer. He was sent flying and slammed into the wall. He pushed himself up with his hands, but he couldn't breathe. He coughed violently, blood and mucus splattering on the floor.

"Cough... hack... gasp... cough..." He couldn't catch his breath. Blood-tinged stomach acid welled up and spilled out.

The power difference was clear. He couldn’t win. He had to escape.

But the white-masked figure wouldn't allow it.

"'Dark One'," Hakumen called out in a condemning tone and raised his sword overhead with both hands. Realizing his predicament, Ragna tried to distance himself from the wall. He crawled towards his fallen sword. But before he could reach it…

"Perish!"

The sword’s pressure took on a different shape and flew out, exceeding the reach of the odachi’s swing. The rushing energy, which looked like water splashing up, closed in on Ragna, and he tried to dodge...

"Aaaaaah!" A deep, bloody cry escaped his lips.

Hakumen's attack had sliced through Ragna's flesh and bone, catching him off guard. He heard the sound of metal being torn as the wall behind him was sliced open. Ragna collapsed to his knees, his strength failing him. He gripped the wound in his shoulder.

"Haah... haah... ugh... ugh..."

His heart pounded like a drum. Blood seeped from his shoulder and formed a pool on the floor. He looked up as he heard footsteps. The distance between them had narrowed, and the white-clad figure stood before him. The red orbs on his shoulders moved as he raised his odachi.

Ragna couldn't get up. He was on his knees, like a criminal awaiting execution.

(Am I going to die... here... at the hands of someone like this?)

He gritted his teeth and tried to move, but his body wouldn't respond.

The raised odachi was about to descend, ending his life.

For some reason, he felt like this had happened before. Perhaps it was just the delirium from losing so much blood, but he felt like he could remember the heat of a blade against his neck.

The odachi descended mercilessly…

...but instead of cutting into Ragna's neck, it stopped in mid-air.

"...What?" He thought, If you're going to kill me, just do it already.

Ragna looked up at Hakumen, who was frozen mid-strike. It was as if he had suddenly turned into a statue. But the slight tremor running through his body, as if he were trying to break free from some unseen force, proved otherwise.

"Wh... what..."

"It's... phenomenon intervention..." Ignoring Ragna, Hakumen strained, his eyes wide.

Whatever was restraining his movement must have been incredibly powerful. Even with the power that had so easily defeated Ragna, he was unable to move a muscle.

As Hakumen spoke again, static-like noise appeared on his black and white form, as if it had become distorted. It quickly became too intense to look at, and soon obscured most of Hakumen's appearance from Ragna’s eyes.

"Tch! Don't get in my way, grimalkin!" With a venomous roar that shook his very soul, Hakumen suddenly disappeared, like the image disappearing from a monitor that had lost power.

"What the hell was that..."

He had been beaten and left with more questions than answers. At least he was still alive, but it was all so confusing.

"Damn it. This is always happening." He clenched his wounded shoulder.

The world was unfair. It threw incomprehensible problems at him, one after another, and yet it never gave him the answers he needed. No matter how much he questioned, no one could explain what was really going on. And all the while, his wounds kept piling up.

"...Hah. I have to destroy the cauldron."

With Hakumen gone, Ragna became acutely aware of the room's vastness and silence. At the same time, he remembered why he had come down here in the first place.

Speaking to himself as if to reaffirm his purpose, Ragna shakily stood up. Dragging his feet, he picked up the sword he had dropped. It was badly damaged as well. He would have to get it repaired somewhere.

The trembling in his right arm had stopped. Perhaps it had been the influence of the grimoire.

The Azure Grimoire was gradually beginning to repair Ragna's body.

Feeling a sense of urgency, he took a step forward, but stopped abruptly.

Right before his eyes, as if it had been waiting, the cauldron began to move.

### Part 2

As if the previous silence had never been, the devices around the cauldron began to whir and hum. Turbines spun, and various machines scattered around the room flickered to life. The fasteners lining the circular edge retracted, and the lids beneath them began to open slowly, like a clenched fist uncurling. It was reminiscent of a flower bud blooming, but at the same time, it was like a grotesque monster opening its mouth to devour its prey.

As the lids rose, light spilled out from the other side. It wasn't the gentle light that illuminated the statue of the goddess of branches. This light was intense and vibrant, capable of melting anything.

Once the opening was complete, the space beyond was filled with an almost sacred atmosphere that belied its cold, metallic walls and ceiling. It looked more like an underground laboratory than a place of worship.

"Damn..." Ragna cursed under his breath, standing still in the overflowing light. Without taking a step forward, he peered into the cauldron. Beyond the giant hole was a crucible of light and heat. It looked like molten lava or molten glass, swirling in a viscous mass.

That was the Boundary. And at the top of the cauldron, illuminated by the otherworldly light from below, was a magnificent decoration that looked like the hilt of a sword thrust into that Boundary.

Shifting his gaze from the contents of the cauldron to the giant sword hilt, Ragna furrowed his brow.

"I was too late."

The cauldron was completely open. That meant the refinement experiment had been completed.

What was being refined? The answer... slowly rose from within the Boundary, entering Ragna's field of vision as he looked up.

Amidst the overflowing light, as if gravity didn't exist, a slender girl began to materialize. She was a white girl, cool and serene despite being bathed in scorching light. Her skin was so pale that it was almost ghostly white, and her long white hair, tied in a braid on her back, fluttered in the air. She wore a simple white dress that clung to her slender body, and over that, a loose white cape. With her arms lowered, she rose up towards the hilt of a massive sword, as if descending from the earth itself, then slowly descended to the cold floor.

She had a lovely appearance. If she had white wings on her back, she might have looked like an angel. But instead of wings, it was her long braided hair swaying behind her, and a double-edged sword hanging at the tip gave her a more dangerous presence than anything mystical.

As she descended as if she were asleep, Ragna instinctively stepped back, maintaining some distance. The girl's bare, white feet, with delicate nails, gently touched the metallic floor as she landed.

"——Loading." Her pale lips whispered mechanically. "Loading, loading. All functions normal. Murakumo is activating."

Her voice was mechanical. After moving her lips mechanically, the girl closed her mouth and, with a slight click, lifted her eyelids.

"...Huh?" In an instant, her voice changed, taking on a sweet, almost affectionate tone.

The girl's eyes were red. They were the same color as Ragna's right eye. Her large, long eyelashes that nearly spilled over, and dark shadows gathered beneath her eyes. ​​Only the left side of her face was healed; her right eye was covered by an eyepatch with a red prosthetic.

With her left red eye, the girl looked straight at Ragna, and then her eyes shone with a look of longing.

"Oh, Ragna! It's been a long time. You came to see Nu again, didn't you?" she cooed, smiling seductively. "I'm so happy. Is this the fourth time?" Ragna frowned deeper.

"It's the third time," He replied bluntly, and the girl calling herself Nu clasped her white fingers in front of her mouth.

"Fufufu, that's right, the third time," she said, counting the number of visits.

While Ragna was attacking the Librarium's branches and facilities, destroying cauldrons, there were a few instances where he found cauldrons in the middle of refinement experiments.

The first time he destroyed one of those cauldrons was the "first time" Nu was referring to. And the second time he destroyed a cauldron in the middle of a refinement experiment at a different location was the "second time."

Ideally, this "third time," he would have finished the job before the girl-shaped body, the prototype, came into contact with the Boundary and completed the refinement process. But he was too late.

"But it's okay, this time I have a proper body. So we can talk, Ragna. The last two times, I couldn't talk to you because I wasn't ready by the time you came."

For Nu, it seemed she had missed out on two opportunities. To show off her newfound ability to move freely, she opened her arms and spun around in place.

"But Nu was watching, you know. The first and second times... Ragna stabbed Nu with his sword, cut her to pieces, killed her." Oh, what a sweet memory. Nu hugged herself, swayed her braid, shook her head, and spoke dreamily, as if savoring the words.

Ragna felt a sickening twist in his stomach, as if he were being embraced or caressed. It was a terrible feeling of disgust. He couldn't imagine being happy or calm hearing someone describe his actions in such a blissful manner.

Moreover, although he had only seen three of the prototypes, including Nu, they all had the same face.

No matter how artificial the prototypes were, it was impossible for him to feel good about being told that he had "stabbed and torn apart" someone with the same face as the previous ones.

"Ragna, you looked so happy back then. Nu knows. You were smiling while you stabbed me, weren't you?"

"...Stop it. I don't want to hear that."

"Why? Fufufu, it felt good, didn't it? Hey, did it feel good to tear Nu apart?"

"Stop it!"

"Nu felt good. It was like Ragna was entering Nu, it felt so good. Fufufu, even now when I think about it, my body heats up..."

"I told you to stop!" Ragna shouted, leaping back. His muscles tensed, and the deep wounds in his chest and shoulder ached.

But what troubled Ragna more than the pain was the unpleasant, sticky feeling that clung to the inside of his chest.

None of the previous prototypes had ever activated. They just laid there, lifeless and silent. But Nu was different. She smiled with a familiar face, spoke with a familiar voice, and nodded with a familiar gesture. Nu... and at the same time, the two prototypes he destroyed before, were too similar to his youngest sister, Saya, whom he lost along with his brother.

'Ragna, do you hate talking with Nu?' Nu asked with a slightly hurt look in her eyes. Ragna gritted his teeth.

"Yes, I hate it. I don't want to talk to you," he said, his voice filled with disgust. The more he looked at her, the more he heard her voice, the more memories flooded back. His mind was filled with things he had lost, and he felt like he was suffocating.

(What an idiot I am...) Ragna thought to himself, his mind racing. He was so pathetic that he couldn't even be surprised at himself.

Jin and Saya were both gone. And yet, today, he felt an overwhelming urge to wallow in self-pity. He had been suppressing these feelings, but now he couldn't seem to contain them.

Nu pouted her lips in a childish way and placed her white finger beside her mouth, looking displeased.

"Aw, that's cold. Ragna can be so mean," she said, walking towards him with her slender bare feet gliding across the floor. Ragna held his breath and looked up as the damp sound of her footsteps grew louder, and he took a step back. Even so, Nu didn't stop approaching. The sound of her footsteps continued.

"But that's okay. We'll be together forever. I'll do anything for you. Nu belongs to Ragna. I'll love you very much."

As Nu approached, she held out her hands to Ragna. She smiled sweetly and invited him into a hug. Ragna gritted his teeth so hard they made a sound. If he had bitten his lip, he would have cut it with his canine teeth.

Don't look at me with those shining eyes. Don't say those seductive words in that voice.

He was irritated.

"Don't get the wrong idea. I didn't come here to play nice with you," Ragna said, placing his hand on the hilt of his sword. He drew it and pointed it downward.

Nu stopped. Her eyes widened in wonder and stared at Ragna's sword, then smiled with an ominous cheerfulness in her bright red eyes.

"I know. Ragna came to kill Nu, didn't he?"

"No. I came to destroy you." Don't claim to be human when you're just an artificial creation, an imitation.

The words that Ragna muttered to himself were a scolding of his weak spirit that, if he didn't constantly remind himself, would be swayed by appearances and dull his blade.

The words spoken were filled with rejection.

Nu, who had been the target of that rejection, lowered her chin and looked down. Soon, the thin shoulders covered by her white cape began to tremble slightly, and the light cape rippled like waves.

"Fufufu... Ahaha, hahahahaha!" A high-pitched laugh burst from her small jaw, a sound that seemed to grate on the ears, almost like the scraping of metal. "That's right, Ragna. You destroy everything. Everything, all of it... Just like Nu."

With a dreamy intoxication, Nu narrowed her large eyes and smiled. But her smile was far too unsettling to be a girl's smile and was overshadowed by a dark desire.

Disliking the red gaze fixed on him, Ragna swung his arm wildly to brush it away.

"Don't think we're the same!"

"Ahahaha, we are, Ragna. After all, Nu and Ragna are the same, right?"

Chuckling merrily, Nu shrugged and tilted her head. With her eyes wide open, she looked at Ragna from a tilted angle, as if trying to peer into his brain through his green and red eyes.

"Hey, Ragna, don't you want to destroy everything? Don't you want to destroy everything you hate? Nu, the people you hate... this world, even yourself?" Ragna flinched at her words.

What did he really want to destroy? His subconscious mind asked him.

(What do I want to destroy...)

Was it the prototype, the cauldron, the Boundary, the NOL? Was it that green shadow that had robbed him of his memories, or his foolish younger brother?

Or was it something else?

Staring at Ragna, Nu said with a drowning affection, "It's okay, destroy it. Destroy Nu with your own hands. But in return, Nu will destroy you."

A giant sword flew from somewhere and plunged into the floor behind New. The impact shook the ground. The huge sword that had been thrust into the ground was also a refined Murakumo, a part of Nu.

"Ragna..." Nu called out his name with a deep affection. Ragna felt a cold chill run down his spine at the sound of her voice.

The huge sword, which had been thrust diagonally into the ground, began to unfold at Nu's command. The tiny parts that made up the shape of the sword clattered and rearranged themselves in a complex manner.

It was like turning a switch on and off, or opening and closing a lock. As the giant sword transformed, so did the clothes Nu was wearing.

When the sword finally quieted down and Nu's transformation was complete, standing before Ragna was no longer the barefoot Nu with her fluttering white cape, but an entirely artificial-looking version of her, with her vision obscured by headgear dotted with red lights and her legs transformed into swords.

Eight thin blades spread out around Nu, as if she were spreading her wings. Beneath the headgear, Nu's small mouth smiled. The corners of her mouth were drawn back into a sharp slit, and her sweet smile carried less of a seductive allure and more of a simple, life-threatening danger.

"Nu is going to hug you tight!" With a joyful shout, Nu launched all eight of her wing-like swords at Ragna.

### Part 3

“Uraaah!” Ragna roared, swinging his sword sideways. Nu’s eight flying swords were all knocked aside, losing their trajectory and returning to their master before rearranging into a wing-like formation as if nothing had happened.

Dragging them behind her like a thin garment, Nu flew at him again.

"Fufufu, Ragna. Hug me!"

Her bouncing voice was that of a lovely young girl, hardly fitting for someone engaged in a sword fight. But at the same time, the eight swords spread out like a fan and one by one threw themselves at Ragna.

It looked like some kind of accordion-like craft. If they weren’t blades, the eight-fold attack would have been beautiful. Ragna held his sword sideways, using it to parry and endure the attack. “Ugh…” The groan that escaped him wasn’t because Nu’s sword had grazed him. He had taken the impact of eight consecutive strikes, each with a weight that belied the slender blades. The impact of wielding the sword and taking the blows naturally aggravated the wounds already etched into Ragna’s body.

“Huh! Ragna, you’re seriously hurt. What happened? Poor Ragna.” Nu looked at Ragna intently through the eyeholes of her headgear, her tone light and insincere, as if she were genuinely worried.

She probably was worried. But it was a different kind of worry, thinner and more pathetically simple than a human’s. And even as she pitied him. The eight swords spun around on Nu’s back and rearranged themselves for the next attack.

“What a horrible thing to do… Should Nu kill them? I can’t forgive anyone who hurts Ragna.”

“Shut up. It’s none of your business. And if you think that, then at least put away that dangerous sword.”

It seemed unbelievable that these were the words of someone who was more likely than anyone else to kill Ragna at that moment. With a pained breath, Ragna expressed his annoyance and disgust.

As expected, Nu seemed to misunderstand, just as Ragna had vaguely anticipated. She twirled her swords around her feet like a dress’s hem, scattering them in random directions.

“Wh… what…” Ragna looked up, his breathing already ragged, wondering what she was up to. But he soon understood. There was nothing strange about it.

The swords, which had been thrown in completely different directions from Ragna, were deflected by an invisible wall at the perfect moment, as if repelled, and began to aim at Ragna from all sides.

First, aiming for his side from the right. A second later, from behind. Less than a second later, his shoulder was targeted from a diagonal angle above, and two swords accelerated simultaneously, as if to sandwich his torso.

Feeling blood gushing from his wounds, Ragna swung his sword to knock them away. But there were too many. Even though he knew where they were coming from and how fast they were approaching, his body couldn’t keep up.

It wasn’t so much painful as it was heavy. He was losing too much blood. Willpower couldn’t replace the severed flesh, bone, and nerves.

“Gaaaah!”

The sixth sword rose diagonally from below and penetrated his thigh. The seventh, slightly deflected by Ragna’s sword, pierced his left arm along with his red jacket. The eighth was plunged into his back from behind.

That was his limit. Though he didn’t fall, he could do nothing more than support himself by planting both feet. The sword he held in his left hand was more of a support than a weapon. He didn’t know where all the blood dripping onto the floor was coming from.

“Raagna,” Nu’s high, thin voice sang sweetly. The swords that were embedded in Ragna’s body and around him floated up and returned to Nu, spreading out like wings, four on each side.

Next, those eight swords would pierce Ragna’s body all at once. If that happened, he would probably die.

It was unbearable.

“There’s still… this…” Muttering to no one in particular, Ragna moved his prosthetic arm. He raised his palm towards Nu, level with his face.

A rough and feverish breath was swallowed. With a fierce gaze, as if to devour her, Ragna glared at Nu, who had stopped in her tracks, puzzled.

"Restriction 666 released, dimensional interference field deployed!" In response to Ragna's words, his right arm throbbed greatly.

A sensation as if something was being transmitted from his right arm to his entire body washed over him. It felt slightly different from the last time he used it, but now was not the time to worry about it. If he didn't use it, he would die.

Ragna clenched his fist as if to confirm the feeling of his own arm and addressed his right arm.

"Azure Grimoire activate!" He said in a voice drawn from the bottom of his stomach. At that moment, Ragna felt as if his right arm had suddenly inflated to an abnormal size. And immediately after that, he lost all sensation in his arm.

"Wh... what..."

Unable to understand everything at once, Ragna hurriedly cast his gaze at his right arm. The arm was there. It hadn't been blown off his shoulder like it had before. But the arm was swollen, though not as much as the delusion he had just had, and it had burst through his black clothes and red jacket, revealing a sword.

A jet-black arm painted in darkness that was unlike the color of human skin. It was certainly there, but why couldn't he feel anything? Not only the sensation, but also the weight was not transmitted through his nerves.

"What the... guh, gah..." The question turned into an inarticulate sound. As if being swallowed up by something, the sensation disappeared from his right shoulder. The invasion descended from his right side to his abdomen and then to his right leg. It was as if his body was being carved away.

But what was even more abnormal was that as the invasion progressed, he began to perceive the lost sensations in a different part of his brain, understanding that this was his body.

It was as if necrotic flesh was regenerating in the same order as it had rotted.

The invasion spread to his chest and rose up his neck.

"Ah, how lovely. Ragna, you're going to be with Nu," Nu spoke gently to Ragna, who was panicking but unable to do anything about the abnormal situation.

Sliding her feet once more, she came in front of Ragna and stroked his cheek, which still retained the color of human skin.

"I love you so much, Ragna. Nu and Ragna are one. Nu has always wanted to be one with Ragna."

"St... stop... don't touch me..." He tried to push Nu's hand away. But his body wouldn't move as he wanted. He didn't know how to move his own body.

"It's okay, it hurts a little, but Nu is with you." Speaking soothingly, Nu summoned the huge sword that had been stuck in the floor. The sword leisurely pulled itself out of the floor.

Nu's slender arm glided through the air as if beckoning. To her arm, to her shoulder, to her torso.

Countless ice blades rained down.

"Brother!"

A voice flew after the ice. Jin, who had let out a scream that sounded like a cry, leaned against the wall of the passageway, holding the unsheathed Yukianesa.

The wound on his chest had become a deeper red than when Ragna had last seen him, and Jin's face was pale, his breath coming in shallow gasps. He was in no condition to move around properly.

Nevertheless, Jin tore himself away from the cold wall and stepped forward with the unsheathed Yukianesa in hand.

Realizing that he was coming this way, a sudden rush of anxiety caused Ragna's jaw to clench.

"What... What the hell are you doing?! Get out of here! This isn’t the time for you to get involved!"

"No!" A denial was hammered out. "No... I'm the one who’s going to kill my brother, I won't let anyone else have him! I won't let you have him!!" With his blood-stained blond hair flying wildly, Jin let out a trembling, pained cry. It was like the words of a child throwing a tantrum. But his voice was closer to a scream, and there was even pain in his expression.

Jin stepped over the machinery that lined his path without hesitation, crushing delicate switches with his hard boots, and landed on the lower floor.

Nu watched him with red eyes floating in her headgear. The ice that hadn’t been able to injure her body, but part of her slender arm was frozen.

"......Target confirmed, possession of phenomenon weapon verified. Acknowledged, acknowledged, target recognized as enemy," the mechanical tone came from Nu's mouth, as if a switch had been flipped. The target of that inorganic coldness was undoubtedly Jin.

She bent her elbow casually, and the ice that had been clinging to her arm shattered and scattered.

Her sharp toes slid, and Nu's body rotated about ninety degrees. Eight swords, spread out like wings, targeted Jin, who was staggering but standing his ground, holding up Yukianesa.

"Jin, run!"

"Beginning eradication of target."

Ragna's voice, which should have been a shout, was muffled and crushed.

Nu's voice announced the launch of the attack. The eight blades spread out, were fired one after the other towards Jin from right to left. The speed at which they tore through the air was much faster than those directed at Ragna.

Jin parried the first strike, deflected the second. He knocked away the third, dodged the fourth's tip. The fifth he twisted away from, the sixth grazed his thigh. The seventh pierced the arm that held his sword, and the eighth sank into his abdomen.

A muffled groan, tinged with blood, escaped Jin’s lips as he dripped a red thread from the corner of his mouth.

“You’re in the way… Get lost!” Yukianesa’s ice raced across the floor. It reached New’s feet in an instant, and the ice that protruded from below bared its fangs as if to pierce him.

“Ineffective.” Swinging her sword-like leg, Nu backflipped to cut away the approaching ice. Despite their ethereal movements, the two blades carried a heavy destructive force, and Jin’s ice, losing its sharpness, shattered.

The eight swords that had returned from around Jin circled around Nu. Amidst them, Nu calmly gazed at Jin’s wounded form.

“Such a scary face. And that feeling… I hate it. I have to kill you.” His low, muttered words were dark, filled with a thick, muddy enmity. A hatred that crawled up from his feet enveloped Nu.

“Field activated.” The eight swords around Nu aimed at Jin. At the same time, Nu thrust both hands forward. A dark circle appeared at Jin’s feet, gathering the surrounding gravity to the bottom.

“Ugh…” Unable to move, Jin was caught in a sensation of being dragged down. Desperately, he stabbed the circle with Yukianesa. But ice could not stop gravity. The ice shattered against the floor with a sharp crack.

Removing her headgear, she revealed a cold, expressionless glare.

“Die.”

The eight swords, now aimed at Jin, flew towards him. Their perfectly aligned blades were about to impale the exposed body mercilessly.

“No, no, no!” A thin, graceful figure intervened with a desperate voice.

No one, including Nu, immediately understood what had happened.

When and how had this girl entered this underground area?

Between Nu and Jin, locked in a deadly confrontation, a strikingly vivid color swayed.

It was a soft camellia red, a glossy, elegant red that stood out against the winter snow. The color, which undulated widely and fell gently, was the hair color of the girl who had jumped in front of Nu’s sword.

Jin, his face pale and covered in blood, let out a voiceless scream, his throat constricting.

The girl, with a sword piercing her back and protruding from her chest and abdomen, collapsed to her knees like scattered petals.

Jin, having escaped the gravity field, desperately reached out and caught her as she fell forward. Behind him, the discarded Yukianesa clattered coldly on the floor.

Nu seemed bewildered by the sudden intruder. Ragna, too, widened his eyes in surprise, staring intently at the girl who had shielded Jin with her body. She wore the blue and white uniform of a Librarium soldier.

(Jin's... acquaintance?) It was clear from Jin's expression alone that their relationship was more than just casual acquaintanceship.

For Ragna, the scene was unbearable. To see Jin, his brother who had been consumed by the phenomenon weapon, lost himself, and been swallowed by madness and forgetfulness, being protected by another human.

"Tsubaki...?" Jin's trembling voice echoed through the suddenly quiet surroundings. His eyes wandered vacantly as he looked at her and touched her body, his expression filled with confusion.

"Jin, brother..." Even her faint voice echoed through the underground. With the red stain spreading from the base of the sword protruding from her back, Tsubaki, the girl who had been embraced, found Jin's face and smiled weakly. "I'm glad you're alive... I made it in time. I've never been very fast at running."

She had arrived underground just a moment ago. Using a different elevator from the one Ragna and Jin had used, she had descended directly beside the cauldron. When she went outside and sensed the conflict, she had instinctively run towards it, realizing it was Jin who was fighting.

"No... this is crazy. Why did you do something so reckless? Why are you here...?" Jin's voice trembled with agitation. The confusion in his eyes deepened as he looked into Tsubaki's blue ones. Those eyes shouldn't be here.

Tsubaki lowered her eyebrows in distress. "I'm sorry... I'm really stupid. I forgot my weapon somewhere..."

Even soldiers who weren't combat specialists were issued firearms for self-defense and intimidation. If Tsubaki had had hers, she might have tried to attract attention with gunfire rather than shielding Jin with her body.

But that was just a possibility.

In a different fate, she might have fired her gun. But the result might have been the same.

"I... I was on a mission. I came to pick you up. You were missing... and if I left you, you would've been considered a traitor. So I've been looking for you all this time," Tsubaki gasped, her voice strained as she struggled for breath. She was unaware of the blood welling up in her mouth with each breath.

"Why... Tsubaki..." Jin cried out, his voice raw. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the situation and reasons. In fact, considering Tsubaki's personality, it was easy for him to understand. But he couldn't accept the reality he held in his arms. He didn't want to understand.

Resting her chin on Jin's shoulder, Tsubaki exhaled a long breath and smiled happily.

"Ah... it's been a long time, hasn't it? Brother Jin calling me 'Tsubaki' like you used to." She couldn't bring herself to tell Jin how much it meant to her to be called that.

"Brother Jin..." Tsubaki leaned against Jin, her body heavy in his arms. Jin felt the weight of his soaked glove outside his field of vision, realizing that this wasn't a coquettish gesture.

"No... Tsubaki, Tsubaki!" It sounded like a life was fading away. Tsubaki gently grasped Jin's clothes with her slightly moving fingers. It felt like they were embracing. On Jin's shoulder, Tsubaki closed her eyes.

"Let's... go back to headquarters."

Those were the last words Tsubaki uttered.

The body he held grew suddenly heavy. Her unusual hair and pale cheeks lost their vividness in an instant.

Not knowing how to hold the still-warm, lifeless body, Jin breathed out a trembling sigh and looked up.

Beyond the eight blades still embedded in Tsubaki, he saw Nu tilting her head awkwardly.

"Oh well, she's dead. But it's just as well, Nu didn't like her anyway." With a disinterested tone, Nu flicked her long braid and turned to Ragna. Jin had no weapon, and the intruder was dead. There was nothing left to trouble Nu.

Smiling seductively, Nu bent down and peered at Ragna. She wrapped her arm around Ragna's neck, which was now completely black except for his face, and leaned in for a kiss.

"We're done here, Ragna. Nu's a bit tired, so let's go."

"W-wait..."

Though he should have pulled away, Ragna's body didn't move to reject Nu. No matter how hard he tried to struggle, he couldn't shake off the ticklish fingers that stroked his neck and shoulders.

Behind Nu, who was leaning against him awkwardly, the giant sword began to move again.

In Ragna's field of vision, which was directed behind Nu's shoulder, the sword slowly raised its tip vertically and looked at Nu and Ragna with a sharp silver gleam.

"Ragna..." Nu whispered in his ear, her breath drawing him in.

The giant sword pierced straight through Nu and Ragna’s bodies, vertically penetrating their abdomens and chests. The sensation was incredibly vivid, yet there was no pain.

In fact... why was it? For a moment, he even felt a sense of comfort. It felt like something that had been lacking was being replenished and filled. He sighed.

The sword dragged the bodies of Nu and Ragna with the force of its thrust, pulling them towards the open cauldron.

Jin shouted at Ragna, his voice torn by anguish.

"Don't go... don't go, brother! Nothing will change if you do!" What was wrong and what wouldn't change? Even if he asked, no one would answer, surely.

With a strangely hazy mind, Ragna thought to himself.

What a sad face Jin was making. Come to think of it, he was always such a crybaby.

"...Sorry, Jin," Ragna murmured, looking at Jin who was reaching out, while listening to the swirling sound of the Boundary behind him.

The moment after, the floor disappeared from beneath Ragna's feet. With a light tap, New's foot kicked the floor. Beyond that was no longer this world. It was the Boundary.

"Let's go, Ragna, and merge with Nu," she said happily, her lips, which were losing their ability to form words, touched and overlapped with Ragna's.

Embraced by the girl's surprisingly strong arms, Ragna fell down and down. All he could see was the ceiling of the large room built underground. And then... Jin's face, rushing in.

"Brother! Brother!"

But his shout was fading away. His senses were fading away.

And when Ragna's body fell deep into the cauldron, into the Boundary... he felt himself being swallowed up by a deep darkness, transforming into something very large and very terrifying, and closed his eyes.

Somewhere, he heard the roar of a beast.

Ragna felt like he knew the beast.

It was a very large and very terrifying beast, capable of destroying the world.

Before he could understand the meaning, Ragna's consciousness dissolved into the Boundary.

### Part 4

...Immediately after Ragna fell into the cauldron with Nu, pierced by the giant sword, Jin jumped into the cauldron after them.

"Well, well... I guess it didn't work out."

The sound of leather shoes hitting the floor echoed in the large room deep beneath Kagutsuchi.

A thin man in a black suit stepped out from the shadows, with a hat pulled low over his eyes and one hand in his pocket.

Captain Hazama of the Novus Orbis Librarium’s Intelligence Department.

However, his name, rank, and title had all become meaningless.

"Hmph," Hazama snorted, feigning a sigh as he looked down at the figure sprawled on the cold floor. A young girl, her body pierced by eight swords, lay there, her clothes, arms, face, and hair stained crimson.

He chuckled, his shoulders twitching slightly. Loosening his black tie with a tug of his fingers, he nonchalantly stepped on the girl’s corpse.

“You’re useless, as always. Just trash, absolute trash. You’re good for nothing but dying horribly. Aren’t you?” He addressed the unresponsive girl with a feigned look of exasperation, repeatedly stomping on her face. Her cheeks were still soft, and each stomp distorted her lifeless features into an uglier grimace.

Keeping his foot on her head, Hazama took out a communicator from his jacket and placed it to his ear. After a three-second wait, a voice answered.

‘Looks like it failed again.’

“Yep, just as you thought. All three of them fell into the cauldron a moment ago.”

‘How much longer until the end?’

“Hmm, probably a few more minutes. Or maybe not, I don’t know.”

‘I see.’

“So, it’s back to square one. Again. For a hundred years. It’s such a long story. I wonder when I can finally escape this half-baked fusion and get it back.” Hazama muttered, grimacing as he pressed a finger to his temple and mimicked a headache.

He knew his complaints wouldn’t solve anything, but it was just a casual remark. However, the reply from the other end of the communicator was unexpected.

‘Well, who knows? ...Ask God.’

“Huh?” Hazama opened his mouth in confusion. Then, he started laughing, clutching his stomach. “Hahaha, God? You’re talking about God, huh? What a joke! I can’t believe I’m hearing that!”

With loud, mocking laughter, Hazama shook his shoulders, kicking away the corpse at his feet as if it were trash.

“Heeheehee... Oh, my stomach hurts... I think I’m going to puke. Well, this was a complete shit show, but at least I got to hear your divine words. It was worth a hundred years of my life.” The other end of the line was silent. He probably didn't feel the need to respond.

Suddenly, the ground shook. The ceiling of the underground chamber began to crumble. Soon, this underground chamber would collapse, followed by this branch, then Kagutsuchi, and finally, the world.

No, perhaps ‘collapse’ wasn’t the right word. Hazama corrected himself internally with a twisted smile. This wasn’t a collapse; it was the end. The end of the world.

Once certain conditions were met, the system that managed this world would declare an end to the current world and start the world over from a certain point.

The conditions were, simply put, the fall of Ragna the Bloodedge and the original body into the cauldron. And what would be born from that would restart the world.

“It seems like it’s about time,” he said, his voice returning to its usual nonchalant tone, a far cry from his earlier crazed laughter.

‘It’s starting on our end too.’

“Damn, you guys have it easy.” Hazama’s face contorted into a strange expression, his tone changing. But the next moment, he was back to his usual enigmatic smile.

“Well, well, don’t complain too much, Terumi.” The other personality within Hazama, the one he called Terumi, seemed to groan in response. But only Hazama could hear it.

“Well then, Technical Colonel, until next time…” With those words, Hazama cut the communication.

The ceiling’s collapse grew more intense. It wouldn’t be long before the end was complete.

Tossing the communicator aside, Hazama looked up.

Amidst the falling debris of the ceiling, he spotted a small figure on top of the giant cauldron. It was a familiar face. Dressed in a black dress with golden hair, the figure looked down with a disdainful expression. It was Rachel Alucard, the crimson vampire.

Hazama met her gaze with a provocative look, his lips curled into a deep sneer.

Rachel, with her indifferent expression, and Hazama, with his serpentine smile.

The collapsing ceiling swallowed both figures whole…

And so, the world ended once more.

### 047. Epilogue: A New Beginning

## BBCT Epilogue: A New Beginning

With each ending of the world, the cycle repeats.

The Takamagahara System declares:

"The Beast detected. System shifting to Phase 29-H. Appearance axis: 2099, 12, 31. Japan. Event error margin: 1/7200... Previous event error margin: 1/400... Master unit completion: 267189... Initiating correction... System initialization complete."

Takamagahara begins observation of Phase 299.

The Takamagahara System is functioning normally.

With the beginning of each new world, the blue cycle continues.

2149, some month, some day.

The 5th Hierarchical City of Ibukido.

A vast research facility was constructed beneath this city several years ago.

The world was engulfed in the Ikaruga Civil War.

The Ikaruga Federation, with its stronghold in Ibukido, was fighting for independence from the Novus Orbis Librarium, the global authority that maintained order.

While the sounds of battle echoed far above ground, a new experiment was about to begin in the underground laboratory.

A large case was brought in secretly. Made of a new material that was as transparent as glass yet more flexible, it was just the right size for a person. Cylindrical in shape, it was filled with a liquid reminiscent of amniotic fluid. Floating within was not a fetus, but a girl.

Her mouth and body were covered by an inorganic device, leaving her naked except for a device attached to her shoulder that supported her underdeveloped limbs as she floated in the solution.

The pale blue liquid obscured her features, but her skin was a translucent white, and her hair, which reached past her shoulders, should have been golden. Beneath her collarbone, where her slender neck met her delicate shoulders, was a tattoo of the number 'twelve'.

"Move her carefully. She's one of the few functioning subjects we have."

"The pedestal is secured."

"No, raise it."

A faint whirring sound indicated that the case containing the girl was being lifted and moved to a designated position.

She was placed inside a device with numerous tubes attached to its top and bottom. Several men in white coats gathered around and connected the transparent case to the device.

... The girl, with a faint, almost imperceptible consciousness, perceived what was happening.

The impersonal voices outside the case. The white of the lab coats passing by. The sounds of work as procedures were checked.

The many gazes fixed upon her.

They were speaking of an experiment. She somehow knew it was a terrifying thing.

In her consciousness, which felt as if it might dissolve into the liquid surrounding her, she thought.

...Brother.

Without understanding the significance of the plea for help, she simply thought it.

Several mechanical arms entered the case and began attaching tubes to the girl's body. To her head, her throat, her arms, her chest, and her legs.

It was unpleasant. She wanted help. She called out, "Brother."

Something dark and murky flowed through the tubes into her body.

The girl, floating in the case, trembled slightly.

Then, she lost consciousness completely and fell silent.

A few months later, the underground research facility in Ibukido was destroyed in a mysterious explosion.

The research facility was completely demolished, and the 5th Hierarchical City of Ibukido, built above it, suffered catastrophic damage.

At the time, the Ikaruga Civil War was still raging.

The damage caused by the explosion had a significant impact on the war, and the Ikaruga Federation was defeated by the Novus Orbis Librarium.

In the midst of the civil war, a girl was rescued from the ruins of Ibukido.

Though her clothes were torn and her consciousness was clouded due to the explosion, she was miraculously unharmed. She had golden hair that reached past her shoulders and green eyes.

Having forgotten everything about her past, she was later given a new name by her new family.

That name was…

"As of today, I, Second Lieutenant Noel Vermillion, have been appointed secretary to Major Jin Kisaragi, commander of the Fourth Thaumaturgist Squadron. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Cycling, cycling.

The world continues to trace intertwined rings.

Blue melts into white.

And from white, blue cycles once more.

Incessantly cycling through endless worlds.

Blue continues its cycle, leading to a new beginning.

### 048. Afterword

Thank you so much for picking up this book, "BLAZBLUE CALAMITY TRIGGER." I'm Mako Komao, the author.

This is a novelization of the 2D fighting game "BLAZBLUE" published by Arc System Works.

Following "CALAMITY TRIGGER," titles like "CONTINUUM SHIFT" and the latest, "CHRONOPHANTASMA," have been released. If you're unfamiliar with the original work, perhaps this will be a good opportunity to try the game.

Incidentally, the latest work, "CHRONOPHANTASMA," is currently being enjoyed in arcades!

Now, for those of you who are meeting me for the first time, nice to meet you. And for those I've met before, it's been a while.

Well, it hasn't been that long since I wrote in the afterword of the previous BLAZBLUE novelization series, saying something like, "I hope we can meet again somewhere in BB." And yet, here I am starting a new novelization series with a game title! Yay!

It's "CT"! "CT"! The very first BB game. It feels nostalgic.

With this book, I wanted to bring the story depicted in the main BB game back to everyone, show the parts of CT that weren't depicted in the game, and for those who didn't know about BB or the BB story, to convey what "CT" was all about! That's the spirit with which I wrote this.

This book is the first volume of CT.

For those of you experiencing CT for the first time, I imagine you’ll likely find that the foundations of the story or even the essence of CT itself might be unclear. But I do hope you’ll enjoy that feeling of "not knowing" as you read.

One of BlazBlue’s charms is its complex, deep story and world-building. One of the reasons CT is so fascinating is that it constantly introduces mysteries, throwing the reader into a world full of things they don’t understand.

By accumulating many "unknowns" and gathering hints scattered here and there, you might think, "Maybe it's like this" or "Wouldn't it be interesting if it was like this?" And then you compare that to the answers revealed later, and new mysteries are born from that.

As a novelization that is a fragment of BB with such enjoyable elements of interpretation, I wanted to make it more like "CT" with this first volume.

I hope that this novelization, while different from the game, can be part of the ever-expanding BB story. I want it to be a collection of many mysteries and hints, and one of the worlds where various characters live.

I’ll do my best to make sure the second volume gives you plenty of new “So that’s how it was!” moments! So I hope you’ll look forward to it!

I wonder how BlazBlue: CT was for you?

Whether this is your first time reading or you’re a fan of the BlazBlue series, I’ve tried to include various little details and references that fans of the earlier novels can appreciate.

There’s so much I want to say, but more than anything, I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you had fun with this first volume. Did you have a favorite scene, character, or line?

With the complexity of the characters and the intricacies of the relationships between them, this novelization was a bit more challenging than the previous ones, but I’m so happy to see this first volume come together.

Please let me know your thoughts. Whether it's words of encouragement or harsh criticism, it's both motivating and reassuring to know that people are reading it. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy. Thank you so much to those who always give me feedback.

Now, it’s time to wrap this up.

Once again, I’d like to apologize to my editor for the numerous mishaps throughout the process. Thank you for all your help and patience. I’ll keep working hard… Sorry about that. And a big thank you to everyone at Arc System Works for your support. I’m sorry for the times I’ve sent the wrong files or made other mistakes while communicating.

Also, a special thanks to Sugiyama-san, who contributed the illustrations for this book. I was happily squealing as the cover illustrations came in while I wrote the manuscript. I’m looking forward to continuing our collaboration!

Lastly, a big thank you to Producer Mori for overseeing the detailed revisions. I’ll work hard on the second volume to make sure it lives up to the name of CT!

And, of course, my heartfelt thanks to you, the reader, for picking up this book. The novelization of BlazBlue: CT is only halfway through. I hope you’ll pick up the second volume as well. I’ll be waiting for you with the afterword there!

See you in the second volume! Thank you again!

Mako Komao

### 049. Prologue

A single desk stood out in the darkroom.

The desk itself served as a light. There were no other lights in the room, instead the surroundings were filled with pitch-black darkness.

The bright blue light dimly illuminated several figures sitting in rows on both sides of the desk.

Five people on one side, five on the other.

They wore matching uniforms, and although their presence seemed obvious, their appearance was not clearly recognizable.

They didn't reveal their identities, but they got the necessary talking done. The lack of lighting at hand was convenient for a clandestine meeting like this one.

“...So, I take it you have no objection to our proposal?"

A low, solemn voice came from one side of the room to the opposite shore. A stack of papers lay between the man speaking and the man facing him.

The addressed man nodded his head in agreement and replied.

"Yes. We, “Sector Seven”, will do our utmost to cooperate with the independence of the Ikaruga Federation as per the above agreement.”

“I'm relieved to hear that. Now please sign..."

A hand covered with black gloves slid the intervening document towards the other man.

The man on the other side took it in his white-gloved hands and ran a pen across the bottom of it. When he was done, the document was turned around and now the white-gloved hand held out a stack of papers.

The black gloves received it and a name was listed with a pen next to the signature.

Another sheaf of papers with the same text was signed in the same way in a manner where one by one they passed it into each other's hands.

“Now, let's get into the main subject and details...”

The man who had referred to his people as Sector Seven looked over his shoulder to the rear. A new figure emerged from the depths of the darkness.

As he stepped closer, his appearance came into focus in the light that came from the desk.

A slender man, he seemed to be. He was wearing a black suit that was different from the uniforms of either of the men sitting across the glowing desk. In this dark room, he was wearing a black hat and underneath it, his green hair and the corners of his mouth smiling deeply could be seen.

The man in the black suit came to the edge of the desk, his hard leather boots echoing in his footsteps. He craned his neck to look at all the seated men.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. From here on out, I'll explain everything."

The man smiled again as he bowed deeply as if he were a stage performer.

His tone of voice was polite and gentle, yet it sounded as if it was looking down on others.

It was just a baseless sensation that could be called an accusation, but although no one said it out loud, everyone felt uncomfortable.

Still, the seated men waited for the black-clothed man to speak. They didn’t have time to let the attitude of the explainer divert their important discussion.

Knowing this, the man in black began to speak in a relaxed manner.

“A research facility owned by Sector Seven, located in the Hierarchical City of Ibukido in the Ikaruga Federation, will soon be conducting an experiment. It is an experiment to activate a revolutionary weapon! To put it simply: ...if it is successful, it will be enough to counter the Novus Orbis Librarium.”

The black-gloved men lined up at the desk throbbed lowly at the stagnant tone of the man speaking softly.

One of them leaned slightly towards the desk and asked, looking up at the man in the black suit.

"So, with this weapon, we can beat the... Librarium?"

"Yeees, certainly"

The man in the suit's smile deepened. As he spread out his hands in an exposing manner, he continued leisurely.

“Sector Seven will not hesitate to help you do so. We have a common goal and a common enemy. On top of that, we have the strength to fight and... 'win'."

It was like a complaint of temptation.

There was a scent in the man's words that gave the illusion that the promised victory was there. Not a single person in the room noticed how poisonous that scent was.

Rather, the words of enchantment had already intoxicated those present, as if they were drinking the wine of an early victory.

“In this case…”

“We can’t let this get away…”

“Finally, the time has come.”

A number of voices murmured. The voices shook the darkness of the room.

The sound of the man in the suit clearing his throat in amusement disappeared as a matter of course.

The man in the hat spoke.

“We've waited long enough. Come on. ...Let's start a war. A war to win great freedom and peace. There will be a lot of sacrifices, a lot of suffering, but it is inevitable.”

Now, let the war begin.

“It's a necessary cornerstone for defeating the great evil and achieving freedom and peace!”

Now, let the war begin.

“Greater. For the sake of greater freedom and peace.”

The words were like ripples, letting a quiet exaltation permeate the dim light and darkness.

Everyone was convinced. Today, this moment was the beginning.

And it was, truly, "The Beginning”.

The beginning of a very long history.

In the darkness where no light could reach, the man was smiling inconspicuously.

### 050. Chapter 1: The Human of the Kisaragi Family / Distorted recognition

### Part 1

Should it be called a wasteland or a ruin?

It was just a place that had fallen apart.

The dry land, with deep lacerations running through it, was cluttered with scattered debris. From the extent of the damage and the apparent robustness of the rubble, it was clear that there had been a structure of some size here.

But not anymore. At least not on the ground, which was cracked, unnaturally raised, and burnt in many places.

Everything that used to be here exploded and blew away in an accident four years ago. And... as at his feet, it turned into an atrocious group of rubble.

“...It's awful."

Looking at the area from the top of the largest rubble, he -Jin-Kisaragi- muttered bitterly.

He was a well-featured young man with silky blond hair and bright green eyes. His lifted eyes gave a sense of calmness and intelligence, but now there was a deep melancholy in them.

He had heard a lot about this place many times, mostly in his classes at the military academy he attended until last year.

This place is Ibukido.

Four years ago, a research facility located here was destroyed in an explosion of unknown cause. The accident, which engulfed a wide area, was so horrific that only one girl was recorded to have survived.

And with that accident, the civil war intensified.

The Ikaruga Civil War. It's a civil war that has been going on for four years and is still going on.

Sighing bitterly, Jin jumped quietly from the top of the rubble to the ground. A cloud of dust danced under his boots, and his blue jacket fluttered loudly.

He was wearing the uniform of a guard of the "Novus Orbis Librarium" to which he belongs. Jin is a member of the 4th Division of the Novus Orbis Librarium, commonly known as the Librarium.

Originally, he came to this land — to Ikaruga’s territory, including Ibukido, to fight in a war.

Of course, it was the Ikaruga Civil War. In spite of the warm-hearted measures taken to grant them special autonomy while still under the control of the Librarium, the rebellious Ikaruga Federation, which suddenly betrayed the Librarium and started a civil war, must be suppressed.

But before that, Jin left the battlefield and came to this place alone...

(I felt... like I was being called...)

To someone. Something. He didn't hear a clear voice or receive a physical message, but he couldn't help but feel that way.

He had to come here.

This place must mean something very important to him.

He thought there must be a reason why he felt this way and thought he would understand it when visiting it, but he was wrong.

“...At least it doesn't look like that they are the ones who called me."

Jin's mutterings were mixed in with the thirsty cloud of dust and washed away.

Jin's bright green eyes suddenly sharpened as he slid his gaze to follow the destination of the wind. The area around him was simply quiet, but he had already noticed that there were countless signs lurking within.

In the shadows of the rubble jutting out of the ground, in the shallow cliff-like terrain created by the cracking of the earth, and in the fissures running deep. Soldiers holding weapons lied dormant.

There were about thirty of them. Everyone was tense and paying attention to the direction of Jin, but for some reason or other, they didn't seem to be attacking even when Jin turned his back on them.

Jin wondered if they are soldiers of the Ikaruga Federation, but this is a long way from the battlefield. It was just a coincidence that he had stopped by here.

Does this mean that even such a sudden decision has been leaked to the outside world? If so, there is a possibility that a serious information leak has occurred.

With this in mind, Jin's nerves were on edge.

A heavy thud occurred, and the pile of rubble collapsed.

As if he had been hit by a bullet, Jin turned around and reached for the sword in its blue scabbard that he carried. He lowered himself and prepared to pull it out at any time.

Another piece of rubble fell out from under his gaze and a thick, red arm grew out from underneath it.

Then came the head, followed by a thick, broad, and strong body.

The thing that came out from under the rubble was like a puppet. If it had to be classified by gender, it would be a man, but the figure was a little too large to be human.

He was tall enough to look up at, with a stout body that would have been impossible for Jin's arms to carry, like a boulder.

His skin color was red, as was apparent from the log-like arms that were stretched out from the tight clothing and the head, which is the only part that felt human.

A huge man with red skin. His appearance was widely known within the Librarium. He was a cyborg soldier who belongs to an organization called Sector Seven, which has been active in resisting the Librarium for many years. Also known as…

"The Red Devil of Sector Seven, isn’t it?"

Jin, who put himself on guard, looked at the red-skinned man who appeared in front of him.

The man did not confirm or deny. He just stared at Jin and pushed up his sunglasses, which were small for the size of his face, with his fat thick fingers.

"You didn’t run nor hide, instead brazenly stood your place. Are you so confident in your skills or are you just a fool who doesn't know how to fight?"

"Answer the question."

The discourteous insult was unpleasant but unconcerned, Jin glared sharply at his opponent.

The giant man sighed and nodded with a slight movement as he stared back at the cold gaze.

“...You're right. It seems you know who you are dealing with. Are you a new recruit? If you run away, I will overlook it. Don't take your life for granted."

The red devil talked as if he cared, then abruptly cut off his words.

The sunglasses he wore were opaque, so it was hard to see what he was looking at underneath them, but his gaze was clearly focused on the sword Jin was holding.

“This is ...... no way."

The deep voice of the red devil threateningly darkened. This was enough for Jin to understand what the cyborg had sensed.

He knew. He knew what kind of sword Jin was holding.

It was in an unadorned ice-blue scabbard.

“A Nox Nyctores…”

Jin sniffed curtly at the low muttered words of the red devil.

Nox Nyctores (Arch-Enemy).

About a hundred years ago, there was a plague that threatened to destroy the entire human race. Its name was "The Black Beast".

The Nox Nyctores (Arch-Enemies) were legendary weapons that were developed to fight and exorcise the evil, and they succeeded in defeating it.

Jin's sword is one of them. It is the Nox Nyctores "Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa".

The monologue of the red devil was not a question. Therefore, Jin did not answer.

Instead of answering, the air around Jin cooled down. The presence of Yukianesa, which manipulates ice and cold air, quietly dominated the place.

“Let's hear your name. Recruit."

It was a modest movement, but the red devil readied himself for battle.

The edge of Jin's mouth lifted slightly.

"Jin=Kisaragi."

That one word sparked the fight.

They moved almost simultaneously. Jin, however, was clearly more nimble. He kicked the earth hard, stepped forward deeply and at the same time swung his sword swiftly.

The sword in the scabbard sharply tore the sky. The pale blue scabbard split the red demon's forehead with such force that it seemed as if the blade was right there, at least it should have done that, but sparks scattered about just before it did.

“What!?”

He may not have been able to catch up with Jin in terms of speed, but he probably knew what he was going to do. With the stiff arm he had lifted and the metal parts attached to it, the red devil had narrowly escaped Jin's blow.

Jin let out a frustrated voice and jumped back. However, his body was suddenly pulled forward strongly.

It was the red devil who pulled him. The discharge from the device on his arm caught Jin like a lump of iron attracted by a powerful magnet.

As soon as the red devil raised his arm, Jin, who was caught in the discharge, was easily lifted into the air. In a single breath, from that high position, he was slammed into the dry ground.

"Ugh..."

Jin moaned lowly as he was hit in the back without a shred of mercy.

A fist immediately followed, raining down like a rock, but he wasn't going to take it that quietly. Jin quickly rolled backward and pulled himself up.

The red devil's fist cracked the ground, grazing his fluttering blonde hair.

It was a tremendous force. If he had been hit properly, the bones of Jin's entire body would have been shattered.

Without a moment’s delay, Jin ducked under the red arm that looked like a big tree as it was brandished at him, then approached the red devil’s chest, this time he slashed up from a low position and struck with his scabbard.

A dull response. The tip of the scabbard stroke the jaw of the red devil. Then, the silver hilt chased after the red devil, who turned away. With a single strike of the handle against his temple, the red devil's head shook greatly.

However, he couldn’t push back the red devil’s legs even for one step.

With the momentum of his wavering body pulling back, the red devil tackled him with his strong body.

Jin jumped. He used the red devil's shoulder as a springboard to escape to the other side. A sense of pressure loomed on his back.

Reflexively, Jin swung his sword.

As he looked back, the blow luckily collided head-on with the red devil's fist.

The impact was numbing to Jin's arm.

It may have caused some damage to his opponent as well. The red devil's face twisted into a grim expression.

Jin rushed in and continued to attack. The red devil's power was immeasurable. That’s why Jin should not give him time to attack.

However, the red devil, despite being on the defensive, did not allow a decisive blow. Each time Jin's sword and the red devil's metal parts collided, a high-pitched metallic sound echoed loudly.

None of the soldiers who had surrounded them made any move. They couldn't move. If they got involved untactfully, they would die. That was the level of the battle that was unfolding in front of them.

In the midst of the repeated slashes, the red demon unexpectedly moved. However, it was not a counterattack. He was holding his other hand to his ear and muttering to himself as he took in the constant stream of attacks.

“The preparations? ...then now, please.”

That was what Jin heard him say.

As if to interrupt his low, grating soliloquy. He drove in a remarkable strike, and using the recoil from the hit, Jin leaped backward, then he put his gloved hands on the hilt of his Yukianesa.

“You have a lot of time on your hands. Who are you talking to?"

“That's none of your business.”

The red devil replied to Jin's blade-cold question without moving his expression in the slightest. He then puts his fingertips to his ear and turned his attention to it for a moment.

Jin aimed for that moment.

"Certainly not."

That was the end.

Declared Jin, as he tried to pull out his Nox Nyctores: “Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa”.

But before he could, he saw the red devil nodding lightly towards the empty space.

"Yeah, no problem. Just do it."

The words, which he could hear much more clearly than before, were obviously directed at someone else.

Jin gasped. It was a communication.

He pulled the handle and ran the scabbard over the blade, but the red devil was in the lead. Without a minute's hesitation, he raised his fist overhead and the red devil slammed it down at his feet.

The ground shattered and burst open with the cloud of dust that whirled up became a screen that momentarily obscured the figure of the red devil. As he was hit head-on by the blowing dust, Jin couldn't help but protect himself with both arms.

"Wait, red devil!"

He was going to run. He understood just that.

But when Jin swung his sword through the dust, the red-skinned giant was already gone.

### Part 2

Through the large window, the orange sunlight of the dusk streamed into the room.

The walls were white, and painted with several gold symbols that looked like wings spread out. The floor was a deep blue, covered with a red carpet and intertwined with golden thread embroidery.

The room was clean and tidy, without a speck of dust.

At the back of the room, Jin-Kisaragi was standing in front of a large desk.

This was a room in the Yabiko branch of the Novus Orbis Librarium.

The Yabiko branch was located in the territory of the Ikaruga Federation, which is currently in the midst of a civil war, but it still functions as a branch of the Librarium, and because of its security, it has become the general command center for the civil war zone.

Although it was originally a large branch, it was smaller in scale and had fewer guards than the headquarters of the Librarium. However, morale was high and above all, the branch was very well organized. On top of that, despite the chaos of the civil war, it was managed in a very rational manner.

Colonel Kagura=Mutski was in charge of this branch.

As for the Ikaruga Civil War, He was the commander-in-chief of the Librarium Guard Battalion, and like Jin, he was a member of the Duodecim. He was also the current head of the Mutsuki family, the first of the Duodecim families. Moreover, he was the man who sat in a chair at the back of the room in front of Jin’s eyes with his arms folded and a sullen look on his face

“Good grief... As soon as you came here, you did something this flashy.”

He shook his head in dismay and sighed loudly.

Black hair, deep purple eyes, a fearless face and a somewhat frivolous atmosphere. That was the impression of this man at first glance.

However, underneath the rough clothes he wore, the robustness of his body could be seen and his crossed arms were much tighter than they appeared. It was a body that had been built through actual battles, which could not have been acquired through training in a well-organized environment, much less by living as frivolously as he appeared.

Jin looked back at Kagura with an almost irreverent calmness as he stood between him and a large office desk with a red ornamental cloth hanging from it.

"I didn't mean to cause a scene. I was just stopping by and happened to run into the red devil."

“That's what problem is what I'm saying."

It was not Kagura, but a slender young man standing beside him, who replied to Jin's words with a stinging tone.

While Kagura's collar was wide open, this one had it tightly closed up to the topmost clasp, giving him a serious and sturdy look. His fine black hair, which suited his thin face, and his gray-black eyes, which were only mildly colored, created a neutral impression.

His name was Hibiki=Kohaku. He was often underestimated for his appearance due to his boyish voice, but over the past few years, he has been supporting, disciplining, and scolding Kagura, who tends to have a disorderly personal life together his skills have certainly gained recognition from those around him.

Hibiki's narrow eyebrows furrowed in discomfort as he continued to advise Jin.

"Lieutenant Kisaragi. Your actions have been nothing short of rash. We are in the middle of a civil war and you have been assigned to a war zone. One person's selfish act may cause an unexpected situation, and someone may lose their life because of it. I ask you to understand that very well."

"...I know that much."

"You don't understand!"

Hibiki’s words flamed Jin’s answer with a flat denial.

Jin looked at Hibiki, somewhat annoyed. Crossing his gaze, Kagura rose from his chair and walked over to the desk.

"Ah, don't get so worked up, Hibiki."

"But, Lord Kagura!"

"...Just for now."

Kagura waved his hand briefly at Hibiki, whose eye corners were lifted to ease the strength of his voice and then turned to Jin. Immediately after, Kagura's expression disappeared for a moment to which his fist struck Jin on the cheek.

There was no mercy in the dull sound.

Jin's head was shaken by the impact, but he kept frowning at the same angle without change. The edge of his lips was cut and something red oozed.

Hibiki looked slightly upset.

A tense silence descends in the room for a few seconds.

“I'll give you credit for not dodging."

As Kagura said grumbly, he walked back to his seat with a far from tense pace. He flumped into the chair deliberately and looked at Jin again.

"Tager, or better known as the Red Devil, has been pursued by the military authorities for quite some time now, but you just happened to show up during the capture mission. Because of that, the mission was ruined. Do you understand?"

Kagura said in a tone of voice that sounded more like a reminder than a condemnation.

Jin did not speak back, but instead raised his eyebrows slightly.

The countless people that he thought were surrounding him at that time seemed to be a unit of the Librarium organized for the capture of the red devil. It was certainly Jin's fault for wandering in unaware that this was the case.

Kagura smiled bitterly at Jin's expression. He had no intention of asking the blonde recruit in front of him for an apology or words of remorse here. He didn't believe there was any point to such things, and even without that, Jin's self-admonition would convey the meaning without words.

"Normally, this would be a court-martial, but this time I'll let you off with just one special punch. It seems like it was really just a coincidence."

However, Kagura continued as he erased his smile, placed his folded hands on the desk, then leaned forward. His strong-willed raised eyebrows were narrowed as if he was trying to look into Jin's inner heart through his purple gaze.

"This... wasn't like you. What's wrong?"

The relationship between Kagura and Jin is not a small one. Even before they were part of the Librarium as soldiers, their link through the Duodecim brought them together many times. For that reason, they were well aware of each other’s position, who were they as humans, and what sort of things their eyes have been exposed to.

Jin is a non-biological related son of the Kisaragi family, one of the Duodecim. He was taken in by the head of the family when he was very young.

Originally, the Kisaragi family did not place much importance on bloodline, and the more talented people were given important roles. Even so, it was unusual for someone like Jin to be recommended as the next head of the family despite being adopted. Just as there were many expectations for him, and allies by his side, he also has a lot of enemies and people who want to take advantage of him.

He was in such a dangerous position, but the fact that he left the discipline arbitrarily right after graduating from the military academy was a matter of concern that would affect the future of not only him but also the people around him.

Jin is well aware of that much, and Kagura also knew that.

“There's nothing in particular, to talk about.”

After a few seconds of silence, that was all Jin had to say in reply.

There was no way he could say that he felt something calling him. It was not only lacking in credibility, but also not a viable explanation.

Kagura would probably take him seriously, but he didn’t feel the need to dare to put it into words, because he couldn’t explain enough to deserve that seriousness.

Kagura gave a disgusted sigh and leaned heavily back in his chair, wondering to what extent he had foreseen.

“However, the guys in charge of the operation were amazed. Now they're all talking about you."

“I don't want to talk about it."

Jin interrupted Kagura, looking unhappy. Even if the red devil was interrupted by him, the fact remains that the operation was ruined. It was a complicated feeling to be evaluated on that basis.

“But who are these people?"

Feeling the need to change the subject, Jin suddenly looked behind Kagura.

It had been bothering him ever since he entered the room. At the back of the room, near the wall, away from the light coming in from the window, there were two unfamiliar figures. Both of them were completely covered by white capes and hoods, and even their personalities were hidden by white masks.

The mask with the single eyeball painted on it and the white uniform were known to most of the people belonging to the Librarium, along with their ominous two names.

Zeroth Squadron — “The Wings of Justice”... and the second rumored name was the Librarium’s "Garbage Disposal" squad.

It is a special unit that investigates and brings justice to traitors and dangerous people within the Librarium, but that's just the surface of the story. In reality, it is whispered that they are the ones who dispose of - in other words, assassinate - the rebels who rebel against the Librarium. Therefore, they are the "garbage disposal" squad.

"Oh.. As you can see, I've got two scary babysitters from headquarters. Good grief. I wonder what they are not pleased with regarding me, the example of irreproachable conduct..”

Looking back at the white outfit, which would raise the eyebrows of any guard who knew what it meant, Kagura shrugged his shoulders in an amused tone. Then, without a moment’s delay, sharp words from Hibiki flew.

“I would like you to look up the meaning of the word "irreproachable" right away.”

His manner was polite, but it didn't seem like something he would say to his immediate superior. When Jin glanced over at Hibiki, the boyish-looking second-in-command remained nonchalant and looked down at the documents at hand.

Kagura didn't seem to mind, and gave Jin a good-looking smile.

"Well, anyway. I'm glad you're here. I know you're leaving soon, but in the meantime, why don't you take it easy in Yabiko? I'll show you a good place to eat if you want."

Jin couldn't help but smile at the joking remark. Remembering the presence of Hibiki and the Zero Division standing silently behind him, he quickly pulled back and shook his head.

“I'll pass. I don't think you know the kind of store I prefer. Besides, Tsubaki will scold me if she finds out that I've been in and out of "irreproachable" stores.”

"Tsubaki... the daughter of the Yayoi family! She went to military school too, right? How is she doing?"

"Who knows. I haven't seen her since we graduated."

Kagura's delightful and lively question caused Jin to shake his head again.

Tsubaki Yayoi is the name of a girl born into the Yayoi family, anther one of the Duodecim families. For both Jin and Kagura, it was a name that they had known for over ten years.

"Yeah, right. Well, I guess so."

Kagura twisted his mouth bitterly and scratched his head.

It was as if the distant images of their childhood days were proof of the years they had spent together.

Regaining his composure, Kagura sat back down.

"Do you want a tour of our branch?"

"No need. I know where the quarters are."

Jin didn’t intend to rove around the branch, so he didn’t shake his head this time.

"I see. Then..."

Kagura took a short breath and stopped talking.

The necessary formalities had been completed and all the documents were in order, because Kagura had allowed it. He had let go of his formal attitude, but he couldn't just sit here and talk about private matters forever. This man in front of Jin is the commander-in-chief of the Librarium.

At least for the last time, Jin adjusted his posture formally.

“Excuse me, Colonel Mutsuki."

"Oh... Jin."

He raised his hand in response and then looked at Jin with a very serious face.

The purple eyes that turned straight seem to have strong resolve on something, and at the same time seemed to suffer from that something as well.

“Don't die so easily.”

It was an ill-omened farewell gift.

Jin turned his heel in silence, bowed once in front of the door, and walked out of Kagura's room.

### Part 3

The long, red-carpeted corridor was empty and silent. As he listened to the sound of his own footsteps, Jin stared blankly ahead.

Tomorrow is the battle. Even though he knew this, Jin's feelings did not tremble with elation or anxiety.

They were like the surface of a frozen lake that did not know the wind. The only thing he could do was to organize the necessary information in his mind.

He had received information about the war zone in advance and already read through it several times, but he should probably read through it again before he arrived. There was no way he would be able to live comfortably on a battlefield. He needed to rest up tonight and prepare for the harsh environment.

(Hm... I have nothing in particular to do. Let's get to the lodging house without delay.)

Jin was just going to do what he had to then would head to bed early. He didn't need to do anything else. He was going to the battlefield to fight, to win, to lose, or to die.

As he moved his legs steadily, some people appeared in front of Jin.

There were three of them. They were all wearing distinctive white costumes that concealed their true identities — the Wings of Justice.

Like the two in Kagura's office, they wore a long cape that covered their bodies, while their face was hidden by a deep hood and a one-eyed mask.

However, the first one was different.

She was wearing a white cape, which indicated that she belonged to the Zeroth Squadron, but her front was open, exposing the clothes she had put on underneath. There was no mask, and her bare face was exposed along with her long hair, which was tied up in two.

She was still young. She didn't look much older than Jin. However, it seems that her rank was higher than Jin's. It could be guessed from the design of the cape she wore, and most importantly, the way she proudly carried two subordinates while wearing her uniform.

Just before they passed each other, Jin moved to the end of the corridor himself, then stopped, made a slight salute, and let the woman from the Zeroth Squadron go ahead of him.

But just as she passed in front of Jin, the woman from the Zeroth Squadron stopped in her tracks.

A beat later, the two behind her also stopped.

The purpose was soon apparent. The woman in the lead looked back at Jin.

"Are you Lieutenant Jin Kisaragi?"

Along with her words, she caught Jin's gaze as if she was judging him.

It was not a pleasant look.

The woman who turned to him had a reasonably well-proportioned figure, and a seductive body that would excite any man, as could be seen from her clothing that clearly showed the unevenness of her body. The lips on her face expressed a gentle arc.

But her eyes were wrong.

Even though she had a soft expression, her eyes were cool and inorganic, as if they were glass beads inlaid with no flicker of emotion.

There was no emotion there, no emotion worthy of a smile. Jin felt as if he was being stared at by a doll.

“I heard the story. I heard that you defeated that red devil all by yourself.”

The woman stepped closer, watching Jin from head to toe with glass marble eyes.

He kept his mouth shut as he pulled his momentarily thrown gaze back to the front, Ignoring her. He didn't want to get into trouble by saying something he didn't want to.

However, it seemed that his intentions had leaked out from somewhere. Two members of the Zeroth Squadron, who were standing behind the woman, revealed their displeasure from beneath their masks.

"You, what's with your attitude!"

From the sound of his voice, he was a man underneath the mask. When the man stepped forward as if to grab her, the unmasked woman stopped him with her hand without even giving him a glance.

The woman's gaze slowly lowered, lighting a dull glow of interest in Jin's hand.

There was Jin's sword.

“Is that a Nox Nyctores?”

“That’s right.”

He didn't expect she would be able to guess at a glance without even having to pick it up.

Nox Nyctores are known to exist, but not many people know what they actually look like.

The unrest made Jin's mouth light up. Immediately after, he frowned at himself for reacting carelessly and clicked his tongue.

"Tch, you. Cut it or else..."

The masked men leaned forward again at the sound of his tongue.

But, interrupting the words of warning, a dull thud and crushing sound echoed low in the quiet hallway.

"Hey..."

"Colonel Lapislazuli...?"

The masked men were dismayed, even though their expressions were not visible. Against this backdrop, the woman called "Colonel Lapislazuli" smiled.

What she was looking at was a man-made dent right next to Jin's... face. The wall material was cracked and dented in a round shape, as if it had been struck with a tremendous force.

There, just a moment ago, was Jin's head.

Jin, who quickly swerved to the side was unharmed. This apparently amused her to no end. She chuckled and laughed.

“I'm impressed. You're just as good as they say you are. Good response."

As she said this, she reached out her hand casually. By the time Jin noticed the movement, it was too late and the woman's fingers caught Jin's chin.

Even though it looked like she was just resting her finger, somehow the force of her touch was even stronger than if he were to be forcefully grabbed with no chance for refusal.

He didn't have time to ask what she was going to do. Suddenly, a strong force pulled him closer, and the tip of the woman's tongue traced over Jin's mouth, tickling him away.

He noticed it immediately. It was his blood that she had licked off. The cut on the edge of his mouth from when Kagura had punched him earlier stung in discomfort.

While holding Jin's chin, the woman from the Zeroth Squadron whispered in a strangely seductive way.

"But this is the military. You'd better be careful how you talk and conduct yourself."

The voice was too disturbing for just a piece of mere advice. At the same time, she seemed to be enjoying it.

Jin vowed to ignore it this time. He kept his posture in the salute he had made and stared straight into the empty space.

Eventually, the woman's hand left Jin's chin. Gazing at Jin again, the woman shook her shoulders.

“Kukuku. You're an interesting man. I'm Meifang Lapislazuli, a colonel. It is reassuring to have a guard such as yourself joining the fight. At all costs, do your utmost for the sake of the Imperator.”

As she said this, her long hair fluttered silently, and the woman who called herself Meifang walked away. The destination must have been Kagura's office.

Looking at her white back as she walked away, Jin felt a hint of sympathy. It's a tough job to be a branch chief or commander-in-chief when you have to deal with people like that.

After watching out as the three shadows were sucked into the sunlight-melted corridor with a side glance. Jin turned around and left the place as quickly as he could.

After passing through the corridor, Jin arrived at the elevator hall of the Yabiko branch of the Novus Orbis Librarium.

Soft sunlight streamed in through the skylight on the high ceiling, filling the area with a clean beauty.

At the back of the atrium, a statue of a white goddess stood with a book open and a compassionate gaze on the world below. The polished pale floor was like a mirror even though many people came and went every day, and it seemed to glow faintly in the sunlight.

In the inner part of the circular hall, there stood statuses that imitated the goddess as one would expect. The goddess is a symbol of order. A world properly controlled by the right power. That is the philosophy of the Novus Orbis Librarium, and it is also a guideline that many guards, including Jin, are taught at the military academy.

The two elevators set up between the small statues of the goddess were Jin's way home.

A small figure who had been gazing at the stairwell wandered up to Jin, who headed straight for the door without a second glance.

"Lieutenant Jin Kisaragi, correct?"

It sounded like something he had heard just a moment ago.

But this time it was not a woman who approached him, but a man. He was probably a bit younger than Jin. A young boy you can call him.

There was the impression that he was from the same military academy as Jin. He wore the same blue uniform, and on his head he wore a blue beret, and looked up at Jin from underneath it.

It was someone Jin didn't know. Raising an eyebrow slightly, Jin cast a glance at the boy.

"Yeah, that’s right and who are you?"

“I'm so glad. I was told that you would come if I waited here, but you didn't show up at all, so I was afraid that I might have misunderstood.”

He let out a big breath and patted his chest exaggeratedly, then he hurriedly straightened his back and took a firm posture of salute.

"Nice to meet you, Lieutenant. I'm ──……── "

"Wait... what? What did you say...?"

Suddenly, the boy's words became inaudible, as if mixed with noise. Putting his hand to his ear to suppress the ringing in his ears, Jin frowned and asked.

The boy paused for a beat, then straightened up even more and answered.

"Yes, I am Corporal Honoka. I will be taking care of Lieutenant Kisaragi on the battlefield. Please make my acquaintance from now on!"

Despite his nervousness, Honoka said this with a smile on his face and a youthful, fresh tone of voice.

"Oh, yeah, ...right."

Jin just replied in an unhappy voice. His brow was naturally wrinkled.

The boy soldier, who called himself Honoka, was a valet, so to speak, provided by the Kisaragi family, the house where Jin grew up.

He repeatedly told them in advance that he didn't want any, but they apparently didn't take him up on that offer.

In the first place, it is customary for the people of the "Duodecim" - the aristocratic families with special power in the Librarium, including the Kisaragi family - to prepare a valet when they are appointed as officers.

For Jin, the Kisaragi family is the family that took him in as a child when he had nowhere else to go, and has taken care of him in every way. Even though he was being touted as the next head of the family, there was no way he could treat the family's arrangements with disrespect.

"Um, Lieutenant? If I may ask, are you unwell?"

Honoka peeked at Jin, who sank into silence and had a nervous look on his face.

Jin looked up with a gasp and shook his head lightly. It didn't matter to him whether he was a valet, a member of one of the Duodecim, his family background, or his upbringing, as long as he was on his way to war.

"No, it's nothing. I'm fine."

The tone of his voice was almost as if he was shouting at him, but he didn't care and walked to the elevator.

Honoka quickly followed and reached his arm out from under Jin's arm to press the switch for the elevator.

Soon, without a sound, the elevator arrived as if it were sliding into place. Jin got in, then Honoka, who was waiting for him, ran inside, where he operated the button.

Jin looked at him sideways. The way he followed him around was reminiscent of a puppy.

The boy probably didn't know much about the relationship between Jin and the Duodecim, nor did he know where he was going. That made him feel a little sorry for him.

(But I don't know anything about the war, either.)

Jin thought to himself as he watched the number of floors displayed on the elevator as it descended.

So far, Jin has only lived in the heavily guarded homes of the Duodecim families and the military academy, which is directly controlled and protected by the Librarium.

Growing up in a privileged family, he was used to situations where his life was threatened, but this was the first time he had actually been in a war zone.

Tomorrow, the landscape of Jin’s world would probably be completely altered.

But that still didn't shake Jin's heart. His place will change. That was all.

That's all there was to it.

### Part 4

About a hundred years ago, humanity was on the verge of extinction.

A gigantic monster called the Black Beast, which may or may not even be a living thing, appeared and went around destroying cities, countries, lands, people and all life.

Mankind fought against the moving evil, "Black Beast" with many sacrifices, and eventually, the monster was defeated by six heroes.

However, the fallen monster left behind an evil souvenir for the world, seithr.

With the disappearance of the Black Beast, the black mist-like substance that erupted on the ground - the substance called "seithr" - spread to the world in large quantities, and has now become a natural part of the air.

Seithr has a profound effect on living things. It eats away at the body and causes the loss of logic and reason of this world. Wild animals that have been exposed to it for a long time become violent, deformed, and become what is called demons.

That's why humanity has built "Hierarchical Cities". In order to live away from the surface of the earth, where seithr accumulated. They built "Hierarchical Cities" by piling up several layers higher in places with high altitudes, such as mountainous areas.

However, seithr is not all bad. It is also the energy dust that fills the air with an inexhaustible supply.

Seithr has come to be used in a variety of technologies and power sources.

The flying ship that Jin is on right now, the "Ars Magus Vessel" also uses seithr in the air to propel it.

"Wooow, the scenery is finally starting to take shape.”

Honoka muttered in a relaxed voice, looking out the window surrounded by a dull golden frame.

Sitting in the front of the seat facing him, Jin, who had been thoroughly reading the materials about his new assignment, lifted his gaze for the first time in a long while at the sound of the boy's carefree voice.

The running view from the window had left the hierarchical city of Yabiko and had long crossed the wilderness, and before long it had passed over a deep green forest.

They were sailing at such a low altitude that the tips of the tall trees were about to scrape the bottom of the ship. The altitude of the ship, as if we were about to crash, made Jin feel a little uneasy.

“In any case, it would be unthinkable for a member of the Kisaragi family to be assigned to a place like this. I wonder why the big-wigs decided to do such a thing.”

As he stretched his neck to peer into the forest below, Honoka directed his words only at Jin.

“I don't know.”

Jin answered with only that, and returned his gaze to the document. Noticing this, Honoka pulled his leaning body back and settled neatly into the seat.

“I know this may be unnecessary, but... were you okay with that Lieutenant Kisaragi?"

Jin thought that he would finally calm down, but he was still not satisfied with his answer. He seemed to be repeating himself until he answered, so Jin sighed lightly and looked up.

“I'm a guard of the Librarium. I obey orders. That's all."

“So you have no complaints?"

“No.”

In the first place, Jin entered the military academy in order to belong to the Novus Orbis Librarium which is both the government and the military. If he was dissatisfied with being assigned to the battlefield as a soldier, he was not doing himself any favors.

However, He didn't feel obligated to talk that much to Honoka. Jin ended the conversation with a few short words and went back to reading the documents silently.

However, the silence he had hoped for did not come.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, Honoka raised his voice. He wondered what was going on, and even though he was a little annoyed, Jin looked up again.

Honoka seemed to be preoccupied with looking out the window again. However, it wasn't the forest under the ship that he was focusing on.

"Look, Lieutenant. We're almost there."

The view outside the window, which Honoka was still gazing at without a sense of tension, but rather with a sense of enjoyment, wavered for a few seconds. The rainbow-colored light licked its way through the entire ship. It was as if they had walked into a soap bubble.

The scenery changed as they passed through the rainbow-colored light.

It used to be a dense forest with trees growing in every crevice, but now there was a clearing in the middle of it. Just a little while ago, it was invisible.

“Camouflage Ars Magus.”

In practice, it is an Ars Magus Art that makes people seem like that there nothing is there when there actually is.

Ars Magus was an Art developed during the same time when the Black Beast was running rampant, as were the Nox Nyctores Causality Weapon's. Although each person has different aptitudes, anyone can cause various phenomena by using a Grimoire. They can light fires, control the wind, create water, and make shapes out of clay. As a kind of pseudo-magic, it was widely used mainly within the Librarium.

The root of the problem was still the seithr. This area was very far away from the city and seithr was very thick. It is said that there were many demons that have been driven mad by seithr and were walking around.

In a place like this, it would not be difficult to maintain a large-scale camouflage Ars Magus.

“The reality in front of you is not always the truth, don’t you think so?”

Honoka muttered with a hint of amusement as he pulled his beret on his head and fixed it.

Jin only gave him a sideways glance, but didn't retort anything in particular.

A uniformed guard soon arrived and announced that they would be landing soon.

They could see that the altitude of the ship had dropped drastically. The ship landed in the forest as if it had been sucked in, and Jin and Honoka were freed from the long journey at low altitude.

Stepping down from the short steps that had been installed, they found the place to be much more cluttered than it had looked from above.

Surrounded by a crowded area of trees that looked more like a jungle than a forest, they found themselves in a bare space on the earth’s surface. Amidst the protruding rocks and sparse weeds, a number of tents were erected without a trace of neatness.

The tents themselves were provided by the Librarium, but they must have been collected from all over the place, so they were of varying sizes, ages, and degrees of dirtiness.

Around the tent, rugged-looking men and women in and out of Librarium uniforms came and went with weapons and materials in their hands.

It was a strange sight for Jin, who had grown up in a city for a long time, and in a well-managed environment at that. Of course, he knew from documents, books, and the news that these kinds of sites existed.

But he was reminded of how different it is to actually see something with your own eyes than to know about it indirectly.

The air was different. The heat was different.

The accumulated heat and the damp climate were uncomfortable and everything seemed to cling to his body. The smell of the trees and grass was so thick that it seemed to seep into his nerves.

Everything here contained so many things that stimulated the senses, such as temperature and smell, diminishing the reality that he was standing there.

The Ars Magus Vessel unloaded Jin, Honoka, and some of the supplies it had been carrying, and then quickly took off. It could not stay here for too long.

Honoka watched in amazement as the vehicle they had come in mercilessly drove away, his luggage clutched to his chest. He looked as if he had been left behind.

If he wouldn't have been a soldier of his own age, Jin would have been blatantly appalled, but he was a young soldier. So he felt a small amount of sympathy for the young soldier next to him.

“Let's go."

After calling out to him, Jin hung up his belongings and started walking. He was headed for the command tent at the far end of the base.

Honoka jumped up and chased in a hurry. He follows behind Jin as if he was trying to hide behind him.

"Aren’t we... being watched a lot?"

As he walked, clutching his bag tightly in both hands, Honoka looked around.

Jin replied shortly, keeping his gait steady and his eyes forward.

“That’s only natural.”

Word must have already reached the base that Jin would be assigned.

A male member of the Kisaragi family, one of the Duodecim families, is being sent from the headquarters of the Librarium. He had just recently graduated from the military academy, but he was given the rank of lieutenant.

As Jin and Honoka made their way through the clutter of tents to the back of the base, they were met with unreserved stares. Suspicious, quizzical, curious. It's hard to say they were all pleasant.

Jin was used to this. Ever since he was a child, he had been subjected to this kind of gaze.

But Honoka was probably not. Jin wondered if he should be concerned, but with a small movement, he looked over his shoulder, and surprisingly, Honoka seemed unconcerned.

"This is the... front line, isn't it? Moreover, it's the forward area of the front line. In addition, it is the only place where the Librarium side is currently outnumbered. It is said that this is the worst battleground in the world.”

Honoka regained his tone and opened his mouth without worrying about his surroundings and hiding his voice. Even though he was retracting his neck, Honoka didn’t seem to be aware that some of the gazes that were focused on the words of inferiority turned into an aggressive hue.

“I'm listening.”

Apparently, there was no need to worry about it. Jin walked on, inwardly admiring his unexpectedly thick nerves.

Honoka's voice followed him back.

“This is also part of the territory of the Ikaruga Federation, so the climate and familiarity with the land are better there, and the Ikaruga side has the advantage in terms of a geographical sense. On top of that, the visibility is so bad in the dense jungle that a small Ars Magus Vessel like the one we just saw can barely land here, and supplies can't be distributed. No matter how well-trained the soldiers of the Librarium are, they would have a hard time fighting.”

“...Looks like you've been studying hard."

"Mmm, yes. I've read the material many times."

He was half trying to be sarcastic, but Honoka seemed to take it as a compliment, and his voice bounced back.

Jin gently pressed his forehead so as not to be noticed. It wasn't the exhaustion of the trip that made him feel dizzy.

But indeed, as he said, he had read the documents carefully. What Honoka had said was the reality of this base itself, as Jin had also confirmed many times.

The worst battleground, forever forced to fight an uphill battle in the jungle.

In addition to the soldiers of the Librarium, many skilled mercenaries have also been deployed. This is why there were so many Beastkin and demi-humans with both human and beast-like characteristics in the base, which was rare among the soldiers of the Librarium.

“It's a tough place, but they say it's an important base, so they won't give it up easily."

Honoka said it like that were someone else's affairs.

Although he would be the one who will protect the base from today, it seems that he has not yet actually felt it.

But rather than that, Jin was distracted by something else he had said.

(Important? Here?)

His eyebrows naturally drew together.

It was clear from the documents that this was an important place, but he couldn't figure out why this place was so important.

Although it was located deep inside the Ikaruga Federation, there were no cities or war-related facilities nearby. Even if the Ikaruga Federation were to seize this forest, it would not pose a threat to the Librarium.

There should be more strategic places to focus on, whether it is offense or defense.

For some reason or other, he wasn’t satisfied. As Jin swallowed his frustration in the back of his throat, Honoka continued to talk.

“I wonder what an Ikaruga soldier looks like... I've never seen one in person, but I've heard rumors that they're incredibly strong. They're scary, aren't they?”

He peeked at Jin from behind.

Unintentionally, Jin sighed.

Honoka was a boy who talked a lot, despite his quiet demeanor, as he had sensed during the entire day's journey on the ship.

At first, he thought he was talking too much because of his nervousness and anxiety, but in the past few hours, Jin had changed his mind and thought that it was just his nature.

Jin didn't really hate talking to people. But he didn’t like the noise.

The thought of living with this boy in this land for a while filled his heart with a different kind of anxiety.

"It doesn't matter if they are scary or not. It's my mission to defeat the enemy here."

“That's true, but...”

Said Honoka said in a troubled tone, without realizing the meaning of Jin's sigh.

He was expecting him to start talking again, but he had just the excuse to shut up his talkative mouth. They had arrived at the biggest tent of all, the command center.

When Jin stopped, Honoka also stopped walking and talking.

Jin handed the papers announcing his assignment to the guard standing at the entrance of the tent, and one of them nimbly walked in. He waited for a moment, and then a thick man called out to him to enter.

The air inside the tent was stuffy and raw, and the smell of human sweat seeped into the air.

The air was raw and unpleasant, something you don't get in a hierarchical city where the temperature and climate are perfectly controlled. It was smelly and unsanitary.

In this atmosphere, the head of the base was sitting in a simple chair behind a desk with a map of the area spread out.

He was a man in his forties with a strong body. The muscles all over his body must have been trained to a certain degree, but he also had an equal amount of fat on top of that. Under his black mustache, his thick lips were twisted into a sarcastic grin.

From the high-handed glances he was giving to the people around him and the pompous manner in which he was slumped in his chair, Jin could see that he was the commander of this base and how he was behaving in it.

"I am Lieutenant Jin Kisaragi and I've been assigned here today."

Under the commander's coercive gaze, Jin straightened his back and said the greeting for his arrival that had been repeatedly drilled into him at the officer's school. Honoka followed as if in a hurry.

"Likewise, Corporal Honoka. I'm here as Lieutenant Kisaragi's valet."

"Oh. A valet."

The commander suddenly raised a thick eyebrow. He crossed his thick fingers on the desk.

“I've been told that Lieutenant Kisaragi is a new recruit fresh out of the military academy, but I didn't realize he was accompanied by a valet. ...Ah yeah, just as expected from the son of the Kisaragi family, one of the Duodecim.”

It was obviously sarcasm.

Honoka looked sideways at Jin, wondering if he had said something wrong.

It seemed deliberate. Jin sighed coldly inwardly. It was as if he had never heard of it before, but he had been informed in advance that Jin would be bringing a valet.

However, it was not necessary to think about how foolish it would be to argue here. Jin chose to remain silent.

The commander's eyes traveled back and forth over his entire body, as if he was assessing Jin, who had not moved a muscle.

“It seems that your rank is Lieutenant. I've heard that people from the Duodecim families are given the rank of lieutenant as soon as they graduate from the military academy, but I didn't know it was actually true. I'm sure you've got a lot to be "proud" of if you've been given a high rank and even a valet, and now you're assigned here. It’s probably “expected”. You've been sent all the way “on purpose” to the battlefield, where the casualties are extremely high..”

The commander's tongue slipped as he spoke, exaggerating his words in places. As he spoke, he flipped through the documents that Jin had just handed to the guards, looking at them as if he were not interested in them, and then tossed them on the desk.

"You'll be assigned to the ninth squad. The tents are numbered, so you'll have to find it yourself."

He waved his hand in the air as if to say go away.

It was clear that they were not welcome, and not just to the commander. The guards standing by the commander's side also glanced at Jin with a look of displeasure.

Indeed, it seemed to be a very uncomfortable base.

“Excuse me..."

He said this in a cold and simple voice, then turned around with lean movements. Just as he was about to head straight out of the tent, a voice called out to him from behind.

"──Welcome to Hell."

The hair on Jin’s neck stood up in horror at the eerie way the commander’s manner of speaking crawled up his feet. But although he stopped for a moment, Jin didn't look back and walked quickly out.

### Part 5

Once outside, the smell of plants and soil that seemed to be coming from the dense forest put pressure on Jin. The heat that made Jin’s back sweat only made him feel uncomfortable, and even though it was almost time to call it an evening, the sun was still burning high above the ground, asserting its vicious presence.

While naturally raising his eyebrows, Jin made his way through the not-so-large encampment.

On the outskirts of the crowd of tents, somewhere between the encampment and the jungle, there was a khaki tent with the number nine written in large letters.

It seemed to be the tent for the ninth squadron they were assigned to.

No one bothered to offer to show him the way, so he walked into the tent he was looking for, passing the strange stares that were still pouring in.

He entered, and as soon as he did, Jin couldn't help but frown.

The first thing that struck him was the smell. The stench of earth, sweat, and blood.

The smell of the command center was also quite strong, but it was still much better than here and that alone made him keenly aware of the difference between the role of this place and the command center.

“Uu......"

When Jin heard a small groan, he looked over to see Honoka holding his mouth and nose. His face seemed to be pale. He was surprised that he hadn't jumped out of the tent and ran away.

Instead, the small boy soldier lets out a muffled grumble under his palm.

“We'll be sleeping... here, right?”

“That’s right.”

"A-are you serious?"

“ٍSerious or not. There are no other alternatives, or do you want to sleep in the middle of the jungle?”

“No. No!”

Honoka shook his head in panic.

Jin sent a single sigh at that.

The inside of the tent seemed to be more spacious than he had expected, probably because of the lack of useless things. There seemed to be two tents connected together inside, with a folding table and chairs in the front room and sleeping bags and simple bunk beds in the back room.

There were four soldiers inside.

All of them were wearing the uniforms of the Librarium in different ways, but from the atmosphere, he could tell that they were mercenaries hired for this war. At the very least, it was unlikely that they had attended the military academy from the primary level.

One of them was a woman. She and one other person had tanned skin, one had white skin and the last one was from the yellow race.

They were of different genders and skin colors, and they stared at Jin and Honoka with a quizzical look in their eyes.

They looked as if they wanted to say something, but Jin didn't feel the need to call out to them, so he turned away and walked to the back room.

There was a shelf near the bunk beds, and he could see that each of them had a bag that looked like their personal belongings pushed into it. He was going to put his luggage in the empty space there.

But before he could do so, a figure quickly stood in front of him.

“Wait."

With a sharp voice, Jin's path was blocked by the only female guard with brown skin.

Her slim, toned body was much smaller than Jin's, and she was probably on the smaller side of the average. She wore the uniform of the Librarium to keep herself light, and her shoulders and stomach were boldly exposed, revealing her dark, wild skin tone.

Her black hair was collected in particularly long and strong dreadlocks, and it was pulled up high in a unique way. The way she pulled it up made her eyes look even tighter than they already were.

Under her thick, strong-willed eyebrows, her mysterious indigo blue eyes reflected Jin's image without becoming overcast.

“Who said you could go in there without permission?”

Her piercing eyes were as big as a cat's. Jin looked back into her eyes with an indifferent expression.

“I've been assigned here. I have the right to use this tent."

"Assigned? Don't act like you're a full-fledged soldier already, even though you're a scion of the Duodecim."

The woman sniffed at Jin's nonchalant remark.

Jin raised his eyebrows slightly. The term "Duodecim" was handy because with just one word you can understand what she was complaining about.

The woman still glared at Jin with a sharp glint in her eye.

"I have no use for a new innocent well-bred recruit. Now get back to your mom and dad before you hurt yourself and get a scar on your beautiful face."

The woman lifted her peach-colored lips sarcastically.

Behind her, the other soldiers breathe mockingly, as if they were fed up. It's him who was being mocked. He can tell by their gazes and attitudes.

But this level of sarcasm and cynicism was adorable compared to what he had heard in the Kisaragi household so far. It wouldn't affect Jin now.

“You're not the one making the assignments, or do you think you're the captain here? If that's the case, then I can't just go home without a formal discharge order. If you have that authority, feel free to use it."

Jin's green eyes were cold, as he returned the blow without stuttering.

The woman's cheek flushed red, probably because of her anger at being scorned in front of her peers without knowing how to back up. She wagged her chubby lips and tried to find something to say to him.

But then another voice interrupted her.

"No, but I'm the captain."

Concomitantly with the voice, a dark shadow came from behind Jin. The shadow was so large that it completely swallowed Jin's shadow. Somewhat startled by its size, Jin looked back.

A large man with a rich mustache stood at the entrance of the tent.

It was a man with the most splendid physique.

His massive body looked as if it were clad in muscular armor and his broad shoulders would still be wider for the big man even if Jin and the brown-skinned woman stood side by side. His chest and belly were thick enough to hide Jin completely in the shadows, and his legs were as big as Jin’s torso.

Although not as inhuman as the red devil he encountered in the wilderness the other day, he was a man covered with flesh so well trained that Jin doubted a human skeleton could have any more muscles.

His head atop of his steel body was also big and squared, with short trimmed ash gray hair and a beard that surrounded his mouth, giving it an even tougher impression.

However, his bright green eyes, and the expression showing on his face, were taken in by his soft demeanor and his gentle amiability.

“Oh, that's a big guy...”

When Honoka blurted out an overly honest mutter, the big man gushed boldly, his thick chest rising and falling. Then, with a good-natured smile on his face, he held out his hand toward Jin.

"Captain Grimwood Huster, Captain of the Ninth Squad. She is my subordinate, Corporal Karenjina Parsett. Nice to meet you."

“My name is Lieutenant Jin Kisaragi. As of today, I have been assigned to this squad. I look forward to working with you."

Jin replied in a firm tone of voice.

Jin was momentarily lost in the proffered hand, but first he took a salute, then shook Captain Grimwood's hand as discreetly as possible.

Immediately, the captain squeezed Jin’s hand back with such strength that he felt as if he were trying to capture him.

Jin's shoulders jerked involuntarily.

Grimwood's smile remained cheerful and exuberant. After shaking hands firmly, he slapped Jin's back with his hand once, hard and with a bang.

“But I never thought that a member of the Kisaragi family would be assigned to a place like this. It seems that they 'like' you very much. What have you done to deserve this?"

He said jokingly and laughed gaily.

Looking up at the falling laughter, Jin did not move his expression and remained silent. But more than that, he was unsure of how to react when he dared to do so.

Grimwood's words were teasing, but there was a friendly "familiarity" about them. It was the first time he had been on this base.

Jin was used to sarcasm and irony, but he was not very good at this kind of thing. There were only a few times in his school days when he was not afraid to take a big step.

Without thinking, Jin looks at Karenjina and the others. The brown-skinned woman folded her arms in reluctance, while the other guards looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

They were unfazed. Grimwood must be this kind of person in general. He could smile and offer his hand to even the cockiest recruit who had just graduated from the academy.

Of course, Grimwood shook hands vigorously with Honoka, and also introduced the three guards who were smiling behind him.

It seems that the ninth squad was made up of seven members: Grimwood as captain, the three of them, Karenjina, and Jin and Honoka, who were assigned to the squad today.

“This tent is where we eat, get ready, and go to bed. As you can see, the back room is the bedroom. Pack your things there. Then go to-"

Grimwood then walked to the back of the tent to show them around, but his words were cut off before he could finish.

Suddenly, a siren wailed loudly.

Jin heard someone gasp and saw Karenjina look up like a guitar string that has popped. Grimwood let out a muffled moan and perspired his head, and after a single blink, his expression changed.

At that moment, something like a needle passed through the field.

It was not a thread of tension, but something far sharper and stronger. It was a kind of concentration and spirit that instantly tightens up what had been loose.

“Ninth squad, get ready! Time to work!"

Grimwood barked, his voice was thick and full of life.

“Yes, sir!"

As if in unison, Karenjina and the rest of the 9th squad took their weapons and ran out of the tent.

Jin followed, throwing away his personal belongings.

He must have been affected in no small way. Something like an electric shock ran through his body. He knew what was going on even without asking.

The sirens were repeating the same sound mechanically, signaling an emergency sortie and the approach of the enemy.

### 051. Chapter 2: Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa/ Laughing man

### Part 1

In the midst of the gunfire, Jin hid behind the trees that filled the dense forest.

No matter which way he turned his head, whether he looked up or down, he could only see dense foliage, branches, trunks, and grass. The smell of earth was so thick that it was almost nauseating while there was no breeze to be felt at all.

It was terribly hard to hide his breath in this. The sweat on his forehead had never seemed so annoying.

After being prodded by the siren and shortly briefed on the enemy's formation, Jin ran into the forest under Grimwood's command.

He ran and stopped repeatedly, following the others, for what seemed like... over twenty minutes. There was a gunshot somewhere, and Jin knew that the battle had begun.

Grimwood immediately split the squad in two. The four soldiers, including Karenjina, went ahead. Grimwood, Jin, and Honoka stood by at this spot.

During the instructions, Karenjina kept her hands on the ground and listened intently. Eventually, she stood up and said…

“I can go.”

As if on cue, the advance team of the ninth squad dispersed into the forest.

Jin, who had been assigned to the waiting group, gripped the large pistol that had been provided to him, ready to attack at any time, and leaned his back against a thick tree trunk to focus on the sounds around him.

He didn't have time to get a detailed explanation of what kind of strategy the squad was going to take. The only thing he was told by the huge captain was that enemy soldiers were wandering into the area and that they should be defeated.

"...The enemy, do you think they'll come this way?"

At Jin's feet, Honoka, clutching his gun, which was also supplied to him, shrank in the shade of the overgrown grass, He peered hurriedly at the other side and then pulled his head back.

Taking one glance at it, Jin tilted his head shallowly.

“Who knows.”

He had meant to say, "Don't waste your breath," but it seemed that Honoka hadn't heard him anyways.

He peeked his head out once more, then quickly pulled it back and let out a long, yet very low sigh.

"Ah, I'm so nervous. I can't believe we're going to have a real fight as soon as we get here."

“That’s right.”

At first, he wanted to warn him about the private conversation, but all that escaped from Jin's mouth was a murmur of agreement.

Since they had come to a war zone, they were prepared to fight at any time, but they didn't expect it to start so suddenly.

It felt like reality was being thrown into their mouths one after another when they were not ready to swallow it. It was not a good feeling, by any means.

"Lieutenant Kisaragi."

"Ah!"

Honoka's voice hardened as he gasped for breath. Earlier, Jin had focused his consciousness sharply.

Grimwood raised his hand at face level as he disappeared into the jungle. Behind him were only Jin and Honoka.

His hand cleaved the sky. Forward.

Jin moved as if he were sliding. Immediately after that. A soldier with his muzzle pointed in the wrong direction came flying out of the forest ahead.

He was a soldier of the Ikaruga Federation.

Instantly judging the situation, Jin attacked the soldier who was about to turn around from behind. He grabbed the soldier's arm with his gun in his hand, twisted it, and threw him down on the ground. Without waiting for the soldier to breathe, he slammed the bottom of the gun into the base of the neck, causing the Ikaruga soldier to faint in a daze.

“Damn it, get out of here!"

"What the hell are they doing, where did they come from?!"

Panicked voices were heard from the front again and Ikaruga soldiers appeared one after another from behind the bushes. It was as if they were being chased by something.

When the four soldiers finally found Jin, they jumped out and hurriedly raised their guns. However, a large battle axe snatched all four of them in one fell swoop.

It was Grimwood who was swinging the big axe.

The battle axe, which was even taller than his large frame, had a large blade and took up a lot of space. But despite its apparent unsuitability for the dense jungle, Grimwood skillfully wielded it.

The long handle shot straight through the intervening vegetation and accurately struck an enemy soldier between the eyes at a distance.

An axe with a large blade can fell a tree as thick as Jin with a single swing.

Without letting his momentum get the better of him, he knocked down a poor enemy soldier who had jumped out of the bushes to the ground.

But it was the back of the axe that took the enemy soldier in one swipe, which saved Jin from getting the blood of the soldier blown up in front of him.

This was not for Jin's sake, but simply for the ease of fighting. In the forest, where footholds are poor, the scattering of flesh and blood is a hindrance.

"...It seems like he isn't just big muscled, huh?"

A few words of truthfulness spilled out of Jin's mouth.

Because of his rough appearance, he thought that he would be more of a rampaging fighter, but it seems that Grimwood was not that simple of a man.

Rather the opposite. While wielding his axe with gusto, he instantly judges from which direction the enemy soldiers are coming and prepares to intercept them.

And from the direction he had turned his attention, the enemy soldiers would indeed appear, as if they had escaped from somewhere.

(Escaped? No, wrong. We're being driven into a corner here.) Jin thought and before he even knew it, he prepared himself to follow Grimwood's sharp consciousness and steel up for the enemy soldiers.

The ones who were driving the enemy soldiers back are undoubtedly Karenjina and the others who were ahead of them. They spotted the enemy troops, disrupted them, and led them to the rear where Jin and Grimwood were.

It was Grimwood who commanded them and gave them detailed instructions. Occasionally, he would glance into the distance or raise his axe as a signal to Karenjina and the others.

While firing bullets from behind the bushes at the enemy soldiers who reappeared, Jin looked sideways at Grimwood.

He was a rugged man for whom the battlefield suited him well. However, his weapon was not his well built body or the axe he wielded with his strong arm, but his excellent leadership, flexible grasp of the battle situation, and precise instructions.

(This is like a hunt.)

Jin thought, and strongly convinced himself.

That's right. This was a hunt.

Unleashed hounds find their prey and drive them away, while their masters wait and kill them.

But in order to do that, you need a good commander who can give precise instructions to the troops, a good sense of direction that keeps you on track even in the forest, and the sense of smell of a beast that can find its prey.

Jin wondered if that's what Grimwood and his team were carrying as a whole squad.

Suddenly, Jin remembered. The ninth squad of this base is sometimes called the Hound Squad. This may have originated from their fighting style.

(But how is that even possible?)

When Grimwood gave him a look, Jin turned and pointed his gun at him. Three Ikaruga soldiers appeared ahead of him, and without a moment's hesitation, Jin shot the first one in the shoulder.

He closed the distance between them and kicked the first one in the side of the head, knocking him into a coma. Then, he immediately switched to his gun and hit the second one in the face with the bottom of the gun, followed by a knee to the stomach.

"Damn... it..."

The third person finally understood what was going on and raised the muzzle of his gun. Jin kicked him in the arm and elbowed him in the chest. After firing a few more bullets, the soldiers were all stretched out on the grassy ground.

“Not bad.”

Grimwood chuckled a little further away. Jin returned a cool glance.

That was Jin’s line, too. Before he knew it, there were three new soldiers lying at Grimwood's feet.

His skill was unquestionable. In addition, he had an excellent ability to command his men. He was not stupid.

Karenjina and the others under her seemed to be quite useful soldiers, as they were able to disperse the enemy soldiers and guide them to here.

So why is it that this frontline base is struggling to the point of being called the "worst" while having troops like them that can be called "excellent" without question? Jin wondered.

In fact, even now, the battle situation was clearly in their favor. Ikaruga’s soldiers have already lost all semblance of control and there was no such thing as a formation.

If Grimwood and his men were so inclined, they could toss around soldiers of this caliber and take over this jungle and push the front line to the stronghold beyond.

(So why don't we do that...?)

Either the other troops are blindingly incompetent or there is a secret about Ikaruga that Jin has yet to see.

Otherwise, there is a more different reason.

He was tracing the barrel of an unfamiliar gun with his gloved finger.

From his side of the line, he heard a strange rhythmic sound of gunfire. It sounded like a joke for a gunfight. Jin looked up to see what was going on, and Grimwood lowered his axe at almost the same time.

"It's about time. All right, let's get out of here."

"Wh-what?"

Grimwood's words, as he lowered his broad shoulders, caused Honoka to roll out of the bushes in dismay.

“By "retreat," you mean withdraw, right? Why is that? I've already gone through so much trouble today and now this~..."

It looked like they were going to win. Although they faltered and broke off, Honoka's words were clear.

Jin also looked at his large superior with a puzzled expression on his face.

Grimwood placed the blade of his axe down on the ground like a staff and leaned against it, his lips hanging up in a smile. It was a wry smile.

“This is our 'job'.”

“What's that supposed to mean?"

It was Jin who asked the question. He didn't know what Grimwood's smile meant, nor did he know what the words meant.

"We're also known as the Hound Squad. Have you heard of us?"

“Yes.”

"As the name suggests, we are 'hounds'. We find our prey, drive them away and then let our superiors (alternatively 'masters') 'hunt' them."

While Grimwood was talking, Karenjina and the others came back from the deep forest. They were much dirtier than when they had left, with small scratches here and there, but none of them seemed to have any life-threatening injuries.

After confirming that his men were safe, Grimwood nodded his head.

“Let's go back then. Job's done."

A rough voice was heard from the center of the allies, so that it might have been mistaken for his words.

“Go, go! Ikaruga’s soldiers are nothing to be afraid of, kick them all to the curb!"

It was the voice of that commander.

Through the trees, He could be seen charging straight into the enemy line with many of his men, making his presence known to the enemy in the dense jungle where visibility was poor for better or worse.

The soldiers surrounding him had a somewhat different atmosphere than Grimwood and the others. They were more unfamiliar with the battlefield, and smelled like the well-behaved and well-mannered guards of the Librarium headquarters that Jin had seen every day until a short while ago.

They charged into the enemy lines, which had already been thrown into chaos by Grimwood and the others, and began to "hunt" the remaining Ikaruga soldiers with loud gunfire.

"...So that's how it works."

As expected, Jin understood. He could feel his emotions cooling down.

In other words, this is a battlefield, but it is also a hunting ground.

The guards of the Librarium were originally born into respectable families and were treated with a certain amount of favor. They may be relatives of political executives or of aristocratic lineage. It was a hunting grounds for those who go into battle as guards in order to acquire the prey of victory.

The skirmishes never connect to a decisive victory because they are wreaked by "superiors" who don't know or understand war very well.

But as long as this is a hunting ground, it must continue to be a battlefield that is exposed to moderate danger.

So this is war. The "worst" front?

(Trash...)

(Is this what I came here for? I came here to be a dog that chases down its prey for the sake of "masters" who mistakenly thinks it is something special.)

The thought of the head of the Mutsuki family, who had taken on more responsibility than anyone else for this war and was probably still busy in his office or somewhere else, flashed through Jin’s mind.

Did he know about this reality? Did he send Jin away knowing this? If he did, what were his feelings about it?

But, at the end.

“...it doesn't really matter."

Jin muttered in a faint voice that no one could hear.

He didn’t care what kind of place this is or how many petty pretensions and agendas it's infested with. It didn’t matter who dies and who survives for it.

With that in mind, he shouldered his gun.

And then... came the moment.

Suddenly, there was an explosion in the forest.

“Wh-what happened!?”

Honoka shouted in a voice that was raised in surprise.

The area was shaken by the aftermath of the explosion and orange flames shot up in a corner of the forest.

Some kind of scream echoed through the jungle. It was not a human voice. This was a howl... the howl of a "Seithr Beast".

"There they go again, those idiots!"

Looking back at the roar, Grimwood's voice rang out in anger, but his anger was not directed at anyone here. It wasn’t known who it was directed at.

But more than that, Jin gasped at the unpleasant presence. When he sensed the unfolding of an unknown Ars Magus around the roar and flame, he rushed out at full speed.

“Hey, wait!”

Grimwood and the others wanted to stop him, but the voice of restraint was already out of Jin's consciousness.

He shook off the thin branches sticking out of the ground, roughly shoveled through the thick grass and headed straight for that presence.

It took a few dozen seconds. After passing through the ivy-covered and crooked trees, Jin shook off the bushes and jumped out of the way, only to see the soldiers looking up at him, speechless, and inching backwards.

It was the uniform of the Librarium.

Kicking the dirt again, Jin turned to meet their gaze.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!"

The roar of that Seithr Beast came from right in front of him. The owner of the voice painted with destructive intent, which a human throat could not possibly emit, was a giant whose entire body was made of rock.

Its height was still less than two Grimwoods combined. The huge demonic beast, with its eyeless and noseless face, was looking around from side to side and rampaging, reaping trees and people at random.

There was no longer any distinction between friend and foe.

The Ars Magus that Jin had sensed earlier had probably been used to summon or manipulate this giant, however, it had already escaped the control of said Ars Magus and was no longer capable of making decisions on its own, but only of reaping and crushing those around it.

Someone was crushed by the rock fist that swung down. One of them, covered in spattered blood, screamed insanely and fled into the forest.

With that, everyone scattered and ran away, shouting something incomprehensible.

There was not a shred of 'order' or 'leadership' in it.

Some of them ran without thinking and collided with someone they didn't know and fell down, only to be crushed to death by the giant.

The sound of flesh crushing flesh was drowned out by the horrible screams and helpless gunfire.

“Jin, are you okay?”

Grimwood and the others caught up with him, scrambling through the bushes behind Jin.

But as soon as they realized what was going on, they both stood back.

“I've never seen a Seithr Beast like this before in this forest!”

Karenjina’s voice was strained and disconcerted. As Grimwood held his ax up to protect his men, his face twisted into a bitter, grim expression.

"This one... we are not going to be able to handle it with our current equipment. We'll have to retreat and join up with the main force."

It would certainly be difficult to take on this guy with bullets or an axe. Grimwood's judgment was spot on. With that in mind, Jin stepped forward, interrupting Grimwood's words.

“Hey, back off, Jin!"

Grimwood reached out to stall him, but the sliding Jin slipped through his fingers and stopped in front of the giant.

The rock giant was still surrounded by the hapless figures of soldiers who had failed to escape. Keeping them at the edge of his vision, Jin threw away the gun in his hand.

A clatter with a frivolous sound bounced off the dirt.

"Ji-!"

Grimwood's impatient voice was absorbed and faded from Jin's consciousness.

Standing quietly, Jin lowered the sword he had been carrying on his back. A blue scabbard with a green handle. He held it horizontally in front of him, looking straight at the giant and gripped both handle and scabbard firmly.

The air was cold.

The forest was so hot that if you just stood still, you would sweat instantly, but as if the scene had changed completely, cold air flowed in from somewhere and spread.

At the center of the coldness was Jin.

Or, more accurately, the sword he held.

The air grew even colder.

Still, even more.

It was as sharp and cold as the edge of a sharpened blade and it surrounded Jin and the rock giant.

—Kill

There was a whisper in Jin's mind.

It is like a voice but not really a voice actually, like a will that is not a will actually.

It was like a vibration, a tremor of something dark that was born and lit deep in his chest.

Gradually, it began to circulate through Jin's bloodstream. As he savored the sensation of it spreading, Jin glared coldly at the rock giant.

Seithr Beasts are beings that are made and affected through seithr and this giant was summoned by an Ars Magus that uses seithr as its medium.

Jin's neck muscles buzzed with the presence of the dense seithr swirling around inside his huge body.

—Kill, Kill...

—Kill, Kill, Kill, Kill, Kill, Kill, Kill.

——Kill it.

The moving boulder swung its misshapen arms high in the air. The faceless head looked down with an eyeless gaze at Jin, who remained motionless with his sword at the ready.

I thought I heard someone shouting.

I wonder who it was. Was it... the voice of my brother, who I had parted from in death on a distant childhood day?

No way. He's dead. He was murdered.

Then what are these voices? It was noisy. It resembled the moaning of a beast.

(Shut up! Be quiet! Stop interrupting me!)

Jin exhaled. It was an icy cold breath.

The wind roared overhead. The giant swung their arms down in unison.

He looked up at that.

“Activate, Yukianesa.”

The moment Jin whispered the words, everything froze.

In accordance with the words, the freezing began to take root. The ground that Jin stepped on, the grass that surrounded him. The tree beside him, the ivy running through it, and the rock giant who was about to swing his fist down at Jin.

After a beat, a cool sound like hitting ice was heard.

Immediately, the giant's body split into four pieces and fell to the ground. It was as if it had been slashed crosswise with a very sharp blade.

The blade was none other than the sword that Jin was carrying. However, no one present could see the moment when Jin pulled out his sword.

It was all over in a blink of an eye.

“What the hell was that...?"

Karenjina muttered in a stunned voice as she was dumbfounded

It was Honoka, who had retrieved the gun that Jin had thrown away.

“It’s a Nox Nyctores. Nox Nyctores Causality Weapon: Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa.”

Honoka's voice trembled with joy and his cheeks were pale with elation.

Beside him, Grimwood was staring desperately at the unbelievable reality.

"That's the Nox Nyctores... It really exists...?"

Karenjina’s agitation, Honoka's excitement, and Grimwood's astonishment did not reach Jin's ears.

The blond-haired recruit, who had slashed and discarded the giant in an instant, lowered his sword in its cold blue scabbard and quietly turned on his heel.

Before he knew it, the sky had taken on the color of dusk. In the distant sky, a small star twinkled dimly, as if it were a piece of scattered ice that stuck to the sky.

### Part 2

The inside of the tent was filled with shadows. The result of the light from a lantern on the desk was kept to a minimum, and the subdued light directed in all directions cast black shadows all around the tent walls.

In the small light of the lamp, a man sitting on a chair laughed, and the shadows on the tent wall also laughed.

“More than anything, it went well.”

"Yes, sir. There was no problem in activating the Nox Nyctores. We've confirmed that it was activated successfully."

There were two men in the tent.

One was a middle-aged man with a broad belly on his belt, the commander of a battalion of the Novus Orbis Librarium which was camped in the jungle of the Ikaruga Federation.

The other was a slender young man, wearing a black suit, black hat, with green hair and a thin smile on his mouth.

“So. It was more than planned... or is it on schedule? That's Jin-Kisaragi for you."

It was the general commander who sat on the chair and talked pompously.

“But it's really powerful, this Nox Nyctores thing. To conquer and bury that many beasts. I'm looking forward to the day when it’s put to practice as a real weapon.”

“I couldn’t agree more. Thanks to you, the data collection is going well. Thank you very much for your cooperation.”

The words of a man in a black suit, which sounds exaggerated, seem to be comforting for the battalion commander. He was very pleased with the attitude of the other person, who was overly abasing himself.

With a scheming look on his face, the battalion commander smiled greedily.

The man in the suit looked at it from behind his hat and smiled.

### Part 3

Jin, Grimwood and the others returned to the base just before the sun went down and the forest was enclosed in darkness.

Here and there in the base, generators powered by seithr were working with a low hum, providing minimal lighting to the tents and serving areas. The iron frames that held the dirty white light bulbs were quite rusty from exposure to the wind and rain and looked as if they had been here for years.

Jin and the others returned to their tents, receiving thanks and praise from the fleeting soldiers who had escaped with them, and even more gratitude and praise from their comrades who had heard their stories after that.

Feeling a little fed up with the different welcoming mood from when he arrived, Jin ducked into the dark and quiet tent and turned on the white light.

As he took off his gloves, which were stained with dirt and blood from the enemy soldiers, he thought he could finally take a break, but this time Jin was met with compliments from the soldiers of the 9th squad.

"That was amazing earlier, Lieutenant Kisaragi!"

As soon as he put down his gun, one of the soldiers ran up to him with a glow on his face and a hint of excitement, but then another one grabbed Jin's shoulder with a friendly smile, a far cry from the daytime.

"I've never seen such a powerful Ars Magus before ...I apologize for having been so rude."

"...No, You don’t need to worry about it. And besides, I was helped a lot by your leader a while ago. It's thanks to you all that I came back mostly unscathed from my first battle."

It was uncomfortable to suddenly be praised openly. The words came out as a way to gloss over the issue, but what Jin said was the undeniable truth.

Grimwood's troops were excellent. In a battlefield where you never know what tomorrow will bring, Jin thought he may have been lucky to be assigned here.

The two soldiers who spoke to him smiled tantalizingly and shook their heads.

“No, it's my pleasure. It's very encouraging to have someone like Lieutenant Kisaragi as the captain's adjutant."

“Adjutant?”

Jin couldn't help but ask back at the unexpected appearance of the word.

This made the soldiers roll their eyes rather puzzledly.

“After Captain Grimwood, the next highest in rank is you, Lieutenant Kisaragi. Wouldn't that be obvious?"

The other soldier, who had been fiddling with his gun a little off to the side as if something was bothering him, looked up and said.

“Now that you mention it, that’s right.”

Jin was less impressed and more convinced.

He hadn't paid much attention to their ranks because he wasn't interested in them, but as he recalled, Karenjina said she was a corporal. He didn’t remember asking the other three what their ranks were, but if they didn't say, it must mean that they were lower than Karenjina.

(So that's what it means.)

Jin looked at Karenjina, who was untying her equipment.

Perhaps she was also concerned about this, and soon their eyes collided. Karenjina frowned in a sullen manner and turned away.

“I'm going to wash my face.”

She spoke that over her shoulder, then quickly got out of the tent.

Grimwood arrived at the same time.

"Oh, the food's ready. Make sure you eat well after you get some rest."

As he spoke, he placed his favorite weapon, the large axe, in a corner of the tent. Jin walked up to it.

"Grimwood. There's something we need to talk about..."

The slight hush in his voice was to let him know that it was a confidential conversation. Grimwood immediately sensed this and looked at the back of the tent.

“Do you want to go inside?”

“No, preferably..."

He wanted to get rid of all eyes except for Grimwood. This time, the soldiers sensed his intentions and emptied the tent so that they could eat dinner. If this flexibility was also a tribute to his earlier achievements, then it was worth to defeat that rock giant.

The entrance to the tent that had been shoveled closed back up with a heavy thud and they waited for the outgoing soldiers to leave for a good minute.

In the meantime, Grimwood sank his strong body into a simple chair.

The tents assigned to each of the squads were too spacious for two people to occupy, no matter how big they were. A lonely ambiance hanged in the air.

“I told the commanding officer to gloss over the earlier matter.”

“Is that so? Thanks, that saves me some trouble.”

Jin replied briefly to Grimwood's words. The case in question was Yukianesa. As the name implied, a Nox Nyctores is a unique weapon. It was not a good idea for anyone to know that a new recruit was carrying one. Jin asked him to keep it under wraps and Grimwood said he understood and will assume responsibility for it.

But Jin's talk was a different topic.

There was no one in the vicinity of the tent. After looking around him once more, Jin placed a hidden object in front of Grimwood.

It was a stone block half the size of Jin's face. A yellowish-gray stone with fine black sand in it. Grimwood could see what it was at a glance.

“Is this a piece of the giant from earlier?”

“Yes.”

“How did you get this...?”

He looked down at the lump of stone lying on the table.

"This was created by a non-Librarium Ars Magus."

Ars Magus is a kind of artificially created form magic that uses seithr to create various phenomena. In order to activate it, you need to have an aptitude for it, as well as something called a "Grimoire".

It is also the Librarium that gathers and manages the countless number of Grimoires in one place. The number of Grimoires managed by the Librarium is enormous and for this reason, it is sometimes sarcastically referred to as thr "Library" by rival organizations such as Sector Seven.

In other words, most of the Ars Magus in the world are under the control of the Librarium.

The fact that other Ars Magus are being used in the civil war suggests the possibility that Ars Magus are being developed somewhere that is not under the control of the Librarium. There is a fear that the technology of Ars Magus owned by the Librarium may have been leaked, or one can imagine a more sinister scheme.

With all this in mind, Jin turned his sharp gaze to Grimwood.

"When you first heard the explosion, you said 'those idiots'. What did you mean by that?"

It wouldn't make any sense to try to trick this guy or probe him in a roundabout way. It would only put him on unnecessary alert. Determining that, Jin asked the question too directly and straightforwardly.

“...You are indeed the owner of a Nox Nyctores."

His mouth twisted into an indescribable shape that was both bitter and amusing, then Grimwood grabbed the stone block that Jin had placed infront of him.

Suddenly, he put a lot of strength into his hand and crushed the lump of stone as if it were a glass ball. He had a tremendous grip.

“It seems that Mr. Commander was not aware of the Nox Nyctores... am I right? Jin, 'who' is the one who sent you here?"

The way he shrugged his shoulders caught Jin's attention. It was as if he had found something he shouldn't have.

Jin scowled. If Grimwood knew 'who' sent him here, then would it be inconvenient for him?

"I'm the one asking the questions. Answer it."

He said as if he was thrusting words at him.

Instead of answering, Grimwood dropped his gaze. He opened his stone-crushing hand lightly and fragments of sand spilled from between his fingers onto the desk.

Grimwood did not answer. The silence clearly meant that there were some circumstances.

Should he have asked again? Just as Jin was about to open his mouth, the cloth at the entrance of the tent was pulled open.

“Grimwood. There's a transmission for you from Yabiko.”

The one who got inside was Karenjina, the petite woman with brown skin and dreadlocks. Grimwood immediately stood up.

"Yabiko. Okay."

Jin chased after him, his voice slightly hoarse, as he made his way out of the tent without hesitation.

“Wait, we're still talking!”

"Headquarters's on the line. Do not interfere."

Quickly turning around, Karenjina blocked Jin's path.

As he was leaving the tent, he thought he saw Grimwood looking at him for a moment, but in the end, the muscule packed captain left without saying a word.

The heavy cloth at the entrance came down, and now Jin was left alone in the tent with Karenjina.

Grimwood's heavy footsteps moved further away.

As he listened, Jin glared at Karenjina, who looked up at him as if she was looking down at something annoying.

Looking back at the cold ice green eyes undauntedly, Karenzina lifted the edge of her lips sarcastically.

"That Art you just used. Is that the 'Nox Nyctores'?"

She said, somewhat mockingly. Her hands rested on her smoothly curved hips, her eyes fixed on the pale scabbard in Jin's hand. She gave him a depreciating look.

"You've brought in some pretty extravagant stuff, but using a person from the Duodecim... It seems even a privileged family like the Kisaragi family can be used as 'guinea pigs'.”

"Guinea pigs? What are you talking about?"

He didn't know what Karenjina was talking about. When Jin frowned and clouded his voice with doubt, Karenjina raised her eyebrows up in mockery.

"Didn't you realize it yet? What a pity. You're just like those noblemen around here who flaunt their great power conceitedly."

“I don’t understand what you are getting at. What are you trying to say?"

There was a dark feeling of pent-up resentment in the way Karenjina spat out her words at him.

He well understood the fact that she was accusing him of being a member of a prestigious family and she made it clear that she felt ill will towards people of that kind. However, just because of that, it doesn’t mean Jin could just be convinced with her taking it out on him as an individual. That was a different matter.

“The lab animals are getting high and mighty is what I am saying. It's really annoying that they're forcing their 'nuisance' onto our troops."

Saying this as if spitting it out from the bottom of her heart, Karenjina glared at Jin without hiding her aggressive tone.

It was not even a matter of shunting. He was no different than being directly accused of being an abomination.

Jin was not so gentle as to try to keep a calm attitude after being told so much. He was going to let some of it slide, but it was frankly unpleasant for him to have to go on like this forever.

“You seem to be trying to irritate me, which is annoying. If you don't like me, that's fine. Don't talk to me."

"How can a recruit be so high and mighty? Are you saying that the Duodecim are more important than a bunch of rogue mercenaries? Or do you already feel like a superior?"

“I don't mean to, but I'm not going to play along with your paranoia either. Are you really that unhappy that you were forced out of your position as second-in-command? If you don't want to be despised as a mercenary, you should learn a little more about the military organization.”

"Wha-!?"

Karenjina raised her voice, her dark skin flushed with red. She took a big step forward and tried to grab Jin's chest, but just as she was about to do so, a different hand reached out from her side and pulled her away.

"Hey, hey, hey. You two need to calm down."

It was Honoka who half-heartedly and forcefully stepped in between Jin and Karenjina, who were staring at each other. Jin didn’t know where he’d been before and come to think of it, he couldn’t find him until now. As he pushed the chests of his two superiors apart until they were barely out of reach, Honoka looked from side to side and smiled wryly.

“You can't have a fight on base. We're all in the same squad after all, right?”

Honoka, while repeating the last bit many times over, tried desperately to persuade the immature adults to calm down. Jin had no choice but to put his unsettled emotions in check when that boy, who was probably much younger than him, said that.

Karenjina seemed to think the same way and with a bitter expression on her face, she reluctantly stepped aside.

“It's not like we were fighting."

She said this in an attempt to disguise her lack of decorum, her arms crossed as if she was holding her taut chest.

Sighing, Karenjina slipped past Honoka with a supple gesture, then headed for the place where Grimwood had been a moment ago. She stopped in front of a chair and looked down at the pile of sand and pebbles scattered on the table.

It was the remnants of the stone that Grimwood had crushed moments ago.

“...You were asking the Captain about this earlier if I recall correctly?"

Unclasping her crossed arms, Karenjina softly spoke up.

Her voice was quiet. She looked down at the small pile of sand with an indifferent gaze and dug her finger into it, taking a scoop in the palm of her hand.

"This is some experimental Ars Magus."

The sand spilled from Karenjina's hands and fell again onto the table. Jin's eyes blinked. It was just as he thought. Hearing the faint sound of his breathing, Karenjina turned around with a thin smile on her face.

“You're not so stupid after all."

She said that with a girlish softness, rather than the stiff, masculine voice of a soldier. This must have been the real tone of Karenjina's voice. It was a throbbing voice that suited her well.

"I don't know how they make Seithr Beasts, but the Librarium gives it to “them” as new weapons. To the stupid nobles, to specific."

Said Karenjina, who had stopped behaving in her stiff demeanor,as she crumbled the pile of sand with her fingers. With a cold glare, she flicked a small piece of the stone with her fingertips and rolled it around as if this object holds height to her.

"Those fools use it with glee. They think they're the chosen ones, without thinking about how dangerous what they've been given is."

The nobel people who were born and raised in this area come here on a regular basis to take advantage of the hunting grounds, to build up their military prowess. Without merit, there is no promotion. So if they were given special weapons for that purpose, who wouldn't use them on the battlefield? After all, they are coming to this base to earn merit. In the first place, those who truly want to participate in the war as soldiers and fight for the Librarium are the troops that will be sent to a more proper battlefield.

“Of course, there are times when the new weapon will produce unexpected results, but most of the time it doesn't. Sometimes it'll just kill lots of people and other times it's..."

"...taken by the enemy."

A murmur spontaneously escaped from Jin's mouth as he scooped up the muddled end of Karenjina's words.

Karenjina didn’t say anything, but her closed lips spoke affirmation.

Subconsciously, Jin clicked his tongue.

“Just as I expected, that giant was originally an Ars belonging to the Librarium, wasn’t it? But, It was used by the Ikaruga Federation...”

As a result, the rock giant summoned by the unofficial Ars Magus lost control and went berserk.

Perhaps one of the several bright red blotches on the ground at that time was the casters who had summoned the giant. Whatever the actual situation was, the fact of the matter lied in how more than a few people had died in vain thanks to that annoying "new weapon".

Karenjina brushed the sand off her fingertips and leaned over the table.

"The Library and Ikaruga guys are both the same. They don't give a damn about human life."

She must have encountered scenes like today's one many times. Probably the other soldiers of the 9th squad, and Grimwood as well.

"This is not a 'battlefield'. It's a 'testing ground' for those idiots."

There are enemies, there are allies and there are reasons to fight. There is no better place than the lively battlefield to test a large-scale new weapon such as new Ars Magus. It is also a good place to get data on the actual situation, to see how much damage the weapon will cause to the enemy and the allies.

(So this will continue to be the "worst" battlefield with no progress or retreat?)

It was a hunting ground for noblemen to earn achievements and a testing ground to measure the results of weapons development.

Therefore, no matter how hard you fight, the war situation will not move. There is no need to move it. In fact, it is "meaningless" if it is moved. Jin gripped the scabbard of Yukianesa in his hand tightly to the point it could break if it were a normal scabbard.

(Then why was I assigned here?) Jin asked himself.

At least it was not to change the situation at this base. They were not expected to be a force to be reckoned with in order to win the battle and push deeper into Ikaruga.

If that is the case.

(...Yukianesa.)

Finally, Jin understood what Karenjina meant by "guinea pig" earlier.

It is not Jin himself who was being sought after. It is Yukianesa, Jin's personal possession.

The purpose of this research was to find out how powerful the Nox Nyctores sword would be on the battlefield, and whether it would be able to withstand actual use as a weapon. Jin guessed the purpose was to investigate such things.

That's why Jin was sent to the "testing ground" instead of the "battlefield. That was probably, no, that was the reason.

Jin chewed on his lips in secret. He felt a lingering twinge of annoyance.

He hadn't originally intended to stand on the battlefield for anything. Jin hadn't become a soldier for the sake of the Librarium, nor for a sense of righteous indignation and definitely not for justice, but because the Kisaragi family, who raised him, demanded it.

So he had no intention of playing a leading role in dramatically changing the situation of the civil war. But he didn’t want to be made into a clown playing a farce. More importantly, he was uncomfortable with the idea that someone unknown would be using this sword.

“Anyway, I don't want to die 'cus I'm caught up in your aristocratic complacency. Just remember that."

Once again, with hostility and rejection in her voice and eyes, Karenjina said in a biting tone.

Jin remained silent, but stared back at the brown-skinned female mercenary with an unsettling look in his eyes. The information he was able to get out of her was useful, but that doesn't mean he was going to accept this attitude. In between Karenjina and Jin, who were once again creaking the air, Honoka dropped his shoulders and sighed like he was fed up.

"Now, now. Corporal Karenjina Parsett, I'll pretend that I didn't hear you say anything 'rebellious' against the Librarium, so why don't we make up now?”

Honoka may have meant to soothe the situation, but his comment was even more offensive to Karenjina. The word "rebellious" was particularly wrong.

Karenjina, who steeply lifted the corners of her eyes, glared at Honoka as if he was her enemy. But before she said anything, things were brought to a close by another voice.

"Just as he said. Leave it at that."

Karenjina raised her eyes at the calm, powerful, and deep voice. Grimwood had come back through the entrance of the tent. As soon as she saw Grimwood, Karenjina turned her head in an uncomfortable way and her tone faltered.

"I'm sorry, I... I was out of line."

She bowed lightly to Grimwood, ignoring Jin and walked quickly out of the tent.

“She’s not a bad girl, but she's a mercenary, she's got a lot on her plate. Don't be offended."

“I don't really care about it."

Jin answered in a composed tone, without any facial expressions, without a hint of emotions.

Yes, there was no need to worry about it. All he had to do is do the work that was required of him in the way that was required of him. That is all. There was nothing anymore left for him to do in his life but this.

After becoming aware of what this base was, it was still the “worst” frontline base in the world.

Attacks from the Ikaruga Federation took place at morning and night. Sortie orders were issued as many times a day as needed.

Whenever that siren sounded, Jin took his weapon and went into the forest to engage the so-called "enemy soldiers". Then make up a winnable battlefield and retreat.

He had become accustomed to working as a "hound" through repetition.

As many battles as he had, Jin had shown his outstanding strength to the members of the 9th squad, and his strength had built a certain amount of trust between him and the members of the 9th squad.

But Karenjina was different.

On the battlefield and at the base, she did not acknowledge Jin. She never accepted him. She never looked at Jin the way she looked at her friends. Jin also didn't want to try to repair his frayed relationship with her. If she didn’t want to be acknowledge him, then that is fine. If she didn’t want to accept him, then that is also fine. In Jin's opinion, it had nothing to do with the fighting.

Karenjina and Jin mutually felt the same in that regard.

However, there was still something concealed in her heart. At the bottom of it something was obvious, but how could he trust someone who wouldn't show it to him?

The people around them became accustomed to the stinginess of their relationship before anyone else tried to mediate between them. Occasionally, there was an exchange of sarcasm, and there were also voices raised in frustration. However, They weren’t obsessed with trying to completely eliminate each other, and before they knew it, many days passed...

Before he knew it, Jin's life at the frontline base had lasted more than a month.

### 052. Chapter 3: Accumulated death / He is near

### Part 1

Jin learned that after a month of living in the jungle, it is easy to lose track of what day of the month it is, what time it is, and other things that he used to unconsciously pay attention to.

The unpleasant heat and the suffocating smell. The occasional arrows of rain, the unrestrained splashing of mud. The food was poor and the beds were far from clean. It wasn't the most comfortable living environment, but even so, Jin was beginning to feel more comfortable in his new surroundings.

Then, one day. The 9th squad, including Jin, received a request from the Librarium and were ordered to sortie to a place far from the jungle that he just started to get used to.

The location was a certain research facility near the mountain area. The building looks like a large block with gray walls, blending in with the rocks and barren trees.

There were very few windows and on top, the ventilation system roared low like the sleep of a giant creature.

Undecorated lighting lined up at regular intervals in a seamless, perfect flat corridor with no visible horizon. The dimly lit white walls were all fitted with black doors of exactly the same design.

The inside of the laboratory, with an interior that seems to have been assembled inorganically, has been... cruelly destroyed.

There were large holes in the doors and walls and many cracks in the ceiling and floor. Lights were broken and shattered and pieces of glass were scattered everywhere.

Only a small quantity of lights were left. The few that remained barely gave off a faint glow that seemed to be about to fade, but it was not enough to light up this large laboratory at all, making the area be bathed in an eerie dimness.

It was awfully quiet.

It smelled terrible.

"This is horrible..."

Standing in the corridor where some torn and burnt papers were scattered with pieces of shattered furniture, Honoka said aloud in dismay.

It was a sight that could no longer be described as anything other than that.

There were countless corpses lying at Honoka's feet as he stood stock stil and all around inside the destroyed laboratory, which still bore the scars of an obvious battle that took place. The corner of the corridor where Jin was looking, as well as under the gaze of Karenjina, who walked around and looked into the nearest room were the same.

Soldiers in the uniform of the Librarium were lying on top of each other, creating a small red fountain on the floor.

Right next to them, laying down dead, was an old man wearing a white coat over another uniform. He must have been a staff member of this institute, or in other words, one of Sector Seven’s personnel.

This is the research facility of Sector Seven.

Sector Seven is a group of rebels who disagree with the methods of the Librarium and work to disrupt their current order. The mission that Jin and the others were called up for this time was to retrieve a certain "Nox Nyctores" that they had stolen from the Librarium.

But Jin and the others arrived two hours late.

For some reason, the 9th squad was not notified until the last minute. In addition, arrangements for an Ars Magus Vessel to travel nearby were also delayed.

But still, it was just two hours. The number of people at the scene were not that many to begin with, but there was still a battlefield that took place here. Why weren't there some reinforcements? Still, even if the conflict was over, they wanted to help with the aftermath. That’s what they decided to do and hurriedly made their way with the jeep to the place from were they were at moments ago.

“Looks like we're too late.”

Bending down, Jin let out a heavy breath when he saw that the fallen Librarium guard had no pulse.

“But what the hell is this all about? Did the mission fail?"

Karenjina shook her head in disbelief after looking into a room that seemed to be some kind of office and came out with an face full of anguish.

“I didn’t receive a confirmation about that yet.”

Answered Grimwood, who had entered a another room, came out into the hallway and shook his head in denial. It seems there weren't any in this room either. Survivors.

Whether they succeeded or failed in retrieving the Nox Nyctores or if the operation had produced any results in the past two hours, it would have been reported to the NOL. Outside the research facility, there were a number of vehicles that the guards of the Librarium must have used for transportation. All of them were equipped with communication facilities and the guards themselves were also equipped with communication devices.

But when Jin and the others had left the Ars Magus Vessel for the jeep about thirty minutes ago, they had not received any such information.

One possible explanation for why there has been no contact is that the operation was still ongoing in the depths of the facility. Then there is the possibility that there was no one left in the Librarium to contact...

(But that's unlikely, because the other party is Sector Seven.)

Jin's expression clouded in thought.

The basic philosophy of Sector Seven is the convenient development of seithr through pure science, rather than through Ars Magus. Because of this aspect, the people who belong to Sector Seven are mainly researchers with a wealth of scientific knowledge. Many of them are considerably rational, logical and pragmatic.

(...although I can't rule out the possibility if it makes the most 'sense'.)

If possible, that was a possibility he didn't want to consider.

Grimwood stepped over a lied-down corpse in a white coat and into the corridor leading to the back of the building.

"Let's check ahead. There might still be survivors."

As things were, there was no point in dwelling here dumbfoundedly counting the bodies, smeared in the smell of blood and rust. No one disagreed with Grimwood as he looked toward the end of the long corridor. Grimwood was in the lead, followed by the soldiers of the 9th squad and Karenjina, then Honoka, with Jin at the tail of the line.

Everyone's footsteps were careful as they walked, keeping a distance that would allow each of them to move around sufficiently.

They opened all the doors they saw along the way and checked them. Some of the rooms seemed unharmed, only slightly ransacked and not particularly destroyed. But in non were living people.

The hallway grew darker and darker as the lights became less and less useful. The air was cold with a metallic odor and the temperature seemed to drop even lower as they stepped into the darkness. While they continued on with their handheld lights, they found a staircase leading up and down at the far end.

As a test, someone peeked upstairs and shone a light on it. There was still a dead body lying on the stairs, with a red thread dripping down from the top to the bottom.

"Is anyone there?"

Jin raised his voice in a pitch, but the only answer was an empty echo.

Grimwood then looked at the stairs leading to the lower level. The light from a thrown light revealed a lift-like elevation device just ahead.

"So, what now? Up or down..."

Honoka asks softly about which way they were supposed to go, while peering cautiously into the lift.

Grimwood pondered for a few seconds, then looked at Karenjina. Karenjina squinted at the tip of Grimwood's light, and shook her head after a moment.

"I'm not sure about down below. But upstairs... there are probably no survivors."

"Okay. Down it is then. Everybody, get on the lift."

After making his decision, Grimwood's movements were swift. He quickly got into the lift while giving instructions, and Jin and the others followed him. One of the soldiers checked the lift's control panel and flipped a few switches. A yellow light came on in the control panel and the lift began to slide silently, descending diagonally downward.

A faint orange glow told them that there were walls and a ceiling, but it made it impossible to see where they were going. Still curious about what lay ahead, Karenjina grabbed the thin railing at chest height and stared at the destination of the lift, her voice irritated with frustration.

“What's even going on? It's just a mission to get one weapon back, right? Is the Nox Nyctores so great that it has to cause this much damage?"

"You don't know what a Nox Nyctores is, do you?"

The soldier who was operating the panel mischievously said to Karenjina, who choked on her words now and puckered her lips in frustration.

“...It’s an old, awesome weapon, right? You talk big game, but do YOU even know what that thing really is?"

Staring at him, Karenjina appealed to her colleague to explain. The soldier who had been making a joke of it immediately flinched and averted his gaze.

“It's a, um... an old weapon yes. I believe it was made a very long time ago..."

“See, you only know as much as I do."

Karenjina took a step forward as if to accuse him. The soldier moved back by that same amount.

Grimwood, who was watching the scene, shook his large shoulders and laughed briefly.

“Nox Nyctores are superweapons of extraordinary power that were created during wars long ago.”

Leaning his beloved great axe on his shoulder and placing his muscular arm on top of it, Grimwood answered his subordinate in a calm tone. He had a soft smile on his face, but his eyes were glaringly sharp.

"The Nox Nyctores were created about a hundred years ago during the Dark War. When a monster called the Black Beast was trying to destroy humanity, one of the Six Heroes developed them in order to defeat that monster.”

The Six Heroes. The name was well known to both Karenjina and the soldier who teased her.

They were the legendary heroes who defeated the Black Beast, the monster that caused the disaster that nearly destroyed the human race. As young children, they would encounter them in fairy tales. When they grow up a little, they become the subject of make-believe games. And when they are older, they meet them in biographies and history textbooks, in stage plays and in various other media. Time after time.

Everyone has admired them at one time.

Against the background of the faint driving sound of the lift sliding quietly down, the soldiers of the squad, intrigued by the term "Six Heroes," were drawn to Grimwood's story.

Jin watched from a short distance away, leaning against the railing.

“These weapons were all different in shape. Each of their uses and abilities also differed. There were 8 or 9 of them in total I believe... Anyhow, the Six Heroes used them to defeat the Black Beast. But after the end of the Dark War, the Nox Nyctores were lost. Only few people know where or what they even are now.”

“So," Grimwood continued, looking at Jin. He made a boyish face for a moment.

“It's a pretty miraculous coincidence that he's got one of those.”

Karenjina and the soldiers turned to Jin as they were drawn into the story. One of them was Honoka. The petite boy nodded his head repeatedly, looking deeply moved.

"That's right. That sword might have been used by one of the six heroes too!"

One of the soldiers muttered, to which Honoka nodded in agreement. Jin's shoulders slumped in disgust at such a reaction.

"I don't care how it was used in the old wars. I only use it because it's in my possession."

Jin said curtly and turned away from them.

But that was a bit of a lie. He doesn't use it because he has to. He has to use it, because he can't let go of it. This is a curse placed on Jin. All the while, it is also a testimony.

For what he did — to his brother.

“Sorry, my bad. Don't be mad, 'kay?”

“I am not particularly..."

Perhaps his voice was more prickly than he realized. The admiring soldier laughed and held up his hands in surrender. It must have been his bad habit again. It wasn’t that he was angry. It was not even something to be angry about. He was going to say that, but before he could finish the words, the lift came to a silent stop.

At the same time, the view around Jin and the others opened up. They had arrived at the bottom of the stairs.

It was a much larger space then the facility above.

It was surrounded by square walls, dimly lit by orange emergency lights on the walls and a few white bulbs left on the ceiling.

It was large enough to accommodate the five jeeps that they had driven here.

They might have been using this lifts to carry large items up and down on a regular basis. There were several large dollies lying on the wall, probably used for transportation.

The ceiling was high, probably higher than two stories of a normal building. They have been down here long enough to have wasted a lot of time talking, so they are anticipating rooms and facilities beyond the ceiling or there may just be a thick layer of ground separating them from the surface. Thouge at this point, it didn't matter what the underground structure was.

The yellow light on the lift's panel went out. The handrails slid down, creating a doorway.

Grimwood descended first to the end of it. Then Jin, Karenjina, and the rest.

No one spoke a word now.

Maybe he had imagined it somewhere in his head. At least, when Jin saw this scene, he was naturally convinced that it would be so.

The underground lift station was a pile of dead bodies.

There were a number of bodies lying around the room in a state of disarray. Most of them were wearing the uniform of the Librarium, as could be seen from their scattered clothes.

“What happened here...?"

Karenjina asked in a weak voice, not to anyone in particular. There was no one who could answer her words. Rather, everyone was thinking the same thing.

“Oh, look there. T-there is an interior..."

Honoka, who was cowering at the very back, his face pale, pointed ahead with a trembling hand. At the back of the square room, there was a rectangular opening that probably had a door in it, and another room seemed to be leading to it. The back of the room seemed to be even bigger than this one. They could see a few pale blue lights, probably emergency lights.

“Let's go.”

Grimwood announced lowly, still leading the way as he walked off. It was hopeless to look for survivors in this room. If the room ahead was a dead end, that would be their last hope in the basement.

Through the square entrance, Jin also stepped into the back room.

Then he let out a long, deep breath at the sight of despair spreading.

At the back was a semi-circular room. Its purpose was not clear, but various machines and devices were set up along the curving walls, and they were arranged in such a way that they observed the larger devices that took up most of the room.

The large device looked like a giant lid. Various cables, large and small, moored together, and at the end of the mooring was a circular mouth that seemed to open.

However, the mouth was tightly closed and half of it was buried by the rubble of the collapsed ceiling, so it was not in a condition to be opened and checked.

In this room, the most quantity of people were lying on the ground yet, as if to mock what they had seen so far as trivial.

The room was large. It was very spacious.

From the moment they entered that large room to the opposite end of the room, dozens of meters away, there were people lying everywhere.

None of them moved. There were so many of them that it didn't feel that they were corpses anymore, but instead they looked like a pile of discarded dolls.

Even more bizarrely, there were countless boxes strewn around the large device, which added to the eeriness of the scene. The boxes, neither blue nor black, were just large enough to hold a single person.

They were like coffins.

Some of them were twisted and cracked as if beasts had eaten through them, and a thick human-like fluid was flowing out from inside.

The moment he saw it, Jin's heart leapt.

"Ugh..."

A crushing moan was caught in his throat. Jin instantly lost his balance. It would look like dizziness from the outside, but it was different. He felt as if he had been swallowed by something, consuming his darkened consciousness and then...

he saw it.

A "Cauldron" that swirls the unworldly and submerges emptiness beyond the throbbing heat.

It's approaching from behind. It comes. It overflows, and it takes shape.

Black... a black beast. A black monster with sharp fangs, a thick neck, a giant jaw and all.

The creature dragged its indistinct body around, eating people at random, killing them as it went.

But the fangs do not tear flesh. The jaws do not crush bone.

All it had to do was slip by the living and occasionally let out a loud roar.

When touched by the black head, a black mist overflows from the human body. The human body collapses, losing all its strength, as if its life had been sucked out along with it.

The word associated with it would be predation. The black mass ran around the vast underground room like the winds of death, sucking and devouring the life of every human being in the room.

The head suddenly turned to look at Jin as if it had noticed something.

It looked more like an exaggerated version of a head, with only fangs and jaws. On top of its ferocious mouth, there was a glittering eye.

A red eye. Among the countless red streaks that run across the surface like blood vessels, the eyes that seem to have collected and hardened the most ominous reds in the world stared at Jin.

— Kill.

Someone's voice whispered to Jin.

— Kill it.

Yes. I have to kill it.

There is no other choice but to kill it.

(Who... is the monster?)

The higher the concentration of the seithr the more the urge swells inside Jin.

A murderous intent. It is a straightforward, pure, and single-minded murderous intent that is like nothing else.

(No, what I, what I... want to kill is...)

It's not a monster. What I want to kill is. What I want to kill with my own hands is...

A spark of lightning flashed behind his eyes, and Jin's vision instantly turned orange.

— It’s burning.

The whole area was ablaze.

This is a memory. Inside Jin, they were the pages of a burned and scorched memory that got torn to pieces and disordered.

In the flames, Jin was standing with his sword in his hand. In the hot, blazing flames, he was holding a cold, freezing Yukianesa.

Someone collapsed in front of him.

Who is the one who was down? It could have been someone, it could have been no one.

The boy was lying there helplessly. Bright red blood was pouring from his small back.

Red. Red. Everything. Red.

The rush of exuberance was so cold that he didn't feel any emotion when the burning church roared to life and collapsed, even when the hot wind blew against it.

The moon was laughing in the distance.

The bright red crescent moon was laughing joyfully.

No, it's not. It's a shadow. The shadow of a person. Laughing behind all.

A pair of pitch-black eyes stared at Jin.

The dark gloom kept staring at him, firmly, without a single motion.

### Part 2

──in!!

The sound revived him.

The roaring sound of flames receded like a wave and in its place is now the dull drive of machinery along with the sound of human voices flooded Jin's consciousness.

“Jin!! Hey, Jin! Stay with me!"

"......ah... what is...?"

As if with a click of a switch, Jin's vision became clear and fixed.

The area was dimly lit and surrounded by achromatic colors such as black and gray. The small lights were pale, and the air was cold as metal. Before his eyes, stood a figure of a man with a large high stature. He grabbed Jin by both his shoulders with his large hands and shook him.

When Jin blinked a few times and looked up, Grimwood, the man who had been holding his shoulders, dropped his broad shoulders and breathed deeply.

“Don’t give me that. You suddenly stiffened and stopped moving in a panic. What in the hell happened to you?”

“...No, I was...”

As he tried to answer, Jin lost track of his words. He had no idea what had happened.

(A hallucination?)

He hasn't been snapped back for a while now, but he still had a numb feeling in the back of his head.

“I'm sorry, I'm fine. I just got dizzy all of a sudden..."

Holding his cheek and forehead with the palm of his hand as if to confirm that he was really here, Jin let out his voice along with his choked breath.

He suddenly felt a sharp gaze on him and turned around, and there was Karenjina, glaring at Jin with a face that was clearly in a bad mood. Her deep navy eyes collided with his gaze and Karenjina blatantly looked away.

(...She's like a jealous child.)

She likely didn't like the fact that Jin had worried Grimwood, but he didn't have the time to point it out and get himself in trouble. Letting out another sigh, he shook off the annoyance and looked around with eyes that finally reflected a sane reality. While Jin was in a daze, the soldiers had apparently gone to check on the equipment they had lined up. The three who had dispersed came running back to Grimwood.

“Captain, all the equipment's been destroyed. It's unlikely we'll be able to see the data inside."

“No luck here either. What is the cause of all this violence? Communications and recording facilities are also dead."

“I see..."

Grimwood's face twisted in bitterness. One of the last to return opened his mouth, his words and expression muddled, as if he was having trouble saying it.

“Err. There's one thing that's been bothering me...”

“What is it?”

“Aren’t the corpses in this room too "clean"? I didn't check all of them, but compared to the ones before we went down here, they are completely uninjured. It's as if only their souls have been pulled out... It's creepy."

With these words, he must have remembered some of the faces he'd seen while checking the equipment. The soldier shuddered and rubbed his arm vigorously. Without saying a word, Jin approached the nearest body. It was the one that had fallen right next to the entrance. It was lying with its arms outstretched in a desperate attempt to find a way out. When he turned the body over from its prone position, he saw that it had died with a miserable expression on its face, twitching with fear.

Honoka, who peeked in with Jin, let out a twitching scream and backed away to escape.

Indeed, there was no resemblance of any injuries. In fact, there was no reason for the corpse to have died, as if only the soul had been extracted.

(The soul... You don’t mean the hallucination I just had was-)

With a tingling headache, Jin remembered the head of the Black Beast that had popped out of the Cauldron earlier.

The monster that sucked up the souls of humans just by touching them. The black head that absorbed the human of that time was probably the seithr from the Cauldron. Jin wondered if that scene had actually happened here. If so, what the hell was that black head?

“Tsk…..”

As he thought about it, another sickening sensation crawled up his spine and he shook his head, trying to stop thinking about it. He didn't know what's going on with him, but he needed to get rid of any signs of strangeness. He was on a mission as one of the 9th squad.

Grimwood looked around again and placed the great axe he was carrying on the floor.

“...I heard that Kokonoe of Sector Seven was here, but... it seems that she escaped.”

The giant captain muttered while pondering something.

Honoka looked up quickly at his words.

"Does Kokonoe mean the Dr. Kokonoe? Isn't she the famous Grimalkin of Sector Seven?”

Jin had heard that name before. She is a scientist belonging to Sector Seven, and her genius mind is said to be unrivaled. She has the blood of a beastkin, and the ears and tail of a cat, which gives her a special appearance.

Grimwood looked down at Honoka and nodded.

“Yeah. I've heard that she was taking part in the Nox Nyctores research that was being conducted here. I was told to 'politely' take her in if I found her. ...... but there's no sign of her."

“If Kokonoe of Sector Seven was here, no wonder they deployed so many troops.”

Jin said quietly as he moved away from the corpse and looked at the large device at the back of the room.

You could say that Kokonoe was the brain of Sector Seven itself. If Kokonoe could be eliminated, it would be easy for the Librarium to overpower Sector Seven. That's how important she is and that's also why she is considered as so troublesome. With this in the picture, it could be seen that this was not just a usual laboratory.

If a person of Kokonoe's talent had been in and out of this place, she must have been doing some kind of special research. What it was, though, was something they had no way of knowing now.

“What do you think, Karenjina?"

Grimwood turned and asked Karenjina, who had been crouched down for some time and was just about to stand up.

Jin didn't understand the meaning of Grimwood's question. What is the "What" here? But despite Jin's small doubt, Karenjina's expression clouded over.

"...No. There are no survivors. Underground's wiped out."

She clearly said so.

How did she know? Jin was puzzled further. Grimwood not so. Why were they asking her? It was another group of soldiers who had been searching the room to check the equipment. Before Jin could ask that, Grimwood looked around at his men and said in a thick voice.

“That's it for the investigation. I'm going back upstairs. I'll contact headquarters."

“Oh, if so should I contact them? There are some things I haven't checked yet. If you want me to go back to the car and call them, I can do it by myself.”

Honoka put his hand on his chest and stepped forward, but Grimwood shook his head with a difficult look on his face.

“No. Let's all go back. I have a bad feeling about this place. We should get out of here as soon as possible-"

In the middle of his words, he suddenly heard a noise.

The sound, which was neither a rumble nor a thud, sounded like a creature crawling out from under something and for a moment everyone held their breaths and fell silent, then Grimwood turned and raised his axe that he just picked up from the ground earlier.

“Who's there?"

“Grimwood, t-that can't be!”

“I know."

Trying to calm Karenjina with his hand, who called out to him in panic, Grimwood stared at the area where the sound had come from in alarm. The sound came from the area where about five people were folded up and dead, slightly in front of a large device in the room.

There was no immediate reply. Honoka slowly retreated, and Jin prepared to move at any moment.

There was no sign of life. None. But...

The pile of corpses stirred, and one of the people underneath sluggishly got up.

“Wha…!?”

Karenjina choked out in astonishment at such absurdity.

"A Survivor?"

“No. Wrong.”

The soldier's words, shouted in an expectant but trembling voice, were dismissed with alarm by Jin.

“He's not alive anymore.”

It was a corpse. The corpse had suddenly risen and was heading straight towards them with the awkward movements of a puppet.

"W-WHAAAAA!! Lieutenant! Lieutenant!!"

Before they could fully comprehend the current situation, Honoka screamed and shouted. He shuddered exaggeratedly and pointed to a room with a lift in the back.

He could have guessed what was going on without looking, but he still looked back.

Just as expected. On the other side of the square entrance, countless corpses that were supposed to be lying in the room had all risen up and were heading towards them. Indeed, each corpse, one after another inside the room were starting to rise. It was not a number they could count on the spur of the moment.

"Wha-what should we do, Captain!?"

In dismay, one of the soldiers asked the obvious.

The first corpse that stood up was almost upon them. After slashing the body in half with a swinging axe, Grimwood turned around and shouted.

“Everybody, run!! Get to the lift!"

At that moment, as if he had been pushed back, Jin ran, knocking down the moving dead corpses that had been positioned between the room swith a single swing.

### Part 3

With his scabbard, he hit the corpse that ran towards him at the side of its head and kicked the other one that came at him from the other direction with his leg that made them cracked like a whip. Several bodies were caught up and lost their balance when they were slashed together in one go with Jin’s Iai technique. After that, he stepped over the collapsed ridge of bodies and moved forward.

The underground space, which had been so quiet when they arrived that the only sound present was the driving force of the running machine, was now filled with a ghastly noise.

The corpses revived, or to say arose like they were waking from a slumber, now attacking Jin and the others without hesitation, as if they had no other choice.

At first glance, the bodies with few external injuries looked like living people. However, their faces were unmoving from the expression of fear and anguish they had shown when they died and their open eyes were as vacant as a cloudy glass ball.

"Shit! What in the hell are these things??"

"A trap from Kokonoe!?"

As the soldiers whined and cursed, they fired their guns at the ghouls, who were slowly closing in distance. The sound of wild gunfire blasted away the arms and heads of the corpses, but they continued to move without a care in the world.

Grimwood used his large axe to flick them all the way to the wall with every ounce of his strength.

“No, Kokonoe would never use these kinds of Art. Necromancy Ars Magus is the most detestable means on the battlefield. She is a genius far beyond the average, but she is apparently also a woman of common sense when it comes to such things!”

"Apparently," he said, but Grimwood said it as if he knew her personally. Jin wondered if they might have known each other, but now was not the time to mention it.

Jin reversed his grip on the ghouls arm and slammed it to the floor, crushing his head with his hard heel. A gunshot rang out right next to him. It was Honoka who fired the shot. He seemed to have completely gotten cold feet and turned terribly afraid, but his shooting skills were accurate. One by one, he carefully hit the moving corpses right between the eyes.

"Whoever did it, we are in big trouble, because of them now!!"

When Honoka shouted in a shameful, falsetto voice, to which Grimwood's mouth twisted up in a bitter, twisted smile.

“Sure we are.”

Then Grimwood swung his great axe again and blew off the tops of three corpses at once.

Karenjina shot an approaching corpse in the forehead with her short rifle and responded to a near one with a large knife she held in her other hand. She kicked away the corpse that had its throat quickly slit and immediately pointed the muzzle at the next one.

The corpse took several bullets to the face and fell down in a big heap. It jumped around for a while, but eventually got up and joined the fray with a distorted head as if nothing had happened.

Jin clicked his tongue at that.

“Necromancy, is it?”

Grimwood nodded.

It was possible to use magic or medicine to make the corpses move, but in that case they will attack on their own in a disorderly fashion. However, it was clear that the mass of corpses that filled the underground room was moving under the direction of someone.

They did not indiscriminately attack the dead bodies in front of them, nor did they move unevenly. They knew that the target is Jin and the rest of the 9th squad and they also knew that their path of retreat was the lift.

"Nonsense! You can't control all these bodies in here at the same time!"

While firing her gun, Karenjina’s voice rang with impatience.

Jin thrust the tip of his scabbard down on the dead man's head, who had grabbed his leg.

"It doesn't matter if it's possible or not. These guys can sustain a head injury and still get up and move with no trouble."

A corpse that can move by Arts or medicine acts according to its ego, albeit poorly. They think and move with their dead brains, so if they lose their heads, they lose their functions movement. However, a necromancer is someone that can manipulate a ghoul at will. A moving body is nothing more than a puppet for the practitioner. Even if the head is lost, the body will continue to move as long as the chain of connection with the practitioner is not broken.

"If it's a necromancer, then wouldn’t defeating the practitioner stop these guys from moving!”

To the right and the left. Grimwood asked in his crude voice as he swung his large axe and cleaved down any approaching corpses. Jin replies calmly.

"Yeah. They are controlling so many of them, they can't be that far away."

“Karenjina, find them!”

“Understood!”

When Grimwood gave his instructions, Karenjina responded quickly and took a few steps back, shoving her gun into the holster on her hip. She bent down on the spot and pressed her hands against the cold floor. Grimwood wedged himself in front of Karenjina. He used his great axe as a weapon and shield to protect Karenjina from the hands of the ghouls.

In the meantime, Karenjina took a long breath and closed her eyes to focus her attention.

A dull golden crest spread around her hands with a thin, high-pitched squeak that sounded like ringing in the ears.

“Wait, it's a Drive!”

Jin's voice jumped up uncharacteristically in surprise.

Drive.

It is a special kind of power that is inherent in the individual, fundamentally different from the kind of power that can be used to some extent through training and Arts, such as an Ars Magus.

The mechanism is not completely elucidated and there are those who can use it and those who cannot. It is more like a constitution than a talent. Its origin lies in the form of the soul. Jin was also someone with a Drive, but it's not something that the usual person would carry with them. In fact it is very rare, so he didn't expect to encounter someone with Drive abilities in the 9th squad.

Behind Jin, who was unintentionally blinded by Karenjina's talent, Grimwood ran in and mowed down the ghouls.

One after another. There was no end to them.

“It's called "Seagull". Karenjina can sense the movements of her surroundings even though she can't actually see them, it's a power that has saved our lives many times before.”

Jin understood and was convinced at the same time. The questions that had been lingering in the corner of his mind were now resolved.

Why was the 9th squad able to disrupt the enemy lines and lead the enemy soldiers to their allies with such precision, as if they knew the enemys position? Why did Grimwood often ask Karenjina for her opinion on the situation, and why was she able to answer him without hesitation?

Karenjina was the too-good-to-be-true nose and ears of the 9th squadron, the Hounds.

But Karenjina, who had been concentrating on the crest that emerged with a faint light, distorted her expression as if in pain and finally stood up, holding both ears.

The crest disappears as it was sucked down to her feet.

"No, there's too much noise. I can't locate it!"

She must have dived into a very deep state of concentration, since they could see the greasy sweat on Karenjina's forehead. Grimwood impatiently frowned at Karenjina, who was breathing heavily, while keeping an eye on their surroundings and state of affairs.

Each of the ghouls was no great threat, but there were just too many of them. No matter how hard they tried to kill them, they kept coming as long as they had legs or hands. It was like a wave of ghouls.

"Oh, hey, there!"

Honoka, who was holding the gun with his hands crossed as if in prayer, shouted out in a most sorrowful voice.

Jin followed his gaze and looked up to see the path of the lift they had just come down. On top of it, bodies, probably from inside the facility, covered in wounds and blood, were descending towards them.

There was no doubt what their purpose was. The dead eyes, cloudy and empty, were all looking at the only seven people alive in this place.

"Damn it! I guess we should clear a path of retreat first."

Grimwood growled in abhorrence. The lift was already occupied by the bodies that had rushed in. It would be faster to run up the passageway than to retrieve it and use the device to move slowly forward.

“I'll make it happen. Follow me!"

Quickly, Grimwood regained his grip on his great axe and charged forward with a mighty yell from the pit of his stomach.

“Oooooooooooooohhhh!"

Grimwood swung his great axe from side to side as he ran with a much shocking force.

The large blade, swung with all its power, kept slashing, blowing and reaping corpses one after another as if it were reaping dead branches. Along with the sound of crushing flesh, there was the light sound of crunching bones.

Kicking away even the sound, Grimwood rushed forward and forcefully stepped into the lift corridor.

Exactly as the word "cut through" implies, a path was formed behind Grimwood. Karenjina and Honoka were ahead of him, followed by Jin, while the rest of the soldiers chased after the captain with their guns firing in a mess. But still the numbers were overwhelmingly violent. Grimwood's steps were gradually blocked and slowed.

A ghouls nails clawed relentlessly at his face and another corpse clutched at his big shoulders, trying to drag him down.

It was not just Grimwood, but also Karenjina and Honoka, who were following close behind, blocking their progress.

"Grimwood!"

Karenjina let out a thin scream right near Jin, who slashed down the ghoul in a wide arc.

Grimwood was pushing too hard for the ones in the back to catch up. A large number of ghouls interrupted the carelessly opened distance and quickly surrounded Grimwood with a thick wall of dead flesh.

On the other hand, more than a dozen corpses jumped at their side with such force that Honoka was knocked over by the momentum.

The head of the corpse that was about to bite his throat was chopped off by Jin with a single stroke. As the head flew off, the distance between him and Grimwood was no longer something that could be easily bridged.

"Captain!"

The soldiers shouted in unison.

It would be bad if he didn't join up. It was too dangerous for anyone to be isolated against this number.

But when he tried to run to him, the corpses formed a wall as if they were trying to keep him away from Grimwood. Punching and kicking down. There was no end to the shooting and slashing.

On the other side of the writhing corpses, Jin saw Grimwood still shouting and swinging his axe.

The axe that was swung down created shockwaves that were bigger than the eye could precive, blowing away a group of corpses.

“ِAbandon me! Run!”

That was Grimwood's decision.

Karenjina gave a horrified voice.

“I can't... I can't do that!”

“Go, Jin!”

“You cut it open, while I'm pulling most of the weight, maybe Jin can do it.”

Jin looked up at the top of the lift with a grim expression at Grimwood's words, entrusting him with a such heavy responsibility.

The number of corpses pouring in was small compared to the ones chasing them from underground, but it was not an easy task to get through. If they were separated by the narrow passageway, Honoka and Karenjna would be torn apart in a matter of seconds.

"Don't fucking joke with meeee!"

A swear word escaped from Jin's mouth unconsciously. If he was even able to run, he would have done it by now.

(Forcing a breakthrough is not a good idea. Then...)

Jin stabbed at his feet with Yukianesa. The impact blew up in a white color, instantly turning the surrounding corpses to ice.

Using it as a makeshift wall, Jin grabbed Karenjina’s arm as she was about to run to Grimwood.

"Hey. Use that Drive again."

“What? What are you talking about? I told you we'd never find the necromancer, so this is not the time at all! Get out of the way and let me help Grimwood!!"

Karenjina twisted and tried to shake off Jin's hand. but Jin would have none of it. He holded her arm even thigher and pulled her to him.

"Calm down, you'll only add to the bait if you jump in. Instead, I'll hit the necromancer."

“Shut up! You don't get to tell me what to do! Let go of me! Grimwood's at..!”

Karenjina flailed about in a mess, trying to escape Jin's clutches. He could feel Karenjina's nerves screaming in fright under her skin. It was as if he could feel the vibrations. Fear gripped her as she writhed and flailed. The fear that she might lose Grimwood was driving her into delirium.

That's how important he, Grimwood was, to Karenjina. This thought crossed Jin’s mind, but-

Jin shouted in frustration.

"Shut up, you piece of shit!!!"

At the sound of Jin's angry voice, which came from up close and personal, Karenjina’s eyes blinked as she forbore to speak.

She was pressured by Jin's change in attitude.

It didn’t matter, it's rather convenient like that. There's no point in making any more noise. Jin shouted at Karenjina with a intensity fitting for their situation.

“Just use it! Who else can do it but you? You want Grimwood getting killed along with you, or what!?”

If Karenjina ran off, she wouldn't be able to help Grimwood. They would die together in a pile of corpses.

She must not be so stupid that she couldn’t understand that. Karenjina opened and closed her mouth a few times, as if lost for words in the blazing cold eyes of Jin that were fixated on her. Then, immediately her eyes sharpened and her lips got frim in determinaion.

She shook off Jin's arm. This time, Jin let go of her hand obediently.

Immediately, Karenjina put her hands on the floor and focused her attention. A dull golden light was created under her palms as they touched the floor.

"Cover Karenjina. Don't let the ghouls near her!"

“Ye-yes!”

Honoka replied as he jumped up and raised his gun along with the other soldiers.

The guns could not fire indefinitely, but the soldiers knew that if they didn't hold out, there was no way out.

Seeing them start firing wildly without caring about the remaining ammunition, Honoka, who was upset, started firing randomly.

After all, Grimwood's squadron was excellent.

Admiringly, Jin stood behind Karenjina with Yukianesa.

A crest spreads at Karenjina’s feet. Immediately, her expression became distorted. Even through her back, Jin could tell that the level of concentration was different from before.

They couldn’t hold out much longer. Neither Karenjina nor the soldiers who were trying to fight off the ghouls and Jin, too.

Even if there is an abundance of seithr in the world, converting it into Ars Magus involves a great deal of wear and tear. In addition, when it comes to dealing with Nox Nyctores, the wear and tear can be life itself.

Therefore, no matter how powerful it is, Yukianesa's power cannot be unleashed. If he were to unleash it at full force, based on the amount of seithr in this place...

(One shot left...)

He will be at lose of power and they won't be able to get through here.

(...No.)

It's different.

If it's just a break through, it's possible. In that case, though, everyone but Jin will have to be abandoned.

“Keep your mind focused.”

He told her in a whisper, then pressed the palm of his hand against Karenjina's back.

He closed his eyes and concentrated, matching his own exhalation to the wavelength of Karenjina beyond the palm of his hand.

Karenjina's body jumped. Instantly, the images she was seeing began to flow into Jin's mind as well.

A dull golden light was spreading across the underground space in every direction. It was as if they were nerves stretched out. However, the spreading light was disturbed by the countless signs that filled the area.

(So this is the noise...)

It's true that they couldn’t explore anything with this.

Even so, he earnestly looked for a different way, in the middle of Karenjina’s spread-out senses.

The Power of Order - with that, “manipulation of corpses” appeared in Jin’s consciousness as a black line in the images he saw through Karenjina's Drive.

It was a special power that he possessed that even Jin himself did not understand, he isn't even aware that he is in posession of it.

However, through it, Jin was able to see. The evil from his standpoint, the opponent to slash, the black "line" that connects to it all, the "line" that he should cut.

The black line that stretched from Jin's feet snaked its way around the underground space until... it reached a certain point.

“......Found it.”

Gently speaking aloud, Jin opens his eyes. As usual, he was surrounded by a pile of moving corpses, but Jin didn't even bother with them.

In the corner of the room where the corpses were stirring, on the floor where the arms and legs that had been blown off by Jin and Grimwood were lying in shreds. There was a strange figure huddled in the shadows of the wobbling corpses.

He couldn’t see it clearly, but it was definitely “there”.

Jin pulled out Yukianesa and ran through the bodies, jumping over Honoka.

The pale, ice-covered blades cut down the corpses in his way one after another. As he kicked them away and iced the ones in his way, Jin headed straight for Grimwood.

It was in the opposite direction of the necromancer he found.

But as he hurled the blades of ice he had created around him at the corpses all at once, Jin called out loudly.

"Grimwood!"

He shouted and jumped high. At the foot of his low leap, an ice blade that he had created at the same time appeared. The flying ice blades slid through the air and carried Jin like a vehicle.

"Come on!"

As he swung his great axe to clear the way around him, Grimwood let go of his axe to meet Jin who was coming straight at him. Instead, he folded his hands and dropped to his haunches.

Jin jumped for his hand.

“Gooooooooooooo!!”

Jin's feet landed on Grimwood's folded hands. He used it as a foothold from which to leap and Grimwood threw him high into the air, swinging his arms with all his might.

After jumping to an unusual height, Jin stared downward.

He didn't know where it came from, but the underground room was filled with more dead bodies than he expected. But in one corner, in the corner of the room indicated by the line, there was a person without a uniform or lab coat, huddled in a black cloth.

That's him.

“Yukianesa!"

In response to Jin's voice, a silvery-white blade sliced through the void. The sliding trajectory froze in the blink of an eye and the ice wrapped around the sword itself, changing its shape.

What appeared in Jin's hand was a bow. A pale, crystal clear bow of ice.

He put his hand on the string and an arrow of ice was born in his hand.

The only thing in the way was the corpses walking on the ground. With such a high jump, there was nothing to impede Jin's aim.

“Ice-Winged Moonsong!”

With a voice announcing this, a huge arrow was released from the ice bow. The pale blue arrow seemed to have a hint of light in it and with the icy wind in its wake, it flew sharply through the air.

The target was the necromancer, who looked like a blackened mass.

The arrow, too large to be fired at a single person, spun at high speed and was not well-aimed, ruthlessly destroying the surrounding walls, floors, and swarming corpses, including the necromancer.

The power was tremendous.

The corner of the room where the necromancer had been was instantly covered with ice, like the inside of a freezer and white frost stuck to it. What used to be the necromancer was stretched out on the floor like was like a remaining splat of abandoned trash, no longer moving.

Jin landed on the ground, returning the bow to its original form of a sword.

"..."

As soon as he did, his knees lost their strength and he almost lost balance. But Grimwood, who had rushed in front of him, supported him.

“You okay?”

"...Yes. I just used too much energy all at once."

“I see,” Grimwood said, his mouth twitching in a smile.

Jin heard a series of sounds like heavy objects falling from around him. It was the sound of bodies that had been moving, losing their strength and falling one after another. The corpse that was just about to bite him fell on him, and Honoka crawled out from under it, screaming.

Then he looked around in a daze and sat down.

“It’s not moving... Did we survive?”

As he let out his thin, trembling words, not a single corpse moved anymore. They collapsed on the spot like threadbare dolls and returned to being mere corpses.

The soldiers still couldn't believe what was happening in front of their eyes, rolling the fallen bodies close at hand to make sure there was no reaction.

Karenjina staggered over to Grimwood and Jin.

But Jin and Grimwood couldn't look up at the sound of her footsteps.

At Jin's feet lay a deadly Necromancer clad in black cloth.

The blow that Jin had unleashed with all his might had already left him breathless. No, he wasn't breathing to begin with.

Jin and Grimwood looked down at what had been the Necromancer, speechless with surprise.

It was not human.

It had long, slender arms and legs and an uncanny bloodless complexion. Wrapped in a black cloth, it was a doll.

"What is this...?"

Karenjina, who was finally standing next to Grimwood, muttered in a muffled voice.

The soldiers and Honoka both noticed the strange situation and looked down at the doll, all stunned.

"You mean the doll was a... necromancer?"

One of the soldiers said to himself.

“No," Grimwood replied lowly, holding Jin for support. “it wasn't a necromancer we were dealing with.”

"A Puppetmaster."

Staring at the battered doll, Jin's brows furrowed.

"What do you mean? Because a while ago, there was actually a body moving..."

Karenjina looked around. The lack of power in her voice was probably due to the fact that she used too much power on "Seagull". As she wondered, it was not a doll that actually attacked Jin and the others, but a corpse. There was no doubt about that. So that meant...

“The Puppetmaster had a puppet play the role of the Necromancer.”

“Such a thing...”

"There is no way. It's impossible, no matter how advanced that Ars Magus is."

"Unless it's magic..."

Magic. Everyone was rendered speechless by the words Jin had spoken.

Magic is an ancient Art that has been in gradual decline since the days of the Dark War due to a drastic decrease in the number of users. It is no exaggeration to say that it has been lost in the modern age.

If the owner of this puppet is indeed a magician, then the other party is not just a mere thing. At the very least, it was not something that a single squadron can handle. And if the opponent was indeed a magician, it's not impossible to think about why all the guards of the Librarium died here.

“We are going back.”

It was too dangerous to stay here any longer. Grimwood carried Jin's arm on his shoulder and started to walk away.

The area was unusually quiet. It smelled of blood and dead bodies.

Jin and the others left the basement as quickly as they could, pushed back by the disquiet.

### Part 4

There was someone who had been oberserving them closely.

Always observing. They have been observing the guards of the Novus Orbis Librarium descend into the basement while killing researchers of Sector Seven. The way they died there one after another and the confusion and struggles of the seven new samples who arrived late.

Always there. Observing.

A huge, motionless device, surrounded with countless coffins. From behind it, a man stepped out with small, clacking footsteps.

His golden hair was brushed back and he wore fine-looking clothes. If he had been in the right place, he would have looked like a noble gentleman, but the carpet of corpses under his feet, the golden mask covering the upper half of his face, and the eye-catching purple cloak turned that look of a nobel gentlman into a rather odd one.

"Seagull and... the Nox Nyctores, Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa. Hmmm. I've observed some pretty interesting stuff today."

The masked man put his white-gloved hand to his chin and spoke to himself in a voice that sounded impressed, but with little human emotion.

Behind him was another figure, even taller than him.

The smooth curves of her body were like that of a woman. The scarlet dress she wore was vivid, but on closer inspection, it was not a human being, but a very finely crafted doll.

The masked man started to walk away. The scarlet doll chased after him.

Eventually, as the undisturbed footsteps of the masked man and the scarlet doll receded into the distance, the basement finally became a space only for the dead.

### 053. Chapter 4: Promises and Vows / Listening

### Part 1

There was a person walking at a quick pace down the long corridor. The wooden-floored corridor creaked as he stepped on it, but there was no sound of his footsteps as he was half running.

The unique attire that seemed to blend into the shadows, covering the entire body and even the head and most of the face with cloth of the same color, was the attire of a "Ninja", the ancient spies of the Ikaruga Federation.

It was night. The sun had already set and the area had been swallowed up by darkness. The ninja hurried noiselessly through the corridor that was dimly lit and visited the room.

This is Wadatsumi Castle.

This is the castle where Tenjō, the sole person who rules over the Ikaruga Federation, lives.

Then the ninja slipped in and kneeled down, behind the sliding door.

"My lord, I'm back."

“Come in."

The reply was immediate. The voice was quiet and composed.

The ninja replied briefly, then turned himself around and quickly went inside.

He closed the sliding door noiselessly and turned around to see that there was a place at the back of the room that was a few steps up, surrounded on all sides by a light brown bamboo screen.

Normally, all the blinds should be down and you can only get a faint glimpse of what's behind them, but now only the one in front has been lifted and you can see the figure of the person sitting behind it.

At the back of the boarded-up room, behind a bamboo screen, sitting on a chair waiting for the ninja was a person dressed in the distinctive Ikaruga garb with its generous sleeves. The black, white, and red tones of the garment gave off an air of nobility that stood apart from that of the average person.

Their long, waist-high purple hair flowed from her shoulders to her back like a glossy shoulder strap, reaching the floor besides her chair.

The posture was flawless. Lifting her hands slightly from her lap, the one named lord spoke to her kneeling subordinate spy.

“Your hard work is appreciated. Lift your face up. Report."

Their voice was clear and unhurried, but somehow lacked a sense of energy and vitality.

The ninja raised his head and saw the lords face for the first time in a long time.

There was no human face there. What was there instead was a white mask.

The male ninja had heard that it was to hide a large scar on their face from an old battle. Very few people had ever seen the lord’s true face. This ninja had also never seen it.

A white-faced figure with an unblemished and noble appearance. That was the lord, or in other words, Tenjō Amanohokosaka, who was the ruler of Ikaruga.

"The Nox Nyctores "Deus Machina: Nirvana" stored in the Sector Seven facility in the northeastern part of Ikaruga, has been seized by the Novus Orbis Librarium. It seems that a large-scale battle occurred at the facility and many people died."

The purple-haired figure, Tenjō, exhaled deeply, their chest rising and falling at the whimsical report.

The ninja continued.

“Relius Clover, who was in charge of analyzing the Nox Nyctores, is currently missing, and Nirvana's current location is unknown. Kokonoe of Sector Seven was also at the scene and was injured..."

Just as he was about to say something, a violent cough interrupted the Ninja’s words. It was Tenjō, bent over, holding their chest and coughing bitterly.

The Ninja hurriedly raised his hips. However, Tenjō sensed this and controlled their subordinate with their hand while still suffering and gasping in pain.

“C-Continue.”

“But...”

“I'm sorry to interrupt. No need to worry."

They then raised themself heavily and their voice was so muddy it was impossible not to worry.

However, if he was asked to continue, he would not be able to avoid doing so. Pushing aside the uneasiness that came to mind, the ninja straightened his posture once again.

“So, uhm... Professor Kokonoe, who was present at the scene, was also injured, but it is not life-threatening and she is currently being transported to the headquarters of Sector Seven. Also, as the lord can conjecture... a high density of seithr reaction was confirmed.”

The ninja spoke with uneasiness.

“...I see.”

After a full few seconds of pause, Tenjō also responded in uneasiness, then they closed their mouth again under the mask.

It was a thoughtful silence, but no one could see what Tenjō was thinking about, what their feelings were and what expression they were making.

Eventually, Tenjō looked at the Ninja from beneath their mask.

“Where is Bang?”

“The head is on a reconnaissance mission, my lord.”

“Tell him to come to me when he gets back.”

"Certainly!"

“You can go now. Get some rest."

The ninja remained on his knees, bowed deeply one last time and walked silently out of the room with the same swiftness with which he had come.

For a while after that, Tenjō was alone in the large wooden room.

After a certain while, they stood up slowly, their long purple hair shaking. They turned their feet to another sliding door, located on the opposite side of the one the ninja had left from.

They pulled open one of the sliding doors to enter the next room and then opened the sliding door at the far end to go further in.

There was a small bed on the floor. It was made of soft-colored wood and wrapped with a fluffy comforter and clean white sheets.

On top of it, a baby who probably couldn't even stand up on their own was sleeping peacefully.

Tenjō’s footsteps crept up to the baby's side and they peered into the bed. The baby seemed completely at ease and didn't seem to be awakened by the approaching presence.

Tenjō wondered if the baby was having a good dream.

Their soft lips moved in small gulps as if they were trying to eat something.

A lovely child. Their eyes and nose were clear and they would grow up to be beautiful one day. Their hair was soft and lush, still pale, but black.

(I think your face looks a lot like mine, now that I think about it, but it would seem your hair color is closer to your father. It's better that way.) Tenjō thought as she , that baby's mother, gently stroked the baby's head.

"For you, a life of hardships has been decided. If my wishes would be granted, I would have preferred that you live in tranquility, but..."

It’s beyond her power.

As she whispered to her, Tenjō seemed to regret leaving, but she still gently let go of their hand and sat up.

For a while, she stared at the baby's sleeping face, and then left the room.

Bang hadn't arrived yet when she went back to the room where she had met the ninja earlier.

As expected. However, if she were to be at leisure here, her reliable head ninja might rush in like the wind.

Before doing so... Tenjō went around to the back of the screened area.

There was a small sliding door that you can only enter by bending down. Tenjō walked through it and down the dimly lit corridor that led to it. The wooden floor was old and occasionally creaked under her weight.

Every time she took a step, it felt as if she was being separated, from the small sliding door that was gradually moving away and from the sleeping face on the other side of the door.

At the end of the corridor, an old wooden door was waiting. It opened in both directions, with a crest carved across the two doors. Standing in front of it, Tenjō quietly chanted something and touched the crest with a finger that peeked out from her generous sleeve.

Then the heavy-looking double doors moved by themselves and opened.

Just enough for one person to pass through. Just enough for a Tenjō to get through.

There was no hesitation now. She walked in, her lustrous purple hair fluttering. The door closed slowly and naturally, locking the area into darkness.

Soon, however, a small purple light appeared at Tenjō’s feet. It wasn't a room. It was a device. A lifting device.

When the device sensed the lord, it made a small cowering sound and started to move. Down, down, so far down that it seemed to go on forever. Eventually, the device carried the lord to the lowest level of the castle and opened its mouth again without anyones intervention.

What was there was a small room made into a perfect cube.

It was not really a room though, but a "space". No walls, no floor, but a place that clearly exists somehow.

Talismans were attached one by one to the part corresponding to the apex of the cube so as to surround it.

Tenjō stepped out into the empty space surrounded by the talisman and stopped right in the middle of the cube, then crawled her white palm over the empty space in front of her.

A fine bell-like sound was heard, and a vertical straight line of light was created in the space Tenjō touched with her hand. With that light as its boundary, the space opened to the left and right like a door.

As soon as she did, the scenery around her changed completely.

What surrounded Tenjō was not a space covered with protective charms, but a large room lined with thick pillars inscribed with what looked like ancient scripts.

A series of pipes and cords ran from the pillars up to the high ceiling, connecting to various devices that filled the walls.

In addition, all the pillars had sturdy-looking chains attached to them. At the end of the chains, there was something large suspended in the air.

It was shaped like an upside-down triangular pyramid. A metaphor for it would be a huge lynchpin.

The size was incomparable with that of Tenjō. It wasn’t something that a human can carry.

The blackish surface was smooth, with vaguely greenish glowing streaks running in all directions.

It was a relic of the past, discovered after the Dark War.

It is called "Kushinada's Lynchpin."

On top of the wedge hung a smaller one of a similar shape that seemed to follow. If the huge wedge was a lynchpin, then the smaller one on top of it was probably a nail.

The nail was also heavily sealed with a chain wrapped around it.

Tenjō looked up at the huge lynchpin and jumped like a feather towards it. The small leap softly lifted her body and carried her straight to the top of the lynchpins upper platform.

Silently, she landed on the Lynchpin of Kushinada. As soon as she did so, she saw that nail hanging above her, tied to the chain.

The nail was big if one might say. It was probably bigger than Tenjō’s body.

(I should stop. I shouldn't be thinking about it right now.)

Shaking off a sudden feeling of emotion, Tenjō looked up at the dangling nail and hurriedly removed her mask. Her face underneath, she was thin, gaunt, but beautiful.

Her skin was translucent white, and the blood in her cheeks was far gone.

It was not the beauty of life, but the beauty of death. The true face of Ikaruga was as beautiful as a dead woman.

There were no major scars anywhere, because that white mask was not meant to hide any scars.

Tenjō slowly lifted her eyelids and breathed in air that she hadn't felt in her lungs in a long time.

Her eyes were red. Like blood.

But soon, her blood-colored eyes flickered. A violent cough overflowed from her throat, shaking her whole body.

The whooping coughing that wrecked her lungs and tore her throat was due to the fact that her body was being poisoned by seithr. The mask was meant to hide Tenjō’s true identity and protect her weakened body from the seithr in the air.

It shouldn't be widely known. The broken body of Tenjō, that was on the brink of collapse. “Who” she really was.

But now, no one will see.

And for what she was about to do, any aspect that blocks even a small part of herself from the outside world is only a hindrance. The coughing finally subsided. Tenjō grabbed her chest and breathed heavily, trying to get her badly erratic breathing under control.

If she were to handle it too roughly, it would break.

"...It seems my "vessel" is about to reach its limit very soon. If I could, I would have stopped... “it” from coming back, but I can't anymore, I failed."

It's very hard to achieve anything with her current body. This is why the lord needed a vessel that could withstand for her purpose. For this reason, she sought out the Nox Nyctores "Deus Machina: Nirvana". To inject her soul into it and make it a new vessel.

But that, too, was now lost.

She doesn't have time. This body, this vessel, is in a state that could break at any moment.

So, this right now is the best she can do before her vessel becomes unable to do anything.

"A new 'order' is about to be born in this world. One day, the world will regain it. That’s why..."

As she spoke, Tenjō reached for the large nail hanging in front of her, as she touched it with both hands and pressed her forehead against it, avoiding the cold chains, the lord closed her eyes.

"Nox Nyctores... "Phoenix: Rettenjō". For the sake of when that time comes, I entrust my soul to you."

The moment she whispered, something like a heartbeat pulsated in Tenjō’s chest. It was as if a shockwave that was blinde for everyones eyes had struck her heart or even her soul.

But the shock soon wore off and Tenjō’s heart returned to its calm and serene state.

She quietly lifted her eyelids. It was dark all around and the sensation of something seeping in, like cold water, surrounded Tenjō’s senses.

(...I see 'myself' in front of me... I see 'myself' looking at 'myself' with a sad look.)

(A feeling as if I were looking into a mirror, but what I see here is not a mirror. It is a gap in matter and space. The inside and the outside of Rettenjō.)

Tenjō could no longer move a single finger. She was only conscious. She has no arms, no fingers, no mouth and no eyes.

She will never hold someone again. She won't be able to touch anyone anymore. If she won’t be able to talk to anyone. Nothing will see her.

(This never ending “Death”... It is such a sad thing. I'm sure it's much, much sadder than I could imagine right now.)

However, Tenjō’s heart was not in despair, it was infact in hope.

(But aside from me, the one who is closest to “Death”. My child... "Homura." Because “Life” was born, the possibility of ending this unfortunate world of death will also be born...”.

Without a voice, Tenjō spoke to the "self" standing on the other side.

(I believe in it. I will bet my all on that... "Possibility.")

It may or may not turn out the way she wants it to, but that is no longer in her hands. It is for those who will be born and grow up after this to find and choose.

(Goodbye... Homura.)

If only one wish would be granted, please let this child "live", no matter how much pain there is. No matter How much suffering there is.

With Tenjō’s wish, the connected chain flew vigorously high, as if something had pulled it up, then fell straight down with a sharp-pointed tip in high speed ── towards Kushinada's Lynchpin.

Higher and louder, the sound of clashing metal echoed through the air.

For a moment, something like a shockwave spread, but without destroying anything. The lowest level of Wadatsumi Castle was enveloped in silence.

The heavy chains that had restrained Rettenjō' were gone before she knew it.

The large nail was released and held in the air just before it touched Kushinada's Lynchpin, holding it still.

There was no sign of anything anymore.

She was staring at the scene and before she knew it, that white mask was covering her face. Keeping her face covered, she touched the nail that was standing still in front of her with the palm of her hand. At that moment, a red pattern appeared on the white mask that should have been empty.

The pattern was tinged with a liquid glow only once. Tenjō muttered under her red mask.

"...Well. I don't want to keep Bang waiting for too long."

The quiet tone of her voice quickly disappeared into the dimness of silence.

Turning around, Tenjō climbed down from the Kushinada's Lynchpin and headed back the way she came.

Her steps were unsteady and unaccustomed. It is like she was a doll that had just started to walk by herself.

### Part 2

Night— At the frontline base in the jungle of the Ikaruga Federation.

Most of the guards had already finished dinner and the ones who were on late lookout duty began to fall asleep.

It was then. Suddenly, all the lights in the base went out.

“What in the hell?”

The battalion commander, who was enjoying his after-dinner coffee in his tent, hurriedly kicked over his chair.

He walked out of the commander's tent, spilling his still-hot coffee and feeling very angry, then the lights came back on without a moments hesitation.

The guard straightened his posture into a salute and replied.

"Sir! It seems that for a short time, the power supply has stopped. It's working fine now."

“Power outage?”

“Yes... The cause is unknown, sir.”

The battalion commander clicked his tongue in disapproval at the guards answer and walked back to his tent.

It didn't matter if the cause was unknown or not, as long as it was working. His priority was to get a new cup of coffee ready.

### Part 3

At the exact same time, in the dark forest of night...

Honoka, who was gathering twigs with a handheld light, looked up when the light in his hand suddenly flickered.

He looked up at the night sky and gasped, opening his eyes wide as if he had noticed something.

The next moment, the light in Honoka's hand disappeared completely, and at the same time, a panicked voice came from a short distance away.

"Whoa!?"

“What’s the matter, what's wrong?"

It was one of the soldiers from the 9th squad who raised his voice.

Another soldier nearby turned around to see what was going on.

The one who suddenly spoke up stared at his outstretched hands and dropped his shoulders with a scowl.

"My Vigilance Ars Magus suddenly ran out in the middle of work. Shit, now I have to start all over again..."

For a brief moment, it felt as if seithr had completely disappeared.

Muttering and swearing, the soldier began to construct the Ars Magus again. It was an Ars Magus that alerts them when an unidentified entity is approaching them.

"You may be tired, but you're still in enemy territory. It's not safe here either. Don't let your guard down."

Grimwood slurped down a canteen of water and drank it when he called out to the extent that it didn’t interfere with the Ars Magus procedure.

They were in the middle of the forest, only a short distance from the dead bodies of Sector Seven’s research lab.

They hadn't yet met up with the Ars Magus Vessel to return to the main force. If they had, they would have been able to get to an open area in 30 minutes by jeep, but the jeep they relied on had been completely destroyed and is of course now useless. No one mentioned what had caused it, but everyone thought that it was most likely the work of those moving corpses. Above all, no one had the energy left to discuss the culprit.

It didn’t matter who it was. If they can’t move, they wouldn’t be able to leave the forest. That was the only thing that mattered and it was because of that fact that Grimwood and the rest of the 9th squad were preparing to camp, unable to move far from the laboratory where they had suffered so much.

"Honoka. Where's the firewood?"

Jin called out to Honoka when he spotted him standing there a little distance away. Honoka came to his senses and rushed over to him.

“I'm sorry, I found it. It's just this..."

"This won't last a night. Oh well, I'll look for more later. You can rest now."

He took a handful of dead branches from Honoka and placed a few of them in the small fire that was already flickering.

When they escaped from the laboratory, it was nighttime.

If the jeep hadn't been destroyed and if Karenjina had been able to use her Seagull, they would have been able to travel to a place where they could meet up with the Vessel without having to deal with the night. But now they had neither. All their vehicle options are out and Karenjina could no longer sense a rabbit a meter away without rest.

Looking at the burning twigs, Honoka bowed apologetically.

"I apologize. Now, if you'll pardon me."

Honoka, his valet, would have recommended that Jin, his boss, to take a rest, but Honoka seemed to have reached his limit. With staggering and unsteady steps, he collapsed into a sofa seat near the fire.

The sofa seat originally belonged to the jeep. When it became apparent that it had been destroyed beyond repair and that encampment was inevitable, Grimwood half-heartedly pulled it out of the jeep and set it down. Likewise, he dragged down a sofa from one of the other destroyed Librarium vehicles left behind from the battle before they arrived, so he was able to make enough beds for all of them.

Grimwood's dexterity with the battle axe and dismantling of the jeep and other vehicles was quite impressive and when Jin mentioned it to him, he smiled broadly with a hint of exhaustion and said that he might start work like that when the war was over.

Incidentally, Karenjina was already asleep in her leather-smelling bed, covered with a blanket, as if she had fainted. She was barely conscious until the moment she collapsed, though she might actually be in a state of unconsciousness now.

“Well then," said the soldier who had just finished applying the Vigilance Ars Magus, apologizing to Jin and slipping into the sofa seat.

Grimwood stood beside Jin as he lightly patted his subordinate on the back and sent him off to a simple bed to get some early rest.

"Are you sure you don't want to rest first? You're the one who's most worn out."

He said with concern, raising an eyebrow at his troubled face.

Jin nodded lightly. Grimwood was talking about watchkeeping.

They were going to spend the night in a place like this and no matter how many precautions they took with their Ars Magus, they never knew what might happen while they slept. That's why it was decided to set up lookouts in turn and Jin was one of the first to be nominated.

Jin split a long, thin branch in two and threw it into the fire.

"I'm too nervous to sleep anyway. I need you to leave me alone for a bit."

“Is that how it’s gonna be?”

“That's how it's gonna be. Just go to sleep. Your body is in the way when you're standing next to me."

When Jin said it plainly without even looking at him, Grimwood chuckled as he spewed. He patted Jin on the shoulder and turned away.

Dragging his strong, well-trained body, he sank into the sofa he had peeled off.

All of them, not to mention Jin, were badly worn out.

The air of repose has the effect of making the body aware of a great deal of fatigue. Lying on the couch, the members of the 9th squad soon stopped moving and deep slumber could be heard from every coach.

Jin turned to the fire that he had built for light and protection and pulled Yukianesa from beside him.

The night in the forest was quiet.

There were no sounds of animals, no sounds of insects. There were no signs of any presence other than their own. What he had said to Grimwood had not been out of strength or concern. He was indeed very tired, but right now he wanted to be alone with his thoughts rather than resting with the rest of the 9th squad.

The fire sparks scattered.

Jin looked up at the night sky.

He couldn't see the moon. That was convenient.

He hated the moon.

(...Still, I am glad we made it out safely.)

Leaning on Yukianesa as a staff, Jin exhaled from being tired.

As he recalled, it was a messy situation. They finally arrived at the site of the mission, where there were no allies or enemies, only the bodies of dead people and then all of them got up and started attacking them out of nowhere.

It was an unbelievable number to the point it was hard to believe that no one had lost their lives or even been seriously injured and then be able to return to the surface while being tangled up in all of that. He was also curious about the puppet master, who was controlling that many at once.

(...Ha...Unbelievable.)

Jin thought to himself.

He still couldn’t believe it, even though the crisis is over and he was now doing things like watching the fire.

It was not about that pile of dead bodies that bothered him though. It's about his own actions inside the lab. The moment where they reached the "Cauldron".

Looking at his hands with narrowed eyes, Jin pulled off the gloves he was wearing.

...A long time ago, Jin killed his 'brother'.

With these hands and with this sword.

The feeling of that moment was still firm in Jin's hand. He thrust Yukianesa's cold blade into his 'brother's' back as he fell, stumbling and screaming in anger.

After losing his brother and the home he grew up in, Jin was taken in by the Kisaragi family. Ever since then, Jin's life has had no meaning.

His 'brother' was everything to him. Everything about him had been established through his 'brother's existence'.

So the world without his 'brother' has no meaning and Jin's days have always been lacking without him. There was no desire for the environment around him. There were no expectations from the people around him. He thought he would just consume his remaining life span for a few more decades and eventually die for no reason.

But in that time. When he was surrounded by moving corpses in the basement. When Grimwood was alone.

For perhaps the first time, Jin wielded his power for... "friends".

To survive together...

As Jin watched the fire in his lamenting thoughts, he suddenly smelled a scent. Jin looked around and saw a flower blooming on a nearby tree. They were red flowers. Each one was large, probably as big as Jin's palm. He didn't know the name of the flowers.

But the color of the flowers reminded Jin of a girl.

A girl with the same hair color and unironically the same name as these red flowers.

The last time he saw the girl was at the port of an Ars Magus Vessel heading to Yabiko.

At the port, many of Jin’s classmates and juniors from the Academy had gathered to see him off. A little outside of the circle of these people, she was quietly looking at him.

She was not the kind of person who would push her way through a crowd of people. Jin looked her in the eye, received her troubled and sorrowful look instead of a farewell and planned to leave.

But just before he boarded the Vessel, her friends half-heartedly brought her before Jin.

He thought she was embarrassed and troubled, because she probably wasn't good at these kinds of occasions.

But as she looked back at her friend for help. She was still pushed forward and turned to Jin with big eyes filled with tears that looked like they were about to burst.

However, looking back at her friend asking for salvation, she was pushed forward and turned to Jin with big eyes that looked like they were about to burst into tears.

Amidst the expectations of good luck and success, and the concerns of injury and illness, she looks at Jin with the deepest sadness anyone could muster.

Her red lips were trembling. She was searching for words while being lost for them. She bit her lips and held back the tears that threatened to spill. Then she said it...

“Please 'live'... and return safely.”

That seemed to be all she had to say.

At that time, Jin simply thought that if he died, this girl would cry...

So he tried to reassure her with a little smile.

“I promise you, Tsubaki.”

With that, he boarded the Vessel.

Burnt twigs snapped and crumbled in the orange and fine sparks of fire fluttered in the air.

"...Promise, huh?"

As he plunged the new branch into the fire, Jin muttered to himself.

But before he could step into the swamp of sentimentality, Jin called out towards the back.

“What is it?"

"...You surprised me. I thought I'd erased my presence."

A voice came back, sounding impressed. It was Karenjina.

This time, she didn't pay attention to her presence and walked up to Jin's side.

“I'm taking over. Time to go."

Jin's eyebrows moved slightly when he was told. He felt a little clumsy. He didn't realize how long he had been seriously lost in thought.

“...I am still good to go."

He turned away from Karenjina and quickly put on the gloves he had removed.

As he tried to escape her gaze, Karenjina moved to the other side and looked down at Jin.

“You should get some rest, too. I'm fine now. Besides, I'm better at "spotting the enemy" than you are."

Karenjina said appealingly, as if she thought Jin was concerned about her health. Missing the point, Jin ignored the brown-skinned female mercenary.

An exasperated sigh fell from her lips. Jin expected her to just walk away, but Karenjina betrayed his expectation and sat down next to him.

With her chin resting on her lap, Karenjina gazed at the small bonfire. The flames that lit up her deep blue eyes looked rather wondrous.

“...Thanks.”

After a few moments of silence, Karenjina spoke.

"We're sleeping alive tonight because of you. If it weren't for you, we'd all be dead in that basement. So, thank you..."

She says it in a softer tone than usual.

Jin peeked at the person next to him for a moment. At the same time, Karenjina turned to look at him.

Their gazes collided and it was awkward for both of them, so averted them almost simultaneously.

“You don't have to thank me."

When Jin replied curtly, Karenjina raised her body and looked up as if she was trying to mend her usual tone.

“I haven't forgiven you for calling me a 'shit,' though."

After he was told, Jin remembered that he might have said something like that. It surely would have been a surprise to his juniors at the academy to hear him use language like that towards someone.

“I don't remember that.”

"Hm...Feigning indifference. That's just like you."

She sniffed in frustration and rested her cheek on her lap. Looking at the flames, she chuckled lightly. The tickling tone of her voice made Jin's mouth unconsciously break into a smile.

“Oh.”

Immediately, Karenjina shouted in surprise.

“What is it?

"No, It's- ...I guess even you can laugh. First time seeing that side of you."

She said with a look of deep surprise on her face.

Immediately, Jin pulled back his smile and raised an eyebrow. He must have relaxed his mind without even realizing. It's a little embarrassing for him to have his carelessness pointed out like that. Jin closed his mouth and there was silence again. The person from his side seemed much softer and calmer than usual.

The fire flickered. The night sky was distant and silent as the dancing sparks of fire were sucked in.

Karenjina rested her shoulders and took a deep breath. It was as if she was trying to let out all the energy she has been holding in.

“But this time it was really bad. Really a miracle that we survived down there."

After a short pause, Jin affirmed with an attentive gesture and replied, "Yeah, that’s right.”

He used short words as an answer, but inwardly he was holding a greater agreement than words.

It was true that Jin's work led to their survival. But if Jin had made a different decision or if he had already used up all of his power, they wouldn't be here tonight.

Karenjina was right, what happened in the basement was indeed, to use her words, incredibly "bad".

There were a few things that were stuck in Jin's mind.

Why did the Puppet Master leave this necromancer doll behind when there were no survivors left on the side of the Librarium or Sector Seven? It's as if they knew in advance that someone would come after this.

And those corpses had waited until Jin and the others had entered the deepest room in the basement before moving. It was as if they had been waiting for them to advance to a position where they could surround them.

(Were we ambushed?)

The situation might have to many holes to fill yet to determine that this was the case. But Jin, who was standing in the middle of all of this, was convinced of the ambush by his gut. They've been waiting for them. He could feel it.

But how did they manage to ambush them? Did they get word that Jin's squad was the only one delayed? Was that why they had set up the trap, knowing that the rest of the squad was coming?

For what purpose?

No, to begin with.

For “whom” was the arrangement?

Jin? Grimwood? The 9th Squad itself? Or else...

“Did you say something?"

Karenjina, who couldn't hear Jin's mumbling, turned to Jin as she threw a twig,too small to be used as firewood, into the fire.

Jin shook his head lightly.

"No, it's nothing."

He didn't want to cause unnecessary confusion by spreading uncertain doubts. If he was going to talk about it, it would be better to do it some other time.

Karenjina smiled bitterly at his curt attitude of not looking at her. She seemed to have gotten used to his deliberate lack of interest in her.

After waiting for Karenjina to gaze to the fire, Jin asked abruptly.

"What are you fighting for?"

When he pushed the disturbing doubts to the corner of his mind, an inexplicable question arose instead.

He thought it was a casual question, but Karenjina blinked a few times with a puzzled look on her face.

“I never thought you'd ask me that kind of question..."

“What do you mean? There isn't really a deep meaning to it."

It was Jin himself who chose his usual attitude, but when everyone feels surprised every time at it, he felt uncomfortable. Karenjina on the other hand was always poking at Jin with hostility, but tonight she had no stabs in her attitude.

Was it because of the fire? For some reason, Jin thought so.

Next to him, Karenjina rested her cheek on her knee again.

"I'm a mercenary and there is only one reason for mercenaries to participate in the war. Money."

“I didn't know that. That is why I asked.”

“Huh? What do you think you know about me?”

“Nothing much.”

I don't know anything. That's why I ask.

Jin waited for Karenjina's words, not coldly and without disrespect.

Karenjina was silent for a moment, then whispered to the flickering campfire.

"...It's about revenge."

He hadn't intended to turn around, but at the unexpected words, Jin couldn't help but look at Karenjina. With her beautiful blue eyes, she shimmered in the light of the fire.

"My drive ability is... 'Seagull'. It is not something I was born with. It is an acquired trait."

There are two types of people who have the ability to use a Drive. There are those who are born with the right qualities and power and as they grow, their power gets active. Then there are those who suddenly awaken it one day for some reason. A Drive is considered to be an ability that comes from the soul of an individual. For example, let's say a Drive is stored in a box. If the box is unlocked and the lid opens naturally over time to reveal the Drive inside, the latter is like the key unexpectedly bursting out of nowhere and the Drive flying out from inside.

Karenjina picked up a branch and continued onward, playing with it.

“I was born in a poor family. When I was still a child, I was bought by a research facility, where there were many 'friends' who came from similar backgrounds. There we became... laboratory animals."

The emotions were fading from Karenjina’s voice as she spoke, as if the fire was dying out along with them. She was always energetic and emotional up to now, so her sudden tone switch comes as somewhat frightening across.

At the facility, Karenjina and her friends were used for various experiments on a daily basis. They were repeatedly subjected to things that were not meant to be forced upon humans. Karenjina did not know what the experiments were for.

However, when most of her friends were disposed of due to their inability to endure the experiments, Karenjina suddenly awakened to her Drive ability.

“This power was the worst. After I got it, I was locked in a room and there was nothing I could do about it. I could hear them consulting about me to use me for their experiments. I could see from a long way off that the researcher who was going to make me suffer through unpleasant things coming this way. But this wasn't the actual hell, I was more afraid that my friends' voices would fade away. I felt myself becoming more and more 'alone'."

One day, she would be the last one. This was the greatest fear of the young Karenjina and it became reality.

The days continued, but one day...

The research facility where Karenjina was working was attacked by a certain mercenary group.

"I was in a room that looked like a prison and then... Grimwood found me.”

Karenjina had a smile on her face as she mentioned the name of the man who was now leading them as their reliable captain.

For her, affection, repose, joy and pleasure were accompanied by his name. Even if she didn't say it, Jin could somehow sense it from her expression.

Feeling like he shouldn't touch that part so casually, Jin asked something else.

“It was a research facility under Sector Seven?”

Is that why she was cooperating as a mercenary with the Librarium that antagonized Sector Seven? Jin's hypothesis was immediately rejected by Karenjina, who shrugged her shoulders.

"It seems that it was a facility of "someone" that neither belonged to Sector Seven nor The Librarium. I don't know their name, but it seems that they were researching the 'soul '."

She guessed she was somehow influenced by that research to awaken to her Drive ability. That's what Karenjina said.

"Is this revenge directed at that 'someone'...?"

Jin's face twisted in a quizzical manner. They used her for experiments and killed her friends. Whether it's an organization or an individual, that's who Karenjina would have to want to take revenge on.

But Karenjina shook her head to the side. Her lips hung up in a wry smile.

“No, no. I have nothing against the research facility. I'm sorry if I misled you, but I was 'sold' to the facility, not 'bought' by them. I sold myself."

“What?”

“I sold myself to the institution.”

When Jin asked again, Karenjina pulled her lips into a light grin and smiled.

“I had two parents and two younger brothers. Life was hard, but I was happy to be with my family. But then the war... The Ikaruga Civil War started and my parents got caught up in it and died. I had to protect my two younger brothers somehow.”

That’s why... she sold herself?

“That in itself was not a big deal.” Karenjina said calmly.

"My family, my two brothers, were the ones I wanted to protect, not a single thought went into my wellbeing, even if I had to led myself get reduced to an animal for researchers."

Her brothers. These words brought back childhood memories to Jin's mind. Jin had an older brother. He had a sister. But now, he had neither.

Karenjina’s eyes narrowed as she spoke.

“...After being rescued by Grimwood, I quickly returned to my house. But there was no one there anymore. It was just wilderness and no trace of it was left behind. I don't know what happened to my brothers."

"Our house was located in..." Karenjina voice seemed to fade upon revealing this. "In the 5th Hierarchical City of Ibukido."

(Ibukido-!)

During the civil war, a research facility set out a massive explosion and left Ibukido in the state it is now apparently. Though depending on who you asked, the reason for a entire Hierarchical City to be wiped are plenty. Before leaving for the frontline base, Jin stopped by at Ibukido on his way to Yabiko. The area where he engaged the Red Devil should be the location of the facility where the accident occurred.

That is where Karenjina’s brothers probably died. After all, they say that only one single girl survived the destruction of Ibukido.

"So I asked Grimwood to let me fight. To fight for revenge!”

Who or what is this revenge against? Jin had a suspicion.

Karenjina is seeking revenge on the one who took her family from her. It's not the research facility that used her as a lab animal and it's not the Ikaruga Federation or the Librarium.

"My revenge is to end this stupid 'war'."

Because war has taken everything away. The existence of this war was unforgivable to her. The word determination is not so easy to use. More like, it seems as if there were any margin for a different choice for Karenjina, her blood would freeze and her heart would stop. That was the kind of determination she had.

Karenjina fluttered her eyelids once and then turned her entire upper body to face Jin. Her dark blue eyes looked much like those of a wild predator.

“Why are you fighting?"

"Huh?"

"For the Kisaragi family? Or for the Librarium?"

“I'm..."

"Before, I thought you were fighting for something as simple as that. But now, I don't think you are 'that kind of Jin'."

As if the answer she sought was already there, Karenjina stared into Jin's eyes. They didn't look like the eyes of a human looking at another human. They were not that complicated and murky. They were pure and beautiful.

Why do you fight? Jin thought to himself when asked by Karenjina.

It wasn't for the Kisaragi family. It wasn't for the sake of the Librarium. He thought that he was just a residue of life, walking the path laid out by a flimsy name.

But now... for Jin of the "now" as Karenjina calls it.

“There is a... promise."

"Promise?"

“I'm gonna make it back alive.”

That's what I promised. To the girl with the name of that flower.

The promise to her meant something a little special to Jin.

(After all, I would hate to swallow a thousand needles...)

"The promise I shredded my little finger for on that childhood day is probably still valid..." Jin mumbled that so no one could hear it.

If you lie, they will make you swallow them.

“So why don't you help us out?"

A third voice came from behind her. Karenjina jumped up and looked back at where the deep voice echoed from with power. A voice so powerful, even though it was kept low so as not to wake the others.

"Grimwood, since when!"

"You have finally come out. You've been eavesdropping for too long."

When Karenjina panicked, Jin sighed and turned his head astoundedly. Karenjina was dismayed by this as well.

“It seems that even our vaunted Seagull can't sense everything all the time.” When Jin chuckled, Karenjina’s ears flared.

“Haha, so I've been noticed. My bad."

Smiling at their exchange, Grimwood comes over, raising his hand to soothe Karenjina.

As he walked up to the fire, Jin saw the color of the flames reflected on his strong body. His smiling, fearless face took on a rather disturbing air, perhaps due to the shadows cast by the flames.

"Jin Kisaragi. You have 'power'. Please lend it to me."

The voice that announced it was full of energy, even more so than the expression on his face.

A thin piece of firewood burns in the fire. The scattered sparks of the fire flutter in the night wind.

Jin stood up and faced Grimwood head-on. There was no smile there anymore. Not for Jin, not for Grimwood.

“What are you going to do with it?"

The moment he asked, he felt his chest beating faster.

Grimwood answered without hesitation. With eyes that were far too serious to speak of dreams and ideals.

"Jin. Let's end this war."

### Part 4

A rough sound echoed through the office at night.

“You gotta be kidding me! What the hell is going on!?”

With a swung of his fist slamming down on his own desk, Kagura yelled at the man standing in front of him.

The man who was being shouted at reflexively cramped and took a step back as he was hit head-on with a sense of intimidation that can almost be seen as violent. He was wearing the uniform of a Librarium guard and had just arrived from Headquarters as a messenger.

Kagura's fists that swang downwards were still shaking with anger. Thereunder a cracking noise was heard that came from the desk broken in half.

“I'm sorry, but it's an imperial decree of the NOL Headquarters.”

Perhaps seeing himself in the destroyed desk, the guard desperately appealed in a thin, trembling voice.

"Imperial decree?"

Kagura's eyes stared at him. It was enough to make the guard freeze like a weak frog, unable to even speak.

Without a second thought, Kagura kicked his now broken desk with even more strength this time. There was a loud cracking sound and naturally, the desk completely shattered. But that didn't stop Kagura from shaking his head wildly and growling in frustration.

"Are they fucking kidding me!! What are they thinking... haven't we killed enough!??”

Instead of Kagura, who couldn't keep his cool anymore, Hibiki, his secretary, picked up a document that had been thrown on the floor after Kagura's rampage. It was an order brought by the guard in form of just a piece of paper.

It stated that they should quickly take down Wadatsumi Castle, the centerbase of the Ikaruga Federation.

A deep forest spread out in the territory of the Ikaruga Federation. The frontline base of the Novus Orbis Librarium stretched out in the middle of it.

It was on the evening of the day after the nightmarish event that Jin and the 9th squadron returned to the city aboard their Ars Magus Vessel.

Against the backdrop of the western sky, where the sun was swelling up, they descended to their familiar base, a place they would consider their home at this point.

The inside of the base was looking rather hectic, even though there was no siren sounding for the sortie.

Several soldiers are gathering supplies and spare equipment, which are usually left spread out in just one place to some extent. In another area, a large number of weapons were being spread out and inspected, while in a communications tent, hurried guards were busily coming and going, occasionally bumping into each other.

It was different from usual. That much was obvious at first glance.

One of the guards jumped out from the side of the vessel and hurried towards the commander's tent. Quickly, Jin grabbed his arm and forcibly stopped him.

“What's going on?”

"Huh? Oh, the 9th squad. You still hadn't heard? We got an imperial decree this morning."

"Imperial decree? From NOL Headquarters?"

This is something they indeed haven't heard. Grimwood stepped forward with his beloved axe in his hand.

The guard who had been halted by Jin was slightly pressured by him and Grimwood, but he told him quickly.

“I haven't heard the details either, but I'm told that we are to take down 'Wadatsumi Castle' immediately."

“Huh...?”

Jin couldn't help but reply in an absent-minded voice. The guards words didn't enter his head as quickly as they should have.

After escaping from Jin's hands, the guard man bowed his head, holding a piece of paper with the message on it.

“I'll hurry up now.”

With that, he hurriedly ran to the battalion commander's tent.

Jin couldn't help but look away with a look of confusion on his face.

There is a civil war going on right now. In order to bring it under control, they will eventually seize the leader of the Ikaruga Federation. For that reason, he could understand why they were attacking Wadatsumi Castle.

But what he didn’t know is the time.

The war situation is not in any way dominated by the Librarium. In fact, just yesterday, they lost a large number of soldiers at Sector Seven's laboratory.

It's not like they have a formation in place to take down Wadatsumi Castle. It was too abrupt, too far-fetched for a plan.

Even so, it is said that it is a direct command from NOL Headquarters, which is the pinnacle of the Librarium, and by extension, its ruler, the Imperator.

"Foolishness... It's too sudden no matter how you look at it. The schedule should still be ahead."

With his thick eyebrows furrowed and deep wrinkles etched, Grimwood stared into the void and muttered in a hushed voice.

There was no time to lose. He ran up to Karenjina with an urgent look on his face.

“Let’s get in touch right away.”

With that instruction, Grimwood ran deeper into the base.

Jin and the others hobbled to the tent of their squad, carrying the expedition's luggage.

Grimwood knows that there is “something” behind this war. Karenjina also knew from what Grimwood had told her. The other soldiers in the squad seemed to have heard of it too, judging by the expressions on their faces.

Now, Jin knows.

The story he had heard last night around the small campfire was going around in Jin's mind like a signal.

— To end the war.

This was a rather important confession, but Grimwood's words were confusing to Jin. Feeling the heat from the small fire on one cheek, Jin looked up at the large man in front of him with a dubious expression on his face.

“...End the war? Yeah, I guess so. There's no reason to oppose it. It's what we're fighting for."

In order to end the war with a victory for the Librarium, he will go to war when ordered, no matter if it is late at night or early in the morning. It is his duty as a soldier.

“I didn't realize you were so green, you idealistic giant."

Jin said in a dumbfounded tone, as if he was making fun of him.

But Grimwood's question was in this serious tone, you could only take it for honesty.

"Well, listen. Jin, if this war were to end, when do you think it would be?"

The large man, his face painted in two colors, the darkness of the night and the burning orange of the fire, was not offended by Jin's agitated tone, nor did he waver in the slightest.

It seems that he had some serious intentions. Reading that, Jin once again, inhaled deeply into the night air.

In the middle of the forest, a decaying laboratory nearby, their friends sleeping exhausted around us, and a burning twig.

The exhaustion that was weighing him down was no longer in the forefront of his mind. He was more concerned about what Grimwood was trying to tell him.

Jin thought quietly in the silence of the night.

“...We have been ordered to annihilate The Ikaruga Federation. Peace negotiations and surrender are unacceptable. Therefore, if the war is to end, it will be when we take the head of Ikaruga’s former head, Tenjō."

Grimwood nodded deeply, "Yes, that's the general gist.”

“But as you know, Wadatsumi Castle, where Tenjō is located, is protected by a special battle formation. If you want to invade it, you have to break the encirclement first and the castle must have an adequate number of troops.”

After all, their leader, Tenjō, is there. If they lost them, they would be defeated. It would not be a half-hearted defense. An easy invasion would cause considerable damage to both sides. In order to defeat Tenjō and win the war, careful preparation and information gathering are essential. However, at this point, the Librarium was probably not prepared to do so.

“I don't have any proof, but I have a feeling that the Librarium is not really planning to bring down the castle. It's more like they're deliberately not dropping it."

If the Librarium really wanted to attack the castle, it would be ready and able to bring it down immediately. However, the Librarium will not do so.

It's not that they were not prepared to attack. It's that they not dare to do so.

Jin slid his gaze across the room and pondered. It's not that he didn't feel what Grimwood was talking about. He often felt uncomfortable with the attitude of the Librarium towards the civil war.

In the past, this would not have been much of a concern for him. He thought it didn't matter what the Librarium had in mind.

But now, that he remembered his little verbal agreement with that certain girl, he felt a little differently.

If the war drags on like this, that girl might end up being a soldier in this war someday. She admired Jin and even followed him to become a guard of the Librarium. Surely, she would aspire to fight in the same way and same war.

He wanted to avoid that.

He didn't want to dip her feet in this shallow, trivial quagmire.

"Even if you're right, why don't they drop the castle and try to end the civil war? What benefit would that be to the Librarium?"

Jin glared at Grimwood with a sharp stare.

There is no reason to continue a war when there is no profit in it. Something has to be done.

Grimwood thought for a few seconds and opened his mouth.

“Jin. You're the next head of the Kisaragi family, right?”

“That's how it's supposed to be, yes, and?"

"The Duodecim exist for the sake of the Imperator. One question, have you ever met the Imperator?"

Why did he suddenly bring up the subject of the Duodecim and the Imperator? Jin shook his head as he wondered.

“No, we've never met."

Then Karenjina, who realized Grimwood's intentions, jumped in front of the big man and held out her hands as if to stop him.

"Grimwood, no more!"

Grimwood stopped Karenjina’s words with a hand as she tried to stop him. The bright, youthful grass-colored eyes that looked at Jin were filled with a glint of light that matched their gentle hue.

"I will tell you now. The head of the Ikaruga Federation, Tenjō Amanohokosaka...

They are the head of the Novus Orbis Librarium, the Imperator.”

For a moment, Jin could not understand Grimwood's words.

He thought he must have a dumb look on his face right now. He couldn't find any words to say, but tried to say something. He opened his mouth halfway and was appalled.

“It's... That's not right. That can't be..."

The words he finally managed to squeeze out were such a cliché.

The Ikaruga Civil War began as a rebellion by the Ikaruga Federation against the Librarium.

The head of the Federation and the ringleader of the rebellion is Tenjō.

And the Imperator is the supreme head of the Librarium who ordered to take it down.

If they are the same person, then who is the Ikaruga Federation opposing and who is the Librarium being revolted by?

Grimwood nodded firmly.

"Yes, there's something fundamentally wrong here. This war is a farce. That's why we think there is 'someone' who is deliberately causing this war and in addition, is working in the dark to take away all forms of convergence.”

"Someone."

The one who established this crazy war and is stalling its end without giving either side a decisive victory.

Grimwood frowned sternly and said with a hint of indignation.

“The Ikaruga Civil War is not a “war”, it's a “farce” where “someone” is delaying the end of the war for some purpose. The war will not end even if we continue to fight as instructed by our superiors. “Someone” else's goal will be accomplished here."

And when "someone's" purpose is complete, the farce will be thrown out, having served no purpose. The pain, suffering, and sorrow will be thrown away, leaving them scattered on the stage.

"So I'm going to destroy that 'someone's' purpose."

If the reason for continuing the war is the purpose of some unknown person, then once that purpose is lost, there will be no reason to continue the war. That was the simple point Grimwood was trying to make.

Simple, but impractical.

It has not been proven here that Tenjō and the Imperator are really the same entity, nor have they identified the "someone" who wants to prolong the civil war. If there is someone, they don't even know if they have a real purpose as Grimwood says.

And yet, if nothing is done, the war will continue as it is. The death toll will be even higher than it is now. Maybe even unwittingly supporting someone else's shallow desires.

“It's up to you whether you believe what I say or not. I'd absolutely like to borrow your power, but I won't force you."

Grimwood calmly told Jin, who remained silent. He huffed and puffed, then he slapped himself hard on the chest with his wide hand.

“If you trust me, I'll tell you how to end the war.”

Let's give a blow to "the one" who is taking advantage of this situation. We're no puppets.

With that said, Grimwood grinned.

Jin looked back quietly. After all, he had not said whether he would cooperate or not this night.

"To end the war."

Jin kept thinking about the conversation he had had with Grimwood last night.

Back at the 9th squad's tent, with nothing better to do, he sat in a chair in the corner and continued to stare at a point in the sky and think. He didn’t think he could trust Grimwood's story in its entirety. but that didn’t mean that he could fully trust the Librarium. In the first place, Jin doesn't trust anyone, because he can't.

So the important thing here is not who or what to trust. It's what Jin himself decides he should do.

(What Should I do... What the hell for? Now it is to end the war, right?)

"Lieutenant Kisaragi?"

When he was suddenly called out, Jin looked up with a gasp.

Honoka was coming right next to him. From the expression on the boy's face, it could be inferred as he gently peeked at Jin that he had a very grim look on his face.

“What's wrong?"

He asked, and Honoka held out a plastic cup. There was warm black tea inside, and a faint scent of lemon.

"...Nothing."

Honoka smiled in relief as he took the cup and sipped it, then passed the tea around to the other people in the tent.

(It's the war.)

If it had not been for this civil war, the boy would not have been sent to this place.

He took a small sip of tea, which was a little astringent.

Then he heard a crunching sound as the entrance to the tent was flung open. Immediately, Grimwood came stumbling in with a hurried and clumsy gesture.

“Is everyone here?”

At the sound of Grimwood's taut voice, everyone in the tent turned and stood up. Jin recognized his voice and his mood immediately. It was work.

Grimwood's face twisted grimly as he waited for everyone's eyes to focus on him.

“Listen up. A new operation is about to begin. The target is Wadatsumi Castle. We will push the front line right up to the castle."

"Wadatsumi Castle? Wait, is that the imperial decree we just heard about?"

Taking a step forward, Karenjina spoke up.

Grimwood looked towards her and nodded.

“All units are being mobilized for a large-scale invasion. The commander-in-chief is Colonel Kagura Mutsuki."

Jin's eyebrows rose at the familiar name. He knew immediately that this was not Kagura's idea of a plan. Even so, he felt he could hear the rage of Kagura, who had been thrown into command as commander-in-chief.

Grimwood sighed loudly.

“The operation starts in six hours. Everyone be ready."

“Six hours? Are you serious? Even though it's such a big operation?"

Honoka was the one who asked back in an upturned voice, the other soldiers were just as dazed by this surprise. How much preparation can be done in just six hours? And it was night. This was a poorly lit encampment.

"Six hours."

Grimwood repeated once more with a pained expression on his face. Taking the upset in stride, Karenjina shook her head weakly.

"That's crazy and will absolutely fail!"

Jin agreed with her on that. He doesn't see that deep thought that went into this mission. What's the advantage of launching from this base in six hours?

They didn't even know where the Federation troops were camped beyond the forest. They also needed to find out if there were any enemy soldiers in the forest. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed to him that this was just an operation to force a breakthrough by putting all the manpower they have at their disposal immediately. This can't be called an operation.

In the first place, the idea of going through this vast forest in the middle of the night was out of the ordinary.

But while everyone knew it was crazy, everyone already understood. This operation was an imperial decree from NOL Headquarters.

A mere piece placed on the battlefield has no veto right.

### Part 5

On this day, the Novus Orbis Librarium suffered a historic defeat.

Kagura Mutsuki, the commander-in-chief, was leading the troops on the front line, but he was injured in the middle of the battle when he engaged the cyborg soldiers of Sector Seven known as the "Red Devils” and was forced to retreat.

Colonel Mutsuki ordered the withdrawal of all troops in an attempt to rebuild his troops after being blindsided. However, some officers from the aristocracy, who interpreted his absence as a convenient opportunity, ignored the order and, at their own discretion, notified the entire army to continue the battle.

They were also the ones who took command of the entire army in place of Kagura Mutsuki. Their textbook command of the operation was completely outmaneuvered by the Ikaruga army, which was accustomed to guerrilla warfare, and they were destroyed from one side to the other.

The battle began at eleven in the morning. It was four o'clock in the afternoon when the scattered troops began to retreat at their own discretion, having been driven into a situation where they could no longer fight. There were hardly any soldiers left on the battlefield, and it was 5:00 p.m. when the official announcement of the withdrawal was made.

At that time, Jin was still in the middle of the battlefield.

The sun was just setting over the distant mountains when Jin led his troop of wounded men back to the nearby encampment.

Here and there in the messy tents, which seemed to have been erected in a hurry, soldiers wearing the uniforms of the Librarium sat, collapsed, or walked around busily.

The dizzying clamor was almost too much for the eyes.

Everyone was injured. Everyone was exhausted.

Jin hurried through the crowd, carrying the most seriously wounded of the party he had just brought back on his shoulders, and leading them into one of the tents.

"Lieutenant Kisaragi! Good, you're back."

The one who immediately spotted Jin and called out to him was Honoka, who was in the tent helping to treat the wounded. When he saw that the soldier Jin was carrying was in bad shape, he immediately turned pale, but helped him lay down on a blanket at the edge.

“Where are the medics?”

"They are in the tent two doors down. They will be coming to us in turn."

"If so, first aid until then"

“Yes, sir. But, you, the lieutenant is also injured..."

This was the second time Honoka had told him this.

The first time was when he rolled into this encampment with the 9th squad. This time, when they heard that there was a squad that was running late, they went to help them retreat and had just returned.

“It's no big deal. Give priority to the seriously injured."

Jin said extremely calmly. Honoka was overly concerned, but it really wasn't anything serious. He had a cut on his shoulder and leg, and bruises on his head and arm. All of them were minor.

He was more uncomfortable with the bloodstains he was exposed to here and there from enemies and allies. It seemed to have flown into his hair as well, and when he annoyingly wiped it off, it made an unpleasant crunching sound with the dried blood.

"Damn it!"

The muffled sound of a regretful voice was accompanied by the sound of a rough beating.

Jin looked up at the noise. It was the sound of Grimwood, sitting in a small folding chair, slamming his fist into his thigh.

"Those idiots... were completely ambushed. They're leaking information!"

A voice that still held the tension of the battlefield made the air in the tent go numb.

Karenjina, who had a first aid kit in her hand, turned around with a downcast look on her face.

"Grimwood, be quiet. There's still a lot of people hurt.”

"Oh...... I'm sorry."

Grimwood apologized sincerely, and leaned back against the poor back of his chair.

Speaking of injured people, so was Grimwood. He took a bullet in the back while defending an ally. His head was also bleeding lightly. First aid had been administered, but the bandage that covered his back was stained red in places.

"U-uh...... Gah......"

A weak groan and cough could be heard at Jin's feet. It was the soldier he had just brought in. Karenjina kneeled down beside him to give him first aid and was at a loss for words when she saw his wounded form.

His condition was terrible. He was covered in scars all over his body, as if he had been caught in an explosion, and his face and body were stained with blood and dirt. He had a particularly bad wound on his chest, and every time he moved his chest up and down weakly, clots of blood overflowed from under his clothes.

"Lieu…tenant…Kisa......ragi..."

He called out in a faint voice, his lips already bloodless and trembling.

Jin furrowed his brows and gasped. He realized who this soldier was.

"I never thought that Kisaragi-senpai would save me.......Thank you...very much......."

Behind his lifted eyelids, his large, still-childish eyes were shaking with tears. Even though he was hurt so much, his voice, which was almost snatched away, seemed somehow happy.

Jin took his hand and held it tightly. He spoke to him as softly as he could, as he had tried to do when he was a student.

“You're from the academy?”

"Yes... This year.......Ugh..."

He was about to say it, when he coughed up some clotted blood along with a cough from his throat.

Karenjina whispered Jin's name. Jin nodded shallowly without turning around.

He didn't have any specialized knowledge or skills, but he knew what she hinted at. Even if he were to apply a healing Ars Magus right now, he would not be able to survive.

The soldier's trembling eyes looked up at Jin, as if he was staring at something dazzling. His face was still that of a boy. That was to be expected. He was still a student at the military academy.

"I've always admired...... Kisaragi-senpai and when I heard that you were active on the battlefield......."

“Is that why you volunteered?"

"......Yes. I wanted to fight with you. I...I wanted to be close to...someone like you......”

His voice trembled as he spoke. Tears fell from the corners of his dirty eyes.

Jin heard that for this operation, the Librarium had recruited volunteers from the commoner cadets and sent them in as recruits. That's what he had heard.

It was ridiculous and reckless. There was no way they would put them into actual combat. That's what Jin thought.

Until this very moment.

The recruit, who was supposed to be a student, coughed and spat out blood instead of words as he moved his mouth to say something. The chest of his blue uniform was completely stained with blood. Jin wondered if he could see it. He squirmed on the blanket, shaking his motionless body.

“Am I... going to die?"

"...It's okay. You don't need to worry."

"I don't want to die. I don't...want to die..."

Jin held the boys fleeting hand and put a slight pressure on his fingertips as if he were clinging to it.

The boy from the Kisaragi household clenched his hand.

Until this morning, he was probably still proud and hopeful. He would have been thrilled to be on the same battlefield as the person he admired.

The reality of the scene was chilling.

"Help me...please... Kisaragi Senpa..."

The words he could squeeze out didn't last. The boy died with his lips pursed and his eyes wet with tears, clinging desperately to Jin and finally the hand that had been grasping him lost its strength and slipped from Jin's hand.

A different figure overlapped the image of the boy soldier lying in front of him in the form of familiar red-haired girl in a blue uniform, Tsubaki. She looks up at Jin, her chest turning red with overflowing blood. With a relieved smile, she extends her hand to touch Jin, but her fingers couldn't reach and fell to the cold floor.

The lips that have lost their color call out without a voice. She said “—Jin Niisama.”

"Jin? Hey, Are you okay?"

He was shaken lightly by a voice that came from right beside him, making Jin came back to himself.

Karenjina looked at Jin with a pained, caring expression on her face.

Jin clasped his hands, which were still in the air and nodded. That was all he could do and to him, it felt awfully sluggish.

“...It's okay.”

Yes, it’s fine. Jin was barely injured and was indeed 'okay'. He was not the same as the dead man. He was different. The dead man was not Jin. That boy didn't have the skills to fight, he didn't have the knowledge.

Jin was sure there were many other soldiers like him, volunteering.

Honoka worriedly filled a plastic cup with water and offered it to Jin. Jin took it and drank it all at once. As he watched, Honoka sighly rested his shoulders.

"The details of the operation... Where the hell did this leak come from?"

If it continues to leak, the Librarium will have little chance of winning.

Turning his gaze to the boy soldier with a blanket put over him, Honoka sighed even more. The dead boy looked to be about the same age as Honoka.

“I can't believe they're even inviting students to volunteer. It's unthinkable. It's like recruiting shooting targets. At this rate, even if you're not a volunteer, you can still go to..."

Honoka was about to say something but stopped, looking at Jin's face as if he had noticed something. Jin somehow guessed what he was going to say. At this rate, there might be a replenishment of the military force from the cadets, even if they are not volunteers.

Naturally, a familiar face flickered in Jin's mind.

What Honoka said could definitely happen in the near future.

It might be the girl he saw in his hallucination. Here, with a soiled blanket, the next time she breathes her last, covered in blood.

Looking down at the twitching, dead face of the unnamed junior who had stopped moving, Jin couldn't take it anymore and gently lowered his eyelids and stood up.

"Grimwood."

He stood in front of a large, strong man with a uniform jacket pulled over his naked, bandaged upper body.

“We need to talk.”

Leaning forward on his knees, Grimwood lifted his head only to look back at Jin and made a large nod in agreement.

- ↑ Karenjina Parsett’s Drive: Seagull, is written with the Kanji for Search and Enemy 索敵 or Sakuteki, but is pronounced Seagull in Katakana: (シーガル) in the novel instead of the Onyomi pronunciation of each kanji, therefore, Seagull literally means spotting/searching for the enemy, or in this context, she is better at “seagulling.”

- ↑ Jin is referring to the traditional gesture of a pinky promise or pinky swear in Japan. Pinky swearing has origins in Japan from 1600-1803, where it is called yubikiri (指切り, "finger cut-off") and often additionally confirmed with the vow "Pinky swear, whoever lies will be made to swallow a thousand needles." (指切り拳万、嘘ついたら針千本呑ます, "Yubikiri genman, uso tsuitara hari senbon nomasu").

### 054. Chapter 5: Foolish man / Left behind

### Part 1

They left the tent where the wounded were crammed and walked through the desolate wilderness.

The night breeze was chilly, cooling down the euphoria of the battle they had been in just a few hours before.

Once they were some distance away from the encampment, Jin stopped in his tracks.

There were many clouds in the sky and the moonlight was scarce. They had come out without lights, so the only source of light allowing them to see each other's faces was from the campfires burning at a distance.

"You said you had a way to end the war. Tell me."

As soon as they faced each other, Jin immediately broached.

The area was dark. The land was empty. From the vantage point, it would have been easy to see from the camp that Jin and Grimwood were together. But at the same time, the clear view made it obvious that there was no one nearby.

Indeed, there was no one nearby.

Grimwood propped up his wounded body with the great axe that had taken the place of his staff, and grinned at him from a distance suitable for their secret talk.

“Are you ready to believe me now?"

"I don't believe it. But if it will end this war, I will cooperate."

“Even at a time like this, you're this weirdly composed."

The reason Jin doesn't say he trusts him is because there are things in his mind that take precedence over that. Ending the war. Whether that will come true with the card that Grimwood has. Grimwood understands that this is the most important thing for him right now.

In the same way, it was important to Grimwood whether or not Jin would cooperate with him, so he trusted in Jin’s cooperation, even if he said he didn’t believe him.

"I've told you before that there is “someone” behind the Ikaruga Civil War who wants to prolong it.”

"Yes. The war is being dragged out for the purpose by these 'someones', right?”

That's the reason why he and Karenjina joined this war in the first place. There is something wrong with this war, it is distorted. There was someone somewhere controlling the war. He couldn’t help but feel that way himself after hearing about that thing. That thing... The specific reason lies in the relationship between Tenjō and the Imperator, but before that, as a mercenary who has spent a long time on the battlefield, Grimwood couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.

This became more apparent the more as he got involved.

Irrational operations, opaque organizational structure and incomprehensible instructions. The development of the war was so amateurish that it was hard to believe that it was the work of a huge organization trying to win the war, the greatest authority in the world no less.

“In the end, we still don't know who's behind all this, but I was able to find out a little bit about its purpose, the purpose of the Second War of Ars Magus... Jin. Have you ever heard of a weapon that can stop the activity of seithr?"

At Grimwood's question, Jin's eyes sharpened.

“I've never heard of it. I don't even think... such a thing can exist."

Since the Dark War a hundred years ago, the world has been flooded with a large amount of seithr. It has become a matter of course to have it.

It is for this reason that the use of seithr has developed and taken root as Ars Magus. Even many transportation systems use seithr, as represented by Ars Magus Vessels. It is not only used in warfare, but is now deeply involved in the daily lives of ordinary people.

"If it existed, it would be a tremendous. It would be able to stop everything in the world, even a war.”

One huge button that could stop the whole functionality of this world. Something worth to fight wars over in some peoples eyes.

Grimwood nodded his head in agreement. If it connects to the acquisition of the weapon in question, it is a reason to continue the civil war that divides humanity.

“You think that's the reason of this 'someone'?”

“Very likely."

When Jin asked sharply, Grimwood replied firmly.

There is no proof that the weapon that stops seithr is the objective of these people. But in his own way, Grimwood seemed to be confident in his assumption. And the most important thing is not whether or not the weapon to stop seithr is a so-called third party objective. The fact that it might exist is what is important.

“If there is a weapon and it's for 'someone' elses purposes, we can't let that person get what they want, no matter what. They are still trying to get it in a civil war that is in such a horrible state. I don't think it will be used for any good purpose.”

What could be more horrible than a war? Grimwood tightened his grip on the handle of the axe that supported his body.

"Then... The one who uses it will be you? Grimwood?"

Jin asked, looking at him carefully.

If they could use a weapon that can stop the activity of seithr, they could stop the war right away. Small weapons, large weapons, Ars Magus that greatly affects these battles, they cannot be used anymore if seithr is gone. Even the vehicles used to move around the battlefield would not work. It becomes physically impossible to wage war.

But that means that the world will be under the control of one persons decision. If Grimwood uses it, then at that moment, Grimwood has taken control of the world.

Is that really stopping the war?

Jin's suspicion went straight to Grimwood.

He shook his stout head in denial.

“It's too much for me to handle. I can't use it. I don't even know how to use it."

“Though, if there was a polite explanation attached, I might think about it a little.” Grimwood smiled as he added that.

Jin couldn't help but gasp along with him. It didn't seem like Grimwood was the type of guy who would read the manual and learn how to use it.

With a single blink of an eye, Grimwood's expression changed to one of sincerity and he assured Jin in his typical unflappable voice.

“I'm going to destroy it when I find it. If someone wants to use the Ikaruga civil war to get their hands on it, then the weapon itself should be gone. Isn't that right?"

“That's a wild theory, but not that wrong.”

And in typical Grimwood fashion, Jin shrugged his shoulders at his logic.

No matter how long you prolong the war, if the objective does not exist, it is meaningless.

“And if there is a weapon that can stop seithr, even if this civil war is over, another one will start and there would be many more over that weapon. We have to avoid that.”

“...I agree."

Jin pulled his chin once toward Grimwood's serious face.

In fact, Jin was more concerned about that than about anyones "purpose."

If a device capable of influencing the activities of seithr were to fall into the hands of any individual, the order of the world would be turned upside down in no time.

Jin held out the Yukianesa he carried to Grimwood to show him.

“If you find it, I'll destroy it.”

Grimwood laughed, his eyes flashing.

“Actually, that's what I was hoping for when I approached you. It must be a huge weapon to stop seithr and I don't think it can be destroyed by a little bit of effort.”

In this regard, he trusted the Nox Nyctores, the Causality Weapon that had a run-in with the Black Beast. In fact, what else can it be destroyed with?

"So it's not me, it's the Nox Nyctores that's of use."

Jin carved a smile on the corner of his mouth even as he used the word self-mockingly.

Now it was Grimwood's turn to relax his cheek.

“That's not all. Rather... The next thing I want your help with is the main issue."

“What is it?"

When Jin tilted his head, Grimwood twisted his head to look behind him. He could see the lights from the torches and bonfires that had been lit. There were still many soldiers moving back and forth, looking busy. There were more than twice as many injured people moaning in the tents.

What Grimwood saw was a tent where the 9th squad was helping to treat the wounded.

"You remember the other day in the basement, don't you? That thing with the Necromancer."

“Yeah.”

“I want you to work with Karenjina to locate it, just as you did then."

It goes without saying what kind of place it is. This is the location of the "weapon that stops the activity of seithr".

“...Is it around this area?"

There was still no sign of anyone around, but Jin couldn't help but lower his voice even lower.

Grimwood growled crisply.

“I've done some research and I think I know where it is, but I don't know the exact location. Even with Karenjina's ability, I couldn't pinpoint it."

So, just as Jin helped Karenjina find the Necromancer that she couldn't identify that night in the basement, now it's time to find out where the weapon was.

He understood what he was saying, but at the same time he had his doubts.

Where did he get the information about the weapon and its location in the first place? Doesn't he know too much information for a simple mercenary?

At this rate, he might still have a story hidden away that Jin has never heard of.

(Does he have any special connections to the Librarium or to the executives of the Ikaruga Federation? Where is this guy chained to?)

A reliable squad leader wielding a large axe. Jin couldn’t help but feel a disturbing shadow over this man that can't be contained in such a position.

He still couldn’t trust him.

(No. I didn't trust him in the first place.)

A thought popped into Jin's mind, as if to excuse himself. He was not trying to work with Grimwood because he trusted him, but because his arguments spoke to his own interests.

But there was something that was bothering him, because he was unhappy that Grimwood hadn't revealed everything to him, so that he wouldn't have the option of not trusting him.

(Maybe it's that I want to trust...)

He didn’t even know how to do that. He was too inexperienced. Maybe he was a little taken aback by the trusting relationship between Grimwood and Karenjina and her fellow mercenaries, as if logic doesn't matter.

"...Okay. Let me help you."

“Thank you. I am relying on you.”

"But remember. If you ever try to get on the side that disrupts the order of this world, I will cut you down without mercy."

Even if that process stops the war, it must be stopped if it results in a disruption of order. This was not a sense of justice or morality, but an instinctive feeling engraved in Jin. A higher "power" obligating him to restore "order" for the world. If it disturbs the world, it will be eliminated. No exceptions.

Grimwood looked back into Jin's sharp, glaring eyes and saw a contrastingly calm color in them.

"All right, then. When it looks like that to you, don’t hesitate."

And then, with a hand that formed the shape of a hand knife, he made a gesture as if to cut his own neck. There was no alertness here.

That was a little less interesting to Jin. The more Grimwood trusted him, the more he felt a kind of innate difference between himself and him.

“...For now, you don’t seem to be 'evil'."

This was the extent of trust that Jin could show to Grimwood now.

When he focuses his attention, Jin can see. It's a black thread that leads to "evil" that disturbs the order of the world.

But it's fun around Grimwood and his squadron.

He couldn't fully trust this Grimwood fellow, so Jin decided to trust in his own abilities, which only he could understand and which were too sensual to share with others.

"Well, now that that's settled, let's get moving. When do we leave?"

Grimwood raised the body that had been supported by the ax. Looking at the white bandage wrapped around his tight chest, Jin thought for a few seconds.

“How's your wound?"

“It's no big deal."

The reply was immediate. It seemed that Jin already knew what he wanted to do.

Then there will be no need to hold back. Jin told him as he started to walk away.

“Right then."

“Roger that," came a low, gruff voice from the man walking right next to Jin.

### Part 2

Upon returning to the camp, Grimwood gathered Karenjina and the three soldiers.

The location was on the outskirts of the encampment.

The first aid for the injured was finally completed, but the real medical care has yet to come. There might have been injured people or stragglers from other units still rolling in. In the midst of the confusion of information leaks, each of them had to do what they could now. Under such circumstances, no one cared if a few soldiers gathered in a corner and talked in private.

Briefly, he explained to Karenjina and the others the story of their trip out to the wilderness just a short while ago.

When she was told they were leaving right now, Karenjina hung her eyes and grabbed Jin by the chest.

"Are you insane!? Grimwood has just been treated for his injuries and just look at all this chaos here! Are we supposed to just walk out of here!?"

Karenjina looked back at the base and spread her arms, asking Jin to look at the situation.

From a distance, the state of the base could be objectively viewed.

They looked like they were able absent, not wishing to be here and just confused. No one even looked back when Karenjina shouted. Everyone had their hands full with themselves and their surroundings. Jin reaffirmed the correctness of his decision and pulled away from Karenjina’s hand.

“Because of this distortion in order, we have to.”

"What?"

Karenjina’s indignation was against the act of abandoning her friends even if they were fighting within the same framework of the Librarium.

She took the initiative in the tent to give first aid to the injured, as she had some experience in this area. There must have been many badly injured people that she could not help but to feel sorry for.

"But now is not the time to let cheap sympathy and camaraderie drag us down." Jin spoke with calm, emotionless eyes as he looked at Karenjina and the soldiers.

“It's about a two-hour walk from here to the place Grimwood is trying to find. It would be too conspicuous as an extra-operational activity if we headed there after things had settled down. Now it's the perfect opportunity to go off on our own without attracting suspicion."

Karenjina's lips tightened. Her fist that she clenched as she lashed out was unraveled

Jin continued.

“Furthermore, this area has just finished a large-scale battle. There are no extra civilians wandering around, liners have been temporarily suspended and civilian facilities, if any, have been closed. In addition, the amount of seithr consumed is far greater than normal.”

This was after a large number of weapons and Ars Magus had been used. Seithr drifts in from everywhere, but it does not recover instantly. If it is consumed locally in a short period of time, the amount of seithr in the air will temporarily drop to a certain level, making the use of Ars weaken if even impossible. That was now.

"I see... Less noise you mean, huh..."

Karenjina voiced her admiration bitterly.

Karenjina’s Seagull Drive probes her surroundings all at once. The more targets she investigates, the more confusing and ineffective the information will be, just as it was when she was underground with the dead.

But now, she should be able to find what they were looking for in a much clearer and a more orderly state than usual.

It's now or never. In fact, now was the best time.

Jin's words gave Karenjina and the others an immediate sense of resolve.

“All right. Let's go."

Karenjina said, and the other soldiers nodded.

Packing the bare minimum, Jin and the others quickly slipped out of the small encampment and ran through the uneven wilderness, skirting the shadows of the rocks.

Honoka was left behind on purpose. They didn’t even explain to him that they were slipping out.

It all started when Grimwood told them that he could not be trusted. Karenjina and the others have been working with Grimwood for a long time now and they were fighting with the same goal of ending the civil war.

But Honoka was different. He was a guard assigned by the Librarium to serve as Jin's caretaker and monitor. If anyone was going to leak information about Grimwood and the others selfish actions to the NOL, it would be Honoka first and foremost. Honoka was in a position where the Librarium should take precedence over mercenaries, Jin and squad members. He didn't trust him and he didn’t think it was in their best interest for him to be drawn into this.

Jin agreed with that decision.

Jin, more than Grimwood, had a hard time trusting Honoka.

On the way, he ran and hurried to reach his destination in the shortest possible distance while letting Karenjina use her "Seagull" to grasp the terrain.

It was about an hour and a half after leaving the encampment when Grimwood stopped and said that it was around that area.

The landscape had changed from a wilderness to a mountainous area. Although one might say, the land has probably turned barren. The trees were thin and weak, and vegetation was scarce. The ground seemed to be rocky, with complex silhouettes forming here and there from the rocks jutting out from the earths surface.

Upon finding a place as open and flat as possible, Karenjina put her hands on the ground.

"The range is quite large. It's a bit overwhelming, but..."

Standing a little further away, Grimwood looks apologetic.

Karenjina looked up and shook her head so loudly that her gathered hair swung from side to side.

“This is my job. Let me do it. I'll use all my strength."

“Take it easy. The less seithr you have, the less noise you'll make, but the heavier your burden will be. Worst-case scenario..."

“I know."

Crisply, Karenjina interrupted Grimwood's words.

In order to activate the drive, seithr is consumed as energy. However, if the output is greater than the amount of seithr that can be consumed, it is the soul of the practitioner that will be used up as an energy source.

Worst case scenario, you die.

“Jin."

With her hands still on the ground, Karenjina now was looking up at Jin. Instead of replying, Jin's eyebrows moved slightly.

Deep, profound eyes that had the color of the night sky stared straight into Jin's green eyes with the purity of a wild beast.

“I don’t like you.”

"...I know."

“But..."

A grin. The fleshy lips carved a challenging smile and disappeared.

“I trust you.”

Jin was bewildered and at a loss for words when he was told.

Trust. That again. He was getting fed up. Anger swelled inside. Grimwood, Karenjina and the others were quick to look at him that way.

Ignoring Jin's furrowed brow, Karenjina took a deep breath, focused and lowered her eyelids.

“...Let’s begin”

She strongly put it into words. The next moment a dull gold light emerged from her hand, and the light spread out in an intricate pattern.

The scale was different from what she had viewed in the basement of the research facility of Sector Seven. The light spread out and traced the surface of the earth at 360 degrees.

“...Ku”

A muffled groan escaped from Karenjina's throat. Her brown forehead was sweating profusely. The small amount of seithr was quickly consumed. Even so, Karenjina expanded her range.

Not yet. She still couldn't find it. Karenjina shouted as she continued to expand her range.

“Jin, do it!"

Without pausing, Jin stood behind Karenjina and pressed his palm against her back. His senses sharpened as he followed Karenjina's concentration.

When he closed his eyes, he could see the dull gold light emitted by Karenjina spreading out all around him. Jin searched, in the light that spread so finely and traced the terrain

Black... A black line.

They were easy to see. Rather, there were too many of them. Countless black lines running in Karenjina’s lights.

They were all stretched straight toward a point.

(What the heck is this...?)

He had never seen a line like this before. Most of the time, lines were more or less irregular, wavy and curved. However, the lines that he saw now were all straight, undisturbed and without hesitation, as if they were drawn by a machine, converging on a single point.

Jin followed Karenjina's consciousness further to the end of the black lines.

The distance was about ten kilometers from here.

(Where is... What is this line? Where are you gathering...)

He wanted to know where the line led to. As he desperately traced the line, he suddenly felt a shock as if he had been pushed from the inside and Jin collapsed on the spot.

"Uhh!"

It was such an unexpected shock that he fell to the hard ground without even taking any precautions. He let out a distracted and pathetic voice. A terrible headache followed. It was as if his brain was being pushed open from the inside. At the same time, a wave of nausea rushed through his internal organs, and Jin quickly clamped his mouth shut.

At the feet of the fallen Jin, Karenjina had collapsed. Unlike Jin, she was already unconscious and was convulsing violently.

“Karenjina!”

Grimwood rushed over and held her, but there was no response. The spasms only became somewhat more mild.

One of the soldiers took her pulse. From the look of relief on his face, it seemed that her pulse was fine. The blood from her nose slid down her cheek and stained it.

"...Are you okay?"

Swallowing down the nausea and holding his head against the terrible headache, Jin sat up.

Karenjina must have been under a load many times greater than the one he had been under. Even so, she did not stop the Drive until the limit. If her survival instinct hadn't refused to continue, she might have used it until she really died.

"She's just unconscious, but breathing fine."

One of the soldiers spoke up and Grimwood finally felt relieved as he laid the small body he was carrying on the ground. His brown fingertips, not even slightly relaxed, rubbed the soil and drew short lines.

“Did you find it?”

Grimwood asked Jin in a low voice.

Jin stared into the distance to the west. He remembered clearly where the lines had gathered.

"Yeah."

“Really?”

Without answering Grimwood, who leaned forward to ask, Jin stood up unsteadily.

His gaze remained fixed on the west, where the line had run.

“That’s.... What the-?”

When he remembered it with his limp brain, a tar-like fear crept up from his feet to his head. His body naturally cowered and trembled.

He has never felt this way about these lines before. Was this fear? Or was it something else?

His head was numb and he couldn’t think straight.

It was not coherent, but that invasive discomfort at the end of the line that seemed to absorb all evil was stuck to the back of his skull and won't come off.

Jin shook his head, trying his best to push that tremendously disgusting image to the edge of his consciousness so that it would not interfere with his minimal thinking.

“Th-There's something about ten kilometers west of here. It was very different, disgusting to be exact. Never was there nothing else that looked like this, so it was probably there."

"Ten kilometers... So far, huh."

With a sigh of surprise, Grimwood looked down at Karenjina.

The range of Karenjina's "Seagull" is usually limited to a radius of about one kilometer. If it reached ten kilometers away, that means she has searched a hundred times the usual area at once. With a sly grimace, Grimwood moved Karenjina into the shade of a nearby rocky outcrop. Here, the jutting rocks and the short trees that nestled against them would conceal her from a distance.

That would mean the choice to leave her here.

“Are you sure?"

"It's not like there were any enemy soldiers hiding in the vicinity, judging from using the Seagull earlier. But even so, leaving a woman alone in the middle of nowhere like this was a moralists unnecessary sense of ethics poking at something as trivial as the conscience."

Grimwood replied to Jin's question as he backed away from Karenjina.

"I wasn't planning on taking her with me originally. If it weren't for Seagull, I wouldn't have told her about this either."

With that, he turned away.

“I see." was all Jin said as he stepped out in front of Grimwood. Now that Karenjina had fainted, Jin was the only one who could see their destination.

(Ten kilometers west...)

That's where the black line ended. Was it the weapon that Grimwood was talking about to stop seithr, or was it something more sinister than that?

Still having that uncomfortable feeling inside his head, Jin ran down the slope where the earth was exposed.

The night had been quiet, but now there the wind blew strong.

It wasn't a dark night anymore. The moon must have risen very high.

The clouds that had covered the sky thickly were being swept away by the strengthening wind. The navy of the deep night resembled the color of the eyes of a female soldier, cowering in the shade of a rock.

The wind rustled the thin branches of the short, overgrown trees.

Karenjina, still unconscious, had not opened her eyes. Her limp, weak body laid on the dry ground, her cheeks motionless, her hair curling in a peculiar way.

Beside her, there was a foot.

It was a corner of the wilderness where a war was going on nearby. And yet, a pair of brown leather shoes with not a speck of dirt on them was right next to the fallen and sleeping Karenjina.

“Oh dear, you were left behind.”

The owner of the foot spoke to her with theatrical sympathy.

Karenjina couldn’t hear him.

The owner of the leather shoes bent his tall, slender body into an exaggerated peek at the face of the woman who was not speaking.

The clouds were peeled away and the moon appeared, illuminating the earth with its cold moon white color.

“Oh, I feel sorry for you."

Brown leather shoes, a black suit, and a black hat. The green-haired man grinned in a sadistic manner.

### Part 3

The clouds that had covered the sky had gone away and the white moonlight was faintly illuminating the ground.

Before they knew it, the reddish-brown soil under their feet had changed into a grayish pebbly soil.

He walked down the gentle slope, then up, then down again. After repeating this process several times, Jin stopped for the first time in a while at the destination he had reached.

“This is it.”

Grimwood stepped forward from behind Jin. One of the soldiers illuminated it with a light from his equipment.

As Jin and Grimwood looked at each other, they saw a cave in the rocky wall, a mixture of rock and earth. It was not a natural cave. The entrance was chained, and the dark passage was reinforced with wood.

“It has the air of a mine... Do you think it’s a coal mine?"

The soldier with the light said and another soldier gave him a difficult look.

“Coal mines, who uses coal nowadays?”

“Who knows?”

“No, it doesn't look like a coal mine."

It was Jin who said this to the soldiers who were tilting their heads. He walked up to the entrance of the cave and picked up a small, black ore lying there.

Only about the size of a thumbnail. It had a tough texture and was much lighter than it looked. When he put pressure on his fingertips, it cracked and crumbled like dry clay.

A blue light flashed momentarily on the small section. Jin raised an eyebrow slightly.

“It's the same as the crystallized seithr that the Titan used back then.”

The rock giant that ran amok in the forest when Jin first went out with the 9th squad. Come to think of it, they still didn't know who on either side of the camp had summoned that Titan.

“It was probably made here."

Grimwood muttered bitterly as he stared into the cave.

“Our enemies have ties to the Librarium, the Ikaruga Federation and even Sector Seven. Coming along with all their distributing weapons.”

He took out a light from his equipment and led the way, illuminating the area as he went.

(Again...)

The entrance to the not-so-narrow cave was filled with huge bodies, and as he followed Grimwood's back, Jin's mind dripped with disquiet. Grimwood said that it was not a prediction, but a fact that the "enemy" was distributing weapons in various directions. Perhaps it is true.

But then, where did he find out? How did a mercenary who was running around the battlefield day in and day out know so much? Grimwood was the one who connected all the dots, wasn’t he?

(Oh well. If he's an “enemy”... Then I'll cut him down.)

Jin warned himself to not be too eager in trusting him as he leaned toward the man walking in front of him as the captain. When the time comes, he won’t let his cutting edge wander.

The cave soon turned into a long staircase. The stairs seemed to go on and on, downward with no end in sight.

"Hmm......"

After more than ten minutes of descent, Grimwood stopped and groaned quizzically.

It was a dead end. There was a landing slightly wider than the width of the stairs and the landing was cut off by a flat wall of earth.

But something didn't feel right.

“Grimwood, step aside.”

Pushing his body forward, Jin slowly pushed the tip of his Yukianesa against the earthen wall. The tip of the scabbard touched the wall and then dug in. The space was filled with ripples that can described as plunges into water, shaking the view of the earth wall.

He dug his sheath further into the ground and eventually buried himself in the earthen wall.

Then the view Jin looked at changed. The stairs, which had been a dead end, turned into a passageway and continued onward.

“Camouflage Ars Magus.”

When Jin said it out loud, it seemed to convey the understanding to the rest of the group. After Jin slipped through the wall and entered the back, Grimwood and the others followed him inside.

He wondered if the air had changed a little. It was hotter and more humid than before.

He had the chilling feeling that he had entered the body of a reptile. It was not a good feeling.

“Stay sharp.”

Muttering quietly, Grimwood turned off the light. Following suit, the soldiers who had their lights on also turned them off. Then it was pitch black, he couldn't see a thing around him, not even the faintest bit.

It was not so easy to stand out in the dark with lights on. Now that they had passed through the camouflage Ars Magus, they should consider this to be enemy territory. Jin also pulled himself together and moved forward, keeping an eye on his surroundings.

As long as they were careful, the darkness was not a problem if they just wanted to keep going. They put their hands on the wall and walked forward, using each other's breathing as a guide to the distance.

“It's going downhill...”

One of the soldiers behind them said. The road was indeed gently descending.

After descending so many stairs, were they still going down? Growing more cautious with each step, Jin carefully pumped his saliva into his thirsty throat.

There was one more thing that grew on them as they went on. The smell.

It was a stinking smell that Jin, Grimwood and the other soldiers remembered. Rather, they were familiar with it for some time now

It was the smell of death. Naturally, they all remembered the incident with the ghouls in the basement. Come to think of it, the lift had gone down a long way that time too.

"Oh, light."

Jin, who was walking in the lead, took a small breath and sharpened his voice in alarm.

He saw a pale blue light down below. Once they reached the bottom of the hill, they arrived at the place where the light had been. It was a room with a domed ceiling. At least it was much larger than the two-connected tents of the ninth squad. The walls did not seem to be bare earth, unlike the passageways they had come through. The area was dark and the color and texture were visibly not clear, but it was seamless.

There was nothing that looked like lighting anywhere in the room. The blue light that Jin saw was actually water that was shallowly soaking the floor of the room.

There was water all over the floor, almost to the level of Jin's ankles. The water glistened with a blue light, illuminating the area around his feet.

When he stepped on it, it felt a little heavier than water. Still, it was not so heavy as to interfere with his walking.

“...Liquid seithr?”

As he said this, Grimwood walked past Jin, who stopped to look around, and dragged the sound of water to the center of the room.

The light was the same as the momentary glow of the section of mineral Jin picked up at the entrance. But he didn’t know where it was coming from.

“Captain, up there.”

One of the soldiers pointed at the ceiling. Jin looked up with Grimwood. The ceiling was inscribed with what looked like ancient letters, spreading out in a circle around the apex of the dome. In the center of the circle of letters was a coffin-like object.

“Jin, can you read?"

Grimwood asked, looking up at the letters with his eyes. Jin was also looking up at the strings of letters on the ceiling, looking for something to help him decipher them.

"No, I've never even seen them before..."

"Oh, yeah. Ancient ruins or something?"

Such is the look of the place. Giving up on deciphering the words on the ceiling, Grimwood turned his head around. He stopped his gaze at a point on the wall.

"This may be a hit"

As Grimwood said this, there was what looked like a door in the corner of his eye. The border of the wall, not found anywhere else, was made up of squares. There was more to it in the back.

Grimwood made his way to the door, making a sound of the water. He folded the handle of his great axe on his back so that he could remove it at any time and placed one hand on the handle of his back weapon.

The soldiers followed, guns ready. After some delay, Jin also started walking. But... Suddenly.

He could hear a voice.

— Niisama.

A young girls voice, stuttering. Jin could not immediately remember whose voice it was. But he knew it was a voice he should remember. It was a voice he had heard before.

At the same time, a feeling of discomfort like mud rose up in him.

He reflexively reached out and summoned Yukianesa, then turned around and positioned himself low.

“Jin, what's wrong?"

As he opened the door, Grimwood turned and asked. Without looking in his direction, Jin replied sharply.

“Go ahead.”

“But-."

On the verge of saying something, Grimwood bottomed out his words.

He felt a presence from somewhere. Something was there. It was an overwhelming and bizarre presence that grabbed up every instinctive fear in Grimwood. Even though he couldn't see it yet, his throat slumped and he heard the sound of air escaping.

The water at his feet, the walls and ceiling right there, and the empty space in front of him all seemed to be coming at him with mass and pressure, and he felt frightened. The fear of not knowing the reason or identity of such a thing led to more threads of fear that sewed Grimwood's spirit.

"Jin... This is..."

“Go! You're in the way."

He spat lowly. Grimwood understood what was unreasonable in that harsh but overwrought voice.

He pushed the soldiers, who were already hunched over and trying to escape to the next room, into the door and turned around.

“Finish up quickly!"

"I know, I know. I’ll catch up soon."

With Jin's reply, Grimwood and the nineth squadron left the room.

At that moment, the door slammed shut behind Grimwood with a sound like scratching metal.

With no time to interrupt anything, the doorway was blocked, and Grimwood and his soldiers held on to it, pulling and pushing with all their might, but it did not budge.

"Damn it!"

Unable to bear it, Grimwood slammed his fist against the door. The impact was oddly dull.

There was no sound from the other side of the door. Jin must have heard the door close, but he didn't see any reaction to it.

"What should we do, Captain...?"

One of the soldiers asked anxiously.

Beyond the door was another passage. It stretched without side passages into the unseen depths of darkness.

“...Jin said he would catch up. Let's just trust him now and move on."

If anything, at least a Nox Nyctores would be able to destroy this door.

He was very curious about the presence he had felt in that room, but there was nothing he could do standing here. Grimwood began to walk down the corridor with his men behind him.

### Part 4

When the door was completely closed, the area was filled with silence. It was so quiet that the sound of his own breathing and heartbeat became noisy.

Jin stood in the shallow water and focused his attention. He was aware that he was separated from Grimwood and the others, but he didn't have time to focus on that right now.

— Kill.

An impulse whispered in his head.

— Kill. Kill. Kill. Slay. Murder. Slaughter.

Regardless of his intentions, the nauseating feeling of something that was not himself were penetrating Jin's nerves like cold water seeping in.

But no. This was not the voice he heard earlier.

It was not like the voice of Yukianesa, who always comes up with something to shake Jin's spirit and give him the will to kill in the hand that holds the sword.

Earlier, the voice that he heard was...

“.......Rugrurururugrururu...”

In place of the girls voice, which had sunk somewhere in his memory, he heard what sounded like the low roar of a beast. But at the same time, a voice with a strange undulation that would never be uttered by a beast approached from beyond the darkness where Jin was looking, beyond the blue glow of the liquid seithr.

Suddenly, the darkness moved. A shadow abruptly struggled as if it had a mass in the deep blackness and without a sound, a reddish-black line ran like a crack across its surface.

A pair of large eyes blinked at Jin.

And out of the darkness, it emerged.

A large head that seems to have developed only a jaw.

It crawled out of the darkness and fell to the surface. It didn't have a clear torso under its head, and it seemed to be dragging the darkness it had crawled out of.

It was as if only the neck had been forcibly pulled out of the torso and some of the flesh had been peeled off. The head was large and the top was higher than Jin's. Jin would be like a toy to that head. He could easily be swallowed whole.

But even so, Jin felt that the head was still on the small side of its kind. He didn't even know what kind of head this was, yet he was able to tell that.

Jin noticed that his breath was trembling. It was terrifying. The head that appeared in front of him. The very existence of it. The fact that it existed. His soul shriveled up in fright.

But a wave of murderous intent washed over it.

The urge to kill shook Jin.

His head was a mess. He wanted to escape, but he wanted to kill. He wanted to kill it even though he was afraid. He wanted to slash at it, cut off its jet-black flesh, bathe it in black blood and gouge out its red eyeballs.

Kill, Kill. Slay. Murder. Slaughter. Destroy.

"Argh! Shut up a already!"

The voice in his head was ranting and raving, and Jin resisted by biting his lips.

It was the voice of the Nox Nyctores, Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa that urged him to kill. It was Yukianesa's will. If he let his impulses take over and slashed upon the beast, Jin's consciousness would be easily swallowed and bend Yukianesa's will.

Whether looking at Jin or Yukianesa, the black head trembled as if it were rattling. The jaws, lined with huge black fangs, opened wide.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"

It barked in a voice so loud that it gave the illusion of the earth shaking.

That was the signal to start the battle.

"Haaaaaaa!"

The water that had dissolved the seithr splashed up and Jin ran.

The urge crawling up his neck made Jin pull out his sword. The silvery white blade froze the air around him. As the cold air spread, a black feeling spread inside Jin.

“I'll kill you!”

Shouting unconsciously, Jin swung his sword sharply at the throat of the head.

The slash made a sound of wet flesh and cut off the heavy object.

But it was not the throat of a black beastly head, but one of the countless black tentacles protruding from an irregularly shaped body part extending from it.

The tentacle that flew through the air splashed up and fell behind the head. As it was, the tip of the tentacle melted into the water and disappeared. The rest of the tentacles attacked Jin at once. Some glided across the surface of the water, while others leapt up high and swung down like whips.

Jin responded to this with the blade of Yukianesa.

He flashed his blade to the left and right, cutting and discarding at random.

But no matter how many tentacles he slashed, the number did not decrease. In fact, the number seems to be increasing instead, and finally, one of the tentacles that he couldn't handle and missed, plunged deeply into Jin's abdomen in a horizontal cut.

"Fu...gu."

His lungs rumbled as he was forced to exhale. He was blown away with such force that he slammed into the wall behind him and fell into the shallow water.

"Ku... Cough!"

When he woke up, choking on the air he hadn't been able to inhale properly, countless tentacles were already closing in on him. He jumped sideways to avoid them and rolled in the water covered with seithr. As if chasing after him, the tentacles slammed into him one after another.

The flying droplets fell like rain.

Jin managed to pull himself up, shoveling his wet sticky hair into a muddled mess and raising his sword.

The sliced tentacles flew up again and fell into the water, melting and disappearing.

The tentacle that had been severed in the middle trembled finely and immediately regenerated from its cross section. The black whip that flew out came at Jin's face.

He almost evaded the powerful thrust, but the force of the graze sliced through Jin's ear and shoulder. The pain that raced through Jin's body disturbed his nerves. Something black was slowly rising from the bottom of his stomach.

He groaned and tried to swallow it, and when he looked up, he thought he saw a black head... laughing at him.

It ridiculed him.

Red eyes twisted, deeply cleft corners of mouth distorted, fangs lined up.

The inside of Jin rumbled.

"Ah...... Hah... Aah. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

— Kill, kill. Kill the beast. Kill that pitch, black “BEAST!”

His throat trembled, and an unbearable scream rose up. His lungs filled up. His throat collapsed and he stopped breathing. It was as if black water of murderous intent began to circulate through his body instead of his blood. It was as if he was being swallowed whole.

He became awre of so immediately.

But before he could resist, a black emotion rushed in and engulfed Jin from the inside.

"Come on, this isn't like you."

“...Huh?”

Jin's movements stopped as he was startled.

He wondered if I had finally lost his mind. If not, he might have been temporarily addicted to the seithr that soaked his feet.

A voice that shouldn't have been heard over any other voice, but it was so close.

A calm, low, gentle voice. Yet, because he spoke with a coarse inflection, his voice sometimes sounded intimidating and even scary.

The voice of his brother.

"Don't get so hot tempered, you idiot."

It was right behind him. Or maybe it was at his feet. Anyway, the voice of his brother, who had no form, spoke to him as if he was melting into the air around him.

With a single breath, it washed away Jin's spirit, which was coated with Yukianesa's murderous intent.

Like a receding wave, Jin's heart became lighter. The sludge-like heaviness recedes from his internal organs.

His vision stabilized and his breathing was normal.

"Huh... Hehehehe... Yeah, that's right. This is not like me."

Wiping his dirty mouth, Jin smiled thinly.

Jin Kisaragi is calm and collected. In his school days, he was so polite to everyone that he was well-liked and was even made student president.

If he could talk to his brother about such things, he wondered how he would look at him.

Would he be surprised? It would be nice if he was, but he was sure he didn't know much about the school system, so he would probably just ignore it, without much interest.

Whatever it was, his brother is gone.

Jin killed him.

Thinking of this, his disturbed mind was flattened and he felt terribly calm.

"My brother is dead, so there's no one left for me to kill."

There was no one left to kill that can scorch his soul and freeze his heart.

Jin straightened his back and sheathed "his" Yukianesa, eyeing the head of that black beast. His hands remained on the hilt and he sat back.

“I just want to get rid of you."

(To go to the back of this room. To catch up with my friends who went ahead of me. I can't just sit around and wait forever.)

The beasts head roared and another wave of tentacles attacked Jin.

One by one, Jin slashed them away, dodging those that don't make it in time.

There was already no killing intent or fear. His cool green eyes calmly read the movement of the beast's attack. The trajectory was not complicated. He could dodge it if he calmed down. He didn’t have to focus on one thing, just look at the whole picture and slash as necessary.

The tentacles sliced off by Yukianesa fall off and disappear again.

At that moment, Jin noticed that the surface of the liquid seithr had taken on a blue glow. As if to absorb the light, a section of the beasts tentacles lit up and new tentacles regenerated from it.

In short, it sucked up the seithr in the water and used them to rebuild new parts of its body. In other words, the neck itself does not store an inexhaustible supply of seithr.

“...I see, that's how it works."

That small realization gave him a number of ideas on how to deal with it. So, he jumped backward to dodge the tentacles that came at him from above and below, as if they were trying to bite him and as he landed, he thrust Yukianesa to the floor.

At that moment, the water that had spread across the floor of the room, starting with Yukianesa, froze.

The black head reacted as if in agitation. Both he and his tentacles were half-buried in the ice, unable to move. Even so, a few of the tentacles flailed about, shattering the ice and lifting it up, but before they could swing down, Jin's ice blade struck through every last one of them.

The shredded tentacles fell and bounced on Jin’s ice. They didn’t soak up the seithr dissolved in the water and regenerate.

Perhaps sensing its inferiority, the beasts head roared.

As he shook his neck alone, countless cracks appeared in the ice. Without a pause, he jumped up as if to raise himself up, and his neck escaped the ice.

It went straight for Jin.

With that in mind, Jin swung his sword.

A blue-white light ran. Countless ice blades stuck out from below and pierced the flying black neck. The ice that spread out from there covered the neck, turning it into a lump of ice.

“Shatter...”

The flash that Jin released shattered it into pieces.

The cool, sharp sound of shattered glass work littered the area. The ice fell onto the still frozen floor and shattered again, eventually leaving no trace.

Jin puts his sword in its sheath and looked down at Yukianesa.

That murderous voice was no longer heard. It was quiet as if it were just a plain sword. The black head has been taken care of.

“You've taken up a lot of time...”

He wondered if Grimwood and the others have already reached the back. He said he would be right behind them, but it would be bad manners to keep them waiting and worrying too much. Jin turned his back on the frozen room and stepped towards the door leading to the back to follow Grimwood and the others.

### Part 5

The pathway leading to the back of the building seemed to curve as they walked along the wall. A soldier walking right behind Grimwood, who was hurrying ahead without turning on the lights to avoid being spotted by the enemy, called out to him in concern.

"Lieutenant Kisaragi is all right, isn’t he?"

They couldn’t imagine what was going on behind the closed doors.

But just before the door closed, Jin noticed something and braced himself, which made the soldiers feel uneasy inside.

Grimwood replied calmly, without breaking stride.

"He'll be fine. He's the man chosen by the Nox Nyctores. In fact, it would be more dangerous for me not to be with Jin."

“I know, right?”

No matter what happens, Jin will get through it. Everyone, including Grimwood, had absolute faith in his abilities.

Rather than that, one person behind him said in a muffled voice.

“Hah.”

That was all Grimwood said.

He was worried about Jin, but he was more worried about the smell that was getting worse as he went deeper. The dense stench of death was almost nauseating. What could be in the back? He didn’t want to see another pile of corpses like the last time, Grimwood thought to himself.

Eventually, the passage was cut off and a gaping hole opened up at the end of it.

It was bright on the other side. A flaming orange light leaked out and illuminated the end of the passage.

They heard some kind of mechanical noise.

Cautiously and distractedly, Grimwood peered inside.

Then his eyes widened at what he saw.

“What is this...?"

He wandered into the room as if he were being sucked in.

It was a large room. The ceiling was domed and in the middle of it was a large......

“Gahh!”

“Wha-!?”

Suddenly there was a sound like the simultaneous crushing of air and a puddle of blood and Grimwood turned around.

The soldier next to him took a few steps back and let out a cramped scream.

A white arm protruded from the abdomen of the subordinate soldier who was right next to the entrance. Looking down at it, the subordinate soldier spat out a large amount of blood from his mouth.

“Cap...tain...”

“Owl!”

His subordinate looked up at him with eyes that didn't understand what was happening. Grimwood, in a scream, called out to his subordinates.

Grimwood stretched out his arms, not knowing what that is for.

However, before his hand could touch the body of his subordinate, it was thrown away without a second thought by a thin white arm protruding from his abdomen.

Owl’s body fell to the floor, drawing a band of blood.

Grimwood, who followed him with his eyes in dismay, was approached from the place where his men had been standing until a moment ago.

"You bitch... What are you doing here?"

It was a woman's voice that spoke with a smile of cold ridiculing mockery.

Grimwood turned around at the sound of the voice. It was an unbelievable sight, but it was real. Unmistakably she was-.

"You bastarrrrrd!"

With a grisly bark, Grimwood unfolded his battle axe and swung it wide.

The hem of a soft, white robe swept across his vision.

At the scream he heard, Jin was running in the dark.

The door that had separated him from Grimwood and the others opened straightforwardly with a flash of Yukianesa.

The passage ahead was dark and seemed to curve gently. Even without lights, it was not too difficult to follow the wall.

He was going along, paying attention to his surroundings, when he heard it.

He kicked the ground and ran down the long, narrow passageway as fast as he could. The dark walls echoed Jin's ragged breathing eerily.

Over there, behind here. The scream he heard belonged to the soldier who was with Grimwood, Owl. After a beat, he also heard Grimwood's angry voice, like the roar of a beast.

Something happend, else the calm Captain wouldn't have screamed like that. His heart was beating like a fast-ringing bell, alerting him continuously. He had a bad feeling about this. The blood in his body was rushing noisily. Seeing a flame-colored light at the end of the passageway, Jin abandoned his caution and jumped in.

It was an unexpectedly large room and Jin reflexively stopped in his tracks.

It was a circular room just like the previous one, with a domed ceiling as well. This structure also reminded Jin of that corpse-strewn underground facility of some time ago, but this one was much larger than that one. It was big and horrifying.

The room was filled with the stench of death, but no corpses were piled up this time.

Instead... Jin found them in a corner of the room.

Three corpses rolled around in a messy manner as if they were broken dolls.

One had a large hole in his abdomen. The other two had been torn to shreds all over their bodies. They were Grimwood's men who had been with him earlier.

“What happened...?"

It wasn't long before Jin rushed to the scene after hearing the scream. And yet.

He felt bad. It was a very unpleasant feeling. While enduring the discomfort that tugged at the back of his head, Jin looked around the room again, feeling slightly dizzy.

There was something bizarre about it.

A coffin.

A coffin-like box with some kind of writing on the surface hung in the middle of the room. Numerous pipes from the ceiling, walls and floor connected to it. It looked like a device of some kind. At the same time, he remembered the letters carved on the ceiling of the room before and the symbol of a coffin.

Below the floating coffin, there was a large hole in a circle. If the chain that hung the coffin were to break, it would easily fall into the hole. The hole was wide enough to do so, but narrow enough to cover the entire floor.

From within it. An orange light was flooding the room. It was similar to the color of a flame, it illuminated the room so brightly that he could see the whole room.

On closer inspection, the hole seemed to be boiling with a flame-colored sludge swirling inside.

It was like a "cauldron" filled with lava.

But he didn't feel any heat. In fact, the air was chilly. It was sticky and cold, like a corpse.

The sound of something hard hitting the ground came from the wall. He quickly braced himself and turned around, but as he looked back, a part of the wall slid out from under him.

It stretched out in a straight line until it reached the side of that lava-filled hole in the middle of the room, and then stopped. After that, a cheap driving sound started. Jin ran up to it.

When he looked closely, he saw that the wall that extended to the side of the hole was like a conveyor belt. On the other side of the wall, he heard the sound of some heavy objects being dropped. The conveyor belt started to carry them away.

Jin froze in place in astonishment as the packages arrived in the room illuminated by the flaming light.

Unconsciously, his eyes widened and his mouth opened thinly, losing strength.

They were human beings that were brought to him. They were also ...... corpses. Some were wearing the clothes of soldiers of the Librarium, and others wearing the uniform of the Ikaruga Federation. He couldn’t tell which one they belonged to, but they were wounded bodies with bandages wrapped around them.

One after another, the corpses flowed in and were thrown straight into that hole.

It was as if they were stoking coal.

Suddenly, Jin's vision caught sight of a familiar figure. It was the corpse of a young man still wearing the uniform of the Librarium. His chest was stained black with blood that must have been his own. The face of a student soldier with a twitching expression and downcast eyelids that were the same as that of that student soldier who Jin took care of at the encampment and said he was a junior at the academy.

He flowed forward on the belt and eventually he too was thrown into the cauldron of heatless flame.

Immediately after that, the pipe above Jin's head made a muddy gurgling sound and swished. It was as if something was being fed into it. The end of that pipe was that coffin.

The idea itself was horrifying, but the device looked as if the corpses had been boiled in a cauldron and sucked up, then poured into the coffin.

A chill crept up the inside of Jin's spine.

He felt a different and more horrible fear than the one he felt when he confronted the black head earlier.

The smell of death lingered in the air unpleasantly.

And this crawling fear was much like the unpleasantness of the smell of death.

"Hmm? You're... Jin Kisaragi?"

Suddenly, he heard a voice. This time it wasn't an auditory hallucination. It was a human voice.

With minimal movement, Jin turned toward the voice.

He was so distracted by the large coffin and equipment that he didn't notice that there was a small figure on the other side of the cauldron. He couldn't see the details of the figure clearly because the light of the cauldron flame shining from below was too close. But he recognized her immediately by her voice and her clothes, which were too conspicuous for someone who belonged to the Librarium.

"You are... of the 'Zeroth Squadron'."

Meifang Lapislazuli. She was the commander of the Zeroth Squadron, whom he passed by at the Librarium branch in Yabiko.

The challenging clothes that deliberately expose her body lines. The fact that she exposes her true face without a mask. The unpleasant and conceited gaze, and the cruel smile. It's the same as that time.

Jin's heart thudded and trembled. The Yukianesa in his hand pulsated.

— Kill.

It whispered to him again. That she was a dangerous "enemy" and an "evil" that should be killed. A murderous intent lightened up in Jin.

(You're noisy... Shut up!)

For a moment, his mind went blank and he grabbed Yukianesa tightly as if to scold it, clenching his teeth to cement his stance. He resisted the urge to run and slash at Meifang.

But maybe that was a bad idea after all.

"Wha......"

When he regained his blurred consciousness, Jin was surrounded by white robed figures. Everyone of these figures wears a white mask over their face and a hood that covers eyes. The Zeroth Squadron. The "Garbage Disposal" squad. It is responsible for disposing of traitors who betray the Librarium in their own ranks.

Jin glanced around at all the white-robed people surrounding him, then glared sharply at Meifang.

"Why are you here? What have you done to them?"

He asked in a low, hostile tone. By them, of course, he meant Grimwood's men who were lying at the entrance of the room.

No one had passed them in that narrow passage before Jin came to this room. If a suspicious person had gotten to them, Meifang and the men of the Zeroth Squadron would not have let them escape.

The ones who killed them are the ones from the Zeroth Squadron here. No, it was definitely Meifang. Her white arms and the white robe she wore were covered with the red of blood.

"'What do you think you're doing?' That's my line. You 'renegades'."

Licking her blood-red fingertips, Meifang looked at Jin with emotionless, glass-ball eyes.

Jin clenched his teeth tightly.

It's true that they ignored orders and left the camp on their own. Acting on your own is a serious breach of discipline. Especially in an emergency situation like the current one, it is a serious crime.

But is it even possible to be called a traitor? Is it so bad to call for an end to the war as soon as possible so that no more unnecessary casualties will occur? It's absurd, Jin's stomach churned as he wondered if this was what an orderly world should look like.

But what Meifang continued to say was not exactly what Jin had assumed.

“This is a sacred place created for the "Imperator" of the Librarium... You were not only satisfied with trespassing, but you are also trying to sell it over to Sector Seven of all things. This is outrageous."

“Sector Seven?”

Why has that name come up? When Jin raised his eyebrows and asked incomprehensibly, Meifang licked off her fingertips and put her blood-soaked hand on his white cheek.

"Why didn't you know? Fufufu, was the man who could be the next head of the Kisaragi family used for such a puny mercenary?"

As she said this, she shook her loosely bundled hair and looked down at her feet. Underneath her high heeled boots, there was some kind of raised lump lying around. Grabbing it carelessly, Meifang lifted it with one thin arm.

"Uuu..."

The lump hanging lazily from the floor groaned. Jin was blinded by the sight. The one where Meifang grabbed a person by the neck and held him in midair.

"Grimwood!"

With an almost shouting voice, Jin called out the name.

His well-trained body, strong shoulders, sturdy arms and legs had no strength, and he was left hanging slackly. His whole body was wet with blood. His axe was also lying on the floor, smashed and broken. There was a muffled sound and blood bubbled in Grimwood's mouth as he was forced to look up. His ash gray mustache was stained with a sticky red liquid.

"You...!"

Jin braced himself with indignation.

Grimwood was quite strong. The soldiers in the 9th squad were also considerably powerful. It was hard to believe that she could so easily turn them into nothing.

But what he was seeing was undeniably true. It was an unforgivable fact.

Looking at the angry Jin with a tilted head, Meifang smiled smugly.

“What are you so upset about...? This is the man who leaked the information about our sides formation to the Ikaruga Federation during the last invasion. He is an informer and is also tied to that scum, Kokonoe.”

“......What?"

That's absurd. Grimwood was a traitor? On one hand, Jin also remembered that he had a number of doubts about his actions. Even Jin had looked at Grimwood with suspicion a few times, as he had been so well-informed. Was it that transparent?

Meifang made a deliberate sound of pity.

“Such innocence. You've been used.”

The next head of the Kisaragi family, a user of the Nox Nyctores. Jin was self aware of how he can be used in many ways.

But he was not easily convinced that Grimwood was using him.

It was not based on circumstantial evidence or logic, but on a silly emotional argument that he was not that kind of person. He simply had faith in Grimwood. That's why he couldn’t believe what Meifang said.

"Jin..."

A muffled voice came from the other side of the cauldron, causing Jin to look up breathlessly.

Grimwood, who seemed to be unconscious, desperately reflected Jin in his eyes while hanging in the air.

"Run... This one's bad... She’s a 'monster'...”

Grimwood complained in desperation, spitting blood from his strangled throat.

The next moment, however, his expression became that of frenzy, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.

"Gu, gaaaaah!"

The hand of Meifang grasping his neck was filled with a lethal force. Grimwood's neck creaked under the strain.

Narrowing her eyes as if enjoying the sound, Meifang sneered at the large, suspended man from below.

“'Monster'? Oh, who is the real 'monster'?

He was speaking very slowly, as if he was trying to make sure, as if he was trying to tell Jin something, but then his eyes were wide open and he was screaming like a broken man with rage in his eyes.

“You are garbage! You are trash who betrayed the Imperator, so watch how you talk!"

"Ohhhh..."

Her finger tips dug into his throat, breaking the skin and causing blood to flow.

“Stop it! No more!”

As Grimwood struggled to wriggle out with a completely weak body, Jin let out a cry of grief that surprised even him.

At the sound of his voice, Meifang glanced back at him, then huffed and relaxed the force that had almost snapped his neck.

Grimwood's body slackened and lost tension again. Jin wondered if he had fainted, but that didn't seem to be the case. He repeatedly opened and closed his mouth like a fish seeking oxygen and glared at Meifang with his light green eyes. Animalistic hostility can only describe his current image.

"Fufufu... Listen, trash. The Imperator is a generous person and they will give trash like you a chance to atone for your sins.

Meifang asked, looking back into Grimwood's eyes as he stared at her.

"Answer me. "Who” sent you here?"

“I don't know what you mean by..."

"Do I have to explain everything to trash like you so you can understand? I'm asking who's giving you orders? You're in the Librarium, right? It's someone with the equivalent authority of... Ah, yes. For example..."

She was about to say someone's name, but Grimwood interrupted her as if to shake her off.

"I don't know what you are misunderstanding... 'monster'. I'm here of my own volition, under no one else's direction..."

Grimwood's words were muffled in mid-sentence. Maifang's hand grabbed his neck and crushed it.

Looking up at the large man, Meifang made a smile with her mouth as she glared at him.

“I didn't give you permission to say anything. Well, if you really don't want to tell me, I'll thoroughly ask that woman eventually. Fufufu..."

It was obvious who "that woman" was referring to. Grimwood's face instantly changed color as he struggled, but he could not free his body.

"Hey, wait you bitc- Kuh!"

“I will not allow you to speak. You have disrespected the Imperator’s mercy. From now on, you are forbidden to speak at all."

With a tone of voice that judged any disobedience, Meifang licked her lips with her red tongue and traced them. A sign of decleration.

"Now, the charges. 'Disrespect' and 'rebellion' against the Novus Orbis Librarium and the Imperator!”

Meifang's high-pitched declaration reverberated through the basement.

Meifang tells her white brethren as he hangs up the sinner, Grimwood, even higher.

“With the blade of retribution and scales of judgment, I come to deliver... righteous justice! I am the condemner... I am the wing of judgment. This trial is over!”

At Meifang's sonorous declaration, the white-robed people surrounding Jin declared one by one.

“Death penalty!”

The voices of dozens of people, seemingly endlessly repeating the words "Death penalty" one by one echoed loudly on the high ceiling.

Jin felt like he was going crazy with all the death threats blathering on around him. What the hell is this?

“Stop it... Let him go!”

Dazed and confused, Jin's voice was weakly overshadowed by the white robes that surrounded him. Eventually, the last one said, "Death penalty!”, and then…

Grimwood's body was thrust forward and Meifang walked up to the cauldron.

"The Apostle's judgment is fair. Therefore, in the name of the Imperator, you, Grimwood Huster, are condemned."

There was already no response from Grimwood's body. The legs of his body slumped down and stopped over a hole that had the color of boiled lava.

With a grin, Meifang put a touch of torment on her lips.

“You are... sentenced to death!”

“Stoooooooooop!”

The sound of Meifang's voice echoing with ecstasy caused Jin to run. He had expected to be seized immediately, but the people of the Zeroth Squadron did not move.

Running straight ahead, he put his hand on the hilt of Yukianesa.

Meifang was watching him with amusement. The womans slender arms strangled Grimwood's neck with unbelievable force as she watched Jin run impatiently.

— For one moment, he thought he saw Grimwood jump.

But the next thing he knew.

Pop.

A wet light sound was mixed in with a heavy wet sound, and it made Jin want to cover his ears. The red liquid flowed and Grimwood's body and neck separated. The neck and body, separated by the bloodstained hand, fell apart.

It fell down, into the hole.

And was swallowed into the boiling cauldron.

A thick pipe moved above Jin's head, sending something into the coffin. The spilling sound felt like the pulse of life,

That... was Grimwood, wasn’t he?

At that moment, Jin felt something as cold as a snowstorm pass through his body.

— Kill.

The ice sword whispered.

An urge swirled inside Jin.

(Kill......kill.....kill....kill...kill..kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill.)

His legs ran faster than he've ever run before, and his eyes widened even more as he stared at the white flesh before him. He was going to slice through that skin, through that flesh, and he was going to spill everything that's in there. The color, the sound, the heat, everything, everyone, cut, mince, reject.

"I'll kill you, I'll kill you, you bastard!"

The taste of blood rose in his throat as he howled on his own.

He stepped forward and with the same momentum, Jin pulled out Yukianesa. The silver blader, colder than ice, sliced through the air and tore at Meifang's skin, ripping flesh from body.

At the thought, a moment of unbearable pleasure made Jin smile.

But immediately after, Meifang was not there. Jin gasped as he swung out his blade, which ended up striking the air.

"I'll dismiss your current rudeness as temporary insanity. Fufufu, be grateful."

"Wha…!"

The voice whispering leisurely and seductively suddenly came from right beside him.

That's absurd. What kind of reaction and speed is that? Who the hell is this Meifang Lapislazuli? Jin turned around, feeling an instinctive danger like prey being gazed upon.

"Don't get so heated... BOY!"

She smiled gently with lips that had red blood printed on them as if it was lipstick and Meifang's palm bottom plunged into Jin's side.

"Argh......ku!"

He didn't even have time to brace himself. In an instant, his breathing stopped and his consciousness became clouded as the shock shot up to his brain. His knees lost their strength, and despite his will, he collapsed and fell to the floor.

Maifang grabbed Jin's hair and held him back as he tried to fall, then looked into his eyes and put her face close to his ear.

"Oh, and didn't I told you to watch your language around your superiors. Or is that also... 'none of your business'?"

After she told him that, Meifang let go of his hand. When he was released, Jin did not have the strength to resist. He slumped to the floor, hitting his forehead hard. The floor was cold, and above his head, he could hear the sound of pipes rattling in the distance.

In his cloudy vision, he could see a cracked and broken ax.

Grimwood's axe.

After that, Jin's consciousness was cut off.

### 055. Chapter 6: Eiyu (Hero) / True face

## Chapter 6: Hero / True face

### Part 1

When he woke up, Jin couldn't stand up, not because of fatigue or pain, but because of a terrible feeling of helplessness.

Jin was in a small, dimly lit prison cell, surrounded by blackened gray concrete. He seemed to be lying on a mat on a bed that looked like a simple board attached to the wall, covered with a worn blanket.

He remembered what happened much more clearly than in his dreams while he was asleep.

Three soldiers, folded up and dead.

Countless corpses were brought in as if they were something like fuel for a cauldron.

Then there was... Grimwood's body, strangled by the throat and hung midair, Meifang looking up at him and smiling.

A neck that was shredded and a torso that fell.

Jin recalled the scene over and over again in the back of his eyelids as he sat cowering on the cold floor.

There was no rug on the floor, and the concrete was cold, but the sensation of feeling it seemed so far away that it was difficult to realize that it was his own sensation.

Jin was in a branch of the Zeroth Squadron in the sixth level of Yabiko City, in a room where criminals are detained awaiting justice.

The person who retrieved Jin was a member of the Zeroth Squadron who was in the same place at the time, and the wound on his shoulder had received only minimal treatment. What he was wearing was still the same, but all of his belongings were placed together right next to the prison.

...It was Honoka, standing behind the barred door, who explained to Jin.

"Captain Grimwood was a spy for Sector Seven. He has been leaking information to the outside, but this time he was informed that there were important secrets of the Librarium there, and he was trying to sell the contents to Kokonoe of Sector Seven...”

After these few words, Honoka moved his eyes to the document he was holding in his hand. It was a report on the series of events that had taken place after the boy soldier had arrived at the time.

Honoka dropped his thin shoulders and sighed.

“According to the investigation by the Zeroth Squadron, in addition to leaking information, he was involved in a variety of other activities, such as diverting equipment, sabotaging facilities and helping prisoners escape. It may have been because of him that the front line we were on did not produce effective results.”

Cleverly controlling the information and the battlefield, trying to coordinate so that neither side wins too much. They must have been using that place as their base of operations. That was how the Zeroth Squadron viewed it.

"...Lieutenant?"

Perhaps worried by Jin's lack of response , Honoka lowered his papers and peered behind the grate. Jin's eyes remained motionless as he stared blankly into the empty space. Not knowing if he was listening or not, Honoka peeked in, stepped forward and smiled a little.

"It's outrageous that he would involve and take advantage of you, Lieutenant Kisaragi, but since he was a spy, he was likely an expert at deception... And in the first place, there was no way around it.

“.....Ha!”

Apparently, Honoka thought that Jin was shocked by Grimwood's betrayal. An amusing thought, so Jin let out a light chuckle as he gushed.

He slowly raised his gaze to look at Honoka, who was puzzled. His green eyes had the color of exhaustion in them, though he was still able to reason.

"You don't believe it, don't you?"

His voice was hoarse and muddy as he spoke with a dry throat. Honoka tilted his head at the question. Then, he looked back and forth in a troubled way between the document in his hand and Jin, as if comparing them several times.

“Well, whether I believe it or not... it has already been officially accepted as a fact by the Librarium, so..."

Regardless of whether you believe it or not, this was acknowledged as a "fact". There was no room for personal feelings to enter.

Grimwood was recorded as a "sinner". That disgrace will remain with his name for a long time to come.

"With all due respect, I think you were deceived, Lieutenant Kisaragi. Deceived by how much of a good man he was. But I don't think the person you saw is necessarily the person they really are.”

Perhaps there was a side to Grimwood that Jin was completely unaware of. Jin didn't know the big, earnest man well enough to deny that possibility.

After all, it had only been less than a year since they had met.

(One year...)

In that period of time, Jin realized that he was quite fond of the big man. He liked him as a person. If he had stayed with him for a few more years, he might have had some unfamiliar feelings of respect for him, though not as much as Karenjina. He wasn’t sure if he thought that way because his emotions were romanticizing his impressions of his former captain.

"It seems that Lieutenant Kisaragi will be questioned as well. They’re preparing a meal right now, so you’ll probably be summoned when it's over." Honoka said to Jin, who turned his head down again.

It was probably Honoka's role to originally tell him this.

This time, he must have been told something by the Duodecim and the Librarium. He was grateful for the fact that he even brought the report and explained the situation and details.

"Honoka. What happened to Karenjina...?"

He asked in a muddy voice. The area was very quiet, so Honoka could still hear him without a problem.

"She was asked out a lot of questions about Captain Grimwood, but she didn't know anything about him and was not charged with a crime, but she was expelled and will be under surveillance for a while."

How she was interrogated was not in Honoka's words, but he could imagine. Jin felt a distinct sense of regret. Maybe he shouldn't have taken Karenjina with him, or maybe he should have kept her with him until the end.

It occurred to him that the choices she had made with Jin and Grimwood might have set her on the worst possible path.

"She's already been released from detention, but her... condition is not good. She is currently recuperating in a hospital room here."

"...I see."

“She seems to have had a tough time. But I'm sure the hardest part is yet to come.”

Honoka said, with an ambiguous tone.

Jin covered his face with his outstretched hand as the words seemed to pierce him.

“Well... I'll be on my way. If you'll excuse me."

Honoka saluted as he had been taught at the academy and walked away, a little concerned about Jin.

The sound of footsteps moving away echoed in the aisle. After that, it was no longer heard.

Jin clenched his weak hand into a fist and pounded the floor.

Jin's interrogation was surprisingly uneventful.

They started by checking his name and identity and then asked him when and where he was in battle, what he thought of the people of the 9th squad.

Then he asked him a few confirming questions and that was it.

It was probably decided from the beginning that Jin would not be punished. After all, he was the next head of the Kisaragi family, one of the Duodecim. There was no need to go to the trouble of incurring a grudge over something like this.

Jin was immediately released.

But before he left, he wanted to make a stop at a place. He asked a guard in a white robe who was walking behind him as his escort and he told him surprisingly easily where he should go.

He took the elevator up to the fifth floor and walked down the unadorned white-walled corridor. At the end of this straight stretch, Jin stopped in front of the door on the left.

A card labeled "Ward A" was held up.

The door had a small window with a grate on it, suggesting that this was a hospital room for those who were being judged.

He knocked on the door, bottled up the hesitation that was slowly seeping through and said her name.

“Come in.”

A horrifyingly inorganic voice came back, but it was definitely Karenjina's.

Jin opened the door and stepped inside.

It was a small room. There was a bed, an empty shelf, a white bedside table and a chair that was probably used by the doctor. That was it.

Karenjina lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

Jin groaned briefly at the sight of her.

They turned her into a mess.

Bandages were wrapped around her neck, shoulders and arms. The blanket was covering the rest of her body, but she must have been injured below her abdomen as well. A large piece of gauze was placed on her cheek, and her eyes were blue and swollen. He wondered what had been done to her, but one of her ears was also covered with a thick layer of gauze. They looked like assault marks, but that's not the case when you're dealing with the Zeroth Squadron. The dreadlocks were completely trimmed and gone. These were the scars of attempted torture in various ways.

Jin went to the side of the bed and stood there without a word.

The dark blue eyes did not look at Jin. They just stared at a point on the ceiling as if they were trying to hold back something and don't waver.

There was silence for a while. Jin didn't know what kind of words were needed at this moment. Was it an apology, an explanation, silence or tears? Indignation or chastisement?

He couldn’t really choose any of these.

“...I used to hate you."

He heard her take a breath, and when Jin looked up, Karenjina chimed in.

Her eyes were still fixed on the ceiling, but her words were clearly directed at Jin.

“You were assigned to us out of nowhere and one of the Duodecim. I thought you had it easy, even taking a valet with you."

Jin listened to Karenjina's words without saying anything. Somehow, he felt that she didn't want him to say anything at all.

Karenjina continued with a monolog-like tone.

"But Grimwood wasn't like me. He welcomed you. I heard over and over again... That with you, 'we could end the war.' But it wasn't with me. I thought, he can't end the war with someone like myself, but he might be able to end it with you. I was jealous. Jealous of Grimwood's expectations of you.”

"..."

“But you're so strong. I can't compare in any way. Until you came, I was the one who stayed by Grimwood's side this whole time. I was the one who was most useful to him."

Her tone was too pale and weak to be called resentment.

With no expression on either of their faces, Karenjina stares at the ceiling and Jin stared at her.

“...If only it was me.” she muttered.

Karenjina went silent for a while.

It was only a little later that Jin noticed that her shallow breathing was shaky.

“Grimmwood is...”

Karenjina's voice trembled.

“He didn't leak anything.”

"..."

Jin gasped in dismay at the assertion, unsure as to why he was so upset. But for a moment, he felt a twinge of envy. Jin couldn't affirm why, but it was envy.

Clutching her right hand, which was covered in bandages to the fingertips, Karenjina spoke as if she were spitting out her last breath.

"Grimwood wanted to end the war more than anyone. He hated the idea of anyone dying. Even though he was a mercenary, he hated war."

Karenjina choked once and sniffed.

"Grimwood was not a spy. I believed in Grimwood. I believed in the man who pulled me out of hell. He's may be asshole when left me with behind, but I'll always believe in him."

Unable to hold it in, her voice turned upside down and tear drops spilled out of the corners of her eyes. Karenjina kept her fists clenched and her eyes closed. Perhaps because she seemed to admit that she was crying when she wiped her tears away.

“But there's nothing left. I have no strength to fight. I have nothing."

Jin looked at Karenjina’s left arm.

Apart from the bandages that hold the fingers and shoulders in place, there were bandages that just cover her forearm area.

He didn't know what they had done to her, but when he saw it, he knew that she was no longer able to use her Drive.

"I'm 'alone' again. There is never a time when I am not."

Karenjina said, as if it was a curse she was placing on herself.

Jin saw the look on her face and emotions of regret spill out. She was a stout soldier, but her face was contorted and distorted. She bit her lips and started sobbing. She was crying incessantly. Then, closed her eyes tightly and stifled her cries with a quivering sigh.

"So please. Just leave me alone already. I don't need anything anymore."

Unable to bear it, Jin turned his head away. At the same time, Karenjina also turned her face away from Jin.

The sobs continued.

He couldn't stay here forever. Jin eventually turned around, keeping his lips pursed.

But before he could leave, her fingers. Karenjina’s fingers grabbed the hem of Jin's dress.

"...Jin."

“What?”

“End this war."

With that, Karenjina removed her fingers from Jin's clothes. After watching her hand go back to the bed, Jin turned his back to Karenjina again.

He walked with a calm and unhurried gait and left the hospital Ward A. Just as he was about to close the door behind him, he heard what sounded like a growl. Jin quickly left the room. He felt that he must not listen to her overflowing cries.

### Part 2

As Jin exited the building of the Zeroth Squadron, he saw a familiar figure waiting for him.

The girl standing there holding the sword bag was a girl. Her long hair, fluttering in the gentle breeze, was a vivid camellia red.

"...Tsubaki."

Tsubaki Yayoi. She was the childhood friend of Jin, a junior at the academy and also the daughter of the Yayoi family of the Duodecim. The sky-blue eyes that sent Jin off in tears on the day he left for Yabiko were now gazing at him with a sincere look.

"...Jin Niisama. I'm glad you're safe."

She deeply bowed her head. Tsubaki was that kind of person. Polite and calm.

Not wanting to linger too long in a place where he could see the buildings of the Zeroth Squadron, Jin took Tsubaki with him and changed places.

After about ten minutes of walking, they chose a small park where they could see the arrival and departure of Ars Magus Vessels. On a bench painted green, Jin and Tsubaki sat side by side.

It was already evening.

The port welcoming the Ars Magus Vessels was lit up early, and the setting sun from the west added an orange hue to the long deck.

She tucked her hair behind her ears and turned her body to Jin, then lowered her eyes slightly and smiled modestly.

“When I heard that you had been detained, I just had to come over. I'm sorry for startling you."

"No, it's fine."

Jin spoke back shortly.

The moment he had seen her, Jin had understood. The reason why Jin was released had been so easy and straightforward. It was because Tsubaki had lobbied for it using her position in the Yayoi family. This would not have happened in the Kisaragi family. There were many people in that house who wanted to get rid of Jin. It would have been a hassle if they were disturbed and forced to help him. Rather, some would have tried to take advantage of this situation.

But before that could happen, the Yayoi family, no... Tsubaki made the first move.

"I'm sorry, Tsubaki. I'm sorry I caused trouble for you."

One more regret piled up in Jin's mind.

Tsubaki shook her head in panic.

“It's no problem. I wanted to meet you, Jin. That is what I decided myself, so there's nothing for you to apologize for!"

Jin squinted dazzlingly at Tsubaki, whose cheeks flushed red as she tried to excuse herself. It made him feel pain in his chest and he turned away. To the cold head of the Kisaragi household, she was such a brilliant presence, Jin could only squint his eyes to look at her.

Tsubaki gazed at him with a gloomy expression.

A few seconds of silence passed.

A breeze blew through the air. Tsubaki gently called out to Jin as she pulled her flowing hair back over her ears.

"You look in pain."

"Pain, huh?"

The murmur he returned was unexpectedly twisted into self-mockery.

(What exactly is the pain I feel for?)

Was it that Grimwood had betrayed him? Or is it that he couldn't believe that Grimwood betrayed me?

Was it that he believed in Grimwood? Or was it knowing that he did not believe in Grimwood?

Grimwood had 'trust.' He believed in himself and his friends, that he could end the war.

“I'll probably get scolded for saying this, but..."

Tsubaki opened her mouth so as to slip her words into the evening breeze.

“I hate... war."

Jin looked sideways at the girl he had known since childhood.

He remembered that her father was also away from home, in the war zone as a guard of the Librarium.

Tsubaki’s sky blue eyes were filled with melancholy and sadness.

“Of course, I'm also an officer school student of the Librarium. For the sake of order and justice, I am prepared to fight even if I have to use myself as a shield. But it's not because I want to defeat anyone. It's because I want to protect as many people as possible."

Tsubaki clasped her hands tightly around her chest and looked at Jin.

“Because I want to protect the people I care about.”

“...Such naivety."

“I know that, but despite though I know, I still hate... war."

Tsubaki's lips twitched as she said this in a sultry tone. It's one of those habits that he used to see in her when she was little and she can't seem to get over it.

Jin replied, exhaling deeply.

“My feelings are the same.”

(I never used to have any impressions or feelings about war. I was not interested in my own life or death or even the life or death of others and I was just aware of war as something where people die a little more than usual.)

(But now, it didn't feel the same as it had then and at the same time, I can't send Tsubaki to that crazy place called "war".)

(But what can I do now? Do I have the "power" to change anything?)

Grimwood is no longer here.

The war still rages on.

"Jin Niisama. Take this."

As if remembering, Tsubaki held out the sword bag that was propped up beside her. She untied the string that had been around it and opened the bag. Inside was a single sword in a blue scabbard with a silver-green handle.

"Yukianesa...”

The luggage they had been told to pack was almost gone. There were only a few pieces of minimal equipment lying around from when they left the encampment with Grimwood.

Yukianesa was nowhere to be found, but that was a Nox Nyctores. If he needed it, he would just call out to it and it will come back, like a summoning spell. That's what Jin thought when it was gone, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

He didn't expect it to come back to him like this.

“It's valuable to you and I didn't want it to get lost. I've been keeping it at the Yayoi household. This is Jin Niisama's most precious possession, yours truly."

Tsubaki then presented Yukianesa to Jin with the sword bag intact, without touching it directly. When Jin had come to the Kisaragi family as an adopted child, this sword had been the only personal item he had with him. Tsubaki knew that.

As he was offered the sword, Jin took it from the bag. Through the soft cloth, he could feel the cool air of the pale blue scabbard.

Jin chuckled at the corner of his lips.

(Of course, this is the only "power" I have...)

The Nox Nyctores "Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa". This is the weapon that fought the Black Beast. If this sword had saved the world in the past, could it save at least one organization in turmoil during a civil war? Would I be able to protect at least this one girl who cared so much for me?

"Thank you, Tsubaki."

Jin stood up and returned only the sword bag to Tsubaki.

By that time, Jin's eyes had already changed their expression. This quiet, peaceful breaktime was over. It was too early for him to take any break. It was simpily not meant to be for him right now.

"I will do it."

There were still some things I hasn't finished.

"Are you going back to...?"

Tsubaki's lonely voice hung on his back. Jin nodded, gripping Yukianesa's scabbard tightly.

"Yeah. I'm not just going back. I'm going to 'End' it."

(That's what I've been entrusted with and it's the only thing I can do right now.)

Tsubaki stood up and saw Jin off as he started to walk away.

"Take care of yourself. When you return, I will welcome you wholeheartedly."

The gentle girls voice strengthened Jin's resolve.

### Part 3

After leaving Yabiko, Jin went to the encampment to collect his belongings first. Fortunately, the base was still there and his luggage was still intact.

Currently, they were in the middle of a campaign to bring down Wadatsumi Castle and there were few of their people left here, making it easy for Jin to get his hands on them.

What he took out was a blue outfit. The battle dress of the Kisaragi family. Underneath it, he put an inner layer designed to resist cold air. He also put on a pair of gloves that were thicker than his usual and specially treated to block out the cold air.

Yukianesa is an ice sword. If you are half equipped, you will freeze yourself.

But with all this, he is able to run while swinging Yukianesa around with all his might. No need of worrying about the damage to his surroundings and without worrying about his bloodflow.

Once he was equipped, Jin quickly left the encampment.

He was headed to a battlefield — Wadatsumi Castle.

Now that Grimwood was gone and Karenjina broken, there was no time to find the someone who wanted to prolong the war.

That they are attacking Wadatsumi Castle again, makes this the perfect opportunity to end the war.

If this war were to end, when would it be? When Grimwood asked him that before, Jin replied that when they take the head of Tenjō, the head of the Ikaruga Federation, this war would be over.

That is the only "way to end the war" that Jin can choose.

He didn't know if he could kill Tenjō. He didn’t even know what Tenjō looked like.

But when that young soldier died, when his comrades died... When Grimwood died. When Karenjina lost even a place to cry.

And every time he thought of Tsubaki.

His mind was in 'discomfort'.

He didn’t care if he died in this mission. He didn’t care about anything, but to end the war. Jin's heart, which had before didn't care about the civil war, lit up. A cold flame flickered in his cold, frozen heart.

(That's enough. I've had enough! I don't want any more sacrifices, but still... There are people who need to be 'sacrificed' for this war to end. And I have a question for that... person.)

I don't care about the Librarium. I don't care about the Ikaruga Federation. I don't care about Wadatsumi Castle.

There is only one destination in sight. Tenjō, the head of the Ikaruga Federation.

Night had fallen and the sky was a refreshing light blue.

Wadatsumi Castle.

It was a large castle, spread out with the city at its feet. The towering keep was looking beautiful in the clear sky.

It was the residence of the head of the Ikaruga Federation, Tenjō, and is also the political center of the Federation. With the castle, which is also the symbol of the land of Ikaruga, as a magnificent backdrop, the battle between the Novus Orbis Librarium and the Ikaruga Federation forces had been going on since early morning on the plains before entering the city.

The firearms were larger, the Ars Magus and Armagus were flying about and people were out to kill each other with weapons in their hands.

The war situation was not looking good for the Librarium side. The persistence of the Ikaruga Federation Army, which had prepared itself for the end if it was allowed to cross this point, was tremendous and the Librariums forces were gradually being overwhelmed by their unending morale and momentum.

In addition, there was a great deal of distrust of the commander who was forcing the army to march without a plan, resulting in the soldiers of the Librarium gradually beginning to lose their will to fight.

The soldiers on the front line began to retreat, one by one. Finally, Ikaruga’s soldiers chase after the soldiers of the Librarium and raised their weapons.

That's when it happened.

Suddenly, a breath-chilling cold air streamed into the battlefield, creating a wall of ice so thick that the Ikaruga Federation soldiers, who were about to slay the Librarium soldiers, could not see beyond it.

"Wha... What the hell?"

The Ikaruga soldier, who had dashed at the ice with such force, backed away in confusion.

One after another, the walls appeared, cutting in between the Ikaruga soldiers and the Librarium soldiers. Their numbers grew quickly and eventually they surrounded the soldiers like a wall protecting them.

With his back to the wall of ice, a young man walks straight toward the Ikaruga Federation soldiers.

It was a blond young man dressed in blue. In his hand is a sword in a pale blue scabbard.

Cold green eyes glared at the Ikaruga Soldiers.

“Get out of the way unless you want to die.”

The cold air that swirled through the battlefield was generated around the young man.

The young man was even colder than the cold air that surrounded him. This became clear to Ikaruga soldiers the moment they set their sight on this young man.

A soldier of Ikaruga, realizing that the clothes he was wearing were of the design of the Librariums army, raised his weapon and said, "Don't fool with us, NOL scum!!”.

The surrounding soldiers followed suit, raising their guns or pointing their blades. But Jin, after taking just one look at them and walked right past them without a care in the world.

The soldiers with their weapons were unable to move. The moment they turned to face the enemy, ice crawled up from under their feet and covered their bodies, leaving their necks exposed.

There was a squad that spotted Jin and ran towards him. Turning around as he walked, Jin drew his sword and swung in the emptiness around him.

At that moment, ice ran across the ground and turned the entire squad into ice statues. The only thing that remained of them was their necks, so that they would not die.

One swing, then another. While icing anyone who comes near him, Jin aimed for the main gate of the castle.

Every time he used Yukianesa's power, he felt his heart grow colder.

— Kill

As if fed up with Jin, who has yet to kill a single person since entering the battlefield, Yukianesa invited him to kill them.

— Kill, slaughter, murder. Kill them all. Kill! Kill! Kill!

The harder he swung, the louder the voice disturbed Jin. But with each swing of the blade, Jin killed his own heart.

Wadatsumi Castle was surrounded by a strong defensive barrier.

This was not something that can be easily broken. Because of their inability to do so, the Librarium has been forced to retreat many times before.

An Ars Magus Barrier.

"...Yukianesa."

Jin called out with a breath the temperature of a blizzard and slashed with his sword. That was enough to freeze the barrier. The thrust that followed cracked the barrier with the ease of breaking thin ice.

The barrier will be repaired soon. However, after opening a hole just large enough for him to pass through, Jin entered the castle and looked up.

The highest point. The castle tower. There it was.

There she is. Tenjō.

The person sitting at the far end of the castle looked up at the shock of the barrier breaking.

Surrounded on all sides by bamboo screens, this was the place where Tenjō would sit. This is where she was waiting.

And she knew that it finally arrived.

"...Ah, so you are here. My 'death'."

The room was empty.

She made them all backoff. She told them there was no need to fight, but only few of them left the castle without a desire to fight.

That made her a little sad.

They shouldn't have to die. This sacrifice should have been minimal.

“It’s already more than enough.”

Yes, more than enough.

The seated figure, Tenjō, stood up and lifted the bamboo screen in front of her to welcome the icy wind that carried death.

At the same time, there was another person who noticed that the barrier had been broken.

He was a strong man who had been leading the evacuation of the inhabitants under Tenjō’s orders. He was wearing a special armor that has been handed down from generation to generation in Ikaruga. It is the costume of a Ninja, designed for speed and movement.

“Boss, what’s wrong?”

Called by his subordinate Ninja, the man in the deep green costume looked over with a difficult frown on his face.

"...I ask you to go ahead. I will catch up soon after!"

“Eh, wait! BOSS!!”

The figure who was called the "boss" kicked the ground and jumped into the air. He ran up on the roofs at a speed that no ordinary person could keep up with, using that speed to head for the castle tower in the shortest distance.

(It's falling...)

The Boss thought as he ran like the wind, if not faster than the wind.

He thought about the falling of... Wadatsumi Castle.

### Part 4

Jin was running at full speed down the corridor of the tower he had stepped into, freezing every obstacle that stood in his way.

He was in a hurry. There was no time. He couldn’t afford to be lenient anymore.

He saw it just before he entered this place. He could see it clearly from the high tower.

The barrier that Jin had broke through in order to get here was still intact and the soldiers of the Librarium who had rushed inside were engaging the Ikaruga soldiers.

It was a place where the enemy should not have dared to enter. In addition, Jin had already passed through the area. With so few troops and so little time to react, the Ikaruga soldiers were unable to push back the Librarium soldiers and were being killed one by one.

(Why haven’t they repaired the Barrier yet...!)

They knew it was open. They knew that if they left it alone, the enemy would come in. Tenjō, the one who put up the barrier, knew that.

And yet it was not restored.

(Won't or can't?)

Does this mean that something happened to Tenjō, or was she already gone? All sorts of speculations swirled in his mind, but he couldn't be bothered with them.

(I will know when I get to the top. I won’t fall until then.)

He climbed over the railing, went out the window to the roof, and jumped across the building diagonally into a corridor that resembles a bridge.

That's when it happened. A number of fireballs flew across the corridor where Jin had landed. They were from Armagus, probably stray bullets from the brawl going on below.

Jin stopped in his tracks to avoid a direct hit, but the fire Ars Magus broke through the wall and landed in the back room, instantly turning the room into a sea of fire.

The fire flew across the corridor and started to burn from the end.

The freezing cold air that Jin had brought with him turned into hot, heat haze as the flames fanned it.

As if the heat called to him, a figure appears in his path. He was tall and had the type of physique in his silhouette, that makes one know he was armed with muscles.

Jin was familiar with the dark green costume worn in front of him. It must have been the costume of a Ninja, the spies who have lived in the land of Ikaruga since ancient times.

So the person who appeared in front of him, a man with his habitual hair pulled up high, was a Ninja from Ikaruga.

“Get out of the way. You are a nuisance.”

Looking at him coldly, Jin put his hand on the hilt of his sword and told him. Whoever the opponent, anything that blocked his way was an obstacle.

The Ninja standing on the other side of the corridor stared back at Jin with a powerful gaze as he brushed aside the hot air from the room that was burning nearby and prepared himself.

"No. I can't let you go any further!"

His grunch, thick voice twisted around the roar of the flames.

Jin clicked his tongue. It would be pointless to waste time here, even though he had walked across the roof to shorten the route.

But the other Ninja seemed to have no intention of giving way. His strong-willed eyes were blazing with hostility.

"My name is Bang Shishigami! I am a Ninja of Ikaruga, and I am the one who will defeat you!!"

He howled like a battering ram.

At the same time, the Ninja who called himself Bang came right at Jin in an instant, twisted in midair and unleashed a quick knee kick.

"...?!"

It happened so fast, like the blink of an eye.

Jin barely caught Bang's blow as he dove at him, right in front of his nose, just out of reach of his breath. As he caught the kick, Yukianesa's scabbard seemed to creak. The impact numbed his arm for a moment.

On recoil, Bang jumped and shot countless nails from high above.

Jin immediately pulled out Yukianesa and flicked the nails back, then ran down the hallway.

(He's fast!)

It was nothing compared to the average Ikaruga soldiers he had dealt with in the past. Jin's face twisted into a bitter expression as he dove into the back room, turning around and swinging his Yukianesa.

Sure enough, Bang was right on his heels. He jumped in and thrust his fist into Jin.

Jin half-accidentally caught it and parried it away.

Using his momentum to leap backward, Jin thrusts Yukianesa into the floor.

White ice ran. In an instant, it froze the floor in the area, but Bang's reaction speed was faster. In a single leap, he climbed to the ceiling and used the pillars as footholds to attack Jin again.

"Damn it...!"

He was in a hurry. As he clicked his tongue for what seemed like the hundredth time, Jin released the ice blade.

Countless shimmering ice blades shot through Bang's body one after another, knocking him down to the cold, icy floor.

He thought that was it... But it wasn't Bang that fell down, it was shabby wood from who knows where.

At the same time that Jin recognized, a hint of heat was generated behind him.

He turned around. At that moment, Jin received a strong impact on his chest and was blown backward.

He was slammed into the wooden floor and engulfed in several sliding doors supported by a thin framework. The blow to his head from the fall gave him a slight dizziness. He held his head and pulled himself up.

Bang bursts into his view.

"Don't think you can get away with the same move over and over again."

With these words, Jin cut. Yukianesa's slash, perfectly timed with the release of Bang's nails as shurikens, flicked off all three thrown with a single swipe.

The nails flew off in the wrong direction and made a rhythmic sound, piercing the floor at the back of the room, away from Jin and Bang.

Their gazes naturally turned to each other for a moment. Then they found something unexpected and swayed in dismay.

Right next to the nail stuck in the floor, there was a human figure.

Both Jin and Bang gasped in unison. The person who was looking at them quietly, without moving even though a nail flew at their feet, was a person with long purple hair flowing down their back. They were wearing a garment with wide cuffs and a white mask with a red pattern covering their face.

“My Lord... Why are you still here?”

At this sight, Bang shouted in clear agitation.

With that one word, Jin finally knew. He knew that the person there was Tenjō, the head of the Ikaruga Federation.

“Are you Tenjō?”

Muttering, Jin turned to the figure on the surface.

He was wondering what they looked like, but this only raised more questions. He couldn't even tell if they were a man or a woman. He felt a strange presence from Tenjō, as if they were neither.

"Don't look away!!"

Jin was about to head for the back when Bang's angry voice jumped at him.

Unhappy with his lords appearance, Jin kicked the floor and swung his fist at Bang, who flipped it back with a swiftly drawn sword. He instantly twisted around and slammed the tip of his scabbard into Bang's abdomen.

Unable to bear it, Bang bent over and moved backward to avoid Jin's continuous kicks.

“Huff, huff, huff.”

But still, with a ragged breath, Bang braced himself for more.

The unwavering hostility in his gaze caused Jin's heart to tremble.

— Kill, Kill, Kill.

(Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.....!!!)

It was unbearable. Jin thrust the blade into his heart to resist the urge to kill.

While tearing out his heart and soul and giving them to Yukianesa, he struggled to keep his unstoppable desire to kill from flowing outward.

(I don't kill...)

— Kill.

(I won’t kill!)

— Kill!.

(No more.........)

His mind couldn’t take it. If it was swallowed up, it will be the end.

The blade, driven mad by Yukianesa's murderous intent, would probably go on a rampage, wanting to kill everyone in the castle. That would be meaningless. If the sword would take over and kill everyone... What was even the point of coming here?

Jin inhaled deeply. His own breath was so cold that it froze him to the bottom of his lungs. The temperature dropped so fast that icicles formed around Jin.

Without a second thought, Bang came running in. Jin looked at him and cleaved the air with his Yukianesa.

“Arctic Dungeon.”

With a powerful ars, the breath that weaved words and the slashing stroke froze the whole area. The floor, the ceiling, the walls, the windows, the pillars and even Bang who tried to escape by jumping into the air.

“What!?”

Bang's body stiffened as his body could not withstand the temperature that had dropped too low.

“Trash...”

He did not realize that his short-sighted loyalty would lead to unnecessary sacrifices.

Jin slashed down on Bang's frozen body without hesitation.

"Aaaargh!!"

With a heavy wet sound, fresh blood splatters on the ice floor. After taking a slash to the forehead and then to the torso, Bang collapsed onto the floor on his back.

Jin brushed off the blood, sheathed Yukianesa, and strode to the back of the room without a glance at the fallen bang.

"And you...."

Tenjō was still standing at the back of the room. They could have escaped in this short time, but the white-masked lord did not.

It was as if they had stayed there to watch the situation unfold.

Bang crawled across the floor, staring up at Jin's back as he stepped toward Tenjō. He desperately reached out and shouted with all his might.

“My Lord! Please, run away! My Lord..!”

But he could no longer raise himself. His vision rapidly darkened and he choked back a scream, losing his consciousness at last.

A cold silence soaked the area.

In the frozen room, Jin faced Tenjō.

Tenjō, who until then had been as motionless as a doll, jerked slightly and changed the angle of their neck, shaking their long purple hair.

“Nox Nyctores Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa.”

The calm voice leaked through the mask with a hint of murkiness.

"...You're Tenjō, aren't you?"

Standing directly in front of them, Jin asked expressionlessly. Tenjō raised their face.

“Indeed and you, what are you called?”

“Jin Kisaragi."

Answered Jin as he put his hand on the silver hilt. He could pull it out at any time. If he pulled it out, he could kill her.

"No hard feelings, but... I will kill you and end this war."

With frozen determination, Jin looked coldly at Tenjō.

Slowly, the face with the white mask moved. Tenjō nodded deeply. It seemed to show understanding and deep acceptance.

With his eyes fixed on them, Jin opened his mouth without changing his stance.

"I have one last question. Is it true that you are the Imperator?"

"...Hm?"

Tenjō sounded impressed by the question.

"Knowing that I am the Imperator, why do you turn on me? Jin Kisaragi.”

The reply was affirmative. Jin swallowed the meaning slowly, as if gulping down a melting block of ice.

“Because you are the enemy."

The one to be defeated. That is the enemy.

“My enemy.”

Jin replied, and Tenjō chuckled slightly.

There's no time.

There is no time for unnecessary words.

"Tenjō. What was 'that thing'?"

At the question, Tenjō paused for a beat and dropped her thin shoulders.

"Oh, so, did you see that 'thing'?"

“Answer me.”

Jin's words were cold and sharp, as if he was thrusting the edge of a blade.

After a few moments of thoughtful silence, Tenjō turned their masked face upward. It was as if they were seeing a vision of that strange coffin that Meifang had told him existed for the Imperator.

"The price of freedom and peace: 'Death'... It is this war itself that death eats away at."

"The war itself?"

"And I am but a puppet that creates death."

Tenjō’s abstract words were not the answer Jin wanted.

However, the hints of despondency, resignation and emptiness in their voice made him feel that further questions were pointless.

The questions to ask and the one who has the answers that Jin seeks, was probably someone else.

"...Jin Kisaragi. End it."

Tenjō's whispered words sounded too gentle to be appropriate for this occasion.

"And resist against 'death' that will be born."

After saying that, Tenjō spread their hands. In their white ceramic-like hands that peeked out from their wide sleeves, there were a few talismans.

Somewhat mischievously, the 'woman' underneath the mask laughed.

"It must be a little painful to slay an unresisting opponent. However, there is no time for hesitation."

Just as Jin didn't have time, Tenjō seemed to not have it as well.

Jin raised his eyebrows in a quizzical manner. He didn't know why Tenjō didn't have time, but he also didn’t have a reason to find out.

Why?

Because this is where Tenjō ends.

Taking a deep breath, Tenjō spoke softly.

"Come now, I will accept it. With this, even if you were to die, it's the end."

"Nonsense."

Jin spat coldly, while gripping the silver hilt.

“I will survive.”

Underneath the mask, Jin thought he saw Tenjō smile faintly.

Jin closed his eyes, concentrating on his consciousness.

He saw the talisman released from Tenjō’s hand.

(What did she mean by “accepting it”...)

He muttered inwardly as if he were poisoning himself and Jin felt a moment of pity for Tenjō. Tenjō had been waiting. Letting death be the one who comes to kill her.

The blow of this talisman was only a bait to entice its cutting edge.

Then he must respond.

“Judgment...”

With a low chant, a pale blue magic circle spread out at Jin's feet. As soon as Tenjō’s talisman touches the circle, Jin releases it.

—Snowstorm.

The trajectory of the blade that he pulled out and swung caused the white ice to run.

The flash that he released froze Tenjō’s body instantly.

After a moment of complete silence, the ice shattered. At the same time, bright red blood spurted from the wound that had been slashed diagonally.

First, their knees hit the floor, then their slender body collapsed.

Walking to the side, Jin looked down at Tenjō, who was sinking in fresh blood.

They were still breathing. As he approached them, he noticed that the body, which was unexpectedly small, was trembling slightly as if it was responding to life.

Suddenly, a dry sound was heard. It was the sound of Tenjō’s mask falling off.

Her hidden face naturally appeared in Jin's vision. White skin, pale lips and eyelashes as purple as her hair. Beneath her eyelids, which looked as if they were about to fall, were bright red eyes.

Jin's eyes blinked.

Tenjō was a woman. She was youn, and had what most people would describe as a beautiful one.

Tenjō managed to lift her eyelids, which were losing strength, and looked up at Jin. Her red eyes were sad, but the expression on her face was in peace.

"Magnificent, such is the Power of Order..."

"The Power of Order?”

With an to him unknown name, Tenjō calls out to Jin and then draws her last breath.

Jin just stared dumbfounded at her dying face.

What surprised Jin was not that Tenjō was a woman.

It was because of the resemblance.

To a young girl.

“Saya...”

To his sister, with whom he had lived for a time as a child.

It made Jin understand all of Tenjō’s words that he hadn't been able to fully comprehend earlier.

“You don’t mean the 'purpose'... That things purpose... That coffin-!!”

"Oh, so, did you see that 'thing'? It is this war itself" Tenjō said, "that death eats away at."

So you could say this "war" is "that thing" itself. No.

(This 'war' IS for 'that thing'!)

That is assumption frightens Jin. For the past several years, both the Librarium and the Ikaruga Federation have been fighting. Countless people have died in a endless cycle without a clear end in sight for both sides. Seemingly, no one was benefiting from it other than scientists trying out new third party weapons. So, for what reason? For what use? For what purpose was this war for?

After seeing that cauldron of dead people being melted in masses, the way the 9th squad got rid of and the words of Tenjō herself, it became painfully obvious.

It was death.

'Death' was the purpose.

This war is about letting people die...

"Ohh, so here you were. I finally found you... Lieutenant Kisaragi."

Suddenly, he heard a voice and looked up with a gasp. His deep chain of thoughts were cut off as if a thread had been snapped.

Pulling himself up, Jin looked back toward the voice.

There was 'someone' there.

### Part 5

Someone was standing at the entrance of the sliding door that Jin was blown through by Bang in the large room.

But Jin did not know who it was.

He could at least make out someone. There were two legs, a torso, two outstretched arms, a neck and a head on top of it.

Although he knew it had a human shape and he knew he could hear voices coming from it, he didn’t know 'what' it was. It's as if his vision had gone blurry and he couldn’t distinguish anything.

"At any rate, aren’t you cruel? I was the only one left behind. I'm still pretty hurt."

The person spread his hands around his shoulders and came towards Jin with a leisurely gait.

Jin gripped the scabbard of his sword tightly and stared at the 'someone'.

“Who are... you?”

Jin asked sharply and with caution. The person paused as he entered the room.

"Who? Hmmm, this is troublesome. I don't know how to explain it... Oh, yes, I had a name, didn't I? It was Honoka, Lieutenant. Do you remember? Ohhhh, I hope so!"

Honoka.

Yes, that's the name of the boy soldier that the Duodecim forced on him when I left for the war. He was shorter than Jin and spoke without a sense of urgency, but once he started talking, he couldn't stop. However, when faced with dangerous situations, he cowered in fear and backed down.

On the battlefield and in the encampment, he was often worried about Jin's condition and was also busy with other chores such as making tea and fetching luggage.

He was there, however...

(What did he look like...? Why can't I remember?!)

What color was his hair? What color were his eyes? The color of his skin. He had assumed he was small, but he wondered how far his head actually stood in comparison to Honoka's. Even his voice. What was his voice like?

Jin's thoughts are jumbled and he can't put them together.

Honoka smiled at Jin as he stood there, unsure of what to do.

"Well, I don't really care what was I called.”

He shrugged his shoulders and walked nimbly to Jin's side.

"Even so, it's wonderful. To beat that Tenjō all by yourself like this. 'Jin Kisaragi', you are a 'hero'!"

Honoka spread his arms high and wide, speaking in an exaggerated manner like a stage actor.

“The war is now over. Well, it sure lasted for a long time. But, it's a shame, isn't it? So many people fought and fought and fought aaaaaaand... then died. For freedom and peace!! Oh, so many people gave up their lives......."

This person called Honoka enunciated from one end to the other.

He turned around and faced Jin, holding out his arms. It was as if he was holding the corpses of the many lives that died in this war.

“And then! The people of Ikaruga did not win their freedom and peace. They paid the price of so much death... It's sad, it's really sad."

"You..."

“But the war is over! I am glad! I am so glad!”

“Who the hell are you?!!"

(Wrong. I don’t know him. I don’t know that man who's named Honoka.)

Jin asked himself as he slipped his hand onto Yukianesa.

At that moment, a dull thud struck Jin in the chest.

“Wha…”

Unsure of what had happened, Jin looked down at himself. A black snake's head was sticking out of his chest.

“Gah…”

He tried to say something, but his voice wouldn't come out. He tried to grip his sword, but his hand wouldn't move. It wasn't just his hands. He couldn't move his legs or his neck either.

Honoka... No, 'someone' walked up to Jin, who was trapped by the snake that had bitten his chest. A disgusting smile, like a crescent moon, clung to his mouth.

"But, you... you shouldn’t have gotten involved where you didn’t belong. "Jin Kisaragi..."

The tone of his voice changed drastically.

As soon as he did, Jin recognized the man in front of him clearly.

A tall man. He was wearing a black suit and a black hat. His hair leaked out from under the hat and turned out as green.

From the mans outstretched arms leaked a black chain that moored to the head of the snake that was biting into Jin's chest.

"You are...!"

Jin glared sharply at the man he had finally been able to see.

Overlapping the man in the suit, he saw a humanoid figure that looked like a mass of black shadow. The shadowy humanoid form had numerous green cracks running through it.

An unpleasant sensation spreads through Jin, one that he has never experienced before. This feeling is the same as the one he had when he saw the lines from Karenjina connecting to... "evil".

Forcing his immobile body to move, Jin tried to grab the sword, Yukianesa.

The double figured man bent over and laughed in amusement.

"Hihihihihi, as expected from the 'Power of Order'. Amazing, truly amazing!”

He wondered which of the two figures the coarse language was coming from. The sarcastic voice still laughed.

"Anyway, thanks for your help, Jin Kisaragi. I'm going to retrieve Tenjō’s body now, if you don't mind me."

With Jin in its grasp, the mass that made up a man in a black suit and the shadow with green cracks walked past him and lifted the fallen and motionless corpse of Tenjō onto its shoulders.

Then he looked back over his shoulder and smiled. He smiled with a crescent-shaped mouth.

“Oh, and... your 'memories' as well."

────。

─────────────────────。

The area was as quiet as if it had been flooded.

Everything in the large room was frozen and Jin was the only person standing in the middle of it, his breath white as clouds.

There were two people lying at his feet.

One was dressed in luxurious clothing with wide cuffs and wearing a 'White mask'.

“H-huh…”

Heavily tingling and aching, Jin pressed his head lightly.

"Damn... Did Yukianesa knock me out for a second...?"

He had held on desperately up to this point, but it seemed he had let his guard down at the last moment. Jin tightened his grip on Yukianesa in his hand.

Jin bent down on his knees beside the masked one who fell at his feet. He gently removes a mask that covered their face.

On the face that was hidden underneath, there was a large old scar that even changed their facial features. It was a scar that Jin wanted to turn away from, which would be enough reason to wear the mask.

“I'm sorry...”

He shouldn't have revealed it. He whispered an apology and put the mask back on their face.

The lord of the mask, Tenjō, was a formidable enemy and for that reason, he wanted to show at least a modicum of courtesy. Thid was the impact that Tenjō left on Jin.

"Jin Kisaragi has defeated Tenjō!"

He heard someone shouting that in the distance. Someones words spread one after another, creating a throb like a wave.

Jin cradled Tenjō’s corpse in his arms and opened the window of the castle tower to reveal himself outside.

Someone pointed at the window, noticing Jin and the word spread around.

A blond-haired young man in a Librarium outfit, along with Tenjō, who had died in his arms. At the sight of him, some jumped for joy with their hands in the air, while others collapsed on the ground and cried out. Some screamed in triumph, while others dropped their weapons in despair.

“Ahaaa!"

In the middle of it all, there was an unexpected scream. Jin could see exactly what had happened.

A soldier from the Librarium swung his sword at the helpless back of the Ikaruga soldier, who was nodding helplessly.

"The people of the Ikaruga Federation have been ordered to be 'exterminated'! Kill them all!"

The guard who had killed and discarded one of them raised his blood-soaked sword and shouted in high spirits.

In response, the surrounding guards of the Librarium took up their weapons one after another. The nearby Ikaruga soldiers fled one by one.

Jin furrowed his brow and kicked the roof he had been using as a foothold. Down, down. He slid down, and as soon as he landed, he pulled out his Yukianesa and stabbed it on the spot.

A cool sound rushed through the area with a chill breeze. Instantly the ground froze, engulfing the feet of all the soldiers standing there.

No one could move. The voices of astonishment and agitation were raised in their mouths.

In the middle of it. Jin stood up and coldly told them.

“The war is over."

(A lot of people died. I'm here to stop it.)

“No more futile killing... will be tolerated by me!"

There was no one who could resist Jin's words.

— On this day, the long lasting "Ikaruga Civil War" has ended.

### 056. Epilogue

A huge Ars Magus Vessel was well on its way to the 2nd Hierarchical City of Iwatsuchi.

The interior decorations, based on deep brown wood were elegant but not ornate and added a peaceful touch to the time spent on board.

From the office in the center of the ship, Jin came out into the hallway.

He was summoned because of a transmission from Yabiko.

The person on the other end of the line was Hibiki Kohaku.

Apparently, Kagura's wounds from the war were not looking good. He said that he would have to stay in the hospital for a while. Jin told him that he did not plan to visit him.

Then, Hibiki told him that a week later there would be a triumphal parade with the presentation of Jin's medal.

Jin said he would turn it down, but Hibiki convinced him that it was an important opportunity to make a big statement that the long war was over and that he had no choice but to accept.

The corridors of the ship were covered with blue carpets, and it was quiet and empty.

As he listened to the sound of his own footsteps, Jin stared blankly ahead.

Some people came from the direction in front of Jin, who was moving his feet at a pace. There were three of them. All of them wore white robes that concealed their identities. They are the Wings of Justice.

The figure leading the way caught Jin's attention.

Meifang.

Just before they passed each other, Jin moved to the end of the corridor himself. He stopped, made a slight salute and let Meifang go ahead of him.

But just as he passed in front of Jin, Meifang stopped in her tracks.

"Fufufu… I'm honored that I'd allowed a pass by the 'Hero of Ikaruga' who ended the war."

"Thank you for your assistance on that matter, and thanks for the pardon to Corporal... Karenjina, Colonel Lapislazuli."

With a polite manner, Jin bowed to his young superior.

Meifang looked at him with a sticky gaze and laughed.

"Hmm... I see you've finally learned how to address your superiors."

He couldn't tell from the way she spoke whether she was satisfied or dissatisfied.

“The war is over, but the fools who defied the Imperator still remain. ...Don't let your guard down, 'Hero'."

Her tone sounded as if she was testing him.

Jin looked up at Meifang. He stared at her with cold, cold eyes, like glass beads without emotion.

"It's none of my business."

For a few beats, Jin and Meifang stared at each other. One had a leisurely smile, the other a cold, blank expression, but it was unmistakably a standoff.

The white robes behind Meifang stepped forward in disrespect, but Meifang stopped him with her hand.

"Yes, it is. It's none of your business. ...Fufufu."

Leaving behind an eerie tickle of a smile, Meifang left the scene with her men in tow.

Jin stared down at the back of who was moving away from him at that moment.

A cold sensation came over him. Cold to no end.

With a heartfelt murderous intent.

The circular room was large and the high ceiling was domed.

The room deep underground was a different one from the one that used to be beneath the research facility of Sector Seven, or the one beneath the mine where crystallized seithr could be found.

However, the shape was very similar. This is because the shape was meaningful. Rather, it would be more correct to say that other facilities were built in the shape of this one.

The ceiling was carved with ancient inscriptions and the floor just below it was carved with decorations that resembles a cauldron. Well, infact it IS a cauldron by name as well, but that just is what the surface holds, what is beyond that cauldron is something vast, something that could drive anyone mad if they dared to get involved with it. A 'boundary' brimming with seithr and information of everything that there could be. And infront of one such cauldron, two figures stood there.

In the space between them, there was a coffin that was a little too large to just hold a single person, connected by several chains and attached to that coffin were countless pipes extending from the walls, ceiling and floor.

“Now, are all preparations in order?”

Looking at the coffin, a man in a black suit fixed a black hat on his head.

The person who spoke to him was the another man standing next to him. This one had blonde hair with a golden mask over his eyes and a purple cloak over his shoulders.

“But it's going to take a while to wake her up...”

The masked man said in a hushed tone, as if talking to himself. The man in the black suit turned around and smiled deeply at it.

“I know, and for that reason, we have to prepare the 'Successor of the Azure'."

“...That’s right.”

And that is one big problem. The man in the mask and the man in the black suit, however, may have already expected it.

"By the way, are you the one who sent the Zeroth Squadron?"

The man in the black suit asked in a somewhat hearted manner, as if he had just remembered something. The masked man, looking at the coffin, answered without even glancing at the man in the suit.

“I don't want any unnecessary interruptions.”

“Wouldn't things have gone a little more smoothly if you'd gone in person?”

"There's no need for me to go out there for that much. ِAlso... I wanted to observe that soul too.

"Also? Oh, what was that woman... Meifang, was she?"

The man in the black suit crossed his arms and held up the index finger of one of his hands, then looked at the masked man again with a fed-up expression.

“Is she... alright? She seemed kind of suspicious to me.”

“She is just like that. A very amusing person, however...”

The masked man put his hand on his chin and thought to himself.

The man in the black suit sighed. Given the situation, there is no one better to talk to than this man. But talking to him feels more like to engage to a brick that can only to himself.

"I'm on my way to adjust 'Ignis'. I'll leave the rest to you... Hazama."

Their conversation went as expected. After saying that, the masked man quickly walked away on his own.

The man in the black suit who was left behind called 'Hazama', shook his head lightly and then looked up at the coffin.

The black coffin was still there, silent.

"Well then. How did you feel after all that 'death'?"

As if in response to Hazama's voice speaking, the surface of the coffin pulsed with light.

A gust of laughter escaped from Hazama's mouth as if he understood what the coffin was saying.

"Oh, my goodness! Still more? Still not enough!?"

His voice, laced with joyful laughter, echoed high into the domed ceiling that held the coffin.

"Yes, but don't worry. There are still many, many, many more deaths in this world!”

(And we can create as many as we want. Any number we could imagine.)

Hazama smiled deeply as he thought of the endless deaths that would eventually be born.

"So please wake up at last... Hades: Izanami."

(When the lid of that coffin is opened, what kind of view will the world and myself have?)

“Oh yeah, I am sure it will be very fun.”

Yes, surely.

His golden eyes smiled narrowly under the hat he wore so tightly.

### 057. Afterword

Thank you for picking up this book. My name is Mako Komao and I am the author.

First of all, this book is a novelization of the fighting game "BLAZBLUE", which was released for PS3 and PS4 by Arc System Works Inc.

If you have played the original BLAZBLUE game, I think you will enjoy this novel much more. It's a fighting game, of course, but the story mode is so serious that it could be a whole game on its own, so please try playing the original story as well.

In addition, the latest title, "BLAZBLUE CENTRAL FICTION” was released a little before this book. I have also participated in some of the written scenarios in that game, so please take note of that as well.

Thanks to your support, I've been able to write a number of "BLAZBLUE" novelization series. I finally had the chance to touch his story, 'the hero' of the BLAZBLUE series, Jin Kisaragi. This story is a prequel to the game... or rather, it is about a very important past episode for him and the story, the "Ikaruga Civil War".

Personally, I have always wished for this episode to be published, but I never thought I would be able to deliver it to you in the form of a novel. I am beyond happy and honored. To be honest, I was so honored that I was scared and even now I am worried.

I've been involved in BLAZBLUE from the very beginning and I've enjoyed it as a fan of the game as well, so I know how important the "Ikaruga Civil War" is and even through the eyes of Jin. This was such a big role for me!

Now, I just hope that the readers are satisfied. Did you enjoy it? I strongly hope so.

When I think about it, this is the first time I've written a story with Jin as the central character. What I found when I actually wrote it was that he is a really complex person.

In particular, this Jin of the civil war era is from a different point in time than any of the other Jin's that have appeared in games and manga up until now, so as I was writing this, I felt a bit of loneliness thinking that the Jin of this era was like no other version of him...

In the original BLAZBLUE games, he goes on a rapid inner progress, so it's different from this Jin from SPIRAL SHIFT. I think that this novel depicts a part of that origin, a part of the time when he was different from the Jin of the main game, but he was still Jin.

Oh and... I know it's a bit late now, but this is an afterword, right? Another one of my "BLAZBLUE" novels is done at last. ...I love the world of BLAZBLUE, and I love it more and more every time I write in it. I'm sad that it's over every time I write for BLAZBLUE. Of course, the relief of finishing the novel is immeasurable, but at the same time, I'm filled with the desire to be able to write another one soon.

I hope to see you again in the next game with the name BLAZBLUE. I was very nervous about this book, but it was a great honor and privilege. Thank you for letting me write it.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all the people who have helped me in writing this book, with my forehead grinding on the ground. Both the editor and the proofreader have been a great help.

Also, thank you very much to the producer, Mori-san, not only for the plot but also for the illustrations. The pressure was unbelievable. It looks like it will be a book that has trained my mind as well.

I would also like to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has read this book and to all those who love "BLAZBLUE”. May your blue be eternal.

Mako Komao

## 02. Volume 2: Calamity Trigger — Part 2

### 001. Chapter 1: Orient town — Orient Town

## BBCT2 Chapter 1: Orient Town

### Part 1

2196 - Night

The meter clicks down by hundreds, announcing the depth.

A high-pitched electronic sound continued to ring out in the same perfectly unchanging rhythm, enough to drive someone insane.

It was a room like a square box surrounded by gray walls. There was no hint of human life in the cold room. There were a tremendous amount of books, various devices and equipment of all sizes packed in so tightly that it was doubtful whether they were intended for people to pass through, and colorful cords filled the floor.

Despite the air being kept normal and dust and dirt being thoroughly removed, a somewhat gloomy atmosphere drifted through the room.

In the midst of such a room, a small figure rose from a chair with a creaking sound.

The figure, illuminated by the light of monitors installed here and there, appeared to be a girl at first glance. However, the atmosphere and the dark circles under her eyes gave her a sharpness that could hardly be called girlish.

Some who felt her presence would sense intelligence, while others would feel a sense of intimidation. Both words were fitting for her.

She hadn't had a proper sleep for several nights. Her back swayed as she walked, dragging her unrecognized fatigue, and two "tails" swayed on her back. One was a ponytail tied high and tightly, flowing down her back. On her pink-haired head, small triangular cat ears, so small that they could be missed if not looked at closely, were peeking out slightly forward, folded slightly forward. The other was a pink tail, the same color as her hair, which had been passed through a hole in the white coat she was wearing. The tip of the forked tail was white, and it swayed to the left and right in a thoughtful manner, as if to prove that it was not a fake.

Her figure, with its beastly characteristics, looked like a beastkin, a beast-man who was human yet not human. But she was not a beast-person. The cat ears and tail were inherited from her father. Her human body was inherited from her mother. She was a hybrid of beast-man and human.

With bare feet and sandals, she skillfully avoided the cords as she walked, stopping in front of a huge device that sat at the back of the room. On the monitor next to it, countless data were recorded.

The electronic sound, which almost became one with the silence of the room, suddenly changed its rhythm and tone.

The girl, whose forked tail had been slow until then, was drawn to the monitor as if by a spring.

"...Found it."

Glaring at the monitor, and then at the device that had stopped in front of her, with tired, clouded eyes, she muttered in a low voice.

"I've found it... finally."

While moving her lips as if in a delirium, she quickly typed in more than ten numerical values and turned on several switches. The device began to start up sluggishly. But this was not the end. The work of capturing him was yet to come.

"...Six Heroes, Hakumen."

It was the name of a hero who was active during the past war, the Dark War, which began about a hundred years ago and ended about ninety years ago. The war between the "Black Beast," a monster that drove the world to despair, and humanity, which desperately tried to crawl out of despair. History books say that he was the one who fought at the forefront of humanity at that time.

Without even looking, her fingers reflexively turned on the communication switch. When the voice of a calm man responded from the speaker, she spoke indifferently, her eyes fixed on the device in the back of the room as if she were aiming at something.

"Tager. I've captured the target. I'll start the salvage operation immediately, help me with the preparations."

"Understood. I'll head over immediately, Kokonoe."

### Part 2

December 30, 2199 - 13:12

The 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi.

This city, built with many layers of streets piled on top of each other, is like other Hierarchical Cities scattered around the world, with the upper layers being more well-maintained and supplied with normal air.

Conversely, the lower you go, the more chaotic the town becomes, with some areas even having a desolate atmosphere. This area, which seemed to have been abandoned despite being under construction, looked like a corner of the lower layers that had been put off.

Looking back at the scaffolding that he had been walking on for several hours, he stretched his cramped body greatly.

"It was easier to infiltrate than I expected."

The one who said this while turning his neck was a tall, well-built young man. He wore a long, bright red jacket over his black clothes, and a thick, wide, large silver sword hung at his waist.

Even more eye-catching than his clothes was the color of his roughly grown white hair. Behind his bangs that reached his eyes, his left eye was green and his right eye was red, creating a somewhat rough look.

His name is Ragna the Bloodedge.

The same name can be seen on street corners all over the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi. The name is on the wanted posters that have been plastered everywhere.

An outlaw who has wandered in from somewhere. With such an appearance, he was actually an SS-class wanted criminal, a serious criminal with the highest bounty in history.

However, Ragna doesn't travel through dark alleys to avoid people or hide in the shadows to let passersby pass. Rather, with a natural gait that makes it hard to believe that he is really a wanted criminal, he heads for the center of the city that should be ahead of him.

This was probably a low-level area judging from the concentration of seithr in the air he inhaled - a substance that polluted the world's air along with the Black Beast that appeared a hundred years ago.

The eyes of the Novus Orbis Librarium- the organization that governs the world and manages public order, and also the organization that put a bounty on Ragna- do not reach to such lower levels. This is even more true in Kagutsuchi, which has a large and complexly intertwined structure compared to other cities.

They prioritize only the upper layers where people of status live, and a satisfactory security system does not reach the lower layers. The residents of the lower layers do not have good feelings towards the Novus Orbis Librarium- commonly known as the "NOL". If you pass through such people, being sneaky will only incite distrust.

"But, I thought I'd be able to get outside a little earlier..." Looking around at the surroundings where there wasn't a single person, Ragna muttered to himself as he moved forward.

From here, which is deep in the lower city, you can't even see the sun, let alone the sky, satisfactorily, but according to his internal sense of time, it's probably past noon now.

Ragna, being a wanted criminal, couldn't enter the Hierarchical City by regular means.

Therefore, he used a method that no one would normally use for fear of the dense seithr: approaching Kagutsuchi on foot, infiltrating the inside of the Hierarchical City from a place under construction, and climbing up to this point.

He arrived in Kagutsuchi late last night. He hadn't eaten since then.

In other words, he was hungry.

(Ugh... I have to eat something soon. At this rate, I'll die of starvation before I reach the top layer...)

Just as he was about to hurry his steps, clutching his stomach, he was suddenly called out to from behind.

"Oh my, what a terrible figure. It's just like a stray dog seeking nothing but control. I don't even want to admit I know you. Ragna?" The one who spoke, with excessive pity and blatant contempt, was a girl's voice.

Ragna reflexively stopped his feet, distorting his expression with a feeling other than emptiness.

"You... who are you calling a stray dog, rabbit?"

The place where he turned around was deserted and empty, and further back was a dead end that was closed for construction. Even so, a small table and a black single-seater sofa were placed there, and a girl was sitting there.

Rachel Alucard.

She was a girl with long, glossy golden hair tied in two bunches on either side, wearing a black, luxurious dress. Her skin color was transparently white, the ribbons that tied her hair stood up straight, and her large eyes were bright red. Because of this appearance, Ragna called her "rabbit".

She looks about twelve or thirteen years old, but she has lived for a time that cannot be compared to her appearance. She is not a human girl. She is a vampire who lives in the long night.

She gracefully pulled a cup towards her, gently touching it with her fingertips as if testing the temperature of the red liquid inside, then took a sip. She looked up at the elderly gentleman standing behind her and smiled elegantly.

"Delicious, Valkenhayn. Your tea is exceptional even when drunk in air clouded with seithr."

"I am honored, Madam Rachel." The old gentleman responded in a calm tone of voice, bending his waist politely. The white hair that was tied behind his back slid down from his broad shoulders to the front of his high-quality butler suit.

The old gentleman, who has an old appearance but suggests a somewhat robust physique, was Rachel's butler, the werewolf Valkenhayn.

On the table, a small red, rubber ball-like creature with busy wings was frantically moving about, stuffing financier pastries with the aroma of butter into its cheeks. This was Gii, Rachel's familiar. The shape-shifting black cat that had transformed into the sofa Rachel was sitting on was another of her familiars, Nago.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh, can't you tell? I'm having tea."

"That's not what I'm asking! ...Haa, well, whatever."

Ragna reflexively raised his voice at Rachel's nonchalant reply, and his shoulders dropped dejectedly. He was very hungry. And yet, there were baked goods on the table, as if to show them off, and it was hateful to see them being swallowed into the familiar's mouth.

"So? What do you want? Coming all the way out here... are you bored?" With a hint of resentment, Ragna asked sarcastically, glaring at Rachel. His glaring eyes, with a face that can never be called good-natured, somehow reminded one of a ferocious beast.

If the one here was really a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl, he might have made her cry with his extraordinary appearance. But Rachel, uninterested in Ragna's gaze, glanced up at him and sipped her tea coolly.

"My, aren't you being self-conscious? Just because I appear before you, you assume that I have business with you? Your arrogance is truly outrageous."

"The hell did you say? Tch, if you don't have any business, don't bother me. I'm in a hurry!"

"Oh my. Where are you hurrying off to, you stray dog? You look hungry, perhaps you're going to beg for some food?" Rachel asked, tilting her head and placing a childlike fingertip to her white cheek, giggling.

"How pitiful, how miserable! Maybe I'm eating better than you? Pu pu."

"Now, now, stop it Gii. It's mean to say the truth like that."

Following their master's lead, Gii and Nago burst into laughter. Towards the heads on the second floor, Ragna mercilessly swung his fist down.

"Shut up, you familiars!"

"Gyah!"

"Eeeeek!"

"Tch, they're all so talkative..." It's always like this. Ragna muttered in exasperation.

This wasn't the first time Ragna had met Rachel, the butler Valkenhayn, Gii, and Nago. For years, ever since Ragna began wandering the world, he had frequently encountered Rachel.

Each time, her appearance was sudden, her words were harsh, the reasons were unclear, and her departure was equally abrupt. So, he was used to having his plans thwarted and being caught up in nonsensical farces when he was in a hurry. But being used to it doesn't mean he didn't care.

"Hey, rabbit. If you don't have any business, I'm leaving. I'm not as free as you guys." With a frown of irritation, Ragna turned his back and quickly left. He couldn't waste any more time with them. But Rachel, ignoring Ragna's bitter irritation, calmly put down her cup and continued.

"I do have business."

"Huh?!"

"I don't recall saying I didn't. Besides, the very idea that I would come before you without business is inconceivable. I doubt your sanity." Still maintaining her cool demeanor, Rachel directed a subtle barb at Ragna as she gracefully slid off Nago's sofa. Then, with a squirm, Nago contorted its body and transformed into a parasol, fitting into Rachel's hand.

Ragna, who had inadvertently turned around, watched the scene with a twitching eyebrow, feeling a vein throbbing near his temple.

"You... If you have something to say, then hurry up and say it! I told you I don't have time!"

Valkenhayn, who had been holding back until then, stepped forward as Ragna shouted in irritation. As he approached, he glared at Ragna with a vigor that belied his age. But Ragna was used to the intimidating aura of this wolf-man, like a ferocious beast. Without hesitation, Ragna snapped back.

"Shut up! It has nothing to do with you, old man! Don't butt in!"

"You... What do you..."

"Stop it, Valkenhayn. It's pointless to try to teach manners to a stray dog." It was Rachel who restrained him, in a gentle, chiding tone. However, she didn't forget to use words that belittled Ragna.

Valkenhayn, ignoring Ragna's twitching face, turned his gaze away from him as if nothing had happened, and bowed his head to his master once more.

"My apologies, Madam Rachel."

"And Ragna, you keep going on about business, business, but I already asked you earlier, didn't I? 'Where are you hurrying off to?'"

As if piercing his heart, Rachel looked intently at Ragna with her large, red eyes. They were eyes that seemed to see through to the depths of a person's soul.

This was no longer idle chatter. It seemed that way... Ragna swallowed his harsh tone and returned a strong gaze to Rachel.

"'Where'? What are you talking about? I'm going to the NOL's Kagutsuchi branch." He tightly clenched his fist at his side.

On the top floor of the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, a massive building, boasting a divine exterior like the sword held aloft by a saint, towered high into the sky. At the very center and summit of the city, overlooking everything, was the Kagutsuchi branch of the Novus Orbis Librarium.

The reason Ragna had come to Kagutsuchi was to destroy that branch.

He had been traveling around the world, destroying NOL branches in various Hierarchical Cities, as well as facilities under their control. He had no idea how many he had destroyed so far, as he hadn't been counting from the beginning.

However, the crimes he had accumulated in doing so had earned him the label of SS-class criminal, a rare and unparalleled title.

But destroying the branch and defeating the guards was not Ragna's only goal. Ragna's real purpose lay elsewhere.

It was…

"I'm going to infiltrate the branch and destroy the 'cauldron'. Just like always."

The "cauldron."

Hidden beneath the branches and research facilities of the NOL was something called the "cauldron."

Its existence was not made public, and most residents of the Hierarchical Cities, even the NOL's soldiers, were completely unaware of it.

Deep, deep within the underground, in a space accessible only by the innermost elevator of the branch, was a massive object that could not be described as either a facility or a device... The destruction of the "cauldron" was the reason Ragna attacked the branches in various locations, and the purpose for which he had come to Kagutsuchi.

Releasing his clenched fist, Ragna frowned suspiciously.

"There's no need to ask something like that. Besides, weren't you the one that told me the next cauldron I should destroy was in Kagutsuchi?"

This was after he had attacked the branch and destroyed the cauldron in the 9th Hierarchical City of Akitsu, the city before Kagutsuchi. Before dawn, as Ragna was about to leave the Hierarchical City, Rachel appeared before him and indicated that he should head to Kagutsuchi.

Rachel, still gazing at Ragna, lightly shook her head as if trying to make him understand.

"I said that Kagutsuchi was the next place you should go. I don't recall ever instructing you to destroy the cauldron." It was a lecturing tone that didn't suit her childlike appearance. Feeling as if he was being reprimanded, Ragna scratched his head, a little embarrassed.

"Well... yeah, you're right about that. So what? You're saying I shouldn't destroy the cauldron?"

"No, that's not it. It's your freedom whether you destroy something or not. If you wish to destroy it, then destroy it." As if reminiscing about the past, Rachel said in a distant, murmuring tone. After a moment of closing her eyes and gazing at some scene that appeared in her mind, Rachel looked up at Ragna again and asked: "But, Ragna... What are you thinking when you destroy the cauldron?"

It was a strange question. At least for Ragna.

It was like asking what he thinks when he breathes, or what he feels when he drinks water. That's how natural, how much a part of his daily routine, attacking NOL branches and destroying their cauldrons had become for Ragna.

What, indeed. Now that he thought about it, he had never really considered it deeply.

"That... Well, it's because I don't like it. Building a city on top of a cauldron, hiding its existence, and then using it for their own selfish research... Who do they think they are?" Ragna replied with a bitter tone.

The cauldron is a gate that connects to the Boundary. The Boundary is... an otherworldly realm.

It's the outside of the world as we know it, which humanity discovered and touched long ago, changing the world. However, it's an unknowable realm that humans can never fully reach, no matter how much they try.

A hundred years ago, a monster called the Black Beast emerged from that cauldron. The Black Beast scattered seithr throughout the world, destroying everything in its path according to its instincts... driving humanity, the world, to the brink of destruction. Humanity fought against the Black Beast. The ten-year war was known in this era as the "Dark War," and its content, as the name suggests, was like traversing a lightless, despairing darkness.

How could humans think they could control the place where such a monster, which caused so much damage and continues to leave deep scars in the form of seithr, was born? If the Boundary is useful, why do they hide it from the residents who live above it? If they really can control it, why don't they make its existence public?

The questions themselves became the answers. They weren't researching for the sake of helping people, and there was no guarantee that they could really control it.

That's why he would destroy it. He wouldn't allow the existence of such a thing.

Jubei, a beastkin who was Ragna's sword master, taught Ragna about the cauldron and the Boundary, and Ragna came to that conclusion.

(And the cauldron has... "that"...)

Rachel, who listened to Ragna's answer and looked into his heart, was silent for a while as if waiting for what was to come, and then opened her mouth slightly.

"That's all?" The words that spilled out softly mixed into the dusty air of Kagutsuchi, sounding somewhat lonely.

The wrinkles between Ragna's eyebrows deepened.

"What are you disappointed with?"

"I'm not saying I'm disappointed. It's just..." Rachel slid her fingertips and changed the angle of her umbrella, the parasol casting a shadow over her eyes. Her large eyes quietly averted their gaze from Ragna and blinked in the shadow. "Ragna... don't you remember anything 'this time' either?" The questioning voice passes quietly from Ragna's ears to his inside like a cold night wind. But Rachel's wind did not stay inside Ragna, and it escaped without color or shape.

"Huh? What do you mean by not remembering?" Ragna tilted his head, peering at Rachel, not understanding what she is talking about or what she is being asked. He was getting impatient with the riddle-like questions.

Rachel put the handle of her umbrella on her shoulder and looked up at Ragna again. The color that floated in her eyes was a pale disappointment.

"It's nothing. If you don't remember, then that's fine. That's what always happens." She let her small shoulders fall with a sigh, and again spoke mysterious words. It was as if only Ragna didn't understand. Ragna frowned even more.

He was about to ask for an explanation of what she meant, but Rachel interrupted him, waving her hand as if to shoo away even a stray dog.

"My business is already finished. Now, you're in a hurry, aren't you? Go and scavenge for food or something."

After being treated like that, and then being turned away as if she had no more interest in him, where was the motivation to continue the conversation?

Ragna promptly threw away the words he was about to ask in his heart, and clicked his tongue loudly in anger.

"What the hell was that all about? Damn it, I'm going! I won't turn around even if you stop me next time!" He spat out the words as if throwing them away, and started walking with large strides, determined not to waste any more time here.

After being yelled at so much, he suddenly remembered that he was terribly hungry. His feet were unsteady. He hadn't even had a proper drink of water. And yet, he had been forced to waste time on a nonsensical riddle and an unreasonable scolding, which was unbearable.

"Damn it!" He spat out his frustration once more, and hurried towards the city that should be ahead.

Rachel, who was supposed to have turned her back, saw off the retreating figure of the red jacket over her ornate shoulder. In her crimson eyes, there was a flat, pale resignation... and a drop of concern mixed in. As if to contain the flickering small emotions, Rachel lowered her eyelids, and turned her face away from the direction Ragna had left.

"He doesn't change. He's always the same. Again... always the same."

It was a matter of course for Rachel. It was always like this. There was never a time when it wasn't, but she always held a faint hope of "what if it wasn't," and then sighed at the fragility of that thought.

How many times had she had the same thought? It was already foolish to even count. How many times had she guided him to the same land, how many times had she asked the same question... how many times had she heard the same answer? How many times had she failed to hear the answer she had hoped for, and been disappointed?

Even so, the reason she comes to this city again, thinking "maybe," is probably due to the persistence of her mind, which she hasn't been able to give up on even though she thought she had long since given up.

"Will the world repeat itself again? And will I send him to this land again?"

And beyond this, the world will end, and the world will repeat itself again from the beginning.

To the beginning of the "Dark War" a hundred years ago, when the Black Beast was born.

"Madam Rachel. Shall we return now?" Valkenhayn inquired from beside a table set that is unsuitable for the lower levels of Kagutsuchi.

Rachel smiled wryly.

"Yes, I would like to, but..."

But there was something else she wanted to see.

This time, Rachel looked upwards. At the far upper level of Kagutsuchi, beyond the clouds.

It was not clearly visible from here, but above was the city directly managed by the NOL for their own use.

Soon, a ship will arrive there.

"Valkenhayn, please return to the castle first. I will take a walk around Kagutsuchi a little longer before returning."

"Understood. Then I will prepare tea and await your return." Giving a respectful bow, Valkenhayn disappeared from the spot, along with the table set. He returned to Rachel's castle, which exists in a different place, a dimension that is nowhere.

Rachel, who remained, readjusted the handle of her umbrella. Waiting for Gii to bounce and come to her side, she created a rose-colored magic circle around her.

High above, in the distance, the sound of an Ars Magus ship could be heard cutting through the sky towards Kagutsuchi. She probably wanted to see what was on the ship.

"Even I find it comical."

Muttering to no one in particular, Rachel stirred up a wind scented with roses and teleported from the spot.

### Part 3

In the lower levels of the Hierarchical City, places where you can see the sky are precious.

The city is built like a pile of flat plates, and in the lower levels, even if you look up at the sky, the layer above becomes a thick, wide roof that blocks the light. Even if they built the city protruding from the upper layer, above it, countless layers still overlap as countless roofs. It is difficult to get light through them, and in the lower levels of the city, there is no choice but to rely on the light of the lights, whether it is day or night.

The lower city, Orient Town, where Ragna entered, suppressing his hunger, was no exception. Even though it was a clear afternoon, the alleys were dimly lit, and the main streets were brightly lit.

It was a very complex and miscellaneous city.

The buildings were built close as if huddled together, and narrow alleys ran between them. Some of the alleys were so narrow that it would be more accurate to say they were gaps between houses, and sometimes they were suffocatingly blocked by shelves and wooden boxes that seemed to have overflowed from the houses.

Even if you gave up on the maze-like alleys and went out to the main street, it was overflowing with people.

Most of the people coming and going were residents of this city. Everyone had an atmosphere that was not so much starving from poverty, but certainly not wealthy, along with their clothes, and blended in with the flashy colors of the cityscapes that stood out with their primary colors.

Occasionally, among them, unusual people who did not match the scenery of the city were lost in the unfamiliar alleys, spat out onto the main street, and then jostled by the unfamiliar crowd.

Ragna, following a common example, was one of the unusual people who was spat out from a back alley.

Even though it was called a main street, it was narrower than the upper levels. Still, it was worthy of being the main street of this city, with several stores competing to attract customers with flashing neon lights.

While looking for a name that looked like a restaurant among the neon signs, Ragna rubbed his completely weakened stomach and moved his legs.

"Damn it, that Rachel... she keeps saying things I don't understand. If you have something to say, just say it clearly... damn it." Complaints leaked from his mouth as if breathing. That kind of thing is always the case. It's always the case, but he can't help but say it. "What do you mean by 'it's nothing'?"

It didn't feel like that. It just hinted that Ragna was overlooking something important.

"Damn it!" He felt inexplicably irritated. That's probably because of this unbearable hunger. He thought so, and shifted his consciousness back to finding a restaurant.

But the moment Ragna found a name that looked like one among the neon signs, a disturbing presence jumped out from the alley he had just passed.

"What's that!?"

"Meow!"

Something that looked like a human figure swung its fist down, gouging out the spot where he had jumped back. Their eyes met. Red... but not human eyes. Round, just round red eyes.

He was pounced on in quick succession, and after they switched positions as if crossing each other, Ragna put his hand on the sword at his waist and braced himself.

"What? A beastkin? No..."

The human figure, bracing herself on the opposite side of the road and performing a light footwork shadow punch, had a strange appearance.

Although she wore clothes that completely covered her upper body, she was probably a girl judging from the figure that could be glimpsed from them. She was shorter than Ragna, with a height appropriate for a lively woman. Her legs, which stretched out from the hem of her short clothes, were a healthy tan and toned with muscle.

But no matter how you look at it, she was not a normal girl.

She had triangular cat-like ears on her large hood, and a dark brown tail with a white tip extending from her back. Furthermore, the inside of the hood did not have the usual face or organs, but a round red eyeball and a crescent-shaped mouth with bared white fangs floated in the blackness as if a shadow had been pushed in.

Ragna had seen this strange figure once before.

"A Kaka?" Ragna frowned suspiciously. He was sure he had met them once before with his sword master, Jubei. But why would he encounter one in a place like this?

"Meow! Tao is a Kaka warrior, Taokaka, meow!" Replying energetically with a bouncy voice that matched her nimble movements, the girl who called herself Taokaka pointed at Ragna with a large hand like a cat's paw. "You there! Fight with Tao, meow!"

"Fight? Don't joke around, I'm not in the mood for that right now."

He was about to die of hunger, and it was outrageous to waste any more time. But whether Taokaka heard him or not, she grinned with her crescent-shaped mouth, wagged her tail, and launched a hook into the air with a belligerent shuffle.

"If Tao wins~, you'll treat Tao to a full meal meow! And if Tao loses~, you'll still treat Tao to a full meal, meow!"

"Don't screw with me! That means I'll be treating you either way!"

"Don't worry about the details, meow. Well then, here I go, meow!!"

"Hey, wait..."

As if not caring about his words, the strange cat girl jumped up with the swiftness of a cat, kicked off a nearby wall, and leapt above Ragna's head. Silver claws popped out from the round tip of her robe-covered hand, sharply cutting through the air.

"Whoa!" Ragna reflexively pulled out his sword and blocked the claws that grazed his face. The sound of metal clashing echoed loudly, and the surrounding passersby turned around to see what was happening. But rough brawls like this are by no means uncommon around here. Everyone passed by indifferently or tried not to get close, looking annoyed.

Of course, Taokaka didn't care about the eyes of those around her, and this time, she jumped on Ragna's sword that had blocked her attack as a foothold, spun around in the air, and quickly unleashed a kick as if stomping on him. Claws popped out from her toes as well.

If he took such a thing head-on, he would have his flesh torn off. It felt as if he was being attacked by a carnivore in the middle of the city.

Moreover, his opponent seemed to be only half serious. In response to Ragna blocking the claw attack with his sword again and forcefully shaking it off, Taokaka kept a grin on her face and landed with a graceful movement.

"Oh, you're good, White Guy. But the food is... Tao's!!!"

"That's why I didn't say anything about treating you..." Naturally, Ragna's rebuttal didn't reach those triangular ears.

Taokaka ran out with the momentum of a whirlwind, jumped in front of Ragna, and spun behind him.

"Fast!"

She was incredibly fast. It was all he could do to keep track of her movements with his eyes.

At the same time Ragna turned around in a hurry, Taokaka's claws swung from above and below as if biting down. He bitterly choked back a breath, and pulled his sword closer, bracing himself to at least avoid being hit directly.

But…

"Meow... got you."

Taokaka's movements suddenly slowed down. At the same time, a grrgrgr like she'd just heard from Ragna's stomach echoed without a sense of urgency. ​​He was not so naive to miss the gap when Taokaka lost her strength. Ragna stretched out his arm, grabbed her collar, and slammed her into the ground with the momentum of pulling her in.

"Ugh!" Taokaka let out a muffled cry, struggling as Ragna's hand held her down. But when her stomach rumbled faintly once more, she threw both her hands and feet to the ground, and even her tail fell limply, becoming docile.

"Ugh~, I lost, meow~~"

"Haa, haa... you damn brat! You're attacking people without a word... "

Just as he was about to yell at her in anger, Ragna's stomach interrupted his words. The pathetic sound and the unbearable feeling of weakness made his words trail off, unable to continue. It must have been the smell of steamed food or something wafting from somewhere that made him feel this way.

In contrast to Ragna, who was so exhausted that he wanted to sit down on the spot, Taokaka, who had heard the sound of his stomach, cleverly raised her head while still being held down.

"Meow! White Guy is also hungry. Then let's eat together, meow! Tao will take you to a delicious restaurant, meow!"

"You... you could at least feel a little remorse..." He felt foolish for being in a hurry and getting angry. Ragna let go of Taokaka and held his head in his hands.

He didn't care about the details anymore. He just wanted to eat. But why did he have to get involved with Rachel and Taokaka one after another like this?

"Ah, damn it, I got it, I got it. Food, food! Take me to that so-called delicious restaurant. I'll feed you too!"

"Ooooh, really, White Guy!"

When Ragna said it in exasperation, Taokaka jumped up with such force that she completely forgot about being crushed just a moment ago. The corners of her eyes and mouth, which had drooped powerlessly, were already regained their liveliness.

"If that's decided, then let's go right away, meow! Yahoo, all-you-can-eat feast~!"

"It's not all-you-can-eat! Hey, are you listening to meeeeeee!"

Ragna's grumbling was of no concern to her. Taokaka grabbed Ragna's arm tightly, pushed and blew away the people on the main street, and ran through with the force of a raging wave.

A variety of dishes were lined up on a round table covered with a white cloth.

A stir-fry of green vegetables with the aroma of spices and garlic, a large plate of fried shrimp with roe, a large plate of pork and vegetables stewed with miso, a noodle dish with plenty of soup and a key placed on it, a chewy steamed rice cake wrapped in tree bark with wild vegetables, and a plate of fried noodles with a lot of seafood in the sauce.

On top of that, a large plate of freshly steamed meat buns piled high, steaming hot, was piled high, and Ragna was stunned by the sight spreading out in front of him.

For a moment, he thought it would disappear, but the freshly made steam that mercilessly stimulated his stomach and the spreading aroma told him the reality that if he reached out and put it in his mouth, he would immediately be promised a delicacy. Unable to bear it, his stomach cried out for work.

"Let's eat meeeeooooow!!" With a spirited declaration, Taokaka took the steamed rice in her right hand and the meat bun in her left, and began to eat with unimaginable speeds.

"Munchmunchmunchmunch~! Munchmunchmunchmunch~!" Taokaka busily moved her mouth and hands, making strange noises, whether it was the sound of biting, chewing, or a cry of joy at having reached the food. The number of meat buns decreased rapidly, and Ragna hurriedly grabbed one for himself.

"How hungry were you... is it good?"

Ragna gave a wry smile and, giving up, bit into the meat bun in his hand. Although it was about the size of his face, the skin was delicately and fluffily steamed, and the filling was juicy with the flavor oozing out, making it more delicious than he had imagined. It was as good as he had recommended. While he was inwardly impressed, Taokaka's hand snatched six or so shrimp dumplings from right in front of Ragna's eyes all at once.

"It's delicious, meow! This, this, that, all of them are super delicious!"

"Is that so? I'm glad to hear that… oh dear."

Even if she ate so innocently and impolitely, the excessive number of items ordered and the way she stuffed herself seemed like a joke to her.

This would probably leave his wallet empty, but Ragna pushed that to the back of his mind and reached out for the food before Taokaka could take it all.

The crispy fried noodles were fragrant, the salty sauce was piping hot, and the plump ingredients bounced with a soft elasticity in his mouth.

It was too gentle and high-quality for Ragna's stomach, which was accustomed to crude meals like grilled meat or grilled mushrooms.

"Damn, it's delicious."

"That's right, meow! It's delicious! White Guy is a good guy for treating me to such delicious food!!"

"You attacked me and tried to force me to treat you, what's 'good person' supposed to mean, geez. Hey, hey, don't eat that all by yourself!"

"Ahhhhn~"

"Ahhh! Damn it, I haven't even had a bite of that shrimp dumpling!" Ragna's hand tried to stop Taokaka's outrageous act of pouring the food over the plate and into her mouth, but it was too late, and the white large plate was easily emptied.

Ragna's hand, having missed its target, trembled in the air, and he clenched it tightly to suppress his frustration.

"You..."

"Phew! Hm, what's wrong, Good Guy? Aren't you eating, meow? You can't chase after bounties on an empty stomach!"

"Shut up, you're eating my money without hesitation! ...Wait, chase after bounties?"

Unexpected words popped out from the cat girl, whose mind only seemed focused on eating, and Ragna unclenched his fist.

Chasing after bounties, or as it's also called: bounty hunting. Criminals beyond the control of the NOL are given a bounty, and the bounty hunters chase after the wanted criminals for the bounty.

To have a bounty placed on one's head means they have committed a crime worthy of such a reward. The profit is great, but it comes with a corresponding danger.

Taokaka's physical ability would certainly allow her to work as a bounty hunter, but that doesn't mean that a woman, child, or cat would like to choose such a job.

But Taokaka, somewhat proudly, took out something like a wanted poster from her chest, spread it out on the table, and wagged her tail in a good mood.

"Meow. Tao has become a bounty hunter from today. And then~, I'm going to blow this 'Rawgnya' guy away and get a lot of money, meow!"

"Rawgnya?"

What's that ridiculous name, Ragna wondered, peering at the wanted poster out of curiosity.

The moment he did…

"Bwah!"

The moment he saw the portrait and the name, he choked and almost spat out the meat bun in his mouth.

While hurriedly covering his mouth and swallowing the contents, he took the wanted poster in his hand and looked at it closely. Along with a very ugly portrait of a man, it contained a generous amount of reward money and the name of the wanted criminal. The name written was…

"Wh-what... 'Ragna the Bloodedge'... is that me!?" As if slamming down his surging anger and inexplicable feelings, Ragna roughly returned the wanted poster to the table. "Besides, what's with this picture, it's not even close! If you don't know what I look like, don't make a caricature! It's a bit hurtful!"

"Meow? Good Guy?" Taokaka's round eyes widened in surprise as she lifted her face from the large bowl she was holding. She had been noisily slurping the soup and noodles with tremendous speed, and a piece of roasted pork was sticking out of her busy mouth.

Noticing her expression, Ragna tried to suppress his discomposure and forced a smile.

"No, it's nothing..."

He couldn't continue after "it's nothing." As if erupting, a dangerous presence welled up behind Ragna. Hostility, malice, and then murderous intent. A low, rumbling murmur gradually approached them from the back of the store.

"Didn't that guy just say 'Ragna the Bloodedge'?"

Someone's whisper, contrary to its hushed volume, resounded around them for some reason. As if chasing after it, voices could be heard from all over the place.

"Hey, look. That white hair, red clothes..."

"'Grim Reaper'... Ragna the Bloodedge..."

"The most wanted criminal with the highest bounty in history..."

"Even if we split it, it'll be a considerable amount..."

At the sound of a chair being pulled, Ragna awkwardly turned his neck and checked behind him.

There were men and women filling the store's tables, with appearances that couldn't be described as harmless residents.

Someone began drawing their weapon.

"Hey, Taokaka." As soon as he called out, Ragna strongly grabbed Taokaka's arm, who had finished drinking the last drop of soup.

"Meow?"

Without asking any questions, he dragged the cat girl's body and started running at full speed.

Seeing that, the customers in the store slammed the tables and stood up.

"He's getting away!"

"As I thought, that guy was 'Grim Reaper'!"

"Chase him! Capture him- no, kill him!!!"

With their respective weapons in hand, they overturned tables, kicked away chairs, and the bounty hunters who were eating chased after them all at once. Even if Ragna tried to jump out of the store, tried to weave through the crowd and stumble, the persistent voices followed him without caring about anything.

"Damn it, what's with that store? The customers are all bounty hunters!!!"

"Meeeoooow, there's still a lot of my food left!!!"

"Shut up! Can't you see this isn't the time for that?" Carrying Taokaka's body on his shoulder as she tried to go back at this point, Ragna fled through the main street of the Orient Town. "Besides, if we go back now, we won't just lose our meal, we'll get beaten to a pulp! Since they saw me eating with you, they'll think you're my accomplice!"

"Meow? Accomplice? Tao and Good Guy are accomplices, meow?"

"Huh? No, that's what they'll think. Even if we say we're not, they won't listen... anyway, more importantly, isn't there somewhere we can escape to?"

The roaring voices and footsteps chasing after them, while not closing the distance, showed no signs of giving up on pursuing Ragna. As long as they were running through the main street, their figures were visible, so there was no reason to give up. If they killed Ragna, they'd be able to live without worries for the rest of their lives, and even build a mansion in the upper layers.

"I can't get caught by those guys no matter what!" While shouting, Ragna ran straight ahead. If he recklessly entered a back alley, he'd get lost in the intricate alleyways, and at worst, he'd run into a dead end and be cornered.

He was confident that he could defeat them if he fought them, but he wasn't confident that he could fight without involving these ordinary people in a place like this.

"I understand, meow!"

"Dowah!"

Suddenly, Taokaka jumped up on Ragna's shoulder, turned around in the air, and landed in front of him. She then used her hands like paws and ran alongside him.

"Good Guy is my benefactor who treated me to a meal, meow! And since he's Tao's friend, I'll give you a special guide, meow!"

"No, an accomplice is..."

"Kaka Village is safe, meow! Follow me!" As soon as she said that, Taokaka kicked the ground and jumped low, then increased her speed. She quickly distanced herself, and Ragna hurriedly quickened his pace.

He remembered what happened when he was attacked earlier. Come to think of it, this cat girl was incredibly fast. If he wasn't careful, he'd lose sight of her.

"Hey, wait! Don't leave me behind!!"

More desperately than when he was escaping, Ragna gritted his teeth and chased after Taokaka, who was running with the leg strength of a wild animal.

### Part 4

December 30, 2199 - 13:25

A dull, low driving sound droned on.

It was a small sound that normally wouldn't be noticed. However, after more than an hour of silence, it was impossible not to notice it, and as she didn't want to return her consciousness to the silence, she strained her ears to the driving sound.

How much longer would she have to listen to this sound?

Sinking her slender body into the unadorned seat, Noel Vermillion, a warrant officer of the Novus Orbis Librarium's 4th Thaumaturgist Squadron, quietly sighed.

Wearing a blue and white soldier uniform, she spread a blue poncho for cold weather over her lap like a blanket and leaned her head against the wall. Despite having completed the officer school course properly, she looked somewhat younger than her actual age due to her girlish features.

Her long, straight, golden hair reached down to her waist, but now it was gathered into the blue beret she wore on her head for duty. Her distant eyes were a soft green. She looked a little sleepy, gazing out the small window beside her. White skin, slender shoulders, slender arms. If she were wearing different clothes, she would not look like a soldier working for the NOL.

This was a ship owned by the NOL, traversing the sky - an Ars Magus ship.

Outside the small window that Noel was looking at, a white sea of clouds spread out, and the ship continued its smooth voyage to the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, its destination.

There were only two people sitting in the passenger cabin with rows of seats. Noel, who was sitting in the front seat looking listless, and one other person.

Although it was a relatively small Ars Magus ship, a considerable number of seats were available. Even so, there were only two people in the passenger cabin, which couldn't be considered narrow. And since they were not particularly close, there had been no conversation for a long time, and an awkward amount of silence continued between them.

She wondered what that person was doing now. Driven by such a slight interest, Noel fidgeted slightly on the seat and gently peered behind the shadow of the backrest.

The man sitting there was not wearing the uniform of a soldier like Noel, but a black suit. He was slender but tall, with a black hat on his green hair. Unlike Noel, he didn't seem to feel any awkwardness at all, and he crossed his long, thin legs and leaned back in his seat in a relaxed manner.

He was Captain Hazama of the Novus Orbis Librarium's Intelligence Department.

Right as the year was about to end, Noel and Hazama, who belonged to a different department, were heading to Kagutsuchi for a mission.

As long as you work as a soldier, you should basically follow orders from above. Of course, Noel had no intention of going against orders. However, that did not mean that such loyalty and sense of duty could dispel her anxiety about this mission.

(Haa... why is it just me and Hazama-san?)

Noel averted her eyes from Hazama, who was wearing a hat over his eyes and not moving as if he were asleep, and returned to the seat, grumbling in her heart while looking out the window again.

Noel belonged to the 4th Thaumaturgist Squadron, and Hazama belonged to the Intelligence Department. It was not very common for people from different departments to take on the same mission. And yet they were each sent to a land far away from headquarters.

The reason for this lay in the details of the "mission" given to Noel. This was a top-secret mission that could not leak information to unnecessary personnel.

The objective was to search for a certain person. Jin Kisaragi, Noel's direct superior, Major of the 4th Squadron, and the one she served under as his secretary. He had suddenly disappeared from the NOL headquarters a few days earlier and was missing.

If it were discovered that the commander of a division was missing due to unauthorized actions, it would have a negative impact on many soldier and expose the internal affairs of the NOL. Therefore, information about Jin's disappearance was conveyed to only a very small number of people.

A few days later, information came in that Jin seemed to be heading to Kagutsuchi.

Although the reason for this was unknown, there was no way Jin would be allowed to continue acting alone.

Jin was immediately ordered to return to base, and Hazama, who had obtained information about his whereabouts, and Noel, Jin's secretary, were chosen for the role of conveying this order.

...And now, Noel and Hazama were sitting alone in the seats of the Ars Magus ship.

(But even so, there should be more manpower. Even if we're looking for Major Kisaragi, we don't have any information beyond that he seems to have gone to Kagutsuchi...)

Could they really find a single soldier in the vast Kagutsuchi?

Even if they were able to find him, would Jin Kisaragi listen to Noel's order to return to base and obediently comply?

(No way, he would never listen.)

Noel shook her head slightly. Although she worked as a secretary, she was always met with Jin's cold and harsh gaze. It could not be said that they had a smooth superior-subordinate relationship. Rather, it was safe to say that it was the worst.

It was clearly a misjudgment in personnel selection. Even if they arrived in Kagutsuchi, what should they do and how should they start?

The more she thought about it, the more her anxiety grew and weighed heavily on her chest.

And there was one more major anxiety. The man named Hazama, who was sitting silently in the back seat. This was the first time she had met him on this mission, and he had a strange atmosphere, and she couldn't understand what he was thinking at all... somehow, he was scary.

(If only everyone was here at a time like this...)

Sighing once again, Noel hunched over as if trying to shrink her body.

She remembered the time she spent with her friends at the officer school before becoming a soldier for the NOL. Those were fun times. A lot of things happened, and there were difficult times, but those were happy days that more than made up for them.

In those nostalgic days, her best friends were always by Noel's side.

Noel wasn't a very social person and didn't have many friends. But even so, the small number of friends she had at school were precious to her.

Her two closest friends were Tsubaki Yayoi and Makoto Nanaya, who were in the same room in the dormitory. Tsubaki called out to Noel, who was unable to fit in with school life, and took care of her in various ways. Makoto pulled on Noel's withdrawn arm and taught her many fun things. The three of them talked about many things.

Tsubaki was smart and had top grades, so before exams, she always studied with Makoto and taught them.

They also went out together after school. They often went to a cafe with a comfortable open terrace, located a short walk from the school. It had many types of parfaits, which were Noel and her friends' favorites.

Makoto was particularly fond of them. Whenever they stopped by, a chestnut parfait in a tall glass was always placed in front of her.

Even after they were about to graduate and their future paths were decided... when the three of them went to that cafe, there was a chestnut parfait in front of Makoto.

"So, it's decided? Noel will become Kisaragi-senpai's secretary?"

It was a little early to call it evening, and the area overlooked by the clear sky was enveloped in a gentle and warm atmosphere. Even though it was the graduation season, there were no extreme temperature fluctuations in the hierarchical city where the climate and temperature were controlled by Ars Magus. Therefore, they could fully enjoy the parfait with cold ice cream and the coat without wearing it, in their officer school uniforms, on the open terrace.

Makoto, who was carrying the chestnut cream to her mouth, asked the question, and Noel, who was sitting across the round table, nodded slightly with a frown.

"Yeah... it's been decided."

"I see... Noel as a secretary..."

What kind of reaction should she give? With such a troubled face, Makoto put the long-handled parfait spoon in her mouth and rested her cheek on her hand.

Makoto was not human, but a beastkin. Her face and figure were not much different from an ordinary girl, but her small ears that popped out from her head and her tail, which was larger than her torso, were unmistakably squirrel-shaped.

It seemed that she had been looked at strangely in the past because of her special appearance, but the Makoto that Noel knew was an active and straightforward girl with lovely deep brown hair and big, sparkling brown eyes.

Seeing the complicated look on the normally cheerful Makoto, Noel inadvertently looked down at her strawberry parfait in front of her.

"I don't think I'm capable of doing it myself. If it's Kisaragi-senpai's secretary, someone like me..."

"Oh, that's not it, Noel! It's not that you're bad or anything like that. It's just that if you're Kisaragi-senpai's secretary..." Makoto hurriedly tried to follow up, but in the end, even those words became blurred.

Noel and Makoto were thinking the same thing.

The beginning of the story was a little before their future paths after graduation were decided. Noel, who was simply intending to apply to become a soldier for the NOL, was suddenly called in and ordered to become the secretary of Jin Kisaragi, who was the commander of the 4th Thaumaturgist Squadron after graduation.

Noel couldn't refuse it. But she had been thinking about it ever since she heard the story.

Jin Kisaragi. A senior at the officer school who graduated two years earlier, a member of the Duodecim's prestigious Kisaragi family, and a childhood friend of Tsubaki, the daughter of the Duodecim's Yayoi family.

They must have thought the same thing at the same time. When Noel raised her eyes as if peeking, Makoto was also peeking, looking at the red-haired girl sitting between them.

"You two shouldn't talk like that. There's a good reason why Noel was chosen."

With a knowing look on her face, the red-haired girl in front of them, Tsubaki, chided.

Her strikingly colored hair was glossy, long, and reached her waist, and her blue eyes resembled the color of the sky. Her posture was upright and elegant, and although she had no intention of doing so, she inevitably gave off an air of being brought up well.

Excellent grades, impeccable behavior. Such words suited Tsubaki very well. Kind to everyone and loved by everyone, she was a proud and boastful best friend to Noel. However, only a very small number of friends, including Noel and Makoto, knew that she liked bitter sweets such as matcha and adzuki beans.

With a dignified demeanor that did not shame her birth, Tsubaki took a spoonful of bracken rice cake and matcha ice cream sprinkled with matcha powder, and then continued in a gentle tone.

"Noel is good at both studying and sports, and above all, she has excellent Ars Magus aptitude, the best since the founding of the officer school. Qualities that are inherent cannot be improved later. As the secretary of the division commander, she has the perfect qualities."

"Well, I think Noel's Ars Magus aptitude is amazing. But…"

Despite agreeing, Makoto still had an unsettled look on her face. There was no objection to what Tsubaki said. But still, there was something that stuck in her mind. Noel had the same feeling, and she dropped her shoulders with a sigh.

"I... I don't have any confidence. I'm disliked by Kisaragi-senpai, and besides..."

Above all, she knew that Tsubaki really wanted to become Jin's secretary.

Tsubaki liked Jin. Not as a childhood friend or a senior at school, but as a man.

She had no memory of wanting to work by the side of someone she liked, wanting to be useful to that person. But she would understand, because she had seen Tsubaki, who had been studying hard every day to work next to Jin someday. She knew how pure and straightforward that feeling was.

However, she couldn't put that into words and throw it at Tsubaki.

It was not something to be treated so roughly.

So Noel swallowed the thoughts that came to her mind, along with the sweet and sour strawberry ice cream, before they reached her throat.

"Even if you don't have confidence, you have to work hard. You agreed to become Jin-sama's secretary for your parents, didn't you?"

"Eh?" When Tsubaki gently said that to her, Noel raised her face in surprise. At the end of her raised gaze, Tsubaki's blue eyes were looking at her with a gentle look.

"I heard. If you take on the secretary's position, your family, the Vermillion family's noble privileges will be restored. The Vermillion family will also be supported while you're in office."

At Tsubaki's words, Noel's heart skipped a beat. Driven by that momentum, her fingertips hit the spoon against the parfait glass.

She wondered for a moment how she knew about that, but Tsubaki was the daughter of the Duodecim. The internal affairs of the NOL would also reach her ears to some extent.

On the other hand, Makoto, who knew nothing, raised her body with a start in surprise and leaned forward.

"Eh, is that true, Noel!?"

"...Yeah. Actually..." Noel nodded, not wanting to lie to Makoto or Tsubaki.

Putting her raised belly back on the chair, Makoto slumped over the round table as if clinging to it. Her voluminous, fluffy tail also fell down powerlessly.

"Haa, I see. Then you can't refuse, can you? Your parents are... how should I say it, 'special' to you." Makoto's words, spoken with a deep sigh, were by no means sarcastic, compassionate, or anything that could hurt someone's heart. There was only simple understanding.

Makoto and Tsubaki knew, only in a rough outline, how Noel's family was "special," after hearing it from her.

Noel was adopted.

"About four years ago, wasn't it?" Makoto slowly raised her slumped body and asked nostalgically.

Noel nodded slightly.

"Yeah. During the explosion in Ibukido. I don't remember it well, but a person from the Librarium rescued me, and my current foster father adopted me when he'd heard about me."

Her foster parents, the Vermillions, were kind people. Noel felt a great debt to them for taking her in and treating her with love. At the same time, she felt a great pain in her heart for not being able to do anything for her foster father, who was struggling with his health in a life that could not be described as wealthy.

Therefore, the conditions presented by the NOL, "restoration of noble privileges" and "economic support," were too attractive for Noel, who wanted to repay her kindness in any way possible.

"I'm sorry, Tsubaki."

Unable to bear it, Noel apologized weakly. If she became Jin Kisaragi's secretary at this time, it would be impossible for Tsubaki to become his secretary in the future unless something extraordinary happened.

It hurt Noel to think that she had crushed Tsubaki's feelings with the heavy weight of her family's situation.

Perhaps Noel's mental state was evident on her face. Tsubaki gave a wry smile at Noel's apologetic expression and shrugged her shoulders.

"Why are you apologizing? Just because you became Jin-sama's secretary doesn't mean I can't be his secretary. Besides, with this chaotic situation where the civil war still isn't over, I'm relieved that a reliable friend is by Jin-sama's side."

​​Tsubaki's gentle words somehow sounded lonely and painful. It wasn't Noel's career path that was the reason. There was a more direct and immediate reason.

"The Ikaruga Civil War... Kisaragi-senpai hasn't returned from the battlefield yet, has he?" Makoto muttered as if dropping the words, while poking the remaining parfait with her spoon and scooping up the melting ice cream.

Jin was currently on the front line of the Ikaruga Civil War, having been appointed commander of the 4th Thaumaturgist Squadron immediately after graduating. That was why Tsubaki was constantly gloomy.

"Yes. My father's also gone to the battlefield and hasn't returned."

Tsubaki put a slightly bitter matcha ice cream on a silver spoon and brought it to her mouth. Then, as if spilling out her true feelings, she murmured, "...I wish the war would end soon."

"Tsubaki..." Noel called her name, but she didn't know what else to say.

The Ikaruga Civil War was a long-lasting war. Not only her father and Jin, but many people around Tsubaki were probably talking about who went to which battlefield.

Despite their subdued tone, the murmured words carried deep emotions that resonated heavily in Noel and Makoto's hearts.

"Oh, stop it! Stop this talk! Just because we're feeling gloomy doesn't mean the war will end, and even the parfait won't taste good!" With a vigorous movement as if shaking off the heavy atmosphere that had begun to drift, Makoto stood up and gripped her spoon tightly.

When gave them a cheerful smile, the heavy burden that had been weighing on Noel and Tsubaki's shoulders was dispelled and went elsewhere. Makoto's smile always lifted their spirits, no matter what.

"That's right, Tsubaki, what about your plans after graduation? You have to decide soon, right?"

Changing her mood, she sat back down and asked in a bright voice, while hooking her finger on the teacup she had completely forgotten about in her preoccupation with the parfait.

At the bouncy voice, Tsubaki relaxed her cheeks as if releasing tension.

"Well. I've been thinking about it a lot, but I haven't decided yet. But..." After closing her lips once, Tsubaki put down her spoon and opened her mouth again. "But, I hope I can go to a department where I can follow my own beliefs. I want to become stronger in such a place. So that I can protect what is important to me."

Contrary to her dreamy tone, there was a strong determination in the depths of Tsubaki's eyes. However, no one was able to find it in this place.

"What about you, Makoto?" As if trying to deceive something, Tsubaki turned her gaze away.

"Me?"

Noel also nodded, tilting her teacup towards Makoto, who was pointing at herself.

"Come to think of it, I haven't heard much about your plans. Have you submitted your application?"

"Well… sort of."

Though she'd brought up the topic herself, she was a little uncomfortable with this kind of talk, and Makoto scratched her cheek and laughed while taking a sip of tea.

"Um, for now, the Intelligence Department. I don't know what will actually happen, though."

"Intelligence Department? That's a bit unexpected."

While bringing her lips to the cup, Noel widened her eyes. Makoto was the most skilled in combat among the three. She had assumed that she would be applying for a department that would make use of this.

Putting down her cup, Makoto now scratched her head as if messing up her hair.

"How should I put it? I want to know more about this world. If it's the Intelligence Department or something like that, I feel like I can learn a lot of things I didn't know before."

"That's true, but..."

Even so, the Intelligence Department, which avoids people's eyes and hides in the shadows to act without being known, was far from Makoto's image, and Tsubaki looked puzzled.

Little by little, everyone would be moving in different directions from their student days. Such a thought suddenly passed through Noel's mind, and she secretly hugged the teacup in her hand tightly with both hands.

"Um, you know... it's almost graduation. Even after graduation, we'll still be friends, right?"

Noel had no memories before being rescued in Ibukido. So for her, Tsubaki and Makoto were her first friends in her life. There were other people she could call friends, but Tsubaki and Makoto were special. The time the three of them spent together was truly irreplaceable.

Noel watched her two best friends as if asking for confirmation, waiting for an answer, and Makoto and Tsubaki stared back at her before breaking into smiles as if bursting out.

"Of course, Noel! Right, Tsubaki?"

"Yes, of course."

Makoto's smile, which was like a clear sky, and Tsubaki's smile, which was like a blooming flower. Their kindness warmly enveloped her, and it was so, so happy.

Noel almost cried a little while drinking her tea.

The remaining few days of student life were coming to an end, and they would no longer be attending the same classroom, and they would no longer be able to wear the uniforms of this military academy. But even then, she thought that they could always get together like this and spend a peaceful time like this afternoon, surrounding a single table.

However, after that day, they never had the chance to visit this cafe together.

### Part 5

She wondered how long she had been immersed in nostalgic memories.

"...Lieutenant? Hello? Lieutenant Noel Vermillion?"

Suddenly, she heard a man's voice from right beside her.

"Huh, ah, y-yes!"

A beat late, Noel came to her senses and hurriedly straightened her head and body from the wall she had been leaning against.

​​In the passenger cabin where there were only two people, only one man could call out to her. Pressing down on her slipping hat, she turned around and saw the figure she had expected.

Black suit, white shirt, black tie, black hat. His green hair was so long in the front that it hid his eyes, and from the depths of those eyes, which were difficult to tell whether they were open or not, he looked down at Noel from a high position with an exasperated look.

"Are you finally awake? Honestly, we're still on duty, you know? Even if we're in transit, a nap is quite carefree, isn't it?"

"I-I'm sorry, Captain Hazama. But, um, I certainly wasn't sleeping...!"

While she thought being dazed was not much different, Noel straightened her posture and made excuses to Hazama, who was looking down at her. At that moment, she felt something terribly cold down her spine.

(Eh... what...?)

The air conditioning in the Ars Magus ship was comfortably adjusted, and she wasn't feeling unwell. And it was too... horrifying to be a chill from an unexpected cold.

Why was she being attacked by such a sensation? The unreasonable chills, no, rather, the fear, grabbed Noel and wouldn't let go.

Meanwhile, Hazama began to talk on his own, as if he didn't care about Noel being unable to speak.

"It's nice that you got plenty of rest, but we've already arrived in Kagutsuchi. If you stay on board like this, your work won't start at all, so could you please get off?"

"Eh, ah..."

Come to think of it, the driving sound during the voyage had stopped sometime. When she turned her gaze to the small window, the scenery outside was not the sky but a port for Ars Magus ships.

The fear that had been clogging her chest until just now was gone, and a feeling of shame rose like a rush.

Noel grabbed the seatbelt buckle as if jumping at it, and started to try to undo it. Her fingertips fumbled due to her agitation, and she couldn't undo the seatbelt, which should have been easy.

"I-I'm sorry! I'll get off right away, right now!"

"Oh, is that so? Then I'll get off first, so please don't break the seatbelt." With a light chuckle, Hazama waved his leather gloved hand and left the passenger cabin. Watching his back as he left, Noel's expression crumpled wretchedly as soon as she turned her face back to the seatbelt. She didn't even notice the descent, let alone the announcement of it. What a blunder.

As Hazama said, she was too carefree even though she was on duty.

After a bit of delay, Noel finally escaped from the unfastened seatbelt, and while putting on her blue poncho, she hurriedly rushed outside.

The 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, Port 5.

Located at the edge of the upper layer, one of the smaller and quietly established ports among many, it was a port used for matters and missions that could not be made public even within the NOL.

Due to its intended use, there were fewer personnel working there compared to other ports. The number of Ars Magus ships that come in and out of the port was not very large, and it was a quiet port with few people around, but even so, it had a glamorous air that suggested that it was directly managed by the NOL.

The face of the port, so to speak, was the large clock hung in the management building. The gold hands indicating the time were finely decorated to the tips, giving it the appearance of a work of art.

With the large clock watching over the port with elegance and dignity, a small Ars Magus ship, which had entered the port under the name of the Intelligence Department of the NOL Headquarters, quietly rested its body.

Metal stairs extending from the abdomen of the ship urged passengers to go to the floor of the port.

While holding the handrail of the stairs, Noel looked around at the scenery from there. The sky was a pleasant clear day. The air, controlled by Ars Magus, was refreshing, and there was almost no magic element.

From this location, it was difficult to see clearly because it was blocked by the management building and the entrance to the port, but she could see some NOL facilities lined up beyond the relatively new Port 5. Beyond that, in the distance, the well-organized cityscape, typical of the upper layer, spread out. The green of the trees planted everywhere was deep and glistened in the sunlight. The buildings lined up were based on white and blue, giving a somewhat clear impression.

It was a beautiful city. And it was very large.

"This is Kagutsuchi..."

It was Noel's first visit to the city.

If it weren't for the information from her superior and senior at the military academy, Jin Kisaragi, she might not have visited it.

Sliding her fingertips covered with white gloves on the handrail, Noel ran down the short stairs and descended from the Ars Magus ship to the port. Beyond the protruding passageway, Hazama was leaning against the pillar of a one-legged clock, which pointed to the same time as the large clock, looking bored.

The sight startled Noel for a moment, and she ran towards him.

Noel was a little uncomfortable with the man from the Intelligence Department. The first time she had properly met him and talked to him was when she was summoned for this mission, but when she was in front of him, she felt somehow overwhelmed and swallowed up. However, she couldn't avoid him. He was the only collaborator in this top-secret mission.

Standing at attention in front of Hazama and straightening her back, Noel gave a small salute to the superior officer from a different department.

"I-I kept you waiting, Captain Hazama. I was very rude earlier."

"No, no, I'm used to waiting, so please don't worry about it." Hazama etched a deep smile on his lips, raised his body, and gave a light bow while speaking in a soft tone.

If you only listened to the words, it was normal and sounded considerate. But Noel felt a vague suspicion about his strangely suggestive way of speaking and exaggerated gestures, and she inadvertently looked down. At the same time, she felt somewhat depressed at her own narrow-mindedness, even though nothing had been done to her.

(He's not a bad person... I think.)

Even so, she felt sorry for the feeling of discomfort that welled up in her chest as if seeping out.

As Noel looked down with her salute still in place, Hazama suddenly clapped his hands as if he had come up with something.

"Ah, that's right, that's right. And about the 'Captain' and that salute, let's get rid of those formalities. I'm not your direct superior, and you're not my direct subordinate."

"Eh... but, but..."

"Those things are so troublesome. I don't want to put on a superior's face to you either. There's no one watching us, so please, okay?"

With a deep smile at the corners of his mouth, Hazama tilted his head slightly and looked down at Noel. His bangs were long, and the brim of his hat cast a shadow, making it difficult to see the eyes behind them. Even so, the gaze that was staring at her was clearly felt.

"Understood. Hazama… san."

Feeling that it would be rude to refuse outright, Noel nodded hesitantly. But she couldn't suddenly change her attitude as if turning her hand over, so she tried to start by at least changing how she called him.

Satisfied, Hazama's smile deepened and he spoke again.

"Now then. Let's get down to business right away. Our objective this time is to search for Major Jin Kisaragi, who is currently missing. If we find him, we'll tell him that a return order has been issued from headquarters, and if he obeys quietly, that's fine, but if he doesn't, we will have to restrain him and forcibly take him away."

At Hazama's words, Noel's expression became tense and stiff.

This was no longer the NOL headquarters where she had spent her days. It was Kagutsuchi, an unfamiliar city, although it was under the control of the NOL. Hazama continued in a tone as if he were explaining to a student.

"Currently, Major Kisaragi seems to be hiding in Kagutsuchi. His objective is most likely Ragna the Bloodedge, the wanted criminal known as the 'Grim Reaper.' He went missing immediately after we received information that he was headed to Kagutsuchi, right?"

"Yes. The name Ragna the Bloodedge seemed to ring a bell with him. ...Although I didn't confirm it..." Noel replied with a serious face.

The last time Noel met Jin was when she delivered a report on the wanted criminal, "Grim Reaper."

At that time, Jin, as always, seemed reluctant to even deal with Noel. He snatched the report and changed his expression as soon as he heard from the Intelligence Department that the "Grim Reaper's" name was Ragna the Bloodedge.

Jin was laughing. Calm and ruthless. Noel clearly remembered that Jin, who always had an icy expression, laughed aloud only at that time. Noel had never seen him like this, not even during his student days or after becoming his secretary.

"Um, may I ask a question?"

"Yes, please?" Hazama gestured the the innocent Noel to prompt her.

Feeling as if she was being tested by his stiff smile, Noel couldn't look up at Hazama's face.

"If the information is correct, then Kisaragi-sama and Ragna the Bloodedge are hiding in Kagutsuchi, right?"

"That's what it seems."

"Um, if we come into contact with Ragna the Bloodedge before we find Kisaragi-sama... which one should we prioritize...?"

Arresting criminals was one of the duties of soldiers. If she encountered the "Grim Reaper" Ragna, Noel would normally have to move to arrest him.

Hazama put his hand on his black hat as if grabbing it, and replied with an indifferent, "Ah. Well, deal with it appropriately. I'll leave it up to you."

"Eh, is that... appropriate?"

Could there be such a, well, appropriate instruction? Noel's eyes widened in surprise at such an uncharacteristic response from a superior officer. Hazama, in a relaxed tone without any sense of urgency, opened his hands at shoulder height.

"You see, my mission is to secure Kisaragi-sama. As long as you complete that task, I don't intend to give you detailed instructions about the rest."

Saying that, he shrugged his slender shoulders and smiled lightly.

Not knowing how to react to that smile, Noel ended up only stammering with her lips and couldn't say anything. She wondered if she should say something back, or if she should keep her mouth shut. Such thoughts kept popping up in her head, and she kept thinking about them.

Meanwhile, Hazama put his hat back on and moved on with the conversation.

"Well then, I have some business at the branch office, so could you start the search from the lower levels first?"

"Branch office? What kind of...?"

"Oh, have you forgotten? I'm in the Intelligence Department, after all. I have a lot of business that I can't share with other people... could you be considerate?"

Hazama's smile shifted to a wry grin. His manner was gentle, but there was something somewhat mocking in his tone. It was as if he was exasperated with a child who didn't understand, and that made Noel feel impatient.

She must not forget. This was an important top-secret mission. She couldn't afford to fail, and she couldn't cause trouble for the Intelligence Department.

Noel straightened her back again, and with her hands tightly attached to her sides, she looked up at Hazama. Noel couldn't tell what kind of eyes were looking at her from beyond the shadow of the black hat and the long bangs.

"Understood. Then, um... I'll start the search from the lower levels."

Surely there was a structural drawing and map of Kagutsuchi in the materials. Relying on that, she should be able to reach the lower levels without getting lost. She was a little scared to go all the way to the lower levels... but she couldn't say such a thing.

(I'll find Kisaragi-sama quickly and return to headquarters.)

If Jin's disappearance went public, Tsubaki would surely worry. More than anyone else.

It's not that Noel wasn't worried about Jin. More than that, she was worried about the heartache that her best friend from high school would suffer.

Letting the cool port wind wrap around the ample hem of her donned poncho, Noel walked past Hazama as if slipping through. Before her feet had taken many steps, Hazama's voice stopped her from under the clock.

"Oh, right, I forgot. Lieutenant Noel Vermillion."

At the leisurely and drawn-out call, Noel turned around wondering what it was.

Hazama was leaning against the slender leg of the clock and looking at her.

"Currently, a D-alert has been issued in Kagutsuchi. It's the one that prohibits intervention from other organizations due to a state of emergency. Apparently, information that Ragna the Bloodedge is hiding has leaked to the outside from somewhere, and because of that, it seems some dangerous individuals have gotten involved. Please be careful when going to the lower levels."

For a warning from a member of the Intelligence Department to a soldier of the NOL, it lacked much urgency.

Hazama waved his hand lightly and saw Noel off.

He was not so much an irresponsible person as he was a person without any pretenses. She didn't know him well, but surely this was how he always was. With this impression in mind, Noel once again straightened her heels and lowered her head in a bow.

"Yes. Then, excuse me." This time, she turned her back and exited from the gate of Port 5 to the main city.

The sky looked close when looking up from the upper layer. The sun shone in the slightly cloudy sky color due to the magic elements drifting outside the city, pouring overflowing sunlight onto the ground. Receiving that light, the white-dominated upper city shone dazzlingly.

If she went straight on the large road, she could reach the center of the city. But where Noel should head was not the city center but the lower levels. She would turn left from here and head for the magic lift for NOL soldiers.

While letting the gold-colored hair spilling out from her hat shine in the sunlight, Noel took out a map of Kagutsuchi from the materials and spread it out. Seeing the overall view like this, she realized the size of this city once again.

(Well then... for now, I'll go down as far as I can and then come up from there.)

If possible, it would be best if she could find Jin immediately and he would obediently follow the order to return to base, but it was unlikely things would go so smoothly.

Her feet were likely to become heavy with worries about the future, but Noel lightly shook her head to refresh herself. There was no point in thinking only negatively. Now, she just needed to focus on what she should do, and take action as much as she could.

"...Be strong. I have to do my best."

After encouraging herself in a small voice, Noel raised her face and began to walk quickly through the upper city of Kagutsuchi.

There were red eyes watching every single part of that scene.

On the top of the management building, which was part of the 5th Port and had a large clock hanging, a small figure was gazing down at the bottom, on the roof decorated with delicate designs.

Wearing a black dress, a black bag on her shoulder, and her ribbon-like golden hair dancing wildly in the strong wind that traveled through the high sky, was Rachel Alucard. Her red eyes were fixed on the figure of the guard girl talking at the port.

"As I thought... that child is..."

The words muttered from her innocent lips were carried away by the sharp whistling wind. It was a mutter that should not have reached anyone's ears. And yet... the man from the NOL who remained at the 5th Port suddenly turned back to Rachel.

It was a man in a black suit. His name was... Hazama.

He looked up at Rachel nonchalantly and lifted his hat.

A grin, like a thin, deep slit, was carved on his lips.

It was a sneer. Or rather, a mocking laugh.

It wasn't accidental. He was looking up at her accurately, and he knew who Rachel was... that's why he laughed.

It wasn't surprising. Rachel also knew. She knew who that man in the black suit was... and why he was laughing.

Because she understood, it was even more irritating.

"...I wonder what kind of stage you will show us this time?" Rachel whispered to the sneering man on the ground. Her voice wouldn't reach him. The wind would cut it apart and blow it away somewhere.

But the man turned on his heel at the perfect moment, as if he had been waiting for Rachel's words to finish, and left the 5th Port as if nothing had happened.

What remained was Rachel. She turned her gaze to the top of the high mountain where Kagutsuchi was located, while holding her umbrella on the roof. As if holding a sacred sword on the top of the mountain, a white and pure building towered there. The Kagutsuchi branch of the Novus Orbis Librarium. That was... the stage for the performance that was about to begin.

### 002. Chapter 2: Cross fate — The Thing That Is There

## BBCT2 Chapter 2: Cross fate — The Thing That Is There

### Part 1

December 30, 2199 - 17:15

As he followed the guide, before he knew it, the city of Orient Town had come to an end.

The neon lights, the signs, and the crowds had gone somewhere, and they were surrounded by a scenery that was hard to believe was within a large city, where only the framework and the foundation of the city began to move.

Chasing after Taokaka, who was leading the way with light footsteps, Ragna walked along the rocky path. It was not a paved road for passing, but a path like a mountain trail that was created because it was repeatedly trodden.

The fact that such a place was left unattended not far from Orient Town shows how little the lower layer of Kagutsuchi was in the eyes of the NOL. About half a day after the infiltration, not to mention the bounty hunters, they had yet to encounter any soldiers from the NOL, let alone even see them properly, which made him convinced of the current situation.

"Good Guy~, this way, meow~" Taokaka waved her big hand, nimbly crossing over what looked like the remains of a rockfall.

Ragna was used to rough roads, but this journey was a bit tough for post-meal exercise. Jumping down a steep step that was too steep to be called a staircase, Ragna finally realized that he had arrived at his destination. It was a hollow cave with a high ceiling and a wide opening. It was a wild space that was hard to believe was inside a large Hierarchical City.

It was much more humid than outside, and of course there was no sunlight, and it was dark all around. There were no colorful neon lights or streetlights like in Orient Town, but instead, torches and bonfires were lit here and there, and he could see several huts built between them.

"Is this... the 'village' you were talking about?"

Kaka Village. When he heard that, he was worried about what kind of outrageous place he would be taken to, but seeing it like this, it was certainly a village. It seemed that there was a different society there from the Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi and Orient Town.

"That's right, meow. It's the village of the Kaka tribe where we live, meow." Taokaka puffed out her chest proudly and wagged her tail happily. "You can rest here. Outsiders can never come in here."

"Yeah, that entrance is something you wouldn't enter unless you had a guide or some kind of accident."

A crack in the rock face at the edge of Orient Town, where there were only half-destroyed and abandoned huts and no one approached. Who would imagine that such a place would lead to such a village through a crack that could hardly be called a road?

Perhaps there were several other entrances, but at least Ragna would never think of trying to enter that crack.

"Now that you've come to the Kaka tribe's village, it's good to meet the elder, meow. The elder knows everything, meow!"

"Elder?"

Was she talking about the 'chief'? Ragna reluctantly followed Taokaka's bouncing figure, who had started walking without even waiting for a reply. It was unreasonable to ask that cat girl for a logical explanation.

Besides, if the 'elder' really knew everything, that would be perfect. While he was here, he might as well ask for a convenient shortcut.

Although, if that 'elder' was the same kind of person as Taokaka, he couldn't rely on him much.

When they left the wild rocky ground, a stone pavement-like ground appeared. Passing between the sporadically lit bonfires, Taokaka headed for the house furthest in among the small houses lined up.

The wooden door, which had a strange mark drawn on it instead of a nameplate, was a little small for Ragna. Taokaka opened that door with a very cheerful momentum. She stepped in with a casual stride without any hesitation.

"Elder, I'm home, meow!"

"Hey, you..."

For a moment, he wondered if it was a house for a wealthy person, but considering Taokaka's personality, she probably didn't even understand the meaning of a wealthy person. It wouldn't get through to her even if he said something. Ragna swallowed his grumbling words, scratching his temple in exasperation, and followed Taokaka.

Passing through a cloth hung like a partition, he entered the back room. There, without even confirming, was the 'elder' that Taokaka was talking about, sitting on a pile of cloths.

Her body was much smaller than Taokaka's, and even if she stood up, her head would not reach Ragna's chest. The shadowy face with round eyeballs and a crescent-shaped mouth wasn't there, but was hidden by a mask that imitated a guardian. However, the clothes that completely covered her body, the downward-pointing triangular ears, and the cat's tail extending from the back were very similar to Taokaka's.

In her large hands, which were shaped like a cat's paws, she held a pillow that was larger than her height, and just that made him feel that this masked Kaka tribe member was in a special and prestigious position.

The hair that flowed out from between the hood and the mask was fluffy and had a bright water-gray color, and the long tail that gently swayed only at the tip also had the same mysterious color.

"Oh, elder! I brought a guest!" When Taokaka energetically raised her hand and tail, the elder, leaning on her cane, slowly raised her waist and responded in exasperation.

"...Tao. I told you this morning to open the door more quietly."

"Huh? Was that so, meow? Well, don't worry about the small things, meow."

From that appearance, Ragna lost all tension and vigilance, and involuntarily dropped his shoulders behind Taokaka in amazement.

The elder looked at him slowly and sullenly through her mask.

"...Our guest."

"I'm sorry to intrude. It's just that... well, there's been a lot going on." Ragna, on the spur of the moment, was about to blurt out the whole truth, but he stopped the words that were about to spill out.

It was fine up to the point where he was attacked by Taokaka and was about to be forced to treat her to a meal, but he couldn't carelessly talk about how he was known as a wanted criminal by the bounty hunters and was chased after. Let alone that he was the bounty head "Ragna the Bloodedge" that Taokaka was chasing after.

"Elder. This white guy is a good guy, meow! He gave Tao a lot of food to eat while I was starving!" Taokaka cheerfully rejoiced, her expression joyful as she raised both hands high and posed like a banzai.

"Well, I haven't treated her yet." Ragna scratched his head out of a little guilt. That was unavoidable. But in reality, it was certainly a dine-and-dash.

With a small sound, the cane of the masked elder poked the laid-out cloth. Relying on that, the elder of the Kaka tribe took a few steps forward.

"Hmm... it seems that Tao was indebted to you. I'm sorry. Please allow me to express my apologies and gratitude as well." She was a Kaka tribe member who was smaller than Ragna, and even smaller than Taokaka. Her aged voice, though rough, had a certain charm.

Being addressed so formally made Ragna feel awkward. He frowned in confusion and looked away.

"Nah, it's nothing. It's already over... Besides, I'm the one who ended up being helped."

If there hadn't been a wanted poster there, Ragna's identity wouldn't have been known to the people around him, but it was Ragna himself who carelessly shouted the name of the most wanted criminal with the highest bounty in history. It's not like he didn't have a shred of gratitude for Taokaka, who took him to her village without even hearing the circumstances.

Ragna hadn't even told Taokaka his identity, let alone his name. And yet, being treated so unguardedly made the usually harsh world he was in seem ridiculous.

"Oh, that's right, Elder. Taokaka said that you 'know everything,' but are you familiar with the geography around here?" Pulling back the feelings that were about to completely slip away, Ragna asked the elder. Taokaka's purpose was probably just to have them meet, but for Ragna, there was no point in entering this house unless he heard that. "I want to go to the upper layer of Kagutsuchi. Do you know of any ways to get there as quickly as possible, or any secret passages, or anything like that?"

He couldn't criticize Taokaka. He was hardly polite himself and asked bluntly, looking down at the elder of the Kaka tribe without hesitation.

Without taking offense, the elder of the Kaka tribe leaned on her cane, raised her face, and stared at the white-haired young man standing before her. After a pause as if deeply pondering something, and when Ragna became slightly irritated by the silence, she slowly replied from under her mask.

"There is a path that leads to the outskirts of the upper layer."

"Seriously!? That's a big help!" At the elder's leisurely tone, Ragna took a step forward as if lunging at her.

The elder didn't flinch even when approached by a man taller than her with a weapon hanging at his waist. She was either very calm or just easygoing. Like Taokaka, who had already settled down in a corner of the room and was stretching her body, Ragna couldn't gauge how shallowly he should estimate what was inside him.

"Please, let me use that secret passage. Won't you guide me?" He was about to lunge again, but Ragna suppressed his volume as much as possible. But at his side, he clenched his fist tightly and pleaded.

"Are there people... waiting for you above?" The elder, who looked like a resident of a fairy tale, asked quietly and deeply.

Ragna gritted his teeth and swallowed. "I can't say."

To destroy the Kagutsuchi branch of the NOL in the uppermost layer. Ragna's purpose was clear and simple, but to lightly mention it here would be to make this village his collaborator.

Though he kept his reasons to himself, Ragna directed a sharp, stern gaze straight and sincerely at the elder.

"I just have to get to the upper layer no matter what. There are things I have to do."

He doubted how much meaning human sincerity had to the tribe living in this dark town. But to the nonchalant Taokaka, who was already doing something like grooming, the elder looked back at Ragna's eyes and remained silent for a while, as if thinking.

Eventually…

"Very well. Tao, please guide him."The elder turned to Taokaka and spoke with a breath that seemed like a smile.

Called by her name, Taokaka, who had been narrowing her eyes sleepily, perked up her ears and looked up.

While glancing at Taokaka, who jumped to her feet, Ragna opened his mouth to confirm.

"Is it okay? To tell me?"

"It doesn't matter. Even if it's a secret passage, it's not like we made it. We're just telling you about a road that's been here since long ago." Saying that, the elder, as if laughing, brought her long sleeve to her mouth and tilted her head slightly.

The long, hairy tail that swayed leisurely was, like his gestures, somewhat languid.

"Here, Tao. Go on."

"Meow!" Urged, Taokaka made a gesture that imitated a sharp salute. Jumping up, she lined up next to Ragna and moved her big hand, urging him to come.

Ragna couldn't help but burst out laughing briefly. He thought he hated all the Hierarchical Cities controlled by the NOL, but this place didn't have a bad atmosphere.

"Alright, I'll ask you to guide me." Relaxing his rigid expression into a loose smile, Ragna lifted the cloth that served as the entrance to the room, as if brushing it aside, and followed Taokaka, who had bounced out. Stepping out, he turned back over his shoulder.

"Well, I'm sorry I disturbed you. Thanks for telling me."

"It's nothing. Be careful on your way, disciple of Mitsuyoshi-sama."

"Eh?" Ragna stopped at the name the elder uttered. Mitsuyoshi. It was a name he didn't know. Ragna was about to ask who she was talking about…

"Good Guy, let's go, meow!"

"Ugh!" Taokaka, who had jumped on him, wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and hung on him, stopping him. Perhaps his backward-leaning neck and head were so funny, Taokaka, still hanging on him, flailed her legs and frolicked.

Grabbing the arms of the cat girl, whose weight had suddenly increased, Ragna desperately, literally desperately, tried to straighten his body.

"Guh, ooh... let me go, you..."

"Come on, let's go. Secret passage, secret passage, meow. Otherwise, Tao will go play, anytime, meow. Good Guy will play with me, meow!"

"I'm not going to play! I don't understand what you mean!" While shouting, he peeled off Taokaka's clinging body. When he threw her, Taokaka put her feet on the wall and lightly reversed her body, passing Ragna and descending lightly.

"Meeeeooooowww~" She ran out of the hut playfully like a kitten.

"Wait, wait, wait! Where are you going on your own! Guide me!" If he left her alone, she might really go somewhere on her own. He had only just met Taokaka. He didn't know what kind of circumstances she was born and raised in, or what kind of background she had. He hardly knew anything. But... he had a feeling that she was the type to really go somewhere on her own in situations like this.

"See ya, grandma! Live long!"

As he left, he couldn't think of a farewell greeting on the spur of the moment, and he threw those words away as if abandoning them, and chased after Taokaka, leaving the elder's house.

The rough sound of the door closing shook the small house, and the hurried footsteps faded away. While listening to it... Elder Totokaka chuckled.

"My, my... what energetic children they are."

It was as if the wind had rushed through.

The elder leaned on her cane and returned to her designated spot on the piled cloths, then slowly lowered herself there, taking a deep breath as if recalling a distant past.

It was shortly after Ragna chased after Taokaka and set off for the secret passage. In the quiet room after the sudden visitors had left, the elder was dozing off on her favorite spot, the piled cloths.

The Kaka tribe's village was always peaceful and always serene. Even now, many Kaka people were probably enjoying their naps in their favorite spots all over the village. There was no Kaka tribe member who disliked naps.

It was at such a time the Kaka tribe's village welcomed another guest.

The wooden door was knocked on with a calm tempo. At that sound, the elder's slumber burst like a soap bubble, and her head, which had been leaning against the pillow she had crossed her arms on, rose.

"Come in." The elder responded, still sitting on the cloth.

But whether they had been waiting for that or not, the door was opened almost simultaneously with the words, and four small Kaka tribe members rolled into the elder's room one after another.

The first was Cali-kaka, with a light green ribbon on her chest and her white, brown, and black tricolor tail held upright. The second was Fluffy-kaka, with a black tail wagging and an orange ribbon on her chest. The third was Spotty-kaka, with only the tip of her white tail dyed gray and a pink ribbon on her chest. The fourth was Feisty-kaka, with a water-colored ribbon on her chest and a black tail with only a white tip.

"Elder!"

"Elder~ Elder~"

"There's a guest~"

"I guided her~"

The four small Kaka who came in, saying things one after another and jumping around, brought with them a woman.

"I'm sorry to be noisy, excuse me, Elder-sama." The woman being led by Spotty-kaka and Feisty-kaka said with a wry smile and a polite demeanor.

She was a beautiful woman. She wore a long dress based on red and white, and her sensual limbs could be seen through the body-hugging fabric. Full breasts, a constricted waist, and shapely protruding buttocks. The long legs extending from there swayed her red dress with every step, and a cool rustling sound echoed in her hair.

Her name was Litchi Faye Ling. She was a young female doctor who ran a small hospital in a corner of Orient Town.

In contrast to her alluring figure, her slender glasses and deep-colored eyes, framed by long eyelashes, were dignified and intelligent.

She was the main one who had knocked and one of the few people who knew of the Kaka tribe's village. She was close to the elder and visited the village like this from time to time.

She wasn't just here to play with the Kaka tribe members she knew.

Litchi was a doctor. In addition to checking the health condition of the Kaka tribe members who couldn't go to the hospital in the city, she was also asked by the elder to investigate the Kaka tribe's ecology. Today, she'd come to report on that investigation.

The elder invited Litchi, who bowed her head in greeting at the entrance of the room, into the room in a friendly manner.

"Litchi-dono, you've come all the way here. Please sit down. I'll get some tea."

"No, that's alright. I don't think it will take long." While gently declining, Litchi was about to sit down on the round cushion that Cali-kaka had brought. But that action stopped when she knelt.

"Eh?" A sigh of doubt leaked from her thinly rouged lips. Litchi's finger was touching the small stuffed panda attached to her hair. As if she was talking to it, she turned her attention to the stuffed animal in her hair, and then suddenly Litchi's expression became slightly tense.

"Elder, I'm sorry to ask you something strange. But... did someone come here a little while ago?" While touching the small panda hair ornament with her fingertips, Litchi slid her eyes behind her glasses and looked at the elder.

Her seductive gaze, which would not fail to captivate a man if she smiled like that, was now secretly sharp and trying to find something.

Tilting her head at Litchi's sharpness, the elder answered as she was asked.

"Hmm, Tao brought a guest. He said he wanted to know a secret passage that leads to the upper layer, so I had Tao guide him to the sewer that can be reached from the outskirts of the village."

"To the sewer? What did he look like?"

"He was a young man. With white hair and wearing red clothes."

"White hair, red clothes... and this presence." As if breaking something in the back of her throat, Litchi bit her lip slightly and covered her mouth with her fingertips that touched the stuffed panda.

She had felt an unusual presence. It was something she had often been exposed to, not as a doctor, but as a researcher before coming to this city. And something she continues to secretly experience even now, behind her work as a doctor.

The presence of the Azure.

"This is bad!" Taking a breath, Litchi stood up as if she had been bounced. "I'm sorry, Elder-sama. I'll come back later!"

Litchi said this in a panic as she threw away the documents and rushed out of the small house, her clothes and hair looking disheveled.

### Part 2

With each step he took, the dull footsteps echoed all the way to the ceiling.

It was dark in the middle of a dark secret passage.

Entering through a crack in the bedrock at the very edge of the village, where no one from the Kaka tribe would approach, the secret passage to the upper layer that Ragna walked through was a sewer.

The ceiling was high, and the wide passageway was lined with many pipes. They circulated through Kagutsuchi like a maze, leading wherever they felt.

It was as if it were an artificial blood vessel attached to the rocky mountain that supported Kagutsuchi. He, who was passing through it, would be a foreign object for Kagutsuchi. Thinking such a thing made him feel somewhat cynical, but even so, his footsteps did not lighten at all.

The secret passage used by the Kaka tribe to go to the upper layer was a terrible, rough road.

"Ugh..."

Unpleasant, watery, sticky footsteps could be heard from below, and Ragna's expression sank gloomily. How many times had he felt this way?

"Bye-bye, meow! Come play in the village again anytime, meow!!!"

It wasn't even an hour ago that he parted with Taokaka, whose piercingly cheerful voice was so out of place at the entrance of the secret passage.

If the starting point was at about the same altitude as Orient Town, how much did he need to climb to get to the upper layer? Thinking about that, it had been too short. But Ragna's chest was already full of discomfort.

It was unlikely that the sewer, which passed through the back side of the lower and upper levels, would be clean and well-guarded.

Mountains of discarded waste from who knows where were piled up here and there, and around them, muddy black things like sludge, sewer water, and slippery puddles of oil were playing a foul game.

The lighting was extremely poor, with a few lights occasionally dotted here and there, most of which had already lost their function. Instead, what illuminated Ragna's feet and helped him proceed was a strange light that grew on the floor covered with dirty waste and dirt.

An unpleasant warmth and a nauseating feeling weighed heavily on him. With every breath he took, he felt himself becoming turbid from the inside.

Worst of all was the seithr filling the air. If a normal human were in such a place, their body would become abnormal in a few hours, and if they spent a night there, they might not remain in their original mental state.

If there were any creatures living here, they would have long since been captured and maddened by the seithr, transforming them into something that should not be.

"Come to think of it, that Taokaka girl said something." Ragna muttered, suddenly remembering as he scraped an unidentified liquid from the bottom of his shoe. Before they parted, he received a warning from that silly-looking girl. That strange monsters appeared in this secret passage.

"Was it 'Squiggly'?"

The monster that Taokaka called by that name had a black body and seemed to be lurking in this sewer. It sometimes came to the Kaka tribe's village and ate their children.

It was probably some kind of animal that had been transformed by this excessive seithr.

It was ironic, Ragna thought.

Seithr was a particle substance that, if inhaled or touched in large quantities, could drive a creature mad or even destroy it.

It was a terrifying thing. That's why the NOL used a technique called Ars Magus to purify the air and supply it to the city. Even the air in the lower levels, where the concentration of seithr was high, had overwhelmingly less seithr compared to the outside of the city.

How did Ars Magus purify the air? It used seithr.

Ars Magus was activated using a grimoire and seithr. In other words, Ars Magus could not function without seithr.

However, what seithr was in the end, no one had yet been able to explain to the world. No one knew. What was seithr? Was it good or evil?

Moreover, humans could not live without seithr.

From air circulation to water purification, transportation, construction technology, and even cooking, Ars Magus was deeply involved in life. If seithr disappeared from the world and all Ars Magus became unusable, then the current human civilization would collapse.

That was why it was ironic. While fearing and eliminating seithr, nothing could be accomplished without it. That was very unsettling.

"It's still quiet." Unable to endure the long silence and the rhythmic footsteps, he muttered something to himself at every opportunity.

Normally he wouldn't have been talking to himself so much. But this place was bad.

It was dark and damp, and it looked as if some unknown shadow was peeking at him from here and there. From the gap between this pipe and that pipe, or from the back of the narrow side road he had just passed. He felt a non-existent gaze.

Come to think of it, he felt like he'd heard a story set in a place like this long ago. How long ago was it... that's right, when he was a child. It was a story he heard from his foster parent, the Sister.

It was a story like this. One rainy night, a man was walking through a tunnel. Then suddenly he felt a presence behind him. But even if he turned around, there was only darkness there. The protagonist continued to walk, telling himself it's just his imagination. But the presence keeps getting closer and closer, and then suddenly he hears someone's voice in his ear…

"I..."

He heard someone's voice.

"Hic!" Ragna's throat shook and twitched. A sudden presence came up behind him. Ragna pulled back and turned around, desperately trying to deny that something was there.

What appeared in Ragna's vision was a white face. From the darkness, which looked like layers of shadows, only the floating face was staring at him.

The face was empty. Its seemingly hollowed out eyes reflected nothing, and its simplistic mouth was emitting a strange voice without changing its shape.

"Grrrr... I... need... I... need..."

A sound that could not be called a human voice. It was the voice of a grudge from one not of this world.

"Oh..."

A ghost. The moment that word came to mind, Ragna's whole body froze.

No, not something like that. Something unreasonable and bizarre, untouchable, unable to be cut down even with a sword, something that completely ignored his violence and resented him with curses and grudges.

A chill ran through him and fear stopped Ragna's breath. But…

"Hm? This guy..."

Feeling uncomfortable, Ragna frowned and kicked the floor to get some distance.

It was dark and barely visible, but he strained his eyes to see. It looked like a white face floating... but in reality, something black and amorphous was wriggling around the white face. Wriggling and trembling, with thin bones occasionally popping out, the blackness was a presence familiar to Ragna, unlike ghosts and spirits.

"Seithr?" Ragna muttered lowly, with hostility, and he glared at the white face again. His hand naturally reached for the sword at his waist.

It was not the grudge of the dead nor a wandering soul, but a mass of seithr that had gathered and taken shape.

Whether it was born from the seithr that lingered in this sewer, or whether it entered from outside Kagutsuchi, he did not know, but judging from its shape, this was probably the "Squiggly" that Taokaka had talked about.

Looking up at Ragna with its white face, it slid and crawled towards him.

"Aaah, Azure, Azure! I can smell the fragrant scent of Azure. The path to all wisdom..." The mass of seithr called out in a muddy voice. It could be heard as a human voice, but the already unclear voice was fragmented and cut off, and he couldn't understand it. But Ragna had no intention of listening and understanding in the first place.

When he saw that the liquid, mud-like thing was moving and jumping up, Ragna quickly drew his sword at his waist and braced himself.

The mass of seithr changed its body into countless sharp needles in the air, and fell down to pierce Ragna.

The intention to attack was clear. More than intention, it might be instinct.

Ragna drew his sword and held it up, catching the descending seithr with all his might.

"Tch!" The wriggling seithr was heavier and sharper than he'd expected. A screeching sound rang out from his sword and sparks flew.

The black monster had a foul appearance. It was like sludge accumulated in the sewer. It was sticky and wriggled as if dragging an unpleasant weight. It was probably some other creature originally. But now, it was a deformed thing that was clearly outside the framework of life.

"Uraaa!"

If so, there was nothing to fear. Roaring from the bottom of his stomach, Ragna pushed it back with a swing of his sword, then lightly jumped and swung the sword vertically.

"I'll crush you!"

"Kikikiki!"

Ragna's slash, carrying the weight of the sword, quickly struck the shadow. He intended to crush it together with the face, but the shadow, looking at Ragna, trembled and shook, and in an instant, it fell to the ground with a splattering sound as if being sucked in, slipping through Ragna's feet. It raised its head again, and began to chant something from behind.

"Geh!" It was a mist of seithr. Ragna quickly spat out what he had inhaled.

Meanwhile, worm-like bugs wriggling one after another jumped out of the seithr's body and pounced on Ragna.

Seithr and small deformed creatures.

"You gross bastard!"

Watching it filled his heart with disgust. It was coarsely irritating.

Ragna put strength into the hand gripping the sword's hilt. Power flowed from inside him as if blood was being washed away. Pulling back greatly, he swung it in an arc towards the countless insects that were jumping in.

Suddenly, a sound like a burning bag ripped through the air. The sword that Ragna swung had somehow become a black, ominous flame-like darkness. The insects were burned by the dark flame and scattered, turning to dust and falling miserably to the ground. But they immediately returned to the body of the seithr, their master.

The deformed creature laughed loudly as the returning insects swirled around its feet.

"Kakakaka! I saw it, I saw it, it's Azure, you, your power is Azure! Unfathomable truth..."

It swelled up from below and burst, and at the same time, the deformed creature jumped up. From its expanded body, countless beetle leg-like organs emerged. Trembling, it jumped toward Ragna.

Ragna quickly retreated. In the next instant, the strange feet tore apart the floor where he had been standing.

The white face glared at Ragna resentfully, as if regretting that it had missed its prey.

"Gugu... come here, come here! I will eat, devour..."

Interrupting the monster's creaking voice, Ragna's slash swept through the seithr's body.

The sword, swung with a deep lunge, was wrapped in darkness. If the monster was a shadow, then what swallowed even that shadow would be darkness. As if subduing everything, Ragna's darkness slammed the deformed monster into the rubble, chemicals, and darkness.

A scream like crushed mud, a scream that could not be uttered from the throat of any animal, rang out. The crushed body rippled on the floor, gradually swelling and rising again. Its amorphous back trembled as if convulsing, and it stared at Ragna with empty eyes.

Ragna jumped once more, aiming for its face. This time he caught it. A heavy slash swung down towards the monster's head. It was... violently deflected by a rod-shaped object that came flying while rotating from the side.

"What!?" Losing his balance in midair, Ragna's body was forced to change its trajectory in an unexpected direction. He didn't want to touch it, but he put his hand on the piled-up rubble and reversed his body, landing on the slippery floor. Looking up, Ragna noticed an unexpected figure.

"Please, don't interfere anymore." The one who spoke was a woman's voice, suppressing her emotions as if trying to restrain them, yet still conveying a softness.

A dark, smelly, and filthy sewer. In that place with debris clinging to it, a woman was standing.

It was a woman in red clothes, with exposed, sensual thighs that looked white even in the dark. The design of her dress, with the large opening in its chest, would've attracted a lot of attention if she wasn't in this place.

But here, the clothes looked like they were only meant for jumping around and fighting.

What had been circling in an arc high above the ceiling was caught in the woman's hand as if being entangled. That was what had deflected Ragna's sword. It was a rod as tall as her.

The woman, with her long, ankle-length hair, gazed at Ragna from behind her slender glasses.

"Please, leave." She said once more.

Ragna lowered his waist and braced himself without letting his guard down. He re-gripped the sword that had almost slipped out of his hand.

"Who are you?"

"I am Litchi Faye Ling... a doctor."

"A doctor? What's a doctor doing in a place like this? And why did you get in the way?"

The rod just now was not for attacking, but for protecting that black monster from Ragna.

"Gu, gaga... agagagaga!" The black shadow monster groaned and wriggled, making a sticky, boiling sound. Its empty eyes looked at Ragna, and then at the woman, Litchi. There were a few seconds of hesitation.

After that... it let out a shriek like scratching metal and threw its body into the darkness behind it.

"Hey, wait a minute!"

Thinking it was escaping, Ragna was about to turn his sword towards it, but by the time he did, the mass of seithr had already disappeared in an instant, as if melting into the shadow and losing its shape.

### Part 3

At the same time the shadow-like figure disappeared, the strange voice and the disturbing wriggling sound also disappeared, and the surroundings regained silence as if nothing had happened.

The white face, which had been maintaining its shape somewhere in the gap, was already nowhere to be seen. The surroundings had turned into nothing more than a peaceful and filthy sewer, as if nothing had happened.

"Tch!" A spitting-like click of the tongue emerged from Ragna's mouth. Meanwhile, a relieved sigh escaped from Litchi's lips.

Hearing that, Ragna turned a sharp gaze towards Litchi.

"You said you were a doctor just now?" Ragna asked with his sword in hand, smoldering with hostility.

Litchi, who had been staring at the area where the black monster had left, turned at Ragna's voice.

"Yes. That's right."

Compared to when she stopped Ragna by throwing the rod, her nodding, soft reply didn't fit the background of this stinking sewer. It was also hard to believe that she looked like a doctor, but even so, Ragna felt that she didn't really want to take up a weapon and fight.

"If you're a doctor, why the hell are you protecting that thing? Do you think it won't do any harm if it lives?"

A seithr monster that nests in the sewer. To know it exists and leave it alone is tantamount to accepting the loss of lives that await it.

"That doesn't sound like the words of a doctor. What? Are you keeping it for some kind of purpose?" Instead of pointing the tip of the sword downwards, he hurled extremely aggressive sarcasm.

At Ragna's words, Litchi frowned, looked down, and picked up the panda hairpin that was attached to her long, lowered hair. Holding that small stuffed animal-like thing to her chest, she replied as if dropping it.

"His name... is Arakune. His real name is different, but that's what he's called by people who've seen him in Kagutsuchi." Litchi's voice shook sadly.

Finding the meaning of that sadness, Ragna frowned with emotions different from hostility.

"'He'... does that mean that thing was once a 'human'?"

Although it was interrupted, unclear, and very jarring, the voice of the monster called Arakune was certainly closer to human speech than a beast's growl. Yes, he should have heard it several times. He was saying "Azure." Looking at Ragna, he said "Azure."

"He used to be a colleague who worked with me in the same workplace. He's in that form now, but in the past, of course, he had a human form, and he wore a white coat and held a book... he was a very talented researcher." The sad swaying in Litchi's voice was a nostalgic melancholy of recalling the past.

"Research, huh... I wonder what kind of research he was doing." Ragna deliberately said it as if throwing up. If the result of the research was that form, then no other research could be as worthless.

Perhaps taking it as a question, Litchi continued the story self-deprecatingly.

This place, like a vast secret room where no one else could eavesdrop, probably tempted her into wanting to talk to someone.

"He was researching the Boundary. The Boundary, he said... was something involved in the formation of the world and the birth of humanity. He became more and more absorbed in that research... and then one day, he changed."

The seithr body, the inhuman organs, and the large number of strange creatures that made up his current form.

Perhaps he touched the Boundary too much. It could also be said that he got too close. As a result of being involved with the Boundary beyond human knowledge for too long, his existence was drawn into the Boundary, and he lost the form he originally had in this world.

Litchi looked up from the small panda hairpin she'd been holding to her chest. With her thick lips and slender eyes, a pure, innocent gaze stared at Ragna as if pleading.

"A year ago, I finally found him in this city. I continued my research near him, hoping to one day return him to his original state. I want to bring him back from the Boundary. That's why..."

Litchi swallowed and held back the words that were about to rush out of her mouth. Perhaps she didn't want to show that she was flustered. Perhaps she didn't want to be thought of as being flustered.

Litchi suppressed her emotions in a long blink, and turned her calm eyes towards Ragna again.

"That's why I couldn't let you kill him... Ragna the Bloodedge."

"...You knew."

When his name was called, Ragna's vigilance caused his neck to stiffen slightly. He put strength into the arm gripping his sword, careful not to be noticed.

Litchi didn't brace herself, but instead gave a wry smile as if relaxing.

"Everyone knows your name. Wanted posters are plastered everywhere in Orient Town. Although... the portrait doesn't seem to be very accurate."

"Well..."

While still wary, Ragna couldn't help but frown. It was a picture he didn't really want to remember.

With a smile on her lips, Litchi gently narrowed her eyes. It was a truly feminine expression, both gentle and sharp.

"The most wanted criminal with the highest bounty in history, the 'Grim Reaper' who's been attacking the Librarium's branches one after another. And the owner of the strongest grimoire, the 'Azure Grimoire.'"

The Azure Grimoire. The legendary grimoire that is rumored to be the strongest and whispered to be able to do anything because of its immense power.

But in reality, Ragna knew well that the legendary grimoire was nothing like that.

Litchi continued. When she slightly shook her head, her tied-up long hair swayed like a tail.

"I can tell even without a picture. Because... I can feel it from you. A strong power. The power of the grimoire in my mind."

At those words, Ragna frowned suspiciously.

It would be fine if it was determined by Ars Magus or an instrument to identify grimoires, or by knowledge gained from observing the grimoire's functions, but why could Litchi, who hadn't used Ars Magus or even witnessed the Azure Grimoire, sense its existence?

Ragna immediately arrived at a simple answer.

"Don't tell me... you..." Ragna's eyes became even sharper. It wasn't a sign that he was about to attack Litchi, but one of blame and reproach. Understanding what those eyes wanted to say, Litchi clearly nodded.

"Yes. I also touched the Boundary. Just like him... to learn what he'd been doing. If I did that, I might find a hint to save 'him.' Maybe I'd find the answer I was looking for... or so I thought."

He didn't need to ask if that choice had borne fruit. Arakune attacked Ragna, and Litchi stopped it. That fact was the answer.

"This Lao Jiu is connecting me to the Boundary. I've learned a lot thanks to it, and I've gained a strong body."

What Litchi introduced as Lao Jiu was the small panda plush that she was holding to her chest.

Ragna couldn't see how it worked, but the power of the Boundary seemed to be flowing from that stuffed animal to Litchi.

Litchi was a perfectly ordinary woman dressed in somewhat awkward clothes, but she wouldn't look out of place walking on the main street of Orient Town. But inside, she possessed information, senses, and physical abilities that she shouldn't have.

The wrinkles between Ragna's eyebrows deepened. His empty hand was gripped into a tight fist.

"If you've gone that far, you should already know, right? That Arakune guy is already beyond saving. Once he's become like that, he can never return to being human again." Ragna said in a low voice, as if presenting an unshakeable truth.

The Boundary is by no means a place that helps people. So why did researchers in the world, without learning from their mistakes, want to touch that mysterious thing? Ragna couldn't understand their nerves.

"...Even so, that doesn't mean I can abandon him. I..." Without retreating from Ragna's harsh words, Litchi also tightened her expression sternly. In her heart, there seemed to be a firm determination that she had been holding onto. No matter how unreasonable it was, it was imprinted in her as the only truth within her.

As if showing her will, Litchi returned the panda Lao Jiu, her connection to the Boundary, to her tied-up hair.

Ragna unconsciously clicked his tongue.

"You're an idiot... If you become a monster yourself, it'll be meaningless! Get away from the Boundary right now. You won't be able to come back!"

Again. Just like when he was confronting Arakune earlier, he felt a kind of simmering irritation.

Litchi narrowed her eyes. She was smiling, but the gaze through her slender glasses was as stubborn and strong as ever.

"Thank you for your concern. But... this is the path I have chosen. No matter what kind of ending awaits me, I will not give up." Litchi spoke like she didn't expect him to understand. "Or, will you lend me the Azure Grimoire instead of stopping me? It might be able to help him."

With a slightly self-deprecating smile, Litchi looked at Ragna as if testing him.

Ragna grimaced and let out a bitter sigh. His breath was hot with irritation, but it soon cooled down.

He was already beyond impatience and anger. Even though she'd witnessed the danger of the Boundary right in front of her, this woman didn't harbor the fear she should have, nor did she withdraw her hand, but rather, she was trying to get even deeper into it.

Foolish... without even knowing what the Azure Grimoire was like.

"Tch... do what you want. It's got nothing to do with me in the first place. I don't care what happens to you, or who gets eaten by that monster."

Looking away from Litchi, Ragna turned on his heel and turned his back. Continuing a parallel conversation would only be meaningless. More than anything, he was in a hurry. He didn't have time to talk to a woman in such an eerie place. But even so, his feet stopped, and Ragna turned back once over his shoulder.

"It's none of my business, but I'll say it one more time... things that have changed can never return to their original state. That's a fact."

Litchi's expression grew sad at Ragna's words and, without affirming or denying them, she watched his red back be swallowed into the darkness of the sewer.

### Part 4

December 30, 2199 - 9:23

Below the lower levels of Kagutsuchi, even further below Orient Town, the city spread out.

On the rugged bedrock, there were roughly carved, unstable footholds. Although it was by no means a desirable place to build buildings, the city was built with various ingenuity, with bridges spanning deep crevices and pillars driven into steep rock faces.

Even so, not all of the roads could be paved, and some of the houses were left in a half-finished state, so it could not be called a sophisticated cityscape.

This was commonly known as Roningai.

The townscape, which strongly imitated the style of the Ikaruga region, had a unique atmosphere that combined gorgeousness and simplicity.

But for the man who had just stepped into this town a dozen or so minutes ago, the name of this town, its efforts and ingenuity, and its origins were utterly irrelevant.

Blue boots stepped forward in a regular manner on the path that had been made by moving rocks and tamping down the dry earth. The one who continued to walk silently was a young man with white skin and golden hair. There was no trace of emotion in his well-featured face or his beautiful green eyes.

The young man, who kept his lips tightly closed and moved his feet quickly without looking aside, wore a uniform based on blue and white, the uniform of a soldier of the NOL.

Major Jin Kisaragi, the commander of the 4th Thaumaturgist Squadron of the Novus Orbis Librarium.

He had suddenly disappeared a few days ago and infiltrated the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi on foot, instead of using the Ars Magus ship that NOL soldiers would normally use for travel between Hierarchical Cities.

His goal was the uppermost layer, the NOL branch. But he was not heading there for surrender or return.

Silently stepping on the dry earth, Jin raised his head and looked up. Following the rock face of the high mountain that supported Kagutsuchi, he moved his gaze upwards.

Because it was at the very end of the lower level, Roningai was rather blessed with the sky and the sun. The sky was clear and sunny, and the ground of the uppermost layer could be faintly seen beyond the thin clouds.

There, even one more above that.

The NOL branch towering on the summit, there... eventually the "Grim Reaper" would appear.

That, and that alone, was his one and only purpose.

The "Grim Reaper," Ragna the Bloodedge, a wanted criminal who went around destroying NOL branches in various parts of the world. How many times had he repeated that name in his mind before reaching this place? How many times would he repeat it in his mind between here and the branch, his destination?

That name, as if it were a spell, commanded Jin's feet.

Walk. Head towards him... and...

But something suddenly fell and cut through Jin's vision, which seemed to be only looking at the destination and recognizing only that.

What fell were three things. Three black, shiny short swords were lined up and stuck into the ground just before Jin's toes, which he had stepped out.

They were special daggers called kunai.

Like the townscape, they were weapons that had been used for a long time in the Ikaruga region. They were also frequently used in the Ikaruga Civil War, which began eight years ago when the Ikaruga Federation declared independence from the NOL.

Jin had also participated in that war, just before its end. He knew about the weapons and the existence of special Ikaruga soldiers who used them.

"Ikaruga ninja, huh?" Muttering in a cold voice without inflection, Jin lifted his gaze, which had been taken by the kunai, and stared ahead.

It was on a bridge suspended over a deep crevice on the way to the upper layer. There should have been no one in that place until just before the kunai flew, but a man was standing there with his arms crossed.

He was a man with deep brown hair tied high in a single ponytail, his strong body clad in a deep green ninja outfit. On his back, he carried something that was too large to be considered a weapon, like a nail. On his forehead was a large cross-shaped scar, and beneath it, powerful eyes burned brightly as he glared straight at Jin.

"Jin Kisaragi!!" The man roared with pressure that seemed to blow away the seithr-infused wind. As soon as he uncrossed his arms, he pointed at Jin's face as if holding a spear. "What on earth do you intend to do by appearing in our town! Are you not satisfied with tarnishing the pride of Ikaruga? Do you still intend to trample on our people!?"

Every time the man shouted, the air vibrated from the pressure. The intricately woven ropes supporting the bridge trembled and shook, but not because of the seithr-infused wind.

The man with the cross-shaped scar - as his appearance and weapons indicated, the ninja from the Ikaruga Federation, Bang Shishigami- was furious, his temples bulging with blue veins.

Jin, who had been stopped by the kunai, stared at him coldly. He didn't understand anything the man in front of him was saying. If all the information possessed by this cross-shaped man was water, it wouldn't reach Jin's brain, but would freeze near the kunai.

Jin stared at the man, and then, without hesitation, took a step forward. As if he couldn't see the man with the cross-shaped scar, he walked past the stuck kunai, and threw words at Bang, who seemed slightly bewildered by his reaction.

"You're in the way. Move." He tried to slip past him as he was. But...

"I won't move! There's no way I'll move! Jin Kisaragi! Do you intend to ignore me!?"

Coming to his senses, Bang spread his arms and blocked Jin's path.

The road in Roningai was narrow. He couldn't pass through this way. Jin was forced to stop again.

"What are you trying to do? Do you want to be killed?"

Cold green eyes looked at the obstructer. Their gaze was like a needle of ice. They were so unwavering it was hard to believe they belonged to a human.

Bang momentarily lost his words. It was as if he was staring at a mineral. What kind of mind did he have to make that look?

"I asked what your intentions were first! What else are you planning to do to Ikaruga...?"

But Bang's question seemed irrelevant to Jin, like it didn't even exist.

"Ikaruga? Ridiculous... I have no business with you people." As expected, there was no warmth or emotion in his voice. Rather, the temperature lowered even further and his eyes grew slightly sharper. "Move. Otherwise, I'll kill you."

Saying this, Jin reached for the blue sword he was carrying. It was something on a different level from ordinary weapons and weapons distributed by the NOL. This was not a weapon. It was a weapon of war.

About a hundred years ago, during the Dark War era, when humanity was on the verge of extinction, it was a phenomena weapon, a Nox Nyctores, created to fight against the worst threat in human history.

Its name was Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa.

When Jin touched the hilt, he felt a coldness that burned his skin even through his thick white gloves. The power hidden in that sword was the ability to break ice. Death freezes everything. The enemies standing in his way, the detestable obstacles, and even the heart of the one who wielded it.

There was no emotion in the gaze that stared sharply and coldly at the target in front of him, just like the blade of Yukianesa itself.

Recognizing that, Bang finally changed his premonition into conviction. He had no choice but to do so.

"You... don't tell me you've forgotten... This face of mine, this scar on my forehead!" Bang's voice trembled as if wavering. Gripping his fist like a rock, Bang pointed to his forehead with his thick finger.

The cross-shaped scar was a large one that extended not only across his forehead but also between his eyebrows and below his eyes. It was clear even to those who didn't take up arms and fight that it was not a scar caused by a half-hearted attack. Even if they didn't have a close relationship, this scar would leave a strong impression.

But Jin...

"I don't know you."

He couldn't remember anything.

It was natural for Jin.

He knew from his appearance that the man in front of him was an Ikaruga ninja, as he made no attempt to hide his true identity. But when he served as the 4th Squadron's commander during the war, he did not count how many ninja he had crossed blades with. It was unreasonable to expect he'd remember a single ninja when he didn't remember any of the others he'd cut down.

But for Bang, Jin Kisaragi was the exact opposite. No matter how many soldiers he crossed blades with, no matter how many deaths he overcame, he would not forget that face.

"You bastard! You should remember! I am the Ikaruga ninja, Bang Shishigami! On the day of that decisive battle in Ikaruga, I was the man whose forehead you split open with that sword!"

The engraved cross-shaped scar was from Yukianesa. The pain from that time, the intense coldness, remained under the scar even now.

That was not all. Bang once again pointed his finger at Jin.

"I won't let you forget! Even if you forget my face, you hurt many Ikaruga people in that war, you mercilessly trampled on our homeland! And above all, you killed our lord, the Ikaruga lord Tenjo!!"

Jin Kisaragi joined the Ikaruga Civil War as the young commander of the 4th Squadron and achieved remarkable results. He broke through the front lines and took the head of the Ikaruga Federation's leader, the instigator of the rebellion.

He was praised for his achievements and promoted two ranks to major, and at the same time, he was praised as the "Hero of Ikaruga."

That alias was praised as an honor within the NOL, but it was regarded with fear and hatred among the people of Ikaruga.

"The 'Hero of Ikaruga,' indeed, meeting you here is like meeting you after a hundred years. It must be the guidance of Lord Tenjo... who died in regret that we have met again like this!"

Putting strength into his stomach, Bang opened his legs wide and took a low stance. The hand that stretched out to the sky became a strong hand that could cut through blades. Its tip was aimed at Jin's throat.

The red scarf-like cloth that adorned Bang's neck fluttered greatly in the wind that passed through the bridge. Using the light fluttering sound as a signal to start... Bang jumped in an instant.

The jump was high and fast. Released in an instant, despite his strong build, were three sharp kunai that cut through the air. They were the same as the ones that had stopped Jin's feet earlier. However, this time the purpose was not to stop his feet. Jin jumped backwards to avoid them as they approached his torso and legs.

In the next moment, Bang landed in front of the retreating Jin, fluttering his red cloth.

"Tch!" Jin's breath caught in his throat. As if interrupting it, Bang's fist thrust upwards from below.

"Know the pain of Ikaruga in my fist!" The fist was wrapped in flames and was about to explode on Jin's lower jaw... but it was blocked by Jin's sheath, which he had pulled in as if to interrupt it.

"How insolent!" The pulled fist immediately changed into a thrust with both hands, slamming into the slender stomach of the uniformed figure. Jin also received this with his sheath. However, he could not completely nullify the impact, and Bang felt the recoil of flesh in his hand.

Jin frowned slightly at the unexpected impact that had struck his body. But the shallow wrinkle quickly disappeared, and he manipulated the sword, which he had been using for defense, in his hand. The slightly rotating sheath, along with the pointed tip, struck Bang's face hard.

"Gah!" Bang let out a crushed cry. Continuing, Jin kicked Bang, who had lost his balance, and pulled out his sword to fill the gap that had opened from the recoil. The sword, swung in a large horizontal sweep, slightly grazed the tip and failed to capture Bang's torso.

"...You dodged it?" Jin spoke in a small voice. This was somewhat unexpected. Even though he was from a defeated country, the ninja was apparently able to move to some extent.

Bang, who had escaped in the nick of time, immediately turned to offense. Rushing through like a whirlwind, he instantly circled behind Jin and swung down a wind-cutting chop at the exposed blue back.

The words came before that hand could touch him.

"Is that the pain of Ikaruga?"

Ridiculous. Jin's words, asked from behind his back, were so cold that there was something like an ice pillow gouging his chest.

In Bang's vision, where he swung his hand, the golden hair swayed like scattering. Green eyes stared at Bang, and the sword drew a silver arc as if chasing him. As it was, Yukianesa was about to cut off Bang's arm, regardless of whether its opponent was unarmed.

"What!" In an instant, Bang blocked the sword strike with his gauntlet. But there was a second strike. Jin's sheath, which was held in a different hand from the sword, violently struck Bang's temple. Passing through the loosened gauntlet's guard, Yukianesa diagonally cut through Bang's body.

"Guaaah!" Bang's scream was cut off. He was hit by the slash, and his entire body was frozen immediately afterwards.

Jin kicked it away, looking extremely bored.

The life-sized ice statue rolled and flew to the other side of the bridge, crashing into a pillar. The ice that had captured Bang shattered and burst from the impact, spitting out the heavily wounded ninja. By that time, Bang's body could no longer move properly.

"Guh... gaah... Jin... Kisaragi..."

Still, Bang raised his head and struggled to get up. His eyes, which glared up at Jin even as he crawled on the ground, were not at all discouraged, and he still had the same strength and heat as his first attack.

A shallow sigh escaped Jin's mouth.

The sight of Bang collapsed there but still trying to climb up was reflected as something ugly in his green eyes. The battle had already been decided. He had just learned the difference in ability between himself and his opponent. And yet, he struggled miserably. It was so ridiculous.

"He's not here." He whispered in a barely audible voice, a faint feeling stirring within. "Even if I look at something like this... I won't find him."

"Brother" was not there.

Jin held Yukianesa and looked at the man glaring at him from across the bridge. Casually, yet with beautiful and flawless movements, he cut through the air. At that moment, ice ran from Jin's feet across the bridge.

A sound echoed like something being shattered. The ice froze the entire narrow bridge and ran upwards, creating a thick wall at the bridge's entrance. Dull sunlight shone in, making the ice sparkle. The transparent ice showed Bang's agitated face through it.

"You- you're running away! Turning your back on the enemy is the last thing a samurai should do...!"

Bang was surprised as he realized the meaning of the sudden obstacle.

Jin simply looked at him with cold eyes.

"You're my enemy? Don't be conceited." Jin returned Yukianesa to its blue sheath and turned on his heel. "You're not even worth killing. Disappear."

Leaving those words behind, he started walking away quickly. He could hear something like an angry voice from behind, but it was already out of Jin's ears. It was useless to even register in his mind.

He had wasted unnecessary time. Jin quickened his pace.

He felt incredibly empty. The time he spent dealing with that man was pointless. He had not come this far for that.

His purpose was singular and absolute. He was searching. For that man. That man who should be in this city.

"I have to... find my brother." Crushing a small lump of earth with his heel, Jin muttered as if in a trance. "I have to kill him. Ragna the Bloodedge... I have to kill my brother..."

The whispering breath that slipped out was colder than the wind passing through the mountainside, and his gaze at the layer above Roningai had a cold-blooded murderous intent far below human body temperature.

The sound of his hard shoes moved forward as if it were his duty, and the blonde young man in a blue-and-white uniform was sucked into the next level.

### Part 5

Just go down to the point where you can get off.

With this thought, Noel descended to an area called Roningai.

The city wasn't built on a solid foundation like the upper levels. Houses were built directly on the rugged rocky areas, and bridges were hung to connect the roads without filling the opened crevices...

It couldn't be said that there was no artificial ground at all, but with its extreme difference in elevation and slope-like mountain roads, it was a sight that Noel wasn't very familiar with.

Was this the appearance of a town built in the lower, lower levels, in an area where even the soldiers of the NOL rarely descended?

Coupled with the Ikaruga style Noel wasn't familiar with, it was as if she had wandered into an unknown, different world.

In fact, everything there was something that Noel had never experienced. For Noel, who hadn't spent many years as a soldier, it was also her first time walking in such a dense and defenseless atmosphere of seithr.

If she stayed in such a place for a long time, her body might break down. Noel applied an Ars Magus barrier to her surroundings and headed for the first bridge leading from the narrow mountain road descending from the upper layer to Roningai.

Was this also Ikaruga style? The bridge, which didn't look very sturdy, was written with letters that Noel could not read, and it was designed to be walked across.

Although it looked light and slender enough to be overturned by a strong gust of wind, it was surprisingly unshaken and sturdy when the wind actually blew. But this bridge, strangely enough, had ice clinging to it here and there from the middle to the other side.

"That's... horrible!"

Noel, who had been cautiously crossing the bridge due to the unfamiliar scenery and the unknown town, suddenly turned her poncho and ran.

At the end of the bridge, a person had fallen down.

For some reason, a half-melted ice block was sitting at the end of the bridge. With the momentum of the run, she used Ars Magus to jump over the ice block and landed lightly, then Noel immediately knelt beside the fallen person.

"A-are you alright?"

The one who had fallen was a man. He had a strong, muscular build and his disheveled hair was tied tightly in a single bunch. On his back, for some reason, he carried something unusually huge, like a nail.

On his face, which was distorted in pain on the rough ground, a large cross-shaped scar remained on his forehead. It was Bang.

"Guh... you..." When Noel touched him as if grabbing his arm, the man with the cross-shaped scar, Bang's, face contorted even more painfully and he muttered in a hoarse voice.

"I'm glad you're conscious."

Relieved, Noel looked down at the ground where he had fallen and found a large amount of blood.

He was injured. And it was a considerably deep wound.

Surprised by the large amount of blood, Noel turned Bang's body over, thinking that she had to check the condition of the wound. The man's limp body was heavy and she couldn't move it without the power of Ars Magus.

"C-cold!" Bang's body rolled over, and the diagonal wound was exposed to Noel's eyes. As she had imagined from the amount of bleeding, the wound was quite severe. But more than that, Noel was concerned when she touched Bang's shoulder. It was terribly cold. It didn't seem to be hypothermia due to a serious injury. Something cold was clinging to it.

"Is this ice?" Muttering, Noel looked at the bridge behind her. There was ice there too. It was in a deliberate position, as if it were a barrier. "Why is there so much ice... No, I need to treat this man first, and fast."

If he's bleeding this much, he might die.

Thinking this, a vague fear brushed Noel's spine.

Even so, there were no tools to treat him. She couldn't heal the wound with Ars Magus. Noel looked around in dismay.

"Hospital... is there a hospital around here..."

But this was the outskirts of town. There was no one around and no buildings to be found. Was there a hospital in this town in the first place? Noel had doubts from there.

And then...

"Boss!!!"

Just as she heard a voice screaming in agony, four men in matching Ikaruga-style outfits appeared from nowhere and jumped down to Noel and Bang's side. One of them pushed Noel's shoulder away, pulling her away from Bang.

Unable to react to the unexpected, Noel staggered back, and the men who appeared all at once braced themselves.

"You, that uniform is from the NOL..."

"Boss! We're here, so you'll be alright! We won't let those NOL guys do as they please anymore!"

"You! What were you doing, coming all the way down here to attack our boss!?"

"Don't tell me the NOL aren't satisfied with just destroying Ikaruga, and now you're trying to eliminate the survivors!?"

"E-excuse me, um... please wait a moment, I'm not...!"

Faced with the hostility thrust at her from all sides, Noel hesitated and took two or three steps back.

She immediately understood what they were saying. It was a complete misunderstanding; they thought that Noel was the one who had injured the man with the cross-shaped scar who had fallen over.

Noel hurriedly shook her head and appealed to them.

"I didn't hurt that man! Please submit a damage report to the branch. Then they'll investigate the matter and catch the culprit who inflicted such terrible injuries, right!"

Even if it was a personal dispute, this injury was clearly excessive. It might even be a random attack.

Noel believed that she had a duty as a soldier to investigate and arrest the perpetrator.

But the men protecting Bang glared back at Noel with even thicker hostility.

"Do you really think we'd be satisfied with such an excuse? Don't take us for fools!"

"Eh?"

What came back like a stab was a word of reproach and a strong voice of rejection.

As soon as one man opened his mouth, the other three men, as if not being able to remain silent, hurled their hostility at her.

"What damage report? Do you think people in the lower levels like us can get one!?"

"There's no way the NOL would act even if we requested an investigation in the first place!"

"To try and gloss this over with such a flimsy excuse... how despicable!"

"B-but... I..."

A flimsy excuse? She didn't mean to say that at all. Noel shook her head weakly, not knowing how to make them understand, and unable to think of any appropriate words.

At that moment, a low, thick male voice interrupted, as if cutting off the exchange between Noel and the men.

"Stop it, everyone!"

At that moment, the men who were staring at Noel all turned around at once.

Pressing down hard on the wound that was cutting through his abdomen, Bang, who had been unconscious and collapsed until then, awkwardly raised his body. The wound was still not closed, and red droplets were dripping from under his thick hand.

"B-boss! Are you alright!?"

"Boss!"

With the momentum of jumping, the men crouched down beside Bang and reached out to support his body.

While wearing a painful expression, Bang, with the help of his four subordinates, lowered his waist onto his own pool of blood. He looked up at Noel, past his subordinates who were looking at him worriedly.

"Don't misunderstand... it wasn't this woman who cut me. She was trying to help me. Even if she is a member of the NOL, to blame a weak woman alone with unfounded accusations is something that Ikaruga men should not do." Bang, without shaking his voice from the pain of his deep wound, soothed the four surrounding men with strong words. He even showed a bold smile as if to say that he didn't care about the wound. Next, he turned his gaze to Noel, also with strength.

"My lady, my subordinates were rude. I will apologize for them. I am sorry." Still sitting down, Bang lowered his head with a clear gesture. Even if he moved, the wound would probably hurt, but he no longer seemed to care.

"N-no, it's nothing, I was just a little surprised." Noel also shook her head slightly. Following Bang, the four men lowered their heads in apology one after another, which in turn made her even more embarrassed.

The subordinate who had been supporting Bang's back opened his mouth while looking around them.

"But boss, if that's the case, then who the hell did this?"

There were clear signs of a struggle around them, and several kunai, Ikaruga's unique short swords, remained stuck in the bridge.

However, there were few signs that a fierce battle had taken place. In other words, although there was certainly a battle, it was by no means a long one. Bang was cut down in a short period of time.

Perhaps aware of this, Bang grimaced and answered with a heaviness that suggested hatred, different from his previous strong and energetic appearance.

"'The Hero of Ikaruga,' Jin Kisaragi."

"Jin... Kisaragi?" It was Noel who repeated the name reflexively. Her heart pounded when she heard it. At the same time, she understood. The frozen bridge, the ice block blocking the road, Bang's body that was too cold. Jin, she was sure, possessed a sword that manipulated ice.

"Excuse me, um, just now, Jin Kisaragi... did he come here?" Stepping forward as if rushing, Noel put her hand on her chest and asked Bang.

Controlling one of his subordinates who had turned around warily, Bang looked up at Noel and nodded seriously.

"Yes. There's no way I could mistake him. That figure, that technique, and that sword. No matter what, it is none other than Jin Kisaragi."

As if glaring at the already disappeared figure, Bang deeply furrowed his brow. There was no pretense in his gaze. His gaze was so emotional that it would seem foolish to even try to find pretense in his eyes.

Tension ran through Noel's chest.

Jin was here right after Bang had fallen. How much time had passed since then, neither Noel nor Bang could accurately count. But judging by how dry the blood on the ground was, it couldn't have been that long.

"Did he say where he was going, or which way?" She didn't expect to get concrete information so quickly, especially not in a town so far down in the lower level. Conversely, with this much concrete information, she might not be able to get any more in the future.

At Noel's impatient response, Bang moved his neck as if looking backward.

"He seemed to have gone up this road... but well, I don't know his destination."

"I see..."

"I don't know if it's a clue, but he kept muttering the name 'Ragna the Bloodedge.'" As if trying to encourage the disappointed Noel, Bang spoke to her in a strong voice.

"'Ragna the Bloodedge'..." Noel pulled her chin slightly and spoke the name aloud.

It was the name of the wanted criminal that Jin was said to be pursuing. Thinking back, the last conversation Noel had with Jin was about Ragna the Bloodedge.

Jin was pursuing Ragna the Bloodedge? But why? If it was to arrest him as a soldier, there was no need to deliberately disappear.

(Was there a need... to contact him personally?)

But even then, for what purpose?

Noel knew too little about Jin to speculate. She didn't know what kind of person he was, what kind of beliefs he had. Conversations with Jin were always limited to the minimum necessary formalities, and even that was mostly one-sided. Jin always looked at Noel with cold eyes and turned his face away without saying anything. She had no way of knowing what he was thinking when he disappeared, with that cold look...

(...This is a mission. I have to find Major Kisaragi.)

Her chest felt heavy. Shaking it off, Noel straightened her posture and turned to Bang.

"Thank you for the information. I'm sorry, but I'll take my leave now." She declared sternly as a soldier of the NOL, and then relaxed her tone slightly and added, "...Please take care of your injuries. Goodbye then."

As for treatment, Bang's subordinates would be fine.

Noel bowed her head, put on her thick poncho, and turned back the way she came. The ice block was still melting and remained as it was, and she jumped over it with Ars Magus as she had when she arrived.

While climbing the narrow mountain road, Noel repeated the name many times in her mind.

Ragna the Bloodedge.

Ragna.

Why was that? She felt like she knew that name.

Of course she knew it. She had said it and heard it many times before coming here.

The most wanted criminal with the highest bounty in history. A villain feared as the "Grim Reaper."

But why?

Suddenly that name... was nostalgic.

It felt like she had known him for much longer, even before he was called the "Grim Reaper."

(No, I don't know what I'm thinking. That can't be true. Maybe I'm just confused because I'm in a strange place.)

She made excuses to herself that the place called Kagutsuchi might not suit her. It was vast, complex, and packed with so many different people and scenery that it made her head spin.

(I have to find him quickly... and go home.)

And when that time came, she would contact Tsubaki and Makoto for the first time in a while, and the three of them would go somewhere together for the first time in a long time.

So for now, she would forget about the strange longing for the name Ragna, and think only about her mission. While telling herself that, Noel hurried to the upper layer.

Watching the slender figure disappearing into the mountain path, Bang hummed with admiration.

"Well, well, I never thought I would be helped by a soldier of the Library. Even among soldiers, there are those who behave like that, huh?" Frowning sternly with his thick eyebrows, Bang nodded thoughtfully, seemingly deeply moved.

His subordinates, from the left and right, were taking his arms and slowly trying to help him stand.

"It's not the time to be impressed, boss. If you don't treat that wound soon!"

He had been keeping a calm face since earlier, but the wound that cut through Bang's body was by no means shallow. Although not as much as when he'd collapsed, it was still bleeding.

But Bang laughed heartily while pressing the wound from above his clothes.

"There's no need to worry! A wound like this is but a scratch to the brave warrior of love and justice, Bang Shishigami! Wahahahaha!"

"Really? Then it seems like we don't have to take you to Dr. Litchi's place. Then we'll take care of it..."

"What? Dr. Litchi's hospital?" Bang, who had stood up with support from both sides, stopped at the words of one of his subordinates.

One of the subordinates who had been about to walk ahead turned back and nodded. "That's right. We can't do specialized treatment ourselves. But if you say you're okay, then surely you're okay..."

"Guwaaaaa!"

Interrupting his subordinate before he could start walking towards Roningai again, Bang shouted loudly, echoing throughout the area, and fell backwards. He rolled on the ground, writhing and clutching his chest painfully.

"Guuuh... gah... I'm already... no good... Gack!"

"B-boss!"

"What's wrong!?"

"Q-quickly... as soon as possible, to Dr. Litchi's hospital..." Grabbing the chest of one of the subordinates too roughly to be called clinging... Bang suddenly lost all strength in his body and collapsed on the spot.

His subordinates surrounded him in a great flurry. Four of them desperately lifted his muscular body, then quickly carried him out of Roningai.

"P-please hold on, boss!"

"We're taking you to Dr. Litchi's place right away!"

While listening to the panicking, flustered voices of his subordinates, fearing that Bang was about to die, Bang secretly grinned. With this, as planned, he would be treated by his beloved.

Now, the image of Jin Kisaragi was no longer in Bang's mind. It was filled with thoughts of the beautiful female doctor working in Orient Town.

### 003. Chapter 3: False hero — The Man Called Hero

## BBCT2 Chapter 3: False hero — The Man Called Hero

### Part 1

December 30, 2199 - 23:45

The night deepened quietly under the clear silver moon.

The wind that crossed the heights was strong, making a sound like death cutting through the air. The clouds, thin and stretched out, occasionally blocked the moonlight and were easily swept away, disappearing into the sky.

The commercial district of the upper layer of Kagutsuchi was already mostly closed, with few people around, enveloped in a secretive atmosphere. The stores that operated at night were only lined up on the main street, and if you took the back streets, you could head to the city center without attracting unnecessary attention.

There were few lights and no unnecessary facilities. This was a city that was managed for order. Those who sought entertainment would go down a few levels to a place with less surveillance.

Otherwise, they would obediently return to their blessed homes and enjoy the warmth of a warm room.

The people who lived around here, whether shallow or deep, all had some kind of connection with the NOL. With the Novus Orbis Librarium's Kagutsuchi branch nearby, and many related facilities lined up around it, there were few who would choose to go out at night.

Yes. The Novus Orbis Librarium's Kagutsuchi branch was visible nearby.

"Every time I see it, it's always... a hollow figure."

In the nighttime of the upper city, a white shadow stopped and chewed.

It had a form that was like a human, but not a human. The toned body was the silhouette of a man, and he was tall. He wore a strange outfit based on white and black, not revealing a single piece of human skin. Not his fingertips, toes, not even his head.

The man in white and black had no expression. The face, which looked like it was covered with a white mask, had no eyes, nose, or mouth, and a long tuft of white hair-like things grew from his head.

On his back, he carried a sword that was abnormally long. It was one of only two in the world, a Nox Nyctores: Interfectum Malus: Ookami.

It was a weapon created during the Dark War, which began about a hundred years ago, to fight against the Black Beast.

The fact that he carried it on his back indicated that he was a hero, the owner of Ookami.

His name was Hakumen. He was one of the Six Heroes said to have taken the lead in challenging the Black Beast that rampaged to destroy humanity during the "Dark War," a war where the world once saw despair.

He was said to have gone missing immediately after the war, and since then, no one knew his whereabouts... and now, about ninety years later, the hero in white attire was in the land of Kagutsuchi.

Large, claw-like feet walked, hidden in the shadows of the dark back streets. The destination was the rumored Kagutsuchi branch of the NOL, which shone in the moonlight.

The sophisticated cityscape that led to it was nostalgic for Hakumen.

No, the word nostalgic was not enough. It was a distant memory. An old, old memory. Parts of it were blurred and painful, or torn and lost, and they would never be repaired. But someday, it was a fragment of memory that the soul certainly saw, heard, touched, and tasted.

He once walked this land in a different form than now, chasing the same man as now. And at the end of that...

"That's... a phenomena weapon."

Suddenly, Hakumen stopped walking.

Ahead, beyond the darkness of the night, there was a known presence. A phenomena weapon - like the Ookami on his back, it seemed that one of the weapons created during the Dark War was there.

But it was strange. The weapon that Hakumen knew was long sealed, and shouldn't exist as a Nox Nyctores. Moreover, the presence that felt like it was clinging to this thread somehow felt different from the one that was in the same battlefield in the past.

It was an uncomfortable feeling, as if he had stepped into a muddy place. This unclear feeling, even if he tried to ignore it, was persistent and clung to him. Either way, it was the destination. Hakumen lowered his waist while facing the direction of the presence, and jumped high.

Jumping to the roof of the building beside him, he kicked off his feet as they were and went forward. Overlooking the moon, he jumped over the roofs one after another.

The moon was swelling into an almost perfect circle. Tomorrow would be a full moon.

The full moon did not bring good memories.

Jumping over the last roof, he found the owner of the presence below. If Hakumen had an expression, he would have frowned in suspicion.

A child was walking on a back street that deliberately deviated from the main street, a dark path with only the light leaking from the windows of the buildings. Although he was wearing fine clothes, the path he was walking and the time of day were completely unsuitable.

Walking alongside the child, as if accompanying him, was the owner of the déjà vu and discomfort that Hakumen felt.

Catching the night wind, Hakumen jumped down. He landed right in front of the child and the strange figure standing beside him.

"Whoa!" The child raised a voice of surprise appropriate for his age at the white intruder who had fallen from the sky. But at the same time, the way he jumped back was by no means childish.

As Hakumen recognized from a distance, he was a boy in fine clothes. A purple outfit with a cloak of the same color and a top hat. Behind the round glasses, there were eyes that seemed to be of good birth nestled in the eye sockets, but the emotions there were strangely uneasy.

Was it because of the figure beside him? Hakumen straightened his posture from the landing position and turned his face to the tall figure who had stepped out in front of the boy, instead of the boy.

It was a mechanical doll.

Although it was modeled after a woman in a purple dress, it was clear at a glance that it wasn't human. The inorganic and metallic texture, the face that looked like a mere creation, the arms that were too long and looked like sturdy gauntlets, and the sharp claws lined up instead of fingers.

"Nox Nyctores... Deus Machina: Nirvana." In a muffled voice under the mask, Hakumen spoke the doll's name.

At that moment, murderous intent gushed out from the boy like a spray. His wide-open blue eyes harbored a dangerous light, and he stared at Hakumen as if challenging him without fear. The hand he held out, as if protecting the mechanical doll standing one step behind him, could be seen as if he were bracing himself.

"I don't know who you are, but I don't know anyone by that name. I'm Carl Clover, and this is my sister, Ada. There's no one named Nirvana here." The boy, who identified himself as Carl in an innocent but hostile voice, told Hakumen. But immediately, as if called by someone, he turned around sharply. What he looked up at through his large glasses was the mechanical doll he called his sister.

"Huh? What's wrong, sister?" Carl behaved as if he could hear the voice of the doll behind him.

Hakumen's ears could not hear the voice of the mechanical doll Nirvana. Even if there were other people in this place, they would probably not be able to hear it.

The voice of his sister whispering to him was only heard by Carl. Whether it was really Nirvana's voice or not was another matter.

"This person..."

While turning his ear to his sister, Carl looked at Hakumen with caution. They were not the eyes of a child. His eyes, which were both ruthless and aggressive, as well as intelligent, observed Hakumen closely. Soon, the boy found an answer and frowned with his handsome eyebrows as if doubting his own eyes.

"That body... and the odachi on your back... could it be the Interfectum Malus: Ookami? Then you're... Hakumen of the Six Heroes?" Carl's tone, which suggested that he had some knowledge of Ookami and the Six Heroes, made him feel like he had a level of education beyond his years.

Why such a boy was with this doll was unclear to Hakumen.

"Child, that doll is a Nox Nyctores. Touching it demands a corresponding burden from the user. Even if it's Nirvana, it will be too much poison for a young mind." Hakumen spoke calmly without returning any of the hostility or murderous intent that were directed at him.

A Nox Nyctores is not just a weapon. In the past, each weapon had its own "individuality," and in order to wield its power, it interfered with the user's mind to draw out even more power, making it a semi-living weapon.

The Ookami that Hakumen possessed, and the Nirvana over there, had sealed their "individuality," so there wasn't as much burden as during the war. Even so, possessing a Nox Nyctores meant that the mind was being eroded and interfered with every day.

Unless one had a stronger mental strength than necessary, or something that could replace it, it was difficult not only to handle, but to even maintain a sane mind.

"Then, what are you trying to say?" Carl glared at Hakumen with an upward glance and an unsettling voice. The well-mannered face he had been trying to maintain was now abandoned, and he was measuring the distance between himself and Hakumen with an uneasy calmness.

"What I do is none of your business. What's wrong with siblings being together in the first place?" Carl's tone was slightly different from a child's tantrum or selfishness. It was more insightful and calm.

"You understand, and yet you say you will follow it?" Hakumen muttered to himself.

He could see that the boy named Carl understood that the doll he called his sister, Nirvana, was a Nox Nyctores. That being together was bizarre to others. That being together put a strain on his mind. However, it was doubtful how truly he felt the sense of crisis that he might be ruined as a result.

"You have a rude way of speaking for someone who's supposed to be one of the Six Heroes." Carl grimaced unhappily.

Without being moved by his desperate glare, Hakumen asked again. "Where did you get it?"

That which should have been sealed long ago.

"I have no obligation to answer. Please move out of the way. If you are going to interfere with us, even if you are Hakumen, one of the Six Heroes... I will not forgive you."

As if to show that there was no falsehood in those words, Carl clenched his hand wrapped in a white glove tightly. Seemingly induced by Carl's will, Nirvana slid forward several steps, and then, as he had been done to her earlier, she stood to protect her little master behind her back.

"Sister?" That seemed to be different from what Carl had intended, and the boy looked up at his sister in bewilderment. The inorganic sister stood motionless in front of Carl, lightly opening both arms as if to block the way. The face with lowered metallic eyelids had no eyes, but a quiet gaze stared at Hakumen.

Carl knew that if he jumped out, Hakumen would draw the odachi on his back without hesitation and fight back.

Nirvana probably understood that. Or perhaps it was a memory.

From behind Nirvana, who was trying to protect her master by shielding him, Carl, unable to grasp the situation, raised his voice in agitation.

"What's wrong, sister!? Can you hear me!? ...Y-you, what did you do to my sister!?" His expression, which had been so calm until then, changed drastically. His eyes narrowed and he showed intense anger. But Nirvana firmly held Carl back, preventing him from moving even a step forward.

As if measuring the distance, Nirvana took a step back. Following her, Hakumen grabbed his odachi.

At that moment, Nirvana, with a sudden movement that ignored breathing, grabbed Carl as if snatching him up, and jumped up to the roof. Immediately, she avoided the moonlight and chose the darkness, running from the roof to the alley, and then dashing towards the main street and disappearing.

Soon the presence moved away, and eventually blended into the lights of the city.

"Did they get away?" Hakumen took his hand off the odachi.

If they went to a crowded place, it would be difficult to chase them. If they were found by the NOL soldiers, who would be suitable for maintaining security, there would be various troubles.

Besides... it seemed that another person had come whom he'd have to deal with.

When the presence of the Nox Nyctores disappeared and the quiet night air descended again, this time the fragrance of flowers mixed in and danced there.

Hakumen turned around. A small whirlwind danced in front of him, and as if a flower bud blossomed and opened, the scent of roses overflowed in that place. At the same time, a girl appeared, crossing the space.

With golden hair and red eyes, wearing a gorgeous black dress, and appearing with a parasol with a cat's face and a red, round familiar, it was the summoned ghost in the form of a girl, Rachel Alucard.

Leaning the umbrella she held in both hands on her small shoulder and looking at Hakumen diagonally, Rachel let out a chuckle and a provocative smile.

"It's been a while, Mr. Hero."

"Harlequin."

To Rachel, who called out to him teasingly, Hakumen replied in a low voice, faintly showing his disgust.

But Rachel directed a smile like a sneer at Hakumen's quiet, threatening spirit, and turned her umbrella around.

"You seem to have plenty of time on your hands. To be meddling with a passing phenomena weapon..."

"It's none of your business."

"Do you remember the old you, the one who was trapped by the Nox Nyctores?"

The old you. At those mischievous words, Hakumen turned towards Rachel.

Perhaps his reaction was amusing, Rachel put a white fingertip to her lips and let out a laugh like the rustling of clothes.

"Oh, how terrible. Is it true?"

"A Nox Nyctores is not something that should be left in human history... That is the only reason."

All of the Nox Nyctores should have been destroyed immediately after the end of the Dark War. It was hard to believe that they still remain in this world.

But even that was probably nothing more than a foolish sentiment for this cunning vampire.

Even now, perhaps thinking that Hakumen's excuse was a poor one, she did not stop her mocking gaze.

"It's not just the phenomena weapon. This city is also nostalgic, isn't it? I wonder how long ago it was for you. The memory of you, as Jin Kisaragi, wandering Kagutsuchi with a different sword than you have now, and fighting your brother deep underground..."

"Harlequin." Hakumen stopped Rachel, who spoke like a rolling bell, in a heavy tone. He had no intention of listening any further. "I have discarded that name. My name is Hakumen. From the time you led me to this forest and made it mine, I have only been myself. No one else."

Not now. Not in this place. Hakumen was certainly a young man with a different name. But that is exactly what "not the current dimension" means.

"You, on the other hand, are quite eloquent this time. You, a mere bystander who knows everything but does not lift a finger, are able to line up words so skillfully." Hakumen retorted, mixing in a sound that could be taken as a snort or a sneer.

Rachel, while hooking her short hair behind her small ear, smiled with a composed face. It was a mature, bewitching smile that made one forget for a moment that she was a girl in appearance.

"That's right. As you say, I am a 'bystander.' In other words, I am an 'audience' of this story. The audience can throw jeers from the outside, but they cannot change the content of the stage, can they? Even if I am shown the same stage many times."

"Nonsense."

But Hakumen also understands that this is the truth.

The vampire is a bystander who can only watch the scene. A spectator who has no choice but to watch the way fate continues to roll.

But Hakumen does not even think for a moment that he will be content with that infinitely powerless position. If there are skillful hands, he will not stop pulling them, and if there are feet to step on, he will not stop struggling. He is determined to fight as long as this body can move.

Hakumen put his hand on his mask and bowed deeply. After a moment of silence, he released his hand and turned his back to Rachel.

"You can stay there and enjoy the show as long as you like. I will cut off the world in my own way."

"You can't do it, Mr. Hero."

"Even if I can't, my sword is in my hand."

The logic was enough.

Even as Hakumen walked away, shaking the silver tufts hanging from his head, Rachel did not stop him. As if she thought that even stopping him was too much of a jeer for a spectator.

The night wind was cold, and the swirling sound high in the sky seemed to be a sign of something.

But without feeling any emotion at the sound, Hakumen walked along the dark back streets.

The destination was the magnificent Novus Orbis Librarium Kagutsuchi branch. Underneath that... he intended to wait for him.

### Part 2

December 30, 2199 - 23:45

The cold wind of midnight carried the clouds and hid the moon.

But from here, the closest place to the sky in all of Kagutsuchi, most of the way the clouds flow was an event at his feet.

Novus Orbis Librarium Kagutsuchi branch. The rooftop was usually unused and empty, with nothing on it.

The fact that there was not even a single handrail despite being at the highest height was because it was not originally a place where one should set foot.

But there, tonight, was the figure of a man.

"Well, then. I guess this is about it." Hazama of the Intelligence Department muttered in a nonchalant, drawn-out tone.

Hazama, who had been crouching on the empty circular stage-like rooftop, stood up while lightly brushing his hands.

As expected, the wind was strong just because of the altitude. Hazama took out a palm-sized communication device from his suit's inner pocket, easily operated something with his knobby fingers, and firmly held his hat so that it would not be blown away by the wind.

The communication device, which was put to his ear, repeated a boring ringing tone.

He was kept waiting for a few seconds. Soon the ringing tone stopped, and a clicking sound rang in his ear, followed by a voice responding.

"It's me." It was a low and lustrous male voice. However, there was no trace of emotion in that voice, and it made a completely bland sound on flat ground. Hazama's smile deepened at the sound of the voice, and put his hat on even more carefully.

"Ah, it's Hazama. Thank you for your hard work. I'm sorry to bother you at this late hour."

"Are the preparations complete?" Whether he heard Hazama's voice or not, the person on the other end of the phone asked emotionlessly, as if he did not care at all about the words spoken to him.

"Good grief." Hazama could not help but shake his head. He was always like this. "Seriously, you're as impatient as ever. You could at least return a proper greeting! It's a basic rule for a working adult, you know?"

"Is it done?" He apparently had no intention of listening. It was a truly typical response from the other party in the communication. Hazama shrugged his shoulders. The sharply ringing wind cut through the clouds behind him and disappeared somewhere.

"Yes, it's done. Everything is ready. Well... I don't know if this will be useful, though." Saying that, Hazama looked up at the sky. A cold moon was shining beyond the clouds that were flowing at an incredible speed. Perhaps it would be a full moon tomorrow?

At the composed round face that he looked down from that height, Hazama gave a derisive sigh.

"After this, we'll be observing the situation here... what will you do? If you have anything else you want me to do, please tell me now. Tomorrow, I have to monitor a certain lieutenant, you know."

The person on the other end of the communication suddenly gave him errands sometimes, which was troublesome.

As if to make sure, Hazama confirmed, and the other party replied after a few seconds, seemingly without interest.

"Nothing in particular for now... let me know if there's anything."

"Understood. Then, I'll take my leave. Colonel Relius Clover." The communication was cut off with a small sound.

Sliding the silent communicator back into his suit's inner pocket, Hazama turned his back on the empty space of the rooftop and started walking.

As he walked, the heels of his hard leather shoes clicking on the rooftop floor, a voice spoke to his consciousness.

"Well, well, tomorrow is the real show, Hazama."

The voice was sticky, unpleasant, sarcastic, and seemed to be making fun of him.

That way of speaking would sometimes grate on people's nerves and irritate them. But for Hazama, who heard that voice closer than anyone else, his foul mouth and attitude weren't something to be concerned about.

While walking with a nonchalant and frivolous gait, Hazama lowered the corners of his eyebrows greatly with a wry smile.

"Oh dear, it was quite a task, really. But when I think about how many times there have been patterns where I've worked hard on this and that, and then everything is ruined at the very end... it's just depressing to even imagine it."

"That's right, that's right? I'm having a hard time, you know?" The owner of the voice spoke with an exaggeratedly bored tone. Hazama listened to it and smiled wryly.

But there was only Hazama on the rooftop. There wasn't even a sign of someone else.

Even so, while strangely conversing with someone, Hazama returned to the inside of the branch.

There was still nothing on the rooftop where Hazama said he had "prepared" something. However, the moon illuminated the lonely scene in a somewhat ominous way.

December 31, 2199 - 13:05

After walking through a disgusting sewer for a long time and crawling out of a narrow exit, the sky was already dyed in the color of night.

The proper air that he inhaled after several hours was the kind of clean air that was typical of the upper city, which in turn made him feel sick.

The people who live above would probably faint immediately if they inhaled the air of the lower level. He couldn't help but think that sarcastically.

Fortunately, it was late and there were almost no people around, and if he chose a dark road, he could walk around without anyone watching him.

Avoiding shopping streets and residential areas, Ragna went as far as possible to escape to the city's outskirts. What he sought is a place where he could rest his body.

The journey of several hours through the bad roads from Orient Town to the Kaka tribe's village, and from there through the sewer to the upper layer, had taken its toll on his body. Tonight, he would rest his body for the time being, and aim for the NOL branch tomorrow night.

Having decided so, he wandered around the corner of the upper layer where no one was around. It was already past midnight when he finally found a warehouse that seemed to be unused and rolled into it.

There was something like a natural park nearby, and the warehouse he found seemed to be a forgotten relic of some building that used to be here. The lock was only a simple one, and he forced it open and entered.

The inside was dusty enough to make him cough lightly as soon as he opened it, but after ventilating it for a while and mixing it with the clean air that the upper layer provided, the dusty warehouse was more comfortable for Ragna.

The warehouse wasn't very large, but it wasn't extremely small either. It was enough space for a man of Ragna's size to lean his back against the wall, stretch his legs, and sleep overnight. It also helped that there were few things in it, as it was not used.

He often slept outdoors. Tonight's sleeping place, with a roof, walls, and floor, and most important, privacy, was quite good.

Avoiding people's eyes, he closed the door. Faint moonlight seeps in through a small gap, drawing a pale blue line in the warehouse.

Crossing it, Ragna sat down. He took off the sword that he had been lowering and placed it beside him, then leaned his head against the cold, simple wall and used it as a pillow.

"Hah...I don't know..." As soon as he settled down, a deep sigh escaped and his shoulders dropped. Looking back, he had hardly walked on a proper road all day today.

(No wonder I'm tired...) Ragna thought vaguely while looking at the streak of moonlight that passed through the floor and his knees.

Tomorrow, on the other hand, he would be walking on roads that were too proper. He would go through the upper city and break into the NOL's branch.

The time was always at night. During the day, many people enter and exit the branch.

He had no feelings of hesitation or consideration towards the NOL, but he didn't want to involve innocent people who happened to be there. He didn't want to make a fuss and attract people's attention.

On the contrary, it was honestly refreshing to see the NOL's people being wary at night, and yet being caught off guard and flustered. He hoped that they would never have a peaceful night.

"NOL, huh..."

No matter how much fatigue weighed on him, that name alone stirred Ragna's heart. A scorching heat spread from the depths of his body, stirring Ragna's fighting spirit.

It was the same even now. The light in his eyes, which should have been relaxed to rest his body, was completely lit with the fire of hostility, and his large teeth, which were clenched as if trying to suppress the impulsive outburst, bit down on his senses.

For Ragna, the NOL was the target of all the hatred that arose. It was hostility, murderous intent, and all the harm he could think of.

The root of this was seven years ago. The day when the church of the sister who raised them was attacked and burned down... it had been firmly burned into Ragna's heart and memory, and would never be erased.

### Part 3

When he opened his eyes, the area had been raining for some time.

The soil under his face was wet and smelled suffocating. But more than that, the smell of burnt wood was lingering around, and he almost coughed from the non-existent smoke in the area.

The fire was out. The rain must have put it out.

In Ragna's hazy vision, the unrecognizable, unsightly form of the church, which had been roaring and burning just a while ago, remained.

"Too late... rain..." Powerless lips trembled in a voice that could not be heard.

The white wall where he used to throw mud balls and get scolded was nowhere to be seen. Neither was the pointed roof, nor the simple cross that stood on top of it, nor the small skylight that allowed the morning sun to enter.

Only a few charred, pillar-like sticks were standing here and there, looking forlornly at the sky.

The rain must have been falling for a long time. Ragna's body, rolling on the ground, was completely soaked, his clothes were heavy with absorbed rainwater, as if his whole body was being pressed down by something.

He couldn't move his arms or legs. His body was cold and his senses were distant, and he wasn't sure if he was alive or dead.

Ragna's right arm was missing. He was blown away without knowing why by a shadowy man who attacked the border. There was a deep stab wound on his back. It was a wound inflicted by Ragna's younger brother, who was standing next to the shadowy man, with a sword.

Those were the only two major wounds, but how much blood had been lost while he was unconscious? How much of his life had Ragna lost while the church burned down and the rain extinguished the fire?

It was not all due to the rain that his body would not move or that he had no sensation. Even if it had not rained, Ragna's body would not have moved, and sensation would not have been left.

Like the embers smoldering at the edge of the charcoal being extinguished by the rain, Ragna's life was about to be extinguished.

He felt that it was over.

The church was burned down. The sister was dead. His younger brother and sister were taken away... and eventually Ragna's life would be lost.

(Sister, Jin, Saya!)

The call remained in his heart. There was not even the strength left to engrave it on his lips.

He was going to die. Without knowing anything, without being able to do anything. While being stained with blood and dirt between the rain and mud, he would die as he was taken away.

Prompted by the sensation that seemed to be crawling up from his fingertips, his eyelids slowly closed... at that moment. Suddenly, the rain moved away.

"How unsightly." A voice was heard. It was a woman's voice. He didn't recognize it. But that voice gave Ragna a little strength.

(Who is it?)

That question made Ragna lift his eyelids. He couldn't move his neck or chin, but his eyeballs moved. Rolling his eyeballs in their sockets, Ragna searched for the owner of the voice.

She was there.

Right next to Ragna's turning head.

Wearing thick-soled shoes and a black dress with fluttering hem, a girl was standing with a large bat umbrella. She was about the same age as his younger sister. She looked a little over ten years old. The ribbon that stood upright, tying up her long golden hair, looked like rabbit ears.

The rain was gone because Ragna's head was under the shadow of her umbrella.

"Shall I watch you die like this? It's lonely to die alone, isn't it?" Whether she was serious or joking, the girl with the umbrella spoke to Ragna in a calm tone.

Ragna could only respond to that question with a faint breath. However, he did not avert his eyes.

He couldn't bear to be in grief, cry out, or despair in front of this child. He didn't want to die while being pitied.

How long had they been doing this, exchanging glances and staring at each other? The girl's eyes were a deep red color that suited the silhouette of the rabbit-eared ribbon. The crimson eyes eventually asked.

"Or do you want an arm to stand up?"

"Uh... wha...?" His throat reflexively trembled, squeezing out a voice.

The girl nodded.

"You've lost it, haven't you? Here... you can get anything you want if you wish." The girl's voice was both teasing and cold.

Not understanding what she was saying, Ragna just glared at the girl. If he could get anything he wanted, what would he want? Such a thing crossed his mind in a corner of his dull thoughts.

(...I want power.)

He thrust his fingertips, which had not moved even a bit, into the wet soil.

(I want power... power that no one can beat.)

He wanted the power to rush to the sister's aid and protect her.

He wanted the power to bring back his deranged brother's consciousness.

He wanted the power to keep anyone from touching his unconscious sister.

He wanted the power to keep anyone, anything, from being taken from him.

If he only had that, he could have protected them. He should have been able to protect them.

Ragna's hand clenched the soil tightly. His nails were about to peel off and he felt a dull pain. The pain revived his senses.

His lost right arm was hot. His stabbed back was hot. The breath and blood he exhaled were hot.

Regret and powerlessness were hot inside him.

Suddenly, he heard a sound like a beast's growl in his ear. The moment he realized it was his own breath, Ragna's body suddenly disappeared.

"What?"

In that instant, he didn't understand what had happened. But when he saw the girl's shoes, which should have been in front of him, suddenly rising, he somehow understood.

The ground under Ragna collapsed and broke, swallowing him.

There was nothing he could do about the sudden fall, and Ragna fell into the abyss.

While feeling instinctive fear at the fall as if being sucked in, Ragna heard the girl's voice whispering the moment he fell.

"Besides, whether you wish it or not, fate will not change." The girl's voice was the last thing Ragna heard, and he lost consciousness in the fall.

Consciousness returned not long after the fall. But whether that consciousness was the real world or a dream, Ragna couldn't tell.

The first thing he recognized was darkness. It was pitch black all around, and only the hard ground was something he could trust. Trying to get up, he rubbed his hand on the ground. From the sensation, it seemed to be soil or rock.

(Damn it...)

He couldn't get up because he had no strength. He was already missing one arm to support his body on the ground. There was no way he could lift his body, which was heavy and unable to move.

Even so, he couldn't just lie there, and Ragna clung to the ground with his remaining arm and dragged his body forward. He didn't know what was in that direction. He didn't know if he should've moved forward. But he couldn't just lie there without doing anything.

That girl had said, "If you wish, you can get it."

(Anything is fine... any form is fine.)

That was what he wanted.

Forward, forward. In the darkness where he didn't even know if there was an end, he crawled forward.

Ragna soon reached a wall. It seemed that his eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness, and he could see that there was a dirt wall there.

Something strange was protruding from that wall. Was it a statue? Or... a corpse? It was a black mass that had completely dyed everything while taking the shape of a human body.

The body was in the shape of a man. It looked as if he was kneeling on the ground, drooping his arms limply beside his body. But that black body had no head. From the middle of the neck up, it looked as if a sharp blade had been used to cut it off in a single stroke.

It was a grotesque object. But for some reason, Ragna couldn't take his eyes off it.

Again, he heard something like a beast's growl. This time it was not the breath he exhaled. It echoed deep in his ears, as if a hallucination.

"...Power."

This is the one who will give it to me.

Thinking this, Ragna stretched out his remaining hand while crawling on the ground. The moment his fingertips touched it, the black headless object suddenly collapsed, turning into black sand or mist. As it was, it swallowed Ragna without giving him a chance to breathe.

Ragna's body and consciousness were instantly snatched away by the black particles. And once again, he lost his memory.

When he felt stillness and opened his eyes next, Ragna's body had a right arm. However, it was not an arm with a human-like color that he originally had. It was black... a pitch-black arm, like the darkness that had gushed out at that time had been woven and solidified.

And Ragna's right eye, looking down at that arm, had changed to a sinister red.

Seeing the black arm, the rabbit-like girl taught Ragna.

"That's good. That is the Azure Grimoire. It should lend you power that surpasses anything. But be careful. That is not your arm. It is not the real you. So never think that the Azure Grimoire is your own power."

After obtaining a new arm, Ragna's life was no longer as peaceful as it had been when he was in the church.

In place of the sister, a beastkin took over as Ragna's guardian. He was only as tall as Ragna's waist, and his two-tone black and white fur gave him the appearance of a bipedal cat. His large eyes were red, and the tail extending to his back was forked at the tip.

His name was Jubei. When Ragna heard that name for the first time, he doubted his ears.

Jubei was the name of one of the Six Heroes who fought against the Black Beast in the Dark War. He had heard many stories and anecdotes about his exploits from the sister. He had heard them much more richly than old tales and lullabies.

When he learned he was the real Jubei, one of the Six Heroes, he felt surprised and admired him. He felt a little proud when he heard that the Six Heroes were old friends with the sister.

But in reality, the life that began under Jubei... was so harsh that any envy was blown away somewhere.

"Guhoah!"

Blown away by an impact that was like being gouged out along with a dull sound, Ragna crashed into a tree trunk that should have been several meters behind him and stopped. When he fell face down on the ground with a thud, green leaves that had fallen from the impact rained down on him as if pitying him.

Several years had passed since Ragna had been attacked at the church, fell underground, survived, and began living with Jubei. It was several years of harsh training under Jubei.

He learned the art of fighting, the skills and knowledge to survive in the forests and mountains, the history of the world, and the current world situation. And about how to use the black right arm - the "Azure Grimoire."

Among them, fighting techniques were particularly strict and thorough... and sometimes he was gleefully beaten day and night.

Even now, he was in the middle of such sword training. He was given a sword and told to show him a single strike, but he was brilliantly challenged by Jubei's two small branches, and as a result, he was defeated by a powerful kick.

"Oh, damn it! You're hopping around!" Brushing off the leaves, Ragna jumped up and slammed the ground with his fist, revealing his irritation. Beside him, a practice sword given to him by Jubei was rolling around.

It was unadorned and very ordinary, but it was real, not blunt. If the tip grazed, it could even brush off the tip of a cat's hair, and it should be easy to cut down a small branch.

"Are you hurt, Ragna?"

A small figure came through the bushes, which were warped by Ragna's body. It was Jubei, a large bipedal cat and Ragna's master. He glanced at his disciple's face without any disturbance in his posture.

His expression looked cheerful for no reason, and Ragna sat down and looked up at his teacher sullenly.

"You should have warned me a little before you did that. You just blew me away."

"What are you talking about? I've been quite lenient. If I were serious, it wouldn't be training for you." Jubei laughed and shrugged his shoulders, as if Ragna had just told a joke. Ragna couldn't continue, so he groaned and kept silent.

As expected of one of the Six Heroes, Jubei was very strong. Over the past few years, Ragna had been training desperately to catch up with him, but just when he thought he had gotten closer, Jubei was somehow farther away, and he didn't feel like he was catching up at all. He no longer thought that he might be able to become as strong as this little cat man.

Recently, he had been struggling to narrow the gap between himself and his master, which he finally realized was too big. But no matter how many times he was reminded and made aware of his own abilities, there was always impatience and eagerness inside Ragna. It was an emotion that was always stuck inside Ragna, and it always tormented him. If he were to give it a name in simple words, it would be "hatred."

Training after training, discipline after discipline. Through all of it, Ragna had never forgotten about that night when everything was taken from him.

"...Hey, master." Trying to stand up, he stopped once, and leaned his back against the tree trunk while sitting with one knee raised. Jubei calmly watched the situation, wagging his tail leisurely.

"What is it, Ragna?"

"When will I be able to go and crush the NOL?" The tone of the question was disguised with a casual, everyday one, but deep down, there was an anger that threatened to burn up at any moment.

Without realizing it, Ragna's hand was clenched with such force that it seemed to be cutting into his palm.

After being taken away from the church, Jin seemed to have been taken in by a family called the Kisaragi family and was living as an adopted child.

The Kisaragi family was said to be a noble class called the "Duodecim" belonging to an organization called the Novus Orbis Librarium. He didn't remember the details, but in any case, he was being educated to become a soldier as the child of a prestigious family.

On the other hand, Saya's whereabouts after being taken away by the NOL were unknown. All that was known is that she seemed to be hidden in the center of the organization... or so it seems.

All of this information was what he had heard from Jubei.

In between training with Ragna, Jubei would occasionally slip out, no one knew when he had the time, and run around here and there for investigations.

According to Ragna's only source of information, the name of the shadowy man who attacked their church was Terumi. He was one of the Six Heroes like Jubei, and currently belonged to the NOL under a different name and status.

As a result of taking in the story about that church incident, Ragna had come to the following conclusion. It was the Novus Orbis Librarium that took the church, the sister, Jin, Saya, and everything from Ragna...

Terumi and Jin both had the existence of the NOL behind them. If the NOL retrieved Saya, then it was also the NOL that made such a cruel decision in search of Saya.

It was difficult to hold many grudges. Each one was dispersed and became fragmented within themselves. That was why Ragna bundled the hatred within him under the name of the NOL. With just that one, he could move with hatred as much as he wanted.

"It's still too early. Do you wanna die for nothing?" Jubei sighed and answered bitterly.

Ragna knew his master would say that. They had repeated this exchange many times. But even so, he couldn't help but ask. He wanted to shatter that target of hatred as soon as possible, not even a second sooner.

"I know I can't beat you yet, Master, but I've gotten a lot stronger, haven't I!? Those NOL guys aren't gonna stand a chance against me, even if they come at me all at once!"

Unable to swallow his anger, Ragna punched the tree trunk he had been leaning against, and stood up with that momentum. When Ragna stood up, he looked down at Jubei. The red cat eyes that looked up at him from below showed deep understanding, but also sternly watched his disciple.

"If you can't defeat me, you won't be able to crush the NOL."

"But-"

"'You won't know until you try'?"

Suddenly, a third voice cut into the conversation between Ragna and Jubei.

At the same time, a rose-scented breeze blew around. What appeared was a graceful girl with long golden hair tied with an upright ribbon. It was the vampire Rachel Alucard, the girl who appeared before Ragna in the pouring rain at the ruins of a burned-down church.

The sight of the girl in a gorgeous black dress standing against the backdrop of the forest, where the seithr was thick and the air was gloomy, was truly mismatched and strange.

But she didn't care about such a thing, and when she closed the bat umbrella she was holding, she made a gesture as if she was sitting in the air. In response to that movement, the familiar, which was the bat umbrella, changed its shape and became a relaxed sofa, receiving the noble princess.

Leaning on the black sofa that appeared in the forest, Rachel chuckled and laughed at Ragna teasingly.

"There are many things in this world that you can know without even trying. It might be something too complex for your limited mind to understand."

What she said was probably correct, but Ragna's irritation quickly grew at her utterly condescending tone.

"How do you know if you haven't even tried it!"

"Because you're weak." Rachel immediately responded with the sharpness of a knife.

Beside her, a red rubber ball-like familiar, Gii, jumped up and busily flapped its wings while laughing mischievously.

"Weak, weak!"

"Huh!?"

"Eek!" As Ragna stepped forward with a frightening expression, Gii easily dodged and hid behind the sofa where Rachel was sitting.

Letting out a disappointed sigh at the pathetic familiar's scream, Rachel rested her cane on the sofa. She lightly placed a finger on her white cheek and gave another disappointed sigh to the other person standing in front of her.

"All you can do is vent your anger on such a small creature. With that fragile spirit and body of yours… you'll be easily devoured." As if telling a ghost story to scare a child, Rachel narrowed her red eyes and whispered. She wasn't good at inducing fear. Ragna frowned while taking half a step back, intimidated by the eerie aura that Rachel exuded more than the content of her words.

"Devoured?"

"By your right arm."

Told so bewitchingly, Ragna reflexively turned his gaze to his right arm. From the middle of his upper arm, his arm was dyed jet black, not the color of a human arm. On top of that, a belt-shaped seal was wrapped around it in a spiral pattern.

Rachel and Jubei called that arm the Azure Grimoire.

A grimoire was a key necessary to use Ars Magus, and although it was called a book, it didn't necessarily take the form of a book. Ragna's arm, while taking the form of a human arm, was said to be a grimoire, not an arm.

It was too difficult a story for Ragna, who didn't understand the concept of Ars Magus in the first place, but the precautions that Rachel and Jubei repeatedly said were ingrained in his head, beyond understanding.

Never think of the Azure Grimoire as your own power.

It is merely a grimoire, not your own arm.

Ragna, honestly, did not understand what that meant. But from the overly sincere appearance of his two guardians, he understood that it was something that should never be viewed optimistically.

Jubei spoke to his disciple, who was staring down at his black arm, in a gentle yet strong tone.

"You have to become stronger, much stronger. So that you can walk on your own with your own power. So that you can carve out a path without relying on that right arm."

"When will that be?"

It wouldn't be a matter of today or tomorrow. Next year, the year after next. No, it was still far away. He was deeply aware of his own weakness.

Jubei laughed cheerfully at Ragna, who had become sullen. It was a pleasant laugh that didn't contain any sarcasm, and it had the power to instantly blow away the darkness that clouded Ragna's heart.

"That depends on your efforts. Now. The break is over. Next, I'll attack you, so try to dodge everything!" Saying that, Jubei snatched the sword from Ragna's hand. The tip of the sword flashed and scattered a few strands of Ragna's hair. In an instant, Ragna's blood ran cold.

"Hey, you're kidding, right!? Are you trying to kill me!?"

"Don't worry, I'll stop before you die. Now, let's go!"

"Whoa, wait, wait, please wait, Master!"

The sound of the wind mercilessly cutting through the air ran left and right. If he stopped, he wouldn't get away with it. Ragna desperately dodged the sword that was swung down vertically and turned around, fleeing from the spot like a rabbit.

In a forgotten warehouse on the outskirts of the upper layers of Kagutsuchi, the 13th Hierarchical City, Ragna stretched out his right arm, as if offering it to the moonlight that seeped in through the gaps, and gazed at it.

"The Azure Grimoire..."

It had the form of a human arm itself, and he could make it move in any way he wished with his own will, yet it was a black mass that wasn't his own arm.

It felt like it had been a long time since he spoke that name.

It was said to be the strongest grimoire.

Ragna had been helped by the power of this grimoire several times, and he certainly thought it was worthy of being called the strongest.

The destructive power it could unleash was so merciless that Ragna couldn't bring himself to use it unless he was cornered to a great extent.

When he used it, something surged up. Perhaps it could be called a destructive impulse. Something that seemed like himself but not himself overflowed from within him and seemed to swallow him up.

"You'll be devoured."

He recalled those words that Rachel spoke sometime ago.

This arm was said to be both a grimoire and a mass of seithr. That seithr constantly drained life force from the surroundings and sent it to Ragna.

Thanks to this, Ragna had acquired the convenient ability to quickly recover from injuries, but as a result, he had been given the troublesome trait of unconsciously absorbing the life force of others when he stayed in the same place with someone for a long time.

He wondered what would happen to him if the grimoire's owner was "eaten" by that life-force-absorbing seithr.

What came to his mind was Arakune, the monster he saw in the sewer a few hours ago. Litchi, the doctor who also approached the Boundary, had said it was the transformed body of a researcher who had gotten too close to the Boundary.

(Will I... become like that someday...?)

Ragna threw the black arm on his lap and looked at it through the gaps in his closing eyelids.

(Well... it doesn't really matter.)

If he could crush the NOL and settle everything with his brother, his sister, and the man named Terumi. Then, it didn't matter if he became a demon or a monster. Once everything was settled, that's when Ragna would lose everything.

(I'm sleepy...)

He had to sleep and regain his strength. Tomorrow would be busy.

It was very quiet here. He could clearly hear his own breathing, which was gradually deepening.

(Come to think of it... I feel like this happened before...) Ragna thought vaguely as he drifted to sleep.

(Have I been to Kagutsuchi before...?)

He didn't think so. But strangely, he could smoothly map out the route from the upper levels to the branch in his mind.

It was a strange feeling. He must be half-dreaming. Thinking that, Ragna closed his eyelids.

As his vision closed, Ragna exhaled deeply. And before even a minute had passed, he began to breathe regularly, his chest rising and falling in sleep.

### Part 4

...I had a dream.

It was a dream from when I was little. A dream when I had a cold.

Even though I was covered with a fluffy blanket and futon, my body was trembling slightly. It was hard to breathe, and when I took a deep breath, my chest wheezed and I coughed. I felt chills, but my body was hot and my head was dizzy.

It was such a nice day. I wanted to play outside. I thought about that while looking at the window by the bed.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" I replied.

Then the door was gently opened as if to check the situation, and a boy came in.

He was a boy with golden hair and green eyes. But because I was feverish, his vision was blurred and I couldn't see his face clearly.

The boy walked carefully to the bedside and pulled up a chair to sit next to me.

"Are you okay?" The boy peered at me and spoke with concern. It was a gentle voice. That voice brought a sense of relief to my chest, and my labored breathing eased a little.

Taking the towel that was placed on my forehead, the boy put his palm on it instead and measured the heat. After a while, he grimaced as if in trouble.

"Your fever is quite high. Are you alright?" At his question, I weakly nodded from the bed. Actually, I wasn't in that much pain anymore. Just having him by my side made me so happy.

But if I answered that I was alright, I felt like he would say "then" and leave the room. So, I was a little selfish.

I wanted him to stay with me longer.

The boy dipped the towel in the wooden bucket at the bedside, wrung it out again with cold water, and placed it back on my forehead. Then, he gently stroked my head.

"Don't worry, you'll get better soon. I'll be here, so rest assured and get some sleep. Okay?"

"Yeah... brother."

Gently spoken to, I nodded this time with a big nod.

If he's going to be here, I'm relieved. With that thought, I closed my eyelids as if invited by the warmth of his hand stroking my hair.

In a peacefulness like taking a nap after a warm bath, I wished this time would last forever, and then I fell into a gentle sleep.

December 31, 2199 - 13:53

The afternoon of the last day of the year was pleasantly sunny.

Noel, who had somehow managed to return to the upper layer late at night, left the NOL facility where she had been lent a bed and went up two more levels, continuing her search mission for Major Jin Kisaragi, which she had been doing yesterday.

She had searched the likely places in the lower level one by one. But despite many eyewitness accounts, she couldn't reach Jin. However, she should have been following his route quite faithfully. She thought it wouldn't be surprising if there was another near miss like the one in the Roningai soon.

"Haa..."

Invited by the peaceful sunlight, a small yawn unintentionally escaped. While being in the middle of a mission, she hurriedly hid it with both hands while looking down.

Last night, she finally secured a bed late at night and laid down her tired body, but she woke up much earlier than scheduled. Perhaps because of this, she was half-asleep and felt heavy and unfocused since this morning.

(Haa... That was a strange dream…)

Noel wiped the tears that had appeared at the corners of her eyes and straightened her back again, muttering a thought she'd had countless times today.

The cause of her strange early awakening was this morning's dream. She'd had a strange dream. Usually, she hardly remembered the contents of her dreams, but today, she remembered it clearly.

It was a dream from when she was little.

Perhaps it was when she was not even ten years old. While coughing on the bed by the window, a boy came into the room and gently stroked her head. She was so happy that the boy came to her, and that he'd stroked my head... She was filled with happiness and fell asleep again.

It was a happy dream. The moment she woke up, she was shocked that it was a dream.

But... it was strange. Noel recalled the dream and tilted her head again and again.

It was a dream as if tracing the memories of her childhood. But Noel had no memories of that time at all. She didn't remember anything about the time before she was rescued from the explosion site five years ago.

Looking back, the room that appeared in that dream was one that Noel didn't know. The green scenery of the fields and forests that could be seen from the window, the bed, and even the pajamas she was wearing.

But why was it such a nostalgic dream?

(Maybe... it's a memory from my past?)

If it was a memory from before she was rescued, then…

(How should I feel?)

The more nostalgic she felt, the more a haze filled her chest. Should she feel happy? Or should she try to forget it? Would thinking about a past she didn't know be an injustice to the people who gave her a happy present?

(I...)

At that moment, she couldn't help but think. Who was she? Where was she born?

"Brother..." Noel muttered to herself while walking along a route that was as far away from the NOL's facilities as possible without taking an extreme detour.

In the dream, she was sick in bed with a cold, and called the boy who stroked her head "brother." Golden hair like sunlight... yes, she was sure he had gentle green eyes.

But there were no other children in the Vermillion family. She didn't know anyone she could call her brother and look up to.

Then who was that boy? Was he... a "brother" she lived with before the five years she doesn't remember?

(It's still a strange dream.)

And she felt strange. She had always vaguely longed for a brother.

"Wait, but..."

As if touching an invisible thread, something brushed Noel's mind. Wasn't there another brother?

"Another... one?" Noel tilted her head at the words whispered by her own unconscious.

Another one... yes, there was another one. He had the same golden hair and green eyes as the boy who appeared in the dream...

"That's it!" Noel's thoughts as she searched for her daydream were suddenly interrupted by the person crossing the street in front of her.

Golden hair, green eyes... and a blue and white uniform, and a blue sword.

"Major... Major Kisaragi!"

Jin Kisaragi, Commander of the Novus Orbis Librarium's 4th Thaumaturgist Squadron.

Noel ran towards the unexpected encounter.

"Wait, Major Kisaragi!" She chased after Jin's retreating figure, not on the main street where many soldiers were walking, but on a quiet street two blocks back.

At Noel's voice, Jin stopped. His back was straight and his posture was impeccable, just like the one she often saw in the corridors of the NOL headquarters. However, his expression when he turned around was clearly different from the cold look he had in the pristine interior of the headquarters.

"You..." Jin turned towards Noel with a heavy step, dragging his heel.

The look in Jin's eyes when he caught sight of Noel was as if he had found something terribly ugly. The green was smeared with disgust, and he looked at her from head to toe as if he didn't want to acknowledge her existence at all.

His sharp gaze glared with such hostility that it seemed as if he wanted to immediately cut Noel's throat.

"Ah, um..."

Noel knew Jin as a cold superior. He rarely answered when she spoke to him. His eyes were always cold, and he sometimes glared at her. But she had never been looked at like this before. It was a look filled with intense hatred that denied her very existence.

"Major Kisaragi... I was ordered to return you from headquarters. Your actions are a serious violation of discipline. Please return to headquarters immediately..."

"Why... why are you here?" Jin interrupted Noel's plea with a low, hoarse voice, suppressing his rage. He took a step towards Noel, his heels clicking loudly.

"I was ordered to bring you back. Please, Major. If you ignore the return order, you may be considered a traitor. If that happens..."

Surely Tsubaki would be more saddened than anyone else.

She tried to continue, but she couldn't put the rest into words.

Jin, who had started walking, ran. Straight towards Noel.

"Eh?"

"Why are you here!?" Jin's white jaw trembled at the shout, and he drew his sword as he stepped forward. The gleaming white blade drew an arc in the air and caught Noel in the stomach.

Noel moved as if pushed back by the murderous intent. She threw off the poncho she was wearing and used it as a shield against Jin's slash. At the same time, she took out two guns from the holster attached to the poncho.

She jumped high and quickly retreated.

When Noel's feet scraped against the ground behind her and she came to a stop, she saw the discarded poncho being cut in two and falling to the ground.

There was no hesitation in the slash. If her reaction had been delayed, it would've been Noel who had fallen to the ground there.

"M-Major K-Kisaragi..." Her lips didn't move well due to shock and fear. Jin swung his sword again at Noel, who couldn't understand what was happening or grasp the situation.

The slash that swept through the air created a blade of ice and launched it at Noel.

In an instant, Noel turned the gun in her hand towards the blade of ice. The ones in her hands were much larger than the self-defense guns usually issued to soldiers, and the barrels were especially thick and long.

They were Noel's personal weapons. A pair of handguns that, for some reason, suddenly appeared in front of Noel shortly after she was taken in by the Vermilion family.

Arcus Diabolus: Bolverk. Noel took it without knowing, but this, like Jin's Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa, was one of the Nox Nyctores created during the Dark War.

Noel quickly fired the gun she was aiming. What Noel's gun fired was not a gunshot, but Ars Magus. The aim was not mistaken, and it shot through and shattered the ice blade that Jin had fired.

"Please stop, Major Kisaragi! If you resist, your crimes will only increase!"

If she let her guard down, it would be dangerous. Noel desperately put strength into her voice while keeping her gun at the ready without letting her guard down.

Perhaps seeing it as hostility, Jin's reaction towards Noel became even more violent.

"I won't give it to you."

"Eh?"

"I won't give it to you..." Jin said in a quiet, heavy, eerily cold voice that crawled from the depths of his stomach. He lowered the unwavering tip of his sword and ran, sliding it along the ground.

If he got too close, it would be dangerous. Noel fired an Ars Magus bullet at Jin's feet as he ran.

Perhaps anticipating this, Jin jumped at the same time. What stretched out to Noel was not the sword, but his leg. Noel used her gun's barrel as a shield to block the deceptively heavy kick that swept through the air.

"Damn!"

From above Noel, who was enduring, Jin swung his sword without even landing. Blocking it with her two guns, Noel quickly retreated and opened the distance. She took a stance, and Jin looked at her. Noel couldn't tell if those eyes were really those of the Jin Kisaragi she knew.

His clouded eyes, as if possessed by something, made her wonder if he was truly seeing her. His hollow gaze seemed to be fixed on something else that wasn't there.

"Don't show that face in front of me, you obstacle!!"

Noel's body bristled at the snarling voice. The spirit itself was like a blade. That blade pierced Noel before the real thing, binding her feet to the spot. She shrank back in fear.

"Your face, your voice, your shadow, never again! Never again!!"

"Kisa..."

Jin, in a state of frenzy, wildly swung his sword. The distance Noel had created was only slight. Distorting his connected face, tossing his light golden hair, Jin stepped in roughly and slashed Noel from below.

...At that very moment.

Something small burst and bounced between Noel and Jin, and from there an enormous amount of black smoke spread with such force that it threatened to engulf the entire area.

"Wh-wha… cough, cough, wha- what is this?"

Noel's vision was lost in an instant. The smoke stung her eyes and throat, making it painful to keep her eyes open or even breathe properly. It seemed to be the same for Jin, as she could hear his choking voice nearby.

"This way, now!"

"Eh? Yes!" Suddenly, someone grabbed her arm and Noel was forcibly pulled out of the smoke, running as she was led.

Even after getting away from the smoke and her throat registering the clean air, Noel's vision didn't clear immediately. Her eyes stung as if sand had been blown into them, and as she ran, Noel had to repeatedly wipe her teary eyes with her arm.

After turning many corners, the person who had been pulling her arm finally stopped. The arm that had been grabbed was immediately released.

"It seems we're not being pursued... for now." Noel recognized the voice that spoke in a light, panting tone. Wiping her still-aching eyes once more, Noel forced them open and looked at her rescuer.

He was right in front of her. It seemed they were in a park with a promenade, and he was sitting on a bench, weakly fanning his face with a black hat. She recognized the black suit and green hair.

"Ha… Hazama-san!"

"Yes? Haa… please, have mercy. Unlike you or Major Kisaragi, I'm not a specialist in combat." Hazama said in a weak, pathetic voice, putting his hat on his head and pulling it down low.

Noel bowed deeply to her unexpected savior.

"Hazama-san, you saved me. Um, thank you very much. I'm sorry for the trouble."

"No, no, I can't very well ignore the plight of my mission partner, can I?" Hazama said, waving his hand loosely and smiling lightly. She had initially found that smile suspicious, but at the moment, it made her feel a little relieved.

Adjusting his hat slightly with his fingertip, Hazama straightened his suit and stood up from the bench.

"Anyway… Major Kisaragi seems to be in quite a troublesome state, doesn't he?" Hazama said in a troubled tone, but a somewhat meaningful smile floated on his face. "I don't know what happened, but he doesn't seem to be in his right mind. If you poke him carelessly, you might cause unnecessary damage."

"Yes." Noel nodded shallowly, still at attention.

Without a doubt, Jin at that time intended to kill Noel. If the battle had continued as it was, Noel would have died and the surrounding area would've suffered tremendous damage.

Hazama lightly tugged on his suit sleeve and opened his mouth, checking the watch on his wrist.

"For now, shall we wait for night?"

"Night?"

"Currently, Ragna the Bloodedge seems to be lurking in the upper levels. He'll probably come to attack the branch tonight. Major Kisaragi will probably come to the branch, aiming for him."

Jin's objective was Ragna the Bloodedge. It was clear from his past criminal record that Ragna the Bloodedge's destination was the branch, so Jin would naturally head there eventually.

Hazama raised his index finger and continued.

"Why don't we just bring in the guards from Kagutsuchi and capture them there? We can't let the scale grow any larger, and with Ragna the Bloodedge involved, I'd like to settle things quickly."

"Yes... that's right. I understand."

At the very least, Noel was all for the idea of contacting Jin at the branch.

Earlier, they were lucky that there were no passersby, but the next time they fought in the city, there was no guarantee that there wouldn't be people around. Even if he was an opponent she should face as a soldier, it was painful and suffocating just to imagine the residents and children she had to protect getting hurt...

Even now, there are many people in this city living peaceful lives, unaware of the NOL's internal troubles.

There might even be a house where a younger sister has caught a cold, and her older brother is taking care of her.

(I'm thinking about that dream again...)

The warm smile of a warm "brother" that she looked up at in a warm bed. She still vaguely remembered the feeling of his hand stroking her hair.

If someone forcibly took that away... she would surely be sad.

"Hello? Lieutenant Vermilion?"

"Y-yes!" Noel jumped up and replied.

Hazama hid his eyes under his hat and smiled wryly.

"What are you going to do until tonight? I have some errands to run, so I'm thinking of looking into Major Kisaragi's situation while taking care of my own business."

She seemed to be daydreaming again. Noel tightened her expression and straightened her back.

"I will continue to search for the Major until tonight. I don't think I can persuade him... but I can't do nothing."

Just clashing with force wasn't the only solution. If they were to meet again, she was thinking of trying to persuade him, saying that Tsubaki was worried.

Noel's words probably wouldn't reach him, but it might be different with Tsubaki. They were from the same high school, and Jin was kind to Tsubaki back then.

"In that case, I'll tell them at the Kagutsuchi branch to contact you if Major Kisaragi appears. You have a communicator, right?" As if demonstrating, Hazama took out a small communicator from his suit pocket and held it up. It was something given to NOL soldiers during missions.

"Ah, yes."

Fortunately, the communicator was in her hand, not on the poncho that was cut by Jin. When she took it out and handed it over, Hazama gave a strangely theatrical nod.

"Please return to the branch if you're contacted. Well, see you later." Hazama slipped the communicator back into his pocket, put his hand on his hat, and bowed. Noel responded with a salute.

With long, shadow-like legs, Hazama headed towards the branch. Noel didn't follow him. Instead, relying on her senses, she decided to return along the path she had just escaped from. She had to retrieve the gun holster that was probably dropped along with the remnants of her poncho.

"I'm sure… it'll be alright."

She would carry out her mission and return to headquarters. As she told herself this, firmly grasping her beloved gun, her lifeline, she shook off the vaguely ominous premonition and ran away from the spot.

### 004. Chapter 4: Memorable church — Siblings

## BBCT2 Chapter 4: Memorable church — Siblings

### Part 1

December 31, 2199 - 20:57

Night.

The sun was setting, the moon was waxing, the sky was completely repainted, and Kagutsuchi was preparing for a special night that would mark the end of another year in just a few hours.

The moon hanging in the deep-colored night sky was a full moon. Like a hole poked in the sky, the perfectly round light looked down on the ground.

Looking up at that moon, Ragna was very close to the Novus Orbis Librarium's Kagutsuchi branch.

Beneath his white bangs, he narrowed his green and red eyes, glaring at the moon. He glared at the NOL's branch, which floated fantastically in the moonlight.

The branch stood there with a magnificent presence, befitting its role in ruling over the upper city streets. Illuminated by lights from below, it resembled three swords raised towards the heavens, with the central one towering particularly high, its tip pointing towards the moonlit night.

This was the place. That NOL branch, with its clean face looking down on the city with a composed expression. In its deepest part, hidden deep underground, was the "'cauldron" that Ragna should aim for, that he should destroy.

As it had been until now, Ragna didn't devise strategies to infiltrate the branch. He always entered from the front entrance. He went in proudly, as if it was natural, was inevitably stopped, and then began beating down its reckless soldiers.

Unlike when entering the city, only NOL personnel were in the branch at night. He could rampage to his heart's content, without any reservations.

The NOL. A hateful, unbearably hateful name. The one that stole everything from him. This time he would steal everything from them.

Ragna, who had unknowingly clenched his fist, unclenched it and started walking.

The cool night air touched his cheeks. The upper levels were quite far from the ground, so the wind that occasionally blew was strong and unceremonious.

While his hair was sometimes roughly ruffled by the wind, Ragna frowned at the growing sensation as he advanced. It was sticky, like it was clinging to the inside of his head or chest. He felt like it had been gradually getting worse since last night.

Haven't I done the same thing before?

If this was what they called déjà vu, then the déjà vu that Ragna had felt until now was truly insignificant. It was as if unknown memories were stored somewhere in his brain, and only fragments of them were being shown to him.

Of course, the act of aiming for the branch and destroying the cauldron itself was something that Ragna had repeated many times already. So perhaps it was just his tired mind making a mistake.

But even if he tried to dismiss it like that, there was still a feeling that he couldn't easily wipe away.

"Tch… annoying." Even though he was just walking, he wanted to silence his head, which immediately said, "This happened before," and so on.

He had never come to Kagutsuchi, and walking through the upper levels aiming for the branch was something he always did. What was strange about that?

Standing amidst the hazy feeling, Ragna scratched his hair in a frenzy. He hated things that were unclear like this. It irritated him.

Suddenly, another wind blew. But that wind was different from the ones he had felt so far in the upper levels. It smelled like roses.

"Rabbit?"

Along with the wind that blew from behind him to the front and danced around Ragna's destination, a girl in a black dress appeared. Despite her usual sudden appearance, Ragna was strangely not surprised at all. Somehow, he had a feeling that she would appear soon.

"Good evening." As always, holding her Nago umbrella and accompanied by her red rubber ball, Gii, Rachel gave Ragna a graceful smile that was uncharacteristic of a girl.

"What is it? Got some business with me?" Ragna stopped walking and spoke curtly, putting his hand behind his neck.

Somehow, Rachel's appearance seemed as if it had been planned in advance. If that was the case, then him going to the branch like this, even his coming to Kagutsuchi itself, seemed to be according to plan, and he felt inexplicably dissatisfied.

Perhaps surprised by Ragna's reaction, Rachel blinked her large, doll-like eyes several times.

"Oh, you're quite cold despite the big job ahead of you. You were more aggressive before."

When was "before"? Ragna couldn't immediately grasp it. Was it before Kagutsuchi, when he destroyed the branch? Or was it when they met near Orient Town yesterday afternoon?

Or was it a different "before" altogether?

"It's none of your business. I've got my own problems." Ragna wondered if Rachel had seen through everything about this strange, inexplicable feeling he had been harboring. He ignored his own thoughts and spat the words towards the ground.

The black umbrella left Rachel's hand and wriggled, and Nago transformed into its original form, a large cat, and grinned.

"Being all delicate. It doesn't suit you at all." As Nago laughed, Gii, hiding behind Rachel, also chuckled mockingly.

"He's probably just hungry again. He hasn't eaten anything decent since then, has he~?"

Normally, he would get irritated by the familiars' lighthearted remarks and either yell at them or hit them. But right now, the sticky feeling of déjà vu was more concerning, and he wasn't really in the mood.

"Tch. Still as annoying as ever." Even his curses didn't have much bite.

Nago laid down on the ground in a cat-like posture, looking at Ragna with his huge eyes.

"Oh my, you're really not energetic. No fun at all~"

"It's not like that. It's just… what do you call it?" He couldn't find the right words to connect and convey what he was feeling.

Rachel often belittled him, calling him dull, but Ragna, as if scolding himself for his truly dull thought process, ruffled his hair messily.

"Ah, damn it, never mind me! More importantly, what do you want? If you don't have any business, go home already!" He didn't want to be any more irritated than this when he was about to infiltrate enemy territory.

But there was no way that Rachel would listen to such a request from Ragna. While twirling her long hair with her fingertips, her intelligent and arrogant crimson eyes made a look of exasperation.

"I thought you were unusually calm, but it seems you're just distracted. If you're like that, you'll get stabbed again by that child you're about to meet."

"That child I'm about to meet?"

Rachel once again spoke in a meaningful way. Disliking that, Ragna frowned and asked, but immediately sensed something.

"Could it be… Jin?"

He had heard that Jin fought in the Ikaruga Civil War as a soldier of the NOL and became a hero. The Hero of Ikaruga, and the wielder of the Nox Nyctores, Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa.

As if amused that Ragna had guessed correctly, Rachel, with a hint of something lingering in her large eyes, neither nodded nor shook her head, but opened her mouth.

"What I want is… I have something I want to ask you."

"...Why are you being so formal?"

"Ragna." As if silencing the howling wind, Rachel's wind scattered the scent of roses, swallowing the surrounding wind sounds. Rachel's flowing golden hair danced like ribbons, eventually falling onto her shoulders. "Why do you aim for the Cauldron?"

The question had a strange resonance. Ragna grimaced suspiciously. He had just been asked a similar question yesterday.

While directing a searching gaze towards Rachel's eyes, which were much lower than his own, Ragna repeated the same answer.

"Because I don't like it. That's why I'll destroy it... What else do you want me to answer?"

Rachel's way of asking questions seemed like a mean-spirited trick, as if she wouldn't stop asking until she got a specific answer.

Rachel put her index finger to her red lips, like rose petals, and let out a chuckle.

"That's a secret." She didn't deny that she had such an intention.

Ragna was surprised, which was rare. Usually, at this point, he'd receive a barrage of insults that would make him think he shouldn't have pried any further, and in the end, it would be glossed over without him really understanding.

Rachel waved her white fingers in the air, as if brushing something away.

"My business is finished. You can go, Ragna."

Saying that, she beckoned to Nago, turning the cat back into an umbrella and holding it. In the shadow of the umbrella that blocked the dazzling moonlight, Rachel seemed to show a fleetingly lonely expression... or so it seemed. At least, that's how it appeared to Ragna's eyes, if only for an instant.

"Rachel." Thinking such a thing, her name involuntarily spilled from his mouth.

"What is it?" Raising the angle of the umbrella just a little, Rachel responded with her usual leisurely smile.

Ragna hesitated for a few seconds, wondering what to ask. But he quickly gave up on finding the right words and asked as he thought.

"That question you just asked, have you asked me before?"

"Are you stupid? I asked you yesterday afternoon."

"I know that. I'm not talking about then... what I'm trying to say is, before that."

"Are you talking about when you were little?"

"No."

That's not it. What he wanted to say was too abstract.

Rachel, with a capricious air, waited for him on the spot while Ragna restlessly scratched his head, busily moving his hands up and down, and struggled with his lips.

"I can't put it into words well, but... I feel like something similar happened before. When I was on my way to the Kagutsuchi branch, you asked me that question... Did something like that happen?"

Ragna was aware that he was asking something strange. He was certain that this was the first time he had come to Kagutsuchi, and therefore, even stepping into the upper levels of Kagutsuchi was a first for him last night. Even so, he was asking if she had asked him the same question here before.

He wondered if she would tease him, saying he had a dream or something. Or perhaps he would get her usual insults.

But to Ragna, who was prepared to be thoroughly told off, Rachel showed an expression as if her eyes had widened in surprise. Then, with a gentle smile, as if releasing the strength from her shoulders, she softly smiled.

"Well, I wonder. If you think it happened, then it happened... and if you don't think it happened, then it didn't happen, right?"

Although her attitude was softer than usual, the words that came back were like a riddle, typical of Rachel.

"Huh? What do you mean? Did it happen? Or didn't it?" He had asked the question himself without really understanding it, and with Rachel's answer, he understood even less. As the heat between Ragna's eyebrows deepened, Rachel chuckled as if amused by it.

"That's something you can decide, Ragna."

"I don't understand..."

At the very least, he wanted her to say yes or no. Since Rachel had never shown such kindness before, perhaps it was wrong to expect it.

Ragna let out an impatient sigh and bared his fangs. Looking at that, Rachel lightly kicked the ground. Carrying an overwhelmingly dense scent of roses, Rachel's body floated into the air.

Rachel, standing in a composed pose with her umbrella held high above Ragna, moved her gaze as if urging him to the bridge-like passage leading to the branch.

"Come on, go now. If you dawdle around here like this, you'll accidentally miss the change of day."

In this situation, even if he persisted, Rachel probably wouldn't answer his question. Sensing this from his past experiences, Ragna let out a sigh of resignation, dropped his shoulders, and started walking listlessly.

"I know that without you telling me. See ya."

"Yes, goodbye, Ragna. And... don't forget."

"Forget what? ...Ah, no." Ragna, who had already started walking, looked up at Rachel over his shoulder, stuck his finger in his ear as if annoyed, and said,"That thing, right? 'Never think that the Azure Grimoire is your own power'..."

At Ragna's words, Rachel smiled. Like a red rose blooming from a bud.

Realizing there would be no further reply, Ragna crossed the bridge, adjusting the sword hanging at his waist so that it would be easy to draw.

If he went through the bridge-shaped passage, the front entrance of the NOL's Kagutsuchi branch would be ahead. During the day, many soldiers and residents with business at the branch come and go.

But at this hour, there was no one there. Or rather, there were too few people.

It was strange that not a single soldier could be seen. There was no sign of the barrier magic that should have been stretched out across the road for crime prevention. It was different from the branch he knew. Ragna quickened his pace, feeling a tingling unease and abnormality.

Rachel, high above in the sky, watched him with the moon behind her.

What lit up in her chest was not despair this time. Nor was it resignation. It was... a small…

"...To think you'd make me have even a sliver of expectation. You've come up with an interesting scheme, Ragna."

Narrowing her crimson eyes, raising her red rose lips in a good mood, Rachel saw off the red jacket figure hurrying along the passage far below.

"God keeps repeating endless dreams... hundreds, thousands of times the same dream," Rachel said, as if singing.

Yes, she had repeated it over and over again. She had spent countless nights. The end of the year with the full moon in Kagutsuchi.

Now, the final chapter was about to begin.

This time, the curtain might fall with a slightly different production than usual. Even if it had the same ending, if there was even one thing that caught her eye, she couldn't miss it.

Rachel deployed a teleportation magic in the sky, scattered the fragrance of roses, and disappeared from the spot.

### Part 2

December 31, 2199 - 21:00

The Novus Orbis Librarium's Kagutsuchi branch is entered by crossing a bridge-shaped passage illuminated by pale lights, and passing through the front entrance located beyond.

In front of the front entrance, barrier magic was set up to keep out outsiders, and its power was such that it would turn anyone unrelated to ashes in an instant. Therefore, in order to enter, even a soldier had to state their identity in front of it.

But for some reason, there were no guards on watch at the branch tonight, and the barrier magic had also disappeared. Even if one entered, there wasn't a single soldier to be found.

There was no damage to the front entrance door, and there was no sign that someone had forced it open and broken through. It wasn't attacked by anyone.

What showed this more than the disappeared barrier and the undamaged door was the inside of the branch. There were no scratches on the floor or walls. The furniture was in its usual position, and not a single tear was on the carpet or curtains. Even so, the inside of the branch was completely deserted.

No one was there. There wasn't even a faint murmur or a slight trace of human presence. Not even a single corpse.

If this abnormal situation was caused by an attack, how meticulous and obsessively persistent would the attacker be? It would be comically thorough to eliminate people from the branch and then disappear themselves.

But so what? Such a thing was trivial.

For Jin Kisaragi, who had infiltrated the branch with the intent to kill anyone who got in his way, the unexplained disappearance of the soldiers was of no concern. It was rather fortunate that troublesome things were taken care of without him knowing.

Now he could wait without worrying about anything.

He could fight without being disturbed by anything.

He could kill.

That man.

Going further into the entrance, the view opened up dazzlingly, and he came to a place called the sanctuary, a high ceilinged atrium. Circular passages stacked several floors high uniformly surrounded and faced a huge and solemn statue of a goddess.

The white, immaculate figure was radiant and beautiful, attracting the worship of many soldiers.

The entire area, including the sanctuary, never sank into darkness like the city at night. This was because countless magic circles deployed above the goddess statue constantly cast light in a white, divine color on the goddess statue and on each floor of the branch overlooked by the goddess.

The soft, veil-like light alone made the place look extremely divine... it must have dazzled many eyes.

Jin looked down at the space provided straight ahead from the entrance, where such light poured down from directly in front, from the top of a staircase one step up.

The top of the stairs was in the shadow of a thick pillar, and the light-filled space viewed from there looked even more brilliant.

He was waiting for someone to appear in that light.

Red jacket, white hair, wielding a sword and carrying a grimoire around his neck, his eyes red on the right and green on the left. The one Jin waited an eternity for, who he could imagine in much finer detail than the NOL's ridiculous information network.

Ragna the Bloodedge.

It would be soon. A little later than him, he would appear here... yes, he should appear in that stage of light.

He was so impatient, so impatient for that moment.

Ah, look. Conveniently, there was no one in the branch, so there was no unnecessary noise. That's why he could hear it well.

The sound of a man's footsteps echoing from the entrance down the corridor, making the deserted branch feel eerie, walking towards here with large strides.

How many more steps? Shall we count? Look, a little more, just a little more. He's getting closer. Six more steps and his toes will be visible. Four more steps and his whole body will be visible.

Two steps. One step.

There, he found him.

The eye-catching red jacket and pure white hair.

"Brother..." The moment he caught sight of that figure, a large tremor shook the depths of his body. Only the impulse from within his stomach seemed to leap out and slash. But no, that's not right. Because the one who would kill him...

"It's me!" He swayed forward, his heel clicking on the cold floor. The hard sound echoed, and Ragna turned around at that sound.

At the same time, Jin kicked the floor and leapt down from the top of the stairs, drawing Yukianesa in his hand—

The memories of the dazzling sunlight are like a deeply thrust knife.

Jin doesn't remember much about his childhood.

He only remembered fragments of it, like an album with only parts of scenes cut out and arranged. Happy memories, kind memories... sad memories, scary memories. Painful memories, agonizing memories, bitter memories. None of which he really wanted to see, so he kept them securely in a box deep within his brain and locked it.

Even so, the memories insist from inside the box. They whisper not to his consciousness but to his unconsciousness, distorting his emotions as if running extra horizontal threads.

Because they are lonely memories. Every single one of them, they were always lonely memories.

The high-pitched sound of a kaan was the sound of the wooden branches they clashed with, repelled by the force.

The branch he gripped in his hand was of a moderate length and moderate weight. It was something he found and picked up in the forest, and while it was in the hands of the still young boys, it was not just a branch but a famous sword.

On a fine noon, the sun warmly watched over the fruitful forest and the meadow that spread next to it, and the 'Church of the Ark' that stood there.

The space between the church and the forest was the perfect match field for the two boys living in the church. Once they finished their daily task of picking up firewood, they would take the special sword they found along the way and have a mock sword fight. They had never learned swordsmanship, so they imagined the many brave warriors and heroes that appeared in the many stories they heard from the sister, and acted like them.

Sometimes they were a hero who defeated a giant dragon with a magic sword, sometimes they were a knight who galloped through the battlefield fighting against a large army, sometimes they were a warrior who saved a country with his bravery, sometimes they were six heroes who fought through a giant monster to save the world.

But always, it was the older brother who ultimately won.

"Ugh!"

The vibration of the strongly repelled branch... or rather, his beloved sword, traveled through his arm, and Jin, who was still only ten years old or so at this time, staggered backward as if tripping. Before he could take even a few steps back, his feet got tangled, and he fell over.

The ground was a soft carpet of grass, so it didn't hurt much. Even so, while he rubbed his bottom that had hit the ground and pretended to be in pain, his brother hurriedly threw away his sword and rushed over, calling out "Brother."

Even though it was Jin who got carried away and forgot to control his strength, his brother would give a wry smile, saying "What are you falling down for?" and then reach out his hand to Jin, who was still flipped over.

"My foot got stuck." Happy at the hand and gaze directed straight at him, Jin tried to grab his brother's hand with a shy smile.

But at that moment...

" Cough ... "

A little distance away, a girl who had been sitting near the church, watching the match between his brother and Jin, suddenly hunched over and started coughing.

" Cough, cough ... haa, haa..." Shaking her chest and shrinking her small body, the girl hunched over as if holding down her chest.

His brother, who had turned back at the sound of the first cough, hurriedly ran towards the girl, noticing her abnormality.

"Saya! Are you okay?!"

His brother rushed to the girl, supporting her slender shoulders and rubbing her thin back. Not with the roughness he had when he repelled the wooden sword, but with a gentle touch, as if handling something very precious.

" Cough ... it hurts... brother... cough cough ..."

"It's okay, breathe slowly. Here... breathe in... breathe out. That's right. I'll carry you to bed right away." Saying that, his brother easily picked up the girl's small body and went back into the church. Soon, the hurried voice of the sister could be heard from inside.

"Oh my, that's terrible. I was careless because her fever had gone down. Let her sleep in her room, Ragna. I'll get a towel and water right away."

"Yeah, I understand... Here, don't cry, Saya. It'll be okay. Me and the sister are here." The sound of the sister's footsteps rushing around busily. The sound of his brother's footsteps walking carefully to the children's room, being careful not to drop her.

Jin had been watching that scene all along. Jin had been listening to that sound all along. On the soft grassland, he had been sitting flipped over, listening all along.

After staying like that silently for a while, and eventually getting up without anyone's help, Jin returned to the church alone.

When he entered from the back door, the kitchen was right there. In the kitchen, the sister was making something warm. While he was peeking secretly from the shadows, the sister noticed Jin, perhaps hearing some sound, turned around and smiled at him, saying:

"Welcome back, Jin. Lunch will be ready soon, so can you call Ragna? I think he's with Saya."

"...Yeah." He didn't really want to go. But since the sister asked him, he couldn't refuse, so Jin nodded meekly and headed to the children's room.

The children's room was close by. So Jin quickly reached his destination, and secretly peeked inside through the gap in the half-open door.

Warm light from outside was shining through the window with white curtains, and the room was bright. On the bed by the window, his sister was lying down with a blanket and comforter up to her shoulders. Beside her, his brother was sitting on a chair, watching over her.

"Don't worry, you'll get better soon. I'm here, so rest assured and get some sleep, okay?"

"Yeah... brother."

A gentle voice and a spoiled voice.

His brother was stroking his sister's head. His sister narrowed her eyes happily at that hand, and smiled blissfully.

Jin looked at his own hand beyond the door. The hand that was reached out and was supposed to be held back and helped up… was cold.

It was cold.

The high-pitched kiin was the sound of clashing swords, repelled by the weak force.

In Jin's hand was the ice sword, Yukianesa. Facing him was the man with the red jacket and white hair, Ragna, holding his beloved sword with its wide, thick blade. Orange sparks scattered between them as they clashed, mixing with the light pouring down from the high ceiling and disappearing.

Jin's slashing attacks, unleashed in quick succession, were one, two, three. Diagonally, diagonally, horizontally. Ragna's sword blocked and parried each of them, repelling them with a seemingly waning strength.

How long had they been repeating this exchange? From the very first blow, Jin, wielding his sword, shouted gleefully as he pressed towards Ragna, evaded the counterattacks, retreated again, and then rushed in again.

"Hahaha! What's wrong, brother? Come at me more seriously. Otherwise... it won't be fun!"

Ragna used his sword as a shield to withstand Jin's continuous slashes, which intended to cut him to pieces. Matching the last strike, he parried the sword and repelled it strongly, then retreated to create distance. He couldn't keep taking those attacks endlessly.

"Jin... you'd better stop messing around!" Ragna roared, his body trembling with anger. Closing the distance with a growl and a light leap, Ragna swung his sword high and brought it down towards Jin with all his might.

Even the sound of it cutting through the air was violent. If he took it head-on, his arm would be numbed.

Jin evaded the heavy slash with minimal movement. But he was too close. The wind pressure shook his golden hair along with his head, causing a slight dizziness. Despite this, he kicked high towards Ragna's head.

Ragna's head was also shaken greatly by the tip of the colliding boot, and Ragna and Jin both staggered back a few steps, holding their heads.

"Tch... kuku... it hurts. I'm dizzy even though it didn't hit... You really are amazing, brother." While shaking his head to clear his blurred vision, Jin moved his shoulder as if shaking it off, letting out a twisted laugh. Ragna, also shaking his head to regain his senses, glared at him.

"Don't laugh, you bastard." The voice he spat out was hot, as if it was about to burn from inside his stomach. He thought that if it did burn, he would just burn him to death as he was. While tightly gripping his sword, he left it to his instincts.

The root of Ragna's loss was his younger brother in front of him, wearing blue and white clothes and laughing. The madness that befell this man had distorted everything.

But Ragna's anger didn't reach him at all, and Jin laughed as innocently as ever.

The root of Jin's establishment was his older brother in front of him, wearing red and black clothes and raging. Only this man's existence gave everything to Jin.

"Ah, it's fun, brother... let's play more... let's kill each other more! Here, no one can disturb us... no one is here! Brother is my only brother! Only mine...!" Jin's scream, tearing his throat, had a terrible sound of madness. "Haha... that's right, my only brother... That's why I'll kill you, kill you, kill you... I'm the only one who can kill you, brother!!"

The disturbingly chaotic voice, no matter how many times it was repeated, only sounded to Ragna's ears like the sad ramblings of his crazed younger brother. He only became more and more angry, thinking that this madness had destroyed everything.

"Quit acting like a childish brat! Stop spouting nonsense and just drop dead already!"

Jin jumped in, kicked with his knee, and then desperately swung his sword at Ragna. Glaring down at Jin from a slightly higher position, Ragna angrily swung his sword.

"Tch!" The shock that ran through his body made Jin's arm numb. At that moment, Jin's face twisted into an insane grimace... yet, for some reason, it also seemed to hold a hint of a joyful smile.

In an instant, the scenery of the past flashed through Ragna's mind. He thought he heard his brother's voice, calling him sweetly.

"This..."

Hateful. Hateful. Hatred ran through Ragna's body. He hadn't forgotten the pain and despair when he was stabbed by his brother's sword, lying next to the burning church.

It was foul play to make such a brotherly face.

"You idiot!!"

Instead of swinging the sword he'd pulled back with all his might, Ragna dropped it. In its place, Ragna slammed his fist into Jin's stomach. A large amount of air escaped from Jin's throat with a dull impact. The force probably reached his bones. Ragna felt something hard break along with the flesh in his fist. He then struck Jin's face with the same arm, sending him flying.

"Gah!" Jin let out a crushed scream, his body flying away. He was violently slammed against the mirror-like polished corridor of the NOL's branch, bouncing twice before collapsing onto the floor. The impact caused Yukianesa to leave Jin's hand and roll to Ragna's feet.

"Gu... hah... geh..." The fallen Jin coughed distortedly. He was trying to get up, supporting himself with his arms. Beyond his disheveled golden hair, his green eyes were wide open with manic glee, staring at Ragna.

"S-still... not... not going to kill... me... I... have to... kill... you, brother..." He said breathlessly, putting his hand on the wall and dragging himself up. Leaning his back against the wall, Jin somehow managed to stand, and he wore a smile on his face, which was cut and covered in blood.

"Brother... I've always wanted to see you... I've been searching all this time."

If these words weren't heard in this place... with this expression, with this tone of voice, Ragna might have felt different emotions. But even at this point, the deranged aura from Jin's face didn't disappear, and his voice trembled with a small, cackling laugh.

"All this time... I've wanted... to kill you. Again, again and again, I'll kill you, kill you... Only I can liberate you, brother..." Jin spoke somewhat ecstatically and somewhat in agony. Even though he hadn't received any slashes, there was no doubt that he couldn't even breathe properly. The breath he inhaled trying to laugh didn't circulate well, and Jin coughed violently, spitting blood from his mouth.

Even so, Jin took a step forward, trying to approach him. As if to stop him, Ragna quickly walked towards Jin.

"Liberate me from what?" Ragna's voice was sharp with irritation. He felt like they'd had this kind of exchange before. In the same place, in the same way. What was this feeling? What was this emotion that remained somewhere in his head?

It was irritating. Perhaps he didn't understand anything. Perhaps he was just venting his anger on what was in front of him without understanding anything.

Following his instincts, Ragna grabbed Jin's swaying collar. Roughly pulling him closer, he forcefully slammed his forehead against his brother's forehead.

"Don't get cocky, you damn brat!"

"Ugh..." The sound of bones colliding shook Jin's consciousness greatly and made him dizzy.

Jin's green eyes, which had been fixed on Ragna until then, even while contorting in pain, became dark and clouded. His body lost its strength as if collapsing, and he fell to the ground when Ragna released him.

Ragna stared down at Jin, who was like a puppet with its strings cut, for a while. He could kill him now. He could stop his breath. Just like Jin had done to him once in the church, he could just stab him once in the back. He could even cut off his head.

Even if his head and body were connected, this brother would not experience the same hatred and sense of loss that Ragna had experienced. He wouldn't yearn for those days and lament that he wanted to protect them. He might not even regain his sanity and feel the slightest regret.

But... for some reason he hesitated.

(...Hey, Sister.)

Ragna kicked the Yukianesa that was rolling around, sending it far away. The forceful gesture was clearly an act of anger.

(What should I do? What would you do...)

Remembering the Sister who always strictly told him to always get along with his brothers, he picked up his own sword this time.

(What would you do...)

Ragna looked at Jin once more.

If he killed Jin here, the Sister would be angry. That person had a strange fixation on what a brother should be.

"...How ridiculous." It was ridiculous to think about it. "If you want to play, come again."

If he wasn't in such a hurry, he might have been able to give him a proper fight. With that thought in mind, Ragna returned his sword to his waist and left Jin there, heading for the stairs further back. Deep into the underground of the branch, to head to the cauldron.

Jin heard the sound of Ragna's footsteps moving away, his consciousness already fading and disappearing.

(No... Brother, don't go.)

Something instinctive whispered to him that he had to stop him. He must not go. Otherwise, everything would be the same as before.

(Before? Before what... when...?)

His thoughts sank. He couldn't understand anything anymore.

In the darkness of his falling consciousness, Jin muttered.

(Your hands are cold... brother.)

Just like that, Jin lost all his strength on the cold floor.

### Part 3

Noel ran through the corridors of the Kagutsuchi branch, her head filled with bewilderment and confusion.

Something was wrong. This was absolutely wrong.

The barrier magic had disappeared without a trace, and there wasn't a single soldier on watch, even though someone should have been on duty all night. On top of that, the door at the front entrance was roughly split in two, as if it had been slashed.

Someone had broken in. It was probably either Jin or Ragna the Bloodedge.

What in the world happened to the barrier and the missing soldiers? Could it be the work of the Azure Grimoire, which she'd heard Ragna the Bloodedge possessed?

Thinking about it like that, Ragna the Bloodedge seemed more and more like an uncontrollable monster, and it scared her.

But what was truly the scariest of all... was the silence ringing painfully in her ears.

The sound of her running shoes echoed surprisingly. An empty branch. Was this place always so vast and desolate?

She had the illusion that even the sound of her pounding heartbeat was leaking out.

Running through the corridor, which felt many times longer than it actually was, her vision suddenly opened up.

What jumped into her sight was the sanctuary, a brightly-lit, high-ceilinged cathedral with a deep, open space. The white goddess statue was illuminated by the light from a magic circle that shone brighter than sunlight, greeting Noel with a breathtakingly beautiful sight that made her gasp.

As expected, there wasn't a single soldier to be seen here either.

"Is... anyone there!?"

Even one person would do. She wanted to meet someone, anyone wearing the same uniform. Because how on earth could something like this happen? The more she felt the absence of people, the more her confusion grew.

She would have been much calmer if there had been even a trace of blood.

The branch was empty, as if no one had been there from the start. There was no sign of a struggle, nor any indication that someone had been forcibly taken away.

An indescribable unease felt as if it was scraping away at Noel from the inside.

As Noel staggered towards the goddess statue, as if drawn to it, she suddenly felt a raw smell stimulating her nostrils.

It was the smell of blood. To be more precise, it was a foul and violent smell, like blood mixed with sweat, saliva, and vomit.

Someone was there. Noel looked around desperately, and... there he was. Near the stairs leading further inside. At the border between the faint shadow cast by the thick pillar and the light-filled space where Noel stood, there was a man lying face down on the cold floor.

He was wearing a blue and white uniform. A soldier of the NOL.

Noel rushed over in a hurry.

"Are you okay!? Please get a hold of yourself!" When she got to his side, she finally realized who it was.

A slender body with smooth, golden hair. His lightly tilted face was fair-skinned, with familiar features.

"M-Major Kisaragi!?"

It was an unbelievable sight.

Jin Kisaragi, who had shown unparalleled success in the Ikaruga Civil War and risen to the rank of Major in just a few years after graduating from the military academy... the man who was even hailed as the "Hero of Ikaruga," was collapsed powerlessly on the floor like a discarded doll.

There was almost nothing frozen in the surrounding area. If Jin had rampaged, the area would have been cold and frozen. The absence of that meant that there was someone who had restrained and defeated Jin without allowing him to use his full power.

An average soldier wouldn't be a match for him even if they came in numbers. Even the above average soldiers wouldn't be a match. If that was the case...

"Could it be, Ragna the Bloodedge..." Noel muttered the name of the "Grim Reaper" as if whispering. He was here. And... strangely, she was drawn to him.

(Huh...?)

Noel was puzzled by what the name she had spoken aloud had evoked in her heart.

Ragna the Bloodedge. When she first heard the name "Grim Reaper," he sounded much more terrifying. An unreasonable destroyer who went around destroying Librarium branches one after another. She had thought that if she saw him, he would be a vicious and terrifying man who would make her legs tremble if she faced him.

But, when was it? She no longer felt the same fear towards this name as before. Even though she hadn't met him in person, and there hadn't been any events that changed her impression.

Yes, now she even thought that he might be a surprisingly normal person, a surprisingly kind person...

(That can't be right...)

He was the most wanted criminal in history, a villain that the entire Librarium was chasing.

Had she become accustomed to the situation that he might be nearby while she was in Kagutsuchi?

She had often been warned since her student days that she was short-sighted and simplistic, but she didn't think she was that bad. But... it was true that she felt something warm about the name Ragna.

(...No. If I think about unnecessary things... I won't understand.)

The act of thinking would only confuse her, and she wouldn't be able to think anything.

"Right, I have to contact them and get Major Kisaragi treated..."

"Oh my, you've been thoroughly beaten up, haven't you?"

"Eek!"

Suddenly, a shadow fell over her from behind, and she was called out to, making Noel jump and turn around. In that instant, she flipped over and landed on her butt right next to the fallen Jin. Looking up with a face pale from surprise, she saw the familiar black suit standing there.

"Come on, come on, there's no need to scream like that. It hurts my feelings!"

It was Hazama. He looked down at Noel, who had embarrassingly lost her composure, with an exasperated expression, and shook his head as usual, as if saying "Oh dear."

Even though she was looking up at him from quite a low position, it was strange that she couldn't see his eyes behind his hat.

"I-I'm sorry, I was just surprised..."

"Well, it can't be helped. The branch is in this state... it's like a haunted house."

Hazama twisted his mouth, which was shaped like the kanji "へ," into a wry smile, and looked around. The wide and bright sanctuary was devoid of any human presence, so much so that Jin's fallen figure stood out from the scenery.

While supporting the holster hanging at her waist, Noel stood up and asked timidly.

"Um, Hazama-san... where is everyone else from the branch?"

"Well. I don't know. I've been looking around the branch, but I couldn't find a single person. Well, I'm glad I was able to contact you safely."

Noel didn't know what kind of face to make at Hazama, who said such things lightly and nonchalantly, so she looked down and simply replied, "I see."

She shuddered at the thought that everywhere, even the executive offices and sleeping quarters that couldn't be seen from here, was deserted.

"For now, let's contact the crew of the Ars Magus ship and have Major Kisaragi transported. We can't do anything about investigating this branch by ourselves."

"Y-yes... but..." Noel looked up at Hazama, who was starting to manipulate his communicator, and then let her gaze wander around the area. Seeing that, Hazama turned his gaze towards Noel while putting the communicator to his ear.

"Is there anything you're concerned about, Lieutenant Vermilion?"

"...Um, I think it was Ragna the Bloodedge who did this to Major Kisaragi..."

If she kept silent, she would surely feel uncomfortable later, as if something was stuck in her chest. So Noel resolutely raised her face and appealed to Hazama.

Hazama tilted his head somewhat quizzically, as if what he'd been told was unexpected.

"Oh, probably. There's no one else."

"Then, we have to chase after him too. This situation may be the fault of the 'Grim Reaper,' and we might still be able to catch him now!" Noel's voice had an unusual strength in it. It wasn't that she was so passionate about arresting the "Grim Reaper," nor that she wanted to avenge Jin Kisaragi. It was just that she felt inexplicably impatient.

But Hazama looked unenthusiastic, and scratched his cheek with his slender index finger, then smiled vaguely.

"You know… I think I told you this before, but I'm not really a combat specialist. My mission is solely to secure Major Kisaragi, and the 'Grim Reaper' is a separate matter, so to speak..."

"That's fine. I'll pursue Rag... the 'Grim Reaper' by myself. Captain Hazama, please take care of Major Kisaragi."

"By yourself? That's a bit too reckless, isn't it?"

"I'll be fine... probably." She wasn't confident, but she felt terribly guilty about turning a blind eye and leaving Ragna the Bloodedge alone here.

And more than anything else, if she chased after him here... she might be able to meet Ragna the Bloodedge. She wasn't clearly aware of that feeling, but there was certainly that thought in Noel's heart.

Hazama put his hand on his hat and shrugged.

"Well, I suppose I have no choice. I'll take care of Major Kisaragi. And as for Ragna the Bloodedge, he's probably heading underground."

"Underground? You mean the underground research facility?" She had heard that there were various research facilities deep underground in the NOL's branches. Soldiers rarely set foot there, but Noel had witnessed people who looked like researchers boarding the elevator to the underground.

"Yes. The destruction of that underground lab is Ragna the Bloodedge's real purpose. To get to the underground, you can go up these stairs and use the very back of the hall at the end." Hazama said, pointing his sharp chin to the back of the stairs with magnificent decorations.

The elevator to the underground. Noel had never used it before.

"Thank you very much. Then, excuse me!"

Was it really okay to go by herself? Noel swallowed the anxiety that was gradually swelling in her heart, then gave a stiff salute and turned on her heel. She ran up the stairs leading to the back with light steps.

She aimed for the elevator in the back. She had to move quickly, quickly. For some reason, such impatience hastened Noel's steps.

She didn't notice that Hazama was shaking his shoulders and laughing behind her back as she left.

### 005. Chapter 5: Calamity trigger — Successor of the Azure

## BBCT2 Chapter 5: Calamity Trigger — Successor of the Azure

### Part 1

Soundlessly and quietly, the elevator slid down, carrying Ragna deep into the underground of Kagutsuchi.

The cylindrical box opened its mouth, revealing a scene to Ragna that was completely different from the interior of the branch he had passed through so far.

In stark contrast to the clean and magnificently decorated atmosphere of the NOL's branch, the hall and the corridor leading beyond it, located deep underground, were dark, inorganic, and chilly.

Even the end of the ceiling, which was so high that it made him look up, was covered with metallic scaffolding, and the walls were equipped with countless surveillance cameras and various other monitors.

Despite being unmanned, the machines and Ars Magus seemed to be faithfully doing their jobs, and the quiet air conditioning and dim lighting welcomed Ragna to the underground world.

The branches of the NOL all had the same structure wherever you went. It wasn't a very new sight for Ragna, who had already infiltrated the underground of the branch many times.

His destination was beyond this corridor. Ragna started walking towards the corridor, which was lit by a lamp that illuminated only his feet.

But he stopped as soon as he stepped into the dimly lit corridor.

Someone was there.

Was it a premonition from the strange déjà vu that had been bothering Ragna earlier, or was it due to the primal instincts awakening in his brain? He didn't know. But beyond the corridor that continued in a graceful curve, from the shadow that couldn't be clearly seen, a gust of murderous intent blew towards Ragna.

"What?!"

In reality, it wasn't wind. But its force and pressure were extraordinary, and Ragna instinctively put both arms in front of him to protect himself.

The illusion that his breath had been taken away by the wind pressure pulled Ragna's feet back from the corridor.

What was this? What on earth was this? Suddenly, his heart was beating wildly in his chest.

Someone was beyond this corridor. And that someone, still clad in an abnormal amount of murderous intent, was walking towards him step by step.

"Who- who the hell are you?"

He was going to be killed.

Feeling an instinctive fear, Ragna involuntarily raised his voice. It was like a wild dog's threat. He hadn't even seen this man yet, and his voice already lacked any composure.

No, it wasn't something, it wasn't someone. He knew this presence, this murderous intent... He felt like he'd seen it before.

He should have seen it before.

Ragna wasn't sure if it was the same or not. But he could recall "that guy" who appeared before him as if he were a symbol of fear, spewing out a killing intent that could kill a person on its own.

Footsteps were approaching. What he saw first was the foot that stepped out.

White feet with dull, grayish-silver claw-like parts attached to them. Those inhuman feet would take away one's breath and their power to stand if they were slammed into the stomach.

Next, the knees, the arms, the shoulders, the torso. As if floating in the unreliable light of the corridor, they came into Ragna's view.

(That's right. That white shadow... it's him.)

Completely swallowed by the approaching presence of that figure, forgetting how to even breathe normally, Ragna felt strangely convinced.

The one who appeared was a white oni.

His body was tall and toned, like a man's. He wore a white outfit that covered his entire body, and on that outfit, there were many red, eyeball-like things attached to it.

There were no eyes on his face. Not just eyes. There was no nose, no mouth, nothing. Only a smooth surface in the place where it should have carried an expression. From his head, something like silver hair hung down in a long strand, swaying left and right in accordance with his heavy steps. On his back was a huge sword. An odachi that was probably as tall as he was.

The moment he saw it, Ragna remembered the pain of a slash he hadn't even received. His expression contorted violently and he pressed his shoulder, feeling as if his body was being gouged and torn apart.

(It's okay. I haven't taken a single hit yet.)

But it felt like it wouldn't be long before that happened.

"Damn... you..."

There was no way he could remain silent. Ragna dragged his feet and retreated inch by inch, glaring strongly at the man who had stopped at the entrance of the hall where the elevator was.

His legs were shaking. He didn't know why, but fear ran up from his feet and dulled Ragna's body.

The man with the white face stared at Ragna calmly. Since he had no eyes, it might be strange to say that he was staring, but even though their eyes didn't meet, the man stared at Ragna, and restrained Ragna's movements with his gaze and presence.

"It's been a while, Dark One." A low voice spoke from under the surface.

At that moment, a shiver ran through Ragna's entire body. He gritted his chattering teeth, desperately resisting the fear that was about to drag him in from his feet.

"It's been a while? I don't remember meeting you. Where the hell did we meet?" He put strength in his stomach and glared at the white mask. He chose a strong and aggressive tone purely as a bluff. It took all his might to keep his legs from giving way. "Sorry, but could you let me through? I've got business in the back. I don't have time to deal with you."

If you try to interfere, I won't show mercy. As if to show that intention, Ragna put his hand on the sword hanging at his waist.

"I cannot allow you to pass." Solemnly declaring this, the white-faced man put his hand on the sword on his back. Grasping the hilt that protruded from around his shoulder, he pulled it out with a cool, sharp sound. The excessively long blade was illuminated by the dim light, making it appear even sharper, even colder, and enhancing its brilliance.

Holding the sword vertically, the white-faced man said, "You are destined to die here. You will not go any further."

Die. Ragna let out a breath as if sneering. It was a surprisingly unsurprising word. This white guy wanted to kill Ragna. He felt that he knew this from something like experience, more than the murderous intent directed at him.

No matter what Ragna said, this man wouldn't back down, and would persistently aim for his neck with that sword. And the difference in strength between himself and this man was so clear that it was desperate.

Was this a memory? Or was it instinct? Either way, it was annoying and irritating.

This guy is stronger than you, even his own sense of reason told him that.

However, even if he was told that, he couldn't turn back. The cauldron, his target, was ahead. It was almost there. If he didn't destroy it before it was too late, the charges he'd piled up so far would be in vain.

"Destiny? Don't screw with me. Even if you say that, I can't just say yes and be killed!" He shouted as if slamming the words down. He felt like he couldn't make a sound otherwise. The pressure blowing from the front made it hard to breathe. Sweat had somehow appeared on his forehead, and his bangs were sticking to his face, making him feel uncomfortable.

Naturally, the white-faced man showed no signs of flinching or pondering. With his sharp gaze still directed at Ragna, he further sharpened his murderous intent, as if his blade was also a part of him, making it even sharper.

"...The world is said to be dreaming." The low words spoken under the mask made Ragna frown.

"Huh? A dream?" He didn't understand what he was talking about.

Perhaps sensing Ragna's fear and desperation to control himself, or perhaps not, the muffled voice continued as if telling a story from a distant past.

"This is a never-ending dream that repeats over and over again. As long as the dream repeats, the world will only repeat tragedy."

The world repeats. Ragna took a sharp breath at the words of the mysterious man whose identity he didn't even know.

Again, something like a memory flashed through his mind.

A strange déjà vu that cuts in as if crossing his field of vision from time to time. Why did it feel like he had a similar experience somewhere other than here?

What if... this man's words were not the flashy metaphor of a great storyteller, but exactly as he said?

What did he do and what did he accomplish in the repeated world? This thought suddenly touched Ragna's consciousness.

"You are the bane of the world and the root of all evil. With my blade, I shall sever the chain of the world." The quiet words slightly gained strength, and the white man's arm moved. He lowered his stance and repositioned the sword, which had been held vertically, into a low thrust.

The sharp tip aimed at Ragna's neck without a single deviation. Ragna's neck tingled with pain at the gaze of the tip that was staring at him. The first attack was a thrust. If he didn't dodge it, he would surely die.

"I am the void, I am the steel, I am the blade. With one swing of my sword, I will reap all sins and destroy evil... I am Hakumen."

"Hakumen?" In the midst of the gradually stronger and more powerful voice, Ragna picked up a name he had heard before.

Hakumen. One of the Six Heroes who was said to have defeated the Black Beast, and the most skilled warrior among the six.

Why was Hakumen here?

"The end has come!"

With a roar, Hakumen, the white man who kicked with his claw-like feet, stepped in quickly and deeply. At the same time as closing the distance, the odachi tore through the air and approached Ragna. Even though he knew it, it was fast.

"Damn!" Praying that he would make it in time, Ragna vigorously swung his own sword. Just before Hakumen's thrust caught Ragna's throat, Ragna's sword with its rugged design deflected the odachi. A dull sound of swords clashing echoed in the inorganic ceiling.

Using his stepping foot as an axis, Hakumen twisted his body. Ragna barely managed to block the kick with his sword and endured it as it slammed straight into him.

"Tch, cough..." Still, the impact struck his stomach, and Ragna spat out bitter saliva onto the floor. "Strong..."

Regrettably, the voice of déjà vu was indeed correct. It wasn't just that their abilities were different, but their power was dimensions apart. He didn't feel like he could win at all.

"Damn it!" He hated being overpowered by overwhelming force.

Ragna swung his sword horizontally. Hakumen lightly jumped and opened the distance.

This place was narrow. It was hard to swing a big weapon around and fight. But at the same time, Hakumen stood in front of Ragna as if not allowing him to even choose to change the location.

Ragna's slash was received by the odachi. Hakumen's sword, Ookami, slid vigorously against Ragna's sword, guiding it downwards. In that gap, the clawed foot took another step.

Ragna's breath caught in his throat from the gouging impact, and his consciousness momentarily drifted away.

"Guh!"

Hakumen's shoulder was embedded in Ragna's chest as he struck. The compressed breath collapsed in his chest, and for a few seconds, he didn't know how to breathe.

At the same time as he straightened his body, Hakumen's sword drew an arc. With smoothness and sharpness as if to cut off the space along with Ragna's body.

Ragna jumped into Hakumen's feet. The sword passed right above his lowered head. He dragged his body and crawled along the floor to escape. He thought it would be a terrible sight. But against this man, there was no such thing as unsightly.

He rolled around to Hakumen's back, reaching the corridor behind him, and Ragna stumbled and ran. He couldn't fight at all. He at least needed more space.

"Running away, Dark One?"

"Shut up, of course I'm running, damn it!"

It was like a game of tag. Feeling the murderous intent approaching from behind, he instinctively jumped to the side, and Hakumen's sword pressure that ran along the ground grazed Ragna and passed by. He should have dodged it. Even so, Ragna's thigh was sharply torn.

"Damn it... Damn it, damn it!"

When he was like this, he really felt like a hunted beast. As soon as he escaped the corridor and turned around, Ragna held his sword in his right hand, putting strength into it as if to retaliate.

Through his right arm, the Azure Grimoire, the sword resonated with power. Its flickering appearance was like an oncoming disaster. With the tip pointing downwards, he slid it along the ground and released it with great power, and the darkness that was born chased after Hakumen in the form of fangs.

The fangs made Hakumen's feet stop. But the next moment, it was scattered by a slash that came down from the upper level.

"Tch!"

It didn't reach. It wasn't enough. Ragna clicked his tongue at the difference between himself and Hakumen, and looked at his right hand.

If he activated the Azure Grimoire, he should still be able to do it. With that thought, he gripped it tightly.

"Restriction 666 released..."

"Tsubaki!"

Hakumen's sword, which had jumped in while twisting his body, slashed Ragna's torso from below as if stroking it. He tried to jump and retreat. But he couldn't jump at once enough to dodge the odachi.

"Gah!"

He was careless. He was blown backwards and fell on the floor from his back. While holding down the laceration running through his chest with his hand, he hurriedly got up.

The wound wasn't deep. But a troublesome pain slowed his body.

He somehow dodged the slash that followed, but beyond that was a wall.

A moment of hesitation robbed Ragna of the opportunity to make a retreat. When he noticed and looked up, Hakumen was in front of him, and in his hand was an odachi that was pulled far back.

"It's over. Perish." As soon as he said that, he swung the sword in a horizontal arc.

...But the movement stopped halfway.

"What... is this?"

It was like the still image of a video. But Hakumen certainly existed there with mass.

With a crackle, a sound like scattering sparks was heard. Hakumen's body shook fiercely, as if trying to resist the sparks.

Ragna couldn't grasp the situation. It seemed that an invisible force was capturing Hakumen and trying to suppress him.

"Gah... Phenomenon Intervention?" Hakumen's body sank slightly as if he couldn't bear the weight. But the hero in white endured even greater indignity. Unable to hold it up any longer, he muttered in a muffled voice, his head bowed. "I... will never... repeat it again..."

The low voice squeezed out from his whole body, sounding resentful. With deep remorse and heavy despair, Hakumen stiffened his distorting body. Sparks scattered around the area, followed by a series of sounds like circuits short-circuiting one after another. The hand, still gripping the odachi, lifted as if to subdue an invisible force suppressing it.

"Don't get in my way, grimalkin!" Hakumen roared, swinging his sword with a mighty force. The sword's pressure alone would have torn human flesh just by grazing it.

That single blow shook the underground floor violently as if splitting the ground, cutting through the ceiling, walls, and floor with the tip. Then, a powerful gust of wind blew, slashing everything around it.

"Whoa!"

That was terrible. It was a mess. Ragna lowered his body and used his sword as a shield to protect himself from the wild impact.

Before long, the vibration subsided. When he saw Hakumen and the surroundings from the shadow of his sword, Ragna lost his words and turned pale involuntarily.

Centered around the white oni holding his odachi, countless cracks spread in all directions. At his clawed feet, the slashes from his own attacks were deeply engraved. Fearfully, Ragna looked around to find them on the wall not far from himself, and when he looked up, they spread from there to the ceiling.

Ragna had no time to check how deep the slash had cut into the wall. Now he realized what he is facing.

Hakumen of the Six Heroes. The hero who defeated the Black Beast. Even without experiencing it firsthand, his strength was beyond measure.

Even so, it must have been a fierce struggle. Hakumen's arms hung down limply, his odachi dragged its tip, and his open legs seemed to barely support him. With heavy breathing and his shoulders rising and falling, his white face lifted towards Ragna.

"Dark One..."

His voice was one of resentment.

Ragna thought it was over. But their one-sided confrontation was interrupted by a noisy sound that rose from far behind.

"What?"

Something collapsed at a height near the ceiling, and along with it, a large object fell to the floor.

With a gasp, Ragna looked up at Hakumen's slash that had cut through the ceiling. The gouged scratch marks continue endlessly. It must have cut through the wall, through the bedrock in the back, and then whatever was beyond that.

In other words, it cut off part of the elevator.

Looking up, he saw that the ceiling near the floor above had collapsed as if it had been scraped away, revealing a cylindrical structure. The cylindrical structure had been cut open on its side by something sharp, and was turned outwards as if it had spewed something out.

The ejected material lay scattered on the floor. Along with numerous rocks and metal fragments, the elevator car was smashed to pieces.

Within the wreckage, there was a figure lying motionless.

"A person?" Something white moved next to Ragna, who was doubting his eyes. It was Hakumen.

(At a time like this...) He thought, turning around and bracing himself, but then Ragna witnessed an unbelievable sight.

Hakumen was leaning over the railing of the floor below, staring intently at the fallen elevator. Of course, it was impossible to tell where his gaze was directed from his featureless mask. But he was definitely staring intently at the woman who had fallen.

He muttered, stunned and somewhat bewildered.

"That... that girl... is different..." His voice was as weak as a lie. It was as if he had forgotten his soul somewhere; he was empty. "Why..."

Seizing his chance, Ragna quickly raised his right hand and activated the grimoire.

"Restriction 666 released, dimensional imaginary number formed! Azure Grimoire, activate!" At Ragna's voice, Hakumen turned around.

But it was too late. His right hand, brimming with its original power, channeled that power into the sword, transforming its shape into that of a scythe. The darkness that gathered like a fountain engulfed the surroundings.

"Uaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" With all the might and power he could muster, Ragna slammed the scythe of darkness into Hakumen.

The darkness overflowed along with the slash, engulfing Hakumen's white body and effortlessly blowing him away. The darkness continued its pursuit, violently raining down on Hakumen as if pinning him to the wall it struck.

The destructive sound continued dully, and Ragna's vision and Hakumen's body were covered in darkness.

"Haa... Haa... Haa, don't... Don't you dare look away..." The sword, which had returned from the scythe to its usual form, felt heavy, and the arm that swung it couldn't be lifted immediately.

Gasping for breath, Ragna glared at the white oni who was embedded in the wall and motionless.

(Don't move.) He prayed.

Fortunately, Hakumen did not move, as if he were a mechanical doll whose switch had been turned off. His tall body was half-submerged in the wall and bedrock.

(If he doesn't move, that's fine.) He didn't intend to bother with him any further.

More importantly, he was worried about the woman who had fallen with the elevator. She was near the cauldron. If she stayed in a place like that...

"Wait, that girl..."

The woman, who had been unconscious, had somehow gotten up and moved to in front of the cauldron.

Judging by her clothes, she was a soldier of the NOL. Fortunately, the cauldron was still closed, so it was fine, but if it were to open...

"Tch!"

As if reading Ragna's mind, a sinking tremor surged through the underground floor. He was momentarily confused by what had happened. The dimly lit underground floor was becoming brighter, as if light had entered from somewhere. The light source... was the cauldron.

"Damn it!"

The main culprit of the earth-shaking rumble that shook the entire underground, the cauldron, was now about to open the gate it held in its center.

### Part 2

A low vibration sound briefly shook the small hall deep underground and the border of the corridor leading beyond it. Then, several explosive crashes echoed... and then, a part of the hall's wall, which had been silently present even during the previous battle, shattered and collapsed.

The opening that was created was quite large for a hole meant for one person.

As if parting the rubble that was falling down, a large man, fitting the massive hole, forcefully entered the hall from the opening.

He was probably close to two and a half meters tall. On top of that, his body was covered in rock-like, bulging muscles, making him look rugged and sturdy at first glance. His clothes were strangely reddish, and fang-like protrusions jutted upward from his tightly closed mouth. On his arms, which were as thick as logs, there were ominous devices like armlets or shackles. With the power of these devices, he had made his way here through his own unique route.

This man with a demonic appearance was TR-0009 Iron Tager. He was a cyborg soldier created with special gene manipulation, belonging to Sector Seven - a research institution that, while originally within the NOL, broke away due to a decisive difference in policy and became independent to change the world with its own values.

Escaping from the cramped hole, Tager found the white-clad man who had created a magnificent crack in the wall and collapsed at the end of the corridor. He put his equally huge hand to his ear.

A small electronic sound. When the communication connected, he calmly reported to his superior on the other side.

"Found him. Retrieving him immediately."

"Alright. Be careful. It would be unbearable if he escaped again." From the other side of the communicator attached to his ear, a woman's voice, slightly irritated, could be heard. The voice belonged to Kokonoe, a researcher at Sector Seven and Tager's creator.

"Seriously... after all the trouble we went through to pull him up from the Boundary, he's always doing whatever he wants."

"What do you want to do? Return immediately?"

"No, just send him over here with the transfer device first. You have two more jobs to do."

"Two?"

While asking, Tager began working beside the communication. What he took out was a device about the size of his palm. When activated, it recognized Hakumen, who showed no reaction at all. While monitoring his process, Kokonoe spoke from the other side of the communicator.

"One is to recover the devices scattered throughout Kagutsuchi to forcibly interfere with that man. You can remotely detonate them, but it took a considerable amount of time and effort to make them. Collect as many as you can."

"Understood. What's the other?"

"There's something I want you to see." Kokonoe's voice suddenly became heavy and somber. Unable to read that emotion, Tager hesitated about what to say. In the end, he returned the usual words.

"Understood. Please give me the instructions."

Without asking about the details or objecting to the vague instructions, he sent a submissive reply, and Tager finished preparing the device with a dexterity that seemed ill-suited to his large body and thick fingers.

"Transfer preparation complete."

"Understood."

The small device carried the white oni to Kokonoe, the developer, while Tager, who remained behind, began cleaning up to stabilize the surrounding dimensions and minimize the impact.

### Part 3

Noel's eyelids fluttered at the sensation of a small fragment falling on her cheek.

Slowly, she tried to open her eyes. She couldn't understand where she was, what had happened to her, or the impact of being thrown around in her dazed state.

There was no way she could understand. That while descending underground, the elevator and wall were torn apart by the aftershocks of a flying slash, and she was blown all the way here along with the device she was riding on.

All she remembered was the sudden, tremendous shock that attacked her, the terrifying feeling of floating, and then the shock of being thrown somewhere. That was all.

"It... hurts..."

If she had suffered such an ordeal, it wouldn't have been strange if she had died.

But fortunately, the protective Ars Magus applied to the elevator acted as a cushion. Although she had small cuts, scratches, and bruises here and there, she miraculously had no injuries that would prevent her from moving.

Instead, the elevator Noel was riding on was so badly broken that she thought it would never be used again.

Removing a piece of the elevator that was pressing down on her back, Noel got up and stood up. Shaking off the fragments of broken elevator and building materials that covered her clothes, fine metal particles scattered like dust and fell to the floor.

"Where is this?"

While pressing down on the slightly deep cut on her shoulder to stop the bleeding, Noel took a step, then another, away from the scattered debris and moved forward. Could this be an underground research lab? It was quite different from what she had imagined.

It was wide and empty, the ceiling was high... and a tremendously large device was enthroned as if it were the main object in the space. Beyond the device, there was something that looked like a mouth with a shape like overlapping wings. Noel knew at a glance that it would surely open.

Why was that? Noel tilted her head repeatedly as she walked to the front so that she could see the device better.

She didn't know such a place. She didn't even know it existed, there was no way she could know. And yet...

"I... know this...?"

No, that's not right, maybe it wasn't this. But she couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen something very similar. When and where did she see it? Certainly...

"Kya!?"

Interrupting Noel's thoughts, the surroundings suddenly began to vibrate dully. It gradually grew larger, eventually swelling to the point where Noel could barely stand.

"Wh-what!?"

Barely managing to keep from falling over, Noel fearfully looked around. She didn't know what was happening, but it was clear that something was happening. The bare skin on her arms instantly broke out in goosebumps.

No. Her mind was trying to recall something, but it stopped. She didn't want to be here. Because this place was...

Amidst the low rumbling, another vibration mixed in. The source of the sound was right beside her. Noel's scream caught in her throat as she turned around.

It was that device. Towering over Noel, and seemingly extending far below as well, in the center of the impossibly huge device, the part that looked like folded wings, which had been closed until just now, was slowly beginning to open.

From the gradually widening gap, what slipped out was a dazzling crimson light, like a mixture of blazing flames and molten lava. Noel felt her consciousness being drawn in by that color, by the swirling texture.

"Ah... ah..." Whether her legs were trembling, or she was captivated, she couldn't move from the spot. As she stood there, within Noel's wide green eyes, the closed wings fully opened.

The place that had completely opened its mouth was a cauldron. The swirling lava-like substance inside was the Boundary. A world that people constantly sought and reached out for, a world that was not this one. A place that contained all kinds of information, knowledge, memories, time, and space.

Noel didn't know such things. She was simply terrified by the sight before her, unable to believe it...unable to speak.

The contents of the cauldron stirred, pulsating as if alive. As if being born from that fetal movement, the figure of a young girl emerged from within the Boundary.

It was a slender girl. She had white hair tied into long braids, and wore a white cape over a form-fitting bodysuit. Lightly spreading her hands, her large, seemingly innocent eyes were veiled by lowered eyelids. Her pale skin, which seemed to avoid the color of the flames from below, was almost sickly, and her figure appeared very... nostalgic to Noel.

A roar, as if fanning the swirling flames within the furnace, could be heard.

With an aura as if commanding these sounds, the girl floated, moving without being pulled up by anything, nor walking on anything. In front of Noel, at the edge of the opening cauldron, she softly landed barefoot without a sound.

After a brief pause, the girl lifted her eyelids. She wore an eye patch on her face, concealing only her right eye. The color of her open left eye was red. A beautiful, yet somewhat ominous red.

"You are..."

Staring at the girl who emerged from the cauldron, Noel's trembling voice was hoarse.

Perhaps hearing that voice, the girl with white hair and clothes raised her drowsy, distant eyes from within the depths of her long braids and looked at Noel.

Their gazes met. At that instant, something surged up from the depths of Noel's being like a raging torrent. The force was so overwhelming that she felt a dizzying illusion of impact. It rushed up to her head at once, robbing Noel of her thoughts, her senses, and her emotions.

"Loading... loading, loading. Checking all functions for normality. Murakumo, commencing activation." The white girl spoke in an emotionless voice.

As if lured by that voice, Noel's mouth moved on its own accord.

"Target's activation acknowledged. Target recognized as... 13th Unit. Shifting to combat mode."

Midway through her words, Noel regained consciousness as if a thin rope that had been veiling her vision had been brushed away. Her eyes, which had lost their brilliance, now held a human-like confusion, and Noel staggered backward.

"What- what was that just now? What did I..."

(I mustn't understand, I mustn't comprehend, I mustn't recognize.)

Clinging to the voice within her that was denying and rejecting, Noel desperately tried to avert her eyes from the white girl.

Ignoring Noel, the white girl continued speaking in a machine-like manner.

"Target recognized as the same entity. Target will be... eliminated."

"Huh?" Noel weakly voiced her question. If she hadn't misheard, she had just said "eliminated." Who? In this case, besides that girl, there was no one else standing here but herself.

While she was thinking this, a huge, pale blue sword flew in from somewhere and pierced the white girl's back. The sword immediately unfolded. Complex mechanisms changed shape one after another, and in response, the girl's attire also changed shape.

The transformed parts stripped the white cape from the girl and gave her eight wing-like swords, the hands and feet of the bodysuit gained sword-like decorations, and the eye patch was replaced by a large headgear.

Within seconds, the girl had transformed into a living combat weapon. Her expressionless, doll-like face found Noel through the headgear and posed as if reaching out her hand. But that was the same as pointing the tip of the blade attached to her arm.

"Ah... no..."

What the white girl was indicating was murderous intent. The machine-like voice that said "eliminate" told Noel what was about to happen to her.

But her body wouldn't move. She was scared of the pure murderous intent of the girl in front of her, but more than that, she felt like she was seeing something very terrifying, and her legs trembled, her hands trembled.

"Die." The white-haired girl coldly declared, the eight swords floating around her simultaneously releasing towards Noel. There was no mercy in the attack. The sharp tips of the incoming blades accurately targeted Noel's vital points, aiming to kill the target without fail.

(I have to avoid them. I have to escape... I have to fight.)

As if a predetermined program was running, thoughts automatically began to move within Noel's head.

"Attack confirmed. Evading."

Her legs, which had been frozen until then, moved with a spring-like force, lightly carrying Noel's body backward. She quickly spun in the air and, even before landing, readied the guns in both hands and fired.

The two magic rounds fired in succession crossed the space and exploded to the left and right of the white girl. The girl's white hair fluttered greatly from the damage, and the sword's legs staggered slightly.

"Minor damage... No problem." The expression beneath the headgear barely moved; the girl murmured emotionless words as if whispering.

At the same time, she slid forward on the floor and swung her slender arm, followed by the eight swords. The swords moved as if slashing Noel, diagonally and vertically, in line with her arm's movements. However, Noel blocked and defended against this with her long gun barrel, and this time, the feather-like swords danced as if scooping up her feet.

The white girl's movements were fast and light. The continuous attacks unleashed from the swords she wore and her own legs were relentless, cutting into Noel one after another.

But Noel was just as light and fast. She used her gun barrels to parry the eight consecutive attacks that swept her feet, then instantly leaped, passing over the girl's head as she lowered her body and circled around to her back.

It was a close-range shot. Using her body itself as a weapon, Noel's hand struck the white girl's head with the grip of her Nox Nyctores, the Arcus Diabolus: Bolverk. Not stopping with one blow, she continued to strike her back with the gun barrel, and fired a shot at her feet as she tried to stand up.

Noel's dazzling gunplay was somehow similar to the white-haired girl's continuous attacks. The white-haired girl widened the distance again with a low retreat. When she stretched out both hands into the air, the eight swords followed and flew towards Noel.

The same movement as before. Noel's mind predicted the attack trajectory.

"Useless." Her finger pulled the trigger without hesitation, and the fired Ars Magus round accurately pierced the eight swords.

However, it probably wasn't such a simple mechanism that would be silenced by that. As the girl staring at Noel swung her arm, the struck swords smoothly returned to the side of her white bodysuit, protecting her body.

"Target's possession of phenomena weapons confirmed. Shifting combat level." The girl's headgear flashed red lights as if engraving something.

That quiet pause gave Noel back her reason. Her green eyes, which had been staring at the white girl with unwavering focus until then, suddenly showed anxiety and lost strength. Her lips were trembling. Her knees and fingertips also trembled, as if being pulled along.

"Just now... what was I..." What was I doing?

The question instantly turned into agitation, and the agitation immediately turned into fear.

In that short time, where were Noel's thoughts and consciousness of herself? Whose... what thoughts were there?

The feeling of being taken over by someone else's thoughts and being moved around against her will was horrifying. And yet, Noel's consciousness now, in this abnormal state... wasn't it calmly observing?

As if that was the original her.

"N-no... that's wrong. I- I didn't do anything..." Her trembling lips once again moved on their own. But this time, what leaked out wasn't the emotionless, machine-like murmur from before, but Noel's own voice, frightened and confused. Her whole body was about to lose strength. Her legs trembled terribly, and she couldn't stand.

Then—

"This is the end." The girl's emotionless voice was heard.

Noel gasped and looked up. The swords around the white girl, following her outstretched arm and the girl's thoughts, spread out in all directions and were released.

But the swords, which seemed to have been released randomly, crossed the space and spread out around Noel, their tips aimed at her... converging as they rained down.

"Ah..."

It was too late. Her body shrank, and a frightened scream echoed in her throat.

(Help me...)

Even though she knew there was no one there, Noel's unconscious mind called out in a tearful voice.

(Help me... Brother...)

The next moment she involuntarily closed her eyes, Noel saw a dazzling and nostalgic scene behind her eyelids.

It was an afternoon when warm sunlight streamed in through the window.

There was someone who stroked her feverish forehead.

Hard, golden hair, and strong, gentle green eyes that smiled.

That person had always stroked her head.

She loved that hand very much.

The eight blades that were released pierced not the girl's graceful body, but the toned body of a man.

On the cold, hard floor, a sound of dripping, heavier than water, echoed. While listening to the irregular sound...

...A man, Ragna, who jumped in as if interrupting, took a staggering step back.

"Ugh..." Blood flowed out. Blood mixed with saliva spilled onto the floor. Feeling the sensation of the sword deeply piercing his body, Ragna bitterly exhaled. "Tch... I messed up."

Saying that, he supported his faltering legs, which were pierced by the blade in his stomach and legs, using the sword as a crutch.

Of the eight swords released by the white girl, five were knocked down to the floor. But the remaining three pierced Ragna's body from front to back as he stood in the way, offering himself as a shield.

It seemed it was a little too late to deflect everything.

"Wh-why..."

Behind him, he heard the girl's trembling voice.

"Huh?" Ragna reluctantly turned his head.

There, of course, was the girl soldier, Noel, wearing the blue and white uniform. Her arm, which she had raised to protect herself, remained as it was, and she was trembling with fear and confusion, unable to fully grasp the situation that had happened before her eyes. Her wide-open green eyes were filled with tears, and she stared at the slender sword protruding from Ragna's back as if seeing something unbelievable.

"Why did you protect me?"

"...I don't know. When I saw you about to be killed, my body moved on its own," Ragna replied, spitting it out.

He had no intention of putting on airs. In fact, that was all there was to it. He had already run out the moment he saw it. He didn't have time to think about what would happen as a result of jumping in.

But if there was a special reason... he thought without saying it, it might be because they resembled each other.

He realized after protecting her. He didn't know where she came from or what her intentions were, but this girl soldier who was carelessly walking alone in front of the cauldron... resembled his sister.

The pale skin, the eyebrows, the eyes, the muscles, the color of her cheeks, the way she felt. Even the soft voice that came out of her mouth evoked memories that he had lost many years ago.

He even thought that she might be his sister herself, who had been taken away the night the church burned down.

"Ragna, you've finally come to see Nu!"

Identifying herself as Nu, the white girl who released the sword abandoned the emotionless attitude she had shown towards Noel, as if it were a lie, and wore an innocent, full smile.

With a small sound, only the headgear that covered Nu's eyes came off. The moment that happened, Ragna grimaced at something different from the pain that pierced his body.

"Nu's been thinking about Ragna all the time, all the time, all the time. I wanted to see you first thing when I woke up. You're late, Ragna!" Lightly lifting the tips of her blade-shaped toes from the floor, Nu chuckled as if enjoying herself.

It was obvious when she took off her headgear. With white hair and red eyes, Nu also closely resembled Ragna's sister, though the colors were different.

No, it wasn't just that they resembled each other. There were slight differences in their gestures, so the impressions were somewhat different... but they had the same face.

That meant that Noel and Nu also had the same face.

"It's like I'm having a nightmare..."

The situation of being caught between a soldier of the NOL who had the same face as his sister, and a girl refined by the cauldron who had the same face as his sister, was somehow eerie.

Grumbling bitterly, Ragna grabbed one of the swords piercing his abdomen. He put strength into trying to pull it out.

"Fufufu, don't be so rough, Ragna. Don't worry, I'll pull it out for you soon." Nu said in a cheerful, spoiled voice, stroking the air with her slender white arm. Then, the swords that Ragna had knocked down and scattered on the floor floated up and returned to Nu. Similarly, the three swords that had been in his abdomen also came out of him in one breath, dripping red drops as they returned to Nu.

Ragna couldn't bear having them pulled out. His flesh was cut again by the three swords that simultaneously came out, and blood like a lump overflowed from his stomach.

"It looks painful... Are you okay, Ragna?" Nu tilted her head worriedly, while dancing eight blades around herself.

"Of course I'm not okay..."

With her utterly innocent appearance, it was foolish to even retort. The voice he returned was muddled by the blood rising up, and as soon as he finished speaking, Ragna had to spit out the blood that had welled up.

"Don't get carried away just because you've been refined... I'm going to destroy you!"

"That's fine. Because Nu belongs to Ragna. Break me, mess me up... Fufufu, ahahahaha!" Laughing loudly, Nu put on her headgear again. When she swung her arm as if hugging the sky, the eight swords once again jumped towards Ragna.

"Damn it!" Releasing his hand from his stomach, which was gushing blood with each heartbeat, Ragna knocked down Nu's oncoming swords.

If he dodged, Noel would be behind him. Even if he demanded that she dodge in a hurry, he couldn't imagine that the completely frightened soldier could do such a thing.

So he knocked down all of them. With such spirit, he swung his sword at his feet, and a jet-black sword protruded out like a wave.

"Oh no!" He deflected it with his sword, and jumped away from the impact. But as if waiting for that action, Nu, who had jumped high at some point, cut into Ragna's shoulder with her legs, which had become swords.

"Gah!" He couldn't react to that at all. He staggered from the unavoidable slash, but he couldn't just be beaten, so he slashed upwards from below.

"Kyaa!" Ragna's slash caught Nu's torso.

Nu's landing was disrupted by the heavy impact. The impact must have been absorbed by the suit. But there was damage, and Nu hugged her stomach and crouched on the spot.

"Drop dead!"

Not wanting to miss the chance for a follow-up attack, Ragna raised his sword high and swung it down to decapitate the girl.

Or so it should have been, but suddenly the air around Ragna became heavy, and he couldn't move.

"What? A gravity field!"

An intense gravity had been generated only around Ragna. If he lost his concentration, he would slam into the ground. As he desperately resisted this power... the eight swords once again pierced Ragna's body, this time from all sides at once.

He thought he heard a scream, probably Noel's, from far behind. But he couldn't respond to it anymore.

"You... bitch..."

He had to get out of this gravity field somehow. Ragna thrust his sword into the floor and struggled. But then—

"No, Ragna." Nu jumped and spun in the air, going behind Ragna. She wrapped her lithe arms around his neck. She brought her pink lips close to his ear and whispered sweetly. "Nu can't wait any longer. I want to become one with Ragna soon. Right now..."

As the tempting voice finished. A dull impact pierced Ragna's abdomen.

"Gaaaah!" Stiffening his body, which could barely move, Ragna lowered his gaze and looked at his own stomach. There, a far too thick and large acupuncture needle pierced straight through. From Nu's back, through her body, and together, they were tethered to Ragna's body.

The two were indeed connected as Nu had wished, becoming one.

(Ah...)

Ragna let out a sigh. In addition to the gravity field, it was probably because he had lost a lot of blood. His body was completely immobile.

Ragna's purpose was to destroy the cauldron and also destroy Nu.

Nu was a Boundary Interface Prime Field Device. She was a doll based on Ragna's sister, Saya, created for people to touch the Boundary and gain its power. That's why she had the same appearance as his sister.

While traveling around the world and destroying the cauldrons, Ragna's purpose was to destroy this Prime Field Device.

With this doll, people could easily reach out to the Boundary. Above all, they had kidnapped his sister and manipulated her as they pleased, creating a doll based on her, and used it as a tool to investigate the Boundary. There was no way he could leave even one of these things behind.

He had destroyed two of them so far. They were still in the state before the refining was completed, and were only unconscious dolls. So... if he only considered the work involved, it was easy, if he didn't look at the reality of killing a defenseless girl who had the same face as his sister.

He had intended to deal with the Kagutsuchi branch the same way.

"Nothing ever goes right..."

He was stopped by his brother, obstructed by a man calling himself one of the Six Heroes, the refining of the Prime Field Device was completed, and he even suffered a deep wound because of unnecessary meddling. As a result, he couldn't even fight properly and ended up like this.

(Pathetic...)

He felt empty at the thought that he would be cut off halfway. Did this hand accomplish anything? Did this hand create anything?

He felt empty, like all he had ever done was rage, destroy, and kill...

"Now we'll be together... forever." Nu's spoiled voice was heard near his ear. This was no joke. He wanted to push her away, shake her off, and take hold of his sword once more. But... he no longer had the strength to pull out the sword that connected Nu and himself. "Now, Ragna, let's go. Let's melt together as one... and destroy the world together."

Singing happily, Nu kicked off the floor with her sharp toes.

The bodies of Ragna and Nu, connected together, floated up and then fell.

Into the Boundary where the all-consuming flames swirled.

That was the end of everything.

It should have been over.

"Don't give up."

A voice was heard. The one who called out was... his sister's voice.

It was a nostalgic voice.

When they were still in the church. The voice he always heard beside him during the time they spent reading books together, taking naps, and harvesting vegetables from the field.

Lured by the nostalgia, Ragna opened his eyes. And immediately, he found it and realized.

"Don't give up!" There was Noel shouting, her face covered in tears. Clinging to the edge of the cauldron, she stretched out her other arm with all her might, desperately grabbing Ragna's arm, shouting until her throat was hoarse. "Reach out your hand, quickly!!"

He was startled. His body, which had been heavy and immobile until then, suddenly moved.

There was no way Noel's slender arms could support Ragna's weight forever. Strongly pulling the arm of Noel, who was desperately holding on, he forcibly lifted his own body, and with that momentum, Ragna grabbed the edge of the cauldron with his free hand.

(I won't fall down, I won't end here.) Those thoughts came to his mind.

That was when-

"Eh?" He heard the girl's bewildered voice, and something slipped out of Ragna's body along with her. It didn't take long for him to realize that it was Nu's greatsword.

The sword that connected them through Nu's back didn't have the power to stop Ragna's body from clinging to the edge. It slipped out with the same smoothness as when it pierced him... and the greatsword fell along with its owner, Nu.

"Rag..."

Unable to understand. Nu called out his name, and her body was easily swallowed into the swirling flames of the Boundary.

And... this time, it was truly over.

### Part 4

Ragna couldn't remember how he got there.

His body, which should have fallen into the cauldron and been swallowed by the Boundary, was now slumped against the cold wall in a corner of the research facility under Kagutsuchi. His rough breathing continued, and his head was still dizzy. His whole body was exhausted to the point where he already felt distant, and his arms and legs hung powerlessly. How long had he been like that?

At the calling voice, Ragna raised his eyelids, which he seemed to have closed at some point. There, as he had expected, was the soldier girl with blonde hair, wearing the soldier's uniform, her face contorted as if she was about to cry at any moment.

"Yo." Her face was so pathetic that Ragna gave a light chuckle and called out to her.

Instantly, Noel's face became even more pathetic and distorted, and she began crying uncontrollably, as if she couldn't bear it any longer.

"I'm glad. You're alive... you're alive..." Looking at the seated Ragna from the side, Noel supported him with both hands, her shoulders shaking with sobs as her body seemed ready to lose its strength from relief.

The dripping tears warmed Ragna's cheeks. Neither cold nor lukewarm, the drops of human body temperature were somewhat ticklish.

"You... I didn't notice because you were wearing a hat earlier... your hair's long." His mind wasn't working, and only his thoughts came out of his mouth.

As expected, or rather, as it should be, Noel, who had been crying until then, looked up sternly and began scolding him.

"T-this isn't the time for that! H-how worried do you think I was? You fell into such a strange place, and if you fell in there, you'd never be able to come back again!? And yet... and yet..."

Again, tears welled up and wet Noel's white cheeks.

Perhaps it was unintentional. Noel made fists with her trembling hands and hit Ragna in the chest, as if to vent her unbearable sadness and anger.

"Idiot... idiot idiot idiot idiot idiot idiot idiot idiot!!"

"Whoa, hey, that hurts, don't hit me!"

"But, but...!"

From there on, words no longer formed, and Noel slumped down, wiping away the overflowing tears with both hands, crying and screaming like a child. She did that for a while, wailing and sobbing at the top of her lungs. Then, suddenly, her tears subsided, and a slight weight leaned against Ragna's shoulder.

Ragna, who had been listening to "idiot" mixed with tears all this time, turned around and was utterly dumbfounded. No, it would be more accurate to say he was impressed.

Noel, who had been crying until just now, had completely relaxed her body and was leaning against his shoulder, fast asleep. Her long hair swayed and moved on her slender shoulders, following her breathing. Her eyes were swollen red from rubbing them so many times. Occasionally, mixed with her breathing, her thin chest bounced with sobbing breaths.

"She's crying even in her dreams? Seriously?" Ragna muttered, twisting his lips into a wry smile. "Still..."

Taking advantage of the fact that she was asleep, Ragna stared intently at Noel's face, which was leaning against him, and lowered his eyebrows.

"She really does look like her."

The two Prime Field Devices he had destroyed so far, and Nu from earlier, were of course similar, but this soldier girl was outstandingly similar to his sister, Saya.

That was why, when she showed such behavior... like a scene from a long time ago, he couldn't help but feel bewildered. He didn't know what kind of face he should make or how he should sit beside her.

As if interrupting such a drowsy time, the space in front of Ragna warped. The faint scent of a different fragrance and a pale, familiar face appeared by teleportation.

"You've worked hard. It was an unexpected conclusion that she would inherit the Azure."

A girl with crimson eyes, her black dress and golden hair dancing in the gently swirling wind. It was Rachel Alucard. However, her familiars, Nago and Gii, whom she always brought with her, were nowhere to be seen. She was unusually alone.

"You, rabbit!?"

Not expecting her to appear in such a place, Ragna tried to get up as if he had been bounced. But before he could completely separate his back from the wall, Rachel put her index finger to her lips and silenced the boorish man.

"Be quiet. She'll wake up."

"But..." At Rachel's words, which sounded like a reprimand, Ragna gasped and closed his mouth. He awkwardly glanced sideways, feeling embarrassed, but the face leaning against him remained unchanged, still fast asleep without any tension. He involuntarily let out a sigh, wondering why he was being so considerate.

Rachel, who had been watching the series of his gestures and changes in expression, raised her lips with a mix of astonishment under her pressed index finger.

"Honestly, you're an unpredictable man. You don't have a single bit of etiquette towards a lady."

"Shut up.I don't care about that. More importantly, what's going on this time? And what were you talking about just now, 'inheriting the Azure'?"

(You're talking to me like I'm a child or an idiot.) Ragna cursed inwardly, glaring up at Rachel.

The Azure. Was it different from the "Azure Grimoire"? Then there was the word "inherit." He didn't understand the meaning at all.

"Oh, you were listening properly. I'm impressed."

But she knew he didn't understand the meaning. Ragna hunched over and lowered his head at the red eyes that seemed to read his mind.

"Well, thanks. Never mind that, just explain it to me quickly. But make it as easy to understand as possible. Right now, my head is pretty foggy, so if you talk about something difficult, I won't be able to understand it as well as usual."

"You're saying you understand a little bit normally, then?"

"I do a little bit, don't I!" Ragna raised his voice as if biting back, and Rachel showed him her index finger with a "shush" gesture. That made Ragna choke and pull back. He was extremely displeased with himself for doing so.

Rachel took a breath, looked at Noel with an unusually gentle gaze, and opened her mouth.

"Inheriting the Azure means, in other words, succeeding the Azure. This child was chosen as the true Successor of the Azure."

"This child... you mean her?" Ragna glanced at the girl who was leaning on his shoulder, sleeping peacefully and snoring.

"Yes, that's right. By this child helping you, after you fell into the cauldron, the world was able to escape from the eternally continuing loop." After this introduction, Rachel began to speak slowly, as if telling an old tale. "The world, you know, has repeated the same history... the same story over and over and over again."

It was a story. A story that Rachel, who had lived for a long time, had been watching with her red eyes.

It began a hundred years ago, always, from the point when a monster called the Black Beast appeared from the Boundary.

The Black Beast would eventually be defeated by six heroes, and the world would gradually heal its wounded civilization over a hundred years.

And now, on December 31, 2199, Ragna appeared in the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, failed to destroy the underground cauldron, and by falling into the cauldron with the Prime Field Device... the world would be reset.

And again, on December 31, 2099, the Black Beast was born, the Six Heroes defeated it, humanity prospered again, and Ragna appeared in Kagutsuchi again.

Rachel didn't know how many times she had repeated that hundred years. But after seeing those hundred years many times, she had now witnessed the first time that Ragna didn't fall into the cauldron, welcoming the year 2200.

"Is that... something amazing?" Ragna asked. He understood vaguely, but he still didn't really understand. Rachel playfully shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, it depends. If you think it's amazing, it's amazing, and if you think it's normal, it's normal."

"That's why I told you to stop being so incomprehensible..."

He was getting more and more confused.

As Ragna grumbled and scratched his head, Rachel narrowed her eyes and gazed at him. Then she crouched down in front of the sleeping Noel and continued while looking at her carefree sleeping face.

"To put it simply about the Successor of the Azure... well, how should I put it, it's like a new possibility born in the world. Without this child, the world would still be repeating the loop. This child showed the possibility of a new world... the possibility of the Azure. That's why the world was able to move forward."

"I still don't understand."

"You're an idiot."

"Shut up. But..."

He couldn't argue back. But Ragna looked down at Noel and lowered his eyebrows in trouble.

If this girl had given the world a future, then this girl had also given him a future at the same time. With these slender arms.

"I understand that she helped me a lot."

Despite being a soldier with a fine gun, she was a weak girl who suddenly became unable to move and cowered in fear in front of Nu.

And yet, when Ragna was about to fall into the cauldron, she somehow ran out and reached out her hand, knowing it was reckless.

She must have a cowardly personality. She must have been scared at that time. Her legs must have been trembling, and she must have felt like her heart was about to stop when she thought about what would happen if she fell.

But this soldier... Noel, reached out her hand.

Rachel let out a sigh at Ragna's words. But it was different from being exasperated or making fun of him; it felt like a warmer sigh.

"It's no use talking about anything more difficult than this. You wouldn't understand it right now. So, let's stop here. I'll explain again when we have another chance... to that child as well."

Rachel's face as she spoke was somewhat joyful. Ragna was impressed that she could make such a face. It was a rare and precious face that he didn't often see.

However, as Ragna blinked a few times, Rachel returned to her usual composed vampire princess expression, smoothed out her dress, and stood up. The swirling scent of roses made him forget that it was a cramped underground research lab.

"Stay there and rest for a while longer. I have some business to take care of. When I return, I'll send you up to the surface."

"You're being quite kind today."

Until now, even if she knew that Ragna was going to raid the branch, she had never once helped him escape or infiltrate. Ragna said it jokingly, intending it as a little revenge for his everyday grievances.

Letting her two-tied golden hair flutter in the swirling wind, Rachel smiled gracefully within the rose-colored magic circle she had deployed. As if saying she would generously forgive Ragna's remark.

"Be grateful and crawl." With a cheerful tone, Rachel vanished with the sound of the wind blowing.

Only Ragna and Noel were left behind.

Noel's tears in her dream seemed to have stopped, and she was now just sleeping soundly and peacefully. She probably wouldn't wake up for a while.

Even if Rachel hadn't told him to, it seemed he would be forced to stay in this position for a while longer.

"...Well, not that I could move right away anyway."

His whole body felt heavy with immense fatigue and deep wounds. Most of all, he was drained and didn't think he could stand.

He couldn't stay by Noel's side for too long because of the Azure Grimoire's insatiable hunger for life force, but...

A little longer should be alright.

Ragna gently repositioned Noel's head, which was about to slip off his shoulder, then let out a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling.

### Part 5

A rose-scented wind swept through.

With the moon, filled with light to the brim of a silver basin, behind her, Rachel was in the night sky. High, high up. So high she almost reached the moon.

Below her, she could see the vast expanse of land and the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi. The summit of the NOL branch, which had conquered the top of the high mountain, was a lovely miniature far below from Rachel's current position.

Not a single person could be seen even as dots.

Commanding the night wind that raged at such a high altitude, Rachel looked up. There was only a deep, dark night. But what Rachel was looking at was even beyond that, the end of the sky beyond this planet, the universe.

There, something nostalgic for Rachel was floating.

Could it be seen in her wide open eyes? Far enough away to see the land below as a planet, a giant coffin floating in the sea of space was opening its mouth, trying to awaken the giant sleeping inside.

The giant, bound by the coffin and sealed too firmly, once had a form like a human shadow. But now, as it was being awakened and emerging from the coffin, its body was like an assembly of countless magical patterns and alchemical devices.

In its center, several magic circles floated up. They began to rotate one after another, like gears influencing each other, and energy rapidly gathered in the center.

The target was the lower part overlooked by the coffin, a corner of the planet, a certain city. It was a huge Hierarchical City given the number thirteen.

A serious irregularity had occurred there. Therefore, it would be destroyed. That was the role given to this giant.

That was why Rachel was waiting for it in the sky.

A wind that didn't exist in space fluttered Rachel's dress, her hair, and her large ribbon. But the wind never hurt or disturbed Rachel.

Standing serenely on the rough but obedient wind, Rachel waited for it to approach.

"...It's here."

A sound was approaching. A phenomena weapon developed during the Dark War and sealed immediately after the end of the war due to its overwhelming power. Gigant: Take-Mikazuchi.

The irradiation... had begun.

At the same time, lightning-like light was born and began to rage around Rachel. With crackling sounds that seemed to scorch the night sky, in its center, Rachel reached out her hand and commanded.

"Zero-type restriction released, dimensional interference imaginary number form deployed... Connecting to the inherent Boundary... 'Tsukuyomi Unit,' activate."

In response to the girl's whispering call, the light surrounding her increased its intensity and raged wildly. The wind was also drawn in and raged, creating a storm zone around Rachel. It was as if a storm was raging only there.

Rachel remained motionless, staring upwards. The moment she perceived the beam of light that shot straight down to the ground, her vision was fixed on it.

At Rachel's gaze, an extraordinarily large magic circle was created in front of her. Its brilliance was equal to the moon that illuminated the night. In its center, the giant's beam, emitted from far away, struck as if being absorbed.

However, the light could only penetrate that far, up to the magic circle that Rachel deployed. The giant's light was blocked by the magic circle and exploded on the spot.

A roar echoed through the night. Light and heat flared up, burning the dark blue sky orange. But only the light scattered. The magic circle that Rachel created absorbed all the heat, the shock, all the power, on the spot.

Eventually, what had risen into the air lost its heat and melted away, and soon the night regained its tranquility. Waiting for the giant's unrefined light to converge easily, Rachel gracefully flicked her fingers and erased the magic circle into the moonlight.

In the night that was regaining its original colors as if nothing had happened, Rachel looked beyond the stars.

At heights that were too far to see from here, the giant who had failed to destroy the target would probably be losing power and returning to his coffin.

"Good night, Gigant: Take-Mikazuchi. You'll have four years to sleep soundly."

Until the next irradiation, the giant must accumulate power. At the earliest, four years. It would take longer if it's late.

That giant's light was a means to forcibly reset the world when it could not repeat for some reason.

But Rachel had just ruined that, too.

With this, the world had truly escaped from the repetition. It had returned to the flow of time that should have been.

"...Such an important destiny, being decided by only a few people. I'm a little envious." Circling in the sky, Rachel looked down at Kagutsuchi and quietly muttered.

Decisions, actions, fate, or coincidence that would change the world. For someone like herself, who could only watch the world's future from the outside, these things would be forever unrelated to her.

"Well then, I have to go pick up those children."

Even if they were contributors who saved the world, leaving them alone together forever would be somewhat irritating.

Suddenly, Rachel's expression lost its composure.

"This presence is..."

She had a bad feeling. That alone was enough for Rachel to hurry. Only when she sensed this presence at this very moment.

"To think that I would..." What a blunder.

Furrowing her narrow, raised eyebrows, Rachel hurriedly flew away with teleportation magic.

### Part 6

The wide, inorganic underground facility was now completely silent.

The open cauldron was closed by Ragna, who had slept and somehow managed to move, by operating the machine appropriately. As a result, some of the instruments stopped responding, but in the end, it didn't matter since he was going to destroy this place and leave anyway.

Was there anything else to do? He couldn't come up with anything, and just stared at the closed cauldron for a while.

Hearing the sound of something moving and the sound of a thick jacket slipping off, Ragna turned his head. In front of him, about two people apart, Noel, who had been sleeping against the cold metal wall, was rubbing her eyes with both hands, still looking sleepy.

It must have fallen when she raised her head, which she had been resting behind her back. Ragna's red jacket, which he had offered as a blanket, was crumpled on her lap.

"You finally woke up." Ragna called out to Noel, with his elbows on his raised knees. He was the one who'd set the distance where to sit.

He had carried the girl's sleeping, defenseless face on his shoulder, but it was also strange to be staring at it, so he deliberately stared elsewhere. The girl's hair and breath occasionally brushed against him as she stirred, perhaps instead of rolling over, and he told himself not to react strangely to it and pretended to be calm.

That continued for several minutes, and Ragna gradually felt miserable for paying attention to such a thing, and finally left Noel under the guise of closing the open cauldron.

Even if he could remain calm, what about Noel? If she were to wake up from her slumber and find Ragna's face right next to her...

It probably wasn't a reality she'd want to know, that she fell asleep leaning on the shoulder of a man who just appeared in her moment of need.

(I don't want her to think I'm a pervert either.)

He didn't need such an undeserved accusation.

Turning to Ragna's voice, Noel looked bewildered, alternating her gaze between the jacket on her lap and Ragna.

Ragna put his hand on the wall, lifted his heavy body, and went in front of Noel, snatching the jacket from her hand and putting it back on.

"You're..."

She seemed to be in the middle of trying to understand the situation. As Noel muttered blankly, Ragna handed her a blue hat, which was placed next to her along with the gun and holster, as a replacement for the jacket.

"Do you remember? You beat me up and called me an idiot, and then you fell asleep." He didn't say "on my shoulder." But Noel blushed and, hiding her face with the hat she was handed, apologized.

"I- I'm sorry! I was, well, I was confused- I mean- I'm really sorry for calling the person who saved me an idiot!"

Still hiding her face with the hat, she sat properly on the spot and repeatedly lowered her head as if crouching down.

She seemed to be safe and sound with no serious injuries. Ragna chuckled lightly.

"We were both saved, so you don't have to thank me."

"Oh, good! You're still here, Miss Noel Vermillion!"

Suddenly, the voice of a man Ragna didn't know jumped in.

Ragna turned around as if he had been bounced and gripped the sword he had lowered.

In front of the cauldron, which was now closed and only illuminated by dim lights, a man in a black suit was standing. How long had he been there, and how had he gotten here? Ragna felt a sense of unease due to the man's sudden appearance.

Next to Ragna, who was openly wary and on guard, Noel hurriedly ran in with a flustered look. Without even bothering to gather her hair, she put her hat on her head and straightened her posture.

"Captain Hazama! I'm sorry, I..."

With that one word, Ragna understood.

(From the NOL... but... there's a strange atmosphere.)

A part of him instinctively whispered danger to Ragna. There was a smell of dark schemes from this man.

"Oh, no, no, it's quite alright. I was worried that something might have happened since you hadn't come back in quite a while." The black-suited man, whom Noel called Hazama, put on a light, seemingly frivolous smile around his mouth, but kept his eyes hidden under his hat, and approached with a soothing gesture. With each step he took, the sound of his hard leather shoes echoed up to the ceiling.

When his feet stopped at a position that was still a little far to have a friendly conversation. Hazama removed the hat he was wearing with a flick of his finger and looked at Noel.

"By the way... Noel Vermillion."

The voice he spoke with suddenly changed its tone midway. Ominously, eerily. His narrow eyes, which were stretched out behind his long green hair, flickered. The color of his pupils was gold.

Abandoning his previous polite demeanor, Hazama suddenly pressed his wide hand against his chest with an insolent attitude, and gave Noel a deep smile.

"Look at me. Observe me very carefully with those eyes!"

"What... Hazama-san?" With a puzzled expression as if she didn't understand, Noel tilted her head, looking at Hazama as she was told. But her expression changed immediately.

She seemed to stiffen, and her eyes widened as if she'd seen something terrifying. Her unsteady feet took a step back, but her gaze remained fixed on the man before her, as if forbidden to look away.

"You're different. You're not Hazama-san! A black shadow... Who are you?" Noel asked in a trembling voice. Her eyes, which continued to stare without blinking, had changed to a clear blue before she knew it. In front of her blue gaze, "Hazama" smiled.

"Who am I? Me? I'm... Yuuki Terumi." He uttered a different name.

It was also a name that Ragna remembered. Yuuki Terumi. The name of the shadow that attacked, burned, killed, and plundered the church where Ragna had lived.

"You!" A surge of hatred exploded within him, and Ragna drew his sword and tried to slash at Hazama... no, Terumi.

But before Ragna could move, Noel's lips traced the name that had been spoken, in a daze.

"Yuuki... Terumi..."

The moment the faint voice clearly called out that name, Terumi grinned maliciously with a distorted smile, and at the same time, a whirlwind swirled behind Ragna and Noel.

"No! Noel, you mustn't observe that man!" Rachel, who had teleported there, raised her voice in a rare panic. But by that time, the atmosphere had already changed completely.

"Hyahahahahaha! You recognized me? You finally recognized me, this me? Hihhihihi, that's right, I am 'me'! I've finally regained it, thank you! As expected of the 'Successor of the Azure,' the Calamity Trigger!" Raising his arms to the sky and laughing loudly, Terumi's voice dyed the space with an ominousness that spread far and wide.

Even Ragna, who couldn't grasp the situation, could tell that something bad was happening.

Holding his drawn sword towards Terumi, Raguna stood to protect Noel behind him. Noel, still staring at Terumi, turned pale and hugged her trembling body.

"Hey, get a hold of yourself!"

"What is that? Black... Susano'o..."

"Hey!"

While muttering words, Noel shed tears from the corners of her eyes. Even so, she couldn't take her eyes off him as if she was being forced to. No matter how many times Ragna called her, it was the same.

"Damn it, that bastard!!"

(If that's the case, then it's this way.)

Ragna swung the sword in his hand widely.

"Ragna, stop!" Rachel's voice didn't reach him. He continued running as he was, swinging his sword down at Terumi, who was smiling without even defending himself. But the sword was easily caught by the casually raised arm of a black suit.

"Oh my, you're so stylish, Ragna-chan. How's your right arm doing? Oh, that's right, I cut it off, didn't I? Sorry, sorry, hahahaha!" Terumi laughed, not even flinching at Ragna's sword, which was swung with all his might. Ragna glared at Terumi's gleeful face, his murderous intent growing as he put more weight into the sword.

Terumi's free hand moved slightly. His lips curled into a twisted smile, and he shouted menacingly.

"Since we've reunited... I'll go ahead and tear off your left side too! Ouroboros!" In response to his call, Ragna heard the sound of chains moving from somewhere. The next moment, a chain shaped like a snake's jaw burst out from Hazama's shoulder.

"What?"

The target, as Terumi declared, was Ragna's left arm. But before the snake's head could bite into his flesh, the chain was grabbed by a giant arm that suddenly appeared from the side and was thrown away with brute force.

Both Ragna and Terumi shouted in surprise at the next intruder.

Standing in the middle of the distance they'd created by leaping back, was the giant who threw Terumi, chains and all. He was a tall, muscular figure, easily towering over them. His skin was unnaturally red, and his arm was fitted with a crude device. It was Tager, the cyborg soldier of Sector Seven.

As he turned towards Terumi, the communication line connected to Tager switched open, and the voice from the other side of the communicator, who wasn't there, echoed through the room.

"We finally meet... Yuuki Terumi!" The voice was a low and spirited female voice, its hostility clear even though there was no one there... It belonged to Kokonoe, the researcher of Sector Seven and Tager's creator.

Terumi's expression immediately twisted in disgust.

"That voice... Kokonoe? Tch, you're all coming out in droves, aren't you? Don't you people have anything better to do?"

"Shut up! Now that you've shown yourself, I'll definitely kill you!"

"Hmph, kill me? You? Hah, don't make me laugh! If you can do it, then try it!"

If the woman on the other side of the communicator raised her voice, Terumi would further provoke her as if mocking her.

Meanwhile, Tager calmly took a stance, never rushing in and carefully observing the situation. He stood as a wall between Kokonoe, Ragna, and Terumi.

Rachel, who had lightly kicked off the floor, flew down and landed in front of the red giant. Her crimson eyes stared piercingly straight at Terumi.

"You're in a good mood as soon as you're observed. If you want to play that much, I wouldn't mind being your opponent... 'Boy'."

The smile on her lips was somewhat cruel, carrying something colder than killing intent. The oppressive aura she exuded was disproportionate to her appearance as a young girl, intimidating not only Terumi in front of her but everyone around her.

It was Terumi who decided to leave the pressure first.

"Oh, scary, scary... I can't afford to fail here, now that I've finally fused with the vessel." Chuckling as his thin shoulders shook, Terumi lowered his body and leapt away.

While still low to the ground, he picked up a hat that was lying near Tager's feet, then moved to the lid of the cauldron.

"Kukuku, I don't like it, but I'll go along with your suggestion. Let's not touch each other's pieces and retreat for now. But..."

The chain he released upwards grabbed the void, pulling up the slender figure of Hazama, who called himself Terumi.

"I'll show you a special show soon, so wash your neck and look forward to it, you damn vampire!! Hyahahahahahahahaha!!"

Using the snake's head of the chain as a foothold, Terumi scattered his violent laughter and disappeared from the underground space.

Once his presence was gone, Rachel flicked her dress, dispelling the extraordinary aura she had been exuding. Finally, a proper, non-threatening air returned there.

"Ugh, ah..."

Perhaps due to the release of tension, or perhaps because Terumi had disappeared, Noel's body suddenly lost strength, as if a string had been cut. Just as she was about to collapse, Ragna caught her unsteady body in his arms.

"Whoa... that was close."

"S-sorry..." Her face was pale and the strength in her grip on his arm was weak, barely enough to keep her standing. Even so, Noel finally seemed to be responding normally. For the time being, Ragna was relieved about that.

But soon the next situation approached.

It was as if the rocky mountain that supported Kagutsuchi was trembling, and the surroundings began to shake. The source of the tremor immediately made itself known. Part of the mountain of equipment that was holding the cauldron exploded into flames.

"Whoa!?"

"Kyah!"

As soon as the explosion occurred, an even larger tremor shook the ground beneath Ragna and the others, causing Noel to collapse and sit down.

Ragna took her arm and pulled her up, making her stand. The next explosion, which occurred as if chasing after them, broke the ceiling and caused rubble to fall.

Some of it hit the device, causing another explosion.

"There's a serious malfunction in the cauldron's control system. This was caused by the aftereffects of the rampage here, as well as the severe damage to its machinery. The circuits inside the device are probably all short-circuited. It seems that some of them have exploded."

Tager reported calmly, without any sign of panic despite the situation, listing the results of his visual analysis.

"More importantly, if we stay here, we'll be crushed!" Ragna shouts roughly, slightly irritated by his calmness. He had some idea about the serious malfunction of the machine.

Kokonoe's unpleasant voice emerged from the still open communicator.

"Tager, evacuate."

"Understood. But what about the others? With the current output, I can barely transfer myself." The giant cyborg looked at the other three with concern through his opaque sunglasses.

Rachel gave a sarcastic yet elegant bow to Tager.

"Don't worry, I'm better at teleportation than your master." As soon as she said that, Rachel formed a rose-colored magic circle around herself, including Ragna and Noel. A colorful wind blew from nowhere, scattering the fragrant aroma of roses around them.

"I see. My apologies."

"Don't worry about it... Well then, Kokonoe, I'll be going ahead."

After saying a word to Tager, who pushed up his sunglasses with his rough fingers, and Kokonoe, who was on the other side of the communicator, Rachel waved her hand in the air, adorned with luxurious lace.

Rachel, who was in the center of the magic circle, Noel, who couldn't stand due to the tremors of the explosion, and Ragna, who was holding her up and supporting her.

The three of them teleported away from the collapsing underground, accompanied by the sweet scent of roses.

January 1, 2200 - Dawn

Shortly after the new year began.

The sky was still the color of night, and only a part of the eastern sky had begun to prepare for the morning.

A violent tremor shook the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi.

The large-scale explosion that occurred deep underground quickly spread, tearing and shattering various parts of Kagutsuchi, even destroying the city...

And as the night fully gave way to day, and the sun began to rise in the sky, illuminating the surroundings.

Kagutsuchi was exposing its tragically damaged appearance in the first morning of the new year.

News ran through Kagutsuchi that day.

The explosion that suddenly occurred in the middle of the night was the work of the infamous criminal, the most wanted man with the highest bounty in history, the "Grim Reaper" Ragna the Bloodedge, who had attacked the branch of the Novus Orbis Librarium...

### 006. Epilogue

## BBCT2 Epilogue

In a corner of the middle layer city, destroyed by the explosion of the underground facility, a pile of rubble, collapsed by the blast, crumbled and fell.

As one piece fell, the rubble began to collapse one after another, as if being impacted from the other side, and soon a gap opened up, large enough for a person to pass through.

Then, a human hand covered in a black glove emerged from the gap. Grabbing the edge of the rubble, a man crawled out, dragging his body.

" Cough ... cough , ugh... damn, I inhaled dust... ugh..."

The one who came out, hunched over and coughing, was Ragna, his white hair and red jacket stained with dust.

Exhausted, he climbed over the rubble with unsteady steps and set foot in the long-unseen city, breathing roughly.

The light of the morning sun poured down on the area, dazzlingly bright to his eyes, which had been in the dark rubble until then.

"Ugh, damn... that rabbit bitch... if you're going to send me somewhere with teleportation, at least send me to a decent place... Right under the collapsed rubble, she definitely did that on purpose..."

Ragna, who had been thrown out by the teleportation magic, had been dropped onto a building that had collapsed in the explosion.

Fortunately... because he would have died otherwise, the building was buried in waves of rubble and bedrock, but the main framework was solid, and it was not immediately crushed.

However, the mission immediately after the teleportation was quite difficult: digging through the rubble from the inside without knowing the direction, and getting out of an outer shell that would collapse even if he tried to break it down.

And here he was, injured and with another person to carry. As always, that vampire's mischievousness was physically exhausting.

"Hey, are you okay?" Having coughed out most of the dust he had inhaled, Ragna put his beloved sword, which had been used as a pickaxe, beside him and returned to the gap in the rubble. Reaching into the darkness, he grabbed the wrist of the woman he saw, and pulled her up with a strong tug.

"W-wait, please! Hyaaa!" Having been forcibly pulled out from the inside, Noel - unsure of where to put her feet- slipped and fell spectacularly from the rubble.

"It hurts..."

After bouncing once in the middle, she landed on the ground with her butt. Noel let out a pathetic cry, rubbing her butt as she staggered to her feet.

"You're clumsy."

Noel's eyes filled with tears out of patheticness or pain. Ragna gently grabbed her arm and helped her up. Her steps were unsteady, but still, she somehow managed to stand on her own two feet.

There, finally, Ragna was able to see Noel under the gentle sunlight, not the dim light or the flames of the cauldron. Looking at her again, he couldn't take his eyes off her.

The smooth texture of her golden hair that fell over her slender shoulders, her teary eyes, her small nose, the color of her lips. As she lightly brushed off the dust and dirt from her clothes, the image of his sister flickered in his mind, and her voice grazed his ears.

"Are you alright?" Ragna's mouth naturally asked that question.

Finally realizing that she was being watched, Noel let out an "ah" and hurriedly straightened her back, making a serious expression typical of a soldier.

"I'm fine. Thank you for your concern."

"I see. That's good." He couldn't help but smile at that serious face.

Thinking she was being made fun of, Noel's expression crumbled for a moment as if she had lost confidence. After adjusting it a bit, she once again bowed her head politely to Ragna.

"Thank you so much for helping me so many times. If you hadn't been there, I... "

She would have died, her emotions swaying behind her words told him.

Ragna frowned uncomfortably. He wasn't good in this kind of atmosphere.

"I told you earlier, you helped me too. Let's call it even. I don't want you to owe me anything."

Such things were heavy and troublesome. He also wasn't good at being connected by troublesome ties because of such things.

Unaware of his true feelings, Noel took his reply as one of humility and kindness.

"Um... would it be okay if I used your name?"

"Name? Ah..." Ragna hesitated for a moment. This girl was a soldier of the NOL, after all. Giving his name was not a wise choice. But... he somehow thought that it would be okay with this girl. He decided to answer honestly.

"Ragna the Bloodedge."

The moment she heard that name, Noel's movements stopped completely.

"Eh? Ragna... the... Bloodedge?"

With a questioning expression, she remained frozen, repeating Ragna's name falteringly. Before long, understanding slowly came.

"Ah, you- you are- are you Ragna the Bloodedge?! The vicious criminal, the wanted fugitive!"

"Well, yeah. What about it?"

Only the external features of his white hair and red jacket were incorporated into the wanted poster, which didn't even resemble him that much, so she should have noticed it sooner.

Ragna thought to himself that the soldier in front of him was not only clumsy, but also stupid.

While Ragna scratched his cheek in confusion, Noel pulled out her two handguns, awkwardly aiming them at Ragna.

"P-please be quiet! If you don't run or hide, you have the right to remain silent and the right to a lawyer, and I will arrest you!"

"W-whoa, calm down, you're not making sense!" It was nothing short of incoherent. Surprised by her confusion more than the arrest or the wanted poster, Ragna involuntarily pulled his upper body back. Then, he put his hand to his head with a troubled look. He was at a loss for how to handle her and how to react.

For the time being, he couldn't consider her an excellent soldier, but he could at least tell that she was doing her best. Such a clumsy stance. Of course, Ragna didn't know what that hard work was for.

"Ha... jeez. You should look at the situation before you say anything. I'm battered, and you're battered. How can you arrest me in this state?"

If Ragna ran at full speed with all the power he had now, Noel wouldn't be able to catch up. He was also confident that he could get through the city without being shot by that gun.

Putting aside the ability of this slender female soldier, she didn't seem to have much combat experience. If he was just going to escape, she was an opponent that Ragna could easily manipulate.

"That's..."

Disappointed, Noel withdrew the firmness that she had desperately created from her tone and attitude. Noel didn't think it was something necessary for them now.

Above all, she didn't want to threaten and arrest "Ragna," who was kind as the mysterious premonition had told her, with a gun. But that was something that Noel couldn't convey to Ragna in words.

"So? What's your name?" Ragna asked bluntly, looking at Noel sideways.

The eyes that were directed at Noel were just on the left side. Ragna's green eye reflected in Noel's green eyes.

Suppressing some kind of feeling that welled up, Noel clasped her hands in front of her chest. While staring back at Ragna's left eye, she replied.

"Noel... Noel Vermillion."

Neither Noel nor Ragna noticed that what she had told him was not her name and rank as an NOL soldier, but her name as a girl.

The sunlight that reached here, unfiltered by the upper layers, was soft and gentle.

While warming their cheeks with the temperature of the sunlight, Ragna and Noel finally learned each other's names at this time.

The 3rd Hierarchical City of Iwasu

In a certain office of the NOL branch on its highest floor, a woman entered.

Her dignified demeanor could be seen in some places, and it made her feel that she had been raised well.

The color of her uniform's poncho was white. Her beautiful crimson camellia red hair, which flowed down her back, was beautiful. The hat, which had a unique color and was on her head, was also white, the same color as the poncho.

"Lieutenant Tsubaki Yayoi, I have arrived." Her line, spoken with a dignified posture, was directed at a man leaning against the desk in the office.

He was not wearing the NOL uniform, but a black suit and a black hat. He was a slender man, and green hair could be seen peeking out from under the hat, which hid his eyes. The green-haired man remained in his relaxed posture, and moved his lips, a deep smile on his face.

"Ah, thank you for your hard work. I'm sorry to have called you here, but actually, I have a top-secret imperial order for you."

"An imperial order... for me?" Tsubaki widened her eyes slightly in surprise and frowned.

An imperial order was a direct command from the Novus Orbis Librarium's integrated headquarters... in other words, a direct order from the 'Imperator', the head of the NOL.

"Yes, of course, it's genuine. Would you like to check the documents? I have the Imperator's signature." Seeing Tsubaki's suspicious expression, the man asked, somewhat mockingly. It was a tone that seemed to be testing her inner thoughts.

"No, it's not necessary. May I ask about the details of the mission?"

"Oh, is that so? Well, about the details of the mission... it's a top-secret mission, you see. I'll tell you the details verbally. But don't worry, it's a very, very simple mission."

With a weightless tone and attitude, the man, still leaning against the desk, told Tsubaki the details of the imperial order.

The contents made Tsubaki's expression stiff. It didn't immediately register in her mind.

That's how shocking the assigned mission was to her.

The direct order from the Imperator, which the man in the black suit told Tsubaki... that order, which she could never disobey as one who swore loyalty to the NOL...

"Lieutenant Tsubaki Yayoi, of the Zero Squadron. I order you... to assassinate the traitors, Major Jin Kisaragi and Lieutenant Noel Vermillion."

The destination was the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi. The departure date was soon.

### 007. Afterword

Thank you for picking up this book, "BLAZBLUE CALAMITY TRIGGER"! I am the author, Mako Komao.

"BLAZBLUE," as the title suggests, is a 2D fighting game released by Arc System Works Co., Ltd. This is a novelization of that game, and specifically, it is the second volume of "CALAMITY TRIGGER."

If you happened to pick this up because you were drawn to the beautiful cover, I would be happy if you could also enjoy the first volume!

Also, the latest installment in the original 2D fighting game "BLAZBLUE" series, "CHRONOPHANTASMA," is currently very popular in arcades as of this writing, so if you are interested in the work, I think you will find a fun future if you take the opportunity to play it! I personally like the new character, Amane!

Furthermore, I would be happy if you could also check out the other novelized series of "BLAZBLUE" that have already been released!

Now then, to those who have been with me since the first volume, I suppose I should say, "Thank you for waiting." I somehow managed to write the afterword for the second volume, and now I am simply feeling somewhat dazed, or rather, I am in a state of disbelief at this open future.

I think I have said this in an afterword somewhere before, but I thought it would never end!

Has it safely arrived in your hands? I suppose that since you are reading this, it must have a wonderful cover, a beautiful color opening, illustrations, and be in the form of a novel published by Fujimi Dragon Book.

But of course, when I am writing the afterword, the book has not yet been published, so I am still nervous! I wonder if something will happen, and I imagine all sorts of bad things. I am the type of person who worries about whether I locked the door after I leave!

Since there is nothing I can do by just fantasizing, let's assume that the book has been safely published. How was it? This novelized version of "BLAZBLUE CALAMITY TRIGGER."

It is structured in two volumes, and this is the form in which it was delivered to you, but I wrote it with the hope that you would find many enjoyable parts within it.

In the first and second volumes, I tried to create scenes that correspond to each other. They are hidden in small places as well, so I hope you will enjoy those as well.

Also, in the second volume, the heroine finally appeared! I was filled with the feeling of "I finally got to write her!" It was the first time for me to write her in a novel, so I was excited.

However, although I had been looking forward to it since the first volume, when I actually started writing, she was an incredibly delicate character, and she became a character whose emotional expression I had to pay more attention to than ever before... I am worried about how she appears in your eyes. It's like sending my daughter off to elementary school or something.

The game itself, "BLAZBLUE CALAMITY TRIGGER," is very deep, and it's truly a story that makes you wonder if it's really a fighting game, and the story is prepared for each character, so this book does not cover everything in "CT." I think there will be various criticisms and so on.

But anyway, if these two volumes, as the main story of "CT," were enjoyable for you, then there is nothing more I could ask for!

I have written "BLAZBLUE" in various forms for quite some time now, and this time as well... I was happy. There were quite a few difficult things, but when it was over, I felt that I had been allowed to write such a wonderful book.

"BLAZBLUE" is great, isn't it? Somehow, the more I write about it, the more I like it. But the more I write about it, the more pressure I feel. Because the things I write become history. But if I could have my way... I would like to write more history. I really mean it.

Well, well, well. If I try to avoid spoilers, I will end up not being able to say anything about the content, so please allow me to list some thank yous... or rather, apologies, as usual, to the people who helped me.

To my editor... thank you very much. I have run out of words of apology and that's all I can say, but I was truly, truly indebted to you. Thanks to you, I am alive. Thank you.

To Sugiyama-sama, who drew the cover, the opening illustrations, and the illustrations, I am truly sorry for the trouble this time... I don't know how to apologize... It was a difficult time for you, and yet you gave me the illustrations for the manuscript that was not easily completed. Thank you so much!

And of course, to Producer Mori-sama. Thank you for your many advices from the plot stage. I am sorry for suddenly calling you and only asking about the setting of the hierarchical city and hanging up. I am sorry for being slow. But thank you for letting me write "CT." I am truly honored to have become a writer.

Finally, in the usual order, to you who read this book. Thank you so much. I am truly happy to be able to conclude the second volume and say hello to you like this, and how should I say it, thank you again for letting me write "BLAZBLUE" like this.

I hope to see you again next time, under the same title.

Goodbye then! When all the manuscript work is finished, I will practice Amane!

Mako Komao

## 03. Blazblue: Bloodedge Experience Part 1

### 001. Prologue: Rebirth

## BBEE Prologue: Rebirth

Muscles around my brow strain. My eyelids... My eyelids were heavy. Extremely heavy...

Why? How come I am trying to open my eyes anyway? Even I'm not sure... Well, that's not it... Rather, thinking about it, it's a struggling similar to turning off manual breathing... I feel it's as if some natural aspect like breathing is now being consciously controlled.

My body feels compressed, chilling debris weighing my body down, disrupting my breathing.

[Ugh...]

My breath was caught in my lungs, the crushing weight forcing a liquid into my airway instead. It fills my mouth, leaking out over my lips. At the same time, I am overcome by the smell of iron or rust. I realize it's blood. It feels so warm... Or maybe my body temperature has lowered cooler than the blood... Now that I've noticed the feeling of temperature, I realize my body is stiff and paralyzed... My body does not even tremble in pain, fear, or shock... Slowly and steadily, my body grows heavier; it feels as if I am sinking, sinking into the ground...

(Is this... how it all ends...)

In the back of my mind, I realized the truth. The end was near. My dark blue surroundings are slowly devoured by darkness. As my consciousness faded, instead of anything else, I recalled a face... It was the smile of my childhood friend that always found time to take care of me.

(Ugh...if I get my clothes this dirty...you'll get angry...)

I don't want to make you upset if possible... Lost in my thoughts In the sinking darkness, a faint wind blew across my eyelids. My consciousness slowly stirs back, subtly and slowly. Standing before me was a lone girl. Instead of my childhood friend's intoxicating smile, one that soothes like basking in sunlight; this young lady looking down on me is one with a black mantle and a cold, indifferent expression.

At her appearance, breath leaked out from my blood-filled mouth. 'Would everything be okay now?', I wondered. The words I intended to mutter to her sunk deep into my throat like my body under the debris, disappearing before it can ever form. Like a moon, the young lady turns her white toes toward my compressed body, she shrugs her shoulders under the mantle, amazed. While the gesture was modestly dissatisfied, it was indicative of her antipathy, her aversion to approaching, to my dying eyes.

The young lady had a faint smile float across her face. As if mockingly sneering, there was indeed a content look on her face as her eyes narrow and her small lips part:

"...would you like to survive?"

The embers of dissatisfaction reared it's ugly head within my cold, tattered body...the hell? Who do you think you are to sneer at one's misfortune?

However, out of the blue, my thoughts turned away from negativity. '...would you like to survive?', I pondered the rude girls words. Of course!The answer is obvious! Yes, I want to survive!

(Because...there is someone who will worry if I do not return...)

Although vaguely, irritated thoughts of the immediate surroundings and misfortune were relegated to a small corner of my mind, rather the tension I should be feeling at the state of affairs was strangely distant from my concerns. Indeed my feelings were carefree as I worried about others.

The overlooking golden pupils, I wonder if she sees through my thoughts? Getting closer, the young lady bends down toward the pile of rubble where I lie, a smile gracing her thin lips carved into an expression contrary to her earlier antipathy. As she stooped down white knees teasingly escaped from her black mantle. For a moment those dazzling knees wrapped in transparent, fair skin ensnared my thoughts beyond what I could handle, like a enrapturing optical illusion.

A hand the same complexion of those captivating knees strokes my cheek not covered in debris. Her face begins to move, as if to follow the fair-skinned hand. It was as if she was moving in for a kiss.

The lips from that formerly indifferent countenance approach as if to touch my skin, whispering near my ear:

"If that is the case, then I will help you survive. But...find the Azure[Ao] . And then, me."

My eyelids, unable to bear the strain from the heavy weight, close shut. The next moment, within the darkness, I feel a new sharp, stabbing pain. A pain near my neck's side, blood trickling from a new wound, despite the rusty smelling crimson liquid only overflowing from my mouth earlier.

In the end, my consciousness fades. Slowly, I get swallowed by darkness. The darkness consumes me like an unseen beast, pulling me into the unknown depths. Yet contrary to popular conception, the darkness was comforting, like sinking into a warmed mud bath.

##### Notes

I'm using a system of Localized Term[Original Japanese Term] For example:

- Azure[Ao] I'm not getting into the minutia of 'this Ao is written with a different character so I'm going to change the wording' instead I'll add context to differentiate it, if I catch it.

- Nox Nyctores[ArcEnemy]

- Novus Orbis Librarium[Void Information Bureau] (check Calamity Trigger's stage descriptions, they actually left this in)

If there are any new Mori chuuni terms, I may try to coin a localized term myself with some Latin, but might opt instead to use German instead to coincide with Naoto's German Motif 'Jaeger'.

This isn't a one-to-one translation as well, since BB has so much added localized features, so I made sure to add sensory detail so the flow is more akin to CT/CS localization rather than the more bland CP/CF localization. Still, I still have my grievances, like how Hakumen did not speak like a chuuni-af knight in Old English, but that doesn't matter to 99% of fans.

### 002. Chapter 1: Contact

## BBBE Chapter 1: Contact

### Part 1

Somewhere, far off into the distance, a piercing noise echoes. The sound fuels an impending sense of crisis, it's loud and jarring despite being muffled by various structures like how a wall act like a protective membrane to the actions of one's neighbor; despite such distance and protective membranes, the noise is still hard on the ears.

Rather than a crisis, this feeling is more akin to how your alarm clock disturbs would someone’s pleasant rest, screaming until you act to silence it, making you want to destroy it even. Who wouldn’t hate that noise? A certain boy here knows he can't stand it at least.

The boy immediately wanted to be freed from this sound that was offensive to the ear. Thus, Naoto Kurogane's arm unreluctantly leaves the warm cocoon of blankets atop the futon, reaching for the alarm clock switch above its head. The said clock is an elliptically shaped non-digital type.

"...stupid bastard..."

Following a light touch, the cruel cries cease from the alarm. He is left with a small satisfaction similar to smashing one of the world's greatest evils. Then, motivated by victory, Naoto slips into the warmth of his futon once again.

But shortly after accepting the lullaby of drowsiness' advances, the front-door’s bell beyond the bedroom door chimes. And it's not only once or twice, it rings over and over and doesn’t seem to stop.

It’s too loud... Despite lacking the strength to voice his irritation, he wraps the futon around his head in resistance to that noise. This act serves to muffle the disturbing noise for earlier even, making that old problem feel distant and irrelevant. However, soon after the doorbell goes silent, as if in response to Naoto's shallow and lazy act of resistance and soon the melodies of metallic mechanisms and tumblers enters the bedroom. It is the familiar sound of a key entering a lock and turning and is then followed by groaning sound of the door in the entrance.

(...again?)

Meanwhile, the sounds of someone entering his home reaches Naoto's ears. That familiar presence stirs Naoto, a look of resignation rather than confusion or annoyance on his face while he gives up in his rebellion, as he crawls out the warm confines of his cocoon. In a simple T-shirt jersey and night clothes, he performs an large awakening stretch as he rises from his bedding in the center of the purposely and simply furnished bedroom.

Naoto's apartment is described as a Japanese'1LDK' or an apartment with a single separated bedroom and another large, combined kitchen, dining room, and kitchen (includes a single bathroom). It takes Naoto only a few short steps from the bedroom to reach the front door. But as he slowly rubs his drooping eyelids in his drowsiness, the door to his bedroom swings open with excessive force.

"Oh my. He's already up..."

Standing in the doorway peaking at the drowsy boy, is a long-haired girl in a pleated skirt sailor uniform with a blue ribbon and white base color. She voices her thoughts, tinged with a faint, vibrant sound of disappointment, as her hair sways, there being a white hair clip to complete the refreshing, uniformed look. The intruding girl's name is Haruka Hayami. She is Naoto's childhood friend and a classmate attending the same high school. She also happens to be the daughter of the apartment building's owner where Naoto lives.

"With so many doorbell presses showing results, that makes me confident in one thing. I think we've finally found the sure-fire way to get you up, don't you agree?"

Although he did not intend to get up while the doorbell was ringing, he decides to avoid such a familiar scenario. Haruka lifted her shoulder mischievously, giggling as she entered Naoto's bedroom, with an overly familiar confidence, teasing her childhood friend.

"It's not like I was going to come over everyday. But I'm disappointed. Just like the childhood friends in Nao-kun's favorite games, I wanted to lovingly wake you up with a 'Nao-kun, wake-up~.' I thought that would help fill your affection meter."

"What are you saying, idiot? That's a template! A cliche trope! There's no way genuine childhood friends really do that! What respectable Japanese girl enters a man's room suggestively saying 'I don't like to be apart from you~<3~<3'! Seriou-...Wh-what game?"

Naoto only comprehended Haruka's earlier words just now, too rushed to contest her 'template' words and deeds to act with more discretion. At that moment, Naoto's drowsiness and clouded mind was grimly awoken by Haruka's words.

Wh-Why did Haruka suddenly bring up the topic of games and childhood friend templates? Before Naoto could contrive an answer, Haruka's eyes teasingly met his now alert gaze.

"Or, is 'Hurry and wake up, Onii-chan!~' your preferred route's heroine?"

"Th-that's not something I know about!"

"No, it's okay. You is a growing boy. It's not particularly weird or abnormal. Rather, having lots of girls come out just to suit a boy's fancy, isn't everyone satisfying their urges that way? I thought having just the game was a little lonesome..."

"O-Okay! I admit I have those games, but I didn't buy them myself! Fukuda forced those games on me, okay!?"

Naoto exaggeratedly shakes his head in denial, but it can't be helped when it sounded like a shallow excuse for a undeniably truth.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. I'll get you a change of clothes and while you can go wash your face~.”

"That's the kind of thing you never do! And do not open the wardrobe without my permission! Noooo!!!”

Naoto hurriedly interrupted Haruka, who was reaching for the wardrobe in a motherly manner. He is not sure how to clear up this situation, but hopes that Haruka will understand regardless.

"I can get my clothes myself. Please, just go over there.”

"Yeah? Then I will prepare breakfast for you, but don’t fall asleep again.”

“I know…” he said after taking a deep sigh.

After seeing Haruka off with a light wry smile on her face, Naoto went to the bathroom as he was told. The wooden floor in the hallway and the bathroom are a little cool and the chill air made him stretch his back a bit.

This was Naoto's usual morning scenario. He is reluctant to get up, but Haruka would eventually unlock the door, enter his room, and forcefully waking him up. It's a scenario that has been going on for a while now, a scene that has been all too common for him at this point.

(Everything is still the same...)

Wiping off the cold water he had bathed in with a towel, Naoto looks up and sees his reflection in the mirror as he always did in the morning. His hair bounces back even when you stroke it carefully, and his eyes are bottoms up, lacking any sense of tension. He is not the strongest guy around, but he has a reasonably fit body.

In the mirror… a row of strange symbols that are floating above his head, are reflected. The symbols make up for a number. Though it’s a number, it isn’t the kind of number that people would perceive as one. Naoto understands these symbols as numbers. While he can see these strange numbers appearing above people's heads, they are only visible for him. He doesn’t know why, but that is simply a fact.

"’The Eye of the Hunter’… huh?”

He mutters that bitterly to himself, while he stares at the numbers that are above his head, as if they were a way too expensive price tag.

The number he can read from the symbols is '9810'. He doesn’t know if this is some accurate deciphering or not, but there is no way he could check the answer for that anyways. For a certain while now, Naoto's number has been static like this. What do they mean? Basically, these numbers show someone’s life force, their physical strength and health and so on. Depending on how person’s conditions are, the number can change. For example, martial artists and sportsmen have a relatively high one, while people with some kind of illnesses or physical handicaps are generally low. In addition, it can fluctuate in 100 up or down depending on how someone feels, so it becomes low if you are depressed or high if you are in a good mood.

But there is a reason why we can tell with certainty that it shows a living beings life force, even though he doesn’t know if the numbers he reads are always correct or not. Naoto has witnessed the moment when the value above someone’s head turns to '0'.

It was the moment when a person in front of him, ...his mother, died.

The moment she died the number said '0'.

He also remembers very well what happened after that...

"Naoto-kun, breakfast is ready!”

“Yeah, I'm coming!”

When he heard Haruka's voice from the living room, Naoto put his towel back on the towel rack and left the bathroom.

He went back to his room, took off his nightgown, hurriedly changed clothes and went into the living room and as soon as Naoto entered, he was greeted by a delicious smell that stimulated his empty stomach.

The person standing in the kitchen next to the small counter is, of course, Haruka. Dressed in her Shinkawahama High School uniform, she gripped a fry spatula and placed a freshly cooked bacon and egg on a white plate. Beside her, there was already a row of lightly browned toast, and a mini-salad with lettuce, tomatoes and broccoli was prepared on the table.

How she could prepare breakfast so efficiently in such a short time was still a mystery to Naoto, as it was every morning.

"Here, some milk. Eat quickly or you'll be late."

Haruka hurriedly placed her favorite mug on her usual seat, along with a plate of bacon and eggs and toast.

"You're looking good this morning..." He muttered to himself and hurried to the dining table.

As usual, he looked at the top of his childhood friend's head. There was a strange number floating that only Naoto could see. The number he sees is "10500". Her number is always higher than Naoto's, but this morning it was about 50 higher than yesterday. Haruka seems to be in good shape.

"Itadakimasu."

“Eat plenty.”

Since Naoto was woken up at the right time, he had plenty of time to enjoy his breakfast. After clasping his hands together and bowing lightly, Naoto gratefully reached for the hot, steamy meal. Spreading some margarine on a piece of toast and biting into it. It's his favorite thing to do every morning.

The fried egg attached to the crispy bacon was cooked to Naoto's liking, with a thin layer of half-boiled yolk and white meat. The lemon-scented dressing on the mini salad was also refreshing and tasty. But then he realized. He is sure there was nothing so lofty in their fridge.

"Hey, Haruka. Did you make this by any chance?"

When Naoto asked Haruka, who must have eaten breakfast at her house already, she nodded from her seat in front of him.

"Of course. Nao-kun, you saw me frying an egg earlier, didn't you?

"No, that's not it. I meant the dressing for the salad.”

“This.” Naoto said, indicating with his fork to a small plate that had been turned into a salad bowl. Haruka nodded again, this time smiling.

"Oh, you mean that? Yeah, because the only thing that looks like that in your fridge is mayonnaise."

"Well, if it is... then why don't you just put mayonnaise on it?"

"It's not that big of a deal. Oh, maybe it doesn't taste so good?”

"No, it's really good. I'm impressed actually."

"Haha... that's good."

"What's with the weird laugh?"

Was it embarrassment or pride? Smiling at Haruka's distracting laughter, Naoto stabbed a tomato with his fork with a renewed sense of gratitude.

As always, I take my hat off to my childhood friend for her cooking skills. No, not only in cooking, but also in housework in general, her abilities are something to behold. This is why Naoto can't get Haruka out of his head.

Haruka's mother, Yuki Hayami, who owns this apartment, is actually renting this place to him for free considering their relationship as aunt and nephew. In addition, Haruka not only comes to wake Naoto up every morning, but also cooks dinner and cleans his room, taking great care of him.

After several years of living away from home, Naoto's life would not have been possible without Hayami and her daughter.

(I'm spoiled, aren't I?)

Naoto sighed lightly in his chest as he took the last bite of his toast.

Before he knew it, he began to eat the breakfast Haruka prepared for me without any suspicion and the attitude of looking at it as a problem, like being spoiled, became just a distant feeling.

After all, it was very comfortable knowing that Haruka and her mother, Yuki, gave him a peaceful life.

When Naoto thinks about it, he feels grateful from the bottom of his heart, but at the same time, he feels ashamed of himself for being this naive. However, it would be a shame to let go of this warm breakfast atmosphere, so Naoto chewed on the second slice of a tomato as the calm feeling flowed through the dining room.

It usually takes about 30 minutes to walk from the apartment building where Naoto and Haruka live to Shinkawahama First High School, which they attend. If they were to take the bus, they could relax at home until later, but Naoto, who dislikes crowded buses and prefers the busy downtown area, normally choses to walk to school. Naturally, Haruka walks with him to their school together.

Naoto has told her several times that she should just take the bus instead, since she doesn't have to do anything more for him than already, but everytime she does it regardless. Haruka would then laugh and follow him, saying it's good for her own health. However, when she can't go home with him, such as when she leaves for school, she takes the bus without hesitation, so it seems that her definition of "healthy" has a lot of flexibility.

Passing through a residential area with many apartment buildings, they waited for green light in front of a crosswalk.

It is the beginning of October. The remnants of the summer season that had been here a few days ago had almost completely faded away and the cool morning temperature was just right for Naoto's new uniform.

The sky was clear as day, with thin white clouds hanging over it, and when he looked up, Naoto felt a sense of peacefulness. As he was chewing down a sigh of relief from this peaceful feeling, Haruka, who had been acting strangely nervous for a while, peeked up at me.

"You know what? Back to the topic at hand, Nao-kun. Do you like that kind of stuff...?”

"What 'that kind of stuff'?"

Not knowing what she was talking about, Naoto rubbed the corners of his eyes with his thumbs and asked.

Haruka's eyes immediately wandered from side to side as if she was in panic.

"So, um, you know, like that... that game where the girl with the pink hair was giving the m-main character… i-in the bathroom─"

Haruka's words, while puzzling they are, caused Naoto's blood to run cold.

The traffic light turned green at this point. However, he couldn't get his foot out of his mouth.

"What did you mean by that... Haruka-san?"

"Oh, Nao-kun, it's green."

Without giving Naoto's distoreded feelings any attention, Haruka joyfully pulls on Naoto's sleeves. After being pushed by her, he managed to move his feet and awkwardly crossed the crosswalk, being sure that he is not in the condition right now, where he should do even a simply action like this.

After they were on the other side of the street, Naoto awkwardly turns to Haruka as if he had been shot by a bullet.

"What the hell?! How do you know about all these details!?”

"AH! God, you scared me! I was just wondering what kind of things you are into and since there were so many of ‘them’, I thought one would be alright at least..."

Her shoulders jumped up from Naoto's comment and Haruka defended herself as she crossed and untied her index fingers in front of her chest.

She feels a little embarrassed. However, it is not necessary to confirm the fact that she has touched Naoto's personal belongings without permission, but rather the fact that she has threatened Naoto's heart with her earlier comments.

"You see, I have a mission to know all about Nao-kun's daily activities and what he is interested in."

"What kind of mission is that?! I mean, why are you suddenly speaking so formal?"

"I'm not sure what you mean by that. In any case, that one game is about the secret of a young maiden’s life... Oh yeah, if you're a fan of ‘Love Love School Paradise’, the girl with blue hair is cute and adorable. If you ask me about the ‘It's with My Sister!’ game, then the heroine would be..."

"It's not just one game, it's a full series! And don't change the subject! This shouldn’t even be a topic!"

The tone of Naoto's voice, as he interrupted Haruka's talking to give him detailed advice, was as if he was begging her to give him a break and not continue any further. What’s so sad about this is, that he had to ask his childhood friend, who was like family to him, to stop giving him advice for games he had, for good reasons, hidden away from her.

But whether she knew about Naoto's intentions or not, Haruka narrowed her shoulders and looked up at him with a strangely relaxed expression.

"Well, you see. I'm not even really interested in that kind of stuff, but if Nao-kun is, then I don’t mind trying it out..."

"Can you not call it 'that kind of stuff' all the time, Haruka? Also, I'll say it again, it's only a game-" He was just about to shout: "Why are we still talking about this subject?!", but then... Naoto got stuck on what he was about to say.

His panicked gaze was not on Haruka's eyes, which peered out to him, but instead slightly above her head where Naoto could see a strange row of symbols. The numbers there moved, rising to 12. Naoto felt an uncomfortable feeling at that slight change.

The number above her head represents her life-force. In the past year or so, Naoto learned that it fluctuates slightly depending on someone’s emotional state as well as their physical condition.

The number above her head represents her life-force. In the past years or so, Naoto learned that it fluctuates slightly depending on someone’s emotional state as well as their physical condition. It's sadness, grief, hatred, despair, and pain that bring someone down. The only thing that raises it would be feelings like joy, goodwill and happiness, sometimes rage and irritation, and... shame.

He tries to be as unconcerned and unaware as possible. But even so, Naoto can't help but to look at them. It's irritating.

Naoto turned away from Haruka as if to escape her sight, her number.

Despite of his ability, he has never been good at reading the feelings of others. He's more of a slow thinker.

So, if he wants to know how a person's feelings are right now, he could just look at these strange numbers... However, Naoto doesn't want to do that.

The route they took had reached a busy downtown area near the train station, that is located somewhat between his apartment and the school, by now.

As the two walked along the street, the crowd of people gradually increased, and eventually, when they came to a large intersection, it became so crowded that it was difficult for them to walk side by side.

Naoto stepped in front of Haruka as he always does. Haruka follows by stepping back and lightly grasping the bag that Naoto carries on his shoulder to prevent them from getting separated.

He feels a little extra weight on his shoulder. This is the signal for him that Haruka was properly following behind his back.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

He looks back once to make sure he hadn't left Haruka behind, like he always does. Seeing her behind him, she looks up at Naoto and nods her head in response at him.

After five minutes of walking, the crowd finally calms down. They couldn’t talk about any silly subjects, like earlier, during these five minutes at all. But as he crossed the roadway and passed the intersection, Naoto suddenly loses the small extra weight that he had felt on his shoulder just a moment ago.

"Huh? What is it?"

He thought that she had taken her hand off his bag, but when Naoto turned around wondering why she just tagged off, he sees that Haruka isn’t there. No, it wasn't just Haruka that was gone.

No one was there.

The crowds of people, the cars waiting for the traffic light to change and even the crows on the wires had disappeared, leaving an empty downtown that was devoid of all life. It was as if Naoto had been left behind in a movie set, all alone.

"...H-hey? Haruka?"

The word "daydreaming" pops into Naoto's head.

He wonders what the hell is going on here. There was no way he could have fallen asleep while walking through this large crowd of people that were just here a moment ago. On the other hand, there was no way he could have been in such a ridiculous scenario, for real, where he turns around and suddenly finds out that all the people had disappeared while he was left behind.

If this was a movie set, the genre would probably be horror, if you would ask Naoto. With this in mind, Naoto carefully looked around, feeling a sweaty tension on his back. As he observes the scenery, he slowly looks behind his back.

In that moment, he stopped breathing.

In this empty, uninhabited downtown area, a girl was standing on the other end of it. It would be a perfect performance if this were from an actual horror movie.

Naoto was dazed, unable to understand what was going on, but he couldn't take his eyes off the girl, as if he was sewn to her.

Naoto can’t see the details of her figure clearly. The distance between them is too big to make anything out of her looks, but what was hindering his view even more was this strange light coming from the other side where that girl stands.

But she has long, beautiful blond hair that is tied up on both sides and is dressed in a generous black dress. She looks about twelve years old. The girl has a unique atmosphere that doesn't match with her age.

Her skin is as white as if it’s transparent and her eyes are as red as blood as she looks at him. What beautiful eyes. Naoto thought so immediately.

But what drew Naoto's attention more than anything else were the ribbons that tied up her long hair. The big black ribbons stand up straight, making the girl's silhouette look like that of a rabbit.

The rabbit girl has a very sad expression on her face. She looks as if she is grieving for someone's future or remembering someone's face... That kind of look.

With a look that could only be described as sadness or grief, the girl looks straight at Naoto with her crimson eyes.

Who are you?

Naoto wanted to ask that, but he couldn't speak. He couldn't even move his body, but he had a feeling that he saw this girl somewhere before.

It was a feeling that was so distant and thin that it seemed as if it would fade away at any moment, a feeling of déjà vu that was too vague to search his memories for where they had met.

(But I think I know... this girl, don't I?)

Who are you?

He tried to ask again. But as if to interrupt him, the girl's small lips moved.

She seemed to have muttered something. The short words that sounded like a sigh which never reached Naoto, made it impossible for him to hear what she said. However, it seemed to be a very important message, so Naoto tried to lean forward, but he still couldn't hear her well.

Please say it again. He tried to say so, but... With a thud, something hit his back with a quiet noise.

"Ah-!"

He heard a voice close by, which made him gasp. In that instant, the crowd returned to Naoto's surroundings. Or perhaps you could say that Naoto's consciousness came back to the crowd.

The next thing he knew, his surroundings were filled with people passing by, leaving Naoto standing there dumbfounded.

A few adults gave him suspicious glances as the boy suddenly stopped in his tracks, and then walked past him as if they didn't care after all.

Haruka, who was right behind him again, peeked at Naoto, who was standing there with his mouth half open, her eyebrows raised in concern.

"What's the matter? You suddenly stopped so abruptly."

She must have bumped into Naoto's back earlier because she is rubbing her forehead lightly.

Looking back at her round, somewhat animal-like eyes, Naoto shoved a hand into her hair and brushed her head as if to confirm that she was here.

"Huh?"

Wasn't there a girl just now?! Naoto was about to ask that, but immediately stopped. Of course, there was a girl just now, but there was no way Naoto could explain the unusual phenomenon that he had just experienced in any words, let alone about that rabbit girl.

A man in a suit must have been walking right behind them as he hurried past them, looking at Naoto with annoyance that he suddenly stopped in the moving crowd.

The entire area had become completely normal. No one seems to know that anything was amiss moments ago.

"It's nothing..."

Yeah, it was nothing. It was just a little girl looking at him after all. It's not like there was anything crazy happening. Nothing to be concerned about. Nothing.

After telling himself that several times, Naoto takes a single breath.

"Let's go, Haruka."

"Are you really okay to go... You're not sick or anything, are you?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. It's just that I suddenly got kinda drowsy, so I almost fell asleep."

He is unsure what to say but knows what he needs to do. The last thing Naoto wants is making Haruka feel worried, no matter what the situation might be.

"You were about to fall asleep while walking? That is not fine at all, Nao-kun, that is dangerous."

"I know, I know. Look, I am already fully awake again."

"That's not the point. I'm really worried about you this morning, Nao-kun..."

Naoto is sure that she would be happy to know that he is not the only one who's a little worried.

"You know... you're like my mother."

In truth, he is more worried about the fact that Haruka would take such a crude lie seriously. However, he is still not sure what to say, so he will keep his real thoughts to himself for now. It would only make Haruka worry about him more if he did otherwise.

"Well, being your mother is not really what I want."

"What did you say? Now, come on, let's go."

With a somewhat displeased look on her face, he waited for Haruka to grab his bag again and once again, Naoto pushed his way through the crowd. As he takes his first step, he suddenly realized.

That young girl. Something was awfully strange about her...

(There were no numbers.)

A number above a person's head reveals their life force.

There has never been a time where Naoto couldn't see someone's number. If anything... it only happens in his dreams.

(So, I really was asleep?)

It's true that he is weak to early mornings, but he didn't expect it to be this severe that he would daydream in the middle of a crowd. Naoto scratched his head again and sighed instead of blurting out any comments.

If it was a dream, so be it. In a dream, anything is possible, no matter how unexplainable it might be.

The boy has been trying to put it behind with the excuse that he was sleepwalking, but even though he had been trying for some time now, Naoto's mind was still replaying the image of that girl from earlier.

### Part 2

As the sun rises and noon approaches, the classrooms at Shinkawahama High School are filled with a heat that could remind one of summer, even though it's already autumn. It was break time after the end of the second period of modern literature class. As the boy listened to the refreshing sound of someone opening a soda bottle at the front of the classroom, Naoto took off his jacket because it was indeed very hot. As he rested it on the back of his chair, he saw a man casually approaching him.

"Oi, Kurogane-kun. Can I have you for a moment?"

The person who came right up to Naoto's seat and started the conversation with a delicate cough was his classmate and friend from junior high school, Shinnosuke Fukuda.

The girls in his class thought that his short haircut made him look pretty, while others say it made him look silly. Naoto has a rather casual attitude and in comparison to Shinnosuke, this trait is emphasized even more by his overflowing cheerful personality.

He is about the same size as Naoto. They have similar grades, and their interests are about the same. Overall, they are good friends.

Naoto recalled that the bond they had formed as best friends years ago had led to a troubling incident this morning.

"Damn you, Shinnosuke. You made me get into a terrible mess there..."

Why should his childhood friend, who is like family to him, investigate his preferences in visual novel heroin’s?!

"What's wrong? Whatever."

Shinnosuke looks at Naoto with a resentful look at first, but he doesn't seem to take offense in the slightest, instead he looks back at him with a pleased smile. For a moment, Naoto thought about explaining it to him to scold him. However, such thoughts quickly disappeared. He would only be laughed at. Furthermore, it will only result in exposing his own pettiness.

"It's nothing, ...I don't want to talk about it."

"Is that so? Well, that's all right. How did you like the learning 'material' I lent you? Did it help you?"

It's ‘learning material’, huh? A dry laugh escaped from Naoto's mouth.

"No, not at all."

If anything, he thinks it may have been Haruka, not him, who learned something from the game that was forced upon him. But he won't reveal that.

"You do realize these games are just fantasy, right?"

When Naoto shakes his head reluctant to accompany his take, Shinnosuke's eyes widen in disappointment.

"What are you saying? You're the one who is living that fantasy life."

“WHA-? Hey, you're the one who's talking."

"Are you out of your mind now?! Your childhood friend, who is also your cousin, wakes you up every morning and makes you breakfast every day, and when you come home, you eat dinner together every afternoon in the apartment that you live alone in. ...Now, what part of that doesn't sound like fantasy to you, chap?!"

"Stop calling me that! You'll take responsibility if it sticks as a nickname!"

Shinnosuke leaned forward and clenched his fists when he made his impassioned speech. Naoto, striking back, also said that he was out of his mind. But Shinnosuke is not the kind of man who will back down against such little resistance. He grabbed Naoto's head with both of his hands and forcefully pushed it in the other direction. This is a great way to get the most out of your free time in the usually boring classroom.

"…What?"

"Look closely, Naoto."

He directed Naoto's head to the front of the classroom.

Shinnosuke was in a rather serious mood. They turned to look at Haruka, who was sitting in the front seat chatting with her friends. While grabbing Naoto's head, Shinnosuke continued in a low voice with a strong tone.

"She has a kind and gentle personality, is popular enough to be elected to the student council and always has the ability to be very approachable. In addition, she is good at housework, especially at cooking, which is extremely delicious. She is not the most beautiful girl, but she is cute and pretty. She has above-average boobs too...!"

"Hey you... Where are you looking at?"

"On top of that, her mother is a wealthy woman who owns an entire mansion and she's also an incredibly beauty with big tits! There is no way you can't make a mistake with that! A win-win!"

"Hey! You’re too loud!!"

Shaking off Shinnosuke, who shouted in his ear, Naoto hurriedly covered his friend's dirty mouth.

As expected, Haruka, who seemed to have heard the voice, turned around and tilted her head. As expected, Haruka, who seemed to have heard Shinnosuke's voice, turned around and tilted her head. As soon as she did, she waved her hand and Naoto conveyed a message with a gesture. She nodded in agreement and returned to chatting with her friend. After witnessing this, Naoto released Shinnosuke's breath.

"Ha... ha... shit..."

Apparently, it was really hindering his breathing. Naoto simply apologized to Shinnosuke, who was looking a bit more grim than usual. "Oh, anyway. I think you should be a little more aware of your own privileged circumstances. One of these days you're going to get beaten up by some less fortunate boys."

"Like you, for instance?"

"Oh, I wish."

Shinnosuke's eyes were unexpectedly serious as he turned and looked down at him. Naoto immediately withdrew his mischievous smile.

Naoto put a hand on his cheek and gazed at Haruka again. It seemed that they were having a lot of fun talking about various cheerful topics, making it a little difficult for high school boys to approach them.

Haruka was smiling happily, and she certainly had a rather nice appearance. According to what Shinnosuke told him before, she is known as a cute girl not only among her classmates but also among her seniors and juniors. Some of them are even seriously trying to become her boyfriend. However, Naoto was still unable to understand why Haruka was so popular.

(Is it really, because she’s cute...? )

For Naoto, the feeling of meddling, nagging, not being able to leave him alone, filled his mind when thinking about her instead of how cute she is. Haruka, for Naoto, acted more like a mother than a girl of her age after all.

There is no such thing as a "mistake" to be made with Haruka, as Shinnosuke said, but in the first place, he had never even considered such a thing.

(Come to think of it, Yuki says it all the time, too.)

Naoto's eyebrows wrinkle with mixed feelings as he remembers.

Yuki, Haruka's mother, is the one person Naoto can't get over more than Haruka. She is very busy with her work and rarely comes home, so they only see each other occasionally, but every time they do, she approaches Naoto with a suggestive smile on her face.

'When are you going to get your hands on Haruka?' 'You're a man, right?' And so on.

(What is wrong with them anyway? I mean, Yuki-san is her mother, right? A normal mother wouldn't tell some guy to go and make the move on her own daughter. I really don't know what she's thinking at all sometimes.)

As he was mumbling to himself, Shinnosuke, who stands beside him gave a short "Oh". At the sound of his voice, Naoto also noticed. The bell was ringing, announcing the end of break time. Haruka also checked her watch, cut off her conversation and went back to her seat. As she did, she looked at Naoto, smiled friendly and waved lightly. He has no bad feeling about it. When Naoto smiled back, Shinnosuke was looking at him with a hint of envy in his eyes.

But before Shinnosuke could say anything, the door to the classroom was opened exactly on time. The person who came in was Tadayuki Isa, the teacher in charge of the next class, Geology.

He was not tall, but he had a sturdy build, and his round, chubby face always had a serious frown on it. He was in his mid-forties, Naoto believes. He wears square glasses of an old-fashioned design, always wears the same kind of clothes, and is not the type of person who cares much about his appearance. In addition to geology, he is also in charge of life guidance, but his nagging and critical nature has made him into a teacher who is getting a bad reputation among the students at many times.

Shinnosuke is another one who has a hard time with Isa. As soon as he caught sight of him, he turned around and went back to his seat, not wanting to be spotted.

He glances over his slack eyelids at each of the students as if to confirm that they are in a hurry to straighten up their appearance, and then he roughly places the attendance book and textbook on the teacher's table.

It was not an unusual sight. It was the beginning of another depressing class that came around twice a week.

But Naoto was struck by the second... surprise of his day.

(What is... that number?)

He blinked multiple times to make sure he wasn't looking at some wrong number, but the number remained unchanged like a label above the wrinkled, middle-aged man's head.

"925". You don't see this kind of number every day. It's just too low…

"Kurogane! How dare you did not take out your textbooks and notebooks! Class has already started!"

"Huh... Ah, yes, sorry!"

Naoto came back to his senses when the thick finger of a shouting man pointed at him. He pulled his textbook out of his bag and spread it out on the desk. After seeing that, Isa gave a lecture on how foolish it is not to be well prepared for anything, and then began his lesson in a heavy, pompous tone.

Holding the textbook in his hand, he writes hard-to-read characters with such strong pressure that the tip of the white chalk cracks. He often took out his handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead, as if he was hot. Actually, there was nothing particularly unusual about this scene. But Naoto's heart was in a buzz. The classes were never very interesting to begin with, but today he couldn't listen to Isa's at all, because…

(925? Are you kidding me...? Even patients at a university hospital have more decent numbers.)

He wondered if there was something wrong with his eyes. But when he looked around the classroom, there was no one other than Isa who was showing abnormal readings. How can it be possible that only a particular person's values are not normal?

(What is going on with him...?)

Naoto covered his eyes with the palms of his hands. Turns out that that was a bad idea.

"Kurogane!!"

The whole classroom tensed up at the angry voice that came again. When Naoto looked up to see what was going on, he saw Isa glaring at him from in front of the teacher's table with a terrifying expression.

"You've got some nerve to fall asleep in my class..."

"No, I wasn't sleeping..."

"Don't you dare to talk back to me!"

Isa's voice came at him with even more force. Naoto knew that he had made a mistake. When he's in a bad mood, Isa hates it when a student says something he doesn't agree with. You could even say that he hates the students.

Today, Isa seemed to be in a worse mood than ever before. He slammed the textbook he was clutching in his thick hands onto the table and pointed at Naoto with his hand.

"Answer the question I just asked you. You would know if you weren't asleep."

(Ugh…)

Naoto was at a loss for words. He hadn't been sleeping, but he also didn't listen to anything Isa had said, so naturally, the helpless boy didn't know what the question was.

"I'm sorry, I don't know."

It's not like he can just admit that he didn't hear it, so he tried to keep his emotions in check and answered calmly. As soon as he did, Isa's mouth twisted up and he looked at him with both rage and dominance in his eyes.

"There you go. This is why you shouldn't sleep. Hayami... Answer me instead."

"Y-Yes."

When Haruka replied with a hint of surprise, Naoto reflexively raised his eyebrows. He is sure it wasn't intentional that Haruka was picked instead, but he feels guilty that he caused this fire to start.

"It's from volcanic activity..."

"That's right. You are indeed studying well, Hayami. You may sit down."

He looked strangely pleased and then Isa moved his head in a big vertical motion. Naoto had to wrinkle his brow again at the sight of him.

(The numbers are...)

It increased.

It increased to more than 70 at once. It was way too big of a change for Naoto to be happy that his classmates were able to answer his questions.

"On the other hand, you, Kurogane..."

With a harsh tone, Isa turned to look at Naoto again. The number on his head increased again. This time, the number rose to 37. The fluctuations are quite large. This is not a normal change at all.

Isa pointed at Naoto and glared at him, his thick lips moving rapidly as he talked about how hopeless he was. Normally, he would be frustrated and uncomfortable with this one-sided argument, but he had no choice but to keep his mouth shut because it would make the conversation even longer. Naoto is listening to the teacher's words but is not paying any attention. He just keeps staring at the value above his head, continuously increasing and decreasing by one or two.

It's so strange. He had no idea why this was happening and this uncomfortable feeling that is sticking around inside of him. He can't stand it, so Naoto opened his mouth.

"Isa-sensei. Is there something wrong with you?"

For a moment, the classroom fell silent. He found that everyone who had been holding their breath during Isa's lecture had stopped breathing completely. Eventually, Isa's face turned red with anger as he shook his fists on the table. He did it. Naoto couldn't help but clutch his head at the regret that had come so late.

Isa roughly banged on the teaching table with his clenched fist.

"You brought this on yourself, Kurogane!!"

The air around Isa was numbed by the outrage in his voice. The boy thought he was going to be hit by his teacher, but Naoto's ears picked up a strange sound as he lifted his shoulders in a shrug.

'-thung’

It was like the sound of a coil being wound. But it was a more unpleasant, biological sound. The instinctive disgust he felt gave Naoto goosebumps for a moment. Is something in there? Naoto frowned, horrified by the disgusting presence, and then...

The bell rang, signaling the end of class.

"By next week, each of you should have researched at least two different things that volcanic activity can bring about. I'll ask you about them in the next class."

After saying that, Isa hurried out of the classroom.

Just before Isa disappeared behind the door of the classroom, Naoto finally saw that his number was 1007. It was still far too low for someone who could walk on his own feet.

"Puh..."

The stifling atmosphere that had been present in the classroom earlier came to an end with Isa's departure. As Naoto listened to the voices of his classmates, who had faintly returned to their normal routines, he propped himself up on his desk and exhaled deeply.

His head was full of inexplicable thoughts and couldn't quite put his finger on this experience. He dug his hands into his spiky hair and roughly brushed it around. It was an old habit of Naoto's that he tended to do when he was feeling embarrassed.

"I can't believe you interrupted Isa while he was in his preaching mode. He was totally on to you."

Shinnosuke came running up to Naoto as soon as Isa left the classroom and said that with a dumbfounded look on his face. He was somewhat unhappy, probably because he had been given an extra task as collateral damage thanks to Naoto. Naoto had no choice but to apologize for that.

Naoto looks up with his hands still in his hair. And beside Shinnosuke stood Haruka with a worried expression on her face.

"Nao-kun, are you still feeling a little woozy this morning? Lack of sleep, maybe?"

"No, it's not that, but... well..."

He couldn't say thing. Naoto was at a loss for words. Neither Haruka nor Shinnosuke knew about this mysterious eye of Naoto's – ‘the eye of the hunter’.

Of course, he wasn't going to talk about it. So how could he say anything about the numbers, that represent the life-force of someone? Naoto couldn't help but be curious, so he asked the two in front of him as if he was checking on something.

"Hey, you two. Wasn't there something off about Isa today?"

"Yeah? Nothing out of the ordinary if you ask me. Just the usual Mr. Isa stuff."

Shinnosuke's answer came back to him immediately and it was a simple one. Naoto smiled out of the corner of his mouth. In the first place, Shinnosuke must not even remember the content of the class, let alone Isa's condition. This boy is very much like himself in many ways.

To be fair, he didn't expect much from his best bad friend. Naoto looked at Haruka who had a troubled look on her face and turned her finger on her small chin as if she was thinking.

"...Although it wasn't that that strange. When I was called after Nao-kun didn't answer, Isa-sensei's eyes were kind of flashing."

"Is that so...?"

"Yeah. He would stare at me and then suddenly look away and then right back at me again. And although his eyes were looking at me, they weren't really focused. I thought it was a little strange."

Even Haruka, who could not see the numbers, felt Isa's discomfort. It could be wrong observation. It could be a misunderstanding. If anything, it seemed perfectly natural to think that way.

But this uncomfortable feeling was like an ominous chest pounding, making Naoto's nerves tingle with annoyance.

### Part 3

After school was over, Naoto was walking alone on his way home from Shinkawahama First High School to his apartment.

Haruka, who usually walked home with him, had hurried off first. The reason he hadn’t accompanied her was due to a trivial errand he needed to run.

On his way home, Naoto stopped by the staff room. His goal was Isa. He wanted to check the number above his head one more time. However, by the time Naoto arrived, Isa had already gone home, and he was nowhere to be found within the school.

Without a valid reason, it was unlikely that a student could just ask a teacher for their address or their route home. More than that, Naoto thought about whether it was worth going to such lengths, and reluctantly decided to give up, leaving through the school gate a little later than usual.

He walked slowly toward the bustling area along his school route. The sun was dyed a reddish hue, as if the western sky had been painted. Compared to just after the start of the second semester, the days felt just a bit shorter.

However, Naoto's mind was not focused on the length of the days drifting away from summer or the vivid sunset; it was captured by something else entirely.

“925.”

Normally, he tried his best to ignore that number. But today, he couldn’t shake his curiosity about it. Because it was simply impossible. Such a number couldn’t exist.

It was unbelievable that someone could stand calmly, yelling at students, for forty-five minutes in that state, unable to even maintain their consciousness.

“Seriously, this is ridiculous... But there's no way to confirm it. Ugh, what’s with Isa? Why did he have to go home?”

As he muttered his dissatisfaction, he felt more frustrated, his mouth twisting into a frown. He instinctively ran his fingers through his hair, tousling it messily... but he stopped, halting in his tracks.

Thoughts of Isa’s abnormality vanished from his mind in an instant.

What he saw beyond the shadows of the street was something even more unusual.

It was a shadow of two people running away with incredible speed. One was a man, hunched over in an unnatural posture. The other was a small girl... or so he thought.

Yet, the abnormality that instantly caught Naoto's attention was neither the presence of the figures nor their stature. It was the same number.

He couldn't clearly see the appearance of either of the two who had run past. However, the abnormality of the numbers was burned into his mind at a glance.

The number that appeared above the girl’s head had far too many digits. Normally, no human, regardless of who they are, exceeds five digits. However, above that girl, there was at least an eight-digit number. In contrast, the number above the hunched man's head was— “0.”

While the girl was one thing, there was no mistake about the man. Naoto saw it clearly.

“0.” It signifies the dead.

There was no way he should be able to run... no way he could move.

“... Am I just tired?”

He had seen numbers that were impossible to comprehend. His eyes might be playing tricks on him. It would be best to hurry home today and rest. Just as he thought to quicken his pace—

“No. No, no, no, wait, wait, wait!” he hurriedly stopped himself.

What he should focus on wasn’t the numbers, but the situation. Right now, a girl was being chased by a suspicious man. With this realisation, Naoto sprang into action, pursuing the two figures he had seen.

It was surprisingly easy to figure out which way they had gone. The place Naoto rushed into looked as if a localized disaster had swept through. Utility poles were broken, the asphalt of the road was torn up, and twisted guardrail sections were carelessly thrown in the middle of the street.

Ah, that makes sense. A strange sense of understanding settled in his chest. It looked like the aftermath of the two with the abnormal numbers.

People passing by were staring at the horribly scarred landscape and recording it on their mobile devices. Countless videos would probably be uploaded to the internet later. Glancing at the busy photographers searching for their next target, Naoto sprinted through the path marked by unusual destruction. Since when had his heart been pounding so fast? It wasn’t tension or fear. It felt like a troubling excitement was building within him. Was he worried about that girl? No, that wasn’t it. There was something urgent, something that quickened his pulse.

(That girl...)

Wasn’t she similar to...?

The girl he had seen in a daydream this morning. The blonde girl who had appeared in the empty shopping district and stared at him with her cool yet sorrowful, tearful crimson eyes. He felt compelled to find her. He couldn’t afford to lose sight of her, and though he was already out of breath, his legs rushed forward. Driven by instinct— or perhaps by some sensation— he ran and ran, occasionally leaping over rolling debris.

Finally, Naoto reached his destination.

It was a dimly lit place.

An abandoned apartment complex.

It had been developed as a bedroom community, but due to an incident that had occurred a few years ago, the plans had been halted.

The area was a construction site that had been interrupted and left abandoned. Numerous square buildings, almost completed, stood in disarray, having become ruins without electricity. Here and there, streetlights without bulbs stood alone, casting elongated shadows of silhouettes in the deserted corners. No one willingly approached this place. Even those who fancied themselves outlaws or delinquents looking for a hangout wouldn’t choose this as their refuge.

The abandoned apartment complex, built for people but now unwelcoming, had a suffocating, oppressive atmosphere. It felt more nauseating than eerie, more uncomfortable than terrifying. Naoto’s feet, which were about to rush in, halted just before entering the premises.

“Is this... it?”

Staring at the “No Trespassing” sign on the fence, Naoto bitterly spat out his words.

It was obvious that the man and girl had entered here. The flimsy fence was bent inward, the sign twisted unnaturally along with it.

It looked as if someone had forcefully driven a vehicle through. Yet there were no tire marks; instead, strange, deep scratches marred the ground as if made by something sharp. Beyond this point was dangerous. An ominous vibe hung in the air. From deep within the dark, shadowy apartment complex, a sound echoed as if a building had collapsed, causing Naoto to sharply inhale.

Before him lay a desolate scene, sharply divided by the sunset's crimson and the darkness of the shadows. There were no moving figures. If it weren’t for the earlier loud noise, he wouldn’t have even considered searching for signs of life. However, he heard another crashing sound, this one slightly louder than before, and Naoto instinctively kicked off the ground. He slipped through the gap in the mangled fence, stepping into the dark, empty domain.

If the girl and the man had entered here, then the sound must have been caused by one of them. Either way, it was surely a warning of the girl’s peril.

The sound had come from straight ahead. Naoto sprinted along the paved sidewalk toward that direction. The atmosphere felt as if time had stopped. The buildings stood solid enough to be usable, yet there was no warmth of human life anywhere. Only empty apartments and forgotten debris remained. The stagnant air lingered, and the shadows seemed to cling to the surroundings.

It was no wonder so many ghost stories originated here. As scenes flitted past the edges of his vision, Naoto felt a chill run down his spine.

Why had that girl come to such a place?

(Weren't they being chased? If that was the case, wouldn’t it be safer to flee toward a more populated area...?)

She could have even dashed into a store. A scream in the shopping district would attract a crowd. If she had been driven here against her will, it was already an emergency situation with no time to spare. He needed to find her quickly and contact the authorities.

The abandoned apartment complex, having been left untouched immediately after construction, continued on endlessly with similar scenery, quickly disorienting Naoto like a maze. None of the buildings had any distinctive features to serve as landmarks. How could a housing complex not have a single map sign?

"Damn it... which way did they go...?"

The path he had been following came to a dead end at a row of withering trees, and Naoto hurriedly stopped. The road formed a T-junction, splitting off to the left and right. He quickly checked both paths, but no sounds were coming from either. The area was eerily silent. It put him in a bad mood. The deep colors of the setting sun seemed to seep into the deserted complex, casting sharp shadows that gave the illusion of being trapped in darkness. The sound of the collapse that had guided him earlier was gone. The noise of his own ragged breathing felt deafening in the oppressive silence.

"...Did they escape?" Naoto muttered, as if trying to confirm with someone.

Thinking back, these were the two who had been playing tag, breaking utility poles along the way. There was no guarantee he could catch up with them even if he ran desperately. It was entirely possible the girl had managed to escape before he arrived.

(What am I doing...?)

This was recklessness at its finest. Shouldn’t he have contacted the authorities first?

As the thought weighed on him, he let out a deep sigh, his eyelids heavy. The girl might no longer be in the apartment complex. He had no idea where to go next; maybe it was best to turn back. Or perhaps he should search the vicinity a little longer.

Just as he was about to turn on his heel, he heard a sound.

"Ki-chi-chi."

"Wh-...?!"

It came from nearby. Naoto turned around reflexively. To the left of the T-junction, in the shadows, stood a man.

(When did he...!)

There had been no footsteps, no presence. Naoto instinctively braced himself and checked above him.

' 0'. No doubt about it, it was the man he had seen earlier.

The man was wearing a tattered, ill-fitting dark navy suit. The striped tie was frayed and ragged, making his appearance look especially shabby. He had a lean frame that seemed unnaturally hunched, with his arms hanging limply at his sides. Through his disheveled bangs, he was staring intently at Naoto.

Upon meeting the man’s gaze, Naoto held his breath. A chill ran down his spine.

The man's eyes were not human. His eyeballs had swollen to the size of clenched fists, protruding out of their sockets. The dark part of his eyes was unnaturally large, glistening with a wet sheen that could be seen clearly even from several meters away. He could see it.

The black eyes suddenly moved up and down, left and right, as if checking the surroundings. It wasn't a sequential glance; the right eye faced the right side, while the left eye turned to the left, both looking simultaneously. The man moved his eyes around like a chameleon, then fixed his right eye directly on Naoto.

“Ugh...” A strained voice escaped Naoto's lips involuntarily. Before he could feel fear, he was overwhelmed by a sense of disgust.

What is this guy? He was clearly not human. First of all... the number above his head is '0'. It was hard to say he was alive. So why is he moving and looking this way?

“Ki-chi-chi-chi.” The strange sound came again. But this time, he clearly understood where it was coming from. He realized it. It was from the man in front of him. With his mouth half-open and drooping, a sound like a beetle wriggling was coming from inside. It was a horrifying sight. Driven by sheer revulsion, Naoto took a step back.

Perhaps that small movement invited him. The man turned his swollen left eye towards Naoto and dragged his tired suit closer.

(This is bad...!)

He should run. Clenching his teeth against fear, Naoto tried to back away. Then, a voice passed by him.

“...You're in the way.”

“Eh?”

No, it was the wind that passed. Black and golden—wind.

The wind rushed forward in the form of a girl, and with the same momentum, she kicked off the ground and leaped into the air. Her quick jump was like a gust of wind. The gust kicked the suited man away from Naoto and slammed him against the wall of the apartment complex looming behind. The man's body flew easily through the air, creating a thunderous sound as he crashed through the concrete wall, collapsing inside. Dust billowed up like it was released from years of tension, forming a thick gray curtain.

It happened in an instant. Naoto was left bewildered, unable to comprehend what just occurred.

The girl, who had rushed in like a whirlwind, turned back to look at him. In the deserted complex, where the sunset burned with gold and shadow, she shimmered.

She was a beautiful girl. Her radiant golden hair was tied up high, adorned with a black ribbon standing upright at the base. Her skin was translucent white, glowing with the reflected hues of the setting sun. Her eyes were golden. More extravagant than her hair, they exuded an indescribable nobility even with just a fleeting glance.

She looked just like the girl he had encountered in his daydream that morning, her hair tied in two bunches of golden locks. However, the girl standing in front of Naoto, with her golden eyes tied in a single ponytail, seemed to be a few years older. She was probably around Naoto's age. She had a delicate appearance and a slender frame. Much shorter than Naoto, she slightly tilted her chin down, causing her large eyes to look up at him. Dressed in a long black cloak that reached down to her feet, her slender body was completely free of any scars, and her skin was a flawless white…

She was completely exposed.

“... Huh!” Unable to comprehend what he was seeing, Naoto let out a bewildered yell and thrust his chin forward, staring intently at the girl. His mouth hung open, unable to close. He couldn't find the words to respond.

Clothes. There should have been clothes under the black cloak that wrapped around her slender body… but there were none. Not even a blouse, a skirt, or panties— no underwear whatsoever. The only thing she wore was the black cloak. Without any shame about her appearance, the girl placed her hands on her bare hips and snorted softly.

“What are you staring at with that stupid face?. Are you...a pervert?” Her tone clearly had a condescending ring to it.

I don’t want to hear that from you, you exhibitionist. Naoto tried to respond, but the words caught in his throat. His eyes caught the numbers floating above the girl's head. While her appearance was shocking enough, he was even more astonished by the numbers lined up above her. The “abnormality” he had briefly noticed earlier was indeed a reality.

“E… eighty million!”

It's an outrageous number. No matter how many times he counted, it had eight digits. He never expected to see such a high figure above her. However, it was clear that she was an anomaly. This was evident not only from the visible numbers but also from the extraordinary strength she had just shown when she kicked a man away.

“... What? I don’t understand.” As Naoto stared wide-eyed at the numbers above her head, the girl raised her perfectly shaped eyebrows in confusion. It was a natural reaction. Even though someone was right in front of him, and he was looking directly at that person, his gaze was inexplicably focused on an empty space.

Drawn back to her eyes, Naoto searched for words to deflect the situation. He didn’t think that even such an extraordinary girl would accept something as absurd as the numbers above her head. His mind, frozen in shock, couldn't come up with a good excuse, and Naoto’s mouth involuntarily spilled out his true feelings. Naturally, Naoto's gaze dropped slightly. Translucent white skin. There was a feminine line to it… The soft bulge that formed a shadow... was a bit hard to see. For a moment, he thought he heard a short intake of breath.

Before he could understand what it was, the girl thrust her fist into Naoto's face.

"Naive!" A moist voice leaked out. She hit him between the eyebrows. The punch was too powerful for a rebuttal, and Naoto stumbled back, covering his face with both hands.

It's annoying. She's not wearing any clothes, but she's still concerned about the size of her breasts. He wanted to hit her with all his might, but he wouldn't be able to win if he got blown away to the apartment complex behind her like the man in the suit from before, so he decided not to.

The girl seemed completely unconcerned, and her artificial face returned to a blank, doll-like expression as she looked at Naoto.

'You're just getting in the way if you wander around here. Get out of here quickly."

"Go away? Who the hell do you think you are…”

"Ah, but..." Just as Naoto was about to retort with dissatisfaction, the girl cut him off and turned her head. Her golden eyes were fixed on the pile of walls of the apartment complex that had just collapsed. Her gaze was fixed Squinted. "It's too late now."

The sound of something hard being crunched echoed over the girl's nonchalant words. The man in the suit from before appeared, pushing up the pile of concrete. Naoto was left speechless. The man's face had been transformed into something inhuman.

In a word, it was comparable to an insect. His enlarged, protruding eyeballs were freed from their cramped sockets and transformed into dark red eyeballs that bulged out from his face. His nose was gone, replaced by the eyes of ants. A mouth with jaws for crushing like a gnat takes up the lower half of the face. When the jaws are opened wide in a threatening manner, countless fangs wriggle inside as if beckoning. there was…

"You've got to be kidding me... What the hell is this?" He wondered if he was having a nightmare. If it was a daydream, he preferred the boring dream where he was staring at a strange girl in a deserted downtown area.

"As you can see, I'm a monster."

"What a calm thing to say! This is dangerous, we'd better run away..." Naoto's advice was suddenly cut off as he pulled away.

For a moment, something whizzed by in front of Naoto with incredible speed and wind pressure. A moment later, the wall of the apartment complex behind him burst into pieces as if it had exploded. A thunderous noise was heard, and the blast, along with sand and dust, blew into the side of Naoto's face.

"No, uh... what?" What had just happened?

He glanced sideways at the exploded apartment complex, then, urged by a premonition, turned his head in the opposite direction. Standing with a suit against a gouged-out apartment complex is a bug man. His arms are stretched more than twice their original length, bending at unnatural angles. The strangely stiff arms easily lifted the freshly crumbled wall of the apartment complex behind him, despite their slender and frail appearance. As his crimson eyes locked onto me, he moved his jaw, producing an unsettling clicking sound, and hurled a chunk of concrete.

"Whoa, this isn’t a joke!" Naoto cursed as a girl tugged at his arm, forcing him down. A flat piece of debris was thrown over his head, crashing into the wall of the apartment complex, causing it to crumble further. The weight of the debris, combined with the speed and force behind the throw, was extraordinary. If the girl hadn’t pulled on his arm, Naoto’s head might have been severed from his body, crushed beneath the rubble.

“Great, thanks to you, I’ve given him extra weapons,” the girl said, rising and tossing her long blonde hair.

“W-What? It’s my fault?!” The "weapons" she referred to must have been the piles of debris stacked there. If that’s the case, she was the one who created them. But now wasn’t the time for complaints; there were more pressing matters at hand.

“Um, sorry about this. I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything and go straight home to sleep, so could you let me off this time...?” His words trailed off. The girl suddenly turned and kicked Naoto in the chest, sending him flying backward.

As the air was forced out of his lungs, Naoto hit the ground hard. Whether by luck or the girl’s control, his body unexpectedly landed lightly on the dirt, just off the paved road. Some soil got into his mouth when he rolled, but he soon realized how gentle the damage was when he looked up.

A sharp piece of debris was embedded where he had just stood, like some meaningless sculpture in a park. However, this was not meant to evoke art or provoke thought; it was born from a desire to kill in a crude and violent manner.

A chill crept into his temples. He reflected on his recklessness for stepping in so easily. This was bad. This was far too dangerous. He had no clue what was going on, but he knew he shouldn’t have gotten involved. When he heard another dull thud, he looked to see the girl gracefully dodging the debris, leaping away with elegance that was incomparable to his own. For a brief moment, he felt like she glanced his way…

(This is…?)

She might be trying to tell him to escape while he drew the attention. No, she must be wanting to say that for sure. With a complete self-interpretation, Naoto dragged his aching body upright. He felt there had to have been a better way for her to have kicked him, but to her, it was probably a way to protect him at that moment. What a kind-hearted girl. Although his entire body was in immense pain. He should respect the girl's wishes and escape. Surely, that was what she wanted... or at least, it should be.

“Alright, I’ll call for help right away...!” He stood up, turned around, and tried to run. However, as Naoto was about to look back, he froze again. A heavy gust of wind sliced through right next to him again. He didn't even need to check what had flown by. Just a few meters ahead, a streetlamp was snapped in half, with a white concrete wall embedded into the ground. This time, there were no arms to pull him back or legs to kick him away. If Naoto had started running just a few seconds earlier, he would have been hit directly.

“W-What is that…?” Naoto turned around. What happened to the idea of escaping while he had the chance? He realized it was a selfish interpretation, yet for a moment, he genuinely thought that.

The girl was still there. However, rather than protecting Naoto, she seemed to be waiting for an opening against the bug man.

“I can’t focus on you right now. Take care of yourself.” The bug man made another unsettling clicking sound with his mouth, swinging his long arms back. Ignoring the direction of his joints, he grabbed a piece of rubble piled behind him.

“W-Wait a minute, I can’t believe you’re planning to…!” A dreadful thought came to him, almost naturally. The bug man’s crimson eyes were fixed on Naoto. With the piece of white rubble still in his elongated arms, he raised it high without hesitation. He swung it down powerfully, and the rubble soared toward Naoto with a menacing growl.

“Ahhh!” Letting out a pathetic scream, Naoto desperately jumped to the side, throwing himself to the ground and crouching low. Immediately afterward, a sound like an explosion erupted nearby. He instantly recognized it: the sound of the wall of the apartment complex collapsing, creating a massive hole.

A sixth sense compelled Naoto to lift his head in a panic. He spotted the girl immediately. With her long blonde hair fluttering, she raced like the wind—not toward Naoto, but toward the back of the building where she had slammed the bug man. He understood the logic. He understood the meaning. She was trying to get behind that monster.

But that meant...

“I’m really the decoy!?” Naoto shouted at the top of his lungs, momentarily shelving his earlier intention to flee. The bug man hurled another piece of rubble at Naoto. Fortunately, this time the debris seemed fragile, crumbling as it was thrown, so not much mass came flying at him. Even so, if it hit, it wouldn’t end well. Naoto rolled on the ground, trying to escape.

“Ow...” He pushed himself up against the hard sidewalk. In that moment, he heard a sharp, scream-like sound as someone inhaled sharply. He reflexively turned around. The bug man's arm had stretched further, bending like a whip, and had caught the girl's leg as she tried to sneak around behind him.

Right, Naoto clicked his tongue. He could see in all directions even before the bug’s face fully changed; he could check to his left with just his left eye while still looking at Naoto. The man pulled strongly on his arm, lifting it. The girl’s body was thrown up, and the man swung his arm down in one swift motion.

“Stop it!”

“Ugh...!” Naoto’s shout and the girl’s groan were drowned out by a powerful gust of wind. Moments later, the girl’s small body was slammed down to the ground with a dull thud. Fortunately, it landed on the overgrown grass. If she had been just a little off, she would have hit the concrete wall. Even so, she was struck down with enough force to bounce slightly. Though she struggled to move, she knew she couldn’t afford to lose consciousness.

Was the bug man feeling triumphant, having captured his prey? He casually turned away from Naoto, facing the still-down girl. As he forcefully yanked his arm, her body slid effortlessly along the ground, crashing into the withered street.

“Ugh…!” The dull impact sound and the girl’s small cry of pain filled the air. At that moment, Naoto took off running. He swiftly changed direction and began to run away from the girl.

(This is the only chance… the only chance!)

For these few seconds, the bug man’s attention was completely focused on the girl. Naoto had intruded here as an irregularity; the man’s original target was the girl. It shouldn’t matter if someone like Naoto tried to disappear. He ran and leaped over the bushes, sliding into one of the collapsed apartment buildings that had a large hole in it. Inside, surrounded by thick walls and ceilings blocking out the sunlight, it was gloomy and dark. The deep shadows quickly concealed Naoto’s figure. The sound of his footsteps running straight away soon disappeared into the darkness.

...The girl watched this from the corner of her eye.

Once Naoto’s figure had completely vanished into the building, she remained on the ground, a faint smile appearing on her face. It was a smile that carried a hint of self-mockery, yet at the same time, it felt like relief. It was a look that carried a mix of emotions. Not long ago, someone had told the girl that humans are weak and cowardly. Now, she remembered those words and understood them deeply.

The hand gripping her thin ankle tightened. It was that dreadful monster's hand. Even though it was already losing its shape as a human, it still had five fingers that gripped the girl firmly and wouldn’t let go. The elongated arm lifted her body into the air again. Her small frame seemed to float up, cutting through the air. The girl twisted her body to escape the persistent grip, but the fingers digging into her ankle wouldn’t release her.

Swinging his arm high and large, the man aimed once more. The grotesque eyes were fixed on the wall of the crumbling building that had initially embedded his body. He cracked his jaw and flexed his entire body as he swung his arm down in one fluid motion, still holding onto his prey.

And then...

“Whoa!!!” Naoto burst out from behind the rubble and struck the bug man’s head with a heavy, hard object. A dull, metallic sound echoed. Using the recoil, he swung again. This time, he struck the side of the man’s head, feeling an unpleasant sensation as something seemed to shatter in his hand. The bug man’s deformed head slightly distorted as he tilted his body and began to fall slowly. With his falling body, the fingers gripping the girl’s ankle released their hold. Freed from the air, the girl’s body plummeted toward the ground, her long cape billowing noisily in the wind.

Chasing after her, Naoto stretched out his arms. Their eyes met— golden eyes. As Naoto braced himself in front of the partially collapsed building, the girl’s body fell into his outstretched arms.

“Ugh... uh, uh...” The weight was less than he had prepared for, and Naoto looked at what he had caught with a puzzled expression. He could feel the luxurious texture of the cape against his skin, and sensed the softness of her slender body. There was nothing odd about her shoulders, arms, or legs. Only a bit of dirt on her cheeks and cape; there was no bleeding, not even a small scratch.

“You okay?” Naoto asked the girl he was holding, intending to check on her condition. There was no way she could be unscathed. He thought she should have been injured, but he set that doubt aside for the moment. After all, it was far more unrealistic for a human face to become insect-like or for a small girl to kick a man hard enough to shatter a concrete wall.

The girl remained silent for a while, not moving. She wasn’t unconscious. Since being thrown into the air, her large, jewel-like eyes had been fixed on Naoto.

“Are you okay?” Seeing her so silent worried Naoto, prompting him to ask again. Finally, after blinking once behind her disheveled bangs, the girl moved her lips slightly.

“...Why?” Her response was a whispering question. Naoto paused for a moment, furrowing his brows.

“What do you mean?”

“I thought you ran away. But you came back.”

“Well...”

So that's what it was. Naoto slumped his shoulders in defeat.

Ignoring his reaction, the girl shifted her gaze to the side. What she saw was a red object thrown to the corner of the sidewalk. It was the fire extinguisher that Naoto had carried and used to strike the bug man’s head with force.

“There’s no way I could leave a girl behind. After all, you’re my lifesaver.” Naoto replied with exasperation, looking at the girl who stared at the fire extinguisher in confusion. Her golden gaze returned to him, blinking once more. Naoto thought her eyes looked doll-like—large and vibrant, yet somehow distant in warmth and emotion.

“You say strange things. I haven’t done anything that warrants your gratitude,” the girl said in a tone that was somewhat flat and emotionless, mirroring the emptiness of her eyes. It sounded somewhat dismissive, and Naoto felt a slight irritation.

“Don’t say strange things yourself. Do you think I didn’t notice? It was the same from the beginning, and it’s still true now.”

The fierce kick she delivered when she jumped in had completely stopped the man’s attack against Naoto. Even after that, during the subsequent close-range attack, she had pulled his arm and ultimately kicked him away, protecting Naoto from direct hits. The rubble that fell after she moved away was something Naoto couldn’t have dodged with mere reflexes. Yet, miraculously, not a single piece had struck him because their trajectories had been diverted by something. Naoto couldn’t comprehend how such a thing was possible, but there was no one else who could have saved him but this girl.

Ignoring Naoto’s observations, the girl turned her gaze away again. Was she embarrassed? If so, it made her seem more like a typical girl, which Naoto found somewhat admirable. However, if she wanted to display her femininity, she should first reconsider her current clothing situation.

Following her gaze and looking up, Naoto furrowed his brows again. This time, not from confusion, but from discomfort. Next to the piled-up rubble lay the figure of the fallen man. Above his rolled head...

The number floating in front of him was, as expected, '0.'

As if he had finally remembered this fact, a noise ran through the man's body. Lines, like those on a malfunctioning TV, crossed over him, and his entire body flickered a few times like a dying lightbulb. Then the transformation began. Just as white paper is dyed, the man's body turned black from the edges inward. A sound like sand being gathered could be faintly heard. In just a few seconds, the man's body had transformed into nothing but a black mass. This was complete death.

No longer was this anyone. No longer a human being with a name or a birthplace. There were no fragments of such information left—just a mere black object. This was the form of a human that Naoto recognized as having become '0.'

In this state, only Naoto could see him. The eyeball that sat in the eye socket. The crystalline lens that sparkled behind it. The 'Hunter's Eye' made the corpse appear as nothing but a solid black object to Naoto.

And this scene, this utterly disgusting scene... pulled a forgotten memory from the depths of Naoto's mind, like pulling on a thread. That distant yet close memory was always accompanied by fear.

### Part 4

At that time, Naoto stood alone, vividly frozen in place.

He thought his feet were leaking. There was a nauseating smell permeating the area. Perhaps because of that, he couldn’t even clearly recall what time it was or whether it was bright or dark. What he distinctly remembered was an overwhelming terror piercing through him. It was terrifying. So very frightening.

Forgetting to cry, tremble, or scream, he barely kept his heart and lungs functioning, and in that state, he just stared at what lay close by... a black mass. It had a human shape. No, it resembled a human form. That was probably the head. It protruded slightly and was a bit round. If so, the opposite side must be the feet. The part that seemed to float slightly above the rest of the mass must be the arms. Just a moment ago, it had been the figure of Naoto’s mother.

The smell was overwhelming. It made him feel dizzy. The scent of iron. The rusted iron smell made him nauseous.

No, this was different.

It was the smell of blood.

Right next to the rolled-up black mass was something wrapped in a dull sheen, still wet. It was soaked through, yet still exposed a sharpness that couldn’t be hidden... glimmering ominously, it was...

"…When will you finally release me? Can you put me down already, you pervert?" With a tone that was more exasperated than cold, Naoto's awareness was brought back to reality.

"Oh, uh, sorry!" As he caught the half-lidded gaze that seemed to accuse him, Naoto hurriedly lowered the girl's body to the ground as gently as possible. That’s when he realized.

"Who are you calling a pervert?!"

"You, of course. Who else could it be?"

"No one else! That’s not the issue! I’m telling you, I’m not a pervert! And I’m definitely not letting you call me one!" He almost added "you naked, caped girl" but decided against it, keeping that thought to himself. No matter how excessive her perversion and her incomprehensible fashion sense, she was still his lifesaver and a girl he had just met. It already felt a bit too late for that, but he wanted to maintain a certain attitude.

Ignoring Naoto's delicate concern, the girl casually placed her hands on her hips, exposing her body without a care. Before he knew it, the sun had completely set. In the deserted apartment complex where tall buildings loomed, the enchanting colors of the lingering twilight were regrettably not very visible.

Far off, the city lights began to flicker on. It was already that time. While it was still dim enough to observe the surroundings, the night would soon fall. Once that happened, the apartment complex without any streetlights would be enveloped in darkness.

Without showing any signs of feeling cold in the chilling air, the girl stepped barefoot onto the cold pavement. She stopped in front of the dark mass that had once been a monster and, just a little while ago, a human being.

"It’s dead."

"…Yeah. Looks like it." He didn’t want to look at it too closely. Naoto replied curtly, shifting his gaze from the girl’s feet to her swaying golden hair. That hair swayed like a silk ribbon as the girl turned to look over her shoulder.

"Oh. You’re surprisingly calm, considering you just killed someone." Her tone remained flat, but there was an unexpected hint of surprise in her voice. It was surprising that she found this unexpected. Naoto grimaced as if he had swallowed something bitter.

"You’ve got to be joking. I’m actually pretty shaken up," he said.

"Hmm. Is that so?"

As he spoke, he thought it was a rather disingenuous remark. Perhaps she thought so too, as her response was a simple acknowledgment that contained neither agreement nor doubt. Avoiding the girl’s gaze, Naoto let his eyes wander, bringing a hand to his head. He thought to himself that it couldn’t be helped, even though no one had actually said anything.

(Naturally, I would be shaken up. There’s no way I could stay calm after seeing something like this.)

With a sideways glance, Naoto turned his eyes toward the object. A black mass lying carelessly on the ground. No matter how much he had seen the man in his human form, after witnessing this state, it was impossible to think of him as "human." At this point, he had become "an object."

Was it heartless of him to feel this way?

"Well, considering what he looked like earlier, it’s not surprising to think he was human."

"Huh?" Startled by the words that seemed to see through his thoughts, Naoto looked up. For a moment, he didn’t understand the meaning. Could it be that this girl also saw the corpse as a black mass? But he quickly caught on. The man had lost his human face even before he died and lost his form. That was likely what she meant. The girl intertwined her white fingers with the ends of her long blonde hair and let it go gently.

"Anyway, he had already deteriorated too much to be saved. Sooner or later, he would have ended up like this."

(Was that... a consolation?)

It was impossible to tell if it was a soliloquy or something else from the girl’s calm tone. Naoto knew too little about her to gauge her feelings.

"And then?"

She stepped closer, stopping right in front of him, lifting her chin slightly as she looked up at Naoto with a somewhat haughty expression. Her large eyes, with their upward-sloping corners, sparkled. Naoto flinched at the color of her gaze, so close.

They were beautiful eyes. The golden irises had an ethereal quality as if peering in from another reality, and it felt as though his soul could be drawn in if he stared too long.

"Can you tell me? Who are you?"

"Who am I...? I’m just a passing high school student."

The girl’s eyes sparkled with a hint of irritation.

"A mere high school student wouldn’t just happen to wander into such a remote place."

"Well, that’s..." Naoto hesitated, unsure of how to respond. He had seen strange, powerful numbers above her head. He didn’t want to admit that. After all, she was someone who found herself in such an abnormal situation. She would likely accept his explanation without question, but that would only complicate matters further, which he didn’t want.

"More importantly, what was that guy? At one point, his face completely stopped looking human. You must know something, right?" Clearing his throat lightly, Naoto forcibly switched the topic back to himself.

The girl showed no signs of being offended by the change and responded with a simple "Ah," ready to answer. But just as she was about to continue with her response, an unsettling sound interrupted the moment.

"Tss!"

Kiti-kiti.

A faint, unpleasant sound like an insect crawling and wriggling. The sound struggled busily, making another sound like it was forcibly tearing something apart. Naoto was the first to see and understand what it was.

"Ugh..." Disgust escaped his lips.

A blackened corpse, no longer moving.

A sharp claw was plunged into its head, tearing it apart, and a bug-like creature the size of a human head was wriggling. From inside... from inside the dead man's head, the bug was crawling out like an adult emerging from a cocoon.

It was a dull blue color, with a flat body with many segmented legs and a creepy appearance. A raised, blood-red eyeball was glaring from its head. It was more of a 'creature' than an insect. It had broken through what was once a human and was crawling out, its large jaws spreading open like bared fangs.

"Get out of the way!" His body moved instinctively. Naoto pulled the girl's arm hard, almost reflexively. He stepped forward instead. He raised his arm, which had bounced up due to the recoil, to his shoulder as a shield.

The next moment, as if pulled violently by an invisible force, his right arm, which he had used as a shield, was flung backward. At the same time, he felt a shock as if he had been pushed away at the shoulder. But neither sensation lasted even a second. He was immediately freed from all interference, and...

Naoto lost weight from his right side.

"...Huh?"

What happened? Did he not know, or did he not want to know?

Losing his balance, Naoto took a step back and moved his neck as if it were being twisted by someone.

He looked at his right shoulder. It was gone. The thing that should have been there, wasn't.

"A, ah, agh... uh, ah, ah!"

Naoto's whole body began to tremble violently. As if something frozen was slowly melting, a slimy liquid slid out from the cut end of his missing arm. Gradually, the liquid grew thicker and spilled out, quickly spreading a red stain at Naoto's feet.

"I was careless. It had already hatched inside its body..."

Behind Naoto, the girl whispered, scooping up a splash of red that had flown onto her white cheek with her finger. She licked the red that wet her finger with her protruding tongue and swallowed it. The girl's lips smiled seductively at the taste, but neither that burning expression nor the meaning of her words reached Naoto.

Fear, pain, and such emotions had long since been blown away to the other side of his thoughts. His body just moved on its own, and he grabbed his missing right shoulder with his left hand. His little finger touched the wet flesh. The slight sensation brought him to his senses. The wound was slightly crushed. It had been torn apart. By the tough jaws of that disgusting creature.

Kiti-kiti.

Disgust made Naoto raise his gaze. The creature had returned to the front of Naoto. It landed on its broken black head with its thin legs and clapped its large jaws as if to show them off. Its jaws were covered in blood.

As if to do it again, it opened its jaws wide, and the soft flesh beneath its bluish-gray hard skin trembled and rippled its body. In response to the movement, transparent wings spread out on the creature's back.

He hadn't looked closely before, but he must have flown in on those wings. And then it had torn off Naoto's arm. At the edge of his vision, a little further away, lay an arm still wearing a familiar uniform. Tossed aside, it looked so unreal that it seemed like a poorly made imitation.

"Ug, uh... a, ah..." Naoto groaned in agony from deep within his clenched teeth as he looked at the creature. He thought he heard a voice behind him. It was probably the girl who should be behind him. But he couldn't hear it. He couldn't understand.

It didn't matter. Nothing mattered here.

"Ah... haah, haah... ah, uh... uaaaa" Ignoring his ragged breathing, an impulse surged up within him. As if the blood was flowing back from his torn shoulder, his vision turned completely red.He could see the creature flying in his red-invaded vision. At the same time, the red burst within Naoto.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" His throat roared, and his feet ran. As he dashed through the cold wind, the creature in the sea of red vision spread its wings and flew up to meet him. Just before it flapped its wings, Naoto's left hand grabbed them. He grabbed them all together, pulled the creature's body down from the dead man's body where it had landed, and swung it up forcefully, slamming it into the ground. There was a sound like something was being crushed. The creature's wings were torn and remained in Naoto's hand. Naoto threw them away and... his memory faded there.

### Part 5

​​The lifted eyelids felt incredibly, incredibly heavy.

Naoto didn’t even understand why he had opened his eyes. It felt like he might have been thinking of something, but it could also have been a natural reflex, like opening his mouth to take in oxygen.

Naoto opened his eyes, as if pulled up by a drifting consciousness, and he absently reflected the deep navy night sky in his gaze.

(It’s night...)

He could see the moon in the distance. The white, round moon seemed to look down on Naoto like a mirror.

He wanted to sit up. But his body wouldn’t move. It felt completely powerless. It was strange that he could lift his eyelids at all; he didn’t even know how to move a single fingertip. His sensations and consciousness were hazy, his body felt extremely cold, and heavy.

(Ah, I see...)

Finally, Naoto understood why his body felt so heavy. There were multiple pieces of rubble resting on top of him. The cold debris that pressed down on him was so heavy that he couldn’t breathe.

“Ugh…” He tried to shift to regain his breath, but his lungs wouldn’t cooperate. Instead of inhaling, a viscous liquid rose up and overflowed from Naoto’s mouth before he could brace himself. What dampened his lips and chin was blood—warm, sticky blood mixed with some other bodily fluids. It carried a nauseating smell.

As he heard a hissing sound, the warmth seemed to drain away from his body, slowly, slowly. Like sinking into a bottomless swamp, Naoto experienced the sensation of himself fading away.

(So this is... is this dying?)

He murmured in his heart, feeling as if it were someone else’s business.

(So this is how it ends...)

If that moon were a mirror, would he see the numbers above his head gradually decreasing? How many numbers were left now? Would it be lower than the number for today’s Isa? How much longer until he reached "0"?

Would he also turn into a black mass like that suited man? He couldn’t confirm his own death, as he couldn’t see it himself. His vision, which had been filled with moonlight, gradually darkened and lost its light. He could almost hear the sound of the numbers decreasing.

In the midst of this, Naoto thought of his childhood friend, who was probably preparing dinner now.

(Ah... this is bad. She’s going to be angry if I’ve gotten my clothes this dirty.)

He didn’t even know if he could go home. No, the situation was such that he couldn’t possibly go home. However, Naoto was only thinking of ways to procure a new uniform without being found by Haruka, and excuses to lighten her worries as much as possible.

As if to announce reality to Naoto, a cold wind blew.

In that instant, Naoto's vision regained light. Aware that it was the light of the east, he squinted at the new light that had appeared in his field of view. A shining gold—just like the color of that girl’s hair and eyes. Still completely unclothed except for a black cloak draped over her slender form, she stood in front of him, blocking the moonlight that fell on Naoto’s face.

(Are you okay...?)

It seemed she wasn’t injured. The numbers above her head hadn’t decreased from the last memory Naoto had, maintaining a strangely high value. He almost wanted to ask for some of it. A sense of relief descended in Naoto’s chest. He couldn’t remember how things had come to this point, but after Naoto had been buried in rubble, it seemed that the insect hadn’t attacked her or inflicted any serious wounds. However, the words that could have conveyed his relief did not turn into sound. He could hardly breathe.

"You don’t need to worry about me. Rather, it’s overwhelmingly you who should be concerned, don’t you think??" Naoto felt an urge to laugh at the calm girl’s words. Having his right arm bitten off, buried in rubble, unable to move, and on the verge of death—it was completely true, just as the girl said.

What puzzled him was how his concern for her had somehow been communicated. But if it could be conveyed without words, that was a relief. He wanted to ask her about whatever technique she was using, given that she surely knew something about the situation.

(What happened to that insect earlier?)

With this question in mind, he barely moved his eyes side to side. From here, he couldn’t see what was happening around him well. After all, it wasn’t just the position or place that made it hard to see.

"That thing ran away. After it buried you there," she replied. It seemed the reason Naoto was buried in the rubble was indeed that insect. Understanding, Naoto exhaled a breath that felt like he was squeezing it out, and the girl looked down at him from her haughty posture, pausing for a moment before whispering a question.

"Why?" Immediately, Naoto recalled the moment when the insect had flown out from the man's head. He furrowed his brow, trembling. Instead of words, he shook his head. It was more of a slight movement than a vigorous shake, but it seemed to have been communicated to the girl. He didn’t know the reason. He didn’t even know if there was a reason. His body had just instinctively moved when he felt danger. However, the price of that decision, had been far more devastating than he could have imagined.

“...I see.” The girl’s soft murmur fell like a whisper. Her expression was emotionless like the moon, and from the gaze she fixed on him, it was unclear what she was thinking. It was hard to tell what she was thinking. However, from her drooping shoulders and raised eyebrows, Naoto could somewhat sense that she understood.

There was no need for her to look at him with such a thoughtless, dog-like gaze. Naoto returned her look with as much dissatisfaction as he could muster, tinged with contempt behind his bewilderment. The golden eyes he looked up at suddenly narrowed, as if she was pondering something... or perhaps smiling.

(Tch... I really don’t get her.)

He felt as if he were being teased. But that feeling, along with his frustration, was swept away by a sudden wave of understanding. His body felt even heavier now, as if he might sink into the rubble at any moment. He could vaguely sense what this meant. He would soon reach "0." It was almost over.

As Naoto's consciousness faded again, he heard the girl’s voice close by, as if whispering to him.

“Do you want to be saved?”

He thought it was a strange question. Naoto laughed, though his expression remained unchanged.

“Of course...” Struggling to lift his voice from beneath the heavy rubble pressing down on his chest, Naoto squeezed out the words. It was hoarse and weak, and he couldn’t tell if it even sounded like a voice. But he continued. Did he want to be saved? The answer was obvious.

“I want to be saved... of course...” Desperately trying to focus his blurred vision, Naoto searched for the golden eyes. The girl was right beside him. He glared up at her, who was looking down at him as if peering into a well. Her eyes were beautiful. His agonized face was reflected in the mesmerizing golden surface. Narrowing her eyes, the girl smiled.

“Well then, I’ll help you. You'll become a servant of ‘Raquel Alucard.’” While whispering sweetly, the blonde girl knelt before Naoto, the hem of her cloak swaying gently. Her white skin, woven only from a piece of cloth, glowed even brighter under the moonlight. Her delicate hands, like those of a black doll, reached out to Naoto like an angel offering salvation. Cold fingertips brushed against his cheek. As she held him gently with both hands, she urged him to lift his face.

“In exchange... obtain the ‘Azure.’ And then I—” Continuing in a faint voice, she let her long eyelashes softly cover her golden eyes. Slowly, her face drew closer. Her slightly parted lips looked incredibly soft, and behind them, a bright red tongue glistened. As she inhaled, her mouth opened wide. In a fleeting moment, Naoto caught sight of her sharply gleaming fangs. But before he could comprehend the meaning of it, her lips touched— Naoto's... neck.

Immediately, a sharp pain shot through him. The dulled sensation suddenly came alive, as if something were piercing his skin and flesh for the last time. His entire body tensed, and he instinctively tried to resist. But Naoto's body did not move. Holding his immobile body down, the girl pressed her lips to Naoto's neck and sucked strongly on the heat that overflowed from there.

A gulp, it sounded so close. With each sound, Naoto's consciousness faded further away. The sound repeated over and over, sucking something out of Naoto. It sounded like a heartbeat, and... eventually, it dragged Naoto's consciousness completely into darkness.

### 003. Chapter 2: Immortal

## BBBE Chapter 2: Immortal

### Part 1

I woke up to the scent of sunlight.

My vision, still clouded with sleep, took in the familiar sight of my room. A western-style room surrounded by white walls, and blue curtains draped over the east-facing window.

Yawning, I stretched and pressed his face into the worn pillow, curling up in the warm blanket.

I wanted to go back to sleep. I was still so sleepy.

Wait, what time is it?

“...Wait, what time is it!?” Jumping up in a hurry, Naoto snatched the alarm clock from the nightstand. Somehow, it felt like the sun was already high in the sky, far past the usual alarm time. Maybe Haruka had gone to school early on an errand. If so, I might be late.

Having come to this realization in a flash, Naoto also suddenly noticed many other things.

“So, that’s it… today’s a holiday?” The hour and minute hands of the clock he was holding pointed to around nine-thirty. But on the calendar section that was displayed along with the time, it read ‘SUN’ in red letters. His relief was fleeting and hollow. More importantly, there were many other things he needed to pay attention to.

First, his clothes. Usually, when Naoto went to bed, he would change into a T-shirt and sweatpants. Unless there was a very special reason, he would never go to bed in his school uniform. It made him feel uneasy and like he hadn’t really slept. And yet, on this day, Naoto was wearing his uniform. Not only the pants but also the jacket. The uniform was terribly dirty and torn in many places, and it was in no condition to be worn to school. The right sleeve was especially bad. It was torn just below the shoulder, leaving it in a pitiful half-sleeved state.

Naoto furrowed his brow. He looked at the clock in his hand again. It was his beloved clock that always woke him up from his dreams with its noisy sound. He was holding the clock with his right hand.

“…I wonder if this is a dream or reality.” He muttered this question to no one, as there was no one else in the room. His memory was surprisingly clear. He remembered it perfectly. Yesterday he had seen a girl running away and a man chasing her on his way home from school, and he had chased after them. The events that followed, which were like the climax of an action movie, were so unreal that he couldn’t believe they were real. But he couldn’t believe it was a dream either. The taste of the air he had breathed then, the unpleasant atmosphere he had felt. The tension that ran down his spine and the way it grazed his cheeks.

(The pressure of the rubble, too. I can still remember it all. The horrifying, god-defying pain when the creature that emerged from the man instantly tore my arm off, and the terror that surpassed it.)

Gently placing the watch on the bed, Naoto stared at his empty hand. It was a normal, flesh-colored arm. Five fingers. He could flex his fingers and make a fist.

(What… is going on?)

His right arm was definitely there. So was it a dream? It’s ridiculous to think he had my arm torn off by a strange monster. If that wasn’t the case, he’d gladly accept that explanation. But the state of his uniform denied that. The tattered uniform clearly told the tale of a violent encounter. The stains weren’t just dirt or dust. There were traces of dried blood as well. And above all, the sleeve was torn in the same place where his arm had been torn off.

(Then why do I still have my arm...? No, how did I even get back? Why was I still in my uniform when I went to bed? What about Haruka? What about that girl?)

Countless questions swirled around in his head without any answers. But there was no one to answer any of them.

“…Well, I guess I’ll get something to drink.” Letting his arm fall limply, Naoto let out a deep sigh. Despite having just woken up, he felt incredibly tired. Whether it was a dream or not, he decided it didn't matter for now. He would wash his face and make some tea. If he didn't, his mind would be completely worn out.

(Come to think of it, I haven't opened the summer-harvested tea leaves I bought earlier. Maybe I'll open them today.)

Trying to think of something pleasant, Naoto headed to the bathroom, thinking about the fine tea leaves he had been saving. He tossed the dirty jacket onto the washing machine and turned on the faucet. Remembering that he had been sleeping in a dirty state, he washed his hands thoroughly before splashing a handful of water on his face. His groggy head felt a little clearer. He pushed his wet bangs up with both hands and looked up.

"…Eh?" Naoto stopped moving, staring at his reflection in the mirror. It was his usual face. The water he had just splashed was running down his forehead, cheeks, and chin. His slightly dusty hair was tousled. And above it, the number ‘0’ was floating.

"One?"

It was ‘0’. Quickly rubbing his eyes with the hand that had been holding his bangs, he looked again. He glanced around at various unrelated places before looking again. The number didn’t change. The number floating above Naot’s head was still ‘0’.

The number above a person's head represents something like their life force. The higher the number, the more abundant their life force, and the lower the number, the weaker they are. In other words, ‘0’ means...

If the number of a dead person is '0', then that means they're not alive."

"What the... what?! What the hell is going on?!" Naoto slammed his hands on the sink, leaning forward sharply. He brought his face as close to the mirror as it would go. No matter how many times he looked, it was the same.

"Impossible..." A voice escaped him in shock. This couldn’t be real. He instinctively recalled the man he encountered yesterday, whose face had transformed like an insect. The number above his head had also been "0." A chill ran down his spine. He trembled at the thought that he had become a creature similar to that man. However, just then, that fear was unexpectedly snatched away from him.

"That's noisy. Could you please be a little quieter?" With a hint of irritation in her tone, a voice spoke as the door opened with a light creak. What door? The bathroom door.

In an instant, Naoto's thoughts froze. Was understanding really this rare? What even was common sense? Turning toward the sound like a spring-loaded mechanism, Naoto's eyes widened in fear at the sight that should not have been there.

Come to think of it, he remembered hearing the sound of a shower when he entered the bathroom. Why hadn’t he found that strange? Of course! Why would he think someone was taking a shower while he was asleep?

There stood... a girl.

Her wet body and hair clung to her, droplets dripping from her fingertips as she stepped calmly from the bathroom into the changing area, steam enveloping her. Her long hair, golden in color, shimmered under the bathroom lights. She tucked a strand behind her ear and, after glancing left and right, asked, “Is there something to dry off with?”

With a tone reminiscent of asking a waiter for the daily special at a fancy restaurant, the girl arrogantly asked Naoto. She acted in a way that showcased her noble birth. She had the air of a princess from some small European kingdom, fitting for an ancient castle. But Naoto had no time to think about that now.

“Wha—...” It was as if his soul, which had flown away, had suddenly returned. In short, he was panicking. His facial muscles twitched as he was overwhelmed by the electrical signals racing around in his brain...

“Ahhh!” Naoto screamed like a girl and fled back to his room without looking back.

### Part 2

The girl's eyes widened in surprise as she picked up the cup. Apparently, she liked it.

"Well, thanks." Feeling a little better, Naoto exhaled. Now, there were a ton of things he wanted to ask this girl. "So... first of all, I want to ask. Who are you?"

"How rude."

"Huh!?" Naoto snapped back, irritated by the unexpected retort. The blonde girl looked down at him with condescending eyes.

"Isn't it polite to introduce yourself first when asking someone's name? Or are you a lowly dog that doesn't know even the most basic manners?" A smooth insult flew at him. Her cold eyes seemed to be tinged with a hint of contempt.

Naoto felt a vein in his temple throb. If he was a lowly dog, then what about the fact that she was drinking the tea he made and complimenting it? He wanted to ask, but Naoto swallowed his words, realizing it wouldn't get him anywhere.

"... Naoto Kurogane. I'm a second-year student at Shinkawahama High and I live in this room." He replied flatly, looking at the girl to see if that was enough. The girl returned the cup to its saucer with a composed expression.

"My name is Raquel Alucard. I'm a vampire," she replied casually, leaving Naoto speechless. Staring intently at the girl, Raquel, or rather, unable to look away, he asked, squeezing out the words.

"Vamp...ire?"

"It means immortal. You're so ignorant."

"I know that! That's not what I mean! What kind of a joke is that self-introduction? Are you making fun of me?" Kicking his feet against the table and ruffling his hair, Naoto stood up and raised his voice sharply.

Vampire. A vampire. Now that explained her absurdly high life force, the ridiculous action scene from last night, and even her bizarre outfit. It all fit.

"Of course I am. Because you're stupid."

"What did you say!?"

"Don't shout. I might catch your stupidity." Raquel made an exaggerated gesture of stepping back, her face twisted in disgust. Her eyes, which seemed to look at him as if he were something dirty, only fueled Naoto's irritation.

"You're a trespasser who broke into someone else's house and you have the nerve to act so arrogant. You realize you wouldn’t have any grounds to complain if you got kicked out, right…?”

“You saw it, didn’t you?” Raquel calmly silenced Naoto's aggressive words. Perhaps it wasn't her words but her gaze that had subdued him. Her large, clear golden eyes seemed to see right through Naot, and their intense pressure made him feel intimidated.

"What did you see, exactly?"

"The 'abnormality'," she replied. Naoto instinctively gulped, swallowing the saliva that had accumulated in his mouth. Raquel continued to stare at him.

"You were surprised to see me yesterday, weren't you? It must have been something abnormal that you don't encounter in your daily life... No, you can still see it now. Am I wrong?" When asked, Naoto carefully closed his mouth. He didn't want her to notice him clenching his teeth.

As she said, Naoto had indeed seen it. Or rather, he could still see it now. An abnormality, something that was definitely not normal for an ordinary human. The extraordinary number hovering above Raquel's head, reaching eight digits.

"What happened to your 'eye'?" Raquel's question made Naoto feel like a bird caught in a trap. At the same time, he realized something. This strange self-proclaimed vampire girl wasn't just speculating based on Naoto's actions and words from the night before. She knew.

"You... what do you know?"

"Well, I know quite a bit. Or rather, I should say I can know. After all, I’m connected to you."

"What do you mean?" Naoto's expression turned suspicious. Raquel’s golden eyes glanced at him, almost incredulously.

"You keep asking questions. Don’t you ever think for yourself?"

"Shut up! Just tell me already!" Frustrated, Naoto blurted out. He felt he was being a bit too nonchalant, but given that he understood nothing about the current situation, he couldn't afford to waste time putting on airs.

A sigh escaped Raquel's lips.

"Honestly, you’re like a moth to a flame. And on top of that, you seem to have a terrible memory. Have you forgotten what happened between us last night?"

"What do you mean... what happened?" The only thing he could recall was nearly being killed by that insect-faced man. Just as he was about to retort, Naoto suddenly realized something. After almost being killed by the insect-faced man, what happened next? His consciousness was hazy, making it hard to remember clearly. But he woke up unable to move, and right beside him was Raquel. When he became aware of his impending death, what had occurred? Naoto pressed his hand, which had been tangled in his hair, against his neck.

"You bit my neck, didn’t you? You had some weird teeth. And then you drank something..."

"Let me enlighten you once more, poor little dog. I am a vampire. What I drank wasn't just anything; it was your blood."

Naoto knew from what he'd read that when a vampire drank someone's blood, certain consequences followed.

"So... what does that mean? Does that mean I was bitten by you yesterday and... became a vampire?"

"Not yet. You're not a complete vampire yet. You're dead but still functioning. You're a sort of in-between existence."

"Dead... So I'm dead, huh?"

"Well, you are dead." Raquel's blunt confirmation stunned him. At the same time, a sense of indignation welled up within him. It wasn't fair. It was absurd, irrational.

"Wait a minute. You said back then that you would help me, right?!" This was just before he had his blood sucked. His consciousness had been hazy, but he remembered that clearly. Raquel nodded casually at Naoto, who leaned forward.

"Yes, I did."

"But I'm dead, right!?"

"I've been telling you that."

"Doesn't that mean you didn't save me!?"

"Would you rather have died then?"

"I... I guess..." Naoto had no answer to that. He leaned back, defeated. It was true that if it weren't for Raquel, he wouldn't be sitting here drinking tea now. Although, if it weren't for Raquel, he probably wouldn't have come to this abandoned apartment complex either.

Raquel took another sip of her tea and placed the cup back on the table.

"Naoto Kurogane, you died last night. But you are alive. Why? Because you are living using my life."

"...I don’t really understand what that means."

"To put it simply, you and I share 'my' life. That's why I can understand some things about you, and as long as I'm alive, you won't die. But if my life ends, so will yours."

"So... does that mean I'll be like this until you die? Neither alive nor dead, just in-between?"

"Not quite."

"What do you mean, not quite!?" That was an unexpected response. Raquel's nonchalant answer quickly dispelled the seriousness that Naoto had felt just moments before.

"You can only stay in this in-between state for a year. In a year, you will transform into a complete vampire."

"A year... a complete vampire. What does that mean?"

"You won't be human anymore. You'll probably crave human blood, and you may not be able to resist attacking people like I do now. Maybe... no, you'll probably attack someone. The person most likely to be a victim would be the person closest to you."

From Raquel's words, Naoto understood one thing: if he became a complete vampire, Haruka would be in danger. By none other than Naoto's own hand. The "person closest to you" that Raquel mentioned could only mean Haruka. He might even kill her.

He couldn't bear the thought of Haruka dying for even a moment. He remembered the blackened mass he had seen last night. If Haruka were to become that object, lying on the cold road, right in front of his eyes.

As he thought about it, Naoto found himself clenching his fists tightly, to the point where his nails dug into his palms.

"What the hell are you talking about...? If I'm going to become something so messed up, then it doesn't make any sense for you to have saved me! Don't screw with me, what have you done to me!" The angry words seemed to spill out of his throat on their own. He didn't want to take them back. A burning rage distorted Naoto's expression as he wanted to lash out.

"Calm down. And call me 'Lady Raquel', servant."

"Shut up! I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you!"

"So am I." Raquel's voice grew stronger, reprimanding him. "Listen to me. In a year, you won't be human anymore. Maybe it's more accurate to say that you won't be 'you' anymore... but anyway, you have a year. So during that time, obtain the Azure."

"... 'Azure?’" It was a word he had never heard before, and Naoto frowned more than ever.

Raquel nodded slightly, as if to encourage him. Her long hair swayed like luxurious fabric.

"'Azure refers to the power of the origin." Her clear voice began to seep into the air, creating a mysterious aura that transcended the simple term of an enigmatic girl. Although she looked like a girl of the same age, she had an otherworldly quality as she gazed at Naoto.

"It exists everywhere, yet nowhere. It’s a power that affects all living beings, as well as everything from time to grains of sand. Thus, it transforms all 'possibilities' into 'realities.'"

"'Possibilities'? Isn’t that supposed to mean turning the 'impossible' into the 'possible'?" Naoto questioned, caught on the phrasing, and Raquel shook her head, her long hair swaying from side to side.

"'Impossible' refers to things that lack any 'possibility' from the start. What the 'Azure’ enables is the countless 'possibilities' that exist in all dimensions of the world. Regardless of how slim the chances might be, it can make them a reality. If you really want to, you could even manipulate time."

For example, while today is sunny, there is a possibility that clouds could suddenly gather in the morning and it would pour rain. There was also a possibility that Naoto could fall out of bed when he woke up. Moreover, there was a chance that a neighbor might come over to borrow soy sauce, preventing him from witnessing Raquel's shower scene. All of these could be controlled freely by the 'Azure.'

"So you're saying that you can create any world you want as long as there's a possibility?"

"Yes."

"So if I have that, I wouldn’t need to become a vampire... No, even in this half-baked state, I could go back to being a normal human, right?"

"Yes." Naoto couldn't help but smile at her short affirmative answer. He felt like scolding her for surprising him. He thought he had been thrown into a hopeless situation. He realized how simple-minded he must seem, yet he was in such a good mood that he turned to Raquel with a smile. Looking closely, he saw that her cup was empty. A kind thought surged up within him: should he offer to refill it?

"That's amazing, it's like having omniscience and omnipotence. It's like being a god. If such a thing exists, you should have said so earlier. So where can I find this 'Azure'? Let’s go look for it right now!"

"...Huh?" The cheerful exchange that had flowed so smoothly suddenly came to a halt. The grand concept of 'Azure,' which could change the world. Having known of its existence and understanding the magnitude of its power, Raquel, who had seemed so confident just moments ago, now appeared somewhat stiff. Yet she tried to maintain a calm demeanor, lifting her cup. When she touched it, she remembered it was empty. For a brief moment, her golden eyes showed a hint of distress, and she hastily set the cup back down. Even though Naoto wasn't particularly skilled at sensing other people's emotions, he could still pick up on the subtle hints from her actions.

"...I can’t believe it, but... you really don’t know?" Thinking it was a joke, Naoto peered closely at Raquel. Suddenly, he felt a sharp slap on his right cheek.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"Shut up. You’re so impertinent for a servant. You need to learn how to speak to your master."

"What do you mean 'master'? If that's the case, then why don’t you give your servant some concrete instructions? What is this 'Azure‘? Where is it, and how do you plan to obtain it, oh master?"

"So I'm going to investigate that now. I came to this city for that purpose!" Raquel stood up abruptly, shaking off Naoto, who was leaning over the table with both hands on it, complaining. She crossed her thin arms beneath her cloak.

Naoto looked up at her with a dissatisfied expression. "Investigate? Why this city?"

"I don't know the reason. Just..." Raquel, who had seemed sulky and uninterested, looked off into the distance, her golden eyes losing their intensity. The crossed arms relaxed and slipped back inside her cloak. "Just, I can feel the 'Azure’ very strongly from this city."

Is 'Azure’ something you can sense? Naoto looked around the living room skeptically, unsure of what Raquel was feeling. Aside from the strange visitor, it looked like the usual living room. He felt no presence of this mysterious power called 'Azure.'

However, just because he couldn't sense it didn't mean he could deny its existence. He couldn't just turn away from such a ridiculous story and return to his everyday life, pretending he didn’t know anything.

A year. When the deadline Raquel mentioned arrives, what will happen to him? What kind of impact will it have on those around him? He couldn’t stake Haruka’s life just to confirm the validity of Raquel's claims. That was something that absolutely must not happen.

"Anyway, I understand the situation. In short, if we find this 'Azure,' everything will be resolved."

"That’s about right."

"Then first, there’s something I want to resolve before we even get to the 'Azure'..." As he said this, Naoto resolutely rose from his seat. He fixed a strong, determined gaze on Raquel. There was something he couldn’t compromise on.

"Can you please put some clothes on?" Having her wander around in front of him completely naked was mentally exhausting, not to mention he didn't know what misunderstandings could arise if Haruka were to stumble upon this scene.

Raquel tilted her head slightly, considering the seriousness and intensity of Naoto’s voice. "Why?"

“Why? Why are you arguing? I’m a man. Isn’t it embarrassing being completely naked in front of a man?”

“That’s ridiculous. Are you embarrassed to be naked in front of dogs or cats?”

“I’d still wear clothes in front of dogs and cats. Ugh, just put something on!” Raising his voice, Naoto thrust the change of clothes that had been beside him towards Raquel. Unfortunately—or rather, as expected—there were no women’s clothes in this house. So, he rummaged through the drawers and found a nearly unworn T-shirt and a fairly new pair of shorts. He had already suggested it to Raquel before making the tea, but she had completely ignored him, simply scowling.

"You, a mere servant, dare to order me? Clearly you need some training, you useless dog."

The doorbell rang from the intercom. Ignoring the sound, Raquel furrowed her thin brows in annoyance and turned her face away with a huff.

Without hesitation, Naoto maneuvered to face her directly and grabbed the slender arm beneath her cloak.

"Stop your whining! I’ve been patient enough. Whether you like it or not, you’re changing!"

"Who do you think you are, touching me? Let go!"

"Not a chance! Just give in..." The chime rang again, but its faint electronic sound was drowned out by Naoto and Raquel's voices.

"Hey, don’t touch me like that!" Raquel pulled hard on her arm, trying to shake off his grip, but Naoto had anticipated that. If he let go, she would likely turn and dash outside. He couldn’t let a naked woman burst out of his house in broad daylight—it would be a disaster. Naoto was just as desperate.

"I'm serious... Just give in and do as I say!"

“What a barbaric man you are! You pervert!”

"I'll hear your complaints later. For now..."

"You’re dead wrong if you think you can have your way with me!"

"How am I wrong...? Ugh!" As Raquel struggled to pull away, Naoto tried to restrain her. While they were quietly grappling, Raquel lost her balance and fell onto the sofa. Naoto took advantage of the situation, falling on top of her, pinning her shoulder down and looking down at her.

I’ve won. He was convinced of that.

"Haha, there’s no escaping now, is there, Raquel?"

"How dare a servant pin down their master... This is outrageous! Get off me right now!"

"...Hey."

"What do you mean, 'servant'? You should say that only when you look more dignified."

"This is humiliating..."

"Haha, then how about I make you experience even more humiliation?"

"Hey, Nao-kun..."

"I'm a bit busy right now. Can it wait, Haru...?"

After reflexively responding, Naoto froze at the name he had just blurted out. He felt like a rusty machine. He turned his creaking neck to the side. At the entrance to the living room stood his childhood friend. She was smiling.

"What are you doing, Nao-kun?"

"Uh, well, this is..."

On a weekend afternoon, in a room of an apartment where a high school boy lived alone. A girl was sprawled on the sofa, and a boy was on top of her, pinning her slender body down. The girl was not wearing any clothes. How could he explain this situation in words? How could he convey the balance of common sense and wrongdoing?

Still smiling, Haruka suddenly turned on her heel and headed toward the kitchen. She quickly returned, holding something in her hand. Naoto felt a cold sweat break out all over him at what she was holding.

"Uh, Haruka-san... what is that in your hand?"

"A sharp knife."

"Uh... aren't knives for cutting...?"

"That's fine too." With a gentle smile, Haruka stopped a very, very awkward distance away. From a spot where she could objectively observe the situation in the living room, she gazed at Naoto and tilted her head as she always did, asking, "Maybe I asked the wrong question. Hey, Nao-kun, what are you doing?" As she said this, her childhood friend's eyes, which were fixed on the silver back of the knife she was holding, were not smiling at all.

### Part 3

"The world is so unfair," Naoto murmured, sitting cross-legged on the living room floor, his gaze fixed downward. He was savoring the cruelty of the world. On the other side of the low table, Raquel was sitting on the sofa. She looked quite subdued. Wrapped in a bath towel as a makeshift cover by Haruka, she was sitting shallowly in a slightly better state than before—though it was only a slight improvement.

In front of Naoto, there was Haruka. She was sitting upright, with her back straight, her hands folded on her knees, looking at Naoto with a fixed smile that was almost too cheerful. Her temples twitched, and her gaze was cold and accusatory.

"Okay. Then please explain." Naoto's stomach twisted at the calm, judge-like voice. Although he hadn't been asked, he felt compelled to respond and lifted his face cautiously. Haruka's accusatory gaze pierced his chest. He wanted to protest his innocence, but the undeniable fact that he had pushed the defenseless girl down on the sofa and laughed, "Hahaha," made it all the more awkward to voice any defense.

"Um... well, her name is Raquel Alucard..." His tongue stumbled as he struggled to explain, and his gaze faltered. He wasn't feeling guilty, but it felt as though he were sitting on a bed of needles. At that moment, Raquel moved. Until then, she had been silently sitting like a statue, but suddenly she stood up and went to Haruka's side.

"Hayami Haruka."

"Huh?"

"Hey, Raquel, stop it now..."

Naoto tried to stop her from saying anything more, but Raquel turned and faced Haruka, her voice sharp as she ordered, "Look me in the eye." At her words, Haruka's body jumped, her eyes widening and her mouth slightly open. She stared at Raquel as if mesmerized, unable to look away. Returning the gaze, Raquel looked straight at Haruka and began to explain calmly, "I'm Raquel Alucard. As you know, I'm Naoto Kurogane's cousin."

"What?!" Naoto exclaimed, taken aback. But Raquel ignored him and continued.

"Actually, I had to come to Japan on short notice, but I couldn't arrange for a place to stay in time. So, for a while, I'll be staying at Naoto's house. But on the way here, I had an accident and lost all my belongings."

As Raquel smoothly delivered her "introduction," Naoto was left speechless. How could she come up with such a convenient lie on the spot? He was both impressed and exasperated. Of course, Raquel was not Naoto's cousin. In fact, the real cousin was Haruka, the one Raquel was now speaking about, and Haruka knew that Naoto didn't have a cousin like Raquel. Besides, even if she had lost her belongings in an accident, she should still have the clothes she was wearing, so there was no reason for her to be wandering around naked.

(Does she really think she can convince her with such a ridiculous story? Even Haruka is going to snap!)

The 'sharp knife' that Haruka had been clutching until a moment ago, now resting on the low table, might be swung. Naoto cringed, waiting anxiously for what would happen next. But then, he heard words that were almost too good to be true.

"Oh... I see. You must have had a hard time, Raquel!"

"Y-yeah!" Naoto's voice cracked, higher than he thought it could go, as he repeated the word. His face contorted.

Haruka stood up, took Raquel's hands in hers, and, surprisingly, her eyes welled up with sympathy. Nodding repeatedly, she spoke to Raquel as if she were a younger child. "But you should have told me. You should have told me about your clothes sooner. Just wait a minute, I'll go get you something to change into right away." With a small nod of determination, Haruka quickly left Naoto's room. It didn't feel like she waited long at all. Hurried footsteps returned almost immediately, and she burst into the living room as if it were her own home.

"Raquel, come over here. Naoto, let me borrow your room!"

"Hey, wait!" Before he could finish, Haruka grabbed Raquel's hand and practically dragged her into Naoto's room. Even though he knew it was pointless, Naoto couldn't help but call out, but his voice was naturally ignored, and he was left alone. Why did she have to use his bedroom as a dressing room? She could have used the bathroom, or he could have stayed in the bedroom while Haruka and Raquel were in the living room.

Despite his many complaints, he didn't have the courage or energy to go to his room and protest to the two girls through the door. He sighed loudly and reached for a teacup, as if to do some cleaning. As he reached for the 'very sharp knife', his hand slipped.

"Ouch..." He had accidentally grazed his finger on the blade, cutting the tip of his little finger. The smooth feel of the blade sliding against his skin sent chills down his spine. But what happened next made his hair stand on end.

The cut, which had been bleeding, seemed to rewind, as if in a slow-motion video, and closed up.

Unable to understand what had happened, Naoto put down the cup and touched the tip of his finger, where he had just cut himself. There was no wound. He could only feel the smooth texture of his skin. It was as if the fact that he had cut himself had been erased.

That’s when he realized. It was his right hand.

Memories of the night before flooded back - the abandoned apartment building, the strange man in a suit, and the sensation of tearing off the man's extra arm.

"It can't be..." he muttered unconsciously. He touched his arm over and over, trying to confirm its shape and feel. No matter how he touched it, his arm felt like his own. But then, on a whim, he pressed his thumb against his wrist and his body stiffened.

(No pulse...)

Normally, when he pressed his finger there, he could feel the blood pulsing with my heartbeat, but he felt nothing. Panicking, he pressed his hand to his chest. Holding his breath, he searched, and he could faintly feel his heartbeat in the palm of his hand. He tried taking his left wrist's pulse. It was there. Perfectly normal.

(Only the right hand...)

It looked exactly like a normal arm, but somehow, this part was different from the rest of me. Even though he could feel sensations, he suddenly felt like he had a prosthetic arm. He couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't his own arm, and a vague sense of unease settled in his chest.

That's when it happened. The door opened, and it sounded so sudden, at least to Naoto. Even though I hadn't done anything wrong, I instinctively looked up. There, in my line of sight, was a cheerful Haruka, with Raquel being pulled along by her arm.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Naoto!"

"O-Oh..." He shifted his gaze from Haruka's cheerful voice to Raquel behind her. Naoto flinched slightly.

Raquel, who had resisted getting dressed after being pushed onto the sofa by Naoto, was now properly clothed. She was wearing a white blouse and a black mini-skirt. A red tie at her chest was a nice accent. Was it because of her pale skin? Or was it because of her striking blonde hair? Somehow, from the bottom of his heart…

"It suits you," He thought.

Suddenly, Raquel, who had been looking down awkwardly, tilted her chin up and glared at him intensely. Confused, he tilted my head. he didn’t understand why she was glaring at him.

"I'm glad we found something that suits Raquel-chan!" It seemed that Haruka had brought a few options, as she placed another bag with more clothes next to the sofa. It seemed that she had completely forgotten about her anger earlier. That was convenient. Naoto decided not to say anything more and stir up trouble.

"I didn't know you had clothes like that," Naoto said admiringly, looking at Raquel. Both the blouse and skirt had a casual design, but on Raquel, they exuded a certain elegance, almost like a dress. However, it seemed different from the clothes Haruka usually wore, reflecting different tastes. Haruka shrugged and laughed.

"Actually, these are my mom's style."

"Yuki-san's!? Seriously?!"

"Surprising, right?" Naoto could only nod at Haruka's words. Yuki was a straightforward and bold person. Mini-skirts didn't seem like her style…

"Well, shall we go out then?" Haruka clapped her hands once and looked at Naoto and Raquel in turn.

"Go out? Where?" Naoto tilted his head, confused. He hadn't heard anything about going out. Haruka looked at him as if wondering why he didn't understand.

"What, you didn't hear? Raquel-chan has to go to the city hall to submit some paperwork. And Nao-kun is going along as her guarantor."

"Oh, really...?" This was the first he'd heard of it. And what was a guarantor anyway? There were so many things he wanted to question, but he kind of understood Raquel's intention. She was probably trying to create a situation where they could be alone.

It was annoying to be manipulated by her, but it couldn't be helped. If Haruka was around, they wouldn't be able to have a proper conversation.

"Oh, yeah, that's right. I forgot." His voice might have been a little too flat, but fortunately, Haruka didn't seem to question it. Instead, she pointed to herself with concern.

"Should I come with you?"

"No, it’s fine. I’ll just give her a quick tour while we’re at it." Since she was pretending to be a newly arrived relative, this was a good excuse. It felt really uncomfortable lying to Haruka like this, especially since he had to keep making up stories, but there was hardly anything he could be honest about.

After tidying up the living room table, Naoto went back to his room to grab his wallet. He confirmed that Haruka wasn't following him and dragged out the tattered uniform he had hidden under the bed. He had hidden it reflexively, thinking that he couldn't let anyone find it. He wanted to pat himself on the back for his foresight. For now, he just needed to extract the information he wanted from Raquel, and then he’d have to get rid of this.

He felt a bit depressed thinking about having to buy a new uniform. Naoto pushed the uniform further back under the bed.

### Part 4

Haruka handed Naoto a memo, asking him to do some grocery shopping, and Naoto and Raquel headed out before noon.

It was a fine day with a bright sun shining down from a slightly cloudy sky. The air was pleasantly cool, and it seemed like it would be a nice day to spend outdoors. On a weekday morning, the streets were full of people. As they walked along the bustling street, Naoto looked at Raquel…

They were walking towards their destination, taking a detour through the bustling city. Raquel, wearing Haruka's black boots, was leading the way. Despite probably not being familiar with Shinkawahama, she was walking forward without hesitation.

As he watched the golden ponytail swaying from side to side behind her, Naoto called out to the small figure in front of him.

"Hey, Raquel." There was no answer. Her pace didn't falter. Naoto frowned. There was no way she couldn't hear him. He had called out to her many times already.

"Raquel? Hey, Raquel!" He called out persistently, annoyed. Finally, on about the twelfth call, the golden ponytail flipped.

"It's 'Lady' Raquel. Mind your manners, servant."

"What are you talking about..." Naoto glared at Raquel, who was giving orders in a dissatisfied tone, just as dissatisfied. He walked beside her, sighing in exasperation. This was probably the reason for her long silence.

"I have something to ask you."

"What is it?" She finally replied. It seemed she had given up on correcting his way of speaking.

"What did you do to Haruka?" Naoto's question was accusatory. It was about what had happened earlier. When they had bumped into each other in Naoto's living room, Haruka had believed Raquel's story. It was too easy. Sure, Haruka wasn't the most thoughtful person. She wasn't good at doubting people, and she tended to believe people easily. But she had good intuition and wasn't stupid. She wasn't so careless that she would accept such a ridiculous story and wave her off.

Raquel shrugged nonchalantly, as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Nothing much. She just believed my story. ...Although, I don't suppose you'll believe me."

"Of course not."

"I thought so." Her attitude, as if she already knew, was infuriating. Naoto scowled, but Raquel looked up at him with innocent eyes, as if she had done nothing wrong. "It’s a magic called ‘Slave Red,’ which forcibly alters perception. It manipulates the facts the target recognizes. Though, it can only be used once per person. There are no side effects or harm, so you can relax."

"I hope that’s true." Magic was a word as unbelievable as vampires. Naoto's tone was sharp with suspicion, and Raquel seemed a little puzzled as to why he was so suspicious.

“Really. Do you think there's any point in telling such a ridiculous lie?”

“You can't just expect me to believe that easily. ...Hey, so was that because of your magic?”

“What are you talking about?” Naoto had been feeling off about this girl since she arrived, almost as much as he had about Haruka.

“You’ve been awfully quiet since Haruka came, haven’t you? You put on those clothes without a fuss.” When Naoto had told her to get dressed, she had been quite defiant. But with Haruka, it was as if she’d done a complete 180. Raquel hesitated for a moment. She avoided Naoto's gaze and nervously smoothed out her skirt.

“Oh, that was… just an unexpected turn of events.”

“What do you mean, unexpected?”

"Haruka... I have a hard time with girls." Raquel looked down, her face flushed with embarrassment as she fumbled with her words. The haughty girl who had just looked down on Naoto and called him a servant was nowhere to be seen. In her place was a timid and bashful figure. It was as if he were looking at a completely different person. It was unfair; it felt like a fraud. But at the same time, Naoto realized something. This wasn't just shyness or embarrassment. It was more like fear. Raquel wasn't so much stammering as she was trembling.

"Raquel... are you perhaps socially awkward?" And to think it was limited to women. Naoto's teasing comment was cut short by a dull shock to his stomach.

"Uh... well..." Raquel's roundhouse kick, delivered with the speed of lightning, had embedded itself in Naoto's side. When she pulled her foot back with a look of disgust, Naoto stumbled, clutching his aching side.

"What are you doing?!"

"Disciplining you." With a huff of indignation, Raquel flicked her long hair dramatically and quickened her pace. She turned around a short distance away and gave him a contemptuous look, as if urging him to hurry up.

"You..." She was acting as if she had him completely under her control. It was infuriating. But if he turned back and went home alone, he didn't know what Haruka would say, and he still had a mountain of questions for Raquel. Grudgingly, he caught up and walked beside her, rubbing his bruised side.

As he glanced sideways, he noticed a large ribbon bouncing up and down in time with her steps. And on it was that number.

(One, ten, hundred... ten thousand... eight million again?)

The number he saw was '86510752'. She had a monstrous amount of vitality, as always. Or perhaps, since she was a vampire, he could say she was a monster in the truest sense of the word.

Raquel turned a corner and entered a certain street. That’s when Naoto was sure of where she was headed. This was the same road Naoto had chased her down yesterday. There was only one place she could be going to beyond this point.

An abandoned housing complex.

But... something was off.

(This road... was much worse yesterday.)

The electric poles had been snapped, the guardrails twisted and mangled. Everything seemed to have been deliberately destroyed. Yet, now, just a night later, as he walked through the same place, the damage that had been there yesterday seemed to have been completely repaired. He could understand if they had removed scattered debris or collected discarded bicycles. But for the broken electric poles and torn-up asphalt to be restored as well, it was as if some incredibly fast construction crew had been at work.

Even if it was a road near a busy station, could they really have responded so quickly?

Despite his doubts, Naoto continued along the path with Raquel, which was gradually becoming less populated.

"What are we doing here?" Surely, this wasn’t a crime scene investigation. Naoto asked, imagining a detective from a drama.

Raquel didn't turn around, but kept her gaze fixed forward, her hair swaying behind her.

"We're going to check for remnants of Azure."

"Remnants of Azure?" Another incomprehensible term. Naoto rubbed his temples.

"In other words, we're going to look for clues about the Azure. Just be quiet and follow me."

"Alright, alright. Then what about that monster, the Bugman?" He still hadn't learned anything about what that creature was. Expecting to be brushed off like the 'remnants of Azure', Raquel actually made an effort to explain to Naoto.

"He's a follower of Spinner Superior."

"Spinner... what is that?"

"Since it relates to you, I’ll explain. Spinner Superior is a highly regarded magician whom even the magical city of Ishana respects. He's rumored to be closer to the Azure than anyone else."

"...Ishana?" Naoto raised his hand to his chin as if asking a teacher a question. Since she mentioned it as a city, it must be a place’s name, but Naoto had never heard of it. Raquel glanced at Naoto and then shook her head slightly.

"It's the center of magic in this world. It's where magic is managed. But that's not so important right now. What matters is the part about being 'the closest person to the 'Azure'." Azure.

"The Azure is the source of power. Spinner desires it as well. However, while the Azure is known among magicians, no one actually knows what it is, where it is located, or what form it takes. There is simply too little information. Yet, despite this situation, Spinner is certainly seeking the Azure and getting closer. And now, to draw closer to it, he is targeting me."

"You? Why?"

"Because I can sense the Azure more strongly than anyone else." Saying this, Raquel placed a white hand on her chest. Naoto couldn't understand how her body sensed the Azure, but it was clear from Raquel's profile that it was not a pleasant sensation.

Unconsciously, Raquel spoke of the Azure with a hint of sadness, as if her heart ached for it.

“So... you mean he’s trying to use you as a radar to find the Azure?" Naoto muttered to himself, and Raquel nodded slightly.

"That's right. That's why I was attacked by Spinner's follower yesterday. But it was actually convenient for me. I'm looking for Spinner too."

"Looking for him? Why? Aren't you being hunted?"

"I told you. There is almost no information about the Azure." Stopping her previously steady footsteps, Raquel turned to face Naoto. The trees lining the street cast long shadows, creating a dark wall. In that shadow, her golden eyes gleamed. "It's the same for me. Even though I can sense the Azure, I don't know much about it. So I want to contact Spinner and get the information he has."

"So that means..." It meant that both Spinner and Raquel were searching for information about the mysterious treasure called the Azure, and they were searching for each other to gain the information they lacked. Naoto frowned, struggling to understand.

"It's not like you can just find Spinner and ask him politely to exchange information, is it?" It was clear, from yesterday's attack by the Bugman, that this wasn't a world where information could be exchanged through polite conversation. And if Spinner wasn't going to use peaceful means, it would be difficult for Raquel to approach him non-violently.

"Of course not. If he was going to tell me if I just asked, it wouldn't be so difficult."

"Then how are you going to get the information?"

"How foolish. You fight Spinner, defeat him, and extract the information." Her large eyes seemed to say, "How obvious." For a moment, no, for a few seconds, Naoto couldn't understand what she was saying. He didn't want to understand.

A dry laugh twisted Naoto's mouth.

"Wait... what are you saying? Are you kidding me? You've got to be joking! You want me to fight the boss of those monsters from yesterday? I can't do that! I'm a high school student, you know! A completely ordinary, harmless high school student!" Naoto pounded his chest, insisting with all his might. Although he questioned whether he was truly ordinary since he could see the opponent's life force as a number, this wasn’t the time to nitpick.

“It’s okay. You’re already dead.”

“That’s not the point! I’m saying it’s impossible! By the way, what kind of guy is this Spinner? He’s strong, right? He’s some crazy dangerous guy, isn’t he?!”

“I don’t know.”

“Huh?!”

“I told you, I don’t know. I’ve never met him, and apparently, very few magicians have met him directly. I don’t know what he looks like, what magic he uses, or how he managed to tame that monster from yesterday.” Raquel spoke in a remarkably casual tone, tucking her hair behind her ear. That made sense for her; Spinner had long been a target for her, and the lack of information about him was a familiar situation.

But Naoto was different. He was hearing about Spinner’s existence and Raquel’s insistence to fight him for the first time. His eyes widened in shock, and his hands trembled in disbelief.

“Wait... so you don’t understand anything about Spinner or the Azure, do you?!”

“Shut up, I can hear you without you shouting.” Raquel grimaced at Naoto's outburst, covering her ears with both hands in annoyance.

“And you came to investigate because you don’t know anything, right?”

With a reproachful tone, Raquel looked up. The trees lining the street rose like walls, and beyond them was the abandoned housing complex, shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere even during the day.

### Part 5

Even in bright weather, entering the deserted complex changed the air entirely. It was a gritty texture filled with the smell of dust, and despite the sunlight, it felt cold. There was an unsettling vibe that brushed against his skin like something lifeless.

Raquel headed straight for the site of last night’s confrontation with the Bugman. The marks of the struggle still lingered around the buildings. There were large holes left from where the Bugman had been kicked away by Raquel, as well as holes created by thrown debris. Raquel stopped in the middle of the T-junction, crouched down, and placed her hand on the sidewalk. She closed her eyes as if listening intently.

Naoto had no idea what kind of power she was using, but according to Raquel, she was trying to trace the tracks of the insect that had escaped last night. The insect had fled to Spinner, and she was planning to find Spinner's whereabouts by following it.

"It's fading already. I should have chased after it right away last night." After a while, Raquel said quietly and looked around. Sitting on the curb and watching her, Naoto stood up, patted the sand off his bottom, and returned to Raquel's side.

"Then you should have chased after it yesterday."

"…Because some idiot was dying, I was busy dealing with that," she replied, a bit irritated.

"Oh… sorry for the trouble." As if pointing out who the "idiot" was, Naoto averted his gaze.

Come to think of it, that was right. The wounds he had suffered last night had already disappeared, and he was starting to feel as if it had all been a dream. When he first woke up, he had shivered at the vividness of the sensations, but people were fickle creatures.

"So, what now? Can you not find them?"

"Don't underestimate me. I just need to make it easier to detect the traces." Looking up at Naoto, who had peered in, Raquel answered a bit sulkily. She then touched the ground with the hand she had been holding up and began to slide her fingers as if drawing in the sand. To Naoto’s surprise, red letters started appearing on the ground, even though there was no ink or anything.

It made him shiver slightly, thinking it was blood. But more than that, Naoto was interested in the characters Raquel was drawing.

"Those... are..." A small voice escaped Naoto's lips. He recognized the letters Raquel was drawing. They weren't exactly the same, but they were very similar to the numbers he often saw above people's heads.

"These are ancient characters. I'm creating a magic circle to help with the magic." She seemed to have taken Naoto's murmur as a question about the unfamiliar characters. In a cool voice, as if teaching an incompetent servant, she continued to spread the strange characters around her with her white fingers. Feeling that he shouldn't step on it, Naoto backed away as Raquel's fingers expanded the red characters. As if reacting to the sound of his footsteps, Raquel suddenly stopped writing and looked up.

"...No one lives here, do they?" she murmured. Drawn by her voice, Naoto looked around at the eerily quiet housing complex.

"I heard there was an accident in this housing complex a long time ago. That's why no one lives here anymore, and it's been abandoned."

"An accident...?"

"I wasn't around when this place was first built, so I don't know all the details," Naoto said, scratching his cheek as a preface. While Naoto was talking, Raquel had returned her gaze to the ground and resumed drawing characters.

Although she didn't ask him to continue, he assumed she was listening since he had brought it up. Looking out at the desolate housing complex, Naoto recounted the story he had heard. Before this housing complex was built, there had been a small hospital on a hill in front of it. Now, only the iron towers supporting the power lines remained, but back then, it had been a hospital large enough to accommodate inpatients.

However, an incident occurred just before the housing complex was completed. An unknown pathogen had leaked from the hospital, contaminating the entire area around the housing complex and dissolving every human being within the premises.

"Humans... dissolved?" Raquel asked.

Naoto nodded. "It was like their clothes were left behind, but the people inside them had completely disappeared. Since there were no bodies left, the only explanation was that they had 'dissolved.' At least, that's what was announced after a thorough investigation. It sounds crazy, I know. Anyway, that's why this housing complex was never sold and has been abandoned ever since."

He wasn't entirely sure about the truth of the story. Even now, it was often talked about in whispers, with people speculating about ghosts, government conspiracies, and even aliens.

"I see..." Raquel murmured sadly. Surprised by her unexpected reaction, Naoto turned to look at her. But Raquel was still expressionless, just as she had been a moment ago, and was busy moving her hands.

(Was I imagining things?)

Although he had a nagging feeling, he hesitated to ask further because of the sadness in her voice. Before Naoto could ask anything, Raquel finished drawing the pattern and stood up. She walked to the center of the completed magic circle.

"I'm going to search for traces of Spinner's insect now. It will take a while, so please don't disturb me." With that, Raquel spread her arms, closed her eyes, and began to concentrate. A breeze blew in from nowhere, gently lifting Raquel into the air. As soon as her toes left the ground, the red characters she had drawn began to glow faintly as if waiting for this moment.

(Wow, that's amazing, it's like magic... no, it is magic)

Even though he knew it was magic, Naoto was awestruck. It was a phenomenon beyond reason, different from tricks or stage illusions.

Raquel remained floating in the air, her senses heightened, without moving. Her long, golden hair, tied in a ponytail, swayed gently as if floating underwater. Even though she had told him not to disturb her, he felt he couldn't. She seemed as fragile as a delicate glass figurine that would shatter if he interfered in any way. Naoto backed away, careful not to make a sound. He decided to stay a little distance away. With that in mind, he headed towards the nearest building.

There were two large holes in the building. One was where the monster man had been blown away and the building had collapsed. The other was where Naoto had been buried when he regained consciousness, having lost his arm.

His memory of that time was hazy, but as he got closer, Naoto recalled how he had nearly died there. But there was something strange about this place. At first, it had been a vague unease. But now, as he looked down at the spot, he realized what it was.

Naoto had been mauled by the insect, probably injured in other places as well, and had been buried under the rubble in a near-death state. If a human is injured, they bleed. Especially after losing an arm, the bleeding would have significantly increased the risk of death. Yet, there was not a single drop of blood here.

(It can't be a dream... if it was a dream, this place wouldn't be so damaged)

Naoto recalled the incident that had led to the abandonment of the housing complex. The buildings and clothes had remained, but the humans had vanished. It was very similar to this situation. There were traces of a struggle, but no signs of human injury. It wasn't just Naoto's blood that was missing. Naoto looked over his shoulder.

The corpse was gone. The monster man's corpse, which had been lying near the trees, was nowhere to be found. And... his right arm, which had been torn off by the monster, was also missing.

Had someone taken it away? But who, and why?

If the police had been called by a neighbor, the complex would have been sealed off as a crime scene. Naoto and Raquel wouldn't have been able to enter so easily.

(Did Spinner do it? But there's no reason for him to do something like that.)

If he needed the body for some reason, he could just take it. There was no need to carefully remove Naoto's blood and right arm. He also noticed that the path he had taken to get here had been completely repaired.

Naoto reached out and touched the pile of rubble. The concrete was cold, and the deeper parts were slightly damp.

(Damp?)

It didn't feel like the dampness of blood. Curious, he leaned in and sniffed. If it were blood, there would be a corresponding smell. But all Naoto could smell was a chemical smell, like a detergent.

"Naoto." Startled, Naoto jumped at the sudden voice. Apparently, Raquel had finished her investigation. She was walking towards him, her borrowed shoes firmly planted on the ground. There was nothing left behind her. The magic circle drawn with the red characters had either disappeared along with the light or left no trace.

"I've got a general idea of the direction. I want to go around the town a bit. Guide me."

"Guide you, huh? Can't you just say 'please'? ... Hey, what's wrong with you?" Replying to Raquel's typically arrogant attitude with a complaint, Naoto suddenly glanced at her face. He thought it might just be his imagination, but her expression seemed clouded.

"Are you feeling okay? You look a bit pale." Her skin was already pale, but her cheeks seemed unusually pale. Although, considering she was a vampire, maybe being pale was normal for her. Raquel looked up at Naoto and shook her head.

"I'm fine. Now hurry up and guide me."

"Well, if you say so." When Raquel started walking away quickly, Naoto had no choice but to follow. Convincing himself that that was just how vampires were, Naoto jogged to catch up with the girl. Looking up at the sky, he saw that the sun was quite high. Had the temperature risen a bit?

Before leaving, Naoto glanced back at the abandoned housing complex. It was a place that had been abandoned due to a strange incident. That was how he had always perceived it. But after talking to Raquel, he had started to wonder. A pathogen that could stay confined to the complex, instantly melt the humans there, and leave no trace outside? Could such a pathogen even exist?

(Well, it was a long time ago)

There was no point in pondering it now.

Shaking off the trivial question like a thread, Naoto left the orderly ruins with Raquel. The trail of Azure seemed to lead toward the downtown area, which was also the center of the city. For directions, Naoto had chosen a route that went down the road in front of the abandoned housing complex, even though it wasn't a path he usually took. It should be a bit quicker to get to downtown than going back the way they came. However, very few people walked this road because they had to pass in front of the abandoned housing complex.

As they walked down the gentle slope, with no one else in sight, Naoto looked at Raquel next to him. For some time now, she had been tugging at her skirt and blouse, furrowing her brow in apparent discomfort.

"Do your clothes not fit?" It looked fine to him, but when Naoto asked, Raquel's dissatisfaction deepened. She glared at him.

"I've never worn clothes before. It's uncomfortable and tight. Especially this underwear... it clings and itches so much..." As she spoke, Raquel tried to lift the hem of her skirt.

"Whoa, whoa, wait, stop! Don't do that!"

"I want to take it off."

"Absolutely not! Please, stop!" With Raquel looking at him earnestly, Naoto desperately tried to hold her back. Raquel pouted, clearly dissatisfied, but he didn't care about that. Sure, there were no people around at this moment. But it wasn’t a guarantee that no one would come by. If she took it off and someone passed by, the only scene they would see would be a high school boy forcing a high school girl to take off her underwear.

And what was she going to do with the underwear after she took it off? Carry it around? Who would? Raquel's skirt only had a decorative pocket and no bag. And I only had a bag for my wallet and phone. There was only one possible answer.

There was no way he would allow that to happen.

"Anyway, you said this is the first time you've worn clothes. So what have you been wearing until now?" As he urged her to move on, his genuine curiosity slipped out. Raquel swayed her golden hair and replied with a puzzled expression.

"What a foolish question. I said this is the first time I've worn clothes, so of course, I’ve never worn any since I was born."

"That doesn’t make sense! Wait, how old are you, anyway?" He realized he had forgotten to ask since she looked about his age, but now he remembered he didn’t know anything about her other than her name and that she was a vampire. Given that she was a vampire, maybe she was two hundred years old or something outrageous. Naoto’s expectations were turned completely upside down.

"My 'self' came into existence two years ago, and I came out of the coffin four days ago. So, if you want to say it in human terms, I'm two years and four days old." I stopped walking involuntarily.

"Two... years?" That was much shorter than he had expected. More importantly, did vampires grow to a high school level in just two years? Raquel, who had stopped a few steps ahead, urged him to hurry with her gaze. There was a smirk of disdain in her eyes.

"Don't worry. I have at least five hundred million times more knowledge than you do."

"Five hundred million times, huh..."

Is she like an elementary school kid? Naoto thought, stifling a laugh as he stepped forward to walk beside Raquel again. As Naoto walked, he was mindful of the surroundings. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Raquel making a sour face. He couldn't allow Raquel to go fully naked, but it seemed she still needed quite a bit of time to get used to wearing clothes. Suddenly, Raquel came to an abrupt stop.

"Hm? What’s wrong...?" Naoto had taken a few steps forward, so he turned around to see what was wrong. Immediately, he rushed forward and reached out with both arms. As if letting out a breath, Raquel collapsed, limp and lifeless.

"Hey! What now? What’s wrong?!" Was she so stressed by the clothes that she was about to collapse? The joke was right at the tip of his tongue, but he quickly swallowed it back. Raquel's body was abnormally hot, like someone with a high fever.

"Don't touch me so casually, you servant..." Regaining consciousness, Raquel glared at Naoto with her eyes half-open. But her hands, which she tried to use to push Naoto away, had no strength at all. Her golden eyes, half-lidded and glazed with fever, were fixed on Naoto’s neck, breathing heavily through her parted lips. The dazed look in her eyes burned hotter than her fevered body. But soon, with a weak shake of her head, she mustered what little strength she had left to pull away from him. "Don’t touch me."

"Listen, this isn't the time to be stubborn." Frustrated by Raquel’s obvious attempt to suppress her poor health, Naoto raised his voice. Raquel struggled to her feet and took a deep breath.

"I just need... to rest a bit." As soon as she said that, she stepped toward Naoto with a pained look on her face, lowering her eyelids.

Her foot sank into Naoto's shadow.

"W-what the-?" Naoto stretched his neck out and stared at his feet in disbelief. He thought he was imagining things. But it was no mistake; Raquel's foot was indeed sinking into his shadow, as if stepping into water or a swamp. With each step she took, Raquel's body entered Naoto's shadow as if descending a staircase, and after a few seconds, she had completely disappeared.

"Ra... Raquel?" He couldn’t even count how many times he had experienced this sensation since yesterday. Yet, Naoto could only stare at his own shadow, unable to look away from what he had just witnessed.

He tried stepping on his own shadow. His foot didn't sink in, and as expected, he felt the hard ground beneath him. But... "What is it?"

Raquel's voice echoed in his head, as if she were climbing out of the shadow. Her figure was nowhere to be seen. The voice and arrogant tone were unmistakably hers.

"Well, I mean, just now, in the shadow..."

"I just borrowed it as a resting place because I've been in the sun a little too long. Nothing will happen to your body, so don't panic so foolishly." Despite her weakness, her arrogant and haughty attitude remained intact. While that was reassuring, something else caught Naoto's attention.

"Sunlight... right, it’s because you’re a vampire." He had heard that vampires turn to ash when exposed to sunlight. When Naoto said this, a sense of irritation came from the shadow.

"Could you not lump me together with those inferior vampires? For someone of my high standing, sunlight and holy water are not much of a problem."

"But you just collapsed!”

"That was because I used a large spell earlier and got drained. While there might be some impact, sunlight is nothing to worry about." Naoto couldn’t help but smile wryly at her use of “nothing to worry about.” Regardless of her words, it didn’t change the fact that she was putting on a brave front. It wasn’t as if she would immediately turn to ash, but still, she was trying to endure to the point of nearly losing consciousness—what a stubborn lady she was.

"Whatever. So, what now?" Crouching down, Naoto addressed the shadow at his feet. It felt strange. Talking to a shadow that stretched out like a stain on the sidewalk was something he didn't want anyone to see. From the shadow, Raquel's voice returned, her breath coming in deep gasps.

"Let's head towards the center of town for now."

"Alright, alright, got it." He might as well serve her faithfully while she was weak. With that thought, Naoto started walking down the path, dragging the shadow behind him.

### Part 6

They descended the gentle slope and emerged into the bustling downtown area. If they continued straight down the wide road, they would eventually reach Shinkawahama Station. But Naoto turned into a side street a few blocks before that and stopped at a small park behind a game center.

The park didn't have any playground equipment, just two benches against a concrete wall. It was located in a rather unsafe area and wasn't a popular spot, thankfully. Just as he had hoped. Naoto sat on a bench and, after making sure no one was watching, spoke to the shadow at his feet.

"Raquel, we've reached downtown." To be precise, it wasn't the center of downtown, but it was daytime, after all. It would be difficult to find a secluded spot in the heart of downtown. He didn’t intend to play the role of a mysterious man talking to a shadow. However, even though he had found a place where the girl could emerge from the shadow without causing a scene, there was no reaction from Raquel.

"Hey, Raquel? Can you hear me?" Naoto raised his voice slightly and peered into the shadow. He couldn't see inside the shadow, but by concentrating, he could sense that Raquel was there. But she was too quiet. A bad thought crossed his mind. But then Naoto heard something. A steady, gentle breathing sound. That was... snoring.

"Are you asleep?!" He blurted out the question before he could stop himself and then quickly looked around. Good, no one was there.

"What am I going to do now..." Naoto ran his hands through his hair. If Raquel didn't wake up, he couldn't continue his investigation. He had no idea about this "Azure" thing.

(I could go home... no, that won't work. Haruka is there.)

If she asked where Raquel was, he'd be in trouble. He couldn't just say she was in a shadow.

So, there was only one thing to do. Naoto got up and bought a can of coffee from the vending machine nearby. With a heavy clunk, the can rolled out. He picked it up and returned to the bench.

It was a beautiful day, and luckily, Naoto seemed to be fine in the sunlight. He decided to relax here for a while and wait for Raquel to wake up.

(I don't have anything else to do. ... And I have some things to think about)

His thoughts drifted as he spoke to himself. Naoto opened the can and took a sip of the cold coffee. It was sweet, slightly bitter, and the unique sensation cooled him down a bit.

"A vampire... huh?" Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, he muttered to himself. It had all started with a strange incident the previous evening. Two abnormal readings he had seen while walking home. That was what had dragged him away from his peaceful life. It felt like more than twenty-four hours had passed since then. Everything had happened so quickly. His encounter with the insect-like creature, meeting Raquel, the bizarre battlefield with flying debris, the man's body transformed into a black mass, his lost right arm, and his life force dropping to '0'.

(So, I... died, didn't I?)

Something must have happened during the gap in his memory that he couldn't recall, and then he died. Today was supposed to be the end. But thanks to her, he was still alive. Raquel had saved him.

"Need a hand?"

He remembered the girl's voice asking him that.

(She saved me again...)

She had already protected him countless times from the monster man, who had been throwing rubble around. Now, she had saved him from death. Thanks to her, his life force was at "0," Raquel seemed determined to move into Naoto's house, and on top of that, she was making unreasonable demands like getting his hands on the Azure and fighting an ultra-powerful magician.

Still, Raquel had saved him. She had given Naoto today. And thanks to Raquel, he hadn't made Haruka cry. That was an undeniable fact. Naoto looked down at the shadow as he sipped from a cold can.

Raquel Alucard, the vampire who had been alive for two years and four days.

She had appeared in a striking outfit of nothing but a cloak, could kick through concrete walls with inhuman strength, and was, in every sense of the word, a bizarre girl.

But just earlier, when she had nearly lost her strength and was about to collapse, her shoulder had felt delicate. Her disdain for the first clothes she wore was childlike, and when she had been nervous around Haruka and couldn’t say a word, she truly resembled a borrowed cat.

(She probably doesn't know much about the things I and Haruka take for granted)

Things like chatting with friends, the annoyance of alarm clocks that interrupt sleep, and of course, the taste of canned coffee like the one in Naoto's hand, or even how to open one. Although, she claimed to have five hundred million times more knowledge than Naoto.

"...Oh, I forgot." Shifting his gaze from the shadow to the can of coffee, Naoto muttered something else. He had completely forgotten to ask Raquel about his right arm. He needed to ask this young vampire girl why his arm had been restored when he woke up, whether his arm had actually been lost in the first place, and how his injuries had healed.

(Well, I can't do that until she wakes up)

He couldn't do anything about it. The thoughts that were supposed to continue suddenly burst white and disappeared. He thought he saw something moving at the corner of his eye. And then, almost simultaneously, or perhaps it was at the same time, Naoto's body was thrown sideways with tremendous force and slammed into something.

Bang!

The air inside his body seemed to burst. He felt like a popped balloon. For a moment, he felt completely weightless, and then a second later, his body felt a hundred times heavier. His vision, which had turned white, gradually returned.

He was in the simple park next to the parking lot. It was a familiar sight. And in the middle of it, Naoto was... embedded in the vending machine he had just bought the can of coffee from, as if he had been rammed by a thick stake.

"Ugh... ugh..." His trembling jaw tried to take in a breath but failed, and he choked. He couldn't even swallow properly. He couldn't. The breath that had gotten caught in his throat, unable to find its way out, was replaced by a thick, slimy mass that welled up from the back of his throat and spilled out of his mouth.

Only after he had vomited did he realize it was a liquid. It was an unpleasantly dark red in his blurred vision, and the nauseating smell told him it was a large amount of blood mixed with other bodily fluids. The faint taste of sweet coffee made it even more disgusting.

"Ugh... ugh..." A hoarse, wheezing sound trembled out. Still dripping blood from his mouth, Naoto looked at what had slammed him into the vending machine.

It was an arm. A thick, sturdy human arm, like a log. It had pierced his abdomen halfway, literally nailing his body to the vending machine like a stake.

The arm slid out of Naoto's abdomen, leaving a wet trail. But then another arm grabbed his chest and pulled him away from the vending machine. His clothes were pulled up, exposing his body. But he couldn't shake off the arm. His throat was clogged with blood, and his mouth was a gaping hole. His whole body felt like it had been shattered into pieces. Dragging his weak limbs, Naoto was pulled forcefully.

Naoto's eyes caught sight of the gray concrete wall. He understood the arm's intention. The thick concrete wall would be even harder than the vending machine.

(That's... a bad idea...)

A slow sense of crisis whispered in the corner of Naoto's mind. But there was no way that protest would reach the arm's owner. With a flick of the wrist, as if discarding a doll, Naoto's body was thrown towards the wall. His limbs flailed as he experienced a brief sensation of floating.

And then, a shock, like a slash, struck Naoto's torso, as if the blow he had received to his abdomen was insignificant in comparison. Something shattered. As he heard the sound, Naoto crashed into the gray wall and lost consciousness before he could feel the coldness of the concrete.

There was nothing but darkness. He thought he was dead. After all, Raquel had just saved him. Thinking that... unconsciously, he lifted his eyelids.

His vision returned faster than his consciousness. With a single blink, his vision stabilized, and ragged breaths shook his body violently. His heart, which he thought had stopped, was pounding loudly. Leaning against the wall, Naoto sat down with his legs outstretched. His right side of vision was red. Even though he could breathe, his whole body was heavy and he couldn't move properly.

The pain he should have felt seemed to have been blown away somewhere far away, and instead, his index finger joint ached unnecessarily.

Suddenly, his vision narrowed. He saw a shoe sole. He was about to be crushed. At that moment, Naoto desperately twisted his neck.

A sharp crack, like something hard breaking, echoed right beside his ear. Naoto could feel the blood rushing through his body. He moved only his eyes to look sideways. Where his head had been just a moment ago, there was a foot in a worn-out leather shoe, embedded in the wall. A shiver ran down Naoto's spine. If he had reacted any slower, his head would have been crushed under that shoe like a ripe tomato.

"Wh-what the... hell are you..." With his shoulders heaving from his ragged breathing, Naoto followed the foot embedded in the wall to find its owner.

The attacker was a tall, powerfully built man. He looked to be in his early twenties. He wasn't Japanese. His chest was so thick and his shoulders so broad that his shirt looked too tight. His arms were thick and muscular, and his legs were like spears. He had thick eyebrows, sharp eyes, and a deeply carved, fierce expression. Perhaps it was also due to his messy, unkempt hair, which was simply thrown back. He looked like a wild carnivore.

The number above his head read '2394211'. This man, though not to the extent of Raquel, had a number far beyond that of a normal human.

"...Dodged it, huh?" The man growled, muttering resentfully. His voice wasn't as rough and harsh as his appearance, but it carried a heavy sense of menace and murderous intent. Naoto looked up at the beast-like man without taking his eyes off him. He didn't know him. And he had no idea why such a dangerous-looking man would attack him. Returning his hostility, he retorted.

"What the hell are you doing, you... trying to kill me?!"

"I've already killed you twice. Why won't you die?" The heavy voice replied immediately, making Naoto start.

It was only natural. Naoto had been slammed into a vending machine with tremendous force, and then into a concrete wall. He had vomited a lot of blood. He thought he had broken bones all over his body…

Yet, even though he had been barely able to breathe just a moment ago, he was now shouting angrily.

Naoto moved his neck, which was still stiff, and looked down at himself.

(As I thought...)

The wound where the man's arm had been embedded in his abdomen was gone.

"So you're an 'immortal' too?"

"What...?" Before Naoto could finish his sentence, the strong man pulled his foot out of the broken wall and swung it down again to crush Naoto's head. "Ahh...!" Naoto bent his body to avoid the direct hit. But instead of his head, his right shoulder was crushed under the man's shoe. The force that had shattered the concrete now shattered Naoto's shoulder.

"Ugh, aaaah!" It hurt so bad. A muffled scream tore at Naoto's throat as he crouched, clutching his shoulder.

The man clicked his tongue and swung his other leg. The leg, which was as flexible as a whip, sliced through the air and aimed for Naoto's head again. Naoto managed to raise his head, but that was all. There was no way he could dodge it. He could already imagine the sensation of that toe cracking his skull.

But the man's foot didn't crush Naoto's head.

He was alive. He still had eyes, a mouth, and a head. Naoto couldn't comprehend what was happening as he looked at the strange thing in front of him.

It was another arm. But this time, it wasn't the strong man's arm; it was more like a woman's arm with white, smooth skin. The reason I say 'like' is because it was clearly not a human arm.

The arm had grown out of the concrete wall, behind Naoto. It had a shoulder, an elbow, and a wrist, and it was abnormally long, resembling a mannequin's arm. There were six of them in total, three on each side, crossing each other to form a shield that protected Naoto. One pair had been shattered, but the others had taken the brunt of the man's powerful kick.

"...Stop it, Valkenhayn." Another man's voice came from the opposite side of the arms. It was a young man's voice, firm but calm. The strong man, called Valkenhayn, turned his head slightly, looking at the voice.

Waiting for him, the arms that had been shielding Naoto disappeared silently back into the wall. The view that had been blocked by the three pairs of arms opened up, and finally, Naoto could see the other man. He didn't know when he had arrived, but a strange man was standing in the parking lot behind the game center.

The man named Valkenhayn had a rough-looking face, but he was dressed in a shirt, pants, and leather shoes, looking like a dangerous foreigner at most. However, the appearance of the second man was extremely peculiar.

His hair was golden and neatly cut, and his physique was quite average. But his eyes were completely covered by a black leather band, and he was wearing a purple cloak over a suit-like outfit. From the color of his skin, he was probably Caucasian, but because he couldn't see his eyes, it was unclear what kind of person he was.

Although his appearance was ordinary enough to blend into the surroundings, compared to Valkenhayn, who had tried to kill someone without a word of greeting, this man seemed more rational and reasonable, despite his unusual appearance.

"Why are you interfering, Relius?" Calling the man with the covered eyes Relius, Valkenhayn spoke again, his voice low and filled with aggression.

The man named Relius approached Naoto with a leisurely gait, completely unfazed by Valkenhayn's aggressive stance.

"That's a 'human'. Not an 'immortal'." Even with his eyes covered, Relius's vision seemed unimpaired. There was no hesitation or uncertainty in his steps. As he approached, Naoto pushed himself up against the wall. He leaned against the wall for support as he stood up. Although Relius had protected him from Valkenhayn's attack, Naoto couldn't be sure he was an ally. He kept a watchful eye on both men, ready for anything.

Seeing this, Valkenhayn furrowed his brow.

"How is that a 'human'? Humans die when you kill them."

"Not necessarily. ... Anyway, back off. That's not your target." Relius's voice was flat and devoid of emotion, ignoring Valkenhayn's rage. Continuing his steady pace, he walked beside Valkenhayn and turned his face away as if to urge him again to back off.

"...Tch." After glaring at each other for a while, Valkenhayn clicked his tongue and suddenly lifted his foot. Without hesitation, he swung it down at Naoto's leg.

"Guaaaah!" With a sound like a popped water balloon, Naoto's right leg was crushed. The intense pain made Naoto collapse, clutching his right ankle. Below the ankle was a mangled mess of flesh, blood, and broken bones.

"Ugh, ah, uhh..." Turning his back on the groaning Naoto, Valkenhayn walked away, looking annoyed. Relius, on the other hand, remained where he was, staring intently at Naoto who was rubbing his face against the ground. Noticing his gaze, Naoto followed his line of sight - or rather, tried to guess the direction of his gaze since his eyes were covered - and looked at what remained of his shattered leg. It was a gruesome sight. The result of a merciless act, it was a grotesque scene that made him want to cry.

But as the scattered flesh and bones crumbled and dissipated like burnt ash, his tears dried up. The scattered flesh and bones turned into a red mist and disappeared, and in an instant, Naoto's foot was restored to its original form.

How could that be human? Naoto was stunned to see it.

It was Relius's voice, heard nearby, that brought Naoto back to reality.

"Hmm... Interesting... 'Regeneration'?" Startled by the close voice, Naoto flinched. Relius bent over and watched Naoto's regeneration intently. When Naoto moved away, he straightened up, looking somewhat surprised. It was as if he were asking what was wrong.

"You really went all out, didn't you... I guess I’ll have to listen to 'Kiiro's' complaints again..." Glancing around casually, Relius muttered blandly as he looked at the vending machine and wall that had been irreparably destroyed. "Are you alright?"

Naoto frowned, hesitant to respond to the action and words. Just a moment ago, a man had tried to crush his foot, and now this man, who seemed to be his companion, was offering him a hand and showing concern. He didn't know the situation, but he wished they would either be enemies or allies, not both. It was stressful to second-guess their intentions. Thinking this, he pushed away the outstretched hand and stood up on his own.

"I’m not okay! It hurts like hell!"

"So your sense of pain is still functioning."

"Of course it is! What do you think I am, anyway?!" As Naoto shouted out his frustration, he glared at Relius, who seemed impressed as he rested his chin on his hand. It was hard to tell his age since his face was obscured, but from his voice and demeanor, Naoto guessed he was only a few years older. He was probably younger than Valkenhayn from earlier. Naoto’s gaze shifted to the number floating above Relius’s head. He was surprised by what he found. ‘9152.’ He had expected this man to have an abnormal number like the other guy, but it was just a normal human number—slightly lower than Naoto’s average, in fact.

At that moment, a chill ran down his spine. He didn’t know why. Perhaps it was because Relius had suddenly flashed a grin at him.

"My companion has caused you trouble. As an apology, let me share a few things." Relius said with a faint smile. He was a man with a voice that showed little emotion. But now, like his smile, there was a hint of joy in his voice. "If something like this happens again, the first thing you should do is protect your head. If your head gets crushed, no matter how immortal you are, you won’t be able to regenerate right away. During that time, we can finish you off."

Naoto instinctively touched his head, as if drawn in by the calm tone of Relius’s words. Come to think of it, Valkenhayn had tried to crush his head. So that's why he had done that. But doubts arose. Valkenhayn's initial attack had been aimed at his stomach, right?

"...Then why didn’t he target my head from the start?"

"Immortals are always prepared for attacks on the head. So, first, we immobilize them, and then we destroy their head... that's the standard procedure." As he said this, Relius took a few steps back. Naoto realized he was avoiding the shadows as Relius lowered his chin and directed his gaze at the ground.

"We are targeting vampires. Our goal is not to torment a sturdier boy with regenerative abilities. And of course, we didn’t come to chase down a newborn girl either." Naoto tensed up and glared at Relius with sharper eyes. He quickly realized what Relius was talking about. This man knew about Raquel.

Relius must have seen through Naoto's wariness. He briefly lifted his chin as if to steal a glance at Naoto's expression, then turned to address the shadows.

"She's doing well, but she's still inexperienced... You should at least be better at hiding your presence. Otherwise, he'll get the wrong idea again..." Naoto couldn't remain silent after that. The shadows at his feet rippled like the surface of water, and from them, Raquel appeared without a sound. Just as she had sunk into the shadows before, she gradually emerged as if climbing a staircase, eventually standing in front of Naoto. Her large, slanted golden eyes stared at Relius defiantly.

"I appreciate the advice, Relius Clover." Hearing this, Relius's smile deepened.

"Hoh... So you have some information about me. Wonderful." His voice was filled with satisfaction. As he continued to gaze at Naoto and Raquel, Relius took a few steps back, placing a hand on his chest and bowing his head slightly.

"I must go after my companion. Until we meet again." With those words, Relius swirled his striking purple cloak and vanished in the direction Valkenhayn had gone.

### Part 7

With the strange duo gone, the tension in the air immediately dissipated.

Naoto's body felt heavy, as if a weight had been lifted from him. He leaned against the concrete wall behind him. Soon, his knees gave out, and he slid down to sit. Concrete debris from the wall lay scattered around him, making the position uncomfortable at best. But he was too exhausted to get up and move.

"Hah... hah... I thought I was going to die..." He forced out a dry laugh, feeling no joy whatsoever. He truly believed he was going to die, and he thought he was dead. More than that, he was in excruciating pain. The fact that he had to endure such experiences filled him with deep frustration.

Overwhelmed by emotions he couldn't quite identify, whether it was anger or fear, Naoto looked up to find Raquel standing in front of him. When he looked up, her large golden eyes were staring down at him intently.

"You're such a mess. You're just like a rag doll."

"Shut up. And what's with those guys anyway... You know them, don't you?" Glaring at her in response to her calm voice, Naoto thought she should at least show some concern, but there were no injuries that warranted it. Raquel raised her head and glanced in the direction where the duo had fled. She spoke in a somewhat stern tone, "The man who attacked you first was Valkenhayn Helsing. The one in the cloak is Relius Clover, an 'Immortal Breaker,’ a specialist in eliminating immortals."

"Immortal Breaker." Naoto frowned as he looked up at Raquel’s profile. It had a rather ominous ring to it. Being close to Raquel, a vampire girl who was considered an immortal, made it sound not only dangerous but also extremely unsettling.

Suddenly, he heard the distant wail of a siren growing louder. Someone must have called the police. It wasn’t surprising, given the circumstances. It was the middle of the day, and even in a relatively quiet area, it was far from deserted. A game center was just a stone's throw away, and it was open for business despite its old-fashioned appearance. It was inevitable that someone would report seeing a high school boy being thrown into a vending machine or a concrete wall.

"Ugh... I wish this was all over. I just want my normal life back..." Naoto ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He looked up at Raquel with tired eyes. "Hey, listen..."

He was about to suggest that they should leave and continue their search another time, but he hesitated. When he glanced at Raquel, he noticed her complexion was worse than before. Her energy level, represented by the number above her head, had dropped significantly. It was now '86501107', a decrease of several thousand from the last time he had checked. For a human, such a drop would be fatal.

(How long has she been like this?) he wondered. The fact that her energy had depleted so much while she was resting in the shadows meant that she was either consuming energy at an alarming rate or something had drained her. Perhaps it was the encounter with Valkenhayn and Relius.

Either way, it wasn't wise to keep Raquel on her feet any longer, especially in broad daylight.

"Raquel, let's go home today," Naoto said seriously, his tone more assertive than a suggestion. "Neither of us is in top condition. If we encounter Spinner while we're like this, we won't be able to do anything but lose."

Naoto didn't know the full extent of Spinner's powers, but he knew the sorcerer was far beyond ordinary humans. This was different from picking a fight with a random delinquent.

"But in ten hours, the Azure Remnant will disappear completely. We won't be able to track it anymore," Raquel replied, hesitant and conflicted, her eyes scanning the area as if she could still sense the remnant nearby.

Naoto shook his head. "We'll find it another time. Our priority right now is your health."

"They're looking for you too, right? So they'll probably attack again soon, and there will be plenty of opportunities. It'd be pointless if we get caught and killed. They're not the type to settle things peacefully, are they?" Just like Relius had said, even immortals like vampires could be killed. Naoto fully agreed. Raquel had a life force indicator too, and if it was depleted, she would die.

"Besides, we'll stick out like a sore thumb walking around looking like this. If anyone sees us, it'll be a pain to explain, and we'll have to change our clothes." Naoto spread his arms, revealing his tattered clothing. Even though his wounds had healed, his T-shirt and jeans were still torn. His collar was ripped wide open, and there were dried bloodstains on his chest.

Raquel nodded slowly, deep in thought. She seemed to understand the gravity of their situation. "I suppose you're right," she said, sighing. "But wait a moment."

She moved away from Naoto and stood in front of a wall, avoiding the large crack created by Valkenhayn. She ran her fingers along the gray wall, tracing something. It was the same red writing he had seen in the abandoned building, but this time, it was arranged in horizontal lines, more like a note than a magic circle.

After writing a few lines, she turned around. "Alright, let's go."

Naoto followed her, his eyes drawn to the red writing that was slowly fading into the gray wall. They carefully made their way back to his apartment, avoiding people and hiding in the shadows whenever necessary. Somehow, he managed to reach his apartment without anyone noticing the bloodstain on his shirt.

After checking that the coast was clear, he called out to Raquel, who emerged cautiously from the shadows. He had warned her beforehand that if Haruka saw her, she would probably ask a lot of questions, and he might even get scolded. It seemed like his warning had worked.

For now, Haruka was nowhere to be seen. Both Naoto and Raquel breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now... the real problem begins." As Naoto pulled his house keys out of his pocket, he lowered his voice. They couldn't let their guard down yet. There was a good chance that Haruka was inside. In fact, knowing her, it was more likely than not. She probably made lunch and was waiting for Naoto and Raquel to return. If he went in wearing a blood-stained T-shirt, Haruka would be terrified. She would undoubtedly assume he was seriously injured.

"Alright, Raquel. Here’s the plan. You go in first and distract Haruka. While you do that, I’ll slip in, change, and then join you."

"I've told you before, I’m not good with other girls." Raquel replied, averting her gaze. It was clear that she wasn't enthusiastic about the idea.

But Naoto needed her cooperation. "It'll be fine. If she sees you like this, she might panic."

With a hint of annoyance, and then resignation, Raquel turned towards the door. Naoto quickly unlocked the door and urged her inside. As soon as Raquel slipped through, he closed the door behind her.

(She's so reluctant) he thought to himself. Despite her aloof and arrogant demeanor, she seemed so timid about the idea of being alone with Haruka for even a short while. (I hope she's okay.)

He pressed his ear against the door, trying to listen for any sounds from inside. But he couldn't hear anything. Normally, he would be able to hear Haruka greet Raquel. But there was nothing.

(What's going on?)

Even if Raquel was quiet, Haruka would surely say something when she saw her. There was no way she would ignore Raquel's arrival. But the house was eerily silent. Confused, Naoto moved to the gap between the door and the wall and pressed his ear closer. Still, there was no sound.

"Raquel! Haruka!" Something was wrong. Naoto felt it instinctively and immediately burst into the apartment. Kicking off his shoes, he rushed down the hallway. At the end of the corridor, he saw Raquel standing still, as if frozen.

"Raquel, what's wrong?!" Something felt off about the atmosphere in the apartment, and a sense of dread washed over him. As he hurried into the living room, his gaze was drawn to Raquel, who was standing stiffly at the entrance. He tried to move her, but she was as rigid as a statue. It was as if she was sewn into place.

On the sofa in Naoto's living room sat a stranger. As Naoto's footsteps drew closer, the visitor turned slowly, a languid smile playing on his lips.

"Ah... I hope I'm not interrupting." His voice was so sweet, it was almost sickening. The man had long, jet-black hair and pale, almost translucent skin. His features were hauntingly beautiful. "You must be Naoto Kurogane."

Naoto's heart skipped a beat. That single sentence felt like a sharp knife, cutting through him. Every movement, every breath felt like a thin sheet of paper, about to be torn to shreds. He felt paralyzed, as if moving would be fatal. And then, right beside Naoto, the air vibrated. He heard Raquel's voice, a trembling whisper.

"F-Father..." It took him three seconds to process the words. And another five to realize she was referring to the black-haired man in front of him.

(Father...!?)

Naoto stared at the man on the sofa, his eyes wide with disbelief and horror. He couldn't quite put his finger on what was so terrifying about the man. Despite his striking beauty, there was something cold and distant about him, a sense of otherworldly power that sent shivers down Naoto's spine.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. My daughter has spoken highly of you. I am... Clavis Alucard." The man smiled thinly, his crimson eyes glinting.

### 004. Chapter 3: Mitsurugi

## BBBE Chapter 3: Mitsurugi

### Part 1

"Is this really my home?" Naoto couldn't help but wonder, feeling a cold sweat break out on his forehead. The familiar layout, the walls, the floor, the ceiling—everything was just as he'd left it that morning. Yet, this place now felt completely different, dominated by the presence of an uninvited guest. The once warm and cozy atmosphere had turned cold and tense. At the center of it all, sitting on the sofa, was the hauntingly beautiful black-haired man, Clavis Alucard, who was sipping from a teacup.

"I'm enjoying this. It's quite a good tea leaf," he remarked. The delicate clinking of the cup against its saucer made Naoto gasp. It was a teacup, not a mug—one of the special ones they used for guests. Someone had taken it from the cupboard and made Clavis a cup of tea. The only person who would do that was Haruka. But Haruka was nowhere to be seen.

Clavis seemed to sense Naoto's anxiety and turned his gaze towards the back of the room. "Don't worry. I haven't harmed Haruka. She's just asleep in the other room." He was probably referring to the Japanese-style room connected to the living room. Naoto wanted to turn around and check if Haruka was really there and if she was safe. But he couldn't move. Clavis's eyes were on him, watching his every move. As long as their eyes met, Naoto felt paralyzed. It was as if if he looked away for even a moment, his head would roll off his shoulders.

(Damn it…)

What kind of monster was this man? Without even touching him, Clavis had managed to instill a deep-seated fear in Naoto. It wasn't the fear of being hurt; it was a fear of the unknown, of the inexplicable.

Clavis was clearly not normal. He was something else entirely. Naoto could see it in the numbers above Clavis's head. They were a jumble of symbols, meaningless to Naoto. It was a clear indication that Clavis was a being beyond his comprehension. It was then that Naoto felt something soft touch his trembling hand. Regaining his composure, he glanced sideways. Raquel's hand was gently wrapped around his fist.

"It's okay. Haruka is fine," she whispered quickly, her voice tense but reassuring. If Raquel said so, then it must be true. The cold of her hand against his helped to calm his nerves. Naoto exhaled and turned his gaze back to Clavis.

"Don't be so tense. I'm not going to eat you. I'm just here to talk," Clavis said, his voice oddly menacing despite his claim of harmlessness. He gestured with the hand that was resting on his knee. "Sit down. Or would you prefer I stand?"

Startled by the sudden, almost playful tone in Clavis's voice, Naoto blurted out, "N-no..." His voice trembled, and he felt a pang of self-derision. How pathetic he sounded. Before Naoto could move, Raquel acted. She sat down on the floor opposite the sofa, across the coffee table. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but given the circumstances, she didn't seem to mind.

Naoto followed her and sat down beside her. As he faced Clavis directly, he felt a wave of oppressive dread wash over him. Even without doing anything, Clavis seemed to exude an aura of cold, detached menace. It was as if he was holding a blade to Naoto's throat, not with a physical weapon, but with his gaze.

"Now then..." Clavis began, his voice smooth and measured. Raquel flinched. Naoto noticed and felt a pang of protectiveness. Even though she had faced off against the 'Immortal Breaker' Relius with such confidence, she seemed intimidated by Clavis.

As if sensing Naoto's concern, Raquel spoke up. "What do you want, Father?" she asked, her chin tilted slightly. Her voice trembled just a little.

Clavis exhaled slowly. "What do I want…? That's quite a question for a daughter to ask her father who has come to take her home." His youthful appearance made the word 'father' seem out of place, and he said it with a detached coldness that made it even more unsettling. He glanced around the room. "... And I never thought you'd return here."

It was as if he'd muttered to himself, but Naoto heard it clearly. What did that mean? Naoto wanted to ask for an explanation for why Raquel had left home and what Clavis meant by "here." But before he could speak, Clavis's gaze returned.

"I see my daughter has been well cared for. Thank you for that... and my apologies for any inconvenience I may have caused."

"No, it wasn't an inconvenience at all," Naoto replied, though it wasn't entirely true. He'd felt more helped than anything. Besides, he hesitated to say anything negative about Raquel to this man.

Clavis let out a soft breath and smiled. "You're a kind young man. Very human," he said, but the words sounded condescending to Naoto. Clavis elegantly steepled his fingers. "As for Raquel, I would like to take her back if you don't mind. What do you think?"

"What? I... I don't know..." Naoto hesitated. He couldn't understand why Clavis was asking him. It was as if he needed Naoto's permission to take Raquel back.

Raquel seemed to have the same thought. She clasped her hands together and leaned forward slightly. "Father, I have no intention of returning," she said firmly.

But her words seemed to extinguish the soft smile on Clavis's face. His red eyes narrowed as he looked at her. The atmosphere grew tense. "Raquel," he said calmly, "I'm speaking to Naoto now." It wasn't a shout, nor was it a threat. It was simply a statement. Yet, it was enough to silence Raquel. She shrank back, looking like a scolded child.

"I'm sorry, Father," she said. Even Naoto was surprised by Raquel's reaction. And when Clavis turned his gaze back to Naoto, Naoto found himself speechless. The quiet intensity in Clavis's eyes was overwhelming.

(Damn, this guy is scary.)

"Naoto," Clavis said.

"Y-yes!" Naoto jumped, forcing himself to speak calmly.

"I understand the situation. I know you must be worried about Raquel coming back with me, but don't worry. I'll take responsibility for your life."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Naoto's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he leaned forward slightly. Clavis's statement, delivered so casually, was completely out of the ordinary. Clavis's pale hand, perfect in its beauty, moved towards his chest.

"From now on, use my life. Even if you die hundreds of times, I will restore you immediately. I will also handle the changes brought on by vampirism."

"Handle? What do you mean by that...?"

"Raquel said she would too, right? I'll get the Azure as well. Is there a problem with that?"

"Wait!" Raquel's voice cut through the air, interrupting Clavis's seemingly gentle but forceful words. It was a strong, assertive voice. Naoto turned to look at her in surprise. Clavis followed suit with a minimal movement. Raquel was leaning forward on the coffee table. "Father, I..."

"You will return home and behave yourself. I can't afford to lose you."

"No! We'll find the Azure ourselves. I won't obey you..." Before Raquel could finish her sentence, the atmosphere changed. It happened in an instant.

"Be careful what you say," Clavis warned, his voice sweet yet sharp. Raquel was speechless. As she opened her mouth to protest, Clavis's cold fingers reached for her neck. He had stood up and leaned forward, his hand extended as if to grasp her throat. But…

"I’m surprised... a good reaction." Clavis said, a smile spreading across his face. It was not the elegant, cold smile he usually wore, but a seductive and almost cruel smile that hinted at something inhuman. Clavis's hand stopped just short of reaching Raquel. Naoto's hand had grabbed it. It was an entirely unconscious act, but it wasn't without intention. Clavis's movement, though seemingly slight, had felt incredibly violent and arrogant. And in that moment, Naoto had acted instinctively. With a strong grip, Naoto held Clavis's wrist and glared into his crimson eyes, suppressing the tremor in his body.

"Wait... I'm sorry. As much as I appreciate it, I don't want you to take Raquel back, and I don't plan on relying on you. And can you please stop barging in and doing whatever you want?" Naoto had to muster all his courage to say those words. He felt like his heart was about to burst as he met Clavis's menacing crimson gaze. Clavis shook his head slightly.

"Is that so? So I'm being presumptuous... I suppose you're right," Clavis said slowly. Naoto thought he was going to die. This was clearly a bad situation. But instead of trying to shake off Naoto's grip, Clavis looked apologetic. "I apologize for my forwardness. I meant to offer a proper introduction. And another thing... I got carried away."

"What?" Before Naoto could ask what he meant, Raquel gasped. Naoto was speechless as well. His right arm, which had been holding onto Clavis, had suddenly fallen to his lap. As easily as pulling a doll's arm out of its socket, Clavis detached Naoto's arm without any resistance. Before it hit the floor, Clavis caught it with the hand that had been held captive. It was definitely Naoto's arm. But it hung limply, and it didn't look human. In fact, it didn't look like any living creature. The arm was severed at the middle of the upper arm and had a smooth, dark red cut. There was no flesh, bone, or nerves visible, just a perfectly smooth, red surface.

"Wh-what is that...?" Naoto managed to stammer. He felt no pain where his arm had been, and there was no blood.

Raquel explained, "I made it with my blood. It was necessary to regenerate your arm."

"So, that's a blood clot?"

"Yes. I think it should function as a normal arm, though," Raquel said, looking a little embarrassed as she glanced at the stump of Naoto's arm. Naoto turned his gaze back to Clavis.

Clavis sat back on the sofa, examining the blood-made arm. "It's not bad, but it's not perfect," he said. Naoto didn't understand how he had reached that conclusion, but Raquel seemed to. She sat down beside Naoto, imitating Clavis. Raquel stepped forward. Clavis, his face turned towards his arm, glanced at her without saying a word.

"Raquel, why did you choose 'him'?"

(Choose?) Naoto was the only one who seemed puzzled. Raquel, who seemed to understand what Clavis was implying, said nothing and simply glared at her father. Realizing that his daughter wasn't going to answer, Clavis gave a small, whispered laugh and gestured for Naoto to come closer.

"Come here. Extend your arm."

"...Yes." How could he refuse a man like that? Although he felt a sense of unease at this soft pressure, Naoto did as he was told and went to Clavis, offering his right arm—or rather, the shoulder where his right arm had been. Clavis took the stump of Naoto's arm, which was slightly protruding from the sleeve of Naoto's T-shirt, and perfectly aligned it with the severed end of the arm. Then he muttered some strange words. Instantly, the two ends fused together seamlessly, forming a complete arm.

"Wow... that's amazing."

“How does it feel?” Surprised by the unexpected phenomenon, Naoto followed Clavis's instructions and bent and straightened his elbow. He made a fist and opened his hand. It moved smoothly. Although he hadn't felt any particular problems the last time, he realized that the arm felt somewhat heavier and stiffer after Clavis had reattached it. Now, it moved even more naturally than his original arm.

"Don't meddle in this," Raquel said, her voice filled with resentment. Her blood-red eyes turned a pale, cold color.

“Don’t deceive me. And this is not for you; it’s a token of apology and gratitude to him.”

"Naoto is my servant. Don't touch him without my permission."

"And what are you to me?" Scoffing, Clavis stood up from the sofa. Remembering how Clavis had reached out to Raquel earlier, Naoto instinctively tensed. But with a look that seemed to dismiss such childish bravado, Clavis walked past Naoto towards the living room entrance.

"If you wish, you can keep Raquel for a while. You can do whatever you want with the Azure as well. I won't interfere. She's a spoiled girl, but please take care of her."

"R-really?" Just a moment ago, Clavis had said he was taking her back. Now, he was just as easily giving her up. It was puzzling. His attitude towards his daughter Raquel and his attitude towards Naoto, who could be considered his subordinate in vampire terms, didn't seem appropriate. Normally, Raquel should be treated with more respect.

"And shouldn't I be treated even more harshly?" Ignoring Naoto's question, Clavis turned his head towards the entrance, as if he had heard a sound.

"I must apologize for one more thing. It's going to be a bit noisy." As if timing it perfectly—and it was indeed Clavis who timed it perfectly—a loud, almost explosive sound echoed from the entrance.

### Part 2

It became clear that the sound was the front door being smashed in when Clavis, standing at the entrance, effortlessly caught the door as it flew towards him, smashing into the hallway wall.

With the casual ease with which one would catch a thrown ball, Clavis grabbed the heavily damaged door. Immediately, something else jumped towards him. It was a man. Leaping over the hallway wall, he let out a roar as he swung his leg in a powerful kick. He aimed for Clavis's torso. The kick was delivered with incredible speed and force. Clavis blocked the kick with the door he was holding.

There was a loud crash, and the shockwave sent the ceiling light in the living room crashing down. The teacup that Clavis had been drinking from earlier was thrown off the table and shattered. The front door, which had been used as a shield, shattered like thin paper and scattered across the living room floor.

"You..." Naoto shouted, recognizing the intruder. It was the same man he had met just an hour or so ago. With his hair tousled and wild, his eyes as sharp as a beast's, his body muscular, and his legs capable of shattering concrete walls, it was Valkenhayn Helsing, one of the 'Immortal Breakers'.

"I found you, Clavis Alucard!" Valkenhayn roared, shaking the room. After landing, he swung his log-like arm from the opposite side. The force of the blow was palpable, causing the air to vibrate. It was a force beyond human capabilities. Yet, Clavis dodged it effortlessly, as if it were nothing, and then grabbed Valkenhayn by the scruff of his neck.

"I must thank you for the tea. Damaging her sanctuary, the kitchen, is unforgivable." Even in this situation, he spoke calmly. Then, with a casual gesture, he lifted Valkenhayn, who was probably taller than him, as if he were a small animal. Then he threw him away as if he were nothing.

With a swift motion, Clavis kicked the airborne Valkenhayn. The force, which seemed impossible from such a simple movement, sent Valkenhayn flying out of the entrance and into the hallway. Unable to resist or defend himself, Valkenhayn was thrown straight out and crashed into the hallway wall, breaking through it and falling to the other side. A thin cloud of dust rose.

Naoto watched in stunned silence. For him, Valkenhayn had been a threat– a monster with an abnormal life force, a dangerous person who tried to kill him without hesitation. Naoto remembered the intense killing intent he had felt when Valkenhayn had almost stomped on his head. But now, that same threat was being casually dealt with. Suddenly, a sound like gears turning swirled at Klavis's feet.

Countless hands rose from the floor, surrounding the stationary vampire, blocking his view of the crimson eyes as they fell downward. The arms were white, supple, and unusually long. Naoto recognized them. At the same time, he realized who was controlling the arms. It was Relius.

The countless hands grabbed Clavis's legs, arms, shoulders, torso, and neck, trying to pull him down. Clavis's posture was slightly disturbed by the immense force pulling him down, and a huge, furry wolf emerged from the rising dust, charging straight at him.

It was a large wolf with thick brown fur, bigger than both Naoto and Clavis. With its white, bared fangs, it jumped powerfully, aiming for Clavis's throat. Without hesitation, Clavis offered his arm to the beast. There was the sound of flesh tearing and bones breaking. The wolf's jaws could easily tear through a thin human arm in one bite... or so it should have.

The beast let out a low growl. Its fangs were deeply embedded in Clavis's arm, but it couldn't pull it out. The beast’s low growl echoed ominously through the room. Holding the wolf, which was still biting his arm, Clavis raised his arm. He held the enormous beast in the air and looked into its fierce eyes, smiling.

"Well, well. It's been a long time since I've seen you in person. It's a pleasure." To Clavis, even the ancient race with both human and wolf forms wasn't particularly special. With a deep frown on its furry brow, the wolf—Valkenhayn in his transformed state—glared at Clavis. Still holding the wolf, Clavis looked down at the countless hands that were surrounding and restraining him.

"And then... the puppeteer. An interesting combination," he said. And then, holding out his hand, the countless hands attached to him were severed one by one, falling to the floor. The beautifully mirror-like severed edges rolled away, gradually merging into the floor as they disappeared.

Next, Clavis turned to face the window. As he did, he swung his arm wide, still holding the wolf aloft. The arm, torn by the massive fang, was severed at the elbow. Scattering blood droplets, Valkenhayn was thrown back with tremendous force. He smashed through the window, shattered the balcony wall that acted as a fence, and continued his trajectory, crashing into the opposite apartment building across the street. A deafening roar echoed through the area, like an explosion, and a violent wind whipped through Naoto's home, knocking over everything in its path.

Naoto crossed his arms in front of his face to protect himself and Raquel. As the wind and dust began to settle, he quickly looked up. Clavis was stepping over the broken glass shards, ignoring the remaining glass in the window frame as he moved towards the balcony. Following Clavis's gaze, which seemed to be filled with a troubled smile as he looked outside, Naoto also looked out.

There was a crater-like hole in the wall of the opposite apartment building, and two figures stood beside it. One was Valkenhayn, who had just been thrown. He had returned to his human form and was supporting himself by driving his strong arm into the apartment building's outer wall like a stake. A little below him, standing calmly on a large, hand-shaped puppet protruding from the wall, was Relius, clad in a purple cloak.

Although Naoto couldn't see their expressions clearly, they were both staring intently at him. As he watched, Clavis lightly shook his wrist and clenched his hand as if to check it. That hand was the one that Valkenhayn had torn off just a moment ago. But there was no trace of injury, and even the torn clothes had been perfectly repaired.

"I apologize for the sudden disturbance, but I must take my leave," Clavis said, as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world. He turned his shoulder and looked at his daughter, who was standing a step behind Naoto with deep, unreadable eyes. "That's a nice outfit. It suits you well."

"Haruka picked it out for me," Raquel replied proudly, lightly grasping the collar of her blouse.

Clavis gazed at her steadily. "Then take good care of it," he said, his eyes narrowed. Then, he lightly stepped over the balcony railing and jumped high into the air.

"Wait!" Naoto instinctively grabbed onto the railing. But his worry was unfounded. Clavis easily jumped across the road to the rooftop of the opposite apartment building and turned around as he saw his pursuers climbing up. From there on, it was like watching a movie. Clavis jumped to the roof of the next building with ease, and Valkenhayn and Relius followed, as if they were running on an ordinary road. It didn't take long to lose sight of the three unusual figures. Naoto couldn't tell who had gone in which direction or where they were now. All Naoto could understand was that, for now, a tremendous situation had been contained. When had the world become such a parade of incomprehensible events that defied his common sense? Staggering slightly, he turned to look back at the scene visible from the balcony, left speechless in shock.

Stumbling backward, Naoto stared at the scene inside the room from the balcony, speechless.

In a word, it was a disaster. The window glass was shattered into pieces, scattered across the balcony and windowsill. Everything in the living room was overturned. The floorboards were gouged, the walls were dented, and there were several holes in the ceiling.

Considering that two extraordinary monsters—or three, if you counted Relius—had rampaged through here for a short period of time, it was almost a miracle that the damage was confined to Naoto's room and its surroundings.

Strangely, amidst the room that had been so mercilessly and indiscriminately damaged, the spot where Naoto and Raquel had been standing, the kitchen, and the teacup on the table were completely unharmed, as if nothing had happened.

"So... what do we do now?" Naoto slumped his shoulders and sighed deeply. It was as if a gas explosion had occurred. However, considering that the kitchen, the most likely source of gas, was undamaged, that explanation didn't hold water. He had no idea how he was going to explain this situation to Haruka and Yuki, the homeowners.

“Wait, Haruka!” Naoto looked up, startled, and jumped over the glass shards back into the room. He pushed open the sliding door next to the living room and looked inside. There, Haruka, covered in a blanket, was hugging a cushion and fast asleep.

"Mmm... fufu, squishy..." It was unclear whether she was talking or mumbling in her sleep, but she kept snuggling into the cushion. Her sleeping face was so peaceful that it was almost surreal. However, outside the range of Haruka's peaceful sleep, the aftermath of the battle left clear scars.

(So... he was protecting us. Me, Raquel, and Haruka. And probably the kitchen too.)

The realization hit him, and Naoto was stunned again. It was impossible for only certain areas to be completely unharmed amidst such widespread damage. And not just one place, but clearly multiple specific locations had been left untouched. Clavis had intercepted Valkenhayn, dealt with Relius, and managed to protect the bare minimum.

"I guess I should be grateful. But more than that, it's just unbelievable." Slumping to the floor, Naoto let out a wry smile. Raquel, who had been peering into the Japanese-style room from the side, let out a small sigh of relief.

"It's no surprise she hasn’t woken up. She’s probably under that man's magic. Until the effect wears off, she won't wake up no matter what disasters occur."

"Hey, is that really okay?"

"As long as she's asleep under the spell, there's no problem. ...Because he's that kind of man," Raquel murmured, adding the last part softly. Naoto scratched his head, feeling a bit uneasy about Raquel's words.

“…You’re saying ‘that man,’ but he’s your father, right?” Both Raquel’s demeanor towards Clavis and Clavis’s attitude towards her felt somehow discordant. When he looked closely, Raquel wore a pained expression, shutting her mouth and turning her face away, as if to warning not to touch on the topic. It was obvious that there was something going on. Naoto felt awkward and couldn't continue the conversation. For now, he thought he should at least try to clean up the room before Haruka woke up. Just as he was about to stand up, he heard a strange, overly sweet female voice from the living room entrance.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, what should we do about this?"

Naoto quickly looked up and turned around. There stood a woman he’d never seen before. She was tall, with honey-brown hair tied up high. Dressed in a white jacket suit, her fitted skirt had a deep slit, showcasing her long, toned legs. With slender glasses perched on her nose and high-heeled shoes on her feet, she exuded an air of a capable woman. However, the voluptuous body line and particularly ample bosom hinted at more sexual allure than intellectual appeal.

Naoto didn’t recognize her.

When her unusual purple eyes found Naoto, she blushed excitedly and smiled broadly.

### Part 3

The room was a mess. Except for a few specific places and items, everything else was in ruins, hardly suitable for anyone to live in. Yet here she was, entering without any preamble, completely unfazed by the chaos.

How many uninvited guests have barged in today? For a moment, Naoto wondered if this wasn’t his home at all, but someone else’s.

"Naoto Kurogane-kun... right?" Standing at the entrance to the living room, the woman in the red suit cupped her blushing cheeks with her hands, looking very pleased to meet him. Raquel, standing nearby, tensed up so much that Naoto thought he might hear a creak.

(Is her social anxiety acting up again...?)

He recalled that Raquel had said she struggled with other women. Glancing sideways, he confirmed her pale face. If that’s the case, this guest must be particularly difficult for her. There was an undeniable "feminine aura" about the woman, both in a good and bad way.

“Yes, that’s right, but you…?”

"Ah~, I knew it! I just knew it the moment I saw you." Before Naoto could finish asking who she was, the woman interrupted him, cutting off the end of his sentence and, with it, grabbed his hand. She excitedly closed the distance between them, pressing in. Naoto was startled by her sudden proximity and recoiled. But he was unable to pull away. The woman had tightly grasped his hand and pulled it towards her chest.

"Hey, wait..." His hand sank into the softness of her ample bosom, the unfamiliar warmth enveloping him. A heat of confusion spread across his neck. He instinctively tried to pull his hand back, but she held on tightly, gazing up at him with a flirtatious look. Her pouting, pink lips, enhanced by lipstick, spoke in a voice that was sweetly teasing.

“I’m really sorry! That surprised you, didn’t it? But you see, I’m in a bit of a bind… those people just don’t know how to hold back. I keep telling them not to cause trouble for others.”

'Those people?' Naoto realized she was probably referring to Valkenhayn and Relius. It was possible Clavis was included, but that seemed unlikely.

“Hmm, but I didn’t expect to meet you so soon. I’m so happy…” She whispered dreamily, rubbing her cheek against Naoto’s hand as if he were something cherished. It made Naoto instinctively pull back. In doing so, his fingers brushed against the rim of her glasses.

"So... who the hell are you!" Naoto glared at the woman in the suit, asking in a harsh tone. It wasn’t that he was disinterested in her body; however, even if she were stunningly beautiful, he didn’t appreciate being forced into such an intimate encounter with a stranger. Honestly, it felt unsettling.

The woman’s lips curved into an alluring smile. She struck a pose that accentuated her curves, her voice softening as she replied, “You’ll find out soon enough, don’t worry…” Naoto felt her hand reaching toward his head, as if to pat him. “Aw, you’re so cute when you’re shy.”

"Don't touch me," Naoto said, forcefully swatting away her outstretched hand.

"Ouch," she replied, but she didn't seem intimidated. In fact, she seemed to enjoy being swatted away, giggling softly.

“Well... ‘Nice to meet you.’ I’m Kiiro from the Mitsurugi Agency. Nice to meet you, Naoto-kun!” Kiiro took a step closer to Naoto and playfully poked his chest with her index finger. Then, suddenly, she turned to Raquel. “So this is Raquel Alucard, huh?” Suddenly called out by her name, Raquel's expression tightened once more. The tone of her voice sent chills down Naoto's spine. It was a cold, indifferent voice, as if she were looking at an inanimate object. As she called out to Raquel, Kiiro twisted her body and stood directly in front of her.

"Hmm... I see..." Kiiro appraised Raquel with a scrutinizing gaze. Raquel said nothing in response to the audacious stare, remaining as still as a delicate doll. She appeared outwardly calm, but Naoto could somehow feel that she was like a frog being hypnotized by a snake.

Tucking a strand of her long hair behind her ear, Kiiro leaned in close to Raquel. Raquel blinked. Ignoring the slight change in her expression, Kiiro whispered in Raquel's ear. "...It's troublesome having someone like you wandering around. I'd like to capture and dismantle you right away, but since Naoto-kun is here, I'll let you off this time."

It was unclear whether she meant for Naoto to hear her, but her voice was just loud enough for him to catch. With a cold tone, she looked up and turned a seductive, coquettish smile toward Naoto. "Naoto-kun, you're really troublesome too. Look at what a mess they've made of your room."

“Uh…” Naoto managed to squeeze out that much, furrowing his brow. He could think of many reasons why he disliked this woman, but beyond that, he had an instinctive aversion to her. There was something very unpleasant about her.

(It’s you who’s being a nuisance... just leave already.)

He wanted to tell her to get out, but there was something he wanted to ask her first. She seemed to know something about the situation. Forcing himself to calm down, Naoto opened his mouth.

“So, what do you want, Kiiro-san from the Mitsurugi Agency? You barged in here, so you must have a reason."

"Don't look at me like that, it makes me shiver."

“Hey!”

"The reason I'm here is to clean up the mess those people made... and to greet you... That's why," she replied, a mischievous smile playing on her lips as she ran her perfectly manicured fingers along her mouth.

"A greeting? Why?" Naoto demanded, his voice rising in anger.

"Of course, to deepen our relationship," she replied, her voice dripping with innuendo.

"So... what the hell..." Naoto ran his hands through his hair, ruffling it roughly. Kiiro watched him with a kind of dreamy satisfaction, her tongue darting across her painted lips. “I’m serious. Naoto-kun and... that Raquel Alucard over there are very important for the Mitsurugi Agency’s objectives.” Her words, implying that she wanted him to ask for more information, irritated Naoto. He rubbed his temples.

“What exactly is that objective? Stop beating around the bush.” Even as he asked, he had an inkling of what Kiiro referred to as the ‘Mitsurugi Agency’s objective.’ Kiiro blinked her large, reddish-purple eyes, which sparkled ominously.

“The annihilation of the immortal monster, Clavis Alucard. That is the Mitsurugi Agency’s tragic goal.” Raquel reacted slightly at the mention of her father’s name. Kiiro crossed her arms over her ample chest and adjusted her slim glasses with her fingertips.

"You saw it for yourself just now, didn't you? The mere fact that such a monstrous creature exists is more than enough of a threat to the world." Naoto had no objections to the fact that Clavis was a monster. However, he was deeply dissatisfied with Kiiro’s dismissive tone. With a look of both dissatisfaction and resentment, Naoto glared at Kiiro.

“So, the Mitsurugi Agency is a monster-hunting group?”

“Hmm, something like that... Our job is to capture and dissect creatures like that one and create specimens.” Kiiro chuckled mischievously. It was an unsettling feeling. This time, Naoto openly glared at her. “Just kidding. Hehe, you look scary.”

With a voice as soothing as a cat’s purr, Kiiro laughed and leaned closer to Naoto, wrapping her arm around his neck and gently stroking his cheek with her palm. Feeling her warmth, devoid of any hesitation or embarrassment, only deepened Naoto’s frown. But Kiiro gazed at him intensely, as if finding his troubled expression endearing, while still drawing nearer.

“Our purpose is to uphold and manage the order of the human world. ‘The eternal peace of the world.’ That is the ideal that the Mitsurugi Agency advocates.” In a near-embrace, Naoto felt the plush softness of Kiiro pressing against his chest. Naoto tried to pull away, but Kiiro's arm, wrapped around his neck, refused to let him go.

“Sounds suspicious.” Both Kiiro's words and her presence gave him no desire to engage. Grabbing Kiiro's arm, he forcibly pulled it away. Even so, she remained close, placing the hand he had just pulled away on her ample chest as if to display it.

"My role is to eliminate the 'threats' that endanger that. And right now, at the top of that list is Clavis Alucard." That, of course, referred to the eternal peace of the world. Naoto's expression darkened as he turned his face toward the shattered window.

"What about Valkenhayn and Relius? I think they're pretty big threats too, don't you?" Compared to Clavis, they might be lesser threats, but they were far beyond what ordinary humans could handle. There was an insurmountable gap between them. But Kiiro shrugged and snorted, seemingly dismissive.

"Anything that can be controlled by humans isn't a threat. After all... we can kill them if we want to." The casual way she said it sent a shiver down Naoto's spine. That was it. This was the part of her that made Naoto uneasy—her sudden, casually violent remarks.

"So you're saying that anything that's beyond human control should be killed?"

"If it's for the sake of world order, then yes," she replied with a beautiful, almost innocent smile. Then, her voice softened.

"Hey, Naoto, do you know how many people disappeared during the 'mass disappearance' incidents?" Her smile remained, but her voice was ominous. Naoto spoke cautiously, as if he were being told a ghost story.

"Mass disappearances... you mean the abandoned apartment complex?"

"That place is one example, but it's not the only one. That apartment complex is just the tip of the iceberg. In total, '128,932 people' have disappeared in incidents around the world." Naoto was startled. He didn't know that so many disappearances had occurred in so many places, or that so many people had vanished. Naoto didn't clearly remember the events from that time, but if that were the case, it should have become a much bigger incident, making headlines worldwide. He had no recollection of it being covered in such a significant way.

Kiiro looked at Naoto with an unsettling gaze, her lips curled into a smile, as if testing him.

"What if I told you that Clavis Alucard was responsible for all of those disappearances? What would you think?"

"What...?"

"If it's just about making that many people disappear at once, human-made weapons can do it too. But weapons don't have will. Without a person to manage and use them, no matter how powerful, they won't be activated. They can even be dismantled. But Clavis Alucard is different." Kiiro continued, emphasizing her point. "He acts freely, without being managed by anyone, using his power as he wishes. He can wipe out a large number of people simply because he wants to. What else would you call that but a threat?"

"...Isn't that a bit too convenient? Just because weapons lack will doesn't mean the people using and managing them don't have their own intentions. Isn't that the same 'threat' you talk about?"

"That can't be helped. After all, this world exists for humans."

"For humans, huh..." Naoto still felt uneasy and bit his lip in frustration. Kiiro tilted her head in a coy manner, her hands clasped in front of her chest.

Kiiro clasped her hands in front of her chest and tilted her head coquettishly. "So, until we can eliminate Clavis Alucard, I'm afraid I'll have to keep an eye on you and your friends. It would be easier to just confine that little girl, but it's unlikely that Clavis would come to her rescue, and he might just abandon her and disappear."

For Kiiro and the agency, Raquel's appearance in Shinkawahama likely presented an unprecedented opportunity to see Clavis. They couldn’t let this chance slip by.

"But don’t worry. Monitoring just means watching for any contact from Clavis Alucard, so you can go about your usual life as you please. The agency won’t interfere with your day-to-day activities, and we won’t let that happen. If anything happens, we’ll back you up."

At those words, Naoto had a realization. It had been nagging at him all along. "I see, so it was you who cleaned up the blood and bodies in the abandoned complex and fixed the roads." It wasn’t the magical powers Raquel used that had cleared away the traces of last night's supernatural events; it was clearly the work of human hands. Such repairs and cover-ups had been accomplished overnight. Though the name and existence of the agency were not publicly known, it was evident they operated on a considerable scale.

Kiiro leaned in closer, whispering softly as she spoke. A faint, pleasant scent of perfume wafted from her. "That’s nothing. I’ll have this room fixed up in no time. Until then, I’ll prepare a hotel room for you to stay in."

"... I don't suppose you'll be staying at that hotel too, will you?"

"That's a secret," she replied with a knowing wink, her finger pressed to her lips.

"I'll pass. I don't need it." Naoto involuntarily took a half-step back. It might be overthinking, but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was a moral danger in Kiiro's heated gaze. While his carefree friend Shinnosuke might have jumped at the chance, even though he found Kiiro's seductive gestures alluring, he couldn't bring himself to touch her. Closing his eyes and giving in might be the easy way out, but he absolutely didn't want that.

"Hey, Naoto-kun. Forget about that little castle and come with me... I'll make you very happy. And besides..." Ignoring Naoto's open invitation, Kiiro's hand crept up his chest, tracing his skin and feeling his warmth. She leaned closer, her eyes filled with desire, as she stroked his chest. "I'll protect you," she said earnestly.

Naoto frowned, confused. He was perplexed not only by Kiiro's overly intimate behavior but also by the undercurrents in her words.

"... I'll pass on that." Grabbing the hand that was trying to crawl up his back, Naoto pushed Kiiro away. Kiiro didn’t resist much as she stepped back, but her expression remained provocatively playful.

“Too bad. But... I’m sure you’ll change your mind eventually.” She gave him a theatrical wink, her gaze intense and possessive. Then, as she turned to leave the living room, she paused.

"Hey... what kind of 'Drive' do you have, Naoto-kun?" Her smile was sharp and calculating. Naoto didn't understand her question or the meaning behind her expression.

"Huh? 'Drive'? What are you talking about?" Kiiro smiled deeper and shook her head slightly. Her hair cast a shadow across her face.

"It's nothing. Well, bye. See you later, Naoto-kun." The rhythmic sound of high heels walking outside the entrance gradually faded away. Finally, silence returned to Naoto's room. And then... Raquel collapsed behind Naoto.

"Whoa, what the hell!?"

“I can’t take it anymore... it’s impossible... the worst type...” Her voice trembled, tight with fear. Raquel’s eyes were completely vacant. Naoto had almost forgotten about her after she had been silent for so long, but it seemed that the double whammy of his father and Kiiro had dealt a significant blow. Her limp fingers sprawled on the floor as if they were about to convey some tragic dying message.

“What the heck is going on!? What happened!? What was all that noise!? Is Raquel okay!?” The sudden voice belonged to Haruka, who had woken up at the perfect moment. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she was looking around in confusion, her tousled hair framing her face. Next to her was Raquel, who had collapsed from stress. The room was a scene of panic with Haruka's disheveled state. Naoto placed a hand on his forehead, feeling the weight of the situation. This was just the beginning of a difficult time.

He tried to calm Haruka down, moving Raquel to the futon where Haruka had been sleeping. Naoto then attempted to explain the situation in the midst of the chaos of the half-destroyed room. However, there was no way he could tell her the full truth. As a result, he ended up giving a very fragmented explanation, and though Haruka listened, she wore a perplexed expression the entire time.

Just then, a man in a black suit, identifying himself as a member of the "Mikazuki Agency," arrived with a lawyer and began to explain everything unilaterally. He stated that the entire incident was due to the agency's mismanagement and that they would take full responsibility for the damages. There was no need to worry about the repairs for both the room and the shared areas of the building; everything would be restored as quickly as possible.

However, the complicated terminology and unfamiliar legal terms made the explanation difficult to grasp. Haruka repeatedly asked for simpler explanations, but the lawyer and the agents kept reiterating that they would restore everything and had to follow the set procedures. They managed to create an uncomfortable situation that hinted at "complex circumstances" without going into detail.

About an hour after their visit, when Haruka was thoroughly exhausted, the Mikazuki Agency finished their "explanation" and added, "Now we will explain the situation to the owner as well," before leaving Naoto's room.

Nothing had been dramatically resolved. Still, in terms of preventing Haruka from thinking too deeply about the matter, the Mikazuki Agency had achieved more than enough.

"…I wonder if my mom will hear the same story…" Naoto thought repeatedly, feeling guilty as he watched Haruka, who sighed heavily after sipping the special tea he had made for her.

### Part 4

The round wall clock's hands were nearing eleven o'clock at night. The living room, furnished in light brown, was quiet and filled with a familiar atmosphere. Naoto poured himself a cup of Earl Grey milk tea from a borrowed mug and sat down on the white sofa in front of the large TV. He stared blankly at the blank LCD screen.

This wasn't Naoto's home. It was Haruka's.

Originally, he was supposed to stay at home, semi-camping in his relatively undamaged bedroom, while Raquel stayed with Haruka. But Haruka had strongly insisted that he couldn't allow that, and so he had ended up staying at her place.

The Haruka family occupied the entire top floor of the apartment building, so there was more space and more rooms than Haruka and her mother, Yuki, needed. Naoto was allowed to use one of the spare rooms.

Currently, Haruka was in the bath with Raquel. Well, Haruka thought they were enjoying themselves together, but Raquel had protested that she felt uncomfortable with her pale, tense face. However, Haruka had insisted that she endure it as part of her lodging fee.

Left alone in the living room, Naoto was leisurely enjoying his before-bed tea. The tea in the cup was still warm, and as he sipped it, the soft scent of milk and the bergamot of the Earl Grey filled his nose. The tea leaves were a bit old, but the aroma was still strong. It must have been well-preserved. But Naoto's mood was anything but calm. When given such a quiet night, he couldn't help but think about everything that had happened.

(Thinking back, I only met Raquel yesterday...) He sighed deeply, leaning back against the sofa and gazing up at the ceiling. It was hard to believe, but he had met Raquel, seemingly died and come back to life, seen magic in the abandoned apartment complex, been nearly killed by Valkenhayn in the city, found Clavis waiting for him at home, and then his house had been half-destroyed by Clavis, Valkenhayn, and Relius. On top of that, that strange woman, Kiiro, had broken into his house. All of this had happened yesterday and today.

"Ah... My head is about to explode," he muttered. Naoto put his cup down on the table and lay down on the sofa. There was too much going on, and he couldn't sort it all out. The events were swirling around in his head, but that was all. The only thing he could understand was that he had been caught up in something completely insane. Sighing again, Naoto lifted his right arm and looked at it. He rolled up the sleeve of his T-shirt.

(I think... it was cut around here.)

He could roughly pinpoint the location, but when he looked at it, he couldn't tell where his own arm ended and the artificial one began. There was no strange feeling when he touched it. It was an arm made from Raquel's blood, modified in some way by Clavis.

"A vampire... an immortal... a threat," he murmured. He let his guard down, speaking out because Haruka wasn’t there. Even now, when he looked in the mirror, he could clearly see the number "0" above his head. It was a sign that he had changed. But he didn’t feel that he was “not a normal human.” Perhaps it was because of his peculiar eyes; he had never thought of himself as “normal” to begin with. Now, he simply had the added trait of regenerative abilities. He felt that he, Naoto Kurogane, hadn't changed that much.

But that was only for a year.

In a year, Naoto would change. He would become something other than human. Something other than Naoto Kurogane. He had no idea what form he would take or what kind of monster he would become.

“Azure…” He lowered his raised arm limply and covered his eyes, unconsciously speaking the name. If he had the Azure, he could return to being a normal human. He could live beside Haruka as he always had. He could remain unchanged. But if he really had the Azure, would that solve everything? After all…

(Does the Azure even really exist…?)

He had no idea where it was or what it looked like. There was almost no information available. Raquel had said the same. What also troubled him was that woman from the Mitsurugi Agency, Kiiro Hikagami.

“Hikagami… there’s no way she’s just a coincidence.”

Everything felt so confusing. He was exhausted. He was even tired of thinking… Naoto felt the weight of his arm as he sank deeper into slumber, gradually slipping into sleep.

...He could hear singing.

While still half-conscious, lost in the drowsiness that was melting his senses, Naoto muttered to himself.

(Ah, I… must have been asleep.)

As he wandered the boundary between dream and reality, he understood. The sound he heard was a lullaby. It wasn’t really a lullaby, just a simple children’s song, but Naoto knew someone who always thought of it as a lullaby.

It was Haruka.

Originally, it seemed her mother, Yuki, had sung it to her as a lullaby. That’s why Haruka always sang it when lullabies were mentioned. The gentle melody invited sleep, a sweet song. Drawn by that voice, Naoto suppressed his desire to sleep fully and slowly opened his eyes.

“...Whoa. You surprised me,” he exclaimed without thinking. The first thing that caught Naoto's eye when he opened his eyes was Haruka's pink pajamas. The thin fabric softly bulged outward, her breasts partially blocking his view of her face. Because of that, he couldn’t immediately see her expression.

The distance to the curves was surprisingly close, and if Haruka bent down even a little, they seemed like they would fall right onto Naoto’s face. More than that…

(I never really noticed before, but... she has surprisingly large breasts.)

The silhouette visible through the pink fabric looked different from when it was supported by a bra. She probably wasn't wearing one. Thinking that, Naoto couldn’t help but be distracted by the mounds so close to his face.

"Oh, sorry. Did I wake you up?" Noticing him, Haruka stopped singing and looked down at him from between her two generous breasts. Naoto jumped slightly. ...They swayed.

"No. You should wake me up. I haven't taken a bath yet," he said casually, avoiding her gaze.

It was then that he realized his situation. He must have fallen asleep on the sofa and Haruka, having just come out of the bath, had found him and used her knee as a pillow. No wonder his head felt warm. The scent of soap and shampoo made his fingertips tingle slightly.

Haruka had her hair down. It had been a long time since he had seen her like that. Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since he had spent the night in this house.

"I thought you looked tired. Oh, but I was going to wake you up at twelve."

“R-really?” Naoto replied casually, but he was unsure of what to do. Should he wake up or just stay like this? It felt awkward to force himself awake and push Haruka away, but remaining in this position was also uncomfortable.

As if gently calming Naoto's thoughts, Haruka's hand brushed through his hair. She sank her fingers into his locks like she was soothing a child, stroking his hair slowly. Without thinking, Naoto let out a deep breath. Haruka's touch felt strangely comforting. Pushing aside feelings of shyness or embarrassment, he found himself at ease with the soft sensation of her hand.

Listening to the gentle sound of her fingers running through his hair, Naoto looked up at Haruka with a furtive glance. Once the explanation from the Mitsurugi Agency was over, it was determined that the chaos in Naoto's room was caused by an accident involving a drone. He thought it was a ridiculous and far-fetched story, but Haruka accepted it. Or rather, it might be more accurate to say she had no choice but to accept it. It was just as impossible to affirm it as it was to deny it. That was the logic they had presented.

Haruka didn’t remember anything about Clavis. According to Raquel, that was part of the magic. So far, there were no signs of any abnormalities in Haruka. Given what Clavis had done, it seemed unlikely that there would be any negative effects in the future. At least, that’s how Naoto felt.

“It feels nostalgic having you stay over at our place, Nao-kun.” With a soft smile, Haruka murmured as she continued to stroke his hair.

"..... It's been about three years, hasn't it?" Naoto replied, nodding.

Haruka nodded vigorously. It wasn't the last time he had stayed over. Until three years ago, Naoto had lived in this house. But he had asked to move to a different room.

"Why don't you just live with me again? There's a spare room," Haruka said, her tone tinged with a hint of sincerity. Naoto furrowed his brow.

"Hey, that's not a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Why not... well, we're both adults now. It would be... complicated."

"It wouldn't be," Haruka replied, her answer unexpectedly quick and straightforward.

"Huh...?" Was it his imagination? Haruka's voice seemed unusually serious, and Naoto replied in a dumbfounded tone. Looking up at Haruka, he saw that she was staring at him intently. Her large, dark eyes seemed slightly moist, perhaps due to the warmth of her body after her bath.

The gentle hand that had been stroking Naoto's head in a steady rhythm suddenly stopped, as if holding its breath.

“I’m not troubled at all. What about you, Naoko-kun... are you troubled?”

"Haruka..." Naoto tried to speak, but the words got stuck in his throat. Above Haruka's upturned face, the number was rising. It was 20. Haruka's hand, which had been in his hair, slowly, hesitantly, and timidly touched Naoto's cheek. Her fingertips were warm.

“Naoko-kun, I…” She probably hadn’t intended to finish that sentence. Or perhaps her emotions had overwhelmed her. She slowly closed her eyelids. Her long eyelashes lifted at the tips, and her eyes seemed to be drawn to Naoto, as if she were trying to embrace something very important.

The scent of soap made him dizzy. The soft chest touching his cheek conveyed the steady beat of the heart hidden within it. The pounding heartbeat was a sign of tension. Was this heartbeat Haruka’s or his?

(Oh no, this is bad)

He couldn't resist the current that seemed to be pulling him down. He couldn't even think about whether he should resist it. Just as he breathed in…

"What are you two doing?" A voice, so innocent and casual, interrupted them, and Naoto's heart, which felt like it was about to burst from the tension, actually felt like it had burst.

“Wha—!?” Naoto hurriedly twisted his body and slipped off the sofa—or rather, fell off from his back. He hit the floor harder than he expected and writhed in pain. Meanwhile, Haruka looked around nervously, her face flushed bright red, and hurriedly got up.

"R-r-r-Raquel!" Her tongue got tangled, and she tilted her head in confusion. Raquel looked at the flustered Haruka curiously and tilted her head in the opposite direction. Sliding down the floor, Naoto moved a couple more steps away from the sofa and pressed his hand against his chest, trying to calm his pounding heart.

(That was a shock... That was a shock, and it was dangerous too...)

Just a few seconds ago, right there, on the sofa where he had sat countless times with Haruka watching TV, what was about to happen? Naoto's brain was sending out danger signals, telling him not to think about it. But he couldn't help it.

Just now, he and Haruka had…

“By the way, Haruka, Naoto, there’s something I want to ask you,” Raquel said, clearly noticing something was off with both Haruka and Naoto, her curiosity piqued.

"She probably just sees me as a plaything. Oh well," Raquel said indifferently, losing interest and turning her attention to her own business. She tossed her still slightly damp blonde hair over her shoulder like a veil, letting it shimmer in the living room light. Then, she turned and pointed.

“Who is that woman?”

"Huh?" Naoto and Haruka both looked in the direction Raquel was pointing, toward the living room entrance. There, hidden in the shadow of the door between the hallway and the living room, was a woman. She had short, bright brown hair that almost looked orange, and she was wearing a pantsuit. Her eyes were narrowed as she watched them with a curious gaze.

Naoto was speechless and nearly fainted at the sight of her, while Haruka blushed even redder and cried out, "M-Mom!"

The woman there was Haruka's mother, Yuki Hayami.

### Part 5

Yuki Hayami was a bold and generous woman who had raised Haruka single-handedly and even taken care of Naoto. Naoto didn't know her exact age, but she still maintained a youthful beauty that didn't seem possible for someone with a high school-aged daughter. Although she was busy with work and rarely home, she always showed an abundance of love for both Haruka and Naoto. That's why Naoto thought of her more like a real mother than anything else, and he couldn't look up to her enough for all she had done for him.

And so…

“Wow! What is this? It’s incredible, so silky! Oh, what beautiful golden hair! You look just like a doll! So cute! So lovely!” There was no way Naoto could stop Yuki from sitting down at the dining table, pulling Raquel onto her lap, stroking her hair, nuzzling her cheek, and examining her face, enjoying her soft touch.

"N-Naoto... please..." Raquel looked at Naoto with dull, cloudy eyes and pleaded for help in a barely audible voice. Considering Kiiro, Haruka in the bath, and now Yuki assaulting Raquel with affection, Naoto couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her. But he sat in the chair opposite Yuki, as he usually did, and slowly turned his gaze away from Raquel as if to escape.

(I’m sorry, Raquel... There’s nothing I can do for you.)

There was no way anyone could stop Yuki from getting so excited.

Even now, Haruka was explaining everything to Yuki: who Raquel was, why she was there, and what had happened today. But Yuki seemed completely absorbed in Raquel's appearance rather than her daughter's story.

"And so, we're letting her stay over... Mom, are you listening?" Haruka finally put her hands on her hips in exasperation, and Yuki looked up, still stroking Raquel's head.

"Yes, yes, I'm listening. And you said something about someone from Mitsurugi coming and saying something like that. What was it, a drone? Something about compensation and confidentiality... I don't remember very well, but it was so noisy. They talked for so long." Yuki waved her hand dismissively and made an exaggeratedly bored face. Naoto couldn't help but laugh at her childish gesture and expression.

"Ah... so you heard about that too." Haruka said, offering a sympathetic smile. She was reminded of the overwhelming fatigue that came after the lengthy explanation. However, Yuki seemed completely unfazed and carefree.

"Well, you two... no, I guess it's three of you now. I'm glad you're all safe. We can fix the house, but we can't replace you guys." She smiled, showing her white, even teeth. In Yuki’s case, there was no need for Raquel’s "Slave Red" to forcefully explain the situation. Yuki must know more about Naoto's family relations than Haruka does, and she was capable of calmly judging whether a cousin like Raquel could even exist. As an adult, she could probably imagine the level of commotion such an incident involving unmanned aircraft would cause.

And yet, Yuki didn't show any doubt or ask any questions. She accepted Haruka and Naoto's story as fact and welcomed the golden-haired visitor without hesitation. If you asked her why, she would undoubtedly answer that there was no reason to doubt them if Haruka and Naoto said it was true.

"And, Mom, about Raquel, can she stay over?" Haruka, who had already decided to let Raquel stay without her mother's permission, asked Yuki apologetically. Yuki hugged Raquel tightly once before nodding, as if she were happy to have another member of the family.

"Of course. I'd welcome her with open arms. In fact, why don't you just move in?"

"N-no... that's impossible..." Raquel's body stiffened at the proximity of Yuki's face, which was peering in from behind. She looked like a startled kitten, bristling at an unexpected situation. Seeing Raquel like that, Yuki couldn't hold back and hugged her tightly again.

"Even your confused face is cute!" Outside Yuki’s line of sight, Raquel’s neck drooped backward in resignation. Thinking that she might finally run out of breath, Naoto got up to separate them, but before he could, Haruka gently freed Raquel from her mother's grasp.

"Thank you, Mom. Well, we're going to bed now," Naoto said. Looking at the clock, he realized that the hour and minute hands had long passed the top. It would soon be one o'clock.

"Naoto, you should go to bed early too. You have school tomorrow," Haruka said.

"Yeah," he replied lightly, watching Haruka leave the living room. Prompted by Haruka, Raquel glanced at Naoto with a troubled expression but followed after Haruka, albeit hesitantly. Her long, unkempt golden hair swayed gently against the back of the orange pajamas she borrowed from Haruka. Perhaps because she was petite, she looked like a timid little animal, and Naoto couldn’t help but smile secretly.

(She's actually pretty cute when she looks so normal)

The pajamas made Raquel appear younger than during the day, and it was hard to believe she was the same person who had tried to take off her underwear in public. If she could get used to wearing clothes like this, it would ease his mind.

"Well, I'll... " Naoto got up from his chair, ready to go to bed. But Yuki stopped him.

“Hey Naoto. Could you make me some tea?”

“Tea? That’s rare for you, Yuki-san.” Usually, she always went for coffee.

“Just this once. Your tea is delicious.” He couldn't say no to that. Muttering something about how he couldn't help it, Naoto took out the teapot and boiled some water in the electric kettle. Unlike Naoto, Haruka and Yuki didn't keep various types of tea. They only had ordinary Darjeeling tea bags, the Earl Grey that Naoto had just made, and a peach tea that Haruka had received from a friend. Since she had asked him, he chose Earl Grey and poured the fragrant tea into Yuki's favorite mug, placing it in front of her.

"Here you go. Would you like some milk?"

"No, this is fine." As she reached for the cup, Yuki looked at Naoto. Her gaze urged him on. “Well, sit down then.”

"......What is it?" He had no reason to refuse. Naoto pulled out the chair opposite Yuki and sat down. As soon as he sat down, Yuki grinned mischievously.

“Sorry about earlier. I should have come back a little later.”

"W-what...?"

If he had made a cup of tea for himself along with Yuki's and had taken a sip now, he would have definitely sprayed hot tea all over his face. Or rather, why would she say that so suddenly? He had been bracing himself for a serious conversation, but her unexpected and lewd smile made Naoto lose his composure, causing him to rock back in his chair.

Holding up her cup, Yuki held up her thumb and index finger a few centimeters apart. Holding the cup at eye level, she said, "You were so close. What a shame... If only you were just a little bit..."

"Hey, cut it out," Naoto interrupted. The scene from earlier flashed through his mind. The scent of soap tickling his nose and Haruka's breathless gasp that he couldn't stop. As Naoto tried to look away, Yuki followed his gaze and continued her attack with a bright, cheerful voice, as if she had come up with a great idea.

“Oh, how about sneaking into Haruka’s room later? Just take what you want!”

“Are you serious?! Is that really something a mother should say!?”

"Haha. You have to experience a lot of things while you're young," Yuki laughed merrily, raising her mug. She took a deep breath and looked at the dark surface of the tea with kind eyes. "...Seriously though, Haruka doesn't have a father. I really want her to find a normal husband and build a normal family."

That was Yuki's true feeling, something she always carried in her heart. Naoto knew very well how warmly Yuki looked at Haruka. So, when he heard her affectionate words, dropped casually in between her teasing remarks, Naoto breathed a sigh of relief.

"......Yeah, I think so too." Naoto felt the same way. He wanted Haruka to be happy. Always and forever.

"So, what do you think?" Leaning forward on the dining table, Yuki rested her soft, ample chest on her arm and poked her face at Naoto. Her curious gaze pierced him, waiting for his reaction. Naoto made a wry face at her obvious intentions. Just when things were getting serious, she had to turn it into this.

"What do you mean, what do I think?"

"My Haruka is a good girl, you know? She's the cutest in the world," Yuki said with a cheerful smile. Naoto sighed. He already knew that Yuki thought Haruka was the cutest in the world.

"Then don't sell her short like that..."

"I'm just being realistic," she replied casually. Naoto couldn't come up with a quick reply. Yuki looked at Naoto with narrowed eyes, seeming pleased. She took a sip of her tea.

"I think you could make Haruka happy for the rest of your life," she said. "I wouldn't entrust Haruka to anyone else." Naoto could only look at Yuki with a complicated expression as she spoke softly, as if she were taking a deep breath.

(You're overestimating me, Yuki...) He murmured to himself. He did want Haruka to be happy. He wanted her to be even happier than she was now, and to be at peace.

"Yeah, and if there's anything I can do for that, I won't hold back." But that didn't come from a feeling that he could make Haruka happy. Rather, it was because he didn't have that confidence that he cared about her happiness. He didn't have the power to make Haruka happy in a peaceful light. He thought so firmly. And right now, that wasn't the point. More than wondering who Haruka's happiness would be with and how, Naoto needed the Azure right now.

If he couldn't find what he needed to find and get it, he would become a source of unhappiness for Haruka in a year. He realized again that he had to find it no matter what.

"......If that's all you have to say, I'm going to bed now," he said, making sure his tone wasn't too abrupt. In truth, he was tired—physically, but even more so mentally.

"Okay, okay, good night," Yuki said lightly, without trying to stop him. She raised her teacup as if to say, "Cheers." Even in this casual moment, she seemed to care for Naoto in her own way. He offered a wry smile in response to her innocent affection, which was almost like that of a real mother, and began to leave the living room. Then, from behind him, he heard, "Naoto." Her tone was slightly different this time—more insistent. Naoto turned to look over his shoulder. Yuki didn’t turn to face him, still gazing into her cup as she spoke. “Be careful of the Mitsurugi Agency.”

Those words came from someone who knew. Even if she didn’t specify what he should be cautious about, it was clear she had some inkling of the situation.

Unable to brush it off or joke about it, and certainly unable to ask her what she knew, Naoto turned his back to Yuki. He couldn’t carelessly involve her; if he did, it would draw her into this mess. Regardless of her knowledge, if she wasn’t directly involved, she was an outsider. Just as he felt strongly about not troubling Haruka, he felt the same about Yuki.

"Good night," he said and closed the living room door behind him.

It was a quiet night. And it was a very good night. The moon was obscured by thin, dark clouds, and the city was wet from the sudden shower that had started after dusk. Everything was damp. Thanks to that, the streetlights were bright, and the darkness was deep. Once you stepped into the thick shadows, the night would instantly swallow you up and hide you.

It was already past midnight. The humid air from the unexpected rain and the lingering cool temperature made the Shinkawahama Station area uncomfortably tepid. Perhaps thanks to this, there were fewer people than usual, and no one would notice if you were in the back of an old game center on a back street off the main road. Therefore, no one would notice or care if a man crossed in front of the concrete wall in the damp dead of night. From shadow to shadow, from depth to depth. With gliding steps, the man entered the small park next to the parking lot.

He was an eerie man. Dressed in a black stand-collar shirt, his body was thin and lanky, and his limbs were also long and thin. His neatly combed gray hair made him look like a gentleman who would fit right into high society, but the black tattoo that covered most of his faceless jaw indicated that he was not a person from the bright world. His eyes were narrow and sharp, and they lacked any human warmth. If anything, they conveyed coldness and cruelty. But now, his eyes held a smoldering passion as he stopped in front of the unmarked gray concrete wall.

There was nothing there. Not even a single graffiti tag drawn by a mischievous child. But as if there was something there, he stared intently and slowly raised his long arm to touch the cold wall with his wide hand. Slowly, he traced the wall with his palm. Then, as if blood were seeping from the wall, red letters appeared. Leaning in close, he ran his eyes over the newly appeared letters. He read each one carefully, as if verifying them, and memorized them.

"......Well, well, this is an interesting invitation," he said, raising his thin eyebrows and a sharp smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. Leaning in even closer, he brought his nose close to the red letters and sniffed. He sniffed at it, as if to make sure of its existence, and then stuck out his tongue without hesitation. His unusually long tongue was tattooed black, just like his face. He licked the wall with it.

"Ah..."

Was it satisfaction or admiration? He let out a deep breath and stood up, stroking the wall. At his feet, something quickly crawled out from the depths of the shadows.

“Ki-chi-chi.”

It was a strange insect about the size of a human head, making a sound like the clattering of armor. He couldn't see it clearly in the night, but the man knew it was a dull blue color and had red, bulging eyeballs. Its flat body, with many joints, was injured and its movements were slow and awkward.

Looking down at the deformed creature that had come crawling towards him, seeking its master, the man spoke to it in a very expressive voice.

"Thank you for guiding me this far. I only expected to get a whiff, but thanks to you, I've even managed to savor her flavor. I'm grateful," he said, a smile playing on his lips. He lifted his leg and brought it down with all his might onto the insect's back.

The sound of something hard and thin breaking and soft flesh bursting echoed through the late-night park. The green body fluid that had been abundantly stored inside the creature splattered everywhere and quickly evaporated in the open air, leaving only a charred mark behind.

The man turned back to the wall. The wall where the red letters had appeared. It seemed to have served its purpose. The letters were fading and disappeared before his eyes as he watched. Still, as if admiring the fact that they had been there, the man ran his hand along the wall. And he let out a trembling sigh.

"Wonderful..." His voice, hoarse, spoke with rapture. He furrowed his brow, looking at the now blank wall. He folded his long fingers and clenched them as if to confirm the sensation he had just felt. His breath was filled with admiration and ecstasy.

"That transparent voice I heard the other day... and the wonderful smell and taste to match it… Oh, I can't wait to touch you with these hands. I long to taste you directly with this tongue. If I could see your noble form, my body would surely tremble with excitement!" With heartfelt passion and desire for the person who wasn't there, he trembled with uncontrollable anticipation. The long-awaited moment was not far off. It was very close. What he sought was right beside him, breathing, bleeding, and living its life. How joyful it was.

He spread his arms wide and looked up at the sky. He looked up at the moon, whose silhouette was faintly visible behind the dark, hazy clouds. Through the moon, he spoke to the beloved soul.

"For you, I, Spinner Superior, will prepare the finest insect… Raquel-Alucard!"

### 005. Chapter 4: Secret

## BBBE Chapter 4: Secret

### Part 1

Perhaps I should have realized when I woke up.

It was a lovely sunny Monday morning. The temperature still had a hint of summer, but the occasional breeze was quite pleasantly cool.

I blended into the usual classroom scenery with my usual level of enthusiasm, and as always, I killed time between the bell and the arrival of the homeroom teacher, feeling a bit sleepy.

I thought about reading some trivial news uploaded to my phone, but with the school’s ban on mobile usage, Shinkawahama High School had no signal anywhere. As a result, I had nothing to do and was just thinking about killing a little time when, as always, the homeroom teacher appeared.

It was just another morning like any other. However, I was utterly taken aback, doubting my own eyes.

I'll say it again. I should have noticed when I woke up. I should have been able to.

I had slept over at Haruka's house for the first time in a while and woke up. At the dining table where I was urged to sit down for breakfast, Haruka was in a strangely good mood. It was also strange that Yuki, who had already left when I woke up, had taken Raquel with her.

During homeroom before the start of classes, a new student stood beside the homeroom teacher who had come to the class.

She was a small girl wearing the same Shinkawahama First High School uniform as us, with hair as beautiful as gold that made you want to stare at it. Her large, upturned eyes were also golden, and her translucent white skin gave her a mysterious aura. The name written on the whiteboard at the front of the classroom was 'Raquel Alucard'. There, as a new classmate, was none other than the Raquel I knew.

Hiding deep in the library, crouched behind a bookshelf filled with texts on religion and psychology, I kept my head down. It was now the middle of the first class of the afternoon. The subject was earth science, but since the teacher in charge, Isa, was absent, my class was instructed to study on our own in the library.

That said, only a handful of students were actually reading textbooks on Earth Science. Most of the students spread out manga and hobby books that had nothing to do with earth science on their desks and chatted with their friends without even looking at them.

However, being in the library, they seemed hesitant to raise their voices too much. The sound of chatter was muted, as if everyone were trying to maintain a semblance of decorum in this space. The voices were all low and muffled, blending together into a constant murmur.

Listening to the voices of his classmates over the bookshelves, Naoto sighed weakly. He was depressed. He was tired. Mentally. The cause was the blonde transfer student, Raquel, who was right beside him.

She herself said that she had only been alive for two years and four days... or maybe five. With such a meager life experience, and the fact that she had never worn clothes before, it was no wonder that she was so unconventional. And yet, it was unthinkable that she would suddenly enroll in high school without causing any problems.

During class, she would bring up theories that no one knew about and ask the teacher questions about magical perspectives, and if she was bored, she would try to leave the classroom. She would ask Naoto to prepare tea in the classroom, and then, when she said she was going to change for physical education class, she would start undressing in the classroom. Naturally, it was Naoto's job to jump in and stop Raquel every time she did something like that. As he did so, people around him began to question their relationship, and Raquel replied that he was her "servant."

In just one day, Naoto had been labeled as the servant of a beautiful blonde girl.

"You've been sighing since a while ago. It's really unsightly, so stop it," Raquel said in that same tone. "Whose fault do you think that is?"

Well, no wonder he was sighing.

Taking a deep breath, this time upward to try and change his mood, Naoto looked up at Raquel, who was staring curiously at the bookshelf in front of him.

"So? What's up?" As soon as they entered the library, she had asked to speak to him alone. Naoto had chosen this place to avoid prying eyes, as he didn't want to suddenly bring up the topic of vampires in front of his classmates. Raquel turned around and looked around. It was more like she was searching for a faint sound than checking to see if anyone was listening.

“I can sense remnants of something.” Naoto, who had been feeling listless until then, was jolted by the whispered words.

"What do you mean?" He sat up straight and frowned. "Are you saying that there's someone related to the Spinners in this school?"

"Not necessarily. But..." Raquel's golden eyes stared intently at Naoto. "It's certain that there are at least eight people in this school with Drive abilities," Raquel's reply etched deeper wrinkles between Naoto's brows.

"Drive abilities?" Another unfamiliar term had been thrown at him, and Naoto scratched his head. It sounded familiar. Hadn’t Kiiro said something about that?

"Naoto-kun, what kind of 'Drive' do you have?" she had asked.

"So, what is this 'Drive'?"

Raquel looked a little surprised, then put her hand to her mouth and thought for a moment. It was clear that it was a very normal, common word for her. Naoto couldn't help but feel that they lived in completely different worlds.

"A Drive is... 'the embodiment of the power of the soul,'" she said, gently opening her hand as if holding something in her white palm. “It’s a special ability that each person possesses, a unique power. It resides in everyone’s soul, and anyone has the potential to activate it.” As if cradling an empty soul in her palm, Raquel gently curled her fingers.

"It's like... a superpower?"

"Yes, I suppose you could say that," Raquel nodded lightly in response to Naoto's question and lowered her hand. "A Drive is activated when the soul comes even slightly closer to the Azure. There are mainly two triggers for this. One is when a soul that is stronger than usual is drawn to the Azure. Occasionally, there are those with exceptionally strong souls in this world. Such souls tend to be drawn to the Azure much more easily than others. Therefore, those with strong souls tend to be more likely to activate their Drives.”

“Of course, there are cases where people with strong souls don't activate their Drives, and conversely, there are cases where people with ordinary souls awaken to their Drives due to some accident. Those ‘Immortal Breakers... Valkenhayn Helsing and Relius Clover fit this description. Their souls are incredibly strong.”

"And the other one?"

“The other way is to bring oneself closer to the Azure. Spinner Superior did just that. Through his pursuit of magic, he drew his soul nearer to the Azure, activating his Drive ability.”

"Is that even possible...? We don't even know where the Azure is, do we?" Approaching a soul to something as uncertain and invisible as the Azure was a world away from Naoto's imagination. As if understanding Naoto, Raquel nodded once more.

"Normally, it's impossible. And the magical society that Spinner used to belong to forbids approaching the Azure. ...In other words, the fact that he was able to do it means he's anything but ordinary."

Not ordinary. Abnormal. Was it referring to his skills or his sinful desires? Naoto, who didn't know Spinner, and Raquel didn't know either.

"The closer a soul gets to the Azure, the more powerful the Drive becomes. That said, even Valkenhayn and Relius haven't even come close to a glimpse of it. If you could get close to a fragment of the Azure, the power you would possess wouldn't be something as simple as that." Naoto sensed from Raquel's words just how vast and distant the Azure was. At the same time, he felt a bit of despair. Spinner, who was aware of the existence of the Azure to such an extent that he could approach it himself, had yet to obtain it, and even Valkenhain and Relius were far too distant from its existence. How could someone like him possibly obtain something like that?

(I can't see a bright future...)

He didn't want to find out if he couldn't, but the more he understood, the more dazzling the situation seemed.

"So, are you and your father Drive users too? Because your souls have approached the Azure or something?" When Naoto asked out of curiosity, Raquel shook her head slightly, her expression slightly strained.

"My father is a bit different. He's a very special existence... a special case among special cases, an exception among exceptions." She repeated the words as if to convey how extraordinary and unusual it was. Unconsciously, she hugged her other arm with her hand. It looked a bit like a frightened gesture. "I don't know who it was, but a long time ago, there was someone in the world who was the only one to touch a fragment of the Azure. My father was created by that person using the power of the Azure."

"That sounds... incredibly amazing, doesn't it?" Although he couldn't say that he fully understood everything so far, he thought so even with his limited knowledge. Raquel looked at Naoto with a stern gaze as he hesitantly raised his hand and spoke. What lay in her gaze was not anger, but awe—specifically towards her own father.

"It's incredibly amazing. He's fundamentally on a different level from other living beings. He's a 'Fantasy Creature' born from the Azure, from human desires, resentment, and awe.”

These are beings that are closer to the Azure than any other creature, transcending all others by nature. If the manifestation of the power of the soul is the Drive, then Clavis could be seen as the manifestation of various aberrations born from many souls. The existence itself is the Drive.

But if Clavis is such a formidable existence, then a question arises for Naoto.

"Isn't Raquel a 'Fantasy Creature' too?" Raquel is also a vampire, just like Clavis. But Raquel lowered her gaze weakly.

"No. I was created by my father, who is a 'Fantasy Creature'. I'm probably closer to the Valkenhayns, a race created magically by humans."

The Valkenhayns are werewolves. But Raquel says that they are not a race that has grown up in the natural order of things, but one that has been created intentionally by powerful beings.

"That's why I'm a Drive user, just like Valkenhayn and Relius. My ability is called 'Tempest'. My soul is skilled at manipulating the wind." Leaning against the bookshelf with her small back, Raquel reached out towards the front. A gentle breeze swirled at her outstretched fingertips. Carrying the scent of dust sucked up by the books, the wind passed in front of Naoto and disappeared somewhere.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Looking sideways at the wind, Naoto asked softly. "Is my eye... a Drive?" Raquel already knew about the 'Hunter's Eye' that could see people's life force as numbers. He had always wondered why he could see these numbers. What was the reason and meaning behind it? Naoto looked at Raquel. Above her head, as usual, was an extraordinary eight-digit number.

"......I don't know," she said, hesitating for a moment, furrowing her brow. She moved away from the bookshelf and crouched in front of Naoto. She put her hands on the floor and leaned forward as if to bring her face closer.

“W-wait…?” The distance between them suddenly closed, and Raquel's large eyes and well-shaped nose were right in front of Naoto's. He involuntarily held his breath. Even so, he couldn't completely stifle his breath, and it slipped out, brushing against Raquel's bangs. Her hair had a beautiful color, entirely unlike anything Naoto had seen in his daily life, and her piercing gaze stirred something in his chest. If she got any closer, their breaths would almost touch... Raquel made a difficult face again.

"I can't feel its power unless I get this close. I think that this power wasn't originally in your soul, but was transplanted from somewhere else." With a sigh of exasperation, Raquel stood up abruptly. As if she had gotten dust on her, she lightly brushed her hand.

Naoto felt a bit deflated. He leaned his head against the bookshelf behind him with a thud and shook his shoulders at the involuntary smile that welled up. He didn't want to be surprised.

It was as if Raquel's presence still lingered right in front of his nose.

“Transplant... is it?” With a wry smile, Naoto looked up at the ceiling. He had mixed feelings about Raquel's words. But... that didn't matter right now. Naoto turned to Raquel and changed the subject. "So, there are eight Drive users, right? Is that... a bad thing?"

They were after Spinner. Spinner was also a Drive user, but it was hard to believe that he was in school.

Raquel looked at him with a bored expression. Her eyes, which seemed to say, "Can't you even figure that out?", were filled with a haughtiness that was so typical of her.

"Using a Drive means using a tiny bit of the power of the Azure. That burnt residue is the remnant of the Azure. ...I said earlier that I felt the remnant of the Azure in the school, didn't I?" Raquel's words at the end of her sentence urged him to answer.

Was she telling him to think instead of just listening? It was impossible for him to come up with anything when he didn't even know about the existence of Drives. Muttering curses under his breath, Naoto rested his elbow on his knee and propped his cheek on his hand.

"So, it means someone used a Drive?"

"Or they're closely associated with someone who used a Drive..." In other words, there might be someone who had something to do with Spinner or Spinner's followers.

Raquel's gaze was unwavering. For a makeshift strategy meeting in the back of a high school library, it was a bit too serious.

"Either way, I want to investigate those eight people. Because as long as they have Drives, we don't know when they might become a hindrance."

"A hindrance?"

"Those who have activated their Drives naturally begin to feel the power of the Azure and gradually begin to seek it out. If that happens, they could become our enemies." Both Raquel and Naoto were seeking the Azure. Spinner was also seeking the same thing. It meant that there was a possibility that another person would get involved.

(If that happens, it'll be a complete mess...)

He wanted to avoid such a situation if possible. If it was a preparation for that, then Raquel's proposal to investigate was something Naoto could work with.

"Alright. Let's do that investigation then. What should I do?" With a small cheer, Naoto stood up. He glanced at the classmates in the bookshelves behind him.

"Maybe there are other Drive users there too." The thought made the familiar scenery seem to change color, and Naoto felt uneasy.

Raquel folded her arms. Her thoughtful golden eyes fixed on Naoto.

“Lead the way. We need a spot near the center of the school that’s out of sight.”

“Got it.” He had just the place in mind. Running his fingers through his hair, Naoto led Raquel back into the light. For now, he had to get through the classes without drawing attention until after school.

Worrying about whether Raquel would stand out, Naoto randomly pulled out a book he had no interest in. It looked like it would serve as a decent pillow for a nap until class ended.

### Part 2

Shinkawahama First High School had a rough “H” shape, with the main school building in the center surrounded by gymnasiums and special classrooms on either side. In front of the main school building, there was an open approach with flower beds and benches, and a large ground spread out in front of that. Since the entrances to both the gymnasium and the special classroom building faced the ground, students mainly used the front side of the main school building for their school life. Conversely, the back of the school building had little sunlight and was in the shade all day, making it not a very popular spot. However, it was a favorite place for students who preferred quiet and secluded places, although the number of users was limited.

It was the first place that came to Naoto's mind when Raquel asked for a place near the center of the school but out of sight. He went around from the special classroom building and entered the shadow of the protruding part of the stairs. It wasn't completely out of sight, but for now, there was no one around, so it was enough.

After looking around, he stepped back to make room for Raquel, who had followed him. Raquel crouched down and began to draw the same magic circle she had drawn in the unmanned apartment complex before. As her fingertips glided across the ground, red blood-like letters unfolded at her feet. Staring at it, Naoto realized that he was no longer as shocked as he would have been before by this sight.

(Humans really are adaptable creatures...) He mused to himself while keeping an eye out for anyone approaching. Just a few days ago, magic had been a word that existed only in fairy tales and games for Naoto. Yet now, he no longer questioned Raquel using magic.

Raquel quickly finished drawing the magic circle and stood in the center, spreading her arms and closing her eyes. It was slightly smaller than the one she used in the deserted housing complex, probably because she only needed to search within the school grounds.

The wind gathered around Raquel. At first, it was weak and thin, but gradually it grew larger and softer, enveloping Raquel and gently lifting her small body. Her long hair, still tied back, swayed gracefully in the wind along with the large ribbon. Her pleated skirt fluttered lightly, blown by the wind. Then, Naoto saw it…

It's her arms. It was only for a moment, but Naoto's eyes caught it.

A well-toned, small, white, round butt.

"W-wait a minute, Raquel!?" Swallowing a strangled scream that was about to escape, Naoto rushed to Raquel, grabbed her shoulder, and pulled her floating body back to the ground. Instantly, the wind stopped as if a string had been cut.

“What are you doing? I’m concentrating. Don’t interrupt me.” Raquel shot him a disgruntled glare, clearly annoyed. But for Naoto, there was no time for that.

“Why... why aren’t you wearing anything...?!” He almost yelled, but quickly suppressed his voice, speaking in an urgent whisper. His grip tightened on her shoulders.

Raquel tilted her head, looking puzzled. "Wearing? What?"

“I mean! I mean... Why are you not wearing anything under your skirt? Underwear, pants, why...?"

“Oh, well, they feel uncomfortable.”

"No, no, no! What are you saying? That's way worse than being completely naked!" Naoto's gaze involuntarily fell on Raquel's skirt. As he reached out to touch her skirt, Raquel spoke as if she were dealing with a fussy child.

"Isn't it fine if it can't be seen?"

"No, it's not! Ugh, don't lift it up!"

“How silly. Human society is so complicated.”

“You’re the complicated one!” Naoto swatted her hand away as she tried to lift the hem of her skirt, finally expressing his frustration.

Raquel glanced at him as if he were something strange, then turned back to the magic circle. "Anyway, don't interrupt me. I'm starting." Once again, Raquel lightly spread her arms and focused her mind. As if responding to her call, the wind that had once dispersed began to gather again.

Naoto quickly turned his back to Raquel. A moment ago, he had only caught a glimpse of the roundness of her buttocks, which was bad enough but not entirely terrible. If he had seen her completely exposed, he felt like he would have died. Not at the hands of anyone in particular, but rather at the hands of the concept of morality itself.

Behind him, he could hear Raquel muttering incomprehensibly. A sound like the wind blowing through a tunnel was faintly audible, followed by a deep light that was neither red nor pink, rushing past Naoto's feet. The light spread throughout the school in an instant and disappeared as quickly as the wind had passed. Waiting for the wind behind him to stop, Naoto turned around just in time to see the magic circle at Raquel's feet dissipating like flower petals scattered by the wind.

Raquel, who had performed the ritual, let out a soft breath, looking beautiful amidst the rising and disappearing petals of light. For a moment, Naoto was captivated, but then he shook his head, realizing that this was not the time for such things.

"How was it?" he asked Raquel, who was emerging from the spot where the magic circle had been, his voice slightly mocking. Raquel came up to Naoto, smoothing her slightly disheveled bangs with her fingers. "I've found a few people. But all the drives I could sense were immature and weak, so they shouldn't pose a threat anytime soon."

"I see. That's good." Relieved by Raquel's casual tone, Naoto sighed. He didn't want a situation where Drive users were causing trouble in a school that Haruka and Shinnosuke also attended.

"However... there is one person who interests me," Raquel said, crossing her arms and her voice darkening ominously. Naoto frowned in response.

"Someone who interests you? Who is it?"

"I don't know. Their power is very weak, and they're certainly not a combat-ready Drive user. But there's something... that bothers me. I think I'll know more if I get closer." The magic that had scanned the entire school at once to sense the Drive users within could not investigate detailed information about each individual. Naoto looked up at the school building where Raquel's magic had just passed through.

"Let's try to find that person. If possible, let's find them before they leave school..."

"O-oh, Naoto!" Shinnosuke's cheerful voice interrupted Naoto. Turning around, Naoto saw Shinnosuke running towards them from the middle of the corridor connecting the main school building to the special classroom building, waving his hand vigorously.

"Oh, it's Raquel, the transfer student. What's with you, first Hayami and now Raquel? What a ladies' man you are!"

"I told you to stop calling me that..." Naoto glared at Shinnosuke, who grinned mischievously and nudged him in the ribs. But of course, Shinnosuke, who was used to Naoto's expressions, didn't care and…

Shinnosuke sidled up to Naoto, grinning. "Don't get too lovey-dovey at school, okay? Oh, I know, I have a game where you can have lovey-dovey moments with a hundred and eight different sisters. Should I bring it over?"

"What kind of Suikoden game is this? The main character's dad is awesome!"

"Dating sim... lovey-dovey?"

"Never mind, Raquel-san, don't worry about it!" Naoto let out a sigh of exhaustion, shouting at his mischievous friend while making a desperate plea to the bewildered Raquel. Whenever Shinnosuke was around, the atmosphere would always lighten up, no matter how serious things had been. That was both his greatest strength and his weakness.

A third person, with a more composed gait, approached the group that had been so disrupted.

With her long black hair flowing in the cool evening breeze, she was a tall, slender female student. Despite her casual posture, she exuded a regal aura, and even her slightest movements seemed to draw one in. Almost everyone at Shinkawahama High School knew who she was.

Kirishima Kana.

A year older than Naoto and Shinnosuke, she was the vice president of the student council. She was also the daughter of a major company president, and her perfect combination of wealth, beauty, academic excellence, and artistic talent had earned her the nickname "Queen".

"Excuse me for interrupting. Fukuda-kun, can I have a word?" She gave a considerate glance at Naoto and Raquel before turning her slit-eyed gaze to Shinnosuke. It was intimidating, to say the least.

Shinnosuke's broad shoulders jumped at the unexpected summons from the queen.

"Y-yes! What is it?"

Kana gave a small, amused smile at Shinnosuke's almost military-like response and handed him a stack of papers.

"It's about the committee..." As it happened, Shinnosuke was a member of the beautification committee. With the cultural festival approaching as autumn deepened, various committees were becoming increasingly busy before other students.

"Oh, I see. Sorry, I'll take care of it right away!" As if there had been some kind of trouble, Shinnosuke bowed his head while looking at the stack of papers he had been handed. "Sorry, Naoto. I have to go!"

"Alright, see you later!"

It seemed to be an urgent matter, and with a quick wave of the hand holding the papers, Shinnosuke hurried back to the school building. Watching him go, Naoto was secretly impressed that Shinnosuke could put on such a serious face.

As soon as Shinnosuke was out of sight, Kana, who had seemed about to leave, turned back to Naoto, running her fingers through her long hair.

"Hello. Are you Naoto Kurogane?"

"Yes, I am, but..." Kana's deep black eyes gazed coolly at Naoto. Returning her gaze, Naoto tilted his head slightly. Kirishima Kana was a famous person in the school, and even Naoto knew her name. But Naoto was by no means a conspicuous student, and he had never interacted with Kana before. So why did she know his name?

(Am I getting recognized by strangers too often lately?)

Naoto's question was clearly evident on his face, and Kana chuckled softly, giving him a brief smile.

"Haruka often tells me about you." That made sense. Naoto mentally clapped his hands.

(Oh, I see. Haruka is also a student council member...)

Because of their completely different atmospheres, he hadn't been able to imagine the two of them working together on the student council.

Running her fingers through her straight hair like a Japanese doll, Kana tilted her head slightly and looked at Naoto with a probing gaze.

"Haruka is your girlfriend, isn't she?"

"Huh?" It was a sudden question. Not knowing why she was asking, Naoto shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

"Hmm, I see." Kana replied indifferently, neither surprised nor suspicious, and then scanned Naoto with her gaze. It felt like he was being observed. Her eyes made him feel uneasy. He had been scrutinized by Kiiro in a similar way, but he felt that Kana's gaze was different.

To make an unintentional comparison, Kiiro's gaze was a masochistic one that incited his aggression, while Kana's gaze was a sadistic one that provoked a defensive reaction in him. It was a quiet, intimidating presence that seemed to crush his resistance and naturally arouse him.

"What do you think of Haruka?" Kana smiled thinly, raising one corner of her lip.

It felt like an interrogation. Perhaps it was because of the sharpness in the deep eyes of this beautiful vice president, whether it was intentional or not. It was a look that seemed to say, 'I don't suppose you intend to answer back?'

"What do I think... well, we're childhood friends."

"That's all?"

"Well, I guess you could say that's all. I think of her like family." Naoto replied bluntly. He felt a bit annoyed at himself for answering so readily as he was asked.

"I see. Family... huh." He wondered what she meant by that. Kana murmured softly, along with a shallow breath. She gathered her long hair and tucked it behind her ear. "I'm sorry for suddenly calling out to you. I just wanted to talk to you for a bit. Well, excuse me." Leaving a smile and a glance as a farewell, Kana flipped her long black hair and walked away from Naoto with a brisk gait.

Even her back, as she walked the short distance to the school building, exuded a sense of elegance that only a teenage girl could possess. Given her daily demeanor, it was no wonder that her name was so well-known.

What he couldn't understand was why that queen would talk to someone like Naoto. He didn't doubt that she genuinely wanted to talk, but was that all there was to it?

(I don't know what she's thinking.)

If you wanted to put a positive spin on it, you could say she was a mysterious woman who lived up to her appearance, but if you were being negative, you could say she was untrustworthy, as if she had something up her sleeve.

"Huh? Raquel?" He realized that while Kana had spoken to him, she hadn't said a word to Raquel. Wondering what was going on, he looked around, and there she was, stuck right behind Naoto, hiding herself as small as possible. “Hey, social awkwardness. What are you doing?”

“I-I’m not doing anything! I’m definitely not hiding because I didn’t want that girl to talk to me!”

(So that’s what it was…)

Naoto couldn’t help but admire her spirit, even as she gripped his uniform with both hands, her face pale and eyes wide with tension.

"More importantly, Naoto. Just now... just now..."

"Just now? Senior Kirishima?"

"Yes! That girl..." Raquel peered cautiously from behind Naoto, trying to catch a glimpse of Kana, who had already disappeared behind the school building. Once she realized this, Raquel quickly regained her composure and stepped out from behind Naoto. She turned around and looked up at Naoto defiantly, as if to deny that she had been hiding. But despite this playful demeanor, the words Raquel spoke shocked Naoto.

"I sensed the same Azure residue from her as Spinner Superior."

"What?" Naoto looked up, startled. He hadn't expected that at all. A feeling of anxiety, like a slow burn, formed at his temples. That meant Kana had come into contact with Spinner in some way.

Kana had already left. He couldn't imagine how a senior who seemed so perfect and flawless could have come into contact with Spinner. But with this new revelation, it made him question whether her earlier interactions—first with Shinnosuke and then with him—were merely coincidental or something more suspicious.

### Part 3

A light brown dining table was set with a placemat embroidered with vegetables, and a colorful dinner was laid out on it.

Tonight's menu was hamburgers. An oval-shaped hamburger with a lightly browned crust was topped with homemade sauce, and it was served with warm vegetables like potatoes and carrots. In addition, there was corn cream soup in a soup mug, a small bowl of marinated mushrooms, and a Caesar salad in the center of the table, all of which were Western-style dishes. It was a menu that Haruka had prepared for Raquel, who had only recently come to Japan. Haruka usually cooked Japanese food, but even her occasional Western dishes were undeniably delicious. Impressed, Naoto sat down at the Sawaki household's dinner table and began eating with gusto.

It was a peaceful and warm moment, thanks to Haruka.

"Speaking of which, Haruka, weren't you a student council member?" As he stabbed his fork into the hamburger and cut it into bite-sized pieces, Naoto asked, remembering something. The hamburger, filled with sautéed onions, was soft and easy to cut. The meat juice that oozed out mixed with the sauce on the plate.

Haruka, who had been drinking from her soup mug, nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"What's Kirishima-senpai like?"

"Eh!?" As soon as he asked, Haruka jumped in surprise. She almost spilled her soup and quickly put her hand over her mouth as she put the cup back on the table.

"Wh-what do you mean, what's she like? Why are you so surprised?"

"Why are you so flustered? Did I say something wrong?"

"N-no, not at all! It's just, I was a little surprised. You know, it's rare for you to be interested in a girl, Nao-kun..."

"Why are you raising your voice?" And her eyes were darting around. Naoto scratched his head with the fork he was still holding, tilting his head.

"I just happened to meet her today. She's the vice president, right? But I didn't know her at all. I was just wondering what she was like."

"Oh, I see... um..." Having calmed down, Haruka looked up at the ceiling and thought for a moment. "She's strict, but she's a good person. She's beautiful, and everyone looks up to her." Haruka must have been included in that 'everyone'. Her tone was soft, and there was a hint of pride in her voice.

"Hmm. A popular vice president. She's so accomplished."

"But I don't think she's very interested in younger guys, is she? Yeah, I don't think so. Definitely not."

"Yeah?"

"Well... I'm not really interested in stuff like that anyway."

In fact, when it comes to a person’s kindness, preferences for older or younger people shouldn’t matter.

Haruka gave a nervous laugh, as if trying to avoid the subject, and placed her hamburger on top of the rice in her bowl.

Doing the same, Naoto opened his mouth again. "Do you know anything else about her?"

"She's from a wealthy family, she's academically excellent... I don't know much else besides what everyone already knows. I only talk to her about student council stuff, and she doesn't seem like the type to talk about her personal life."

"I see." Nodding in agreement, Naoto stuffed a mouthful of hamburger and rice. He thought it was quite like Kana to keep her private life to herself. He didn't know much about her personality, but based on her appearance, it seemed fitting. Just then, Raquel, who had been quietly eating while listening to their conversation, put down her fork and knife.

"Isn't she involved in magic?"

"Magic?" Haruka looked puzzled at the sharp question, and Naoto was startled.

(Wait a minute...)

He was about to retort, "Why are you asking so directly?", but he managed to swallow his words at the last moment. It would only make Raquel's question sound more meaningful. Fortunately, Haruka came to his rescue.

"Magic, like tarot cards or black magic? Things like that?"

"Y-yeah, exactly!" Tarot was a safe enough word. Naoto jumped on Haruka's remark. He silenced Raquel with a look and a brief gesture, trying to stop her from correcting him. Seeing their exchange, Haruka smiled amusedly.

"I don't know. I've never heard of it, but since Senior Kirishima has a bit of a mysterious air about her, she might be into tarot cards."

"Yeah, I think she could do fortune-telling." He tried to imagine it, and it was so fitting that it was almost creepy. Even if she couldn't actually do fortune-telling, if she looked at you with those piercing eyes and that appearance, she could probably make you believe any future she described.

(Well... in that sense, Raquel might be even better.)

Raquel was more mystical than mysterious. Her eyes, which felt like they were exposing everything, made you feel like she could predict the future rather than just tell it. Naoto thought about how the weight of those words might be felt. Chewing on his salad, he glanced over at Raquel, who was holding her mug with both hands, trying hard to blow on its contents to cool it down.

(Not that it matters.)

At least while they were sitting at the table together, she was like an awkward kitten.

“Oh, by the way, I’ve heard something about Kirishima-senpai!” Haruka suddenly raised her hand to the level of her face, as if she were in class. Naoto nodded, encouraging her to continue. "There's this alleyway behind the station. Someone saw her going in there. And it's been happening a lot lately."

"An alleyway... you mean the one with that really old arcade?"

"I'm not sure about the exact location of the game center. It's a bit dark and scary at night, and there are shady people hanging around. It's deep inside that alley. It's not a place where someone like Kirishima-senpai would go, is it?"

Naoto hummed in thought. From what Haruka had said, it was probably near the alleyway where he had been attacked by Valkenhayn.

"Thanks. That's helpful."

“Anytime.” Haruka shrugged slightly, sounding a little bitter. She didn't seem to think she had provided very useful information. But for Naoto, it was much more helpful than knowing her birthday or hobbies. Naoto glanced at Raquel. She seemed to have been listening to Haruka's information as well, and her golden eyes were serious as she nodded slightly. He needed to investigate as soon as possible.

"...What's wrong, Haruka? Did you get some sauce on you?" As he reached for his chopsticks to focus on his meal again, Naoto noticed that Haruka had put down her chopsticks and was fiddling with her hair. Snapped back to reality by Naoto’s comment, Haruka let go of her hair.

"No, it's just... I was wondering if you like girls with long black hair, Nao."

“What? Where did that come from?”

"It's not sudden at all... no, nothing. Don't mind me!" Laughing it off, Haruka picked up her chopsticks again and put a piece of marinated mushroom in her mouth. It was a side dish that went surprisingly well with rice, with a strong flavor of garlic and olive oil.

While eating some of the mushrooms, Naoto glanced at Haruka’s hair. Her bright brown hair, not dyed but slightly wavy and soft, reminded him a lot of Yuki. In moments like this, he could feel the strong familial resemblance.

(Long black hair, huh? Is she thinking of getting a hairstyle like Kirishima-senpai’s...?)

That kind of hair texture seems like it would be a strong point of admiration among girls. However, even imagining it, Haruka with a hairstyle like Kirishima-senpai’s just didn’t seem right.

“It’s fine as it is. I actually prefer the vibe you have now, Haruka. It’s more composed.”

“Really!?”

“Yeah.”

Haruka leaned forward, slapping both hands on the table, and Naoto nodded, slightly taken aback. Was it really such a surprise? He didn’t think there was anyone around Haruka, including himself, who thought she should change her hairstyle.

“Come on, eat up! You don’t want it to get cold! There’s a second helping of soup too!” With her cheeks completely relaxed in an overwhelmingly happy smile, Haruka encouraged Naoto and Raquel to eat. Naoto, a bit bewildered by her exuberance, decided to ask for a second helping of the soup. Her unusually high “Yes!” response made him tilt his head in confusion. What was going on?

Above Haruka’s head, the number “8” seemed to bounce up.

She walked through the dimly lit alley, making herself as small as possible, wary of the surrounding eyes. The time was approaching dinner, and the area was... The neighborhood, lined with old apartment buildings and office buildings, was completely shrouded in darkness, despite the fact that there was a residential area nearby. Several of the streetlights that should have illuminated the night path were left broken and unmaintained, far from their intended brightness.

Carrying a large Boston bag that seemed to hold something she wished to hide, she walked through the darkness and finally stopped in front of a single apartment building. It was an old, eerie-looking apartment building that blended into the surrounding darkness. Perhaps it would have looked a little better in the bright sunlight, but when looking up at night, the dirt caked on the exterior walls gave it a dirty impression, and its gloom seemed to weigh down on her.

None of the rooms were lit, making it look abandoned. But there was still a resident, and that resident was the reason she was here. With her lips tightly pursed, she entered the apartment building.

'She' was still a girl. She was wearing a red coat that was a bit early for the season, and with her hood pulled deep over her eyes, her body shape and facial features were not clearly visible, but she was still a high school student. The legs that extended from the hem of her coat were long and slender, and the fine texture of the skin visible around her knees suggested a well-proportioned figure. Glossy black hair peeked out from under her deep hood.

She climbed the stairs in her black loafers. The apartment building had an elevator, but she knew it was broken and unusable.

Slowly and carefully, she climbed the stairs, trying not to make a sound. She reached the fifth floor, the top floor of the apartment building. She stopped in front of one of the rooms and hugged the Boston bag she was carrying tightly. Only one room had a faint light coming from under the door. It was where the only resident lived.

The girl pressed the doorbell with a trembling hand. The broken, raspy sound was distorted and unpleasant, perfectly suited to the eerie apartment building. After a brief silence, a small sound of a key turning could be heard, followed by the creaking sound of a door opening.

A man greeted the girl. He was of medium height with a sturdy build, wearing a worn-out shirt and worn-out chino pants. He had a square-framed pair of black glasses on his sagging face. He did not have a friendly, gentle face. Rather, he had a stern expression that seemed to severely criticize others, but as soon as he saw the girl, he smiled wryly.

"You're late... Kana-kun."

"... Mr. Isa. I'm sorry, I was late because of the student council." The man who greeted her was Tadayuki Isa, a geophysics teacher at Shinkawahama First High School. The female high school student who had come was Kana Kirishima. Peeking out of the half-open door to check the outside, Isa stepped aside and motioned for Kana to enter.

"Come in."

Without resisting, Kana slipped into Isa's room. The room was a chaotic mess, and it didn't look like the room of a man who was supposed to be educating students. It was filled with a suffocating atmosphere of neglect. Standing there, waiting for the door to close, Kana, with her coat hood cautiously removed, presented a morally ambiguous contrast.

"I was surprised when you called me so suddenly..." Holding the Boston bag to her chest, Kana looked at Isa inquiringly. There was none of the sharp, intimidating look that she had when she stared at Naoto and Shinnosuke at school.

"You were the one who said I could come anytime, weren't you?" Isa turned around, his face slack with lasciviousness, and closed the door. The sound of the lock clicking shut echoed heavily. Kana bowed her head at Isa's words. Isa reached out and touched the shoulder of her red coat, leading her into the depths of the room. There was no hesitation in Isa, and no hesitation in Kana. The room had the smell of lazy familiarity.

"So, are you ready?" Isa's voice asked lecherously. Kana clenched the Boston bag she was holding, her fingers digging into it. She averted her gaze from Isa and lowered her chin gracefully.

"If I go buy it... someone might see me, and that would be a problem." Her voice was weak and thin, as if she were asking for permission. Her weakness only added to the perversity of Isa's voice.

"I can prepare it here, but... then the 'size' will be up to me. Is that okay with you?" With a knowing smirk, he taunted her, delighting in the humiliation that would follow. Kana bowed her head deeply. A hand with square nails ran along her shoulder like a snake. "Besides, isn't it you, Kana, who would quickly make it 'unusable'?"

His voice, smooth and seductive, sent shivers down her spine. She squeezed her eyes shut, but it was no use. His lips were almost touching her ear. "Now, about Hayami-kun..." A hand rested on her shoulder, but Kana quickly swatted it away.

“P-Please don’t talk about Haruka right now!” With a sudden outburst that belied her previous meekness, Kana shook off the hand on her shoulder and pleaded accusingly. Her eyes immediately flinched. “Ah... I-I'm sorry, sensei. But I...”

"No, it was my fault. This was supposed to be our time together." Again, Isa placed both of his hands on Kana's shoulders, as if to confine and capture her in his grasp. "And it's not 'sensei'. You know how to address me when it’s just the two of us.”

“Y-yes.” Kana lowered her head, her expression glistening with suppressed shame. Her face, different from usual, seemed to entice the man. Isa’s hand slid down Kana’s shoulder, unbuttoning her jacket one by one. Once all of the buttons were undone, Kana took the coat off. She folded it and placed it in the corner of the room. While watching Kana turn back around, Isa reached for Ko’s clothes.

"Well then... let's begin." As Isa spoke in a husky voice, his words tainted by lust, a strange, insect-like sound seemed to writhe from deep within his throat.

### Part 4

It was a cloudy day. After school, with the sky obscured by thin, grayish clouds, Naoto staked out a bench beside the special classroom building and sipped on a packet of coffee milk he'd bought from the school store for eighty yen.

Today, Naoto and Raquel had spent the entire day walking around the school, gathering information about a person named "Kana Kirishima." Though the "information" mostly involved catching people who had some degree of interaction with her and asking them various questions. The conclusions drawn from this were as follows:

“A strict but kind woman,” “a true young lady,” “wealthy,” “beautiful,” and “Her breasts are bigger than you would expect from her clothes”- Except for that last item, Naoto had only spoken to her once.

Even Naoto knew that, and he had already guessed that even from looking at her clothes, Kana's breasts were above average. While the idea that they were even larger than that was intriguing, it was definitely unrelated to the current situation. In other words...

“No luck.”

The investigation was a complete waste of time.

“Haruka said that she doesn't show her private side much at school. Is that the case for everyone?” Raquel said, not seeming too disheartened, leaning beside Naoto and drinking a strawberry milk from the same eighty-yen pack series. She must be used to dealing with cases where there are no clues. Or perhaps half her mind was on the contents of the paper pack she was gently holding in both hands.

“Nah. Not everything can be completely open, but it's rare to meet someone who's so completely guarded, isn't it?” Even if someone tries to hide it, a little bit of their personality or private life can slip out. But Kana Kirishima doesn't have that. Naoto thought maybe she was so perfect that she was consciously trying to hide everything perfectly.

Naoto leaned back against the bench and looked up at the sky. The weather wasn't clear. It didn't seem like it would rain, but would it clear up a little at night? Thinking about that, he suddenly looked at Raquel next to him and remembered.

“Hey... are you... wearing them today?”

“What?” Her pure, innocent expression and voice indicated that she genuinely didn't understand what he was referring to. Naoto understood just from that.

(She's not wearing them...)

His eyes went to Raquel's bare knees. And then he caught himself imagining what was under her skirt, and scolded himself for doing so, shaking his head vigorously. Before him, the tip of a black loafer advanced.

“Hello, Kurogane Naoto-kun.” He looked up at the voice. There, standing before him, was Kana Kirishima.

“H-hello.” His heart raced. Had word gotten around about him asking questions about her? But Kana didn't seem to be offended at all. Instead, she gave a faint smile.

"We ran into each other around here yesterday, didn't we? Do you come here often?"

"Uh, not really, it's just a coincidence... What about you, senpai?"

"I just finished some business over there." She said, and looked at the special classroom building behind Naoto. Many clubs use the special classrooms as clubrooms. Looking away into the distance, Naoto furrowed his brow for a moment.

"9006"—the number above Kana's head. It was low. Not as low as Isa's was the other day, but she must be tired. Now that he thought about it, the number he had seen yesterday was also much lower than average.

“Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no.” He realized that she had caught him staring. Naoto quickly shifted his gaze from her number back to her face. He didn't want to give the impression of being a man who only stared at people's heads.

"I just thought you were beautiful, senpai."

Kana laughed it off coolly. "If you keep saying things like that, Haruka might get jealous, you know?"

"She's not like that." As he dodged the question, Naoto felt a bitterness in his throat. Haruka again. He felt like Kana was strangely concerned about Haruka. If she was originally the kind of person who cared about others like this, he thought he would have gotten a slightly different impression from the information he gathered.

Just as he was thinking that, Raquel, who had been observing Kana with a wary aura, stood up.

“Kana Kirishima. Do you know a man named Spinner Superior?” She threw out her usual straightforward question without hesitation. A mysterious blonde beauty and a black-haired girl exuding an air of mystery—together, they were quite a sight. But now was not the time to think about such things.

(What the hell is she talking about all of a sudden?)

Naoto's eyes darted back and forth, flustered and not knowing how to stop her, while Kana simply tilted her head in confusion. He could hear the sound of her long hair slipping smoothly past his shoulder.

"Spinner... what?" It was clear she had never heard that name before. Probably because she was being stared at, Raquel's body tensed visibly, and she looked away as if to escape. She opened her mouth again.

"Spinner Superior." Her voice lacked any conviction, almost as if it was a pity to hear her say it. She had only recently become able to endure being in the same space as Haruka. And with someone like Kana, who she was meeting for only the second time, the damage would be even greater.

Mistaking Raquel's lowered gaze for shyness, Kana leaned in with an expression as if she were looking at something adorable. She bent slightly, searching for Raquel's small gaze. They locked eyes. Raquel flinched slightly.

"I'm sorry. I don't know. Is he a foreign actor?"

"I-I see... If you don't know, that's fine..." Facing Kana's relaxed demeanor, Raquel no longer had the strength to argue back.

"You're Raquel Alucard, right? I heard you're staying at Haruka's house." Kana straightened her previously hunched posture and directed her question at Naoto. Her flawless smile was as if…

It was as if she wanted to say, "It's sad to tease her any further."

(Raquel... she's completely outmatched.)

Naoto chuckled inwardly, seeing how severe Raquel's dislike of other girls was. He turned to Kana.

"Do you know her?"

"I'm the vice president of the student council, after all. And she's already quite famous throughout the school. They say there's a very beautiful foreign exchange student. The boys in my class were all excited about it."

"Really? I didn't know that."

It's not a surprising story, though. If Naoto were an outsider, he would have been surprised by Raquel's transfer too, and he probably would have turned around if he passed her in the hallway. If he didn't know her foolish nature behind her arrogant facade, he might have imagined her to be a noble and perfect person.

A sudden chime rang out, interrupting their conversation. Naoto remembered his homeroom teacher saying it was a signal for students without any after-school activities to go home early.

"Oh no, it's already this late..." Startled by the chime, Kana checked her watch and her expression clouded over. The relaxed demeanor she had earlier vanished, replaced by a sudden look of urgency.

"Do you have somewhere to be?"

"Yes... I'm so sorry. I have to go, Kurogane-kun, Alucard-san." She really seemed to be in a hurry. With a forced smile on her lips, her expression not exactly bright as if she had an unpleasant task ahead, Kana turned on her heel and quickly headed back to the main school building. Watching her retreating figure, Naoto let out a deep sigh of exasperation.

"Hey, Raquel... if you're going to dig for information, you could at least ask in a better way. What if Kirishima-senpai really is connected to Spinner...?" As he droned on with his scolding, he suddenly noticed Raquel completely frozen in place, her chin lowered and eyes wide open, not moving at all.

(Oh, this is bad.)

Instantly realizing what had happened, Naoto grabbed Raquel's stiff shoulder and shook her vigorously.

"Hey, snap out of it! Breathe, breathe!!"

"Ugh!" Raquel's consciousness returned with the force of a popped balloon. How long had she forgotten to breathe? Her thin chest rose and fell rapidly, her face pale as if she had just experienced something horrifying.

"To... to put pressure on me like this... Kirishima Kana, she's no ordinary person."

"It's your fault!" While quickly retorting, Naoto couldn't help but think, So even vampires can have trouble breathing.

"Anyway, from the way you reacted just now, it seems like you don’t know anything about Spinner." Naoto took another sip of his coffee milk before continuing. If Kana had been a skilled actress, he would have been stumped, but her immediate reaction…

It was definitely not the kind of name that an ordinary person would recognize. Raquel nodded in agreement.

"But today, I can feel a slightly stronger remnant of the Azure than yesterday," she said.

"Is it related to Spinner?"

"Yes." Raquel stated firmly. She must be able to perceive it that clearly. Raquel looked up at Naoto and said strongly, "I'm going to follow her. She might contact someone related to Spinner today."

Or maybe even Spinner himself. Either way, it's certain that Kana is an important clue to getting closer to Spinner. Naoto didn’t want Kana to be wandering near such a dangerous person. He wasn't personally close to her, but knowing the risks and doing nothing would sit uncomfortably with him. But Naoto grimaced bitterly and sucked down the rest of his coffee milk. He inhaled some air along with the remaining liquid, making an awkward sound in the pack.

"But, I promised to go shopping with Haruka today..." Crushing the empty paper pack carefully, Naoto sighed in resignation. Although it was a promise, he couldn't put Kana off. While thinking about how to decline, he stood up to head towards the trash can a little further away.

He saw Haruka running from the school building. He was about to wave and call out to her, but then stopped. As they passed each other, Haruka was being called by Kana. It seemed like Kana was apologizing for something, and Haruka was hurriedly agreeing. Although that's what it looked like from Naoto's position, he couldn't hear their conversation. The conversation seemed to end quickly, and Kana left with a brief greeting, walking towards the school building. Haruka bowed several times to see her off, then turned to Naoto and Raquel and perked up.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Nao-kun!" she said, breathless, clasping her hands in front of her face as she approached. Naoto stared back blankly, still clutching the discarded paper pack in his hand.

"Huh? What's up all of a sudden?"

"I can't go shopping with you today like we promised. The cultural festival is coming up soon, and there's something I have to do today that can't be put off."

"Oh, is it student council stuff?"

"Yeah. I was supposed to get help from Kirishima-senpai, but she just told me she has something important she can't miss..." Haruka glanced over her shoulder, referring to the brief encounter they just had moments before. Her brows furrowed in apology. "So, I'm really sorry, Nao-kun, Raquel-chan. Please head home without me. I think I'll be late. And if you get hungry before dinner, go ahead and eat something.”

“Alright, got it. Don’t stay too late either.”

“Okay, see you later!” With a cheerful wave to both Naoto and Raquel, Haruka hurried back to the school building. She was a hard worker, always running around doing club activities at school and helping out with chores at home. Thinking to himself, “I could never do that,” Naoto tossed the empty paper pack into the nearby trash can.

"Looks like we have some free time now," he said, glancing back at Raquel. She had also finished her pink drink and dropped the empty carton into the trash can.

“Perfect. Let’s go. I hate doing things twice. I don’t want to lose sight of her.”

"Fair enough, but... I can't believe you're the same person who was nearly fainting just a moment ago," Naoto replied.

With Kana and Haruka gone, Raquel regained her usual confident demeanor, brushing her bangs aside with her fingers. Now that Kana and Haruka were gone, Raquel regained her usual assertive and arrogant attitude, brushing her bangs aside with her fingers. Following Raquel as she walked ahead, Naoto gathered his courage inwardly, though he didn’t say anything. If Kana was in contact with Spinner, it meant that following her might bring them much closer to Spinner.

Even if he could obtain the Azure, it was undoubtedly more dangerous than Naoto had anticipated. He needed to prepare himself. He wasn’t sure what kind of resolve he needed to make, but he couldn’t help but wear a serious expression.

### Part 5

The evening downtown area was overflowing with a diverse array of people and voices, mainly students returning from school. Most of the voices were cheerful and excited. There were groups of people laughing loudly at silly jokes, and groups of girls screaming excitedly about idols. Every day around this time, until after the sun had completely set and it was time for dinner, this area was like this.

However, Naoto and Raquel were not walking through the lively main street, but rather a quiet back alley lined with closed shutters. After leaving school, it wasn’t difficult to follow Kirishima Kana. Perhaps to hide her uniform, Kana ducked into the shadows as they approached the shopping district. From her Boston bag, she pulled out a bright red coat and wrapped it around herself. Once they entered the dimly lit back alley, she pulled the hood low over her head, concealing her striking appearance.

Indeed, if she dressed like that, even if she happened to pass by someone she knew, it was unlikely anyone would recognize her as Kirishima Kana. Nobody would think she would walk in such a conspicuous manner in a place like this. However, for Naoto and Raquel, who had followed her from school and witnessed her putting on the red coat, that eye-catching appearance served as a perfect marker.

Two blocks in from the main street, the back alley was quite far from the hustle and bustle, even near the station, and there were few people around at this time of day. Kana walked through it at an uncertain, hesitant pace.

(Where is she going...?)

By now, the initial guilt they felt about following her had faded. Naoto hid behind building entrances and parked cars, focusing all his attention on Kana's every move. Kana suddenly slowed her pace at the entrance to an alley. She must be getting close to her destination. She wandered around, waiting for the street to clear, then quickly turned and entered the alley. Naoto and Raquel immediately followed. The end of the alley Kana chose was a dead end. At the end was an old three-story building, and the figure in the red coat was going up the narrow stairs.

"Second floor," Raquel whispered, peering into the gap between the building Kana had entered and the neighboring building. It was a narrow building. There would probably be only one room per floor, whether it was a shop or a residence. If they followed her now, they would meet up halfway.

"What could she be doing in a place like this... Could Spinner be there?" Naoto asked, leaning against the wall in the cramped hiding spot.

Raquel shook her head while looking up at the building. "I don't sense any remnants of the Azure from this building. But... it's suspicious."

"I agree." Naoto wholeheartedly agreed with Raquel's suspicious tone. It was entirely based on preconceived notions and biases, but he couldn’t imagine the vice president of the student council stopping by a place like this after school. It was very different from a bookstore or a general goods shop. He could predict that there were circumstances in that second floor that were far removed from Kana's known image at school.

"Thanks to the stronger remnants compared to yesterday, I can track Kirishima Kana even if she's a bit further away. When she comes out, I’ll investigate that building first." It wasn't a suggestion but a command. Raquel clearly didn’t expect Naoto to voice any objections.

However, Naoto had no objections. After about ten minutes, Kana reappeared on the stairs. She hurriedly descended the steps and quickly left the alley. After waiting for the figure in the red coat to turn the corner and disappear, Naoto and Raquel slipped out through a narrow gap and looked up at the building where Kana had just exited. It didn't look like anyone lived there. There were three mailboxes on the side of the stairs, but none of them had nameplates. Instead, they were covered in suspicious-looking phone numbers.

Pink flyers were plastered on it. Naoto frowned involuntarily. It was an even more unlikely building for Kana.

(Come on... cut me some slack. I don't want to witness anything shady.) He sincerely hoped so as he stepped onto the stairs. They were headed to the second floor. Or rather, it seemed that only the second floor was being used. As far as he could see, there was no one around. It was an unpleasant silence. The sound of his footsteps on the stairs echoed.

He reached the second floor and stood in front of the only door. It was a very ordinary door. It was a heavy metal door like the ones you would find in old apartment buildings or old-fashioned public housing complexes. But when he saw the small sign that had been hung up in place of a nameplate, Naoto was momentarily disoriented, as if he had lost his sense of left and right.

His thoughts stopped. Written on the horizontal plate in rounded characters was probably the name of the shop.

It said, “Department of Sexual Desire.”

(...Wait, what? I don't understand.)

Naoto's mind refused to comprehend. A strange sweat began to bead on his back. A sense of crisis ran down his spine. He probably saw something he shouldn't have. If everything he saw wasn't a mistake, it meant that Kirishima Kana had come out of this place not too long ago.

"What are you doing? Move aside." While Naoto was sweating bullets, Raquel brushed past him and opened the door to enter.

"Wait—!" Naoto called out, but he was too late. The door closed behind Raquel. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Naoto grabbed the door as it was about to close and jumped in. And he was stunned.

It was a shop about twelve tatami mats in size. Long, white, tubular lights were regularly attached to the ceiling, making the interior surprisingly bright. But the items illuminated by that light were…

"Naoto, what is this?" Raquel, who had entered the shop first, looked at the shelves with a curious expression, picked up one of the items, and showed it to him. Naoto could only open and close his mouth, unable to speak. It was in a transparent package that allowed you to see the contents, and it was impressively larger than Raquel's arm. It was a thick, fleshy, arrow-shaped object, dark in color. "What is it used for...?" While turning it over and over, Raquel held a thin plastic package…

He stared intently through the cage. He couldn't bear to look any longer. Just as Naoto took a step forward to try to stop it, a male employee slowly emerged from the back of the store.

"Welcome. What are you looking for, boys?" The man who appeared made Naoto flinch involuntarily. He was a tall, muscular man with a shaved head. He had a mustache under his nose, dark sunglasses that obscured his eyes, and a black leather jacket. He clearly wasn't a law-abiding citizen. But the pale pink apron with the shop name written on it, worn over his tough leather jacket, strangely softened his tough, unusual appearance. Or perhaps it ruined it.

"What's this?" Without hesitation, Raquel turned to the male employee and, without being intimidated by his appearance, held out the product she had in her hand. The male employee looked Raquel up and down and then grinned wryly, lifting the corner of his mouth.

"This is 'Super Thick'... I don’t think she can handle this yet, right?" He turned his gaze to Naoto, seeking agreement through his dark sunglasses.

"N-no..." Approaching Naoto as he awkwardly searched for words to explain himself, the clerk took a product from the shelf and casually handed it to Naoto.

"You guys must be newbies, right? Well, why don't you start with something like this?" Since he had been handed it, Naoto had to look. He moved only his eyes and looked down at the object he was holding. A smaller version of the same object, clearly smaller than the previous one, was enshrined in a plastic package. The label with the product name politely stated "For Beginners."

"There are different sizes," Raquel remarked as she leaned over to peek at Naoto's item, comparing it to what she was holding before returning the glossy black "Super Thick" to the shelf. She then shifted her interest to another shelf, picking up something and starting to examine it. The enthusiastic employee quickly joined her, standing next to the petite girl in uniform to explain the products to new customers.

"Oh, you have a good eye! That one's the latest model!"

"What do you use it for?"

"Well, that depends on your boyfriend, I guess." The clerk winked at Naoto with a suggestive look. It was kind of vague, since he couldn't see his eyes through the sunglasses, but Naoto could feel that atmosphere strongly.

(Ugh, what are they talking about? I'm curious but don't want to know... And I'm not her boyfriend! Even if I was, don't look at me like that!)

At that moment, Naoto fully experienced what it meant to feel utterly uncomfortable.

"Wait, that's not what I mean!" Snapping back to reality, Naoto looked up. In his shock, he had forgotten his original purpose for coming here. He casually returned the "Beginner" item to the shelf and went over to the clerk.

"Hey, did a woman in a red coat come in here a little while ago? I need to know what she was doing."

"Sorry, kid. I can't tell you about a customer's privacy," came a low, slightly mocking reply. That was a fair point. Especially in a place like this, revealing secrets would jeopardize their business.

(I didn’t expect the employee to be this professional...)

He had thought he would be more careless. Pushing past Naoto, Raquel directed her gaze at the employee, her eyes suddenly sparkling bright red.

"Answer the question." She gave a simple order. As soon as he heard it, the clerk, as if drawn to her, trembled and then relaxed unnecessarily.

"...A woman in a red coat did come in." The employee casually shared what had previously been a guarded secret, as if it were nothing. Naoto could sense a strange, dazed look about him.

(The 'Slave Red'...)

A magic that forces a person to accept one statement, but only once. When it had been used on Haruka, it had been to make her swallow a ridiculous explanation, but now he realized it could be used this way too. Under the spell of the obedient eye, Raquel pressed on with her questioning.

"What did she come here for?"

"She came to pick up an item she had ordered... here it is." With unsteady, floating steps, the clerk went to the counter and opened a catalog that was placed there. A stunning array of products were lined up with photos. The clerk pointed one by one at some of the products labeled "latest" with his thick silver ringed finger. "This one, and this one... and this one too." With each item the employee indicated, deep furrows formed in Naoto's brow. Silk lingerie, hand mirrors, bondage costumes... among others. He didn't have extensive knowledge about such a world, but even Naoto could understand the special sexual preferences these items catered to.

"What kind of magic are these used for?"

"Magic? No, these are used for ' pray .'"

(Translator's note: The clerk is using the word "プレイ" which is pronounced "Pray." Translated to English, it would be rendered as "Play," but then Raquel's confused response wouldn't make sense)

"Pray? Are they ritual tools?"

"Rituals, huh? That's a deep way to put it. 'Pray' is..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop! That’s enough! I can’t take any more of this!" Feeling mentally overwhelmed, Naoto stepped between the clerk and Raquel, shouting to interrupt them. Grabbing Raquel's arm, he urged her towards the exit. "Thank you, Mr. Employee! This was really educational!"

"Wait, Naoto, what are you doing? Let go of me!" Raquel exclaimed, her eyes narrowing in indignation as she thought they were still in the middle of gathering information. But he couldn’t go into every detail, nor did he want to. Besides, he had a bad feeling, a premonition. He wanted to get back to tracking down Kana as soon as possible.

"I'll explain everything later, so just come on! If we keep wasting time here, we’ll lose track of her!" Hurriedly and angrily, Naoto dragged Raquel out of the "Department of Sexual Desire." As the heavy metal door closed, a low voice seemed to echo from inside, saying, "Come again," but he had no time to respond and ran down the stairs two at a time.

Once they reached the first floor, he jumped out of the narrow entrance into the alleyway and finally released Raquel, whom he had been carrying under his arm. As always, Raquel was light. So light that he could carry her down the stairs. Her lightness was abnormal, as if indicating that she wasn't human.

"You’re such an anxious servant. Don’t worry, I can track Kirishima Kana in no time," Raquel sighed, carefully smoothing her disheveled bangs while looking down at him.

"That's not the point..." Panting for breath, Naoto said resentfully.

(Damn it, I don't know exactly how you were created, but if he’s her father, he should have taught her more, that damn old man!)

With no one else to blame for the situation, Naoto directed his anger and frustration at Raquel’s father. However, he would never say that to the man's face.

While Naoto was catching his breath and cursing at someone who wasn't there, Raquel quickly finished drawing a small magic circle on the ground.

"It's much smaller this time." It was even more simplified than the one he had seen behind the school building. "I already know my target this time. This is enough." Saying so, Raquel reached out as if to embrace something in the center of the magic circle. The wind gathered, lifting her where she stood. The magic circle was enveloped in a city-colored light. It was a familiar, usual magic. The light soon subsided, and Raquel's toes touched the ground. She dispersed the wind by lifting her eyelids and shook her head as if to shake off her hair.

"I found her."

"That was fast!"

"I told you, didn’t I? It can be done quickly." With a hint of pride in her voice, Raquel entwined her arm with Naoto’s, pulling him close to her chest.

"W-wait?"

"I'm going to fly us closer. Don't struggle. I might drop you."

"W-what the..." Naoto's words were cut off. Suddenly, a wind incomparably stronger than before enveloped Naoto and Raquel, swirling thickly. Then, with tremendous force, it lifted their bodies into the air. The surprise left Naoto speechless.

With Naoto in tow, Raquel stood in midair, guiding the winds with her fingertips. Following her lead, the wind picked up strength, propelling both her and her companion away at breakneck speed.

### Part 6

"Look, over there." Raquel's sharp voice cut through the swirling wind, signaling the end of Naoto's aerial journey. The wind, which had been roughly but obediently carrying Naoto and Raquel, softened its force as it determined their landing point and gently lowered them to the ground. But when the weight that had been supported by the wind suddenly returned, Naoto was unable to brace himself and collapsed to the side.

"Oof!"

"Pathetic." Raquel, who had been carrying him a moment ago, casually released her arm and looked down at Naoto, who was sprawled on the ground.

"You..." Naoto glared up at Raquel, his temples twitching in annoyance, fully aware of how awkward he looked. But despite his anger, Naoto felt a slight sense of exhilaration inside. It had been less than a minute. But the experience of soaring high on the wings of the wind, flying over the rooftops of the apartment buildings, had thrilled Naoto. It was as if his youthful heart had been stirred. Compared to the dream of flying he had had as a child, the reality was much more exhilarating, and much more terrifying. His hands, which were planted on the ground, trembled slightly.

"Naoto, don’t space out. We might lose her." Raquel urged.

"R-right..." Naoto shook off the lingering sensation of flight, slapping his cheeks lightly to regain focus and stood up.

"This way."

With a clear sense of Kana's location guided by the residual energy, Raquel led the way, and Naoto followed closely behind. Resuming their tail, Naoto immediately felt a sense of unease about the surrounding area. They were in an old residential district within walking distance of the station. Its antiquity was far deeper than that of the surrounding neighborhoods, as if the passage of time had cast a gloomy shadow over this particular block.

If the unmanned apartment complex project had progressed smoothly, this would have been the next area to be developed. As a result, many residents had moved away, and few remained. Those who still lived there were either reluctant to move ahead of the development plan or had missed the opportunity. Or perhaps they were attracted to the cheap rent of the properties, which were considered spooky due to their age and dimness. It was highly unlikely that Kana would live in a place like this. Some part of this residential area must be her destination. With that in mind, Naoto tightened his grip.

Kana was just around the corner. Her bright red coat stood out against the gray world like a single drop of color, both vivid and precarious. She passed by a dilapidated house that looked like it could collapse at any moment, and then an apartment building of an old design that was rarely seen these days. Finally, she entered a certain apartment building.

Looking up, Naoto couldn't help but exclaim, "Whoa."

It was evening, and the sun must have begun to set beyond the clouds. The cloudy sky was dim. A gloomy atmosphere seemed to creep into the area as if night had come early, and the temperature had dropped significantly. The apartment building Kana had entered was five stories tall and long. It must have been a dazzling building with white tiles pasted all over it. But now it was dirty and grimy everywhere, and in some places, the tiles had fallen off. It had probably been years, or even more than a decade, since it had been cleaned. The accumulated dust clearly marked where people walked and where they didn't, and the thick glass door at the entrance was completely clouded, making it impossible to see clearly what was on the other side.

"Here...?" Naoto murmured, stopping in front of the entrance. He could hear Kana's footsteps ascending the stairs. There was something that looked like an elevator in front of him, but she wasn't using it, perhaps because it was broken. Considering the state of the building, it was entirely possible.

"No doubt about it. I can faintly sense the remnants of the Azure from various parts of this building," Raquel said, her gaze fixed on the apartment building, her eyes narrowed. A sense of tension began to spread slowly.

Naoto took a shallow breath and turned to look at her.

"So, is Spinner in there?"

"No... The Azure residue is still too weak to belong to Spinner. Besides, a magician of his caliber wouldn’t leave such obvious traces behind. Most likely, what remains is the residue of his Apostle."

"Apostle..." Naoto muttered bitterly, following Raquel's gaze as she stared up at the apartment building. The image of the bug-like creature he had encountered in the unmanned apartment complex flashed through his mind. The disgusting way the bugs had burst out of its head still sent a shiver down his spine.

"So, Kirishima-senpai got involved with that Apostle, which is why I can sense the remnants of the Azure... I can't get Senpai caught up in this. For now, I’ll just keep an eye on things..." If he was going to make a move, it would have to be after ensuring Kana's safety. As he thought this and formulated his plan, he turned around again—but Raquel was nowhere to be found.

"Hey... what?" He frantically looked around. Then, a shocking sight caught his eye. Raquel had somehow already gone inside and was chasing after Kana up the stairs.

"What the hell is she thinking?!" If Kana noticed her, how would she explain it? Or worse, what if Spinner's Apostle spotted Raquel and attacked? She could put Kana in danger. And most importantly, was she not considering the possibility that this could be a trap, with Kana as bait?

"Damn it!" he cursed, and dashed towards the heavy glass door at the entrance of the apartment building. He had to hurry, but he also had to be careful not to make too much noise and alert Kana. He quietly climbed the stairs, two at a time.

As he passed the fourth floor and headed towards the fifth, he heard Raquel's voice. "What are you doing here?" she demanded in a sharp tone.

"That idiot..." Naoto hissed under his breath as he ran up the remaining steps.

Raquel stood elegantly in the fifth-floor hallway. Her unwavering golden gaze was fixed on Kirishima Kana, who was wearing a red coat with the hood pulled up over her head. Through the triangular opening of the red fabric, her surprised and frightened expression was clearly visible. Kana was standing in front of the room at the very end of the fifth floor. She was about to press the intercom button. Her white fingertips trembled slightly as she hovered over the small button.

"Alucard-san... Kurogane-kun... w-why..." Kana's voice, which Naoto had never heard before, was weak and trembling as she looked up at them with wide eyes. The large Boston bag she was carrying slipped from her hand and fell to the ground. "Oh..." With a heavy thud, the Boston bag bounced once on the floor before coming to a stop. The contents spilled out of the bag, caught on the partially open zipper, which had been forcibly jammed shut.

Naoto frowned at the items scattered across the hallway. There were ropes, handcuffs, strange leather bands he didn't recognize, and even red candles - all items he had seen in the catalog from the store they had visited earlier.

"No... no, no, no!"

Finally realizing what was scattered at her feet, Kana looked up at Raquel and Naoto with wide, tear-filled eyes. She crawled on the floor, gathering the scattered "tools" with trembling hands.

"No... no, don't look! It's not what it looks like...!" Where was the perfect, elegant young lady? The "queen" of Shinkawahama First High School, the dignified and beautiful vice president of the student council? She was nowhere to be found. Ignoring the dirt on her clothes, she knelt on the grimy hallway floor, desperately trying to gather the scattered items. Her cheeks were wet with tears, like a scolded child. She curled up into a ball, using her body to hide the items she had gathered. Her usually flowing black hair was now plastered to her tear-stained cheeks, dragged along the dusty floor.

"What were you doing here? Answer me." Standing in front of Kana, Raquel asked again in a stern voice. Naoto grimaced slightly and scratched his head.

(Man, as soon as she gets the upper hand, she immediately reverts to her usual self...)

Just a few hours ago, when she'd run into Kana at school, she'd been so out of breath. Raquel's domineering gaze made Kana look even weaker and more pathetic.

"I'll ask her," he said, and then, somewhat forcefully, he crouched down in front of Kana. "Senpai..."

"Please..." Kana lifted her tear-streaked face and clung to Naoto's feet, pushing various items further into her skirt in a desperate attempt to hide them. "Please, I'll do anything... I'll do anything, just don't say...!"

"Anything...?" Naoto furrowed his brow, his voice filled with disgust. "Anything" was a big word. Especially coming from Kana. He couldn't believe she would say something like that so easily. The thought made a heavy, unpleasant feeling settle in his chest.

"Kirishima-senpai, I won't tell anyone about this. So, can you please tell me what happened?" Perhaps he should have spoken more gently. Even as he thought that, his voice sounded harsh and interrogative. Nevertheless, Kana, between sobs and gasps for air, managed to speak in a barely audible voice.

"Well, it started with an online post. I was just curious, you know? Wondering what kind of store it was... But when I went out, my teacher saw me. He asked me what I was buying at a place like this and said that if I didn't want everyone to know, it would have to be our little secret. So, I promised him just once, and I came here... But then I found out that he'd been filming it!" And from there, it was the usual pattern. Blackmailed with the videos he'd taken, she was forced to do things she didn't want to do, over and over again. The more she did, the more he had on her, and the harder it became to refuse his demands.

"This is disgusting..." Naoto muttered under his breath. The teacher probably used the store himself. Otherwise, why would he call it a "place like this" without even knowing what was inside?

"But lately, he seems to be getting bored of me... He keeps talking about Haruka, Haruka, Haruka..." Kana's words, delivered through sniffles, felt like a bucket of cold water to Naoto.

"Haruka...? Wait, what do you mean!?" Grabbing Kana by the shoulders, Naoto forced her to look up. A bad feeling was creeping up his spine, the same chill he'd felt when he'd left the back alley store.

Kana clutched at Naoto's sleeve with trembling hands, but couldn't meet his gaze. "Lately, my teacher has been acting strange. Today, he ordered me to bring Haruka. But I couldn't let anything happen to her, I couldn't let her go through this... so I thought I'd have to satisfy him, so I bought new things..." She couldn't finish her sentence and hung her head low. Naoto pulled his hand away from Kana's shoulder. If he hadn't, he might have squeezed it in anger. He looked up at the intercom button Kana had been about to press. His gaze slid upward as he searched for the nameplate. The name read... "Isa."

(Isa...?)

Naoto couldn't believe his eyes. But his disbelief was quickly replaced by anger.

"...What the hell." Naoto stood up, his throat vibrating with restrained rage. He didn't have any particular feelings for Kana. Nor did he respect or rely on Isa. So he didn't feel betrayed by either of them. But this was going too far. The idea of him trying to get his hands on Haruka was unforgivable.

"You're messing with the wrong person, Isa!" Yelling out in frustration, Naoto grabbed the doorknob and pulled. It was locked, of course. But undeterred, he pulled again, this time with all his might. With a sickening crack, the door swung open. The lock had broken, its shattered pieces clinking to the floor. Stepping over them, Naoto entered the room.

The kitchen was the first thing he saw, followed by two connected Japanese-style rooms. The back room was long, with a futon laid out in the far corner. A three-legged stool stood at the foot of the bed. But there was no camera.

"How disgusting," Raquel muttered, following Naoto into the room and wrinkling her nose. She covered her mouth with her hand.

The apartment was dirty and cluttered, typical of a single man who didn't clean up after himself. Empty beer cans were scattered around the kitchen, and a used lunchbox was tossed onto a low table in the middle room. Clothes were strewn everywhere, including underwear.

"No one's here," Raquel said calmly, passing Naoto as he surveyed the room. She walked to the far room and gently touched the thin futon. She muttered a short incantation, and light emanated from her fingertips, spreading throughout the room. “Just as I thought. The master of this room is a Spinner's Apostle.”

"Damn it..." Naoto grimaced. If Isa was a minion of Spinner’s, that meant they were after Haruka.

"Raquel, can you find Isa's location!?"

"Don't order me around. I'm your master."

Though she sounded annoyed, Raquel quickly drew a magic circle on the floor. Naoto was momentarily relieved; despite her grumbling, she was always willing to help. He watched in awe as the magic circle formed beneath her white fingers. After a short incantation, the air swirled and light flashed. When Raquel opened her eyes, she blinked in surprise. "Oh... the school?"

A cold sensation pierced Naoto. He remembered the uneasy feeling he'd had when he'd left the back alley store. A bad feeling. This must have been what it meant.

Thinking it would be worse... Haruka's words echoed in Naoto's mind.

"Damn it!" Naoto bolted from Isa's apartment, brushing past Kana who was still weeping. He raced down the stairs.

(This is such a pain!)

Without a second thought, Naoto placed his hand on the wall of the landing and launched himself outside. He wasn't thinking at all. The only thing on his mind was getting to the school as quickly as possible. Naoto jumped down from a height that would normally be dangerous, but he landed without any damage and immediately took off running at breakneck speed. He thought he heard Raquel calling after him, but he didn't have time to look back. He took out his phone and called Haruka. Instead of a ringtone, a recorded message informed him that the person he was trying to reach was out of service. Annoyingly, there was no cell phone reception in any of the classrooms at Shinkawahama First High.

"Damn it... damn it, damn it!" He realized that the sun had set and the sky was growing dark, the streetlights casting a pale glow. How much time had passed? The wind had picked up, and the clouds that had covered the sky all day were beginning to break up. He pushed against the wind that was blowing directly into his face. His stomach was churning with a mixture of anger and anxiety. His body was burning with passion.

### 006. Chapter 5: Encounter

## BBBE Chapter 5: Encounter

### Part 1

The square window outside had turned dark sometime during her work, and the veil of night had completely fallen. She realized that time had passed much faster than she thought when she finally started to see the end of her work. She had been so focused on her task that her shoulders and back ached, and she leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms wide. Then, she glanced at the round clock on the wall beside the whiteboard and was surprised.

"What time is it already?! Oh, no..." She had been working with her back to the clock, so she hadn't noticed. Haruka sat up straight, twisted in her chair, and widened her eyes at the time. She needed to get home soon or she would be too late to prepare dinner.However, she was almost done. She thought about coming back early tomorrow morning to finish up, but…

"I can finish this in another hour. Let's do it!" She was the kind of person who believed in finishing what she started today. She took a sip of green tea from the bottle beside her and, with renewed vigor, pulled the next document towards her.

That's when it happened.

"Huh?" The door to the student council room suddenly opened. Haruka turned around in surprise, and a familiar teacher entered.

"Oh, Isa-san. I'm sorry for keeping you waiting so late." It was already thirty minutes past the official closing time. The reason Haruka could stay so late without worrying was because Isa, who was in charge of the keys, had told her to use the room as long as she needed.

"No, it's fine. So, how are you doing? Almost finished?" Isa looked around the student council room, his tone much softer than he usually was in class. He was carrying a large bag. He probably planned to go home as soon as Haruka was finished.

"I'm sorry, just a little more." She wondered if she was staying too late. With that thought in mind, Haruka returned to her desk to try to make some progress.

“Hayami, you’re doing great. Staying late all by yourself,” he said.

"No, it's nothing." It felt strange being praised by Isa. She smiled vaguely and continued writing. As she extracted the necessary information from the documents, Haruka suddenly remembered something. "By the way, Isa-san, you were absent yesterday. Were you feeling unwell?"

"Oh, no," came a reply with a hint of a smile, as if he had forgotten until it was mentioned. "Actually, my health has been quite good lately."

Haruka felt a shiver run down her spine at the way he laughed, as if the words were caught in his throat.

And then it happened. The sound of the student council room door locking. Haruka stopped and turned around.

"..Isa-san?" Isa was inside the student council room. He stood with his back to the locked door and slowly approached Haruka, his gaze fixed on her.

"Do you know... that right now, just the two of us are in this school?" Isa, who usually had a stern expression, smiled wickedly. His tired eyes held an unusually intense light. Haruka jumped up from her chair with a start. Something was wrong with Isa. Feeling an instinctive sense of danger, she ran towards the back door of the classroom. She pulled the door to open it, but it was locked.

"No way, why..." The door hadn't been locked from this side. Frantically, she pulled it again and again, then realized. It was locked from the other side.

At the sound of a small noise, Haruka turned around in surprise. She saw Isa setting up what looked like a camera on the desk. For a moment, her gaze shifted from Haruka to the camera. Determined to escape, Haruka sprinted toward the front door, but Isa quickly noticed and spread his arms to block her.

"Where are you going, Haruka-kun...?"

"Get away from me, Isa-san!" Haruka looked at Isa sternly, her voice trembling as she shouted. But Isa only smiled more deeply. He took a step closer, as if to corner her. Haruka took a step back. Breathing heavily, Isa reached for his clothes and began to awkwardly remove his wrinkled shirt.

She couldn't bear to look. Haruka let out a strangled cry and shrank back, covering her face with her hands. She heard the sound of his belt buckle being undone. The sound of the zipper being lowered, followed by the sound of his pants being discarded.

"Isa-san... please stop..." Haruka trembled violently. A paralyzing fear gripped her. She couldn't escape. She didn't know how to escape.

"Haruka-kun. Look at me," Isa said in a threatening tone. Haruka, trembling, slowly lifted her face.

"Ah!" She let out a sudden scream and covered her mouth with her hands.

Isa, now stripped naked, stood there in a bizarre form. His stomach sagged in a way typical of most middle-aged men, but not completely. He stood there, his exposed flesh partially concealed by a perverse, black leather harness. In his hand, he held a whip with a number of leather belts attached to its black handle, which he had probably taken out of a bag. Isa held it out to Haruka.

“Come on, Haruka-kun, beat me with this!”

“Wha- what are you saying?”

“Beat me and insult me. Pig, this pig, this happy pig! Oh, I don't care what you do to me!”

Overwhelmed by the situation, Haruka's fear receded like a wave for a moment. Instead, she was engulfed in confusion and bewilderment. Her thoughts came to a halt. ‘What is he saying?’

“P... pig?”

“Yes! Exactly! Keep going! Oh wait, I almost forgot...!"

Haruka stood there, bewildered. Isa, realizing he had slipped into a trance-like state, panicked and then switched to a state of urgency. Grabbing the bag at his feet, he pulled out a black object. Holding it with both hands, he spread it out.

It was a costume designed to resemble a swimsuit, but with a far more intricate and suggestive design, intended to expose the wearer in a sexually provocative manner. It was a female bondage outfit, even more sexually suggestive than the one Isa was already wearing. When Haruka realized what it was, her confusion melted away, replaced by a dawning understanding of Isa's intentions.

And so, Isa made his request. 'Now, Haruka-sama, please put this on. I prepared it especially for you... here!'”

“N-no way! Absolutely not!" Haruka shook her head vigorously, her whole body rejecting the idea. But Isa, undeterred, inched closer and closer. It was a repulsive sight. Feeling her blood run cold, Haruka rallied and ran again, desperate to put distance between herself and Isa. But Isa grabbed her arm, even though he shouldn't have been that close yet.

"No..."

"Put it on... You will wear it!"

"No!" Isa pulled hard on Haruka's arm as she struggled to break free. It was an incredible strength. Her body was easily dragged over to his side.

Isa pushed Haruka down onto the row of desks. Holding her resisting wrists together, he pressed them against the cold surface, tearing her sailor uniform blouse apart from the collar in one swift motion.

"Kyaa!" Haruka let out a loud scream at the loud sound of the cloth tearing. Isa threw away the white cloth he had torn off. The large tear ran diagonally across the uniform, exposing Haruka's pale pink bra and white skin. Touching her soft belly with the palm of her hand, Isa gave a sly smile.

“Come on, Haruka-sama, let’s get dressed!” Isa's hand slid across her skin and reached for Haruka's skirt. Haruka struggled desperately, writhing on the desk. Her skin was ripe with a bad feeling.

“N… Naoto-kun… Naoto-kun!”

She tried desperately to kick Isa away, her trembling body moving with all its might. But she was trapped between Isa and the desk. His fingers brushed against the hook of her skirt. “No, Naoto-kun! Help meeee!” she cried out.

“Roger that!"

Haruka closed her eyes tightly and screamed. The next moment, the door to the student council room was blown open. Naoto kicked the door down and burst in. He leaped over the fallen door and punched Isa right in the face. His fist, which had turned crimson in mid-air, sank deep into Isa's nose. Isa, who had been holding Haruka down, was blown back and fell to the floor. Naoto pulled Haruka away from the desk.

"Naoto-kun...? Is this real...?" Haruka stared at Naoto blankly and collapsed to the floor. Naoto patted her on the head.

"Perfect timing, wasn't it?" She forced a smile, but as soon as Naoki touched her head, she burst into tears, her composure shattered. "Naoto... Naoto..." she sobbed, her voice cracking. She buried her face in her hands and cried uncontrollably.

Naoto tried to comfort her, "It's okay now. Don't cry." But when he leaned in, she clung to his neck and wept even harder.

Supporting his weight against her, Naoto gently placed his hand on Haruka's head. It had been a long time since he saw her cry like this. Haruka didn't usually cry much. When she was sad, she could say she was sad; when she felt lonely, she could express her loneliness. Because of that, she often smiled in front of others. She believed that having even a little more time smiling peacefully, rather than lamenting and grieving, made both herself and others happier. Naoto couldn't even begin to count how much peace he had received from her smile. But now, Haruka…

She was crying, overwhelmed by emotions she couldn’t even express in words. The sensation of her cold tears seeped into Naoto’s chest.

“...I’m sorry. Just sleep for a bit.” Whispering softly in Haruka's ear as she clung to him, Naoto slid his hand from her head to her neck. He applied a little pressure with his fingertips. Suddenly, Haruka lost all strength from her body and leaned against Naoto. He carried Haruka to the corner of the student council room and laid her down on the floor. Haruka was unconscious. Naoto took off his school uniform jacket and covered her torn clothes as if she were a crying child who had fallen asleep.

“You bastard…”

Fury bubbled up from the depths of his stomach as Naoto turned to see Isa on the other side of the classroom, holding his face and writhing in pain. He felt like he was about to vomit. Looking down at the man in the bondage suit, moaning incoherently as his nose flowed with blood, Naoto roared with burning passion.

“How long have you been doing this? Get up! I’ll beat you up as much as you want, so come at me, you masochistic bastard!”

### Part 2

At Naoto's forceful voice, Isa's body jolted and trembled. The slumped figure awkwardly rose. With his blood-stained hands hanging limply and an extreme hunch, Isa directed his hollow, murky eyes at Naoto.

“Ki-chi-chi.”

Naoto gasped at that sound. There was no doubt that the sound came from Isa. A hard, light sound, like an insect wriggling, could be heard from his half-open mouth, smeared with flowing blood.

“Come to think of it, he’s Spinner’s Apostle…” The eerie sound, the distorted posture, and the vacant eyes—this confrontation reminded Naoto of the abandoned apartment complex from that time. That time, he had his right arm bitten off and was buried under rubble. But he couldn't afford to be so pathetic this time.

(I have to bring her back safely… If I don’t, Yuki will kill me)

To spur himself on, Naoto glanced over his shoulder. He could see Haruka lying there, powerless. But right beside her, Raquel was there, somehow.

"Raquel!?"

“It’s such a foolhardy thing to run off on your own, leaving your master behind. A thoughtless single-celled organism. How ridiculous.” Kneeling beside Haruka and peering at her, Raquel looked up and said in a haughty yet somewhat sulky tone. “I’ll keep an eye on Haruka. So fight without holding back.”

“You have a knack for showing up at the right time... That helps. I’m counting on you,” Naoto replied sarcastically, turning back to face Isa. With Raquel here, he felt reassured. If push came to shove, she would probably run away with Haruka, even if it meant abandoning Naoto. At worst, as long as Haruka was safe, that would be enough.

“GAAAAAAH!” A shrill, menacing sound erupted from Isa's throat, slicing through the air. The voice carried an unpleasant stench that lingered in the atmosphere. It was the voice of a monster, not a human. Realizing that he had crossed a boundary into an extraordinary situation, a thread of crisis and tension tightened within Naoto.

"Come on!" In response to Naoto's defiant challenge, something long and thin shot out of Isa's back and lunged towards him. "Whoa...!" Naoto barely managed to leap sideways, avoiding the attack that was aimed to impale him on the floor from a diagonal angle. The classroom floor shattered where the attack had struck. Naoto scowled at the sight.

It was a pair of insect legs. They resembled the legs of a beetle or mantis, but they were covered in a harder exoskeleton, thicker, and built solely for the purpose of killing prey. They were black. The two legs protruded from Isa's back, piercing through the flesh and skin.

"Damn..." He had known this would happen, but seeing this grotesque transformation firsthand sent a chill down his spine. Even though he was a half-vampire or immortal, he didn't have the heart to accept such a monstrous sight. Disgusting things were disgusting, and scary things were scary.

“You’re backing away. What happened to the bravado from earlier?” Raquel's scornful voice came from behind. Naoto clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Shut up, you bystander!” But that light retort gave Naoto a small measure of calm. This was no time to be messing around. Swallowing the tightness in his breath, he took a deep breath and steeled himself.

“GAAAAAAH!” With a roar that no human could produce, Isa lifted the two monstrous legs that were embedded in the floor. Once again, he swung them around to pierce Naoto, and with a powerful kick, he launched himself towards his target. "AAAARGH!"

"Ugh...!" This time, one of the insect legs swung around from the side, its sharp claws aiming to clamp down and pierce him. He couldn't dodge it. Naoto used both his arms as shields to block the attack. His right arm held up perfectly, just as he had envisioned. It was as if he were wearing a metal gauntlet, his strength allowing him to withstand a force that was impossible for a normal human. But his left arm... it wasn't so lucky.

“Ugh... ugh...” It felt like he'd been hit hard with a metal bat. An unpleasant sound echoed as his forearm bent at an unnatural angle in the middle. Instinctively, he shook off Isa's leg, which he had blocked with his right arm, and swung at the other one that had broken his left arm. It was hard, with a heavy weight inside. Dodging under the leg that had been sent flying, Naoto escaped. As he did so, his eyes caught something.

The number above Isa's head had decreased. From '674' to '672'.

(It decreased! That means...!)

He was taking damage. A mere 2, but by simple calculation, if he hit that number about 340 times, he could reduce it to '0'. It wasn't impossible to defeat him. There was still hope. Circling around to Isa's right, Naoto pulled his broken arm closer to protect it.

"...Huh?" Noticing something strange, Naoto looked down at his left arm. It was supposed to be broken just a moment ago. But now, it was moving normally, without any pain. "Oh, right, it heals...!"

Dodging a grab from Isa's human arm as he turned around, Naoto kicked him in the shin. He wanted to land another punch, but one of the monstrous legs swung down, slicing his shoulder, and Naoto jumped back.

"Ugh..." A red stain spread across the floor. But under Naoto's hand as he pressed down on his shoulder, the wound was already healing and disappearing. "Well... this is pretty handy, isn't it?"

Wiping his bloody hand on his pants, Naoto smirked. The only problem was that it still hurt like hell each time.

(If I have regenerative abilities, why can't it be more convenient in other ways...? I guess it doesn't offer that kind of service.)

The monster on Isa's back thrashed around, digging its claws into the floor as it chased after Naoto. Some of them caught Naoto, tearing his shirt and flesh. Heat and pain shot through his cheek, his thigh, and grazed his side. Naoto moved as quickly as he could, but the confined space of the classroom made it difficult. The desks were also a major obstacle.

"Damn it..." Naoto picked up a desk that was blocking his escape route and threw it at Isa. But the monstrous leg swung up and knocked it aside, sending it flying through the window. He tried again with a chair and another desk, hoping to hit something at least once, but all he managed to do was shatter the ceiling light and have the shards rain down on the creature.

"Running away? How boring." A heckling voice came from the sidelines, as if to taunt him.

"Shut up!" He shouted back angrily, but even Naoto knew that he couldn't keep running forever. And he didn't want to ask Raquel for help. Isa's attacks had torn the ceiling apart, shattered the walls, and sent chairs and desks flying. Raquel had created an invisible barrier to protect Haruka from the debris. He couldn't bring himself to ask her to stop. As if bored of the chase, Isa suddenly turned around. His cloudy eyes, which seemed to be out of focus, landed on Raquel and Haruka. Raquel gasped and stepped forward to protect Haruka. Ignoring them, Isa raised his two monstrous legs and charged straight ahead with a groan.

"You bastard!" Naoto kicked the floor hard and jumped. Isa's legs swung down, trying to grab both Raquel and Haruka. He barely made it in time.

"Ugh..." The sharp, black claws pierced through both of his arms, which he had raised as shields, and then tore into his abdomen. But only the tips of the claws had reached him. They hadn't reached Haruka, or Raquel.

"Naoto!"

"I'm... fine..." Naoto forced a brave smile in response to Raquel's startled voice. He was secretly relieved. It was strange to hear her voice like this, as if she were genuinely worried about him.

"Don't underestimate me!" Roaring with all his might, Naoto tightened his fists around the arms that were impaled. With all his strength, he pushed back the black, piercing weapon.He could feel the hard object being pulled out of his abdomen. Then, raising his right arm, Naoto used the arm made of Raquel's blood to support his weight while freeing his left arm. The wound burned. He wanted to cry. But the harsh reality of the situation made him swing his remaining right arm, ignoring the spreading wound. The claws that had been embedded in him were pulled out with force.

At that moment, Raquel unleashed a shockwave of wind aimed at Isa's now exposed abdomen.

“GAAAAAAH!” With a deep, air-filled groan, Isa's body was forced back towards the window.

Naoto checked the number above his head. It hadn't decreased much. It wasn't a fatal blow. But he had gained some time. While Isa was recovering, Naoto's wounded body, which had been spitting blood, began to heal and return to its original form.

Isa cracked his neck and stood up. Naoto struggled to regulate his ragged breathing, trying to suppress his growing anxiety. The odds were against him. Thanks to Raquel's half-vampire transformation, Naoto's physical abilities had increased significantly. But his stamina wasn't infinite, and the pain still made him flinch. He couldn't keep running forever.

(But what am I supposed to do? Hit him another three hundred times?)

That was absurd, he'd run out of energy and die. He could only withstand the full impact of Isa's attacks with his right arm. The rest of his body couldn't handle the shock that his right arm could. On top of that, he had to protect Haruka, even with Raquel's help.

(Protect... her?)

He thought back to Clavis. That incredible man had protected Naoto, Raquel, and Haruka while fighting against both Valkenhayn and Relius. While Naoto was struggling against Isa's four arms, Clavis had effortlessly cut through the countless hands that Relius used to restrain his movements.

The image of those beautifully sharp cuts flashed through Naoto's mind. Come to think of it, his own arm had been cut by Clavis, leaving a perfect, clean cut.

"Ugh..." Suddenly, Naoto grimaced in pain. A perfectly clean cut. The thing that could create such a cut must be... extremely sharp. That thought dredged up something from the depths of Naoto's memory. It was a vivid memory, filled with the smell of blood.

Something wet beneath his feet.

Something lying in his line of sight.

It had already died and turned into a black mass, but before that, it had been Naoto's mother.

The thing that had taken his mother's life... the thing that had turned her black.

Soaked in blood, it was so beautiful it was frightening... a blade.

A sharp sound tore through the air. Isa closed the distance in an instant, aiming for the slow-reacting Naoto, his monstrous leg raised high with a clear intent to kill. The thrust was incredibly fast. It was meant to pierce not only skin and flesh but also bone. The prey was already captured and doomed. With such certainty, the black, gleaming, sharp claws were about to—but against the monster's intentions and Raquel's anxious anticipation, they did not pierce flesh or bone.

Instead of the wet sound of blood spattering, there was a clear, resonant clang of metal. Isa's monstrous attack had been deflected by something. Raquel gasped sharply. Her golden eyes widened in shock. When had this happened? Perhaps in just an instant, between one blink and the next.

Raquel was speechless at the figure standing before her.

It was Naoto, but he was not ordinary. He had transformed. His hair was now white, his eyes were red and slanted. And in his hand was a red, glowing sword.An opaque, crimson mass, formed from congealed blood, had become a sharp and menacing sword in Naoto's hand.

A blade of blood.

"Kiiiieeeeee!" Isa roared in frustration and swung his monstrous black legs again. Naoto, transformed with white hair and red eyes, glared at his enemy with unwavering hostility and flashed the sword in his hand. The crimson slash was heavy yet light, describing a beautiful arc. It sliced through the air and cleanly severed the two monstrous legs with a cool sound. Red droplets danced in the air.

"Ah..." Raquel let out an involuntary gasp. It was a sound of admiration. Tears streamed from her wide-open eyes for some reason. An unfamiliar emotion filled her chest. A feeling of sadness that was almost overwhelming.

Warming her cheeks with tears, Raquel stared at Naoto. She didn't want to miss a single moment of this scene, and watched intently without blinking.

"GU, GAAAHHH!!" Despite the elegance of the slash, a hoarse cry rang out. The leg, severed from the middle down, spattered a dark green liquid instead of blood and bounced back with the recoil. Dragged by the momentum, Isa's body was thrown backward. And then…

"Uoooooh!" Naoto roared and took a deep step forward. The blood-stained blade was no longer in his hand. His hair and eye color had returned to normal. Gathering strength in his legs, abdomen, shoulders, and arms, Naoto swung his fist with all his might. It was his right arm that he thrust forward. In the dimly lit classroom, his fist, which roared as if it were alive, was dyed crimson. He drove his fist straight, heavily, into Isa's chest.

“Gubuuuu…” The impact of the fist, driven deep, must have reached his internal organs. Isa convulsed a few times at the point where Naoto's fist had penetrated... and then collapsed to his knees.

### Part 3

When the rampaging Isa fell silent, the classroom suddenly became eerily quiet. All Naoto could hear was his own ragged breathing and his pounding heart as he stood there with his fist still thrust out. He couldn't quite comprehend what had happened. But as he looked down, his shoulders heaving, and saw Isa lying there convulsing like a dying fish, he finally let out a deep breath.

"I... did it..." He dropped his arm, which had been extended without strength. He took a few steps back, tripped, and fell to the floor. He was exhausted. Was it relief? Or maybe he didn't care anymore, it was over, he had won.

He glanced at the number still above Isa's head: '217'. He was still alive. Naoto breathed heavily, a sigh of relief escaping his lips.

(Thank goodness he's still alive... those numbers are bad, but... please don't die.)

He didn't like Isa. There was the matter with Haruka, and with Kana, and the Apostle's influence, and...

Naoto might have understood that, but even so, he felt he couldn’t forgive Isa. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to kill him. He hadn’t come here wanting to commit murder or to vent his frustrations.

But then…

“... You’re not going to kill him?” A voice called from behind, and Naoto, his breath still ragged, turned his head to look at the speaker. It was Raquel. Although her tone was stern, Naoto somehow understood that she wasn't blaming him. He shrugged with a wry smile.

"What? Weren't you going to ask him questions?" He needed to investigate the Azure and Spinner. Isa was an important lead. But Raquel walked over to Naoto, her expression unyielding. "You don't think you can save him, do you?"

"What? You think it's impossible?" That was unexpected. Naoto forced a smile. "Well, you know, unlike the last guy, he still looks like Isa, and he doesn't seem to have those things coming out of his head..."

As he spoke, Naoto realized something. The bug men in the deserted housing complex had also seemed dead, but then their heads had suddenly split open and bugs had come out.

Raquel seemed to have the same thought. They exchanged tense glances and turned back to Isa at the same time. As if waiting for that moment, Isa's body began to tremble violently and then jumped up like a wound-up toy.

"Watch out!" Naoto, who had been slumping, pushed himself up off the floor and shoved Raquel behind him. But then, there was an unexpected interruption.

Countless dry, crackling sounds. At the same time, Isa's body, which had risen in front of Naoto, began to tremble convulsively. His limbs exploded with flesh and bodily fluids.

"Wh-what?!" Without a scream, Isa fell face down on the floor again, still in a defensive posture. The disgusting bodily fluids of the bug creature stained the classroom floor. Then, a group of people in full black gear burst through the entrance that Naoto had broken through earlier. They were like a police SWAT team. There were about ten of them. They each carried formidable-looking firearms, quickly took up positions in the corners of the classroom, and raised their muzzles as one.

The earlier cracking sounds had been gunshots.

Red laser pointers sought out their next target. The small red dots converged on Raquel. Holding his breath, Naoto shielded Raquel with his back again. Several red dots wandered around, searching for a target.

"Ugh," a voice out of place interrupted the tense atmosphere.

"Oh dear, look at the mess this classroom is in," she exclaimed with a sigh. Naoto jumped at the sound. It wasn't entirely unexpected, though. He'd completely forgotten about her, but she had mentioned she would be keeping an eye on things.

Entering the student council room, littered with broken glass and overturned desks, was Kiiro Hikagami. Dressed in a tight skirt with a deep slit and high heels, she looked completely out of place with her nonchalant complaints.

"Hehe, Naoto-kun. I'm here," she said, placing her hand lightly against her cheek and raising a shoulder, her face innocent. Raquel tensed behind Naoto. "Oh, well, that's enough of that. Why don't you all start cleaning up?" Kiiro waved casually at the black-clad figures standing guard around her, then gave instructions to Naoto in a completely different, indifferent tone.

The makeshift security team, moving with a trained precision, removed the red pointer from Raquel and holstered their guns. They quickly led something in from the corridor. Following them were three men dressed in white, not black, wearing white lab coats, rubber gloves, and white hats and masks. A stretcher, like the ones used in hospitals, was carried in, and the men in white lifted Isa's body onto it.

"Hey, wait a minute! What are you doing with him...?" Watching the methodical work, Naoto felt a strange sense of urgency and tried to stop them. But before he could, Kiiro stepped forward to block his way. "Hey, move..."

"That was amazing just now..." Her eyes were slightly flushed, tinted with a peachy hue as if painted on, and her lips, parted ever so slightly, seemed to... to somehow invite lust. With a shuddering, longing sigh, Kiiro let her fingers glide over Naoto's arm. She grabbed his right hand, pulling it firmly to her chest. Naoto's hand sank into her voluptuous breasts, pinching them between her soft tresses, and she pressed herself close to Naoto.

"Come on, touch me properly. Can’t you tell how my heart is racing?" Feeling as if he was being drawn into a sensation he couldn't comprehend, Naoto instinctively tried to pull his hand away. But Kiiro held onto his hand tightly, not letting go.

As Kiiro said, beneath the pressed chest, an unusually rapid heartbeat thudded violently. It felt anything but normal. The excited and heightened heartbeat intensified with the sensation in Naoto's palm. As Kiiro had said, Naoto felt an abnormally fast heartbeat thumping beneath her pressed chest. It was far from normal. The sensation of Naoto's touch seemed to intensify the rapid beating.

"Oh... Naoto, you're going to get me into so much trouble... You're egging me on… Hey…” Kiiro said, coaxing Naoto’s hand down her chest and gradually sliding it further. His hand traced her unprotected belly between her ribs, and by that time, she moved his hand past her navel and trembled slightly.

“Hah... come on. Cut me into pieces with 'Blood Edge', Naoto-kun...”

“’Blood Edge'?” Naoto frowned, confused by the unfamiliar words.

“Yes, that’s right…” With her mouth slightly open, her breath coming out in short, unsteady gasps, Kiiro led Naoto’s hand towards her lower abdomen. Immediately, Naoto pulled his hand away with force, slapping Kiiro’s hand away.

“No, don’t.” But she quickly grabbed his hand again, whining like a child who's had their toy taken away. She pushed past him and tried to bury her face in his chest, clearly determined not to let go this time. "Let go!" Naoto demanded, his eyes narrowing in a fierce glare.

Kiiro smiled, her lips curving into a smirk. "Amazing," she mused, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "You don't like being watched? I don't mind, but... you're so shy, aren't you?" "What are you talking about? Let me go already." It was a disgusting feeling. A truly disgusting feeling, and Naoto could feel a prickling sensation along the bridge of his nose. Even that harsh expression made Kiiro's cheeks flush slightly, and with a single blink, a sharpness glimmered amidst her alluring demeanor.

"Should we help that guy, Isa?" Kiiro licked her painted lips seductively as she whispered the question, her eyes fixed on Naoto. Naoto returned her gaze with a mixture of confusion and suspicion. Behind Naoto, Raquel, who had returned to Haruka's side, watched the scene unfold with a mix of curiosity and uncertainty. With a look as if to gauge Kiiro's movements, she cast glances toward both of them.

Leaning closer to Naoto, Kiiro pressed her plump lips to his ear. "You want to help him, don't you? If Naoto-kun says so, I'll make a special exception. The corruption isn't too bad yet, and I can arrange treatment. ... I'll do anything Naoto-kun wants."

"R-Really? You can help him?"

"Hehe, impressive, right? This is the 'power of the organization.'... It's completely different from some incompetent girl somewhere. What I can do for you is on a whole different level. Don't compare me to a vampire." It seemed she was purposely letting them hear. While whispering to Naoto, Kiiro chose a volume loud enough for Raquel to hear.

Raquel glanced at Naoto once, then lowered her gaze to hide her expression. Although Naoto couldn't see it, she was biting her small lips in regret.

Kiiro let out a short, suggestive laugh and lightly raised her hand. At that signal, the lab-coated individuals, who had been waiting for instructions, quickly carried Isa, who was on a stretcher, out of the student council room. Where were they taking him, and for what purpose? Naoto couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t just for treatment since he had become a Spinner's apostle.

"Oh, by the way. I’ll show this to you too, Naoto-kun." Subduing her earlier seductive demeanor, Kiiro put on a girlish expression and gestured to one of the black-clad soldiers, who brought her a small tablet. With practiced ease, she navigated the screen and opened a video file. She leaned close to Naoto and showed him the video. The familiar room appeared on the screen. And in that room, two familiar figures were shouting through a distorted voice.

“Look, what's wrong with you? Tell me what you want! You pig!”

“Please! More, more, please, Kana-sama!”

“A lowly pig shouldn't speak human words! A pig should squeal like a pig!"

"B-buhiiiii!"

What unfolded was a picture-perfect S&M show. Naoto didn't want to think about who the black-haired dominatrix was, laughing loudly while wielding a whip, or who the man was, trembling with pleasure as he was whipped and crawling on all fours.

(She’s definitely a “queen.”)

The way she wielded the whip was so dignified that she seemed to be enjoying herself, even though she was being forced to do it.

"There are plenty more, you know~. Which one do you like?" Kiiro asked, looking up with a teasing tone. Naoto took a step back, his expression sour.

“I'll pass.”

“Oh really? That's too bad, there were many more interesting ones...”

"......You looked at all of them?" He couldn't even guess how many there were in total, but judging by Kiiro's cheerful tone, it was clear that it wasn't just one or two more. Still, Isa's tastes were something else entirely. Turning the screen toward Naoto, Kiiro blinked mischievously from behind the tablet.

"So, I'll keep this video at the Mitsurugi Agency," Kiiro said.

"Keep it? You're not going to get rid of it?" Naoto furrowed his brow, displeased. He had naturally assumed they would dispose of it.

Kiiro shook her head, her hair bobbing from side to side. "It's insurance, just in case. Kirashima Kana probably won't expose this herself, but if her parents start making a fuss, we'll be in trouble." She said this as if it were for Naoto's benefit.

In other words, if they didn't want this video to become public, they should avoid causing unnecessary trouble. It seemed she intended to use it as leverage.

Knowing Kiiro, she probably had already investigated not just Kana Kirishima's parents but also her relatives, looking into what kind of people they were and their tendencies. That thought made both the Mitsurugi Agency and Kiiro as a person quite terrifying.

“...By the way, how is Kirishima-senpai?” Naoto asked Kiiro, sounding resigned. He had left her crying in front of Isa's apartment.

“I’m sure Kiiro-san was taking care of that follow-up.”

Kiiro smiled and handed the tablet back to a nearby black-suited soldier. "Of course, the Mitsurugi Agency is protecting her. Oh, and don't worry, I'll have this classroom restored by tomorrow."

Naoto glanced at it and looked around. There was something else he was curious about.

"They're not here, are they? Those guys."

"Which guys?"

"Valkenhayn and Relius." If those two with their extraordinary fighting abilities were here, they could have easily knocked Isa unconscious in seconds. Realizing his own weakness, Naoto felt a tingling sensation in his fingertips.

Seeing Naoto secretly crumpling up his feelings of powerlessness in his fist, Kiiro feigned surprise. "If Clavis Alucard were here, I would quickly call for them, but it’s a waste of resources to bring those people out for a small fry like this. They’re expensive, you know.”

(…Expensive.)

Naoto couldn't help but chuckle, surprised by the sudden mention of money. He didn't know that 'slayer of the undead' was a business. Were they like mercenaries? It was funny to imagine those monstrous duo worrying about annual salaries and bonuses.

But Naoto turned his chuckle into a sigh and slumped his shoulders. He felt like everything was going exactly as Kiiro wanted. He felt like a puppet. But there was nothing he could do. He had no one else to rely on.

"Thanks for everything... So, what's the catch?"

"Catch?" Kiiro's eyes widened in surprise. Naoto glared at her.

"In a situation like this, you're usually about to bring up a 'favor' or something, right?" Treating Isa, securing Kana's video, protecting Kana herself, and even fixing the damaged classroom couldn't possibly be out of the goodness of her heart.

However, Kiiro burst out laughing as if she couldn't believe it. She placed her hand on Naoto's cheek and smiled. "Oh, Naoto-kun. Didn't I tell you? I can do anything for you, Naoto-kun. Really, anything. I could give you everything I have right here, right now."

Kiiro's words gradually became more heated. She slid her hand down Naoto's neck and wrapped her arms around him. As she smiled, her sweet breath brushed against his ear. "But if you prefer it that way, I'll consider this a 'loan'. If you want to pay me back, well... how about becoming much, much stronger, so strong it sends shivers down your spine?" What did she mean by 'stronger'? Without explaining, Kiiro continued with her sticky, lingering presence.

She quickly distanced herself from Naoto as if the intimate contact had been a lie. Twisting her body as if to create a pose, she turned to him with an innocent girl's smile. For some reason, Naoto felt a chill from that smile. It was as if she completely trusted him. He couldn't understand how she could have such a look on her face.

(I’ve only met her twice, right…?)

No matter how much younger Naoto was, that wasn't the kind of expression one should direct at someone they had only met twice. He couldn't shake that feeling.

"Well then, leave that man to me. I'll contact you if I find anything out. ...Even if I don't find anything, I might contact you anyway," she said, her voice cheerful as she waved goodbye lightly. She led the remaining black-suited soldiers out of the classroom.

That’s when it happened.

"Naoto!" Raquel's voice rang out in alarm, and the sound of shattering glass echoed down the corridor. The light had shattered. In an instant, the corridor was plunged into darkness. "What the-!?" In the hallway, Naoto could hear the murmurs of the soldiers who had gone ahead. This wasn't the Mitsurugi Organization's doing. Then…

Naoto rushed out into the hallway.

A faint moonlight shone through the small window in the corridor. In the unreliable dim light, several soldiers were wandering around, their guns pointed in different directions, searching for their enemy. And behind them... darkness began to swell ominously.

“Hey, watch out!” Naoto's shout was meaningless. The swelling darkness, making a sound like dragging a heavy sandbag, quickly swallowed up the Mitsurugi Agency’s soldiers. A muffled scream and a futile gunshot rang out, and even the scream was swallowed up by the darkness. The darkness expanded, filling the corridor, and made a crunching sound as if chewing something hard.

(Are they... being eaten...?)

Thinking this instinctively, Naoto recoiled and took a few steps back. Eventually, the darkness shrank as if it were being drawn in, and then vanished completely. The men were nowhere to be seen. Instead, a single man stood there.

The faint moonlight was too dim to see clearly. Raquel, who had followed Naoto into the hallway, gasped as she stared at the man. Seeing Raquel, the man laughed. With the corners of his mouth drawn up, he spread his long arms wide in a grand gesture, as if he were about to sing an opera.

"Ah... as expected, how beautiful. Moonlight suits you so well. I would have preferred to meet you under a more divine full moon, but... even so, I can feel my body trembling with excitement at the sight of your fragrant, biting appearance. Oh, how I have been looking forward to this day. It is an honor to meet you... 'Raquel Alucard'."

The man's voice, which he sang as if reciting poetry, was indistinct in the night shadows, but Raquel, who could not see his expression clearly, was captivated by his voice. He could feel the uncontrollable excitement trembling within him. The man inhaled deeply, filling his lanky frame with air, as if trying to absorb every trace of Raquel’s presence in the room into his lungs. And then he spoke.

“As you graciously invited me, I have arrived. I am Spinner Superior.”

### Part 4

Placing his wide hands over his chest, Spinner Superior bowed deeply toward Raquel. He was an eerie man. Even though it was dim, there was light. The pale moonlight created shadows all over the corridor of Shinkawahama First High School. But he was deeper than those shadows. Tall and thin, his limbs were long and shadowy, making it doubtful if he was really there. His gray hair was neatly combed back, and his black clothes had a quality that made them look expensive even in the dim corridor.

"That's... Spinner Superior..." Naoto uttered, his voice strained. Next to him, Raquel carefully inhaled. Clenching her small hands into fists, she adopted a resolute demeanor, staring boldly at Spinner without a trace of fear.

As he received her gaze, Spinner looked around slowly and tilted his head. "And... where is Naoto Kurogane?" he asked politely, as if inquiring of a princess. His sharp, slitted eyes fixed intently on Raquel. On his pale, sickly face, a strange tattoo covered one cheek.

Raquel slightly moved her head to indicate Naoto next to her. "He's over there."

"...Huh?" Spinner asked again, looking puzzled, pausing for a beat. Moving his sharp jaw, he hesitated over his words, then asked again with confusion in his narrow eyes. "Raquel Alucard. I apologize, but where is Naoto Kurogane?" He repeated Naoto's name, but he never looked at Naoto. It was as if he had completely excluded 'Naoto Kurogane' from his mind and didn't even care about him.

(Why is he talking about me...?)

Naoto had never interacted with Spinner directly. Spinner was chasing Raquel, and Raquel was looking for Spinner. That was supposed to be the relationship. Confused by the unexpected conversation between Raquel and Spinner, Raquel grabbed Naoto's arm and pulled him close.

"He is Naoto Kurogane," she said. The instant she said that, Naoto's body was slammed hard against the corridor wall, as if he had been struck by something heavy.

"Ugh…” He couldn't understand what was happening. The sudden shock was so unexpected that he couldn't even manage a proper defensive posture, and he hit the back of his head against the window frame. He could feel his back crack against the wall.

Sparks flickered at the edge of his vision. For a moment, his sight threatened to fade into darkness, but as it blurred and then cleared, Naoto held his breath at the sight of Spinner’s expression before him.

"...Don't you dare touch my Raquel Alucard... you lowly creature." His suppressed tone was filled with an extraordinary rage. Spinner’s eyes widened as he glared at Naoto, unleashing a merciless killing intent that seemed utterly insane.

"Oh, how disgusting... For trash like you to touch Raquel Alucard is a capital offense. Don't get cocky just because you disposed of a mere Apostle, you piece of garbage." Spinner took a large step forward, dragging his shadow behind him. "I can't stand it. I can't possibly stand it... My Raquel Alucard being soiled by the breath of trash like you. I must crush you as soon as possible..."

Muttering to himself, his voice echoed loudly through the corridor. His unnaturally long arms rose ominously. In response, the darkness behind Spinner stirred. It was the same darkness that had eaten the soldiers earlier.

"Damn it!" Naoto tried to get to his feet, pushing off the floor. But his body wouldn't move the way he wanted it to. To be honest, his body was at its limit. The hand he had put on the floor to get up was shaking weakly.

"Naoto, run!" Raquel's voice rang out sharply. Her words seemed to further enrage Spinner. The darkness swelled and slid across the corridor toward Naoto. But then, something came flying in with a slicing sound, cutting through the darkness and scattering it away. Slowly, Kiiro stood in front of Naoto and Spinner.

"What do you think you're doing? Don't get cocky, just because you're a mere 'magician'. I'll 'disassemble' you." She smiled wickedly. Naoto couldn't see what had cut through the darkness. It certainly wasn't the gun that had incapacitated Isa. It was something more mysterious... a Drive.

His fun ruined, Spinner retracted the excitement in his eyes and fixed his gaze on the new intruder. With a bored expression, he ran his long fingers along his tattooed cheek.

"Is this Drive... Kiiro from the Mitsurugi Agency?" He muttered blandly, then closed his eyes and laughed—a professional smile. "......What does 'Mosaic' think it's doing?"

That seemingly solitary remark changed Kiiro's complexion instantly, filling it with murderous intent. The swelling malice, like it was about to explode, transformed into a sound that tore through the air, approaching Spinner. However, Spinner lightly tapped the floor with his leather shoe, summoning darkness from beneath his feet. The darkness curled and formed a sphere that enveloped him, as if watching bubbles burst in reverse. Whatever Kiiro had released was swallowed up by that darkness and disappeared.

Once again, the darkness shifted to reveal Spinner in the hallway. The eerie man with tattoos on his face had not changed his stance even slightly since shrouding himself in darkness. However, it seemed he hadn’t completely avoided harm, as there was a deep gash on his right shoulder. If you looked closely at the wound, you could see countless maggot-like insects gathering and making a sound like chewing flesh, repairing the torn flesh. With her eyes narrowed and her expression tense, Kiiro opened her arms as if preparing to fight.

"I'll 'annihilate' you right now..."

"Oh dear... what do you think you're doing? It's pitiful for a mere puppet to be so presumptuous." As if not intending to take her seriously, Spinner calmly brushed aside a stray lock of hair with a languid gesture. But darkness still lingered at his feet. Even though she was a trivial opponent, there was no reason to overlook her. As if obeying his master's will, the darkness trembled at Spinner's feet.

Then—

"Wait," Raquel's unwavering voice echoed. There was an undeniable power in her voice. It was a voice that was different from magic or a Drive, a voice that belonged to Raquel Alucard. "Retreat now, Spinner Superior. It's not time for you and I to fight." Raquel spoke to Spinner with a strong, almost prophetic weight, as if giving an order. Her intervention carried a force that was both commanding and impossible to defy, causing Kiiro to sharpen her voice sharply.

“Don’t get in my way... little girl.” There was none of the usual seductive ease. Her voice and gaze were as cold and sharp as metal, a side of Kiiro that Naoto had never imagined. However, despite Kiiro’s readiness to attack and her sharpened hostility, Spinner seemed to have completely forgotten about her at Raquel's words. He simply let the darkness retreat at his feet, behaving as if he were perhaps in a cheerful mood.

Mustering a strange, ominous smile, he seemed to be enjoying himself.

"I understand, Raquel Alucard. I merely came to pay my respects tonight," he said, bowing respectfully again. Keeping his body bent and his head bowed, Spinner looked up at Raquel. His gaze was like a spider's web. The sticky thread, while eyeing its prey, did not bind it so tightly as to show respect for its beautiful wings. He grinned, his eyes smiling. "The next time we meet, please bring the real 'Naoto Kurogane' with you. You must have been testing me, but... even someone like that trash is insulting to me."

As if delivering a line in a stage play, Spinner bowed and sank into his own shadow with a sound like dragging a sandbag. And just like that, he disappeared.

The school regained its stillness once more. The hallway was littered with the shattered fragments of stick-like light fixtures, extending far down the corridor. The clouds that had covered the day in a gloomy haze seemed to have been swept away by the wind. The moonlight shone brighter than before.

Bathed in the white moonlight, Kiiro opened her mouth without looking back at Naoto, keeping her head down. "...I'm sorry, Naoto-kun. I'm going home too..."

Her voice was weak, unlike her usual self. With her hands clasped together, trembling slightly as if she were holding back tears, Kiiro turned away from Naoto as if to turn her face away from something. Naoto watched her leave, dumbfounded. It might have been his imagination. Maybe he had mistaken the glass shards and moonlight, but... it seemed as if he had caught a glimpse of tears streaming down Kiiro's cheeks.

The members of the Mitsurugi Agency all departed, leaving Kiiro behind. The area was still horribly damaged, but it would probably be completely restored by the start of school tomorrow. Just like the residential area that Raquel and the Bug Man had rampaged through, which had been restored overnight.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of glass breaking nearby. When Naoto looked up, Raquel was there.

"Pathetic," she said disdainfully, extending her hand to Naoto. A white hand, much like the moonlight. Beyond it was Raquel's face, with skin the color of moonlight, and her mouth, which always wore a defiant expression, was slightly curved into a smile.

(Ah... she's smiling, isn't she?)

He realized that he had never seen her smile before. As he thought about it, Naoto placed his hand on hers as if being drawn in. Spinner had said that moonlight suited Raquel. Although he disliked the idea that the opinion came from him, he couldn't help but agree.

Raquel, with her hand outstretched in the moonlight, was beautiful. Her golden hair shimmered fantastically in the moonlight. Her eyes, a slightly deeper color than her hair, were like the most beautiful jewels in the world.

"What are you doing?" Raquel frowned, puzzled, as she continued to hold Naoto's hand, who didn't seem to be trying to get up. Naoto snapped back to reality. He had been completely captivated.

"Oh, sorry. Let's get Haruka home before anyone comes," he said hastily, trying to cover up his embarrassment. With Raquel pulling him along, he got up and returned to the student council room to retrieve Haruka and the school uniform jacket he had draped over her.

The uniform was completely torn up after being attacked by Isa and Spinner, those two monsters. This shirt and pants were practically new, and now they were ruined.

(Uniforms are surprisingly expensive...) Naoto thought. If only clothes could return to their original state like his body. While mulling over such a convenient thought, he slung the unconscious Haruka over his back. He put the undamaged uniform jacket on Haruka.

"Let's go."

"Yeah." It was already well past dinner time. As they left the school, Naoto and Raquel made their way home, trying to stay out of sight.

...It had been a long day, to say the least.

When he had been asking around about Kana at school during the day, he never would have thought that such a major event would be waiting for him at night. The sky still had some clouds, but it was filled with bright moonlight. A crescent moon, not quite full or new, elegantly looked down at the earth.

“By the way...” Naoto turned to Raquel. With her long blonde hair swaying, Raquel turned to him.

“What?”

“Why did Spinner know my name earlier? Did Isa tell him?” Given that he was a supposed Apostle, it wouldn’t be unusual for him to have such connections, but it seemed unnecessary for Isa to inform Spinner of Naoto’s name. Moreover, the fact that Raquel lived with Naoto had only come to light after Isa had started skipping school.

“Oh,” Raquel said, her tone casual. “Do you remember when we fought Valkenhayn Hellsing before? I left something written on the wall.”

“Yeah, I remember. I couldn’t read it, though.” It was next to the vending machine behind the game center, though the vending machine had been brutally destroyed by Valkenhayn. Raquel moved her fingers in the air, as if writing letters. “I wrote, ‘If you want me, make the servant Naoto Kurogane yours. If you can do that, I will become yours. Raquel Alucard.’ ...That’s what I wrote.”

“...Huh?” Did he hear that wrong? Didn't Raquel just say ‘defeat Naoto Kurogane'? When Naoto looked up at Raquel, confused about what she meant, she smiled slightly, a smug, superior smile.

"Still, this is troublesome. It seems I've given quite the misunderstanding ...It seems Spinner thought that an opponent on the level of Father was waiting for him." Retracting the slight smile she had shown, Raquel placed her hands on her hips and mouth, deep in thought. Her long ponytail swayed behind her like a tail with each regular step.

"Anyway, that's how it is. Do your best, servant," she said, sounding as if she didn't feel any responsibility at all, and she continued walking down the night road with light steps. Naoto, taken aback, stopped in his tracks and stared at the scene in shock for a moment.

"You..." To the self-proclaimed master's vampire girl, who had planted such an absurd seed in his mind, Naoto shouted so loudly that it echoed around him. "Are you crazy?!" His echoing voice stretched out into the distance and was swallowed up by the soft autumn night.

It was the end of one curtain. And the beginning of another.

### 007. Chapter 6: Interlude

## BBBE Chapter 6: Interlude

### Part 1

The everyday life that was suddenly lost, suddenly returned.

As Kiiro has promised, the half-destroyed student council room and hallway were restored by the next day, and the school resumed its normal routine as if the previous night had never happened, proceeding with the curriculum as usual.

The chimes rang at the same intervals as always, and classmates and teachers were present as expected. Classes remained as dull as ever, lunch break brought its usual sense of freedom, and after school, Naoto observed the various facets of school life unfolding around him, feeling a bit surprised.

During homeroom, they heard that the geology teacher, Isa, had taken a leave of absence due to illness. The vice president of the student council, Kirishima Kana, had been absent for a few days due to poor health, but she returned to school on Saturday, albeit looking a little thinner.

Without the Azure, Drives, Spinner Superior, or the Mitsurugi Agency... days swiftly passed since that night. Naoto's fleeting daily life had peacefully welcomed a quiet Sunday.

### Part 2

On this tranquil, sunny Sunday afternoon, a pleasant autumn breeze rustled the small branches along the street. His room had been fully renovated three days ago, and for the past two days, he had returned to living in his own room. Originally, he had intended to return alone and have Raquel continue staying at Haruka's house, but at her strong insistence, they ended up sharing this room together.

Raquel's room was a small tatami room next to the living room where Haruka had slept during Clavis’ visit. Haruka had opposed the idea of Raquel and Naoto living together until the very end, but once their life as a pair began, she came to care for them as she had always done, without much concern. Even today, she had just made omelet and consommé soup for lunch, and the three of them had eaten together in Naoto's room. Incidentally, they were planning to have dinner at Haruka's house later.

(It's not like I have any complaints, but now that it’s come to this, it feels silly to live separately… It's really getting out of hand...)

That said, this was Naoto's way of drawing a line. It was necessary.

Naoto stepped out onto the balcony and stared blankly at the scenery outside. Across the road, a neighboring apartment building was under renovation with scaffolding. According to a neighbor, a tiny piece of space debris had crashed into the wall, leaving a dent. The large crack made when Valkenhayn collided with the wall had nearly vanished. The traces were disappearing.

In the deserted apartment complex, there was not a trace left of when Naoto was attacked by the bug man. The mangled arm had also disappeared somewhere. The room that Clavis had ransacked was now usable by Naoto without any problems, showing no signs of the turmoil that had taken place. The same went for the school.

No scars remained on Naoto's body. So, the only thing that demonstrated the various events of the past week were real... was the presence of Raquel, sitting on the living room sofa, engrossed in a book.

(...Well, maybe not.)

Leaning his arms on the balcony railing and resting his chin on his arms, Naoto murmured to himself as he gazed at the construction scaffolding, which was unoccupied today. He had just been reminded of the state of his surroundings a few hours ago.

The location was a splendid hotel in front of the station, one where weddings were also held. To make matters worse, he had been brought to the top floor, to a members-only salon, and invited into a private room separated by thick curtains, where they sat together on a large sofa and talked for over thirty minutes.

The topics were mainly about Isa, Kana, and Haruka. About Isa, who had become Spinner's Apostle, and the two girls who had unfortunately been involved with him, both in the past and in the future. Apparently, Isa had successfully removed the implanted insects. It seemed that the necessary measures had already been taken for Kana, and that Haruka would be taken care of as Naoto wished.

Of course, it couldn't end there, but that was about the only information Naoto could find comforting from being summoned that day.

The rest of the conversation, to be honest, wasn't very pleasant. Even so, he was able to return home without dragging the unpleasantness with him, thanks to Raquel, who had come to pick him up after learning about the summons... though he couldn't be sure how much Raquel understood that.

(Even now, she's really engrossed in her book... And...)

The book she was reading was "The Definitive Guide to Blood Type Fortune-Telling Part 7," which she had borrowed from Haruka. The sight of a vampire engrossed in blood type fortune-telling was hilariously absurd. And sometimes she would even...

"This is amazing..." she said, impressed.

(I wonder what's so amazing about it...)

Naoto watched as Raquel became engrossed, forgetting about the tea he had brewed for her. He thought he might ask to see it later.

Just then…

"Out of the way, out of the way, move aside, Nao-kun." Haruka came in with light steps, carrying a mountain of laundry in a basket she had bought at a 100-yen shop.

"Seriously, why do you let the laundry pile up so much?" Of course, the laundry inside belonged to this house. Naoto had a habit of doing all the laundry for the week on Sundays, but he hadn’t been able to do it last Sunday due to the incident with Clavis and Valkenhayn. So, excluding the time he spent at Haruka’s house, about two weeks' worth of laundry had accumulated in Naoto’s bathroom.

"Sorry, I’ll help..." Even though she always took the initiative since they were childhood friends, he felt a bit hesitant to leave everything to her. He reached out to help hang the laundry, but she lightly swatted his hand away.

"No way! Every time you hang it, it ends up all wrinkled. Just go sit in the corner and watch outside." Her playful tone made it hard for Naoto to respond, so he retreated to the corner of the balcony. Reluctantly pretending to look outside, he observed Haruka skillfully spreading out the laundry. To be precise, he was watching the numbers above Haruka’s head. Since that night, her numbers had remained low. It seemed she was struggling more mentally than physically. Although the numbers were gradually recovering, they were still quite low compared to her usual average today. Still, Haruka acted as if everything was normal. She asked Naoto to do the same. She tackled her usual tasks with a smile that seemed completely normal.

(Haruka is strong...)

With a light breeze ruffling her bangs, Naoto returned his gaze to the distant view. She was always a strong-willed person, but even so…

(No... that doesn’t mean she’s strong.)

Naoto quickly retracted his thoughts.

He felt a small jolt and warmth on his back. It was Haruka. She had lightly grasped the back of his shirt and was pressing her forehead against him. After a few seconds, a faint voice reached his ears.

"Um, you know, Nao-kun... I still haven't properly thanked you."

"…Yeah."

"Thank you for coming that time..."

"Yeah," Naoto replied with a minimal hum, trying to make his voice sound as cheerful as possible while desperately trying to keep from trembling. He wanted to encourage her to continue.

Haruka's fingers tightened around his clothes, and a fine tremor ran down Naoto's back. Haruka's breathing, which he could hear through her back, was labored and occasionally caught. "I thought that if I said something like this, it might worry you... But, you know, back then... I was really scared."

"…Yeah."

"I was really scared. I was so scared that I wanted to run away... but I couldn't, and I really didn't know what to do..." Listening to Haruka's pleading voice, Naoto bit his lip, trying not to be noticed.

...She couldn't be strong. She couldn't be okay.

Haruka had likely been carrying the wounds from that day, unable to put them into words. By acting as if everything were normal, she had been desperately trying to maintain and protect herself. Slowly swallowing the words that felt like they were choking her, she had finally managed to articulate them to Naoto today.

"But you came, Nao-kun. I was really happy when you did..." Had her sadness settled a bit? Was it no longer the tear-streaked face she had tried to hide? Thinking this, Naoto slowly turned toward Haruka. He reached out to gently embrace her, placing a hand on her head to hide her tear-filled eyes. Holding the slight weight resting on his chest in his arms, he spoke in a calm tone.

"But I was a little late. ...I'm sorry."

"No, no..." Haruka shook her head slightly in Naoto's embrace. He could hear the soft sound of her breath as her lips curled into a small smile. "I was just happy that you came." She whispered, and shifted in Naoto's arms. She placed her hands on his chest and looked up at Naoto. Her big, dark eyes were filled with Naoto's reflection. Haruka's eyes were filled with a different emotion than the sadness and fear she had shown earlier.

(Oh... crap. This pattern again...)

A fleeting thought crossed Naoto's mind, as he felt confused by the change in the atmosphere surrounding them. But then, as if clinging to him, Haruka lightly grasped his shirt and leaned in closer, prompting Naoto to reposition his hands from her back to her cheek and shoulder. Haruka squinted against the brightness. Naoto followed suit, but from there, neither of them knew what would happen next.

Naoto didn’t know whether to close his eyes. As he was caught up in the moment, Haruka’s lips came closer, their soft peach color trembling slightly as if seeking a hint of kindness, exhaling a gentle breath. Naoto closed his eyes, tilting Haruka's chin up a little more.

Just then, a loud, relentless ringing of the doorbell shattered the moment, cutting through the air.

"Wha—!? What!?" Caught off guard, Naoto instinctively pulled his hands away from Haruka. Haruka, who had been reaching up, dropped back down and turned to look at the noisy entrance. What was happening? Rushing to check the room, he saw Raquel glaring at the door, clearly annoyed, while hiding behind the sofa. Like a kitten.

"Shut up! This isn't a gamepad button!" What a rude visitor. He shouted angrily from the bottom of his stomach, but the doorbell continued to ring, drowning out Naoto's voice. ​​He felt like he was being provoked. Just as he was about to storm back into the living room to yell back, he felt a small tug on his arm. "Eh…"

It was Haruka who had pulled him. She turned Naoto around, caught his cheek, and stretched up to touch him lightly. Her sweet breath vanished as she pulled away. Naoto was momentarily frozen, and with a mischievous smile, Haruka gently pressed her fingertip against her lips, which had just touched his.

"It’s my first time!" As Haruka laughed, the numbers above her head shifted. What Naoto saw was her usual, normal average—no different from any other day. With this, he couldn’t help but smile inwardly. He felt a sense of relief. It felt like it had been a long time since he’d seen Haruka’s true smile.

"...Me too." He replied, thinking it was good if Haruka could truly smile like this, even if the words he spoke were a "lie." Haruka giggled awkwardly and turned around gracefully. "Okay, okay, I'm coming." She went out into the hallway from the living room with light footsteps.

Watching her go, Naoto leaned against the balcony railing. He could still faintly feel her soft touch on his lips, the sensation of something that wasn’t his, along with the lingering sweet scent of her breath. He wondered if his face was turning red. Suddenly worried, he rubbed his slightly warm cheeks with the back of his hand, knowing the heat wouldn’t fade away. Just then, Haruka, who had gone to answer the door, rushed back in a hurry.

"Nao-kun, something’s wrong! Come quickly!"

"What's wrong... Did a salesman come or something?"

"Just hurry!" For a moment, Naoto hesitated, trying to understand, but Haruka quickly gave up and pulled harder on his arm. Naoto, tilting his head in confusion, followed her lead... and when he saw the person at the front door, he was speechless.

The visitor was a girl wearing a kimono with long black hair tied up at the back. A sword bag containing a rod-shaped object was placed beside her. From its shape, there was no doubt that the contents were indeed a sword. The girl sat there in perfect seiza, completely undisturbed by the ground beneath her. She closed her eyes with the stillness of someone meditating, her hands folded on her lap, listening for the sound of approaching footsteps.

As soon as Naoto and Haruka stopped, the girl opened her eyes. Both Naoto and Haruka knew that girl. And the girl knew Haruka and Naoto very well.

"It's been a while, Haruka-san." Remaining seated in seiza, she bowed her head in a perfectly drawn bow, her hands neatly in front of her. Haruka hurriedly knelt on the doormat and followed suit, putting her hands on the floor. But she couldn't believe it. That she would be here.

"Uh, um... has it really...?"

"Yes," the girl raised her head with a samurai-like movement and answered firmly. She looked at Haruka with red eyes from behind her cut bangs and said without hesitation, "I am Saya Terumi."

That was her name.

After introducing herself, Sayaka turned to Naoto and bowed deeply once more.

"It’s been a long time. I’m glad to see you well."

"Is... is that really you, Saya?" Naoto’s voice trembled as he asked.

What did she hear in that? As she raised her head from her formal bow, she replied, "Yes, brother." And with that, Saya smiled with her red lips.

### 008. Afterword

## BBBE Afterword

Thank you for picking up this book. My name is Mako Komao, the author.

For those of you meeting me for the first time, nice to meet you. Please keep in mind. For those of you who haven't seen me in a while, it's nice to see you again.

Now, this book is a completely new story novel, written by me, Mako Komao, with the original concept by Toshimichi Mori, producer of Arc System Works. Unlike the "BLAZBLUE" series with the same combination, this is an original novel, not a novelization of the game.

However, as some of you may know, this novel has several connections to the fighting game "BLAZBLUE". If you enjoyed this book and would like to take a peek at the complex world behind it, please try playing the "BLAZBLUE" game. Oh, and various novelization series are also on sale. Please enjoy them together.

Now, then. "Blood Edge Experience" has come to an end with the first volume, and it seems like it will continue to the next one. How was it? Did you enjoy it? Were there any characters or episodes you liked?

In my impression, the main characters and heroine are so cute that I couldn't help but want them to be happy as I faced the story. Incidentally, as I'm writing the afterword, Komao doesn't know the ending yet... I hope they'll be happy.

I've been working on this one book for a really long time, and I've been helped by so many people.

Of course, more than anyone else, I would like to thank Mori-san, the original creator and producer. Thank you so much. I can't thank you enough for choosing me as the author. I'll do my best on the second volume too!

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the editorial staff. Honestly, I had completely lost my composure, so your encouraging voices were very reassuring.

kyo, the illustrator, thank you for the dynamic cover and the wonderful capture. Unfortunately, I was the only one among the staff who couldn't meet you... I hope to meet you someday. Thank you very much for that time.

Finally, thank you to those of you who read this book. I hope this one book will spark something in your heart. And I hope to deliver a sequel that will shake off that spark and tear it apart. Thank you for your continued support.

Well then, see you in the next volume. Excuse me.

Mako Komao

## 04. Blazblue: Bloodedge Experience Part 2

### 001. Prologue:Rebirth

## Bloodedge Experience Part 2 Prologue: Rebirth

Consciousness emerged from a dreamlike state. That moment was both an “awakening” and a “realization”. At the same time, it was a “memory” and an “enlightenment”... it could even be called a subtle “tremor”.

Yet in that moment, she still knew none of these words.

She was inside a small box. She did not yet know to call it a coffin. A place to lay the dead to rest, and a place to awaken her.

Held within it, she lay quietly, surrounded by a soft cushion and a dense aura of darkness. There, she simply floated in the darkness, her mind filled only with the awareness of her own existence.

Her senses trembled. What scratched at her consciousness was a sound. It was a voice. A deep, calm voice softly whispered, urging and inviting her. At first, she couldn't understand the meaning of the sound. But gradually, the sound became a voice, and the voice became words.

“Raquel.”

It felt like she was being called. So she opened her eyes. What she saw was a pair of crimson eyes looking down at her. The most beautiful, enchanting gaze, wet with emotion, was the first thing she beheld.

"Raquel. That's your name. It's a word that means you."

"It means… me?" Her small lips traced the words spoken with soft intonations. Name. That short word granted her consciousness a vessel. Just that weight alone gave her existence a foundation. It was a kind of magic. A very short yet heavy spell that depicted what she was. And at the same time, it was a strong mark of binding. In that instant, she became “Raquel.”

The crimson eyes gazing at her narrowed slightly, a faint smile appearing. But it was not born of kindness or gentleness. Raquel did not know the words to express the emotions swirling in the deep colors... but it was a burning pity and a chilling resolve.

The first few months were filled with education. The owner of the crimson eyes taught Raquel many things. The countless names that spread across heaven and earth. Life and death. Reason and instinct. The world. Reason. A place that was deep and dark, and a place that was white and empty. The owner of the crimson eyes called himself Raquel's father. He said Raquel was his daughter.

The education was long and perpetual, as if it were an endless dream.

The next few months were hellish. Once Raquel had gained enough self-awareness through her intensive studies, the owner of the crimson eyes took her deep into the underground chamber of their ancient castle. To open her perception.

The owner of the crimson eyes connected Raquel's mind to the “Boundary”. The “Boundary” was a place that transcended both time and space. Within it, every moment, every event, and every possibility drifts. It was a connection to make Raquel aware of everything present there.

Raquel was bewildered. She understood that this act was very dangerous. Yet the owner of the crimson eyes provided her with information from the Boundary.

No, he threw Raquel's mind into the information of the Boundary.

In an instant, a flood of information crashed down upon Raquel's entire being. It engulfed her sensory organs and forced its way deep into her brain, which struggled to maintain its sense of self. Knowledge was etched into her mind one after another.

It was painful. It was terrifying.

Raquel cried out for help. To the figure with the crimson eyes who called himself her father. But there was no voice to respond to her screams.

Exposed and naked to the violence of information that threatened to shatter her mind, Raquel continued to writhe in agony, not knowing how to resist.

The end of hell was brought about by light. She didn’t remember the moment it ended. She wasn't in a state to form memories. That must be why.

No matter how much calm she regained later, Raquel couldn't tell if this was a delusion painted by a hazy consciousness, or if it was an event she actually experienced in the confused Boundary.

It was dark. The threads of Raquel's ego were about to snap, and she was losing the strength to struggle. She was on the brink of losing everything. And then... she saw a light.

It was a small, distant light. Within it, Raquel spotted a figure. She didn’t know who it was, but she didn’t care; she just wanted help. The pain was unbearable.

Raquel reached out desperately. As if responding to her plea, the light came to Raquel's side. In the light was a man. But it wasn't the father she had called countless times in her suffering, the only name she knew.

White hair, red eyes.

A stranger. But somehow, he felt so familiar... as if she had met him long ago, or would meet him in the distant future... a tangled thread of déjà vu.

“......’......’......”

Unconsciously, Raquel’s lips attempted to call out someone's name. As if responding to the unspoken call, he reached out from the light. A large hand grasped Raquel's hand, holding it firmly yet gently. The man smiled, awkwardly and stiffly. His red eyes, narrowed in a distorted way, seemed to be looking at Raquel.

Raquel opened her mouth to call out again. But before she could, the man and the light disappeared. The hand she had been holding was gone without a trace... but a different image was reflected in Raquel's eyes.

It was a shimmering blue. A deep and fundamental essence of the radiant world. Raquel, her eyes wide open, could clearly feel it - the pulse of the Azure.

In that moment, Raquel was freed from all her suffering.

### 002. Chapter 7: Siblings

## Part 1

In the sudden turn of events, Naoto was left speechless.

It was a Sunday afternoon, a peaceful day with a clear sky and a gentle breeze. The laundry, which had been slightly overdue, was swaying pleasantly on the sunny balcony.

Interrupting this ordinary, and therefore all the more precious, peace, a young girl arrived.

The unexpected visitor paid no mind to the entranceway; she knelt on the cold tiles where multiple shoes were lined up, sitting with her back as straight as if a wire were running through it.

Her long black hair, neatly tied up high, was glossy and without a single kink. Her white skin made her intense red eyes stand out strikingly. Those eyes gazed up at Naoto. Her kimono, in soft pink and pale purple fabrics adorned with gold dust, swirled with fan patterns, giving her the air of a princess from a period drama. Without even applying lipstick, she smiled faintly with her red lips.

The girl’s name was Saya Terumi. She was Naoto's biological sister.

"There's no need to be so surprised, brother. Or have you forgotten about your little sister?" Placing her very white hands together on her lap, Saya asked teasingly but fiercely.

"N-no, I..." Naoto managed to squeeze that out, then fell silent again. The tension was palpable.

A nasty, sweat-inducing sensation spread to his fingertips. His mind was in disarray, unable to find the right words or response. The surprise and confusion left him in a daze.

Just then, a small tug on his clothes caught his attention. It was Haruka, Haruka Hayami. She was Naoto's childhood friend and the daughter of the landlord who had graciously rented him his apartment at a low price.

“Naoto-kun, why don’t you come in for now? I’ll make some tea,” she said soothingly. Naoto could only nod in response.

With a reassuring smile, Haruka's large brown eyes seemed to encourage him. Her soft hair, tied up simply with a hair clip, made her look even more gentle and warm. Giving his back a light pat, she headed toward the kitchen.

Naoto couldn’t even afford to glance after her as he turned his face towards the entrance, furrowing his brow as he looked at Saya, who was still seated. He was reluctant. He wanted her to leave right away, but it felt too harsh to shout at her to go away. Besides, he didn’t want Haruka to witness anything too harsh.

With a self-deprecating sigh, Naoto nodded toward the interior.

"Come in. I'll hear you out," he said in a low voice, which he usually only used when he was bored. Dragging his heavy feet, Naoto returned to the living room with its out-of-place, open window. The window, which had just been inviting a pleasant breeze into the room, was now tightly closed, and even the lace curtains had been drawn to block out the outside world.

With his back to the setting sun, Naoto sat cross-legged on the living room floor. On the opposite side of the light brown coffee table, Saya sat in a formal posture on a flat cushion, ignoring the sofa.

Saya had a well-defined face. Rather than being glamorous, her quiet beauty made her look much older than her thirteen years. However, her petite frame was slightly below average for her age, and each of her composed movements made Naoto feel as if he were facing a doll.

Many might call Saya beautiful and adorable. However, Naoto couldn’t view his sister's demeanor with such fondness.

"Um, would you like some black tea?" Haruka asked from the kitchen counter, her voice full of concern. Naoto was about to say that anything was fine, but before he could, Saya turned and placed her own order.

“I don’t really like black tea. Could I have green tea instead?”

“Yes, of course.” To Haruka, Saya was still a child. With an affectionate smile, she opened a small tea canister.

As Haruka efficiently prepared the tea, something stirred at her feet. Naoto turned his gaze to that spot. From behind the counter, a girl with hair like golden ribbons peeked out. It wasn’t just her hair. The owner of that hair, Raquel Alucard, was watching them with distrust in her golden eyes.

(What the hell is she doing?) Naoto couldn’t help but mutter to himself. But at the same time, he quickly understood what was going on.

Raquel was a vampire with a life force beyond human comprehension, and she had an aversion to being around women. Despite her extraordinary nature, she was mentally weak when faced with them. Suddenly, an unfamiliar girl had appeared, and she was clearly on familiar terms with Naoto and Haruka. Being left out of the situation without any explanation, there was no way she could maintain her usual aloof attitude.

“Here you go,” Haruka said, crossing Naoto’s line of sight as she brought over a small tray with two teacups. Saya sat up straight and bowed at a perfect forty-five-degree angle.

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy this.” She picked up the hot teacup placed in front of her and took a sip. “It’s delicious, Haruka-san.”

“I’m glad. Feel free to ask for more anytime.” It was as if it were just a casual visit from a relative and the warm welcome of a family member. That was indeed how it appeared. But Naoto couldn’t shake the feeling of unease, and his mind was filled with anxiety and caution. The more Saya talked and smiled, the more a sense of crisis and caution pricked at Naoto’s insides. Because Saya…

“Saya... how did you get out?” Naoto asked, his voice stern as he intertwined his fingers. Saya, who had been sipping her hot tea, looked up and slowly placed the teacup down, her lips curving into a slight smile.

“‘How did I get out?’ You make it sound as if I were being held captive.”

“It’s not ‘as if’...” It was exactly as the words implied. But Naoto bit back his words just in time. Haruka was right there.

It took effort. Naoto couldn’t just blurt everything out.

Saya met Naoto's accusing gaze head-on, tilting her head slightly.

"Why are you so angry, brother? It's been so long since we've seen each other, and you're so cold."

“Y-Yeah, Nao-kun, you don’t have to look so scary…” Haruka, surprised by Naoto’s demeanor, spoke soothingly, but he didn’t look at her. He pretended not to hear her words. He couldn't afford to be so relaxed in this unexpected situation.

"Saya, just tell me what you want."

"Oh dear, what a hasty brother you are." With a mocking tone as if ashamed of her inept brother, Saya smoothed her pale purple kimono and took out a white envelope. She placed it quietly on the table. Naoto's eyes widened in surprise. There was no stamp or address on the envelope, but there was a seal in the center as if to substitute for everything else.

It read “Amanohokosaka.”

“It’s a letter from Lady Mei herself.” Saya placed her hands neatly on her knees again and slightly smiled, her red lips curving. At the mention of the name, Naoto instinctively looked up and stared intently at Saya, confusion filling his eyes.

The name Saya had just mentioned belonged to the current head of an old family called Amanohokosaka. Naoto had met Mei, the head of the family, a few times. However, they weren’t close enough to exchange personal letters. So why would the current head go out of her way to send a letter to Naoto through Saya?

Naoto’s brow furrowed deeper.

“Haruka, I’m sorry, but could you leave us alone for a moment?” Suddenly, Saya turned her head and spoke in a tone that allowed no refusal. Haruka, taken aback by the unexpected request, widened her eyes in surprise.

"I'm fine, but... is Nao-kun okay?" She turned to Naoto. Naoto nodded reluctantly, making a sour face.

"I'll be fine. I'll keep an eye on Raquel."

"Okay, I'll leave it to you. If anything happens, call me and I'll come right away."

With a nod, Haruka returned to the kitchen with the tray. On her way back, she pulled Raquel, who was still hiding behind the counter, to her feet and led her out of Naoto's house. As they left the living room, Raquel turned back to glance at Naoto once, her golden eyes filled with displeasure. Their gazes met, but she quickly looked away, pushed by Haruka.

As he watched them leave, Naoto felt a bitter taste in the back of his throat.

(This is getting complicated... damn it.)

Naoto never expected Saya to find out about Raquel. In fact, he hadn’t thought he would see Saya again at all—at least not outside the Amanohokosaka residence. When he was alone with Saya, the atmosphere felt heavy, as if it had thickened around them.Saya probably didn't feel that way. She might not even realize that she was the cause of this heaviness.

To shake off the unpleasant feeling of resistance, Naoto grabbed the envelope roughly. His fingertips tensed slightly at the solemn and imposing seal. A direct letter from the Amanohokosaka family. It was incredibly difficult to open. Even so, when he unfolded the thin paper, he found elegant, finely penned handwriting.

The letter itself was short. That’s why Naoto gasped at its contents immediately.

"What does Lady Mei say? I heard that Lady Mei's magic is on this letter, so apparently no one but you can read the contents," Saya asked curiously, though it was unclear if she was genuinely interested.

Naoto folded the letter back up, slightly irritated by her response. “You don’t know what it says?”

“Not really. But, considering it’s Lady Mei, I can guess a bit,” she replied, a hint of a smile playing on her lips as she sipped from her teacup.

Naoto glanced at the folded letter. It was true that Mei Amanohokosaka wouldn't tell Saya the contents, even if she knew Saya would guess. And she probably wouldn't have entrusted the letter to anyone other than Saya.

This letter wasn’t a pleasant one.

“By the way, brother,” Saya’s voice pulled Naoto out of his thoughts, as he contemplated crushing the paper in his hand. “Who was that unfamiliar person from earlier? The ridiculous woman peeking out from behind the shadows?”

She must be referring to Raquel. Calling her ridiculous was unexpected. Naoto couldn’t help but smirk at the thought. He wondered what Raquel would have said if she’d heard that. He was grateful to Haruka for taking her away.

"It's none of your business. Besides, is that all you have to say?" Naoto had no intention of telling Saya about Raquel. Or rather, he didn't want to involve her. He tapped the edge of the table with the folded letter, urging her to speed up her words. "So why don't you just go home? I don't have any more..."

"Oh, please," With a cool and composed face, Saya smiled for the first time, a full-blown smile. It was as if she found Naoto's words utterly ridiculous. “I’m sure you know why I came to your home, brother. I came to… collect something.”

A red tongue flicked out from behind her smiling red lips. Naoto let out a deep, long sigh.

Saya was right. He had known all along why she was here. It wasn’t just to deliver a letter. The letter was an afterthought. Mei had simply sent the letter along because she knew Saya would definitely come to Naoto.

So what was Saya's purpose? It hadn't changed since the beginning.

"Brother," she said cheerfully—no, gleefully—and then her form blurred. At the same time, there was a loud bang as she struck the table. The blur was a lunge.

By the time Naoto's eyes found Saya again, she was right in front of him. He tried to pull back, but for Saya, whose arm shot out with lightning speed, Naoto’s reflexes felt like they were moving in slow motion.

"Gah..." A crushed sound escaped Naoto’s throat before he even realized it. At that moment, his feet were no longer on the floor. Something white had caught his neck. It was Saya’s hand. Her arm, surprisingly pale for a human, lifted Naoto’s body effortlessly despite its slenderness.

From behind her black bangs, Saya’s red eyes smiled sharply. “‘The Hunter's Eye’… I’ll take your eyes, brother. I’ll kill you.” Her red eyes burned with murderous intent.

## Part 2

She didn't like it.

Still unsure of the situation, Raquel was urged by Haruka and brought to the Hayami residence a few floors up, clutching a cushion and visibly sulking.

The reason was simple. That girl in the kimono who had appeared so suddenly.

"Haruka..." Raquel called out to Haruka, who was preparing tea in the kitchen, from the two-seater sofa. "Who was that girl?" Her tone was sharp, clearly revealing her dissatisfaction.

To be honest, being alone with Haruka, with no one else around, was quite a burden for Raquel. However, the weight of her discontent was even greater than that burden. ...Although she couldn't bring herself to look up at Haruka.

“Hmm…” Haruka hummed softly, searching for words as she placed tea leaves into the teapot. She closed the tea tin with a gentle clink against the edge of the counter. “That girl’s name is Saya Terumi, and she’s Nao-kun’s younger sister. Due to certain circumstances, she’s living at the main family house, the ‘Amanohokosaka’ family, instead of her own home. I had heard that she wouldn’t come out of there… but for some reason, she came to Naoto’s house today.”

Having said that, Haruka turned her back to Raquel and took out two mugs. The water for the tea wasn't quite boiling yet. Listening to the sound of the water approaching a boil, Haruka gazed at the electric kettle on the counter and tugged at her light-colored bangs.

"Nao-kun's family is quite old, you see. There are several branch families... and the Amanohokosaka is a very large family that oversees those branch families." Being a relative of Naoto's, Haruka wasn't completely unrelated to the Amanohokosaka family either. However, since Haruka was born much further from the old family than Naoto, she had never formed any particularly deep-rooted relationships with them. After Naoto's mother died, they had become quite distant. They didn't even exchange New Year's cards.

“Saya Terumi... Amanohokosaka…” Raquel murmured as if confirming, tightening her grip on the cushion in her lap. There was one puzzling thing. "...Her last name is different. Naoto called himself 'Kurogane'."

“Oh, that’s because of Nao-kun’s mother’s situation.” Haruka didn't know the exact details of why Naoto used the name Kurogane. However, she did know that Naoto had a very complicated relationship with his family. That was why Haruka couldn’t bring herself to ask further. She understood that the past was a painful and difficult topic for Naoto.

With a wry smile, she shrugged her shoulders and poured the boiling water into the cups and pot. “I can’t explain more than that. I don’t really know the details…”

If Raquel wanted to know more, she would have to ask Naoto directly. However, the slightly furrowed brows of Haruka hinted that she hoped Raquel wouldn’t pry too deeply.

“By the way, yesterday my mom brought back some baumkuchen. Let’s eat it together!” Trying to change the subject, Haruka spoke in her usual cheerful voice and turned to the shelf in the back of the kitchen. The back of Haruka's head, tied up in a hair clip, disappeared under the counter.

That's when it happened.

"Ugh..." A sharp, intense pain gripped Raquel’s chest, causing a dull ache. She instinctively stifled a groan, pressing down hard on her chest beneath the cushion. Raquel instantly realized what this pain was.

(My life... is being drained...)

It wasn't her life, but Naoto's. For some reason, the life force that Raquel shared and constantly supplied to him was rapidly diminishing. She didn't understand why. But she quickly thought of the most straightforward way to confirm it, exhaling the breath that had caught in her throat, and threw the cushion she had been holding onto the sofa.

“Raquel-chan, how much do you want to eat... oh, huh?”

As Haruka set a white box containing baumkuchen on the counter, she looked puzzled when she noticed that there was no one in the living room where the sofa set was placed.

—-

It didn’t take long for a thick fog to envelop Naoto's consciousness.

"Ugh..."

Groaning softly, he struggled to free himself from the small hands that held him. His toes kicked at the air in vain. But Saya's grip didn’t loosen. With the stability of someone dangling a puppet, she easily continued to constrict Naoto.

"Ugh, ugh... let... go..."

"Brother, I've been wanting to meet you. But it won't do, will it? You've become so careless. To let me touch you... You haven't changed in that regard. I'm relieved. Or perhaps you wanted me to kill you?"

"No way... ... ... you know... that's not..." With discerning eyes, Naoto read Saya and retorted in a barely audible voice. As he spoke, he clawed wildly at Saya's hands and wrists. But his fingers lacked strength.

Saya's fingers, digging into his throat, were like the claws of a beast that had captured its prey. Naoto's body trembled as he felt something being sucked away from him, as if her fingertips were about to tear through his skin and flesh.

It wasn't his breath that was being taken. It was something more fundamental. Life itself. And this was no mere figure of speech. Saya's hands were intentionally draining Naoto's life force. As if to prove it, Naoto's eyes saw it.

The "Hunter's Eye," as Saya called it, allowed Naoto to visually perceive people's life force as numerical values. In his vision, the number representing Saya's life force, which floated above her head, was gradually increasing.

"Ha... ... ... ha..." A hoarse rasp escaped Naoto's throat. His head felt dizzy, and the sensation in his limbs faded. Gazing up at her brother's face, distorted by his agony, Saya wore a sharp smile.

"’Naoto Kurogane,’ huh? Ha, it's laughable that you would call yourself Kurogane, brother. Are you trying to carry your mother's gravestone on your back?"

"Sh-shut up... ... it's none of your... business."

“Oh, or do you think you have the right to claim it? As proof of causing our mother’s death… I can understand that.” Saya’s tone was more playful than mocking, and Naoto’s expression twisted into something other than anguish. If he could, he would have screamed at her in anger. Unfortunately, he couldn't seem to get his voice out.

"Sa-ya-aaa... !" Naoto’s outburst was met with a short laugh from Saya as she pulled her brother’s neck closer. Unable to resist, his legs swayed as if being dragged, his toes scraping against the floor. Naoto awkwardly supported himself in an unsteady manner. Saya's hand, which had been gripping his neck, moved up to Naoto's cheek, tracing his temple and then gripping his skull.

With both hands, she clamped down on his head, parted his stiff, tea-colored hair, and forcibly pulled Naoto's face towards her. They were almost within kissing distance.

Naoto gasped, grabbed Saya's wrists, and pulled with all his might. No matter how hard he tried, her hands wouldn't budge. Grasping her slender shoulders with all his strength, he tried to pull her away, but Saya didn't even lose her balance. Instead, she ran her fingers through his hair, stroking it, and pulled her captured brother even closer.

“Stop…!”

Saya’s nose grazed Naoto’s as she leaned in. One of them let out a breathless sigh, lost in the narrow space between their lips. Saya opened her lips slightly. The girl's red lips sought out her brother's, as if to devour them. More than just a touch with her palm, she wanted to consume more of her brother's life force.

But just before their lips met, Saya suddenly halted.

“What… is this? You’re not… my brother?”

“Wha—” He tried to ask what she meant, but his voice was cut off. Suddenly, a gust of wind erupted from beneath his feet. Now it was Saya's turn to gasp.

The gust of wind exploded between Saya and Naoto, mercilessly knocking them both back. Saya slammed against a low shelf beside the television, while Naoto crashed into the dining table, both hitting their backs hard.

“Ugh…” Groaning from the dull impact, Naoto clung to the edge of the table to stand up. From his feet, a shadow suddenly sprang forth with the same force as the previous wind. A beautiful girl with golden hair wearing a white blouse and a black mini skirt—Raquel.

"Raquel!?" Naoto shouted in surprise, and Raquel glanced back at him over her shoulder. But her gaze was quickly pulled back to the front.

The air stirred. Saya, quickly rising to her feet, kicked off the floor and lunged straight at Raquel.

Unnoticed, her hand had already found the hilt of her sheathed sword, and she assumed a deer-like stance. As she made her purchase, she closed the distance. With a lightning-fast motion, she drew the sword, its hiss barely audible. The blade, swift as a streak of light, sliced through the air and struck Raquel.

“Dodge!” Naoto's warning was too late. By the time his voice reached her, Saya had already swung her sword. However, Raquel was no puppet that could move without command. She raised a gust of wind to deflect Saya's blade, then dodged, avoiding the cold edge.

A red droplet flew through the air. It was Raquel's blood. A single red line ran down her white, porcelain-like cheek, even whiter than Saya's. Naoto could see it. The grazing tip had sliced a gentle arc, and a thin stream of red flowed from it.

“How rude,” Raquel muttered with disdain as she took a step back. In that brief moment, the wound on her cheek seemed to absorb the surrounding whiteness and heal instantly. Seeing this, Saya paused for a moment, barely a breath. She jumped lightly and sheathed her sword with the grace of a dancer.

"The wound... it disappeared," she muttered to herself, her eyes narrowing sharply. She exhaled even sharper than her gaze and charged again. She slid her foot across the floor, lowered her body, and flashed her sword in a move to sweep her opponent's legs.

Once again, Raquel was the target. The unerring strike was deflected by Raquel's protective magic just before it could sever her knee. The sound of hard metal clashing echoed. Next, she jumped up from her crouched position and struck again. From a position higher than Raquel's shoulder, she swung the sword she had just sheathed down like a whip.

"Ugh..." Raquel groaned. This time, instead of defensive magic, she directly deflected the silver blade by blowing wind against it. As if to return the favor for narrowly avoiding a dangerous attack, Raquel kicked out sharply, her long hair and short skirt flying. The kick, with a force that rivaled a slash, plunged into Saya's open side.

Saya gasped softly. But she wasn't a girl who would meekly kneel. She swung the scabbard in her left hand, creating a sufficient distance between herself and Raquel. Immediately regaining her posture, Saya sheathed her sword again and assumed an iaido stance, lowering her waist.

"It's you. The foreign object that has entered my brother," she said, her hand already positioned to draw her sword immediately. She glared at Raquel, discarding her previous lightness and coolness and adopting a hostile intent.

But Raquel didn't try to retort. Instead, she took a step back, scraping her foot against the floor. Another step. And another. Finally, she retreated with the swiftness of a small animal and hid behind Naoto, her shoulders hunched.

"W-wait a minute...?" Naoto looked at Raquel in surprise. He thought she must have been injured badly enough to retreat. But when he saw Raquel's wide-open golden eyes completely lose focus and go rigid, he slumped his shoulders.

(Seriously… even at a time like this, she’s socially awkward.)

For a moment, he forgot the tension that had been in the air. Naoto reflected on the impact of what had just happened. He turned to Saya, who was caressing her side and standing warily. His eyebrows furrowed slightly at the sight of his sister.

Saya’s stance was not one of restraint or attack; it was a posture meant to kill, to end a life. That was the essence of Saya as a girl.

Naoto felt a wave of disgust. Swallowing his breath as if to suppress the unpleasant emotions, he resigned himself to several things. Ideally, he wouldn’t want Saya to know about their situation. But that was no longer possible.

Saya must have already sensed it. Or perhaps, tasted it.

Saya had “touched” Naoto with her own hands. She had devoured the life force within him. She had absorbed the life of Raquel, which constantly replenished and made the mutated Naoto immortal, through her hands.

“Saya, I died once,” Naoto said, and Saya’s eyes widened in surprise.

"Died? Brother?" Her voice was that of a girl her age, making Naoto feel slightly embarrassed. He wished she would stop making such unexpectedly childlike faces. Irritated, Naoto nodded several times.

“Yeah… I got caught up in something dangerous recently. So…”

“That woman… is it because of her?” Saya’s voice became cold and sharp, like the tip of a blade.

Naoto grimaced and shook his head immediately. “No.”

Saya was looking at Raquel. To block her gaze, Naoto took a half-step to the right.

“Raquel saved my life back then. But as a trade-off, it seems I ended up sharing my life with her.” He didn't know how to explain this situation to Saya, where he was essentially living on borrowed time from Raquel. It had become so normal that it sounded absurd when put into words. But how else could he say it? (I'd better not tell her that Raquel is a vampire. That would just complicate things further.)

Deciding against revealing any details beyond the main point, Naoto withheld that information.

For a few seconds, Saya remained silent. After a moment, she spoke.

“So, you’re borrowing the lives of others…” Her voice sounded as if it had been dragged up from the depths of her belly. It was unsettling, filled with something dark and foreboding. A shadow from her long hair fell over a crimson organ, staring into the void as if glaring at someone who wasn’t there.

“The life I drained from my brother was completely different because of that... So, there is someone who killed my brother. My... my brother." Saya murmured, though she didn't voice it aloud.

Naoto clenched his fist tightly behind his back, trying to suppress the emotions welling up inside him.

(Calm down. This is... Haruka's apartment...)

Like a woman, Naoto reminded himself. This wasn’t the time to let unnecessary emotions run wild. This wasn’t the place for that.

"As long as Raquel is alive, I won't die. I'm borrowing my life from Raquel, and I have no intention of dying. I won't give you the 'Hunter's Eye'."

With a strong sense of determination, Naoto looked at the 'Hunter's Eye', which showed a series of mysterious symbols floating above Saya's head. If these were read as numbers, they would be '7946'.

Despite having absorbed a considerable amount of life force from Naoto, the number above Saya's head was quite low. Saya had always been like this. Her body was weak, and she often caught colds, causing her life force to drop drastically, making Naoto worry that she might die.

Everything was different now, compared to those days. Saya had changed, and so had he.

“Go home, Saya.” Naoto said this firmly, almost as if pushing her away. A bitter feeling settled in his stomach. These weren’t words he was happy to say.

Saya sneered. The flickering anger she had shown earlier disappeared in an instant. “What a cold statement, brother.”

(Cold? You think so?)

Saya's hand went back to the hilt of her sword. As if to warn him, Raquel suddenly grabbed Naoto's clothes tightly. Peeking out from behind him, Raquel said to Saya, "If you draw that sword, I won't hesitate to attack you, no matter what state you're in. ...Wouldn't it be better for you if you stopped now?"

Though her words came from a position of safety, they carried a weight that was more than sufficient for a warning, reeking of her knowledge of the circumstances.

Saya looked at Raquel with accusing eyes. Raquel immediately retreated behind Naoto, not meeting Saya’s gaze. In a battle of intimidation, it was clear that Raquel was losing. But Saya smiled again and slowly released her grip on the hilt, undoing her stance.

"Indeed, I've been playing a bit too much. I came here today simply to greet you and deliver a letter from Lady Mei."

“Liar…” Naoto unconsciously muttered at Saya's sudden change of attitude. The feeling of her fingers on his neck was too full of killing intent for it to be just a game. Hearing Naoto's small voice, Saya nodded politely and respectfully, just as she had when she arrived.

"Brother. I'll come back another day."

It was hard to believe that this was the same person who had just tried to gouge someone's eyes out. Naoto was utterly disgusted.

Naoto grimaced and put his hand to his head as if to ease a headache.

“Don’t ever come back.”

“That’s not going to happen.” As if implying that there was some fault on his part, Saya sheathed her sharp weapon back into the scabbard that had fallen to the floor. After securely tying it with a thin cord, she turned to Naoto with a heavy gaze. "My mission is to restore the Terumi family. To that end, I must have your 'eye'. I will definitely make it mine."

It was essentially a declaration that she would definitely kill him.

With a pure-looking smile, she directed a creeping murderous intent towards him. A chill ran down Naoto's spine.

(This is what it is...)

“Then, I will take my leave for today.” With her ominous eyes covered by her eyelids, she performed a formal bow, holding the scabbard carefully to her chest as she quietly exited.

## Part 4

Only the front door watched Saya leave, and when the living room was left with only Naoto and Raquel, they both let out deep, weary sighs. Raquel’s hand gradually released its grip on Naoto’s clothing. Once freed, Naoto languidly ran his fingers through his hair, messing it up before collapsing onto the sofa.

Saya had been there for only a few dozen minutes, but it felt like hours had passed. He was mentally exhausted. ​​As Naoto slumped down, he noticed a pair of white toes in his line of sight.

Raquel, who had been near the entrance to the living room, had somehow come to stand right beside him without a sound or presence, as one would expect from a vampire. He thought of it as a joke.

"Ah... sorry about that. I put you through a lot," Naoto said, still hunched over without raising his body, directing his words toward the white toes in the corner of his vision. Once again, he had been saved by Raquel. If he hadn’t been able to break free from Saya’s grip, he would have died two or three times over.

"She's your sister, isn't she?"

"Yeah. Haruka told you?" While responding to Raquel's somewhat displeased voice, Naoto unconsciously rubbed the back of his neck. He could still feel the sensation of a small hand that didn't seem capable of holding a grown man.

"What happened? No... what do you mean?"

"What I mean is, I almost got killed by her..."

“That's not what I'm asking!” Raquel's tone was sharp, prompting Naoto to reluctantly look up. Her voice was uncharacteristically emotional—like she was anxious or confused, as if she were trying to sort through her tangled thoughts. In Naoto's lifted gaze, Raquel appeared even more serious than her voice suggested, her arms tightly crossed as if hugging herself.

"That girl... the power your sister used. It's a 'Drive.'" Raquel glaring at Naoto as if demanding confirmation. Naoto instinctively looked away, placing a hand on his forehead to bear the weight of her words.

"I guess so," Naoto said, his words accompanied by a heavy sigh.

When Raquel had previously told him about a power called Drive, he had briefly wondered if Saya had it too. But he had thought it was irrelevant to the current situation and had tried to push the thought to the back of his mind.

And yet, here was his sister, showing up out of the blue at a time like this.

"And it's not just any drive. It's the 'worst' kind of drive," Raquel continued, her tone increasingly serious, adding to Naoto’s dread about his sister's bad timing.

“What do you mean by ‘worst’?” he asked, furrowing his brow in confusion. It was not a word he could ignore.

Raquel looked at Naoto with an unusually stern gaze. The small silver mark between her brows gave her an urgent impression that didn't quite suit Raquel, who was usually arrogant and overbearing. With her chin tilted up, Raquel nodded as if to affirm.

"Yes. It's a Drive that absorbs life - a 'Soul Eater'." Raquel’s words, light in color but heavy in meaning, cast a dark shadow over Naoto’s heart.

A Soul Eater.

Naoto placed his palm against his neck again, this time over the mark left by Saya's hand.

As the name implied, Saya had the power to absorb the life force of anything she touched, especially when she touched it with her lips. It was as if she were devouring them.

“Wha—” Naoto’s voice involuntarily escaped him, and he was about to ask something. But suddenly, the front door swung open, cutting him off.

Both Naoto and Raquel reacted instinctively. Naoto jumped up and rushed into the hallway, bracing himself as if ready to take on an ambush.

Naoto glared ahead, ready to face whatever might come. Behind him, Raquel crouched low, ready to leap over Naoto at any moment and launch a surprise attack. But that preparation was soon unnecessary.

In the short, straight corridor, at the half-open door leading to the entrance, was not the kimono-clad girl with a katana that Naoto and Raquel had simultaneously imagined, but Haruka, whose eyes were wide with surprise.

"Wh-what? Why are you making such a scary face...?" The door closed with a small sound. Naoto slumped his shoulders and looked back at Raquel, lowering his eyebrows.

(You startled me.)

“Oh, it’s just Haruka…”

"What do you mean, just? Oh, Raquel-chan! You're here. That's a relief. I was so worried about where you went that I went looking for you at the convenience store," Haruka's face shifted from a pout of discontent to a bright smile as she spotted Raquel behind Naoto, relief washing over her.

Naoto glanced at Raquel and saw her take a half-step back, shrinking and looking down.

“Ah… um, I-I’m sorry… Just don’t say anything…” Raquel stammered awkwardly, barely managing to get the words out.

(Is she starting to get used to Haruka…?)

Compared to when she couldn't even speak and was frozen in place, this was progress. Naoto smiled wryly as he watched Haruka walk past him and Raquel, who stiffened up when spoken to so closely. Even though she was getting used to it, it would still be a long time before Raquel could interact with Haruka normally.

"Hey, has Saya already gone home?" Looking around the living room and seeing that no one was at the table where the tea had been, Haruka said in a disappointed voice.

"Yeah. She said she had something to do."

There was no way Naoto could say she had been chased away after attempting to attack him.

As he replied casually and returned to the living room, he gulped down the remaining tea in his cup, which he hadn’t touched yet. He let out a sigh of relief.

In this moment, the world felt normal again. With Haruka’s arrival, Naoto’s surroundings suddenly regained their everyday light.

"Ah, I'm so tired, I'm starving..."

Forgetting about Saya, vampires, and the 'Hunter's Eye', he wanted to do something completely ordinary. Naoto lowered his eyebrows slightly in an exaggerated manner, and Haruka's expression brightened.

"Oh, we have baumkuchen. Want some?"

"Yeah, sure. Let's go, Raquel." Naoto patted Raquel on the shoulder, encouraging her, and she took a step forward. Haruka grabbed Naoto's hand and urged him to walk.

“O-oh, u-uh, okay, okay.” With that, Raquel, who had become as timid as a small animal, had no choice but to follow. After all, it was Haruka, and Raquel was already well aware of her personality. She wouldn’t do anything bad.

As Raquel reluctantly put on her shoes, looking somewhat displeased, and Haruka watched over her, Naoto began to walk behind the two girls. He discreetly shoved the letter from Mei, which had fallen by the table, into his pocket.

That single piece of paper felt heavy. He didn’t need to reread its contents. It had already been firmly imprinted in his mind. It wasn’t even that long. Written in a hurried handwriting, the contents were almost purely business.

“We can no longer keep Saya here. You must kill her yourself. P.S Don’t you dare die on me!”

### 003. Chapter 8: Thought and Felt

### Part 1

It was a beautiful day.

The sky was a soft, pale blue, with thin, stretched-out white clouds arranged like a knitted pattern.

It was a perfectly clear, refreshing day. The clock had just passed noon, and the cool breeze had begun to blow.

Shinkawahama First High School was in the middle of its lunch break, and the students were spending their short break in various ways. Naoto and Raquel, like many other students, had slipped out of the classroom and come to the courtyard with their lunch. However, today they didn't have Haruka's homemade bento.

As a student council member, Haruka had been busy preparing for the upcoming cultural festival and had been coming to school very early every day lately. With her hectic mornings, there was simply no time to prepare three bentos, so Naoto, Raquel, and Haruka, who was probably working hard in the student council room right now, had sandwiches and bread they bought from the cafeteria.

"...Thanks for the meal."

Sitting on the edge of a flowerbed, using it as a makeshift bench, Naoto finished his somewhat lacking lunch compared to Haruka's bento and poked a straw into a pack of café au lait like a post-meal coffee.

This area was shaded, and even on a sunny day like today, it was in the shadow of the school building and the trees. The drainage was poor, and it was a little damp, so not many people would choose this place as a lunch spot on such a nice day. Thanks to this, there was no one else around, and they were able to finish their lunch in peace.

Raquel had finished eating before Naoto and was now checking the size of the ground a little distance away. To an outsider, the reason for her suspicious behavior was the same as the reason they were having lunch in such a dark place.

This was the same place where Raquel had used magic to investigate the school before. And today, she had come here for the same purpose. As usual, Naoto's job was to keep watch so that Raquel's magic would not be disturbed.

Taking his eyes off Raquel, who was looking around, her long golden ponytail swaying like a tail, Naoto slowly sipped his cafe au lait. As he swallowed the cheap sweetness, he felt a heavy, gloomy sensation.

(My stomach hurts...)

He didn't actually have any pain, and even if his stomach was upset, it would heal in no time, but he had been feeling that way for a while now. Ever since yesterday.

After Saya had left, he had eaten baumkuchen with Haruka and Raquel. He had felt a heavy weight in his stomach ever since then.

Raquel hadn’t tried to pry any information about Saya since then. However, it didn’t mean she had lost interest. Naoto often felt her presence or gaze, as if she was waiting for him to speak up. However, Naoto hadn’t told Raquel anything yet. He had deliberately avoided the topic and spent the night with his mouth shut. As a result, the atmosphere between them had been awkward and strained since last night. Even during their lunch just earlier, despite sitting side by side, they hadn’t exchanged a single word.

(This awkwardness is going to be a pain...)

They were going to be living in the same house for a while, but the current state of affairs felt suffocating and distracting. More importantly, he couldn’t afford to be consumed by thoughts about his sister right now.

“Naoto.” Startled, Naoto looked up.

“Whoa, you scared me!”

Raquel was standing far too close, her arms crossed. She looked down at him with a slight frown, clearly displeased.

"......How long are you going to keep me waiting?"

“Huh?”

"Don't 'huh' me. I'm asking you how long you're going to keep sulking like that." Although Raquel's voice wasn't raised, she was clearly annoyed. Naoto, with the straw still in his mouth, was taken aback and couldn’t help but chuckle at her sudden outburst.

(She's angry all of a sudden...)

It probably wasn't sudden for Raquel, but when he remembered her calm expression just a few minutes ago as she ate her sandwich, he felt deflated. He had always considered himself quite short-tempered, but Raquel seemed even more so.

“Ugh... I guess I have to talk, huh?” Feeling awkward, he asked while chewing on his straw, and the temperature of Raquel's gaze dropped even further.

"What a foolish question. I'm actually more surprised that you're even considering not talking about this now. Do you really think you can keep this just a problem for yourself at this point, with that poor brain of yours? If you could just be a little less stupid, it would be a relief to me. You lowly servant."

Naoto was speechless at the barrage of words and took a sip of his café au lait to cover his embarrassment. The word "servant", spat out with more anger than contempt, suggested that Raquel was less disappointed and more irritated by Naoto's lack of empathy

Raquel let out a small sigh and shrugged her narrow shoulders.

"She is a Drive user. As such, she will inevitably seek the 'Azure' sooner or later, even unconsciously."

"Azure."

Naoto's expression hardened almost reflexively at the word. It had been a few days since he'd heard it spoken, but it was always there, a fixed, shared goal that existed in both Naoto and Raquel's minds. An immovable weight they couldn't avoid being conscious of. That was the “Azure.”

He understood that. But… Naoto looked down again.

"…When I drank your blood, information about Naoto Kurogane flowed in at the same time. However, there was no information regarding Saya Terumi among it. It was because you had deliberately cut off your awareness of Saya Terumi." Raquel's voice descended from outside his lowered line of sight. It was as if she were talking to herself rather than to Naoto, and her voice, which sounded like a monologue, drew Naoto's ears and attention.

Naoto bit down on his straw.

"Why are you turning a blind eye to it? Why are you so stubbornly closing your heart?" Raquel didn't demand an answer but presented it to Naoto as a question. "What is Saya Terumi to you?" It was a genuine question, devoid of sarcasm or malice.

Raquel had probably been wanting to ask Naoto that since yesterday. However, she had held back for just one night. She had refrained from asking. It was an unusual consideration. To be considerate. Naoto grimaced bitterly, finishing the contents of his small paper cup, and raised his eyes.

Raquel's golden eyes were waiting. She stared straight at Naoto's chicken-like gaze, receiving it and catching it. As she stared, Raquel's expression clouded slightly in pain.

"You should tell me everything, Naoto. You're my... servant."

"......Why are you making that kind of face?"

"It's nothing."

"Liar. You look like..."

It seemed like she had a pained expression on her face…

Naoto stopped mid-sentence and crumpled the paper pack he was holding. He took a deep breath and exhaled from the bottom of his stomach.

"Alright," he whispered, his own voice sounding rough and blunt, prompting him to straighten his leaning body and look directly at Raquel. "I'll tell you. Actually, if I don't, I won't be able to concentrate on Spinner either." Soon, Naoto would have to fight a battle with the magician Spinner Superior. If a rift developed between him and Raquel because of Saya, no matter how trivial it was, it would be a major hindrance.

He couldn't afford to be dragged down by such sentimental things.

"But first, tell me. I want to know... What exactly is Soul Eater?"

Raquel had said it was the worst kind of drive that Saya possessed. Naoto knew his sister had a special ability, but he had no idea it was called a "Drive," and that it had such a sinister-sounding name. Raquel knew the truth. Naoto had the same desire and longing to know what he didn't know.

Raquel hesitated slightly. It seemed that, like Saya for Naoto, it wasn't a topic she could handle with a light heart. But after blinking her long-lashed eyelids once, Raquel nodded clearly, indicating she understood.

## Part 2

"Soul Eater is the worst and most powerful Drive. It's a power that endlessly absorbs the lives of others, converting them into its own power, ultimately transforming the user into a 'monster' that surpasses even Father." Sitting beside Naoto on the curb, Raquel began, gazing at the open, empty space in front of her.

“Clavis Alucard?”

“Yes.” Raquel answered Naoto's questioning tone with a casualness that suggested it was obvious. Naoto gasped softly. Remembering Raquel's father, Clavis, he shuddered inwardly. He had only met him once. But he would never forget the bottomless, instinctive fear he had felt at that time. His very presence felt like an attack.

To become even more monstrous than that. It was unimaginable. And to think that his own sister might become like that.

"However," Raquel said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear with a sigh, "that's only if the user's body can handle it."

"......What happens if it can't?"

"They can’t contain the power they’ve amassed and will self-destruct."

"Self-destruct…" Naoto couldn't imagine what that state would be like. But he could tell it wasn't a happy ending. However, Raquel’s ominous explanation continued.

"But it’s better if that happens. If the body withstands the power, and the user becomes a 'monster'… it would cause a disaster that would wipe out an entire city.”

Self-destruction followed by calamity. Naoto couldn’t find the words this time either and simply swallowed. He had only heard about such things. He had no personal experience with it. But it was clear from Raquel's calm words that this was not a mere fabrication, nor was it exaggerated.

"......If Saya continues to use that Drive, will that happen...?"

"From what I saw yesterday, it’s hard to say that the danger is imminent. The true Soul Eater absorbs life force indiscriminately from those nearby. Your sister, however, only seems to drain life force through direct contact, and at that level, she should be manageable." Raquel tilted her chin, as if confirming with herself.

Naoto didn't know what kind of face to make and hid his sullen expression with his cheek resting on his knee.

(Can I defeat her…?)

A small thorn, an unexpected word, caught in his chest. It was a word that should have come out.

He remembered the feel of his sister's hand on his neck yesterday. The hand that touched his neck had intended to drain the life out of him. Without hesitation, she had drawn her sword at Raquel, who had come to stop her, and tried to harm her.

Raquel needed Naoto to obtain the “Azure,” and Naoto needed Raquel to obtain the “Azure.” Therefore, anyone who wanted to kill either or both of them was an enemy and an obstacle that had to be eliminated. If an enemy approached, they must be defeated. That was a natural reaction.

Naoto felt a sense of daze. He realized that he had never intended to defeat Saya from the beginning.

A faint wind swept past, brushing away Naoto's lingering sentiment. Raquel’s long golden hair swayed beside him.

"That's the end of my story. Now it's your turn," her golden eyes stared fixedly at Naoto. Of course, he had no intention of breaking his promise. Naoto exhaled to clear his mind and adjusted his posture.

"Uh, let’s see…" He thought for a moment about where to start. Then, he decided to start with the big picture. "I’m going to tell you a complicated and confusing story. First… there’s a very ancient family called 'Amanohokosaka' that has been around for a long time."

"I know it. Haruka mentioned that name. If I remember correctly… it’s a family known for sealing demons in this country." Raquel replied calmly, and Naoto let out a small "Oh."

"Impressive. You have that kind of knowledge." Most people Naoto interacted with daily didn’t know that name. Even many who weren’t part of his daily life likely didn’t recognize it. It was a family that had protected the land of Japan from evil things since ancient times and sealed away harmful demons. That was the Amanohokosaka family. Though its bloodline has continued uninterrupted, its existence and fame have remained hidden, secretly fulfilling its role without public recognition.

"Then it'll be quicker to explain. That demon-sealing family, the head family, under the name 'Amanohokosaka', has four houses: 'Hajou', 'Kagetatsu', 'Hikagami', and 'Terumi'. I was born the direct eldest son of the 'Terumi' family... In other words, I'm the heir. Because I was born into such a special family, my mother taught me martial arts since I was a kid."

"I see. So you can move around a bit."

"I'm honored that you recognize that I can move around," Naoto shrugged, speaking in a teasing tone. His martial arts training felt like child’s play compared to the superhuman moves Raquel had shown him. "My name is Kurogane, but that's my mother's maiden name. My family name is Naoto Terumi. So, even though I use a different surname, Saya is my real sister. And... she’s been confined in the Amanohokosaka house for the past few years."

"......Confined?" Raquel understood the meaning behind that word. Her questioning tone sought further explanation. Naoto glanced at her face, noticing her golden eyebrows furrowed in concern, and thought that she didn’t need to make such a face for him to tell her the story.

"Saya was a sickly, quiet, ordinary child when she was younger. But five years ago, she suddenly changed. I think she awakened that mysterious power… Soul Eater." From this point, he needed to speak with conviction. Naoto continued in a clear tone, squeezing the crumpled paper pack even tighter in both hands.

"Saya used that power to consume almost everyone in the Terumi family. They all died. My father and mother died during this time… although my mother wasn’t directly killed by her. Even so, Saya couldn’t stop. It got to the point where it was dangerous, so the head of the Amanohokosaka clan came and sealed Saya away."

And so, Saya was confined, and five years passed.

But yesterday, that confinement ended, and she appeared before Naoto. It was a reunion that brought back memories of the tragic events from five years ago.

"Saya had always taken pride in the Terumi family since she was little. To me, it seemed like she was obsessively attached to it. She intends to inherit the Terumi family. For that, she apparently needs the 'Hunter's Eye,' the power of the Terumi family. Without it, she wouldn’t be recognized as the heir." Saying this, Naoto pressed his fingertip against his eyelid.

To Naoto, the Terumi family was something far removed from pride. He had no interest in the survival or prosperity of the family, and frankly, he didn't care.

Saya was the complete opposite. She intended to kill Naoto to take his eyes and inherit the Terumi family. She lived for that purpose.

(And she’s still just a kid…)

Without attending school, without making friends, knowing little of study or play. Naoto felt a sense of pity for his sister, who possessed only the skills to kill and the power to do so.

"What about the letter from yesterday? What was that?" Raquel seemed to have no complaints about Naoto's explanation so far. She smoothed out the wrinkles between her brows and threw a new question.

Naoto remembered. He'd shoved it into the pocket of the pants he'd worn yesterday. He needed to throw it away before doing the laundry.

"Saya has become uncontrollable, or so the head of the Amanohokosaka clan said."

"It’s not that she 'escaped' or 'broke the seal,' but rather that they 'can no longer contain her'?"

"Huh? What are you trying to say?"

"I’m saying that Saya Terumi's emergence from the Amanohokosaka clan wasn't an accident. Perhaps the bonds that were supposed to hold her were loosened. Since they can no longer contain her, they might have simply stopped trying to hold her back… wouldn't you agree?"

"…Well, I guess."

That made sense. There’s a difference between being forcefully broken out of a cage and letting go because holding on any longer would injure your hands.

"We won't know what happened unless we ask the head of the family."

The letter didn’t detail the circumstances on their side. Whether there was no time or no intention to explain, Naoto didn’t know.

His expression darkened. If there was something going on in the Amanohokosaka family, it was surely something unpleasant. Just like when his mother died in front of him five years ago.

Memories resurfaced, bringing with them vivid images of the past.

It was in a dimly lit room, filled with the suffocating smell of blood. There was young Saya, dressed in a kimono, and his mother lying on the floor. A cold sword was plunged into the wet floor. Naoto could only watch helplessly, feeling powerless and pathetic.

"Naoto?"

Naoto looked up, his throat constricting at Raquel's urging voice.

"Ah, it’s nothing. For now… that’s all there is to say about Saya. She wants to kill me to inherit the family. That’s it." He thought his abrupt dismissal was a bit rough, but the Saya he knew now was exactly that kind of girl.

It was a bit painful to say. It hadn't always been this way. There was a time, faintly lingering in his memories, when things were different.

"I see… well, that’s fine. I don’t know what circumstances are behind Saya Terumi, but I don’t want to complicate things any further. I have no intention of meddling." With a light clap, Raquel stood up from the curb. Naoto watched her long blonde hair and short skirt flutter as she moved.

"If anything happens, I’ll fight Saya Terumi for you." She said this casually, looking ahead as if it were nothing. Caught off guard, Naoto struggled to comprehend her words, his mouth agape. After a few seconds of silence, Raquel turned back with a puzzled look.

"What's wrong? You look silly making that foolish face."

"No…"

Naoto thought it was unnecessary for Raquel to say something so harsh, but he couldn't voice his retort; it flickered through his mind and disappeared. He was surprised. He never thought Raquel would say such a thing.

"I was a bit taken aback, to be honest... I thought you would say something like, 'You can't be so complacent.' Or maybe you'd ignore me entirely," he said. Yet, the way she had spoken earlier almost seemed considerate, as if she were aware Naoto didn’t want to fight Saya. Was Raquel Alucard someone capable of such human compassion?

(Ah, but that makes sense… I guess I’ve always been getting wrapped up in her insanity, so I didn’t realize.)

Raquel always took action when it mattered. When Clavis confronted them, she trembled but stepped in front of Naoto. When Haruka was involved, she protected her with a barrier. Even when Naoto was on the verge of being killed by Spinner Superior, she raised her voice to stop it.

It had always been this way. Raquel had used her own power to help Naoto, who had been an unfortunate bystander.

(But still, this girl…)

The realization that fell into his heart was a pleasant one. It wasn't bad.

Naoto let out a breath and smiled slightly.

"That's sweet of you."

"Isn't it?"

With a hint of pride in her voice, Raquel turned her attention back to the magic circle, making her way toward the empty space behind the school building. Seeing her, Naoto withdrew his smile. There was something he needed to ask.

"Hey, Raquel." Raquel stopped and turned her head without replying. "If you have the 'Azure'... can you heal Saya?"

The “Azure” was a power that could turn any possibility into reality. So, if there was a possibility that Saya would not have awakened Soul Eater, could the “Azure” rewrite Saya's fate?

"...Do you want to save her?" Raquel asked, looking a little puzzled. Naoto considered what he was being asked.

Did he want to save her?

Saya.

Saya, who had killed his family, his relatives, and his parents.

After thinking, he looked up and answered.

"I want to save her. She's my family."

No matter how many people she had sent to their deaths with her hands, Naoto was still her brother, and Saya was still his sister. Raquel nodded, her eyes calm and direct, in response to Naoto’s unwavering answer.

“If there’s a possibility, then nothing is impossible for the 'Azure.'”

"I see... So, it all comes down to the Azure."

To remain human, to fulfill Raquel's unknown purpose, and to take away the terrifying power that allowed Saya to take the lives of others.

Naoto turned back to the path ahead and looked up at the clear sky, then stood up to throw away his garbage.

## Part 3

There was, of course, a reason why she was using magic in the courtyard, despite risking other students seeing her at lunchtime.

What Raquel was about to use was a spell to sense the Azure’s presence and investigate the number and movements of Drive users within the school. At the same time, she aimed to explore any areas within the school where the Azure’s remnants could be felt, or if there were any people or objects associated with it.

Previously, that same magic had been able to identify several Drive users in the school and locate a student with traces of the Azure. This was a re-investigation.

The subjects were all the students and teachers in the school. She chose lunchtime to bring as many subjects as possible under the spell’s influence.

“…Hah.”

In the center of a large red magic circle drawn in the courtyard, Raquel focused her awareness while slightly lifting her toes off the ground. After a small exhale, she lowered her feet back to the earth. And then, her long hair, which had been dancing lightly in the wind, fell smoothly down her back.

"How was it? Did you find anything?" Naoto, who was keeping watch a short distance away to avoid stepping on the circle, turned around when he heard Raquel land and let out a faint sigh.

He tried not to look at Raquel while she was using magic. Memories he wanted to forget flashed through his mind. The sight of her white skin, completely exposed beneath her lifted skirt, stirred his thoughts.

(...Stop, don't remember.)

Not wanting to question his own morals, Naoto firmly locked the memory away.

“There’s been no change in the Drive users’ behavior. No reactions from the Azure remnants either.” Raquel said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she walked towards Naoto. The red magic circle faded from the ground where she walked, as if water was seeping into the ground.

It was a strange sight no matter how many times he saw it. What was that red ink-like substance that appeared just by tracing it with her fingers? As he wondered, Naoto put his hands on his hips.

“I see, then that’s a relief.”

"That's not good. It means there are no leads connecting us to Spinner." Raquel's golden eyes narrowed as she folded her arms. Naoto scratched his head awkwardly.

"Still, that guy seemed pretty eager to come out on his own again. If we just leave him be, won’t he eventually pop up on his own?"

"What a fool. Spinner only appears when all the conditions are right for him. Do you really want to face Spinner head-on when he's fully prepared?"

"Of course not!" Naoto replied, closing his eyes as if offering a prayer to God.

Raquel was right. There was no reason to wait for Spinner to come to them. If he could avoid waiting, he preferred to do so.

"But it's good that nobody else from the school got involved. For now, at least…"

He looked up at the shabby school building.It’s not like he was close with everyone. However, he didn’t relish the thought of someone he recognized, someone he spent most of his days with, getting caught up in something dangerous.

"A lead, huh... Oh, that reminds me, I heard that all of Spinner's apostles are men." Naoto casually threw the thought to Raquel, who stood nearby. After a pause of about two seconds, Raquel looked at him and replied.

"That’s right. The sensory organs are too different between men and women. If you want to control someone as an apostle, it’s difficult to share sensations if they’re not the same sex."

"Yeah, I heard that. And I also heard that it puts a huge burden on the sorcerer, so the maximum is probably fifteen..."

That means that besides Isa, the earth science teacher who had been an Apostle until recently, there could be as many as fourteen other apostles at worst. Perhaps Isa's position had already been filled, and they were now operating with a full team of fifteen.

"Why did they choose Isa as an apostle in the first place? I get that he’s a man, but there must be some other criteria for selection."

"Perhaps it's because he could synchronize well as an Apostle... But if there are other reasons, we won't know unless we ask Spinner."

"That's true." No matter how much they speculated, they couldn't verify their answers.

"......By the way," Raquel began abruptly, as if she had finished her magic and there was no longer any need to be in such a dark place.

Naoto turned around, and waiting for him was Raquel's slightly annoyed gaze, just enough to be noticeable.

"That story you just told. You heard it from that woman," she said, referring to Kiiro Hikagami.

The Mitsurugi Agency... to eliminate immortals like Raquel or the threats lurking in the world…

A mysterious Drive user belonging to the organization.

'......Are you still angry?'"

Feeling oddly accused, Naoto scratched his cheek. Raquel shook her head dramatically, her long hair swaying like a tail.

"I'm not angry. I'm just dumbfounded by your recklessness in going to see that woman alone, but that's a different emotion from anger, isn't it? It's just that... I haven't heard properly yet what you talked about with her alone."

"Don't put such a weird spin on it. Cut me some slack."

"But it's the truth."

"Alright, alright. I didn't say I wouldn't tell you." Though Raquel probably didn’t mean anything by it, her questioning tone made Naoto feel like he was being chastised for some immoral wrongdoing. This was no joke. He didn’t deserve to be scolded. It was about yesterday morning.

A few hours before Saya suddenly showed up, and at an early time for lunch, Naoto had received a call the day before to come to a hotel near the station. It wasn't a simple hotel where businessmen would stay, nor was it a sleazy hotel that suited the nightlife. It was a full-fledged hotel where a luxurious chandelier greeted you in the lobby, with soft carpets underfoot.

The designated place was a members-only bar lounge on the top floor. Riding an elevator that moved silently, Naoto met Kiiro Hikagami in the back of the lounge, enduring the gaze of the waiters who looked at him like a foreign object.

It was a room like an observation deck, with large glass windows all around the outer wall. Even though it was a weekday, it was daytime, so there were few customers in the bar lounge, and it was sparse, quiet, and the subdued classical jazz in the background was inducing sleepiness.

On a soft sofa that made him feel as if he were sinking in, Naoto listened to Kiiro talk about Spinner. He heard about how Isa, who had attacked Haruka the other day, survived. She mentioned that even if he managed to reintegrate into society, they would ensure he would never appear before Naoto again. She also said she would dispose of all the photos Isa had collected of Haruka.

After hearing all that, Kiiro leaned closer on the sofa, pressing down on his hand with her own. Naoto felt the air in the room heat up. He tried to pull away, but Kiiro held him with her hand and leaned in, whispering as if begging for a kiss.

“Hey… Naoto-kun. Won’t you be with me?”

Up until then, Kiiro had maintained a serious atmosphere, though it was difficult to be completely serious with her. Still, she suddenly shifted to a more overtly flirtatious demeanor, her eyes glistening with allure.

This made Naoto tense up even more.

“I don’t get what you mean.”

“I’ll do anything you want, Naoto-kun. I’ll protect you. I’ll take care of Spinner Superior for you... and I can heal your body too.” While holding Naoto’s hand down, Kiiro’s other hand began to move toward his chest. Her fingers sensually traced Naoto's body over his clothes, tracing his collarbone and stroking his right arm.

A chill ran down Naoto's spine. He interpreted it as disgust. He didn't like being touched by Kiiro. It made him feel very uneasy.

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Why are you so obsessed with me?" That was the biggest reason why Naoto felt uncomfortable with Kiiro's touch.

His relationship with Kiiro was shallow—at least for him. They hadn't known each other for long, and his understanding of her was minimal. Yet, Kiiro touched Naoto with an intimacy that didn't match that relationship. It was as if she was trying to drag him into a pit of moral decay, and he hesitated to take a step. Of course, who would be stupid enough to step into a swamp knowing it was a swamp?

Kiiro leaned her cheek against Naoto's shoulder and smiled with her glossy lips.

"Naoto-kun, would you call it love at first sight?"

"No."

“Then it’s fate.”

"Can you stop joking around?" Naoto looked at Kiiro with half-closed eyes, exasperated. She was always like this. It was hard to tell where her sincerity ended and her jokes began. Kiiro pouted at Naoto's reply.

“Oh, come on. I thought you’d at least notice. So annoying!”

“‘So annoying’…?” Naoto never expected to hear such a phrase directly aimed at him.

Ignoring Naoto's mental exhaustion, Kiiro pressed her index finger against her soft lips, thinking as she leaned closer with her voluptuous body.

"Hmm, that's a problem. I don't think I can explain it in words, and even if I did, I don't think Naoto-kun would understand..."

"Are you mocking me?"

"Oh, that's right!" Interrupting Naoto's words, Kiiro lifted the finger from her lips and smiled happily. In a flash of inspiration, she quickly pressed Naoto's hand against her chest.

“Hey, wait a minute...!” Naoto desperately tried to pull his hand away. The hand that had been pulled close had forcefully unbuttoned the top buttons of her blouse, exposing a large portion of her chest and slipping inside.

He could feel the richly exposed bulge of her exposed breasts directly against his palm. The damp sensation of skin, a body temperature slightly higher than his own, and its firm, weighty fullness.

This was bad. Naoto’s instincts were signaling danger.

He tried to pull his hand away, but Kiiro pressed it harder against her chest.

“No, touch me properly. Listen.”

"What are you thinking...?"

Naoto fell silent, taken aback by the absence of Kiiro's usual flirtation in her voice. In his palm, there was still the unique softness that he never encountered in his daily life. Deep within that fullness, Kiiro's heart was beating.

"Don’t you get it?"

“What?”

“Oh, you’re hopeless!”

With a faint scent of perfume, Kiiro smiled teasingly as she lifted Naoto's other hand. She placed that hand against his chest, over his left side.

"Well?" she asked again, her violet eyes smiling invitingly.

A shiver ran down Naoto's spine. He couldn't help but hold his breath. He finally understood what Kiiro was saying.

A heartbeat.

Two heartbeats, rather. His and hers, both pulsing in the palms of his hands. Their rhythms were perfectly synchronized, as if they were one.

Naoto's heart raced. And so did Kiiro's. It was as if their hearts were one and the same.

"You see, Naoto-kun, we're two halves of the same whole. Together, we can finally become 'one.' I can love every part of you. No, only I can love all of you. If it’s 'Kurogane Naoto,' then I can love it. Even if your right arm is part of that arrogant bloodsucker, I can love you. I don't care about the Mitsurugi Agency or Clavis Alucard. All I want is..."

Her voice, drenched in lust, breathed hotly against Naoto's neck. The rough, wanton breathing tickled his skin.

Their heartbeats quickened, Naoto's and Kiiro's. Blending together, the sound of blood pulsing in their heads throbbed loudly.

“All I want is Naoto Kurogane.” She murmured dreamily in a burning voice, lost in pleasure. With a distant look in her eyes, far removed from her usual calm, Kiiro let out a deep, satisfied sigh.

"It's fine, Naoto-kun... you can crush me... however you like."

For a moment, he was stunned. But then he realized what she meant and violently jerked his hand away, as if seared by hot iron. He scrambled off the sofa, pulling away from her. The fingers that had just caressed her soft breasts were now slightly reddened and damp. It was his right hand. The small amount of blood on it seemed to vanish into his skin as if it was soaked up by water.

"Fufufu... now I'm a little bit a part of you, Naoto-kun." Kiiro murmured dreamily, her cheeks flushed, her eyes glazed over with lust. She ran her tongue along her sensual lips.

Naoto felt no pleasure or arousal at the sight. Instead, he clenched his right hand, which had absorbed her blood, and forced himself to calm his ragged breathing. Grinding his heel into the soft carpet, he turned and fled the lounge.

## Part 4

"Did your heartbeats synchronize with that woman's?"

Naoto told Raquel only about how his heartbeat and Kiiro's had perfectly synced. He omitted the part about her blood being absorbed and what she had said. Raquel had been waiting for him in front of the hotel after the incident, so she probably had a better understanding of his state immediately afterward than he did.

“Yeah. I don’t really understand it, but it was disturbingly in sync.” Naoto nodded, his confusion evident. Raquel frowned, clearly puzzled. "So, what does that mean? Does that make Kiiro Hikagami..."

Naoto's question was cut off by Raquel's mumbling. She seemed lost in thought, her hand covering her mouth as she pondered. Naoto sighed. It seemed Raquel didn't have an answer either. Although she seemed to have some ideas based on the fragments of her words, it was unlikely she could provide a coherent explanation until she had thought it through.

"Anyway, that's what happened with Kiiro. We should probably head back. Lunch break is almost over." Naoto said, checking the time on his phone. Their next class was Japanese language, which he wasn't bad at, but their teacher's monotone voice was sleep-inducing, and it would be difficult to stay awake on a full stomach.

“Let’s continue this after school.”

“Sounds good to me. Let’s head back.”

It was a relief that Raquel didn’t seem to have any aversion to the idea of “school”. She readily agreed to Naoto’s suggestion and they turned away from the empty schoolyard where there was no trace of the magic circle.

As Naoto and Raquel walked side by side and approached the corridor between the main building and the special classroom wing, a familiar face suddenly appeared from the latter.

“Oh, Kurogane-kun, Alucard-san.”

With a voice that was sharp and confident, she had a tall, slender figure with flowing black hair that cascaded down her back. The one who greeted them was Kana Kirishima, the student council president of Shinkawahama First High School.

Naoto instinctively came to a halt, nearly stumbling.

Kana was an imposing figure with a calm demeanor that belied her young age. Her confident manner and dignified presence had drawn many votes her way during the student council elections, including Naoto’s.

Little did anyone know that just a few days ago, she had been threatened and bullied by Isa, an Apostle of Spinner’s. Only Naoto and Raquel had witnessed the tears streaming down her usually composed face.

“Did you two have lunch together again? You’re so close. Haruka must be jealous.” Kana smiled, her tone slightly teasing as she held a stack of papers to her chest.

Raquel froze, her body rigid as if electrocuted, awkwardly averted her gaze and slipped behind Naoto. Caught between Kana and Raquel, Naoto raised an eyebrow and twisted his mouth.

“Why would Haruka care?”

“Are you serious? You’re quite the cruel person, aren’t you?”

“Cut it out. Haruka and I are just friends, okay?”

“Is that so? Well, that’s what it seems to you.” Kana’s words carried a hidden meaning that was clear to anyone listening. If it had been any other classmate, Naoto might have given a casual retort. But against Kana, he could only groan in frustration.

“Um... Kirishima-senpai, there’s something I want to ask you, if that’s alright?”

“Me? Of course. Go ahead.”

“Do you remember Isa?” Kana blinked, seemingly unsure of Naoto’s intentions.

“Isa... do you mean Mr. Isa from the Earth Science department? Of course I remember him. Until last week, he was teaching at this school. I heard he retired due to ill health. It’s such a shame.”

Kana frowned, her expression softening as if to reproach Naoto for addressing his teacher so informally. It was more a fleeting sympathy for someone she had had as a teacher than any real concern for the person who had threatened her.

“Oh... I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s fine if you know him,” Naoto forced a smile, trying to cover up his blunder. Kana looked at him suspiciously and tilted her head slightly.

“Is that so? That’s a strange question.”

“No, there’s no deep meaning...”

“Ah, there you are, Kirishima-senpai!”

Before Naoto could think of an excuse, a familiar male voice cut in.

The owner of the voice came bustling up, panting slightly. “Oh, Naoto and Raquel! What a surprise. Where have you two been? Don’t miss out on any event flags, Naoto!” He flashed a bright, carefree smile at Naoto. It was Shinnosuke Fukuda, Naoto’s classmate and best friend.

“How can you say that without any shame?” Naoto retorted. What event flags? Shinnosuke’s usual playful banter naturally drew a wry smile from Naoto.

Kana’s imposing presence seemed to soften somewhat in the face of Shinnosuke’s carefree aura. While it was a bit irritating to feel relieved by his presence, Naoto was grateful to have avoided the question about Isa.

Noticing Shinnosuke was carrying a bundle of files that looked to be twice as heavy as Kana’s stack, Naoto asked, “What’s with that huge load?”

“It’s the records from last year’s cultural festival. You know I’m in the library committee, right? I’m keeping them,” Shinnosuke said, making an exaggerated effort to readjust the files in his arms. Then he turned to Kana. “Sorry, I’m in a hurry. I’ve found everything. Should I take it all to the student council room?”

“Yes, please. I’m heading there too, so let’s go together.”

“Okay!”

“See you later.” Kana gave a light bow and started walking away with Shinnosuke in tow.

“See you later!” Shinnosuke followed Kana, struggling under the weight of the heavy files as they entered the main building.

“The cultural festival...” Naoto muttered to himself.

Naoto watched Kana and Shinnosuke leave, somewhat lost in thought. However, what occupied his mind was entirely unrelated.

“She didn’t remember, did she?” Raquel said, approaching from behind with a composed expression, as if she hadn’t been hiding like a shadow, afraid of Kana’s presence.

Naoto was used to Raquel’s nonchalant attitude. As soon as Kana was gone, she puffed out her chest as usual, and Naoto simply nodded in response, a wry smile playing on his lips.

“Yeah. I wonder what they did to her memory.”

Kana didn’t remember anything about Isa, not the threats, nor what had happened between them. Rather than pondering the methods used, Naoto was simply glad she had forgotten. There was no good reason for her to remember such a thing.

What troubled him was the eerie presence of the Mitsurugi Agency, the organization responsible for manipulating Kana's memory.

“I don’t think about it often, but are they still watching us?”

Kiiro had once mentioned that the Mitsurugi Agency was monitoring both Naoto and Raquel. They claimed to have no interest in interfering with their personal lives, but the idea of being watched was unsettling.

Raquel seemed to feel the same way and snorted in annoyance.

“The Mitsurugi Agency... they must be moving behind the scenes. We can’t just sit around waiting for clues to appear.”

They didn’t know when Kiiro or that sinister organization would strike again. They had to settle things with Spinner and find a way to reach the surprise before that happened.

“So what are we going to do? Just go around creating magic circles and searching blindly?”

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea. But... there’s something more fundamental, something important.” With only five minutes left until lunch break ended, Raquel walked alongside Naoto, looking straight ahead as she spoke in a firm tone.

"Something important?" Naoto was puzzled. He pointed at himself questioningly, and Raquel nodded confidently, as if she had already taken on the role of his mentor.

“Of course. To face a powerful enemy, we need... training.”

Naoto was speechless for a moment. He scratched his head, wondering where she had gotten such an idea.

## Part 5

The white moon hung in the sky. It looked like a sliver of a crescent moon, a gaping window in the night sky, as if someone was peering in.

Perhaps this thought arose because Naoto had been reminded of the Mitsurugi Agency's surveillance during the day. Or maybe it was because he was about to step into this surreal world, which seemed out of place on such a peaceful night.

Stepping out from the brightly lit apartment into the dimly lit night, Naoto retied his loose sneaker laces.

"Don't dawdle," came an impatient voice from a few steps ahead.

"I know, I know," Naoto replied, glancing up casually.

Even in October, the air turned chilly at this late hour. Raquel stood in the darkness of the night, wrapped in her own dark black cloak. If one only focused on her appearance, she looked just like she did on that night they first met. However, there was now a crucial difference. Raquel was wearing a blouse and skirt under her cloak.

Naoto joined Raquel, his sneakers tapping lightly against the ground. Suddenly, the sound of high heels approaching from ahead caught his attention.

"Oh? You two are going out at this hour?"

At first, Naoto thought it was Kiiro, but it was Yuki, Haruka’s mother and his aunt. Dressed in a neatly arranged milk tea-colored pantsuit, Yuki looked ready for work. It was past nine at night, well past dinner time. It seemed early for her to be returning home from work.

“You’re home early, Yuki-san,” Naoto replied, surprised. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Raquel flinch and step closer to him.

Seeing Raquel’s reaction, Yuki smiled brightly. "I can't keep working late every day. Sometimes I want to eat my daughter’s cooking at a decent hour."

"Well, it’s not exactly a decent hour, is it?"

"Details, details. More importantly, where are you two going? Out late at night alone with a girl... that’s suspicious." Yuki smiled knowingly and brought her fingers to her mouth. She glanced at Raquel with a look of childlike curiosity. Despite working late every day and getting up early, she seemed full of energy.

Naoto grimaced and scratched his head.

“It’s not suspicious at all. We’re just going to the bookstore by the station. It’s open until ten.”

“A bookstore? You?”

“No, not me. Her.” Naoto pointed at Raquel, who was nodding vigorously, her expression exaggerated.

It was a lie. He had told the same lie to Haruka just a few minutes ago.

“Hmm.” Yuki replied, her voice sounding thoughtful. Despite trying to appear calm, Naoto was incredibly nervous. Yuki was sharp. She had caught him in lies countless times before. It felt like she could always sense when he was being dishonest.

But…

“Well, be careful. Don’t worry Haruka too much,” Yuki accepted Naoto’s lie effortlessly and adjusted the work bag on her other shoulder. Naoto didn’t know if she had believed him or simply chosen to ignore his lie. If he asked, it would be like admitting to the lie himself.

Yuki patted Naoto lightly on the shoulder and went into the apartment building, her steps surprisingly light for someone who had been working late. Naoto watched her go until she disappeared into the orange glow of the hallway, then turned back to the night.

“Let’s go.” he said, patting Raquel on the shoulder as Yuki had done to him. Startled, Raquel seemed to snap back to reality.

“Ah!? Oh... yeah, let’s go. No dawdling.”

“I’ve heard that before.” Naoto wanted to say, “I should be the one telling you that,” but he kept it to himself. He ran his hand through his hair and started walking. Their destination was near Shinkawahama Station. But instead of the bookstore, they were headed for a darker, more secluded area.

This was the beginning of their... training.

Running through the narrow alleyways wasn’t difficult. Jumping into the shadows away from the streetlights and moving farther from the bright station wasn’t scary.

The night air was pleasantly cool, and under normal circumstances, Naoto would have enjoyed the walk. Despite the cloudy sky, the high moon continued to cast its silvery light upon the earth. But right now, he had no room to appreciate the autumn night’s ambiance.

“Damn it… how long is this going to last?!” As he ran deeper into the narrow alley, which was too small for cars, Naoto vented his frustration between heavy breaths. Close behind him, something was following, keeping an uncomfortably close distance. An occasional clicking sound from somewhere outside his vision sent a shiver of disgust and fear down his spine.

Naoto was being chased.

With an unyielding persistence, something the size of his torso was pursuing him through the darkness and sudden bursts of streetlight. It was an insect as large as Naoto’s torso.

Its dirty brown shell resembled oxidized oil, with a creepy luster reminiscent of a jewel beetle. It had four wings that buzzed unpleasantly as it flitted about. Its silhouette resembled that of a bee, but instead of a sharp stinger, it had a round mouth from which a liquid capable of burning concrete simmered, hidden behind serrated fangs. Just a moment ago, it had bitten his arm, and he still felt the searing pain of burnt flesh.

Where a bee would have a mouth, this creature had enlarged legs, and four eyes that fixed on Naoto’s back as he ran.

“How long do you plan on running? This is training. It’s pointless if you don’t fight back!” Raquel called out, her voice carried on the wind as she gracefully descended from a nearby building. She joined Naoto, her expression bright and carefree, as she effortlessly ran beside him.

Training. Tonight’s “event,” as Raquel called it, was essentially a hunting game. Using her magic, Raquel had located an Apostle of Spinner’s, and now Naoto was supposed to gain combat experience by defeating it.

They had left the house around ten o’clock and had spent some time preparing Raquel’s magic at a secluded spot near the station. After following a faint magical trace, they had finally found their target. But the moment the creature realized Naoto was there, it had detached itself from its host and attacked with ferocious intent.

Of course, Naoto had come here intending to defeat the creature. He wanted nothing more than to stop running and turn around, to punch the giant, grotesque, bee-like thing. But it was too close. If he stopped and turned, the creature would be able to attack him before he could react.

(I never want to experience that again...)

Just moments before, he had been ambushed by the severe pain from a bug that had been lurking by the tracks under the station platform after the last train had left. The wound had healed within three seconds, but the psychological shock of being attacked by such an unnatural creature was not so easily forgotten.

"Hi-i-i-i!"

As if on cue, a wet sound splattered behind Naoto, followed by the creature's acidic fluid spraying in the direction he was running. A splash landed on his face. He felt a burning sensation near his eye and his vision blurred white.

He wiped his face with the back of his hand, trying to clear his vision. The wound was already gone, but the pool of the creature's fluid where he had jumped over had melted the asphalt, leaving a sticky, cotton-candy-like substance.

"R-Raquel, what should I do?"

Naoto had never faced one of Spinner's Apostles so directly before. The confusion and fear overwhelmed him, and Naoto felt himself slipping into a mild panic.

“You're pathetic. Are you really from the Demon Sealing clan?”

“That’s the Amanohokosaka! Compared to that, we’re just an afterthought... besides, what I was doing was with humans, not fighting against monsters like this!”

Naoto wondered if the martial arts he'd learned for fighting humans would be effective against this creature.

Skating alongside Naoto as if on ice, Raquel sighed, treating him like a slow child. “You’re an idiot. That’s why I’m giving you this real combat experience.”

“You’re doing this for me? I’m so grateful, I could cry!”

“We’re going to waste the whole night at this rate.”

“If you think so, then help me out a little!”

“Honestly... you really are a handful.”

Shaking her head in exasperation, Raquel lowered her body without slowing down. Then, she kicked off the ground and jumped high. With a powerful leap, she jumped into the air, pulling Naoto up with her.

“Whoa!” Naoto exclaimed as he was lifted off the ground. He landed hard on the asphalt, wincing in pain as his backside and legs stung. But when he looked up, his breath caught in his throat.

The creature, unable to keep up with the sudden change of pace, had overshot where Naoto had been and was now further down the alleyway. It quickly sensed Naoto’s presence and turned around, its wings buzzing.

But there was now a safe distance between them – a distance perfect for a fight.

“Naoto.”

“I know!” Naoto replied roughly in response to Raquel’s urging. He clenched his fists and began to run.

His target, a creature with enormous red eyes, stared at Naoto. It lifted its thick legs, making an odd clicking sound as it raised its lower body, filled with corrosive acid. Its round mouth was pointed at Naoto like a gun.

To be honest, Naoto was terrified. He wanted to lament why he was doing this. But he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on what was in front of him.

He took a deep step forward, feeling the hard ground beneath his feet, and pulled back his fist. As if waiting for this, the creature's bloated belly trembled, and a glob of acid was ejected from its round, toothed mouth, as if firing a cannonball.

If it hit him directly, it would be right in the face. But Naoto twisted his body at an unnatural angle, dodging the acid from close range almost the same time as the bug's counterattack.

(Huh? I dodged it?)

Naoto was surprised. He had taken a deep step forward, and his movements had been quick. He should have been completely defenseless against the attack. But as the bug's movements registered in his vision, his body moved on its own. The bug's movements were much slower than he had anticipated. He was more agile than he realized.

“Take this!” With all his might, Naoto threw his fist down onto the bug's head, adding the force of his body behind it. His fist, thrust straight up from below, caught the creature’s large eye and pierced through the tough, jelly-like substance. Body fluids splattered, and a sticky substance covered him. Despite the unpleasant sensation, Naoto's arm had pierced straight through the bug.

“Ugh... gross…”

As he realized what he had done, the thought of fighting was replaced by disgust. With a shudder, he kicked the creature's body, which was convulsing violently, and pulled his arm out. The slimy feeling was raw and real, leaving no room for excuses or dreams.

Resigned to his situation, Naoto swung his arm and kicked the creature that was trying to grab him. With a cracking sound, the creature slammed into the wall of the nearby building. Even then, it got up and tried to fly, but Naoto, who had only been able to run away until now, grabbed it and pulled it towards him.

With all his might, Naoto slammed the creature into the ground. He stomped on it repeatedly until it couldn’t move anymore.

“Ugh, haah, haah… haah, ha… it smells so bad…”

It smelled like rotten meat. Breathing heavily, Naoto grimaced and stepped away from the now motionless bug. Acid was leaking from the creature's abdomen, slowly dissolving the asphalt. Overlooking the gruesome sight, Naoto wiped its fluid off his arm and tried to calm his stomach, which felt like it was about to spit out its dinner.

“...You took that down surprisingly easily.”

“Surprisingly? I was fighting for my life here! You could at least say something a little kinder.” Naoto shot a disgruntled glance at Raquel, who had landed next to him, draped in a vibrant breeze like a dress.

The acidic liquid from the creature he had crushed had burned his leg, but perhaps because he was so excited, the wound had healed before he felt any pain. Only the holes in his jeans remained as a reminder. His T-shirt was also torn and melted in several places. It had been a good idea to leave his hoodie with Raquel, knowing he was going to get dirty.

As Raquel returned the gray hoodie he had been carrying, she widened her eyes in apparent surprise at his complaint. "I was complimenting you," she said.

Was she? Naoto didn't have the energy to argue. It seemed he had grown up with much warmer compliments.

“But...” Raquel continued, her voice unexpectedly sincere. Naoto's expression softened. "You didn't seem to be trying your hardest since I started helping you." Her golden eyes locked onto his, and Naoto felt a lump in his throat. He looked down at his dirty hands, at his right hand that had pierced the creature's head.

“...Ah.” With a sigh, Naoto nodded. He had a vague sense of what Raquel was trying to say. If he had to put it into words, it would be “unexpected.”

More than unexpected. It was unbelievable. His right hand had worked as a powerful weapon. And maybe it wasn't just his right hand. It felt like every part of him had adapted to the fight with surprising ease. Naoto could feel his heart beating faster than usual.

### 004. Chapter 9: Intervention

### Part 1

The clock was nearing three in the morning.

A few minutes after Naoto had defeated Spinner’s Apostle in the alleyway that night, men in black suits and white lab coats had appeared. They were from the Mitsurugi Agency, the same organization he had encountered at school the other night.

After efficiently collecting the creature's corpse, they told Naoto to go home, assuring him they would clean up the mess. They then began to collect samples of the creature's scattered bodily fluids.

Watching their skilled work, Naoto felt a sense of resignation. Surely, by tomorrow or the day after, the alleyway would be repaired as if nothing had happened. With no reason to linger, he decided to head home, but Raquel didn’t seem particularly cheerful. Naoto understood why. He didn’t feel good either.

It was past one in the morning. The fact that the Mitsurugi Agency had arrived so quickly and was so well-equipped this late at night meant they were under constant surveillance.

It made him sick to think that they probably had a detailed report of how he had run away and how Raquel had helped him, including their trivial banter. Still, he was grateful to have them take care of the scene, which they could never have handled on their own.

"Ugh... I'm so sleepy..." Naoto sighed as he soaked in the hot bath he had drawn as soon as he got home. He didn't mind staying up late, but tonight was particularly draining. Searching for a monstrous creature in the dead of night, being chased, and finally getting covered in some disgusting, unknown liquid - training was tougher than he had expected.

Naoto pulled his right arm out of the water and sniffed it.

(Is it really clean now?)

He had scrubbed himself more thoroughly than ever before. He was sure that the unpleasant smell and feeling were completely gone. Satisfied, he returned his arm to the warm water and gently rubbed it. As he relaxed, various images from that night flashed through his mind.

(Come to think of it, Kiiro wasn't there.)

The organization had been waiting for his “training” to finish. The situation was nearly the same as when he defeated Isa, but Kiiro was absent. She seemed to have a higher position than the men in black, and she probably didn't have the time to come out for every little incident like this. Whatever the reason, Naoto was relieved.

(If she had been there, I would have been stuck here for another thirty minutes...)

He chuckled to himself in the bath and then remembered something.

Kiiro's seductive smile at the hotel lounge lingered in Naoto's mind. Those suggestive words, one after another, and the soft, almost unreal feel of her... skin.

Naoto unconsciously placed his palm against his left chest. He wondered if Kiiro's heart was still beating in the same rhythm beneath her own chest. The thought sent a chill down his spine. After all, it was a heart. The idea that it was exactly like someone else's was anything but comforting.

"Ugh... whatever, I don’t want to think about anything anymore..." He was about to continue when the sound of a suddenly opened door interrupted him. "...Huh!?"

For a second, he couldn't comprehend the situation. Even after a few seconds, it still didn't register. Furrowing his brows in confusion, Naoto turned to see who it was, his mouth half-open in a daze as he wondered what was going on.

In that instant, his thoughts completely froze.

Standing at the door was Raquel.

Considering who else was in the house, it might not have been unusual. But the fact that Raquel was completely naked, her long blond hair down, and was about to enter the bathroom was not just unusual, it was impossible to ignore.

"You... what are you..."

"Oh, you're still in here?" Raquel pulled her loose hair behind her ear and stepped into the wet bathroom. Naoto immediately sank deep into the bathtub, trying to hide.

"W-w-w-what are you doing?! Why did you come in?!"

"Naoto, it's late. You should think about the neighbors."

"Don't tell me to be considerate when you're naked!"

"One minute you say to learn common sense, and the next you tell me not to talk about it. You really are an emotionally unstable man."

"Whose fault is that...?" Naoto knew it was pointless to argue, but he couldn't help himself. Still, he couldn’t just stare at her, so he shrank back in the bathtub.

Seeing this, Raquel let out a knowing "Ah" and a weary smile.

"Don't worry. Seeing a servant naked won't make me feel anything special. It's like seeing a dog with or without clothes." She said casually, as if teasing Naoto.

Naoto looked down. It's not like he wanted her to feel something special, but it hurt to be dismissed so easily.

Ignoring Naoto's hurt feelings, Raquel placed her small butt on the bathroom chair. She reached for the showerhead and turned on the warm water.

She was serious about taking a bath together. Realizing Raquel's intentions, Naoto felt his face pale. Yet, despite the situation, she continued nonchalantly.

"Naoto. I permit you, my servant, to wash your master's hair," Raquel said, brushing her long golden hair away from her chest. Her golden eyes urged him on, gazing at Naoto without any embarrassment or ulterior motives. It was as if she was simply acknowledging him, as he was, without any impure thoughts. It made him feel almost spoiled.

"How long are you going to keep staring at me like that? Hurry up. It's impolite to keep your master waiting."

"Okay, okay. I got it..." Naoto replied, somewhat annoyed. If he hesitated any longer, it would seem like he was the only one who saw Raquel as a woman. And that wouldn't do.

With a sigh of resignation, Naoto stood up.

(Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look...)

He chanted this mantra in his mind as he moved behind Raquel, who was seated on a chair.

He had never been so grateful for a fogged-up mirror. Even though he was drawn to her translucent skin and slender shoulders, he managed to gather her hair in a bundle.

"Wow..." he said involuntarily. Raquel turned her head.

"What?"

"N-no. Your hair... it's beautiful." It was an embarrassing thing to say, but he couldn't help himself. The feel of her hair in his hands reminded him of golden silk. It was smooth and silky, sliding cool against his palm.

"Yes, it is," Raquel replied indifferently. Her short answer made it clear that she didn't have any particular feelings about her own hair.

"Yeah, I don't know much about women's hair, and I've never seen blond hair like this before. But I think it's beautiful," Naoto said with a wry smile as he ran the warm water through the beautiful hair in his hands.

It really was beautiful hair. And yet, he felt it was a shame that Raquel didn't seem to appreciate its beauty. It would have been nice if she could look up at people with her chin held high and simply take pride in such a normal thing.

Now that he thought about it, there were times in kindergarten when he had bathed with Haruka, but he had never washed her hair. As for Saya, he couldn't even remember bathing with her, given her frail health.

(This is the first time I've ever washed a woman's hair)

Her hair was so thin and soft. He wasn’t sure how to handle it. Is this how it’s supposed to be? He carefully applied the shampoo that Haruka had bought for Raquel, working it into the golden hair that flowed under the water. The long strands seemed to wrap around his fingers, yet they easily slipped away from the ends.

It felt like he was handling something fragile. It was an unfamiliar task. His hands fumbled awkwardly, and he started to lose track of how he usually washed his own hair.

Still, Naoto rinsed the shampoo out, applied the conditioner, and rinsed again. By the time he washed Raquel's shoulders and back, where her wet hair clung, the embarrassment and discomfort of a high school boy had considerably faded.

"There. I'm done." He said, avoiding her gaze as he turned off the shower and leaned it against the wall. Raquel gathered her wet hair to one side and lightly squeezed out the excess water, letting out a shallow, disappointed sigh.

"You're not very good at this."

"Shut up! I've never done this before! If you want it done well, don’t make me do it!" Naoto's voice echoed loudly against the bathroom walls. For a moment, he panicked, wondering if someone had heard him. Raquel remained calm. She turned to look at Naoto with her big eyes, which softened as if to ease the tension.

"Well then, that's fine. For a first time, I’ll revise my evaluation and say you did a pretty good job." Naoto felt his temples twitch at her almost smug expression.

"...Should I say thank you?"

(Shouldn’t I be the one getting thanked instead?)

Naoto felt a sense of fatigue that went beyond mere dissatisfaction. Reluctantly finishing the task, he began to rise from the bath. However, Raquel grabbed his arm with her wet hand, stopping him.

"What’s wrong...?" Naoto asked with an exasperated look. Raquel answered with a serious expression.

"What do you mean? Next, it’s your body. Wash it."

"Please, Raquel-sama!!"

In a burst of energy that even surprised himself, Naoto dropped to his knees in the bath. He thought he had come to the bath to relax. But now he realized that the bath held various potential dangers.

Soaking in the reboiled water, Naoto felt cornered, resting his arms on the edge of the tub. Right in front of him was Raquel, who had just washed her hair and, reluctantly, washed her own body. She was sitting comfortably between Naoto's legs, which were awkwardly bent, hugging her knees in the tub, enjoying the Japanese bath.

How should he feel looking at that? Unsure, Naoto covered his forehead with his hands, leaning against the edge of the tub.

"How are you feeling?" Raquel's voice echoed slightly from in front of him. Naoto returned his gaze.

"Feeling? I mean, it’s fine. I’m really tired, though." Naoto replied, letting out a deep exhale. He had been quite tired during the Isa event, but today…

Between running around and getting covered in sticky fluids, he was mentally exhausted. His body could heal physical wounds quickly enough, but it couldn’t fix his mental state after experiencing death.

Naoto absentmindedly looked at his right hand, the one that had been destroyed and replaced. Then he remembered something.

"Hey, there's something I wanted to ask. During that fight earlier, while I was being chased, I thought my opponent was too fast for me, but as soon as we faced each other, his movements seemed to slow down. And when I punched him, it felt almost too easy taking him down. It was like my body felt a lot lighter than before..." He couldn't quite put it into words, but he definitely felt different from when he was fighting Isa. His body was performing at a much higher level than he expected.

Raquel dropped her gaze to her knees, which were illuminated by her golden eyes.

"I see, so that’s how it is."

"How what is?" Naoto asked, raising an eyebrow as he sat up straighter in the tub.

The water rippled. Breaking through the waves, Raquel touched Naoto's right hand. Perhaps because of the warm water, her usually cool fingertips felt warm now.

"Your right hand is made from my blood. I mentioned that before, remember?" Naoto nodded. He looked at his arm, which still appeared to be an ordinary human arm. "The fusion between my blood and yours is progressing. The vampire blood is starting to mix with your own, strengthening you. ... Normally, this process should be much slower."

"W-wait a minute. Isn't it bad that it's progressing so fast?" Naoto submerged his arm, which Raquel had touched, into the water and instinctively leaned forward. As he got closer to her pale skin, he felt flustered. But at that moment, feelings of embarrassment were secondary.

Raquel, observing Naoto's panic and agitation, blinked her long eyelashes once. "Normally, yes, it would be bad. It means that your transformation into a vampire is advancing faster than it should."

"Wha... wait, then...!"

"The acceleration increased because my father reattached your arm. He overwrote the magic I had used to slow the process.”

Naoto's mind struggled to keep up with the sudden and unexpected information. Raquel’s calm demeanor helped him understand, but once he grasped it, dissatisfaction set in.

So what? It’s great that he was getting stronger, but it was all thanks to Clavis. And because of Clavis, he was going to become a vampire much sooner than expected.

(That old man... doing whatever he wants!)

That meant Raquel's estimate of about a year before he turned into a vampire was no longer reliable. However, his thoughts would soon be swept away by Raquel's next words, spoken with a hint of dissatisfaction.

"The influence of blood fusion... In other words, it's been adjusted so that while the vampire transformation is suppressed, you can still gain strength from the fusion. So even though the blood fusion is progressing, the vampire transformation isn't, and as this fusion continues, you will naturally become stronger."

"Wait, is that really possible...?" Naoto asked with a deflated tone, the frustration he'd felt earlier evaporating.

"Of course it is. After all, it's my father." Her straightforward reply lacked any real explanation, but it was persuasive enough. Naoto nodded, feeling a bit more serious about it.

Raquel rested her chin on her knees. Though her expression was the usual calm mask, she looked somewhat like a sulking child, perhaps upset that her father had modified the arm she had created. Naoto found this aspect of Raquel endearing. While he smiled internally, an idea came to him.

"If that's the case, maybe I could actually fight Spinner properly?"

Naoto's body was no longer that of a normal human. Perhaps the outcome would be different from when he had encountered Spinner in the school hallway a few days ago. But Raquel shook her head firmly.

"That's not going to happen." Her tone was extremely serious. "That's why we're going to fight together."

"Together?" The atmosphere became too serious for any jokes, so Naoto tightened his expression and adjusted his posture slightly in the cramped tub. Raquel's golden eyes were fixed on him, reflecting his bewildered expression. Those eyes, like mirrors reflecting the souls of others, continued to watch him, blinking instead of nodding.

"You won't be the only one fighting. I will fight too. Otherwise... we won't win." Her calm yet sharp declaration carried an undeniable truth.

We won't win.

Naoto didn't have the confidence or foolishness to deny that statement. If Raquel said so, then it was certainly true that they couldn't defeat Spinner.

He needed to become stronger. For the sake of continuing to live as a human.

"Naoto." Raquel whispered, her voice echoing softly. She released her knees, placing her palms on the bottom of the tub, and slid closer to him.

"Y-yeah...?"

As she crossed the imaginary boundary Naoto had subconsciously set in the middle of the tub, she leaned in closer, looking up at him from a short distance and placing her hand on his chest. Her hand was warm. Her white cheeks were tinged with a soft pink, as if to show that blood flowed through her veins just like any human.

"Promise me. That you will definitely obtain the 'Azure.'" Her voice, filled with a mystical resonance, slipped from her slightly parted lips and flowed directly into Naoto's heart. Her voice, both demonic and pure as a vampire, was enigmatic, whether due to her knowledge or her ignorance.

Naoto couldn't tell if the warm air tickling his chest came from Raquel's breath or the steam from the bath.

"I... I get it. If I don't, things will get pretty messy, right? I have to get it." Unable to look away from her golden eyes, Naoto replied, determined to resist the pull. He felt something was different about her today. It wasn't like Raquel. Her gestures and voice were unusually weak and leaning.

Raquel's hand slid across Naoto's chest, clinging to his left arm, his human body.

“You are my servant. My possession, in a way. You have a duty to serve me. That’s why…” She spoke with an unusual intensity, creating a humid atmosphere in the already hot bath. Naoto leaned back slightly. As if he had lost his balance at a slightly different angle, Raquel's body and nose came closer.

Right in front of Naoto, Raquel's eyes blinked. The bright gold color flowed like liquid.

"Fight for me, obtain the 'Azure' for me... and then..." Raquel's words trailed off before she could finish. Naoto didn't know if she intended to continue or not. Honestly, he didn't care anymore.

Raquel stopped talking, her lips trembling, and then she fell face-first into the bath, as if being drawn in.

She had fainted.

It was heatstroke.

A cool night breeze flowed in through the slightly opened window.

The night had grown late, almost approaching morning. No voices could be heard from outside.

It was quiet, almost as if time had stopped. At this hour, he would usually be in bed, wrapped up in his blankets.

Naoto fanned himself, feeling incredibly sleepy.

The fan had been distributed by a pachinko parlor near the station during the summer, but he never expected he would need it at this time of year.

Carefully avoiding overheating, the gentle breeze brushed over him as he lay weakly on the futon spread out in the tatami room, where Raquel lay. Raquel, in the pajamas he had managed to put on her, lay weakly on the futon spread out on the tatami mat, her vampire cheeks flushed red.

Frowning weakly, she complained in a thin voice, her head spinning. “Ugh... ugh, what... happened to me..."

"Yeah, yeah," Naoto murmured as he waved the fan, "I know."

In Naoto's eyes, he could see an abnormally low number hovering over Raquel's head. It was probably much lower than it had been before her bath. But with a number this low, he couldn't tell exactly how weak she was. All he knew was that this was someone with extraordinary vitality, a vampire. And yet, she had fainted from heatstroke. It was both impressive and baffling.

"Okay, okay. Just go to sleep now... please, just go to sleep..." He wanted nothing more than for her to get some rest.

The clock was approaching four. Naoto sighed. He had school tomorrow…

## Part 2

This town was like a maze. They must have been trying to cram as many buildings into a small area as possible. They'd created a network of narrow alleyways and lined them with buildings like walls. And yet, there were buildings and floors where fights were allowed to break out, creating holes in this orderly structure. It was incredibly inefficient and disorganized.

But this chaotic cityscape was a perfect environment for those who lurked in the shadows.

The moonlight sliced through the night sky, casting deep, bottomless shadows between the buildings.

A man walking through the shadowy alley paused at the entrance of a derelict building, its gaping mouth inviting him deeper into the abyss.

It was late at night, and everything was quiet. If he listened closely, he could hear the sound of a motorcycle roaring down the street or the laughter of young people gathered at the station plaza. But the man was not interested in such things. He climbed slowly up to the third floor of the building, as if savoring the exploration of this abandoned place.

The building had probably housed several shops and offices at one time, but now there were no signs of human activity on any floor. The third floor was no different. A large, empty space stretched out beyond a rectangular opening where a door must have once been.

The air was dusty. The windows, though cracked, were still tightly shut, preserving the stagnant air inside.

"It was a comfortable place."

A faint light from outside filtered through the window, illuminating the room.

The man who stepped into the dim light was tall and thin, with unusually long limbs. His hair, neatly combed and styled, was a gray color similar to that of weathered concrete, and his narrow eyes were a deep, murky black. A large tattoo, the meaning of which was unclear, marred his pale, thin face.

He was Spinner Superior. Existing since ancient times, he had hidden the great power of "magic" out of fear of human malice. He had broken free from the Mage’s Guild and walked the noble path of his own exploration.

Carrying abundant knowledge and ambition, he stepped into the room and looked around. He soon discovered what he was looking for.

It was in the back of the room, lying against the wall. It was a giant, caterpillar-like creature with a body of a deep blue color. It had a large mouth on its head, big enough to devour itself, which it used to capture and consume its prey.

But the creature, which was at least a meter long, was now in pieces. It had been hacked to pieces with a sharp weapon, incredibly quickly. Although it had been subjected to countless blows, from a distance, the deformed creature still retained the silhouette of a caterpillar.

A great deal of bodily fluid had splattered everywhere, even reaching the ceiling. The smell that filled the room was mainly that of the creature's bodily fluid.

But... there was something else.

"A girl, was it?" Pointing a long, sharp finger at the air, Spinner tried to identify the faint remaining scent. Then, he looked down at the creature that was now being devoured.

The Apostle, who had transformed into an insect, had been killed only a short time ago. But whoever had done it was no longer nearby.

"What a beautiful cut. A bit too ornate, but full of vitality and beauty..." he murmured, as if singing to no one in particular, and knelt beside the remains of the creature. He inserted his joined index and middle fingers into one of the deepest, sharpest cuts. The sound of flesh and wet fluid was almost obscene.

"This is..."

With his finger still embedded in the creature, Spinner's narrow eyes widened. He twisted his finger, taking more flesh from the fresh cut. Droplets of bodily fluid dripped onto his palm as he took a deep sniff. He could feel it. The aura of the one who had cut up the acidic Apostle.

Spinner smiled, his wire-thin arms and the delicate frame that supported them trembling with excitement. He couldn’t contain the pressure that was swelling from within. It was as if everything was aligning perfectly with his desires.

"Oh, what fate, what destiny! I never imagined that the 'Soul Eater' would appear at such a moment... This is surely the world's desire, no, the 'Azure's' desire. The 'Azure' must be guiding me towards the truth!”

There was no longer any need to create more Apostles and hide them among the masses. Everything he needed was already gathered around him.

Spinner hurled the Apostle’s flesh, which he held in his palm, toward the ceiling, as if offering heartfelt gratitude to the heavens, scattering blessings like flowers.

“I won't keep you waiting much longer, Raquel Alucard... Soon, you will be mine. I eagerly await the day I can hold your slender limbs in my arms.” His voice rose with the rapture of a lovesick maiden as he spoke his love to the distant white moon high above the ceiling. “Let us begin... for the night of our union, when you will become mine.” As Spinner's breath trembled, the creature, having lost its form, collapsed into a blackened mass at his feet.

Yet, the sound of the deformed creature's “kichi kichi” echoed through the room.

The night grew deeper. The moon in the sky gradually rounded. Soon, the moon would be a perfect circle.

Surely, its radiance would reach the twin eyes of the beautiful vampire, Raquel Alucard.

## Part 3

Under the expansive, clear autumn sky, Naoto, Raquel, and Haruka had come to the rooftop of Shinkawahama First High School. The morning classes had gone smoothly, and they had a few minutes before the afternoon classes began. In other words, it was lunchtime.

Since there were no student council meetings that morning or afternoon, they were finally able to eat lunch together after a long time.

"I got a little carried away and made a lot, so dig in!" Haruka spread out a small leisure sheet she had brought from home and opened a lavish three-tiered bento box at its center.

The contents were just as extravagant as the bento box itself. Starting with Haruka’s signature tamagoyaki, chunky fried chicken, potato salad, and cherry tomatoes—regulars in the Hayami family’s bento—there were also asparagus wrapped in meat, homemade pickles, stir-fried sausage and potatoes, glazed carrots, fried eggplants, and so on, all packed in with a rich variety of colors.

In addition, each of them was given an onigiri wrapped in nori seaweed: two for Naoto and one each for Raquel and Haruka.

Looking at the large onigiri and the extravagant hanami bento spread out before him, Naoto couldn’t help but make a remark. He propped his chin on his hand as he sat cross-legged.

"You know this is for three people, right? There’s no way we can finish all this..." Despite being a high school boy, Naoto wasn't an exceptionally big eater. Of course, neither were Haruka or Raquel.

Haruka must have realized that she had gone overboard. With a slightly embarrassed but happy smile, she said, "But if we each eat one layer, I think we'll be okay."

"If we can eat one layer," Naoto replied.

Considering Haruka and Raquel's usual eating habits, it seemed like quite a stretch. In other words, he would end up eating more than one layer. With that in mind, Naoto accepted the paper plate and chopsticks that Haruka handed him.

A small wet wipe came with it. She was too prepared. It was like a field trip.

"Here you go, Raquel-chan, a plate for you too. Oh, do you want to take something?" Haruka handed Raquel a paper plate and fork with a cheerful smile.

Until then, Raquel had been staring intently at the bento without saying a word. When she was called, she looked up in surprise.

"U-uh, um, anything is... fine, I guess."

"Okay, then I’ll just grab whatever..." Haruka’s serving chopsticks wandered over the bento, nimbly picking up various side dishes. Following her lead, Naoto also took some side dishes for his plate and put his hands together.

"Itadakimasu!"

The first thing Naoto chose was the tamagoyaki. Perfectly round and fluffy, it was subtly sweet. The familiar taste brought him a sense of relief.

"How is it?" Haruka leaned in with a hint of expectation as she passed a plate piled with a balanced mix of meat and vegetables to Raquel. After chewing carefully and swallowing, Naoto nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, it's delicious. Well, it's always good."

"I'm glad! Fufufu, Nao-kun is so good at complimenting people."

"What’s that supposed to mean? And you’re pretty cheerful today," he said, glancing at Raquel beside him.

Raquel, who was holding a piece of carrot gratin with her fork, nodded seriously. "Somehow... it feels like there are flowers blooming all around me."

Wondering why she was in such a good mood, Raquel bit into the glazed carrot. Immediately, her eyes sparkled.

Although not as obvious as Haruka, Raquel was also very easy to read in situations like this. Naoto couldn't help but smile and took a bite of his onigiri. He didn’t mind the feeling of the nori seaweed stretching as he bit into the rice.

Mimicking him, Haruka took a bite of her rice ball. "Well, I haven't had breakfast or lunch together for about a week."

"But you’ve been eating dinner with us, right?"

A week was a bit of an exaggeration. Naoto stuffed his mouth with fried chicken, the fragrant ginger warming his stomach.

"Yeah, but... but it's been a long time since we've had breakfast and lunch together, right?"

"I guess so."

It was true. Naoto had felt a little lonely during lunches without Haruka's bento, and the mornings when Haruka didn't come to wake him up had been a rush every minute of every day.

(I need to become more independent)

This was like being a child dependent on his mother. Naoto reached for the meat-wrapped vegetables while reflecting on this.

"Hey, Nao-kun, there's something I wanted to ask you, remember?" Haruka began hesitantly, setting her plate aside and poking a small straw into her strawberry milk carton. She smiled shyly, and the pink in her cheeks deepened slightly. Naoto tilted his head, not understanding what she was talking about.

"Remember what?"

"I mean, the other day, when Saya-chan came to your house."

"Oh, right. I caused a bit of trouble then..." Before Naoto could finish his sentence, Haruka interrupted him in a flustered tone. She leaned forward, almost crushing the juice carton in her lap.

"No, it's not that! Before that! Before Saya came... um..." She trailed off. But even Naoto, dense as he was, figured out what she was trying to say.

"Ah..." He didn't know how to respond. He looked around, confused. He hadn't meant to, but he was suddenly reminded of that day. It was a cool afternoon, and they had been on the balcony with the laundry flapping in the breeze. They had kissed…

“It’s my first time,” Haruka had said with a smile. Remembering the look on Haruka’s face, Naoto felt a pang of guilt in his chest. He had forgotten. He had lied to Haruka that day. The kiss had probably been very important to her.

"Y-yeah, I remember, but..." A hint of guilt made Naoto's words falter. He ended up sounding evasive. He took a sip from the café au lait pack to cover his embarrassment.

But Haruka smiled, relieved, and placed her hand on her chest. "I-I'm glad. No, it's not that. I mean, it's nothing… It’s a bit lonely, but it’s not like I want you to do anything about it…"

Haruka's words became tangled and she started to speak faster. Naoto couldn't keep up and opened his mouth in confusion.

Noticing his expression, Haruka closed her mouth as if coming to her senses. After taking a deep breath, she shrugged her shoulders with a shy smile. "Um... so, I just wanted to spend more time with you, Nao-kun. I'm happy that we have even a little time together like this. That's all."

"O-oh, I see," Naoto replied, feeling a little embarrassed. He scratched the back of his head with his chopsticks and took a bite of his onigiri. The taste of the pickled plum was refreshing.

"Haruka really wants to be with you, Naoto," Raquel chimed in, having been quietly listening to their conversation while diligently eating her tamagoyaki.

Haruka jumped slightly, her hand flying to her chest. "Huh? Oh, um… yeah." At first, she was flustered, but then she nodded honestly. She smiled, making Naoto even more unsure of what to do.

Haruka held the strawberry milk carton in her lap and looked up at Raquel with a serious expression. Her kind, big eyes were fixed directly on Raquel. "Of course, I want to be with Raquel-chan too. Family is supposed to be together, right? Raquel-chan is almost like family to me too." She tilted her head and smiled.

Raquel, who was just about to put a piece of tamagoyaki in her mouth, rounded her eyes and looked down, seeming perplexed.

Naoto, who had grown accustomed to Raquel's expressions, couldn't tell if she was happy or not. But Haruka seemed to take it positively. With the same cheerful expression she had when she spread out the bento, she picked up a piece of cauliflower from the pickles she had made.

(Family...)

Naoto pondered this bitter thought. For Naoto, his family was more like Haruka and Yuki than his blood-related sister. But they weren't his real siblings or mother.

His real sister was Saya. No matter what the circumstances, no matter what grudges he held.

He had lied to Haruka. The first person he had ever kissed was Saya. And it hadn't been a loving kiss. Five years ago, on the day Saya had killed his family with Soul Eater, she had forced herself on him. She had said it was the most efficient way to drain his life force.

"Right! Hey, once the culture festival is over, the student council work will settle down. Why don’t we all go out somewhere together?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Naoto replied, nodding to Haruka's cheerful voice, but his mind wasn't on his friend.

Despite the beautiful weather and delicious lunch, his head was filled with troubling matters. Saya, Spinner, Apostles, and... the “Azure”.

After tomorrow, classes would end early, and the entire student body would be busy preparing for the cultural festival. There was only a week left until the festival. He wanted to take care of these troublesome matters before then.

(And speaking of Saya... I haven't seen her at all since then)

Given his younger sister’s diligent nature, he had expected to be pursued daily, constantly feeling her threat.

(I wonder where she is right now)

A mix of annoyance, worry, and indignation welled up in his chest, making him feel uneasy. To clear his head, Naoto took a big bite of his onigiri, including the pickled plum.

## Part 4

After school, Naoto and Raquel headed towards Shika Street near the station, leaving Haruka behind to do student council work. However, instead of turning onto their usual route to school, they walked straight towards the station. Their destination was a supermarket that Haruka often visited.

It wasn't for casual shopping to pass the time. Haruka had asked them to buy groceries for dinner since she would be working until almost the end of school due to her extra work. Even if they went to the supermarket after school hours, it would still be open until 9:30 PM, so there was plenty of time. But since Haruka always cooked delicious meals without complaining, despite being busy, he felt he should at least do the shopping. Besides, he had a very important mission today. There was a time-limited sale on a pack of ten eggs for only 100 yen, starting at 4 PM.

Haruka had given him a shopping list with a fervent request to buy the eggs no matter what, and her determination had made Naoto flinch. She would definitely make a capable wife.

"Let's look around this area tonight," Raquel suggested, more like a statement than a question, as she looked around the street lined with stylish streetlights.

What they were searching for was Spinner's Apostles. Naoto sighed, his shoulders slumping wearily. He understood that he needed combat experience to defeat Spinner, and the thought of creatures like Apostles lurking in his familiar town made him feel uneasy. But he couldn't bring himself to clench his fist and say, "Let's do this."

Honestly, he wished he could pretend that the Apostles and Spinner didn't exist and return to the peaceful days of old.

"Speaking of which, Raquel," he turned to his side, intending to ask how many Apostles might be lurking around here, especially near the station.

But... Raquel was gone.

(No way...)

It wasn't that Raquel had disappeared. Something was happening all around Naoto.

All the sounds had ceased. The murmur of people, the sound of footsteps, even the barking of dogs on walks. There was no sound of cars, bicycles, or trains. Not even the wind.

In the unnatural silence, Naoto realized it wasn't just the sounds that were missing. Everything that made sounds was gone. The people walking through the bustling streets had vanished. There was no one. The city was still, as if time had stopped, and an empty, hollow feeling spread around Naoto.

He had seen this before.

It was when he was going to school with Haruka that morning. Suddenly, everyone had disappeared, and when he turned around, there was a girl there. She had golden hair tied in two pigtails, with large ribbons like rabbit ears. She looked a bit like Raquel, but she was much younger.

Recalling that memory, Naoto swallowed hard and looked behind him. The familiar scenery he had walked through was once again devoid of people. At the end of the straight path, a single figure stood still.

"Wha…" Naoto felt a jolt of surprise at the "figure," and his breath caught in his throat. He instinctively took a step back.

The being with crimson eyes staring intently at him was not a girl with blonde hair and black ribbons… but a stunningly beautiful man with long, glossy black hair cascading down his back.

Clavis Alucard.

In this ambiguous, surreal space, where it was hard to distinguish dream from reality, he was the only one exuding an aura that felt like a blend of awe and a cutting pain.

He approached slowly, gliding towards Naoto. The distance of about five meters was closed in a single breath.

Naoto was breathless. He looked up at the man who had suddenly appeared in front of him, feeling as if he were much taller, even though their heights were not so different.

He couldn't look away. It wasn't just his gaze; every part of his consciousness was drawn in, making him feel that if he wavered even slightly, he would lose his head. Those crimson eyes naturally instilled a primal fear as they looked at Naoto and suddenly softened.

"It’s been a long time, Naoto Kurogane." The soft, sweet voice was gentle, yet it held a power that seemed to command the very air itself.

Naoto swallowed involuntarily and asked, his voice strained, "Why... are you here...?"

It was absurd. He didn't even understand where he was, or whether this was reality or not, yet he couldn't judge whether it was unnatural for Clavis to appear here. Rather, it was Naoto who was being left behind in the situation.

Clavis narrowed his terrifyingly beautiful eyes and deepened his smile. "You speak as if you know where 'here' is."

"Well, it happened before. Something similar, where everyone disappeared. But it wasn't you I saw then." Clavis's tone didn’t seem particularly responsive, yet Naoto felt a chill deep in his gut and began to string together words of explanation.

As he spoke, he realized something. The previous encounter, when he had entered a dreamlike state where time seemed to pause, had only lasted a few seconds. He hadn't been able to move his body as he wanted, and he hadn't been able to ask the girl who appeared who she was.

But now it was different. Though the reality felt distant, the fear he felt towards Clavis was all too close, and he could speak freely.

"Hmm... So there is someone else who has intervened with you," Clavis mused, bringing his porcelain-white fingers to his lips.

It was a shame that he had involuntarily stiffened at such a small gesture. Trying to forget his obvious reaction, Naoto pretended to be calm and asked, "Intervened?"

To Naoto's question, Clavis replied in a sweet voice, "Phenomenon Intervention."

It was a word he had never heard before. The strange sound gave Naoto a slight dizziness. Perhaps it wasn't a word he was supposed to know. For some reason, he felt that way, and he pressed his temples. For Clavis, however, it seemed to be a perfectly ordinary word, as he needed a few seconds to think before explaining it verbally.

"It refers to the 'Azure’s' power to manipulate the possibilities that could arise by interfering with the flow of time. However, I lack the power to trigger Phenomenon Intervention. This is just a poor imitation. I can only stop the flow of time; I cannot interfere with the possibilities."

"So... you're stopping time?"

"Yes, that's right." His gaze, which had momentarily drifted away, returned to Naoto. Just that was enough to make Naoto…

Naoto had to swallow hard to keep from choking. He swallowed the tightness in his chest along with the stale air and shook his head.

"For someone like me, just being able to stop time is impressive enough... It’s kind of god-like, isn’t it?" he said, a bit sarcastically. After he said it, he wondered if that sounded a bit sarcastic, but Naoto didn’t feel like retracting his words. There were beings that could manipulate time and possibilities.

Borrowing a phrase from Kiiro, it was a "threat." Despite such manipulations, ordinary people like him remained ignorant and vulnerable to being toyed with by "someone."

With his brow furrowed in irritation rather than confusion, Naoto watched as Clavis shrugged and chuckled.

"That's quite a cynical view. As you say, it is the work of someone who is not human," Clavis said.

Although Clavis's smile seemed bright, Naoto felt a sense of dread creep down his spine. Perhaps it was because of the crimson eyes that peered at him from behind his long, doll-like hair, still curved in a smile.

Maintaining his smile, Clavis continued in a gentle yet unsettling tone, as if he were holding Naoto's heart in his hand. "You don't need to understand the rules of the outside world. And you certainly don't need to worry about this barren place where time is simply suspended, devoid of any possibilities. This is merely a means to an end. It's not my goal."

Naoto furrowed his brow, puzzled. "Do you want something from me...?"

"I wanted to have a leisurely chat with you. In a place where no one can disturb us," Clavis's lips twisted into a wry smile.

By "disturb," he probably meant the Mitsurugi Agency. With Clavis appearing in this city, Kiiro and the organization would be frantically searching for him. There was also the possibility that this included Raquel. Naoto felt a nagging sense of unease at being invited into this "barren place" while ignoring Raquel.

"What do you want to talk about?" Naoto asked, his voice tense. It was unhealthy for him to be alone with this incredibly beautiful and intimidating vampire. But at the same time, he was very curious about why Clavis wanted to talk to him so much.

The crimson eyes slowly scanned Naoto's entire body, painting him in a pool of blood-red color.

"I want to know why Raquel chose you," Clavis said.

Naoto made a small sound in his throat. “Chose” was the word Clavis used, both now and before.

"How would I know that?" Naoto shook his head, his face contorted in confusion. "You should ask her that."

"If that were possible, parents in this world could live a little more easily."

"Wh-what...?" Naoto was speechless. He hadn't expected such a domestic statement from this man. "I don't know... It's not that I was chosen. It's more like I was rescued by Raquel by accident.”

"I see... Well, then, let me rephrase my question. Naoto, what do you intend to do with the 'Azure'?"

The moment Naoto was called by his name, he flinched involuntarily. It felt like his heart was being squeezed in a vise, and now someone was lightly scratching at it. But he couldn't cower like this forever. Naoto took a deep breath and looked straight at Clavis.

"Of course, I want to return to being human and have a normal life," he said.

In less than a year, Naoto would become a vampire and lose his self and reason. He had to return to normal before then. A completely ordinary human. He would use the “Azure” or anything else to achieve that. And if he could erase Saya's annoying Drive, that would be even better.

"As I said before... if you wish, I will take appropriate measures to prevent you from becoming a vampire. I promise to fulfill your wish to return to being human if I obtain the 'Azure'."

"So, you want me to get Raquel to back off?" Naoto retorted reflexively. His tone turned somewhat aggressive without him realizing it.

As if in a flashback, Naoto remembered the first time Clavis had appeared. Raquel, who was usually arrogant and condescending, had cowered. Yet she had said that they would obtain the “Azure”.

"Do you not trust me?" Clavis asked with a cold smile. It was just a whisper, but it felt like a sharp blade to the throat.

Clenching his fist to steady himself, Naoto replied firmly, "It's not that. It's just that I trust Raquel more than you."

"I see," Clavis smiled. It was the smile of someone who wasn't human, a smile that didn't reveal what he was thinking.

"Can I ask you something?" Naoto asked, challenging him. Clavis extended his hand, as if to offer a truce.

"Go ahead."

"You..." Naoto hesitated for a few seconds, unsure of what to say. He couldn't think of the right words. He roughly scratched his head and gave up trying to find the right words. "I heard it from someone at the Mitsurugi Agency. You... you're the one from the mass disappearance incident, right? They say you made a huge number of people vanish all over the world. Is that true?"

"Yes, it is." Clavis replied without hesitation or doubt.

“Wha-” It was a surprisingly straightforward confirmation, devoid of hesitation or doubt. Naoto was taken aback and took half a step back. He wasn't expecting a denial. Nor did he want an apology or confession. But the answer that slipped out was far too casual.

## Part 5

Before Naoto could ask why, Clavis, with his usual calm yet ominous voice, interrupted.

"Do you want to know what happened?" Naoto nodded eagerly.

In that instant, the surrounding scenery shifted as if curtains were being drawn. Naoto looked around in confusion. The bustling evening streets were gone, replaced by a dimly lit, gloomy atmosphere. The buildings, once crowded together with bright signs and logos, now looked like abandoned ruins.

The place looked familiar. It was an abandoned apartment complex.

In the deserted twilight of the complex, Naoto stood facing Clavis on a winding promenade.

"I have been fighting for some time to eliminate a certain Drive." Although the sky was still bright with evening light, the housing complex seemed to have welcomed twilight earlier than the rest, cast in a faint, eerie darkness. Against this unsettling backdrop, Clavis gazed around with a nostalgic look in his blood-red eyes.

"Five years ago, I fought someone with the Drive in question here. But it wasn’t easy. Many people were sacrificed. The number of people I sacrificed to eliminate that single Drive user must have exceeded one hundred thousand."

One hundred twenty-eight thousand nine hundred thirty-two.

Naoto recalled it as if it had fallen from the sky. That was the number of people who disappeared in the "mass disappearance incident" that Kiiro had mentioned, caused by Clavis.

Clavis turned his gaze back to Naoto and continued.

"The name of the Drive I was chasing was... 'Soul Eater'. You already know what that is, don't you?"

Naoto felt as if his heart had been seized. He held his breath, staring in disbelief at what he heard. But there was no doubt—he had heard it. Soul Eater. He couldn't count how many times he'd heard that name in the past few days. It was the power that had taken his family away five years ago, a power he had been unaware of until recently. And it was the Drive that his sister, Saya, possessed.

“That’s when I happened upon this.” Suddenly, Clavis's tone shifted slightly, as if the wind had changed.

(Has it become more colorful...?)

It was a subtle change, too subtle to be certain, but it left a distinct impression, and Clavis held out his white hand towards Naoto, palm up. In his hand, as if inviting him to dance, was a blue sphere. It was a bit too large to be held in a fist. Yet, it was the size of a marble, smooth and without a scratch. It was flawless, clear, and yet seemed to flicker faintly like a flame.

"Do you know what this is?" Clavis asked, implying that Naoto should know. The sphere in Clavis's palm glowed faintly. It was a dull, blue glow, as if ink had been dropped into water. A black blotch formed at the top of the sphere. It was like a few drops of ink had been dropped into water.

The smudged black gradually took shape. It was a symbol, and for Naoto, it was a number. It was the number that always appeared above people's heads, representing their life force. A vast eight-digit number floated above the blue sphere.

"This is..." Naoto knew that number. After all, he had just seen it next to him a moment ago. Naoto looked up at Clavis, his eyes wide with confusion. He didn't know how to interpret what he had seen and understood.

Clavis nodded slowly, as if reassuring him.

"Yes. This is Raquel."

"B-but this is!"

It was just a sphere. It didn't have her bright golden hair or her innocent golden eyes.

Clavis nodded heavily, as if confirming.

"To be more precise, I should say this is something that will eventually take the form of Raquel... This is the result of the countless lives I sacrificed. It has come together to form a blue crystal - an 'Embryo'."

Embryo, a term referring to a developing organism before it becomes a fetus.

"And this is also the key to the Azure."

"The key to the Azure?"

In other words, it was necessary to reach the Azure. Naoto stared at the blue sphere in Clavis's hand, as if drawn to it.

This is Raquel.

Does this mean that Raquel was created from this little sphere? From more than 120,000 lost lives? Naoto couldn’t understand it. He could only accept Clavis' words as they were and memorize them.

Clavis sighed softly, like velvet rubbing against velvet. His expression softened as he exhaled, a faint smile appearing.

"That key to the Azure, Raquel, has chosen 'Naoto Kurogane' as a partner in the pursuit of the Azure. Moreover, your sister happens to be a Drive user of that powerful Soul Eater. I think it’s only natural that I would take a special interest in you," he said, and Naoto felt a chill run down his spine at the smile.

Thinking back, it might have been obvious all along. But Clavis knew—he knew about Naoto's sister Saya and the Soul Eater she possessed, which he had presumably defeated at a great cost. Though it wasn’t stated outright, he probably also knew that Saya had appeared before Naoto.

(I take it back... I can’t trust Clavis Alucard.)

What he knew was different. What he saw was different. The place he stood was different. The sense of superiority he felt towards Raquel was on a different level. It was higher, farther away, and it felt strangely out of sync. Trusting him wholeheartedly would mean submitting to his transcendence.

"Why does someone as powerful as you want the 'Azure'? You can do anything without it, can't you?" Naoto asked his question naturally.

He had said it earlier. Clavis had said that he could somehow undo Naoto's transformation into a vampire, something that Raquel couldn't do without the Azure. Whether that "somehow" would be in a way that Naoto desired was another matter entirely.

Clavis gently closed his hand around the blue sphere. Was it a chicken? When his white fingers opened again, the mysterious sphere was gone. With a calm gaze, Clavis looked at his empty hand.

"There are countless things I cannot do. I want to return the world to the hands of humans. For that, I need the Azure." Once again, his red gaze slid back to Naoto, as if to pin him down like an insect. Avoiding the sharp pin, Naoto turned his eyes to Clavis's beautiful hands, whose beauty seemed unbecoming for a man.

"I don't really get it. What do you mean by returning to human hands?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like... Naoto Kurogane, what do you think of me?"

“Huh? What do you mean?” After a pause, Naoto turned to Clavis, who asked to change the subject, with a look of confusion on his face.

Honestly, he would say 'monster'. But was it appropriate to say that to his face?

As if seeing through Naoto's hesitation, Clavis chuckled.

"You can say whatever you want. To put it simply, I am a 'monster.'" Ignoring Naoto's apprehension, Clavis himself said the words Naoto had tried to avoid. Naoto couldn’t help but frown. Imagining how it felt for someone to call himself a monster filled him with a deep sense of loneliness. Yet Clavis continued without changing his expression.

"Beings that are not human... That’s what Drives create. It’s a power that exceeds what a person should have. Monsters are unnecessary in this world. That's why I want to erase monsters... and the Drives that cause them from this world.”

"Erase Drives? Wait, but that means..." Naoto hesitated, biting his lip. He remembered Raquel's words. Clavis, born from the Azure, was a Drive himself. If Clavis wanted to "erase Drives from this world"...

Clavis quickly answered the question that was weighing on Naoto's mind.

"Listen, Naoto. There shouldn’t be monsters like me. They shouldn’t exist. I intend to obtain the 'Azure' to erase 'myself' and everything like me."

In other words, to erase himself along with all Drives.

Understanding the meaning, Naoto didn't know what to say. He felt a bit confused. What exactly was the 'Azure'? He pondered this in the back of his mind. He had heard it was the power that made all possibilities possible.

Naoto wanted to use it to live as a human. On the other hand, Clavis, who sought the same thing, wanted to use it to die as a monster.

"...It's almost time." Suddenly looking up at the void, Clavis murmured in a slightly troubled tone. Narrowing his crimson eyes, he ran his fingers through his beautiful, glossy black hair before turning back to Naoto. "Naoto Kurogane, let me give you one last piece of advice. If you continue to seek the Azure, you will cease to be yourself. You will suffer more than you do now. Even so... will you seek the Azure?"

It felt like a threat, yet it wasn’t. It was just a question, as if questioning his resolve.

Naoto couldn’t see his true intentions. He buried his hand in his hair, messing it up, and responded cautiously.

"...Even if I don't, I'm going to become a vampire, right?" If he lost his sense of self, he might attack the people around him. He might kill the people he cared about. He couldn’t imagine what kind of suffering could be worse than that.

Naoto lifted his chin, answering firmly with a glare.

"Then it’s the same either way. Besides, I promised Raquel. I will get the Azure..."

Raquel is probably doubling down on that promise.

Clavis smiled, a blend of amusement and something darker.

"Would you still seek the Azure even if it meant fighting me?" The vampire casually spoke, his words threatening.

Naoto's expression twisted.

"W-Well, if it comes to that, I hope you’ll go easy on me," he stammered. Even now, facing Spinner, Raquel had told him he had no chance of winning. There was no way he could face Clavis head-on.

Clavis burst out laughing, revealing the most cheerful smile he had ever seen.

"I can show mercy. I promise to end it before you suffer."

Was he joking, or was he serious?

What was certain was that those words, tossed out in jest, pierced Naoto’s heart with fear. It would be effortless. With just a flick of those white fingertips, he could end Naoto’s lift as many times as he wanted.

"Ha... are you serious...?" Naoto wanted to slap himself for having the courage to say that much. He realized too late that he had stepped into forbidden territory. A feeling of unease gnawed at his stomach. But in an instant, Naoto was released from both that unease and the beautiful terror smiling before him.

"...To. Naoto? Are you even listening to me?"

"Huh...? W-What?" Startled by the reprimanding voice that came from beside him and slightly below, Naoto, flustered, took several steps back. The bustling crowd surged around him, overwhelming his thoughts. Voices from all directions flooded in, the air shifting.

Beside Naoto stood Raquel, looking concerned. Her sharp, captivating eyes fixated on him, glaring intently.

"Finally, you've looked at me. You've been so lost in thought since a while ago... Are you really serious about your training?"

"Training...?" It took a moment for his slow mind to understand that she was referring to exterminating Spinner's apostles. "Oh, yeah, of course," Naoto managed to squeeze out, his throat dry. He unconsciously put his hand to his forehead.

(Another... dream?)

But it didn’t seem to be the case. Naoto quickly pulled his hand away to look closely.

Something was off. It wasn’t just his palm; there was cold sweat beading where he had touched his forehead.

(Was I that scared?)

The memories weren’t vague like those after waking from a dream. They were clear. He remembered the exact distance between him and Clavis, and what they had talked about, whether it was in the deserted city or the empty apartment complex. What he had been told.

"Hey Raquel. Looks like he’s going to finish me off before I have a chance to suffer too much. That's kind of a relief." Naoto chuckled wryly, but Raquel seemed to get even more irritated. She tugged hard on his sleeve.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Honestly, what trivial thoughts have been filling your head? I can’t believe your mind is capable of ignoring my words."

"… Why are you so angry?"

For once, Raquel was expressing her emotions openly. No, it wasn't so much anger as it was frustration. A simmering resentment at Naoto for not listening to her. But Naoto was puzzled.

She had made sarcastic comments before, but had she ever conveyed her emotions so clearly? Of course, compared to the girls in their class, her anger was more restrained, but it was still a surprisingly expressive display for Raquel.

“I’m not angry at all.” She said, turning away and sulking.

"You are, clearly," he retorted.

"I told you I'm not!" she insisted, even more stubbornly.

Naoto couldn't help but chuckle. Was she acting like a child? He wondered if Clavis had ever seen this kind of expression from her.

"Okay, okay, my bad." If he kept laughing, he would just make Raquel angrier. Trying to suppress the laughter welling up inside him, Naoto raised his hands in surrender. At that, Raquel's expression suddenly changed. The anger that had been there a moment ago disappeared as if it had never existed, replaced by a dazed look as she looked up at Naoto. Naoto tilted his head, wondering what was going on.

At that moment, Raquel saw something. She saw the shadow of another man behind Naoto. It was a shadow, a hazy memory. But it was the presence of someone "Raquel" shouldn’t have known.

​​It was like a scene from the distant past, or a view of the distant future. It was vague and indistinct, but strangely, it moved Raquel's heart. She felt a strange affection. For that awkward expression, the way he twisted his mouth into a smile as he looked at her.

"Hey, Raquel..."

Was Raquel experiencing some kind of phenomenon interference? Thinking that as a half-hearted joke, Naoto started to speak, but Raquel suddenly turned around, snapping out of her trance.

"This is..." In an instant, the atmosphere around Raquel changed. It was a sharp, needle-like wariness. After a few moments, Raquel said softly, “I can feel the strong… power of the Azure.”

Startled, Naoto scanned his surroundings. All he could see was the ordinary sight of a bustling city. But he knew that beneath it, in the shadows, the seeds of danger had already been sown.

"You mean a Drive, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

Was it Spinner? Or Saya? Or someone else?

"Let's go..." Grabbing his bag tightly with sweaty hands, Naoto said in a low voice. Raquel nodded, her attention focused, and ran towards a path that led to the other side of the station. Naoto hurried to follow her.

The sun was still hanging low in the western sky. It was still too early for the e-wave. But little by little, the town was approaching the time of nightfall.

### 005. Chapter 10: Encounter

### Part 1

It was still a little early in the evening. The western sky was dyed in the colors of dusk, but the eastern sky still retained the colors of an afternoon that could be called day.

It was a time when many people were out and about in the city. But here, it is just the other side of a disconnected world.

A large, hollow sound echoed from the construction site of a new building, where materials covered with blue tarps were piled up here and there, surrounded by thin walls.

The hard, flat, leveled ground kicked up a low cloud of dust. The ground, which had been meticulously prepared, was now sunken in the center, as if to undo the work done by human hands the previous week when construction had stopped. From this source, numerous shallow cracks ran in all directions.

At the center of the cracks stood a man. Tall and broad, his silhouette, illuminated by the wishful moonlight, resembled that of a giant beast. His roughly styled hair, which had been swept back and pinned down, looked almost like a “1.”

But he was in human form, at least for now.

“...Boring.” He muttered in a low growl, his voice muffled by his tight suit. Valkenhayn Helsing withdrew the foot he had just slammed into the ground. Underneath it was a crushed insect about the size of a human baby. Its rounded back was covered in thick, hard skin, and beneath it were scissor-like jaws and sickle-like claws. But the strange insect was no longer moving.

The armor on its back, its pride and joy, had been shattered, and one of its sickle-like claws was missing. It had leaped at Valkenhayn, been grabbed, slammed into the ground, and then stomped on with all his might. Just that was enough to make the bug cease functioning.

"Why do we have to be sent out to exterminate insects? Searching for insects and crushing them, searching for insects and crushing them... I didn't come to this country to do such boring chores!" Ignoring the bug’s bodily fluids that splattered on his shoe, Valkenhayn looked up and let out a furious shout toward his target.

His target was a slender young man standing with his arms crossed against the wall of the construction site. Like Valkenhayn, he was wearing a suit, but the purple cloak he wore over it was an eye-catching contrast. Furthermore, a black leather band concealed both of his eyes beneath his thin golden bangs, giving him an even more bizarre appearance.

This was Relius Clover. Compared to the robust Valkenhayn, his physique was ordinary, and if he removed his unusual attire, he could blend into the everyday scenery without a problem. But in an emotionless voice that conveyed none of that calm scenery, Relius responded coldly.

"I've already been paid. It's a job."

"That again! Does your so-called great research really cost that much?!" With no interest left, Valkenhayn stepped over the bug’s corpse and strode towards Relius. In an attempt to extinguish his burning frustration, Relius remained unmoved as he responded.

“It does.”

The way he said it, without any hesitation or even a hint of feeling the need to justify himself, left Valkenhayn speechless, more out of astonishment than anger. It was almost ridiculous to even reply.

Coolly ignoring Valkenhayn's condescending glare, Relius pulled his cell phone from his suit pocket and contacted the Mitsurugi Agency. He informed them that the extermination of the bugs was complete and that they should come to collect the corpses if needed, then abruptly hung up.

"...'The creation of a perfect doll'... was it?" Valkenhayn glanced at Relius’s phone as if it were something detestable and spat out the words. It was the 'goal' that Relius had been talking about for some time. He needed money for his research. That's why he was cooperating with the Mitsurugi Agency. And through the work assigned to him by the Mitsurugi Agency, he was looking for 'strong souls' needed for his research.

Valkenhayn was cooperating with the Mitsurugi Agency and killing immortals because he sought stronger enemies.

Strong beings. In that regard, their goals aligned. But it was not as if they respected each other's purposes or philosophies.

“A research that requires pouring money and souls into it can’t possibly be a legitimate one!” Valkenhayn's words were laced with disdain.

Having grown accustomed to such remarks, Relius didn’t even bother to throw a concealed glance back. He walked past his sturdy partner, heading toward the corpse of the crushed bug.

“More importantly, Valkenhayn, about the Apostle's corpse we saw earlier…” Relius looked down at the almost lifeless, crushed bug with apparent disinterest. This was the second time that night he had looked down at a bug's corpse. However, the first one had not been something they had slain.

Valkenhayn crossed his powerful arms over his thick chest.

"...Yes. There's no doubt about it. There are others hunting Spinner’s Apostles besides us."

The grotesque Apostles usually prefer to remain unseen. They lurk in the shadows, moving in the darkness where no human can see them, suddenly reaching out from the darkness.

Therefore, ordinary people walking through the brightly lit downtown area would never be able to find them. Even if they did, they would probably die the next moment. In other words, someone who cannot be considered an ordinary person was exterminating the bugs separately from Valkenhayn and the others.

"They're quite enthusiastic about it, aren't they?" Rellius muttered to himself in a monotone. Just yesterday and the day before, he and Valkenhayn had discovered corpses of Apostles they hadn’t killed. Both were likely the work of the same person. They featured slashes that were remarkably sharp and persistent.

"...Interesting."

Who could be the wielder of those slashing attacks that tore apart the Apostles? Without moving his gaze from the brutally destroyed corpse at his feet, Relius lightly rested his clenched hand against his chin.

"How's Kiiro?" Rellius answered without looking back at the bored Valkenhayn.

“She’s in the middle of adjustments.”

“Adjustments? What are you adjusting...?”

Before Valkenhayn could finish his question, a sharp slicing sound cut through the air. Both of them gasped, but Valkenhayn reacted faster. He kicked the ground hard enough to kick up dust and jumped aside, just as a small figure dove in.

With a flutter, like petals in the wind, a pale pink figure danced into sight.

“Relius!” With a yell of warning, sparks flew right in front of Relius. A dull sound came from the white artificial arm that appeared under Rellius's cloak and caught the hard metal.

What was caught was an attack.

It was a slash from a Japanese sword, which gleamed ominously under the brightness of the still-setting sun.

"……Daughter?" Staring at the attacker up close, Relius muttered suspiciously.

The one who jumped in was a girl. Still a child. With black hair tied up like bird feathers, her small frame was clad in a kimono of pale pink and light purple. In her white hand, the girl wielded a katana—an impressive sword that seemed far too heavy for her small stature—and she quickly sheathed it back at her waist.

Suddenly leaping into the scene was Saya Terumi.

Her sharp, clear red eyes glinted coldly as she crouched low and swiftly created some distance.

"Valkenhayn Hellsing?"

Saya, Relius, and Valkenhayn now stood at equal distances from each other, unexpectedly separated. Saya looked back and forth between the man whose eyes were covered with a black belt and the tall, sturdy man. Her voice, still tinged with childish innocence, was strangely cold for someone in her early teens. Both Relius and Valkenhayn could sense a chilling aura devoid of warmth.

"Do you know her?" Relius asked, looking at Valkenhayn. Valkenhayn furrowed his thick eyebrows, staring intently at the kimono-clad girl who had barged in.

"No, I don’t."

"But it seems she has business with you." Assuming he was no longer involved, Relius calmly crossed between Valkenhayn and Saya, moving to the edge of the construction site. As Relius retreated as if to take a spectator's seat, Valkenhayn naturally found himself face to face with Saya.

"What do you want, little girl?" Valkenhayn asked the unknown girl with an intimidating weight. He wrinkled his high, bony nose. There was an unpleasant smell coming from her. An ominous scent. Even without a keen sense of smell, anyone who would boldly enter while wielding a sword could not be considered a gentle creature.

Saya straightened her back and stared at the man standing in front of her. There was no fear or hesitation in her eyes. Instead, there was a sense of exhilaration, as if she had finally found what she was looking for, and a cold, focused determination to target her prey.

Her eyes were not those of an ordinary girl. Valkenhayn’s stern expression grew wary.

"...Valkenhayn Hellsing." Saya's lips once again spoke the name of her target. The moment Valkenhayn tried to respond, the distance between them shrank to almost zero.

It was unclear when or how she had kicked off the ground. But Saya, without a moment's pause, advanced to the front of the sturdy big man and spun her body in mid-air.

She had the lightness of flower petals dancing in the spring breeze. Yet she was as swift as spring thunder.

Her sword drew faster than her breath. The delicate hands of the girl, as if arranging flowers, gripped the hilt tightly, and she slashed upward from a diagonal angle with the speed of wind sweeping across the fields.

"Ugh...!" Valkenhayn arched his back and jumped back forcefully. He twisted his body almost forcefully, planting one hand on the ground to jump away. The blade grazed past his shoulder, cutting into him. It hadn’t reached the flesh, but the thin fabric was slightly torn, and Valkenhayn was in pain. His eyes widened in astonishment more than in pain.

“How… fast!” From a distant spectator's seat, Relius voiced admiration.

Given Valkenhayn’s robust physique and rough demeanor, one might expect him to rely on brute strength in battle. However, his true strength lies in his speed. That there exists a human capable of moving at a speed that even he cannot perceive—especially a human girl—is astonishing.

"That bug is my prey. I would appreciate it if you would stay out of this." With a steady posture, Saya returned her sword to its sheath and sent a cold warning. Her unwavering gaze suggested that she would cut anyone who didn't listen. She was clearly an extremist.

Valkenhayn raised an eyebrow in displeasure.

"If you don't want me to interfere, you should take care of it before we do. If you have time to attack us for no good reason, why don't you just go exterminate some bugs somewhere else!"

"No. I'm not aiming for your neck just for the sake of killing a bug. Valkenhayn Hellsing. Your crime is..."

The cold atmosphere around Saya suddenly began to heat up. Like icicles smoldering from within and eventually bursting into flames, Saya was filled with rage and killing intent.

"For killing my older brother!"

In the blink of an eye, Saya moved behind Valkenhayn. She skidded to a halt, tracing a half-circle with her foot, then spun on the spot to draw her sword in a fluid motion. The sound of the blade unsheathing was crisp and cool. An icy coldness crawled up his neck, and Valkenhayn kicked off the ground before he could think.

In his human form, he wouldn’t make it in time. Driven by a primal instinct akin to that of a beast, he transformed into a wolf. As he leaped higher than the slash aimed at him, he kicked off the air, performing a somersault and landing on the opposite side of the ground littered with insect corpses.

Even so, Saya's sword grazed his fur, scattering it into the air.

"This... is quite the soul." Relius stepped forward, suddenly interested. He wanted to test the girl's true worth for himself. But Valkenhayn’s angry voice interrupted his second step.

"Don't touch her! I'll do it!" Transforming back from wolf to human form, Valkenhayn finally readied himself for battle. He tore off his formal tie and discarded it, loosening the collar of his shirt.

"I don't know anything about your brother, but I'll make you regret attacking me recklessly!"

"......As expected." Relius had expected that response. He shrugged his shoulders and took a step back.

Valkenhayn bared his sharp, canine teeth, his eyes gleaming with the desire to fight. He no longer thought of the girl as just a young opponent. To Valkenhayn, that girl was now an enemy. Moreover, she was an enemy that had forced him to transform so quickly.

Valkenhayn resented being forced to transform. It wasn’t that he disliked his wolf form; he simply didn’t want to have to rely on the transformation to amplify his already considerable physical abilities.

He didn't like being so easily cornered in this situation.

And it very simply ignited his fighting spirit.

"Don't kill her. I want to examine that girl." Though he said that, he wondered how much he could truly expect. In front of the watching Relius, Valkenhayn and Saya moved almost simultaneously.

### Part 2

Saya was still faster at closing the distance. She moved with a speed as if she were teleporting. She dashed past Valkenhayn's side in an instant. But if you knew she was fast, there was a corresponding way to deal with her. Drawing her sword with the intent to sever his head, Valkenhayn twisted his body before he could even see her. Not to dodge, but to deliver a powerful kick.

For a moment, Saya's eyes widened slightly in alarm. It seemed she hadn't anticipated the attack, given the speed and reaction time required. Holding the sheathed sword vertically, Saya narrowly deflected the beastkin's lightning-fast strike. "Ugh...!" Her small body couldn't fully absorb the impact and was flung back. However, she managed to maintain her balance. Landing in a low stance, she quickly raised her head and charged forward again with blinding speed.

Valkenhayn was caught off guard again.

"Just a small fry!"

Roaring, Valkenhayn jumped sideways to avoid the approaching white figure. As he was about to jump, the sword still in its sheath swept his supporting leg.

"What...?"

As Valkenhayn was flustered, she aimed a blow at his head with the hilt. Saya aimed for his temple. But it couldn't beat Valkenhayn's reaction. A makeshift club that he had swung up at the last moment deflected Saya's sword.

It wasn't just Saya whose arm was thrown high. Valkenhayn, who had swung his own arm, was also off balance. A small palm from the girl struck into the exposed side of his tightened waist. A muffled voice escaped from Valkenhayn's mouth.

The palm strike to his side was so powerful that it felt beyond what a girl could deliver, as if the nails were sinking in, about to carve out flesh.

Grabbing the wrist that had struck him, Valkenhayn reached out for Saya's neck. However, with some agile movement, Saya slipped away from his grasp like a prey evading the fangs of a predator, stepping back lightly.

It felt like he was being toyed with. Unpleasantly, Valkenhayn dashed toward the girl, who was waving her sleeves annoyingly, and struck her with a fierce punch. Saya narrowly dodged the upward thrust aimed at her torso. In quick succession, Valkenhayn's foot roared as it smashed through a pile of stacked materials in one blow.

But Saya couldn't be caught.

With just a few millimeters left and a split second of difference in speed, the girl slid down to the ground.

"Damn you..."

It was rare to experience such frustrating combat. Valkenhayn's expression grew increasingly grum, feeling as if he were battling an elusive phantom. But his opponent was no illusion. She was a flesh-and-blood human. That was what made her so irritating.

Saya mockingly tilted her head, as if to say he was slow. Her small gestures stirred Valkenhayn's blood. Transforming back into a wolf, he lunged at the impudent little girl.

Kicking off the ground with his front legs, Valkenhayn closed in on Saya with a speed incomparable to his human form. Gasping, Saya thrust her sword into the jaws of the beast. Valkenhayn's fangs bit into the sheath with enough force that they almost snapped the blade. He then shook his head violently, tossing the girl effortlessly into the neighboring lot.

Next to her stood an old, gray building. Saya, blown away along with the white covering from the construction site, managed to leap in the air just before crashing into the filthy wall. Saya looked up, her long hair swinging wildly. At that moment, a massive wolf lunged at her.

Leaping with the speed it had gained from running on all fours, it transformed back into the strong young man mid-air. With that momentum, he swung his arm down.

Like a crusher breaking concrete, Valkenhayn's fist shattered the wall of the building, sending gray dust swirling into the air.

Valkenhayn clicked his tongue loudly in the curtain of dust that obscured his vision. He had missed her.

Saya kicked off the wall, jumped up, smashed through the glass, and escaped into the second floor of the building. Valkenhain caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye, growled low, and leapt to the second floor window, determined not to let her escape.

The broken glass pointed its sharp edge inward, but he didn't care. He smashed through it and entered the building. It must have been some kind of store. It was a dark, dusty, empty floor with several empty steel shelves left in disarray. There were no signs that anyone had been there for a long time. Valkenhayn stepped onto the thin layer of dust.

And at that moment, a sharp sound cut through the air from the wall. There was no hesitation in the slash. To kill. Aiming for the neck. To slash it diagonally in a thick stroke.

Driven by a chilling fear that ran through him, Valkenhayn threw himself to the ground and rolled across the dusty bags. Fortunately, the part of his body that had been struck still had its head attached. But he hadn't been able to dodge completely. The blade had grazed his shoulder and cut into his flesh, leaving a vivid sensation and a shallow cut.

"Hmm… this is interesting." Relius voiced his intrigue as he came upstairs, using the wall and the doll's arm as a staircase. "I'm becoming more and more curious."

"Shut up! Don't butt in!" Valkenhayn yelled roughly, touching his wounded shoulder and smearing his palm in reddish-black blood. He didn’t like getting cut. But Relius continued without a care as he moved to his new audience seat, a corner of the floor.

"Don't get restless. It's about time, anyway." The word "time" elicited a reaction not from Valkenhayn, but from Saya. She swung the unsheathed sword, wiping the blood from its tip, and rubbed her feet on the floor to measure the distance. It was a cautious movement unlike any she had made before.

The small, deadly blade was wary. As Relius's words had indicated, she was wary of "time".

"Little girl… how much longer can you move?" Perhaps she has temporarily enhanced her physical abilities with some kind of magic. Valkenhayn, who had felt a persistent sense of discomfort during their exchange, asked in a low voice.

Instead of answering, Saya sheathed her sword, stepping back into a stance with her hands on the hilt. It wasn’t a sign of surrender; it was the opposite.

"I don't know what kind of spell it is, but you were the one who attacked first. Don't expect mercy now!"

If that was her intention, then there was no need to hold back. Valkenhayn dashed across the narrowed battlefield. He stepped in forcefully and struck with his fist, grazing a soft fabric—it was the sleeve of Saya’s kimono. Next, he unleashed a horizontal roundhouse kick. Using his lowered leg as a pivot, he arced his long leg downwards from a high position.

Each blow was strong enough to kill an ordinary man, yet they were terrifyingly fast. But Saya ducked, or parried with her scabbard, and slipped away. She was still too fast. He couldn't catch her.

Though he grazed her toes, Valkenhayn's flurry of strikes failed to land a solid hit. However, during one of his many upward kicks, Saya was caught.

"Ugh..."

Saya was unable to evade in time and had to catch it with her upraised arm. It wasn't so much a defense as she was slammed into the wall behind her. A faint crack ran through the gray wall that caught her. In the center of that crack, Saya was lightly embedded in the wall, resembling a butterfly caught in a spider's web.

Valkenhayn quickly closed the distance.

"I won't kill you. But you won't be moving for a while." Leaping out in front of Saya, Valkenhayn said in an angry voice and thrust out his fist with tremendous speed.

"Wh-what!?" The next moment, Valkenhayn's eyes widened in surprise.

What his swung fist shattered was not the girl's consciousness, but the cold wall that had spiderweb-like cracks running through it. The surface, already weakened from the first strike, crumbled under Valkenhayn's second punch, engulfing his fist halfway up his arm. Beneath the embedded arm, there was a hint of a smile.

"Oh… good. You finally stopped." In a childish yet strangely eerie voice, Saya whispered from between the wall and Valkenhayn.

Saya, who seemed unable to escape from the wall she was slammed into, slipped and crouched low just before Valkenhayn's fist touched her.

"You, still...!" Thinking she was still going to fight, Valkenhayn tried to pull his arm out of the wall. But faster than that, Saya stood up.

The sword was not in her hand. She had left the sheathed sword at her feet, and Saya smoothly wrapped her unarmed hands around Valkenhayn's arm.

And then.

"Wh-what the...!?"

Suddenly, Valkenhayn's knees buckled and he collapsed.

A severe dizziness made him lose his balance and his legs trembled. As if to help Valkenhayn, who was barely able to support himself, Saya held onto the arm that was still embedded in the wall.

Valkenhayn bared his teeth at the sight. His strength, no, something more fundamental, was being sucked away from him by the girl's hand touching him.

"That's… Soul Eater!" From a distance, Relius exclaimed in surprise. While listening to his partner's unusual voice with dulled hearing, Valkenhayn was finally unable to stand and lost his human form. He was forcibly transformed from a strong young man into a giant wolf.

Thanks to this change, his arms reshaped, and he was naturally freed from the wall, but Saya's hands continued to cling to him.

Soul Eater. The worst kind of Drive that drains the life force from others.

Valkenhayn, who had only heard of its existence, felt a deep sense of despair as he was held by two thin arms…

The girl stared at him as she caught him and held him down with her hands. How could he have predicted that such a child would possess Soul Eater? It was a Drive that he had doubted even existed.

"Aren't you going to help me? I'm going to die, you know?" While still holding one of the wolf’s front legs that had collapsed to the floor, Saya turned her face toward Relius, who stood behind her. A smile was on her lips.

The damage from Valkenhayn’s kick had long since faded. She had fully healed from the life force she had absorbed. If she continued, the wolfman would eventually die.

Even though he had a life force vastly superior to that of a human, life is finite. Once it was completely drained, that would be the end.

The wolf, slumped helplessly on the floor, could not shake off Saya's hand, which was holding him down with much more strength than it appeared. However, Relius did not move from the spectator area along the wall. On the contrary, he leaned against the wall and chose to watch.

"What a pity..." Relius muttered quietly to no one in particular. His gloved fingers, crossed over his arms, moved up and down as if counting something. Suddenly, those fingers stopped.

"Time's up." The moment Relius sighed with regret, Saya's knee buckled with a dull thud.

"Damn it..." Furrowing her brow in distress, Saya clung to Valkenhayn's arm. But the power she had moments ago was gone. Now, it was just a frail girl trying to hold down a massive wolf.

"The time limit is three minutes... I’ll have to investigate what kind of techniques you’re using to enhance your physical abilities, but it seems the backlash is quite significant. From the looks of it, even standing must be difficult for you. It’s hardly a practical technique."

With his covered eyes, Relius said in a calm, monotonous tone, as if he were observing Saya's condition and simply stating the results.

Ignoring Relius's continuous commentary, Valkenhayn raised the beast's head vigorously. He got up by lifting his rounded back, returned to human form, twisted his body, and threw Saya off his arm.

Thrown to the other side of the wall, Saya landed on the floor without trying to catch herself. With a small groan, Saya tried to get up. But her arms trembled on the floor, struggling to support even her light weight.

"What a shame... If I only had a little more time." Saya muttered resentfully as she dragged herself up, letting out ragged breaths.

If only there had been a little more time, she could have completely drained his life force. That was the logic of the Grim Reaper.

Saya, lying on the floor, uttered those eerie words with complete sincerity. Valkenhayn, stumbling but determined, took a large step forward.

"Soul Eater... I see. Now that I know you’re a user, I can't just let you be."

"Valkenhayn. Don't kill her." Relius called out to the wounded beastman, as if to remind him. But Valkenhayn didn't even turn his head. He didn't hear Relius's words. He took a few more steps, his feet moving to close the distance.

Saya pulled herself up with all her might. But no matter how much life force she had taken, he was a beastman. Their biological foundations were different.

​​The wolfman's speed did not wane. Saya, on the other hand, could barely lift herself up, and her beloved sword was far out of reach.

With a wolf's roar, Valkenhayn raised his hand with sharp, gleaming claws. His arm would tear skin, crush flesh, and shatter bone. There was no mercy, no compassion. His sharp claws tore through the air for only one purpose: to kill his prey.

And then—

"Uraaah!" A young man's voice rang out as a dark figure leaped in and landed a rough kick on the side of Valkenhayn's face.

### Part 3

The dusty floor made a rough, gravelly sound as Naoto landed.

The old, dilapidated building was on the verge of ruin, with only the tenant signs remaining, and the inside was empty except for the snack bar in the basement.

Naoto jumped through a broken window into a former video shop on the second floor, losing his balance and brushing his hand against the floor as he raised his face.

The room was filled with a dreary atmosphere, with empty steel shelves toppled over, leaning against the walls like a failed game of dominoes. The floor was quite spacious, but two thick pillars in the center and abandoned shelves and cardboard boxes made it feel much more cramped than it really was.

The air was dusty, and breathing it in made him want to cough. Amidst all this, Naoto spotted the tall man he had just kicked and glared at him with strong hostility. In his line of sight was a tall man with wild, unruly hair swept back.

Valkenhayn Hellsing. A beastman who could transform into both a wolf and a human, and a slayer of the undead hired by the Mitsurugi Agency. On the sleeves of his deep-colored suit, there was a whitish scuff from Naoto's sneaker treads.

"Weren't you guys supposed to be hunting immortals!? What the hell are you doing getting serious with a kid in such a deserted place, you pervert!"

"You are...Naoto Kurogane. Did you come here to be killed?" Valkenhayn's eyes, filled with contempt at Naoto's scornful words, were now ablaze with hostility and a fighting spirit.

Naoto was taken aback for a moment when his name was called, but he quickly figured out how the other man knew. Kiiro must have told him. The mere thought of the mysterious woman from the Mitsurugi Agency, who wasn't here, gave Naoto a nasty, sticky feeling in his chest.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Raquel gracefully descending from the remnants of the tenant space. Just her presence seemed to brighten the air, likely due to her otherworldly and noble aura.

Wrinkling her nose in disgust at the dusty, unclean room, Raquel looked around as if inspecting it. Her gaze landed on a man standing alone, his eyes obscured by a black band.

"So you’re not nestled under the boy's arm today." Realizing the words were directed at her, Raquel stared intently at the blindfolded man, Relius.

"Relius Clover..."

He was the Immortal Breaker targeting her father, Clavis Alucard, alongside Valkenhayn. However, after examining him from head to toe as if seeing through him, Raquel furrowed her finely shaped eyebrows in confusion.

"…No, it’s not you." Raquel seemed to be searching for something in the room. But Naoto, with his blood boiling, was too focused on the situation to care or even notice.

Ever since Haruka had invited him to go grocery shopping and Raquel had suddenly murmured about feeling a presence, Naoto had been searching for a Drive user who might be causing trouble somewhere. He had even flown into the sky with Raquel to find the scene, only to find this situation.

He wasn’t sure why Saya and Valkenhayn were fighting. It was clear they both had a tendency to resort to violent and reckless means to resolve issues. One of them must have started the fight.

(Probably Saya…)

Glancing back at his sister over his shoulder, Naoto’s expression twisted bitterly. Saya still couldn't get up. She sat slumped, her kimono soiled by dust, hands pressed to the floor. It must have been tough for her to stay upright.

Her thin shoulders trembled, rising and falling with rough breaths. Her face was pale, and she didn’t look like a girl who could wield a katana. Yet, the spark of fighting spirit still burned in her expression as she looked up at Naoto with accusing eyes.

"Brother...you shouldn't have..."

"Don't be ridiculous! What shouldn't I have done? You're the one who's been doing something stupid!"

Raquel turned around in surprise at Naoto's sudden outburst. Saya was intimidated and fell silent. Naoto clenched his fists tightly, trying to suppress the emotions that were raging inside him.

"You suddenly show up at my house, and then I don't hear from you for a while, and then I find out you're fighting some freak like this. What the hell were you thinking? You said you were going to kill me, and now you want to kill yourself? You idiot!"

Saya Terumi was a symbol of dark, heavy, painful memories for Naoto. Because of her, their parents died. Many relatives, as well as those who worked in their home, were gone. People he loved, those he didn’t care for much, people he had fought with, and those who had inspired him—all of them died because of Saya.

Saya had killed them all.

And yet…

"You're always causing trouble… Don’t mess with me, damn it..." Naoto spat out the words resentfully.

And yet, he thought of her as his sister, as family.

He hated her, wanted to stay away from her, and didn't want to see her face, but the moment he saw her about to be finished off by Valkenhayn, it felt like a knife had been plunged through his body. He had moved instinctively to help her.

His worry turned into an anger he couldn’t contain. Gathering his rage toward Saya, Naoto glared at Valkenhayn with fierce intensity.

Memories of the fear from their first encounter flooded back—his pierced abdomen, his crushed legs. Just recalling it made his stomach tighten.

He had been beaten so thoroughly back then. Even though he had become somewhat capable of fighting the Apostles, Naoto couldn’t believe he could hold his own against Valkenhayn now.

But he couldn’t back down.

"Ha, shall we go for a rematch? If you're feeling motivated, I won't hold back."

"You've got some spirit, kid. Alright then, this time I’ll crush your head and finish you off.” In response to Naoto's lighthearted provocation, Valkenhayn returned with serious killing intent. Ideally, he would have preferred if Valkenhayn would simply leave in disgust, but seeing Valkenhayn get ready for a fight, Naoto made up his mind.

(I’ll have Raquel take Saya and escape, and then I’ll find a way to get away too!)

He resolved to do just that.

However, just as the fire was about to be ignited, the voices of two who stepped forward suppressed it.

“Wait, Naoto.”

“Hold on, Valkenhayn.”

Both spoke with a strong tone that left no room for argument.

Naoto and Valkenhayn were both caught off guard by the simultaneous calls from two directions.

“Hey, what’s going on…”

"Be quiet… I sense the presence of the Azure. And it's approaching rapidly..." Raising a small hand to stop Naoto from interrupting, Raquel focused her attention with a very urgent expression. As if listening to an almost inaudible sound, her red eyes darted from left to right.

Perhaps it was because of the unusual situation, or perhaps because they sensed something strange like Raquel, Relius and Valkenhayn also fell silent and spread their senses around them.

With a snap, Raquel turned to Naoto.

“Your sister and Valkenhayn. The collision of their powerful Drives has intensified the remnants of Azure in this area to an abnormal degree. And the Azure remnants attract the Azure’s power. The stronger it is… do you understand?”

“Ah, just skip to the conclusion. We’re in a hurry, aren’t we?”

“Right now, this place is an incredibly conspicuous abnormal zone for anyone involved with the Azure… especially for those searching for the presence of Azure.”

“So, the conclusion!”

"Spinner will sense it." As soon as Racquel uttered that name, the window outside, where Naoto had jumped in, suddenly lost its brightness and turned black. Naoto hurriedly turned around. It was definitely not sunset. The sun was setting, but even at night, it wouldn’t plunge into darkness outside.

Yet all that filled Naoto’s sight was pure black.

As if seeping out from the cracks in the floor, the black was covering the window and the surrounding walls.

The black wasn’t outside the window. It was inside.

Naoto recognized that strange darkness. He had seen it in the hallway of the night school. It was the mass of darkness that Spinner had brought with him, which had devoured and swallowed people whole.

“You…!” Instinctively stepping forward, Naoto shielded Raquel behind him.

The darkness spread gradually, moving with a creepy motion. From within the depthless black, countless arms shot out with the force of water bursting from a breached dam.. The long, shadow-like arms reached straight out and grabbed Saya, who was frozen in place, pulling her into the darkness with the same force they had when they emerged.

“Wha– Saya!!”

Before Saya could even scream, she was enveloped and vanished. Naoto screamed as if his throat was being ripped open and rushed forward. He never expected Saya would be the target.

His thought process was in chaos, wondering why. Driven by a desperate urge, Naoto lunged into the darkness without a second thought. He heard Raquel's cry to stop, but he didn't care. He reached out into the darkness, trying to grab its edge, even though he didn't know if he could. But the shadow slipped through Naoto's fingers like liquid and slid out of the window.

"Wait! Saya!" Naoto immediately chased after her, leaning out of the window. The darkness slid up the wall, making a sound like dragging a sandbag. And on the rooftop, he saw a figure. A man with a sinister, gaunt face, dressed in a black suit with his gray hair neatly combed.

Spinner Superior.

He gave Naoto a contemptuous glance before turning away without a word, retreating deeper onto the rooftop. Following him, the darkness also vanished from Naoto’s view.

"Damn it… damn it!"

He couldn’t run along the walls. Naoto leaped from the second floor without hesitation. He raced up the emergency stairs at full speed.

(Why… why Saya! Why her!)

She had nothing to do with him and Raquel. Did he intend to take her hostage? For what purpose?

(I don't understand!)

His heart pounded and he was having trouble breathing. Forgetting about normal breathing, he ran in a frenzy and kicked open the door to the rooftop.

When he burst out onto the rooftop of the dilapidated building, there was no one there.

The western sky was dyed crimson.

Night was about to fall.

Tonight was supposed to be a full moon.

### 006. Chapter 11: Fusion

### Part 1

The vibrant western sun disappeared behind the towering buildings, and in its place, the eastern sky began to take on the colors of night. The gradual change in the color of the sky was like a deep breath, inhaling the day and exhaling the night.

The bustling downtown area, centered around a large building above the Shinkawahama Station, was adorned with a variety of restaurants and shops lining the main street. However, a few blocks in, there was a narrow alleyway that seemed a little too deserted to be called a downtown area, shrouded in shadows.

In such a dimly lit, cheap street, the streetlights began to flicker on as Valkenhayn ran ahead, guided by Relius.

“Relius! Explain what’s going on! Where are we heading?” Though Valkenhayn was overwhelmingly faster than Relius when it came to running, the uncertainty of their destination forced him to maintain an irksome pace just behind Relius, who was a step ahead. Frustrated, he shouted at him.

The black shadow they had just seen in the vacant storefront of the building was the result of magic. Although neither Valkenhayn nor Relius had confirmed the sorcerer’s identity, it was easy to deduce that it was the work of Spinner Superior, a magician who had recently appeared in Shinkawahama and had previously been involved with Kiiro.

However, Relius didn’t seem inclined to pursue the writhing darkness that was likely the magic of Spinner Superior. Instead, he suddenly ran off in a completely different direction after leaving the building.

It was clear that Relius had already lost interest in this matter and was not about to return. He must have some purpose. Otherwise, there was no way he would run on his own without proper instructions.

"Didn't I already tell you? 'We have something to do.'"

"I'm asking you what that something is. If your mouth can move more smoothly than your usual puppet, tell me where and what you intend to do."

“...It’s about the job.”

"What?" His words were too short. Valkenhayn asked again in a threatening tone.

Relius, glancing around, suddenly turned a corner, causing Valkenhayn to momentarily hesitate and quicken his pace slightly. With his blindfolded eyes looking ahead, Relius lifted his chin slightly.

“Spinner Superior is setting up a barrier in this area to strengthen his magic. As long as the barrier isn’t destroyed, the surrounding area is practically his body. Therefore, we will destroy it. Once the barrier disappears, Kiiro will attack Spinner. Until then, the boy and the vampire from earlier will keep him occupied.”

The cold, emotionless voice stated clearly. The boy and the vampire chasing Spinner and the darkness were merely bait to buy time. Their purpose was to destroy the barrier, allowing Kiiro or themselves to reach Spinner. If they were dead, so be it. And if they were alive, that was all there was to it.

Valkenhayn unconsciously frowned. He felt no sympathy for the group from earlier. However, he often found Relius’s statements like this quite unsettling. How did that man see the world? He was sure that he would never be able to share that feeling, no matter how long his life was.

“Where is the barrier?”

“The first one is up ahead. I’ll search for the rest while you’re destroying it.” Relius spoke without hesitation. Valkenhayn understood that destroying the barrier was his responsibility.

“How do we destroy the barrier?”

“Just physically destroy the places where the magic is applied. That should be your specialty.” Relius’s blunt tone sounded more like sarcasm than anything else. Annoyed, Valkenhayn snorted and brushed the comment aside, which he could only sense as being thrown at him.

The dimly lit side streets were beginning to glow with white light. The night’s veil slowly descended.

Ignoring the occasional curious glances from passersby, Relius and Valkenhayn ran quietly through the city, which was just starting to embrace the night.

### Part 2

The sky was painted in hues of dusk and night.

With the sun in the west and the moon in the east, Naoto raced through the dimly lit backstreets, where the pale streetlights began to flicker on, without a moment to spare to look up at the transforming sky.

Running beside him was Raquel, her long hair fluttering like a golden ribbon. Her golden eyes, unlike any he had seen before, were fixed sternly ahead, guiding Naoto towards their destination.

That destination, of course, was where Spinner was.

After Spinner's darkness had taken Saya away and Naoto had chased it to the rooftop but lost sight of it, Raquel, who had come up to the rooftop later, immediately drew a magic circle and began to track Spinner.

Her concern wasn’t solely for Saya’s safety—though in a way, it could be said that it was. While quickly arranging the strange red symbols that Naoto couldn’t understand, Raquel murmured with a tone of urgency.

“Spinner’s target is probably Soul Eater. I don’t know his purpose, but…” It was unlikely that the man’s goals would align with Naoto or Raquel’s interests.

Hurriedly completing the magic circle, Raquel stood at its center, gathering the wind for a moment. She firmly engraved the sensed presence of the Azure into her senses, pulling it closer as she pursued Spinner.

Feeling rushed, Naoto stumbled occasionally, struggling to breathe not from fatigue, but from a different kind of tightness in his chest.

Why had things become so complicated? Nothing was going his way. Everything seemed to be going downhill. Naoto groaned in frustration.

(It’s all because of that stupid sister of mine!)

He just wanted to hunt Apostles with Raquel, get stronger, defeat Spinner, and become human again within a year. It was already complicated enough at this point, but now his suddenly appearing sister was getting involved.

(She should have just stayed at the Amanohokosaka Castle.)

Why did she always have to meddle in things?

Unconsciously, his tongue clicked again in annoyance.

As if to silence him, Raquel spoke sharply.

“Over there, Naoto.” As if awakened by Raquel's voice, Naoto's eyes and consciousness awakened to reality.

They had reached a construction site near the edge of the downtown area. The base of the building was surrounded by a white makeshift wall, behind which a greenish, thin covering draped over tall construction scaffolding. The building under construction was apparently quite tall, and the scaffold continued for a long distance.

Naoto looked up, his gaze wandering.

"Is it in there...?"

Fortunately, whether it was because of a holiday or some sort of trouble, there was no one at the site. Even though it was gradually getting dark, the surroundings were still faintly lit. But the inside of the scaffold was so dark that he couldn't see how far it extended. Naturally, there were no lights since no one was there. Searching inside would be quite difficult.

Just as Naoto was about to slip inside the white enclosure, Raquel's hand grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back.

"Naoto. Up there."

Up. Hearing that, Naoto looked up at the building. It was probably about eight stories high. It was taller than the apartment building where Naoto lived.

Raquel's eyes were fixed on the very top, the roof.

Naoto squinted. But from here, he couldn't even tell if there was anyone on the rooftop. However, a shiver ran down his spine.

"Ugh..." Naoto involuntarily gasped. It felt so… empty.

(Is it my imagination? Because Raquel feels that way, I'm being influenced by her… Or maybe...is it because of the vampire blood mixed in me?)

He had a feeling that something was there. And now, his intuition couldn't be easily ignored by his common sense and rationality.

"Raquel!" Looking up at the building under construction, Naoto called out quickly. Raquel immediately understood his intention and slid her arms around his.

The soft sensation of her body pressed closely against his made Naoto tense up involuntarily. The presence of a girl, clearly different from the boys around him, was sweetly colorful and right next to him, so close that he could feel her breath. It was only natural for him to feel a bit nervous.

"Be very careful." Raquel lifted her face from where it had been resting against his chest. In her serious gaze, Naoto's slightly flustered expression was reflected.

"I feel a great power swelling. Spinner is very strong. You can't handle him alone. Don't forget that. Understood?"

"Y-yeah." Raquel’s words, spoken in a warning tone, sent a chill down Naoto’s spine.

Ahead of him was Spinner. He had been so focused on getting Saya back, but he realized that he had to stand before that man, fight, and get her back. That realization filled Naoto with fear. But it wasn't a bad fear. It was a necessary fear. He wasn't someone to be faced without fear.

"Hold on tight." With that, Raquel pressed her lips together and concentrated. His senses began to sharpen.

A whirlwind swirled at Raquel's feet. Then, in an instant, it turned into a violent gust of wind, blowing her and Naoto high into the air.

With the wind surrounding them, they soared upward and landed on the rooftop of the building, which was solidly built despite being under construction. The gray concrete, likely to be painted or treated later, was beautifully smoothed out. Steel scaffolding surrounded it, resembling a small arena.

There was no need to look for their target. Amidst the cooler wind that blew stronger than on the ground, the man was leisurely standing in the center of the rooftop.

Dressed in a black, high-quality suit, with slicked-back gray hair and a large, menacing tattoo carved deeply into his cheek, Spinner Superior appeared. His sharply elongated, cold eyes were accompanied by a narrow, icy smile. Without showing any surprise at the arrival of Naoto and Raquel, he gracefully moved his long limbs into a deep bow.

"Good evening, Raquel Alucard. Even on this day, your beauty is blinding... the moon tonight might be too ashamed to emerge from behind the clouds." While keeping his body bowed, he lifted only his face, and Naoto caught a glimpse of a serpent-like tongue flickering from Spinner's mouth.

Behind him, something large was stirring.

Though the dusk was not particularly different from usual, the rooftop felt much darker than the ground below. Perhaps it was due to the faint residual light in the sky. The figure appeared like a shadow puppet backlit by the setting sun... but as Naoto squinted, its true nature became clearer.

"Ugh..." A sound of disgust involuntarily escaped Naoto’s lips.

It was an insect. And it was on a completely different scale from Spinner’s Apostles that Naoto had encountered before. It was enormous.

Its head, with dull reddish-black eyes, stood much higher than the tall Spinner. The smooth, round head had large, arched jaws protruding forward, and it was clear at a glance that they were its pride and joy.

It had a black, beetle-like skin, but its body was rather long, and it was standing up as if lifting its upper body. Twelve strong, crustacean-like legs were attached to its body, and the second pair from the top was firmly holding a small girl in its arms.

"Saya!" Naoto shouted instinctively.

The captured girl—Saya—was unconscious. Her thin arms, draped in a kimono the color of blossoms, hung limply. Yet, Naoto couldn't believe his eyes.

The number above Saya's head was rising at an astonishing rate.

"What the hell is that... why is Saya's life force skyrocketing?" It was like a broken counter. The number would occasionally slow down, then speed up again, increasing at an unstable pace. He had never seen anything like this before... No.

Recently, when Saya had come to Naoto's house, she had tried to suck out Naoto's life force and kill him. At that time, the number above Saya's head had also risen.

Of course, it wasn't at such an absurd pace as it was now.

"Is it... absorbing life force? From that insect?"

"No."

As Naoto muttered, thinking that couldn’t possibly be the case, Raquel threw a harsh denial at him.

"Your sister... the Soul Eater that resides within her is absorbing the life force of all the humans around this building."

"What... what the hell is that!?" For a moment, Naoto couldn’t grasp the meaning, his voice trembling with frustration. "Wasn't it supposed to be that Saya could only absorb the life force of the people she touched!?" He was sure Raquel had said that before. Turning sharply, he saw Raquel’s expression twisted as if she had bitten into something bitter.

"That's only if your sister is controlling Soul Eater. As I said, the original Soul Eater indiscriminately takes people's life force. Saya is unconscious. So, the one controlling Soul Eater now is..." There was only one person here who could do that, and who would do so.

That man Raquel was glaring at—Spinner.

"...Raquel Alucard. I am somewhat disappointed." While receiving hostility and caution from both Naoto and Raquel, Spinner pressed his hand to his chest with a sorrowful expression. His spread thin fingers were like spider legs. "It is an immense honor that you have chosen to chase after me yourself. However, this Spinner Superior had asked that next time we meet, you bring along the 'real Naoto Kurogane.' And yet..."

Dropping his angular, thin shoulders exaggeratedly, Spinner moved his gaze from Raquel to Naoto. In the meantime, his gaze turned cold and filled with disgust.

"To think you would bring this trash again." His eyes seemed to say that he couldn't stand it physiologically.

Naoto met Spinner’s condescending gaze with one of deep contempt. He had no intention of accepting being treated as trash, but that cheap disdain meant nothing to him.

"I don’t know what you were expecting, but I’m the real Kurogane Naoto! More importantly, you better let my sister go right now!" Naoto shouted, his anger surging as he carefully gauged the distance and his opponent's movements.

Spinner looked at him with a twisted expression, his large cheek tattoo distorting his features. He appeared utterly exasperated, as if he found Naoto's presence deeply repulsive and grotesque.

“I have no ears to waste on garbage… With all due respect, you should reconsider your pet. It will tarnish your dignity. It's a pity..."

"You bastard..." The words of detached disdain, which didn’t even acknowledge his dignity, were almost painfully obvious. The attitude toward Raquel was equally blatant. Naoto felt a deep resentment, wondering just how worthless he was seen.

Beside Naoto, Raquel stepped forward a few paces, lifting her chin without a hint of fear. Her posture straightened, and she locked her sparkling eyes onto Spinner’s figure, embodying a strength that matched her youthful appearance.

"Spinner Superior. I demand the same of you as Naoto. Release that girl immediately and stop Soul Eater." Her commanding tone had a strength that demanded no argument. Feeling that natural intimidation, Spinner smiled deeply, almost gleefully.

“I’m sorry, but even if it’s a request from 'Slave Red,' I cannot comply. This is a very important time... I need a great deal of human souls.”

“Important time? What exactly do you intend to do?” Raquel furrowed her brow. The man spoke in a strange way. There was no malice or ill will in his words, but rather a gentle tone and expression as if he were caressing something.

"It's all for my beloved Raquel Alucard." As if there were passion hidden there, Spinner clapped his hands together at his chest. With a pained expression, his dark eyes looked at Raquel.

The gaze that Spinner directed at Raquel was perverted and morbid, and even though he wasn't the one receiving it, Naoto felt a sense of discomfort creeping up from his feet. Raquel, who was directly receiving it, looked back at Spinner without changing her expression much.

Spinner continued to speak in a melodic tone. "My desire is to have you... all of you, the noble and beautiful maiden who is closest to the Azure’s wisdom... I want to have all of you..."

Mid-sentence, Spinner lightly licked his lips as if to quench his thirst. The tongue he revealed was long and had a black tattoo on it as well.

"Your hair, your eyes, your breath, your heartbeat, everything! I want to make it all mine, and reach the depths of the Azure that I yearn for so much. To do that, I have to capture you. But just an insect won't do. I need to prepare a special insect worthy of welcoming Raquel Alucard."

"I don't remember asking for such a thing."

"Isn't it disappointing to be a man who can only prepare what he is asked for?" Spinner replied calmly, but as he continued, his expression softened just a little, as if in concern. “But... to complete this special insect, a great many human souls are necessary. I had the insects create nests in places where people gather so that I could collect them in bulk…”

“I see, so that’s why it was Isa.” Naoto lowered his voice heavily, not wanting to understand.

Isa frequented a school, a place where many people gathered every day. It meant that Shinkawahama First High School was almost going to become Spinner’s feeding ground.

"Not only was I unable to gather resources, but before I could even finish building my nest, many of my Apostles were destroyed by you and those annoying people. I was at my wit's end. It was at that time..." Spinner slowly turned his head and looked at the massive insect quietly resting beside him. He narrowed his already slim eyes with a satisfied smile.

"I found this girl... this Soul Eater! As rumored, it is a wonderful power. With this, I can gather people's souls as I please. I no longer need to scatter Apostles and collect them slowly. Everything I need will be gathered tonight. On this glorious night of the full moon..."

As if blowing out a candle, the surroundings grew darker. The moon turned golden in the eastern sky. Spinner spread his arms wide and took a deep breath. The cold air was now completely night. He exhaled with pleasure, and his eyes fixed on Raquel like a snake.

“Do you understand, Raquel Alucard?” He asked. Raquel took a half-step back, as if startled. Spinner reached out his long hand to follow her. "This is fate. It cannot be resisted... You will be mine." As soon as he declared that, the quality of the air around him changed.

It was heavy. It felt heavy, as if a gravity had begun pulling in a different direction. The pull was coming from Spinner... no, from the insect beside him, from deep inside its legs, from Saya.

Naoto realized. He was being drained. His life force was vanishing at a speed far beyond what it had been moments ago.

It wasn’t just Naoto who was being robbed. Raquel, standing next to him, stumbled as if she were about to faint. Above her golden hair, tied with a black ribbon, a countdown of diminishing life force was visible only to Naoto’s eyes.

“Damn it... you’ve gotta be kidding me!” Struggling not to stumble, Naoto braced his weakening legs and shouted angrily, supporting Raquel next to him. Raquel clung to his supporting arm, her expression stern.

"This is bad... we have to stop Soul Eater. If we don't, it will suck the life out of everyone in this area, and Spinner will..."

"That's not the point! It's not about the insect..." Naoto grabbed Raquel's shoulders with both hands and pulled her close, gently shaking her to encourage her to stand strong. Raquel’s face was pale. The numbers above her head continued to decrease without stopping.If it continued to decrease like this, the number would eventually become '0'.

“If this goes on, everyone will die!”

Even random people who just happened to be around this building, or anyone he might have crossed paths with. Or even Raquel, whose life force was draining twice as fast as Naoto’s.

"I won't let that happen. Absolutely not." Naoto glared at Spinner and kicked the cold ground hard. His feet moved faster than he thought possible. His body felt light, and his limbs moved more smoothly than he expected.

He could reach it.

In a matter of seconds, Naoto was right in front of Spinner, and he raised his fist without hesitation… "You bastard, don't think you can just do whatever you want!"

He struck with all his might.

### Part 3

A wet sound sliced through the air.

It was the sound of blood. And then, the sound of flesh tearing.

"Ugh..." Naoto ground his teeth, trying to suppress a different kind of rising sensation. It was a pain that felt like his insides were being ripped out. The flesh below his ribs had been torn, fortunately missing his organs. But all the blood seemed to drain from his body at once, followed by a wave of pain and shock that forced Naoto's raised arm to fall limply.

His hand moved on its own to press against his side. Glancing down, he saw his hand was stained red from the blood seeping through his uniform.

“Damn…!”

Naoto quickly looked up, his gaze fixed on the creature that had suddenly appeared before him.

It was that bug.

Just a moment ago, it had been further back. Now, this enormous insect—or was it a caterpillar?—with its abdomen encased in a sheath, was right in front of Naoto's face. It was an ugly creature with an appearance so grotesque that it evoked a visceral sense of disgust.

Unlike Spinner's Apostles he had faced before, this creature was clearly different, and not just in its abnormal size. Its jaws were like a pair of serrated saws, its legs thick and sharp, and despite its rapid movements, there was a physical heaviness to it that could be felt in the sounds it made.

Its appearance and structure were simple as far as mechanics went, but each part was a one-sided weapon capable of easily taking a human life.

The very top, the thickest and sharpest of the insect's legs, was slightly stained with blood at its tip. It looked like a pillow, but its sharpness was more akin to a comb or a sliver of silver. The cutting edge was sharper than it appeared to the eye, and it had sliced open Naoto's side.

Thanks to his reflexes, or perhaps just pure luck, he had only been grazed, but if he had taken a direct hit, Naoto might have found himself looking at his severed lower half.

The insect raised its other leg to strike again. It was fast. But faster than that, a gust of wind swirled at Naoto's feet, pulling his injured body back. Raquel drew in the wind as she rushed over.

"How reckless. All you can think about is charging straight in? That's so naive."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" He had expected Spinner to counterattack, but he hadn't expected the bug to intercept him with such speed. If she said it was naive, he couldn't really argue. "If it were a humanoid opponent, I could at least apply some grappling techniques. But that’s such an obvious monster..."

"Are you already giving up?"

"Can't a guy at least complain a little?" No sooner had he retorted than Naoto dashed off again. But this time, not towards the bug, but towards the edge of the rooftop.

Perhaps because of its predatory instincts to chase things that ran, the insect plunged its sharp leg into the concrete floor and lunged towards Naoto. Looking over his shoulder, the scene was like something out of a horror movie. With a grimace, Naoto grabbed what he was aiming for.

​​With almost no strength left, he pulled a steel pipe from the scaffolding. As he turned around, he swung the pipe sideways to deflect the bug's massive attack.

"Damn...!"

There was a dull thud. It felt like he had hit a telephone pole. The shock sent a jolt up his arm to the shoulder.

Of course, he didn’t expect to break the insect’s legs. But he also didn’t think he could handle legs as thick as a telephone pole with just his bare hands. He hoped it would function as armor, not a weapon. Even if he could regenerate, injuries still hurt, and if his arm got blown off, he wouldn’t be able to attack until it healed.

Swinging the pipe wildly to avoid the cocoon, Naoto dodged the numerous legs and dove under the barrage of legs. He entrusted the crude weapon to his left hand and rose up like a cobra, striking the bug's torso with his right fist.

"Ugh..." It was hard. It was much more organic than the leg he had hit with the pipe, but even so, he felt like he might shatter his knuckles.

Naoto looked at his right hand and clicked his tongue.

(Something's wrong... it wasn't like this. Back then, it was more...)

Back then was when he had punched Isa. He didn't remember it clearly because he had been so caught up in the moment, but in his hazy memory, his fist had indeed sunk deeply into Isa’s body, stained red. It felt as if it were covered in a pot of blood.

If he could strike like he did back then, he would be able to deal more damage to this monster. But Naoto didn’t know how to do that.

"Damn it!"

He had no choice but to keep hitting. Pulling back his remaining fist for another strike, the insect twisted its lower limbs and swung them fiercely like a tail, delivering a powerful blow. It was more of a tackle than a leg sweep. Naoto, bracing himself with the iron pipe, was sent flying like a rag doll. He hit his back against something and bounced, rolling all the way to the opposite edge.

It was an insane amount of force. If he hadn't had the pipe, he probably would have cracked a rib or two. Fearing a follow-up attack, Naoto jumped up. But then, he felt a sharp pain and his face contorted.

"What...?" The pain was more intense in his side than in his chest or back. Gasping, Naoto looked down. He pressed his hand against the tear in his blood-soaked uniform. The wet sensation shot pain through him. Naoto stared in shock. When he lifted his hand, it was stained with fresh blood.

"No way... why...?"

His wound wasn't healing.

Normally a wound this small would have disappeared by now. But instead of closing, it was bleeding profusely with every movement.

Raquel quickly noticed Naoto's condition. She glared at Spinner with a stern expression.

"What's going on... what exactly is that bug?"

"Oh, are you interested? How unexpected. Someone as noble as you would be better suited to tea."

"That's not what I'm asking!" Raquel snapped, her voice sharp. Spinner raised an eyebrow leisurely, as if savoring the sweet sting in her tone.

"Yes... I understand. Don't worry, Raquel Alucard. This Spinner Superior may jest with you, but I would never lie." With an attitude that seemed designed to irritate people, Spinner gestured grandly towards the enormous insect. "That bug was originally intended for your owner, Clavis Alucard. Unfortunately, your owner is a mere Fantasy Creature." The mention of Clavis Alucard caused Raquel's shoulders to twitch.

Naoto, using the iron pipe as a makeshift pillow, grimaced at the name he heard. The blood drained from his face.

Spinner furrowed his brow in annoyance and traced the tattoo on his cheek with a long finger.

"Since you're dealing with the king of vampires, of course, it had to have the bare minimum of necessary qualities. That bug's jaws, fangs, claws... they wound 'existence itself.' No matter how quickly vampires can repair physical damage, wounds to their very existence can't be healed. ...Isn't that right, Raquel Alucard?" Spinner asked Raquel with a smug, leisurely tone, as if he were extracting an obvious answer.

Raquel bit her lip and looked down. To Naoto, her expression was more revealing than Spinner's words. He didn't understand the complicated reasoning, and he didn't want to. But basically, it seemed that wounds inflicted by that bug wouldn't heal.

(Hey, hey, hey, that's a cruel joke... so that's what you mean by a 'special bug'?)

Given that his body healed so quickly under normal circumstances, he had been reckless enough to charge straight at it.

Despite his shock, Naoto raised the iron pipe again, focusing on the bug. Judging from Spinner's words, and the fact that the cocoon was still absorbing life force from its surroundings, the special bug wasn't complete yet.

So what would happen when it was completed? Would it become a creature capable of withstanding a fight against Clavis?

(If that happens, I won’t stand a chance...)

A sense of crisis crept over Naoto.

With a sound like metal stakes being driven into the ground, the bug plunged its sharp leg into the concrete and lunged at Naoto. With the same speed and force, it swung its two upper legs down at Naoto in quick succession.

"Ugh, wait..." There was no hesitation, and he could hardly catch his breath. Naoto jumped back, narrowly avoiding the attack of the living weapon. But he jumped back too far and his back hit the wall. One of the insect's legs thrust in from the front, targeting his head.

Naoto ducked, his body slumping. A few strands of his hair scattered. This was no time to be afraid. Dragging his trembling body, Naoto threw himself forward.

Where Naoto's butt had been a moment ago, the bug's leg had shattered the concrete with a powerful swing.

He pushed himself up with his hands, but his legs wouldn’t move. As he turned to see what was happening, he found one of the bug's supporting legs had pinned his uniform to the concrete, embedding itself into the flesh of his calf.

"Ugh..." Once he saw it, the pain surged up to his brain. A red stain began to spread beneath the insect's foot.

(This is bad...)

His vision darkened briefly, and Naoto turned around with a vacant mind. The insect, having captured its prey, raised its sharp leg towards Naoto.

He couldn’t escape. He had to brace for impact. As he looked up at the insect, Naoto searched for the iron pipe in his hands. But it seemed he had let go of it when he collapsed earlier. His fingertips grazed the cold metal, but he couldn't reach it.

The air was torn apart with a sharp hiss. Naoto held his breath, bracing himself for impact and intense pain. But then, something caught him unexpectedly.

"Gagagagagaga!"

With a muddy scream resembling a gargle, a thick spray scattered around him. Naoto saw this through the strong wind that nearly obscured his vision.

"Ah... Thanks for the save!" He gave a relieved smile. It was Raquel, wrapped in a gust of wind, who had scooped Naoto up and carried him away from danger.

The insect's leg that had pinned Naoto's foot to the ground had been severed at the base. The wind, sharpened to an extreme, tore through it like a scythe.

Once they were a safe distance away, Naoto was released from Raquel's wind. As the wind returned to the night sky with a roar, Naoto lost his balance and fell on his butt. Next to him, Raquel also stumbled slightly as if the wind had swept her feet out from under her.

"Ha... ha… ha…" Raquel breathed heavily, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Her usually composed expression was gone, replaced by one of exhaustion, showing that even though her life force was several times that of a normal human, it was still taking its toll.

"Hey, are you okay?" Naoto couldn't help but ask, seeing her pale lips and cheeks.

Raquel answered without looking at him. "That’s my line... For a mere servant to cause me such trouble..."

"You're surprisingly energetic," he said with a forced smile, but Naoto was no more at ease than Raquel.

"If this drags on, it'll be bad. We need to stop Soul Eater somehow. If I can't keep going, neither can you." Before Raquel could finish, her words punctuated with heavy breaths, the insect turned around and charged towards them again.

With a cry of alarm, Naoto pulled himself up and jumped to the right, while Raquel jumped to the left, dodging the insect’s charge. The insect quickly turned back toward Naoto. It seemed he was its primary target. Naoto ducked low to avoid the sweeping leg and then took off running.

If Soul Eater continued to absorb life force, Raquel would eventually run out. And if that happened, Naoto would die too. Not to mention, if that special insect absorbed enough souls and completed its form, it would become a creature meant to face Clavis. Naoto could be easily killed in an instant. After all, in front of that insect, he was just an ordinary human with slightly better physical abilities.

(I have to stop Soul Eater... Stop it... But how? There's no way I can get Saya back without dealing with that damn bug first!)

"If I could reach out and grab her, I would. But if I tried to rip off the legs that are grabbing her, I'd probably get impaled three times before I could. Or maybe I'd get decapitated by those saw-like jaws."

(In that case...)

The insect's jaws lunged at Naoto as he fled. Pushed by the wind Raquel unleashed, Naoto barely managed to evade the attack, but the concrete nearby shattered as if it had exploded, and debris rained down like hail.

Unable to withstand the impact, Naoto collapsed, shielding his head with his arm. His injured leg hindered him. Dragging his sluggish body, he crawled on, desperately trying to escape. If he didn't fight back, he would just keep running away. Somehow, he had to attack.

Was it because he was thinking about these unnecessary things?

"Naoto!" Raquel's voice rang out sharply, warning him of danger. A sharp wind shot out from her, but it slid off the bug's tough, leathery skin, unable to wound it. Ignoring the blade-like wind on its back, the insect swung two of its legs down at Naoto, who was still rolling on the ground. Naoto could only stare in shock.

The insect's leg grazed Naoto's left shoulder, sinking into the concrete beside his face. The other leg narrowly missed capturing his torso. His evasion had been purely instinctual, a response driven by raw survival.

There was a strange feeling in his left ear. As he struggled to process this, he continued to breathe heavily, his whole body trembling. He was still alive. But at the same time, he realized something. The insect was now looming over Naoto, and right in front of him lay Saya, slumped like a broken doll.

"Naoto... the Soul Eater..." Raquel stumbled as she tried to run towards him, her voice trailing off. It was as if she had lost words. But Naoto understood what she was trying to say.

He could reach her now.

It wasn't enough to tear off the arm and retrieve Saya. But it was enough to kill.

If he killed Saya, Soul Eater would stop.

It will stop.

“Are you going to kill it?”

A voice asked the question. Where did it come from? Naoto was bewildered as he realized that his surroundings had closed in with darkness, leaving him unable to see anything.

His body, which should have been lying down, felt as if it were standing upright. There was no pain from his injuries, nor was there the fear of the insect looming nearby.

So where was he, and what was happening to him now?

Before Naoto could even gather his thoughts about the situation, the voice asked again.

"Will you kill her?"

Kill who? His sister... Saya.

The voice that asked was unfamiliar—deep, heavy, and powerful.

"Will you kill your sibling?"

“Of course I will!” Naoto squeezed out in a dry voice, unable to even look at himself. He had to stop Soul Eater. If he didn’t, both Raquel and he would die. Many innocent people would die too.

Saya was the murderer of Naoto's parents. Because of her, Naoto's peaceful life had been plunged into a bloody tragedy. That memory was deeply ingrained in his mind, something he could never forget.

In addition, Saya was trying to kill him to become the head of the family. She was trying to take his life, all for such a purpose, as if it were a noble cause.

Who would complain if he killed her?

Who would be sad if he killed her?

She was a girl feared and shunned by everyone.

“But still…” Naoto spat out. “Of course I’m going to save you!”

The moment he shouted, Naoto’s vision suddenly cleared. Before him was an enormous insect looming over him, and Saya, unconscious in its abdomen. The situation hadn’t changed. His time of hesitation in the black world seemed as if it had never existed in reality.

His ragged breathing calmed down. The insect’s jaws opened with a spring-like motion, ready to finish off its helpless prey. The jaws, curving gently, became flatter and sharper towards the tip, easily capable of slicing through human flesh and bone.

But before the jaws could decapitate him, Naoto moved as if he had been shot. His stomach was burning. It felt like something was boiling inside him. Driven by a sense of urgency bordering on desperation, he leaped up and punched with all his might.

"Uaaaaaah!" An involuntary scream erupted from his throat. His fist plunged straight into the bug's abdomen. His right arm was encased in a crimson, steel-like substance. With another blow, this time an upward thrust, he struck the bug's torso. His left hand grabbed the bug's leg.

His fist couldn't pierce the bug's skin this time. However, he could feel a distinctly different sensation of flesh and blood.

It was working. Although he couldn't visually confirm whether damage was actually being inflicted because the life force number above the bug's head was still '0,' Naoto was certain of it.

"Saya..."

Seemingly taken aback by the unexpected counterattack, the insect began thrashing around. To restrain the writhing giant, Naoto grabbed one of the insect's legs with his right hand to pin it down.

"Let go of meeeee!"

There was the sound of something hard breaking, and the bug’s black, armor-like skin split open in front of Naoto. Twisting its joint, he wrenched the bug’s leg off, spewing a foul liquid. A putrid, meat-like stench filled the air.

Tossing away the severed leg, Naoto grabbed the other leg that was still holding Saya and tore it off as well.

Angered by the violent act, the insect swung its jaws toward Naoto's head. Despite its size, its movements were swift, like a falling guillotine. If he had tried to dodge, he would have lost half his head. So Naoto raised both arms beside his face to block the approaching jaws from both sides.

His left arm, however, was not unscathed. The jaws’ blades sunk into his flesh, but they didn’t shatter the bone.

"Damn it..."

The insect's jaws continued to press down, intent on crushing Naoto. Naoto pushed back against the jaws, enduring the burning pain in his left arm as they sank deeper into the flesh with every push, unlike his right arm that was completely protected by a layer of blood.

Then a gust of wind swept past. A golden ribbon of hair fluttered at the edge of Naoto's vision. Raquel jumped in and delivered a powerful kick to the insect's jaw from below. With a hard crack, the bug's grip weakened for a moment. In that instant, Naoto escaped the threat of being amputated.

Flipping in midair, Raquel landed another kick on the jaw. The inhuman strength, befitting a vampire, forced the bug to stagger back. Taking advantage of the opening, Naoto stepped in.

A leg, swinging like a flail, slashed horizontally. Naoto caught it with his raised right arm and positioned his body to slip beneath the insect, aiming for its abdomen. One wrong move and he'd be crushed. If he was pierced by one of the countless moving legs, it would be the end. Using the leg he had just been pierced by—still soaked in blood—as leverage, he slammed his knee into it.

Another hard crack.

One more time, and then another. He continued to slam his knee, then switched to his fists. The insect's jaws thrashed wildly, swatting Naoto aside as he struggled with its abdomen.

As Naoto was sent flying like a pendulum, Raquel's wind quickly caught him. Taking advantage of that opening, Raquel was also swept away by the insect's jaws, but in the meantime, Naoto rushed to cover the distance he had been thrown.

Raquel's wind pushed him from behind. Naoto ran at the same speed as the wind. Slipping into the abdomen he had been pounding just moments ago, he thrust his right hand in with all his might. Finally, there was the sound of flesh tearing, and Naoto's blood-stained fist ripped a hole into the bug's body.

As he pulled his arm out, heavy bodily fluids poured out like a waterfall. The stench was horrible.

Ignoring it, Naoto kicked off the ground. The wind became his wings. Leaping high, Naoto reached above the insect's head and, this time, using the power of the wind to aid his descent, he drove his right arm into the insect's eye. After the feeling of breaking plastic, a jelly-like sensation came.

"Gagaga, ga, gagagagagaga!" The bug convulsed violently. But there was no extra reaction, no sign of pain. It simply thrashed around, trying to attack Naoto, and slammed its head into the concrete, keeping Naoto attached.

“...!” A silent scream escaped from Naoto's throat. The pain was distant, merely heavy. Naoto, buried under the insect's full weight and sunk into the concrete floor, was helplessly crushed.

(…No, I can move.)

It was different from that time... when he had first faced the Apostle and was buried under the rubble, unable to move. Even though the bug was crushing him, Naoto could move. It was then that he finally realized his body wasn’t being crushed at all.

A thin membrane, like... the wind, was separating Naoto from the concrete and from the bug, creating a thin protective barrier.

(Raquel…)

The reason he couldn’t breathe was because of the wind pressure. If that was the case, there was nothing to fear.

"Thank you... Master!"

Squeezing out a voice that was almost a whisper, Naoto grinned at the corners of his mouth. The wind seemed to dissipate as if losing its strength. The weight of the bug increased accordingly, but Naoto's body became free. As soon as the wind completely collapsed and disappeared, Naoto grabbed the bug's head with both arms. With a muffled thud echoing through his body, he poured all his strength into it.

"Ah… ah... g-n-n-n… OOOOOH!" Roaring from the depths of his stomach, Naoto pushed back against the bug's massive body with all his might. The weight that seemed immovable began to shift under his force.

Naoto could feel the blood rushing through his body like fire. His strength was circulating. It felt more like squeezing than surging, and Naoto lifted the massive body he was holding.

He saw a dark figure in the distance. Anger welled up inside him. He let out a roar of rage, expelling it like a breath from a bellows.

“Uraaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Naoto swung the massive body of the bug he had lifted and hurled it toward Spinner, who stood frozen with a look as if witnessing something grotesque.

### Part 4

For a while, sound and sensation felt distant, and Naoto gasped for breath in the center of the shattered concrete crater, his whole body heaving. The blood vessels in his body had burst and were gushing out, soaking his forehead and back, and he almost lost consciousness. Blood was flowing from various places, and he couldn't tell where the sweat ended and the blood began.

A high-pitched ringing echoed in his ears. His blurred vision, which had been barely rising and falling with his breaths, gradually began to regain clarity.

It was night. A round moon hung in the sky, wrapped in a light that seemed both silver and gold, casting a soft glow over the dark rooftop. The cold wind blowing in from nowhere felt refreshingly cool against his body, which was nearing its limit.

“Right...”

As he watched the sweat dripping from his forehead to his chin and then to the ground, Naoto finally began to stir his sluggish thoughts. He moved his creaking body and turned to look over his shoulder.

Not far away, at the edge of the crater, Raquel was sitting and looking over at him. A girl’s head rested on her lap. It was unclear whether Saya was alive or dead. Her pale pink kimono lay lifeless, completely rumpled.

It seemed like such a waste for something that should have been so beautiful. With that random thought in mind, Naoto awkwardly climbed out of the crater.

“Thanks, Raquel.” As he approached her, Naoto managed a faint smile. It was obvious to Naoto that Saya was alive. Although it was much lower than that of a normal human, there was a sufficient life force number floating above Saya's sleeping head.

Raquel must have been protecting Saya just as she had protected Naoto. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of gratitude when he looked into her large, golden eyes that were gazing up at him.

“Uh, are you okay?” It was Raquel he was more worried about. Naoto grimaced as he asked.

The number floating above Raquel's head had decreased significantly. Apparently, the absorption of life force by Soul Eater had stopped, and the decrease in numbers had also stopped. But the number, which was eighty million, had dropped to ten million.

Naoto didn't know how critical a situation that was for a vampire. But after losing that much, there was no way she could be fine. In fact, Raquel had looked quite strained during the battle with the bug.

Would she go into his shadow and rest as she had before? Contrary to Naoto's expectations, Raquel gently laid Saya down on the concrete floor and stood up with a calm composure.

“I’m fine. More importantly, Naoto, this girl—”

“Ah, yeah.”

With that, Raquel brushed past Naoto and began walking away. What was she planning to do? Prompted by her tone, Naoto moved to stand beside Saya and watched Raquel’s movements.

Raquel headed toward the massive corpse of the insect that had been thrown on the rooftop of the building under construction. Beneath the lifeless body, which had lost its strength and could no longer move, was the upper half of a human. It was Spinner, who had been crushed after failing to dodge the creature Naoto had thrown.

With a light jump, Raquel crossed over the crater and landed beside the crawling Spinner.

The distance between Naoto and the place where Raquel and Spinner were wasn't that far. It was about twenty meters, with the crater in between. But to Naoto the scene looked like something happening on the other side of the Boundary.

“You’ve lost, Spinner Superior.” Raquel said quietly to Spinner, who was unable to crawl out from under the monster he had created.

Naoto remembered something he had completely forgotten. Raquel had been targeted by Spinner, but Raquel had also been targeting Spinner. Her goal was to obtain all information about the Azure that Spinner possessed. She probably intended to extract it from him.

Spinner, who was lying on his back, stretched his neck to look up at Raquel, who was standing in a position just out of reach of his outstretched hand.

"No…" Though his breathing was surely being constricted, Spinner responded calmly, almost serenely, a faint smile even appearing at the corners of his mouth.

It wasn't a look of defeat. Raquel frowned, puzzled. As if gazing at something dazzling, Spinner narrowed his eyes.

“No, Raquel Alucard. It seems you are greatly mistaken. I never thought I could win against you. Such an audacious notion is far too presumptuous. Didn’t I tell you? Or have you forgotten... about my law...”

His tone was gentle, yet there was an unexpected glimmer of something ominous mixed in. The air grew tense. Spinner deepened his smile and spoke with a hint of rapture.

“I said I want to have you.”

The moment Spinner finished that thought, suddenly, his shadow loomed large on the gray concrete floor, creeping up to Raquel's feet. Naturally, it was not a shadow cast by the empty moon. From the writhing shadow, something began to rise.

"Raquel!" Sensing something was wrong, Naoto shouted sharply. Raquel also sensed the disturbance, trying to pull her feet away from the eerie shadow at her feet. But those feet were ensnared by the countless legs that emerged from the darkness.

“Wha...!”

The shadow quickly took form, overpowering Raquel's voice of astonishment.

It resembled... a spider.

Though it was less massive than the enormous, grotesque insect from before, the sinister atmosphere it exuded was even more overwhelming.

Its black body had a vague outline, making it difficult to distinguish from the shadow. Eight white, bone-like legs, which seemed to have no flesh, stretched from the dark abyss and crawled up the concrete floor.

Those legs moved skillfully, grabbing Raquel and dragging her into its depths. It was trying to swallow her into the gaping maw of shadow.

“What... what is this power...?” Raquel, restrained by the bony legs, struggled to break free. But her feet sank into the shadow as if she had stepped into a swamp.

"Raquel! Run! Hurry!" Without understanding what was happening, Naoto started running urgently. He ran straight towards Raquel, crossing the broken and unstable ground. His injured legs felt like weights. He had never realized how bothersome it was that his wounds wouldn't heal. He seemed to have gotten used to his half-finished body. Stumbling and nearly falling, Naoto stretched out his arm with all his might.

Raquel also stretched her thin arm towards Naoto from between the cage-like bone legs.

"Nao...to..." It was the first time he had heard her voice begging for help. But before she could finish, the spider closed its eight legs like the mouth of an insectivorous plant, completely swallowing Raquel into the shadows. He could almost hear the sound of her being gulped down.

Having lost his target, Naoto leaned forward and fell to the ground. His outstretched arm had only grazed the edge of the shadow.

“No… this can’t be happening…” Naoto’s mind struggled to keep up with the shocking situation unfolding before him. He stared in disbelief at the writhing shape of the spider creature.

Raquel was gone. Not a single strand of her golden hair was visible. Instead, the eight bones opened again with a strange movement, returning to the shape of a spider's legs, and the shadow that had swallowed Raquel slowly climbed up onto the spider. The shadow writhed and took the form of a man. Spinner.

Looking down, Spinner was no longer under the giant bug's corpse. With his upper body protruding from the spider's body, Spinner pulled out a long, thin arm from the writhing darkness and spread his long, thin fingers wide, gazing at his hands with a smile.

"I have it... finally... ah, at last, what I have long sought..." The words came out in fragmented sighs, like whispers between the chimes of a bell. Spinner's thin, bony fingers trembled slightly as he crossed his outstretched hands over his chest. His eyebrows furrowed with intense pleasure.

His form could hardly be called human. His upper body still had the form of the man, Spinner Superior, but his lower half had lost all semblance of humanity, merging with the bony legs of the spider that crawled from the shadows. Half human, half monster. His appearance, which seemed to belong in a myth, filled Naoto with an intense feeling of disgust.

"Hey... you... what the hell did you do... to Raquel!?" Stumbling to his feet, Naoto shouted, shaking off the disgust that seemed to bind his whole body. He didn't understand what was happening. Whenever Naoto had questions, it was always Raquel who answered them.

But now Raquel was gone, and in her place was the strange man who had swallowed her, answering Naoto's questions.

“It’s exactly as it appears. I have absorbed Raquel Alucard, the key to reach the Azure. Her soul will slowly melt inside me, merging with mine until we become completely identical. We will fuse… yes, we will become one. I will merge with everything she has and eventually reach an unknown mystery…” Spinner sang as if it were something wonderful and sweet. And he probably truly believed it. “Oh, I never expected to obtain it so soon. Thanks to Soul Eater, I was able to create a special insect designed to capture Raquel Alcard.”

“Special insect…? So you weren’t after that huge thing after all…”

No matter how it had come to be, the insect that Spinner had carefully nurtured during their battle was the key to swallowing Raquel and merging with her.

Defeating Naoto wasn’t particularly important to Spinner; it was merely a diversion. While he watched Naoto desperately running and struggling, he must have thought, Come to me, Raquel Alucard… while licking his lips.

Spinner spread his arms wide and looked up at the sky.

"Now... I can hear it, I can feel it... I see the Gate. Distortion, open your mouth now and guide me… to the chaotic emptiness where everything swirls… to the ‘Boundary’!” He proclaimed loudly, as if some divine being were present.

His voice and words became powerful, causing a dark red magic circle to appear beneath the spider legs. The magic circle glowed dully, and its light flickered slowly like the heartbeat of a formless monster.

Something was stirring. A black mist surrounded Spinner, creeping in from all directions. It gradually began to gather beside him, starting to swirl like a whirlpool in the void. The vortex grew larger and larger.

Naoto frowned at the sight. He felt a sense of dread. Something very bad was about to begin. Above all, if this was the result of absorbing Raquel… it was terribly, terribly, unbearably unforgivable.

"You bastard... You used Raquel for something you don't even understand!" He raised his voice, trying to rouse himself. Naoto scolded himself for nearly succumbing to the pain and fear that threatened to overwhelm him, and he charged at Spinner.

Fortunately, the sensation from earlier still lingered. His fist, drawn back, instantly turned red, stained with Raquel's blood. But… just before reaching his target, Naoto’s right arm abruptly vanished.

“...Huh?”

With a heavy thud, what had once been his arm transformed into a mass of blood, falling at his feet. It happened in an instant. Without any pain, Naoto’s right arm, from the shoulder down, was gone, revealing a black, smooth cross-section devoid of flesh or bone.

He stopped short, frozen, just a step away, as Spinner quickly extended his arm and pressed his palm against Naoto's abdomen. In the next moment, a force erupted from that hand.

"Ugh..." A blow far more powerful than any clumsy punch struck Naoto's abdomen, gouging into it. The upward thrust from below completely took Naoto's breath away for a second, violently shaking his crammed internal organs.

“Geh, gah... oeh, *cough*!” With his lungs and stomach convulsing, Naoto collapsed to his knees, coughing violently. He had only taken one hit. Yet his brain was fading and his eyes were welling up with tears.

"There's no need to be so flustered, it's only natural." Spinner looked down at Naoto, who was doubled over coughing, from a higher position than before due to his monstrous transformation. "That right arm of yours was made from Raquel Alucard's blood, wasn't it? But Raquel Alucard has been absorbed into me, and your connection to her has weakened. Thus, the benefits of her blood have also lost their power. It’s as simple as that..."

"Damn it... then!" Biting his lip once, Naoto stepped forward again. Pivoting on his armless right side, he swung his leg horizontally, trying to kick the bony leg to pieces. But at that moment, a strange creature lunged from the ground and bit into his supporting leg.

It was so sudden that he couldn't tell if it was an insect or something else entirely. All he could see was a bulging eye that seemed on the verge of popping out and a disturbingly perfect set of pure white teeth.

“Ugh…”

Suddenly, his knee buckled, and he collapsed to the ground, unable to support himself. He didn't want to think about what had just happened, but his mind understood all too well. Memories of the time he had lost his arm in the abandoned apartment complex flooded back. A heavy, distant pain asserted itself behind the shock of loss, throbbing insistently.

He knew, but he couldn't help but look. Naoto looked at his lower right limb over his shoulder with his armless right side. His right leg had been bitten off just above the knee. A moment later, thick blood began to flow from the wound, as if it had been forgotten about.

Spinner looked down at him with a mocking smile. “Do you remember what I just said? Your connection to Raquel Alucard is fading... Her existence is gradually merging with me. ...Heh, the benefits you received from her were not limited to just your right arm, you foolish trash.”

The grandiose voice spoke the truth. Naoto would have been dead without Raquel's help. Thanks to her, he had gained an arm made of her blood and the regenerative abilities of an immortal body. If that connection was gone, then Naoto was no longer immortal. The unhealable wound and the lost leg meant a severance from Raquel.

"It can't be..." Crawling on the cold ground, Naoto pressed his hands down and forced himself to rise, despite the pain. Just because his connection to Raquel was weak—no, precisely because it was weak—he couldn't just lie there like this.

There were many things he had received from Raquel. His right arm was one. His resilient body was another. But more than anything, he had been given life. As long as Naoto existed, the connection between him and Raquel had not been severed.

Naoto was still alive. Until that connection faded, struggling and fighting back was the least a "servant" could do in return for the precious "master" who had shared such a grand thing as life. It was a troublesome situation—like an accident waiting to happen, filled with various troublesome conditions— but thanks to Raquel, Naoto could still be "Naoto Kurogane" today, just like yesterday.

As long as they were connected, he should be able to pull her back.

"Uoooooooh!"

Forcing his separated body to move, Naoto planted his feet on the ground. He pushed his heavy body up with his left arm. But that arm was suddenly seized by a pitch-black jaw with sharp fangs.

It was too late by the time he realized it, and Naoto collapsed into a pool of his own blood. He felt nauseous from the smell of his own blood. He tried to get up, but there were no more arms to support him. The right arm was gone from under his shoulder, and the left arm was gone from under his elbow, and neither would respond to Naoto's will.

Struggling without arms in the red puddle, Naoto was like a fish washed up on the beach.

"Hmm. You’ve become quite the sight. Like a dying caterpillar," Spinner said dismissively. At his feet, skeletal legs made dry sounds as they rearranged themselves. Naoto, forgetting his screams, could only expel harsh, ragged breaths. He didn't know which of his senses was in pain. He could feel himself rapidly weakening. But he was still alive.

"Raquel... give her back..."

Gritting his teeth, Naoto tried to keep his consciousness from fading as he struggled in the blood. Spinner looked down at him coldly.

"What a pathetic sight... To think this is the man Raquel Alcard presented to me as a condition. Understand this with your own body. You are nothing more than living trash, writhing at my feet, waiting to be discarded."

Spinner frowned as if looking at filth, and a needle formed at the corner of his mouth where the tattoo was. A muddy shadow stretched from beneath the bony spider legs that tapped on the ground, wrapping around Naoto's remaining left ankle. It tightened with a relentless force, binding him like garbage.

"You lowly sinner," it hissed, "this is your punishment."

Lifting him high enough for their gazes to meet, Spinner leaned in to look at Naoto's bloodied and tormented face.

"For you, a mere piece of filth, to have spoken to and touched the one chosen by the Azure... it is a defilement, a sin." The shadow tightened its grip around Naoto's ankle, the bones creaking under the pressure. "Every breath you've taken while associating with Raquel Alucard is a stain upon existence. Don't expect a quick death. No, you will witness everything... the fulfillment of my lifelong ambition to reach the Azure's wisdom, and the slow decay of your own powerlessness."

As soon as Spinner finished speaking, Naoto's body, held taut by the shadow, was violently swung from side to side. With a force that seemed more playful than lethal, he was slammed into the hard floor.

A pool of blood splattered across Naoto's face, staining it crimson. He was lifted again, blood dripping from his matted hair. This time, he was flung sideways, crashing into a makeshift scaffolding. The impact caused the pipes to buckle, striking his back and head, but the pain was almost nonexistent.

The back of his head felt numb, and his vision blurred. He couldn't comprehend his situation.

(What does he mean, "witness everything"?)

Naoto muttered weakly in his flickering consciousness. He felt like he was about to die.

The black vortex that was swirling beside Spinner, like an entrance to something, had somehow grown much larger. He wondered if this was the “lifelong ambition” that Spinner was talking about.

If this torture continued, Naoto doubted he would survive long enough to see the portal fully open.

(No, I have to do something. I have to save Raquel.) But as he thought these words, his consciousness slipped away into darkness.

—

A voice.

Deep within his sinking consciousness, Naoto heard a voice calling out from somewhere.

It was that voice. The voice of the man he didn’t know, who had suddenly asked him such an intrusive question.

"What now?" Naoto thought. He wondered if the man was going to complain about him being worthless.

That’s right. What a sight I’m in. Sinking into a swamp of consciousness without sensation, Naoto mocks himself. He was weak. Overwhelmingly so. He couldn't even save the girl who had tried to help him, and now he was being hacked to pieces.

"I don't want to end like this..." he muttered.

A voice seemed to be asking something. But perhaps he was losing himself even within his own consciousness, for he couldn't understand what was being said. He couldn't hear.

"But, yeah," Naoto thought with a mind as frayed as thread. "If someone's going to save me... if they're going to let me stand again... and if they're going to give me enough strength to beat the crap out of that annoying bug-man, I'll gladly take whoever's hand, no matter who they are. I would never want it to end like this.”

Though he didn't say it out loud, he felt like screaming these words into the darkness. At that moment, someone's consciousness suddenly drew near. He felt like he was being pulled towards it, so strongly that he thought he was hallucinating. But he wasn’t.

As the presence of whoever it was drew closer, a pair of pitch-black arms extended from the depths of the darkness, where even his own form was invisible, and struck Naoto's chest with a heavy thud.

With that impact, Naoto woke up. His body jolted, trembling. Spinner, who was about to slam him to the ground, stopped in surprise.

The transformation began immediately. The blood that had been steadily dripping from Naoto's severed left arm and right leg stopped. In its place, a dark substance began to ooze out.

The rough, black mist, like a mass of shadows, smoothly and unhesitatingly shaped itself as if it were pouring water into a predetermined groove. The darkness rapidly solidified into an arm. Then, the damaged leg was restored.

"What the..." Spinner gasped in bewilderment. As if hearing that voice, Naoto's eyes snapped open. But they were not the usual soft, brownish black he was born with. They were red, as if blood had dripped into them and stained them a different color. As if seeping in, the blood-soaked black hair turned white.

Naoto's body moved. A realization struck him with the clarity of a taut string. Suspended in mid-air, he folded his body and sprang up. Grasping the viscous shadow that clung to his ankle with his newly revived hand, he pulled with all his might. With a sound like clay tearing, the shadow snapped.

Having forcefully gained his freedom, Naoto flipped his body a short distance to the ground and landed gracefully on his hands like a cat. A black insect flew out from Spinner's shadow, aiming for a landing. The insect bared its sharp fangs, intent on claiming Naoto's newly revived arm.

But Naoto crushed the insect with a single punch, his arm moving like a spring. Rising as if propelled by the impact, he closed the distance without hesitation.

Naoto's foot, launched high into the air, came crashing down onto Spinner's shoulder. Spinner, unable to counter a blow with the force of a swinging axe, stumbled back a few steps, dragging his spider-like legs.

With only a slight distance between them, Naoto swung his arms wide and pulled them back forcefully. A dark red substance gathered in the palm of his outstretched hand. Its viscous texture closely resembled the blood that had been spewing from Naoto's shoulder and thigh moments earlier.

—

The trembling red creates a long, slender handle, at the end of which resides a large blade. A big scythe was born. Naoto’s pitch-black arm grabbed the handle.

“Blood Edge...” Spinner’s mouth uttered in astonishment, as if in disbelief at what he was seeing.

True to its name, what Naoto held was indeed a blade of blood.

A blood-soaked blade.

In the next moment, faster than a blink, Naoto's scythe flashed. The scythe, arcing through the air, plunged deep into Spinner's body, slicing through flesh and bone in one swift motion. The sound of breath escaping burst out of the black man's chest. Dragging a wet sound, the sickle forcefully scattered the blackened blood around it.

One more strike. And another. And another. The sickle repeated its slashes, mercilessly cutting apart Spinner, or what was left of it.

With yet another slash, Spinner was forcefully pushed back, his body staggering and retreating. All but three of the eight bone legs that supported its body were shattered, spread out like broken pieces.

"Ga... ah..."

His body, carved up by countless intersecting wounds, was so mutilated that it was a wonder it still retained a human form. It was spewing an enormous amount of blood, staining his white hands.

Spinner's blood was pitch black. The soot-like blood flowed down its misshapen lower limbs, staining even the shattered bone legs. He could neither unleash insects nor manipulate shadows. The fierce assault, surpassing any movements a human could make, embodied the phrase “faster than the eye could track,” leaving Spinner no room for resistance.

What had changed this powerless boy? Spinner couldn't comprehend it. It was incomprehensible.

Before Spinner, still unable to fully accept the mercilessness that had befallen him, Naoto leaped lightly, closing the distance in an instant.

Black arm, black leg, white hair, red eyes.

"...Be devoured by the darkness..." With a thin opening, a feeling emerges, whispering softly. In response to that whisper, Naoto, who had seemed possessed and expressionless until then, felt a spark of emotion ignite within him.

"You… bastard!" His eyes widened in rage, and a feral killing intent filled him. With a mighty swing, his scythe sliced through the night in a crimson arc. The blade plunged deep into the black man’s flesh, tearing him open.

"Gah, gah, aaaah, aaah!" Spinner let out a distorted scream. But Naoto paid no attention to the sound or the dark blood splattering onto him. Discarding the bloody scythe, he thrust his arm into the gaping hole in Spinner's body.

What he found was not the flesh or bone of a living being, but a deep, pure black darkness. And so, Naoto understood immediately.

Raquel is in there.

For a brief moment, he felt the sensation of flesh, but soon his arm was submerged in an unfathomable darkness. Naoto, undeterred, rummaged through the depths of the darkness, which was clearly deeper than the thickness of Spinner's body, searching for his goal.

From the writhing body of Spinner, shadowy arms extended, grasping Naoto’s arm and shoulder. Instead of tearing him away, the countless arms attempted to pull him deeper into the fissure.

Struggling against the desperate force, he continued to push his arm further inside. At last, the sensation of smooth fabric brushed against his fingertips.

(There!)

For just a fleeting moment, he made contact, but he wouldn’t let it slip away. Naoto sank deeper, submerging his shoulder into Spinner, and desperately reached out to embrace what he had touched. The familiar texture of a slender, delicate waist. In the clinging, swamp-like darkness, Naoto held it tightly to his chest.

"Raquel! ...Come out, Raquel!" He shouted, shaking her violently. With a savage force, he tore away the shadow-arms that clung to his hair, clothes, and arms. Then, with all his might, he pulled himself free. "I won’t let you take her!"

With all his strength, Naoto kicked fiercely at Spinner with his remaining leg.

### Part 5

Raquel watched.

She listened. She felt.

She sensed everything happening around her with all five senses.

The strength of the voice calling her, the warmth of the arms holding her... she felt it all.

Darkness.

Recognition.

In the enclosed darkness, "Raquel Alucard", whose self-awareness was becoming hazy, was forcibly dragged out and saw the moon in the sky with her own eyes.

It was a beautiful full moon.

At that moment, she was certain.

She had definitely chosen "him."

For a brief moment, he thought he had lost consciousness. But Naoto realized it was not so when he was startled by his own ridiculously noisy breathing.

"Ha, ha... ze, ha... zee, ze... ha, ha, ha, ha..." There was no way his breath would calm down at such an absurd pace. Contrary to his oddly calm thoughts, his body was desperately trying to take in oxygen, his shoulders heaving up and down.

Naoto was almost touching the ground but was slightly raised, in a crouched position. His body was heavy, his senses were dull, and he felt an overwhelming sense of fatigue, as if his whole body had come apart at the seams. Nevertheless, he knew he was alive. Could there be such a suffocating death?

Gradually, his body remembered how to breathe properly. As the tense muscles slowly relaxed... Naoto realized that a golden-haired girl was in his arms. It was Raquel.

He let out a sigh of relief. He could see a number above her head. A number in the tens of millions, overwhelmingly lower than usual, but she was definitely alive.

"...You look terrible." Raquel stirred slightly in Naoto's arms and opened her eyes slowly. She looked up at him with her large golden eyes and blinked once. He could clearly see her long eyelashes fluttering up and down like a doll's. And those were her first words after being saved. Naoto burst out laughing.

"You’re one to talk."

Raquel was a mess, covered in Naoto's blood, Spinner's blood, and the insect’s bodily fluids. The tattered ribbon still held her hair in place, but it was not neat.

Raquel sighed wearily. Gently pushing Naoto's chest, she staggered to her feet and looked down at the body that had just been holding her.

"I can say this much: I'm doing far better than you."

"Ah..." Naoto, upon looking at himself again, groaned softly. It was indeed a horrific sight. The left arm and right leg, which had been replaced by something black until just a moment ago, had completely vanished without a trace. As if to compensate, his right arm, created from Raquel's blood, had somehow returned to normal.

"Of course. Your right arm was lost because I was consumed by Spinner. It returned when you brought me back," Raquel explained. At the same time, Naoto's regeneration ability had also returned.

However, the injuries he had sustained while Raquel was absorbed by Spinner could not be healed even by his regeneration. When the connection to Raquel was severed, Naoto had been just a "normal human." Wounds from that time would not regenerate, just as his lost right arm had not returned when he first encountered Spinner's Apostle.

"That's right, Spinner!" At the mention of the name, Naoto jumped up as if he had been shocked. But the right arm he tried to use to support himself couldn't bear his weight, and it twitched and shook as he raised his upper body, unable to push himself up any further.

Instead of Naoto, Raquel turned around, staggering slightly. Through her, Naoto saw the crouched figure of a black-clad man.

"......What the...?" Naoto's expression twisted in shock. Could he really call what was there—no, who was there—Spinner Superior? The man's spider-like lower limbs were melting away, resembling overcooked flesh, and he was slumped against the ground. At the center, the man in black was curled up, hugging himself. With bony, thin shoulders, elongated arms, unnaturally pale skin, and tousled gray hair, he bore the unmistakable features of Spinner.

But his body was writhing strangely, as if countless insects were rampaging inside him. Arms, chest, back, it didn’t matter. Ignoring the positions of his joints and organs, his body was twisting and distorting its shape, as if it had lost all flesh and bone and become a mass of protoplasm.

"Gu, ooooo... oooOOOoooOOooh!"

A cry, sounding more like a vengeful spirit than a sound produced by a human throat, echoed through the area. It was a cry of agony.

Spinner's body trembled violently, beginning to collapse. It resembled a dry sand dune being gradually eroded by the wind. His crumbling body was being sucked into the black vortex that still lingered behind him, turning into fine black dust.

"He's losing control." Raquel muttered in a voice somewhere between pity and contempt. "What he was trying to open was a gate to another space-time called the 'Boundary'. But that could only happen because he had absorbed me... After you forcibly pulled me away from Spinner, he lost control of the gate he was trying to open, and now his existence will be consumed."

If that happened, there would be no one to save him. Even though Naoto didn't fully understand Raquel's words, that was the part that left the strongest impression on him.

As if he had heard their conversation, Spinner raised his head, stretching his neck.

Naoto's breath caught slightly.

It was undoubtedly Spinner's face that was raised. But his body was already so black it was that the line between clothing and flesh was indistinguishable, and only his face stood out strangely white, as if a white mask had been fitted onto a black, amorphous body.

The hands, white and untouched by darkness, reached out, dragged by arms that were elongated and stretched even further. The mass of shadow undulated and moved forward in a grotesque manner, neither human legs nor spider legs propelling him.

"Return... Azure." The cursed, pleading voice, like the scream before, was distorted, muddy, and twisted, unlike Spinner's original voice. "Return... return, return, it's mine, my Azure..." While calling out 'Azure', Spinner stared at Raquel with clouded eyes.

They were not far enough apart. Raquel instinctively took a step back from the approaching Spinner. However, when her small hand touched Naoto, who couldn’t stand, she briefly turned back, a determined look on her face, and faced the grotesque man again, standing up as if propelled by a spring.

Although she wasn't as intimately connected as Naoto, she must have been quite weakened. But she stood in front of Naoto like a wall, protecting him.

"Are you crazy? Just run away!" Naoto shouted, realizing that Raquel was the one being targeted.

Without looking back at him, Raquel maintained a confident expression and snapped her fingers. "Don't underestimate me... A single sorcerer on the verge of losing his self-awareness—there's nothing to worry about."

"That's a lie! Quit screwing around, just fly off and escape—!" Naoto shouted, but deep down, he understood that the reason she wasn’t doing that was because she didn’t have the strength left to do so.

Spinner's body shook violently. Prompted by the tremors racing up from his feet to his entire body, his form expanded grotesquely. From within his body, whose thickness was hard to define, something like ribs burst outward, opening as if splashing muddy water.

Was it his arms spreading wide, or the gaping maw of his sin? The exposed bones extended like silver-tipped blades, quivering in ecstasy as if to devour something.

"Devour, devour, devour, devour, devour, devour, devour, devour! The key to the Azure... my key... To the profound depths of noble knowledge, don't touch those hands, filthy blood, tainting the Azure... My hands are the rightful bearer of Azure... My Azure... Azure, Azure, Azure, ahh... Aah, aaah, aaah... At the end of the endless cycle, I shall create the truth before my eyes!"

Spouting incomprehensible words in a strangely broken voice, Spinner lunged at Raquel and Naoto. Raquel braced herself, pushing both hands forward. She summoned the wind. But only a weak wind gathered.

With a swift kick, Spinner dispersed the tiny gust of resistance and exposed his rib-like fangs…

But his predatory attack was halted by countless swords that seemed to appear from nowhere.

"Gaaaahhhh!" Swords with a white phosphorescence rained down on Spinner from all directions, sewing his deformed black body to the gray floor. A heavy, wet sound splattered disgustingly, and a similar scream escaped from Spinner's contorted mouth. His fingers, now thin like bones, trembled with fury as he raised his neck, looking up to the sky.

"Co... come, Mosaic..." Spinner called out, black blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth. At the sound of his voice, Naoto and Raquel also looked towards the sky.

In the bright night sky with a round moon floating, Kiiro Hikagami was floating with her long golden hair swaying. But her appearance was quite different from the one Naoto and the others knew.

Her hair, which was always neatly tied up for easy movement, flowed down her back, creating a more glamorous look than intellectual. She wasn’t wearing the slender glasses she usually did. There was no tight skirt or sexy suit that drew attention to her figure. Instead, she wore a full-body suit primarily in white and yellow, tightly hugging her form.

It looked almost like armor, with several metallic parts attached to it. Particularly striking were the large pieces on her arms and legs, which resembled the swords that had just been fired at Spinner.

In a word, her appearance was bizarre.

If not for Kiiro’s face above her neck, one might think she was a robot from some science fiction movie.

From a position higher than Naoto and Spinner, Kiiro looked down at Spinner, her crimson-purple eyes clearly burning with killing intent.

"I won't allow you to touch Naoto-kun with your filthy hands anymore." She said it with a piercing coldness.

Even though the words weren’t directed at them, the tone of her voice sent a chill through the air. More than the coldness in her voice, the murderous intent contained within it stirred a primal fear, as if their very lives were being threatened.

But Spinner seemed to pay no attention to Kiiro’s piercing gaze or cold voice. He contorted his face into a grimace and scratched at his chest, letting out a guttural, gurgling sound from his throat. His expression was far removed from the grotesque figure he had been just a moment ago. It was doubtful if there was any reason left in Spinner, who was turning into this blackened mass.

Spinner let out a muffled, strangled cry, reaching out to grab Kiiro, who hovered in the air above him.

However, as Spinner tried to rise higher, Kiiro grimaced in disgust and thrust out her arm, adorned with a sword-like part.

The space around her rippled like the surface of water. From within, swords cloaked in white light appeared. The light swords descended upon Spinner in the same way as before, but this time in more than double the number.

The heavy, wet sound of many layers of blades overlapping drowned out Spinner’s final screams. Bathed in swords from all sides, Spinner hesitated, remaining in place for a moment. But finally, as though he could no longer resist, his body was pulled strongly backward.

The black vortex created by Spinner—the portal that should have led to the "Boundary"—was now waiting for the wizard consumed by his runaway magic.

"Gi... aa, aA... Aaah...!" Spinner screeched with a meaningless, strained voice as he was sucked into the distortion he had created, disappearing. The portal shrank, and eventually, without a sound, it vanished. Only the scattered dark blood remained, like the ashes of Spinner, and the surroundings became eerily quiet.

"Ha..." Without realizing it, his breath had stopped, and Naoto slumped his shoulders, letting out a breath that had been trapped in his chest. His strength drained away, and the right arm he had been using to support himself gave out. Sliding his head along the concrete, Naoto collapsed onto his back.

"Ah... enough... It's over, it's over..." He muttered words that even he didn't quite understand.

Looking up at the sky, Naoto found Kiiro in her strange outfit. As their eyes met, Kiiro frowned painfully and descended towards Naoto.

"Naoto-kun..."

Kneeling beside him, Kiiro leaned forward, cupping his face with her bodysuit-covered hands.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry I took so long... Oh, you've been so hurt... If I had gotten here sooner, I could have... I could have stopped all this...!" Her voice trembled emotionally, her face on the verge of tears. Finally, as if overwhelmed, she pulled Naoto’s head tightly against her chest.

The feeling of her soft breasts against the bodysuit was vivid. Naoto unconsciously pushed Kiiro's body away with more force than necessary.

"Hey, let go, calm down... ... I'm glad you came, but we can do that later..."

"No. I can't do it later." Kiiro firmly rejected Naoto's soothing offer, as if discarding her previous attitude. She turned her head to the side, and her gaze stopped when it landed on Raquel. Her eyes, staring fixedly, were filled with a harsh reproach.

"Raquel Alucard..." Raquel, who had been silent until then, stiffened at the low, threatening tone of Kiiro's voice. She flinched, as if trying to escape, and her gaze dropped to the floor.

Kiiro stood up, glaring at Raquel with overwhelming intensity. She extended her arm, and the sword-like parts attached to her arm were pointed directly at Raquel’s neck. The sharp tip, more dangerous than it appeared, was aimed precisely at Raquel’s throat.

"I can’t overlook this any longer. You are going to make Naoto-kun unhappy... make him suffer, hurt him..."

"I…" Raquel inhaled sharply as Kiiro's words, as sharp as the point of a blade, were thrust at her. She lifted her gaze, which she had once averted, and locked eyes with Kiiro. From her eyes, tone, and most of all, the murderous intent that was in no way concealed, Raquel could feel exactly what Kiiro was about to say.

"You can't protect Naoto-kun. If that's the case, then I will... I will protect Naoto-kun. I'll kill you and make Naoto-kun mine!"

"Wh-what are you talking about! You can't just..." Naoto couldn’t finish his words.

Without even turning to acknowledge Naoto’s plea, Kiiro extended her arm and summoned countless swords around her. They were the same swords she had used to carve Spinner to pieces just moments ago.

"Hey, wait! Stop it!"

“Ugh...”

“I won’t let you have Naoto Kurogane!” As Naoto struggled to get up, Raquel, despite her condition, braced herself. Even though she had no strength left to either receive or dodge the attack. At Kiiro’s command, the swords were unleashed all at once. Multiple deaths tore through the cold air. A chill ran down Naoto’s spine.

... And then, a soft, swaying night breeze cut between Kiiro and Raquel.

Suddenly appearing from the night, there was a man with long, glossy black hair reflecting the white moonlight and red eyes. With a single outstretched hand, he gently stopped all the swords that had been aimed at Raquel, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

Kiiro's eyes widened in astonishment at his appearance. His appearance was something she had never anticipated, not even in the slightest. A sharp breath escaped her, and her voice trembled, her round eyes betraying her disbelief.

"Clavis... Alucard..."

It was the name of the monster among monsters that the Mitsurugi Agency, to which Kiiro belonged, had been hunting for years. Despite searching high and low, they had never been able to track his movements, and just recently, two mercenaries they had hired at a high price had come into contact with him—only to return with no useful information, having failed to capture him.

And here he was, blatantly revealing himself in front of her, calmly accepting her attacks without any resistance. The surprise disoriented Kiiro, and her disorientation silenced her.

"That's enough, Kiiro Hikagami." Clavis spoke softly, as if scolding a child for a pointless prank.

Even though Raquel and Kiiro were both beautiful women, each with their own charm, Clavis's overwhelming beauty and the irresistible aura of his demonic power shifted the balance of the situation. With just those few words, he became the true master of the scene.

Clavis waved his hand lightly, as if dismissing the incoming swords. With a casual gesture, all the swords that Kiiro had summoned dissipated into fine particles of light.

"Naoto Kurogane would be sad if this continued."

"You seem confident. Do you understand your position, Clavis Alucard?"

In response to his gentle, yet deadly tone, Kiiro shot back, her words sharp as she tried to shake off her unease. She slid back slightly, her feet barely touching the ground, and took up a defensive stance, ready to strike with the swords in her arms at a moment's notice.

"You are a target for extermination by the Mitsurugi Agency. I can't let you go here!" That was Kiiro's mission, and the mission of the Mitsurugi Agency to which she belonged.

But Clavis seemed uninterested in the sharp needle pointed at him, and he squinted his eyes sharply, twisting his lips somewhat sarcastically.

"It seems you're mistaken. The one who should be letting go... is you," the vampire, who reigned over the moonlight with such sweetness, threatened Kiiro. "If you want to die in vain, I don't mind granting your wish, but I refuse to lay a hand on the one taking care of my daughter. I will not ask you to disappear. Put away your weapons."

At those words, Kiiro hesitated, her gaze wandering uncertainly. She eventually looked at Naoto, and her expression softened slightly.

"...Fine. But this is the only time I'll follow your orders." She muttered reluctantly. With a resigned sigh, Kiiro lowered her eyelids. At that signal, the metal armor attached to her arms and legs disengaged.

The pieces of armor that had been attached to Kiiro’s body floated behind her, as if pulled by an invisible force, and merged into a single massive sword. This sword was her weapon in its dormant state, awaiting further use.

For now, she had no intention of fighting.

Seeing this, Raquel, who had held her ground until then, collapsed to her knees. She seemed unable to keep up with the series of events that had occurred, from Kiiro's appearance to Clavis's intrusion. With a somewhat dazed look, she stared at Naoto. Naoto looked back at her with a helpless smile.

Everyone was doing exactly what they wanted. But thanks to all that, it seemed he could finally get some rest.

He’d reached his limit.

Naoto let out a long breath, as if expelling it from his entire body, and let go of the thread of consciousness he had been holding onto for so long.

Just before his vision faded, Naoto clearly saw Raquel's awkward smile directed back at him.

### 007. Epilogue: Heartbeat

There was the scent of flowers.

Unfortunately, Naoto wasn't knowledgeable about flowers. It’s not that he disliked them, but he wasn’t interested enough to make an effort to remember their names.

So he had no idea which flower the scent belonged to… but it smelled nice. He wondered where the flowers might be, and slowly opened his eyes to look around.

"...Huh? What’s this?"

What he saw was an unfamiliar sight, and Naoto began to turn his head, looking for what he assumed should be the familiar scene of his own room.

The first thing he saw was the ceiling. White, with long fluorescent lights that looked like the ones in school, looking down at him. It felt almost like a hospital. The sensation of the bed was also different from usual, and Naoto, with a foggy head, tilted his neck in confusion as he looked for his alarm clock.

Then, someone suddenly pressed down on his shoulder.

"Nao-kun!!!" The voice that pierced through his sleepy thoughts made Naoto snap awake, his mind suddenly clearing.

Haruka's face filled his vision. Had she been crying? Her eyes were red and swollen, and the healthy pink that usually colored her cheeks was slightly pale.

That’s right, Naoto understood his situation.

This was a hospital, not that it looked like one. It was only natural.

Naoto clearly remembered the moment when he lost consciousness on the rooftop of the construction building. He remembered the situation, how it had happened, and while not every detail was crystal clear, he could recall enough. If he had been left there, there was no doubt he would have died.

It was probably either Kiiro, Raquel, or the Mitsurugi Agency, or maybe even Clavis who had gotten him to the hospital.

Then, thinking about how Haruka and Yuki must have been contacted afterward, a wave of guilt hit Naoto, along with a sense of awkwardness and embarrassment that was almost unbearable.

"…G-Good morning." Not knowing what to say, Naoto said this to Haruka, who was looking up at him pleadingly. Suddenly, tears began to well up in Haruka's eyes. Before the first drop could fall on Naoto's stiff face, Haruka pressed her forehead against his chest and buried her face.

"It's not good morning, you idiot!" She said with a tearful voice, and then, unable to form any clear words, Haruka burst into tears like a child. Behind Haruka, by the side of the hospital room door, stood Raquel. Surprised by Haruka's sudden outburst, she took a step forward to try to calm her down, but unsure of what to do next, she looked to Naoto for help.

Seeing Raquel's lost, little animal-like eyes, Naoto couldn't help but burst out laughing. Raquel's eyebrows furrowed in disapproval. But then she soon slumped her shoulders and let out a sigh of relief. Seeing this, Naoto too let out a deep breath of relief.

For now, it seemed that both he and Raquel had managed to get through that full moon night safely.

On a small chest next to the bed, a delicate heart-shaped object was placed, surrounded by flowers—most likely Haruka's taste. Through the square window beyond, the clear blue sky of a crisp autumn day could be seen.

...That was about an hour ago.

After being soothed by Naoto and Raquel, who had been reluctantly dragged into the situation by Naoto’s summons, Haruka had eventually stopped crying after some time.

From what Naoto had heard, he had been involved in a massive land subsidence accident and was brought in unconscious, in critical condition. According to the doctor Haruka had called, he needed to be hospitalized for a few more days to observe his condition. Since he would need clothes and personal items, Haruka decided to go back to her apartment to fetch his things. She also arranged to contact Yuki, who had gone off to work, despite her worry.

Haruka said she would buy some cream puffs on her way back, and with a smile, she finally left the hospital room.

Afterwards, a female nurse came and explained the basics of hospital life, such as where the bathroom was, the hours of the shop, how to use the call button, and meal times. Once the basic procedures were done, Naoto sighed, trying to refocus his mind.

It was quiet outside the room, with barely a sound of footsteps passing by. Perhaps the room was located at the far end of the ward. After waiting about ten minutes to see if any doctors or other nurses would come in to replace the previous one, Naoto glanced back at Raquel, who was sitting in a metal chair by the bed.

"......Can I ask you something?" He remembered everything up until he lost consciousness, but after that, his memory was completely blank. He could make guesses, but they would only be guesses. Raquel gave a graceful nod, as if saying she understood. Naoto responded with a quiet "Alright."

"I don't know where to start... First of all, what about Saya?" He hadn't had the time to worry about Saya since he had rescued her from Spinner's insect. He felt ashamed of himself for fainting while leaving his unconscious sister behind.

Raquel shook her head, her golden hair swinging like a ribbon in its usual ponytail.

“I don’t know. By the time we carried you out, Saya was already gone. When you pulled me out of Spinner, she was still lying unconscious... I think she must have regained consciousness when either my father or Kiiro arrived and then left," Raquel explained.

"I see. Well, it's much better than finding her dead body," Naoto replied, seemingly unconcerned. Inwardly, he was grateful to Raquel for her broad, calm perspective when she had checked for Saya's presence right after being pulled from Spinner. He hadn’t even looked back to check himself.

The worst-case scenario would’ve been that Saya was unknowingly killed by Clavis in his pursuit of Soul Eater. At least that disaster had been avoided. He could count his blessings, even if it didn’t entirely put his mind at ease.

"And what about Spinner?"

"It’s gone. There wasn’t a body left, so there’s no physical evidence, but his soul and existence were drawn into the Boundary and consumed. It got sucked into the ‘Gate to the Boundary’ that it had opened..."

"The Boundary...?" Naoto began to ask, but he stopped mid-sentence. His intuition told him that it was a complicated subject he didn’t want to get into. He suddenly remembered Clavis's words, "You don't need to understand the rules of the outside world." This was exactly the kind of thing he meant.

Until he needed to understand, he would just think of it as something that Spinner was obsessed with. It didn’t matter if he didn’t understand it. It had no impact on his current situation.

There was one more urgent thing he wanted to ask.

"Then what about this?" Naoto asked, lifting his arm. His left arm. “Why... do I still have an arm and a leg?”

Under the white-covered blanket, his right leg was also casually thrown out.

He remembered the morning after he first met Raquel. Even then, the arm that had been taken by the insect was attached to Naoto's right shoulder as if nothing had happened.

However, there was a big difference this time.

The arm Raquel had created from her own blood had moved according to Naoto’s will from the start. It had been so perfectly functional that he almost wondered if the insect-gnawed arm had been a dream. But the left arm and right leg he had now, while they could be moved, didn’t respond as smoothly or naturally.

He glanced at Raquel, silently asking if she was the one responsible for this. She understood the unspoken question and shook her head.

“As for the arm and leg... you should ask her, not me. She should be here soon.” Raquel said, and then, she glanced toward the door behind her.

At that moment, there was a light knock on the hospital room door. It seemed Raquel had already noticed the approaching footsteps and the person who was coming.

"Yes?"

When Naoto called out, the door hesitated for a moment before slowly opening.

It was Kiiro who entered. She was wearing bright pink lipstick, had done her makeup subtly, and had tied her golden hair up in a high ponytail.

With her appearance, she looked like a very beautiful and somewhat dubious career woman. It was hard to believe that she was the same woman in the bodysuit on that moonlit night.

Instead of her usual sexy suit that showed off the lines of her body, Kiiro was wearing a thick long coat that covered her from head to toe.

Swinging the hem of her long coat heavily, Kiiro walked to the opposite side of the bed, avoiding Raquel, and looked down at Naoto with a wry smile.

"You're awake. That's good."

Naoto felt a sense of unease at her attitude and hesitated. This wasn’t like her. There was none of her usual, overwhelming self-assertion, the kind that paid no mind to others’ discomfort. The way she was speaking to him, almost as if she were apologetic, made Naoto suspicious.

"Did you... put these arms and legs on me?"

"I arranged for it, but I didn't actually prepare the limbs or perform the procedure. Even the current Mitsurugi Agency doesn't have the technology to create such precise human limbs."

"Then who did?"

It wasn’t Raquel or Kiiro. For a moment, Clavis came to mind, but Naoto quickly dismissed that thought. If Clavis had created the limbs, they would have been working smoothly without any issues, and Raquel’s reaction would be more dissatisfied.

The name Kiiro mentioned next took Naoto aback.

"I think you know, Naoto-kun. The one who created and attached your arms and legs was Relius Clover."

"Relius!?" Thinking that was absurd, Naoto looked at Raquel. Raquel nodded in affirmation.

"It may feel strange now, but in a few days, it should become integrated with your body and you'll be able to move it without any problems. It will be inconvenient until then, but please bear with it."

"Hey, who do you think you are, just doing whatever you want? Is this really okay?"

"It's fine. I haven't done anything strange. Don't worry."

“‘Don’t worry’... I don’t think I can do that.”

Staring intently at his left arm, Naoto couldn’t help but voice his inner thoughts. The man with the dark belt covering his eyes, the strange and calculating man, flashed into his mind. He didn’t know him well, but he had been saved by him in a dangerous situation once. Still, the thought of being at ease around that man didn’t sit well with him.

With a stiff expression, Naoto looked at Raquel. Raquel, who had unknowingly tensed up in the folding chair, noticed his gaze. Even so, she stubbornly avoided looking at Kiyo and opened her mouth.

"I don't feel anything strange. It's true that there's no tampering."

“Well, if you say so…”

If Raquel says so, it probably wasn’t some huge bomb implanted into him. Even if it was a small bomb that Raquel couldn’t detect, it would be nothing compared to the inconvenience of not having arms or legs.

The arm that Relius had made, while not as familiar as the one Raquel had given him, was a marvelous piece of work. The texture of the skin, the sensation of touch—it was no different from his original arm. There were no visible stitches, and he couldn't tell where his own arm ended just by looking at it.

Just who was that man? He wondered, gazing intently at his arm. Here was a normal arm, made of flesh and bone. It wasn't a prosthetic. How in the world could he have created something like this?

"There's one more thing I need to tell you today," Kiiro said in a formal tone, gently pushing Naoto's question aside. She sounded a little tense. Naoto looked up, wondering why she would be nervous.

Kiiro placed her hand gently over her chest, which was visibly full even through her coat, and took a deep breath. Then, with that same hand, she began to unbutton her coat. He immediately understood what she was about to do.

Naoto's eyes widened in surprise, and he turned his head away sharply.

Naked.

Kiiro was naked. She wasn't wearing anything under her coat.

"What are you doing? Put your clothes on..."

"Look, Naoto-kun," Kiiro invited softly. There was nothing but the usual seductive temptation in her voice. “…Look closely.”

Her voice, which would usually be seductive, was strangely serious. Naoto hesitated, still unsure, but awkwardly turned his head back toward her.

Kiiro had completely discarded her coat, and what was revealed was a body that was—at first glance—striking.

Her body was not unblemished. In fact, it was the opposite. Her body was covered in scars—huge, noticeable surgical scars that Naoto couldn’t help but stare at in disbelief. On her upper arms, shoulders, ankles, and thighs. There were diagonal scars running across her torso, as if her body had been severed and then put back together.

Along with the scars, Naoto’s gaze was drawn to something else. On Kiiro’s chest, just below her collarbone, was a strange mark. It looked like a brand that might be used to mark a product, and it was a number.

"Es No07" - that's what it said.

“I am the Dimensional Boundary Contact Prototype, EsNo07... a synthetic doll created by human hands.”

“Wh… what are you talking about? Dimensional… what?”

“Dimensional boundary contact body.”

Naoto didn’t understand. He asked, his voice filled with confusion. Kiiro smiled lightly and corrected him, pronouncing the words slowly this time.

Her usual red-purple eyes, which often held a provocative glint, now had a trace of loneliness, and Kiiro narrowed her eyes slightly.

“Actually, there were many other dolls like me. But they were all broken. Some of them were eaten by Spinner's bugs and torn apart.”

“Many.” Naoto swallowed his confusion at the way she counted inanimate objects.

It was an unbelievable story. Kiiro obviously looked human, and she was nothing like the department store mannequins Naoto instinctively thought of when he heard the word doll.

He had touched her skin directly. Her colorful skin was warm to the touch, and he could feel her heart beating beneath her ample breasts.

Kiiro lifted her breast slightly and traced the surgical scar that ran diagonally across the bottom of her chest with her fingers.

“I was made by piecing together the bodies of my broken, dismembered sisters. Remember when Spinner called me a ‘mosaic’? That’s what it meant.”

“I…”

“Don’t feel sorry for me. I don’t want to hear you say that, Naoto-kun. It would make me sad.” Naoto had almost blurted out a word of comfort, but Kiiro quickly, yet gently, stopped him from speaking. “This is my request.”

With that preface, Kiiro composed herself, her expression turning serious as she looked directly at Naoto.

“I… no, we were originally created to find and obtain the ‘Azure’. We were forced to suspend our search for various reasons, but with the gate that Spinner opened… using that as a new clue, the Mitsurugi Agency is once again in pursuit of the ‘Azure’.”

Naoto heard Raquel gasp as he looked back at Kiiro. That sound told him that her story was very serious and entirely possible.

At the same time, Naoto realized that, despite having mentioned the Mitsurugi Agency many times, he didn’t really understand what it was. What kind of organization was it, exactly? Who was in charge? Who gave the orders? He knew nothing.

Kiiro had said that the Mitsurugi Agency's purpose was to "uphold and manage the order of the human world." However, no one had ever said that this meant eliminating "threats" like Clavis.

“That’s not all. The Mitsurugi Agency is gathering Drive users as a military force. Eventually, they plan to monopolize the Drive users, and anyone who doesn’t comply with the Agency will be eliminated. Even you, Naoto-kun…”

“Blood Edge, right?” Naoto filled in the blank, referring to the name he had learned. Kiiro nodded slightly.

Naoto still didn’t fully understand how to control it or what kind of power it was, but he could at least grasp that it was the name of his Drive.

It was that power that allowed him to defeat the massive insect sent by Isa and Spinner. It let him rescue Raquel from within Spinner.

An unknown power dormant within him, yet a valuable weapon for Naoto... Blood Edge.

Kiiro pressed her hand against her chest, where the numbered mark was.

“Naoto-kun. Come with me. If you need the ‘Azure,’ let’s search for it together under the Mitsurugi Agency. If you stay like this, we’ll end up as enemies. I’ll have no choice but to eliminate you.”

As a dangerous individual who didn’t obey the institution and, at the same time, as an obstacle to obtaining the unique ‘Azure,’ his life would be in danger.

Kiiro didn’t sound like she was threatening him. There were no hints of any schemes or manipulations behind her words. She was simply worried about him. She was convinced that joining the Mitsurugi Agency would be the way to save him.

Even though Naoto could sense that, he shook his head firmly without hesitation.

“I appreciate your concern, and I’m grateful for arranging the hospital and the arm... but I’m going to decline your offer. I won’t join the Mitsurugi Agency.” It was already a firm decision in Naoto’s mind.

He found it a little strange himself. If he thought about it more calmly and objectively, it might be safer, easier, and more certain to join the Mitsurugi Agency. There was even the option to follow Clavis's lead, as he had suggested.

But no matter who offered him a different choice or in what words, Naoto didn’t find it appealing.

(Is it because of the promise... that I made?)

He had promised to obtain the ‘Azure’. It was the first promise he made to Raquel. It felt like a contract etched into his soul through the right arm that had been given to him.

He didn’t feel cramped or dissatisfied with that promise. He just wanted to find the Azure with Raquel. That was the only reason. But for Naoto, it was a reason more important than anything else.

Kiiro stared at Naoto as if she wanted to say something, then let out a sigh of disappointment and slumped her shoulders.

“Alright… I understand. If you’re going to say that, I’ll step back quietly today.” As if to prove her words, she fastened the front of her thick coat, hiding the countless stitching scars, her white skin, and the engraving on her chest. She adjusted the rim of her thin glasses with her fingertips, then flashed a seductive, almost playful smile.

"But I won’t give up. I feel like you and I are bound by fate, Naoto-kun." After saying that, Kiiro blew a small kiss and left the hospital room. The sound of her high heels clicking on the floor quickly faded away.

As soon as the hospital room was filled with silence and stillness, Naoto and Raquel both exhaled deeply. Naoto did so with a sense of weariness at the increasingly complicated situation around him. Raquel did so because she was relieved of the tense atmosphere that had been created by Kiiro's presence.

Although they hadn’t spent much time together, Naoto noticed that Raquel seemed visibly more tired now than she had been before Kiiro entered the room. He furrowed his brows and smiled wryly.

“You really don’t change, do you...?”

Even though she had been living with Naoto for quite some time and had plenty of opportunities to interact with women, Raquel still couldn't have a proper conversation with anyone but Haruka. Even with Yuki, it was a bit rough.

With a confident look that was completely different from before, Raquel used her finger to tuck a short strand of hair from her ponytail behind her ear.

“Don’t make it sound like such a big deal. It’s just... I’m not good at it, okay?” She insisted.

"You should try to accept reality a little." Naoto said it casually, but he knew that Raquel wasn’t the type to change her behavior, no matter what he said. He didn’t have the energy to try and force her to adjust either.

Letting out a small sigh, Naoto pushed his legs closer to his chest and bent his knee. Since his right leg couldn’t bend, it was only his left leg that moved. Come to think of it, out of all his limbs, only his left leg remained as his own. The rest—his arms and the other leg—were artificial.

"Hey, Raquel. Why..."

Naoto found himself gazing at his left leg through the blanket, lost in strange thoughts. He opened his mouth casually, then paused, realizing he wasn’t sure whether he should ask, but decided to continue anyway.

“Why did you choose me?”

Raquel didn’t seem particularly surprised by the question. She didn’t seem troubled or displeased either. Instead, she stared at Naoto with her translucent eyes, looking deeply into his, as though peering into his very core.

Keeping her gaze fixed on him, Raquel lifted herself from her chair and gently placed her hand on Naoto's stomach. She leaned forward smoothly.

The white hand that had been placed on his stomach moved up over the blanket and onto Naoto's chest. With her other hand, she touched Naoto's shoulder, and then... with a quiet, emotionless expression, Raquel gently pressed her cheek against Naoto's chest.

“Hey…”

Raquel moved her body over Naoto’s as he lay on the bed, and with a dreamy look in her eyes, she closed them.

“…I can hear the heartbeat of the Azure from you.” She said softly, as if whispering to the heartbeat beneath her pressed ear.

"Huh?" Not understanding what she meant, Naoto furrowed his brows. She hadn’t answered his earlier question either. But Raquel, with a playful, almost kitten-like gesture, gazed up at Naoto from his chest. She trapped his image in her large golden eyes and spoke in a soft, delicate voice.

“Naoto. Obtain the Azure. And then… take me…”

What Raquel said was neither an order nor a plea, but the promise they had made.

It was the promise made in the abandoned apartment complex under the moonlight. The collapsed buildings. The insects that had gnawed off his limbs, and the girl with golden eyes who looked down at Naoto, buried under debris.

The promise made between them, with her wearing nothing but a simple white dress and a black cloak, bathed in the moonlight.

Raquel continued weaving her words.

"Find me."

Naoto didn’t ask where.

He didn’t ask how.

Raquel spoke with a hint of uncertainty, and Naoto placed his hand gently on her head.

"I understand. Don’t worry."

It might have been Raquel's way of deflecting. Naoto’s question might have been something difficult for her to answer with words.

Or perhaps this was her answer. Knowing how awkward Raquel was, maybe this was all she could say.

In any case, Naoto thought, it’s fine.

Under his hand, Raquel laughed softly, as though feeling a bit ticklish.

For now, that smile was enough.

### 008. Extra Chapter: Fragment

If the Azure weaves a story, it simultaneously unravels another.

This is a small fragment of a story that has been retold countless times. A delicate snag in a story that branches out in many directions. A faint splash of a story folded over in layers. A story that has many beginnings and many endings, yet is still intertwined in a complex way.

The hands of the clock turn slightly backward.

The full moon hung like a gaping hole in the night sky, which seemed to spread deep darkness.

It was around dinner time. Ignoring the busy flow of people, two men stood on the rooftop of an old apartment building near Shinkawahama Station.

One was a sharp-eyed man with a rough appearance and a sturdy build, wearing a stiff suit that didn't quite suit his menacing appearance. Valkenhayn Hellsing.

The other was a man with a refined physique, golden hair, and pale skin. However, his eyes were covered with a black band, creating a strange aura about him. This man was Relius Clover.

They were looking at a building under construction, two streets away. They were looking at the rooftop where construction scaffolding had been set up.

Until just a moment ago, a battle had secretly taken place there, one that would determine the boundary of the world and the fate of a young boy. But now the curtain had fallen, and the performers had left the stage. Now people from the Mitsurugi Agency gathered to clean up the mess.

Relius watched the scene for a while, then lost interest and looked away, his eyes covered by a black blindfold. His gaze drifted to the ground. There, lying at his feet, was a girl. She was dressed in a pale pink and purple kimono, her long hair sprawled out. She was unconscious, lying limply, and next to her lay the weapon she had used—a katana.

"...Kiiro has successfully installed the Murakumo Unit..." As he looked down at the limp girl, Relius muttered to himself. It was a comment not meant for anyone to hear, but even a single low, raspy word was enough to reach the beastman standing beside him. Valkenhayn frowned at the unfamiliar words and turned to Relius with a glare.

"Murakumo Unit? What's that?" He also wanted to ask why his partner had retrieved the girl lying at his feet, but he decided not to ask. He didn't think he would get a pleasant answer. Relius replied in a cool, emotionless voice. "A Sister Observer weapon... in other words, a weapon created to kill gods."

"Kill gods? What nonsense..." Valkenhayn snorted and turned his back to the building under construction. "Enough of this. Let's get out of here." Urged by the irritated voice, Relius also began to walk away.

But just then, the door to the rooftop forcefully swung open. A boy jumped out. He was tall and thin boy, probably around the same age as Naoto Kurogane. However, instead of the student uniform like Naoto, he was wearing a black suit similar to Relius'. He also wore a black hat that seemed to be tailored to match the suit.

"Ah, here you are. I've been looking for you, Relius Clover." As soon as he found Relius, the boy in the suit dramatically patted his chest. Neither Relius nor Valkenhayn knew the boy. But the fact that he knew their names made Valkenhayn step forward with caution.

"Who are you?" He asked, frowning suspiciously as he glared at the boy. The boy had a gentle-looking face. But the way he smiled, raising the corners of his mouth as he looked back at Valkenhayn, somehow gave an unsettling feeling.

"Ah, well... how should I put this? I was told by the Mitsurugi Agency in fall to follow Relius’s instructions, but... wasn’t that mentioned to you?" He tilted his head as if puzzled and raised both hands. Every gesture of his further irritated Valkenhayn. But Relius, on the other hand, was observing the boy intently through his belt, whether or not he was listening to the boy's story.

"Hmm... interesting form," he finally muttered.

"What is?" The boy asked, tilting his head to the other side, but Relius didn’t answer. He appeared to be deep in his observations, and Valkenhayn let out a frustrated sigh.

Then, a muffled murmur reached the wolf's ears. The voice seemed to belong to the boy. But the voice was unusually low and seemed to carry an unsettling, ominous tone.

"Anyway, I've finally 'found you'..."

Whether or not Relius heard the boy's murmured words under his hat, he showed no concern as he spoke up.

"What's your name?"

The boy gave a weak, insincere smile. "Name... huh. Well, I don't really care about names."

Valkenhayn scowled at the boy's carefree expression. "Are you mocking us?"

"Not at all! Ah, right. Please, just call me..." He straightened up, a smile curling on his lips, and with a deep bow, he said, "Call me 'Hazama'."

With that, the boy picked up his black hat and took a deep, clownish bowed bow.

This is a thread that was never meant to be written, woven between stories.

A summer inserted that only those who can see can see, and only those who know can know.

Somewhere that is not here... a distorted note of a disturbing overture that leads to another story of the Azure.

And the night of the full moon comes to an end.

### 009. Afterword

Thank you for picking up “Bloodedge Experience”. I am the author, Mako Komao.

First of all, this book is the second volume of a two-part series. If you've casually picked this up and are now reading the afterword, wondering what it's about, please take note that this is the second half of the story. I hope you can enjoy both volumes together!

Now, let me briefly explain the book.

This story shares the same underlying world as the 2D fighting game BLAZBLUE, which is published by Arc System Works. The producer of BLAZBLUE and the creator of the original plot and supervisor for this novel, Mr. Toshimichi Mori, wrote the outline, and I, Mako Komao, wrote the novel itself.

There are many connections between the game BLAZBLUE and Bloodedge Experience. So, for those of you who haven’t played the game yet, I’d recommend experiencing the Azure storyline through the game as well. I’m sure you’ll find a lot of fun moments!

Also, a novel series based on BLAZBLUE has been published by Fujimi Dragon Books, also written by me. If you’re interested, I’d be thrilled if you check those out as well!

Now, let me take this time to share my thoughts about the creation of this book.

Bloodedge Experience is finally finished.

The concept for the story has actually been around for a long time. Mr. Mori told me his ideas a while ago, and I recently remembered how we were quietly talking about them over a meal. At that time, we didn’t have the current setting yet, so it feels nostalgic to think back on those early days.

But when it came to actually writing, it was tough. Mr. Mori has a way of packing in so many exciting ideas—everything from the comedic elements to unexpected connections with the BLAZBLUE series.

I had to make sure none of those ideas got lost or overlooked, while juggling and writing them all down in an organized way. It was quite a challenge.

The inclusion of the protagonist’s sister was one of the most unexpected elements. When I first received the plot for the first volume, I literally leaned forward in shock and asked, "What’s going on here?"

There were moments like this throughout the process, and I’m sure readers who are familiar with the main BLAZBLUE story will find surprises and smirks as they enjoy these twists.

In fact, I can't help but think, I really hope that's the case... I've planted a lot of little details throughout the story, so I hope you’ll enjoy them all.

Of course, while this novel is connected to the game, it is an independent story. You don’t need to know the game in advance to understand or enjoy this book, so I would be happy if you could love it as its own unique tale.

By now, I’m sure you've already read the content of this book. How did you find it? Did you enjoy it?

As the writer, I can’t express the emotions I felt in just one sentence. It was a lot of fun, and I was excited throughout the process. But there were times I struggled with how to write certain parts, and moments where I was frustrated with my own writing—like, “Is this all you can do?!” It’s a bit of a tradition for me now to get angry with myself toward the end of the writing process.

Even so, I’m really relieved and happy to have come this far and be able to write this afterword. It feels like I’ve finished a huge task.

Still, now that it’s over, it’s a bit like leaving an amusement park at closing time—looking back at the beautiful night view and feeling that bittersweet sense of "Ah... that was fun."

Oh, by the way, this afterword is actually 8 pages long. That’s pretty long, isn’t it? My editor even laughed a bit when they saw how long it was, but it’s just the page count. So, I'll continue writing freely for a little bit more, so please bear with me.

Now, I’d like to know, what characters or scenes did you enjoy the most? For me personally, I absolutely love the pair of Naoto and Raquel.

Well, actually, one of my long-time favorite characters, a certain "father," also makes an appearance in this novel. Every time I wrote his name, I couldn’t help but feel this incredible excitement, like “Yes! Here we go!” But setting that aside, Naoto and Raquel are really my favorites.

I don’t just like them, I think they're absolutely adorable. Both of them are earnest and straightforward. They tend to act on their emotions without hesitation.

Naoto, in particular, was a character who felt just right to me. I had a strong sense of “This is how he would act,” and “This is something he would say,” so I could write him easily and naturally. He was a character that really clicked for me.

As for Raquel, she’s a character I always want to push to her limits. There’s no end to my desire to see what I can make her feel and do. It was so much fun thinking about what she was going through and what she might be feeling.

Let me go ahead and talk about some of the memorable scenes while I’m at it. We still have some pages left, after all.

Well, I’ll talk more about the chapter than the scene, actually. The last chapter, Chapter 11, is without a doubt the most important in this novel, and it still weighs heavily on my heart to this day. Of course, the other chapters have left their mark too, but Chapter 11 is particularly heavy, so please don’t misunderstand me.

"Bloodedge Experience" is a rare novel for me, as I wrote it from beginning to end, following the chapters in order. So, Chapter 11 was the last chapter I wrote, except for the epilogue. And since it was the final chapter, I was probably really emotionally charged when I wrote it. I was also up against a looming deadline, of course.

I remember being in a highly excited state, leaning forward, pounding away at the keyboard with all my might. By the time I finished writing, I felt like my soul had been drained.

But anyway, let's move on.

"Bloodedge Experience" ends here. To be honest, it feels sad that I have to put a stop to Naoto and Raquel’s story. The two volumes were a lot of work, but at the same time, they feel so short. It’s over in the blink of an eye. Personally, I can’t help but wish I could see even more of Naoto and Raquel in different situations and moments.

Since I just finished writing it, I feel particularly nostalgic. I've written everything I could, but I’ve grown so attached to the characters across these two books. If I ever get the chance to write another story about Naoto and the others, I would raise my fist in joy. I might even jump up and down in excitement. I’m sure I’d let out some sort of strange happy noise too.

I hope that day will come someday. And I would be incredibly happy if you, the reader, also hope for that.

Now, it looks like the afterword is about to end, and it’s already longer than the second epilogue. So here comes the gratitude section!

Since I have the space, I’ll be able to say everything I want to say. I hope you’ll bear with me for a little while longer. Writing this section always makes me feel like I’m wrapping things up, and it brings a sense of closure to my heart.

First, I want to express my deep gratitude to Mr. Mori, the producer of BLAZBLUE and the original creator of Bloodedge Experience. Thank you so much for letting me write this novel. It was a tough yet joyful writing experience. I’m truly grateful to have been entrusted with the characters of Naoto, Raquel, Haruka, Spinner, and so many others. I look forward to working with you again in the future!

To my editor, I apologize for the trouble and the worry I may have caused. Thank you so much for constantly encouraging me. You were the first person to say "It’s really interesting!" and that support meant everything to me.

I would also like to thank Kyo, who was responsible for the illustrations. Thank you so much, and great job! Both Mr. Mori and I have worked together on previous projects, but I can only imagine how stressful and challenging it must have been for you to suddenly be thrown into the task of illustrating for this project. I truly appreciate how you brought Bloodedge Experience to life with your artwork.

By the way, as I mentioned in the afterword of the first volume, I was the only one among the main team who had not met Kyo in person. Unfortunately, that situation still hasn’t changed by the time of this second volume’s afterword. I really hope that someday I’ll be able to meet you face-to-face and properly thank you in person.

And now, the final part. To you, the reader, thank you for picking up this book and for reading this far. I’m so glad you took the time to explore the story. If you bought this book after reading it, that would be the best outcome I could hope for, but even if you’re just reading because you were interested, I’m still very grateful.

The existence of this book is due to the hard work of many people, but for a novel to truly come to life, it requires readers. Because you decided to read Bloodedge Experience, it was able to finish its journey as a novel. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

I hope we can meet again someday, on the streets of Shinkawahama. Until then, please don’t forget about Naoto and the others!

Mako Komao