Editing BlazBlue:Phase Shift 4 Chapter 2 (section)

==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.

[[Image:BB_PS4_111.jpg|thumb]]

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

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