Editing BlazBlue:Spiral Shift - Hyokujin no Eiyu (section)

===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 the soul. Jin was also someone with a Drive, but it's not something that the usual person would carry with them. Infact 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 Karenzina'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 dietogether 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.

[[File:SS1-3.png|thumb]]

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.