Editing BlazBlue:Calamity Trigger Part 2 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 1===
'''December 30, 2199 - 23:45''' 

The night deepened quietly under the clear silver moon.

The wind that crossed the heights was strong, making a sound like death cutting through the air. The clouds, thin and stretched out, occasionally blocked the moonlight and were easily swept away, disappearing into the sky.

The commercial district of the upper layer of Kagutsuchi was already mostly closed, with few people around, enveloped in a secretive atmosphere. The stores that operated at night were only lined up on the main street, and if you took the back streets, you could head to the city center without attracting unnecessary attention.

There were few lights and no unnecessary facilities. This was a city that was managed for order. Those who sought entertainment would go down a few levels to a place with less surveillance.

Otherwise, they would obediently return to their blessed homes and enjoy the warmth of a  warm room.

The people who lived around here, whether shallow or deep, all had some kind of connection with the NOL. With the Novus Orbis Librarium's Kagutsuchi branch nearby, and many related facilities lined up around it, there were few who would choose to go out at night.

Yes. The Novus Orbis Librarium's Kagutsuchi branch was visible nearby.

"Every time I see it, it's always... a hollow figure."

In the nighttime of the upper city, a white shadow stopped and chewed.

It had a form that was like a human, but not a human. The toned body was the silhouette of a man, and he was tall. He wore a strange outfit based on white and black, not revealing a single piece of human skin. Not his fingertips, toes, not even his head.

The man in white and black had no expression. The face, which looked like it was covered with a white mask, had no eyes, nose, or mouth, and a long tuft of white hair-like things grew from his head.

On his back, he carried a sword that was abnormally long. It was one of only two in the world, a Nox Nyctores: Interfectum Malus: Ookami.

It was a weapon created during the Dark War, which began about a hundred years ago, to fight against the Black Beast.

The fact that he carried it on his back indicated that he was a hero, the owner of Ookami.

His name was Hakumen. He was one of the Six Heroes said to have taken the lead in challenging the Black Beast that rampaged to destroy humanity during the "Dark War," a war where the world once saw despair.

He was said to have gone missing immediately after the war, and since then, no one knew his whereabouts... and now, about ninety years later, the hero in white attire was in the land of Kagutsuchi.

Large, claw-like feet walked, hidden in the shadows of the dark back streets. The destination was the rumored Kagutsuchi branch of the NOL, which shone in the moonlight.

The sophisticated cityscape that led to it was nostalgic for Hakumen.

No, the word nostalgic was not enough. It was a distant memory. An old, old memory. Parts of it were blurred and painful, or torn and lost, and they would never be repaired. But someday, it was a fragment of memory that the soul certainly saw, heard, touched, and tasted.

He once walked this land in a different form than now, chasing the same man as now. And at the end of that...

"That's... a phenomena weapon."

Suddenly, Hakumen stopped walking.

Ahead, beyond the darkness of the night, there was a known presence. A phenomena weapon - like the Ookami on his back, it seemed that one of the weapons created during the Dark War was there.

But it was strange. The weapon that Hakumen knew was long sealed, and shouldn't exist as a Nox Nyctores. Moreover, the presence that felt like it was clinging to this thread somehow felt different from the one that was in the same battlefield in the past.

It was an uncomfortable feeling, as if he had stepped into a muddy place. This unclear feeling, even if he tried to ignore it, was persistent and clung to him. Either way, it was the destination. Hakumen lowered his waist while facing the direction of the presence, and jumped high.

Jumping to the roof of the building beside him, he kicked off his feet as they were and went forward. Overlooking the moon, he jumped over the roofs one after another.

The moon was swelling into an almost perfect circle. Tomorrow would be a full moon.

The full moon did not bring good memories.

Jumping over the last roof, he found the owner of the presence below. If Hakumen had an expression, he would have frowned in suspicion.

A child was walking on a back street that deliberately deviated from the main street, a dark path with only the light leaking from the windows of the buildings. Although he was wearing fine clothes, the path he was walking and the time of day were completely unsuitable.

Walking alongside the child, as if accompanying him, was the owner of the déjà vu and discomfort that Hakumen felt.

Catching the night wind, Hakumen jumped down. He landed right in front of the child and the strange figure standing beside him.

"Whoa!" The child raised a voice of surprise appropriate for his age at the white intruder who had fallen from the sky. But at the same time, the way he jumped back was by no means childish.

As Hakumen recognized from a distance, he was a boy in fine clothes. A purple outfit with a cloak of the same color and a top hat. Behind the round glasses, there were eyes that seemed to be of good birth nestled in the eye sockets, but the emotions there were strangely uneasy.

Was it because of the figure beside him? Hakumen straightened his posture from the landing position and turned his face to the tall figure who had stepped out in front of the boy, instead of the boy.

It was a mechanical doll.

Although it was modeled after a woman in a purple dress, it was clear at a glance that it wasn't human. The inorganic and metallic texture, the face that looked like a mere creation, the arms that were too long and looked like sturdy gauntlets, and the sharp claws lined up instead of fingers.

"Nox Nyctores... Deus Machina: Nirvana." In a muffled voice under the mask, Hakumen spoke the doll's name.

At that moment, murderous intent gushed out from the boy like a spray. His wide-open blue eyes harbored a dangerous light, and he stared at Hakumen as if challenging him without fear. The hand he held out, as if protecting the mechanical doll standing one step behind him, could be seen as if he were bracing himself.

"I don't know who you are, but I don't know anyone by that name. I'm Carl Clover, and this is my sister, Ada. There's no one named Nirvana here." The boy, who identified himself as Carl in an innocent but hostile voice, told Hakumen. But immediately, as if called by someone, he turned around sharply. What he looked up at through his large glasses was the mechanical doll he called his sister.

"Huh? What's wrong, sister?" Carl behaved as if he could hear the voice of the doll behind him.

Hakumen's ears could not hear the voice of the mechanical doll Nirvana. Even if there were other people in this place, they would probably not be able to hear it.

The voice of his sister whispering to him was only heard by Carl. Whether it was really Nirvana's voice or not was another matter.

"This person..." 

While turning his ear to his sister, Carl looked at Hakumen with caution. They were not the eyes of a child. His eyes, which were both ruthless and aggressive, as well as intelligent, observed Hakumen closely. Soon, the boy found an answer and frowned with his handsome eyebrows as if doubting his own eyes.

"That body... and the odachi on your back... could it be the Interfectum Malus: Ookami? Then you're... Hakumen of the Six Heroes?" Carl's tone, which suggested that he had some knowledge of Ookami and the Six Heroes, made him feel like he had a level of education beyond his years.

Why such a boy was with this doll was unclear to Hakumen.

"Child, that doll is a Nox Nyctores. Touching it demands a corresponding burden from the user. Even if it's Nirvana, it will be too much poison for a young mind." Hakumen spoke calmly without returning any of the hostility or murderous intent that were directed at him.

A Nox Nyctores is not just a weapon. In the past, each weapon had its own "individuality," and in order to wield its power, it interfered with the user's mind to draw out even more power, making it a semi-living weapon.

The Ookami that Hakumen possessed, and the Nirvana over there, had sealed their "individuality," so there wasn't as much burden as during the war. Even so, possessing a Nox Nyctores meant that the mind was being eroded and interfered with every day.

Unless one had a stronger mental strength than necessary, or something that could replace it, it was difficult not only to handle, but to even maintain a sane mind.

"Then, what are you trying to say?" Carl glared at Hakumen with an upward glance and an unsettling voice. The well-mannered face he had been trying to maintain was now abandoned, and he was measuring the distance between himself and Hakumen with an uneasy calmness.

"What I do is none of your business. What's wrong with siblings being together in the first place?" Carl's tone was slightly different from a child's tantrum or selfishness. It was more insightful and calm.

"You understand, and yet you say you will follow it?" Hakumen muttered to himself. 

He could see that the boy named Carl understood that the doll he called his sister, Nirvana, was a Nox Nyctores. That being together was bizarre to others. That being together put a strain on his mind. However, it was doubtful how truly he felt the sense of crisis that he might be ruined as a result.

"You have a rude way of speaking for someone who's supposed to be one of the Six Heroes." Carl grimaced unhappily.

Without being moved by his desperate glare, Hakumen asked again. "Where did you get it?"

That which should have been sealed long ago.

"I have no obligation to answer. Please move out of the way. If you are going to interfere with us, even if you are Hakumen, one of the Six Heroes... I will not forgive you."

As if to show that there was no falsehood in those words, Carl clenched his hand wrapped in a white glove tightly. Seemingly induced by Carl's will, Nirvana slid forward several steps, and then, as he had been done to her earlier, she stood to protect her little master behind her back.

"Sister?" That seemed to be different from what Carl had intended, and the boy looked up at his sister in bewilderment. The inorganic sister stood motionless in front of Carl, lightly opening both arms as if to block the way. The face with lowered metallic eyelids had no eyes, but a quiet gaze stared at Hakumen.

Carl knew that if he jumped out, Hakumen would draw the odachi on his back without hesitation and fight back.

Nirvana probably understood that. Or perhaps it was a memory.

From behind Nirvana, who was trying to protect her master by shielding him, Carl, unable to grasp the situation, raised his voice in agitation.

"What's wrong, sister!? Can you hear me!? ...Y-you, what did you do to my sister!?" His expression, which had been so calm until then, changed drastically. His eyes narrowed and he showed intense anger. But Nirvana firmly held Carl back, preventing him from moving even a step forward. 

As if measuring the distance, Nirvana took a step back. Following her, Hakumen grabbed his odachi.

At that moment, Nirvana, with a sudden movement that ignored breathing, grabbed Carl as if snatching him up, and jumped up to the roof. Immediately, she avoided the moonlight and chose the darkness, running from the roof to the alley, and then dashing towards the main street and disappearing.

Soon the presence moved away, and eventually blended into the lights of the city.

"Did they get away?" Hakumen took his hand off the odachi.

If they went to a crowded place, it would be difficult to chase them. If they were found by the NOL soldiers, who would be suitable for maintaining security, there would be various troubles.

Besides... it seemed that another person had come whom he'd have to deal with.

When the presence of the Nox Nyctores disappeared and the quiet night air descended again, this time the fragrance of flowers mixed in and danced there.

Hakumen turned around. A small whirlwind danced in front of him, and as if a flower bud blossomed and opened, the scent of roses overflowed in that place. At the same time, a girl appeared, crossing the space.

With golden hair and red eyes, wearing a gorgeous black dress, and appearing with a parasol with a cat's face and a red, round familiar, it was the summoned ghost in the form of a girl, Rachel Alucard.

Leaning the umbrella she held in both hands on her small shoulder and looking at Hakumen diagonally, Rachel let out a chuckle and a provocative smile.

"It's been a while, Mr. Hero."

"Harlequin."

To Rachel, who called out to him teasingly, Hakumen replied in a low voice, faintly showing his disgust.

But Rachel directed a smile like a sneer at Hakumen's quiet, threatening spirit, and turned her umbrella around.

"You seem to have plenty of time on your hands. To be meddling with a passing phenomena weapon..."

"It's none of your business."

"Do you remember the old you, the one who was trapped by the Nox Nyctores?"

The old you. At those mischievous words, Hakumen turned towards Rachel.

Perhaps his reaction was amusing, Rachel put a white fingertip to her lips and let out a laugh like the rustling of clothes.

"Oh, how terrible. Is it true?"

"A Nox Nyctores is not something that should be left in human history... That is the only reason."

All of the Nox Nyctores should have been destroyed immediately after the end of the Dark War. It was hard to believe that they still remain in this world. 

But even that was probably nothing more than a foolish sentiment for this cunning vampire.

Even now, perhaps thinking that Hakumen's excuse was a poor one, she did not stop her mocking gaze.

"It's not just the phenomena weapon. This city is also nostalgic, isn't it? I wonder how long ago it was for you. The memory of you, as Jin Kisaragi, wandering Kagutsuchi with a different sword than you have now, and fighting your brother deep underground..."

"Harlequin." Hakumen stopped Rachel, who spoke like a rolling bell, in a heavy tone. He had no intention of listening any further. "I have discarded that name. My name is Hakumen.  From the time you led me to this forest and made it mine, I have only been myself. No one else."

Not now. Not in this place. Hakumen was certainly a young man with a different name. But that is exactly what "not the current dimension" means.

"You, on the other hand, are quite eloquent this time. You, a mere bystander who knows everything but does not lift a finger, are able to line up words so skillfully." Hakumen retorted, mixing in a sound that could be taken as a snort or a sneer.

Rachel, while hooking her short hair behind her small ear, smiled with a composed face. It was a mature, bewitching smile that made one forget for a moment that she was a girl in appearance.

"That's right. As you say, I am a 'bystander.' In other words, I am an 'audience' of this story. The audience can throw jeers from the outside, but they cannot change the content of the stage, can they? Even if I am shown the same stage many times."

"Nonsense."

But Hakumen also understands that this is the truth.

The vampire is a bystander who can only watch the scene. A spectator who has no choice but to watch the way fate continues to roll.

But Hakumen does not even think for a moment that he will be content with that infinitely powerless position. If there are skillful hands, he will not stop pulling them, and if there are feet to step on, he will not stop struggling. He is determined to fight as long as this body can move.

Hakumen put his hand on his mask and bowed deeply. After a moment of silence, he released his hand and turned his back to Rachel.

"You can stay there and enjoy the show as long as you like. I will cut off the world in my own way."

"You can't do it, Mr. Hero."

"Even if I can't, my sword is in my hand."

The logic was enough.

Even as Hakumen walked away, shaking the silver tufts hanging from his head, Rachel did not stop him. As if she thought that even stopping him was too much of a jeer for a spectator.

The night wind was cold, and the swirling sound high in the sky seemed to be a sign of something. 

But without feeling any emotion at the sound, Hakumen walked along the dark back streets.

The destination was the magnificent Novus Orbis Librarium Kagutsuchi branch. Underneath that... he intended to wait for him.