Editing BlazBlue:Bloodedge Experience Part 1 Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 2===

At Naoto's forceful voice, Isa's body jolted and trembled. The slumped figure awkwardly rose. With his blood-stained hands hanging limply and an extreme hunch, Isa directed his hollow, murky eyes at Naoto. 

“Ki-chi-chi.”

Naoto gasped at that sound. There was no doubt that the sound came from Isa. A hard, light sound, like an insect wriggling, could be heard from his half-open mouth, smeared with flowing blood.

“Come to think of it, he’s Spinner’s Apostle…” The eerie sound, the distorted posture, and the vacant eyes—this confrontation reminded Naoto of the abandoned apartment complex from that time. That time, he had his right arm bitten off and was buried under rubble. But he couldn't afford to be so pathetic this time.

(I have to bring her back safely… If I don’t, Yuki will kill me)

To spur himself on, Naoto glanced over his shoulder. He could see Haruka lying there, powerless. But right beside her, Raquel was there, somehow.

"Raquel!?"

“It’s such a foolhardy thing to run off on your own, leaving your master behind. A thoughtless single-celled organism. How ridiculous.” Kneeling beside Haruka and peering at her, Raquel looked up and said in a haughty yet somewhat sulky tone. “I’ll keep an eye on Haruka. So fight without holding back.”

“You have a knack for showing up at the right time... That helps. I’m counting on you,” Naoto replied sarcastically, turning back to face Isa. With Raquel here, he felt reassured. If push came to shove, she would probably run away with Haruka, even if it meant abandoning Naoto. At worst, as long as Haruka was safe, that would be enough.

“GAAAAAAH!” A shrill, menacing sound erupted from Isa's throat, slicing through the air. The voice carried an unpleasant stench that lingered in the atmosphere. It was the voice of a monster, not a human. Realizing that he had crossed a boundary into an extraordinary situation, a thread of crisis and tension tightened within Naoto.

"Come on!" In response to Naoto's defiant challenge, something long and thin shot out of Isa's back and lunged towards him. "Whoa...!" Naoto barely managed to leap sideways, avoiding the attack that was aimed to impale him on the floor from a diagonal angle. The classroom floor shattered where the attack had struck. Naoto scowled at the sight.

It was a pair of insect legs. They resembled the legs of a beetle or mantis, but they were covered in a harder exoskeleton, thicker, and built solely for the purpose of killing prey. They were black. The two legs protruded from Isa's back, piercing through the flesh and skin.

"Damn..." He had known this would happen, but seeing this grotesque transformation firsthand sent a chill down his spine. Even though he was a half-vampire or immortal, he didn't have the heart to accept such a monstrous sight. Disgusting things were disgusting, and scary things were scary.

“You’re backing away. What happened to the bravado from earlier?” Raquel's scornful voice came from behind. Naoto clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Shut up, you bystander!” But that light retort gave Naoto a small measure of calm. This was no time to be messing around. Swallowing the tightness in his breath, he took a deep breath and steeled himself.

“GAAAAAAH!” With a roar that no human could produce, Isa lifted the two monstrous legs that were embedded in the floor. Once again, he swung them around to pierce Naoto, and with a powerful kick, he launched himself towards his target. "AAAARGH!" 

"Ugh...!" This time, one of the insect legs swung around from the side, its sharp claws aiming to clamp down and pierce him. He couldn't dodge it. Naoto used both his arms as shields to block the attack. His right arm held up perfectly, just as he had envisioned. It was as if he were wearing a metal gauntlet, his strength allowing him to withstand a force that was impossible for a normal human. But his left arm... it wasn't so lucky.

“Ugh... ugh...” It felt like he'd been hit hard with a metal bat. An unpleasant sound echoed as his forearm bent at an unnatural angle in the middle. Instinctively, he shook off Isa's leg, which he had blocked with his right arm, and swung at the other one that had broken his left arm. It was hard, with a heavy weight inside. Dodging under the leg that had been sent flying, Naoto escaped. As he did so, his eyes caught something.

The number above Isa's head had decreased. From '674' to '672'.

(It decreased! That means...!)

He was taking damage. A mere 2, but by simple calculation, if he hit that number about 340 times, he could reduce it to '0'. It wasn't impossible to defeat him. There was still hope.
Circling around to Isa's right, Naoto pulled his broken arm closer to protect it.

"...Huh?" Noticing something strange, Naoto looked down at his left arm. It was supposed to be broken just a moment ago. But now, it was moving normally, without any pain. "Oh, right, it heals...!"

Dodging a grab from Isa's human arm as he turned around, Naoto kicked him in the shin. He wanted to land another punch, but one of the monstrous legs swung down, slicing his shoulder, and Naoto jumped back.

"Ugh..." A red stain spread across the floor. But under Naoto's hand as he pressed down on his shoulder, the wound was already healing and disappearing. "Well... this is pretty handy, isn't it?" 

Wiping his bloody hand on his pants, Naoto smirked. The only problem was that it still hurt like hell each time.

(If I have regenerative abilities, why can't it be more convenient in other ways...? I guess it doesn't offer that kind of service.)

The monster on Isa's back thrashed around, digging its claws into the floor as it chased after Naoto. Some of them caught Naoto, tearing his shirt and flesh. Heat and pain shot through his cheek, his thigh, and grazed his side. Naoto moved as quickly as he could, but the confined space of the classroom made it difficult. The desks were also a major obstacle.

"Damn it..." Naoto picked up a desk that was blocking his escape route and threw it at Isa. But the monstrous leg swung up and knocked it aside, sending it flying through the window. He tried again with a chair and another desk, hoping to hit something at least once, but all he managed to do was shatter the ceiling light and have the shards rain down on the creature.

"Running away? How boring." A heckling voice came from the sidelines, as if to taunt him.

"Shut up!" He shouted back angrily, but even Naoto knew that he couldn't keep running forever. And he didn't want to ask Raquel for help. Isa's attacks had torn the ceiling apart, shattered the walls, and sent chairs and desks flying. Raquel had created an invisible barrier to protect Haruka from the debris. He couldn't bring himself to ask her to stop.
As if bored of the chase, Isa suddenly turned around. His cloudy eyes, which seemed to be out of focus, landed on Raquel and Haruka. Raquel gasped and stepped forward to protect Haruka. Ignoring them, Isa raised his two monstrous legs and charged straight ahead with a groan.

"You bastard!" Naoto kicked the floor hard and jumped. Isa's legs swung down, trying to grab both Raquel and Haruka. He barely made it in time. 

"Ugh..." The sharp, black claws pierced through both of his arms, which he had raised as shields, and then tore into his abdomen. But only the tips of the claws had reached him. They hadn't reached Haruka, or Raquel. 

"Naoto!"

"I'm... fine..." Naoto forced a brave smile in response to Raquel's startled voice. He was secretly relieved. It was strange to hear her voice like this, as if she were genuinely worried about him.

"Don't underestimate me!" Roaring with all his might, Naoto tightened his fists around the arms that were impaled. With all his strength, he pushed back the black, piercing weapon.He could feel the hard object being pulled out of his abdomen. Then, raising his right arm, Naoto used the arm made of Raquel's blood to support his weight while freeing his left arm. 
The wound burned. He wanted to cry. But the harsh reality of the situation made him swing his remaining right arm, ignoring the spreading wound. The claws that had been embedded in him were pulled out with force.

At that moment, Raquel unleashed a shockwave of wind aimed at Isa's now exposed abdomen.

“GAAAAAAH!” With a deep, air-filled groan, Isa's body was forced back towards the window. 

Naoto checked the number above his head. It hadn't decreased much. It wasn't a fatal blow. But he had gained some time. While Isa was recovering, Naoto's wounded body, which had been spitting blood, began to heal and return to its original form.

Isa cracked his neck and stood up. Naoto struggled to regulate his ragged breathing, trying to suppress his growing anxiety. The odds were against him. Thanks to Raquel's half-vampire transformation, Naoto's physical abilities had increased significantly. But his stamina wasn't infinite, and the pain still made him flinch. He couldn't keep running forever.

(But what am I supposed to do? Hit him another three hundred times?)

That was absurd, he'd run out of energy and die. He could only withstand the full impact of Isa's attacks with his right arm. The rest of his body couldn't handle the shock that his right arm could. On top of that, he had to protect Haruka, even with Raquel's help.

(Protect... her?)

He thought back to Clavis. That incredible man had protected Naoto, Raquel, and Haruka while fighting against both Valkenhayn and Relius. While Naoto was struggling against Isa's four arms, Clavis had effortlessly cut through the countless hands that Relius used to restrain his movements. 

The image of those beautifully sharp cuts flashed through Naoto's mind. Come to think of it, his own arm had been cut by Clavis, leaving a perfect, clean cut.

"Ugh..." Suddenly, Naoto grimaced in pain. A perfectly clean cut. The thing that could create such a cut must be... extremely sharp. That thought dredged up something from the depths of Naoto's memory. It was a vivid memory, filled with the smell of blood.

Something wet beneath his feet.

Something lying in his line of sight.

It had already died and turned into a black mass, but before that, it had been Naoto's mother.

The thing that had taken his mother's life... the thing that had turned her black.

Soaked in blood, it was so beautiful it was frightening... a blade.

A sharp sound tore through the air. Isa closed the distance in an instant, aiming for the slow-reacting Naoto, his monstrous leg raised high with a clear intent to kill. The thrust was incredibly fast. It was meant to pierce not only skin and flesh but also bone. The prey was already captured and doomed. With such certainty, the black, gleaming, sharp claws were about to—but against the monster's intentions and Raquel's anxious anticipation, they did not pierce flesh or bone.

Instead of the wet sound of blood spattering, there was a clear, resonant clang of metal. Isa's monstrous attack had been deflected by something. Raquel gasped sharply. Her golden eyes widened in shock. When had this happened? Perhaps in just an instant, between one blink and the next.

Raquel was speechless at the figure standing before her.

It was Naoto, but he was not ordinary. He had transformed. His hair was now white, his eyes were red and slanted. And in his hand was a red, glowing sword.An opaque, crimson mass, formed from congealed blood, had become a sharp and menacing sword in Naoto's hand.

A blade of blood.

"Kiiiieeeeee!" Isa roared in frustration and swung his monstrous black legs again. Naoto, transformed with white hair and red eyes, glared at his enemy with unwavering hostility and flashed the sword in his hand. The crimson slash was heavy yet light, describing a beautiful arc. It sliced through the air and cleanly severed the two monstrous legs with a cool sound. Red droplets danced in the air.

"Ah..." Raquel let out an involuntary gasp. It was a sound of admiration. Tears streamed from her wide-open eyes for some reason. An unfamiliar emotion filled her chest. A feeling of sadness that was almost overwhelming.

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Warming her cheeks with tears, Raquel stared at Naoto. She didn't want to miss a single moment of this scene, and watched intently without blinking. 

"GU, GAAAHHH!!" Despite the elegance of the slash, a hoarse cry rang out. The leg, severed from the middle down, spattered a dark green liquid instead of blood and bounced back with the recoil. Dragged by the momentum, Isa's body was thrown backward. And then…

"Uoooooh!" Naoto roared and took a deep step forward. The blood-stained blade was no longer in his hand. His hair and eye color had returned to normal. Gathering strength in his legs, abdomen, shoulders, and arms, Naoto swung his fist with all his might. It was his right arm that he thrust forward. In the dimly lit classroom, his fist, which roared as if it were alive, was dyed crimson. He drove his fist straight, heavily, into Isa's chest.

“Gubuuuu…” The impact of the fist, driven deep, must have reached his internal organs. Isa convulsed a few times at the point where Naoto's fist had penetrated... and then collapsed to his knees.