Editing BlazBlue:Calamity Trigger Part 2 Chapter 1 (section)

=== Part 2 ===
'''December 30, 2199 - 13:12'''

The 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi.

This city, built with many layers of streets piled on top of each other, is like other Hierarchical Cities scattered around the world, with the upper layers being more well-maintained and supplied with normal air.

Conversely, the lower you go, the more chaotic the town becomes, with some areas even having a desolate atmosphere. This area, which seemed to have been abandoned despite being under construction, looked like a corner of the lower layers that had been put off.

Looking back at the scaffolding that he had been walking on for several hours, he stretched his cramped body greatly.

"It was easier to infiltrate than I expected." 

The one who said this while turning his neck was a tall, well-built young man. He wore a long, bright red jacket over his black clothes, and a thick, wide, large silver sword hung at his waist. 

Even more eye-catching than his clothes was the color of his roughly grown white hair. Behind his bangs that reached his eyes, his left eye was green and his right eye was red, creating a somewhat rough look.

His name is Ragna the Bloodedge.

The same name can be seen on street corners all over the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi. The name is on the wanted posters that have been plastered everywhere.

An outlaw who has wandered in from somewhere. With such an appearance, he was actually an SS-class wanted criminal, a serious criminal with the highest bounty in history.

However, Ragna doesn't travel through dark alleys to avoid people or hide in the shadows to let passersby pass. Rather, with a natural gait that makes it hard to believe that he is really a wanted criminal, he heads for the center of the city that should be ahead of him.

This was probably a low-level area judging from the concentration of seithr in the air he inhaled - a substance that polluted the world's air along with the Black Beast that appeared a hundred years ago.

The eyes of the Novus Orbis Librarium- the organization that governs the world and manages public order, and also the organization that put a bounty on Ragna- do not reach to such lower levels. This is even more true in Kagutsuchi, which has a large and complexly intertwined structure compared to other cities.

They prioritize only the upper layers where people of status live, and a satisfactory security system does not reach the lower layers. The residents of the lower layers do not have good feelings towards the Novus Orbis Librarium- commonly known as the "NOL". If you pass through such people, being sneaky will only incite distrust.

"But, I thought I'd be able to get outside a little earlier..." Looking around at the surroundings where there wasn't a single person, Ragna muttered to himself as he moved forward.

From here, which is deep in the lower city, you can't even see the sun, let alone the sky, satisfactorily, but according to his internal sense of time, it's probably past noon now.

Ragna, being a wanted criminal, couldn't enter the Hierarchical City by regular means.

Therefore, he used a method that no one would normally use for fear of the dense seithr: approaching Kagutsuchi on foot, infiltrating the inside of the Hierarchical City from a place under construction, and climbing up to this point.

He arrived in Kagutsuchi late last night. He hadn't eaten since then.

In other words, he was hungry.

''(Ugh... I have to eat something soon. At this rate, I'll die of starvation before I reach the top layer...)''

Just as he was about to hurry his steps, clutching his stomach, he was suddenly called out to from behind.

"Oh my, what a terrible figure. It's just like a stray dog seeking nothing but control. I don't even want to admit I know you. Ragna?" The one who spoke, with excessive pity and blatant contempt, was a girl's voice.

Ragna reflexively stopped his feet, distorting his expression with a feeling other than emptiness.

"You... who are you calling a stray dog, rabbit?"

The place where he turned around was deserted and empty, and further back was a dead end that was closed for construction. Even so, a small table and a black single-seater sofa were placed there, and a girl was sitting there.

Rachel Alucard.

She was a girl with long, glossy golden hair tied in two bunches on either side, wearing a black, luxurious dress. Her skin color was transparently white, the ribbons that tied her hair stood up straight, and her large eyes were bright red. Because of this appearance, Ragna called her "rabbit".

She looks about twelve or thirteen years old, but she has lived for a time that cannot be compared to her appearance. She is not a human girl. She is a vampire who lives in the long night.

She gracefully pulled a cup towards her, gently touching it with her fingertips as if testing the temperature of the red liquid inside, then took a sip. She looked up at the elderly gentleman standing behind her and smiled elegantly.

"Delicious, Valkenhayn. Your tea is exceptional even when drunk in air clouded with seithr."

"I am honored, Madam Rachel." The old gentleman responded in a calm tone of voice, bending his waist politely. The white hair that was tied behind his back slid down from his broad shoulders to the front of his high-quality butler suit.

The old gentleman, who has an old appearance but suggests a somewhat robust physique, was Rachel's butler, the werewolf Valkenhayn.

On the table, a small red, rubber ball-like creature with busy wings was frantically moving about, stuffing financier pastries with the aroma of butter into its cheeks. This was Gii, Rachel's familiar. The shape-shifting black cat that had transformed into the sofa Rachel was sitting on was another of her familiars, Nago.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh, can't you tell? I'm having tea."

"That's not what I'm asking! ...Haa, well, whatever."

Ragna reflexively raised his voice at Rachel's nonchalant reply, and his shoulders dropped dejectedly. He was very hungry. And yet, there were baked goods on the table, as if to show them off, and it was hateful to see them being swallowed into the familiar's mouth.

"So? What do you want? Coming all the way out here... are you bored?" With a hint of resentment, Ragna asked sarcastically, glaring at Rachel. His glaring eyes, with a face that can never be called good-natured, somehow reminded one of a ferocious beast.

If the one here was really a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl, he might have made her cry with his extraordinary appearance. But Rachel, uninterested in Ragna's gaze, glanced up at him and sipped her tea coolly.

"My, aren't you being self-conscious? Just because I appear before you, you assume that I have business with you? Your arrogance is truly outrageous."

"The hell did you say? Tch, if you don't have any business, don't bother me. I'm in a hurry!"

[[File:BB_CT2_027.jpg|frameless|right]]

"Oh my. Where are you hurrying off to, you stray dog? You look hungry, perhaps you're going to beg for some food?" Rachel asked, tilting her head and placing a childlike fingertip to her white cheek, giggling.

"How pitiful, how miserable! Maybe I'm eating better than you? Pu pu." 

"Now, now, stop it Gii. It's mean to say the truth like that."

Following their master's lead, Gii and Nago burst into laughter. Towards the heads on the second floor, Ragna mercilessly swung his fist down.

"Shut up, you familiars!" 

"Gyah!"

"Eeeeek!"

"Tch, they're all so talkative..." It's always like this. Ragna muttered in exasperation.

This wasn't the first time Ragna had met Rachel, the butler Valkenhayn, Gii, and Nago. For years, ever since Ragna began wandering the world, he had frequently encountered Rachel.

Each time, her appearance was sudden, her words were harsh, the reasons were unclear, and her departure was equally abrupt. So, he was used to having his plans thwarted and being caught up in nonsensical farces when he was in a hurry. But being used to it doesn't mean he didn't care.

"Hey, rabbit. If you don't have any business, I'm leaving. I'm not as free as you guys." With a frown of irritation, Ragna turned his back and quickly left. He couldn't waste any more time with them. But Rachel, ignoring Ragna's bitter irritation, calmly put down her cup and continued.

"I do have business."

"Huh?!" 

"I don't recall saying I didn't. Besides, the very idea that I would come before you without business is inconceivable. I doubt your sanity." Still maintaining her cool demeanor, Rachel directed a subtle barb at Ragna as she gracefully slid off Nago's sofa. Then, with a squirm, Nago contorted its body and transformed into a parasol, fitting into Rachel's hand.

Ragna, who had inadvertently turned around, watched the scene with a twitching eyebrow, feeling a vein throbbing near his temple.

"You... If you have something to say, then hurry up and say it! I told you I don't have time!"

Valkenhayn, who had been holding back until then, stepped forward as Ragna shouted in irritation. As he approached, he glared at Ragna with a vigor that belied his age. But Ragna was used to the intimidating aura of this wolf-man, like a ferocious beast. Without hesitation, Ragna snapped back.

"Shut up! It has nothing to do with you, old man! Don't butt in!" 

"You... What do you..."

"Stop it, Valkenhayn. It's pointless to try to teach manners to a stray dog." It was Rachel who restrained him, in a gentle, chiding tone. However, she didn't forget to use words that belittled Ragna.

Valkenhayn, ignoring Ragna's twitching face, turned his gaze away from him as if nothing had happened, and bowed his head to his master once more.

"My apologies, Madam Rachel."

"And Ragna, you keep going on about business, business, but I already asked you earlier, didn't I? 'Where are you hurrying off to?'" 

As if piercing his heart, Rachel looked intently at Ragna with her large, red eyes. They were eyes that seemed to see through to the depths of a person's soul.

This was no longer idle chatter. It seemed that way... Ragna swallowed his harsh tone and returned a strong gaze to Rachel.

"'Where'? What are you talking about? I'm going to the NOL's Kagutsuchi branch." He tightly clenched his fist at his side.

On the top floor of the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, a massive building, boasting a divine exterior like the sword held aloft by a saint, towered high into the sky. At the very center and summit of the city, overlooking everything, was the Kagutsuchi branch of the Novus Orbis Librarium.

The reason Ragna had come to Kagutsuchi was to destroy that branch.

He had been traveling around the world, destroying NOL branches in various Hierarchical Cities, as well as facilities under their control. He had no idea how many he had destroyed so far, as he hadn't been counting from the beginning.

However, the crimes he had accumulated in doing so had earned him the label of SS-class criminal, a rare and unparalleled title.

But destroying the branch and defeating the guards was not Ragna's only goal. Ragna's real purpose lay elsewhere.

It was…

"I'm going to infiltrate the branch and destroy the 'cauldron'. Just like always."

The "cauldron."

Hidden beneath the branches and research facilities of the NOL was something called the "cauldron."

Its existence was not made public, and most residents of the Hierarchical Cities, even the NOL's soldiers, were completely unaware of it.

Deep, deep within the underground, in a space accessible only by the innermost elevator of the branch, was a massive object that could not be described as either a facility or a device... The destruction of the "cauldron" was the reason Ragna attacked the branches in various locations, and the purpose for which he had come to Kagutsuchi.

Releasing his clenched fist, Ragna frowned suspiciously.

"There's no need to ask something like that. Besides, weren't you the one that told me the next cauldron I should destroy was in Kagutsuchi?"

This was after he had attacked the branch and destroyed the cauldron in the 9th Hierarchical City of Akitsu, the city before Kagutsuchi. Before dawn, as Ragna was about to leave the Hierarchical City, Rachel appeared before him and indicated that he should head to Kagutsuchi.

Rachel, still gazing at Ragna, lightly shook her head as if trying to make him understand.

"I said that Kagutsuchi was the next place you should go. I don't recall ever instructing you to destroy the cauldron." It was a lecturing tone that didn't suit her childlike appearance. Feeling as if he was being reprimanded, Ragna scratched his head, a little embarrassed.

"Well... yeah, you're right about that. So what? You're saying I shouldn't destroy the cauldron?"

"No, that's not it. It's your freedom whether you destroy something or not. If you wish to destroy it, then destroy it." As if reminiscing about the past, Rachel said in a distant, murmuring tone. After a moment of closing her eyes and gazing at some scene that appeared in her mind, Rachel looked up at Ragna again and asked: "But, Ragna... What are you thinking when you destroy the cauldron?"

It was a strange question. At least for Ragna.

It was like asking what he thinks when he breathes, or what he feels when he drinks water. That's how natural, how much a part of his daily routine, attacking NOL branches and destroying their cauldrons had become for Ragna.

What, indeed. Now that he thought about it, he had never really considered it deeply.

"That... Well, it's because I don't like it. Building a city on top of a cauldron, hiding its existence, and then using it for their own selfish research... Who do they think they are?" Ragna replied with a bitter tone.

The cauldron is a gate that connects to the Boundary. The Boundary is... an otherworldly realm.

It's the outside of the world as we know it, which humanity discovered and touched long ago, changing the world. However, it's an unknowable realm that humans can never fully reach, no matter how much they try.

A hundred years ago, a monster called the Black Beast emerged from that cauldron. The Black Beast scattered seithr throughout the world, destroying everything in its path according to its instincts... driving humanity, the world, to the brink of destruction. Humanity fought against the Black Beast. The ten-year war was known in this era as the "Dark War," and its content, as the name suggests, was like traversing a lightless, despairing darkness. 

How could humans think they could control the place where such a monster, which caused so much damage and continues to leave deep scars in the form of seithr, was born? If the Boundary is useful, why do they hide it from the residents who live above it? If they really can control it, why don't they make its existence public?

The questions themselves became the answers. They weren't researching for the sake of helping people, and there was no guarantee that they could really control it.

That's why he would destroy it. He wouldn't allow the existence of such a thing.

Jubei, a beastkin who was Ragna's sword master, taught Ragna about the cauldron and the Boundary, and Ragna came to that conclusion.

''(And the cauldron has... "that"...)''

Rachel, who listened to Ragna's answer and looked into his heart, was silent for a while as if waiting for what was to come, and then opened her mouth slightly.

"That's all?" The words that spilled out softly mixed into the dusty air of Kagutsuchi, sounding somewhat lonely.

The wrinkles between Ragna's eyebrows deepened.

"What are you disappointed with?"

"I'm not saying I'm disappointed. It's just..." Rachel slid her fingertips and changed the angle of her umbrella, the parasol casting a shadow over her eyes. Her large eyes quietly averted their gaze from Ragna and blinked in the shadow. "Ragna... don't you remember anything 'this time' either?" The questioning voice passes quietly from Ragna's ears to his inside like a cold night wind. But Rachel's wind did not stay inside Ragna, and it escaped without color or shape.

"Huh? What do you mean by not remembering?" Ragna tilted his head, peering at Rachel, not understanding what she is talking about or what she is being asked. He was getting impatient with the riddle-like questions.

Rachel put the handle of her umbrella on her shoulder and looked up at Ragna again. The color that floated in her eyes was a pale disappointment.

"It's nothing. If you don't remember, then that's fine. That's what always happens." She let her small shoulders fall with a sigh, and again spoke mysterious words. It was as if only Ragna didn't understand. Ragna frowned even more.

He was about to ask for an explanation of what she meant, but Rachel interrupted him, waving her hand as if to shoo away even a stray dog.

"My business is already finished. Now, you're in a hurry, aren't you? Go and scavenge for food or something." 

After being treated like that, and then being turned away as if she had no more interest in him, where was the motivation to continue the conversation?

Ragna promptly threw away the words he was about to ask in his heart, and clicked his tongue loudly in anger.

"What the hell was that all about? Damn it, I'm going! I won't turn around even if you stop me next time!" He spat out the words as if throwing them away, and started walking with large strides, determined not to waste any more time here.

After being yelled at so much, he suddenly remembered that he was terribly hungry. His feet were unsteady. He hadn't even had a proper drink of water. And yet, he had been forced to waste time on a nonsensical riddle and an unreasonable scolding, which was unbearable.

"Damn it!" He spat out his frustration once more, and hurried towards the city that should be ahead.

Rachel, who was supposed to have turned her back, saw off the retreating figure of the red jacket over her ornate shoulder. In her crimson eyes, there was a flat, pale resignation... and a drop of concern mixed in. As if to contain the flickering small emotions, Rachel lowered her eyelids, and turned her face away from the direction Ragna had left.

"He doesn't change. He's always the same. Again... always the same."

It was a matter of course for Rachel. It was always like this. There was never a time when it wasn't, but she always held a faint hope of "what if it wasn't," and then sighed at the fragility of that thought.

How many times had she had the same thought? It was already foolish to even count. How many times had she guided him to the same land, how many times had she asked the same question... how many times had she heard the same answer? How many times had she failed to hear the answer she had hoped for, and been disappointed?

Even so, the reason she comes to this city again, thinking "maybe," is probably due to the persistence of her mind, which she hasn't been able to give up on even though she thought she had long since given up.

"Will the world repeat itself again? And will I send him to this land again?"

And beyond this, the world will end, and the world will repeat itself again from the beginning.

To the beginning of the "Dark War" a hundred years ago, when the Black Beast was born.

"Madam Rachel. Shall we return now?" Valkenhayn inquired from beside a table set that is unsuitable for the lower levels of Kagutsuchi.

Rachel smiled wryly.

"Yes, I would like to, but..."

But there was something else she wanted to see.

This time, Rachel looked upwards. At the far upper level of Kagutsuchi, beyond the clouds.

It was not clearly visible from here, but above was the city directly managed by the NOL for their own use.

Soon, a ship will arrive there.

"Valkenhayn, please return to the castle first. I will take a walk around Kagutsuchi a little longer before returning."

"Understood. Then I will prepare tea and await your return." Giving a respectful bow, Valkenhayn disappeared from the spot, along with the table set. He returned to Rachel's castle, which exists in a different place, a dimension that is nowhere.

Rachel, who remained, readjusted the handle of her umbrella. Waiting for Gii to bounce and come to her side, she created a rose-colored magic circle around her.

High above, in the distance, the sound of an Ars Magus ship could be heard cutting through the sky towards Kagutsuchi. She probably wanted to see what was on the ship.

"Even I find it comical." 

Muttering to no one in particular, Rachel stirred up a wind scented with roses and teleported from the spot.