Editing BlazBlue:Phase Shift 3 Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 2===
When the jet-black mass came within visible distance, Nine braked on her slim high heels and released an orb of light from her hands. When the orb came out, it swelled up and discharged violently, scraping off the cobblestone pavement on the ground as it shot up to the Black Beast's throat. A violent, eardrum-rupturing sonic boom exploded from the burst, and a ball of thunder, so potent as to shock the air, went away to tear out the Beast's throat.


Its eight heads writhed in pain from the seithr-splitting electric discharge. A gut-wrenching roar came down, with more stress than met the eye. While Nine protected herself from the seithr bleeding out of the beast with a magical ward, Jubei jumped out from Nine's side with a katana in hand. Suzukaka and other Kaka warriors chased after the feline, as they all lunged at the mass of darkness.


Jubei's slashes were as fast as they were sharp. Without magic to float him in the air, he ran circles around the Black Beast, slashing at its body with his sword and his claws. The seithr that scattered in front of Jubei was nothing to him.


Shaking off Nine's thunderous spell, one of the Black Beast's necks went to swing at Jubei. It was too large to be like a whip, but it went for Jubei far faster than a human could see ― but not fast enough for a cat.
Right when the Beast was about to hit Jubei, he landed on its swinging neck and quickly stabbed the thick dark shell.


— “Jubei!” Nine shouted from below, prompting him to turn around.


Another head thrashed at Jubei, like it was trying to squash a bug on its hand. The snake-like head opened its mouth wide and bared its jet-black fangs.

— “Damn it...!”

His sword was stuck to the other neck that had just tried to strike him. Jubei pulled out the blade with all his strength to slide away, but for that brief moment, he was cornered.


The black fangs bit down at the other neck, just as Suzukaka's club slammed down on it. The hit was dull, but hard enough to give Jubei a quick way out. As the head thrashed wildly, Jubei jumped off and returned to the ground with Suzukaka.

— “Holy sh—!” Jubei immediately braced himself and clicked his tongue, as his limbs trembled with sword still in one hand.


Though he knew he had no reason to hesitate or be afraid to fight, the closer he got to the Black Beast, the more Jubei was robbed of his strength by sheer terror. He felt like his soul was being torn out from his body. Jubei was frightened by the mere thought that the Black Beast would consume the souls of those it killed.
Nine shared his fear, even though she was farther away from the Beast. Her face tensed up as she rapidly fired arrows of fire and ice, and her breath hitched, but not by exhaustion.


— “Ugh...!”

If she did not stop casting spells, she would freeze up in fear. Mentally she cursed out the Beast, while Nine weaved a bigger light. She shot out a spear of light, wide as a freeway, and it pierced one of the monster's heads with great force, right between the eyes.


The beast's head raged wildly from the pain, and slammed against the surrounding buildings until their massive debris scattered to the ground like cannonballs. One massive chunk of rubble fell in the direction of Celica, who ran at Hakumen's side.

She gasped in terror, and prepared to let out a shriek — but as she rubbed her own eyes, she noticed Nirvana had caught up to her and seized the debris with her long, bulky arms.

— “Oh... thank you! I was so scared...”

Nirvana carelessly tossed the rubble back at the Black Beast; the chunk of concrete was about the size of a small bedroom. It slammed into the beast's torso, and cracked as it landed on the ground.


— “Are you okay?” Hakumen asked, turning his neck to get a look.

— “I am... but those people...!”

Celica looked to her side, to see a person lying on the ground behind a collapsed building. One more look, and she could see into another building and the entrance to an alleyway.


Celica choked on her own breath, and she felt her throat burn.

— “They might be still alive!!”

As soon as Celica said it, she ran off without hesitation, with Nirvana following as usual.

She knelt down beside the person lying face-down, then leaned over to check for a pulse. Celica called out several times, face clouded with grief. But then she clasped her hands, stained with blood and sand, and turned to the next figure.

Hakumen watched, and found himself stunned. Even though Celica had ached to see him again, she was immediately sidetracked by something that drew the slightest attention. She was too easy to lure — much like the rampaging giant before the group.


— “...so, this jet-black calamity is just bait for me?” Hakumen muttered under his mask and looked up high. The beast's eight heads were still in good health, and no amount of damage could slow them down.

— “Fine. I'll take the bait.”

He turned toward the Black Beast like a flickering white flame, and with his hands on the nodachi behind his back, Hakumen took a soaring leap. He leapt in a single bound over the town's walls, sealed by a magical ward, and as he landed on dry grounds, he looked in the direction of what he'd sensed.

South of where he'd left the town, Seven and Eight stood atop a gently steep hill. Maybe it wasn't what he'd sensed, but who. By looking for extraordinary sources of magic, he would find the Ten Sages easily — and those two were among them.


He pulled his lips into a chuckle, as the small figures of his prone targets entered his sight. The sandy wind almost snatched his hood away, but he held it down with a flick of his finger.

— “Hehehehe… that lady's a real airhead. With an order like that, she really thought I'd make it in time for the summoning…”

Nine's instructions had been to find Seven and Eight, and if he found them, interrupt the summoning of Take-Mikazuchi... and do nothing else.

— “Well, if it's too late to stop them, what the FUCK do I do?”

Terumi laughed so hard, it made his throat quiver. As he continued to laugh, whoever was listening replied to him…


— “***************.”

The voice, unlike Terumi's, was soft and meek. But the actual words said knew how to ease Terumi's mood.

— “Ohhhhhh, right... I get it. Just go with the flow and all that. That said... I got a bit of business to take care of.”

Terumi turned his head, exasperated. Yes, it was just a bit of business.

— “Hey... I think I talked too long.”


As if cued by Terumi's words, a fiery red magic sigil appeared on the slope before the town. The sigil was so massive, it took a while to even complete, and a crimson light slid across the ground like magma bursting.
Seven and Eight were manipulating the sigil, and of course, they were summoning Take-Mikazuchi.


Without Celica A. Mercury to control it, Take-Mikazuchi would indiscriminately consume all life within that walled bait pen, feed on it, and irradiate it to burn everything to the ground.


Seven and Eight would not dare let it be controlled, but rather feed it human souls and fire at the Black Beast with full power.

— “Even if I run now, I can't make it back in time...”

Perhaps Terumi had to just go with the flow. His first course of action would be to find a seat for the coming show.

— “Ah, fuck it. What's tonight's presentation?! AHAHAHAHAHA!” Terumi's boots violently kicked the dirt below before he disappeared.


A massive black arm rose out of the magic sigil, clinging to the barren lands…