Editing BlazBlue:Calamity Trigger Part 1 Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 3===

“Uraaah!” Ragna roared, swinging his sword sideways. Nu’s eight flying swords were all knocked aside, losing their trajectory and returning to their master before rearranging into a wing-like formation as if nothing had happened.

Dragging them behind her like a thin garment, Nu flew at him again.

"Fufufu, Ragna. Hug me!"

Her bouncing voice was that of a lovely young girl, hardly fitting for someone engaged in a sword fight. But at the same time, the eight swords spread out like a fan and one by one threw themselves at Ragna.

It looked like some kind of accordion-like craft. If they weren’t blades, the eight-fold attack would have been beautiful. Ragna held his sword sideways, using it to parry and endure the attack.
“Ugh…” The groan that escaped him wasn’t because Nu’s sword had grazed him. He had taken the impact of eight consecutive strikes, each with a weight that belied the slender blades. The impact of wielding the sword and taking the blows naturally aggravated the wounds already etched into Ragna’s body.

“Huh! Ragna, you’re seriously hurt. What happened? Poor Ragna.” Nu looked at Ragna intently through the eyeholes of her headgear, her tone light and insincere, as if she were genuinely worried.

She probably was worried. But it was a different kind of worry, thinner and more pathetically simple than a human’s. And even as she pitied him. The eight swords spun around on Nu’s back and rearranged themselves for the next attack.

“What a horrible thing to do… Should Nu kill them? I can’t forgive anyone who hurts Ragna.”

“Shut up. It’s none of your business. And if you think that, then at least put away that dangerous sword.”

It seemed unbelievable that these were the words of someone who was more likely than anyone else to kill Ragna at that moment. With a pained breath, Ragna expressed his annoyance and disgust.

As expected, Nu seemed to misunderstand, just as Ragna had vaguely anticipated. She twirled her swords around her feet like a dress’s hem, scattering them in random directions.

“Wh… what…” Ragna looked up, his breathing already ragged, wondering what she was up to. But he soon understood. There was nothing strange about it.

The swords, which had been thrown in completely different directions from Ragna, were deflected by an invisible wall at the perfect moment, as if repelled, and began to aim at Ragna from all sides.

First, aiming for his side from the right. A second later, from behind. Less than a second later, his shoulder was targeted from a diagonal angle above, and two swords accelerated simultaneously, as if to sandwich his torso.

Feeling blood gushing from his wounds, Ragna swung his sword to knock them away. But there were too many. Even though he knew where they were coming from and how fast they were approaching, his body couldn’t keep up.

It wasn’t so much painful as it was heavy. He was losing too much blood. Willpower couldn’t replace the severed flesh, bone, and nerves.

“Gaaaah!” 

The sixth sword rose diagonally from below and penetrated his thigh. The seventh, slightly deflected by Ragna’s sword, pierced his left arm along with his red jacket. The eighth was plunged into his back from behind.

That was his limit. Though he didn’t fall, he could do nothing more than support himself by planting both feet. The sword he held in his left hand was more of a support than a weapon. He didn’t know where all the blood dripping onto the floor was coming from.

“Raagna,” Nu’s high, thin voice sang sweetly. The swords that were embedded in Ragna’s body and around him floated up and returned to Nu, spreading out like wings, four on each side.

Next, those eight swords would pierce Ragna’s body all at once. If that happened, he would probably die.

It was unbearable.

“There’s still… this…” Muttering to no one in particular, Ragna moved his prosthetic arm. He raised his palm towards Nu, level with his face.

A rough and feverish breath was swallowed. With a fierce gaze, as if to devour her, Ragna glared at Nu, who had stopped in her tracks, puzzled.

"Restriction 666 released, dimensional interference field deployed!" In response to Ragna's words, his right arm throbbed greatly.

A sensation as if something was being transmitted from his right arm to his entire body washed over him. It felt slightly different from the last time he used it, but now was not the time to worry about it. If he didn't use it, he would die.

Ragna clenched his fist as if to confirm the feeling of his own arm and addressed his right arm.

"Azure Grimoire activate!" He said in a voice drawn from the bottom of his stomach. At that moment, Ragna felt as if his right arm had suddenly inflated to an abnormal size. And immediately after that, he lost all sensation in his arm.

"Wh... what..." 

Unable to understand everything at once, Ragna hurriedly cast his gaze at his right arm. The arm was there. It hadn't been blown off his shoulder like it had before. But the arm was swollen, though not as much as the delusion he had just had, and it had burst through his black clothes and red jacket, revealing a sword.

A jet-black arm painted in darkness that was unlike the color of human skin. It was certainly there, but why couldn't he feel anything? Not only the sensation, but also the weight was not transmitted through his nerves.

"What the... guh, gah..." The question turned into an inarticulate sound. As if being swallowed up by something, the sensation disappeared from his right shoulder. The invasion descended from his right side to his abdomen and then to his right leg. It was as if his body was being carved away.

But what was even more abnormal was that as the invasion progressed, he began to perceive the lost sensations in a different part of his brain, understanding that this was his body. 

It was as if necrotic flesh was regenerating in the same order as it had rotted.

The invasion spread to his chest and rose up his neck.

"Ah, how lovely. Ragna, you're going to be with Nu," Nu spoke gently to Ragna, who was panicking but unable to do anything about the abnormal situation.

Sliding her feet once more, she came in front of Ragna and stroked his cheek, which still retained the color of human skin.

"I love you so much, Ragna. Nu and Ragna are one. Nu has always wanted to be one with Ragna."

"St... stop... don't touch me..." He tried to push Nu's hand away. But his body wouldn't move as he wanted. He didn't know how to move his own body.

"It's okay, it hurts a little, but Nu is with you." Speaking soothingly, Nu summoned the huge sword that had been stuck in the floor. The sword leisurely pulled itself out of the floor.

Nu's slender arm glided through the air as if beckoning. To her arm, to her shoulder, to her torso.

Countless ice blades rained down.

"Brother!"

A voice flew after the ice. Jin, who had let out a scream that sounded like a cry, leaned against the wall of the passageway, holding the unsheathed Yukianesa.

The wound on his chest had become a deeper red than when Ragna had last seen him, and Jin's face was pale, his breath coming in shallow gasps. He was in no condition to move around properly.

Nevertheless, Jin tore himself away from the cold wall and stepped forward with the unsheathed Yukianesa in hand.

Realizing that he was coming this way, a sudden rush of anxiety caused Ragna's jaw to clench.

"What... What the hell are you doing?! Get out of here! This isn’t the time for you to get involved!"

"No!" A denial was hammered out. "No... I'm the one who’s going to kill my brother, I won't let anyone else have him! I won't let you have him!!" With his blood-stained blond hair flying wildly, Jin let out a trembling, pained cry. It was like the words of a child throwing a tantrum. But his voice was closer to a scream, and there was even pain in his expression.

Jin stepped over the machinery that lined his path without hesitation, crushing delicate switches with his hard boots, and landed on the lower floor.

Nu watched him with red eyes floating in her headgear. The ice that hadn’t been able to injure her body, but part of her slender arm was frozen.

"......Target confirmed, possession of phenomenon weapon verified. Acknowledged, acknowledged, target recognized as enemy," the mechanical tone came from Nu's mouth, as if a switch had been flipped. The target of that inorganic coldness was undoubtedly Jin.

She bent her elbow casually, and the ice that had been clinging to her arm shattered and scattered.

Her sharp toes slid, and Nu's body rotated about ninety degrees. Eight swords, spread out like wings, targeted Jin, who was staggering but standing his ground, holding up Yukianesa.

"Jin, run!"

"Beginning eradication of target." 

Ragna's voice, which should have been a shout, was muffled and crushed. 

Nu's voice announced the launch of the attack. The eight blades spread out, were fired one after the other towards Jin from right to left. The speed at which they tore through the air was much faster than those directed at Ragna.

Jin parried the first strike, deflected the second. He knocked away the third, dodged the fourth's tip. The fifth he twisted away from, the sixth grazed his thigh. The seventh pierced the arm that held his sword, and the eighth sank into his abdomen.

A muffled groan, tinged with blood, escaped Jin’s lips as he dripped a red thread from the corner of his mouth. 

“You’re in the way… Get lost!” Yukianesa’s ice raced across the floor. It reached New’s feet in an instant, and the ice that protruded from below bared its fangs as if to pierce him.

“Ineffective.” Swinging her sword-like leg, Nu backflipped to cut away the approaching ice. Despite their ethereal movements, the two blades carried a heavy destructive force, and Jin’s ice, losing its sharpness, shattered.

The eight swords that had returned from around Jin circled around Nu. Amidst them, Nu calmly gazed at Jin’s wounded form.

“Such a scary face. And that feeling… I hate it. I have to kill you.” His low, muttered words were dark, filled with a thick, muddy enmity. A hatred that crawled up from his feet enveloped Nu.

“Field activated.” The eight swords around Nu aimed at Jin. At the same time, Nu thrust both hands forward. A dark circle appeared at Jin’s feet, gathering the surrounding gravity to the bottom.

“Ugh…” Unable to move, Jin was caught in a sensation of being dragged down. Desperately, he stabbed the circle with Yukianesa. But ice could not stop gravity. The ice shattered against the floor with a sharp crack.

Removing her headgear, she revealed a cold, expressionless glare.

“Die.”

The eight swords, now aimed at Jin, flew towards him. Their perfectly aligned blades were about to impale the exposed body mercilessly.

“No, no, no!” A thin, graceful figure intervened with a desperate voice.

No one, including Nu, immediately understood what had happened.

When and how had this girl entered this underground area?

Between Nu and Jin, locked in a deadly confrontation, a strikingly vivid color swayed.

It was a soft camellia red, a glossy, elegant red that stood out against the winter snow. The color, which undulated widely and fell gently, was the hair color of the girl who had jumped in front of Nu’s sword.

Jin, his face pale and covered in blood, let out a voiceless scream, his throat constricting. 

The girl, with a sword piercing her back and protruding from her chest and abdomen, collapsed to her knees like scattered petals. 

Jin, having escaped the gravity field, desperately reached out and caught her as she fell forward. Behind him, the discarded Yukianesa clattered coldly on the floor.

Nu seemed bewildered by the sudden intruder. Ragna, too, widened his eyes in surprise, staring intently at the girl who had shielded Jin with her body. She wore the blue and white uniform of a Librarium soldier.

(Jin's... acquaintance?) It was clear from Jin's expression alone that their relationship was more than just casual acquaintanceship.

For Ragna, the scene was unbearable. To see Jin, his brother who had been consumed by the phenomenon weapon, lost himself, and been swallowed by madness and forgetfulness, being protected by another human.

"Tsubaki...?" Jin's trembling voice echoed through the suddenly quiet surroundings. His eyes wandered vacantly as he looked at her and touched her body, his expression filled with confusion.

"Jin, brother..." Even her faint voice echoed through the underground. With the red stain spreading from the base of the sword protruding from her back, Tsubaki, the girl who had been embraced, found Jin's face and smiled weakly. "I'm glad you're alive... I made it in time. I've never been very fast at running."

She had arrived underground just a moment ago. Using a different elevator from the one Ragna and Jin had used, she had descended directly beside the cauldron. When she went outside and sensed the conflict, she had instinctively run towards it, realizing it was Jin who was fighting.

"No... this is crazy. Why did you do something so reckless? Why are you here...?" Jin's voice trembled with agitation. The confusion in his eyes deepened as he looked into Tsubaki's blue ones. Those eyes shouldn't be here.

Tsubaki lowered her eyebrows in distress. "I'm sorry... I'm really stupid. I forgot my weapon somewhere..." 

Even soldiers who weren't combat specialists were issued firearms for self-defense and intimidation. If Tsubaki had had hers, she might have tried to attract attention with gunfire rather than shielding Jin with her body. 

But that was just a possibility.

[[File:BB_CT1_273.jpg|frameless|right]]

In a different fate, she might have fired her gun. But the result might have been the same.

"I... I was on a mission. I came to pick you up. You were missing... and if I left you, you would've been considered a traitor. So I've been looking for you all this time," Tsubaki gasped, her voice strained as she struggled for breath. She was unaware of the blood welling up in her mouth with each breath.

"Why... Tsubaki..." Jin cried out, his voice raw. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the situation and reasons. In fact, considering Tsubaki's personality, it was easy for him to understand. But he couldn't accept the reality he held in his arms. He didn't want to understand.

Resting her chin on Jin's shoulder, Tsubaki exhaled a long breath and smiled happily.

"Ah... it's been a long time, hasn't it? Brother Jin calling me 'Tsubaki' like you used to." She couldn't bring herself to tell Jin how much it meant to her to be called that.

"Brother Jin..." Tsubaki leaned against Jin, her body heavy in his arms. Jin felt the weight of his soaked glove outside his field of vision, realizing that this wasn't a coquettish gesture.

"No... Tsubaki, Tsubaki!" It sounded like a life was fading away. Tsubaki gently grasped Jin's clothes with her slightly moving fingers. It felt like they were embracing. On Jin's shoulder, Tsubaki closed her eyes.

"Let's... go back to headquarters."

Those were the last words Tsubaki uttered.

The body he held grew suddenly heavy. Her unusual hair and pale cheeks lost their vividness in an instant.

Not knowing how to hold the still-warm, lifeless body, Jin breathed out a trembling sigh and looked up.

Beyond the eight blades still embedded in Tsubaki, he saw Nu tilting her head awkwardly.

"Oh well, she's dead. But it's just as well, Nu didn't like her anyway." With a disinterested tone, Nu flicked her long braid and turned to Ragna. Jin had no weapon, and the intruder was dead. There was nothing left to trouble Nu.

Smiling seductively, Nu bent down and peered at Ragna. She wrapped her arm around Ragna's neck, which was now completely black except for his face, and leaned in for a kiss.

"We're done here, Ragna. Nu's a bit tired, so let's go."

"W-wait..."

Though he should have pulled away, Ragna's body didn't move to reject Nu. No matter how hard he tried to struggle, he couldn't shake off the ticklish fingers that stroked his neck and shoulders.

Behind Nu, who was leaning against him awkwardly, the giant sword began to move again.

In Ragna's field of vision, which was directed behind Nu's shoulder, the sword slowly raised its tip vertically and looked at Nu and Ragna with a sharp silver gleam.

"Ragna..." Nu whispered in his ear, her breath drawing him in. 

The giant sword pierced straight through Nu and Ragna’s bodies, vertically penetrating their abdomens and chests. The sensation was incredibly vivid, yet there was no pain. 

In fact... why was it? For a moment, he even felt a sense of comfort. It felt like something that had been lacking was being replenished and filled. He sighed.

The sword dragged the bodies of Nu and Ragna with the force of its thrust, pulling them towards the open cauldron.

Jin shouted at Ragna, his voice torn by anguish.

"Don't go... don't go, brother! Nothing will change if you do!" What was wrong and what wouldn't change? Even if he asked, no one would answer, surely.

With a strangely hazy mind, Ragna thought to himself.

What a sad face Jin was making. Come to think of it, he was always such a crybaby.

"...Sorry, Jin," Ragna murmured, looking at Jin who was reaching out, while listening to the swirling sound of the Boundary behind him.

The moment after, the floor disappeared from beneath Ragna's feet. With a light tap, New's foot kicked the floor. Beyond that was no longer this world. It was the Boundary.

"Let's go, Ragna, and merge with Nu," she said happily, her lips, which were losing their ability to form words, touched and overlapped with Ragna's.

Embraced by the girl's surprisingly strong arms, Ragna fell down and down. All he could see was the ceiling of the large room built underground. And then... Jin's face, rushing in.

"Brother! Brother!"

But his shout was fading away. His senses were fading away.

And when Ragna's body fell deep into the cauldron, into the Boundary... he felt himself being swallowed up by a deep darkness, transforming into something very large and very terrifying, and closed his eyes.

Somewhere, he heard the roar of a beast.

Ragna felt like he knew the beast.

It was a very large and very terrifying beast, capable of destroying the world.

Before he could understand the meaning, Ragna's consciousness dissolved into the Boundary.