Editing BlazBlue:Phase 0 Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 3===

Before anyone knew it, the hidden room that was deep within underground had regained complete silence.

A small sound rang as Trinity closed a thick notebook in her hand. Its black leather of a cover was crowded with writings on it. They were mostly reminders of someone's researches.

But occasionally, there were no dates or signatures, with small monologues put in between. Sometimes it was a trivial announcement of a decision, sometimes it was a complaint, and sometimes it was regret.

The contents were like short journals. Its owner, Shuuichirou Ayatsuki, wasn't able to tell it to his daughters. What was written were mostly predictions, and the truth.

Standing in for the uninvolved sisters, Trinity only investigated some parts of the monologues and read aloud what caught her eyes.

"...It seems originally, your father's research was initiated when a person named Relius Clover received a request."

Breathing out slowly, Trinity said a few words. It was then that time had finally moved for the first time in a long time.

For the whole time, Nine was silent, while Celica was crying.

In the midst of it, Celica finally stopped crying and sat down on the floor. Even then, she hadn't released Ragna's clothes. For now, she still clung to it with her head buried.

He didn't see a reason to separate her. Forced to keep sitting, Ragna looked up to Trinity with his posture still holding Celica.

"Was there a guy named Yuuki Terumi in there?"

"No~, didn't find any."

"Is that so..."

He felt disappointed since he had a little hope. Ragna had quite a history with him as the enemy. That name gave out a hidden presence that marked an important incident in history. Ragna had encountered him in a period approximately a hundred years to the future. However, he should have existed in this period, too, donning some kind of appearance.

To say the least, Yuuki Terumi was one of the Six Heroes who had defeated Black Beast...

(...Hm? Does that mean if I find Terumi and beat him during this current stage, the Black Beast won't be defeated?)

Ragna suddenly noticed. If that were the case, he couldn't afford to kill Terumi. History would change.

(Well... But for now...)

The purpose he came up with that he could do in this period was only Yuuki Terumi.

For now, rather than that, the girl who was desperately wiping her tears from her eyes was more important.

And then... about the Kushinada's Lynchpin that was silently enshrined.

"That Relius Clover must be the person that man was talking about."

Nine spoke as she separated her back from the wall. An anger that had its reason still yet to be understood by Ragna and the others strongly oozed out from her voice.

She wandered to the front of the lynchpin and then looked up at the gigantic object with her chin raised, as if challenging it.

"If you want to overcome your inferiority complex, then do something with just your own power... And yet, this thing...!"

With her anger stirred up, thunder appeared on Nine's hand. It largely expanded in just a blink of an eye. Before long, the sound of electric discharge filled up the atmosphere within the room. The measuring devices screeched as sparks scattered all over them.

"Hey! What are you trying to do!?"

Ragna raised his voice in a hurry. With her eyes locked on the Kushinada's Lynchpin, Nine didn't even look over to him.

"It should be obvious. This ridiculous junk has no worth in existing!"

"You... you can't, Onee-chan! Father went through trouble taking care of it! It might be able to stop the Black Beast!"

Weeping her eyes out, Celica raised her face and also yelled.

The hidden room which was built deep underground might not know about the damage from the Black Beast, but if one were to get out to the outside of the room for a moment, they would see deep scars regardless. If they were to go to the surface, they would be exposed to the dreadful appearance of a country that had been destroyed by an unidentified monster.

If the Black Beast's ferocious movements could be stopped, then any mankind would long for that miraculous means.

But Nine's back turned a deaf ear. The lightning sphere greatly raised.

Trinity prepared a protective magic in a hurry. Ragna reflexively held Celica to protect her.

The lightning was fired.

On the brink of it, a gale swiftly flowed.

"Wh...!?"

It wasn't clear if the raised voice toward the unusual phenomenon belonged to Ragna or Nine.

A distorted noise burned the air. The course of the fired lightning cluster that had been aimed at the lynchpin was abruptly changed to a wrong direction. In a diagonally upward angle, it smashed the room's ceiling and burst.

A noise of metal being torn off spread. The smokes from the explosion dragged the smashed soils and rained down within the room.

"Cough... cough. W-what?"

Celica lowered her body since she was seized by a fit of coughing while still being held by Ragna's arm. She once again choked painfully.

She didn't know the details of what had happened. But judging from the noise and situation, Nine's magic had been repelled. It didn't directly hit the lynchpin.

With her sleeve covering her mouth, Nine looked up from within the whirling up dust clouds. In the front of her, another presence lingered.

As his vision gradually became clearer, Ragna instantly recognized the intruder.

"Can't let ye destroy this fella."

A short build with the height that didn't even reach Ragna's chest and two tails that swayed. A gleaming Japanese sword that cut through the explosion's smoke.

The one who was standing there was Mitsuyoshi, with his wounded right eye covered in bandages.

As soon as he saw Mitsuyoshi's figure, Ragna spontaneously gasped. His memory was aching.

That person also had his right eye concealed by an eye patch. The side of his eye that was covered was the same as what Ragna's master, Jubei, had.

"Mitsuyoshi! Why the hell are you here...!?"

"Did ye forget, Ragna? Clavis was originally tryin' to get me to investigate this place. It shouldn't be strange fer me to be here."

With only his large left eye sharply focusing on Nine, Mitsuyoshi sneered in a friendly tone that didn't change in any way since the time when they were traveling together to Japan. But he didn't give any hint of friendliness as his hostility lit up.

"I've heard the story. Kushinada's Lynchpin... If its strength can stop the Black Beast, might as well start it up now."

His voice was calm, but he said it while the tip of his sword pointed to Nine threateningly.

The sudden intruder made Nine dumbfounded although she rarely did that. After she came to her senses, she carefully focused on her magic.

"And just when I thought someone fairly good-looking had appeared, you just had to say a selfish thing, didn't you? If you've heard the story, then you should have understood. I can't let that junk be activated."

"Why? Even ye should've known how messy the current world's situation is, Nine of the Ten Sages."

"You're an underling of the Alucard Family, right? Looks like senility has hit even Clavis Alucard."

Nine boldly answered back as she snorted.

Mitsuyoshi's face showed a faint discontent at the word senility.

"Answer my question. Are ye, one of the Ten Sages, seriously goin' to conceal the means to save the world just fer yer own selfish desire, even as a joke?"

Why did Nine detest Kushinada's Lynchpin so intensely? It wasn't just Mitsuyoshi's question, but everyone in this room, too.

"This isn't a means to eliminate that monster. It will only hold it back. The existence of the Black Beast will continue to remain."

"It's better than not usin' it. Humanity needs time. After escapin' from the Black Beast, the time won't be necessarily used to save victims, but to get the strength to fight against that monster."

The current humanity's technology could not oppose the Black Beast. The circumstances couldn't produce any kind of satisfaction.

But even if they got their hands on something, they didn't have the opportunity to organize it. Every country, every institution had their hands full in dealing with the damage caused by Black Beast.

And everyone thought about how to save anyone who stood beside them. If only there was a little time, then they wouldn't have to think about protecting.

"Just as Mitsuyoshi-san has said, I feel the same. If we don't do anything at this rate, humanity might perish. Even if the time is short, a person might be saved in the meantime."

Celica appealed while getting up by borrowing Ragna's hand.

"Father said that my power is needed to complete it. I'll do anything. I think it'll be wonderful if people throughout the world can live in peace even for a while."

Her swollen red eyes pointed directly at the older sister. Her voice was powerful, as if the sobbing from before was a lie.

Nine dropped her gaze as if avoiding her sister.

"Don't say such an absurd thing..."

Her fingers whitening as she clenched her fist beside her body.

As if his back was enduring something, Ragna also asked although he was hesitating.

"You seem to not want that device to be used no matter what. But why do you refuse it so much? If you're hiding something dangerous, then tell us. If you don't, then I won't be satisfied since I'm clueless. Mitsuyoshi and Celica also won't agree, y'know?"

"...Look here!"

Nine snapped at Ragna's question. With her long hair disheveled, Nine turned around. The glaring eyes that raised up looked like... they would burst into tears anytime soon.

"It is nothing but a decoration for now. It's meaningless to toss it to the Boundary as it is. Electricity and magic cannot reach it when it's inside the Boundary. And it needs some source of energy to keep it functioning. It also can't use instantaneous ones like explosion. That thing operates continuously in a constant pace. Something like batteries is not enough at all. Something larger, something that can be more easily controlled..."

"A source of energy with that much delicacy..."

Trinity became speechless mid-sentence. She had already guessed it.

But Ragna couldn't grasp what Nine was trying to say. He took a large step forward as he was frustrated.

"Quit talking in a circle! What is it!?"

"Don't you know?"

With hate, Nine spoke coldly. Her contempt wasn't directed at Ragna, but her father.

"...A human being."

The perceived sound felt like it made the mood grew cold rapidly.

With a voice that had its emotion killed, Nine continued on.

"A human soul is unstable, but it can have an unmatched adaptability when precisely programmed. Besides, even without something like a cable or electromagnetic wave for machine, or the user's mind for magic, it will be able to keep functioning as long as the human is still alive."

For it to work in an unknown territory called the Boundary, it had been stated that a human being was the most suitable as the instrument's energy.

For many years, Shuuichirou Ayatsuki had been researching about the technique for establishing a human's soul. The Kushinada's Lynchpin had to be the culmination of those researches. It was the first and the last finished creation to Shuuichirou Ayatsuki.

"However, the energy for the lynchpin cannot be any kind of human. Compared to anyone else, it has to be someone who excels in manipulating one's life force... For example, someone who's especially talented in using healing-type magic."

After Nine squeezed out the words as her heart tore to pieces, her mouth got locked shut.

"Ah."

Celica astonishingly let her voice out instead. The lightly gripped hand had its index finger peeked out. That gesture of pointing to herself was extremely unsuitable with the room's atmosphere.

"Could it be me?"

''———It needs your power for it to be completed. Your...''

In other words, that was the meaning of their father's last words.