Editing BlazBlue:Phase Shift 2 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 3===

The noise of the wind and the voice of Celica who was speaking right beside him didn't reach Hakumen.

His hearing only picked up the one name that had been mentioned several times. It made a ripple on the surface of the water of his thoughts.

Ragna.

Ragna the Bloodedge.

It was a name that couldn't be forgotten even if he tried to. A name that had been etched on the basis of his memory.

If he had the face of a human and eyes at the appropriate place, Hakumen would have frowned.

(Why... Why was Nii-san here? In this age...?)

The man he had once called brother. Ragna the Bloodedge.

In this time, he definitely shouldn't exist.







——It was the time when Hakumen was not ''Hakumen''. Perhaps his last consecutive memory.

The last memory of the time when he was once named ''Jin''.



The recollection began with scorching red.

Whirling flames, surging heat. Although he was showered by the scattering spray of lava, they oddly weren't hot.

In a place deep underground where an artificial volcano named ''The Cauldron'' was created, he——Jin threw himself into said Cauldron. For the sake of saving a person who had fallen.

"NII-SAN!"

With his beautiful golden hair disheveled, with his jade eyes burning in flames, his voice broke as he shouted. Pushing his way through the heat, he extended his arm.

There were silhouettes ahead of him in the direction he sought. The body of a large man and one of a small woman. The two of them were lying on top of another as if caught in an embrace. They were connected by a huge sword, piercing their bodies like a giant stake. Similar to a gliding bird, they went into freefall.

Jin wanted to stop the man. But his voice was swallowed by the roaring wind and his flailing arm couldn't reach him.

The woman was smiling. That woman had snatched the man Jin called brother.

He wasn't close enough that she could see him, yet her red eyes were glaring and looking up at Jin. Her face twisted into something hideous while letting out a shrill laugh. The deafening voice echoed inside his skull.

Shut up. Stop laughing.

Jin cried as he was engulfed in roaring wind and flame. Hatred and murderous thoughts gushed up from the bottom of his stomach.

"I will never... ever forgive you! NEVER!"

The apparently endless fall suddenly transformed.

The figures that were solid until then melted and blended into one. The man and woman who were united by a sword lost their features and transformed into a black, writhing mass. Gradually swelling, it expanded and swallowed the surroundings. Inside the darkness, bright red eyes that shone in a sinister fashion could be seen.

As soon as he saw it, a needle of ice penetrated Jin's spine.

At the same time, countless words of denial rushed through his mind.

''Inexcusable.''

''It mustn't be allowed to exist. It mustn't be deemed to exist.''

The denials were the impulse of his instinct. In the accumulation of them, his will and ego were crushed to nothingness.

In the end, the mass that contained his brother and the hated woman tried to take the shape of something...

Jin, together with the black mass, fell down into the blazing flames.



Lured by the cold wind, he opened his eyes. There were no flames nor heat... What appeared before his eyes was the stretched, emotionless sky full of stars.

The figure of his brother was nowhere to be seen.

The same for the red-eyed woman, and the black mass he had seen.

But there stood a girl beside him. A girl that resembled the moon.

"Mr. Hero. How would you like to become a real hero?"

Jin didn't know how to answer the enigmatic question. He couldn't recall the correct words.

But when the girl expressed a bewitching smile that didn't seem to match her girlish appearance at all, she summoned a suffocating scent of roses and whisked Jin away from that place.

Teleportation——.

The moment he felt it, Jin lost consciousness once more.







When he regained consciousness again, Jin was lying in the bed of a strange room.

In the forefront of his vision was a dull colored ceiling, harmonized by a chandelier that seemingly had a flower and ivy motif.

The room was spacious. It was furnished with moderately luxurious but good quality furniture. The faint scent must have been roses. The bedding was also considerably first-rate, it bore the illusion that one would sink if they were to lie there for too long.

The air fluctuated suddenly.

Along with the sound of a door opening, someone entered. There was only one set of footsteps. Slipping through the door, a quiet wind and rose fragrance entered the room.

The footsteps stopped beside Jin along with the sound of wheels turning. After a short pause, a hoarse voice spoke gently.

"It seems you have awakened."

Barely hearing it, Jin tried to move his neck. He found he could only look around by moving his eyes.

There was the figure of an old man beside the bed. A wrinkled face with a long white beard, and lengthy grey hair in addition.

The old man was severely thin and looked very tired. His neck and arms looked like dead branches and his cheeks held the moss. That said, the old man was wrapped in noble attire that was breathtaking.

He was sitting in a wheelchair. The sound of wheels Jin's ears picked up earlier must have belonged to it.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Clavis Alucard. This man is my butler, Valkenhayn R. Hellsing."

A voice that shook the air gently, like a ripple on the surface of water.

With red eyes filled with the accumulated wisdom and dignity of many generations, Clavis hinted toward the restrained, well built man stood behind him. 

After that, he proceeded to reach out his hand to a tiny silhouette at his side.

"This child is Rachel Alucard. ...She is the one who brought you to this castle."

Clavis put his hand on the shoulder of the girl. It was the bewitching girl who had smiled before Jin lost consciousness, below the starry sky and annoyingly dazzling moon.

But something was different. Jin thought instinctively.

It could be the appearance, the age, or even her very existence. He was certain that she was the girl from that time, but he had a feeling that something was fundamentally different.

Jin gathered a little strength and knitted his brows.

It wasn't just the girl. This place was anomalous. These people, the drifting air... even the flow of time.

"Where am I...?"

Placing his jarring arms to each side of his body, Jin tried to get up. However, even though his arms were moving, they slipped, unable to achieve any power as if they were hollow pipes.

It wasn't just his arms. It was like his whole body had been replaced with wooden doll. He even had to muster his whole strength just to move his lips.

Toward the appalled Jin, the gentle voice spoke again.

"You ought not do anything excessive. Let alone getting up, your body cannot move as you please. It is quite amazing just for you to have woken up in this short period of time."

"Short period of time?"

"It should be seven days in human time... When you were carried to this castle, you were gravely injured. The external wounds were treated by Valkenhayn, but you slipped into a comatose state due to your injuries."

After speaking that much, Clavis smiled and looked at Jin with eyes like he was admiring a kitten taking its first steps.

"Do not force yourself. Try not to get up."

He lectured Jin once again.

For a moment, a glint of clear irritation passed over Jin. But looking at Clavis' peaceful gaze made his body lose its strength. Jin sank into his bed as if giving up. His fatigue and dizziness gave him the impression that it would be futile even if he struggled.

After being certain he had relaxed, Clavis answered Jin's first question.

"This place is my castle. It does not belong anywhere in the world. It is also connected to every dark night of the world... A place that exists but is also nonexistent. Similar to the other side of the moon."

The words he spoke were too obscure even for a fairy tale. But mysteriously they managed to sound logical for human interpretation.

At the very least, Jin had a vague understanding of it. Taking a deep breath, he spoke his next question.

"...Why am I here?"

"Well, then. I do not know the details either. But young man, it appears that you have crossed the Boundary. The remaining damage to your flesh are all the result of crossing over it."

"Boundary..."

Just what is the Boundary? It seemed to be a word he should have known, but Jin didn't understand much about it for some reason. No, that was incorrect. He knew the 'information' regarding the meaning of the word Boundary. How could he know about it? Where did he obtain that knowledge?

In the first place, just who was he? Clavis said that he arrived here after passing through the Boundary. But where was he and what was he doing before then? ...He didn't know.

His mind was blurry. He wanted to put his hand on his forehead, but the hand wouldn't move.

He heard a sympathetic sigh from Clavis.

"Are your memories in chaos? Perhaps that is also because you have been heavily affected by the Boundary. There is an enormous amount of information drifting in the Boundary. When your spirit connected with it, your individual memories as well as personality were swept away by the excessive knowledge. To put it simply, you cannot remember yourself well enough."

With the noise of clothes rustling, Clavis lightly moved his hands from the wheelchair's handles onto his knees.

Looking away from the sluggish gesture, Jin turned his gaze toward the ceiling. The light of the chandelier was awfully distant. It made it feel lifeless.

Clavis' drowsy voice continued.

"Crossing the Boundary is very dangerous. It is a wonder for an ordinary man to even retain his flesh. Even if it remained, one would lose himself as his will became engulfed by the Boundary. ...It appears that you possess a very strong spirit."

Strong spirit. Those words were oddly amusing. Jin spat it out by taking a breath.

If he truly possessed that thing, then —— wouldn't be ——. 

(...Who... What was it?)

The floating thought dispersed at once before it formed a shape inside his mind. He couldn't grasp it. It was just he felt that he had lost something... Something that absolutely mustn't be lost.

His head was heavy. He spontaneously closed his eyelids. With his vision shut in the dark, a spectacle was resurrected as if it had been waiting patiently.

Red flames, burning air, falling figures... and then red eyes.

For the present Jin, it was his last and only clear memories.

"Black... I saw a black mass. Where is that thing?"

That's right, a black mass. At the same time as he remembered, the emotions he had when he witnessed it were overflowing, gushing forth anew.

''That being shouldn't be allowed to exist.''

Jin's spine was shivering as his memories, along with thought, got swept away. Even his ego was engulfed by the impulse. It wasn't because of terror. If he put it into words then it would be murderous intent.

"That being is the Black Beast... It materialized from the Boundary. A being that is destroying the world."

Clavis' voice gently wrapped up the burning negative feelings.

"It seems it appeared in this world one month ago. After singlehandedly forcing a small island country into catastrophe, it presently rampages around the world searching for further destruction."

"It must..."

Slipping from his thoughts, Jin's mouth moved on its own and spoke. The words didn't completely sound; they didn't even reach Jin's ears himself. But as for the meaning of the enveloping emotions, it was too obvious not only to Jin, but also Clavis.

''It must be killed.''

Jin clenched his teeth. His molars grating against one another made a noise. The inner corner of his eyes were burning.

It was terribly confusing. Merely yielding to that confusion made the desire to immediately rush away from this place rampage inside his body.

He himself didn't have any kind of intention, but he felt bad as if his body was taking control and doing as it pleased.

His head aching, Jin grimaced severely.

Watching the situation quietly, Clavis continued to speak.

"Young man. This is still the time for you to recuperate. If you take a rest for a little bit more, you will be able to get up. Perhaps some of your memories will also return. If the time comes, if you still have the will to stand... there is a place I intend to show you."

"What...?"

"Until then, please rest to your heart's content. The reason you're here is because your destiny has not yet concluded."

After he said that, Clavis casted his gaze to the silent Valkenhayn at his back as if urging him.

Still with a gloomy expression, Valkenyhayn handled the wheelchair with a delicate manner that didn't suit his build and left the room with Clavis.

The girl who was following, Rachel, silently halted her feet in front of the door for a moment. With the ribbons in her long golden hair swinging, she looked back at Jin.

The big red eyes of a doll were staring at Jin.

But without saying anything, the girl's eyes continued to gleam with that cold color. Then a wind blew unexpectedly and in a flash the girl vanished to the hallway.

With the door closed the room was peacefully silent.

Jin glared at the solid wood of the door from his bed.

''I couldn't——.''

The broken thought came in contact with the broken memories, revealing a whisper of regret.

''Your destiny has not yet concluded.''

Clavis' words echoed deep within his chest. Feeling annoyed by it, Jin fell asleep before long as if fainting.







"...n. Hakumen-san!"

What had pulled up Hakumen from sinking endlessly into the lake of thought might be the voice of the girl who seemed to repeatedly calling to him while lightly hitting his arm, or perhaps it was the chimes of a bell sounding that the time was 3 o'clock before vanishing as if absorbed by the distant sky.

While his five senses were readjusting to the here and now, Hakumen turned his face toward the worried girl stood next to him who was looking up at him.

As he moved, Celica sighe a breath of relief and smiled.

"Thank god. I thought something was wrong since you were completely still."

After she said that, she noticed that she was still touching his arm. Then Celica retracted her hand behind her back while making a mischievous face.

Not minding it, Hakumen turned his head. What the white mask was seeing was the Mage's Guild that was located at the center of Ishana's townscape.

"...It seems to have ended."

Lowly murmuring, he turned on his heels with the long silver hair on his head fluttering. Each time he stepped forward, the lush lawn made a noise.

Before he went too far, Celica immediately chased after him.

"Wha, wait up. You're going to Onee-chan's place, right? I'll go with you!"

Hakumen didn't give a reply, but he slightly shortened his large steps. Stepping after him, Celica jogged to catch up with a light trot.

As if urging both of their shadows to leave the hill, a strong gust of wind blew through.

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