Editing BlazBlue:Phase Shift 3 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 3===
The moon rose high in the night sky, and the forest had sunk into a deep silence. The night kept getting darker; Nine, Jubei, Hakumen, Valkenhayn and Terumi gathered in a hut at the Kaka Village. Several ceramic cups were placed for the guests on a rustic table; Valkenhayn's cup had tea in it, steaming white. Nine sat on a small chair, apparently made out of logs, and took a sip from her cup. The tea, a favorite among the Kaka Tribe, had a color and scent like those of green tea — but its taste was far stronger than it was pleasant. Nevertheless, it relaxed tired bodies quite well. Even after borrowing some power from Valkenhayn and Terumi, Nine could barely stand after putting a protective barrier on the village; she had spent too much mana on teleporting here.

— “Are you okay? You look so pale...” — Jubei's nose wrinkled while he looked at Nine.

Nine shook her head lightly. Her face was so exhausted, it looked theatrical.

— “I'm not okay... I'm wrecked. I just want to snuggle a big cat and take a long nap.”

— “I get that you're tired, but can you not make that kind of joke?” Jubei frowned and sank his face into his large hands. Nine, however, took no offense; she smiled happily in spite of her visible fatigue.


Out of the corner of Nine's eye, Terumi — who sat with his legs thrown up on the table behind Jubei — made a face like he'd swallowed a bug.

— “Whooooa... a witch and a cat in love?! That’s the ''greatest fairy tale ever told!''” He sneered sarcastically. Terumi spat at the floor in disgust, and Nine glared at him as fast as his spit hit the ground.

— “Don't butt into people's conversations. I've already had it rough; can you just not talk unless you absolutely have to?”

— “That would be fine by me... but I wonder what your pals and your sis will think?” Terumi cackled, “you'd look like a wooden doll next to me! Imagine the looks on their fucking faces!”

— “You want to talk about Trinity and Celica again...?” Nine placed her cup on the table and slowly stood up, before Jubei broke his firm stance and quickly got up from his chair to intervene.

— “Hey, hey! Calm down! This isn't the time. And Nine, no sorcery for now.” Jubei said.


It was a large barrier to a mass teleportation. It took quite a while to recover, due to Nine's vast amounts of mana.

Nine, now calm, threw a sharp glance at Terumi, but reluctantly sat back on her chair and turned her eyes away from his unpleasant grin. Jubei just scratched his head. He sighed and turned to see Valkenhayn and Hakumen sitting, looking like they wanted no part of the situation.


…and Jubei sighed again. He realized this crew was not very cooperative; while he had a younger brother he had never been on good terms with, in retrospect he thought their relationship was reasonably close. But that brother had already passed…


As usual, a well-timed, leisurely knock broke the tense air between Nine and Terumi.

— “Sorry I’m late~!” Trinity said as she opened the door. She stepped in with a soft, wry smile — just from looking at Nine’s face, she could tell what had happened while she was gone.


Trinity waved her cotton-like platinum hair and sat down in the empty seat between Jubei and Terumi.

— “Madam Trinity, how is Celica?” — Valkenhayn asked, offering Trinity a cup of freshly brewed tea.

— “She is doing fine,” Trinity answered, “but she seems exhausted. I made her some tea to help with her condition, burned some incense to refill her mana, and just in case, I put a magical ward on her room.”

— “That is… good to hear. Thank you.”


Nine breathed in deep enough for everyone to hear and rested her forehead on one hand. She relaxed her shoulders calmly, a fresh change from her row with Terumi. The sight of her made Trinity’s cheeks relax.

— “No, no — Celica is an important friend to me too.”

Trinity always thought that, because there was so little she could do for herself, she should at least do what she could for her friends and loved ones; so had she always believed.

Heavy footsteps could be heard from Hakumen, who had been silent and motionless. The tall man in white walked up beside the table and turned towards Nine.

— “That makes all Six… let’s get down to business.”

It was time to continue the meeting that had to be interrupted that day. The matter of the Nox Nyctores, Take-Mikazuchi, was still up in the air. Hakumen’s white mask, featureless and reticent, appealed to Nine to start talking about their situation then and there.


Nine picked up the cup and tilted it. The unique scent of tea stimulated her senses. She no longer hesitated to speak — if she could even stop herself from doing it. With her eyelids heavy, Nine summarized the contents of her lecture.

— “I’m sure we’ve talked about the Sealed Weapon Izayoi.” She put down her cup and left her seat. “This might be a bit off-topic, but… you ever wonder how sorcery works on Black Beasts, and normal weapons don’t?”


Nine laid out the elements of nature one after another, like she was spreading cards on the table. She demonstrated each element with small magical constructs: a tiny flame for fire; a water orb; a stone; and a pocket-sized whirlwind.

— “These are the Four Elements. Fire, water, earth, and wind… and the Two Origins: light and darkness.” In the middle of the Four Elements, a bright light and a shadowy orb appeared. Nine continued, "there's not a lot of difference between the capabilities of sorcery and science. Whether it's man-made or magical, all fire burns just the same — we call that Logic. The thing is... even nuclear bombs, the ultimate man-made weapon, can't damage a Black Beast."


Nine's hand flicked across the table, sweeping out the elements in a single motion. She stared at the remnants of light that she'd scattered.

— “That's because the Black Beast exists outside of Logic, and what's bound by Logic can't harm what isn't. But sorcery also exists outside of Logic, so it can hurt a Black Beast.”

— “Outside of Logic…? What do you mean?” Jubei asked, frowning visibly. He had no experience with sorcery, so he could barely grasp all that — but the thought of it made Nine smile. Her tone softened just a bit.

— “Sorcery is powered by a person’s willpower and soul. I believe it has some effect on Seithr…” Nine could not say for sure — but she knew magic arts could be easily influenced by the user's mental state. She believed the relationship between this and Seithr would become clear soon. “But it's not a coincidence that Sorcery can affect Black Beasts, because it was created to fight beings outside of Logic.”


Nine went back to her lecturing tone, and Trinity briefly interjected.

— “Are you talking about the war from the Age of Origin?”

It was an event in the distant past, erased not only from the history of the world, but also from Ishana's. Nine understood Trinity's uncertainty and nodded, certain that the war had happened.

— “The 'thing' that mankind fought back then is what we now call a Black Beast. It exists outside of Logic, and magic was created to defeat it. So, I put that into practice and created a new power source: Ars Magus.”
Nine made it sound so simple, but even Jubei and Hakumen, who didn't know the details, could see how far beyond common sense this Art was.


Nine brushed a lock of hair from her shoulder.

— “The Sealed Weapon I found, Izayoi, was also created during past wars to fight against beings outside of Logic. So I analyzed its mechanisms, and I created...”

— “...the Nox Nyctores.” Hakumen continued; his tone stern, heavy, and labored.


He knew exactly what Nine was going to talk about: the Nox Nyctores, Gigant: Take-Mikazuchi.

Valkenhayn folded his thick arms in front of his chest, and snarled like a wolf.

— “So, Take-Mikazuchi was based on a weapon used in ancient wars against enemies 'outside of Logic'. Does that mean it exists outside of Logic as well...?” He summarized precisely, but Jubei scratched his head, wrinkling the bridge of his nose while he did his best to soak it all in. Nine nodded — “that's right. By the way, Sealed Weapons and Nox Nyctores are man-made weapons, not Arts, so they still have limited power against Sorcery and Ars Magus.”

The difference between weapons and Arts was palpable, and Nine reminded herself of it. Arts could be put to practical use; just as science enriched human life while weapons were created, if the direction of light changed, so did its role and what was required of it. Weapons, however, were still weapons — they rarely had more meaning than what was assigned to them at creation.

With a bitter feeling in her heart, Nine picked up her cup and drank what remained of her tea until the bitterness turned strangely sweet.


— “Nine... can I ask you something?” Trinity raised her hand like she was at a school lecture.

Nine looked disturbed for a moment. She did not hate it when Trinity asked her questions; but it still got under her skin, because she always saw through Nine so clearly that she could reveal her secrets in the blink of an eye.

— “Why did ''Celica,'' specifically, have to control Take-Mikazuchi? If you built it, you would never have used her for it.”


Trinity and Nine were both reminded of the Lynchpin, activated by Celica's power.

Nine put her cup down and blew a quiet sigh. Trinity really could see right through her. Though she was a bit paranoid, she didn't want to tell Trinity unless asked to. She had to think about what she was doing, or else she would suspect that everything about her was being aired to the world.

— “...of course, it wasn't part of the plan. It wasn't Seven or Eight's idea either — it was something beyond my control.”

Looking at the tea left in her unfinished cup, Nine tried to find more to say. As expected, the tone of her lecture was not calm.

— “Celica passively cancels Seithr activity around her, so she isn't affected by the Ars Magus... and because the Nox Nyctores run on Seithr, she can control Take-Mikazuchi with no problem. That's why Seven and Eight are looking for Celica; they own Take-Mikazuchi, and they want her to control it.”
When she finished her lecture, Nine sat on a chair. She took off her hat and brushed her long hair back — then the hat was back on, and she pulled herself away from the table.


— “That's all I can tell you about Take-Mikazuchi... I'm sorry, but I'm almost at my limit. Let's call it a night.” Her words were practically spat out, with how exhausted she was.
Concerned, Jubei perked up and stood ahead of Nine.

— “That's right. We'll talk our future and the investigation tomorrow. We don't want Nine to work herself sore.”

— “Yes. It's too late.” Valkenhayn nodded and stood up to follow suit. It was too easy to forget that, for all her genius and prowess, Nine was still human. Valkenhayn and Jubei, both beastkin, knew it was a mistake to think Nine was as 
physically strong as they were.

— “I'm going first... good night.” Aching to get out of this place, Nine dragged her heels and grasped at the hut's door.

— “Should I take you to another hut?” Jubei asked, calling out behind her.

— “I'll be right there... it's just around the corner. You don't want to see me when I'm this tired.”

— “Oh... okay.” Jubei sighed as his shoulders dropped. He knew Nine would say that.


Nine just shrugged her shoulders and smiled apologetically.

— “Take it from here, Trinity. We'll think about the rest tomorrow.”

That said, Nine left the hut by herself, letting her long hair flow loosely over her shoulders.