Editing BlazBlue:Bloodedge Experience Part 2 Chapter 11 (section)

===Part 5===

Raquel watched.

She listened. She felt.

She sensed everything happening around her with all five senses.

The strength of the voice calling her, the warmth of the arms holding her... she felt it all.

Darkness.

Recognition.

In the enclosed darkness, "Raquel Alucard", whose self-awareness was becoming hazy, was forcibly dragged out and saw the moon in the sky with her own eyes.

It was a beautiful full moon.

At that moment, she was certain.

She had definitely chosen "him."

For a brief moment, he thought he had lost consciousness. But Naoto realized it was not so when he was startled by his own ridiculously noisy breathing.

"Ha, ha... ze, ha... zee, ze... ha, ha, ha, ha..." There was no way his breath would calm down at such an absurd pace. Contrary to his oddly calm thoughts, his body was desperately trying to take in oxygen, his shoulders heaving up and down.

Naoto was almost touching the ground but was slightly raised, in a crouched position. His body was heavy, his senses were dull, and he felt an overwhelming sense of fatigue, as if his whole body had come apart at the seams. Nevertheless, he knew he was alive. Could there be such a suffocating death?

Gradually, his body remembered how to breathe properly. As the tense muscles slowly relaxed... Naoto realized that a golden-haired girl was in his arms. It was Raquel.

He let out a sigh of relief. He could see a number above her head. A number in the tens of millions, overwhelmingly lower than usual, but she was definitely alive.

"...You look terrible." Raquel stirred slightly in Naoto's arms and opened her eyes slowly. She looked up at him with her large golden eyes and blinked once. He could clearly see her long eyelashes fluttering up and down like a doll's. And those were her first words after being saved. Naoto burst out laughing.

"You’re one to talk." 

Raquel was a mess, covered in Naoto's blood, Spinner's blood, and the insect’s bodily fluids. The tattered ribbon still held her hair in place, but it was not neat.

Raquel sighed wearily. Gently pushing Naoto's chest, she staggered to her feet and looked down at the body that had just been holding her.

"I can say this much: I'm doing far better than you." 

"Ah..." Naoto, upon looking at himself again, groaned softly. It was indeed a horrific sight. The left arm and right leg, which had been replaced by something black until just a moment ago, had completely vanished without a trace. As if to compensate, his right arm, created from Raquel's blood, had somehow returned to normal.

"Of course. Your right arm was lost because I was consumed by Spinner. It returned when you brought me back," Raquel explained. At the same time, Naoto's regeneration ability had also returned. 

However, the injuries he had sustained while Raquel was absorbed by Spinner could not be healed even by his regeneration. When the connection to Raquel was severed, Naoto had been just a "normal human." Wounds from that time would not regenerate, just as his lost right arm had not returned when he first encountered Spinner's Apostle.

"That's right, Spinner!" At the mention of the name, Naoto jumped up as if he had been shocked. But the right arm he tried to use to support himself couldn't bear his weight, and it twitched and shook as he raised his upper body, unable to push himself up any further.

Instead of Naoto, Raquel turned around, staggering slightly. Through her, Naoto saw the crouched figure of a black-clad man.

"......What the...?" Naoto's expression twisted in shock. Could he really call what was there—no, who was there—Spinner Superior? The man's spider-like lower limbs were melting away, resembling overcooked flesh, and he was slumped against the ground. At the center, the man in black was curled up, hugging himself. With bony, thin shoulders, elongated arms, unnaturally pale skin, and tousled gray hair, he bore the unmistakable features of Spinner. 

But his body was writhing strangely, as if countless insects were rampaging inside him. Arms, chest, back, it didn’t matter. Ignoring the positions of his joints and organs, his body was twisting and distorting its shape, as if it had lost all flesh and bone and become a mass of protoplasm.

"Gu, ooooo... oooOOOoooOOooh!"

A cry, sounding more like a vengeful spirit than a sound produced by a human throat, echoed through the area. It was a cry of agony.

Spinner's body trembled violently, beginning to collapse. It resembled a dry sand dune being gradually eroded by the wind. His crumbling body was being sucked into the black vortex that still lingered behind him, turning into fine black dust.

"He's losing control." Raquel muttered in a voice somewhere between pity and contempt. "What he was trying to open was a gate to another space-time called the 'Boundary'. But that could only happen because he had absorbed me... After you forcibly pulled me away from Spinner, he lost control of the gate he was trying to open, and now his existence will be consumed."

If that happened, there would be no one to save him. Even though Naoto didn't fully understand Raquel's words, that was the part that left the strongest impression on him. 

As if he had heard their conversation, Spinner raised his head, stretching his neck. 

Naoto's breath caught slightly.

It was undoubtedly Spinner's face that was raised. But his body was already so black it was that the line between clothing and flesh was indistinguishable, and only his face stood out strangely white, as if a white mask had been fitted onto a black, amorphous body.

The hands, white and untouched by darkness, reached out, dragged by arms that were elongated and stretched even further. The mass of shadow undulated and moved forward in a grotesque manner, neither human legs nor spider legs propelling him.

"Return... Azure." The cursed, pleading voice, like the scream before, was distorted, muddy, and twisted, unlike Spinner's original voice. "Return... return, return, it's mine, my Azure..." While calling out 'Azure', Spinner stared at Raquel with clouded eyes.

They were not far enough apart. Raquel instinctively took a step back from the approaching Spinner. However, when her small hand touched Naoto, who couldn’t stand, she briefly turned back, a determined look on her face, and faced the grotesque man again, standing up as if propelled by a spring.

Although she wasn't as intimately connected as Naoto, she must have been quite weakened. But she stood in front of Naoto like a wall, protecting him.

"Are you crazy? Just run away!" Naoto shouted, realizing that Raquel was the one being targeted. 

Without looking back at him, Raquel maintained a confident expression and snapped her fingers. "Don't underestimate me... A single sorcerer on the verge of losing his self-awareness—there's nothing to worry about."

"That's a lie! Quit screwing around, just fly off and escape—!" Naoto shouted, but deep down, he understood that the reason she wasn’t doing that was because she didn’t have the strength left to do so.

Spinner's body shook violently. Prompted by the tremors racing up from his feet to his entire body, his form expanded grotesquely. From within his body, whose thickness was hard to define, something like ribs burst outward, opening as if splashing muddy water.

Was it his arms spreading wide, or the gaping maw of his sin? The exposed bones extended like silver-tipped blades, quivering in ecstasy as if to devour something.

"Devour, devour, devour, devour, devour, devour, devour, devour! The key to the Azure... my key... To the profound depths of noble knowledge, don't touch those hands, filthy blood, tainting the Azure... My hands are the rightful bearer of Azure... My Azure... Azure, Azure, Azure, ahh... Aah, aaah, aaah... At the end of the endless cycle, I shall create the truth before my eyes!"

Spouting incomprehensible words in a strangely broken voice, Spinner lunged at Raquel and Naoto. Raquel braced herself, pushing both hands forward. She summoned the wind. But only a weak wind gathered.

With a swift kick, Spinner dispersed the tiny gust of resistance and exposed his rib-like fangs…

But his predatory attack was halted by countless swords that seemed to appear from nowhere.

"Gaaaahhhh!" Swords with a white phosphorescence rained down on Spinner from all directions, sewing his deformed black body to the gray floor. A heavy, wet sound splattered disgustingly, and a similar scream escaped from Spinner's contorted mouth. His fingers, now thin like bones, trembled with fury as he raised his neck, looking up to the sky.

"Co... come, Mosaic..." Spinner called out, black blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth. At the sound of his voice, Naoto and Raquel also looked towards the sky.

In the bright night sky with a round moon floating, Kiiro Hikagami was floating with her long golden hair swaying. But her appearance was quite different from the one Naoto and the others knew.

Her hair, which was always neatly tied up for easy movement, flowed down her back, creating a more glamorous look than intellectual. She wasn’t wearing the slender glasses she usually did. There was no tight skirt or sexy suit that drew attention to her figure. Instead, she wore a full-body suit primarily in white and yellow, tightly hugging her form.

It looked almost like armor, with several metallic parts attached to it. Particularly striking were the large pieces on her arms and legs, which resembled the swords that had just been fired at Spinner.

In a word, her appearance was bizarre.

If not for Kiiro’s face above her neck, one might think she was a robot from some science fiction movie.

From a position higher than Naoto and Spinner, Kiiro looked down at Spinner, her crimson-purple eyes clearly burning with killing intent.

"I won't allow you to touch Naoto-kun with your filthy hands anymore." She said it with a piercing coldness.

Even though the words weren’t directed at them, the tone of her voice sent a chill through the air. More than the coldness in her voice, the murderous intent contained within it stirred a primal fear, as if their very lives were being threatened.

But Spinner seemed to pay no attention to Kiiro’s piercing gaze or cold voice. He contorted his face into a grimace and scratched at his chest, letting out a guttural, gurgling sound from his throat. His expression was far removed from the grotesque figure he had been just a moment ago. It was doubtful if there was any reason left in Spinner, who was turning into this blackened mass.

Spinner let out a muffled, strangled cry, reaching out to grab Kiiro, who hovered in the air above him.

[[File:BE2-5.png|frameless|right]]

However, as Spinner tried to rise higher, Kiiro grimaced in disgust and thrust out her arm, adorned with a sword-like part.

The space around her rippled like the surface of water. From within, swords cloaked in white light appeared. The light swords descended upon Spinner in the same way as before, but this time in more than double the number.

The heavy, wet sound of many layers of blades overlapping drowned out Spinner’s final screams. Bathed in swords from all sides, Spinner hesitated, remaining in place for a moment. But finally, as though he could no longer resist, his body was pulled strongly backward.

The black vortex created by Spinner—the portal that should have led to the "Boundary"—was now waiting for the wizard consumed by his runaway magic.

"Gi... aa, aA... Aaah...!" Spinner screeched with a meaningless, strained voice as he was sucked into the distortion he had created, disappearing. The portal shrank, and eventually, without a sound, it vanished. Only the scattered dark blood remained, like the ashes of Spinner, and the surroundings became eerily quiet. 

"Ha..." Without realizing it, his breath had stopped, and Naoto slumped his shoulders, letting out a breath that had been trapped in his chest. His strength drained away, and the right arm he had been using to support himself gave out. Sliding his head along the concrete, Naoto collapsed onto his back.

"Ah... enough... It's over, it's over..." He muttered words that even he didn't quite understand.

Looking up at the sky, Naoto found Kiiro in her strange outfit. As their eyes met, Kiiro frowned painfully and descended towards Naoto.

"Naoto-kun..." 

Kneeling beside him, Kiiro leaned forward, cupping his face with her bodysuit-covered hands. 

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry I took so long... Oh, you've been so hurt... If I had gotten here sooner, I could have... I could have stopped all this...!" Her voice trembled emotionally, her face on the verge of tears. Finally, as if overwhelmed, she pulled Naoto’s head tightly against her chest.

The feeling of her soft breasts against the bodysuit was vivid. Naoto unconsciously pushed Kirio's body away with more force than necessary.

"Hey, let go, calm down... ... I'm glad you came, but we can do that later..."

"No. I can't do it later." Kiiro firmly rejected Naoto's soothing offer, as if discarding her previous attitude. She turned her head to the side, and her gaze stopped when it landed on Raquel. Her eyes, staring fixedly, were filled with a harsh reproach.

"Raquel Alucard..." Raquel, who had been silent until then, stiffened at the low, threatening tone of Kiiro's voice. She flinched, as if trying to escape, and her gaze dropped to the floor. 

Kiiro stood up, glaring at Raquel with overwhelming intensity. She extended her arm, and the sword-like parts attached to her arm were pointed directly at Raquel’s neck. The sharp tip, more dangerous than it appeared, was aimed precisely at Raquel’s throat.

"I can’t overlook this any longer. You are going to make Naoto-kun unhappy... make him suffer, hurt him..." 

"I…" Raquel inhaled sharply as Kiiro's words, as sharp as the point of a blade, were thrust at her. She lifted her gaze, which she had once averted, and locked eyes with Kiiro. From her eyes, tone, and most of all, the murderous intent that was in no way concealed, Raquel could feel exactly what Kiiro was about to say.

"You can't protect Naoto-kun. If that's the case, then I will... I will protect Naoto-kun. I'll kill you and make Naoto-kun mine!" 

"Wh-what are you talking about! You can't just..." Naoto couldn’t finish his words.

Without even turning to acknowledge Naoto’s plea, Kiiro extended her arm and summoned countless swords around her. They were the same swords she had used to carve Spinner to pieces just moments ago.

"Hey, wait! Stop it!"

“Ugh...”

“I won’t let you have Naoto Kurogane!” As Naoto struggled to get up, Raquel, despite her condition, braced herself. Even though she had no strength left to either receive or dodge the attack. At Kiiro’s command, the swords were unleashed all at once. Multiple deaths tore through the cold air. A chill ran down Naoto’s spine.

... And then, a soft, swaying night breeze cut between Kiiro and Raquel.

Suddenly appearing from the night, there was a man with long, glossy black hair reflecting the white moonlight and red eyes. With a single outstretched hand, he gently stopped all the swords that had been aimed at Raquel, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

Kiiro's eyes widened in astonishment at his appearance. His appearance was something she had never anticipated, not even in the slightest. A sharp breath escaped her, and her voice trembled, her round eyes betraying her disbelief.

"Clavis... Alucard..." 

It was the name of the monster among monsters that the Mitsurugi Agency, to which Kiiro belonged, had been hunting for years. Despite searching high and low, they had never been able to track his movements, and just recently, two mercenaries they had hired at a high price had come into contact with him—only to return with no useful information, having failed to capture him.

And here he was, blatantly revealing himself in front of her, calmly accepting her attacks without any resistance. The surprise disoriented Kiiro, and her disorientation silenced her.

"That's enough, Kiiro Hikagami." Clavis spoke softly, as if scolding a child for a pointless prank.

Even though Raquel and Kiiro were both beautiful women, each with their own charm, Clavis's overwhelming beauty and the irresistible aura of his demonic power shifted the balance of the situation. With just those few words, he became the true master of the scene.

Clavis waved his hand lightly, as if dismissing the incoming swords. With a casual gesture, all the swords that Kirio had summoned dissipated into fine particles of light.

"Naoto Kurogane would be sad if this continued."

"You seem confident. Do you understand your position, Clavis Alucard?"

In response to his gentle, yet deadly tone, Kiiro shot back, her words sharp as she tried to shake off her unease. She slid back slightly, her feet barely touching the ground, and took up a defensive stance, ready to strike with the swords in her arms at a moment's notice.

"You are a target for extermination by the Mitsurugi Agency. I can't let you go here!" That was Kirio's mission, and the mission of the Mitsurugi Agency to which she belonged. 

But Clavis seemed uninterested in the sharp needle pointed at him, and he squinted his eyes sharply, twisting his lips somewhat sarcastically.

"It seems you're mistaken. The one who should be letting go... is you," the vampire, who reigned over the moonlight with such sweetness, threatened Kiiro. "If you want to die in vain, I don't mind granting your wish, but I refuse to lay a hand on the one taking care of my daughter. I will not ask you to disappear. Put away your weapons."

At those words, Kiiro hesitated, her gaze wandering uncertainly. She eventually looked at Naoto, and her expression softened slightly.

"...Fine. But this is the only time I'll follow your orders." She muttered reluctantly. With a resigned sigh, Kiiro lowered her eyelids. At that signal, the metal armor attached to her arms and legs disengaged.

The pieces of armor that had been attached to Kiiro’s body floated behind her, as if pulled by an invisible force, and merged into a single massive sword. This sword was her weapon in its dormant state, awaiting further use.

For now, she had no intention of fighting.

Seeing this, Raquel, who had held her ground until then, collapsed to her knees. She seemed unable to keep up with the series of events that had occurred, from Kiiro's appearance to Clavis's intrusion. With a somewhat dazed look, she stared at Naoto. Naoto looked back at her with a helpless smile.

Everyone was doing exactly what they wanted. But thanks to all that, it seemed he could finally get some rest.

He’d reached his limit.

Naoto let out a long breath, as if expelling it from his entire body, and let go of the thread of consciousness he had been holding onto for so long.

Just before his vision faded, Naoto clearly saw Raquel's awkward smile directed back at him.


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