Editing BlazBlue:Phase Shift 1 Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 4===

A beautiful sunset illuminated the townscape. At the same time, it also engraved distinct shadows.

Pushing his way through the two-tone coloring of bitter orange and black, Kazuma was dead set on running.

Out of the main street and deeper into the island.

As Kazuma strayed down paths he ad never walked before, he seemed confused, like he was going into an unrecognized other world, because of the intense and sinister colouring.

Ahead of his gaze was always a flickering, retreating figure.

The fluttering hem of long jacket that was like a mantle. The hood that covered the hair and face. Slender shoulders with long, thin legs which were like a silhouette.

Terumi was walking. His steps were long, but his strides were not as fast as Kazuma's sprint.

Despite that, even when Kazuma ran and panted countlessly, it was like the distance between them didn't get any shorter.

It was like a dream. Even if he ran and struggled, he would never catch up with the person in front of him. As if he was being left behind in this new discolored world; the feeling of frustration was tearing off his chest.

Just what was this place? The scenery moving past the edge of his vision didn't feel familiar to Kazuma at all.

There was nobody. The scattered buildings were small. There was no likelihood that people were living here.

Ishana was by no means a large island, but he never knew there was a place like this. The same was also true for this silent, deserted road.

Before long, the buildings disappeared with the townscape. Terumi pushed his way through bushes, going even further inside.

The bushes surrounded the town like walls; it became like a thick forest. The trees were reinforcing the island's magic. A forest dedicated to reinforce the barrier that was covering the island.

Proceeding through it, he moved out of the shallow forest and finally arrived up to the edge of the island. There, Kazuma at had at last stopped walking.

The untamed land here was a rugged rocky area. On the other side of it, a calm horizon could be seen. The frail roar of waves was heard; feeble ripples collided with rocks and split open fragilely.

In the past, the waves had been more powerful. But six years ago, because of the large scale nuclear attack intended to kill Black Beast, the world had changed; the wind declined and the waves grew weak.

Because his life only involved going back and forth between the academy and dormitory, he didn't see the sea very often. But as he gazed at the heavily silent sea, it was a stark reminder of the island's isolation from the outside world.

Terumi placed his hands on a noticeably large rock and faced Kazuma, waiting for him.

"Yoo~, Kazuma-chan. Why are you wandering around here? Got lost?"

He spoke as if comforting a stray dog.

Wheezing, Kazuma tried to control his strained and disturbed breath while giving Terumi a bitter look.

"Wrong... I saw you walking... before..."

It was like he was doing it on purpose, thought Kazuma. Terumi should have known he was following from the start. The fact that he walked with a speed at which Kazuma could never catch up must have also been on purpose. Though, Kazuma couldn't comprehend on how he could walk that fast.

With a playful gesture, Terumi put held up his hands at chest height as if showing he surrendered.

"Hey, hey, hey. Don't give me such a rebellious look. I'm your reassuring ally, right~?"

"...I know that. That's why I chased you, isn't it."

Even though his shoulders were heaving furiously, Kazuma straightened up his body.

Without him noticing, his surroundings gradually grew darker as the sun sank in the west. The stars in the sky weren't visible. It wasn't possible to see them through the cloud of seithr surrounding the island's barrier.

Seithr... an unknown substance spread over the world at the same time as the appearance of the Black Beast six years ago. Even though he didn't want to get close to the border line with the outside world, he could actually sense the peaceless world.

Kazuma shifted his attention from the sea back towards Terumi.

"Anyway, don't we have some kind of business? Why did you even come so far out?"

"Why, why, why. You're that stupid, huh."

"Terumi-san...!"

"Kukkuku, don't be so impatient. I'll show you some really nice stuff."

Terumi spoke as if Kazuma was being ungrateful. It was like he was amazed at Kazuma's short temper.

'The one who should be amazed is me', Kazuma wanted to tell Terumi, but he let it pass. It was a waste of time to confront Terumi here.

"Look. It's this thing"

Quite sloppy compared to the time when he teased Kazuma. Terumi poked inside the shade of a rock with his tiptoe. What hit Terumi's toe was the barrier covering Ishana.

That moment, Kazuma gulped.

Just next to Terumi's foot, several sheets of paper stuck on the air. To be accurate, the papers were sticking to the barrier. The five sheets were arranged in a pattern, as if drawing a pentagon.

The passage surrounded by the papers was so large that a single kid could pass through... Amazingly, a hole had opened in the barrier like it was cut off cleanly there.

"Those cat bastards seem to have opened it. It seems that's because there's no other way to get into the island, as one would expect."

Sneering, Terumi raised the edges of his lips.

As for Kazuma, he began to mutter with trembling voice.

"Wha... What do you mean... by this."

Was it a good thing for such a thing to exist? The barrier covering Ishana didn't just prevent any physical interference from other countries; it also played a role in blocking the seithr that was drifting in the atmosphere.

The Black Beast only appeared in places that had seithr.

Ishana was rejecting seithr itself.

For this reason, it was the safest city in the world. Therefore, it was illegal for the barrier to be torn.

"Oh no, if I don't quickly notify them...!"

If seithr reached the island, however secure the barrier was, it couldn't be said that this island was secure. Leaving out the matter that seithr was poisonous, it was likely that the Black Beast would appear here.

"Wait, wait, wait, Kazuma-chan. Look carefully."

While chuckling as if amused, Terumi poked the barrier again. His tiptoe rubbed the stuck paper, but as if it existed in a different airspace, the paper was undisturbed.

Being told to, Kazuma looked closely at the produced hole in the barrier. But immediately he guessed that his eyes didn't see what they should have seen.

Through the hollowed, unfolded hole of the barrier, he could see seithr pouring in.

But no sooner had the seithr came into contact with Ishana's air than it faded away and vanished in a flash.
	
The seithr hadn't been able to even slightly pollute Ishana's air.

"The barrier... is neutralizing seithr?"

It was the first time for him to hear the Mages' Guild's barrier had such a power.

Terumi laughed as if he knew the secret.

"W-R-O-N-G. It's because this island's air is unusually clean. But that ain't thanks to the barrier."

"Then, what...?"

"You think of something?"

Kazuma frowned. It was a difficult question.

"I don't know. Do you not know either?"

"Well~, who knows."

Terumi's suggestive manner of speaking made Kazuma let out a small sigh. These were confusing matters when Kazuma had just met him, but he had grown accustomed to this kind of attitude from Terumi in the passt few days.

Terumi was that kind of a man.

"Still, nothing will happen to this island anytime soon. Relieved, young master?"

Terumi spoke in a sarcastic voice.

But for Kazuma, such a thing was still okay for now.

His gaze was fascinated by the gaping hole, as if it was being drawn in.

The barrier being perforated was a state of emergency that shouldn't be possible. But for some reason, there it was, a hole.

A small unusual phenomenon. It really made Kazuma's heart pound. He somehow got excited.

Terumi's crescent mouth drew near to Kazuma, who was still staring intently at the hole. He whispered from behind.

"But it doesn't mean it'll stay like this forever. If the balance of the island's atmosphere changes a little... then..."

"Seithr... will enter the island?"

Like he was being lured, Kazuma muttered. It seemed his thought and mouth moved on their own accords.

Instead of nodding, Terumi laughed his confirmation.

"That's right. It's a disaster for this peaceful island to get harmed by seithr. It's a major incident, really serious affair, and a big problem, right?"

"Yes. It's a big problem..."

"Well then, Kazuma-chan. I've got a question now."

He could hear the mischievous voice close to his ear.

Kazuma had a hunch he knew what Terumi was going to say before hearing it.

"You said just now. It's 'oh no, if I don't quickly notify them...!'."

He imitated Kazuma's tone of voice as he said it.

But the mockery didn't manage to rub Kazuma's nerves the wrong way. Kazuma just stared at the hole as if fascinated by it.

Terumi spoke.

"So? Who do you notify?"

Right. He couldn't ignore the torn barrier. But since it wasn't possible for Kazuma to do something about it alone, he must inform someone about it.

To whom?

Restoring the barrier wasn't an easy task. At least, it wasn't possible at the level of an academy student.

To maintain the barrier, this spot alone had to be fixed. It also had to be done quickly.

For someone to be able to do such advanced things, they would have to excel in magical ability, even within the in Mages' Guild.

For example... the Ten Sages.

"Ten Sages..."

Kazuma's muttering leaked out as if spilling.

His lips moved as if by reflex.

"In case seithr got into Ishana... The Ten Sages would eliminate it and try to restore the barrier."

Just as with restoring the barrier, there was nobody else who could eliminate seithr.

Basically, it was impossible to get rid of seithr by human hands. If such a thing had been feasible, then it would have been possible to defeat Black Beast which was essentially a mass of seithr.

Suppose a magic that could neutralize and erase seithr existed, there would only be a handful of people who could do it as handling it was beyond ordinary men. Even ignoring neutralisation, dealing with seithr required knowledge of advanced magic.

Currently, Kazuma didn't know the exact number of Sages. But most of the students in the academy were aware that there were less than ten.

Driving away seithr, possibly by neutralizing it, and restoring the barrier had to be done simultaneously.

Even if the seithr was driven out first, if the hole was open, then new seithr would just get in again. If restoring the barrier came first, since there would be no outlet for seithr, they would have to increase the neutralization to the inner part of the island.

If such a situation happened, even at the best of times, the small number of Ten Sages would all gather.

With them all spending their time and energy on it, perhaps they would be shorthanded with other things.

Of course, Nine, too.

"Well, Whatcha gonna do, Kazuma-chan?"

Terumi's voice resounded inside his head.

Kazuma swallowed a small amount of saliva, his throat had grown dry.

"——Ah."

He tried to say something.

But just before the words came.

Terumi suddenly pulled Kazuma's shoulder, forcing him to turn around.

"Wha..."

He was about to ask what Terumi was doing. However, Kazuma was at loss for words again.

Nine and Trinity were stood behind him.