Editing BlazBlue:Calamity Trigger Part 2 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 5===
''Just go down to the point where you can get off.''

With this thought, Noel descended to an area called Roningai.

The city wasn't built on a solid foundation like the upper levels. Houses were built directly on the rugged rocky areas, and bridges were hung to connect the roads without filling the opened crevices...

It couldn't be said that there was no artificial ground at all, but with its extreme difference in elevation and slope-like mountain roads, it was a sight that Noel wasn't very familiar with.

Was this the appearance of a town built in the lower, lower levels, in an area where even the soldiers of the NOL rarely descended?

Coupled with the Ikaruga style Noel wasn't familiar with, it was as if she had wandered into an unknown, different world.

In fact, everything there was something that Noel had never experienced. For Noel, who hadn't spent many years as a soldier, it was also her first time walking in such a dense and defenseless atmosphere of seithr.

If she stayed in such a place for a long time, her body might break down. Noel applied an Ars Magus barrier to her surroundings and headed for the first bridge leading from the narrow mountain road descending from the upper layer to Roningai.

Was this also Ikaruga style? The bridge, which didn't look very sturdy, was written with letters that Noel could not read, and it was designed to be walked across.

Although it looked light and slender enough to be overturned by a strong gust of wind, it was surprisingly unshaken and sturdy when the wind actually blew. But this bridge, strangely enough, had ice clinging to it here and there from the middle to the other side.

"That's... horrible!"

Noel, who had been cautiously crossing the bridge due to the unfamiliar scenery and the unknown town, suddenly turned her poncho and ran.

At the end of the bridge, a person had fallen down.

For some reason, a half-melted ice block was sitting at the end of the bridge. With the momentum of the run, she used Ars Magus to jump over the ice block and landed lightly, then Noel immediately knelt beside the fallen person.

"A-are you alright?"

The one who had fallen was a man. He had a strong, muscular build and his disheveled hair was tied tightly in a single bunch. On his back, for some reason, he carried something unusually huge, like a nail.

On his face, which was distorted in pain on the rough ground, a large cross-shaped scar remained on his forehead. It was Bang.

"Guh... you..." When Noel touched him as if grabbing his arm, the man with the cross-shaped scar, Bang's, face contorted even more painfully and he muttered in a hoarse voice.

"I'm glad you're conscious."

Relieved, Noel looked down at the ground where he had fallen and found a large amount of blood. 

He was injured. And it was a considerably deep wound.

Surprised by the large amount of blood, Noel turned Bang's body over, thinking that she had to check the condition of the wound. The man's limp body was heavy and she couldn't move it without the power of Ars Magus.

"C-cold!" Bang's body rolled over, and the diagonal wound was exposed to Noel's eyes. As she had imagined from the amount of bleeding, the wound was quite severe. But more than that, Noel was concerned when she touched Bang's shoulder. It was terribly cold. It didn't seem to be hypothermia due to a serious injury. Something cold was clinging to it.

"Is this ice?" Muttering, Noel looked at the bridge behind her. There was ice there too. It was in a deliberate position, as if it were a barrier. "Why is there so much ice... No, I need to treat this man first, and fast."

If he's bleeding this much, he might die.

Thinking this, a vague fear brushed Noel's spine.

Even so, there were no tools to treat him. She couldn't heal the wound with Ars Magus. Noel looked around in dismay.

"Hospital... is there a hospital around here..."

But this was the outskirts of town. There was no one around and no buildings to be found. Was there a hospital in this town in the first place? Noel had doubts from there.

And then...

"Boss!!!"

"Boss!!!"

Just as she heard a voice screaming in agony, four men in matching Ikaruga-style outfits appeared from nowhere and jumped down to Noel and Bang's side. One of them pushed Noel's shoulder away, pulling her away from Bang.

Unable to react to the unexpected, Noel staggered back, and the men who appeared all at once braced themselves.

"You, that uniform is from the NOL..."

"Boss! We're here, so you'll be alright! We won't let those NOL guys do as they please anymore!"

"You! What were you doing, coming all the way down here to attack our boss!?"

"Don't tell me the NOL aren't satisfied with just destroying Ikaruga, and now you're trying to eliminate the survivors!?"

"E-excuse me, um... please wait a moment, I'm not...!" 

Faced with the hostility thrust at her from all sides, Noel hesitated and took two or three steps back. 

She immediately understood what they were saying. It was a complete misunderstanding; they thought that Noel was the one who had injured the man with the cross-shaped scar who had fallen over.

Noel hurriedly shook her head and appealed to them.

"I didn't hurt that man! Please submit a damage report to the branch. Then they'll investigate the matter and catch the culprit who inflicted such terrible injuries, right!"

Even if it was a personal dispute, this injury was clearly excessive. It might even be a random attack.

Noel believed that she had a duty as a soldier to investigate and arrest the perpetrator.

But the men protecting Bang glared back at Noel with even thicker hostility.

"Do you really think we'd be satisfied with such an excuse? Don't take us for fools!"

"Eh?" 

What came back like a stab was a word of reproach and a strong voice of rejection.

As soon as one man opened his mouth, the other three men, as if not being able to remain silent, hurled their hostility at her.

"What damage report? Do you think people in the lower levels like us can get one!?"

"There's no way the NOL would act even if we requested an investigation in the first place!"

"To try and gloss this over with such a flimsy excuse... how despicable!"

"B-but... I..."

A flimsy excuse? She didn't mean to say that at all. Noel shook her head weakly, not knowing how to make them understand, and unable to think of any appropriate words.

At that moment, a low, thick male voice interrupted, as if cutting off the exchange between Noel and the men.

"Stop it, everyone!"

At that moment, the men who were staring at Noel all turned around at once.

Pressing down hard on the wound that was cutting through his abdomen, Bang, who had been unconscious and collapsed until then, awkwardly raised his body. The wound was still not closed, and red droplets were dripping from under his thick hand.

"B-boss! Are you alright!?"

"Boss!"

With the momentum of jumping, the men crouched down beside Bang and reached out to support his body.

While wearing a painful expression, Bang, with the help of his four subordinates, lowered his waist onto his own pool of blood. He looked up at Noel, past his subordinates who were looking at him worriedly.

"Don't misunderstand... it wasn't this woman who cut me. She was trying to help me. Even if she is a member of the NOL, to blame a weak woman alone with unfounded accusations is something that Ikaruga men should not do." Bang, without shaking his voice from the pain of his deep wound, soothed the four surrounding men with strong words. He even showed a bold smile as if to say that he didn't care about the wound. Next, he turned his gaze to Noel, also with strength.

"My lady, my subordinates were rude. I will apologize for them. I am sorry." Still sitting down, Bang lowered his head with a clear gesture. Even if he moved, the wound would probably hurt, but he no longer seemed to care. 

"N-no, it's nothing, I was just a little surprised." Noel also shook her head slightly. Following Bang, the four men lowered their heads in apology one after another, which in turn made her even more embarrassed.

The subordinate who had been supporting Bang's back opened his mouth while looking around them.

"But boss, if that's the case, then who the hell did this?" 

There were clear signs of a struggle around them, and several kunai, Ikaruga's unique short swords, remained stuck in the bridge.

However, there were few signs that a fierce battle had taken place. In other words, although there was certainly a battle, it was by no means a long one. Bang was cut down in a short period of time.

Perhaps aware of this, Bang grimaced and answered with a heaviness that suggested hatred, different from his previous strong and energetic appearance.

"'The Hero of Ikaruga,' Jin Kisaragi."

"Jin... Kisaragi?" It was Noel who repeated the name reflexively. Her heart pounded when she heard it. At the same time, she understood. The frozen bridge, the ice block blocking the road, Bang's body that was too cold. Jin, she was sure, possessed a sword that manipulated ice.

"Excuse me, um, just now, Jin Kisaragi... did he come here?" Stepping forward as if rushing, Noel put her hand on her chest and asked Bang. 

Controlling one of his subordinates who had turned around warily, Bang looked up at Noel and nodded seriously.

"Yes. There's no way I could mistake him. That figure, that technique, and that sword. No matter what, it is none other than Jin Kisaragi."

As if glaring at the already disappeared figure, Bang deeply furrowed his brow. There was no pretense in his gaze. His gaze was so emotional that it would seem foolish to even try to find pretense in his eyes.

Tension ran through Noel's chest.

Jin was here right after Bang had fallen. How much time had passed since then, neither Noel nor Bang could accurately count. But judging by how dry the blood on the ground was, it couldn't have been that long.

"Did he say where he was going, or which way?" She didn't expect to get concrete information so quickly, especially not in a town so far down in the lower level. Conversely, with this much concrete information, she might not be able to get any more in the future.

At Noel's impatient response, Bang moved his neck as if looking backward.

"He seemed to have gone up this road... but well, I don't know his destination."

"I see..."

"I don't know if it's a clue, but he kept muttering the name 'Ragna the Bloodedge.'" As if trying to encourage the disappointed Noel, Bang spoke to her in a strong voice.

"'Ragna the Bloodedge'..." Noel pulled her chin slightly and spoke the name aloud.

It was the name of the wanted criminal that Jin was said to be pursuing. Thinking back, the last conversation Noel had with Jin was about Ragna the Bloodedge.

Jin was pursuing Ragna the Bloodedge? But why? If it was to arrest him as a soldier, there was no need to deliberately disappear.

''(Was there a need... to contact him personally?)''

But even then, for what purpose?

Noel knew too little about Jin to speculate. She didn't know what kind of person he was, what kind of beliefs he had. Conversations with Jin were always limited to the minimum necessary formalities, and even that was mostly one-sided. Jin always looked at Noel with cold eyes and turned his face away without saying anything. She had no way of knowing what he was thinking when he disappeared, with that cold look...

''(...This is a mission. I have to find Major Kisaragi.)''

Her chest felt heavy. Shaking it off, Noel straightened her posture and turned to Bang.

"Thank you for the information. I'm sorry, but I'll take my leave now." She declared sternly as a soldier of the NOL, and then relaxed her tone slightly and added, "...Please take care of your injuries. Goodbye then."

As for treatment, Bang's subordinates would be fine.

Noel bowed her head, put on her thick poncho, and turned back the way she came. The ice block was still melting and remained as it was, and she jumped over it with Ars Magus as she had when she arrived.

While climbing the narrow mountain road, Noel repeated the name many times in her mind.

Ragna the Bloodedge.

Ragna.

Why was that? She felt like she knew that name.

Of course she knew it. She had said it and heard it many times before coming here.

The most wanted criminal with the highest bounty in history. A villain feared as the "Grim Reaper."

But why?

Suddenly that name... was nostalgic.

It felt like she had known him for much longer, even before he was called the "Grim Reaper."

''(No, I don't know what I'm thinking. That can't be true. Maybe I'm just confused because I'm in a strange place.)''

She made excuses to herself that the place called Kagutsuchi might not suit her. It was vast, complex, and packed with so many different people and scenery that it made her head spin.

''(I have to find him quickly... and go home.)''

And when that time came, she would contact Tsubaki and Makoto for the first time in a while, and the three of them would go somewhere together for the first time in a long time.

So for now, she would forget about the strange longing for the name Ragna, and think only about her mission. While telling herself that, Noel hurried to the upper layer.




Watching the slender figure disappearing into the mountain path, Bang hummed with admiration.

"Well, well, I never thought I would be helped by a soldier of the Library. Even among soldiers, there are those who behave like that, huh?" Frowning sternly with his thick eyebrows, Bang nodded thoughtfully, seemingly deeply moved.

His subordinates, from the left and right, were taking his arms and slowly trying to help him stand.

"It's not the time to be impressed, boss. If you don't treat that wound soon!"

He had been keeping a calm face since earlier, but the wound that cut through Bang's body was by no means shallow. Although not as much as when he'd collapsed, it was still bleeding.

But Bang laughed heartily while pressing the wound from above his clothes.

"There's no need to worry! A wound like this is but a scratch to the brave warrior of love and justice, Bang Shishigami! Wahahahaha!"

"Really? Then it seems like we don't have to take you to Dr. Litchi's place. Then we'll take care of it..."

"What? Dr. Litchi's hospital?" Bang, who had stood up with support from both sides, stopped at the words of one of his subordinates.

One of the subordinates who had been about to walk ahead turned back and nodded. "That's right. We can't do specialized treatment ourselves. But if you say you're okay, then surely you're okay..."

"Guwaaaaa!"

Interrupting his subordinate before he could start walking towards Roningai again, Bang shouted loudly, echoing throughout the area, and fell backwards. He rolled on the ground, writhing and clutching his chest painfully.

"Guuuh... gah... I'm already...  no good... Gack!"

"B-boss!"

"What's wrong!?"

"Q-quickly... as soon as possible, to Dr. Litchi's hospital..." Grabbing the chest of one of the subordinates too roughly to be called clinging... Bang suddenly lost all strength in his body and collapsed on the spot.

His subordinates surrounded him in a great flurry. Four of them desperately lifted his muscular body, then quickly carried him out of Roningai.

"P-please hold on, boss!"

"We're taking you to Dr. Litchi's place right away!"

While listening to the panicking, flustered voices of his subordinates, fearing that Bang was about to die, Bang secretly grinned. With this, as planned, he would be treated by his beloved.

Now, the image of Jin Kisaragi was no longer in Bang's mind. It was filled with thoughts of the beautiful female doctor working in Orient Town.


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