Editing BlazBlue:Phase Shift 1 Chapter 6 (section)

===Part 5===

Later that night, Trinity woke up in her dormitory room.

Nine was also in the room, looking like she was about to cry.

It seemed one of the students who had come to the academy had, by chance, discovered Trinity collapsed in the corridor. Nine explained that she was taken to infirmary before being carried to the dormitory room later. Nine recounted that the doctor said that her body had taken a blow, but fortunately there was no injury that could have disabled her.

"...The seithr in the city has been disposed of. As for the barrier's restoration, it's only a simple measure but it was finished. The genuine restoration will be carried out starting tomorrow. Although I said that, it was just finished a little while ago."

Sitting on a chair beside the bed with her legs crossed, Nine continued to explain the situation while feeling relief from the bottom of her heart as there was no issue with Trinity's consciousness.

Trinity laid down on the bed and looked up at her close friend as she listened to her explanation.

"Now... What time... is it?"

Trinity's regular slow tone of voice was even slower; partly because her condition wasn't good.

Without urging her, Nine listened until the end and then looked at a clock above desk.

"It's past midnight... Well past 2."

"You've been working until this late..."

"It didn't take until morning, so it's good."

"Don't take the Ten Sages lightly," said Nine winking with her right eye.

Inside the soft bedding, Trinity smiled slightly.

"Even though you're tired, you still came here... I'm sorry~."

"Stupid. It's natural. ...I can't help it until I know what happened with you."

In Nine's smile, a sad gloom seeped.

For Nine, Celica and Trinity were special.

It was the same for Trinity. That was why she currently truly felt sorry for making Nine worry.

Or so she thought.

But as she couldn't help but ask, Trinity gently said.

"...How about Kazuma-san?"

Tension ran through Nine's face. Trinity could guess why.

After a while passed, Nine indifferently answered while choosing her words carefully.

"He disappeared. There were signs of that man having entered the Cathedral. In the deepest room... marks of a struggle were found. But no one was there."

"...I see."

Trinity couldn't hide her dejection.

She vaguely felt that it would turn out this way. If she were asked since when, Trinity herself didn't know.

Nine looked into her best friend's eyes that were clouded with sadness. She put her hands on Trinity's feeble white hands.

"Regarding that man... Let's stop thinking about him. As of now, we wouldn't be able to do anything."

Who on earth was that man? It was the question Trinity and Nine had always wondered.

He left a truly dangerous impression.

Nine might have been fearing that that danger would engulf its surroundings.

Trinity might have been fearing that that danger would hurt Kazuma.

In the end, Nine's hunch became realized.

Trinity tried to look straight at Nine as much as she could and nodded. She didn't want to give further worries to Nine, especially with what she had said.

But just a few words.

"Nine. Even then... the time spent together with Kazuma-san... Everything of it didn't feel like a lie to me. He..."

Every morning, He would greet her. It was just sometimes, but he spoke with a truly gentle voice.

The feeling of warmth also existed.

Soon, the night would be late.

Since the Mages' Guild had calmed down a little, Nine said that she was going to go searching for Celica who had left the island.

Trinity promised to go with her.

In the corner of her heart... she wondered if she could find something related to Kazuma's whereabouts within the vast world, faintly hoping for it.







The castle where night stood for eternity... The Alucard family's castle.

Tonight, the silver moon also decorated the lasting eternal night sky. It gently illuminated the ivy-covered old castle and its vast, abandoned garden.

In the basement of the castle where moonlight couldn't reach, was Valkenhayn along with his master Clavis.

"Is it truly okay to not kill him?"

The vicinity was dark without any presences at all. As a magic light lit an antique lantern, certain figures emerged into the long, continuous hallway.

There was a room at the end of the hallway. It was a small room made of old timber that somewhat clashed with the solid stone of the old castle.

Inside the room, a tall young man wearing a blood-stained white jacket, black pants, and a waist-length mantle was tied by magical chains. He might be unconscious as there was no strength in his body.

"...We cannot kill that man. If we intervene, he would leave the flesh once more and disappear to somewhere."

Gazing at the motionless thin young man who remained sitting inside the wooden room, Clavis grievously spoke.

"...We are powerless."

Thus, a jail was created. He couldn't do anything but put a secure lock on the door to prevent the beast from getting outside.

After Valkenhayn closed the door, Clavis raised his wrinkled fingers and drew a pattern midair. As the ancient words turned into bindings, the drawn pattern clung onto the door and sealed the thin wood board.

A secure seal that only Clavis could handle.

"Now... We should mourn for Tomonori."

Shifting his gaze, Clavis looked at Valkenhayn.

Valkenhayn lightly bowed.

"Why did Tomonori... go as far as carrying Hihi'irokane and selfishly..."

There was obvious regret in Valkenhayn's mutter.

That time when Tomonori went to the underground of the Cathedral was all done by his own judgment.

When he thought about it, it also made Clavis somewhat succumb into regret.

If only he had noticed it sooner and made Tomonori return. Or possibly, if he had sent Valkenhayn sooner, then... The friend who had unyielding stubbornness as if a single swing of a sword might not cost his life.

"...It seems he could not resist. He thought that there are things only he can do. A man who could not help but to accomplish it on his own"

Clavis' answer was mixed with a sigh, before he lowering his eyelids.

"Let us go, Valkenhayn. We have something to achieve... Just like him."

"...Understood, Clavis-sama."

Turning his back on the sealed door, Valkenhayn pushed Clavis' wheelchair and returned to the hallway.

Each time they advanced, doors were closed as if shutting down the inner part. Every single one of them was also sealed by Clavis.

Listening to the sound of the last door at the end of the hallway being closed, Valkenhayn strongly thought that those doors might never be opened again.







And deep, deep, deep, deep in the dark.

Within the locked seal.

A young man who was trapped alone laughed loudly.

He ignored the pain of his wounds and distress from the binding. Rather than despairing over the circumstances, he seemed to hold hopes for a promising future.

"HYAAHAHAHAHA. The countdown's commencing, senile bloodsucker! When you die, I'll get out of here... You'll realize the real beginning starts after you kick the bucket. HYAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"







Within the cold seal.

He continued to laugh in ecstasy indefinitely.

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