Editing BlazBlue:Phase Shift 4 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 5===

As the castle of perpetual night played host to visitors in the light of a pale full moon, Ishana was lit by the more erratic light of a waning moon.

Lamp posts set at regular intervals lined the cobblestone streets, and when Trinity arrived at a certain house on one of those streets, it was already deep into the night hours. Nine, walking ahead of her, unlocked the door and invited her in with a wave. Accepting the invitation, Trinity held her breath so as not to make any noise as she stepped through the entrance. Both of them were using silencing magic, so neither Nine's high heels tapping the ground nor Trinity's staff bumping it made any noise.

They were in Nine and Celicas' house, but Nine hadn't taken Trinity here because it was her and her sister's dwelling. They were here for Nine's personal workshop underground.

Taking painstaking care to not wake Celica, who was sleeping on the second floor, the two descended a spiral staircase.

It was quite a long walk. The stairs were so long that after a while one would start to wonder if they were some kind of optical illusion, but nevertheless they eventually ended at a door. It was heavily guarded by both a magical and an electrical lock, both of which Nine opened.

The magical lighting that came through the now-open doorway was somewhere between white and orange. The square-shaped stone brick room beyond was packed with bookshelves, racks, and general clutter. Trinity had been here countless times, so she was quite familiar with it. As she followed Nine inside, the door quietly shut behind her.

Nine waited until the door was securely shut before she spoke, tossing her long hair back behind her neck.

"Sorry for bringing you over so late at night, but who knows when the next time I'll have the time to spare will be."

She breathed a fatigued sigh. Feeling gentle sympathy for her friend, Trinity replied softly.

"Oh, don't worry about it～"

"...Thanks. I figured you'd say that though, so I'm still feeling kind of guilty."

Nine gave a little apologetic look. After another sigh, she narrowed her eyes into a tense expression and walked deeper into the workshop, Trinity following behind her. The silencing magic had faded by now, so realistic sounds now accompanied the two girls' passage.

Overflowing with stuff similar to the previous room, which would be hard to call 'orderly' even in the best of circumstances, this room was mostly occupied by large-scale materials and equipment, and there was no space remaining for anything without a practical use.

Amidst the cold atmosphere of machinery, a single distinctive wooden box sat on its own. Nine didn't need to point it out, because Trinity's eyes had naturally landed on it on their own. It was roughly the size of a human child, making it pretty big and probably fairly heavy.

Nine extended her hand, dispelled the seal on it, and opened the lid. What was inside was something that Trinity had never seen before.

To put a name to it... it was a nail, but it was an incredibly big one. It was a nail the size of a human child. It had no ornamentation, which made it all the more perplexing because it was difficult to determine its function.

Trinity lifted her gaze to look at Nine.

"Nine, what's this...?"

"The ninth Nox Nyctores."

"The ninth?"

"Yeah. Its name is Pheonix: Rettenjo."

Nine furrowed her brow and made a complicated expression. She couldn't take her eyes off of the large nail laying in the box.

"This... you see, this one... this is the only one that isn't a weapon of war. Rettenjo is the anti-Nox Nyctores. I created it to destroy the other Nox Nyctores."

"Destroy them? Didn't you say that you were going to seal them once the war is over...?"

Listening to Trinity's graceful, hesitant voice, Nine nodded her head quietly.

"Yeah. This is insurance, just like Nirvana."

Trinity picked up on the shame in her words and glanced down at the staff in her hands. Arma Reboare: Muchourin.

She understood what was on Nine's mind.

"For the off-chance that something happens and you aren't able to seal the Nox Nyctores away, and someone uses them against humans... right?"

Nine didn't trust that all of the Nox Nyctores would be returned to her to be sealed after they had served their intended purpose in the war. Their wielders may die in combat and someone else may come along and take the weapons. Or... some of their current wielders may refuse to return them.

Nine thought she had to account for all of the possibilities while still prioritizing their survival, their victory over the Black Beast. She was even considering the chance that she herself wouldn't survive this fight, which is why she had created Nirvana's last resort and the Rettenjo.

Trinity realized that, and her eyes clouded with sorrow. No one could know who was going to live and who was going to die.

Nine gently closed the wooden lid and recast the seal like she was turning a key in a lock.

"I want to entrust this to you, Trinity. If I die, this house will be seized by the Joint HQ. If that happens and they possess the Nox Nyctores, and then they find this, there won't be any way for humanity to resist the power of the Nox Nyctores anymore."

"But, I..."

Don't know if I'll survive or not either. Knowing what Trinity was about to say, Nine cut her off with a piercing, unreserved look.

"If you die, I'll take it back. Even if I have to become a phantom and come back from the dead to do it."

Her voice was thick with the strength of her will. She prayed that no one would have to use this nail, but she seemed to have a hunch that someone would.

Nine picked the box up in both arms and held it out to Trinity. Beyond the strength in her gaze there was a glimpse of a weary, somber girl. Looking at the face of Konoe Mercury, rather than Nine of the Ten Sages, Trinity felt her breath rattle just as badly as her feelings were rattling in her chest.

Nine's words came out as a low, indistinct mumble.

"...The truth is that Rettenjo is really just a tiny Kushinada's Lynchpin. I gave Nirvana to Celica, so... I want you, who was there to see the Lynchpin with me, to have this."

Kushinada's Lynchpin was the device that could sever connections to the Boundary which may have been able to stop the Black Beast. To Nine, it was the creation of a man who she detested to no end, but at the same time, it was a keepsake of her father. She did not love her father, but Kushinada's Lynchpin was a very special device. She had used the peculiar metal that interfered with seithr that it was composed of to make Nirvana's claws, and she used its special ability to sever seithr as a reference to make Rettenjo. Nine's desire to entrust those two creations to Celica and Trinity, who had witnessed her father's final moments together with her, was Nine's sentimentality showing through.

Trinity pursed her lips before taking the box from Nine. She awkwardly tried to hold the box and Muchourin at the same time, hugging the box to her chest as she smiled softly.

"I'll take good care of this. But, Nine, I'm just holding onto it for you～"

In other words, she was telling her to not get careless just because she had insurance now. Telling her not to rush to her death. Nine understood what she meant even though she didn't put it into words. She smiled wryly, her usually tough eyes softening into something weaker.

"...I'm sorry for asking so much of you, Trinity."

"...Don't mention it. It's perfectly fine by me."

Trinity shook her head like she was trying to convince Nine.

Nine cast one more smile at her before exiting the room, leading Trinity out.

"I'll walk you home. Thanks for coming out so late."

Nine glanced over her shoulder, and the side of her face showed that she had shaken off her momentary weakness and had returned to her usual unyielding self.

Wondering whether that was a good thing or not, Trinity left the underground workshop, still clinging on to Muchourin and Rettenjo.

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