Editing BlazBlue:Bloodedge Experience Part 1 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 6===

They descended the gentle slope and emerged into the bustling downtown area. If they continued straight down the wide road, they would eventually reach Shinkawahama Station. But Naoto turned into a side street a few blocks before that and stopped at a small park behind a game center.

The park didn't have any playground equipment, just two benches against a concrete wall. It was located in a rather unsafe area and wasn't a popular spot, thankfully. Just as he had hoped. Naoto sat on a bench and, after making sure no one was watching, spoke to the shadow at his feet.

"Raquel, we've reached downtown." To be precise, it wasn't the center of downtown, but it was daytime, after all. It would be difficult to find a secluded spot in the heart of downtown. He didn’t intend to play the role of a mysterious man talking to a shadow. However, even though he had found a place where the girl could emerge from the shadow without causing a scene, there was no reaction from Raquel.

"Hey, Raquel? Can you hear me?" Naoto raised his voice slightly and peered into the shadow. He couldn't see inside the shadow, but by concentrating, he could sense that Raquel was there. But she was too quiet. A bad thought crossed his mind. But then Naoto heard something. A steady, gentle breathing sound. That was... snoring.

"Are you asleep?!" He blurted out the question before he could stop himself and then quickly looked around. Good, no one was there.

"What am I going to do now..." Naoto ran his hands through his hair. If Raquel didn't wake up, he couldn't continue his investigation. He had no idea about this "Azure" thing.

(I could go home... no, that won't work. Haruka is there.)

If she asked where Raquel was, he'd be in trouble. He couldn't just say she was in a shadow.

So, there was only one thing to do. Naoto got up and bought a can of coffee from the vending machine nearby. With a heavy clunk, the can rolled out. He picked it up and returned to the bench.

It was a beautiful day, and luckily, Naoto seemed to be fine in the sunlight. He decided to relax here for a while and wait for Raquel to wake up.

(I don't have anything else to do. ... And I have some things to think about)

His thoughts drifted as he spoke to himself. Naoto opened the can and took a sip of the cold coffee. It was sweet, slightly bitter, and the unique sensation cooled him down a bit.

"A vampire... huh?" Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, he muttered to himself. It had all started with a strange incident the previous evening. Two abnormal readings he had seen while walking home. That was what had dragged him away from his peaceful life. It felt like more than twenty-four hours had passed since then. Everything had happened so quickly. His encounter with the insect-like creature, meeting Raquel, the bizarre battlefield with flying debris, the man's body transformed into a black mass, his lost right arm, and his life force dropping to '0'.

(So, I... died, didn't I?)

Something must have happened during the gap in his memory that he couldn't recall, and then he died. Today was supposed to be the end. But thanks to her, he was still alive.
Raquel had saved him.

"Need a hand?"

He remembered the girl's voice asking him that.

(She saved me again...)

She had already protected him countless times from the monster man, who had been throwing rubble around. Now, she had saved him from death. Thanks to her, his life force was at "0," Raquel seemed determined to move into Naoto's house, and on top of that, she was making unreasonable demands like getting his hands on the Azure and fighting an ultra-powerful magician.

Still, Raquel had saved him. She had given Naoto today. And thanks to Raquel, he hadn't made Haruka cry. That was an undeniable fact. Naoto looked down at the shadow as he sipped from a cold can.

Raquel Alucard, the vampire who had been alive for two years and four days.

She had appeared in a striking outfit of nothing but a cloak, could kick through concrete walls with inhuman strength, and was, in every sense of the word, a bizarre girl.

But just earlier, when she had nearly lost her strength and was about to collapse, her shoulder had felt delicate. Her disdain for the first clothes she wore was childlike, and when she had been nervous around Haruka and couldn’t say a word, she truly resembled a borrowed cat.

(She probably doesn't know much about the things I and Haruka take for granted)

Things like chatting with friends, the annoyance of alarm clocks that interrupt sleep, and of course, the taste of canned coffee like the one in Naoto's hand, or even how to open one.
Although, she claimed to have five hundred million times more knowledge than Naoto.

"...Oh, I forgot." Shifting his gaze from the shadow to the can of coffee, Naoto muttered something else. He had completely forgotten to ask Raquel about his right arm.
He needed to ask this young vampire girl why his arm had been restored when he woke up, whether his arm had actually been lost in the first place, and how his injuries had healed.

(Well, I can't do that until she wakes up)

He couldn't do anything about it. The thoughts that were supposed to continue suddenly burst white and disappeared. He thought he saw something moving at the corner of his eye. And then, almost simultaneously, or perhaps it was at the same time, Naoto's body was thrown sideways with tremendous force and slammed into something.

'''Bang!'''

The air inside his body seemed to burst. He felt like a popped balloon. For a moment, he felt completely weightless, and then a second later, his body felt a hundred times heavier.
His vision, which had turned white, gradually returned.

He was in the simple park next to the parking lot. It was a familiar sight. And in the middle of it, Naoto was... embedded in the vending machine he had just bought the can of coffee from, as if he had been rammed by a thick stake.

"Ugh... ugh..." His trembling jaw tried to take in a breath but failed, and he choked. He couldn't even swallow properly.
He couldn't. The breath that had gotten caught in his throat, unable to find its way out, was replaced by a thick, slimy mass that welled up from the back of his throat and spilled out of his mouth.

Only after he had vomited did he realize it was a liquid. It was an unpleasantly dark red in his blurred vision, and the nauseating smell told him it was a large amount of blood mixed with other bodily fluids. The faint taste of sweet coffee made it even more disgusting.

"Ugh... ugh..." A hoarse, wheezing sound trembled out. Still dripping blood from his mouth, Naoto looked at what had slammed him into the vending machine.

It was an arm. A thick, sturdy human arm, like a log. It had pierced his abdomen halfway, literally nailing his body to the vending machine like a stake.

The arm slid out of Naoto's abdomen, leaving a wet trail. But then another arm grabbed his chest and pulled him away from the vending machine. His clothes were pulled up, exposing his body. But he couldn't shake off the arm. His throat was clogged with blood, and his mouth was a gaping hole. His whole body felt like it had been shattered into pieces. Dragging his weak limbs, Naoto was pulled forcefully.

Naoto's eyes caught sight of the gray concrete wall. He understood the arm's intention. The thick concrete wall would be even harder than the vending machine.

(That's... a bad idea...)

A slow sense of crisis whispered in the corner of Naoto's mind. But there was no way that protest would reach the arm's owner. With a flick of the wrist, as if discarding a doll, Naoto's body was thrown towards the wall. His limbs flailed as he experienced a brief sensation of floating.

And then, a shock, like a slash, struck Naoto's torso, as if the blow he had received to his abdomen was insignificant in comparison. Something shattered. As he heard the sound, Naoto crashed into the gray wall and lost consciousness before he could feel the coldness of the concrete.

There was nothing but darkness. He thought he was dead. After all, Raquel had just saved him. Thinking that... unconsciously, he lifted his eyelids.

His vision returned faster than his consciousness. With a single blink, his vision stabilized, and ragged breaths shook his body violently. His heart, which he thought had stopped, was pounding loudly. Leaning against the wall, Naoto sat down with his legs outstretched. His right side of vision was red. Even though he could breathe, his whole body was heavy and he couldn't move properly.

The pain he should have felt seemed to have been blown away somewhere far away, and instead, his index finger joint ached unnecessarily. 

Suddenly, his vision narrowed. He saw a shoe sole. He was about to be crushed. At that moment, Naoto desperately twisted his neck.

A sharp crack, like something hard breaking, echoed right beside his ear. Naoto could feel the blood rushing through his body. He moved only his eyes to look sideways. Where his head had been just a moment ago, there was a foot in a worn-out leather shoe, embedded in the wall. A shiver ran down Naoto's spine. If he had reacted any slower, his head would have been crushed under that shoe like a ripe tomato. 

"Wh-what the... hell are you..." With his shoulders heaving from his ragged breathing, Naoto followed the foot embedded in the wall to find its owner. 

The attacker was a tall, powerfully built man. He looked to be in his early twenties. He wasn't Japanese. His chest was so thick and his shoulders so broad that his shirt looked too tight. His arms were thick and muscular, and his legs were like spears. He had thick eyebrows, sharp eyes, and a deeply carved, fierce expression. Perhaps it was also due to his messy, unkempt hair, which was simply thrown back. He looked like a wild carnivore. 

The number above his head read '2394211'. This man, though not to the extent of Raquel, had a number far beyond that of a normal human.

"...Dodged it, huh?" The man growled, muttering resentfully. His voice wasn't as rough and harsh as his appearance, but it carried a heavy sense of menace and murderous intent. Naoto looked up at the beast-like man without taking his eyes off him. He didn't know him. And he had no idea why such a dangerous-looking man would attack him. Returning his hostility, he retorted.

"What the hell are you doing, you... trying to kill me?!"

"I've already killed you twice. Why won't you die?" The heavy voice replied immediately, making Naoto start. 

It was only natural. Naoto had been slammed into a vending machine with tremendous force, and then into a concrete wall. He had vomited a lot of blood. He thought he had broken bones all over his body…

Yet, even though he had been barely able to breathe just a moment ago, he was now shouting angrily.

Naoto moved his neck, which was still stiff, and looked down at himself.

(As I thought...)

The wound where the man's arm had been embedded in his abdomen was gone.

"So you're an 'immortal' too?" 

"What...?" Before Naoto could finish his sentence, the strong man pulled his foot out of the broken wall and swung it down again to crush Naoto's head. "Ahh...!" Naoto bent his body to avoid the direct hit. But instead of his head, his right shoulder was crushed under the man's shoe. The force that had shattered the concrete now shattered Naoto's shoulder.

"Ugh, aaaah!" It hurt so bad. A muffled scream tore at Naoto's throat as he crouched, clutching his shoulder.

The man clicked his tongue and swung his other leg. The leg, which was as flexible as a whip, sliced through the air and aimed for Naoto's head again. Naoto managed to raise his head, but that was all. There was no way he could dodge it. He could already imagine the sensation of that toe cracking his skull. 

But the man's foot didn't crush Naoto's head.

He was alive. He still had eyes, a mouth, and a head. Naoto couldn't comprehend what was happening as he looked at the strange thing in front of him. 

It was another arm. But this time, it wasn't the strong man's arm; it was more like a woman's arm with white, smooth skin. The reason I say 'like' is because it was clearly not a human arm. 

The arm had grown out of the concrete wall, behind Naoto. It had a shoulder, an elbow, and a wrist, and it was abnormally long, resembling a mannequin's arm. There were six of them in total, three on each side, crossing each other to form a shield that protected Naoto. One pair had been shattered, but the others had taken the brunt of the man's powerful kick.

"...Stop it, Valkenhayn." Another man's voice came from the opposite side of the arms. It was a young man's voice, firm but calm. The strong man, called Valkenhayn, turned his head slightly, looking at the voice.

Waiting for him, the arms that had been shielding Naoto disappeared silently back into the wall. The view that had been blocked by the three pairs of arms opened up, and finally, Naoto could see the other man. He didn't know when he had arrived, but a strange man was standing in the parking lot behind the game center.

The man named Valkenhayn had a rough-looking face, but he was dressed in a shirt, pants, and leather shoes, looking like a dangerous foreigner at most. However, the appearance of the second man was extremely peculiar. 

His hair was golden and neatly cut, and his physique was quite average. But his eyes were completely covered by a black leather band, and he was wearing a purple cloak over a suit-like outfit. From the color of his skin, he was probably Caucasian, but because he couldn't see his eyes, it was unclear what kind of person he was.

Although his appearance was ordinary enough to blend into the surroundings, compared to Valkenhayn, who had tried to kill someone without a word of greeting, this man seemed more rational and reasonable, despite his unusual appearance.

"Why are you interfering, Relius?" Calling the man with the covered eyes Relius, Valkenhayn spoke again, his voice low and filled with aggression.

[[File:BE1-7.png|frameless|right]]

The man named Relius approached Naoto with a leisurely gait, completely unfazed by Valkenhayn's aggressive stance. 

"That's a 'human'. Not an 'immortal'." Even with his eyes covered, Relius's vision seemed unimpaired. There was no hesitation or uncertainty in his steps. As he approached, Naoto pushed himself up against the wall. He leaned against the wall for support as he stood up. Although Relius had protected him from Valkenhayn's attack, Naoto couldn't be sure he was an ally. He kept a watchful eye on both men, ready for anything. 

Seeing this, Valkenhayn furrowed his brow.

"How is that a 'human'? Humans die when you kill them."

"Not necessarily. ... Anyway, back off. That's not your target." Relius's voice was flat and devoid of emotion, ignoring Valkenhayn's rage. Continuing his steady pace, he walked beside Valkenhayn and turned his face away as if to urge him again to back off.

"...Tch." After glaring at each other for a while, Valkenhayn clicked his tongue and suddenly lifted his foot. Without hesitation, he swung it down at Naoto's leg. 

"Guaaaah!" With a sound like a popped water balloon, Naoto's right leg was crushed. The intense pain made Naoto collapse, clutching his right ankle. Below the ankle was a mangled mess of flesh, blood, and broken bones.

"Ugh, ah, uhh..." Turning his back on the groaning Naoto, Valkenhayn walked away, looking annoyed. Relius, on the other hand, remained where he was, staring intently at Naoto who was rubbing his face against the ground. Noticing his gaze, Naoto followed his line of sight - or rather, tried to guess the direction of his gaze since his eyes were covered - and looked at what remained of his shattered leg. It was a gruesome sight. The result of a merciless act, it was a grotesque scene that made him want to cry.

But as the scattered flesh and bones crumbled and dissipated like burnt ash, his tears dried up. The scattered flesh and bones turned into a red mist and disappeared, and in an instant, Naoto's foot was restored to its original form.

How could that be human? Naoto was stunned to see it.

It was Relius's voice, heard nearby, that brought Naoto back to reality.

"Hmm... Interesting... 'Regeneration'?" Startled by the close voice, Naoto flinched. Relius bent over and watched Naoto's regeneration intently. When Naoto moved away, he straightened up, looking somewhat surprised. It was as if he were asking what was wrong.

"You really went all out, didn't you... I guess I’ll have to listen to 'Kiiro's' complaints again..." Glancing around casually, Relius muttered blandly as he looked at the vending machine and wall that had been irreparably destroyed. "Are you alright?"

Naoto frowned, hesitant to respond to the action and words. Just a moment ago, a man had tried to crush his foot, and now this man, who seemed to be his companion, was offering him a hand and showing concern. He didn't know the situation, but he wished they would either be enemies or allies, not both. It was stressful to second-guess their intentions. Thinking this, he pushed away the outstretched hand and stood up on his own.

"I’m not okay! It hurts like hell!"

"So your sense of pain is still functioning."

"Of course it is! What do you think I am, anyway?!" As Naoto shouted out his frustration, he glared at Relius, who seemed impressed as he rested his chin on his hand. It was hard to tell his age since his face was obscured, but from his voice and demeanor, Naoto guessed he was only a few years older. He was probably younger than Valkenhayn from earlier.
Naoto’s gaze shifted to the number floating above Relius’s head. He was surprised by what he found. ‘9152.’ He had expected this man to have an abnormal number like the other guy, but it was just a normal human number—slightly lower than Naoto’s average, in fact.

At that moment, a chill ran down his spine. He didn’t know why. Perhaps it was because Relius had suddenly flashed a grin at him.

"My companion has caused you trouble. As an apology, let me share a few things." Relius said with a faint smile. He was a man with a voice that showed little emotion. But now, like his smile, there was a hint of joy in his voice. "If something like this happens again, the first thing you should do is protect your head. If your head gets crushed, no matter how immortal you are, you won’t be able to regenerate right away. During that time, we can finish you off."

Naoto instinctively touched his head, as if drawn in by the calm tone of Relius’s words. Come to think of it, Valkenhayn had tried to crush his head. So that's why he had done that. But doubts arose. Valkenhayn's initial attack had been aimed at his stomach, right?

"...Then why didn’t he target my head from the start?"

"Immortals are always prepared for attacks on the head. So, first, we immobilize them, and then we destroy their head... that's the standard procedure." As he said this, Relius took a few steps back. Naoto realized he was avoiding the shadows as Relius lowered his chin and directed his gaze at the ground.

"We are targeting vampires. Our goal is not to torment a sturdier boy with regenerative abilities. And of course, we didn’t come to chase down a newborn girl either."
Naoto tensed up and glared at Relius with sharper eyes. He quickly realized what Relius was talking about. This man knew about Raquel.

Relius must have seen through Naoto's wariness. He briefly lifted his chin as if to steal a glance at Naoto's expression, then turned to address the shadows.

"She's doing well, but she's still inexperienced... You should at least be better at hiding your presence. Otherwise, he'll get the wrong idea again..." Naoto couldn't remain silent after that. The shadows at his feet rippled like the surface of water, and from them, Raquel appeared without a sound. Just as she had sunk into the shadows before, she gradually emerged as if climbing a staircase, eventually standing in front of Naoto. Her large, slanted golden eyes stared at Relius defiantly.

"I appreciate the advice, Relius Clover." Hearing this, Relius's smile deepened.

"Hoh... So you have some information about me. Wonderful." His voice was filled with satisfaction. As he continued to gaze at Naoto and Raquel, Relius took a few steps back, placing a hand on his chest and bowing his head slightly.

"I must go after my companion. Until we meet again." With those words, Relius swirled his striking purple cloak and vanished in the direction Valkenhayn had gone.