Editing BlazBlue:Calamity Trigger Part 2 Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 6===

The wide, inorganic underground facility was now completely silent.

The open cauldron was closed by Ragna, who had slept and somehow managed to move, by operating the machine appropriately. As a result, some of the instruments stopped responding, but in the end, it didn't matter since he was going to destroy this place and leave anyway.

Was there anything else to do? He couldn't come up with anything, and just stared at the closed cauldron for a while.

Hearing the sound of something moving and the sound of a thick jacket slipping off, Ragna turned his head. In front of him, about two people apart, Noel, who had been sleeping against the cold metal wall, was rubbing her eyes with both hands, still looking sleepy.

It must have fallen when she raised her head, which she had been resting behind her back. Ragna's red jacket, which he had offered as a blanket, was crumpled on her lap.

"You finally woke up." Ragna called out to Noel, with his elbows on his raised knees. He was the one who'd set the distance where to sit.

He had carried the girl's sleeping, defenseless face on his shoulder, but it was also strange to be staring at it, so he deliberately stared elsewhere. The girl's hair and breath occasionally brushed against him as she stirred, perhaps instead of rolling over, and he told himself not to react strangely to it and pretended to be calm.

That continued for several minutes, and Ragna gradually felt miserable for paying attention to such a thing, and finally left Noel under the guise of closing the open cauldron.

[[File:BB_CT2_293.jpg|frameless|right]]

Even if he could remain calm, what about Noel? If she were to wake up from her slumber and find Ragna's face right next to her...

It probably wasn't a reality she'd want to know, that she fell asleep leaning on the shoulder of a man who just appeared in her moment of need.

''(I don't want her to think I'm a pervert either.)''

He didn't need such an undeserved accusation.

Turning to Ragna's voice, Noel looked bewildered, alternating her gaze between the jacket on her lap and Ragna.

Ragna put his hand on the wall, lifted his heavy body, and went in front of Noel, snatching the jacket from her hand and putting it back on.

"You're..." 

She seemed to be in the middle of trying to understand the situation. As Noel muttered blankly, Ragna handed her a blue hat, which was placed next to her along with the gun and holster, as a replacement for the jacket.

"Do you remember? You beat me up and called me an idiot, and then you fell asleep." He didn't say "on my shoulder." But Noel blushed and, hiding her face with the hat she was handed, apologized.

"I- I'm sorry! I was, well, I was confused- I mean- I'm really sorry for calling the person who saved me an idiot!"

Still hiding her face with the hat, she sat properly on the spot and repeatedly lowered her head as if crouching down.

She seemed to be safe and sound with no serious injuries. Ragna chuckled lightly.

"We were both saved, so you don't have to thank me."

"Oh, good! You're still here, Miss Noel Vermillion!"

Suddenly, the voice of a man Ragna didn't know jumped in.

Ragna turned around as if he had been bounced and gripped the sword he had lowered. 

In front of the cauldron, which was now closed and only illuminated by dim lights, a man in a black suit was standing. How long had he been there, and how had he gotten here? Ragna felt a sense of unease due to the man's sudden appearance.

Next to Ragna, who was openly wary and on guard, Noel hurriedly ran in with a flustered look. Without even bothering to gather her hair, she put her hat on her head and straightened her posture.

"Captain Hazama! I'm sorry, I..."

With that one word, Ragna understood.

''(From the NOL... but... there's a strange atmosphere.)''

A part of him instinctively whispered danger to Ragna. There was a smell of dark schemes from this man.

"Oh, no, no, it's quite alright. I was worried that something might have happened since you hadn't come back in quite a while." The black-suited man, whom Noel called Hazama, put on a light, seemingly frivolous smile around his mouth, but kept his eyes hidden under his hat, and approached with a soothing gesture. With each step he took, the sound of his hard leather shoes echoed up to the ceiling.

When his feet stopped at a position that was still a little far to have a friendly conversation. Hazama removed the hat he was wearing with a flick of his finger and looked at Noel.

"By the way... Noel Vermillion." 

The voice he spoke with suddenly changed its tone midway. Ominously, eerily. His narrow eyes, which were stretched out behind his long green hair, flickered. The color of his pupils was gold.

Abandoning his previous polite demeanor, Hazama suddenly pressed his wide hand against his chest with an insolent attitude, and gave Noel a deep smile.

"Look at me. Observe me very carefully with those eyes!"

"What... Hazama-san?" With a puzzled expression as if she didn't understand, Noel tilted her head, looking at Hazama as she was told. But her expression changed immediately.

She seemed to stiffen, and her eyes widened as if she'd seen something terrifying. Her unsteady feet took a step back, but her gaze remained fixed on the man before her, as if forbidden to look away.

"You're different. You're not Hazama-san! A black shadow... Who are you?" Noel asked in a trembling voice. Her eyes, which continued to stare without blinking, had changed to a clear blue before she knew it. In front of her blue gaze, "Hazama" smiled.

"Who am I? Me? I'm... Yuuki Terumi." He uttered a different name.

It was also a name that Ragna remembered. Yuuki Terumi. The name of the shadow that attacked, burned, killed, and plundered the church where Ragna had lived.

"You!" A surge of hatred exploded within him, and Ragna drew his sword and tried to slash at Hazama... no, Terumi. 

But before Ragna could move, Noel's lips traced the name that had been spoken, in a daze.

"Yuuki... Terumi..."

The moment the faint voice clearly called out that name, Terumi grinned maliciously with a distorted smile, and at the same time, a whirlwind swirled behind Ragna and Noel.

"No! Noel, you mustn't observe that man!" Rachel, who had teleported there, raised her voice in a rare panic. But by that time, the atmosphere had already changed completely.

"Hyahahahahaha! You recognized me? You finally recognized me, this me? Hihhihihi, that's right, I am 'me'! I've finally regained it, thank you! As expected of the 'Successor of the Azure,' the Calamity Trigger!" Raising his arms to the sky and laughing loudly, Terumi's voice dyed the space with an ominousness that spread far and wide.

Even Ragna, who couldn't grasp the situation, could tell that something bad was happening. 

Holding his drawn sword towards Terumi, Raguna stood to protect Noel behind him. Noel, still staring at Terumi, turned pale and hugged her trembling body.

"Hey, get a hold of yourself!"

"What is that? Black... Susano'o..."

"Hey!"

While muttering words, Noel shed tears from the corners of her eyes. Even so, she couldn't take her eyes off him as if she was being forced to. No matter how many times Ragna called her, it was the same.

"Damn it, that bastard!!"

''(If that's the case, then it's this way.)'' 

Ragna swung the sword in his hand widely.


[[File:BB_CT2_299.jpg|frameless|right]]


"Ragna, stop!" Rachel's voice didn't reach him. He continued running as he was, swinging his sword down at Terumi, who was smiling without even defending himself. But the sword was easily caught by the casually raised arm of a black suit.

"Oh my, you're so stylish, Ragna-chan. How's your right arm doing? Oh, that's right, I cut it off, didn't I? Sorry, sorry, hahahaha!" Terumi laughed, not even flinching at Ragna's sword, which was swung with all his might. Ragna glared at Terumi's gleeful face, his murderous intent growing as he put more weight into the sword.

Terumi's free hand moved slightly. His lips curled into a twisted smile, and he shouted menacingly.

"Since we've reunited... I'll go ahead and tear off your left side too! Ouroboros!" In response to his call, Ragna heard the sound of chains moving from somewhere. The next moment, a chain shaped like a snake's jaw burst out from Hazama's shoulder.

"What?"

The target, as Terumi declared, was Ragna's left arm. But before the snake's head could bite into his flesh, the chain was grabbed by a giant arm that suddenly appeared from the side and was thrown away with brute force.

Both Ragna and Terumi shouted in surprise at the next intruder.

Standing in the middle of the distance they'd created by leaping back, was the giant who threw Terumi, chains and all. He was a tall, muscular figure, easily towering over them. His skin was unnaturally red, and his arm was fitted with a crude device. It was Tager, the cyborg soldier of Sector Seven.

As he turned towards Terumi, the communication line connected to Tager switched open, and the voice from the other side of the communicator, who wasn't there, echoed through the room.

"We finally meet... Yuuki Terumi!" The voice was a low and spirited female voice, its hostility clear even though there was no one there... It belonged to Kokonoe, the researcher of Sector Seven and Tager's creator.

Terumi's expression immediately twisted in disgust.

"That voice... Kokonoe? Tch, you're all coming out in droves, aren't you? Don't you people have anything better to do?"

"Shut up! Now that you've shown yourself, I'll definitely kill you!"

"Hmph, kill me? You? Hah, don't make me laugh! If you can do it, then try it!"

If the woman on the other side of the communicator raised her voice, Terumi would further provoke her as if mocking her.

Meanwhile, Tager calmly took a stance, never rushing in and carefully observing the situation. He stood as a wall between Kokonoe, Ragna, and Terumi.

Rachel, who had lightly kicked off the floor, flew down and landed in front of the red giant. Her crimson eyes stared piercingly straight at Terumi.

"You're in a good mood as soon as you're observed. If you want to play that much, I wouldn't mind being your opponent... 'Boy'." 

The smile on her lips was somewhat cruel, carrying something colder than killing intent. The oppressive aura she exuded was disproportionate to her appearance as a young girl, intimidating not only Terumi in front of her but everyone around her.

It was Terumi who decided to leave the pressure first.

"Oh, scary, scary... I can't afford to fail here, now that I've finally fused with the vessel." Chuckling as his thin shoulders shook, Terumi lowered his body and leapt away. 

While still low to the ground, he picked up a hat that was lying near Tager's feet, then moved to the lid of the cauldron.

"Kukuku, I don't like it, but I'll go along with your suggestion. Let's not touch each other's pieces and retreat for now. But..."

The chain he released upwards grabbed the void, pulling up the slender figure of Hazama, who called himself Terumi.

"I'll show you a special show soon, so wash your neck and look forward to it, you damn vampire!! Hyahahahahahahahaha!!"

Using the snake's head of the chain as a foothold, Terumi scattered his violent laughter and disappeared from the underground space.

Once his presence was gone, Rachel flicked her dress, dispelling the extraordinary aura she had been exuding. Finally, a proper, non-threatening air returned there.

"Ugh, ah..."

Perhaps due to the release of tension, or perhaps because Terumi had disappeared, Noel's body suddenly lost strength, as if a string had been cut. Just as she was about to collapse, Ragna caught her unsteady body in his arms.

"Whoa... that was close."

"S-sorry..." Her face was pale and the strength in her grip on his arm was weak, barely enough to keep her standing. Even so, Noel finally seemed to be responding normally. For the time being, Ragna was relieved about that.

But soon the next situation approached.

It was as if the rocky mountain that supported Kagutsuchi was trembling, and the surroundings began to shake. The source of the tremor immediately made itself known. Part of the mountain of equipment that was holding the cauldron exploded into flames.

"Whoa!?"

"Kyah!"

As soon as the explosion occurred, an even larger tremor shook the ground beneath Ragna and the others, causing Noel to collapse and sit down.

Ragna took her arm and pulled her up, making her stand. The next explosion, which occurred as if chasing after them, broke the ceiling and caused rubble to fall.

Some of it hit the device, causing another explosion.

"There's a serious malfunction in the cauldron's control system. This was caused by the aftereffects of the rampage here, as well as the severe damage to its machinery. The circuits inside the device are probably all short-circuited. It seems that some of them have exploded."

Tager reported calmly, without any sign of panic despite the situation, listing the results of his visual analysis.

"More importantly, if we stay here, we'll be crushed!" Ragna shouts roughly, slightly irritated by his calmness. He had some idea about the serious malfunction of the machine.

Kokonoe's unpleasant voice emerged from the still open communicator.

"Tager, evacuate."

"Understood. But what about the others? With the current output, I can barely transfer myself." The giant cyborg looked at the other three with concern through his opaque sunglasses.

Rachel gave a sarcastic yet elegant bow to Tager.

"Don't worry, I'm better at teleportation than your master." As soon as she said that, Rachel formed a rose-colored magic circle around herself, including Ragna and Noel. A colorful wind blew from nowhere, scattering the fragrant aroma of roses around them.

"I see. My apologies."

"Don't worry about it... Well then, Kokonoe, I'll be going ahead."

After saying a word to Tager, who pushed up his sunglasses with his rough fingers, and Kokonoe, who was on the other side of the communicator, Rachel waved her hand in the air, adorned with luxurious lace.

Rachel, who was in the center of the magic circle, Noel, who couldn't stand due to the tremors of the explosion, and Ragna, who was holding her up and supporting her.

The three of them teleported away from the collapsing underground, accompanied by the sweet scent of roses.




'''January 1, 2200 - Dawn'''

Shortly after the new year began. 

The sky was still the color of night, and only a part of the eastern sky had begun to prepare for the morning.

A violent tremor shook the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi.

The large-scale explosion that occurred deep underground quickly spread, tearing and shattering various parts of Kagutsuchi, even destroying the city...

And as the night fully gave way to day, and the sun began to rise in the sky, illuminating the surroundings.

Kagutsuchi was exposing its tragically damaged appearance in the first morning of the new year.

News ran through Kagutsuchi that day.

The explosion that suddenly occurred in the middle of the night was the work of the infamous criminal, the most wanted man with the highest bounty in history, the "Grim Reaper" Ragna the Bloodedge, who had attacked the branch of the Novus Orbis Librarium... 

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