Editing BlazBlue:Bloodedge Experience Part 2 Chapter 10 (section)

===Part 2===

Saya was still faster at closing the distance. She moved with a speed as if she were teleporting. She dashed past Valkenhayn's side in an instant. But if you knew she was fast, there was a corresponding way to deal with her. Drawing her sword with the intent to sever his head, Valkenhayn twisted his body before he could even see her. Not to dodge, but to deliver a powerful kick.

For a moment, Saya's eyes widened slightly in alarm. It seemed she hadn't anticipated the attack, given the speed and reaction time required. Holding the sheathed sword vertically, Saya narrowly deflected the beastkin's lightning-fast strike.
"Ugh...!" Her small body couldn't fully absorb the impact and was flung back. However, she managed to maintain her balance. Landing in a low stance, she quickly raised her head and charged forward again with blinding speed.

Valkenhayn was caught off guard again.

"Just a small fry!"

Roaring, Valkenhayn jumped sideways to avoid the approaching white figure. As he was about to jump, the sword still in its sheath swept his supporting leg.

"What...?"

As Valkenhayn was flustered, she aimed a blow at his head with the hilt. Saya aimed for his temple. But it couldn't beat Valkenhayn's reaction. A makeshift club that he had swung up at the last moment deflected Saya's sword. 

It wasn't just Saya whose arm was thrown high. Valkenhayn, who had swung his own arm, was also off balance. A small palm from the girl struck into the exposed side of his tightened waist. A muffled voice escaped from Valkenhayn's mouth. 

The palm strike to his side was so powerful that it felt beyond what a girl could deliver, as if the nails were sinking in, about to carve out flesh.

Grabbing the wrist that had struck him, Valkenhayn reached out for Saya's neck. However, with some agile movement, Saya slipped away from his grasp like a prey evading the fangs of a predator, stepping back lightly.

It felt like he was being toyed with. Unpleasantly, Valkenhayn dashed toward the girl, who was waving her sleeves annoyingly, and struck her with a fierce punch. Saya narrowly dodged the upward thrust aimed at her torso. In quick succession, Valkenhayn's foot roared as it smashed through a pile of stacked materials in one blow. 

But Saya couldn't be caught.

With just a few millimeters left and a split second of difference in speed, the girl slid down to the ground.

"Damn you..."

It was rare to experience such frustrating combat. Valkenhayn's expression grew increasingly grum, feeling as if he were battling an elusive phantom. But his opponent was no illusion. She was a flesh-and-blood human. That was what made her so irritating.

Saya mockingly tilted her head, as if to say he was slow. Her small gestures stirred Valkenhayn's blood. Transforming back into a wolf, he lunged at the impudent little girl. 

Kicking off the ground with his front legs, Valkenhayn closed in on Saya with a speed incomparable to his human form. Gasping, Saya thrust her sword into the jaws of the beast. Valkenhayn's fangs bit into the sheath with enough force that they almost snapped the blade. He then shook his head violently, tossing the girl effortlessly into the neighboring lot.

Next to her stood an old, gray building. Saya, blown away along with the white covering from the construction site, managed to leap in the air just before crashing into the filthy wall. Saya looked up, her long hair swinging wildly. At that moment, a massive wolf lunged at her.

Leaping with the speed it had gained from running on all fours, it transformed back into the strong young man mid-air. With that momentum, he swung his arm down. 

Like a crusher breaking concrete, Valkenhayn's fist shattered the wall of the building, sending gray dust swirling into the air.

Valkenhayn clicked his tongue loudly in the curtain of dust that obscured his vision. He had missed her.

Saya kicked off the wall, jumped up, smashed through the glass, and escaped into the second floor of the building. Valkenhain caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye, growled low, and leapt to the second floor window, determined not to let her escape.

The broken glass pointed its sharp edge inward, but he didn't care. He smashed through it and entered the building. It must have been some kind of store. It was a dark, dusty, empty floor with several empty steel shelves left in disarray. There were no signs that anyone had been there for a long time. Valkenhayn stepped onto the thin layer of dust.

And at that moment, a sharp sound cut through the air from the wall. There was no hesitation in the slash. To kill. Aiming for the neck. To slash it diagonally in a thick stroke.

Driven by a chilling fear that ran through him, Valkenhayn threw himself to the ground and rolled across the dusty bags. Fortunately, the part of his body that had been struck still had its head attached. But he hadn't been able to dodge completely. The blade had grazed his shoulder and cut into his flesh, leaving a vivid sensation and a shallow cut.

"Hmm… this is interesting." Relius voiced his intrigue as he came upstairs, using the wall and the doll's arm as a staircase. "I'm becoming more and more curious."

"Shut up! Don't butt in!" Valkenhayn yelled roughly, touching his wounded shoulder and smearing his palm in reddish-black blood. He didn’t like getting cut. But Relius continued without a care as he moved to his new audience seat, a corner of the floor.

"Don't get restless. It's about time, anyway." The word "time" elicited a reaction not from Valkenhayn, but from Saya. She swung the unsheathed sword, wiping the blood from its tip, and rubbed her feet on the floor to measure the distance. It was a cautious movement unlike any she had made before.

The small, deadly blade was wary. As Relius's words had indicated, she was wary of "time".

"Little girl… how much longer can you move?" Perhaps she has temporarily enhanced her physical abilities with some kind of magic. Valkenhayn, who had felt a persistent sense of discomfort during their exchange, asked in a low voice.

Instead of answering, Saya sheathed her sword, stepping back into a stance with her hands on the hilt. It wasn’t a sign of surrender; it was the opposite. 

"I don't know what kind of spell it is, but you were the one who attacked first. Don't expect mercy now!"

If that was her intention, then there was no need to hold back. Valkenhayn dashed across the narrowed battlefield. He stepped in forcefully and struck with his fist, grazing a soft fabric—it was the sleeve of Saya’s kimono. Next, he unleashed a horizontal roundhouse kick. Using his lowered leg as a pivot, he arced his long leg downwards from a high position.

Each blow was strong enough to kill an ordinary man, yet they were terrifyingly fast. But Saya ducked, or parried with her scabbard, and slipped away. She was still too fast. He couldn't catch her.

Though he grazed her toes, Valkenhayn's flurry of strikes failed to land a solid hit. However, during one of his many upward kicks, Saya was caught.

"Ugh..."

Saya was unable to evade in time and had to catch it with her upraised arm. It wasn't so much a defense as she was slammed into the wall behind her. A faint crack ran through the gray wall that caught her. In the center of that crack, Saya was lightly embedded in the wall, resembling a butterfly caught in a spider's web.

Valkenhayn quickly closed the distance.

"I won't kill you. But you won't be moving for a while." Leaping out in front of Saya, Valkenhayn said in an angry voice and thrust out his fist with tremendous speed. 

"Wh-what!?" The next moment, Valkenhayn's eyes widened in surprise. 

What his swung fist shattered was not the girl's consciousness, but the cold wall that had spiderweb-like cracks running through it. The surface, already weakened from the first strike, crumbled under Valkenhayn's second punch, engulfing his fist halfway up his arm. Beneath the embedded arm, there was a hint of a smile.

"Oh… good. You finally stopped." In a childish yet strangely eerie voice, Saya whispered from between the wall and Valkenhayn. 

Saya, who seemed unable to escape from the wall she was slammed into, slipped and crouched low just before Valkenhayn's fist touched her.

"You, still...!" Thinking she was still going to fight, Valkenhayn tried to pull his arm out of the wall. But faster than that, Saya stood up.

The sword was not in her hand. She had left the sheathed sword at her feet, and Saya smoothly wrapped her unarmed hands around Valkenhayn's arm. 

And then.

"Wh-what the...!?" 

Suddenly, Valkenhayn's knees buckled and he collapsed. 

A severe dizziness made him lose his balance and his legs trembled. As if to help Valkenhayn, who was barely able to support himself, Saya held onto the arm that was still embedded in the wall.

Valkenhayn bared his teeth at the sight. His strength, no, something more fundamental, was being sucked away from him by the girl's hand touching him.

"That's… Soul Eater!" From a distance, Relius exclaimed in surprise. While listening to his partner's unusual voice with dulled hearing, Valkenhayn was finally unable to stand and lost his human form. He was forcibly transformed from a strong young man into a giant wolf.

Thanks to this change, his arms reshaped, and he was naturally freed from the wall, but Saya's hands continued to cling to him.

Soul Eater. The worst kind of Drive that drains the life force from others.

Valkenhayn, who had only heard of its existence, felt a deep sense of despair as he was held by two thin arms…

The girl stared at him as she caught him and held him down with her hands. How could he have predicted that such a child would possess Soul Eater? It was a Drive that he had doubted even existed.

"Aren't you going to help me? I'm going to die, you know?" While still holding one of the wolf’s front legs that had collapsed to the floor, Saya turned her face toward Relius, who stood behind her. A smile was on her lips.

The damage from Valkenhayn’s kick had long since faded. She had fully healed from the life force she had absorbed. If she continued, the wolfman would eventually die.

Even though he had a life force vastly superior to that of a human, life is finite. Once it was completely drained, that would be the end.

The wolf, slumped helplessly on the floor, could not shake off Saya's hand, which was holding him down with much more strength than it appeared. However, Relius did not move from the spectator area along the wall. On the contrary, he leaned against the wall and chose to watch.

"What a pity..." Relius muttered quietly to no one in particular. His gloved fingers, crossed over his arms, moved up and down as if counting something. Suddenly, those fingers stopped.

"Time's up." The moment Relius sighed with regret, Saya's knee buckled with a dull thud.

"Damn it..." Furrowing her brow in distress, Saya clung to Valkenhayn's arm. But the power she had moments ago was gone. Now, it was just a frail girl trying to hold down a massive wolf.

"The time limit is three minutes... I’ll have to investigate what kind of techniques you’re using to enhance your physical abilities, but it seems the backlash is quite significant. From the looks of it, even standing must be difficult for you. It’s hardly a practical technique." 

With his covered eyes, Relius said in a calm, monotonous tone, as if he were observing Saya's condition and simply stating the results.

Ignoring Relius's continuous commentary, Valkenhayn raised the beast's head vigorously. He got up by lifting his rounded back, returned to human form, twisted his body, and threw Saya off his arm.

Thrown to the other side of the wall, Saya landed on the floor without trying to catch herself. With a small groan, Saya tried to get up. But her arms trembled on the floor, struggling to support even her light weight.

"What a shame... If I only had a little more time." Saya muttered resentfully as she dragged herself up, letting out ragged breaths.

If only there had been a little more time, she could have completely drained his life force. That was the logic of the Grim Reaper.

Saya, lying on the floor, uttered those eerie words with complete sincerity. Valkenhayn, stumbling but determined, took a large step forward.

"Soul Eater... I see. Now that I know you’re a user, I can't just let you be."

"Valkenhayn. Don't kill her." Relius called out to the wounded beastman, as if to remind him. But Valkenhayn didn't even turn his head. He didn't hear Relius's words. He took a few more steps, his feet moving to close the distance.

Saya pulled herself up with all her might. But no matter how much life force she had taken, he was a beastman. Their biological foundations were different.

The wolfman's speed did not wane. Saya, on the other hand, could barely lift herself up, and her beloved sword was far out of reach.

With a wolf's roar, Valkenhayn raised his hand with sharp, gleaming claws. His arm would tear skin, crush flesh, and shatter bone. There was no mercy, no compassion. His sharp claws tore through the air for only one purpose: to kill his prey.

And then—

"Uraaah!" A young man's voice rang out as a dark figure leaped in and landed a rough kick on the side of Valkenhayn's face.