BlazBlue:Bloodedge Experience Part 2 Chapter 11

Illustrations

Prologue:Rebirth

Chapter 7: Siblings

Chapter 8: Thought and Felt

Chapter 9: Intervention

Chapter 10: Encounter

Chapter 11: Fusion

Epilogue

Extra Chapter: Fragments

Afterword

Part 1

The vibrant western sun disappeared behind the towering buildings, and in its place, the eastern sky began to take on the colors of night. The gradual change in the color of the sky was like a deep breath, inhaling the day and exhaling the night.

The bustling downtown area, centered around a large building above the Shinkawahama Station, was adorned with a variety of restaurants and shops lining the main street. However, a few blocks in, there was a narrow alleyway that seemed a little too deserted to be called a downtown area, shrouded in shadows.

In such a dimly lit, cheap street, the streetlights began to flicker on as Valkenhayn ran ahead, guided by Relius.

“Relius! Explain what’s going on! Where are we heading?” Though Valkenhayn was overwhelmingly faster than Relius when it came to running, the uncertainty of their destination forced him to maintain an irksome pace just behind Relius, who was a step ahead. Frustrated, he shouted at him.

The black shadow they had just seen in the vacant storefront of the building was the result of magic. Although neither Valkenhayn nor Relius had confirmed the sorcerer’s identity, it was easy to deduce that it was the work of Spinner Superior, a magician who had recently appeared in Shinkawahama and had previously been involved with Kiiro.

However, Relius didn’t seem inclined to pursue the writhing darkness that was likely the magic of Spinner Superior. Instead, he suddenly ran off in a completely different direction after leaving the building.

It was clear that Relius had already lost interest in this matter and was not about to return. He must have some purpose. Otherwise, there was no way he would run on his own without proper instructions.

"Didn't I already tell you? 'We have something to do.'"

"I'm asking you what that something is. If your mouth can move more smoothly than your usual puppet, tell me where and what you intend to do."

“...It’s about the job.”

"What?" His words were too short. Valkenhayn asked again in a threatening tone.

Relius, glancing around, suddenly turned a corner, causing Valkenhayn to momentarily hesitate and quicken his pace slightly. With his blindfolded eyes looking ahead, Relius lifted his chin slightly.

“Spinner Superior is setting up a barrier in this area to strengthen his magic. As long as the barrier isn’t destroyed, the surrounding area is practically his body. Therefore, we will destroy it. Once the barrier disappears, Kiiro will attack Spinner. Until then, the boy and the vampire from earlier will keep him occupied.”

The cold, emotionless voice stated clearly. The boy and the vampire chasing Spinner and the darkness were merely bait to buy time. Their purpose was to destroy the barrier, allowing Kiiro or themselves to reach Spinner. If they were dead, so be it. And if they were alive, that was all there was to it.

Valkenhayn unconsciously frowned. He felt no sympathy for the group from earlier. However, he often found Relius’s statements like this quite unsettling. How did that man see the world? He was sure that he would never be able to share that feeling, no matter how long his life was.

“Where is the barrier?”

“The first one is up ahead. I’ll search for the rest while you’re destroying it.” Relius spoke without hesitation. Valkenhayn understood that destroying the barrier was his responsibility.

“How do we destroy the barrier?”

“Just physically destroy the places where the magic is applied. That should be your specialty.” Relius’s blunt tone sounded more like sarcasm than anything else. Annoyed, Valkenhayn snorted and brushed the comment aside, which he could only sense as being thrown at him.

The dimly lit side streets were beginning to glow with white light. The night’s veil slowly descended.

Ignoring the occasional curious glances from passersby, Relius and Valkenhayn ran quietly through the city, which was just starting to embrace the night.

Part 2

The sky was painted in hues of dusk and night.

With the sun in the west and the moon in the east, Naoto raced through the dimly lit backstreets, where the pale streetlights began to flicker on, without a moment to spare to look up at the transforming sky.

Running beside him was Raquel, her long hair fluttering like a golden ribbon. Her golden eyes, unlike any he had seen before, were fixed sternly ahead, guiding Naoto towards their destination.

That destination, of course, was where Spinner was.

After Spinner's darkness had taken Saya away and Naoto had chased it to the rooftop but lost sight of it, Raquel, who had come up to the rooftop later, immediately drew a magic circle and began to track Spinner.

Her concern wasn’t solely for Saya’s safety—though in a way, it could be said that it was. While quickly arranging the strange red symbols that Naoto couldn’t understand, Raquel murmured with a tone of urgency.

“Spinner’s target is probably Soul Eater. I don’t know his purpose, but…” It was unlikely that the man’s goals would align with Naoto or Raquel’s interests.

Hurriedly completing the magic circle, Raquel stood at its center, gathering the wind for a moment. She firmly engraved the sensed presence of the Azure into her senses, pulling it closer as she pursued Spinner.

Feeling rushed, Naoto stumbled occasionally, struggling to breathe not from fatigue, but from a different kind of tightness in his chest.

Why had things become so complicated? Nothing was going his way. Everything seemed to be going downhill. Naoto groaned in frustration.

(It’s all because of that stupid sister of mine!)

He just wanted to hunt Apostles with Raquel, get stronger, defeat Spinner, and become human again within a year. It was already complicated enough at this point, but now his suddenly appearing sister was getting involved.

(She should have just stayed at the Amanohokosaka Castle.)

Why did she always have to meddle in things?

Unconsciously, his tongue clicked again in annoyance.

As if to silence him, Raquel spoke sharply.

“Over there, Naoto.” As if awakened by Raquel's voice, Naoto's eyes and consciousness awakened to reality.

They had reached a construction site near the edge of the downtown area. The base of the building was surrounded by a white makeshift wall, behind which a greenish, thin covering draped over tall construction scaffolding. The building under construction was apparently quite tall, and the scaffold continued for a long distance.

Naoto looked up, his gaze wandering.

"Is it in there...?"

Fortunately, whether it was because of a holiday or some sort of trouble, there was no one at the site. Even though it was gradually getting dark, the surroundings were still faintly lit. But the inside of the scaffold was so dark that he couldn't see how far it extended. Naturally, there were no lights since no one was there. Searching inside would be quite difficult.

Just as Naoto was about to slip inside the white enclosure, Raquel's hand grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back.

"Naoto. Up there."

Up. Hearing that, Naoto looked up at the building. It was probably about eight stories high. It was taller than the apartment building where Naoto lived.

Raquel's eyes were fixed on the very top, the roof.

Naoto squinted. But from here, he couldn't even tell if there was anyone on the rooftop. However, a shiver ran down his spine.

"Ugh..." Naoto involuntarily gasped. It felt so… empty.

(Is it my imagination? Because Raquel feels that way, I'm being influenced by her… Or maybe...is it because of the vampire blood mixed in me?)

He had a feeling that something was there. And now, his intuition couldn't be easily ignored by his common sense and rationality.

"Raquel!" Looking up at the building under construction, Naoto called out quickly. Raquel immediately understood his intention and slid her arms around his.

The soft sensation of her body pressed closely against his made Naoto tense up involuntarily. The presence of a girl, clearly different from the boys around him, was sweetly colorful and right next to him, so close that he could feel her breath. It was only natural for him to feel a bit nervous.

"Be very careful." Raquel lifted her face from where it had been resting against his chest. In her serious gaze, Naoto's slightly flustered expression was reflected.

"I feel a great power swelling. Spinner is very strong. You can't handle him alone. Don't forget that. Understood?"

"Y-yeah." Raquel’s words, spoken in a warning tone, sent a chill down Naoto’s spine.

Ahead of him was Spinner. He had been so focused on getting Saya back, but he realized that he had to stand before that man, fight, and get her back. That realization filled Naoto with fear. But it wasn't a bad fear. It was a necessary fear. He wasn't someone to be faced without fear.

"Hold on tight." With that, Raquel pressed her lips together and concentrated. His senses began to sharpen.

A whirlwind swirled at Raquel's feet. Then, in an instant, it turned into a violent gust of wind, blowing her and Naoto high into the air.

With the wind surrounding them, they soared upward and landed on the rooftop of the building, which was solidly built despite being under construction. The gray concrete, likely to be painted or treated later, was beautifully smoothed out. Steel scaffolding surrounded it, resembling a small arena.

There was no need to look for their target. Amidst the cooler wind that blew stronger than on the ground, the man was leisurely standing in the center of the rooftop.

Dressed in a black, high-quality suit, with slicked-back gray hair and a large, menacing tattoo carved deeply into his cheek, Spinner Superior appeared. His sharply elongated, cold eyes were accompanied by a narrow, icy smile. Without showing any surprise at the arrival of Naoto and Raquel, he gracefully moved his long limbs into a deep bow.

"Good evening, Raquel Alucard. Even on this day, your beauty is blinding... the moon tonight might be too ashamed to emerge from behind the clouds." While keeping his body bowed, he lifted only his face, and Naoto caught a glimpse of a serpent-like tongue flickering from Spinner's mouth.

Behind him, something large was stirring.

Though the dusk was not particularly different from usual, the rooftop felt much darker than the ground below. Perhaps it was due to the faint residual light in the sky. The figure appeared like a shadow puppet backlit by the setting sun... but as Naoto squinted, its true nature became clearer.

"Ugh..." A sound of disgust involuntarily escaped Naoto’s lips.

It was an insect. And it was on a completely different scale from Spinner’s Apostles that Naoto had encountered before. It was enormous.

Its head, with dull reddish-black eyes, stood much higher than the tall Spinner. The smooth, round head had large, arched jaws protruding forward, and it was clear at a glance that they were its pride and joy.

It had a black, beetle-like skin, but its body was rather long, and it was standing up as if lifting its upper body. Twelve strong, crustacean-like legs were attached to its body, and the second pair from the top was firmly holding a small girl in its arms.

"Saya!" Naoto shouted instinctively.

The captured girl—Saya—was unconscious. Her thin arms, draped in a kimono the color of blossoms, hung limply. Yet, Naoto couldn't believe his eyes.

The number above Saya's head was rising at an astonishing rate.

"What the hell is that... why is Saya's life force skyrocketing?" It was like a broken counter. The number would occasionally slow down, then speed up again, increasing at an unstable pace. He had never seen anything like this before... No.

Recently, when Saya had come to Naoto's house, she had tried to suck out Naoto's life force and kill him. At that time, the number above Saya's head had also risen.

Of course, it wasn't at such an absurd pace as it was now.

"Is it... absorbing life force? From that insect?"

"No."

As Naoto muttered, thinking that couldn’t possibly be the case, Raquel threw a harsh denial at him.

"Your sister... the Soul Eater that resides within her is absorbing the life force of all the humans around this building."

"What... what the hell is that!?" For a moment, Naoto couldn’t grasp the meaning, his voice trembling with frustration. "Wasn't it supposed to be that Saya could only absorb the life force of the people she touched!?" He was sure Raquel had said that before. Turning sharply, he saw Raquel’s expression twisted as if she had bitten into something bitter.

"That's only if your sister is controlling Soul Eater. As I said, the original Soul Eater indiscriminately takes people's life force. Saya is unconscious. So, the one controlling Soul Eater now is..." There was only one person here who could do that, and who would do so.

That man Raquel was glaring at—Spinner.

"...Raquel Alucard. I am somewhat disappointed." While receiving hostility and caution from both Naoto and Raquel, Spinner pressed his hand to his chest with a sorrowful expression. His spread thin fingers were like spider legs. "It is an immense honor that you have chosen to chase after me yourself. However, this Spinner Superior had asked that next time we meet, you bring along the 'real Naoto Kurogane.' And yet..."

Dropping his angular, thin shoulders exaggeratedly, Spinner moved his gaze from Raquel to Naoto. In the meantime, his gaze turned cold and filled with disgust.

"To think you would bring this trash again." His eyes seemed to say that he couldn't stand it physiologically.

Naoto met Spinner’s condescending gaze with one of deep contempt. He had no intention of accepting being treated as trash, but that cheap disdain meant nothing to him.

"I don’t know what you were expecting, but I’m the real Kurogane Naoto! More importantly, you better let my sister go right now!" Naoto shouted, his anger surging as he carefully gauged the distance and his opponent's movements.

Spinner looked at him with a twisted expression, his large cheek tattoo distorting his features. He appeared utterly exasperated, as if he found Naoto's presence deeply repulsive and grotesque.

“I have no ears to waste on garbage… With all due respect, you should reconsider your pet. It will tarnish your dignity. It's a pity..."

"You bastard..." The words of detached disdain, which didn’t even acknowledge his dignity, were almost painfully obvious. The attitude toward Raquel was equally blatant. Naoto felt a deep resentment, wondering just how worthless he was seen.

Beside Naoto, Raquel stepped forward a few paces, lifting her chin without a hint of fear. Her posture straightened, and she locked her sparkling eyes onto Spinner’s figure, embodying a strength that matched her youthful appearance.

"Spinner Superior. I demand the same of you as Naoto. Release that girl immediately and stop Soul Eater." Her commanding tone had a strength that demanded no argument. Feeling that natural intimidation, Spinner smiled deeply, almost gleefully.

“I’m sorry, but even if it’s a request from 'Slave Red,' I cannot comply. This is a very important time... I need a great deal of human souls.”

“Important time? What exactly do you intend to do?” Raquel furrowed her brow. The man spoke in a strange way. There was no malice or ill will in his words, but rather a gentle tone and expression as if he were caressing something.

"It's all for my beloved Raquel Alucard." As if there were passion hidden there, Spinner clapped his hands together at his chest. With a pained expression, his dark eyes looked at Raquel.

The gaze that Spinner directed at Raquel was perverted and morbid, and even though he wasn't the one receiving it, Naoto felt a sense of discomfort creeping up from his feet. Raquel, who was directly receiving it, looked back at Spinner without changing her expression much.

Spinner continued to speak in a melodic tone. "My desire is to have you... all of you, the noble and beautiful maiden who is closest to the Azure’s wisdom... I want to have all of you..."

Mid-sentence, Spinner lightly licked his lips as if to quench his thirst. The tongue he revealed was long and had a black tattoo on it as well.

"Your hair, your eyes, your breath, your heartbeat, everything! I want to make it all mine, and reach the depths of the Azure that I yearn for so much. To do that, I have to capture you. But just an insect won't do. I need to prepare a special insect worthy of welcoming Raquel Alucard."

"I don't remember asking for such a thing."

"Isn't it disappointing to be a man who can only prepare what he is asked for?" Spinner replied calmly, but as he continued, his expression softened just a little, as if in concern. “But... to complete this special insect, a great many human souls are necessary. I had the insects create nests in places where people gather so that I could collect them in bulk…”

“I see, so that’s why it was Isa.” Naoto lowered his voice heavily, not wanting to understand.

Isa frequented a school, a place where many people gathered every day. It meant that Shinkawahama First High School was almost going to become Spinner’s feeding ground.

"Not only was I unable to gather resources, but before I could even finish building my nest, many of my Apostles were destroyed by you and those annoying people. I was at my wit's end. It was at that time..." Spinner slowly turned his head and looked at the massive insect quietly resting beside him. He narrowed his already slim eyes with a satisfied smile.

"I found this girl... this Soul Eater! As rumored, it is a wonderful power. With this, I can gather people's souls as I please. I no longer need to scatter Apostles and collect them slowly. Everything I need will be gathered tonight. On this glorious night of the full moon..."

As if blowing out a candle, the surroundings grew darker. The moon turned golden in the eastern sky. Spinner spread his arms wide and took a deep breath. The cold air was now completely night. He exhaled with pleasure, and his eyes fixed on Raquel like a snake.

“Do you understand, Raquel Alucard?” He asked. Raquel took a half-step back, as if startled. Spinner reached out his long hand to follow her. "This is fate. It cannot be resisted... You will be mine." As soon as he declared that, the quality of the air around him changed.

It was heavy. It felt heavy, as if a gravity had begun pulling in a different direction. The pull was coming from Spinner... no, from the insect beside him, from deep inside its legs, from Saya.

Naoto realized. He was being drained. His life force was vanishing at a speed far beyond what it had been moments ago.

It wasn’t just Naoto who was being robbed. Raquel, standing next to him, stumbled as if she were about to faint. Above her golden hair, tied with a black ribbon, a countdown of diminishing life force was visible only to Naoto’s eyes.

“Damn it... you’ve gotta be kidding me!” Struggling not to stumble, Naoto braced his weakening legs and shouted angrily, supporting Raquel next to him. Raquel clung to his supporting arm, her expression stern.

"This is bad... we have to stop Soul Eater. If we don't, it will suck the life out of everyone in this area, and Spinner will..."

"That's not the point! It's not about the insect..." Naoto grabbed Raquel's shoulders with both hands and pulled her close, gently shaking her to encourage her to stand strong. Raquel’s face was pale. The numbers above her head continued to decrease without stopping.If it continued to decrease like this, the number would eventually become '0'.

“If this goes on, everyone will die!”

Even random people who just happened to be around this building, or anyone he might have crossed paths with. Or even Raquel, whose life force was draining twice as fast as Naoto’s.

"I won't let that happen. Absolutely not." Naoto glared at Spinner and kicked the cold ground hard. His feet moved faster than he thought possible. His body felt light, and his limbs moved more smoothly than he expected.

He could reach it.

In a matter of seconds, Naoto was right in front of Spinner, and he raised his fist without hesitation… "You bastard, don't think you can just do whatever you want!"

He struck with all his might.

Part 3

A wet sound sliced through the air.

It was the sound of blood. And then, the sound of flesh tearing.

"Ugh..." Naoto ground his teeth, trying to suppress a different kind of rising sensation. It was a pain that felt like his insides were being ripped out. The flesh below his ribs had been torn, fortunately missing his organs. But all the blood seemed to drain from his body at once, followed by a wave of pain and shock that forced Naoto's raised arm to fall limply.

His hand moved on its own to press against his side. Glancing down, he saw his hand was stained red from the blood seeping through his uniform.

“Damn…!”

Naoto quickly looked up, his gaze fixed on the creature that had suddenly appeared before him.

It was that bug.

Just a moment ago, it had been further back. Now, this enormous insect—or was it a caterpillar?—with its abdomen encased in a sheath, was right in front of Naoto's face. It was an ugly creature with an appearance so grotesque that it evoked a visceral sense of disgust.

Unlike Spinner's Apostles he had faced before, this creature was clearly different, and not just in its abnormal size. Its jaws were like a pair of serrated saws, its legs thick and sharp, and despite its rapid movements, there was a physical heaviness to it that could be felt in the sounds it made.

Its appearance and structure were simple as far as mechanics went, but each part was a one-sided weapon capable of easily taking a human life.

The very top, the thickest and sharpest of the insect's legs, was slightly stained with blood at its tip. It looked like a pillow, but its sharpness was more akin to a comb or a sliver of silver. The cutting edge was sharper than it appeared to the eye, and it had sliced open Naoto's side.

Thanks to his reflexes, or perhaps just pure luck, he had only been grazed, but if he had taken a direct hit, Naoto might have found himself looking at his severed lower half.

The insect raised its other leg to strike again. It was fast. But faster than that, a gust of wind swirled at Naoto's feet, pulling his injured body back. Raquel drew in the wind as she rushed over.

"How reckless. All you can think about is charging straight in? That's so naive."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" He had expected Spinner to counterattack, but he hadn't expected the bug to intercept him with such speed. If she said it was naive, he couldn't really argue. "If it were a humanoid opponent, I could at least apply some grappling techniques. But that’s such an obvious monster..."

"Are you already giving up?"

"Can't a guy at least complain a little?" No sooner had he retorted than Naoto dashed off again. But this time, not towards the bug, but towards the edge of the rooftop.

Perhaps because of its predatory instincts to chase things that ran, the insect plunged its sharp leg into the concrete floor and lunged towards Naoto. Looking over his shoulder, the scene was like something out of a horror movie. With a grimace, Naoto grabbed what he was aiming for.

​​With almost no strength left, he pulled a steel pipe from the scaffolding. As he turned around, he swung the pipe sideways to deflect the bug's massive attack.

"Damn...!"

There was a dull thud. It felt like he had hit a telephone pole. The shock sent a jolt up his arm to the shoulder.

Of course, he didn’t expect to break the insect’s legs. But he also didn’t think he could handle legs as thick as a telephone pole with just his bare hands. He hoped it would function as armor, not a weapon. Even if he could regenerate, injuries still hurt, and if his arm got blown off, he wouldn’t be able to attack until it healed.

Swinging the pipe wildly to avoid the cocoon, Naoto dodged the numerous legs and dove under the barrage of legs. He entrusted the crude weapon to his left hand and rose up like a cobra, striking the bug's torso with his right fist.

"Ugh..." It was hard. It was much more organic than the leg he had hit with the pipe, but even so, he felt like he might shatter his knuckles.

Naoto looked at his right hand and clicked his tongue.

(Something's wrong... it wasn't like this. Back then, it was more...)

Back then was when he had punched Isa. He didn't remember it clearly because he had been so caught up in the moment, but in his hazy memory, his fist had indeed sunk deeply into Isa’s body, stained red. It felt as if it were covered in a pot of blood.

If he could strike like he did back then, he would be able to deal more damage to this monster. But Naoto didn’t know how to do that.

"Damn it!"

He had no choice but to keep hitting. Pulling back his remaining fist for another strike, the insect twisted its lower limbs and swung them fiercely like a tail, delivering a powerful blow. It was more of a tackle than a leg sweep. Naoto, bracing himself with the iron pipe, was sent flying like a rag doll. He hit his back against something and bounced, rolling all the way to the opposite edge.

It was an insane amount of force. If he hadn't had the pipe, he probably would have cracked a rib or two. Fearing a follow-up attack, Naoto jumped up. But then, he felt a sharp pain and his face contorted.

"What...?" The pain was more intense in his side than in his chest or back. Gasping, Naoto looked down. He pressed his hand against the tear in his blood-soaked uniform. The wet sensation shot pain through him. Naoto stared in shock. When he lifted his hand, it was stained with fresh blood.

"No way... why...?"

His wound wasn't healing.

Normally a wound this small would have disappeared by now. But instead of closing, it was bleeding profusely with every movement.

Raquel quickly noticed Naoto's condition. She glared at Spinner with a stern expression.

"What's going on... what exactly is that bug?"

"Oh, are you interested? How unexpected. Someone as noble as you would be better suited to tea."

"That's not what I'm asking!" Raquel snapped, her voice sharp. Spinner raised an eyebrow leisurely, as if savoring the sweet sting in her tone.

"Yes... I understand. Don't worry, Raquel Alucard. This Spinner Superior may jest with you, but I would never lie." With an attitude that seemed designed to irritate people, Spinner gestured grandly towards the enormous insect. "That bug was originally intended for your owner, Clavis Alucard. Unfortunately, your owner is a mere Fantasy Creature." The mention of Clavis Alucard caused Raquel's shoulders to twitch.

Naoto, using the iron pipe as a makeshift pillow, grimaced at the name he heard. The blood drained from his face.

Spinner furrowed his brow in annoyance and traced the tattoo on his cheek with a long finger.

"Since you're dealing with the king of vampires, of course, it had to have the bare minimum of necessary qualities. That bug's jaws, fangs, claws... they wound 'existence itself.' No matter how quickly vampires can repair physical damage, wounds to their very existence can't be healed. ...Isn't that right, Raquel Alucard?" Spinner asked Raquel with a smug, leisurely tone, as if he were extracting an obvious answer.

Raquel bit her lip and looked down. To Naoto, her expression was more revealing than Spinner's words. He didn't understand the complicated reasoning, and he didn't want to. But basically, it seemed that wounds inflicted by that bug wouldn't heal.

(Hey, hey, hey, that's a cruel joke... so that's what you mean by a 'special bug'?)

Given that his body healed so quickly under normal circumstances, he had been reckless enough to charge straight at it.

Despite his shock, Naoto raised the iron pipe again, focusing on the bug. Judging from Spinner's words, and the fact that the cocoon was still absorbing life force from its surroundings, the special bug wasn't complete yet.

So what would happen when it was completed? Would it become a creature capable of withstanding a fight against Clavis?

(If that happens, I won’t stand a chance...)

A sense of crisis crept over Naoto.

With a sound like metal stakes being driven into the ground, the bug plunged its sharp leg into the concrete and lunged at Naoto. With the same speed and force, it swung its two upper legs down at Naoto in quick succession.

"Ugh, wait..." There was no hesitation, and he could hardly catch his breath. Naoto jumped back, narrowly avoiding the attack of the living weapon. But he jumped back too far and his back hit the wall. One of the insect's legs thrust in from the front, targeting his head.

Naoto ducked, his body slumping. A few strands of his hair scattered. This was no time to be afraid. Dragging his trembling body, Naoto threw himself forward.

Where Naoto's butt had been a moment ago, the bug's leg had shattered the concrete with a powerful swing.

He pushed himself up with his hands, but his legs wouldn’t move. As he turned to see what was happening, he found one of the bug's supporting legs had pinned his uniform to the concrete, embedding itself into the flesh of his calf.

"Ugh..." Once he saw it, the pain surged up to his brain. A red stain began to spread beneath the insect's foot.

(This is bad...)

His vision darkened briefly, and Naoto turned around with a vacant mind. The insect, having captured its prey, raised its sharp leg towards Naoto.

He couldn’t escape. He had to brace for impact. As he looked up at the insect, Naoto searched for the iron pipe in his hands. But it seemed he had let go of it when he collapsed earlier. His fingertips grazed the cold metal, but he couldn't reach it.

The air was torn apart with a sharp hiss. Naoto held his breath, bracing himself for impact and intense pain. But then, something caught him unexpectedly.

"Gagagagagaga!"

With a muddy scream resembling a gargle, a thick spray scattered around him. Naoto saw this through the strong wind that nearly obscured his vision.

"Ah... Thanks for the save!" He gave a relieved smile. It was Raquel, wrapped in a gust of wind, who had scooped Naoto up and carried him away from danger.

The insect's leg that had pinned Naoto's foot to the ground had been severed at the base. The wind, sharpened to an extreme, tore through it like a scythe.

Once they were a safe distance away, Naoto was released from Raquel's wind. As the wind returned to the night sky with a roar, Naoto lost his balance and fell on his butt. Next to him, Raquel also stumbled slightly as if the wind had swept her feet out from under her.

"Ha... ha… ha…" Raquel breathed heavily, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Her usually composed expression was gone, replaced by one of exhaustion, showing that even though her life force was several times that of a normal human, it was still taking its toll.

"Hey, are you okay?" Naoto couldn't help but ask, seeing her pale lips and cheeks.

Raquel answered without looking at him. "That’s my line... For a mere servant to cause me such trouble..."

"You're surprisingly energetic," he said with a forced smile, but Naoto was no more at ease than Raquel.

"If this drags on, it'll be bad. We need to stop Soul Eater somehow. If I can't keep going, neither can you." Before Raquel could finish, her words punctuated with heavy breaths, the insect turned around and charged towards them again.

With a cry of alarm, Naoto pulled himself up and jumped to the right, while Raquel jumped to the left, dodging the insect’s charge. The insect quickly turned back toward Naoto. It seemed he was its primary target. Naoto ducked low to avoid the sweeping leg and then took off running.

If Soul Eater continued to absorb life force, Raquel would eventually run out. And if that happened, Naoto would die too. Not to mention, if that special insect absorbed enough souls and completed its form, it would become a creature meant to face Clavis. Naoto could be easily killed in an instant. After all, in front of that insect, he was just an ordinary human with slightly better physical abilities.

(I have to stop Soul Eater... Stop it... But how? There's no way I can get Saya back without dealing with that damn bug first!)

"If I could reach out and grab her, I would. But if I tried to rip off the legs that are grabbing her, I'd probably get impaled three times before I could. Or maybe I'd get decapitated by those saw-like jaws."

(In that case...)

The insect's jaws lunged at Naoto as he fled. Pushed by the wind Raquel unleashed, Naoto barely managed to evade the attack, but the concrete nearby shattered as if it had exploded, and debris rained down like hail.

Unable to withstand the impact, Naoto collapsed, shielding his head with his arm. His injured leg hindered him. Dragging his sluggish body, he crawled on, desperately trying to escape. If he didn't fight back, he would just keep running away. Somehow, he had to attack.

Was it because he was thinking about these unnecessary things?

"Naoto!" Raquel's voice rang out sharply, warning him of danger. A sharp wind shot out from her, but it slid off the bug's tough, leathery skin, unable to wound it. Ignoring the blade-like wind on its back, the insect swung two of its legs down at Naoto, who was still rolling on the ground. Naoto could only stare in shock.

The insect's leg grazed Naoto's left shoulder, sinking into the concrete beside his face. The other leg narrowly missed capturing his torso. His evasion had been purely instinctual, a response driven by raw survival.

There was a strange feeling in his left ear. As he struggled to process this, he continued to breathe heavily, his whole body trembling. He was still alive. But at the same time, he realized something. The insect was now looming over Naoto, and right in front of him lay Saya, slumped like a broken doll.

"Naoto... the Soul Eater..." Raquel stumbled as she tried to run towards him, her voice trailing off. It was as if she had lost words. But Naoto understood what she was trying to say.

He could reach her now.

It wasn't enough to tear off the arm and retrieve Saya. But it was enough to kill.

If he killed Saya, Soul Eater would stop.

It will stop.

“Are you going to kill it?”

A voice asked the question. Where did it come from? Naoto was bewildered as he realized that his surroundings had closed in with darkness, leaving him unable to see anything.

His body, which should have been lying down, felt as if it were standing upright. There was no pain from his injuries, nor was there the fear of the insect looming nearby.

So where was he, and what was happening to him now?

Before Naoto could even gather his thoughts about the situation, the voice asked again.

"Will you kill her?"

Kill who? His sister... Saya.

The voice that asked was unfamiliar—deep, heavy, and powerful.

"Will you kill your sibling?"

“Of course I will!” Naoto squeezed out in a dry voice, unable to even look at himself. He had to stop Soul Eater. If he didn’t, both Raquel and he would die. Many innocent people would die too.

Saya was the murderer of Naoto's parents. Because of her, Naoto's peaceful life had been plunged into a bloody tragedy. That memory was deeply ingrained in his mind, something he could never forget.

In addition, Saya was trying to kill him to become the head of the family. She was trying to take his life, all for such a purpose, as if it were a noble cause.

Who would complain if he killed her?

Who would be sad if he killed her?

She was a girl feared and shunned by everyone.

“But still…” Naoto spat out. “Of course I’m going to save you!”

The moment he shouted, Naoto’s vision suddenly cleared. Before him was an enormous insect looming over him, and Saya, unconscious in its abdomen. The situation hadn’t changed. His time of hesitation in the black world seemed as if it had never existed in reality.

His ragged breathing calmed down. The insect’s jaws opened with a spring-like motion, ready to finish off its helpless prey. The jaws, curving gently, became flatter and sharper towards the tip, easily capable of slicing through human flesh and bone.

But before the jaws could decapitate him, Naoto moved as if he had been shot. His stomach was burning. It felt like something was boiling inside him. Driven by a sense of urgency bordering on desperation, he leaped up and punched with all his might.

"Uaaaaaah!" An involuntary scream erupted from his throat. His fist plunged straight into the bug's abdomen. His right arm was encased in a crimson, steel-like substance. With another blow, this time an upward thrust, he struck the bug's torso. His left hand grabbed the bug's leg.

His fist couldn't pierce the bug's skin this time. However, he could feel a distinctly different sensation of flesh and blood.

It was working. Although he couldn't visually confirm whether damage was actually being inflicted because the life force number above the bug's head was still '0,' Naoto was certain of it.

"Saya..."

Seemingly taken aback by the unexpected counterattack, the insect began thrashing around. To restrain the writhing giant, Naoto grabbed one of the insect's legs with his right hand to pin it down.

"Let go of meeeee!"

There was the sound of something hard breaking, and the bug’s black, armor-like skin split open in front of Naoto. Twisting its joint, he wrenched the bug’s leg off, spewing a foul liquid. A putrid, meat-like stench filled the air.

Tossing away the severed leg, Naoto grabbed the other leg that was still holding Saya and tore it off as well.

Angered by the violent act, the insect swung its jaws toward Naoto's head. Despite its size, its movements were swift, like a falling guillotine. If he had tried to dodge, he would have lost half his head. So Naoto raised both arms beside his face to block the approaching jaws from both sides.

His left arm, however, was not unscathed. The jaws’ blades sunk into his flesh, but they didn’t shatter the bone.

"Damn it..."

The insect's jaws continued to press down, intent on crushing Naoto. Naoto pushed back against the jaws, enduring the burning pain in his left arm as they sank deeper into the flesh with every push, unlike his right arm that was completely protected by a layer of blood.

Then a gust of wind swept past. A golden ribbon of hair fluttered at the edge of Naoto's vision. Raquel jumped in and delivered a powerful kick to the insect's jaw from below. With a hard crack, the bug's grip weakened for a moment. In that instant, Naoto escaped the threat of being amputated.

Flipping in midair, Raquel landed another kick on the jaw. The inhuman strength, befitting a vampire, forced the bug to stagger back. Taking advantage of the opening, Naoto stepped in.

A leg, swinging like a flail, slashed horizontally. Naoto caught it with his raised right arm and positioned his body to slip beneath the insect, aiming for its abdomen. One wrong move and he'd be crushed. If he was pierced by one of the countless moving legs, it would be the end. Using the leg he had just been pierced by—still soaked in blood—as leverage, he slammed his knee into it.

Another hard crack.

One more time, and then another. He continued to slam his knee, then switched to his fists. The insect's jaws thrashed wildly, swatting Naoto aside as he struggled with its abdomen.

As Naoto was sent flying like a pendulum, Raquel's wind quickly caught him. Taking advantage of that opening, Raquel was also swept away by the insect's jaws, but in the meantime, Naoto rushed to cover the distance he had been thrown.

Raquel's wind pushed him from behind. Naoto ran at the same speed as the wind. Slipping into the abdomen he had been pounding just moments ago, he thrust his right hand in with all his might. Finally, there was the sound of flesh tearing, and Naoto's blood-stained fist ripped a hole into the bug's body.

As he pulled his arm out, heavy bodily fluids poured out like a waterfall. The stench was horrible.

Ignoring it, Naoto kicked off the ground. The wind became his wings. Leaping high, Naoto reached above the insect's head and, this time, using the power of the wind to aid his descent, he drove his right arm into the insect's eye. After the feeling of breaking plastic, a jelly-like sensation came.

"Gagaga, ga, gagagagagaga!" The bug convulsed violently. But there was no extra reaction, no sign of pain. It simply thrashed around, trying to attack Naoto, and slammed its head into the concrete, keeping Naoto attached.

“...!” A silent scream escaped from Naoto's throat. The pain was distant, merely heavy. Naoto, buried under the insect's full weight and sunk into the concrete floor, was helplessly crushed.

(…No, I can move.)

It was different from that time... when he had first faced the Apostle and was buried under the rubble, unable to move. Even though the bug was crushing him, Naoto could move. It was then that he finally realized his body wasn’t being crushed at all.

A thin membrane, like... the wind, was separating Naoto from the concrete and from the bug, creating a thin protective barrier.

(Raquel…)

The reason he couldn’t breathe was because of the wind pressure. If that was the case, there was nothing to fear.

"Thank you... Master!"

Squeezing out a voice that was almost a whisper, Naoto grinned at the corners of his mouth. The wind seemed to dissipate as if losing its strength. The weight of the bug increased accordingly, but Naoto's body became free. As soon as the wind completely collapsed and disappeared, Naoto grabbed the bug's head with both arms. With a muffled thud echoing through his body, he poured all his strength into it.

"Ah… ah... g-n-n-n… OOOOOH!" Roaring from the depths of his stomach, Naoto pushed back against the bug's massive body with all his might. The weight that seemed immovable began to shift under his force.

Naoto could feel the blood rushing through his body like fire. His strength was circulating. It felt more like squeezing than surging, and Naoto lifted the massive body he was holding.

He saw a dark figure in the distance. Anger welled up inside him. He let out a roar of rage, expelling it like a breath from a bellows.

“Uraaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Naoto swung the massive body of the bug he had lifted and hurled it toward Spinner, who stood frozen with a look as if witnessing something grotesque.

Part 4

For a while, sound and sensation felt distant, and Naoto gasped for breath in the center of the shattered concrete crater, his whole body heaving. The blood vessels in his body had burst and were gushing out, soaking his forehead and back, and he almost lost consciousness. Blood was flowing from various places, and he couldn't tell where the sweat ended and the blood began.

A high-pitched ringing echoed in his ears. His blurred vision, which had been barely rising and falling with his breaths, gradually began to regain clarity.

It was night. A round moon hung in the sky, wrapped in a light that seemed both silver and gold, casting a soft glow over the dark rooftop. The cold wind blowing in from nowhere felt refreshingly cool against his body, which was nearing its limit.

“Right...”

As he watched the sweat dripping from his forehead to his chin and then to the ground, Naoto finally began to stir his sluggish thoughts. He moved his creaking body and turned to look over his shoulder.

Not far away, at the edge of the crater, Raquel was sitting and looking over at him. A girl’s head rested on her lap. It was unclear whether Saya was alive or dead. Her pale pink kimono lay lifeless, completely rumpled.

It seemed like such a waste for something that should have been so beautiful. With that random thought in mind, Naoto awkwardly climbed out of the crater.

“Thanks, Raquel.” As he approached her, Naoto managed a faint smile. It was obvious to Naoto that Saya was alive. Although it was much lower than that of a normal human, there was a sufficient life force number floating above Saya's sleeping head.

Raquel must have been protecting Saya just as she had protected Naoto. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of gratitude when he looked into her large, golden eyes that were gazing up at him.

“Uh, are you okay?” It was Raquel he was more worried about. Naoto grimaced as he asked.

The number floating above Raquel's head had decreased significantly. Apparently, the absorption of life force by Soul Eater had stopped, and the decrease in numbers had also stopped. But the number, which was eighty million, had dropped to ten million.

Naoto didn't know how critical a situation that was for a vampire. But after losing that much, there was no way she could be fine. In fact, Raquel had looked quite strained during the battle with the bug.

Would she go into his shadow and rest as she had before? Contrary to Naoto's expectations, Raquel gently laid Saya down on the concrete floor and stood up with a calm composure.

“I’m fine. More importantly, Naoto, this girl—”

“Ah, yeah.”

With that, Raquel brushed past Naoto and began walking away. What was she planning to do? Prompted by her tone, Naoto moved to stand beside Saya and watched Raquel’s movements.

Raquel headed toward the massive corpse of the insect that had been thrown on the rooftop of the building under construction. Beneath the lifeless body, which had lost its strength and could no longer move, was the upper half of a human. It was Spinner, who had been crushed after failing to dodge the creature Naoto had thrown.

With a light jump, Raquel crossed over the crater and landed beside the crawling Spinner.

The distance between Naoto and the place where Raquel and Spinner were wasn't that far. It was about twenty meters, with the crater in between. But to Naoto the scene looked like something happening on the other side of the Boundary.

“You’ve lost, Spinner Superior.” Raquel said quietly to Spinner, who was unable to crawl out from under the monster he had created.

Naoto remembered something he had completely forgotten. Raquel had been targeted by Spinner, but Raquel had also been targeting Spinner. Her goal was to obtain all information about the Azure that Spinner possessed. She probably intended to extract it from him.

Spinner, who was lying on his back, stretched his neck to look up at Raquel, who was standing in a position just out of reach of his outstretched hand.

"No…" Though his breathing was surely being constricted, Spinner responded calmly, almost serenely, a faint smile even appearing at the corners of his mouth.

It wasn't a look of defeat. Raquel frowned, puzzled. As if gazing at something dazzling, Spinner narrowed his eyes.

“No, Raquel Alucard. It seems you are greatly mistaken. I never thought I could win against you. Such an audacious notion is far too presumptuous. Didn’t I tell you? Or have you forgotten... about my law...”

His tone was gentle, yet there was an unexpected glimmer of something ominous mixed in. The air grew tense. Spinner deepened his smile and spoke with a hint of rapture.

“I said I want to have you.”

The moment Spinner finished that thought, suddenly, his shadow loomed large on the gray concrete floor, creeping up to Raquel's feet. Naturally, it was not a shadow cast by the empty moon. From the writhing shadow, something began to rise.

"Raquel!" Sensing something was wrong, Naoto shouted sharply. Raquel also sensed the disturbance, trying to pull her feet away from the eerie shadow at her feet. But those feet were ensnared by the countless legs that emerged from the darkness.

“Wha...!”

The shadow quickly took form, overpowering Raquel's voice of astonishment.

It resembled... a spider.

Though it was less massive than the enormous, grotesque insect from before, the sinister atmosphere it exuded was even more overwhelming.

Its black body had a vague outline, making it difficult to distinguish from the shadow. Eight white, bone-like legs, which seemed to have no flesh, stretched from the dark abyss and crawled up the concrete floor.

Those legs moved skillfully, grabbing Raquel and dragging her into its depths. It was trying to swallow her into the gaping maw of shadow.

“What... what is this power...?” Raquel, restrained by the bony legs, struggled to break free. But her feet sank into the shadow as if she had stepped into a swamp.

"Raquel! Run! Hurry!" Without understanding what was happening, Naoto started running urgently. He ran straight towards Raquel, crossing the broken and unstable ground. His injured legs felt like weights. He had never realized how bothersome it was that his wounds wouldn't heal. He seemed to have gotten used to his half-finished body. Stumbling and nearly falling, Naoto stretched out his arm with all his might.

Raquel also stretched her thin arm towards Naoto from between the cage-like bone legs.

"Nao...to..." It was the first time he had heard her voice begging for help. But before she could finish, the spider closed its eight legs like the mouth of an insectivorous plant, completely swallowing Raquel into the shadows. He could almost hear the sound of her being gulped down.

Having lost his target, Naoto leaned forward and fell to the ground. His outstretched arm had only grazed the edge of the shadow.

“No… this can’t be happening…” Naoto’s mind struggled to keep up with the shocking situation unfolding before him. He stared in disbelief at the writhing shape of the spider creature.

Raquel was gone. Not a single strand of her golden hair was visible. Instead, the eight bones opened again with a strange movement, returning to the shape of a spider's legs, and the shadow that had swallowed Raquel slowly climbed up onto the spider. The shadow writhed and took the form of a man. Spinner.

Looking down, Spinner was no longer under the giant bug's corpse. With his upper body protruding from the spider's body, Spinner pulled out a long, thin arm from the writhing darkness and spread his long, thin fingers wide, gazing at his hands with a smile.

"I have it... finally... ah, at last, what I have long sought..." The words came out in fragmented sighs, like whispers between the chimes of a bell. Spinner's thin, bony fingers trembled slightly as he crossed his outstretched hands over his chest. His eyebrows furrowed with intense pleasure.

His form could hardly be called human. His upper body still had the form of the man, Spinner Superior, but his lower half had lost all semblance of humanity, merging with the bony legs of the spider that crawled from the shadows. Half human, half monster. His appearance, which seemed to belong in a myth, filled Naoto with an intense feeling of disgust.

"Hey... you... what the hell did you do... to Raquel!?" Stumbling to his feet, Naoto shouted, shaking off the disgust that seemed to bind his whole body. He didn't understand what was happening. Whenever Naoto had questions, it was always Raquel who answered them.

But now Raquel was gone, and in her place was the strange man who had swallowed her, answering Naoto's questions.

“It’s exactly as it appears. I have absorbed Raquel Alucard, the key to reach the Azure. Her soul will slowly melt inside me, merging with mine until we become completely identical. We will fuse… yes, we will become one. I will merge with everything she has and eventually reach an unknown mystery…” Spinner sang as if it were something wonderful and sweet. And he probably truly believed it. “Oh, I never expected to obtain it so soon. Thanks to Soul Eater, I was able to create a special insect designed to capture Raquel Alcard.”

“Special insect…? So you weren’t after that huge thing after all…”

No matter how it had come to be, the insect that Spinner had carefully nurtured during their battle was the key to swallowing Raquel and merging with her.

Defeating Naoto wasn’t particularly important to Spinner; it was merely a diversion. While he watched Naoto desperately running and struggling, he must have thought, Come to me, Raquel Alucard… while licking his lips.

Spinner spread his arms wide and looked up at the sky.

"Now... I can hear it, I can feel it... I see the Gate. Distortion, open your mouth now and guide me… to the chaotic emptiness where everything swirls… to the ‘Boundary’!” He proclaimed loudly, as if some divine being were present.

His voice and words became powerful, causing a dark red magic circle to appear beneath the spider legs. The magic circle glowed dully, and its light flickered slowly like the heartbeat of a formless monster.

Something was stirring. A black mist surrounded Spinner, creeping in from all directions. It gradually began to gather beside him, starting to swirl like a whirlpool in the void. The vortex grew larger and larger.

Naoto frowned at the sight. He felt a sense of dread. Something very bad was about to begin. Above all, if this was the result of absorbing Raquel… it was terribly, terribly, unbearably unforgivable.

"You bastard... You used Raquel for something you don't even understand!" He raised his voice, trying to rouse himself. Naoto scolded himself for nearly succumbing to the pain and fear that threatened to overwhelm him, and he charged at Spinner.

Fortunately, the sensation from earlier still lingered. His fist, drawn back, instantly turned red, stained with Raquel's blood. But… just before reaching his target, Naoto’s right arm abruptly vanished.

“...Huh?”

With a heavy thud, what had once been his arm transformed into a mass of blood, falling at his feet. It happened in an instant. Without any pain, Naoto’s right arm, from the shoulder down, was gone, revealing a black, smooth cross-section devoid of flesh or bone.

He stopped short, frozen, just a step away, as Spinner quickly extended his arm and pressed his palm against Naoto's abdomen. In the next moment, a force erupted from that hand.

"Ugh..." A blow far more powerful than any clumsy punch struck Naoto's abdomen, gouging into it. The upward thrust from below completely took Naoto's breath away for a second, violently shaking his crammed internal organs.

“Geh, gah... oeh, *cough*!” With his lungs and stomach convulsing, Naoto collapsed to his knees, coughing violently. He had only taken one hit. Yet his brain was fading and his eyes were welling up with tears.

"There's no need to be so flustered, it's only natural." Spinner looked down at Naoto, who was doubled over coughing, from a higher position than before due to his monstrous transformation. "That right arm of yours was made from Raquel Alucard's blood, wasn't it? But Raquel Alucard has been absorbed into me, and your connection to her has weakened. Thus, the benefits of her blood have also lost their power. It’s as simple as that..."

"Damn it... then!" Biting his lip once, Naoto stepped forward again. Pivoting on his armless right side, he swung his leg horizontally, trying to kick the bony leg to pieces. But at that moment, a strange creature lunged from the ground and bit into his supporting leg.

It was so sudden that he couldn't tell if it was an insect or something else entirely. All he could see was a bulging eye that seemed on the verge of popping out and a disturbingly perfect set of pure white teeth.

“Ugh…”

Suddenly, his knee buckled, and he collapsed to the ground, unable to support himself. He didn't want to think about what had just happened, but his mind understood all too well. Memories of the time he had lost his arm in the abandoned apartment complex flooded back. A heavy, distant pain asserted itself behind the shock of loss, throbbing insistently.

He knew, but he couldn't help but look. Naoto looked at his lower right limb over his shoulder with his armless right side. His right leg had been bitten off just above the knee. A moment later, thick blood began to flow from the wound, as if it had been forgotten about.

Spinner looked down at him with a mocking smile. “Do you remember what I just said? Your connection to Raquel Alucard is fading... Her existence is gradually merging with me. ...Heh, the benefits you received from her were not limited to just your right arm, you foolish trash.”

The grandiose voice spoke the truth. Naoto would have been dead without Raquel's help. Thanks to her, he had gained an arm made of her blood and the regenerative abilities of an immortal body. If that connection was gone, then Naoto was no longer immortal. The unhealable wound and the lost leg meant a severance from Raquel.

"It can't be..." Crawling on the cold ground, Naoto pressed his hands down and forced himself to rise, despite the pain. Just because his connection to Raquel was weak—no, precisely because it was weak—he couldn't just lie there like this.

There were many things he had received from Raquel. His right arm was one. His resilient body was another. But more than anything, he had been given life. As long as Naoto existed, the connection between him and Raquel had not been severed.

Naoto was still alive. Until that connection faded, struggling and fighting back was the least a "servant" could do in return for the precious "master" who had shared such a grand thing as life. It was a troublesome situation—like an accident waiting to happen, filled with various troublesome conditions— but thanks to Raquel, Naoto could still be "Naoto Kurogane" today, just like yesterday.

As long as they were connected, he should be able to pull her back.

"Uoooooooh!"

Forcing his separated body to move, Naoto planted his feet on the ground. He pushed his heavy body up with his left arm. But that arm was suddenly seized by a pitch-black jaw with sharp fangs.

It was too late by the time he realized it, and Naoto collapsed into a pool of his own blood. He felt nauseous from the smell of his own blood. He tried to get up, but there were no more arms to support him. The right arm was gone from under his shoulder, and the left arm was gone from under his elbow, and neither would respond to Naoto's will.

Struggling without arms in the red puddle, Naoto was like a fish washed up on the beach.

"Hmm. You’ve become quite the sight. Like a dying caterpillar," Spinner said dismissively. At his feet, skeletal legs made dry sounds as they rearranged themselves. Naoto, forgetting his screams, could only expel harsh, ragged breaths. He didn't know which of his senses was in pain. He could feel himself rapidly weakening. But he was still alive.

"Raquel... give her back..."

Gritting his teeth, Naoto tried to keep his consciousness from fading as he struggled in the blood. Spinner looked down at him coldly.

"What a pathetic sight... To think this is the man Raquel Alcard presented to me as a condition. Understand this with your own body. You are nothing more than living trash, writhing at my feet, waiting to be discarded."

Spinner frowned as if looking at filth, and a needle formed at the corner of his mouth where the tattoo was. A muddy shadow stretched from beneath the bony spider legs that tapped on the ground, wrapping around Naoto's remaining left ankle. It tightened with a relentless force, binding him like garbage.

"You lowly sinner," it hissed, "this is your punishment."

Lifting him high enough for their gazes to meet, Spinner leaned in to look at Naoto's bloodied and tormented face.

"For you, a mere piece of filth, to have spoken to and touched the one chosen by the Azure... it is a defilement, a sin." The shadow tightened its grip around Naoto's ankle, the bones creaking under the pressure. "Every breath you've taken while associating with Raquel Alucard is a stain upon existence. Don't expect a quick death. No, you will witness everything... the fulfillment of my lifelong ambition to reach the Azure's wisdom, and the slow decay of your own powerlessness."

As soon as Spinner finished speaking, Naoto's body, held taut by the shadow, was violently swung from side to side. With a force that seemed more playful than lethal, he was slammed into the hard floor.

A pool of blood splattered across Naoto's face, staining it crimson. He was lifted again, blood dripping from his matted hair. This time, he was flung sideways, crashing into a makeshift scaffolding. The impact caused the pipes to buckle, striking his back and head, but the pain was almost nonexistent.

The back of his head felt numb, and his vision blurred. He couldn't comprehend his situation.

(What does he mean, "witness everything"?)

Naoto muttered weakly in his flickering consciousness. He felt like he was about to die.

The black vortex that was swirling beside Spinner, like an entrance to something, had somehow grown much larger. He wondered if this was the “lifelong ambition” that Spinner was talking about.

If this torture continued, Naoto doubted he would survive long enough to see the portal fully open.

(No, I have to do something. I have to save Raquel.) But as he thought these words, his consciousness slipped away into darkness.

—

A voice.

Deep within his sinking consciousness, Naoto heard a voice calling out from somewhere.

It was that voice. The voice of the man he didn’t know, who had suddenly asked him such an intrusive question.

"What now?" Naoto thought. He wondered if the man was going to complain about him being worthless.

That’s right. What a sight I’m in. Sinking into a swamp of consciousness without sensation, Naoto mocks himself. He was weak. Overwhelmingly so. He couldn't even save the girl who had tried to help him, and now he was being hacked to pieces.

"I don't want to end like this..." he muttered.

A voice seemed to be asking something. But perhaps he was losing himself even within his own consciousness, for he couldn't understand what was being said. He couldn't hear.

"But, yeah," Naoto thought with a mind as frayed as thread. "If someone's going to save me... if they're going to let me stand again... and if they're going to give me enough strength to beat the crap out of that annoying bug-man, I'll gladly take whoever's hand, no matter who they are. I would never want it to end like this.”

Though he didn't say it out loud, he felt like screaming these words into the darkness. At that moment, someone's consciousness suddenly drew near. He felt like he was being pulled towards it, so strongly that he thought he was hallucinating. But he wasn’t.

As the presence of whoever it was drew closer, a pair of pitch-black arms extended from the depths of the darkness, where even his own form was invisible, and struck Naoto's chest with a heavy thud.

With that impact, Naoto woke up. His body jolted, trembling. Spinner, who was about to slam him to the ground, stopped in surprise.

The transformation began immediately. The blood that had been steadily dripping from Naoto's severed left arm and right leg stopped. In its place, a dark substance began to ooze out.

The rough, black mist, like a mass of shadows, smoothly and unhesitatingly shaped itself as if it were pouring water into a predetermined groove. The darkness rapidly solidified into an arm. Then, the damaged leg was restored.

"What the..." Spinner gasped in bewilderment. As if hearing that voice, Naoto's eyes snapped open. But they were not the usual soft, brownish black he was born with. They were red, as if blood had dripped into them and stained them a different color. As if seeping in, the blood-soaked black hair turned white.

Naoto's body moved. A realization struck him with the clarity of a taut string. Suspended in mid-air, he folded his body and sprang up. Grasping the viscous shadow that clung to his ankle with his newly revived hand, he pulled with all his might. With a sound like clay tearing, the shadow snapped.

Having forcefully gained his freedom, Naoto flipped his body a short distance to the ground and landed gracefully on his hands like a cat. A black insect flew out from Spinner's shadow, aiming for a landing. The insect bared its sharp fangs, intent on claiming Naoto's newly revived arm.

But Naoto crushed the insect with a single punch, his arm moving like a spring. Rising as if propelled by the impact, he closed the distance without hesitation.

Naoto's foot, launched high into the air, came crashing down onto Spinner's shoulder. Spinner, unable to counter a blow with the force of a swinging axe, stumbled back a few steps, dragging his spider-like legs.

With only a slight distance between them, Naoto swung his arms wide and pulled them back forcefully. A dark red substance gathered in the palm of his outstretched hand. Its viscous texture closely resembled the blood that had been spewing from Naoto's shoulder and thigh moments earlier.

—

The trembling red creates a long, slender handle, at the end of which resides a large blade. A big scythe was born. Naoto’s pitch-black arm grabbed the handle.

“Blood Edge...” Spinner’s mouth uttered in astonishment, as if in disbelief at what he was seeing.

True to its name, what Naoto held was indeed a blade of blood.

A blood-soaked blade.

In the next moment, faster than a blink, Naoto's scythe flashed. The scythe, arcing through the air, plunged deep into Spinner's body, slicing through flesh and bone in one swift motion. The sound of breath escaping burst out of the black man's chest. Dragging a wet sound, the sickle forcefully scattered the blackened blood around it.

One more strike. And another. And another. The sickle repeated its slashes, mercilessly cutting apart Spinner, or what was left of it.

With yet another slash, Spinner was forcefully pushed back, his body staggering and retreating. All but three of the eight bone legs that supported its body were shattered, spread out like broken pieces.

"Ga... ah..."

His body, carved up by countless intersecting wounds, was so mutilated that it was a wonder it still retained a human form. It was spewing an enormous amount of blood, staining his white hands.

Spinner's blood was pitch black. The soot-like blood flowed down its misshapen lower limbs, staining even the shattered bone legs. He could neither unleash insects nor manipulate shadows. The fierce assault, surpassing any movements a human could make, embodied the phrase “faster than the eye could track,” leaving Spinner no room for resistance.

What had changed this powerless boy? Spinner couldn't comprehend it. It was incomprehensible.

Before Spinner, still unable to fully accept the mercilessness that had befallen him, Naoto leaped lightly, closing the distance in an instant.

Black arm, black leg, white hair, red eyes.

"...Be devoured by the darkness..." With a thin opening, a feeling emerges, whispering softly. In response to that whisper, Naoto, who had seemed possessed and expressionless until then, felt a spark of emotion ignite within him.

"You… bastard!" His eyes widened in rage, and a feral killing intent filled him. With a mighty swing, his scythe sliced through the night in a crimson arc. The blade plunged deep into the black man’s flesh, tearing him open.

"Gah, gah, aaaah, aaah!" Spinner let out a distorted scream. But Naoto paid no attention to the sound or the dark blood splattering onto him. Discarding the bloody scythe, he thrust his arm into the gaping hole in Spinner's body.

What he found was not the flesh or bone of a living being, but a deep, pure black darkness. And so, Naoto understood immediately.

Raquel is in there.

For a brief moment, he felt the sensation of flesh, but soon his arm was submerged in an unfathomable darkness. Naoto, undeterred, rummaged through the depths of the darkness, which was clearly deeper than the thickness of Spinner's body, searching for his goal.

From the writhing body of Spinner, shadowy arms extended, grasping Naoto’s arm and shoulder. Instead of tearing him away, the countless arms attempted to pull him deeper into the fissure.

Struggling against the desperate force, he continued to push his arm further inside. At last, the sensation of smooth fabric brushed against his fingertips.

(There!)

For just a fleeting moment, he made contact, but he wouldn’t let it slip away. Naoto sank deeper, submerging his shoulder into Spinner, and desperately reached out to embrace what he had touched. The familiar texture of a slender, delicate waist. In the clinging, swamp-like darkness, Naoto held it tightly to his chest.

"Raquel! ...Come out, Raquel!" He shouted, shaking her violently. With a savage force, he tore away the shadow-arms that clung to his hair, clothes, and arms. Then, with all his might, he pulled himself free. "I won’t let you take her!"

With all his strength, Naoto kicked fiercely at Spinner with his remaining leg.

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Part 5

Raquel watched.

She listened. She felt.

She sensed everything happening around her with all five senses.

The strength of the voice calling her, the warmth of the arms holding her... she felt it all.

Darkness.

Recognition.

In the enclosed darkness, "Raquel Alucard", whose self-awareness was becoming hazy, was forcibly dragged out and saw the moon in the sky with her own eyes.

It was a beautiful full moon.

At that moment, she was certain.

She had definitely chosen "him."

For a brief moment, he thought he had lost consciousness. But Naoto realized it was not so when he was startled by his own ridiculously noisy breathing.

"Ha, ha... ze, ha... zee, ze... ha, ha, ha, ha..." There was no way his breath would calm down at such an absurd pace. Contrary to his oddly calm thoughts, his body was desperately trying to take in oxygen, his shoulders heaving up and down.

Naoto was almost touching the ground but was slightly raised, in a crouched position. His body was heavy, his senses were dull, and he felt an overwhelming sense of fatigue, as if his whole body had come apart at the seams. Nevertheless, he knew he was alive. Could there be such a suffocating death?

Gradually, his body remembered how to breathe properly. As the tense muscles slowly relaxed... Naoto realized that a golden-haired girl was in his arms. It was Raquel.

He let out a sigh of relief. He could see a number above her head. A number in the tens of millions, overwhelmingly lower than usual, but she was definitely alive.

"...You look terrible." Raquel stirred slightly in Naoto's arms and opened her eyes slowly. She looked up at him with her large golden eyes and blinked once. He could clearly see her long eyelashes fluttering up and down like a doll's. And those were her first words after being saved. Naoto burst out laughing.

"You’re one to talk."

Raquel was a mess, covered in Naoto's blood, Spinner's blood, and the insect’s bodily fluids. The tattered ribbon still held her hair in place, but it was not neat.

Raquel sighed wearily. Gently pushing Naoto's chest, she staggered to her feet and looked down at the body that had just been holding her.

"I can say this much: I'm doing far better than you."

"Ah..." Naoto, upon looking at himself again, groaned softly. It was indeed a horrific sight. The left arm and right leg, which had been replaced by something black until just a moment ago, had completely vanished without a trace. As if to compensate, his right arm, created from Raquel's blood, had somehow returned to normal.

"Of course. Your right arm was lost because I was consumed by Spinner. It returned when you brought me back," Raquel explained. At the same time, Naoto's regeneration ability had also returned.

However, the injuries he had sustained while Raquel was absorbed by Spinner could not be healed even by his regeneration. When the connection to Raquel was severed, Naoto had been just a "normal human." Wounds from that time would not regenerate, just as his lost right arm had not returned when he first encountered Spinner's Apostle.

"That's right, Spinner!" At the mention of the name, Naoto jumped up as if he had been shocked. But the right arm he tried to use to support himself couldn't bear his weight, and it twitched and shook as he raised his upper body, unable to push himself up any further.

Instead of Naoto, Raquel turned around, staggering slightly. Through her, Naoto saw the crouched figure of a black-clad man.

"......What the...?" Naoto's expression twisted in shock. Could he really call what was there—no, who was there—Spinner Superior? The man's spider-like lower limbs were melting away, resembling overcooked flesh, and he was slumped against the ground. At the center, the man in black was curled up, hugging himself. With bony, thin shoulders, elongated arms, unnaturally pale skin, and tousled gray hair, he bore the unmistakable features of Spinner.

But his body was writhing strangely, as if countless insects were rampaging inside him. Arms, chest, back, it didn’t matter. Ignoring the positions of his joints and organs, his body was twisting and distorting its shape, as if it had lost all flesh and bone and become a mass of protoplasm.

"Gu, ooooo... oooOOOoooOOooh!"

A cry, sounding more like a vengeful spirit than a sound produced by a human throat, echoed through the area. It was a cry of agony.

Spinner's body trembled violently, beginning to collapse. It resembled a dry sand dune being gradually eroded by the wind. His crumbling body was being sucked into the black vortex that still lingered behind him, turning into fine black dust.

"He's losing control." Raquel muttered in a voice somewhere between pity and contempt. "What he was trying to open was a gate to another space-time called the 'Boundary'. But that could only happen because he had absorbed me... After you forcibly pulled me away from Spinner, he lost control of the gate he was trying to open, and now his existence will be consumed."

If that happened, there would be no one to save him. Even though Naoto didn't fully understand Raquel's words, that was the part that left the strongest impression on him.

As if he had heard their conversation, Spinner raised his head, stretching his neck.

Naoto's breath caught slightly.

It was undoubtedly Spinner's face that was raised. But his body was already so black it was that the line between clothing and flesh was indistinguishable, and only his face stood out strangely white, as if a white mask had been fitted onto a black, amorphous body.

The hands, white and untouched by darkness, reached out, dragged by arms that were elongated and stretched even further. The mass of shadow undulated and moved forward in a grotesque manner, neither human legs nor spider legs propelling him.

"Return... Azure." The cursed, pleading voice, like the scream before, was distorted, muddy, and twisted, unlike Spinner's original voice. "Return... return, return, it's mine, my Azure..." While calling out 'Azure', Spinner stared at Raquel with clouded eyes.

They were not far enough apart. Raquel instinctively took a step back from the approaching Spinner. However, when her small hand touched Naoto, who couldn’t stand, she briefly turned back, a determined look on her face, and faced the grotesque man again, standing up as if propelled by a spring.

Although she wasn't as intimately connected as Naoto, she must have been quite weakened. But she stood in front of Naoto like a wall, protecting him.

"Are you crazy? Just run away!" Naoto shouted, realizing that Raquel was the one being targeted.

Without looking back at him, Raquel maintained a confident expression and snapped her fingers. "Don't underestimate me... A single sorcerer on the verge of losing his self-awareness—there's nothing to worry about."

"That's a lie! Quit screwing around, just fly off and escape—!" Naoto shouted, but deep down, he understood that the reason she wasn’t doing that was because she didn’t have the strength left to do so.

Spinner's body shook violently. Prompted by the tremors racing up from his feet to his entire body, his form expanded grotesquely. From within his body, whose thickness was hard to define, something like ribs burst outward, opening as if splashing muddy water.

Was it his arms spreading wide, or the gaping maw of his sin? The exposed bones extended like silver-tipped blades, quivering in ecstasy as if to devour something.

"Devour, devour, devour, devour, devour, devour, devour, devour! The key to the Azure... my key... To the profound depths of noble knowledge, don't touch those hands, filthy blood, tainting the Azure... My hands are the rightful bearer of Azure... My Azure... Azure, Azure, Azure, ahh... Aah, aaah, aaah... At the end of the endless cycle, I shall create the truth before my eyes!"

Spouting incomprehensible words in a strangely broken voice, Spinner lunged at Raquel and Naoto. Raquel braced herself, pushing both hands forward. She summoned the wind. But only a weak wind gathered.

With a swift kick, Spinner dispersed the tiny gust of resistance and exposed his rib-like fangs…

But his predatory attack was halted by countless swords that seemed to appear from nowhere.

"Gaaaahhhh!" Swords with a white phosphorescence rained down on Spinner from all directions, sewing his deformed black body to the gray floor. A heavy, wet sound splattered disgustingly, and a similar scream escaped from Spinner's contorted mouth. His fingers, now thin like bones, trembled with fury as he raised his neck, looking up to the sky.

"Co... come, Mosaic..." Spinner called out, black blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth. At the sound of his voice, Naoto and Raquel also looked towards the sky.

In the bright night sky with a round moon floating, Kiiro Hikagami was floating with her long golden hair swaying. But her appearance was quite different from the one Naoto and the others knew.

Her hair, which was always neatly tied up for easy movement, flowed down her back, creating a more glamorous look than intellectual. She wasn’t wearing the slender glasses she usually did. There was no tight skirt or sexy suit that drew attention to her figure. Instead, she wore a full-body suit primarily in white and yellow, tightly hugging her form.

It looked almost like armor, with several metallic parts attached to it. Particularly striking were the large pieces on her arms and legs, which resembled the swords that had just been fired at Spinner.

In a word, her appearance was bizarre.

If not for Kiiro’s face above her neck, one might think she was a robot from some science fiction movie.

From a position higher than Naoto and Spinner, Kiiro looked down at Spinner, her crimson-purple eyes clearly burning with killing intent.

"I won't allow you to touch Naoto-kun with your filthy hands anymore." She said it with a piercing coldness.

Even though the words weren’t directed at them, the tone of her voice sent a chill through the air. More than the coldness in her voice, the murderous intent contained within it stirred a primal fear, as if their very lives were being threatened.

But Spinner seemed to pay no attention to Kiiro’s piercing gaze or cold voice. He contorted his face into a grimace and scratched at his chest, letting out a guttural, gurgling sound from his throat. His expression was far removed from the grotesque figure he had been just a moment ago. It was doubtful if there was any reason left in Spinner, who was turning into this blackened mass.

Spinner let out a muffled, strangled cry, reaching out to grab Kiiro, who hovered in the air above him.

File:BE2-5.png

However, as Spinner tried to rise higher, Kiiro grimaced in disgust and thrust out her arm, adorned with a sword-like part.

The space around her rippled like the surface of water. From within, swords cloaked in white light appeared. The light swords descended upon Spinner in the same way as before, but this time in more than double the number.

The heavy, wet sound of many layers of blades overlapping drowned out Spinner’s final screams. Bathed in swords from all sides, Spinner hesitated, remaining in place for a moment. But finally, as though he could no longer resist, his body was pulled strongly backward.

The black vortex created by Spinner—the portal that should have led to the "Boundary"—was now waiting for the wizard consumed by his runaway magic.

"Gi... aa, aA... Aaah...!" Spinner screeched with a meaningless, strained voice as he was sucked into the distortion he had created, disappearing. The portal shrank, and eventually, without a sound, it vanished. Only the scattered dark blood remained, like the ashes of Spinner, and the surroundings became eerily quiet.

"Ha..." Without realizing it, his breath had stopped, and Naoto slumped his shoulders, letting out a breath that had been trapped in his chest. His strength drained away, and the right arm he had been using to support himself gave out. Sliding his head along the concrete, Naoto collapsed onto his back.

"Ah... enough... It's over, it's over..." He muttered words that even he didn't quite understand.

Looking up at the sky, Naoto found Kiiro in her strange outfit. As their eyes met, Kiiro frowned painfully and descended towards Naoto.

"Naoto-kun..."

Kneeling beside him, Kiiro leaned forward, cupping his face with her bodysuit-covered hands.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry I took so long... Oh, you've been so hurt... If I had gotten here sooner, I could have... I could have stopped all this...!" Her voice trembled emotionally, her face on the verge of tears. Finally, as if overwhelmed, she pulled Naoto’s head tightly against her chest.

The feeling of her soft breasts against the bodysuit was vivid. Naoto unconsciously pushed Kirio's body away with more force than necessary.

"Hey, let go, calm down... ... I'm glad you came, but we can do that later..."

"No. I can't do it later." Kiiro firmly rejected Naoto's soothing offer, as if discarding her previous attitude. She turned her head to the side, and her gaze stopped when it landed on Raquel. Her eyes, staring fixedly, were filled with a harsh reproach.

"Raquel Alucard..." Raquel, who had been silent until then, stiffened at the low, threatening tone of Kiiro's voice. She flinched, as if trying to escape, and her gaze dropped to the floor.

Kiiro stood up, glaring at Raquel with overwhelming intensity. She extended her arm, and the sword-like parts attached to her arm were pointed directly at Raquel’s neck. The sharp tip, more dangerous than it appeared, was aimed precisely at Raquel’s throat.

"I can’t overlook this any longer. You are going to make Naoto-kun unhappy... make him suffer, hurt him..."

"I…" Raquel inhaled sharply as Kiiro's words, as sharp as the point of a blade, were thrust at her. She lifted her gaze, which she had once averted, and locked eyes with Kiiro. From her eyes, tone, and most of all, the murderous intent that was in no way concealed, Raquel could feel exactly what Kiiro was about to say.

"You can't protect Naoto-kun. If that's the case, then I will... I will protect Naoto-kun. I'll kill you and make Naoto-kun mine!"

"Wh-what are you talking about! You can't just..." Naoto couldn’t finish his words.

Without even turning to acknowledge Naoto’s plea, Kiiro extended her arm and summoned countless swords around her. They were the same swords she had used to carve Spinner to pieces just moments ago.

"Hey, wait! Stop it!"

“Ugh...”

“I won’t let you have Naoto Kurogane!” As Naoto struggled to get up, Raquel, despite her condition, braced herself. Even though she had no strength left to either receive or dodge the attack. At Kiiro’s command, the swords were unleashed all at once. Multiple deaths tore through the cold air. A chill ran down Naoto’s spine.

... And then, a soft, swaying night breeze cut between Kiiro and Raquel.

Suddenly appearing from the night, there was a man with long, glossy black hair reflecting the white moonlight and red eyes. With a single outstretched hand, he gently stopped all the swords that had been aimed at Raquel, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

Kiiro's eyes widened in astonishment at his appearance. His appearance was something she had never anticipated, not even in the slightest. A sharp breath escaped her, and her voice trembled, her round eyes betraying her disbelief.

"Clavis... Alucard..."

It was the name of the monster among monsters that the Mitsurugi Agency, to which Kiiro belonged, had been hunting for years. Despite searching high and low, they had never been able to track his movements, and just recently, two mercenaries they had hired at a high price had come into contact with him—only to return with no useful information, having failed to capture him.

And here he was, blatantly revealing himself in front of her, calmly accepting her attacks without any resistance. The surprise disoriented Kiiro, and her disorientation silenced her.

"That's enough, Kiiro Hikagami." Clavis spoke softly, as if scolding a child for a pointless prank.

Even though Raquel and Kiiro were both beautiful women, each with their own charm, Clavis's overwhelming beauty and the irresistible aura of his demonic power shifted the balance of the situation. With just those few words, he became the true master of the scene.

Clavis waved his hand lightly, as if dismissing the incoming swords. With a casual gesture, all the swords that Kirio had summoned dissipated into fine particles of light.

"Naoto Kurogane would be sad if this continued."

"You seem confident. Do you understand your position, Clavis Alucard?"

In response to his gentle, yet deadly tone, Kiiro shot back, her words sharp as she tried to shake off her unease. She slid back slightly, her feet barely touching the ground, and took up a defensive stance, ready to strike with the swords in her arms at a moment's notice.

"You are a target for extermination by the Mitsurugi Agency. I can't let you go here!" That was Kirio's mission, and the mission of the Mitsurugi Agency to which she belonged.

But Clavis seemed uninterested in the sharp needle pointed at him, and he squinted his eyes sharply, twisting his lips somewhat sarcastically.

"It seems you're mistaken. The one who should be letting go... is you," the vampire, who reigned over the moonlight with such sweetness, threatened Kiiro. "If you want to die in vain, I don't mind granting your wish, but I refuse to lay a hand on the one taking care of my daughter. I will not ask you to disappear. Put away your weapons."

At those words, Kiiro hesitated, her gaze wandering uncertainly. She eventually looked at Naoto, and her expression softened slightly.

"...Fine. But this is the only time I'll follow your orders." She muttered reluctantly. With a resigned sigh, Kiiro lowered her eyelids. At that signal, the metal armor attached to her arms and legs disengaged.

The pieces of armor that had been attached to Kiiro’s body floated behind her, as if pulled by an invisible force, and merged into a single massive sword. This sword was her weapon in its dormant state, awaiting further use.

For now, she had no intention of fighting.

Seeing this, Raquel, who had held her ground until then, collapsed to her knees. She seemed unable to keep up with the series of events that had occurred, from Kiiro's appearance to Clavis's intrusion. With a somewhat dazed look, she stared at Naoto. Naoto looked back at her with a helpless smile.

Everyone was doing exactly what they wanted. But thanks to all that, it seemed he could finally get some rest.

He’d reached his limit.

Naoto let out a long breath, as if expelling it from his entire body, and let go of the thread of consciousness he had been holding onto for so long.

Just before his vision faded, Naoto clearly saw Raquel's awkward smile directed back at him.

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