BlazBlue:Spiral Shift - Hyokujin no Eiyu Chapter 4

Part 1

There was a person walking at a quick pace down the long corridor. The wooden-floored corridor creaked as he stepped on it, but there was no sound of his footsteps as he was half running.

The unique attire that seemed to blend into the shadows, covering the entire body and even the head and most of the face with cloth of the same color, was the attire of a "Ninja", the ancient spies of the Ikaruga Federation.

It was night. The sun had already set and the area had been swallowed up by darkness. The ninja hurried noiselessly through the corridor that was dimly lit and visited the room.

This is Wadatsumi Castle.

This is the castle where Tenjō, the sole person who rules over the Ikaruga Federation, lives.

Then the ninja slipped in and kneeled down, behind the sliding door.

"My lord, I'm back."

“Come in."

The reply was immediate. The voice was quiet and composed.

The ninja replied briefly, then turned himself around and quickly went inside.

He closed the sliding door noiselessly and turned around to see that there was a place at the back of the room that was a few steps up, surrounded on all sides by a light brown bamboo screen.

Normally, all the blinds should be down and you can only get a faint glimpse of what's behind them, but now only the one in front has been lifted and you can see the figure of the person sitting behind it.

At the back of the boarded-up room, behind a bamboo screen, sitting on a chair waiting for the ninja was a person dressed in the distinctive Ikaruga garb with its generous sleeves. The black, white, and red tones of the garment gave off an air of nobility that stood apart from that of the average person.

Their long, waist-high purple hair flowed from her shoulders to her back like a glossy shoulder strap, reaching the floor besides her chair.

The posture was flawless. Lifting her hands slightly from her lap, the one named lord spoke to her kneeling subordinate spy.

“Your hard work is appreciated. Lift your face up. Report."

Their voice was clear and unhurried, but somehow lacked a sense of energy and vitality.

The ninja raised his head and saw the lords face for the first time in a long time.

There was no human face there. What was there instead was a white mask.

The male ninja had heard that it was to hide a large scar on their face from an old battle. Very few people had ever seen the lord’s true face. This ninja had also never seen it.

A white-faced figure with an unblemished and noble appearance. That was the lord, or in other words, Tenjō Amanohokosaka, who was the ruler of Ikaruga.

"The Nox Nyctores "Deus Machina: Nirvana" stored in the Sector Seven facility in the northeastern part of Ikaruga, has been seized by the Novus Orbis Librarium. It seems that a large-scale battle occurred at the facility and many people died."

The purple-haired figure, Tenjō, exhaled deeply, their chest rising and falling at the whimsical report.

The ninja continued.

“Relius Clover, who was in charge of analyzing the Nox Nyctores, is currently missing, and Nirvana's current location is unknown. Kokonoe of Sector Seven was also at the scene and was injured..."

Just as he was about to say something, a violent cough interrupted the Ninja’s words. It was Tenjō, bent over, holding their chest and coughing bitterly.

The Ninja hurriedly raised his hips. However, Tenjō sensed this and controlled their subordinate with their hand while still suffering and gasping in pain.

“C-Continue.”

“But...”

“I'm sorry to interrupt. No need to worry."

They then raised themself heavily and their voice was so muddy it was impossible not to worry.

However, if he was asked to continue, he would not be able to avoid doing so. Pushing aside the uneasiness that came to mind, the ninja straightened his posture once again.

“So, uhm... Professor Kokonoe, who was present at the scene, was also injured, but it is not life-threatening and she is currently being transported to the headquarters of Sector Seven. Also, as the lord can conjecture... a high density of Seithr reaction was confirmed.”

The ninja spoke with uneasiness.

“...I see.”

After a full few seconds of pause, Tenjō also responded in uneasiness, then they closed their mouth again under the mask.

It was a thoughtful silence, but no one could see what Tenjō was thinking about, what their feelings were and what expression they were making.

Eventually, Tenjō looked at the Ninja from beneath their mask.

“Where is Bang?”

“The head is on a reconnaissance mission, my lord.”

“Tell him to come to me when he gets back.”

"Certainly!"

“You can go now. Get some rest."

The ninja remained on his knees, bowed deeply one last time and walked silently out of the room with the same swiftness with which he had come.

For a while after that, Tenjō was alone in the large wooden room.

After a certain while, they stood up slowly, their long purple hair shaking. They turned their feet to another sliding door, located on the opposite side of the one the ninja had left from.

They pulled open one of the sliding doors to enter the next room and then opened the sliding door at the far end to go further in.

There was a small bed on the floor. It was made of soft-colored wood and wrapped with a fluffy comforter and clean white sheets.

On top of it, a baby who probably couldn't even stand up on their own was sleeping peacefully.

Tenjō’s footsteps crept up to the baby's side and they peered into the bed. The baby seemed completely at ease and didn't seem to be awakened by the approaching presence.

Tenjō wondered if the baby was having a good dream.

Their soft lips moved in small gulps as if they were trying to eat something.

A lovely child. Their eyes and nose were clear and they would grow up to be beautiful one day. Their hair was soft and lush, still pale, but black.

(I think your face looks a lot like mine, now that I think about it, but it would seem your hair color is closer to your father. It's better that way.) Tenjō thought as she, that baby's mother, gently stroked the baby's head.

"For you, a life of hardships has been decided. If my wishes would be granted, I would have preferred that you live in tranquility, but..."

It’s beyond her power.

As she whispered to her, Tenjō seemed to regret leaving, but she still gently let go of their hand and sat up.

For a while, she stared at the baby's sleeping face, and then left the room.

Bang hadn't arrived yet when she went back to the room where she had met the ninja earlier.

As expected. However, if she were to be at leisure here, her reliable head ninja might rush in like the wind.

Before doing so... Tenjō went around to the back of the screened area.

There was a small sliding door that you can only enter by bending down. Tenjō walked through it and down the dimly lit corridor that led to it. The wooden floor was old and occasionally creaked under her weight.

Every time she took a step, it felt as if she was being separated, from the small sliding door that was gradually moving away and from the sleeping face on the other side of the door.

At the end of the corridor, an old wooden door was waiting. It opened in both directions, with a crest carved across the two doors. Standing in front of it, Tenjō quietly chanted something and touched the crest with a finger that peeked out from her generous sleeve.

Then the heavy-looking double doors moved by themselves and opened.

Just enough for one person to pass through. Just enough for a Tenjō to get through.

There was no hesitation now. She walked in, her lustrous purple hair fluttering. The door closed slowly and naturally, locking the area into darkness.

Soon, however, a small purple light appeared at Tenjō’s feet. It wasn't a room. It was a device. A lifting device.

When the device sensed the lord, it made a small cowering sound and started to move. Down, down, so far down that it seemed to go on forever. Eventually, the device carried the lord to the lowest level of the castle and opened its mouth again without anyones intervention.

What was there was a small room made into a perfect cube.

It was not really a room though, but a "space". No walls, no floor, but a place that clearly exists somehow.

Talismans were attached one by one to the part corresponding to the apex of the cube so as to surround it.

Tenjō stepped out into the empty space surrounded by the talisman and stopped right in the middle of the cube, then crawled her white palm over the empty space in front of her.

A fine bell-like sound was heard, and a vertical straight line of light was created in the space Tenjō touched with her hand. With that light as its boundary, the space opened to the left and right like a door.

As soon as she did, the scenery around her changed completely.

What surrounded Tenjō was not a space covered with protective charms, but a large room lined with thick pillars inscribed with what looked like ancient scripts.

A series of pipes and cords ran from the pillars up to the high ceiling, connecting to various devices that filled the walls.

In addition, all the pillars had sturdy-looking chains attached to them. At the end of the chains, there was something large suspended in the air.

It was shaped like an upside-down triangular pyramid. A metaphor for it would be a huge lynchpin.

The size was incomparable with that of Tenjō. It wasn’t something that a human can carry.

The blackish surface was smooth, with vaguely greenish glowing streaks running in all directions.

It was a relic of the past, discovered after the Dark War.

It is called "Kushinada's Lynchpin."

On top of the wedge hung a smaller one of a similar shape that seemed to follow. If the huge wedge was a lynchpin, then the smaller one on top of it was probably a nail.

The nail was also heavily sealed with a chain wrapped around it.

Tenjō looked up at the huge lynchpin and jumped like a feather towards it. The small leap softly lifted her body and carried her straight to the top of the lynchpins upper platform.

Silently, she landed on the Lynchpin of Kushinada. As soon as she did so, she saw that nail hanging above her, tied to the chain.

The nail was big if one might say. It was probably bigger than Tenjō’s body.

(I should stop. I shouldn't be thinking about it right now.)

Shaking off a sudden feeling of emotion, Tenjō looked up at the dangling nail and hurriedly removed her mask. Her face underneath, she was thin, gaunt, but beautiful.

Her skin was translucent white, and the blood in her cheeks was far gone.

It was not the beauty of life, but the beauty of death. The true face of Ikaruga was as beautiful as a dead woman.

There were no major scars anywhere, because that white mask was not meant to hide any scars.

Tenjō slowly lifted her eyelids and breathed in air that she hadn't felt in her lungs in a long time.

Her eyes were red. Like blood.

But soon, her blood-colored eyes flickered. A violent cough overflowed from her throat, shaking her whole body.

The whooping coughing that wrecked her lungs and tore her throat was due to the fact that her body was being poisoned by Seithr. The mask was meant to hide Tenjō’s true identity and protect her weakened body from the seithr in the air.

It shouldn't be widely known. The broken body of Tenjō, that was on the brink of collapse. “Who” she really was.

But now, no one will see.

And for what she was about to do, any aspect that blocks even a small part of herself from the outside world is only a hindrance. The coughing finally subsided. Tenjō grabbed her chest and breathed heavily, trying to get her badly erratic breathing under control.

If she were to handle it too roughly, it would break.

"...It seems my "vessel" is about to reach its limit very soon. If I could, I would have stopped... “it” from coming back, but I can't anymore, I failed."

It's very hard to achieve anything with her current body. This is why the lord needed a vessel that could withstand for her purpose. For this reason, she sought out the Nox Nyctores "Deus Machina: Nirvana". To inject her soul into it and make it a new vessel.

But that, too, was now lost.

She doesn't have time. This body, this vessel, is in a state that could break at any moment.

So, this right now is the best she can do before her vessel becomes unable to do anything.

"A new 'order' is about to be born in this world. One day, the world will regain it. That’s why..."

As she spoke, Tenjō reached for the large nail hanging in front of her, as she touched it with both hands and pressed her forehead against it, avoiding the cold chains, the lord closed her eyes.

"Nox Nyctores... "Phoenix: Rettenjō". For the sake of when that time comes, I entrust my soul to you."

The moment she whispered, something like a heartbeat pulsated in Tenjō’s chest. It was as if a shockwave that was blinde for everyones eyes had struck her heart or even her soul.

But the shock soon wore off and Tenjō’s heart returned to its calm and serene state.

She quietly lifted her eyelids. It was dark all around and the sensation of something seeping in, like cold water, surrounded Tenjō’s senses.

(...I see 'myself' in front of me.)

(...I see 'myself' looking at 'myself' with a sad face).

(I feel as if I were looking into a mirror, but what I see here is not a mirror. It is a gap. Inside and outside. Matter and space... The inside and the outside of Rettenjō.)

Tenjō could no longer move a single finger. She was only conscious. She has no arms, no fingers, no mouth and no eyes.

She will never hold someone again. She won't be able to touch anyone anymore. If she won’t be able to talk to anyone. Nothing will see her.

(This never ending “Death”... It is such a sad thing. I'm sure it's much, much sadder than I could imagine right now.)

However, Tenjō’s heart was not in despair, it was infact in hope.

(But aside from me, the one who is closest to “Death”. My child... "Homura." Because “Life” was born, the possibility of ending this unfortunate world od death will also be born...”.

Without a voice, Tenjō spoke to the "self" standing on the other side.

(I believe in it. I will bet my all on that... "Possibility.")

It may or may not turn out the way she wants it to, but that is no longer in her hands. It is for those who will be born and grow up after this to find and choose.

(Goodbye... Homura.)

If only one wish would be granted, please let this child "live", no matter how much pain there is. No matter How much suffering there is.

With Tenjō’s wish, the connected chain flew vigorously high, as if something had pulled it up, then fell straight down with a sharp-pointed tip in high speed ── towards Kushinada's Lynchpin.

Higher and louder, the sound of clashing metal echoed through the air.

For a moment, something like a shockwave spread, but without destroying anything. The lowest level of Wadatsumi Castle was enveloped in silence.

The heavy chains that had restrained Rettenjō' were gone before she knew it.

The large nail was released and held in the air just before it touched Kushinada's Lynchpin, holding it still.

There was no sign of anything anymore.

She was staring at the scene and before she knew it, that white mask was covering her face. Keeping her face covered, she touched the nail that was standing still in front of her with the palm of her hand. At that moment, a red pattern appeared on the white mask that should have been empty.

The pattern was tinged with a liquid glow only once. Tenjō muttered under her red mask.

"...Well. I don't want to keep Bang waiting for too long."

The quiet tone of her voice quickly disappeared into the dimness of silence.

Turning around, Tenjō climbed down from the Kushinada's Lynchpin and headed back the way she came.

Her steps were unsteady and unaccustomed. It is like she was a doll that had just started to walk by herself.

Part 2

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Back to Chapter 3: Accumulated death / He is near

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