At the eve of the year 2199, a green-haired man in a black suit awakened in the midst of a dense, dark forest.
The life in the forest was cloaked in a bizarre, black substance, from which a few strange creatures crawled forth.
Seithr.
The adult had no recollection of his life, and immediately panicked, lost and confused. He recognized his outfit as the standard attire for an officer of the Novis Orbis Librarium's Intelligence Department. He took a brief glance around the premises, half-expecting to find a matching hat.
After a few seconds of searching, he heard a loud rustling noise that indicated the nearby movement of at least one entity of remarkable size.
The purported intelligence officer dove through the forest until he found cover beneath a cluster of bushes. He rummaged through his pants' pockets, finding a balisong knife in each. Realizing he was only being pursued by one individual, he quickly caught sight of the stranger's footsteps.
"Who's there?!" the astonishingly deep-voiced wanderer demanded.
Getting a glimpse of the man in question, the intelligence officer noticed two things. The first feature the officer found noteworthy was the stranger's red jacket; the second, his big-ass sword.
That shouldn't be physically possible–for someone to walk around with a weapon like that. Its shape shouldn't be effective in combat, either. Furthermore, it's ridiculous that anyone would choose to carry a weapon like that anywhere.
The white-haired stranger slowly scanned the environs from which he'd heard the officer's footsteps.
"Don't bother hiding; I know you're there!"
The intelligence officer looked in the opposite direction, setting his eyes on a massive city built around the sides of the mountain, towering in the distance.
"If you try threatening me, I'll tear your corpse to shreds!"
The intelligence officer considered running for a second, but soon decided he'd have better chances if he quietly waited around.
The well-built swordsman gradually drew closer, approaching the undergrowth under which the officer concealed himself.
He swiftly struck the thicket with his aerodynamically-inept blade, cleaving its branches, scattering them everywhere.
His face immediately conveyed an unfathomable measure of rage and surprise.
"Terumi!" he screamed, preparing to deliver a deathblow.
The officer made a futile attempt to get out of range, taking a step back all too slowly, and reflexively opened a knife, raising it in an attempt to defend himself from the immense sword the stranger had swung over his right shoulder.
Before the weapon could reach a lethal momentum, however, a feminine voice in the air resounded, echoing, "Stop!"
The stranger reluctantly dropped his weapon. He promptly embedded it into the ground and leaned on it, looking up as if to listen. The noise sounded as if it came from a radio, but both the swordsman and the green-haired officer knew better.
A communication ars.
"I suppose I owe you both an explanation," the voice resumed.
"I'm listening," the officer compliantly responded, "And who the hell is Terumi?"
"You don't know about the Six Heroes? Killed the Black Beast?" the voice inquired. "Anyways, Ragna, to sum it up, your Azure Grimoire's a fake."
The wanderer dropped his sword in shock, staring at his right arm with a gaping mouth.
The voice kept speaking, undeterred. "In fact, both your Azure Grimoires are counterfeits." The officer glanced around, the meaning of this lost on him. He easily recalled what a Grimoire was—an artifact that lets non-mages use seithr—but he'd never heard a thing about an Azure Grimoire.
After a few seconds, the stranger, Ragna, picked up his sword and began leaning against a tree, tilting his head back as if to listen. "Who are you, anyways?"
The voice answered, "I'll tell you after I finish my explanation. Now, this is probably going to be difficult to explain, but... this is one of several Terumi look-alikes. Almost like a clone."
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Ragna demanded. "You mean to tell me there's more than one of that asshole running around on this planet?! And why would Terumi have an Azure G-"
Ragna's eyes widened, as if from a terrible revelation.
"Damn it... Nothing's changed! Nothing's ever going to change!"
He shoved his face into his hands, giving a gesticulation of frustration.
The officer wondered what he was rambling on about as he fretted over the Azure Grimoire.
The woman muttered something inaudible while Ragna underwent what resembled an emotional breakdown, returning to the discussion as soon as he was done lamenting. "As you've probably figured out by now, every one of Terumi's clones has had an Azure Grimoire. Most of them are dead, but I managed to recover one of them. I figured I'd test him out on you, but it's painfully clear that he wasn't ready. Now, it's your turn. Any questions?"
The officer took the opportunity the silence provided to ask some questions of his own.
"What exactly is an Azure Grimoire?" the intelligence officer requested.
"You see, the world is made of seithr. There are many different kinds of seithr. The seithr people's souls consist of is called the Azure. And, as you've probably concluded..." the woman informed him.
The officer interrupted her, finishing her sentence as he figured out the rest, "The Azure Grimoire runs on it."
"Precisely."
Ragna muttered, "Of course, I'd only get a counterfeit..."
"It's more complex than that," the woman replied. "Terumi doesn't have a real BlazBlue, either." She then proceeded to mention, "That's what people who use an Azure Grimoire call it, by the way."
The officer followed up by asking Ragna, "So, you and Terumi have history, eh, Mr. Broadsword?"
Ragna answered with an exasperated sigh. "Geez, I wonder how you figured that out. If you actually care to know, he kidnapped my sister, murdered my adoptive mother, burned down our house, and drove my brother insane."
"So, I'm some kind of clone?" the officer asked.
"That's not really the most accurate way of looking at it. You weren't made from cell culture or organic matter. You don't even have a skeleton... or normal organs, for that matter. You were made entirely out of seithr. And, for the most part, Terumi's 'clones' were made to serve as a host body."
The officer mulled over what he'd heard.
Well, that's a lot to take in…
He wondered who the woman was, and what objective she salvaged him for.
"In any case, I figured you should know who I am before I leave to deal with other pressing concerns. My name's Professor Kokonoe Mercury. I'm kind of a big-shot Sector Seven scientist."
"So, whoever made these clones basically just made the Azure spew shit until it became a person?" the officer nonchalantly construed out loud.
"Essentially. It means you're an Azure Grimoire," Kokonoe replied, "which means your body's made of the seithr your creators had you spew out from the Boundary, which in turn means you're immune to the toxic effects of seithr."
"What a wonderful way to be born. So, what's my name?" the officer resumed.
Kokonoe began talking in a tone for which the adjectives "troubled" and "agitated" could only serve as an understatement. "Call yourself whatever you like. When I found you, you were designated as 'Ryouma.' If you care to be of any help, head towards the NOL branch at Kagutsuchi; I'll give you instructions later!"
The sun dawned in the east, slowly casting sunlight on the forest and the Hierarchical City beyond it.
"I'm heading there to smash a Cauldron, myself," Ragna declared, "so don't get in my way."
As the white-haired swordsman willfully paced towards the city, the officer mused over what he ought to do in the meanwhile.