Hello everybody! This is X the Reaper, bringing you the next installment of Mahou Shoujo of the Continuum Shift!
This time, we move back a little bit to the exact point when Sayaka Miki arrived in the BlazBlue verse, before Ragna vs. Carl happened. Let us see just what has changed for our familiar magical girl...
Disclaimer: BlazBlue and Puella Magi Madoka Magica are property of Gen Urobuchi and Arc System Works respectively and to any other parties. X the Reaper owns nothing save the story.
Alright, let's go!
Sayaka had felt some pretty weird things in her life. Being impaled by spears, getting stabbed with shadows, having her soul wrenched out of her body to be placed in a gem, falling over dead when said gem was thrown away from her body, her soul too far to control her body, falling into despair and watching said gem cloud with darkness, and all while her mind and soul seemed to be tearing at themselves to try and compensate for all the anguish she felt.
However, right now, all that paled in comparison to what she was feeling now, which she could only really described as all life as she knew it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in her body exploding at the speed of light. Funny thing was, she wasn't even entirely certain she could 'feel' the pain shooting through her right now, because that implied she was able to register the agony as something happening to her, when it was really more like the pain was her.
Slowly though, the pain receded. She became more aware of her body laying face-down on rocky ground, with the taste of dust in her mouth and the feel of rocks digging into her face, along with something heavy laying around her butt area. With a groan she tried to move her body, becoming more confident as she felt her form shift in response, despite the pain coursing through her with each motion.
'Pain is good,' she thought to herself, not yet trusting her mouth to speak. 'It means I'm alive...' she suddenly felt her mood sour at a particularly bad memory, 'for a given value of 'alive', I guess.'
With a groan of effort, she pushed herself onto her back, staring up into the sky and feeling strangely like something was jabbing into her back. She blinked at the cloudless blue sky, then noticed the grey rubble around her. 'When I get outside?' she wondered as she glanced about. 'And it's already daytime? Last thing I remember was-'
The last thing she remembered was sitting in the train station, talking to Kyoko while looking at her blackening Soul Gem, feeling more despair and hopelessness than she ever had before. Then she remembered crying and saying how stupid she had been, and then...what?
Sayaka's eyes widened when she realized she couldn't remember anything after that. She quickly tried to sit up straight (relieving the pressure on her back), only to feel something snag her neck. She reflexively brought her hand to her throat, only to the stop when she felt cloth.
'It's just my cape,' she noted with some relief, then she blinked. 'Wait... when I did use my Soul Gem?'
She shifted slightly as she tried to get a look at herself, then stopped when she heard a clanking noise near her feet. Looking down, she blinked as she realized that she wasn't wearing her Magical Girl uniform.
First thing she was aware of was that her lower legs and feet were covered in some sort of silver knight armor, while her upper legs still had the white stockings from before. Her skirt was also longer and looked more frayed and torn at the hems, coming down to just before her knees and being more of a grey color than her usual blue. She also realized her cape was different as well, being frayed like her skirt but a light-grey-blue instead, complete with a high plaid collar about her head and fastened to her body by, of all things, a pink bowtie ribbon.
She noticed her arms still had their past-elbow-length sleeves, but now they were black instead of dark blue, with her white hand gloves now fingerless cerulean with white bands around each finger and a silver-blue band of metal about her wrists and covered with an armored guard for protection. Staring down at her chest, she realized that now she wore a sleeveless cerulean shirt that completely covered her chest and belly (and from the feel of it, her back as well) along with a silver chestplate that covered her upper chest for extra protection. Finally, about her waist was a silver belt with a circular red gem set in the center, along with musical notes etched all around its surface.
In fact, all of the metal areas of her get-up, from legs to the arms and chestplate, from the boots to the wrist bands all had musical notes like when she used her healing magic, all carved in black into the armor, like she was some sort of musical knight.
She brought a hand to her head in confusion, only to pull it back when she felt cool metal. Quickly bringing it back up and rubbing it, she realized that she had some sort of metal get-up on her head too. Grasping it, she tried to pull it off, grunting when she felt more resistance than she expected.
'Why do I feel more hair on my head than usual?' she wondered to herself as she finally yanked the headgear off, only to suddenly feel her hair, which had to be about twice as long as she remembered, fall down in front of her eyes.
"Okay," she said at last, blowing some strands away and noting with personal relief that at least her voice hadn't suddenly decided to change while she was unconscious. "Apparently, I'm having one of weirdest dreams I've ever had, or I somehow got a Mahou Shoujo upgrade."
Ignoring the subject of her hair for a moment, she looked down at the piece of metal in her hands. It was shaped like the facial mask of some sort of knight, which made sense given her outfit, but it was kind of creepy, lacking the musical notes of the rest of the armor and almost skull-like in appearance with three discs shaped almost like eyes staring back at her. Several miniature swords, disturbing similar to her own, were fused together in some metallic representation of a high hairdo or helmet plume at the top, and the whole thing seemed almost alive.
However, none of that compared to the eeriest sense of deja vu she ever had upon gazing at it. Something scratched away at the back of her mind, telling her she should know this from somewhere.
But where? She had no memory of seeing something like this before, but the feeling persisted and only grew stronger. Slowly, she was heard what sounded like a violin orchestra playing, and she began to imagine standing in some sort of concert hall, allowing the haunting music to carry her away-
With effort, she wrenched her gaze from it, only now aware of the fact she was panting heavily. "What the hell?" she breathed slowly. "What was that?"
An urge to hurl the mask as far as she could away struck her, but something stayed her hand, refusing to follow through on that instinct. Instead, she slowly put it down next to her, running a hand through her recently grown hair and pulling it in front of her on a whim to try and distract herself from the feeling.
She certainly got it when she got a good look at her new do. "...Since when did I have white hair too?"
Indeed, she still had her blue hair from before, but now it was mixed with definite strands of white. In fact, if she had to guess from the position of the different colors, it was the top levels of hair that were white while the bottom ones were still blue. She glanced back down at the mask, tentatively picking it back up and trying to avoid gazing into the eyes.
'I guess that why I had this on then,' she figured. 'It must have kept my new hair all at the top.'
Slowly, she tried to grab her hair and put it back in place. It was slow going, to the point she had to put the headgear back down to get a good grip, but she eventually succeeded, feeling much better now that the hair was out of her eyes.
"Okaaayyy..." she drawled out as she glanced about, slowly trying to get to her feet. "What the heck happened while I was out?"
The place looked like some sort of warzone or at least a condemned part of town, rubble and broken buildings everywhere. A perfect ground for the less fortunate of society, but she couldn't ever remember Mitakihara City having any such place. Even if the city had been in the middle of reconstruction to a more 'modern' outlook, this was no recent damage: She could clearly see that things had been like this a long time, from the weeds overgrown and faded paint to rusted metal and clearly weathered stone, and there was no sign of any construction work being done anywhere.
Hell, the most damning evidence was the fact there was almost utter silence: No drills or hammers, the sound of machinery or the yell of workmen completely absent. It was like she was in a dead city.
"Seriously, what the hell happened?" she wondered again, her voice seeming to echo about the area. "Did a giant Witch suddenly decide to invade and I was knocked out in the process?"
She shifted through her memories, but the last thing she remembered was talking to Kyoko before everything went blank and nothing she tried was letting her get anymore info. At the same time, she couldn't seem to properly get up off the ground, once more something seemingly shifted behind her, like an extra dead limb.
"Darn it..." she growled, the combined lack of progress on either front getting to her. Thrusting her hand out, she conjured up a sword, noting with satisfaction that was still working, and thrust it into the ground, using it as support to get to her feet. Yet she could still feel a weird weight dragging behind her and on the ground, almost like it was a part of her.
"Oh, that's it!" she snapped, turning around whilst simultaneously pulling her cape back to get a good look at her backside. "What the heck is going...on..."
Sticking right out of her back like it had always been there was a tail, kind of like cat girls she had seen in some random anime. However, instead of a thin furry tail, she had a sleek, thin but well-muscled fish tail, complete with shining scales of blue, black and maroon and two fins that flared in a rainbow of the colors of fire. It wouldn't have looked out of place on some sort of mermaid of legend.
She just stared in sheer dumbfoundedness for the longest of moments. She attempted to try and move it, flexing muscles that were never there before. It shifted in response, fins scrapping on rock. She winced slightly at the rough feel, then slowly brought her hand to bear against the tail, rubbing it and simultaneously feeling both the cool smoothness of the scale and the warmth of her hand. It was real, no doubt about it.
"...Okay," she said calmly. "I have a fishtail now, along with a new hairdo, new clothes, and no idea where I am. Don't panic, Sayaka, there's a perfectly logical explanation for all of this."
She was silent for a moment, then used her free hand to punch herself in the face. Hard.
"Urgh!" she groaned, feeling her jaw crack as her fist made contact. Quickly pulling back, she felt something coppery in her mouth and spat, quickly sending up a glob of blood.
'Okay, I'm definitely not dreaming,' she decided. 'You don't bleed and feel definite pain in a dream, not when you do it to yourself...' Suddenly, she remembered something important. 'Wait a minute, my Soul Gem!'
Of course, it had to do with that! True Kyubey (she felt a sudden sense of distaste rise inside her at the thought of that white weasel) never said anything about something like this, but he never told her or anyone about the fact the Gems literally contained their souls either. Maybe this was just some sort of change that occasionally happened, and just another case of the alien withholding information.
In her decided explanation, she might have ignored the fact that the white weasel was nowhere to be seen, despite the fact he seemed to delight in appearing whenever someone realized something new about being a Mahou Shoujo so he could provide his own commentary. She quickly looked down to where her Gem normally was when she transformed, right where her belly button was.
It took her a moment to realize that she couldn't see it due to her new clothes.
"Wow, forgot about that somehow," she muttered, then started to reach down to pull her shirt up slightly. She stopped again. "Wait, what am I doing? I can just sense wherever my Soul Gem is by concentrating." She shook her head at her sudden lack of judgement and shut her eyes, reaching mentally outward for the familiar light that signified the object that was the source of her magic and life-
She was suddenly distracted by a crash, followed by the distinct sound of metal bashing against each other. Forgetting about her Gem and current predicament for a moment, Sayaka turned her head in the direction of the noise.
"What the heck?" she muttered, "What's going on?"
The smart thing would have been to head in another direction, in case the fight came over to where she was. In which case, there was no guarantee that whoever was fighting would decide to turn their attention on her.
Of course, Sayaka Miki was in a place she had no memory of. Even for a novice Mahou Shoujo like herself, she could tell when she was in unfamiliar territory: having lived in Mitakihara all her life, she knew the 'air' of the place and her instincts seemed to be fine-tuned to the land. She wasn't getting any such feeling of familiarity where she was right now. For all she knew whoever was fighting right now could be the only living beings a long ways around.
Besides, if someone was in trouble, lending a helping hand was always a good way to make a first impression, and despite what she might have said to Kyoko in their last conversation, drowning in the midst of her own despair and suicidal thoughts, she did still believe in fighting selflessly to defend the innocent was a cause worth fighting for.
'Even if I'm really just a walking corpse and it just brings me pain, I can still help people,' she reminded herself, then tried to take a running jump to where she could hear the battle raging. 'After all, what's left for me if I don't have even have that?'
She had a new outfit (though the how still eluded her) and with it maybe even new abilities. She had thrown away everything, from her future, her love, even the one she had called best friend, all for the power of a Mahou Shoujo to protect others. If she decided to regret it now, what would have been the point of going through all that shit in the first place?
'I-'
Suddenly, she fell to the ground in a heap, her body not used to the addition of a counter-weight on her backside. Glancing back around, she gave her tail a glare.
"This is gonna take some getting used to."
The tail flopped in response.
It took Sayaka about a minute or two to figure out how to effectively move and jump with her new limb. Strangely, it was way faster and easier than she expected, as if her body had always had a tail and she was just trying to remember how to use it properly. She chalked it up to instinct and magic-heebie-jeebies and started to make her way towards where she could hear the sounds of battle upon a rooftop, which only grew louder as she approached.
As she made her way there (quickly climbing an adjunct building), she once again thought back to her last clear memory to try and figure out how she got here: Her talk with Kyoko Sakura, her fellow red-headed Mahou Shoujo/enemy/rival/maybe-friend. Of course, she got nothing out of it, aside from watching her Soul Gem get darker than it ever had before and listening to her own despair-filled words, which seemed strangely creepy to her now that her mind was more or less sane and not on the verge of dropping off the slippery slope.
"The balance of hope and despair is always zero, just like you said...or something like it. I think I understand what you meant by that now. I've saved plenty of people, but in return, resentment and pain took root in my heart, and I'm even hurting my best friend now. As much as I wished for the happiness of one, someone else must be equally cursed. That's how it is for a Mahou Shoujo, and that's how it is for me."
The last words in particular haunted her, not just for how lost and utterly shattered she sounded as tears fell from her face, but for the dark and heavy feeling that had settled in her chest as she had said them.
"I was stupid...so stupid..."
After that, all she remembered was a burst of wind, dark electricity blasting everywhere as she fell to the ground, losing consciousness. The last thing she could remember was Kyoko screaming her name before everything went dark.
She grimaced as she tried to push it aside, trying to tell herself that was just her talking in depression and suicide, and it was natural for people to say things they didn't really mean while they were like that. Still, those words struck a chord in her. Really, what had becoming a Mahou Shoujo done for her, aside from bringing pain and misfortune? True, she got magic, but at the cost of any chance of living a normal life. She got a wish that came true, but the object of it would forever be beyond her reach because of what she had become. She got the ability to defend the weak and helpless, but how many times had she got her ass kicked, needing others to bail her out?
Not to mention that she needed to constantly purify the source of her power, else let something horrible happen to herself...
Suddenly, she blinked when a stray thought came to her. 'What if the reason I'm the way I look now is because I let my Soul Gem get too black?' she wondered. 'Did the corruption actually change my physical appearance?'
It was a tempting thought, but it didn't seem quite right though. If becoming too corrupted would result in such a change, why would Kyubey had taken the time to specifically tell her to never let her Soul Gem get that far? Was there something else to it, some sort of price to pay?
Her mood suddenly got a whole lot grimmer. That's right, everything about being what she was came with a price.
'Balance means hope and despair equals zero,' she thought to herself with barely contained anger. 'What a shitty-ass rule to live by.'
Yet it was true and she just couldn't handle it. That why she had decided to let her Soul Gem become so corrupted in the first place, because she thought it'd let her die peacefully. Apparently, even that hadn't happen though, and now here she was, alive and no doubt still bound in some way by her contract.
She felt her heart sink at that. What would Madoka think if she found out? She hadn't given thought to the idea that she might very well survive her attempt at suicide. How could she face her friend without shame and regret? Hell, what would her parents (even if they didn't know about her magic) and even Kyoko, the one who witnessed it firsthand, think when they found out she was still alive?
With effort, she shook her head. "Doesn't matter," she reminded herself. "Just focus on figuring out what the heck happened and where you are. Worry about what you're gonna do and how you're gonna get screwed over in the future later." After all, might as well enjoy the idea of newfound powers and lease on life (or unlife) without a price for at least a little bit; let her innocent ignorance survive for just a little longer before the dark truth crushed it all over again.
She grimaced. 'God, I think I'm starting to think like Kyoko or Akemi-san.' That wasn't a comforting comparison to make.
Finally, she got near enough to the battle that the clash of metal became louder than her thoughts. Quickly making it to the roof and dropping down behind some rubble, she peered over it to get a glimpse one of the weirdest fights she had ever seen.
Not that she hadn't seen and fought in 'weird' battles before. After all, when your 'allies' fought with an unlimited supply of muskets, ribbons and a giant cannon, a segmented spear and forming multiple (and giant) versions of it, and a shield with all manner of crazy firearms stashed inside, with your own weapons being a limitless supply of cutlasses and even musical notes, and your enemies were basically the stuff of nightmares and insanity, some pretty strange fights are a given. However, this fight was already weird by those standards for the fact that, first of all, both of them were boys, who could not become Mahou Shoujo (Why, she had no idea. Maybe Kyubey liked the idea of dressing up girls in weird outfits more than guys.). Second of all, one of them was an adult and the other was a kid probably younger than she was.
The adult was probably in his early twenties or so, with white spiky hair kind of like her own and what looked like two different colored eyes, though she couldn't be sure from her position. He was wearing a red-sleeved jacket with two long thin tails hanging from the back, underneath of which was a black shirt with three red belts. He was also wearing a pair of black gloves with some sort of red gem on the backs, and he had on a black hakama and steel-toed red boots. Basically, he sort of screamed 'street-punk'. He was currently swinging a massive cleaver sword around with one hand, but he was also using his fists and legs to try and pummel his opponent.
Said opponent, as she had noted earlier, was probably younger than she was, maybe twelve or so. He had blond hair, blue eyes, white skin and was the even more bizarrely dressed of the two, wearing something that looked straight out of an old picture she once saw of English people in the 1800s in some random history book: A suit with long sleeves and shorts, military boots with steel toes, a top hat and a cape with a metal cowbell/cross, all purple. He also had a pair circular-lensed glasses on his face, giving him an intellectual look. He was fighting with what appeared to be metal contraptions that suddenly appeared in front of himself to strike and defend.
However, even stranger was what he was fighting with: A large purple and silver marionette doll with short blond hair, blank white eyes and wearing a purple dress and hat was striking away at the man right alongside him, swinging its arms in powerful strikes or jabbing forward with its fingers, which Sayaka realized had to be some sort of blades. In fact, the doll seemed to even teleport around upon the boy's command, always trying to get in an advantageous position or even serve as a shield for her master.
Even as she watched, the doll suddenly lunged forward with its arm swinging, smashing the makeshift drill into the man's sword and forcing him back. The boy seemed to smile at the sight.
"Not bad, Ragna the Bloodedge," he called out. "You're much stronger than I had anticipated."
The doll continued to force the man, Ragna, back towards the edge of the roof. However, the white-haired man didn't seem that concerned. If anything, he just looked annoyed.
"You know kid, don't think just because you have a Nox Nyctores means you're gonna beat me," he replied. "You're only the fourth wielder I've fought since I've got here, and I got to say, you and your doll Nirvana have got to be the weakest of the bunch."
That was apparently the wrong thing to say, as Sayaka could see the kid suddenly stiffened. "My sister is not a doll!" he suddenly yelled defensively. "Don't act like you know her!"
"Kid, I really don't care about your choice of family members..." Ragna quipped, then heaved against Nirvana and forced it back, slashing it across the chest for good measure, "but I do care about the fact that you're trying to pick a fight with me when you should be doing less hazardous for your health."
He suddenly rushed past Nirvana and made a beeline towards the boy, who tried to erect a shield in preparation for the blow. Ragna's arm snapped back and seemed to glow with a dark burst of energy, right before smashing against the shield and sending the boy tumbling back dangerously close to the edge. Luckily, his doll appeared to catch him.
Sayaka blinked from her position. "Was that... magic?" she asked herself. "Since when did normal people start using that?"
"I didn't start this fight kid," Ragna continued, causing Sayaka to shake herself out of her questioning mood to just watch. "And because I just don't feel into this one, I'm gonna break my usual rule of offering you one last chance to run and make it again. Either take it, or get ready for a world of hurt."
The kid rubbed his chest where the force of Ragna's blow had managed to impact regardless of the shield. "Sorry, but I can't do that," he replied after a moment. "I need that Azure Grimoire of yours, and you don't look like the kind of person who would just give it up to someone in need."
Ragna sighed. "Yeah, that'd be a bit difficult considering its literally my right arm. I don't feel like getting it cut off again. Once was enough."
The boy got back up. "Don't worry then, Grim Reaper," he replied. "My sister and I will make it quick!"
Both of them rushed towards Ragna, who stood there with one hand on his sword, waiting. Sayaka, still trying to wrap her mind around some of the terms the two had been throwing around and figure out exactly which one was the 'good guy' here, did nothing but watched as they closed the distance. Nirvana made it first, swinging its fist directly at Bloodedge. The white-haired man moved his body to the side to dodge, only to do so again when she quickly used her other fist as a follow-up. Ragna tried to put some distance between them, but Nirvana kept coming with the punches. Finally, he jumped upwards, attempting to get over the robot's attacks.
However, the boy had used the swordsman's distraction to loop around behind him, and when Ragna jumped so did he.
"Allegretto!" he shouted, pulling back his cape to reveal a little bronze robot with a green flag on a metal pole. The little golem then rapidly jabbed forward, its pole impacting with Ragna's back and sending him staggering away slightly. However, the red swordsman had no problems landing properly, and the moment he did, he turned and bounded back towards the young puppeteer with murder in his eyes. The blond seemed taken aback, but instead of running he stood his ground and threw his hand upwards.
"Laetabilis Cantata!" he yelled as he snapped his fingers, a giant yellow gear seemingly sprouting straight into existence and twirling at rapid speeds as it ground against the charging Ragna's body. To the warrior's credit, he didn't even flinch as he pulled his fist back and swung forward with that same darkness from before.
"Hell's..." he called out as it connected with the open boy, smacking into his chest. Not even stopping, he swung his other arm in an almost claw-like motion forward for a follow-up strike.
"Fang!"
To Sayaka's shock, what looked like a mass of red-and-black darkness shaped like some demonic creature's head snapped forward, its 'jaws' clamping down onto to the kid, who had raised his arm to protect himself, and sending him hurling dangerously close to the edge. However, the boy managed to stop his flight in time, though she could tell even from her position that that one had definitely hurt, considering the way he was gripping his arm and blood was starting to drip from it. She also thought she saw little balls of red light suddenly leave the boy and be absorbed into the man's right arm, but passed it off as a trick of the light.
"Ada!" the kid yelled, previous confidence vanishing into something resembling pain and worry, summoning his doll in front of him once again. "Now! Volante!"
Nirvana spun its arms and released a sphere of energy straight at Ragna. The swordsman responded bringing sword (wreathed once more in that dark aura from before) and slamming it down, connecting with the attack and causing a small explosion.
"Let's finish this!" the puppeteer shouted, "Rhapsody of Memories!"
Nirvana responded, rushing forward with a powerful flurry of punches. However, Ragna didn't seem that worried even as the smoke cleared. If anything, he just looked kind of bored.
"My thoughts exactly!" he snapped back, then lifted his blade and rushed forward to meet her. "Carnage Scissors!"
Despite the seemingly suicidal action, Bloodedge was far from being in such a state of mind. Faster than Sayaka could effectively follow, he maneuvered himself into an opening between the doll's swings and brought his sword down right on her in a slamming motion, stopping her attack, then quickly twisted it back upwards whilst simultaneously striking the ground. "I'll devour ya!"
At his words, two crisscrossing spikes of that same dark energy thrust upwards and collided with the doll, sending it hurtling back with a clang. The puppeteer watched with horrified eyes as the doll skid to a halt a bit of distance from him, taking his eyes off of Ragna.
"Sis!" he yelled desperately and tried to go to it. However, Ragna crossed the distance and grabbed him, throwing a punch into his stomach for good measure, and then threw him to the roof, where he collided and rolled until he came to a rest near the doll, not moving.
Clearly the victor, the man started to walk towards the pair. Sayaka, fearing the worst, immediately got up, having seen enough. Even if from the sound of things the kid had been one who started it, she wasn't just gonna let the guy beat the crap out of him. From the looks of things, he had probably learned his lesson already.
However, the swordsman didn't attack. Instead, he just sort of stared down at the pair, moving back slightly when the doll suddenly got back up and moved in front of the puppeteer. What sounded like words were exchanged, but a sudden wind and the fact they were no longer shouting kept her from hearing exactly what was said. Finally, the man turned around to leave them.
"...Now scram, kid," she managed to catch him say. "You bother me."
She wasn't quite sure what happened next. It looked like the kid said something, but whatever it was caused the man to turn back around, right before the Nirvana doll jabbed its finger blade into his stomach.
Surprised by the suddenness of the action, Sayaka spent a moment or so just gawking while the man stumbled back, blood already dripping from his injury before he collapsed to the ground, dangerously close to the edge of the roof. She quickly shook herself out of it though.
'Stop freezing up, dammit!' she told herself, 'You're a Mahou Shoujo and semi-professional Witch-killer, not some loser novice cowering at the sight of blood! Act like it!'
She chose to ignore the potential hypocriticalness of her moral booster, as she was a novice whose win record was a little spotty, and instead concentrated on making the jump to them.
'Alright,' she told herself before taking a few steps back, gripping her sword tightly. 'Here goes nothing!'
With that, she raced forward and kicked off the roof, rocketing straight towards the battleground, where the injured boy was slowly making his way towards the swordsman. She noticed that his doll seemed to be walking rather close to him as he did, and then she remembered that little comment about cutting off Ragna's arm. Considering Nirvana's finger blades, that might not actually be very impossible to do.
"HEY!" she yelled, hoping that her shout would at least slow them down. Sure enough, both humans paused and glanced about in confusion, while the doll remained as motionless as before. By that point, she had more or less made it (right over them as a matter of fact), and so she swung her sword down on the one that had the most potential to still be a threat, the purple doll Nirvana.
However, whether out of self-preservation or because she perceived her Master was in danger, the doll swung its arm upwards to meet her whilst simultaneously pushing the kid back. Metal met with a clang, and while Sayaka couldn't cause any obvious damage, the unexpected power behind her blow and the angle at which she had attacked at were enough to force both Nirvana and her Master back a bit.
She landed right in front of the injured swordsman, Ragna the Bloodedge, and took up a ready stance, just to show she was ready to fight if necessary.
"Wha-What?" the young puppeteer said in surprise, clearly not expecting someone to interfere in this fight. "Who...who are you supposed to be?"
'I'm still not entirely certain myself, honestly,' she admitted to herself, thinking about all the little revelations Kyubey had revealed about Mahou Shoujo, of which there were probably more she wasn't certain of. Still, she didn't dwell on that, instead choosing to answer both firmly and clearly.
"I don't know where I am, why I'm here or why I look like this, or even exactly what's going on here," she told the boy as clearly as she could. "But I can see when someone's in trouble. Because you'll hurt, I'll give you one chance to walk away now, kid. I won't warn you again, even if you're barely standing."
The kid, despite being obviously injured, was actually silent for a dumbfounded moment before he managed something she wasn't expecting: a pained chuckle. "Heh...wow," he said slowly, "that was actually a pretty good entrance. You still...didn't answer my question though..."
Sayaka scowled slightly. 'Well, so much intimidation...' she decided. "My name is Sayaka Miki. Since you're gonna be so talkative while bleeding out, what's yours?"
The boy coughed. "I think the one behind you...is in more danger of dying than me, Ms. Sayaka," he managed to get out. "But...if you're so insistent, my name is...Carl Clover." Slowly, he assumed (or tried to at least) a fighting stance. "And now...I'm going to have to ask you to kindly move aside."
Sayaka just blinked. "You're either delusional or just stupid if you think I'm gonna do that," she replied flatly. "And I'd really rather not beat up someone younger than me, especially when someone else's already done the job."
She could see Carl's eyes narrow. "Don't...underestimate me," he panted softly. "I don't need to be...at full strength to fight...you."
Sayaka just sighed. Even she could see when someone was just begging to get their ass handed to them, and this kid was literally on his knees for it. Also, she was sort of pressed for time right now, so...
'As good a time as any to see what I can still do at least,' she thought, trying to find a silver lining in this as she lifted her blade. "Alright then, kid, that was your last warning-"
A sudden shifting of stone from behind distracted her. Luckily for her, Carl didn't capitalize on it because he too was caught unaware by it. Both turned their attention to the man behind them...or rather, the empty space where the guy had been.
"Ragna the Bloodedge...fell?" Carl said with increasing slowness, his injuries finally catching up to him as he suddenly collapsed.
"Aw crap!" Sayaka snapped, ignoring him as she peered over the edge to see, sure enough, the red swordsman's falling form.
Now, it must be remembered that Sayaka Miki was never one to completely think through everything. She hadn't done so when she accepted her contract as a Mahou Shoujo, and she neither when she made her wish. As a Mahou Shoujo, that tendency had resulted more often in not getting outclassed and her ass handed to her against a far-stronger opponent, Witch or otherwise. Even when she tried to find a way to escape the pain, even if it meant dying, she hadn't even bother to give full thought to the 'how' or even the full consequences (though she blamed the depression and corruption for not being in the right state of mind when she had.). That wasn't to say she couldn't do so, just that she had a bad habit of occasionally flying off the handle and going by ear.
As such, confronted with her the object of her rescue falling with crumbling masonry from a roof towards the shattered streets below, her mind grabbed the first thought that came to her and her body reacted instantaneously to it.
"Hold on!" she yelled out loud as she jumped off the roof after him. "I'll catch you!"
Carl watched her go, already succumbing to his injuries. "Is she...an idiot?" he asked no one in particular. "There's no way...she can...catch..."
He collapsed to the roof in a heap, eyes already shutting. 'Dammit...'
However, had he stayed conscious for a few moments longer, he would have caught sight of green and red blur heading straight for the roof, bounding upon it with leaps and grace far greater than Sayaka had managed.
The man, for that was what the blur was, knelt down next to the boy. He was a tall and well-built figure, with an X-shaped scar over his face, spiky brown hair fashioned into a messy ponytail in the back, muscled immensely (which his green open shirt and red scarf let anyone know instantly), and wearing a strange sort of ninja attire which include the mentioned shirt and scarf, dark green hakama pants that exposed his thighs, metal boots and a pair of silver gauntlets over his black-gloved hands. However, the most arresting thing about his was the massive grey nail, almost as big as he was, that he wore on his back.
"Master Carl?" he said in a voice that, while rather soft for his standards, was still rather boisterous and strong, as if he spent a great deal of time shouting. "I heard a commotion and came as quickly as I could, but I never expected...this! Curses, I was too late!"
Quickly picking up the boy, he also grabbed the doll near him, laying as if its invisible strings were cut. "Master Carl, you must hang on!" he told the blond boy. "I shall take you to the hospital immediately! You mustn't go into the light, Master Carl!"
Not receiving an answer, nor was he expecting one, the ninja quickly jumped off the roof, heading straight for the more populous area of the city.
'Maybe I should have thought through this one a little better,' Sayaka thought to herself as she fell after Bloodedge. 'C'mon, just a little more!'
He was currently about half of the way down and she a quarter, but thanks to the extra speed boost she had given herself off the roof, she was fast approaching him. However, she realized that at the speed they were falling, even if she did manage to catch him she'd probably have about four or five seconds before they became a large pancake on the ground. And while she could probably come back from that thanks to her healing ability, she doubted Ragna had similar health coverage.
'Think think think...' she chanted to herself as she got closer to Bloodedge, now about three-fifths of the way down, only about 40 meters to go. Stretching her hand, she managed to grasp the hem of his coat and tug on it. 'Don't have long now!'
They now had 25 meters. Sayaka blinked as she came up with nothing save one thing, and it was guaranteed to bring a world of hurt.
'This is gonna suck,' she decided, but gritted her teeth as she grasped him with both hands.
14 meters.
Sayaka grunted as she tried to shift Ragna's position. 'C'mon...'
8 meters.
'Almost there...'
2 meters.
'Got it-'
The impact of crumbling yet still very solid concrete on her flesh-and-blood body broke off any remaining thoughts. Instead, she focused on trying not to scream as something gave way beneath the pair and they tumbled on through.
Rachel watched from a nearby building with barely veiled interest as the new Azure and the Grim Reaper fell through the newly-created hole together. She was honestly surprised to see that this new puzzle piece had already come into contact with Ragna this early into everything, having hoped to meet the girl first and learn exactly who and what she was.
'I suppose it can't be helped though,' she admitted with a small sigh. 'That fool has a strange habit of attracting almost everything of interest to his side, whether he's aware of it or not, in any timeline.'
She had been observing the girl for only a short time (roughly when she had hunkered down to watch Ragna and Carl fight) and was surprised to see that the bearer of the Azure's power was so young, and yet she seemed to also carry herself like a warrior of some sort (inexperienced yes, but she had the air of a fighter nonetheless). Rachel had been prepared to intervene if necessary, and had been about to when she saw her jump to rescue that oaf from falling, though she had held back because she wanted to see how the Azure child would save him.
She hadn't been expecting her to just absorb the shock of the impact with her own body though, an act that was tantamount to suicide for most.
Still, she wasn't too concerned. The girl had seemed to know what she was doing, and if where they had fallen was any indication, they would likely end up in the Kaka Village. That was about as safe as any place a pair such as them could end up hurt and unconscious, and they would no doubt receive medical attention.
On the other hand she was...disappointed, for lack of a better term. Having lived and watched this world for several thousand years, the same players on the stage with slightly different roles each loop, she had grown accustomed to it all in that bored way she always projected. To have a truly new person on the board after so long, unfettered to all sides and the potential to change things like never before...it both excited and frightened her in ways she had long since thought past her.
To see that she had yet to do any such thing already, even if it was far too early into events, made her just a little...saddened.
'Perhaps I'm being too hasty,' she thought to herself. 'She is still a child, after all. And I have nowhere near enough knowledge of her to draw conclusions as to how much help she will be in the coming days...'
"I believe I might have a plan for Valkenhayn after all," she said out loud.
"Really?" Gii asked from next to her. "What?"
"Likely some sort training session," Nago replied. "Though I doubt she'll be in any good condition for it after that little fall."
"Nago, do not presume to know what I will do," Rachel reprimanded the cat, though she refrained from striking. "As for you Gii..."
"Y-Yes?" the bat asked worriedly, already having a feeling of what was coming.
He went flying a little ways when Rachel struck him. Only a light tap this time though. "Do not ask foolish questions when I clearly wasn't talking to you."
"Y-Yes ma'am..."
"Before that though..." she then said as she opened another portal. "We have a meeting with a certain 'hero'..."
As she stepped within, she wondered whether she should share the existence of the girl with him when they met. Admittedly, he probably wouldn't see her as the same potential ally she did (an unfortunate failing of his, his stubborn pride) but it would be better than to let him discover her himself and draw his own assumptions and conclusions.
After all, the 'White Susanoo', for all his power and reliability, was often no better at flying off the handle now as he was in his youth.
3rd Hierarchical City of Iwasu (NOL Branch)
A man sat at his desk within his office at the NOL Branch, white-gloved hands crossed over a purple-shirted chest as he stared off into space, deep in thought. He was a tall and rather broad man, wearing in addition to his previously mentioned attire white baggy tights tucked into stylized black and purple boots with golden toecaps and white and gold cuffs. Upon his face was a golden opera mask with black marks that obscured his eyes. Next to his desk on a rack was a knee-length magenta cape with a golden X-shaped fixture to hold it in place when worn and two rings protruding out of the lower front halves.
He was not unhandsome, with light blond hair and some beard stubble about the lower parts of his face. However, it was also a face that didn't look it smiled much, or rather, that smiled at things normal people usually wouldn't. Said face was currently in an expression of well-practiced apathy, a mask for the brilliant mind at work within as he attempted to solve some grand problem known only to him.
He was interrupted when the phone rang. Looking down, he reached for it, lifting it to his ear without a change to his expression.
"Hello?" he said in a strong baritone.
"Oh hey, Colonel Relius!" a chipper man's voice said over the line. "Glad to see you're still in today!"
"What do you want, Hazama?" Relius asked back, not bothering to play the man's games. "This is a secure line. What's gotten you so worked up you need to talk to me now?"
"Well, right to the point, as always. Sheesh, what a killjoy..." Hazama grumbled over the line.
"I'm hanging up now."
"Okay, okay!" Hazama interrupted him. "Alright, straight to business...you remember the 12th Prime Field Device?"
"Yes, what of it? A failed experiment, that's all it was."
"Normally, I'd agree with you...if it wasn't for the fact that it's inherited the Eye."
Relius blinked. While his face didn't change beyond that and his voice not at all, he settled more into his chair. "Really?"
"Yessir," Hazama confirmed, sounding pleased that his colleague was much more invested in what he had to say now. "Turns out our little sword was actually a diamond in the rocks all along. It just needed some polishing to bring it out."
"Where is it now?"
"The 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi. I'm already here now getting things ready."
"Kagutsuchi..." That name brought back memories. "And the 13th?"
"No doubt melted in the Cauldron," Hazama replied. "Don't worry about it. Look, normally I would have just done this myself, but I might need some...backup with a couple of things. Just to keep that shitty vampire and the damn cat off my back."
"And so you came to me," Relius guessed. "Anything else?"
"Uh...yeah, there is, actually..." Hazama admitted. Relius gave the phone a slight cursory eyebrow. That tone Hazama used...it was almost...worried.
"Go on..." he prompted.
"Well, in a purely hypothetical situation, what would you say if I told you there's another Azure user running around in the city as of this very moment, one whose potential could perhaps rival the Kusanagi's?" Hazama asked him. "And when you obviously decide to say I'm playing around and stop talking nonsense, I also tell I'm being dead serious and I have no idea how the hell it happened?"
For the first time, a real emotion passed over Relius's face: Surprise. He was silent for the longest of moments, then replied. "...Well, I'd say you've certainly piqued my interest. Another Azure? That is certainly something that bodes research into."
"And that's where you come in, Relius old boy," Hazama replied. "I can handle the vampire and the cat. Hell, I can deal with the damn sword and even the justice-crazy-samurai. I can't, however, deal with another Azure this late in the game...at least, not without giving one of those little shits a shot at blowing this whole thing to hell. I want you in Kagutsuchi, and I need you to handle whoever this new pawn of the Master Unit is before it becomes an annoyance."
"...Very well," Relius replied after a moment of silence. "I'm curious to see the Eye in action personally, plus there are one or two things I wish to...test, for lack of a better term. As for the new Azure..."
"Do whatever the hell you want," Hazama replied dismissively. "Kill it, beat it into an inch of its life, use it for your sicko experiments, rape it. I really don't give a shit. Just make sure it stays out of my shit."
"As you wish. Anything else I should be aware of?"
"Hm? Oh, aside from the Yayoi bitch, who I just gave additional orders to be on the lookout for anything really out of the ordinary along with her 'kill-on-sight' ones, nope, not really. Anyways, be seeing you on the upside, Colonel Clover!"
A click as Hazama hung up on his end. Relius quickly followed suit, then spent a moment just staring off into space.
'A new Azure...truly this is unprecedented...' he thought to himself. Slowly, a grin began to split his face, and it was not pleasant in the slightest. Standing up from his desk, he immediately grabbed his cape from its rack, throwing it on with a dramatic gesture. He then pressed the button on his intercom button.
"Lieutenant Janice?"
"Yes, Colonel Clover?" came a pleasant female voice over the line, though he could just barely hear an undercurrent of worry within. "Is there something you require?"
"Clear any appointments I might have; I'll be gone for a couple of days. Business in Kagutsuchi calls to me."
"Yessir. Shall I inform the NOL branch there ahead of time?"
"No. I will deal with it personally. That will be all."
"Yessir."
With that taken care of, Relius began to walk towards the door. 'Even if this Azure's no doubt in the grasp of one inexperienced, let us see whether or not its power is truly as mighty as they claim...' he thought to himself as he snapped his fingers. Behind him, a deep red doll striking similar to Nirvana appeared, but with key differences: Its hat had two golden rings on the front to Nirvana's one and had two extensions in the back that reached down to its ankles, and its finger blades were hooked and seemingly sharper than Nirvana's. However, the biggest difference was in the eyes: Compared to Nirvana's opaque, pupil-less ones with a line running down under one of them, this doll had one under both eyes, both of which were far more humanlike by having irises and being a deep blue.
"We depart, Ignis," he told the doll. "The time has come for a true test of your power."
Wow, this one was way longer than I was expecting it to be. Oh well, should do for now. So, we got some things from Sayaka's perspective, and now she's joined up with Ragna the Bloodedge (not exactly official yet, but we'll get there)! Rachel watches from afar, and now Relius takes an interest!
What will await Sayaka and Rags as they plummet to the Kaka Village? How does Rachel intend to test the Mahou Shoujo? What the heck going on with the rest of the BlazBlue cast? And what will Relius bring to the table? Find out next time!
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