Grimoire Blastia

Rated: T for swearing, violence, ETC.

BB Pairings: Ragna/Noel

ToV Pairings: Yuri/Rita and Estelle/Flynn

Disclaimer: Not mine. Neither of the series. The story idea was developed between myself and someone else on deviant art.

Warning: Ragna is really a grumpy person. Combine that with the ability to cuss…and you get a grand old mess.

AN: Thank you all for the reviews~ Also, you should probably listen to 'The Man' by Daisuke Ishiwatari at the fight at the end. ORIGINAL SIDEQUEST CHAIN. Yeah. Lol references to another series by Arc System, so I don't own that series either. IDK.

Chapter 03

Fire Brand

We should feel sorrow, but not sink under its oppression.

~Confucius

"That's it. Its power supply has been cutoff." Rita shot Ragna a dirty look. "Not that it matters, of course." This was true, as Ragna had literally made the golem unable to move properly with a blastia core. The silver haired man winced slightly at the mention of his mistake.

Karol and Yuri left without a word (though the former called for Rita to hurry). Rita grumbled but leapt down from the pile of destroyed golem parts. Estelle lagged behind. "What's wrong?" Noel questioned. The others turned to the duo.

"What about Flynn…?" The pinkette asked sadly.

Yuri sighed. "There can't be many knights running around if that guy in the cloak is hanging about."

Estelle looked up. "So you think Flynn is…"

"Not here anymore." Yuri shrugged. "Now come on!" Noel touched the pinkette's arms with a smile before the two followed the group out of the underground courtyard. Rita muttered something about an 'anima formula' as she stepped away from the area.

Karol scowled. "Is that why we were fighting that thing?!"

"Of course."

While Karol started on Rita (who just rolled her eyes), Ragna sighed. Rita is way too much like Kokonoe…

Yuri rolled his eyes as well. "Hey, that guy is going to get away if we don't get going like, right now." Ready to go now, the group moved out of the courtyard and down the hall that Noel said she saw the man go down. Repede back it up by sniffing the trail and barking his agreement.

Many fights later, Rita was glowering at the man with in utter rage. Ragna and Noel both stepped back, recognizing the look on her face. "How dare you think you can get away with stealing a blastia core like that?!"

"W-wah! S-stop, don't hurt me! I was told that I would get a really good price for any Blastia Cores I could find!" The white cloaked man wailed.

Yuri leaned forward. "You stole core from Zaphias, the Imperial capital, too, didn't you?"

"T-the capital?" The man shoots Yuri a somewhat confused look. "No way, not me!"

"Then maybe it was one of your friends!"

"Hey, clam down." Noel muttered to the swordsman. He either ignored her or didn't hear her, as he continued glaring at the man.

The man whimpered. "Y-yeah! It's that guy, Dedecchi!"

The dark haired man stepped close to Mr. Cloak. "Where'd he run off to?"

Estelle and Karol exchanged looks behind Rita. "He's probably picking up his money from his client right now." Yuri's eyes twitched and he demanded to know who this client was. "All I know is that he's somewhere in Torim Harbor! He was a huge bruiser with a scar on his right cheek and a missing eye! That's all I know, I swear!"

Yuri nodded slowly to himself. Rita now rounded on the man. "Where'd you steal that Sorcerer's Ring from?!"

"I didn't steal it!" He cried, insulted that the brunette would accuse him of that. "The client gave it to me!"

Rita glowered. "Liar! That's not something a boss of pickpockets could get his hands on!"

"I-I'm telling the truth!" The man cried, waving his hands around.

"This sounds big…" Karol muttered. "I wonder who could be behind it."

Yuri nodded slightly. "You got that right, Captain Karol. This doesn't sound like an ordinary group of thieves."

The man grumbled under his breath about something to do with Knights and Estelle automatically latched onto it. "Knights? Does that mean Flynn really was here?"

"Yeah!" The cloak around the man's feet fluttered angrily. "That stupid, damn knight!" Rita growled and smacked the guy around the chest with her foot. Noel sighed and brought a hand to her face: Rita was really mad.

Ragna frowned. "I think he's told us all he knows, brat." The silverette raised an eyebrow when Rita turned on him, ready to punch him instead. Karol groaned as the man fell over. It seems he had been knocked out.

"The city guards will come pick him up later." Rita sniffed. Yuri nodded and followed the mage as she left. The rest of the group soon followed, though Ragna paused. He had heard something odd, like a voice. Was he imagining things? The swordsman shook his head and followed after the group.

"Oi, Rita."

"What do you want, Lowell?"

"Well, that's nice. Look, I was wondering why you trust those two so much. I mean, from the sounds of it, you only recently met them."

"….They're kind people. Even if Ragna is rough around the edges and Noel is sometimes too polite."

"If you say so, Mordio."

"Ragna, Noel, what are you two planning to do after this?"

"What do you mean, Rita?"

"I'm going to try and get with their group…There are some things I need to know…"

"Hmph. You think we'd let you go alone, brat? We told you before, we'll stay with you till the end."

"Exactly!"

"…Ragna…Noel…" Blush. "T-thank you."

When they arrived back in Aspio, the group split up, Rita to take care of the man from the ruins, Ragna and Noel to pick up some life bottles, and the rest vanished into thin air. Thanks to the money they picked up from fighting monsters (why did monsters even have it in the first place?), they managed to not only get a couple of a life bottles but a few apple gels as well. "Hopefully Rita won't label it as hers again." Noel had joked as they headed back to the house.

Ragna had actually snorted in amusement.

The moment they stepped into the house, they were surprised to see the other four still there. Noel frowned. "Where's Rita?"

Estelle turned to them. "She said she'd go and talk to the guards about that man from the ruins. Where did you go?" The pinkette asked curiously.

"Went to go buy some first aid supplies." Ragna grumbled as he shoved his hands into his pockets. Estelle hummed in understanding. Yuri sat up and was about to question them on why they felt the need to get medical supplies when Rita stepped into the room.

She placed her hands on her hips, looking irritated. "I know I asked you four to wait for me, but you sure did make yourselves at home didn't you?"

"Sorry for suspecting you," Yuri said rather cheerfully as he fully stood up.

The brunette rolled her eyes. "What a heartfelt apology." She stepped slowly away from the man. "Of course, it ended up working out in the end for me, so I'll take it." Rita peers at her book shelf almost curiously, her gaze occasionally flicking to Estelle.

"Rita?" Noel and Estelle said at once. They glanced at each other briefly, surprised.

Yuri's eyes focuses on the mage. "Well…thanks for the hospitality."

Said girl raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Going so soon?" Ragna snorted to himself: The way she said that sounded far too much like flirting to him…

Wait.

She wasn't flirting with Lowell was she?

"We're kind of in a hurry, sorry." Yuri shrugged lightly.

Estelle bowed. "Thank you so much, Rita. It was really nice to meet you, but we have to go now." She bit her lip. "I'm going to thank you properly later, okay?" (Ragna stifled his sudden choking with his hand: What had that girl said?)

She mumbled a soft 'okay' and group of four left the house. Noel turned on the brunette. "I thought you wanted to go with them?"

Rita cough. "I do."

"Then why are we just standing here?" Ragna drawled. The brunette blushed, glared at the silverette, and then stomped out of house. The man snickered slightly before following, Noel on his heels.

When the silverette and blond caught up the Rita, they heard her simple demand of 'I'm coming with you.' Karol looked startled. "Y-you're doing what?"

"Coming with you." Ragna answered for the brunette. "And if she is, so am I."

"And me!" Noel echoed, smiling happily at the group.

Yuri ignored the three. "So this is why you told us not leave without saying goodbye."

Her lip quirked into a small smirk. "Yeah."

Karol blinks at her, utterly confused. Yuri questions whether or not she's allowed to leave just like that. Rita's excuse? She says that she wants to check out Halure's barrier blastia. Their return? It's already fixed.

Estelle, however, is ecstatic. "I've never had a friend my own age before!" She smiled happily as Rita began to stutter, obviously embarrassed. Noel hid her smile. "This going to be so much fun!" The pinkette bounced in place.

"Looks like you're stuck with us." Ragna smirked over at Yuri. The other man laughed slightly.

"Miss Mordio!" The group jumped and turned to see a young man in a dark purple cloak. He stopped a couple feet from the large team to catch his breath. Once he did, he jerked up straight. "M-miss Mordio! The Guards that started heading towards the Shaikos Ruins came back to report odd activity!"

Rita turned fully towards the elder. "What do you mean, odd activity?"

He panted. "Flashes of lights, what looks like an occasional strong gust of wind, and for some reason or another, the monsters are running away from there." The brunette frowned and dismissed the cloaked man.

She turned to the group. "I suppose we couldn't possibly stop by the Shaikos Ruins and make sure that nothing bad is going on." Ragna grunted his agreement and Yuri frowned slightly…Rita rolled her eyes. "It's on the way to Halure, which is on the way to the port…Hardly that much of a detour."

Yuri sighed but agreed. Ragna, however, couldn't help but wonder exactly could be going on there…Nothing odd had been happening there in the few hours they had been in the ruins. Except for…That strange voice that only he had noticed.

The silverette narrowed his eyes.

"I wonder what could be going on over in the ruins to cause such weird things to happen…"

"I don't know, Karol…"

"Don't worry, Noel, I won't hold anything against you, seeing as there's no way you could know."

"Did anyone see anything? Anything at all?"

"I didn't, Yuri."

"Neither did I…I was too focused on my anima formula."

"…."

"…Ragna? Did you see something?"

"No. (It's not really a lie…I heard something, not saw.)"

Ragna threw an arm over his head as debris flew around the group. Yuri cursed from next to Rita, who was grumbling insults at whoever or whatever was causing this insanity. Estelle was sticking close to Yuri's back, Karol all but clinging to her side. Noel was swiftly and easily dodging whatever rocks or stones flew her way and Repede, who was almost as quick as the dual gunner, was right behind her.

As they moved toward the statue that covered the catacombs, Rita swung her whip around to destroy a large piece of debris hurtling toward them. "Tch!" She spun on her heel. "Get to the tunnels, it's probably safer unground!"

The others crowed their agreement. However, Ragna was eyeing a courtyard just beyond the stair cases. For some reason or another, it looked completely untouched. Almost as if the storm was going around that courtyard…

He narrowed his eyes before splitting off from the group to investigate.

"Ragna!" Rita shrieked in rage as the red-clad man skittered and dodged between flying stones. Noel looked horrified before following him: There was no way in hell she was leaving her bastion of sanity alone in such a wind storm.

The rag-tag group they left behind all groaned before hurrying after the duo. Like Noel, they weren't about to let their comrades in arms be killed in a crazed wind attack. When they stopped in the courtyard, Estelle let out a cry of surprise.

The stone courtyard was completely untouched. It was as if there was some sort of barrier preventing the winds from sweeping into the ruined area. "Like the eye of a tornado…"Noel murmured aloud, so all could hear.

Ragna, on the other hand, was warily eyeing the sword stuck in the very center of the 'eye'. Was it causing the storm? For some reason, he thought not.

Approaching the sword, he cautiously reached out to snag it.

Ragna didn't really except a strangely cloaked man to appear out of thin air, pretty much back hand him, and then disarm him by flinging the Blood-Scythe across the courtyard. "Who are you?" Yuri demanded, his dark eyes narrowing. "What do you want?"

If they could see his face, Ragna would have bet he was smiling. "Nothing much. I am merely here to test Ragna." The silverette grumbled angrily at the man. What did he mean, 'test' me?

And why did he have an odd feeling that Rachel had something to do with this?

Unfortunately, he didn't have much chance to ask, as the red-and-white clothed being raised a hand—and they were surrounded by a purple-blue barrier. Rita swore in confusion, as she had never seen anything like that before. The red-clad swordsman forced himself to his feet, about ready to fling himself towards Blood-Scythe, when he realized it was on the other side of the barrier.

Cursing, he had no choice but to grab the sword sticking from the ground in the courtyard. To his surprise, it briefly spouted flames before cooling down. Ragna mumbled something about 'light shows' when he was forced to dodge the man's Photon attack.

"Wha—there's no name on here!" Karol suddenly cried, looking annoyed and concerned at once. Rita cursed him out, scolding him for not even telling them what it did say. "It just said 'That Man'!" The male brunette groaned.

Rita echoed it as Estelle cast'd a healing spell on Noel. Repede was just having difficulty just keeping up with That Man's speed. Yuri, on the other hand, was just watching Ragna and Karol's backs, as the two were being hit heavily by the Photon artes That Man was casting with a vengeance.

"This guy just doesn't quit!" Ragna cursed as he slid a 'Hell's Fang' across a flawless shield. Yuri crowed his agreement.

That Man seemed to severely enjoy trouncing them, because right now, that was exactly what he was doing. So far, only Ragna and Noel had seems to have any chance of keeping up and even then they were falling behind.

There was a sigh. "You have been relying too much on the power of that right arm of yours." That Man shook his cloaked head slightly. "You would do much better if you had not done so. However, maybe I can teach you a lesson?"

Ragna barely managed to block a strike aimed at his head. This sword was very different from Blood-Scythe, slim in comparison to the massive sword. While having a hilt, it was obvious it wouldn't be very useful to stop any blades from cutting into his arms.

Noel quickly side-stepped out of one of the attacks and shot at That Man's cloak. Sadly, her bullets only skimmed one of the four cloth flaps that looked like hands. Rita's fire ball arte managed to strike a hit and Karol's spin missed by a mile.

Yuri paused next to Ragna. "This isn't working." He mumbled to the silverette.

"I know. But what the hell are we supposed to do?" Ragna hissed back. Yuri opened his mouth, most likely to ask him to try his mystic arte (but he didn't know yet how to use it purposely), when Noel was slammed against one of the destroyed pillars.

Ragna cursed, bringing up the sword up to block another blow. He was then startled back by a 'Negative Gate' and had to run back to where Yuri had retreated. "Alright, you got a plan?"

"Originally I was going to suggest your mystic arte." Yuri muttered, eyeing That Man warily. "But now? I think if we can catch him off guard while he's casting…we might be able to finish it."

The silverette nodded before moving as quickly as possible to Noel to tell her the plan. Yuri split over to where Rita was being defended by Repede and Karol stuck by Noel and Ragna. Estelle was hanging back, her healing artes being spammed over the group over and over again.

Rita eyed That Man as he released a Photon that caused Ragna Noel, and Karol to split up. Wait for it…Wait for it… She raised a hand above her head. "Now!"

Karol came in first, spinning like a top, right into the cloaked being. Following him was a spin kick and shot from Noel and Rita shot a Champagne at That Man. Next was a side step and kick to the chest by Yuri straight into Ragna. The silverette topped off their team combo by slashing the being, sprout of flames trailing after the blast.

Then, suddenly, he stopped. The group gasped for breath as they stared at the nonplussed man. "My, you've come together as a team quicker than I thought you would. Good for you!" The smirk in his voice made Ragna's eye twitch violently.

"Oi, Jackass!" Ragna snapped. "The hell was all that about?!"

That Man straight up ignored the silverette's demanded question. "You have passed my first test. You may keep Fireseal for so long as you may need it." And with a rather over the top bow, he vanished, taking the barrier and wind storm with him.

Ragna threw his arms into the air, irritation rolling off of him in waves as. "What the hell is going on here?!" Fireseal was dropped to the ground next him as Noel snuck away to where Blood-Scythe was lying on the ground.

Yuri gave a weak shrug. "No idea. However, I think we should either get going to Halure or set up camp somewhere for the night…There's no way we're going to make it back to Aspio at this time."

The gesture he made towards the sky made them all glance towards the formerly-blue sky. Said sky was pink-orange as the sun was inching towards the horizon. The group groaned. Yuri grinned slightly. "Guess Camping is what we're going to do."

Chapter 03

Fire Brand

END

Ragna has obtained the sword 'Fireseal'!

Ragna has unlocked the arte 'Gun Flame'!