"Argh!"

The rock was chipped down almost instantly. The sound of several swords and bullets filled the area, giving me a heavy feel of dread. I really don't like the thought of being pierced by a stray sword or by bullets. As much as I want to wish for a better situation...I can't.

"Well, it really sucks to be you." the bastard said, just fueling my anger. "Oh, watch out to your left!"

Noted.

(BOOM!)

Episode 10: To escape from the crazy place...

"My good god! They're tearing this place apart!"

And apparently, they haven't noticed me yet! Are they so focused on killing each other?

But even as I was keeping my sorry ass alive, I managed to watch the fight a bit. Noel and Nu were attacking and evading like if it was a danmaku duel. I can barely see anything apart from blades and bullets, but those two can see each other perfectly, demonstrated by the fact that one of the swords managed to nick Noel's right side of the body, drawing a bit of blood.

Now, as far as I know, the normal Noel would've freaked out and/or fainted instantly which, even if it was unintentionally hilarious, it might prove...problematic at this point.

However, this robotic Noel practically ignored the wound. Hell, I think she didn't even notice! And in fact, the efficiency of her attacks didn't even falter. And she's very dangerous at close range too, I might add.

"I still don't know how she can move like that. And...did she just spin to dodge and hit the other one on the back?"

"Yep, she did alright..."

...Gah, what am I doing? I'm almost near the opening of the cocoon.

"…! Dodge!"

(BOOM!)

Where the hell did that rocket come...oh, right, I forgot about those transforming revolvers.

"Swords coming from the right!"

"Oh, come on!"

While still getting out of the vision range, I had to roll forward to evade the storm of blades that teared down the pillar I was hiding behind...and also the adjacent wall. Jesus...what are those blades made of?

"...You want my guess?"

"...Forget I asked."

The terrain started to get torn as the battle continued, as by each passing second, it got worse. Now, Noel started running over the walls, trying to land a hit. I gotta admit, Nu's swords are very sturdy to be used as defense, while also being as sharp as hell. I can notice...the marks they leave on any surface is proof enough for me.

Thankfully, I'm not going to fight her. Just a bit more closer...

"Minigun!" Kraid shouted as Noel's weapon started releasing a volley of shots, some of them hitting my right arm.

I forced my teeth together in order not to shout as I rolled out of the way. Still didn't notice me, but that was close.

"*pant* *pant* This will be a hard one."

Flanking them is impossible without getting spotted. And trying to sucker punch one of them to open a way sounds risky. The other one might attack me on the spot.

...Gah...Why the hell is this so hard?

Somehow, Nu was opening portals that started shooting a barrage of swords at a ridiculous speed. In response, Noel twirled her guns in order to deflect some of the blades...however, some of them managed to pass through her defenses, opening small wounds on her arms.

…

...I'm not worried about her, by the way.

"Tsk."

Their battle continued, this time Noel tried to limit her moments by shooting where Nu was about to move. A smart strategy...and also requires a lot of concentration and timing, things that Noel might have due to her...nature.

"Does being a robot count as nature?"

"No idea."

At first, it seemed that Noel's tactics were working, since Nu was forced to defend. And then...well...

Let's just say that Nu..."cheated".

Or to put it in a way, Nu created swords behind Noel, effectively taking her by surprise...or at least that's surprise on an emotionless face, I think.

"Analysis of target tactics...complete." Nu muttered. "Proceeding with termination protocol."

Nu then vanished out of my view, then appearing behind a still recovering Noel and grabbed her by her neck as the swords in her back positioned themselves...in a really dangerous manner around Noel.

…

...She'll be fine. It's not my problem.

Noel, quickly noticing the danger, used her legs to free herself. Then, she jumped high in the air and shoot several bullets at Nu, staggering her. However, she turned Bolverk into a rocket launcher and fired a rocket at her, with predictable results.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Huh?"

"Both of them are away of the cocoon now! Get your ass over there!"

Shit, I forgot!

I ignored them now and proceeded to run towards the cocoon. There was some sort of light coming from its depths... Am I supposed to just...jump there? I don't know, somehow...that light doesn't seem reassuring to me.

...But then again, nothing has being reassuring around here...*sigh*

"Well...so much for doubting. Here w-"

I didn't turn around but I could still hear a body being flailed around with ease. Since there was no metal involved...then I'm pretty sure it was Noel who was being flailed...

"What are you waiting for? Just jump, dammit!"

…

"Continue assault on the target..."

Noel...what are you doing? Move...just like you were doing before...

"What are you doing? Go help her!"

"Hell no! Can't you see this is our chance to get out of this goddamn place? Sure, I do not mind staying here and kill everyone...but just to save her sorry ass? No way. Nope. Nunca!"

Shit! Everyone, stop talking!

"Reestablishing connection..." Nu said monotonously, as a giant sword formed over Noel.

"Kid, don't you dare leave her like this..."

"Leave her already! She didn't help at all and tried to kill you! That's reason enough for me to leave her to die!"

...Argh...

"You promised Ragna."

"Who cares? The only thing that matters is you, right kid?"

"You're better than this!"

"Screw them all! Just jump!"

"You don't even know if that's a safe way!"

"Try it anyways!"

"You do realize the kid might die if that hole leads to nowhere, leaving you without a body?"

"You do realize that... … ...shut the hell up!"

ENOUGH!

"Die."

...*sigh* I know I'm going to hate myself for this...

(PARRY!)

Third's PoV

Noel waited for the final blow. Even if she didn't want to die, she knew it was hopeless at this point. However, it never came at all.

Confused, she opened her eyes...

There were two figures in front of her. Both of their clothes torn and covered in blood, the shorter one's apparently being dyed by the red color, changing the natural blue to a dark shade of red. Still in a daze, she looked at the tall figure. His back is to her, so she cannot see his face... But something about him seemed...oddly nostalgic. No. It was some more...familiar.

But why? She couldn't understand. Nor she couldn't understand why was she crying at that point.

"Ah, aah..." Noel remained there, tears falling down through her cheeks.

The shorter figure seemed both surprised for Ragna's sudden appearance, relieved that Noel was okay...and annoyed because of someone's ranting...

"SEE? IT WASN'T NECESSARY TO PUT YOUR ASS IN STAKE! GOOD GOD, I FEEL SO GODDAMN...!"

"Shut up, you." Raim sighed. "Focus on the other bitch."

"...Tch."

Ragna ignored them and looked back at Noel. He too, was somewhat relieved to see she was safe...but the fact that she had her sister's face was still creeping him out, but he shook the thought out.

There were worse things to worry about. But first, she had to warn her.

"It took long to take care of that bastard." Ragna said, now facing Noel. "Hey, you! Stay where you are if you appreciate your life!"

Noel didn't answer. She was still in a daze. And, between you and me, it's understandable.

"Good to see you, Ragna." Raim said, trying to ease the atmosphere...and his own stupidity. "What took you so long?"

"Well, that damn bastard's weapon didn't let me heal properly. I really took my time recovering from that. But running here after that was no problem."

"If you had arrived earlier, then..."

"What?"

"Eh, nothing important." Raim lied. "Now, mind help me getting rid of this bitch so I can go back?"

"Well...my original plan is to get rid of this bitch..."

The two red clad partners faced a still recovering Nu. However, to Raim's surprise, Nu's expression turned from her usual empty...to eerily cheerful.

"Ragna~!" Nu said, smiling wide. "Long time no see! *gasp* Have you finally accepted my feelings?"

This really freaked Raim out, since he got used to the usual emotionless face she had.

"Holy crap, what the hell happened to you?"

"Tch. Guess I arrived to late to this goddamn place." Ragna said, brandishing Blood-Scythe. "Well, let's get this over with."

"*giggle* But Ragna, haven't you come to play?" Nu said, clasping her hands together. Raim didn't know how to feel about all of this situation.

"…"

"Ragna, just who's this chick?" Raim asked, incredibly uncomfortable with the situation.

"And who are you?" Nu said, her tone turning low and menacingly. Raim noticed the sudden killing intent, and added the fact that she wasn't at all pleased by his presence.

"Do you care, bitch?" Glid said. "Why don't you play death for a while? Or hey, even a better idea! Why don't you take those swords and shove it up your ass?"

...Disgusting.

"...Seriously? You sound exactly like an immature kid, you bastard." Raim facepalmed.

"Whatever. Hey Rags, let's just kill the bitch already."

"For once, I agree with the voice in your head, Raim." Ragna said, scowling at Nu, ready for battle.

"But Ragna, why so serious towards Nu?" Nu referred to herself. "Nu only wants to be one with you."

And that's when Raim's mind screeched in halt.

"...What."

"Shut up." Ragna snarled.

"Oh. But don't worry, I'm ready this time. See, I have a new body now!"

"...What." Raim, stop it.

"Raim, this isn't what it looks like..."

"But try to be gentle. It really hurt last time, you slashed me...you pierced me all over...over and over again..." Nu said, while putting her arms around her stomach...

"WHAT? !"

"SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!"

"Why are you so angry, Ragna?" Nu smiled, perhaps too widely. "Nu only wants the best for you."

"Shut up." Ragna repeated, only that his tone started getting angrier and angrier.

"Ragna...are you sure you..."

"If you imply I'm a pedophile, I swear to God that-"

"Forget that I even asked."

"But hey. I could have sworn that you both had a S&M relationship."

...Ew.

"Raim, is there a way to kill that guy in your head without decapitating you?" Ragna said in a very dark tone.

"...For now, I don't think there is..."

"Leave." Nu said, referring to Raim. "Nu has waiting for this moment. To become one with Ragna, after so long! You have no place here."

"Sorry...Nu Gundam-tan." Raim said, trying to say a joke only to calm himself. "But I must enter that cauldron behind you. As much as you want to get into Ragna's pants-"

"HEY!"

"-I also wish to go back to my world too. So move aside...or, more conveniently, kill yourself. You'll save us a lot of trouble."

"And perhaps, save your virginity. But, as it seems, you really want to lose it. *sigh* Sexual impulses...they disgust me."

One of the swords from Nu's back darted forward, aiming to shatter Raim's skull in half. Thankfully, he dodged in time.

"Remember what I said about controlling what you said?"

"You said that?"

"...I hate you."

"This is no time for fooling around, Raim!" Ragna reprimanded him. "Don't you dare to take this mess lightly...or you'll regret it."

As soon as Ragna finished saying that, a sword emerged below Ragna, threatening to pierce him through the lungs and come out near the back of his neck. It would've been gruesome if Ragna didn't move to the right out of instinct.

"Aww... And it was so close too."

"You bitch!"

"Well, somebody is in a bad mood today. Is it because we didn't talk last time? And the time before?"

"I told you to shut up."

"Aww, Ragna." Nu seemed disappointed. "You're not happy?"

"I said shut up!" Ragna was practically shouting now. "That face! That voice! Don't you dare talk to me like that!"

Ragna was riled up, almost as if reliving a bad memory. Raim noticed this, but knew that asking anything at this point of time might leave him with no head.

"I'm here to destroy you! That's all there is to it. There's nothing we need to talk about!"

As soon as he finished saying that, he had a strange feeling of déjà vu, for reasons he still didn't know.

"Again... Dammit, again. What the hell is going on?" Ragna thought.

"...Why?" Nu stepped back. "Why are you so mad?"

"Who knows?" Glid stated, getting impatient. "Come on, what's taking so long? I feel like if we're fighting with words! And that's just pretty sad!"

Ragna just ignored everything altogether and drew Blood-Scythe.

"...Hmm. So I can't change your mind, huh?"

"It's too late for me to ask your forgiveness. You can hate me. Resist to your heart's content-"

"Uh, no. First, she's a robot. She has no heart."

"Not quite...I think that genuine flesh." Raim said.

"...Okay, fine. An android, whatever the hell you think. Second...Rags. Honestly. You sound like you're going to rape her."

Raim facepalmed as Ragna had the urge to kill Raim first now and Nu...blushed? Ew, considering the context of all of this...I'm pretty much squicked about all of this.

"-You know what? Screw everything! I still have to destroy you!"

"I see... Then, how would you like it? Gentle? Or a bit more rough, perhaps..."

"ENOUGH WITH THE INNUEN-!"

Glid was conveniently silenced when several blades pinned Raim, two on each arm and one on each leg. And, for his bad luck, one in the chest too.

"ARGH!"

"Now that the annoyance is gone... Shall we play, Ragna?"

Ragna had no words to share, only caring about killing...no, destroying her. He jumped towards her with a Gauntlet Hades ready. However, Nu was faster than Ragna and she quickly was behind him.

Ignore the innuendo.

She created swords and aimed towards Ragna's legs and chest. Ragna slashed one and crushed the remaining one with his right hand. Badass.

I forgot to remind people that Ragna was still with the Azure Grimoire activated, so his attacks were stronger. However, this makes me wonder why didn't Raim collapse just by been near Ragna, since the Azure, while active, actually sucks your soul.

Is it Kraid again? Can create negate the Azure side effects too?

"Ugh..." And look who decided to wake up. "Oh great. I seriously hope I have enough blood to move."

"Well, if you have energy to snark, then I guess you're fine."

Raim tried freeing his left arm, tearing some of his flesh on the process. To his fortune, the blade came out quite easily. Next, he removed the one in his chest, then the legs as he fell down of the wall that he was pinned down.

However, he knew that he couldn't stand another surprise attack like that. Sure, his vision and sense of pain were fading, but he knew too well that if he kept losing blood, his brain and other important organs will shut down.

"Perfect. Ngh... and I was just fine a while ago."

"Alright, enough! Let's rip this bitch a new one!"

"Hold on! In this state? Are you crazy?"

"You really didn't ask that question, did ya?"

Raim ignored their bantering as he focused on Ragna and Nu. Both were moving at insane speeds, Ragna blocking and shattering every blade Nu threw at her, and the latter speeding towards Ragna, trying to pierce him with her "sword wings", using her sword portals to distract Ragna enough to be close to him.

"Dead Spike!"

The dark attack came out fast, but Nu was nimble, and crazy, enough to jump over it. She then aimed her swords to pierce Ragna through the head, while smiling quite wide. Ragna's hand turned into a claw and swatted the swords, some of them shattered on contact. He tried using an Inferno Divider, reaching high and managed to harm Nu, albeit slightly. He followed up with an axe kick, but Nu blocked with her swords and grabbed him by the neck.

"S-Shit!"

Nu tried slamming him to the ground...but...

(PUNCH!)

...Then again, we forgot about Raim.

"Tch! I told you to stay away from this!"

"You never said that." Raim pointed out.

"I...No, no I didn't, did I?" Ragna said. "Fine. Fight, do whatever you want. Just don't get in my way."

"Hey. I just saved your ass."

"Well then...thanks."

Nu threw several swords at Raim, in the same quantity as before.

"Oh, don't you think the same crap with work twice on me!" Raim shouted as he dodged the attack, grabbed one of the blades and threw it back at Nu, who slashed it before it managed to get close enough.

"Tch. She has too much range with those swords. Not only that, how many portals can she open at once? Goddammit, this is too frustrating!"

Tell me about it.

"Ragna...why do you resist? Can you see I want the best for both of us?" Nu asked.

"Shut up! Nobody's going to decide my fate! I control what I do!" Ragna shouted.

Nu lunged Raim at high speeds and tried slashing his stomach open. However, Raim headbutted Nu with enough strength to stun her and Ragna stroke her in the back with a Hell's Fang, sending her flying towards one of the wall, raising a cloud of dust. This doesn't mean the headbutt was painless, since Raim's forehead started bleeding due to hitting Nu in the head. Justified since she was using that weird headgear of hers.

"Okay...headbutting is out of question."

From the dust of cloud, a storm of blades emerged. The blades were heading towards both Raim and Ragna, but since they saw the attack first, they dodged.

...And apparently, that's what Nu wanted, since two swords emerged out of nowhere behind both of them at the start of their jump.

After all, humans cannot dodge well in mid-air.

"...Oh shit!"

(STAB!)

OH GOD! That looks awful! Swords shouldn't be able to penetrate the body that easily!

"Argh!" Ragna fell to the ground as a blade passed through his stomach. "S-Shit! You...bitch!"

Raim also fell to the ground, but due to his thin build, the blade missed his stomach. Nope, it hit his left arm and emerged through his shoulder.

He's going to feel that tomorrow.

"Nice. My left arm is useless now."

"You actually taking this quite normally. I'm surprised."

"It's not that. I'm just trying to snark away the pain. And I'm failing..."

Ragna took care of the blade that impaled him by taking it out quite gruesomely. Apparently, he doesn't know the meaning of "being delicate".

Nu flew towards Ragna, noticing that Raim was effectively disarmed, smiling while swords emerged from the ground like spikes, preventing Ragna's movements.

Ragna tried dodging, but every time he did, Nu appeared behind him at shoot swords at him, forcing him to parry them with Blood-Scythe. However, Nu always used that frame of time to move an arc of blades into a slash, hitting Ragna directly in his torso. Thankfully, the effects of the Azure were still active...but Ragna was sent flying towards the wall, shattering its foundations.

"Tch. It isn't over yet!"

Ragna stomped the ground and dashed towards Nu, having no strategy whatsoever. Just the words "cut her down" were passing through his brain. Perhaps Rachel was right. He doesn't think things through...

"*giggle* You're very energetic today! Don't worry...Nu can go all out all day long!"

...Ugh...

Somehow, a rock flew towards the back of Nu's head, shattering in pieces. That headgear...what the hell is it made from?

"…" Nu looked at Raim, whose face practically said-

"Well, that didn't work." he said while stepping back, his arm apparently better now.

"A rock can't kill shit...except if you're an insect, but that's not the point here."

"...Annoying." Nu muttered, three portals behind her.

"Do you see a bigger rock around here?"

"Well...you could throw Ragna at her."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Raim sighed.

"I told you to leave." Nu was getting impatient.

"Shut up. The men are talking."

"...Leave..." Nu prepared her swords.

"Oh. Well, I could do that. Or I could invite you to look behind you..."

(STAB!)

"Sorry. Too late."

Ragna's Blood-Scythe attacked Nu from behind while these two assholes were ranting. It actually was quite effective since Nu did not notice Ragna at all when focused on Raim.

It's the same thing that happened with Rachel. Raim can be so annoying with pointless conversations that it makes you ignore everything else.

Nu staggered, drops of blood falling from her back and Raim took that time to punch her in the head and pushed her back towards Ragna, who did an uppercut, flinging her to the air. Both of them jumped, with their own swords in hand and slashed her.

Ah...I see. Raim played the decoy, being the weakest in the fight. But to Ragna to understand and execute the plan without a word said...that's kind of impressive from both of their parts.

Of course, it would've all gone to hell if Nu just turned back. Well, high risks means high reward, I guess.

A dull thud echoed in the room as Nu crashed into the ground.

"...Is it over?" Raim asked.

"Idiot! You never ask that! Just keep pummeling the bitch before sh-"

Nu quietly stood up, almost unfazed by the attacks.

"...Restoration...complete."

"Well, screw this s-"

Glid stopped saying anything as Nu barely missed chopping Raim's right arm with the blade on the top of her arm. Ragna started dashing towards her, using the same tactics as before, but...

"Wait! Ragna, stop!"

"What now? Can't you see that-"

"Yes, I can. And you are doing the same!" Raim shouted while both of them dodged another barrage of swords.

"So what?"

"So wha-? Look, Ragna, I really want to kill this bitch as much as you, but just going berserk on her won't solve anything."

They started running to the other side of the room as sword emerged from the ground at high speeds. The spikes weren't stopping and Nu started following them too.

"...Goddammit! So...what do you have in mind?"

Nu followed them closely and tried separating Ragna from Raim by summoning swords around them. However, they got used to that and started dodging and parrying masterfully, Raim with more ease since he was more light weighted. The two jumped over some rocks and debris, with Nu just meters away.

"Alright. You ready?"

"If this fails, I'm going to kill you."

"No. If this fails, we are going to die."

Ragna smiled, knowing that he just said something stupid. With a yell, he stabbed a darkness engulfed Blood-Scythe into the debris with such strength that a massive cloud of dust formed. Nu quickly stopped in mid-air, her body swallowed by the cloud.

So Raim's plan was this? To hide and strike? But if this smoke cloud is up, how in hell can they track her?

...And I quickly shut up when Nu was slashed from behind with ease. She turned around and opened several portals with blades...but then she was slashed again in the back with a blade of bigger size. And I guess why is this happening...

That red eye that Nu has. The one that makes her looks like a cyclops? Well...it constantly shines red, even through the cloud.

I said enough.

"...Ragna, why do you hide from me?"

She then was sending flying forward by someone tackling her and was slammed to a wall by some sort of...head. No, it looked as if the head wanted to bite half of her body off!

In this kind of situations, a normal person usually panics. But this being Nu, she just kept standing up, even after attack after attack. Hate to admit it...but you gotta admire her determination...even if she's completely crazy about Ragna in a bad way.

(SLASH!)

Aaand another slash to add to the pile. Nu crashed into the ground, but not so much after, she stood up once again and extend the blades in her back.

"Changing attacks patterns due to target unpredicted tactics..."

Nu then spun the blades behind her like a fan, clearing up the cloud and revealing both of them. Ragna was already running at her and Raim was shouting at him to stop since it was useless in this condition.

Naturally, Nu smiled.

"So there were you, Ragna!" she said, opening her arms as swords disabled Ragna's legs.

Ragna grunted in pain, but still tried running forward. The result? More swords in his legs and stomach! Geez, he's almost like a pin cushion now...

(THUD!)

"AARGH!"

"And officially, this has gone to hell. It was nice while it lasted, but, as always, life decides to give you a "screw you" and this kind of shit happens."

"...You done?" Raim asked, annoyed by how disinterested Glid sounded.

"Frankly...yes."

"Stop spouting nonsense like that and get your ass over here!" Ragna shouted as Nu punctured another sword in Ragna's chest. This time, a drop of blood flew from Ragna's body to Nu's cheek.

"...It's warm. Ragna's blood is warm. Perhaps, have you warmed up for Nu?"

"I dunno. Try licking it." Raim, what the hell?

Oddly enough, Nu did...making this scene even more creepy, considering the subtext and their indirect relationship. I mean...urgh...

"Mm..." Nu closed her eyes. "I tastes g-"

Raim sucker-punched her in that moment...Wait, did he actually plan this when he saw the blood drop fly to Nu's face? My god, he even takes advantages of other people's fetishes! Really, this guy will take any opportunity that arises.

"What a low blow. Nice, kid!"

"Alright. We know this bitch is resilient as hell." Raim said, stomping Nu's body, trying not to give her any time to recover. "Mind giving me some juice or something, bastard?" Raim asked.

"...Think it'll work? The last time you tried to use those shitty cards, they failed mi-"

"I know! Just do it anyways!"

Raim's body started to get engulfed in darkness, started from the left arm... However, everything snapped back and the darkness retreated.

"OH COME ON!"

Nu took this opportunity to summon a blade to stab Raim's legs, freeing her. She then tried a Legacy Edge, attempting to split Raim in two...and I mean literally.

He sidestepped, knowing too well how much those hurt. Since Nu was still recovering from using that, he kicked her in the stomach and tried slashing her as a bonus. Both proved to be ineffective as she stood up every time.

"Restoration...c-"

(PUNCH!)

"Come on! Just die already!" Raim still refused to believe she wasn't going to die any sooner.

Raim kept punching her with all the energy he could muster...until Nu catched one of his arms...and started to squeeze.

"...I told you to leave. Leave me and Ragna alone."

"It's actually said "Leave Ragna and me". Who taught you to speak, anyways?"

She squeezed harder while additionally surrounding Raim with swords.

"...Okay, my bad." Raim sweat-dropped. "Hey, are we forgetting something?"

Nu paused, noticing Raim's smug smile and turn around, but it was too late. Ragna uppercutted her with the red claw he now had as an arm, sending her flying back towards the room where the fight started.

"*pant* Why won't she die?" Ragna was getting frustrated, ignoring the large wound in his chest.

"Beats me." Raim said, standing up. "Could she be regenerating on the spot...or is she immortal?"

"That's impossible."

"On the contrary, I've seen two people like that. Don't ask, by the way. This is not the time."

"Now that I remember...that girl, she's still in there!" Ragna, realizing this, run towards the room.

Raim tried to stop him before he did something rash, but was out of sight.

"Shit! I know this will end badly..."

"See? I knew it!"

When Raim arrived to the room, Ragna was being impaled and raised from the ground by Nu, who also stabbed herself, becoming literally one with Ragna, ignoring the subtext. And Noel, despite all the carnage, was still in a comatose state.

"Geez. She flip flops between being useless and being a pile of crap."

Raim ignored Glid and jumped towards the two of them. Nu swatted him away with a massive sword, slamming him towards a wall.

He stood up once again. At this point, he was more worried about Ragna's than just jumping inside the Cauldron. After all, he has saved his ass too many times in this place. He felt...in debt, one might say.

"Hang on!" Raim shouted, bringing down Kraid towards Nu. However, using only her free hand, grabbed it without effort.

"Wha-?"

(STAB!)

"A...Agh..." Raim's body collapsed into the ground.

"Now that the annoyance has left this world, why don't we become one, Ragna?" Nu smiled towards the bleeding face of Ragna.

"B-Bitch...ugh..." Ragna said.

"Aw, that's not good, Ragna. You should say "Yes, Nu. We must become one. We cannot live without each other!""

"Shut up! Don't you understand...I have...to destroy you?"

Nu ignored him as she drew closer to the Cauldron. Ragna could feel the heat coming from it and started getting nervous.

"Aw crap..." Ragna said.

"Now...we will become o-"

Nu stopped as a sharp pain came from her hair. When she turned around, she saw Raim, clutching the tip of her braided hair with all of his strength...even if it was literally grabbing a sharp sword.

"...Target...not dead?"

"Where the hell do you think you're going, bitch?" Raim panted, a pool of blood beneath him.

"Hell yeah, we're still alive and well, you tin can! ...Alive, yes. Being well...err..."

"Enough...you...bastard..." Raim said.

Nu froze on her tracks. Her analysis determined he was a normal human being. But the massive blood loss, wounds and broken bones she inflicted on him contradicted her judgment.

She paused and analyzed him again...only to be sure. She couldn't afford losing Ragna.

"...Scanning target..."

Raim crawled while hanging on her hair. She countered by pinning swords on his legs...which he removed his other hand.

"…Blood levels on target...normal? Brain functions...erratic? Heart..."

That when she stopped.

"...What...?"

(PUNCH!)

She staggered back as Raim punched her in the face, shattering the headgear. However, she did not let go of Ragna yet.

"Yadda yadda yadda... Good grief, you don't stop spouting nonsense, do you?"

However, Raim noticed his mistake. That punch was the one that managed to tip Nu's balance towards the Cauldron.

"Aw crap!" Raim and Ragna said in synchrony.

Nu started giggling while looking at Ragna, and Raim, without thinking, jumped to reach Ragna before anything got worse.

However, luck smiled on him. Noel had just snapped out of her trance and reached her hand faster than Raim...while the latter started falling.

Woe on you, boy.

"Take my hand! Hurry!" Noel shouted, as Ragna reached Noel's hand. Raim, noticing this might save him too, clung onto Ragna's leg.

...However, this also allowed Nu's to hold on by holding Raim's leg too.

"OH COME ON! WHY DON'T YOU JUST DIE?" Raim shouted in both frustration and fear as he tried to shake off Nu, but she stabbed a sword that went through Nu's hand and Raim's femur and leg muscles. Raim gritted his teeth, in order to drive away the pain.

"Hold on, kid! Wasn't the exit down there?"

"...According to that bitch. But know that I see it, I'm not sure!"

"I won't let you..."

"Come again?"

"I won't let you take Ragna away from me!" Nu shouted, as swords formed over Noel's head.

The world froze to Raim as his panic went though the roof. Noel also noticed the danger that she was in and closed her eyes. Ragna, however, didn't give up yet. Mustering all of his remaining energy, he unleashed a torrent of black flames that looked akin to a feral head, shattering the blades.

However, the wheel of fate continued to turn in a negative way. The shock collapsed the ground in which Noel was clinging too, making her fall too.

"AAAAHHHH!" the group (sans Nu) shouted, knowing too well that this wasn't going to end well.

"Warning. High concentrations of seithr focused on subject. Danger. Danger."

Wait, what?

"Huh? What are you-?"

Raim felt headsick in that moment as his chest started to burn. Soon, he lost consciousness as visible seithr started emanating from his pores.

"Kid? Kid! Hey, wake up! If not, we're going to become chunky salsa down there! Screw that exit! That bitch lied to us!"

No response from Raim, as everyone else continued falling...and Nu stabbed herself with Ragna, again...

"Sweet crap of Jesus! WAKE UP!"

Then...something horrible happened.

How to explain it? Um...

Is it normal for mouths to form in your arms and extend themselves over six feet?

"AAAGGGHHHH!" Raim roared, but his voice sounded distorted and...deep.

The now berserked Raim jumped from the fiery wall, reaching Ragna, separating Ragna from Nu by cutting the blade in half with just his arm. He kicked Nu towards the walls of the cauldron and then threw Ragna and Noel over the cauldron with such strength that it looked that they were launched from a cannon itself. Both of them could not comprehend what was just happening, but Ragna managed to catch a glimpse of Raim while flying upwards.

"What the...? Has Raim succumbed to seithr corruption?" Ragna said.

Raim's body was having spasms several times, his left arm more than the rest. A second arm...sprouted from the middle of the arm, growing far larger than the rest of his arms.

...This...this is not supposed to happen. What is going on?

"Okay, that's sickening. Hey, old man, mind explaining what's happening?"

"I-I don't know! The kid's not responding!" Kraid said in panic. "And what is this air?"

"Seithr...I suppose. But at least, the peanut gallery's gone and the kid seemed to have gained some terrifying power, it seems. I like it!"

"But what if he doesn't return to normal?"

While the two were having a discussion, Nu summoned her swords trying to impale Raim. They did hit and pinned Raim to the burning walls. However, using the extra arm and some sort of dark red mist, he removed all of them...no, perhaps the term "shatter" is better fit to describe this.

"Meh, at least it's fun. Come on, am I the only one that is enjoying this change of events?"

Raim jumped towards Nu, who opened seven portals with ease, perhaps due to the massive amounts of seithr in here. As the flurry of swords rushed towards Raim, he used his...dual arm to swat the majority away. Two swords managed to pass through his defense...only to be caught by his teeth instead.

...But why? Why did he mutate like this? This is not supposed to happen! No, correction. This just cannot happen!

"RRRAAAAAGGHHH!"

"Target seithr levels...rising. 150%...200%...350%..."

WHAT?

"...Checking internal mainframe for bugs. Current phenomenon classified as improbable..."

See? Even Nu agrees!

Raim charged Nu, the extra mass of his...current body making it easier for him to deal damage. He grabbed her by the head and slammed her towards the fiery wall. Fortunately, she avoid immolation by protecting her face with a sword shield. Then she materialized more swords behind Raim and stabbed him towards the wall. Raim might've gained strength, but at the cost of being more reckless than ever.

"Detected increase in bloodlust on target."

"Gee, ya think?"

"...Unknown voice detected. Cannot determine origin."

"Yeah, sure, like that's important for you now." Glid said.

Nu noticed that Raim was already charging towards her and dodged easily. What she didn't saw was some sort of red and blank tendril grab her from her legs and slam her towards the wall. The knockback sent her flying directly towards Raim's fist.

However, Nu took that opportunity to grab Raim and lock him inside some kind of rune field as she started chanting something...

"O silver blade forged in the depths of the beyond," The sword of her back went into a glyph over her. "heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way."

A massive sword, the largest that both Glid and Kraid have seen, materialed above Raim, which was roaring and struggling to break free.

"Oh...that's...that's not good."

"Lay waste."

The sword descended, as if it was a harbringer of death itself.

(CHOMP!)

...Which Raim caught with his teeth...wait, WHAT THE HELL? !

"...Impossible event has occurred. Impossible event has occurred."

Raim's jaws managed to crack the tip of the sword just a bit. Not soon after, black tendrils of either seithr or something else started pummeling the blade, lowering the speed of descend. Nu tried incapacitating him by summoning more swords around him. Not only this backfired, but made Raim angrier, destroying the tip of the blade completely, negating the astral!

"RAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" Raim broke the rest of the sword of destruction by smashing it with a seithr infused Kraid. The shards turned back into blades, hovering back to Nu's back. However, there were signs of damage.

"Target's body mass...irregular. Unable to develop tactics. Executing combat protocol number-"

She couldn't finish as Raim grabbed her head. The next thing Nu knew, her body was being flailed around like a rag-doll, against the walls and without mercy. She managed to take a glimpe into his eyes. The dead-fish, black eyes were now colored in a fiery crimson, turning his features...

...more like a demon.

"Analyzing...analyzing...(SLAM!) Cannot identify weakness. Changing tactics towards close-quarters combat."

Nu used the swords in her back to break free from Raim's grip and hovered towards him, ramming him into a wall in the process. He roared as the walls burned his back, which was constantly regenerating. Nu didn't waste any time and tried stabbing him in the head, assuming that this would kill him. Raim, even in his frenzied state, noticed the danger and moved his head to the other side, evading the attack. He then bit the sword and shattered it while pushing Nu back.

The seithr around Raim was more like a cloud of mist around him. Nu looked again at him and noticed he was drawing more seithr into his body, in quantities that were obviously beyond limits of a normal human being. Right after that, Raim...released a stream of red miasma from his hands, somehow akin to a web of tentacles or even worse, towards Nu. I cannot describe this...

Trying to defend herself, Nu summoned swords in front of her to act as a shield. It didn't work, as the...thing pierced the swords and engulfed Nu. Raim was smiling very creepy while this happened.

"...Kid, you're actually becoming scary. *sniff* I'm so proud of you."

"This is horrible!"

"Meh. Everyone has their tastes."

Raim pulled, dragging Nu towards him as Raim engulfed Kraid with seithr, turning it red in the process and making it release steam for some reason.

(STAB!) (STAB!)

...But he didn't notice the swords that pierced a certain region of his stomach, making him freeze instantly. This also freed Nu, albeit she was tried too.

"Oh come on! It was getting fun."

"Unknown life form...detected. Life form temporarily disabled. Require more data."

"Unknown lifeform? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Target status and vitals returning to normal. Proceeding with the termination."

(SLASH!)

(SPLATTER!)

"*sigh* I still can't believe she cried herself to sleep." Ragna said, the figure of Noel resting in his chest. "But no doubt about it, the resemblence is uncanny... However..."

Ragna quietly stood up, letting Noel rest on the ground. He silently moved towards the edge of the Cauldron, trying to see the bottom. He frowned when he realized that he couldn't.

"...Dammit, Raim. Why the hell did you jump in that moment too...? Still it surprises me how can she sleep so well after all of this mess." Ragna paused. "Damn, what am I supposed to do know?"

In that moment, a wind rose up with the scent of roses. Rachel appeared in front of him, sighing.

"You're always asleep when we meet." She referred to Noel. "Rather rude if you ask me."

"Hey rabbit, who's this?" Ragna asked.

"So this power is just an imitation, huh?" Ragna said, looking at his arm once more. "And what do you mean that the world will change? Argh! This doesn't make any sense, rabbit! Would you at least explain to me what is going on around here? !"

Rachel vanished without saying anything while looking upwards.

"H-Hey! Wait a minute!"

And just after that, a gap opened in front of him, Yukari coming out of it...and what with the burn marks on your sleeves.

"Oh great. Just what I needed. You again..."

"My thoughts exactly." Yukari said. "And it seems he isn't here yet."

"...If you're looking for the kid, then I have b-"

A cellphone rang in that moment, cutting off Ragna.

"The hell was that? !" Ragna, completely alien to the concept of cellphones, asked.

Yukari ignored him and answered.

"Ran? It's me."

"Oh? Do I sound like your shikigami to you, dear?" A suave voice I know too well came from the phone.

Louis.

"You! How did you...?"

"Got this number? Let's leave that question unanswered just as homework for you, okay?" Louis said. "Now, back to the subject at hand... You do know that your pawns are stuck in a stalemate at the top of the tree, right?"

"..."

"Seems you know." Louis was apparently smiling. "If my information is right, you should be able to feel the massive amount of energy over that town. Better move now, it'll be your only chance."

"...You mean that up there is the "ace on the hole" you kept blaberring about?"

"Could be." Louis was apparently enjoying himself. "Why you ask me? I'm not there, you know."

"Who are you talking to? !" Ragna asked, with good reasons.

I mean, how would you react if a woman appeared out of a hole in the middle of the room after you barely survived a fight with a psycho staker pseudo robot girl?

Needless to say, Yukari made a motion with her hand, right over Ragna's throat. The next thing Ragna knew is that he became mute.

"...!" Ragna tried shouting, but it was useless.

"Feigning ignorance?" Yukari said in her sly tone, trying not to get annoyed by Louis' voice. "Are you telling me you don't know what is going on, even if you know my current situation? That's just not logical."

"So true. I was just messing with you. It's fun."

Yukari sighed.

"...Still..."

She entered into one of her gaps, leaving Ragna behind...

...and came out over the skies of Kagutsuchi, just behind an amused Rachel.

"Oh, it's you." Rachel looked bored, but then quickly turned back her gaze to the sky.

"Princess! It's that weird woman, again!" Nago and Gii said in synchrony.

"Of course. I'm not blind, you know." Rachel was not amused by their chatter. "Now... will you leave? I'm quite busy right now."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, dear." Yukari said smiled. "Now...is it here?"

"Again, why are you asking me? It's not like I have eyes over there, you know."

"You know too much to be a human, so you must be a demon or something worse. I simply cannot trust you blindly."

"And yet, you believed in me when I gave you advice. That's called hypocrisy, you know?"

"...Goodbye."

She hanged up in frustration, to the confusion of Rachel and her servants. But at this point, she didn't care. She knew that Take-Mikazuchi was about to fire, as it always did before.

"Sorry about that. Wrong number."

"I do not care. Do me a favor and just go away. I need to focus on something." Rachel then faced her familiars. "Nago. Gii. A moment please."

"Princess? What are you going to do?"

"Quickly!"

The familiars yelped as they vanished, leaving Rachel alone.

"What is up there anyways?"

"You're still here?" Rachel sighed. "I do not get your motives to come here, but it would be wise to leave."

"Riiiiight..." Yukari rolled her eyes. "And I don't have time to explain either. So do whatever you need to do. I won't bother. I'm just...waiting for something, if what he said was true.

Rachel turned her back on Yukari as she started chanting something...

"Nulliplex restriction mechanism release, dimensional interruption imaginary number developing..."

A giant yellow glyph appeared over Rachel, covering Kagutsuchi completely.

"Connecting to congenital border...Activating Tsukuyomi Unit."

"Quite flashy if you ask me." Yukari commented, almost as a mockery.

Yukari looked through the glyph barrier and saw a twinkle in the sky, no doubt that it was coming from outer space. She had a realization in that moment.

"Ah...I see. *sigh* Well, sometimes, only power can solve problems like this." She closed her eyes. "Well then, little girl, let me show you how outclassed you are...and I hope you start respecting your elders too."

As soon as Yukari finished saying that, she closed her eyes to focus. Then, a giant gap formed over Tsukuyomi...and yes, it matched its length, thank you very much.

"Wha-?"

The beam from Take-Mikazuchi started entering the gap without any problem. Yukari then quickly took out her cellphone and dialed.

"Ran. It's me. You better duck."

Raim's PoV

…

...Why does part of my body feel...light?

...Hey bastard, what the hell happened?

"No shit. You actually haven't noticed yet?"

Notice what?

...What's that on the floor? ...Looks...odd. Gah, I cannot see it very well with all the blue. What...

…

...Is that m-? But...how? HOW?

Waitwaitwait...no, no no no no no. That isn't my arm. That isn't my arm. That isn't my arm. That isn't my arm. That isn't my arm. That isn't my goddamn arm!

Wait...why then do I have my two arms here?

"It's a long story."

"Long story? Are you out of your-?"

"As I said, long story. Also, you better dodge."

"Huh?"

Several swords fell upon me, but since I'm using to her pattern now, it's far easier to dodge. Now, where's that bitc-?

…

...What the hell happened to you? Your arms are bleeding and the swords in your back are severely damaged. Your forehead is also bleeding, but not as harshly as the other wounds...

And yet, you're still alive. That's...that's quite impressive for an artificial being...

But I wonder... what caused those wounds?

"It w-!"

"Meh, you knows. You hit your head hard to the ground. I think Rags managed to punish her this badly while your sorry ass started falling below."

…

...Huh. Well, let's just worry about trying to kill off this bitch for real.

"How?" Good question. "As far as I see, the bitch will take any damage we deal to her like nothing."

A torrent of blades started following me. Better start running...

I managed to outrun the blades, which started melting against the blue...something. Anyways, what is this place? There's a lot of that seithr thing here and everything here is painted in a deep velvet. And, for some reason, my chest feels funny...

"What surprises me is that you can have a monologue while still outrunning a storm of blades."

"Shut up." I grumbled. "Anyways, things aren't immortal."

"That pyromaniac girl is..."

"No. She's constantly regenerating after death. That is not immortality." I corrected. "Besides, I don't think she can do that forever without any external cause interfering. The "effect" of immortality must have a "cause" to trigger itself and some sort of energy to execute. Nothing cannot happen without explanation. That's just absurd."

…

...Odd. Where did that thought come from?

"Says the guy with the talking sword. Not to mention myself."

"I'll find out what are you, eventually." I said, ducking and rolling forward in order to evade everything.

"And what's your point, anyways?"

"I think the same phenomenon applies with her...or at least, it's similar. She's bleeding, that means that she can be hurt, but she had to have died at some point. I'm sure Ragna and I broke her legs and arms. The internal bleeding should've left her without any blood...yet there she is, still standing and...scared?

"Perhaps she isn't as robotic as we thought."

"...You think? She looks like she's scared of me instead. Meh, what am I thinking? That's not possible."

Anyways, where was I?

Right.

Perhaps...she was created in some sort of way that she is unable to die? That's a cruel thought, but I cannot rule it out completely. Perhaps it was a glitch...

...But if this was intentional? What kind of sick bastard would create her like this?

"So, in a nutshell, she's a robot zombie swordmancer?"

You take this as a joke? Why? Even if this bitch is trying to kill us, if what I think holds true...then I really should feel pity for her. And yet, you still take this as a joke?

Imagine yourself that you are beaten to death, bleeding, shredded, whatever... You feel the pain, no doubt, but you don't die. You perhaps then ask why aren't you...dying.

This...this actually raises several horrible implications...

Maybe, just maybe, she feels confusion, fear, panic, even if you're not dying. And even worse, she might still wish to fight even if she didn't really want to from the inside. And what if she knows that, but still fights anyways, just because a fake memory or programming was put inside her head? You have to have no soul to say that you at least don't feel any pity for her!

Is that why she looked so happy when facing Ragna and stoic when facing anyone else?

...Hold on...

Nu was created. This means that she was then intentionally programmed to do exactly that. This...this may mean that she chases after Ragna, perhaps even without even knowing him. Ragna didn't seem to know this place completely, so this should be his first meeting with her...and yet, her interactions with Ragna suggest otherwise...

Why? What's the meaning of this shit?

"Swords to your right."

A wave of blades flew right next to me. I was able to dodge, but I almost got pierced by them.

"...So, she has no power over her own actions?"

"Yes. And even worse... perhaps she's aware of what she's doing, but perhaps her creators twisted her mind to this point so she cannot even question why... That's just...inhuman."

"But this is just a stupid hypothesis. But then again, if this is actually true, then I have no objection in killing those guys. I may kill people, but at least kill people that fight because they want to. A battle robot may be fun at first, but then you remember that they are just programmed like that. No genuine intent to kill after all..."

I have gotten soft. My interactions with Reimu and the other girls, the lack of exposure to the outer world...and most importantly, the first meeting I had with her, have made me forgot how humanity is at its worst. It's disgusting...and it shouldn't exist at all...

"...Kid?"

And yet, the sole existence of Nu pisses me off since it is a reminder of how stupid and selfish humanity is! Why is humanity still this horrible?

It's too late for me to ask your forgiveness. You can hate me. Resist to your heart's content...

What if Ragna knows? Is that why he wants to kill her, to end her suffering, if it is true? Or is there another motive?

"I don't get how all of this crap will help us beat this bitch. And, more importantly, where's the damn exit?"

...Ah. I forgot about that. Guess I got carried away. But if we don't kill her...or at least incapacitate her severely, how can we search for it?

"It's useless." Huh? "As you were running around this place, I looked around. There isn't such thing as an exit down here."

…

…Somehow, I'm not surprised. Damn Energizer, did she send me here to die?

"What now?"

"...Guess we have to get out of here"

"How?"

"Let's kill her first. I don't want to be bothered while thinking for a way out."

"How?"

"She's still a robot. Perhaps a logic error will do the trick...or not."

(STAB!)

"Shit!"

A sword was lodged into my stomach, but there was no pain. Sure, the stab itself hurt...but there's no pain afterwards.

Nu rushed towards me and tried cutting my head of with the blades on her arms. I blocked the attack with Kraid and with the sword she just stabbed me with. I could see her red eyes up to this close. And she really does look like Noel...yet...

"You're scared, right?"

"…"

"Confused, perhaps?" I tried to get an answer from her, at least a proof that she was indeed emotionless and not some sort of homunculus that had her emotions killed.

I just hope it isn't the latter, because I would really lose it...

"…"

"Goddammit, say anything!"

"Perhaps she's just a shell that had emotions inputted. Let it g-"

"Why...?" Nu answered. "Why...aren't you...dead? It's not...logical."

"Beats me." I said, still in a blade lock with Nu. "Can I ask you something?"

"…"

"Don't clam up on me." I said. "Have you asked yourself why do you love Ragna?"

"…!"

A reaction. Finally...

"Nu will always love Ragna!" Nu said, turning into her "happy" mode. "Nu will do anything for Ragna, because Nu and Ragna will become one!"

"That wasn't my question."

"Eh?"

"I asked why do you love Ragna. Not what would you do for him."

"Why does Nu love Ragna?" she blinked. "I loved Ragna...since I first met him. Up there, in that same room... I must return to Ragn-"

"That's impossible." I countered. "You couldn't have met Ragna before. You came out of that jewel and Ragna had no recollection of this area before. What you suggest is impossible."

"You're wrong." Nu smiled to herself. "Nu had met Ragna. Several times before."

"I said that's impos-"

"Sometimes it was Ragna. Some others the 12th. Some others the Power of Order. Some others a weird ninja... Oh! There was one time when a boy and the Nox Nyctores Nirvana appeared instead! And a blob, a red woman, the Susanoo Unit, the Observer and..."

...What? But...but those are people that hadn't even been here!

"That's impossible! ...Unless you met them in another time. Was it-?

"Nope. I met them all in the same day! At the same hour!"

BULLSHIT!

"...In the same timeline?"

WHAT?

"No. That would impossible." Nu answered.

...Timeline? Glid, what are you getting at?

"It is the only other explanation. Meeting different people that we know they couldn't have entered here in the same day and hour, no less, means that either she's insane...or this world is trapped on a loop cycle."

"How did you arrive at this conclusion?" Kraid shouted.

"Thinking outside the box. Simple as that."

…

...This...this has too many implications... And all of them are horrible...

So Ragna...everyone before, may have died in other timeline? By her? By another cause? And yet, nobody remembers but her?

...Calm down. Continue.

"...Why do you want to become one with Ragna?"

Nu giggled. And her eyes opened. Somehow, this made me more uneasy than before.

"Ragna hates the world. So Nu will help him destroy everything."

That kind of makes sense. Ragna looked always pissed at the NOL and he responded accordingly...yet he invited dinner to that cat and me and overall, he's a nice guy with a bad mouth...but I don't mind that.

"You really think that? You think you know Ragna that well to choose his fate for him? Hell, do you even know him...or have you been made to love him?"

Nu stopped once again. This time, I noticed I was loosing the blade lock as Nu pressed forward out of...rage.

"NO! I love Ragna!"

"Do you?"

"Y-Y-Y..."

Oh boy... I hope I played my hand right...

Nu started clutching her head and stepping back, flailing blades around.

"You're lying! You know nothing about me nor Ragna! Shut up shut up shut up!" Visible anger. Making progress here.

Look, I know messing with people's heads like this is completely wrong, even for me, but when you're outclassed in any sense...well, you have to do what you have to do.

"Then why do you force Ragna to love you?" Okay, think of something cheesy... "Think about it for a second. Ragna doesn't love you at all. Yet you still love him. Why are you so dense...in the opposite way?"

"Well, she IS a goddamn robot...with serious mental issues."

Don't you start...

"Let's put it this way. Give up already. Your thoughts are not yours, girl. And, to be honest, are you sure you're not lying to yourself?"

Aaaand she ran towards me with the unholy combination of a death glare and berserker tears. Okay, perhaps I took it too f-

(STAB!)

Gaa...agh...!

"Say good-bye to your pancreas."

Well, at least it wasn't a vital organ.

"Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up SHUT UP SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME AND RAGNA! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO GET BETWEEN US? !"

"None."

"What?"

"And you know why? 'Cause I'm an asshole."

I took the opportunity of her confusion and I slashed her. Blood started pouring out, but that didn't faze her. Good grief, what does it take to take you down?

"Okay, that worked better in my head."

"Really mature, kid."

Nu started pushing back, her attacks far fiercer than before. I noticed some tears fall from her cheeks...guess I was pretty harsh.

However, as I always say, when people are pissed, they leave more holes in their defense.

(SLASH!)

Like below the arm...

(SLASH!)

The leg lung...

(SLASH!)

Her back...man, you're leaving too many holes. It's just too easy.

Nu tried impaling me from the back, but I was a bit faster than her at this point. Her wounds are taking its toll on her body, be it immortal or whatnot. True, you may not die...but that doesn't mean I can't shred you until you can't stand up.

But...don't get me wrong. Beating up a girl that was brainwashed like her just feels...wrong. However, my life goes first than any kind of sympathy. Screw being a good sport!

"Kid, better pay attention." Glid said. "That bitch isn't done yet."

Huh?

"You need to die." Nu said. This time, I couldn't see her eyes. "Yes...humans like you just need to die, right? Am I right?"

She dashed forward and then disappeared. Shocked, I turned around by instinct and blocked her attack. Immediately, I kicked her away since she was about to summon a sword at point black range and that would be bad for me...and my guts.

"...Yeah. You're right."

"Eh?"

"Humans like me should die. I cannot deny that fact..."

In that brief moment of confusion, I punched her in the stomach, making her stagger. I then followed up with a kick towards her face.

"However, that doesn't mean I want to die here!" I shouted, as Nu fell back.

"SWORD!"

What?

(SLASH!)

"Ugh..." Okay...that definitely tore down my stomach, right?

Wait...that wasn't a summoned sword... The texture was far harder and that shape was more like a...

"Kid, since when can the bitch manipulate the swords behind her back in order to surround you?"

"Huh? What are you...?"

I stopped as I noticed what he meant. The swords that were behind Nu all this time started hovering around me. Without warning, one of the flew towards me. I dodged quickly but then another blade started flying towards me, so I jumped backwards. Soon afterward did I notice that the swords came to me in intervals of a second each.

Basically, I was break dancing to survive.

"What the hell is this? Funnels?"

"This is not Gundam...wait, how do you that?"

"Less talk, more dodging!"

A sword passed near my head, cutting a bit of my hair. Crap, I have to do something...

"Okay, enough shit for one day!"

Shut up!

"Sword on the front!"

Shi-!

(GRAB!)

...Huh?

"Geez...FINALLY! Do you know how pathetic you are without my help?"

You just coated my arm in black flames in order to grab the sword. Bigger question is...why am I not burning?

"Does it matter?"

Good point.

Okay, what to do, what to do...

"Catch this." I said, throwing the sword back with full force.

The sword tore through the air as Nu's face showed hints of surprise. She dodged easily, but I took that moment to move near her and burn part of her arm.

...Wait, this darkness... Perhaps I can copy Ragna's style just this once...

"What are you planning?"

"Stuff. Happy?"

Glid scoffed.

Nu's wounds somehow recovered fast and continued her attack. With my arms covered on black fire, things were easier. I just swatted the blades away without much effort.

"Analyzing changes on subject. Unknown li-"

"Hell's Fang!" I shouted.

My fist apparently broke some ribs when it connected. Nu's face was of confusion and shock, since she expected Ragna when I called the attack, which is still stupid. The act of calling the attack, not the name of the attack, mind you.

Since Nu was still stunned, I had room for a follow up attack...but instead of Ragna's usual follow-up, I went for an overhead variant, making my hand bigger with the flames. The attack made Nu's body bounce off the ground. However, she recovered in mid-air and kicked me with her legs...which had swords on them.

I staggered back and Nu opened thirteen sword portals at once, all of them around of me. Guess she know is treating me as a real threat now that I got Glid's support back.

In other words...she started fearing me. That could be useful.

Also...I need some music. There's no sound here, you know.

(I see a little silhouetto of a man.)

Nu made some hand gesture and the portals started firing. In normal situations, I would be shitting my pants now. But...

"Time for a test run!"
(Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango?)

I slammed my fist into the blue. Black mud-like pillars rose from the ground, surrounding me, which blocked every single sword in contact.

"...Warning. Conversion of seithr in the area into an unknown source of energy. Warning..."

(Thunderbolt and lightning - very very frightening me! )

I don't understand what's she saying, but I have the advantage now. The black things were still here. However, I soon figured out that I could still control the black energy and, thinking crazy, I gathered them into a single blob of darkness...covering my left arm and Kraid completely.

Nice.

(Gallileo, Gallileo,

Gallileo, Gallileo,

Gallileo Figaro!)

"Okay, that was disappointing."

"Really? Let's test that statement, aight?"

Nu dashed at me, the swords now surrounding her as some sort of options. Huh. No matter.

"Ready?"

"You sure this is going to work?" Kraid said as I moved my arm backwards.

"Heheh...I have no idea!"

(Magnifico~!)

And I slashed the area. No, seriously. I'm not kidding. The black energy just...grew exponentially to thrice its size, now resembling a giant claw.

(But I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me
He's just a poor boy from a poor family!

Spare him his life from this monstrosity!)

"…!" Nu stopped in shock, or so I think.

The claw managed to grab Nu and shatter the swords in the process.
(Easy come easy go - will you let me go?)

Quickly, I slammed her to the ground without stopping.
(Bismillah! NO!)

One. Two.

(We will not let you go - let him go!)

Three.

(Bismillah! We will not let you go - let him go!)

Four.

(Bismillah! We will not let you go - let me go!)

Five and more. I lost count how many times I slammed her into the ground.

(Will not let you go - let me go (never)!)

"Levels of seithr...falling. Phenomenon unidentified." Still don't understand.

"Shouldn't you finish this already? I really don't like fighting something without will like her."

...Yeah. I think I understand. Sorry, Nu...I'm so sorry.

(Never let you go - let me go!
Never let me go – ooo~! )

I dragged her back towards me at high speeds in order to prevent her from attacking and headbutted her. While stunned, I focused energy on Kraid once again, now trying to replicate the Black Onslaught.

"Wait, seriously?"

(No, no, no, no, no, no, NO~!)

"Fake Onslaught!" I stabbed Nu with a black Kraid. And why did I shout that?

Whatever. Here we go!

(Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go!)

"QUEEN!" The concentrated energy took the shape of a scythe and I started hacking her.

(Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me...!)

I continued shredding her, the scythe growing exponentially with every hit.

(For me...)

"Bohemian Rhapsody...!" Sorry, I got caught on the song while charging the energy into one single point...but sadly, no same draining effect as Ragna, but still, she remained stunned.

But no matter, I still impaled her.

(FOR ME~!)

Just as Kraid managed to touch her, a red and black explosion occurred from its tip. Nu was sent backwards at ridiculous speeds, crashing into the blue with such force that...somehow, the wall of this cauldron cracked a bit. Whoa. I can't believe I did that.

"Pfft, you? It was all me, baby."

"Is...is it over?"

Not sure yet. Anyways, enough Queen for today.

The light cleared after some seconds. And to my horror, she was still alive. What.

"Okay, this is ridiculous."

"Target...you...why...Ragna..."

You have a hole where your stomach should be...

"Seithr...Ragna...where are you?"

...Please, just die. I just want you to fall down and stop. Even if my assumptions are false, I really don't want to hurt you anymore.

"You...took Ragna away from me...why why why..."

Just stop...

Nu started limping towards me, summoning a sword in her hand. She's desperate now...or perhaps I hit her head way too hard. Drops of blood fell to the blue ground as she walked.

She's staring at me. I have the chance to take advantage of her state and beat the crap outta her, but...I cannot bring myself that low.

She's few feet away from me. Her braid was long, making her hair flow freely. Her cheeks were covered in blood and she was obviously in pain. Seriously, stop!

"I must find...him. Must...become one with him..."

She tried slashing me, but her attacks lacked strength and the blade didn't manage to make a wound. She then fell to her knees, still repeating Ragna's name.

…

...So sad. Truly.

"Kid. Just...just kill her, alright? I can't watch this anymore."

I wish I knew how.

"Why...why...?" Nu said, starting to cry with her eyes open.

"…"

"I must..."

"Answer me this." I interrupted.

Nu didn't answer, but she did hear me.

"Do you wish to die? If not, stop doing something you're not sure about."

"…"

"Come on, just look at yourself!" I snapped. "Your stomach is missing! Your limbs are broken! ...And yet, you don't mind feeling pain like that, just for the sake of something fake?"

"My love for Ragna isn't fake!"

"Then why doesn't Ragna return the feelings? ...'Cause that is how relationships normally work, right?"

I honestly have no idea about relationships. But I'm damn sure they do not involve killing each other. Perhaps in another planet or weird culture in this world, but how can I know?

"That's...!"

"*sigh* Look, word of advice. When something doesn't work out as you want, stop chasing it. Not that I care what happens to you, but...stop living in a delusion and grow up...or something like that."

"Can robots gro-? Kid, that was a stupid question."

I noticed.

Nu hanged his head down. The awkward silence remained for a while when...

"Data corrupt... I...I do like Ragna?"

"Uh, kid? I think you're causing a critical error in her head."

Either that kills her or snaps her to reality. Both are good outcomes for me, but I kinda prefer the latter...just a bit.

"What if..." Nu shifted between "regular" mode to "robot" mode when she spoke. "Library not found. Cannot identify... But I do remember! ...Fatal kernel error imminent...Or, was it all...no, no! It isn't like... Subject...not...hostile? Ugh, my head...my head! It hurts! IT HURTS!"

Aw crap.

"H-Hey! Calm down! Focus on...err, something else!"

"Aaaaaghh...!"

"Come on, kid. You're not helping!"

Aah...what do I do? What do I do?

...Well, when in doubt, do something stupid.

(SLAP!)

"Get a hold of yourself!" I slapped her, trying to make her come back to her senses or something like that. "You already have a hole in your stomach. Don't make it worse!"

Nu's tears stopped. She looked at me directly. And then collapsed on the blue ground.

Oookaay... That might not have gone as I wanted.

"Might?"

Shut it, you.

"I'm...tired..." Oh, she's still alive.

At least Mokou's regenerates fast. Nu's body still has her wounds. And I find myself worried for why am I not disgusted by seeing the insides of someone.

"Remember something horrible, right?" I said.

She nodded quietly. You know, now that I'm thinking about it, according to her behavior right now, I'd say she was programmed to protect the cauldron from threats. Since I'm not attacking her and we both are inside the cauldron...guess I found a loophole in her logical programming.

"...Wanna talk about it?"

Nu blinked in confusion as I sat down.

"You...talk with Nu?"

"What do you think I'm doing? Scratching my belly?"

Nu didn't answer. Seems she doesn't understand sarcasm.

"But of course she doesn't." Glid said.

"I...remembered things. Horrible things that happened long, long ago. Or perhaps...Nu didn't experience that. But it felt so real...and painful."

Poor girl has some issues. I didn't ask for details in order not to traumatize her more.

"Let's change the subject if you don't like it." I said, focusing in another topic, ignoring her wound...which is hard. "Well, what about..."

"You asked me...if I liked Ragna...right?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"I really do."

…

…And by the look on her face, she's being honest. Guess that I cracked her programming by force, but she still likes him.

Heh. That thing called love is as weird as shit.

"But...why?"

"Because...he was the first thing I remembered."

Remembered? That doesn't make sense.

"Nu was all alone... But Ragna would always appear in Nu's mind, beyond normal protocols."

Huh? So...in order words...

"She remembered Ragna before being turned into...you know, her. Perhaps someone looked at her mind and said "Hey, this might be fun! Let's make her fall in love psychotically with this guy, you know, for shits and giggles... My god, my penis is small...""

*snicker*

Okay, that was uncalled for. But kinda funny in a twisted way.

"...Ngh..." And Nu didn't like his comments.

"Sorry. Can't find the mute button for him yet." I said.

"You...are the first one who is nice to Nu."

"…Sorry to hear that..." I scratched the back of my head.

"Why are you...suddenly nice to me? I can't understand."

Well...

"Let's just say that I had a change of heart when I realized something about you." Something horrible, but I won't tell you for your own sanity. "Besides, even though I fought girls before, and for my need of survival...I just cannot bring myself to finish you, even if you DID want to kill us, but that's the past now.

"I...see..." Nu said, but her tone of voice was getting lower. "You forgive Nu?"

"Sorta, yes."

There was an awkward silence. Since I'm not good with people in general, I really don't know how

to continue a conversation for too long...

"Nu has spent to much time alone..." Nu continued. "So cold in here...only blue around me..."

"For how long?"

"Nu doesn't know...Nor Nu cares..." She said tiredly. "I miss Ragna..."

And with that wound, I don't think you won't see him for a while. Or even get out of here...

Speaking of which...

"Do you the way out of here?"

"No. But I will find one. I have to become one with Ragna."

"Enough with the innuendo."

"What's innuendo?"

Seriously?

"...You know what? Forget about it. Just...just don't say things like "becoming one" or "too rough", okay? These are not things a girl should say."

"...Okay."

You know... Nu acts almost like a newborn baby. You have to tell her what's wrong and what she shouldn't do. Well, it is kinda justified since...well... she was inside that sword thing alone.

If only Ragna or someone else had spent the time to just, you know, talk to her, perhaps all of this might have been avoided.

And I can see why did I stop fighting her. She's just like a kid. And kids are inherently innocent. Just like dogs. I like dogs too.

"Do you think this world needs to end?" Nu, why are you asking that all of the sudden?

"…"

"Ragna feels that too. He hates this world. And so do I. That's why I want to us become one... to get rid of this sad world."

"...Yeah. You may be right. Sometimes, I think the world isn't worth it, just by looking how people nowadays are so messed up."

"You do agree..."

"But..." I said, staring at her, which surprised her. "It may be a rotten, pile of scum and villainy, but I still believe that there's something valuable in this piece of crap. That's what she said to me and I'll believe her."

"I still think she was a little too optimistic. Face it. You're just believing something without conjecture."

"What of it? I choose what too believe." I said to myself...To still try to believe those words.

God's still an asshole, though.

"…"

"Go on, if you don't like what I said, say it." I shrugged. "I don't care."

"...You truly believe that?"

"Yep."

"...Even though you do know how bad this world is?"

"Not only this world..."

"Eh?"

"Oh, sorry... Forget about that." I almost slapped myself in my stupidity. "But the point is... that I'm just a fool that follows what I think. But I'm not stupid, no sir."

Nu blinked and, for a second, I thought her eyes opened a bit more than usual. What I said was true, but did she took my words at heart?

"You're an interesting one." Nu said.

"Nah, I'm just a human."

"Really?"

"? What do you mean?"

"Nevermind."

What are you hiding, Glid?

"...Can I ask you one more thing?"

"Go on."

"Could you be my friend?"

You're asking the guy that just impaled you in cold blood, punched you and maimed you to be your friend?

...Well, at this point, I have considered this place insane, so the surprise ended quite fast.

"Sure, I suppose." I said, scratching the back of my head, since this situation was so weird. "But it would be the shortest friendship ever since...well, you're dying."

Or so I think...

"Don't worry. Nu won't go anywhere."

Excuse me?

"Nu won't die as long as Ragna is alive."

…

...What.

"C-Care to elaborate that?"

"…"

Hello?

"…"

I poked her in the head. No response.

"Is she dead?"

"I'm...I'm not sure myself. She just...stopped talking."

"The poor thing. Must've gotten tired after all that talking."

If that's the reason, then I'm sorry. However...

"What did she mean by "she won't die if Ragna doesn't"?"

"Who cares? Look, we're stuck in this blue pot without a way out. What now, kid?"

Hmm...

Some of the important things I learned in my life include fighting without any honor since chivarly is dead, taunt the opponent to make them drop their guard, take advantage of the surroundings...and always respect dead people since, hey, they're dead.

Making fun of the dead is not cool. And by that logic, I made a grave for Nu using her swords.

"Was this necessary?"

"The dead cannot do anything bad to you."

"Says the guy that faced a zombie outbreak back there without problems. 'Minor technicism', huh?"

"That was an unnatural situation. And really, mess with someone else's decaying body? That's just messed up. Besides, I fought them because they were trying to kill me."

"Whatever you say."

Nu's body remained limp on the ground. She did try to kill me...but she wasn't bad on the core.

Humanity made her like this.

...

"Well, now wh-?"

(THUD!)

"Ow! Shit, that hurt!"

"You..." Huh? "Don't you know how hard was it to find you?"

Yukari? Man, I am not glad to see you, of all people!

"Bitch!" Thank you, Kraid. "What are you doing here?"

"You should thank me that I at least tried to find you." Yukari said. "You really are a handful."

"On the contrary. You just suck doing anything alone."

Nice. Next time, warn me when are you going to warp me into one of those holes of yours.

Also, why didn't Kraid negate it this time? ...Something must have happened back then...

"What?" You too, Energizer. "You...you survived being inside the Cauldron?"

Energizer seemed to have lost her cool just by seeing me alive. What, does people that fall there die then? However, she quickly recovered.

"It seems that you are as...popular as she said."

"Not funny, Energizer."

"Would you stop? Your sense of giving names are even worse than Ragna's." Energizer said.

"..." Oh hey, Ragna. You're here too. And it seems that Noel's okay. And...why aren't you speaking. Also, why do you look so angry?

"...!"

"Ah, right. I forgot about that." Yukari sighed.

She waved her hand towards Ragna, and he started speaking.

Wait, did you just mute Ragna? How? !

"You bitch!" Yes, Ragna, I know she's one. "Why did you do that to me?"

"You were too noisy."

"Just for that? !"

"See? You're doing it again." Yukari sighed.

Ragna started drawing Blood-Scythe. I'm not stopping him, by the way. Yukari always does stuff like this. I wonder why Reimu does not do anything about her...

"...Tch. Why bother now?" Ragna? "Hey Raim, how are you?"

"Fine, Ragna. She wasn't as bad as she seemed."

"...What."

"I'll explain later."

*clap* *clap* *clap*

What? Who's...

"I'm impressed! Really! I did not expect that what he said was right...but here you are! Alive and well! Hahahahaha!"

A man dressed in black, complete with a fedora, was laughing his ass off like a maniac. Ragna and Rachel froze in place, as if they saw something horrible. However, both Yukari and me just blinked in confusion.

"Huh? Just who are...?"

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Ragna rushed towards the man as Rachel summoned lightning. He effortlessly dodged the lightning and then did limbo and dodged Ragna's attack.

"Hey now, that was close. What the hell?" The man laughed and mocked Ragna at the same time.

"I'll admit. He's kinda cool."

"Hmm...It seems she's still asleep, eh?" the man said, referring to a sleeping Noel. "Hey, wake up. Don't be such a drag and just wake up, you puppet."

And he knows Noel's some sort of robot. She slowly started waking up.

"Ngh...Huh? H-Hazama?"

"No! Noel! Do not look at that man!"

Too late for that, she was currently watching him, while he still kept laughing like a hyena. And, I don't know what Noel saw, but she shivered in fear.

"Who...Who are you? !"

For some reason I do not comprehend, the man's green hair turned spiky, like if he was a Super Saiyan. It is...kind of hilarious, if you ask me.

"Dude, what's with your hair?"

"Hahahahaha! You recognized me, didn't you? !" Hazama said. "Hey, shitty vampire, who's laughing now? !"

"Nevermind, he practically passes as the most awesome being here!" Oh great.

"I have nothing to say to a being like you, Terumi."

Wait. Is it Terumi or is it Hazama? Don't confuse me.

"Damn you..." Ragna was practically growling at this man. I really want to know why.

"Long time no see, Ragna the Bloodedge. How's your right arm holding up?"

Ooohh... I get it.

"Oops, my bad. It was me who chopped that off, wasn't it?"

Yep, that confirms it...Hold on, I thought Jin did that.

"So, how is it? Doesn't that fake arm come in handy? Do you think it is good for a silly imitation?" Terumi was smiling during the whole time.

"Shut up, you son of a bitch!" Ragna was about to attack again when Rachel's raised a hand in front of him.

"Ragna, stop!"

"Don't interrupt me, rabbit!"

"I agree with Ragna. Why stop him to kill someone he hates? Are you an idiot?"

"I second that!"

"Bravo." Terumi clapped. "Finally! Someone that agrees with me."

"*sigh* Would you stop all this? I have to be somewhere with this kid, so if you could just stop..." Yukari said.

"..." Rachel looked at me fiercely. Well, shit. "...Ignoring his comment, I loathe to admit that the situation has changed. You cannot win this fight, Ragna."

"I call bullshit." I said. "Ragna has a sword...and hell, even you are on his side. Why not?"

"This kid is far more smart than he looks like."

"Hey!"

"Raim's right! Rabbit, you can help me take out this bastard! Why won't you help me? !"

"..." She remained silent.

"Aw, don't even bother. Even if you too work together, you won't even land a hit on me. Truuuust me, I know what I'm saying. Besides, I think that dumb vampire right there is the only one who can keep up with me now. That, and that woman over there."

So even you thread carefully around Yukari... Wait, that means you know what she's capable of. How do you know that? You haven't met her... or so I think. Dammit, I lack information!

"Hm? Who told you about me?"

"Weeeeeell, I am the Captain of the Intelligence Division. I should know all of these things!"

"Impossible. You cannot know about me. Who told you? !"

Terumi shrugged, his body language obviously saying "Who cares?"

"Besides..." He referred to Ragna. "A little bitch like you wouldn't be able to satisfy me."

"...You know that sounded reeeeally creepy, didn't you?" I said, stepping back a bit.

"Did I? Oh well, whatever. Keeheeheehee!"

"...Bastard!" Ragna shouted. "You wanna try me, huh? ! Well then bring it on, you son of a bitch!"

"Huh. That's a little too cocky for a puppy like you..."

"...Why puppy?" I couldn't resist to ask. "He's a human being. I don't see any tail, mind you."

"Well, there a lot of examples, little boy. You see, good ol' Rags here always heads on things without thinking, like a dog with rabies. He also barks a lot! And...well, you could say he leaves every place he goes like a pile of shit."

"So, by that logic, he shits a lot?"

"Precisely!" Terumi continued laughing.

"Shut up!" Okay, okay, Ragna. I'm sorry.

"Hahaha... but kidding aside, if you keep yelping like that, I'll seriously kill you."

"You mean me or Ragna?"

"Both. Why not?"

Shit.

"Oh? And just who is cocksure now..."

Rachel appeared behind Terumi.

"...little boy."

"Just kidding!" Terumi said. "Damn, you're scary, lady."

You called her shitty before and now scary? Be consistent.

"But seriously, you're lucky, Ragna. You have such a sweet guardian with you!" Terumi said, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"What did you say, you son of a bitch? !"

"I told you to stop, Ragna!" Energizer raised her voice.

"Well, I'm in a really good mood today, so I'll let the puppy go. After that hilarious fight you got with the kid. I mean, haha, I thought you were going to kick his ass! But he surprised me so much by the way he dodged and pissed you off that I gave him assistance."

WHAT? !

"Wait, so you mean you helped me beat this bitch? !"

"Why yes, of course. After all, I'll admit, a normal human like you couldn't stand up to that garbage by yourself."

"You..." Rachel looked quite livid right now.

"Besides, I'll be a bother even for me to handle five scary people at once. Oops, my bad! More like three people and two dogs, huh? Hahahahahahahaha!"

Did you compare me to a dog? ! That's actually...nice?

No, seriously, I like dogs. They are loyal to you if you're nice to them and they not humans. That's fine in my head.

"You have serious problems."

Bite me.

"Let's do this again, stupid vampire. Say hello to the old man for me."

Ragna roared in fury as he tried to slash him in half, but he vanished almost instantly.

"Hey! Wait the hell up!"

"Something worries me..." Yukari said. "He actually knew about me. He couldn't have known beforehand..."

"You do this dimensional hoping as a habit?"

"Not at all. I prefer sleeping in my warm futon, thank you."

"Yeah, I can imagine. You then scratch your belly like a pig, don't ya?"

"And I didn't ask that."

"...I forgot you're not as relaxed as Reimu. What a problem you are." Yukari rubbed her head.

"You done?"

Ragna punched a wall in frustration as Noel started recovering from this mess of revelations that make no sense to me.

"What was all that about? What is going on?" Good, Noel. You're asking better questions.

"That bastard...!" Ragna, you've said the same thing several times now. Be creative. "Rabbit! Why did you stop me?"

"Oh dear... Don't tell me you have got deft. As I told you before, you're no match for him."

I still don't get it. He was just one guy. Well, one crazy psycho, but it was just one man.

"If you think that he was a normal man like you, you really need to develop a sixth sense for these things, boy." What are you talking about, Yukari?

"...Hey." Noel nervously walked towards me. "Are you okay? Last thing I remember...you fell down...there."

She gave a fearful look to the Cauldron. However, she seemed far scared for some reason.

"Hey, I'm still alive. What else do you need me to explain?"

"O-Okay..." That's didn't seem to convince Noel too much. Well, after all the shit that happened...it is kinda justified.

*sigh*

I just want to go home now... Besides, their business is not my problem. But I will admit that working alongside Ragna was fun.

"You're leaving?" Ragna noticed me when I was walking away.

"Yeah. The exit down there is pure bullshit. I'll find another way out."

"I get you. This place is as crazy as hell."

"Yeah."

For some reason, he remained quiet until he spoke again.

"...Is she dead?"

"...Yeah." I said. "You know, you really don't look relieved at all. In fact, you look kind of sad."

"..." Ragna didn't say anything. "Nevermind."

"Don't tell me you feel sympathy from that girl, Rags!"

"Not your business." He said, annoyed at Glid.

"What I don't get was that she said that she won't die unless you do. Kind of weird stuff, don't you think?"

I looked at Rachel, which seemed to know what exactly that meant. Her body movements, albeit brief and short, delate her.

"...Hm." Ragna was tired, after all. I'm more surprised both of us have enough vitality to talk and stand.

"...Are you deliberately ignoring me?" Yes, Yukari. Get the clues. "Because I can send you back...but know I feel very less compelled to do so."

"I'll find another way out." Yes, Yukari. I am ignoring you.

"Argh!" Ragna grabbed his head in frustration. "Rabbit, what the hell is going on? !"

"...I'm afraid that'll have to wait, Ragna. You should..."

"Energizer, stop feeding him bullshit." Seriously. "I don't get what just happened either, but I'm pretty sure that you, at least, have a certain idea of what the hell is going on. I don't like when people hide things from me, even strangers."

"Besides, even I tell stuff in a cryptic manner. I really think you're not very good on this "mysterious" role here."

"Are you mocking me? I must add that your actions are pointless."

"Yeah. Just as your ways to explain what is going on here. How good you are at those!"

Energizer looked at me, frowning. I really don't care what the bitch is hiding, but I can at least enjoy annoying the hell outta her.

"You want to know what the True Eye is? If so, what will you do with this information, may I ask?"

"Well, I..."

"You do not know? And yet, you crave for information? How fitting of you to think something without even thinking about it." Energizer said. "However, I have to tell you that the Eye must be protected. I do not know what will happen next. And since Terumi is on the move..."

"...He'll try to get Noel, right?" I said.

...

...I did not stay because I was curious. Nope. Definitely not.

"Sure. I'll believe that blindly."

"Eye?" Noel trembled. "What do you mean I'm an 'Eye'?"

"...At this point, it is not important."

"There you go again." I said. "Don't you know that people do stupid things when they lack information? Energizer, seriously, they're asking you nicely."

"...Knowing what the 'Eye' is won't change anything." Bullshit. "What it's important now is that you go and hide with Noel Vermillion. Terumi seemed to be overconfident at this point. But that does not assure that he won't come back and attack you. And if you engage him in battle..."

"He won't be able to beat him, blah blah blah, we know that." I continued. Is your job to repeat everything we now by far and not saying anything of substance? Or is it just me?

"...We're leaving. Now." Lost your patience, huh, hag? "I don't have the time for business in another world."

I don't need your help here... True, I got into this mess by myself...and taking your help would save time...but...

...

...Shit. Why are you the only pragmatic choice to take?

"FINE! Open your damn gap, I don't care!"

Argh, I hate when she smiles like that!

"We think alike in that part."

"*chuckle* Finally came to your senses, didn't you?"

She finally opened one gap on the floor. I noticed that Rachel showed interest in the nature of the gaps themselves, but she didn't ask.

But first...

"Well, Ragna, it seems it's time for me to go." I said. "It was nice knowing you, man."

"Heh." Ragna smiled. "Same to goes to you, Raim. I have to admit, you got some skills, after been able to survive up to this point."

"Yeah." I said. "Also...you really need to control your anger."

"Why?" Ragna didn't seem to like my words.

"Because, well, you'll probably go rush into shit and get yourself hurt or worse. Calm down first, then kill whatever you think it needs to be killed."

"...Easier said than done." Ragna sighed.

"Nothing more else to say than...good luck, man."

"Same to you, man."

I extended my fist. Ragna raised an eyebrow.

"Bro fist much?" I asked. "Look, just fist me."

Ragna didn't understand at first, but then, he extended his fist into a bro fist.

"And this is?" He asked.

"Think it of a manlier handshake." I said. "And now you know."

"Was this really necessary?"

What? He's a cool dude.

Also...

"...You there, Noel?"

She hid behind Ragna on reflex, which seemed to annoy Ragna a bit.

"Oh, for the love of God..." Ragna facepalmed. And no, God, or YHVH, loves no one. "Would you just grow a spine?"

"U-Um..." Noel fidgeted. "W-What do you want?"

"Just wanted to say that you are one of the most nervous person I've ever met."

"Uhh..." She looked at her feet, not trying to make eye contact.

"...Yet you helped me recover and get through this place. So...thanks, I guess." I sighed. "Also, you really need to stop doubting yourself and stand for your own beliefs, you know?"

"But I really don't want to upset anyone..."

"Look, the world isn't nice." I said bluntly. "Either you get swallowed by this world or you muster some courage from yourself and face your problems. I mean, you really want him to boss you every day?"

"Hey!" Ragna said.

"It's for her to stop annoying you." I whispered to him.

"Really? !" He answered back.

"? What are you talking about?" Noel tilted her head sideways.

"About oranges" I lied, saying the first thing that came to my mind. Weird. "To avoid confusion, just get braver and...decide for yourself. Believe in the you who believes in yourself."

"...How does that make any sense?"

"Eh, you'll figure it out." I shrugged to Noel's inquiry.

"Done?" Yes, hag.

"Yeah, yeah."

Well, now wh-?

(KICK!)

Argh! Why did you kicked me towards the gap? ! Also, the moment I touched the gap, it dissolved.

"Ah, right. I forgot about that." Yukari sighed.

You bitch! Wait until I...

...

...Why am I floating?

"Hey, let go!" The bastard said as I looked up and saw Yukari efforlessly holding me by my shirt. She doesn't look strong, but now I know I'm very wrong.

"I just don't like doing physical labor like this, but that skill that sword has is really annoying. And I know you won't let it go for anything in the world."

That doesn't mean you have to drag me up like a puppet! Let go, dammit!

Third's PoV

"...Hey, Rachel." Ragna was apparently calm.

"Is something the matter, Ragna? Don't tell me your small little mind cannot comprehend what just happened?"

"I don't have time to joke around, rabbit." Ragna sighed. "What did Terumi meant with the Eye?"

"As I told you, it is not important right now."

Ragna scoffed. He finally gave up.

"...Fine." He said. "Hey!" He called out Noel.

"Eh?"

"We're getting outta here. Of course, if you don't want to follow, I won't bother you. 'Sides, I prefer to travel without baggage."

"N-No. I'm coming..." She said, almost defeated, due to stress and being tired. "I won't run!"

Ragna sighed.

"What did I get myself into...?"