(A New Canon and something unexpected for once. Let us see the first cracks of a newly forming timeline form in front of us.)
Bold = English Conversations
Bold + Italics =Japanese Conversations
Canon 33
Previously on Canon Distortion
Sora Minakaze and Ragna The Bloodedge were making their way towards the NOL headquarters for their own goals. While Ragna's remains unknown to Sora, Sora was simply heading there following the instructions of the ghost girl that has been following him for the longest time, while deciding to rescue Noel for Makoto's sake while taking care of Makoto. Their way was blocked by the NOL themselves with Ragna staying behind to deal with Meifang LapisLazuli and give Sora time to head towards the NOL Base... which is where this story shall focus on.
And now, the continuation of Canon Distortion
When Ragna first woke up for this day, he had simply expected things to be simple. He was going to head to the NOL base, go and meet up with Terumi and face him off once and for all. What ended up happening instead was him meeting with a white haired man that he barely knew, a squirrel girl missing an arm and so much chaos in front of him. Now he was facing off against one of the most dangerous squadrons in the NOL and their head honcho, Meifang LapisLazuli in a fight that was going to most likely be a battle to the death.
'Why does have my luck have to be so shitty right now.' Ragna thought as he raised the Aramasa to block one of Meifang's fists, the metal of his blade simply clanging upon impact of Meifang's fist which would have caused people to recoil in pain after doing so. Yet Meifang had a look on her face that seemed to imply she was enjoying this. "What the hell is wrong with you!?" Ragna yelled out as Meifang simply smirked.
"What? Can't a girl have her kinks?" Meifang taunted as she swung a roundhouse kick to try and force Ragna's blade into the air. This made Ragna react by deploying Aramasa's scythe mode to swing it right down on Meifang's head. Meifang's reflexes were fast enough to palm strike the blow to the side as blood briefly splashed out of her hand before Ragna could see the wound on her hand instantly stitch itself back to normal as Ragna retracted the Aramasa to block Meifang's punch once more.
'Ars Magus? Looks like she's using strengthening Ars Magus.' Ragna observed as it would make sense as to why she was able to tank the damage he was delivering from his blade. 'If that's the case, Why not we use some Ars Magus as well!' Ragna thought as he raised up his right arm, ready to use the Azure Grimoire to try and attack her with Ars Magus. Meifang however was not going to let him have his way as she struck the arm of the Azure Grimoire to the side as the black mass ejected out of it, nearly striking a couple of NOL Troopers who were by the side.
Meifang however was unfazed, simply focusing on her efforts to take down Ragna The Bloodedge. "So this is the mythical Azure Grimoire everyone's talking about. I can see why everyone wants you right now." Meifang noted as Ragna grunted, annoyed by that as he didn't want to be making small talk right now with his enemy and instead just wanted to get this over with. "Look Miss, I don't think you realize how busy I am but I am very busy right now. So if you would be kind and just step by the side I will really appreciate that!" Ragna said as this made Meifang frown.
"Awww. Think I am being a waste of time to you?" Meifang teased as Ragna began to swing his right arm, causing the seithr swimming around to follow his movements as Meifang raised her arm to guard the barrage of Ars Magus blows. While her Ars Magus prowess is considered higher than normal individuals in the NOL, the fact that she was able to feel such blows echo through her body was enough to give her a rush.
"If I have to be honest... Yeah, You're really a big waste of time right now!" Ragna complained as using the energy built up in his right arm, Ragna unleashed a massive Black Beast head to slam right into Meifang, causing both him and her to have massive distance between each other. "So if you don't mind, I am going to finish you off right now!" Ragna shouted as he gripped the Aramasa tightly in his hand and slashed the ground, creating a massive wave of black seithr to charge right at Meifang's direction.
"Oh? In that case..." Meifang simply assumed a low stance and waited for the mass of Seithr surging towards her. Without even hesitating at that moment, Ragna witnessed the wave of Seithr he had sent Meifang's way simply split apart as if it was water when it collides with an obstacle. Ragna's eyes couldn't help but widen a bit at that as Meifang's fist glowed bright red from impact. "Do you really think I am being a waste of time to you right now?" Meifang questioned as Ragna was not prepared to see something like that.
'So this is the power of the head of the Zero Squadron...' Ragna thought as he had figured her only redeeming factor was the fact that she seemed to be enjoying the pain being inflicted on her and that she was using that to fuel her attacks. Seeing her simply split apart one massive attack him like that was enough to raise alarms about how dangerous she was. "Looks like I got your attention right now. That's good to see indeed." Meifang said, amused that Ragna the Bloodedge was finally paying attention to her right now and thus might give her more of a taste of the Azure Grimoire.
"So please keep me entertained hmmm!" Meifang said as she soon charged right for Ragna, her fists cracking as Ragna could see the wind behind her thrown fist crackling violently, prompting him to use the Aramasa to deflect the blow to the side, causing a clean hole to be created on the ground as Ragna quickly retaliated by slashing at her back, gashing her clothes and exposing the skin behind her back as it bled only to see the wound quickly heal itself back up.
This did not discourage Ragna as he allowed the seithr on his right arm to start flowing out of Aramasa, swinging once more and managing to land a hit that caused damage to occur as he had struck Meifang's back once more, this time a wound had formed and remained as Meifang's face had a look of enjoyment at the pain she briefly had felt. "Good...That's right...This is pain!" Meifang shouted as she grabbed Ragna's arm and judo tossed him straight to the ground, exposing his stomach to a swift and powerful strike with her fist, intending to create a hole on her stomach.
However her fist did not land at it's target, staying still in fact as she noticed how her fist was struggling to land it's blow as Ragna had quickly formed seithr to act as a cushion right at his stomach. Now that he could feel the impact of the punch that would have landed on his body literally swim itself on his body, he could feel a ripping sensation on the seithr itself as Ragna quickly kicked Meifang in the head to get her off him and stand himself back up, touching his stomach instinctively.
'What on Earth is that move? It's like a drill was trying to dig it's way to my stomach!' Ragna thought as Meifang simply grinned. "Looks like you're the first one to survive my technique... Good. It would have been boring if you died from something as simple as that." Meifang said as she cracked her fists, assuming a martial pose as her expression changed once more. "Looks like I can afford to go a bit harder on you than I normally would... Maybe you can give me the same fight the Mad Dog of Sector Seven once gave me"
The moment Meifang made her statement, she quickly stepped forward, her left food stepped forward first as it cracked the ground with ease as she thrust her elbow right into Ragna's stomach. The impact was enough to send Ragna through a shop window despite him using the Aramasa to block the attack as he violently crashed right into a store counter top. The wood immediately exploded and splinters came rushing out as Meifang did not relent, grabbing Ragna's collar and tossing him out of the store as she was moving much quicker than what he had expected.
Ragna could sense the danger lingering in the air as he quickly recovered and decided that the Aramasa was going to be too slow for him to block Meifang's attacks and thus he needed to rely on the martial arts his master had taught him. Deciding not to rely on his eyesight due to how fast his opponent was moving, he decided to instead focus on sensing her movements as he waited patiently for Meifang's next blow as it came quickly.
At that moment, using a barrier, Ragna parried her first attack while dodging the next punch aimed at his face. The two pronged attack was soon followed with a swift kick aimed right at his stomach which he had managed to grab as he tossed her right into a light pole, causing the pole to bend in the process as he quickly used the Azure grimoire to create a wave of Seithr to charge right at Meifang.
"DEAD SPIKE!" Ragna shouted, the shark like seithr wave itself threatening to swallow Meifang whole as she quickly reacted by stepping to the side. Before Ragna could continue, he immediately sensed another attack from Meifang come at his way as this time she used one of her palms right into Ragna's stomach before arching her back, ready to deliver another possible finishing blow as Ragna himself immediately parried the attempted finishing blow, feeling the powerful sensation surge through the Azure grimoire itself.
At first he had thought it was a blow enhanced by Ars Magus itself. However the fact that even the Azure Grimoire trembled upon feeling told him that blow was something much more than just pure Seithr. "A drive? Or forbidden art?" Ragna wondered out loud as he traded some blows with Meifang, delivering a big boot right into Meifang's face before striking her in the stomach to create distance.
"Oh? Becoming interested in me huh?" Meifang teased as Ragna shook his head. "Of course not! I am just interested in knowing what kind of Ars Magus...if at all, allows a person to simply create holes on anything their fists connect." Ragna questioned as Meifang simply chuckled hearing that. "Why that's a secret... and even if I had told you, I would have to kill you anyways." Meifang commented, annoying Ragna with her response as she was clearly content in keeping her secret attack a secret... not that he had expected her to tell her anyways despite how prideful she looked.
"In any other case... I must admit, the Azure grimoire's not what everyone's saying it to be. All I see is smoke on mirrors." Meifang taunted, wanting to see if she could tempt Ragna the Bloodedge to show her more of the Azure's power to her. "Heh. Well I'm sorry if I am currently disappointing you, but going all out every single time I use this thing is exactly the reason why not a lot of people know about it." Ragna retorted, making Meifang grin even more at the cheeky remark tossed her way. "So you're saying I am not worth knowing about your Azure Grimoire?" Meifang questioned.
"Yeah. I say that's about right." Ragna commented as he stretched a bit to relieve the tension that Meifang's attacks were putting on his joints and bones. "Hmph, In that case, then you don't need to know about my technique... not that I ever intended to tell anybody about it in the first place." Meifang commented as without even bothering to give Ragna a break, Meifang charged for him once more, a barrage of fists accompanying her as Ragna once again was put in the defensive posture.
'Dammit. If I use my Azure Grimoire at it's full power I will be able to overwhelm her. But she's not letting me do so!' Ragna angrily thought as he swung the Aramasa in a cleaving manner to force Meifang to retreat as he quickly raised the Azure grimoire to begin the incantation needed to unleash the Blazblue. Meifang however knew about the unique properties of the Azure Grimoire thanks to a certain snake telling her all of the info she needs to know.
'As if I would let you use your grimoire knowing the stories about that thing.' Meifang thought as she grabbed the pole she had crashed right into and hurled the massive street light right at Ragna, immediately forcing him to break his incantation to form a barrier instead to deflect the pole, causing the whole pole to simply crash right into another building in the process. As soon as that happened, Meifang used her distraction to immediately close the gap, slapping Ragna's barrier up into the air and exposing his chest to a direct blow from her fist.
'Shi...' Ragna's thoughts could barely form as Meifang's fist came flying at his direction at a speed which would have easily made a hole on his chest that would kill him instantly. Meifang was sure that she was going to deliver a killing blow at this very moment as she was aware of Terumi's interests in Ragna The Bloodedge. 'As they say, an eye for an eye... an interest for an interest!' Meifang thought as her fist was filled with pure killing intent at that moment, ready to spite Terumi for what he had done to her own target.
Her fist soon met their target... but instead of blowing a hole like she had expected, she could hear the sound of metal crashing and exploding violently as metal shards shattered at her face, causing her to close her eyes as she could hear the sounds of something gliding in the air. Ragna himself had a much better view of this happening as the thing that stopped him from dying were a pair of metal blades that formed a spiral shape that blocked the attack at the last moment.
The blades themselves lacked any sign of guard or hilt even, just a pair of metal blades shaped to be swords as Ragna has seen these pair of blades before. He is all too familiar with them as Meifang felt a presence coming towards her, stepping back as a pair of blades fired themselves right to the ground where she stood as a figure descended down to stand in her way to killing Ragna the Bloodedge. Ragna himself was alarmed by the person standing in front of him as he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
In front of him was a blonde haired girl braided into a long ponytail with an ornament at the end but that was the most normal thing about her. She wore a mono eyed visor that complimented her black and yellow trimmed bodysuit with various pieces of armor surrounding her with particular attention placed on her legs with the armor there forming a pair of sword legs for her to use. Ragna couldn't believe who had just protected him as the woman formed more blades behind her.
"Lambda 11, arriving on the scene." the girl known as Lambda 11 said as Ragna couldn't believe what he had just heard. Lambda... the girl he had met a few days before all of this chaos. The same girl he took care off for an afternoon before she got taken away by Tager under Kokonoe's orders. Shouldn't she be following Kokonoe's orders right now? Was this a part of Kokonoe's plans or something else entirely.
"Are you alright Ragna?" Lambda questioned as Ragna did not know how to react at that moment but he simply did not care right now. "Y-Yeah... Thanks Lambda." Ragna said, feeling strange that he was saved by a Murakumo unit of all things. Especially with how she resembled... no, now was not the time to let things like that linger in his mind as Lambda simply nodded her head. "Understood... Lambda 11 engaging hostile. Main directive to protect Ragna." Lambda said with a cold, calculating tone.
"Oh? A new opponent appearing to save Ragna The Bloodedge? Could this be Sector Seven's secret weapon?" Meifang theorized as Lambda fired her sword projectiles right at Meifang once more to create distance from Ragna and keep Meifang busy. Meifang herself was able to dodge the attacks as she grabbed one of them as it flew towards her and tossed it right at a pair of blades, causing Lambda's blade barrage to deflect away by the side.
"Regardless, Let's see what you got there little miss!" Meifang shouted as she charged right for Lambda, raising her arms and using ars magus to block the projectiles fired right at her as she ignored the opposition standing in her way to focus her attention right onto Lambda. Lambda kept mobile, using her sword legs to dash back quickly as she continued to fire projectiles right at the Zero Squadron head, making sure she didn't suddenly close the gap from out of nowhere.
Ragna himself could only watch in slight shock before realizing he could run right now and go to the NOL base right now. Lambda was proving to be a great distraction to keep Meifang at bay so he could get going at that moment and just leave Meifang to Lambda... but could he really just do that to her? Just chuck his problem right into her hands even if she's just doing what seemed to be a series of orders? Ragna could simply ponder on his choice as he continued to watch the scene in front of him.
Meifang scanned the scene in front of her, trying to understand her new opponent carefully to make sure she didn't make any mistakes. The way her new opponent used her swords as projectiles told her that she had what seemed to be an infinite supply of swords she could deploy from out of nowhere. 'So there's no point in me trying to deflect or destroy those swords huh... Interesting.' Meifang thought as she grabbed a trash can's lid and tossed it right at a projectile aimed at her, the speed the sword was going was fast enough to create a dent on the material itself as Meifang dived for a telephone pole in front of her to let it tank more of the hits coming for her.
While the large telephone pole in front of her was able to tank up the damage that was flying her way, Meifang did not linger for much longer as she sprinted forwards, making sure to keep herself moving in order to not get shot by a stray sword. The accuracy of the shots themselves were also something to note as well. Most people often struggle hitting people with their arrows against moving targets so to feel several shots coming her way as a massive barrage with high amounts of accuracy is something to both commend and worry.
'If she's that accurate with her shots, does this mean she's using some sort of targeting enhancer?' Meifang thought as she dived into another pole, waiting for the next barrage but none came. Instead she felt a dangerous sensation as she raised her arms to block the next attack coming her way as the pole was easily sliced by Lambda's sword legs. If it wasn't for Meifang's ars magus arts, she would have been cut in two from her block as she could see blood drip out of her hands from the shallow cut that had begun to form.
"Enemy target using defensive Ars Magus. Switching tactics." Lambda said out loud as she immediately continued her barrage of blades, forcing Meifang to block as the swords stacked to further try injuring Meifang, which made Meifang grin as this told her that Lambda was truly trying to either incapacitate or kill her. She was also not holding back her blows as each hit would have easily broken a bone or two should they have collided onto a person who did not know how to use reinforce Ars Magus in the way she was applying it.
"Impressive! Show me more! Show me even more!" Meifang shouted as Lambda was able to notice how resilient her opponent was. She knew she needed to either change up her pattern of attack or continue to overwhelm her opponent with the hopes of that her reinforcement Ars magus would not be able to hold for much longer. 'Enemy displaying enjoyment of pain... must take note of excitement levels for potential spikes in adrenaline.' Lambda noted as adrenaline can lead to increased levels of activity which can mean more unpredictability.
'Confirming the usage of Distortion drives to counter enemy movements.' Lambda quickly thought as Meifang could feel an energy emit out of Lambda, alerting the experienced Zero Squadron commander that Lambda was going to use a distortion drive against her in that moment. At that moment, angling her feet for an explosive burst of power to charge right at Lambda, Meifang immediately used a combination of Reinforcement Ars Magus and Speed Ars Magus to catapult herself right at Lambda.
But before she could even touch Lambda with her speed, Ragna got right in the way of Meifang's charge, delivering a heel kick right at the back of her head as this alarmed Lambda as she grabbed Ragna to ensure he didn't fall down and gently glided down to put him on the ground. "What are you doing?" Lambda asked innocently as Ragna looked at her with a semi annoyed and serious face. "Helping you of course you idiot." Ragna said as Lambda tilted her head with some confusion.
"Why are you helping Lambda?" Lambda questioned as Ragna scratched his head a lot. He knew from what Lambda was doing she could have handled what Meifang was going to do on her own but he couldn't help it. "Look. I just wanted to alright. Now let's just take care of this lunatic now before things get hairy alright." Ragna said, trying to minimize the amount of conversation he wanted to have with the Murakumo unit as the more he looked at her the more he couldn't help but feel sick on his stomach.
"Ow...I couldn't help but just feel that just now." Meifang commented as she rubbed the back of her head, able to finally feel the full brunt of the pain. "You like that huh? You masochistic bitch." Ragna commented as Meifang couldn't help but laugh at his comment. "Of course I did! Do you know how rare it is to feel pain? To feel such power be delivered to me by someone as strong as you?! I cannot help but feel like I am being kept in the dark now and that is really annoying!" Meifang commented as Ragna spat on the ground, to both clear his throat and to feel disgust at what he was hearing.
"Getting angry over the enemy is not a good idea Ragna. It may lead to you exposing yourself to more danger." Lambda advised as Ragna scratched his head. He knew what he was doing and knew that Lambda was speaking the truth but he didn't want to speak any further and well annoy himself even further. All he needed to do right now was simply focus on the fight ahead and not allow his feelings over the Murakumo units right now get over him.
"In any case... Who cares. I have seen enough from that girl. I'm just going to end this right now." Meifang said as she jumped away from Ragna and Lambda, angling herself on the ground to quickly sprint herself towards the two once more with a great speed as Lambda didn't waste time interfering with that plan with Lambda activating her distortion drive by forming a gate in front of her before a massive barrage of blades came flying through the barriers, barraging Meifang with a wave of swords to try and force her to dodge.
Meifang herself at this point was able to see the repeating pattern Lambda was giving her. Constantly shooting out her blades while creating distance. Normally against such an opponent, she could just charge in and close the gap to stop the projectile spamming opponent from firing any more projectiles. This was different however as Ragna himself charged with the the blade barrage, Slipping to her backside to force Meifang to directly deal with both the blade barrage and Ragna himself in a pincer attack.
Meifang did not really care about the damage that could be done with such a pincer but at the same time the more she minimized the damage, the more she can truly enjoy the pain being inflicted onto her. Meifang soon stared to move sideways, forcing Lambda to move the gate which allowed the blade barrage to keep track. As she did so, Ragna added to her struggles by both swinging his fists and Aramasa to force Meifang to slow down and allow the barrage to catch up to her.
Meifang knew she needed to break line of sight for a bit so she slipped right into a restaurant forcing the blade barrage to eviscerate through the contents of the restaurant as tables and chairs got destroyed, sending splinters all over the place. Lambda could have continued but something unconsciously told her to stop as Ragna had given chase to Meifang in the restaurant, causing Lambda to subconscious worry that she was going to hit Ragna in the process through blind fire.
"What are you doing Lambda?! Just keep going!" Ragna yelled out loud, he himself wondering why she suddenly stopped firing as Meifang used the restaurant's narrow space and her martial arts to her advantage as while Ragna may be trained in hand to hand combat, he still clearly favoured the use of his sword and Azure grimoire as Meifang made sure she stayed close to him, preventing him from pulling the Aramasa from his back as she swung a fist right for his rib cage, making him dodge in the process.
Dodging however did not give him enough time to pull out his massive blade however as Meifang immediately closed the gap and stepped on his foot with her own foot. She then quickly delivered a palm strike to Ragna's stomach which caused him to look down on the ground, opening him up to a quick uppercut from Meifang's punch as she finished Ragna with a double palm strike, sending him flying towards a wine barrel placed in the restaurant as a decoration, causing it to explode into a splintered mess.
Lambda had floated down at this point to get a better line of sight into the restaurant itself to make sure she could see Ragna. She would easily without hesitation would have fired a barrage into the restaurant and possibly blindly struck Meifang in the process. But with Ragna inside, the only option she had at this point was to simply go in herself and try to fight up close and personal despite that being a worse option for her current parameters.
And Ragna could have considered himself lucky that Lambda had picked to charge in to the restaurant instead of just continuing to scan outside to see him because Meifang was not going to stop at any moment. Having to form a quick seithr barrier from the Azure grimoire to block Meifang's fatal strike for his heart as her fist continued to push down on the barrier. Ragna noticed Lambda at the corner of his eye and instead of immediately pushing back and forcing Meifang to the corner, he allowed her to push up on his guard to give Lambda the perfect chance to land a solid hit.
"NOW YOU IDIOT!" Ragna screamed as this loud shout was to surprise Meifang as suddenly, she felt a pair of swords land right on her side as she turned to see Lambda herself, floating in the air briefly to strike her at her side with both of her bladed sword legs. Ragna quickly followed up with his own counter attack by punching Meifang right in the face with the Azure Grimoire, sending her flying through the restaurant wall and back to the outside as Ragna looked at Lambda at that moment.
"Lambda can you give me some cover real quick? I promise I won't be long." Ragna asked as Lambda simply nodded her head and chased after Meifang quickly. As she did so, Ragna assumed his posture and began to allow the seithr in the air to once again flow into his Azure Grimoire. He felt the azure grimoire pulse as he allowed his mind to focus on gathering the seithr in the air and to fully release the power of the Azure Grimoire to try and finish Meifang off immediately.
"Restriction 666 released..." Ragna chanted as the belts surrounding his right arm slowly started to undo themselves. At first one might see this to be excessive and just for fashion, but these belts around the Azure Grimoire were actually limiters designed to limit the power of Azure Grimoire and thus how much he is able to pull from it. Over the years he has had this grimoire attached to his arm, he required less and less restraints to fully unleash it's power but nevertheless, he still uses them so that the NOL cannot simply track him using Seithr detection technology.
But something was wrong this time, his hand began to tremble as the seithr flowing through his right arm began to swirl uncontrollably, causing him pain in the process as he dropped to one knee from the sudden sensation. 'W-What's...Going on. This isn't right' Ragna thought as the pain became increasingly higher as Lambda continued to fire her barrage of swords to try and keep Meifang away from Ragna but she turned her head and noticed the extreme pain Ragna was in.
"Ragna.." Lambda said, a pain unknown to her growing in her heart as Meifang noticed the direction Lambda was looking at. Seeing Ragna in pain and how he was in a vulnerable position, Meifang saw it as her chance to completely kill Ragna outright as while the Azure grimoire was truly a valuable item, it doesn't need a person to be alive to use it as Meifang reinforced of her arms at that moment and and simply punched back at the barrage, causing a cascade of blades to spill as Lambda was surprised by this, taking her attention away as Meifang quickly reinforced her legs for an explosive blast of energy.
"YOU'RE MINE!" Meifang shouted as she quickly blasted herself right towards Ragna and slammed her shoulder right into Ragna's chest, causing him to violently cough as he flew right into a wall, causing him to get embedded right into it as he struggled to try to remove himself. Meifang then pointed her hands in a palm position, gathering seithr right into her palm as she intended to finsh Ragna off with this one strike.
"Shatter... Palm Breaker." Meifang said as with her fist, she performed a one inch punch motion, sending the seithr that had collected right into her hand blasting right into Ragna's direction in a focused blast aimed directly towards his chest. Ragna tried to muster up as much Seithr as possible to create a reinforcement Ars Magus strong enough to tank the attack but much to his surprise, the attack was coming much faster than what he had expected.
"Shi..." Before he could finish his sentence, a massive hunk of metal slammed itself right in front of Ragna, immediately taking the hit in Ragna's place as a pair of blades immediately emerged in front of the large metal blade of the Lux Sanctus Murakumo, forming several barriers as Lambda came down in front of Ragna and began to try and pry Ragna off the wall. She had completely purged her armor off her, reducing her to just a bodysuit that went down her arms and half of her legs and a massive cloak that went with it as she struggled to do so.
"W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Ragna shouted as Lambda struggled to do so, her body small and thus lacking the strength needed to fully remove Ragna from the wall. "Protecting...Ragna." Lambda simply said as the sound of metal shattering could be heard as Lambda continued to struggle. "You idiot! Get the hell out of here before you get hit!" Ragna shouted as Lambda's efforts had managed to free him a little for him to start prying himself off the wall.
"Order Refused." Lambda said, ignoring what Ragna said as more metal blades shattered upon impact as Lambda could see she was losing more and more of her blades. Soon she was simply left with just the gigantic Murakumo unit itself as Lambda gave up trying to pry Ragna off the wall and simply instead focused on trying to shield Ragna the best she could. "Removing Idea Engine Limiters. Maximizing Output." Lambda said as the Murakumo unit hummed to life, releasing a sudden burst of energy that was able to fight against Meifang's attack as she quickly formed a barrier Ars Magus to act as a last line of defense.
"Lambda will protect Ragna." Lambda simply spoke, her intentions clear as Meifang couldn't help but smirk at this as she found this both admirable and foolish at the same time. "In that case... You can die alongside the Grim Reaper." Meifang said as she raised her free hand, collecting Seithr into that hand before lunging forth and slamming the Murakumo unit with the built up seithr in a palm formation. The sheer impact of the strike was enough to heavily damage the Murakumo Unit, causing Wind Ars Magus to flow past the Murakumo unit and strike Lambda directly at her barrier, causing both her and Ragna to smash through the wall in the process, creating a massive hole in the wall with several cracks present in the process.
The NOL troops who were watching this to avoid being casualties were stunned by this. They knew they should have gone in to help out Meifang with the sudden appearance of the girl but knowing the Zero Squadron leader's capabilities, it is simply an unknown if she was going to even care if they were there. Meifang herself did not mind the destruction she had caused since it was the NOL's duty at the end of the day to pay for the damages she caused though she would have preferred to avoid such destructive means in the first place.
Ragna was left on the ground, staggered as Lambda had managed to keep her barrier up. "Hurry...Ragna." Lambda said, her voice strainned as her arms trembled, barely able to stop Meifang's sudden attack that she was struggling to process if it was either a supercharged Ars Magus or a Distortion Drive. Ragna himself knew that he had to hurry and activate the Azure Grimoire at that point as he quickly refocused on trying to reactivate the Azure Grimoire, having stopped mid incantation due to the sudden surge of pain he had felt.
"Dimension Inteference Field Deployed!" Ragna yelled as an energy of blue seithr began to gather itself all over his right hand, slowly swimming itself in a black like seithr as Meifang couldn't help but be annoyed by Lambda's persistence. "Why can't you just make things easier for me already and just die." Meifang shouted as she charged right for Lambda and slammed her fist right into Lambda's barrier, causing multiple cracks to appear in the process as Lambda's hands bled at that moment, her system reaching the limits of her operation time.
"Must...Protect...Ragna." Lambda simply said as despite the struggle she had maintaining the barrier, despite the drain using the Idea Engine to it's brink bringing her to her limits. Something inside her, simply just wanted to protect Ragna with all she could as Meifang's next fist smashed right through her barrier, grabbing Lambda right at her neck as she slowly felt Meifang choke the life out of her, Meifang's eyes determined to eliminate the threat in front of her before moving towards Ragna.
"BLAZBLUE! ACTIVATE!" Ragna yelled as the Azure grimoire responded to his call, sending a massive blue orb to immediately push Meifang off Lambda, allowing Lambda to breathe once more as Meifang felt the power of the Azure Grimoire hit her for the first time. Her body simply shivered at the sensation she felt as Ragna had managed to catch Lambda in his hands. "Dammit... What the hell were you thinking?!" Ragna questioned as Lambda looked at Ragna, not realizing that she was smiling at that moment.
"Thank goodness...You're alright Ragna." Lambda said as Ragna tched at that. "Don't say stuff like that you idiot. No point protecting anybody if you die..." Ragna said, trying to keep his distance from the Murakumo unit as she nodded her head. As he did so, the heaviness of the Azure Grimoire made it difficult for him to keep holding Lambda, forcing him to lie her on a wall for her to sit down. "I understand... Lambda's too damaged to keep helping." Lambda said as Ragna scratched his head at that. He couldn't help but be reminded of Sora and how he was taking care of his girl with her injuries. He cannot afford to be doing the same thing with Lambda now.
"Please... Allow Lambda to help you." Lambda said as she raised her hand and Ars Magus circles formed between her and Ragna. This surprised him greatly as he could start to hear a noise start to burrow into his mind. "W...at are you doing Lambda!? Why are the Idea Engine readings!?" the voice said in shock as Ragna felt the heavy weight that was placed on him before suddenly leave him, replaced with a lightness that began to envelop his body.
"Establishing Link to Azure Grimoire. Idea Engine Engage." Lambda said as Ragna could not explain it but he knew something was changing. The Azure Grimoire... something about it was starting to change in a way that he couldn't explain. "Lambda what are you...!?" before he could question any further, his body immediately responded to an attempt from Meifang to try and strike him, grabbing her fist with the Azure Grimoire.
"Amazing...so this is the power of the Azure Grimoire?" Meifang said, her eyes gazing at the Grimoire with interest as something in Ragna told him that he needed to end the fight quickly otherwise something bad was going to happen. The lightness he was currently feeling at that moment was most likely a temporary sensation and whatever Lambda had done it was helping to alleviate the sudden violent reaction he had with the Azure Grimoire.
Meifang herself could not notice the discomfort in Ragna's face, her gaze simply fixated on the Azure Grimoire itself. Here it is, right in front of her, the grimoire rumored to be the most powerful grimoire ever created by the great Sage Nine herself. The power it must be have to possess such a reputation must be immense. 'I must see it for myself... the power of the Azure Grimoire!' Meifang thought as she tensed up her fists before lunging for Ragna, ready to attack him once again.
Ragna however was not going to waste any more time... not that he was not wasting time in the first place by allowing Sora to go on ahead without him. He had to head on to the NOL headquarters right now and Meifang was standing in his way of doing so. Even after he had handled Meifang, what was he going to do with Lambda? 'Tch! Got too much to think about and I am doing nothing. What's wrong with me!' Ragna angrily thought as using the Azure Grimoire, he formed a double layered barrier, one to take the impact of Meifang's fist crashing into it and soften the blow and the second barrier to capture the fist as Meifang found her fist stuck in the barrier itself.
Quickly acting from that, Ragna engulfed the Azure grimoire in seithr and lunged right at Meifang, slamming his fist on her head. "GAUNTLET!" Ragna shouted as he arched his body a bit to deliver a powerful kick right into Meifang's face as it was lowering to send her flying. "HADES!" Ragna finished as Meifang flew through the restaurant and back to the outsides of the street as he stepped out to stare right at Meifang as she slowly recovered from the blow delivered to her.
The sensation she had felt at that moment was completely different. Her reinforcement Ars Magus at that moment had seemed to fail to absorb the blow and her sense of pain was temporarily overidden at that moment with a sensation of pain she had never felt before. It was not the physical kind of pain she was normally used to dealing with but a more mysterious sensation. She couldn't explain it herself because of how vague that pain really was... but it was a sensation that sent a jolt into her veins.
'W-What...is this rush I am feeling?' Meifang thought as she stood up only to see Ragna immediately charging towards her, thrusting the Aramasa ahead and sending the seithr flowing from the Azure Grimoire right into her, causing her staggered self to feel the full brunt of the pain as she saw Ragna carve the ground. "CARNAGE SCISSORS!" Ragna shouted as he slashed right at the ground, carving it up to send a wave of Seithr right towards her that immediately engulfed her in that instant.
Meifang tried to shield herself from the wave of Seithr with multiple barriers, but the damage had already been done. The same sensation of pain she had felt before echoed even more inside her as she couldn't hide the excitement that was beginning to grow inside her as this new level of pain she never thought she would get to experience. 'More... I need to experience this more!' Meifang thought as she reached out and grabbed Ragna by his head.
"MORE! LET ME SEE MORE OF THE AZURE GRIMOIRE!" Meifang screamed as Ragna became annoyed at Meifang's excitement, annoyed that she was demanding such things from him as Lambda found herself struggling to maintain the connection. "What are you doing Lambda!? Drop the connection now before you die already!?" The voice that Ragna had heard before screamed as this made him look at Ragna, noticing her heavily panting as he quickly looked back at Meifang and made a gesture with his hand.
"OH JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!" Ragna yelled as he made a massive mass of Seithr grab Meifang and hold her in place, alarming the NOL Troops as they quickly approached her the moment they saw Ragna running back into the restaurant. "Quick! Get whatever is holding her off her right now!" An NOL Soldier ordered as the NOL members started to struggle trying to remove the Seithr hand gripping Meifang tightly at that moment.
"Lambda! What the hell are you doing idiot!?" Ragna shouted as Lambda looked at him with sweat dripping down her face. "Trying to help you Ragna." Lambda said, an innocence present in her voice as Ragna scratched his head. "Well stop whatever you're doing right now! You're going to kill yourself if you keep this up!" Ragna said, surprising the person who had been trying to get Lambda to stop.
"Hello?! Hello! Do you hear this Ragna The Bloodedge!?" The voice shouted as Ragna held his head a bit. "Yeah. I do...Wait a minute.." Now that Ragna was now not placing his full attention to the battle in front of him, he could finally pay attention to the voice that was trying to speak to him. "Professor Kokonoe, Is that you?" Ragna questioned as Kokonoe from the comms scratched her head in frustration of the current situation. "Okay look. Can you just help me convince Lambda to stop her link with your Azure Grimoire right now! She's denying my Access for some reason and I can't stop her from killing herself!" Kokonoe screamed, hastily typing through the various commands, trying to get the idea engine inside Lambda to shut down but stubbornly it refuses to do so.
"Did you hear all of that Lambda? You're going to die if you keep whatever you're doing up!" Ragna said, hoping that Lambda would listen to reason. "Lambda understands... but if it is to protect Ragna, Lambda is willing to give up her life to protect Ragna." Lambda said as Ragna shook his head at that. "There's no point in sacrificing yourself like that! I don't want anybody dying for my sake dammit!" Ragna yelled as he felt the seithr holding Meifang back start to loosen as he immediately clenched his fist to keep her trapped.
"But Lambda can see Ragna is in pain... Lambda wants to help Ragna feel better." Lambda said as Ragna gritted his teeth, painfully trying to keep Meifang contained. "I don't like seeing you in pain..." Lambda said, the shifts in her personality both jarring to Ragna's eyes and also his emotions as he struggled to not look at her... to not look at Lambda and be reminded of his sister, of his failure to protect her as Lambda could see the pain in his face.
"What can I do to help you feel better Ragna?" Lambda questioned as Ragna did not know the answer himself. What could he do to feel better. In the past few days, he has met 3 people who has the same appearance of his sister, a vigilante who looked to be on his last legs, a squirrel beastkin who lost her arm and the white haired man who seemed to be looking for answers of his own. All of this in the span of the last few days had proved to be very taxing to his mind as he looked at Lambda straight in the eyes, placing his hands on her shoulders.
Ragna: I want you to live dammit!
Lambda: Ragna?
Ragna: I don't want anybody sacrificing themselves just to save me! Nobody wants to see someone die in front of their eyes just to protect them dammit!
Lambda: But.
Ragna: Do you want to see me die in front of you then? Sacrifice my own life just to protect yours!
Lambda: I...I...No
Ragna: Exactly! Then just do what Kokonoe tells you and stop the link right now before you kill yourself! If you won't do it for her then do it for me!
Lambda paused hearing those words. If not for the person who brought her back...her creator. But for a person she barely knew other than the database established by Professor Kokonoe to help her acclimate to the world and help her know what was going on. She shouldn't feel such a connection towards Ragna the Bloodedge, her mental capacity was saying that it was irrational to feel the way she currently did, that it was a hindrance to her most important mission, to survive.
Yet at the same time, there was something irrational inside her. Something that told her she needed to save Ragna. That she needed to protect him with everything she had. This person she barely knew, this person who she only knows by the little time she had experienced with him the previous day when he saved her from the mysterious black mass of Seithr. She knew she was too weak to keep the Idea Engine linked with the Azure Grimoire...but then an idea struck her.
"Lambda understands... but Lambda refuses to stop protecting you Ragna." Lambda said as before Ragna could speak another word, she boldly grabbed the Azure Grimoire itself, allowing the seithr to flow right at her, shocking Ragna. "So Lambda will protect you... With everything Lambda has." Lambda said. In that moment, the girl had a simple wish in her heart. Through the sea of data and logic swimming through her mind. All she wanted to do was simple. Give Ragna, the person who she has this strange link with, the power needed to keep on fighting without her.
As she did this, Kokonoe could notice her screen pick up a new set of data. Data that she had never seen before. "What is Lambda...!?" before Kokonoe could realize what was happening, the Idea Engine that was implanted in Lambda-11 to act as a spare engine in place of what normally ran an Murakumo unit began to move itself right into Ragna The Bloodedge, becoming one with the Azure Grimoire itself.
Before Ragna could say a word, Lambda's hands soon released itself from the Grimoire, the heavy sensation he had felt suddenly swim over him earlier suddenly disappearing as he looked at Lambda in shock. "Lambda...Did it." Lambda weakly said as Ragna became confused looking at her, wondering what she had said. "Lambda...will now...protect you...Always..." Lambda continued as her eyes slowly weakened, slowly closing as Ragna could only look at her in confusion as the words that he wanted to say simply refused to come out of his voice.
It was in that moment of sudden distress, sudden stress that caused the grip that had held Meifang tight to loosen as Meifang dropped to the ground, coughing heavily as she struggled to keep a composed face. Ragna was not focusing on that as he was simply left confused by the words Lambda had just left him. Protect him? What did she do and why did she look so weak? "What...What did you do!?" Ragna demanded as Lambda softly smiled.
"Lambda...gave you a piece of her... this way...Lambda...will always protect you..." the moment Ragna heard those words, he wanted to question her further to figure out what she meant by that. Before he could get his answer though he turned around and noticed Meifang approaching him. "Just why are you so damn Stubborn!" Ragna yelled, clenching the Azure Grimoire as he gripped the Aramasa.
"Stubborn? I guess you can put it that way. I just wish to experience fighting against an opponent who can give me a proper challenge." Meifang said as she clenched her fist. "A person who can show me what true power looks like." Meifang continued as she slowly assumed a fighting posture, ready to fight once more despite the injuries she had sustained. Ragna himself was willing to oblige but he needed to focus on Lambda while figure out what she had just done to him.
"Well if that is what you want. Maybe I can oblige your request Miss." A voice said as without warning, the NOL troops standing by to assist Miss LapisLazuli were suddenly blown away as Ragna could immediately recognize the voice that had just spoken. Meifang herself immediately pivoted to meet with the sudden presence, throwing her fist towards the direction she had suspected the new person was coming in to attack her from only to realize her attack had completely missed as a foot stepped on her head with enough force to send her stumbling towards her knocked out companions.
"So this is where you have been huh kid? I was wondering why it was taking you so long to get to the headquarters." The voice said as right in front of Ragna was a sight he immediately recognized. He had to look down because the person talking to him was not a normal human being or beastkin but his master, Jubei. A walking, talking cat person. His small stature would have him be mistaken for a small cat beastkin child with his yellow hood with large paw covers and twin tails if you looked at him from behind but then again, what child would be packing heat in the form of two swords connected by a singular red sheath and an eyepatch over his right eye.
"M-master?! What are you even doing here?!" Ragna asked in shock as Jubei simply sighed. "I'm here to look for my disciple wondering where he went. It was a good thing I came here after following the advice of the person who went ahead of you." Jubei explained as Ragna was surprised to hear that Sora had told his master about his current situation... well he wouldn't know that he was saved by a Murakumo unit of all things but the fact that he at least brought help over here despite most likely not knowing about his master-disciple relationship to one of the six heroes at least told him he was at least correct to team up with Sora in a way.
"Why don't you get going already. And you can leave the little miss behind you in my care. I promise she gets the attention she deserves." Jubei said as Ragna looked at Lambda before sighing, realizing that this was his best chance to go now. "Listen to me Lambda, I have got to go now. You stay close to master now and do what he says. I promise when I have done what I need to do that I will at least see you to get an explanation for what you did." Ragna said, feeling bad he had to leave in the way he was but also knew that it was necessary at this point as he stood up and quickly ran towards the NOL base
"...O...kay..." Lambda weakly said as Ragna decided to not say any further, allowing her to rest as he simply gave his master a look that he immediately understood before leaving the scene, taking the alleyways to hurry towards the NOL Base before he would have to keep fighting Meifang once more. "Right... Sorry about interrupting the way I did miss, I am just making sure my disciple gets his stuff done." Jubei replied as Meifang scratched her head, unable to stop a chuckle from escaping her voice.
"Oh why should I? Someone may have interrupted me from fully experiencing the power of the Azure Grimoire but at least that person who stopped me is a Six hero." Meifang said, entering a martial stance and staring right at Jubei. "So come on! Jubei of the Six Heroes! Show me how strong you have remained after all these years!" Meifang shouted, excited that she would get the chance to duel against one of the famed Six Heroes of the Dark war where others would be terrified at just the mere reputation Jubei had as he couldn't help but sigh.
"Sigh... What a piece of work." Jubei said as he assumed a stance, deciding to fulfill his student's request this once.
As Ragna made his way towards the NOL headquarters, he couldn't help but wonder how much time had passed and had been wasted because of his fight against Meifang. Will he make it in time to confront Terumi and fight him once and for all. "God I hope that kid doesn't meet him... would be a really shitty situation if he.." Before Ragna could finish his train of thought, a loud boom could be heard in the air as he looked towards the NOL Building.
The sight that he saw was something to behold. Above the NOL building were two different lights in the sky. One light was that of a great blue that split the skies right down the middle. The other light was that of a great red light that resembled the flames of hell itself. These two opposing lights clashed with each other that created a perfect split down the middle as Ragna could feel an intense heat strike him where he stood. There was simply one thing that ran in his mind as he saw this unbelievable sight.
...Just what the hell was he witnessing and what the hell was Sora doing over there...
GREETINGS LOST SHEEP OF FANFICTION!? HOW IS EVERYONE DOING ON THIS FINE DAY!? Well that is what I would like to say but with how crazy the world has become lately I highly doubt that would be the right word to use right now. In any case. I do hope you guys are doing well out there. Me? I am doing fine, just trying to survive. If you are wondering why this chapter is longer than normal... Well can I just say that I was having a bit of a writer's high and the word count bloomed as a result. Oh well, can't really stop the writing bug if you got it.
SO WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT FOR RAGNA THE BLOODEDGE!? WHAT OTHER WAYS WILL THE TIMELINE START TO CHANGE NOW!? WILL HISTORY REALLY REPEAT ITSELF OR ARE THERE MORE CHANGES IN STORE FOR THE WORLD AND IT'S INHABITANTS?! AND FINALLY WHAT ABOUT SORA AND HIS ROLE IN THE WORLD!? All these questions and more will be answered in the next Canon.