Chapter VII: The Impossible Shift
"Crap, I've lost her!" Makoto groaned. "Noellers, please, please be safe."
Despite her lack of direction, Makoto wasn't about to lose hope. She continued to run to towards the lower levels of the NOL branch. Surprisingly she found Noel in the branches lobby, just… standing there slumped over, pausing. "Noel…" Makoto said softy approaching her friend. Suddenly the Murakumo unit's eyes came to life as her body straightened.
"Searching… searching… searching… searching… Master Unit not detected. Error… error… error…"
"Noellers…" Makoto said slowly. She tried waving her hand in front of Noel's face, no response. "Noel, talk to me. I know Hazama, no Terumi, turned you into… that. But, please let me help you, you're still my friend."
Noel was silent… before her eyes turned blood red. "Master units determined absent. Executing final protocol; termination of anomaly world."
(Cue Three Day's Grace's Time of Dying)
"Noel," Makoto said, her heart broken by what her friend was going to do. "I'm not going to let you do something you'll regret. You're my friend! You're not Kusanagi, you're not going destroy the world, YOU'RE NOEL VERMILLION!"
"Obstacle to shift termination detected. Threat assessed at level A. Now terminating."
Makoto rushed her old friend to attempt a crippling jab to the stomach. Mu's petal blades appeared in front of her to guard against the attack. "Steins Gunner!" Mu shouted as she created a crystal orb and had it float mid-air near Makoto. The beastkin barely dodged the laser that was emitted from the orb. "Sword of Decimation!" all of Mu's petals reeled back and proceed to prepare for a massive overhead slash. Makoto managed to parry the overhead onslaught, but was sent reeling back.
As Makoto regained her footing, Mu sent out several more crystals. "Totsuka Blade!" The beam Mu's sent out jumped from crystal to crystal, leaving Makoto to dodge.
"Asteroid Vision!" Makoto shouted as she sent out two other illusions and rushed her opponent. The beam attacking her chose the wrong one, leaving Mu to try and follow with another Sword of Decimation attack. "Eclipse Turn!" Makoto shouted as she whipped around Mu at her exposed back. "Impact!" Makoto shouted as she charged her heat and sent Mu flying.
Mu flipped in mid-air and landed on the ground. She then controlled her crystals to fly towards Makoto "Divine Wrath of the Heavens!" The crystal exploded around Makoto, burning her slightly. The beastkin avoided screaming out in pain as Mu sent out another projectile. "Arrows of Heaven!" Makoto barely managed to dodge the electrified orb before rushing towards Mu and attacking while she still had an opening.
"Particle Flare!" she shouted smashing her fist into her long-time friend. "NOEL, THIS-!" she began as she uppercutted Mu into the air. Makoto then appeared above her opponent, her fist charged with energy. "-IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!" she shouted as blasted Mu to the floor, causing a dust cloud to form and debris to fly.
Makoto landed on her feet and sighed. I hope I didn't hurt Noel too badly; I wasn't holding back at all. Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed Mu step out of the dust cloud. A little dirt and the occasional scratch, but otherwise the she looked completely unaffected. That didn't do anything!? This is bad…
*End song*
-Meanwhile-
"Princess, how are we going to get out of here?! We've been stuck in this godforsaken who knows what for hours!"
"Be quite, Nago," the blond vampire commanded her cat servant. "Being trapped in this place is unbearable enough without your unceasing whining. And as for our way out, the only thing we can truly do is wait. I'm not sure even Valkenhayn would be able to find us in a place like this."
They were trapped in darkness, a world between dimensions, only partially connecting to the world they knew. The young Alucard knew it'd be miracle should they be able to escape, for they we tied down with red chains that resembled the most powerful binding array she'd encountered. This limited her movement and would prove difficult to break.
Gii, Rachel's pig-bat, nervously spoke. "So we should just-?" His question was cut short by the walls of their prison shattering.
The three found themselves back in the NOL branch, their chains still binding them in their place, but the walls of their prison had been shattered. How on earth? Rachel thought to herself before seeing their 'savior,' wearing his unmistakable red coat. Of all the people, it had to be him!
"Very well, Ragna," Rachel said grudgingly. "You are allowed to taunt me for two min-"
Instead of heckling the young vampire, Ragna swiped his Soul Eater charged sword and instantly broke the binding array holding Rachel and her companions in place. His face showed little emotion, no smugness, no cockiness, just worry.
"I've got better things to do. If you can still move, let's go." Ragna then turned and ran for the corridor, leaving Rachel speechless.
Is he really the same brute that I knew before? Ragna… what's happened to you? "I take it Noel Vermillion has been smelted into Kusanagi." Rachel said as she controlled the winds to stay at Ragna's pace.
"Yeah…"
"What about Terumi?" Rachel asked, convinced that Terumi had decided to let Ragna go out of spite or boredom.
"I left the asshole impaled on the roof. He's not getting down anytime soon."
"Well done I suppose, but you seem troubled."
"Rachel, how are we going to save Noel?"
"It depends on your definition of 'saving,'" Rachel responded sadly.
"It always comes down to that, huh?"
-Elsewhere-
Let's see what's gone wrong today. Well, first off there was my idiot secretary who brought me fried eggs for breakfast, I mean COME ON! Everyone knows I love my eggs hardboiled! 'Killed that idiot on the spot! Then, there's the news in hearing Rags ain't being very cooperative with the Continuum Shift, wonder what made him such a rebel? There's also the mater that I couldn't see this particular shift. After that, there was the fact that Raggy beat me, I mean I know I was planning on losing to him, but HOW THE HELL DID HE OVERPOWER ME WITHOUT THE IDEA ENGINE!? Not only that; he impaled to an effing cauldron. Add in or new situation with Takamagahara and the Master unit, and that about summarizes my day… oh wait, almost forget.
I'm still impaled to said cauldron, can't move my arms at all, have a bitch of an itch on my nose, and I'M STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF A FREAKING THUNDERSTORM!
To say Yuuki Terumi was displeased was clearly an understatement here. Though it'd only been 10 minutes it already felt like he'd been there for hours. At least this can't get any worse. That sort of thing's reserved for Raggy.
A dark portal appeared near him and out of it emerged Phantom, Ignis, and the Mad Puppeteer himself. Relius walked forward until he was about a foot away from Terumi, the rain hitting harshly against his clothing.
"'Bout time you showed up Colonel. Come on come on, chop-chop, get me down."
Relius merely stared at his associate a moment before smirking. "I suppose this can be interpreted as 'bailing your ass'?"
It got worse. "You sonnova bitch! Get me the down!"
"Very well, Ignis!" The marionette immediately pulled the blades out of Terumi's body. The villain grunted as he fell to the floor blood still seeping out of the wounds. "Did you manage to take over Takamagahara like you planned?"
"Yeah, about that, there was a bit of a problem…"
"Really? I thought you'd learned how to separate you Spectral form from your body by now."
"That wasn't the problem! The real problem was that when I infiltrated, THERE WASN'T ANYTHING THERE!" Terumi was glowing with jade energy in rage. "Do you know what this means?! Somehow, I can't even begin to imagine how, the existence of Takamagahara was just… removed from this shift!"
"That does seem troublesome," Relius admitted. "Add in the situation from Kusanagi…"
"OH GREAT! What the HELL happened to Mu!?"
"Currently, she's battling with the beastkin, but the real problem resides in the fact that she can't detect the Master Unit."
"But that's impossible! She's the 'Eye of the Azure.' If anyone should know where Amaterasu is at all times, it has to be her!"
"Ergo…" Relius said simply waiting for Terumi to catch on. He didn't have to wait long.
"What!? The MASTER UNIT is gone!? How did this happen!? Better yet, WHEN did this happen?!"
"About fifteen minutes ago, during your little scuffle with Ragna the Bloodedge. I'll admit I'm not sure how that ties into this, but the cause of this Paradox lies in the Reaper."
"ALL RIGHT! THAT IS IT! I'M GOING TO KILL THAT SON OF A BITCH!"
"I suggest you rethink your course, Terumi," sounded a new voice. The group turned and saw their 'leader.'
"My apologies," Terumi said before placing his soaked hat back on, reverting to Hazama. "I'm afraid I got a little carried away there."
-Back to the fight-
"Damn it…" Makoto groaned. Despite her valiant efforts, her attacks just weren't having that much of an effect on Mu. Worse, Mu's ability to identify and now adapt to Makoto's fighting style. Makoto was starting to get used to Mu's moves too, but in terms of power, she was clearly outmatched. "Great… now what?" she thought as Mu set up a wall of crystal turrets between them.
"Empty Sky: Summers Advance!" a voice shouted destroying the turrets with a wave of white energy. Mu then turned her attention to the newcomer. He was close to seven feet tall and garbed only in white armor. He slowly stepped between Makoto and the Murakumo unit.
"Susanooh Unit detected. Estimated threat level is SS."
"Hmph, so this is the infamous god slayer. Stand back beast-blood, this opponent is mine to slay."
"And let you kill Noel, forget it! Take a hike Metal!"
"Hmph, it should be obvious that you stand no chance against that Murakumo unit. Why do you insist on fighting a pointless battle?"
"I'd rather go down saving my friends than standing by and letting them get killed. They were always there for me, now I'm here for them!"
"Hmph, honorable I suppose, but-"
"Divine Wrath of the Heavens!" the crystals Mu had stealthily hidden exploded against Makoto and Hakumen, damaging Makoto and putting her off balance and fazing Hakumen. Mu then rushed past Hakumen to target the weakened Makoto. "Sword of Decimation!" Makoto saw Mu's Murakumo blades reel back to strike her and end her life… right before a blur covered her.
CLANG!
"This isn't going to be a thing for us, is it?" her savior joked. Ragna had a content grin on his face. Makoto saw he was holding her in one arm, the other arm holding Blood-Scythe and keeping the petal blades back. Like a badass. Given their closeness, Makoto blushed slightly.
"The Beast…" Hakumen noted somewhat surprised. So they know each other… Is she the source of his power increase?
"Hey yourself, masked freak. Sorry Noel, give me a sec," Ragna said simply as he forcibly shoved Mu back with his sword.
Mu staggered back before regaining her balance. "BlazBlue detected. Target threat level deemed as… as… unreadable. Removing all limits."
(Cue Evanescence's Bring me to life)
Ragna sighed. "So I get the special treatment huh? Just my luck." He turned to Hakumen. "Hey masked freak, I know we've got a score to settle, but stay out of this one."
"And I would do that because…?"
"Please, Mr. Hero." Rachel had landed beside Hakumen. Though Hakumen had thought to bring it upon himself to finish Kusanagi, Rachel had known he was unneeded here; the burden would have to be Ragna's to bear alone.
"Very well," he said simply. "I will leave this to the destroyer."
"Good, and Makoto?"
Makoto gulped as she slowly got out of her partial 'embrace' with Ragna. "Y-yeah?"
"Just… have faith, okay?"
"…Ragna?"
She didn't get a response as Ragna rushed towards Mu. "Carnage Scissors!" he shouted as his blade clashed against Mu's petal barrier. Mu brought out her laser turrets from behind Ragna, but the Reaper had been ready. "Gauntlet Hades!" Ragna destroyed all of the crystals except for one, which he nicked. When he fell he swatted the falling crystal towards Mu, which hit her right in the face, stagger her for only a second. "Hells Fang!" he shouted as he launched forward with his BlazBlue coated in seither. He immediately followed up with a second strike sending Mu flying.
Mu quickly recovered and lunged towards Ragna. "Sword of Decimation!" she cried as her petal created an arc to strike Ragna. The Reaper countered with his sword and the two exchanged blows for several minutes. Meanwhile, Rachel was noticing this change. How is he able to fight like this? It was completely unthinkable in the other shifts, but here his is now surpassing every exception I've ever had of him.
Ragna finally managed to get under Mu's guard. "Infernal Divider!" he yelled as he brought Mu into the air with his sword. He then smashed his fist into her armor before finishing with an Ax Kick.
"Wisdom of the Divines!" Mu shouted as she bound Ragna into place before striking him with her eight summoned light swords. She left Ragna bound as she then summoned four steins above his head. "Rage!" she bellowed as the crystals proceeded to blast Ragan over and over again.
"RAGNA!" Makoto yelled. There was a giant dust cloud created as the lasers fired unceasingly at Ragna.
Mu stared as the lasers continued firing. "The Black Beast has been pur-"
She was cut off as a blur of red emerged from the cloud and grabbed her head. "INVERTING IDEA ENGINE!" Ragna yelled as he poured his BlazBlue power into Mu.
"What!?" Rachel said surprised as Mu's armor began peeling away. Mu was now in the process of becoming unsmelted right before her eyes. However, Ragna was the one to pay the price as his remaining human arm was ripped to literal pieces.
(End song)
Noel feel on her knees and merely sat there, uncomprehending to what had just happened. Ragna staggered a bit as he attempted to remain standing. He slowly turned towards Makoto. She saw that he'd been hit badly in most of his body, and his black hakama was now coated in red blood. "I told you… we'd… save her," he finished before collapsing. Makoto rushed forward and caught Ragna before he hit the ground. After a moment Noel began to stir.
"My head… what happened?" she said before managing to open her now green eyes. "Makoto?" she said before turning to who she was next to. "Ragna!? Oh, my gosh then-!"
"Arg… not so loud," Ragna managed before looking to eye Hakumen. "What now… you gonna finish me?"
"I have no desire to slay a beast that's already wounded. Consider this a stay of execution," the samurai said before turning to leave. "And also…"
"What now?" Ragna muttered, irritated.
"…Don't let her down," Hakumen finished mysteriously. Noel looked quizzically at Makoto who said nothing.
"Yeah, trust this guy; after all he speaks from experience. Isn't that right Haku?" Hazama looked upon to group of victors with a sneer.
"Terumi!" Hakumen vented before charging his sworn enemy, but his blade was deterred by a certain red head in a black uniform.
"Tsubaki!" Makoto and Hakumen voiced at the same time.
Tsubaki then jumped back and proceeded to stand next to Terumi. Phantom then appeared behind Hazama and summoned a few more enemies. One of them was the doctor that Ragna recognized with his encounter in the sewers, the other one was Relius Clover and of course Ignis. Being held in Ignis's claws was the unconscious, but otherwise unharmed Jin Kisaragi. Ignis then proceed to through Jin towards them.
"Yeah, little miss Yayoi here decided to become all high and mighty with the whole take me, not him routine. It was so cheesy; I thought I could do better with my eyes closed. Wanna see? I think I got the video somewhere on my smart phone."
"I gonna make you pay you bastard!" Ragna roared at his tormentor. Terumi only laughed. Damn it I need to get up, Ragna thought as he struggled to his feet.
"Oh that's rich, because if anyone's looking for revenge, IT'S ME! I gotta know, how the hell did you cock up my plans. You know what if it wasn't for my employer; I'd have all of you screaming right now!"
"You're… employer?" Ragna barely managed.
"Oh, that's right, wanna see her? I'm pretty sure the two of you know each other. Right Imperator?"
A final figure appeared. "Stop these dull games of yours Terumi. It's beginning to irk me."
Ragna's eyes widened and his blood grew colder than Yukianesa, "No…"
"Rachel Alucard," Imperator spoke. "You seem to be deadest on continuing this suicidal campaign. Rest assured, despite the disappearance of Amaterasu, my plans are still the same. You've given us a minor setback nothing more."
"How foolish of you, to think that you've already won," Rachel huffed back.
"There is little any of you can do to us, so I'll allow you all a small reprieve. I look forward to seeing you all soon." She said as her red eyes were suddenly fixated on Ragna. "You especially after such a short reunion… brother."
Makoto's eyes widened. Ragna's sister was the NOL's imperator? That didn't make sense. As their opponents disappeared in Phantom's teleportation vortex. Ragna could only say one thing. "Sa…ya…" before his body finally collapsed.
Makoto and Noel both helped guide the unconscious Ragna to the floor as gently as they could.
"Be prepared," was all Hakumen said as he left.
Rachel gave one last sad look at Ragna before departing herself taking the unconscious Jin with her.
"We should go too," Makoto noted before attempting to pick Ragna up, Noel nodded sadly and proceeded to help her best friend. "Hey, don't look so down. Ragna helped me get you back; he'll help us get Tsubaki back too. We going to save her."
"How can you be so sure?" Noel had to ask.
"Simple. No one stops the Grim Reaper, or his Beastkin partner."
End of Arc One
VERY IMPORTANT PLEASE READ!
I don't own BlazBlue or the selected music (there, got it over with).
Sorry that this chapter took so long to write. Anyways, I already stated that before I begin the next arc I'd have a few intermission chapters to help me get things ready, but more importantly, I need the time so that I can open a poll for all of you who care enough towards the story.
The poll is simple: Do you want all of the characters to become gradually stronger? In this case it's the matter of learning new techniques, adopting new fighting styles, and even (in very rare cases) obtaining new weapons. The poll will be open on Sunday, so stay tuned for that.
The other thing is more of a favor from all of you. I've searched the web and I haven't found any good Ragna and Makoto pictures. If you know of any good pictures, or if you even want to draw your own. Please, PM me with the link. Seriously, the cover needs to be changed, its way to plain.
Anyways, with the end of my first Arc this seems as sort of a milestone for me. All I have to say is this: Thank you for reading my story and for your amazing support. From the bottom of my heart. Storm VII signing off. Ciao.