In the early morning, with the sun just rising, Tsubaki woke up. She found it weird to sleep on the hard, rough ground, considering she only slept in beds. Something draped her, blanketing her body and protecting her from the cold breeze the forest threatened with. I don't carry a red blanket with me. Wait… Is this Ragna's jacket? Wouldn't he be cold? She could not fathom why Ragna would give her the only source of warmth he seemed to have. Tsubaki closed her eyes in thought. I don't understand. According to the reports, he would've just killed back there. Instead…

"Are you awake?" Ragna asked. He was sitting down, slumped against a tree. It seemed that he'd been awake for sometime, if his mood was any indication. Tsubaki, not finding the need to talk to him unless necessary, rose her head to look at him, eyes weary. He smirked, "Good, come on. Like I said, I want to get to the next town early."

Tsubaki nodded and rose to her feet. The medicine applied to her last night numbed the pain the leg. She clutched the jacket tightly and somewhat limped to Ragna. "…Um, thanks for the jacket."

"Sure." He looked at her leg with concern. "I doubt that crap medicine did much on that leg," He paused to throw on the jacket. "Can you walk okay?"

"I'll be fine."

"Alright, come on."

They walked through the forest, Tsubaki staying behind Ragna. Neither seemed to wish to simply talk. Occasionally, he would look back, seeing if she was keeping up. While walking through the copse, a vine snagged her ankle. Tsubaki, caught by surprise, shrieked as she stumbled forward and began to fall face first. Ragna had just caught her before impact towards the ground, arm wrapped around her waist and the other arm supporting her shoulder. Her arms instinctively rounded up his lower back for balance. Sensing no danger of falling anymore, she held a gasp at the awareness of the position they both managed to get in; he was holding her tightly, almost like a hug, and she was merely returning it. Blushing, she managed to say, "…Sorry."

Ragna blinked in confusion and looked into her eyes. Why is she apologizing? "Ain't your fault. The hell did you trip on anyways?"

"Um…" Pulling away from his hold, she was able to think of words once again. "I don't know. I think a vine or low root entangled my foot."

"Well be careful. We're almost at the-oh shit!"

Without warning, he lunged at Tsubaki, tackling her and moving her out of harm's way. She screamed at the sudden burst, bu made no effort to try to force him off. From they stood a second ago, a huge boulder landed with intense force to create a crater and shattered into pieces. "What the hell!?"

"Guess tour instincts kick off faster. I'm impressed, Mr. Grim Reaper!: A masculine voice sounded from behind the two. They turned to see a large, powerfully built man. He donned a white coat hanging loosely from his shoulders and white pants with a black covering on the left leg. He had blue hair and exotic marks tattooing his skin. "And you're with a little insect from the Library, as well. My lucky day!"

"The mad dog of Sector Seven, " snarled Ragna.

Tsubaki gasped aloud. She heard stories and read reports of this assailant. During the Ikaruga Civil War, he would indiscriminately attack friends and foes for mere entertainment. Instinctively, she reached for her weapon. Confused that she grabbed only air, she though for a moment. Ragna didn't give me back my weapon. Darn. How do I fight?

As she was about to step forward to announce this man's conviction, Ragna protectively held out his arm in front of her. "The hell are you doing here, you bastard?"

"I'm Azrael. I came here for two reasons; an order to retrieve your promised Azure Grimiore and to experience the power of the infamous Ragna the Bloodedge firsthand." Azrael paused to flex his muscles and crack his neck. "…And I'll enjoy eating you as well as this Library chick as well."

Ragna turned to Tsubaki, eyes glaring. As she flinched of the sudden movement, he said, "Go."

"…Huh?"

"Go! Get the hell outta here, you idiot. Now!"

She nodded, but made no effort to move. The voice in her mind demanded that she leave the scene, getting out of the area and to let Ragna take care of the brute. But…

Ragna didn't notice her presence as he raised his sword. Readying it by his side ad preparing to charge, he shouted, "Take this, you son of a bitch!"

With that, Ragna dashed forward, striking with Blood-Scythe. Azrael dashed as well, lunging his foot with an unknown aura around it. As both clashed, Ragna immediately readied his sword again and slashed upward, hoping to cleave his opponent in half. Azrael countered with a thrusting kick, hoping to send Ragna flying back. When their attacks met, Ragna followed up with a downward hack, his blade enveloped with a purple caliginous semblance. With thinking and acting on instinct, Azrael intercepted it with a charging impaling kick. Both collided once more, moving both fighters to where they started.

Tsubaki had no content to solely watch, helpless. Her companion glanced back at her, met her eyes with his, worried, and turned back to glare at the wrongdoer. "I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"Come on, do not betray my expectations, Grim Reaper!"

The aggressor slammed both of his muscular arms towards the ground, fingers going through and grasping. With intense, inhuman strength, he lifted a huge chunk of land over his shoulders. He grunted and chucked the boulder straight towards Ragna.

Ragna was able to raise his sword to slash the flying chunk of land in the air. However, the force of the impact left him flying backwards until he felt his back collide with a large tree, stopping his flying body with a loud THUD. With a groan of pain, he found it hard to raise back up. When he finally rose, Azrael laughed.

"Ragna!" He heard a voice scream his name. The next thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Tsubaki, eyes filled with worry. He felt a comforting hand on his back. "Are you alright?"

"…What the hell are you doing? I told you to get out of here."

"Ha ha ha!" The sudden, loud laugh startled the two. They looked up at the brute, with hardly a scratch on him. "A Library soldier supporting her enemy? This is rich. Come on, Grim Reaper, this can't possibly be your power. This simply will not satisfy my fangs."

The blue-haired man lunged forward, this time towards Tsubaki. At the blink of an eye, Tsubaki flew back, face numb. She wasn't able to see the lashing punch on her cheek, the impact too quick. She skidded across the open field. When her body came to a stop, she lay there, groaning and trying to raise to her knees.

"Shit." Ragna darted towards her and kneeled down. It seemed to be his turn to comfort his companion. When he reached his hand his hand to her shaking body, he glared at the Sector Seven soldier with no words to say.

"This can't be it, Ragna the Bloodedge. Hurry and stand up. Your strength can't be something like this."

"Don't get cocky, you monster. Like I would lose to the likes of you..." Ragna stood in front of Tsubaki, who was still shaking. She watched as he protectively held out his left arm before her. He looked back, eyes filled with determination. Trust me. Ragna then held up his right arm and recited the activation. "Restriction 666 released. Dimensional Interference Field deployed."

"Yes…Activate that. I wouldn't be fighting seriously if you wouldn't do so."

"What?"

"Enchant Dragnof: Level 2- Released!" At the recital, Azrael's body glowed with an orange aura around his body. Ragna flinched at the same time Tsubaki gaped in horror, unknown of what could happen next.

"What the…?"

Azrael laughed at the confusion. "My 'limiters', Enchant Dragnof suppresses my power."

Tsubaki questioned, " 'Limiter', does that mean you've been fighting at ease this whole time?" That was impossible. According to the blows, that could not have been at 'just ease'.

Azrael only laughed harder. "Please, if I were actually trying, my opponents would be dead in an instant. Grim Reaper, Library soldier, it's been so long since I last released Enchant Dragnof. I just hold myself from the happiness! Now come! Since I haven't had enough eating yet!"

Ragna's glare intensified. "Don't you take me damn lightly! I'm gonna kill you!"

Tsubaki could only watch terrified and afraid as to what will happen next. If this fight continues, someone will…

As he continued his activation, Ragna's arm began to glow. "Idea Engine connection! Blazblue activate!" With that, his right arm glowed. A dark red and black aura surrounded his hand, a remnant of the Black Beast's claw. He let the energy in his body flow into his grimoire.

"So that's the Blazblue, huh?" Azrael only laughed maniacally again. He advanced forward. At the same time Ragna did as well. Fists clashing dangerously, he shouted, "Well then, I'm just gonna eat it till its all gone, Grim Reaper!"

Tsubaki gasped when a giant behemoth fell from the sky, landing. The two fighters ceased their fighting for the moment. Her breath caught in her throat when the red and orange-skinned robot lifted his head. The Red Devil from Sector Seven. He looked at Tsubaki, expression confused. Guess they didn't find her yet… His attention turned to Azrael. "Azrael, that's enough. Time to go, Kokonoe needs you to retreat back to the Sector Seven branch now. This mission has changed."

"Hmph. That cat bitch needs me now? What for?"

"I didn't ask. I suggest you do as orders follow, unless you wish to clash weapons with me as well."

After a few minutes of deliberation, he sighed and relaxed, the glow fading away. "Fine. I guess orders are orders. This fight was getting boring, in fact."

As Tager and he started walking away, Ragna's arm began to materialized back in its original form. He sneered, "Hope that means you get your ass out of here."

As a teleportation ars began to form with the two members, Azrael looked back. "The next time we meet, put up a better fighter Bloodedge. Killing you won't be fun if you don't." They both stepped through and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Ragna and Tsubaki were finally able to release a sigh of relief, glad they didn't have to put up with him anymore.

He made his way for Tsubaki. "You doing okay? You're trembling."

"I'm okay, really. She tried to rise to her knees, but fell back down of exhaustion and pain from the blow in the face. Ragna shook his head. Chick needs rest. She's pushing herself way too much. He extended his hand towards her. She accepted it and allowed him to pull her to her feet. "…Thank you, Ragna."

"Don't mention it. We need to get to town and head for a hospital. My damn wounds and head needs to be looked at, case you're concussed or something." He paused before walking. "If you feel like you're about to fall, just let me know."

And done. That chapter took much longer to write than I intended. This chapter was difficult to write because I couldn't think of ideas to get Azrael out of the scene. Also, I am very stressed in school with many homework assignments and projects. A few things about this story: Don't expect to see every character of the Blazblue cast in this one. Also, when I said that this story takes place in Ragna's arcade mode in CP, it starts after he defeats Tsubaki, in case anyone was confused. Until then, farewell for now.