Duel I: A Failed Rebellion

Ragna roared with rage as he charged the silver Murakumo unit before him, his sword-scythe the Aramasa was already glowing black and red with the energy he'd poured into it. His target giggled as she met his charge with her wing petals exposed. The two swung their respected weapons in an arc, both meeting in a powerful clash that cracked the very ground beneath them. Despite Ragna's exhaustion from his earlier fights with the Red Devil, an odd, hooded cat, a black seither blob, a strange doctor, his own brother, and the dangerously powerful masked freak, he stood his ground with every bit of strength he still had, but he was at his limit.

His most recent fight was definitely the costliest, not only was his opponent incredibly skilled and powerful enough to unnerve him with his fighting aura alone; the injuries he'd received in the fight weren't healing despite the BlazBlue's power. And that fight was barely two minutes before his current encounter with the crazy girl in front of him. It made him sick, hadn't he been through enough crap for one lifetime? He'd watched his siblings get kidnapped, his arm severed from his body, fires burn both the only home he ever had and his foster mother, and all in one day. Now he was fighting a deranged girl constantly saying demeaning innuendos... with the face of his own sister.

"C'mon Ragna!" the girl said cheerfully as she began forcing him back with her blades. "I can still keep going! Don't tell me you're done already!'

"Shut up! Shut the hell up you freak!" Ragna shouted as he pushed back the petals that had placed him in a deadlock. "I'm going to destroy you until there's nothing left!"

"Aw Ragna, Nu just loves it when you talk dirty," the girl said, causing Ragna's temper to raise even further. The Grim Reaper roared as he poured more seither in his sword, transforming it into its scythe form. He began a powerful swing that looked like it was about to take the girls head off, but stopped a hair's breadth from her neck. "Aw, aren't you gonna finish?"

Ragna couldn't move, no matter how hard he tried. He was frozen, every muscle on him was completely still. He kept his hands on the scythe, but he just couldn't finish the attack. 'Damn it! My body won't move! What's going on?!' The next instant, Ragna felt himself getting impaled in the chest by a giant blade. "ARG!"

"Nu's always dreamed of this," Ragna heard the Murakumo say to him. To his horror, he realized that they were both impaled on the sword. Nu edged herself closer to Ragna and wrapped her arms around him as a lover would, something Ragna wouldn't know. "Nu never wants to be without you Ragna, I want to always be a part of you, forever." She edged them closer and closer to the cauldron, and then they fell... down and down, further and further into the gateway to the boundary. Somehow, Ragna still kept his grip on his sword which had reverted back due to the lack of seither energy.

"BROTHER!" he heard a voice shout as he fell. Through his darkening vision, he saw a very injured Jin attempting to follow him into the Cauldron.

"Rach...el," he said with the last of his strength. "Get… Jin...out...of here... Please...!"

He knew it was a shot in a million; even if Rachel was watching and could hear him, nothing guaranteed that she'd be able to teleport Jin out or that she'd care enough to do so. But even when his vision darkened that he couldn't see anything at all, he could still smell the faint aroma of roses as his brother's screams ceased. Despite himself, Ragna smiled before blacking out entirely.

The two then fell deeper and deeper, completely being engulfed in the by the supposed realm of gods. But this Ragna's story does not end there, no... it hadn't even begun.

Elsewhere

Ragna groaned at his pounding head, no not just his head, every muscle on body was crying out in anguish. Even the downpour of rain was hurting whenever a raindrop merely touched him. Despite the pain he slowly forced his eyes open, well his left one; his right eye was shut and refused to open. He slowly tried to move his right arm, but despite the pain he was feeling it didn't budge an inch. He knew what was happening, it had happened only once before, when he and his master Jubei had visited an area completely uncorrupted by seither.

"Damn it... where am I?" Ragna asked as he forced himself to sit upright. He looked around and realized he in the middle of a ruined city, a burning ruined city. He'd been lying on the solid concrete of a street and was soaked to the bone because of the rain. It took him a moment, but the Reaper slowly forced himself to his feet. His injuries seemed to have closed, but his clothes were still tattered and bloody, proof that his fight with the deranged Murakumo unit had certainly happened. He noticed his sword laying in the ground beside him. He picked up the sword and equipped it to his belt.

Suddenly, an inhuman roar was heard and nearby pile of rubble exploded as a giant dragon-like beast crushed it. The thing was huge, if it got up on its hind legs it'd be about the same size as the Red Devil Ragna had faced earlier. It had dirty brown scales, large wings, a long and powerful tail, and a pair of yellow eyes that were savagely focused on the Grim Reaper. It opened its jaws in low hiss and Ragna could see purple saliva dripping from the monster's jaws, almost certain that even scrape with those teeth could inject him with lethal venom.

Despite every odd against him, despite this things size and ferocity, despite Ragna's earlier injuries, he unclipped his sword with his good hand and brought the blade in front of him. He didn't care anymore, if he was going to die, he'd die with his sword in his hands, not cowering behind some rock. He'd die like he fought, as a human being until the end.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Ragna questioned in a dark tone, though he doubted the thing could understand him. "Come attack me you freak!"

The dragon let out a savage roar before complying and rushing at the Reaper, its wing flapping to give the creature speed as it lunged at Ragna with its claws extended. Ragna dodged to the side at the last moment before bringing his sword around in a deadly arc, wounding the creature. The creature's tail then lashed out at Ragna and smashed into his ribs, but Ragna forced himself through the pain as he proceeded to retaliate with his sword, chopping off a good portion of its tail. The creature screamed as it tried to turn and rake Ragna with its claws, but Ragna managed to dive out of the way before rolling on the ground and landing on his feet.

'Damn it, now what?' Ragna thought to himself as he observed his enemy. While the dragon did look like it had taken some damage from Ragna's attack, its wounds seemed to be a minor hindrance at best. 'Well, when all else fails go for the head...' Ragna eyed the thing's disgusting jaws which were now frothing. 'This is gonna suck.'

The dragon roared before charing in for a bite. The Reaper leapt over the attack before bringing his blade down on the creature's exposed neck. There was a splash of green blood from the cut and the creature roared in pain. It tried to shake him off, but Ragna impaled the creature as hard as he could and held on tightly to his sword. The dragon then tried to quickly roll on its back to crush its attacker, but Ragna saw the move coming.

He tore his sword out of the creature's flesh, causing himself to get sprayed in green blood before dodging the monster's heavy bulk. While the dragon was on its back, Ragna leapt above the monster's head and roared as he brought the blade down and fully decapitated it. The monster gave one last shudder before becoming completely still.

Ragna breathed heavily as he attempted to catch his breath. While getting smacked by the tail hadn't been that bad, his previous injuries had started to open and bleed further. With his BlazBlue currently useless and his healing factor greatly diminished because of it, Ragna was in pretty sorry shape. Despite this he reset his sword on his metal belt and started walking.

"Hey red coat," Ragna heard a voice behind him say. He turned his head at who'd addressed him. He was about Ragna's height, a few inches shorter at most, and had slightly tanned skin and brown hair, which was kept spiky in the front, but had a long ponytail in the back. His outfit consisted of a red plated headband that said 'Rock You' on it and a sort of robe that was mostly white, aside from the red cross pattern at its center. On his waist was a belt with a metal plate on the front with 'FREE' inscribed on it. He carried a large weapon that was about the size of Ragna's and looked like it was just a hunk of metal with leather wrapped around the handle.

"What?" Ragna responded with slight hostility. 'Something about this guy just pisses me off.'

'Everything about this guy pisses me off,' the mystery man thought to himself. "Kliff already got the rest of the civilians out and you're definitely not one of us, so who the hell are you?" Ragna said nothing. "Well if you won't talk get the hell out of here. This is no place for a cripple."

"Any advice where I should go?" Ragna decided to ask, letting the insult slide since he was too exhausted to mouth off.

"Head east; you'll find our outpost in a couple of miles. Tell them I sent you and they'll let you in... Or kill you on the spot. Meanwhile..." The man walked past Ragna over to the carcass of the dead dragon. His weapon then glowed red for an instant before he swung the giant blade, sending out a wave of fire that completely engulfed the creature. When the flames vanished a moment later, the creature was little more than ash. "...I'm on cleanup for the rest of these Gears."

'Cleanup he says,' Ragna thought to himself."Thanks I guess," Ragna said as he began to journey east. "You got a name?"

"…Sol Badguy. You?" Sol asked Ragna.

"Ragna," the Reaper called over his back as he walked in the direction that Sol had given him.

"Weird name," Sol muttered under his breath as he fished a cigarette out of his robe pocket.

"Speak for yourself!" Ragna shouted back, apparently hearing him despite the other keeping his words fairly quiet.

Sol grunted as he cast a simple magic incantation through his right index finger. The result was a small flame which Sol put the cigarette he'd finally managed to find into. After puffing the smoke and blowing rings with it for a few minutes, Sol heard movement behind him. At first he thought it was Ragna, coming back for something, but it turned out to be more Gears, these three appeared to be one of the early 'human soldier' models. Fast, strong, but very stupid. Sol said his usual thing as he put his ciggy back in his mouth and gently held the tip with his teeth as he readied his oversized sword.

"What a drag."