A/N: Hey guys, this is Dave and this is the final chapter of arc 2 in 'Blazblue Advent', i hope you guys like the finale of the arc while still makes the right choice of whether or not continue the plot from the 'Fate Azure Sky' on this one and i'm going out with a bang on this chapter so without futher ado, let us begin!
A gamble for the future
"Crap, I've lost her!" Makoto groaned as she screams while searching for Noel. "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 while 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…" Mu says, still trying to search for the Master unit but to no avail.
"Huh, looks like Noel has a technical manner on finding the source of something, how interresting." A rocky voice says as from the other side, Vulturon appears with his usual face.
"Noellers…" Makoto said slowly, ignore Vulturon for a bit as 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 as she stares at the two before say "Master units determined absent. Executing final protocol; termination of anomaly world."
(Cue Three Day's Grace's Time of Dying or any other song that fits here.)
"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!"
"Yeah, Noel. You gotta snap back out of this curse or else, this show will never end." Vulturon says as he prepare for battle with his guitar.
"Obstacle to shift termination detected. Threat assessed at level A and level B respectively. Now terminating." Mu says, prepare to strike the two as Makoto and Vulturon rushed to their friend to attempt an attack to the Mu. 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 and Vulturon. The Beastkin barely dodged the laser that was emitted from the orb while Vulturon teleport himself out of there, appear a few meters Mu. "Sword of Decimation!" all of Mu's petals reeled back and proceed to prepare for a massive overhead slash. Makoto and Vulturon managed to parry the overhead onslaught with their attacks, but they were sent reeling back from the attack.
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 and Vulturon no choice but to dodge.
"Asteroid Vision!/Yeahhh!" Makoto and Vulturon shouted as the former sent out two other illusions and rushed to her opponent while the latter prepare for teleportation. The beam attacking Makoto chose the wrong one and Vulturon able to dodge it completly, 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!/Guitar Hammer!" Makoto and Vulturon shouted as they charged their attack and sent Mu a beat up due to a strong fist and a hard object swing respectively.
Mu flipped in mid-air and landed on the ground. She then controlled her crystals to fly towards Makoto and Vulturon "Divine Wrath of the Heavens!" The crystal exploded around the two, burning them slightly. The beastkin avoided screaming out in pain while the Vulture tried to endure it as Mu sent out another projectile. "Arrows of Heaven!" Makoto barely managed to dodge the electrified orb while Vulturon block it with his Sound Vibration before rushing towards Mu and attacking while she still had an opening.
"Particle Flare!/ Forth!" The two shouted as Makoto smashing her fist into her long-time friend while Vulturon prepare to attack her up straight with his guitar. "NOEL, THIS-!" they began as Makoto uppercutted and Vulturon smash Mu into the air. Makoto then appeared above her opponent while Vulturon teleported there, the former's fist charged with energy while the later's guitar crackle with a bit of electricity on it. "-IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!" They shouted as they blasted Mu to the floor together, causing a dust cloud to form and debris to fly around the field.
Makoto and Vulturon landed on their feet and sighed 'I hope I didn't hurt Noel too badly; I wasn't holding back at all...' their thoughts were interrupted when they noticed Mu step out of the dust cloud and gasped at the sight of her. A little dirt and the occasional scratch, but otherwise the she looked completely unaffected as Makoto says in shock "That didn't do anything!? This is bad…"
"Yeah, looks like we still have to go all out for this or else, the world will be in big trouble from her alone." Vulturon says, prepare for another attack from Mu as the battle continue.
(End song)
-
"Princess, how are we going to get out of here?! We've been stuck in this godforsaken who knows what for hours!" Nago says, trying to find a way out of this rift.
"Be quiet, Nago," the blond vampire commanded her cat servant as she explain "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 on their own, for they were all 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 and some other people around them.
"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 while Buckfire and Bifrost held the same emotion on their face looking at the girl that just .
"I've got better things to do. If you can still move, let's go." Ragna says, throwing the chance away then turned with the Pseuderoids and ran for the corridor, leaving Rachel speechless of what just happened.
'Is he really the same brute that I knew before? Ragna… what's happened to you?' Rachel thought before says while control the wind to stay at the trio's pace once her consious come back "I take it Noel Vermillion has been smelted into Kusanagi.".
"Yeah…" Ragna growls at that memory.
"We'll have to undo it or else, things will go worse." Buckfire says, knowing if this keeps going, it will be worse than before.
"What about Terumi?" Rachel asked, convinced that Terumi had decided to let Ragna go out of spite or boredom and the two Pseuderoids come up and beat the snake for him.
"I left the asshole impaled on the roof. He's not getting down anytime soon." Ragna says with the Pseuderoids nod this as well, remember what they saw before hand.
"Well done I suppose, but you seem to be troubled." Rachel says, saw the worried expresion on Ragna's face.
"Rachel, how are we going to save Noel?" Ragna ask, want to know if there's a way to save Noel or not.
"It depends on your definition of 'saving.'" Rachel answer sadly.
"It always comes down to that, huh?" Ragna asked, wonder if Rachel mean by that.
"We'll just hope for the best, Rags." Buckfire says, cheer the group as they continue to their pace to the Cauldron.
"Yeah, and we're hope there's a way for it as well like how Louis Leers became the first strongwomen of the world decades ago." Bifrost says, have a bit of hope on him and tries to supports others.
At the white void where the Takaghamara System once was, a green gas appears as Terumi, in his Spectral mode, appear underneath it.
"Oh, Takaghamara System. Here's Teru!" Terumi says excidettly to take over the System but drop it once he saw that nothing was here at all. No shadow, no chairs and not even sounds, making Terumi realize the system no longer there anymore. Terumi growls at this in frustation as he went back to his vessel, which was still being impalled and freeze.
'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 and some others impaled and freeze 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 and freeze to said cauldron, can't move my arms at all, have a bitch of an itch on my nose, may have a cold from this freeze and I'M STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF A FREAKING THUNDERSTORM!' Terumi thoughts in frustation of what he's gone through as off right now and 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 as he thought 'At least this can't get any worse than this. 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." Terumi shouted, wanting to get out of here wuickly.
Relius merely stared at his associate a moment before smirking. "I suppose this can be interpreted as 'bailing your ass'?"
What Terumi just thought was now come true: It got worse. "You son of a bitch! Get me down or else!" Terumi screams in anger once he heard what his comrade said to him.
"Very well, Ignis!" Relius commands as The marionette immediately pulled the blades out of Terumi's body and thaw the ice out as well. The villain grunted as he fell to the floor blood still seeping out of the wounds as Relius asked "Did you manage to take over Takamagahara like you planned?"
"Yeah, about that, there was a bit of a problem…" Terumi answer.
"Really? I thought you'd learned how to separate you Spectral form from your body by now." Relius says in curious.
"That wasn't the problem! The real problem was that when I infiltrated, THERE WASN'T ANYTHING THERE!" Terumi screams in anger as he was glowing with jade energy in rage before continue "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!?" Terumi asked in frustation of what Relius mean by that.
"Currently, she's battling with the beastkin and another beastman, but the real problem resides in the fact that she can't detect the Master Unit." Relius answer, recall what happend before she fights Makoto and Vulturon before hand.
"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!" Terumi says, wonder how can even the eye can't see the system at all.
"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?!" Terumi asked, wonder how did it even dissapear in the first place.
"About fifteen minutes ago, during your little scuffle with Ragna the Bloodedge and Buckfire the Gazelle. I'll admit I'm not sure how that ties into this, but the cause of this Paradox lies in the Reaper and maybe the Gazelle as well." Relius answer.
"ALL RIGHT! THAT IS IT! I'M GOING TO KILL THOSE SONS OF BITCHES ONCE AND FOR ALL!" Terumi shouts in anger, wanting to take revenge on the Grim Reaper for ruining the Shift completly.
"I suggest you rethink your course, Terumi," sounded a familliar voice. The group turned and saw the Imperator approaching them, with her usual bored face.
"My apologies," Terumi said before placing his soaked hat back on, reverting to Hazama. "I'm afraid I got a little carried away there."
"Damn it…" Makoto groaned. Despite her and Vulturon valiant efforts, their attacks just weren't having that much of an effect on Mu. Worse, Mu's ability to identify and now adapt to Makoto and Vulturon's fighting style. Makoto was starting to get used to Mu's moves too, but in terms of power, she was clearly outmatched. While Vulturon getting tired at this.
'Great… now what?' Makoto 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 see Hakumen with his sword on his hand. He slowly stepped between Makoto, Vulturon and the Murakumo unit.
"Susanooh Unit detected. Estimated threat level is SS." Mu says, analyzing Hakumen.
"Hmph, so this is the infamous god slayer." Hakumen says as he turns to Vulturon and Makoto, says "Stand back you two beast, this opponent is mine to slay."
"And let you kill Noel, forget it! Take a hike Metal!" Makoto shouts at that, which Vulturon nods at this as well.
"Hmph, it should be obvious that you two stand no chance against that Murakumo unit. Why do you two insist on fighting a pointless battle?" Hakumen ask, wonder why the two still battle if they even know they can't beat her.
"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!" Makoto answer her part, remember her vow to always protect her friends no matter what.
"And as for me, Like one of my brothers said 'Never back down until the fight is over so keep going until you can't', I won't go down without tried to save Noel from this once and for all!" Vulturon answer his part seriously, remember the promise that the three brothers held together to protect the world together instead of destroy it like their former master or father told them to.
"Hmph, honorable purposes I suppose, but-" Hakumen says, understand their purporse.
"Divine Wrath of the Heavens!" Mu interrupts as the crystals she had stealthily hidden exploded against Makoto, Vulturon and Hakumen, damaging Makoto and Vulturon, putting them off balance and fazing Hakumen. Mu then rushed past Hakumen to target the weakened duo. "Sword of Decimation!" Makoto and Vulturon saw Mu's Murakumo blades reel back to strike them and end their lifes… right before a blur covered them.
CLANG!
"This isn't going to be a thing for us, is it?" one of their savior joked as Makoto and Vulturon looks up to saw Ragna and Buckfire blocking Mu's blade with BloodScythe and Tomahawk's respectively. 'Like a badass' Makoto thought and Given their closeness together, she blushed slightly at the fact that her friends save her with a close look.
"It looks like it, Rags." Buckfire joked, still able to keep the blades effectively with his Tomhawks.
"The Beast…" Hakumen noted somewhat surprised at this as he thought 'So they all know each other huh? Are they the boost to the Beast power?'
"Hey yourself, masked freak. Sorry Noel, give me a sec," Ragna said simply as he and Buckfire forcibly shoved Mu back with his sword.
Mu staggered back before regaining her balance before analyze the two "BlazBlue detected. Target threat level deemed as… as… unreadable. Removing all limits."
(Cue Zayde Wolf's Cold-Blooded)
Ragna sighed. "So I and Buckster get the special treatment huh? Just our luck." He turned to Hakumen and says "Hey masked freak, I know we've got a score to settle, but stay out of this one."
"And I would do that because…?" Hakumen asked, wonder what's the Beast think off go on solo against the Murakumo Unit.
"Please, Mr. Hero." Rachel says as she had landed beside Hakumen. Footsteps can be heard as Bifrost makes it with a face that shows that this isn't his thing to deal with. Though Hakumen had thought to bring it upon himself to finish Kusanagi, Rachel had known he was unneeded here and the looks of Bifrost's face can prove that; the burden would have to be Ragna and now Buckfire to bear alone.
"Very well," he said simply. "I will leave this to the destroyer and the other one to deal it."
"Good, and Makoto?" Ragna asked as Makoto gulped as she slowly got out of her pisition before stammer "Y-yeah?"
"Just… have faith on us, okay?" Ragna ask delicate.
"Yeah, have faith and we'll likely able to stop it." Buckfire says, trying to calm Makoto down from this.
"Ok, good luck you guys." Makoto says, calm down as Ragna and Buckfire rushed towards Mu to attack "Carnage Scissors!/ Flaming Scissors!" they shouted as their blades clashed against Mu's petal barrier. Mu brought out her laser turrets from behind The two, but the Reaper and the fire Pseuderoid had been ready. "Gauntlet Hades!/Double Tomahawks!" They shouted as Ragna destroyed some of the crystals while Buckfire dealt with the remains except for one, which they nicked. When they fell the swatted the falling crystal towards Mu, which hit her right in the face, stagger her for only a second. "Hells Fang!/ Meteor Kick!" They shouted as Ragna launched forward with his BlazBlue coated in seither while Buckfire goes charge in with his kick. Ragna immediately followed up with a second strike sending Mu flying, which gives Buckfire the perfect chance to land the kick completly, damage her a lot.
Mu quickly recovered at the combo attacks and lunged towards the duo. "Sword of Decimation!" she cried as her petal created an arc to strike The duo. The Reaper and the Fire Psuderoid countered with their blades and the trio exchanged blows for several minutes, enduring and attacking every single chance they can. Meanwhile, Rachel was noticing this change as she thought 'How is Ragna able to fight like this? It was completely unthinkable in the other shifts, but here he is now surpassing every exception I've ever had of him. What's going on?'
"Looks like Buckfire able to use his full force on this one, Vulturon?" Bifrost ask, watching at this with surprise on his face.
"Yeah, and it seems like he's not holding back, let's hope it's enough to free Noel from this." Vulturon answer with a smile on his face, proud of his brother able to endure all of it.
Ragna finally managed to get under Mu's guard while Buckfire went behind her. "Infernal Divider!/Fire Arrow!" The two yelled as Ragna brought Mu into the air with his sword while Buckfire fires off 3 fire arrows, all able to hit Mu. Ragna then used the oppourtunity that Buckfire provied by 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 in horror while the other looks in shock of what they saw. 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 Buckfire grabs her from behind, trying to hold her down as Mu struggle to get out of his grip as the lasers been dissable from Mu's struggle.
"Ragna, now!" Buckfire shouted as a blur of red emerged from the cloud and grabbed Mu's 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 felt unconsious as Buckfire slowly puts her down, Noel unable 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 as he says "I told you… we'd… save her." he finished before collapsing. Makoto rushed forward and caught Ragna before he hit the ground, which Buckfire comes to check on Ragna's condition as well once he make sure Noel is safe. After a moment, Noel began to stir.
"My head… what happened?" she said before managing to open her now green eyes and look around. "Makoto? Buckfire?" she said before turning to who she was next to "Ragna!? Oh, my gosh then-!"
"Arg… not so loud!" Ragna says in pain before looking to eye Hakumen as he ask "What now… you gonna finish me or something like that?"
"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 them down," Hakumen finished mysteriously. Noel looked quizzically at Makoto and Buckfire who said nothing.
"Yeah, trust this guy; after all he speaks from experience. Isn't that right Haku?" Hazama says, 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, Buckfire, Bifrost and Hakumen says at the same time at this scene.
Tsubaki then jumped back and proceeded to stand next to Terumi. Phantom then appeared behind Hazama and summoned a few more enemies to where he's standing. one of them 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 throw Jin towards them, which Bifrost able to catch him just in time before lay him down peacefully on the floor.
"Yeah, little miss Yayoi here decided to become all high and mighty with the wholetake me, not himroutine. 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." Hazama says, taunting the peoppe underneath him about it.
"I gonna make you pay for this, you bastard!" Ragna roared at his tormentor. Terumi only laughed at this 'Damn it I need to get up' Ragna thought as he struggled to get up on his feet.
"Oh that's rich, because if anyone's looking for revenge, IT'S ME! I gotta know, how the hell did you all cock up my plans. You know what if it wasn't for my employer; I'd have all of you screaming right now!" Terumi says, remind of how he just want Revenge but able to calm down from it.
"You're… employer?" Ragna ask, barely managed to form the words.
"Oh, that's right, wanna see her? I'm pretty sure the two of you know each other. Right Imperator?" Hazama says as he turns to the Imperator.
"Stop these dull games of yours Terumi. It's beginning to irk me." The Imperator says, start to fed up with Terumi's antic.
Ragna's eyes widened and his blood grew colder than Yukianesa as he gasped "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.
"Yeah, the war hasn't begun yet and you still think you're able win this one, that's a dumb move even for you." Vulturon says seriously, knowing a stupid stratergy like that will only make it more likely to stop it.
"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 before continue "You especially after such a short reunion… brother."
Makoto and The Pseuderoids's eyes widened at this information in shock. 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 to the ground.
Makoto, Buckfire and Noel are helped guide the unconscious Ragna to the floor as gently as they could.
"Be prepared for what's ro come!" was all Hakumen said as he left out of the building first.
"You guys take care of yourself for now, things will get tougher next time." Bifrost says as he walks out of here, going back into the forrest of what he just saw.
"Yeah, be careful for what the show got to prepare for us next." Vulturon says carefully as he teleports himself out of here.
Rachel gave one last sad look at Ragna before departing herself, taking the unconscious Jin with her.
"We should go too." Makoto noted everyone's leave before attempting to pick Ragna up, Noel and Buckfire nodded sadly and proceeded to help her best friend as she continue. "Hey, don't look so down, Noel. Ragna helped us get you back; he'll help us get Tsubaki back too. We going to save her."
"How can you be so sure?" Noel ask, wonder what make her friends thought of that idea.
"Beacuse we're able to save you, that doesn't mean we can't give it a shot and save Tsubaki as well." Buckfire answer normally while trying to keep his blush from evryone away due to his closeness to Noel.
"Alright, let's go then." Noel says sadly as the three tries to take Ragna out of the NOL base before she realize something as she screams in horror "Ahhhhh, why am i near naked?".
"Oh, that." Buckfire says akwardlly, blush harder at the thought of hugging Noel like that to hold her off even if it were to save her.
"It's a long explanation so wait until we got there so that we can explain to you." Makoto says, save it for another time as they continue to walk out, preapre for what's to come in the near future while Noel keeps whinning about her Barely clothes feature on her body for the whole time of the trip.
End of Arc 2
A/N: So that will be the end of Arc 2 of Blazblue Advent and i hope you lovely readers enjoy it. As i promise, one or a few more chapters will be make in order to go to Arc 3 and that where the choice matters on the question of contiunation of other fanfics on this one continue and i hope you guys make the right choice. If you wonder what Bifrost meant by the strongwomen, i was thinking of something that someone like him would say and this is the best i can think of and see you guys till the next chapter!