Trigger Shift

Trigger Shift

Prologue, Calamity Trigger

A long time ago, a mysterious creature known as the "Black Beast" appeared unannounced to the world.

The Black Beast, with its overwhelming power and the absolute immunity to the weapons of that time, killed humanity helplessly, and the population had been drastically reduced. Humanity was on the verge of extinction.

Then, six warriors appeared.

They passed on the great ancient power of "Sorcery" to mankind, and the people fused it with their "Science" to complete the new power known as "Ars Magus".

After establishing the Ars Magus, humanity, along with these six warriors, launched a counterattack against the Black Beast, and finally succeeded in defeating it after a long and fierce battle.

This battle would be called the "First War of Ars Magus" and these six warriors became known as the "Six Heroes" that would be remembered for generations to come.

The human race was overjoyed at having defeated the Black Beast, but it was not all happy.

A black mist inexhaustibly overflowed from the body of the slain Black Beast and instantly seeded the entire surface of the earth.

It turns out that this black mist, known as "seithr", is a toxic substance that can harm the human body if a high amount is ingested.

In order to avoid the harmful substances on the surface of the earth, humans began to migrate by building so-called "hierarchical cities" by carving out mountainous areas.

At the same time, the "Orbis Librarius Norma (OLN)" was established to manage the large number of "seithr" created by mankind for the purpose of exercising Ars Magus. As it turns out that seithr is indeed the power source for Ars Magus.

Eventually, the governing OLN began to use their advantage of having a large number of "Grimoire’s", books that lend one the power of Ars Magus and Armagus, to rule over the globe.

More than half of humanity perished in the battle against Black Beast, but with this new power and a new ruler, humanity achieved a rapid recovery.

A few decades have passed since the start of the Oribis Librarius Norma's reign, now known as the “Novus Orbis Librarium (NOL)”. The Ars Magus had taken its deep roots in the lives of the people and had become an indispensable part of society.

However, the effectiveness of "Ars Magus" depends on the inborn capabilities of an individual. The NOL’s policy of favoring those with high seithr output has let to creating inequality and dissatisfaction with the system.

Because of this… soon after, the "Ikaruga Federation", which was under the Librarium, declared its independence.

This would mark the first war between humans using Ars Magus. The war ended with the defeat and destruction of the Ikagura Federation.

The NOL became even more forceful and has made it clear in people's minds that it will completely annihilate anyone who dare to opposes them. Anyone, but…

The first time I saw him, he showed me his never dying “will”.

A few years later. Someone has started to rebel against the NOL that maintains absolute power and governance.

Ragna The Bloodedge

He eventually became the No. 1 on the Library's bounty list as an the SS-class criminal for single-handedly challenging and destroying various NOL branches, which is said to have a military force rivaling that of a country's army.

He always leaves when he destroyed the "Cauldron's" that lie deep within the main branches of each region. His reason’s, unknown.

Ragna the Bloodedge has yet again succeded in his goal by destroying the NOL branche in the 13th Higherartical City Kagutsutchi. With the destruction of its respective Cauldron, Ragna=The=Bloodedge did what he wanted.

However, his true goal has yet to be realized.

Having observed the resurrection of "Yuuki Terumi", one of the Six Heroes, his true enemy, Ragna quietly waits for the right moment to strike in the land of Kagutsuchi.

Rachel

A long, long staircase led into a deep, deep darkness.

All I was aware of is the hard stone stairs beneath my feet and how cold they were.

The area was covered in thick darkness, so I couldn't even see any sign of what was beyond, or if there was anything at all.

The girl in the black dress, Rachel Alucard, walks down the long staircase as if to check each step. With her beautiful blonde hair tied up in two buns swaying and her red eyes looking straight ahead, her face was noticeably pale and had an almost inhuman color to it.

And that’s how it should be, after all she is a vampire who has lived far longer than any human.

Even though she looks like a child of about ten years old, Rachel has spent far more years with this body than she appears to have.

Normally, she would not walk down the stairs on her own like this since Rachel can manipulate the wind. Like rose petals dancing in the wind, she can float up and down in a breath. But she would not in this place, because it is very special to this little vampire. A place located deep within the underground of the Alucard family's castle.

This was the final resting place of the legendary Clavis Alucard, the father of Rachel.

When the stairs ended, a long corridor opened up beyond the darkness. From here, Rachel walked on her own two feet again. It was as if she was trying to retrace her own father's steps.

At the end of the corridor, she found a simple wooden door, a complete contrast to the massive doors she had passed through and by so far. The door was half open with no effort and behind it there was just one small, plain room that quite fit the simple doorway. Rachel did not enter the room, but gently touched the wooden door, which looked so fragile. Gently, as if caring for it.

In the past, this door had been sealed tightly by Clavis. What was sealed inside, and why did her father had to seal it? Who broke the seal in the first place, and why had they done it?

Rachel knew everything… and what happened as a result.

"Are you sure that was the right thing to do, Father?"

She has been asking this question for about a century and to this day, she still doesn't have the answer. She had no idea if there would be any at this point. But even then, in the first place, there is nothing Rachel can do about it.

"Miss Rachal. Is it this way?"

A man's voice came from behind, softly breaking the brief silence which seemed to had her immersed in a sea of thought. When Rachel looked around to follow that voice, she saw that the man was lowering his head.

Standing there was her butler Valkenhayn R. Helsing, an elderly gentleman with gray hair and a beard. He too is not a human, but a werewolf with a body that is physically stronger than any human.

Valkenhayn asked quietly as he held an antique lantern in his hand, illuminating Rachael's face in a refined manner that did not fit the crude image of a werewolf.

"Have you been thinking about Lord Clavis again...?"

"...Yes."

Rachel turned to the door again with a little smile, almost as if she were trying to communicate with it.

"You surely remember how much my father loved roses, Valkenhayn. I wonder how he would have reacted if he would have seen the garden in the castle now."

When Clavis was still the head of the Alucard family, the castle garden fell into ruin and waste the moment he passed away. Now that Rachel is the head of the family, the garden is rejuvenated and blooms with beautiful roses every day which hold a pleasant fragrance.

"I am sure he would have been delighted."

Valkenhayn said that with a gentle smile. Rachel's pale fingers caressed the dry wood of the door.

"I... always wanted to overlook the roses in the castles garden with my father, with your tea and some fresh baked goods."

"Oh surely. Since Lord Clavis liked his tea with some honey, a tea with roses from the garden and sweets that are slightly bitter would have been ideal for milady."

"Hm, yeah. If I were able to do that..."

Sigh.

Rachel's red eyes held a gloomy shade. She let out a shallow sigh, a hint of sadness that did not match her young appearance.

"I want to ask him now. When my father created me, what was he thinking and what did he intend to entrust to me and..."

Do I live up to your expectations?

It is a dream that will never be reached. A wish that will never come true. But by being here, she felt closer to the gentle smile of her father, who had been so kind to her all this time. For Rachel, at least.

"Lord Clavis was always concerned about you, Miss Rachel. Until the very end.

Valkenhayn, carrying the small lantern, spoke calmly in a gentle tone. The way he gazed at his little master's back was that of a very protecting and supportive person.

"I am determined to protect you until very end of my life. No matter which decision you will make."

Rachel was well aware that his words were not just mere promises, nor that they were just an ideal of what he wished to be. With an honest and sincere "Thank you", Rachel waved her long blond hair with the pale fingers that had been touching the door the whole time. That's when it happened.

Suddenly, a sharp ringing struck Valkenhayn's and Rachel's ears.

"What? This is..."

With Valkenhayn's free hand at his ear, Rachel's eyebrows furrowed as she looked up.

This presence. There's no mistaking it.

"Takamagahara wishes to see you."

Litchi

The 13th hierarchial city of Kagutsuchi.

The city had just entered a new year, the year 2200, but the atmosphere was far from that of a New Year's Eve.

Last night, New Year's Eve, the Kagutsuchi branch of the NOL, which overlooked the city at the center of Kagutsuchi, was bombed in a terrorist incident.

The culprit is Ragna the Bloodedge, a wanted criminal who has destroyed various branches of the Librarium before and is therefore also known as the "Grim Reaper".

There have been several eyewitness reports of Ragna the Bloodedge on the day of the bombing:

"Ragna the Bloodedge was discussing the bombing with a little girl from the Kaka Clan." "I saw a large circle of magic in the sky, must've been the works of that Ragna the Fooledge!" "It has been said that the same explosives used in terrorist attacks were used in our city." "The Grim Reaper's goal is world domination!"

The misinformation led to the confusion of the people and the confusion of people led to further misinformation.

This is also the case in Orient Town, a downtown area that has suffered severe second-hand damage from the terrorist bombing. The fear of Ragna, the Grim Reaper, who went missing immediately after the incident, and the lack of clarity about the extent of the damage even after a night has passed, has only caused the people to grow more anxious.

"Okay, you’re good to go."

In a small hospital in the chaotic corner of Orient Town, a female doctor named Litchi Faye-Ling is having a very eventful and dizzying start to the year, 2200. The terrorist attacks had caused buildings to collapse everywhere, making for numerous injured people who were brought to Litchi.

The hospital has already run out of supplies and now they are having to deal with the situation by having their neighbors bring in their own medicine or borrowing products from nearby drugstores.

"Here are the medicines for your pain. Try not to walk around too much for at least for four or five days and stay at rest."

Litchi then gave a soft smile to the male patient. For the patients who come to Litchi's hospital, her smile is the best medicine.

Her body is incredibly well-built for a doctor and her black hair is shiny even when it is tied up. There are so many fascinating things about her, but most of all, her smile, which embraces everyone, cheers up everyone who sees her.

As soon as the doctor finished the treatment, a shadow quickly slipped in from the corner of the examining room.

He was a man dressed in a ninja costume, an old tradition of the now defunct Ikagura Federation, he wanted to pick up the male patient. The man in the ninja outfit lowered his back and carried the male patient gently on his back.

"Then, Miss Litchi, I will carry this man home!"

"Please, take care."

There was so much wreckage outside to the point that it was too dangerous to use wheelchairs. Therefore, the patients who could not walk properly were carried home on their backs by this Ninja.

"Leave it to me! We'll bring you back as fast as the wind!!!"

"I don't care how fast the wind is, just be safe."

"Yes, Miss Litchi. If you excuse me!"

The man in the ninja outfit was full of energy and vigor as he ran out of the hospital with her patient on his back.

She looked around the hospital and saw that there were more men dressed in ninja outfits moving about, carrying injured people and luggage.

These are the ninja's of Ikagura.

By chance, they are now helping Litchi and rescuing people all around the town.

"Puh... I'm exhausted as expected."

The number of seriously injured patients had already reached its peak and the atmosphere in the hospital had become somewhat calmer. Litchi sighed involuntarily and turned her head around in a circle as she put away her medical records.

The transportation of the injured began just before dawn. Ever since then, Litchi had been working without eating or drinking anything. She was confident in her stamina, but it was too much for her.

(A bombing incident...? I don't think I can put what happened yesterday in such simple terms.)

Last day of the year 2199.

There was so much going on yesterday yet most of the inhabitants of the Kagatsuchi were unaware of it. Litchi didn't know the whole story and only caught a small glimpse of it.

(But even with all that, I can't help but think.)

She wondered if the bombings were just the beginning, the trigger that would cause a chain of more terrible events.

(I feel that something very... big is about to happen.)

(...And I might find myself in the middle of that chaos.)

This is because an old acquaintance of her may have been involved in some part of this incident.

"Dr. Litchi, I've got a bunch of medicine and bandages to share!"

A girl's voice interrupted Litchi, who had been lost in her thoughts.

Litchi looked up. Linhua, who was working as her assistant, was coming back from a small errand, carrying a bag as big as her petite body. With a heavy thud, Linhua placed the bag she had brought in front of a shelf in the examining room.

"Thank you, Linhua, that's very kind of you. I'll come and pay you back when I've recovered myself enough."

As Litchi walked over to the luggage that Linhua had brought with her, another crate full of luggage was placed next to it in a row. The contents were heavy bottles and boxes of medicines, including disinfectants.

It was a girl with a bizarre appearance that brought her here. She seemed to be a little older than Linhua in height and build, but her face was dark as if she was wearing a shadow-colored mask and her facial features were difficult to discern. But despite her odd looks, she has a terribly charming smile, two big triangular ears popping out of her head and a long tail peering from her back.

She is a girl from the Kaka Clan, a peculiar tribe that lives in the lower levels of Kagutsuchi, called Taokaka.

"It was so heavy~. Boobylady, Tao is so very hungry~."

The momentum of putting down her luggage caused her to crumple to the floor, then Taokaka started begging for sympathy in a pitying voice.

Litchi couldn't help but gush. No matter what the situation, Tao is always like a relaxed cat.

"Very well, you have helped me a lot, Tao. Linhua, I'm sorry, but could you please get Tao something to eat?"

"Puh... Okay, but I'll make something for you too, so make sure you eat it."

"Huh? But we still have patients to..."

"Litchi! The patients are important, but if their doctor would collapse, there's nothing we can do for them, and I will take care of you while you eat!"

After saying that she would not accept any objections, Linhua disappeared into the kitchen. Litchi looked at Taokaka, who was lying on the floor singing "Rice nya~, rice nya~", then shrugged and letting out a chuckle.

(Sorry to put you all through so much trouble, but Linhua is right.)

"Well, I guess I will have to see as many of you as I can while they're preparing the meal. Evening talent, can you help me just a bit?"

It was when Litchi opened the door to the waiting room to call for a patient.

"Doctor, we have trouble!"

Litchi heard a loud voice coming from the hospital's entrance. Litchi jumped out of her skin. Patients and people who were passing were gathered outside the door, and a familiar man was sat helplessly in the center of the circle.

His body is muscular like suit of armor, and he wears Ikaruga's ninja attire.

On his back, he carried a huge nail, and on his forehead, he had a deep scar carved in the shape of a cross.

The ninja of Ikaruga, Bang Shishigami.

"Nya! Scruffy guy is all filthy and ragged!"

Taokaka jumped in front of Litchi and rolled her eyes, her ears and tail twitching.

The ninjas who had been helping in the hospital followed suit, when they saw Bang unconscious, they cried out in misery.

"Boss! Boss, stay with us, boss!!"

"We swore an oath… an oath to rebuild Ikaruga, we swore!"

"Boss... You cannot dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

"Now stop with yelling! He's still breathing, so calm down."

After cutting through the screaming ninjas, Litchi kneeled in front of Bang and lightly pat him on the back.

"Mr. Bang, Mr. Bang. Can you hear me?"

Bang, leaning with his back against the hospital wall, is completely wounded, which was not the case when Litchi met him yesterday afternoon. He was in no condition to move on his own or to even be conscious that is.

Despite this, the Bang's eyelids began to twitch at the sound of Litchi's voice, allowing him to open his eyes.

"Li... Litchi, Miss Litchi...?"

"Good, you are still conscious. You will be fine so come with us inside and get treated right away."

"Oh, my God, Miss Litchi is right in front of me... I can't believe this is, is this paradise or... is this the gateway to heaven?"

"Huh? Now, get a hold of yourself! This is no paradise or heaven, we are in Orient Town!"

For a moment, Litchi forgot that he was an injured man and hit Bang's forehead with the palm of her hand. It wasn't a particularly hard hit, but it was enough to knock Bang out again.

"If you're that energetic, then you're going to be just fine. I'll have you patched up in no time. Bring him inside."

At the sound of Litchi's command, the ninjas brought Bang's body into the examining room with great precision.

While he was brought inside, Litchi suddenly stopped and called out to the passing people surrounding her.

"So, who carried that man here? I would like to know how it happened..."

"No, uh, it wasn’t us."

The surrounding man looked at each other as though they were troubled.

"Well, a giant stranger brought him here, but he disappeared right away. He was a very big man with red skin."

"...a giant man with red skin?"

Litchi's face changed that moment. There's only one person she could think of when she heard that.

(No way...)

Realizing who that person was, Litchi looked around, but there was no trace of them. In the middle of that, Linhua called her from the hospital, so Litchi flipped her long sleeves and straps of her clothes and hurried back to the examination room.

A huge figure watched from the shadows a short distance away as the commotion in front of Litch Faye Ling's hospital temporarily ceased.

His huge, inhuman build alongside his unusual red skin with his overall stern appearance is like that of a "demon". TR0009 Tager, a cyborg belonging to Sector Seven, a group of individuals who oppose NOL. Because of his appearance, he is commonly referred to as the Red Devil.

Bang Shishigami has been brought to the clinic.

He then turned on his heel quietly, despite his huge size.

"Man, that guy's tough."

It was a surprise to him that he could regain his consciousness so quickly in that state. He thought that Bang was in a life-or-death situation for some time.

Just then, a small electronic sound reached his ear. Tager halted at that sound and put his hand to his ear. A transmission.

"Tager."

The voice he heard was that of Professor Kokonoe, a scientist who belongs to Sector Seven like Tager and is actually Tager's superior.

The communication system built into his ear conveyed Kokonoe's sharp, cold voice mixed with an electronic buzz.

"Hakumen's retrieval is completed, return ASAP."

"What about the... that person?"

"Him? ...Oh."

Him--a certain scientist who was seen in the lower city of Kagutsuchi, the shape of what remained of him at least.

Perhaps he recalled the man who had once been his colleague.

What is he thinking?

Tager silently waited for Kokonoe's words, which were hushed over the communicator. Eventually, Kokonoe tells him calmly.

"Come back quick."

If that was Kokonoe's decision, Tager would simply follow it.

"Copy that. Returning to base."

The communication got cut. Tager looked back at the hospital in Litchi one last time, then shook his huge body and headed for Kokonoe's laboratory.

Arakune

There was a black shadow stirring in a corner of the sewage facility where a river of wastewater flowed.

On the last day of 2199, a massive bombing shook the entire city of Kagutsuchi. This place, which had suffered the effects of the disaster in more than one way, was covered with rubble and debris, adding to the gloom and desolation of the place.

The person who wriggles sluggishly makes his way through the rubble and debris like a mass of shadows. The way it crept around looked disgusting.

It’s like a shadow, a stagnant mucus, or a deformed worm, but for him, it doesn't matter what he looks like.

Just keep going. Why am I going? Because I'm looking for it. What am I looking for?

"...Need ...Azure."

That is all he wants, his only desires.

He must continue to seek it, otherwise, he will lose his existence. As his "existence" leads to "nothingness" and the "nothingness" would lead to the "void".

However... There was one other thing besides Azure that tweaked his faint consciousness. He cannot remember clearly what, but was there ever anything clearly in this world?

I don't know. I don't know, but...

"...tchi."

He shakes his indefinite body as he begins to speak. His words had a very strange ring to them.

"Li-… tchi..."

Jin

...He was unable to remember how long it had been since dawn.

Kagutsuchi Branch of the Librarium.

At the main entrance, a slender young man appears from within, walking slowly and unsteadily. He is a young man with golden hair, white skin, and a well-rounded appearance.

However, his body, wearing the uniform of a NOL guard, was gruesomely damaged.

Major Jin Kisaragi, a member of the Novus Orbis Librarium.

His left arm, carrying his trusty sword, Yukianesa, was stained red from the shoulders open wound. With no more strength than his grip on the sword, he swayed beside his body, supported by his right arm.

His beautiful yellow hair was stained with dust and blood, and his cheeks were wet with red spills that had run down his forehead.

"Brother... brother."

His throat, bruised by dust, dazzles with a muddy voice. As he dragged his body forward, blood dripped from his chin marking a red line on the gray floor.

Jin's consciousness was fading. He was bleeding everywhere and his whole body ached.

Jin tried to force out one question as he wandered through the hazy landscape of Kagutsuchi.

"Brother... where are you?"

His brother, Ragna the Bloodedge. He encountered, fought and lost to his brother at the Kagutsuchi branch of the NOL. At some point, the branch was caught in a massive explosion.

After the fight, his brother would have headed for the underground of the branch. He regained consciousness and hurried towards him, but Jin didn't make it in time, so the explosion pulled him away from his brother again.

He wanted to go after him immediately, but his body wouldn't listen to him.

"Ugh!"

Suddenly, his body went limp and he crashed shoulder-first onto the wall to his side.

His knees collapsed in a moment of weakness that was more intense than the pain, so Jin sat down on the spot as an unyielding force dragged him down.

(Move... This is not the time to collapse. I have to see Ragna and fulfill my responsibilty. So why can't I move my body when I need to?)

He bites his lips in frustration. He then thrust Yukianesa to the ground like a walking stick, still trying to drag his body, which was now far from his control. ...But that didn't even last a few seconds.

"Brother....."

With his vision fading to black as he fell, Jin passed out again in front of the Kagutsuchi branch of the NOL.

As he collapses, several guards from the Librarium arrive at his aid. Two of them kneeled beside the fallen Jin to check his pulse and condition, while the third took out a communication device.

"...Major Jin Kisaragi has been secured."

After reporting this in an apathetic voice, the guards left, taking the hero soaked in his own blood with them.

Carl

Like the dawn of a soundless night, time moves forward with each passing moment. Knowing what awaits us ahead, we continue to move forward in this cruelty.

In a dark corner of Kagatsuchi, in the shadows of a dimly lit alley where no one is looking, a boy takes a nap... He was one of those who did not have the strength to defy time and fate that kept on flowing.

The name of the boy who sleeps with his body curled up is Carl Clover.

He rests his soft honey-blonde head on the hard knees of a giant doll that is always in the act, sleeping peacefully.

The doll, Nirvana, was protecting him with her abnormally long arms as if to embrace him. Her expressionless face stares at the entrance to the narrow alley where they are hiding. Watching in silence to prevent anyone from disturbing the defenseless boy's sleep.

"Mhh... I'm sorry, sis..."

Carl jerked back and made a small noise in his dream. Nirvana's jaw dropped slightly at the whispered voice.

...Time keeps moving forward. It doesn't care who it hurts. Never matter how often it would repeat. Like a wheel of fate, constantly turning.

Nirvana remains silent, staring at Carl with eyes that would never blink. Her long arms moved slightly, gently supporting the boy's body, which was about to slide off her knees.

Then she lifted her chin again, to guard this narrow area of peace, Nirvana silently looked at the entrance to the dimly lit alley.

Time flows. It flows and draws. A fate that cannot be escaped and a predestined destination that cannot be resisted.

?

A magical ship owned by the NOL, it is powered through the Ars Magus surrounding the earth like most technology in this age, a Ars Magus Vessel. Special seats are furnished with the elegance of a five star hotel room rather than an airplane with sofa seats.

A man in a black suit, who belonged to the Intelligence Department, was sitting at one of these seats, which was only available to special executives within the NOL.

"Yes, yes, this is Hazama of the Intelligence Department... Oh, I see. You were able to secure Major Jin-Kisaragi? That's good, thank you for your efforts."

The man in the black suit, Hazama, answered the card-shaped communicator in his hand with a casual tone that did not fit with the seat of an executive.

He moved the communicator from his right ear to his left ear, and while doing so, leaned back with his elbows on the seat railing.

"Now, please take him to the Ars Magus Vessel on the 5th layer. ...No, stay on standby. ...Yep, please do that. Okay."

After cutting the communication with a quiet electronic sound, Hazama let out a deep sigh and leaned back against the seat as if he felt at home.

He placed the communicator on the table beside his seat and then held his hand up to eyes level and slowly squeezed it.

"The “Life-Link”... it seems to be working. There is no sense of discomfort. It's a great thing you're a the "Eye of the Azure" as my Observer. Better than what that shitty cat and stupid vampire could ever pull off.

...After all, you are the "eyes" of the Master Unit. The only person who can find it in the Boundary."

He chuckles as he blurts that out and spreading his hands out in joy. But then he got interrupted when the door slid open and a low-ranking officer from the Librarium walked in.

"Excuse me, Captain Hazama. It will be some time before we arrive, may I offer you something?"

"Oh, yes, I'll have a cup of tea with...some boiled eggs."

"Boiled eggs, sir?"

"Oh. Don't we have any?"

"No, no, right away!"

When Hazama showed his deep regret, the young officer responded with a jump, bowed, and left.

When the sound of restless footsteps faded away and became completely inaudible, Hazama carelessly grabbed the communicator and this time transmitted himself.

"This is Hazama from the Intelligence Division. Please turn me over to Engineering Department Colonel Relius Clover."

After a few moments of silence, a low, cold, unsympathetic man's voice came back from the other end of the communicator.

"It's me."

"Hey, buddy. It's been a while."

Hazama's tune changed abruptly. It wasn't just his tone though. The smile that had been soft a moment ago became twisted into a disturbing expression, and his eyes glittered with ferocity and cunning, as if he were inspecting his prey.

But the man on the other end of the line, Relius, seemed unfazed by this change.

"You... it seems to have worked well."

"Yeah, thanks a lot."

Hazama crossed his legs. At the same time, he changed his tone again to a more amused one.

"Ah yes, the 12th subject inherited the Azure."

His shifting attitude was like a shadow turning left and right depending on the direction the light was shining.

Beyond the communicator, he heard Relius growl lowly, as if he were showing interest.

"The 12th Prime Field... I thought it was a failure... I'm heading to Kagutsuchi, I'd like to see it with my own eyes."

"Oh, you're actually coming, huh? That's pretty rare."

"I want to test a few things."

"Well, do whatever you want... For now, please come to the Third Level City of Kagatsuchi. We'll talk more about it there."

With a small suggestive chuckle, Hazama cut the communication.

Hazama got nothing to do until the Ars Magus Vessel arrives on the Third Level.

(I think I'll take a nap.)

Then he remembered that there was one more place he had to contact. "Oh, how shamful! I should never neglect an important actor, no matter how small their role is."

While making fun of someone who wasn't there, Hazama called up his contact as if he were calling a close buddy.

After a couple of rings, Hazama gave his identity and name to the young female officer who answered, and he quickly told her what he wanted.

"Please summon Lieutenant Tsubaki Yayoi of the 0th Squadron to the third level city of Kagatsuchi. ...Yes, thank you very much."

"That's it." he said, tossing the communicator to the side table, just as the officer from earlier appeared with a cup of tea and a boiled egg.

After placing the entire tray on the side table, the young officer bowed and walked quickly away. Hearing the door close behind his seat, Hazama put a deep smile on his face and placed his hand on his teacup.

"Now, this is going to be interesting... hehe... hehehehehehe..."

Hazama's golden eyes gleamed viciously in the shadow of his hat. Like the dawn of a soundless night, time moves forward moment by moment. Knowing what awaits us ahead, we continue to move forward in cruelty.

Epilogue, Continuum Shift

The 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi.

The lowest level, also known as the slums. Here, a part of a building that had been turned into a pile of rubble by the bombings, suddenly wobbled and shook until it tumbled down like it was being peeled off.

"Ah... Bleh!" Oh, and there was a tall man who emerged from under the rubble while wiping the dust off that was flying around.

His white, dust-covered hair was a mess, and the large, sword he used as a pickaxe to remove the objects was also lightly stained with dust. The most eye-catching thing was the bright red jacket, which was still brightly colored even after being covered with dust.

The young man landed on the ground from the pile of rubble, and as he brushed off the dust, the vividness of the scene stood out.

"Ah, shit. I've been in a hell of a mess."

Swearing, the young man ruffled his hair and shook off the dust he was covered with. Then he looked backward with his left and right eyes of different colors.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Ye-yeah. Oh no!"

In response to the young man's voice, a petite girl climbs out of the hole in the pile of rubble. The blue and white uniform she wears is that of a NOL guard. She managed to get out, but her footing collapsed, so she slid down and landed on her buttocks at the feet of the young man.

With that, the hat on her head fell off, and the long blond hair that had been tucked inside was flowing down.

"Ah, I'm sorry~."

"What the hell is wrong with you? Dork."

Looking down at her with a dumbfounded gaze, the young man put his beloved sword, which had provided him with an escape route, at his waist.

The young man with the white hair and red jacket is Ragna the Bloodedge.

The girl who came out of the pile of rubble with him was Noel Vermillion.

This bizarre combination was the result of yesterday's events. "I'm sorry."

Feeling a little shocked at being called a dork, Noel stood up, rubbing her bruised buttocks. Ragna let go of the fallen hat and Noel took it in a rushed, flustered manner.

"Anyway, damn that rabbit. Why didn't she take me to the ground anyway?"

Shaking his head and brushing off the dust still in his hair, Ragna looked around, mumbling that.

"Is this the... slums?"

As a lower level city, it seems to have been severely damaged by the explosion that occurred underground in the NOL facility. In addition to the piles of rubble that had just come out, you could see half-destroyed buildings and roads everywhere.

The sun was high in the sky, but there were no people around. It would be a shame to be attacked by the knights of the Librarium or vigilante who are after the bounty when they have just crawled out of the basement with difficulty.

The lack of human presence was to Ragna's benefit. After waiting long enough for him to dust and clean himself up, Ragna turned to look behind him again. His eyes meet Noel's, who is wearing the uniform of the Novus Orbis Librarium, but she is looking up at him with an anxious expression that doesn't look appropriate to that status.

A sigh escaped from Ragna's mouth.

How did it come to this? He couldn't help but feel that his encounter with this girl was a bizarre one.

"So, when are you going to leave? Noel, was it?"

--The trigger that shall lead to calamity was pulled, and the bullet soon causes the phenomenon known as of possibilities. History repeated itself again and again, the world would now enters a state of which possibility would lead to the future.

This is the end of the wheel that turns around, marking the beginning of the one that has just started to spin anew.

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