Author's Notes: As you all noticed, I've changed the title to from Naruto the Bloodedge of Six Paths to Devil of Six Paths: Naruto the Bloodedge. There's some things you readers need to know about this story. There will be MAJOR changes in terms of events that happened before the events of Calamity Trigger. There will be no branching paths like in the story modes, so this story will be straight-forward like Calamity Trigger Reconstruction. Unlike the other Naruto the Bloodedge stories, this story will follow events from Calamity Trigger, Continuum Shift, and the upcoming Chronos Phantasma from mostly Naruto's/Ragna point of view, before he returns to the Elemental Countries. Also, 1/2 of this chapter will chronicle Naruto's life before he became Ragna. Finally, the Ragna you'll be seeing will be smart!Ragna, unlike the canon idiot Ragna we know and love. Plus, in addition to my Blazblue OCs, one Guilty Gear character and one Negima character will be joining the cast in the future. Have fun guessing! Who knows, you might get a virtual cookie when they're revealed. You got plenty of time. Enjoy!

On a side-note, I know I'm gonna get criticized for how this chapter goes, I just know it...

-Review Responses

berserker rage 101 – So true.

TheEvilEye – I got a little plan for Bullet. I'm sure you'll like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Blazblue, Devil May Cry, Persona, Arcana Heart, Guilty Gear, Negima, or any other crossover that might appear.

Chapter 01: Enter Ragna the Bloodedge

(Dairy Entry)

Dear Dairy,

It's been years since I last wrote in you. If you don't remember, I'm Naruko. Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruko. I'm the twin sister of Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, the Nidaime Rikudou Sennin and Nidaime Jinchuuriki of the Juubi no Yoko. We also have a sister. She's Uzumaki-Namikaze Narumi. And all three of us are the descendants of the Rikudou Sennin from the Uzumaki side and the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda from the Namikaze side. Hehe, you probably still have trouble remembering, so let me jog your memory. I know that just sounded weird, but I just regained my memory, and I want someone or something to talk to after everything that's happened.

My sister and me are what you may call normal girls with a shared dream of becoming the best kunoichi on planet Earth herself. Our brother however, got the short end of the stick. That time, he was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, a demon who attacked Konoha after being extracted from the pervious Jinchuuriki, our mother, Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina.

Almost everyone lost something because of the Kyuubi's attack, and then word got out that Naruto held the Kyuubi within him, he became the target of everyone's malice. Despite being the child of the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, like us, it didn't stop the villagers and some shinobi from hurting Naruto. For four years, they would hunt him down in packs and beat him in alleyway when they catch him. Narumi and I would've tried to help him but Naruto's so-called protective detail in the form of ANBU would hold us back and emit joy at seeing the "Kyuubi brat" being put in his place. Even worse, my father let them off with a slap on the wrist and a warning.

I wasn't going to let those damn villagers have their way with my brother any longer, especially when it was thanks to him awakening the family bloodline that the Hyuuga sisters are still in Konoha after the Hyuuga Incident thanks to Kumo, and if my dad won't do anything about it, then I will. And I wasn't the only one who thought so. The Five Ice Queens of Konoha consisting of my mother's former students, Yuhi Kurenai, Mitarashi Anko, Uzuki Yugao, Inuzuka Hana, and an apprentice to the Slug Sannin Senju Tsunade, Kato Shizune, managed to rescue Naruto when we were four years old. Afterwards, they took us in, and even our uncaring father wouldn't dare cross five man-hating, cold-as-ice kunoichi. Uchiha Mikoto also took care of us, and joined the Ice Queens after the Uchiha Clan were killed off by the hands of our surrogate brother, Uchiha Itachi.

Life was a little better after that. Kure-chan, Anko-chan, Yugao-chan, Hana-chan, and Shizu-chan took care of all three of us, and prepared for Konoha's Shinobi Academy, where we entered at the early age of five. But the people of Konoha would not stop. The teachers would kick Naruto out of important lessons and tamper with his grades. The Ice Queens would report the issue with gathered proof, but our father would be "too busy" to do anything about it. So the Ice Queens took the matter to the Fire Daimyo, and boy was he furious, if him invading with his army of battle-hardened samurai were anything to go by.

The end result, all of the teachers except for Umino Iruka were fired and replaced by the Fire Daimyo's own loyal, personal shinobi, and various educators too. That's when life truly improved for us, and the future of Konoha shinobi was assured. But for some reason, our father, the part of the Shinobi Advisory Board, and the Civilian Council didn't like the changes one bit. But who cares? My brother's got me, Narumi, as well as our friends: Naru Shikamaru, Aburame Shino, Akimichi Choji, Rock Lee, Uchiha Satsuki, Haruno Sakuya, Hyuuga Hinata, Hyuuga Hisana, Yamanaka Ino, Yamanaka Kyoko, Inugami Akira, and Higarashi Tenten.

By the time me, my brother, and our sister hit eleven, Naruto helped Narumi and I awakened our Devil Soul bloodline and we graduated early from the Academy with Naruto as the top rookie and me and Narumi tying for the title of Kunoichi of the Year. A shinobi named Ebisu, a closet-pervert, was in charge of testing us to see if we had what it takes to become genin. It was a hide-and-seek mission as we were to locate and subdue him. But instead, we were taking a shortcut through the sewer and find a secret area that once belonged to Orochimaru, who left of his experiments there. While the detour didn't earn us the rank of genin, it did get us the rank of Tokubetsu Genin. It allowed Naruto, Narumi, and I to form a team, without a sensei.

One year later after mastering our Devil Soul bloodline and collecting Devil Arms around the Namikaze estate and the outskirts of Konoha, father-dearest decided to screw up our unstoppable team after we stopped Mizuki from stealing the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing, and what was really alarming was that he did it around the same time the Clan Heirs graduated. What sucked was that we were assigned with Uchiha Sasuke, a kid named Sai, Haruno Sakura with Hatake Kakashi as his sensei. We were placed on a team that hates our guts, which been confirmed that our father doesn't make our best interests at heart. How we passed, I do not know, bust honesty, between Sasuke's gloating and Sakura's screeched, we should've fail. Too bad the teacher and student combi didn't see it that way.

Our first mission out of the village took place in Wave right after that pathetic test. Long story short, we succeeded, but no doubt the mission report was so horribly corrupted. We did successfully protect the bridge-builder, and Kakashi killed the one after him, Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist, leaving his alone, Haku, alone. Before the Uchiha could claim her, Narumi and I jumped ahead and declared Haku our servant. I don't know where I got that idea, but it just happened, and Haku-chan was all too happy to become our servant.

Then came the Chunin Exams, an event Konoha itself hosted under the watchful eye of the Fire Daimyo, and our team was registered. We were the only team with one people, so thankfully, Naruto, Narumi, and I split up from the pricks and Yugao-chan took over as our Jonin sensei. During the meet and greet, a few kunoichi were eying my brother with love and lust in their eyes, and I can't stay I blame them. Thankfully, since he is the last male of the Sparda clan, he's under the CRA due to the Elemental Countries' International Shinobi Law.

The written exam was uneventful, unless you can count Rock Lee kicking Sasuke-teme's ass before the exam started. I still regret not bringing popcorn for that beatdown. The second exam is when shit went straight to hell. It was when we were heading to the tower after getting the scroll we needed that we ran into one of the Sannin, Orochimaru, in the disguise of one of the Grass-nin who was about to kill a red-haired girl with glasses. We managed to rescue the girl and drive Orochimaru off when we arrived at the tower, but got worried when we wondered what was he doing in the exams in the first place.

When we reported his appearance to our father the day after, one of the Jonin let slip that Orochimaru might be after the Sharingan. Figuring that Orochimaru may be targeting our friend Satsuki, we headed back into the forest. What we did find was that Sasuke-teme was the one Orochimaru was after, and that Orochimaru gave Sasuke the Curse Mark of Heaven. He crippled the Sound-nin that were sent after him and was in the process of trying to rape the female Sound-nin Kin along with Hinata, Kyoko, and a willing Sakura when we finally arrived. Naruto beat Sasuke to a pulp while Narumi and I assist our friends and Kin. Luckily, we arrived just in time, and I easily knocked out Sakura, just for kicks.

The preliminaries were rigged, causing a complete clusterfuck, but the important thing is that Naruto, Narumi, and I all managed to win our battles. It was going to be month before the Final Stage, so we spent it trying to unlock our Rinnegan and the Eagle Vision and Sense we inherited from the Uzumaki side of the family. The Toad Sage, our so-called godfather Jiraiya, wanted to help us, but we all just told him to fuck off, and continued to train with Haku and our newest servants, Kin and Karin, the latter we found out that she's also a member of the Uzumaki clan. What a surprise that was.

Finally, it was time for the Finals- well, more like Invasion, for all the Daimyos and Kages to witness. I'm going to skip that because you know we three kicked all kinds of ass. But it was during Sasuke and Subaku no Gaia from the Sand's match that shit hit the fan. An unknown group appeared out of nowhere dressed in black cloaks with red clouds. Their leader, a man with an orange spiral mask, stepped up and introduced himself as Uchiha Madara, the leader of Akatsuki, and announced their intentions: to capture all the Bijuu to revive the Juubi no Yoko and use it as a weapon. He then declared war on all the shinobi villages, announcing the start of the Fourth Great Shinobi War. With that said, they disappeared just as the Sand-Sound Alliance stuck, catching Konoha completely by surprise.

Naruto took on Gaia, who was slowly turning into her Ichibi form, Narumi took on Temari, and I took on the Sound Five, while the Kages took on Orochimaru. Narumi managed to dispatch Temari and assisted me with the Sound Five. We sent their asses on full retreat mode after capturing their red-haired ally, freeing up enough time to assist Naruto with Gaia. We won, breaking Gaia out of her emoness much to Temari's joy and kissed Naruto full on the lips for it.

After the entire fiasco died down, the villages prepared for war against the Akatsuki and the Sound Village, who started to invade villages to capture the Jinchuuriki. Boy, do they work fast! In response to this, the Fire Daimyo himself promoted Naruto, Narumi, and I to Chunin, and gave us direct orders to intercept the Akatsuki at very turn. But we knew that we couldn't hit all the hidden villages at the same time the Akatsuki would with their many members, so we sent out a message to the other Jinchuuriki to meet us at the ruins of Whirlpool to lure the Akatsuki to us.

It worked like a charm. As the Jinchuuriki came one by one, so did most of the Akatsuki members assigned to capture them, like moth to the flame. What the Akatsuki didn't know is that Itachi is our spy, and we've rigged Whirlpool with a variety of traps. Add to the power the Jinchuuriki, the Akatsuki found themselves several members short. We've managed to kill the Mad Bomber Deidara, the Puppeteer Sasori, the "immortal" Jashin priest Hidan, the money-loving Kakuzu, and the Monster of the Hidden Mist Hoshigami Kisame, the former's sword attaching itself to Narumi.

After that awesome victory in crippling the Akatsuki, we gathered again to raid the Hidden Rain Village, where we believed the Akatsuki were located. We stormed the village and encountered the Six-Paths of Pain, equipped with Rinnegan. I have to say, I'm glad we sent Shadow Clones first to gauge their fighting styles, because they totally kicked the Shadow Clones' asses! So Naruto and his fellow Jinchuuriki took on the Six-Paths of Pain, while Narumi and I track with the main body, guarded by the Angel of Amegakure, Kamihana Konan. Despite her annoying paper attacks, we kicked her ass and used an advanced Time-Space Jutsu to teleport her and the main body to the battlefield, where the Jinchuuriki just finished off the last of the Six-Paths of Pain.

Realizing that he was beaten and dying, the main body identified himself as Uzumaki Nagato, shocking the crap out of us. While his story was sad and his goals were noble, his god-like complex leaves something to be desired. Before we could do anything to this fool, Amegakure suddenly exploded and Uchiha Madara suddenly appeared and stabbed him in the heart from behind. He monologued about how Nagato failed him, which led all of us to attack him. He kept using his Space-Time Jutsu to avoid our attacks, but I managed to put a seal on him to negate his ability while Naruto broke his mask, revealing his face. We managed to take a picture of him before he escaped.

As for Nagato, he put his faith in Naruto, Narumi, and I to being peace to the world with his dying breath, and died with a smile on his face. After putting Nagato's body and the Deva Path's body in a shrine, Konan threw in her lot with us as the Uzumaki's newest servant. When we got back, he gave the picture of Uchiha Madara to the leader of the Shinobi Alliance, with our father shocked that the leader of the Akatsuki was actually his old student, Uchiha Obito, and Uchiha he actually respect when we heard great things about him.

A month later, Obito and Orochimaru finally made their move. With their huge army of Zetsu clones and Edo Tensei resurrected shinobi, the situation looked grim, but the Alliance hadn't been training for nothing. I mean, all of the Jinchuuriki, as well as Narumi and me, were training on Turtle Island in the Tailed Beast Temple to prepare for this day. But what stink was that the Alliance leaders didn't tell us that they just started the fighting on the first day, leading me to realize that they were hiding us from the Akatsuki army.

But that plan backfired, because Obito himself infiltrated the island to capture my brother and the Jinchuuriki at the start of the second day. It turns out that our protection detail was killed and replaced by ROOT operatives, which explained why they were acting so weird yesterday, and means that Shizura Danzo was in league with the Akatsuki. They summoned a giant statue, used seals they placed in the temple to paralyze us all, and extracted the Tailed Beasts from the Jinchuuriki to seal into the statue. Meanwhile, Narumi and I quickly managed to break out of their paralysis seal, forcing Danzo to escape, and used the Rinnegan to save the lives of the now former Jinchuuriki.

I personally feel sorry for the poor turtle we on, due to the fact that the statue cracked opened and the Juubi revived in the Tailed Beast Temple. Just as our day couldn't get any worse, Edo Tensei revived Uchiha Madara appear and both he and Obito took control of the Juubi. Getting the Jinchuuriki out of the temple, Naruto, Narumi, and I sealed the temple shut to trap the Uchiha, the Juubi, and us in.

The next moments were all a blur while fighting the Juubi and the Uchiha. All I remember was Madara fusing with Obito, Narumi sealing their Time-Space Jutsu, us, dodging the Tail Beast Balls, and the Juubi suddenly going berserk. We finally went Devil Trigger and separated the fused Uchiha from the Juubi, undoing their fusion in the process. Narumi and I crippled Obito and sealed Madara's movements, while Naruto sealed a willing Juubi into himself, and used the Reaper Death Seal Jutsu to send Madara to the Shinigami forever, without dying.

Narumi and I took Obito into custody, while Naruto used the Juubi's youki to return part of the former Jinchuuriki's powers to them by giving them an additional chakra network that produces youki identical to their former Bijuu. Then we took to the battlefield and quickly ended the war, killing the rest of the Zetsu clone including Zetsu himself, and sent Orochimaru and his village on full retreat out of the Elemental Countries.

My brother finally gotten the recognition he worked hard to achieve, as he was labeled the hero of the war for his quick thinking and decisive ending to the war. As the alliance disbanded, Naruto managed to obtain alliances and trade agreements from every village for Konoha, and it led the way for eternal peace for the Elemental Countries.

But it was not to be, as evidenced three months later after the end of the war.

Narumi and I were sent on an S-rank mission by the Hokage to deliver a package requested by the Iron Daimyo in the Land of Iron, but when we got there, we learned that there was no such mission, and came under attack by ROOT operatives when we tried to leave from the Land of Iron. We stripped them of their mouth seals and interrogated him with the Rinnegan, learning about a horrible secret and an operation taking place in our "home" of Konoha.

We quickly got to Konoha ahead of schedule and sneaked back in to find our brother with dead eyes, weakened, battered, and on the execution stand with our father at the helm, saying things like how they'll finally obtain true peace by using Naruto as a sacrifice to kill the Juubi over the gleeful roar of the crowd watching. There was no peace, because nothing's change. This is how a hero save their lives is treated? Screw that!

Narumi used the Hidden Mist Jutsu, allowing me to get Naruto, and all three of us escaped using the Hiraishin, but something was happening to Naruto. We traveled without rest until we got to the edge of the Western Lands, but just after scaled the walls to the other side, the Hokage, along with the Konoha hunter-nin that were our precious people appeared, casing darkness to flow from my distraught brother. But I used the Rinnegan, and found that the hunter-nin were under a genjutsu to take the appearance of our friends and Naruto's girlfriends. When the Hokage was about to make a move to kill Naruto, all hell broke loose, for neither Narumi, the Juubi, nor me could get to Naruto's now shattered psyche.

Darkness exploded from my screaming brother, his form growing, growing, and growing, until he became a mass of black energy shaped like an eight-headed, serpentine beast with numerous tentacles and red eyes. All I know through me and my sister's terrified eyes, is that Naruto did not turn into the Juubi. Before I could do anything, the cowardly Hokage and his hunter-nin suddenly captured Narumi and ran, leaving me to deal with my transformed brother. Even in my Devil Trigger state, I couldn't do anything against, and he finished the battle by blast me with a beam attack that sent me flying through the air, the impact hours later knocking me out.

I woke up later with no memories of my past life, in a company called Valkyria, a branch of an organization called the Drexler Institute. I was given the codename Weiss, and they implanted abilities in me that came from ancient beings known as Umbra Witches and Lumen Sages, giving me control of my hair to do amazing things. I also developed the ability to materialize blades thanks to an Arcana I gained who was called Gottfried. During my time at Valkyria, I was partnered up with a girl named Scharlachrot, aka Scharl, who was extremely obsessive of me, and calls me Sophie. When the Drexler Institute was taken down, she went missing, while I went with Petra Johanna Lagerkvist, the one who took down the company.

While I tried to familiar myself with society, dimensional distortions appeared all around the city of Tokyo, so for five days, I investigated, eventually ending up in an island on the bottom of Japan, where I am now. I ran into Scharl, who captured me with chains and tried to have her way with me. But it was in that moment when I broke free, I regained my memories and battled Scharl, kicking the crap out of her to get to the Divine Celestial Weapon that is now about to destroy Neo Japan. I have to trapped in a Time-Space field but it's about to break out. I'm gonna beat this thing, then I'll take Scharl with me to look for my brother, so that we can finally return to the Elemental Countries to save our sister Narumi and our precious people, and some major payback against our bastard of a father!

It's time to deal with the Divine Celestial Weapon: Ragnarok!

Weiss- no, Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruko, out.

(Land of the Hierarchical Cities, Dark Forest)

"And that's the last of them."

Sheathing his giant sword behind his back, the figure walked away from the monsters he just slain. He is a young adult with white spiky hair and heterochromia: his left eye being green and his right being red. He wears a vibrant red sleeved jacket with two long thin tails hanging from the back. Under it is a black shirt with three red belts. He wears a pair of black gloves with a red shell on the backs of the hands. He wears a black hakama and steel-toed red boots. Attached to his lower back is his sword-scythe, the Blood-Scythe.

He is Ragna the Bloodedge, a wanted SSS-class criminal with an extraordinary huge bounty on his head for destroying several Novus Orbis Libraium branches.

"Nothing like killing a few weak Shadows to get the blood pumping for my next campaign to stick it to Terumi and Relius. Then again, the seithr's pretty thin around here, but the trees aren't exactly helping." Ragna said to himself as he flexes his arms, a gentle breeze blowing through his spiky hair, as if the world was thanking him for the few less Shadows in the world.

"Ah well. So much for making it there by sunset. Shit." he grumbled, "Well, good going, Ragna. Real smooth with the self-estimation. No meat-dishes or dirt cheap inn for moi."

As he walked to his destination, he took out a pendent he wore around his neck and kept hidden inside his shirt. He opened it to view several holographic pictures inside him that he treasured dearly.

The first picture was of himself and his girlfriend, Celica A. Mercury, taken a few days after she found him resting in a forest with no memories of his past life. It was thanks to her and her friends that he made new memories when he enrolled in the Magic Guild.

The second picture was both of them and his master Jubei, who was known as Mitsuyoshi at the time and thought Ragna as suspicious.

The third picture was of him, Celica, her sister Konoe A. Mercury, and their friends, Trinity Glassfield and Kazuma Kuvaru. Konoe and Trinity were of the Six-Heroes, a group that defeated a terrible being known as the Black Beast, and they personally taught Ragna magic and alchemy during his time in the Magic Guild. It was during this time that Ragna was chosen to wield two Nox Nyctores: Yukianesa and Bolverk, and was known as the Frozen Time-Space Swordsman; and still beat himself up when he failed to save them from the ghost Yuuki Terumi, the traitor of the Six-Heroes. It was because of this failure that he retired Yukianesa and Bolverk.

The fourth picture was of Ragna babysitting a bratty Kokonoe, who was the daughter of Jubei and Kokoe. Ragna guessed it was karma since he teased her parents on a daily basis ever since they mated while drunk one time.

The fifth picture was of him and Celica in front of a church the former built with the kids they adopted, the siblings Jin and Saya, and their unrelated older sister, Bullet. Ragna remembered the times when he helped Bullet break up fights between Jin and Saya; the times when he took care of Saya when she got sick; and the times when he warded off a dependent Jin. The happiness was ruined when Terumi appeared and killed Celica, took possession of Jin and mangled Ragna's arms, and kidnapped Jin and Bullet.

The sixth picture was of Ragna, Jubei, the annoying vampire sisters Rachel and Seras, their servant Valkenhayn R. Hellsing, and his sparring partner, Saki Vernyako, with Jubei and Valkenhayn both running Ragna and Saki ragged with training while Rachel watched, drinking tea.

The seventh picture was of Ragna playing with a Kaka kittens that came with a catgirl named Torakaka, who was visiting Jubei.

The eighth picture was taken years later with Ragna and a group of girls from the Military Academy called Team Remix Heart, who consisted of Saki and her classmates Mai Natsume, Cajun Faycott, Noel Vermillion, Tsubaki Yayoi, and Makoto Nanaya. Their paths intersected when Ragna and Jubei were nearby the 15th Hierarchical City: Torifune, training while the team was outside the city searching for a grimoire. It was then that Ragna learned that the NOL changed drastically from the NOL he knew back during his days in the Magic Guild.

The ninth picture was of him and Bullet when he found her with a mercenary group that opposes an organization called Sector Seven. Both were ecstatic that they found each other, but Ragna was saddened that she was unable to rescue Saya when she escaped from Terumi. Bullet promised her brother-figure that once she's strong enough, she would join the fight against Terumi and rescue Saya.

The final picture is more recent, when he received the Jacket of Bloodedge and the Blood-Scythe scythe-sword from Jubei and Rachel when he completed his training and christened himself as Ragna the Bloodedge. A few day later, he caught wind that Terumi and Relius were in the NOL and are up to something, so Ragna's been raiding the NOL bases, killing the soldiers who used their rank to commit unforgivable crimes, while knocking out and sparing the innocent soldiers who truly wanted peace.

It's was these pictures that gives Ragna motivation to do what we does, even if the entire world turns against him for these actions. Putting his prized pendent away, he held up his right hand to his face and concentrated, a magic circle appearing in front of him. He steeped through it, activating the Concealment Ars to hide his presence. He would use magic, but foregone it until he retrieves a certain item that would allow him to use magic again safety without drawing on his dark energy.

"This should do it," he muttered, walking down the path sapped with seithr "At least normal people and those pain-in-the-ass Shadows won't notice me."

It would be suicide for a normal person to walk through seithr, but Ragna was anything but human, thanks to the Alucard sister, Rachel, and her older sister, Seras. After Terumi destroyed the church, injured him, and took Saya and Bullet in Jin's body, Rachel and Seras appear much later and gave into their bloodlust, biting both sides of his neck to turn him into a Dhampir. But Ragna didn't need the power of the Dhampir to kill Shadows, creatures made from seithr and the darkness of human hearts.

"Right, I should be able to make it by dawn if I keep up my current pace- Who's there?!"

Suddenly, Ragna felt a powerful aura behind him. Spinning on his heels in a melee stance, he sees a small shadow coming from behind a tree. Ragna quickly used Lumination Ars, using his right to brighten the area with light.

"Whoever the hell you are, you should know I don't like being followed."

"Can't believe you sniffed me out like that, kid. I must be getting old."

"Oh, it's you." Ragna said, relaxing and breathed out a sigh of relief.

The figure was a cat, but not just an ordinary cat. It was a two-tailed black and white cat who stands upright like a human being. He's wearing a Kaka clan-like jacket with an Eastern motif and a cut in the back where his two tails poke out. He's also wearing an eyepatch over his right eye, and his weapon, Nox Nyctores, Mucro Somnio: Musashi, is carried on his back via a belt strap.

Ragna know him, as he just seen him in a few of his pictures. This cat is arguably the strongest creature on the planet, for he's one of the Six Heroes who defeated the Black Beast.

"Better perk up your ears, kid." Jubei said, "Out this hour, you might run into a ghost."

"Yikes. Still with the kid stuff, master Jubei?" Ragna deadpanned, "You know I can see ghosts and spirits for some reason, and so far, I haven't ran into any of them yet. Besides, ghosts only appear in wells, attics, etc."

Jubei raised an eyebrow, "Where the hell'd you hear that?"

"Just some ghost stories the two vampire rabbits decided to tease me with."

"So you're sayin' you're not?"

"No disrespect, but you bet your ass I'm not anymore." Ragna assured him, grinning.

"Good, then you don't gotta worry about that see-through woman creep' up behind ya."

"What the fuck~?!" Ragna shrieked like a little girl as he jumped away and look at the spot Jubei indicated, "Where?! Where?! Huh?"

Jubei got himself a good laugh out of that, "Ahahahaha, I'm just yankin' you chain, kid. Your senses might've improved a smidge, but I guess some things never change."

"Yes, yes, highly amusing." Ranga growled, brushing himself off, "So what do you need, since you've creeped up behind yours truly? Don't tell me you already beaten me to my next target, and came to rub it in my face."

"Oh, nothin' like that." Jubei said, shaking his head, "Just thought I'd say "howdy". Been tailing ya for a spell to pass the time, and just happened to spot you when you slowed down."

"Oh," Ragna nodded in understanding, "So it was you who's been shadowing me after all ever since I destroyed the last NOL Branch I've been in."

"Knew I was there, did ya?"

"Yeah, for a while." Ragna said, folding his arms, "You've been gradually shortening the distance between us, so I set up a Concealment Ars just in case. I wanted to avoid unnecessary battles in between my campaigns, unless it's for a bounty that comes across me. Since it's you, I guess I overreacted a little."

Jubei laughed, "Ha. I must be gettin' old if even a greenhorn like you detect me. Must be losing my touch too. Haha… Hahahaha…"

"What's so funny?" Ragna asked, "You should be happy as a master that you apprentice has improved. How about telling me, oh I don't know, what an awesome job I did of sensing you, or how much I've grown, or some other crap. It has been a year after all."

"Hahaha… fair enough. Ah hell. Since you gotten that good, you might even be ready now, won't have no trouble at all."

"Huh?" That comment got Ragna's attention, "What are you meowing about? With what exactly?"

"I know you Ragna." Jubei said seriously, "You may not have a short-temper, but you're still all piss an' vinegar. You think you can handle whatever the world throws your way, but it's gonna be a mite different this time, kid. Things ain't gonna go the way you think. I'm just makin' sure you got fair warning."

"About what? You're not making any sense with your smoke-and-mirrors speech. It's not a very good warning, you know."

"Mouthy as ever, ain'tcha, Mr. "SSS Class Bounty on my head" Ragna the Bloodedge? You SEEN how much they're willing to pay for that head of yours? Hell, if I weren't so fond of ya…" Jubei said with a mischievous grin on his face.

Ragna steeped back a bit, "Not funny, master. And you and I both know that they wouldn't pay that much for me to a single bounty hunter or vigilante."

"Point taken." Jubei agreed, "But word's out that you're on your way there. The NOL's right jumpy about it. 'Course, you did take down a bunch of Library branches all by your lonesome. Guess they ain't sweating for nothing, considering your rep before they became a wanted criminal."

"But something's different, isn't it, master?" Ragna guessed, "My guts been acting a little upset ever since my first step to my next target."

"You should listen to it, kid." Jubei said, "Yer gonna have more than the NOL, bounty hunters, and vigilantes on your plate this time 'round, so be careful."

"There's more to the story besides the gathering of bounty hunters and vigilantes, isn't there. And you know, don't you."

"You're right, that ain't all. I saw him. HE'S here. He's lookin' for ya and you're his target. Worse, there's no getting around him. You'll run into him, sooner or later."

"Who are you talking about?" Ragna asked, annoyed, "Hold on, are you even going to identify him to me at all?"

"Don't have to." Jubei said, "You'll understand, even if you don't wanna, when ya meet him."

Ragna rubbed the back of his head, deciding not to press the issue, "Fair enough, master. You never answered my questions on matters like this, so I guess I'll just try to figure out yours and little rabbit's mysterious riddles, as always."

"That wasn't even my intent, back then…"

"Pardon?"

Jubei blinked, "Oh, uh, don't mind me. I was just ruminatin' on the good ol' days…"

"Good old days, as in the Dark War?" Ragna asked.

"Well, not quite that far back. Hell, you don't want really want to listen to a relic like myself mutter on, do ya?"

Ragna rapidly shook his head, "No!"

"Good. You've gained a whole mess o' strength and knowledge in the time I've known ya, Ragna." Jubei praised, making Ragna facefault.

"Now you roll out the compliments? I swear…"

"But those arms of yours, just because the Azure Grimoire's cozying up in them, don't get to thinking you own it." Jubei reminded him.

"I understand. I do plan on making the most of it since it's still stuck to me." Ragna said, his right arm twitching a bit. He remembered the time when he gained the Azure Grimoire. It was after the destruction of the church and Rachel and Seras bit him. They gave him a jet-black that shaped in the fashion of a human without a head that was the Azure Grimoire. When Ragna willed his mangled arms to crush it in his hands, it turned into mist and swallowed him in darkness, modify his arms and making them usable again. It was Jubei that taught Ragna how to control the power of the grimoire, but what Jubei doesn't know himself that Ragna's mastered the power to an extent that he people won't get affected by it when he's near them, and he can use the souls of Shadow to power his grimoire.

"Ragna…"

"I know, I know. The grimoire's not mine, I'm just the host. With great power comes great responsibility. Trust me, I live by that line every day of my life, master. There's no way I'll forget."

"For your sake, kid, I hope ya don't."

"Duly noted. Anyway, I gotta go now. The forest's getting on my nerves, and I'm about to be behind schedule."

"All right then, I gotta get going myself." Jubei said as Ragna turned to the direction of his destination.

"Unlike you, I only have human legs." Ragna taunted, "I want to get there by dawn."

"That so? Well then Ragna, guess I'll be seein' ya." Jubei said as Ragna walked away, "By the way, she'll be waiting for you. She knows you're coming, and wants to assist you."

"Thanks for the heads up." Ragna waved, knowing who Jubei's talking about this time, "Good luck to you too, master."

"…Godspeed, Ragna…"

After a few steps, Ragna turned back to find his former master gone, his presence gone. As he started dashing through the forest, he felt afraid. But Ragna shook his head, clearing himself of all fear. This destination's where his next job is. No time for self-doubt now.

A couple hours later, he finally made out of the forest, just as the sun broke free out behind the clouds in the sky.

"Now this is more like it!" he exclaimed, taking in his new surroundings.

Looking ahead, he viewed a mountain with clusters of glowing light littering the mountain, like a Christmas tree. Upon closer inspection, there were building all around the mountain high-rise with that appears to be an NOL Branch at the top.

"So…that's the 13th Hierarchical City… Kagutsuchi, huh?"

Ragna grinned as he walked forward, "It'd be great to flush this Library before the year ends…" he said as he started keep an eye now for the Monorail that carries supplies in and out of Kagutsuchi.

Only a few days and the destruction of the next Cauldron stand between him and the end of 2199.

END OF CHAPTER 01

Next time – Chapter 02: In the Underground

-Ragna meets an old friend on the Monorail leading into Kagutsuchi, but a visit from a certain rabbit and her sister leaves much to be desired. Thanks to their battle, the Monorail breaks down and Ragna and his friend is forced to travel in the sewer systems of Kagutsuchi. What wonders and horrors await the duo as they try to enter Kagutsuchi?

Released: Saturday, January 26, 2013